New Scientist Australian Edition 28-May-22

Academy Everyday quantum physics This course will reveal how the world around you is the way it is thanks to strange goings-on in the quantum realm, the most fundamental layer of reality we know of – from the technology you use to biological life itself. Join now for £99. academy.newscientist.com Tour Science of the Incas Immerse yourself in the Inca civilisation’s most important archaeological sites, science and history while exploring the beautiful Sacred Valley in Peru. Plus, visit Machu Picchu and discover religious sites, accompanied by Peter Getzels, an anthropologist, mountaineer and Emmy award-winning cinematographer. From 17 September 2022 for 10 days. The cost is £3499. newscientist.com/tours Podcast Weekly This week, the team look at solutions to the global food crisis, which has been brought on by a mix of…

Academy Everyday quantum physics This course will reveal how the world around you is the way it is thanks to strange goings-on in the quantum realm, the most fundamental layer of reality we know of – from the technology you use to biological life itself. Join now for £99. academy.newscientist.com Tour Science of the Incas Immerse yourself in the Inca civilisation’s most important archaeological sites, science and history while exploring the beautiful Sacred Valley in Peru. Plus, visit Machu Picchu and discover religious sites, accompanied by Peter Getzels, an anthropologist, mountaineer and Emmy award-winning cinematographer. From 17 September 2022 for 10 days. The cost is £3499. newscientist.com/tours Podcast Weekly This week, the team look at solutions to the global food crisis, which has been brought on by a mix of the coronavirus pandemic, intensifying climate change and the war in…

ON PAPER, nuclear power is a brilliant way to tackle climate change. Yet the reality of this technology, which promises a steady supply of low-carbon power to cope with wind-free days, frequently disappoints, as Michael Brooks reports on page 38. Take the news that the UK’s first new nuclear power station in a generation may be two years late and cost up to £8 billion extra. This is the third time since the plant was first approved in 2016 that the budget and schedule for Hinkley Point C have been revised by EDF Energy, the French state-owned firm leading its construction. The delay doesn’t mean that lights will go out, nor missed carbon targets. But it does hold consequences for future nuclear projects, in the UK and around the world. It shows…

ON PAPER, nuclear power is a brilliant way to tackle climate change. Yet the reality of this technology, which promises a steady supply of low-carbon power to cope with wind-free days, frequently disappoints, as Michael Brooks reports on page 38. Take the news that the UK’s first new nuclear power station in a generation may be two years late and cost up to £8 billion extra. This is the third time since the plant was first approved in 2016 that the budget and schedule for Hinkley Point C have been revised by EDF Energy, the French state-owned firm leading its construction. The delay doesn’t mean that lights will go out, nor missed carbon targets. But it does hold consequences for future nuclear projects, in the UK and around the world.…

AS New Scientist went to press, 172 monkeypox cases had been confirmed in North and South America, Australia, the Middle East, North Africa and across Europe, according to a list of reports compiled by Moritz Kraemer at the University of Oxford, John Brownstein at Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts and their colleagues. These same regions also have a total of 87 suspected cases of monkeypox and 27 people hospitalised with the infection. As of 23 May, the UK had recorded 57 cases of the virus, and it appears to be one of the hardest-hit countries so far. No related deaths have been reported anywhere, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In the past, outbreaks outside of Central and West Africa have usually been linked with travel to those regions, where the…

WITH monkeypox cases appearing globally (see page 7), some with no obvious source of infection, it seems the virus may be spreading undetected. While not as serious a disease as covid-19, it is understandable that some people feel a sense of familiarity with the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Here are the key facts you need to know as the outbreak unfolds. What is monkeypox? Monkeypox is a disease caused by a virus that, as the name suggests, usually spreads among monkeys in Central and West Africa, but occasionally jumps to people. It was first spotted in monkeys in labs in 1958. The first human case was identified in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970. How does it spread? According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “monkeypox can be…