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This week's magazine

14 June 2008

Issue 2660

New Scientist issue 2660 cover
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Editor's picks

The 'Einstein' of the ancient Greeks

The 'Einstein' of the ancient Greeks

Features
Follow me: The origins of leadership

Life

Follow me: The origins of leadership

Features
The Ordovician: Life's second big bang

Life

The Ordovician: Life's second big bang

Features
Grand designs: Symmetry's hidden depths

Physics

Grand designs: Symmetry's hidden depths

Features
What price more food?

Life

What price more food?

Features

Table of contents

News

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.

Technology

New 'super-paper' is stronger than cast iron

CAN'T punch your way out of a paper bag? That wouldn't be surprising if were made of a new kind of paper that's stronger than cast iron. The super-strong paper could be used to make tough sticky tape or synthetic replacements for biological tissues. Despite its exceptional strength, the paper is produced from cellulose, the …

News

Earth

Satnav signals could help 'dowse' for water

News

Technology

Gizmo

News

Technology

US considers nuclear-powered assault ships

News

Health

Is a sniff of coffee as good as a sip?

News

Earth

Roadside crater should have made more of an impact

News

Life

Wiggling bird genitals give the ladies good vibrations

News

Life

No-one behaves normally in cyberspace

News

Technology

Free phone calls could help TB patients pop their pills

News

Technology

Surgeons may get Minority Report-style display

News

Soundbites

News

Life

'Consciousness meter' may predict coma recoveries

News

Life

Navigating seals perform a star turn

News

Space

Are dwarf galaxies disguised by dark matter decay?

News

Life

Friends turn mental mountains into molehills

News

Space

Supernovae blasts kickstarted stars in early galaxies

News

Health

Tagging cells makes immune system light up

News

Life

Longevity gene keeps the brain ticking over

News

Earth

Ocean changes may trigger US megadrought

News

Life

Human egg makes accidental debut on camera

News

Health

Snorers should be tested for diabetes

News

Health

New guide to help investors target ethical Pharma

News

Earth

Is China a climate saint or sinner?

News

Earth

Otter poop to help compensate fish farmers

News

60 Seconds

News

Life

Synthetic biology: Rewriting the code for life

News

Health

Teenage cervical cancer on the rise

News

Earth

Ocean seeding fails the acid test

News

Space

Could microbes on Phoenix survive on Mars?

News

Earth

Have we underestimated total oil reserves?

News

Opinion

Comment: America's abortion scandal

Comment: America's abortion scandal

...... AS AN obstetrician-gynaecologist trained to rely on the best scientific evidence to diagnose and treat my patients, and as a professional who performs abortions, I've witnessed many examples of personal moral beliefs trumping scientific evidence. But these days, individuals' personal beliefs are also being trumped – by the ideologies of powerful institutions. These pressures …

Opinion

Life

Editorial: How science can help feed the world

Opinion

Commentary: We must avert the water wars

Opinion

Life

Interview: The cellphone anthropologist

Opinion

Features

The 'Einstein' of the ancient Greeks

The 'Einstein' of the ancient Greeks

Once phenomena that inspired fear and foreboding, lunar and solar eclipses can now be predicted down to the second, forecast centuries into the future, and "hindcast" centuries into the past. The person who started us down the path from superstition to understanding has been called the "Einstein of the 5th century BC", and was known …

Features

Life

Follow me: The origins of leadership

Features

Life

The Ordovician: Life's second big bang

Features

Physics

Grand designs: Symmetry's hidden depths

Features

Life

What price more food?

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: Coming of Age in Second Life by Tom Boellstorff

IF YOU thought a virtual world like Second Life was a smorgasbord of experimental gender swaps, nerdy types engaging in kinky sex or entrepreneurs cashing in on real-world moneymaking possibilities, think again. It's more humdrum than you'd imagine, according to anthropologist Tom Boellstorff. As on terra firma, people's virtual selves go to bars, build homes, …

Books & Arts

Review: Only a Theory by Kenneth R. Miller

Books & Arts

Mind

Review: Doubt is Their Product by David Michaels and Bending Science by Thomas O. McGarity and Wendy E. Wagner

Books & Arts

IT: Not your normal nine to five

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

Space junk for hire NASA's ever-enthusiastic public-relations department informs us that it is launching "a new artifact loan program" so museums, planetariums and other organisations can display items that flew on the space shuttle. If this means things like old spacesuits it could be fun, but we're less than thrilled by the news that the …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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