Issue 3181 | Magazine cover date: 9 June 2018

This week's magazine

9 June 2018

Issue 3181

Previous issue Next issue

On the cover

Culture

Enjoy a season of science with our 2018 UK festival picks

Features

Finally we can power the planet on renewables alone – here's how

Bees aren't just smart, they're sensitive too

What makes a white nationalist?

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

Health

Party drugs are here to stay, but they don't have to be killers

��è��Ƶ

Humans

To combat white nationalist extremism, first understand it

��è��Ƶ

Earth

Finally we can power the planet on renewables alone – here's how

Features

Life

Bees aren't just smart, they're sensitive too

Features

Life

What makes a white nationalist?

Features

Leaders

Earth

A renewables revolution is afoot – but who will benefit?

Donald Trump's commitment to coal is short-sighted and wrong-headed. A 100 per cent renewable future is coming – and other countries will reap the rewards

��è��Ƶ

Humans

To combat white nationalist extremism, first understand it

��è��Ƶ

Humans

Wish you had perfect pitch? You may be able to learn it

Music lessons during childhood help absolute pitch Mozart and Beethoven are both said to have had it. The same is said of Mariah Carey. Now a study suggests that some adults may be able to learn perfect pitch in just a few weeks of training. Many musicians can identify notes in relation to a reference note. …

��è��Ƶ

Life

Pigeons can understand probabilities - just like primates can

��è��Ƶ

Health

Drugs that help our cells tidy up might extend lifespan

��è��Ƶ

Technology

There is only one anti-shark tool for surfers that seems to work

��è��Ƶ

Life

��è��Ƶs turned a car into a giant flytrap to count insects

��è��Ƶ

Life

Some scorpions can hiss by rubbing themselves with ‘sandpaper’

��è��Ƶ

Humans

People with big brains have a different brain structure too

��è��Ƶ

Humans

The dreams you forget are the most important for learning

��è��Ƶ

Space

Methane ice and winds on Pluto make strange 'sand' dunes

��è��Ƶ

Physics

Bent bird feathers repair themselves when soaked in water

��è��Ƶ

Humans

The gene that led to the human intelligence boom has been found

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Can an app tell if you have dementia years before your doctor?

��è��Ƶ

Vultures that feed on rubbish dumps are making themselves sick

��è��Ƶ

Health

We’re beginning to understand how some people can control HIV

��è��Ƶ

Space

Ripples in Saturn’s rings unravel mystery of how fast it spins

��è��Ƶ

Space

Ultrahot planets bust up molecules then rebuild them into clouds

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Anti-swearing AI takes the edge off abuse on Reddit and Twitter

��è��Ƶ

Earth

Guatemala volcano kills 75 as ash buries entire villages

��è��Ƶ

Humans

Mystery of why Stone Age villagers spent so much time underwater

��è��Ƶ

Health

Woman survives metastatic breast cancer thanks to new treatment

��è��Ƶ

Physics

Quantum computers are weirder and more powerful than we thought

��è��Ƶ

Space

A day used to be less than 19 hours long 1.4 billion years ago

��è��Ƶ

Space

Two meteors in two days lit up the sky in China and Botswana

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Apple's new app is designed to help you use their tech less

��è��Ƶ

Deadly Nipah outbreak seems to have been contained in India

��è��Ƶ

Analysis

Space

I'm working on a universal language to let us speak to aliens

It's time to find a new way to speak across the stars, says Douglas Vakoch, head of METI, the body dedicated to messaging possible alien civilisations

��è��Ƶ

Health

There's no such thing as a 'detox' – so let's ban the word

��è��Ƶ

Health

US 'right to try' drugs law could hurt terminally ill people

��è��Ƶ

Health

Party drugs are here to stay, but they don't have to be killers

��è��Ƶ

Aperture

Space

See a cosmic spider caught spinning up brand new stars

The cosmic spider looms Arachnophobes, look away now. This is the sharpest ever picture taken of the Tarantula Nebula, a vast cloud of hydrogen gas around 160,000 light-years away. The Tarantula is more than 1000 light years across and dwells within the Large Magellanic Cloud , a dwarf galaxy that is a satellite of our …

Regulars

Features

Earth

Finally we can power the planet on renewables alone – here's how

Ditching fossil fuels to go 100 per cent renewable is a dream within reach – thanks to new tech that keep things humming even when wind and sun aren’t there

Features

Life

Bees aren't just smart, they're sensitive too

Features

Life

What makes a white nationalist?

Features

Culture

Technology

Books chart social media’s fall from global village to villain

Does society need saving from Facebook? Five thinkers imagine how social media can be reformed – and at what price

Culture

Technology

Enjoy a season of science with our 2018 UK festival picks

Culture

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.

Crossword #19

Our monthly invitation to scientific linguistic gymnastics

Regulars

Feedback: The 40-cm-long hammerhead flatworm has landed

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Regulars

��è����Ƶ

This week's magazine

9 June 2018

On the cover

Health

Party drugs are here to stay, but they don't have to be killers

Humans

To combat white nationalist extremism, first understand it

Earth

Finally we can power the planet on renewables alone – here's how

Life

Bees aren't just smart, they're sensitive too

Life

What makes a white nationalist?

Table of contents

Leaders

Earth

A renewables revolution is afoot – but who will benefit?

Humans

To combat white nationalist extremism, first understand it

��è����Ƶ

Humans

Wish you had perfect pitch? You may be able to learn it

Life

Pigeons can understand probabilities - just like primates can

Health

Drugs that help our cells tidy up might extend lifespan

Technology

There is only one anti-shark tool for surfers that seems to work

Life

��è����Ƶs turned a car into a giant flytrap to count insects

Life

Some scorpions can hiss by rubbing themselves with ‘sandpaper’

Humans

People with big brains have a different brain structure too

Humans

The dreams you forget are the most important for learning

Space

Methane ice and winds on Pluto make strange 'sand' dunes

Physics

Bent bird feathers repair themselves when soaked in water

Humans

The gene that led to the human intelligence boom has been found

Technology

Can an app tell if you have dementia years before your doctor?

Vultures that feed on rubbish dumps are making themselves sick

Health

We’re beginning to understand how some people can control HIV

Space

Ripples in Saturn’s rings unravel mystery of how fast it spins

Space

Ultrahot planets bust up molecules then rebuild them into clouds

Technology

Anti-swearing AI takes the edge off abuse on Reddit and Twitter

Earth

Guatemala volcano kills 75 as ash buries entire villages

Humans

Mystery of why Stone Age villagers spent so much time underwater

Health

Woman survives metastatic breast cancer thanks to new treatment

Physics

Quantum computers are weirder and more powerful than we thought

Space

A day used to be less than 19 hours long 1.4 billion years ago

Space

Two meteors in two days lit up the sky in China and Botswana

Technology

Apple's new app is designed to help you use their tech less

Deadly Nipah outbreak seems to have been contained in India

Analysis

Space

I'm working on a universal language to let us speak to aliens

Health

There's no such thing as a 'detox' – so let's ban the word

Health

US 'right to try' drugs law could hurt terminally ill people

Health

Party drugs are here to stay, but they don't have to be killers

Aperture

Space

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶs turned a car into a giant flytrap to count insects