Issue 2020 | Magazine cover date: 9 March 1996

This week's magazine

9 March 1996

Issue 2020

On the cover

Features

Thought Control: Machines can already tune into brain waves to bypass damaged nerves, and the day is coming when they may even plug into the brain itself

��è��Ƶ

ENIGMA: Infinite fours

Opinion

The year of the pig?

View in the app

Check out this magazine in our easy-to-navigate mobile app

Find a previous edition online

Search through our digital archive of over 30 years of magazines

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.

Thought Control: Machines can already tune into brain waves to bypass damaged nerves, and the day is coming when they may even plug into the brain itself

Features

Taking arms against the knife: Wielded by a fit adult, an ordinary knife has

Features

Simply Faster: The formula that has given us ever more powerful chips will not work for very much longer, and chip makers are puzzling over what to do next

Features

Racked with Pain

Features

��è��Ƶ

ENIGMA: Infinite fours

A GROUP of friends stand in line, each holding a number written on a card. Alan's number is the square root of one more than the number that Brian holds. Brian's number is the square root of four more than Colin's number. Colin's number is the square root of 16 more than Dave's number. Dave's …

��è��Ƶ

Technology

DNA bait lures genes out of hiding

��è��Ƶ

Technology

The great attraction of atomic spin

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Dervish dances through killing fields

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Credit card forgers under pressure

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Couch potatoes turn mastermind

��è��Ƶ

Enigmatic Chiron goes to sleep in the Sun

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Dipstick spots disease in minutes

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Netropolitan

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Ceramic takes the heat for clean fuel

��è��Ƶ

Universal protein may solve the riddle of twisted joints

��è��Ƶ

A marriage built on rock

��è��Ƶ

Fish nose ahead of humans in greedy brain stakes

��è��Ƶ

Doctor, there's a fly in my genome

��è��Ƶ

Some of our quasars are no longer missing

��è��Ƶ

Suicidal nerves recover will to live

��è��Ƶ

Mums' willpower

��è��Ƶ

The shooting party takes aim: Landowners are pushing for a licence to kill protected birds of prey because they eat grouse. Although there is little evidence that the grouse are seriously harmed, the landowners have powerful friends

��è��Ƶ

Female cancer toll

��è��Ƶ

Modem farming

��è��Ƶ

Body-hugging holograms measure up

��è��Ƶ

Space ambitions

��è��Ƶ

Toothfish pirates

��è��Ƶ

Industry cash backs Foresight

��è��Ƶ

Hunters set their sights on Norway's lynx

��è��Ƶ

Fighting for life in the Death Strip

��è��Ƶ

Net porn law faces `free speech' test

��è��Ƶ

Antarctic bases lose midwinter lifeline

��è��Ƶ

Pioneering rainforest project starves to death

��è��Ƶ

Live genes need warning labels

��è��Ƶ

Does old moss tell tale of distant Antarctic summers?

��è��Ƶ

Behaviour pills flood US schools

��è��Ƶ

Klan falls foul of air police

��è��Ƶ

Nuclear treaty flounders as Asia steps up demands

��è��Ƶ

Cleaned birds `unlikely to survive' in the wild

��è��Ƶ

Save our soil for future generations

��è��Ƶ

Pig transplants win ethical backing

��è��Ƶ

Opinion

The year of the pig?

THE pace of research into animal-to-human transplants is quickening. Over the past thirty years, occasional attempts have been made to transfer kidneys, livers, hearts, bone marrow and brain tissue into humans from a menagerie including sheep, pigs, chimps and baboons. None of these "xenotransplants" has succeeded so far, but recent advances in genetically engineering animals …

Opinion

Get to know your tomato

Opinion

Features

Thought Control: Machines can already tune into brain waves to bypass damaged nerves, and the day is coming when they may even plug into the brain itself

IN the latest thriller to hit British screens, Keanu Reeves plays a man with a digital memory built into his brain. Using a neuroconnection in the back of his head, the eponymous hero, Johnny Mnemonic can plug into any computer and store or download data. With this memory upgrade, his brain acts like the hard …

Features

Taking arms against the knife: Wielded by a fit adult, an ordinary knife has

Features

Simply Faster: The formula that has given us ever more powerful chips will not work for very much longer, and chip makers are puzzling over what to do next

Features

Racked with Pain

Features

Dispensing justice the American way

SHOULD I ever be in a position to rewrite the rules for getting a PhD in science, I'll have every student do jury duty. They should realise early in their careers that the vast majority of people do not communicate using chalk. When I was called up for jury duty, I assumed that I would …

Forum

Time to leave the stones unturned: Comment from Westminster

Forum

Where have all the people gone?: The UN's demographic projections are predictably wrong

Forum

Bestsellers from Sydney

Books & Arts

Electric times

Books & Arts

Birds on film

Books & Arts

After Maggie

Books & Arts

Technology

A woman of substance: Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics

Books & Arts

Collected works: Recommends an open mind on medicine

Books & Arts

Wiped out

Books & Arts

Fossils were her

Books & Arts

Theatrical proof

Books & Arts

Whatever the weather: Braving the Elements: The Stormy History of American Weather by David Laskin, Doubleday, $23.95, ISBN 0 385 46955 1 Weird Weather by Paul Simons, Little, Brown, £15.99, ISBN 0 316 87703 4

Books & Arts

Uninventing the bomb

Books & Arts

Powerhouses of the cosmos: Gravity's Fatal Attraction by Mitchell Begelman and Martin Rees, W.H. Freeman, £19.95/$32.95, ISBN 0 7167 5074 0

Books & Arts

Regulars

Feedback

DAVID Elstein, director of programining at Rupert Murdoch's Sky satellite station, has been telling industry conferences for at least a year now how Sky will soon use digital technology to transmit several dozen extra TV channels. Satellite operator Astra is already launching new digital satellites. Manufacturers including Murdoch's own company Digi-Media Vision are building the …

Regulars

��è����Ƶ

This week's magazine

9 March 1996

On the cover

Thought Control: Machines can already tune into brain waves to bypass damaged nerves, and the day is coming when they may even plug into the brain itself

Taking arms against the knife: Wielded by a fit adult, an ordinary knife has

Simply Faster: The formula that has given us ever more powerful chips will not work for very much longer, and chip makers are puzzling over what to do next

Racked with Pain

Table of contents

��è����Ƶ

ENIGMA: Infinite fours

Technology

DNA bait lures genes out of hiding

Technology

The great attraction of atomic spin

Technology

Dervish dances through killing fields

Technology

Credit card forgers under pressure

Technology

Couch potatoes turn mastermind

Enigmatic Chiron goes to sleep in the Sun

Technology

Dipstick spots disease in minutes

Technology

Netropolitan

Technology

Ceramic takes the heat for clean fuel

Universal protein may solve the riddle of twisted joints

A marriage built on rock

Fish nose ahead of humans in greedy brain stakes

Doctor, there's a fly in my genome

Some of our quasars are no longer missing

Suicidal nerves recover will to live

Mums' willpower

The shooting party takes aim: Landowners are pushing for a licence to kill protected birds of prey because they eat grouse. Although there is little evidence that the grouse are seriously harmed, the landowners have powerful friends

Female cancer toll

Modem farming

Body-hugging holograms measure up

Space ambitions

Toothfish pirates

Industry cash backs Foresight

Hunters set their sights on Norway's lynx

Fighting for life in the Death Strip

Net porn law faces `free speech' test

Antarctic bases lose midwinter lifeline

Pioneering rainforest project starves to death

Live genes need warning labels

Does old moss tell tale of distant Antarctic summers?

Behaviour pills flood US schools

Klan falls foul of air police

Nuclear treaty flounders as Asia steps up demands

Cleaned birds `unlikely to survive' in the wild

Save our soil for future generations

Pig transplants win ethical backing

Opinion

The year of the pig?

Get to know your tomato

Features

Thought Control: Machines can already tune into brain waves to bypass damaged nerves, and the day is coming when they may even plug into the brain itself

Taking arms against the knife: Wielded by a fit adult, an ordinary knife has

Simply Faster: The formula that has given us ever more powerful chips will not work for very much longer, and chip makers are puzzling over what to do next

Racked with Pain

More

Dispensing justice the American way

Time to leave the stones unturned: Comment from Westminster

Where have all the people gone?: The UN's demographic projections are predictably wrong

Bestsellers from Sydney

Electric times

Birds on film

After Maggie

Technology

A woman of substance: Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics

Collected works: Recommends an open mind on medicine

Wiped out

Fossils were her

Theatrical proof

Whatever the weather: Braving the Elements: The Stormy History of American Weather by David Laskin, Doubleday, $23.95, ISBN 0 385 46955 1 Weird Weather by Paul Simons, Little, Brown, £15.99, ISBN 0 316 87703 4

Uninventing the bomb

Powerhouses of the cosmos: Gravity's Fatal Attraction by Mitchell Begelman and Martin Rees, W.H. Freeman, £19.95/$32.95, ISBN 0 7167 5074 0

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶ