New Scientist magazine - 28 March 2009
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Climate crunch warning
Editorialp3
One of the factors behind the credit crunch was a failure to see the big picture. we mustn't be similarly short-sighted when it comes to the health of the planet
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Grizzly crossing
Editorialp3
Ways to help wildlife cross our many busy highways are a reminder that it is still in our power to make good some of the damage we do to the natural world
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Time for laws on genome spies
Editorialp3
In the excited rush to develop personal genomics, issues of privacy have been left behind
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What's hot on NewScientist.com
Editorial > What's hot on NewScientist.comp3
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Gloves come off in race to find the Higgs
News > Upfrontp4
Particle physicists trade barbs over the recent announcements that the Tevatron particle accelerator could find the elusive Higgs boson in the very near future
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Texas creation vote hangs in the balance
News > Upfrontp4
Tension is rising prior to this Friday's crucial vote on whether children in the US state should be taught creationism alongside evolution in science lessons
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'Wasted' wells fail to solve Africa's water problems
News > Upfrontp4
Drilling wells and leaving them without basic maintenance means millions are still without clean water, claims a major report
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Speculation mounts over North Korean missiles
News > Upfrontpp4-5
Outside analysts speculating on the sophistication of the nation's latest rocket technology say few big advances are likely to have been made
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Great lakes lessen, and more
News > 60 Secondsp5
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Bush ban on morning-after pill is reversed
News > Upfrontp5
A US judge has ordered that the morning-after pill, "Plan B", be made available to 17-year-old girls without a prescription – a reversal of Bush-era policy
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Carbon-sink experiment sunk by hungry crustaceans
News > Upfrontp5
A field experiment to see if sprinkling iron in the oceans could lock away carbon failed after other organisms ate the necessary plankton
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Red and processed meat linked to early death
News > Upfrontp5
A study of half a million Americans finds that eating large amounts of red and processed meat shorten your life
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Special investigation: How my genome was hacked
News > Special Reportpp6-9
If our reporter's DNA is vulnerable, then so is yours. New Scientist reports on an alarming new threat to genetic privacy
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"In India we see four people travelling by motorbike. I thought they could travel more safely by car."
News > Soundbitesp10
Indian industrialist Ratan Tata on why his company launched the Nano car, the world's cheapest, costing under $2000
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Neutron tracks revive hopes for cold fusion
News > This Weekp10
The pursuit of abundant, dirt-cheap energy via cold fusion is now being taken much more seriously, thanks to tell-tale evidence from a US lab
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Coral colony as old as the pyramids
News > This Weekp11
Some corals still surviving today have been dated back to the Bronze Age - the finding reveals that the colonies grow far more slowly than was thought
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'Dark side' of cancer drugs brings hope of cure
News > This Weekp12
The seemingly alarming discovery that some chemotherapies speed up the growth and spread of tumours in mice is prompting new approaches to the way drugs are administered
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Giant ice flows bolster case for volcanoes on Titan
News > This Weekp13
Slushy water from a hidden ocean may be pooling onto the icy surface of Saturn's largest moon
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Spanking 'brings couples together'
News > This Weekp13
Stress associated with sadomasochistic activities soon dies away, hormone studies show, and couples report increases in relationship closeness
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Algal blooms' lingering toxicity explained
News > In Briefp14
A powerful neurotoxin produced by some algae has been discovered on the ocean floor, where it can affect wildlife for weeks after the blooms have died
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Alien world created star's odd twinkle
News > In Briefp14
The orbit of an exoplanet identified in 2008 places it in the right spot to explain the mysterious dimming of a star in 1981 – a decade before the first alien world was found
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Deteriorating home life puts kids at risk
News > In Briefp14
How parents behave with their adolescent kids could have a serious effect on their mental health as adults, research shows
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Morphing liquid could lead to cancer breath test
News > In Briefp14
A puff of exhaled air could give an early warning of lung disease by morphing a liquid into gel
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Artificial 'baby butter' accelerates healing
News > In Briefp15
A mimic of the fatty coating that protects and nurtures a fetus's developing skin could help wounds and eczema heal
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Longer summers are killing Mediterranean corals
News > In Briefp15
Prolonged summer conditions linked to global warming are harming corals called gorgonians – bad news for the corals and the many other species that rely on them
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Our complex brains thrive on the edge of chaos
News > In Briefp15
Operating in a state that is neither ordered nor random may help drive our brain's astonishing capabilities
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Volcano plumes spin up a storm
News > In Briefp15
Satellite photos reveal that volcano plumes swirl anticlockwise, which could explain phenomena like "sheath" lightning and tornadoes seen during eruptions
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Battlefield lasers move a step closer
Technology > Newsp17
A laser weapon small enough to be carried onto the battlefield to destroy rockets has passed a milestone
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Rare animals to feature on Google Earth
Technology > Newsp17
Fans of wildlife documentaries could soon catch up with the latest rare animal sightings from their computers
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Robots could flex nanotube 'muscles'
Technology > Newsp17
Tangles of carbon nanotubes expand when a voltage is applied, allowing them to generate movement
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How to save the world from an asteroid impact
Technology > Featurepp18-19
We could use lasers to zap asteroids that threaten to hit the Earth, or hit them with nuclear bombs – but we need to be sure that we won't make the situation worse
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Vibrating touch screen puts Braille at the fingertips
Technology > Featurep19
A new way of presenting characters on a mobile device could be the first step towards a touch-screen phone for the blind
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F1 cars get a power boost, but at what risk?
Technology > Featurep20
Questions over the safety of energy recovery systems in racing cars are unresolved as the season gets underway
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Realities of boozing are tough to swallow
Comment and Analysispp22-23
To tackle the scourge of "passive drinking", we'll first have to accept some uncomfortable truths about our relationship with drink, says Andy Coghlan
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Science is back in the driving seat
Opinion > Commentaryp23
It's been a wild ride politically and economically since Lawrence Krauss started this column, but at least some things have turned out right
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Heating up
Lettersp24
Gaia Vince suggests the use of land in the far north and south of the globe for food production, should farmland be lost through flooding...
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Suicide psychology
Lettersp24
I was astonished by Robert Pool's account of Thomas Joiner's theory that anorexics find suicide easy because they are used to pain...
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Enigma Number 1538
Opinion > Enigmap24
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Natural mathematics
Letterspp24-25
Martin Rees's article on mathematics prompts the question: why is mathematics so effective in explaining the physical world...
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Chilly history
Lettersp25
Stephanie Pain wonders why 1708-09 was the coldest winter in Europe during the past 500 years. The coldest years of...
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For the record
Lettersp25
The picture illustrating the Insider article on Scandinavia was actually UNIS, The University Centre in Svalbard, Norway...
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Going forward
Lettersp25
In Julian Smith's fascinating "Ted's excellent adventure", the diagram of Ted Ciamillo's submarine shows the rear fin as...
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Importance of sex
Lettersp25
Anil Ananthaswamy interviews the next head of ATLAS, and the first question is: "What are your thoughts on becoming the first woman to head a"...
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Inventive phrasing
Lettersp25
Michael Brooks reports the contentious claim by Alison Pease that "Mathematics is not a discovery. It is something we invent"...
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Seeing numbers
Lettersp25
In her article on dyscalculia, Laura Spinney ignores the differences in the way we process and organise auditory and visual information...
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Trip to Lagrange
Lettersp25
In relation to Stuart Clark's story on the Lagrangian points, the gravitational fields of the Earth and sun do not...
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Heating up
Web Lettersp25
Gaia Vince's article on what we might expect to happen "geophysically" as well as socially in the coming decades was sobering but not completely...
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Media distortion damages both science and journalism
Opinion > Essaypp26-27
When vital research is misreported, the credibility of both science and journalism suffer. Autism researcher Simon Baron-Cohen wonders if the media needs the same kind of tough regulation that scientists face
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Déjà vu: Where fact meets fantasy
Features > Cover Storypp28-31
The feeling that history is repeating itself is one of the weirdest sensations a healthy human can have – it also offers clues about how we understand what is real
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Arctic meltdown is a threat to humanity
Features > Featurepp32-36
The Arctic is warming up much more quickly than expected – that's not just a problem for polar bears, it could be catastrophic for us all, says Fred Pearce
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Can fractals make sense of the quantum world?
Features > Featurepp37-39
Many of the predictions of quantum theory seem too weird to believe, but the mathematics of fractals could help them make sense, says Mark Buchanan
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Megaconservation: Saving wildernesses on a giant scale
Features > Featurepp40-43
The only way to connect the major wildernesses of the world and save their inhabitants is to think big. Very big. Plus: explore our interactive graphic
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Review: Supersense by Bruce M. Hood
Opinion > Books & Artsp44
Would Richard Dawkins wear a killer's cardigan? Strange as the question might seem, the answer could tell us a lot about how our brains harbour superstitions
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Review: Animal Investigators by Laurel A. Neme
Opinion > Books & Artsp45
How a small forensics lab is taking on the $20-billion illegal wildlife trade
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Review: Shapes by Philip Ball
Opinion > Books & Artsp45
Packed with inspiring images of natural patterns, this book is the first volume in a trilogy exploring the laws that create these varied forms
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Review: The Georgian Star by Michael D. Lemonick
Opinion > Books & Artsp45
Modern astronomy owes a debt to sibling astronomers William and Caroline Herschel, as this very readable biography shows
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Feedback
Feedbackp64
This week's Feedback reveals that a tyre's fragrance is as important as its grip, why the US navy can't give old stealth ships away, and why you can only post heavy books to the Irish Republic
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Net rage
The Last Word > Last Word Answerp65
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Husky envy
The Last Word > Last Word Questionp65
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It's a dog's life
The Last Word > Last Word Questionp65
