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This week's magazine

13 December 2014

Issue 2999

New Scientist issue 2999 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.

Life

Ponds or pounding are both possible origins for life

Opinion
How to think about… Higher dimensions

Physics

How to think about… Higher dimensions

Features
How to think about… Computing

Technology

How to think about… Computing

Features
How to think about… Quantum reality

Physics

How to think about… Quantum reality

Features
How to think about… Infinity

Physics

How to think about… Infinity

Features
How to think about… Deep time

Physics

How to think about… Deep time

Features
How to think about… The big bang

Space

How to think about… The big bang

Features
How to think about… Probability

Humans

How to think about… Probability

Features
How to think about… Mathematics

Physics

How to think about… Mathematics

Features
How to think about… Fields

Space

How to think about… Fields

Features
How to think about… Relativity

Space

How to think about… Relativity

Features
How to think about… Evolution

Life

How to think about… Evolution

Features
How to think about… Alien contact

Life

How to think about… Alien contact

Features
This means spore: The brutal world of fighting fungi

Life

This means spore: The brutal world of fighting fungi

Features
Fungal fighters: Cruel weapons of the forest floor

Life

Fungal fighters: Cruel weapons of the forest floor

Features
How to think about… Space-time

Space

How to think about… Space-time

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Stamping out online abuse is a job for all of us

Technology

Stamping out online abuse is a job for all of us

Governments, tech giants and individuals must act together if we are to clamp down on threats and abuse in the digital world

Opinion

Life

Ponds or pounding are both possible origins for life

Opinion

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NASA test launches Orion space capsule for Mars trip

Space

NASA test launches Orion space capsule for Mars trip

(Image: NASA) A test flight for Mars launched today – passengers not included. After several delays on Thursday – due to a boat near the launch site in Cape Canaveral in Florida, and high wind speeds – NASA sent the Orion deep-space capsule on its inaugural uncrewed flight. The ship could one day ferry four …

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Health

Y men are more likely to get cancer than women

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Earth

Warm water undermining Antarctica's ice shelves

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Health

Brain link for obesity and high blood pressure found

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Life

Zoologger: Dancing in time makes crabs sexual failures

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Life

'Giant' fossil hints at the diversity of early primates

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Life

Formation of life's building blocks recreated in lab

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Space

Curiosity rover finds ancient lake in Martian crater

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Technology

Google's new bot-trap trains machines to see the world

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Technology

Your telltale video camera shake can identify you

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Health

Malaria death rate halved, but many still lack nets

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Earth

Paris says 'non' to diesel in anti-pollution push

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Life

Personality affects maths-enhancing brain-zap method

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Only 2 per cent of unsold food gets given to poor

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Earth

Philippines learned from Haiyan to cut typhoon deaths

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Ebola doctors go on strike over lack of equipment

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60 Seconds

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Earth

What's at stake at this week's climate summit in Lima

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Space

Cosmic rays drive the galactic pottery wheel

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Space

#RosettaWatch: Comet water is not like Earth's

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Earth

Great wall of trees keeps China's deserts at bay

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Earth

Russia to cut up 'floating Chernobyl' but risks remain

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Lunar water delivered by soggy meteorites

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Eels use electricity to remote control prey movements

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Life

The fight back against rape and death threats online

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Technology

One Per Cent

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Space

The sun and Jupiter could reveal space-time ripples

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Life

Young, hotheaded stars could host habitable worlds

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Life

Light trickery makes bird feathers blue but not red

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Opinion

Is it harmful for children to watch 3D movies and games?

Is it harmful for children to watch 3D movies and games?

Sight for sore eyes? Children under six should be banned from stereoscopic technology such as 3D movies, computers and video games, says France's health and safety agency, ANSES. It is also calling for children up to 13 to moderate their use of the technology. The call follows recommendations by the agency's Italian counterpart last year …

Opinion

Health

I want to print personalised cancer drugs in a day

Opinion

Life

To save animals, we must work with their culture

Opinion

Technology

Forget Turing – I want to test computer creativity

Opinion

Analysis

The sites that know your dream job before you do

Technology

The sites that know your dream job before you do

We use algorithms to connect to people and things we’ll love, like suggestions on Netflix – soon they might connect us to jobs we'll love too

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Life

Why are US police so prone to violence?

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Aperture

Inside an internet addiction treatment centre in China

Life

Inside an internet addiction treatment centre in China

(Image: Fernando Moleres/Panos Pictures) IN CHINA, if you are a kid who spends a long time online, you had better watch out. Your parents may send you off for "treatment". At the Internet Addiction Treatment Centre in Beijing, children must take part in military-style activities, including exercise drills and the singing of patriotic songs. They …

Regulars

Features

How to think about… Higher dimensions

Physics

How to think about… Higher dimensions

Reality could have many more dimensions than the familiar four – physicists have tricks for projecting their minds beyond the ones we perceive

Features

Technology

How to think about… Computing

Features

Physics

How to think about… Quantum reality

Features

Physics

How to think about… Infinity

Features

Physics

How to think about… Deep time

Features

Space

How to think about… The big bang

Features

Humans

How to think about… Probability

Features

Physics

How to think about… Mathematics

Features

Space

How to think about… Fields

Features

Space

How to think about… Relativity

Features

Life

How to think about… Evolution

Features

Life

How to think about… Alien contact

Features

Life

This means spore: The brutal world of fighting fungi

Features

Life

Fungal fighters: Cruel weapons of the forest floor

Features

Space

How to think about… Space-time

Features

Culturelab

Pretty vacant: What we're not seeing in graphics today

Pretty vacant: What we're not seeing in graphics today

A 1970s geological view of the moon (Image: Courtesy USGS/NASA; map by David Scott, John McCauley and Mareta West) From explaining force-feeding at Guantanamo to rents in London, it takes storytellers and critical minds to make good infographics, as four new books show FEW words are more important today than "data", from the Latin for …

CultureLab

Life

Is sexology just too human to study?

CultureLab

More

Doctorate with a difference

Doctorate with a difference

Students at centres for doctoral training start and finish their PhDs together (Image: Monty Rakusen/Plainpicture) As centres for doctoral training spring up across the country, the PhD as we know it is undergoing a transformation THE PhD is changing. The three-year academic pursuit is rapidly being superseded by a four-year alternative that incorporates industry training. …

Careers

Regulars

Feedback: A gramophone news service

Feedback: A gramophone news service

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Gramophone news service WE SHOULD have guessed that the blog flyingcarsandfoodpills.com – dedicated to "the visionaries, madmen, and tinkerers who created the future that never was" – is by a Feedback reader. Steve Carper sends a 1911 image from Life …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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