Subscribe now

This week's magazine

14 March 2020

Issue 3273

New Scientist issue 3273 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
Buy this issue in print
You can purchase our magazines on back-issue from the last 4 months
arrow
Find a previous edition online
Search through our digital archive of over 30 years of magazines

Editor's picks

Efforts to stop prisoners reoffending can be useless or even backfire

Humans

Efforts to stop prisoners reoffending can be useless or even backfire

News
Why the coronavirus is different from flu and warrants major action

Health

Why the coronavirus is different from flu and warrants major action

News
Is running or walking better for you? Here’s what the science says

Health

Is running or walking better for you? Here’s what the science says

Features
Optimism can avert climate disaster, say duo who brokered Paris deal

Environment

Optimism can avert climate disaster, say duo who brokered Paris deal

Features
To make smartphones sustainable, we need to rethink thermodynamics

Technology

To make smartphones sustainable, we need to rethink thermodynamics

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Why the coronavirus is different from flu and warrants major action

Health

Why the coronavirus is different from flu and warrants major action

People who argue that covid-19 is no bigger a problem than flu ignore the fact that we lack natural immunity and have no vaccines in our armoury

News

News

Major science journal retracts study blaming climate change on the sun

Environment

Major science journal retracts study blaming climate change on the sun

A study saying the sun caused climate change has been retracted A prominent scientific journal has retracted a study claiming that climate change was due to solar cycles rather than human activity. Last year, Scientific Reports came under fire for publishing a paper that researchers said made elementary mistakes about how Earth moves around the …

News

Chemistry

Liquid metal that floats on water could make transformable robots

News

Space

Neutrinos determined where galaxies formed in the early universe

News

Environment

Climate change made Australian bushfires more likely, says report

News

Environment

Net zero emissions target in peril as tropical forests absorb less CO2

News

Technology

Gold-coated fabric that emits own light could be ultimate safety gear

News

Environment

Leaked report says UK net zero climate goal may increase air pollution

News

Humans

Homo erectus used two different kinds of stone tools

News

Space

Lettuce grown on space station is just as good as on Earth

News

Health

Bacteria found leaking from gut to body in people who are obese

News

Health

Slimming down fatty livers in the lab could boost donor organ supply

News

Health

We don't know why so few covid-19 cases have been reported in Africa

News

Technology

Coronavirus: Hospital ward staffed entirely by robots opens in China

News

Space

Oxygen in lunar rocks suggests the moon formed in huge collision

News

Health

Coronavirus: Risk of death rises with age, diabetes and heart disease

News

Health

Italy on full lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus

News

Health

Coronavirus testing in the US has been hampered by multiple problems

News

Health

Why is it so hard to calculate how many people will die from covid-19?

News

Health

The race to test coronavirus antiviral drugs and vaccines is under way

News

Life

Tiny birdlike dinosaur species identified from skull trapped in amber

News

Analysis

Covid-19 detection kit

Health

Coronavirus: Are there two strains and is one more deadly?

Labs in China have produced covid-19 virus detection kits Two strains of the new coronavirus are spreading around the world, according to an analysis of 103 cases . But the World Health Organization insists that “there is no evidence that the virus has been changing”. So how many strains are there, and why does it …

News

Humans

Efforts to stop prisoners reoffending can be useless or even backfire

News

Humans

Covid-19: The science of uncertainty can help us make better choices

News

Technology

Twitter was once a fun place – now it is heading towards destruction

News

Aperture

Peer into a giant, half-formed ship that can hold 18,000 containers

Technology

Peer into a giant, half-formed ship that can hold 18,000 containers

This image of an enormous ship under construction features in a new book and show that challenge common ideas about beauty - while the real ship may help cut carbon emissions

Regulars

Features

Is running or walking better for you? Here’s what the science says

Health

Is running or walking better for you? Here’s what the science says

Does pounding the pavement damage your joints? Can you get away with just walking? Sports engineer Steve Haake pits running against walking and dispels some abiding myths

Features

Environment

Optimism can avert climate disaster, say duo who brokered Paris deal

Features

Technology

To make smartphones sustainable, we need to rethink thermodynamics

Features

Culture

Portrait of woman looking on blue screen lit with binary code

Humans

Risky Talk review: How to protect yourself from dodgy statistics

Everything from genetic tests to immigration numbers is full of shaky statistics. David Spiegelhalter's new podcast helps separate the factual from the flaky

Culture

Technology

TikTok: How did the video-sharing app get so big so quickly?

Culture

Humans

Don't miss: Altered Carbon anime and Attenborough reads The Peregrine

Culture

Life

Little Joe review: We should worry about these mind-bending plants

Culture

More

Use the science of garlic to bring sweetness or fire to your food

Humans

Use the science of garlic to bring sweetness or fire to your food

By understanding garlic's chemistry we can amp up its pungency in a fiery garlic sauce or tame it through gentle cooking to make mellow garlic confit, says Sam Wong

Regulars

New Scientist puzzle #50: Crossing the river

Regulars

Physics

How quantum computing got a boost from an experiment in a cornfield

Regulars

Technology

New Scientist got an early glimpse of voice recognition technology

Regulars

Twisteddoodles lists the equipment every science lab should have

Regulars

Tom Gauld’s offices are inspired by Plato

Regulars

Regulars

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.

The musical duo who have written 68 billion melodies

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

Browse past issues

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