New Scientist Australian Edition 5-Nov-22

Academy How to think critically and creatively Even the smartest people are prone to errors in reasoning – and even the least artistic of us have a capacity for creative thinking. On this course, you will learn from academic experts how to refine your critical and creative thinking skills so you are in a better position to evaluate information and think more logically. Join now for £99. academy.newscientist.com Virtual event Memory, the brain and who we are How do our brains store past experiences to make us who we are? Why can memories feel so real? Are there such things as “true” and “false” memories? Psychiatrist Veronica O’Keane offers a new way of thinking about our personal experiences. Watch online at 6pm GMT/1pm EST on 10 November. Also available on…

Academy How to think critically and creatively Even the smartest people are prone to errors in reasoning – and even the least artistic of us have a capacity for creative thinking. On this course, you will learn from academic experts how to refine your critical and creative thinking skills so you are in a better position to evaluate information and think more logically. Join now for £99. academy.newscientist.com Virtual event Memory, the brain and who we are How do our brains store past experiences to make us who we are? Why can memories feel so real? Are there such things as “true” and “false” memories? Psychiatrist Veronica O’Keane offers a new way of thinking about our personal experiences. Watch online at 6pm GMT/1pm EST on 10 November. Also available on demand. newscientist.com/events Podcast Weekly The team listens to the quacks…

IT IS one of those strange quirks of history that Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb exactly 100 years after Jean-François Champollion cracked ancient Egypt’s hieroglyphics. Champollion’s breakthrough in 1822 unlocked the civilisation’s rich written archive, while Carter’s discovery in 1922 offered an unadulterated view of pharaonic opulence. It is unlikely 2022 will be remembered as a pivotal year in Egyptology, but that doesn’t mean the field is stuck in a rut. As we report on page 38, archaeologists now have the tools of modern science at their fingertips. Their discoveries may seem relatively humdrum at first glance, but they could prove transformative for our understanding of ancient Egypt. A look back at the breakthroughs of 1822 and 1922 shows us why. One of the most famous ancient Egyptian texts we could read…

IT IS one of those strange quirks of history that Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb exactly 100 years after Jean-François Champollion cracked ancient Egypt’s hieroglyphics. Champollion’s breakthrough in 1822 unlocked the civilisation’s rich written archive, while Carter’s discovery in 1922 offered an unadulterated view of pharaonic opulence. It is unlikely 2022 will be remembered as a pivotal year in Egyptology, but that doesn’t mean the field is stuck in a rut. As we report on page 38, archaeologists now have the tools of modern science at their fingertips. Their discoveries may seem relatively humdrum at first glance, but they could prove transformative for our understanding of ancient Egypt. A look back at the breakthroughs of 1822 and 1922 shows us why. One of the most famous ancient Egyptian texts we…

DEFENDERS of the Amazon rainforest were overwhelmed with relief on 30 October as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva narrowly secured Brazil’s presidency. Lula, who was president from 2003 to 2010, beat incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by just 1.8 per cent of votes in the divisive presidential election. The tight victory could save the Amazon just as it has reached a crucial tipping point, say Brazilian environmentalists. “During the past four years, the Amazon has been threatened, attacked and destroyed as the government openly promoted environmental crimes,” says Erika Berenguer at the University of Oxford, who was in tears as she spoke to New Scientist. “It was like having to silence a scream inside you every day as you watched the object of your life, your career and passion destroyed,” she says. “Lula’s election is…

IN THE holiday resort of Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, the stage is being set for COP27, the next round of UN climate talks, which kicks off on 6 November. As delegates prepared to head to the summit, a flurry of sobering reports released last week reminded the world that greenhouse gas concentrations are rising and hopes of delivering on the promises of the 2015 Paris Agreement are fading fast. First came the stark but unsurprising news from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that atmospheric concentrations of planet-warming carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane hit a record high in 2021 and have continued to rise throughout 2022. Atmospheric CO2, responsible for about 66 per cent of global warming since 1750, hit 415.5 parts per million in 2021, the WMO said. Meanwhile, methane registered…