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This week's magazine

31 May 2008

Issue 2658

New Scientist issue 2658 cover
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Editor's picks

Is this a unified theory of the brain?

Life

Is this a unified theory of the brain?

Features
Histories: Microscopic stars of the silver screen

Technology

Histories: Microscopic stars of the silver screen

Features
Locust swarms are driven by salt and cannibalism

Earth

Locust swarms are driven by salt and cannibalism

Features
Space particles play with the mind

Space

Space particles play with the mind

Features
The greening of Silicon Valley

Earth

The greening of Silicon Valley

Features

Table of contents

News

Arctic freeze a breeze for superstrong steel

Technology

Arctic freeze a breeze for superstrong steel

STEEL is valued for its reliability when making everything from bolts to boats – but not when it gets cold. Most forms of steel abruptly become brittle at temperatures below about -25 °C unless they are mixed with other metals. Now, though, a novel type of steel has been developed that resists fractures at much …

News

Technology

Secret messages could be hidden in net phone calls

News

Technology

Motion-capture without the markers

News

Technology

Google health website raises privacy fears

News

Technology

Birth pangs for the 'semantic web'

News

Space

Spy satellites to be equipped for laser attacks

News

Technology

Gizmo

News

Health

Finnish epidemic offers clues to diabetes

News

Life

Stress increases risk of stillbirth

News

Life

Chameleons only half-hide from colour-blind predators

News

Earth

From big earthquakes, little tremors grow

News

Space

Nearby galaxies are chock-full of dark matter

News

Life

Childhood lead exposure leads to crime

News

Life

Friendly bacteria to the rescue

News

Life

Social interactions in flies reverse ageing effects

News

Life

Mating is a dance of death for spiders

News

Life

Thoughts of death make us eat more cookies

News

Earth

Earth sunshade would not rewind the climate

News

Space

New contenders emerge for dark matter title

News

Technology

Exotic nitrogen could offer safe rocket fuel

News

Technology

Telltale DNA sucked out of household dust

News

Space

'Hot' photons cast dark energy into the light

News

Life

World's oldest embryo found in fossilised fish

News

Soundbites

News

Life

Obesity helps mice fend off malaria

News

Space

Phoenix Mars lander's first images reveal a quilted surface

News

Technology

Next generation of nukes may not happen

News

Health

Nipping dangerous drugs in the bud

News

Earth

Tropical forests axed in favour of palm oil

News

Health

Foot-and-mouth lab should stay on island

News

Health

Rise in US childhood obesity flattens out

News

Life

Mice ascend Everest to combat doping in sport

News

60 Seconds

News

Life

Huge haul of Earth-like planets found

News

Opinion

Commentary: Humans always pull both ways

Life

Commentary: Humans always pull both ways

HUMAN beings are remarkably inconsistent creatures. They devote huge resources to designing and constructing weapons of war and to training and maintaining armies, navies and air forces, and they frequently put these to use, resulting in anything from thousands to millions of deaths. Yet they also make huge efforts to train doctors and nurses, build …

Opinion

Separating fact and fiction in the Bible

Opinion

Life

Comment: Don't expect ET to look like us

Opinion

Space

Editorial: Science thrives as NASA succeeds on Mars

Opinion

Features

Is this a unified theory of the brain?

Life

Is this a unified theory of the brain?

THE quest to understand the most complex object in the known universe has been a long and fruitful one. These days we know a good deal about how the human brain works – how our senses translate into electrical signals, how different parts of the brain process these signals, how memories form and how muscles …

Features

Technology

Histories: Microscopic stars of the silver screen

Features

Earth

Locust swarms are driven by salt and cannibalism

Features

Space

Space particles play with the mind

Features

Earth

The greening of Silicon Valley

Features

More

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Review: Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies by Richard McKenzie

THERE are unseen forces that dictate the prices of goods and which standard economic theory doesn't account for, and this book sets out to expose them. McKenzie suggests the obvious reason why popcorn is more expensive in cinemas (monopoly pricing), or why so many prices end in .99 (consumer gullibility), is generally the wrong one. …

Books & Arts

Technology

Review: The Power Makers by Maury Klein

Books & Arts

Life

Review: The Political Mind by George Lakoff

Books & Arts

Food careers, glorious food careers

Careers

Regulars

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Feedback

Extra body parts WE RECENTLY reported on the confusion experienced by a reader in Chicago when told that one applicator of her Estrace vaginal cream should be applied "per vagina every week" (5 April) . Now Mark Hardy tells us of a Fox news report broadcast in the Chicago area about a test that "helps …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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