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22 September 2003 - issue number 2413 Dear ass,
Welcome to the New Scientist print-edition e-zine - our weekly online newsletter bringing you content highlights from the latest issue of New Scientist.
All of the content featured in this e-zine is available in our online archive which is free to subscribers of the magazine. Non-subscribers can sign up for a free seven day trial of this service, and the issue is on sale at Newsagents now.
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No going back
It might be your greatest dream, but for many physicists, time travel is their worst nightmare. There's a simple reason for this: although the laws of nature seem to allow time machines to exist, they violate the principle of causality - the basic assumption that causes must precede their effects. The problem is, no one has come up with a definitive explanation for why time machines can't work. Until now that is - it seems that string theory, the leading candidate for a "theory of everything", may finally sew the time travel loophole shut once and for all...more
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that figure please?" The phone line was crackly and I thought I must have misheard. The number of lions that remain in the whole of Africa is shockingly small. And it's not just lions. Populations of all African predators are plummeting. The frightening thing is that no one seems to realise how close to disaster these animals are. In Africa, it's not too late to save the situation, but it won't be easy...more
Wave energy is still lagging behind wind and tidal power as a practical source of renewable energy. Part of the problem is that testing wave power machines has proved an expensive and risky business because the powerful ocean swell needed to create useful amounts of power can all to easily wreak havoc on the machines. But things are changing. The world's first purpose-built test site for machines designed to extract power from the waves and turn it into electricity opens next month...more
The court decided Janet had carried out a form of child abuse called Munchausen's syndrome by proxy (MSBP), in which a parent invents or induces their child's illness. It turned out the court was wrong - but not before Janet lost custody of her daughter. This case is far from unique: although it undoubtedly exists, there is no consensus on how to diagnose this syndrome, or even on what it is. And it seems that the science behind it may be seriously flawed...more
Stephen BattersbyTop tip for waiters: let customers split the bill
IF YOUR waiter grumbles when you and your friends ask to pay separately, tell them you have scientific evidence for why it is in their interest. Psychologists have found that when it comes to tips, the smaller the bill, the bigger the percentage paid. Leonard Green and colleagues at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, studied 1000 gratuities at restaurants, hair salons and cab companies, and found that tips dropped as a percentage as bills went up. So a $10 bill might win a waiter a 20 per cent tip, while a $50 tab might only return 15 per cent. The fact that the tip was not a fixed percentage runs contrary to the predictions of microeconomic theory (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, vol 10, p 381).(New Scientist, 20 September, page 24).
Stephen studied physics in Oxford, idleness in Princeton, and astrophysics at Imperial College, London. After three years editing News & Views at Nature, he moved to New Scientist in 1998 to edit features, and then run the section. Having demoted himself to consultant he now writes for all parts of the magazine.
TV DEBUT!
The NEW weekly science bulletin is now showing on Tuesdays as part of Science Night on Discovery Channel UK. Top stories this week include:
- The quantum machine that makes codes unbreakable
- Asteroid impacts - How to end the false alarms
An end to pink washes
Red socks plus whites wash equals pink shirts. But not for much longer if an idea from Procter & Gamble of Ohio pays off. The company thinks it can tackle the age-old problem of colour bleeding using molecules of polymeric amines, which it has found mop up "fugitive dyes" (US 2003/0158075).The molecules are insoluble and so remove the dye from the wash. P&G plans to impregnate loose-weave towels with the molecules. Added to a wash, the towels would soak up any rogue dyes. The user discards them when they change colour.
Never ending story
Infinity is a concept that we can't do without, but why is it so important? New Scientist takes a closer look at this slippery subject and kicks things off by explaining how mathematicians have learned to love infinityTo infinity and beyond
Strange as it may seem, there are different kinds of infinities. And some of them are bigger than others...Upstaging the infinite
Last year, the play Infinities won the most prestigious theatre prize in Italy. There seems to be something strangely compelling about a glimpse of infinity, says the play's author, professor of mathematics John D. BarrowThink big
How does your brain understand infinity? With no direct experience to go on, the mind has an intriguing way to expand its horizons...The regeneration game
Amphibians do it, deer do it, and maybe soon humans too will regrow damaged or worn-out organs. The key is to reawaken the developmental pathway that built the organ in the first place
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