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This week's magazine

20 October 2007

Issue 2626

New Scientist issue 2626 cover
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Editor's picks

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.

Health

The mutual poisoning society

Features
Space diving: The ultimate extreme sport

Space

Space diving: The ultimate extreme sport

Features
Knockout gas: Chemical weapons in disguise?

Technology

Knockout gas: Chemical weapons in disguise?

Features
Virus traps: Weapons of mass deception

Health

Virus traps: Weapons of mass deception

Features
Pangaea, the comeback

Earth

Pangaea, the comeback

Features

Table of contents

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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.

Technology

'Half-quantum' cryptography promises total security

It has been an article of faith among cryptographers that the only way for two parties to transmit sensitive information completely securely is to use quantum cryptography to share the key they use to encrypt the information. Now it seems that the same degree of security is possible even if one party remains firmly rooted …

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Life

Wrist sensor lets you conduct a virtual orchestra

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Technology

Super-sensitive test spots cancer virus early

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Life

Floating body bags could aid disaster recovery

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Technology

Gizmo

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Earth

'Total recycling' aims to make landfill history

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Life

Getting married saps your testosterone

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Earth

How El Niño slows the Earth's spin

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Life

Blind people tap unused brain to hear better

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Life

Did oceans on Venus harbour life?

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Earth

Leaders of cane toad invasion struck down by arthritis

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Life

Gluttons can blame overeating on the brain

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Life

Early modern humans had a taste for seafood

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Earth

Himalayas created by high-speed impact

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Life

Could quantum effects explain consciousness?

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Earth

Small-scale fisheries wreak havoc on turtles

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Life

The swamp fish that loves to live in trees

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This week 50 years ago

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Life

World is failing on poverty

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Space

Heavyweight black hole is a record breaker

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Life

Family planning lowers abortion rates

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Catalysis pioneer scoops chemistry Nobel

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60 Seconds

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Earth

Brazil rides biofuel bandwagon to Africa

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Over 5000 US patents are now state secrets

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Health

Scale of pharma payments to med schools revealed

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Life

Modern life is making us fat

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Earth

Arctic expedition to measure shrinking ice

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Health

Malaria vaccine protects infants against infection

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Opinion

Don't exaggerate climate change link to conflict

Earth

Don't exaggerate climate change link to conflict

EARLIER this year, geologists from Boston University announced that they had discovered a vast underground lake in western Sudan's troubled Darfur region. By helping to reverse the critical shortage of fresh water in the region, the geologists and many other commentators said, the lake will ease the area's carnage and suffering. That prediction is part …

Opinion

Life

Editorial: Get ready for synthetic life

Opinion

Life

Interview: Licence to annoy

Opinion

Life

Interview: DNA's messengers

Opinion

Physics

Interview: Sleep when you're dead

Opinion

Features

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.

Health

The mutual poisoning society

For the assistant librarian at the Royal Institution, London's most fashionable science society, the evening of 20 December 1820 was decidedly uncomfortable. For 2 hours he stayed hidden inside a cupboard in the reading room, squinting through secret eyeholes at the institution's patrons as they strode in from Albemarle Street. Finally, he spotted his prey: …

Features

Space

Space diving: The ultimate extreme sport

Features

Technology

Knockout gas: Chemical weapons in disguise?

Features

Health

Virus traps: Weapons of mass deception

Features

Earth

Pangaea, the comeback

Features

More

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.

Review: Four Laws That Drive the Universe by Peter Atkins

MANY books promise to explain the essence of physics to newcomers, but the truth is that real insight is hard won. Peter Atkins pulls no punches in his ultra-compact guide to thermodynamics, the theory of heat and motion that underpins physics, chemistry and other fields. He explains how we are all steam engines – inasmuch …

Books & Arts

Review: The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2007 edited by Richard Preston and Tim Folger

Books & Arts

Space

The word: Space-time sirens

Regulars

Regulars

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.

Feedback

Hi-fi bunkum READER Ewan MacGregor writes to us about "hi-fi bunkum and hocus-pocus". It seems that audiophiles who fancy they have especially sensitive ears have been upgrading the leads that connect their equipment to the mains power socket. "Am I the only one who thinks that this fails to take into account the bog-standard wiring …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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