August - 2007 Articles

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• Ice sums

  01 September 2007

• Comment: Cursing condoms

  01 September 2007

  Efforts to slow global warming will never work if conservatives of all kinds keep blocking women's access to contraception, says William Laurance

• Modern women are excellent gatherers

  01 September 2007

  Women can accurately remember the location of fruit and vegetables, a skill that would have been valuable in our distant past

• Ringside view of change at Uranus

  01 September 2007

  New edge-on pictures of the planet's rings show that they have changed unexpectedly in the past 20 years

• Social free will

  01 September 2007

• India's monsoons more variable than thought

  01 September 2007

  South Asia's vital monsoons failed for 15 to 30-year-long stretches between AD 600 and 1500, a study of cave stalagmites reveals

• Glowing protein could be smallest thermometer

  01 September 2007

  Green fluorescent protein flickers more slowly when hot than when cold, making it ideal as a thermometer inside cells and "lab-on-a-chip" devices

• Essay: What really makes us human?

  01 September 2007

  Just as the richness of human language relies on sentences that refer back to themselves, the ability to think in abstract ways seems to be a key feature of the human mind – and it could be what distinguishes us from other species

• Quantum free will

  01 September 2007

• Farther lands

  01 September 2007

• Case for treatment

  01 September 2007

• Sushi speared

  01 September 2007

• For the record

  01 September 2007

• Mobile games consoles pose security threat

  01 September 2007

  Hand-held games consoles like Sony's PlayStation Portable can be hacked to snoop on internet traffic

• Blueprint drawn up for quantum RAM

  01 September 2007

  A new method for retrieving quantum information could make recall more reliable

• A beef with driving

  01 September 2007

• Time after time...

  01 September 2007

• Colour of custard

  01 September 2007

• Save our cars

  01 September 2007

• Leaf antlers

  01 September 2007

• Editorial: Save the Arctic Ocean for wildlife and science

  01 September 2007

  Rather than drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean, we need a treaty to protect the new environment that is emerging from beneath the ice

• Plant depression

  01 September 2007

• Jupiter both protects and endangers us

  01 September 2007

  The huge planet shields us from some comets, but its gravity also attracts objects into the solar system

• The biggest hole ever seen in the universe

  01 September 2007

  A newly discovered void is 40 times larger than the previous record holder and challenges theories of the universe's structure

• 60 Seconds

  01 September 2007

• Lessons of hurricane Katrina are being ignored

  01 September 2007

  Two years on. millions of people in the US are still in danger – not to mention billions more elsewhere

• Fruit bats carry deadly Marburg virus

  01 September 2007

  Scientists in Gabon have tracked the Marburg virus down to a species of fruit bat that lives in caves – the first time it has been found outside humans or other primates

• UK's nuclear accidents blamed on poor safety

  01 September 2007

  Documents obtained by New Scientist under freedom of information legislation reveal that two of the UK's worst nuclear weapons accidents could have been averted

• Soundbites

  01 September 2007

• This week 50 years ago

  01 September 2007

• Feedback

  01 September 2007

• Gizmo

  01 September 2007

• Virtual entrepreneurs and 'griefers' spoil the fantasy of online worlds

  01 September 2007

  They should be places where anything goes, but vandals and lawyers are spoiling the fun

• Why superheroes always win

  01 September 2007

  An analysis of the social networks within the fictional universe of Marvel comics reveals superheroes are better connected than villains

• The long march of the penguins

  01 September 2007

  Penguins first waddled down to the sea just after the dinosaurs went extinct, the start of an amazing evolutionary journey

• Disaster machines: Simulating nature's fury

  01 September 2007

  Take a tour of the biggest and baddest platforms for faking quakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and fire – all in the name of safety

• Cloning people

  01 September 2007

• Climate scandal

  01 September 2007

• Nervous free will

  01 September 2007

• Nervous free will

  01 September 2007

• What good is God?

  01 September 2007

  If humans are hardwired to be moral, what is the point of religion?

• Whale hunt may stop, announces Iceland

  01 September 2007

  Falling demand for whale products and no access to Japan's market means it is no longer profitable to hunt whales

• Toxic cocktail

  01 September 2007

  Chemicals that are safe on their own can gang up when they meet in your body

• An out-of-body experience – without the death bit

  01 September 2007

  Lab experiments show that people who claim to have left their bodies during surgery or accidents may be imagining the experience

• Review: To Follow the Water, by Dallas Murphy

  01 September 2007

  This tale of ocean currents and the Gulf Stream has the salt-soaked readability of Dava Sobel's Longitude

• The Word: Burble

  01 September 2007

  For a skydiver, air turbulence can be deadly

• Review: About the Size of It, by Warwick Cairns

  01 September 2007

  A deliciously ironic brief history of traditional measurements

• View from the Top: Meet Andrew Wadge, chief scientist of the UK's Food Standards Agency

  01 September 2007

  Keeping the UK's food fit to eat - and good for you - is one seriously tough job

• Interview: Second Life – under attack

  01 September 2007

  Attract too much attention in Second Life and you risk an attack by "griefers". We asked a griefer why, and one of his victims how it felt

• Review:

  01 September 2007

  Are the Archaea a new form of life? No matter how awe-inspiring they may be, biologist Lynn Margulis thinks not

• Review: The Most Dangerous Animal: Human nature and the origins of war

  01 September 2007

  A study of the history of war shows human nature can be both peaceful and violent. How we can avoid being manipulated into a murderous state?

• Air-dropped dams could fix levee breaches

  31 August 2007

  Massive self-filling water-bags could be dropped by helicopters to rapidly repair levees breached by storm damage

• Health warnings on stairs could cut obesity

  31 August 2007

  Encouraging people to walk, rather than take the elevator, would encourage people to adopt healthier habits, researchers say

• CSI could benefit from computer sidekick

  31 August 2007

  A wearable GPS device that accepts voice commands, takes pictures, and logs evidence could speed up crime scene investigation and reduce errors

• 'Swiss cheese' universe challenges dark energy

  31 August 2007

  If the universe is holey on very large scales, we may not need to invoke dark energy to explain supernovae observations

• Hurricane Dean decimated Mexican ecosystems

  31 August 2007

  When the category 5 hurricane hit the Yucatan peninsula, the region's reefs, forests and wildlife took a heavy hit

• Mistrust rises with social diversity

  31 August 2007

  Increasing diversity in a community can lead to distrust – even among people of the same ethnicity

• Strange Martian feature not a 'bottomless' cave after all

  30 August 2007

  An extremely dark feature on Mars is probably just a pit – not the entrance to a deep cavern that future astronauts could call home

• Mesopotamian city grew from merging settlements

  30 August 2007

  Six-thousand-year-old pottery from the site of Tell Brak challenges the notion that such cities expanded outwards due to dictates from a central authority

• Magnetic ripples may solve mystery of Sun's heat

  30 August 2007

  Elusive 'Alfvén waves' have been spotted in the Sun's corona for the first time – they may explain why the corona is so scorchingly hot

• Bandwidth could be a new global 'currency'

  30 August 2007

  A new peer-to-peer network lets users "earn" by uploading and "spend" by downloading data, effectively creating a working credit system

• Cellphones affect human cells without heating them

  30 August 2007

  Electromagnetic radiation causes a reaction that might affect the way our cells divide, a new study suggests, but a link to cancer is "unlikely"

• Rare river dolphin 'spotted' in China

  30 August 2007

  A man claims to have filmed a Baiji in the Yangtze river – if true, it may be the last chance to save the species which had been considered extinct

• Plant genes switched on by sound waves

  30 August 2007

  Desirable genetic traits could one day be switched on by blasting sound into fields full of crops

• NASA refutes claim that astronauts flew drunk

  29 August 2007

  The agency made the assertion after interviewing hundreds of personnel and reviewing records going back 20 years

• Leaf 'sweat glands' to worsen future flooding

  29 August 2007

  Tiny pores on plant leaves that are sensitive to CO₂ may exacerbate future flooding as a result of increasing atmospheric pollution

• Orchid fossil reveals flowers' domination of Earth

  29 August 2007

  The discovery of an ancient orchid preserved in amber reveals how the plants survived the demise of the dinosaurs

• Supersonic 'rain' pelts planet-forming disc

  29 August 2007

  Water from space is lashing a dusty disc around a young star – the observations could help settle a debate about how planets form

• Men with younger women have more children

  29 August 2007

  Couples in which a man is several years older than a woman have the most children, according to an analysis of Swedish birth records

• USB stick cloaking trick may make PCs vulnerable

  29 August 2007

  Internet security researchers say software bundled with Sony USB stick memory could make machines vulnerable to attack by hackers

• Ad-hoc network probes links for smoother calls

  29 August 2007

  Testing the robustness of each connection could let cellphone users hop smoothly between different networks during calls

• Bugs blur the species boundary

  29 August 2007

  Gene swapping blurs boundaries so thoroughly that it is impossible to draw a line between species of bacteria-like archaeans

• High-speed video shows how crows 'caw'

  29 August 2007

  The footage, shot from inside a crow's voice box, has revealed striking similarities between the bird's signature call and a sound made by humans

• Disoriented satellite regains bearings but not vision

  28 August 2007

  NASA's Swift telescope regains its sense of direction after a gyro glitch two weeks ago, but it needs further rehab before it can observe again

• Warped space-time helps pin down neutron star size

  28 August 2007

  Relativistic effects observed around a neutron star yield a new way to measure the ultradense objects, which may boast exotic forms of matter

• Young female prisoners at higher risk of death

  28 August 2007

  A study of Australian inmates has identified the groups that are most vulnerable on release, and suggests ways of easing their transition back into society

• Invention: The hibernation diet

  28 August 2007

  This week's patent applications include a method of inducing hibernation in humans, a device to send voice and video beneath the waves, and a way to control swarms of unmanned aircraft

• Greedy larvae too much of a mouthful for predators

  28 August 2007

  While under constant threat, some salamander young seem to have evolved such that they actively overeat to avoid becoming a meal themselves

• Bushmeat hunters no threat to Amazon wildlife

  28 August 2007

  Indigenous hunters are not harming animal populations in Peru's Manu National Park, researchers say

• Mars rovers begin to stir as dust storms recede

  27 August 2007

  NASA's twin rovers are on the move again after dust storms immobilised them for six weeks

• 'HIV denial' is costing lives

  27 August 2007

  Most accept that HIV causes AIDS, but a thriving culture of denial is obstructing the fight against the disease

• Tsunami risk for Hong Kong and Macao

  27 August 2007

  There is a 1-in-10 chance that a giant wave will hit the economic centres in the next century, new models calculate

• Smaller transistors suffer from tiny flaws

  27 August 2007

  Shrinking transistors makes them faster and allows designers to squeeze more of them onto a single chip, but it also makes variations in their size more likely to cause problems

• Evidence for unified theory may lie in black holes

  26 August 2007

  Hypothetical objects called magnetic monopoles, which underpin most theories of everything, may exist inside spinning black holes

• 'Shadoo' prion sheds light on BSE

  26 August 2007

  Treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as vCJD could be a step closer with the discovery of a new type of prion

• Acrylamide cleared of causing breast cancer

  26 August 2007

  A study of 100,000 nurses suggests that their risk of developing breast cancer was the same regardless of the amount of acrylamide in their diet

• Smart soap can save water

  26 August 2007

  The new surfactant uses up less water than conventional detergents because its bubbles collapse with relatively little rinsing

• Science in Fiction review: The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

  25 August 2007

  Bryan Appleyard on a cleverly wrought thriller – essential reading for any neuroscientist with a soul

• Science in Fiction: Essay by Rebecca Goldstein

  25 August 2007

  How a serious-minded child stopped feeling ashamed about loving fiction and learned to embrace its peculiar power to unlock ideas

• Diaper polymer makes for a moist cornea

  25 August 2007

  An artificial cornea has been created that is as strong and clear as the real thing, and can transmit vital nutrients – it could allow millions of people with damaged eyes to see

• Science in Fiction review: Ghost by Alan Lightman

  25 August 2007

  John Cornwell on a novel that turns a sharp spotlight on the paranormal

• Interview: In search of a grand unified theory of me

  25 August 2007

  Because it defines the modern world, Jeanette Winterson expects science to become central to many more novels. But the writer has to know what they're talking about

• Science in Fiction: A Certain Ambiguity by Gaurav Suri and Hartosh Singh Bal

  25 August 2007

  It's rare luck to find a book that's both compelling novel and a fascinating tour of complex ideas, says Mark Buchanan

• Science in Fiction review: The Air We Breathe by Andrea Barrett

  25 August 2007

  A poignant tale of TB, politics, war and immigrant yearnings, says Liz Else

• Science in Fiction: Jeff Hecht and Michael Brooks on writing novels

  25 August 2007

  It sounds glamorous, but writing novels gets you up at 5 am, worries your partner – and can even threaten the future of the planet

• Science in Fiction: Pandora's Sisters by Michael Stephen Fuchs

  25 August 2007

  Roawn Hooper on why he now feels a strong urge to go back to basics

• Tsunami strike risk for Hong Kong and Macao

  25 August 2007

  There is a 1-in-10 chance that a giant wave will hit the economic centres in the next century, new models predict

• Are devastating hurricanes becoming the norm?

  25 August 2007

  Does hurricane Dean signal the start of a new, more intense bout of hurricane activity, or is it just that we are getting better at measuring them?

• 60 Seconds

  25 August 2007

• Acrylamide cleared of causing breast cancer

  25 August 2007

  A study of 100,000 nurses suggests that their risk of developing breast cancer was the same regardless of the amount of acrylamide in their diet

• Gizmo

  25 August 2007

• Smaller transistors suffer from tiny flaws

  25 August 2007

  Shrinking transistors makes them faster and allows designers to squeeze more of them onto a single chip, but it also makes variations in their size more likely to cause problems

• Feedback

  25 August 2007

• Drought re-doubt

  25 August 2007

• Building standards

  25 August 2007

• Data consent

  25 August 2007

• Screening screening

  25 August 2007

• Editorial: Noise, more than a nuisance

  25 August 2007

  Governments will have no choice but to act on WHO findings that noise can seriously damage your health, and even kill

• Editorial: The power of fiction

  25 August 2007

  Why do so many scientists secretly despise the novel, when a novelist's imaginative strengths can help us understand 21st-century science?

• What's the crack?

  25 August 2007

• Family tree

  25 August 2007

• Cloning humans

  25 August 2007

• Must print this

  25 August 2007

• Loud shirt

  25 August 2007

• Sky sports

  25 August 2007

• Lord of the flies

  25 August 2007

• Anatomical error

  25 August 2007

• Mathematically inexact

  25 August 2007

• For the snark was...

  25 August 2007

• Inheriting autism

  25 August 2007

• Sibling saviours

  25 August 2007

• Science in Fiction: Sixty Days & Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson

  25 August 2007

  Fred Pearce finds the third part of this eco-triology strong on science, but weak on global politics

• Cosmic hole defies dark matter theories

  25 August 2007

  The wreckage of an intergalactic pile-up suggests that dark matter is even less well understood than astronomers thought

• 'Shadoo' prion sheds light on BSE

  25 August 2007

  Treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as vCJD could be a step closer with the discovery of a new type of prion

• 'Non-stick' frog protein spawns new antibiotics

  25 August 2007

  Adding fluorine – the main component of Teflon – to proteins from frog skin resulted in an antibiotic that kills MRSA.

• This week 50 years ago

  25 August 2007

• Space could be the most likely source of life

  25 August 2007

  The watery clay centres that may exist within comets would make them ideal places for life to develop, say researchers

• Cats learn by doing, not seeing

  25 August 2007

  The action of the front legs, not vision, tells cats' hind legs how high to step over an obstacle – could humans behave in similar ways?

• Comment: Atheism à la carte

  25 August 2007

  Rational arguments, not emotional lobbying, are the best way to sell atheism in America, says Lawrence Krauss

• Common cold virus may trigger obesity

  25 August 2007

  Human fat stem cells infected with the virus multiply and become bloated with fat, meaning overeating may not be the only factor in obesity

• Supernatural politics

  25 August 2007

• Smart soap can save water

  25 August 2007

  The new surfactant uses up less water than conventional detergents because its bubbles collapse with relatively little rinsing

• Soundbites

  25 August 2007

• Missing gene creates obsessive-compulsive mouse

  25 August 2007

  Mice engineered to lack a certain gene are extremely anxious and spend three times longer grooming than normal – the discovery could yield insights into the human disorder

• Flatter oceans may have caused 1920s sea rise

  24 August 2007

  The lowering of a huge "mounds" of water may have caused sea levels to begin rising more quickly along Pacific and Atlantic coasts

• Biggest void in space is 1 billion light years across

  24 August 2007

  The newly discovered hole is 40 times larger than the previous record holder and challenges theories of the universe's structure

• Ignition of third ion engine boosts asteroid probe

  24 August 2007

  Another working engine increases the chances that the Hayabusa spacecraft will make it back to Earth – hopefully with a payload of asteroid samples

• AI system predicts medicine's hidden powers

  24 August 2007

  Software that learns how to spot unknown antibiotics among readily available drugs could be a first line of defence against new diseases

• Mountain gorillas get 24-hour armed guard

  24 August 2007

  Six survivors of last month's massacre of endangered mountain gorillas in Congo receive round-the-clock protection against marauding gunmen

• Stretching crystals promises flexible colour displays

  24 August 2007

  The first full-colour display made from a single material reflects light in a similar way to opal, and saves power by using ambient light

• Jupiter increases risk of comet strike on Earth

  24 August 2007

  The huge planet does not act as an impact shield, a new study says – in fact its gravity attracts objects into the solar system

• Monkeys use 'baby talk' to sooth infants not mums

  24 August 2007

  Female rhesus monkeys attract other mothers' newborns with a form of vocalisation similar to the cooing sounds humans make to babies

• Skype outage raises P2P fears

  24 August 2007

  The two-day failure of the internet telephony service has prompted the question: are peer-to-peer networks robust enough?

• ‘World's fattest mouse' appears immune to diabetes

  23 August 2007

  Genetically engineered obese mice, which overproduce a key hormone, store fat under the skin rather than in the liver, and thus retain normal sensitivity to insulin

• Out-of-body experiences are 'all in the mind'

  23 August 2007

  Illusion created experimentally is the first to give people their own "out-of-body" experiences

• Rare view reveals dynamic nature of Uranus's rings

  23 August 2007

  Dramatic changes to the rock and dust rings astonish astronomers and highlight the extreme processes at work on the planet

• New ape species rewrites our evolutionary history

  23 August 2007

  Fossil teeth from Africa of a gorilla-like species suggest that the great apes may have evolved more slowly than thought

• Saltier North Atlantic should give currents a boost

  23 August 2007

  A salinity increase in the ocean's surface waters might aid the stability of important ocean currents threatened by climate change

• Oldest diamonds give clue to Earth's early crust

  23 August 2007

  The world's oldest known diamonds, found in Australia, have been dated at more than 3 billion years old, relatively soon after the planet formed

• Stomach stapling really can save lives

  22 August 2007

  The drastic surgery to reduce the stomach size of the severely obese markedly cuts deaths in the long-term, suggest two large-scale studies

• Geyser teaser: The moon that should be colder

  22 August 2007

  Saturn's moon Enceladus should be a frozen, inactive world, so how come it is spouting water into space?

• Science in Fiction special

  22 August 2007

  Impostors, melting icecaps, ghostly psychology, TB, dinosaurs, new planets, evolutionary mistakes, beautiful mathematics, complexity... ideas to get your teeth into. Find out what modern novelists are making of it all in seven pages of reviews, mini blogs

• Dying for some quiet: The truth about noise pollution

  22 August 2007

  Background din is usually dismissed as an inevitable fact of life, but new research links unwanted noise to premature death and illness

• Your body the powerplant

  22 August 2007

  You won't need batteries when you can harvest energy from your breathing, heart beat and blood flow

• Evidence for unified theory may lie in black holes

  22 August 2007

  Hypothetical objects called magnetic monopoles, which underpin most theories of everything, may exist inside spinning black holes

• 'HIV denial' is costing lives

  22 August 2007

  Most accept that HIV causes AIDS, but a thriving culture of denial is obstructing the fight against the disease

• The beaver: destructive pest or climate saviour?

  22 August 2007

  Cursed with a reputation for destruction, the dam-building rodent's tale is an unhappy one – but we are finally seeing an eco-saint where once we saw a sinner

• Universe's extra dimensions may be apple-shaped

  22 August 2007

  The projected shape for microscopic extra dimensions in space could explain why fundamental particles come in threes

• Virtual London shelved in row over map costs

  22 August 2007

  The 3D virtual model of London was to have democratised city planning and demonstrated the effects of sea rises to the public

• Virtual worlds offer far more than just escapism

  22 August 2007

  In a three-part special report beginning this week, New Scientist investigates the impact of virtual worlds. Do they offer a more liberating experience than real life, and what other virtual experiences are on the way?

• Cholesterol: Secret of our killer blood

  22 August 2007

  Our blood is lethal to most trypanosome parasites. Now the discovery of how the one that causes sleeping sickness diseases eludes our natural defence is already leading to new treatments

• T. rex could catch a human, simulations show

  22 August 2007

  Sophisticated computer simulations show that smaller dinosaurs, like the Velociraptor, could have outrun the fastest humans with ease

• Celestial add-on points Google Earth at the stars

  22 August 2007

  Amateur stargazers have a new way to explore the heavens – with an update to the free global mapping program

• Deadliness of West Nile virus explained

  22 August 2007

  A single mutation in a gene that aids viral replication may have created deadly strains of the virus

• Crash destroys rocket ahead of X Prize contest

  22 August 2007

  The front-runner for a $2 million competition to build mock lunar landers has lost one of its two main vehicles, adding drama to the upcoming contest

• Bug-popping nanotubes promise clean surfaces

  22 August 2007

  Coating materials with carbon nanotubes could keep them microbe-free, suggests a study that shows how they pierce and kill bacteria upon contact

• Fossil-fuel hangover may block ice ages

  22 August 2007

  Burning fossil fuels will disrupt the atmosphere for hundreds of thousands of years, and may prevent the onset of the next ice age

• Chimps keep busy to control their urges

  22 August 2007

  Like humans, chimpanzees are able to distract themselves to avoid giving in to the temptation of sweet rewards, according to a new study

• Vibrations on the Sun may 'shake' the Earth

  21 August 2007

  Ocean-like waves on the Sun may cause tiny tremors on the Earth and could even cut off mobile phone calls, a controversial new study claims

• Underwater turbines set to generate record power

  21 August 2007

  Soon, twin turbines off Northern Ireland will generate 1.2 megawatts of power in what will be the world's largest tidal power project

• Space shuttle Endeavour lands safely in Florida

  21 August 2007

  The shuttle returned to Earth without a hitch after a 13-day mission to the International Space Station

• Blueprints drawn up for quantum computer RAM

  21 August 2007

  Physicists have come up with a method for retrieving quantum information that they say will make total recall more reliable

• Space shuttle set for early return to Earth

  21 August 2007

  The shuttle Endeavour is due to land in Florida on Tuesday afternoon if weather permits

• Human tooth and eggshell can focus light

  21 August 2007

  A range of cheap opaque materials could replace lenses in high-res microscopes

• Was the brightest supernova the birth of a quark star?

  20 August 2007

  Astronomers have been puzzling over a supernova 100 times brighter than most – it may be the first observation of 'strange matter'

• Hurricane Dean intensifies as it heads for Mexico

  20 August 2007

  The storm could become a Category Five hurricane later on Monday before hitting the Mexican mainland, the US National Hurricane Centre says

• Women may be hardwired to prefer pink

  20 August 2007

  As the cliché suggests, females may indeed prefer pink hues – or at least redder shades of blue – say researchers, and the reason may be evolutionary

• New devices promise touchy-feely computing

  20 August 2007

  Is it possible to "feel" an object while being in another location? The question is addressed by several technologies revealed this month

• Space shuttle takes early flight home

  20 August 2007

  The shuttle Endeavour leaves the space station a day early over fears that a hurricane could hit Mission Control – but forecasters say that is unlikely

• Invention: The strategy predictor

  20 August 2007

  This week's patent applications include software to predict an opponent's next move, a quicker quantum-number generator, and a trap to catch beetles with a taste for honey

• Paedophiles may have less grey matter

  20 August 2007

  Convicted paedophiles have reduced concentrations of nerve cells in key areas of the brain, according to a new study – the finding could have legal implications

• Woman hears voices with a speech impediment

  20 August 2007

  A unique insight into how auditory hallucinations are generated has been provided by a Swiss woman who fell off her bicycle

• Enter your PIN using only eye movements

  20 August 2007

  An infrared eye tracker will make it hard for a snoop to work out your PIN or password

• Female hyenas prefer wandering males

  19 August 2007

  Female spotted hyenas prefer to mate with immigrants from other packs – causing their male relatives to leave home

• Modified Tetris has calming effect

  19 August 2007

  The popular game has been adapted to work using the heart rate of the player to control the speed of the falling blocks

• How the big bang chilled out

  19 August 2007

  The temperature of the universe not long after the big bang has been measured – and it's a lot lower than expected

• America gets cash to boost science education

  18 August 2007

  Bush signs legislation to plough $33 billion into recruiting science teachers

• Brain implant could prevent epileptic seizures

  18 August 2007

  The implant would monitor a thousand regions of the brain to detect a seizure then suppress it

• Review: A Natural History of Time by Pascal Richet

  18 August 2007

  Geophysicist Pascal Richet expertly leads us through the intricacies of the age-old quest to determine the age of the Earth

• Review: Life in the Soil by James Nardi

  18 August 2007

  Biologist James Nardi uncovers the densely populated world that exists under our feet

• Feedback

  18 August 2007

• Humans can adapt to almost anything, even paralysis

  18 August 2007

  Being unable to move a muscle but fully conscious might seem like a fate worse than death, but most people in that state beg to differ

• Soundbites

  18 August 2007

• For the record

  18 August 2007

• Living fire

  18 August 2007

• Rising tide

  18 August 2007

• Twin chicks

  18 August 2007

• Mars evades

  18 August 2007

• The Word: Sting pain index

  18 August 2007

  A bee sting can hurt, but it is nothing compared with the sting of a warrior wasp or a bullet ant, which can leave you throbbing for hours

• Review: Rocketeers by Michael Belfiore

  18 August 2007

  The growing movement to privatise space travel is fuelled by the personalities of its proponents. Will passion be enough to get these businesses off the ground?

• 60 Seconds

  18 August 2007

• Can biofuels rescue American prairies?

  18 August 2007

  Yes, say ecologists, but not if the current enthusiasm for corn ethanol continues to hold sway

• Correct address may fix faulty genes

  18 August 2007

  An 'address label' enables proteins to get inside mitochondria and correct faulty genes

• When it comes to heart health, sex matters

  18 August 2007

  The causes of high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases may vary between men and women, potentially leading to gender-tailored treatments

• Call to save Australia's great savannah

  18 August 2007

  A new report says Northern Australia's tropical savannah woodland – the largest in the world – should be considered a "global treasure"

• Mbeki sacks minister for attending AIDS conference

  18 August 2007

  Plans to increase the availability of free HIV drugs in South Africa are thrown into doubt as President Thabo Mbeki fires his deputy health minister for "insubordination"

• Shuttle damage could delay launch programme

  18 August 2007

  Damage to the shuttle is not serious but could delay future launches

• America gets cash to boost science education

  18 August 2007

  Bush signs legislation to plough $33 billion into recruiting science teachers

• Life glue

  18 August 2007

• Human zoo

  18 August 2007

• US should look to UK for biosafety lessons

  18 August 2007

  When planning its massive new animal diseases lab the US should watch out for the weakest link in the biosafety chain: human error

• Patients denied access to new drugs

  18 August 2007

  British and American patients' groups have failed to win access to new medicines after challenging the authorities in two separate court cases

• Vast ancient settlement unearthed in Cambodia

  18 August 2007

  A new map reveals the urban sprawl around the Angkor Wat complex and hints that environmental damage was the cause of the settlement's collapse

• Cloning people

  18 August 2007

• Rising tide

  18 August 2007

• Brain implant could prevent epileptic seizures

  18 August 2007

  The implant would monitor a thousand regions of the brain to detect a seizure then suppress it

• Gizmo

  18 August 2007

• At the end, no harm

  18 August 2007

• Comment: Racial alchemy

  18 August 2007

  We need a debate about what advances in the genetics of skin colour will mean for the future of diversity and racial equality, says Osagie Obasogie

• Nanosafety

  18 August 2007

• Nuclear safety in Iran

  18 August 2007

• Squirrels' tails prove too hot to handle

  18 August 2007

  California ground squirrels pump blood into their tails to appear bigger to rattlesnakes' infrared sensors

• This week 50 years ago

  18 August 2007

• 'Life' in interstellar dust

  18 August 2007

  Computer simulation suggests that life-like structures could arise from dust in the plasma of deep space

• How the big bang chilled out

  18 August 2007

  The temperature of the universe not long after the big bang has been measured – and it's a lot lower than expected

• Prometheus rebound

  18 August 2007

• Modified Tetris has calming effect

  18 August 2007

  The popular game has been adapted to work using the heart rate of the player to control the speed of the falling blocks

• Robots surf the web to learn about the world

  17 August 2007

  Thanks to the wealth of images available online, robots are now able to teach themselves to recognise objects in the real world

• Spooks in space

  17 August 2007

  The possibility of conscious beings popping up in space has cosmologists rethinking the fate of the universe

• Did life begin on comets?

  17 August 2007

  Comets rich in water and clay are a trillion times more likely to have spawned life than the Earth, a controversial new study argues

• Modern-day gold rush threatens Grand Canyon

  17 August 2007

  A land rush by mining companies seeking to cash in on soaring metal prices could harm ecosystems in the US's iconic national parks, a new study claims

• Vaccine breakthrough in war against anthrax

  17 August 2007

  A sniff ‘n' go anthrax vaccine may protect against the lethal infection and is part of a trend that could make injections a thing of the past

• Repairing Endeavour is too risky, says NASA

  17 August 2007

  The agency has decided that attempting to plug the small gouge in one of the shuttle's heat-resistant tiles would be more dangerous than leaving it

• Nations scramble for oil in Arctic

  17 August 2007

  Russia, Denmark, Canada and Norway stake claims for territory around the North Pole

• HIV stops new brain cells from growing

  17 August 2007

  HIV-associated dementia may be caused by the virus blocking the growth of new brain cells – but there may be a way to reverse its effects

• New Orleans braces for levee test

  17 August 2007

  The US Army Corps of Engineers prepares to pump water into a canal that failed catastrophically during Hurricane Katrina

• Photons flout the light speed limit

  17 August 2007

  A quantum tunnelling experiment has apparently propelled photons faster than the speed of light

• Cosmic 'train wreck' defies dark matter theories

  16 August 2007

  The wreckage of an intergalactic pile-up suggests that dark matter may be even less well understood than astronomers thought

• Forget biofuels – burn oil and plant forests instead

  16 August 2007

  A new analysis suggests that more carbon could be offset by replanting forests and using conventional fossil fuels than can be saved by using biofuels

• Crows wield tools with human-like skill

  16 August 2007

  New Caledonian crows can use one tool to manipulate another – only apes and humans share this skill and the sophisticated reasoning required

• Your virtual avatar has all your best moves

  16 August 2007

  Technology that captures a person's full body and movements in real time and injects them into a virtual environment could revolutionise computer games and virtual worlds

• Fickle ocean current foils climate modellers

  16 August 2007

  Evidence that a vital North Atlantic current is slowing down as a result of melting ice in the Arctic has been blown out of the water

• Climate tipping points loom large

  16 August 2007

  Some tipping points may have already been passed, and others look inevitable, warns a new study

• NASA delays spacewalk to decide on repair

  16 August 2007

  Astronauts will perform their fourth spacewalk a day later than planned so NASA can decide whether to repair the shuttle Endeavour's heat shield

• Handheld device identifies stressed-out astronauts

  16 August 2007

  The simple device could warn astronauts if they are unfit to perform critical tasks like a spacewalk or a shuttle docking

• Breakfast: sustenance or sugar rush?

  16 August 2007

  If you think breakfast is the be-all and end-all of the nutritional day, you might have to think again...if you've got enough brain fuel that is

• Wine tainted with venom triggers allergic reactions

  15 August 2007

  Spanish doctors suspect that wasp venom in wine is to blame for several severe allergic reactions in patients – the wasps were probably crushed along with the grapes

• Bizarre comet-like tail found behind star

  15 August 2007

  A glowing trail of gas and dust has been discovered behind a star for the first time – it could shed light on the star's past

• Female hyenas prefer wandering males

  15 August 2007

  Female spotted hyenas prefer to mate with immigrants from other packs – causing their male relatives to leave home

• Interview: Would you try an untested cancer drug?

  15 August 2007

  When Jim Tassano started selling an anti-cancer drug that had never been tested on humans, New Scientist reported the story and the news spread over the web like wildfire. Then the authorities shut him down. He tells his story

• Fermilab hot on Higgs trail

  15 August 2007

  Rumours that the elusive Higgs boson has finally been spotted remain as tantalising as ever

• Stars of the Sahara

  15 August 2007

  Ancient manuscripts from the great city of Timbuktu are re-writing the history of astronomy

• The microbes living inside us

  15 August 2007

  Once we had little idea about the seething mass of microbes living all over us. That is all set to change

• 'Ionic wind engines' keep computers cool

  15 August 2007

  Combined with a conventional fan, the wind engines could increase microchip cooling by up to 250%

• Monkeys learn to do arithmetic for peanuts

  15 August 2007

  Capuchin monkeys can be taught to appreciate the relative value of coloured tokens representing coins for buying food

• Shuttle commander says Endeavour is safe to return

  15 August 2007

  The damage to two heat-resistant tiles on the shuttle's belly is unlikely to threaten the safety of the crew and will probably not require repair

• Invasive vine is a prodigious polluter

  15 August 2007

  Kudzu is adding large amounts of nitrogen to the soil in the south-eastern US, which will increase smog and even hasten global warming

• Commercial space station to launch before 2010

  14 August 2007

  The world's first privately financed space station could be in orbit before 2010, says Bigelow Aerospace

• Puppy love makes teenagers lose the plot

  14 August 2007

  The behaviour of a teenager who has fallen madly in love is akin to that of a patient with a psychiatric disorder

• 'Cool farms' mask the extent of global warming

  14 August 2007

  Evaporation from irrigated fields keeps temperatures artificially low in summer – but the effect is likely to diminish as water supplies dwindle

• Swift space telescope suffers debilitating glitch

  14 August 2007

  An unknown glitch caused the satellite to lose its bearings on Friday – it will probably be out of commission for several weeks

• Nanotubes turn paper into a power source

  14 August 2007

  Paper and carbon nanotubes have been used to build an energy-storage unit that could fit neatly into flexible electronic screens

• Space station fitted with new steering gyroscope

  14 August 2007

  Spacewalking astronauts replace one of the International Space Station's four spinning gyroscopes – they keep the outpost oriented correctly

• Mystery of Saturn's G ring solved

  14 August 2007

  The source of the peculiar ring around the giant planet has been solved – it is made from dust cast off from the shattered remains of a long-dead moon

• Newton's mirror experiment gets updated

  14 August 2007

  X-ray lasers are used to measure the size of tiny particles suspended in front of a mirror

• Sounds in space

  14 August 2007

  If we care to listen, we'd discover the planets and moons of the solar system are shouting their secrets for all to hear

• Squirrels wield a hot, secret weapon

  13 August 2007

  A student with an infrared camera has discovered that Californian ground squirrels heat up their tails to ward off rattlesnakes

• Vast ancient settlement found at Angkor Wat

  13 August 2007

  Ground-sensing radar and aerial photographs of the area around the temple have revealed the largest pre-industrial settlement ever discovered

• Shuttle astronauts begin second spacewalk

  13 August 2007

  Two spacewalkers work to replace a failed steering gyroscope on the International Space Station

• Call to save Australia's great savannah

  13 August 2007

  A report says the tropical savannah woodland – the largest in the world – should be considered a "global treasure" and protected against development

• Fiery rock will test whether life came from space

  13 August 2007

  The rock – formed from lake sediment – will be launched on a rocket and subjected to the blast of re-entry to see which molecules of life survive

• Invention: Social networking TV

  13 August 2007

  This week's patent applications are an idea for making TV more sociable, a simpler diabetes detector and a material that holds nuclear waste for longer

• Space shuttle damage may need repair

  13 August 2007

  Spacewalking astronauts may have to patch a small but deep gouge in the belly of the shuttle Endeavour

• Frequent hurricanes decimate sea turtle beaches

  13 August 2007

  The destruction of loggerhead and green turtle nests in Florida by tropical storms appears to be on the rise

• Abstinence programmes don't stop HIV

  13 August 2007

  Programmes promoting sexual abstinence in developed countries do not reduce unprotected sex or the number of partners a person sleeps with

• Artificial soil: quick and dirty

  13 August 2007

  To stop planet Earth being skinned alive we need to make more topsoil – and fast

• Virtual bat sonar could help visually impaired

  13 August 2007

  A virtual echolocation system could help people navigate real-world environments they can't see

• America's most ancient mariners

  13 August 2007

  Instead of being big game hunters, the first Americans may have conquered the New World by boat following a trail of sushi

• Safety fears over laughing gas

  12 August 2007

  Laughing gas may increase the risk of life-threatening complications following major surgery

• Echolocation took whales to the depths

  12 August 2007

  Using sound to track prey may have driven the evolution of deep-diving in toothed whales

• NASA to inspect damage to shuttle heat shield

  11 August 2007

  On Friday, the agency discovered a small but worrisome gouge on the shuttle Endeavour's underbelly – it will inspect it at close range on Sunday

• Bad posture could raise your blood pressure

  11 August 2007

  Scientists have found a direct link between the neck muscles and an area of the brainstem that controls heart rate and blood pressure

• Global warming and cooling linked to the sunspot cycle

  11 August 2007

  For the first time we have measured how the Earth heats and cools during the 11-year sunspot cycle

• Virus-specific drug approved for HIV

  11 August 2007

  Maraviroc will only be given to patients with forms of HIV that enter immune cells in a particular way

• Virus-specific drug approved for HIV

  11 August 2007

  Maraviroc will only be given to patients with forms of HIV that enter immune cells in a particular way

• Gizmo

  11 August 2007

  New digital camera displays and historical timelines on Google

• Soundbites

  11 August 2007

• Predicting change, not a moment too soon

  11 August 2007

  It may now be possible to detect the subtle precursors of phase transitions, and so take steps to avoid undesirable ones

• Plastics chemical is harmful, says expert panel

  11 August 2007

  A review of the risks of a chemical found in plastic bottles and containers directly challenges a recent European report that found no risk

• 60 Seconds

  11 August 2007

  Cheap life-saving drugs, the world's largest thermometer camera, European heatwaves, and a planet the weight of balsa wood

• Timber treatment

  11 August 2007

• Phoenix on its way to Mars

  11 August 2007

  NASA's latest Mars lander has left Earth orbit on a mission to determine whether icy ground near the Martian north pole could ever have supported life

• Toddlers prefer branded foods

  11 August 2007

  Pre-school kids prefer foods wrapped in McDonalds packaging over the same snacks in unmarked wrappers – so can healthy food be branded in the same way?

• This week 50 years ago

  11 August 2007

  Plans to exploit Dead Sea power and how to avoid mouldy cheese

• Safety fears over laughing gas

  11 August 2007

  Laughing gas may increase the risk of life-threatening complications following major surgery

• Bad posture could raise your blood pressure

  11 August 2007

  Scientists have found a direct link between the neck muscles and an area of the brainstem that controls heart rate and blood pressure

• When to call and when to email

  11 August 2007

  Amid an increasing range of text-based options such as email and instant messaging, there are still times when people prefer an old-fashioned telephone

• Security upgrade for 'anonymity network'

  11 August 2007

  Repressive regimes will soon find it much harder to block data sent via the anonymity network Tor, designed for cyber-dissidents and whistleblowers

• Can a government remotely detect a terrorist's thoughts?

  11 August 2007

  The US wants to use remote sensors to detect would-be terrorists before they enter the country or board a plane

• Rules for new drug development need a serious overhaul

  11 August 2007

  We'll never be able to trust the drugs we take until they are developed according to proper safety guidelines

• Organ removal gives female mice a masculine thrust

  11 August 2007

  Simple surgery can reverse the mating preferences of female mice, suggesting that sexual preference in rodents is not hard-wired

• Growth potential

  11 August 2007

• Drill into asteroids to stop them hitting Earth

  11 August 2007

  The best way to deflect an Earth-bound asteroid may be to drill into it and hurl the spoil into space

• Echolocation took whales to the depths

  11 August 2007

  Using sound to track prey may have driven the evolution of deep-diving in toothed whales

• Yangtze river dolphin is 'probably extinct'

  11 August 2007

  A "crushingly depressing" six-week expedition could find no trace of the world's rarest cetacean

• Megananobucks

  11 August 2007

• Sunblock blowback

  11 August 2007

• Determining free will

  11 August 2007

  Chris Frith explains why even if we do have free will, trying to prove it will be a tricky business

• Feedback

  11 August 2007

• Review: The Cause of Mosquitoes' Sorrow by Surendra Verma

  11 August 2007

  A compilation of scientific breakthroughs and blunders, from ancient Egypt to today's news

• Review: The Origins of Man by Douglas Palmer

  11 August 2007

  A rich and detailed history of human evolution

• The word: Boojum

  11 August 2007

  What do hedgehogs, superfluid helium and cosmic strings have in common?

• Medieval hunters exterminated Britain's lynx

  11 August 2007

  New dates for old lynx bones debunk the notion that climate change drove the lynx out of Britain

• Sand islands

  11 August 2007

• The best bits

  11 August 2007

• Organic manure

  11 August 2007

• Driven to distraction

  11 August 2007

• Wonderful coincidence

  11 August 2007

• The kindest cut

  11 August 2007

• For the record

  11 August 2007

• Cloning people

  11 August 2007

• Walk/can't walk

  11 August 2007

• That was never out!

  11 August 2007

• Far-flung life

  11 August 2007

• As weak as...

  11 August 2007

• Despite spite

  11 August 2007

• Cloning people

  11 August 2007

• What's a conspiracy?

  11 August 2007

• Computer model explains toddlers' chatting

  11 August 2007

  The way children rapidly learn a vocabulary may be a result of the way most languages are structured

• No use crying

  11 August 2007

• Shuttle Endeavour reaches space station

  10 August 2007

  Two days after its launch, the shuttle docks with the International Space Station, delivering a support beam for the outpost and two tonnes of gear

• Magnetic gravity trick grows perfect crystals

  10 August 2007

  Scientists show that a strong magnetic field can mimic the effects of microgravity to grow flawless protein crystals

• Can a government remotely detect a terrorist's thoughts?

  10 August 2007

  The US wants to use remote sensors to detect would-be terrorists before they enter the country or board a plane

• Could alien life exist in the form of DNA-shaped dust?

  10 August 2007

  Electrically charged dust forms double helixes that can reproduce and transmit information, a new computer simulation reveals

• Some of us really are addicted to food

  10 August 2007

  People who lack an appetite-suppressing hormone crave even bland foods – suggesting a biological basis for food addiction and some forms of obesity

• Evolution's greatest mistakes

  10 August 2007

  Evolution can fall well short of perfection. Claire Ainsworth and Michael Le Page assess where life has gone spectacularly wrong

• Mini 'gamma camera' helps pinpoint breast cancer

  10 August 2007

  The device lets surgeons more accurately target and remove tumours and should allow them to detect smaller groups of cancerous cells

• UK government warned over "Wild West" internet

  10 August 2007

  A critical report by members of parliament suggests that legal responsibility for security be handed to internet companies and software makers

• How the coelacanth got its fins

  10 August 2007

  A new fossil solves a long-standing mystery about the ancient fish – and gives a vital clue for those studying the evolution of human hands and feet

• Foot and mouth vaccines: a double-edged sword

  10 August 2007

  The latest outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK has raised questions over the safety of vaccines against the highly contagious disease

• Monsoon floods devastate South Asia

  10 August 2007

  Even parts of the mountain kingdom of Nepal are underwater, and Nepalese politicians are blaming dam construction in India

• It's time to fit all bridges with sensors

  10 August 2007

  Modern remote sensing technologies could help prevent a repeat of the Minneapolis bridge collapse

• Largest swarm of giant stars is a 'supernova factory'

  09 August 2007

  An angry nest of red supergiant stars – each of which could fit millions of Suns inside it – is on the verge of exploding near the galactic centre

• What will future lunar bases look like?

  09 August 2007

  NASA's Lunar Architecture Team is looking for the answer: a lunar habitat design that will weather the brutalities of life on the Moon

• Prepare for another ten scorching years

  09 August 2007

  A new climate model can do what no other can – predict the impact of global warming over the next decade

• Nano 'resonators' form tiny logic gate

  09 August 2007

  If incorporated into a computer the logic gate could be more efficient and robust than those in ordinary electronic circuits

• Caring less could help save endangered species

  09 August 2007

  The comeback story of an American ferret suggests that sometimes taking less care over reintroducing rare animals can have unexpected benefits

• Energy-curbing bill passes Congress

  09 August 2007

  But the wide-ranging legislation to reduce excess energy use in the US faces a presidential veto

• 'Sunshade' for global warming could cause drought

  09 August 2007

  Pumping sulphur particles into the atmosphere to mimic the cooling effect of a large volcanic eruption may not be the last-ditch solution some hope

• Fossilised jaw muddies the picture of human ancestry

  09 August 2007

  The discovery suggests that at least two of our hominid ancestors lived alongside one another in Africa

• Who's the daddy? US sperm banks must be better regulated

  09 August 2007

  A new register of DNA from donors and their offspring is exposing major gaps in US sperm bank regulation

• Global warming and cooling linked to the sunspot cycle

  09 August 2007

  For the first time we have measured how the Earth heats and cools during the 11-year sunspot cycle

• UK biosecurity lapse is "tip of iceberg"

  09 August 2007

  After the UK foot and mouth outbreak concern is growing about the increasing number of incidents where pathogens escape from supposedly secure labs

• Study finds weak link in spam business

  09 August 2007

  Most spam links point to just a handful of servers – blocking these might help make spamming a less profitable, researchers say

• Introducing predatory fish could curb malaria

  09 August 2007

  Seeding ponds in Kenya with Nile tilapia cut the prevalence of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes – but whether the strategy can stop the disease in its tracks remains unclear

• Robots to revive dying dance routines

  09 August 2007

  Humanoid robots could one day serve as prancing libraries of long-forgotten dance routines, able to reproduce them for curious audiences

• Space shuttle Endeavour launches successfully

  08 August 2007

  The shuttle blasted into space on Wednesday on its first mission in nearly five years – it will continue construction of the International Space Station

• Dust storms loosen grip on Mars rovers

  08 August 2007

  The storms that threatened to kill NASA's Mars rovers have abated somewhat – but the rovers are not out of the woods yet

• Space shuttle Endeavour fuelled for launch

  08 August 2007

  The shuttle's external tank has been filled with 2.3 million litres of fuel ahead of its planned lift-off on Wednesday evening

• Interview: confronting drugs in sport

  08 August 2007

  Don Catlin detected the "designer" steroid THG in 2003 – exposing a drugs scandal that is still reverberating around the sporting world

• Infrared telescope reveals 'invisible' star cluster

  08 August 2007

  The Spitzer Space Telescope's infrared vision has penetrated a thick curtain of dust to spy a clutch of 50 newborn stars

• Rare meteor shower to shed light on dangerous comets

  08 August 2007

  On 1 September, Earth should pass through debris shed by the 'long period' Comet Kiess, producing the Aurigid shower seen only three times before

• Hacking tool preys on vulnerable wireless networks

  08 August 2007

  Experts say the point-and-click tool – which sniffs out networks and probes them for weak spots – could help administrators fix vulnerabilities

• Coral reefs are vanishing faster than rainforests

  08 August 2007

  The steady warming of the oceans as a result of climate change is killing coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific region at an alarming rate

• For trilobites, variety really was the spice of life

  08 August 2007

  When these ancient arthropods were evolving most rapidly, there was more variation within species, which may have protected them from extinction

• Interview: Helping NASA back to the moon

  08 August 2007

  Why is NASA bringing back retired engineers who worked on the 1960s Apollo lunar programme? Ivan Semeniuk talked to two of them to find out

• Ancient ape was an early swinger

  08 August 2007

  Ten million years ago a unique ape moved through the trees not only by swinging from branch to branch but also by walking on all fours

• Yangtze river dolphin is almost certainly extinct

  08 August 2007

  The dolphin is the first cetacean known to have disappeared as a result of human activity – many were accidentally ensnared in the tackle of fishing boats

• Nearby black hole caught burping gamma rays

  07 August 2007

  The belch followed a meal of matter sucked from a nearby star – such burps may be the most common type of 'gamma-ray burst' in the universe

• MySpace hacker gets his profile deleted

  07 August 2007

  After demonstrating how to hack into other users' accounts, a US college student was humbled to find his own account disabled

• Educational DVDs 'slow infant learning'

  07 August 2007

  A study suggests that infants who watch specially designed language DVDs possess a smaller vocabulary than those who do not

• Weather clears for space shuttle launch

  07 August 2007

  Forecasters predict an 80% chance of good weather for launch of the shuttle Endeavour on Wednesday – its first flight in five years

• More parties join YouTube copyright lawsuit

  07 August 2007

  Major music and sporting organisations sign up to a lawsuit accusing the video website and its owner Google of encouraging copyright infringement

• Eight-million-year-old bug is alive and growing

  07 August 2007

  The revival of the frozen bacterium suggests ancient bacteria and viruses will come back to life as global warming melts ice at the poles

• Chlamydia screening is not cost-effective

  07 August 2007

  Proactive screening may be undermined by people becoming reinfected after treatment, prompting calls for testing on unrelated health visits

• New HIV treatments will fight growing drug resistance

  07 August 2007

  Two classes of HIV drug are set to be approved later this year, providing a lifeline for those living with new forms of the disease

• Ignition impossible: When wildfires set the air alight

  07 August 2007

  In a bush fire you expect only the bush itself to burn – not bare earth and thin air as well. Caroline Williams investigates an enigma

• Killer fungus goes airborne

  06 August 2007

  A fungus that is devastating amphibian populations around the world is a relatively new disease that might be spread by airborne spores

• Fast food branding makes children prefer happy meals

  06 August 2007

  Pre-school kids prefer foods wrapped in McDonalds packaging over the same snacks in unmarked wrappers – so can healthy food be branded in the same way?

• Largest merger of galaxies discovered

  06 August 2007

  Four massive galaxies are colliding in the largest galactic merger ever seen, new observations reveal

• Largest known exoplanet puzzles astronomers

  06 August 2007

  The 'puffiest' planet ever found is less dense than a wine cork, defying explanation by current theories

• Three ways to levitate a magic carpet

  06 August 2007

  Three different research groups have made breakthroughs in levitating tiny objects

• Astronomers close in on cause of 'smoking' stars

  06 August 2007

  Some stars appear to puff out clouds of dust every so often, but astronomers do not understand how or why

• Japanese car keeps watch for drunk drivers

  06 August 2007

  A breathalyser-like detection system and other instruments could help keep drunk and over-tired drivers off the road

• Bitter irony of latest foot and mouth outbreak

  06 August 2007

  The lab at the centre of the UK's latest foot and mouth outbreak is part of a new global alliance to fight the disease

• Screen swivels its crystals for a better view

  06 August 2007

  Handheld devices and computer screens that track a user's viewing angle and adjust their liquid crystal display accordingly could provide clearer and brighter images

• Invention: Blood-staunching bandages

  06 August 2007

  This week's batch of patent applications includes bandages that prevent blood loss, a more sophisticated spiked drink detector and a computerised backseat driver

• Rubber finger probes sense of touch

  06 August 2007

  An artificial digit has been developed that can be stroked across a surface to measure the forces and temperatures that combine to create certain sensations

• Organ removal gives female mice a masculine thrust

  05 August 2007

  A simple surgical procedure can reverse the mating preferences of female mice, suggesting that sexual preferences in rodents are not hard-wired in the brain

• Plant invaders enjoy life in the fast lane

  05 August 2007

  A new study finds traffic on major roads is responsible for up to half of local seed dispersal – potentially spreading invasive species

• Antibody-laden gel can clean up after anthrax attacks

  05 August 2007

  A gel solution of antibodies to the disease can be sprayed onto walls, floors and ceilings and scraped off afterwards, making decontamination safer and less destructive

• Antibody-laden gel can clean up after anthrax attacks

  05 August 2007

  A gel solution of antibodies to the disease can be sprayed onto walls, floors and ceilings and scraped off afterwards, making decontamination safer and less destructive

• Phoenix lander blasts off to Mars

  04 August 2007

  The NASA lander successfully launched into space on Saturday – it will land on Mars in 2008

• US genetic privacy bill hits snag

  04 August 2007

  A conservative Republican senator blocks a popular proposed law, though his motive is still unclear

• Climate change is about more than carbon

  04 August 2007

  As we rush to curb greenhouse warming by burning less fossil fuel, we should not forget that other pollutants can be just as damaging

• Unusual nature of the Scaled Composites explosion

  04 August 2007

  The blast at the Scaled Composites plant will set back commercial space programmes – but advocates of spaceflight have vowed to continue

• Bush's push for new nuclear weapons

  04 August 2007

  A statement submitted to Congress argues for replacement of Cold War era nuclear weapons, but critics say they are not needed, and may antagonise other countries

• 60 Seconds

  04 August 2007

• Perspectives: Are we still addicted to certainty?

  04 August 2007

  We have yet to come to terms with the uncertainty that emerged from the work of pioneers like Georg Cantor and Alan Turing

• Underground reservoir

  04 August 2007

• Aurora Electrical Co.

  04 August 2007

• Atlantic hurricane frequency doubled last century

  04 August 2007

  Major shifts in the number of North Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes are due to climate change, not cyclic events, says a new analysis

• Jumbochoo

  04 August 2007

• Climate change is about more than carbon

  04 August 2007

  As we rush to curb greenhouse warming by burning less fossil fuel, we should not forget that other pollutants can be just as damaging

• Editorial: Science could tell us if we have free will

  04 August 2007

  Physicists are wading into a debate that philosophers have dominated for centuries – what determines human decision making?

• Feedback: Reading between the lines

  04 August 2007

  How a product can make a song and dance about almost nothing

• Soundbites

  04 August 2007

• Bush's push for new nuclear weapons

  04 August 2007

  A statement submitted to Congress argues for replacement of Cold War era nuclear weapons, but critics say they are not needed, and may antagonise other countries

• Unusual nature of the fatal SpaceShipTwo explosion

  04 August 2007

  The blast at the Scaled Composites plant will set back commercial space programmes – but advocates of space flight have vowed to continue

• Drinking astronauts are nothing new

  04 August 2007

  NASA's has launched an investigation, but a former astronaut has described beer-drinking before take off

• US genetic privacy bill hits snag

  04 August 2007

  A conservative Republican senator blocks a popular proposed law, though his motive is still unclear

• Sick at heart

  04 August 2007

• The Word: Vernalisation

  04 August 2007

  With climate change looming, we badly need to understand how and why many food plants need a cold spell to develop properly

• Review: Max Perutz and the Secret of Life, by Georgina Ferry

  04 August 2007

  An affectionate portrait of a self-deprecating yet dedicated scientist whose determination led to a Nobel prize in chemistry

• If program, then...

  04 August 2007

• For the record

  04 August 2007

• An unsurprise

  04 August 2007

• Pragmatic non-realists

  04 August 2007

• Laying down the laws

  04 August 2007

• Oil's well

  04 August 2007

• Drought doubt

  04 August 2007

• Boycott – or not

  04 August 2007

• Sunshade safety

  04 August 2007

• Four legs good

  04 August 2007

• Cloning people

  04 August 2007

• Not scared, just insecure

  04 August 2007

• Termite history

  04 August 2007

• Review: Atom by Piers Bizony

  04 August 2007

  The story of our quest to understand the atom

• Colourful language

  04 August 2007

• This week 50 years ago

  04 August 2007

• Plant invaders enjoy life in the fast lane

  04 August 2007

  A new study finds traffic on major roads is responsible for up to half of local seed dispersal – potentially spreading invasive species

• Quadruple star system may host a planet

  04 August 2007

  The planet may orbit two of the stars – experiencing double sunsets and sunrises, while the other two stars would glow brightly in the distance

• Stem cells repair damaged tissue after heart attack

  04 August 2007

  A weak mechanism to repair damaged heart tissue exists in the adult mouse – could it be developed as a therapy?

• Emotional recall is in the genes

  04 August 2007

  A gene variant may determine how well you remember the most emotional events that have shaped your life

• New multiple sclerosis gene identified

  04 August 2007

  A new gene variant that increases the risk of MS by 20 to 30 per cent is identified after 30 years of searching

• Asteroid deflection

  04 August 2007

• Gizmo

  04 August 2007

• Satnav makes car trips safer

  04 August 2007

  Drivers who use in-car satellite navigation not only have shorter, less frustrating journeys than those who use paper maps, but they drive less erratically

• Calls to free up US mobile internet

  04 August 2007

  The FCC is being urged to end the cellphone networks' stranglehold on which devices and software customers can use

• Antibody-laden gel can clean up after anthrax attacks

  04 August 2007

  A gel solution of antibodies to the disease can be sprayed onto walls, floors and ceilings and scraped off afterwards, making decontamination safer and less destructive

• Orang-utan gestures get the message across

  04 August 2007

  Just like participants in the game of charades, orang-utans elaborate on their signals to convey meaning

• Phoenix Mars lander set to lift off

  03 August 2007

  The lander is set to blast off before dawn on Saturday – it will investigate whether soil near Mars's north pole could ever have supported life

• Fish 'antifreeze' inspires ice-proof paint

  03 August 2007

  Aeroplanes could one day be protected from dangerous ice accretions by a paint based on the proteins that keep Arctic fish from going solid

• Europe's recent heatwaves aren't a mirage

  03 August 2007

  Since 1880, the frequency of extremely hot days has nearly tripled, and the length of heatwaves across the continent has doubled, adding weight to climate change predictions

• NASA fixes leak on space shuttle Endeavour

  03 August 2007

  A leak in the shuttle's cabin has been fixed after a faulty valve was replaced, but the work has delayed the shuttle's planned launch by a day

• Slim chance of tuning in to alien TV

  03 August 2007

  It looks unlikely that we will be able to detect radio noise from alien civilisations – even if they exist, we just don't have the technology

• New flood warning to save rural Bangladeshis

  03 August 2007

  The new forecasting system should give remote villagers – who often lack electricity and radios – vital notice of impending floods

• Buoys flex artificial muscles for renewable energy

  03 August 2007

  The "muscles" are being used to turn the ocean's waves into electricity in a novel pilot project which could eventually provide cheap, clean power

• Revealed: America's most polluting power plants

  03 August 2007

  The electricity-generating plants that pump out the most sulphur dioxide and other noxious pollutants have been revealed in a new report

• Computer model may explain toddlers' chattering

  02 August 2007

  The way children rapidly learn a vocabulary may be down to the structure of language – but critics say the theory can't explain adults' slower progress

• Saturn ring created by remains of long-dead moon

  02 August 2007

  The planet's mysterious G ring is composed of dust cast off a broken-up moon and kept in line by another moon called Mimas

• Satnav makes car trips shorter and safer

  02 August 2007

  Drivers using in-car navigation systems not only take less time to reach their destination, they may be less erratic too, and so possibly less dangerous

• Termite is world's snappiest animal

  02 August 2007

  The insect's jaws are found to be the fastest muscle-powered body parts in the animal kingdom

• British lawmakers back saviour siblings

  02 August 2007

  A UK parliamentary committee argues that more parents should be allowed to screen for embryos that might help cure existing sick children

• Search begins for cause of US bridge collapse

  02 August 2007

  The structure suffered total failure and crashed into the Mississippi river – it was last inspected in 2006 and described as of 'acceptable standard' in a previous report

• 'Sunshade' for global warming could cause drought

  02 August 2007

  Pumping sulphur particles into the atmosphere to mimic the cooling effect of a large volcanic eruption may not be the last-ditch solution some hope

• Cassini probe to fly through Saturn moon's plume

  02 August 2007

  In a daring act of space-obatics, Cassini is set to buzz the moon Enceladus, flying through a steamy plume spraying out from its south pole

• Orang-utan communication is like charades

  02 August 2007

  The apes can elaborate on gestures to convey meaning when initially not understood, suggesting they are aware of subtle distinctions in mental states

• Ovary transplant produces embryo in sister

  02 August 2007

  Doctors say that this first successful ovarian transplant between non-identical siblings should give hope to women who suffer from infertility

• Leak on space shuttle Endeavour pinpointed

  01 August 2007

  A leak in the crew cabin has been traced to a valve behind the toilet – it will be replaced ahead of the shuttle's planned launch on 7 August

• Sharing a joke could help man and robot interact

  01 August 2007

  Software that identifies simple puns could program robots to fit in with humans more naturally

• The man who crossed Carl Linnaeus

  01 August 2007

  Written off as a failure, a drunk or a madman, the reputation of the 18th-century naturalist Daniel Rolander has finally been restored

• Free will – is our understanding wrong?

  01 August 2007

  Nobel laureate and Physicist Gerard 't Hooft redefines the nature of free will to fit with his deterministic description of reality

• Man roused after six years of minimal consciousness

  01 August 2007

  Using electrodes inserted deep in the brain, surgeons have helped a 38-year-old man to speak, eat solid food and control his limbs

• Asia's brown clouds heat the Himalayas

  01 August 2007

  The haze of pollution that hangs over south Asia causes marked regional warming, in addition to global cooling

• Exotic pets pose risks to native species

  01 August 2007

  Escaped and released imported animals are causing billions of dollars of environmental damage in the US

• Comment: Consent is crucial to medical research

  01 August 2007

  Researchers keen to scour patients' data for insights into disease should get consent or risk coming seriously unstuck, warns Robert Matthews

• Smartphones are the PCs of the developing world

  01 August 2007

  The bells and whistles on cellphones are being harnessed to help people in poorer countries with banking, education and business

• Risking life and limb to count the war dead

  01 August 2007

  Every day, researchers risk their lives in some of the world's worst disaster zones to get a true picture of the death toll

• Neutrinos: The key to a theory of everything

  01 August 2007

  Ghostly neutrinos may be small and aloof, but now it seems they can unlock the universe's secrets

• Review: The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything by Gordy Slack, Jossey-Bass

  01 August 2007

  The 2005 battle in Dover, Pennsylvania, over intelligent design and evolution wasn't really about science at all, says Randy Olson

• Perseid meteors set to dazzle

  01 August 2007

  Earth is already passing through dust shed by Comet Swift-Tuttle, but the peak of the shower will come on 12 August

• Old TV airwaves to be sold for wireless internet

  01 August 2007

  The US wireless market is to get a shake-up as the FCC approves an auction of UHF frequencies that would have to be accessible to any wireless device

• Early springs show Siberia is warming fast

  01 August 2007

  Earlier snow melts in the region, probably linked to global warming, are in turn triggering more forest fires, say researchers

• Black Death casts a genetic shadow over England

  01 August 2007

  The English are less genetically diverse than in the past – and plague in the Middle Ages is the most likely cause