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This week's magazine

26 September 2015

Issue 3040

New Scientist issue 3040 cover
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Editor's picks

We can't rely on science alone to make us better people

Earth

We can't rely on science alone to make us better people

Opinion
Race to save lost temple city at risk from its own wealth

Humans

Race to save lost temple city at risk from its own wealth

Features
Wonder stuff: Making every material you've never heard of

Technology

Wonder stuff: Making every material you've never heard of

Features
Morality 2.0: How manipulating our minds could save the world

Humans

Morality 2.0: How manipulating our minds could save the world

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

We can't rely on science alone to make us better people

Earth

We can't rely on science alone to make us better people

Our sense of right and wrong is often inadequate for modern challenges. But the combination of rationality and humanity can lead us to more effective morality

Opinion

News

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

Armoured wasps chop off opponents' heads in brutal fig wars

Bite first, ask questions later. That seems to be the motto of some parasitic fig wasps, which fight indiscriminately inside tiny fig fruits. They even battle wasps of other species that do not compete with them for mates. Wasps are the main pollinators for the 750 species of fig worldwide, but some non-pollinating fig wasps …

News

Mind

Brain stimulation can alter our desire to punish wrongdoers

News

Life

Apes remember major events in movies, even on a single viewing

News

Life

If viruses transfer wasp genes into butterflies, are they GM?

News

Space

Citizen scientists catch cloud of comets orbiting distant star

News

Life

Zoologger: Octopus makes own quicksand to build burrow on seabed

News

Life

The lies we tell are more convincing when we need to pee

News

Earth

How earthquakes can trigger copycat quakes 1000 kilometres away

News

Health

Bionic pancreas automatically controls diabetics' blood sugar

News

Space

Saturn's largest moon Titan could have sun-warmed swirling seas

News

Technology

Clumps of gold nanoparticles can evolve to carry out computing

News

Life

Forget the Turing test – there are better ways of judging AI

News

Life

Humans walk around in our own personal cloud of airborne bugs

News

Earth

World set to embark on UN sustainable goals to eradicate poverty

News

Earth

Drought-hit California burns while waiting for El Niño rains

News

Space

Gravitational-wave detector rebooted to sense clashing stars

News

Health

World Health Organization wants to know how happy we are

News

Earth

US weapons facility accidentally shipped excess nuclear material

News

Technology

Virtual human built from more than 5000 slices of a real woman

News

Life

Fight over Planned Parenthood could shut down the US government

News

Life

Web-in-a-box delivers a bit of the internet anywhere you want

News

Technology

One Per Cent

News

Giraffes spend their evenings humming to each other

News

Earth

Divers return to famous Antikythera wreck to hunt for treasures

News

60 Seconds

News

Space

Rosettawatch: Comet 67P's weather revealed as sun melts ice

News

Opinion

Gene editing: Bring it on

Life

Gene editing: Bring it on

Breakthroughs in DNA technology are opening the door to a superhuman future. Genetic engineering pioneer George Church says we have nothing to fear

Opinion

Life

Teaching good traits: Do character-bolstering projects work?

Opinion

Technology

Drones of contention: Hobby fliers on collision course with law

Opinion

Health

I can use intensive-care data to save people's lives

Opinion

Aperture

Crash test dummies brace for next collision

Technology

Crash test dummies brace for next collision

AND you thought your job was tough. These are the unsung heroes of car design, awaiting their violent duties at BMW's Research and Innovation Centre in Munich. They may be slammed into walls or other vehicles, have bones broken, spines compressed or joints ripped apart – but it's all in a day's work. These crash …

Regulars

Features

Wonder stuff: Making every material you've never heard of

Technology

Wonder stuff: Making every material you've never heard of

From jet packs to cheap solar panels, the technology of the future needs a new generation of materials. Could they be discovered in a virtual lab?

Features

Humans

Race to save lost temple city at risk from its own wealth

Features

Humans

Morality 2.0: How manipulating our minds could save the world

Features

Culturelab

Cosmonauts are stars of the Soviet space age show

Space

Cosmonauts are stars of the Soviet space age show

As Russia's most treasured space-age artefacts are unveiled at the Science Museum in London, Mick O'Hare relives the glory days of the race for space

CultureLab

Earth

Can Europe's arts festivals illuminate our crisis-ridden world?

CultureLab

Regulars

Feedback: A crafty trick that makes dinosaur from chick

Feedback: A crafty trick that makes dinosaur from chick

(Image: Paul McDevitt) Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more A tail as old as time THE Ig Nobel Prizes have for 25 years honoured achievements that make you laugh, then think; and this year's batch was no exception. Bruno Grossi and four colleagues earned a feather …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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