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This week's magazine

6 November 2021

Issue 3359

New Scientist issue 3359 cover
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Editor's picks

Alzheimer's disease. Series of coloured computed tomography (CT) scans of an axial section through the head of a 74-year-old patient with Alzheimer's disease. The front of the brain (brown) is at the top. Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease and a common cause of dementia in the elderly. It causes brain atrophy (decrease in size), shown here by the enlarged ventricle cavities (white, at centre of brain) and the widened pale blue regions. The brain shrinkage caused by Alzheimer's disease leads to memory loss, confusion, personality changes and ultimately death. The cause of Alzheimer's disease is not known and there is no cure.

Mind

Treating Alzheimer's as having many causes may help us beat it

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The quantum experiment that could prove reality doesn't exist

Physics

The quantum experiment that could prove reality doesn't exist

Features
Do you speak elephant? With this new dictionary you will

Life

Do you speak elephant? With this new dictionary you will

Features
Why Alzheimer’s is not a single disease – and why that matters

Health

Why Alzheimer’s is not a single disease – and why that matters

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Alzheimer's disease. Series of coloured computed tomography (CT) scans of an axial section through the head of a 74-year-old patient with Alzheimer's disease. The front of the brain (brown) is at the top. Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease and a common cause of dementia in the elderly. It causes brain atrophy (decrease in size), shown here by the enlarged ventricle cavities (white, at centre of brain) and the widened pale blue regions. The brain shrinkage caused by Alzheimer's disease leads to memory loss, confusion, personality changes and ultimately death. The cause of Alzheimer's disease is not known and there is no cure.

Mind

Treating Alzheimer's as having many causes may help us beat it

FOR nearly three decades, we have waited anxiously for a blockbuster drug that could defeat Alzheimer's disease. We believed we had identified the culprit behind this debilitating condition: sticky clumps of the protein beta-amyloid in the brain . Even as drug after drug homing in on this target failed to make a difference to symptoms, …

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Bacillus subtilis

Health

Genetically engineered bacteria could heal us from inside our cells

Billions of years ago, bacteria began living inside other cells and carrying out essential functions. Genetic engineering could create new types of these ‘endosymbionts’

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Health

Australia has had zero measles in 2021 due to covid-19 border closure

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Space

Tardigrades could survive interstellar travel in extreme hibernation

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Life

Sharks may bite humans because they mistake us for seals and sea lions

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Physics

Physicists fail to find mysterious 'sterile neutrino' particles

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Space

Jupiter's Great Red Spot extends far deeper than we realised

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Health

Skin patch coated in covid-19 vaccine may work better than injections

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Humans

DNA of Native American leader Sitting Bull matched to living relative

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Health

Two people suppressed HIV for years while pausing medication

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Technology

Smart scheduling for big computing tasks cuts emissions up to a third

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Life

Birds in Patagonia have a surprising taste for truffles

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Technology

YouTube policy change limited spread of harmful videos across the web

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Technology

US Army will test its most powerful laser weapon ever next year

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Technology

Why has Facebook changed its name to Meta and what is the metaverse?

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Technology

EU drones could drop life rafts to migrants in the Mediterranean Sea

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Life

Barn owls make mental maps of their surroundings while they are flying

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Life

Vipers evolved either nose or eye horns depending on their habitat

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Space

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover tests new way to search for alien life

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Health

Brain implants boost ability to think flexibly and shake anxiety

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Environment

Over 100 countries at COP26 pledge to end deforestation by 2030

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Environment

Scotch whisky-makers rely on peat smoke – but it's a climate concern

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Life

Red feathers determine which common waxbill is the boss

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Mind

A new kind of brain scan is letting us understand how toddlers think

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Analysis

Blue Origin space station

Space

Can Blue Origin help replace the International Space Station?

Blue Origin is one of a number of firms hoping to build a commercial space station, but it isn't clear any will be ready before the International Space Station reaches the end of its life

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Technology

What’s next now Tesla is worth a trillion dollars?

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Environment

COP26: Why India's 2070 net-zero pledge is better news than it sounds

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Humans

Is it true that use of synthetic fertiliser is increasing everywhere?

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Aperture

American flamingo

Life

Stunning birds shown off to glorious effect in new photography book

https://youtu.be/kr08t1fycSw Photographer Tim Flach MAJESTIC and intricate, these stunning images showcasing the diversity of birdlife are taken from Birds , a photography book by Tim Flach. A toco toucan ( Ramphastos toco ) displays its distinctive bright bill in the above image. The largest and best-known of the toucans, this species is found in tropical …

Regulars

Features

The quantum experiment that could prove reality doesn't exist

Physics

The quantum experiment that could prove reality doesn't exist

We like to think that things are there even when we aren't looking at them. But that belief might soon be overturned thanks to a new test designed to tell us if quantum weirdness persists in macroscopic objects

Features

Life

Do you speak elephant? With this new dictionary you will

Features

Health

Why Alzheimer’s is not a single disease – and why that matters

Features

Culture

Anti-Monsanto/GMO Protest, New York, 25 May 2013 - Hundreds of thousands across the US joined the worldwide rally against biotech giant Monsanto and genetically engineered crops. It comes shortly after the Senate turned down a bill that would allow states to require the labeling of GM foods. Photo: Tony Savino (Photo by Tony Savino/Corbis via Getty Images)

Life As We Made It review: Should we go all in on gene-editing tech?

Some people dislike the idea of eating genetically modified foods Book Life As We Made It Beth Shapiro LOOK around you, and the results of humanity's time on Earth are plain to see. Our species has been changing and refining the environment for generations. Landscapes and habitats that we take for granted as "natural" would …

Culture

Humans

River's End review: Inside the battle for California's water

Culture

Don't miss: Online talk about Pluto's methane caps and cryovolcanoes

Culture

Son of Monarchs review: A beautiful film about a young scientist

Culture

More

Ice cream food truck, isolated vector van, cartoon car for street food icecream desserts selling. Automobile cafe or restaurant on wheels with ice cream assortment, loudspeaker on rood and chalkboard

Puzzle #138: Who is right about this ice cream mystery?

#138 Ice cream coincidence Mr Slippy owns two ice cream vans. His staff check the temperature of the freezers every hour to make sure nothing melts. One day, the freezer in Van A is at -13°C at 1pm and -18°C at 2pm. Meanwhile, Van B's driver logs the temperatures as -12°C at 1pm and -20°C …

Regulars

Why do tomatoes get hit by blight and how can you stop it?

Regulars

Tom Gauld reveals science’s most inefficient winter warmer

Regulars

Twisteddoodles: The perilous position of pensive people’s pens

Regulars

Regulars

Whirlwind romance: What a tornado can do for your relationship

Humans

Whirlwind romance: What a tornado can do for your relationship

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

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

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