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This week's magazine

25 January 2014

Issue 2953

New Scientist issue 2953 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.

Space

The u-bit may be omniscient, but it's no God particle

Opinion
From <i>i</i> to u: Searching for the quantum master bit

Physics

From i to u: Searching for the quantum master bit

Features
Antibiotic abyss: The extreme quest for new medicines

Life

Antibiotic abyss: The extreme quest for new medicines

Features
Right on target: New era of fast genetic engineering

Life

Right on target: New era of fast genetic engineering

Features
Ecstatic epilepsy: How seizures can be bliss

Health

Ecstatic epilepsy: How seizures can be bliss

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

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.

Counting the hidden victims of medicine

Drug side effects and other unintended consequences of medical treatment may be killing and hurting more people than we thought

Opinion

Technology

Google's thermostat could spy on your home life

Opinion

Space

The u-bit may be omniscient, but it's no God particle

Opinion

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Gene therapy restores sight in people with eye disease

Life

Gene therapy restores sight in people with eye disease

Sight has been restored in people with a rare inherited disease called choroideremia A section of the retina, marked by green dots, was detatched ready for gene therapy injection "Before the op, I would look at someone and all I could see for their face was blancmange," says Jonathan Wyatt. "Now, I can see people's …

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Technology

Nest thermostat acquisition is Google's home invasion

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Technology

Google's quantum computer flunks landmark speed test

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Life

Insect minions banned from breeding by same signal

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Earth

Natural ball lightning probed for the first time

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Technology

Smartphone EEG to diagnose epilepsy in poor nations

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Earth

Devastating El Niño events to double this century

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Technology

Obama promises to curb some of NSA's snooping power

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Technology

Laser makes ultra-light mirror out of tiny beads

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Technology

Plastic injection protects mouse hearts after attack

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Life

Zoologger: Squid snares prey using badly blurred vision

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Technology

Bendy implant harnesses the power of your beating heart

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Life

Water found in stardust suggests life is universal

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Space

Up and at 'em: Rosetta craft gaining on target comet

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Earth

Made in China: Up to a quarter of California smog

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Health

Popping pills for flu fever might make things worse

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Kazakh mathematician may have solved $1 million puzzle

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Cheap DNA: What the $1000-genome means for you

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60 Seconds

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Life

Giant leaps of evolution make cancer cells deadly

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Long-lost lake may have helped humans out of Africa

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Earth

Ice-age animals live on in Eurasian mountain range

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Space

Japan's huge magnetic net will trawl for space junk

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Technology

Wireless charging for electric vehicles hits the road

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Technology

One Per Cent

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Earth

Germany's energy revolution on verge of collapse

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Life

New species of river dolphin born of Amazon rapids

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Space

Dwarf planet caught spitting inside asteroid belt

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Physics

A random wolf on Wall Street could calm stock markets

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Health

Threatwatch: Drug-resistant TB looms even larger

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Physics

Fastest routes revealed by mimicking electrical flow

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Opinion

McMath and Muñoz cases challenge definition of death

Health

McMath and Muñoz cases challenge definition of death

Two brain-dead patients kept on life support are causing controversy. Do we need to rethink life's cut-off point, wonders a medical ethicist

Opinion

Life

H. flu fighter: Targeting a key bug in lung disease

Opinion

Life

Psychobiotics: How gut bacteria mess with your mind

Opinion

Aperture

Soap-bubble cyclone is a deadly storm in miniature

Physics

Soap-bubble cyclone is a deadly storm in miniature

Video: Cyclone in a soap bubble IT LOOKS like a snap from Hubble's cosmic collection . But this iridescent storm isn't whirling on an alien planet – it has formed on the surface of a soap bubble. Led by Hamid Kellay , a group of physicists at the University of Bordeaux, France, heated soap bubbles …

Regulars

Features

From <i>i</i> to u: Searching for the quantum master bit

Physics

From i to u: Searching for the quantum master bit

Whatever the u-bit is, it rotates quickly (Image: Natalie Nicklin) Our best theory of nature has imaginary numbers at its heart. Making quantum physics more real conjures up a monstrous entity pulling the universe's strings Leader: " The u-bit may be omniscient, but it's no God particle " IF YOU'VE ever tried counting yourself to …

Features

Life

Antibiotic abyss: The extreme quest for new medicines

Features

Life

Right on target: New era of fast genetic engineering

Features

Health

Ecstatic epilepsy: How seizures can be bliss

Features

Culturelab

What separates us from other animals?

Life

What separates us from other animals?

For all that separates us from gorillas and other great apes, we are family (Image: Bruce Davidson/naturepl.com) We are unlike any other animal, but the differences are surprisingly difficult to pin down. The Gap by Thomas Suddendorf is the most comprehensive attempt yet "THIS book is about you," goes the beguiling first sentence of The …

CultureLab

Space

There's a moon for us all at lunar art show

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

Answer to 1778 Around the houses There are 72 houses The winner Tessa Fullwood of Frimley, Surrey, UK

Regulars

Get ahead of the postdoc pack

Careers

Regulars

Feedback: And then there were lawyers

Environment

Feedback: And then there were lawyers

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more And then there were lawyers IT STARTED with a whimper, and ended up with lawyers. In 2006, Arctic wildlife biologist Charles Monnett reported sighting dead polar bears in the Beaufort Sea, concluding that "drowning-related deaths... may increase in the future …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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