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This week's magazine

4 February 2017

Issue 3111

New Scientist issue 3111 cover
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Editor's picks

a wood-burning stove

Earth

Wood-burners: London air pollution is just tip of the iceberg

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protest

Speak up for science, however you can

51
face artwork

Physics

Essence of reality: Hunting the universe's most basic ingredient

Features
Leonard Colebrook

Health

Sibling heroes from the dawn of antibiotics

Features
possums

Life

The great extermination: How New Zealand will end alien species

Features
Analogue alarm clock

Physics

One time or another: Our best 5 theories of the fourth dimension

Features
memory artwork

Health

Spotless mind: Manipulating the brain to rewrite memories

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

protest

Speak up for science, however you can

Protest against the US crackdown on science communication will take many forms – we shouldn’t let differences of approach divide us

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Two post mortem brains

Humans

The folds in your brain may be linked to how neurotic you are

Those folds might be revealing What are you like? A look at your brain may tell you. A study has found a link between some elements of brain structure and certain personality traits . The study involved scanning the brains of 500 volunteers, and assessing their personalities in terms of five traits – neuroticism, openness, …

51

Life

Parasite turns wasp into zombie then drills through its head

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Space

Plasma tidal wave may tell us if black holes destroy information

51

Health

Gene editing has saved the lives of two children with leukaemia

51

Life

New hermit crab has candy-stick legs and a giant spoon-like claw

51

Physics

Vacuum transfer advance will help redefine kilogram next year

51

Life

Giant flying reptile was top predator like a winged T. rex

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Technology

AI agony aunt learns to dole out relationship advice online

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Health

How LSD affects the brain and creates its trippy effect

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Humans

Memories can be disconnected – and it could help those with PTSD

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Physics

Metallic hydrogen finally made in lab at mind-boggling pressure

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Earth

Planet Earth makes its own water from scratch deep in the mantle

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Life

Yellow fever outbreak is killing off rare monkeys in Brazil

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Life

Chimps beat up, murder and then cannibalise their former tyrant

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Life

Goat plague wipes out 10 per cent of endangered antelopes

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Technology

AI tracks your every move and tells your boss if you’re slacking

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Higher unemployment linked to more shootings at schools

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Technology

Voice-checking device stops hackers hijacking your Siri or Alexa

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Physics

World’s first time crystals cooked up using new recipe

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Technology

AI just won a poker tournament against professional players

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Space

Water spotted in the atmosphere of nearby hot Jupiter exoplanet

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Humans

Trump’s travel ban is already stopping scientific collaboration

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Technology

Completely paralysed people use thoughts to say they are happy

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Health

Antibiotic resistance spreads from farms to people in China

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Earth

60 Seconds

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Health

Clinic claims it has used stem cells to treat Down's syndrome

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Ant choosiness reveals they all have different personalities

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Analysis

Two woman embracing

Humans

More empathy isn't the right prescription to heal our planet

When it comes to empathy, can you can have too much of good thing? I just wrote a book called Against Empathy, and some of my friends tell me they are embarrassed to read it in public. Isn't empathy something only a psychopath would object to? Many see empathy as an unquestionable force for good; …

51

Earth

Wood-burners: London air pollution is just tip of the iceberg

51

Earth

US scientists can look to Canada for ways to fight a crackdown

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Humans

A painful reminder for Donald Trump of why torture is pointless

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Aperture

snowflake 1

Physics

The pioneering snowflake photographs of a young obsessive

THESE are some of the first ever photographs of individual snowflakes – "tiny miracles of beauty", as photographer Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley would have it. Born in Vermont in 1865, Bentley was fascinated by snowflakes from an early age. At 15, he tried drawing them as viewed through an old microscope his mother had given him, …

Regulars

Features

possums

Life

The great extermination: How New Zealand will end alien species

New Zealand's unique fauna are under threat from alien invaders. It has ambitious plans to wipe out all rats, stoats and possums by 2050, but can it be done?

Features

Health

Spotless mind: Manipulating the brain to rewrite memories

Features

Health

Sibling heroes from the dawn of antibiotics

Features

Physics

Essence of reality: Hunting the universe's most basic ingredient

Features

Physics

One time or another: Our best 5 theories of the fourth dimension

Features

Culture

parrots

Life

London show confirms the natural world is dead. Good riddance

A Wellcome Collection exhibition demonstrates why the idea of nature as separate to our own world deserves to go into the history books – or at least a museum

Culture

Earth

The video installation that makes us swim in our own mess

Culture

More

dermatologist examining skin

AI rivals dermatologists at spotting early signs of skin cancer

Look closely Deep learning is taking on dermatology. An algorithm trained in image recognition has matched dermatologists in its ability to identify certain types of skin cancer based on photographs of skin lesions. “I’m certain this is how melanomas are going to be identified in the future,” says Richard Weller , a consultant dermatologist at …

Space

Old 51: Into the twilight zone of dubious causation

Regulars

Regulars

cartoon

Feedback: Oceans not more acidic, just less alkaline, says MEP

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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