Table of contents for November 2019 in BBC Science Focus Magazine

In September, the IPCC released its report on the state of our oceans. Compiled from thousands of studies, it made grim reading. Together with the cryosphere, the blue parts of our planet have been absorbing most of the heat and CO2 we’ve been generating since the Industrial Revolution. And we’re set to witness the consequences. Overfishing, rising sea levels and acidic water conditions have led to empty fishing nets, receding shorelines and barren reefs that are ruining livelihoods that depend on the coast. But the report made one thing clear: there’s no escaping the consequences of an ocean that’s getting hotter. Warmer seas will whip up more floods, cyclones and hurricanes. And extreme weather patterns are likely to leave droughts in their wake. Fortunately, there is something to be optimistic…

Velocity raptors TEXAS, USA Three of SpaceX’s Raptor rockets undergo testing at the company’s build and launch facility in Cameron County, Texas. The engines will power the next-generation Starship spacecraft, which is due to undertake its first orbital flight in 2020. Commerical operations – from launching satellites into orbit to refuelling other craft such as the ISS – will then commence in 2021. In total, 43 Raptor engines will power Starship: six in the Starship spacecraft itself, and 37 more in the Super Heavy rocket which blasts the entire payload into space. Both parts of the craft are reusable: Starship measures 9x50m, has a payload capacity of 100 tonnes and can carry cargo, passengers or fuel, while Super Heavy measures 9m x68m, has a maximum lift-off capacity of 3,680 tonnes…

TEA DRINKERS Put the kettle on! Lovers of a cuppa have healthier brains than non-tea drinkers, a study at the National University of Singapore has found. MRI scans of a group of over-60s showed that the brains of tea drinkers are more efficiently connected. OPTIMISTS People with a ‘glass half full’ disposition are less likely to have a heart attack, researchers in New York have found. They gathered together data from 15 studies involving more than 200,000 participants and found that those with high levels of optimism were 35 per cent less likely to suffer a heart attack.…

In a bid to tackle its dramatic loss of insects, Germany has launched a major insect protection plan. Flying insect numbers in the country’s nature reserves fell by over three-quarters from 1989 to 2016, according to research published in 2017. The new “action plan for insect protection” is worth €100m per year, including at least €25m a year towards researching insect populations. The government has also pledged to ban the weedkiller glyphosate by December 2023. “We need more buzzing and humming again,” environment minister Svenja Schulze of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) told a press conference.…

Google has achieved it, we think. This is the point at which a quantum computer can perform a task that a conventional supercomputer couldn’t. It seems that Google’s quantum computer solved a calculation in 200 seconds that would take the world’s most advanced supercomputer 10,000 years. But it’s not confirmed yet. A research paper documenting the achievement was spotted by the Financial Times on a NASA website before being taken down, presumably to be submitted to a scientific journal for review. Quantum computers are strange. A conventional ‘bit’ is either a 1 or a 0, which represents a piece of information. A quantum bit, or qubit, can be a combination of both 1 and 0 at the same time. Pair this idea with a bunch of other quantum phenomena and…

WHAT IS EUGENICS? Eugenics is the idea that you can make the human race genetically better by keeping good and desirable genes in the human gene pool, and taking bad ones out. It started with Francis Galton, Charles Darwin’s cousin. So, I think a lot of his thinking in its roots is Darwinian. But Darwin died before the word ‘eugenics’ was even coined. WHAT DETERMINES WHAT GENE IS ‘GOOD’ AND WHAT GENE IS ‘BAD’? Well, this is the real crux of not only the programme but the whole issue. I don’t think anyone really has the right to say what genes are and are not good, particularly when it comes to disability and hereditary. What we now know to be true, and what was thought to be true back in…

DR ALASTAIR GUNN Astronomer, astrophysicist DR HELEN SCALES Oceans expert, science writer ALEX FRANKLINCHEUNG Environment/ climate expert DR CHRISTIAN JARRETT Neuroscientist, science writer ALOM SHAHA Science teacher, author DR EMMA DAVIES Chemistry expert, science writer DR PETER J BENTLEY Computer scientist, author LUIS VILLAZON Science/tech writer DR HILARY GUITE Former GP, science writer JULES HOWARD Zoologist, science writer CHARLOTTE CORNEY Zoo director, conservationist PROF ROBERT MATTHEWS Physicist, science writer…

Would it be so bad if this were the case? Acquiring nutrition is, after all, the daily struggle that all life on Earth faces. In fact, food is what first brought humans and cats together. Chemical analysis of the bones of 5,300-year-old cats from China has shown that these ancient felines were rodent-hunters that lived within grain stores. In essence, we gave them shelter and they took care of the pests. As time passed, in Western cultures at least, house cats became selected for cuddles as well as their claws. And, from this point onwards, something deeper than cupboard love appears to have emerged. Just as with dogs, domestication of cats has unlocked a suite of kittenish behaviours. These include grooming, play-fighting and bringing home half-dead mice for a spot…

1. Joy Division’s seminal 1979 post-punk album Unknown Pleasures features a cover that is entirely black apart from a low-resolution mountainscape made up of 80 jagged white lines. 2. The lines are actually a graph showing the radio frequencies emitted from the pulsar B1919+21. This was the first pulsar ever discovered, and was found by Jocelyn Bell Burnell (pictured) in 1967. 3. A pulsar is formed when a star explodes in a supernova, leaving behind a rapidly rotating, ultra-dense core that has a magnetic field a trillion times more powerful than Earth’s. 4. This magnetic field sweeps radio waves across the sky like a lighthouse beam. B1919+21 was initially nicknamed LGM-1, for ‘little green men’, since the signal was thought to resemble a message from aliens.…

YOUR PREVIOUS BOOKS HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES. WAS THERE ANYTHING THAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THE BODY? One thing was this nagging realisation that I knew nothing at all about what goes on inside me. You know, I’ve been spending six and a half decades or so just throwing beer and pizza down my throat and yet here I am, still upright and generally in pretty good health. At the same time, my oldest son was at medical school and he would talk with great enthusiasm about the things he was learning. I was kind of captivated by his interest and felt like I really ought to try to know a bit more about [the body]. But then I also discovered that, although he knows everything you…

THE CROWD AND THE COSMOS: ADVENTURES IN THE ZOONIVERSE CHRIS LINTOTT £20, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Anyone can get involved with citizen science projects like those listed on the Zooniverse website, and The Sky At Night presenter and Zooniverse creator Chris Lintott’s book tells you how 10 minutes of your time can lead to big discoveries. Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast to hear our interview with Chris. THE LIFE SCIENTIFIC: INVENTORS ANNA BUCKLEY £18.99, WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON The BBC Radio 4 series celebrates its 200th episode this month. In this book, series producer Anna Buckley collects the stories of ‘unsung’ inventors who have helped shape our modern world. The Life Scientific: Inventors celebrates the mathematicians, mechanics, engineers and entrepreneur who’ve contributed more to our daily lives than most of us…

In our Reality Check in the October issue, we discussed whether there was such a thing as being ‘too clean’. We then asked BBC Science Focus followers on Twitter: WOULD YOU GIVE UP WASHING? 58% No, I need my daily shower! 10% Yes, better for environment 21% No, but I’d wash less often 11% Yes, dirt’s good for immunity AmyI get some funny looks when I say I don’t shower every day, but if I did I’d never have the energy to do anything else! HanaI need a hot shower every morning or my lungs and sinuses function even less. AlexShowering every day can be bad for your skin if you have dermatitis or other dryness problems. People should learn to mind their own business!…

As we learn to read, a brain region known as the ‘visual word form area’ (VWFA) becomes sensitive to the letters and characters that make up written language. Now, a study at the University of Zurich has discovered that readers’ brains are more sensitive to visual information in general. The team used an fMRI scanner to study the brains of more than 90 adults from northern India with varying degrees of literacy, ranging from people unable to read to skilled readers. While in the scanner, participants saw sentences, letters and other random images such as faces. The brains of those with more advanced reading skills were activated more intensely by all images regardless of content, indicating an increased sensitivity to visual stimuli.…

POSING POLITICIANS Striking a power pose – the Wonder Woman-esque stance touted in some quarters as a way to reduce stress levels and increase confidence – is no more effective than simply standing up straight, a review of 40 previous papers carried out at Iowa State University has found. CYBERBULLIES Trolls beware! Researchers at Binghamton University have developed an AI that can identify aggression, harassment and bullying in social media posts with 90 per cent accuracy. They hope the tech will be used to flag up cyberbullies and get their accounts deleted.…

It was one of the most destructive days in the history of our planet, and now we know how it played out. Scientists have pieced together the first day of the dinosaurs’ demise, by drilling into the crater that formed from the asteroid that triggered their downfall. “In just 24 hours, a layer of material 130m thick was deposited” The asteroid, which led to the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs, slammed into the Gulf of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula some 66 million years ago. In 2016, a scientific drilling project by the International Ocean Discovery Program retrieved rocks from the impact site, which is submerged offshore. Now, scientists have analysed these rocks to travel back in time to doomsday itself. “It’s an expanded record of events that we were able to…

A new industry initiative has been launched to decarbonise the shipping sector. Over 70 groups have signed up to the Getting To Zero Coalition, including shipping lines, banks, ports and NGOs. International shipping accounts for 2-3 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with emissions projected to grow significantly unless action is taken. The UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) wants to halve the sector’s emissions by 2050 compared to 2008 levels, but few measures to achieve this are yet in place. The new coalition aims to help change this by putting commercially viable zero emission vessels into operation by 2030.…

1. Men’s Stretch Storm Nano Jacket Any trip to the Arctic demands layers, and lots of them. Wear them when you’re cold and take them off if you start to sweat. But you need a reliable coat to top it off. Our pick would be this coat from Patagonia, built to handle sleet, hail and snow. Made for climbers, its insulation feels like a duvet, while the outer layer is light and stretchy, so you can move freely. It initially caught our attention for using nylon made from recycled fishing nets. £350, patagonia.com 2. Nikon D850 You’ll want a camera with manual settings, so you can set your own ISO, aperture and shutter speed. But if you want to go all out, professional aurora hunters recommend this camera…

When I was young I travelled extensively and, because I was living cheaply, I got a range of interesting tropical diseases, including some exotic gut infections. More recently, I deliberately infected myself with tapeworm for the BBC Four programme Infested. Despite all this, I have never had any long-term gut problems. Other people are not so fortunate. Gut problems are remarkably common, with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) being one of the most common, affecting around one in five people at some point in their lives. Symptoms include stomach cramp, bloating, and either diarrhoea or constipation. It often gets worse in sufferers when they hit their 30s. British doctors are not great at helping people with IBS, which is often dismissed as ‘psychosomatic’. Although there is a psychological component to IBS,…

TAMSIN NICHOLSON, WARWICKSHIRE WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SPECIES OF BAT? There are more than 1,200 bat species in the world, accounting for almost a fifth of all mammal species. Part of the reason for this is that bats are the only mammals with flapping flight, which means that bat colonies can travel long distances and become geographically isolated from each other, splitting into separate species. But a 2011 study at the University of Massachusetts suggested that their diversity might also be because the diets of different bat species tend to be highly specialised. This means that if a genetic mutation causes, for example, a small change in the shape of the skull or the bite force of the jaw, a bat might be able to eat a new type…

A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYONE WHO EVER LIVED ADAM RUTHERFORD (£9.99, WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON) An excellent book that I definitely recommend. I referred to it a lot in my own research. THE STORY OF THE HUMAN BODY DANIEL LIEBERMAN (£9.99, PENGUIN) Much more technical. When I needed to know the real science behind things to do with the body, this was the book I turned to. A PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE MICHAEL KINCH (£24.58, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS) This is about all the problems we’re going to have with not getting enough new antibiotics into the market. Quite a scary book, but an important one.…

If I was picking the books that I genuinely wanted to read over and over again, they would be all poetry books. They are the only books I re-read constantly. I’d be given The Complete Works Of Shakespeare, because that’s what guests on Desert Island Discs are given. Even if you didn’t give them to me, I’d still choose them – they’re brilliant to read over and over. The tragedies, the comedies… they’re brilliant. They’re timeless. To pick just one piece of poetry, I’d choose Walt Whitman, Song Of Myself (1855), because it’s so life-affirming. That’s what I’d read, if I wanted to be uplifted and encouraged in a solitary situation. As a child I would re-read books. I think when you’re a kid, books mean a lot more to…

HELEN SCALES Helen, a marine biologist, science writer and broadcaster, takes a look at some of the pioneering projects that might just save the oceans. p48 ADAM PEARSON Is human selective breeding a thing of the past, or is it making a comeback through prenatal genetic testing? Disability activist Adam talks about the terrifying history, and future, of eugenics. p60 GINNY SMITH Ginny presents the British Psychological Society’s podcast PsyCrunch,which looks at how psychology research makes a difference to everyday life. This issue, we’ve asked her to investigate what keeps sleep scientists up at night. p78 HAYLEY BENNETT To kick off our new What if… ? series, science writer Hayley imagines a world in which fashion no longer exists. p83…

@ISRpsychologist ECT is potentially life changing for many people in severe depressed states, but with newer treatments such as TMS [transcranial magnetic stimulation] offering similar results with fewer side effects, perhaps cash injections to alternative treatments is more beneficial? I don’t think ECT should be written off so quickly. @S08Allan I fail to see how inducing a seizure which causes memory problems does not violate the principle ‘First, do no harm’. @PsychRecovery Anyone who says ECT ‘saves lives’ never studied neuropathology.…

Chemical compounds called nucleobases, the essential building blocks that make up DNA, have been detected for the first time in a lab-based simulation designed to mimic the gaseous clouds that are found lingering in the vast areas of space between stars. The discovery brings us closer to understanding the origins of life on Earth, the researchers say. “This result could be key to unravelling fundamental questions for humankind, such as what organic compounds existed during the formation of the Solar System and how they contributed to the birth of life on Earth,” said Dr Yasuhiro Oba of Hokkaido University’s Institute of Low Temperature Science, leader of the research team that made the discovery. The basic structural unit of DNA is called a nucleotide and is composed of a nucleobase, a sugar,…

Why do some psychopaths end up in jail, while others hold down lucrative careers? New research suggests that the answer lies in a region of the brain that’s linked to self-regulation. Psychopathy is a personality disorder that’s characterised by callousness, impulsiveness, dishonesty, a lack of empathy, and superficial charm. It’s estimated that around 1 per cent of the general population would meet the clinical criteria for psychopathy. Contrary to popular belief, though, only a minority of psychopaths are violent. Psychologists at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Kentucky wanted to find out how some psychopaths are successfully able to control their ‘dark’, antisocial impulses, maintaining careers and even intimate relationships. The researchers recruited people from two different populations: adults in long-term romantic relationships, and undergraduate students. Any people found…

Seven-tenths of the world is covered by the oceans. They put food on our plates, regulate the climate, and provide up to 85 per cent of the oxygen we breathe. But human activity is putting that at risk. On 25 September, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presented a report on the oceans that made dire reading (p28). It said that even if greenhouse gas emissions declined sharply and global warming was limited to less than 2°C, sea levels could still rise by 30 to 60cm by 2100. Plus, we’re emptying the oceans of animals, having passed the point of ‘peak fish’ in 1992 when total global catch began a relentless decline. A third of marine mammals are at risk of extinction. Our carbon emissions have made the oceans 300…

“I don’t think all the time – in fact I’ve been known to be pretty careless. I’m not proud of it, but I am human.” A friend of mine is currently at the centre of a vicious internet storm. It’s one of her own creation, a momentary lapse that swirled into a typhoon, as the online world is wont to do. It’ll blow over, but I’m shocked at how quickly the winds picked up, and how unprotected my friend was. I’ve seen such things before, but only from a distance: the woman who tweeted something inconsiderate before boarding an airplane, only to discover upon landing that it went viral; the scientist who made a public announcement about a huge scientific achievement while wearing a shirt that some found offensive; the…

TOBY GRAHAM, SHREWSBURY HOW DO OCTOPUSES MOVE THEIR LIMBS IF THEY HAVE NO BONES? Octopus arms work in a similar way to an elephant’s trunk, a snail’s foot and your tongue. Known as ‘muscular hydrostats’, these structures consist almost entirely of densely packed muscles. By combining in different arrangements, the muscles can provide an impressive range of movement. When octopuses crawl along the seabed, they contract lengthwise and crosswise muscles in their arms, elongating and shortening their arms in turn. They twist their arms by contracting sets of muscle fibres that wrap diagonally around them. HS CHARLIE SIMMONS, LOS ALTOS HILLS, CALIFORNIA  HOW CAN AN ELECTRON BE BOTH A PARTICLE AND A WAVE? An electron is a tiny, negatively charged particle that whizzes round the atomic nucleus. That’s been clear…

In 1957, two physicists, Chen-Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee, travelled from the US to Sweden to collect the Nobel Prize in Physics. They’d been proved correct about a bizarre feature of the ‘weak nuclear force’ – a fundamental force of nature affecting the atomic nucleus. Called ‘parity non-conservation’, it meant – roughly speaking – that the force could tell the difference between left and right. But Yang and Lee hadn’t proved it. Credit for that goes to another US-based Chinese scientist: Chien-Shiung Wu. But she never got invited to Sweden. Born in Liuhe, China in 1912, Wu studied physics and then emigrated to the US, where she worked on the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb. She then went to Columbia University, New York, becoming an expert on…

As the clocks go back, it’s time to line up some winter tonics: a good TV show to watch on cold nights, something to keep me awake on my dusky commute, and perhaps an event just enticing enough to get me to leave my cosy pyjamas and venture outside. This month, I’ll be rushing home to watch Seven Worlds, One Planet on BBC One. Sir David Attenborough returns to narrate an exploration of the seven continents that make up our planet, starting in episode one with the white wonder that is Antarctica. “David Attenborough returns to narrate an exploration of the seven continents that make up our planet, starting in episode one with Antarctica” To distract from the howling winds, I’ll be popping in my earphones to listen to psychologist…