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This week's magazine

18 September 2010

Issue 2778

New Scientist issue 2778 cover
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Editor's picks

What's eating the stars out of our galaxy's heart?

Space

What's eating the stars out of our galaxy's heart?

Features
Brain-hacking art: Pictures that turn inside out

Life

Brain-hacking art: Pictures that turn inside out

Features
Brain-hacking art: Twisting mirrors, unreal shadows

Life

Brain-hacking art: Twisting mirrors, unreal shadows

Features
Brain-hacking art: Virtual reality, the old way

Life

Brain-hacking art: Virtual reality, the old way

Features
Brain-hacking art: Making an emotional impression

Life

Brain-hacking art: Making an emotional impression

Features
Brain-hacking art: Two pictures for the price of one

Life

Brain-hacking art: Two pictures for the price of one

Features
Brain-hacking art: Getting your wires crossed

Life

Brain-hacking art: Getting your wires crossed

Features
Think or swim: Can we hold back the oceans?

Earth

Think or swim: Can we hold back the oceans?

Features
Avatar therapy: From couch to cyberspace

Life

Avatar therapy: From couch to cyberspace

Features

Table of contents

News

Acoustic trick gives 'dumbphones' touchscreen feel

Technology

Acoustic trick gives 'dumbphones' touchscreen feel

brightcove.createExperiences(); Video: See how an old cellphone can become smarter The latest touchscreen? Embarrassed by your "ancient" push-button cellphone? Touchscreen envy eating you up inside? Fear not. New software could offer users of cheaper push-button phones access to some of the features usually found only on the more pricey smartphones. Called TouchDevice, the program renders …

News

Life

Meet William the Concherer, the dolphin that can fish

News

Life

Birds use optical illusions to get mates

News

Health

2000-year-old pills found in Greek shipwreck

News

Technology

Steampunk chip takes the heat

News

Technology

Towel-folding robot now on general sale

News

Technology

YouTube tries live video streaming

News

Space

M-theory: Doubts linger over godless multiverse

News

Technology

Quark excitement: LHC surpasses rivals for first time

News

Earth

Why BP's failure to mention safety culture is problem

News

Life

Religious rite gives evolution a helping hand

News

Health

Polio eradication programme feels the pinch

News

Earth

California's dolphins suffer mystery skin lesions

News

Earth

Arctic hurricane frequency set to dwindle as world warms

News

Life

IVF has best chance of success in spring

News

60 Seconds

News

Earth

Transgenic fish swimming towards a plate near you

News

Health

Autism drug aims to balance brain signals

News

Life

Bad breath sniffer to hunt for life on Mars

News

Health

Blood disorder cured – a first for gene therapy

News

Physics

Light trapped on curved surfaces

News

Life

Ancient South American megabird had 6-metre wingspan

News

Life

Antibiotics play hell with gut flora

News

Life

Women with the baby blues process emotion differently

News

Life

For clean hands, don't rub, scrub with a paper towel

News

Space

Did Jupiter and Saturn play pinball with Uranus?

News

Technology

How Google Instant knows what you want

News

Life

Untagged: Software recognises animals it's seen before

News

Technology

Living fuel cells squeeze juice from jellyfish

News

Technology

World's smallest fridge could chill quantum computers

News

Technology

Electron vortex could trap atoms

News

Technology

New pi record exploits Yahoo's computers

News

Opinion

Goodbye, nature vs nurture

Life

Goodbye, nature vs nurture

An entanglement of genes and environment Talking about nature and nurture as separate, clear-cut forces is far adrift from the complexities of developmental science, says Evelyn Fox Keller ONE of the most striking features of the nature/nurture debate, the argument over the relative roles of genes and environment in human nature, is the frequency with …

Opinion

Technology

'Off-grid' cellphone towers could save lives

Opinion

Earth

Bjørn Lomborg: Use technology to fight climate change

Opinion

Features

What's eating the stars out of our galaxy's heart?

Space

What's eating the stars out of our galaxy's heart?

There's a hole at the centre of our galaxy (Image: http://www.iamciara.co.uk/ The centre of the Milky Way is darker than you'd expect – and not just because it's home to a supermassive black hole A LITTLE over 25,000 light years away lies the most mysterious place in the nearby universe. Jam-packed with colliding stars and …

Features

Life

Brain-hacking art: Pictures that turn inside out

Features

Life

Brain-hacking art: Twisting mirrors, unreal shadows

Features

Life

Brain-hacking art: Virtual reality, the old way

Features

Life

Brain-hacking art: Making an emotional impression

Features

Life

Brain-hacking art: Two pictures for the price of one

Features

Life

Brain-hacking art: Getting your wires crossed

Features

Earth

Think or swim: Can we hold back the oceans?

Features

Life

Avatar therapy: From couch to cyberspace

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 1613

Odd one out There are five teams in our local football league and each plays each other once in the season, earning 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw. Here is the league table from the end of last season, but only part of it is shown. And digits have consistently been …

Regulars

Can video games be art?

Books & Arts

The industry that promises a cure for ageing

Books & Arts

Demystifying the eel

Books & Arts

What can a humble pebble reveal about the Earth?

Books & Arts

Pastures small and green beckon chemists

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.

Give me that in light years

Give me that in light years PROGRAMMERS, when bored, sometimes like to be sarcastically vigilant in ensuring that their work covers all conceivable eventualities. Feedback thinks this might explain the actions of those who created AutoCAD, a program used to edit designs for everything from window frames to jet engine components. It even allows you …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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