Subscribe now

This week's magazine

19 January 2013

Issue 2900

New Scientist issue 2900 cover
Previous issue Next issue
arrow
Subscribe
Access our magazine content direct via our website, app or print magazine
arrow
View in the app
Check out this magazine in our easy-to-navigate mobile app
arrow
Find a previous edition online
Search through our digital archive of over 30 years of magazines

Editor's picks

Sacrificing Einstein: Relativity's keystone has to go

Space

Sacrificing Einstein: Relativity's keystone has to go

Features
See ya, latex: Reinventing the condom

Life

See ya, latex: Reinventing the condom

Features
Genes from nowhere: Orphans with a surprising story

Life

Genes from nowhere: Orphans with a surprising story

Features
Uncharted territory: Where digital maps are leading us

Technology

Uncharted territory: Where digital maps are leading us

Features

Table of contents

News

Ghostly galaxies burned off mysterious cosmic fog

Space

Ghostly galaxies burned off mysterious cosmic fog

Beacons in the fog Ghostly galaxies in the distant universe are almost certainly the culprits behind a mysterious change in intergalactic gas that allows us to see across the cosmos . Although these galaxies are too faint to be spotted by current telescopes, future instruments could soon reveal their presence. About 300,000 years after the …

News

Space

Hints of new dark force seen in galactic smash-ups

News

Technology

Muscle mimic pulls electricity from wet surface

News

Physics

Most fundamental clock ever could redefine kilogram

News

Health

Is the US facing Flu-mageddon?

News

Space

Astrophile: Zombie stars feed on Earth-like exoplanets

News

Life

Zoologger: Mouse eats scorpions and howls at the moon

News

Life

Straitjacket drug halts herpes virus's escape stunt

News

Space

Largest structure challenges Einstein's smooth cosmos

News

Technology

How to make a skyscraper disappear

News

Life

Why musical genius comes easier to early starters

News

Earth

Nations are taking action on climate change

News

Life

Social antics in ants inherited like sex chromosomes

News

Health

Life expectancy lower in US than other rich countries

News

Beijing skylines yields dramatic view of choking city

News

White House uses Death Star request to plug science

News

60 Seconds

News

Low-power laser may keep blindness at bay

News

Earth

Drought, fire, ice: world is gripped by extreme weather

News

Earth

Australian inferno previews fire-prone future

News

Life

Why trees can't grow taller than 100 metres

News

Technology

Wind turbines supercharged with superconductors

News

Technology

Blinded by sun? Let your steering wheel guide you

News

Earth

Mussels with backpacks monitor Mississippi's health

News

Life

Turn up the bass to scare birds away from planes

News

Earth

Japan to build world's largest offshore wind farm

News

Space

NASA buys blow-up habitat for space station astronauts

News

Opinion

Wind power delivers too much to ignore

Earth

Wind power delivers too much to ignore

Although aesthetic concerns need to be heard, qualms about wind's reliability are wide of the mark, argues energy policy researcher Reg Platt

Opinion

Technology

A theory of everything won't provide all the answers

Opinion

Health

Call off the pregnancy police – women want the truth

Opinion

Earth

Wild weather: Extreme is the new normal

Opinion

Technology

The digital map is not the territory

Opinion

Analysis

Kinect sensor poised to leap into everyday life

Technology

Kinect sensor poised to leap into everyday life

Every reach recorded WHEN Microsoft's Kinect gaming sensor first exploded onto the gaming scene in 2010, it wasn't long before people started getting excited about what it might make possible. But despite some imaginative hacks , and even a stint in the operating theatre , the breakthrough depth-sensing technology that made Kinect such a success …

News

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.

Supernova-powered bow shock creates cosmic spectacle

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

Sacrificing Einstein: Relativity's keystone has to go

Space

Sacrificing Einstein: Relativity's keystone has to go

Our hopes of finding a theory of everything depend on upsetting a balance that Einstein cherished

Features

Life

See ya, latex: Reinventing the condom

Features

Life

Genes from nowhere: Orphans with a surprising story

Features

Technology

Uncharted territory: Where digital maps are leading us

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.

Humans

Could botox change your life for the better?

See more: An illustrated version of this article will be published within the next two weeks on our CultureLab books and arts blog

CultureLab

Technology

Let's be clear on health risks from radiation

CultureLab

A glittering introduction to the night sky

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 1732

Cache up front Joe was having a dream. He was planning a solo trek to the North Pole and back, a total of 500 miles. His main problem was not being able to carry daily supplies sufficient for more than 240 miles, that is, in addition to the rest of his kit. He calculated how …

Regulars

Regulars

Feedback: Tales of the stony turd industry

Feedback: Tales of the stony turd industry

Tales of the stony turd industry WE MENTIONED recently that the New Mexico Museum of Natural History has devoted a whole issue of its Bulletin to the subject of coprolites – aka fossilised faeces ( 8 December 2012 ). This reminded Michael Ghirelli of the time he spent studying the geology around Shillington , a …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

Browse past issues

View all
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop