Today on New Scientist: 19 June 2012

Flu researchers don't know when they can restart work

Days before a controversial H5N1 paper is finally published, flu scientists are debating how they can safely get their research up and running

Higgsteria rising as trouble brews for standard model

The elusive Higgs boson may soon be found, but the BaBar experiment hints at fresh mysteries for particle physics

Lost toad comes back from the dead

The world's rarest toad, previously thought to be extinct, has been rediscovered in Sri Lanka over a century after it was last spotted

Sex born from hard rock and heavy metal

Complicated life needs zinc, molybdenum and copper to function - those metals may have found their way into organisms via granite

China's Twitter: positive, but non-political

A comparison between Twitter and its Chinese equivalent Sina Weibo shows that the two social media sites reflect US and Chinese cultural differences

Tiny boat keeps going and going on drops of fuel

Watch a miniature boat made from an aerogel zip around continuously for almost an hour

Fossil bounty hunters' days may be numbered

There's fresh hope in the battle to curb poaching of important dinosaur fossils in Mongolia, says Philip J. Currie

Smart keyboard is highlight of Microsoft's Surface tablet

The Windows 8 device rivals both tablets and laptops, with covers that are smarter than Apple's

Set science free from publishers' paywalls

The momentum towards open publishing looks unstoppable, but more still needs to be done to make research truly accessible, says Stephen Curry

Turn any room into a camera obscura to help forensics

Digital image manipulations performed in TV programmes like CSI may not be as far-fetched as they seem

Identical twins show the malleability of our genes

In Identically Different, genetic epidemiologist Tim Spector reveals what twin studies tell us about nature versus nurture

Positive switch for body electronics

A new transistor speaks the language of body cells - a breakthrough that might lead to a cure for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, says Michael Brooks

How to evolve your own musical melodies

Since 2009, a website has let visitors evolve their own preferred music using Darwinian principles - listen to the results

Second strain of cholera found in Haiti

Better sanitation is imperative in the fight against cholera in Haiti &ndash particularly as a strain impervious to proposed vaccinations has been found

Humanity weighs in at 287 million tonnes

Biologists have calculated the total mass of the human population, which could be a better measure of our impact on the planet

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