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This week's magazine

1 August 2020

Issue 3293

New Scientist issue 3293 cover
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Editor's picks

Cosmology's new advances show our voyage of discovery is far from over

Space

Cosmology's new advances show our voyage of discovery is far from over

News
The invisible superpower that helped dinosaurs conquer the world

Life

The invisible superpower that helped dinosaurs conquer the world

Features
Sharon Moalem interview: Why women are genetically stronger than men

Humans

Sharon Moalem interview: Why women are genetically stronger than men

Features
Black holes are hiding movies of the universe in their glowing rings

Space

Black holes are hiding movies of the universe in their glowing rings

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Cosmology's new advances show our voyage of discovery is far from over

Space

Cosmology's new advances show our voyage of discovery is far from over

An incredible map of the universe and mind-bending revelations about a supermassive black hole are evidence that the advance of science is far from over – it has plenty of new shores yet to explore

News

News

Hungry foxes have been raiding our bins for thousands of years

Life

Hungry foxes have been raiding our bins for thousands of years

A red fox raiding a bin on a residential street in London We shouldn't be surprised by how well foxes can survive by scavenging from our food leftovers – it is a behaviour that is tens of thousands of years old. The ancestors of today’s foxes began living on humans’ food remains about 42,000 years …

News

Technology

Hair dye that changes in UV light can reveal your risk of sunburn

News

Space

A giant impact may have caused cracks all over Jupiter's moon Ganymede

News

Health

How a Jewish ghetto beat a typhus epidemic during the second world war

News

Environment

Hundreds of illegal Chinese fishing vessels spotted near North Korea

News

Technology

Flapping drone can fly, dart and hover like a bird

News

Life

Spiderwebs gather DNA that can help us monitor insects in forests

News

Life

Mosquitoes evolved to suck human blood when they couldn’t find water

News

Space

China is sending its first rover to Mars with the Tianwen-1 mission

News

Space

Mould from Chernobyl nuclear reactor tested as radiation shield on ISS

News

Life

Night lights cause severe loss of sleep for pigeons and magpies

News

Health

DNA from Viking people reveals the unexpected history of smallpox

News

Humans

How the slave trade left its mark in the DNA of people in the Americas

News

Health

Does your blood type influence how susceptible you are to covid-19?

News

Life

Birdwatching AI can recognise individual birds from behind

News

Physics

Watch a beam of light bounce off mirrors in ultra-slow motion

News

Space

Biggest ever map of the universe reveals 11 billion years of history

News

Health

Coronavirus: Second wave hits Asia as global cases continue to soar

News

Life

Bacteria dug up from beneath the seabed may be 100 million years old

News

Health

Coronavirus vaccine hope rises after a flurry of positive results

News

Health

Sarah Gilbert on how her team is making the Oxford coronavirus vaccine

News

Health

Which covid-19 treatments work and how close are we to getting more?

News

Analysis

Plastic pollution

Environment

Earth faces plastic pollution disaster unless we take drastic action

Plastic pollution in Naples, Italy Plastic pollution is ubiquitous and growing, but knowing the best way to stop it has largely been a guessing game so far. Now, a study has found that if the world undertook every feasible action to cut plastic pollution, we would still only manage to get rid of 78 per …

News

Technology

A weather forecast for fake news outbreaks on social media is coming

News

Aperture

Marine kaleidoscope shows the beauty of coral reefs

Life

Marine kaleidoscope shows the beauty of coral reefs

The vibrant colours of threatened coral reefs are transformed into a natural kaleidoscope in this stunning image created by Dutch photographer Georgette Douwma

Regulars

Features

Black holes are hiding movies of the universe in their glowing rings

Space

Black holes are hiding movies of the universe in their glowing rings

A faint fuzzy glow around the first black hole image last year baffled astronomers. Now we know what it contains – and it’s more bizarre than we ever imagined

Features

Life

The invisible superpower that helped dinosaurs conquer the world

Features

Humans

Sharon Moalem interview: Why women are genetically stronger than men

Features

Culture

The End of Everything review: A rollicking tour of the wildest physics

Space

The End of Everything review: A rollicking tour of the wildest physics

There are many ways that the universe could come to an end. Katie Mack's book exploring them is a fascinating read

Culture

Humans

Proxima review: Eva Green shines as a troubled astronaut

Culture

Don’t Miss: Netflix drama The Rain returns for a shocking final season

Culture

More

Puzzle #70: Can you win all of the biscuits?

Puzzle #70: Can you win all of the biscuits?

#70 Taking the biscuit Alpha and Betty play a rather greedy game. There are eight digestive biscuits in one jar, and four rich tea biscuits in another. Each player can collect biscuits in one of two ways. They either: • Take any number of biscuits from one jar, or • Take an equal number of …

Regulars

Tom Gauld on the difference between a professor and an amateur

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on the types of questions asked at science conferences

Regulars

Regulars

Why people in the UK may need to view the Neowise comet in the nude

Why people in the UK may need to view the Neowise comet in the nude

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

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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