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This week's magazine

15 July 2023

Issue 3447

New Scientist issue 3447 cover
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Editor's picks

Mandatory Credit: Photo by EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13842171a) Packages of prescribtion drugs Ozempic and Wegovy by Novo Nordisk sit on a table in Copenhagen, Denmark, 23 March 2023. US celebrities have credited their weight loss to the FDA-approved medications that are prescribed to treat Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes drugs used as slimming agent, Copenhagen, Denmark - 23 Mar 2023

Health

People think drugs like Wegovy are a quick fix. So what if they are?

News
Beyond Wegovy: Could the next wave of weight-loss drugs end obesity?

Health

Beyond Wegovy: Could the next wave of weight-loss drugs end obesity?

Features
Life’s hidden laws: The arcane rules of evolution and how they work

Life

Life’s hidden laws: The arcane rules of evolution and how they work

Features
Molecular structures, computer artwork

Chemistry

One of chemistry's most crucial concepts is in crisis - can we fix it?

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Mandatory Credit: Photo by EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (13842171a) Packages of prescribtion drugs Ozempic and Wegovy by Novo Nordisk sit on a table in Copenhagen, Denmark, 23 March 2023. US celebrities have credited their weight loss to the FDA-approved medications that are prescribed to treat Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes drugs used as slimming agent, Copenhagen, Denmark - 23 Mar 2023

Health

People think drugs like Wegovy are a quick fix. So what if they are?

Ideas that people should lose weight “the hard way” rather than take semaglutide drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are holding back progress in the fight against obesity

News

News

Technology

Netflix invents new green-screen filming method using magenta light

A faster and more accurate method for putting footage of actors in different backgrounds allows directors to see how their shots will appear as they film them

News

Health

Robot injects drugs into back of eyeball more accurately than surgeons

News

Society

English industrialist stole iron technique from Black metallurgists

News

Health

Early risers may be genetically less likely to get depression symptoms

News

Health

Having an 'overweight' BMI may not lead to an earlier death

News

Humans

Ancient Scandinavians wrote encrypted messages in runes 1500 years ago

News

Life

Giving jaguars 'food poisoning' may stop them from killing livestock

News

Life

Crows can understand probability like primates do

News

Life

Male spider mites rip off females’ skin to be first to mate with them

News

Humans

Tooth analysis reveals ancient Iberian leader was female

News

Technology

Solar panels could be about to get much better at capturing sunlight

News

Space

There’s a huge radioactive slab of volcanic granite buried on the moon

News

Health

People who microdose LSD sleep an extra 24 minutes the following night

News

Environment

The past week was the hottest ever recorded on Earth

News

Environment

On board RRS Sir David Attenborough as it prepares for Antarctic trip

News

Physics

Gravitational waves spark hunt for cosmic strings and dark matter

News

Environment

Summer 2022 heatwaves killed 61,000 people in Europe

News

Life

Sex between two males is extremely common in wild macaque monkeys

News

Earth

Canadian lake selected as site to mark the start of the Anthropocene

News

Analysis

Environment

The European Union's new plan to curb deforestation is deeply flawed

Sustainability researchers have serious doubts about whether the EU’s new regulation will succeed in stopping deforestation

News

Health

Social media brings benefits as well as risks to young people

News

Environment

Does oil-rich Saudi Arabia really want to mend its ways and go green?

Comment

Aperture

Engineer Jason Lyon poses as he views Loo Garden, a temporary subterranean garden designed to represent a future healthier River Thames, in a section of the Thames Tideway Tunnel - commonly known as the 'Super Sewer' - a 25 kilometre tunnel being built across London under and along the River Thames to deal with combined sewer overflows currently polluting the river, in London, Britain, June 29, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville - RC22T1ANLLXT

Comment

See the garden blooming in a 'super sewer' deep below London

The playfully named Loo Gardens in the Thames Tideway Tunnel is an art installation intended to replicate the flora and fauna of the river

Regulars

Features

Life’s hidden laws: The arcane rules of evolution and how they work

Life

Life’s hidden laws: The arcane rules of evolution and how they work

A handful of “rules” govern how evolution shapes life on Earth, from island gigantism to colours shifting with latitude – and offer clues about how animals and plants might adapt to a warming world

Features

Health

Beyond Wegovy: Could the next wave of weight-loss drugs end obesity?

Features

Chemistry

One of chemistry's most crucial concepts is in crisis - can we fix it?

Features

Culture

(Original Caption) Otis Barton, inventor of the Barton tank, is shown here in the tank. The tank is to be used by William Beebe in his deep sea exploration expedition near Bermuda for observation and also for taking pictures.

Comment

The Bathysphere Book review: Amazing story of the first deep-sea dives

Brad Fox's vivid retelling of the voyages of the first deep-sea submersible is full of fascinating technology, novel marine discoveries – and unusual scientists

Culture

Comment

Dark Matter review: The amazing story of the microbial world inside us

Culture

Comment

New Scientist recommends: Pod and Women on Nature

Culture

Comment

Cerebrum review: An enigmatic slice of sci-fi horror

Culture

More

The stunningly simple rule that will always get you out of a maze

Mathematics

The stunningly simple rule that will always get you out of a maze

You thought the maze looked fun, but now you can’t find your way out. Luckily, mathematics is here to help you escape, says Katie Steckles

Regulars

Puzzle #230: Try to fathom the tourist-on-the-train photo problem

Regulars

Tom Gauld on contact with aliens

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on how a science project might gain media attention

Regulars

Regulars

Could a cat nose function as a 'highly efficient' gas chromatograph?

Could a cat nose function as a 'highly efficient' gas chromatograph?

Feedback decides more research is needed, both technical and legal, following a study into the unexpected potential of feline noses

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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