¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

This week's magazine

22 March 2014

Issue 2961

New Scientist issue 2961 cover
Previous issue Next issue
arrow
View in the app
Check out this magazine in our easy-to-navigate mobile app
arrow
Find a previous edition online
Search through our digital archive of over 30 years of magazines

Editor's picks

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

Facing up to the limits of DNA-based forensics

Opinion
Invisible: How to see beyond sight

Space

Invisible: How to see beyond sight

Features
Invisible: What your brain refuses to see

Life

Invisible: What your brain refuses to see

Features
Invisible: How to see through lies

Life

Invisible: How to see through lies

Features
Invisible: The high-vis trick that blinds the eye

Life

Invisible: The high-vis trick that blinds the eye

Features
Invisible: Beyond the invisibility cloak

Technology

Invisible: Beyond the invisibility cloak

Features
Invisible: Tech to give you animals' amazing eyesight

Life

Invisible: Tech to give you animals' amazing eyesight

Features
Invisible: A visitors' guide to the dark web

Technology

Invisible: A visitors' guide to the dark web

Features
Metal-eating plants could mine riches through roots

Earth

Metal-eating plants could mine riches through roots

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

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.

Space

Will new physics sail on gravitational waves?

The discovery of primordial ripples in space-time is exciting. But does it really herald a new era for cosmology?

Opinion

Life

Facing up to the limits of DNA-based forensics

Opinion

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Addictive Candy Crush video game is officially hard

Physics

Addictive Candy Crush video game is officially hard

Feeling crushed Feeling guilty about the hours you've wasted on Candy Crush Saga ? Relax. A mathematical analysis of the notoriously addictive video game reveals that it belongs to a class of fiendish computational problems – and playing it might one day help solve them. Launched in 2012 , the Candy Crush Saga game draws …

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

Google Flu Trends gets it wrong three years running

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

Withering monsoon may have doomed past Asian society

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

Relaxing of rules urged for genetically modified crops

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Space

Medieval multiverse heralded modern cosmic conundrums

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Life

Your voice betrays your personality in a split second

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Health

Salt-buster drug cuts sodium absorbed from food

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Life

Alzheimer's molecules may have powered early life

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Life

'Iron Man' plants are supercharged by nanotech power

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

The robot tricks to bridge the uncanny valley

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Life

Zoologger: Baby assassin bugs lure in deadly ants

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Life

Hacked bacteria keep tabs on the health of the gut

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

Facebook almost as good as humans at recognising faces

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

Missing Malaysian jet can be found, even in deep ocean

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Space

Multiverse gets real with glimpse of big bang ripples

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Space

New York asteroid eclipse will be visible to millions

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Health

Statins could slow progression of late-stage MS

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

China vows to clear smog from its cities

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Science in controversial stem cell papers may be sound

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Health

China halves its number of TB cases in 20 years

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

60 Seconds

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Life

Genetic mugshot recreates faces from nothing but DNA

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Environment

DNA evidence points to humans for demise of moas

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

Wanted: voice donors for people who can't speak

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

One per cent

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Technology

Drone-powered HoverBall could spice up games

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Space

Salty skies signal planetary growing pains

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Earth

Biggest ever autism study probes environmental links

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ

Opinion

Why our brains work better with age

Life

Why our brains work better with age

Cognitive decline is a myth. The research behind the idea uses flawed models of how we learn in the real world

Opinion

Life

What will happen if China adopts a two-child policy?

Opinion

Technology

Roomba creator: Robot doubles need more charisma

Opinion

Aperture

Invisible: Photo of a landscape no human can ever see

Earth

Invisible: Photo of a landscape no human can ever see

(Image: Sean Lynch/Caters News) YOU are looking at a colour no one can see. If you visited these grassy fields in Nepal's Annapurna Himalayan range, as New York-based photographer Sean Lynch did, they would look bright green. Crucially, though, they also reflect near-infrared light, which lies just beyond the range our eyes can sense. The …

Regulars

Features

Invisible: How to see beyond sight

Space

Invisible: How to see beyond sight

We can't see most of the universe with the naked eye, but we've come up with some incredible inventions to bring things into view THE naked eye is not a reliable guide to the world. If you believed your eyes, you might conclude that the head louse is pretty much the smallest thing in existence. …

Features

Life

Invisible: What your brain refuses to see

Features

Life

Invisible: How to see through lies

Features

Life

Invisible: The high-vis trick that blinds the eye

Features

Technology

Invisible: Beyond the invisibility cloak

Features

Life

Invisible: Tech to give you animals' amazing eyesight

Features

Technology

Invisible: A visitors' guide to the dark web

Features

Earth

Metal-eating plants could mine riches through roots

Features

Culturelab

A wild ride through the ocean's strangest creatures

Life

A wild ride through the ocean's strangest creatures

Extreme hunger: a fang tooth chases an abyssal hatchet fish (Image: Norbert Wu/Minden Pictures) From the immortal jellyfish to death-defying icefish, it's a safari out there in the ocean, say Stephen and Anthony Palumbi in The Extreme Life of the Sea IF YOU have ever woken up way too hot under a thick duvet, but …

CultureLab

Mind

The best parents don't try to score top marks

CultureLab

Regulars

Feedback: Attend to their sugared words

Feedback: Attend to their sugared words

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more Attend to their sugared words FOOD, treacherous food! On 5 March the World Health Organization recommended we halve the amount of sugar in our diets. When we saw this, we remembered a prominent report in The Guardian newspaper the day …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

Browse past issues

View all
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop