Issue 2023 | Magazine cover date: 30 March 1996

This week's magazine

30 March 1996

Issue 2023

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On the cover

Features

Come hell and high water

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Patents : Pavel faces the music

Opinion

Editorial : Give us the beef about beef - LAST week the 1996 British Science Week got off to a cracking start. Bigger and better than ever before, the event staged thousands of events at museums, universities and businesses all over the country.

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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.

Come hell and high water

Features

Silicon toons

Features

Hungry for a new revolution

Features

Earth

When north flies south

Features

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Technology

Patents : Pavel faces the music

THREE Appeal Court judges in Britain have ruled that Andreas Pavel did not invent the Walkman personal stereo, and so is not entitled to the £100 million damages he hoped to win. The judges also told Pavel to pay Sony and Toshiba the full cost of the appeal—£500 000. Although Pavel is a German living …

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Technology

Patents : This way up

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Technology

Patents : Weed waster

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Technology

Patents : Action replays

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Technology

Patents : Bouncy castle

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Technology

Patents : Low bridge

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Technology

Technology : Bright future for brainy chips

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Technology

Technology : Supernappy shapes up with sugar

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Technology

Technology : A softer option for X-rays

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Technology

Technology : Netropolitan

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Science : How speedy lizards take flight across water

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Technology

Technology : Tugboat drags drugs to the tumour

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Technology

Technology : Hollywood hold-up plays havoc with video discs

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Science : There's life in the old drug yet

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Science : Earth rocked by shattered asteroids

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Science : Angry cuttlefish see one another in a different light

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Science : Killer cells stalk cancerous protein

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Science : Polymer designers crack secret of nature's concrete

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Physics

Science: Has SUSY shown her shadowy face?

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Science : Tearing up immunity's rulebook

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Peat bog rescued

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Keep taking the Pils

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Is CS the wrong solution? - The Home Office is keen to promote CS spray as the ideal "cop-in-a-can", but a growing number of critics, from MPs to police on the street, are worried about its safety

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If you want to get ahead, get a science degree

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Hyakutake puts on a spectacular show

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Lean times for ESA

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Researchers' rights

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Supersonic bargain

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Global emergency as TB toll mounts

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Resistant malaria plagues India

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World's wetlands sucked dry

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That's the way the money goes

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Tobacco giant 'knew nicotine was addictive'

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Ministers hostile to advice on BSE

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Doubts linger over human cases

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Ten deaths that may tell a shocking tale

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Court slams French charity

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Lawyer kills plans to cull peregrines

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Opinion

Editorial : Give us the beef about beef - LAST week the 1996 British Science Week got off to a cracking start. Bigger and better than ever before, the event staged thousands of events at museums, universities and businesses all over the country.

LAST week the 1996 British Science Week got off to a cracking start. Bigger and better than ever before, the event staged thousands of events at museums, universities and businesses all over the country. But, by a hideous irony, this attempt to demonstrate the value of science to the general public was upstaged by one …

Opinion

Editorial : A patent failure - INVENTORS need a place where they can fight patent actions without gigantic delays and huge costs. In Britain, the Patents County Court was created to make patent litigation quicker, easier and cheaper. But it has failed on

Opinion

Features

Come hell and high water

HOW much is an ancestral homeland worth? More than a few water holes and some clinics say Namibia's Himba tribespeople. This is what they were offered in January by officials from the country's electricity generating company, which wants to dam the Cunene River on the border with Angola. One angry local pointed out that the …

Features

Silicon toons

Features

Hungry for a new revolution

Features

Earth

When north flies south

Features

AustralAsian : Saying "Made in Australia" is not always the best - Bob Johnstone meets a Japanese software mogul chasing imports

MENTION Australia to most Asians and they think of farms, mines, quarries—and, of course, beaches. What they don't think of is hi-tech. The little green kangaroo sticker may look good on T-shirts, but on software it can be the kiss of death. As often as not, successful Australian software exporters will avoid mentioning where they …

Forum

Washington Diary : Ritual combat and the Word of God - Andreas Frew reports from the heady heights of Capitol Hill

Forum

Forum : Never mind the price, feel the bandwidth - Jeff Hecht takes a sceptical look at the possible return of dumb network terminals

Forum

Review : Religious ramble

Books & Arts

Review : Darwin public...

Books & Arts

Review : ...Darwin private

Books & Arts

Review : More than the sum of their parts

Books & Arts

Review : Feel better, see better

Books & Arts

Review : Collected works

Books & Arts

Review : BESTSELLERS from London

Books & Arts

Review : Laying bare the bones of humanity

Books & Arts

Forum : Whose research is it anyway?

Forum

Review : Wordly wise

Books & Arts

Review : Science feast

Books & Arts

Review : Lucid landscapes

Books & Arts

Review : Doctor in the doghouse

Books & Arts

Review : Have sex and die

Books & Arts

Regulars

The Last Word

Bright sparks Q: The tide was out one day as a friend and I were walking along a beach. As we walked on the littoral zone—the part of the beach between low and high tides—strange blue lights lit up around our feet as we stepped on the sand. The lights were similar to lightning and …

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This week's magazine

30 March 1996

On the cover

Come hell and high water

Silicon toons

Hungry for a new revolution

Earth

When north flies south

Table of contents

51����

Technology

Patents : Pavel faces the music

Technology

Patents : This way up

Technology

Patents : Weed waster

Technology

Patents : Action replays

Technology

Patents : Bouncy castle

Technology

Patents : Low bridge

Technology

Technology : Bright future for brainy chips

Technology

Technology : Supernappy shapes up with sugar

Technology

Technology : A softer option for X-rays

Technology

Technology : Netropolitan

Science : How speedy lizards take flight across water

Technology

Technology : Tugboat drags drugs to the tumour

Technology

Technology : Hollywood hold-up plays havoc with video discs

Science : There's life in the old drug yet

Science : Earth rocked by shattered asteroids

Science : Angry cuttlefish see one another in a different light

Science : Killer cells stalk cancerous protein

Science : Polymer designers crack secret of nature's concrete

Physics

Science: Has SUSY shown her shadowy face?

Science : Tearing up immunity's rulebook

Peat bog rescued

Keep taking the Pils

Is CS the wrong solution? - The Home Office is keen to promote CS spray as the ideal "cop-in-a-can", but a growing number of critics, from MPs to police on the street, are worried about its safety

If you want to get ahead, get a science degree

Hyakutake puts on a spectacular show

Lean times for ESA

Researchers' rights

Supersonic bargain

Global emergency as TB toll mounts

Resistant malaria plagues India

World's wetlands sucked dry

That's the way the money goes

Tobacco giant 'knew nicotine was addictive'

Ministers hostile to advice on BSE

Doubts linger over human cases

Ten deaths that may tell a shocking tale

Court slams French charity

Lawyer kills plans to cull peregrines

Opinion

Editorial : Give us the beef about beef - LAST week the 1996 British Science Week got off to a cracking start. Bigger and better than ever before, the event staged thousands of events at museums, universities and businesses all over the country.

Editorial : A patent failure - INVENTORS need a place where they can fight patent actions without gigantic delays and huge costs. In Britain, the Patents County Court was created to make patent litigation quicker, easier and cheaper. But it has failed on

Features

Come hell and high water

Silicon toons

Hungry for a new revolution

Earth

When north flies south

More

AustralAsian : Saying "Made in Australia" is not always the best - Bob Johnstone meets a Japanese software mogul chasing imports

Washington Diary : Ritual combat and the Word of God - Andreas Frew reports from the heady heights of Capitol Hill

Forum : Never mind the price, feel the bandwidth - Jeff Hecht takes a sceptical look at the possible return of dumb network terminals

Review : Religious ramble

Review : Darwin public...

Review : ...Darwin private

Review : More than the sum of their parts

Review : Feel better, see better

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