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This week's magazine

23 May 2009

Issue 2709

New Scientist issue 2709 cover
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Editor's picks

The 10-year quest to take a picture of a black hole

Space

The 10-year quest to take a picture of a black hole

Features
Body burners: The forensics of fire

Body burners: The forensics of fire

Features
How much is your identity worth?

Technology

How much is your identity worth?

Features
Rising sea levels: Survival tips from 5000 BC

Earth

Rising sea levels: Survival tips from 5000 BC

Features

Table of contents

News

Flood risk from Antarctic ice 'overestimated'

Earth

Flood risk from Antarctic ice 'overestimated'

Cross section of the West Antarctic ice sheet showing the bedrock and the Filchner Ronne ice shelf on the left and the Ross ice shelf on the right. Some of the West Antarctic ice shelf will stay land bound, but the rest could collapse into the sea The precariously moored West Antarctic ice sheet probably …

News

Earth

Chernobyl fallout could drive evolution of 'space plants'

News

Life

Puberty gene sets our sexual clocks

News

Earth

'Super-terminal' raindrops break speed limit

News

Life

Taunted mockingbirds can tell human friend from foe

News

Life

Venom is key to Komodo dragon's killing power

News

Space

Space shuttle releases upgraded Hubble

News

Earth

Sonic alarm saves marine mammals from ship strike

News

Earth

Flight fight over Grand Canyon noise pollution

News

Space

Can a former shuttle pilot put NASA back on track?

News

US climate bill takes shape

News

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Free Viagra for the unemployed, says Pfizer

News

Circus captivity is beastly for wild animals

News

Secret DNA tests outlawed in Germany

News

Environment

Primate ancestor, Back to black bees, and more...

News

Life

Harnessing science to create the ultimate warrior

News

Earth

Magma pulses may reveal Earth's 'heartbeat'

News

'King and Paco will get some extra tuna tonight, that's for sure'

News

Earth

Shellfish reefs are 'most imperilled sea habitat'

News

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Europe may be blind to swine flu cases

News

Life

Mars robots may have destroyed evidence of life

News

Life

Human pathogens threaten ancient cave art

News

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HIV vaccine turns muscle into antibody factories

News

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Extra gene fights cancer in Down's

News

Technology

Spying roboflies to get minicam eyes

News

Earth

Power-hungry gadgets must learn to diet

News

Technology

Can airport technology halt a pandemic?

News

Technology

Sperm-like nanopropeller is smallest swimmer ever

News

Space

Space pioneers battle for greater freedom

News

Technology

Fake web traffic can hide secret chat

News

Earth

Mystery of frost flower growth explained

News

Opinion

Growing biofuel without razing the rainforest

Earth

Growing biofuel without razing the rainforest

Marcos Buckeridge is Professor of Plant Physiology at São Paulo University, São Paulo, Brazil. He argues that Brazil can produce huge amounts of biofuel without razing its rainforests You can't grow biofuel without cutting down trees, right? Not so, says plant scientist Marcos Buckeridge who tells Jan Rocha how Brazil can supply the world with …

Opinion

Is this the dawn of the super-soldier?

Opinion

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Ignoring flu won't make it go away

Opinion

Let's hope we find the right kind of black hole

Opinion

Mind

Comment: Get real, drug czars

Opinion

Comment: Who wants to be a millionaire?

Opinion

Viewfinder: Opinions from around the world

Opinion

In praise of dualism

Opinion

Features

The 10-year quest to take a picture of a black hole

Space

The 10-year quest to take a picture of a black hole

The Sagittarius A* supermassive black hole, as seen by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Nobody has yet seen the black hole directly LIKE a giant pale blue eye, the Earth stares at the centre of our galaxy. Through the glare and the fog it is trying to catch a glimpse of an indistinct something 30,000 light …

Features

Body burners: The forensics of fire

Features

Technology

How much is your identity worth?

Features

Earth

Rising sea levels: Survival tips from 5000 BC

Features

More

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Enigma Number 1546

Mini-tangram Joe cut out a cardboard rectangle 12.5 cm by 8 cm. He asked Penny to cut it into two pieces with one straight cut and then, with a second straight cut, to cut one of the pieces into two. Her problem was to work out where to make the cuts so that the three …

Regulars

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Review: The End of Overeating

Books & Arts

Review: Newton and the Counterfeiter

Books & Arts

Life

Review: Bozo Sapiens

Books & Arts

Review: Science: A four thousand year history by Patricia Fara

Books & Arts

Life

Review: How storytelling shaped humanity

Books & Arts

Graduate Special: Help

Careers

Graduate Special: Graduate S.O.S

Careers

Graduate Special: Mock the geek

Careers

Graduate Special: Are you experienced?

Careers

What's hot on NewScientist.com

Regulars

Regulars

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Yikes! These bits of wood are amazing!

READER William Bowden points us to adverts which offer hi-fi buffs the opportunity to pay $2400 for some bits of wood to put under their audio equipment. Not just any old wood, of course, but unspecified special wood for a Harmonix "Tuning System Board" that makes things sound better. Intrigued, we wondered how this could …

Regulars

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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