New Scientist Australian Edition 7 January 2023

Virtual event Wonders of the Arctic: Science on top of the world The Arctic has fascinated researchers for centuries. Join New Scientist’s Rowan Hooper for this free talk on the region’s wildlife and how humans could refreeze ice in the Arctic circle. Glaciologist Ulyana Horodyskyj Peña will also discuss the life of a scientist in an extreme environment. On 12 January at 8pm GMT/3pm EST and on demand. newscientist.com/events Academy How your brain works and how to make the most of it The human brain’s network of 86 billion neurons is the most complex object in the known universe – and you can understand yours better by taking this course. You will hear from leading experts on the modern technology being used to probe the thinking brain and will explore…

Virtual event Wonders of the Arctic: Science on top of the world The Arctic has fascinated researchers for centuries. Join New Scientist’s Rowan Hooper for this free talk on the region’s wildlife and how humans could refreeze ice in the Arctic circle. Glaciologist Ulyana Horodyskyj Peña will also discuss the life of a scientist in an extreme environment. On 12 January at 8pm GMT/3pm EST and on demand. newscientist.com/events Academy How your brain works and how to make the most of it The human brain’s network of 86 billion neurons is the most complex object in the known universe – and you can understand yours better by taking this course. You will hear from leading experts on the modern technology being used to probe the thinking brain and will explore the science of sleep and consciousness. academy.newscientist.com Podcast Weekly Podcast…

HOW to stop our planet overheating is, of course, the key question of our time. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN agency known for its sobriety and caution, has, for some time, noted that halting the current warming trajectory “requires rapid and far-reaching changes” in all aspects of society. Some interpret that as meaning the end of capitalism. Others prefer that we innovate our way out of the problem. Certainly, we must cut our consumption of planetary resources, especially in high-income countries, and this is something that the Czech-Canadian scientist and author Vaclav Smil has argued for at length. This week, however, he leans towards innovation, highlighting key inventions that we desperately need (see “How to save ourselves”, page 38). Smil mostly limits himself to things that seem feasible in…

HOW to stop our planet overheating is, of course, the key question of our time. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN agency known for its sobriety and caution, has, for some time, noted that halting the current warming trajectory “requires rapid and far-reaching changes” in all aspects of society. Some interpret that as meaning the end of capitalism. Others prefer that we innovate our way out of the problem. Certainly, we must cut our consumption of planetary resources, especially in high-income countries, and this is something that the Czech-Canadian scientist and author Vaclav Smil has argued for at length. This week, however, he leans towards innovation, highlighting key inventions that we desperately need (see “How to save ourselves”, page 38). Smil mostly limits himself to things that seem…

A HUGE severe winter storm blasted swathes of the US and Canada over the holiday period, with blizzards and extreme cold leaving at least 60 people dead and millions without power. The storm, estimated to be more than 3000 kilometres wide and dubbed a “bomb cyclone”, swept across North America from 23 December, hitting US states as far south as Texas as well as the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. In Buffalo, New York, more than 120 centimetres of snow fell in 72 hours, while temperatures in Montana dropped to -39°C (-38°F). Millions faced huge disruption to their holiday travel plans, with thousands of flights cancelled and major roads blocked by snow and abandoned vehicles. The storm was caused by Arctic winds known as the polar vortex dipping south over North America.…

STONE Age people living in Europe 20,000 years ago may have devised a simple form of writing to record the habits of the animals they hunted, according to a study of mysterious symbols on artefacts and cave walls. If confirmed, this would push back the earliest known appearance of a proto-writing system by at least 10,000 years. At least 400 caves in Europe, such as Lascaux and Chauvet in France and Altamira in Spain, have art on the walls drawn by Homo sapiens groups from around 42,000 years ago onwards. As well as drawings of bison, deer and horses, there are many graphic symbols, such as lines, crosses, dots and asterisks, whose meanings have long been debated. One common motif is a picture of an animal with a series of lines and…