Today on New Scientist


Forgotten force: The other great cosmic attractor

Could a field 10 million times weaker than a fridge magnet have shaped the universe? New cosmos-penetrating detectors are solving the big magnetic mystery


Five fascinating things revealed by Twitter data

Shares in Twitter are going on sale today. Most interest is focused on its advertising revenue, but there's also a gold mine of information in tweets


Africa's war on cancer kicks off with vaccine trials

A cervical cancer vaccine is being tried out in Ghana this week – it's the front line of the battle to beat cancer before it becomes Africa's next epidemic


Alfred Russel Wallace: A very rare specimen

A hundred years after his death, it is high time to put this evolutionary pioneer in his proper place – as Charles Darwin's equal, argues Stephanie Pain


Drop air pressure to give chickens a stress-free death

Broiler chickens have a miserable life, but knocking them out them with low air pressure before slaughter could give them a more humane death


Data trackers monitor your life so they can nudge you

Once you know everything about a person, you can influence their behaviour. A thousand students with tattletale phones are going to find out how easy that is


We can cut emissions without a global deal

A slowdown in the pace of our emissions shows that nations can make cuts without a UN agreement and without jeopardising economic growth


Eavesdropping on dark sound shrinks the shadow universe

Efforts to listen in to primordial dark matter are helping to refine recent models that suggest some of the elusive particles can build dark atoms


We'll have the tools to spot nearby aliens by 2030

If life is common in the universe, we will have found signs of it by the middle of the next decade, thanks to a new generation of space telescopes


If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.



Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.


Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article


Subscribe now to comment.




All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.


If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.