Issue 1750 | Magazine cover date: 5 January 1991

This week's magazine

5 January 1991

Issue 1750

On the cover

Features

Green futures on Wall Street: Environmentalists have won unlikely allies on Wall Street. Their campaigns have encouraged governments to spend more on reducing pollution. This has raised the stock market value of companies involved in cleaning up the envi

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Science: Rosettes clue to brain malaria

Opinion

Comment: The first casualty

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New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Green futures on Wall Street: Environmentalists have won unlikely allies on Wall Street. Their campaigns have encouraged governments to spend more on reducing pollution. This has raised the stock market value of companies involved in cleaning up the envi

Features

Cold comfort in the crystal ball: Over a year ago, meteorologists predicted that the US would have a severe winter in 1990/91. Are they wrong again or have they at last discovered a sound basis for long-term forecasting?

Features

Space

On the crest of a sunbeam

Features

Earth

A wild time at the zoo

Features

Iraq: nuclear secrets or rumours?

Features

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Science: Rosettes clue to brain malaria

51��s are close to understanding the cause of a severe form of malaria that kills a million African children a year. Their discovery opens the way for treatment that could halt the progression of the disease. Malaria often affects the brain and may cause coma, fits and permanent brain damage. 51��s have been unable to …

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Technology

Technology: Testing time for a total test ban

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Technology

Technology: Growing vanilla down on the factory farm

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Technology

Technology: Radioactive beads combat liver cancer

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Technology

Technology: Oven-baked chips strike oil

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Technology

Technology: Computers take a bite out of census drudgery

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Technology

Technology: A sticky way to numb the gums

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Science: Aspirin helps the garden grow

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Science: Little squirt saves plant from being eaten

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Science: Cosmic 'wallpaper' hangs across the Universe - Last month in Brighton, particle physicists and astronomers came together to discuss the areas where their two sciences come together, cosmology, high-energy astrophysics and the big bang*

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Science: Missing matter may not be missing - Last month in Brighton, particle physicists and astronomers came together to discuss the areas where their two sciences come together, cosmology, high-energy astrophysics and the big bang*

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Science: Genesis recreated - Last month in Brighton, particle physicists and astronomers came together to discuss the areas where their two sciences come together, cosmology, high-energy astrophysics and the big bang*

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Science: Discriminating molecule could mop up pollutants

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Computer cops needed to police networks

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The beetles, the frogs and the French Legionnaires

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A safer future for birds on South Pacific islands

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RNA test pinpoints carriers of muscular dystrophy

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Japan breaks its own rules on science policy

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Tough fishing limits slip through the net

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Shooting the Moon to find missing neutrinos

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Deeper cuts in research

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Eastern Europe's chemicals in price free-for-all

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A long, toxic way to Tipperary

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Nightmare on Chelmsford, Sydney

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Opinion

Comment: The first casualty

Now that the twelve days of Christmas are almost over, thoughts are inevitably turning from peace to war. It is impossible to condone Saddam Hussein's invasion and annexation of Kuwait, whatever his original motivation and subsequent justification. But we should be equally sceptical of the eagerness with which the West in general - and the …

Opinion

Comment: University challenge

Opinion

Features

Green futures on Wall Street: Environmentalists have won unlikely allies on Wall Street. Their campaigns have encouraged governments to spend more on reducing pollution. This has raised the stock market value of companies involved in cleaning up the envi

Mention the thought of investing in rubbish collection to some people and they may yawn and walk away - but not if they are working on Wall Street. American stockbrokers are urging their clients to recognise the potential of environmental services and to buy shares in companies involved in this kind of work. Since November …

Features

Cold comfort in the crystal ball: Over a year ago, meteorologists predicted that the US would have a severe winter in 1990/91. Are they wrong again or have they at last discovered a sound basis for long-term forecasting?

Features

Space

On the crest of a sunbeam

Features

Earth

A wild time at the zoo

Features

Iraq: nuclear secrets or rumours?

Features

Review: Where no birds sing

Deadly Deceit: Low Level Radiation, High Level Cover-up by Jay M Gould & Benjamin A Goldman with Kate Millpointer, Victor Gollancz, pp 222, 16.95 Pounds. In July 1986 an ornithologist was collecting young birds from nets for counting, or rather failing to collect. David DeSante of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, California, explains: 'There were …

Books & Arts

Review: A seal's life is short, brutish and nasty

Books & Arts

Talking Point: Why physics degrees need reform

Forum

Forum: Nothing new under the greenhouse - A historial turn around the carbon cycle

Forum

Forum: High priest of analogue - The man who loves to hate digital sound

Forum

Thistle Diary: It's the interpretation that counts - Comment from Westminster

Forum

Forum: Brought down by the Sun - The effects of ion in the political soul

Forum

Forum: Physics on the brain / A report on a strange interdisciplinary discussion

Forum

Review: On the ancestrail trail

Books & Arts

Review: The war within

Books & Arts

Forum: Solutions required, must be predetermined - It's lucky that Faraday is not working now

Forum

Review: Pictures of knowledge

Books & Arts

Review: Japan's myths and realities

Books & Arts

Review: A catalogue for the ancient past

Books & Arts

Review: Setting the record straight

Books & Arts

Regulars

Ariadne

Much nonsense is talked about the Channel Tunnel. Nearly every report about the breakthrough, as the two tunnelling teams met at last, including the statement that Britain was no longer an island. That remark was also popular when Bleriot made the first flight across the Channel in 1909. Nobody makes it, as far as I …

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This week's magazine

5 January 1991

On the cover

Green futures on Wall Street: Environmentalists have won unlikely allies on Wall Street. Their campaigns have encouraged governments to spend more on reducing pollution. This has raised the stock market value of companies involved in cleaning up the envi

Cold comfort in the crystal ball: Over a year ago, meteorologists predicted that the US would have a severe winter in 1990/91. Are they wrong again or have they at last discovered a sound basis for long-term forecasting?

Space

On the crest of a sunbeam

Earth

A wild time at the zoo

Iraq: nuclear secrets or rumours?

Table of contents

51����

Science: Rosettes clue to brain malaria

Technology

Technology: Testing time for a total test ban

Technology

Technology: Growing vanilla down on the factory farm

Technology

Technology: Radioactive beads combat liver cancer

Technology

Technology: Oven-baked chips strike oil

Technology

Technology: Computers take a bite out of census drudgery

Technology

Technology: A sticky way to numb the gums

Science: Aspirin helps the garden grow

Science: Little squirt saves plant from being eaten

Science: Cosmic 'wallpaper' hangs across the Universe - Last month in Brighton, particle physicists and astronomers came together to discuss the areas where their two sciences come together, cosmology, high-energy astrophysics and the big bang*

Science: Missing matter may not be missing - Last month in Brighton, particle physicists and astronomers came together to discuss the areas where their two sciences come together, cosmology, high-energy astrophysics and the big bang*

Science: Genesis recreated - Last month in Brighton, particle physicists and astronomers came together to discuss the areas where their two sciences come together, cosmology, high-energy astrophysics and the big bang*

Science: Discriminating molecule could mop up pollutants

Computer cops needed to police networks

The beetles, the frogs and the French Legionnaires

A safer future for birds on South Pacific islands

RNA test pinpoints carriers of muscular dystrophy

Japan breaks its own rules on science policy

Tough fishing limits slip through the net

Shooting the Moon to find missing neutrinos

Deeper cuts in research

Eastern Europe's chemicals in price free-for-all

A long, toxic way to Tipperary

Nightmare on Chelmsford, Sydney

Opinion

Comment: The first casualty

Comment: University challenge

Features

Green futures on Wall Street: Environmentalists have won unlikely allies on Wall Street. Their campaigns have encouraged governments to spend more on reducing pollution. This has raised the stock market value of companies involved in cleaning up the envi

Cold comfort in the crystal ball: Over a year ago, meteorologists predicted that the US would have a severe winter in 1990/91. Are they wrong again or have they at last discovered a sound basis for long-term forecasting?

Space

On the crest of a sunbeam

Earth

A wild time at the zoo

Iraq: nuclear secrets or rumours?

More

Review: Where no birds sing

Review: A seal's life is short, brutish and nasty

Talking Point: Why physics degrees need reform

Forum: Nothing new under the greenhouse - A historial turn around the carbon cycle

Forum: High priest of analogue - The man who loves to hate digital sound

Thistle Diary: It's the interpretation that counts - Comment from Westminster

Forum: Brought down by the Sun - The effects of ion in the political soul

Forum: Physics on the brain / A report on a strange interdisciplinary discussion

Review: On the ancestrail trail

Review: The war within

Forum: Solutions required, must be predetermined - It's lucky that Faraday is not working now

Review: Pictures of knowledge

Review: Japan's myths and realities

Review: A catalogue for the ancient past

Review: Setting the record straight

Regulars

Ariadne

Feedback

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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