Table of contents for December 2018 in BBC Science Focus Magazine

The Red Planet is about to get a new resident robot: the Mars InSight lander. InSight doesn’t have wheels like Opportunity or Spirit, but when it touches down on Elysium Planitia on 26 November, it will show us a place that’s never been explored before: subterranean Mars. Relatively little is known about what goes on beneath the Red Planet’s rocky ranges. But we do know one thing: the planet rumbles. These Marsquakes send vibrations coursing through the planet’s rock and InSight will be there, with some of the most delicate equipment ever launched into space, to listen to what they sound like. In a similar way to how you knock on a wall to tell if it’s hollow, the waves, recorded as seismographs along with other data, will paint a…

A closer examination of Archaeopteryxfossils has led to a new species of the creature being identified. An international team of scientists, led by Dr Martin Kundrát from Slovakia’s University of Pavol Jozef äafárik, have described a type of Archaeopteryxthat’s closer to modern birds in evolutionary terms than any previously analysed. “IT CONFIRMS ARCHAEOPTERYX AS THE FIRST BIRD, AND NOT JUST ONE OF A NUMBER OF THEROPOD DINOSAURS, WHICH SOME AUTHORS HAVE SUGGESTED RECENTLY. YOU COULD SAY IT PUTS ARCHAEOPTERYXBACK ON ITS PERCH AS THE FIRST BIRD” Archaeopteryx, meaning ancient wing, was first named after a solitary feather discovered in southern Germany back in 1861. Since then, only 12 specimens have been found, and they all date back to the late Jurassic period, approximately 150 million years ago. By examining the…

RUNNERS Lace up those trainers! Researchers in France have found that participants who went for a 15-minute jog prior to taking cognitive tests were more mentally sharp than those who’d had 15 minutes’ rest. It is thought to be due to increased feelings of vigour. THE SPANISH People in Spain are predicted to have the longest life expectancy by 2040, a study at the University of Washington has found. They’ll edge ahead of the Japanese, the current record holders, thanks to the benefits of a Mediterranean diet, the scientists say.…

CLIMATE CHANGE COULD LEAD TO A GLOBAL BEER SHORTAGE Severe weather including droughts and heatwaves may lead to substantial decreases in barley yields, a study at the University of East Anglia has found. The most extreme scenarios could see beer prices in the UK doubling as a result of the shortages, the researchers say. Better make mine a half. WEARING WOOL CAN HELP YOU SLEEP When it comes to nodding off to sleep, wearing wool could be just as effective as counting sheep, a team in Sydney, Australia has found. Study participants wearing wool rather than cotton or polyester fell asleep up to 15 minutes earlier, they say. The benefit is thought to be due to the textile’s heat-regulating effects. ELEPHANTS CAN DO MATHS Researchers at Japan’s Ueno Zoo trained…

Google’s deep learning AI has proven that it is more accurate than pathologists at detecting breast cancer that has spread to a patient’s lymph nodes. The presence or absence of these ‘nodal metastases’ influence a patient’s prognosis and treatment plan, so accurate and fast detection is important. But in some cases, only 38 per cent of small metastases are picked up by pathologists when samples are reviewed under time constraints, and right now, that pathologist’s examination is the gold standard in diagnosis of nodal metastases. Google customised one of its ‘off-the-shelf’ deep learning approaches, calling it LYNA (LYmph Node Assistant). Among other things, it was taught to examine the images at different magnifications, similar to how a pathologist examines slides. The algorithm’s first test showed that LYNA was able to…

The tech industry is still stubbornly male-dominated (in 2017, 79 per cent of venture capitalist funding went to all-male teams), but the proportion of female-led start-ups is on the rise. Those companies are learning about the effect of hormonal fluctuations and menstrual cycles on women’s health, innovating around pregnancy and breastfeeding, and tackling issues like postnatal depression and the disproportionate amount of women affected by Alzheimer’s. Meanwhile, apps and online shopping are making it easier for women to experiment with tech that might still be considered taboo. This emerging industry has been dubbed ‘femtech’, and market analysts Frost & Sullivan have recently forecast that it’ll be worth $50bn by 2025. We’re testing three femtech products that address common issues: conceiving a child, menstrual pain, and stress urinary incontinence. Now that…

This eDNA study will be the first to qualify if there is an unexpected creature in Loch Ness. Here are the suspects of what Nessie might be… A PLESIOSAUR? A long-extinct group of aquatic reptiles – the plesiosaurs – have frequently been mentioned in connection with Loch Ness, mostly because Nessie is often said to have a long neck, much like a plesiosaur. But the fossil record gives no indication that plesiosaurs have survived any more recently than 66 million years ago. A GIANT EEL? Several monster experts have proposed that Nessie might be an eel that has grown to a size about 10 times bigger than the norm for its species, perhaps because it has been living there for decades or centuries. There are no good indications, however, that…

20 November 1998 The first ISS module, Zarya, is launched on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. 4 December 1998 Unity, the first US-built component of the ISS, is launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. 7 December 1998 Astronauts Jerry Ross and James Newman make the first spacewalk outside the ISS, connecting computer and electrical cables between the Unity and Zarya modules. 2 November 2000 Astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev become the first crew to stay on board. The ISS has been continuously occupied ever since. 10 February 2001 The Destiny laboratory module is attached to the rest of the station and continues to be the primary US science lab to this day. 10 March 2001 Astronaut Susan Helms becomes the first…

1.In 1953, the US Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) built two houses in the Nevada desert. The families living there were actually mannequins donated by American department stores. 2.This was part of ‘Operation Doorstep’ – a test to see what the effects of a nuclear strike would be on a typical suburban home. The houses were placed 1km and 2.5km from ‘ground zero’. 3.The 15-kiloton atomic bomb was detonated from the top of a 90m tower to replicate an air-burst explosion, similar to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima eight years earlier. 4.Damage to the mannequins showed that any aboveground occupants in either house would have been killed. But surprisingly, those mannequins sheltering in the basements were protected from the initial blast.…

Thousands of eastern bent-wing bats huddle on the roof of a pedestrian tunnel in the mountains of K›chi, Japan. For years, Japanese zoologists were puzzled where the bats went in the winter, as they could not find their roost. Finally, after much searching, around 4,000 of the animals were discovered in the tunnel. In temperate regions, bats will hibernate when the weather gets colder. They lower their heart and breathing rates to save energy, and start emerging again when the weather warms up.…

You describe yourself as a ‘technology evangelist’. Why? Because technology changed my life. My mum died when I was 12 and I left school at 16. When I was 25, I had a broken marriage and was living in a women’s refuge. Then, when my kids went to school, I did a computing degree. My supervisor asked me if I wanted to do a PhD. I said I’d love to, but didn’t tell him I had no idea what one was! And then? “TECHNOLOGY TOOK ME FROM LIVING ON BENEFITS ON A COUNCIL ESTATE, TO THE CAREER THAT I HAVE TODAY” Technology took me from living on benefits on a council estate, to the career that I have today as a keynote speaker and computer scientist. It worries me that…

ALEKS KROTOSKI With the Christmas party season approaching, Aleks looks into the benefits of being alone, and how this differs from social isolation p31 NICK LYON Producer Nick describes the challenges of filming the competing packs of painted wolves that feature in BBC One’s new natural history series Dynasties p74 DR DARREN NAISH Palaeontologist Darren meets the geneticist collecting DNA floating in Loch Ness in the hope of answering whether or not a monster lurks there p66…

80,000 The age of the Pando aspen – an expanse of 40,000 genetically identical trees deemed to be a single organism found in Fishlake National Forest, Utah. It is among the largest, heaviest and oldest living organisms on Earth. 10 TRILLION The number of frames captured each second by a camera created by a team based at Caltech and the University of Quebec – that’s fast enough to capture the passage of a pulse of light as it travels through space. 300 The number of mammal species thought to have been eradicated due to human activity, as estimated by researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark.…

What did they do? Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison listened in on the coos, chirps and barks between couples of California mice before and after one of them had been taken away to be ‘unfaithful’ by mating with another mouse. In the wild, California mice that have bonded with a partner stay together for life or until one of them dies. What did they find? All of the mice began barking aggressively when first reunited, but some quickly returned to the softer style of communication seen before the separation. Furthermore, the more aggressive couples were less likely to produce offspring, and when they did the males were less attentive to the pups. Why did they do that? The team wanted to investigate if the way that the mice communicate…

Tis the season to hide in the loo at office Christmas parties. To avoid too much idle chitchat and loud music. To take a break from the pressure to drink, eat, and be merry. To have a moment in one’s own company. To be alone. I am that person. But I wasn’t always. When I was younger, I was the classic extravert, always out, always big and brash, often wearing a silly wig and a loud pattern. I was occupied with a million things, and then once every three weeks I’d cancel my evening plans at the last minute and collapse face-first on my dining room table. Even then, I wasn’t really alone. I was asleep. The thing is, I didn’t hate being alone, I just wanted to do a…

1 FEELING HOT Set the perfect temperature via an app, and this Ember ceramic mug will keep your tea or coffee hot for an hour. Perfect for those forgetful drinkers, who are always finding cold cups of tea around the house. Ember Ceramic Mug £79.95, ember.com 2 ZIPIT Libratone’s next-generation wireless speaker comes Alexa-enabled, with powerful 360° sound and a 12-hour battery. The Danish company is so proud of its design that you can zip the cover off the speaker to peek at what’s inside. Libratone ZIPP 2 £279, libratone.com 3 ROCK ’N’ ROLL Connect your phone via Bluetooth and blast out your music through this speaker, or use the RCA input to hook it up to your record player. It beautifully…

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed 3D-printed objects that can transmit and store data about their use without the need for batteries or electronics. The devices use a method called ‘backscatter’. They have antennas embedded in them that reflect radio signals from something like your home Wi-Fi router. The way the antennas backscatter their signals carries information about how the object is being used. The researchers suggest these could be used for devices like ‘smart’ pill bottles, to record when they’re being opened or closed. They could then send information to an app to help patients or doctors track their use. As the objects are completely made of plastic, users wouldn’t need to worry about the objects getting wet, losing signal or running out of batteries. The team…

WILLOW WEARABLE BREAST PUMP Slip this breast pump into your bra for hands-free pumping. It’s even quiet enough to use in a business meeting. Only available in the US for now. $479 (£350 approx), willowpump.com HANX FAIRTRADE CONDOMS HANX vegan condoms are designed for women’s comfort as well as men’s. They’re discreetly branded and available by subscription service straight to your door. £4.99 for a pack of three, hanxofficial.com THINX PERIOD-PROOF UNDERWEAR THINX absorbent, reusable underwear can replace, or be used with, pads, tampons or cups. Its antimicrobial lining fights bacteria, and it can hold two tampons’ worth of fluid. From £19, shethinx.com…

After a short journey, I’ve arrived at a bland industrial park just outside Abingdon in Oxfordshire. It’s populated by retailers of kitchen units and courier service companies, so it seems like an unlikely place for me to find an answer to the energy crisis. But within one of these anonymous warehouses, a company is seeking to recreate and harness the power of the Sun. Tokamak Energy is building a device that looks like a steampunk submersible from a Jules Verne novel. Made from gleaming steel, it has glass-covered ports through which you can peer into the interior. Called ST40, it is still in the process of being assembled after its relocation from Tokamak’s previous premises. But once it is up and running, you wouldn’t want to be here. It will…

As well as helping us discover the truth about Nessie, eDNA has many other useful applications… NEWT RESCUE Great crested newts are protected by European law. When development work that could affect freshwater bodies is planned, some ecologists in the UK use eDNA techniques to check for the presence of the amphibians before any building takes place. SHARK CONSERVATION Sharks are a priority in ocean conservation. Yet as they have huge ranges, they can be difficult to monitor. By taking water samples from the Coral Sea and the Caribbean Sea, a research team identified the distributions of at least 21 species of shark, and proposed that eDNA could help generate conservation strategies. SAVE THE WHALE Scientists at Oregon State University want to use eDNA to investigate beaked whales. This elusive…

Can cats smile? LISA MILNE (AGE 14), OXFORD Cats have the muscular ability to make facial expressions that resemble smiling, but it’s nothing to do with happiness! Certain odours, especially pheromone-rich ones like urine, can trigger the ‘flehmen response’, where cats draw scent particles to the roof of their mouth to be analysed by their extra sensory receptor, the Jacobson’s organ. This behaviour is characterised by curled lips, a tilted head and squinting eyes – all of which can look like smiling. Cats may also bare their teeth in a kind of grin when feeling aggressive. Positive signs of a contented cat include purring, slow-blinking, paw-kneading, head-rubbing, meowing and tail-flicking – but never smiling! CC Email your questions to questions@sciencefocus.com or submit online at sciencefocus.com/qanda…

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I was excited to read Michael Mosely’s column about beating air pollution by bike in the September issue. I cycle to work every day, and worry about the air quality in London, but I find masks uncomfortable and ineffective. My route takes me along mainly back roads, so I was predisposed to like Michael’s conclusion that a back streets cycle route is the best way to avoid as much pollution as possible. However, I’m afraid the method of ‘experiment’ was too problematic, even for me. Michael’s test included the following: a walking route on main roads, a cycle route on back roads, and a taxi route on main roads. He then concluded that cycling on back routes was the least polluted journey. I suppose if those are your only choices,…

It’s a space oddity for real: astronomers have spotted an exoplanet that wobbles. The wobbling could be due to an exomoon – a moon orbiting a planet outside our Solar System. If confirmed, it would be the first exomoon to be discovered. Alex Teachey and David Kipping of Columbia University used NASA’s Hubble and Kepler space telescopes to gather data on what they think is a huge moon – similar in diameter to Neptune – in orbit around Kepler-1625b, a gas giant exoplanet 8,000 light-years away. Astronomers search for exoplanets by watching for the temporary dimming of a star’s light caused by a planet passing in front of it, referred to as a transit. But while observing Kepler-1625b (discovered in May 2016) they spotted something unusual. “We saw little deviations…

Last month, some people stayed off the booze to Go Sober For October. And after the excesses of the festive period, which is just around the corner, comes the perennial question: should I join in Dry January? There are excellent reasons to drink less if you are currently over the guidelines, which in the UK are 14 units of alcohol a week for men and women. That translates into roughly six glasses of wine, or six pints of beer. A week. The dangers of going well above these guidelines include increased risk of cancer, obesity and heart disease. Plus, of course, things like crashing your car. As the facts about alcohol become widely available, more and more people are giving it up, permanently. A recent study found that a third…

Meet Scribit. It’s a little robot that’ll draw whatever you want on any vertical surface. Connect to the app and browse a library full of designs, or import or create your own art for Scribit to draw. And if you don’t like the design once it’s on your walls, then don’t worry – it’s erasable. Scribit draws using a set of markers that are heat-sensitive. When instructed, Scribit will go back over its drawing with a heat pod, evaporating the ink. The Scribit team suggests using it for decorating your home or doing presentations at work (graphs and charts look more interesting when drawn on the office walls with coloured markers, in our opinion). Remember being told off for scribbling on the walls when you were a kid? Scribit could…

SELF-DRIVING SHIPS Rolls Royce is looking to make commercial shipping safer and more efficient by collaborating with Intel to make intelligent, self-driving ships. The vessels will be less prone to human error and better equipped to navigate and avoid hazards. They’ll still have a crew on board, but they’ll be freed up to focus on more valuable tasks. ELECTRIC GUM Japanese researchers have developed chewing gum that never loses its flavour. It uses the ‘piezoelectric effect’, where a material generates an electric charge when squeezed. When this gum is chewed, it creates a small electric current that tricks your tongue into experiencing different tastes. Don’t expect raspberry ripple yet – testers report that the gum tasted of dried sardines. BETTER SPECS Wave your bifocals goodbye. TouchFocus, a Japanese company, has…

1 OUTER CASING This is made from 30mm-thick stainless steel. 2 TOROIDAL FIELD MAGNETS These confine the plasma and hold it away from the walls. The plasma particles continuously spiral around the tokamak, following the magnetic field. 3 CENTRAL COLUMN This contains a solenoid (a coil of wire that generates a magnetic field) that keeps a current flowing through the plasma, helping to hold it stable. 4 POLOIDAL FIELD MAGNETS These control the shape and position of the plasma. 5 PORTS These let the scientists monitor the tokamak. The ports also allow for injection of fuel (tritium and deuterium). 6 DIVERTOR REGION Helium produced in the fusion reaction is skimmed from the edge of the plasma at the top and bottom of the tokamak’s inner chamber. Failing to remove this…

DNA extracted from an organism can reveal a great deal about its relatedness to other living things, both in the small-scale sense of how it compares with other populations within its species, and in the broader sense of where it fits within the tree of life. But if it only takes a tiny sample of organic tissue – a single skin or gut cell, for example – for DNA to be extracted, then could DNAretrieval techniques be sophisticated enough for us to collect DNA that living things leave in their environments, via their shed cells, urine and faeces? The answer is yes. In a series of studies that first appeared in print during the 1990s, ecologists and geneticists worldwide have shown how the presence and identity of organisms in an…

What’s the painted wolves episode about? We were looking at a big family that would go through a change of leadership during filming. Tait is our central character. She’s the old matriarch and mother to two neighbouring alphas, Black-Tip and Janet. Black-Tip’s pack had grown very big, and there wasn’t really enough space, so her only option was to turn on her mother and take her throne. It’s a Shakespearian tale of a mother defending herself against her daughter. We were pretty certain that Tait would not survive the film, but we did not know how things were going to pan out, and what happened was unexpected. How did you capture all of that? We did 11 trips out to Zimbabwe, filming for 585 days in total in Mana Pools…

Power and Propulsion Element Provides power, communications, altitude control, orbit control and transfer capabilities for Gateway. Esprit The ability to refuel the tanks of docked spacecraft may be tested on this module, as Gateway could act as a refuelling station for craft travelling further into deep space. Utilization Element Small pressurised area for additional storage or habitation. Robotic arm Mechanical arm to berth and inspect vehicles, and install science payloads. Sample Return Vehicle A robotic vehicle capable of delivering small samples or payloads from the lunar surface to Gateway. Logistics and Utilization Cargo deliveries of consumables and equipment. Modules may also double as additional space for astronauts or science experiments. Habitation Modules It’s currently anticipated that the four astronauts will live in two almost identical modules. Docking ports on the…

How do Venus flytraps know when to shut? TOBY GRAHAM, SHREWSBURY The inside surfaces of the Venus flytrap’s two ‘lobes’ have six sensitive hairs – three on each one. The physical movement of these ‘trigger hairs’ is what springs the trap – but two hairs have to be touched within 20 seconds of each other for this to happen. This has evolved as a safety measure to stop the trap from going off when a raindrop hits it. The movement of the trigger hairs causes the release of charged calcium particles (ions) from the cells at the base of each hair. When the concentration of calcium ions rises high enough, the trap closes in less than a second by snapping from a convex to a concave shape, like an inverted…

In 2012, scientists announced the detection of the Higgs particle, a crucial part of theories describing the basic forces of nature. Its existence had been proposed nearly 50 years earlier by the British theoretician Peter Higgs. But confirmation of his work sparked controversy about who should win the Nobel Prize, as Higgs was not the first to suggest the eponymous particle might exist. A few weeks before Higgs’ work appeared in October 1964, Belgian theorists François Englert and Robert Brout showed that some properties of atomic nuclei might be linked to a kind of force field. Theorists already knew that such force fields demand the existence of particles to transmit them, and Englert and Brout didn’t go into details. Higgs went a bit further, giving a formula to describe the…