November - 2009 Articles
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Dear God, please confirm what I already believe
30 November 2009
Experiments on people who believe in God suggest they endow the deity with their own views on controversial issues such as abortion
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Knox murder trial evidence 'flawed', say DNA experts
30 November 2009
As the verdict on their murder charges looms, DNA evidence allegedly implicating Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito is being called into question
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3D mash-up maps let you 'edit' the world
30 November 2009
Accurate, large-scale 3D maps could soon change the way we design, manage and relate to our urban environments
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LHC becomes most powerful accelerator of all time
30 November 2009
Last night the rebooted Large Hadron Collider gave a beam of protons the most energy of any particle accelerator ever
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The world looks different if you're depressed
30 November 2009
People with the condition find it easy to interpret large images or scenes, but struggle to "spot the difference" in fine detail
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Great and good share hopes and fears for Copenhagen
30 November 2009
New Scientist asked leading scientists, politicians and business people to tell us if the imminent climate change talks can deliver
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Shrink-to-fit spacesuit eases astronauts' workload
29 November 2009
Astronauts will one day get suited and booted in seconds by stepping into an overlarge, part-robotic spacesuit that contracts to fit them
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Early Snowball Earth may have melted to a mudball
28 November 2009
If the icy tropics of 700 million years ago were covered in dust, this could have helped melt the ice
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Cellphones team up to make Wi-Fi where you want it
28 November 2009
Microsoft software allows cellphones to pool connections and create a mobile wireless hotspot for nearby computers
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New Scientist TV – November 2009
27 November 2009
Find out how videoconferences could go 3D, how we interact with animals and how an ultra-realistic 3D map was made, in this month's New Scientist vodcast
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Proper use of English could get a virus past security
27 November 2009
Malicious computer code can be hidden in plain English text to fool antivirus programs
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Why the hammerhead shark got its hammer
27 November 2009
Its widely separated eyes give it super-vision that can judge distance and so track prey better than other sharks
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Rare star smash may explain mystery outburst
27 November 2009
A star that brightened dramatically in 2002 may have been sent into a spin by another star, X-ray observations suggest
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Steven Laureys: How I know 'coma man' is conscious
27 November 2009
The physician who diagnosed Rom Houben as conscious after 20 years as a coma patient has no time for those who doubt Houben's abilities
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The world's fastest computers
27 November 2009
The twice-yearly Top500 list has just been released – here are the five fastest machines on the planet
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Networked surveillance minicopters can't be kept down
27 November 2009
Each weighs only 30 grams but carries motion sensors, can change course and warn fellow craft of obstacles, and could even carry a small camera
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Welcome to the high-carbon future
27 November 2009
From coal, soot and pencils to electronics, nanoribbons and atom-thick semiconductors – carbon is turning out to be even more talented than we thought
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Energetic gamma rays spotted from 'microquasar'
26 November 2009
After decades of searching, astronomers using two different telescopes have found high-energy gamma rays emanating from a disc around a dense stellar remnant
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'Simple' bacterium shows surprising complexity
26 November 2009
First "blueprint" of a minimalist bacterium show it is not so simple after all – challenging textbook accounts of the way genes work together
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Rainbow trapped for the first time
26 November 2009
An ingeniously simple device, made with just a magnifying lens and a plate of glass, has been used to trap a rainbow of visible light
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Superconductors can come in from the cold
26 November 2009
Calculations suggest that a wire can be an electrical superconductor even if some sections are at room temperature
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First osmosis power plant goes on stream in Norway
26 November 2009
Sited on the banks of the Oslo fjord, it generates electricity using the natural process that keeps plants standing upright and our body cells rigid
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How to wind snail shells up the wrong way
26 November 2009
Prodding embryos with a glass rod made snails reverse their "handedness", giving insight into when the symmetry of bodies begins
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Brain scanner can tell a Dali from a Picasso
26 November 2009
The brain seems to have a code for different artistic styles, which could one day be used to classify art
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Michael Marshall
26 November 2009
Editorial assistant on New Scientist.com
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New space telescope to hunt for stealth asteroids
26 November 2009
NASA's WISE infrared telescope will be able to find hundreds of near-Earth objects and maybe even a faint Jupiter-sized object lurking in deep space
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The eye-catching best of fluid dynamics
26 November 2009
This week, physicists at the Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, exhibited their best experimental images in a gallery of fluid motion
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Sleep success: How to make ZZZs = memory
26 November 2009
From playing sounds to sniffing roses to dreaming of computer games, we are learning how to optimise sleep for better learning and memory
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'Holographic' videoconferencing moves nearer to market
26 November 2009
A new twist on a Victorian theatrical trick could see 2D 'holographic' projections used in business meetings
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Obama offers fixed targets for US emissions cuts
25 November 2009
The US president has given a major boost to next month's Copenhagen talks by offering firm targets for cuts in US greenhouse gas emissions
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Sleepwalking into a legal quagmire
25 November 2009
Science and scepticism are invaluable when a defendant says, "I did it in my sleep"
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Researchers must stay on the moral high ground
25 November 2009
The release of hundreds of personal emails sent by climate researchers has proved extremely embarrassing
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Dark power: Grand designs for interstellar travel
25 November 2009
We could reach the stars if we built a black hole starship or a dark matter rocket – we've got the physics to do it
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Ultra-realistic 3D map
25 November 2009
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P. Z. Myers: Mild-mannered scourge of creationists
25 November 2009
His tirades against religion have provoked millions of readers, but the force behind the science blog Pharyngula turns out to be a rather genial firebrand
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Milky Way's building blocks still sparkle in the sky
25 November 2009
Globular clusters may be the leftovers of small galaxies that merged to form the Milky Way
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Race is on to use embryonic stem cells in humans
25 November 2009
After years of wrangling, several therapies using human embryonic stem cells are nearly ready to be tried in people. Which will be first?
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Nuclear fuel: are we heading for a uranium crunch?
25 November 2009
Fears of the warming effect of fossil fuels have pushed governments to reconsider nuclear power – but could a uranium shortage scupper their plans?
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Their breath on your skin helps you hear
25 November 2009
The feeling of someone's breath on your neck may help you understand what they're saying – so future hearing aids may puff
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Unthinkable to build a black-hole starship? Never
25 November 2009
Spending time and money on harnessing the power of black holes and dark matter would not be a waste
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Eating less meat helps the planet – and your heart
25 November 2009
Cutting back on the amount of animal produce we consume would help us meet our emissions reduction targets, and make us healthier into the bargain
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Climate 'diagnosis' is stark message for politicians
25 November 2009
The Copenhagen Diagnosis argues that the environment is in a worse state than predicted as recently as 2007 and calls for drastic action
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Innovation: Where next for social networking?
25 November 2009
A pantheon of social network founders and investors met on Monday to discuss the future of the services that have changed the web
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Paul Matts: The secrets of looking young
25 November 2009
Procter & Gamble's skincare scientist knows all the signs of youth and beauty – and how to keep them
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The sweeter side of volcanoes
25 November 2009
There is much more to volcanoes than just fireballs and noxious gas – see a different side of them in our gallery
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Decode's demise sparks privacy fears
25 November 2009
A personal genomics firm has gone bust, prompting fears about what will become of customers' genetic and medical data
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US mammogram battles are the start of fights to come
25 November 2009
Unnecessary tests and treatments need to be eliminated, but convincing the public that this can mean better outcomes will be tough
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Cleaner killing
25 November 2009
Andy Coghlan discussed the possibility that calves may feel pain after Jewish or Muslim ritual slaughter (17 October, p 11), and the suggestion that stunning...
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Atlantis
25 November 2009
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Drowned cities: Myths and secrets of the deep
25 November 2009
Atlantis was just a story, but other ancient civilisations really have sunk beneath the waves – complete with their temples, megaliths and pirate headquarters
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Pavlopetri, Greece
25 November 2009
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Yonaguni, Japan
25 November 2009
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Dunwich, UK
25 November 2009
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Port Royal, Jamaica
25 November 2009
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Herakleion and Eastern Canopus, Egypt
25 November 2009
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Enigma Number 1573
25 November 2009
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For the record
25 November 2009
• In our article on supersymmetry, we should have stated that Nathan Seiberg and Edward Witten work at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (14 November...
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Engender ambition
25 November 2009
It was disappointing to read a gender assumption in Michael Bond's article on interview techniques. He explains that you are more likely to get...
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Naked nerves
25 November 2009
I read with interest Elaine Morgan's explanation for human hairlessness (19 September, p 28) and I would like to propose my own alternative: our...
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Crash time
25 November 2009
Douglas Fox relates how researcher David Eagleman asked volunteers to endure 30 metres of free fall into a safety net while wearing an LED device...
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Engineered nutrition
25 November 2009
Your editorial made a laudable public stand in support of genetic modification as a way to produce nutritionally enhanced crops (31 October, p 5). But...
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Pets cost the Earth
25 November 2009
Your editorial on the environmental impact of pets comes at a poignant time in the autumn of my veterinary career (24 October, p 5). I...
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Atlit-Yam, Israel
25 November 2009
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Chanee Brulé: Last night a DJ saved a gibbon
25 November 2009
The Borneo-based DJ is rescuing the apes, playing matchmaker and releasing them to sing in the wild
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Organising struggle: Structures of religious violence
25 November 2009
In Radical, Religious and Violent, economist Eli Berman examines the sociology and economics of effective and resilient terrorist groups
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60 Seconds
25 November 2009
How a snail shell gets its twist, how breast milk gives immunity, fears over new-found huge gorilla colony and more
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Bizarre deep-sea denizens make their debut
25 November 2009
From an octopus with ears to a worm that feasts on crude oil, The Census of Marine Life has found still more weird animals in the deep darkness
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Was there a Stone Age apocalypse or not?
25 November 2009
A comet blasted North America 13,000 years ago, wiping out its megafauna and early settlers, one group insists. Not a bit of it, the sceptics cry
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Guapa, it's your genetic ancestry I love
25 November 2009
In Latino populations, love unites people with similar mix of ancestries
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Gene change in cannibals reveals evolution in action
25 November 2009
Devastating brain disease caused by human cannibalism promoted protective gene mutation to emerge just 200 years ago
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Skin bacteria that help keep us healthy
25 November 2009
Being caked in germs sounds unpleasant, but bacteria living on our skin may play a vital role in keeping inflammation from running amok
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Best of Twitter tunes album released
25 November 2009
Musical twitterers have found a way to condense entire compositions to fit in single, 140-character tweets
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Charles Darwin: Writing Origin 'like confessing a murder'
25 November 2009
Death is no barrier to New Scientist. 150 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species, we have obtained an interview with its author
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Katrina court victory paves way for billion-dollar payouts
25 November 2009
A judge has ruled that the US federal government was to blame for much of the flooding caused by hurricane Katrina in 2005
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Repaired Hayabusa probe heads home
25 November 2009
The ill-fated Japanese probe, which landed on an asteroid but failed to dislodge any material for collection, is on its way back to Earth
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What's hot on NewScientist.com
25 November 2009
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Dinosaurs in the web of life
25 November 2009
Palaeontologist Scott Sampson's Dinosaur Odyssey brings dinosaurs back to life as living, breathing parts of their long-vanished ecosystems
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Hypocritical or apolitical? Von Braun deconstructed
25 November 2009
The reputation of Wernher von Braun, the Nazi-to-NASA rocket genius, is revisited in Dark Side of the Moon by Wayne Biddle
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On the origin of gods
25 November 2009
In The Faith Instinct, Nicholas Wade argues that in early human societies religion evolved as the best solution to lawlessness and warfare
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The Mandelbulb: first 'true' 3D image of famous fractal
25 November 2009
A group of fractal image makers claim to have made the best three-dimensional portrayal to date of the Mandelbrot set, the most famous fractal equation
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Great thinkers or feckless nobodies? You decide
25 November 2009
The fruitloopy world of quantum psychology, evidence that rock band Slade visited Venus and why you can't order half a light bulb
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Get your skates on
25 November 2009
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The right path
25 November 2009
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Simply red
25 November 2009
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On the bounce
25 November 2009
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Hacked archive provides fodder for climate sceptics
24 November 2009
Climate scientists are reeling from the discovery that someone has hacked into the email archive of one of their most prestigious research centres
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World's last bastion of stable ice now thawing
24 November 2009
The East Antarctica ice sheet, which was thought to be stable, is losing billions of tonnes of ice a year – climate change may be the culprit
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'Fat fingers' can become dainty for touch screens
24 November 2009
Touch-screen devices could be smaller if they could read how you use your fingers
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Can you be blamed for sleepwalking crimes?
24 November 2009
Research on the causes of sleepwalking may make it easier to identify whether those who commit crimes in their sleep should bear the responsibility
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Birthplace of cosmic guitar pinpointed
24 November 2009
A pulsar that is forming a massive guitar-shaped wake in interstellar gas has been tracked back to its origin
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Katrina court win paves way for billion-dollar payouts
24 November 2009
A judge has ruled that the US federal government was to blame for much of the flooding caused by hurricane Katrina in 2005
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Robot arm opens doors for wheelchair users
24 November 2009
The arm can grip all sorts of handles and knobs while pushing or pulling to open a door
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LHC smashes protons together for first time
23 November 2009
The particle accelerator is now officially a collider – it will attempt to break the world record for collision energies before the end of the year
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African conflicts spurred by warming
23 November 2009
Africa is set to experience a surge in civil wars, causing nearly 400,000 additional battle deaths by 2030 – all as a direct result of rising temperatures, a study suggests
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US bets $150m on high-risk renewable energy
23 November 2009
Bags of cash are being thrown at high-risk, high-reward research by the Department of Energy. New Scientist takes a look at the lucky recipients
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Melting Arctic: Forget polar bears, worry about humans
23 November 2009
Climate change is transforming the Arctic so fast that many species could be gone within our lifetimes. But the important thing is to put human self-interest first, says Alun Anderson
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Friendly bacteria keep your skin's defences in check
23 November 2009
Being caked in germs sounds unpleasant, but bacteria living on our skin may play a vital role in keeping inflammation from running amok
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Vaccine quest boosted by HIV that infects monkeys
23 November 2009
An HIV virus modified to infect monkeys could be a big step forward for HIV research
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Orion's dark secret: Violence shaped the night sky
23 November 2009
A ring of bright stars surrounds us, giving us some of our most familiar constellations. But where did it come from?
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Charles Darwin: Writing Origin 'like confessing a murder'
23 November 2009
Death is no barrier to New Scientist. 150 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species, we have obtained an interview with its author*
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Icy moon's lakes brim with hearty soup for life
23 November 2009
Lakes on Saturn's moon Titan are loaded with acetylene, a chemical some scientists say could serve as food for cold-resistant organisms, a new study suggests
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Dark galaxy crashing into the Milky Way
22 November 2009
A cloud of hydrogen crashing into our galaxy now appears be a galaxy itself, packed with dark matter – many more may be out there
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Low-carbon road map for China
22 November 2009
Report claims that the country can get all its new energy from renewable and nuclear power by 2050 while boosting economic growth
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Greenland ice loss behind a sixth of sea-level rise
21 November 2009
The ice cap lost 1500 cubic kilometres of ice between 2000 and 2008, and the loss is speeding up
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US could ban caffeine-alcohol drinks within months
21 November 2009
The US Food and Drug Administration has asked manufacturers of drinks that combine alcohol and caffeine to provide scientific evidence they are safe
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'Frankenstein' fix lets asteroid mission cheat death
20 November 2009
The beleaguered Hayabusa asteroid probe is back on track to return to Earth after ground controllers cobbled together a working engine from two dead ones
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Pickled evidence for evolution
20 November 2009
Animal specimens preserved in jars look Victorian, but the images in Evidence of Evolution show there's still nothing better for studying new species
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Guapa, it's your genetic ancestry I love
20 November 2009
In Latino populations, love unites people with similar mix of ancestries
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Is this the end for human space flight?
20 November 2009
Have our dreams of sailing through space run out of history? Michael Hanlon thinks they have; Ivan Semeniuk can't see them being allowed to die
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Dumb code could stop computer viruses in their tracks
20 November 2009
Machine code inserted into all email attachments could prevent even the newest viruses from delivering their payloads
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Future colliders: Beyond the LHC
20 November 2009
Physicists are already plotting how the discoveries of the Large Hadron Collider will shape the next generation of particle smashers
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Medibots: The world's smallest surgeons
20 November 2009
No more scalpels – tomorrow's lifesaving operations will use robots that crawl over your heart, scuttle into your ear and swim into your eye
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Water found in lunar impact probably came from comets
19 November 2009
The discovery of volatiles in lunar material ejected by NASA's LCROSS mission suggests comets delivered much of the water at the impact site
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Was there a Stone Age apocalypse or not?
19 November 2009
A comet blasted North America 13,000 years ago, wiping out its megafauna and early settlers, one group insists. Not a bit of it, the sceptics cry
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Better-looking sportsmen more likely to win
19 November 2009
New research, along with a Twitter-facilitated study conducted by New Scientist, reveals an important trait of the best jocks: a handsome face
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Watch out, roundworms: UV phasers are set to stun
19 November 2009
With a flash of ultraviolet light, you can stun a roundworm. And a pulse of visible light has them wriggling again
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Best of Twitter tunes album released
19 November 2009
Musical twitterers have found a way to condense entire compositions to fit in single, 140-character tweets – listen to them here
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Gene change in cannibals reveals evolution in action
19 November 2009
Devastating brain disease caused by human cannibalism promoted protective gene mutation to emerge just 200 years ago
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Crohn's blamed on lazy immune cells
19 November 2009
The bowel disease, thought to be caused by an over-exuberant immune system, may paradoxically be triggered by immune cells not doing enough
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Scuba diving to the depths of human history
19 November 2009
Many prehistoric people lived by the sea – but rising sea levels have drowned their settlements. To raise their secrets from the seabed, archaeologists are swapping their boots for flippers
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Ripples in space divide classical and quantum worlds
18 November 2009
We're made of subatomic particles that can be in two places at once. So why can't we?
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A spectacle to inspire engineers of the future
18 November 2009
Fuel gluttons they may be, but the cars trying to break the 1000 mph barrier should be celebrated just the same
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Copenhagen talks are still crucial
18 November 2009
A delayed deal will be better than a bad deal, especially if it gives the Obama administration time to bring Congress on side
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Four ways to feed the world
18 November 2009
By 2025 there will be 9 billion people on Earth, all needing food. We look at the best ways to stave off starvation
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The race to build a 1000 mph car
18 November 2009
You want to be the fastest thing on four wheels. Should you use jets or rockets? Or both?
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The Mandelbulb: first 'true' 3D image of famous fractal
18 November 2009
A group of fractal image makers claim to have made the best three-dimensional portrayal to date of the Mandelbrot set, the most famous fractal equation
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Breathing new life into 'old' eggs
18 November 2009
Eggs donated by young women could be used to repair the damaged eggs of older women, upping the chances that they can be fertilised
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Cellphone app to make maps of noise pollution
18 November 2009
New software could turn cellphones into environmental sensors, enabling them to gather noise pollution data in unprecedented detail
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ME or not ME
18 November 2009
Your report on Judy Mikovits's study linking a retrovirus, XMRV, to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) (17 October, p 6), along with the longer online...
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Bits and bobs
18 November 2009
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Silent mosquitoes: the horror
18 November 2009
The reality of UN-SPIDER, why most food isn't real, and the winner of our Darwin Now competition
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Enigma Number 1572
18 November 2009
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Careers in climate change
18 November 2009
With so many important areas of research to choose from, how do you make the most of your career in climate science?
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Previous ITERation
18 November 2009
I was rather surprised that, when discussing ITER (10 October, p 40), no mention was made of ZETA, the Zero Energy Toroidal Assembly that was...
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The odd couples of the animal world
18 November 2009
Marty Crump's precise yet jolly prose helps Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers put soap operas to shame with its collection of natural history nuggets
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Everything you wanted to know about sex (and death)
18 November 2009
In Death and Sex, biologist Tyler Volk and writer Dorion Sagan give delightful insights into two of the most important things for all of us
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Grigori Perelman: The genius in hiding
18 November 2009
The reclusive Russian turned down the "mathematics Nobel" and then abandoned the field altogether. Marsha Gessen's Perfect Rigor tells his story
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Quality not quantity
18 November 2009
I read with interest Irving Kirsch's article describing how the antipsychotic drugs given to people with Alzheimer's disease can shorten their lives (17...
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Energy's sunny side
18 November 2009
Fred Pearce's lucid description of thermal solar electricity generation in the Sahara desert (24 October, p 38) mentions three potential drawbacks of the Desertec...
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How our brains learned to read
18 November 2009
Humans haven't been reading long enough for our brains to evolve the ability – in Reading in the Brain, Stanislas Dehaene explains how we managed it
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How time flies
18 November 2009
Douglas Fox's article explores the idea that we experience time through discrete snapshots of reality, and offers an explanation of why we recall time...
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An important hobbit
18 November 2009
In your interview with Richard Leakey, you report that he steps aside from the debate on whether Homo floresiensis - the "hobbit" - represents a distinct species...
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For the record
18 November 2009
• We understated the strength of gravity on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan (7 November, p 44). It is in fact one-seventh that...
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Rising heat
18 November 2009
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Ocker stopper
18 November 2009
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Limp reception for female 'libido drug'
18 November 2009
A drug dubbed "female Viagra" that boosts women's libido may have come a step closer, but is it really necessary?
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Piezoelectronics gets green makeover
18 November 2009
Piezoelectric materials have traditionally been made from lead, but now there's a clean alternative that could soon perform just as well
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Failed stellar bombs hint at supernova tipping point
18 November 2009
Two peculiar white dwarfs with more oxygen than carbon are like nothing anybody has seen before
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Balearic goats could grow slow
18 November 2009
A goat that lived on the Balearic Islands until 3000 years ago had bones like a reptile – which could explain how the species survived so long
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Toddlers insensitive to fear go on to commit crimes
18 November 2009
Adult criminals tend to be fearless, but whether this quality emerges before or after their crimes wasn't clear until now
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Signature of consciousness captured in brain scans
18 November 2009
Consistent patterns linked to awareness of particular images could be used to detect consciousness in brain-damaged people
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Paradox lost: molecular collisions kept early Earth warm
18 November 2009
2.5 billion years ago, the sun was so faint, the oceans should have been ice. They weren't, and now a modelling study suggests the greenhouse effect, and nitrogen explain why
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'Holographic' videoconferencing moves nearer to market
18 November 2009
A new twist on a Victorian theatrical trick could see 2D 'holographic' projections used in business meetings
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Time-travelling browsers navigate the web's past
18 November 2009
Old versions of websites will be as easy to find as current ones with new time-travelling technology
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60 Seconds
18 November 2009
How Russia is growing, literally, allergies rocketing in US children, food for life on Titan, and more
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Getting to the heart of robotic surgery
18 November 2009
Are we ready for miniature surgical robots to embark on a fantastic voyage through our bodies?
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What's hot on NewScientist.com
18 November 2009
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Competition winners: Track your trash
18 November 2009
New Scientist asked for ideas for a trash-tracking experiment – here are the 10 winners
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Fears over 'own goal' HIV vaccine revived
18 November 2009
Cold virus used in vaccine may raise HIV infection risk after all
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Impact reveals lunar water by the bucketful
18 November 2009
NASA's LCROSS mission has confirmed an icy store of water at the moon's south pole
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Contact lenses to get in-built virtual graphics
18 November 2009
A contact lens fitted with an LED and the circuitry to harvest power from radio waves is the first step towards a new kind of head-up display
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Tasers safer than batons and fists
18 November 2009
Using a Taser to subdue a violent suspect is safer than wielding batons and fists, says a study of US police incidents
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NASA seeks its one true glove
18 November 2009
The second Astronaut Glove Challenge for more dextrous space gloves takes place this week
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Balearic goats could grow slow
17 November 2009
A goat that lived on the Balearic Islands until 3000 years ago had bones like a reptile – which could explain how the species survived so long
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Tasers safer than batons and fists
17 November 2009
Using a Taser to subdue a violent suspect is safer than wielding batons and fists, says a study of US police incidents
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Mobile botnets show their disruptive potential
17 November 2009
Researchers demonstrate how a small number of infected phones could be used to attack a mobile network, making it impossible for most users to make calls or send texts
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Limp reception for female 'libido drug'
17 November 2009
A drug dubbed 'female Viagra' that boosts women's libido may have come a step closer, but is it really necessary?
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NASA seeks its one true glove
17 November 2009
The second Astronaut Glove Challenge for more dextrous space gloves takes place this week
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Copenhagen – how the Danes will salvage a deal
17 November 2009
The organisers of the Copenhagen climate conference have conceded that it cannot deliver a legally binding deal. What is left for it to offer?
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Don't pack your parachute: Totally free fall
17 November 2009
Teams of modern-day birdmen are racing to pull off a stunt they hope will be groundbreaking – but only metaphorically
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Innovation: The dizzying ambition of Wolfram Alpha
17 November 2009
The knowledge engine's tie-up with Microsoft is just the beginning of a bold vision for the future
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Toddlers insensitive to fear go on to commit crimes
17 November 2009
Adult criminals tend to be fearless, but whether this quality emerges before or after their crimes wasn't clear until now
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Computational cameras perfect your photos for you
17 November 2009
New photography techniques will enable novice snappers to produce stunning images thanks to onboard image manipulation
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Climate change gives ancient trees growth spurt
16 November 2009
Rising temperatures are boosting the growth of the oldest trees on Earth, but the adolescent growth spurt may – or may not – benefit the climate, say scientists
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Fears over 'own goal' HIV vaccine revived
16 November 2009
Cold virus used in vaccine may raise HIV infection risk after all
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Bangladesh mass poisoning mystery solved
16 November 2009
Researchers say they have discovered why arsenic turns up in lethal quantities in wells across Bangladesh – microbial oxidation is to blame
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Time-travelling browsers navigate the web's past
16 November 2009
Old versions of websites will be as easy to find as current ones with new time-travelling technology
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Darwin's long argument is won
16 November 2009
Creationists who try to smear The Origin of Species as the sacred text of science are making a basic error
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Memento Test
16 November 2009
dvsv
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Headphone risk to pacemakers
16 November 2009
The small powerful magnets used in modern headphones can cause pacemakers and defibrillators to malfunction
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Mystery 'dark flow' extends towards edge of universe
16 November 2009
Over a thousand galaxy clusters are streaming in one direction across the sky – some think it's the first sign of a neighbouring universe
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NASA to restart primate irradiation testing
16 November 2009
The effect of space radiation on astronauts is still a big question mark for deep space exploration – primate research is meant to cut it down to size
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Paradox lost: molecular collisions kept early Earth warm
15 November 2009
2.5 billion years ago, the sun was so faint, the oceans should have been ice. They weren't, and now a modelling study suggests the greenhouse effect, and nitrogen explain why
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First universal programmable quantum computer unveiled
15 November 2009
Ion-trap two-qubit device put through its paces
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Meteor shower this week as we cut through comet trails
15 November 2009
Hundreds of Leonid meteors an hour will stream across the sky on Tuesday when the Earth passes through old comet streams
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How reputation could save the Earth
15 November 2009
The power of reputation should be harnessed to stop selfish people from wrecking the planet, say David Rand and Martin Nowak
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Ray Mears: We'll struggle to survive climate change
14 November 2009
Ray Mears is Mr Bushcraft. He wants people to be confident about surviving in the wild, but reckons most of us won't make it through a global climate crisis
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US Advertising feature: The road to recovery
14 November 2009
An injection of federal funding for academic institutions is breathing new life into the sector
-
Impact reveals lunar water by the bucketful
13 November 2009
NASA's LCROSS mission has confirmed an icy store of water at the moon's south pole
-
Philip Rosedale: The web needs to be more lifelike
13 November 2009
Residents of Second Life have spent one billion hours in this digital world. Now its founder has plans to push the concept much further in a new virtual venture
-
Failed stellar bombs hint at supernova tipping point
13 November 2009
Two peculiar white dwarfs with more oxygen than carbon are like nothing anybody has seen before
-
Trees in far north provide biggest climate benefit
13 November 2009
Planting forests in the tropics could be a waste of time and money, compared with planting them at high latitudes
-
Cocaine and pepper spray – a lethal mix?
13 November 2009
A mouse experiment suggests deaths in US police custody may have been the result of an interaction between capsaicin and psychostimulant drugs
-
Signature of consciousness captured in brain scans
12 November 2009
Consistent patterns linked to awareness of particular images could be used to detect consciousness in brain-damaged people
-
Piezoelectronics gets green makeover
12 November 2009
Piezoelectric materials have traditionally been made from lead, but now there's a clean alternative that could soon perform just as well
-
Quantum 'trampoline' to test gravity
12 November 2009
A technique to bounce ultra-cold atoms provides a new way to test the strength of gravity with high accuracy
-
The Peeriodic Table of Illusions
12 November 2009
Illusions can tell us much about how our brains work, but first we need to know how each one works, says Richard L. Gregory
-
Common cold may hold off swine flu
12 November 2009
This intriguing idea would explain why swine flu's autumn wave has been slow to take off in some countries and point to new ways to fight flu
-
Noisy parties no problem for musical brains
12 November 2009
Differences in brain activity may make musicians better at picking out speech from a noisy background
-
Tagging the tigers of the sea
12 November 2009
Beautiful, predatory and endangered, tuna are rapidly being hunted to extinction. Graham Lawton joins the high-tech anglers to save them
-
Contact lenses to get built-in virtual graphics
12 November 2009
A contact lens fitted with an LED and the circuitry to harvest power from radio waves is the first step towards a new kind of head-up display
-
Last chance for tuna
12 November 2009
Beautiful, predatory and endangered, tuna are rapidly being hunted to extinction. New Scientist joins the high-tech anglers who are helping to save them
-
Tuna in peril as catches reach triple the limit
12 November 2009
Times are tough for tuna as scientists' advice on managing stocks falls on deaf ears
-
Musicians separate the speech from the babble
11 November 2009
Differences in brain activity seem may make musicians better at understanding speech in a room full of noisy people
-
Less loud sounds can still damage ears
11 November 2009
If the results in mice translate to humans, the laws that determine the noises workers can be exposed to may need to change
-
Propelled by light: the promise and perils of solar sailing
11 November 2009
Despite earlier failures, the Planetary Society is gearing up to test another solar sail in space in a year – executive director Louis Friedman explains why
-
Indefatigable Spirit
11 November 2009
The plucky little Mars rover has achieved more than anyone dared dream – it would be churlish to criticise NASA for trying to rescue it
-
Suite of chatterbox genes discovered
11 November 2009
A set of 116 genes influenced by Foxp2 could have coevolved to give humans language
-
In SUSY we trust: What the LHC is really looking for
11 November 2009
Forget the God particle - the rebooted Large Hadron Collider will give us much greater revelations
-
Fair play: Monkeys share our sense of injustice
11 November 2009
Our instinctive reaction to displays of greed and conspicuous consumption has its origins in the primate world, says Frans de Waal
-
Mars rover battles for its life
11 November 2009
NASA's veteran explorer Spirit faces its toughest challenge yet as it prepares to free itself from a sand trap where it has been mired for the past six months
-
Mini ice age took hold of Europe in months
11 November 2009
Detailed studies of ancient climate have revealed that the onset of Europe's "Big Freeze", 13,000 years ago, was anything but glacial
-
Boys with ALD bring gene therapy in from cold
11 November 2009
Two boys treated with a gene therapy for the brain disease X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy have fared so well that doctors are seeking more volunteers
-
Ultimate emergency call uses all open channels
11 November 2009
A new satellite radio promises to use all known communication methods to raise the alarm when the owner is in a spot of bother
-
Backward star ain't from around here
11 November 2009
The nearest neighbouring star to orbit the galaxy backwards appears to have come from a much brighter place
-
Water purifiers for the poor fail to prove their worth
11 November 2009
Ceramic filters are the only water cleaners proven to work, as many studies into the effectiveness of treatments are flawed
-
Alcohol and sports sponsorship don't mix
11 November 2009
Psychologists claim that alcohol sponsorship tarnishes the image of sport and harms athletes' health
-
DARPA: Inventing this side of the impossible
11 November 2009
In The Department of Mad Scientists, Michael Belfiore gets half the story of DARPA, the US military agency that brought us the internet and GPS
-
Good vibrations get a club-winged manakin going
11 November 2009
When it comes to wooing a mate, one bird finds it pays to make like a grasshopper
-
Drink culture: it's as old as the hills
11 November 2009
Alcohol is central to human history, argues Patrick McGovern in Uncorking the past: The quest for wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages
-
Masters of disguise
11 November 2009
In Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and camouflage Peter Forbes highlights some of the most successful, and surprising, attempts at concealment
-
Welcome to a world run by geeks and gadgets
11 November 2009
Cory Doctorow's entertaining novel, Makers, examines what might happen if the geeks ever have to take charge
-
Darwin's masterpiece revisited
11 November 2009
To mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species, geneticist and author Steve Jones updates the book for the 21st century
-
Sports jocks library goes digital
11 November 2009
The athletic benefits of digital books, the randomising effects of being really drunk, and some excellent news (not really) from Microsoft
-
It's a dog's life
11 November 2009
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Chilli nose
11 November 2009
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A pinch of salt
11 November 2009
-
Pine flu
11 November 2009
-
A joyride through the nanoworld
11 November 2009
George Whitesides and Felice Frankel take you on a whirlwind tour of the tiny in No Small Matter: Science on the nanoscale
-
Enigma Number 1571
11 November 2009
-
For the record
11 November 2009
• Our apologies to Jeff Greason for inserting the sentence "Stephen Hawking calls for moon and Mars colonies" into our interview with him. (24 October, p...
-
DNA database
11 November 2009
Emma Riccobena presents something of an under-informed, alarmist take on issues surrounding the UK's National DNA Database (3 October, p 29). As one...
-
Farming roos
11 November 2009
The letter from Calverley Redfearn implies that to increase harvests of kangaroo meat in Australia, the animals would need to be farmed like sheep or...
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Nuking asteroids
11 November 2009
We cannot push asteroids away with nuclear explosions (26 September, p 30...
-
Virtopsies
11 November 2009
Your report by Paul Marks makes a good case for virtual autopsies, which use 3D imaging of the exterior and CT scans of the interior...
-
Paws for thought
11 November 2009
The interesting discussion in Kate Ravilious's article on the ecological impact of owning pets appeared to be based on a fundamental misconception about how...
-
Scientific truths
11 November 2009
According to Rory Allen (17 October, p 31), I was right to criticise Hume's and Dawkins's arguments against miracles but a misunderstanding of...
-
Dog trials
11 November 2009
The extended online version of your report on drug trials carried out on pet dogs in the US quotes me as expressing some concern about...
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Origin of Species Revisited: Variation under domestication
11 November 2009
In which Darwin uses examples from domestication to explore the causes of variability and the principles of selection
-
Origin of Species Revisited: Variation under nature
11 November 2009
In which Darwin considers individual differences and highlights the wide degree of variability within species upon which natural selection works
-
Alcohol and sport are unhappy bedfellows
11 November 2009
Psychologists claim that alcohol sponsorship tarnishes the image of sport, harms athletes' health and should be stopped
-
60 Seconds
11 November 2009
-
Human microbes are picky about neighbourhoods on body
11 November 2009
A map of the bacteria living on the human body shows the bugs that call us home have strong preferences about where they settle
-
Suite of chatterbox genes discovered
11 November 2009
A set of 116 genes influenced by Foxp2 could have coevolved to give humans language
-
Wet weather put early humans on Europe's doorstep
11 November 2009
Trees and shrubs grew in the Sahara between 120,000 and 45,000 years ago, suggesting wet spells may have helped early humans as they left Africa
-
Was life founded on cyanide from space crashes?
11 November 2009
Comet and asteroid strikes may have seeded Earth with cyanide that prepared the planet for life
-
Me, myself, and my avatar
11 November 2009
-
Why smells from childhood mean so much
11 November 2009
The first scent you associate with an object may be given privileged status in the brain
-
"Quantum trampoline" could test gravity with precision
11 November 2009
A technique to bounce ultra-cold atoms provides a new way to test the strength of gravity with high accuracy
-
Breath of fresh air creates lung cells
11 November 2009
Mimicking the physical environment experienced by cells in the windpipe is enough to transform stem cells into a range of different lung cells
-
Sony demos game controller to track motion and emotion
11 November 2009
Sony looks set to be the first major console maker to bring hands-free, full-body game control to the public
-
Computer-created shapes cast different shadows
11 November 2009
Researchers create shadow art alogrithm to produce models that generate different images depending on where they are lit
-
Healthcare reform bill now faces Senate test
11 November 2009
President Obama's landmark healthcare reform legislation passed the US House of Representatives but faces a stern test to get through the Senate
-
Will spacecraft fly-by unlock exotic physics?
11 November 2009
All eyes are on the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet-chaser as it flies by Earth this week, because it could help explain a mysterious anomaly that is pushing spacecraft off their paths
-
Origin of Species Revisited: Natural selection and laws of variation
11 November 2009
In which Darwin explores the forces influencing the variation upon which natural selection works
-
Origin of Species Revisited: Difficulties on theory
11 November 2009
In which Darwin considers organs of extreme perfection and other apparent stumbling blocks for his theory
-
Origin of Species Revisited: Instinct
11 November 2009
In which Darwin faces the issue of how behaviour might evolve
-
Water purifiers for the poor fail to prove their worth
11 November 2009
Ceramic filters are the only water cleaners proven to work, as many studies in to the effectiveness of treatments are flawed
-
Origin of Species Revisited: Struggle for existence
11 November 2009
In which Darwin describes the competition in nature for limited resources
-
Origin of Species Revisited: Hybridism
11 November 2009
In which Darwin examines what keeps species apart
-
Origin of Species Revisited: On the geological succession of organic beings
11 November 2009
In which Darwin considers why our palaeontological collections are full of gaps, and describes how his theory can account for the pattern of succession from fossils to living forms
-
Origin of Species Revisited: Geographical distribution
11 November 2009
In which Darwin demonstrates the importance of geographical barriers and climate change to explain the distribution of life as we see it today
-
Origin of Species Revisited: Mutual Affinities of organic beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary organs
11 November 2009
In which Darwin considers classification and shows how his theory can be used to organise the living world along evolutionary lines
-
Origin of Species Revisited: Recapitulation and conclusion
11 November 2009
In which Darwin expounds his "long argument" and addresses the "mystery of mysteries": why there are so many different species
-
New patients wanted for 'Lorenzo's oil' gene therapy
11 November 2009
Two boys treated with a gene therapy for the brain disease X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy have fared so well that doctors have now treated a third and are seeking adults
-
The CultureLab is here
11 November 2009
Welcome to the New Scientist CultureLab, our new online home for sharing views on books, films, TV shows, exhibitions and much more
-
Space-elevator-in-the-making wins $900,000 NASA prize
11 November 2009
A laser-powered robot climbed 900 metres up a cable suspended from a helicopter, winning a prize that had gone unclaimed since 2005
-
Will probe's upcoming fly-by unlock exotic physics?
10 November 2009
All eyes will be on the Rosetta comet-chasing probe when it flies by Earth on Friday – a past fly-by revealed a mysterious speed boost that general relativity cannot explain
-
Healthcare reform bill now faces Senate test
10 November 2009
Barack Obama's landmark healthcare reform legislation passed the US House of Representatives but faces a stern test to get through the Senate
-
Light in the darkness
10 November 2009
If your low-carbon technology needs perfecting or you need help attracting investment to commercialise it, what do you do? One small optical devices company found everything it needed in one place...
-
Why smells from childhood mean so much
10 November 2009
The first scent you associate with an object may be given privileged status in the brain
-
Ink breakthrough puts the shine into printed images
10 November 2009
A printer that can blend a range of metallic inks has made it possible for the first time to reproduce an object's sheen as well as its colour
-
Andrea Marshall: Queen of manta rays
10 November 2009
The marine ecologist discusses diving, underwater beauty parlours and the discovery of a new species
-
Cinderella fruit: Wild delicacies become cash crops
10 November 2009
From chocolate berries to monkey oranges and gingerbread plums, Africa is the home of thousands of tasty fruits whose potential is ripe for the plucking
-
Stone Age humans crossed Sahara in the rain
09 November 2009
Wet spells in the Sahara may have helped early humans migrate out of Africa
-
Super-efficient cars racing to win the X prize
09 November 2009
With $10 million prize money at stake, the race to build energy-thrifty cars that appeal to the mass market is hotting up
-
Plan to pierce heart of urban monster volcano
09 November 2009
Next month, geologists will begin to drill into a huge volcano in Italy that has towns on top of it: is that a good idea?
-
Head-mounted microscope sees brain beneath the skull
09 November 2009
A microscope fitted to rats' heads watched the animals' brains in action as they roved freely
-
Breath of fresh air transforms stem cells
09 November 2009
Specialised lung tissue has been created by exposing stem cells to the open air
-
Stop selling out science to commerce
09 November 2009
Corporate might and commercial pressures are undermining research. It's time for scientists to blow the whistle, say Stuart Parkinson and Chris Langley
-
Gizmos allow artists to 'feel' their creations
09 November 2009
Artists are leaving keyboards and mice behind to work more intuitively with touch screens, input devices with physical feedback and air-drawing
-
Extraterrestrial rafting: Hunting off-world sea life
09 November 2009
Do the moons of Jupiter and Saturn harbour life in their chilly oceans? A flotilla of space probes is being lined up to haul anchor and find out
-
Spy-in-the-cab could improve teenage driving
08 November 2009
Novice drivers are responsible for a disproportionate number of accidents – now an in-car warning system has cut incidents of reckless driving by half
-
Evidence recovered from dirty DNA samples
08 November 2009
Contaminated DNA that would normally be written off can now provide evidence, thanks to amplification enzymes that tolerate pollution
-
Why did our species survive the Neanderthals?
08 November 2009
According to Clive Finlayson in The Humans Who Went Extinct, we were just lucky
-
Malcolm Gladwell's miscellany of myths
07 November 2009
Superstar writer Malcolm Gladwell teases out complexities behind the obvious and fun in the mundane in his collection of essays, What the Dog Saw
-
The music of Life on Earth
07 November 2009
Edward Williams's music for Life on Earth is as atmospheric and innovative as the classic 1979 David Attenborough TV series it was composed for
-
'Space elevator' wins $900,000 NASA prize
06 November 2009
A laser-powered robot climbed 900 metres up a cable suspended from a helicopter, winning a prize that had gone unclaimed since 2005
-
Innovation: Can technology persuade us to save energy?
06 November 2009
Gadgets and systems designed to steer us towards greener behaviour are under development, and they work – if we'll let them
-
Was life founded on cyanide from space crashes?
06 November 2009
Comet and asteroid strikes may have seeded Earth with cyanide that prepared the planet for life
-
Generation specs: Stopping the short-sight epidemic
06 November 2009
Myopia is on the rise all around the world, but there might be a simple way to spare many kids the need for spectacles
-
Nanoparticle DNA damage study: what you should know
06 November 2009
A study has found some nanoparticles can harm cells without being in contact with them: should you be worried?
-
Picking up mates at the white shark café
06 November 2009
Great whites roam the oceans to hunt but always touch base at their favourite dangerous dive
-
How your brain sees virtual you
06 November 2009
The way the brain regards the virtual "you" may help explain why some people spend large chunks of their life online playing immersive games
-
Pilots' artificial horizon lined up for a revamp
06 November 2009
Conventional instruments can be misread in a crisis – or so says the inventor of what he claims is a more intuitive design
-
Human microbes are picky about neighbourhoods on body
05 November 2009
A map of the bacteria living on the human body shows the bugs that call us home have strong preferences about where they settle
-
Mass extinction blamed on fiery fountains of coal
05 November 2009
One of Earth's worst-ever mass extinctions may have been caused by carbon dioxide released by exploding mixtures of magma and coal
-
Sony demos game controller to track motion and emotion
05 November 2009
Sony looks set to be the first major console maker to bring hands-free, full-body game control to the public
-
TV switch-over triggers rush to see rare stars
05 November 2009
The wavelengths previously used to broadcast analogue TV in the US are now open to radio astronomers – but not for long
-
Nicky Clayton: Dancing with Darwin
05 November 2009
The bird cognition expert has worked with the Rambert Dance Company on its new evolution-inspired show, now on tour in the UK
-
Peter Diamandis: the joy of taking risks
04 November 2009
The CEO of the X Prize Foundation wants to use our competitive instincts to make the world a better place
-
Giant crack in Africa formed in just days
04 November 2009
A crack in the Earth's crust ripped open in just days in 2005, a new study suggests – it could be the forerunner to a new ocean
-
Virtual crashes and clatters get real
04 November 2009
Sounds like the clash of a cymbal used to take weeks for software to mimic – now they can be synthesised in hours
-
Tomorrow's weather: Cloudy, with a chance of fractals
04 November 2009
Umbrella or sunscreen? Flood or drought? The secret of flawless weather forecasting turns out to be surprisingly simple
-
Genes show when a woman's biological clock will stop
04 November 2009
A gene test available next year could suggest how long a woman can put off having children
-
Quakes from the 1800s still shaking planet
04 November 2009
Earthquakes far from plate boundaries can cause aftershocks centuries later
-
Skin helps heartbeat creep into consciousness
04 November 2009
Tests on a brain-damaged man suggests that nerves in the skin may play a role in our self-awareness
-
Salmon's ecological finprint measured
04 November 2009
Farming salmon hurts the environment less than rearing beef cattle, though there is still room for improvement
-
Fix climate change or else, say military top brass
04 November 2009
An international panel of military officers warns that climate change threatens global security and stability
-
Poorer countries make drugs the rich world won't
04 November 2009
Newly industrialised countries of the global south are developing cheap treatments for tropical diseases neglected by western drug companies
-
Triple shadows and fake reflections: Future graphics
04 November 2009
See computer graphics research to be presented at the ACM Siggraph Asia conference next month – including an art installation that casts three distinct shadows
-
Crabs trade sex for protection
04 November 2009
This helps to explain how females defend their territory just as successfully as males despite their smaller claws
-
SMSes offer smart apps to basic cellphones
04 November 2009
A smart, location-based service allows cellphone users to access Facebook-like services via SMS
-
Why fat angers the immune system
04 November 2009
Blocking a protein could break the link between obesity and illness
-
Terry Pratchett: Fighting to keep the fantasy alive
04 November 2009
The prolific author discusses tinkering with science, his battle with Alzheimer's, and the odds of escaping from a crab bucket
-
Ten inventions that changed the world
04 November 2009
See the result of a public vote to find the most important invention ever from the collection of the Science Museum, London
-
David Nutt: Governments should get real on drugs
04 November 2009
David Nutt was sacked from his role as chairman of the UK's official advisory body on drugs for his outspoken views. He explains why governments should not ignore scientific evidence
-
Switzerland, career paradise
04 November 2009
Beautiful ski trails, spotless cities, stunning mountain scenery – and top-class labs
-
Why it's good to log out
04 November 2009
How to harness malingering electrons, a quantum bifurcating footpath, and the importance of seeking medical attention if you snuff it
-
Con gas, sin gas
04 November 2009
-
Enigma Number 1570
04 November 2009
-
For the record
04 November 2009
• Apologies to John Wearden, whose name we misspelled in our article on time perception (24 October, p 32...
-
Poorly Darwin
04 November 2009
In her review of Brian Dillon's Tormented Hope, Amanda Gefter mentions the theory that Charles Darwin was a hypochondriac (3 October, p 48...
-
Qualified statement
04 November 2009
I was delighted to see a job advertised on the pages of your UK edition for which I could apply - it called for a "Senior"...
-
Meat for a ritual
04 November 2009
I read with interest Andy Coghlan's article on recent research findings about the pain experienced by animals when slaughtered without stunning (17 October, p...
-
Hot fat
04 November 2009
Peter Brooks refers to a compound that made munitions workers feel hot and lose weight in his letter about brown adipose tissue, or BAT (3...
-
ITERative production
04 November 2009
In his article on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, Stephen Battersby repeats the claim that nuclear fusion will produce much less radioactive waste than nuclear...
-
Industrial target
04 November 2009
I was surprised that your article on technologies for reducing greenhouse gases (26 September, p 38) did not mention two of the major culprits - the...
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Repulsive coffee
04 November 2009
-
SMSes offer smart apps to basic cellphones
04 November 2009
A smart, location-based service allows cellphone users to access Facebook-like services via SMS
-
Animated ink-blot images keep unwanted bots at bay
04 November 2009
The distorted letters we decipher to prove we are human, not a bot, are getting harder to use and easier to defeat – could images be the solution?
-
Dreams of Doom help gamers learn
04 November 2009
The dreams of video game players suggest that nocturnal visions have a practical role: helping us to learn new skills
-
Old drugs reveal surprising new tricks
04 November 2009
Comparing the behaviour of different drug molecules may help prevent harmful side effects of new drugs and point to new uses for old ones
-
Backward star ain't from round here
04 November 2009
A nearby star that orbits the galaxy backwards appears to have come from a long way away
-
Theme-park dummy trick becomes teleconference tool
04 November 2009
Projecting a face onto an animatronic dummy allows a person to seem present to people far away through speech, expression and gestures
-
Chemical tag to identify black-market caviar
04 November 2009
Caviar from farmed fish can now be "tagged" – which could prevent the black marketing of poached sturgeons and save the fish from extinction
-
Humans are an acquired taste for lions
04 November 2009
Tissue from two notorious 19th-century man-eaters shows that one of them took the lion's share of human prey
-
Clearing oasis trees felled ancient Peru civilisation
04 November 2009
The Nazca people may have brought about their own destruction by cutting down trees that protected the land they lived on
-
Instant Expert: The Copenhagen climate change summit
04 November 2009
It's being billed as the meeting that will decide the future of humanity. New Scientist picks out the key points of science and policy
-
Injected cells stop body from attacking self
04 November 2009
A virtually unlimited supply of rare cells can now be produced in the lab to fight diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis in mice
-
The on-off switch
04 November 2009
-
Signal failure
04 November 2009
-
Murderer with 'aggression genes' gets sentence cut
04 November 2009
An Italian judge's decision to shorten a killer's sentence because of his genes is raising the question of whether genes can ever absolve responsibility for a particular act
-
Drug chief sacking could stifle 'polydrug' research
04 November 2009
If protests continue over the sacking of the UK's chief scientific advisor on recreational drugs, vital research on the problems of multiple drug use would be shelved
-
Telescope glitch could delay discovery of alien Earths
04 November 2009
Noise in a few of the CCDs on NASA's Kepler space telescope could overwhelm the signal of an Earth-like planet, but mission scientists are developing a fix
-
Cassini makes deepest dive yet into Saturn moon's jets
04 November 2009
The probe has flown farther into the plumes spewing from icy Enceladus than ever before – it will hunt for complex organic molecules that could hint at life
-
60 Seconds
04 November 2009
US lifts HIV travel ban, lab-grown corneas, shark cousins and more
-
What's hot on NewScientist.com
04 November 2009
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Murderer with 'aggression genes' gets sentence cut
03 November 2009
An Italian judge's decision to shorten a killer's sentence because of his genes is raising the question of whether genes can ever absolve responsibility for a particular act
-
Drug chief sacking could stifle 'polydrug' research
03 November 2009
If protests continue over the sacking of the UK's chief scientific advisor on recreational drugs, vital research on the problems of multiple drug use would be shelved
-
Injected cells stop body from attacking self
03 November 2009
A virtually unlimited supply of rare cells can now be produced in the lab to fight diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis in mice
-
Stealthy power
03 November 2009
Since reading about the decimation of bat populations around wind farms (12 May 2007, p 4), I've wanted to contribute the results of some...
-
Jung's Red Book: The art of psychology
03 November 2009
Carl Jung's "lost" book – just published for the first time – is a cornerstone of our intellectual history, says its editor Sonu Shamdasani
-
Michael Green: On the shoulders of Newton and Hawking
03 November 2009
The physicist follows Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking into the Lucasian chair of mathematics at the University of Cambridge
-
Animated ink-blot images keep unwanted bots at bay
03 November 2009
The distorted letters we decipher to prove we are human, not a bot, are getting harder to use and easier to defeat – could images be the solution?
-
Space junk piles up into threat to future launches
03 November 2009
Burgeoning volumes of space debris are going to hit the economics of space flight hard and give mission controllers headaches
-
Pay us oil money, or the rainforest gets it
03 November 2009
Ecuador's offer to refrain from drilling for oil in the Amazon rainforest in exchange for money could be a novel way of combatting climate change
-
Telescope glitch could delay discovery of alien Earths
03 November 2009
Noise in a few of the CCDs on NASA's Kepler space telescope could overwhelm the signal of an Earth-like planet, but mission scientists are developing a fix
-
Cassini makes deepest dive yet into Saturn moon's jets
03 November 2009
The probe has flown farther into the plumes spewing from icy Enceladus than ever before – it will hunt for complex organic molecules that could hint at life
-
Chinese challenge to 'out of Africa' theory
03 November 2009
A 110,000-year-old jawbone found in a cave in southern China is stirring the debate over whether humans originated in Africa
-
Atmospheric 'tides' trigger landslides at night
02 November 2009
Some landslides slip more at night than during the day, probably because of tiny changes in atmospheric pressure
-
Signs of alien worlds from long ago and far, far away
02 November 2009
Light from 88 remote galaxies, emitted when the universe was young, provides some of the best evidence yet of solar systems beyond the Milky Way
-
Clearing oasis trees felled ancient Peru civilisation
02 November 2009
The Nazca people may have brought about their own destruction by cutting down trees that protected the land they lived on
-
A rational alternative to testing IQ
02 November 2009
It's time schools started to teach rational thinking, with a view to improving and assessing students' "RQ"
-
Giant jewels and spray toads: The world's rarest species
02 November 2009
More species than ever before are facing extinction according to the latest Red List of Threatened Species from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
-
Humans are an acquired taste for lions
02 November 2009
Tissue from two notorious 19th-century man-eaters shows that one of them took the lion's share of human prey
-
People, pollution and profits
02 November 2009
From school buses polluted by diesel exhaust to pesticides, regulators are failing to protect us, argues John Wargo in his book Green Intelligence
-
Microbes' globe-trotting has made them less diverse
02 November 2009
The way microbes disperse via wind and dust storms means that the number of unique species may be smaller than expected
-
Long-range Taser raises fears of shock and injury
02 November 2009
The Pentagon wants a projectile that can be fired from a grenade launcher to incapacitate someone with an electric shock – can it be safe?
-
Clever fools: Why a high IQ doesn't mean you're smart
02 November 2009
IQ measures the brightness of our mental searchlight. But where we point it also matters
-
Old drugs reveal surprising new tricks
02 November 2009
Comparing the behaviour of different drug molecules may help prevent harmful side effects of new drugs and point to new uses for old ones
-
Theme-park dummy trick becomes teleconference tool
02 November 2009
Projecting a face onto an animatronic dummy allows a person to seem present to people far away through speech, expression and gestures
-
Magnetic 'eyesight' helps birds find their way
01 November 2009
Birds have magnetic particles in their nostrils, but it's their visual system that's critical for navigation
-
The best of this year's science writing
01 November 2009
Three annual collections look at everything from living off-grid to scratching an itch inside your head to the internet's potential to rewire our brains