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This week's magazine

2 September 2023

Issue 3454

New Scientist issue 3454 cover
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Editor's picks

2PEK6YC Professor Chris Stringer, Head of Human Origins at London's Natural History Museum, moves a cast taken from the a skull of what is said to be a new species in the evolution of man named 'Homo Floresiensis' during a news conference Wednesday Oct. 27, 2004. At left is a cast of Homo Sapiens skull. (AP Photo/Richard Lewis)

Humans

How artefacts are found tells its own story – if we want to hear it

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Why relaxation is as important as sleep - and six ways to do it better

Mind

Why relaxation is as important as sleep - and six ways to do it better

Features
Homo floresiensis skull. Mould made from fragments of the skull of Homo floresiensis in Liang Bua cave, Flores, Indonesia. This newly discovered hominid species was found in Liang Bua cave in 2003. It was very small, measuring just over a metre tall, and is thought to be a descendant of Homo erectus that underwent island dwarfism - a process where isolated species that lack predators and are constrained by limited resources evolve to become smaller. It is thought to have become extinct around 12,000 years ago and therefore co-existed with modern humans (Homo sapiens).

Humans

The untold story of the curiously controversial Homo floresiensis dig

Features
Juice launch 14/04/2023 ESA?s latest interplanetary mission, Juice, lifted off on an?Ariane 5 rocket?from?Europe?s Spaceport?in French 09:14 local time/14:14CEST on 14 April 2023 to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet?s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Juice ? Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer ??is humankind?s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. This ambitious mission will?characterise Ganymede, Callisto and Europa with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. Juice will monitor Jupiter?s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant systems across the Universe. Following launch, Juice will embark on an eight-year journey to Jupiter, arriving in July 2031 with the aid of momentum and direction gained from four gravity-assist fly-bys of the Earth-Moon system, Venus and, twice, Earth. Flight VA260 is the final Ariane 5 flight to carry an ESA mission to space.

Space

How the JUICE mission will look for habitability on Jupiter's moons

Features

Table of contents

Leaders

2PEK6YC Professor Chris Stringer, Head of Human Origins at London's Natural History Museum, moves a cast taken from the a skull of what is said to be a new species in the evolution of man named 'Homo Floresiensis' during a news conference Wednesday Oct. 27, 2004. At left is a cast of Homo Sapiens skull. (AP Photo/Richard Lewis)

Humans

How artefacts are found tells its own story – if we want to hear it

It is easy to overlook the circumstances surrounding the discovery of ancient artefacts, but the insight this gives us into modern lives is just as valuable as the find itself

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Technology

What is an 'AI prompt engineer' and does every company need one?

Some companies are hiring specialists to help them get the best out of generative AI – but if the tech gets better at understanding what users want, such skills may not be needed

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Life

Emperor penguin colonies lost all their chicks due to ice breakup

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Life

Turtles keep a record of nuclear activity in their shells

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Life

Cougars are changing the way they hunt so bears don’t steal their food

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Chemistry

A map of every conceivable molecule could be possible with AI

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Environment

The tropics could get so hot that all leaves on rainforest trees die

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Technology

AI can spot early signs of a tsunami from atmospheric shock waves

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Chemistry

Plastic bottles can be recycled into energy-storing supercapacitors

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Humans

The human Y chromosome has been fully sequenced for the first time

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Technology

ChatGPT gets better marks than students in some university courses

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Humans

Women and men throw spears equally well using ancient atlatl tool

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Health

Our genes shape our education level more than our upbringing

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Space

Solar wind that blasts from sun may be driven by tiny plasma flares

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Life

Bees may be able to tell if water contains sugar just by looking at it

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Space

India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission starts exploring the moon’s south pole

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Environment

Sled dogs are making Svalbard greener with their poo

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Technology

Toughest known structure discovered by autonomous robot lab

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Life

Nearly every kakapo's genome has been sequenced to help save them

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Health

Your height may influence the diversity of your gut microbiome

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Physics

Maxwell's demon imagined by physicists really exists inside our cells

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¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ Live

A note from the magazine editor on ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ Live

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Analysis

Members of SafeStreetRebel, a group of anonymous anti-car activists, place a cone on a self-driving robotaxi to disable it in San Francisco, California on July 11, 2023. Members of SafeStreetRebel, a group of anonymous anti-car activists, have been actively calling for participants to help protest the spread of robotaxis for malfunctioning and blocking traffic. (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Technology

Our priorities are all wrong when it comes to new technologies

We can't get life-saving drugs, but we can get dubious self-driving taxis, says Annalee Newitz

Comment

Health

Why is it so difficult to make an effective vaccine against dengue?

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Mathematics

How the history of maths is much more diverse than you think

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Aperture

Train cars at terminal loaded with coal

Environment

Even rail trucks full of coal look beautiful in a J Henry Fair photo

Environmental activist and photographer J Henry Fair took this mesmerising photograph of the Lambert's Point coal terminal in Virginia from a plane, to reveal its inner workings

Regulars

Features

Why relaxation is as important as sleep - and six ways to do it better

Mind

Why relaxation is as important as sleep - and six ways to do it better

We instinctively know that relaxing feels good, but we are now figuring out what it does to the brain and uncovering the best ways to unwind to maximise its benefits

Features

Humans

The untold story of the curiously controversial Homo floresiensis dig

Features

Space

How the JUICE mission will look for habitability on Jupiter's moons

Features

Culture

BOYOLALI, INDONESIA - MARCH 11: A motorcyclist wearing a mask rides past in an area covered by ash after Mount Merapi erupted spewing volcanic materials at Stabelan village on March 11, 2023 in Boyolali, Central Java, Indonesia. Mount Merapi, 2,968 metres high, is known as one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, with an eruption occurring every two to five years. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

Comment

Mountains of Fire review: What volcanoes can teach us about ourselves

Clive Oppenheimer's intrepid scientific memoir not only takes us to the crater's edge, it shows how seriously the volcanologist takes the mystical meanings volcanoes hold for those who live nearby

Culture

Comment

Interstellar review: The case for seeking out alien technology

Culture

Comment

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵ recommends futuristic Netflix movie Nimona

Culture

Comment

Painkiller review: Netflix drops the ball in retelling OxyContin story

Culture

More

Little cute girl on kitchen is taking chocolate cookie from table.

Chemistry

The science behind baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie

Whether you like yours fudgy or crisp, nothing beats a chocolate chip cookie. Sam Wong explains how to get your preferred texture

Regulars

Puzzle #237: Can you work out the code to get Rumpelschtumpel’s gold?

Regulars

Tom Gauld on areas of expertise

Regulars

Twisteddoodles on gas laws and deadline law

Regulars

Regulars

Urgent inquiry into whereabouts of Robinson Crusoe's insect companions

Urgent inquiry into whereabouts of Robinson Crusoe's insect companions

Why didn't Daniel Defoe enumerate the pests that would have plagued his castaway? Feedback leafs through a study which sets out to answer this timely question

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

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