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This week's magazine

20 May 2000

Issue 2239

New Scientist issue 2239 cover

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On the cover

Fired up

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Chain reaction

Opinion

Vital signs

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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

Fired up

Features

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.

Collision course

Features

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.

Entangled Web

Features

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.

Cosmic anarchists

Features

Table of contents

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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.

Chain reaction

RADIOACTIVE food and jewellery from homes near the Tokaimura nuclear plant in Japan are revealing the impact of the accident there last year. Local people were exposed to radiation levels up to 30 times safety limits because they were not evacuated until five hours after the accident occurred, say Japanese scientists. The first independent studies …

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Mind the gaps

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Q & A

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Beg, steal or borrow

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Lights, camera, action!

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Health and happiness…

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…or doom and gloom?

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Life

They were big enough to go travelling

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Stirring stuff

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On guard

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Light touch

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Is your phone infected?

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Technology

All rolled up

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Technology

Here we go again . . .

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Technology

Body moves

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Personal touch

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Ready, steady rescue

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Foster mother who got it wrong

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Organ saviour

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Albert's return

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Pressure putt

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Middle-aged stars

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Bad choice

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The genome has landed

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Your genes in their hands

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Reduced to ashes

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Bargain basement

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Crude exploitation

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Dead in the water

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Lethal injection

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Opinion

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.

Vital signs

ANTHRAX and heroin. Could there be a more sensational mix of modern-day nightmares? Yet there really are anthrax spores in some heroin in Norway. They have killed at least one man and could be to blame for the worst year the country's seen for deaths among addicts. Anthrax may also be killing Scottish drug users …

Opinion

The annual Budget blues

Opinion

Humans

Westminster Diary

Opinion

More sinned against . . .

Opinion

Bad behaviour

Opinion

Where is Moby squid?

Opinion

It's only just begun

Opinion

Features

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

Fired up

EVER watched a bunch of city slickers trying to light a campfire? Dancing around a tottering pile of wood with spluttering matches and singed fingers. Huffing and puffing to turn a faint glow into a proper flame. Filling the air with curses and eventually, perhaps, choking clouds of smoke. Humans are adept at many things. …

Features

Collision course

Features

Entangled Web

Features

Cosmic anarchists

Features

More

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.

Ocean circulation

"How inappropriate," wrote Arthur C. Clarke, "to call this planet Earth when clearly it's Ocean. " It's hard to argue with that. Viewed from space, our planet looks predominantly blue because the oceans cover 71 per cent of the surface. We wouldn't be here if it were otherwise. The world's seas act as enormous storage …

Inside Science

Kill or cure

Books & Arts

Maggot time

Books & Arts

Wild things

Books & Arts

Aping it

Books & Arts

Prize reads

Books & Arts

Regulars

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.

The Last Word

Stresses and strains Question : I have heard that during flight Concorde expands by a few centimetres in length because of the heat generated by friction as it passes through the atmosphere at high speeds. This must surely put great strain on its superstructure. What design features were incorporated to compensate for this expansion? Answer …

Regulars

Feedback

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word