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This week's magazine

9 April 2011

Issue 2807

New Scientist issue 2807 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.

Life

Mind controls: How magnets make the worm turn

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.

Life

Mind controls: Putting a light switch in the brain

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.

Life

Mind controls: Magnetic relief for depression

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.

Life

Mind controls: Good vibrations reach deep in the brain

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.

Mind controls: A traffic cop on the nerve superhighway

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.

Life

Mind controls: Electrodes sitting on the brain's surface

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.

Health

Mind controls: Wires in the brain

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.

Life

Mind controls: Running electricity through the skull

Features
The bonus myth: How paying for results can backfire

Life

The bonus myth: How paying for results can backfire

Features
Catcher in the sky: The search for mystery matter

Space

Catcher in the sky: The search for mystery matter

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.

How birds of paradise find mates, by David Attenborough

Features
Mind controls: Eight new tools to boost your brain

Life

Mind controls: Eight new tools to boost your brain

Features

Table of contents

News

Dark matter could make planets habitable

Space

Dark matter could make planets habitable

Near the centre of the Milky Way, planets may be heated by dark matter Dark matter could make planets that would otherwise be hostile to life habitable, a new study suggests. It suggests that in areas rich in dark matter, particles of the stuff could collect inside free-floating planets that have no star to warm …

News

Health

Cannabis-like drugs could kill pain without the high

News

Life

Ravens kiss and make up after a brawl

News

Physics

FBI calls on codebreakers to decipher murder notes

News

Earth

Earth is shaped like a lumpy potato

News

Earth

TEPCO under fire over handling of Fukushima crisis

News

Earth

Gulf Stream could be threatened by Arctic flush

News

Life

'Tree of lice' suggests mammals did OK under dinos

News

Earth

Ten years to save Australia's Great Barrier Reef

News

Health

Cancer charity tidies up Wikipedia

News

Health

Autism treatments are falling short

News

Earth

Japan to honour climate pledges despite nuclear crisis

News

60 Seconds

News

Life

Brain scans suggest psychopaths could be treated

News

Life

Neanderthals: Bad luck and its part in their downfall

News

Life

Should steroid users take drugs to treat 'roid rage'?

News

Space

Mundane explanation for bizarre Pioneer anomaly

News

Physics

How to turn the vacuum into a superconductor

News

Technology

Air pockets can make prosthetic hands feel real

News

Space

Crater 'ghost' on fresh-faced Titan

News

Life

Birds feed 'shiny' chicks bigger helpings of food

News

Health

Boosted heat shock proteins may fight Alzheimer's

News

Prejudice linked to female fertility cycle

News

Technology

Automating the hunt for child pornographers

News

Technology

A tap on the arm switches music tracks while you run

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Earth

A single source for clean water and fuel

News

Earth

Hot solar cells are the cool way to water and power

News

Life

Stem cells coaxed into forming partial eyeball

News

Technology

Bye-bye electrons? Circuit made from flowing atoms

News

Opinion

Simon Baron-Cohen: I want to banish evil

Life

Simon Baron-Cohen: I want to banish evil

Out with the evil The autism researcher explains why labelling people "evil" is unhelpful – and argues for a more objective measure of people's capacity for cruelty What got you interested in the idea of understanding evil and cruelty? As a child growing up in a Jewish family, my father told me that the Nazis …

Opinion

Drug help for drug harms

Opinion

The bonus pay paradox

Opinion

Alien life beyond the Goldilocks zone

Opinion

Earth

Say no to uranium mining in the Grand Canyon

Opinion

Space

Yuri Gagarin: 108 minutes in space

Opinion

Features

The bonus myth: How paying for results can backfire

Life

The bonus myth: How paying for results can backfire

Short-term result Editorial: " The bonus pay paradox " If you want to boost people's performance, don't bank on bonuses BONUS culture has come under intense scrutiny since the ongoing financial crisis began in 2007. Many people have been outraged by the way some bankers and top executives seem to have been rewarded for failure. …

Features

Space

Catcher in the sky: The search for mystery matter

Features

How birds of paradise find mates, by David Attenborough

Features

Life

Mind controls: Eight new tools to boost your brain

Features

Health

Mind controls: Wires in the brain

Features

Life

Mind controls: Running electricity through the skull

Features

Life

Mind controls: Electrodes sitting on the brain's surface

Features

Mind controls: A traffic cop on the nerve superhighway

Features

Life

Mind controls: Good vibrations reach deep in the brain

Features

Life

Mind controls: Magnetic relief for depression

Features

Life

Mind controls: Putting a light switch in the brain

Features

Life

Mind controls: How magnets make the worm turn

Features

Culturelab

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.

Putting the DIY in DNA

Part field guide and part critique, Marcus Wohlsen's Biopunk navigates the contentious new terrain of biohacking WHEN her dad was diagnosed with the hereditary disease haemochromatosis, 23-year-old Kay Aull did the natural thing, at least for an MIT graduate in bioengineering. She went online and bought a used thermal cycler for $100. She also ordered …

CultureLab

Decoding the message of the seas

CultureLab

Your questions answered about the science of flight

CultureLab

Science pervades western thought – but should it?

CultureLab

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 1641

3 × 3 = 1 Joe printed and cut out nine 3 by 3 cardboard magic squares. The nine squares used all the numbers from 1 to 81. For a square to be magic, the sums of the numbers in each row, each column and each diagonal must all be the same. This sum is …

Regulars

Benelux: little in size, big on science

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.

Feedback: Air scribble and other outmoded gestures

Redundant scribbles in the air OUR reports on the phenomenon of people "using words in a novel sense without knowing their original meaning" (25 December 2010 and 22 January 2011) struck a chord with Anita Gait. She draws our attention to the parallel phenomenon of people using gestures that no longer represent the idea they …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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