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This week's magazine

9 July 2011

Issue 2820

New Scientist issue 2820 cover
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Editor's picks

Ethane lakes in a red haze: Titan's uncanny moonscape

Space

Ethane lakes in a red haze: Titan's uncanny moonscape

Features
Vital giants: Why living seas need whales

Life

Vital giants: Why living seas need whales

Features
Lab brats: Eight great scoundrels of science

Lab brats: Eight great scoundrels of science

Features
Battle of the Chaco: Who will win the wilderness?

Earth

Battle of the Chaco: Who will win the wilderness?

Features

Table of contents

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Rubik's cubes of any size can now be solved

Physics

Rubik's cubes of any size can now be solved

Every single one cracked This is where things get difficult Only the most hardcore puzzle-solvers ever go beyond the standard 3x3x3 Rubik's cube, attempting much larger ones such as those pictured on the right. Now an algorithm has been developed that can solve a Rubik's cube of any size. It might offer clues to humans …

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Life

Beetles beat us to the screw and nut

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Life

Sleeping babies can hear you're upset

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

Aircraft punch 50-kilometre-wide holes in clouds

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

Vast reserves of vital rare earths found in ocean bed

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

La Niña behind worst African drought in 60 years

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Why global temperatures held steady for 10 years

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Health

Environment plays a big part in autism

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

South Korea's pupils to go paperless by 2015

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

60 Seconds

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Space

Farewell, shuttle: Now the space race takes off again

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

Thousands of gas leaks under Boston and San Francisco

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Studies link HIV to early dementia

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Compulsory medication muddies gunman trial issue

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Space

Distant light hints at size of space-time grains

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Space

Tevatron particles shed light on antimatter mystery

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Health

Natural antioxidants could scupper tumour's detox

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Life

1.5 million sexless years no good for stick insects

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Miniature 'knot lab' could help untangle DNA mystery

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

Mischief and fraud in the crowdsourced workforce

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

One Per Cent

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

Online clothes shopping gets the human touch

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

Wave-power ships could bring cheaper clean electricity

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Mind

Danish firm stops supplying US death penalty drug

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

Volcanic eruption 'overdue' in Australia

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Health

Brain cells made from skin could treat Parkinson's

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

Germany will use fossil fuels to plug nuclear gap

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Opinion

Exclusive first interview with key LulzSec hacker

Technology

Exclusive first interview with key LulzSec hacker

A screen grab of the PBS website, showing how it looked following LulzSec's hack-attack Update: We now know that when "Sabu" – real name Hector Xavier Monsegur – gave the interview below to ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ , he was cooperating with the FBI to gather intelligence on Anonymous activities. Read more: " Was our interview with …

Opinion

Life

Psychologist: Why we screw up when the heat is on

Opinion

The next space race

Opinion

Environment

The importance of rebranding ecosystems

Opinion

In praise of the mavericks

Opinion

Aperture

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.

Free-diving Indian Ocean nomads under threat

See more: To see the image this article refers to, keep checking Picture of the Day on our news blog Short Sharp Science THE Bajau Laut , or Bajo, are marine nomads thought to come from the Philippines, who for centuries have lived out their lives almost entirely at sea. In dugout canoes known as …

Regulars

Features

Ethane lakes in a red haze: Titan's uncanny moonscape

Space

Ethane lakes in a red haze: Titan's uncanny moonscape

Titan's atmosphere gives rise to clouds and complex weather See more: " Weather round-up for the solar system " Skies like a bad day in LA, red-and-black rainbows, Mississippi-style river channels – Saturn's largest moon is our prototype weird-world exoplanet SUMMERTIME is on its way. A thick smog hangs in the air. Storms are on …

Features

Life

Vital giants: Why living seas need whales

Features

Lab brats: Eight great scoundrels of science

Features

Earth

Battle of the Chaco: Who will win the wilderness?

Features

Culturelab

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.

From war to hyperreal art

A new video installation by John Gerrard uses top-quality motion-capture graphics to present a soldier eternally training in the Iranian desert WHEN artist John Gerrard set out to create real-time virtual worlds, he and his team evaluated the top video games – and found them lacking. "Movement was crap, basically," Gerrard says. "Even the very …

CultureLab

Perils of baby sex preference

CultureLab

Luck in Google's early days

CultureLab

Stealing moon rocks from NASA

CultureLab

Life in the tangled Everglades

CultureLab

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.

Enigma Number 1654

Tricky cards Shown right are two of the cards Joe asked Penny to make for him. Joe specified four colours (A, B, C and D) and Penny could choose any one of them for any of the four areas. Penny had only made a few cards when she turned one round and noticed that it …

Regulars

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.

Feedback: Rhubarb, invisible rhubarb

Rhubarb, invisible rhubarb THE "Wakefield triangle" – in which Paul Barker's attempts to get a wireless connection on the train produced the warning "No map contains our current position" – is not as "unexpected" as we thought (11 June) . The box of carpet cleaner that Sara Davies ordered online arrived sternly labelled "Multi-item set …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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