Issue 3265 | Magazine cover date: 18 January 2020

This week's magazine

18 January 2020

Issue 3265

Previous issue Next issue

On the cover

Features

In the quantum realm, cause doesn’t necessarily come before effect

Trypophobia: Why a fear of holes is real – and may be on the rise

Antarctica's doomsday glacier is melting. Can we save it in time?

��è��Ƶ

Stinky flower is more than a metre wide and the largest ever found

Cuttlefish wearing 3D glasses prove they sense depth just like us

African grey parrots are smart enough to help a bird in need

Humans are cooling down so average body temperature is no longer 37°C

Your microbiome reveals more about your health than your genes do

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

Technology

What are the ethics of CGI actors – and will they replace real ones?

��è��Ƶ

Environment

The wildfires and melting ice that science warned us about are here

��è��Ƶ

Environment

Antarctica's doomsday glacier is melting. Can we save it in time?

Features

Physics

In the quantum realm, cause doesn’t necessarily come before effect

Features

Health

Trypophobia: Why a fear of holes is real – and may be on the rise

Features

Leaders

Environment

The wildfires and melting ice that science warned us about are here

��è��Ƶ reports of long-predicted disasters are starting to sound familiar. ��è��Ƶs, too, must carry on repeating calls for rapid cuts to carbon emissions

��è��Ƶ

Space

Mercury’s outer layers may have been stripped off by a young Venus

A false colour view of Mercury's cratered surface Mercury may have been robbed by Venus in the early days of the solar system. A series of close passes between the two planets when they were young could have stripped away Mercury’s outer layers, leaving behind a world that is mostly dense core. Mercury’s iron core …

��è��Ƶ

Humans

We can't use genetics to predict how well children will do at school

��è��Ƶ

Health

Analysis of CRISPR baby documents reveals more ethical violations

��è��Ƶ

Life

Stinky flower is more than a metre wide and the largest ever found

��è��Ƶ

Health

One bad night’s sleep may increase Alzheimer’s protein in your body

��è��Ƶ

Life

Cuttlefish wearing 3D glasses prove they sense depth just like us

��è��Ƶ

Humans

Ancient Romans may have used Chinese medicine to treat coeliac disease

��è��Ƶ

Mind

Illusion involving fake poo and rubber hand tested on people with OCD

��è��Ƶ

Environment

Area of Amazon affected by wildfires predicted to grow by 2050

��è��Ƶ

Life

Mummified skin suggests duck-billed dinosaurs were grey like elephants

��è��Ƶ

Life

African grey parrots are smart enough to help a bird in need

��è��Ƶ

Humans

Ancient humans were weirdly slow to cross from mainland Asia to Java

��è��Ƶ

Health

Mysterious illness outbreak in China seems to be caused by a new virus

��è��Ƶ

Space

SpaceX Starlink satellites could be ‘existential threat’ to astronomy

��è��Ƶ

Humans

Humans are cooling down so average body temperature is no longer 37°C

��è��Ƶ

Technology

US Army has built a device to keep your hands warm without gloves

��è��Ƶ

Space

A single star has let us put a date on our galaxy’s last cosmic meal

��è��Ƶ

Health

Majority of women who have an abortion don’t regret it five years on

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Captured carbon dioxide could be used to help recycle batteries

��è��Ƶ

Physics

Strange particles found in Antarctica cannot be explained by physics

��è��Ƶ

Health

Your microbiome reveals more about your health than your genes do

��è��Ƶ

Half a million at risk from Taal volcano eruption

��è��Ƶ

Analysis

Environment

Can we really save the planet by making food 'from air' without farms?

Could solar farms provide our food? It is being claimed we could save the planet by turning renewable energy and air directly into food and rewilding all the farmland that is no longer needed. Could it really work? In a TV documentary called Apocalypse Cow , and a Guardian column, environmentalist and journalist George Monbiot …

��è��Ƶ

Health

Forget exercise and diet fads – this is the secret of a healthy life

��è��Ƶ

Humans

Uploading your brain will leave you exposed to software glitches

��è��Ƶ

Technology

What are the ethics of CGI actors – and will they replace real ones?

��è��Ƶ

Aperture

Life

Contaminated banknote images reveal how money gets caked in bacteria

Photographer Ken Rinaldo HOW many lives does a banknote touch? Factor in bacteria and the answer is a mind-boggling number. The vibrant notes opposite are part of a touring exhibition by artist Ken Rinaldo that exposes the microbes on your money. In this art, the symbolic exchange of organisms from one nation to another is …

Regulars

Features

Physics

In the quantum realm, cause doesn’t necessarily come before effect

In everyday life, causes always precede effects. But new experiments suggests that no such restriction applies in the quantum world

Features

Health

Trypophobia: Why a fear of holes is real – and may be on the rise

Features

Environment

Antarctica's doomsday glacier is melting. Can we save it in time?

Features

Culture

Space

A Scheme of Heaven reveals what scientists can learn from astrology

Astrology is bunk, but a new book exploring its ancient history argues that it has crucial lessons for today's data science with its seemingly opaque algorithms

Culture

Life

Here's how we can learn from other animals to create a better Earth

Culture

Don't Miss: Craft power, killer brain cells and fostered chimps

Culture

Environment

Aquarela documentary reveals water's raw power in terrifying detail

Culture

Technology

Did a massive nuclear antenna make Michigan’s trees grow taller?

25 years ago, ��è��Ƶ was pondering an accidental cold-war ecological experiment IT WASN'T anyone's intention, but it happened all the same. “Trees growing close to a giant communications antenna in Michigan have put on an unusual spurt of growth since the Navy moved into the forest eight years ago,” we reported in our 14 …

Regulars

Humans

How to cook perfect chips: Learn the science of crispiness

Regulars

��è��Ƶ puzzle #42: The card conundrum

Regulars

Space

NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan on zero G dreams and fixing Hubble

Regulars

Tom Gauld on how to build the coolest lab on campus

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on Earth's race around the sun

Regulars

Mars bars: Why it’s time to write a national anthem for the Red Planet

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

Regulars

��è����Ƶ

This week's magazine

18 January 2020

On the cover

Technology

What are the ethics of CGI actors – and will they replace real ones?

Environment

The wildfires and melting ice that science warned us about are here

Environment

Antarctica's doomsday glacier is melting. Can we save it in time?

Physics

In the quantum realm, cause doesn’t necessarily come before effect

Health

Trypophobia: Why a fear of holes is real – and may be on the rise

Table of contents

Leaders

Environment

The wildfires and melting ice that science warned us about are here

��è����Ƶ

Space

Mercury’s outer layers may have been stripped off by a young Venus

Humans

We can't use genetics to predict how well children will do at school

Health

Analysis of CRISPR baby documents reveals more ethical violations

Life

Stinky flower is more than a metre wide and the largest ever found

Health

One bad night’s sleep may increase Alzheimer’s protein in your body

Life

Cuttlefish wearing 3D glasses prove they sense depth just like us

Humans

Ancient Romans may have used Chinese medicine to treat coeliac disease

Mind

Illusion involving fake poo and rubber hand tested on people with OCD

Environment

Area of Amazon affected by wildfires predicted to grow by 2050

Life

Mummified skin suggests duck-billed dinosaurs were grey like elephants

Life

African grey parrots are smart enough to help a bird in need

Humans

Ancient humans were weirdly slow to cross from mainland Asia to Java

Health

Mysterious illness outbreak in China seems to be caused by a new virus

Space

SpaceX Starlink satellites could be ‘existential threat’ to astronomy

Humans

Humans are cooling down so average body temperature is no longer 37°C

Technology

US Army has built a device to keep your hands warm without gloves

Space

A single star has let us put a date on our galaxy’s last cosmic meal

Health

Majority of women who have an abortion don’t regret it five years on

Technology

Captured carbon dioxide could be used to help recycle batteries

Physics

Strange particles found in Antarctica cannot be explained by physics

Health

Your microbiome reveals more about your health than your genes do

Half a million at risk from Taal volcano eruption

Analysis

Environment

Can we really save the planet by making food 'from air' without farms?

Health

Forget exercise and diet fads – this is the secret of a healthy life

Humans

Uploading your brain will leave you exposed to software glitches

Technology

What are the ethics of CGI actors – and will they replace real ones?

Aperture

Life

Contaminated banknote images reveal how money gets caked in bacteria

Features

Physics

In the quantum realm, cause doesn’t necessarily come before effect

Health

Trypophobia: Why a fear of holes is real – and may be on the rise

Environment

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶ puzzle #42: The card conundrum