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This week's magazine

7 July 2012

Issue 2872

New Scientist issue 2872 cover
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Editor's picks

How global warming is driving our weather wild

Earth

How global warming is driving our weather wild

Features
The wonder-working bubbles that physics can't explain

Technology

The wonder-working bubbles that physics can't explain

Features
Genetic detectives hunt the global amphibian killer

Earth

Genetic detectives hunt the global amphibian killer

Features
Sports engineering: How technology transformed sport

Humans

Sports engineering: How technology transformed sport

Features
Sports engineering: The physics of sport

Humans

Sports engineering: The physics of sport

Features
Sports engineering: The future

Humans

Sports engineering: The future

Features
Sports engineering: Is technology cheating?

Humans

Sports engineering: Is technology cheating?

Features

Table of contents

News

'Death carrot' could hold the key to new cancer drugs

Health

'Death carrot' could hold the key to new cancer drugs

An active ingredient in Thapsia garganica fights cancer cells exclusively A pretty yellow flower could hold the key to the next generation of cancer drugs, and is about to head into human clinical trials. The flowering Thapsia garganica plant looks innocent enough, but the common Mediterranean weed is highly toxic to sheep and cattle, earning …

News

Life

Oldest pottery hints at cooking's ice-age origins

News

Technology

Graffiti battery lets you spray paint power supply

News

Life

Titan's tides reveal hidden ocean that could host life

News

Health

Rusty memories rejuvenated in elderly mice

News

Earth

Humans and nature turn American West into a tinderbox

News

Space

Humble DNA could help decipher dark matter

News

Health

HIV tests offered at pharmacies under pilot initiative

News

Earth

Protests greet reboot of Japanese nuclear reactor

News

Islamist threat to Timbuktu's ancient scientific texts

News

Technology

Gotcha! Higgs find will kick off new era of knowledge

News

Life

Lying cuttlefish tells rival males he's a girl

News

Health

GlaxoSmithKline agrees $3 billion fraud payout

News

Foot-and-mouth disease stalks Egypt

News

Technology

Computer composer honours Turing's centenary

News

60 Seconds

News

Health

Split personality crime: who is guilty?

News

Space

Vital eye for killer asteroids could shut imminently

News

Earth

Eco-activists want to torpedo a war game

News

Life

Hungry and horny mantis hides in the wind

News

Space

Dark matter underpinnings of cosmic web found

News

Technology

Moisturiser modified to tackle skin cancer

News

Earth

Virus power harnessed to protect Red Sea coral

News

Technology

Robot avatar body controlled by thought alone

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Technology

Diagnosing Parkinson's in a phone call with a computer

News

Technology

Computer watches you play a game, then beats you at it

News

Opinion

Terror tactics: Science in the anarchists' cross hairs

Terror tactics: Science in the anarchists' cross hairs

Self-proclaimed anarchists are waging a violent campaign against science and technology. What do they want?

Opinion

What compels people to give their money away?

Opinion

Humans

Power is the ultimate high

Opinion

Earth

As freak weather becomes the norm, we need to adapt

Opinion

Space

When it comes to defence, our priorities are wrong

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.

Stormchaser: Capturing The Beast

See more: To see the image this article refers to, keep checking Picture of the Day on our news blog Short Sharp Science SAY hello to The Beast. Of hundreds of storms pursued and photographed since 1999 by veteran US storm-chaser Mike Hollingshead, this is the one he rates as most spectacular. "It's still pretty …

Regulars

Features

How global warming is driving our weather wild

Earth

How global warming is driving our weather wild

Not only is global weather becoming much more extreme, it is becoming even more extreme than anyone expected

Features

Technology

The wonder-working bubbles that physics can't explain

Features

Earth

Genetic detectives hunt the global amphibian killer

Features

Humans

Sports engineering: How technology transformed sport

Features

Humans

Sports engineering: The physics of sport

Features

Humans

Sports engineering: The future

Features

Humans

Sports engineering: Is technology cheating?

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.

Chasing deadly viruses for a living

In his new autobiography, Peter Piot shares harrowing stories about a career spent pursuing the Ebola virus and HIV See more: An illustrated version of this article will be published within the next two weeks on our CultureLab books and arts blog Why write an autobiography? There is a lot that is not in scientific …

CultureLab

The poster-child endangered seal

CultureLab

Mind

How much can you trust your own memory?

CultureLab

The evolutionary mysteries of religion and orgasms

CultureLab

The history of humanity in our genes

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 1705

Not deducible Harry and Tom have each found a 4-digit perfect square, a 3-digit perfect cube and a 3-digit triangular number that use 10 different digits, but with no leading zero. A triangular number is one that fits the formula n(n+1)/2, such as 1, 3, 6, 10, 15. Even if I told you Harry's triangular …

Regulars

Regulars

Feedback: Losing your Olympic bottle

Feedback: Losing your Olympic bottle

Virtual containers required FEEDBACK readers are becoming notorious for reading the small print. This may be upsetting to those who comfortably assume that no one does, and so believe that threats of failure to comply being dealt with by a "leather winged demon of the night" may suffice (16 December 2006) . “The euro "came …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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