New Scientist 50th Anniversary Special 1956-2005

After my post yesterday, I hightailed it down to my local newsagent to pick up the 50th anniversary issue of New Scientist. Then I hunkered down at the restaurant next door for some breakfast and delicious science reading.

Oops. Did I put “delicious” in front of the wrong noun?

This issue is cool not least because there’s lots of genetics in it, but also because there are actually two issues combined into one with two front covers.

Click for a larger image.

I’ve enjoyed reading New Scientist since I moved to London in January. The writing, especially in the articles profiled in this special issue, is edgy and even snarky. Take a look at this paragraph from a 1997 article on cloning, for example:

But of course, anyone who tried to clone Elvis would be deeply disappointed. It might be possible to create a human who was identical genetically to Elvis but, without his upbringing, Elvis he would certainly not be. The clone would not even be a true twin because he would not have shared the same uterine environment. And without the same impoverished upbringing, he would never develop that terrible appetite for yard-long sandwiches that proved his undoing, nor the soul that led him to sing.

Marvelous! Now if only I could sweet talk New Scientist into giving me a free subscription like the one Scientific American gave me.

Update: Mission accomplished. Got a very nice email from John MacFarlane, New Scientist Online Publisher.