Today on New Scientist


Next generation of space cowboys get ready to fly

Texas aerospace firm FireFly Space Systems announced the FireFly Alpha, a shiny new launch vehicle designed to carry lightweight satellites at low cost


Buttonmasher: Photorealism takes gaming deeper

A new wave of games uses thousands of photos to recreate every detail of the real world and heighten our sense of immersion


The common crane and its violin cry

This preening bird has an extraordinary adaptation – its windpipe is three times as long as you'd expect for a bird this size. Hence its unique call


Stem cell treatment causes nasal growth in woman's back

A woman in the US has developed a tumour-like growth near her spine eight years after a failed stem cell treatment to cure her paralysis


Simple blood test gives early warning of Alzheimer's

Patients showing mild early symptoms of cognitive decline could soon learn if they will develop Alzheimer's thanks to a new blood test


Solar flair: The wonder material shaking up sun power

The solar cell of the future will be flexible, highly efficient and oh-so cheap – just as long as we can make it work in the rain


Biggest ever flying bird and the beast that dwarfed it

Pelagornis sandersi was twice the width of a wandering albatross – the largest living bird – but was nevertheless dwarfed by the biggest pterosaurs


How the moon lost its magic even before Apollo 11

In No Requiem for the Space Age, a new history of NASA's Apollo programme, Matthew D. Tribbe says the moon landings came too late for Americans tired of war


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