Lasers can bring down remote-piloted aircraft ndash; but a new demo shows they can also keep the craft airborneimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5ac291/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Laser-powered+helicopter+hovers+for+hourslink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19389-laserpowered-helicopter-hovers-for-hours.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Laser-powered+helicopter+hovers+for+hourslink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19389-laserpowered-helicopter-hovers-for-hours.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869376414/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224051857/kg/63/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869376414/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224051857/kg/63/a2.img" border="0"//a

Fifteen children in Finland were diagnosed with narcolepsy after receiving swine flu vaccine ndash; but it could have occurred by chanceimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5a54d8/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Swine+flu+drug+in+narcolepsy+probelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727763.500-swine-flu-drug-in-narcolepsy-probe.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Swine+flu+drug+in+narcolepsy+probelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727763.500-swine-flu-drug-in-narcolepsy-probe.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869447755/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224023768/kg/45-63/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869447755/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224023768/kg/45-63/a2.img" border="0"//a

In the last of his posts about photographing the eclipse, Dan Falk compares his analogue and digital images. But which does he think is best?img width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5a54d9/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Ultimate+eclipse+photo%3A+The+film+has+been+developedlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fculturelab%2F2010%2F09%2Fultimate-eclipse-photo-the-film-has-been-developed.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Ultimate+eclipse+photo%3A+The+film+has+been+developedlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fculturelab%2F2010%2F09%2Fultimate-eclipse-photo-the-film-has-been-developed.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869447754/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224023769/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869447754/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224023769/a2.img" border="0"//a

The first advert for medicinal cannabis was aired on television this week in California. Is this a sign of things to come, asks Catherine de Langeimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5a303d/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=%27Medical+marijuana%27+hits+the+small+screenlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fshortsharpscience%2F2010%2F09%2Fmedical-marijuana-hits-the-sma.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=%27Medical+marijuana%27+hits+the+small+screenlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fshortsharpscience%2F2010%2F09%2Fmedical-marijuana-hits-the-sma.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869444912/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224014397/kg/170/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869444912/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/224014397/kg/170/a2.img" border="0"//a

It's a staple of cop shows, but the jury's still out on claims that a criminal's identity can be deduced from their modus operandiimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d59966a/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Is+criminal+profiling+flawed+and+disorderly%3Flink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727751.500-is-criminal-profiling-flawed-and-disorderly.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Is+criminal+profiling+flawed+and+disorderly%3Flink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727751.500-is-criminal-profiling-flawed-and-disorderly.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869364018/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223975018/kg/63/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869364018/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223975018/kg/63/a2.img" border="0"//a

A metal detecting enthusiast finds what is believed to be the only intact Roman lantern made out of bronze ever discovered in Britain.

An island off Peru is making money from selling bird poo to use as organic fertiliser.

Rare weather events caused last winter's freak snow storms

Physicists explain one of football's most spectacular free-kicks, showing that Roberto Carlos's 1997 "impossible goal" was not a fluke.

People who engage in mental challenges may stave off symptoms of Alzheimer's, but decline more quickly if subsequently diagnosedimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d5530d5/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=%27Brain+training%27+may+just+hide+symptoms+of+dementialink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727764.900-brain-training-may-just-hide-symptoms-of-dementia.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=%27Brain+training%27+may+just+hide+symptoms+of+dementialink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727764.900-brain-training-may-just-hide-symptoms-of-dementia.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869311885/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223686869/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869311885/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223686869/a2.img" border="0"//a

Europe's Herschel space telescope spies an aging star that has surrounded itself in hot water vapour.

With trials showing positive results from the treatment of cancer to alcohol addiction, could illegal drugs be heading for the medical mainstream?img width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d53bac0/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Psychoactive+drugs%3A+From+recreation+to+medicationlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727764.000-psychoactive-drugs-from-recreation-to-medication.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Psychoactive+drugs%3A+From+recreation+to+medicationlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727764.000-psychoactive-drugs-from-recreation-to-medication.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869374514/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223591104/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869374514/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223591104/a2.img" border="0"//a

Forget vacuums fizzing with particle activity: a new calculation shows this strange notion isn't necessary after allimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d53babe/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Void+that+is+truly+empty+solves+dark+energy+puzzlelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727764.100-void-that-is-truly-empty-solves-dark-energy-puzzle.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Void+that+is+truly+empty+solves+dark+energy+puzzlelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727764.100-void-that-is-truly-empty-solves-dark-energy-puzzle.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869374513/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223591102/kg/20/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869374513/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223591102/kg/20/a2.img" border="0"//a

All today's stories on NewScientist.com including: wonder conductors set to cool computers, self-healing concrete, and the world's new longest animalimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d53baba/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Today+on+New+Scientist%3A+1+September+2010link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fshortsharpscience%2F2010%2F09%2Ftoday-on-new-scientist-1-septe.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Today+on+New+Scientist%3A+1+September+2010link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Fblogs%2Fshortsharpscience%2F2010%2F09%2Ftoday-on-new-scientist-1-septe.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869374512/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223591098/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869374512/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223591098/a2.img" border="0"//a

A modular quadruped, built from a group of identical robot modules, learns to find new walking styles to cope with the malfunction of a single unitimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d539451/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Shape-shifting+robot+compensates+for+damaged+limblink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19388-shapeshifting-robot-compensates-for-damaged-limb.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Shape-shifting+robot+compensates+for+damaged+limblink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19388-shapeshifting-robot-compensates-for-damaged-limb.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869371571/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223581265/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869371571/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223581265/a2.img" border="0"//a

A venomous medusa-like beast as long as a blue whale has emerged as an unlikely defender of the world's oceansimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d52ee96/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Zoologger%3A+Death+by+world%27s+longest+animallink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19387-zoologger-death-by-worlds-longest-animal.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Zoologger%3A+Death+by+world%27s+longest+animallink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19387-zoologger-death-by-worlds-longest-animal.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869361939/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223538838/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869361939/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223538838/a2.img" border="0"//a

Adding limestone-forming bacteria to the mix could help the concrete seal dangerous cracks on its ownimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d52bfc0/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=For+self-healing+concrete%2C+just+add+bacteria+and+foodlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19386-for-selfhealing-concrete-just-add-bacteria-and-food.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=For+self-healing+concrete%2C+just+add+bacteria+and+foodlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fdn19386-for-selfhealing-concrete-just-add-bacteria-and-food.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869286570/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223526848/kg/45/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869286570/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223526848/kg/45/a2.img" border="0"//a

The remains of a huge 12,000 year old feast have been found in a cave in Northern Israel.

Tanzania's government plans to build a road through Serengeti National Park, cutting through the migratory route of 2nbsp;million wildebeest and zebraimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d528e7c/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Road+to+cut+off+Serengeti+migration+routelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727763.800-road-to-cut-off-serengeti-migration-route.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Road+to+cut+off+Serengeti+migration+routelink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727763.800-road-to-cut-off-serengeti-migration-route.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869285250/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223514236/kg/65/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869285250/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223514236/kg/65/a2.img" border="0"//a

Oil drilling in Greenland's Arctic waters began last week, angering environmentalists. But it's nothing compared with the oil and gas rush that's comingimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/d527ea0/mf.gif' border='0'/div class='mf-viral'table border='0'trtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/sendemail2.html?title=Arctic+oil+and+gas+drilling+ready+to+take+offlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727764.300-arctic-oil-and-gas-drilling-ready-to-take-off.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif" border="0" //a/tdtd valign='middle'a href="http://res.feedsportal.com/viral/bookmark.cfm?title=Arctic+oil+and+gas+drilling+ready+to+take+offlink=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newscientist.com%2Farticle%2Fmg20727764.300-arctic-oil-and-gas-drilling-ready-to-take-off.html%3FDCMP%3DOTC-rss%26nsref%3Donline-news" target="_blank"img src="http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/bookmark.gif" border="0" //a/td/tr/table/divbr/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869356897/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223510176/kg/63/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/78869356897/u/60/f/10897/c/749/s/223510176/kg/63/a2.img" border="0"//a