New Scientist magazine - 19 September 2009

Issue number 2726

One centre offers teachers training about the brain and encourages evaluation of practical approaches

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• In praise of a new science of learning

  Editorialp5

  Introducing evidence-based practice changed the face of medicine. Now it's time to apply the same rigour to education

• Let's junk the throwaway society

  Editorialp5

  Electronic tags offer a new way to find out what happens to our garbage

• Science and science fiction

  Editorialp5

  Enter our short story competition and help us understand the way things really are – or how they might be

• What's hot on NewScientist.com

  Editorial > What's hot on NewScientist.comp5

• Geothermal energy on shaky ground

  News > Upfrontp6

  A German government panel is investigating claims that a geothermal plant triggered an earthquake

• Polar bears run riot as ice melts

  News > Upfrontp6

  As climate change causes sea ice to melt, the numer of "problem" bears appears to be increasing

• Unchecked healthcare costs will ruin America

  News > Upfrontp6

  As the US becomes richer, its people will grow poorer, because of the rising cost of healthcare

• US poorly prepared for dirty bomb cleanup

  News > Upfrontpp6-7

  Government has no detailed plan for cleaning up radioactive material from US cities after a dirty bomb

• 60 Seconds

  News > 60 Secondsp7

  Colour-blind monkeys, pregnant women and swine flu, more room for rockets, and more

• Alan Turing gets belated apology

  News > Upfrontp7

  The mathematician and code-breaker was ill-treated in the 1950s, admits UK government

• Online booze guide helps students drink less

  News > Upfrontp7

  Web-based advice programme persuades heavy-drinking students to lay off the sauce

• Wheat hero is dead, but killer fungus still threatens

  News > Upfrontp7

  Norm Borlaug, who has died aged 95, ended famine in much of the world but the fungi he battled remain a global threat

• Brain science to help teachers get into kids' heads

  News > This Weekpp8-9

  Neuroscience is set to bring fresh insight to teaching – and banish a few myths about the brain

• Don't blame it all on dad's absence

  News > This Weekp10

  The age of a person's first sexual experience tallies with their genetic makeup – not just with whether their parents have split up

• Mystery immunity could boost swine flu protection

  News > This Weekp10

  Thanks to a seasonal flu virus in the H1N1 family, one shot of pandemic vaccine, rather than two, leads to full immunity

• Too much radiation for astronauts to make it to Mars

  News > This Weekp11

  Crews could exceed NASA's recommended maximum doses of space radiation before they get anywhere near the Red Planet

• Can we create quantum creatures in the lab?

  News > This Weekp12

  Schrodinger's water bear could become a reality with a new scheme for trapping and cooling small objects

• Mayans 'played' pyramids to make music for rain god

  News > This Weekp12

  Rain reveals that Mexican pyramids could have been built to be musical instruments for the gods

• Genetic seamstress uses molecular fingers to tweak DNA

  News > This Weekp13

  Zinc "fingers" that use viral enzymes insert or delete genes could lead to safer and more accurate gene therapies

• Fair carbon means no carbon for rich countries

  News > This Weekp14

  If safe levels of global emissions were allocated by population, many developed nations would face almost immediate carbon bankruptcy

• Brain cells less power-hungry than we thought

  News > In Briefp16

  Signalling in mammals' brains uses much less electrical energy than 1930s experiments using squid cells suggested

• Master gene controls natural killer cells

  News > In Briefp16

  The discovery of the gene responsible for the immune system's front-line cells could lead to new treatments for cancer and infection

• Mouse takes off – thanks to magnets

  News > In Briefp16

  Lab mice are being levitated to help NASA research how low gravity affects astronauts

• Shower heads make a perfect home for bugs

  News > In Briefp16

  "Run your shower for a minute or so before you get in, otherwise you'll get a face full of bacteria," says a microbiologist

• Eye movements reveal processing of hidden memories

  News > In Briefp17

  Your brain can be working on memories without you being aware of it – but your eyes can give it away

• Mystery of horned females solved

  News > In Briefp17

  Male cattle use their horns to fight for supremacy, but females don't – so why do they have horns too?

• Naked mole rats may help cure cancer

  News > In Briefp17

  They might be bald and ugly, but these rodents never get cancer – and we may have found out why

• When opposite charges repel

  News > In Briefp17

  The stand-offish behaviour of some charged water droplets could result in new purification technologies

• Flying Armadillo has the power to escape the moon

  Technology > Newsp19

  The first team succeeds at level 2 of the Northrop Grumman 2009 Lunar Lander Challenge

• Satnav means you won't touch that dial

  Technology > Newsp19

  Combining car radios with navigation systems could stop drivers being distracted as they try to stay tuned to their favourite stations

• The noses that know who smokes

  Technology > Newsp19

  Commercially available electronic noses can be modified to help doctors quickly distinguish between smokers and non-smokers.

• Augmented reality gets off to a wobbly start

  Technology > Featurepp20-21

  Can smartphone apps that turn an on-screen view into a feast of interactive information live up to the hype?

• Army heli-Weeble hops to avoid rubble trouble

  Technology > Featurep21

  Toy-inspired remote-controlled aircraft aims to conquer rough terrain and reach places that other drones can't – through a series of hops

• Installing a 3D-ready television might be premature

  Technology > Featurep22

  Manufacturers are about to start selling 3D-ready TVs, but there isn't much to see on them and it won't be in high definition

• Robots get smarter by asking for help

  Technology > Featurep22

  Being able to ask for human help when they come across something unfamiliar could help robots that navigate by recognising objects

• Why bankers are like bacteria

  Comment and Analysispp24-25

  Financial regulators could learn a thing or two from humble micro-organisms and the scientists who study them, says Harvey Rubin

• One-minute interview: Trevor Nunn

  Opinion > Interviewp25

  In 1925 the state of Tennessee took evolution to court in the famous "monkey trial". Now an acclaimed director is bringing the episode to the London stage

• It's a miracle

  Lettersp26

  Hugh McLachlan rightly points out some logical flaws in philosopher David Hume's arguments regarding miracles, but introduces some others in turn (8 August, p...

• Panel envy

  Lettersp26

  E. O. Wilson calls for "an effort along the lines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to protect species" (22 August, p 23...

• Enigma Number 1563

  Opinion > Enigmap26

• More on methane

  Letterspp26-27

  Kirk Smith's reply to Graham Faichney's well-reasoned letter about the place of biogenic methane in the carbon cycle, and hence its diminished...

• Black box satellite

  Lettersp27

  Questions on the safety of modern aircraft raised in your report on the loss of an airliner in the mid-Atlantic on 1 June may...

• Cerebral computers

  Lettersp27

  I am disappointed by Noel Sharkey's dismissal of Hans Moravec's and Ray Kurzweil's assertions that computers will eventually overtake the human brain...

• For the record

  Lettersp27

  • We should have made it clear that when discussing carcinogen content, the smokeless tobacco product to which we were referring was moist snuff (22 August...

• Inventive process

  Lettersp27

  W. Brian Arthur's article on the evolution of technology fails to pay attention to what goes on inside inventors' heads (22 August, p 26...

• Planet Pluto

  Lettersp27

  As Stephen Battersby's article shows, debate continues within the astronomical community over the status of Pluto and many other significant celestial bodies in the...

• Why are we the naked ape?

  Opinion > Essaypp28-29

  No one is sure why Homo sapiens is the only primate to have lost its body hair. But we must keep trying to find out, says Elaine Morgan

• How you can make the world a better place

  Features > Cover Storyp30

  In part 2 of our "Better world" special, we look at what individuals can do to make a difference

• Better world: Get real

  Features > Cover Storyp31

  It's perfectly normal to be irrational. But when it comes to AIDS, vaccination and climate change, it can also be disastrous

• Big thinkers, big ideas

  Features > Cover Storyp31

  We asked prominent thinkers and doers what they reckon would make the world better

• Better world: Be nice to people

  Features > Cover Storyp32

  Becoming more compassionate can improve your health, and altruism is infectious

• Better world: Screen your genes

  Features > Cover Storyp32

  Having your genes tested may not be much use to you, but what are you passing on to your children?

• Better world: Eat more plants

  Features > Cover Storypp32-33

  It's better for you and it's better for the environment – but if you can't go without meat, then deer, grey squirrel and Louisiana crayfish need eating

• Better world: Pimp your house

  Features > Cover Storyp33

  Our homes account for around a third of our carbon emissions, so every eco-warrior should try to make their pad a low-emission one

• Better world: Share things

  Features > Cover Storyp33

  An awful lot of energy could be saved if only people shared things more – especially their homes

• Better world: Consume sceptically

  Features > Cover Storyp34

  Does your money end up in the pockets of farmers, or factory owners who use slave labour?

• Better world: Move to the city

  Features > Cover Storyp34

  To many, going green means moving to the countryside. To reduce your carbon footprint, though, you'd be better off cultivating an urban idyll

• Better world: Vaccinate your children

  Features > Cover Storyp34

  Fewer than 1 in 150 children die before age 5 in developed countries, and a lot of the credit must go to vaccines

• Better world: Offset your emissions

  Features > Cover Storyp35

  If you must fly or indulge in other carbon-intensive activities, carbon offsetters promise redemption

• Trash trackers: The secret life of garbage

  Features > Featurepp36-39

  People fill their trash cans one day, and it's all gone the next – but no one can be sure where it goes. A pioneering experiment will find out

• Rethinking the bee's waggle dance

  Features > Featurepp40-41

  Bees that have found food tell their friends about it by dancing. Or so we thought – but it turns out their hive-mates aren't paying attention

• Quantum computers are coming – just don't ask when

  Features > Featurepp42-45

  A few years ago it seemed that quantum computing was about to be unleashed on the world. What happened?

• Science fiction: The stories of now

  Opinion > Books & Artspp46-49

  US science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson thinks British SF is in a golden age. So why isn't it winning any literary awards?

• Reflective Surfaces by Ken MacLeod

  Opinion > Books & Artsp47

  "Shiny, and streamlined. With fairings, you know? And fins. All around them, people flying on their own, individually, with some kind of back-pack…

• 2109: The reality?

  Opinion > Books & Artsp48

  Geoff Ryman on what he thinks the world will really be like a hundred years from now

• A Little School by Ian McDonald

  Opinion > Books & Artsp48

  Peace be with you, Gulnaz. I am an app. I live in your phone. Only you can hear me, Gulnaz. I am your teacher. Don't be afraid.

• Acid Rain by Nicola Griffith

  Opinion > Books & Artsp49

  The rain when it came burned through their skin and down to the bone, which bled.

• Kelvin 2.0 by Stephen Baxter

  Opinion > Books & Artsp49

  No, sir, you are not William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin. You are a simulation, loaded with biographical and genetic data –

• Penance by Paul McAuley

  Opinion > Books & Artsp49

  It's December. Midsummer. The sun barely dipping below the horizon at midnight, and like everyone else Rongomaiwhe Namakin has white-nights fever…

• A Virtual Population Crisis by Ian Watson

  Opinion > Books & Artsp50

  The Chinese, with their laudable one-family-one-child policy, offered their vast computerate population virtual babies…

• Review: Oceanic by Greg Egan

  Opinion > Books & Artsp50

  His latest science fiction collection is audacious and understated, heady and highly intelligent

• Review: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

  Opinion > Books & Artsp50

  Careful reading leaves you feeling you could easily wake up in a post-pandemic apocalyptic world

• Review: Transition by Iain Banks

  Opinion > Books & Artsp50

  Banks brings his literary and his sci-fi identities together in this fantastical, complex novel

• One Shot by Justina Robson

  Opinion > Books & Artsp51

  As the sole owner and keeper of the Baron germline deeds I am writing to formally request that you return all records and frozen clone materials…

• Review: Chalcot Crescent by Fay Weldon

  Opinion > Books & Artsp51

  Orwellian nightmare recast for the Twittering classes

• Review: Wireless by Charles Stross

  Opinion > Books & Artsp51

  World-building is tricky at short-story length – but Stross squeezes some fascinating worlds into this collection

• Jobs market is chemically active

  Careers > The Insiderpp52-53

  Although chemistry has been teetering on the brink, chemists are making a big difference to everything from wine to terracotta soldiers

• The puzzling world of virtual snacks

  Feedbackp68

  How to cook with virtual ingredients, what really happened to Pompeii, and why you should stuff your money into a wormhole

• Studying form

  The Last Word > Last Word Answerp69

• Coins of the realm

  The Last Word > Last Word Questionp69

• Eyes down

  The Last Word > Last Word Questionp69

• Rambling rose bug

  The Last Word > Last Word Questionp69