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It is time to listen • We have been ignoring post-viral syndromes for too long
New Scientist
South Africa’s third wave • Military personnel have been sent to hospitals to help them cope with a surge in cases caused by the beta variant, reports Michael Le Page
Getting to grips with long covid • Millions of people worldwide are experiencing lasting symptoms from covid-19. Michael Le Page, Helen Thomson, Adam Vaughan and Clare Wilson report on what we do – and don’t – know so far
Learning to manage long covid • Specialist clinics are providing life-changing support to people with persistent covid‑19 symptoms. Adam Vaughan visits the UK’s first
Psoriasis drug may cut alcohol misuse • Heavy drinkers who took the drug consumed less alcohol than those given a placebo
Young eels can escape from mouths of fish via the gills
Flaw in old mobile phone encryption code could be used for snooping
Mystery of the red patches on Pluto • Red regions on the dwarf planet are defying planetary scientists’ explanations
Early form of air conditioning kept Indian temple cool
Driverless construction vehicle digs and builds walls
Selfish genes in bacteria fight each other with CRISPR
Tech firms hit by chip faults • Google and Facebook operate at such vast scales that rare processor faults are an issue
Snakes won’t attack if they sense they have little venom
60 per cent of rivers stop for at least one day a year
Female inventors listed on fewer patents
Giant gas burp made Betelgeuse go dim
Really brief
People raided graves to recover heirlooms
Cooled mirrors could help probe quantum gravity
Quantum data link between two cities
The gender pain gap • Biases mean that women’s pain isn’t taken seriously enough. It is high time we did something about that, says Elinor Cleghorn
On the origins of the universe • We once thought the big bang was a single moment, but physicists are now settling on a different version of events, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Your letters
Shaping a world
No hidden figure • A Hollywood film made a star of mathematician Katherine Johnson, who played a key role in NASA’s space race. Anna Demming reads Johnson’s memoir
Making contact • How do we talk to other species? Two women studying whales show how far we have come, finds Katie Smith-Wong
Don’t miss
A tale of hope • Netflix’s Sweet Tooth is an optimistic take on coping with the fall-out of a deadly pandemic, says Robyn Chowdhury
Primordial magnetism • Magnetic fields dating back to the big bang would transform cosmology – now astronomers think they are on the brink of such a discovery, finds Ian Taylor
Nudging nature • Can we reliably persuade wild animals to help their own conservation, asks Ute Eberle
Origins of a killer • Discovering the beginnings of tuberculosis, the most lethal infectious disease in human history, is crucial to beating it, finds Rebecca Batley
Transatlantic transmission
Seaweed’s secrets • Seaweed can tell marine scientists a lot about climate change. Here’s how to help them on your holiday, says Layal Liverpool
Puzzles
Almost the last word
Tom Gauld for New Scientist
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