Issue 2329 | Magazine cover date: 9 February 2002

This week's magazine

9 February 2002

Issue 2329

Previous issue Next issue

On the cover

Features

Last chance balloon

51��

51��s learn to tell left from right

Opinion

Westminster diary

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.

Earth

Last chance balloon

Features

Here comes the Sun

Features

Gentle persuasion

Features

What lies beneath

Features

Law of the jungle

Features

51��

51��s learn to tell left from right

SOME molecules exist in two forms that are chemically identical but are mirror images of each other. These mirror-image pairs frequently have very different biological effects, so chemists would like to find a quick way to tell them apart. A laborious method called chiral chromatography is used at the moment. Mirror-image molecules are separated as …

51��

How birds began

51��

Hard to forget

51��

Harvesting the clouds

51��

Shining bright

51��

The drugs do work

51��

Fatal attraction

51��

Technology

Making a meal of it

51��

Technology

Blood test in a hurry

51��

Technology

Lace me up, before I go go

51��

Pace yourself on the piste

51��

Space antennas take a tip from Mother Nature

51��

Fill her up with photons

51��

Smart but cheap

51��

Feel the heat

51��

Cosmic rays on crash course

51��

In the ocean, you're either red—or dead

51��

How a gang of thugs could cure cancer

51��

It isn't yours

51��

Back on his feet

51��

Fly by the stars

51��

Steadying the heavens

51��

A dog's dilemma

51��

How dust sent asteroids on crash course for the Sun

51��

Hothouse chips

51��

Less is more

51��

Sickly slopes

51��

Easy listening

51��

Eye strain

51��

Every cow counts

51��

TB drug revival

51��

Health

The insider

51��

Radioactive blunders double in a decade

51��

Catch the rays

51��

Good enough to eat?

51��

Wake-up call

51��

Snap, crackle and pop

51��

All tied up

51��

Opinion

Westminster diary

RADIOACTIVE iodine is widely used to treat overactive thyroid glands and thyroid cancers. But when a patient becomes radioactive through this treatment, it can pose a health hazard to anyone—such as hospital nurses—who is in close contact with them for long periods. As 51�� reported recently, a single alpha or beta particle could damage …

Opinion

For the love of machines

Opinion

Never trust your dealer

Opinion

Take a punt on fusion

Opinion

Worlds apart

Opinion

Features

Earth

Last chance balloon

Why would a small red-and-white balloon rescued from a Victorian shrubbery in the west of England have excited weeks of feverish activity at the Admiralty in London? Because it appeared to have attached to it a message from the doomed HMS Erebus, captained by Sir John Franklin, by then missing for six years in the …

Features

Here comes the Sun

Features

Gentle persuasion

Features

What lies beneath

Features

Law of the jungle

Features

Respect for the family

Great apes and humans by Benjamin Beck, Smithsonian Institution Press, £26.95, ISBN 1560989696 VOTES for chimpanzees? The Great Ape Project, launched in 1994, didn't go quite that far. Yet that coalition of scientists and philosophers unleashed a bioethical furore when they argued that our closest primate relatives deserve "human" rights. It is morally indefensible, they …

Books & Arts

Present futures

Books & Arts

The bird's feet

Books & Arts

The New Penguin Dictionary of Computing by Dick Pountain

Books & Arts

Raised by animals

Books & Arts

Behind every great man

Books & Arts

Out in paperback

Books & Arts

Regulars

The Last Word

Stop thief Question : I have noticed that electrical goods stores use a form of adhesive metal coil as a security tag. How do these tags set off the door alarms and how are they deactivated before a legitimate customer leaves the shop? Answer : The coils are the antennae of a very simple, disposable …

51����

This week's magazine

9 February 2002

On the cover

Earth

Last chance balloon

Here comes the Sun

Gentle persuasion

What lies beneath

Law of the jungle

Table of contents

51����

51����s learn to tell left from right

How birds began

Hard to forget

Harvesting the clouds

Shining bright

The drugs do work

Fatal attraction

Technology

Making a meal of it

Technology

Blood test in a hurry

Technology

Lace me up, before I go go

Pace yourself on the piste

Space antennas take a tip from Mother Nature

Fill her up with photons

Smart but cheap

Feel the heat

Cosmic rays on crash course

In the ocean, you're either red—or dead

How a gang of thugs could cure cancer

It isn't yours

Back on his feet

Fly by the stars

Steadying the heavens

A dog's dilemma

How dust sent asteroids on crash course for the Sun

Hothouse chips

Less is more

Sickly slopes

Easy listening

Eye strain

Every cow counts

TB drug revival

Health

The insider

Radioactive blunders double in a decade

Catch the rays

Good enough to eat?

Wake-up call

Snap, crackle and pop

All tied up

Opinion

Westminster diary

For the love of machines

Never trust your dealer

Take a punt on fusion

Worlds apart

Features

Earth

Last chance balloon

Here comes the Sun

Gentle persuasion

What lies beneath

Law of the jungle

More

Respect for the family

Present futures

The bird's feet

The New Penguin Dictionary of Computing by Dick Pountain

Raised by animals

Behind every great man

Out in paperback

Regulars

The Last Word

Feedback

Regulars

Letters

51��

51��

51��s learn to tell left from right