Quantum mechanics enables 'impossible' space chemistry

Quantum weirdness can generate a molecule in space that shouldn't exist by the classic rules of chemistry. If interstellar space is really a kind of quantum chemistry lab, that might also account for a host of other organic molecules glimpsed in space.Interstellar space should be too cold for most chemical reactions to occur, as the low temperature makes it tough for molecules drifting through space to acquire the energy needed to break their bonds....

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Tohoku megaquake shows big tremors make volcanoes sink

Five Japanese volcanoes are a bit stouter than they were just a few years ago. Within a day of the 2011 megaquake, they shrank by up to 15 centimetres. The same thing happened to a string of Chilean volcanoes after a magnitude 8.8 quake ripped through the centre of the country in 2010.This sinking effect could be common to most big earthquakes. "There's every reason to suspect this is a widespread feature," says Matt Pritchard of Cornell University...

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Dramatic new treatment push to conquer HIV

By treating HIV-positive people earlier and in far greater numbers than ever before, as many as 3 million deaths and 3.5 million new infections could be prevented by 2025. So says the World Health Organization, which today proposed a vast scale-up in HIV treatment at the annual International AIDS Society Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Such a change would make 26 million people globally eligible for treatment, up from 16.7 million. Almost 10...

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Windows aims to open up 3D printing to the masses

Microsoft will make support for 3D printers available in the next update to its Windows 8 operating system. The firm has struck deals with a raft of major 3D-printer makers – including Makerbot, 3D Systems, Formlabs, Dassault and Stratasys – under which they will develop automatically-loading driver software that will ease 3D printer set-up at home."We want this to be so simple that anyone can set up their own table-top factory," says Shanen Boettcher...

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Today on New Scientist

Gold and sacrificed humans found in ancient Wari tomb An imperial mausoleum from an ancient Peruvian culture was protected from grave robbers for 1200 years by 30 tonnes of rubbleNudge: When does persuasion become coercion? They can be powerful tools for influencing behaviour – but be careful that nudge policies do not cross the line into coercion, says philosopher Evan Selinger Astrophile: Tour the scenic lava lakes of Io Snaps of hotspots on Jupiter's...

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Gold and sacrificed humans found in ancient Wari tomb

(Image: Milosz Giersz) After death comes eternal rest – unless your sleep is rudely disturbed by grave robbers. Not much chance of that if you have 30 tonnes of rubble protecting your tomb, like this Wari queen. She was found lying just where she was buried around 1200 years ago.One of the mausoleum's discoverers, Krzysztof Makowski Hanula, called it a "pantheon where all the Wari nobles of the region were buried". It also contains the remains of...

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Nudge: When does persuasion become coercion?

Read more: "Nudge power: Big government's little pushes"NUDGES are born of good intentions and clever ideas. Alas, that's not enough.I once proposed a nudge to promote online civility. I suggested that magazines and newspapers should moderate comments using a variation of ToneCheck, an "emotional spell-checker" for email that prompts users to tone down angry messages.Richard Thaler, one of the chief architects of nudge, loved it, tweeting: "A Nudge...

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Astrophile: Tour the scenic lava lakes of Io

Astrophile is our weekly column on curious cosmic objects, from the solar system to the far reaches of the multiverse Object: A lava lake trioAmbience: Diverse, but generally sweltering Take a trip to Io, one of Jupiter's many moons, and you will find pools of boiling hot lava nestled among the erupting peaks of raging volcanoes. Welcome to the Lake District from hell.Now researchers have pored over snapshots taken by a passing space probe to make...

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AI makes social game characters all too human

A creator of The Sims has taken simulated social skills to the next level – new AI characters are flirty, like to gossip and are easily insulted, just like us FLIRTY, shy or gossipy... these aren't the typical traits of a bit of computer code. But a simulation system that gives computer-controlled agents a sense of social propriety could change that, leading to more realistic interactions between humans and characters in games.Richard Evans started...

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Ape retirement means chimp research is on the way out

The US National Institutes of Health has announced that it will retire all but 50 of its chimpanzees from research. This follows a 2011 review that concluded that biomedical research no longer needs to use chimps. With other chimps still being used in labs across the US, what does the move really signify? What kinds of research have chimps been used for?For research into vaccines against hepatitis A and B, the identification of the hepatitis C virus,...

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Multi-shot video can identify civil rights abusers

When violence breaks out at a protest, a system that automatically synchronises video of an event from different cameras can give prosecutors clear evidence MILLIONS of people took to the streets in Brazil last week across over 100 cities to protest against wide-ranging issues, including corruption and poor public services. Like the ongoing unrest in Turkey, such demonstrations can provoke violent crackdowns from security forces. More than ever before,...

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Feedback: Nano-whatsits invade their minds

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more FOLLOWING our mention of a portmanteau conspiracy theory (13 April), Fred Riley sends an update. That story concerned "New Evidence Fukushima Disaster Created by HAARP/Chemtrails/Plasma Weapons and Possible Mini-nuke". This one, posted to the UK Channel 4 News Facebook page on 9 May by someone calling themselves David Lloyd, informs...

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Mechanical eye will help wine-makers improve vintages

An automated grape counter will help growers see which parts of their vineyards need special attention SPRAWLING grapevines sweep over us as we steer our all-terrain vehicle down a lush row in a vineyard in California's fertile Central valley. The sunset at the end of the row is on its last blaze of pink, but a strobe light on the vehicle illuminates tight clusters of small, hard grapes on the vines. Inside the cab, high-resolution photos of the...

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European planet hunter pronounced dead in space

Another mighty planet hunter has bitten the dust, drawing to a close the first era of space-based planet spotting. The COROT mission, which counts among its haul the first known rocky exoplanet, has been officially terminated following an on-board computer failure.With the likely end of NASA's Kepler mission in May, exoplanet searches will now be done solely by ground-based telescopes until the launch of new planet-spotting spacecraft in 2017.In...

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Wi-Fi-hopping brings phone signal to remote villages

CELLPHONES are changing lives for the better across the developing world, allowing farmers to use text and voice-based services to access crop and weather information, for example. But nearly half the population in rural Africa cannot access such services because of a lack of local infrastructure.To help fix this, a team led by Elizabeth Belding at the University of California, Santa Barbara, designed a cheap, local cellular network called Kwiizya...

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Today on New Scientist

Renewable energy to eclipse gas by 2016 The International Energy Agency projects that power from renewables will soon exceed that from gas, but some analysts say gas will be tough to phase outGlobal crackdown seizes fake drugs worth $41 million An Interpol campaign has netted 9.9 million doses of counterfeit pharmaceuticals offered online, including fake antibiotics and cancer drugsFlowery return for China's longest-lasting astronauts Three astronauts...

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