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This week's magazine

22 June 2024

Issue 3496

New Scientist issue 3496 cover
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Editor's picks

Phased introductions to smartphones will help kids more than bans

Technology

Phased introductions to smartphones will help kids more than bans

Leader

Free
Big crowd of people. People gathered together in one place. Top view from drone.

Society

Why humanity’s survival may depend on us becoming a tribe of billions

Features

Subscriber-only
The truth about social media and screen time's impact on young people

Technology

The truth about social media and screen time's impact on young people

Features

Subscriber-only
Is an old NASA probe about to redraw the frontier of the solar system?

Space

Is an old NASA probe about to redraw the frontier of the solar system?

Features

Subscriber-only

Table of contents

Leaders

Phased introductions to smartphones will help kids more than bans

Technology

Phased introductions to smartphones will help kids more than bans

Creating "walled gardens", much like TV channels do, would provide children better tools to navigate a lifetime of social media than banning smartphones altogether

Leader

Free

News

Mathematics

Mathematicians discover impossible problem in Super Mario games

Using the tools of computational complexity, researchers have discovered it is impossible to figure out whether certain Super Mario Bros levels can be beaten without playing them, even if you use the world's most powerful supercomputer

News

Subscriber-only

Health

Muscle zapping during exercise helps people recover after a stroke

News

Subscriber-only

HDB7EX STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, Starship Enterprise, 1987-1994. Paramount/Courtesy:Everett Collection.

Space

We could detect a malfunctioning warp drive on an alien starship

News

Subscriber-only

Space

The first stars in the universe could have formed surprisingly early

News

Subscriber-only

Life

Elephants seem to invent names for each other

News

Free

Space

The largest volcanoes on Mars have frosted tips during winter

News

Free

Technology

Ukraine is using AI to manage the removal of Russian landmines

News

Subscriber-only

Liquid crystals could improve quantum communication devices

Physics

Liquid crystals could improve quantum communication devices

News

Free

Environment

Marine fungus can break down floating plastic pollution

News

Subscriber-only

Health

Walking with irregular strides may help you burn more calories

News

Subscriber-only

Astronauts Robert L. Curbeam Jr. (left) and Christer Fuglesang on the International Space Station

Health

Astronaut medical records reveal the health toll of space travel

News

Free

Technology

Quantum sensor gets a read on tiny worm implanted with nanodiamonds

News

Subscriber-only

2C5M1RA Bucharest, Romania - June 30, 2019: 35 degrees celsius (92 fahrenheit) is the temperature displayed by a digital thermometer on a hot summer on a stre

Environment

Cooling fabric blocks heat from pavement and buildings in hot cities

News

Free

An illustration of the newly identified species, called Haliskia peterseni

Life

Australian pterosaur had a huge tongue to help gulp down prey

News

Free

Environment

Russia faces $32 billion bill for carbon emissions from Ukraine war

News

Free

Space

Odd black holes smaller than protons may have once littered the cosmos

News

Subscriber-only

Health

Polycystic ovary syndrome could be treated with a malaria drug

News

Free

Health

Lung-targeted CRISPR therapy offers hope for cystic fibrosis

News

Free

Physics

Hybrid design could make nuclear fusion reactors more efficient

News

Subscriber-only

Technology

Watch a humanoid robot driving a car extremely slowly

News

Free

Analysis

Martin Rees: Why challenge prizes can solve our most pressing issues

Health

Martin Rees: Why challenge prizes can solve our most pressing issues

As the winner of the Longitude prize on antimicrobial resistance is announced, chair of the prize committee Martin Rees, the UK's Astronomer Royal, explains why it pays to reward ideas

Comment

Subscriber-only

Environment

UK election: How can the next government get climate goals on track?

Analysis

Free

Artificial intelligence concept. Poster, wallpaper, Banner. Human body and brain glowing, 3d rendering. Human mental health, Mental balance, psychedelic trip effect, illusion of mind.

Life

Could we merge biologically with the fungal network and live forever?

Comment

Subscriber-only

Aperture

Taylor Roades: Rust River Earth Photo 2024 Shortlisted Entry 2023 was the hottest year on global record and the Arctic is disproportionately affected by these elevated temperatures. The remote Western Brooks Range of North West Alaska has recorded a 2.4 degree increase in temperature since 2006. Permafrost, the layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year is thawing at an unprecedented rate, exposing the bedrock and all metals that have been frozen within it, to the elements. Tukpahlearick Creek and its tributaries are now flowing bright orange with oxidized iron and sulphuric acid. The change to water quality, and risks associated with metals in the water pose dire threats to ecosystems downstream that rely on these waters, and are symbolic of the far reaching consequences of climate change.

Earth

Photos of a rusting Alaskan river win New Scientist Editors Award

Taylor Roades's images of a river in north-west Alaska that has turned orange because of global warming have won the New Scientist Editors Award at the Earth Photo competition

Regulars

Free

Features

Big crowd of people. People gathered together in one place. Top view from drone.

Society

Why humanity’s survival may depend on us becoming a tribe of billions

Tribalism can be toxic, yet we need more of it if we are to meet today’s global challenges, argues one anthropologist. His research reveals how to create a “teratribe”

Features

Subscriber-only

The truth about social media and screen time's impact on young people

Technology

The truth about social media and screen time's impact on young people

Features

Subscriber-only

Is an old NASA probe about to redraw the frontier of the solar system?

Space

Is an old NASA probe about to redraw the frontier of the solar system?

Features

Subscriber-only

Culture

FEE8WC Seoul, South Korea-November 15, 2015; Men playing in the outside ?Baduk? that is the Korean name for Go. November 15, 2015 Seoul

Comment

New book explores how games shape the world – for better or for worse

From chess to nuclear war planning, Kelly Clancy takes a wide-ranging look at how games and gaming have changed society in Playing With Reality

Culture

Subscriber-only

map of algers area

Comment

Engaging new book explores how vital mathematics is to map-making

Culture

Subscriber-only

GamesPress handout image: Animal Well

Comment

New Scientist recommends puzzle book S. by Doug Dorst and J. J. Abrams

Culture

Subscriber-only

Janus Films handout film still: THE BEAST Directed by Bertrand Bonello. The year is 2044: artificial intelligence controls all facets of a stoic society as humans routinely ?erase? their feelings. Hoping to eliminate pain caused by their past-life romances, Gabrielle (Le?a Seydoux) continually falls in love with different incarnations of Louis (George MacKay).

Comment

Léa Seydoux and George MacKay dazzle in shocking sci-fi film The Beast

Culture

Subscriber-only

More

Teenage girl on her way to school going out her front door. We see her from behind going out the door and holding it open. She is wearing a back pack and a denim jacket. Shot from the knees up.

Health

Dear David: How do I help my daughters deal with their social anxiety?

In his evidence-based advice column, David Robson has some ideas for a reader worried about his daughters’ social anxiety. Self-compassion is key, he says

Regulars

Subscriber-only

BrainTwister #25: Triangles in circles

BrainTwister #25: Triangles in circles

Regulars

Subscriber-only

Tom Gauld: Science Cat

Tom Gauld: Science Cat

Regulars

Free

Twisteddoodles on research band name ideas

Twisteddoodles on research band name ideas

Regulars

Free

Regulars

Is it a severed foot? No, it's a sea slug

Is it a severed foot? No, it's a sea slug

A foot-shaped piece of flotsam has caused confusion among forensic scientists – but Feedback is relieved that the matter was cleared up thanks to that old stalwart, "examination"

Regulars

Free

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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