Readers Digest Australia May 2022

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13 THINGS 13 Boredom-Busting Facts About Board Games BY Emily Goodman 1 We have been playing board the midst of play on hundreds of piec- ILLUSTRATION: SERGE BLOCH games – in some cases, the same es of Greek pottery. And the Ashanti board games – for millennia. people of Ghana are believed to have Chess, checkers, backgammon and created a board game called wari, Go all have origins in the ancient which you may know as mancala. world. King Tutankhamun was bur- ied with multiple sets of an Egyptian 2 It wasn’t until the 19th cen- game called senet. Ajax and Achilles tury that board games began still appear hunched over a board in to be sold commercially. The 100 may 2022

first, Mansion of Happiness, came Even the 2014 horror flick Ouija is out in England in 1800. The ‘man- technically based on a game, as the sion’ was heaven, and players raced Ouija board was patented as a toy. to get there. Decades later, American Hasbro still sells it as a ‘family game’. board game magnate Milton Bradley reworked and rebranded it as ‘The 6 At least one board game is be- Checkered Game of Life’. It was the ing adapted into a television only board game Bradley personally show, although its creator was worked on. a famous filmmaker. Albert Lam- orisse, who wrote and directed the 3 Another popular racing game, 1956 Oscar-winner The Red Balloon, Parcheesi, has roots in an- also created a board game he called cient India, where it was called La Conquête du Monde (Conquest of pachisi, from the Hindi word for 25, the World). Never heard of it? That’s the highest possible outcome of a because Parker Brothers bought the single throw. But whereas Americans game and renamed it Risk. only tweaked the name, the Brits de- cided to call it Ludo, Latin for ‘I play’. 7 Another game inventor, Alfred So when Englishman Anthony E. Butts, first called his creation Pratt developed his murder-mystery Lexiko, then Criss Cross Words, board game in 1943, he called it Clue- before settling on Scrabble – a word do, playing on Ludo. that means ‘to hold on to something’. And that’s exactly what Butts did, as 4 In international versions of it took years for the game to gain trac- Cluedo, the colourful cast can tion. Approximately 150 million sets look quite different from what have now been sold worldwide. we’re used to. Professor Plum was originally called Dr Orange in Spain. 8 It was over a game of Scrabble Mr Green goes by Chef Lettuce in that Chris Haney and Scott Chile. Mrs Peacock is Mrs Purple in Abbott came up with the idea Brazil and Mrs Periwinkle in France, for their game, Trivial Pursuit. Its and in Switzerland, she’s Captain success launched a years-long le- Blue, a man. gal battle from an encyclopaedist who claimed Haney took trivia from 5 Board games occasionally in- his books, something Haney read- spire screenwriters. There’s the ily admitted to doing. In the end, a 1985 whodunit Clue, the 2000 US Federal Court decided you can’t fantasy film Dungeons & Dragons, steal trivia and dismissed the suit. and the 2012 action movie Battleship. During the 1980s, Trivial Pursuit readersdigest.com.au 101

READER’S DIGEST outsold even Monopoly, racking up that had been brought in were stolen. US$800 million in sales in 1984 alone. But an even more dramatic bit of board-game history occurred during 9 At the highest levels of play, World War II. Since POWs in Germany it’s not all play money. The US were allowed board games, American National Scrabble champion troops hid maps, compasses and real takes home US$10,000; the world money inside Monopoly sets to help champion earns twice that. Even prisoners escape. the Monopoly world champion takes home some real cash: US$20,580, the 12 While there are plenty of amount that comes in a standard board games about war, Monopoly game. illness is another recur- ring theme. There’s Operation, with 10 The man who sold Monop- its perennial patient, Cavity Sam. oly to Parker Brothers in the Following the 2003 SARS outbreak, 1930s, Charles Darrow, of- Matt Leacock dreamed up a coop- ten receives the credit for creating the erative board game – one in which game. But it was Elizabeth Magie who, the players all win or lose together – decades earlier, earned a patent for called Pandemic. her invention, ‘The Landlord’s Game’. Players purchased railroads, paid rent 13Thousands of new games and occasionally ended up in gaol. are released each year. How Ironically, Magie’s aim with the game can you tell which are best was to show the evils of accumulating to buy? One reliable indicator is the wealth by bankrupting others. Spiel des Jahres (‘Game of the Year’ in German), considered the most 11 Monopoly made a splash even prestigious award for board games. in communist countries. Fidel Previous winners include Settlers of Castro banned the game in Catan, Dominion and Ticket to Ride. Cuba, and while Richard Nixon and If you prefer to support aspiring Nikita Khrushchev had their ‘kitchen game makers, you’ll find hundreds debate’ at an American trade show in of proposed projects on crowdfund- Moscow in 1959, all the Monopoly sets ing sites such as Kickstarter. Age Gauge “You know you’ve reached middle age when you’re cautioned to slow down by your doctor, instead of by the police.” JOAN RIVERS 102 may 2022

CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS Looking for a Publisher? The Melbourne-based Sid Harta Team appreciates that Sid Harta Publishers it is a brave step to hand over one’s work to a stranger. specialises in new and emerging Our editors bear this in mind with an assessment that authors, and offers a full range is sensitive while critical, encouraging, and realistic. Sid of publishing options. Harta Publishers is offering writers the opportunity to receive specialised editorial advice on their manuscripts We publish: SIDHARTA with a view to having their stories published. • print editions & print- BOOKS Visit our websites for submission requirements on-demand via Amazon / & further supportive information: Lightning Source & PRINT PTY LTD Sid Harta Publishers: http://sidharta.com.au • ebooks for all platforms. Send us your manuscript: Submission details: CALL US TO DISCUSS http://publisher-guidelines.com OUR SERVICE. Sid Harta Book Launch and Reviews: http://on.fb.me/sidhartapub FEATURING: “MY WAY” BY JOHN WERCHON ISBN: 978-1-925707-77-9 The following book outlines, from lived experience, the true account of a riot situation in a prison facility. The opening pages describe ‘business as usual’ — the routines, procedures and protocols surrounding work in the prison arena — all from the perspective of a young Correctional Officer. Fast track a significant period of time to a new and somewhat ‘relaxed’ correctional context, adopted in an effort to foster communication and openness. However, a sequence of events unfolds that has far- reaching implications for a once ‘rigid’ system and an unsuspecting officer; when opportunistically, prisoners undertake a riot, and he and other officers are taken hostage, the real repercussions unfolding across a lifetime … Contact SHP at: [email protected] Phone: (03) 9560 9920 Mobile: 0408 537 792 Web: sidharta.com.au SID HARTA PUBLISHERS: 17 Coleman Parade, Glen Waverley Vic 3150

READER’S DIGEST ALL IN A DAY’S WORK Humour On The Job Not-So-Sweet Treat My husband is a firefighter and last Halloween he had to go out with his colleagues to a big house that had recently had a chimney fire to give the owners a talk about fire safety. He stood outside with another colleague holding his helmet upside down in his hands and the man of What’s this I hear about large quantities of ice, fish the house came to and snow being purchased by your department? the door. He took one look Stupidity Is What Ales Him at the firefighters and proceeded to put some I was working at a bottle store when sweets in their helmets muttering a man tucked four six-packs of beer under his breath, “They’re getting under his arms and bolted without a bit too old to be doing this these paying. I called the police, then went days...”. He then closed the door on CARTOON: P. C . VEY; GETT Y IMAGES home when my shift ended. The next them. day, the police came to the store SUBMITTED BY SUZANNE S. ROSWELL with a suspect in tow. They asked the assistant working then, “Is this the Too Much Of A Hood Thing man who stole the beer?” The people in my Zoom meeting The suspect shouted, “How would deserve better than the same three he know? He wasn’t here when I ran hoodies I keep wearing over and out the door.” over, but that’s all I have to give. SUBMITTED BY R.N. AKILAH GREEN, TELEVISION WRITER 104 may 2022

All In A Day’s Work DON’T CALL US, FIRST DAY WE’LL CALL YOU HORROR STORIES Looking for a job? Be sure to People share their worst think about your CV. Below, first-day-at-work stories. we’ve strung together actual statements made by job seekers. „ At my preliminary visit for my first teaching practice, I was sent OBJECTIVE: “I would like to work to an English class. for a company that is very lax when it comes to lateness.” After finishing my discussion with the teacher, I got up and SKILLS: “I can edit and improve turned round to leave the room. any document someone puts in As I opened the door and closed front of me. I love animals, too!” it behind me, the class burst out laughing – I was in a dark EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: cupboard, which did not have a “Drove a toe truck.” door handle on the inside. „ “My long period of When the teacher let me out, unemployment had to do with a he said, “Everyone makes that variety of time-consuming events mistake.” He showed me out such as a tax audit of my finances, through an identical door next to in particular.” the cupboard door. REFERENCES: “My girlfriend.” SUBMITTED BY VICTOR FLUTE PAY GOALS: “I am looking for „ First corporate job. We had a rate of either $120 per day or these large metal coffee urns $120 per hour.” in the break room. You put the grounds in the cup thing and hit ACCOMPLISHMENTS: a button because they were piped “My shirt is always tucked in.” into the water line. Source: Robert Half International What I did not know was that Employment Agency it would run a cycle for each button push. I pushed it twice in a row and left for it to brew. When I came back it had doubled up and overflowed. There was coffee everywhere. Day one. captain_trainwreck; WWW.BUZZFEED.COM readersdigest.com.au 105

QUIZ Easy ILLUSTRATION: (HAND) GETTY IMAGES/DIGITAL VISION VECTORS; (CROWN, BACKGROUND) GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO Pickings Crooks are highly creative when it comes to getting their hands on money, artwork or jewels. Try our quiz about some of the world’s most spectacular heists BY Caroline Friedmann QUESTIONS 1Leonardo da Vinci’s master- c) He was suspected of stealing piece, the Mona Lisa, disap- the painting peared from the Louvre Muse- d) He made a public appeal for um in Paris on August 21, 1911. The the safe return of the painting painting vanished without a trace for two years. Even Pablo Picasso 2In 2003, a band of criminals came to be involved in this case. spent 27 months working on What role did the famous painter their intricate master plan, play? staking out their target and empty- ing the vaults of the Antwerp Dia- a) The thief offered to sell him mond Centre. The loot was worth at the painting least 100 million euros (A$150 mil- b) He was asked to make a copy lion). What set the police on the trail of the painting of the culprits? 106 may 2022

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a) Rubbish thrown away during b) gave themselves two days to the getaway pull it off b) A gang member bragged about c) had a nap it in a pub d) A and B c) A girlfriend of one of the thieves told police after she 5On 18 March 1990, burglars received a large diamond ring hauled away 13 paintings from d) DNA on a door handle the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts, 3A hold-up in Switzerland made worth US$500,000. Among the pri- headlines in 1997. During the vate collection were artworks by raid on Zurich’s main post office, Rembrandt, Degas and Manet. What robbers made off with 53 million Swiss cunning ploy did the thieves use to francs (A$77 million). An unusual fac- gain access to the museum at night? tor also helped the gang to pull it off because it later turned out that ... a) they were hired as cleaning staff a) the post office alarm system b) they started a fire in the foyer wasn’t working properly that day c) they disguised themselves as b) the robbers were only armed police officers with toy pistols d) they gained access to a c) a door to the post office was cupboard and hid there until the accidentally left open museum closed d) the police were involved in an accident on the way to the crime 6In London, four robbers used scene drills to break into the vault of the Hatton Garden Safe De- 4 1976 saw France’s biggest bank posit Company over the 2015 Easter robbery to date. A gang dug an Holiday. They smashed their way eight-metre tunnel from the through a 50-centimetre-thick rein- sewers to the vault of the Société forced concrete wall and stole jew- Générale bank in Nice. They seized ellery and jewels worth 18 million money and valuables worth about euros (A$27 million). After the gang 46 million francs (A$11 million). The was caught, the public couldn’t be- robbers appeared so laid back and lieve their eyes because the thieves comfortable that they …. were ... a) enjoyed a picnic inside the a) almost all pensioners bank b) university students 108 may 2022

Easy Pickings c) police officers Cézanne and Blossoming Chestnut d) complete amateurs Branches by Vincent van Gogh. What was so special about this crime? 7In Oslo in 1994, thieves stole the world-famous painting The a) the theft was only noticed days Scream by Edvard Munch from later the Norwegian National Gallery. But b) the robbery turned out to be the heist had a humorous twist. What an insurance scam did the robbers leave behind at the c) the robbery took just three crime scene? minutes d) the original plan was to take a) a group photo of them wearing paintings by Monet masks b) a postcard saying thanks 10 On September 23, 2009, a c) a fine art print of the painting gang robbed a cash depot d) an admission ticket to the in Västberga, Stockholm, gallery in a daring Hollywood-style raid. What type of unusual transport did 8Stealing an ATM at night, instead the robbers use to make their fast of raiding a bank during the day, getaway? may have been what five crimi- nals were thinking when they robbed a) a Formula 1 racing car a bank near Potsdam, Germany, back b) the train in August 1995. But their plan to use a c) a tank steel cable to rip the ATM out of its an- d) a helicopter choring and haul it away went horribly wrong. What happened? 11Crooks had the IT company Yahoo! in their sights in 2013. a) the rope broke and killed two What did they gain access to robbers during their electronic heist? b) the building collapsed c) they accidentally took away a a) the data of all users. bank statement printer b) the company’s accounts. d) the ATM was empty c) the control of the central computer 9 In 2008, robbers stole four paint- d) the accounts of wealthy ings from the E.G. Bührle private celebrities and global leaders collection in Zurich, including The Boy in a Red Waistcoat by Paul >> Turn to page 110 for quiz answers readersdigest.com.au 109

ANSWERS TO EASY PICKINGS QUIZ 1 c) Pablo Picasso was briefly time of the robbery; one was in his under suspicion following the late 60s and the others over 70. theft of the Mona Lisa. Vincenzo Peruggia – a 29-year-old Italian 7 b) The robbers left a postcard working at the museum – was thanking the museum for its eventually found guilty of the crime. poor security. The police quickly arrested them, though, and the 2 a) The thieves dumped rubbish, stolen painting was also recovered. including fragments of a receipt, in a wooded area during their 8 c) At first, everything went getaway. This gave the investigators according to plan for the bank a lead. Several were arrested. robbers. They ripped a machine out of its anchoring using a steel cable, 3 b) This heist went down in Swiss heaved it onto a stolen truck and criminal history as the “post drove off – with a bank statement office robbery of the century” not printer in tow. just because of the amount of money stolen but also because the thieves 9 c) It took the thieves just three only carried toy guns. minutes to remove the valuable paintings from the walls and 4 a + b) The thieves chose a long disappear with them. All artworks weekend to rob the bank in have now resurfaced. Nice and took two days to empty the safety deposit boxes. When they 10 d) The robbers stole a got hungry, they stopped to have a helicopter, landed it on the picnic inside the bank. roof of the cash depot, blew off several doors and made off with 5 c) Disguised as police officers, sacks full of money. Their exploit the thieves took the museum’s is considered the most spectacular night watchmen by surprise, tying robbery in Swedish history. them up and walking off with the 13 masterpieces. To date, no culprits 11 a) Yahoo! stuck with their have ever been caught and none of statement that “only” one the artworks have been recovered. billion user accounts were hacked by unknown persons for four years, 6 a) Almost all the Hatton Garden until in 2017, Yahoo! finally thieves were of retirement age. confirmed that indeed all three The youngest was 58 years old at the billion user accounts were affected. 110 may 2022



TRAVEL Chasing The I visited Canada’s Northwest Territories in search of a primeval encounter with nature BY Sallie Tisdale FROM HARPER’S 112 may 2022

The aurora borealis lights up the sky near Yellowknife in Canada’s Northwest Territories readersdigest.com.au 113

READER’S DIGEST y the time I finish As we emerge from the woods, Céline dressing and walk points out the path to the heated, into the lobby of 360-degree-rotating recliners. We the Explorer Ho- find our teepee at the edge of a field – tel in Yellowknife, a place to warm up and rest, but not to stay. We aren’t here to be indoors. B it’s 9pm. There is a crowd of tourists The clouds lift. The teepees are in from Japan wearing identical red par- a small bowl, and trails lead through kas and black polar boots the size of the trees to low bluffs with longer toasters. Outside, in the black Cana- views. I join a crowd of silhouettes. I dian winter night, four yellow school shift from foot to foot. I went north for buses pull up. The group from Japan the aurora, but also this: the dark, the fills the first three, and the rest of us, sky, the ice. a mixed dozen from several coun- “Is that it?” someone asks, pointing tries, climb into the last. at a small dome of brightness on the The bus bumps onto the dark high- horizon. I think it is Yellowknife. The way. It is February 2020, and it’s al- city has dark-sky compliant street- most as cold inside as out; the win- lights, but the town is plainly visible dows are already icing WE WATCH from a distance. over from our breath. “Is that it?” somebody Our guide is Céline, THE GLOWING else asks, pointing at a petite Frenchwom- TRACK CROSS a pale flash on the op- an. “The prediction is THE SKY LIKE posite horizon. But it is clouds tonight,” she just headlights from the tells us. “But a predic- A PAINTER’S highway. We don’t really PHOTO (PREVIOUS SPREAD): VINCENT DEMERS/GETTY IMAGES tion is just a prediction. BRUSH know what we are seek- So we will be hopeful.” ing, what we will see. After about 20 min- We may see nothing at utes, the bus turns down a narrow all. The aurora follows its own subtle road towards Aurora Village, a collec- schedule, and aurora tourism runs on tion of teepees and small buildings hope, on expectations deformed by beside a frozen lake. The few lights Instagram and travel websites. Thou- are dim and downcast to protect sands of edited, enhanced photos of our night vision. We follow Céline’s emerald-green drapery and quivering blinking red headlamp, the only ruby-red arcs make false promises. way we can tell her apart from the I’ve tried to keep my own expectations crowd. More than a hundred people tightly bound. are plodding from the carpark along We watch, and over about 20 min- hard snowy trails between dark trees. utes, a cloud grows into a fine white 114 may 2022

Chasing The Northern Lights Yellowknife sits on the shore of Great Slave Lake, one of the world’s largest, deepest lakes PHOTO: HIROMI YONEDA/SHUTTERSTOCK arc stretching across the lower half of to come along on a trip organised by the sky, brightening until it is a river the Cloud Appreciation Society (CAS), of pearl. Céline and I lie back on a pile of which I was also a member, to view of packed snow, watching the glow- the aurora borealis in Yellowknife. I ing track cross the sky like a painter’s don’t generally do that kind of thing: brush. It changes without changing; travel in packs, with guides. I’m too a fraction dissolves and reappears, cheap for curated trips, too introvert- slides away, returns. The river cleaves ed for groups, and I prefer to stay close into two puddles of ghostly milk. I to the ordinary daily life of a destina- can’t see it changing, yet it changes. tion. But viewing the aurora is a pecu- Soon the two wide swathes thicken liar undertaking, something best done and then burst, flooding the banks in very cold places at night, far from until the entire sky is filled with vi- cities, in an environment that doesn’t brating light. A hundred voices shout reward the solo traveller. I decided I from the darkness all around. Flutter- would need to go in a group for this, ing sheets of pale light, pinkish folds and if so, this was the group for me. shifting as if from a breath, shimmer- ing rays, and billowing golden clouds, THE CAPITAL of the Northwest Terri- liquid and shining in all directions. tories sits on the shore of Great Slave Now, I know. Lake, one of the world’s deepest and largest lakes. The Dene people have The year before, a friend invited me readersdigest.com.au 115

READER’S DIGEST lived along its shores for thousands turboprop. We crammed in among of years; Yellowknife is named for In- luggage and supplies, and the un- digenous copper knives. It began as a pressurised craft slid over a quilt of fur-trading outpost, then ignited with spindly trees, frozen lakes and satiny a gold rush in the 1930s, and is now a mounds of snow. This is part of the diamond-mining centre with a pop- immense Canadian Shield, where the ulation of roughly 20,000. Until 1960, continental crust was swept clean by the whole region was inaccessible by ice, and the oldest rock in the world road, and until about ten years ago, was found. The boreal forest of black Yellowknife was not a major tourist spruce scribbled across the white in destination. Its winter visitors were all directions, a fraction of a vast bi- mainly miners, trappers and a few ome stretching around the globe. Ex- travellers seeking a hideaway. By cept for a few snowmobile tracks just 2019, there were almost six times as outside Yellowknife, there were no many visitors as residents. signs of humanity at all. A large proportion of visitor spend- We landed on the lake; a smooth, ing here is related to the aurora bo- fast slide between small islands. The realis. Viewing it is often promoted lodge, at the top of a hill, was to be our as a kind of primeval living room for several encounter with nature. TO INDIGENOUS days. Our cabins were Just as people yearn to COMMUNITIES, down the long slope, see megafauna such along interlacing trails; as lions and elephants, THE LIGHTS their paths compressed we seem to have a col- ARE WORTHY by snowmobiles. The lective desire for the OF RESPECT surrounding snow was cosmic view, for those deep and fine; I learned things large enough to to beware of the trail’s push us down into our place, close to edge when I stepped off it and into the skin of the planet. powder up to my waist. Three of us from Oregon shared I JOINED THE CAS GROUP for a trip the cabin farthest from the lodge, to Blachford Lake Lodge, about 100 near the shore. The low trees leaned kilometres away from Yellowknife. every which way in the permafrost, Small bush planes are a common way small and dark and ancient, and the to get around in this vast territory of lake stretched out of sight around lay- more than 163,000 square kilometres ered hills under virgin blue sky. of fresh water. There were about a doz- Our time at Blachford Lake was en people from the US, England and marked by shared meals and conviv- Australia going up in the Air Tindi iality. We gathered every evening in 116 may 2022

Chasing The Northern Lights Blachford Lake Lodge is best reached by bush plane PHOTO: COURTESY BL ACHFORD L AKE LODGE & WILDERNESS RESORT. the lodge. One night, Elizabeth Mac- until it is exhausted. The power of *SOURCE: W W W.NRC.GOV/DOC S/ML1209/ML120960701.PDF Donald, a visiting space scientist from the aurora can be as high as 100,000 NASA, gave a lecture on the aurora’s megawatts – enough to power 40-90 physics. She told us how glad she was million houses*. to be here; she spends most of her time on data. “I study the aurora,” she FOR EONS, people have said the said, “but I don’t get to see it that of- aurora makes noise, that it swishes, ten.” whistles, cracks. One polar explorer described it as “the sound of field- We see the aurora because elec- ice, then it was like the sound of a trons charged by the solar wind water-mill and, at last, like the whir- collide with atoms in the upper at- ring of a cannon-shot heard from mosphere, mostly atomic oxygen. A a short distance.” It has been long fountain of resulting photons spills thought, however, that whatever au- across hundreds of kilometres in dible sound reaches a human ear at seconds. Atomic oxygen releases red ground level could not be an effect of light when high in the atmosphere activity at such a high altitude. But and can emit greenish-white light in 2012, Finnish scientists captured at lower altitudes. Sometimes deep faint hissing, popping and clapping blues and purples appear from ion- during an aurora, and proved the ised nitrogen. A furious discharge sounds were coming from the sky. A cascades down through the atmos- geophysicist in Alaska reacted to the phere into increasingly dense air readersdigest.com.au 117

READER’S DIGEST The Aurora Village viewing area and its collection of teepees news by saying that auroral sound Asian observers thought the aurora PHOTO: KEN PHUNG/SHUTTERSTOCK was “scientifically unreasonable”, was a heavenly battle, a line of enor- but admitted that he has heard it, too. mous candles, or a fissure in the sky. Edmond Halley – the early 18th cen- To Indigenous communities, the tury astronomer of Halley’s Comet northern lights are familiar but worthy fame – theorised it was the result of of respect. Many Inuit people in the water vapour somehow igniting the Arctic share a myth of the lights, which atmosphere after being released from they call aqsarniit. They are said to be fissures on the Earth’s surface. the spirits of the dead playing football, usually with a walrus skull. The aqsar- The aurora is only a few hundred niit were traditionally considered dan- metres thick, since it follows the lines gerous because they move so quickly of our planet’s magnetic field. But it and heedlessly in their pursuit. It’s is also immense, hundreds of kilo- been said that the Sámi people, of metres wide and high, and it occurs Fennoscandia, believed that the au- between 100 and 1000 kilometres rora, called guovsahasat, could swoop above the Earth, in the ionosphere. down and burn a person. Women The International Space Station flies would cover their heads to keep the through this range. The lights cannot aurora out of their hair, people kept form lower in our skies because the silent to avoid irritating it, and bells energy of colliding particles is lost as were taken off reindeer when the au- the atmosphere becomes denser. rora was bright. Early European and Each evening at Blachford Lake, we 118 may 2022

Chasing The Northern Lights waited. The intensity of the aurora played more Scrabble. I went for depends on many factors: the rough- hikes, stomping along snowmobile ly 11-year solar activity cycle and its tracks in several layers of insulation. many effects; whether the solar wind The trails passed through mounds is steady or gusting; and the sun’s ro- of glittering snow dappled with tation in relation to Earth’s. Once you velvet-blue shadow, broken by the are in the right place at the right time, marks of other travellers: snowshoe all you can do is wait. hares, caribou, lynx. Walking was cacophony; every step a chorus of AFTER LECTURES, we mingled in the squeaking snow, swishing pants and lodge, an artificial family. I joined creaking ice. But when I stood still, games of Trivial Pursuit. I hung out silence. A single bird’s note. Then with a doctor from Melbourne and silence again. talked to a retired social worker from the US. About 9.30pm, someone “It’s starting,” someone says. This would say, “It’s starting.” We would get is our last night at the lake, and the dressed and go out, and move slowly temperature is -32°C. We stand at the from one viewpoint to another. A few ice’s edge under the black sky. The gentle arcs would gradually widen and snow, which is everywhere, reflects join and become an arch with trailing the faint fog of starlight, and yet we ribbons, wavering, glowing, seeming see one another only as shadows. to shimmer. Above us the sky is a white wash. The wash glows, widens, brightens Before I had seen aurora borealis, I and begins to spin over my head, a had imagined it erupting above me, luminous cyclone of pearl and dove an abrupt display of light spilling out and alabaster, suddenly so thick of the sky. I put myself in the centre. and near I could pluck off a tuft in But I was just spinning slowly be- my hand. Faint flashes of pink and neath an enormous event. It is hap- green and blue, barely there, gone. pening all the time, this torrent of We spin and crane our necks, gasp ionisation and spectral light; mostly and laugh. we don’t see it. For a few hours each night, I was granted a fractional view When I first arrived in Yellowknife, of cosmic forces, by the benevolence I kept reminding myself that I might of darkness and a clear sky. not see the aurora at all, that it wouldn’t look like the pictures, that The days were clear and bright and the real thing would be less than I flagrantly cold. After breakfast, peo- expected. And I was wrong. I am not ple would break into pairs and small sorry that I couldn’t see what is in the groups to go on snowmobile rides or photos. I am sorry that the photos ski across the lake. I read, napped, don’t capture what I could see. readersdigest.com.au 119

120 may 2022 PHOTOGRAPHS BY JASON VARNEY

BONUS READ Does This DOG Know Whether You Have CANCER? The canine nose is a marvel of nature. Science believes that a computerised model will save millions of lives BY Adam Piore readersdigest.com.au 121

OSA, an athletic 28-kilogram German shepherd with a long fluffy tail and a fondness for red bandannas, seems to be an unlikely superhero. She chews on the couch when estimated 250,000 women around the she’s bored and isn’t above mak- world diagnosed each year with ovar- ing a scene to get attention. On a ian cancer, a disease that is treatable recent day when her foster mother when found early, about 140,000 die and trainer Annemarie DeAngelo from it. stepped outside their home while chatting with a visitor, Osa bounded Osa might soon help improve up and barked for attention; when those odds. She is part of an ambi- that failed, she leaped onto the patio tious effort launched five years ago table, stuck her snout in DeAngelo’s at the University of Pennsylvania face, and began whining. that aims to reverse-engineer one of the most powerful scent detection “You are unbelievable,” DeAngelo machines ever discovered – the ca- growled before cracking a smile. nine nose. Osa is able to distinguish between blood samples taken from But if Osa wants to play the diva, cancer patients and their healthy she’s entitled. After all, how many peers simply by sniffing them. In six-year-old dogs do you know who fact, she’s one of eight cancer-de- have mastered the art of sniffing out tection dogs trained by DeAngelo cancerous tumours and are involved and her colleagues at the Penn Vet in a research project that has the po- Working Dog Center, a non-profit tential to revolutionise oncology? organisation that breeds and trains ‘detection dogs’. The ultimate goal is Despite the remarkable success to develop an ‘electronic sniffer’ that of immunotherapy, gene editing, can approximate the cancer-sniffing and other recent breakthrough superpowers of Osa and her pals. treatments, oncologists’ inability Such a machine could then be de- to detect some cancers in their ear- ployed to doctors’ offices and medi- ly stages remains one of the field’s cal diagnostic facilities. most intractable shortcomings. One disheartening case in point: of the 122 may 2022

Does This Dog Know Whether You Have Cancer? Annemarie DeAngelo with her star pupil, Osa readersdigest.com.au 123

READER’S DIGEST And cancer is only one possible tar- get. This type of system could lead to similar devices for different health is- sues, such as bacterial infections, dia- betes and epilepsy. Some dog trainers have even begun setting their sights on COVID-19. “It’s basically the exact same approach,” says Cynthia Otto, the founding director of the centre. It all starts with the canine nose. Our own sniffer doesn’t even come close. The average human is equipped with five million olfactory receptors, tiny proteins capable of detecting in- dividual odour molecules. These re- ceptors are clustered in a small area in the back of the human nasal cavity, meaning a scent must waft in and up the nostrils. In dogs, the internal sur- face area devoted to smell extends from the nostrils to the back of the throat and comprises an estimated 300 million olfactory receptors, 60 times more than humans. Dogs also devote considerably more neural real estate to processing and interpreting these signals than hu- mans do. Compared with a paltry five percent for humans, 35 per cent of a dog’s brain is dedicated to smelling. Add it all up, and the dog nose is up to a million times more sensitive than the human nose. “Sniffing is how dogs see the world,” explains Marc Bekoff, professor emer- itus of ecology and evolutionary For Osa, here with DeAngelo and Cynthia Otto, cancer research is not all work 124 may 2022

DANIEL PE TERSCHMIDT/SCIENCE FRIDAYDoes This Dog Know Whether You Have Cancer? biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “That’s how they pick up in- formation about who has been there, are they happy, are they sad, is the fe- male in heat, are they feeling well or not. Their nose leads the way – dogs sniff first and ask questions later.” Humans have always appreciated the potential of the canine snout. In the Middle Ages, authorities in France and Scotland relied on dogs and their sniffing abilities to hunt down outlaws. Search-and-rescue dogs emerged in A DOG’S NOSE IS UP TO A MILLION TIMES MORE SENSITIVE THAN A HUMAN NOSE the 18th century when the monks of the Great St. Bernard Hospice in the Swiss Alps discovered that the canines they’d been breeding could lead them to avalanche victims buried beneath the snow. Despite this history, science hadn’t considered whether dogs could de- tect cancer until the late 1980s, after 30-year-old medical resident Hywel Williams stumbled on scientific gold. Upon arriving at King’s College Hospital in London to begin his training as a dermatologist, Wil- liams was tasked with reviewing every case of melanoma seen at the hospital over the previous 20 years. It was an eye-glazing assignment, readersdigest.com.au 125

READER’S DIGEST recalls Williams. But one afternoon, told Williams that her collie-Dober- COURTESY PENN VET WORKING DOG CENTER he came across a four-word notation man mix named Baby Boo had be- in a file that caught his attention. It come fixated on a mole on the wom- read simply: “Dog sniffed at lesion.” an’s left thigh, sniffing it often. The What did that mean? Was it possible ritual continued for several months, the dog in the file actually smelled with Baby Boo nuzzling the woman’s cancer? leg through her trousers. Baby Boo finally tried to bite the lesion off, at “So I phoned the lady in the file,” which point the woman saw her GP. Williams recalls. “And we had the When doctors excised the mole, they most fascinating conversation.” found it was malignant melanoma. The patient, a 44-year-old woman, 126 may 2022

Does This Dog Know Whether You Have Cancer? DeAngelo and Otto were moved to tears were reaching out to Williams and when the dogs learned to detect traces sharing similar experiences. There was the 66-year-old man who devel- of ovarian cancer on the scent wheel oped a patch of eczema on the outer side of his left thigh – a lesion that “Something about that lesion fas- became the obsession of his Labrador cinated the dog,” Williams recalls. retriever until he went to the doctor. “And it literally saved this woman’s It was found to be basal cell carcino- life.” Williams and a colleague pub- ma. There was George the schnau- lished their findings in The Lancet, a zer, trained by a Florida dermatol- well-respected medical journal. Sud- ogist. George “went crazy” when he denly, dog lovers around the world readersdigest.com.au 127

READER’S DIGEST sniffed out a suspicious mole on the Next, the trainer begins offering leg of a patient. It turned out to be the dog choices – for instance, plac- malignant. ing two distinct odours in identi- cal containers, only one of which Over the years since, a growing produces a click and a treat when body of evidence has emerged sug- sniffed. Once that is mastered, the gesting that dogs can sniff out blad- trainer begins withholding the treat der cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes until the dog freezes in front of the and even malaria, among other con- container of choice and stares. ditions. But not just any Chihuahua, corgi or beagle can do the job. As the dogs undergo this founda- tional training, the trainers evaluate Like most of the dogs, Osa arrived their skill sets and temperaments, at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center and use the data to choose a particu- from a breeder at two months of age. lar area of specialisation. Dogs that “We look at their genetics,” says De- demonstrate a passion for running Angelo. “We look at their work abili- ty. They have to come from working MEDICAL-DETECTION lines, not show or pet lines, but one DOGS ARE THE that has that hunt/prey drive.” Osa began taking obedience and agility ONES WITH QUIRKY training (walking a plank, climbing PERSONALITIES a ladder, negotiating a rubble pile) and quickly advanced to basic odour on rubble enter search-and-rescue detection skill training. training. Those that don’t enjoy rub- ble but have strong noses might be- During these sessions, the dogs come narcotics or bomb dogs. Dogs are introduced to a universal detec- who think that lightly “biting people tor calibrant, a potent, distinct odour is a fun game,” DeAngelo jokes, end developed by a veterinary scientist to up as police dogs. train dogs. The trainer places the cal- ibrant – a powder contained within a Penn’s medical-detection dogs are Mylar bag with a tiny hole to let the the ones with quirky personalities odour out – on the floor or on a wall, and narrow focuses. Otto calls them or holds it in hand. As soon as the dog the centre’s “sensitive souls.” They sniffs at the odour to investigate it, dislike noisy, crowded environments, the trainer ‘marks’ the smell by mak- such as airports or disaster recovery ing a noise with a clicker or simply sites. Osa is very suspicious of peo- saying yes, and then rewards the dog ple she doesn’t know – so much so with a treat. This process is repeated that nobody is allowed to approach until the dog learns that when it finds this odour, it gets rewarded. 128 may 2022

It’s a family affair: DeAngelo’s dogs, Grizzly (left) and Prior, also work at the centre DeAngelo’s house unannounced (to master the most essential task of all. do so results in loud barking and pan- To find out if she could, DeAngelo and demonium). Upon entering the home, her team put Osa in front of a scent visitor, host and dog must all proceed wheel, a stationary metal contraption immediately outside to play ball to set with multiple arms, each one of which Osa at ease before any business can be is large enough to hold two separate conducted. But with these neurotic containers – one containing plasma traits also comes an uncommon focus. from a woman with metastatic ovari- an cancer and the other plasma from a “I often refer to our medical-detec- healthy volunteer. When Osa stopped tion dogs as the accountants,” Otto in front of the correct sample, point- says. “They would love to just look ed her nose at it, and froze, DeAngelo at the spreadsheets and find the one and her colleagues hugged and cried. number that’s out of place. They really like having things very neat and con- “You don’t know if it’s going to trolled. They’re the detail dogs.” work, so you train it, and you train it,” she says. “You’re actually now going While Osa had all the qualities to put the real cancer in the wheel, in that make up a great sniffer dog, that the plasma, and see if the dogs can didn’t guarantee that she’d be able to readersdigest.com.au 129

READER’S DIGEST Training a dog like Osa to sniff out cancer can take a year to 18 months OSA’S NOSE WILL hundreds of different organic PHOTO: DANIEL PE TERSCHMIDT/SCIENCE FRIDAY POTENTIALLY SAVE compounds, any one of which MANY THOUSANDS could be capturing the dog’s attention. And that is why the OF LIVES Penn team includes not just the physicists and engineers de- identify it and ignore the other sam- signing the instrumentation for ples. And it worked! The very first their electronic nose but also time! It was very emotional.” chemists to help figure out what exactly that electronic nose And yet that’s only half the chal- needs to be calibrated to smell. lenge. To transform Osa’s remarkable The group has been breaking abilities into something replicable the cancer samples down into – an electronic nose – researchers progressively smaller constitu- have to figure out what it is precisely ent parts and presenting them that Osa and her friends are reacting to the dogs to see which of the to. DeAngelo says the blood samples hundreds of potential aromat- she has trained her dogs with contain ic chemical compounds (odourants) grab their attention. A similar approach is used to ‘train’ the device. The engineers start with two separate samples consisting of many odourants mixed together and make sure the machine can distin- guish between the two. Then they remove individual odourants from each sample, training the machine to distinguish increasingly subtle differences that are more and more difficult to detect. The goal is to even- tually place a vial of plasma inside a microwave-sized electronic sniffer that can analyse its odourants and, within minutes, provide a reading of healthy, benign or malignant. 130 may 2022

Does This Dog Know Whether You Have Cancer? Another version might handle up to have an impact on saving lives,” says ten samples at a time. Otto. “The dogs have been able to de- tect that.” With that ability, a blood While most people would likely test could be sent to a central lab – or, prefer to have what ails them sniffed ideally, performed in a doctor’s office out by a sympathetic (if wet) nose – and rolled in as part of one’s annual rather than a cold machine, that’s not check-up, making some hidden can- in the cards, according to Bruce Kim- cers a thing of the past. ball, a chemist at the Monell Chem- ical Senses Center in Philadelphia. If it all works as DeAngelo and Otto “The sheer numbers of dogs and han- hope – and Otto is confident that a dlers that would have to be deployed” working device is “on the horizon” – to hospitals, labs and medical facili- it will be one of the most important ties “is not practical,” he says. victories in the war against cancer yet. Of course, neither Osa nor any An electronic nose prototype of her furry friends have much idea has been built, and it’s successful what the fuss is all about. in sniffing out cancer 90 to 95 per cent of the time. As impressive as “To them, it’s just a game,” says that sounds, researchers say there’s DeAngelo. “Osa just knows that, I was still more work to be done. Right trained and when I find this odour and now, they have a good idea of what I indicate on it, then I get rewarded.” compounds or chemicals create the odour, but the team wants the de- Osa prefers that reward to be a vices to be even more specific. One piece of cheese. It’s a small price to objective is to be able to distinguish pay. After all, Osa’s nose is potential- between early- and late-stage cancer. ly revolutionising how and when we “It would be incredible to identify detect countless types of cancer and people at an early stage and really saving many thousands of lives along the way. Any Volunteers For A Prison Stint? Would you willingly go to gaol and live like a prisoner for a few days? Nearly 1000 people have jumped at just such a chance in the Swiss city of Zurich, volunteering to take part in testing a new gaol before the facility accepts its first inmates. The volunteer ‘prisoners’ won’t have to pay – or get paid – and will be treated like inmates in some regards: testing food, undergoing intake procedures, walking the yard, etc. They will, however, be able to bail out if they start to crack under the conditions. AP readersdigest.com.au 131

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Movies PHOTOS: COURTESY © 2022 DISNE Y/PIX AR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Superhero I f you’re partial to a Marvel In the second instalment of this superhero comic, then this movie franchise, we see Dr Strange cast will be a no-brainer. But it’s also got a forbidden spell that opens the another thing going for it – Benedict door to the multiverse, including Cumberbatch. You may have seen him an alternate version of himself. in the first Dr Strange movie, or as the The combined forces of Dr Strange mathematical genius Alan Turing in and his allies Wong (Benedict Imitation Games, Sherlock Holmes in Wong) and Wanda Maximoff the TV drama Sherlock, or more recently (Elizabeth Olsen) have to traverse in Jane Campion’s The Power Of The the mind-bending and dangerous Dog. Wherever you’ve seen him, you alternate realities of the multiverse will know that he brings distinguished to confront a mysterious new prowess to every role he plays. adversary. COMPILED BY DIANE GODLEY readersdigest.com.au 133

DC League Of Super-Pets Animated/Family PHOTOS: COURTESY (FIRESTARTER) PHOTO: © 2022 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS; (PETS) © 2021 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. M an and dog have never been as inseparable as Krypto the Super- Dog and Superman in DC’s latest animated adventure of heroic proportions. Sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime side by side in the big city, they fall into an easy pattern, until the man-of-steel and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped. To help him on his rescue mission, Krypto has to convince a rag-tag bunch of shelter pets – Ace the hound, PB the potbellied pig, Merton the turtle and Chip the squirrel – to master their own newfound powers. Firestarter Thriller/Supernatural I n this new adaptation of Stephen King’s classic thriller, Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Anne With An E) plays Charlie, a girl with pyrokinetic powers that she uses to protect herself and family from sinister forces. The family has been on the run for more than a decade because a shadowy federal agency wants to use her powers to make a weapon of mass destruction. Although Dad (Zac Efron) has taught Charlie how to defuse her power, after she turns 11 the fires become harder to control. When the family’s secret location is revealed, a federal operative is deployed to hunt them down. 134 may 2022

RD Recommends Non Rebel Talk Fiction Jane Hutcheon BRIO BOOKS PHOTOS: COURTESY BRIO BOOKS; HACHETTE; ROCKPOOL PUBLISHING Mafioso Journalist, author From Earth: Create and former foreign Your Own Natural Colin McLaren correspondent Jane Apothecary Hutcheon knows a HACHETTE thing or two about Charlotte Rasmussen conversations, and in Depicted in books and Rebel Talk she draws ROCKPOOL on the screen, the Mafia on her rich experience PUBLISHING remains a subject of in the art of guided fascination. Australian conversations to help The makings for simple detective and author us initiate and nurture skincare and medicinal Colin McLaren spent conversations. Rebel home remedies can three years undercover Talk looks at ways be found in your own in the Mafia in Australia to: transform poor garden or kitchen. From gathering information conversation habits; Earth’s recipes employ to shut down a cell of speak up about pure and natural criminals. Following problems; generate ingredients such as death threats, he energy, passion lavender and rosemary travelled to Italy on a and optimism; stop and will inspire you mission to understand lecturing and giving to enlarge your herb the Mafia’s treacherous unsolicited advice; and patch. Beautifully hold on criminal activity. most importantly, learn photographed, this Mafioso tells that story: by humble listening. step-by-step guide how the earliest Mafia explains how to use aided politicians, how carrier oils, butters and billions were stolen from dried flowers and is the mints and banks, the perfect manual for and how the New York anyone wanting to find Godfathers conquered a more holistic way of territories on both sides life. M.Egan of the Atlantic. readersdigest.com.au 135

Burning Questions Fiction Idol PHOTOS: COURTESY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE; BANTAM PRESS Margaret Atwood Here Goes Nothing Louise O’Neill PENGUIN Steve Toltz BANTAM PRESS RANDOM HOUSE PENGUIN For influencer Samantha Fans of Margaret RANDOM HOUSE Miller’s three million Atwood, the creator young followers (or of The Handmaid’s If you like your fiction “her girls”, as she calls Tale and more than left-of-centre, then this them), she is an oracle 50 other works of fiction, book’s for you. Angus – telling them exactly poetry and essays, will Mooney struggles for how to live through her be interested in her most of his life, until lifestyle brand with a collection of essays and he meets his wife, spiritual focus. When occasional pieces from marriage celebrant she writes an essay 2004-21. Full of wit and Gracie (whose that goes viral about wisdom, Atwood tackles wedding ceremonies an encounter with a subjects such as the are anything but friend, she belatedly climate crisis, freedom, traditional). Just when discovers the friend has debt, tech, the rise of things are starting to a very different version Trump and a pandemic. work out, an old guy of events. Idol examines Other topics include: with a terminal illness female friendships, When to dispense barges into their house the subjectivity of advice to the young? and asks to stay – until memories, the #metoo (only when asked); So he dies. When Angus movement and cancel what if beauty is only does some research on culture. Addictive skin deep?; and What their ‘guest’, he wakes and timely, this book do zombies have to do up the next day in the doesn’t hold back. with authoritarianism? ‘afterlife’, and has to M.Egan watch on the sidelines as his guest seduces his wife. 136 may 2022

Podcasts RD Recommends PHOTOS: COURTESY RD TALKS, HUBERMAN LAB, BRITISH SCANDAL, SPOTIFY AUDIO BOOKS Unforgettable Christy Brown Born with cerebral palsy, Irish writer and painter Christy Brown is well known for his autobiography My Left Foot. This is a moving exploration of how he wished to be remembered not for his human frailties but for achieving his dreams and living his life. Huberman Lab Hosted by neuroscientist Dr Andrew Huberman, the podcast examines how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body controls our perceptions, behaviours and health. There is a good selection of science-backed topics with useful advice and tools for everyday life to browse through. British Scandal One thing the British seem to do well is scandals. Scandals that bring down governments and shatter the gilded lives of the rich and powerful. This series gets to the heart of famous transgressions such as the Profumo Affair, Lord Lucan, the Murdoch Phone Hacking and the Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. Discover Audio Books On Spotify Streaming and music service Spotify has a selection of audiobooks. Young adults can listen to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. For science-fiction lovers, titles include Sandworms of Dune by Frank Herbert and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. HOW TO GET PODCASTS To listen on the web: In a search engine, look up ‘British Scandal’, for example, and click on the play button. To download: Download an app such as Podcatchers or iTunes on your phone or tablet and simply search by title. TO LISTEN TO RD TALKS GO TO www.readersdigest.com.au/podcasts and click on the play button. readersdigest.com.au 137

THE The term binge-watch was PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES GENIUS a contender for the 2013 SECTION word of the year in the Ox- ford English Dictionary. Al- Sharpen Your though it didn’t win (‘self- Mind ie’ ultimately took the crown), this pointed to the rise of what was be- PRESS coming a popular activity of watch- PAUSE? ing multiple episodes of a TV show in a single sitting. How to know if your binge-watching habits Today, millions of us – including are a problem – and what me – regularly consume our favourite series in this way. The proliferation of to do about it streaming services over recent years has made it easy to do. Unsurprising- BY Mark Griffiths ly, during COVID-19 lockdowns, re- search shows many of us spent more FROM THE CONVERSATION time binge-watching than usual. 138 may 2022 But can binge-watching become problematic or addictive? And if you can’t tear yourself away, what can you do? Problematic binge-watching isn’t defined by the number of episodes watched (although most researchers agree it’s at least two in a row), or a specific number of hours spent in front of the TV or computer screen. As with other addictive behaviours, more important is whether binge-watching is having a negative impact on other aspects of the person’s life. Over many years studying addic- tion, I’ve argued that all addictive behaviours comprise six core compo- nents. In relation to binge-watching, this would mean: • It is the most important thing in the person’s life (salience).

The Genius Section • The person engages in binge-watch- of the prevalence of problematic ing as a way of reliably changing their binge-watching. But research into mood: to feel better in the short-term this phenomenon is growing. or to temporarily escape from some- thing negative in their life (mood A LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE modification). In the latest study on this topic, a re- • Binge-watching compromises key search team in Poland surveyed 645 aspects of the person’s life like re- young adults, all of whom reported lationships and education or work that they had watched at least two ep- (conflict). isodes of one show in a single sitting. • The number of hours the person The researchers wanted to understand spends binge-watching each day has some of the factors underlying prob- increased significantly DURING lematic binge-watch- over time (tolerance). LOCKDOWNS, ing. MANY OF US • The person experi- SPENT MORE TIME The authors, who based their defini- ences psychological tion of problematic and/or physiological binge-watching part- withdrawal symptoms if they’re unable to ly on my components model of addiction, BINGE-WATCHINGbinge-watch (with- drawal). used a questionnaire • If the person manages to temporar- they developed in an earlier study to ily stop binge-watching, when they assess problematic binge-watching engage in the activity again, they go among participants. Questions includ- straight back into the cycle they were ed: “How often do you neglect your in previously (relapse). duties in favour of watching series?” In my view, any person who fulfils “How often do you feel sad or irritated these six components would be gen- when you can’t watch the TV series?” uinely addicted to binge-watching. and “How often do you neglect your A person who only fulfils some of sleep to binge-watch series?” these may be exhibiting problemat- Participants had to give answers on ic binge-watching, but wouldn’t be a six-point scale from one (never) to classed as addicted by my criteria. six (always). A score above a certain Like many other behavioural ad- threshold was deemed indicative of dictions, such as work addiction and problematic binge-watching. exercise addiction, binge-watching Using a range of other scales, addiction is not officially recognised the researchers found that impulse in any psychiatric manuals. We control difficulties, lack of premed- also don’t have accurate estimates itation (difficulties in planning and readersdigest.com.au 139

READER’S DIGEST evaluating the consequences of a negative emotions). We see these given behaviour), watching to es- types of associations in addictive cape and forget about problems, behaviours more generally. and watching to avoid feeling lonely were among the most sig- BREAKING THE HABIT nificant predictors of problematic If you want to cut down on the num- binge-watching. ber of episodes you watch in one sit- Using the same data, the research- ting, my golden rule is to stop watch- ers reported in an earlier study ing mid-way through an episode. that problematic SET REALISTIC It’s really hard to stop binge-watching had a watching at the end of significant association DAILY LIMITS. an episode as so often with anxiety-depressive FOR ME, IT’S 2.5 the show ends with a syndrome. The greater HOURS DURING cliff-hanger. the symptoms of anxi- I also suggest setting ety and depression, the realistic daily limits. For me, it’s 2.5 hours THE WORK WEEKmore problematic a person’s binge-watch- if I have work the next ing was. day, or up to five hours if I don’t. And Other studies have reported sim- only start watching as a reward to ilar findings. A Taiwanese study of yourself after you’ve done everything adults, for example, found problem- you need to in terms of work and so- atic binge-watching was associated cial obligations. with depression, anxiety around so- Remember, the difference between cial interaction and loneliness. a healthy enthusiasm and an addic- An American study found the be- tion is that the former adds to your haviour was associated with depres- life, whereas the latter detracts from it. sion and attachment anxiety. Most If you feel binge-watching is taking related studies have also show n over your life, you should seek a refer- escapism to be a key motivation of ral from your GP to see a psychologist. problematic binge-watching. Most addictions are symptomatic of In terms of personality traits, re- other underlying problems. search has shown that problematic binge-watching appears to be asso- Mark Griffiths is the director ciated with low conscientiousness of the International Gaming (characterised by being impulsive, Research Unit and Professor ca reless a nd d isorga n ised) a nd of Behavioural Addiction, high neuroticism (characterised Nottingham Trent University. b y b ei n g a n x iou s a nd pr one to REPUBLISHED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENCE 140 may 2022



READER’S DIGEST PUZZLES Challenge yourself by solving these puzzles and mind stretchers, then check your answers on page 146. Crossword Test your general knowledge. ACROSS 20 Circumscribed DOWN CROSSWORD: CROSSWORDSITE.COM swellings (5) 1 Masked (9) 22 Fit for publication (9) 1 Popular pets (4) 6 Mexican money (5) 24 Fashion industry (3,5) 2 Protected from 9 Diving bird (5) 26 Effluent carrier (5) the weather (9) 10 Life story (9) 29 Apiarist (9) 3 No good (7) 11 Yorkshire (UK) town 31 Strong thread (5) 4 Weeps (4) on the River Wharfe (5) 32 Trials (5) 5 Pair (3) 12 Commonplace (8) 33 Necessary to 6 Incomplete (7) 16 Hard-shelled pupa (9) get to Mars (9) 7 Latin for ‘above’ (5) 17 Pilsner (5) 8 Cunningly (5) 13 Rural (6) 14 Scrutinize (4) 15 Inclined (6) 18 Nonsense (9) 19 Regretted (4) 21 Wave riders (7) 23 Stage (7) 24 Capital of Morocco (5) 25 Valleys (5) 27 Extent of space (4) 28 Quick sharp bark (4) 30 Step in ballet (3) 142 may 2022

Puzzle BRAIN POWER Answers brought to you by PAGES 146 \"Write, Erase, Rewrite\" 1 3726 8 2 1 4 95 4 83 1 329 9 7 8 1 54 8 59 1 6 93 86 41 1 68 94 2 Sudoku HOW TO PLAY: To win, you have to put a number from 1 to 9 in each outlined section so that: • Every horizontal row and vertical column contains all nine numerals (1-9) without repeating any of them; • Each of the outlined sections has all nine numerals, none repeated. IF YOU SOLVE IT WITHIN: 15 minutes, you’re a true expert 30 minutes, you’re no slouch 60 minutes or more, maybe numbers aren’t your thing To enjoy more puzzles and interactive games, go to www.readersdigest.com.au/games-jokes

READER’S DIGEST FAMILY FUN Puzzle Answers PAGE 146 Spot The Difference There are ten differences. Can you find them? Quick Crossword 2 1 3 4 Place the names of these Pacific islands into the grid, then go and 5 ILLUSTR ATION: VECTEEZY.COM find them on a map: FIJI HAWAII 6 GUAM EASTER TONGA TAHITI 7 PALAU VANUATU SAMOA TOKELAU 89 144 may 2022

TRIVIA Test Your General Knowledge 1. What famous international of the plant known as deadly fashion designer was born in nightshade? 1 point Penang, Malaysia? 1 point 8. Which is the lightest element, 2. With 85 characters, Taumata and the most plentiful one in the whakatangi hangakoauau o universe? 2 points tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga 9. What sad clown appears in works horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu by Picasso, Manet and Watteau, is the longest place name in the among others? 1 point world. What country does it belong 10. Which country celebrates to? 1 point Hinamatsuri, or the Festival of 3. Nintendo didn’t always make Dolls, on March 3? 1 point video games. What did it originally 11. The Three Musketeers recounts manufacture? 2 points the swashbuckling adventures of a 4. According to Finnish lore, what group of close friends. How many natural phenomenon is caused by friends, precisely? 2 points the tail of a mythical firefox? 1 point 12. Camiguin in the Philippines is 5. The majority of adults can’t fully the only island on the planet with and comfortably digest more volcanoes than lactose, which is found towns. True or false? in dairy products. 1 point True or false? 1 point 13. What are Python, 6. Who reigned C and Perl? 2 points the longest, Queen 14. Australian Elizabeth II (so far) or 15. The first records researchers outfitted Queen Victoria? 1 point which marsupials 7. What colour are of curling as a sport date with Fitbits last the attractive but back to the 16th century, year, to record their in which two countries? PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES poisonous berries 2 points heart rates? 1 point 16-20 Gold medal 11-15 Silver medal 6-10 Bronze medal 0-5 Wooden spoon ANSWERS: 1. Jimmy Choo. 2. New Zealand. 3. Playing cards. 4. The Northern Lights. 5. True. 6. Elizabeth II. 7. Black. 8. Hydrogen. 9. Pierrot. 10. Japan. 11. Four. 12. True. 13. Software programming languages. 14. Koalas. 15. Scotland and the Netherlands. readersdigest.com.au 145

READER’S DIGEST PUZZLE ANSWERS From Page 142 Spot The Difference Crossword Sudoku Quick Crossword CROSSWORD: CROSSWORDSITE.COM; ILLUSTR ATION: VECTEEZY.COM 5 1 9372648 1E 2386 1 4795 2T O N G A 46798532 1 35 1 426879 3P S 692738 1 54 78459 1 263 A T 4V 923 1 47586 8452639 1 7 L 5T O K E L A U 1 76859432 6S A M O A RN UH U I 7H A W A I I TT 8 F I J I 9G U A M 146 may 2022

The Genius Section WORD POWER Words Based On Hebrew You may not know it, but many of the words we use in English have their roots in Hebrew, such as balm, cherub, cider, kosher and Sabbath. See if you can schmooze your way through our quiz, and then go to the next page for answers. BY Sarah Chassé 1. pharaoh – A: ancient grain. B: herdsman. C: one unfairly B: small boat. C: Egyptian king. blamed. 2. jubilee – A: 50th anniversary. 9. philistine – A: allergic. B: candied fruit. C: lucky charm. B: uncultured. C: foreign. 3. cabal – A: secretive group. 10. maven – A: expert. B: prayer shawl. C: city-state. B: matchmaker. C: rebel. 4. golem – A: set of rules. B: artificial 11. messiah – A: follower. human. C: poached fish. B: saviour. C: traitor. 5. hosanna – A: mountaintop. 12. jezebel – A: hoopskirt. B: shout of praise. C: eldest B: immoral woman. C: ram’s horn. daughter. 13. behemoth – A: something huge. 6. babel – A: noisy confusion. B: something old. C: something holy. B: skyscraper. C: naughty child. 14. chutzpah – A: cookie. 7. matzo – A: flatbread. B: nerve. C: blessing. B: ceremony. C: card game. 15. manna – A: godsend. 8. scapegoat – A: one who swears. B: great-aunt. C: winged beetle. readersdigest.com.au 147

READER’S DIGEST Answers 1. pharaoh – (C) Egyptian king. still think that The Three Stooges was The pharaoh commanded that a hilarious. giant pyramid be built in his honour. 10. maven – (A) expert. 2. jubilee – (A) 50th anniversary. Jaden is the financial maven of our Our town celebrated its jubilee with group, advising everyone on saving a parade down Main Street. for retirement. 3. cabal – (A) secretive group. 11. messiah – (B) saviour. The mayor and her cabal of insiders The self-help guru has been hailed have ruled this city for decades. as a messiah by his followers. 4. golem – (B) artificial human. 12. jezebel – (B) immoral woman. In Frankenstein, a young scientist “In my day, you’d be labelled a brings a hideous golem to life. jezebel for showing your knees!” Aunt Betty said with a laugh. 5. hosanna – (B) shout of praise. The new production of Wicked 13. behemoth – (A) something huge. opened to hosannas from theatre The merger would create a tech critics. behemoth that could crush all competition. 6. babel – (A) noisy confusion. “I can’t hear myself think over all 14. chutzpah – (B) nerve. “I can’t this babel!” Akiko shouted. believe he had the chutzpah to say that to me!” Tamar fumed. 7. matzo – (A) flatbread. The only matzo I eat is the kind that’s been 15. manna – (A) godsend. covered in chocolate. This medical breakthrough might be the manna that so many patients 8. scapegoat – (C) one unfairly have been waiting for. blamed. Though the whole team played badly, the opening batsman VOCABULARY RATINGS became the scapegoat for the loss. 5–9: Fair 10–12: Good 9. philistine – (B) uncultured. 13–15: Word Power Wizard Call my taste philistine if you like; I 148 may 2022