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This week's magazine

15 November 2014

Issue 2995

New Scientist issue 2995 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.

Health

Wider breast cancer screening won't be a boon to women

Opinion
14 myths and maybes about burning fat

Health

14 myths and maybes about burning fat

Features
Are some people doomed to be fat?

Life

Are some people doomed to be fat?

Features
World War R: Rise of the killer robots

Life

World War R: Rise of the killer robots

Features
How I'm bringing ancient music back to life

Life

How I'm bringing ancient music back to life

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Automated killer robots come with enormous risks

Technology

Automated killer robots come with enormous risks

The first world war should be a reminder of the dangers of mass, uncontrolled experimentation with new killing machines

Opinion

Health

Wider breast cancer screening won't be a boon to women

Opinion

News

Microsoft's 3D audio headset tested: we see with sound

Technology

Microsoft's 3D audio headset tested: we see with sound

Testing, testing The world around me has gone dark. With a blindfold on, I take a few steps forward and I realise that I don't know how far away the curb is or what's in front of me on the pavement. The blankness of it all is unnerving, but I have a special guide next …

News

Life

Zoologger: Bats jam each other's sonar to steal meals

News

Space

First action shot of planet birth around a young star

News

Mind

Ever felt a ghostly presence? Now we know why

News

Life

Composition of your gut bacteria may be inherited

News

Health

First world war dysentery bug was penicillin-resistant

News

Life

Oldest European genome illuminates diverse ancestry

News

Health

Critics say wider breast screening trial 'unethical'

News

Life

Blood odour chemical gets carnivores drooling

News

How to build a circuit with frozen atoms

News

Space

Red Planet racers: Next Mars rovers get a speed boost

News

Health

No magic gene behind supercentenarians' longevity

News

Technology

The man who can hear Wi-Fi wherever he walks

News

Earth

Bio-drone simply melts away when it crashes

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Technology

Obama shocks cable firms with call for net neutrality

News

Health

Australian smokers learn to accept gruesome packets

News

Life

Human thoughts used to switch on genes

News

Life

Gulls switch to trash-diet as fish stocks run low

News

Earth

US and China talk climate before crucial 2015 summit

News

Life

Ban on capturing whales for zoos a step closer

News

Space

Turbopump failure behind Orbital rocket explosion

News

The wait for Philae's comet touchdown is on

News

60 Seconds

News

Earth

Record-breaking ocean temperatures wreak havoc

News

Monster cancer chromosome is made from shattered DNA

News

Physics

Twisted light sends Mozart record distance through air

News

Opinion

Quantum logic: It's simpler to be two things at once

Physics

Quantum logic: It's simpler to be two things at once

From city design to economics, we can improve our models of complex systems if we embrace quantum weirdness, argue two physicists

Opinion

Earth

Should we all get out of fossil fuels now?

Opinion

I'm engineering for 10,000 metres under the sea

Opinion

Analysis

The rise of digital courts in settling disputes

Technology

The rise of digital courts in settling disputes

If you've been stung by an online buy, you can get even online too, thanks to an unexpected side effect of the e-commerce boom

News

Aperture

Rainbow palette found in Brooklyn's contaminated water

Earth

Rainbow palette found in Brooklyn's contaminated water

(Image: Steven Hirsch, Chronos, 2014. Digital C-print) The Gowanus canal is no great beauty. The waterway stretches through 3 kilometres of New York City, thoroughly polluted over the years with sewage from local factories. The US Environmental Protection Agency has called the Gowanus one of the most contaminated bodies of water in the country. Scientists …

Regulars

Features

Are some people doomed to be fat?

Life

Are some people doomed to be fat?

(Image: Randy Mora) Some people can't lose weight – and others can't put it on. What separates whippets from walruses? MY HUSBAND is the kind of man that most people hate. He can eat three helpings of dinner, yet stays steadfastly slender. He plays football just once a week, but throw him into a half …

Features

Life

World War R: Rise of the killer robots

Features

Life

How I'm bringing ancient music back to life

Features

Health

14 myths and maybes about burning fat

Features

Culturelab

Are we ready for quantum biology?

Life

Are we ready for quantum biology?

Stomata: does entanglement play a part in plant biology? (Image: Power And Syred/Science Photo Library) In Life on the Edge , Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden argue quantum effects are decisive in biology – but this challenging idea needs more proof FOR 15 years, theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili and molecular geneticist Johnjoe McFadden have been …

CultureLab

Gift-wrapped: Exploring the history of selling pleasure

CultureLab

Technology

Optical trickery brings Rothko's paintings back to life

CultureLab

More

Medicine's engine room

Medicine's engine room

Biomedical engineers design and maintain vital hospital equipment (Image: Chassenet/BSIP/Corbis) Biomedical engineers are essential to the high-tech world of health, but a dearth of them is costing lives PATRICK FINLAY found his calling at an unexpected moment – during the birth of his son 29 years ago, when doctors said that the baby needed to …

Careers

Regulars

Feedback: When the web was in the egg

Feedback: When the web was in the egg

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more When the web was in the egg THIS Web thing: when was it hatched? Those interested in nearly practical history traditionally point to Ted Nelson 's 1960 Xanadu project – essentially an electronic quotation machine constructed around two-way links. It's …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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