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This week's magazine

23 February 2013

Issue 2905

New Scientist issue 2905 cover
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Editor's picks

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.

Life

Your true self: When the self breaks

Features
The self: The one and only you

Life

The self: The one and only you

Features
The self: You think you live in the present?

Humans

The self: You think you live in the present?

Features
The self: Trick yourself into an out-of-body experience

Humans

The self: Trick yourself into an out-of-body experience

Features
The self: Why are you like you are?

Life

The self: Why are you like you are?

Features
The self: What are we to do?

Life

The self: What are we to do?

Features
Curiosity's spills add thrills to the Mars life hunts

Life

Curiosity's spills add thrills to the Mars life hunts

Features

Table of contents

News

Mosh pit physics could aid disaster planning

Physics

Mosh pit physics could aid disaster planning

brightcove.createExperiences(); Video: Mosh pit simulation recalls random motion in gases Rock fans and air molecules: spot the connection? Metalheads in mosh pits act like atoms in a gas. That's the conclusion of the first study of the collective motion of people at a rock concert. The finding could add to the realism of computer-generated crowd …

News

Space

Mystery of cosmic rays' origin finally solved

News

Space

Astrophile: Evaporating planet shows how worlds vanish

News

Health

Victory for gene patent firm in Australian court

News

Earth

Oil spill firm to pay $400 million to fix Gulf coast

News

Technology

3D-printing pen turns doodles into sculptures

News

Earth

Biofuel rush is wiping out unique American grasslands

News

Technology

LHC shuts down to prepare for peak energy in 2015

News

Life

Huge telescopes could spy alien oxygen

News

Space

Space station's dark matter hunter coy about findings

News

Health

Doctors would tax sugary drinks to combat obesity

News

Health

Immune boost could protect against new killer virus

News

Earth

Fertiliser makes another reason to eat less meat

News

60 Seconds

News

Technology

E-cigarettes may soon be sold as life-saving medicine

News

Space

New satellite will be first asteroid sentinel in space

News

Life

Rusty rocks reveal ancient origin of photosynthesis

News

Life

Sweat mutation may have helped us colonise Asia

News

Earth

Wiping out top predators messes up the climate

News

Health

Synthetic llama antibodies soothe arthritis pain

News

Health

People in a vegetative state may feel pain

News

Night-vision rat becomes first animal with sixth sense

News

Dead shark spray keeps Jaws away

News

Health

New blood test finds elusive fetal gene problem

News

Technology

Brain-scanning headset monitors your mental workload

News

Technology

Mood-sensing smartphone tells your shrink how you feel

News

Technology

Spidey-sense suit tingles when someone gets too close

News

Life

Conductor of speech uncovered in the brain

News

Opinion

Culling urban foxes just doesn't work

Earth

Culling urban foxes just doesn't work

Rare cases of foxes biting children cause uproar, but culling won't cut numbers – it is our behaviour that needs addressing, says an ecologist

Opinion

Space

Take my taxi to the moon

Opinion

Life

All work and no play: Why Neanderthals were no Picasso

Opinion

Health

Tobacco giant wants to help you quit smoking

Opinion

Life

We need a piece of Mars to continue search for life

Opinion

Analysis

Amazon to open market in second-hand MP3s and e-books

Technology

Amazon to open market in second-hand MP3s and e-books

A new market for second-hand digital downloads could let us hold virtual yard sales of our ever-growing piles of intangible possessions

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.

Stunning seeds: a biological meteor wreathed in flames

See more: To see the image this article refers to, keep checking Picture of the Day on our news blog Short Sharp Science A METEOR burns as it tears through the atmosphere. No, wait, it's a nutmeg seed – licked not by flames but by strands of its dried covering, called mace. Nutmeg and mace …

Regulars

Features

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.

Life

Your true self: When the self breaks

That seamless sense of who you are can be disturbed by many things, including illness, injury or drugs

Features

Life

The self: The one and only you

Features

Humans

The self: You think you live in the present?

Features

Humans

The self: Trick yourself into an out-of-body experience

Features

Life

The self: Why are you like you are?

Features

Life

The self: What are we to do?

Features

Life

Curiosity's spills add thrills to the Mars life hunts

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.

The man who's crashing the techno-hype party

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

CultureLab

Quantum film competition: Winning weirdness

CultureLab

Time is running out for the solar revolution

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 1737

Base jumping In the country of Expluswye people do arithmetic using a smaller base than our decimal system, which uses base 10. My friend Basil recently moved house in Expluswye and, when he sent me his new address, commented that his new 3-digit house number was a perfect square. To my eyes Basil's house number …

Regulars

Strike gold in the search for postgraduate funding

Careers

Briefing: How classes in the cloud boost your prospects

Careers

Regulars

Feedback: Beware of dangerous signs

Feedback: Beware of dangerous signs

Beware of dangerous signs "CAUTION", reads the sign that Sofia Graves photographed at an information office in Pincher Creek, a small town in Alberta, Canada. "This sign has sharp edges. Do not touch the edges of this sign." Sofia remarks that she has seen "many pointless and contradictory signs – but none whose existence created …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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