New Scientist - Breaking news

Date Posted Article 1 hour ago Steampunk chip takes the heat Transistors don't work at high temperatures, but a retro take on modern technology could change the face of hot electronics 1 hour ago Dope art that makes you feel good This micrograph shows crystals of dopamine - the chemical released when we do naturally rewarding things like eating and procreating. It also rewarded the photographer with a prize 1 hour ago Innovation: TV networks to become social networks The union of social networking and TV technology means big changes are coming soon to your living room 1 hour ago Tiny tractor beams enter the third dimension A tractor beam using nothing more than lasers is the first to move objects in three dimensions, says Colin Barras 1 hour ago Today on New Scientist: 10 September 2010 All today's stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: the magnetic monopole deficit, TVs that are going social, and privacy for mummies 4 hours ago Do Egyptian mummies have a right to privacy? The assumption that ancient corpses are fair game for science is beginning to be challenged 4 hours ago Iron overload may accelerate Alzheimer's Zinc-containing plaques that form in Alzheimer's disease prevent proteins from clearing out toxic iron and stop neurons from signalling properly 4 hours ago Civil war in Africa has no link to climate change Prosperity rather than climate change seems to govern the incidence of civil war in Africa 7 hours ago US navy seeks 'safer' bomb A variable-yield "dial-a-blast" bomb could reduce the number of innocent people killed or injured during an air attack, the US navy thinks 7 hours ago Avatars learn gestures to match your tone of voice Virtual humans need to move like a human when they speak to be more effective in online communications 10 hours ago Magnetic monopole deficit hints that hunt is futile The maximum number of these hypothetical, lone magnetic charges that can exist in our patch of the universe has been slashed 10 hours ago The star photographers who captured the night sky Competition to be Astronomy Photographer of the Year is fierce. We reveal the shots that were stellar enough to come out on top 10 hours ago The book bonobos deserve Sara Gruen's new book is one of the few novels ever written about bonobos – and hopefully it will raise the profile of these lesser-known apes 22 hours ago US stem cell funding freeze lifted - for now An appeals court has granted a temporary stay to the controversial injunction that last month froze new government grants for embryonic stem cell research Yesterday Japan to begin drilling for methane in undersea slush Without conventional fossil fuels to secure its energy demands, Japan is encouraging interest in the methane hydrate deposits in its coastal waters Yesterday Ancient Greeks spotted Halley's comet Halley's comet and a meteorite the size of a "wagonload" triggered a turning point in ancient Greek astronomy Yesterday Smoking, bad for your fertility and your child's Would-be mums who smoke risk damaging the fertility of their children Yesterday Birds use optical illusions to get mates Male bowerbirds play tricks with perspective in attempts to woo females Yesterday Found: natural bridges on the moon Two rocky arches have been spotted on the moon in images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter – they may have been carved by an ancient impact Yesterday Today on New Scientist: 9 September 2010 All today's stories on newscientist.com, including: the truth behind vitamin B and dementia, why cane toads aren't all bad and how to spot top tweets Yesterday 2000-year-old pills found in Greek shipwreck Medicine found in a millennia-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean is the first physical evidence for ancient Greek prescriptions Yesterday World's most expensive book up for grabs If you like pictures of snowy owls and have £4 to £6 million spare, this book might be for you Yesterday Cane toads aren't quite the bad guys we thought It's invaded Australia, but the cane toad has not triggered the ecological catastrophe that some predicted Yesterday Caution urged over vitamin B dementia therapy Claims that large doses of B vitamins could protect against dementia are not quite as dramatic as the headlines suggest, says Jessica Hamzelou Yesterday Dinosaur with a mysterious fin found A two-legged dinosaur that had a fin on its back has been discovered – but nobody knows what it was for Yesterday How Google Instant knows what you want Google's new ability to provide full search results as you type is just the first step towards the company's plans to know your desires before you do Yesterday Turing formula poses plain origin for intricate skins A mathematical-biological mixing dreamed up by code breaker Alan Turing can predict what happens when species with simple skin patterns interbreed Yesterday New formula shows who's really top of the tweeters The most influential Twitter feeds don't necessarily have the most followers. That's the insight given by a new technique for ranking twitterers Yesterday Ghostwriting probe into HRT articles Scientific papers "ghostwritten" for drug maker Wyeth may have led to hormone replacement therapy being recommended to healthy menopausal women Yesterday Thank the ur-worm for Shakespeare's brain The hallmark of the human brain – its enormous cortex – can be traced back 600 million years to the ancestor of a primitive worm