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This week's magazine

2 March 2013

Issue 2906

New Scientist issue 2906 cover
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Editor's picks

Clone alone: Who needs sex?

Life

Clone alone: Who needs sex?

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.

Space

Physics crunch: Seven experiments to change it all

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.

Space

Physics crunch: Time to discard relativity?

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.

Space

Physics crunch: Time to ditch Copernicus?

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.

Space

Physics crunch: Time to rethink cosmic inflation?

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.

Physics crunch: Time to follow beauty?

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.

Physics crunch: Time to boost the energy?

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.

Physics crunch: Time to snare neutrinos?

Features
Physics crunch: Is mathematics the root of reality?

Space

Physics crunch: Is mathematics the root of reality?

Features
Physics crunch: The dark void at cosmology's heart

Space

Physics crunch: The dark void at cosmology's heart

Features
Physics crunch: Higgs smashes into a dead end

Physics

Physics crunch: Higgs smashes into a dead end

Features
Physics crunch: Desperately seeking everything

Physics

Physics crunch: Desperately seeking everything

Features

Table of contents

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First snaps made of fetal brains wiring themselves up

Health

First snaps made of fetal brains wiring themselves up

brightcove.createExperiences(); Video: First MRI movies capture fetal brain wiring up Snapped at 31 weeks The first images have been captured of the fetal brain at different stages of its development. The work gives a glimpse of how the brain's neural connections form in the womb, and could one day lead to prenatal diagnosis and treatment …

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Life

How forensic science will solve Pistorius shooting

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Life

Zoologger: The chilly secret to monarch migration

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Physics

Earth's mantle helps hunt for fifth force of nature

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Health

How electrodes in the brain block obsessive behaviour

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Earth

Ancient continent hides beneath Indian Ocean

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Technology

Giant laser needs a revamp to achieve nuclear fusion

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Space

Astrophile: Icy Titan spawns tropical cyclones

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Technology

Armband adds a twitch to gesture control

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Earth

China takes steps to clean up 'cancer villages'

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Space

Russian meteor traced to Apollo asteroid family

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US research to be put online for free

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60 Seconds

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Earth

Arctic thaw may be first in cascade of tipping points

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Space

Space miners hope to build first off-Earth economy

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Flowers get an electrifying buzz out of visiting bees

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Life

Bacteria defeat antibiotics they have never met before

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Life

IVF sperm do better in a diamond dish

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Space

Quantum skyfall puts Einstein's gravity to the test

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Humans

Bunnies implicated in the demise of Neanderthals

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Health

Herbal Viagra actually contains the real thing

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Technology

Virtual body double gets ill so you don't have to

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Earth

US nuclear dump is leaking toxic waste

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Space

First private Mars mission aims to launch in 2018

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Opinion

Old dog tricks: The survival of the friendliest

Life

Old dog tricks: The survival of the friendliest

Video: Intelligence tests reveal how dogs think Wolves evolved into increasingly useful and charming dogs The wolves that were social enough to approach human settlements and eat our ancestors' scraps evolved into man's best friend. Evolutionary anthropologist Brian Hare tells Tiffany O'Callaghan what dogs reveal about our own evolution You set out to study human …

Opinion

Space

Space gold rush should not be a free-for-all

Opinion

Physics

Physics crunch: Bang goes the theory

Opinion

Earth

Wanted: A Bob Geldof for climate change

Opinion

Earth

Splash and grab: The global scramble for water

Opinion

Our $3 million prizes will turn scientists into heroes

Opinion

Analysis

Happy, snappy tweets gain the most Twitter followers

Technology

Happy, snappy tweets gain the most Twitter followers

Boost your followers Want to be popular on Twitter? There are plenty of people who claim they can help, but their tips rarely work and many of them are scammers. Now scientists have joined in, boiling down half a million tweets to a few simple rules for gaining a following. C.J. Hutto (@cjhutto on Twitter) …

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Technology

Backlash against civilian drones begins

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Aperture

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.

Close encounters with a living dinosaur

See more: To see the image this article refers to, keep checking Picture of the Day on our news blog Short Sharp Science THEY have a reputation as the most dangerous bird in the world. If the cassowary – a large flightless bird that lives in Australia and New Guinea – feels cornered it will …

Regulars

Features

Clone alone: Who needs sex?

Life

Clone alone: Who needs sex?

We’re discovering many females can make babies without any male help. So why do animals bother with the messy business of sex at all?

Features

Space

Physics crunch: Seven experiments to change it all

Features

Space

Physics crunch: Time to discard relativity?

Features

Space

Physics crunch: Time to ditch Copernicus?

Features

Space

Physics crunch: Time to rethink cosmic inflation?

Features

Physics crunch: Time to follow beauty?

Features

Physics crunch: Time to boost the energy?

Features

Physics crunch: Time to snare neutrinos?

Features

Space

Physics crunch: Is mathematics the root of reality?

Features

Space

Physics crunch: The dark void at cosmology's heart

Features

Physics

Physics crunch: Higgs smashes into a dead end

Features

Physics

Physics crunch: Desperately seeking everything

Features

Culturelab

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.

Timing was everything when Darwin's bombshell exploded

See more: An illustrated version of this article will be published within the next two weeks on our CultureLab books and arts blog

CultureLab

Is extinction really such a bad thing?

CultureLab

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.

Enigma Number 1738

I have selected two 4-digit perfect squares, neither of which has a leading zero. Their sum is the reverse of one of the squares. What are my two perfect squares? WIN £15 will be awarded to the sender of the first correct answer opened on Wednesday 27 March. The Editor's decision is final. Please send …

Regulars

Regulars

Feedback: Oratorical science fiction

Feedback: Oratorical science fiction

Oratorical science fiction "FLY to London with all expenses paid and speak to 450 people at Bexley College Holly Hill campus." This email invitation from Professor Arthur Peterson sounded both plausible and tempting to an American science fiction writer who wants to remain nameless, so we'll call him SF. A search confirmed the college exists, …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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