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New Scientist

Issue: 02/10/2010

Ref: NS021010

Availability: 10 in stock.

No.2780

• The value of asking 'What if?'

  Editorial p3

  Provocative and seemingly pointless thought experiments can do us an important service if they expose weaknesses in conventional thinking

• Time for teachers to take another look at neuroscience

  Editorial p3

  If the gulf between neuroscience and education theory was unbridgeable, it may not be for much longer

• BP's head of safety admits human error over oil spill

  News > Upfront p4

  The first head-to-head meeting between BP and government-appointed investigators has highlighted operating errors aboard Deepwater Horizon

• Hawaii will face more frequent cyclones

  News > Upfront p4

  As the global climate warms, tropical cyclones will move from south-east Asia towards the centre of the Pacific

• Is this the start of the element wars?

  News > Upfront p4

  A spat between Japan and China highlights how a depletion in essential elements is already straining relations between countries

• Why the Stuxnet worm is like nothing seen before

  News > Upfront p4

  The Stuxnet worm is the first of its type known to be capable of seizing control of industrial hardware

• 60 Seconds

  News > 60 Seconds p5

  Diabetes drugs sidelined, Pan-STARRS chalks up first big catch, Neanderthals' nemesis, and more

• Artificial fertility treatments create a sex bias

  News > Upfront p5

  Fertility treatments alter the natural sex ratio, with IVF more likely to produce boys while ICSI favours girls

• Ban all tobacco advertising, say US paediatricians

  News > Upfront p5

  The glamour generated by the $25-billion-a-year US tobacco advertising spend confuses the non-smoking message from parents and teachers

• Modified contraceptive treats cancer of the uterus

  News > Upfront p5

  Women with endometrial cancer have been successfully treated with a hormone-releasing IUD, avoiding the need for a hysterectomy

• Sparks fly over origin of altruism

  News > This Week pp8-9

  A new view of kin selection says it is part of a broader theory describing the evolution of behaviour in general

• A fifth of all wild plant species face extinction

  News > This Week p9

  The Sampled Red List Index for Plants reveals that one-fifth of all plant species are on the brink – a higher proportion than for birds

• Hawking radiation glimpsed in artificial black hole

  News > This Week pp10-11

  Light has been observed escaping from an event horizon in a laboratory experiment that simulated a key characteristic of a black hole

• Addicts to get no kick from cocaine

  News > This Week p12

  Gene therapy that rids the body of cocaine could be the answer for junkies who want to quit

• Pulses of light spark muscle movement

  News > This Week p12

  A technology that allows nerves to be switched on and off with light could one day help paralysed people to walk again

• Sound can leap across a vacuum after all

  News > This Week p12

  Sound waves are carried by vibrating particles, so how could the waves pass through a vacuum devoid of atoms? The key lies in special crystals

• Large brains bust baggage allowance for migratory bats

  News > In Brief p14

  Migratory bats have smaller brains than their stay-at-home cousins, suggesting they cannot afford the luxury of lugging a large brain on long journeys

• Levitating graphene is fastest-spinning object ever

  News > In Brief p14

  Thanks to its incredible strength, a flake of exotic carbon a few atoms thick has grabbed a speed crown

• Meet Kosmoceratops, the horniest vegetarian dinosaur

  News > In Brief p14

  Supersized head and multiple horns are order of the day for "lost continent" dinosaurs

• Standing on a stepladder makes you age faster

  News > In Brief p14

  New atomic clock experiments confirm that relativity's effects on time don't just happen at extreme speeds and in crushing gravitational fields

• Antidepressants make people less likely to harm others

  News > In Brief p15

  People on antidepressent drugs which raise serotonin levels are less willing to hurt or punish other people – even if it's for the "greater good"

• Fungi generate their own mini wind to go the distance

  News > In Brief p15

  Through carefully coordinated spore ejections, some species are able to create local air currents that help their

• Leading cause of blindness identified

  News > In Brief p15

  Age-related macular degeneration causes half of all blindness in the western world, but new treatments may now be over the horizon

• The slippery slope to obesity

  News > In Brief p15

  Reward centres in the brain become less responsive as people gain weight causing them to eat more, reducing the reward response still further

• Anyone can dupe biometric scanner

  Technology > News p17

  Natural changes in the human body may leave biometrics systems inherently fallible – something their manufacturers will have to accept

• How did you get to work today? I took the Shweeb

  Technology > News p17

  A transport system that's a cross between a monorail and a bike has won $1 million in funding from Google

• Maker Faire: From icy love to electrical Play-Doh

  Technology > News p17

  The World Maker Faire in New York last weekend showcased a range of curious inventions, such as a suit that helps you hug a glacier

• Ditch the glasses for lifelike 3D

  Technology > News pp18-19

  The race is on to find ways to display 3D images without clunky glasses – and gamers will get in first

• Wolverine foam builds human bones from titanium

  Technology > News p19

  Implants made from titanium foam fuse with the human skeleton, offering a better way to repair and strengthen broken bones

• Charge your phone with a beach towel

  Technology > News p20

  A photovoltaic liquid lets you spray-paint solar cells onto almost any surface

• Scratched glasses give perfect vision for any eyesight

  Technology > News p20

  Engraving lenses with concentric rings could allow your eyes to focus on any object no matter how far away

• Should psychoanalysis be in the Science Museum?

  Comment and Analysis pp22-23

  Is psychoanalysis worthy of a place in London's Science Museum? Of course it is, says Robert Bud. Certainly not, counters Mario Bunge

• Jeffrey Sachs: Poverty is multidimensional

  Opinion > Interview p23

  Poverty, disease, women's rights – we have to tackle them all, says the economist who helped draw up the Millennium Development Goals

• Cholesterol crusher

  Letters p24

  Donald Fabian expresses confusion at changes over time to the levels of blood cholesterol considered acceptable, and the link between coronary heart disease and high...

• Clean and dry

  Letters p24

  Your article on hand-drying implied that paper towels are more hygienic than air dryers (18 September, p 17). However, the study you reported was...

• Online solace

  Letters p24

  Whenever I read an article about the internet, and online gaming in particular, such as Paul Marks's recent offering (11 September, p 24), it...

• Tutan-come-on

  Letters p24

  Jo Marchant writes about the ethical issues concerning research on ancient corpses, mentioning that philosopher Søren Holm wants people involved in such work to...

• Enigma Number 1615

  Opinion > Enigma p24

• Commanding words

  Letters p25

  Philologists, and others who study the roots of language, are not much taken with the idea of one early human suddenly deciding to develop names...

• For the record

  Letters p25

  • We erroneously attributed to Thomas Frost the statement that sheep and goats cannot interbreed to produce viable offspring unless the embryos are genetically manipulated. The...

• Hotting things up

  Letters p25

  Further to your article about the idea that fever may help the body fight disease (31 July, p 42), sweating out a cold was common...

• Implosive dice

  Letters p25

  James Mitchell Crowe writes about the somewhat exciting decay of celluloid materials, mentioning the spontaneous ignition of early film tapes due to the flammable nature...

• Perplexing particles

  Letters p25

  One can be forgiven, I think, for becoming bemused at the number of items in cosmology we have to accept on trust. We have dark...

• Shared illusions

  Letters p25

  I read the "Why your brain flips over visual illusions" article (4 September, p 14), then the piece "Weird water lurks inside giant planets" (4...

• Oliver Sacks: Why I'm a resident alien

  Interview pp26-27

  The neurologist who wrote Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat recalls his "lost years" and explains why he prefers to be an outsider

• Mental muscle: six ways to boost your brain

  Features > Cover Story pp28-33

  Brain training games won't make you smarter – but a dose of blue light or an electrical shock just might

• Fossil secrets of the da Vinci codex

  Features > Feature pp34-37

  Did Leonardo decipher traces of ancient life centuries before Darwin?

• Breaking the noise barrier: Enter the phonon computer

  Features > Feature pp38-41

  Noise is a chip designer's worst enemy. But handled properly it could become a powerful ally – and usher in the age of phonon computing

• Seven ways to make a new thing

  Opinion > Books & Arts p42

  Steven Johnson runs into trouble when he tries to construct a universal theory of how innovation happens in Where Good Ideas Come From

• Art scaled up and down

  Opinion > Books & Arts p43

  Reality has different rules when you play with scale, shows an exhibition curated by a Harvard physicist

• Deceitful numbers

  Opinion > Books & Arts p43

  Learn how to spot "randumbness" and "Potemkin numbers" in Proofiness: The dark arts of mathematical deception by Charles Seife

• From neutrinos to neon lights

  Opinion > Books & Arts p43

  In Much Ado About (Practically) Nothing: A history of the noble gases, David Fisher gets to grips with these unsung heroes

• Going for green at the Olympics

  Careers > The Insider pp44-47

  Scientists and engineers play an essential role putting together colossal events like the Olympic games

• When sight and sound go out of sync

  Feedback p60

  Trouble in 3D for tech giants, wholesome rat poison, pregnant vegetables, and more

• No solids

  The Last Word > Last Word Answer p61

• Ripple effect

  The Last Word > Last Word Answer p61

• A dusting down

  The Last Word > Last Word Question p61

• Blank look

  The Last Word > Last Word Question p61

• Extreme Weather: Concentrated fury

  Features > Instant Expert

  Spawned by thunderstorms, tornadoes are the fastest and most destructive winds

• Extreme Weather: Driving forces

  Features > Instant Expert

  The mood swings of our amazing atmosphere lie behind all of our weather

• Extreme Weather: Heat engines

  Features > Instant Expert

  Warm ocean waters drive hurricanes, the world's most fearsome storms

• Extreme Weather: Hurricane hunting

  Features > Instant Expert

  Meet Jeff Masters, who flies into hurricanes to test their strength