30 January 2021 | New Scientist | 1On the
coverFocus on coronavirus
8 Can you relax after a
first vaccine shot?
11 How deadly is the
UK variant?44 Alien megastructures
Inside the hunt for
Dyson spheresNews
Views
Features
12 Fringe views
What makes a conspiracy
theorist?14 Slippery slope
Volcano can trigger rock slides
that travel 60 kilometres16 Genetic treatment
CRISPR-like tool for RNA
editing could temporarily
alter your proteins23 Comment
Clare Wilson on formula
milk in food banks24 The columnist
What is so great about native
plant species, asks James Wong26 Letters
Pandemic prevention will
need some extra wisdom28 Aperture
Rare images of collisions
in galactic evolution30 Culture
David Attenborough’s dazzling
new series A Perfect Planet51 Science of gardening
How to make compost52 Puzzles
Try our crossword, quick quiz
and logic puzzle54 Almost the last word
How does lichen survive
on roofs in the summer?56 Feedback
Sustainable whales and feline
frenzy: the week in weird56 Twisteddoodles
for New Scientist
Picturing the lighter side of life34 The other humans
A mysterious prehistoric people
once known only from their DNA
are emerging from the shadows40 Gaslighting
Psychological manipulation can
warp your window on reality –
but there are ways to fight back44 Alien megastructures
Searching for the glow of vast
power stations near other starsThe back pages
13 Warming world Climate change is reducing children’s diet diversityVol 249 No 3319
Cover image: Brian Stauffer34 The other humans
The extraordinary story of the
Denisovans, the lost people
who once shared our world40 Gaslighting
How to stop people
messing with your mindCR
ISTINAALDEHUEL
A/AFP
VIAGETTY^ IMAGESNews
15 Quantum hyperchaos
17 Sextuple star system
18 Robosquid 51 Science of
compost 14 Naked ammoniteThis week’s issue
40 Features
“ It could
happen to
any of us.
Aspects of
perception
can be
exploited
to control
our reality”