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This week's magazine

13 November 2021

Issue 3360

New Scientist issue 3360 cover
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Editor's picks

How a universal flu vaccine could prevent the next pandemic

Health

How a universal flu vaccine could prevent the next pandemic

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Clean energy tech needs to be pursued despite the mining it involves

Clean energy tech needs to be pursued despite the mining it involves

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The surprising upsides of the prions behind horrifying brain diseases

Health

The surprising upsides of the prions behind horrifying brain diseases

Features
How an upgrade on calculus is taking maths into uncharted territory

Technology

How an upgrade on calculus is taking maths into uncharted territory

Features
Will a scramble to mine metals undermine the clean energy revolution?

Environment

Will a scramble to mine metals undermine the clean energy revolution?

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

Clean energy tech needs to be pursued despite the mining it involves

Clean energy tech needs to be pursued despite the mining it involves

ENVIRONMENTALISTS making the case for a transition to renewable energy have often found the prevailing wind blowing in their faces. Solar and wind power have been dismissed as too expensive, too inefficient, too unreliable or too ugly. In recent years, however, the wind has changed direction. Even if these criticisms were once true, they no …

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Nursery web spider

Life

Nursery web spiders woo mates with food wrapped in chemical-laced silk

Chemicals in the silk of male nursery web spiders help them attract a mate when used as gift wrap

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Technology

Einstein's theory of relativity could help stop bank account hackers

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Health

Exercising more often doesn't increase your risk of knee arthritis

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Life

Dogs may get worse separation anxiety when left alone with another dog

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Life

Baleen whales eat three times more krill than we thought

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Space

US astronomers plan $11 billion telescope to picture another Earth

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Mind

Tiny region of human brain that helps regulate sleep studied at last

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Technology

Water-absorbing material inspired by plant roots could power robots

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Life

Brainless sponges have cells that might be the precursors of neurons

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Humans

Homo naledi infant skull discovery suggests they buried their dead

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Health

CRISPR-based 'antibiotic' eliminates dangerous bacterium from the gut

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Space

Earth may have grown around a rock from an alien star system

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Environment

Cutting ammonia emissions may be the best way to reduce air pollution

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Space

Pluto's dark side revealed by moonlight in pictures from New Horizons

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Health

Only 45% of US parents give peanuts to infants despite latest advice

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Technology

US military offers $50,000 to predict where sensors drift in the ocean

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Life

Penis worms had hermit crab-like defence system 530 million years ago

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Environment

Current COP26 climate plans would lead to 2.4°C of global warming

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Life

Chimpanzees dislike the smell of death like we do

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Analysis

Sterile neutrinos could explain dark matter – if we can find them

Space

Sterile neutrinos could explain dark matter – if we can find them

There are good reasons to think that neutrinos have a shy cousin that could explain dark matter, but searches have so far come up empty, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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Health

Medicine must stop using race and ethnicity to interpret test results

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Health

How a universal flu vaccine could prevent the next pandemic

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Aperture

Amazing aerial photos show humanity's impacts on Earth

Life

Amazing aerial photos show humanity's impacts on Earth

Photographer David Maisel THESE dazzling shots of transformed landscapes paint a stark picture of our effect on the world, and what we leave behind. They are part of artist and photographer David Maisel's latest exhibition, The Expanded Field. Over three decades, Maisel took aerial photos of environmental change and human activity, such as desertification zones …

Regulars

Features

The surprising upsides of the prions behind horrifying brain diseases

Health

The surprising upsides of the prions behind horrifying brain diseases

Infectious proteins called prions that turn brains to sponge have been implicated in some horrible diseases, but it turns out that we couldn't survive without them

Features

Environment

Will a scramble to mine metals undermine the clean energy revolution?

Features

Technology

How an upgrade on calculus is taking maths into uncharted territory

Features

Culture

Sticky review: Everything you could ever want to know about surfaces

Sticky review: Everything you could ever want to know about surfaces

Book Sticky: The secret science of surfaces Laurie Winkless Bloomsbury WATCHING paint dry isn't normally a very exciting affair . But it turns out there is more happening at the surface – and indeed all surfaces – than meets the eye. Understanding what is going on there might help us improve how we design and …

Culture

Space

Cosmogramma review: An eclectic mix of sci-fi and cosmic horror tales

Culture

Don't miss: Cowboy Bebop gets a live-action remake on Netflix

Culture

Environment

Waste Age review: Can good design save the planet from waste?

Culture

More

Puzzle #139: Can Chloe and Clive fit the cube packs in the box?

Puzzle #139: Can Chloe and Clive fit the cube packs in the box?

#139 BLOXO cubes Chloe and Clive are hard at work packing BLOXO kids' blocks in the warehouse. There are two kinds of block: yellows, which are a set of four cubes stuck together to form a 2×2 square, and blues, which come as single cubes. With a pile of blocks in front of them and …

Regulars

Space

How you can get involved with the hunt for gravitational waves

Regulars

Tom Gauld takes the finger of blame to a whole new level

Regulars

Twisteddoodles: The earthworm has five hearts, but hungers for more

Regulars

Regulars

Sinking under the mortgage costs of ‘new normal’ undersea homes

Sinking under the mortgage costs of ‘new normal’ undersea homes

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

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Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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