Subscribe now

This week's magazine

19 December 2009

Issue 2739

New Scientist issue 2739 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

A history of walking on water

Technology

A history of walking on water

Features
Alice's adventures in algebra: Wonderland solved

Physics

Alice's adventures in algebra: Wonderland solved

Features
The shape of gifts to come

Technology

The shape of gifts to come

Features
Little suckers: Putting leeches on a tight leash

Life

Little suckers: Putting leeches on a tight leash

Features
Sugar-free satisfaction: Finding the brain's sweet spot

Life

Sugar-free satisfaction: Finding the brain's sweet spot

Features
Getting to grips with why we slip

Technology

Getting to grips with why we slip

Features
Foot-in-mouth syndrome: Pitfalls of the party season

Life

Foot-in-mouth syndrome: Pitfalls of the party season

Features
Pong-ology: Sniffing out a cure for iffy whiffs

Life

Pong-ology: Sniffing out a cure for iffy whiffs

Features
Let's face it, science is boring

Let's face it, science is boring

Features
Pain or prayer? Two ways to grow a religion

Life

Pain or prayer? Two ways to grow a religion

Features
High-tech tipples: The future of cocktails

Life

High-tech tipples: The future of cocktails

Features
Why your boss is incompetent

Life

Why your boss is incompetent

Features
Sex and shopping – it's a guy thing

Life

Sex and shopping – it's a guy thing

Features
Atomic dogs: The making of an internet sensation

Technology

Atomic dogs: The making of an internet sensation

Features
New Scientist 2009 trivia quiz

New Scientist 2009 trivia quiz

Features

Table of contents

News

Scientists who put their lives on the line

Scientists who put their lives on the line

John Stapp rides a rocket sled at Edwards Air Force Base Our recent article on scientists who became their own test subjects obviously piqued your imaginations – we had a flood of suggestions for other researchers we could have included that took their science well beyond the realms of personal safety. It would be a …

News

Health

BMJ criticisms of Tamiflu questioned

News

Technology

Flexible solar cell implant could restore vision

News

Earth

Our atmosphere came from outer space

News

Technology

Fake blood cells so agile they can carry drugs

News

Life

Octopuses use coconut shells as portable shelters

News

Space

Baby black holes implicated in universe's mightiest rays

News

Life

Small fingers give women a sensitive touch

News

Earth

Battle for climate data approaches tipping point

News

Life

Microbes survive 30,000 years inside a salt crystal

News

Life

Is synaesthesia a high-level brain power?

News

Space

Alien planet could be ultimate water world

News

Earth

Dams linked to more extreme weather

News

DNA's guardian gene found in placozoans

News

Life

Life in the inner galaxy would be bombarded by comets

News

Health

Know a gene's 'parent' to improve disease prediction

News

Technology

Chatbots add intelligence to Sherlock Holmes game

News

Life

Computer-aided design for life itself

News

Earth

Geo software aims to avoid ski resort eco-disasters

News

2010: The preview

News

Space

2010 preview: The space shuttle's last ride

News

Life

2010 preview: Arise, Neanderthal brother

News

Technology

2010 preview: The polyglot web

News

Life

2010 preview: Is this the year that we create life?

News

Earth

2010 preview: Automotive X Prize contestants power up

News

Technology

2010 preview: Tooth-mounted hearing aid for the masses

News

Health

2010 preview: Genome sequencing for all

News

Life

2010 preview: Journey to the bottom of the sea

News

Life

2010 preview: Waiting for ET to phone

News

Space

2010 preview: Will a neutralino steal Higgs's thunder?

News

Total recall: The milestones of 2009

News

Technology

Video-stitched cellphone streams go widescreen

News

Opinion

Free yourself from oppression by technology

Life

Free yourself from oppression by technology

Technologically depressed "THE age of melancholy" is how psychologist Daniel Goleman describes our era. People today experience more depression than previous generations, despite the technological wonders that help us every day. It might be because of them. Our lifestyles are increasingly driven by technology. Phones, computers and the internet pervade our days. There is a …

Opinion

Life

Richard Wrangham: Cooking is what made us human

Opinion

Bill Bryson: Everything that happens is amazing

Opinion

Life

Beware humans bearing gifts

Opinion

The noughties – a decade of Big Science

Opinion

Features

A history of walking on water

Technology

A history of walking on water

Video: How to walk on water Water walking was the vision for the future On the afternoon of 22 January 1907, a wailing chorus of steamboat whistles sent the residents of Memphis, Tennessee, running to the banks of the Mississippi river. "A great crowd assembled on the riverside, thinking some great disaster was taking place …

Features

Physics

Alice's adventures in algebra: Wonderland solved

Features

Technology

The shape of gifts to come

Features

Life

Little suckers: Putting leeches on a tight leash

Features

Life

Sugar-free satisfaction: Finding the brain's sweet spot

Features

Technology

Getting to grips with why we slip

Features

Life

Foot-in-mouth syndrome: Pitfalls of the party season

Features

Life

Pong-ology: Sniffing out a cure for iffy whiffs

Features

Let's face it, science is boring

Features

Life

Pain or prayer? Two ways to grow a religion

Features

Life

High-tech tipples: The future of cocktails

Features

Life

Why your boss is incompetent

Features

Life

Sex and shopping – it's a guy thing

Features

Technology

Atomic dogs: The making of an internet sensation

Features

New Scientist 2009 trivia quiz

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 Number 1576

The holly and the ivy and the... This year I have designed my own Christmas card. It consists of 16 squares pasted onto a card in a closely packed 4-by-4 array. There are four pictures of holly, four of ivy, four of mistletoe and four of fir trees. There are four background colours of gold, …

Regulars

Flash fiction competition winners

Books & Arts

Quiz: Ten curiosities to identify

Books & Arts

Postgraduate dilemmas

Careers

What's hot on NewScientist.com

Regulars

The science of Santa

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.

Who vetoed 'blood as perfume'?

Sweet smell of blood JUST before the latest vampire movie hit the screens, Feedback's eye was caught by a strong candidate for our paper title of the week award, in a press release from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences : "Blood as perfume and the mate-choice decisions of a mosquito-eating jumping spider", by …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

Browse past issues

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