Issue 2044 | Magazine cover date: 24 August 1996

This week's magazine

24 August 1996

Issue 2044

Previous issue Next issue

On the cover

Features

Super charging the shuttle – It's overweight, underpowered and just not up to the job. Even so, NASA

51��

Technology : Images that leap through tables

Opinion

Editorial : And now, a word from the sponsors . . . - IT can't be easy selling a product that has a good chance of killing you, or at least ruining your health, but tobacco companies certainly don't give up easily. Advertising cigarettes on TV was banned

View in the app

Check out this magazine in our easy-to-navigate mobile app

Find a previous edition online

Search through our digital archive of over 30 years of magazines

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.

Super charging the shuttle – It's overweight, underpowered and just not up to the job. Even so, NASA

Features

The journey of a thousand miles . . . - Copying the way our muscles work with rough-and-ready rewiring has already got one paralysed woman onto her feet. But will it ever be good enough to restore natural movement or even help people walk, asks Pete M

Features

Sugaring the pill

Features

Are we killing astronomy? - Street lights, satellites and CFCs are swamping the spectra that are vital to understanding the cosmos. Marcus Chown explores whether anything can be done to keep us in touch with the Universe

Features

51��

Technology

Technology : Images that leap through tables

MEDICAL students who long to get their hands inside a body, and architects who want to show city planners how their new tower will fit in with an old town centre will soon be able to do so without touching a scalpel or a model. It's all thanks to a new display tool that makes …

51��

Technology

Technology : Lone virus speeds the gene shuttle

51��

Technology

Technology : Apple takes a byte out of wiring

51��

Technology

Technology : Lasers get the measure of forests

51��

Technology

Technology : Bubbles boost silver recycling

51��

Technology

Netropolitan :

51��

Technology

Technology : Versatile liver inspires parallel processing

51��

Technology

Technology : Cancer-stranglers go on trial

51��

Science : Comets lose their pristine image

51��

Science : Suicidal nerve cells take away the pain

51��

Science : Silkier webs lure more insects to their doom

51��

Science : Gas takes on deadly malaria

51��

Science : Clean sweep for leaf-eating chimps

51��

Science : Infant island flips its lid

51��

Science : Polio vaccine linked to cancer

51��

Tyrannosaurus packed a killer crunch

51��

Hollywood debut for Cecil B. Sealion

51��

Luminous balls reveal the real Ginola

51��

Greenhouse row

51��

Strange object

51��

Generous measures

51��

Epidemic eases

51��

Help for whales

51��

Pennies from heaven - New high-tech companies are shunned by conventional investors. So who can they turn to?

51��

Dole beckons for the shortest children

51��

It came from the south. . .

51��

High anxiety lowers the birth rate

51��

Children bowled over by subtle sales pitch

51��

Pollution detectives add to greenhouse woes

51��

Australia declares war on nuclear weapons

51��

Inventive academics turn to City for cash

51��

Miners strike green gold

51��

And all because the lady loves...

51��

Satellite injured in space wreck

51��

Sneezing while the Earth warms

51��

Galileo teases out Jupiter's secrets

51��

Opinion

Editorial : And now, a word from the sponsors . . . - IT can't be easy selling a product that has a good chance of killing you, or at least ruining your health, but tobacco companies certainly don't give up easily. Advertising cigarettes on TV was banned

IT can't be easy selling a product that has a good chance of killing you, or at least ruining your health, but tobacco companies certainly don't give up easily. Advertising cigarettes on TV was banned in Britain in 1965, and since then smokers have almost totally disappeared from the screen. These days, it's a shock …

Opinion

Editorial : Media studies is the message - ONCE again the results of the school examinations are out and once again they seem to show that teenagers are turning away from science. At A level, the percentage of students studying physics was down 5.7 per ce

Opinion

Features

Super charging the shuttle – It's overweight, underpowered and just not up to the job. Even so, NASA

NASA faces a challenge. Before the end of next year, its fleet of space shuttles must begin the five-year process of carrying the international space station into orbit. The components will be heavier than anything the shuttle has lifted before, and they must be placed in an orbit that passes over Russia-which will require more …

Features

The journey of a thousand miles . . . - Copying the way our muscles work with rough-and-ready rewiring has already got one paralysed woman onto her feet. But will it ever be good enough to restore natural movement or even help people walk, asks Pete M

Features

Sugaring the pill

Features

Are we killing astronomy? - Street lights, satellites and CFCs are swamping the spectra that are vital to understanding the cosmos. Marcus Chown explores whether anything can be done to keep us in touch with the Universe

Features

Forum : A weather eye on the sunspots

DO sunspots affect our weather? Astronomers and meteorologists have long suspected that they do. Some of the clearest evidence of a link between sunspots and the weather recently came to light with the discovery of records compiled by the Scottish medic Thomas Short in the 18th century. He settled in England and collected medical and …

Forum

Thistle diary : Hot gas and dirty exhausts - More comment from Westminster by Tam Dalyell

Forum

Review : ...catch southern stars

Books & Arts

Review : ...track southern sights

Books & Arts

Review : Once upon a superhighway

Books & Arts

Review : Collected works

Books & Arts

Review : Save your life

Books & Arts

Review : Play science

Books & Arts

Review : China rising

Books & Arts

Bestsellers : from Sydney

Books & Arts

Review : Genius made simple

Books & Arts

Review : Blinded by the hype

Books & Arts

Forum : One bird's prison

Forum

Review : Pleasuredomes of despair

Books & Arts

Review : Not so handy hints

Books & Arts

Review : Place your bet

Books & Arts

Review : Hopes for the future

Books & Arts

Review : Watch southern skies...

Books & Arts

Review : Sex stories

Books & Arts

Review : Past shame

Books & Arts

Review : Bloody murder

Books & Arts

Antipodes : Biology 101 on the midnight to dawn shift - Ian Lowe ponders what government plans will mean for universities

Forum

Regulars

Feedback

THE VIDEO games market is not what it used to be. People are getting tired of playing shoot-em-up, knock-em-down games on a TV screen. To make matters worse for the market leaders Nintendo and Sega, Sony's new Playstation system is winning a growing share of sales. Now Sega has spotted a market opportunity. British children …

51����

This week's magazine

24 August 1996

On the cover

Super charging the shuttle – It's overweight, underpowered and just not up to the job. Even so, NASA

The journey of a thousand miles . . . - Copying the way our muscles work with rough-and-ready rewiring has already got one paralysed woman onto her feet. But will it ever be good enough to restore natural movement or even help people walk, asks Pete M

Sugaring the pill

Are we killing astronomy? - Street lights, satellites and CFCs are swamping the spectra that are vital to understanding the cosmos. Marcus Chown explores whether anything can be done to keep us in touch with the Universe

Table of contents

51����

Technology

Technology : Images that leap through tables

Technology

Technology : Lone virus speeds the gene shuttle

Technology

Technology : Apple takes a byte out of wiring

Technology

Technology : Lasers get the measure of forests

Technology

Technology : Bubbles boost silver recycling

Technology

Netropolitan :

Technology

Technology : Versatile liver inspires parallel processing

Technology

Technology : Cancer-stranglers go on trial

Science : Comets lose their pristine image

Science : Suicidal nerve cells take away the pain

Science : Silkier webs lure more insects to their doom

Science : Gas takes on deadly malaria

Science : Clean sweep for leaf-eating chimps

Science : Infant island flips its lid

Science : Polio vaccine linked to cancer

Tyrannosaurus packed a killer crunch

Hollywood debut for Cecil B. Sealion

Luminous balls reveal the real Ginola

Greenhouse row

Strange object

Generous measures

Epidemic eases

Help for whales

Pennies from heaven - New high-tech companies are shunned by conventional investors. So who can they turn to?

Dole beckons for the shortest children

It came from the south. . .

High anxiety lowers the birth rate

Children bowled over by subtle sales pitch

Pollution detectives add to greenhouse woes

Australia declares war on nuclear weapons

Inventive academics turn to City for cash

Miners strike green gold

And all because the lady loves...

Satellite injured in space wreck

Sneezing while the Earth warms

Galileo teases out Jupiter's secrets

Opinion

Editorial : And now, a word from the sponsors . . . - IT can't be easy selling a product that has a good chance of killing you, or at least ruining your health, but tobacco companies certainly don't give up easily. Advertising cigarettes on TV was banned

Editorial : Media studies is the message - ONCE again the results of the school examinations are out and once again they seem to show that teenagers are turning away from science. At A level, the percentage of students studying physics was down 5.7 per ce

Features

Super charging the shuttle – It's overweight, underpowered and just not up to the job. Even so, NASA

The journey of a thousand miles . . . - Copying the way our muscles work with rough-and-ready rewiring has already got one paralysed woman onto her feet. But will it ever be good enough to restore natural movement or even help people walk, asks Pete M

Sugaring the pill

Are we killing astronomy? - Street lights, satellites and CFCs are swamping the spectra that are vital to understanding the cosmos. Marcus Chown explores whether anything can be done to keep us in touch with the Universe

More

Forum : A weather eye on the sunspots

Thistle diary : Hot gas and dirty exhausts - More comment from Westminster by Tam Dalyell

Review : ...catch southern stars

Review : ...track southern sights

Review : Once upon a superhighway

Review : Collected works

Review : Save your life

Review : Play science

Review : China rising

Bestsellers : from Sydney

Review : Genius made simple

Review : Blinded by the hype

Forum : One bird's prison

Review : Pleasuredomes of despair

Review : Not so handy hints

Review : Place your bet

Review : Hopes for the future

51��

51��