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Elsewhere on New Scientist
Pursuing happiness • Science is increasingly telling us where the founts of our well-being lie
New Scientist Australian Edition
Tongan volcano erupts • The huge explosion of an underwater volcano in the Pacific archipelago was a once-in-a-millennium event, reports Alice Klein
Can electric fields help plants grow? • Claims that a wind-powered device can boost crop yield don’t convince other scientists
A swimming robot powered by photosynthesis
Portable laser scanner creates 3D images in colour
First fully programmable atom-based quantum computer
Analysis Energy bills • Renewable subsidies part of the solution, not the problem A recent milestone shows how the UK’s green levies can help avoid energy price shocks, says Adam Vaughan
Edible straws made by bacteria beat plastic and paper
How can we end the pandemic? • Two years since it emerged, the coronavirus isn’t going anywhere. We can “live with covid”, but how we choose to do that will have huge consequences, reports Michael Marshall
What covid-19 becoming ‘endemic’ really means
Analysis SS Richard Montgomery • ‘Doomsday’ shipwreck to be made safer Almost 20 years after a New Scientist investigation exposed the risk, the UK government is finally acting, reports Mick Hamer
Virus’s link to MS is stronger than we thought
Astronomers may have found a huge moon around a Jupiter-like exoplanet
Extreme memory test helps select random numbers
Saturn’s small moon Mimas may have an impossible ocean
A West African script shows how letters evolve over time
Vast icefish breeding ground discovered in frigid waters
Giant bubble around solar system charted
Organics in martian rock not made by life
Really brief
Super-Earths have life-friendly shields
Electric implants seem able to regenerate degraded cartilage
Ancients may have spiked their beer
Chemical consumption • Product labels are filled with jargon about chemicals or the lack of them – how can we know what it all means, asks Anna Turns
Field notes from space-time • How does fusion work? It may seem surprising that the way stars fuse elements isn’t crystal clear, but scientists are always honing the details, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Your letters
Lots in space
All the world’s a stage • A fictional pandemic may be a little too close to home, but the lives of a travelling troupe of actors make for strangely comforting viewing, says Elle Hunt
Earth before us • A unique mix of science and imagination takes us on a journey through long-lost worlds, finds Gege Li
Don’t miss
The film column • Back to the sci-fi old school While the streaming services get busy making the next generation of blockbusters, it frees up space in the schedules for a few classics that are well worth a watch, says Simon Ings
The pursuit of happiness • The “happiness revolution” emerging from scientific research suggests we can all do things to boost the well-being of society – and ourselves. But how much do we really know about what makes us happy, asks David Robson
Ranking of happiness, 2018-2020
FOUR ALTERNATIVES TO GDP • There are many measure countries can use to shift their focus from economic growth to broader goals that encompass things like...