Subscribe now

This week's magazine

8 November 2014

Issue 2994

New Scientist issue 2994 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

Why space tourism is worth the risk

Space

Why space tourism is worth the risk

Opinion
Rosetta: Days from the toughest space landing ever

Space

Rosetta: Days from the toughest space landing ever

Features
Mass grave tells tales of life on the Forgotten Front

Humans

Mass grave tells tales of life on the Forgotten Front

Features
Flood fighters: What to do when the riverbanks bust

Earth

Flood fighters: What to do when the riverbanks bust

Features
The acid test: Can you dissolve a body completely?

Life

The acid test: Can you dissolve a body completely?

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Why space tourism is worth the risk

Space

Why space tourism is worth the risk

Accidents will happen as commercial space travel develops, but if we want more widespread space flight we shouldn't be deterred by them

Opinion

News

Left or right-wing? Brain's disgust response tells all

Health

Left or right-wing? Brain's disgust response tells all

Can that scowl say which way you tend to vote? The way your brain reacts to a single disgusting image can be used to predict whether you lean to the left or the right politically. A number of studies have probed the emotions of people along the political spectrum, and found that disgust in particular …

News

Health

Why scratching an itch only makes it worse

News

Life

Plants make their own sunscreen to block damaging rays

News

Life

Zoologger: My lizard persona depends on my neighbours

News

Health

Breast milk stem cells may be incorporated into baby

News

Space

SpaceShipTwo crash: Wings were unlocked too soon

News

Earth

Methane cuts won't buy us time on climate change

News

Giant galactic core formed after black hole battle

News

A slither of DNA identifies snakebite antidote

News

Space

Centaurs galloped into Saturn's rings

News

Technology

Murder by hackable implants no longer a perfect crime

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Technology

Phone thwarts thieves by learning its owner's habits

News

Life

Thrush's song fits human musical scales

News

Earth

Snow retreat will worsen California droughts

News

Spy chief: US tech firms make it easy for terrorists

News

Life

Our gut bugs evolved with us as we split from chimps

News

Technology

Disease-detecting ink makes tests printable

News

Health

Monkey malaria jumping to humans and on the rise

News

Health

App assesses tweeters' mental health without consent

News

Space

Secret star saves gas cloud from jaws of black hole

News

60 Seconds

News

Physics

Ghost universes kill Schrödinger's quantum cat

News

Life

Imposter disorder explains how man's wife was 'stolen'

News

Health

Amaze balls: Testicles site of most diverse proteins

News

Health

Bone drug goes after calcium in breast tumours

News

Life

We don't need no education to weigh up chance

News

Technology

Smart sensors warn instantly of citywide water leaks

News

Opinion

Is Earth in a new geological phase thanks to us?

Earth

Is Earth in a new geological phase thanks to us?

It may be time for science to recognise Earth's new era – one shaped by humans. So argues a geologist involved in defining new phases in geological time

Opinion

Technology

I want to build solar cells thinner than a human hair

Opinion

Technology

My thinking chip paves the way for brain-like computers

Opinion

Analysis

Smart health monitors to predict your medical future

Technology

Smart health monitors to predict your medical future

Lifelogging is more than just counting steps. More tech firms are trying to predict your health using data from devices like Fitbits

News

Aperture

Troublesome sunspot spins out of view

Space

Troublesome sunspot spins out of view

(Image: Alan Friedman ) OUT, damned spot! The largest sunspot in 25 years is about to slide off the face of the sun and out of sight. The catchily named spot – Active Region 12192 – has been a wild one, spawning six large solar flares that knocked out radio communications across swathes of the …

Regulars

Features

Rosetta: Days from the toughest space landing ever

Space

Rosetta: Days from the toughest space landing ever

Video: Homemade Rosetta comet recreates duck shape Ten years after leaving Earth, one of humanity's most ambitious space missions is ready for its climax – a nail-biting drop onto the surface of a comet MATT TAYLOR will soon experience the most agonising 28 minutes and 20 seconds of his life. That's how long it takes …

Features

Humans

Mass grave tells tales of life on the Forgotten Front

Features

Earth

Flood fighters: What to do when the riverbanks bust

Features

Life

The acid test: Can you dissolve a body completely?

Features

Culturelab

How human existence doesn't have to cost the Earth

Earth

How human existence doesn't have to cost the Earth

Tibet's rivers feed its people, but also those of lowland Asia (Image: Maria Stenzel/NGS) From Tibet's endangered ecosystems to the crazy cost of saving beaches to New York's green example, three books probe the price tag of development ENVIRONMENTAL problems can seem overwhelming if met head on, so sometimes the greatest benefit just comes from …

CultureLab

Life

An embryonic understanding of our humble beginnings

CultureLab

Health

The lifelong cost of burying our traumatic experiences

CultureLab

More

UK spaceport plan boosts engineering careers

UK spaceport plan boosts engineering careers

For engineers, today's lab projects are tomorrow's satellites (Image: SSTL/Surrey Space Centre) As the UK prepares to launch tourists into space, the career opportunities for engineers are about to take off LAUNCHING a space tourism industry was never going to be an easy ride, as the recent crash of Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise proved. Nonetheless, …

Careers

Humans

Out in the open: Is science LGBT-friendly?

Careers

Regulars

Feedback: Very traditional error messages

Feedback: Very traditional error messages

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Traditional error messages FEEDBACK was mildly puzzled that online and email error messages failed to feature among the 10 milestone achievements of our species (25 October) . This prompted a colleague to report how the grand traditions of the analogue …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

Browse past issues

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