Issue 3269 | Magazine cover date: 15 February 2020

This week's magazine

15 February 2020

Issue 3269

Previous issue Next issue

On the cover

Features

Your decision-making ability is a superpower physics can't explain

The smuggled Mongolian dinosaur fossil that seemed too good to be true

When a smile is not a smile – what our facial expressions really mean

��è��Ƶ

Yarn grown from human skin cells could be knitted into your body

We’ve finally spotted a pattern in mysterious radio blasts from space

Extinct date palms grown from 2000-year-old seeds found near Jerusalem

CRISPR cancer trial finds that gene-edited immune cells are safe

How bad is the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak likely to get?

Teen born without half her brain has above average reading skills

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

GPS face-off: Why countries are vying to rule the skies with satnav

��è��Ƶ

Health

A woman with half a brain offers more proof of the organ's superpowers

��è��Ƶ

Humans

When a smile is not a smile – what our facial expressions really mean

Features

Life

The smuggled Mongolian dinosaur fossil that seemed too good to be true

Features

Physics

Your decision-making ability is a superpower physics can't explain

Features

Leaders

Health

A woman with half a brain offers more proof of the organ's superpowers

From a teenager excelling with half a brain to the organ's visual areas being co-opted in people who are blind, our brain's ability to adapt continues to amaze

��è��Ƶ

Health

Contact lens senses UV light to tell you when it's time for sunscreen

Time for sunscreen? Our skin needs to get a certain amount of ultraviolet light to produce vitamin D , but how do we know when we have had too much sun? Wearables that change colour when exposed to UV light could tell us when we should put on sunscreen or seek shade. Ali Yetisen at …

��è��Ƶ

Health

Yarn grown from human skin cells could be knitted into your body

��è��Ƶ

Life

Climate change is killing off bumblebees in Europe and North America

��è��Ƶ

Space

We’ve finally spotted a pattern in mysterious radio blasts from space

��è��Ƶ

Life

Extinct date palms grown from 2000-year-old seeds found near Jerusalem

��è��Ƶ

Life

Watch this fish hop across the surface of water and climb on land

��è��Ƶ

Technology

A fingerprint can show if someone has taken cocaine or just touched it

��è��Ƶ

Space

Pluto's icy nitrogen heart makes its atmosphere spin backwards

��è��Ƶ

Health

Overactive immune cells in babies may lead to childhood asthma

��è��Ƶ

Health

Some people have extremely sweaty palms - but spraying Botox may help

��è��Ƶ

Health

CRISPR cancer trial finds that gene-edited immune cells are safe

��è��Ƶ

Life

We’ve found more than 2500 new viruses and some are unlike any we know

��è��Ƶ

Physics

Photon trick lets you bend the rules of quantum physics

��è��Ƶ

Technology

People will sell access to their fingerprints for just $7.56 a month

��è��Ƶ

Health

African nations step up efforts to prevent spread of coronavirus

��è��Ƶ

Technology

World’s largest ever firework successfully explodes over Colorado

��è��Ƶ

Health

How bad is the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak likely to get?

��è��Ƶ

Health

Coronavirus: How well prepared are countries for a covid-19 pandemic?

��è��Ƶ

Health

We discovered a coronavirus similar to the covid-19 virus 7 years ago

��è��Ƶ

Humans

Teen born without half her brain has above average reading skills

��è��Ƶ

Analysis

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the launch of the next COP26 UN Climate Summit at the Science Museum, London.

Environment

We can’t let Boris Johnson politicise crucial COP26 climate talks

Boris Johnson at the launch of COP26 Oops, he did it again. The most pressing global issue of our time has again been reduced to a tawdry political row. When Boris Johnson failed to show at a TV debate on climate change during the 2019 UK general election, the fallout wasn’t days of talk on …

��è��Ƶ

Health

DNA firms are set to profit from your data as testing demand falls

��è��Ƶ

Technology

GPS face-off: Why countries are vying to rule the skies with satnav

��è��Ƶ

Technology

Election cyberattacks? It’s incompetence we need to worry about

��è��Ƶ

Aperture

Life

Fungi's fabulous future in mental health and sustainable materials

Fungi Exhibition Mushrooms: The art, design and future of fungi Venue Somerset House, London THESE curious creations are in celebration of mushrooms and other fungi. They are part of an exhibition highlighting a growing appreciation of fungi's role in everything from boosting our health and well-being to reimagining design and providing sustainable materials . Above …

Regulars

Features

Physics

Your decision-making ability is a superpower physics can't explain

In a universe that unthinkingly follows the rules, human agency is an anomaly. Can physics ever make sense of our power to change the physical world at will?

Features

Life

The smuggled Mongolian dinosaur fossil that seemed too good to be true

Features

Humans

When a smile is not a smile – what our facial expressions really mean

Features

Culture

Health

Drugs may be able to fix our romantic lives when things go wrong

Are we ready for real-life love potions? Book Love is the Drug explains how pills may affect everything from falling deeper in love to breaking up

Culture

Humans

Sci-fi podcast Down asks what's really in the deepest holes on Earth

Culture

Technology

Don't miss: Emotional veg, antique innovations and spooky maths

Culture

Humans

Color Out of Space: Another Nicolas Cage film that's so bad it's good

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.

Physics

Sixty years ago the world’s largest particle accelerator switched on

"The most powerful atomic accelerator in the world was formally inaugurated at Meyrin, on the outskirts of Geneva, last Friday." Those words, in our edition of 11 February 1960, ushered in the work of CERN's proton synchrotron – and a mind-bending era of particle physics, fuelled by the ability of vast machines to create, at …

Regulars

Humans

Umami: How to maximise the savoury taste that makes food so satisfying

Regulars

��è��Ƶ puzzle #46: Pi-thagoras

Regulars

Health

Why our understanding of concussion has been completely wrong

Regulars

Twisteddoodles has made a fantastic new discovery

Regulars

Tom Gauld on working as a theoretical scientist

Regulars

The strange world of 6-dimensional eyebrow feathering

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

Regulars

��è����Ƶ

This week's magazine

15 February 2020

On the cover

Technology

GPS face-off: Why countries are vying to rule the skies with satnav

Health

A woman with half a brain offers more proof of the organ's superpowers

Humans

When a smile is not a smile – what our facial expressions really mean

Life

The smuggled Mongolian dinosaur fossil that seemed too good to be true

Physics

Your decision-making ability is a superpower physics can't explain

Table of contents

Leaders

Health

A woman with half a brain offers more proof of the organ's superpowers

��è����Ƶ

Health

Contact lens senses UV light to tell you when it's time for sunscreen

Health

Yarn grown from human skin cells could be knitted into your body

Life

Climate change is killing off bumblebees in Europe and North America

Space

We’ve finally spotted a pattern in mysterious radio blasts from space

Life

Extinct date palms grown from 2000-year-old seeds found near Jerusalem

Life

Watch this fish hop across the surface of water and climb on land

Technology

A fingerprint can show if someone has taken cocaine or just touched it

Space

Pluto's icy nitrogen heart makes its atmosphere spin backwards

Health

Overactive immune cells in babies may lead to childhood asthma

Health

Some people have extremely sweaty palms - but spraying Botox may help

Health

CRISPR cancer trial finds that gene-edited immune cells are safe

Life

We’ve found more than 2500 new viruses and some are unlike any we know

Physics

Photon trick lets you bend the rules of quantum physics

Technology

People will sell access to their fingerprints for just $7.56 a month

Health

African nations step up efforts to prevent spread of coronavirus

Technology

World’s largest ever firework successfully explodes over Colorado

Health

How bad is the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak likely to get?

Health

Coronavirus: How well prepared are countries for a covid-19 pandemic?

Health

We discovered a coronavirus similar to the covid-19 virus 7 years ago

Humans

Teen born without half her brain has above average reading skills

Analysis

Environment

We can’t let Boris Johnson politicise crucial COP26 climate talks

Health

DNA firms are set to profit from your data as testing demand falls

Technology

GPS face-off: Why countries are vying to rule the skies with satnav

Technology

Election cyberattacks? It’s incompetence we need to worry about

Aperture

Life

Fungi's fabulous future in mental health and sustainable materials

Features

Physics

Your decision-making ability is a superpower physics can't explain

Life

The smuggled Mongolian dinosaur fossil that seemed too good to be true

Humans

When a smile is not a smile – what our facial expressions really mean

Culture

Health

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶ

��è��Ƶ puzzle #46: Pi-thagoras