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This week's magazine

16 April 2011

Issue 2808

New Scientist issue 2808 cover
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Editor's picks

Grand delusions: Why we're determined to be free

Life

Grand delusions: Why we're determined to be free

Features
Go reconfigure: Machines that become whatever you want

Technology

Go reconfigure: Machines that become whatever you want

Features
The secret superpower of the cockroach

Life

The secret superpower of the cockroach

Features
One, two, many: The prehistory of counting

Life

One, two, many: The prehistory of counting

Features

Table of contents

News

Evolutionary tug of war inside sweet-potato whitefly

Earth

Evolutionary tug of war inside sweet-potato whitefly

Under threat from a helpful bacterium? Trouble could be brewing in the sweet-potato fields of the south-western US. In just six years a bacterium has infected nearly the entire population of a pest that devastated crops in the 1980s and 90s – and the microbe messes with the pest's sex life to help them both …

News

Life

Revelations of stars' ages will be a boon for SETI

News

Health

Psychedelic drug cuts brain blood flow and connections

News

Life

Exo-evolution: Aliens who hide, survive

News

Life

Mapping touch to sight takes time to learn

News

Health

Aloe vera extract gave rats tumours

News

Health

Cannabis-based drug gets green light worldwide

News

Health

Junk food 'inflammation' may trigger diabetes

News

Space

Hobbyist photos used to recreate comet orbit

News

Life

Ancient lakes show when eukaryotic life left the sea

News

Fukushima crisis raised to level 7, still no Chernobyl

News

Earth

Fish 'ebola' caused marine mass death in Milwaukee

News

UFO search engine for those who want to believe

News

60 Seconds

News

Mystery signal at Fermilab hints at 'technicolour' force

News

Health

Genes from algae allow blind mice to see

News

Health

Why 30 years of AIDS is only the tip of an iceberg

News

Life

Polar animals' antifreeze has a spiky secret

News

Shipping noise pulps organs of squid and octopuses

News

Health

How antidepressants boost growth of new brain cells

News

Earth

Acidic ocean robs coral of vital building material

News

Life

Hear my chewin': how jawbones evolved into ear bones

News

The evolutionary significance of sickly bitter tastes

News

Technology

Headset gives a voice to the voice box-less

News

Life

Emotional video gaming makes the action real

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Technology

Artificial chameleon tongue has bug-catching licked

News

Technology

Want to stay anonymous online? Don't share files

News

Opinion

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.

Dreams of a technicolour force

A strange signal found at Fermilab could be a new fundamental force, but there is a long way to go before the discovery can be called definite PARTICLE physics has been gripped by an excitement not seen for 16 years – although the drama is coming from the wrong place and the wrong particle. With …

Opinion

Squid and octopuses need their peace and quiet

Opinion

Earth

Conservation and farming must learn to live together

Opinion

Life

Scientist imam: Muslims need to talk about evolution

Opinion

How to be happy: Putting well-being on the agenda

Opinion

Life

How to be happy: What is happiness anyway?

Opinion

Life

How to be happy: Act now if you want a revolution

Opinion

Life

How to be happy: Divided we fail

Opinion

Life

How to be happy: Don't try too hard

Opinion

How to be happy: The optimist manifesto

Opinion

Life

How to be happy: The digital frontier

Opinion

Features

Grand delusions: Why we're determined to be free

Life

Grand delusions: Why we're determined to be free

Video: Do we have free will? Neuroscience says we don't make our own decisions – but if we believed that, the world would be full of liars, cheats and losers IT IS the year 2500. Physicists have long had a Grand Unified Theory of Everything and neuroscientists now know precisely how the hardware of the …

Features

Technology

Go reconfigure: Machines that become whatever you want

Features

Life

The secret superpower of the cockroach

Features

Life

One, two, many: The prehistory of counting

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 1642

Triangular quartet The first four triangular numbers are 1, 3, 6 and 10, and the n th triangular number is given by the expression n ( n +1)/2, so the 20th such number is 20 × 21 ÷ 2 = 210. ENIGMA is a triangular number in which all the digits are different. ENI – …

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.

Feedback: Far infrared, the fruitloop favourite

Far infrared, the fruitloop favourite FAR-INFRARED rays are flavour of the month in fruitloopery circles. Rupert Roker alerts us to a recent judgment by the UK Advertising Standards Authority banning an advertisement put out by Nuga Best, maker of a "thermal massage bed" with various add-on gadgets. “BBC teletext recently announced "UK space agency aiming …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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