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This week's magazine

7 September 2024

Issue 3507

New Scientist issue 3507 cover
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Editor's picks

2XGTH8A In this image from video provided by NASA, astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore give a news conference aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (NASA via AP)

Space

The Starliner stranding shows why NASA was wise to have a backup plan

News
We're finally solving the puzzle of how clouds will affect our climate

Environment

We're finally solving the puzzle of how clouds will affect our climate

Features
Microglia: How the brain’s immune cells may be causing dementia

Health

Microglia: How the brain’s immune cells may be causing dementia

Features
Can we solve quantum theory’s biggest problem by redefining reality?

Physics

Can we solve quantum theory’s biggest problem by redefining reality?

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

2XGTH8A In this image from video provided by NASA, astronauts Suni Williams, left, and Butch Wilmore give a news conference aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (NASA via AP)

Space

The Starliner stranding shows why NASA was wise to have a backup plan

Space missions are extremely hard. Things going wrong should be expected, so having a sensible plan B is crucial

News

News

AC4ABH aerial view above four way urban intersection San Francisco, California

Technology

A simple driving trick could make a big dent in cars' carbon emissions

An AI-powered model found that approaching intersections more slowly could lower yearly US carbon emissions by up to around 123 million tonnes

News

Physics

Tweezers made of light could illuminate the quantum twin paradox

News

Mind

This is how your brain knows when the beat is about to drop

News

Chemistry

Plastic vaporising process could recycle bags and bottles indefinitely

News

Physics

How strange ice could form in the extremely hot interiors of planets

News

Health

Lyme disease test gives hope for a speedier diagnosis

News

Health

Mosquito-borne illnesses are spiking across the world

News

Environment

Fungus transforms food waste into haute cuisine

News

Physics

Ultracold quantum battery could be charged with quantum tunnelling

News

Environment

World's largest sailing cargo ship makes first transatlantic voyage

News

Space

SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew set to attempt the riskiest spacewalk yet

News

Life

Backflipping springtails are the fastest spinners known in nature

News

Environment

Potato yarn may cut the fashion industry's environmental footprint

News

Health

Does mpox cause lingering symptoms like long covid?

News

Life

Pregnant shark that disappeared may have been eaten by another shark

News

Life

Marmosets seem to call each other by name

News

Space

Dark matter could be hiding inside strange failed stars

News

Physics

Quantum holograms can send messages that disappear

News

Technology

Why is the US military getting ready to launch new spy balloons?

News

Earth

Earthquakes may explain how huge gold nuggets form in quartz rock

News

Space

Astronomers puzzled by little red galaxies that seem impossibly dense

News

New Scientist Live

A note from the executive editor on New Scientist Live

News

Analysis

Space

Stranded ISS astronauts reveal the US space programme is not in crisis

The failure of Boeing's Starliner capsule has left two astronauts stuck in space for months – but also proved how private spaceflight can go right

News

Aperture

Passiflora lady margaret.full colour Seeds: Time Capsules of Life Rob Kesseler & Wolfgang Stuppy Papadakis Publisher Publication date: 16th September 2024

Life

Close-up photographs of seeds show their intricate beauty

These images are taken from a new book, Seeds: Time capsules of life, which explores how plant life has flourished in the past 360 million years

Regulars

Features

Can we solve quantum theory’s biggest problem by redefining reality?

Physics

Can we solve quantum theory’s biggest problem by redefining reality?

With its particles in two places at once, quantum theory strains our common sense notions of how the universe should work. But one group of physicists says we can get reality back if we just redefine its foundations

Features

Environment

We're finally solving the puzzle of how clouds will affect our climate

Features

Health

Microglia: How the brain’s immune cells may be causing dementia

Features

Culture

SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 20: Freshly printed copies of the San Francisco Chronicle run through the printing press at one of the Chronicle's printing facilities September 20, 2007 in San Francisco, California. Newspaper sales in the U.S. continue to slide as people turn to the internet and television for their news. The Chronicle saw its circulation plunge more than 15 percent in 2006 to 398,000 during the week which has hurt newspaper vendor Rick Gaub's business. Unable to sell as many papers as he used to, Gaub is looking for a new way to earn money after selling papers for 42 years. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Technology

Nexus review: Yuval Noah Harari is out of his depth in his new book

The author of Sapiens has turned his attention to the information networks that shape our societies, but when you stop and think about what he's saying, it's obvious

Culture

Space

Two new books explore how UFOs captured the world’s imagination

Culture

Life

New Scientist recommends eight-legged musical instrument Sonic Spider

Culture

Society

A podcast explores how sport is drawing the line between men and women

Culture

More

Media portrayals peddle a dangerous fiction about substance misuse

Health

Media portrayals peddle a dangerous fiction about substance misuse

Narratives around addiction often reduce it to a series of poor choices, lack of values and weakness. This has real-world consequences, warns Anna Wolfe

Comment

Space

Get ready to spot comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS next month

Regulars

Technology

We need transparency from the companies disseminating misinformation

Comment

BrainTwister #36: Prime generators

Regulars

Tom Gauld on a new version of the Large Hadron Collider

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on chemical ions

Regulars

Regulars

Does this title say it all?

Does this title say it all? "Penile injuries from vacuum cleaners"

Feedback is delighted to receive a response, however excruciating, from a junior doctor to the call for papers in which The Title Tells You Everything You Need to Know

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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