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This week's magazine

26 November 2011

Issue 2840

New Scientist issue 2840 cover
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Editor's picks

Ultimate guide to the multiverse

Physics

Ultimate guide to the multiverse

Features
Banishing consciousness: the mystery of anaesthesia

Health

Banishing consciousness: the mystery of anaesthesia

Features
Asteroid touchdown: mission to a mini-world

Space

Asteroid touchdown: mission to a mini-world

Features
Paint-on power, the saviour of solar

Earth

Paint-on power, the saviour of solar

Features

Table of contents

News

Hyperactive neurons build brains in synaesthesia

Health

Hyperactive neurons build brains in synaesthesia

Red letter day( Image: William McKellar/ Brand X Pictures/Getty ) Neurons with hyperactive tendencies may help to explain the mysterious mechanisms that cause synaesthesia. The discovery could help develop treatments for other visual anomalies such as hallucinations. Grapheme-colour synaesthesia is a condition in which an individual's sense of numbers or letters is associated with different …

News

Health

Fetus donates stem cells to heal mother's heart

News

Space

New results show neutrinos still faster than light

News

Life

Soft food may lead to a mouth with too many teeth

News

Health

Bioterror fears could block crucial flu research

News

Space

Cuts loom for science as 'supercommittee' fails

News

Health

Chronic fatigue researcher arrested in US

News

Earth

Chagos islands in sea-level rise controversy

News

Himalayan nations collaborate on climate

News

Health

United Nations report global drop in HIV infections

News

Attempt to spark Climategate 2

News

60 Seconds

News

Physics

LHC antimatter anomaly hints at new physics

News

Life

Life began with a planetary mega-organism

News

Life

Our ancestors speak out after 3 million years

News

Health

Alzheimer's damage reversed by deep brain stimulation

News

Saunas could heal your mood and your heart

News

Health

Seasonal flu may not spring from east Asia

News

'Third wheel' stars get cast out at high speeds

News

CSI: Fleming reveals true identity of penicillin

News

Life

Spider webs protected by chemical ants hate

News

Technology

Apps help hone sporting prowess for all

News

Technology

To self-diagnose, spit on an iPhone

News

Technology

'Pre-social network' finds you friends in your hang-outs

News

Technology

Online sex advertising crackdown could endanger women

News

Technology

Charge your electric car on the move

News

Life

Watery secret of the dinosaur death pose

News

Opinion

Cyberwar storm clouds are gathering

Technology

Cyberwar storm clouds are gathering

Has the threat of cyberwar entered a significant new phase? Unpicking the burgeoning reports of activity on the digital battlefield

Opinion

Life

Stop badmouthing sharks that bite people

Opinion

Technology

Google usability chief: Ideas have to be discoverable

Opinion

Space

Neutrinos and multiverses: a new cosmology beckons

Opinion

Technology

Taking the chance out of chance encounters

Opinion

Life

Consciousness is a matter of constraint

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.

Dry ice performs a sublime dance

See more: To see the image this article refers to, keep checking Picture of the Day on our news blog Short Sharp Science THE substance at the heart of worldwide concerns about climate change is more beautiful than most people realise. Inspired by the central role of carbon dioxide in the living economy of the …

Regulars

Features

Ultimate guide to the multiverse

Physics

Ultimate guide to the multiverse

WHETHER we are searching the cosmos or probing the subatomic realm, our most successful theories lead to the inescapable conclusion that our universe is just a speck in a vast sea of universes. Until recently many physicists were reluctant to accept the idea of this so-called multiverse. Recent progress in cosmology, string theory and quantum …

Features

Health

Banishing consciousness: the mystery of anaesthesia

Features

Space

Asteroid touchdown: mission to a mini-world

Features

Earth

Paint-on power, the saviour of solar

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.

Christmas gifts for the rationally curious

CultureLab's pick of whimsical gifts inspired by science

CultureLab

Popular science books to put on your Christmas list

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 1674

Four months In a normal year, February has 28 days, April has 30 and January and May both have 31. Using letters for digits consistently, JAN and MAY are divisible by 31, APR is divisible by 30, and FEB is divisible by 28. Please send in the three-digit number for FEB. WIN £15 will be …

Regulars

Hunting for black gold in the oil and gas industry

Careers

Firing on all synapses at neuroscience conference

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: Keeping up the alchemist tradition

Keeping up the alchemist tradition ALCHEMY lives! True, its heirs are deeply split. Some moved on to the actual chemistry that grew out of the workshop technologies alchemists developed. Others chose to build on the business model, and can now be found marketing tachyon-enhanced quantum pentawater. Phil and Jane Hodgson wonder what goes on behind …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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