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This week's magazine

5 September 2015

Issue 3037

New Scientist issue 3037 cover
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Editor's picks

Happy families? Not with these policies

Life

Happy families? Not with these policies

Opinion
People in kitchen-workers' white outfits, one holding a sparkler, one looking at an enlarged splash in white liquid, one holding some kind of particle collision trail set

Space

What came before the big bang?

Features
How does a bicycle stay upright?

Physics

How does a bicycle stay upright?

Features
Is the universe infinite or just very big?

Space

Is the universe infinite or just very big?

Features
How long does a proton live?

Physics

How long does a proton live?

Features
Why is ice slippery?

Physics

Why is ice slippery?

Features
What is glass?

Physics

What is glass?

Features
Can we get energy from nothing?

Physics

Can we get energy from nothing?

Features
Why does space have three dimensions?

Space

Why does space have three dimensions?

Features
Why do we move forwards in time?

Physics

Why do we move forwards in time?

Features
Where does quantum weirdness end?

Physics

Where does quantum weirdness end?

Features
Does parenthood really make us happier?

Humans

Does parenthood really make us happier?

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

New Scientist logo

Health

It's win, win when you merge science and humanitarianism

PROJECT Prakash in India is about as praiseworthy as it is possible for science to get. Founded by neuroscientist Pawan Sinha, it cures children with treatable blindness and then offers them the chance (no obligation) to participate in its research into vision (see " Curing blind children reveals how the brain makes sense of sight …

Opinion

Life

Happy families? Not with these policies

Opinion

News

Obama defends decision to let Shell drill for oil in Arctic

Earth

Obama defends decision to let Shell drill for oil in Arctic

Mixed messages (Image: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) THE debate on global warming is heating up in Alaska. US president Barack Obama embarked on a trip around the state this week, observing the impact of climate change and calling for solutions. But last month his administration granted Shell permits to drill for oil off Alaska's coast, risking …

News

Life

Viral clips of murder may help drive contagious copycat killings

News

Space

Winking exoplanets could shed light on distant comet strikes

News

Down in the dumps? Don't worry, your brain is still on point

News

Fatter than your siblings? It could be because you're older

News

Life

Body-hack electrodes teach you by controlling your muscles

News

Crowdsourcing lets the masses compose song one note at a time

News

Knotty network could have powered universe's early growth spurt

News

Doctors use antipsychotics to calm 'challenging behaviour'

News

Environment

Vultures are new target for African bushmeat and medicine trade

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Technology

Intelligent cameras can put an end to always-on surveillance

News

Birds circle and stick together to help them fly in dense fog

News

Live cells stuck together like Velcro could mend broken hearts

News

Continental break-up set the stage for life in Earth's mantle

News

Zoologger: The tiny insects that roar at each other like lions

News

Life

Cane toad's own killing strategy could be deployed against it

News

Environment

Darwin's fast-evolving finches use a natural insect repellent

News

Practising staring at small dots can shrink your blind spot

News

65 per cent of Europe's electronic waste is stolen or mismanaged

News

NASA picks post-Pluto destination for New Horizons spacecraft

News

Environment

Europe to discuss deep-sea trawling ban to protect biodiversity

News

Health

Tetanus is no longer a threat to mothers and newborns in India

News

60 Seconds

News

Quantum weirdness proved real in first loophole-free experiment

News

Life

Chatty cellular machines take synthetic biology to next level

News

Opinion

Curing blind children reveals how the brain makes sense of sight

Health

Curing blind children reveals how the brain makes sense of sight

Restoring the sight of blind children in India illuminates how we piece together the visual world, says Pawan Sinha, founder of Project Prakash

Opinion

Health

I'm predicting how the body clock can make medicines work better

Opinion

Health

We should have the right to see our dead relatives' genomes

Opinion

Life

Invasive species caused nearly half of extinctions? It's hearsay

Opinion

Analysis

Ban on chimp testing puts wild ape vaccine for Ebola at risk

Life

Ban on chimp testing puts wild ape vaccine for Ebola at risk

No time to waste (Image: Eric Baccega/NaturePL) AN ANIMAL welfare victory in the US may prove to be a conservation catastrophe in Africa. Tests of a promising oral Ebola vaccine that could protect wild apes may be abandoned this month when a ban on the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research comes into force. An …

News

Aperture

Gibbon skeleton is brought to life with uncanny stereo vision

Life

Gibbon skeleton is brought to life with uncanny stereo vision

(Image: Jim Naughten) These photos of a lar gibbon skeleton were taken at London's Grant Museum of Zoology – from locations 6.4 centimetres apart. Unfocus your eyes until the images overlap, and they may fuse, allowing you to see the gibbon in 3D. You may also feel that the skeleton is moving: the ribcage seems …

Regulars

Features

What is glass?

Physics

What is glass?

Things aren’t as clear as you might think. Glass is a weird kind of solid liquid – and how it comes to be like that defies all explanation

Features

Physics

Can we get energy from nothing?

Features

Space

Why does space have three dimensions?

Features

Physics

Why do we move forwards in time?

Features

Physics

Where does quantum weirdness end?

Features

Physics

How does a bicycle stay upright?

Features

Space

What came before the big bang?

Features

Space

Is the universe infinite or just very big?

Features

Physics

How long does a proton live?

Features

Physics

Why is ice slippery?

Features

Humans

Does parenthood really make us happier?

Features

Culturelab

<i>A Prehistory of the Cloud</i>: The paradox of saving data

Technology

A Prehistory of the Cloud: The paradox of saving data

The quest to keep our data safe from all kinds of threat or disaster in the distributed computers that make up the cloud is ultimately doomed, finds a new book

CultureLab

Life

The Invention of Nature finds science's lost hero

CultureLab

Regulars

Feedback: Forgotten patent promises nuclear fusion in a flask

Feedback: Forgotten patent promises nuclear fusion in a flask

(Image: Paul McDevitt) Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Star in a jar FOLLOWING discussion of patent piracy in the sex toy start-up world (29 August), Michael Berkson is reminded that the UK patent office is well stocked with incendiary ideas. "I suggest patent GB 970091 …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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