New Scientist Magazine - 27 March 2010


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The last thing you want to be when you retire, is retiring. Zurich HelpPoint® is here when you need more than just insurance. We have a wide range of investment and pension plans to help make your retirement plans a reality, whether that involves putting your feet up or putting your flippers on. For more information speak to your Financial Adviser or visit www.zurich.co.uk/pension Here to help your world. Because change happenz Zurich Assurance Ltd. Registered in England and Wales under company number 02456671. Registered Office: UK Life Centre, Station Road, Swindon, SN 1 1 EL. ® CONTENTS Vo lume 205 No 2753 NEWS 5 EDITORIAL Bats are worth safeguarding, too 6 UPFRONT Private space flight price promise, COVER STORY Loony moons Ki ller UK pollution, Youth tobacco crackdown 8 THIS WEEK Green vice follows green vi rtue, Why hot water From weird freezes faster, Slow thinking and creativity, walnuts to flying Insects get Machiavel lian, saucers, meetthe 16 IN BRIEF Orang-utans go fishing, Semen kills real wonders of rival sperm, To lose weight, eat bacteria the solar system 19 TECHNOLOGY Cars' suspect software, Quantum cameras, Babbage's com puter reborn - on the nanoscale Cover image NikAinley OPINION 24 Unethical lab coats Mahmood Bhutta explores the damage done by unthinking purchases 24 Florida's crisis Is a plan to save the Everglades Scared, stiffed too credit-crunched to work, asksjeff Hecht 25 One minute with... joel Morgan, pi rate-fighting environment ministe r of the Seychelles Inside the most 26 LETTERS To rture and terror, Earth's l ife support brazen computer 28 The world's a lab "Natural experime nts" can fraud ever to come to court help us understand history, say ja red Diamond andjamesA, Robinson FEATURES 32 Loony moons (see rig ht) 38 Scared, stiffed (see ri ght) 42 Murder i n the bat cave Something is killing America's bats - but what? 46 Insulation nation Cutting carbon emissions from draughty old homes is a prio rity, Here's how to do it REGULARS 26 ENIGMA Coming next week Your amazing brain 50 BOOKS &ARTS Reviews Do we know enough about our neurology to work out how much free will we New insights into the have? On genius, string theory and fish welfare Interview Sociologist William Sims Bainbridge on the real-world lessons from workings of the mind World of Worcroft 56 FEED BACK Eating Peter Rabbit 57 THE LAST WORD Moonwatching for sceptics 54 JOBS & CAREERS Thinking with our bodies PLUS Cars that drive Even the most abstract thoug hts themselves are rooted in our physical selves Tower 2, 475 V ictoria Avenue, Recruitment Advertising TO SUBSCRIBE Syndication New York, NY 10010. 225 Wyman Street. Tel781 734 8770 Tel 888 822 3242 Tribune Media Services Periodicals postage paid at W a ltham, MA 02451 Chatswood, NSW 2067 [email protected] [email protected] International New York, NY and other mailing Tel 781 734 8770 Tel +61 294222666 Permissions for reuse An annual subsc ri pti on in the USA Tel 213 237 7987 offices, Pos