Today on New Scientist: 15 May 2012

1.3 billion people rely on forests to survive

One-seventh of the world's people depend on forests to survive - now the UN has adopted voluntary guidelines to protect their land rights

Teleportation record heralds secure global network

A quantum property called entanglement has been used to teleport a quantum state 97 kilometres, smashing the previous record

Say what? Even everyday sounds can damage hearing

Sounds as seemingly innocuous as the whir of a desk fan were enough to damage rats' hearing

Best illusion of 2012: Floating star drifts into final

Watch the water swirl and experience how the phenomenon of periphery drift can cause us to perceive movement where there is none

Social media and business: Tweeting while Rome burns?

A survey shows businesses are expecting a lot from their adoption of social networking technologies - but are actually doing any good?

Best illusion of 2012: The disappearing hand trick

Watch a new illusion that tricks people into thinking their own hand has disappeared

Balm for the soul: When poetry meets medicine

The fundamentals of life and death in verse - we learn how poetry can heal patients and doctors alike

Beyond Kinect: Gestural computer spells keyboard death

Systems that detect motion through electromagnetic fields means you won't have to touch a computer to control it

Do we know enough to ensure safe Arctic drilling?

If we must open the Arctic Ocean to oil and gas development we should at least do it in a way that doesn't harm wildlife, but the signs don't look good, says Henry Huntington

Eau de BO: The allure of sweat

Is the perfume industry looking for fragrances in the wrong place? The most seductive scents might come from ourselves

Imaging HIV in infected cells reveals viral tactics

HIV's method of infecting cells has been visualised in greater detail than ever before, and could lead to ways to target the virus

Dust rings not 'smoking gun' for planets after all

Sharp-edged rings of dust around stars are not necessarily carved by planets, as was thought, but can take shape on their own

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