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This week's magazine

28 November 2020

Issue 3310

New Scientist issue 3310 cover
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On the cover

Culture
His Dark Materials review: Season 2 is spine-chillingly excellent
Features
The universe is expanding too fast, and that could rewrite cosmology
Can a law meant to protect Native American artefacts free an orca?
The race to find and stop viruses that could cause the next pandemic
Analysis
What are the odds of dying if you're infected by the coronavirus?
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US Navy's huge uncrewed robot ship has journeyed through Panama Canal
Earth had a minimoon for nearly three years before it drifted away
Ancient parasites in a titanosaur’s bones made it look like a zombie
China has launched its most advanced mission to the moon yet
Tiny worm sacrifices itself to make milk for its hatching offspring
Can mass testing schemes stop the spread of the coronavirus?
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Editor's picks

China's Chang'e 5 probe is the start of a new era of lunar exploration

Space

China's Chang'e 5 probe is the start of a new era of lunar exploration

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Can a law meant to protect Native American artefacts free an orca?

Life

Can a law meant to protect Native American artefacts free an orca?

Features
The race to find and stop viruses that could cause the next pandemic

Health

The race to find and stop viruses that could cause the next pandemic

Features
The universe is expanding too fast, and that could rewrite cosmology

Space

The universe is expanding too fast, and that could rewrite cosmology

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

China's Chang'e 5 probe is the start of a new era of lunar exploration

Space

China's Chang'e 5 probe is the start of a new era of lunar exploration

Chang'e 5 is set to bring moon rocks back to Earth for the first time in more than four decades – and China has even more ambitious plans for lunar missions in the coming years

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The meat of protected African animals is being sold in Belgium

Environment

The meat of protected African animals is being sold in Belgium

A red-tailed monkey The meat of several protected African animals is being illegally imported into and sold in Belgium. Sophie Gombeer at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and her colleagues have identified wild animal meat , also known as bushmeat, being sold in several markets in Brussels. They identified the meat of three …

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Health

AI that can diagnose tinnitus from brain scans may improve treatment

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Technology

US Navy's huge uncrewed robot ship has journeyed through Panama Canal

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Technology

Warehouse robots upgraded to make packing decisions 350 times faster

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Technology

Portable device uses solar power to sterilise medical equipment

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Life

Very hangry caterpillars could help reveal genetic basis of aggression

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Humans

Your eyes can reveal your decisions before you've even made them

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Technology

Magnetic spray turns objects into mini robots that can deliver drugs

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Health

Potent new antifungal discovered in the microbiome of marine animals

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Technology

Computer vision can estimate calorie content of food at a glance

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Health

Ebola outbreak in the DRC ended thanks to vaccine distribution efforts

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Space

Earth had a minimoon for nearly three years before it drifted away

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Ancient parasites in a titanosaur’s bones made it look like a zombie

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Earth

Plate tectonics may have begun a billion years earlier than thought

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Space

China has launched its most advanced mission to the moon yet

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Health

Oxford/AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine may be up to 90 per cent effective

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Life

Tiny worm sacrifices itself to make milk for its hatching offspring

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Health

Can mass testing schemes stop the spread of the coronavirus?

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Analysis

What are the odds of dying if you're infected by the coronavirus?

Health

What are the odds of dying if you're infected by the coronavirus?

A person with covid-19 being unloaded from a helicopter at the Hautepierre hospital in Strasbourg, France The proportion of people who die after being infected by the coronavirus has become highly controversial. Some have claimed that death rates aren’t as high as thought and that governments are overreacting by imposing measures such as lockdowns. But …

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Life

The sale of the duelling dinosaurs fossil may be bad news for science

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Humans

Fears about genetically modified foods are cultural not scientific

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Aperture

Surreal Californian oilscape wins climate change photography award

Environment

Surreal Californian oilscape wins climate change photography award

This unreal landscape captures the environmental price of intensive oil exploitation paid by a desert in Kern County, California. The image was taken by David Gardner and won a prize at the 2020 BarTur Photo Award

Regulars

Features

The universe is expanding too fast, and that could rewrite cosmology

Space

The universe is expanding too fast, and that could rewrite cosmology

Different measurements of the Hubble constant, the rate of space-time expansion, refuse to agree – meaning we may have to look beyond Einstein’s theories to explain the universe

Features

Life

Can a law meant to protect Native American artefacts free an orca?

Features

Health

The race to find and stop viruses that could cause the next pandemic

Features

Culture

space between worlds cover

Space

The Space Between Worlds review: Sci-fi with the multiverse done right

Micaiah Johnson's debut novel, The Space Between Worlds , is a witty, deep and savvy tale about travelling through the multiverse . (Buy from Amazon *) Cara is a young woman who travels across a multiverse of 380 Earths for her job as a "traverser". Each time she arrives at a new version of the …

Culture

Physics

His Dark Materials review: Season 2 is spine-chillingly excellent

Culture

Humans

Crazy, Not Insane review: Why do people become murderers?

Culture

Humans

Don't Miss: I Am Greta documentary is the story of a climate crusader

Culture

More

How to help discover new galaxies without leaving your home

Space

How to help discover new galaxies without leaving your home

Hundreds of thousands of people have participated in the online collaboration Galaxy Zoo to help study unexplored parts of the cosmos, and you can join in too, says Layal Liverpool

Regulars

Puzzle #87: Can you foil this pollster?

Regulars

Tom Gauld's multidisciplinary road network featuring lava tubes

Regulars

Twisteddoodles asks what is blue and fluffy?

Regulars

Regulars

Why flange and quingle are such funny words according to science

Why flange and quingle are such funny words according to science

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

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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