New Scientist - Breaking news

Date Posted Article 2 hours ago US stem cell funding freeze lifted - for now An appeals court has granted a temporary stay to the controversial injunction that last month froze new government grants for embryonic stem cell research 5 hours ago Japan to begin drilling for methane in undersea slush Without conventional fossil fuels to secure its energy demands, Japan is encouraging interest in the methane hydrate deposits in its coastal waters 5 hours ago Ancient Greeks spotted Halley's comet Halley's comet and a meteorite the size of a "wagonload" triggered a turning point in ancient Greek astronomy 5 hours ago Smoking, bad for your fertility and your child's Would-be mums who smoke risk damaging the fertility of their children 5 hours ago Birds use optical illusions to get mates Male bowerbirds play tricks with perspective in attempts to woo females 5 hours ago Found: natural bridges on the moon Two rocky arches have been spotted on the moon in images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter – they may have been carved by an ancient impact 5 hours ago Today on New Scientist: 9 September 2010 All today's stories on newscientist.com, including: the truth behind vitamin B and dementia, why cane toads aren't all bad and how to spot top tweets 5 hours ago 2000-year-old pills found in Greek shipwreck Medicine found in a millennia-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean is the first physical evidence for ancient Greek prescriptions 8 hours ago World's most expensive book up for grabs If you like pictures of snowy owls and have £4 to £6 million spare, this book might be for you 8 hours ago Cane toads aren't quite the bad guys we thought It's invaded Australia, but the cane toad has not triggered the ecological catastrophe that some predicted 8 hours ago Caution urged over vitamin B dementia therapy Claims that large doses of B vitamins could protect against dementia are not quite as dramatic as the headlines suggest, says Jessica Hamzelou 11 hours ago Dinosaur with a mysterious fin found A two-legged dinosaur that had a fin on its back has been discovered – but nobody knows what it was for 11 hours ago How Google Instant knows what you want Google's new ability to provide full search results as you type is just the first step towards the company's plans to know your desires before you do 11 hours ago Turing formula poses plain origin for intricate skins A mathematical-biological mixing dreamed up by code breaker Alan Turing can predict what happens when species with simple skin patterns interbreed 11 hours ago New formula shows who's really top of the tweeters The most influential Twitter feeds don't necessarily have the most followers. That's the insight given by a new technique for ranking twitterers 11 hours ago Ghostwriting probe into HRT articles Scientific papers "ghostwritten" for drug maker Wyeth may have led to hormone replacement therapy being recommended to healthy menopausal women Today Thank the ur-worm for Shakespeare's brain The hallmark of the human brain – its enormous cortex – can be traced back 600 million years to the ancestor of a primitive worm Yesterday The shark soup massacre and how to stop it In their book Man and Shark, photographers Paul Hilton and Alex Hofford reveal the extent of the bloody trade in shark fins, says Clint Witchalls Yesterday Robot car passenger: On the road to China, no driver Driverless cars are safer and they are the future, says Alberto Broggi, leader of an autonomous-vehicle expedition from Italy to China Yesterday Exotic matter could show up in the LHC this year The Large Hadron Collider could glimpse sparticles, diquarks and leptoquarks sooner than thought possible if new-found decay pathways are correct Yesterday Brain imaging monitors effect of movie magic Mining your brain's fundamental response to cinematic action could make movies more moving Yesterday Today on New Scientist: 8 September 2010 All today's stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: BP's report on the gulf spill, how to map the internet, and the shark soup massacre Yesterday Be philosophical: Take part in a thought experiment A Yale University experimental philosopher needs your help – take his online test if you want to find out how your mind works Yesterday Laws of physics may change across the universe A controversial observation suggests that a constant of physics actually varies in space – it could explain why our corner of the cosmos is just right for life Yesterday Money can buy you happiness – up to a point The more money people earn the higher their overall life satisfaction, but your day-to-day emotional wellbeing improves only up to a $75,000 salary Yesterday Acoustic trick gives 'dumbphones' touchscreen feel Don't be embarrassed by your "ancient" push-button cellphone – turn it into a pseudo-touchscreen device Yesterday Zoologger: Shrimp plays chicken with its sex change The peppermint shrimp changes from male to hermaphrodite – if nobody else will Yesterday Escher-like internet map could speed online traffic A new map of the internet, produced using the hyperbolic geometry employed by Escher, could help establish quicker routing options for online traffic Yesterday Meet William the Concherer, the dolphin that can fish A "conching" dolphin captured on film suggests the marine mammal uses the massive shell to trap and stun fish Yesterday Grave soil whispers time of death tip-off Crime scene investigators should take a closer look at the soil around a buried corpse to more accurately estimate when the person died