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This week's magazine

18 September 2021

Issue 3352

New Scientist issue 3352 cover
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Editor's picks

2G5MK0K Demonstrators display signs and a banner during a

Health

Covid-19 has laid bare social inequities – now is the time to fix them

News
The microbial gunk that hardens on teeth is revealing our deep past

Humans

The microbial gunk that hardens on teeth is revealing our deep past

Features
Living Room, Flooring, House, Residential Building, Empty, Loft, Sofa, Plant

Technology

We’ve mastered acoustic levitation – and it is surprisingly useful

Features
Generation Covid: What the pandemic means for young people’s futures

Health

Generation Covid: What the pandemic means for young people’s futures

Features
Younger generations are the most fatalistic about climate change

Humans

Younger generations are the most fatalistic about climate change

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

2G5MK0K Demonstrators display signs and a banner during a

Health

Covid-19 has laid bare social inequities – now is the time to fix them

WE ARE far from the end of covid-19, but it isn't too early to begin to assess the pandemic's likely long-term effects on society and how we should respond. Younger people, whose education, career development and opportunities for social interaction in formative years have been most affected, are a natural focus of attention. Our special …

News

News

mRNA bound to RNA binding protein

Health

mRNA cancer therapy now in human trials after shrinking mouse tumours

Molecular model of messenger RNA (pink) complexed with an RNA binding protein (light blue) A cancer treatment that uses messenger RNA to launch an immune attack on cancer cells can completely shrink tumours in mice and is now being tested in people. Messenger RNAs – or mRNAs – are molecules that instruct cells to make …

News

Life

Foam from frogs' nests could help make bandages that release drugs

News

Life

Half-metre-long predator was giant of the seas 500 million years ago

News

Life

Polar bears in Svalbard archipelago are inbreeding due to sea ice loss

News

Environment

Rare kakapo parrot is genetically healthy despite being very inbred

News

Technology

A US military robot ship has fired a large missile for the first time

News

Technology

Wooden robot arm is powered by plastic muscles

News

Space

Black holes just got much more complicated thanks to quantum pressure

News

Life

Tooth decay has been a problem for primates for 54 million years

News

Life

Scorpions develop a sting in the tail before they are ready to use it

News

Technology

Almost no one encrypts their emails because it is too much of a hassle

News

Technology

Why has El Salvador officially adopted bitcoin as its currency?

News

Environment

Even tiny green spaces in cities help urban wildlife biodiversity

News

Life

A glimpse at Greenland's deep-sea ecosystems threatened by fishing

News

Technology

AI can detect a deepfake face because its pupils have jagged edges

News

Life

Sea fireflies adapted their threatening glow to attract mates

News

Life

Army ants use temporary bases to store food when raiding insect nests

News

Environment

Most CO2 from Australia’s megafires has been offset by algal blooms

News

Environment

Shifting jet stream due to warming could threaten Europe from 2060

News

Space

Planet-eating stars can be identified by their telltale chemistry

News

Health

Rare genetic variants play important role in people who live to be 100

News

Humans

Piles of animal dung reveal the location of an ancient Arabian oasis

News

Health

Sharon Peacock interview: How we track down new coronavirus variants

News

Life

Why are orcas ‘attacking’ fishing boats off the coast of Gibraltar?

News

SpaceX is about to send the first ever all-amateur mission into orbit

News

Health

Is the delta coronavirus variant more dangerous for children?

News

Analysis

Scientists are often cautious or wrong – and that’s OK

Humans

Scientists are often cautious or wrong – and that’s OK

We like to think that science can give us definitive answers to our questions, but uncertainty is a crucial part of the scientific process, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

News

Health

We should isolate when we have flu, not just covid-19

News

Aperture

See the unique skeletal features of moray eels in exquisite detail

Life

See the unique skeletal features of moray eels in exquisite detail

Photographer Karly Cohen MORAY eels are known for their long, flexible spines and highly specialised double jaws that let them swallow large prey whole. Now, these unique skeletal features have been imaged in exquisite detail. Karly Cohen at the University of Washington in Friday Harbor took these computerised tomography (CT) scans of two purplemouth moray …

Regulars

Features

Living Room, Flooring, House, Residential Building, Empty, Loft, Sofa, Plant

Technology

We’ve mastered acoustic levitation – and it is surprisingly useful

Sonic tractor beams lift and manipulate objects with sound waves. They could be used to precisely deliver drugs inside our bodies or assemble delicate computer chips in mid air

Features

Humans

Younger generations are the most fatalistic about climate change

Features

Health

Generation Covid: What the pandemic means for young people’s futures

Features

Humans

The microbial gunk that hardens on teeth is revealing our deep past

Features

Culture

The Story of Looking review: A new film examines the visual world

Humans

The Story of Looking review: A new film examines the visual world

Mark Cousins has an eye for making innovative films The Story of Looking Mark Cousins In cinemas from 17 September NOT long before I watched The Story of Looking , I was shown an image of the inside of my eye. At my annual sight check-up, I'd agreed to something called an optical coherence tomography scan, examining …

Culture

Humans

Index, a history of the: Exploring the rivalries in how we search

Culture

Don't miss: The Climate Coup looks at the finance of climate change

Culture

Humans

Karmalink review: An intriguing mix of Buddhism and nanotech

Culture

More

Modern directional environmental street lighting with minimal light pollution on Cranley Gardens at dusk night in Muswell Hill, with Alexandra Palace, London N10, England

Help create a global map of light pollution by gazing at the night sky

  NEXT time you have the opportunity, take a moment to look at the night sky. What do you see? Quite possibly not very much at all. Increased light pollution globally means that the starry nights that once inspired artists such as Vincent van Gogh have become much more difficult to observe over the past …

Regulars

Puzzle #131: What is the probability of winning this game of chance?

Regulars

Tom Gauld on an incomplete theory of everything

Regulars

Twisteddoodles takes a stand on lab-based humour

Regulars

Regulars

The pick of the strange science that won Ig Nobel prizes this year

The pick of the strange science that won Ig Nobel prizes this year

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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