Subscribe now

This week's magazine

31 January 2009

Issue 2693

New Scientist issue 2693 cover
Previous issue Next issue
arrow
Subscribe
Access our magazine content direct via our website, app or print magazine
arrow
View in the app
Check out this magazine in our easy-to-navigate mobile app
arrow
Find a previous edition online
Search through our digital archive of over 30 years of magazines

Editor's picks

The six biggest mysteries of our solar system

Space

The six biggest mysteries of our solar system

Features
Unknown solar system 1: How was the solar system built?

Space

Unknown solar system 1: How was the solar system built?

Features
Why are the sun and moon the same size in the sky?

Space

Why are the sun and moon the same size in the sky?

Features
Is there a Planet X?

Space

Is there a Planet X?

Features
Where do comets come from?

Space

Where do comets come from?

Features
Is the solar system unique?

Space

Is the solar system unique?

Features
How will the solar system end?

Space

How will the solar system end?

Features
Evolution: The next 200 years

Life

Evolution: The next 200 years

Features
Across the ocean in a pedal-powered submarine

Life

Across the ocean in a pedal-powered submarine

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.

Earth

Call for agricultural research to help world's poor

LAST year's food crisis, which left the world's poorest people struggling to buy food, is far from over. And things could get worse if money isn't quickly invested in agricultural technology. Compared with the record highs reached last year, food prices have dropped by around 30 per cent. But that doesn't necessarily mean fewer are …

News

Effects of climate change now 'irreversible'

News

Technology

Particle accelerators could stop isotope shortages

News

Earth

US states may regain control of vehicle emissions

News

Historic stem cell trial gets go-ahead

News

Health

Is recruitment ban for home smokers discrimination?

News

Creationism defeated in Texas

News

60 Seconds

News

Life

Special investigation: Could your DNA betray you?

News

Space

Exoplanet spotted in Hubble archive

News

Can we reprogram the immune system?

News

Soundbites

News

Apollo 17 rock helps date moon

News

Space

Is the Roman Pantheon a colossal sundial?

News

Earth

Caterpillar plague strikes west Africa

News

Life

Men smell of cheese and women of onions

News

Global warming could suffocate the sea

News

Old tree deaths double across western US

News

Life

Ancient creature points to parallel evolution

News

Earth

Europe to feel the heat of climate change

News

Wood stoves in villages cause Asian brown haze

News

Life

Shape-shifting fish fools scientists

News

Leaky membranes may be key to Parkinson's disease

News

Eat a little less, remember more

News

The beat goes on, even for newborns

News

Earth

Devastated forests could be replanted from the air

News

Technology

Taser guns 'raised deaths in custody'

News

Technology

Device spots killer melamine in seconds

News

Technology

Gastric 'condoms' could help obese avoid surgery

News

Technology

City Wi-Fi networks vulnerable to virus attack

News

Technology

Teleporter sends ions on long-distance journey

News

Technology

Face-blurring technology raises privacy questions

News

Opinion

The pathologist challenging shaken baby syndrome

Health

The pathologist challenging shaken baby syndrome

Irene Scheimberg says she is prepared to challenge injustice whenever it arises In 1976 Irene Scheimberg fled Argentina when the military regime began arresting and killing her friends, experiences that have made her extra sensitive to injustice. Today, as a paediatric pathologist in the UK, she is prepared to challenge it whenever it arises, whether …

Opinion

Editorial: Why your DNA needs more protection

Opinion

Editorial: Our right to do ourselves harm

Opinion

Editorial: A crazy adventure that inspires us all

Opinion

Why turning out brilliant scientists isn't enough

Opinion

Earth

Did gung-ho policies cause an earthquake?

Opinion

Features

The six biggest mysteries of our solar system

Space

The six biggest mysteries of our solar system

So far as we know, our solar system is unique in the universe ONCE upon a time, 4.6 billion years ago, something was brewing in an unremarkable backwater of the Milky Way. The ragbag of stuff that suffuses the inconsequential, in-between bits of all galaxies – hydrogen and helium gas with just a sprinkling of …

Features

Space

Unknown solar system 1: How was the solar system built?

Features

Space

Why are the sun and moon the same size in the sky?

Features

Space

Is there a Planet X?

Features

Space

Where do comets come from?

Features

Space

Is the solar system unique?

Features

Space

How will the solar system end?

Features

Life

Evolution: The next 200 years

Features

Life

Across the ocean in a pedal-powered submarine

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.

Enigma No. 1530

Tom Daley Before being the youngest member of the British team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Tom Daley had become the youngest European diving champion on record by winning the individual title from the 10-metre platform board while still aged only 13. So it is appropriate that I can offer this puzzle: TOM × 13 …

Regulars

Review: The Art Instinct by Denis Dutton

Books & Arts

Review: Taking the Medicine by Druin Burch

Books & Arts

Review: Time in Antiquity by Robert Hannah

Books & Arts

Space

Review: The Hunt for Planet X by Govert Schilling

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

Elephant husbandry in the Western Isles of Scotland PLOUGHING through the paperwork issued by his local council, one of whose tasks is to administer the movement of pigs between crofts on Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland, Brendon Harty came across an unexpected instruction regarding the import of livestock onto his croft. Under the …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

Browse past issues

View all
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop