New Scientist - Being Human

Date Posted Article 8 hours ago Bird flu jumps to pigs H5N1's jump to pigs brings the virus a step closer to a human pandemic 8 hours ago Green machine: Squeezing solar juice from jellyfish From jellyfish to algae, the creatures of the sea are being recruited for solar power cells 11 hours ago Robotic butlers, oily wrecks and avatars This month's New Scientist TV includes the training of a robot servant, high-tech deep sea salvage and body language for virtual stand-ins 11 hours ago Cost-cutting bacteria reap benefits of energy thrift Building throwaway proteins on the cheap gives bacteria an evolutionary advantage Today Immortal signals promise perfect web video A technique to revitalise optical signals so that they never die could provide a route to faster internet connections Today Master gene-shuffler makes us all different DNA fingerprint pioneer Alec Jeffreys has found a key gene behind human variation and evolution Today What's Google's mysterious doodle? Google's latest doodle is causing no end of head scratching on the web today. Is the company about to announce something special? Today The natural selection of leaders Are leaders born or made? Evolution may be throwing us a curve ball when it comes to picking them in the modern world, says Anjana Ahuja Today Magic mushrooms reduce anxiety over cancer The active chemical in magic mushroom has been shown to lessen anxiety and improve mood in people with late-stage cancer Today Losing weight may pollute the blood Weight loss releases chemical pollutants into the blood, which can stick around, increasing the risk of diabetes, cancer and dementia Today Money can buy you happiness - up to a point The more money people earn the higher their overall life satisfaction, but your day-to-day emotional wellbeing improves only up to a $75,000 salary Today Why wartime wrecks are slicking time bombs Millions of tons of oil lost in sunken ships is threatening a new environmental disaster Yesterday Did hairdryer stymie launch of human cannonball? The first rocket-launch attempted by the non-profit Copenhagen Suborbitals didn't leave the pad, but its inventors haven't given up yet Yesterday Forest carbon stores may be massively overestimated We may have to dramatically revise our estimates of how much carbon rainforests contain – apparently similar forests hold vastly different amounts Yesterday Thank mothers for large ape brains The brains of humans, apes and monkeys are enormous compared with their bodies – it seems these brainy animals have their mothers to thank Yesterday 'Magic mushrooms' reduce anxiety over cancer The active chemical in magic mushroom has been shown to lessen anxiety and improve mood in people with late-stage cancer Yesterday Innovation: CERN collides with a patent reality CERN, the organisation that gave away the World Wide Web, is finally thinking about protecting its intellectual property Yesterday Did hair dryer stymy launch of human cannonball? The first rocket-launch attempted by the non-profit Copenhagen Suborbitals didn't leave the pad, but its inventors haven't given up yet Yesterday Fighting back against neurosexism Are differences between men and women hard-wired in the brain? Two new books argue that there's no solid scientific evidence for this popular notion Yesterday New Zealand quake was 'known unknown' The New Zealand quake that struck over the weekend happened on a previously unknown fault, says Miriam Frankel Yesterday Astronomers are putting stars in their skies Astronomers can now use laser beams to create "artificial stars" – allowing them to calibrate the Very Large Telescope in the process Yesterday What can deliver snakebite medicine where it's needed? Snakebites kill hundreds of thousands, so the scarcity of proper treatment is a global tragedy. Time to bring in the law, say Nick Brown and Dev Kevat Yesterday Tilting stars may explain backwards planets Planets that orbit their star in the opposite direction to the star's spin may not be victims of violence – their star may simply have flipped over Yesterday Swarming spacecraft to self-destruct for greater good Future space probes that work in cooperative swarms must sacrifice themselves if they begin to fail and risk damaging their comrades, says NASA Yesterday Tech heavyweights set to move music to the cloud Apple and Google promise the next revolution in digital entertainment – instant access to a vast music library, straight from the cloud Yesterday Locust brains could thwart superbug plagues Extracts from the brains of locusts and cockroaches can kill superbugs such as MRSA – new antibiotics could follow Yesterday What's in a name? The words behind thought You think more words than you speak – perhaps because language really does shape the way we navigate the world Sep 5, 2010 Mobile chargers could keep electric cars juiced up Mobile charging units that respond to in-car sensors could ensure that electric car owners never need fear getting stranded Sep 4, 2010 How animals evolved personalities Being social could drive the evolution of personality differences Sep 4, 2010 LED-studded skirt makes a bright fashion statement You'll light up the room in a skirt coated with LEDs that illuminate as you move