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This week's magazine

16 July 2022

Issue 3395

New Scientist issue 3395 cover
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Editor's picks

Mandatory Credit: Photo by CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13023803f) Healthcare worker Jesus Eduardo Lara, collects information before taking a nasal swab sample to test for Covid-19, at a Total Testing Solutions Covid Testing Center in Los Angeles, California, USA, 08 July 2022. Covid-19 positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals has risen to over 1000 people since 02 July, as highly contagious variants of the virus take hold. Los Angeles County Covid-19 hospitalizations surge, USA - 08 Jul 2022

We can curb surging covid-19 cases – but we can't do it without data

News
Why spending time near water gives us a powerful mental health boost

Mind

Why spending time near water gives us a powerful mental health boost

Features
A bee and a wasp perch on flowers

Environment

Bees vs wasps: Which insect is really worthy of all the buzz?

Features
Looking up through water at boy dipping in a rock pool

Life

Rock pooling with an expert reveals all manner of evolutionary marvels

Features
Illustration of knots

Mathematics

How many knots exist? A new computing trick is untangling the answer

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Mandatory Credit: Photo by CAROLINE BREHMAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13023803f) Healthcare worker Jesus Eduardo Lara, collects information before taking a nasal swab sample to test for Covid-19, at a Total Testing Solutions Covid Testing Center in Los Angeles, California, USA, 08 July 2022. Covid-19 positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals has risen to over 1000 people since 02 July, as highly contagious variants of the virus take hold. Los Angeles County Covid-19 hospitalizations surge, USA - 08 Jul 2022

We can curb surging covid-19 cases – but we can't do it without data

YOU may have heard that the coronavirus pandemic is over. This narrative is common and covid-19's ranking among international news agendas has fallen dramatically since the start of the year, displaced by a host of other stories, including war, Roe v Wade, food and energy crises, extreme heatwaves and a political soap opera in the …

News

News

Lithium-ion batteries

Technology

Gel-coated battery could stop mobile phones catching fire or exploding

A cheap and easily manufactured material can act as a thermal conductor at low temperatures and an insulator at high temperatures, which may help prevent dramatic battery fires and explosions

News

Life

Snapping shrimps have helmets to ward off shock waves from their claws

News

Health

Drugs used to treat ADHD and depression may ease Alzheimer's symptoms

News

Life

Optimising crop genetics could double global wheat production

News

Environment

Bats in Germany are riddled with pesticides and toxic pollutants

News

Life

Meraxes gigas was a huge dinosaur with tiny arms like T. rex

News

Technology

AI can convert almost any 3D scene into the style of a famous artwork

News

Technology

Computer component could use as little energy as physically possible

News

Technology

AI can use your brainwaves to see things that you can't

News

Life

Southern fin whales have recovered to large numbers in the Antarctic

News

Technology

DeepMind AI learns physics by watching videos that don't make sense

News

Health

Infertility in some men may be caused by X chromosome mutations

News

Health

UK's latest omicron wave being driven by BA.4 and BA.5 covid variants

News

Life

Three-eyed predator stalked the seas 500 million years ago

News

Space

10 per cent chance falling rockets will hit someone in next decade

News

Space

How the James Webb Space Telescope's first colour images were made

News

Technology

Efforts to regulate 'killer robots' are threatened by war in Ukraine

News

Life

Hurricane that hit Jamaica helped low-lying trees spread to mountains

News

Health

Men may eat more in summer because sunlight makes them hungrier

News

Space

James Webb Space Telescope’s first deep-field image is stunning

News

Society

UK scientists in EU funding limbo after Boris Johnson's resignation

News

Opinion

A view of the former Woodhouse Colliery site where West Cumbria Mining are seeking approval to once again extract coal

Environment

Cumbria coal mine should be a no go for new levelling up secretary

Greg Clark must think twice before giving the green light to the UK's first new coal mine in decades. It would be indefensible on climate grounds, says Adam Vaughan

Comment

Analysis

Jurassic World Dominion's dinosaur trafficking isn't far from reality

Humans

Jurassic World Dominion's dinosaur trafficking isn't far from reality

The movie franchise's conclusion features black market dinosaur trading. Although it is fictional, this storyline rings alarmingly true for birds, the direct descendants of dinosaurs, warns Raj Tawney

News

Aperture

Arthur's Seat Coffins

Humans

Mysterious mini-coffins for the victims of 19th-century body snatchers

FROM unorthodox equipment to skeletal remains, this selection of objects from the exhibition Anatomy: A Matter of Life and Death at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh reveals the fascinating – and at times disturbing – 500-year history of anatomical study. On the far left is the skeleton of serial killer William Burke. Burke …

Regulars

Features

Why spending time near water gives us a powerful mental health boost

Mind

Why spending time near water gives us a powerful mental health boost

We have long known that connecting with nature in green spaces is great for our mental health. Now fresh research is showing that time near water – by the coast, rivers and even fountains in the park – is even more restorative

Features

Environment

Bees vs wasps: Which insect is really worthy of all the buzz?

Features

Mathematics

How many knots exist? A new computing trick is untangling the answer

Features

Life

Rock pooling with an expert reveals all manner of evolutionary marvels

Features

Culture

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Environment

The Mind of a Bee review: Can a bee have a form of consciousness?

A radical new book argues that a bee may have a mind of its own, awareness of the world, basic emotions and intelligence. It is a bold and brave claim – but is it true?

Culture

Humans

The Metaverse review: Tech CEO Matthew Ball tangles with digital space

Culture

Humans

Don't Miss: Find out about the handshake, humanity's oldest greeting

Culture

Humans

Black Hole Symphony preview: Orchestral work blends science with music

Culture

More

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.

Twisteddoodles compares a music festival and a scientific conference

  Other cartoons by Twisteddoodles can be found here

Regulars

Space

Now is the best time to see Pluto, our beloved dwarf planet

Regulars

Puzzle #176: When did the ant stop walking around the clock?

Regulars

Tom Gauld on where to start with rewilding

Regulars

Regulars

Would you sacrifice five lobsters to save the life of a cat?

Humans

Would you sacrifice five lobsters to save the life of a cat?

Feedback investigates weird trolley problems, the Palaeolithic cannibal diet, fussy otters and microrobot dentistry

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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