New Scientist International Edition - 4 May 2024

INDIA SPECIAL REPORT
Climate, health and more as

nation goes to the polls
COMPLEX DARK MATTER

The search for the universe’s
secret ingredient
NUCLEAR SWEET SPOT

Key milestone reached on
the way to fusion power
WEEKLY 4 May 2024
Why our most feared foods could

soon be back on the menu
No3489 £6.95 CAN$9.99
PLUS
HEALTH BENEFITS OF NOSTALGIA
THE SEX LIVES OF ALPACAS
WHY WE BELIEVE IN GHOSTS
This week’s issue
On the 8 India special report

Climate, health and more
32 Features
cover as nation goes to the polls “A third of
32 The end of allergies 40 Complex dark matter people with
Why our most feared The search for the universe’s
foods could soon be secret ingredient severe food
back on the menu
16 Nuclear sweet spot allergies
Key milestone reached on
the way to fusion power
end up in
hospital”
21 Health benefits of nostalgia
Vol 262 No 3489 15 The sex lives of alpacas
Cover image: Peter Crowther 30 Why we believe in ghosts
News Features
12 Insight engine 32 End of allergies
Hospital AI helps save lives by News Have we finally found a way to
flagging raised risk of death stop people having dangerous
allergic reactions?
14 Outbreak prevention
How the US is preparing for 37 Earning its stripes
a potential bird flu pandemic An extraordinary hotspot for
fossil hunting in Kyrgyzstan
17 Assembly line
Giant black holes may help 40 Complex dark matter
mini ones collide and grow How families of dark matter
particles could solve a growing
number of galactic anomalies
Views
The back pages
21 Comment
Nostalgia can be used at work, 44 Debunking gardening myths
says Agnes Arnold-Forster An easy drainage fix
22 The columnist 45 Puzzles

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein Try our crossword, quick quiz
on LED light pollution and logic puzzle
24 Aperture 46 Almost the last word

Beautiful close-ups of bees Is the evolution of intelligence
from around the world inevitable?
26 Letters 47 Tom Gauld for

XINHUA/SHUTTERSTOCK
What to do about the New Scientist

carbon capture crisis? A cartoonist’s take on the world
29 Culture 48 Feedback
A sci-fi thriller sees a professor Chocolate’s big bang, plus beer
kidnapped by himself 13 Stopping the flow Will countries agree a strong plastic pollution treaty? glasses that keep their cool
4 May 2024 | New Scientist | 1

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The leader
Look to the future

The next leader of India should grab the chance to play a key role in our climate fight
INDIAN readers make up a growing part Much of this rise is due to sheer for mitigation aren’t up for political
of New Scientist’s audience – little surprise demographics. Last year, India overtook debate. The same can’t be said for
given the nation’s interest in and affinity China to become the world’s most elections taking place elsewhere. In the
for science and technology. The same populous country. But the policies of Prime US, Donald Trump plans to dismantle
is true more widely, with growth and Minister Narendra Modi, who is widely environmental regulation should he
development seeing India surge to expected to win a third term, have clearly win the presidency in November, which
become a major world power. played a role in India’s fortunes. In our would produce an extra 4 gigatonnes of
At the turn of the century, India ranked emissions by 2030, according to policy
13th in the world for GDP, fewer than 60 per “It is a relief that climate science website Carbon Brief. Meanwhile, the
cent of its citizens had electricity and it had and the need for mitigation UK’s ruling Conservative party, which is
launched a handful of satellites to orbit. aren’t up for debate in India” expected to lose the country’s upcoming
As the nation goes to the polls this month, general election, continues to push
it does so as the world’s fifth largest special report, we examine Modi’s record back against environmental policies.
economy. Nearly its entire population on key issues including climate change All this means that whoever wins
has electricity and it has sent uncrewed (see page 8), health (page 10) and other India’s election should grab the chance
missions to the moon and Mars. In the areas of science and technology policy. to play a key role in global climate
next few years, India is expected to rank While India’s approach to climate negotiations. The nation’s growing
third for GDP, behind the US and China, change is far from perfect, it is at least power means that soon we will all be
and to launch its first crewed spacecraft. a relief that the basic science and need forced to sit up and pay attention. ❚
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News
Beating the habit Identifying neurons Smashing start Eat healthy Complex signals
Medicines can help Wasps have specific Birthplace of odd Diet may influence Brain activity
treat gambling brain cells for asteroid pinned to the flu vaccine’s gets simpler as
addiction p12 recognising faces p13 a moon crater p14 efficacy p16 babies get older p18
Astronomy
The Horsehead
Nebula’s fluffy top
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This is the sharpest image yet

of the curved wall of gas and
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our skies: the Horsehead Nebula.
Above it – captured in incredible
detail in infrared by the James
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see distant stars and galaxies.
The nebula is thought to have
formed from a collapsing cloud
of interstellar material and is
illuminated by a nearby star.

News Special report: Focus on India
Climate change
Is India ready to be a climate leader?

As the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, India’s climate policy will shape the fate of the
planet. But developing its economy while keeping emissions down will be tough, says James Dinneen
R: REBECCA CONWAY/GETTY IMAGES; BELOW: MONEY SHARMA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
“THE entire world is watching Society Policy Institute, a think
us,” said India’s prime minister, tank in New Delhi.
Narendra Modi, in a speech at the We can expect India’s
COP28 climate summit in Dubai emissions to grow as more people
late last year. “Mother Earth is gain access to energy and use
looking toward us to protect her more of it: under current policy,
future. We have to succeed.” This the International Energy Agency
call for climate action was meant (IEA) projects a 50 per cent rise in
to be a global one, but it could
have applied to India alone, “The people that don’t
as the world’s most populous have access to power right
country increasingly sets the now are not responsible
course for our climate future. for climate change”
India is now the world’s
third largest annual emitter of India’s emissions by 2040, enough
greenhouse gases after China to entirely offset the expected
and the US, having overtaken decline in Europe’s emissions over
the European Union just last year. that period. One quickly rising
Under Modi’s government, India source of demand is the need to
has also taken steps to rein in power air conditioners amid rising
these rising emissions while temperatures. The scorching heat
simultaneously addressing as voters now head to the polls
widespread energy poverty. has power operators firing up
Renewable energy is additional coal and gas generation
booming on the subcontinent. Solar power capacity Modi’s climate record began in to meet expected demand.
There is growing adoption of has increased hugely 2015, just a year after he first came In the next two decades, the
electric vehicles – especially in India in recent years to power, when India joined the IEA estimates that India will have
two-wheelers – and there are Paris Agreement, the global pledge expanded its power capacity by
ambitious plans for it to become a to hold global warming well below the equivalent used across the EU
green hydrogen powerhouse. With 2°C above pre-industrial levels. today. To do that while limiting
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) Since then, Modi’s administration emissions, Modi has promised to
expected to win India’s election, has become the first Indian build renewable energy at a rapid
which saw polls open on 19 April government to set specific national clip. In 2021, he pledged to build
with results due on 4 June, the climate targets. The main one, 175 gigawatts of renewable energy
question is what he will do next. announced in 2021, is for India capacity by 2022 and 500 gigawatts
to reach net-zero emissions by by 2030. India missed the 2022
A girl burning raw coal 2070. That is a decade slower than target, but it has built a record
Spiralling demand to make it saleable on China’s net-zero target and two amount of renewable capacity
India’s path to net-zero emissions the outskirts of Dhanbad decades behind the US, but many since then. This now makes up
remains fraught with difficult see this as justified given India’s just under a third of India’s total
choices, from how to supply small share of past emissions. capacity, although progress varies
rapidly rising demand for energy India’s slower approach to widely between states.
while transitioning away from decarbonisation also reflects the Solar in particular has boomed.
coal power to the risk of a green fact that its per capita emissions Between March 2023 and March
trade war with China. While India are low, at less than half the 2024, about 15 gigawatts of solar
is only responsible for about 3 per global average. These are even capacity came online – a record
cent of the historical emissions lower among India’s vast rural amount. However, 50 gigawatts of
driving climate change, its population, many of whom lack additions will be needed each year
modern emissions mean the access to sufficient energy. “The to reach the 2030 renewable target.
course it takes will prove critical people that don’t have access As in other countries, a lack of
if the world is to succeed at to power right now are not energy storage needed to integrate
avoiding the most dangerous responsible for climate change,” more intermittent sources into
consequences of warming. says Nishtha Singh at the Asia the grid is a major bottleneck, as

are the improvements needed to India’s changing energy mix coal generation, such as liquefied
the grid, says Madhura Joshi at E3G, natural gas, are likely to be too
an energy think tank. Negotiating The proportion of India’s installed energy capacity in gigawatts coming from expensive for India, says Joshi.
land availability for building renewable sources is climbing, but the country is still heavily dependent on coal “India’s transition is coal to clean,
renewable energy is a serious 500 versus coal to clean via gas.”
SOURCE: EMBER ELECTRICITY DATA EXPLORER
constraint in densely populated But there is debate among
Solar
and democratic India. Access to energy experts in India about how
400 Wind
finance is also more expensive much new coal power generation
Bioenergy
than in higher-income countries. Other renewables is needed to meet rising energy
“I think the biggest challenge Hydro demand, says Neshwin Rodrigues
300
is availability of funds,” says Nuclear at Ember. A combination of
Other fossil fuels
Singh. A report from Ember, renewables, storage and existing
Gas
a UK think tank, found that 200 plants running at full capacity
India or international sources may be enough, but the challenge
need to invest an additional is meeting peak energy demand
Coal
$100 billion over the next eight 100 at night when people are at home
years for the country to stay on and solar generation is low, he
track with its net-zero scenarios. says. “How does a politician
Availability of materials is also 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 answer for peak shortage and still
an issue. So far, India’s solar boom garner support for renewables?”
has relied heavily on imported most of the new renewable energy consideration, with 46 gigawatts Heatwaves in both 2022 and 2023
solar panels from China, but tariffs is being built. As coal is eventually planned (China has 268 gigawatts led to power shortages, prompting
spurred by border issues and other phased out, states in the east will in the pipeline). Modi’s announcements from politicians
tensions between the two nations require more support, says Singh. administration approved those about plans for new coal plants.
have made those more expensive “We need to rehabilitate the plans and has also extended the Many of those schemes may be
to obtain. India has sought to people who have been dependent life of many coal plants. In the scrapped, but we won’t know until
establish a domestic solar on coal for so long.” past year, India produced a both the election and the summer
industry, to mixed success. For the moment, however, record nearly 1 billion tonnes heat are through. As ever, the long-
Another challenge is managing India’s coal industry looks set of coal. “Coal is something I term demands of tackling climate
the consequences of the energy for a robust future. According to think we are going to live with change can be at odds with short-
transition for India’s poorer, a recent Global Energy Monitor at least to 2040,” says Singh. term political horizons. “You don’t
coal-rich east and the country’s report, India is second only to Other options that have want a power crisis to take place
prosperous south and west, where China in new coal power under helped the US and EU reduce in an election year,” says Joshi. ❚
Technology
Deepfakes may have elections in the age of AI deepfakes. candidate during calls with voters. Joyojeet Pal at the University of
India’s election has meant “For the first time, it’s going Michigan in Ann Arbor. Jadoun says
a big influence on booming business for Divyendra to be happening on a large scale,” his company turned down about
India’s election Singh Jadoun, whose company The says Jadoun. “Even we don’t 100 election-related jobs that were
Indian Deepfaker uses AI techniques know what impact it will have.” “unethical”, such as creating false
ARTIFICIAL intelligence is enabling to create special effects for ad For example, an AI-generated deepfake videos intended to harm
India’s politicians to be everywhere campaigns and Netflix productions. avatar of India’s prime minister, the images of political figures.
at once in the world’s largest His firm is handling more than Narendra Modi, speaks to voters But Jadoun points out that anyone
election by cloning their voices a dozen election-related projects, by name in WhatsApp videos. can make lower-quality deepfakes
and digital likenesses. including creating holographic The AI-created content tends to online within minutes. The challenge
Even dead public figures, avatars of politicians, using audio present campaigners positively, says is whether the Election Commission
such as politician and actor cloning and video deepfakes to of India – which is working with tech
Jayaram Jayalalithaa, are getting enable personalised messaging “An AI-generated avatar of firms to address disinformation –
digitally resurrected to canvass en masse, and deploying a Prime Minister Narendra can police them and ensure that the
support. It is shaping up to be the conversational AI agent that Modi speaks to voters by election remains fair, says Pal. ❚
biggest test yet of democratic speaks in the voice of a political name in WhatsApp videos” Jeremy Hsu

News Special report: Focus on India
Public health
The world’s largest medical system

In the past 10 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked to improve well-being in
India, but much more progress is needed to look after 1.4 billion people, says Grace Wade
AS THE most populous country Yet not everyone eligible for
PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
on the planet, India’s healthcare PM-JAY uses it. Only 62 per cent of
policy shapes the well-being of respondents were aware it existed
more than 1.4 billion people. in a survey conducted between
During Narendra Modi’s decade- 2019 and 2020. Of those, less than
long tenure as prime minister, 80 per cent understood their
the nation has started various eligibility for the scheme.
initiatives to boost public health, Uptake is also complicated
and yet its medical system still by healthcare being a state-level
falls short of meeting needs. responsibility in India. As a result,
Preventable illnesses like adoption of PM-JAY varies, with
tuberculosis and diarrhoeal some states opting out entirely.
diseases remain leading causes of “The joke is we have 6000
death, and chronic conditions such governments in India, so I guess
as heart disease and cancer are on we also have 6000 different health
the rise. Can this be turned around? systems,” says Arnab Mukherji
Low healthcare spending at the Indian Institute of
is partly to blame for poor Management Bangalore.
outcomes. In 2020, this was PM-JAY also only applies to
equivalent to less than 3 per cent hospital care. This deters people
of the country’s GDP. Other lower- A woman gets a more than 95 per cent. This has cut from seeking help earlier, when a
income economies such as China coronavirus jab at a India’s rates of open defecation, condition may still be prevented
and Mexico spent roughly the covid-19 vaccination which is associated with the or easily treated with low-cost
equivalent to 6 per cent of GDP centre in Mumbai spread of diarrhoeal disease, interventions, says Kalita. On
on healthcare whereas the US although it remains common. top of this, local health centres
and UK were at almost 19 per The government has also added are often understaffed and
cent and 12 per cent, respectively. 50,000 kilometres of highway undersupplied, says Mukherji.
“Part of it is health has never over the past nine years, which has Modi’s government also hasn’t
been a political topic in India,” “The joke is we have 6000 improved accessibility to clinics addressed problems about quality
says Manoj Mohanan at Duke governments in India, so and hospitals. “If you look at the of care. “During covid, the vast
University in North Carolina. For I guess we also have 6000 drop in maternal mortality, India majority of healthcare providers
example, less than 1 per cent of different health systems” has done phenomenally well over in the country were writing
voters cited healthcare as their the last few years, and a lot of it prescriptions that made no
top concern in the 2019 election. [probably] has to do with just sense,” says Mohanan, such as
Instead, development and anti- having the road infrastructure so for antibiotics that wouldn’t
corruption are popular concerns, that a woman can get to a hospital work against a viral infection.
leading Modi’s government to when she’s in labour,” says Kalita. In some ways, the government
focus on reforms such as reducing That isn’t to say Modi has had has exacerbated problems by
poverty, improving education and
expanding infrastructure.
All these indirectly affect health,
1.4 billion
The size of the population of India
no specific healthcare policies.
The most significant initiative is
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
promoting unsubstantiated
traditional medicines, which
Modi sees as a way of furthering
even if they aren’t captured by (PM-JAY), dubbed Modicare. India’s global influence.
healthcare spending statistics. “If
you think of health broadly, it has
a lot to do with social determinants
<3%
Proportion of the country’s GDP
Launched in 2018, it provides
low-income households with
roughly $7100 – almost double
“Our traditional medicine is a
repository of hundreds of years
of accumulated knowledge,” he
of health,” says Anuska Kalita at that is spent on healthcare the average household income of said in 2022, at a ceremony to
Harvard University. $4300 – to pay for hospitalisations mark the construction of the
One such project is Modi’s
sanitation initiative, called the
Swachh Bharat Mission. Between
39%
Share of rural households with
for specific issues. About 40 per
cent of India’s population –
roughly 500 million people –
World Health Organization’s
Global Centre for Traditional
Medicine in Jamnagar, due to be
2014 and 2019, the proportion of access to a toilet in 2014, when qualify for PM-JAY, making it the finished this year. As India grows
rural households with access to a Narendra Modi was first elected. largest public health insurance on the international stage, such
toilet increased from 39 per cent to In 2019, the figure was 95 per cent scheme in the world. views have global ramifications. ❚

Technology
Can India secure its future by building

a powerful computer chip industry?
Matthew Sparkes
INDIA’S prime minister, Narendra “Everybody is foreseeing different and rely on manufacturing
Modi, has set a target for the kinds of geopolitical games,” says techniques that date back to
nation to become one of the Kumar. Whoever has ownership the early 2000s. “These are not
world’s five biggest computer chip of chip manufacturing can use the sexy chips,” says Kumar.
manufacturers by 2029, from a it as leverage, he says. “But there’s a big market.”
base of almost nothing, as part of One approach is attracting
the country’s transformation into foreign investment and a share “We’re going all in.
a leading global economy. With of existing chip manufacturing – Only time will tell how
PRADEEP GAURS/SHUTTERSTOCK
the rise of artificial intelligence Apple is considering moving a big this thing becomes
and unstable geopolitics creating quarter of iPhone production in the future”
a global scramble to build chip from China to India by next year,
factories, how likely is it that for instance. But true silicon John Goodenough at the
India can compete? independence will require an University of Sheffield, UK, says
Rakesh Kumar at the University infrastructure of supporting India already has some 125,000
of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suppliers and skilled workers, workers, making up 20 per cent of
says there are two main drivers for along with large and continuing India plans to pursue an older the world’s chip design workforce,
countries seeking semiconductor investment, says Kumar. form of chip technology but it will need prolonged
self-sufficiency. The first is a Even with massive government investment in other parts of the
realisation, sparked by shortages, support, Indian chip factories may legislation requiring local firms supply chain. “It depends on how
that chips are vital to a nation’s struggle to be competitive at first, to use local chips, he says. deep their pockets are and how
security and industry. The second lacking the efficiencies and scale One thing in India’s favour, long a game they play,” he says.
is a desire for a slice of an industry of a mature industry. “Who’s going says Kumar, is that it isn’t aiming Awanish Pandey at the Indian
worth $526.9 billion last year. to buy the Indian chips? And who’s to compete with the cutting edge Institute of Technology in Delhi
Currently, Taiwan makes going to continue buying these for of the industry. The goal is to is hopeful the country can make
68 per cent of the world’s chips. the five or 10 years it may take to boost production of 28 nanometre a success of the scheme. “We’re
The threat of a Chinese invasion become cost competitive?” asks chips, which are used in cars going all in,” he says. “Only time
of Taiwan has sparked global Kumar. If India wants to grow its and household appliances rather will tell how big this thing
panic and a wave of investment. industry, it may have to bring in than computers or smartphones becomes in the future.” ❚
Space flight
How India has slowly The Chandrayaan-3 mission alongside custom-built ones,
lifted off in July 2023, as well as contracts with private
become a major headed for the moon firms for some development
player in space and manufacturing.
nations along with expertise The involvement of private
IF INDIA seems a latecomer to space developed at home. companies is a change heralded
flight, it is only because the country’s “[ISRO has] done a great by Narendra Modi, India’s prime
space agency has been growing job of absorbing technologies minister since 2014. “Where Modi
slowly for decades, catching up from different countries and has made a difference is that he has
with the original major players. stitching them together to encouraged the private sector to step
When the Chandrayaan-3 make something that’s uniquely in in a way that is very unusual for
spacecraft managed the first ever Indian,” says Itty Abraham at Indian government programmes,”
soft landing near the south pole of Arizona State University. says Abraham. ISRO didn’t respond
ISRO
the moon in 2023, it was a triumph Chandrayaan-3 is a perfect to a request for comment.
for the Indian Space Research example of this. ISRO has stated that Because of the prestige
Organisation (ISRO) and a sign Indian space programme. He the budget for the mission was only India has garnered with ISRO’s
that the agency’s way of operating rejected the idea that the country £60 million ($74 million), less than success, the result of its current
makes it capable of great things. had to work through every stage the cost of a commercial plane and election is unlikely to change
Its strategy was championed of learning how to do space flight, astonishingly low for a spacecraft. the organisation’s direction,
in the 1960s by Vikram Sarabhai, instead insisting on “leapfrogging”, This was enabled to some degree whoever wins, says Abraham. ❚
often considered the father of the using knowledge gained by other by the use of off-the-shelf parts Leah Crane

News
Health
Medicines can help gambling addiction

The drugs nalmefene and naltrexone show promise for treating compulsive gambling
Clare Wilson
TWO medicines usually given to looked into the effects of opioid- placebo treatments among people treatment, olanzapine, also
people who are addicted to opioid blocking medicines for people with gambling addiction. turned out to be ineffective
drugs also help with compulsive who can’t stop gambling, as well They have found that the (medRxiv, doi.org/mtdj).
gambling. The finding suggests as some other therapies, such as a two most effective ones were Despite the medications
there may be similar brain circuits medicine given for schizophrenia. a medicine called nalmefene, showing promise for treating
involved in behavioural addictions Now, Konstantinos Ioannidis usually given to people who have gambling addiction, people on the
as those that cause drug addiction. at the Southern Health NHS taken an overdose of opioids, and two most effective opioid blockers
Addiction is usually thought of Foundation Trust in Hampshire, one called naltrexone, used long were more likely to stop taking
in the context of people who can’t UK, and his colleagues have term to help those who take their allotted doses than people
stop drinking alcohol or taking carried out an analysis of all opioids keep off the drugs. in the placebo groups, probably
certain drugs. A large group of randomised trials comparing An opioid-blocker called because of side effects, which
these drugs are those that act such medications against naloxone that is commonly used include nausea and dizziness.
via the opioid receptors in the to reverse opioid overdoses didn’t “Given the limited number
brain, such as heroin or fentanyl. Gambling can activate work, probably because its effects of treatment options identified
This causes the release of a the same brain reward are too transient, the authors write in the current [analysis], and the
brain signalling chemical pathways as some drugs in their paper. The schizophrenia high public health priority of
called dopamine, linked gambling disorder, further large-
with feelings of reward. scale clinical trials are urgently
Various medicines have been needed,” the researchers write.
developed to help people who are Barbara Sahakian at the
addicted to opioids, which work University of Cambridge says
by binding to the opioid receptors the two medications may work
and blocking the effects of the because compulsive gambling
drugs. These treatments have also involves similar brain pathways as
been investigated to see if they those involved in opioid addiction.
could help people who experience “Gambling may start in an
SHUTTERSTOCK/IVASHSTUDIO
other kinds of addictions. impulsive and sensation-seeking

When it comes to gambling way,” says Sahakian. “The exciting
addiction, the only help usually experience and the wins activate
offered is talking therapy, which the reward system in the brain and
doesn’t work for everyone. increases the pleasure chemical
Some randomised trials have in the brain, dopamine.” ❚
Technology
Hospital AI that flags Institute in California, who wasn’t at least the 95th percentile curbed high-risk patient mortality
involved in the work. “It’s very rare considered high risk. from heart issues by more than
raised risk of death for any medication to [produce] a The researchers then trialled the 90 per cent (Nature Medicine,
helps save lives 31 per cent reduction in mortality, AI alert system with 39 physicians doi.org/mtdk).
and then even more rare for a at two different hospitals. As nurses Lin and his colleagues say the AI
AN ARTIFICIAL intelligence system non-drug – this is just monitoring uploaded each new patient’s ECG warnings may help focus attention
has shown it can save lives by people with AI.” tests to a computer server, the AI on the highest risk group. Physicians
warning physicians to check on Chin Lin at the National Defense system would analyse the results usually followed up alerts with
patients whose heart test results Medical Center in Taiwan and his and alert physicians if it identified more tests and treatment. The
indicate a high risk of dying. In a colleagues trained their AI on more someone as being high risk. system is already being used across
randomised clinical trial with almost than 450,000 electrocardiogram In addition to reducing the risk of 14 military hospitals in Taiwan.
16,000 patients, the AI reduced (ECG) tests, which measure the death from all causes, the AI system “This can be implemented in
overall deaths among high-risk heart’s electrical activity, along every hospital around the world,”
subjects by 31 per cent. with the survival data of the ECG “This can be implemented says Topol. “It should be the
“This is actually quite subjects. The AI learned to produce in every hospital around standard of care when you see this
extraordinary,” says Eric Topol at a percentile score representing each the world. It should be extent of magnitude of benefit.” ❚
the Scripps Research Translational patient’s risk of death, with those in the standard of care” Jeremy Hsu

Animal biology Environment
Wasps have specific

brain cells for
Plastic pollution treaty would be a
recognising faces ‘failure’ without tackling emissions
Sofia Quaglia James Dinneen
WHEN a wasp comes across DELEGATES from nearly every plastic in the environment can with final details to be agreed
another, it uses certain brain cells country gathered in Canada also produce carbon dioxide by the end of this year.
to identify their face. What’s more, last week to hammer out and methane emissions. However, a group of
these neurons seem similar to further details of a global treaty In a study published last petroleum-producing countries,
face-recognition cells in the brains to address ballooning plastic month, Nihan Karali at including China and Russia,
of primates, including humans. pollution. One source of Lawrence Berkeley National argued during negotiations that
division at the summit, which Laboratory in California and the treaty should only address
Northern paper concluded on 29 April, was her colleagues estimated that plastic waste through clean-up
wasps can how to address the greenhouse plastic production in 2019 and recycling, and not limit
recognise their gas emissions generated by generated the equivalent of production – the main source of
peers from the producing and using plastic, a greenhouse gas emissions from
markings on growing and under-recognised
5% plastic. A group including the UK
JJ GOUIN/ALAMY
their faces driver of climate change. and EU have argued the treaty
“When people think about Share of global emissions should include provisions to cut
plastic, they think about what from the production of plastic production to keep emissions in
they see,” says Alice Zhu at line with global climate targets.
“We have this convergent the University of Toronto. But 2.24 gigatonnes of CO2, or about “There are so many things
evolution between these really, extracting and processing the 5 per cent of global greenhouse on the table, and climate is
really distant species,” says Michael fossil fuels and other chemicals gas emissions. That is roughly certainly not being discussed
Sheehan at Cornell University in used to make plastic produces four times as much as was too much,” says Neil Nathan
New York. He and his colleagues substantial greenhouse gas produced by aviation that year. at the University of California,
studied northern paper wasps emissions, as does generating Assuming no changes to Santa Barbara, who was at the
(Polistes fuscatus), which each have the energy required to make how plastic is produced, they meeting. Based on modelling
subtly different colour markings on plastic products. Plastic now found these emissions could he and his colleagues have done,
their faces. The wasps are able to accounts for about 10 per cent of triple by 2050 with increases he says a strong treaty – one
recognise other individual wasps. oil and natural gas demand, with in plastic production. that limits production and
Sheehan’s team outfitted coal also increasingly being used The global plastic treaty takes steps like mandating that
18 female wasps with brain probes to power plastic production. under debate could offer a plastic products contain a high
that recorded which neurons were Incinerating plastic waste is “historic” chance to limit those proportion of recycled material –
excited when they were shown a another source of greenhouse emissions, the researchers could keep emissions at current
series of more than 2000 images. gas emissions. As it degrades, wrote. In 2022, more than 175 levels. He says the plastics treaty
These included pictures of wasps’ countries agreed to join a legally would be “a failure” if it didn’t
faces, wasps with scrambled People taking part in a binding treaty that would address production.
features, geometrical shapes rally in Ottawa, Canada, address plastic pollution across Sarah-Jeanne Royer at the
and random objects like cars. against plastic pollution the full life cycle of the material, University of California, San
Out of more than 790 neurons Diego, says reducing the use
reacting to images, just 35 of of new plastic through recycling
them selectively fired when seeing or switching to more sustainable
a wasp face (bioRxiv, doi.org/mtdq). materials to make plastic, such
“This study suggests that the as bioplastics or captured CO2,
social benefits of rapid, accurate would also reduce greenhouse
face recognition may have gas emissions, even if the treaty
independently selected for didn’t address them explicitly.
face-specific cells in both wasps and However, Paul Stegmann at
humans,” says Elizabeth Tibbetts at TNO, a research organisation in
the University of Michigan. the Netherlands, cautions that
“It’s a really bold claim,” says some alternatives to plastic may
CANADIAN PRESS/SHUTTERSTOCK
Bruno Rossion at the University generate more emissions. “In

of Lorraine in France. But just the end, we need policies that
because wasps and primates ensure that we do not just shift
might have similar networks the problem elsewhere but that
doesn’t mean the networks reduce the system-wide impact
will work the same, he says. ❚ of our society,” he says. ❚

News
Infectious diseases Space
How the US is preparing for Birthplace of red

asteroid pinned to
a potential bird flu pandemic specific moon crater
Grace Wade Alex Wilkins
Bird flu is affecting WE MAY have located the birthplace

dairy cows on some of a strange asteroid that seems
farms in the US to have originated on the moon.
In 2021, astronomers
US Food and Drug noticed that asteroid 469219
Administration (FDA) found Kamo‘oalewa, which orbits the
that 1 in 5 milk samples contain sun on the same trajectory as Earth,
genetic traces of bird flu. looked unusual. The light bouncing
“Importantly, that doesn’t off it seemed strangely red, marking
mean the samples contain it apart from other near-Earth
intact, infective virus,” said asteroids we know about.
Donald Prater at the FDA. The One of the only plausible
testing method used detects any chemical compositions that could
SHUTTERSTOCK/ROMAN MELNYK
genetic material, including that have produced this colour matches

of dead virus. that of some lunar rock samples,
The vast majority of milk hinting that the asteroid originally
sold in the US is pasteurised, came from the moon. It would have
a process that kills pathogens been launched into space as a result
with high heat. No study of an earlier asteroid smashing into
has assessed the impact the surface and forming a crater.
AS A bird flu virus continues to between mammals. Plus, the of pasteurisation on H5N1, Now, Renu Malhotra at the
spread among dairy cattle in the other 10 samples from the but studies of similar influenza University of Arizona and her
US, health agencies there are same herd where this one viruses suggest it would be colleagues have calculated that
preparing for the possibility was collected didn’t have effective, said Prater. This is why the source crater needed to produce
of an outbreak in people. the same mutation. people should avoid consuming such an asteroid would probably
“The risk [of bird flu] remains “It very much remains an or touching raw milk products. be between 10 and 20 kilometres
low at this time, but we continue avian virus with no significant Two vaccine candidates for wide and formed in the past several
to be in a strong readiness changes,” said Sifford. H5N1 are also in the works. million years. They say that the
posture as new data becomes Initial testing by the CDC most likely crater is the Giordano
available,” said Vivien Dugan
at the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC)
1 in 5
US cow milk samples have
indicates both are effective in
lab tests against the current
strain in cattle, said Dugan.
Bruno crater on the moon’s far side
(Nature Astronomy, doi.org/mtdb).
Malhotra says it is difficult to
at a meeting of health officials genetic traces of bird flu As part of a pre-established be more certain until we sample
on 25 April. protocol, the US Administration material from the asteroid itself.
A top priority is tracking The CDC has tested 23 people for Strategic Preparedness and China plans to return a sample
the virus’s spread. So far, the with close contact to the Response (ASPR) is stockpiling from Kamo‘oalewa with its
US Department of Agriculture animals for the virus, according materials for a bird flu vaccine, Tianwen-2 mission, scheduled
(USDA) has confirmed H5N1, a to data shown at the meeting. said David Boucher at ASPR in to launch next year. ❚
subtype of the bird flu virus, in Only one of them was positive – the meeting. ASPR and its
dairy cows on 34 farms across a dairy worker in Texas whose commercial partners have The moon’s Giordano Bruno crater,
nine states, and in six cats on only symptom was eye redness. already filled hundreds of where asteroid Kamo‘oalewa
farms in three of those states. To boost testing capabilities, the thousands of vaccines for H5N1 could have originated
Genetic sequencing found CDC recently increased funding that, if needed, can be quickly
that only one of the 260 samples for genetic sequencing centres dispensed for clinical testing
from sick dairy cows so far has in six states, said Dugan. or emergency use, he said.
NASA/GSFC/ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
a mutation indicating H5N1 has Another key measure being “Based on the CDC’s current
adapted to infecting mammals, taken is ensuring the safety of risk of the situation, vaccination
said Rosemary Sifford at the the milk supply in the US. Milk is not a tool needed at this time.
USDA during the meeting. from infected cattle contains We do want to be ready if that
However, this marker has high amounts of the virus. changes, though,” said Boucher.
been seen before in other sick While milk from sick animals Enough material is stockpiled
mammals, and didn’t affect the shouldn’t be entering the milk to churn out an additional
ability of the virus to transmit supply, initial testing from the 10 million doses, too. ❚

Pollution
Car tyre chemicals can get into food

Crops can take up toxic chemicals produced as tyres wear out, but the health risks are unclear
Michael Le Page
TOXIC additives used in tyres Some additives can leach out Tyre additives can also blow in the leaves, with the levels
can be taken up by plants and of tyre dust into water. “Chemicals directly onto fields, or get there varying according to soil type.
end up in our food, according leaching from plastics, including after run-off from roads goes into “The message here is very
to a study highlighting a source tyre wear, may be an even greater sewage systems and water or simple. These compounds are
of plastic pollution that is long-term environmental and solids from that is applied to fields. taken up under realistic growing
largely unregulated. human health concern than the To find out if tyre compounds conditions,” says Hofmann, who
“It’s too early to say there’s no physical properties of the particles in fields can get into food, presented the results at a meeting
risk or high risk from food at the themselves,” says Hofmann. Hofmann’s colleague Luzian of the European Geosciences
moment, but this might change He points to a 2020 study, Hämmerle, also at the University Union in Vienna in April.
in the next five years,” says which found that a tyre additive of Vienna, applied four tyre “The risk to human health
Thilo Hofmann at the University was killing coho salmon in rivers, additives with very different is unknown, but we need to
of Vienna in Austria. “Tyre as a reason for concern. chemical structures to lettuces act now and restrict chemical
wear particles are a major growing in pots in a greenhouse plastic pollution,” he says.
environmental and health Wear from car tyres and tested the leaves after three “I find the presence of any
concern, in some cases bigger produces tiny particles that weeks. Significant levels of three of chemical with toxic properties in
than other plastic pollution.” pollute the air and water the four compounds were found foods and environmental systems
Tyre wear generates about concerning, and this study again
6 million tonnes of dust per year. emphasises the importance of
It is estimated to make up half of only using non-toxic chemicals
the microplastics entering rivers, in tyres,” says Edward Kolodziej
lakes and seas, and 80 per cent at the University of Washington
of the microplastics in air. in Seattle, whose team did the
The inhalation of tyre dust by coho salmon study.
people near or on busy roads is the Other potential solutions could
biggest concern, says Hofmann. be altering tyres to minimise wear,
But additives raise broader issues. fitting filters in wheel wells to
DEEPBLUE4YOU/GETTY IMAGES
Despite some tyres containing capture tyre dust and capturing

hundreds of other compounds in and treating the run-off from
addition to natural and synthetic busy roads, says Hofmann.
rubber, these are unregulated, says Reducing the total number
Hofmann, and tyre makers don’t of cars on public roads would
have to reveal what they add. also help, says Hämmerle. ❚
Zoology
Alpaca sex causes 24 hours of mating. They found Alpacas’ intense intercourse, help the female alpaca absorb
bloody abrasions throughout which can last for up to an proteins in semen that help trigger
injuries that may the whole reproductive tract, hour, may seem unhelpful ovulation. Prior research from his
boost pregnancies suggesting that the male alpaca’s because it leaves the female’s team had already hinted at this.
penis had thrust its way through the insides wounded and inflamed. A little inflammation in
ALPACAS are the only mammals vagina, past the cervix and all the But there may be an evolutionary the uterus helps a fertilised
known to science in which males way into the horns of the uterus upside to this. egg stick to the uterus walls,
deposit sperm directly into the (PLoS One, doi.org/mtdf). Adams suggests the wounds’ says Brennan. This is why doctors
uterus. This unusual reproductive These findings confirm purpose could be related to alpaca often scrape the uterine lining
method inflicts small internal something alpaca researchers ovulation, which isn’t cyclical like during IVF treatments in humans.
injuries that may help improve have long informally known, says in other mammals but is induced Alpaca intercourse may serve
the chances of pregnancy. Gregg Adams at the University by mating. The inflammation could a similar purpose.
Patricia Brennan at Mount of Saskatchewan in Canada. This “We think that alpacas
Holyoke College in Massachusetts assumption was based in part on “Inflammation could represent an extreme example
and her team examined the the alpaca penis: it is long, stretchy, help the female alpaca of the ‘good inflammation
reproductive systems of 10 female thin and has a hard tip of cartilage absorb proteins that hypothesis’,” says Brennan. ❚
alpacas that were euthanised within that lets it push through flesh. trigger ovulation” Sofia Quaglia

News
Physics Health
Fusion experiment overcomes Diet may influence

the flu vaccine’s
two key operating hurdles efficacy
Matthew Sparkes Grace Wade
A NUCLEAR fusion reaction SWITCHING mice to a lower-fat diet

has overcome two barriers before flu vaccination improves
to operating in a “sweet spot” their ability to fend off the virus
needed for optimal power later. This suggests the vaccine
production: boosting the may be more effective in people
plasma density and keeping with obesity if they lose weight
that denser plasma contained. or eat a different diet beforehand.
The milestone is yet another Even with immunisation, people
step towards fusion power, with obesity are nearly twice as
although a commercial reactor likely to get the flu than those
is still probably years away. without it. They are also more
One of the main avenues vulnerable to severe flu illness. But
being explored in efforts to why obesity seems to blunt vaccine
achieve fusion power is using efficacy is unclear, says Stacey
RSWILCOX (CC BY-SA 4.0)
tokamak reactors. These have Schultz-Cherry at St. Jude Children’s

a doughnut-shaped chamber Research Hospital in Tennessee.
where plasma hotter than the To learn more, she and her
surface of our sun is contained colleagues took 20 mice that
by vast magnets. were genetically predisposed to
It had been thought that developing obesity and fed them a
there was a point – known as the says Gianluca Sarri at Queen’s Inside the DIII-D high-fat diet for four months. They
Greenwald limit – above which University Belfast, UK, with a tokamak fusion then inoculated the now-obese
you couldn’t raise the density of value of 1 or above signifying reactor rodents against the flu. Two weeks
the plasma without it escaping that plasma is being later, they put half of the mice on
the clutches of the magnets, successfully held in place. into the plasma to calm a low-fat diet for a month, which
potentially damaging your “You’re now starting to show reactions in specific spots. led to weight loss. Afterwards,
reactor. But raising density is some sort of stable operation DIII-D’s plasma chamber the animals were infected with
crucial to increasing output, as where you can consistently be in has an outside radius of just a lethal dose of influenza virus.
experiments have revealed that the sweet spot,” says Sarri. “This 1.6 metres, and it isn’t yet All of the mice died, except for
the output of tokamak reactors was done in a small machine. known whether the same two in the low-fat diet group.
rises proportionally with the If you take these results and method would work for ITER, The team then repeated the
square of the fuel density. extrapolate it to a larger the next-generation tokamak experiment in a separate group
Now, Siye Ding at General machine… that is expected to under construction in France, of mice, but this time half went
Atomics in San Diego, California, put you in a situation where which will have a radius of on a low-fat diet a month before
and his colleagues have shown 6.2 metres and is expected to vaccination instead of afterwards.
that there is a way to raise the
plasma density, and keep it
stable, by running the DIII-D
2.2
Number of seconds the reactor
create plasma as soon as 2025.
“These plasmas are very
complicated,” says Sarri. “A small
When the researchers infected
the animals with the same amount
of influenza virus, all of those on
National Fusion Facility ran with high plasma density change in conditions leads to a the low-fat diet survived, whereas
tokamak reactor for 2.2 seconds big change in behaviour.” all of those on the high-fat diet
with an average density that is gain and significant power Ding says the experiment died (Nature Microbiology,
20 per cent above the Greenwald production can be achieved over bodes well for fusion power. doi.org/mszp).
limit. While this barrier has a significant amount of time.” “Many reactor designs Further research must
been passed before, with The DIII-D experiment relied require simultaneous high disentangle whether it was the
less stability and for shorter on a higher density in the core confinement and high density. diet or weight loss that led to these
durations, this experiment of the doughnut-shaped Experimentally, this is the first improvements, says Jaswinder Sethi
crucially also ran with a metric plasma, to increase output, time it is realised,” he says. at the University of Southampton
known as H98(y,2) of above 1 while allowing it to dip at the The work is another step in the UK. “I think we have to be
(Nature, doi.org/mszm). edges nearest the containment towards a practical fusion power very careful about translating
H98(y,2) is a complex blend vessel to drop below the plant, but nobody should expect these findings to humans too,”
of measurements and values Greenwald limit, therefore to see a commercial reactor in says Schultz-Cherry. For instance,
that shows how well the plasma avoiding any plasma escape. the next five, or even 10, years, a month for mice is equivalent
is contained by the magnets, Deuterium gas was also puffed says Sarri. ❚ to years for a human, she says. ❚

Astrophysics
Giant black holes nurture small ones

The accretion discs of supermassive black holes may provide a place for mini black holes to grow
Leah Crane
THOUSANDS of relatively small Small black up the plasma and gas around the small in this universe with its
black holes may be circling the holes may AGN (arXiv, doi.org/msx5). vast distances,” says Imre Bartos
supermassive ones that lurk at explain why “At first, we thought that the at the University of Florida. “The
MARK GARLICK/SPL/ALAMY
the centres of galaxies. If so, it the matter heating due to stellar-mass black accretion disc acts as a sort of black
would not only help explain how swirling around holes might play a minor role,” hole assembly line where smaller
small black holes grow larger, it a large black says Zhou. “But the stellar-mass black holes meet and collide to
would also help us understand hole is so bright black holes can greatly heat up gas form more massive ones.”
why supermassive versions in the [AGN] accretion disc.” This Although we have observed
appear so bright. heating would be particularly black holes with masses more
The centres of galaxies are swarm in the nucleus of the noticeable in the outer areas of than about 50 times that of our
extraordinarily dense, so matter – galaxy, around the supermassive the disc, which could increase the sun, how they formed has
including relatively small, or black hole, and keep crashing radius of the disc’s glow by more remained unknown for decades.
stellar-mass, black holes – tends through the thin accretion discs,” than three times.
to accumulate there. Some of this says Zoltan Haiman at Columbia If this is happening, it could be a “The accretion disc acts as a
matter can fall towards a galaxy’s University in New York, who crucial insight into AGNs and how sort of black hole assembly
central supermassive black hole, wasn’t involved in the work. they form. “Currently, we have a line where smaller black
in which case it is known as an The crashes take energy away lot of holes in knowledge of the holes meet and collide”
active galactic nucleus, or AGN. from the stars and black holes, physics that create and evolve AGN
This creates a glowing, hot ring and eventually they have so little discs,” says Shmuel Gilbaum at the The effects of the stellar-mass
of plasma around the black hole that they are captured by the disc, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. black holes on the accretion discs
called an accretion disc. Shuying he says, “like a fly trap”. “Improving our understanding should be observable, says Rosalba
Zhou at Xiamen University in Zhou and her colleagues found of AGN discs is crucial for Perna at Stony Brook University
China and her colleagues have that a supermassive black hole understanding galactic evolution.” in New York. Examining the
modelled how stellar-mass black should be surrounded by It could also explain how black light from AGNs in different
holes could end up in these discs thousands of these small black holes grow via collisions. “Black wavelengths may let us see if
and change their appearance. holes, and that each of them holes are very, very small, so the stellar-mass black holes really
“Stars and black holes zoom would develop its own tiny chances of them randomly are having the predicted effects,
around in a three-dimensional accretion disc, further heating meeting and colliding are very she says. ❚
Marine biology
Culling starfish Between 1985 and 2012, they Crown-of-thorns

accounted for 40 per cent of the starfish consume huge
conserves coral on region’s coral loss. amounts of coral
Great Barrier Reef During an eruption of the starfish
between 2012 and 2022, the researchers now recommend that it
A CULLING programme has Great Barrier Reef Marine Park should be expanded to more reefs.
protected key areas of the Great Authority ran a culling scheme. Terry Hughes at James Cook
Barrier Reef from voracious Teams of divers injected starfish University in Townsville, Australia,
coral-eating starfish. with a shot of either vinegar or ox doesn’t agree that the culling
Crown-of-thorns starfish are bile, which kills them and prevents programme is worthwhile. “It’s
relentless feeders on nearly all the release of larvae. increasingly clear that attempts to
species of coral on Australia’s Great Roger Beeden at the Park protect corals on the Great Barrier
Barrier Reef. Each starfish can reach Authority and his colleagues found Reef by culling crown-of-thorns
1 metre in diameter and eat 10 that in areas where timely culling starfish on a handful of reefs is just
CSIRO
square metres of coral reef a year. was implemented, the outbreaks a drop in the ocean,” he says.
The starfish are native to the were limited and coral cover Instead, the priority should be
reef, but it is thought that factors recovered and increased by up to spread to other reefs, meaning to tackle global warming, which
including nutrients pouring into 44 per cent. Where no culling took further outbreaks were reduced is driving a rise in the frequency
the reef’s waters from agriculture place, the loss of coral was severe. (PLoS One, doi.org/mszh). and intensity of coral bleaching,
have boosted their numbers and The study also confirmed that by The culling has focused on 500 of says Hughes. ❚
worsened the coral destruction. preventing outbreaks, larvae didn’t the marine park’s 3000 reefs. The James Woodford

News
Developmental biology
Sex differences in brain activity

The brain activity of fetuses and babies seems to become less complicated as they
develop and it happens faster in males than females, finds Moheb Costandi
THE complexity of signals in signal, using algorithms that find that it actually fell with The researchers didn’t follow
the brain seems to decrease as determine, for example, how time, with the decrease occurring the babies beyond the end of the
the nervous system develops difficult it is to process. significantly faster among the study and it is therefore unclear
in fetuses and babies, forcing a In adults with no known male fetuses and babies than in whether this variation persists
rethink of our understanding health conditions, higher levels of the female ones (Nature Mental as development continues.
of the developing brain. neural complexity are associated Health, doi.org/msw6). A study in 2018 suggested
It also decreases faster with better performance and The reason for this decrease that the complexity of signals
in males than it does in females, faster reaction times in various is unclear, but one possible obtained from infants using
suggesting a fundamental executive functions, such as explanation is that neural the electroencephalography
difference in the way the nervous planning and decision-making. complexity measures different imaging technique might be
system develops in boys and girls. processes as the brain develops. useful in predicting autism
This could help explain why some “The developing brain “The developing brain diagnoses in later life.
conditions, such as autism, eliminates cells and eliminates cells and connections Autism is diagnosed four
disproportionately affect boys. connections that that are unnecessary, constraining times more often in boys. If
Joel Frohlich at the are unnecessary” the number of ways in which it were possible to identify a
University of Tübingen in the brain can respond to a developmental variable that
Germany and his colleagues Low levels of neural stimulus,” says Frohlich. could detect autism at birth
assessed the brain activity of complexity are associated “As the brain matures, or even earlier, that could allow
43 third-trimester fetuses and with states in which the capacity it moves toward ordered for potential interventions to
20 babies, aged between 13 and for information-processing is patterns of neural connections, start earlier for those infants,
59 days old. They used a technique reduced, such as while under which tell it how to respond which might help with
called magnetoencephalography general anaesthesia and during to stimuli, such as the beeps symptoms, says Frohlich.
(MEG) to measure the magnetic non-rapid eye movement sleep. in our experiment. A more
fields produced by the brain’s Frohlich and his colleagues developed brain has fewer ways
electrical currents in response therefore hypothesised that of responding to that stimulus,
Sibling connection
to sound stimuli. Of the babies, MEG signal complexity would and thus lower complexity,” To test the technique,
16 had also had their brain rise among the fetuses as he says. “If we were to look at researchers could measure
activity recorded in this way gestation progressed and spontaneous activity, we might neural complexity in fetuses
when they were fetuses. among the babies as they aged. see something different.” who have an older sibling with
The stimuli consisted of But they were surprised to Frohlich suspects that the autism and are therefore more
various arrangements of beeps. variation between the sexes likely to have the condition
One sequence was made up The brain activity of might be due to “underlying themselves, says Frohlich.
of four beeps, each lasting babies seems to get differences in how the nervous “We could follow these
200 milliseconds and separated simpler as they get older system develops in boys and girls”. children up to their third birthday
by 400-millisecond intervals. and see if neural complexity
A “block” of stimuli was defined measured in the womb is useful
DMITRII KOTIN/ALAMY
as 180 sequences, played one after for predicting which children go

the other with a 1.7-second interval on to develop autism,” he says.
between them. This was played to But the idea is controversial.
the fetuses via a “sound balloon” “Autism can only be identified
squeezed between the mother’s accurately from a thorough
abdomen and the MEG sensors. clinical assessment by an
experienced team of qualified
professionals,” says Anoushka
Brain training Pattenden at the National Autistic
First, each fetus and baby heard 30 Society charity in the UK. “Autistic
of these blocks of stimuli, as a sort people should receive the support
of training. The researchers then that meets their specific needs
recorded their magnetic brain and any ‘interventions’ for
activity on hearing two blocks. autistic people should centre
The team calculated several the individual and not make
different measures that reflect any attempt to reduce
the complexity of the MEG autistic characteristics.” ❚

News In brief
Physics
Really brief
Quantum force used
to make tiny device
GOLD traps for capturing and
measuring light have been built
using strange quantum effects.
Betül Küçüköz at Chalmers
University of Technology in
SVET/ALAMY
Sweden and her colleagues did it
using the Casimir effect, a very
weak attraction some objects
experience when they are held Nanorobot swarm
close to one another. This is removes plastic
down to flickers of quantum
fields in the gap between them. In just 2 hours, small
The researchers built a light- metal robots can mop up
trapping cavity from gold flakes by nanoscopic bits of plastic
placing them in a solution of salty in water. These spherical
water. The gold moved into place devices measure about
thanks to the electrostatic force 200 nanometres across
caused by electrical charges, and when exposed to a
and the Casimir effect (Science magnetic field, electrostatic
Advances, doi.org/msz6). When forces make tiny pieces of
two flakes of gold were parallel
FIR MAMAT/ALAMY
polystyrene stick to them
to one another, light bounced (ACS Nanoscience Au,
between them, unable to escape. doi.org/mszs).
Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
Fast ancient shark
Neuroscience Botany feasted on shellfish
hybrids and some from a popular Analysis of six full-body
Rat brain cells let Modern group of cultivars known as hybrid fossils of a type of shark
mice smell again tea roses (pictured). By combining from the Cretaceous period
rose hybrids the results with genetic studies of reveals it swam quickly
MICE with no sense of smell have 17 other publicly available varieties, and ate shell-covered prey.
gained the ability to sniff out food lack genetic the researchers amassed a dataset Some members of the
thanks to rat cells grown inside of the whole genomes of 32 roses. Ptychodus genus reached
their brains. This is the first time diversity They also looked at data on tens about 9.7 metres long,
an organism of one species has of thousands of genetic markers roughly double the size of
experienced the world through COMMERCIAL roses have lost over in more than 200 varieties. a great white (Proceedings
the sensory neurons of another. a quarter of their genetic diversity The study found that massively of the Royal Society B,
Kristin Baldwin at Columbia compared with older varieties, successful commercial varieties, doi.org/msz2).
University in New York and her which could leave them vulnerable such as hybrid tea roses, are now
team injected rat stem cells into to disease or climate change. heavily skewed to an Asian genetic Japan’s lunar lander
the embryos of mice that had Roses have been admired and ancestry – only a quarter of their
survives once again
been genetically modified to lack grown since antiquity, when people genes are from ancient European
the neurons for picking up scents. in Asia and Europe began cultivating varieties (bioRxiv, doi.org/mszq). Japan’s Smart Lander for
Once the embryos had grown varieties from a dozen wild rose In these modern hybrids, more Investigating Moon (SLIM)
to become adult mice, the species. There were less than than a quarter of all the genetic has survived its third lunar
researchers found that they had 100 varieties before 1800, but diversity seen in ancient cultivars night. Such craft typically
functional neural pathways for by 1900 there were about 8000. has been eroded. This could be an survive only for one lunar
sensing smell that included both Now, there are as many as 35,000. issue if climate change or disease day, which is about two
rat and mouse cells. To reconstruct the genetic history threatens the industry. Earth weeks. This is
These hybrid mice could find of these plants, Thibault Leroy at However, Leroy says this risk can because night on the
hidden mini Oreo cookies easily, the University of Angers, France, be mitigated as long as collectors moon is so cold, getting
unlike mice with the same genetic and his colleagues sequenced and botanic gardens conserve their as low as -133°C, that it
lack of sense of smell that didn’t 15 varieties, including ancient stores of ancient varieties, as these ruins spacecraft batteries
have rat neurons in their brains European and ancient Asian still hold a full suite of genetic and electronics.
(Cell, doi.org/msz5). Tom Leslie cultivars, early Asian-European diversity. James Woodford

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Views
The columnist Aperture Letters Culture Culture
Chanda Prescod- Beautiful close-ups What to do about A riveting account A sci-fi thriller sees a
Weinstein on LED of bees from around the carbon capture of the rise of weight professor kidnapped
light pollution p22 the world p24 crisis? p26 loss drugs p28 by himself p29
Comment
The good old days?

Nostalgia isn’t only about a rose-tinted view of the past. It can also be put to
use in unexpected places – including work, says Agnes Arnold-Forster
F
OR hundreds of years, being denied a voice in important
nostalgia wasn’t just an decisions at work, researchers
emotion, but a potentially have found that nostalgia provides
deadly disease. Coined by a Swiss an “alternative route to social
physician in 1688, nostalgia struck connectedness” that keeps
down servants in 17th-century employees cooperative.
Germany and killed soldiers One study that interviewed
in their thousands during the 23 academics in Finland found
American Civil War. It was a kind they yearned for a past when
of pathological homesickness they had more academic freedom.
and while its exact mechanism is This “idealization of the past”
unclear, it caused people to slowly helped the academics clarify their
waste away. Weak and unable to professional values, researchers
eat, some starved to death. found, which helped them come
These days, we view to terms with current pressures.
nostalgia very differently. Now, And when medical professionals
psychologists and neuroscientists had their autonomy threatened
think nostalgia is a predominantly by new ways of working, they
positive, albeit bittersweet, could draw on nostalgia to make
emotion that arises from themselves feel better.
personally salient, tender, This is all also great news
wistful memories of one’s past. for managers. A major challenge
But nostalgia isn’t just benign. for big organisations is getting
ADRIA VOLTA
It is also actively therapeutic – a people to forgo self-interest and

powerful psychological resource contribute to the collective good.
that provides people with a variety As nostalgia can foster feelings
of benefits. Researchers have The sociologist Yiannis Gabriel example, and could be deployed as of connectedness, it may make
found it can boost self-esteem, was one of the first to coin the a personal psychological resource. staff more willing to engage in
increase meaning in life, foster term “organisational nostalgia”. Nostalgia at work can look behaviour that benefits their
a sense of social connectedness He found that nostalgia is a like shared recollections about colleagues and the organisation’s
and reduce loneliness, stress and by-product of workplaces where memorable days in a company’s needs. Other studies have found
anxiety. It can even be used to employees have spent many years, history, or more abstract feelings it even improves staff retention.
maintain and improve memory especially when the organisation about the “golden age” of a While savvy managers can lean
among older adults, enrich is central to the local community, profession. Psychologists found on nostalgia to help them get their
psychological health and lessen like coal mines, hospitals and that this organisational nostalgia staff onside, employees can use
depression, studies show. universities. His research subjects helps employees cope with a this research to see where their
This therapeutic version of told nostalgic stories about former challenging boss. It could act as nostalgia for the workplace could
nostalgia has been put to use in colleagues and reminisced over an emotional buffer, allowing be clouding their judgement. ❚
unexpected places. Organisations old office buildings. staff to maintain a feeling of
of various kinds have tapped into Later studies found that motivation and – helpfully for
nostalgia’s feel-good factor and organisational nostalgia could employers – stop them seeking Agnes Arnold-Forster
companies have deployed the be put to use. It strengthened improved working conditions or is a historian and author
emotion in their efforts to the professional identities of altered leadership. of Nostalgia: A history
improve workforce well-being. academics, doctors and nurses, for Despite the frustrations of, say, of a dangerous emotion

Views Columnist
Field notes from space-time
Turn out the lights Our shift to LEDs is stopping us from seeing
the night skies. The way we illuminate the world needs to be part
of our green agenda, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
A
STORY I like to tell from the time I was in Chile, there was figure out why it felt strange.
my childhood, to help a big policy push to shift to LED Then I realised it was because
people understand the lighting, which uses a lot less the horizon was bright white, full
importance of dark night skies, energy. It is a great idea. The only of the glow of LED lighting, rather
is about growing up in Los Angeles problem? The transformation to than the orange I grew up with.
next to a freeway. I am a child LED lighting, which was advanced It also dawned on me with horror
of the smoggy 1980s and 1990s by policy-makers across the US, that I wouldn’t be seeing any
in LA, when the air quality was didn’t come with a requirement stars while I was home. In effect,
infamously bad. The city was that the light be filtered to only a I relived the nearly-empty night
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein also incredibly lit-up at night. single frequency, the way sodium sky of my childhood.
is an associate professor The smog and light pollution lights work. As a result, a lot of But this time it was different,
of physics and astronomy, created a situation where we the lighting installed around because I could see in my mind
and a core faculty member could see almost no celestial the country is now white light. exactly how much was missing.
in women’s studies at the features except for the moon White light is a composition I also knew that it isn’t possible
University of New Hampshire. and sometimes Venus. of many different frequencies, for amateur astronomers like my
Her most recent book is The I didn’t see a dark night and it mimics sunlight. Animals friend Marvin, who tells me he
Disordered Cosmos: A journey sky until I was a teenager, when (including humans) have different sees fewer stars today than five
into dark matter, spacetime, I learned for the first time that, biological responses to white light years ago, to easily filter out the
and dreams deferred given the right conditions, we light pollution, because it is now
can see the Milky Way with the “Amateur coming in every frequency.
naked eye. I had no idea. astronomers can’t Organisations like DarkSky
Almost two decades later, while International have documented
easily filter out the
I was in Chile on my first and only the ways in which lighting can
Chanda’s week professional telescope observing light pollution, function as pollution, with
What I’m reading run, I stood under a clear southern because it is coming impacts on everything from the
Chicano Frankenstein sky and realised that my ancestors in every frequency” very function of ecosystems to our
by Daniel A. Olivas had seen skies like this all the ability to access our cultural night
was so much fun. time. They didn’t have to travel compared with orange light sky heritage. This might seem like
for 24 hours across thousands of because we are programmed to a losing battle in metropolises like
What I’m watching miles. A dark night sky was their interpret it as daylight, so it can LA – which, like Randy Newman,
I really think the norm. This is how they evolved disrupt circadian rhythms. I love – but luckily for us, that isn’t
Coronation Street writers and how they lived every evening. Light pollution can be a true. DarkSky International works
need to stop making Roy I saw then how much us inner-city problem in any frequency, of actively with communities around
suffer so much! kids were denied by the bright course, especially when lighting the world to install responsible
lights and air pollution of our isn’t focused on the place where lighting that is safely focused on
What I’m working on beloved hometowns. We were it is needed: the ground, not the the ground, while also minimising
Thinking about a novel cut off from seeing the cosmos sky. Broad-spectrum LED lighting negative impacts on communities.
model of dark matter the way our ancestors had. adds to these challenges when When we talk about being
involving a different type At the time I had this revelation, it isn’t carefully regulated. ecologically responsible, the
of photon than normal. a prominent feature of many US I recently returned to my way we illuminate our homes
cities was that night-time street hometown to participate in the and streets at night has to be
lights were orange-ish. Many of Los Angeles Times Festival of part of the conversation.
these were sodium vapour lamps, Books and was out late for a few Want to help? Simple things you
which emit light at a characteristic nights due to the festivities. can do include installing blackout
frequency for sodium, This was my first time going curtains in your home and making
589 nanometres. This meant the back since taking up amateur sure any outdoor lighting around
light was around one wavelength, astronomy, so of course your dwelling has shielding that
so was orange, giving cities a kind I looked up, to check the sky. focuses the light towards the
of fiery halo in the evenings. At around 10pm on my first ground. Educate yourself too,
The problem with sodium night, I was shaken by what I saw. on the improvements your
This column appears vapour lighting is that it is The horizon looked like the sun community can make to lighting –
monthly. Up next week: less energy efficient than had just set. I knew something was and then spread the knowledge,
Graham Lawton newer technologies. Around different, but initially couldn’t especially to decision-makers. ❚

Views Aperture

Worth the buzz
Photographer Pete Carr

National Museums Liverpool
FEW insects (or even animals) hold

quite as much sway on the planet
as bees. As pollinators that flock
from flower to flower, crop to crop,
they keep the world’s flora and
biodiversity thriving. And yet,
thanks to a myriad of deadly
factors, such as pesticides, habitat
destruction and climate change,
thousands of species are teetering
on the brink.
A new exhibition all about these
vital creatures, Bees: A story of
survival, provides an immersive
window on their world, from the
intricate anatomy of a single bee
to the structure of entire colonies.
In collaboration with artist
Wolfgang Buttress, it uses sound,
sculpture and light, blending art
and technology to show visitors
the lives of bees around the world,
illuminating just how devastating
it would be to lose them.
The main image is of a bee from
the genus Euglossa, also known as
orchid bees. These are a key orchid
pollinator in North and South
America (although they also flock
to rotting fruit, fungi and even
faeces). The males, one of which is
shown here, use the odours from
the chemicals they collect from
pollination to court females – the
more complex the odour, the
greater the attraction.
The column of smaller images
shows (top to bottom): a violet
carpenter bee (Xylocopa violacea),
recognisable through its purple-
sheened wings and body, and one
of the largest bees in Europe; a bee
from the genus Nomioides, which
is one of the smallest types of bee;
and an African carpenter bee
(Xylocopa inconstans).
The exhibition will be at the
World Museum in Liverpool,
UK, until 5 May 2025. ❚
Gege Li

Views Your letters
Editor’s pick other organic waste materials foul-smelling substance, which harm. It has been suggested
in limited oxygen/air to produce also gets on their body. Perhaps that they may trigger some of
something akin to charcoal. Most they are simply more familiar with the conditions they try to prevent
What to do about the
biochar is incorporated into soil, what they smell like and more by causing some children to over-
carbon capture crisis? where it can lock carbon away for likely to notice a small difference. ruminate on their state of mind.
20 April, p 8 millennia. A recent report refers More research is needed to ensure
From Geoff Harding, Sydney, Australia to 350,000 metric tons per year of they aren’t causing net harm.
Obesogenic habits might
As attempts over the past 20 years carbon being sequestered this way
have demonstrated, carbon capture in 2023. Growth in production has be very tricky to change
13 April, p 21 Another vote against
and storage is fraught with difficulty averaged over 90 per cent in the
and unlikely to make a significant past two years. From Florence Leroy, the many worlds theory
contribution in the future. Swindon, Wiltshire, UK 23 March, p 32
A worthwhile alternative strategy The words “…my peers load their From Derek Bolton,
Optimise the skin biome
in which citizens and various levels plates with only burgers, fries and Sydney, Australia
of government worldwide can rather than destroy it pizza” define precisely what is at My objections to the many worlds
participate is carbon sequestration 20 April, p 14 the heart of the obesity crisis. interpretation of quantum theory
through tree propagation. From Chris Eve, Dundee, UK Pretty much no food is inherently are that it is necessarily untestable
In cities, every backyard and You report that “post-op infection bad. However, the sheer amount and anyway explains nothing.
nature strip could be partially is often due to skin-dwelling of it eaten is. In the UK, US and To be testable, we would have
or completely forested. Non- microbes”. Surgeons try to prevent other places where food is to be able to detect the influence
productive farmland could be these infections by sterilising relatively cheap, I have witnessed of one of the other copies of our
put to far more important use the skin before cutting into it, single servings that could easily universe on us for at least some
as a carbon sink. Wealthy nations but nature abhors a vacuum and have fed four people. Nothing will tiny period after separation. Yet, so
could subsidise reforestation in when most of the biome is killed solve the problem if people aren’t long as such influence exists, it is,
the Amazon and other damaged you have no control over which willing to change their habits. I am by definition, part of our universe.
rainforests. This is surely a low-cost organisms multiply to fill the not even sure that education will And it explains nothing because
and effective option and, as is often (nearly) empty niche. Maybe it is help, although it can do no harm. the thing to be explained is
discussed, greened environments worth considering painting the quantum collapse. Recasting it as
bring considerable health benefits. skin with a biome that will do no a bifurcation of the universe sheds
On possible causes
harm – ideally even be helpful – if no light on how it comes to pass.
From Andrew Taubman, introduced into a surgical wound. of child anxiety
Sydney, Australia 6 April, p 35
Why AIs may never
Carbon capture and storage is a From Mike Raynor,
Scent-loving snakes be able to think like us
complete waste of time, money Glossop, Derbyshire, UK
and effort. It can’t work at the scale enjoy making a stink The evidence that anxiety is rising Leader, 13 April
necessary to make any meaningful 13 April, p 19 in children is largely unequivocal. From Andy Smith,
difference in the time available From Bob Ladd, Edinburgh, UK You describe several potential Grimsby, Lincolnshire, UK
and consumes a lot of energy. Many years ago, in eastern Canada, causal factors, including social You posit that advances in the
We need to focus on what will I encountered numerous eastern media, interactions at school ability of artificial intelligence
make the greatest difference in the garter snakes – the species in your and socio-economic status. to do pure maths may “herald
least time: a complete cessation report on a study that found they Another possibility worth machines that reason and think
of new coal and gas extraction; appear to recognise their own mentioning is the use in schools like humans”. While I agree that
existing fossil fuel power plants scent. Noam Miller, the researcher of low-intensity interventions to this will contribute to the ability of
being wound down as soon as who found this ability, attributes raise awareness of mental health. AI to reason and gain general level
possible; German nuclear plants it to the fact that garter snakes These are often given whether or intelligence, it doesn’t necessarily
brought back into action, but are social creatures, unlike ball not people present with actual mean they will ever think like us.
no new ones built; and all pythons, which appear not to or suspected symptoms. Human thought can be rational,
transport powered by electricity know their scent. This is done with the best of but it can also be emotional,
or hydrogen. These are the only However, there is another intentions, but there is emerging embodied, spiritual, contradictory
things that will make any possible explanation. Garter evidence that exposing children and unintelligible. Because of this
substantial difference. snakes defend themselves by without mental health issues to eclectic mix, people can have
flailing their tails to smear a these interventions could cause experiences, hold values, be
From John Briggs, hypocritical, act illogically and
Menith Wood, Worcestershire, UK empathise. Unless these are
Your list of key technologies Want to get in touch? emergent phenomena of the
for carbon capture and storage Send letters to letters@newscientist.com; complexity required to create
omits any mention of biochar. see terms at newscientist.com/letters intelligence, it is likely that these
This is produced by pyrolysis of Letters sent to New Scientist, 9 Derry Street, attributes will prove challenging
agricultural, forestry, garden or London, W8 5HY will be delayed to replicate artificially. ❚

Views Culture
A fix for our weighty problem?

The use of Ozempic as a weight-loss drug signals a new approach to tackling
obesity. Clare Wilson explores a riveting, if flawed, first-person account
Book
Magic Pill
Johann Hari
Bloomsbury Publishing (UK)
Crown Publishing (US)
AS BOTH a cultural phenomenon

and one of the most successful
new drugs of the 21st century, it
was inevitable we would soon see
popular science books written
about the weight-loss drug
Wegovy (also sold as Ozempic)
EGGY SAYOGA/ALAMY
and other similar medicines.
Among the first is Magic Pill:
The extraordinary benefits
and disturbing risks of the new
weight-loss drugs by Johann Hari.
For two years, Hari has been been climbing in almost every potential problems with the Drugs, such as Ozempic,
fortunate enough, journalistically country in the world, and skilfully GLP-1 mimics. These range from may help turn the rising
speaking, to be taking one of recounts how these drugs were the obvious – such as the risk tide of global obesity
these medicines of the moment, discovered and what we are still that they will be abused by people
which work by mimicking a gut learning about how they work. with eating disorders – to the blame blood sugar spikes, artificial
hormone called GLP-1, normally The chapter on Japan’s speculative, such as that people sweeteners or damage to the gut
released after eating to make us approach to preventing obesity may be harmed if they can no microbiome. These factors are
feel full. Hari tells their story is fascinating. It is clear that longer use overeating as an certainly suspects for contributing
through the irresistible literary Western countries could learn emotional crutch, something to rising obesity, but as yet there is
device of being his own case study. from some initiatives, such as Hari says he does. no hard evidence.
The Ozempic phenomenon More concerning is when For example, Hari repeats one
falls squarely in my beat as health “Johann Hari bares his he seems to exaggerate the scientist’s unlikely claim that your
reporter at New Scientist, but I soul about his personal science, perhaps due to gut bacteria are “just as important
began reading Magic Pill with misunderstandings, misplaced as your brain”. This must come as a
trepidation. Hari is infamous in
battles with weight and faith in some of his celebrity surprise to people happily walking
British media circles for resigning Ozempic’s unpleasant scientist interviewees or the need around after the surgical removal
in disgrace from The Independent side effects” to weave a compelling narrative. of their entire colon, the home to
newspaper in 2012 after being For instance, Hari seems to nearly all our gut bacteria.
caught plagiarising and the focus on healthy school misinterpret the conclusions we These caveats aside, I would
maliciously editing Wikipedia meals. But others are unlikely should draw from an important still recommend this book for
pages about his critics. to be widely transferable, such but brief trial comparing anyone taking, or considering
After apologising and saying as the measures by some processed foods with whole foods, taking, any of these weight-loss
that he would take journalism companies to keep their workers when he implies that junk food drugs or anyone who just wants
training, Hari has reinvented trim – including by tracking their makes people eat 500 more to know about their wider impact.
himself as a non-fiction writer weight, exercise and meals. calories a day than they need, in Unlike much of the commentary
specialising in medical Cynics might complain that, perpetuity. Clearly that couldn’t on this topic, which focuses on
controversies. in his previous books, Hari was possibly be correct. short-term problems, such as
Despite my reservations, I keener to “pill shame” when it Another issue for me is that, the drugs’ high cost, Hari gets
couldn’t put Magic Pill down. Hari came to medicines for depression although we don’t know why that, in time, they could have
bares his soul about his personal and ADHD than with a drug that obesity rates are rising, Hari as big an impact as the arrival of
battles with weight and Ozempic’s he personally benefits from. regurgitates dogmatic claims antidepressants, speculating how
unpleasant side effects. He also That would be unfair, as Hari from whichever scientist he has they may reshape global health.
explores why obesity rates have bends over backwards to explore just interviewed, whether they I found it a fascinating read. ❚

New Scientist
recommends
Life in the multiverse

A sci-fi thriller sees physics professor Jason kidnapped by
a version of himself, out to take over his life, finds Josh Bell
show adapted from a Crouch novel, to a different alternate world. Sophie Bushwick
2015’s mostly ridiculous Wayward Dumped without explanation Editor
TV New York
Pines. But at times, it could use into J2’s world, Jason is desperate to
Dark Matter return home to Daniela and Charlie.
some of that show’s outlandish Birth control helps give half
Blake Crouch
spirit, especially in a setting where Meanwhile, J2 attempts to take over the world’s population a
Apple TV+ from 8 May
literally anything is possible. Jason’s life, to capture the familial life outside the home. But
Jason, as introduced in the fulfilment he sacrificed to focus on the women who made it
EVERYONE knows about the first episode, has a pretty mundane his scientific research. Dark Matter possible in the 1950s
multiverse now. Thanks to the life: he is a physics professor at really gets going once Jason escapes
Marvel Cinematic Universe and a mid-level college in Chicago, from the clutches of J2’s nefarious
popular movies like Everything husband to art gallery manager boss Leighton (Dayo Okeniyi) and
Everywhere All At Once, the idea Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and enters the multiverse, aided by J2’s
of infinite parallel worlds adjacent father to teenage son Charlie (Oakes psychologist colleague and past
to ours is somewhat commonplace. Fegley). When he finds out that his love, Amanda (Alice Braga).
So it isn’t a mind-blowing reveal in old university friend Ryan (Jimmi On their quest to return to
the new TV show Dark Matter when Simpson) has won a prestigious Jason’s home reality, he and were never told they
protagonist Jason Dessen (Joel physics prize, he experiences a Amanda visit plenty of different were subjects in the pill’s
Edgerton) finds that he has been twinge of jealousy about what could worlds, and Crouch offers up some first large human trial.
transported into an alternate have been, and agrees to consider creative variations while sticking Las Boriqueñas by
dimension where another version a corporate job offer from Ryan. to a mostly sombre, grounded tone. Nelson Diaz-Marcano, on
of himself lived a different life. He is wholly unprepared to be The closest that Dark Matter gets at the Ensemble Studio
What is potentially exciting thrust into an entirely new life, to the kind of endearingly cheesy Theatre, New York, tells the
about this Apple TV+ series is what though, which is what happens alt-universe adventures of a show story of five Puerto Rican
creator Blake Crouch does with the when he is assaulted and kidnapped like cult classic Sliders is when Jason women in the trial. They
multiverse concept, and that most by another version of himself. and Amanda end up in a world gossip and dream, but
of the show’s storytelling is gripping This other Jason – referred to in overrun by giant killer bees, but are restricted by limited
and fast-paced. Crouch adapted the credits as J2 – has developed even then, there is only a brief family planning options:
Dark Matter from his own 2016 a device that can place a human glimpse before they move on. undependable partners,
novel and wrote or co-wrote six of being in superposition, a state of Dark Matter could have probably potentially deadly
the nine episodes. The show has a quantum uncertainty that J2 calls used more giant bees and less abortion or sterilisation.
more cohesive tone than the last TV “five-dimensional probability domestic drama, although Edgerton The pill is a game-
space”. In practical terms, it is a huge has strong chemistry with both changer, but has severe
Jason (Joel Edgerton) inside a black box that extends itself into an Connelly and Braga. He is shakier side effects (the trial used
huge device that puts people in infinite corridor with infinite doors when called upon to effectively much higher hormone
a state of quantum uncertainty that a user can open, each leading differentiate the multiple versions levels than now). Their
of Jason, but the show helpfully reports dismissed, the
provides sound-effect cues women realise they are
whenever switching universes. guinea pigs. The play
Crouch elegantly ties the can get bogged down
mechanism for travelling between in exposition, but it
worlds to the characters’ emotional makes clear the need for
states, and Dark Matter is best the pill, while asking who
when it balances big sci-fi ideas was really empowered
with meaningful personal stakes. by this medication.
The finale teases even more Fallout (Amazon Prime
possibilities beyond the bounds Video) is gorier, sillier,
VALERIE TERRANOVA PHOTOGRAPHY
of Crouch’s novel, offering the hope and its “science” mostly

of an alternate universe where the fiction. I love the mutant
SANDY MORRIS/APPLE TV+
show is just a bit goofier – and monsters, corporate

thus a bit more entertaining. ❚ conspiracies, and parody
of nuclear-age optimism,
Josh Bell is a writer and critic complete with jello cake.
based in Las Vegas, Nevada

Views Culture
Why we love woo-woo

From ghosts to reincarnation, it takes a well-rounded sceptic to find a
rational, humane course through such claims, finds Wendy Grossman
to fill in gaps from what we already
know (top-down processing).
Book
Constant interaction between
The Science of Weird Shit
the processes helps create a good-
Chris French
enough model of our world. But
MIT Press
there is also the potential for error:
illusory perceptions creep in if the
DURING a TV show in the early input is ambiguous or degraded.
1990s, a man describes waking up This, he says, is how we end up
in the night with a weight pressing seeing things that aren’t there.
on his chest. He could neither In one experiment, he found
move nor breathe. He says this is most people don’t remember how
the result of a visiting ghost. Later “four” appears on clock faces that
that week, on another TV show, a use Roman numerals. Participants
different man tells a similar story opted for IV, as it looks elsewhere,
of waking up in the night with a when in fact it is represented on
PITER LENK/ALAMY
weight on his chest. He, too, could most timepieces as IIII.

neither move nor breathe. For French has been a frequent
him, the cause was a visiting alien. guest on TV shows to explain
I heard both stories live, having phenomena, run tests on psychics
been invited onto the shows as or, in one of his nervier exploits,
the then editor of The Skeptic A cognitive bias called abductions, false memories, perform a cold reading as a
magazine. It seemed obvious pareidolia leads people reincarnation, precognitive “psychic”. This relies on making
that both men were experiencing to see a face in this tree dreams, coincidences and more. vague, general statements and on
something real and physical, and He isn’t the first to write a observing the subject’s reactions,
that, for both, the interpretation French now runs the general book on the paranormal. often appearing to know details
lay in their belief systems. Familiar Anomalistic Psychology Research What makes his different is its they haven’t disclosed. The sitter
with the work of experts like Chris Unit at Goldsmiths (“anomalistic” mix of academic knowledge and gave his reading a glowing review.
French, a researcher at what is now is the polite version of “weird practical application. For example, Another time, he joined a TV
Goldsmiths, University of London, shit”). When he set out, few this approach offers opportunities crew documenting the belief in
I knew the name of what had really considered the field worthy of to explore the cognitive biases that reincarnation common among
happened to them: sleep paralysis. study. French originally believed the Druze people, a religious sect
Some years later, French has in the paranormal, became what “French believed in the in Lebanon. While they failed
written a nuanced book about he calls a “dogmatic” sceptic, then to turn up evidence to support
paranormal, became
this phenomenon and the many shifted slowly to understanding the belief, French concluded
others that attract non-scientific that “it’s complicated”.
a ‘dogmatic’ sceptic, the Druze may benefit from it
explanations. In The Science of Here, in a book that reads then shifted slowly because families help children
Weird Shit: Why our minds like a non-fiction thriller, his first to ‘it’s complicated’ ” claiming to be the reincarnation
conjure the paranormal, he job is to define the paranormal, of one of their own.
shares historical accounts and opting to follow the Cambridge can negatively affect our decisions In The Science of Weird Shit,
scientific studies showing that Dictionary entry: “impossible to and behaviour. Take pareidolia, French’s goal isn’t to tell people
the feeling of a presence can be explain by known natural forces or where we perceive meaningful they are wrong, but to set their
very strong during sleep paralysis, by science”. It isn’t perfect, he says – images from random patterns – experiences in the context of
often an unnerving (if relatively for example, consciousness fits such as a face in a tree or in stains. psychology. He understands
common) experience. that description, though few call Then there is suggestibility, that it is all very much a matter
Small wonder, then, that such that paranormal. where we are primed to accept of interpretation. If they wanted,
events produce paranormal But the definition is good false memories as real. French he tells students, he could present
interpretations. In reality, says enough, because it takes in has run experiments showing a course taking the believer’s
French, sleep paralysis “can be the three main general areas how memory works, as opposed to side and convince them of the
thought of as glitches in the parapsychologists think about: how we think it works. We process paranormal. But he doesn’t. ❚
normal sleep cycle during which, extrasensory perception, a mere fraction of the sensory
to put it simply, the mind wakes psychokinesis and life after death. information available (known as Wendy Grossman is a
up but the body does not”. These areas lead French into alien bottom-up processing) and have writer based in London

To advertise here please email Ryan.Buczman@mailmetromedia.co.uk or call 020 3615 1151 4 May 2024 | New Scientist | 31
Features Cover story
M
Y YOUNGEST son has been allergic at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
to peanuts and sesame since he Getting a firm handle on the prevalence
was a toddler. Though he has never of food allergies is quite difficult, as there are
had a life-threatening reaction, the risk of one various ways of measuring it. But most studies
hangs over him constantly. He can’t eat out have found a recent increase, at least in adults.
in most restaurants or travel to many parts of Food safety surveys carried out by the US Food
the world. Grocery shopping is an ordeal. He and Drug Administration (FDA) found that the
has his own place now, and I live in constant number of adults self-reporting a food allergy
anxiety. We always hoped he would grow out increased from 9.1 per cent in 2001 to 13 per
of his allergies. At 21, he almost certainly won’t. cent in 2010. In 2019, a different research
He is in an increasingly crowded boat. For group found that the figure was 19 per cent.
reasons that aren’t well understood, food The prevalence in children has remained at
allergies have grown explosively in the 21st about 8 per cent for the past decade or so.
century. Peanuts are a common trigger, as At the same time, hospital admissions for
are wheat, cow’s milk, egg, soya, other nuts, severe allergic reactions have risen dramatically.
fish and shellfish. Beyond the “big eight” In the US, the number per 100,000 people
lies a long tail of allergies to other foods, increased from 153 in 2004 to 218 in 2016.
including many fruits, vegetables and seeds. The equivalent figure in the UK grew by
Some people are allergic to beer, others to more than 179 per cent from 1998 until 2018.
cannabis. If humans consume it, chances The rise in adult cases has belatedly captured
are somebody, somewhere, is allergic to it. the attention of epidemiologists who were
This rise has translated into an increased previously focused on childhood allergies,
burden on healthcare and a reduced quality says Christopher Warren at Northwestern
of life for many, as they strive to avoid a University in Illinois. It is in part due to
potentially fatal reaction. Until recently, there children with allergies growing up, but not
was only one way to avert this outcome: don’t growing out of the condition as frequently
eat the trigger food. That is easier said than as expected – only about 20 per cent of
done, however, with unexpected ingredients children outgrow a peanut allergy. But it is
incorporated into processed foods and also due to adult-onset allergies, which “seem
labelling often ambiguous or inaccurate. increasingly common”, according to Warren.
But now, finally, there is hope on the horizon, First and foremost among these is pollen
with the arrival of several new therapies that food syndrome. In this case, the primary
can help people avoid an allergic reaction, not allergy is to some variety of airborne pollen,
just to food, but other kinds of triggers too. which triggers hay fever as a result of the
“An exciting era is near,” says Idil Ezhuthachan immune system mistakenly recognising
The end of
allergies?
Have we finally found a way to stop
people having dangerous allergic
reactions, asks Graham Lawton
RUBY FRESSON

proteins (or “allergens”) within the pollen as
dangerous. People with this allergy also tend
to have a reaction to foods containing closely
related allergens. The main one in birch pollen,
for example, is almost identical to those found
in apples and hazelnuts. An allergy to mugwort
pollen can also make people sensitive to
wheat, peach, walnuts, soy and latex.
Seafood is also a common trigger in
adults: in the US, about 60 per cent of shellfish
allergies and 40 per cent of finfish allergies
arise in adulthood, according to Jay Lieberman
at the University of Tennessee Health Science
Center in Memphis. We don’t know why these
foods are tolerated for years then suddenly
trigger allergies, he says.
Under your skin

Childhood food allergies are also a bit of
a head-scratcher. There is clearly a genetic
component that can put people at higher
risk of developing one, but what makes some
people’s bodies react to an otherwise innocuous
environmental trigger is still unknown
(see “How to prevent your child from
developing food allergies”, page 34). The
hygiene hypothesis, which posits that living
in an excessively sterile environment in early
childhood leads to poor immune tolerance later
in life, lacks convincing evidence, according
to Gideon Lack at King’s College London.
The most promising explanation for
child-onset allergies is cutaneous exposure,
where food allergens penetrate broken skin >
“Having a drug that

can offer another
level of protection
is priceless”

How to prevent your child from
developing food allergies
Most people with severe food the skin condition eczema, which defence mode. In a classic reaction, a type
allergies have a genetic susceptibility, often precedes the development of white blood cell called a helper T-cell
according to Idil Ezhuthachan at of food allergies. Eczema causes recognises an allergen and sounds the alarm,
Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. broken skin, allowing potential stimulating B-cells to release an antibody
If allergies run in your family, then food allergens to access the called immunoglobulin E (IgE). This binds to
your children are at higher risk of immune system deep under the target cells, triggering a flood of inflammatory
developing one. But biology isn’t skin, which is less tolerant of them. molecules, including histamines. Cue the
destiny and there are things that Early introduction of common classic allergic reaction: swelling, itching,
parents can do to prevent an allergens can help prevent this, streaming eyes and nose, hives and, in the
allergy arising. and so can treatments for eczema. case of food, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Number one is early exposure. “I get excited whenever I see a baby
When my late wife was carrying and with eczema in my clinic because
breastfeeding our peanut-allergic I feel like ‘oh, now I can make a Threat to life
son (see main story), the advice in difference in your life, let’s fix your Histamines also cause blood vessels to dilate,
the UK was for her to avoid eating eczema so that we prevent food leading to a rapid drop in blood pressure. In
peanuts, which she did. We were also allergy’,” says Ezhuthachan. severe cases, these immune responses can be
advised to delay introducing peanuts fatal. Swelling of the airways and tongue make
into his diet during weaning. But Introducing eggs into the it difficult to breathe, while catastrophically
research subsequently showed that diet at an early age can low blood pressure can progress to a state
these strategies have no benefit and reduce the risk of an allergy called anaphylactic shock, where not
the advice was withdrawn in 2008. enough blood reaches tissues. This can
Indeed, such measures may be lead to unconsciousness and cardiac arrest.
counterproductive. Numerous studies The only treatment for severe allergic
have shown that early introduction reactions at present is epinephrine, also
of multiple typical allergens, such known as adrenaline, which rapidly dilates
as peanut and egg, reduces the risk the airways, constricts blood vessels and
of any allergy, and infant weaning speeds up the heart. That is why people with
guidelines in the US now encourage life-threatening allergies often carry injectable
MARTIN PARR/MAGNUM PHOTOS
the early addition of common allergy doses of epinephrine in an EpiPen or similar.

triggering foods. In early life, the Swift action can make the difference between
gastrointestinal tract is primed to life and death.
promote tolerance to allergens and Still, around half of people with a severe
will do so if exposed to them early. food allergy have had at least one severe
Another is to keep an eye out for reaction and roughly a third have been
hospitalised. In the US, between 50 and
100 people die from anaphylactic shock
after ingesting peanuts every year.
“A third of people and trigger an immune response, which
is then encoded into an immune memory,
Anaphylaxis can escalate, with subsequent
attacks worse than the previous one. And
says Ezhuthachan. This fits with what is about 20 per cent of people experience a
with severe food known as the “allergic march”, where “biphasic” shock, with a second wave of
children who initially develop eczema are anaphylactic symptoms hours or even days
much more likely to subsequently develop after the first. “People with severe food allergy,
allergies end up food allergies, asthma and hay fever. The especially those who are allergic to multiple
broken skin that characterises eczema may foods, have a substantial need for effective
in hospital” be the route by which food allergens first and safe treatments,” says Gary Wong at the
encounter the immune system. However, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“the processes governing this loss of Such treatments finally appear to be on
tolerance are incompletely understood”, the horizon after years of promise. Back in the
says Jyothi Tirumalasetty at Stanford 1980s, scientists at biotech company Tanox in
University in California. Houston, Texas, hit on a potentially life-saving
On the other hand, the mechanics of concept. If severe allergies were triggered by
allergic reactions are now well-known, which IgE, why not target that? They developed a drug
is partly the reason for the recent surge of called TNX-901 that binds tightly to IgE and
new treatments. A reaction starts when the stops it from latching on to cells that would
immune system misidentifies something otherwise release inflammatory molecules
innocuous as a threat and goes into blitz- like histamines. The idea was to give regular

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injections of TNX-901 to people with severe make his system tolerate the foodstuff. He
allergies to protect them from an IgE storm initially administered a ten-thousandth of an
if they accidentally ate their trigger food. egg per day and built up gradually to a sixth of
In a subsequent clinical trial published in an egg. Within months, the boy was able to eat
2003, involving 84 volunteers aged 12 to 60 whole eggs without a reaction.
DAVID MCLAIN/CAVAN IMAGES/ALAMY

who had a peanut allergy, Tanox showed that Despite the positive result, the approach
the concept worked: four injections of TNX-901 was considered too risky and OIT fell by the
over 12 weeks “significantly and substantially” wayside. It wasn’t until the 1990s that it was
increased participants’ tolerance threshold revisited, and numerous studies have since
from an average of about half a peanut successfully used it in people, mainly children,
to almost nine peanuts. That, according to for peanuts, cow’s milk, eggs and fish. One
the researchers, was sufficient headroom to study found that OIT could induce “sustained
protect against most unintended ingestions. unresponsiveness” to eggs, meaning that
Unfortunately, this promising tool didn’t Why people suddenly people could eat normal quantities of this
get off the ground. The trial was halted due to react to specific foods food with no reaction. In 2017, the European
a legal dispute between Tanox and its industry isn’t well understood Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
partners, Novartis and Genentech, over who recommended OIT for children with allergies
owned the right to develop the drug. TNX-901 to cow’s milk, eggs or peanuts. In 2020, the FDA
never saw the light of day. and the European Medicines Agency approved
In the meantime, however, a different an oral peanut formulation for 4 to 17-year-olds
strategy called oral immunotherapy (OIT) called Palforzia, developed by Aimmune
was being tested. This involves feeding people Therapeutics of Bridgewater, New Jersey.
with food allergies tiny but escalating doses But OIT is far from perfect. One problem,
of their trigger allergen. The idea is that doses says Sharon Chinthrajah at Stanford
initially too small to provoke a reaction will University, is that it is laborious. It can only
gradually retrain the immune system to desensitise people to one allergen at a time,
tolerate the offending substance. but she says at least 43 per cent of children
This technique isn’t actually new – the with a food allergy in the US are allergic to
first recorded case of OIT was published in more than one food. It is also still risky, she
1908, concerning a 13-year-old boy with a says: allergic reactions, even anaphylaxis,
severe egg allergy. His doctor, a practitioner at during the process are common.
London’s Harley Street called Alfred Schofield,
hypothesised that egg proteins were causing
the boy’s blood vessels to become leaky, so he
Attacking asthma
started feeding him tiny amounts of egg to Fortunately, the IgE-blocking concept was also
eventually revived. Before teaming up with
Tanox, Genentech and Novartis had developed
their own anti-IgE monoclonal antibody called
omalizumab, trade name Xolair. They initially
tested it against asthma triggered by airborne
allergens and won regulatory approval for that
use in 2003.
Next in the crosshairs were peanuts. Things
got off to a rocky start: the first clinical trial of
omalizumab for peanut allergy had to stop
recruiting when two of the volunteers had
anaphylactic shocks during tests to measure
their baseline tolerance to this food. But the
nine volunteers who got the drug showed
an 80-fold increase in their tolerance.
Since then, more trials of the drug have
been carried out on peanut allergy with
good results. Some doctors started giving
PAT CANOVA/ALAMY
omalizumab to people with food allergies

even though it didn’t have regulatory
clearance, says Wong.
The latest results were unveiled in >

Reactions to pollen another IgE blocker, UB-221 from Taiwanese
often appear along company United BioPharma, is being tested
with those to food against eczema and, according to Chinthrajah,
has “great potential in food allergy”.
A slightly different approach is to disrupt
IgE as well as block it. Once IgE has bound to its
target cells, initiating the release of histamine,
blockers are largely powerless to intervene.
But a new class of drugs called disruptive IgE
inhibitors not only stop IgE from binding, but
also lever it off target cells once it has bound.
SOREN NIELSEN/IMAGE SOURCE LIMITED/ALAMY

They aren’t yet in clinical trials, but show
promise as a rapid rescue remedy for
anaphylaxis, according to Chinthrajah.
People who start to have an allergic reaction
could use them like an EpiPen to halt the
potentially deadly cascade.
Multiple existing drugs are also being
eyed with a view to repurposing them for
food allergy, and there are several vaccines
in development, though these are at a very
early stage. As a result, after decades of having
February. A team led by Chinthrajah and
Robert Wood at Johns Hopkins University in
“A new class of little to offer people with food allergies, there
is suddenly a sense of a new dawn. “It’s a
Maryland gave 177 children and adolescents game changer,” says Chinthrajah.
who were highly allergic to peanuts a course drugs could halt Ultimately, the hope is to take the sting
of omalizumab injections or a placebo, then out of all severe allergies. Most anaphylactic
tested whether their sensitivity to peanuts shocks are caused by food, but they can also
decreased. About two-thirds of the volunteers
dangerous allergic be triggered by latex, insect stings and animal
who received the drug experienced at least a venoms. There is also a condition called
six-fold increase in their tolerance, from less reactions after idiopathic anaphylaxis where the shock
than half a peanut to around 2.5 peanuts. That comes on with no apparent cause. IgE blockers
is enough to prevent anaphylaxis after most could, in principle, deal with all of these.
accidental ingestions, the researchers say. they have begun” Then there is allergic asthma, which is
“Even in the most careful families, mistakes triggered by airborne allergens such as pollen
happen,” says Chinthrajah. “So to have a drug and pet dander. It accounts for the majority
that offers another level of protection I think of asthma attacks, which kill 455,000 people
is really priceless.” a year. Omalizumab is already approved for
And it didn’t just desensitise the for us to understand the biology behind this condition, but better IgE blockers could
participants to peanuts. To qualify for the responders and non-responders, but that transform that illness too.
trial, the volunteers also had to be allergic to will enable us to fine-tune our therapeutics My son also has asthma, which is well-
at least two other trigger foods, out of cashews, and push the needle beyond two-thirds. controlled but occasionally flares up. I know
eggs, hazelnuts, milk, walnuts and wheat. There’s a lot more to be done, but I do think that a new drug to eliminate this risk, and
Participants who got the drug experienced we should take a moment and celebrate also remove the threat of food-related
a similar increase in tolerance to those other this great victory.” anaphylaxis, would improve his – and my –
foods. On the back of that data, on 16 February, These results are just the start. Two other life immeasurably, and those of millions
the FDA approved omalizumab as the first trials of omalizumab are also ongoing, one of people in a similar position. Is that in our
drug for peanut allergy, ending a decades-long combining it with OIT. The hope is that giving future? Yes, says Ezhuthachan. “I think that’s
wait. “It’s really exciting to have something the drug during the OIT’s escalation phase will eventually where we’re going to get to.” ❚
approved,” says Ezhuthachan, who wasn’t make the process safer, and that it can later
involved in the trial. “I think it’s going to be withdrawn, whereupon tolerance can be You should consult your doctor before
have a really good role.” maintained by OIT alone. starting medical treatment
But it isn’t the final answer, she says. There are also more potent IgE blockers in
The drug is expensive and its effects wear the pipeline. One, ligelizumab, is being tested
off, necessitating injections every two against peanut allergy. A late-stage trial was Graham Lawton is a staff
to four weeks. recently terminated by manufacturer Novartis writer at New Scientist
The lack of success in a third of volunteers for undisclosed reasons, but the company says
is also an issue, says Chinthrajah. “It is critical it will start another trial later this year. Yet

Features
Earning its stripes

An extraordinary formation that has long attracted
geologists and fossil hunters could soon establish
Kyrgyzstan as a tourist hotspot, finds Diana Kruzman
A
ROUND 235 million years ago, in above changed, with the lake drying up after a nearby village. Palaeontologists
what is now central Asia, a small and reforming numerous times. Then, recognise it as one of the world’s richest
reptile fell into a freshwater lake in the 1960s, Soviet palaeontologist Triassic fossil beds and a lagerstätte – a site
and settled in the soft mud at the bottom. Aleksandr Sharov found the fossilised with exquisitely preserved specimens – but
The creature – named Longisquama, reptile and shone a scientific spotlight few other people have heard of Madygen.
meaning “long scales”, after the strange, on this little-known corner of the USSR. That looks set to change. If all goes to
feather-like protrusions on its back – Today, the region is in southern plan, this year the region will become a
probably lived in a nearby forest with a Kyrgyzstan, a dusty landscape of colourful Global Geopark, the first in central Asia.
host of other curious animals, including rock outcrops and dry riverbeds framed by As well as showcasing this natural wonder,
a flying reptile known as Sharovipteryx the snow-capped peaks of the Turkestan the designation will help prevent it being
and Gigatitan, a giant mantis-like insect. range. These rocks, remnants of the layers despoiled by mining. It will also give an
As the Longisquama’s body slowly of mud and silt deposited on the lake economic and political boost to Kyrgyzstan,
decayed and gradually turned to stone, bed on which Longisquama came to a nation that has faced many challenges
continents drifted and the landscape rest, are called the Madygen formation, since it achieved independence >
GEOEXPLORERSCLUB

from the USSR over three decades ago.
With undulating waves of red, yellow
“It could shed
and white rocks that stand out like a scar in
the desert, the Madygen formation is visually light on some
striking. But it is just part of a proposed
park, also called Madygen, which will cover
50 hectares and more than 540 million years
of the big
of geologic history stretching back to the
Cambrian explosion, when there was a massive questions in
increase in the diversity of animal life. Once a
shallow sea, the layers of fossilised sand and
marine life were lifted up into mountains
evolution”
about 250 million years ago, when the ancient
continent of Cimmeria migrated from the
GEOEXPLORERSCLUB
supercontinent of Gondwana to Eurasia.
Then, melting water from the surrounding
glaciers formed rivers that emptied out into a
floodplain bounded by forest. This eventually
created a lake that became the base of the
Madygen formation – and it was a lack of
oxygen in the lake bed that provided such foraminifera that thrived in a shallow sea that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
perfect conditions for fossilisation. formed here about 60 million years ago. Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and managed
“It is a locality where you have a window Despite this bounty, many local people were by communities to help preserve their distinct
into a distant time frame, where you have unaware of Madygen’s scientific importance landscapes while developing the local
the opportunity to study different groups until quite recently. “I was born and raised economy. Less well-known than UNESCO’s two
of animals and plants – not just individual here, and I didn’t think there was anything other designations – World Heritage Sites and
specimens, but the system as a whole,” says to see in these hills,” says Kenesh Salyhov, a Biosphere Reserves, which preserve cultural
Ilja Kogan at the Museum of Natural History community leader from the nearby village and biological diversity respectively – Global
Chemnitz in Germany. This means it could of Samarkandyk. He changed his mind in Geoparks are nevertheless gaining popularity
shed light on some big questions in evolution, 2021, when an academic conference brought as awareness grows about their potential to
including the conditions surrounding the researchers from around the world to draw in scientists and tourists eager to glimpse
Permian–Triassic extinction, the worst of Madygen. “I saw that they were all in awe of rare fossils and rock formations. There are
Earth’s mass extinction events, which this park,” he says. That helped Salyhov realise currently 213 Geoparks in 48 countries, but
happened about 250 million years ago that the site is special. Now, he is spearheading none yet in central Asia. Salyhov submitted the
and eliminated 90 per cent of all species. efforts to protect the area. Top of the list is to application for Madygen late last year, and he
Working with an international team get Madygen recognised as a Global Geopark. hopes to receive a decision sometime in 2024.
that includes scientists from Germany, Geoparks are areas of “international Madygen has also been proposed as
Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, geological significance” designated by a potential site for a Global Boundary
Kogan is studying the vertebrates found in
Madygen. They range from the weird – such
as Longisquama, which predates the dinosaurs
and was once thought to be the missing link
between reptiles and birds – to the unexpected,
like coelacanths, fish found only in the deep
ocean today. Madygen also boasts one of the
world’s largest collections of insect fossils from
the Mesozoic Era – the geological time period
that includes the Jurassic and Triassic. Insects
are notoriously unlikely to fossilise because
they are so delicate, but more than 500 species
have been found here. Other researchers
have pieced together the history of the
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
area’s varied plant life, from trees to aquatic

mosses; examined fossilised teeth and Fossils such as
eggs from freshwater sharks that swam in Longisquama
Madygen’s ancient lake; and documented eels, are preserved
molluscs and microscopic organisms called at Madygen

unique geology from the destruction that
comes with mining, says Salyhov.
Another potential benefit is geopolitical.
Parts of the Madygen formation extend into
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, but borders aren’t
always clearly defined and relations between
these neighbouring nations have been tense
lately, most recently escalating into military
conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan
in 2021 and 2022. The creation of a Geopark
could encourage cross-border collaboration –
and there are even bigger plans in the pipeline.
Discussions are under way to establish
a string of Geoparks around central Asia,
says Alexei Dudashvili, a geologist who runs
Madygen dates a tour company working with the Kyrgyz
to the Cambrian government to apply for Global Geopark
Period status in Madygen.
While they await a response from
UNESCO, scientific progress continues.
Stratotype Section and Point, or “golden spike”, behind the bid has set up a summer school in There is still much to be discovered,
a reference point for the boundary between Madygen, which sees scientists and students including the exact timeline of the Madygen
two geological time periods, because it has one from across Europe and central Asia visiting formation. Researchers are trying to figure out
of the most clearly visible boundaries between each August. This gives them an opportunity exactly how many times a lake formed there
the Bashkirian Age and Moscovian Age, about to gather fossils and rock specimens, says during the mid-to-late Triassic and how long
315 million years ago during the Carboniferous Kogan, and it helps train the next generation it lasted before drying up. They also want to
Period. There are some 80 golden spikes of researchers, including students from better understand the climate of the region
worldwide, used by geologists as reference Kyrgyzstan, where geology departments over geological time. This can be done using
points to study and date other rock formations. are chronically underfunded. Research trips chemical analysis of the rocks, says Kogan.
But the International Union of Geological during the summer school have already With more fossils, researchers could paint
Sciences, which makes these designations, made some significant discoveries. They a clearer picture of the local environment
is also considering the Ural mountains in have uncovered fossils of actinopterygians, during the Triassic and into the Jurassic.
Russia as an alternative to Madygen. That or ray-finned fish, and formations from the However, many of the most important
adds a political dimension to the decision, Cretaceous Period that appear to be crayfish fossils found in Madygen over the past
says Kogan. Kyrgyzstan has, in recent years, burrows. Isotopic analysis of shark teeth from century are stored at the Paleontological
tried to more strongly assert its independence Madygen shows that they lived in extremely Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
from its larger neighbour, which it relies on for fresh water, lending further support to the in Moscow, and since Russia’s invasion of
economic support and scientific collaboration. idea that the lake was glacier-fed. Ukraine in 2022, scientists are either unable
Along with the scientific discoveries, or unwilling to travel there.
these developments have helped attract Despite these challenges, those pushing for
Building a Geopark tourists, although they are still mostly from Geopark status are eager to collaborate with
The bid for Geopark designation has been neighbouring Uzbekistan and Russia. But the scientific community. Salyhov believes
several years in the making. Madygen’s remote designating Madygen as a Global Geopark that the more research done at Madygen, the
location and limited services have meant that would bring other potential benefits, greater the likelihood it will receive a UNESCO
few people even know the place exists, let including environmental ones. The Batken designation. That, in turn, will be an important
alone why it needs protecting. Yet, to be region, where the proposed Geopark is located, step towards reducing poverty and providing
recognised by UNESCO, a site must have tourist is the poorest part of Kyrgyzstan and relies opportunities for people in his community.
infrastructure, including trails, information heavily on damaging extractive industries like “Jobs will help provide for the people – they
signage and places to stay nearby. A lack of mining. Madygen contains valuable deposits will lead tours, run guesthouses,” he says.
funding has been the main obstacle to such of mercury, a commodity that is already being “The tourists go to the mountains right now,
developments. The Kyrgyz government has mined in nearby Aidarken. There is also brown but we will draw them here, to Madygen.” ❚
shown interest in subsidising the park, but coal, an especially polluting fuel, which many
has been slow to act. So Salyhov and park staff Kyrgyz people nevertheless rely on to heat
have fulfilled these requirements entirely with their homes, particularly with the recent spike Diana Kruzman is a freelance
volunteer labour and money from donors. in electricity and gas prices. More tourism journalist covering science
UNESCO also looks for Geoparks to serve would provide residents with a sustainable and the environment. She was
an educational purpose. To this end, the team source of income while preserving Madygen’s based in central Asia in 2023

Features
Dark matter’s
hidden depths
The mysterious stuff thought
to bind galaxies together may be
more complex than we thought –
and now we are starting to
tease apart the possibilities,
says Stuart Clark
D
ELICATE might not be the first word
that springs to mind when you think
of the Milky Way. But when Mariangela
Lisanti started tinkering with the recipe for
our galaxy, she found it surprisingly fragile.
Lisanti, a particle physicist at Princeton
University, was simulating what would happen
if dark matter – the mysterious stuff thought
to account for over 80 per cent of all the
matter in the universe – was more exotic than
researchers typically assume. She swapped
a small fraction of standard dark matter with Recently, a series of galactic anomalies Everything we know about the cosmos
something more complex. “We thought, we’re has sparked a scramble to explore alternatives. and how it became what it is today relies
only adding 5 per cent, everything will be fine,” This “complex” dark matter might be as on dark matter, an idea that first captured
she says. “And then we just broke the galaxy.” simple as sub-atomic particles that bounce astronomers’ attention in the 1930s. Back
There is good reason for such meddling. off each other, or as complicated as families then, astronomer Fritz Zwicky showed that
Since the 1980s, astronomical signs have of dark particles that form dark atoms, there must be more matter than the eye
pointed towards dark matter being a single stars and even galaxies. There is a could see holding clusters of galaxies together.
type of slow-moving particle that doesn’t daunting variety of possibilities. Things really firmed up in the 1960s, when
interact with itself. Particle physicists have But now, observations of anomalies in our Vera Rubin showed individual galaxies were
DOUGLAS BOWDEN
gone to great lengths to search for that galaxy finally promise to help us narrow down rotating so quickly that they should be flying
particle. But decades later, it remains a the options. And with new telescopes on the apart unless there was some form of invisible
no-show – perhaps because dark matter horizon, we could be closing in on the true matter within them acting as gravitational
isn’t how we have tended to imagine it. nature of this most mysterious substance. glue. Then, in the 1980s, cosmologist

Jim Peebles suggested that perhaps dark moving and doesn’t interact through
matter was a sluggish collection of massive, any forces other than gravity.
as-yet-undiscovered particles. This take on dark matter agrees with
Peebles’s version of dark matter has proved observations of the universe on the largest
remarkably robust – so much so that it is now scales, which is why it has stuck around for
essential to our understanding of the entire so long. “With cosmology, [cold dark matter
universe. Our best cosmological model of has] held up amazingly well,” says Lisanti.
how the universe took the shape we see today, “On those scales, it’s beautiful.”
called lamda-CDM, postulates that the cosmos But there are a few niggling problems.
is composed of three components: ordinary The most obvious one is that no signs of
matter, a still-mysterious energy called dark particles that fit this description have shown
energy and cold dark matter. The “cold” up, even after decades of searching. For a long
in cold dark matter means that it is slow time, a leading candidate was thought to be >

a kind of supersymmetric particle,
which are hypothetical partners of the
Agency’s Gaia spacecraft has shown that the
Milky Way has captured multiple star streams.
“Dark stars could
particles that make up regular matter.
The photino, the supersymmetric partner
If something were to fly through them, like a
dark sub-halo, it would mess them up and we
end up becoming
of the ordinary photon, just so happened
to be the perfect cold dark matter candidate.
should be able to detect this. “That’s definitely
a place where there’s a concrete prediction
a dark galaxy
But the Large Hadron Collider, the particle
accelerator situated at CERN near Geneva,
from cold dark matter,” says Lisanti.
According to the cold dark matter model,
invisibly
Switzerland, which was expected to produce
supersymmetric particles by the bucket load,
dark matter sub-halos of all sizes, right down
to Earth-scale masses, should exist. That is
superimposed
came up empty. Not a photino in sight.
More recently, careful examination of
a lot of invisible cannonballs to be floating
around the Milky Way and messing with star
on our own”
the structure of the universe has thrown streams. But wait for it... hardly any evidence
up fresh reasons to doubt cold dark matter. for such interactions has been found. In 2018,
Models of the cosmos based on this form Adrian Price-Whelan at Princeton and Ana
of dark matter may work well at the largest Bonaca at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center by the gravity of dark matter, this isn’t what they
scales, but on the scale of individual galaxies, for Astrophysics found that one particular see. Instead, the dark matter appears evenly
something seems awry: strange features star stream, known as GD-1, has gaps along distributed across the halo of our galaxy,
are popping up to suggest that cold dark its length, as if it has been hit multiple times. especially in the core regions. This is a hint
matter isn’t the whole story. “It’s super exciting and intriguing, but that something more complex is going on.
Consider the missing satellites problem. it’s also still only one,” says Lisanti. As a result, some astronomers have turned
Large clouds of dark matter are thought The upshot is that questions about the towards more complicated dark matter
to be what attracted sufficient normal cold dark matter model aren’t going away. models, which contain multiple particles and
matter to coalesce and spark star and galaxy What’s more, just recently, an even more new forces of nature – under a suite of theories
formation. As a result, every galaxy is thought perplexing halo-related issue, known as the broadly known as complex dark matter.
to be surrounded and permeated by a sphere core-cusp problem, has cast further doubts. We aren’t short of possibilities. Some
of dark matter, known as a halo. But theories of Based on our understanding of cold dark models include a mixture of cold and warm
cold dark matter predict that instead of being matter, simulations show halos should get dark matter components – warm indicating
uniform, every halo should have broken into denser towards the centre of the galaxy. faster-moving particles. Others involve
many smaller sub-halos, each of which would “As you get to the centre, there should be self-interacting, decaying or annihilating
also attract matter to form dwarf galaxies that more dark matter per unit volume,” says dark matter. Weeding out this huge array of
orbit the central galaxy like satellites. Boylan-Kolchin. Yet, when astronomers look complex dark matter models is the hard part.
When it comes to our own galaxy, these at the way galaxies move, which is influenced In cold dark matter scenarios, the particles
sub-halos would contain the 60 or so dwarf
galaxies going around the Milky Way. But there
should be hundreds of sub-halos, and therefore
dwarf galaxies – and we don’t see them.
It is possible that only the largest
dark matter halos drew in enough matter
to form a satellite galaxy. “That gives you
a very reasonable explanation of why you
don’t see lots of [satellite] galaxies,” says
Mike Boylan-Kolchin, a galaxy formation
theorist at the University of Texas at Austin.
If this were the case, though, there would
still be lots of these sub-halos in our backyard.
“We expect them to be really dark because you
just can’t form stars in them,” says Boylan-
Kolchin. But again, we don’t see them.
There is another way to detect these
clumps, and to rescue cold dark matter,
H. STOCKEBRAND/RUBINOBS/NSF/AURA
and that is through their influence on nearby

objects. In light of this, astronomers have been
turning their attention to star streams. These
were once clusters of stars or small galaxies
that have been cannibalised by our own galaxy,
leaving them ripped apart and stretched into
ribbons. Data from the European Space

Dark matter halos
(yellow) form
around galaxies
only interact through gravity, but in many it forms stars – dark stars,” he says. Since
of these new ideas, other interactions are this brand of dark matter would behave
RALF KAEHLER/SLAC NATIONAL ACCELERATOR LABORATORY

possible. Fast-moving dark matter particles in roughly the same way as normal matter,
from other parts of the halo could collide with other than the fact we can’t see it, that also
the sluggish particles accumulating in the core, means dark stars formed by dark atoms could
giving them more energy. This could allow end up becoming a dark galaxy invisibly
them to distribute more freely, creating the superimposed on our own Milky Way.
kind of constant-density cores that we see. It is a strange concept, but an invisible
To this end, Lisanti and her collaborators galaxy would have a unique fingerprint that
have been tweaking the recipe for galaxy we could see with future telescopes. If Curtin
formation, running computer simulations is right, dark stars will have formed a disc-like
using our knowledge of how the universe galaxy structure that will gravitationally bend
evolved but modifying the behaviour of dark light in a process called microlensing. The
matter to see what might play out. And they effect of this is to cause stars in the background
aren’t the only ones. Mark Vogelsberger at the to become momentarily brighter. “If you find
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and with the special attribute they want to test, just a microlensing signal and it’s concentrated
Alyson Brooks at Rutgers University in New to see if it changes dark matter’s behaviour. in the Milky Way disc, that is a very strong
Jersey are doing similar work, testing the many It was when Lisanti and her colleagues indicator of atomic dark matter,” he says.
possible combinations of dark matter particles were experimenting in this way that they In 2022, Curtin and his colleagues showed
and forces to find the “Goldilocks” recipe that found transforming just 5 per cent of cold that the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile
produces galaxies like those we observe. dark matter into more complicated varieties could be capable of finding such microlensing
The trouble is that there are already so made it impossible to form the Milky Way. signals when it begins working next year,
many theoretical suggestions for complex “I think that was an interesting lesson,” she says. should they exist. But he hopes to narrow
dark matter that – even with multiple teams “We need to be very careful when we think down which signals would be definitive.
working on it – completing simulations on about new models. You don’t have to add very Many astronomers, like Boylan-Kolchin,
them all would be impractical. “Each one of much of [other forms of dark matter] to your think it is still a little premature to write
these simulations takes three or four months models to really mess up the astrophysics.” cold dark matter’s epitaph. “There are lots
to run,” says Lisanti. Instead, what she and of little indications that things are at least
her colleagues do is take characteristics or not as simple as one might think,” he says,
properties – such as whether the dark matter The dark sector “[but] it’s not clear there’s something more
interacts with itself, decays or if its constituent In this case, the rich new array of complicated happening in dark matter.”
particles can inhabit the same physical space behaviours that come from different One alternative is that normal, non-
as one another – and run models of particles complex dark matter models is both a dark matter is behaving in ways we find
blessing and a curse. When Lisanti and difficult to understand. Astronomers focus
her colleagues allowed their particles to on gravity, but if we could better model
The Vera C. Rubin lose energy, they found a whole new world thermodynamics, perhaps we would see more
Observatory, of possibilities. “[The dark matter] would complex behaviour. For example, this could
which could help collapse down and then we don’t really come from a better understanding of what
find evidence for know yet what all the structures are that happens when supernovae explode and
complex dark matter it can form when it collapses,” says Lisanti. energise surrounding gases, redistributing
This is where particle physicists come in. them through thermodynamic processes
David Curtin, a theorist at the University of rather than gravitational ones.
Toronto, Canada, has been developing another In the meantime, Lisanti and her colleagues
form of supersymmetry that posits switching will keep running simulations to see if there
all matter into a twin set of particles, each with could be complex dark matter in our universe.
their own set of forces, rather than keeping For the moment, it seems like it won’t replace
the forces the same. This would mean twin cold dark matter entirely. The fact that straying
particles can’t interact with their conventional from current models can so easily break the
cousins through forces other than gravity – galaxy shows that our existing recipe is, on
making them dark matter – but could interact the whole, working. Perhaps, then, the key to
with each other. “You’ve just predicted a perfecting it isn’t to replace a whole ingredient,
complex dark sector,” says Curtin. but simply to add a little seasoning. ❚
What this means is a hypothetical complex
realm in which various dark matter particles
are perhaps capable of accumulating into dark Stuart Clark is a New Scientist
atoms, and much more. Curtin calls it atomic consultant. His latest book
dark matter. “Atomic dark matter [is] much like is Beneath the Night
our matter; it cools, it collapses, it forms discs,

The back pages
Puzzles Almost the last word Tom Gauld for Feedback Twisteddoodles
Try our crossword, Is the evolution New Scientist Chocolate’s big bang, for New Scientist
quick quiz and of intelligence A cartoonist’s take plus beer glasses that Picturing the lighter
logic puzzle p45 inevitable? p46 on the world p47 keep their cool p48 side of life p48
Debunking gardening myths
A line in the sand

Digging sand or grit into clay soils is a drainage fix that has
been around for years, but James Wong has an easier solution
I WAS one of only two kids in my

Singapore state school to join the
gardening club. Yes, I was deeply
uncool from a very early age. After
lessons each day, we had to move
around great sacks of sand and dig
it into the sticky clay soil under the
tropical sun. We were taught by
our stern teacher, Mr Lau, that this
James Wong is a botanist backbreaking work was necessary
and science writer, with a to help improve the drainage of
particular interest in food dense, heavy soil, which was prone
crops, conservation and the to turning into an impenetrable
environment. Trained at the mass of mud in the rain and
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, baking rock hard in the sun.
in London, he shares his tiny This idea dates back at least to
flat with more than 500 standard horticultural advice from
VIKTOR CAP/ALAMY
houseplants. You can follow Victorian Britain and is still widely
him on X and Instagram espoused today. Even at school,
@botanygeek I always wondered why this never
seemed to make a huge difference
when the monsoon turned the
whole area into one big puddle. However, when this is scaled mimicking what happens in
But what does the science say? up to the level of entire gardens, nature. The action of microbial life
It is true that clay soils, made of things begin to change, and this is in soil naturally creates a crumb
billions of tiny mineral particles, all down to the tiny relative size of structure, grouping fine clay
can be terrible at allowing water clay particles compared with sand. particles into much larger pellets,
to pass through. The particles Anyone who has mixed potting which allow water to pass through.
are packed tightly together, with soil will know that levels of sand These microbes feed on
little space for water and air. This have to get up to around 50 per decaying organic matter, so all
is why clay soil is used to line cent before things become you need to boost their levels is
ponds, and made into pottery. properly free-draining. Before to add large amounts of dead plant
But it can have a deleterious this point, all that happens is that material, like fallen leaves, lawn
impact on garden plants. the tiny clay particles fill in the clippings and compost. The best
Sandy soils, on the other air gaps between sand grains bit is that you don’t even need
Debunking gardening myths hand, have large gaps between that makes them free-draining. to dig it in: the natural action of
appears every four weeks. their comparatively enormous At the scale of even a small worms will do this for you, while
Share your gardening particles, allowing water to freely garden, reaching a ratio of they create a network of tunnels
successes with us on X and pass through. So, it makes perfect around 50 per cent sand would to further improve drainage at the
Instagram @newscientist, sense that simply adding sand to mean adding literally tens of same time. How I wish someone
using the hashtag heavy clay would give you a better tonnes of sand before any benefit had told Mr Lau this in 1989. ❚
#NewScientistGardening soil. Indeed, sand and gravel are would be observed.
widely used in potting mixes for Fortunately, we now know there These articles are
Next week species that require fast drainage, is a much easier way to improve posted each week at
The science of baking like cacti. drainage of clay soils, by simply newscientist.com/maker

The back pages Puzzles
Quick crossword #157 Set by Richard Smyth Quick quiz #250

set by Bethan Ackerley

Scribble 1 The white, waxy substance coating the
zone skin of newborn babies is known as what?
2 In genetics, what does CRISPR stand for?
3 Ancient human ancestor Homo luzonensis

is named after an island in which country?
4 Which US mathematician and computer

scientist is sometimes dubbed “the father
of information theory”?

5 The dispute over the naming of chemical
elements 104 to 106 from the 1960s to
the 1990s is sometimes known as what?

Answers on page 47
BrainTwister
Answers and set by Peter Rowlett
the next cryptic #18 The arithmetical two-step
crossword
next week You must take two steps to get from a
given number to make 10. Each step must
change the number by adding, subtracting,
ACROSS DOWN multiplying by or dividing by a number from
1 Theodore ___ , Hungarian- 1 Second planet from the sun (5) 1 to 9. (Multiplying or dividing by 1 isn’t
American mathematician (3,6) 2 Newborn (7) allowed as it doesn’t change the number.)
6 Gemstone, Al2SiO4(F,OH)2 (5) 3 Polymath of ancient Greece (9)
9 Nb (7) 4 Inflammatory viral disease (5) For example, starting with 35, one way
10 Rh (7) 5 Macrophage that supports the would be to first divide by 7 then add 5.
11 Beginning (5) development of its neighbours (5,4)
12 Metal scrubbing material (5,4) 6 Malicious social media user (5) Can you take two steps to
13 Battery component (9) 7 Toxins (7) get from 42 to 10?
15 Emergency healthcare department (5) 8 Breakdown of organic
16 Computer data store (5) substances by enzymes (9) Is it possible to get to 10 in two steps
18 Disease caused by the 13 Faeces (9) from all the numbers 11 to 30?
inhalation of silica dust (9) 14 Concerning childbirth (9)
20 Outermost layer of the atmosphere (9) 15 Processing for reuse (9) And can you find a two-digit number
23 Steel company formed in 1999 (5) 17 Acute intestinal illness (7) for which there is no way to get to
25 Kindle, for example (1-6) 19 Leading figure in theatre? (7) 10 in two steps?
26 Technical term for the outer skin (7) 21 Foot lever (5)
27 Train track type (1-4) 22 Corundite (5) Solution next week
28 Concerned with very low temperatures (9) 24 Small tree used for spices and dyes (5)
Our crosswords are now solvable online

newscientist.com/crosswords

The back pages Almost the last word
Some flowers close up

Clever question
their petals at night – but
Once life is established, is the why don’t they all do this?
evolution of intelligence inevitable?
Don Lim
Guy Cox Bangkok, Thailand
Sydney, Australia I think human intelligence is
It seems pretty possible that life just an efficient set of biological
could arise in an environment algorithms that happens
where it would remain at the mostly through interactions of
level of bacteria. They can survive neurons. In the case of artificial
almost anywhere, as they do in intelligence, biological algorithms
extreme environments on Earth, are re-enacted with electronic
and quite possibly did on Mars. parts, such as transistor logic
It is only when complex life forms gates. This ensures maximum
PATRICK HOFER/GETTY IMAGES

evolve and compete for resources energy efficiency.
that intelligence becomes either Anything that saves energy
possible or advantageous. will be selected and proliferate,
whether it is a physical structure
Pat French of molecules or a logical process.
Longdon upon Tern, It is the same in terms of predicting
Shropshire, UK This week’s new questions the most probable outcome and
This is a difficult question to consequences in accordance
answer, as we are only aware of a Time for bed Why do some flowers close up at night but with the information stored in
single example of life emerging, others stay open? Steve Child, Glossop, Derbyshire, UK memory. Intelligence is just a
found under a single set of group of logical and conceptual
conditions and that is defined by Electric dreams Is it more environmentally friendly to keep my processes, rather than a physical
the subject of the enquiry, i.e. us. 23-year-old petrol car or to scrap it and buy a new electric one? feature, like a wing, that evolves
Unicellular organisms existed I drive about 8000 kilometres a year and am quite old, so my car and gets selected for.
for billions of years without much may outlast me. Ian Burton, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK Once you have several
change. It would appear that the intelligent individuals in a species,
merging of two single-celled there might be a new pressure to
organisms to create the first as only one example, under one a competitive edge in avoiding outsmart them among others.
multicellular organism only set of conditions, is known to us. starvation. Or another mutation This may accelerate the evolution
happened four times as far as may open up a new, abundant food of intelligence. We see this with
we are aware. However, after that Hillary Shaw source. Intelligence may then be companies developing artificial
Newport, Shropshire, UK an unnecessary luxury and be lost, intelligence, which constantly
“What is ‘intelligence’? Firstly, what is “intelligence”? so have to be repeatedly re-evolved. have to come up with smarter
A car could be A car could be programmed to use models in order to survive.
its sensors to avoid all obstacles, Alex McDowell In short, intelligence, just
programmed to avoid
thereby protecting its owner, London, UK like any physical feature, saves
all obstacles, which who maintains it. This might Intelligence helps animals energy and maximises the
might look intelligent, look “intelligent”, but surely isn’t. both hunt and evade predators. probability of survival. Therefore
but surely isn’t” Secondly, just because an Hence its evolution is inevitable it is inevitable that more and more
attribute is useful doesn’t mean once animal life is established. efficient information storage and
momentous accident, evolution it will be created by the random The inevitability of its processing mechanisms will take
accelerated and then diversified mutations we call evolution: it evolution is demonstrated by over. When these mechanisms
exponentially in the event known might be useful for spiders to fly, the fact that it is found in humans, become complex enough, they
as the Cambrian explosion. but they don’t. Organisms are dolphins and octopuses, despite get to be called intelligence.
If we assume that some form also largely ignorant of their these animals being so distantly
of brain is required for intelligence wider environment (this seems related. It has evolved twice in Will Higgs
to exist, then the answer to the to include many humans) and humans: Neanderthals and Homo Gilsland, Northumbria, UK
question must be: no, intelligence will breed up to the limits of their sapiens both evolved to be more The question of the probability
isn’t inevitable, because single- habitat, at which point something intelligent than their common (and advisability!) of the
celled life won’t necessarily evolve like intelligence may provide ancestor Homo heidelbergensis. development of intelligence has
the required brain. The multi-cell been succinctly addressed by
accident may never happen. Want to send us a question or answer? the band Everything Everything.
Whether or not it is inevitable Email us at lastword@newscientist.com Their track Distant Past, warning
that multicellular life develops Questions should be about everyday science phenomena of a post-apocalyptic return to the
intelligence is unknowable so long Full terms and conditions at newscientist.com/lw-terms Stone Age, contains the immortal

Tom Gauld Answers
for New Scientist
Quick quiz #250
Answers
1 Vernix caseosa, or vernix
2 Clustered regularly interspaced
short palindromic repeats
3 The Philippines
4 Claude Shannon
5 The Transfermium Wars
Cryptic crossword
#134 Answers
ACROSS 6 Sleep lab, 8 Raku,
10 Rot, 11 Repelling, 12 Fungi,
13 Ringlet, 14 Romcoms,
17 Tween, 19 Cortisone,
20 Coo, 22 Suet, 23 Whiskery
DOWN 1 ASMR, 2 Lepton,

3 Hamper, 4 Radial, 5 Tungsten,
7 Pareidolia, 9 Plane trees,
12 Forecast, 15 Murder,
16 Soothe, 18 Escher, 21 Onyx
line: “Two thumbs, I cross the “Homo erectus, which after they started living naked
Rubicon”. In other words, an lived from 1.9 million on the savannah. #17 Semi-one
opposable thumb condemns
years ago to around numbers
us to destroy our environment. Gareth Morgan Solution
100,000 years ago, Corfu, Greece
was probably the first There is a vast amount of fossil 16 is the semi-one number
Going naked
hairless hominin” evidence in shell middens (refuse between 15 and 20, since 1, 10,
Why aren’t humans covered in hair heaps), some dating back half 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 have
like other primates are? (continued) Hair doesn’t tend to fossilise, a million years, that our early a 1 in them. The next semi-one
so the exact date when hominins ancestors ate a great many clams. number is 24. There cannot
Anthony Woodward became hairless is uncertain, but This is unsurprising, as clams are be infinitely many semi-one
Portland, Oregon, US evidence suggests that the first probably the most easily acquired numbers, since for numbers
David Muir’s hypothesis that hominin to do so was probably source of animal protein that can of more than seven digits, the
being almost completely Homo erectus, which lived from be harvested in large quantities. proportion containing a 1 will
hairless enabled hominins to 1.9 million years ago to around One major drawback of relying always be more than 50 per
chase down prey animals on the 100,000 years ago. Excavations on clams for sustenance, though, cent (since eight out of nine
savannah without overheating at Kanjera South in Kenya indicate is that you would probably spend first digits aren’t 1, and nine
is inconsistent with the data. that hominins were living on the a great deal of time on the mud out of 10 possibilities for
The fastest mammal on the grasslands there 2 million years flats around estuaries. If you were each other digit aren’t 1,
savannah is the cheetah, which ago. They were presumably a furry hominid, you would be the proportion of not-ones
can run up to 110 kilometres per covered with hair and certainly almost certain to succumb to the is 8/9 × (9/10)6=0.472 for
hour despite its thick coat of using stone tools consistent often-fatal blood infection called seven-digit numbers). There are
hair. Cheetahs evolved about with hunting activities. leptospirosis, commonly known in fact only 16 such numbers: 2,
8.5 million years ago, before the Trevor Campbell suggests as mud fever or Weil’s disease. 16, 24, 160, 270, 272, 1456,
human lineage split from that of we don’t need hair because we Without fur, mud on the skin 3398, 3418, 3420, 3422,
the chimpanzee, about 7 million can obtain clothes from furry would quickly dry and flake off. 13120, 44686, 118096,
years ago. Two other mammals animals. Our ancestors’ head lice A naked, rapidly drying skin thus 674934 and 1062880.
strut almost naked across the evolved into clothing lice between offers excellent protection against
savannah: the elephant and 170,000 and 83,000 years ago, Leptospira bacteria, which need
the rhinoceros. Neither species suggesting that is when they moisture, and would therefore be
races across the grassland. started wearing clothes, long favoured by natural selection. ❚

The back pages Feedback
Money reunited Twisteddoodles for New Scientist a study called “A bibliometric

analysis on gift giving”, published
Chung To Kong found a way, in Psychology & Marketing.
in the spirit of unboiling an Gupta, based at Lal Bahadur
egg (Feedback, 10 September Shastri Institute of Management
2022), to make banknotes from in India, and her team say that
shredded banknote pieces. although “consumer gift-giving
Kong, at the University of Hong behavior has received much
Kong, writes: “At the Hong Kong attention from marketing
Monetary Authority visitor center, scholars”, they decided to
visitors can buy a paperweight “conduct a bibliometric analysis
souvenir full of shredded banknotes. of 237 articles on gift-giving”. The
Even though the shredded stated main accomplishments:
banknotes are small, by using the paper gives readers “a state-
computer vision, it is possible to of-the-art overview of consumer
reconstruct the whole banknote like gift-giving literature and
a jigsaw puzzle. Each paperweight identifies opportunities for
souvenir costs $100 HKD, and it future gift-giving research”.
is claimed to contain shredded
banknotes equivalent to 138
Pivotal ketchup
complete $1000 HKD banknotes.
In theory, $138,000 HKD can be The discussion of having robots
recovered by using computer vision.” use ketchup as a non-Newtonian
Kong visited the visitor centre, fluid suitable for polishing glass
where he explained this to the surfaces (Feedback, 16 March
staff. As a result, he says: “The 2024) prompts us to recall an
paperweight souvenir is currently earlier unexpected use of ketchup.
no longer available.” Anyone who A half-century ago, ketchup became
wants to make money can get a red-flag psychology discussion
details from Kong’s paper, “The Got a story for Feedback? topic. Calvin Trillin later wrote about
possibility of making $138,000 Send it to feedback@newscientist.com it, in the magazine The Nation.
from shredded banknote pieces or New Scientist, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY Trillin observed that, prior to his
using computer vision”. Consideration of items sent in the post will be delayed forced resignation from office, US
President Richard Nixon “was noted
for lunching at his desk on cottage
The big bite
perception”. They explored the eyebrows. In Brazil, where warm cheese with ketchup on it — a dish
Highly educated humans are final moment when chocolate is beer can be mildly dreaded, this is most Americans found so bizarre
trying to discern what happened still fresh, before it is harshened by cool research. Mason Porter stoutly that its appeal to Nixon was used
in the earliest moments of two an encounter with digestive fluids. brought it to Feedback’s attention. by his enemies as a comment on
momentous events: a bite of Charalambides is no chocolate- The author, Cláudio de Castro his character. During his second
chocolate and the birth of the is-the-entire-universe fanatic. She Pellegrini at Federal University of term, the White House put out the
universe. Maria Charalambides co-wrote the 1995 classic paper São João del-Rei in Brazil, identifies word that the President had begun
at Imperial College London and “A study of the influence of ageing two “feasible” shapes. Both, he says, to eat his cottage cheese without
her team have been beavering at on the mechanical properties of “have total volumes considered high ketchup — presumably hoping
the bite mystery, much as many Cheddar cheese”. It tells how her by most non-alcoholic consumers that this information would be
physicists have been beavering at team dropped hunks of cheese and considerably large radius of the used by Washington commentators
learning what happened when the from various heights. This opening, requiring a wide foot to as evidence that Nixon had,
universe big-banged into existence. produced fractured cheese and keep balance”. But he warns that in the phrase Washington
Charalambides and her team’s loads of data – two quantities “as in the case of cutting pizzas, commentators have always
study, “A multiscale finite element that, if consumed individually, the mathematically optimized loved, grown in the presidency.
analysis model for predicting the bring nourishment and joy to solution to the problem may prove “That might have happened,
effect of micro-aeration on the large chunks of humanity. to be somewhat complicated except for one problem: Since the
fragmentation of chocolate during to implement in practice”. information on ketchup had come
the first bite”, is published in the from the Nixon White House in his
European Journal of Mechanics –
Feasible beer glasses second term, nobody believed it.”
237-fold gifting
A/Solids. Their stated goal: to In the UK, where warm beer is Feedback would be interested
boldly go where no one has gone either treasured or tolerated, a For Mansi Gupta and her team, to learn of other pivotal roles that
before in investigating “structures study called “Optimizing beer glass the existence of gift-giving is ketchup has played in science or
that reduce the calorific value shapes to minimize heat transfer itself a gift to be appreciated. And world history. Ditto brown sauce. ❚
while enhancing the taste during consumption” might raise analysed. Gupta is lead author on Marc Abrahams

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