7 December 2019 | New Scientist | 3On the
cover38 Microplastics
You eat, drink and breathe
them. What impact are they
having on your health?42 Doing good better
An evidence-based guide
to giving to charityNews
Views
Features
8 Cardiovascular risk
Your cholesterol can predict
heart disease years in advance11 UN climate meeting
Everything you need to
know about COP16 Phone addiction
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really addicted to their
screens?23 Comment
Clare Wilson on science’s
fake news problem24 The columnist
Graham Lawton on the
environmental impact of pets26 Letters
Transparency on political
micro-targeting28 Aperture
A stunning view of Bali’s
subak rice terraces30 Culture
The best science-themed
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See the spectacular aurorae52 Puzzles
Cryptic crossword, a hiking
puzzle and the quick quiz53 Feedback
Stick figures and invisible
carbon: the week in weird54 Almost the last word
Seeing UV light and gravity
explained: readers respond56 The Q&A
Rick McIntyre’s life with
Yellowstone’s wolves34 Life. Time. The universe
Entropy’s push for chaos gives
structure to reality. So how come
no one knows what is?38 Microplastics
These tiny particles contaminate
our food and our air, but how are
they affecting our health?42 Doing good better
Your guide to evidence-based
altruismThe back pages
12 Biodiversity back-up The mission to collect our food’s wild relativesVol 244 No 3259
Cover image: Domenic Bahmann34 Life. Time. The universe
Everything descends
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may finally know whyCOURTE
SY
OFDR.^ D
OU
G^ COOK/CWRCHICKPE
A^ PRE- B
RE
ED
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PROJECTNews
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8 Amazon enters quantum raceThis week’s issue
38 Features
“ The average
household
generates
around
700 billion
fragments
known as
microplastics
every year”