Hunting quantum gravity in the big bang's echoes

Uniting gravity with its quantum nemesis might take a detector the size of the universe. So say two physicists who think they have found a way to resolve one of the biggest conflicts in modern physics using high-resolution maps of the infant cosmos.The universe is currently described using two distinct frameworks: gravity for larger objects such as planets and black holes, and quantum mechanics for the tiny world of bosons and quarks. Even though...

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Infertile woman gives birth after boost to ovaries

A baby boy has been born following a new fertility treatment that awakens dormant eggs in women who have stopped menstruating.The treatment could help women who have left child-bearing too late, or have been left infertile after treatment for cancer. But some have raised concerns that the technique has been rushed to the clinic before being properly tested.Women are born with millions of immature eggs, or follicles, but only around 400 mature to...

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SpaceX gets a rival - and tests novel reusable rocket

The nascent commercial space-flight industry showed off something old and something new on Sunday.One company, Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Virginia, docked with, and delivered cargo to, the International Space Station (ISS) – only the second commercial entity to do so, but a capability that government agencies have long had.Meanwhile SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, tested novel reusable rocket technology at the same time as launching a clutch of...

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Today on New Scientist

Glowing jester plane reveals invisible wind eddies A coating of glowing oil exposes the swirls of air that surround an experimental Boeing blended wing aircraft in a NASA wind tunnelBrake away: Rethinking how we land on Mars NASA is rebooting its Mars landings, thanks to a smart idea from the cold war era, and high-stakes rocket tests in the desert. Sally Adee looks onNo need for gods any more As societies mature, many outgrow the need for a spiritual...

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Brake away: Rethinking how we land on Mars

THE cramped room smells of hot breath. About 50 people are clustered in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, straining for a better view of the desert outside. The silence is only broken when one of them muffles a cough with the crook of his arm, a gesture that exposes the dark stain at his armpit.Down on the ground outside, gleaming pickup trucks mingle with dusty cars, all with their windows down so that the glass doesn't shatter with the force...

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No need for gods any more

Book information Big Gods: How religion transformed cooperation and conflict by Ara NorenzayanPublished by: Princeton University PressPrice: £19.95, $29.95True believers think atheists cannot be expected to behave morally (Image: Abbas/Magnum) As societies mature, many outgrow the need for a spiritual superbeing, argues Big Gods: How religion transformed cooperation and conflictIN THE beginning, there were many gods. Societies entertained supernatural...

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Climate report: How the science has moved on

"Human influence on the climate system is clear."With these words, Thomas Stocker of the University of Bern in Germany summed up the new assessment of climate science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Stocker was one of the report's co-chairs.The new report, published last Friday, reaffirms the findings of the previous assessment in 2007: humans are to blame for warming now and in the future.But there is always more to learn,...

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Will push for global digital privacy treaty succeed?

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's leaks of surveillance secrets have already prompted concerted efforts to reform spy laws in the US. But now a burgeoning international attempt to rein in the mass surveillance is taking shape.Led by the German government, a loose coalition of privacy chiefs from countries across the world is pushing to update an influential international human rights treaty that enshrines the right to privacy.German...

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Rockstar planet hunter: Genius award will free my brain

Astrophysicist and newly named MacArthur genius Sara Seager talks about her hunt for exotic new worlds, and draws links between parenting and science You have been studying exoplanets – planets outside the solar system that orbit Sun-like stars – almost since they were first discovered. How did you get into it?I was wrapping up a project on cosmology and looking for a new project when exoplanets were discovered. My adviser, Dimitar Sasselov, thought...

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First physical evidence of why you're an owl or a lark

They say the early bird catches the worm, but night owls may be missing far more than just a tasty snack. Researchers have discovered the first physical evidence of structural brain differences that distinguish early risers from people who like to stay up late. The differences might help to explain why night owls seem to be at greater risk of depression.Around 10 per cent of people qualify as morning people or larks, and a further 20 per cent are...

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It's never too late for a midlife crisis

Ditch the Porche-driving cliché for a better understanding of life crises – be they midlife, quarter-life or late-life, says psychologist Oliver Robinson You surveyed more than 1000 adults in the UK about their experience of life crisis. Why?The concept of a midlife crisis is a well known one perpetuated by books and films. And recently the idea of a quarter-life crisis, between 20 and 30, has also gained a fair amount of media coverage. But there's...

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Black-hole eruption nearby is a warning for us all

Cosmic threats, like the flare-up 2 million years ago of the Milky Way's black hole, are a reminder that humanity’s survival is up to us TWO million years ago, something not quite human looked up at the sky and saw a glowing light, about the size of the moon, that hadn't been there before. That light was a huge eruption at the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, according to new research by astronomers.We can only make educated guesses at what...

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Light-bending black hole mimic is first you can watch

Video: Artificial black hole mimics curved spacetime A plastic black hole traps light just like the real deal, and is the first such structure, natural or artificial, that you can actually watch in action. Unlike the real thing, it isn't dangerous – but it is helping to demystify one of nature's weirdest objects and might even have applications for energy-harvesting devices like solar cells.Black holes are most famous for swallowing light, or anything...

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Hacking firm hints at cybercrime's professional elite

A new report has outed a shadowy organisation called Hidden Lynx – a 100-strong group of expert hackers who are available for hire LAST June, one of the world's most advanced hacker groups hit a problem. The US defence contractor whose systems it wanted to access only allowed a small set of trusted IP addresses to connect to their network. In an unusual move – hackers typically go for the low-hanging fruit – the group hacked the company that provided...

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