New Scientist Australian Edition 30-May-20

Virtual events Alien oceans on Earth and beyond Join NASA astrobiologist Kevin Hand for a fascinating online lecture exploring the best chances of finding life beyond Earth, at 6pm BST on 4 June. newscientist.com/events Podcasts Weekly News with implications for life on Mars, the discovery of our five separate appetites, Geordi La Forge, and the world’s weirdest plant. newscientist.com/podcasts Newsletter Launchpad Our free newsletter sends you on a monthly voyage across the galaxy and beyond. newscientist.com/sign-up/launchpad Video Plastic clean-up Liz Bonnin reveals the full scale of the ocean plastic crisis and explores how science can offer solutions. youtube.com/newscientist Online Covid-19 daily update The day’s coronavirus coverage updated at 6pm BST with news, features and interviews. newscientist.com/coronavirus-latest…

Virtual events Alien oceans on Earth and beyond Join NASA astrobiologist Kevin Hand for a fascinating online lecture exploring the best chances of finding life beyond Earth, at 6pm BST on 4 June. newscientist.com/events Podcasts Weekly News with implications for life on Mars, the discovery of our five separate appetites, Geordi La Forge, and the world’s weirdest plant. newscientist.com/podcasts Newsletter Launchpad Our free newsletter sends you on a monthly voyage across the galaxy and beyond. newscientist.com/sign-up/launchpad Video Plastic clean-up Liz Bonnin reveals the full scale of the ocean plastic crisis and explores how science can offer solutions. youtube.com/newscientist Online Covid-19 daily update The day’s coronavirus coverage updated at 6pm BST with news, features and interviews. newscientist.com/coronavirus-latest…

Events are a big part of what New Scientist does, offering a chance for you to hear directly from the world’s top scientists in the most interesting fields. In March, for obvious reasons, we had to put our in-person live events on hold. So what next? Virtual events were something we had considered but hadn’t had the opportunity to explore in detail. In a spirit of experimentation, then, we launched our first virtual event on 16 April, an open-to-all discussion on coronavirus. Almost 3000 people watched live. Our second event, on black holes, was our first paid-for virtual event. We sold 850 tickets, and people tuned in from every continent except Antarctica to watch. We were delighted by the truly global nature of the occasion. Since then, we have had…

Events are a big part of what New Scientist does, offering a chance for you to hear directly from the world’s top scientists in the most interesting fields. In March, for obvious reasons, we had to put our in-person live events on hold. So what next? Virtual events were something we had considered but hadn’t had the opportunity to explore in detail. In a spirit of experimentation, then, we launched our first virtual event on 16 April, an open-to-all discussion on coronavirus. Almost 3000 people watched live. Our second event, on black holes, was our first paid-for virtual event. We sold 850 tickets, and people tuned in from every continent except Antarctica to watch. We were delighted by the truly global nature of the occasion. Since then, we have had a panel…

ALMOST everyone has felt at least some yearning for a return to “normality”. The economic, social and mental costs of lockdown have been high, alongside the terrible toll of lives cut short. Around the world, countries are, quite naturally, assessing how they can allow their citizens to resume some of their former freedoms, and individuals are asking how they can best keep themselves and others safe as restrictions are eased (see page 10). What is clear, however, is that with no immediate prospect of an effective vaccine, the new “normal” won’t be the old one. An important question now is: is that entirely a bad thing, or can something positive be wrung from this grim situation? Over relatively few decades, a paradigm of unbridled consumption in richer economies, with little regard for longer-term…

ALMOST everyone has felt at least some yearning for a return to “normality”. The economic, social and mental costs of lockdown have been high, alongside the terrible toll of lives cut short. Around the world, countries are, quite naturally, assessing how they can allow their citizens to resume some of their former freedoms, and individuals are asking how they can best keep themselves and others safe as restrictions are eased (see page 10). What is clear, however, is that with no immediate prospect of an effective vaccine, the new “normal” won’t be the old one. An important question now is: is that entirely a bad thing, or can something positive be wrung from this grim situation? Over relatively few decades, a paradigm of unbridled consumption in richer economies, with little…