New Scientist Int 21.03.2020

21 March 2020 | New Scientist | 3

This week’s issue

20 An impossible law Many common crops are now illegal in France

Insight

Dear reader,

Firstly, as ever, thank you for reading.

Secondly, as will be obvious to

you, the emergence of this novel

coronavirus has led us into uncertain

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All the very best to you,

Emily Wilson, Editor

Coronavirus special

44 Inside the race

for a vaccine

10 What we now

know about the virus

8 Which country is

getting it right?

Vol 245 No 3274

Cover image: Chameleon

Pictures/Alamy

51 The science of noodles

34  Westworld returns

19  Bonehenge 18  Toad v scorpions

16  Cosmic nitrogen

News

On the

cover

Views

12 Pollution forecast

AI can predict levels of

harmful particles

14 Amazon destruction

Deforestation in Brazil

at record levels

15 A nudge on holiday

Virtual assistant pushes hotel

guests to use less energy

16 Born to run

Our ancestors may have

started to run earlier than

we thought

25 Comment

Christel Cederberg and Hayo

van der Werf on environmental

concerns about organic farms

26 The columnist

James Wong serves up his

verdict on the latest food scare

28 Aperture

A puzzling crater on Mars

30 Letters

Readers ponder possible

impacts of the pandemic

32 Culture

How do you solve a problem

like a Marie Curie biopic?

Features

51 Science of cooking

Make tasty, hand-pulled noodles

52 Puzzles

Cryptic crossword, a candle

problem and the quiz

53 Feedback

Stockpiling stories and pig

pedometers: the week in weird

54 Almost the last word

The smell of rust, and radio

interference: readers respond

56 The Q&A

Kate Darling on how we feel

about animals and robots

36 World’s oldest city

A stunning east Asian culture

is rewriting human history

41 Wonderful wasps

Why one of our least loved

animals deserves a rebrand

44 Inside the race

for a vaccine

Can new techniques

deliver a coronavirus

vaccine in record time?

The back pages

36 World’s oldest city

Could Liangzhu be the

true cradle of civilisation?

15 Life under a red sun

Nearest star system to ours

may be habitable after all

41 Wonderful wasps

Just like bees, but with terrible PR

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