3 November 2018 | NewScientist | 1
CONTENTS
newscientist.com/issue/
Leaders
3 Questions over gravitational wave
discovery need answers. Should
lie-detecting tools be trusted?
News
4 THIS WEEK Lie-detecting tech
at border control. Brazil’s new
president. Fracking quakes in the
UK. Animal populations in decline
6 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY Crickets
evolve to purr. Rigid light is weird
state of matter. Ditch cannabis for
memory boost. Forgotten famine.
Earth may have ghost moons.
Orangutans are great mothers.
Battle tech tested. Lewis Carroll is
helping physicists. Animal huddles
improve microbiomes. Removing
sun spots. Higgs boson may have
stopped universe from collapsing.
New species of early bird
17 IN BRIEF Where backbones
evolved. CCTV search engine.
Skin tans better with a day out of
the sun. Humpback whales stop
singing around ships
Analysis
22 INSIGHT What climate change
is doing to tropical storms
24 COMMENT Scientists should
lobby for a better Brexit.
Venezuela’s cryptocurrency
25 ANALYSIS Trump is wrong about
air pollution
Features
28 Did we really find
gravitational waves? 2015’s
breakthrough discovery is in doubt
35 Brain tingles Some videos can
trigger a weird state of relaxation
called ASMR. What’s going on?
38 First there was water Earth’s
liquid could predate the planet
42 Leave those kids alone Sugata
Mitra believes children should have
the chance to teach themselves
Culture
44 Rise of technopower How to
resist frontierless technology
45 No-helmet VR Will superblack
paint create virtual reality 2.0?
PLUS: this week’s cultural picks
46 Long road to Mars Creating a
space epic takes grit and guts
Regulars
26 APERTURE
Help, I’m in a black hole!
52 LETTERS
Depression isn’t just one condition
55 50 YEARS AGO
Early attempts at IVF
56 FEEDBACK
Second moon rising
57 THE LAST WORD
Dangerous current
On the cover
35 Brain tingles
What’s behind the ASMR craze?
8 Ghost moons
The hunt for Earth’s extra
satellites
8 World’s best mothers
Why orangutans take the prize
28 Did we really find
gravitational waves?
Breakthrough physics result
questioned
VR without a headset (45). Rigid
light (6). Purring crickets (6).
Extremely old water (38). Maths
in Wonderland (10)
Volume 240 No 3202 This Week Automated lie detection to be tested at national borders 5
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