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Elsewhere on New Scientist

The riddle of the coronavirus • It is the many unknowns about covid-19 that make it so tricky to beat

New Scientist

Global crisis worsens • Many countries around the world are seeing cases surge while others are having fresh outbreaks, reports Clare Wilson

Threats from new variants • Mutated forms of the coronavirus from the UK and South Africa are providing fresh challenges for controlling the pandemic, reports Michael Le Page

The significance of smell loss • The loss of smell and taste is one of the most consistent symptoms of covid-19, so what can that tell us about the condition, asks Kayt Sukel

Smell tests for all?

Ancient human remains may be a new species

Birth control helps koalas avoid death by starvation

‘Ella’s law’ for clean air would honour her • Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, whose daughter Ella has become the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as a cause of death, speaks to Adam Vaughan

Legal action

Growing cells on bread • Last year’s home baking frenzy inspired a tissue scaffold for cultivating muscle

Fish are shrinking as they feel the heat of warmer waters

Stonehenge scuffle • Protecting prehistoric monuments will always involve trade-offs, but has the UK government got it right this time, asks Michael Marshall

A transport revolution • More than 100 cities already provide free public transport for their residents. Many other places should get on board, says Richard Webb

The origins of galaxies • All galaxies started out as quantum fluctuations billions of years ago, but the forms they take today are incredibly diverse, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Your letters

A rising tide of optimism • The forces fighting climate science haven’t been defeated, they have just changed tactics. But a key figure in the fightback is hopeful, says Richard Schiffman

Consider the future now • Emerging technology comes with both upsides and downsides that we need to understand, says Vijaysree Venkatraman

Don’t miss

Of gods and monsters • Documentary iHuman is thoroughly committed to an apocalyptic view of society in which we are in thrall to artificially intelligent machines. That is its strength – and its weakness, says Simon Ings

Reviving the Great Barrier Reef

Breaking with bread • Are low-carbohydrate diets an easy route to weight loss or a recipe for a heart attack? Clare Wilson investigates

The keto diet in medicine

A pandemic like no other • Why has covid-19 been so problematic compared with past pandemics, wonders biologist Jonathan R. Goodman

How to grow metal • Mining is a dirty, damaging business. Can we get the metals we need from farms instead? Michael Allen investigates

Farming vaccines

Counting penguins • How are penguin populations responding to climate change? You can help researchers to find out, says Layal Liverpool

Puzzles

Almost the last word

Tom Gauld for New Scientist

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