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This week's magazine

17 January 2009

Issue 2691

New Scientist issue 2691 cover
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Editor's picks

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.

Space

Our world may be a giant hologram

Features
Did life begin in a pool of acidic gloop?

Earth

Did life begin in a pool of acidic gloop?

Features
Nanoplumbing: More than just a pipe dream

Technology

Nanoplumbing: More than just a pipe dream

Features
Is it really bad to be sad?

Health

Is it really bad to be sad?

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.

Space

Angry Sun could spell disaster on Earth

Our technologically dependent society could be brought to its knees the next time Earth is walloped by an extreme solar outburst. Intense outbursts of plasma from the sun, called coronal mass ejections, can create electromagnetic interference that plays havoc with technology. In 1989, one nasty blast knocked out the power grid in Quebec, Canada, for …

News

Blunder let bunnies devastate Antarctic island

News

Fresh fears over safety of antipsychotic drugs

News

Earth

Tequila gives Mexico an environmental hangover

News

Toothless NASA watchdog 'poor value for money'

News

Health

Epidurals in labour safer than thought

News

Iron-seeding ship sets sail

News

60 Seconds

News

Life

DIY stem cells could help us heal ourselves

News

Earth

Climate change to stifle developing nations' growth

News

Space

Did dark energy give us our cosmos?

News

"We can't fire our bears or furlough our sea lions."

News

Life

Model of surprise has 'wow' factor built in

News

Artificial molecule evolves in the lab

News

Life

How novels help drive social evolution

News

Earth

Starving bacteria bumped up early Earth's oxygen

News

Life

Doubts raised over brain scan findings

News

Are good financial traders born, not made?

News

Earth

Humans' prey species evolving dangerously fast

News

Humans

Tetris to treat the terror of trauma

News

Earth

Rainmaker ritual helps date ancient droughts

News

Pop a pill before taking a drag?

News

Earth

Car exhaust fumes cause lightning strikes

News

Health

Boosted immune system could devour brain tumours

News

How did early black holes get so big?

News

Space

Were Mercury and Mars separated at birth?

News

Earth

Balloon power isn't just a load of hot air

News

Earth

Flying eye maps rain forest's health

News

Technology

Soldiers' kids could get virtual mums and dads

News

Technology

Transparent gadgets and the return of Palm

News

Technology

Eyes reveal health secrets of the brain

News

Technology

Virtual double flexes your muscles

News

Technology

Grasping nanospirals promise new smart materials

News

Technology

Mini boat travels by bending water

News

Opinion

Why we need a proper study of mankind

Why we need a proper study of mankind

Beautiful but environmentally deadly objects of desire are going to be hard to give up Ever since hunter-gatherers decimated mammoth populations and used fire to create favourable landscapes, people have changed the face of the Earth. Now there is a new twist. Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) leave no wriggle room: …

Opinion

Technology

Universities should flag up which websites to trust

Opinion

Editorial: What were the neuroscientists thinking?

Opinion

Editorial: DIY stem cells could be on the way

Opinion

Editorial: The upside to being down

Opinion

Space

Why we must save our astronomical heritage

Opinion

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.

Space

Our world may be a giant hologram

Could our three dimensions be the ultimate cosmic illusion? A German detector is picking up a hint that we are all mere projections

Features

Earth

Did life begin in a pool of acidic gloop?

Features

Technology

Nanoplumbing: More than just a pipe dream

Features

Health

Is it really bad to be sad?

Features

More

Review: Where in the world is the mind?

Review: Where in the world is the mind?

THE mind-body problem is about where the mind is located. Is it bound by the confines of our skull or does it lurk nearby, non-physically? The latter idea, that the mind is not literally in space but is located "near to", or even "right next to" the body – a halo-like master of ceremonies circumnavigating …

Books & Arts

Earth

Review: Forecast by Stephan Faris

Books & Arts

Review: Is God a Mathematician? by Mario Livio

Books & Arts

Physics

Enigma No. 1528

Regulars

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.

Oral sex and US presidents

The wondrousness of flower essences GRADE A gobbledegook is available for the reading pleasure of connoisseurs, thanks to the alertness of John Meyer, at www.ausangels.com/abfe_QandA.asp – home of Australian Bush Flower Essences. Curiously, the company is based in British Columbia, Canada. Presumably, exotic Australian things are doubly exotic there. We have space only for a …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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