ENVIRONMENT
Biodiversity: try as we might, species keep dying 2010 was the year we were supposed to see the rate of extinctions and ecosystem loss slow down 鈥� but despite protection programmes worldwide, it鈥檚 not happening
TECH
Rainmaking using laser light Tiny clouds have been created by shooting a powerful laser into the sky over Berlin, Germany. Optimising the technique on a larger scale could result in rain on demand
ZOOLOGGER
Why Japan鈥檚 favourite fish is super-sinister The puffer fish 鈥� aka the fugu 鈥� can blow itself up, and its poison can kill you if you eat it. Now it turns out that baby fugu have their own nasty side: as they grow up, some of them indulge in rampant cannibalism
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BUMPOLOGY
Womb-boxing High-res imaging using MRI reveals our reporter鈥檚 fetus 鈥� currently the size of a banana but rather more active 鈥� in breathtaking detail
CULTURELAB
Iron Man 2: How science cures Tony Stark鈥檚 heartache The declaration near the beginning of Iron Man 2 鈥� 鈥淏etter living through technology, and better health鈥� 鈥� could almost be a tag line for New 杏吧原创. We review the science amid the fiction
NEW SCIENTIST TV
May vodcast In this month鈥檚 episode, see how technology is creating video-game characters that move realistically in real time, a machine that could turn your desktop into a factory, and a system that lets you control video games with your eyes alone
SPACE
Life on Mars may be easy to find New discoveries in terrestrial rocks suggest that a type of rock common on Mars can preserve fossilised microbial life 鈥� if it ever existed there, of course