New Scientist

62 Pages·2021·28.159 MB·English

TWISTED GRAVITY:
EINSTEIN’S FORGOTTEN
THEORY MAKES
A COMEBACK
ENGINEERING
GUT BACTERIA TO
SPOT CANCER
SPIES PREPARE
FOR QUANTUM
COMPUTERS
WEEKLY 16 October 2021
THE
EVERYTHING
VACCINE
From cancer to HIV, how
the pandemic has unlocked
a medical revolution
EARLY BIRDS
China’s feathered fossils
rewrite the dinosaur story
No3356 £6.95 CAN$9.99
4 1
PLUS
IN PRAISE OF HUBBLE / DOG LINGUISTS / THE NATURE OF DISGUST/
DEEP-SEA CUCUMBERS/ IS THERE A HIGHEST POSSIBLE TEMPERATURE?
9 770262 407374

This week’s issue
On the 46 Twisted gravity: 46 Features
Einstein’s forgotten theory
cover
“ Massive
makes a comeback
objects would
38 The everything vaccine 14 Engineering gut bacteria
From cancer to HIV, how the to spot cancer cause space
pandemic has unlocked a
to twist up
medical revolution 11 Spies prepare for
quantum computers
beneath
43 Early birds
China’s feathered fossils them, like
rewrite the dinosaur story 28 In praise of Hubble
24 Dog linguists a cyclone
27 The nature of disgust
in the fabric
18 Deep-sea cucumbers
Vol 252 No 3356 54 Is there a highest possible
of reality”
Cover image: Giulio Bonasera temperature?
News Features
10 UK covid-19 report 38 The everything vaccine
Handling of pandemic Culture The pandemic has showcased
labelled “serious” error the power of mRNA therapies
and started a medical revolution
15 Tanker time bomb
Oil vessel threatens 43 China’s feathered fossils
humanitarian disaster The amazing discoveries that
changed how we see dinosaurs
16 Lava munchers
Earliest land-dwelling 46 Twisted gravity
microbes got a boost A long-forgotten theory
from volcanoes dreamed up by Einstein
is making a comeback
Views
The back pages
27 Comment
Ana Aznar on the nature 51 Citizen science
of disgust Help researchers investigate
ancient atmospheres
28 The columnist
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 53 Puzzles
on the Hubble telescope Try our crossword, quick quiz
and logic puzzle
30 Aperture
The 2021 Wildlife 54 Almost the last word
Photographer of the Year Is there a limit to how high
temperature can go?
T
N
32 Letters ME
N
Don’t allow heat pumps TAI 55 Tom Gauld for New Scientist
R
E
to be used to cool homes NT A cartoonist’s take on the world
E
E
P
O
C
S
34 Culture O 56 Feedback
D
EI
Our relationship with dogs AL The latest space race… in film:
K
had fierce and bloody origins 35 Park life Documentary explores role of zoos in conservation the week in weird
16 October 2021 | New Scientist | 3
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4 | New Scientist | 16 October 2021

The leader
An injection of hope
Out of the pandemic, a medical revolution is beginning
AMID the devastation of the coronavirus protein, the large, complex molecules The possibilities are endless.
pandemic, there has at least been that carry out most key tasks in our A growing number of drugs already
one piece of undeniably good news: bodies. With vaccines, the mRNA – which consist of proteins, often antibodies,
the success of mRNA vaccines. is short for messenger RNA – provides including the breast cancer drug
The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna instructions for making viral proteins Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine).
vaccines were developed in record time to provoke an immune response. Antibody drugs can be highly effective,
and they have proved extremely effective. But mRNAs can also code for human but manufacturing proteins is difficult
They are saving many lives, but this proteins for treating all kinds of disorders. and time-consuming, which makes
is just the start of something huge. these drugs prohibitively expensive.
“ mRNA technology is a way
Using the same approach could help us mRNA therapeutics promises to
of getting our bodies to make
develop better vaccines for many diseases, transform this by getting our bodies to
any desired protein”
including conditions for which we have no do the hard part of making the protein.
inoculation at present. And when the next In a way, it is just a different method
pandemic comes, we should be able to get As our feature on page 38 reveals, instead of delivering drugs, but the speed and
more of the world’s population vaccinated of injecting people with antibodies for ease of the process is revolutionary.
faster than we are managing this time. treating infections, for instance, it should And with much more money now
Even more exciting is the potential be possible to inject mRNA recipes for being poured into the field after the
of mRNA medicine to reach way beyond those antibodies. If people have inherited success of the coronavirus vaccines, that
vaccines. mRNA technology is a way of diseases caused by faulty proteins, revolution is going to happen a lot faster
getting our bodies to make any desired mRNA can provide working versions. than anyone thought possible. ❚
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