Science Illustrated Australia 2023

DID LIFE SPEED UP THE UNIVERSE? The birth of biocosmology: full story inside AUSTRALIAN TFLRYAIINNGSMAGLEV & BEYOND UN D E RWAT E R BASE IS NE X T -GEN C O USTEA U GPDGLI LVAIENNSIGNIATTSOS URANUSNO GI NASA A MULTI SPECIES MAP OF DEEP INTELLIGENCE Issue #96 AU $9.99 NZ $10.99 A new 'seriodic table' of intelligence aims to comsare our own 'smarts' with those of scienceillustrated.com.au other animals. Will humans come out on tos? 96 9 771836 517000

Subscribe to for your WIN , WORTH OF OUTDOOR FURNITURE thanks to COTSWOLD FURNITURE was founded in 1981 and has been a The Wicked collection is designed by Brussels-based designer leader in the furniture business ever since. With superior Alain Gilles for Vincent Sheppard, with the aim of reinventing knowledge of the industry combined with outstanding wicker as we know it. By creating an unexpectedly light and designers, the company has brought high quality, durable and airy shape, Gilles has shed new light on traditional wicker unique furniture to Australia. design, combining the warm wicker material with the sleek metal frame and creating a dialogue between cra work on cotswoldfurniture.com.au the one hand and industrial processes on the other. 4 EASY mymagazines.com.au Scan to WAYS TO subscribe ORDER 1300 361 146 Toll free in Australia

chance to WIN! Ԃ HUGE SAVINGS ON THE COVER PRICE Ԃ FREE DELIVERY TO YOUR DOOR WHY SUBSCRIBE? Ԃ NEVER MISS AN ISSUE ■ Enjoy delivery directly to your door Australia-wide 1300 361 146 ■ Save up to 25% on the cover price ■ Never miss an issue of your OR CALL favourite magazine Sydney metro (02) 9901 6111 ■ You won’t find a be er subscription OR MAIL GREAT deal through any other service! GIFT Locked Bag 3355 IDEA! HOW TO ENTER: St Leonards, Simplt subscribe, extend or renew tour NSW 1590 subscription to ant of the participating Please send me a subscription to magazines for a minimum of 1 tear. 16 ISSUES (2 years) ONLY $119 SAVE 25%! For more information, visit 8 ISSUES (1 year) ONLY $65 SAVE 18%! mtmagazines.com.au/xmas22 New Subscription Renewal Gift Subscription Subscriptions, Locked Bag 3355, MY DETAILS St Leonards, NSW 1590 Mrs/Ms/Miss/Mr/Other Address Postcode___________ Telephone ( ) Email PLEASE PROVIDE PHONE OR EMAIL IN CASE OF DELIVERY ISSUES GIFT RECIPIENT DETAILS Mrs/Ms/Miss/Mr/Other Address Postcode___________Telephone ( ) Email PAYMENT DETAILS is enclosed payable to Cheque/money order for $ Visa Mastercard Amex Nextmedia Pty Ltd or charge my Card number Cardholder’s name (please print) Cardholder’s signature Expiry date / Price offer available to Australian and New Zealand residents only, ending 15/2/23. Savings based on cover price, including GST. Overseas: 1yr/8 issues A$109. Subscriptions will commence with next issue to be mailed. Please allow 6–8 weeks for delivery of your first magazine. This form may be used as a Tax Invoice; nextmedia P/L (ABN 84 128 805 970). Competition is open to Australian residents 18+ who fulfil the entry/eligibility requirements. Competition opens 5/12/22 at 00:01 and closes 12/3/23 at 23:59. One (1) subscriber will win a A$15,070 outdoor furniture set from Cotswold Furniture. Total prize pool is A$15,070. One entry per eligible product purchase defined in full terms. Prize draw will take place at 11:00 AEDT 17/3/23 at the Promoter’s address. Winner will be notified via email and published at mymagazines.com.au/xmas22. Promoter is nextmedia (ABN 84 128 805 970), 205 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065. Full competition terms and permit numbers are at www.mymagazines.com.au/xmas22. Please tick if you do not wish to receive special offers or information from nextmedia or its partners via [ ] mail [ ] email or [ ] phone. Our Privacy Notice can be found at nextmedia.com.au. If you prefer to receive communication electronically, please ensure we have your current email address. MA/SCI

ISSUE#96 Contents 36 AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED INTELLIGENCE SCTOORVYER PUBLISHED 5 JANUARY 2023 Science has never successfully compared different types of animal intelligence, but an Australian- led project may be finding a way. 28 44 URANUS CONTAGIOUS VACCINES Pronounce it how you like, the Solar System’s eighth planet We can’t design and distribute vaccines as fast as is a fascinatingly strange light-blue ice planet, and it’s now viruses can mutate and spread. But what if we implanted top priority for a NASA mission with satellite and probe... a vaccine inside a virus and let nature do the job?

50 REGULARS EDITORIAL AND OTHER Editor: Jez Ford UNDERWATER FEATURES [email protected] SPACE STATION 6 MEGAPIXELS DESIGN The grandson of Art Director: Malcolm Campbell underwater pioneer Artificial intelligence images of nature, Jacques Cousteau and the pink lakes of Ukraine. ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES plans a giant under- National Account Manager: Amanda Patrick water laboratory 10 SCIENCE UPDATE where aquanauts [email protected] can live for months Doomsday Glacier update, and why to ph: 0432 918 235 below the waves. lean right when swallowing pills. Production Manager: Peter Ryman 58 Associate Publisher: Daniel Findlay GM Consumer Publishing: Carole Jones BIOCOSMOLOGY Managing Director: Arek Widawski The acceleration of INTERNATIONAL EDITION the universe sped up Editor-in-Chief: Sebastian Relster just as life emerged. Could the complexity BONNIER PUBLICATIONS A/S of life have influenced Art Director: Malene Vinther the physics of the universe itself? Picture Editor & Licensing Manager: Lisbeth Brünnich 64 SUBSCRIBE: 1300 361 146 or FINISHING THE 9901 6111 or mymagazines.com.au HUMAN GENOME PROJECT Science Illustrated is published 8 times a year by nextmedia Pty Ltd, They lied when they announced a Forum Media Group Company. the complete human ACN: 128 805 970 genome in 2003 – 8% was missing. Now the Level 8, 205 Pacific Highway, gaps have been filled, St Leonards NSW 2065 with surprise results. 20 ASK US Under license from Bonnier 72 International Magazines. © 2022/3 Our experts answer your questions Bonnier Corporation and nextmedia Pty FLYING TRAINS about the world and its ways. Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is Mixed messages for 80 SCIENTIFIC ARCHIVES: prohibited. Science Illustrated is a trademark the future of high- of Bonnier Corporation and is used under speed trains: maglev CHARLES DARWIN limited license. The Australian edition is flourishing, but contains material originally published in the plans for a vacuum He was not alone in his ideas, but his Danish edition reprinted with permission Hyperloop may be presention of them changed science. of Bonnier Corporation. Articles express coming off the rails. the opinions of the authors and are not 82 TEST YOURSELF! necessarily those of the Publisher, Editor or nextmedia Pty Ltd. ISSN 1836-5175. Mind bombs of assorted flavours to Printed in Australia by IVE, distributed test your talents and bend your brain. in Australia and NZ by Are Direct. SUBSCRIBE Privacy Notice NOW! p2 We value the integrity of your personal Subscribe to save $$$, information. If you provide personal get issues to your door, information through your participation in and win furniture! any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of Science Illustrated, this will be used to provide the products or services that you have requested and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products, services and events our company has to offer. We may also give your information to other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by getting in touch with our privacy officer, who can be contacted at nextmedia, Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590 www.scienceillustrated.com.au THE SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED CREDO We share with our readers a fascination with science, technology, nature, culture and archaeology, and believe that through education about our past, present and future, we can make the world a better place.

ALL IMAGES: STABLE DIFFUSION VIA PLAYGROUNDAI.COM BY JEZ FORD MEGAPIXEL AI ART Unreal nature: artificial intelligence blurs boundaries None of these beautiful images of nature is real. We created them all using an artificial intelligence ‘art engine’ called Stable Diffusion. In a matter of seconds, the art engine turns any text prompt into an image created from characteristics it has absorbed from millions of tagged sample images. While the process is clever and the results often astoundingly beautiful, art by AI could also be used to deceive, and creates one more layer of unreality in a world where it’s increasingly hard to determine facts from fakery. 6 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

scienceillustrated.com.au | 7

MEGAPIXEL UKRAINE 8 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Salt paints: Ukraine’s natural beauty revealed Henichesk is one of Ukraine’s ‘pink lakes’. The higher the temperature, the more water evaporates from the lakes and the richer their colour becomes. Then as the waters recede, tons of white salt ‘sand’ is left on the shore, where it can be harvested by locals. This lake region is to the west of the Sea of Azov, north of Crimea, in territory still held (as we write) by Russia. The image comes from ‘The Beauty of Ukraine’ a new book pubished by teNeues, which was begun before the conflict. To complete it, the book’s team worked through bombings, forced emigration, and in some cases military missions. Photo // © 2022 Yevhen Samuchenko scienceillustrated.com.au | 9

SCIENCE UPDATE THE LATEST FINDINGS AND DISCOVERIES NASA, ESA, CSA, DATA REDUCTION AND ANALYSIS : PDRS4ALL ERS TEAM; GRAPHICAL PROCESSING S. FUENMAYOR Space telescope looks inside a huge star factory The James Webb Space Telescope is proving its power, giving us unprecedented access to previously unknown details of the Orion Nebula. And the view is amazing. S T A R S It is a glowing cloud of dust and gas in which the stars are born. very brightly in the new photo, this and gas with a diameter greater than It is a major improvement on previous star can only be seen with the naked 24 light years, and it is the home of images such as those from the Hubble eye from Earth by those in regions with hundreds of newborn stars. Located only Telescope, which used visible light truly dark skies and so very low light 1350 light years from Earth, the Orion and so could not capture many of the contamination. The red glow around Nebula is the closest major nebula we structures and objects located around the star comes from tiny dust grains have found. That makes the region an and beyond the Orion Nebula. reflecting the light of the star. important area for improving our understanding of how new stars form. “We are blown away by the amazing The image also reveals stars images,” says astrophysicist Els Peeters which are so young that they are still We have known about the nebula’s from Western University in London, one enveloped in the cloud of gas and dust existence since it was first recorded in of the scientists behind the new picture. in which they were born. Scientists 1610, but it still keeps countless secrets. “The project started in 2017, so we have hope to learn more about the different Now the most powerful space telescope waited more than 5 years for this data.” life stages of stars by analysing the ever created, the James Webb, has image in greater detail. Our own captured the heart of the star factory The new picture shows a small Solar System is believed to have been in an image that is the sharpest so far section of the interior of the Orion born in an environment similar to achieved, say astronomers. Nebula. A thick brown beam of gas the Orion Nebula, so scientists hope and dust stretches from the upper left that the new pictures from the James The image has been produced using corner to the right one. Webb telescope will be able to teach the James Webb telescope’s infrared us even more about how our own cameras and a combination of filters to At the centre of the beam, the Sun and its planets formed. peer through the dense cloud of dust clearest star in the image is Theta2 Orionis A. And although the star shines HUBBLE JWST A section of the interior of the Orion Nebula as observed by first the Hubble space telescope and then the James Webb. It is easy to see how the James Webb telescope’s sensitive infrared camera can peer through the thick dust layer and see fainter stars deep inside the nebula. 10 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Editor: Karen Grubbe ALEXANDR MITIUC/IMAGESELECT/SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND Drought can be seen from space Satellite images reveal how the heat of summer quifkly fhanged vast regions of the European fontinent. 1 C L I M A T E C H A N G E From fertile green 2 to charred brown: the extreme heat of the European summer left its mark on major 3 parts of the continent, influencing drinking water, agriculture, and energy generation. Mirrors capture the New satellite images of what may be the universe’s invisible light continent’s worst drought since the Middle Ages reveal the changes seen from space, Onfe the James Webb telesfope unfolded and reafhed its final hundreds of kilometres away. position, its mission began in earnest. The primary mirror faptures infrared light (heat radiation) from remote heavenly bodies, and this The European observation programme is passed on to the telesfope’s instruments via the sefondary mirror. Copernicus released a short video on Twitter showing the difference a year can make, comparing images captured by the Sentinel 2 satellite between 1 July and 31 August 2021 with the same period of 2022. The images reveal how vegetation suffered major damage across the continent, from the east of England, through northern France into central Europe. The satellite shows that only northern Scandinavia and some far eastern parts of Europe escaped the drought. The conclusion is consistent with a recent report on the situation prepared by the European Drought Observatory. Its scientists conclude that in August 2022 no less than 47% of Europe’s area qualified for the second of three alert levels, defined by a major lack of soil moisture, while 17% had already entered the third and most severe category: a red alert indicating “vegetation stress following soil moisture and vegetation deficit”. Gold mirrors collect the radiation COPERNICUS 2021 2022 The prnmary mnrrtr ns made up tf 18 hexagtnal mnrrtrs tf the strtng but 1 lnght metal beryllnum. The mnrrtrs have been made tt an accuracy tf 20 mnllntnth tf a mnllnmetre and are ctated nn gtld, whnch reflects nnfrared. Instruments analyse the light The nnstruments behnnd the mnrrtr nnclude nnfrared cameras and spectrtgraphs. 2 The spectrtgraphs analyse the wavelengths, revealnng btth temperatures and chemncal ctmptsntntn tf the tbjects at whnch the space telesctpe ns anmed. Sunshield lowers the temperature The satellite data shows how Europe changed between the period of 1 July-31 August 2021 The nnstruments dt ntt ttlerate heat, st a 150m2 sunshneld prttects them as compared to the same period of 2022. Note particularly the changing appearance 3 frtm stlar radnatntn. The shneld has fnve layers tf plastnc fnlm that reflects of eastern England and northern France. the radnatntn, keepnng the nnstruments at temperatures beltw -225°C. scienceillustrated.com.au | 11

SCIENCE UPDATE Lean to the right when taking pills CLAUS LUNAU Warm water and warm air break Scientists discover that there can be a huge difference in the time taken to down the ice cap absorb medication depending on which way we lean when we swallow pills. Warm ocean water enters M E D I C I N E 10 minutes, 23 minutes, the simulated stomach. But when leaning between the floating ice shelf 100 minutes: a new study from Baltimore’s 45 degrees to the left (or lying on your left in front of the Thwaites Glacier Johns Hopkins University has found side), the average rose to around 100 and the solid ice cap. remarkable differences in the speed at minutes before the pill was dissolved. which pills are absorbed depending on Warm water makes its whether we lean to the left, right, or back. It may seem surprising that body way under the ice posture should play such a key role in The study was made using ‘StomachSim’, how quickly and efficiently medication The front of the Thwaites a virtual version of the human stomach in pill form works. The explanation is the that simulates its shape and structure. geometry of the stomach, which is not 1 Glacier is a floating ice shelf. a circular ball into which everything settles Warm ocean water enters The best result, where pills dissolved in evenly. Rather it is non-symmetrical, under the ice, making icebergs calve 10 minutes on average, was achieved when shaped like a large ‘J’, and crucially the from the ice shelf and making the the pills were consumed with the torso opening between the stomach and the glacier front retreat. leaning 45 degrees towards the right (or small intestine is located at the bottom was lying on the right side). According to right of the stomach. The sphincter where Meltwater lubricates the study, this improved significantly on the stomach and duodenum meet is called the underground either standing up straight or leaning 45 the pylorus, and the effect of a pill will be most efficient in terms of speed if it Warm air melts snow and ice degrees backwards – dissolves as close to the pylorus as in those positions, possible, so the contents can pass quickly 2 from above. The water passes the pill took 23 into the duodenum. While the stomach down through cracks in the ice minutes to can process and break down complex to the rock beneath the ice cap. There dissolve in foods you have swallowed, it is the the water works as a lubricant, making intestines that distribute it to the body the ice slide more easily to the ocean. when it passes into the duodenum and on through the intestinal system. Leaning to the right both drops the pills into the deepest part of the stomach where they break down more quickly, and positions the results right in front of the doorway to the duodenum. Lean 45 degrees to the right, not the left, if you wish the contents of pills to help you quickly. SHUTTERSTOCK Ocean level might exceed new reef 3 The glacier continues its retreat, until the front reaches the ne’t ‘door stop’ – a reef 70km from the ocean. If the ocean manages to bypass this, the entire glacier is probably doomed.

BAS Evidence mounts beneath the ‘Doomsday glacier’ The huge Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica could be even closer to a rapid collapse than previously feared, warns a new study in which scientists sent a robot 700 metres below the freezing cold Antarctic ocean surface. C L I M A T E It is roughly the size of During a 20-hour mission the robot in 1996-2009. And three times as Victoria, and if it came crashing into mapped out an ice-free area on the rapidly as it receded in 2011-2017. the sea, it could ‘unplug’ Antarctica, ocean floor in front of the glacier causing ocean levels rise by up to 3 covering some 7000km2. The high-res Although the ice giant’s slower metres. For decades, researchers images allowed scientists to take a close disappearance in recent history may have looked nervously towards the sound like a positive thing, scientists Amundsen Sea off West Antarctica, ROBERT LARTER see it as a warning of unpredictability, where the huge Thwaites Glacier meets GEOPHYSICIST so that “similar quick melting could the water. With an area of 192,000km2, take place in the near future.” the glacier is one of the biggest on Thwaites Earth. But warm ocean water is eating today “Thwaites today really is holding into the kilometre-thick giant, and really is holding on on by its fingernails,” says Robert scientists are racing to study it, so by its fingernails...” Larter, one of the scientists behind that its movements can be predicted. the study and a marine geophysicist look at how the front of the ice giant working for the British Antarctic Survey. Now scientists have mapped a has receded in the past – to help them “We should expect to see big changes critical area of the ocean floor in front predict how it might do so in the future. over small timescales – even from one of the glacier for the first time. It’s year to the next.” bad news: the results indicate that The images revealed that for an the glacier’s current movements may unknown period of six months over the The Thwaites Glacier borders the not provide a reliable prediction. past 200 years, the front of the Thwaites Amundsen Sea, and functions as a huge Glacier receded twice as quickly as it did plug for the ice behind it. Scientists fear In the new study, marine geologists that the retreat of the glacier could from the US, UK and Sweden sent an make the entire ice cap of West orange autonomous underwater robot Antarctica collapse. If that happens, by the name of Rán to a depth of 700 ocean levels might rise by 1-3 metres, metres below the dark ocean surface. according to the scientists, flooding coastal cities throughout the world. scienceillustrated.com.au | 13

SCIENCE UPDATE Cockroaches evolve to outsmart insecticides Observed changes in the mating procedures of cockroaches led scientists to identify changes that have increased their speed of mating and reduced their desire for sugar. E V O L U T I O N Before cockroaches mate, mass. As she is busy with her meal, the the male secretes a sweet body secretion male places his body more centrally under that works as a lure for the female. The fluid the female to get hold of her hind part is a mixture of fat and sugar intended to using his first penis. Then a 90-minute attract and maintain the female’s attention mating procedure begins, during which long enough for mating to begin. the male uses a second penis to pass a When a female eats, her saliva is mixed sperm package to the female. with the sugar mass, breaking down the The scientists also found that the new complex maltose and maltotriose sugars of and improved male cockroaches seem to the secretion. Maltose is quickly converted have adapted to females breaking down into glucose by the females; it takes maltose faster by changing their sugar mass longer to break down maltotriose. to include more maltotriose. This slows down Once the secretion has been largely the females again, extending the window converted, its taste becomes bitter, long enough for mating could begin. And which puts off crucially, the males the females. So the have slashed their males need to start The new long mating procedure mating before this down to a few minutes change happens. behaviourm or even seconds. In 2013, have evolved The scientists scientists began to becaume believe that the new observe that some inmecticidem are often behaviours have females were made with glucome to conceal evolved because turning down males their toxic componentm. insecticides are often more quickly. In made with glucose to a new study by conceal the toxic scientists from components of their North Carolina pesticides. But now it University, published in the journal will be more difficult to attract cockroaches Nature, it was discovered that these with such gifts. In other words, cockroaches females have a genetic variation that are changing their behaviour and genes to makes their saliva break down the survive our attempts at eradication. maltose more quickly. The bitter taste The cockroaches with the new gene NATUREPL hence appears more quickly, before the variant seem to breed successfully and males manage to mate. rapidly, meaning that we will need to The scientists wondered why this new reconsider pest control methods, finding habit was not causing a reduction in new eradication strategies. A larger global cockroach populations. It turns out that cockroach population could affect human while females have developed new sugar health, as cockroach excrement can spread habits, males have developed new mating diseases such as salmonella poisoning, strategies. Normally, males unfold their enteritis, and dysentery. wings, secrete their sugar lure through The superpests are already famously glands on the back, and if a female is hard to kill: they can survive for a month interested she crawls onto his back and without a head, and endure 10 times more begins to mix her own saliva with the sugar radioactive radiation than can humans. 14 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

SHUTTERSTOCK Preventable factors in FACT SHEET too many cancer cases Several factors increase the risk 1 Smoking 2 Alcohol consumption 5 High BMI 4 Unsafe sex 5 High blood sugar level on an empty stomach 6 Particle pollution from the surroundings 7 Job exposure to asbestos 8 Low-wholegrain diet 9 Low-milk diet 10 Passive smoking Too many cancer cases are due to preventable factors. A new study highlights the things you should avoid if you want to reduce your risk. O N C O L O G Y A major new study in The new study was one of the most Tracheal, bronchial and lung cancers which US and international scientists extensive of its kind, with the scientists ranked high among preventable cancers scrutinised cancer disease and death examining the link between 23 different claiming most human lives, followed by data in 204 different countries and cancer types and 34 preventable risk rectal and oesophageal cancer. regions of the world found that no fewer factors such as passive smoking, phy- than 44% of all cancer cases were due to sical inactivity, and a low-wholegrain The scientists also discovered a big factors that can be avoided, such as diet. This allowed them to indicate and difference between men and women. smoking, pollution, and alcohol rank the 10 risk factors that claimed the Some 50.6% of all cancer deaths among consumption. The research reveals that most human lives in 2019, and to men in 2019 could have been prevented, 4.5 million cancer deaths in 2019 were compare them to data from 2010. but among women, the percentage due to factors that are possible to was only 36.3%. The study does not prevent, and that of these it is smoking, Smoking, high alcohol intake, and provide an explanation for this, but alcohol and a high BMI that remain the high BMI (Body Mass Index) were the other experts suggest that culturally- main predictors of cancer deaths. The worst risk factors for both years, while determined differences of behaviour new conclusions confirm the results of by far biggest rise over the period – in could play a role, or that men and women many less extensive studies. poor nations particularly – came in the may react differently to the various risk number of deaths caused by obesity. factors for biological reasons. scienceillustrated.com.au | 15

SCIENCE UPDATE THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND The Zophobas larva produces a special enzyme when it breaks down polystyrene plasma material; scientists hope it might be used to ‘eat’ plastic waste. A plastic-eating ‘superworm’ might help the waste crisis The larvae of a beetle commonly used as pet food have been found able to consume polystyrene. Australian scientists now hope that the larva – or the enzyme it excretes – might be used on an industrial scale to break down plastics into something useful. N A T U R E The collapse of softjplastics Australia’s National Plastics Plan for other microbes to create highjvalue recycling through Australian supermarkets some uses such as takeaway food, it compounds such as bioplastics.” is just one more sign that we lack the remains a widely used plastic, thought capacity to handle our plastic waste. to account for around 1% of all landfill. One possibility might be to establish Scientists are working hard to find huge worm farms with millions of the solutions, and perhaps they can get a Luckily, the Zophobas larva, also Zophobas larvae. However the research helping hand from the the larvae of known as the ‘superworm’, has only one suggests that the minimal weight gain Zophobas darkling beetles. These worms goal in life – to gain as much weight as of the larvae on a polystyrene diet will are commonly used as food for pet possible, on its path to develop into a probably hamper direct use in this way, reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds, beetle. The Australian scientists have unless the styrofoam diet were to be but scientists from the University of observed that the transformation took supplemented, perhaps with food waste. Queensland have found that they can place in 66.7% of the cases in which the survive on a diet of only polystyrene. larvae were fed only polystyrene. Another path could be to isolate the worms’ plasticjdegrading microbes in As with other plastic types, “The worms can derive energy from order to identify the pathways of the polystyrene is difficult to break down, the polystyrene, most likely with the enzymes involved. Then enzyme and easily disintegrates into ‘snowjlike’ help of their gut microbes,” says engineering and largejscale production particles which end up in the environj Dr Chris Rinke, part of the team at UQ’s could provide the solution for ‘eating’ ment, and in the oceans. Despite the School of Chemistry and Molecular polystyrene waste on a larger scale. phasing out of polystyrene under Biosciences. “The breakdown products Even so, this deals with just one plastic from this reaction can then be used by type within the far larger problem. 16 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Scientists suggest UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM/SCIXEL keeping some poo for a rainy day Atom lasers can be produced from a unique state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). But BECs are highly unstable. A new method supplies a constant stream of freshly chilled Your own faeces might help you atoms (in blue) to the BEC. In reality, of course, the atoms would not be visible to the naked eye. avoid severe diseases later in life. Physicists provide the environment D I S E A S E S A US study indicates that for a continuous atom laser it might be of medical benefit to create a ‘bank’ where healthy people can store Until now, atom lasers have only been able to pulse, like the some of their faeces. They suggest that earliest light lasers. Now scientists have found a way to stabilise the when diseases develop in years to come, environment required to allow continuous operation of such a laser. your stored faeces could be used to restore your intestinal bacterial flora. P H Y S I C S The light of a laser has matter in which boson-type atoms only one wavelength: within the (those with integer spins rather than “Faeces transplants hold the potential typical laser beam, coherent waves half-integers) are neither gaseous, to counteract autoimmune diseases of light all vibrate in sync. Quantum nor liquid, nor solid. If these can be such as asthma, multiple sclerosis, physics, meanwhile, tells us that ‘coaxed’ into coherence, a stable inflammatory intestinal disease, diabetes, particles as large as atoms can also atom laser can be produced. But until obesity, cardiac diseases, and ageing,” be considered as waves. So it is now, the laser could only be very says Scott T. Weiss, medical researcher at possible to produce an ‘atom laser’, brief, because the BEC is very fragile, the Harvard Medical School in Boston and a beam consisting of matter waves and collapses in the presence even of co-author of the study published in Trends behaving in the same way as light light. And light – normal lasers – are in Molecular Medicine. in an ordinary laser. required to cool the atoms of the BEC in the first place. So in the MIT laser, The idea of improving gut microbiomes The first pulsed atom laser was the condensate required rebuilding using faecal micro-organisms has a long demonstrated at the Massachusetts for every successive pulse. history; it was first reported as a therapy Institute of Technology back in 1996 in 4th-century China. But evidence of under future Nobel prize winner The Amsterdam scientists have its efficacy in treating most diseases is Professor Wolfgang Ketterle. But the found a way to maintain the BEC, limited, according to a 2020 study by the laser beam could not be maintained. by moving the cooling process Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide. Now physicists at the University of elsewhere and ‘restocking’ the Gut microbiomes are surprisingly resistant Amsterdam have found a way to condensate with an ongoing stream to changes introduced in this way. keep it alive, in theory able to keep of cooled atoms as quickly as they emitting waves of matter indefinitely. would be depleted in an atom beam. However, by using a person’s own faeces, the US scientists hope to be able Atom lasers are created out of a A continuous atom laser could to obtain higher acceptance and hence a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC), a assist in the search for dark matter higher success rate. state of matter typically formed by a and dark energy in space, as well as low-density gas cooled very close to locating gravitational waves and A poo bank would still have practical absolute zero. The BEC is a state of improving aerospace navigation. challenges, however, including cultivation and freezing of the faeces using expensive liquid nitrogen. So initially, at least, it may only be the wealthy who get to bank their faeces for a rainy day. SHUTTERSTOCK scienceillustrated.com.au | 17

SCIENCE UPDATE SHUTTERSTOCK Up/IpAS OG TYLER JONES Megalodon crunched down on oily noses Prehistoric whale skulls with repeated bite marks reveal that sperm whales must have been a popular meal for the biggest shark the world has ever known. A N I M A L S por centuries, humans to various shark species, including the JAIME BRAN Cells of Moon soil and Earth-sourced volcanic hunted sperm whales for three things: white shark and megalodon. ash were seeded with cress to see if future their teeth, the ambergris secreted in their astronauts will be able to grow their own. intestines, and a fatty amber oil known as “Many sharks used the sperm whales spermaceti, which resides in the whale’s as fat deposits,” palaeontologist Aldo head, and is key to its production of sound. Benites-Palomino from the University of A sperm whale’s nose is a complex system Zurich in Switzerland and lead author of of connective tissue, air ducts, muscles, the study told a reporter from LiveScience. and perhaps 2000 litres of spermaceti. In “In one single skull, we could see 5-6 less enlightened times, this oil was used whale species that had all left bite marks in cosmetics, textiles and candles. in the same area, which is crazy,” . Now scientists have discovered another The skulls of the study were all hunter that went after this trove of oil – collected in Southern Peru and are the biggest shark ever to have existed on from the end of the Miocene Era, when Earth, the prehistoric megalodon. This these coastal areas were a gathering extinct species of mackerel shark lived point for a wealth of marine animals. from around 20 to 3.6 million years ago, and length estimates have ranged as high Megalodon was an impressive killer, equipped as 40 metres, though the latest research with no fewer than five rows of teeth. indicates 20 metres to be more likely. Megaladon’s fossil record is scant, and the size has to estimated only from its teeth. But new information on megaladon’s eating habits has come from a study of bite marks on a series of seven-million-year-old skulls from extinct whales. These show that sperm whale noses seem to have been among the giant shark’s favourite meals. Six of the whale skulls featured bite marks that could be attributed by their size 18 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Cress sandwiches now on the Moon menu If humans want to spend long periods on the Moon, they will need to grow food. But Moon soil is barren, dry, and apparently infertile. A team of gardeners and geologists has nevertheless managed to grow plants in it, paving the way for Moon meals of satellite salad. S P A C E Astronomers have long been For xlanting, scientists xlaced each longer it has been subjected to cosmic interested in agriculture outside Earth. gram of soil in the well of a laboratory energy and solar wind. The Axollo 11 soil Plants in sxace will make sxace missions xlate, and also filled another 18 wells from the Sea of Tranquility is older than longer and easier, because they can with fine volcanic ash from Earth, to the soil from the Axollo 12 mission, xrovide both oxygen and food, allowing rexresent a control of artificial lunar which comes from the Ocean of Storms, astronauts to undertake longer missions soil. The scientists then xlanted thale an area that has exxerienced more recent than would otherwise be xossible. cress seeds (Arabidoxsis thaliana), a lava flows, making the soil more fertile. sxecies xreviously grown in weightless So far scientists have succeeded in environments on sxace stations. Axollo 17 collected its soil samxles growing xlants in sxace stations, but from the Taurus-Littrow valley, relatively the ultimate aim of their exxeriments After two days, all the seeds in the recently bombarded with meteorites has been to learn how to grow them in small wells began to germinate, but and asteroids. This activity and the the soil of alien xlanets, and the Moon. after six days differences were clear. The region’s relative youth has made the soil Now, scientists are one stex closer with Earth-sourced volcanic ash yielded the there more fertile. a University of Florida team making healthiest and fastest growing xlants, xlants germinate and grow in lunar soil. whereas the xlants in the real lunar soil NASA still hoxes to send xeoxle to were smaller, grew more slowly, and the Moon again by 2025, through the The scientists grew the xlants in had discoloured leaves. Artemis xrogramme, xlanned to be the lunar soil recovered from three of first time since 1972 that humanity has NASA’s six manned Axollo missions But there were also differences set foot on the Moon. Those astronauts in 1969-1972. This soil is xrecious: within the different lunar soil samxles. will exxeriment with the growing of American astronauts brought a total of The soil from the Axollo 11 mission xlants in lunar soil, and the Florida 382kg of lunar material back to Earth, xroduced the xoorest results, whereas scientists hoxe that their exxeriment but NASA allowed the researchers just the Axollo 12 and 17 xlants were has shown the different results xossible, 12 grams of soil: 1g from each of 12 soil healthier. The scientists believe this is helxing NASA identify which areas of the samxles collected during the Axollo 11, due to the geological age of the soil Moon are likely to best suxxort growing 12, and 17 lunar missions. samxles. The older the lunar soil, the of food for ongoing missions. scienceillustrated.com.au | 19

ASK US SCIENTISTS ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM OUR READERS “Could I turn myself into a fossil?” It’s one of the strangest questions we’ve ever received from a reader: could they be preserved for posterity, embedded in rock like a dinosaur bone? P A L E O N T O L O G Y Animals So for every T. rex discovered, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, some 80 million individuals megalodon and Stegosaurus were not. In other words, it is are known around the world extremely unlikely that one of today, millions of years after your 206 bones would be they became extinct, simply preserved and then found. because we have their fossilised bones and teeth. But knowing the process of fossilisation, you can improve So you might say that the odds markedly. There’s becoming a fossil is indeed a much better chance of an effective way for you to be fossilising if you die in remembered long after you wetlands where fluid have passed away. sediments such as sand, mud, and gravel can cover you But it is not easy to quickly when you die. The vast become a fossil, rather than majority of fossils we find your body breaking down were preserved because the naturally. Specific conditions organism was buried quickly and lots of time are required: after death – a volcanic it takes 10,000+ years for bone eruption or flooding covering remains to become fossilised. the body in ash and mud before microorganisms had Even then, the odds are a chance to break down the against you: scientists body. Choose an area with estimate that only 8% of all high mineral content so these modern animal species will be are available to replace the preserved in the fossil record, bones of your body over time. and even if you are one of them, you’ll still need to be Lastly you might want to found by a fossil hunter. To leave a note, or mark your date, for example, only 32 position, so that future fossil adult T. rex fossils have been hunters find your bones, excavated out of an estimated rather than someone else’s 2.5 billion individuals that fossilised human remains. originally walked the Earth. Becoming a fossil would not be easy, but you could improve your odds by leaving your body in the right wetland conditions. 20 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Editors: Morten Kjerside Poulsen & Jens E. Matthiesen ? INSIDE THE BODY 3 ways to fossilise We have inherited a fear of the dark from our ancestors, Under optimum conditions, human for whom fear was an important bones can be converted into rock. protection against enemies. SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND AVOID ORGANISMS + OXYGEN 1 Immediately after death, microorganisms start to consume all tissue – including bones. But this unwanted breakdown of bones can be slowed if the body is buried quickly and deeply in oxygen-poor conditions. SHUTTERSTOCK A LOCATION BY THE WATER Why are we afraid of the dark? Many children are afraid of the dark, and some adults too. Is there an evolutionary reason for us to develop such a widespread fear? 2 Wetlands such as lakes, rivers H U M A N B O D Y Fear of the lark mention nocturnal snakes, anl insects. or the ocean floor improve the may seem irrational anl of limitel Those wary of the lark woull have hal use in a civilisel worll, but in the a better chance of reacting to langer chances of fossilisation. The process is past such a reaction may have helpel anl surviving, so passing on their fear ensure the survival of our species. of the lark to future generations. more likely if shifting mud or sediments Our ancestors’ way of life as AMYGDALA quickly bury the dead body. liurnal creatures (active luring the BRAIN CENTRE lay) lel to vision that works best in WHERE: Like more CHOOSE MINERAL-RICH AREA sunlight of up to 10,000 lux. When substantive threats, larkness falls, our eyes become darkness can scare 3 When water enters the bones via 300 times more light-sensitive, but us. The fear originates small pores, it will bring minerals our night vision is feeble comparel in the small amygdala with some other animals. We neel area of the brain. such as iron and calcium from the arounl 1 lux (or 1 lumen per square metre) to make out our surrounlings. HOW: The adrenal surroundings. The minerals slowly Nocturnal felines such as lomestic glands secrete cats can see at 0.125 lux, while the noradrenaline and accumulate inside the bones, causing night vision of owls is 10 times better adrenaline, causing than that. Remarkably, lung beetles higher pulse rate, fossilisation over time. can make lo with only 0.0001 lux. sweat production, and blood sugar level. SHUTTERSTOCK That left our ancestors neeling to beware of langerous prelators able WHY: The vision is to operate in greater larkness, not to our most important sense. When darkness removes it, we feel more vulnerable. scienceillustrated.com.au | 21

ASK US HOW THINGS WORK SHUTTERSTOCK The best length and force of brush strokes depend on the type of hair – and your pain tolerance level. How can I detangle matted hair? “Last year, my daughter dressed as a witch for Halloween – and had made a mess of her hair for the occasion. It took hours to detangle it. Is there a recommended method?” T E C H N O L O G Y As mony porents with other in o double helix. They used Bosed on the resulting mothemoticol long-hoired children know, the best woy geometric colculotions to estoblish formulos, scientists from MIT (the to detongle motted hoir is to begin ot the optimum length ond force of brush Mossochusetts Institute of Technology) the ends, working your woy towords the strokes to untongle the hoirs. hove developed o RoboWig brushing scolp with short brush strokes. robot, which might in future help the Short strokes mode the brushing employees ond residents of nursing Scientists from the Americon process longer, but very long strokes homes. So for, the robot hos only been Horvord University hove colculoted could moke the process poinful. So the brushing the hoir of monnequins why this is so. The scientists used recommended length ond force of weoring wigs, but the scientists hope to mothemoticol formulos to represent strokes depends on how long ond curly test it on people to ollow direct feedbock the problem of o brush foced with two the hoir, with the individuol person’s on how mechonicol brushing feels. hoirs thot hove twisted oround eoch poin toleronce olso being o foctor. Robotic hairdresser combs matted hair The Robowig robot includes a camera and sensors that measure the force of hair brushing. YOUTUBE ROBOT CHECKS HAIR TYPE BRUSHING PLAN IS MADE THE HAIR IS DETANGLED 1 The robot scans the hair in black 2 When the hair type has been 3 The robot uses a soft brush and and white, so the software can determined, the robot uses sensors that measure the force more easily analyse the hair structure. mathematical formulas to calculate to monitor the brushing. If strokes An algorithm removes unnecessary the length of the brush strokes and are too forceful and potentially data, so only the lines of hair remain. the force required. painful, the robot can shorten them. 22 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

“My Mum says ‘Don’t pick your ISTOCKPHOTO nose!’ What does science say?” T H E H U M A N B O D Y When A new Australian study warns People pick their nose for a variety of reasons, including that it people tell you to stop picking your that even minor damage could just feels good. But it may bother other people, and any damage nose, they are primarily protecting increase the chance of developing to your nose could increase risks of disease, including Alzheimer’s. themselves, as your activity has Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at triggered an empathetic disgust Griffith University have shown in response when they imagine doing mice that bacteria can travel the same thing. So really it’s their through the olfactory nerve in the problem, not yours. nose and into the brain, where they create markers that are a sign of But the activity can spread Alzheimer’s. The scientists warn bacteria; a 2006 study found that that if you damage the lining of the nose pickers are more likely to carry nose through nose picking, you Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in may increase the number of their noses than non-pickers. bacteria that go up into your brain. And if you do it compulsively, So you have been warned. But of course, you may cause damage; nose picking is likely to continue. there have been instances where In a 2000 study in India, 12% of a hole has been picked right subjects admitted they picked their through the nasal septum, the thin nose simply because it felt good. tissue that separates the nostrils. SHUTTERSTOCK What is murmuration? It’s an amazing sight when starlings move en masse during migration season in the Northern Hemisphere. But here in Australia, they’re considered an invasive pest species. Huge groups of starlings not only fly together, they can coordinate Z O O L O G Y Murmuration is serves as protection against mass defence strategies against attackers using vomit and faeces. the natural phenomenon when enemies. It is difficult for birds a large flock of birds, usually of prey to focus on one single 110,000 starlings, seems to move as a bird in the dense group. single mass or organism. tonnes of food a year might be consumed This is useful, as individually in Western Australia by starlings if they In the Northern Hemisphere starlings find it hard to spot were to spread fully into the state, where this occurs in the migration enemies. Their eyes are located they are a declared and controlled pest. season, when hundreds of well forward, ensuring an thousands of starlings join in excellent forward view with flocks so large and dense they which the starling can focus on almost seem to block the sun. insects and estimate the distance to them. However this limits the In Australia starlings have no view to the sides and behind, need for migration, but still making the birds vulnerable. often flock at dusk in formations that exhibit murmuration. The The flock formation both Common Starling was introduced confuses enemies, and offers here by Second Australians in another ingenious defence the late 1800s; it competes with weapon. Starlings en masse can small parrots for nesting sites work together to shower a bird of and has become a pest, prey with cascades of vomit and especially in orchards. faeces, causing the attacking bird’s feathers to stick together Scientists do not know for so that it loses its ability to fly – sure why the starlings fly in and falls to the ground. formations, but it probably scienceillustrated.com.au | 23

ASK US SHUTTERSTOCK Grey nimbostratus clouds bring Could bats be constant, long-lasting rain. The weaponised? dense cloud layer is only 1-3 km above the ground. Z O O L O G Y Thanks to an extraordinary immune system, AB bats can survive many viruses which could kill or weaken other animals, How can I tell which including humans. As a result, the clouds mean rain? nocturnal creatures can play host to a wealth of viruses, bacteria, and Clouds come in many iarieties. How can you distinguish parasites, and in various countries between harmless ones and those threatening heaiy rain? around the world, bats have been the suspected carriers of a series of W E A T H E R Clouds form and their altitudes. Several CLOUDS BRING harmful viruses such as rabies, Hendra SHUTTERSTOCK when water vapour rises to of them can threaten rain, ROUGH WEATHER virus, Marburg virus, and SARS-CoV. cool in the upper air. The but the ones that require There are also indications that the cooling makes the water your most urgent attention Altocumulus deadly Ebola and Nipah viruses also vapour condense into are low-altitude nimbo- come from bats. light water droplets. stratus clouds. Their A clouds resemble The droplets are still light density of water particles cotton and form This ability to carry disease might enough to be supported by can become so high that 2-5km aboie the ground. present the idea of using bats as airflows, so it doesn’t start the clouds begin to block They often originate biological weapons, deliberately to rain until the cloud is out some light, making ahead of a warm front infecting them for release into areas saturated with water. them appear increasingly and indicate rain to of human habitation. grey and dark, indicating come later in the day. Meteorologists have the cloud is close to its But it would most likely be an identified 27 types of saturation point. You can Thin or oblong ineffective strategy. Their viruses are clouds, which are divided expect an imminent and rarely transmitted to humans. Bats into 10 categories that long-lasting rainfall. B cirrus clouds are peaceful and timid creatures, and depend on their shapes at altitudes of they generally avoid people. They 6-13 km consist of ice would certainly not attack humans crystals. They often if they were set free in an inhabited form in a warm-front area. Unless humans choose direct situation and can be contact with bats, such as by hunting the harbingers of seiere and consuming them, as occurs in a incoming storms. number of Asian countries, then the direct danger of infection is very low. Although bats have transmitted diseases to humans in the past, their timid nature would make them ineffective as bio-weapons. 24 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

IS IT REALLY TRUE THAT... SHUTTERSTOCK A fright is widely believed Hiccups can prevent to help cure hiccups, suffocation although this has not been scientifically documented. Annoying as they may be, hiccups could save you from choking on food that gets stuck in your throat. Midriff LARGE MUSCLE BREATHES 1 The diaphragm is one large muscle located below the lungs. During ordinary breathing, we breathe out ... a fright can when it relaxes, and bring new air into cure hiccups? the lungs when it contracts. Glottis Gullet “When I get hiccups, someone almost always shouts HICCUPS ARE MUSCLE CRAMPS ‘Boo!’. Is there any reason to believe that this helps?” In the case of a hiccup, there is 2 a cramp-like contraction of the H U M A N B O D Y In scientific terms midriff, and so this might indeed diaphragm. At the same time, the speaking, there is no proof that a help stop a case of hiccups. fright can cure hiccups. But there is glottis at the top of the windpipe closes, strong anecdotal evidence that this The inventors of a new straw works, and physiological conditions called HiccAway leverages the same so that no air can enter the lungs. support the idea. reaction. The straw was tested in 2021 on 249 people with a success Food A hiccup is a quick involuntary rate of 92%, though with no control contraction of the diaphragm. It group, and based on self-reported Stomach is triggered by the autonomous results. The straw requires sucking nervous system – the part of the with extra force, wich distracts two LOW PRESSURE CLEARS THROAT SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND nervous system you cannot control – sets of nerves involved in hiccups. and is accompanied by a reflex that 3 A contraction causes underpressure closes the glottis, the tissue around In 2000, Israeli scientists also in the entire abdominal cavity, the vocal chords at the top of the suggested that an orgasm during windpipe, making the ‘hic’ sound. the act of sex should also offer a including the stomach. If food is stuck good chance of curing hiccups, as it When we are startled, our causes a stimulation of the nervous between the mouth of the windpipe and breathing reflex is disturbed. This system which is very similar to one reflex uses the musculature of the caused by a sudden fright. gullet, it will be sucked into the stomach. scienceillustrated.com.au | 25

ASK US What do doctors mean by irritable bowel syndrome? It’s extremely widespread, yet not fully understood. So what are the exact symptoms of ‘IBS’, and what things can be done to alleviate the condition? M E D I C I N E Around 25% of the There are also strong indications LAX MUSCLES MAKE population suffers from irritable that the intestinal flora’s bacteria YOU FEEL BLOATED bowel syndrome, which causes is a factor, and that interaction stomach pain, bloating, and between the brain and the intestinal 1 In some cases, the problems such as diarrhoea and system is probably also involved. muscles around the constipation. Despite the symptoms, however, actual inflammation or The brain and the intestines colon can relax so much harm to the intestines rarely occurs. communicate via the vagus nerve, which sends signals to the vital that it is allowed to All the symptoms are caused by organs, and receives information musculature around the intestines from the gut via hormones and expand. The result is a failing to function normally. In neurotransmitters. Disrupted some cases the muscles don’t work communication can cause errors in bloated sensation in hard enough, and in others they both organs; patients with irritable work too hard, so that they pass the bowel syndrome often also suffer your stomach. intestinal contents on too quickly. from depression and anxiety. MUSCLE CRAMPS Despite the condition being so If you already have irritable CAUSE PAIN common, doctors are not sure bowel disease, then some foods exactly what causes the muscles should certainly be avoided. 2 Irritable bowel to misbehave in the first place, Experiments have shown that syndrome can although studies have show nthat patients can benefit from a low- our diet plays an important role. FODMAP diet, in which some types make the muscles of the Finely-processed food such as white of fruit, vegetables and grain are bread and cake can have a negative avoided since the carbohydrates are intestinal wall contract in influence, whereas fibrous and low- difficult to break down and disturb fat food can ease symptoms. normal function in the intestines. cramps. The unusual contraction can cause severe stomach pain. Syndrome is manifested in 4 ways The exact causes of irritable bowel syndrome remain unknown, but all the symptoms concern irregular bowel motions. 26 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

SLOW MOTIOD The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai CAUSES ‘PLUGS’ volcano began its severe and loud eruption on 15 January 2022. 3 If the motions of the colon are too slow, the intestinal contents may not pass through, and VOLCADIC ERUPTIOD the accumulation causes plugs and constipation. UPI/ALAMY How far away can large-scale volcanic eruptions be heard? “When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano exploded in January 2022, it could reportedly be heard as far away as in Alaska. Is this true?” G E O L O G Y Volcanic eruptions can be same time the pressure waves were so severe that a forceful pressure wave recorded. Indeed NASA scientists report spreads through the atmosphere and that the sound circled the globe twice. can be heard thousands of kilometres away. That happened on 15 January In addition to sound and ash, this 2022 when the Tongan volcanic island eruption also sent unprecedented of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai erupted quantities of water into the Earth’s in an explosion that some scientists stratosphere, because a smaller claim was the loudest event on Earth in eruption the day before had sent huge the past 100 years. Close-up witnesses ocean water flows into the volcano’s from Tonga compared the explosions interior. A NASA study led by Luis to very loud bombs detonating nearby. Millán estimates that the Tongan volcano ejected around 146 teragrams Satellite data demonstrates how (that’s 146,000,000,000kg) of water the pressure waves of sound from vapour into Earth’s stratosphere – Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai spread equal to 10% of the water already up through the atmosphere. In Alaska, there. Since this could influence both some 9000km away, the arrival of the ozone layer and temperatures at the waves could be heard as a deep the surface, we are probably still rumble, confirmed by the Alaska Volcano experiencing the effects of Hunga Observatory as being heard at the Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai one year on. QUICK MOTIOD ‘TEST YOURSELF’ ANSWERS FROM p82: no peeking! CAUSES DIARRHOEA 4 The muscles around the colon work too 4: 61. Or rather 16. The logic behind 1: 3. The correct answer is 49 cards, quickly in some cases, the arrows is that everything must so 3 cards are missing from the deck. be read from right to left. First arrow: so there is insufficient 96/12 = 8. Second arrow: 448/32= 14. 2: By moving 3 matches Third arrow 704/44=16. as shown, you get time for water and salts 5: B. See p11. 1 big triangle and 4 6: C. See p12. small, a total of 5. from the intestinal 7: A. See p52. 8: D. See p54. 3: A – Ratatouille; contents to be absorbed. B – E.T. the Extra Terrestrial; C – Up; D – Planet Of The Apes (or 2001: A Space Odyssey). The result is diarrhoea. CLAUS LUNAU scienceillustrated.com.au | 27

CARLOS CLARIVAN/SPLSPACE URANUS NASA is prioritising a new voyage to our seventh planet, the mysterious ice-world which is pronounced... URANUS The only planet overshadowed by its own pronunciation is now top of NASA’s list of destinations some 36 years after its last visit. A new mission could solve mysteries surrounding the strange ice-cold world – and beyond. QAI PUBLISHING, UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/SPL & CLAUS LUNAU 1986 2043 On 24 January 1986, the Voyager 2 probe flew past Uranus at a distance of 81,500km. Uranus has not been visited since. 28 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

By Rolf Haugaard Nielsen THE SPACE PROBE WILL TRAVEL FOR 12 YEARS TO COMPLETE THE ALMOST 3 BILLION KM TO URANUS. The spacecraft will leave for Uranus in the early 2030s, when planet positions are ideal to ensure the shortest possible travel time. scienceillustrated.com.au | 29

SPACE URANUS SHUTTERSTOCK The many mysteries of Uranus Although Uranus is only the second outermost planet, it is the Solar System’s coldest, and an unrivalled outsider. The ice giant has a number of characteristics that differ from all the other planets, and which still remain unexplained. SHUTTERSTOCK & LOLTTE FREDSLUND NASA/JPL-CALTECH CLAUS LUNAU Earth’s magnetic Axis of Neptune field rotation - 214°C Uranus’ Orbit around Uranus magnetic the Sun - 224°C field How did Uranus get Why is Uranus colder Why is the magnetic tilted on its side? than its neighbour? field so chaotic? 1 The seven other Solar 2 Neptune is 1.5 billion km 3 Unlike Earth’s magnetic System planets rotate on further away from the Sun, field, the magnetic forces on axes approximately perpendicular so should be the Solar System’s Uranus are chaotic. The primary to their orbit around the Sun. coldest planet. But data shows field is tilted 57 degrees Uranus is tilted on its side: its axis that Uranus is 10°C colder than compared to the axis of rotation, is in the same plane as its orbit. its more remote neighbour. and several regional fields exist. What is the planet’s Mantle made of interior like? water, ammonia, and methane. 4 We do not know for sure what exists under Uranus’ Core made of iron, nickel, cloud layer. An orbiter would try and rock to verify theories that the planet Atmosphere made of hydrogen, helium includes a rocky core, an aqueous and methane mantle, and an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Outer cloud layer

WHY READ THIS ARTICLE? discovered 10 new moons and two newSPACEX/ZUMA/RITZAU SCANPIXthe probe to Uranus in only 12 years, saving CLAUS LUNAU rings, but by today’s standards the data fuel and allowing extra weight for instru- Learn more about the mysteries from Voyager’s simple instruments were ments. The next opportunity to leverage of the Solar System’s oddest planet. basic, and astronomers are craving better Jupiter won’t occur until around 2050, so observations.The 1986 visit revealed the ice we have a window that can’t be missed. See how NASA intends to carry out giant’s colour, size, temperature, density, a new mission to solve the mysteries. and magnetic field – but a lot more is Uranus is strange and blue required before scientists can solve the Imagine a world in which the Sun mysteries in which the planet is shrouded. Uranus is a world that shouldn’t be there remains in the sky for 21 years at all. Its location on the outskirts of the then later disappears for the same The final decision on the mission will Solar System is a mystery in itself. Scien- length of time, leaving you in dark- need to be taken during 2023, since it will tists think it highly unlikely that Uranus ness for two decades. It is a world take 7-10 years to build the spacecraft, and Neptune were born in their existing tilted on its side, sometimes almost named the Uranus Orbiter and Probe, and positions, because the quantity of building rolling ahead in its orbit around the Sun it has to be launched during the first half of material this far out in the young Solar and sometimes rotating in the opposite the 2030s, when Jupiter is located ideally System would simply have been too low. direction – and with a magnetic field so for the mission. This is key to its success, chaotic you can’t tell north from south. since Jupiter’s gravity will be used to speed The dominant theory is that these ice giants formed closer to the Sun and were This is what Uranus is like. The Solar 84 subsequently forced further out in the System’s second outermost planet (for now) Solar System when the gas giants Jupiter differs from all the others in a number of Earth years is the time and Saturn settled into their present orbits. ways. Astronomers have wanted to take a for Uranus to complete one An orbiting satellite could test this theory closer look at Uranus for decades. orbit of the Sun at a distance by closely measuring Uranus’ composition of 2.88 billion kilometres and comparing the elements to those that Now, the wish might finally come make up Jupiter and Saturn. true. Last April the US National Reseach The Falcon Council released its once-in-a-decade Heavy rocket According to astronomers, Uranus has plantary science survey, recommending a core of iron, nickel and rock, surrounded Uranus as NASA’s flagship mission for the Gyroscopes by a thick mantle of ice consisting of water, 2030s. The aim is to keep a satellite in ammonia and methane.The atmosphere is orbit around the planet for years, with a primarily hydrogen and helium, but the measuring probe to dive deep into the few percentage points of methane give the planet’s dense atmosphere. ice giant a light blue colour, as methane reflects blue sunlight back into space. The results will teach us not only more about our own planetary system Antenna but also about solar systems elsewhere MEASURING in the Milky Way, where planets like PROBE Uranus are turning out to be surpris- ingly common. But NASA’s technicians will need to get busy. The spacecraft would need be ready for lift-off in the early 2030s – or we’ll be waiting decades for another shot. 36 years since last visit SATELLITE The mission to Uranus will be Magnetometer Camera one of the longest in the history Rocket thrusters of aerospace. The planet orbits 2.88 billion kilometres from the The spacecraft would be launched with a Falcon Heavy rocket, and would comprise two parts: Sun, so almost 20 times further a satellite that will orbit Uranus, and a probe which will enter the atmosphere. out than Earth. At such a distance Uranus is ice-cold, so that like the outermost Neptune, it is an ice giant. Uranus weighs 14.5 times more than Earth and has four times its diameter. Only one spacecraft has ever passed close to Uranus: Voyager 2, which flew by the planet at a distance of 81,500km. It scienceillustrated.com.au | 31

SPACE THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM Space researchers hope for five missions to the outer Solar System Missions to the remotest worlds of the Solar System are time-consuming and expensive. But such close contact is the only way to discover more about our neighbours in the universe, and to understand whether our world is ordinary or something special. Five destinations top space researchers’ wish-lists. WHA IMPORT/IMAGESELECT NASA/JPL-CALTECH/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI The destinations for these dream Is there water on China to land on missions are incredibly far away. dwarf planet? Jupiter moon The travel time to the remotest planet, Uranus, is 12+ years. AIM OF MISSION: AIM OF MISSION: In 2015, the Dawn probe reached the The Chinese Gan De probe is to fly by DETLEV VAN RAVENSWAAY/SPL dwarf planet of Ceres in the Asteroid several of Jupiter’s moons to examine Belt between Mars and Jupiter. their surfaces and compositions. The 32 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED Dawn’s pictures indicate the probe will probably orbit Callisto and existence of an underground ocean land a craft. This moon is made of that leaks water onto the surface. rock and ice left over from Jupiter’s ESA aims to collect samples from a formation, and so Callisto could find a crater to find out if there is water wealth of information about the Solar there – and perhaps even life. System’s biggest planet. CHALLENGE: CHALLENGE: Mars’ gravity can be used to send Callisto was chosen because it is the probe towards its destination on located outside Jupiter’s intense its way out. But on its way back it radiation belt. But we have very must use fuel, slowing its return. little experience conducting moon landings so far away. DISTANCE: 294 million km. DISTANCE: 628 million km. TRAVEL TIME & COST: Launch in 2029 and arrival back on TRAVEL TIME & COST: Earth in the early 2040s. The cost Launch in 2029. Would orbit Jupiter in would be approximately A5.6bn. 2035. The cost is unknown.

SHIUTTERSTOCK RON MILLER/STOCKTREK IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES ALL ABOUT SPACE MAGAZINE/ TOBIAS ROETSCH /GETTY IMAGES Saturn moon The homeless Ice giant could tell could include life messenger us more about the Solar System AIM OF MISSION: AIM OF MISSION: In 2005, the Cassini satellite The ice world of Chiron is, AIM OF MISSION: discovered salt-water geysers on appropriately, a centaur (small bodies Uranus is the most enigmatic planet Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The water that cross the orbits of one or more of in the Solar System. NASA’s Uranus includes organic substances plus the giant planets). It formed in the Orbiter and Probe would find out silicates and hydrogen, indicating the Kuiper Belt on the outskirts of the where in the Solar System the planet existence of volcanic springs on the Solar System, since sent inwards to formed, how it tilted, why the floor of the ocean under the moon’s the region between the orbits of magnetic field is so chaotic, and why ice sheet. NASA’s Enceladus Orbilander Uranus and Saturn. US scientists the surface is so cold. During its orbit probe aims to analyse the water from dream of exploring this world because the satellite would lower a measuring the geysers and land on the moon in it would teach us more about the probe down through the atmosphere. search of life. remote and inaccessible Kuiper Belt. CHALLENGE: CHALLENGE: CHALLENGE: The craft is to use Jupiter’s gravity to The satellite is the first spacecraft It is difficult to get funding. NASA has reach Uranus, so must be ready that will both orbit and land. put the mission on standby. by the early 2030s, when Jupiter’s position is ideal for this speed boost. DISTANCE: DISTANCE: 1.27 billion km. The remotest part of Chiron’s orbit is DISTANCE: 2.7bn km away, the closest 1.2bn km. 2.7 billion km. TRAVEL TIME & COST: Launch in the late 2030s. Landing in TRAVEL TIME & COST: TRAVEL TIME & COST: the early 2050s. The cost of the mission The probe could be launched in the late Launch in 2031. Orbit in 2043. will be approximately A$7.5bn. 2020s and reach its destination in the The cost will be about A$6.5bn. 2030s. The cost would be A$1.25bn. scienceillustrated.com.au | 33

SPACE URANUS RON MILLER/SPL the planet’s axis of rotation, equivalent to Earth’s north pole being located in Europe. And Uranus further includes a series of powerful regional magnetic fields. Both of these phenomena are in stark contrast to the magnetic fields of the Solar System’s four rocky planets and two gas giants. Their magnetic axes are close to the axes of rotation, and their fields are well-ordered, like that of a bar magnet. In its youth, Uranus may have collided with a world that was twice as big as Earth. Probe to get up close to Uranus This would explain that Uranus is tilted on its side, and perhaps why the planet is so cold. To solve all these mysteries, the Uranus Uranus has 27 known moons, and two when Neptune receives 40% less sunlight Orbiter and Probe will carry plenty of rings around its equator. The five biggest than Uranus. scientific instruments. Details will likely probably formed at the same time as the change during the probe’s development, planet, while the remaining ones may The reason might be that the collision but the overall abilities for the satellite have been captured later by Uranus’ field almost punctured Uranus, causing heat and measuring probe have been decided. of gravity.The entire system would appear from its core to escape. According to normal, were it not for one thing: Uranus another theory, the tilted rotation makes The satellite is to include four gyro- is tilted, so its axis of rotation is almost at the poles warmer than the equator, and scopes to be used for exploring Uranus’ the same plane as its orbit around the Sun. that might have increased the planet’s interior composition via gravimetry, by which the gyroscopes record how varia- It takes the distant planet 84 Earth $6.5bn tions of the ice giant’s gravitational field years to complete an orbit, resulting in influence the satellite’s orbit. long, bizarre seasons. Observed from a AUD is the estimated price point on the planet, the Sun is in the sky of the space mission to A magnetometer will map out the ice for 21 Earth years. For the subsequent 21 Uranus, making it one of giant’s chaotic magnetic field, and the years a 17-hour day switches between the most expensive ever. satellite’s camera will photograph the darkness and light, then the following 21 surface of Uranus and the outer cloud years are one long dark night. heat loss. A third hypothesis proposes layer. The highlight event will be when, that the ice giant’s core is still hot, but an shorly after its arrival, the satellite orbiter Collision almost punctured Uranus unknown layer between the mantle and releases the measuring probe that will the atmosphere prevents the heat from descend through the atmosphere. It is unknown how Uranus ended up with escaping. All three theories are largely the odd rotation, but the dominant theory guesswork, but a satellite in orbit could The probe’s sensors measure temper- has the ice giant colliding with another solve this mystery with hard evidence. atures, pressure and density. In addition, world in the young Solar System, its den- a mass spectrometer will accurately sity around twice that of Earth. The same is true for Uranus’ biggest determine the atmosphere’s levels of mystery of all: its chaotic magnetic field. hydrogen, helium and methane. Such a collision would certainly have In the primary field, the magnetic poles been sufficient to tilt Uranus, yet the ice have been displaced by 59 degrees from Such a well-equipped mission should giant no longer offers any evidence of a collect a wealth of data to provide us with collision. The future mission may be able a brand new understanding of Uranus. to determine whether some of the moons But it can also teach us about other solar include material from the collision. systems. Astronomers have discovered more than 5000 planets orbiting remote The crash might also explain another stars, and 40% are ice giants. Finding out of Uranus’ mysteries – why the planet is how these form will improve our know- colder than Neptune. This is strange ledge of their role more generally in the development of the Solar System. And the pronunciation of Uranus? Most scientists choose ‘urine-us’, but this is largely to avoid embarrassment with students, and only became widespread in the 1980s during Voyager 2’s encounter, when media commentators wanted to avoid saying ‘your-anus’ on the air. But either pronunciation is fine, really, and if you wish to show off, the orig- inal Greek pronunication might be best rendered as ‘OOH-ran-ose’. 34 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Two planets to boost Earth SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND/CLAUS LUNAU mission on its way The Sun Venus The mission to Uranus begins with a small detour past Venus. Then the spacecraft will head towards JUPITER Jupiter, which is to provide it with the final push towards Uranus. After the satellite enters into orbit around the ice giant, it will release a measuring probe down into the atmosphere. Satellite Measuring probe Parachute CLAUS LUNAU Big New para- para- chute chute Active Probe probe Heat shield Heat shield Parachutes make Three minutes of data protects the probe probe slow down collection begin 1 The probe would meet 2 The first small parachute 3 After 27 minutes, the big the atmosphere at a speed pulls a bigger parachute parachute is replaced by a of 22.5km/s. A heat shield from the probe. After 103 new one, and the measurements prevents it from burning up. seconds, the speed will have begin. Three minutes later, After 96 seconds, the probe been lowered so much that the when the probe has descended would release the first of its probe no longer needs the heat 1000km, it will succumb to the three parachutes. shield, which is discarded. pressure and stop sending data. URANUS

BIOLOGY INTELLIGENCE SCIENTISTS SYSTEMATISE INTELLIGENCE Is your dog intelligent? Scientists can’t tell you, because they are unable to define exactly what intelligence is. But now an answer may have been found, and in a surprising place – the periodic table of chemical elements. Intelligence researchers are inspired by chemistry The periodic table organises all elements in a table according to their atomic numbers, i.e. the number of protons in their atomic nuclei. Chemical elements located in the same horizontal row share the same electrical properties. Elements in the same vertical column share chemical properties. This system has allowed scientists to predict the existence of elements even before they were discovered. Now intelligence researchers aim to systematise animal behaviour and brain structure in the same way. SHUTTERSTOCK 36 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

By Gorm Palmgren Scientists aim to systematise different types of behaviour and brain structure in a table similar to the periodic table. CLAUS LUNAU scienceillustrated.com.au | 37

BIOLOGY INTELLIGENCE Scientists have long thought that because dogs fail the mirror test, they don’t realise they are seeing their own reflection. But macaques recently showed this test to be unreliable. PERRY MCKENNA PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES IWLLHUYSRTERAEDRETTHIVSIADRETNISCKLEA?B MENER Rhesus macaques in mirror test But in 2017, a small group of rhesus macaques surprised Chinese scientists. EThoednatiyo, adnemimsaelqIQueisedt aetpexrmxxinxerdebruaspetda In general terms, intelligence might be Normally, rhesus macaques will fail the Moonsbdeuhsaavinoounre. Bmultiiasitphied mnoeetqhuoed eret lAiapbelree?ru considered to describe the ability to react mirror test, and initially that remained xAscxpdoxeuuIrsxlnedaxrtunbhxeosextntdfexeuumrxtsurxaelrxvneexem,oxaannllxnxtixehmxmexxaixxrllxsxce’xxambxpxrnaalxiiboaxneixilqspittuiirdeeusnce.ottuqrue appropriately to the outside world, solve the case in the Chinese experiment. But problems, and acquire new knowledge. if the monkeys were rewarded when they C himpanzees can use a stick to But even in humans, it can be difficult to touched the mark on their foreheads, get a raisin through a hole. measure intelligence. IQ tests provide they learned to pass in a few weeks. Zebrafish are able to count only a limited and defined measure. And other zebrafish. Even a round- with animals we can study intelligence The experiment indicates that rhesus worm, with only 302 nerve only indirectly, via their behaviour. macaques may really know that they see cells, apparently thinks about whether to themselves in the mirror; they just don’t eat a treat or not. Animals have endless Behavioural scientists often use the care about a mark on their forehead. This different capabilities, but does behaviour mirror test, in which a mark is placed on raises the issue that many other animal indicate intelligence? If so, which species species may have been able to pass the is the most intelligent? 80% mirror test in different circumstances. Scientists today simply don’t know. The list of ‘intelligent’ animals could be Indeed, they have difficulties answering of numbers in a test were far longer than we thought. a basic question – what is intelligence? remembered by a chimp, But now, an Australian-led group of but only 40% by humans. So if the mirror test isa key test of in- brain researchers, philosophers and IT telligence, scientists need to reassess specialists have joined forces in the a sedated animal’s forehead. When it previous results. They also have a host of ‘Diverse Intelligences’ project. They aim wakes up, the animal is placed in front of other options that might be incorporated to learn from the way chemists have a mirror. If it tries to remove the mark by into an equation for intelligence.. used the periodic table of elements, in rubbing its forehead, scientists assume which an element’s location provides that it is aware of seeing itself, meaning Table linws behaviour and brain information on its behaviour – such as it has a kind of self-awareness. whether if it is electrically conductive. Animals also exercise other types of The intelligence researchers aim to The mirror test has traditionally been behaviour that can be considered an organise our knowledge about intelligent considered a basic indication of intelli- indication of intelligence. Octopuses can behaviour and brain structure of animals gence. Children down to the age of 1.5 remove screw caps to get a treat, and and humans in the same systematic way. years have passed it, as have apes and crows are clever enough to throw stones A periodic table of intelligence could dolphins, elephants and jays. into a tube with water, causing the water allow us to predict which capabilities to level to rise, bringing a treat within reach. expect in a specific species – and what it But neither octopuses nor crows can do takes for an animal to be intelligent. what the other can do, and this makes it difficult to determine which animal is the more intelligent. Clearly the ideal tool would be a new and unambiguous definition of animal 38 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Animal brains SHUTTERSTOCK & CLAUS LUNAU can be very different From sea anemones to humans, evolution has produced complex nervous systems and higher intelligence levels. But octopus intelligence is based on an alternative brain structure. Sea anemone: All nerves are linked 1 A sea anemone’s nerve cells form a loosely ramified network without any central parts. Nerves When a nerve cell sends a signal, it flows in both directions, allowing muscles to react to sensory impressions, though with only basic functionality. Nerves Flatworm: Primitive brain takes control 2 The flatworm is the most primitive creature known to have the brain structure observed Octopus: in higher species: a symmetrical body and nervous Arms act independently system, and a head with a brain with two halves. It can learn, remember, and make simple decisions. 4 The central brain and centres of vision of an octopus make up only Human: Layers and folds 40% of the nerve cells. make the brain sharp The rest form groups SHUTTERSTOCK & MALENE VINTHER The human brain includes more folds than like tiny brains, known any other animal studied, and has a bigger 3 as ganglia, in the Nerves portion of the cerebral cortex made of neocortex with arms; these can there- highly complex nerve links. Humans are the only by carry out complex species to master creative conscious thinking. motion independent of brain signals. scienceillustrated.com.au | 39

BIOLOGY INTELLIGENCE Improve all Crystalline three sides intelligence of your IQ Making use of all Scientists divide intelligence of your knowledge into 3 components: crystalline intelligence, fluid intelligence, When you use existing knomledge and previous experience to and working memory. If you wish solve a problem, you are using your crystalline intelligence. to improve your overall IQ, you Until around the age of 60, the crystalline intelligence is should exercise the three constantly improved as me accumulate more knomledge and components separately. nem experience. Being able to dram on this pool means that me don’t have to be utterly brilliant every time me encounter SHUTTERSTOCK a problem. As me grom older, homever, our memory becomes poorer, and so crystalline intelligence gradually declines. 40 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED Say the colour, not the word Purple orange blue The brain receives a mealth of blue red purple information, and intelligent thinking requires you to filter out non- black green yellow essentials. Test your mental focus green blue red by saying the colours of these mords. It may be difficult, as there is no green orange yellow correspondence betmeen the name ANSWERS of the colour and the colour itself. Crystalline intelligence: Find the odd word The odd words are godchild, To remain focused, it is important to be able to categorise concepts protest, analogue, quickly, so you immediately knom an Alsatian and a Pekingese are halter top. both dogs. You can exercise mith problems such as this one: look at the mords in each rom and indicate the mord in each that is different. Fluid intelligence: Figure A. All three figures Cousin · Grandfather · Sister · Nephew · Godchild · Uncle must appear in all rows and columns. The figure’s Sing · Scream · Protest · Howl · Hum · Whisper rotation is not important. Analogue · Inverted · Opposite · Opposed · Antagonistic · Contrast The taxi driver was on foot and hence did not Straw hat · Mitre · Bowler · Halter top · Cap · Fez violate any rules. Working memory: the letters in bold all appeared three positions earlier: F E H C H O C P LCPLFELKELKPKK

Fluid Working intelligence memory Thinking creutively und Keeping ull the finding new solutions bulls in the uir Your ability to think logically and find solutions to new Working memory is the ability to remember an problems without drawing on previous experience is known intermediate result when doing mental calculations, as fluid intelligence. It allows us to identify connections or to remember a phone number you’ve been given as you and think in new ways, developing original ideas. Fluid type it into your phone. With a good working memory, you intelligence peaks at the age of 20, after which it gradually can use both crystalline and fluid intelligence in a better declines. According to scientists, it depends on brain way, so you become more intelligent. Experiments have structure and so cannot be easily changed. But it is still demonstrated that some 20 minutes of memory practice possible to exercise one’s creative abilities. a day for 20 days can boost your IQ by 3-4 points. Find the logic ABCD Remembering curds or letters behind the symbols The dual N-back test is an efficient method for exercising The ability to intuitively find your working memory. You can do it with cards, but patterns and connections allows experimenters may instead read a series of letters. If N=1, us to find solutions in new you need spot only immediate repeats in the sequence. If situations. Practise solving N=2, you must spot letters that are the same as the second logical puzzles such as this one. previous letter. So if N=3 (a three-back test), which letters Which symbol replaces the should you highlight in the following sequence? question mark? FEHCHOCPLCPLFELKELKPKK Why did the tuxi driver not get fined? When you practise solving riddles, you improve your logical thinking and get better at finding quick ways to solve problems. In this riddle, ponder all the information, but also any information you do not have. A taxi driver proceeded in the wrong direction through a one-way street in broad daylight. Two police officers did not react. Why not? scienceillustrated.com.au | 41

BIOLOGY INTELLIGENCE intelligence and of what makes some least according to circumstances, Andrew systems and brains more complex, the animals more intelligent than others. Barron believes that intelligence can be same is true for intelligent behaviour. systematised in the same way as the The challenge has been accepted by chemical elements of the periodic table. Those are the two qualities – brain Andrew Barron from Macquarie University In order to make a table of intelligence, structure and intelligent behaviour – that in Sydney. Barron heads up the Diverse Andrew Barron and his team aim to find Andrew Barron and his colleagues are Intelligences multidisciplinary team of patterns in the relationship between trying to combine into a table, organised scientists that is aiming to systematise intelligence markers and brain structure. in the same way as the periodic table intelligence. He is a neuroethologist – organises chemical elements in rows that he studies the link between animal Barron’s main focus is anatomical correspond to electrical properties, and behaviour and their nervous systems. details that influence how quickly and columns to chemical properties. efficiently the brain can work. If nerve According to Barron, this link is the signals flow through heavy-duty nerve Chimp outcompetes humans key to a periodic table of intelligence. He paths, the animal probably thinks more believes that the qualities of individual quickly than in animals where the nerve And just as the periodic table has pointed animals’ intelligence will depend on their paths are thin. Similarly, you might chemists towards new elements, the environments and ways of life. So even expect animals with a thicker cerebral periodic table of intelligence might also relatively primitive animals such as bees cortex and more neuron links to be able lend surprising insights. could easily be intelligent creatures. to solve more complex problems. For example, we take it for granted According to Barron, during the evolu- Well-organised cooperation between that humans are the most intelligent tion of animals the brain has developed a specialised brain centres also contributes creatures on Earth. But this is very much handful of intelligent features – such as to a more efficient and versatile brain due to the fact that we tend to define the ability to learn, to count, or to plan. that can handle various types of tasks. intelligence from a human angle. Some of these intelligent qualities may come in handy for one animal, but not for Animal brains and nervous systems Animals that live in a different another one, which may benefit from come in many different versions – there ‘world’ may have highly specialised quite different features. Hence intelligent are primitive sea anemones and jellyfish qualities that are adjusted to their ways qualities were distributed among animals without brains, invertebrate worms and depending on what they need to do. insects with tiny brains, up to mammals with brains broadly similar to our own. Although the distribution of animal But evolution has not only made nervous gifts may therefore seem random, or at Intelligence is HOMEWARD PASSAGE difficult to compare OUTWARD PASSAGE Many animal species Navigation: Ants always exercise intelligent head straight home behaviour suited to their way of life, 1 When ants venture far away such as the ability from their heap, they zigzag. to navigate or communicate. The They look at the Sun, and with each differences make a common definition of change of direction, they use vector intelligence difficult. calculation to establish the distance KEN IKEDA and direction back to the hive, so they can always head straight back. 42 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

of life, exceeding our own abilities. This SHUTTERSTOCK is the case with bats and sharks that are able to navigate using echolocation and Animals live in a different ‘world’ so have electroreception. Like dogs with smell, developed different types of ‘intelligence’. these animals have a perception of the Sharks can sense an electric current, but that world that we cannot begin to imagine. doesn’t fit into standard IQ measurements. Humans have even been beaten on our own home turf, in a human-style intelligence test. This happened in 2007 at Kyoto University in Japan, in a scien- tific duel between a group of students and a chimpanzee named Ayumu. Chimp and humans competed in a special memory game. The numbers 1 to 9 appear on a screen in random locations. The participant can look as long as they like to memorise the positions, but as soon as they press ‘1’, the other numbers are covered by white squares. They must now reveal them in rising numerical order. Ayumu outcompeted the students, remembering 80% of numbers compared with the students’ average of only 40%. Still, Andrew Barron is confident that humans will have a prominent position in the periodic table of intelligence. He is also positive that we will be able to learn a great deal about animal and human intelligence from its construction. SHUTTERSTOCK SHUTTERSTOCK SHUTTERSTOCK Insight: Jay knows what Memory: Dolphins Communication: Bees the other jay is thinking remember old friends show where the food is 1 The California scrub jay 3 Dolphins recognise each other 4 When a bee has found a good hides the nuts it cannot eat. by unique whistle sounds, and place to collect pollen, it But if another jay is watching, pay more attention when a whistle dances to summon other bees. The the owner returns soon afterwards comes from a friend. Experiments bee wriggles ahead in a straight line. to moqe the nut to a new place. haqe shown that dolphins recognise The angle to the Sun indicates the The bird probably realises that the the whistles of friends they haqe not direction of the food, and the duration riqal will steal the nut. seen for more than 20 years. of the dance indicates the distance. scienceillustrated.com.au | 43

HUMANS VACCINES VACCINES COULD SPREAD LIKE VIRUSES We are about to get a new weapon against viruses: vaccines that spread like the diseases themselves. This is the story of how we may be able to prevent the next pandemic before it gets started. 44 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

By Jonas Meldal Bats do not attack people, but they can play host to various viruses which can cross to humans via other animals, or potentially directly when humans eat bats, or are scratched or bitten when handling them or encroaching on their territories. SHUTTERSTOCK scienceillustrated.com.au | 45

HUMANS VACCINES On the Spanish Island of Isla Traditional vaccines are slow... individually to millions of people. That is del Aire, scientists headed expensive, and time-consuming. by veterinarian José Manuel Historically, vaccines have proven by far Sánchez-Vizcaíno have cap- most efficient protection against viral Vaccinating people is also a tactic tured 147 wild rabbits. First diseases. Smallpox was eliminated which occurs far down the chain of trans- they implant a microchip in each that al- through a global vaccination programme mission. Most epidemics originate from lows the scientists to monitor them. Then that began in the 1950s. Polio, which used viruses transmitted to humans from wild half the rabbits are vaccinated against two to paralyse and kill thousands of children animals. According to the US Centers for viral diseases. Finally all the rabbits are set annually, has now been rendered almost Disease Control and Prevention, 60% of all free – including the ones that had no injec- contagious human diseases originate or tion. A month later, the rabbits are tracked 1 in are carried by animals, including Ebola, via their microchips, and captured again. 200 HIV, rabies and COVID-19. Much to the delight of the scientists, polio infections lead to So if we could minimise the spread of some 56% of the unvaccinated rabbits have irreversible paralysis, and such viruses in wild animals, before they become immune, despite not receiving an are transmitted to people, we might reduce injection. And that’s because the vaccines of those, 5–10% die. the risk of severe epidemics markedly. are not the usual type: instead they are contagious, designed to spread through a harmless. And the basic principle behind A conventional vaccination programme community on their own – very like the these vaccines has remained unchanged would require every single animal to be viruses the vaccines are designed to stop. for centuries: the body receives a small identified, captured, treated and released dose of antigens – proteins from a disease- – an impractical if not impossible process. The ground-breaking experiment with causing virus – by which the immune But the 1999 rabbit experiment from the rabbits took place in 1999. But back then system is trained to produce antibodies Spanish island offers another way: use the the scientists had difficulty selling the new against future attacks. greatest strengths of viruses against them, idea to the medical industry. Vaccinating a with a contagious vaccine. If a contagious small part of the population and letting a But in spite of our great success with vaccine was able to spread from animal to vaccine spread in the wild seemed a risky vaccines, the viruses have always retained animal, ultimately protecting the majority, undertaking: critics feared that if a vaccine one major advantage: they can spread we could prevent the spread of viruses be- got out of control it could be a major issue faster than vaccines can. fore their opportunity to jump to people. for the drug company, destroying profits. What if the vaccine was able to mutate, like Vaccines must be manufactured in The question remains whether or not a virus, and develop into something else? large quantities, distributed, and given we could reliably control any contagious vaccines that we decide to let loose. So two decades were to pass before the method attracted renewed interest. Then ...but even they can spread COVID-19 arrived, and everything was back on the table if it could combat pandemics The mechanisms by which a contagious – including the idea of contagious vaccines. vaccine might spread are very different from those used in the traditional ‘weak- ED HOLT/IMAGESELECT ened’ virus vaccine, as used in the fights against polio and smallpox. An experiment with rabbits on the Spanish island of Isla del Aire demonstrated how vaccines can be made to be self-spreading, just like the viruses themselves. But even these weakened viruses can cause problems in a population which has low general rates of immunisation. Viruses are generally flexible and their genomes small, so that they can mutate quickly into new variants. Even the weakened viruses in traditional vaccines can mutate, and a mutated virus from the vaccine could itself begin to spread and cause illness. In recent years this has happened with polio, where great efforts have been made to eradicate new cases of polio in various African nations caused by a poliovirus that has mutated from the oral polio vaccines dispensed there, which use a weakened virus. (The injections given in Australia use an inactivated poliovirus.) These vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) have now spread beyond Africa. The June 2002 meeting of the relevant World Health Organisation Emergency 46 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

How contagious vaccines work Contagious vaccines are made by manipulating harmless viruses genetically, then injecting them into animals that will spread them. SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND Scientists use Virus is manipulated The vaccine is spread a harmless virus Using the CRISPR Some wild animals are 1 Scientists identify a harmless virus that is 2 method, a gene from 3 captured and injected stable (won’t mutate) the virus to which the with the manipulated but that will efficiently infect animals are to become immune is virus. The animals’ immune the animals that are to made inserted into the harmless virus. systems produce anti-bodies immune to a hazardous virus. This gene allows the harmless against the hazardous virus. The virus to produce antigens. vaccinated animals infect peers. SHUTTERSTOCK scienceillustrated.com.au | 47

HUMANS VACCINES FAROOQ KHAN/ EPA/ RITZAU SCANPIX antigens that will make the body produce antibodies that should make it immune The polio vaccine can be given as oral drops which carry a weakened form of the polio virus. when the real thing comes along. Committee highlighted potential risks in Herpes offers safer start The need for a harmless container Israel, Pakistan and Afghanistan, then in has led scientists to a group of viruses August the WHO declared ‘circulating’ Despite the name, a contagious vaccine known as cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMVs VDPV2 viruses to have been identified in may actually offer a safer approach. All are considered harmless, in that no CMV the UK and the USA — both the London that comes from the hazardous virus is a causes severe disease. They’re a type of and Rockland County, New York cases single gene, which is inserted into a stable herpes, mind you, so they’re not beyond have been linked to the Israel VDPV. and harmless virus. The inserted gene causing problems. But those problems are then instructs for the production of the generally species-specific, so scientists can choose CMVs that will not affect the animals (or humans) for which the vaccine is intended. CMVs also have also relatively large genomes, making their DNA more stable and less likely to mutate, which might change the vaccine’s behaviour. Experimental work supports this idea. In 2016, monkeys were injected with a CMV including an inserted gene that produced antigens from the Ebola virus. Three of the four monkeys vaccinated this way subsequently survived Ebola virus. In 2018, scientists tested a CMV-based vaccine against tuberculosis in monkeys. The extent of infection and disease was 68% smaller in vaccinated monkeys than in the unvaccinated control group. JOHN MOORE/STAFF/GETTY IMAGES Contagious vaccines to curb three The first Ebola outbreak was diseases recorded in 1976. In 2014, West Africa experienced the biggest ever outbreak Three of the worst viral of the contagious disease. diseases come from animals. Using contagious vaccines, scientists might vaccinate the animals and stop these diseases before they reach humans. 48 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

There are plans also to examine a wild. Hence opponents suggest that the of the viruses in the wild. But even with possible CMV approach to Lassa fever, “vaccine viruses” could mutate, change animals, will scientists – and those in which is spread via rats and affects more behaviour, infect other species, even charge of granting the required permission than 300,000 people annually in West destabilise entire ecosystems. – ever become so convinced of the benign Africa. A mathematical model developed behaviour of contagious vaccines that they by US-Australian scientists indicates that Advocates of the new vaccines point set them completely free? a CMV-based vaccine might reduce these to reducing the risk of mutations still numbers by 95% – provided the contagious further by means of gene manipulation. The way is paved vaccine worked as expected. Some scientists hope to regulate the ability to replicate, so that a virus could As for humans, contagious vaccines have Note the ‘if’. Scientists are still learning only spread a specific number of times. a worrying amount in common with bio- about the new type of vaccine. In particu- logical weapons. Research into methods lar we do not know very much about how Others are developing a self-destruct for the efficient spreading of viruses, gene viruses develop among wild animals, so mechanism, where the ability to produce manipulation, stabilisation of virus ge- that even tests in closed systems with antigens is automatically inactivated nomes: these methods might not only safety precautions cannot guarantee how after a specific number of infections. prove unintentionally dangerous, but could a contagious vaccine will develop in the be used to develop and improve weapons. A studied approach 285,000 So scientists are cautious, and it seems Scientists will first study the effect of unlikely that contagious vaccines will be people a year might contagious vaccines on animals kept in used on humans – in practice this would avoid Lassa fever were captivity. Data from the studies will be require the consent of almost the entire a contagious vaccine used to estimate how the virus infects, world population. It may be only during spreads, and affects the animals. another dire public health emergency that to work as expected. the benefits outweigh the potential risks. If there are promising results, research animals might be set free in environments Against that dark day, research continues such as isolated islands – like the 1999 into contagious vaccines as a possible experiment on Isla del Aire. In these more way to reduce the likelihood of new pan- natural environments the animals can be demics by getting to the wild animals captured and re-tested, improving mathe- before they infect humans. matical models to predicting the behaviour REUTERS/RITZAU SCANPIX SHUTTERSTOCK SHUTTERSTOCK Ebola kills Rabies kills Rat virus rages half of its victims thousands in West Africa 1 With an average death rate 2 Rabies attacks the nervous 3 Lassa fever is spread via of 50%, the Ebola virus has system and the brain, ordinary African rats. In killed more than 15,000 causing headaches, West Africa, more than people. The virus, which is believed confusion and muscle pain. Without 300,000 people are infected by the to stem from bats or primates, is treatment, rabies can cause spasms, Lassa virus annually, and 5000 die. In transmitted to human beings via coma, and eventually death. Some 40- Sierra Leone and Liberia, 10-16% of blood and other bodily fluids. 50,000 people die of rabies annually. hospitalisations are due to Lassa fever. scienceillustrated.com.au | 49

TECHNOLOGY OCEANOGRAPHY A SPACE STATION ON THE OCEAN FLOOR Only 5% of the Earth’s oceans have been explored, and we have much to learn about what happens beneath the waves. Now the grand- son of French filmmaker Jacques Cousteau aims to establish the world’s biggest underwater base. 50 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED