Table of contents for Christmas 2017 in BBC Science Focus Magazine

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

WELCOME

Allow me to borrow one of many great quotes from Douglas Adams: “If you try and take a cat apart to see how it works, the first thing you have on your hands is a nonworking cat”. Adams was talking about the ineffable nature of life itself, but I think his words apply pretty well to the study of our brains. While dissections, scans and experiments have taught us a huge deal about the brain and its underlying structures and functions, we’re still left with some gaping holes in our knowledge. For instance, we know most of the population uses the left hemisphere of their brain to handle language, but we don’t know why that’s the case. We understand, to a degree, what changes in brain function lead to autism…

WELCOME

EYE OPENER

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

EYE OPENER

She’s having a bubble! KEDAH, MALAYSIA This is a social wasp belonging to the genus Ropalidia, which is commonly found across southeast Asia. Most insects belonging to this genus produce nests by swarming, in a manner similar to honeybees – an unusual behaviour for wasps. However, in this particular species, a single mated female starts a nest in much the same way that wasps in the UK do. “In this photo, the female has constructed a paper nest from wood fibres and water – natural papier maché – and in the cells you can see developing larvae. These will turn into adult females that look exactly like their mother queen, but instead of laying eggs, they will become workers, expanding and defending the nest and tending to the eggs and…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

HIDDEN CHAMBER FOUND IN GREAT PYRAMID USING COSMIC RAYS

“OUR DISCOVERY IS THE FIRST DEMONSTRATION OF THE POTENTIAL OF COSMIC RAY IMAGING TO GATHER NEW INFORMATION IN ARCHAEOLOGY” Archaeologists have uncovered a mysterious chamber deep within the Great Pyramid of Giza, using a cutting-edge imaging technique based on the detection of subatomic particles created by cosmic rays. Dubbed the ScanPyramids Big Void, after the name of the project that discovered it, the cavity is approximately 30m long and 3m high and is situated above the Grand Gallery, a large corridor that connects the two largest of the iconic structure’s three main chambers. The Great Pyramid, also known as Khufu’s Pyramid, was built during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, who reigned from 2509 to 2483 BC. Despite years of research, there is no consensus on exactly how the monument was…

HIDDEN CHAMBER FOUND IN GREAT PYRAMID USING COSMIC RAYS

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

IN NUMBERS

SIX MONTHS The average time is takes to shed extra pounds put on through over-indulging during the holiday period, as estimated by a team at Tampere University, Finland. 23 TERAWATT HOURS The amount of energy used globally by Bitcoin miners each year. That’s just short of the 24.8 terawatt hours generated by renewable energy worldwide in 2016. 20 MILLION The number of lives saved worldwide by the measles vaccine since the turn of the millennium, as calculated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.…

NEWLY IDENTIFIED ORANGUTAN IS WORLD’S MOST ENDANGERED GREAT APE SPECIES

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

NEWLY IDENTIFIED ORANGUTAN IS WORLD’S MOST ENDANGERED GREAT APE SPECIES

A population of orangutans that lives in a remote part of northern Sumatra, and that was only discovered in 1997, has now been identified as a separate species. With only around 800 individuals known to exist, it’s now also the most threatened of all great ape species. It was once believed that all orangutans were one species, but since 1996 science has recognised two: the Bornean and Sumatran orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelli, respectively). The following year, a long-rumoured population of orangutans living in the Batang Toru region of northern Sumatra was seen for the first time, but initially the apes were thought to be of the species P. abelli. However, close study of an adult skeleton found in 2013 has revealed significant differences in the skull and teeth…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

MYSTERIOUS ZOMBIE STAR KEEPS EXPLODING, BUT WON’T DIE

Morrissey was right – there is a light that never goes out! An international team of astronomers has made a bizarre discovery: a star that has exploded repeatedly, yet carries on shining. When stars of a certain size reach the end of their lifecycle, they explode in energetic cosmic events known as supernovae. Such explosions have been recorded by astronomers thousands of times, and in every recorded case, such an explosion has marked the death of a star. But now scientists seem to have found an exception in iPTF14hls, a supernova that has exploded at least twice in the past 70 years. “This supernova breaks everything we thought we knew about how they work. It’s the biggest puzzle I’ve encountered in almost a decade of studying…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

THINGS WE LEARNED THIS MONTH

BLUE LIGHT CAN HELP TO RELAX US FOLLOWING AN ARGUMENT If you find your blood boiling after a bit of argy-bargy, get yourself a blue light. A team at the University of Granada has found that blue lighting can help us to calm down. DOGS ARE RED/GREEN COLOUR BLIND Thinking about playing fetch with your dog in the park? You might want to think twice before buying a red ball: researchers at the University of Bari, Italy, have found that dogs can’t distinguish between the colours red and green. EATING MUSHROOMS COULD HELP US LIVE A LONGER, HEALTHIER LIFE High levels of the antioxidants ergothioneine and glutathione found in mushrooms could help to prevent cell damage caused by free radicals – oxygen atoms with unpaired electrons produced when the body…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

ALEXA USHERS IN THE INTERNET OF THINGS

Focus’s year in tech started at the CES show in Las Vegas, where Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa could be found in over 30 products. That trend continued all year, with new Alexa devices hitting the shelves almost daily, and Amazon itself recently unveiling a raft of new Alexa products including Echo Spot, Echo Connect and, most significantly, Echo Plus, which doubles as a fully-fledged smart home hub. With Alexa now in so many homes, this is an obvious next step. When tech companies first started talking about ‘internet fridges’ and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices, people laughed: who needed to go online or fumble about in an app to see if they had milk, when they could just open the fridge door? But introduce Alexa to the mix, and…

ALEXA USHERS IN THE INTERNET OF THINGS

UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF THE BRAIN

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

UNLOCKING THE SECRETS OF THE BRAIN

“Despite their ‘mini-brain’ nickname, these organoids are a long way from being full-size human organs” Stacks of little plastic dishes in a laboratory incubator, each one holding a free-floating blob of human brain might sound like the stuff of science fiction. But this is no futuristic flight of the imagination: these strange creations, known as brain organoids, are already being cultivated in labs all over the world, and researchers believe they could unlock some of the deepest secrets of how our brains grow and what happens when they go wrong. “I don’t think that any of us set out to try and grow a brain in a dish,” says Madeline Lancaster, a neurobiologist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. “If you’d asked me even just a few…

45 YEARS OF TERROR

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

45 YEARS OF TERROR

Guatemala 2,050 incidents Main cause: Civil War (1960-1996) Salvador 5,320 incidents Main cause: Gang warfare (1980s onwards) Peru 6,088 incidents Main cause: Conflict between Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path) and the government (1980s/90s) United Kingdom 5,098 incidents Main cause: The Troubles, Northern Ireland (1968-1998) Nigeria 3,418 incidents Main cause: Attacks by terrorist group Boko Haram Sri Lanka 2,981 incidents Main cause: Civil War (1983-2009) Indonesia 769 incidents Main cause: Attacks by Papua separatists and other terror groups…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

HELEN CZERSKI ON… AEROSOLS

“MY FAVOURITE SCARF NOW SMELT LIKE THE START OF A TEENAGE LAD’S NIGHT OUT” One day last week, I was sitting outside with a glass thermometer, an aerosol spray can and a film crew, regretting having asked the director to acquire the aerosol can. For reasons incomprehensible to me, he’d picked the cheapest, smelliest men’s deodorant that he could find, and my favourite scarf now smelt like the start of a teenage lad’s night out. But when I held the bulb of the thermometer directly in front of the escaping plume of spray, the red liquid dropped like a stone. It reached -20°C within five seconds, and the bulb completely frosted up. Even though this demo had been my idea, I hadn’t tried it before, and was astonished at the…

HELEN CZERSKI ON… AEROSOLS

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

BLACK HOLES

While their enigmatic name was first coined in 1967, the idea of objects whose gravity is so intense not even light can escape them is far older. In 1783, an English cleric and amateur scientist named John Michell showed that Newton’s law of gravity suggested such objects could exist. But Michell went further, suggesting that despite being invisible, such objects might reveal themselves if they happened to have a star in orbit about them. He proved to be amazingly prescient in both respects. During the 1930s, theorists using Einstein’s more sophisticated theory of gravity, known as General Relativity, showed that sufficiently massive stars could collapse under their own gravity at the end of their life, and turn into black holes (ironically, Einstein himself never accepted that such strange objects could…

BLACK HOLES

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

OUT THERE

01 MAKE A CONNECTION Words, contrary to what the Bee Gees might have sung, aren’t all we have. From our body language to our facial expressions, we communicate in myriad ways. Neuroscientist Prof Sophie Scott is a communication expert, and in this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, she’ll be looking at the language of life in all its forms, from the strange science of laughter to how technology is transforming the way we interact. Here, she chats to James Lloyd… ROYAL INSTITUTION CHRISTMAS LECTURES BBC FOUR, 26-28 DECEMBER . We think we’re laughing at jokes, but we’re laughing just as much for social reasons 2 How much of our communication is linked to the actual words we speak? Words are a critical part of communication, but there are many other…

OUT THERE

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

Prof Raj Lada

I hate sweeping up Christmas tree needles. Can you help? Yes. Needle loss is a big problem. In Atlantic Canada where I work, Christmas trees are a $100m industry. We export three million trees annually, but in the past entire shipments have been lost when the trees lost their needles. It struck me that no one had a clue what was going on. So seven years ago I founded the Christmas Tree Research Centre to find out. What causes needle loss? All our work is in our native balsam fir. We’ve compared trees that lose their needles quickly with trees that keep them for longer, and found many different factors that contribute. You see changes in the levels of various genes, enzymes, lipids and nutrients. We’ve identified a key hormone,…

Prof Raj Lada

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

IN THIS ISSUE

PROF SOPHIE SCOTT Ho ho ho! We chat to neuroscientist Sophie – this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer – about the science of language and communication. p89 GARRY KASPAROV Is rapidly evolving Artificial Intelligence a threat to humankind? We asked someone who’s lost at the hands of an AI whether we should be worried. p32 KAT ARNEY Kat, from BBC Radio 5’s The Naked Scientists , meets the researchers who are growing ‘minibrains’ in an attempt to figure out what makes us tick. p38…

IN THIS ISSUE

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

REPLY

FAREWELL I was saddened to read that this month’s edition carried Robert Matthews’ last column for the magazine (November, p31). I’ve been a subscriber for many years, and this was the column I’d often turn to first. Please forward my thanks for many years of enjoyable and thought-provoking comment. Steve, via email HEAR ME NOW I feel the need to hold Russell Deeks to account on a few points in his reply to Roger Britton’s Message Of The Week (November, p14). Cards on the table – I am a music lover and audiophile who prefers CD, though agnostically. I prefer the convenience and the fact that discs do not wear rather than possessing an ‘ideological’ view. Russell perpetuates a myth or two, and is rather vague in his arguments. Most…

REPLY

COCKATOOS ARE SKILFUL SHAPE-SORTERS

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

COCKATOOS ARE SKILFUL SHAPE-SORTERS

Who’s a clever boy, then? Goffin’s cockatoos, a species of small parrot native to Australasia, have been shown to have similar shape-recognition abilities to a human two-year-old. Though not known to use tools in wild, the birds have proved adept at tool use in captivity. In a recent experiment at the University of Vienna and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, cockatoos were presented with box with a nut inside it. The clear front of the box had a ‘keyhole’ in a geometric shape, and the birds were given five differently shaped ‘keys’ to choose from. Inserting the correct ‘key’ would release the nut. In humans, babies can put a round shape in a round hole from around one year of age, but it will be another year before they’re…

“People who tended to mind-wander have more efficient brains”

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

“People who tended to mind-wander have more efficient brains”

What’s the difference between daydreaming and mind-wandering? Researchers are interested in identifying different types of what are called ‘off-task behaviours’. Mind-wandering is a coherent train of thought – you might be thinking about the fact that you have to pick up your dry cleaning, pick up the kids from school, feed the dog. Whereas daydreaming is not goal-directed – a creative endeavour, thinking about things that don’t exist. We were interested in other abilities that relate to the tendency to mind-wander. How did you measure mind-wandering? We gave over 100 participants questions like, ‘On the bus, do you think about what you had for breakfast?’ All of our minds tend to wander sometimes, but there are individual differences. So we measured brain activity at rest: we put participants in an…

MASSIVE NEW EXOPLANET SHOULDN’T, IN THEORY, EXIST

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

MASSIVE NEW EXOPLANET SHOULDN’T, IN THEORY, EXIST

Well, this is a bit of a headscratcher. Recently discovered exoplanet NGTS-1b is causing astronomers to rethink their ideas about how planets come into being, because according to current theories, such a large planet should not be able to from around a star as small as its parent. NGTS-1b is the first exoplanet discovered by the Next-Generation Transit Survey. This international initiative, based at the Paranal Observatory in Atacama, Chile, uses an array of 12 telescopes to scan a small area of sky repeatedly over several months. By detecting a dip in brightness, every 2.65 days, of the light coming from a red dwarf star dubbed NGTS-1, astronomers were able to determine that a ‘hot Jupiter’- type exoplanet is orbiting the star. ‘Hot Jupiters’ are gas giants (like our own…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

W Hydrae

What’s that? The multi-headed serpent killed by Heracles? Nope. It’s a red giant star, located 320 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Hydra, that was recently observed in unprecedented detail by researchers at the ALMA Observatory in Chile. What’s special about it? When it started life, W Hydrae had a very similar mass to the Sun, making it an ideal subject to study to learn more about the ultimate fate of our Solar System’s own star. Tell me more! Stars like the Sun age over many billions of years. As they reach old age they swell up, becoming larger and cooler as they grow, and losing mass thanks to the action of solar winds. During this stage, they release elements for the formation of new stars and even life,…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

GAMECHANGERS

First up are two virtual reality headsets that highlight how rapidly VR is evolving. Consumer VR has so far mostly come in two flavours. Either you wear a costly headset connected to an even more expensive PC/Mac, or you tuck your phone into a visor, which is less immersive but a lot cheaper. But now there’s Oculus Go, a standalone dedicated VR headset and handheld controller that require no other hardware – giving you the best of both worlds for just $199 (£150 approx). Meanwhile, a new headset from Japanese start-up Pimax VR recently broke the Kickstarter funding record previously held by Oculus Rift. Their headset promises unparalled immersion, with each eye treated to its own 4K display. But while VR has been big news in 2017, it wasn’t the…

GAMECHANGERS

AI BEATS PUNY HUMANS

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

AI BEATS PUNY HUMANS

“I’m glad that great minds like Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk are voicing their concerns” If Artificial Intelligence (AI) were truly smart, it would hire a good PR. For a start, we’re not really sure what AI is, which complicates our every conversation about what effect it will have on our lives. We can’t even really agree on what intelligence is in humans, where the conversation inevitably veers away from science and into philosophy. As neither a scientist nor a philosopher, but with decades of personal experience on the front lines of both human and machine cognition, I prefer to focus on the practical. AI will be the greatest technological advance since the internet turned the world into a living stream of data. It will be more subtle, more all-encompassing,…

SCIENCE HACKS FOR A PERFECT CHRISTMAS

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

SCIENCE HACKS FOR A PERFECT CHRISTMAS

HOW TO GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING You have a long list of family and friends, but only limited funds in the bank. Who should you buy presents for? Prof Rachel Norman and Dr Anthony O’Hare, at the University of Stirling, have applied game theory to the exchange of gifts. Game theory is a branch of maths to do with calculating optimal strategies in competitive situations. Central to it is the idea of finding the unexploitable ‘Nash equilibrium’. If two people are both playing the Nash strategy, then neither can improve their lot by changing tack. Let’s say receiving a present invokes enjoyment, E, but giving incurs cost, C. The diagram above shows the possible payoffs for two people. For example, if player 1 gives but player 2 doesn’t then player 1…

MEET THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

MEET THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS

In the Siberian summer, the Sun never sets. Along the banks of the Kolyma River in the region’s northeast, straggly larch and tall spruce trees preside over a patchwork of lichen and moss. It’s one of the world’s last great wildernesses, but its beauty is being eroded – literally – by an underground business that is booming. Every year, clandestine crews of men head to the region to look for hidden treasure: the tusks of woolly mammoths that lie frozen in the permafrost. It’s dirty, backbreaking work. They sleep in makeshift tents, live off canned beef, noodles and vodka, and operate illegally, ripping the mammoth remains from the earth with a level of brute force never seen before. They sell the tusks at great profit, creating a new ‘gold rush’…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

Q&A

Which plane has the biggest wingspan? TRACEY EVANS, POOLE Thepassengerplanewiththebiggestwingspanis VJG›CKTDWU|#›››|s|C›OQPUVGT›FQWDNG›FGEMGT|RNCPG› VJCV›ECTTKGU›››››RGQRNG››YKVJ›C›YKPIURCP›QH›››O›› $WV›VJG|QXGTCNN›RNCPG›YKVJ|VJG›DKIIGUV›YKPIURCP›YKNN› UQQP›DG›CP›CKTETCHV›VJCV›ECTTKGU›PQ|RCUUGPIGTU›CV›CNN›| 2CWN›#NNGP››EQ›HQWPFGT›QH›/KETQUQHV›CPF›QPG› QH›VJG›YQTNFoU›TKEJGUV›OGP››JCU›JGNRGF›ETGCVG› VJG|5VTCVQNCWPEJ››6JKU›YKNN›DG›CP›CKTETCHV›YKVJ›UKZ› ››››LGV›GPIKPGU›CPF›C›VYKP›HWUGNCIG|›VJG|HNKIJV›ETGY› CTG›CNN›KP›VJG›TKIJV›JCPF›QPG››CPF›KPUVTWOGPVCVKQP› KU›KP›VJG|NGHV›QPG›››6JG›COC\KPI›OCEJKPG›YKNN›ECTT[› TQEMGVU›JKIJ›KPVQ›VJG›CVOQURJGTG›VQ|OCMG›NCWPEJKPI› UCVGNNKVGU›EJGCRGT|CPF›OQTG›TGNKCDNG››+VoU›UVKNN›WPFGT› EQPUVTWEVKQP››DWV›KVU›YKPIURCP›YKNN›DG››››O›› PB Why do beavers build dams? SARAH CONNORS, GLASGOW &CO›DWKNFKPI›KU›U[PQP[OQWU›YKVJ›DGCXGTU››VJG› WNVKOCVG›CSWCVKE›GPIKPGGTU››7UKPI›DTCPEJGU›HTQO› VTGGU›VJG[›JCXG›HGNNGF››VJGUG›NCTIG›TQFGPVU›FCO› NCMGU›VQ›ETGCVG›OQCV›NKMG›RQPFU›QH›UVKNN›YCVGT› YJGTG›VJG[›EQPUVTWEV›KUNCPFU›MPQYP›CU|nEQPKECN› NQFIGUo›QWV›QH›VKODGT››OWF›CPF›TQEMU›|6JG›DQF[›QH› YCVGT›UWTTQWPFKPI›VJG›NQFIGU›RTQXKFGU›RTQVGEVKQP› HTQO›RTGFCVQTU›s›TGUKFGPV›DGCXGTU›GPVGT›CPF› GZKV›VJGKT›UQRJKUVKECVGF›JQOGU›KPEQIPKVQ›XKC› YCVGT›HKNNGF›VWPPGNU›NGCFKPI›HTQO›VJG›NQFIGU›VQ› VJG›RQPF›|6JG›NCTIGUV›NQFIG››HQWPF›KP›#NDGTVC›› %CPCFC››OGCUWTGU›QXGT››››O›KP›NGPIVJ›s›VJQWIJ› EQPVTCT[›VQ›C›YKFGN[›EKTEWNCVGF›O[VJ››KV›KU›PQV XKUKDNG›HTQO›URCEG››+P›FGGR›QT›HCUV›OQXKPI›YCVGT› CTGCU››DGCXGTU›UKORN[›GZECXCVG›KPVQ›TKXGT›DCPMU› CPF›UGV›WR›JQOG›VJGTG›KPUVGCF›› CC How long do six pints of lager stay in my system? CAROLINE PAGET, EDINBURGH 6JGTG›KU›PQ›UKORNG›CPUYGT››6JG›TCVG›CV› YJKEJ›[QWT›DQF[›DTGCMU›FQYP›CNEQJQN› FGRGPFU›QP›OCP[›HCEVQTU››KPENWFKPI› [QWT›CIG››UGZ››YGKIJV››OGVCDQNKUO›CPF› JQY›OWEJ›[QWoXG›GCVGP››#U›C›IGPGTCN› TWNG›QH›VJWOD›|KV›VCMGU›CDQWV›QPG›JQWT› HQT›[QWT›DQF[›VQ›DTGCM›FQYP›QPG› nWPKVo››››ON›QH›RWTG›CNEQJQN›››#›RKPV› QH›NQY›UVTGPIVJ›NCIGT›EQPVCKPU›CDQWV› VYQ›WPKVU››YJKNG›C›JKIJGT›UVTGPIVJ› QPG›JCU›VJTGG››5Q›KV›EQWNF›VCMG›››› JQWTU›QT›NQPIGT›HQT›VJG›CNEQJQN›HTQO› UKZ›RKPVU›QH›UVTQPI›NCIGT›VQ›NGCXG›[QWT› U[UVGO››+P›QVJGT›YQTFU››CV›NGCUV›UQOG› CNEQJQN›YKNN›UVKNN›DG›KP›[QWT›DNQQF›VJG› OQTPKPI›CHVGT›VJG›PKIJV›DGHQTG›› ED Why does music make us feel good? AMMAR EL-BEIK (AGE 12), WINNERSH #V›C›DCUKE›NGXGN››KV›KU›VQ›FQ›YKVJ›JQY›QWT›DTCKPU›JCXG› GXQNXGF›VQ›ƂPF›KV›TGYCTFKPI›VQ›NQQM›HQT›CPF›ƂPF›OGCPKPIHWN› RCVVGTPU›KP›UQWPF››4GUGCTEJ›UWIIGUVU›VJGTG›KU›UQOGVJKPI› RCTVKEWNCTN[›UCVKUH[KPI›CDQWV›C›RKGEG›QH›OWUKE›VJCV›KU›KP› UQOG›YC[U›HCOKNKCT››DWV›CNUQ›EQPVCKPU›C›HGY›UWTRTKUGU› /WUKE›ECP›CNUQ›OCMG›WU›HGGN›IQQF›D[›CORNKH[KPI›QWT› EWTTGPV›OQQF››VJKPM›QH›VJG|nRNGCUWTGo|QH›YCNNQYKPI›KP›C›UCF› UQPI›YJGP›[QWoTG›HGGNKPI›FQYP›››KV›ECP›CNUQ›VTKIIGT›HQPF›QT› RQKIPCPV›OGOQTKGU››6JGP›VJGTGoU›VJG›UQEKCN›UKFG››UKPIKPI› CNQPI›YKVJ›HTKGPFU›VQ›C›PGY›VWPG›HTQO›[QWT›HCXQWTKVG›DCPF› HQUVGTU›C›RQYGTHWN›UGPUG›QH›DGNQPIKPI›CJ What is at the centre of a gas giant like Jupiter? LIAM FARMER, NOTTINGHAM This is one of the key questions astronomers hope to resolve with data…

Q&A

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

HOW CAN I LIVE TO BE 100?

1. BE BORN LATER Life expectancy figures normally assume mortality rates will stay the same, but medical and safety improvements are constantly reducing them. A new Danish model that takes this into account found that children born in the developed world today have a 50 per cent chance of reaching 100. 2. BE FEMALE Women live longer than men, and not just because they tend not to fight wars. Japanese researchers created mice without a father by combining two female genomes. Their lifespan was extended by 30 per cent. Men may be engineered for size and strength at the expense of durability. 3. TAKE VITAMIN D In the UK, the sun is only bright enough to make vitamin D in our skin between April and September. Vitamin D has been…

HOW CAN I LIVE TO BE 100?

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

HOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH 1973 Attenborough’s six lectures on The Language Of Animals shattered the cardinal rule of showbiz, “never work with animals or children”. Among the creatures on show were a praying mantis, a ring-tailed lemur and an impossibly cute baby orangutan. CARL SAGAN 1977 In possibly the most iconic lectures of all, Sagan discussed our place in the Solar System and the game-changing discoveries made by the Mariner 9 and Viking missions to Mars. It was a fertile time for space exploration, with the twin Voyager spacecraft launched just a few months earlier. SUE HARTLEY 2009 The botanical world was brought memorably to life by Hartley, with chocolate fountains, giant marrows and mouth-burning chillis all helping to demonstrate the ways in which plants cling to survival, and how we’ve manipulated…

HOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PAST

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

WHAT WE’VE FOUND OUT THIS MONTH

Men’s voices get higher pitched as they age p90 Cosmic rays can be used to see inside pyramids and volcanoes p14 I’ve been cutting cakes wrong my whole life p52 There’s a 30 per cent chance of another 9/11-scale terrorist attack happening in the next decade p56 Sea air doesn’t help you sleep better p83 CONTACT US Advertising neil.lloyd@immediate.co.uk 01173008276 Lettersforpublication reply@sciencefocus.com Editorialenquiries editorialenquiries@sciencefocus.com 01173147388 Subscriptions bbcfocus@buysubscriptions.com 03330162113* Othercontacts sciencefocus.com/contact WANT MORE ? FOLLOW SCIENCEFOCUS FACEBOOK TWITTER PINTEREST GOOGLE+…

WHAT WE’VE FOUND OUT THIS MONTH

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH

SLEEP STRUGGLES This morning my mother sent me [QWT›UWTXG[|QP›UNGGR›RCTCN[UKU›CPF› a condition that I was not aware of, exploding head syndrome, which sounds terrible. I completed the survey and added myself to the optional list at the end with the hope of maybe hearing some of your findings. I have suffered from sleep paralysis since I was a child, and at least three or four times a week. I get it the worst when overtired and just lying down for bed. My father is a doctor who specialises in the diagnosis QH|GRKNGRU[›CPF›QVJGT›PGWTQNQIKECN› conditions. My question to you, I suppose, is in regards to my father’s explanation of how sleep paralysis works and whether he is TKIJV›|&CF›VQNF›OG›VJCV›YJGP›[QW›HCNN›CUNGGR› your body goes into a state of sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) where by…

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH

DINOSAUR-KILLING ASTEROID IMPACT WAS WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

DINOSAUR-KILLING ASTEROID IMPACT WAS WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT

Some 66 million years ago, an asteroid struck the Yucatan peninsula in Central America, forming the Chicxulub crater and wiping out the dinosaurs in what is known as the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event. But two new pieces of research suggest that this impact was even more cataclysmic than was previously believed. A new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters shows that up to three times as much sulphur may have been released into the atmosphere as a result of the impact than previous models have suggested. This would have led to a longer period of global cooling, which helps to explain the devastating effects on the Earth’s fauna at the time. “Many climate models can’t currently capture all of the consequences of the Chicxulub impact, due to uncertainty…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

SHEEP TRAINED TO RECOGNISE CELEBRITIES

What did they do? A team at the University of Cambridge placed eight sheep in a pen, one at a time. At one end, they displayed two photographs on computer screens – one of a celebrity and one of a random person – and placed infrared detectors on each of them. The celebrities used were Fiona Bruce, Jake Gyllenhaal, Barack Obama and Emma Watson. When the sheep moved towards the celebrity photograph they received a food reward. If they chose the wrong photograph, a buzzer would sound and they would receive nothing. What did they find? After training, the sheep were able to choose the photograph of the celebrity face eight times out of ten from the front, and around seven times out of ten when show the face from…

SHEEP TRAINED TO RECOGNISE CELEBRITIES

HALLUCINOGENIC DRUG BREWED BY AMAZONIANS COULD BE USED TO TREAT ALCOHOLISM AND DEPRESSION

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

HALLUCINOGENIC DRUG BREWED BY AMAZONIANS COULD BE USED TO TREAT ALCOHOLISM AND DEPRESSION

A psychedelic drug traditionally used in South American shamanic ceremonies could be used to treat alcoholism and depression, new research from the University of Exeter and University College London suggests. IF YOU ARE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR ALCOHOL USE, CONTACT ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS ON 0800 917 7650. IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR MENTAL HEALTH, VISIT MIND.ORG.UK Previous studies have suggested that LSD and magic mushrooms can help alcoholics tackle their addiction, but now ayahuasca, a psychedelic brew often consumed in rituals in the Amazon region, has also shown promise. The brew is made from a blend of the bush Psychotria viridis and the stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine. It is used in rituals by indigenous tribes and religious groups in the region, as well as being increasingly popular…

TEETH SHED NEW LIGHT ON MAN’S EARLIEST ORIGINS

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

TEETH SHED NEW LIGHT ON MAN’S EARLIEST ORIGINS

Two fossilised teeth found on Devon’s ‘Jurassic coast’ have been identified as belonging to some of man’s earliest ancestors. The teeth belonged to two previously unknown species of small, rat-like creature that lived around 145 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous period. The two species, which have been named Durlstotherim newmani and Durlstotherim ensomi , are now effectively the earliest known creatures in the line that led not just to humans, but to pretty much all mammals that are alive today – from the tiny pygmy shrew to the giant blue whale. The fossilised teeth were discovered by Grant Smith, an undergraduate student at the University of Portsmouth. After realising they were the teeth of some kind of early mammal and showed them to his supervisor, Prof Dave Martill,…

PETROL AND DIESEL CARS GET AN EVICTION DATE

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

PETROL AND DIESEL CARS GET AN EVICTION DATE

Car makers are competing to reimagine themselves in an emissions-free age Dirty air is making us ill. In fact, 40,000 premature deaths per year can be attributed to poor air quality, according to the Royal College of Physicians. So news in July that the government was setting out to clean up our air was welcome. The headline was that the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans would be banned by 2040 – with hybrids being exempt. But the initiative was greeted by a healthy dose of scepticism. Firstly, climate and environment experts felt the deadline wasn’t soon enough: we’ll still be breathing in polluted air for the next 22 years. Secondly, the scheme didn’t explain how the country might prepare for a new influx of cars needing somewhere…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

STRANGER THINGS

BICKERING BOTS In January, an unidentified evil genius set two Google Home chatbots up to talk to each other and thousands of users of Twitch – the live videostreaming channel where people watch each other play games – tuned in to watch. Their rambling, surreal conversation touched on Toronto, the Super Bowl and polar bears, as each tried hard to convince the other it was a real life human being. ROBOT VICAR In May, a church in Wittenberg, Germany took delivery of a vaguely humanoid robot called Bless U-2. When you pressed a touchscreen in the robot’s chest, its arms raised up and its computer-animated mouth offered up a blessing in German, English, Polish, Spanish or French. Sadly, though, it was only in the church for a short time, as…

STRANGER THINGS

CAN MATHS DEFEAT TERRORISM?

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

CAN MATHS DEFEAT TERRORISM?

“After a terror attack, it’s pretty standard for people to say, ‘He was a really decent person’. But it’s much more about the groups they were in.” Barcelona,17August:13dead..QPFQP››››|,WPG››QPG›FGCF››.QPFQP››››,WPG››GKIJV›FGCF›› /CPEJGUVGT››››|/C[›››››FGCF›› 2CTKU›››››#RTKN››QPG›FGCF›› 5VQEMJQNO››››#RTKN››HQWT›FGCF››.QPFQP››››|/CTEJ››HKXG›FGCF››5Q› IQGU›VJG›NKUV›QH›VGTTQT›CVVCEMU›CPF› VJG›PWODGT›QH›NKXGU›ENCKOGF›CETQUU› VJG›7-›CPF›'WTQRG›KP›››››››'CEJ›CVVCEM›YCU› UJQEMKPI››WPRTGFKEVGF›CPF›TCPFQO››$WV›YJCV›KH›YKVJKP› NKUVU›QH›CVVCEMU›NKMG›VJKU››VJG›EQNF››JCTF›FCVC›QH› VGTTQTKUO››VJGTG›YCU›C›JKFFGP›RCVVGTP›s›KPHQTOCVKQP› NWTMKPI›YKVJKP›VJG›UVCVKUVKEU! +VoU›C›SWGUVKQP›VJCV›ECOG›VQ›RJ[UKEKUV›2TQHGUUQT›0GKN› ,QJPUQP›CV›VJG›7PKXGTUKV[›QH›/KCOK›YJKNG›JG›YCU› XKUKVKPI›$QIQVC›KP›%QNQODKC›KP›VJG›››››U››5KPEG›VJG› OKF›o››U››VJG›EQWPVT[›JCU›DGGP›KP›VJG›ITKR›QH›C› EQPHNKEV›DGVYGGP›VJG›IQXGTPOGPV›CPF›C›JQUV›QH› KPUWTIGPV›ITQWRU››p+oF›VWTP›QP›VJG›PGYU›CPF›VJTGG› YGTG›MKNNGF›VQFC[››VJGP›PQ›QPG››VJGP›HKXG››VJGP›VYQ›› VJGP›UKZ›q›UC[U›,QJPUQP››p+VoU›C›EQORNKECVGF›UGV›QH› PWODGTU›CPF›+›VJQWIJV››NGVoU›NQQM›CV›VJGO›s›KVoU› V[RKECN›HQT›C›RJ[UKEKUV›VQ›YCPV›VQ›FQ›VJCV›q›*KU›GHHQTVU› VQ›HKPF›C›UKIPCN›KP›VJCV›PQKU[›FCVC›RTQXGF›HTWKVHWN› .CVGT››YJGP›JG›CPF›GEQPQOKUV›2TQHGUUQT›/KMG› 5RCICV›CV›4Q[CN›*QNNQYC[››7PKXGTUKV[›QH›.QPFQP›› CPCN[UGF›C›FCVCDCUG›QH››››››››CVVCEMU›KP›%QNWODKC› CPF›RNQVVGF›VJG›PWODGT›QH›CVVCEMU›CICKPUV›VJG› PWODGT›QH›RGQRNG›MKNNGF›KP›GCEJ›QH›VJGO››VJG[›HQWPF› VJCV›TCVJGT›VJCP›UGGKPI›C›ENCUUKE›DGNN›EWTXG›s›VJG› ITCRJ›VJCV›FGUETKDGU›OQUV›VJKPIU›KP›PCVWTG››HTQO› JGKIJV›VQ›NKHGURCPU›QH›KPFKXKFWCN›URGEKGU›s›YJCV›VJG[› UCY›YCU›C›UVGGRN[›UNQRGF›ITCRJ›VJCV›SWKEMN[›NGXGNNGF› QHH››YKVJ›C›NQPI›nVCKNo››+V›TGHNGEVGF›VJG›HCEV›VJCV›VJGTG› JCF›DGGP›C›NCTIG›PWODGT›QH›CVVCEMU›YKVJ›C›UOCNN› PWODGT›QH›ECUWCNVKGU››CPF›C›UOCNN›JCPFHWN›QH›CVVCEMU› YKVJ›C›XGT[›JKIJ›FGCVJ›VQNN››9JGP›VJG[›FKF VJG›UCOG› YKVJ›FCVC›VJCV›HQNNQYGF›VJG››››››KPXCUKQP›QH›+TCS››KV› UJQYGF›GZCEVN[›VJG›UCOG›RCVVGTP›› 9JCV›VJG[oF›FKUEQXGTGF›YCU›C›nRQYGT›NCYo››C› OCVJGOCVKECN›TGNCVKQPUJKR›HQWPF›KP›RJGPQOGPC› TKIJV›CETQUU›UEKGPEG›s›GXGT[VJKPI›HTQO›JQY›VJG› OQNGEWNGU›KP›OCVGTKCNU›DGJCXG›YJGP›VJG[oTG›JGCVGF›› VQ›VJG›HTGSWGPE[›QH›GCTVJSWCMGU›CPF›GXGP›VJG›OCUUGU› QH›UVCTU››UGG›n9JCV›KU›C›RQYGT›NCY!o››R››››› 6JG›RQYGT›NCYoU›FKUEQXGT[›KP›VJG›TGCNO›QH› VGTTQTKUO›JCU›C›EJKNNKPI›EQPUGSWGPEG››$WV›KV›CNUQ› TCKUGU›VJG›SWGUVKQP›YJGVJGT›VJGUG›UGGOKPIN[›TCPFQO› CEVU›OKIJV›CEVWCNN[›DG›RTGFKEVCDNG›KP›UQOG›YC[› DEMAND FOR DATA #V›VJG›UCOG›VKOG›CU›,QJPUQP›YCU›WPEQXGTKPI›VJG› RQYGT›NCY›TGNCVKQPUJKR›DGVYGGP›VJG›PWODGT›QH› VGTTQT›CVVCEMU›CPF›VJGKT›UECNG››EQORWVGT›UEKGPVKUV› #UUV›2TQH›#CTQP›%NCWUGV›CV›VJG›7PKXGTUKV[›QH› %QNQTCFQ›CV›$QWNFGT›YCU›FQKPI›LWUV›VJG›UCOG›› 2 2 $QVJ›QH›VJGO›YGTG›JCTPGUUKPI›FCVC›HTQO›VJG› )NQDCN›6GTTQTKUO›&CVCDCUG››)6&›››C›TGEQTF›QH› VGTTQT›CVVCEMU›CTQWPF›VJG›YQTNF›UKPEG›››››› “One of the key problems with scientific approaches to trying to understand terrorism is getting the data” p1PG›QH›VJG›MG[›RTQDNGOU›YKVJ›UEKGPVKHKE› CRRTQCEJGU›VQ›VT[KPI›VQ›WPFGTUVCPF›VGTTQTKUO›KU› IGVVKPI›VJG›FCVC›q›UC[U›%NCWUGV››p(QT›VJG›OQUV›RCTV›› VGTTQTKUVU›FQPoV›TGEQTF›VJGKT›CEVKXKVKGU›KP›PKEG› UVTWEVWTGF›HQTOCVU››+H›[QW›ECPoV›OGCUWTG›KV››[QW› ECPoV›FQ›UEKGPEG›YKVJ›KV›q 6JG›VCUM›QH›TGEQTFKPI›FCVC›QP›VGTTQT›KPEKFGPVU› JCU›DGGP›VCMGP›WR›D[›UVCHH›CPF›UVWFGPVU›CV›VJG› 7PKXGTUKV[›QH›/CT[NCPF››JQOG›QH›VJG›0CVKQPCN› %QPUQTVKWO›HQT›VJG›5VWF[›QH›6GTTQTKUO›CPF› 4GURQPUGU›VQ›6GTTQTKUO››56#46›››*GTG››EQORWVGTU› WUG›PCVWTCN›NCPIWCIG›RTQEGUUKPI›VQ›UKHV›VJTQWIJ›››› OKNNKQP›PGYURCRGT›CTVKENGU›RGT›OQPVJ›CPF›HKPF› TGRQTVU›QH›CVVCEMU››+VoU›VJGP›FQYP›VQ›C›VGCO›QH›››› CPCN[UVU››JGNRGF›D[›UVWFGPV›XQNWPVGGTU››VQ›TGCF› VJTQWIJ›VJG››››››››CTVKENGU›VJG›EQORWVGTU›RKEM›QWV› RGT›OQPVJ›CPF›UKHV›QWV›CP[›OKUVCMGPN[›KFGPVKHKGF› CU›DGKPI›VGTTQT›TGNCVGF››6JG›CTVKENGU›YGGFGF›QWV›CTG› HGF›DCEM›VQ›VJG›EQORWVGTU›UQ›VJGKT›CTVKHKEKCN› KPVGNNKIGPEG›U[UVGO›ECP›EQPVKPWCNN[›KORTQXG››6JG› CPCN[UVU›VJGP›TGEQTF›››››FKHHGTGPV›XCTKCDNGU›CDQWV› GCEJ›CVVCEM›UWEJ›CU›VJG›YGCRQPU›WUGF››VJG›V[RGU›QH› VCTIGV›CPF›VJG›PWODGT›QH›RGQRNG›MKNNGF››6JG›FCVC› VJG[›IGPGTCVG›KU›TGNGCUGF›KP›EJWPMU›CPPWCNN[›CPF›KU› HTGGN[›CXCKNCDNG›QP›VJG›)6&›YGDUKVG››…

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

CAN WE TRUST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

“IT’S THANKS TO DEEP LEARNING THAT WE HAVE SIRI, CORTANA AND ALEXA” Deep learning does it all: face recognition, speech recognition, language translation, automated game-playing. It’s an approach that has transformed the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and is without doubt the AI flavour of the decade. It works amazingly well. But increasingly, questions are being asked about transparency. Exactly how does deep learning work? Can we trust it to work for safety critical applications such as self-driving cars? We generally like computer algorithms to be as transparent and revealing as possible – and this is not the case when it comes to deep learning. In essence, deep learning is really a clever rebranding of an earlier computer learning method called artificial neural networks (ANNs). Dating back to the beginning…

CAN WE TRUST ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?

THE MRI SCANNER

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

THE MRI SCANNER

A. Scanning table The patient can only be scanned from inside the magnetic coil, so a motorised table slides them in and out. B. RF system An antenna produces a radio signal to ‘nudge’ the hydrogen nuclei and listen to the answering radio wave they emit. C. Liquid helium Liquid helium is pumped through an enclosing jacket to cool the superconducting magnets almost to absolute zero. D. Main magnet Superconducting magnetic coils produce a magnetic field of 1.5 teslas – that’s about 300 times stronger than a fridge magnet. E. Patient The high magnetic fields mean that patients with cochlear implants, pacemakers or embedded shrapnel usually can’t be scanned. F. Gradient system A second coil distorts the main magnetic field so that the resonant frequency of the protons varies according…

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

BBC Science Focus Magazine|Christmas 2017

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

Does a USB drive get heavier as you store more fles on it? BEN CHELSKI, COLCHESTER Believe it or not, they get lighter. USB drives use Flash memory, which means the the ones and zeros of your data are stored on transistors. When you save data, a binary zero is set by charging the float gate of the transistor, and a binary one is set by removing the charge. To charge it, we add electrons, and the mass of each electron is ›››››››››››››››››››››››››››››››› grams. This means that an empty USB drive (which mostly holds zeros) weighs more than a full USB drive (which has ones and zeros). Add data, reduce the weight. However, you would need to weigh more USB drives than exist on the planet together at once before…