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This week's magazine

30 April 2022

Issue 3384

New Scientist issue 3384 cover
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Editor's picks

TOPSHOT - An aerial picture shows a man using a mobile telephone whilst standing next to a recently abandoned inflatable boat, used by migrants to cross the Straits of Dover from France to Deal on the south east coast of England, on September 14, 2020, after the migrants arrived on the beach. - Nearly 1,500 migrants and asylum-seekers arrived in Britain by small boats in August, according to an analysis by the domestic Press Association news agency. (Photo by BEN STANSALL / AFP) (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)

Humans

UK asylum seeker plan risks deporting children based on flawed science

News
Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (12839839f) The Home Office in London, Britain 08 March 2022. The UK's Home Office is facing condemn for failing to help people fleeing war in Ukraine. The Home Office has announced it is to set up a

Politicians must stop using pseudoscience to sell their policies

News
Growing younger: Radical insights into ageing could help us reverse it

Humans

Growing younger: Radical insights into ageing could help us reverse it

Features
Naughty Dog chasing gull bird playing on beach; Shutterstock ID 1571434549; purchase_order: NS 30 April 2022 issue; job: Photo; client: NS; other:

Environment

How a billion dogs, including our pets, are laying waste to wildlife

Features
Controversial claim that the universe is skewed could upend cosmology

Space

Controversial claim that the universe is skewed could upend cosmology

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Mandatory Credit: Photo by ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (12839839f) The Home Office in London, Britain 08 March 2022. The UK's Home Office is facing condemn for failing to help people fleeing war in Ukraine. The Home Office has announced it is to set up a

Politicians must stop using pseudoscience to sell their policies

IF YOU have a tricky bit of policy you need to sell, try reaching for some scientific words – whether or not research actually backs up your claims. This tactic has been a favourite of the UK government in recent years. At the start of the covid-19 pandemic, it resisted calls for social distancing measures, …

News

News

This high resolution image of the icy crust of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, reveals a surface criss-crossed by multiple sets of ridges and fractures

Space

We now know how the mysterious ridges covering Europa’s surface formed

Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered in weird pairs of ridges, and they may come from the refreezing of shallow pockets of liquid water hiding all over its icy shell

News

Space

NASA should explore Uranus and Enceladus, say planetary scientists

News

Life

Dolphins who are hand-fed by tourists are less social than their peers

News

Technology

Surveillance drone saves power by deliberately crashing into walls

News

Technology

Electrostatic brakes make bendy robot arms a lot more efficient

News

Humans

Stone Age Europeans may have gathered to watch animations by the fire

News

Life

Pterosaur fossil suggests feathers may have evolved long before flight

News

Technology

Laser-based 3D printer can produce complex objects in any order

News

Environment

Climate change and farming may have halved some insect populations

News

Health

CRISPR nanocapsule limits growth of aggressive brain tumours in mice

News

Humans

'Viking skin' nailed to medieval church doors is actually animal hide

News

Health

Artificial nerve cells have been made in the lab

News

Technology

Tiny axles and rotors made of protein could drive molecular machines

News

Technology

Ordinary copper telephone wire could carry gigabit broadband speeds

News

Environment

Rock dust can meet half of the UK's net-zero carbon removal target

News

Environment

We can now tell how much CO2 in the air is due to fossil fuel burning

News

Life

Bloodworms have copper jaws that could inspire self-building materials

News

Environment

China is building more than half of the world's new coal power plants

News

Environment

Insects and lab-grown meat could cut food emissions by 80 per cent

News

Life

Watch male orb-weaving spiders catapult off females to escape death

News

Environment

Severe Indian heatwave will bake a billion people and damage crops

News

Earth

All four of the key DNA building blocks have been found in meteorites

News

Life

Frogs have acquired DNA from snakes with the help of parasites

News

Analysis

We need to stop political spin from polluting public trust in science

Humans

We need to stop political spin from polluting public trust in science

Keeping science and politics socially distanced from each other is the best way to ensure government spin doesn’t damage trust in the former, says Fiona Fox

News

Humans

Working from home could have a dystopian future if staff aren't valued

Comment

Humans

UK asylum seeker plan risks deporting children based on flawed science

News

Aperture

FEATURE International Space Station Airlock and Hatch

Humans

Striking images of the International Space Station and space shuttles

These detailed images from photographer Roland Miller’s new book Orbital Planes offer a privileged peek inside NASA’s space shuttle programme

Regulars

Features

Naughty Dog chasing gull bird playing on beach; Shutterstock ID 1571434549; purchase_order: NS 30 April 2022 issue; job: Photo; client: NS; other:

Environment

How a billion dogs, including our pets, are laying waste to wildlife

There is growing evidence that feral dogs and their domestic cousins have a big ecological impact, from hunting and spooking wildlife to poisoning plants and spreading disease to endangered species

Features

Space

Controversial claim that the universe is skewed could upend cosmology

Features

Humans

Growing younger: Radical insights into ageing could help us reverse it

Features

Culture

View of CMS detector

Humans

The Matter of Everything review: A pacy look at 20th-century physics

From the discovery of the first subatomic particle to the confirmation of the Higgs boson in 2012, Suzie Sheehy's account of experiments that changed our world is detailed but lively

Culture

Humans

Shining Girls review: TV sci-fi thriller is a mind-bending puzzle

Culture

Humans

Don't miss: Alienarium 5, an artist's vision of contact with aliens

Culture

Humans

Horizon Forbidden West review: An engrossing video game sequel

Culture

More

Puzzle #165: Can you calculate the area of land for rent?

Puzzle #165: Can you calculate the area of land for rent?

#165 Land for rent Penny Wise, chief financial officer of the Hartree Power Company, has decided to rent out surplus land beside its cooling towers, in an effort to boost her company's annual income. The land, outlined in red on the plan above, was to have been for a fourth tower, which is now no …

Regulars

Humans

How to grow the best sweetcorn you've ever tasted

Regulars

Tom Gauld discovers the professor is unfortunately buffering again

Regulars

Twisteddoodles: Are there sharks in space?

Regulars

Regulars

MIT investigates how the Oreo crumbles

MIT investigates how the Oreo crumbles

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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