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This week's magazine

17 September 2011

Issue 2830

New Scientist issue 2830 cover
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Editor's picks

520 days: Surviving everyday life on a mission to Mars

Space

520 days: Surviving everyday life on a mission to Mars

Features
The unsung sense: How smell rules your life

Life

The unsung sense: How smell rules your life

Features
Current power: New tide turbines tap oceans of energy

Earth

Current power: New tide turbines tap oceans of energy

Features
Bonobo Eden: At home with the peace-and-love apes

Life

Bonobo Eden: At home with the peace-and-love apes

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.

Technology

Base-jumping robot throws itself off buildings

Adrenalin junkies, step aside: a new base-jumping robot can climb up buildings before deploying a paraglider to fly back down to earth. It is also equipped with an on-board video camera to film the jump. The robot – named Paraswift – is a collaboration between Disney Research and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) …

News

Life

South African fossils halfway between ape and human

News

Earth

Virus gene engineer sends caterpillars to a sticky end

News

Health

Knock out one gene to knock out chronic pain

News

Life

Evolutionary mystery of female orgasm deepens

News

Health

Glowing transgenic cats could boost AIDS research

News

Earth

Wolverine's survival is in the hands of the law

News

Space

Super-Earth discovered in a habitable zone

News

Science rears its head in Republican debates

News

Health

Emergency plan to stop Europe's tuberculosis crisis

News

Earth

Elemental threat to everyday tech spelled out

News

Laser fusion trio team up to develop clean power

News

60 Seconds

News

Health

Cancer's cravings could be its undoing

News

Space

Pluto's icy exterior may conceal an ocean

News

Space

Ashes from massacred planets hide black holes

News

Physics

Attoclock turns electrons into movie stars

News

Earth

The next Pangaea will have pieces missing

News

Health

Brain cancer fits halted by gut drug

News

Life

'Gloomy' gene may make you more positive

News

Fathers are responsible for mother tongues

News

Life

Honeybee anti-waggle song tells others to buzz off

News

Technology

Darwin's robots: Survival of the fittest digital brain

News

Technology

Nokia app powers portable brain scanner

News

Technology

Subversive apps help citizens fight state silencing

News

Technology

Robot-assisted plants find their place in the sun

News

Life

Life-like cells are made of metal

News

Space

Multiple dwarf strikes gave Milky Way its spirals

News

Space

Neutron star smash-ups may forge gold

News

Opinion

Björk: I was always a bit of a nerd

Björk: I was always a bit of a nerd

Scientifically minded Björk is at it again. Ever eclectic, her latest album is inspired by science and there's a suite of apps through which to experience it. David Robson met the Icelandic singer to find out more, and enjoyed a sweet music lesson to boot JUMPING from her seat, Björk plunges her hand into a …

Opinion

Stamp out anti-science in US politics

Opinion

Trying to understand the English riots is not a crime

Opinion

Space

Dava Sobel: Why I fell for Copernicus

Opinion

Aperture

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.

Heat of the night: See Masai Mara wildlife in the dark

See more: To see the image this article refers to, keep checking Picture of the Day on our news blog Short Sharp Science

Regulars

Features

520 days: Surviving everyday life on a mission to Mars

Space

520 days: Surviving everyday life on a mission to Mars

One of the most extreme psychological experiments ever is drawing to a close. New Scientist gets exclusive access to Mars 500's mission control

Features

Life

The unsung sense: How smell rules your life

Features

Earth

Current power: New tide turbines tap oceans of energy

Features

Life

Bonobo Eden: At home with the peace-and-love apes

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.

Fiddling with fibreglass

Sculptor DeWain Valentine loved the optical qualities of fibreglass, but not its limitations. So he cooked up a new formula DURING the second world war, the Germans had a secret formula for fibreglass – used to make fast, lightweight boats – which British intelligence stole and handed on to American manufacturers. By the 1960s, fibreglass …

CultureLab

Murder and bad medicine

CultureLab

Bringing Dawkins home to the kids

CultureLab

More

A matter of chemistry

A matter of chemistry

Chemistry at work Chemists are in demand in many industries but getting your foot in the door can be difficult. Read the stories of those who already have a track record Andrew Trapani, polymer developer We all know watching paint dry is a tedious affair. Designing polymers to make paint more environmentally friendly, however, is …

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: Canine two-dimensional perception

Canine two-dimensional perception READERS continue to be fascinated by their dogs' 3D perception, or lack of it. John Dobson writes of trying to replicate the experiment reported in a letter to New Scientist by Elizabeth Girling (5 March, p 33) . She climbed a tree and called her two dogs: the pointer found her immediately …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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