''New Scientist'' is a

popular science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishes a monthly

Dutch-language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' i ...

edition. First published on 22 November 1956, ''New Scientist'' has been available in online form since 1996. Sold in retail outlets (paper edition) and on subscription (paper and/or online), the magazine covers news, features, reviews and commentary on science, technology and their implications. ''New Scientist'' also publishes speculative articles, ranging from the technical to the philosophical. ''New Scientist'' was acquired by

Daily Mail and General Trust Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media company, the owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office is ...

(DMGT) in March 2021.

History

Ownership

The magazine was founded in 1956 by

Tom Margerison Thomas Alan Margerison (13 November 1923 – 25 February 2014) was a British science journalist, author, and broadcaster who founded the magazine ''New Scientist'' in 1956. He was a science correspondent for ''The Sunday Times'', which he joined ...

, Max Raison and Nicholas Harrison as ''The New Scientist'', with Issue 1 on 22 November 1956, priced at one

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

(a twentieth of a

pound Pound or Pounds may refer to: Units * Pound (currency), a unit of currency * Pound sterling, the official currency of the United Kingdom * Pound (mass), a unit of mass * Pound (force), a unit of force * Rail pound, in rail profile Symbols * Po ...

in pre-decimal UK currency; ). An article in the magazine's 10th anniversary issues provides anecdotes on the founding of the magazine. The British monthly science magazine ''Science Journal'', published from 1965 until 1971, was merged with ''New Scientist'' to form ''New Scientist and Science Journal''. In 1970, the Reed Group, which became Reed Elsevier, acquired ''New Scientist'' when it merged with IPC Magazines. Reed retained the magazine when it sold most of its consumer titles in a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

to what is now

TI Media TI Media (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK) was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its tit ...

. In April 2017 ''New Scientist'' changed ownership when

RELX Group RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...

, formerly known as Reed Elsevier, sold the magazine to Kingston Acquisitions, a group established by Sir Bernard Gray, Louise Rogers and Matthew O'Sullivan to acquire ''New Scientist''. Kingston Acquisitions then renamed itself New Scientist Ltd. The ''New Scientist'' was subsequently sold to the

(DMGT) for £70 million in March 2021; DMGT guaranteed the magazine's editorial independence, and ruled out staff cuts and the sharing of editorial content. In December 2021, DMGT announced that both ''New Scientist'' and the DMGT-owned daily '' i'' newspaper would be moved to a new division of the company, to be called Harmsworth Media.

General history

Originally, the cover of ''New Scientist'' listed articles in plain text. Initially, page numbering followed academic practice with sequential numbering for each quarterly volume. So, for example, the first page of an issue in March could be 649 instead of 1. Later issues numbered issues separately. From the beginning of 1961 "''The''" was dropped from the title. From 1965, the front cover was illustrated. Until the 1970s, colour was not used except on the cover. Since its first issue, ''New Scientist'' has written about the applications of science, through its coverage of technology. For example, the first issue included an article "Where next from Calder Hall?" on the future of nuclear power in the UK, a topic that it has covered throughout its history. In 1964, there was a regular "Science in British Industry" section with several items. Throughout most of its history, ''New Scientist'' has published cartoons as light relief and comment on the news, with contributions from regulars such as

Mike Peyton Mike Peyton (20 January 1921 – 25 January 2017) was a British cartoonist, described by his biographer as ‘the world’s greatest yachting cartoonist’. Biography Mike Peyton was born into a mining family in County Durham, the son of a disabl ...

and David Austin. The ''

Grimbledon Down ''Grimbledon Down'' is a comic strip by British cartoonist Bill Tidy. It ran in ''New Scientist'' magazine from 26 March 1970 until 26 March 1994. Description The strip was set in a fictitious UK government research laboratory, satiri ...

'' comic strip, by cartoonist

Bill Tidy William Edward "Bill" Tidy, Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 9 October 1933), is a British cartoonist, writer and television personality, known chiefly for his comic strips. Tidy was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the Brit ...

, appeared from 1970 to 1994. The Ariadne pages in ''New Scientist'' commented on the lighter side of science and technology and included contributions from

David E. H. Jones David Edward Hugh Jones (20 April 1938 – 19 July 2017) was a British chemist and author, who under the pen name Daedalus was the fictional inventor for DREADCO. Jones' columns as Daedalus were published for 38 years, starting weekly in 1964 in ...

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, an ...

. The fictitious inventor devised plausible but impractical and humorous inventions, often developed by the (fictitious) DREADCO corporation. Daedalus later moved to ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

''. Issues of ''(The) New Scientist'' from issue 1 to the end of 1989 are free to read online; subsequent issues require a subscription. In the first half of 2013, the international circulation of ''New Scientist'' averaged 125,172. While this was a 4.3% reduction on the previous year's figure, it was a much smaller reduction in circulation than many mainstream magazines of similar or greater circulation. UK circulation fell by 3.2% in 2014, but stronger international sales increased the circulation to 129,585. A monthly Dutch edition of ''New Scientist'' was launched in June 2015. It replaced the former '' (NWT)'' magazine, adopting its staff and subscribers. The editorially independent magazine is published by Veen Media. It contains mainly translations of articles in the English-language edition, but also its own articles. These are typically focused on research in the Netherlands and Belgium, the main countries where it is purchased.

Modern format

In the 21st century, until May 2019, ''New Scientist'' contained the following sections: Leader, News (Upfront), Technology, Opinion (interviews, point-of-view articles and letters), Features (including cover article), CultureLab (book and event reviews), Feedback (humour), The Last Word (questions and answers) and Jobs & Careers. A

Tom Gauld Tom Gauld (born 1976) is a Scottish cartoonist and illustrator. His style reflects his self-professed fondness of "deadpan comedy, flat dialogue, things happening offstage and impressive characters". Others note that his work "combines pathos ...

cartoon appears on the Letters page. A readers' letters section discusses recent articles and discussions also take place on the website. Readers contribute observations on examples of

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...

to Feedback, and offer questions and answers on scientific and technical topics to Last Word. ''New Scientist'' has produced a series of books compiled from contributions to Last Word. From issue 3228 of 4 May 2019, ''New Scientist'' introduced a "slightly updated design, with ... a fresher, brighter feel". A dedicated "Views" section was added between news reports and in-depth features, including readers' letters, comment, and reviews on science, culture and society. Regular columnists were introduced, and columns in the culture pages. The light-hearted "Back Pages" includes the long-standing Feedback and The Last Word, puzzles, and a Q&A section. Online readership takes various forms. Overall global views of an online database of over 100,000 articles are 10.8m by 7m unique users according to Google Analytics, . On

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

there are 3.5m+

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

followers, 3.5m+

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

followers and 100,000+

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followers .

Staff and contributors

Emily Wilson was appointed editor-in-chief in 2018. Current staff members are listed on page 5 of the magazine. Columnists included Annalee Newitz on novel tech. James Wong on food myths, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's adventures in space-time and Graham Lawton on environment.

Editors of ''New Scientist''

Percy Cudlipp Percy Cudlipp (10 November 1905 – 5 November 1962), was a prominent Welsh journalist. Biography Percy Cudlipp was born at 180 Arabella Street, Cardiff, the son of a travelling salesman, and was the brother of Hugh Cudlipp (later Baron Cudlip ...

(1956–1962) * Nigel Calder (1962–1966) * Donald Gould (1966–1969) * Bernard Dixon (1969–1979) * Michael Kenward (1979–1990) * David Dickson (1990–1992) * Alun Anderson (1992–1999) *

Jeremy Webb Jeremy may refer to: * Jeremy (given name), a given name * Jérémy, a French given name * ''Jeremy'' (film), a 1973 film * "Jeremy" (song), a song by Pearl Jam * Jeremy (snail), a left-coiled garden snail that died in 2017 * ''Jeremy'', a 1919 ...

(1999–2008) *

Roger Highfield Roger Ronald Highfield (born 1958 in Griffithstown, Wales) is an author, science journalist, broadcaster and Science Director at the Science Museum Group. Education Highfield was educated at Chase Side Primary School in Enfield and Christ's Ho ...

(2008–2011) *

Sumit Paul-Choudhury Stackable Unified Module Interconnect Technology (SUMIT) is a connector between expansion buses independent of motherboard form factor. Boards featuring SUMIT connectors are usually used in "stacks" where one board sits on top of another. It was pub ...

(2011–2018) * Emily Wilson (2018–2023) * Catherine de Lange (2023–)

Spin-offs

''New Scientist'' has published books derived from its content, many of which are selected questions and answers from the "Last Word" section of the magazine and website: * 1998. ''The Last Word''. * 2000. ''The Last Word 2''. * 2005. ''Does Anything Eat Wasps?''. * 2006. ''Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?''. (selections from the first two books) * 2007. ''How to Fossilise Your Hamster''. * 2008. ''Do Polar Bears Get Lonely?''. * 2009. ''How to Make a Tornado: The strange and wonderful things that happen when scientists break free''. * 2010. ''Why Can't Elephants Jump?''. * 2011. ''Why Are Orangutans Orange?: science questions in picture''. * 2012. ''Will We Ever Speak Dolphin?''. * 2014. ''Question Everything''. Other books published by New Scientist include: * ''The Anti Zoo – 50 freaks of nature you won't see on TV'' (e-book based on the website's "Zoologger" column) * ''Nothing: Surprising insights everywhere from zero to oblivion.'' (compilation of articles previously published in the magazine) * ''New Scientist: The Collection'' (compendiums of articles on specific scientific topics) **Volume 1 (2014, 4 issues): **#''The Big Questions'' **#''The Unknown Universe'' **#''Guide to a Better You'' **#''The Human Story'' **Volume 2 (2015, 5 issues): **#''The Human Brain'' **#''Medical Frontiers'' **#''Being Human'' **#''Our Planet'' **#''15 Ideas you Need to Understand'' **Volume 3 (2016, 5 issues): **#''The Wonders of Space'' **#''Life: Origin, Evolution, Extinction'' **#''The Quantum World'' **#''Wild Planet'' **#''Mind-Expanding Ideas'' **Volume 4 (2017, 4 issues): **#''Einstein's Mind-Bending Universe'' **#''The Scientific Guide to an Even Better You'' **#''Essential Knowledge'' **#''Infinity and Beyond'' **Second Edition (2018–2019): ***''Big Questions Big Answers (2nd Edition of "The Big Questions")'' ***''21 Great Mysteries of the Universe (2nd Edition of "The Unknown Universe")'' ***''Civilisation'' ***''Becoming Human (2nd Edition of "The Human Story")'' ***''The Essential Guide to Earth (2nd Edition of "Our Planet")'' ***''Souvenir Issue: The Quest for Space'' ***''Being Human'' ***''17 More Things You Need to Understand'' ***''Mysteries of the Human Brain'' *''New Scientist: Essential Guides'' (2020–2023) *#''The Nature of Reality'' *#''Artificial Intelligence'' *#''Human Health'' *#''Our Human Story'' *#''Quantum Physics'' *#''Evolution'' *#''The Human Brain'' *#''Climate Change'' *#''Nutrition and Diet'' *#''Einstein's Universe'' *#''Life on Earth'' *#''Consciousness'' *#''The Solar System'' *#''Human Society'' *#''Particle Physics'' *#''Exercise'' *#''Planet Earth'' *#''Ageing'' *#''Time'' *#''The Human Mind'' *#''The Dawn of Civilisation'' *#''Space Exploration'' *#''The AI Revolution'' ''New Scientist'' has also worked with other publishers to produce books based on the magazine's content: * 1992 ''Inside Science'', edited by Richard Fifield, published by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.

Criticism

Greg Egan's criticism of the EmDrive article

In September 2006, ''New Scientist'' was criticised by

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

writer

Greg Egan Greg Egan (born 20 August 1961) is an Australian science fiction writer and amateur mathematician, best known for his works of hard science fiction. Egan has won multiple awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Hugo Award, an ...

, who wrote that "a sensationalist bent and a lack of basic knowledge by its writers" was making the magazine's coverage sufficiently unreliable "to constitute a real threat to the public understanding of science". In particular, Egan found himself "gobsmacked by the level of scientific illiteracy" in the magazine's coverage of Roger Shawyer's " electromagnetic drive", where ''New Scientist'' allowed the publication of "meaningless double-talk" designed to bypass a fatal objection to Shawyer's proposed space drive, namely that it violates the

law of conservation of momentum Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

. Egan urged others to write to ''New Scientist'' and pressure the magazine to raise its standards, instead of "squandering the opportunity that the magazine's circulation and prestige provides". The editor of ''New Scientist'', then Jeremy Webb, replied defending the article, saying that it is "an ideas magazine—that means writing about hypotheses as well as theories".

"Darwin was wrong" cover

In January 2009, ''New Scientist'' ran a cover with the title " Darwin was wrong". The actual story stated that specific details of Darwin's evolution theory had been shown incorrectly, mainly the shape of phylogenetic trees of interrelated species, which should be represented as a web instead of a tree. Some

evolutionary biologists Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolution, evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the Biodiversity, diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of ...

who actively oppose the

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...

movement thought the cover was both sensationalist and damaging to the scientific community.

References

External links

*
Digitized ''New Scientist'' magazines
{Dead link, date=April 2024 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

1956 establishments in the United Kingdom 2017 mergers and acquisitions 2021 mergers and acquisitions Daily Mail and General Trust Magazines established in 1956 Magazines published in London Popular science magazines Science and technology in the United Kingdom Science and technology magazines published in the United Kingdom Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom