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Health Environment Nature

Giles Yeo explains why the paleo What’s at stake if we The terrifying world of
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 Daniel Bennett, Editor DR MICHAEL MOSLEY
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CONTENTS 15
DISCOVERIES
32
REALITY CHECK

REGULARS

06 EYE OPENER 28 PROF STEPHON

The best science images
from around the world.
ALEXANDER
Big Bangs, Big Crunches
and Big Bounces…
12 FEEDBACK physicists are questioning
A selection of the physical how the Universe began.
and electronic mail that
has arrived this month. 30 DR KATE DARLING Twinkle, twinkle, litte star. How Live facial recognition is already
Sure, you can treat a robot
15 DISCOVERIES like dirt if you want to. But
I wonder what you… sound like.
Well, now we know.
in use despite concerns over its
accuracy and bias.
All the month’s biggest you’ll be hurting yourself
news: A new modelling in the long run.
technique lets us hear the
32 REALITY CHECK
72
sound of stars twinkling; AI
could provide an early The science behind the
warning system for viral headlines: The Met
outbreaks; Medics find
antibacterial properties in
Police’s use of live facial
recognition; Why skin Q&A
honey made by ants; Radio cancer cases are on the
waves heard coming from rise; Is climate change
star thought to be too cold making hay fever worse?
to produce them; New
close-up imaging technique 39 INNOVATIONS
shows the human intestine The hottest trends shaking
in unprecedented detail. up the tech world.

26 PROF GILES YEO 72 Q&A

Fans of the paleo diet might Our experts answer your
strive to eat like a caveman, questions. This month:
but they’ll never be able What should I do if I get
to digest like one. stranded on Snake Island?
What is blue lava?
And more…

46 82 THE EXPLAINER
Sharks: paddle about in
SUBSCRIBE TODAY! the astounding biology
and history of these
apex predators .

89 CROSSWORD
Engage your grey matter!

89 NEXT MONTH
A sneak peek at the
next issue.

90 POPCORN SCIENCE
Get 3 issues for £5 and save 30% This isn’t the explanation
on the shop price when you of the Force you’re
subscribe to BBC Science Focus. looking for.

4
 FE AT URE S WANT MORE ?

48 SAY AHH… 48 Don’t forget that BBC Science

Focus is available on all major
digital platforms. We have
Check out this selection SAY AHH… versions for Android, as well as an
of some of the oddest iOS app for the iPad and iPhone.
gobs in the animal
kingdom. Guaranteed
to leave you agape.

56 THE POWER
OF HABIT
Whether they’re good or
bad, habits can have a
profound effect on your
life. But understanding a Can’t wait until next month to get
little of the psychology your fix of science and tech?
behind them, can help Our website is packed with
you make or break them. news, features and Q&As to
keep your brain satisfied.
sciencefocus.com
66 A DISASTER
WAITING TO
HAPPEN
The space around
Earth is filling up
with satellites, both
functional and defunct,
jeopardising our INSTANT
continued use of it. But
there are plans afoot to
GENIUS
Our bite-sized masterclass in
clear up the potentially podcast form. Find it wherever
catastrophic mess. you listen to your podcasts.

39 26
INNOVATIONS PROF GILES YEO LUNCHTIME
This month’s coolest new gadgets, from action
cameras to barbecues (via dictaphones). GENIUS
A DAILY DOSE OF
MENTAL REFRESHMENT
DELIVERED STRAIGHT
TO YOUR INBOX
“THE REALITY Sign up to discover the latest news,
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IS HUMANS the BBC Science Focus team

sciencefocus.com/
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ARE LIKE
COCKROACHES,
ADAPTING WHEN
WE HAVE TO”
5
 EYE OPENER

EYE OPENER
Birthday
wishes
This is the Rho Ophiuchi
cloud complex. It’s the
closest star-forming region
to Earth – around 390
light-years away – and in
stellar nursery terms, it’s a
rather small, quiet region.
But not to the James Webb
Space Telescope, the most
powerful telescope ever
launched, which captured
this spectacularly detailed
image of the chaotic turmoil
within the nursery to
celebrate its first anniversary
of observations.
Dominating the lower half
of the picture are the wispy
swirls of a stellar cave. The
cream-coloured dust forming
the cave is a mix of polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs). These carbon-based
molecules are among some
of the most common
compounds found in space
and they’re being blasted
away by the stellar winds
coming from S1, the biggest
and brightest star in the
centre of the dust cave. S1 is
the only star in this image
significantly more massive
than our Sun.
The red areas, above and
to the right, are bipolar jets
of molecular hydrogen that
have shot out when a young
star escaped the confines of
its natal envelope.

NASA/ESA/CSA

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8
 EYE OPENER

EYE OPENER
Let’s work
together
RAJA AMPAT, INDONESIA

There’s a reason they call the

ocean Earth’s unexplored
frontier. Dive into any of this
planet’s waters and you soon
discover an entirely different
ecosystem, populated with
strange and unexpected
species. One such species (or
rather, pair of species) is the
extraordinary combination
of starfish and a comb
jellyfish you see here.
The pink and white warts
you see poking up through
the tiny green tentacles
belong to an Echinaster
callosus, or warty sea star.
These five-armed sea
creatures can grow up to
26cm (10in) in diameter. But
this one’s not alone; it’s
become host to a creeping
comb jellyfish (Coeloplana
astericola) – the patterned
red-and-white blobs you
can see spread around and
over the warts.
The two have formed a
symbiotic relationship,
although the jellyfish gets
the better part of the deal,
living both on and within the
body of the host starfish.
The fine, white hair-like
structures you see are the
jellyfish’s sticky tentacles.
These can be extended and
retracted to capture prey.

RUSSELL LAMAN

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 EYE OPENER

EYE OPENER
Show your
stripes
DOVER, UK

Pictures may tell a thousand

words, but this one goes even
further. These stripes
appeared along Dover’s White
Cliffs on 21 June, as the iconic
landmark was gradually
turned into a scientific
graphic. The stripes represent
the average annual
temperatures of the UK over
the last two centuries, and
show how they’ve risen.
The stripes were created by
Prof Ed Hawkins, a climate
scientist at the University of
Reading, using data from the
Met Office. “The climate
stripes are simple, stark and
easily understandable with a
single glance,” Hawkins told
BBC Science Focus.
“The White Cliffs of Dover
are an instantly recognisable
landmark and offer the
perfect blank canvas to ‘paint’
with the warming stripes. We
hope that other landmarks
may want to follow this lead
and start a climate
conversation by lighting up
with the climate stripes.”
The stripes appeared on
the Cliffs towards the end of
the hottest June on record,
which was followed by deadly
heatwaves across Europe
and the US in July.

UNIVERSITY OF READING/ED HAWKINS

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with with with with
Dr Tanja Radu Prof Lawrence Krauss Dr Thomas Curran Dr Helen Czerski
 DISCOVERIES

“It’s very rare to

find ultra-cool
brown dwarf stars
like this producing
radio waves”
Kovi Rose p21

ASTRONOMY

THE SONG OF STARS

A new modelling technique lets us listen to the twinkling
of stars and the ‘sounds’ produced by the violent nuclear
reactions in their cores p16

VIROLOGY
PANDEMIC PREDICTION
AI has potential as an early warning
system for viral outbreaks p18

MEDICINE
OLD REMEDY, REDISCOVERED
Medics find antibacterial properties
in honey produced by ants p19

BIOLOGY
FOOD FIGHT
Unborn babies battle their mothers for
more food… and it’s dad’s fault p20

ASTRONOMY
NOT TOO COOL FOR RADIO
Radio waves heard coming from star
thought too cold to produce them p21

MEDICINE
YOUR GUTS CLOSE UP
New imaging technique shows human You might know
intestine in unprecedented detail p22 what a twinkling star
looks like, but a new
NASA/ESA/CSA

technique enables
us to hear what they
‘sound’ like

15
 DISCOVERIES

A different song
for a different size
The gases in a massive star’s core create
different frequencies and intensities of waves
depending on its size or brightness. Those
differences are reflected in the ‘songs’ the
model generated for each type of massive star

Large massive star

(40 TIMES MORE MASSIVE THAN THE SUN)
What initially sounds like the blast from a ray gun
in a sci-fi film, gradually warps to become, a low,
resonant thrum (like the sound of jet engines heard
inside an aeroplane cabin).

Medium massive star

(15 TIMES MORE MASSIVE THAN THE SUN)
The scientists behind the audio simulations describe
the waves for this size of star as a “persistent hum
through a windswept terrain.”

Small massive star

(3 TIMES MORE MASSIVE THAN THE SUN)
The eeriest of the three, the sound of a smaller
star’s inherent twinkle translates as a high-pitched,
plaintive ringing – a little like a warning siren.

EERIE ‘SONG’
ASTRONOMY ABOVE One of
the 3D simulations
of the gas waves
moving from a
S
OF TWINKLING
star’s core to
its surface

STARS DRIVES
UNDERSTANDING inherent twinkle is caused by rippling waves of gas

OF THEIR
on its surface.
The gas waves originate in the nuclear reactions that
take place in a star’s core and move out towards the

NUCLEAR CORES
surface. As they move, the waves create turbulence
and chaos in the gases around them, increasing or
decreasing the star’s shine to produce its inherent
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ILLINOIS

Taking a musical approach twinkle. This inherent twinkle is invisible, however

– to the naked eye as well as the current generation
helps scientists determine of powerful ground-based telescopes.
how much a star But a team, led by scientists from Northwestern
should shine Universit y in Illinois, A mer ica, has developed
a met hod to produce 3D simulat ions of t he gas
waves mov ing f rom a sta r’s core to its su rface.
These simulat ions have, for t he f irst t ime ever,

16
The Sun

range of human hearing. As such, the researchers

had to increase the frequencies of the waves in
order to make them audible.
The sound of the chosen star’s inherent twinkling
has a clea r, com ma nding r ing w it h a n eer ie,
reverberating pulse underneath. The pulse represents
the movement of the waves from the core out to
the star’s surface.
Studying the calculations in audio form allowed
the scientists to combine two processes that operate
on different timescales: the initial turbulence of
the gases colliding, which happens over a matter of
study. “When the waves arrive at the star’s surface, weeks; and the waves themselves, which reverberate
they make it twinkle in a way that astronomers may for hundreds of thousands of years.
[one day] be able to observe.” This new met hod developed by Anders a nd
But how did they come up with the sounds of his tea m will help to direct powerf ul f utu re
those stars’ twinkles? telescopes towards the inner regions of stars where
After developing the simulations into computer heavier elements are forged.
models and using t he models to calculate how “This study provides an out-of-the-box method to
much twinkling is caused by different frequencies search for stars’ signatures that are largely masked
and intensities of waves, Anders and his team then and invisible even to more powerful telescopes
converted these calculations into an audio track to and to the human eye,” Dr Wanda Díaz-Merced, a
illustrate the movement of the waves. sonification astronomer who was not involved in
The resulting track is a human ‘translation’ of the the research, told BBC Science Focus.
song, however, because the waves are outside the “I congratulate the team!”

17
 DISCOVERIES

Digitally generated images

of a few of the different
variant strains of COVID-19

VIROLOGY

NEW AI COULD IDENTIFY

VIRAL ‘DARK MATTER’ OF NEXT PANDEMIC
The early warning system is based on machine learning and
could have predicted the emergence of the COVID variants

A
rtificial intelligence (AI) could (WHO) designated them as threats. COVID pandemic, the machine was able
reduce the threat of future viral “One of the big lessons of this work is to track genetic changes in the variants, as
pandemics, that’s according to that it’s important to take into account not well as the virus’s response to lockdowns,
the scientists who have developed just a few prominent variants, but also the mask wearing, new vaccines, increasing
a n ea rly wa rning system t hat uses tens of thousands of other undesignated huma n immunity a nd competition
machine learning. variants, which we call the ‘variant dark between different variants.
The scientists from the Scripps Research The scientists hope t heir findings
Institute, which is spread across the US show that similar early warning systems
but has its headquarters in California, have
trained the system to track the emergence
“This system could could track the evolution of future viral
pa ndemics in real-time. This could
and evolution of epidemic viruses, such
as the SARS-CoV-2 variants.
be used to track help scientists to predict increases in
infection rates and allow them to prepare
This system could be used to t rack viral pandemics countermeasures, such as mask wearing
viral pandemics in the future, using an and healthcare service provisions.
‘unprecedented’ approach – according to in the future” The AI could also help in the race to
the paper’s senior author Prof William find treatments and vaccines during
Balch. “There are rules of pandemic virus pandemics, as the system also identified
evolution that we have not understood, matter’,” said Balch. key COVID proteins and their roles in the
GETTY IMAGES, ALAMY

but can be discovered,” he said. The AI was able to identify the key evolution of the pandemic.
In a paper published in Cell Patterns, variants emerging from the ‘dark matter’, “This system a nd its underlying
the scientists show this system could have meaning those that significantly affected technical methods have many possible
predicted new COVID variants weeks viral spread and mortality rates. future applications,” said Dr Ben Calverley,
before the World Health Organization When applying the AI to data from the co-first author of the study.

18
 DISCOVERIES

MEDICINE

ANT HONEY USED IN INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN MEDICINE

COULD INSPIRE POWERFUL NEW ANTIBIOTICS
It’s a first for Western science, but Indigenous Australians have been using
the honeypot ant medicinally for thousands of years

A
strange species of Australian “I have long been fascinated by the the composition of good microbes that
a nt produces honey wit h honeypot ant and its amazing way of can tackle the bad ones. They found that
antimicrobial powers, killing producing a nd storing honey,” said the honey’s microbiome can inhibit the
bacteria and fungus species, Andrew Dong, co-author of the study growth of golden staph, a bacterium that
according to a recent study. published in journal PeerJ. “Given the can cause infections or even death if it
The study, conducted by scientists at medicinal use of the honey by Indigenous enters the body through a cut.
the University of Sydney, is the first to people, I wondered if it might have The ants have also evolved so that
investigate the medicinal benefits of ant antimicrobial characteristics.” their honey inhibits two fungal species,
honey. This is not an original discovery, “Our people have been enjoying sweet Aspergillus and Cryptococcus, which can
however. Australian honeypot ants have honey ants for thousands of years,” said also cause serious infections in people
been used in food and medicine by First Danny Ulrich from the Tjupan language with suppressed immune systems.
Nations people for thousands of years. group, who helped the researchers track According to the researchers, this honey
The Aust ralia n honeypot a nt, down t he honeypot ants. “As for its has a different medicinal mechanism to
Camponotus inflatus, is found in desert medicinal use, we use it for sore throats manuka honey, a dark honey produced
a reas in Western Aust ralia a nd t he and sometimes as a topical ointment to by bees that pollinate manuka flowers,
Nort hern Ter ritory. The resea rchers help keep infections at bay.” which are native to New Zealand. Manuka
hope that identif ying the particular Following the lead of Indigenous people, honey is well known for its antimicrobial
antimicrobial compounds in the ant honey the scientists profiled the honey to find properties and can be used as a treatment
could help to develop new antibiotics. out its bacterial and fungal microbiome: for wounds and skin infections.

How, and why, does the

Australian honeypot
ant make honey?
1. One group of honeypot ants, which
form 50 per cent of the workforce,
play a bizarre role in the wider colony.
2. These worker ants are known as
‘rotunds’, and they hang upside down
from the ceilings of underground
chambers within the ants’ nest.
3. Here, they’re overfed by the other
ants who stuff them full of nectar and
other sugary substances.
4. The rotunds’ abdomens become
translucent and orange as they swell
up to contain all the honey.
5. The other ants in the nest groom
and clean the rotunds to protect
their food stock.
6. When food options become scarce
for the rest of the colony, the rotunds
are tickled so that they regurgitate
the honey for the other ants to
enjoy on tap.
7. The rotunds are immobilised by
their size and eventually grow to
the size of small grapes.

19
 DISCOVERIES

BIOLOGY

MOTHERS ARE FORCED TO FIGHT

A NUTRIENT WAR WITH THEIR
UNBORN BABIES
A study on mice enabled scientists to discover
that children inherit ‘greedy genes’ from fathers

Y
ou probably wouldn’t dream the mother tend to be more limiting.
of demanding more food This means that the greedy signals
from your mum, especially released by the father’s genes kick
if it had to come from her off an unusual war between the
own plate. But new research shows mother and baby.
that most of us have done exactly While the mother’s body wants the
that, and it’s all thanks to our dads. baby to be healthy, she also needs
According to scientists from the the same glucose and fats for her
University of Cambridge, foetuses own health. These resources will
use the insulin-like growth factor help her deliver the baby, nurse it
2 (IGF2) gene, which is inherited and then, potentially, have more.
from their fathers, to force their But limiting nutrients to the foetus
mothers to release more nutrients also means the baby isn’t too big to
during pregnancy. come out at the end of the pregnancy.
According to t he scientists The research, published in the
behind the research, it’s the first journal Cell Metabolism, was carried
evidence that a father’s genes allows out on pregnant mice. The scientists
his unborn child to send t hese deleted the IGF2 gene in the rodents’
demanding signals. placentas. Without the IGF2 gene
“Genes controlled by the father are the mothers didn’t make enough
‘greedy’ and ‘selfish’ and will tend of a protein required to grow the
to manipulate maternal resources foetuses’ livers and brains properly.
for the benefit of the foetuses,” said In the future, the researchers
Dr Miguel Constância, a co-senior hope that these results could help
author of the research. them develop ways of targeting the
Paternal genes generally promote placenta to improve the health of
foetus growth, whereas those from mothers and babies.
ASTRONOMY

RARE ‘ULTRACOOL’
BROWN DWARF STAR
FOUND EMITTING
RADIO WAVES
Unusual radio signals
have led astronomers to a
surprising astronomical object

Placenta cells (in green) carrying the IGF2 gene, which signals the mother to supply nutrients

20
 DISCOVERIES

“It’s very rare to

find ultra-cool
brown dwarf
stars like this
producing radio
emissions”

The antennae that form the ASKAP telescope array

I
t may not be the brightest star, but a According to Rose, “It’s very rare to than Jupiter (another rarity for a brown
brown dwarf is shining for a different find ultra-cool brown dwarf stars like dwarf star), but is between 4 to 44 times
reason altogether. Astronomers at the this producing radio emissions. That’s more massive than the gas giant in our
University of Sydney have found the because their dynamics don’t usually Solar System. It was originally discovered
coldest star on record to emit radio waves. produce the magnetic fields that generate in 2011 by US astronomers using infrared
At a mere 425°Cs (797°F), this little radio emissions detectable from Earth.” spectroscopy rather than radio.
ball of gas, known as T8 Dwarf WISE Radio waves can teach us a lot about This discovery is just one in a series
,ŨKUEQQNGTVJCPC the composition, structure and motion of unusual astronomical objects detected
typical campfire. The Sun, in comparison, of ast ronomical objects. Fewer t ha n using new data from the Australian Square
burns at a whopping 5,600°C (10,112 °F). 10 per cent of brown dwarfs produce Kilometre Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope
ALAMY X2, SFERRUZZI-PERRI LAB

“Finding this brown dwarf producing them, however. in Western Australia.

radio waves at such a low temperature is The Australian scientists hope that their Prof Tara Murphy, a co-author of the
a neat discovery,” said Kovi Rose, a PhD discovery will deepen our knowledge of paper, said: “As we open this window
candidate at the University of Sydney’s ultracool brown dwarfs, including how on t he radio sky, we’ll improve our
School of Physics and the lead author of they evolve and generate magnetic fields. understanding of the stars around us
the paper that announced the finding, 6&YCTH9+5',ŨNKGU and the potential habitability of exoplanet
published in The Astrophysical Journal. about 37 light-years from Earth. It’s smaller systems they host.”

21

 
 



 
 
 

 

  
      
   
   
    

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DISCOVERIES
 DISCOVERIES

PRIMER

Why the next gold rush is happening at the bottom of the ocean

D
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CPFEQNFFCTMEQPFKVKQPUOCMGWPKSWG FTKNNJGCF1PGVJKPIVJCVoUPQV[GVVTWN[
JCDKVCVUHQTVJGUWTRTKUKPIN[EQNQWTHWNNKHG CRRCTGPVKUVJGUECNGQPYJKEJVJKU
JGTGsDK\CTTGETGCVWTGUNKMGJCKT[EJGUVGF OKPKPIKUIQKPIVQJCRRGP
The drilling ship, Hidden Gem,
ETCDUCPFINKVVGT['NXKUYQTOU
owned by offshore energy
$WVUQOGRGQRNGJCXGVJGKTG[GUQPC WHAT ARE POLYMETALLIC NODULES?
company Allseas, faced protests
FKHHGTGPVUQTVQHTKEJGUHQTOGFKPVJGUG 6JG[NQQMNKMGNWORUQHEQCNQTDNCEM as it underwent conversion into
WPWUWCNEQPFKVKQPUTCTGGCTVJOGVCNU RQVCVQGU6JG[oTGXGT[FGPUGCUVJG[oTG a nodule collection vessel while
&T*GNGP5ECNGUGZRNCKPUVJGFTKXGVQ HWNNQHOGVCNUUQVJG[oTGKPETGFKDN[ docked in Rotterdam in 2022
OKPGVJGOCVGTKCNUDWTKGFKPVJGFGGRGUV JGCX[HQTVJGKTUK\GsCPFVJG[oTG
RCTVUQHVJGQEGCP CEVWCNN[TCFKQCEVKXG
6JGYC[VJG[HQTOKUHCUEKPCVKPIs
THE WORD ‘MINING’ USUALLY BRINGS UP VJG[DCUKECNN[HQTOHTQOVJGYCVGT
IMAGES OF GRUBBY FACES IN HARD HATS KVUGNH+VDGIKPUYKVJCNKVVNGHTCIOGPV WHAT DO WE WANT THESE METALS FOR?
DISAPPEARING UNDERGROUND. SO WHAT IS QHUQOGVJKPIUWEJCUCUJCTMVQQVJ ARE THEY WORTH IT?
MINING WHEN IT’S IN THE DEEP SEA? QTCRKGEGQHYJCNGDQPGN[KPIQPVJG 9GoTGVCNMKPICDQWVTCTGGCTVJOGVCNU
+VoULWUVCUITWDD[CUOKPKPIQPNCPF UGCDGF6JGPQXGTVJGGQPUFKUUQNXGF CUYGNNCUGNGOGPVUNKMGEQDCNVNKVJKWO
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IQKPIVQDGFQPGTGOQVGN[WUKPI VQCEETGVG+VVCMGUOKNNKQPUQH[GCTUHQT CVVJGOQOGPVKUXGT[OWEJQPGNGEVTKE
UKOKNCTUQTVUQHECOGTCCPFTQDQV QPGQHVJGPQFWNGUVQITQYHTQOVJG XGJKENGUCPFVJGKTDCVVGTKGU
GETTY IMAGES, CRAIG SMITH/DIVA AMON/ABYSSLINE PROJECT/NOAA X2
VGEJPQNQIKGUVQVJQUGUEKGPVKUVUCTG UK\GQHCRGCVQVJGUK\GQHCIQNHDCNN 6JGCTIWOGPVU=HQTFGGRUGCOKPKPI?
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UGCDGFCPFVJGPFTCIVJGOHQTYCTFU UVWF[UJQYGFVJCVVJGTGYGTGCVNGCUV EQDCNV%QDCNVYCUEGTVCKPN[PGGFGF
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VJGUWTHCEG DGGPHQWPFDGHQTG [GCTUFQYPVJGNKPG

24
 DISCOVERIES

Relicanthus daphneae, a giant anemone lives

4,100m down in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

Amperima rosea, a sea cucumber is another species

that dwells in the proposed mining zone

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“The study showed that there were CTVKƂEKCNCEEGNGTCVKQPFWGVQCNQQRJQNG
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at least 5,000 species in this part of YKVJRCTVKEWNCTEQWPVTKGUHQTEKPIVJKU
CIGPFCVQDGEQPENWFGFOQTGSWKEMN[
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the deep abyss… and nine out of ten FGOCPFKPIVQJCXGTGIWNCVKQPURWV
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of them haven’t been found before” JCRRGPKPIYKVJKPVJGPGZV[GCT
#VVJGVKOGQHYTKVKPIVJGNCVGUV
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QPN[YC[sQTKPFGGFVJGDGUVYC[s WHY IS DEEP-SEA MINING SUCH A BIG TOPIC [GCTU9GPGGFOWEJOQTGVJCPVJCV
VQFQVJCVYKNNDGHTQOOKPKPIVJGUG AT THE MOMENT? DWVCVNGCUVKVUGGOUVJGTGoUPQVIQKPIVQ
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VJGONKIJVN[GPQWIJVQPQVECWUG +PVGTPCVKQPCN5GCDGF#WVJQTKV[YJKEJ DR H E L E N S CA L E S
FCOCIGDGECWUGWNVKOCVGN[YGoTG YCUUGVWRKPVJGUCUVJGDQF[VQ Helen is a marine biologist and writer. She’s the
GZVTCEVKPIVJGTGUQWTEGWRQPYJKEJ TGIWNCVGFGGRUGCOKPKPI author of The Brilliant Abyss (Bloomsbury), and
DKQFKXGTUKV[FGRGPFU+VoUIQKPI (QTCNQPIVKOGPQVOWEJTGCNN[ her next book What the Wild Sea Can Be will
VQVCMGCIQQFVGP[GCTUQHTGCNN[ JCRRGPGFCVVJGOGGVKPIUQHKVU be published in the summer of 2024.

25
 COLUMNISTS

COMMENT wasn’t a problem when starch wasn’t our main

source of calories, which it is today. This genetic

PALEO IS A FLINTSTONE FANTASY adaptation improved our efficiency to metabolise

starch, meaning we could eat less food and get the
‘Big farmer’ has changed our digestive capabilities… and that’s same number of calories. This increased nutritional
just one of the reasons why you can’t eat like a caveman efficiency provided a huge selective advantage, and
was thus incorporated into gene-pool. As such, almost

M
all humans today carry multiple copies of AMY1.
ost non-communicable diseases are diet- Then there’s milk. All humans can drink milk
related, including obesity and its in early life, but many then switch to being lactose
associated illnesses. Because the intolerant as they begin adulthood. However, with
prevalence of obesity is a contemporary the domestication of large ruminants, people
problem, some argue that our modern diet, based began to realise that compared to simply eating the
on agriculture, is to blame. This is the so-called animals, drinking their milk greatly increased the
‘paleo’ movement. calories available from each animal during its life.
‘Paleo’ is a contraction of Palaeolithic, the period Couple this with the development of cheese, which
from about 2.6 million years ago to 10,000 BC (the allowed for the nutrients in milk to be preserved in
Stone Age). The paleo premise is that for most of compact and portable form and voilà: a new, rich
human existence, we were hunter-gatherers. Then and renewable food source was available to nascent
the agricultural revolution changed our diet and herding communities.
our current problems with diet-related illnesses So powerful was the selection pressure in herding
occur because we haven’t yet adapted to it. Hence societies that the ability to digest lactose as adults
the suggested solution of to return to a ‘paleo diet’. actually emerged independently at least three times:
There are two main problems with this argument. in northern Europe and in two geographically
First, there is no single paleo diet, because there were distinct African populations. The incredible thing
no singular Palaeolithic people – hunter-gatherers is that although the adaptation in the three cases
ate whatever was available to them. Second, the involved different genetic changes, they all influence
contention that humans haven’t had time to adapt the same gene, lactase, required for metabolising
to an agricultural diet is simply incorrect, because lactose into glucose. But lactose is lactose, no matter
when the right selection pressure is present, humans which type of milk it’s found in. So, if you have
can adapt (and have) in just a few thousand years. the genetic adaptation to digest lactose as an adult,
Three examples of such adaptations are our ability to then milk, whether from human, cow, sheep or goat,
consume large amounts of starch, milk and alcohol. isn’t going to be bad for you.
Digestion of starch begins with amylase in saliva, Finally, the consumption of alcohol coincided
which breaks down starch as we chew, and as the with the emergence of agriculture, when humans
food moves to the stomach and small intestine, began turning fermented fruit and other foods into
where other amylases from the pancreas and other alcoholic drinks. This influenced the way certain
organs take over. Although we typically carry two populations solved the problem of safe drinking
copies of most genes, one from each parent, humans water. Beer and wine, were used by those in the
have a variable number of the amylase-encoding Fertile Crescent (today’s Middle East) and northern
gene AMY1, ranging from two to more than 30. The Europe to ensure safe drinking water. In fact,
more AMY1, the better your ability to digest starch.
Genetic studies on hunter-gatherer peoples today,
PROF GILES YEO
(@GilesYeo)
European children drank weak beer up until the
17th century. Thus an enhanced ability to metabolise
who subsist on high-protein/low-starch diets, Giles is a professor of alcohol was a powerful selective advantage.
reveal they have fewer copies of AMY1; while other molecular neuroendocrinology Other cultures, like East Asians, relied on boiling
primates, who mainly eat fruit, only ever have two. at the University of Cambridge, water instead. To be clear, ancient East Asians did
and has presented Trust Me,
Humans have always eaten starch, we were just I’m a Doctor and episodes of drink alcohol (residue of the earliest known alcoholic
unable to access all of the available calories. This Horizon on BBC Two. beverage was found in a Neolithic Chinese village
dating to 7,000-6,600 BC). But because East Asians
had clean boiled water, they didn’t have to drink
alcohol, unlike Northern Europeans. Thus emerged
the variation in the ability of different populations
“The reality is humans
ILLUSTRATION: SINEM ERKAS

today to handle alcohol.

Ultimately, the paleo movement is a ‘Flintstone’
are like cockroaches, fantasy. The reality is that humans are like
cockroaches, adapting when we have to, particularly

adapting when we have to” to the selection pressure of changing nutritional

demands post agriculture.

26



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 COLUMNISTS

Listen to The Rise of the

Robots at bit.ly/
RobotsinSociety

ILLUSTRATION: ADRIAN ARIAS ASTORGANO

30
 COLUMNISTS

COMMENT

DON’T KICK THE ROBOT similar questions about porn and video games, with
some inconclusive results. In many cases, people seem
If something’s got no feelings, you can’t hurt it, right? to do fine at compartmentalising (just because I play
So where’s the harm? Grand Theft Auto doesn’t mean I try to run people
over in the car park at work).
Perhaps video games are mostly harmless, but does a

A
robot with a body change the equation? We’re physical
few years ago, someone asked me for creatures and studies show that we behave differently
advice on a workplace situation. His toward embodied robots than characters on a screen,
company was using a chatbot to help new in part because we’re biologically hardwired to react
employees and he had repeatedly noticed to physical motion. People will readily treat any agent
one person being disproportionally verbally abusive that moves like it’s alive, even a randomly moving
to it. “What do you think?” he asked me. “Is this stick in a research study. As robot design gets better,
an HR issue?” the line between alive and lifelike may continue to
The truth is, we don’t know. But even though blur in our subconscious minds.
machines can’t feel, it’s worth thinking about what If so, maybe it would be great for people to take
human behaviour is okay. out their aggression and frustration on human- and
Over the next decade, our relationships to our devices animal-like robots that mimic pain. After all, they
will become a lot more interesting. Advanced chatbots aren’t harming a living being, so it might be a healthy
and robot companions are on the rise, both extremely outlet for violent behaviour. On the other hand, it
well-suited to tap into our social nature and make us could be bad if it desensitises people to violence in
behave as though we’re interacting with something… other contexts. Would a child who grows up kicking
alive. This raises the question: what does it mean to be a robot dog find it easier to kick a real dog?
verbally or physically violent toward an artificial agent? Unfortunately, desensitisation remains a difficult
People have already started to wonder. For example, thing to study. It’s hard to connect long-term behaviour
during the mass adoption of virtual voice assistants, changes to an exact cause. Some limited research has
parents expressed concern that the little speakers tried to delve into the issue about robots and language-
capable agents, but on the whole, we don’t have a very
solid answer.
The idea that being cruel to a robot could make us
more cruel is akin to Immanuel Kant’s philosophy
“People will readily treat any regarding animal rights (which was not about protecting
the animals themselves). But it’s only a good argument
agent that moves like it’s alive, if we have enough evidence to back it up. After all,
if being cruel to robots doesn’t actually turn people
even a randomly moving stick” into sociopaths, there’s less reason for concern. But
maybe Kantian philosophy isn’t the only way to think
about the problem.
Philosopher Prof Shannon Vallor offers a slightly
in their living rooms were teaching their kids to be different approach in her book Technology and the
rude. Major companies such as Amazon and Google Virtues: “From the perspective of virtue ethics, people
responded by releasing opt-in features that encouraged who spend most of their free time […] torturing robots
the use of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, to prevent children […] are not living well or flourishing, because they are
from barking commands at the devices. not by this activity cultivating any of the character
Of course, it’s not the machines we’re hurting, so the traits, skills or motivations that constitute human
main concern is that ‘mistreating’ an artificial agent excellence and flourishing.” Instead, she argues we

DR KATE
will lead to bad behaviour in other contexts. In 2015, my should encourage activities that help people live out
colleagues and I took a small step while investigating character traits we see as good and admirable.

DARLING
(@grok_)
this idea, by finding a connection between people’s
empathic concern and how they were willing to treat
For now, it seems pretty reasonable to keep robot
abuse away from impressionable children, at least
Kate is a research a robot. Also, lots of research shows that people who until we have more research on the effects of it. But
scientist at the MIT witness violent behaviour toward a robot feel distress. even for the rest of us, maybe it’s just not cool to treat
Media Lab, studying But even if there’s a link between people’s tendencies an artificial agent poorly. Yes, it’s much better than
human-robot
for empathy and how they feel toward a robot, that mistreating a living, breathing being, but why do it
interaction. Her book
is The New Breed doesn’t answer the question of whether beating up at all? As Vallor argues, it might be worth practising
(£20, Penguin). robots makes people more violent. Society has asked kindness, instead.

31
 RE ALIT Y CHECK REVIEW

REALITY CHECK T H E S C I E N C E B E H I N D T H E H E A D L I N E S

Live facial recognition | Skin cancer | Hay fever

REVIEW

LIVE FACIAL RECOGNITION:

THE MET POLICE’S CONTROVERSIAL NEW TECH
It has already been used at high-profile events, despite concerns about
the privacy, accuracy and bias of this AI-driven system

32
 REVIEW RE ALIT Y CHECK

“While the UK government is pushing for increased

use of this AI surveillance tech, many other countries
with the notable exception of China, are not”

is biased towards certain types of faces, then the AI will

Visit the BBC’s Reality Check be biased in its ability to classify faces.
website at bit.ly/reality_check_
or follow them on Twitter WHAT IS LFR USED FOR AND WHAT IS ITS LEGAL STANDING?
@BBCRealityCheck LFR has been used in England and Wales for a number
of events including protests, concerts, the Notting Hill
Carnival and Remembrance Sunday, as well as on busy
Government ministers in the UK are pushing for the shopping streets such as Oxford Street in London.
MET police to make use of automated facial recognition While the UK government is pushing for increased
for routine law enforcement. use of this AI surveillance tech, many other countries,
As police officers already wear body cameras, it with the notable exception of China, are not.
would be possible to send the images they record Back in October 2021, the European Parliament called
directly to live facial recognition (LFR) systems. This for a ban on the use of LFR in public places. MEPs also
would mean everyone the officers encounter could asked for a ban on private facial recognition databases
be instantly checked to see if they match the data and supported an AI bill aiming to ban the type of social
of someone on a watchlist – a database of offenders scoring systems used in China, where citizens are given a
wanted by the police and courts. ‘trustworthiness’ rating based on their observed behaviour.
The technology has already been used for high- In the UK, the use of LFR has been successfully
profile gatherings such as King Charles’s Coronation, challenged in court by Liberty, while other civil liberty BELOW Civil
liberty groups
but could rolling it out more widely lead to a rise in groups and the Information Commissioner’s Office argue
argue that LFR
distrust of the police force due to concerns about that the technology can infringe on privacy and data scans people’s
accuracy and privacy? protection laws, and can also be discriminatory. faces without their
Liberty claims that because of their legal victory against consent, thereby
WHAT IS LFR AND HOW DOES IT WORK? South Wales Police, the use of this technology is unlawful violating their
Artificial intelligences (AIs) trained to perform in the UK as it “violates human rights, equality and ´ right to privacy
facial recognition were one of the first types of
practical machine learning systems developed by
computer scientists.
They’re commonly used alongside ‘dot projector’
lasers, which can map thousands of points on a human
face, to create the highly accurate biometric readers
that we use to unlock our phones.
The LFR used by the police is much simpler. It relies
on a camera to scan the surroundings and create a
flat image. This image is then split into segments
by the AI and the faces in it are mapped to find key
features, such as distances between the eyes, noses
and mouths, to build simple biometric records.
These records can then be compared to those stored
in a database of known offenders using a neural
network – a type of AI inspired by the human brain.
This method of using images alone is far less accurate
than the laser-mapping method used by phones,
however, as it doesn’t consider the three-dimensional
shape of faces.
It also relies on the neural network to be able to
match faces correctly. The AI has to be trained on
ALAMY X2

enough examples of faces to enable it to distinguish

properly between them. If the data it was trained on

33
 R
´ data protection laws”. The UK government disputes ecent reports suggest skin cancer rates
this claim, however. are rising. The harmful effects of the UV
radiation in sunlight, and emitted by tanning
WHY IS IT CONTROVERSIAL? beds, are well established – UV damages
There are two main reasons. The first is the the DNA in skin cells, leading to errors as
argument that we should have the right to privacy. these cells replicate and grow.
If cameras scan our faces and read our biometric data But we’ve been warned for decades about the dangers
without our consent, then some argue that our rights of spending too much time in the sun or on sunbeds.
are being infringed. So why is the message not sinking in?
Proponents of LFR say that as the images are deleted While recent news has focused on the UK, Dr Zoë
immediately after being scanned, the benefits it offers Venables, dermatology clinical lead at the National
are worth the minor loss of privacy. Disease Registration Service, confirms that the increase
But when the images used to train the AIs might in diagnoses is more widespread than that.
have been scraped from the internet – including your “Across the UK and globally, skin cancer incidence
social media – then it’s harder to argue that data is increasing in fair-skinned populations,” she says.
protection rights are being maintained. Data published this year shows that, in the UK, over
The other important reason for the controversy is 224,000 people were diagnosed with skin cancer in
that LFR and similar technologies have previously 2019, an increase of more than a quarter compared to
been found to be inaccurate and biased. 2013, when there fewer than 178,000 new diagnoses.
Often the neural network trained to distinguish These numbers include both melanoma, which affects
faces has been given biased data – typically the neural the pigment-containing cells involved in tanning, as
networks are trained on more male white faces than well as other, more treatable types of cancer affecting
other races and genders. other cells in the outer layer (epidermis) of the skin.
Researchers have shown that while the accuracy It’s worth noting that non-melanoma skin cancers,
of detecting white males is impressive, the biased although less deadly, affect far more people and
training means that the AI is much less accurate therefore still cause large numbers of deaths.
when attempting to match female faces and faces of Globally, rates vary, but Eastern European countries
people of colour. are seeing some of the largest increases in melanoma.
Meanwhile, there’s some evidence to suggest that in
HOW COULD IT BE USED LESS INTRUSIVELY? Australia, which has traditionally had the worst rates,
As LFR technology continues to develop, its accuracy skin cancer cases are starting to plateau, with recent
will improve. This may mean that concerns of bias declines seen in under 40s.
may one day disappear. But police training should But rates are expected to continue rising everywhere,
make it clear that a face matching performed by LFR with the International Agency for Research on Cancer
will never be as accurate as simpler technologies, predicting an increase from 1.5 million new skin
such as ANPR (automatic numberplate recognition). cancer cases in 2020 to 2.7 million in 2040.
Also, to build trust, the use of LFR should be clearly However, as Venables points out, it’s difficult to
displayed, and members of the public given the right predict the future. For example, we don’t yet know
to say they do not wish for it to be switched on if it what effect the increasing temperatures due to climate
violates their perceived privacy. change will have. It’s thought the rise in skin cancer
ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES

rates that we’re seeing now is related to changes in

by DR PETER BENTLEY behaviour that started in the late 20th century.
Peter is a computer scientist and author who is based “Cheaper access to foreign travel from the 1980s and
at University College London. His latest book 10 Short our ageing population are likely to be contributing to
Lessons in Artificial Intelligence is out now. increasing skin cancer incidence,” she says.

34
 ANALYSIS RE ALIT Y CHECK

“While the dangers of tanning may be well known,

it seems not enough of us are following
the advice to stay out of the sun”

While the dangers of tanning may be well known, it ABOVE The more On the other hand, statistics on tanning beds show
seems not enough of us are following advice to stay out skin you expose that their use has decreased, probably partly reflecting
of the sun. As Dr Gernot Walko, a skin cancer expert to sunlight the tighter restrictions on their use introduced in the late
at Queen Mary University of London, explains, even more your risk of 2000s. In the five years to 2012, the proportion of adults
the levelling-off of skin cancer rates in Australia may developing skin using sunbeds was 18 per cent, on average. This figure
cancer increases
have less to do with people changing their behaviour dropped to 10 per cent over the next five years, while
than with the population itself changing. over the same period, the proportion of adolescents
“Australia, historically, had a European population, using sunbeds dropped from 22 to 7 per cent.
with lots and lots of people matching the high-risk However, as skin cancer is the result of a lifetime of
criteria of having fair skin, red hair, freckles and so UV exposure, we won’t know for a while how these
on,” he says. “Some scientists would argue that this decreases will affect diagnoses. Numerous studies
is probably changing due to immigration.” have linked sunbed use to skin cancer, with those ´

35
 E
arlier this year the Met Office warned that hay
ABOVE The cells of a skin cancer tumour (in purple) seen fever could get worse due to climate change.
under a microscope And it’s not just a hypothetical problem we
may face in the future. In a recent paper,
researchers dug into pollen trends over the
´ who use sunbeds more regularly, for longer periods, last 26 years across the UK, focussing on grass, birch
or at a younger age, facing a higher risk. and oak pollen, to investigate how changing weather
So what can we do to lessen the risk? Advice on patterns are already affecting hay fever season.
tanning and sunbeds may be well publicised, but it While the work showed that climate change is
bears repeating. As the NHS notes, “there is no safe or certainly having an effect, the exact changes depend
healthy way to get a tan” – all sun damage contributes on which kind of pollen you’re affected by. The season
to skin cancer risk. for birch pollen (the second most important type when
Walko adds that by middle age, most of us will have it comes to hay fever, after grass pollen), is increasing
accumulated some of the mutations known to cause in severity – meaning the total amount of pollen seen
skin cancer, but scientists aren’t sure what protects during the season is higher.
some people and not others from developing it. Oak pollen season is also starting earlier and lasting
We can look at public health messaging and longer. But there’s some good news regarding grass
conclude that we just need to cover up. But it’s not pollen: while the first day with high grass pollen
that straightforward – changing behaviour means levels seems to be getting earlier, the season doesn’t
changing attitudes. appear to be getting worse.
It also means we need to stop idealising and The data in the study only goes as far as 2020, but
glamorising tanned bodies. Take Love Island, says Dr Beverly Adams-Groom, lead author of the paper
Walko: “If we see good-looking people tanning and and senior palynologist at the University of Worcester,
running around in swimsuits, it doesn’t necessarily says those trends appear to be continuing.
help with that societal image that we need to have a “The birch pollen season this year and in 2021 were
tan to look good.” among the very worst that we’ve ever seen,” she says.
Meanwhile, dispelling some of the myths that keep Pollen is a fine powder made by plants as part of
people running back to the sunbeds couldn’t hurt. their reproductive cycle and hay fever is an allergic
A 2022 study, for instance, drew attention to a couple reaction to proteins found on the pollen when it gets
of ill-conceived notions. into our eyes, nose and throat.
One, for example, is that artificial tanning can help In the UK there are three main hay fever seasons
with acne. But it’s actually red and blue light (containing caused, respectively, by tree pollen, which starts in
no UV radiation) that are sometimes incorporated into March and lasts until mid-May; grass pollen, which
acne treatments. Another is that sunbeds prepare the typically lasts from mid-May to July; and weed pollen,
skin for sun exposure on holiday. which runs from the end of June until September.
Governments could also do more. In 2010, the When it comes to climate change, higher levels
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, GETTY IMAGES

UK took the step of banning sunbeds for under 18s, of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and warmer
but across the US and Europe, regulations and age temperatures should, in theory, stimulate plant growth,
restrictions differ. In some US states, it’s a matter of meaning plants can grow faster, flower earlier and
parental consent rather than an outright ban. Australia, make more pollen.
by comparison, has outlawed sunbeds entirely. A European team of researchers has shown that
grass pollen season in countries including the UK
could get much worse if we don’t significantly rein
b y H A Y L E Y B E N N E T T (@gingerbreadlady) in the amount of carbon dioxide we’re releasing into
Hayley Bennett is a science writer based in Bristol, UK. the atmosphere. They predict that the amount of grass

36
 COMMENT RE ALIT Y CHECK

“Despite the fact that the amount of pollen itself isn’t

increasing, the potency [of the allergens] might be”

If we have warm weather in the summer, then tree

pollen season the following year is likely to be more
severe. But exactly how bad it ends up being depends
on the weather that next year, too.
“We need to have good weather in-season for the
pollen to actually be dispersed,” says Adams-Groom.
“If it’s raining all the time, if it’s cold, then the pollen
grains will remain within the flowers.”
Grasses produce their pollen closer to when they
release it. A sustained number of warm, dry days
during grass pollen season (such as during the hottest
June on record) can result in a lot of high pollen days
in a row, but then lead to grasses quickly depleting
themselves and a season that ends earlier than usual.
But drier weather earlier in spring can mean grasses
don’t produce as much pollen as usual.
To complicate things further, it’s possible that the
pollen count doesn’t give us a full picture of how bad
someone’s hay fever symptoms are likely to be on
any given day. There could be other factors behind
anecdotal reports that hay fever seasons are getting
tougher, Adams-Groom suggests.
Other emerging research shows that factors including
carbon dioxide and air pollution can increase the
potency of pollen grains, meaning that even if the
amount of pollen in the air isn’t increasing – and the
season overall isn’t getting more severe – each pollen
pollen could increase by up to 60 per cent if carbon ABOVE grain could be carrying more of the allergenic protein
dioxide levels were to double. The catkins that that causes hay fever symptoms.
In reality, however, the specific effects will be dangle from the “We can’t be sure exactly what’s going on,” says
complicated by the changing weather patterns we’re branches of birch Adams-Groom. “But we have to assume that, possibly,
trees release
already seeing due to climate change. despite the fact that the amount of pollen itself isn’t
clouds of fine
In the UK we’re experiencing warmer, wetter winters; increasing in the atmosphere, that the potency [of the
pollen when
hotter, drier summers; and more frequent and intense disturbed allergens] might be.”
weather extremes. Both the weather conditions when All of this adds up to the potential for hay fever
a plant is producing pollen, and the conditions when seasons to get worse with climate change. But, much
it releases that pollen, play a part in determining how like trying to predict the weather, the devil will be
much reaches the eyes and noses of hay fever sufferers in the details. So we’ll have to wait for each hay
in any given year. fever season to arrive before we truly know how bad
Higher temperatures and more hours of sunshine (or not) it’s going to be.
earlier in the year are driving the increase in oak
pollen seen in recent years. Rising temperatures are
also making birch pollen season worse. “Birch pollen b y K E L L Y O A K E S (@kahoakes)
production usually occurs in June of the previous Kelly is a science writer who covers science, technology,
summer, and it’s released in April,” says Adams-Groom. health and the environment.

37
41
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 INNOVATIONS

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR TOMORROW

ANALYSIS NEW TECH

AI DISCOVERS NEW DRUGS IDEAS WE LIKE
New anti-ageing medication identified in Our pick of this month’s
minutes with machine learning p40 greatest new gadgets p44

REVIEW
BARBECUES
Flame on! The BBC Science Focus team
finds their favourite outdoor grills p42

Cook up a storm
with a high-tech
outdoor oven p42

£258,000,000 35%
THE PERCENTAGE
OF BARBECUES IN
2022 THAT WERE
ENTIRELY VEGAN

THREE OUT OF FOUR HOMES IN THE UK THE ANNUAL AMOUNT SPENT ON BARBECUES IN THE UK
OWNS A BARBECUE

39
 INNOVATIONS

A N A LYSIS

Artificial intelligence
discovers drugs to fight ageing
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh use machine learning
algorithm to identify drugs with potential new applications in minutes

A
rtificial intelligence (AI) has been literature and looked into how to use this with machine learning
the driving force behind a lot to speed things up.”
of big developments in the last By using a machine learning algorithm, she was able to find
year. But while super-intelligent three promising senolytics.
chatbots and rapid art generation have
gripped the internet, elsewhere AI has UNMISTAKABLE EXAMPLES
been used to try and find solutions to one Smer-Barreto and her colleagues fed an AI model with examples
of humanity’s biggest problems: ageing. of known senolytics and non-senolytics, teaching it to distinguish
Researchers at the University of between the two. The AI could then be used to predict whether
Edinburgh, working in the field of drug molecules it hadn’t seen before could be senolytics based on
discovery, have used machine-learning whether or not they matched the examples it had been given.
systems to unearth a selection of new Around 80 senolytics are known, but of that number, just
anti-ageing drugs. two have been tested on humans. While that sounds like a tiny
Machine learning is a branch of AI that percentage, bear in mind that it takes 10 to 20 years for drugs
focuses on using data to imitate the way to reach the market, along with huge funds.
that humans learn, improving its accuracy The team started by reading through a wide range of papers,
as its fed more data. In the past, machine but were selective with the results, limiting themselves to just
learning has been used to create chess-
playing robots, self-driving cars and even
Netflix recommendations, but in this case
the algorithm was looking for senolytics.
Senolytics are drugs that are able to
slow ageing, as well as prevent age-related
diseases. They work by killing off senescent
cells, which, although still alive, are no
longer able to replicate. While having cells
that don’t replicate isn’t necessarily a bad
thing, they will have suffered damage
to their DNA (sunburned skin cells, for
example), so stopping replication stops
Vanessa Smer-
the damage from spreading.
Barreto was part of
Vanessa Smer-Barreto, a research fellow the team that
at the University of Edinburgh’s Institute identified three new
of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, senolytics using
was investigating new drugs, specifically machine learning
senolytics, in her post-doctorate research.
Frustrated by the expense and time
involved in the process of drug discovery,
she turned to machine learning in the
hopes of reducing both.
“Generating your own biological data
can be really expensive, and it can take
a lot of time, even just to gather training
data,” she says.
“What made our approach different to
others is that we tried to do it on limited
funds. We took training data from existing

40
 INNOVATIONS

“THERE IS NOTHING
TO STOP US FROM
APPLYING SIMILAR
TECHNIQUES
TOWARDS OTHER
DISEASES SUCH
Machine learning
has the potential to
identify new drugs

AS CANCER”
for a number of
conditions

58 of the 80 known senolytic compounds. By doing this, they “I have seen some criticism about the
cut out any compounds that weren’t clearly senolytics. toxicity of the drugs. It’s essential that
A total of 4,340 molecules were then fed into the machine- with any drug we’re administering – or
learning model, which returned a list of results just five minutes experimenting with – that we consider the
later. The model had identified 21 molecules that it deemed fact that it may do more harm than good,”
likely to be senolytics. Without the machine-learning model, says Smer-Baretto.
this process could have taken weeks and huge sums of money. “The most powerful drug we found is
Finally, the 21 potential senolytics were tested on two types called oleandrin. There is some criticism
of cells: healthy and ageing. about it being toxic, but we discuss this in
Of the 21 potential candidates, there were three able to the original scientific publication. The drugs
eliminate the ageing cells, while still keeping normal cells alive. have to go through many stages of testing
These new senolytics have been put forward for further testing first, and if they make it to the market, they’ll
to understand more about the way they interact with the body. have gone through a host of safety tests.”
While in this instance machine learning
DISCOVERY IS JUST THE BEGINNING was searching for drugs related to ageing,
While the study was successful, it’s just the start for this research. there’s nothing stopping these algorithms
“The next step is to team up with clinicians at the University being trained to identify potential drugs for
GETTY IMAGES, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

of Edinburgh to try testing the senolytics we discovered on other conditions.

their samples of robust human lung tissue,” Smer-Baretto says. “We had a very specific approach, but there
Through these future tests on lung tissue, the team hopes to is nothing stopping us from applying similar
see whether the newly identified senolytics can fight ageing techniques towards other diseases, such as
on tissue from damaged organs. But Smer-Baretto points out cancer. We’re keen to explore all avenues.”
that no patients are going to be given a big dose of the potential If there is enough available data, AI models
new drugs, especially in these early stages. These drugs will be can rapidly accelerate the process of drug
tested on tissue models first and only after that testing phase is discovery, as well as reducing the costs
completed could they possibly be administered to people, and required for it, across a wide range of diseases
even then it’ll be in the form of micro-doses. including cancer.

41
 INNOVATIONS

Five of the best BBQs for the summer

There are hundreds of BBQs on the market, all boasting their own impressive
features. But which is the best? The BBC Science Focus team picks their faves…

Kamado Joe Classic Joe Grill Series III

international.kamadojoe.com, £2,149

This is the Rolls Royce of barbecues, and it’s all

thanks to its ceramic shell. Once the ceramic
gets hot it needs little energy to stay that way,
so once you’ve lit your charcoal and heated the
barbecue to the desired temperature (indicated
by the thermometer on the front) it’ll stay there.
If you want to slow or speed up the cook,
you simply change the airflow by opening or
shutting the vents at the top and bottom. This
lends the entire practice of cooking outside a
degree of predictability, hence why professional
chefs love these cookers.
The Kamado excels at slow cooking things
like beef brisket or a lamb shoulder, where a
long, gentle cook is vital for good results. It’ll
also go low and slow enough to allow you to
reverse sear a steak, but it’s equally good if you
just want to throw a rib-eye on the coals. Plus,
the even heat output means cooking veg or
side dishes on pans or baskets is easy. It’s our
ultimate choice for a barbecue, but has an eye-
watering price to match.

Gozney Dome and forms all the crispy bits

gozney.com, £1,799 that make you sigh when you
bite in and start chewing.
This is one of the most Other pizza ovens can reach
desirable outdoor ovens going this temp of course, but the
and it delivers on the hype. joy of the Dome is in it’s form.
The model we tested can use The opening is big enough
either wood or gas as fuel, and to throw pans, roasting
comes with a vital internal dishes and bread trays in or
thermometer so you can get to manipulate pizzas as needed.
grips with how it heats up. The internal thermometer
500°C (900°F) is the goal. takes away a lot of the
It’s the temperature where guessing, and the functional
the magic happens when it stand makes juggling food
comes to pizza, meat and a breeze. You’ll need some
veg. It singes and sears the accessories, like a pizza
outside of whatever you’re paddle, a door (if you want to
cooking, while keeping the slow cook) and a wood loader
inside moist. Vegetables roast, (if you want to avoid toasting
sweeten and retain their bite; your hair). It’s expensive, but
bread puffs, crisps and chars; great for those who consider
while meat sizzles, crackles cooking outside a way of life.

42
 INNOVATIONS

Ninja Woodfire Electric

BBQ Grill & Smoker
ninjakitchen.co.uk, £349

The Ninja Woodfire has a lot going on, but

that’s by no means a complaint. In fact, it’s
what makes this such a good product. Yes, it’s
a barbecue, but it’s also a smoker and air fryer.
It lets you smoothly transition from air frying
some golden potatoes to smoking a pork belly,
before finishing up with some perfectly cooked
burgers on the grill. It’s the Iron Man of the
barbecue world, complete with buttons, gizmos
and even a smoking chamber on the side.
The bad news is that all this tech makes for a
heavy unit. That paired with the need to plug it
in makes using it a bit of an ordeal. It’s not the
barbecue for the family camping trip, but more
something for a meat-obsessed family member
looking to spend eight hours slow cooking the
perfect lamb with all the trimmings.

We’re in love with the Weber Go-Anywhere. You can use every
inch of its rectangular grilling space efficiently, but it’s small
enough to fit in tight spaces and store away easily.
What’s more, it really can go anywhere. At just under 7kg
(15lbs) and with the dimensions of a chunky backpack, you
can easily pop it in your car. Or, if you fancy a light workout,
you can walk it to your barbecue destination, as its nifty stand
doubles as a clamp to hold it all together.
It’s clean and classy, heats up quickly, and stays hot – and
all for an affordable price. Finding faults isn’t easy, but this is
not the barbecue for you if you’re catering for large gatherings:
you may find it a struggle to cook for more than eight people
in one go. But if we’re not being silly about this, the Weber
Go-Anywhere is a five-star no-brainer.

43
 INNOVATIONS

Ideas we like…
Our pick of the month’s smartest tech


….A go-anywhere action camera
There is a ludicrous amount of action
cameras available these days, all of which
do roughly the same thing. So when
something unique comes along, its worth
shouting about it. Insta360 is claiming
that its new Go 3 is the world’s smallest
action camera (fine, but so far, so familiar).
What makes the Go 3 stand out is that it
uses a range of magnetic mounts to let
you quickly and easily attach it to… well,
almost anything, anywhere. Chuck it on
a bike, a car, a skateboard, a shirt, a wall
or wherever you else you want and get
filming. It’s waterproof, captures 2.7K
footage and can create 360° videos to get
full coverage as you skydive, surf or just
simply vlog your daily life.
Insta360 Go 3
Store.insta360.com, £379.99

44
 INNOVATIONS

IDEAS WE
  DON’T LIKE...
…A head-up display for bikers …A home theatre to take on the go
There have been many attempts at making The description for the Sony HT-AX7 …A ROBOT DOG THAT HA S
smart glasses and most of them try to solve speaker reads unlike any other equivalent A FL AME-THROWER
problems that really don’t exist. But every device. This new gadget from the audio What with everything going on
so often a pair comes along that we can get giant is a portable speaker, but also a in the world right now, it’s no
behind. BMW’s ConnectedRide Smartglasses surround sound home theatre. It’s full of surprise that you can legally
are intended for motorcyclists and keep features, pumps out plenty of sound and purchase a flame-throwing
things simple. Wear them on a bike and has a 30-hour battery life, but only costs robot dog online. The real
question is, should you?
you’ll get a head-up display showing speed £499. It comes in three parts: one larger
Throwflame is a company that
and navigation info. They’re slim, so as to speaker and two smaller ones that sit on specialises in attaching
fit under a bike helmet, and by displaying top, charging when not in use. Spreading flamethrowers to things, having
minimal information, aren’t enough to the trio around a room, or whatever space so far mounted them on drones,
distract from the road. It all sounds great you’re in, gives you a simple spatial audio robots and people’s backs. The
in theory, but like all smart glasses, they’ll system that adapts to wherever you may be. Thermonator is the latest
need to be proven in the real world first. Sony HT-AX7 option, which Throwflame
BMW Motorrad ConnectedRide claims is the ‘first-ever
bmw-motorrad.co.uk, £TBC flamethrowing quadruped
robot dog’. Little information is
given on how it works, or how
to use it, just a video of said
robot dog trotting around a
burning park… so nothing to
worry about there.
Thermonator flame-throwing
robot dog
throwflame.com, £TBC

 
…A new version of Nothing …A dictaphone for design nerds
Last year’s Nothing Phone was a new and Teenage Engineering appears to have found
extraordinary device that used a strange a direct link to the brains of the design
array of lights scattered across its back to obsessed, repeatedly making products that
discreetly display notifications. But while have them handing over vast amounts of
it was interesting, it was flawed and really cash for devices that can be had in app
quite basic. Now, the new Nothing Phone (2) form on a smartphone. Their products are
has arrived, offering vast improvements over sleek, undeniably cool and… well, really
its predecessor. The ‘Glyph’ lights on the expensive, and the TP-7 is no different. It’s …A FULLY LOADED E-BIKE
back can now be customised to display your a palm-sized field recorder that’s light on When the Urtopia team came to
own choice of flashes for every app, phone features, but is focused on intuitive design, design its e-bike, we imagine a
contact and notification. The lights can even high-quality audio recording, and an easy meeting took place to decide
what features it should have
be used as timers, battery life indicators and uploading and transcribing process. Are
and one of them piped up with,
volume checkers. In a world of identical there cheaper options available? Yes, but “Why choose? Let’s just include
smartphones, this is a feature that sets the none of them will make you feel like an everything.” That might explain
Nothing apart from the crowd. old-school reporter quite like this. why it has a Bluetooth speaker,
Nothing Phone (2) Teenage Engineering TP-7 a smart voice assistant, a
Nothing.tech, from £579 teenage.engineering, £1,299 feature-packed app, a gaming-
style controller on the bars to
change settings and even a
fingerprint-reading lock. This
e-bike is equal parts innovative
and headache-inducing. You’ll
either love it (for its power-
assisted pedalling) or hate it
(for having to ask it to turn on
its voice-activated lights).
Urtopia Carbon One
global.newsurtopia.com,
€3,299

45
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 F
JUSTO£R
5!*
 FE ATURE JAW DROPPERS

48
 EVERY LIVING THING HAS TO
EAT SOMEHOW… WHATEVER
TYPE OF MOUTH IT MIGHT
HAVE. AND THERE ARE SOME
TRULY BIZARRE MOUTHS IN
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. SOME
OF THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY
EXAMPLES ARE ENOUGH TO
LEAVE YOU SLACK-JAWED

CAT GOT YOUR TONGUE?

PENGUIN
Penguins are agile predators
underwater, zipping around like
torpedoes as they chase down fish
and squid. But how do they keep
their prey from squirming out of
their grasp? The answer lies in what
the birds already have in their
mouths.
A penguin’s mouth and tongue are
covered in hard, backward-pointing
spines called papillae. It’s the same
feature that makes a cat’s tongue feel
like sandpaper. But you wouldn’t
want a penguin to lick you – the
spines aren’t just large, they’re also
sharp (a lick from one of these
would easily make you bleed). The
spines dig into slippery prey and
help move it down the bird’s throat.
A penguin’s tongue is also very
muscular, so is probably used to
push and manipulate the food in
their mouths, like humans. Unlike
us, however, penguins can’t taste
by
DR the fish they eat, as they don’t have
BR the genes to register sweet, bitter or
IT savoury (umani) flavours. Scientists
TN think that penguins lost their sense
EY
G of taste because they don’t use it: not
BO only do they swallow their food
RO whole, but the proteins needed to
W
IE send taste signals to the brain
C
ALAMY

malfunction at cold temperatures.

49
BOTTOM FEEDER
SEA URCHIN
A sea urchin’s mouth is on sharpened as they slide
its underside, and that’s against each other, so
probably the least bizarre they’re always ready to cut.
thing about how it eats. The whole apparatus is
Inside the sea urchin is a precisely controlled by a
complex, pyramid-shaped network of wiry muscles.
structure made of calcium Aided by their powerful
carbonate, a hard chalky jaws, sea urchins feed
material also found in voraciously – a single
coral. The pyramid is made colony of these spiky
of several triangle-shaped relatives of sea stars can
plates, each with a hook- destroy an entire kelp forest
shaped tooth at the tip. by chewing up rocks and
Like a claw machine you uprooting seaweed.
might find at an old arcade, The urchin’s biological
the pyramid can move up claw machine, properly
and down, and tilt. It can called Aristotle’s lantern, is
also move each plate to so unique that it’s inspiring
scrape, grasp, burrow and engineers to design new
even grind rocks. The machines to scoop up soil
individual plates are samples on Mars.

50
 JAW DROPPERS FE ATURE

RAPID INFLATION
GULPER EEL
Food is scarce in the deep ocean, so animals
living down there have to make every meal count.
Few animals take this as seriously as the gulper
eel, which is also known as the pelican eel as it
shares a similar characteristic with the bird.
The gulper eel has a huge, loose-hinged mouth
that’s about a quarter of the length of its body. The
mouth is paper-thin, fragile and unwieldy, so the
eel tucks it away when it’s not feeding.
Gulper eels have long, whip-like tails, but aren’t
fast enough to chase down their prey. Instead,
they float and wait, camouflaged by the darkness
of the deep ocean. When a school of crustaceans
or squid approaches, the eel lunges forward,
rapidly unfolding its origami mouth to take a
huge gulp of water.
After the attack, with its mouth fully inflated,
the eel looks silly, like a lollypop or a balloon.
It then slowly pushes the extra water out through
its gills before swallowing the unlucky prey
trapped in this signature feature.

THE ULTIMATE UNDERBITE

COOKIECUTTER SHARK
NORBERT WU/NATUREPL.COM, SERGIO HANQUET/NATUREPL.COM, NOAA PICTURE LIBRARY

Back in the 1970s, several submarines belonging to the US

Navy returned from missions with damaged sonar
equipment. Initial fears of a new enemy weapon dissipated
once the culprit was identified: the cookiecutter shark.
Cookiecutter sharks, as their name suggests, leave
perfectly round cut-outs in large fish and marine mammals
(and the rubber covers on subs’ sonar domes). These
parasites make their living through stealth and subterfuge,
hovering in the water until a something big and tasty
approaches. They sneak up and latch on with their fat, fleshy
sucker lips. The sharks anchor themselves into place by
digging in with their narrow upper teeth while the razor-
sharp teeth in their lower jaws slice into the flesh. They
twist and spin, moving their lower jaws back and forth like a
bandsaw, carving out a perfectly round disc of meat before
slinking back into the gloom of the deep sea.
Cookiecutter sharks are harmless to humans and little
more than a pest to their huge prey, but still pose an
occasional nuisance to ocean operations by damaging
unprotected equipment and telecommunications cables.

51
 FE ATURE JAW DROPPERS

UNFUSSY EATER bivalves and baleen whales eat and involves

straining pieces of food out of the water.

STRIPED MACKEREL
Mackerel use the underside their gills, which
have overlapping bony hooks called gill rakers,
as makeshift sieves to capture prey suspended
Most animals are relatively picky eaters, in the water. All fish have gill rakers and
preferring only plants or only meat, and variation in their appearance is sometimes
tend to rely on one strategy when foraging used to identify different species.
or hunting. Mackerel are unusual because When prey is small and numerous, like a
they use two different ways of feeding, swarm of plankton, filter feeding gets the most
filter feeding and particulate feeding, and food for the least effort. For large or sparse
opportunistically switch between them prey, particulate feeding is better. By not being
whenever it makes sense. too picky about how they get their meals,
Particulate feeding involves catching individual mackerel keep their bellies full,
each prey item individually, like a shark or even when surrounded by thousands of other
penguin would. Filter feeding is how fish in a school.

ALEX MUSTARD/NATUREPL.COM, DAVID KEARNES/BLUE PLANET ARCHIVE

52
JAW DROPPERS FE ATURE
 FE ATURE JAW DROPPERS

SAW THROAT
LEATHERBACK TURTLE
Leatherback turtles spend most of their lives in the open
ocean, tracking their prey into the depths during the day
and into the shallows at night. They’re always looking for
jellyfish, their favourite food, though they’ll occasionally
snack on other soft treats, such as squids or small
crustaceans. Leatherback turtles eat so much jellyfish –
hundreds of kilograms per turtle per day – that they act
like natural pest control, keeping jellyfish populations in
check and protecting larval fish and beaches from
nuisance swarms.
Jellyfish are squishy and not the easiest thing to pin
down, especially if you don’t have any teeth or claws.
Leatherback turtles snip jellyfish into digestible pieces
with delicate, scissor-like jaws. What’s more, the throat
of a leatherback turtle is lined with backwards-pointing
spines, which stop its slippery prey from escaping once
caught (jellyfish can survive being cut in half, after all).
The spikes probably also provide some protection from
the stinging cells of their prey, as leatherback turtles can
even eat poisonous creatures such as the jellyfish-like
Portuguese man o’ war with no ill effect.

PLATEFULS OF FOOD
HUMPBACK WHALE
Humpbacks only eat from spring to autumn during their
holidays in the prey-rich waters of the Arctic and Antarctic.
With such big bellies to fill and a limited time to do it, they rely
on an ingenious strategy known as ‘bubble-net hunting’ to get
the job done.
Often working in a group, humpbacks dive below their prey,
then slowly ascend towards the surface in a spiral, blowing
bubbles as they swim up. The bubbles scare and confuse their
prey of small fish and shrimp-like crustaceans called krill.
The whales make tighter and tighter turns, aided by their long
flippers, concentrating their future meal into a dense cluster
near the surface.
Eventually, they take turns lunging up, mouths open, through
the compacted prey, gulping tens of thousands of litres in a
single mouthful. The whales push the water out of their mouths,
filtering it through the sieve-like baleen plates on the roofs of
their mouths. The fish or krill are trapped in the strong but
flexible bristles, ready to be swallowed whole by the hunters.

54
 JAW DROPPERS FE ATURE

NUTCRACKER
PACU FISH
Say cheese! Pacu fish have a mouth full of flat, square
teeth that gives them a human-like smile. Sometimes
referred to as ‘vegetarian piranhas’, due to their body
JOHN CORNFORTH/BLUE PLANET ARCHIVE, TUI DE ROY/NATUREPL.COM, GETTY IMAGES, MDOMINGOA/WIKIPEDIA

shape and colouration, pacu fish prefer to snack on

freshwater ‘trail mix’ instead of fresh meat.
Their molar-shaped teeth do an excellent job of
crushing the hard shells of the nuts and seeds that
frustrate other animals, providing them with a reliable
source of fat and protein despite their plant-based diet.
Pacu fishes are the gardeners of the Amazon and play
an ecologically important role in spreading seeds
throughout the river’s tributaries and floodplains.
The most famous of the pacu fishes, the tambaqui,
can get as big as a golden retriever. At one metre in
length (3ft) and weighing 30kg (66lbs), it’s the second-
largest fish in the Amazon (after the arapaima).
Tambaqui are a popular meal in South America,
where it’s often sold with cuts on the bone like pork
ribs. They also show up in the exotic pet market,
though they need an experienced keeper and a truly
enormous tank to thrive.

by D R B R I T T N E Y G B O R O W I E C
(@this _is _brit)
Brittney is a zoologist and science writer based in Ontario,
Canada. She studies how fish cope with the challenges
of low oxygen and other extreme environments.

55
FE ATURE HABITS
 HABITS FE ATURE

1WTNKXGUCTGƂNNGFYKVJJCDKVWCNDGJCXKQWTUDQVJIQQFCPF
DCFDWVJQYFQVJG[HQTOCPFJQYECPYGDWKNFDGVVGTQPGU!
by DR CHRISTIAN JARRETT

he word ‘habits’ gets thrown around a lot. Your GP

encourages you to get into the ‘good habit’ of eating five
portions of fruit and veg a day; your friend worries
about their ‘bad habit’ of checking Twitter before bed;
maybe you once had a music teacher who kept on at you
to practise your scales until they ‘feel habitual’. Or
perhaps you’ve been telling yourself that you want to
get ‘into the habit’ of going to the gym twice a week.
All this talk makes sense at a colloquial level, but
psychologists are more pedantic about it. In fact, not
everything you do, or aspire to do, frequently or regularly, is
necessarily a habit. Some of the situations above are more about
goals (what you hope to achieve at some point in the future),
ILLUSTRATION: KYLE SMART

intentions (your plans for what you’re going to do) and skills
(such as being able to hit musical notes consistently), than
about habits per se. Routines – such as going to the gym
regularly – have the potential to become habitual, but it’s not
inevitable that they will. So what exactly is a habit? And what
does it take to make one that’s ‘good’ or break one that’s ‘bad’? ´

57
 FE ATURE HABITS

WHAT The pairing between the cue and the action

might have begun as willful and goal-related, but

MAKES
over time, the association strengthens and now it
plays out without thought or volition – even if the
behaviour is no longer pleasurable or desirable.

A HABIT?
For example you take a sip from your pint at the
pub and, without thinking about it (and even
though you want to quit smoking), you reach for
A habit is your brain on autopilot your pack of cigarettes.
This process of a behaviour in a particular
In psychology, saying that a behaviour has situation starting out as deliberate or purposeful
DGEQOGJCDKVWCNOGCPUUQOGVJKPIXGT[URGEKƂE – that is, done to serve a particular goal or
– although there are some niche controversies because it’s rewarding – but then becoming
around the edges of the concept. One key feature increasingly automatic through repetition, has
of habits has been recognised since at least the been shown at the level of brain activity. The
time of William James, the American philosopher more a behaviour becomes an ingrained habit,
and historian who’s regarded as one of the the more that it comes to be controlled by brain
founders of functional psychology. networks that are involved in involuntary action
As he put it near the start of the 20th century, than by networks related to conscious goals and
when it comes to habits, “action goes on of itself”. decisions. Or, to put it another way, the decision-
What he meant by that is once something is making process you once had to go through to
ILLUSTRATION: KYLE SMART

habitual, you do it without thinking. perform the behaviour has been bypassed.
Building on that idea, psychologists today say +VoUOQTGGHƂEKGPVVJCVYC[UKPEGVJGDTCKPQPN[
that what makes a habit a habit, is that it’s a has so much energy and real estate to play with to
behaviour, or a related sequence of behaviours, get stuff done, so if a behaviour is rewarded and
VJCVoUVTKIIGTGFCWVQOCVKECNN[D[URGEKƂEEWGU UWHƂEKGPVN[TGRGCVGFKVUSWGG\GUVJGFGEKUKQP
in the environment. making part of the process out of the loop.

58
 HABITS FE ATURE

Fortunately for us, this decision is gone, but not Then the researchers used a technique called
forgotten. Let’s say, for example, you like to have optogenetics, which uses light to switch on and
CINCUUQHYKPGVQTGNCZCHVGTYQTM#VƂTUVYJGP off the function of certain cells, to turn off the IL
the behaviour was new, the decision-making cortex – the part of the brain where we think the
process took up a lot of the processing power of control of habits resides. With this part of the
the prefrontal cortex (the brain’s executive brain inhibited, the rats almost instantly slowed
command centre that governs planning and down as they started to consider each turn in the
conscious thought). OC\G6JG[JCFFTQRRGFVJGJCDKV
Clearly such an important part of the brain This work has led scientists to think that the
can’t be busying itself with decisions about wine. IL cortex might be a kind of switchboard for our
So as this behaviour is repeated, the decision- habits, turning them on and off as needed. While
making seems to be ‘handed off’ to a smaller part we can’t start shining lights into our skulls, it
of the prefrontal cortex, called the infralimbic FQGUCFFƃGUJVQVJGDQPGUQHVJGKFGCVJCVJCDKVU
(IL) cortex, where it looks like habits can be bypass decision-making and that it might be
turned on and off. possible to tease repetitive behaviours out of our
Scientists from MIT investigated the function heads with a bit of conscious thought.
QHVJKUTGIKQPD[VTCKPKPITCVUVQPCXKICVGCOC\G But what really makes habits so interesting to
to reach a reward (some chocolate milk). After psychologists and other health professionals is
enough repetition the rats appeared to make their the way they can shape our behaviour… for better
YC[VJTQWIJVJGOC\GoUVWTPUD[TGƃGZIGVVKPIVQ and worse. The healthy or unhealthy habits you
the chocolate milk had become habitual. The OC[JCXGECPGZGTVCPQWVUK\GFKPƃWGPEGQPVJG
reward could be removed and the rats would kind of lifestyle you lead, and on your ability to
MGGRTWPPKPIVJGOC\GCPFGXGPYJGPVJG HWNƂN[QWTNQPIGTVGTOIQCNU
chocolate milk was mixed with a nausea- So, if you’ve formed a number of unhealthy
inducing chemical, the behaviour persisted – habits, the cumulative harmful impact could be
VJG[TCPVJGOC\GCPFFKFPoVFTKPMVJGOKNM6JG UKIPKƂECPV*GPEGVJGCRRGCNKPNGCTPKPIJQYVQ
behaviour had become fully habitualised. break them, or build healthy ones. ´

59
 FE ATURE HABITS

BREAKING BAD HABITS

Take temptation out the equation

Knowing the basic psychology of what makes a habit a habit kind of pleasure or reward. But perhaps now your goals
can provide clues for how to break bad ones and create good have changed, or the pleasure provided is reduced, or you
ones. To break a bad habit, a good place to start is to think no longer think that the reward justifies the behaviour.
about the specific cues that trigger the habit and then see For instance, the after-work glass of wine might have
if you can avoid them or make them less noticeable. helped you relax or served as a reward after a hard day.
For instance, it sounds obvious, but if you want to break If so, consider what other forms of relaxation or reward
the habit of checking social media when you get into bed, you could give yourself instead.
the main trigger is probably the sight of your smartphone. The point is, breaking a bad habit will always be easier if
So to break the habit, remove the trigger (leave your phone you substitute the unwanted behaviour with a new (more
downstairs). Similarly, if you want to break the habit of desirable) behaviour that serves a similar function, than
pouring yourself a glass of wine after work, consider the if you just leave a gap or hole where the old habit used to be.
trigger – is it the sight of the wine bottle in the fridge,

“BESIDES THE SPECIFIC

the wine glass on the shelf or something else? Hide these
triggers and you’ll find it easier to break the habit.
Besides the specific triggers, habits also tend to be

TRIGGERS, HABITS ALSO

embedded in a wider context or routine, so you can make
it easier to break a habit by altering them. How far you
go is up to you, but at the extreme would be things like

TEND TO BE EMBEDDED
moving house or changing job – anything that shakes up
the associations in your brain between specific situational
cues and past behaviours. (This is why you might find that

IN A WIDER CONTEXT
the habits you have at home lose their power when you
go on holiday, because the background cues and context
are often profoundly different.)

OR ROUTINE”
Another trick is to think about the original function
of the now unwanted habitual behaviour. It’s likely that
there was originally a purpose to it, or it provided some

60
 HABITS FE ATURE

FORMING HEALTHY NEW HABITS

Habits, like Rome, are built in more than a day…

When it comes to making desirable behaviours automatic, formed. In fact, I’ve been referring to habits as if they’re a
you can reverse engineer the psychology behind habit singular, all-or-nothing thing, but of course they can vary
formation. Remember it starts with a behaviour or sequence in their strength, some being more deeply ingrained than
of behaviours performed repeatedly in response to the same others. That said, a much-cited study from 2010, which
cue(s) or trigger(s). When that pairing is repeated often involved volunteers keeping habit diaries, found that the
enough, it can eventually become automatic. So to begin time taken for a newly performed behaviour (such as eating
inculcating a new behaviour, take every opportunity you fruit with lunch) to reach ‘peak automaticity’ was 66 days,
can to repeat it at the same time and place, in the presence on average. Another study with gym members found that
of the same trigger(s), so that you start that pairing process it took at least six weeks, with four gym visits per week,
in your brain. to form a new exercise habit.
For instance, if you want to make a habit of eating an In other words, if you want to start performing a new
apple a day, it’s more likely to stick if you do it at the same desirable or healthy behaviour, and for it to become genuinely
time and place – such as having it for your mid-morning habitual, it’s definitely going to take a degree of consistency,
snack. It’s also going to help to have a bowl of juicy looking dedication and commitment. ´
apples in sight wherever you happen to
be mid-morning, such as by the kettle.
Seeing the tasty-looking apples will act
as a trigger, so place the fruit bowl by
the kettle.
Also, remove any friction between the
trigger(s) and desired behaviour. Say you
want to make a habit out of going to the
gym on your way home from work every
Thursday. Think of all the things you could
do to ease that pairing, such as choosing
a gym that’s on the shortest route home,
always having gym clothes ready in your
work bag, and so on.
Yet another simple trick is to reward
yourself in some way for performing the
behaviour you want to become habitual.
This will help to reinforce the behaviour
during the early days before it becomes
automatic. For example, let’s suppose you
want to make a habit out of going for a
run at 7am every Monday morning. In the
early weeks, you could consistently reward
yourself af ter wa rds wit h a lu xurious
bubble bath (you’ve got time because you’re
working from home that day). Once the
run becomes habitual, you’ll be able to do
without the bath, but the bath will help
you repeat the 7am run enough times for
ILLUSTRATIONS: KYLE SMART

it to become a habit.
At this point, you might be wondering
how many times is ‘enough’. Good question.
There isn’t a lot of firm evidence on this,
partly because there isn’t an easy scientific
way to say exactly when a habit has been

61
 FE ATURE HABITS

HACK YOUR HABITS

SOCIAL MEDIA
HABITS
5C[PQVQPQVKƂECVKQPUKH[QWYCPV
VQHQEWU[QWTCVVGPVKQPGNUGYJGTG

There’s a lot of moralising around our use of devices

and social media, but only you know if your phone is
stopping you from doing other more important stuff.
If you feel it is, one way to take back control is to
make your device use less habitual, and the easiest
trick in the book for that is to turn off notifications.
Notifications can act like habitual cues that prompt
you to check an email or social media message
without thinking, potentially initiating a cascade
of related behaviours that you didn’t consciously
intend to do.
Planning to use email, social media or news sites
during planned windows of the day is another way
to break out of habitual behaviour and ensure your
device time is more intentional.

GREENER HABITS
/CMGKVGCUKGTVQFQVJGTKIJVVJKPI
CPFJCTFGTVQFQVJGYTQPIVJKPIU
The psychology of habits can help explain why
people’s behaviour so often fails to change in line
with their evolving environmental attitudes, so
although many of us recognise the need to adopt
more environmentally friendly behaviours, we
continue doing the harmful ones anyway. The
problem is that so many of our daily behaviours,
from transport to consumption, are habitual.
To help people make the change, psychologists
suggest methods that draw on habit theory,
including reducing friction between cues and more
ILLUSTRATIONS: KYLE SMART

desirable behaviours, and vice versa. For instance,

research has shown that office paper recycling
shot up when recycling bins were placed near
each person’s desk rather than having one central
bin; and, conversely, people took the lift less often
when the doors were programmed to open and
close more slowly.

62
 HABITS FE ATURE

BUILDING BETTER
LEARNING HABITS
7UGQPGIQQFJCDKVVQJGNRQVJGT
IQQFJCDKVUVCMGTQQV
Another method of building habits is to piggyback
the desired new behaviour on another that’s
already habitual.
Imagine you want to make a habit of spending
10 minutes learning German vocabulary every
day. Find a habit you already have and piggyback
the vocabulary learning on that. For instance,
maybe you already have a cup of tea each day at
3pm. Try combining your desired habit with that
existing one: so learn the German vocabulary for
10 minutes while you drink the tea.

BUILDING
EXERCISE HABITS
6YQOKPWVGUCFC[KUCNNKVVCMGU
VQECVEJVJGYQTMQWVDWI

If you currently do no exercise at all, and the idea

of forming a new exercise habit seems daunting,
then you could try using the two-minute rule.
This rule comes from James Clear, the author
of the best-selling book #VQOKE*CDKVU. When it
comes to forming a new habit, rather than setting
yourself a daunting goal, he suggests starting
modestly, by doing the new behaviour for just
two minutes, which will make it much easier to
fit into your daily routine. Then repeat it each
day until it becomes a habit. Once it’s habitual
you can be more ambitious.
So, if you do no exercise now, set yourself the
goal of doing two minutes exercise at, say, 8am
every day. It could be walking around the garden,
a few step ups, a few jumping jacks, whatever.
Keep at it, until it starts to feel automatic. From
there, you can start to increase the amount gently,
to five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes and so
on. If you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up. Clear
says the most important thing is to get back into
the routine as quickly as you can.

by DR CHR ISTI A N JA R R ET T
Christian is a cognitive neuroscientist, science writer and author.
He’s author of Be Who You Want: Unlocking the Science
of Personality Change and Great Myths of the Brain.

63
FE ATURE HABITS

JUST ONE
THING
Dr Michael Mosley investigates the
potentially big effects that one small
good habit can have on your health and
wellbeing in his Just One Thing podcast
Two years ago I started recording a podcast
called Just One Thing for the BBC. The idea
behind it was that, in each episode, I
would introduce you to ‘just one thing’
you could do to improve your mental
and/or physical health. Each thing
would often be unexpected, but would
also be a quick and simple act that
should be easy enough to turn into a
habit. I’d talk to a leading scientist with
knowledge of the thing we were
covering and, of course, I also give the
thing a go. We’ve so far recorded over
40 episodes, but here are the top 10
things that have benefitted me.

Find out more about Dr Michael

Mosley’s tips for improving your
health and wellbeing on his
Just One Thing podcast
bit.ly/Just1Thing
and in his book of the same name
(available now in paperback) BBC, GETTY IMAGES X9, ALAMY
 HABITS FE ATURE

Do some push-ups Take deep breaths

I start each day by doing push-ups and This is one of my favourites, because
squats. Moving your body up and down it’s simple, quick and completely
against resistance builds body strength life-changing. Just by changing how
but also increases blood flow to the quickly and deeply you breathe, you
brain, which stimulates the release can achieve amazing things: you can
of a hormone that encourages the slow your heart rate, lower your blood
growth of new brain cells and connections. The key is to pressure, reduce stress and combat anxiety. Try a 4-2-4
start gradually and do them properly. Search for ‘NHS pattern; breathe in through your nose to a count of four,
strength exercises’ to get some tips. hold for two, then out through your mouth to a count of four.

Try mindfulness Eat oily Fish

After my push-ups and squats I often My family eats oily fish at least three
have a cold shower and then try to times a week. As well as being tasty
fit in 10 minutes of mindfulness and wonderfully simple to prepare,
meditation. What you’re trying to oily fish is a really great source of
do by being mindful is spend a short protein and omega-3 fatty acids,
amount of time each day focusing which have been shown to be great
your awareness on the present moment, rather than for reducing chronic inflammation. And reduced chronic
worrying about the past or making plans for the future. inflammation means a reduced risk of both heart disease
You can join a course or try out an app. and depression.

Take an early Spend time in

morning walk green spaces
Besides the health benefits of exercise, I live near easily accessible
an early morning walk also provides countryside, so I spend lots of time
you with more exposure to natural in nature. It’s great to just stop, look
light, which will help reset your body around, smell of the trees, hear the
clock and regulate your hunger, mood, body temperature birds and appreciate the pattern of light passing through
and other important bodily processes. Plus, at other end of the leaves. Studies show that being in green spaces can
the day, you’ll be more ready to sleep. help reduce stress and anxiety.

Eat some bacteria Learn a new skill

In recent years there has been a surge There’s lots of research showing
of research into the gut microbiome benefits of learning new skills at any
– the billions of microbes that live in stage in life. Taking up video games,
your gut and affect your physical and learning to dance or trying to paint are
mental health. Eating fermented all very challenging, particularly when
foods, such as sauerkraut or kimchi, you’re my age (66), but it’s precisely
which are rich in the sorts of beneficial bacteria that can because they are challenging that doing them has such a
boost your microbiome, can lower stress levels and powerful effect on the brain.
improve mood scores in just four weeks.

Stand on one leg Read more

After breakfast, while I’m brushing I love reading so I don’t need any
my teeth, I practise balancing on one persuading that reading lots of fiction
leg. Doing this helps my posture and is good for empathy and social skills.
should reduce my risk of a fall. Falls Reading can help improve memory
are the second most common cause and protect against depression,
of accidental deaths, worldwide, after particularly if you can turn it into
traffic accidents. Balance is something most of us take for more of a social exercise by joining a local book club
granted, but it’s like muscle strength – use it or lose it! (which I have).

65
 FE ATURE SPACE DEBRIS

Earth is blanketed by a swarm

of human-made debris hurtling
around at speeds of up to 8km per
second – about five times the
speed of a bullet. The UK’s Earth &
Space Sustainability Initiative
hopes to catch these fast-moving
projectiles and clean up the nasty,
and potentially lethal, mess our
cosmic littering habit has caused
by D R S T UA R T C L A R K

Stuart is an astronomer, science journalist and author.

He’s also a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
DISCLOSURE Stuart has recently be appointed a director
of the Earth & Space Sustainability Initiative and is
primarily responsible for the project's communications.

66
 SPACE DEBRIS FE ATURE

e used to think of Earth and the night sky as

completely different realms. Whereas Earth
is lush, green and filled with life, outer
space is remote, dark and forbidding. Now
we know that is simply not true.
Instead of outer space, we should think
of it as near space. As British astronomer
Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) was quoted as saying
in a 1979 edition of The Observer: “Space
isn’t remote at all. It’s only an hour’s drive
away if your car could go straight upwards.”
Our use of satellites for communications,
navigation and observation has tied Earth
and space together as never before. It’s no exaggeration to
say that society as we know it could not function without
the satellite networks that circle the planet.
Something approaching half of the 195 countries in the world
now own at least one satellite. As a result, what happens in
space inevitably influences what happens on Earth, and vice
versa. Space has become an extension of Earth’s environment,
a new frontier where human influence is felt.
It’s therefore essential that we understand the limits of
this new environment and its resources to ensure that our
current activities are sustainable, so that future generations
can continue to benefit from the unique opportunities
that space offers.

A CHANGE OF APPROACH
“I do think we’re at a juncture where we need to review what
we’ve been doing in space and consider what’s needed for
the future,” says Joanne Wheeler, managing partner at the
London-based law firm Alden Legal, which specialises in
satellite, space and communications law.
Wheeler has a background in space law and international
environmental law, and has been interested in space debris
for around 25 years, having once been the European Space
Agency’s main lawyer covering issues related to space debris.
Her solution is the Earth & Space Sustainability Initiative
(ESSI), a UK Space Agency-funded organisation to establish
an appropriate set of principles to outline the responsible
use of space, for the benefit of all.
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

But although the broad themes of the principles have

been outlined (see ‘The Earth-Space Sustainability Initiative
Principles for Sustainabiity’, p71) the exact wording of them
is still to be decided. “We’re taking a holistic, practical,
inclusive, multi-disciplinary and anticipatory approach,” says
Wheeler. In other words, ESSI will consult with the various ´

67
´ industries, universities, governments beginning of the space age in 1957. Of these, 10,550 remain in
and other organisations around the world space and 8,200 remain operational.
that are interested in space to understand Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which extends from the top of Earth’s
their ambitions, and work with them to atmosphere to an altitude of 2,000km (almost 1,250 miles) is
draft the principles. the most congested region. There are roughly 8,600 satellites
To kickstart the process, Wheeler and her here, not all of which are still operating.
team drafted a memorandum outlining the There are 13,000 pieces of known debris in LEO too. These
strands that the principles will focus on. can be anything from parts of the rockets that put the spacecraft
Over three weeks in June, the document into orbit, to discarded camera covers. Not only do they get in
was sent far and wide into the worlds the way of other satellites that we may wish to launch, they pose
of academia and industry for comment, a collision risk to the working satellites they share space with.

"AS OF JUNE 2023, 15,760 SATELLITES

and redrafted several times to ref lect
the responses. When the finished draft
was circulated, more t han 120 space

HAVE BEEN PLACED IN ORBIT SINCE

orga nisations, including most of t he
principal satellite operators around the
world signed the document.

THE BEGINNING OF THE SPACE AGE"

“It was rema rkable,” says Wheeler,
“what an excellent way to kick-off the
wide engagement we want in drafting the
ESSI Space Sustainability Principles. It
shows how important the issue is to all Collisions in space are usually devastating because of the
space players today.” speeds involved. Satellites move at around 8km per second
(approx 18,000mph). At those speeds, even a small screw can
A DESIGN FOR LIFE deliver the explosive equivalent of a hand grenade, creating
While t he principles will cover t he clouds of debris with tens of thousands of fragments, each
CLEARSPACE, ASTROSCALE X2

entire lifecycle of a satellite, from design capable of shattering another satellite.

a nd ma nufacture to its eventual Unsurprisingly, the UK and others are working hard to avoid
demise, the prevention of space debris is such scenarios. “We’re investing heavily in both ESA and
a running theme. a number of national initiatives, which range from technology
According to the European Space Agency development for in-orbit operations, to design studies that
(ESA), as of June 2023, 15,760 satellites are the first steps towards a national mission to capture and
have been placed into orbit since the remove two pieces of UK-registered space junk” says Ray

68
 SPACE DEBRIS FE ATURE

Space debris in numbers

A BIG PROBLEM, GETTING BIGGER

The number of rocket

TAKING THE RUBBISH launches since 1957
OUT… OF ORBIT
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is
championing a national mission to
6,410
demonstrate that multiple pieces of space The number of
debris can be removed from orbit by a ABOVE Some of the BELOW An illustration
satellites placed into Astroscale team pose of the ELSA-d
single clean-up spacecraft. It has awarded Earth's orbit with their ELSA-d spacecraft, mid mission,
a total of £4 million to Astroscale and
debris-clearing about to collect a
ClearSpace to develop separate concepts,
before the UKSA decides which to progress 15,760 spacecraft piece of space debris

to a full design and launch phase.

Whichever concept gets the go-ahead will The number of
demonstrate, in 2026, the UK's capability satellites still in space
to rendezvous and dock with two
UK-registered derelict objects in low Earth
orbit, before deorbiting them.
10,550
The number of
satellites still working

Fielding, the UK Space Agency’s Head of

Space Sustainability.
8,200
ESSI is just one of those initiatives. But The number of debris
there are others that are dedicated to ‘active objects tracked by
debris removal’ (ADR), which involves Space Surveillance
using specially designed spacecraft to Networks
capture defunct satellites and throw them ADR mission and will remove a piece of
back into Earth’s atmosphere, where they
can burn up. 34,110 a previous Ariane launcher.
“Winning that contract supercharged
One of these ADR initiatives belongs to us as a company into what we are now,”
is Astroscale, a Japanese company that now The estimated number says Rory Holmes, of ClearSpace, “The
boasts a clean room for satellite assembly of break-ups, UK is now our our biggest engineering
in Harwell, Oxfordshire. In March 2021, explosions, collisions, centre outside of Switzerland.”
Astroscale launched ELSA-d, the End-of- or anomalous events The ClearSpace design features long
Life Service by Astroscale demonstration. resulting in robotic arms that close around a defunct
This mission consisted of twin spacecraft, fragmentation satellite, holding it while it’s fixed,
a chaser and a target, and demonstrated
the way one satellite could capture another
using a magnetic arm.
>640 refuelled or removed from orbit.
Both companies are now in a race to win
a UK Space Agency contract to remove
For Nick Shave, the managing director The total mass of all two more pieces of actual space debris.
of Astroscale’s UK office, solving this artificial objects in
problem is about securing the future. Earth's orbit MORE SATELLITES, MORE PROBLEMS
“Our strong dependence on space is only The urgency to clea n up space has
going to continue. On our quest to go out
into the Solar System, to the Moon first
>10,900 increased with the advent of the so-called
satellite mega-constellations. There are
and then Mars, we need to be managing tonnes proposed f leets of thousands or even
that environment much better,” he says. tens of thousands of satellites designed
ClearSpace is another company dedicated The estimated number to supply high-speed internet from orbit
to removing space debris. Founded in of debris objects over to everywhere on the planet.
Switzerland but now building a facility in 10cm in size Elon Musk’s SpaceX-Starlink project is
London, it will launch the ClearSpace-1 the most high-profile example. As of June
mission with ESA and Arianespace in
2026. This will be the world’s first actual
36,500 2023, Starlink owns the largest number of
satellites in orbit at more than 4,000. ´

69
"CLEARLY, SUCH A DRAMATIC
value that could be unlocked if we can master servicing
satellites,” says Holmes.
Ultimately, of course, it’s in every space company’s long-

INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF

term interest to make sure that the orbits around Earth
are safe for their satellites to operate in. But Shave has no
illusions about other, shorter-term concerns: “Business is

SATELLITES AND ASSOCIATED

always based on generating revenues and, at the end of the
day, profits for shareholders.”
He thinks about a decision to either pay £X million to

DEBRIS IS UNSUSTAINABLE"
perform a clean-up mission, or use that money to buy a ground
station for the company. From a short-term profitability point
of view, the ground station would always win so what’s going
to drive that decision towards the sustainability option?
“There’s goodwill,” says Shave. “But I think the real thing
´ And that number is growing all the ABOVE A collision that’s going to drive this market is regulation.”
time. Other companies, such as OneWeb, with an uncrewed In plain terms, companies must be compelled to clean
are launching their own constellations, resupply ship in 1997 up their mess. Yet if this option is the stick, then perhaps
and Amazon plans to do the same with left Russia’s Mir Space Wheeler has come up with something akin to the carrot.
its Project Kuiper. If everything goes Station with a badly “Four years ago, I began thinking about how best to incentivise
according to plan, more satellites will be damaged solar array ‘good’ behaviour and what good behaviour actually is,” she
and forced the people
launched in the next 10 years than in the says of the seed of the idea that has grown to become ESSI.
on board to seal off
entire space age to date. a compartment that
“I was keen to link this to insurance and finance, and licensing
Clearly such a dramatic increase in the was punctured during requirements because I hadn’t seen space sustainability issues
number of satellites and the associated the impact linked in this way.”
debris is unsustainable. Not only must Her thinking was influenced by the fact that it’s becoming
we remove debris from orbit, but we must increasingly common for financing and insurance on Earth
also design future satellites to not produce to be linked to a company’s commitment to sustainability,
so much in the first place. One option for so why not in space too? Time will tell if the approach is as
doing this is to design them to be refuelled successful, but negotiations have already started over how to
NASA ILLUSTRATION: DANIEL BRIGHT

and/or serviced, so that their working lives turn ESSI’s Space Sustainability Principles into internationally
can be extended. recognised industrial standards, so that companies can be
“Can you imagine any other industry measured against them.
where you’d have such a n expensive In the meantime, we stand on a watershed in history:
infrastructure you’ve invested all this never before have we possessed the means or the motive
time and money in, but you have no way to launch so many satellites and use them in such a wide
of servicing it, no way of refuelling it? If variety of ways to benefit life on Earth. While the cultural,
it breaks, you leave it; when it reaches scientific, engineering and economic benefits of using space
the end of its life, you abandon it. That are unquestionable, they must be balanced against the
has to change. There’s so much potential inevitable environmental and, subsequently, human cost.

70
 1 2

4 3

The ESSI's
Principles for
Sustainability
The considerations for
ensuring space remains
a useable resource

1: Spacecraft made safer Similarly, how them from orbit, 6: Space debris minimise the regulations, and
design and and how can can the limited or refuel them mitigation visual trails also monitor
manufacture rocket fuels be amount of radio so they can How can across the night space weather
How can made greener frequencies continue their satellites be sky and the to warn against
manufacturers to minimise be used most missions? designed to radio frequency adverse effects
ensure safer environmental effectively minimise the interference to satellites?
satellites that use impacts? to maintain 5: Supporting possibility of from satellites
less resources communication ‘end of life’ them becoming, for both cultural 9: Resource
to build, and 3: Supporting with the ground? and disposal or otherwise CPFUEKGPVKƂE management
minimise their operations How can creating, space reasons? How can we
impact on the in space and 4: Rendezvous satellites best debris during make the best
space above spectrum and proximity be disposed of or at the end of 8: Earth use of planetary
Earth? sustainability operations and what are the their functional monitoring resources
How can space How can environmental lives? How can we and protect
2: Launch and VTCHƂEDGOQTG we safely impacts of space best monitor neighbouring
propulsion effectively rendezvous with hardware re- 7: Dark and Earth to ensure worlds from
How can satellite managed and existing satellites entering Earth’s quiet skies adherence to biological
launches be controlled? to either remove atmosphere? How can we environmental contamination?

71
 Q&A

Email your questions to

questions@sciencefocus.com
or submit them on Twitter at
@sciencefocus

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

ROSEMARY NORTON, VIA EMAIL

WHAT SHOULD
I DO IF I GET
STRANDED ON
SNAKE ISLAND?
Just off the coast of southern Brazil lies the
island of Queimada Grande, known as ‘Snake
Island’. Covering just 43 hectares (106 acres),
this rocky island is home to between 2,000
and 4,000 highly venomous golden
lancehead vipers (Bothrops insularis), which
can grow to 70cm (just over 2ft). The snakes
were trapped there around 11,000 years ago,
at the end of the last ice age, when rising sea
levels cut them off from the mainland.
No mammals live on the island, so the
snakes had no predators to keep their
numbers in check, but also very limited prey.
With few ground animals to hunt, the snakes
became specialists in catching birds that visit
the island during their annual migrations.
This diet may explain why their venom
is so deadly. Whereas most venomous and tissue death. However, these deadly much to protect the snakes as it is to protect
snakes have the luxury of biting their prey properties have prompted some unsuspecting tourists – found nowhere else
and tracking it until it succumbs to the researchers to investigate the venom for on Earth, golden lanceheads are considered
venom, the golden lancehead needs to kill medicinal uses, such as treating heart critically endangered. Extremely determined
their prey quickly, before the bird has a disease and blood clots. wildlife smugglers make illegal visits to
chance to fly off. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the island is capture the snakes, however, as their potent
Golden lancehead venom is fast-acting uninhabited (by humans), and the Brazilian venom is prized on the black market.
and causes a range of horrifying symptoms, Navy has forbidden visitors, except for A few brave inhabitants did live there in
from kidney failure to internal bleeding authorised scientific expeditions. This is as the early 1900s – tasked with running the

72
 Q&A

DR HELEN PETE DR CHRISTIAN DR ALASTAIR DR CLAIRE DR NISH DR EMMA CERI LUIS

PILCHER LAWRENCE JARRETT GUNN ASHER MANEK DAVIES PERKINS VILLAZON
Biology Astronomy Psychology Astrophysics Nature Health and Food and Environment Engineering
medicine chemistry and tech

GINA HILL, VIA EMAIL

lighthouse – but legend has it that the family
was killed by snakes, and the lighthouse has WHY ARE STRAWBERRIES RED?
since been automated.
The golden lanceheads favour forested Substances called anthocyanins give strawberries
areas of the island, where they can hunt their their luscious red colour. The same water-soluble
prey. Some estimates suggest that in the pigments also tinge some autumn leaves red.
forests there may be as many as one Studies have identified more than 25
lancehead per square meter (10ft 2). Scientists different anthocyanins in strawberries, with
say that their numbers are decreasing, levels changing depending on the variety. The
however, due to habitat loss, disease, illegal main one is pelargonidin-3-glucoside, which
poaching and the negative effects of gives a bright red colour, followed by cyanidin-
inbreeding in this isolated population. A much 3-glucoside. Exposing strawberries to UV light
smaller, non-venomous snake known as after they’ve been picked increases the
Sauvage’s snail-eater (Dipsas albifrons) also anthocyanin levels.
lives on the island. Lab tests have shown anthocyanins to be
So, if you ever find yourself stranded on powerful antioxidants with health-boosting effects,
Snake Island, your best bet is to avoid the including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and
forests and stay on the rocky shore, where anti-cancer properties. It’s hard to assess exactly how active the substances
you’re unlikely to bump into a golden are in humans, following digestion, however. Some studies have shown that wild
lancehead. If you venture into the forest, strawberries have higher antioxidant activity than commercial varieties. ED
watch out for vipers overhead and on the
ground. Edible plants and animals are limited,
but you could eat one of the snakes (if you
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

“GOLDEN LANCEHEAD VENOM YOUSEF MEDINA, ROME

HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD IT TAKE

IS FAST-ACTING AND CAUSES TO BUILD ROME IN A DAY?
A RANGE OF HORRIFYING The Colosseum of Rome took at least eight years to build, but the Romans
could build much faster when they wanted to. Julius Caesar’s first bridge

SYMPTOMS FROM KIDNEY over the Rhine in Germany, was built in just 10 days using 40,000 legionaries.
It’s doubtful that 10 times as many men could have done it in a day though,

FAILURE TO INTERNAL BLEEDING”

and building a city is much more complicated. Many Roman residential
GETTY IMAGES X2 ILLUSTRATION: BERNARD LEONARDO

buildings were six stories high, and you can’t build the top floor before the
one below is complete. Cement needs more than a day to set and delivering
all the materials for every building at once would be impossible along

can catch it). Just be sure to remove the head,

where the venom glands are located, before
you tuck in.
If you suffer a golden lancehead bite, you’ll
need to get medical attention very quickly:
the venom can kill in under an hour, although
only around seven per cent of people die. The
island is patrolled by the Navy, so a speedy
rescue isn’t impossible. CA

73
 Q&A

NATURE’S WEIRDEST CREATURES

GREAT EARED NIGHTJAR

Lock up your goats, it’s the great eared Earth is at the centre of the Universe and that associate with them, which is where
nightjar; a big-mouthed, teat-wrangling, that men have hotter blood than women. the nickname may have come from.
milk-gobbler of a bird that will desiccate Pinch of salt, anyone? The name ‘nightjar’ refers to the fact
your bleaters and leave them blind. At Myths can be hard to shake and so, that the birds are nocturnal, and that their
least, that’s what Aristotle thought. today, the nightjar is still known to some calls are said to be jarring. The great eared
According to the renowned Greek as the ‘goatsucker.’ Nightjars, of which nightjar, known from the Western Ghats
philosopher, nightjars suckle directly from there are around 100 species, feed on the of India and parts of Southeast Asia, is
the udders of goats. Bear in mind, wing and are insectivorous. In days gone so-called because it has great ‘ears.’ The
however, he also believed that eels by, they might have been attracted to feathery tufts that protrude from its head,
spontaneously generate from mud, that domestic livestock, to feed on the insects are a bit like the ear tufts of a lynx. Indeed,

74
 Q&A

ASTRONOMY FOR BEGINNERS

SATURN

MOON

Saturn reaches opposition on 27 August,

the Moon a few days later on 31 August.
This is how they will appear at 1am BST on
31 August above the southern horizon.
Over the nights that follow, the Moon
moves east (left) compared to the
the bird’s Latin name is Lyncornis macrotis, background stars, but Saturn remains
in the same general position.
which means long-eared lynx bird.
The Latin name was bequeathed by the
Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors,
who spotted the bird in 1831. This was no
mean feat. Like all nightjars, the great
eared variety is an expert in cryptic
camouflage. During the day, it hides in
plain sight among the woody undertones
of the forest, where its disruptive
OBJECTS IN OPPOSITION
colouration – a subtle palette of greys, WHEN: LATE AUGUST – EARLY SEPTEMBER 2023
browns and ochres – helps to break up the
bird’s outline so it blends seamlessly into Opposition describes an object being sleeve, however. Its rings are mostly
the background. Is it a pile of leaves? Is it opposite the Sun in the sky. For some formed of water ice particles ranging in
a tree stump? Is it even there at all? planets this can be a big deal, as the size from micrometres to metres. Away
Evolution has sculpted this bird into a weeks around opposition offer us the from opposition particle shadows darken
true master of disguise. best views of them. At opposition a particles behind them. But for a few days
The great eared nightjar has relatively planet is also visible all night long. around opposition the shadows fall in
long wings, short legs, a small beak, but The inferior planets (those with line and become less obvious. As a result
a big gape. Night vision is enhanced by a smaller orbits than Earth), Mercury and if you view Saturn through a telescope,
layer of reflective cells that sit just behind Venus, can’t reach opposition. For its rings will appear to brighten.
the retina. The tapetum lucidum, which is superior planets (those with larger orbits Finally, Uranus (at opposition on 13
CHIEN LEE/NATUREPL.COM, NIGEL VOADEN/WIKIPEDIA ILLUSTRATION: PETE LAWRENCE

a common feature of other nocturnal than Earth) the effect of opposition November) and Neptune (19 September)
hunters such as sharks, crocodiles and decreases with distance. lack such tricks and are so distant that
cats, helps the bird to see in the dark. Nearby Mars reaches opposition every opposition has little effect on their
When caught in the glare of a torch, it also 2.1 years. Most of the time it appears overall appearance.
makes the nightjar’s eyes shine, which can small and distant, but for a few months The Moon is technically at opposition
be a useful feature for the conservationists either side of opposition Mars becomes when it appears full, as it will on 31
who study it. bright and, through a telescope, its size August at 02:36 BST. This is the second
Adult females lay a single egg in a scrape increases noticeably. full Moon in August, the first occurring on
in the ground, which both parents then The next opposition of Mars is in 1 August at 19:32 BST. In popular culture,
brood. When the egg hatches, they January 2025. Jupiter reaches opposition the second full Moon in a month is known
continue to feed the chick until it can fend on 3 November appearing brightest to as a Blue Moon, even though it’s unlikely
for itself. The birds call at night, but in the naked eye and largest through the to appear blue! PL
reality, their song is far from jarring. A eyepiece of a telescope for 2023.
sharp ‘tsiik’ followed by a two syllable Saturn will be at opposition on 27 by P E T E L AW R E N C E
‘ba-haaww’ is an enchanting and a August and being more distant than (@Avertedvision)
much-preferred alternative to the call of Jupiter, its brightness and size changes Pete is an astronomy expert and
the bird’s Indonesian relative. The Satanic are less dramatic. Saturn has a trick up its presenter on The Sky at Night.
nightjar of Sulawesi is so-called because
its call sounds as if it is plucking a person’s
eyes out! Ouch! HP WATCH THE SKY AT NIGHT ON BBC FOUR AND BBC IPLAYER

75
 Q&A

MYLES DIXON, VIA EMAIL

WHAT IS
BLUE LAVA?
Most people – if they’ve heard of it at
all – are aware of ‘blue lava’ thanks to
the otherworldly photographs of
French photographer Olivier
Grunewald. The images, which
Grunewald captured at the Kawah Ijen
volcano on the island of Java in
Indonesia, seem to show rivers of
electric-blue lava, incandescent against
a black velvet night.
Despite appearances, however, it’s
not lava that produces the striking blue
glow. Instead, it’s combusting sulphuric
gases, which belch from the volcano’s
many fumaroles at temperatures of up
to 600°C (around 1,100°F). When the
hot gases hit oxygen-rich air, they
ignite and burn with a neon-blue
flame. As they burn, some of the gases
condense into molten sulphur, which
continues to burn blue as it spills down
the mountainside. By contrast, Kawah
Ijen’s actual lava emerges in the
familiar red-orange colour you see
at other volcanoes.
The flames’ distinctive blue colour is of light during electronic excitation, the spectacle begin to reveal itself. Api Biru is
caused by a phenomenon called electronic corresponding to different colours of the not unique to Kawah Ijen – Grunewald has
excitation. When the sulphuric gases burn, visible spectrum. In the case of sulphur, that also photographed the phenomenon at the
the intense heat ‘excites’ electrons within the colour is the eerie blue-violet that tints the Dallol volcano in the Danakil Depression in
sulphur atoms. This excited state is extremely flames at Kawah Ijen. Ethiopia. But the Kawah Ijen’s unusually high
unstable and the electrons revert almost Locals refer to the phenomenon as Api concentrations of sulphur deposits and
immediately to their ‘relaxed’ state by Biru, or ‘blue fire’. Although the blue fire burns sulphuric gases make it the most arresting
shedding excess energy in the form of light. around the clock, its flames are difficult to example and the only one that is
All elements emit characteristic wavelengths make out in daylight; only as night falls does consistently burning. CP

RICHARD FULTON, TRURO

HOW DO I STOP POTATOES FROM

SPROUTING IN THE CUPBOARD?
If you’ve ever left potatoes in your cupboard for too
long, you might have returned to find them covered
in small sprouts, known as ‘eyes’. Potatoes are
underground plant storage organs, known as tubers,
OLIVIER GRUNEWALD, GETTY IMAGES X3

which remain dormant over winter and grow a new

plant in the spring. When exposed to light, warmth
and moisture, they start to sprout. So, storing your
potatoes in a dark, cool, dry, well-ventilated location
can slow this process. Another trick is to keep potatoes
alongside apples, which release ethylene gas as they
ripen. Ethylene slows the sprouting process and helps
keep spuds fresh for longer. CA

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 Q&A

A SCIENTIST’S GUIDE TO… RHYS COOMBES, PLYMOUTH

IS IT TRUE THAT WEARING

PILLOWS HEADPHONES INCREASES

EAR BACTERIA?

THE RIGHT SUPPORT CAN HELP RELIEVE BACK PAIN

Back pain can be hugely frustrating and that supports the natural curve of your
finding relief for a restful, pain-free night’s neck and maintains alignment with your
sleep can make a big difference. spine. Placing a small pillow or rolled-up
Understanding the importance of proper towel under your knees can help reduce
spinal alignment and support during sleep the strain on your lower back.
can help, but it can be hard to separate the
marketing ploys of bedding shops from
genuine advice. Everyone will be different
in terms of what they prefer, but there are
2 Side sleeping If you prefer sleeping on
your side, choose a supportive pillow
that keeps your head and neck in a neutral
Your ears are already dark, moist and full of
oils and dead skin – an all-you-can-eat buffet
some general guidelines that could help… position. Additionally, place a pillow for many bacteria. Sealing off the entrance
between your knees to maintain proper with headphones or earphones seems like it
CHOOSING THE RIGHT PILLOW alignment of the spine. Try to make sure could only make that environment more
Selecting the appropriate pillow can make the pillow’s thickness allows your head to inviting to these microbes.
a big difference in managing back pain. You remain level with the mattress, so your Indeed, a 2008 study at Manipal University
need to see what works for you, but the neck is not too bent in one direction. in India found that frequent use of earbuds did
following advice might be useful: increase the population of bacteria in the ear

1 Supportive pillows Look for pillows that

offer adequate support to the natural
3 Stomach sleeping Sleeping on your
stomach is generally discouraged when
you have back pain, as it can strain the
– mostly various strains of staphylococcus, a
common skin bacterium. And in 1992, a study
at the Navy Medical Research Institute in
curves of your neck and spine. Memory neck and lower back. If this is your Bethseda, Maryland in the US, found that the
foam pillows or those with contouring preferred position, however, use a thin kind of over-the-ear headphones used by
features can be beneficial for maintaining pillow or no pillow at all to prevent airlines had 11 times more bacteria after
proper alignment. excessive neck extension. Placing a pillow having been worn for just one hour.
under the pelvis can help maintain a more As icky as this sounds, it isn’t necessarily

2 Adjustable pillows You might benefit

from a pillow that has adjustable loft
(height) or firmness settings. This allows
neutral spinal position and additional
support can be provided by placing pillows
beneath your ankles.
cause for concern. The headphones in the
second study had been sterilised before use,
so began with a very low initial bacterial
you to customise the pillow to your population and that 11-fold increase still
individual needs, ensuring optimal Again, everyone will be different with resulted in a fairly low number in absolute
comfort and support. regard to their personal preferences, but terms. Also, this increase was too fast to be
these general guidelines might help. If one accounted for by the reproduction rates of

3 Body pillows If lower back pain is

your biggest problem, placing a body
pillow between the knees while sleeping
position or pillow type doesn’t work for
you, don’t despair: try to determine which
position(s) benefit you the most, and work
bacteria. The study’s authors concede that
most of the bacteria must already have been
present in the deeper skin layers and tucked
on your side can help align your spine and on those initially. NM into the sebaceous glands that produce ear
alleviate pressure. wax. The dark warm conditions while wearing
Regularly replace your pillow every headphones just encouraged them to come
couple years, as worn-out pillows lose out and play.
their supportive qualities and can Furthermore, there’s no evidence that these
exacerbate back pain. bacteria cause any harm. A 2002 study of call
centre workers in Malaysia found no link
FINDING THE RIGHT POSITION between headphone use and ear infections.
Getting a good night’s sleep can be a huge The germs that proliferate in your ear while
pain (no pun intended), but sleep is really you listen to music and podcasts, are the ones
important for healing and reducing pain that live there normally, and your ear is well
sensitivity. The position you sleep in might equipped to deal with them. Several studies
play a role in promoting spinal alignment have suggested that constantly inserting and
and minimising back pain: removing earbuds or earplugs may increase
the risk of skin abrasions that allow harmful

1 Back sleeping If you prefer to sleep on

your back, use a medium-firm pillow
bacteria to get in and cause infections, but
there isn’t strong evidence for this yet. LV

77
 Q&A

Bloody
Blood and the human body

Blood provides essential Blood accounts for about

Science
How can bloodstain pattern analysis Infographic by
nourishment, antibodies,
oxygen and more.
seven to eight percent of
an adult human’s weight.

help to solve crime scene mysteries? James Round

A violent crime scene can appear chaotic, complex and gruesome. However, in the eyes of a
forensic investigator the same scene looks very different. Their expertise can distil meaning
from the chaos; a fingerprint can hold a vital clue, hair fibres might offer essential context
and the position and angle of a drop of blood might reveal a whole new part of the story.
Blood holds a particular value to forensic science because it’s predictable. Investigators
can use principles from biology, physics and mathematics to understand the placement,
distribution and shape of blood, and uncover key information from a scene. Blood is an
essential ingredient to life. But to a forensic investigator, it could also be an essential factor
in understanding a person’s death.

What can blood reveal about a crime scene?

When and where the crime occurred Who was involved

Blood changes over time. Leaving the body Blood can be easily linked to an individual
as a liquid, it starts to clot very quickly, through DNA profiling, so the placement
5
resulting in a gel-like substance. Studying of blood in a crime scene can help to
the properties of blood throughout a crime show how many people were involved,
scene can help to reveal the chronology where they were positioned, and what
of the event. role they each played.

The injuries sustained and their causes How the other evidence stacks up
Depending on the type of injury, blood can One of bloodstain pattern analysis’s most
drip, spurt, spray or ooze. It also behaves vital roles within forensics is corroborating
predictably when falling from different other investigative avenues, such as witness
7
heights or impacting at different angles. statements and autopsy results. It can also
These factors can identify different types of help to confirm or exclude the presence of
injuries and what was used to inflict them. individuals at the scene.

1 2 3 4 5 6
Low-velocity spatter Medium-velocity spatter High-velocity spatter Expiratory spatter Cast off stains Void patterns

AKA passive or gravity Blunt force trauma or Gunshot wounds produce Blood from an internal injury When a bloodied object or These occur when
bloodstains, these are a stabbing can cause cast off spatter that travels at 30m can mix with air from the weapon is swung, the blood something blocks the path
result of dripping blood. that moves up to 7m per per sec (100ft per sec), lungs and be expelled from that’s cast off can reveal the of the blood, and can reveal
Drops are over 4mm in size sec (25ft per sec) and blood causing tiny blood droplets the nose or mouth through direction of the swing, and where people and objects
and can pool over time. spatters 1-4mm (<1in). that are under 1mm in size. breathing or coughing. maybe the number of blows. were positioned at the time.

78
 Q&A

Men have around 9-10 Blood is 55% plasma, There are four main blood Blood loss of 15-30% will
pints of blood; women 45% red blood cells, and <1% groups: A, B, AB and O. Nearly impact your vital signs. 40%
have between 6-7 pints. white blood cells and platelets. 50% of the UK is type O. will probably result in death.

A short history of bloodstain pattern analysis A controversial field of forensics

The first modern study dates from 1895, when Dr Eduard Piotrowski released a paper Despite being a much-used technique within forensic science, bloodstain pattern analysis
about bloodstains due to head trauma. During the 1950s, bloodstain pattern analysis (BPA) is not without controversy. Over the years, the expertise of specialists like Herbert
(BPA) played a role in a number of US legal cases, but it wasn’t until the 1970s when MacDonell has been called into question and a number of legal cases have been disputed
forensics specialist Herbert MacDonell published the book ‘Flight Characteristics and Stain based on doubt around bloodstain evidence. In 2009, the US National Academy of Sciences
Patterns of Human Blood’, that the field really took off. Today, BPA forms an important expressed concern at the field’s legitimacy. BPA certainly has a place in forensics, but doesn’t
part of forensic science all over the world. have the scientific rigour of other investigative studies, such as fingerprinting or DNA profiling.

3
2
10 11

12

4
1

7 8 9 10 11 12
Transfers Wipes Convergence Luminol Recording the scene Other evidence

When something touches a This is another type of By studying the impact Bloodstains that are invisible Investigators mainly Investigators will also collect
bloodstain it may leave an transfer, which happens angles of spatter, analysts to the naked eye can be capture the scene through fingerprints, bodily fluids,
impression, such as a shoe when something with blood can trace its path, revealing revealed with a chemical photography, but they may DNA, witness statements and
print, which could confirm on it, such as a hand, brushes an area of convergence: the called luminol, which reacts remove certain parts of the digital evidence to help to
someone’s presence. against a surface. blood’s point of origin. with the iron in the blood. crime scene for further study. provide a fuller picture.

Sources Cosmos, Forensic Science Simplified, HowStuffWorks, ProPublica, ScienceDirect, US National Library of Medicine, NHS, Wikipedia

79
 Q&A

DEAR DOCTOR
WHY DO I CATASTROPHISE SO MUCH
AND HOW DO I STOP?
Catastrophe-filled thoughts are common, which has led you to be highly fearful about
especially for people prone to anxiety. You the future. Or maybe you’re just very anxious
might find yourself imagining that your first by nature and fearing the worst gives you a
day at a new job will be an excruciating temporary sense of control – you might feel
disaster, that you’ll flunk an upcoming exam, that, at the very least, you won’t be caught
or that your flight to New York will crash. unprepared because you’ve already thought
These thoughts are unpleasant, but they’re through all the most terrible potential
essentially your mind working overtime to outcomes. Incidentally, research into this
keep you safe. If you start to act on these sort of ‘bracing for the worst’ approach
catastrophic thoughts, trying to avoid any shows that it makes people unhappy in the
risk in your life, that’s when this thinking build-up to an event and doesn’t offer any
style can start to become debilitating. protection if things really do go wrong.
It’s easy to see why we evolved to If you feel like your catastrophising is
experience anxiety. If our ancestors had getting out of hand, there are a few basic
rushed head-first into every situation, they steps, based on Cognitive Behavioural
probably wouldn’t have survived very long. Therapy, that you can try for yourself that
Anxiety is your brain’s way of saying, “Hang might help.
on a minute, are you sure this is safe?”.
Most experts agree that a modest degree
of anxiety and anticipation of potential
negative consequences is normal and
1 Try to step away from your worries Your
catastrophic thoughts are fuelled by
anxiety, so anything you can do to relax and
RIA FISHER, VIA EMAIL

helpful. It can become problematic, however,

when it gets out of hand, and when your
cultivate calm should help (options include
walking in nature, exercise classes and
WHAT WOULD
predictions become overwhelmingly spending fun time with friends). HAPPEN IF YOU
SENT TWO
negative, which is what’s happening when
you catastrophise habitually.
Instead of weighing up all the possible
outcomes and settling on a realistic
2 Make time to address your worries Try
scheduling a brief ‘worry window’ in your
day – this will help you let the anxious M&MS DOWN
anticipation of what might happen, you’re
jumping to the worst-case scenario. You
thoughts go at other times because you’ll
know you’re going to come back to them later.
THE LARGE
might have learned to think this way because HADRON
you grew up in an anxious family. Or perhaps
bad things have happened to you in the past, 3 Interrogate the evidence for your
worries Challenge your catastrophic
thoughts by forcing yourself to be as objective
COLLIDER?
as possible about them. For instance, think
about other ‘first days’ that weren’t The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is
excruciating; remind yourself of the prep capable of accelerating a proton to
you’ve done for the exam; or read up on the almost the speed of light. An M&M
safety stats for flying. travelling at this speed would be
devastating. If it hit a solid object, it

4 Try the ‘so what’ approach To take the

intensity out of your thoughts, you could
try challenging the very notion that these
would release the equivalent of about
80 times the energy from the atomic
bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
things really would be as terrible as you fear. Fortunately, this wouldn’t happen,
For example, even if the first day on a new job because the LHC can only accelerate
is a nightmare, you’ll get over it; you could subatomic particles and nuclei. An
retake the exam; and people can and do M&M is almost 500 trillion, trillion
survive plane crashes. times heavier and even if you could
ionise its surface evenly so that it
If none of this helps, it’s worth consulting a could be accelerated by the collider’s
mental health professional who will be able electromagnetic fields, the top speed
to offer you a more comprehensive plan for it could reach would be about 6cm
overcoming your catastrophising habit. CJ (approx 2in) per hour. LV

80
 E VERE T T MANNING, VIA EMAIL

IS WATER WET?
The answer to this question requires some philosophical thinking and
depends on how you define wetness. The debate over whether water is
wet is likely to continue for as long as the planet is awash with the stuff.

with a solid surface, meaning that water itself is not wet, but can make
other materials wet. When you touch a wet surface, the water
molecules stick to your skin, creating a wet sensation.
But if you define wet as ‘made of liquid or moisture’, as some do, then

wetness as a physical, cooling sensation experienced when water takes alcohol – are better than water at wetting. Adding detergents can
in energy to evaporate into surrounding air. improve water’s wetting ability by lowering the cohesive forces.
The balance between adhesive and cohesive forces determines the The nature of the surface exposed to water affects how wet it will
degree of wetting. Cohesive forces, such as hydrogen bonds, hold water become. Water-hating (hydrophobic) surfaces, such as waterproof
molecules to each other and create a surface tension. With strong fabrics, push liquid drops to have as little contact as possible.
cohesive forces, water tends to stay as spherical droplets to minimise You can define a material’s hydrophobicity in terms of the internal
contact with a surface. contact angle that a water droplet makes with the surface. A
Adhesive forces attract the water to the surface of another material perfectly hydrophobic surface is totally water repellent with a
and encourage it to spread. If the adhesive forces are stronger than the contact angle of 180°, while a perfectly wettable surface has a
cohesive ones, then a surface will become wet. Other liquids – such as contact angle of zero. ED

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

JOHN KILMISTER, SOUTHAMPTON

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF A FIREWORK EXPLODED IN SPACE?

In the vacuum of space, there’s no supplied by Earth’s atmosphere. This
oxygen with which things can burn. means that the colours of fireworks
Fireworks, however, contain their in space would be much less bright
own oxidiser, which provides the and fade much quicker than they
oxygen required for combustion would on Earth.
(normally a nitrate compound such Another noticeable difference
as potassium nitrate). between fireworks on Earth and in
Most professional firework space is that space-borne fireworks
displays use an electronic igniter would make no sound in the
system. This sends an electric current vacuum of space.
through a wire to the firework’s fuse, On Earth, fireworks reach a limited
igniting it, again without the need for height due to air resistance and the
oxygen. So, fireworks work perfectly effects of gravity. In space, however,
well in space. But you can’t light a they would move much faster and
firework in the vacuum of space with further. On the Moon, for example, a
a flame, as your flame won’t burn. rocket could travel six times as high
Although, once lit, a firework’s as on Earth. This would mean the
GETTY IMAGES, CERN ILLUSTRATION: BERNARD LEONARDO

propellant fuel burns with its own most powerful mortar-launched

oxidiser, this is not necessarily true fireworks could easily reach several
for the pellets of material that are kilometres above the Moon’s surface
used to create the various before exploding. So, fireworks for
spectacular effects and colours seen space would need to be designed to
in today’s fireworks. Those explode sooner than on Earth. W IN NE R
The winner
combustion reactions, usually using So, without a radical redesign, of nex t issu
Question of e’s
salts of strontium, copper, barium, fireworks in space would be silent, the Month
of hardbac wins a trio
k popular-
and so on, generally require brief, almost colourless and far less (Growing u science bo
p Human b oks
additional oxygen, which is normally spectacular than those on Earth. AG y Brenna
David McR
aney; and Fu
Stories by D ture
avid Christ
worth ove ia n),
EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO QUESTIONS@SCIENCEFOCUS.COM r £55.

81
 E XPL AINER

YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THESE

AWESOME APEX PREDATORS

Sharks were cruising Earth’s oceans long before

the dinosaurs began roaming the land, and they’re
still swimming in them today.
Their basic biology is the same as it’s always been,
with skin covered in tiny teeth and skeletons made
not of hard bone, like other fish, but soft cartilage
– the same material as your nose and ears.
There are over 500 shark species and they live
WATCH everywhere, from shallow coastal waters to the
Why Sharks Attack deep sea – a few even swim up rivers and into
Available now on lakes. Scientists are learning more about sharks
BBC iPlayer all the time, finding new species and uncovering
new details about their super-efficient,
long, slow lives…´

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How long have sharks

been around?
Sharks can trace their ancestry back at least
400 million years. But it’s a myth that all sharks
are ancient species. Some are relatively new,
including the walking sharks, which evolved in
the last two to nine million years.

What do sharks eat?

Most sharks are predators. They hunt for fish and
squid, as well as other sharks. Great white sharks
have such high-energy requirements that they
specialise in eating blubber-rich marine
mammals, such as seals and sea lions. Other
species, like Port Jackson sharks, crunch on
crabs and clams using crushing tooth plates.
A few sharks break the carnivore mould.
Whale, basking and megamouth sharks are
filter feeders and sift seawater across special
structures in their gills to extract tiny
zooplankton. Recently, scientists discovered
that bonnethead sharks are omnivores. As
much as half of their diet is made up of seagrass.

“Depending on the species, sharks can have anything

from several dozen, to hundreds of teeth”

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5 WEIRD SHARK SPECIES

How many teeth do sharks

WOBBEGONGS
have? Why are they so These masters of
common in the fossil record? camouflage have
mottled skin and
ragged projections
Depending on the species, sharks can have around their snout. As
anything from several dozen, to hundreds of ambush predators, they
teeth. They continually shed worn teeth from lie on the seabed and
the front of their jaws with new ones sliding wait for unsuspecting
forwards to replace them. In a lifetime, a single prey to come by.
shark can produce tens of thousands of teeth.
The teeth preserve well in the fossil record,
much better than their cartilage skeletons, and WALKING SHARKS
they tell us a lot about ancient species and Walking sharks stalk
ecosystems. A recent study of shark teeth the seabed, but they can
recovered from deep-sea sediments showed also hold their breath for
that they almost went entirely extinct around up to an hour, so will
19 million years ago. crawl out onto coral reef
flats when the tide is low
to hunt for prey trapped
in tide pools.
DANIELLE DUFAULT/WIKI, CHRIS NEWBERT/MINDEN/NATUREPL.COM, JEROME MALLEFET/NFSR, ALAMY X3, FRED BAVENDAM/NATUREPL.COM, GETTY IMAGES

Acanthodii, or ‘spiny shark’ (far left) is thought KITEFIN SHARKS

to be an early relative of today’s sharks; a These are the largest
Galapagos shark (left) swims through a school sharks that are known
of black-striped salema; Greenland sharks to glow in the dark. They
(below) can live for centuries live in the deep sea, at
depths of up to 1,800m
(5,900ft) and may use
the lights on their bellies
to illuminate the seabed
and search for prey.

SAWSHARKS
Sawsharks look as if
they’ve been flattened
and had a hedge trimmer
fixed to their snouts,
which they use to slash
through fish shoals. Their
‘moustaches’ are covered
in sensory cells that help
them detect prey.

GREAT HAMMERHEAD
SHARKS
One of several sharks
with T-shaped heads and
wide-spaced eyes for
excellent binocular
vision and depth
perception. They spend a
lot of time swimming on
their sides to save
energy (by reducing drag
and generating lift from
their tall dorsal fins).

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Megalodon: the giant ancient

ancestor of today’s sharks

When did What did they look like?

megalodons exist?
Megalodons are often depicted as enormous great white sharks,
but in fact they looked rather different. They likely had a shorter
These giant predatory sharks were prowling nose than great whites, a flatter jaw and very long pectoral fins
the ocean between 20 million years and 3.6 that helped support their extra weight in the water.
million years ago. Palaeontologists can trace
the evolutionary history of megalodons back
at least 100 million years. How big were they compared to
animals we’re familiar with today?
Are megalodons related

GETTY IMAGES X2, CHRIS & MONIQUE FALLOWS/NATUREPL.COM, SHANE GROSS/NPL/MINDEN PICTURES
to great white sharks? No complete fossilised megalodon skeleton has ever been found,
and so size estimates are based on their teeth, which were up to
18cm (7in) long. Experts generally agree that these giants could
No. Previously, megalodons were named grow to between 15 and 18m (50-60ft) long, which is comparable
Carcharodon megalodon, which placed them to whale sharks, and roughly three times the size of the great
in the same genus as great white sharks. white sharks of today.
Palaeontologists later decided they weren’t
so closely related and shifted them to a
different group, renaming them What did megalodons eat?
Otodus megalodon.
Their sharp, serrated teeth show that megalodons were meat
eaters. They were top predators that hunted dolphins and fishes,
including other sharks. Fossilised whale bones have been found
with cut marks of megalodon teeth, and tips of broken teeth
lodged in them, showing that the giant sharks were whale
hunters too. Their enormous jaws were up to 3.4m (11ft) wide and
they had one of the most powerful bites of any predator.

Where did they live?

Megalodons lived all around the ocean in tropical and subtropical
waters. A recent study suggested they grew to the biggest sizes
in cooler waters.

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“Hammerhead sharks can live for 30 years,

and great whites for 70 years”

How long do sharks live?

Sharks are slow-growing and generally long-lived
animals, typically taking a decade or more to reach
maturity and start breeding. Hammerhead sharks
can live for 30 years, and great whites for 70 years.
Greenland sharks take this slow pace of life to an
extreme. Studies of radioactive isotopes laid down
in their eyes when nuclear bombs were tested in
the mid-20 th century, revealed they can live for as
long as 400 years!

Are they endangered? What

threats are there to sharks?
More than one third of all known shark species
and their close relatives the skates and rays –
known collectively as elasmobranchs – are
threatened with extinction. They’re the second
most endangered group of animals after
amphibians. The main threat they face is
overfishing. Millions are caught by tuna longliners
that operate in the remote reaches of the high
seas. A lot also get tangled in lines and nets, and
caught by trawlers in fisheries closer to shore.

What’s being done to protect

them? Is there anything we
can do at home?
Shark conservation has been gradually improving
over the last few decades. Now regulations protect
some of the most endangered species. For instance by DR HELEN
in the Atlantic, longline fisheries must now release
SCALES
all shortfin mako sharks they catch, hopefully some
Helen is a marine
that are still alive. International trade in many
biologist, broadcaster
shark species is also now regulated. Marine
and science writer.
reserves are also being set up specifically to protect
sharks, such as the world’s first basking shark She is the author of
reserve, off the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. What a Shell Can Tell
At home, you can help by not buying any shark (Phaidon Press, £16.95)
products, including obvious things like shark fin and The Brilliant Abyss
soup as well as cartilage supplements that may (Black Cat, £20.71).
have come from shark skeletons. If you eat seafood,
you can support sustainable fisheries that are less
likely to catch sharks as bycatch. Use the Good Fish
Guide app to help look for better options.

87
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Should you underestimate the power of the Force?
It’s an energy that lets you control people’s minds and… make things float. So where do midi-chlorians fit in?
by S T E P H E N K E L LY

I
n Star Wars: A New Hope, two to fire instead, that would
Obi-Wan Kenobi describes then create that thought inside
the Force as, “an energy of your head.”
field created by all living Johnson is keen to stress that
things. It surrounds us and this kind of thought control
penet rates us; it binds t he is highly improbable. There
galaxy together.” It’s a more are 86 billion neurons in the
poetic explanation than the human brain and, “it would
one in Star Wars: The Phantom be very difficult to execute
Menace, which suggests that such a precise manipulation
every Jedi has a bad case of of individual neurons – or
worms. Or, to be more precise, to figure out what neurons
that they get their powers from you would need to control. It
microscopic cellular beings would require you to map a
called midi-chlorians. person’s brain to a level that
“The idea t hat a pa rasite we’re currently not capable of.”
living in a creature could Even so, that doesn’t mean
change or determine the way that scientists aren’t trying.
the host behaves is a very real Johnson references a 2008 study
thing,” says Patrick Johnson, in which researchers asked
author of The Physics of Star participants to hit a button
Wars. “And in theory, that small with either their right or left
creature could give the host hand while recording their
the ability to do things that brain activity. “The researchers
they might not otherwise be were able to figure out what
able to do.” the brain activity would look
A theory that makes more like just prior to the subjects
sense to Johnson, though, is that the Force But, even if this were possible, it would pressing the button with their left hand
represents some kind of sophisticated also require you to be able to focus on a versus their right,” says Johnson. “Even
control of electromagnetic fields. specific object. “Otherwise, you would stranger, they were able to use this activity
“The fundamental basis of electromagnetic end up attracting all kinds of things,” to predict which hand was going to be
fields is that everything that has a charge says Johnson. used up to seven seconds before the person
(such as protons and electrons) creates One of the most powerful elements of made their choice.”
an electromagnetic field around it,” says the Force, however, is how it can be used So, maybe there’s something to the whole
Johnson. “And depending on how these by the Jedi to control others’ minds. How midi-chlorians thing after all.
particles interact, they can either attract do electromagnetic fields play into that?
or repel one another.” “In terms of Jedi mind tricks,” says
VERDICT
This could explain how Jedi such as Johnson, “our brains have neurons that It’s not entirely out of
Ahsoka Tano – the hero in the new series communicate with one another using the realms of possibility,
Star Wars: Ahsoka – are able to move electrical signals. Theoretically a Jedi with but a lack of faith in the
ILLUSTRATION: JAMES OLSTEIN

objects around, says Johnson. “So, for knowledge of brain chemistry could exert Force isn’t something you
instance, if I’m hanging upside-down very precise electromagnetic fields to cause should find disturbing.
in an ice cave on Hoth and I need my certain neurons to fire or not. Let’s say the
lightsaber, in theory I could make my thought ‘this is the droid I’m looking for’
hand very positively charged to attract is neuron one and ‘this is not the droid I’m by S T E P H E N K E L LY (@StephenPKelly)
the electrons on one side of the lightsaber looking for’ is neuron two. If I could stop Stephen is a culture and science writer, specialising
and pull it towards me.” neuron one from firing and cause neuron in television and film.

90
Princeton Nature | Explore Your World
  
    
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