SCI-TECH

The polymer, called Nafion, can "remember" three distinct shapes when heated – the best yet for a shape-memory polymer

A study shows the contraceptive pill could be helping women live longer, but not that it has more pros than cons, says Jessica Hamzelou

All today's stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: better living through green chemistry, getting electric cars onto the power grid, and why 'Terminator' asteroids could re-form after being nuked

For many people, "chemical" is still a dirty word – but wooden trousers, dream creams and mussel muscles are coming to the rescue

To celebrate Pi day this weekend, New Scientist serves up some lesser-known facts about the famous ratio, from appearances in nature to unusual poetry

See what New Scientist found when we were invited to see the botanical gardens' hidden places

Pixelh8, who makes music using the sounds of obscure technology, has written a suite of music inspired by astronomers – we have some excerpts

A fine mist of toxic metal will not choke off the fusion reactions inside the planned ITER reactor, as physicists had feared

Our top articles ranked by reader popularity.

Adding oxygen to booze speeds sobrietyToday on New Scientist: 5 March 2010New element copernicium wins a symbol at lastAutomatic secretary can tame a bulging inboxThe self-charging cellphoneSleep wrong and you'll feel the bad fatThis week's top stories [05 March 2010]Journal editor: Tobacco-funded studies are bad for usDark, dangerous asteroids found lurking near EarthFor smaller chips, borrow 18th-century tricks

That's the message of a review of a pioneering programme run over the past decade in two jails and two secure mental hospitals

The world's most intelligent invertebrates can be tricked by HD images, letting us study their personalities and behaviour

When the surge of plug-in vehicles hits the streets over the next few years, how will our electricity grids cope?

The proposed new laws would result in the innocent being punished for offences that have not even taken place, says Jim Killock

Instead of striving to eliminate imperfection physicists would do better to inject a bit of randomness into their quantum devices

We'd better make sure that we send a big enough bomb to stop an incoming asteroid – if we don't, the space rock could reassemble

All today's stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: how the climate science battle spread to US classrooms, the world's oldest rivers, and an upgraded robot toddler

Whole-genome sequencing has found its first disease-causing mutations – but will it illuminate our genetic "dark matter", asks Ewen Callaway

The genes that allow herpes virus to evade our immune system have been identified and deleted to form a new vaccine

The humble toilet is set for a techno upgrade that could reduce pollution and save water, says Helen Knight

Ancient waterways buried beneath Australia's Simpson desert have been traced – even though massive dunes make remote sensing impossible

What is it about the museums that seems to draw art photographers to them? New Scientist asked three to explain why in an online gallery of their work

See the springier legs and more sensitive hands developed for a toddler-sized robot that will test theories about how flesh-and-blood children learn

In three states, alternatives to the scientific consensus on global warming must be taught – and there seem to be links to efforts to teach creationism

Choosing is important to us, but also disquieting – The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar ranges far and wide to help you do it better

Could forcing computer owners to keep their machines up to date with the latest security software help stop cybercrime in its tracks?