Issue 2105 | Magazine cover date: 25 October 1997

This week's magazine

25 October 1997

Issue 2105

Previous issue Next issue

On the cover

Features

Highs and lows – Heroin really screws up your immune

��è��Ƶ

In Brief : Mating frenzy

Opinion

Editorial : The means to an end – Alternatives to animal experiments are possible, but governments must pay

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.

Highs and lows – Heroin really screws up your immune

Features

The future's bright – The processing power of silicon chips and the

Features

The thrill of the spill – There's more to coffee stains than meets

Features

The unselfish gene

Features

��è��Ƶ

In Brief : Mating frenzy

THE synchronous rhythms of chorusing frogs and crickets are the result of frenzied competition to find mates, according to scientists at the University of Kansas. Animals that call to attract a mate risk catching the attention of predators, so scientists had assumed they sing in unison to make each less likely to become a meal. …

��è��Ƶ

In Brief : Mammoth graveyard

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶwire : Rabies foxed

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶwire : Slingshot to Saturn

��è��Ƶ

In Brief : Red hot chilli peppers

��è��Ƶ

In Brief : Walk like a . . .

��è��Ƶ

In Brief : Cancer switch

��è��Ƶ

Netropolitan :

��è��Ƶ

His and hers

��è��Ƶ

Dodgy brakes – Global Surveyor's orbital manoeuvre has hit a snag

��è��Ƶ

Silent slaughter – Thousands of lab animals die without trace

��è��Ƶ

Russia's secrets and spies

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶwire : Bald patch

��è��Ƶ

Netropolitan : Crises and cover-ups

��è��Ƶ

Not dead, just surfing – Your Web site can live on after you've gone

��è��Ƶ

Headphones hit the right wavelength

��è��Ƶ

In sickness and in health – Gene therapy could revolutionise medicine,

��è��Ƶ

You're listening to Radio Whale...

��è��Ƶ

Energy explorers strike gold – Essential enzymes have earned their

��è��Ƶ

Just cool it – Atom-chillers win the ultimate accolade

��è��Ƶ

Technofile : Safe to talk?

��è��Ƶ

Technofile : Breathe again

��è��Ƶ

Technofile : Radio shield

��è��Ƶ

Technofile : Stopped dead

��è��Ƶ

Rebel with a cause? – A powerful mini-quasar is perplexing astronomers

��è��Ƶ

Radio head – The brain has its own FM receiver

��è��Ƶ

Keep it short

��è��Ƶ

Running on parallel lines – Nanolab could create hundreds of compounds

��è��Ƶ

Dinos branch out

��è��Ƶ

A tale of six cities – Humble bugs have helped conquer a notorious

��è��Ƶ

Ahead by a whisker – When it comes to being in two minds, rats and

��è��Ƶ

Manmade molecule takes an odd direction

��è��Ƶ

Sharpen the harpoons – Norway and Japan may soon get the green light

��è��Ƶ

Devil in the diesel – Lorries belch out what may be the most

��è��Ƶ

Reef wreckers – The world's coral has been stripped of life

��è��Ƶ

Orgies alter the brain

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶwire : Dead on arrival

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶwire : Asteroid spared

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶwire : Journal protest

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶwire : CJD hazard

��è��Ƶ

Chip with a built-in bug – Wiring a beetle to a microcircuit gives early

��è��Ƶ

Wool comes up to scratch – Big stretch makes plain old worsted feel

��è��Ƶ

Fungus gets the brush-off

��è��Ƶ

Patents : Speak up

��è��Ƶ

Patents : Wet behind the ears

��è��Ƶ

Patents : Double take

��è��Ƶ

Opinion

Editorial : The means to an end – Alternatives to animal experiments are possible, but governments must pay

IT IS every scientist's responsibility to avoid the unnecessary use of animals in experiments—there is nothing contentious about that. Governments everywhere generally support that view and reams of legislation seek to protect animals. But while there is broad agreement on ethical issues, there remain huge questions for scientists on the extent to which animals could …

Opinion

Features

Highs and lows – Heroin really screws up your immune

NEXT time you drink up or if you're crazy enough to spliff up or shoot up, be prepared for some unwelcome bodily changes. And we're not talking constipation, freaky hallucinations, or the midnight munchies here. Evidence is mounting that certain illicit and recreational drugs like heroin, alcohol and marijuana subvert the body's natural defence mechanisms, …

Features

The future's bright – The processing power of silicon chips and the

Features

The thrill of the spill – There's more to coffee stains than meets

Features

The unselfish gene

Features

Review : Collected works – Elizabeth Sourbut travels far and wide with

LOCATION, characters and technology are all important aspects of any science fiction novel. Occasionally the three are held in a tidy dynamic balance, but it's a hard thing to do well. Bart Kosko veers too far towards technology. He is better known for nonfiction writing, and in Nanotime (Avon, $24, ISBN 0380974665) he pays little …

Books & Arts

Bestsellers : from Oxford

Books & Arts

Forum : A graceful old age – Don't throw the newt out with the

Forum

Forum : Indonesia aflame – The tragic cycle of disaster can only be

Forum

Australasian : Worldwide Webb at work – Bob Johnstone explores efforts

Forum

Forum : Washington diary – Andreas Frew reports from the heady

Forum

Review : Where does awareness dawn?

Books & Arts

Review : Holy scientificness

Books & Arts

Review : Sick of the future

Books & Arts

Review : Feeling peckish

Books & Arts

Review : Isaac the torturer

Books & Arts

Review : Secret history

Books & Arts

Review : A smashing time had by all

Books & Arts

Review : Fear of Mars and of his creatures

Books & Arts

Regulars

Feedback

WHAT DOES the word "safety" mean to the younger generation? The Green Cross Code man, perhaps, who ensures that children cross roads safely? Apparently not. Michael Francis's 11-year-old son had his first laboratory lesson at the beginning of this autumn term. The class was shown a video, Safety in the Laboratory, which emphasised the importance …

Regulars

��è����Ƶ

This week's magazine

25 October 1997

On the cover

Highs and lows – Heroin really screws up your immune

The future's bright – The processing power of silicon chips and the

The thrill of the spill – There's more to coffee stains than meets

The unselfish gene

Table of contents

��è����Ƶ

In Brief : Mating frenzy

In Brief : Mammoth graveyard

��è����Ƶwire : Rabies foxed

��è����Ƶwire : Slingshot to Saturn

In Brief : Red hot chilli peppers

In Brief : Walk like a . . .

In Brief : Cancer switch

Netropolitan :

His and hers

Dodgy brakes – Global Surveyor's orbital manoeuvre has hit a snag

Silent slaughter – Thousands of lab animals die without trace

Russia's secrets and spies

��è����Ƶwire : Bald patch

Netropolitan : Crises and cover-ups

Not dead, just surfing – Your Web site can live on after you've gone

Headphones hit the right wavelength

In sickness and in health – Gene therapy could revolutionise medicine,

You're listening to Radio Whale...

Energy explorers strike gold – Essential enzymes have earned their

Just cool it – Atom-chillers win the ultimate accolade

Technofile : Safe to talk?

Technofile : Breathe again

Technofile : Radio shield

Technofile : Stopped dead

Rebel with a cause? – A powerful mini-quasar is perplexing astronomers

Radio head – The brain has its own FM receiver

Keep it short

Running on parallel lines – Nanolab could create hundreds of compounds

Dinos branch out

A tale of six cities – Humble bugs have helped conquer a notorious

Ahead by a whisker – When it comes to being in two minds, rats and

Manmade molecule takes an odd direction

Sharpen the harpoons – Norway and Japan may soon get the green light

Devil in the diesel – Lorries belch out what may be the most

Reef wreckers – The world's coral has been stripped of life

Orgies alter the brain

��è����Ƶwire : Dead on arrival

��è����Ƶwire : Asteroid spared

��è����Ƶwire : Journal protest

��è����Ƶwire : CJD hazard

Chip with a built-in bug – Wiring a beetle to a microcircuit gives early

Wool comes up to scratch – Big stretch makes plain old worsted feel

Fungus gets the brush-off

Patents : Speak up

Patents : Wet behind the ears

Patents : Double take

Opinion

Editorial : The means to an end – Alternatives to animal experiments are possible, but governments must pay

Features

Highs and lows – Heroin really screws up your immune

The future's bright – The processing power of silicon chips and the

The thrill of the spill – There's more to coffee stains than meets

The unselfish gene

More

Review : Collected works – Elizabeth Sourbut travels far and wide with

Bestsellers : from Oxford

Forum : A graceful old age – Don't throw the newt out with the

Forum : Indonesia aflame – The tragic cycle of disaster can only be

Australasian : Worldwide Webb at work – Bob Johnstone explores efforts

Forum : Washington diary – Andreas Frew reports from the heady

Review : Where does awareness dawn?

Review : Holy scientificness

Review : Sick of the future

Review : Feeling peckish

Review : Isaac the torturer

Review : Secret history

Review : A smashing time had by all

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶwire : Rabies foxed

��è��Ƶwire : Slingshot to Saturn

��è��Ƶwire : Bald patch

��è��Ƶwire : Dead on arrival

��è��Ƶwire : Asteroid spared

��è��Ƶwire : Journal protest

��è��Ƶwire : CJD hazard