MAGAZINE ISSUE DATE: 22 NOVEMBER 2003, Vol. 180 No. 2422
NEWS:-
BRITISH PLAN FOR ID CARDSNew Scientist has learned that the proposed British plan to introduce biometric ID cards to the UK will fail to prevent fraudsters acquiring multiple identity cards. The problem, according to an expert in information systems, is the limited accuracy of iris scans combined with the sheer number of people to be identified. Such a large database will fail to match two scans of the same iris taken under different conditions. Page 13
END OF THE BREATHALYSER?Drivers face a new kind of hand-held device to determine quickly whether they're impaired by illicit drugs, alcohol or excessive tiredness. The new "impairment detector" , being evaluated by the British police, assesses the driver's behaviour rather than testing for particular substances. The test measures the subject's ability to react to the unexpected while performing a motor control task, and concentration levels. Page 25
SMOOTH APPROACH CUTS NOISE POLLUTIONNoise pollution around airports is expected to triple by 2030. But changing the way the planes come in to land could make a significant difference, say an international research consortium. They found that if an aircraft lines up with the runway as far as 70 kilometres away and makes a continuous steady descent to ground, noise pollution can be more than halved. Page 26
ELDERLY COCKROACHESIt seems that we're not the only ones that get a bit doddery as we get older. In the first analysis of insect ageing, American researchers found that when cockroaches reach a ripe old age, their joints seize up and they have trouble walking up hills. Page 20
THE SHAPE OF NOZZLES TO COMETriangular nozzles will produce the tiniest drips, according to mathematicians from Harvard University. There are many technologies that need nozzles to squirt out miniscule droplets of liquid, which could benefit from triangular nozzles. They say their tap could increase the resolution of ink-jet printers and make biochips more accurate. Page 21
WILL OVERCROWDING SINK NOAH'S ARK?The stunning announcement of a new species of baleen whale comes in the week that the IUCN, the World Conservation Union, highlights a growing concern in conservation science. We are in the midst of a major rethink about what constitutes a species, and where the boundaries between them lie. Pages 6-7
FEATURES:-
FROM HERE TO ETERNITYAstronomers have created the first ever map showing everything observable in a slice of the universe - and New Scientist has published the result as a pull-out map at the centre of this week's issue. Moving away from the Earth, the map shows 8,420 satellites, 14,183 asteroids and 126,625 galaxies outside our own Milky Way. It is a stunning achievement. Pages 36-39
TIME WARPIf we just used atomic clocks to keep time, our watches would gradually get ahead of the motion of the Earth " which is gradually spinning more slowly. So the authorities slip an extra leap second into our calendars, a little less than once a year, to compensate. But what about all the automatic systems which began after the introduction of leap seconds, like air traffic control, the internet and GPS? Could a computer system's confusion over leap seconds cause disaster? Pages 30-33
EVOLVING WITH THE ENEMYOur non-stop battle against bacteria, viruses and other parasites is altering the human genome more radically than we ever expected. Malaria alone is responsible for forcing changes to at least 14 human genes. And the list of genetic variability promoted by malaria and other diseases is growing by the month. Pages 44-47
DOOMSDAY SCENARIOFor 10,000 years since the last ice age humanity has enjoyed a tranquil climate with no sudden changes. But they will be coming, say researchers. Our persistent meddling with the planet could trigger abrupt changes, and when this goes beyond a certain critical point, the change could be irreversible. Pages 38-41
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