SOLID, LIQUID, GAS AND... Extraordinary states of matter and how to make them DON’T HAVE A COW The lab-grown milk revolution is coming THE POWER OF PLACE Why where you work changes how you think WEEKLY August 14– 20, 2021 NEWS SPECIAL YOU AND YOUR VACCINE Everything we now know about our best weapons against covid-19 How well they work | Risks and side effects | What comes next No3347 US$6.99 CAN$9.99 PLUS THE IPCC REPORT /GOOGLE’S TIME CRYSTAL / SEA SNOT / MENOPAUSE GENETICS / WHAT’S THE SMALLEST BORING NUMBER? S cience and technology news www.newscientist.com This week’s issue On the 40 Solid, liquid, gas and... 19 News Extraordinary states of matter cover and how to make them “ You need a 8 You and your vaccine 46 Don’t have a cow membrane Everything we now know The lab-grown milk about our best weapons revolution is coming to make a against covid-19 36 The power of place membrane. Why where you work changes how you think It is the ultimate 7 The IPCC report 20 Google’s time crystal chicken and 30 Sea snot 20 Menopause genetics egg paradox” Vol 251 No 3347 54 What’s the smallest Cover image: Lisa Sheehan boring number? News Features 7 IPCC warning 36 Thinking place Sombre findings from Feature Your physical environment landmark climate report has a surprisingly strong effect on your cognitive abilities 17 Solar aircraft Uncrewed plane may 40 Strange states stay airborne for 90 days We can’t stop discovering bizarre new states of matter. Are we 19 Telling tales close to having a complete list? Girls and boys both tend to make boys the main subject 46 Lab-brewed milk of their stories Real milk made without animals will soon be on the menu Views The back pages 25 Comment Laura Healey on a record- 51 Science of gardening breaking Olympic games Rooting out plant bullies 26 The columnist 52 Puzzles Plant toxicity is a complicated Try our crossword, quick subject, says James Wong quiz and logic puzzle 28 Letters 54 Almost the last word There are so many issues What is the smallest number holding up self-driving cars that is uninteresting? 30 Aperture 56 Feedback Striking swirls of sea snot S Golfing crocs and high-speed E G A clog Turkish waters M blimps: the week in weird I Y T T E G / 32 Culture D 56 Twisteddoodles T L W New Scientist The life of Vera Rubin, who J for made us rethink the cosmos 36 Personal space Making a desk your own can change how you think Picturing the lighter side of life 14 August 2021 | New Scientist | 1 Elsewhere on New Scientist Newsletter Virtual events Newsletter Creating a “ There could sustainable future Global heating is a crisis that be a new level requires massive societal of infinity to changes. During this one-day online event, we’ll explore how be discovered to make them as quickly as possible. Three stages of talks within the will cover everything from habitat restoration and the realm of H C E path to net zero to sustainable T L A C - numbers we diets. Join us on 25 September L P J / A from 10am BST. Get your S A N can grasp” tickets now. Gold rush Do supernovae create heavy elements like precious metals? The anatomy of friendship T N E Friendship is the most M Video P O L important factor in our E V E D well-being. It is also the & N O I most complicated thing in T A V R the universe, making huge E S N O demands on our brains. In C R O F this talk, Robin Dunbar will E C N explain how our brains create A I L L A friendships for us. Join us on A J E N 21 October from 6pm BST. E T R A S newscientist.com/ , A Y O ns-events T N A S R I M O E L Podcasts Clear as mud Dolphins have learned a smart new hunting tactic Weekly The team look at the Newsletter Video latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel Lost in Space-Time Dolphin mud rings on Climate Change, on the Get Richard Webb’s monthly Bottlenose dolphins are physical basis of global newsletter on fundamental known to be clever hunters. Essential guide warming. They also explain physics delivered free to your Now some have developed a why some nations are giving inbox. In the latest issue, he “mud ring” hunting strategy, in Let the eighth New Scientist people two different covid-19 looks at where the chemical which one animal circles near Essential Guide fill you in on the vaccines. Plus: microplastics elements come from. And the ocean floor, trapping fish greatest threat we face: climate found in human placentas for there is exciting news that behind a ring of muddy water change. Learn what is at stake, the first time; and Google has we seem to have discovered as others lie in wait. Subscribe the basics of climate science made a real-life time crystal. a new kind of infinity. to our channel for more videos. and about innovations that newscientist.com/ newscientist.com/ youtube.com/ could help avoid disaster. nspod lost-in-space-time newscientist shop.newscientist.com 2 | New Scientist | 14 August 2021 ATEM Mini Pro model shown. Introducing ATEM Mini Pro The compact television studio that lets you create presentation videos and live streams! Blackmagic Design is a leader in video for the television industry, Live Stream Training and Conferences and now you can create your own streaming videos with ATEM Mini. The ATEM Mini Pro model has a built in hardware streaming engine for live Simply connect HDMI cameras, computers or even microphones. streaming via its ethernet connection. 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There are titles ATEM Mini Pro........US$495 for presenter names, wipe effects for transitioning between sources and a green screen keyer for replacing backgrounds with graphics. ATEM Mini Pro ISO. ......US$795 Learn more at www.blackmagicdesign.com The leader A tale of two crises The covid-19 vaccine success has lessons for action on climate change A CRISIS urgently needs solving. a year is utterly astonishing – one sufficient to counter the worst effects. Science can provide the tools to help, that, while we’re keeping score, we got Now, as the latest Intergovernmental but we must be willing to change our a little wrong, saying it would take at Panel on Climate Change report says lifestyles. Solutions will be very expensive, least 12 to 18 months. (see page 7), we are afforded no such yet the cost of inaction is even higher. As our special report on vaccines details luxury. Even extremely rapid action is This isn’t the first time we have drawn (page 8), it has been a truly global effort, unlikely to be enough to avoid hitting the parallels between climate change and the too. Over 4 billion doses have already been 1.5°C of warming that global governments coronavirus pandemic. We first did so in administered worldwide, though much pledged to avoid at the Paris meeting in our leader of 7 March 2020, when total 2015. Current plans put us on track for a global cases of covid-19 numbered fewer “ The coronavirus pandemic temperature rise of around 3°C – and the than 100,000, and there was as yet has shown we can take catastrophic effects of the warming so officially no pandemic. “We are facing swift action when needed” far, of just over 1°C, are becoming plain. a global emergency, and politicians Yet, as we detailed in our special report who appear to not believe in science are more needs to be done to get jabs to on the new energy world last week, the putting us all at risk,” we said back then. people in lower-income countries. solutions are within reach.