This week's magazine
31 October 2020
Issue 3306
On the cover
Editor's picks
Table of contents
¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ
Health
Melbourne lockdown lifts as second wave of covid-19 is eliminated
Australians have been celebrating the end of a strict lockdown in Melbourne after cases of coronavirus were eliminated in the state of Victoria
Health
How the US response to covid-19 broke its world-class health agencies
Health
Long covid: Why are some people sick months after catching the virus?
Space
NASA confirms there is water on the moon that astronauts could use
Health
CRISPR weapon spread by bacterial sex could destroy deadly superbugs
Physics
Mathematicians have found the shortest route to visit 2 million stars
Life
Dinosaur fossil with preserved genital orifice hints how they mated
Health
CRISPR turns normal body fat into a type that burns energy
Space
More doubts cast on potential signs of life on Venus
Health
Cats cost Australia A$6 billion a year by spreading diseases
Life
Near-uncrushable beetle’s exoskeleton could inspire tough structures
Environment
China’s cuts to air pollution may have saved 150,000 lives each year
Life
The first flying dinosaurs were a failed evolutionary experiment
Humans
Llamas may have been buried alive in ritual sacrifice by the Incas
Environment
Colorado River drought can be predicted by warming in the ocean
Analysis
Health
Record $8 billion payout won’t turn back the clock on US opioid crisis
Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty and agreed an $8.3 billion settlement to a long-running lawsuit over actions that fuelled the US opioid crisis
Environment
Should Japan dump radioactive water from Fukushima into the ocean?
Humans
Why you probably aren’t as moral as you think you are
Health
Do potatoes and tomatoes make rheumatoid arthritis worse?
Features
Humans
How to build a fair and green economic system after covid-19
Covid-19 has highlighted huge weaknesses in our economic systems. ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµ asked six leading economists how to redesign it to reduce inequality and save the planet
Environment
The secret weapon in the war between pet cats and wildlife
Space
We can harness the solar wind to sail to the farthest corners of space
Culture
Physics
Carlo Rovelli: Where does the stuff that falls into a black hole go?
What happens to matter in a black hole? The question has spawned many paradoxes, and in an extract from his latest book, physics superstar Carlo Rovelli proposes an answer
Humans
Carlo Rovelli’s new book: Eclectic essays on physics, history and more
Humans
Old books bound in human skin make for spooky Halloween reading
Don’t Miss: Quiz codebreakers on a virtual tour of a computing museum
Humans
Star Wars: Squadrons shows the Force is still with us
More
Humans
How to use smart soil science to colour your hydrangea bush
Always wanted a garden full of blue, pink or red hydrangeas? All you have to do is tap into cunning garden science that exploits an unusual pigment in their flowers, says Clare Wilson
Twisteddoodles imagines a ghost giving a conference speech
Tom Gauld attends the Annual Conference of Vampire ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓÆµs
Regulars
Life
The baffling problem of why cows prefer sleeping on their left side
Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more