2020-02-01_New_Scientist

(C. Jardin) #1
1 February 2020 | New Scientist | 3

8 Wuhan coronavirus As the virus spreads, Chinese authorities are
taking unprecedented action, including building a new hospital

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News


34 Features


“ For all our efforts to pin


it down, reality just keeps


on getting bigger and


more bewildering”


On the
cover

8 Wuhan coronavirus
How bad is it likely to get?

44 Long-lost ancestors
The ancient microbes shaking
up the tree of life

9 Fusion in nine months
UK prepares for first major
test in decades

Health
Check

Vol 245 No 3267
Cover image: Alexey Boldin/Shutterstock

34 What is reality?
The more we look at it,
the less real it seems

20 Getting Brexit done
The science issues still
to be solved

19 Superluminous supernova 18 Oldest ever fungi 31 Raised with chimps
19  Perfect coffee (according to maths)

This week’s issue


News


Views


Features


10 Organ engineering
The race to make pig organs
work for human transplants

14 Daredevil hominins
Did Neanderthals climb up
an active volcano?

16 Genome invasion
We’ve caught a virus in the act
of invading an animal genome
for the first time

23 Comment
It’s too late to ban face
recognition, says Donna Lu

24 The columnist
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
on the Milky Way

26 Letters
A unit for personal
environmental impact

28 Aperture
Art that recreates the beauty
of precipitation

31 Culture
The man who was raised
alongside chimps

51 Science of cooking
Preserve fish, meat and egg yolks

52 Puzzles
Quick crossword, an elevator
question and the quiz

53 Feedback
Deadly drop bears and a pooch
podcast: the week in weird

54 Almost the last word
Cats, fish and water, and brain
calories: readers respond

56 The Q&A
Julie Sze on social and
environmental justice

34 What is reality?
Tackling the greatest intellectual
challenge there is: the search
for the meaning of everything

44 Long-lost ancestors
A strange family of ancient
microbes may change the very
tree of life – and our place in it

The back pages


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