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This week's magazine

25 April 2015

Issue 3018

New Scientist issue 3018 cover
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Editor's picks

Technology can give political power back to the people

Technology

Technology can give political power back to the people

Opinion
Better than a ballot box: Could digital democracy win your vote?

Technology

Better than a ballot box: Could digital democracy win your vote?

Features
The greatest physics theorem you've never heard of

Life

The greatest physics theorem you've never heard of

Features
Bitter sweet nectar: Why some flowers poison bees

Life

Bitter sweet nectar: Why some flowers poison bees

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Technology can give political power back to the people

Technology

Technology can give political power back to the people

Digital tools haven't transformed politics as much as we expected. But that's about to change – and just in time

Opinion

News

Dogs tap into human bonding system to get close to our hearts

Life

Dogs tap into human bonding system to get close to our hearts

Video: Eye-to-eye bonding Look into my eyes Ever felt hopelessly bonded to your pooch when it stares at you lovingly? It turns out that man's best friend may have hijacked a uniquely human bonding mechanism, ensuring that we love and care for it. Knock-on chemical and behavioural effects occur when humans bond: eye contact leads …

News

Technology

Proto quantum computer inspired by Victorians gets a speed boost

News

Life

Wild chimps look both ways before crossing roads

News

Earth

After the spill: Mystery of the vanishing Gulf of Mexico turtles

News

Life

Is super-diverse Amazon microbiome something to strive for?

News

Life

Virus hiding in our genome protects early human embryos

News

Earth

Miniature sea snails found in acidic sea near volcanic seeps

News

Life

Vampire feeds on decaying matter and spawns eggs in batches

News

Technology

Hair analysis on trial after FBI admits to using flawed evidence

News

Life

19th-century champagne haul shows seabed is perfect wine cooler

News

Technology

Jolt of java helps spermbots in final race to the finish

News

Technology

Wireless routers could spy on your breathing and heartbeat

News

Technology

Digital tattoo lets you control devices with mind power alone

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Technology

Your smartphone's secrets could help you bag a bank loan

News

Life

Space geckos seen playing on their trip into orbit

News

Space

Stars throw out a lifetime's waste carbon in just 1000 years

News

Health

E-cigarettes are smoke of choice for US schoolchildren

News

Health

Measles outbreak prompts hard-line strategies on vaccination

News

Space

Touching down on Mars could still be a far-off prospect

News

Environment

Australia has chance to go 100 per cent renewable by 2050

News

Online voter registration in UK smashes record

News

Mind

60 Seconds

News

Space

Falling meteor may have changed the course of Christianity

News

Health

Is a hole in the head the answer to traumatic brain injury?

News

Space

Biggest dark matter detector lies in wait for antisocial WIMPs

News

Earth

Tainted love: Bees prefer food laced with harmful pesticides

News

Earth

Carbon dioxide could be turned into a huge underground battery

News

Opinion

I'm chasing the shadows of paranormal experience

I'm chasing the shadows of paranormal experience

Researching ghosts, ESP and precognition is real science, says Caroline Watt, and it takes more rigour than most

Opinion

Tax cuts for top earners fail because the theory is broken

Opinion

It's time to let national happiness guide political policy

Opinion

Health

Getting to grips with the placenta's real health benefits

Opinion

Aperture

Happy birthday Hubble, 25 today! Look back to where it all began

Space

Happy birthday Hubble, 25 today! Look back to where it all began

(Image: SSPL/Getty) THE Hubble Space Telescope has for the past 25 years powered NASA's dream of putting people into space. Launched on 24 April 1990, it was designed to be looked after by flesh-and-blood astronauts, and repairs and maintenance have run up a bill that would have paid for several new telescopes. But what would …

Regulars

Features

The greatest physics theorem you've never heard of

Life

The greatest physics theorem you've never heard of

This concept's played a greater part in physics than relativity and quantum theory, so why has the great woman behind it not achieved Einstein's fame?

Features

Technology

Better than a ballot box: Could digital democracy win your vote?

Features

Life

Bitter sweet nectar: Why some flowers poison bees

Features

Culturelab

Illusions, voids and convex ghosts

Illusions, voids and convex ghosts

With a visceral and disturbing new show at the Lisson Gallery in London, Anish Kapoor talks to New Scientist

CultureLab

Life

The Vital Question: Finding answers about the origin of life

CultureLab

Regulars

Feedback: Won't somebody please think of the robots?

Feedback: Won't somebody please think of the robots?

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Please think of the robots! GOOGLE has obtained a US patent for personalities in robots. Kate Darling , a robot ethicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology complains in IEEE Spectrum that such patents are not good for robotics research …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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