Herbal Viagra actually contains the real thing

IF IT looks too good to be true, it probably is. Several "herbal remedies" for erectile dysfunction sold online actually contain the active ingredient from Viagra. Michael Lamb at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and colleagues purchased 10...

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Smartphone projector breathes life into storybooks

Hal Hodson, technology reporter!--By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. -->!-- This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soonas the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only afterthe rest of the HTML is processed and the...

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The self: Why are you like you are?

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Live hologram reveals moving people trapped in a fire

Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor, New Scientist TV!--By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and Cfound at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. -->Firefighters can see through smoke thanks to thermal imaging helmetsbut now, for the first time, they can also make out moving people trapped behind flames. Created by Pietro Ferraro and colleagues from the...

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Curiosity's spills add thrills to the Mars life hunts

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The great illusion of the self

(Image: Darren Hopes)As you wake up each morning, hazy and disoriented, you gradually become aware of the rustling of the sheets, sense their texture and squint at the light. One aspect of your self has reassembled: the first-person observer of reality, inhabiting a human body. As wakefulness grows, so does your sense of having a past, a personality and motivations. Your self is complete, as both...

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New blood test finds elusive fetal gene problem

A NEW non-invasive blood test for pregnant women could make it easier to catch abnormalities before their child is born. Human cells should have two copies of each chromosome but sometimes the division is uneven. Existing tests count the fragments of placental...

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Amazon to open market in second-hand MP3s and e-books

A new market for second-hand digital downloads could let us hold virtual yard sales of our ever-growing piles of intangible possessions WHY buy second-hand? For physical goods, the appeal is in the price – you don't mind the creases in a book or rust spots on a car if it's a bargain. Although digital objects...

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Friday Illusion: How to see the past

Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor, New Scientist TV!--By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and Cfound at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. -->Think you're living in the moment? You could actually be experiencing another time. A brain trick called the flash-lag illusion shows how we don't always perceive the present. This version, created by Eiji Watanabe...

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Flushed with success: Human manure's fertile future

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How was Earth's life kindled under a cold sun?

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Huge telescopes could spy alien oxygen

Giant telescopes like the Extremely Large Telescope now being built in Chile could hunt for alien life by detecting oxygen on exoplanets – even though they were not designed with that in mind. On Earth, plants and some bacteria are...

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One-Minute Physics: Are unknowns part of the universe?

Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor, New Scientist TV!--By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and Cfound at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. -->What's part of the universe? You may think of it as incorporating everything that exists - both on Earth and in space - but could it also include the unknown?In this One-Minute Physics episode, film-maker Henry...

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False memories prime immune system for future attacks

IN A police line-up, a falsely remembered face is a big problem. But for the body's police force – the immune system – false memories could be a crucial weapon. When a new bacterium or virus invades the body, the immune system mounts...

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False memories prime immune system for future attacks

IN A police line-up, a falsely remembered face is a big problem. But for the body's police force – the immune system – false memories could be a crucial weapon. When a new bacterium or virus invades the body, the immune system mounts...

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A computer cosmos will never explain quantum physics

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Do get mad: The upside of anger

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How to use art to help explore other minds

Kat Austen, CultureLab editorLucky Devil, 2012 (Image: Rosemarie Trockel, DACS 2013, Courtesy Sprüth Magers Berlin London)What makes a human mind? Forget all those wet biology descriptors and imagine it’s possible to walk through the forest of someone else’s neurons to see what they see, to explore their consciousness.Viewing any artwork opens a window into other minds - just a little. But the Cosmos...

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Gene therapy cures diabetic dogs

Five diabetic beagles no longer needed insulin injections after being given two extra genes, with two of them still alive more than four years later. Several attempts have been made to treat diabetes with gene therapy but this study is "the...

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Picasso created masterworks with house paint

Nanoscale studies of chips of paint have bolstered the notion that Pablo Picasso created some of his surreal masterworks with ordinary house paint. Chemical analysis of the chips may lead to better art conservation techniques. Historians...

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