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This week's magazine

14 December 2013

Issue 2947

New Scientist issue 2947 cover
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Editor's picks

Fresh air and sunshine: The forgotten antibiotics

Health

Fresh air and sunshine: The forgotten antibiotics

Features
Ultimate selfie: Space megacamera will map Milky Way

Space

Ultimate selfie: Space megacamera will map Milky Way

Features
Did asteroid fracking cause Earth's worst extinction?

Earth

Did asteroid fracking cause Earth's worst extinction?

Features
Swindlers and scientists: How to get gold from the sea

Earth

Swindlers and scientists: How to get gold from the sea

Features

Table of contents

News

Brain stimulation gives you will to persevere

Technology

Brain stimulation gives you will to persevere

Video: Brain zapping gives you the will to persevere Perseverance in the face of adversity is an admirable character trait – now it turns out you can conjure it up with a quick zap to a tiny spot in the brain. The discovery in two people with epilepsy was accidental but it is the first …

News

Earth

Ultra-thin fault caused gravity-distorting Japan quake

News

Life

Dyslexia's roots traced to bad brain connections

News

Health

Look to mosquito smell neurons to find new repellents

News

Space

Astrophile: Dancing black holes near their grand finale

News

Health

A healthier diet costs $1.50 more per day

News

Space

Fiercest meteor shower on record to hit Mars via comet

News

Life

Zoologger: The mollusc that never forgets a meal

News

Earth

Radioactive acid spill in Australian national park

News

Life

Surprisingly youthful Mars surface helps alien hunt

News

Life

The 19 superbugs that rule Earth's hidden depths

News

Technology

Skin pigment could power safe, implantable battery

News

Life

Alien life could have basked in big bang's afterglow

News

Health

Relapse of 'cured' men shows HIV is far from beaten

News

Space

Reality TV robot could be first private Mars lander

News

Life

Chameleon colours predict outcome of lizard duel

News

Earth

Bats may struggle to hunt in warmer world

News

Health

Mandela catalysed treatment of HIV in Africa

News

Earth

Shrimp crash forces first fishery closure for 35 years

News

60 Seconds

News

Health

America's hidden epidemic of tropical diseases

News

Life

Diet switch sparks gut bug revolution in just 24 hours

News

Life

Grow a new brain: First steps to lab-made grey matter

News

Technology

Physical keys could take away the pain of passwords

News

Technology

Play video games to help military secure its software

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Life

How do you control a spermbot? Try a magnetic field

News

Technology

Eye-tracker lets you drag and drop files with a glance

News

Opinion

What should we do about pornography?

Life

What should we do about pornography?

The long-term effects of sexually explicit material on young people are unclear, but there are still steps we can and should take, say a forensic psychologist and a public health lecturer

Opinion

Earth

Mining insider: 'Leave the coal in the ground'

Opinion

Earth

Four simple principles to plan the best city possible

Opinion

Health

Want to fix US inequality? Begin with worming tablets

Opinion

Space

NASA cash changes leave planet science up in the air

Opinion

Time to be adult about pornography

Opinion

Analysis

Police could use radio waves to bring cars to a halt

Technology

Police could use radio waves to bring cars to a halt

Devices that fire microwave blasts, scrambling cars' onboard computers, could soon allow the authorities to rein in suspect vehicles

News

Aperture

Enter a monster wind tunnel used to test jet engines

Technology

Enter a monster wind tunnel used to test jet engines

(Image: Noah Kalina/noahkalina.com) TO CHECK whether jet engines can survive a bird strike , manufacturers famously fire oven-ready chickens into them. But it doesn't end there: aircraft also have to be able to cope with the freezing conditions that can hit at any stage of a flight. And that's where this massive wind tunnel in …

Regulars

Features

Fresh air and sunshine: The forgotten antibiotics

Health

Fresh air and sunshine: The forgotten antibiotics

Florence Nightingale knew about them. Your grandparents might have known about them. So why have doctors turned their backs on these two potent germ killers?

Features

Space

Ultimate selfie: Space megacamera will map Milky Way

Features

Earth

Did asteroid fracking cause Earth's worst extinction?

Features

Earth

Swindlers and scientists: How to get gold from the sea

Features

Culturelab

Look to complexity theory to solve the aid problem

Earth

Look to complexity theory to solve the aid problem

Humanitarian aid was distributed in Haiti after an earthquake hit in 2010 (Image: Logan Abassi/MINUSTAH/Getty) We need to consider poverty as a complex situation if aid is to save lives in the 21st century, says Ben Ramalingam in Aid on the Edge of Chaos "EXCUSE me friends I must catch my jet, I'm off to …

CultureLab

Life

Why insects bug us so much

CultureLab

More

Species are being lost in a sea of sand

Earth

Species are being lost in a sea of sand

(Image: Thomas Rabeil/Sahara Conservation Fund) The Sahara desert is looking ever more like its nickname, the sea of sands, and its native wildlife populations are in catastrophic decline. The wild addax pictured above are some of only 200 left in the world. Faring even worse than the addax, the scimitar horned oryx – pictured below …

Regulars

Enigma Number 1779

Regulars

Regulars

Feedback: What would quantum agriculture be?

Feedback: What would quantum agriculture be?

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Quantum agriculture? INCREDULITY followed Ruby Hills's alert on a course in New South Wales. The organisers proudly announced in March that "Dr Patrick MacManaway... will be conducting a Quantum Leap Level 1 workshop at Dubbo." Regular readers will know that …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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