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This week's magazine

22 November 2014

Issue 2996

New Scientist issue 2996 cover
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Editor's picks

Gay gene discovery has good and bad implications

Life

Gay gene discovery has good and bad implications

Opinion
Us vs universe: Unfuzzying the uncertainty principle

Physics

Us vs universe: Unfuzzying the uncertainty principle

Features
Us vs universe: Seeing smaller than the limit of light

Physics

Us vs universe: Seeing smaller than the limit of light

Features
Us vs universe: How to get below absolute zero

Physics

Us vs universe: How to get below absolute zero

Features
Us vs universe: Hold still while the Earth trembles

Space

Us vs universe: Hold still while the Earth trembles

Features
Us vs universe: Taking the twinkle out of the stars

Space

Us vs universe: Taking the twinkle out of the stars

Features
Us vs universe: Seeing before the cosmos's first light

Space

Us vs universe: Seeing before the cosmos's first light

Features
Us vs universe: Quantum dance enters forbidden zone

Physics

Us vs universe: Quantum dance enters forbidden zone

Features
Us vs universe: Adventures in breaking light speed

Space

Us vs universe: Adventures in breaking light speed

Features
Total white out: Snowshoe hares vs global warming

Earth

Total white out: Snowshoe hares vs global warming

Features
Simply the biggest: The great dam of China

Earth

Simply the biggest: The great dam of China

Features
Magic shoes: How to hear yourself instantly happy

Life

Magic shoes: How to hear yourself instantly happy

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Gay gene discovery has good and bad implications

Life

Gay gene discovery has good and bad implications

The finding that male homosexuality has a strong genetic component should be a boon for gay rights – but it could backfire

Opinion

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Conservation report reinforces fears over 'paper parks'

Earth

Conservation report reinforces fears over 'paper parks'

The Serengeti National Park was created in 1951 to protect animals including wildebeest, zebra and Thomson’s gazelle There's a sense of déjà vu at the once-in-a-decade World Parks Congress in Sydney this week, where it was announced that the world is on track to meet a 2020 target on the expansion of protected areas. The …

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Earth

Warming world means a hike in US lightning strikes

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Life

Infanticide drives female promiscuity and big balls

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Health

Ebola blood and drug trials to start in December

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Life

Cells act like old tape recorders to monitor health

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Health

Being born early is now the chief cause of infant death

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Life

Seastar ripper prime suspect pinned down

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Life

Largest study of gay brothers homes in on 'gay genes'

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Technology

Surveillance box alerts you to break-in noise at home

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Space

Dark matter could be seen in GPS time glitches

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Technology

Hackathon develops tech tools to fight Ebola epidemic

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Life

Radar net protects tigers and keeps them neighbourly

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Technology

Plastic pads let you climb walls like Spider-Man

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Health

How bird flu threatens Europe's Christmas turkeys

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Life

People taught synaesthesia learn to read in colour

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Space

Philae lander sleeps but Rosetta mission lives on

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Space

Is mystery Russian spacecraft a satellite-killer?

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Environment

Two different fates for bluefin tuna

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Technology

Challenges for US-Iran nuclear talks

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60 Seconds

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Earth

Dawn of farming sparked speed-evolution in weeds

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Chance to bury your DNA on the moon in a time capsule

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Technology

Contact lenses with built-in video could be 3D printed

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Life

'Good viruses' defend gut when bacteria are wiped out

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Life

Habitable exomoons born in cosmic collisions

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Opinion

Violence ahead as tragedies of the commons spread

Earth

Violence ahead as tragedies of the commons spread

The world risks heading the way of Easter Island – a spiral into conflict as depleted natural resources are plundered

Opinion

Earth

I'm cracking the future of food – no chickens required

Opinion

10 years ago science was broken – I'm making it better

Opinion

Analysis

Crowdfunding donations reinvent what a charity is

Technology

Crowdfunding donations reinvent what a charity is

A growing number of non-profits are modelling themselves on technology start-ups rather than traditional charities, allowing donors to give direct to a cause

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Earth

US and China's emission cuts may not be enough

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Aperture

Hermit style: Meet the sea's most decorated animal

Life

Hermit style: Meet the sea's most decorated animal

(Image: Susan Middleton) PATIENCE, says Susan Middleton, is the most important aspect of her photography. "My subjects are difficult to see even for the most experienced divers and marine biologists – many are small, many are cryptic and hide, many are masters of camouflage." Middleton has spent seven years cataloguing the diverse range of marine …

Regulars

Features

Us vs universe: Unfuzzying the uncertainty principle

Physics

Us vs universe: Unfuzzying the uncertainty principle

Video: Why uncertainty is useful in quantum physics There is a loophole in Heisenberg's quantum uncertainty principle – and we're squeezing light through it to detect gravitational waves IN FEBRUARY 1927, a young assistant to the quantum pioneer Niels Bohr had a brainwave about why measuring electrons provided consistently fuzzy answers. "The more precisely the …

Features

Physics

Us vs universe: Seeing smaller than the limit of light

Features

Physics

Us vs universe: How to get below absolute zero

Features

Space

Us vs universe: Hold still while the Earth trembles

Features

Space

Us vs universe: Taking the twinkle out of the stars

Features

Space

Us vs universe: Seeing before the cosmos's first light

Features

Physics

Us vs universe: Quantum dance enters forbidden zone

Features

Space

Us vs universe: Adventures in breaking light speed

Features

Earth

Total white out: Snowshoe hares vs global warming

Features

Earth

Simply the biggest: The great dam of China

Features

Life

Magic shoes: How to hear yourself instantly happy

Features

Culturelab

In need of seasonal gift-buying inspiration?

In need of seasonal gift-buying inspiration?

From mouse taxidermy to chocolate body parts, CultureLab has all the wit and whimsy you could wish for the science fans in your life Anatomical chocolates from $8.85, visualanatomy.com Stuff yourself with chocolate body parts: collections include Great Expectations (womb, sperm and heart). From the US, so hurry! Astronaut duvet set £55, sciencemuseumshop.co.uk Prepare your …

CultureLab

Win these 10 great popular science books for Christmas

CultureLab

Regulars

Feedback: Silence for listening pleasure

Feedback: Silence for listening pleasure

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more How much gold is in silence? SILENCE and gold. Are they related? We have previously mused on the copyright status of the John Cage composition 4' 33" – four-and-a-half minutes during which not a single note is played (1 November) …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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