Subscribe now

This week's magazine

1 February 2014

Issue 2954

New Scientist issue 2954 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

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.

Health

Too much sugar in food? Follow the salt solution

Opinion
Sugar on trial: What you really need to know

Health

Sugar on trial: What you really need to know

Features
Green sky thinking: Astronomy's dirty little secret

Earth

Green sky thinking: Astronomy's dirty little secret

Features
The Borneo Hills diet: Pitcher plants' strange prey

Life

The Borneo Hills diet: Pitcher plants' strange prey

Features
Mind meld: The genius of swarm thinking

Life

Mind meld: The genius of swarm thinking

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

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

Stem cell breakthrough could reopen clone wars

The ability to easily reprogram any cell to an embryonic state will inevitably bring out maverick human cloners. We shouldn't let them set the agenda

Opinion

Health

Too much sugar in food? Follow the salt solution

Opinion

News

Closest supernova in 27 years may reveal fate of cosmos

Space

Closest supernova in 27 years may reveal fate of cosmos

The M82 galaxy is the proud owner of this type Ia supernova, and right now all eyes are on it An elderly star has lit up a cosmic cigar. Images of the galaxy M82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy , show the sudden appearance of a supernova, the brilliant explosion when a massive star …

News

Life

Infectious cancer preserves dog genes for 11,000 years

News

Life

Satellite-like eyes give mantis shrimp unique vision

News

Technology

Squeeze light to teleport quantum energy

News

Health

Scratch a mirror image of your itch to bring relief

News

Space

Stephen Hawking's new theory offers black hole escape

News

Health

Autism diagnosis change 'results in loss of treatment'

News

Earth

Grand Canyon is a sprightly young 6-million-year-old

News

Life

Neuroscience's most famous brain is reconstructed

News

Technology

Google buys AI firm DeepMind to boost image search

News

Health

Black Death may have scuppered Roman Empire

News

Health

Deadly MERS virus could hold the key to its own cure

News

Earth

Fancy tech will not solve massive land loss, says UN

News

Earth

Dangerous rare elephants pose conservation conundrum

News

Technology

Save ancient Chinese scrolls with anti-curl weapons

News

Earth

Parched California hunts for water in unusual places

News

Space

Astrophile: Jellyfish galaxies found spawning in clusters

News

Health

Budgies may be behind latest spread of H7N9 bird flu

News

Space

60 Seconds

News

Health

Stem cell power unleashed after 30-minute dip in acid

News

Life

Neanderthal-human sex bred light skins and infertility

News

Space

Did newborn sun have weirdly weak solar wind?

News

Technology

Beams of sound immerse you in music others can't hear

News

Technology

Conversation app helps parents boost child's language

News

Technology

Ploughable sensors help farmers get more crop per drop

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Earth

Cyclones hitting Australia plummet to 1500-year low

News

Technology

Crowdsourcing Twitch app could turn swipes into cash

News

Health

UK government to ban e-cigarettes for under-18s

News

Opinion

Can water cannons cope with flash mob riots?

Technology

Can water cannons cope with flash mob riots?

After riots in 2011 and warnings of austerity protests to come, police in England and Wales are demanding water cannons. Are they the right tool for the job?

Opinion

Technology

Stuff symphony: Beautiful music makes better materials

Opinion

Earth

We're drilling back in time to tell a tale of the sea

Opinion

Analysis

Why you should care about the end of net neutrality

Technology

Why you should care about the end of net neutrality

Companies can now pay for their pages to be delivered faster in the US. Does this mean the end of the internet as we know it?

News

Aperture

Smaug the dragon or frog with an eye to die for?

Life

Smaug the dragon or frog with an eye to die for?

(Image: Heidi and Hans-Jürgen Koch /eyevine) BENEATH the translucent gold vein-like structure lies what looks like the eye of Smaug. But this is no dragon's eye. It belongs to something much smaller: a teacup-sized frog having a nap in the trees of a tropical rainforest. The red-eyed tree frog ( Agalychnis callidryas ) lives all …

Regulars

Features

Sugar on trial: What you really need to know

Health

Sugar on trial: What you really need to know

It has been called toxic, addictive and deadly, the driving force behind obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Is sugar really so bad?

Features

Earth

Green sky thinking: Astronomy's dirty little secret

Features

Life

The Borneo Hills diet: Pitcher plants' strange prey

Features

Life

Mind meld: The genius of swarm thinking

Features

Culturelab

A new green Enlightenment will define our age

Earth

A new green Enlightenment will define our age

Deforestation is proving hard to counter, despite public concern (Image: Eduardo Martino) Far from being anti-science, environmentalism is the future in a world of finite resources and global perils, concludes Joachim Radkau in The Age of Ecology IT IS a new Enlightenment, a lodestar for our intellectual and political life in the 21st century. Far from being …

CultureLab

Earth

Sound's good! An adventurer hunts neglected sonic gems

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

Answer to 1779 Four triangles The sides are 9 mm and 97 mm The winner James Pointon of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK

Regulars

Regulars

Feedback: Stick to the rules, worldwide

Feedback: Stick to the rules, worldwide

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Stick to the rules, worldwide REQUESTS to "adhere" to instructional signs are spreading. Hugh Carter was told in Toronto, Canada, that he "must adhere to traffic personnel" (14 December 2013) . Now Henry Shipley informs us that carriages run by …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

Browse past issues

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