Today on New Scientist: 7 June 2012

Whole fetal genome sequenced before birth

The entire genome of a fetus has been sequenced, a development that could ultimately allow parents to search for genetic mutations associated with diseases

New York festival is a Petri dish for brains

New Scientist reports from the World Science Festival, which lit up New York last week

Japan to renege on carbon emissions cuts

The shutdown of nuclear reactors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster means Japan will have to abandon its stringent emissions targets

Japanese dock washes up in Oregon

A huge piece of flotsam from last year's Japanese tsunami has turned up on an Oregon beach

Unborn twins caught on video MRI for the first time

They might share the same DNA and womb but - as this recently developed type of imaging shows - the development of twin fetuses is anything but identical

Zen meditators tap in to subliminal messages

The brain registers subliminal messages even when we can't recall them consciously - Zen meditation improves recall

Pregnancy blood test can identify Down's syndrome

Invasive procedures that test for fetal genetic disabilities are being replaced by less risky blood tests

See how Turing accidentally invented the computer

Watch an animation that shows how Alan Turing got the idea for a programmable computer while trying to solve a fundamental mathematical problem

World's first Parkinson's vaccine is trialled

A handful of people have received the first ever vaccine for Parkinson's. The drug is thought to stop dopamine-producing cells in the brain dying

Kinect system keeps track of household objects

Tired of losing your wallet or rummaging for the remote control? A system that tracks objects you interact with ensures you'll never lose them again

Carbon dioxide levels reach a new milestone

For the first time, parts of the planet have seen average CO₂ levels rise above 400 parts per million

The right amount of alcohol is not always less

Changes in alcohol consumption should not be simply about cutting it, but about optimising it

The book is dead, long live the book

Amid rumours of print's demise, ebooks are making reading a more interactive and social experience

Dangerous drop: Jumping from the stratosphere

What's it like to go into supersonic freefall? Later this year Felix Baumgartner will find out, when he makes the world's highest parachute jump

California's proposed cigarette tax hangs by a thread

Proposition 29 - a ballot initiative to raise funds for cancer research by taxing cigarettes - seems to be heading for defeat

Antidepressants in water trigger autism genes in fish

Psychoactive drugs can readily enter the water supply in low concentrations, where they seem potent enough to turn on autism-associated genes in fish

Orbiting observatory captures Venus in transit

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory saw much more than the Earthly view of a smooth bright ball with a hole punched in it

Ignore shocking decline of farm birds at our peril

Farmland bird numbers have halved in Europe in just three decades. We are sleepwalking into a biodiversity disaster, says Richard Gregory

Do internet companies have all the answers?

Google, Microsoft and Apple are racing to build systems that automatically answer users' questions - but that raises questions in itself

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