New Scientist magazine - 15 August 2009

Issue number 2721

Seeing the doppelgänger being stroked created the sensation that it was being touched

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• Spam stamper too good to be true?

  Editorialp3

  Defeating spam with charitable "stamps" on your emails might make you feel virtuous – but may not have the same effect on your recipient

• Swine flu: knowledge is power

  Editorialp3

  As the northern hemisphere prepares for a second wave, we need a global effort to find out more about the disease

• Time for an ethical weight loss pill

  Editorialp3

  It seems wrong to devise pills that make our bodies waste calories when they are so precious in poor countries

• What's hot on NewScientist.com

  Editorial > What's hot on NewScientist.comp3

• Calls to resurrect NASA's sci-fi think tank

  News > Upfrontp4

  The agency should revive its Institute for Advanced Concepts, says a panel – but with its feet a little closer to the ground

• Doubts over antivirals for kids

  News > Upfrontp4

  Children with mild flu symptoms might be better off without the drugs

• Extinct boobies return from the dead

  News > Upfrontp4

  A bird species thought to have died out 200 years ago has been rediscovered in Australia and New Zealand

• Slow progress on greening palm oil

  News > Upfrontp4

  Promises to clean up the palm oil industry are little more than 'greenwash', says a new report

• 60 Seconds

  News > 60 Secondsp5

• A penny to cut spam

  News > Upfrontp5

  Yahoo! is combining email and charity to help mail filters screen out spammers

• North America puts carbon on the map

  News > Upfrontp5

  US, Canada and Mexico agree to map their biggest emitters and best spots for carbon capture and storage

• Tough times call for taller presidents

  News > Upfrontp5

  The US votes for taller and more square-jawed leaders when economic times are hard

• Swine flu: How experts are preparing their families

  News > Special Reportpp6-8

  An exclusive New Scientist survey reveals what precautions flu experts have been taking, and if they think a more virulent strain will emerge

• Did asteroids flock together to build planets?

  News > This Weekp9

  Swarms of boulders may have collapsed spontaneously under their own gravity in the early solar system, forming the building blocks of the planets

• Stowaway insects imperil Darwin's finches

  News > This Weekp9

  Galapagos finches could be among the first casualties of mosquitoes that stow away on aircraft, potentially bringing fatal viruses to the islands

• Milky Way may have a huge hidden neighbour

  News > This Weekp10

  Patterns in the gas at the edge of our galaxy could signal a large, unseen satellite galaxy just next door

• Statistics could help decode ancient scripts

  News > This Weekp10

  A branch of mathematics called information theory could help computers pick out the most significant words in a text

• Humans may have learned to walk in the trees

  News > This Weekp11

  Chimps and gorillas walk on their knuckles, but that doesn't mean our ancestors did, according to a new survey of ape wrist bones

• Malaria vaccine holds out eradication hope

  News > This Weekp11

  The vaccine doesn't stop people getting infected, but it prevents the malaria parasites from reproducing afterwards

• Bugs bare their magnetic bits

  News > In Briefp12

  The discovery of genes for magnetism in some bacteria could lead to synthetic nanomagnets and better MRI scanners

• How over-confidence leads us into temptation

  News > In Briefp12

  People who think they are strong-willed are actually worse at resisting temptation

• Insults are best taken lying down

  News > In Briefp12

  Brain scans show that people react differently to provocation when horizontal

• Why the highest mountains are near the equator

  News > In Briefp12

  The height of the snowline on a mountain plays a significant role in how tall it is likely to grow

• Birds shrink as temperature rises

  News > In Briefp13

  We already knew sheep and trees are shrinking because of climate change – now it seems birds are too

• Black hole parasites explain cosmic flashes

  News > In Briefp13

  Gamma-ray bursts, the brightest flashes in the universe, may be caused by black holes burrowing into stars and eating them from the inside

• Same-sex action helps thrush yeast thrive

  News > In Briefp13

  Candida albicans cells can reproduce homosexually, which could help explain how the yeast develops resistance to treatment

• Ugly skin growths saved Yushchenko

  News > In Briefp13

  The Ukrainian president survived dioxin poisoning thanks to a liver-like organ that grew on his skin

• Beagle 2 didn't spin to its doom

  Technology > Newsp15

  Simulations that showed the British Mars probe tumbling to disaster in the Martian atmosphere were wrong, says the Beagle team

• 'Black boxes' for future iPhones

  Technology > Newsp15

  Tampering customers and accessory makers alike are testing the patience of iPod and iPhone maker Apple – so it is inventing its way around the problem

• Hurt my avatar and I feel pain

  Technology > Newsp15

  A technique that helps people to physically identify with a virtual body could be a boon for paralysed people, game designers – and pornographers

• Internet 'immune system' could block viruses

  Technology > Featurepp16-17

  Threat detection system could identify and quarantine worms, before the malicious code has the chance to wreak havoc on unpatched systems

• The power of five brings quantum computers alive

  Technology > Featurep17

  Using a five-state system rather than binary qubits could make it easier to develop quantum computers

• Night-time photos shed light on growing economies

  Technology > Featurep18

  Satellite images of artificial lighting could help provide more accurate measurements of economic growth for developing countries

• Spy satellites to fly in packs

  Technology > Featurep18

  The US military is to test a cluster of satellites that would work together to make surveillance more resilient

• Why managing risk is a risky business

  Comment and Analysispp20-21

  From swine flu to locking up the wrong people, grappling with risk means juggling our emotional and analytical selves

• One-minute interview: The Yes Men

  Opinion > Interviewp21

  ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical have been among the targets of inventive pranks mounted by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno

• Climate of apathy

  Lettersp22

  Judging by the number of reports in New Scientist of research into technologies that are likely to worsen global warming, the adverts for gas-guzzling...

• Enigma Number 1558

  Opinion > Enigmap22

• Calorie conundrum

  Letterspp22-23

  Bijal Trivedi explains how the method of preparation and condition of the food we eat makes a big difference to the number of calories available...

• Election illusion

  Lettersp23

  Stephen Battersby's article on the disputed Iranian election results seemed rather ideological for a publication that claims to be about science, and written for...

• For the record

  Lettersp23

  • We should have stated that artist Rosamond Purcell recreated Ole Worm's Wormianum as pictured in "Enigma of the 23-year-old baby" (25 July...

• Insensitive shellfish

  Lettersp23

  In his article on invertebrates' rights, Peter Fraser referred to research into hermit crabs that purported to show they feel and remember pain (11 July...

• Snuggle for survival

  Lettersp23

  Fern Elsdon-Baker criticises Richard Dawkins's dogmatic approach to evolution and his coining of rigid metaphors for the processes involved (18 July, p 24...

• Stephen Fry: Why turtles make me cry

  Interviewpp24-25

  The king of Twitter ponders endangered species, the Platonic ideal of a smartphone and how to make conservationism work

• Late light reveals what space is made of

  Features > Cover Storypp26-29

  "Quantum foam" – grainy bumps in the fabric of space-time – might explain why light from a distant galaxy arrived four minutes later than expected, offering clues about the real nature of gravity

• Why humans can't navigate out of a paper bag

  Features > Featurepp30-33

  Birds, rats and even hamsters are able to find their way around with ease, without maps or satnav. So how come we get lost so often?

• Future trucks: Cleaning up the kings of the road

  Features > Featurepp34-37

  Super-streamlining, pothole power and heat recycling: a spate of innovation is about to transform diesel-guzzling trucks into green giants

• The fat that makes you thin

  Features > Featurepp38-41

  Brown fat, a curious kind of body tissue that burns up calories, could be the key to easy weight control

• Review: Radical Nature

  Opinion > Books & Artsp42

  Generations of eco-artists meet in this exhibition, which reveals our fraught relationship with nature

• Review: Norman Mailer, Moonfire

  Opinion > Books & Artsp43

  This collectors' edition brings together the best of Apollo 11 journalism and photography

• Review: Not a Chimp by Jeremy Taylor

  Opinion > Books & Artsp44

  We are not as closely related to chimps as some like to think, a new book says

• Review: The Medicine Cabinet of Curiosities

  Opinion > Books & Artsp44

  This compendium of oddities is an entertaining look at some strange and deadly diseases

• Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens by K. C. Cole

  Opinion > Books & Artsp44

  Frank Oppenheimer, though less well known than his brother Robert, inspired adults and children to see the world in a new light

• Maestros of the random paper

  Feedbackp64

  How to get invited to a spamference, a miracle that's been announced in advance, and a virus without a name

• Blow hole

  The Last Word > Last Word Answerp65

• Fly trap?

  The Last Word > Last Word Answerp65

• Wine on the line

  The Last Word > Last Word Questionp65