New Scientist magazine - 25 April 2009

Issue number 2705

Firing hundreds of laser pulses each second creates the illusion of constant points of light in the air

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• Concussed, stressed or just sick of war?

  Editorialp3

  Veterans with injured minds deserve as much care as those with injured brains

• Credit crunch is crunch time for women

  Editorialp3

  In uncertain times, people opt for leaders with feminine faces. So is today's recession an opportunity for women to seize control?

• Waste gasification needs more light and less heat

  Editorialp3

  Why aren't environmentalists jumping for joy at a technology that turns rubbish into energy?

• What's hot on NewScientist.com

  Editorial > What's hot on NewScientist.comp3

• China and America's climate cold war starts to thaw

  News > Upfrontp4

  The world's two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, China and the US, are showing positive signs of greening

• Dengue fever clues found in fruit fly genes

  News > Upfrontp4

  Researchers have found 42 genes that could be targeted by drugs to treat dengue fever

• Why Antarctic ice is growing despite global warming

  News > Upfrontp4

  The southern ozone hole has changed weather patterns around Antarctica and cooled the air above the east part of the continent, according to new research

• Sibling worlds may be wettest and lightest known

  News > Upfrontpp4-5

  A planet orbiting a nearby red dwarf may be the first known water world, while its newly discovered neighbour is the lightest

• Hysterectomy hazards, danger signal, and more

  News > 60 Secondsp5

• Earth's tribes unite against climate threats

  News > Upfrontp5

  Indigenous peoples from as far apart as Lapland and Micronesia are meeting in Alaska this week to forge a common position on climate change

• Obama's stem cell plans could backfire

  News > Upfrontp5

  Scientists fear that the new stem cell regulations could actually hinder existing research

• Wanted: Science advisor for British spy agency

  News > Upfrontp5

  If it hadn't been for Q Branch, James Bond would have been dead long ago. But could any of New Scientist's readers fill the boots of the real-life Q?

• Where next for NASA?

  News > This Weekpp6-7

  The US space program is at a cross-roads: at stake is the future of the shuttle, plans to go back to the Moon and on to Mars, and more

• 'If a soldier is shot in an ambush, what if he's trying to call for help and two truckers are discussing soccer?'

  News > Soundbitesp8

  Amateur radio operator Adinei Brochi on the increasing problem of illegal hijacking of US military transponders in Brazil

• Dark matter may have ripped up early universe

  News > This Weekp8

  A billion years after the big bang, hydrogen atoms were mysteriously torn apart. Could dark matter be the culprit?

• How to turn greenhouse gas into a clean fuel

  News > This Weekp8

  A new process converts carbon dioxide into methanol, without the need for extreme temperatures and pressures

• Viruses could kill superbugs that antibiotics can't

  News > This Weekp9

  A virus that gobbles up a bacterium that causes persistent ear infections could be the next weapon against bacteria that have evolved resistance to antibiotics

• Fossil seal had the feet of an otter

  News > This Weekp10

  A fossil found in the Canadian Arctic could be the link between a primitive animal with webbed feet and the modern seal

• War-torn countries prefer masculine leaders

  News > This Weekp10

  People choose leaders with masculine faces in times of war and feminine faces when peace-keeping's needed – regardless of their actual gender

• 'Hidden photons' to send secret emails through Earth

  News > This Weekp11

  If the hypothetical particles exist, we could use them to send messages straight through the centre of the planet

• Anorexia linked to 'autistic' thinking

  News > This Weekp12

  Both disorders involve extreme attention to detail and overly rigid thought – now researchers are trying to help anorexics with "brain training" treatments developed for autistic people

• Did lead cause global cooling?

  News > In Briefp14

  Atmospheric particles containing lead might have offset the Earth's warming in the 20th century

• How nosy mice sniff out sickness

  News > In Briefp14

  Certain smell receptors in mice respond to disease-related molecules produced by viruses or bacteria, researchers have discovered

• Salt in Enceladus geyser points to liquid ocean

  News > In Briefp14

  Icy fountains from Saturn's moon Enceladus contain salt, meaning that there's almost certainly a sea of liquid water below its surface

• Stay calm to stay asthma free

  News > In Briefp14

  Having a neurotic personality can make you three times more likely to develop adult-onset asthma

• Ancient microbes found in Antarctica's Blood Falls

  News > In Briefp15

  Bacteria trapped under ice for millions of years have evolved to use the iron-rich water for energy

• 'Deep sequencing' gives clues to stem cell control

  News > In Briefp15

  A new technique may soon give researchers a lot more control over growing specialised tissues from stem cells

• Raindrops splash before they hit the ground

  News > In Briefp15

  Liquid droplets splashing against a surface are actually bouncing off a tiny cushion of air, rather than the surface itself

• Road kill tally hints at wildlife health

  News > In Briefp15

  Counting road kill may be an effective way to keep track of changes in local wildlife populations

• Geoengineering could dim lights on solar power

  Technology > Newsp17

  Plans to cool the planet by creating a sunshade could cut the amount of electricity generated by solar power

• Lip-reading computer picks out your language

  Technology > Newsp17

  A system that can tell what language someone is speaking from the shapes and movements of their mouth could lead to lip-reading computers for deaf people

• Online ad targeting system breaks EU privacy rules

  Technology > Newsp17

  Phorm's controversial plan to intercept web page requests would contravene a directive on the confidentiality of communications, the European Commission says

• Supersticky robots to follow in geckos' footsteps

  Technology > Featurepp18-19

  Climbing bots are nearly ready to scale walls and scamper across ceilings

• 3D adverts could appear out of thin air

  Technology > Featurep19

  A system that creates 3D images from balls of plasma could create advertisements and firework displays that hover in mid-air

• Nanowire network measures cells' electrical signals

  Technology > Featurep20

  Electrical signals from different parts of the same cell have been recorded together for the first time – the technique could unlock the secrets of neurons and heart cells alike

• Stacked LEDs could shine bright white light

  Technology > Featurep20

  Making LEDs that emit white light is a tricky business – but a new type of organic LED does it more simply

• Science in the media: Put up or shut up

  Comment and Analysisp22

  If you're peeved with the way science is presented by the media, don't rant - step right up and give it a go yourself, says Kathy Sykes

• We need to tell ET the truth about humanity

  Comment and Analysispp22-23

  Our messages to aliens are more likely to get a response if we stop being so boring, argues Douglas Vakoch

• Viewfinder: Opinions from around the world

  Opinion > Viewfinderp23

  The environmental roots of Somalian piracy, flotsametrics, and the answer to the vexed question: was Cleopatra hot or not?

• Autism controversy

  Lettersp24

  Simon Baron-Cohen complains that the media trumpeted the imminence of prenatal testing for autism based on links to prenatal testosterone levels, when in fact...

• Growing brains

  Lettersp24

  Caroline Williams reassures us that the placenta does a pretty good, if imperfect, job of protecting the fetus from unwanted substances, and cites a few...

• Self-regard

  Lettersp24

  In his review of Thomas Metzinger's The Ego Tunnel, Owen Flanagan includes Buddha in his list of figures who "endorsed" the idea that there...

• Enigma Number 1542

  Opinion > Enigmap24

• Auraculous

  Lettersp25

  You report that auditory rivalry was discovered in 2006 in France (14 March, p 34) but this idea has been around for at least a...

• Depressed ME

  Lettersp25

  Charles Shepherd asks for an objective position to be taken on the aetiology of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) (4 April, p 22). Why are those who...

• ECT can work

  Lettersp25

  Chris Callaghan wonders whether it is the anaesthetic used in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) that is responsible for any beneficial effects the treatment may have (21...

• For the record

  Lettersp25

  • The Dark Energy Survey will catalogue 2000 supernovae that exploded in the last 7 billion years (11 April, p 6...

• Optical tricks

  Lettersp25

  I found "That freaky feeling" very interesting (14 March, p 33). Though I did not try any of the tactile illusions on myself, I discovered...

• Population control

  Lettersp25

  Tracy Chandler (28 March, p 24) says that the way to ensure that your children don't starve to death is not to have so...

• Sink or swim

  Lettersp25

  According to your article "Sea level rising faster", recent measurements show the sea level rise since 1993 to be 3 millimetres per year (14 March...

• Two fingers

  Lettersp25

  With regard to your recent article on tactile illusions (14 March, p 33), I think I may have been the first to notice the possibility...

• Art detectives use forensics to spot forgeries

  Interviewpp26-27

  The art world is in uproar over a portrait claimed to be of Shakespeare, but how do you tell the masterpieces from the fakes? Peter Paul Biró and Nicholas Eastaugh explain how

• Ape behaviour reveals secrets of human evolution

  Features > Featurepp28-32

  No one thing pushed our distant ancestors across the threshold of humanity. Studying our nearest living relatives provides clues that can't be found in bones and stones

• Could your trashcan solve the energy crisis?

  Features > Cover Storypp33-35

  Vaporising household waste to create clean energy could solve two of humanity's biggest environmental problems at once. But is "gasification" as green as it sounds?

• The five greatest mysteries of antimatter

  Features > Featurepp36-39

  Does antimatter fall up? How do you make it – and could it be used to make a bomb? Find out the answers to these questions and more in our special feature

• Antimatter mysteries 1: Where is all the antimatter?

  Features > Featurep37

  According to theory, matter and antimatter should have been created in equal amounts at the big bang – yet our universe is almost entirely made of matter

• Antimatter mysteries 2: How do you make antimatter?

  Features > Featurep38

  Two experiments at CERN are designed to make antihydrogen in useful quantities, but that goal is proving elusive

• Antimatter mysteries 3: Does antimatter fall up?

  Features > Featurep38

  Gravity works the same way on all matter – but what about antimatter? If it behaves differently, it could overturn our understanding of physics

• Antimatter mysteries: Can we make an anti-world?

  Features > Featurepp38-39

  At the moment physicists are having enough difficulty just taming antihydrogen, the simplest possible anti-atom. Can we ever expect them to make a whole anti-periodic table?

• What about antimatter bombs?

  Features > Featurep39

  The idea that humanity might one day harness antimatter for destructive purposes has a ghastly fascination – but it won't happen anytime soon

• Brain shock: The new Gulf War syndrome

  Features > Featurepp40-43

  Are the mysterious symptoms plaguing bomb-blast survivors a scary new phenomenon or simply a twist on an old problem?

• Cosmic numbers: Pauli and Jung's love of numerology

  Opinion > Books & Artsp44

  Dreams and strange coincidences brought together quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli and psychoanalyst Carl Jung, two of history's most profound thinkers

• Paperback Picks

  Opinion > Books & Artsp45

  Our editors select the best in softcover reading

• Review: Horizon: How violent are you?

  Opinion > Books & Artsp45

  This gripping documentary may well shock you in its exploration of our capacity for violence

• What is play for? Neuroscience wades in

  Opinion > Books & Artsp45

  Scientists haven't done much serious work on play. Two new books aim to explain why it's so important – and complicated

• Bangladesh: In search of fresh water

  Opinion > Books & Artsp46

  Photographer Munem Wasif captures the hardships caused by changing water supplies in Bangladesh

• All hail Durham, masters of the cosmos

  Feedbackp64

  Why Durham University rules the universe, the UK Treasury's not-so-hidden stash, and another chance to enter our Wallace and Gromit competition

• Achoo blues

  The Last Word > Last Word Answerp65

• Wheels of death

  The Last Word > Last Word Answerp65

• Speed freaks

  The Last Word > Last Word Questionp65

• Sticky problem

  The Last Word > Last Word Questionp65

• The right path

  The Last Word > Last Word Questionp65