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This week's magazine

16 November 2024

Issue 3517

New Scientist issue 3517 cover
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Editor's picks

Corn harvest in the fields with transporter and harvester from above; Shutterstock ID 1994046068; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Environment

We must use genetic technologies now to avert the coming food crisis

Comment
Why we now think the myopia epidemic can be slowed – or even reversed

Health

Why we now think the myopia epidemic can be slowed – or even reversed

Features
A new life on Mars? Expect toxic dust, bad vibes and insects for lunch

Space

A new life on Mars? Expect toxic dust, bad vibes and insects for lunch

Features
2XG07H7 Harvesting machine on the verge of flames, following a period of extreme heat, a fire ravages a field of cereals, barley in the foreground and wheat i

Environment

Is the climate change food crisis even worse than we imagined?

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Corn harvest in the fields with transporter and harvester from above; Shutterstock ID 1994046068; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Environment

We must use genetic technologies now to avert the coming food crisis

Food production is responsible for more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions. To get everyone the food they need in a warming world, governments worldwide must invest in securing our food systems

Comment

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Life

Vampire bats run on a treadmill to reveal their strange metabolism

Experiments where vampire bats were made to run on a treadmill have revealed how they extract energy from protein in their latest blood meal

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Humans

Ancient Mesopotamian clay seals offer clues to the origin of writing

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Life

Marmots could have the solution to a long-running debate in evolution

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Physics

Heat can flow backwards in a gas so thin its particles never touch

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Environment

Spraying rice with sunscreen particles during heatwaves boosts growth

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Health

Cancer deaths expected to nearly double worldwide by 2050

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Technology

3D printing with light and sound could let us copy human organs

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Physics

Knots made in a weird quantum fluid can last forever

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Environment

2024 is set to be the first year that breaches the 1.5°C warming limit

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Health

More people are living with pain today than before covid emerged

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Humans

Ancient Egyptians shaped sheep's horns – and we don't know why

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Physics

Quantum Rubik's cube has infinite patterns but is still solvable

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Mind

Why hairy animals shake themselves dry

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Humans

DNA analysis rewrites the stories of people buried in Pompeii

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Space

Chinese rover finds further evidence for an ancient ocean on Mars

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Environment

Any delay in reaching net zero will influence climate for centuries

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Health

Bird flu antibodies found in dairy workers in Michigan and Colorado

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Life

Watch elephants use a hose to shower themselves – and prank others

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Life

Chimps do better at difficult tasks when they have an audience

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Technology

Audio AIs are trained on data full of bias and offensive language

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Aperture

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR Food 2021 Siberia is an innovative greenhouse where lettuce on water is being produced.

Environment

Does this high-tech lettuce hold the answer to the global food crisis?

Photographer Kadir van Lohuizen captures the food industry's attempts to meet the challenges of climate change and conflicts in his new book, Food for Thought

Regulars

Features

Why we now think the myopia epidemic can be slowed – or even reversed

Health

Why we now think the myopia epidemic can be slowed – or even reversed

Rates of near-sightedness are rising all over the world. But solutions to the epidemic are coming into focus and could be simpler than you think

Features

Environment

Is the climate change food crisis even worse than we imagined?

Features

Space

A new life on Mars? Expect toxic dust, bad vibes and insects for lunch

Features

Culture

SALAR DE ATACAMA, CHILE - AUGUST 24: A lithium mine supervisor inspects an evaporation pond of lithium-rich brine in the Atacama Desert on August 24, 2022 in Salar de Atacama, Chile. Albemarle Corporation, based in Charlotte, N.C. is expanding mining operations at their Salar Plant to meet the rising global demand for lithium carbonate, a main component in the manufacture of batteries, increasingly for electric vehicles. To extract the lithium, natural brine is pumped from under the salt flats to a series of evaporation ponds. During an 18-month process, the liquid s moved through 15 ponds, eventually turning from blue to yellow with a lithium concentration of 6 percent. It is then trucked to an Albemarle chemical plant in Antofagasta, where it is processed into battery grade lithium carbonate powder and shipped out internationally. The evaporation process produces large quantities of salt byproduct, much of which is then reprocessed and sold. Chile is the second largest global producer of lithium, after Australia. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Environment

The dilemma of mining more metals so we can ditch fossil fuels

In his new book, Power Metal, journalist Vince Beiser provides a balanced briefing on the race for the resources that will shape our technological future

Culture

Health

A personal investigation into the crisis of men's mental health

Culture

Life

51¶¯Âþ recommends Robin Wall Kimmerer's The Serviceberry

Culture

Society

Major US art event explores the bonds between art and science

Culture

More

2C6F140 Atoms and their electron clouds , Quantum mechanics and atomic structure

Physics

You can't put a price on the sense of awe particle physics inspires

Astronomy and particle physics are no longer seen as vital by the US establishment, so funding has fallen. But our work creates a sense of wonder, and wonder matters, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Comment

Space

How I learned to love looking at the moon – and you can too

Regulars

Life

To truly understand non-human grief, we need to think like the animals

Comment

BrainTwister #46: OhmWork

Regulars

Tom Gauld on budget cuts

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on how animals prepare to hibernate

Regulars

Regulars

How to take a quantum approach to finding love

How to take a quantum approach to finding love

Feedback was delighted to learn of the appearance of quantum physicist Garrett Josemans on Netflix's Love is Blind. After all, being comfortable with two opposing realities can surely help in a relationship

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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