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Climate change gives ancient trees growth spurt

20:00 16 November 2009  | 6 comments

Rising temperatures are boosting the growth of the oldest trees on Earth, but the adolescent growth spurt may – or may not – benefit the climate, say scientists

Fears over 'own goal' HIV vaccine revived

20:00 16 November 2009

Cold virus used in vaccine may raise HIV infection risk after all

Today on New Scientist: 16 November 2009

18:00 16 November 2009

Today's stories on newscientist.com, at a glance, including: the Origin of Species revisited, the mysterious dark flow extending towards the universe's edge, and the first universal programmable quantum computer

Meteor showers: good for skygazers, bad for satellites

GALLERY:  17:00 16 November 2009

Several space missions have been damaged or destroyed by meteoroids over the years – David Shiga rounds up the casualties

Time-travelling browsers navigate the web's past

15:41 16 November 2009  | 6 comments

Old versions of websites will be as easy to find as current ones with new time-travelling technology

Bangladesh mass poisoning mystery solved

16:08 16 November 2009  | 2 comments

Researchers say they have discovered why arsenic turns up in lethal quantities in wells across Bangladesh – microbial oxidation is to blame

Headphone risk to pacemakers

NEWS:  15:09 16 November 2009  | 2 comments

The small powerful magnets used in modern headphones can cause pacemakers and defibrillators to malfunction

Hunger strike draws attention to food security summit

14:33 16 November 2009

As the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's world summit on food security opens in Italy, Jessica Hamzelou asks whether it is all a waste of time

On the Origin of Species, Revisited

SPECIAL FEATURE:  14:01 12 November 2009  | 16 comments

The most influential piece of popular science writing ever was published 150 years ago. Now New Scientist brings you a 21st-century remix of Darwin's classic by geneticist and author Steve Jones

Mystery 'dark flow' extends towards edge of universe

THIS WEEK:  12:46 16 November 2009  | 38 comments

Over a thousand galaxy clusters are streaming in one direction across the sky – some think it's the first sign of a neighbouring universe

NASA to restart primate irradiation testing

11:07 16 November 2009  | 36 comments

The effect of space radiation on astronauts is still a big question mark for deep space exploration – primate research is meant to cut it down to size

FAVOURITE COMMENT

NASA to restart primate irradiation testing

"Barmy Bonkers Brainy Boffins Blast Baby Brass Monkeys (full story on page 3)." Typical Sun Headline

FEEDBACK

Sports jocks library goes digital

The athletic benefits of digital books, the randomising effects of being really drunk, and some excellent news (not really) from Microsoft

CULTURELAB

Origin of Species: The remix

17:40 16 November 2009 - updated 21:08 16 November 2009

Listen to the first chapter of New Scientist's On the Origin of Species, Revisited and hear how evolution has evolved

Making music on thin ice

09:00 16 November 2009

Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, has composed a multi-media symphony using sounds of ice melting that he recorded on a trip to Antarctica in the hopes of delivering an urgent message about climate change.

PHYSICS

In SUSY we trust: What the LHC is really looking for

This simulation depicts the decay of a Higgs particle following a collision of two protons in the CMS experiment (Image: CMS)

Forget the God particle - the rebooted Large Hadron Collider will give us much greater revelations

HEALTH

Common cold may hold off swine flu

Keeping swine flu at bay  (Image: Leander Baerenz/Getty)

This intriguing idea would explain why swine flu's autumn wave has been slow to take off in some countries and point to new ways to fight flu

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VIDEO

Tagging the tigers of the sea Movie Camera

Beautiful, predatory and endangered, tuna are rapidly being hunted to extinction. Graham Lawton joins the high-tech anglers to save them

DRUGS

Cocaine and pepper spray – a lethal mix?

Could be fatal (Image: Miguel Villagran/Getty)

A mouse experiment suggests deaths in US police custody may have been the result of an interaction between capsaicin and psychostimulant drugs

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Find the route to the tumour

This prizewinning image of a brain with a tumour showed the surgeon who made it how to remove the tumour without damage to brain functions. Read more

SPECIAL REPORT

Swine flu: The pandemic of 2009

Keep up to date with the latest on the H1N1 flu pandemic with our special report

COMMENT AND ANALYSIS

How reputation could save the Earth

The power of reputation should be harnessed to stop selfish people from wrecking the planet, say David Rand and Martin Nowak

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