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This week's magazine

27 September 2008

Issue 2675

New Scientist issue 2675 cover
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Editor's picks

Freedom from selection lets genes get creative

Life

Freedom from selection lets genes get creative

Features
'All-seeing' telescope could take us back in time

Space

'All-seeing' telescope could take us back in time

Features
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.

Earth

Unknown Earth: Why does Earth have plate tectonics?

Features
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.

Earth

Unknown Earth: What is at the centre of the Earth?

Features
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.

Earth

Unknown Earth: Why is Earth's climate so stable?

Features
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.

Earth

Unknown Earth: Can we predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?

Features
Unknown Earth: Our planet's seven biggest mysteries

Earth

Unknown Earth: Our planet's seven biggest mysteries

Features
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.

Earth

Unknown Earth: Where did life come from?

Features
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.

Earth

Unknown Earth: What happened during Earth's dark ages?

Features
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.

Earth

Unknown Earth: How come Earth got all the good stuff?

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.

Health

Cheap cervical cancer test is boost for poor countries

WILL women in poor countries soon have access to a cervical cancer test like their richer sisters? Almost all of the 250,000 women who die of cervical cancer each year live in poor countries where regular western-style screening is just too expensive. But using PCR to test for the strains of HPV that cause cervical …

News

Space

Shuttle double guards against Hubble trouble

News

Health

Controversial autism therapy trial scrapped

News

Earth

Why ecotourists should head to high-rise resorts

News

Health

No end in sight for China's milk tragedy

News

60 Seconds

News

Life

The blunders that led to the banking crisis

News

Earth

Acidic oceans will crank up sea sounds

News

Life

Chimps never forget a bum

News

Earth

US House lifts 27-year ban on coastal drilling

News

Technology

LHC physicists frustrated by mechanical failure

News

Life

Antidepressants may harm male fertility

News

Life

A wolf's dark pelt is a gift from the dogs

News

Health

Paracetamol and pregnancy supplements raise asthma fears

News

Life

US elections: How would Jesus vote?

News

'I refuse to believe... people believe this malarkey'

News

Life

Optical illusions are caused by a twitch of the eye

News

Health

Enzyme blocks bug-induced secondary illnesses

News

Earth

Mars iron is ideal for building future bases

News

Earth

America's oldest ice could stand the heat

News

Life

The smell of death sends mites to sleep

News

Life

An icy stare really does make people feel cold

News

Space

Have we already found a planet like Earth?

News

Life

Sweet smells make for sweet dreams

News

Technology

Bionic hands get the sensitive touch

News

Technology

Baghdad lights put surge success in doubt

News

Space

Fluttering robot could show Mars rovers the way

News

Technology

Gizmo

News

Space

Space 'taxis' could cut the cost of spaceflight

News

Technology

Planned cluster bomb hunts targets down

News

Technology

Paper transistors make for disposable electronics

News

Opinion

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.

Editorial: When the numbers don't add up

ONE of the most alarming things about the crisis in the global financial system is that the warning signs have been out there for some time, yet no one heeded them. Exactly 10 years ago a hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management failed to convince investors that it could repay its debts, thereby bringing the …

Opinion

Interview: The games master

Opinion

Technology

LHC scare stories were good for science

Opinion

Let's celebrate the real big questions

Opinion

Science essay competition winners 2008

Opinion

Features

Freedom from selection lets genes get creative

Life

Freedom from selection lets genes get creative

THE Bengalese finch is an aviary bird, bred over centuries for its attractive plumage. It comes in various combinations of white, black and brown. One particularly pretty version is silver. It is also prized for its gregarious and easy-going nature and its complex warbling song. Which is strange because the finch's closest wild relative, the …

Features

Space

'All-seeing' telescope could take us back in time

Features

Earth

Unknown Earth: Why does Earth have plate tectonics?

Features

Earth

Unknown Earth: What is at the centre of the Earth?

Features

Earth

Unknown Earth: Why is Earth's climate so stable?

Features

Earth

Unknown Earth: Can we predict earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?

Features

Earth

Unknown Earth: Our planet's seven biggest mysteries

Features

Earth

Unknown Earth: Where did life come from?

Features

Earth

Unknown Earth: What happened during Earth's dark ages?

Features

Earth

Unknown Earth: How come Earth got all the good stuff?

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: Happiness by Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener

AMONG the recent glut of books about happiness, this one shines out. Highly readable and entertaining, its authors are perhaps the pre-eminent researchers on the subject and their conclusions are backed by the latest data. Some of their observations are well-known – happy people are healthier, for example – while others are less so: too …

Books & Arts

Review: The Mad Science Book by Reto Schneider

Books & Arts

Life

Gallery: Horses as you've never seen them before

Books & Arts

Review: Flash of Genius by John Seabrook

Books & Arts

Review: Einstein's Mistakes by Hans Ohanian

Books & Arts

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

Dihydrogen monoxide awareness CAMPAIGNING against the hazards of the ubiquitous pollutant dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO) has moved on apace since Feedback last reported on the threat (17 June 2000) . It is a substance that contributes to the greenhouse effect and is a common cause of soil erosion. Contamination is worldwide: it is present in every …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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