Issue 3063 | Magazine cover date: 5 March 2016

This week's magazine

5 March 2016

Issue 3063

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On the cover

Features

Cancer’s penicillin moment: Drugs that unleash the immune system

Bigger than the Higgs, bigger even than gravitational waves...

Microbe CSI: How to read the air for clues at crime scenes

Opinion

I’m creating telepathy technology to get brains talking

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Technology

Encryption war between Apple and the FBI will affect us all

Opinion

Health

Cancer’s penicillin moment: Drugs that unleash the immune system

Features

Physics

Bigger than the Higgs, bigger even than gravitational waves...

Features

Life

Microbe CSI: How to read the air for clues at crime scenes

Features

Leaders

Humans

Will tracking people via clouds of microbes stand up in court?

A new technique that could tie people to crime scenes by assessing trails of microbes needs to be treated with care by the legal system

Opinion

Technology

Encryption war between Apple and the FBI will affect us all

Opinion

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Space

Planet Nine hunters enlist big bang telescopes and Saturn probe

Are you out there? The fate of an entire world is at stake. Astronomers are enlisting every telescope and space probe they can think of in the hunt for the solar system's potential ninth planet, and some unlikely sources may be key to tracking it down. Last month, Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown at the …

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Life

Wild gorillas compose happy songs that they hum during meals

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Life

Gentler attack on cancer may mean we can live with it for longer

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Physics

When will the universe end? Not for at least 2.8 billion years

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Life

Artificial tail-less sperm is the best test-tube sex cell yet

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Life

Male sand martin birds filmed having sex with a dead male

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Life

Bromance helps stressed out warring chimps keep their cool

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Life

Glow-in-the-dark bacterial lights could illuminate shop windows

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Life

Squid filmed using their ink clouds as smokescreen to catch prey

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Earth

First life may have been forged in icy seas on a freezing Earth

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Technology

People will follow a robot in an emergency – even if it’s wrong

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Space

Volcanic mount spun Mars around and rearranged its rivers

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Life

Whale algorithm could unlock secrets of their many dialects

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Life

Animal invaders on Europe's kill list are set to be wiped out

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Life

Super-fast evolving fish splitting into two species in same lake

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Health

Zika virus likely to cause paralysing Guillain-Barré syndrome

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Technology

Building aircraft in augmented reality is quicker and safer

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Technology

One Per Cent

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Earth

China set to surpass its climate targets as renewables soar

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Space

Cosmic radio blast result called into question within days

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Technology

New UK Snooper's charter still gives state wide hacking powers

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Health

US Supreme Court to hear case on restrictive Texas abortion law

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Space

Twin who spent a year on the ISS returns to Earth

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Earth

60 Seconds

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Space

Ageing Milky Way stopped making stars before it ran out of gas

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Space

Summer on Titan may make its lakes ripple with waves

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Health

Anti-inflammatory drugs can fix some signs of depression in mice

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Opinion

Health

Doctors must be ready to defy harmful asylum laws

Protestors gather in Australia over government's stance on asylum seekers Australia's hard-line stance on asylum seekers is well-known and admired by many right-wing politicians in Europe, where a refugee crisis has seen many drown fleeing Syria, Iraq and Libya by boat. Features of Australian government policy designed to "stop the boats" include mandatory and indefinite …

Opinion

Humans

I’m creating telepathy technology to get brains talking

Opinion

Humans

Garry Kasparov weighs up AI challenge to world's best Go player

Opinion

Analysis

Earth

Facebook can map more of Earth in a week than we have in history

Building mega-maps We just learned that Facebook’s artificial-intelligence software can probably map more in a week than humanity has mapped over our entire history. In a blog post, the social network announced that its AI system took two weeks to build a map that covers 4 per cent of our planet. That’s 14 per cent …

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Aperture

Life

Mass of spawning fish make a milky way on a coral reef

IT'S a game of life. A mass of fish dart in and out of a cloud of sperm and eggs off the island of Palau in the western Pacific, creating the next generation. "The existence of red snapper spawning aggregations in Palau has been known for some time, so I wondered why there weren't many …

Regulars

Features

Health

Cancer’s penicillin moment: Drugs that unleash the immune system

The new drugs that saved Jimmy Carter are giving years of extra life to people with bleak prognoses. Have checkpoint inhibitors turned the tables on cancer?

Features

Physics

Bigger than the Higgs, bigger even than gravitational waves...

Features

Life

Microbe CSI: How to read the air for clues at crime scenes

Features

Culturelab

Health

Visible thoughts at the fringes of consciousness

For centuries, people have tried to picture thought, as a new exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London shows. Now that we can, are we any better off?

CultureLab

Humans

The Persuaders: How we let the PR industry control our minds

CultureLab

Europe unveils bolder plan to combat wildlife crime

Four years in the slammer. That’s what those found guilty of wildlife crime could face if a European plan to combat illegal trade in animal parts is approved. Conservation groups welcomed the proposals , unveiled on 26 February by the European Commission. “A key element in the plan is the recognition of wildlife trafficking as a serious …

Regulars

Physics

Feedback: Quantum theory and the science of queueing

Loose screws and the uncertainty principle, one weird travel trick to drop a dress size, Sting sings to wine barrels, and more

Regulars

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This week's magazine

5 March 2016

On the cover

Technology

Encryption war between Apple and the FBI will affect us all

Health

Cancer’s penicillin moment: Drugs that unleash the immune system

Physics

Bigger than the Higgs, bigger even than gravitational waves...

Life

Microbe CSI: How to read the air for clues at crime scenes

Table of contents

Leaders

Humans

Will tracking people via clouds of microbes stand up in court?

Technology

Encryption war between Apple and the FBI will affect us all

��è����Ƶ

Space

Planet Nine hunters enlist big bang telescopes and Saturn probe

Life

Wild gorillas compose happy songs that they hum during meals

Life

Gentler attack on cancer may mean we can live with it for longer

Physics

When will the universe end? Not for at least 2.8 billion years

Life

Artificial tail-less sperm is the best test-tube sex cell yet

Life

Male sand martin birds filmed having sex with a dead male

Life

Bromance helps stressed out warring chimps keep their cool

Life

Glow-in-the-dark bacterial lights could illuminate shop windows

Life

Squid filmed using their ink clouds as smokescreen to catch prey

Earth

First life may have been forged in icy seas on a freezing Earth

Technology

People will follow a robot in an emergency – even if it’s wrong

Space

Volcanic mount spun Mars around and rearranged its rivers

Life

Whale algorithm could unlock secrets of their many dialects

Life

Animal invaders on Europe's kill list are set to be wiped out

Life

Super-fast evolving fish splitting into two species in same lake

Health

Zika virus likely to cause paralysing Guillain-Barré syndrome

Technology

Building aircraft in augmented reality is quicker and safer

Technology

One Per Cent

Earth

China set to surpass its climate targets as renewables soar

Space

Cosmic radio blast result called into question within days

Technology

New UK Snooper's charter still gives state wide hacking powers

Health

US Supreme Court to hear case on restrictive Texas abortion law

Space

Twin who spent a year on the ISS returns to Earth

Earth

60 Seconds

Space

Ageing Milky Way stopped making stars before it ran out of gas

Space

Summer on Titan may make its lakes ripple with waves

Health

Anti-inflammatory drugs can fix some signs of depression in mice

Opinion

Health

Doctors must be ready to defy harmful asylum laws

Humans

I’m creating telepathy technology to get brains talking

Humans

Garry Kasparov weighs up AI challenge to world's best Go player

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