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COSMOS ART MEETS CHEMISTRY | THE OTHER DARWIN | DAWKINS ON EVOLUTION | RED DEER CAVE | THE NAKED APE | FUTURE HUMANS | VOLCANOES GET SPEEDY | THE LAST GLACIERS | FICTION BY GREGG JANSEN 045
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CONTENTS
71 64
38
FEATURES
EVOLUTION SPECIAL
A momentous Naked apes 58
discovery 38 What drove us to become human has caused a
Darwin’s inspiration for the theory of evolution came passionate furore in anthropology, such as the
from a single voyage. Across the globe, Alfred Wallace, controversy over the theory that water shaped our
one of the world’s greatest species seekers, travelled a body plans. Drew Turney reports.
different path. Richard Conniff traces his history.
Future human 64
The beauty of Our cultural domination of the planet, not natural
creation 48 pressures, will drive humanity’s future evolution. So,
Evolution is the supreme yet sublime allegro that what might we be like in the next millennium and
gives birth to the extraordinary symphony of life, beyond? Hal Hodson reports.
says Richard Dawkins. It is a law of nature that can
Filming the inferno 71
be found in every living thing on Earth – and probably
everywhere in the cosmos. High-speed videos give volcanologists an COSMOS
Evolution revolution 52
unprecedented front-seat view of exploding
volcanoes, says Alexandra Witze. Magazine
Startling new finds of previously unknown
ancient hominids in Asia have overturned long- Ice trailblazers 76 now on iPad
held ideas about the origins of humans and A dedicated cadre of scientists are shunning high- For your FREE
transformed our vision of ourselves as a species, tech methods and trekking out to witness the decline issue visit the
writes Darren Curnoe, who was at the centre of of glaciers first hand. What they have found is
the latest discoveries. sobering, says Richard A. Lovett.
App Store
COSMOS 45 www.cosmosmagazine.com 3
CONTENTS
84 52 30
22
DEPARTMENTS & REGULARS

FOREWORD 7 SNAPSHOT 28 FICTION 90
Editor-in-chief, Wilson da Silva, considers why people Bionic eye Automation of a salesman
have trouble accepting evidence. It won’t offer super-vision, but a bionic eye could give Normby, second in sales ranking only to Trochus24,
someone with absolutely no vision a chance to see. was desperate for the Robo-Salesman of the Year
FEEDBACK 8 Award and the memory upgrade that went with it.
Letters from our readers, and winners of the latest GALLERY 30 Original fiction by Gregg Jansen.
“Where in the COSMOS?” competition Elements of reality
Part road map and part recipe book, the periodic table REVIEWS 96
PORTRAIT 11 of the elements lies at the foundations of modern COSMOS talks to Matthew Snowden about making
Gilbert Price, palaeontologist science. St Petersburg chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Inside the World of Dinosaurs, an iPad app that brings
Mendeleev first presented his table in 1869. When dinosaurs to life. Physicist Lawrence Krauss tells us
EXPRESS the Royal Australian Chemical Institute celebrated the about his current reading interests. We also review
NEWS 12 International Year of Chemistry in 2011, leading artists the latest science books, DVDs and apps, and reveal
The latest science news from around the world were invited to head for the labs to find new ways to what’s creating a buzz at COSMOS.
RUNDOWN 14 illustrate the excitement of Mendeleev’s breakthrough.
Science by the numbers OPINION 100
DIAGNOSIS 21 TRAVELOGUE 84 New worlds from old
Huntington’s disease A world within It has rewritten the story of life on our planet and,
MENAGERIE 22 Once an Earth-bound replica of a space colony, in bang for buck, delivers better value than physics
Meet the puss caterpillar Biosphere 2 has been reinvented as a revolutionary or astronomy. Yet palaeontology will not be viable
TRIVIA 24 science laboratory. Alaina G. Levine takes a unless scientists are willing to reinvent the discipline,
Wrap your head around these brain teasers backstage tour. argues John Long.
COMPETITION 25
Find the answer at cosmosmagazine.com
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Wilson da Silva
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Ethologist and zoologist Richard Dawkins was born in Kenya DEPUTY EDITOR Jonathan Nally
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a household name by championing evolutionary biology, YOUTH & EDUCATION EDITOR Karen McGhee
attracting fame and censure in abundance. He has written 11 SUB-EDITOR Rivqa Rafael
books, and appears regularly on radio and TV in lively debates, ART DIRECTOR Lucy Glover
delivering trenchant criticism of creationism. “Evolution PICTURE EDITOR Corey Butler
DESIGNER Fern Bale
effortlessly explains everything we know about life,” he
ADDITIONAL EDITING Bob Guntrip, Robin McKie
contends. His latest book, The Magic of Reality, introduces FICTION EDITOR Cat Sparks
science to children and young adults. TEACHER’S NOTES Sally Parker
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This issue went to press on 24 May 2012
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FOREWORD
YRELLAG
Just the facts, ma’am

Simply presenting people with evidence does not alter beliefs, especially those
that are deeply held. But that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate quackery.
FACTS DON’T WIN. Ideas are more powerful than facts, the audience: it’s about how the crowd perceives you.
especially ideas that conform to your world view. When you convey facts to an audience that doesn’t
Deep down, I guess I’ve always suspected this. You want to hear them, you reach an impasse. The stronger the
cannot engage in debate with climate change contrarians, pre-existing belief, the stronger the motivation to dismiss
creationists or anti-vaccination proponents without the contrary evidence and the people conveying it. As one
encountering a dogged intransigence to logical arguments journalist noted, “people will run away from you cognitively
backed by overwhelming data. if you pull the rug out from under their feet”.
No amount of devastating ripostes, or unlimited armoury Is the answer to respect people’s deep beliefs when
of crushing evidence, seems to have any effect. As quickly challenging them? As I told the audience in one panel
as evidence and lucid reasoning decapitate every fallacy, discussion, I’m not convinced this is a solution: it can
misconception, inconsistency and even brazen falsehood, sound like dishonest pandering, and quickly drift into the
another specious argument arises. It’s like battling the mollycoddling of defective reasoning.
Hydra, the mythical, many-headed serpent that, as soon as Yes, you must always be respectful of your audience, and
LOUISE LISTER
a head was severed, would grow another in its place. engage them in an exchange of ideas. But you must defend
My fear was confirmed in April 2012 at Science Writing evidence forcefully, and take a firm stand against quackery.
in the Age of Denial, a gathering of science journalists This doesn’t mean you bludgeon people with evidence
and social researchers at the University of Wisconsin in and statistics, but you use cogent argument and good
Madison, where the issue was dissected in detail. Sean B. old-fashioned debating skills such as reason, evidence,
Carroll, a molecular biologist at the university, listed the six clarity, confidence, tone, pace, gestures and eye contact.
No amount of steps used by all denialists in discussion: Also helpful is engagement, conviction and likeability,
devastating 1. Doubt the science. as well as body language, use of pronouns, rhetorical
2. Question scientists’ motives and interests. questions, emotion, dramatic flourishes and analogy.
ripostes, or 3. Magnify legitimate, normal disagreements among Essential, I think, is humour; just because a topic is serious
unlimited armoury scientists and cite gadflies as authorities. doesn’t mean you can’t make a funny aside, especially one
4. Exaggerate the potential harm of believing the science. that gently ridicules your opponent, or smites a central
of crushing 5. Appeal to personal liberty and freedom. thesis of the opposing argument. As the audience laughs,
evidence, seems to 6. Show that accepting the science would represent a you’ve subtly pulled them closer to your camp.
repudiation of a cherished common philosophy. It also helps to make analogies, and break arguments out
have any effect. Carroll gained this insight from a journal article on of the regimented boxes that often bind them. For example,
the history of chiropractors and their long antipathy to we demand solid evidence from a physician, an accountant
vaccination. The paper pinpointed the founding philosophy or a mechanic before making decisions – why accept any
WELCOME of chiropractic, which eschews the germ theory of infectious less when considering climate change, genetically modified
TO THE disease and considers most ailments to result from spinal food, stem cells, biodiversity, nanotechnology or evolution?
iPAD! This nerve dysfunction caused by misplaced vertebrae. It’s not that these issues are necessarily difficult, but they
issue, COSMOS Magazine Arthur Lupia, a political scientist at the University of can’t be reduced to a sound bite. Complex ideas need timely
celebrates its seventh Michigan, Ann Arbor, who studies how people make consideration, an exposition of the evidence and, yes, an
birthday and launches decisions, said educating people about divisive issues never effort to understand. But I think more people will genuinely
into a fully interactive works. And it’s not because people are stupid or don’t have try if you connect with them and present evidence in a lively
multimedia app. The app enough information. “The problem isn’t the audience, the way, than if you pander to their prejudices.
is free for print subscribers problem is us [the communicators]. We have unrealistic
– download yours from expectations.” Simply presenting facts does not alter beliefs.
cosmosmagazine.com/ Fellow panelist, science writer Christie Aschwanden,
ipadsignup. Casual noted that people don’t assimilate facts in a vacuum –
readers can also download they filter them through their pre-existing belief systems.
their free issue: search for Psychologists call this ‘motivated reasoning’, the tendency
“COSMOS Magazine” in to seek out evidence that conforms to our views. Wilson da Silva
the App Store. To make a dent against such odds, Lupia argues, you need Editor-in-Chief
credibility to help carry the day, and this is only bestowed by Follow me on Twitter twitter.com/wilsondasilva
>>
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THANK YOU FOR your report “Rethinking the ‘knowledge is power’. It appears that worldwide
world’s energy” (COSMOS 44, p59), which I dissemination of information via the Internet
found very encouraging. Our overpopulated and widespread education has rendered this ANOTHER GREAT Foreword (COSMOS 44, p7)
world is quickly coming to a stage where our old adage to be, if not false, less true than it – thank you, Wilson. But you fell into Michael
lifestyles are going to be seriously affected by was a century ago. Knowledge is only powerful Wesley’s trap by ignoring about 15% of
shortages of food, water and power. It is indeed if only a select few in society possess it: if the world’s population and an even greater
great that eminent scientists and technologists everyone has access to it, it merely becomes proportion of the developing world – Africa.
are exploring the best ways to address these another ubiquitous tool in humankind’s survival No need to worry about this huge chunk of the
looming problems. It is very informative and kit. Knowledge is only a Google search away, developing world though: it’s not in the race
useful to publish such reports of conferences and the Western world is in clear danger of to superpower doom the others are in. Africa
and discussions all over the world. Hopefully taking this tool – and the scientists or scholars (apart from some isolated instances) is not likely
people (many of whom appear to be apathetic who supply it – for granted. Even in Australia, to even enter the race this century! And, maybe,
to these concerns) will become seized by the with the removal of the national priority status thankfully so. If Africa joined the race to global
importance and urgency of the need to change on university science degrees, the government resource depletion and environmental pollution
their approach to using resources and alter their is unwilling to support students’ entry into with China, Brazil and India, we really would
lifestyles to lessen our impact on the world. scientific fields. This is why Western dominance have something to worry about.
Bhaskaran R. Krishnan will erode in future decades: thanks to I deeply appreciate the insights and analysis
Via email globalisation and our complacency, the ‘survival- of the Lowy Institute and others, but it seems to
of-the-fittest’ competition among the human be assumed that higher IQ and “the hunger to
UPON READING Wilson da Silva’s thought- race is about to be taken to a whole new level. produce and innovate” is unquestionably good.
provoking editorial “The long decline” (COSMOS Arlene Dowling, Year 12, Macarthur Anglican School Not all of us think so – well, at least Bhutan and
44, p7) an old cliché sprang to mind – Cobbitty, New South Wales I don’t think so. Most people seem to think it’s
admirable that sections of the developing world
are scaring us by overtaking us on the path to the
precipice of human extinction. Shall we offer our
BEST LETTER has led to cheap off-peak power, to which
the industrial and domestic market has
apologies to future generations now or shall we
leave it till we’re in freefall together to oblivion?
I ENJOYED YOUR feature article on adapted. While there will always be true Brian Polkinghorne
energy (“Rethinking the world’s energy”, baseload power demands, such as lighting Ngara, Tanzania
COSMOS 44, p59) – it’s a subject that and refrigeration, most of these loads can
needs more public discussion. But I be transitioned to other times; there seems
AFTER READING Johnathan Hughes’s opinion
think the most promising alternative to to be too much concentration on generation
piece (“The greater risk”, COSMOS 43, p98), I
baseload power is not a technology at rather than demand.
had that unnerving feeling of having the wool
all, but rather a strategy. The demand Grid technologies that include time-of-use
pulled over my eyes. Of course smog is a major
for 24-hour or ‘baseload’ power is pricing will go a long way to solving many
problem in many cities and some of the particles
largely a self-fulfilling prophecy: the of these challenges. One of the most recent
in that smog will lead to lifelong respiratory
inability of coal-fired power stations and effective examples are pilot community ailments – even fatal consequences. But all those
to ramp down during off-peak periods projects where central control facilities send people – employees at the Fukushima nuclear
signals to equipment (like air conditioners) facilities, the brave firefighters who tried to cool
to turn off for 5% of their operation, thus spent fuel rods and those in the immediate
helping avoid the call for another piece neighbourhood of the 2011 Japanese nuclear
of power-generating equipment and the disaster – received doses of radiation which, over
Paul Chilton wins expensive grid infrastructure upgrades to prolonged periods, will inevitably lead to one
this issue’s best cope with peaks that occur less than 5% outcome – death! No matter how much expense
letter prize: a DVD of the year. The benefits of time-of-use
of the documentary or how much effort is required, we need to seek
On A Wing And A metering are, I hope, elegantly plain. safer ways to generate power for this and future
Prayer by Roadshow Paul Chilton centuries: nuclear power is not the answer.
Entertainment. University of New South Wales, Sydney M. Hirsch
Nanango, Queensland
Wilson da Silva responds: Your letter exemplifies how
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
the demonisation of the words ‘nuclear’ and ‘radiation’
have oversimplified them in the public mind. Receiving
Comments from Facebook, Twitter and COSMOS Online
radiation over long periods does not “inevitably lead to
death” – or we’d all be dead, since most objects, from
“POO TRANSPLANTS TO TREAT RANGE OF as well as eating their eggs. Extinction was
concrete to TVs, emit radiation. Some more so, which is DISEASES” ONLINE FEATURE, 1 MAY 2012 wrought from the bottom up by killing off the
why tour guides in the Jenolan Caves west of Sydney wear n Might be gross, but it makes sense. Like young and the unborn.
radiation badges to monitor their exposure to surrounding
rock. Fewer people will die from Fukushima this century any ecosystem, if there are key components – Visitor via COSMOS Online
than are killed every month in the U.S. alone by emissions missing, or ineffective, then the whole system
from coal-fired power plants, which shorten nearly
24,000 U.S. lives a year, including killing 2,800 with lung suffers. It’s great to hear that a simple n So humans hunted and killed other animals?
cancer they would not otherwise have contracted. As the restoration of gut flora can potentially be an Welcome to the top of the food chain, baby.
German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once
said, “Everything is both simpler than we can imagine, and
effective solution. – Visitor via COSMOS Online
more complicated that we can conceive.” – Tennille Tripping via Facebook
“PLANTS RESPOND TO SOUNDS, AND
THE ARTICLE ON the rock paintings n The poo is screened before it is used. Gut MAY TALK” ONLINE NEWS, 17 APRIL 2012
(“Dreamtime cave”, COSMOS 44, p43) says flora is believed to be important for disorders n In the early 1970s a colleague and I
they were painted by the ancestors of present- such as asthma too. experimented on plants, mostly seedling corn
day inhabitants of the region. If the paintings - Vicki Burkitt via Twitter (Zea mays L.) and the effect of sound (rock
are really of the order of 35,000 to 40,000 music) on their CO2 uptake. We found that
years old, what is the basis for that assertion? n Is your poo good enough to be with the light level held constant, exposure
Merely living in the area now, and even having transplanted? I *love* this story. to the music reduced the rate of CO2 uptake.
oral tradition to that effect, is not even weak – Sarah Keenihan via Twitter Exposure to music in the dark increased
evidence that there is a direct ancestral pathway respiration (CO2 evolution) rates, but usually
back to the painters. Immigration from outside, “AGE OF MAN CASTS SHADOW OVER temporarily. The change in the rate of CO2
nomadic emigration away from the region, EARTH SUMMIT” ONLINE NEWS, uptake or evolution was proportional to the
chance deaths during the approximately 2,000 27 MARCH 2012 sound intensity and there appeared to be
generations since then must argue for very n All organisms expand until their threshold levels.
little chance of direct genetic ancestry. Or am environment can no longer support them – Lou Greb via COSMOS Online
I wrong? I would be interested to see some and then their population crashes. The idea
scientific discussion of this matter. that the whole environment will crash is “MAN ON MARS BY 2030” ONLINE
Peter Sanders just a grandiose way of thinking that we are NEWS, 12 APRIL 2012
Auckland, New Zealand
somehow exempt from the natural world and n NASA’s role in the future will be limited to
Bruno David responds: Aboriginal notions of ‘country’
aren’t the same as Western notions of landscape, its systems. We are the same as any social space probes, detecting cosmic catastrophes
environment or habitat; to the Jawoyn, country is one’s organism and natural rules apply to us as to and military involvement. There are many
homeland, where ancestral spirit-beings who created
the landscape metamorphosised into the hills, plants,
any other species. intelligent people working for NASA and
waterholes, animals, stars and other entities. Jawoyn - Ted via COSMOS Online they realised a long time ago that we, as a
today understand the paintings to have been either done species, are marooned here on this planet. In
by various types of ancestral forces that still reside in
country, or by Jawoyn ancestors who have since passed “MEGAFAUNA HUNTERS CHANGED 1969, after the Moon landing, we wondered
away but who, when they painted, were conduits of AUSTRALIAN BUSH” ONLINE NEWS, where we would be by the year 2000,
ancestral forces. As we work in Jawoyn country, our
term ‘ancestors’ gives voice to this recognition and is 23 MARCH 2012 perhaps Mars, perhaps even more distant
not a scientific statement of genetic relationships. Even n The megafauna in the room is that there places, well how about nothing, no progress
if reliable DNA results could be obtained from, say, simply is no evidence that people hunted in space travel. Unbelievable!
saliva encapsulated in hand-stencil pigments, population
genetics and the like, archaeology would not be in a megafauna in Australia – none. […] Where – Jim Braden via COSMOS Online
position to answer the question ‘who did these paintings’, we know that humans interacted with
beyond showing how similar or different the paintings
are from neighbouring styles and how such styles have megafauna in regards to hunting, such as in n The first missions could be designed as
changed through time. DNA and other biological tests can Europe, North America and New Zealand, one-way trips staffed by volunteers willing to
give answers to biological questions; but the human past
is as much social and cultural as it is biological. I should
the archaeological record clearly reflects this begin the development of infrastructure for
add that both the artworks and the buried artefacts are – megafauna skeletal material in occupation additional colonists who may or may not arrive
typically Aboriginal, so we are not talking of peoples sites that has clearly been butchered. We within their lifetime. These colonists would
coming in from distant lands and replacing local peoples.
can’t talk about early Australians ‘hunting’ be able to survive with the support of simple
megafauna to extinction until we have some unmanned supply missions deposited before
THANKS SO much for the new digital COSMOS evidence that they hunted them at all! arrival and continuing as necessary. Waiting for
(e.cosmosmagazine.com)! It fits on my computer – Visitor via COSMOS Online the majority in a democracy to get the political
screen and I’m now more likely to read the motivation for pushing the frontier isn’t a
whole magazine! As secretary for the Home n Your argument is too simplistic; it isn’t so historically sound position for adventurers.
Education Association of Australia, I thank you black and white. “No megafauna skeletons – Visitor via COSMOS Online
for the digital access on our subscribers’ behalf. found in Aboriginal archeological sites” –
It is brilliant and the kids enjoy having a science the more likely Aboriginal contribution to n I like that idea. I would sign up ASAP!
magazine that’s so relevant to them. megafauna extinction is in them eating the - Visitor via COSMOS Online
Tamara Kelly smaller and easier to catch and kill juveniles
Gin Gin, Queensland
a minus sign slipped from the sub-edit. We read and
SORRY TO BE so boring, but the International reread copy extensively, but on occasion errors do slip semi-permanent camps on the mainland to
System of Units (SI) abbreviation for kilowatt through. SI is about standard practice, and practices process their catch, or that Islam was brought to
change as science and technology continue to push the
hours is kWh – as we all know from a glance at boundaries to ever-smaller scales of nanotechnology
Indonesia well before the Dutch and Portuguese
our increasingly expensive electricity bills. So I and quantum mechanics, and the ever-larger scales of established their spice trade.
can’t help wondering how it came to be printed big data and processing. As the Bureau International Macassan fishermen visited Australia’s north
des Poids et Mesures says, “The SI is not static, but
as “kilowatt (KW) hours” and then “KW hours” evolves to match the world’s increasingly demanding coast between Napier Bay in Broome and Groote
in successive sentences (COSMOS 44, p60). An requirements for measurement”. At COSMOS, we’re Eylandt from before the 1600s to about 1800
focussed on accuracy, but also readability and clarity:
astonishing aberration. sometimes, the terms we use reflect this. In the case of to harvest trepang and trochus shell. Bearing in
To my continued amazement, I went on KW hours, it appeared so often that we thought it made mind that Macassan trepang fishers experienced
it more readable in a body of long text.
to read the accompanying Ultimate Science occasional conflict with Aborigines, it is likely
Guide 2012, and noticed on page 19 that a that the Portuguese bronze gun found near
yoctonewton is 1024 Newtons. Oops. This WHENEVER THE discovery of the New World Darwin in 2010 was lost from a Macassan
should read 10-24 newtons (with a lowercase is discussed, the achievements of European fishing vessel. While this doesn’t preclude
“n” because uppercase represents the person’s explorers and adventurers predominate (“Lost Portuguese exploration of Australia, it adds a
name, not the SI unit). in the mists of time”, COSMOS 44, p52). dimension to the argument.
Robert McManamon 
Newport, New South Wales Little if any credit is given to the ‘discovery’ of Dieter Moeckel
Australia by Southeast Asian fishermen who Gin Gin, Queensland
Heather Catchpole responds: Thanks for your eagle
eyes – yes, in the Ultimate Science Guide careers guide plied Australia’s northern waters and established
Where in the
COSMOS?
HOW TO ENTER
Send a photo of yourself reading
COSMOS in an interesting
place to competitions@ Stopping at the Tropic of
cosmosmagazine.com. Tell us Capricorn in Namibia, NIALL
your name, the name of others DRENNAN took time out from
in your picture, your address, his three-week trip around
what you’re doing and why southern Africa to get out of
you’re there. the truck, stretch his legs and
Each published Those wallabies couldn’t resist checking read his COSMOS Magazine.
entrant will out COSMOS when STEVE SMITH took his
receive the DVD
magazine to the Halls Gap Zoo in Victoria.
Earthflight courtesy
of Roadshow
Entertainment. MICHAELA RIPPER debates
the finer points of natural
selection with Charles
Darwin at the Natural
History Museum in London.
EDITH SUERET was

hoping for some
She’s perhaps our oldest COSMOS intervention from above
subscriber. At 90, SHIRLEY COLLINSON (or from the COSMOS)
reads each issue from cover to cover when she found herself
according to her son BREN. in front of the Taj Mahal.
PORTRAIT
n GILBERT PRICE In another project, Price will study

museum fossil collections to improve
it! We were there for three or four days
digging around, and I found nothing.
Palaeontologist dating techniques and develop a timeline “At the end of the trip I plunged my
DIGGING UP FOSSILS to understand how of the extinction of Australian megafauna screwdriver into a creek bank and levered
animals and plants responded to ancient (giant mammals, lizards and birds). “The out a chunk of sediment. Inside was a
climate change is part of Gilbert Price’s new dates will help us pinpoint the driver tooth from a giant kangaroo. Just finding
plan to help conservation efforts today. of the extinctions: climate change or that one fossil triggered something in my
Price, a researcher at the University of humans,” Price explains. head. I thought: this is something I really
Queensland in Brisbane, recently scored Price started out as an ecology want to work on.”
two grants from the Australian Research undergraduate, but a compulsory unit Nutting out the information contained
Council, a government funding body. He in his final year awakened an interest in in each fossil is a buzz for Price. “I
plans to use the funds to excavate new palaeontology. “The lecturer was talking love seeing a fossil in the field, then
fossils at sites in northern Queensland to about amazing extinct animals, like the turning that into information. Running it
track how ancient creatures evolved in Diprotodon [an ancestor of the modern through the dating machine, getting an
response to climate change. wombat] crossing ancient lakes, getting answer that tells me what the animal
“It’s important to look at how animals and stuck in the mud and becoming part of the was, when it lived, what it ate, what it
plants responded to climate changes and fossil record. It really fascinated me,” he says. did in the landscape – then using that
learn from that; to predict where we might be But it wasn’t love at first dig. “We had information to educate others. I get a
heading in the future, and feed that data into a field trip to a fossil site on the Darling massive kick out it.”
conservation strategies,” he says. Downs, west of Brisbane, and I hated – Tiffany Hoy
DAVID SPROULE/COURTESY THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND
EXPRESS
BRIAN CHOO
Gigantic feathered
dinosaur discovered
by Daniel Cossins
GIANT, FEATHERED tyrannosaur fossils But during the Early Cretaceous,
ZANG HAILONG
unearthed recently in China show, for the ancestors of T. rex were
the first time, that it was not just small generally much smaller.
dinosaurs that had bird-like feathers. At 1,400kg and 9m in length,
Three well-preserved skeletons found Y. huali was relatively close
in the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation in size to the tyrannosaurs of
of Liaoning Province of northwest China the Late Cretaceous. Together
represent a new tyrannosaur species from with the recent find of the similarly sized Top: An artist’s impression of a group of Yutyrannus
chasing two smaller Beipiaosaurus. Yutyrannus huali,
around 125 million years ago – a more Sinotyrannus, this suggests that some early ‘beautiful feathered tyrant’, is the largest feather-covered
primitive relative of dominant predators tyrannosaurs may have achieved dominance dinosaur. Above: A fossilised Yutyrannus skull. Details
such as Tyrannosaurus rex. The specimens earlier than previously thought, at least in of feathers can be seen along the back of the neck and
also show that this new species was covered northeastern China. And at least one of around the back of the skull, behind eye-socket level.
in long feathers, providing the first solid them did so with a coat of fuzzy feathers,
evidence for feathered giants. It has been a team of palaeontologists, led by Xing hard to believe that they weren’t providing
named Yutyrannus huali, meaning ‘beautiful Xu of Beijing’s Institute of Vertebrate some degree of insulation, and that’s always
feathered tyrant’. Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology, been a plausible explanation for the origin
Tyrannosaurs (from the Greek for ‘tyrant announced in an April 2012 issue of Nature. of feathers well before the origin of flight,”
lizards’) were a group of bipedal dinosaurs Evidence of feathers was preserved on said one of the Nature report’s authors
that roamed the Earth from the Jurassic (160 different parts of the body on each of the Corwin Sullivan, a Canadian palaeontologist,
million years ago) to the Late Cretaceous three specimens of Y. huali. This suggests also at the Beijing institute. “There is the
(65 million years ago). By the end of the animal’s entire body was covered. “The possibility that the feathers were brightly
the Cretaceous they were the top-level feathers are filamentous, so these animals coloured or strikingly patterned for some
predators across the Northern Hemisphere. would have looked somewhat shaggy. It’s kind of display purpose,” he added.
EXPRESS
Elusive neutrino oscillations

pinned down
by Ceri Perkins
THE WORLD’S FIRST precision value of 8.8 degrees for θ13. Now that the and cosmology,” said team member Kam-Biu
measurement has been made of a parameter measurement is confirmed as non-zero, Luk from the Lawrence Berkeley National
that controls the way subatomic neutrinos physicists can begin to look for a phenomenon Laboratory and the University of California
morph from one ‘flavour’ to another. called CP violation in neutrinos, which at Berkeley. A zero result would have ruled
Physicists have been chasing this postulates that matter and antimatter are out any study of CP violation in neutrinos,
measurement for over a decade. The new not always equal and opposite. If observed, it and a very small value would have made the
result – submitted to Physical Review Letters might finally solve the riddle of why we see an phenomenon difficult to study. “We are thrilled
by a multinational team of researchers imbalance of the two in the universe today. to uncover a significantly larger effect [than
from the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino “A non-zero θ13 is pivotal to the future expected],” said Luk. “It is as exciting as finding
Experiment in China – opens the floodgates research in neutrino physics, astrophysics a nice gift in a box you expect to be empty.”
to new experiments that could explain
the perplexing dominance of matter over
ROY KALTSCHMIDT, LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY

antimatter in the universe.
Discovered in the 1950s, neutrinos are
virtually undetectable and outnumber
protons and electrons by about a billion to
one. They come in three types, or ‘flavours’
– electron, tau and muon neutrinos – each
with corresponding antiparticles. They
sprang into existence moments after the
Big Bang and continue to be created today
in the hearts of stars, in supernovae, and
during radioactive decay.
Detecting them is tough. They are so
incredibly slight that they were once thought
to have no mass. They also have no charge
and are frustratingly reluctant to interact
with matter. But neutrinos aren’t only elusive;
they’re indecisive too. They can oscillate
between their three flavours, a process
described by three ‘mixing angles’. Two of
these were measured in the 60s and 90s
respectively, but the final angle, known as
θ13 (‘theta one three’) – which quantifies the
rate at which electron neutrinos and electron
antineutrinos transform into the other
flavours – has evaded scientists until now.
The team studied antineutrinos produced
in six powerful nuclear cores at the Daya Bay
plant in south China. Using six identical
20-tonne subterranean detectors – one set
placed several hundred metres from the
reactors and another set about 2km away
– they were able to track the apparent
disappearance of electron antineutrinos as
they morphed into other flavours.
The Daya Bay team found that the number Inside an antineutrino detector, the light emitted
by electron antineutrinos is collected by spherical
of electron antineutrinos dropped off by photomultiplier tubes (shown here) and converted
6% between the two sets of detectors, to electrical signals for measurement.
which enabled them to determine a precise
EXPRESS
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
RUNDOWN
595,000 The estimated number of emperor penguins living on
Antarctica, revised upwards after satellite studies found that
twice as many of these birds lived at the South Pole than previously thought.
Coral bleaching may be due to herpes infection.
IN BRIEF 1976 The year in which NASA launched its Viking robots to Mars. Scientists
from the University of Southern California believe their re-analysis of
NASA’s data shows that Viking detected signs of microbial life.
❱❱❱ HERPES LINKED TO CORAL
DECLINE
Viral diseases, particularly herpes, could
be behind the continuing devastation of
9 The number of planets that astrophysicist Mikko Tuomi, from the University of
Hertfordshire in Britain, thinks exist in orbit around the star HD 10180, roughly
127 light-years away. This makes HD 10180 the most planet-rich solar system known.
coral reefs, according to research published
recently in the Journal of Experimental Marine
Biology and Ecology. 80% The percentage of humans who hold unrealistically optimistic views
about the future, and downplay the likelihood of experiencing bad
events, according to a study in Nature Neuroscience.
❱❱❱ HOPE FOR PANCREATIC
CANCER PATIENTS
Australian researchers have developed new
genomic tests for pancreatic cancer, which
9KG The amount of carbon dioxide released from every 10kg of cement. The
world produces roughly 3 trillion kg of cement every year.
may see improved treatments based on the

disease’s ‘genotype’, the 16th annual Human
Genome Meeting, in Sydney, was told.
1.4 TONNES The estimated weight of Yutyrannus huali, a feathered
relative of Tyrannosaurus rex. Feathered dinosaurs
have been found before, but none of this family, size and weight.
❱❱❱ POPCORN GETS HEALTHIER

Popcorn’s reputation as a healthy food was
boosted as scientists reported at the American
1.9 MICROMETRES The thickness of the thinnest solar
cells created to date. These are
thinner than spider silk and, because they’re so thin, are extremely elastic.
Chemical Society 243rd National Meeting and
Exposition that it contains more antioxidant
substances than fruits and vegetables. 1 MILLION YEARS The age of the earliest evidence of
human-made fire, found at South
Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave by archaeologists from the University of Toronto and Hebrew
❱❱❱ CATTLE ANCESTORS TRACED University. This pushes back the first estimate of human use of fire by 300,000 years.
All cattle are descended from as few as 80
animals domesticated from wild ox in the Near
East some 10,500 years ago, according to a
genetic study reported by an international
4.5 YEARS The age at which toddlers lose the indefinable ‘cuteness’
that makes adults want to protect
them: researchers argued in the Journal of
team in Molecular Biology and Evolution. Experimental Child Psychology that children’s
WIKIMEDIA
faces lose some of their universal babyish appeal
❱❱❱ NEAR-MISS ASTEROID WILL around this age, because the trait is no longer as
RETURN necessary for them to survive.
On 15 February 2013, asteroid 2012 DA14 will
pass Earth at just 24,000km – closer than
many commercial satellites, says an amateur
team from Spain’s La Sagra Sky Survey
14 METRES The sea-level rise
caused by the
collapse of massive ice sheets, 14,600 years
observatory, who discovered the asteroid. ago. Coral off the coast of Tahiti has provided
insights into a period of rapid climate change
Keep up with all the latest at this time.
C cosmosmagazine.com
facebook.com/cosmosmagazine
twitter.com/cosmosmagazine Emperor penguins aren’t as rare as previously thought.
e www.cosmosmagazine.com/newsletter
EXPRESS
Rewiring your brain against fat

by Nicola Rowe
AN ELUSIVE METABOLIC ‘switch’ has been cells. These are integral to the transfer of If these findings are confirmed in humans,
found that significantly decreases weight chemical messages from cerebrospinal fluid they may provide insight into the complex
gain and increases energy consumption in to the central nervous system. relationships between behaviour, eating
mice, even when they’re fed a high-fat diet. Blackshaw’s team found that production patterns and metabolism, said Richard Rowe,
If a similar mechanism can be found in of these neurones was enhanced in mice a professor of medicine at the University of
humans, it could present a new target for fed a high-fat diet. When formation of Manitoba, Canada, who was not involved
potential treatments to combat weight gain these new neurones was blocked, the mice in the study. According to Blackshaw, in
and obesity caused by diet. “We’ve identified gained significantly less weight and showed working towards a potential ‘cure’ for
a region in the mouse hypothalamus in which increased energy consumption. obesity, it will first be necessary to identify
new neurones are generated,” said Seth The researchers studied mice in three dietary signals that regulate neurogenesis in
Blackshaw, lead author of the March 2012 age groups: early postnatal, late postnatal the hypothalamus. Determining whether the
Nature Neuroscience paper. Neurogenesis – and adult. They found that the diet- same phenomenon occurs in other animals
the creation of new neurones – in this area responsive tanycytes increased would also be key to adapting the
was stimulated by a high-fat diet while, on the significantly in late postnatal research for therapeutic use in
same diet, blocking neurogenesis attenuated and adult mice, indicating humans.
weight gain, said Blackshaw, from Johns diet is as consequential to “The neural circuitry
Hopkins University in the U.S. metabolic health in adult regulating feeding may be
The hypothalamus controls metabolic mice as at any other quite plastic even later in life,”
processes including hormone secretion, energy stage. said Blackshaw. “What you
expenditure and hunger. Blackshaw’s team eat may affect your brain in a
iSTOCK
found that a region of the hypothalamus known Dietary fat can stimulate new dramatic and lasting way for
brain cells to cause weight gain.
as the median eminence produces tanycyte ill and possibly also for good.”
Your science degree is just the

start of something great.
“I chose to join the Shell Questacon Science

Circus because it represented the perfect
way to combine a deep passion for science
with a burning desire to share amazing
stories with others.
ANU is where great research and creative

ideas can grow together without restraint.”
- Daniel Keogh
Master of Science Communication Outreach

Applications close 31 August
Visit sciencecircus.anu.edu.au or
Like us on Facebook to find out more
CRICOS#00120C | 310112SC
EXPRESS
ESA/THIERRY LOMBRY
Venus aurora a
magnetic mystery
by Phillip English
An artist’s impression of the European
Space Agency’s Venus Express, which
has been studying the planet since 2006.
OBSERVATIONS OF an unexpected “Plasmoids are common features in the twisted, they store energy like a coiled spring,”
behaviour in the magnetic field of Venus, magnetospheres of planets such as Earth explained John Morgan from Curtin University
by the exploration mission Venus Express, and Jupiter, but they were not expected in Perth, Western Australia, who wasn’t
suggest the planet may have more in in the magnetotail of an unmagnetised involved with the research. “In magnetic
common with Earth than previously thought, planet such as Venus,” said Tielong Zhang, field reconnection, the magnetic field lines
including its own spectacular aurora. planetary scientist at the Space Research reconfigure and, in the process, transfer
A phenomenon known as magnetic Institute of the Austrian Academy of energy from the magnetic field to the plasma.”
reconnection, normally only expected Sciences and lead author of the April 2012 Previously, scientists didn’t think magnetic
to be evident in planets that contain paper in Science that reported on the Venus reconnection could occur in a planet
a magnetic core, like Earth, has been magnetic reconnection. with a non-magnetic core. The find may
detected in the Venusian magnetic field. Much like Earth, Venus possesses an provide closure to the question of whether
By examining the movement of the plasma ionosphere, part of the upper atmosphere, previously observed instances of ‘nightglow’
flow, researchers were able to determine containing a fluid plasma, which comprises on Venus are auroras caused by charged
that a plasmoid – a loop structure in the hot, charged gas particles. These particles particles entering the atmosphere. Magnetic
magnetic field found when magnetic generate magnetic fields that, due to the reconnection provides a pathway by which the
reconnection occurs – had moved over the plasma’s turbulent nature, often become particles in the solar wind could enter Venus’s
Venus Express spacecraft. twisted. “When magnetic field lines are atmosphere to produce these flashes.
Earth’s basic chemistry challenged
NATURE/IAN CAMPBELL
by Anthony King
A CENTURY-OLD assumption about the makes up over 99% of the Solar System, The chondritic hypothesis has, for
composition of our planet has been challenged so its composition is essentially that of the almost a century, provided a reference for
by a new study suggesting that Earth does not Sun. This cannot be measured precisely, geochemical measurements.
Hot mantle from
have the same geological composition as a so scientists have long relied on chondrite “When we make an boundary-layer
class of meteorites called chondrites, which meteorites to fine-tune what we assume is observation about source
survived the birth of the Sun. the Sun’s composition. the Earth that
The findings suggest the chemical make- But Earth’s upper mantle is not does not fit
up of the Earth differs from that of the chondritic. This suggests that for the Earth the chondritic Entrained
Sun, which is contrary to what scientists to be, on average, truly chondrite-like, there reference lower mantle
have generally assumed. The only way to must be a hidden reservoir of elements frame we
determine the composition of the Earth deep in the mantle. Campbell and his have to
reliably, say the scientists involved in the colleague Hugh O’Neill, also from ANU, explain why it
study, is to analyse samples from the Earth’s dispute this explanation. The problem, they does not, because the
earliest, most primitive mantle. say, is these supposedly hidden elements chondritic theory has Hot mantle from
“It changes ideas about how we think the include 40% of the heat-producing been our Bible. It was boundary-layer
Earth has evolved,” said lead author elements of the mantle – uranium, thorium assumed it cannot be source
Ian Campbell of the Australian National and potassium. But in studies of mantle wrong,” Campbell said.
University (ANU), Canberra, of the March plumes, the numbers don’t stack up; there
2012 paper in Nature. isn’t enough heat present in plumes rising A lab model shows dark-coloured material from the hot
source of the plume and lighter material caught up as
The chondritic hypothesis rests on the through the mantle. This is because the it rises. The ratio of the two fails to show evidence of
idea that almost everything in the Solar elements aren’t in this hidden reservoir – it supposedly hidden elements in the mantle and hints at a
System has a similar composition. The Sun doesn’t exist. new chemistry.
Australia’s leading nuclear scientists
Dr David Fink, from ANSTO, and Dr Paul Augustinus, University of

Auckland, can determine how large the Antarctic ice sheet was at the Last
Ice Age, about 20,000 years ago, by analysing rocks which were deposited
by glaciers and exposed to galactic cosmic rays over time.
are helping to understand climate change.
www.ansto.gov.au
EXPRESS
Baboons prove reading

Science events brought to you by the Royal
Institution of Australia (riaus.org.au)
The Science Exchange
55 Exchange Place, Adelaide
is ancient skill
by Greg Dash
(08) 7120 8600
WINNING SKY PHOTOS: THE DAVID BABOONS HAVE BEEN shown to master one on the appearance of letters in words and
MALIN AWARDS 2011 of the basic elements of reading, challenging the relations between these letters – they
June 5 – July 13 previous concepts of how reading ability are capitalising on a pre-existing ability to
10am–5pm Monday–Friday evolved and developed in humans. identify everyday objects, which we share
The Science Exchange Linguists agree that language is needed with non-human primates.
See stars at this exhibition of spectacular during reading. But the stage at which “We read printed words by mimicking
photographs of the Australian night sky. language becomes important has come under what we do when we recognise everyday
debate. Research has shown that animals objects such as tables and chairs … we use
MAWSON’S SCIENTIFIC LEGACY
can discriminate between letters. But experts information about letters and the relations
June 5, 6–7.30pm
had thought the ability to recognise words between letters to read words, because we
The Science Exchange
depended on an ability to understand language. already do basically the same thing when we
Adelaide explorer Sir Douglas Mawson
was a scientific pioneer. So what have we Baboons can’t read, but it turns out they can use information about object parts and the
learned about Antarctica 100 years later? differentiate between four-letter sequences that relations between object parts to recognise
Free, but booking required for live audience. make up actual words and nonsense sequences. objects,” said Grainger.
Livestreamed at riaus.org.au/livestreaming. This turns on its head the notion that the Tecumseh Fitch, a cognitive biologist
ability to recognise words as combinations of from the University of Vienna who was not
THE TRANSIT OF VENUS objects that appear in certain sequences is involved in the study, said the research
(LIVESTREAMED) fundamentally related to language. supports the idea that human language
6 June, 7:30am–3pm, free online event It now appears that when humans read, we evolved on an extensive foundation of pre-
To help make sure you catch the last transit of partly draw on an ancient ability that predates existing abilities.
Venus in our lifetime, RiAus will be showing the evolution of our species, say researchers “These baboons did not learn to read
the transit live at riaus.org.au/livestreaming. in an April 2012 edition of Science. – they were simply trained to respond
Free event. In an experiment conducted by lead author positively to a particular set of visual
Jonathan Grainger at the Aix-Marseille patterns, which is only the first step of
RIAUS FILM CLUB: AN EYEFUL OF SOUND University, in France, and colleagues, baboons reading. After this visual process, a reading
June 20, 6–7pm were housed in an enclosure where they could child must next map the letters onto speech
The Science Exchange complete multiple rounds of a computer- sounds, then map these sounds onto
This award-winning short documentary
based exercise requiring them to classify a linguistic meanings. I would be much more
represents fascinating synaesthetic
four-letter sequence as either a word or a surprised to find that baboons could carry
experiences through animation. Free, but
non-word by tapping a shape on a screen. out these second and third steps,” said Fitch.
booking required.
Correct responses were rewarded with a food
Baboons can learn to tell the difference between words and
WHAT SANK THE TITANIC? treat. Over eight weeks, the baboons learned
non-words, which suggests that the most basic component
June 26, 6–7:30pm to discriminate dozens of words from 7,832 of reading is visual rather than language-based.
The Science Exchange non-words with nearly 75% accuracy.
©CNRS PHOTOTHÈQUE/CYRIL FRÉSILLON

To find out the truth, scientists and engineers Detailed analysis of the baboons’
have revisited the Titanic at the bottom of the performance revealed they were not simply
Atlantic Ocean. Free, but booking required. memorising words, but could discriminate
words from non-words by the differences in
the frequency of the letters they comprised.
More importantly, words that were seen for
the first time triggered significantly fewer
‘non-word’ responses than the non-word
stimuli. This suggests the baboons
had extracted knowledge about the
statistical properties that characterise
WIKI
words and non-words, and could apply

these rules to correctly classify words
COMING UP IN JULY they had not seen before.
Look out for further details of our exciting
These findings support the idea that
Winter Program at riaus.org.au
when children learn to read – by focussing
NASA/OLAFUR INGOLFSSON
EXPRESS
Carbon released from permafrosts over 50 million years

ago may have contributed to sudden warming events.
Earth’s orbit triggers dramatic

climate change
by Rachael Bayliss
SHIFTS IN THE Earth’s axis of rotation and Researchers knew that between 55.5 DeConto’s team demonstrated that
orbit around the Sun may have triggered a and 52 million years ago there was a the warming events all began as both
series of sudden, extreme global warming series of sudden warming events called the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit and
events 55 million years ago by initiating a hyperthermals, linked to a mass release of obliquity of its rotational axis were peaking.
permafrost thaw. carbon. This was evidenced by changes in High eccentricity makes summers in one
A paper in an April 2012 issue of Nature the isotopic oxygen and carbon ratios in hemisphere extra long. High obliquity
explains how a combination of astronomical geological records such as the fossil shells causes unusually high solar radiation levels
events and greenhouse gas releases from the of ancient plankton. to reach the both the Poles – a warming
thawing of carbon-rich permafrost caused Possible explanations for the hyperthermals combination called orbital forcing.
the planet to warm, then cool again by up to included a comet strike, burn-off of peat With a background of long-term gradual
5°C three times in just 3.5 million years. stores around the globe and the sudden warming, the increased solar radiation would
“If... past extreme warm events can be thawing of methane clathrates – solid have been enough to begin thawing vast
attributed to permafrost loss, it implies methane in the deep oceans. However, areas of permafrost at polar latitudes where
that thawing of permafrost in similar none of these hypotheses could account large amounts of carbon are stored in frozen
environments today will provide a substantial for the vast amounts of carbon released or plant matter in lower soil layers. The carbon
positive feedback to future warming,” said explain the series of three sudden, extreme released would have raised the temperature
lead author Rob DeConto, a climatologist at but progressively smaller, hyperthermals, even further, until the permafrost was entirely
the University of Massachusetts Amherst. DeConto said. thawed – all in as little as 4,000 years.
EXPRESS
Below: A representation of ‘Lucy’, a famous fossil of an early bipedal
hominin. Right: The ‘Burtele foot’, a new find showing that other hominin
species may have walked upright in the same period.
OF NATURAL HISTORY
CLE VEL AND MUSEUM
The team reported finding the partial

foot skeleton that belonged to an
early human ancestor that was neither
Au. afarensis nor another hominin
called Kenyanthropus platyops. Some
palaeoanthropologists argue that the latter
was a second hominin that lived at the
same time as Au. afarensis.
Descriptions of K. platyops led some
scientists to dispute whether only one
hominin inhabited Africa’s upper regions 3.9
WIKI
to 2.9 million years ago. The disagreement,

said Haile-Selassie, emerged mainly due
to the distorted nature of the specimen
‘Lucy’ wasn’t alone used as the basis for the original published
description of K. platyops.
In Woranso-Mille, a relatively new
palaeontological site in the central Afar
Cosmos Online/National Science Foundation
region, the researchers dug up a 3.4 million-
A NEW FOSSIL DISCOVERY suggests ‘Lucy’ Lucy’s bones were evidence that she and year-old partial foot skeleton that does not
may not have been the only hominin species perhaps other early hominins may have walked match the contemporaneous Au. afarensis in
to walk around in what is now the Afar upright. But whether she was the sole hominin form or shape. While identifying and naming
region of Ethiopia 3.4 million years ago. species in her geological period has been the the species to which the ‘Burtele foot’ belongs
Researchers have openly questioned if subject of much debate. Now, a team led by will have to await recovery of more fossils
Australopithecus afarensis, an early relative palaeoanthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie, of cranial and dental elements, the team is
of modern humans and the species to which from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History convinced it’s not another Lucy. “It is probably
the famous fossil Lucy belongs, was the only in the U.S., reported in a March 2012 issue of descended from the earlier Au. ramidus or
hominin living in Africa in the Late Pliocene. Nature that its latest find solves the puzzle. something like it,” said Haile-Selassie.
EXPRESS
DIAGNOSIS
Huntington’s disease by Ashley Wright
GERMAN PHILOSOPHER Friedrich such as increased irritability and study, published in The Lancet Oncology
Nietzsche once remarked, “those who were frequent dispiritedness, to bipolar in April 2012, analysed data from the
seen dancing were thought to be insane by episodes and schizophrenia-like national Swedish Hospital Discharge
those who could not hear the music”. experiences. Discernible physical Registry and the Cancer Registry from
Huntington’s disease (HD), also called signs can encompass gait imbalance, 1969 to 2008. The team discovered
chorea, is an insidious condition that facial contortion, and other irregular that of 1,510 patients with HD, only
manifests as brief involuntary movements movements such as flicking fingers and 91 acquired cancer. The likelihood of
and progressive intellectual decline. toes. The disease tends to first affect patients with HD being diagnosed with
Visually similar to a grotesque, purposeless men and women between their mid-30s cancer was 53% lower than that of the
dance routine, this neurodegenerative and 50s, but rare cases of HD have been general population.
disorder is genetically inherited, and the detected in young children. Jianguang Ji, one of the Swedish
gene for HD has been successfully located HD is one of nine polyglutamine researchers, said this suggests that a
within human chromosome 4. Knowing the (polyQ) diseases, which are caused by common mechanism protects against the
whereabouts of the HD gene is important mutations in certain genes that create development of cancer in patients with
as it allows scientists to identify potential abnormally long chains of glutamine, an these diseases. “Because of the negative
carriers of the disease before the onset amino acid, in proteins. Scientists at the association between polyglutamine
of significant symptoms. In spite of this Centre for Primary Health Care Research, diseases and cancer, clarification of the
development, no treatment is known and Lund University, Sweden, recently mechanism underlying the link could lead
HD remains incurable. conducted a study that suggested people to the development of new treatment
Early indicators of HD range with polyQ diseases – including HD – options for both polyglutamine diseases
from mild psychiatric disturbances have a low risk of developing cancer. The and cancer in the future,” he said.
GETTY
Amyloid fibrils, misformed proteins that can cause probems in various parts of the body,
are involved with polyglutamine diseases including Huntington’s disease.
EXPRESS
MENAGERIE
Simple injection
cuts heart Puss caterpillar by Tiffany Hoy
death by half
IT MAY LOOK like a cuddly piece of When the caterpillar pupates to
fluff, but the puss caterpillar is not become a moth, it uses its fluff as a
the friendly puffball it appears to be. sleeping bag. “The caterpillar first
Agence France-Presse Beneath its soft coat are numerous spins a thin cocoon and strips the
hollow, venomous spines that soft hairs from its body. Some are
PARAMEDICS ARMED with a cheap, three-ingredient produce an extremely painful sting. incorporated into the cocoon and the
injection cocktail have been able to reduce heart attack There are many species of puss remainder are rolled up and packed
patients’ risk of dying by 50%, in a trial in the U.S. caterpillar, or asp, throughout the into a space in the top,” said Donald
When the shot was given early to patients with American tropics, but the most Hall, retired professor of entomology
signs of a heart attack, the mixture of glucose, insulin venomous is the caterpillar of the at the University of Florida, USA. And
and potassium, or GIK, showed remarkable success in southern flannel moth, Megalopyge the stinging spines? These stay on
preventing full cardiac arrest – during which the heart opercularis, also found in Mexico, the caterpillar until it sheds its skin.
stops beating – and even death. Central America and South America. “However, less venom is produced
Each shot cocktail costs only about US$50, They often come into contact with once the caterpillar spins the
according to a report on the trial presented in people who brush past them on cocoon,” he adds. Predators, such as
March 2012 at the American College of Cardiology’s trees or step on them barefoot. The squirrels and mice, that fancy a bite
61st Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, and caterpillars are also known to drop are therefore less likely to be stung if
published online in the Journal of the American without warning from the canopy, they chew into older cocoons.
Medical Association. leaving an itchy, burning red welt One organism that can get past
“When started immediately in the home or on where they land on human skin. the defences of the puss caterpillar
the way to the hospital – even before the diagnosis Victims stung by puss caterpillars is the larva of the tachinid fly. The
is completely established – GIK appears to reduce have told David Eagleman, a fly glues its eggs on the outside of
the size of heart attacks and to reduce by half the neuroscientist at the Baylor College the caterpillar, but on hatching they
risk of having a cardiac arrest or dying,” said of Medicine, Houston, U.S.: “‘it felt become endoparasites – that is, they
co-principal investigator Harry Selker from as though my arm had been broken’; find their way inside the body. When
the Tufts Clinical and Translational Science ‘it immediately felt like a hammer hit Jerry Cates, a pest management
Institute, Boston. me’, and ‘I have had kidney stones consultant, examined dead tachinid-
Previous trials using the formula were before, but I believe the pain from stricken caterpillars under the
inconclusive, possibly because the shot was the asp sting is worse’.” microscope, he “noted that parts
being given to patients too late, he said. But The reaction starts with intense, of their bodies moved sporadically.
this trial, which randomised 871 patients who throbbing pain within five minutes Looking closely, it was possible
dialled the (U.S.) 911 emergency number to of contact. Victims may experience to make out the head of another
receive either the shot or a placebo and was headaches, nausea, vomiting, shock organism just below the translucent
carried out by trained paramedics in 13 cities, or respiratory stress. These usually skin of the caterpillar’s ventral body.”
showed positive effects in those who were subside within an hour, but with Cates looked on as the maggots
given the treatment. higher doses of venom symptoms emerged from the cadavers then
The treatment did not prevent heart may last for several days. pupated into flies.
attacks from occurring, but cut the likelihood
of cardiac arrest by 50% compared to the
group of patients who did not get the shot. GETTY
The risk of immediate death also dropped

by 50%. “We wanted to do something that
is effective and can be used anywhere,”
said Selker. “More people die of heart
attacks outside the hospital than inside
the hospital. Hundreds of thousands
of people per year are dying out in the
community; we wanted to direct our
attention to those patients.”
iSTOCK
Not as cuddly as it looks –

venomous spines are hidden under the puss caterpillar’s fluff.
Paramedics may soon give heart attack patients an
injection to improve their chances of recovery.
EXPRESS
ANDREAS SCHREIBER/UNIVERSITY OF PADERBORN
UNIVER SITY OF PADERB

ORN
Walk towards new

supercomputers
by Rachael Bayliss
Main image: In a ‘classical walk’ a particle takes a single
path randomly, but in a ‘quantum walk’ it travels all paths
simultaneously. Inset: Investigators Christine Silberhorn
(left) and Andreas Schreiber (right).
IMAGINE TRYING TO isolate a single The new experiment used a 2-D lattice “A single optical circuit, with four different
subatomic quantum particle you can’t see, that allows two interpretations of the results: possible paths in this case, is used for all the
with no mass and no charge, that will readily either that of one photon travelling in four positions of the quantum walk. Accurate
pop in and out of existence, then make possible directions, or the equivalent of two detectors for the arrival time of the photons
it travel through a virtual dot-to-dot grid photons operating in two directions on a distinguish the different positions.”
obeying a strict set of rules. single line. The latter interpretation is the key A single photon is a long way from the
If you can do this, you have created a advancement and demonstrates the principle complexity of light interactions a quantum
quantum walker, and if it sounds difficult of multiple interacting photons that will be computer would need. “Quantum walks
that’s because it is. But an international team required for advanced quantum computing. in higher dimensions require a little extra
of physicists has done it, according to a paper “Instead of building an optical circuit experimental complexity,” said Kendon.
published in an April 2012 issue of Science. with lots of beam splitters and mirrors or Mapping all events on a single sequence of
Until now, quantum walk experiments waveguides for each step of the walk, the time delays limits how far this can be expanded.
have been limited to a single walker in a 1-D position of the walker is represented by time “[But] this is the best quantum walk experiment
grid, which hinders analysis of interactions delays,” explained Viv Kendon of the Quantum to date, with significant potential to explore
and ‘entanglement’ – the useful but strange Information Group at the University of Leeds, further configurations and more complex
connection between quantum particles. England, who was not involved in the study. quantum walk dynamics,” Kendon added.
ANSWERS 1. Four: there is a zeroth law that states that if two systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third then they are in thermal equilibrium with each
other. 2. A clock in the air. One of the principles of general relativity is that gravity distorts the flow of time, and as you move away from the centre of the Earth
the force of gravity has a decreasing effect. 3. Venus; it takes longer to rotate on its axis than to orbit the Sun. Mercury’s solar day (sunrise to sunrise) is also
longer than its year, but its rotation is not greater than its revolution. 4. Venus, Uranus and the dwarf planet Pluto. 5. Solitaire. 6. Olympus Mons, on Mars. It is
nearly three times higher than Mount Everest. 7. Aristarchus of Samos, an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician (310–230 BCE). 8. Electromagnetism,
strong interaction (strong nuclear force), weak interaction (weak nuclear force) and gravitation. 9. Diastema. 10. Eight minutes and 19 seconds. 11. A geodesic
dome, or soccer ball. 12. Lalla Ward, who played Romana from 1979 to 1981.
Richard Dawkins? people’s teeth? table of chemical elements?
evolutionary biologist and author 9. What is the name for the gap between Mendeleev use as a model for his periodic
Who, is married to the celebrated 5. Which card game did Dmitri
companion to the Doctor in Doctor of nature?
12. Which actor, who played a 8. What are the four fundamental forces 4. Which planets rotate clockwise?
buckminsterfullerene resemble? of the known universe? year?
the carbon molecule heliocentric (Sun-centred) view 3. On which planet is a day longer than a
11. What shape does person to propose a
7. Who was the first clock on the ground?
Sun to the Earth? 2. Which ticks faster: a clock in the air or a
from the surface of the System?
it take light to travel mountain in the Solar there?
10. How long does 6. What is the tallest 1. How many laws of thermodynamics are
TRIVIA
NASA
Magellan spacecraft.
image of Venus from the
Mons. Below: A composite
Main image: Olympus
EXPRESS
NASA
EXPRESS
COMPETITION
U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE NORTHEAST REGION

WHICH DISEASE KILLED THESE BATS?
Millions of bats from Europe to the Atlantic have mysteriously died from
a disease caused by a fungus named Geomyces destructans. What is the
common name of this curious illness? Find the answer on COSMOS Online!
EMAIL THE CORRECT ANSWER and include your name and address to
competitions@cosmosmagazine.com by 18 July 2012. The first five correct entries
will win DVDs of The Code, courtesy of Madman Entertainment.
THE ANSWERS TO LAST ISSUE’S WHAT IS THIS? COMPETITION WAS:

A single atom. Congratulations to: Debbie Vanzoelen of Palm Cove, QLD, Antony Somerville of Albany
Creek, QLD, Kiall Camden of Croydon, VIC, Alastair Knott of Sheidow Park, VIC and Robert McManamon
WIN
of Newport, NSW. Each winner will receive a copy of Expedition Tiger and Nature’s Miracles Babies,
courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment.
Due to the overwhelming response in entrants, the next five correct answers have received the special
consolation prize: The Canon by Natalie Angier. Congratulations to Steve Thyer of Lesmurdie, WA, Jim
Kent of Port Fairy, VIC, Emily Cox of Redfern, NSW, Lenore Stanley of Bondi Junction, NSW and Jean
Clayton of Bedford Park, SA.
EXPRESS
‘Heat training’
SIMON DONNER/UBC
reduces coral
bleaching
by Hilary Jones
PACIFIC OCEAN CORALS can survive Jessica Carilli takes a sample from a massive Porites
twice as much heat stress if they’ve coral using an air-powered drill at Butaritari Atoll,
been overheated before, which may Gilbert Islands, Republic of Kiribati.
help them resist future warming.
“We think that thermal history Research into Porites the past exposure could have selected more
coral has given
matters for corals, and that other scientists new ideas heat-resistant algae.
reefs around the world, including “Until recently, it was widely assumed that
WIKI
for strategies to save

those on the Great Barrier Reef, coral from global as the oceans warm due to climate change,
which have historically experienced warming. coral will bleach and die off worldwide,” said
more heat stress, will be more likely to resist Carilli. “[Our] findings give hope that even
bleaching in future warm water events,” said Republic of Kiribati. The reefs experienced though oceans are already warming, coral
Jessica Carilli, who is a marine scientist at the bleaching events in 2004 and 2009 due to that previously withstood anomalously warm
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology highly variable annual temperatures caused water events may do so again.”
Organisation (ANSTO) and lead author of the by the El Niño Southern Oscillation. The researchers claim the investigations
2012 paper in PLoS ONE. The researchers looked at how these will help scientists understand which areas
Corals form a partnership with single- events affected coral growth by drilling core may be more or less susceptible to bleaching
celled algae, which give the coral energy and samples from the corals. Coral grows at the in the future – assisting in the planning for
also its colour. When the water gets too hot, rate of about 1cm each year, creating annual future marine protected areas.
stressed corals expel their algae, and, without growth bands similar to tree rings. “The authors [of the study] suggest that
their energy source, the corals die and turn In 2004, the corals around the Tarawa more thermally variable habitats may be more
white in a process called coral bleaching. Atoll in Kiribati experienced between 1.5 likely to resist warming, so we should prioritise
With tropical sea temperatures forecast to and 2.5 times the amount of heat stress as these habitats’ protection,” said Tom Oliver,
rise by between 1 and 3°C by the end of this sites around the Butaritari Atoll. But counter a coral scientist from Stanford University in
century, it had been feared that all corals intuitively, the Butaritari corals experienced California, who was not involved with the study.
might be at risk of bleaching and death. the greater reduction in growth. The study “I agree with that recommendation, as part of a
Carilli and her team studied one of the did not explore the mechanism of the coral ‘balanced breakfast’” – meaning it should only
main reef-building corals of the genus Porites adaptation – the corals could have become be one part of the complex prioritisation of
in the reefs around the Gilbert Islands in the more acclimatised by the past exposure, or where to protect.
Frog skin slime battles superbugs

Growling grass
frogs secrete
antimicrobial
slime that
could become by Becky Crew
the next
antibiotics.
ANTIMICROBIAL SECRETIONS from the It’s hoped that by studying how the active
WIKI
skin of Australian green-eyed tree frogs ingredients of the secretions interact with
and growling grass frogs are being used to cell membranes, scientists will be able to use
develop new drugs to fight superbugs, such them to engineer more effective antibiotics.
as the infamous ‘golden staph’ bacteria, “We need to understand how they work,
which can cause fatal disease. and [then] the next step is how this can
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
EXPRESS
How to date a meteorite

by Jude Dineley
A GERMAN–AUSTRALIAN scientific collaboration with the meteorite matter. This

has measured the time it took for several meteorites [timescale] is called the cosmic ray
to reach Earth. The findings are helping pin down exposure age,” said Ott.
timescales of the formation of asteroids and Curiously though, for several
planetoids in our Solar System billions of years meteorites this dating strategy has
ago, said Ulrich Ott, of the Max Planck Institute for revealed different timescales for the
Chemistry (MPIC) in Mainz, Germany. chondrules themselves and the rocky matrix
Study of several chondrules – tiny glassy spheres that holds the meteorites together.
that are among the oldest objects in the Solar “We are following up on hints that the
System – has revealed that the meteoroids from chondrules are showing… a pre-irradiation of
which they originated spent five to seven billion the order of maybe a million years – while the
years galloping through space before crashing matrix has none, or at least less,” said Ott. “If
down to Earth. The millimetre-size confirmed, this would indicate that
chrondrules were formed the chondrules spent some time in the
billions of years ago in the solar nebula 4.57 billion years ago as
primordial solar nebula free-floating objects.”
before the planets existed, The researchers date the birth of
as clumps of dust were meteoroids using two techniques – the
heated and then rapidly amount of magnesium is measured
cooled. The chrondrules at ANSTO and the amount of neon
then became incorporated at MPIC. Over time, exposure to
into the bodies of asteroids cosmic radiation in space converts the
that orbit the Sun in the magnesium into neon.
WIKI
belt between Mars and “The longer the exposure of

Jupiter. Collisions between The largest of its kind, the Allende meteorite hit the meteoroid to cosmic rays, the
asteroids then sent Mexico in 1969 and provided plenty of material higher the neon concentration.
fragments – known as for the German–Australian research team. We tell the MPIC the magnesium
meteoroids – shooting off concentration [based on] neutron
through space. activation analysis, they measure the amount of
“The time that a meteoroid [takes] to travel from neon with noble gas mass spectrometry and they
its parent asteroid to Earth is determined from the can then determine the cosmic ray exposure age,”
abundance of nuclear products – certain isotopes – said John Bennett, physicist and leader of ANSTO’s
that are produced by the interaction of cosmic rays Neutron Activation Analysis group.
iSTOCK
be used as a drug, and how we can deliver Observing how the frogs’ antimicrobial “Neutrons scatter [from] hydrogen and
this as a medicine,” said Anton Le Brun, secretions – which are peptides made up its isotope deuterium very differently. If
a biophysicist at ANSTO who works with of multiple amino acids – bind to the cell we label the membrane with deuterium,
the lead researchers from the University of membrane has traditionally been done using then by using neutrons we can pick out
Melbourne on the project. techniques such as X-ray scattering. But the the peptide from the membrane to get
Superbugs, or antibiotic-resistant bacteria, X-ray method is limited as it can be difficult the whole picture. This is why using
can pose significant risks to human health. to distinguish between the peptides and the neutrons is very advantageous in this
The MyHospitals website records around membrane. So the Melbourne team opted case,” said Le Brun, adding that the neutron
7,000 golden staph (Staphylococcus aureus) for another technique that uses ANSTO’s reflectometer technique is like being able
bacterial infections in Australian hospitals neutron reflectometer, called Platypus, to to take a non-invasive slice through a wall
every year. look inside the membrane. to see what’s inside.
THE AUSTRALIAN NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ORGANISATION
SNAPSHOT
Bionic Eye by Tiffany Hoy
SPL
T WON’T OFFER super-vision, but a
bionic eye could give someone with
absolutely no vision a chance to see.
While electronic ears have been
successfully implanted for more than a
quarter of a century, no one has achieved the
same success with electronic eyes. Bionic
Vision Australia, a national consortium of
researchers, is getting close, with human
trials of their Wide-View neurostimulator
device set for 2013. Here’s what it might be
like when the devices are first switched on for
people with vision impairment.
Insert to see of New South Wales (UNSW), in Sydney. Rewiring the brain
The retinal implant has an array of It’s hoped the stimulation will The researchers hope the brain
platinum discs, and is implanted behind open up more than just a few spots will then adapt to the implant,
the retina, at the back of the eye. Made of light (called phosphenes). “We’re interpreting the new stimuli into vision.
of biocompatible materials, such as hoping it will equate to substantially “The brain remodels; it’s very plastic,
platinum, so it won’t break down or more because you can steer currents even in adults. We hope that if we provide
react with surrounding tissues, it’s between the electrodes,” says Nigel consistent stimulation to the retina, it’s
designed to last a lifetime. Lovell, also at UNSW. “If we got to 500 going to try to adapt,” says Lovell.
Inside is a microchip that generates phosphenes you could start to do face The brain’s visual centres can adapt when
electrical impulses that stimulate any recognition and reading.” people who have lost their sight learn to
surviving nerve cells to send visual It’s a good starting point, says read Braille. The back of the brain, which is
cues to the brain. “At only five square Suaning. “Once we work out how close normally used for vision, begins processing
millimetres the device is tiny, but [together] we can get the electrodes touch – but only for reading Braille. “As soon
represents a significant advance in without overlapping their electric fields, as they run their fingers across Braille, the
nerve stimulation technology,” says we can see how many more we can pack back of the brain kicks in. So all that’s been
Gregg Suaning, leader of the bionic eye into the system.” If the electrodes were rewired,” says Lovell. The team hopes to
development program at the University too close together, you’d just see a blur. see a similar transition with the bionic eye.
Sight unseen is damaged in patients with degenerative
“Until we put these devices in patients diseases of the retina, says Suaning. “But
MEDIA OFFICE
and ask them what they see, it’s somehow colour gets encoded and sent
difficult to say,” says Lovell. “We can do to the brain, and if we crack that code
modelling, we can record brain activity in then maybe we could send a signal like,
animals, but the human brain can adapt ‘this is blue’.” This may be a way off, but
KIER AN JAMES/UNSW
so it’s difficult to know.” the team is initially planning practical
Providing colour vision will present extra functions such as depth mapping –
challenges. The photoreceptive layer, where nearer objects appear brighter An electrode array will help
which has sensors for red, green and blue, – that will be useful for mobility. neurones pick up visual
cues
from an external camera
.
››› Camera
A camera, mounted on a pair of glasses, captures
images and sends them to the data processor.
››› Data processor

The processor pixelates the image, encoding
information such as brightness and size. The
iPod-sized device can be upgraded as technology ››› Receiver implant
advances, so adjusting vision settings could be as The implanted receiver identifies
easy as whipping out a smart phone. which electrodes to stimulate in
the eye. Two wires then send this
signal to the retinal implant.
››› Visual processing

Nerve cells stimulated by the retinal
implant send impulses along the
optic nerve to the brain’s visual
processing centres.
Scientists hope
KIERAN JAMES/UNSW MEDIA OFFICE

the brain can be
reprogrammed for
bionic vision.
Room to move to support vision in

The primary goal is to help people get patients with retinitis pigmentosa,
around more easily. “We’re hoping to pick a disease that can lead to total blindness.
up things at head level that a cane can’t “Their field of view becomes a little dot;
find. One of the things patients are fearful they can read the date on a coin in their
iSTOCK
of is hitting a tree or a sign. With the central vision, but see nothing in their
device they’ll be able to detect obstacles periphery. With our device you could
that worry them,” says Suaning. augment their peripheral vision around
As with cochlear implants, which are the sight they do have,” says Suaning. A bionic eye prototype, which has an
now used to support residual hearing, Since the implant goes behind the retina, external and an implanted component, will
the bionic eye might eventually be used it shouldn’t block out natural vision. be ready for human trials next year.
GALLERY
Story Bob Guntrip Illustrations Royal Australian Chemical Institute
Elements of
Part road map and part
recipe book, the periodic
table of the elements
lies at the foundations
of modern science. St
Petersburg chemist Dmitri
Ivanovich Mendeleev first
presented his table in 1869,
tabulating the elements
according to their properties
and arranging them in a
rectangular grid by rows,
known as periods, and
columns, known as groups.
Groups contain elements
with the clearest chemical
relationships, and those
that typically undergo
similar reactions with
other elements – truly, a
wealth of knowledge at
your fingertips.
When the Royal Australian
Chemical Institute celebrated
the International Year of
Chemistry in 2011, leading
artists were invited to head
for the labs to find new ways
to illustrate the excitement of
Mendeleev’s breakthrough. >>
reality
>>
The breath of life

Oxygen
Symbol: O
Atomic number: 8
A clear, odourless gas at room temperature, molecular oxygen (O2)
forms 21% of Earth’s atmosphere. It is the third most abundant
element in the universe and the most abundant in the Earth’s
crust. Oxygen is highly reactive, forming oxides with most other
elements. Elemental oxygen is generated by algae and plants, and
it is essential for the formation of all major molecules in living
organisms, such as proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Oxygen is
used in the production of steel and plastics, and as an ingredient of
PICTURE CREDIT IN HERE
some rocket fuels.

In her artwork (above) representing oxygen, Tina Curtis sought
to highlight the similarities between the veins in a leaf and a
suburban street pattern. The leaf is absorbing carbon dioxide and
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expelling oxygen; the street is doing the opposite.

Illustration: Tina Curtis
The heart of stars
Helium
Symbol: He
Atomic number: 2
The second-lightest element and the most abundant in the
universe after hydrogen, helium belongs to the noble gases, so
called because of their low reactivity with other elements. Little
helium is used for human industry – international consumption
figures are expressed in kilograms – but it has a range of uses. It is
perhaps best known as a lifting gas in air balloons, and is used as a
coolant in MRI scanners and in barcode-scanner lasers.
Artist Robyn Silk drew inspiration from Greek mythology in
depicting helium, which is named for the Sun god Helios. In Greek
mythology Helios emerged from his golden palace each dawn to
drive his fiery chariot across the sky. The print is a single-block
woodcut incorporating the colours of the Sun.
Illustration: Robyn Silk
NASA
Earth element
Silicon
Symbol: Si
Atomic number: 14
Elemental silicon is a lightweight metalloid, and is found on
Earth in the form of silicates, such as sand. It is the second most
abundant element in the Earth’s crust. Silicon belongs to the
same group as carbon and partially mimics carbon’s capacity to
combine with itself to form long-chain molecules. Silicates are
put to a wide range of structural uses, and are important in the
manufacture of cement, ceramics and glass. Silicon is used in
steel and aluminium processing, and is vital to the electronics
industry as a semiconductor.
To represent silicon on the periodic table, artist Janice Luckman
created a digital representation of the skeleton of the Venus flower
basket sea sponge, with its delicate bones of silica glass.
Illustration: Janice Luckman
iSTOCK
Daughter of tantalum
Niobium
Symbol: Nb
Atomic number: 41
Niobium belongs to the second of the four periods of transition
metals. These have variable chemical characteristics, and can
combine in different proportions with other elements to produce a
range of related compounds. For example, while calcium combines
with oxygen to form one oxide, niobium can form four. In small
quantities, niobium can strengthen steel; its high resistance to
corrosion makes it useful as a lining to industrial vessels; and it can
form superconducting wire in an alloy with titanium.
In Greek mythology, Niobe is the daughter of Tantalus, and
niobium takes its name from tantalum, the element above it on the
periodic table. In Tina Curtis’s artwork, the white teardrop echoes
Niobe’s weeping for the death of her 14 children, while the blue-
iSTOCK
purple colour is a reference to the colour of niobium in jewellery.

Illustration: Tina Curtis
Skeleton sands
Calcium
Symbol: Ca
Atomic number: 20
Calcium belongs to the group of alkaline earth metals. In its pure
state it is soft, grey and light, and quickly oxidises in air. It is vital
for living organisms as a second messenger in a range of cellular
processes, including muscle-cell contractions and fertilisation, and
its phosphates form part of bones and coral.
Iona Johnson drew inspiration for her work from the occurrence
of calcium as a structural element of bones, shells and coral. The
image is a cross-section of a shell taken from an X-ray. The colours
iSTOCK
represent the sand and sea of the shell’s natural environment.

Illustration: Iona Johnson
Metal lightweight
Lithium
Symbol: Li
Atomic number: 3
Lithium is the lightest metal on the periodic table. Like caesium, it
belongs to the group of alkali metals, is highly reactive, and does
not occur naturally in metallic form. Instead it is extracted from its
chloride by electrolysis. Its uses are widespread: pharmaceuticals
and lithium-ion batteries are among the most common, but it is
also a key ingredient of high-stress lubricants and is combined
with other lightweight metals such aluminium and cadmium to
make alloys for the aircraft industry. Its hydrides, which are highly
reactive, can be used as additives in rocket fuels.
Sarah Robert-Tissot based her artwork for lithium on the
crystalline formations of mineral lithium salts found in the
Atacama Desert of Chile.
Illustration: Sarah Robert-Tissot
iSTOCK
ESSAY
Surviving shipwreck, injury

and the loss of countless
SPL
specimens, Wallace was
nonetheless known as
“the greatest field
collector of the 19th
century”.
A MOMENTOUS VEER
DISCOVERY Darwin’s inspiration for the theory of evolution came from a single voyage.
Across the globe, Alfred Wallace, one of the world’s greatest species
seekers, travelled a different path. Richard Conniff traces his history.
Specimens such as this
led Wallace to an indepe
theory of evolution by ndent
natural selection.
I
“ ’M AFRAID THE ship’s on fire. Come
and see what you think of it,” said the
captain. It was just after breakfast
on 6 August 1852, and the writer
recounting this awful moment was
Alfred Russel Wallace. He was the only
passenger on the 235-tonne brig Helen, a
fine piece of kindling and canvas bearing a
cargo of balsam resin, aflame in the middle
of the Atlantic Ocean. The lifeboats were in
such disrepair that the cook had to provide
corks for filling the holes. As the
crew scrambled for thole pins
and rudders, Wallace wandered
numbly down to his cabin,
SPL
through the suffocating smoke

and heat, to retrieve a single
tin box with a few notebooks and chunks of rotten wood tearing from the hull
drawings from his travels. He left like wet bread. They were in such imminent the sea and “to make up for lost time by
behind three years of journals and danger of foundering in one storm that the enjoying myself as much as possible for
a large folio of drawings and notes. captain of Wallace’s former ship felt obliged a while”. He kept neither. Within days of
In the ship’s hold were many boxes to sleep with an axe by his side, “to cut away his return, he was contemplating his next
of species never before seen outside the masts in case we capsize in the night”. expedition. Over the next year, he also
the Amazon, plus a 15-metre-long Yet Wallace now felt secure enough to busied himself writing four scientific papers
palm leaf carefully packed for display at reflect on his loss: “How many times, when and two books, one a technical treatise on
the British Museum. He had gathered almost overcome by the ague [malaria], had Amazonian palms, the other his A Narrative
it all by means of long, difficult travel, I crawled into the forest and been rewarded of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro,
complicated by malaria, yellow fever, by some unknown and beautiful species! cobbled together from letters home and
dysentery, and other hardships. He was How many places, which no European foot from memory.
in fact still recovering from a bout of but my own had trodden, would have been
fever as the ship burned, and he felt “a recalled to my memory by the rare birds and HE WAS, AS HE LATER put it, “the
kind of apathy about saving anything”. insects they had furnished to my collection! young man in a hurry”, and it showed.
When the time came, Wallace went over How many weary days and weeks had I At a meeting of the Zoological Society
the stern on a rope, tearing his hands as he passed, upheld only by the fond hope of of London in December 1852, just two
slid down into a boat that was “rising and bringing home many new and beautiful months after his return, Wallace gave
falling and swaying about with the swell of forms from those wild regions… And now his fellow naturalists a cordial earful. He
the ocean”. Next morning, having lingered everything was gone.” had found to his dismay that the labels
to see if the flames of their ship would It was as if Darwin’s Beagle had sunk with in museums and in natural history books
attract help, “we set up our little masts, and all his Galapagos treasures still unmined seldom recorded more than the vaguest
rigged our sails and, bidding adieu to the for scientific insights. But “I tried to think hint of where a specimen came from –
still burning wreck of our ship, went gaily as little as possible about what might have “Brazil,” “Peru,” even “S. America”.
bounding along before a light east wind,” been,” Wallace later wrote, “and to occupy “If we have ‘River Amazon’ or ‘Quito’
with Wallace alternately bailing the boat myself with the state of things which attached to a specimen,” Wallace said,
(salt water in raw wounds) and turning his actually existed”. “we may think ourselves fortunate to get
naturalist’s eye to the passing jellyfish and Arriving back in England that October, anything so definite… though we have
boobies, for all the world like Edward Lear’s after almost three months at sea, including nothing to tell us whether the one came
Jumblies gone to sea in a sieve. 10 days in an open lifeboat, Wallace was from the north or south of the Amazon,
tattered, unwashed, emaciated – and or the other from the east or the west
THE EXTENT OF HIS LOSS did not dawn jubilant. “Oh glorious day!” he declared, of the Andes.” Such geographic barriers,
on him, Wallace wrote, until they were going ashore at Deal in Kent. “Oh, beef- as he knew from his own travels, often
finally rescued, seven days later, by a ship steaks and damson-tart, a paradise for demarcated “distinct zoological districts”.
bound for London from Cuba. Perhaps hungry sinners.” Aboard his rescue ship, “Native hunters” were “perfectly
“rescued” is too strong a word, since their Wallace had made two sensible resolutions acquainted” with the need to seek out
>>
saviour was a plodding old hulk, with – to avoid ever again trusting his life to the correct habitat when they wanted a
from
A map of southern Asia
lay
Wallace’s book, The Ma
s
Archipelago. The black line
llace’s 185 8 voy age ;
trace Wa
es
the red line links volcano
ah
in the region. Below: Raj
oke ’s bird win g but terfly is
Bro
ion
found throughout the reg
e.
and was named by Wallac
WIKI
SPL
>>
particular species. But the scientific world Wallace was too flustered to make much and seemingly random
remained indifferent to this essential fact. of a reply, but he later wrote to Henry Bates acts of creation by God.
“There is scarcely an animal,” said Wallace, that those vaguely labelled specimens came But Wallace was seeing connections and
“whose exact geographical limits we can from early in his time at Barra (now Manaus, asking what they signified. Why did clusters
mark out on the map.” He was introducing Brazil) before he had realised that the of similar species all occur within a small
his listeners to what we now know as opposite banks of a river could be home to area? Why did species often vary only
biogeography – the study of how species are different species. Local hunters soon taught slightly from one island to the next? “Are
related to one another both in space and him that certain monkey species lived north very closely allied species ever separated
in time. He was, in truth, by a wide interval of
introducing them to what it country?” he asked
means to be a species. Wallace… was a friend to funny old men in the Zoological Society
Though Wallace was audience. “What physical
invariably polite, it would remote villages, a glorified manual labourer features determine the
have been hard to miss boundaries of species
his point that just about who lived by catching butterflies. and of genera?”
everybody else in the “What are the
naturalist community was circumstances which
doing it wrongly. And for the temerity of of the Amazon and east of the Rio Negro, render certain rivers and certain mountain
this criticism, he got a quick comeuppance. but never crossed to the opposite banks – ranges the limits of numerous species,
In the audience was John Gray, keeper where other species, often closely related, while others are not? None of these
of zoology at the British Museum, closet took their places. Likewise, “little groups questions can be satisfactorily answered
naturalist, and, not at all coincidentally, the of two or three closely allied species” of till we have the range of numerous species
world’s first collector of postage stamps. hummingbirds and toucans often occurred accurately determined.”
Gray’s idea of intrepid adventure often “in the same or closely adjoining districts”.
involved finding ways to undercut his Palm tree and insect species displayed THIS IDEA THAT THEY’D been going
counterparts in the field. To the Zoological similar distribution patterns, seeming to about their business wrongly irritated
Society audience, Gray now remarked: branch out from one district to the next. other naturalists, not least because it came
“Why, we have specimens collected by Mr Conventional naturalists still treated from a field collector who earned his wages
Wallace himself marked ‘Rio Negro’ only.” new species largely as the result of separate like a shoemaker on a piece-rate basis.
“The professional experts in the museums infinite variety of habitats, of all sizes, and Wallace titled his article ‘On the Law
of London, and the connoisseurs of the all degrees of isolation. Wallace needed, he Which Has Regulated the Introduction
rectories and country houses” did not even later explained to his bewildered family, to of New Species’. A knack for compelling
want to allow the likes of Wallace into their “visit and explore the largest possible titles clearly eluded him. But the text
learned societies, according to Wallace number of islands and collect animals struck an unmistakable note of urgency:
biographer Peter Raby. from the greatest number of localities in “Hitherto no attempt has been made to
Wallace was in fact thinking far more order to arrive at any definite results” explain these singular phenomena, or to
deeply about species than the experts and about the geography of species. So much show how they have arisen. Why are the
connoisseurs who bought his specimens. for never again trusting his life to the sea. genera of Palms and of Orchids in almost
Though he was careful not to say so out Early in 1854, after little more than a every case confined to one hemisphere?
loud, he was still focussed on testing year back in Europe, Wallace boarded a Why are the closely allied species of
the idea that natural laws could drive Peninsular and Oriental steamer, bound brown-backed Trogons [birds in the order
evolutionary change. Such a law was already by way of Egypt for Singapore. The Royal Trogoniformes] all found in the East, and
forming in his mind, and he might well Geographic Society had called in some the green-backed in the West? Why are
have come to it, and to the idea of natural favours to get him a first-class ticket, a rare the Macaws and the Cockatoos similarly
selection, far more rapidly except for the taste of luxury. But Wallace would once restricted? Insects furnish a countless
loss of so much valuable evidence: “Of again need to support himself upon his number of analogous examples… and in
the smaller perching-birds and insects, arrival, earning his pennies by sending back all, the most closely allied species [are]
which doubtless would have afforded many rare and beautiful specimens to the John found in geographical proximity. The
interesting facts corroborative of those Grays of the natural history world. (The question forces itself upon every thinking
>>
already mentioned, I have nothing to say,” specimens would at least be labelled with mind – why are these things so?”
he wrote in his A Narrative of Travels on the the precise locality.)
Amazon and Rio Negro, “as my extensive By the start of 1855, Wallace was holed
WIKI
collection of specimens… all ticketed up during the monsoon in a small house
for my own use, have been lost; and of at the mouth of the Sarawak River, just
course in such a question as this, the exact opposite the blue mass of Santubong
determination of species is everything.” Mountain, on the north coast of Borneo.
He cast about for ways to renew his His books had arrived belatedly by the
attack on what he later called “the most long route around Africa, and now he took
difficult and… interesting problem in the time to consult them and brood over his
natural history of the Earth” – the origin findings about the puzzling distribution
of species. The Malay Archipelago, of hummingbirds, toucans, monkeys,
sweeping from Malaysia to Papua New and other species in the Amazon. The
Guinea, seemed to offer “the very finest resulting article in that September’s The
field for the exploring and collecting Annals and Magazine of Natural History
naturalist” on account of its “wonderful proposed a simple law: “Every species has
richness” and relatively unexplored state. come into existence coincident both in
It bridged the gap between the very space and time with a pre-existing closely
different fauna of Asia and Australia, and allied species.” They hadn’t just dropped
its 17,500 islands offered an almost down from heaven.
In the Amazon, Wallace
was intrigued to find diff
species of monkey on opp erent
osite banks of the river.
Wallace noted that groups of birds of closely allied species, like this
iSTOCK
tropical South American hummingbird, often “occurred in the same

or closely adjoining districts”.
Capturing an Ornithoptera, “the largest,
the most perfect, and the most beautiful
of butterflies” in the Aru Islands near New
Guinea, for instance, Wallace recorded the
moment of discovery as we like to imagine
it: “I trembled with excitement as I saw it
come majestically toward me and could
hardly believe I had really obtained it till I
had taken it out of my net and gazed upon
its gorgeous wings of velvety black and
brilliant green, its golden body and crimson
breast. It was six and a half inches across
its expanded wings and I have certainly
never seen a more gorgeous insect.” Wallace
thought he had discovered a new species
and named it Ornithoptera poseidon.
“I had almost by heart the characters
of all the known species,” he wrote, “and
I thought I could not be deceived in
pronouncing this to be a new one.”
Even when he was describing something
not particularly new or spectacular,
Wallace’s journal entries made his delight in
nature obvious. One day he brought home
a blade of grass covered with the plant-
sucking insects called aphids. With their
antennae folded back, “the whole group
looked like a lot of long-eared white rabbits
nibbling at some very short grass” he wrote.
An ant herded the aphids and harvested
the sticky sweet liquid they excreted, racing
about with a great “rustling and tapping
and expectant gaping quite ludicrous to
SPL/WIKI
look at till at last an aphis gently raised up

his tail and out came a drop of transparent
viscous liquid”. The ant instantly “seized the
luscious drop which hung for some seconds
between his extended mandibles while he
slowly sucked it in. He then brushed his face
and cleaned his jaws with his fore feet and
again commenced watching his flock”.
Above: In later years, Wallace was “honoured” when his theory was given credit
THOUGH WALLACE THOUGHT it had
on the same level as Darwin’s “prolonged labours”. Left: The golden birdwing
butterfly, which Wallace collected from the Indonesian island of Bacon in 1859. sunk without trace, his 1855 paper on “the
Introduction of New Species” had stirred
>>
WALLACE AVOIDED THE language of his trouble, Wallace received a note from up interest in important circles. Charles
evolution. Instead of saying new species the London-based specimen dealer Samuel Lyell, Darwin’s friend and mentor, took
had “evolved” he said “created” and instead Stevens gently relaying country house and Wallace seriously enough to open his own
of connecting them to an “ancestral rectory complaints that he was “theorising” series of notebooks on the species question.
species” or “common ancestor” he used the when he ought to be out getting beautiful Lyell had long espoused the creationist
unfamiliar word “antitype”. This vocabulary new butterflies. dogma that all species were adapted from
obscured his logical conclusion – that allied Wallace recorded both his developing the start to their places of origin and did
species occur close together because one theories and his field notes in a journal now not change significantly thereafter. But his
species has evolved from another. Wallace kept at the Linnean Society in London. The anti-evolutionary convictions were
also neglected to propose a mechanism for cardboard covers, quarter-bound with faded beginning to waver. His first notebook
how this kind of evolution could occur. So old leather, are falling apart, and many of entry, two days after reading the Wallace
even Darwin missed the point when he read the pages are loose and with brittle, broken article, disputed the idea that rudimentary
the article, scribbling “nothing very new” edges. But the greatest field collector of the limbs in a snakelike reptile were evidence
and “it seems all creation with him”. For 19th century still lives between the lines. for its evolution from a quadruped.
“Arguments against such variability of natural forces could produce major changes meaning,” he began. “Some species are
species are too powerful,” he wrote – and not just in geological phenomena but also very rare and others very abundant. Where
seemed almost to add, “Aren’t they?” in living plants and animals, even leading is the balance?” And then the key phrase
Wallace meanwhile was jotting notes to to the origin of new species. (Darwin had (italics added): “To human apprehension
himself about how such limb rudiments in also taken this idea from Lyell, insisting in this is no balance but a struggle in which one
whales revealed descent from quadruped his species manuscript on gradual changes often exterminates another.” In his state of
mammals. For the next few months, at a produced by natural causes.) It bothered high critical dudgeon, Wallace seemed to
distance of 12,800km, Lyell and Wallace Wallace that Lyell did not also see it. miss, for the moment, the full import of
harrowed each other’s thoughts. The reliance on “special creations” set his own words. What he was describing was
The two men inhabited distinctly Wallace off on a transmutationist tear in natural selection.
different worlds, and not just his journal: “In a small group of islands For almost 20 years, Darwin had
geographically. Lyell had “a Lord Chancellor not very distant from the mainland, like managed to conceal the full extent of his
Manner” according to one acquaintance. He the Galapagos, we find animals and plants evolutionary thinking from Lyell, the
was also “clubbable and cultured; a friend different from those of any other country leading anti-evolutionary voice of his
to peers and Prime generation. But soon
Ministers”, according the shocking truth was
to Darwin biographer “I trembled with excitement as I saw it come out: Darwin believed
Adrian Desmond. “He in the almost infinite
was a lawyer by training majestically towards me and could hardly believe I had possibility of species
and a gentleman by
status: he lived on
really obtained it till I had taken it out of my net…” to vary and evolve, by
natural or artificial
his capital and made selection. Lyell was
geology his vocation.” Wallace meanwhile but resembling those of the nearest land. If alarmed. This wasn’t some dubious
was a friend to funny old men in remote they are special creations why should they continental like Lamarck. Darwin was a
villages, and of course still a glorified resemble those of the nearest land? Does cautious and highly regarded naturalist,
labourer who lived by catching butterflies. not that fact point to an origin from that and, no small thing, a member of his
His temperament was also far more land.” It was just a note to himself, jotted own social class. He grew more alarmed
impetuous, more taken with new ideas. down too fast for proper punctuation. But later that month, when Darwin convened
But Lyell’s 1,200-page Principles of Geology it wasn’t really a question, anyway. a gathering at Down House where he
was a continuing influence. With lawyerly subtly lobbied for the evolutionary cause
precision, it made the case that natural FROM ONE ISLAND to the next, Wallace’s with his guests, the biologist and writer
rather than miraculous forces had caused thoughts repeatedly came back to Lyell, T.H. Huxley, the botanist Joseph Hooker,
the raising of seabeds, delving of canyons, often in a spirit of contention. The and the entomologist T. Vernon Wollaston,
and upthrusting of mountains. Lyell geologist’s talk of the “balance of species” who had just published a book on variation
>>
thought geologic changes had pushed Wallace to the brink. “This in beetle species.
occurred gradually, from forces still phrase is utterly without SPL
operating in the modern world. He
debunked Georges Cuvier’s romantic
vision of an Earth alternating between
epochs of catastrophic upheaval (when
waves of extinction swept across the
planet) and periods of relative
calm (when new species sprang
up). In contrast to this
catastrophist worldview,
Lyell’s uniformitarians saw a
steadier, slower process of
change, with the past not so different
from the present, give or take a few
extinctions. But catastrophists and
uniformitarians alike believed new species,
and particularly human beings, were the
result of “special creations” by God, and also
mostly permanent in character.
Lyell had devoted the second volume of
his Principles to refuting the evolutionary
Among Wallace’s better-known
thinking of French naturalist Jean-Baptiste species descriptions is that of
Lamarck. But reading and rereading it in the Rancophorus nigropalmatus, also
field, Wallace thought that the slow power of known as Wallace’s flying frog.
>>
Lyell heard about this meeting almost the lack of response within the naturalist
immediately when he ran into Huxley at community to his theoretical writing:
a Philosophical Club meeting in London. “So very few naturalists care for anything
There he also heard enough to suspect that beyond the mere description of species.”
other young naturalists were losing their work, and in
faith in the old doctrine – his doctrine EARLY IN THE NEW YEAR, at the other his cover letter
– that species had a fixed, unchangeable end of the Earth, Wallace’s travels took him Wallace asked
nature. In a note to Darwin, Lyell worried to a ramshackle hut with a leaky roof on Darwin to show the
that he and his guests “grew more and more the coast of a mountainous island he called new manuscript to Lyell, if he deemed it
unorthodox”. And to a friend, he wrote, “I Gilolo, now known as Halmahera, just west worthy. But had he simply followed his
cannot easily see how they can go so far of Papua New Guinea. It was one of the practice with his previous articles, sending
and not embrace the whole Lamarckian original Spice Islands, once the world’s only the manuscript via Stevens to the editors
doctrine.” (The friend wrote back that even source of cloves, nutmeg and other spices, of Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
Darwin must acknowledge some limit on and the object of long squabbling among credit for the discovery of natural selection
variation; he would hardly “maintain that a Middle Eastern and European colonial would have been entirely his, and the name
Moss may be modified into a Magnolia, or powers. But it was still largely unexplored, Wallace might now be as famous as Darwin.
an oyster into an alderman.”) and Wallace arranged to spend a month Wallace may simply have been too
But Lyell also could not help seeing that there. He seems to have passed much of the distracted by his species seeking to think
Darwin’s “species-making” mechanism – trip prostrate, wrapped in blankets against about the manuscript more strategically.
natural selection – might Upon his return to
actually make sense. So Ternate, he immediately
despite his own lingering Conventional naturalists still mostly treated new became caught up in
anti-evolutionary beliefs, plans for “my four-
he did the right thing as a species as the result of separate and seemingly month campaign” in
scholar and friend, urging New Guinea. By the end
Darwin to publish at least random acts of creation by God. of March Wallace was
“some small fragment of off exploring “those
your data… and so out dark forests” of New
with the theory and let it take date – and be the alternating hot and cold fits of malaria. Guinea that had given birth “to the most
cited – and understood.” If Darwin didn’t Sickness made him think, if only by forcing extraordinary and the most beautiful of
strike now, somebody else would. a pause in his restless collecting. the feathered inhabitants of the Earth, the
By now, Wallace and Darwin were also As he lay there he mulled over the species birds of paradise”.
corresponding. Through his agent, Wallace question and, one day, the same book One morning a few months later, in
sent Darwin poultry specimens from Bali that had inspired Darwin came to mind mid-June 1858, Charles Darwin wandered
and Lombok. Darwin replied in May 1857 – T.R. Malthus’s An Essay on the Principle out of his study to leaf through the mail
with encouragement, cautiously praising of Population. “It occurred to me to ask on the hall table. A fat envelope awaited
Wallace’s paper on the introduction of the question, Why do some die and some his attention, containing Wallace’s 20-page
species: “I can plainly see that we have live,” he later recalled. Thinking about how handwritten manuscript, ‘On the Tendency
thought much alike and to a certain extent the healthiest individuals survive disease, of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the
have come to similar conclusions… I and the strongest or swiftest escape from Original Type.’ Darwin read it with dawning
agree to the truth of almost every word predators, “it suddenly flashed upon recognition – and horror.
of your paper.” But he also gently warned me… in every generation the inferior would “The life of wild animals is a struggle
Wallace off: “This summer will make the inevitably be killed off and the superior for existence,” Wallace wrote, and “the
20th year (!) since I opened my first would remain – that is, the fittest would weakest and least perfectly organised must
notebook” on the species question, he survive”. Over the next three days, literally always succumb.” He described some of
wrote, adding that it might take him in a fever, he wrote out the idea. On the variations that occur normally within a
another two years to go to press. 9 March 1858, back on the volcanic island species, and theorised about how different
Darwin wrote again later that of Ternate, the commercial centre for the forms could determine whether animals
year to encourage Wallace’s work region, he posted it off to Darwin. lived or died: an antelope with shorter or
on species distribution and to It was arguably the greatest career weaker legs would be easier prey for big
empathise with him on miscalculation in the history of science. cats; a passenger pigeon with less powerful
Wallace was clearly flattered to be treated wings would have a harder time finding
as a colleague by the eminent Charles enough food, “and in both cases the result
Darwin. He could perhaps contemplate must necessarily be a diminution of the
no greater success than contributing to the population of the modified species”. On
manuscript Darwin had been working at the other hand, a change in circumstances
(and dawdling over) for 20 years. One of – a drought, a plague of locusts, or the
Darwin’s recent letters had also mentioned appearance of some new predator – could
>>
Lyell’s favourable impression of Wallace’s make the parent form of a species extinct
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and enable some modified offshoot to
“rapidly increase in numbers and occupy the
place of the extinct species and variety”.
Wallace devoted a lengthy section of his
essay to showing how his theory differed
from Lamarckian evolution: It wasn’t
about giraffes getting longer necks because
they “desired” to reach higher vegetation.
On the contrary, individual giraffes with
longer necks simply got favoured over
time because they could secure “a fresh
range of pasture over the same ground
as their shorter-necked companions, and
on the first scarcity of food were thereby
enabled to outlive them”. It was, in a
nutshell, natural selection.
Darwin had long recognised that
someone might beat him to the natural
selection jackpot and “fancied that I had
grand enough soul not to care”, he later
wrote. But now he saw how mistaken he
had been. “All my originality, whatever
ALAMY
it may amount to, will be smashed,”

he lamented in a note to Lyell. Darwin
ventured that he would be “extremely
glad now” to publish a brief account of
his own lengthy manuscript, but that “I Butterfly specimens collected by Wallace, now held in the Natural History Museum in London. The great naturalist
would far rather burn my whole book than collected some 125,000 specimens in the Malay Archipelago, more than 1,000 of them new to science.
that [Wallace] or any man should think that
I had behaved in a paltry spirit.” profitable to some part of its economy… 30 men heard an excerpt from Darwin’s
What happened next was, for some this variation… will be slowly increased 1844 manuscript, then an abstract from
modern critics, a case of gentlemen friends by the accumulative action of Natural his letter to Asa Gray, and finally Wallace’s
using their social class and professional selection; and the variety thus formed will essay. Neither author was present. Darwin
status to protect one of their own. Lyell either coexist with, or more commonly will had buried his son that day. Wallace was
and Hooker conspired, they argue, to deny exterminate its parent form.” As well as this hunting for bird of paradise specimens
a little-known outsider’s rightful claim letter, Darwin had also showed his 1844 in New Guinea. Darwin himself later
to priority. But Wallace himself did not manuscript on natural selection to Hooker. expressed surprise at the order of the
feel that way when he found out about it The compromise cobbled together presentation, having thought that the
three months later. He was, he later wrote, by Lyell and Hooker called for a joint Lyell-Hooker letter and his own letter to
honoured that his “sudden intuition” had presentation before a meeting of the Asa Gray “were to be only an appendix to
received credit “on the same level with the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858. Lyell and Wallace’s paper”. He had half-written a
prolonged labours of Darwin”. His essay had Hooker wrote an introductory letter in letter conceding all priority to Wallace “and
been “hastily written and immediately sent which the “two indefatigable naturalists”, should certainly not have changed it” except
off”. But Darwin had worked for years “to Darwin and Wallace, started out on equal for the manoeuvring by Lyell and Hooker.
present the theory to the world with such a footing, having “independently and “I assure you I feel it and shall not forget it,”
body of systematised facts and arguments unknown to one another, conceived the he wrote to Hooker, with good reason.
as would almost compel conviction”. same very ingenious theory”. But they At Burlington House, the Linnean Society
Instead of publishing his essay outright, also made it clear that Darwin had come meeting ended with no discussion of
Wallace had merely sent a letter from first, emphasising the 1844 manuscript, natural selection. The society’s president
one naturalist to another. And on those “the contents of which we had both of us went home muttering about the lack of
grounds, Darwin had fair claim to priority. been privy to for many years” – a stretch “striking discoveries” that year. And so
On 5 September 1857, six months in Lyell’s case, as he had first heard about began the greatest revolution in the
before Wallace sent his letter, Darwin Darwin’s theory in April 1856. The letter history of science.
had outlined his theory in a letter to ended by emphasising Darwin’s “years of
American botanist Asa Gray. His wording reflection,” incidentally reducing Wallace to Richard Conniff is an award-winning magazine writer and
foreshadowed Wallace’s almost point for “his able correspondent”. frequent contributor to COSMOS and the New York Times.
point: “I cannot doubt that during millions The reading took place in a narrow, This is an edited extract of his book The Species Seekers:
of generations individuals of a species stuffy ballroom at Burlington House, just Heroes, Fools and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth, published
will be born with some slight variation off Piccadilly Circus. An audience of about by Norton, 2012.
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GETTY
beauty
The
of
creation
Evolution is the supreme yet sublime allegro that gives birth to the extraordinary
symphony of life, says Richard Dawkins. It is a law of nature that can be found in
every living thing on Earth – and probably everywhere in the cosmos.
Transcribed from an interview with Heather Catchpole.
A
LOVE OF TRUTH and Who could not be curious about where they overwhelmingly strong illusion of design.
the fascination with the come from? Why do they exist, why do animals The planets and the stars are beautiful
power of unguided physical and plants look so cunningly designed, why are and awe-inspiring, but they don’t lead you
forces to produce things as they very often so beautiful? I think these are to think, “somebody must have designed
prodigiously complicated as questions that naturally occur to people who them”. Whereas living things really do.
humans – with their vast brains capable open their eyes and look at the world. I mean, an eye is so uncannily like a
of understanding where they came from – One of the most interesting things about camera, a very advanced digital camera,
>>
that’s what set me on the path to science. living creatures is that they do carry this that one is drawn to the explanation that
>>
it must have been designed – and it was In 1,000 years’ time, better science might In a million years, assuming we haven’t
Darwin’s stupendous achievement to show supersede today’s science, the same way gone extinct, if we go on with the sort
that that’s not so. Even things that look as that science has superseded a religious of cultural evolution of civilisation we
well designed as an eye actually come about understanding of the world. I think we would have at present, developing ever-faster
by natural, unguided, undirected processes. still want to call it science; but it would be planes and methods of transport and
Certainly there is no positive evidence so different from our present-day science computational devices and so on, then
against intelligent design, but that’s not that it would be scarcely recognisable. Even the environment in which the natural
the way science works. There is no evidence Galileo’s science is very much superseded selection of genes, if any, goes on will be
against evolution either. Yet, evolution now, but it is still recognisably science – and changing so rapidly that it’s extremely
effortlessly explains everything we it’s probably quite likely that the hard to generalise about what the
know about life. And it’s a selection pressures might be.
parsimonious and plausible Since selection pressures
explanation. It’s always of the past couple of
open to a religious million years have
person to say “But led to an increase in
I still think God brain size, you might
had a hand in it,” say perhaps that’s
or something of going to continue.
that sort; and But in order for
with decreasing that to happen, it
plausibility, that’s would be necessary
what they do. that the brainiest
Do we then need, individuals have the
in some evolutionary most children, and
sense, religion? It’s consistently so over a
certainly true that million years. And there
religiosity is to be found in NASA iSTOCK doesn’t seem to be any reason
all the cultures of the world; if to expect that that would be true.
you survey them as an anthropologist, It’s true that science relies on brainy
you’ll find that just about every people Left: Life on distant planets, like hot, methane-and-water- individuals to invent things – computers,
ever studied has some sort of supernatural rich HD 209458 b could harbour an entirely different and jet planes – but that doesn’t mean
genetic code. Right: The human eye functions remarkably
belief in some sort of creative deity. Not similarly to a camera lens.
that they have the most children. So
all individuals have that, and I think it’s a there’s no particular genetic pressure to
telling fact that the more educated you are, become brainier.
the less likely you are to hold that belief. science in 1,000 years’ time will be hugely Our understanding of evolution has also
I think there’s no doubt that we’d more advanced than the science of today. changed. Since my book, The Selfish Gene,
be better off without religion now. It’s was published in 1976, there have been
possible to make the case that religion has HAVE WE, AS HUMANS, effectively huge advances in molecular genetics and
done some good historically, perhaps by ceased to evolve by Darwinian selection? the understanding of how genes work,
inspiring some people to do good things or It’s certainly a lot harder to die young and there’s been a sort of rediscovery
something of that kind. now. And dying young – or rather, dying of genetics as a branch of information
But I don’t think one could make a before you’ve reproduced – is a large technology. That’s hugely exciting. It
good case that it has a beneficial effect part of what natural selection used to be enables us, for example, to have some hope
any longer – quite the reverse. Religion about. So that kind of natural selection of a final definitive tree of life: the true
teaches people to be satisfied has, at least, slackened off among pedigree of all of life.
with non-explanation, so it’s humans in more developed All of life so far examined shares the
educationally pernicious. “I think parts of the world. It is, of same genetic code: you can compare the
It also teaches people that course, still going on in genes of any two organisms you like,
faith is a virtue, so that you there’s no other species, and it’s still and calculate how closely related they
can do things – sometimes going on among humans are – whether they’re pretty close, like
even terrible things, doubt that we’d in less developed areas moles and shrews, or whether they’re
like turn yourself into a
suicide bomber – justified
be better off of the world. But even
in developed nations,
pretty far apart, like moles and bacteria.
So that’s a huge advance, and reinforces
only by your faith. You can
blame why you’re doing this
without religion not everybody has the
same number of children,
the fundamental thesis of The Selfish
Gene: that genes acting selfishly lead
on your faith; you can say, now.” and if there’s any genetic to cooperative individuals, which in
“Oh, my faith tells me, my God component to whether you turn generates cooperation in societies
wishes me to do this,” and that is have a lot of children, or none, then – and this thesis has had nothing but
more than pernicious – that’s dangerous. that is by definition natural selection. reinforcement over the years.
WHAT REMAINS A FASCINATING puzzle That’s a colossal number. If anybody only one of them survived because it
yet to be solved is how life first arose. It’s wanted to believe that we are had eaten the others, which is
increasingly clear that the big step that literally alone in the universe, probably quite plausible. Paul
had to be taken – and it was probably a they can still do so – one “The Davies, a physicist and
step that involved a large element of luck can’t disprove that idea – astrobiologist at Arizona
– was the origin of the first accurately but they’re facing up to origin of life State University in
self-replicating molecule. Colloquially, you
could say ‘the first gene’. Which probably
massive odds.
They’ve got to say
on this planet… Phoenix, takes a rather
interesting view that
was not DNA; it might have been RNA.
That’s the step that must have been taken
that, if only one in
1022 planets has life,
was a quite although it may not be
very likely, there may
in the origin of life, and that’s what people that must mean that stupefyingly rare still be other lifeforms,
are working on all around the world. the origin of life on this different from other life
Yet, it is hard to work on it because it planet – as obviously it’s event.” on Earth, living among us
happened a very long time ago, under happened on this planet – was now. They might not have
very different conditions – the Earth a quite stupefyingly rare event, DNA, or they might have DNA
was entirely different to what it is today, an improbable event. So improbable that with a different genetic code.
in part because life has changed the we’d be wasting our time even trying While Davies acknowledges that
atmosphere, filling it with oxygen, for to speculate about it, and I don’t think it’s pretty unlikely life did arise twice,
example. The origin of life is a problem in that for a moment. I think it probably nevertheless, since we can’t go to other
chemistry rather than biology – it is ‘pre- was a stroke of luck, but not that lucky. planets at the moment, or to other stars
biology’. The event in chemistry that must My guess is that there are billions of rather, we might as well – because it’s
have taken place was the spontaneous independent ‘origin of life’ events dotted cheap and easy to do – look around this
rise of a self-replicating molecule. That’s around the universe. planet to see if we can find lifeforms that
how I stated it in The Selfish Gene, and I suspect that there are probably actually have a different genetic code. You could
that hasn’t changed, but people are now more than a billion. But even a billion is a say it’s based on the principle of the man
actively working on various theories of who, having lost his keys, starts searching
how that might have happened, some of Left: A top-down view of a model of DNA, which is under a lamp post; not because he lost
shared by all cellular life on Earth. Right: A new species of
which are very promising. bacteria found in Mono Lake, California, utilises arsenic in
them there, but because that’s the only
How this feeds into the question of its DNA when grown in a phosphorus-free environment – place where there’s enough light to see
whether there is life on other planets unlike any other known species. them anyway.
is an interesting one. When In effect, Davies is looking under
people first started the lamp post, which is Earth,
thinking about the because it’s cheap and easy
question, we had no to do. And I wish him
idea whether stars luck with it. It would
other than our be an extremely
Sun had planets; exciting thing to
we only knew discover, perhaps
that our Sun had something like a
planets. We also bacterium, with a
knew that most totally different
of those planets genetic code.
have their own I do think the
orbiting satellites: question of the
Jupiter and Saturn origin of life is an
constitute miniature inspiring question,
solar systems, which and I’m delighted to be
iSTOCK NASA
gave confidence to the idea watching it from the sidelines.
that other stars probably have The question of how advanced nervous
their own planets. very small number compared to 1022. Even systems evolve to get to become
That’s now been confirmed, very if there are a billion planets around the conscious, self-aware, I think is another
dramatically really, by astronomers, who universe that have life, they are still so rare very intriguing and philosophically quite
are discovering by more than one method and so spaced apart that they’re unlikely baffling question.
that other stars do have planets. It now ever to encounter one another.
looks as though most stars have planets, Richard Dawkins, a celebrated British evolutionary
and with a pretty good estimate of the ONE INTERESTING SUGGESTION is biologist, is the author of 11 books, most recently The
number of stars it looks as though there that life could have arisen twice on our Magic of Reality. This article was transcribed from an
are something like 10 to the 22nd power own planet. Darwin considered that, interview with Heather Catchpole. Listen to the full
(1022) planets in the universe. and suggested that if it did happen, interview and read the transcript at bit.ly/JoQxMx.
Evo lu t io n
revol ut i on
MODERN HUMAN new species?
Startling new finds of previously unknown ancient hominids in Asia

have overturned long-held ideas about the origins of humans and
transformed our vision of ourselves as a species, writes Darren Curnoe,
who was at the centre of the latest discoveries.
SPL/DARREN CURNOE
Despite its young age, a cranium found in

Longlin Cave is dramatically different from
an early Chinese modern human.
I
T’S BEEN CALLED the Asian
Palaeoanthropologist Andy Herries surveys
Century – a nice catchphrase for the Maludong (Red Deer Cave) in 2008.
21st century, calling attention to the
growing industrial juggernauts from
a region likely to reshape the world’s
social and economic landscape. But the
science of human evolution is also being
reshaped by startling new finds from Asia.
Over the past decade alone, discoveries
made in the region have already overturned
long-held ideas about the origins of
modern humans and transformed our
vision of ourselves as a species.
The upheaval began in 2004 with the
discovery of Homo floresiensis, dubbed the
‘hobbit’, from Liang Bua Cave on the island
of Flores in Indonesia. Then, in 2010, a
team of scientists announced in Nature
that they had extracted DNA from a new
kind of human found in Denisova Cave in
central Asia. And finally, in March 2012, a
JI XUEPING
team of Chinese and Australian scientists,

which I co-led, revealed – in the journal
PLoS ONE in March 2012 – the existence of An archaic population tha
t
what became known as the Red Deer Cave d with mo dern hum ans at
interbre
years ago was found
people from southwest China. This trio of the assumption that they are least 30,000
.`
in Denisova Cave, Siberia
discoveries has shaken the foundations of a special, separate species, and
palaeoanthropology. who will probably never accept
When the joint Indonesian–Australian H. floresiensis as anything other
team announced the hobbit find in Nature than ‘unusual’ modern humans
in October 2004, the news had a mixed and members of Homo sapiens.
reception from scientists. Some colleagues But after eight years of debate,
gave immediate, strong support to the the hobbit is now widely regarded
idea that H. floresiensis was a new species as a remarkable find that has
that had survived until only about 17,000 revolutionised our understanding
years ago. However, the proposal was so of human evolution.
radical that it triggered suspicion among
other paleoanthropologists. Scepticism SO WHY IS H. floresiensis so
is a good thing in science, as big claims important? Until it was found,
require substantial evidence and we needed the most recent species of
an intense debate to sort this one out, human beings other than H.
although at times it did regretfully get a sapiens that we knew of were the
SPL
little too acrimonious. Neanderthals, who survived in

Initially, I was both stunned and deeply Europe until around 35,000 years
perplexed by the find. My colleagues and ago, possibly as recently as 25,000 unlike either the Neanderthals’ or ours.
I discussed many alternative possibilities: years. Neanderthals shared a common In most respects, they look a lot like the
could the hobbits be diseased, short- ancestor with modern humans around earliest members of the genus Homo, like
statured, modern humans rather than a 400,000 years ago before we evolved into Homo habilis, who lived in Africa over a
new species? Was there a problem with separate species. They had large bodies and million years ago. Indeed, in some features,
the dating of Liang Bua Cave soils that brains, walked fully upright like us, and had including their grapefruit-sized brains and
made them seem much younger than they sophisticated cultures. In many ways, they peculiar foot bones, they look more like
actually were? were a lot like us. Yet there are important the australopithecines, a group of human
As the debate continued, however, differences in the anatomy of their skulls, ancestors who lived in Africa between about
more specimens from Liang Bua Cave brain surfaces and bodily skeletons, hence 2 million and 4 million years ago. The ‘Lucy’
were described and further details of the their designation as a distinct species: fossil found in Ethiopia during the 1970s
group’s peculiar anatomy emerged. The tide Homo neanderthalensis. is a famous example of Australopithecus
began to turn about the classification of In contrast with the Neanderthals, the afarensis. Other australopithecine fossils
the hobbit folk. Sure, there were and still hobbits had very small bodies and brains, have been found in eastern and southern
>>
are a few stalwarts who hold out against and their limb bones are in many ways Africa, but not from Europe or Asia.
new species
2010
DAVID REICH ET AL/NATURE

DENISOVA Cave
RUSSIA
2012
RED DEER CAVE
CHINA
DARREN CURNOE
2004
Liang Bua Cave
Unusual fossils from Asia have redrawn our
evolutionary tree. Left to right: a molar from
INDONESIA
Denisova Cave, Siberia, is larger than a modern
human tooth; the ‘hobbit’ from Flores, Indonesia,
WIKI
is confirmed as a separate species; Red Deer Cave,

China, has probably yielded a new species.
>>
Yet here was evidence for H. floresiensis Asia, possibly from the time when the Melanesia, Australia and the Americas. It
living on an island in Indonesia, not region was first settled by modern humans. seems that during the early peopling of East
continental Africa. More to the point, the Even more remarkable, geneticists Asia, perhaps 50,000 to 60,000 years ago,
species had persisted there until around managed to extract ancient DNA from the the earliest modern humans encountered
17,000 years ago, a time when modern Denisovan tooth and finger bone. This and interbred with the Denisovans.
humans had occupied Asia, Australia and showed these remains were from different Their genetic legacy lives on in East
the western Pacific for tens of thousands individuals who might have lived in the Asians, Oceanic peoples and Native
of years. Just how or when they arrived cave 7,500 years apart. It also showed that Americans in the form of many genes,
and their precise affinities to other ancient they belonged to a previously unknown including some associated with their
lineages remains a matter of debate. archaic species, one closely related to the immune systems. Up to half the alleles
Then, in 2010, a startling new find Neanderthals, but distinct from them (different gene forms) associated with
emerged from Denisova a particular class of
Cave in the Altai If the Red Deer Cave people turn out to be genes – the so-called
Mountains in southern human leukocyte antigen
Siberia. The only bony members of Homo sapiens, we will need to (HLA) class I – may have
evidence we have for the been acquired through
so-called ‘Denisovans’ rethink – in a radical way – the characteristics interbreeding with the
comes from this cave. Denisovans. For the
Excavations yielded a that we define as human. living people carrying
solitary finger bone of Denisovan genes, it could
a child and a molar tooth from an adult, and quite distinct from us. This firmly be that interbreeding was a major reason
both dated as being older than 30,000, and lumps the Denisovans with the archaics for the survival of their ancestors in the
perhaps even more than 50,000, years old. – fossils with more primitive features challenging environments of East Asia
The tooth is enormous – comparable in than our own species, and which includes after modern humans’ exodus from Africa
size to the teeth of H. habilis rather than H. erectus, Homo heidelbergensis and around 70,000 years ago.
modern humans, Neanderthals or even H. neanderthalensis. A similar interbreeding event seems to
Homo erectus. This discovery is important As if that wasn’t enough, genetic have occurred in West Asia when the first
because it provides evidence for a previously comparisons have since revealed that modern humans out of Africa initially
unknown, late-surviving and archaic- Denisovan DNA is found in the genomes encountered the Neanderthals. Today,
looking population living in east-central of indigenous peoples today in East Asia, all living non-Africans have segments of
SPL
Neanderthal DNA in their genomes, in
addition to the Denisovan DNA that a
subset of us carries around. Africans
didn’t escape this interspecies hanky
panky either. Research shows that a late-
surviving archaic population in Africa
also left its signature in the genomes of
living people there.
ADDING TO THE MIX is a new human

species found recently in China and
dated to between 14,500 and 11,500
years old. With Ji Xueping from the
Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and
An artist’s impression of
Archaeology in Kunming, China, I was the ‘hobbit’ (Homo floresie
hunted pygmy elephants nsis), who
co-leader of the team that discovered on the Indonesian island
of Flores.
the Red Deer Cave people and brought
their significance to the attention of the
world early in 2012. neighbouring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous rock. The rest of the skeleton was encased
One of the sites where we found Region, some 300km northeast of in rock. But it was clear from what we could
their bones, near the city of Mengzi in Maludong. At the time, the archaeologists see that the remains appeared archaic,
southeast Yunnan Province, was called removed only the lower jaw and a few although at that stage we had no idea how
Maludong or the Red Deer Cave – hence fragments of rib and limb bones from the old they were. Luckily, within the cavity of
the name we gave them. Maludong was cave wall: the rest of the skeleton was left in the skull, embedded in rock, we discovered
originally a limestone quarry. In 1989, local a small block of stone, which was later sent pieces of charcoal. Using the radiocarbon
archaeologists and a senior archaeologist to Kunming. Collectively, these remains method, we dated them to about 11,500
from Beijing undertook excavations to represented at least one individual from years old, and we determined that a piece of
recover fossils quarry workers had noticed. Longlin cave and three from Maludong. cave crystal (speleothem) that had formed
The human remains were briefly described Ji Xueping rediscovered the remains, on top of the skull was about 7,800 years
in a Chinese-language book published in which had long sat in a basement of the old. We think the charcoal age is likely to be
Kunming, but received no further study or Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and closer to the actual time when the skeleton
international investigation until our team Archaeology, and in 2009 showed me the was deposited in the cave.
started working on them in 2008. block of stone containing the fossils. After
The archaeologists retrieved over 30 metaphorically picking my own jaw up from SO WHAT IS SPECIAL about the Red Deer
fossilised bones from Maludong, including the floor, we decided to make the remains a Cave people? Their anatomy comprises a
three partial skulls, two lower jaws, isolated priority of our research. very unusual combination of features, like
teeth, and rib and limb bone fragments. Only the brow ridge and part of the top of nothing we’ve seen before in the human
>>
Bones were also found in Longlin Cave in the forehead could be seen jutting from the fossil record. They are, in short, the most
PAUL TACON
JI XUEPING
Bao Zhende (left) and Darren Curnoe (right) sort the fossil hoard from Maludong in 2008. Darren Curnoe (left) and Ji Xueping (right) examining the Longlin skull in 2010.
meet the
ancestors
>> >>
HOMO recent population of humans to be found case of the Red Deer Cave people, we have
today FLORESIENSIS anywhere in the world that doesn’t closely found a population that is more closely
resemble H. sapiens. related to modern humans and later
HOMO SAPIENS I compiled a list of 100 features of the archaics like Neanderthals, than a very
Red Deer Cave people and compared ancient group that resembles H. habilis
them with Ice Age modern humans and or Australopithecus. Also, they survived
archaic humans. I found that about 50% on mainland East Asia in a region widely
of their features most closely resemble regarded to be a “genetic reservoir” for
HOMO archaic populations such as H. erectus, H. modern humans after they entered East
NEANDERTHALENSIS neanderthalensis and H. heidelbergensis. Asia 60,000 years ago, rather than on an
Only 12% most closely resemble H. sapiens, island in more remote Indonesia.
while a further 23% seem to be unusual We haven’t placed the Red Deer Cave
among all of these species. people into a known species, nor do we
Like ancient members of our lineage, Red plan to announce a new one just yet. But I
1 million
years ago They are, in short, the youngest population to be
HOMO found anywhere in the world that doesn’t closely
HEIDELBERGENSIS
resemble modern humans.
HOMO ERGASTER
Deer Cave people had braincases that were do think the evidence is weighted towards
low and rounded, and short and narrow. the Red Deer Cave people representing a
Their lower jaws were not especially big, new evolutionary line, as I described in an
but they lacked a fully modern chin and opinion piece published in COSMOS Online
had large molar teeth. The brow ridges in March 2012.
were prominent, but thin towards the sides Alternatively, we could have found
2 million like modern humans. a hybrid population, one that resulted
years ago HOMO ERECTUS Viewed side on, the cheek bones are from a recent mating of modern humans
HOMO vertical and sit forward compared to the and an archaic group of humans like the
RUDOLFENSIS forehead, the nasal bridge looks very flat, Denisovans. This would be a very difficult
and the lower jaw juts well forward of the idea to test, though. It suggests that at
HOMO HABILIS face. In these ways they look like H. erectus least one archaic group survived until the
or even H. habilis. Yet like H. sapiens, their end of the Ice Age. While an exciting idea,
faces are vertically short and foreheads it seems less likely than the Red Deer Cave
quite rounded. people representing a new species.
Three-dimensional models of the brain Continuing attempts by our colleagues at
surface we made from CT (computed the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese
tomography) scans suggest the brain Academy of Sciences to extract DNA from
volume was moderate for an Ice Age human the Longlin and Maludong bones would
3 million AUSTRALOPITHECUS – most similar to a Neanderthal. They also help us classify the remains with greater
years ago show that the frontal lobes of the brain confidence. It would also offer insights into
ISTOCKPHOTO; WIKIMEDIA; FLICKR.
AFRICANUS
were quite large overall, but the middle or their evolutionary history and relationships
parietal brain lobes were short, like archaic to modern humans, Neanderthals and
humans. Overall size can be deceptive the Denisovans, and allow us to test the
though, and when the shape of the frontal hybridisation hypothesis.
lobes is compared, they look more like As I said earlier, significant claims must
archaic than modern humans. be backed up by significant evidence. Our
This unusual anatomy is highly colleagues will scrutinise every last feature
unexpected for a population living and data point in our article, as they
between 14,300 and 11,500 years ago. All should. But if the Red Deer Cave people do
the more remarkable, the Red Deer Cave turn out to be members of H. sapiens, we
people would then have been surrounded will need to rethink – in a radical way – the
4 million AUSTRALOPITHECUS by modern humans, some of whom had characteristics that we define as human.
years ago AFARENSIS begun to change their culture and economy
The human family tree – new finds will add two
toward agriculture. Darren Curnoe is an anthropologist, palaeontologist and
modern relatives, the ‘Red Deer Cave’ people and So, there are some parallels here with evolutionary biologist at the University of New South
the Denisovans, cousins of the Neanderthals. the discovery of the hobbit. But, in the Wales in Sydney.
Your future is
waiting for you.
Visit Australia’s world standard university.
Open Day
Sunday 19 August 2012
Parkville and Southbank campuses 10am–4pm
Burnley campus Open Day 10am–3pm Sunday 15 July
Plan your day online at

openday.unimelb.edu.au
What drove us to become
human has caused a
passionate furore in
anthropology, such as the
controversy over the theory
that water shaped our body
plans. Drew Turney reports.
S
OME TIME AFTER we split
from our joint chimp-human
ancestors, they stood upright
and shed their fur. But just
why this happened is a matter
of highly charged debate. For years, the
savannah theory – the idea that we became
hairless apes to keep cool by sweating
on open African plains – held sway. But
a controversial theory that plays on our
strong ties to water keeps cropping up in
the cultural zeitgeist.
“A lot of people get weird ideas, like the
one that space aliens have visited Earth,”
says Elaine Morgan, a 92-year-old feminist
author, television writer and evolution
enthusiast. “I’m often lumped in with them.
But the evidence is still scientific enough,
and solid enough, that they haven’t written
it off. They just put it to one side because
it’s troublesome.”
Morgan is talking about aquatic ape
theory (AAT), which she first championed
in 1972. The theory claims humanity
went through a period of intensive marine
Naked
habitation that accounts not only for the
differences between us and other primates,
but similarities with marine mammals like
dugongs and walruses.
GETTY/AURORA CREATIVE
Many scientists are dismissive, even
iSTOCK
downright antagonistic, towards the theory.
(“Why not regale your readers with other
conspiracy theories like humans never
went to the Moon, or that plate tectonics
is a hoax?” was how Harvard evolutionary
biologist Daniel Lieberman responded when
asked to comment).
Another Harvard scholar, Gail Kennedy,
referred to a story about the theory being a
joke that was accidentally introduced to the
minutes of a meeting of the Royal Society.
Morgan is used to the scorn, but after 40
years she still hasn’t seen proof she’s wrong.
“Most prestigious scientists have said ‘yes,
we think this may have something in it’,”
she says. “But none of them have said ‘we
are sure there’s nothing in it’.”
THE THEORY LACKS FOSSIL evidence to

back it up. Yet credible research continues
to ask if there might be something in it.
Stephen Munro, a biological anthropologist
and curator for people and the environment
at the National Museum of Australia is
among those who support aquatic (or
“waterside”, as he prefers) theories. Along
with Marc Verhaegen, a Belgian-based
physician, he suggests the ancestors of apes,
as well as humans, were aqua-arboreal, tree-
dwelling creatures in flooded forests.
While Morgan (an author rather than
a scientist) cites human characteristics
such as hairlessness and swimming ability,
Munro also points to the heavy bones of
Homo erectus as support of the theory. He
thinks early humans developed heavier
bones to overcome the natural buoyancy
of their lungs and subcutaneous fat while
foraging in relatively shallow waters
for shellfish – “food we didn’t have to
chase”, he says. “Swimming, diving and
Apes
seafood are important components of
so many cultures. There are shellfish in
the prehistoric records around Australia,
>>
Denmark and the Americas.”
Why do humans walk upright and

have so little body hair? It’s up for
debate, but the answer could be in
the water, not on the savannah.
Elaine Morgan isn’t a scie
ntist, but she champions
controversial theory of hum a
an evolution.
>>
The fossil record can show that humans anthropologist Aaron Filler suggests
followed the coasts out of Africa, but Morgan that a chance genetic mutation caused
thinks our ancestors’ migratory route bipedalism. The evidence to back him up
was about more than just staying close to comes from a fossilised vertebra from a
drinking water and fishing. We started out on 19-million-year-old ape belonging to the
four legs, Morgan says, but after generations genus Morotopithecus. This oddly shaped
of standing upright to wade across rivers or vertebra would have made walking on all
into the sea to fish, we stayed that way. As fours painful and difficult, Filler explains.
DYL AN MORGAN
she points out, apes and monkeys walk on So the ancestors of the four major primates
Biological anthropologist Stephen Munro thinks early

humans developed heavier bones to overcome the
natural buoyancy of their lungs and subcutaneous fat
while foraging in relatively shallow waters for shellfish. curious position. Labelled a crank with a
theory undeserving of scientific scrutiny,
their hind legs (albeit gracelessly) when they (Strepsirrhini primates, like lemurs and she says the aquatic ape theory has indeed
cross a waterway or look for food underwater. lorises, New World monkeys, Old World never been subjected to the testing it
Of course, she could be wrong. We may monkeys, and apes and humans) could deserves. The theory first stemmed from
have become bipedal to free our hands have taken to walking on two legs and the work of marine biologist Alister Hardy,
for tool making, as Charles Darwin first the mutation then imposed itself on the who put forward his ideas in the 1960s after
suggested, or to raise ourselves upright to lineage. Later, the other groups reverted to fearing ridicule for decades.
spot predators, as meerkats do. Or being scuttling on all fours but the apes stayed In the savannah theory, Morgan saw
upright might have been a good way to upright, he suggests. a pro-male bias that left females and
allow air to circulate around the body infants near-useless apart from sorting a
while traversing hot open plains. All these THE EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGISTS who few berries. Her 1972 book The Descent of
theories suffer because the transition from dismissed Morgan’s ideas in the 1970s had Woman was primarily about feminism, not
four legs to two must have been difficult. a key theory to back them up. The savannah evolution, but in it Morgan promoted the
Bipedalism may also have come about theory came about after Raymond Dart’s AAT and promptly put the collective nose of
as an effect rather than a cause. In his discovery of the Taung child skull, published the evolution fraternity out of joint. After
2007 book The Upright Ape, Harvard in 1925. Because Dart made his discovery half a century of the savannah theory’s
on the African plains, evolutionary assured position, here was a non-scientist
ALAMY
theorists laid bets that the plains made us spreading political propaganda. Even worse,
who were are – walking on our hind legs Morgan was getting attention.
and losing the body hair of our ancestors. She took to heart early criticism of her
While the savannah theory reigned for lack of references and adhered to stricter
half a century, studies of ancient pollen in methods in later books, but the damage was
the 1990s cast some doubt on this model done. “I suspect her credibility in scientific
of bipedalism, as Morgan explains in her circles was shot with the first book,”
latest book, The Naked Darwinist (2008). says John Langdon, professor of biology
Inspection of fossilised plant matter in and anthropology at the University of
areas of australopithecine development Indianapolis and the author of a 1997 paper
that were long assumed to have been in the Journal of Human Evolution that some
open plains showed that these fossils call ‘the AAT killer’.
were found in heavily wooded areas. Langdon once discussed the AAT with
Suddenly there was no need to Morgan, pointing out that the various
stand upright to see across grasses to theories put forward to support AAT show
the far horizon because we were still up at different evolutionary stages. She
surrounded by thick forest. In The focussed on bipedalism, which Langdon
Naked Darwinist, Morgan says that the doesn’t think is the whole story. But as he
scientific fraternity has brushed the concedes, “it’s totally unfair to say there’s
problem under the carpet by claiming only one aquatic ape hypothesis out there”.
the savannah theory always included a
woodland component. WHILE MUNRO BEATS the drum about
bonobo s wad e on two legs, lending credence to Though quite prepared to be proven AAT, other scientists are equally convinced
Apes like water.
to be bipedal because of >>
the idea that we evolved wrong, Morgan finds herself in a that peculiar human characteristics – our
Wet or dry
From the water? Or the land?
Aquatic ape theory could explain some notable AAT’s detractors have several strong
differences between us and other primates. points in their favour.
REDUCED SENSE OF SMELL

Our brain architecture for smell is half the size of other
apes. Could it be because it’s useless underwater? DUST-FREE NOSTRILS
Our downward-facing nostrils might
just as well have kept dust blowing
DOWNWARD-FACING NOSTRILS across the plains out of our airways as
Water can slide past our airways, whereas the water out of our noses.
forward-facing nostrils of other primates would
be difficult for them to block if they swam.
ADVANCED BREATH CONTROL

Our displaced larynx, mouth-assisted
breathing and gasp reflex might be a reaction
to holding our breath and could have formed
the building blocks of speech.
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LACK OF A THICK PELT NOT ALL
Found in many other mammals HAIRLESS
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streamlined for swimming and diving. While we’re not

as hirsute as
SEAFOOD DIET apes, racially and
Our brain size tripled over two million years, individually our
possibly thanks to omega-3 and omega-6 hair is as different
fatty acids found in fish and shellfish. from each other’s
as it is from theirs.
SUBCUTANEOUS FAT
Rather than isolated fat deposits in
dedicated areas like our close cousins, our
skin rests on a body-wide fat layer that SWIMMING ISN’T INNATE
might have kept us warm in cold water. Unlike other creatures that spend a lot of
time in water, we don’t swim instinctively
HOMO ERECTUS’S HEAVY BONES and are suspiciously prone to drowning.
Hard to drag across the savannah in open hunt, but “Our tendency to spend time in the water
useful for overcoming air-filled lungs trying to keep is very much cultural,” says Langdon.
us afloat, while foraging underwater for shellfish.
BIPEDALISM BUILT TO RUN

Possibly prompted by wading Our short toes and other anatomical
through water instead of features, such as the tendons in our legs,
going on all fours in a tree- seem tailor made for long-distance running.
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filled environment.
Homo erectus was named
>>
speed, dexterity and ability to sweat, for general conclusion is that, while there are for its bipedalism, but the
example – point to an evolution influenced a number of arguments favouring the AAT, species had heavy bones
that
would make running diffi
by our ability not to swim, but to run. they are not sufficiently convincing to cult.
Lieberman, of Harvard University’s counteract the arguments against it”.
department of human evolutionary biology,
champions the running man theory. We THE REAL CHALLENGE facing AAT – or
became better endurance runners than our any theory of human evolution – is how
prey, he claims, by simply running them little nature leaves us to work with after
down to the point of exhaustion across soft tissue clues about our stance, lung
the savannah. He believes sweating gives capacity or diet have long disappeared.
us longer range than panting animals, and “They’re nice ideas but it’s hard to do
almost every muscle group in our body is anything with them,” Langdon says of
built around speedy upright locomotion. aspects of AAT. “What do you do with
Zoologist Desmond Morris provides an idea you can’t test? The terrestrial
compelling evidence for the running man models aren’t easy to prove either. That’s
theory. In his 2008 book The Naked Man, just the nature of the beast.”
Morris points out the seemingly dangerous In other words, without more clues, it’s
positioning of human testicles outside the hard to know if our aquatic behaviour
body, when sex cell production in female dates from 1.8 million years ago when
humans (and most other animals of both human ancestors migrated from Africa,
sexes) is done safely inside. To Morris, or tens of thousands of years ago due to
the male human torso – designed for the climate or food availability.
twisting, jolting and stretching of a running One big problem with science, as
animal – would simply be too concussive. the AAT controversy illuminates,
Munro doesn’t buy it. “People who run is that scientists are only human,
long distances want to be light because subject to the pursuit of glory and
moving heavy bones isn’t easy on land,” jealousy of peers like Hollywood stars.
he says, referring to H. erectus’s extremely Experimentation and data are all well
heavy skeleton. “In water it’s an advantage and good, but the stakes can be high
SPL
– that’s why dugongs and manatees have when careers are on the line.
heavy bones.” “There’s definitely a desire to be the
Colin Groves, an anthropologist from the one who breaks orthodox science open
Australian National University, Canberra, and shows us it’s all wrong,” says Langdon. amateurs like Morgan. Has he even been
says any theory about early humans’ “Every graduate student dreams about it. tempted to drop it all for the sake of his
relationship with water remains a moveable Everyone is trying to criticise everybody employment prospects? “I’ve been told not
feast. “[AAT] seemed at first to be about else – that’s the way science works – but to publish with Marc Verhaegen because
swimming and getting all your food from the some criticisms are better than others.” he’s seen as an extremist. When you have
sea, all the adaptations being for swimming It’s still hard for aquatic or waterside papers rejected as often as we do, you
and things like that,” he says. “Bit by bit that theories to get a toehold. Munro says wonder if it’s all worth it. But I’ve made a
seems to have changed. Today nobody would he and co-author Marc Verhaegen have contribution and I hope to make a further
contribution in the future.”
The take-home message from this
“Today nobody would deny waterside habitation has debate seems to be that nothing put
been crucial in human evolution. We would have been forward so far explains all the quirks of
our physiology compared with that of the
close to water through most of our existence.” other apes, and we should stop looking
for one from the top down. Maybe our
pursuit of an overarching theory of
deny waterside habitation has been crucial in had a hard time getting letters or papers evolution – like Einstein’s elusive grand
human evolution. We would have been close published in respected journals and that unified theory of physics – holds too
to water through most of our existence.” the peer-review system “is set up to stop much sway over our imaginations.
There was an attempt to settle the alternative ideas”. He says the reasons the “We need to be very wary of umbrella
argument back in 1987 at a conference theory is still contentious range from the theories,” says Langdon. “We need to keep
in Valkenberg, the Netherlands. “The emotional to the institutional. “It’s to do testing individual hypotheses about this
Aquatic Ape: Fact or Fiction” brought with paradigms,” he says. “Once a paradigm trait and that trait rather than looking for a
22 scientists and authors together – is established, it’s invisible to people sweeping explanation.”
Verhaegen and Morgan among them. operating within it.”
Unfortunately, the conclusive statement Those with careers in science on the Drew Turney is a freelance technology and science
was decidedly inconclusive, saying: “Our line, like Munro, have more to lose than journalist based in Los Angeles.
Our cultural domination of the planet, not natural
pressures, will drive humanity’s future evolution.
So, what might we be like in the next millennium
Future
and beyond? Hal Hodson reports.
human Illustrations Jamie Tufrey
N
ATURAL SELECTION IS OVER... at least for
now. We humans control large portions of the
world in which we live, using massive political
constructs to help us wield that control. Very
few individuals now live in serious isolation
from the collective. And, because economics requires
it, most groups of any size are linked to the rest of the
human population. It means the global population is too
interconnected for any one mutation to take hold.
Genetic diseases that 20 years ago might have
routinely killed children at birth are now cured or staved
off, letting those affected reach adulthood, reproduce
and pass on their genes. So, how might the humans of
the future develop beyond the hallowed halls of survival
of the fittest? Will we take control of our own evolution
and slowly adapt to the environment we’ve created for
ourselves? Or could population segregation re-emerge
one day through space travel, class separation or even
the downfall of civilisations?
Here’s how our descendants might diverge from the
modern human body plan we inherited on the grasslands
when our ancestors climbed down from the trees.
1,000 years
O
N AN AFRICAN PLAIN millions Williams speculates that the slower replacements for physiological stresses
of years ago, one of our ancestors adoption of the precision grip may might suggest we’re headed that way,
picked up a stone. With a thumb be down to schools placing a greater and that 1,000 years of change could see
wrapped over it, she crashed it down on a emphasis on computers and keyboards, our bodies bulging and flaccid through
nut that cracked opened to reveal a trove rather than the traditional hours spent insufficient use.
of proteins and fats. Suddenly, the world learning handwriting. “Typing is a very Evolution, however, is a clever force.
of food became wider than what could low-force, low-pressure activity, and I And even if we can’t consciously avoid
be scraped, peeled or popped open with wonder if those muscles just aren’t being that fate, Cath Suter, a molecular
bare hands, and a new vista of nutritional developed to the same extent that they geneticist from the Victor Chang Cardiac
opportunity opened up. For the first were in my generation, and our parents’ Research Institute in Sydney, thinks that
time, the ability to use a technology generation,” she says. nature just might fix it for us.
began conferring a fitness advantage and If that is the case, it’s unlikely the “Steven Simpson, a biologist at the
drive human evolution – if her thumbs thumb is the only part of the body University of Sydney, did an experiment
were up to the job. under reduced physical stresses thanks some years ago with caterpillars where he
“We have fat thumbs,” fed them a really high-calorie
says Erin Marie Williams, diet,” she explains. “The
an anthropologist at George “I’ve always wondered is that where we’re caterpillars got fat and got,
Washington University, in basically, caterpillar diabetes.
Washington DC. “We have headed, where everyone is just a blob?” But after eight generations
long thumbs relative to our on that diet, the caterpillars
fingers, and we also have three additional to technology. The world we’ve built for became immune to its metabolic effects.
muscles that allow us to move our thumbs ourselves is designed to suit the human They adjusted to it and became lean,
really finely, in a manner that no other body, not place stresses on it. But it’s healthy caterpillars again.”
living species is able to.” those stresses that sculpted our current Suter thinks that adaptation wasn’t the
Our hands evolved this way to cope with form – our bodies are overbuilt for a result of direct changes to the caterpillar’s
the stresses of stone tool use, Williams world without them. DNA – eight generations is too few
suggests. Apes, such as orangutans, don’t Although we won’t have evolved into a for that. Rather, she attributes it to a
have strong, flexible thumbs and can’t different animal in 1,000 years from now, functional change in the systems that
wield tools as well as we can. we will have changed. But the influences surround and interact with the DNA – an
But what use are fat thumbs to modern of existing technologies on that change epigenetic change. “DNA is quite simple.
humans? We don’t need to smash marrow will be gradual. In the near future we There are four nucleotides, they’re in a
out of cows’ shinbones. And people in won’t change genetically, but our bodies string, they make a code,” she says. “But
the developed world increasingly work in may end up being ‘overqualified’ for our epigenetics is about all the things that fit
jobs where typing is the most strenuous lifestyle. on the DNA.”
physical activity. What will our hands and Williams evokes the 2008 film Wall-E Will humans, like the caterpillars,
thumbs look like in 1,000 years? as depicting one possible physiological start adapting to the environment we’re
Recently, a physiotherapist contacted destination for humanity, in which building for ourselves – a rich diet, lower
Williams with a query that touched on this humans float around on wired hover- physical activity, warmer climate? It’s “a
question. “She noticed,” says Williams, loungers, experiencing no physical valid speculation”, says Suter. She’s quick
“that more and more children are holding stresses. “I’ve always wondered,” Williams to point out that just because epigenetics
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their pen or pencil in a fist throughout asks, “is that where we’re headed, where might one day manoeuvre the human
elementary school and into middle school, everyone is just a blob?” genome around our high-calorie diets,
as opposed to a precision grip between Generation after generation of high- obesity will still kill you... just, maybe, not
>>
thumb, index and middle finger.” calorie diets and our technological your descendants.
100,000 years
A
>>
LPHAS, BETAS, Gammas, Deltas to order, then implant her own fertilised
and Epsilons: these are the eggs in the womb of a surrogate mother.
social ‘castes’ humanity devises Anders Sandberg, a philosopher at
in Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel, the Future of Humanity Institute, at the
Brave New World. In the book, the University of Oxford, in England, says
human race has limited its population there may be points in the future when
and graded the cognitive functions of changing our genetic make-up, or that
the social castes during an artificial of our children, becomes essential. “You
reproduction process. Children are could imagine a situation like a large-scale
‘created’, ‘decanted’ and conditioned Fukushima. At that point you would like to
from the foetus to accept the reality crank up DNA repair so that your children
for which they are being created. could handle the extra mutations caused by
Huxley wrote Brave New World high radiation levels,” he says.
in 1931, before Watson and Crick There are other disasters that might make
described the structure of DNA in altering human genetic make-up a case of
1953. Today, with our increased race-wide necessity, rather than an issue
understanding of the human of personal desire or individual medical
genome, altering our genes and correction. On the Torino Impact Hazard
our children’s genes has become Scale, a level 10 asteroid or comet impact is
a real possibility. While it is one for which “collision is certain, capable
still the norm, the traditional of causing global climatic catastrophe that
notion that a set of parents may threaten the future of civilisation as
consists of one man and one we know it”, whether it hits land or ocean.
woman now competes with NASA estimates such impacts occur every
other models. For example, 100,000 years on average. The debris from
a woman who wants a a level 10 impact would mean any surviving
child may buy sperm humans would have to live on a cold, dark
planet for years – and genetic engineering traits of a character at the start of a role- that Ashkenazi Jews are, on average,
might help prepare us for that eventuality. playing computer game. “You could imagine more intelligent than other ethnic groups
One of Sandberg’s recent philosophical compiling your child using lots of different because of selection pressures that favoured
thought experiments examined whether bits of genetic code chosen by you to be intelligence so fiercely that even genes that
humans might genetically engineer most advantageous,” Sandberg says. conferred diseases along with intelligence
themselves to be more environmentally As a philosopher, Sandberg says that were promoted. The researchers speculate
friendly, as part of the effort to curb global his job is to take ideas to their logical that the Ashkenazi mutations reduce
warming. We might engineer an adverse outliers, strip them down and test them inhibitions to brain growth, but cause
reaction to the consumption of physical diseases if two copies
meat, for example, or smaller of the gene are carried. “It’s just
human bodies that require “You could imagine compiling your child a theory, but that’s really as
fewer resources.
Sandberg argues that as we
using different bits of genetic code, controversial as it gets,” he says.
Sandberg doesn’t address the
are increasingly able to make
choices about our genetic
chosen by you to be most advantageous.” more abstract possibilities for
humanity. If an evolutionary
destiny, culture will become revolution in genetic
even more of a driving force for human to destruction. This means he doesn’t engineering delivers perfect, long-lived
evolution. “Culture used to just affect who necessarily advocate genetic engineering of bodies, will other traits – such as morality,
had more or fewer children,” Sandberg says. our race, but that he does consider it as a creativity and emotional depth – receive a
“But in the future, if we decide fluorescence possible tool. Some of his ideas are extreme: similar impetus? In his 2003 book, Our Final
is cool and beautiful, there’s no reason we he proposes that some genes that cause Century, British Astronomer Royal Martin
couldn’t add that trait into our genome.” hereditary physical diseases could become Rees gave humanity only a 50–50 chance
Sandberg says that the current changes desirable in the deep future, as they may of making it through this century without
to the parenting model are likely to be come linked with an intelligence boost. being annihilated in a thermonuclear war
just the beginning. The future might see Sandberg cites a 2005 paper in the or a global pandemic. Scientific advances
parents choosing their children’s traits Journal of Biosocial Science in which Gregory might disarm disease, but will they be able
>>
much as a gamer would choose physical Cochran and his colleagues hypothesise to disarm human aggression?
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1,000,000 years
I
>>
N ONE MILLION YEARS, Niagara Falls will become the exclusive province of the rich, the
have eaten their way back through bedrock human race might begin to diverge. “Why would
towards Buffalo, away from the Canadian anyone who can have a 150-year lifespan ever
border. Continents will have crept together by breed with someone who can’t?” he asks. “That’s
hundreds of kilometres, and Earth will have where you start pushing yourself into directions
moved 75 light-years across our galaxy – just where you’ve stopped interbreeding entirely, and
0.075% of its total width. On a galactic and that’s where a mutation could kick in, because it
solar scale, one million years is a long, lazy works best in small populations.” The problems of
blink of an eye. overbreeding in small populations would be taken
On the scale of human evolution, however, one care of by expensive genetic engineering.
million years is enough time for a drastic leap.
We have become lighter and more delicate than
our ancient ancestors, the australopithecines. “There can be a new human
Pushed by the evolutionary advantages of
higher intelligence, bigger brains have species, but the way it will
meant larger skulls and smaller
jaws, for instance. But whether
happen is through economics.”
our descendants will remain
on the same evolutionary path
depends on the stresses they WHILE THE SUPER-RICH might end up evolving
encounter and which environmental on their own bought-and-paid for genetic island,
niches they occupy. leveraging financial power to control genetic
Space exploration is a potentially destiny could have a dark side. Taking evolution
infinite source of new niches and entirely into human hands would be likely to have
stresses. Varying gravity on alien unintended consequences.
worlds could create selection Nick Bostrom, founding director of the Future
pressures for different bone of Humanity Institute, outlines some possible
structures; planets in orbit around consequences in a 2004 paper published in
stars that emit a slightly different the book Death and Anti-Death, volume 2: Two
spectrum could push our vision Hundred Years After Kant, Fifty Years After Turing.
up into the ultraviolet, or down He proposes that upward, technologically aided
into the infrared. The challenges evolution could lead to a civilisation lacking the
and rewards of frontier breaking essential elements of existence that most people
may allow humanity to continue live for; things such as music, dance, sex, sport and
to evolve as early hominids did, through art, or learning, danger and delight. “Perhaps what
journeys and migrations in search of a will maximise fitness in the future will be nothing
better experience. Space exploration would but non-stop high-intensity drudgery,” Bostrom
separate human populations and allow muses in the paper. “Work of a drab and repetitive
natural selection to take hold in sufficiently nature, aimed at improving the eighth decimal of
small and isolated populations. some economic output measure.”
Peter Ward, a paleontologist and biologist Bostom’s argument suggests humans who are
from the University of Washington, in able to create their own conditions for existence
Seattle, suggests extreme wealth could also will end up bored – over-controlled and over-edited
set up socioeconomic segregation. In an by their own egos.
isolated outer space colony, for example, Modern humans have always had partial control
natural selection could kick in for a small over their own evolution. After all, we build the
group of the very rich. “Let’s not think environments that future generations will live in
about natural selection but economic and become adapted to. But now could be the time
selection instead,” Ward says. “There can to reflect on what we could lose if we attempt to
be a new human species, but the way it take complete control of our genetic destiny.
will happen is through economics.”
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Ward suggests that if increased Hal Hodson is a freelance writer, photographer and journalist
lifespans and boosted intelligence based in London.
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Filming the
inferno High-speed videos give volcanologists an unprecedented front-seat view of
iSTOCK, FIRST PUBLISHED IN SCIENCE NEWS, APRIL 21, 2012
exploding volcanoes, says Alexandra Witze.
F
IERY FOUNTAINS of erupting as scientists had thought. This surprising away people should stay from an eruption
volcanoes seem tailor-made finding is bolstered by lab experiments that and how tiny ash fragments can be lofted
for nature documentaries. But grind rock and eject it at high pressure in a kilometres high – potentially shutting
scientists, too, are interested in sort of tabletop eruption. “We think we’re down airspace, as the Icelandic volcano
capturing footage of these natural getting close to what’s going on in the throat Eyjafjallajökull did in 2010.
spectacles, especially for what it can reveal and gut in a volcano,” says Donald Dingwell,
about how superheated gas and rock blast a volcanologist at Ludwig Maximilians SCIENTISTS HAVE LONG listened to the
out at up to supersonic speeds. University Munich, Germany, whose team heartbeat of many of the planet’s most
New high-speed videos from Italy’s Mount has done much of the lab work. awesome volcanoes, from Mount Etna in
Stromboli show that its continual eruptions The research suggests new ways to think Sicily to Kilauea in Hawaii. On the surface,
>>
can belch out stuff more than twice as fast about natural hazards, such as how far seismometers measure tiny quakes that
rmal
Scientists use a the
cam era to record
the temperature of
t
pyroclasts – superho
>>
could signal magma starting to rise from measured the temperature of particles and the
deep in the ground. Overhead, satellites gas and rock – and
used a microphone to record the booms. nic
cooling of the volca
watch for the landscape rising or deflating All this new data offers one of the first plume from an ash
like a giant geological breath, another glimpses into volcanic processes that have explosion at Fuego
la.
possible indicator of an imminent eruption. been almost entirely unknown to science Volcano, Guatema
And plenty of cameras have shot gorgeous until now. “This really opens a new range
imagery of fire sprays, oozing lava and of perspectives on explosive volcanism,”
other volcanic wonders. Taddeucci says.
But researchers do not yet understand Bruce Houghton, a volcanologist at the
the physics of what happens in a volcano’s University of Hawaii at Manoa, agrees; he
throat at the moment when magma is trying to get money to pay for a similarly
spurts through a vent, shattering into tiny sophisticated camera setup at the Big
fragments and larger, more deadly “bombs” Island’s Kilauea. “It is really a spectacular
that hurtle into the air. By definition an advance,” says Houghton.
explosion happens quickly, making it hard
to study. So recently Jacopo Taddeucci of EXPERIMENTS IN DINGWELL’S lab show
the National Institute of Geophysics and the same kind of explosive moments going
Volcanology in Rome, Italy, lugged a high- on. After collecting and grinding up rocks
speed camera to an eruption to take a look. from real-world eruptions, the researchers o the active vents
era looks down int
Such sensitive cameras, built to video put the rock powder into one high-pressure A high-speed cam ly. Foota ge revealed material
no , Ita
high-speed processes in tamer settings, tube meant to simulate the insides of of Stromboli Volca su pe rsonic velocities.
up to
leaving the vents at
were not meant for the toxic gases and ash a volcano, then let the material rapidly
that falls atop an active volcano. At first, decompress into a second tube. The team
Taddeucci says, “I has a front-row seat for
was so worried about Satellites watch for this explosion. “This
destroying the camera time we’re watching
or breaking it”. But the landscape rising or and deciding when
eventually he and his and how,” Dingwell
colleagues developed deflating like a giant said in February
a lightweight, 2012 in Vancouver
rugged version that geological breath, a at a meeting of the
they hauled first to
Stromboli Volcano, off
possible indicator of American Association
for the Advancement
the Sicilian coast. They
set up shop several
an imminent eruption. of Science.
A high-speed camera
hundred metres from captures the size
the active vent and started filming the rocks and speed of accelerating particles. The
zooming in all directions. “When you’re lab videos show shock waves, like those
there, you’re not as scared for the camera as Taddeucci sees at Stromboli, driving
for yourself,” Taddeucci says. pulses of material from the eruption.
By videotaping explosions at up to Careful measurements show that the
1,000 frames per second, dozens of times pulses are dictated by the size of particles
faster than movie film speeds, Taddeucci being destroyed as gas pockets blow out.
could trace how quickly particles flew “That’s why it’s interesting that our lab g up
Researchers settin
from Stromboli’s throat. The ash bits is observing what Jacopo is also seeing,” a high-speed camera
at
whizzed at up to 405m per second, more says Miguel Alatorre-Ibargüengoitia, one jallajökull Volca no,
Eyjaf
s
than twice that ever measured before. He of the lab team. “We can really replicate Iceland. During thi
ection
captured particles being lofted upward by what’s going on.” eruption in 2010, inj
osphere
of ash into the atm
convective air currents. He saw the crater Alatorre-Ibargüengoitia knows exactly disrupted air traffic
in
months.
floor seething restlessly just before it what pressure the rocks exploded under, Europe for several
exploded. And he could even watch shock data he can use to calculate the depth
waves coming out, one after another, as from which the simulated magma erupted.
gas pockets gave way and let out fresh “In nature, we don’t know any of these
material, his group wrote in January 2012 parameters,” he says. The work shows, for
I CC
in Geophysical Research Letters. No one instance, that particles shooting out of the
JACOPO TADDEU
had ever before captured these explosive eruption drop off in speed proportionally
moments in such detail. to the depth from which they were ejected.
Along with the high-speed camera, the That information, described by the team in
>>
scientists set up a thermal camera that Earth and Planetary Science Letters in 2011,
Volcanoes may look spectacular, but getting too close
has claimed the lives of many volcanologists. It’s
hoped video footage and lab research can improve
iSTOCK
safety recommendations.
A thermal camera (left) and high-speed camera (right)

focus on the active volcanic dome of Santiaguito
Volcano, Guatemala, while a researcher sets up
another high-speed camera.
JACOPO TADDEUCCI
>>
>> Jacopo Taddeucci (right) and a colleague
follow the trajectory of metre-wide
volcanic bombs while deciding where to
place their instruments at Yasur Volcano,
on the Pacific island of Vanuatu.
JACOPO TADDEUCCI
By definition an explosion
>>
happens quickly, making
can help pin down how much magma is For their part, Taddeucci and his
spewing out of an eruption, along with how it hard to study. colleagues have already taken their high-
much gas it contains and at what pressures. speed camera to three other volcanoes,
The team is also working to see what translate into better monitoring of live in Guatemala and in Vanuatu in the
factors control how far large rocks get volcanoes. “There’s still an important gap South Pacific, and have seen similarly fast
ejected from volcanoes. By measuring between experiments and the real world,” ejections there. Next, Taddeucci wants
the pressure needed to throw a lab says Alatorre-Ibargüengoitia. “We are to clock some of the biggest and baddest
rock of a certain size a certain distance, trying to close this gap.” things in volcanology: pyroclastic flows,
the scientists can better calculate the Colleagues at Germany’s University of or massive avalanches of gas and rock that
immense forces that fuel eruptions Hamburg have been tracking the speed catapult down the sides of mountains.
such as those at Mexico’s Popocatépetl. of stuff flying out of volcanoes with Such flows have taken the lives
Alatorre-Ibargüengoitia has measured Doppler radar, finding that some standard of volcanologists, including French
rocks traveling up to 400m per second, the monitoring techniques do not always volcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft,
same sort of speeds recorded at Stromboli accurately reflect the size and energy of an who died in a flow on Mount Unzen,
for much smaller particles. These larger explosion. (Not that better information Japan, in 1991. “You have to find a suitable
“volcanic bombs” can land as far as 5km always results in safer conditions; at Mount volcano that you can look at without
from the actual eruption vent. Etna, tourists regularly brush past warning dying,” says Taddeucci.
Eventually, the scientists hope to see signs and continue dangerously close to the
their lab work and occasional videotaping summit to take pictures.) Alexandra Witze is a science writer based in the U.S.
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A dedic ate d ca d
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and trek king o
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ey ha ve fo u n d is sobering, s
What th
W
HEN ULYANA
Horodyskyj was six,
she visited the Swiss
Alps and fell in love
with mountains. By the
time she was 23, she’d visited all seven
continents and was working on a PhD in
planetary geology at Brown University in
Providence, Rhode Island, USA. She had
also started dabbling in rock climbing
and more serious mountaineering. “I
got the idea that if I could combine my
skills in mountaineering with my science
background, I could go places few scientists
could, and discover new things,” she says.
She transferred to the University of
Colorado in Boulder, where she began
her PhD research anew with a shoestring
budget and a locker full of mountaineering
equipment. By 2011, accompanied only
by a Sherpa guide and occasional satellite
phone advice from Himalayan mountaineer
and filmmaker David Breashears, she was
abseiling off ridges in Nepal. She installed
s
time-lapse cameras to watch a glacier’s
zer
ice melting and trekked onto its jumbled
surface with an inflatable raft to study
glacier-top lakes amid ice cliffs that could
collapse at any moment.
Horodyskyj is one of a bunch of devoted
scientists taking new routes to investigate
the decline of glaciers. It may seem an
extreme way to do science, but it’s one that’s
bringing invaluable data to document one
of the great tragedies of global warming: the
startlingly rapid disappearance of mountain
glaciers all over the world.
ONE OF THE PIONEERS of the field is

Lonnie Thompson, a palaeoclimatologist at
the Ohio State University, Columbus. Now
64, Thompson has spent decades tromping
the world’s mountain glaciers, heaving
equipment to elevations higher than Mount
Everest Base Camp and spending months at
a time camped atop the ice. In 2005, Rolling
Stone magazine dubbed him the “ice hunter”
and claimed nobody alive had spent more
time above 5,500 metres.
Thompson’s research has canvassed not
just Greenland and Antarctica, but the high
mountains of Asia, South America and
Africa. Over the years, his team has lugged
The debris-covered Ngozumpa Glacier at
the base of the sixth-highest peak in the its instruments to elevations inaccessible
world, Cho Oyu, Nepalese Himalaya, is by helicopter, even carting a solar-powered
>>
receding vertically as well as horizontally. drill to take core samples from the ice.
>>
PEAK PROMOTION
Thompson was the first to Left: Ulyana
warn that the fabled ‘Snows of Horodyskyj drills
holes to place time-
Kilimanjaro’, a 5,895m glacier- lapse cameras on
capped volcano in Tanzania, Ngozumpa Glacier
Africa, are doomed. “Since in Nepal. Right:
1919 we have lost 80% of the Horodyskyj next
to the ice wall of a
ice coverage on Kilimanjaro,” supraglacial lake
he said in a 2004 lecture at on Ngozumpa
PEAK PROMOTION
a meeting of the American Glacier that
Geophysical Union. At the time, partially drained
the night before.
he predicted the last of the ice The waterline is
would be gone by 2020, and clearly visible.
while he’s now saying “in the
next few decades”, in 2009 he
reported that more than a quarter of the ice
present in 2000 had already vanished.
Glaciers are “the canaries in the coal
mine for the Earth’s climate system,” he
says. Like the birds carried by miners to
detect toxic fumes, glaciers are the first
to die under adverse conditions – in this
case, climate change – and their demise
can be dramatic and often highly visible.
It’s one thing to read that by the end of
this century, sea levels might be rising
at 5 to 10 millimetres a year, the globe
may be 2 to 4°C warmer, and that half the
world’s plant communities may have been
altered by heat. These are scary ideas, but
the changes lack the visual impact of a
glacier shrinking not by just millimetres,
but kilometres, and in the span of a single
generation. Like a dead canary, a vanished
glacier is hard not to notice.
THE REASON MOUNTAIN glaciers are so

sensitive, Thompson says, is that they exist
in a delicate balance between winter snow
and summer heat. Shift the balance only
slightly and glaciers can change enormously.
And the smaller the glacier, the more
dramatic the change. The icecaps of Greenland and Antarctica in 2011 used satellite images and stream-
Charlie Love, a geologist at Western are subject to the same forces. But flow reports from automated river gauging
Wyoming Community College, Rock mountain glaciers have smaller volumes stations to conclude that at least one part
Springs, USA, cites the largest glacier in of ice, and react a lot more quickly to of the Andean ice pack has reached ‘peak
Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park temperature and snowfall changes. And water’. It’s a concept like peak oil (the idea
as an example. Currently, it is 900m long while Greenland’s glaciers might be more that the world’s petroleum production must
and flowing downhill at about 9m a year. important in terms of global climate, reach – or already has reached – a plateau
In other words, the ice melting off the they’re kind of remote. If Wyoming’s from which it can only decline). But in this
base today fell as snow only 100 years glaciers vanished, the global effects might case, we’re talking not about fuel, but water
ago. In the nearby Wind River Range, not be as significant, but the tourists would for hydroelectric power, irrigation and
Love says, there’s a glacier with hundreds certainly notice. maintaining fish stocks.
of years of ice. While Horodyskyj and Thompson study It’s also bad news for the rivers fed by
“That is the critical issue,” he says. “If you glaciers by climbing on to them, data these glaciers. Glaciers melt top down as
have a glacier that has [only] 100 years of gathered in the security of laboratories is the warm summer sunshine affects the
ice, and you have climate change, the thing also confirming we are reaching a tipping ice’s surface. But as the glacier’s surface
may disappear overnight.” And yes, he says, point in the retreat of glaciers. becomes smaller, there’s an offsetting
like virtually every other glacier in the U.S., A case in point is a recent find by Michel factor. Each hectare may be producing
it is currently shrinking. Baraer of McGill University, Montreal, who more melt than ever, but there are fewer
NASA
Scientists have been

photographing the
Jakobshavn Isbrae
Glacier, Greenland,
since 1851. This image
from 2009 is overlaid
with the changing
position over time of
the glacier's calving
front, where the ice
crashes into the sea.
Retreating inland
towards the northeast
(upper right), it
lost 0.3km per year
until 1964, then
remained static until
2001, when it began
receding at 3km per
year. It has receded
more than 40km
over the 160 years
of observation and
contributed to around
4% of sea-level
increases in the 20th
century.
hectares, and eventually you reach a tipping Louise in the heart of Banff National Park. American Geophysical Union in December
point where the total melt starts declining His interest in glaciers stepped up in 1962, 2011, was simple. Bye-bye ice. Using a mid-
rather than increasing. Beyond that critical when as an undergraduate physics student range greenhouse-gas emissions scenario
point, there’s simply not enough ice left to at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and an equally mid-range climate model,
support the water flows that downstream he was offered a summer job doing field he calculated that the glaciers of Canada’s
communities depend on. research on a glacier in the Yukon. Saint Elias region near the Alaskan border,
Scientists had thought South Americans So, when a glacier-study job came which now comprise 453 cubic kilometres
had 10, 20, or even 30 years to prepare around, he snapped it up, refocussing his of ice (spread over more surface area than
for declining water. But Baraer found that entire career. For decades, he pioneered all glaciers of the European Alps) – will
one of the major rivers fed by the high methods of studying glaciers, drilling into probably be halved in size by 2100. “And
Andean glaciers, Peru’s Rio that’s the good news,” he says.
Santa, is already in decline. “If the Himalayan glaciers melt, for The bad news came from further
“These years did not exist,” south, in the Canadian Rockies,
he says. Similar problems example, there goes the water source where, he calculates, in some
may already be brewing in areas today’s glaciers will all but
neighbouring countries, for millions of people.” disappear by 2100. Others will
particularly Bolivia and shrink to remnants ranging from
northern Chile, he says. Checking this out their depths to plant instruments at the 5% to 20% of their current size. Over the
is the next step in his research. base, where ice meets rock and the real next 100 years, he says, “we think we will be
physics of glacial flow begins. Instead of witness to the disappearance of the glaciers
GARRY CLARKE, A GLACIOLOGIST climbing, though, he flew in by helicopter of western North America.
from the University of British Columbia, – in Canada many glaciers are within an “There will be a few that hang on, high
Vancouver, predicts an equally grim hour’s flight of highways. up, but there won’t be glaciers in classic
future for the glaciers of North America. As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, areas of the landscape such as the Canadian
But Clarke approaches it from another 1980s and 1990s, he noticed that the Rockies. That’s going to be pretty much
perspective: physics and modelling. mountains were changing. “It was done with by the end of this century.” In
Like many of his colleagues, Clarke has a becoming quite clear that the glaciers coming to this conclusion he’s been careful
lifelong love of mountains. But he’s never we were looking at were losing ground,” not to overstate the results. “The whole
been a climber. “I don’t like falling off of he says. Gradually, his mission changed question of climate change is really fraught,”
things,” he laughs. As a child, however, he from figuring out how glaciers function he says. “It’s important that what is said has
spent summers with his grandparents, who to figuring out how they die. His basic a lot of authority, rather than just adding
>>
operated a motel near Canada’s famed Lake finding, presented at a meeting of the more static.”
>>
IN THE HIMALAYAS, Horodyskyj’s
findings aren’t as sweeping because she’s
only been visiting the region since 2008.
But on that first visit, a trekking vacation,
she saw things that concerned her. “I made
it to Everest Base Camp and noticed the
pockmarked appearance of the Khumbu
glacier,” she says. “All I remember thinking
in my oxygen-deprived state was, ‘that
doesn’t look right’.”
At the time, the United Nation’s
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
had recently issued a report incorrectly
claiming that, by 2035, all of the Himalayan
glaciers could completely melt away. The
resulting kerfuffle, when an error was
revealed in the report on the scale of the
retreat, became prime fodder for climate-
TRAPRIDGE GLACIER PROJECT

change sceptics. But more than anything, it
revealed the need for more data about what
TRAPRIDGE GLACIER PROJECT

is actually happening in the Himalayas.
Horodyskyj’s research focusses on a single
glacier: the Ngozumpa Glacier at the base
of Cho Oyu, the sixth-highest peak in the
world. There, she’s monitoring “supraglacial Above: Glaciers like the ones seen at Trapridge Glacier
lakes” – ponds that appear on the surface as Camp, Yukon Territory, Canada, may disappear within
100 years. Right: Garry Clarke has watched glaciers shrink
water works its way downslope from rapidly since the 1960s.
melting zones higher up.
“Most people think of glaciers as receding,”
she says, “but they also shrink vertically. of coastal Alaska, where some glaciers were professor of integrative biology and curator
These lakes can lead to enhanced melting, and photographed as long ago as the 19th century. of the museum of palaeontology at the
we see a lot of them forming throughout the “If a picture is worth 1,000 words, what is University of California at Berkeley. “If the
Himalayas. You can think of these lakes as the value of a pair of photos that span more Himalayan glaciers melt, there goes the
cancers that are consuming the glacier.” than a century?” he asks. water source for millions of people,” he says.
The damage occurs, she says, because It’s a question that filmmaker Breashears If you live near tidelands already
insulating layers of rock and gravel carried is working to answer with an organisation threatened by rising sea levels, the demise
from above normally covers the lower ends called Glacier Works. He uses a technique of mountain glaciers is just one more
of such glaciers. Supraglacial lakes produce called match photography, in which he contributor to your eventual inundation
bare walls that can melt at twice-normal attempts to find the locations and camera – one that might contribute 120mm to
rates. For her initial studies she global sea-level rise by
installed cameras to monitor Reports from automated river gauging 2100, according to a
changes in one zone of the 2011 study in Nature
glacier, where lakes up to three stations conclude that at least one part of the Geoscience by Valentina
times the size of football fields Radić, a glaciologist at
fill, drain, and change. “I liken Andean ice pack has reached ‘peak water’. the University of British
it to taking the pulse of the Columbia in Vancouver,
glacier,” she says. angles for historic photos of glaciers, Canada. But that’s nothing compared to the
The next step, she adds, is to go further duplicating them when he can, to see effects on the rivers the glaciers once fed.
up the glacier to track the ‘communication’ how much the glaciers have changed. The
between lakes – the manner in which water photos speak for themselves. Where once IN THE EARLY STAGES of glacial
from one supraglacial ‘cancer’ feeds the next. there were rivers of ice, the photos show shrinking, rapid melting increases stream
enormous swathes of bare ground. flow rates, as was until recently the case in
NEARLY A DECADE AGO, Bruce Molnia, Other than the loss of spectacular Peru. Then, flows decline until the glacier
a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey scenery, how much does all of this matter? vanishes. But there’s a difference between a
in Reston, Virginia, also set out to obtain Ultimately, it depends on where you live. watershed with glaciers (even if they aren’t
unambiguous proof that the world’s climate “You don’t need glaciers,” Clarke admits. shrinking) and one without glaciers.
is changing. His research has led him “Lots of places in the world are doing fine Glaciers have been compared to natural
crashing through brush and scrambling over without glaciers.” The big ecological effect reservoirs, storing water in the winter
boulders in some of the most rugged parts would be on people, says Tony Barnosky, a wet season and releasing it in summer.
Even if climate change
has no effect on overall
precipitation, the loss of
the ice formation–melting
cycle means more run-off
early in the season and
less later on, augmenting
the normal differences.
We could build dams
to hold back wet-season
water. But it wouldn’t be
a perfect compensation
because ice is a natural
refrigerator, from which
water evaporates much
more slowly than it
does from lakes. “Dams
will never, ever replace
[natural] hydrological
systems,” says Baraur.
This means that there
NASA
will be unavoidable
changes to downstream
hydroelectric power In 2010, the Jakobshavn Isbrae Glacier, Greenland, lost a devastating seven-square-kilometre section almost overnight. A large rift
appeared in the glacier (left) and it quickly broke up and retreated almost 1.5km to where the crack had been (right). The glacier, on the west
and irrigation water
coast of the continent, had never been observed so far inland.
supplies. “These are all
going to be rearranged,”
Clarke says. They’re changes that are but ecologically it could be important, no substitute for going into the field and
“painful even if you can survive them, because stream flows normally peak during checking the models and the interpretation
and they’re costly,” he adds. late May and early June in the Northern of the remote sensing.”
Glacier loss also changes river Hemisphere, months when the Sun is high Byers is a lifelong mountain enthusiast. At
temperatures, particularly in summer. That in the sky, bathing the water in the greatest 14 he wanted to be a mountain trapper and
would have a host of ecological effects, quantities of ultraviolet light. explorer from the early days of the American
but in British Columbia, Clarke believes, The seasonally high stream-flow rates West. Seven years later he went trekking in
the worst will affect salmon, which need help filter out some of this damaging light. the Himalayas and became a convert to the
cold water for their upstream migrations. Reduced flows are less effective at this, field of mountain geography. Since then, he’s
“It’s an open question whether the salmon which could result in worked toward the
run in British Columbia can survive the a dramatic decrease “You can think of these resurrection of what
disappearance of glaciers,” he says. in populations of he calls the “climber–
A 2011 study in Science, led by Erika streambed-dwelling lakes as cancers that are scientist”.
Eliason, a zoologist at the University of insects that form “One of the
British Columbia, found that peak summer an important basis consuming the glacier.” reasons we know so
water temperatures are already approaching to the streams’ little about glaciers is
“lethal conditions” for some Pacific salmon. ecologies – a subtle but important change. because they’re quite hard to get to,” he says
Love notes there will also be major changes – the Himalaya in particular. “It takes eight
downstream in western Wyoming that will MEANWHILE, BOOTS (and crampons) days of trekking just to get to the typical
affect wildlife. “We don’t have salmon,” Love on the ground are needed to gather more research site, often over passes 5,400 or
says. “But wildlife is going to disappear, data. “I don’t think remote sensing is that 5,800m elevation. In the old days, he notes,
including water birds that made their living good for [tracking] some of these glaciers,” “no expedition would think of climbing a
off glacially fed streams. And it means says Love. “In photographs you can see mountain without having a good, strong
trouble for fisheries.” individual boulders and measure exactly the science component to it.”
Global warming is expected to reduce number of feet [the glacier] has retreated. Horodyskyj is one of those interested in
winter snowpack, which melts in the Remote sensing results can leave something pursuing that road. “I love science too much,
warmer months, replacing much of it with to be desired.” and climbing too much, to separate the two,”
rain. And without glacial melt to pick up Mountain geographer Alton Byers, she says. “When I climb, I think about the
the slack, this will produce a shift toward director of science and exploration for The rocks. When I think about the rocks, I think
increasing stream flows in winter or early Mountain Institute in Elkins, West Virginia, about how I can climb up to them.”
spring and reduced flows in late spring agrees. “Remote sensing and modelling
and summer. It sounds like a small change, are wonderful tools,” he says, “but there is Richard A. Lovett is a regular COSMOS contributor.
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COS45 Mag
TRAVELOGUE
A world
T
Once an Earth-bound HE RAINFOREST SMELL is
so fragrant I can’t help but
Arizona-based facility was once thought to
be more of a doomed blunder than a domed
take big, heaping sniffs to wonder. Times are changing. Reinvented as
replica of a space appreciate its scent. But it’s a research facility, Biosphere 2 may advance
also hot and humid and before our understanding of climate change and
colony, Biosphere 2 long sweat is pouring down my face and ecosystems like no other lab on Earth.
my mascara has outlined trails of black ink In the 1990s, Biosphere 2 (its name
has been reinvented on my cheek. Matt Adamson, a medium- is based on the project’s recreation of
built gent with a baseball hat, glasses and Biosphere 1: the Earth) housed eight
as a revolutionary a salt-and-pepper goatee, leads me down science and engineering specialists
a slick slope where my canvas shoes stick undertaking an ambitious, two-year
science laboratory. and slip in the mud and dirt splashes on mission to recreate on Earth the conditions
my jeans. So far, I haven’t lost my balance facing future human space colonists.
Alaina G. Levine takes in the muck, which is surprising given that Resurrected several times in its tumultuous
my gaze is riveted skywards towards the lifetime and once derided as being no more
a backstage tour. tall trees, broad leaves, muscular vines and than an oversized greenhouse, it has arisen
thousands of panes of glass. as a research facility beyond the wildest
I’m inside Biosphere 2, where Adamson dreams of ecologists, biologists and climate
is the education and outreach officer. It’s scientists, who hope to use the 20th-
the world’s biggest living laboratory and the century structure to solve some of the 21st
SPL
largest enclosed space on Earth. Yet, the century’s biggest problems.
Now that it belongs
to the University of
Arizona, Biosphere 2
has come into its own
as a prized research
facility with the
potential to solve many
of the environmental
challenges facing
Biosphere 1, the Earth.
within
YOU CAN’T SEE Biosphere 2 from the
main road and I’m sure it was designed this
way. It isn’t until you dip past a hill that the
structure rises like a glass ziggurat, complete
someone couldn’t find the wrench to open
the hatch at the end of the mission), the
experiment concluded in disarray, with
concerns over the facility’s future, and
Sciences to address “the importance of
Biosphere 2 for modern research”, recalls
Joaquin Ruiz, executive dean of the
University of Arizona (UA) Colleges of
Letters, Arts and Sciences. He was among
many scientists from around the country
invited to participate in this symposium,
where it was agreed that “Biosphere 2 was
a phenomenal research opportunity, but it
was expensive and needed a good business
with 6,500 windows comprising over financial backers upset. The biospherians model to run it,” he says.
200,000 cubic metres of sealed glass. Built in themselves split into two factions, and Nothing solid eventuated, but a few years
the late 1980s and early 1990s and financed interpersonal communications broke later, like a scene from a movie, “there
by Texas billionaire Ed Bass, its purpose was down completely. Despite some interesting was a knock at my door”, jokes Ruiz. One
to serve as an analogue of Bass’s employees
to habitats required for had contacted Ruiz on
long space flights, and The once-derided facility has arisen as a living Bass’s behalf to inquire
a trial to explore the
hazards (physical and
laboratory beyond scientists’ wildest dreams. whether the UA, located
only 51.5km south of
psychological) of living in Biosphere 2 in Tucson,
space for extended periods. results and a bunch of papers, the project would be interested in the facility. Bass
Eight biospherians were sealed under the was labelled a US$200 million failure. agreed to give the UA US$3 million a year
glass on 26 September 1991 with a specific With brief periods of resurrection, the for 10 years to fund Biosphere 2 and, on
directive to examine how humans and facility had lain mostly dormant and under 1 July 2011, ownership of the facility was
habitats interact and affect the chemistry threat of demolition. Then, after more than officially transferred to the university.
of air, water and soil. Precisely two years a decade of uncertainty, Bass sponsored Now, two decades after it opened,
>>
and 20 minutes later (the joke is that a meeting at the National Academy of Biosphere 2 is a beehive of activity, a
>>
laboratory to pursue big science, and a resources to our cities. But while the Its first sensor measurements were
catalyst to engage the public about the natural water cycle responds to increasing taken in March 2012, before construction
natural world. It consists of five separate pressures from climate change and water even began on the third and final hill slope
ecosystems, each of which houses use, the methods we use to understand it beneath the big glass dome. “I can’t believe
numerous research projects. There’s have remained static. we were lucky enough to get this built,”
savannah grassland and a fog desert, where “Our tools for understanding the says Huxman with glee. For ecologists, it’s
mist is the main source of moisture. There water cycle are tools that were built akin to the giant particle accelerators and
are also mangrove wetlands; an ‘ocean’, during a previous climate regime and the telescopes now being used by physicists
complete with coral reef, where scientists climate has changed. So our tools are not and astronomers.
are examining interactions between plastic necessarily applicable,” says Huxman.
and algae, and developing new ways to Huxman and the many scientists and WHEN I VISIT IN spring 2012, the
analyse ocean viruses; and a tropical engineers who are injecting new life into hill slope is still under construction, so
rainforest, where scholars Stephen DeLong, LEO lead
are preparing to turn off the scientist, invites me to don a
precipitation for 40 days to “No other project has looked at [natural] hard hat, climb a shaky ladder
examine the effects of drought. and ascend to the LEO to
Multiple sensors will take processes at this scale before.” see its massiveness up close
in reams of data, measuring and personal. It’s a gigantic
how flora and fauna react to green metal container that,
environmental stress in a range of habitats. Biosphere 2 view it as the tool to study because of its steep incline, reminds me
It’s all part of the game plan to examine climate change. They refer to it as both a of a manufactured ski slope or waterslide.
how water, climate and energy interact, laboratory and a scaling tool. “What makes Except, of course, instead of snow and
says Travis Huxman, Biosphere 2’s director. Biosphere 2 unique is that it is incredibly water it’s filled with soil and has wired
“Most of our experiments are aimed at well controlled but encompasses large sensors popping out of the dirt.
better understanding how the natural spatial scales,” explains Huxman. As I balance on the soft, scented soil – a
world works, especially the water cycle.” In the section of Biosphere 2 where volcanic mixture obtained from Northern
The water cycle is something of the original biospherians used to farm Arizona for its high reactivity to water –
fundamental importance to humanity sweet potatoes and beetroot, for example, DeLong notes that this is the only time
– it drives our economies and supplies Huxman and his team are overseeing anyone will be able to stand here. Once
the installation of the US$5 million construction workers top off the soil, no
Landscape Evolution Observatory one will ever walk on LEO again. To ensure
(LEO). It’s the biggest experiment yet, proper examination of the LEO, they have
and is bringing ecologists and physical installed a mechanised gondola that will
scientists together, says Ruiz (see “One allow scientists to scrutinise the system
big experiment”, p87). from above.
The Green Roofs project helps Biosphere 2 scientists investigate

which types of soil, irrigation schedules and plant species are best
suited to rooftops in southwest USA.
JACOB CHINN
A visitor’s view of the facility’s tropical ocean biome,

one of five separate ecosystems in Biosphere 2. This
pool is currently being used to test methods being
developed for the Tara Oceans Expedition around-the-
world plankton sampling project.
JACOB CHINN
One big
experiment
THE LANDSCAPE Evolution Observatory
comprises three colossal (360m2)
watersheds inside an environmentally
controlled greenhouse. The watersheds
are designed to mimic the hillslope
portion of landscapes above the highest
channel head. They contain homogeneous
JACOB CHINN
soil 1m deep, in which hundreds of
sensors and samplers are embedded.
These sensors measure moisture,
energy and carbon; water and gas
samplers monitor carbon cycling
and geochemical processes. Each
1,000-tonne landscape has load cells
fixed into the structure to track real-
time changes to the total moisture
state. This allows for precise
determination of hydrological
partitioning (the multiple paths that
water can take through the soil),
and monitoring of the ecosystem
JACOB CHINN
and atmosphere under a wide

range of environmental conditions,
something that scientists still don’t
fully understand. Biosphere 2 “lets
us construct mechanistic models and Clockwise from above: Matt Adamson discusses
STE VE DELONG
test them at large spatial scales while the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) with
author Alaina Levine; a ‘downslope’ view of an LEO
we’re still making measurements with the
watershed under construction; an LEO hillslope is
goal of better prediction in the future,” filled with special homogeneous soil.
says Huxman.
These experiments are important a light mist to a monsoon), he and his on the information being streamed.
because soil is eroding on Earth faster colleagues will measure parameters The resulting information will provide
than ever, says DeLong, but scientists including soil moisture, carbon dioxide analogues that could feed into the real-
don’t know how world challenges of
long it takes to form smart cities, electrical
new soil from rock. “One hundred years from now, people will look at grids, traffic control,
The minerals (and
the rapidly cooled
this place and marvel at how this building is used.” and defence systems,
says Salim Hariri, an
volcanic glass that is electrical and computer
a big part of the crushed rock used on concentration, temperature, heat flux, engineer at the UA and the architect of
the LEO) include olivine and pyroxene, moisture distribution, water pressure, soil this robust system.
which, compared with other minerals, water flux, precipitation, and atmospheric
can more rapidly weather to clays. If the temperature and composition. Eventually IN THE OCEAN ECOSYSTEM, UA
sandy crushed rock contains an increasing they will add plants to the experiment to ecologist Matt Sullivan has developed a
amount of clay, it will eventually affect examine how biological stimuli modify chemistry-based concentration method
how water moves through the soil and water cycles and landscapes. that can efficiently capture and test viruses
how water is stored in the soil. “No other Computing systems are now being in ocean water, and which is now being
project has looked at these processes at designed to collect, process and interpret used on board ocean research vessels
this scale before,” says DeLong. the vast amount of data, much of it in real around the world. “We have also optimised
When the experiment actually begins, time. In addition, engineers will ensure and rigorously evaluated molecular biology
a maze of precipitation pipes will make the data matches various climate change methods for sequencing environmental
it rain over the slopes, he explains. With models and develop the algorithms that viral DNA,” he says. This is a significant
>>
10 levels of rain at their disposal (from will adjust the models in real time, based innovation that he is preparing to publish.
>>
Continuing our journey, Adamson takes
The
me to the rainforest where environmental
biospherians
scientist Joost van Haren is modifying a
new camera system that can be mounted
on and moved along the top of the forest
canopy. Once tested in the small rainforest
here, the system will be installed in a
BRENDAN MOORE
rainforest of Brazil. We saunter through
some hidden doorways, climb a secret
stairwell, and emerge on the second level
n Entrepreneurs
of the forest, walking on a pathway made Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum were already a
of wooden boards. To the side of the route couple when they entered Biosphere 2, but it was
Jane Poynter, one of the
I spy a waterfall. “One hundred years from during their two-year stay that they both solidified original eight specialists who
now, people will look at this place and their relationship (they later married) and launched a spent two years inside the
marvel at how this building is used,” says successful technology company. Today, facility, with mixed results.
Adamson with a broad smile as we listen Paragon Space Development Corporation BRENDAN MOORE
to the gentle sounds of the water cycling designs life support systems for extreme
through the dome. environments, including special diving
Later, I revisit the initial Biosphere 2 systems, and life support and temperature
concept in conversations with original control systems for spacecraft. It has
biospherians such as Abigail Alling – a contributed to 70 spaceflight missions
director of the Biosphere Foundation including the Space Shuttle, Soyuz and
– and Mark Nelson, who developed the MIR Space Station through the
a business based on the complex’s manufacture, maintenance and operation
wastewater recycling system. Despite of human spaceflight hardware.
any quarrelling that may have damaged “Projects like Biosphere 2 are critically
the reputation of the original mission important for humanity to stay at the edge
20 years ago, the biospherians all agree of advancing science and technology,”
that Biosphere 2 was an important step says MacCallum. “There aren’t many
in understanding how humans affect the of these things that can energise and
environment. “In Biosphere 2 it was not make a child say they want to be a
technology or the complexity of life that scientist… Biosphere 2 was an amazing
caused the greatest challenge, but human project because Bass had the guts to do
miscommunication and disagreements something really special and risk lots Taber MacCallum in a spa
about values and goals,” says Alling. of money and credibility to see if it was cecraft system testing faci
designed and manufactu lity
red by the company he and
“Fortunately all eight inhabitants wished possible to build another biosphere.” Jane Poynter launched while
inside Bio sphere 2.
our biosphere well and as stewards we
were a strong cohesive team regardless of
personal difficulties. This is perhaps the
most important and hopeful message for n Environmentalist
our Earth’s biosphere.” Mark Nelson, who holds a masters degree own venture called Wastewater Gardens
Nelson and others are confident that the in watershed management and a PhD in International. Its basis is a “direct reflection
opportunity and scientific wherewithal environmental engineering sciences, was in of a technology used in Biosphere 2”, he
still exist to alter negative trajectories, charge of Biosphere 2’s sewage treatment. says, in which “constructed wetlands”
such as global warming, caused by people. “I fell in love with recycling so-called are used for sewage treatment and
“When I think about Biosphere 2, I think ‘wastewater’ and sending it back to our water recycling. He is optimistic that
about the optimism we had,” Nelson agriculture,” he says. He later formed his environmental problems can be solved.
recounts. “It was an optimistic project.
We were working on how to get people,
technology and natural systems to work
well together – and sometimes people miss n Foundationists
that. To approach the challenges we now Abigail Alling, Mark Van Thillo and Sally promotional materials. Its projects are
have everywhere on Earth, that’s the kind Silverstone co-founded the non-profit global and have concentrated on coral reef
of optimism we need now. The fat lady Biosphere Foundation while living conservation and advocacy in Indonesia,
hasn’t sung yet. We can solve the problems under the glass of Biosphere 2 and still including rainforest conservation and
humans have caused.” serve as directors. The foundation’s goal sustainable agriculture in Bali, and the
“is to inspire intelligent stewardship of protection of sea turtles in the Indonesian
Alaina G. Levine is a freelance science writer and science our Earth’s biosphere”, according to its Anambas Islands.
careers consultant based in Tucson, Arizona.
Is your school a STELR school?
The most commonly cited reason why students stop choosing actual wind turbines, solar panels and more. STELR provides
science in upper secondary is that they do not see the relevance. career guidance, challenges and social context. STELR is aligned
This is despite the fruits of science being all around them. It to the national curriculum.
doesn’t have to be that way.
STELR is already running in nearly 300 schools throughout
STELR is an in-curriculum program in which renewable-energy Australia. STELR could be running in your school, too.
inquiries illustrate the relevance of science and technology to
students. STELR classroom kits enable students to work with For more information visit www.stelr.org
FICTION
Automation
of a salesman
Story Gregg Jansen Illustration Jamie Tufrey
Normby, second in sales ranking only to Trochus24, He examined it with his metal detector and
was rewarded with images of an ultrasonic
was desperate for the Robo-Salesman of the Year motion detector and an infrared heat
sensor. The car was a passive sensor.
Award and the memory upgrade that went with it. Normby scanned the house before
moving up the driveway. The privet bush
T
wasn’t normal. He directed his ranging
HE SUBURBAN FRONT Colossal Cow & Bully, was clearly the leader laser at it. The return signal was scattered
garden and driveway looked in humanless sales. It was even reflected – too scattered. He switched wavelengths
normal, but when Normby in Colossal’s motto, “They will buy”. But and studied the echo spectrum. The leaves
switched to ultraviolet, he saw this version of robot-proof fence might still reflected blue light, as if crystalline in
microscopic beams of light have video capture, and Badger had most nature. Normby swept his laser over the
lacing across the grass, pulsing a dark ruby likely sold the homeowner this version of bush, filtering out reflections. Fake! With
red every five milliseconds. Normby’s UV the defensive system, so it was possible he the bush echoes removed, the returns
sensor traced the grid of threadlike beams or she would fall for the deception. revealed a parabolic dish antenna, like
to modules in the flowerbed, at the top The standard radio warning played in staring into a window and seeing only the
of the gutter downspout, in the gnome Normby’s head. “These premises protected room behind the blinds. The transmitter unit
sculpture in the corner, and on a wand by a robot-proof
stuck into the ground. security system. No The transmitter unit matched the
He queried the company database. After solicitors! Homeowner
a delay of four milliseconds, the reply was not liable for damage profile of an electro-pulse gun, suitable
“data needed”. An invisible fence using this to sales robots.
light wavelength and pattern was unknown. Deactivated or for melting robotic circuit boards.
Normby pondered the fence for destroyed sales robots
30 milliseconds. He wanted to make the will be removed at company’s expense!” matched the profile of an electro-pulse gun,
sale right now, but that wasn’t possible. Normby moved on as soon as he suitable for melting robotic circuit boards.
Barring a neighbourhood power blackout, had relayed measurements back to The fake bush was new. Normby logged
a long-illegal tactic for thwarting any anti- headquarters. He would return, oh, yes! it to the company database. He’d get
robot system, he wouldn’t make it to the A human with the money to buy such a sales points for the discovery. If it was
front door today. system had the resources to buy what being used here, it would be popping up
Normby put his metal leg into the path Normby was selling. A person who tried elsewhere. But thanks to him, Colossal’s
of a beam and his directional microphone desperately to keep robo-salesmen out was robots would now be able to detect it.
heard an alarm warble inside the house. a person with low sales resistance. He desperately needed the five points
He switched his face panel to look like a a sale would earn. Overcoming a new
standard faceplate of a robo-salesman from HE RETURNED AT 9:00 sharp the next defensive system was worth 25 points.
Badger Profit-Rockit, the competition, and morning. The grass still sparkled from Better than that, beating a new obstacle
illuminated a fake insignia on his metallic being watered by an automatic sprinkler and making a sale was worth 40 points.
chest. The insignia included the Badger system. A small plastic car sat on the Normby was second in sales rankings,
corporate emblem and their motto, “An driveway leading up to the house. Probably behind only Trochus24, who had different
army of remorseless selling machines”. He part of the security system. Normby psychological programming and different
>>
hated doing this, as his robo-sales company, focussed his UV sensor on the toy. Nothing. informational databases. It explained why
>>
Trochus24 had stayed ahead of him. Normby to nab a neighbourhood cat. The cat hissed Then a water needle hit his faceplate.
had to win the Robo-Salesman of the Year and struggled, so he dropped a fish pellet The high-pressure jet tracked downward
Award for the memory upgrade that went into a tray and extended it. The pellet toward his head-to-neck joint, a real danger
with it. He couldn’t fall behind and end up included a mild sedative. The cat snapped it if water penetrated the rubber O-ring.
scrapped, an inferior and forgotten machine. up and Normby noted how quickly the cat’s Normby sprinted backwards.
He consulted his own psychological muscular galvanic potential dropped. So Badger had anticipated the use of pets
programming and a new connection He marched up the driveway while as camouflage? Robot security systems
became apparent. The company designers holding the cat at a proper height to could not harm humans, so the spray was
were creating different psychoanalysis interrupt the detector beams, passing the there to make real humans retreat. The
and sales routines, then watching to surveillance toy with the animal between water needle would be deployed only when
see which routines produced the best himself and the car’s infrared heat sensor. a metal man was detected. Would the water
results. It was a Darwinian survival-of- The proximity detector and heat detector needle have activated if he’d managed to
the-fittest winnowing, choosing the best should be in agreement that the passing hold on to the cat?
programming by creating alternate ways of shape was organic and not robotic, if the He’d have to wait another day before
overcoming sales obstacles and letting the cat generated sufficient body heat. Normby trying again, even though tomorrow was
real world select the winner. had not revealed this secret to the company the last day of the sales period. Normby
Normby felt a flush of excess – at least, not yet. He was going to be the played the Badger Profit-Rockit ad,
energy in the heatsink of his best robo-salesman this year. focussing his transmitter antenna on
pride sub-processor. Humans the area next to the front door where an
would label it a feeling of NORMBY WAS ALMOST to the porch intercom system was likely to be. Then,
accomplishment or the elation when he was hit with a spray of water, a for good measure, he threw in the ad and
of success. gentle fan of fluid from a hidden nozzle. slogan for Robo-Hawk Echelon, the next
It took Normby four The cat jerked and thrashed, breaking free biggest competitor. The homeowner might
excruciatingly long minutes of Normby’s grasp and streaking away. think Normby was a Robo-Hawk salesman
trying to make Badger look bad.
Getting points for defeating another
new defensive feature wasn’t going to be
easy, but he wasn’t giving up – even though
his probability estimation routine now
gave out a much lower number. Normby
overrode his stubbornness judgement
routine. He needed the points. He was
going to win the Robo-Salesman of the Year
Award. And this house was the treasure of
sales points that would put him well ahead
of Trochus24.
ON THE THIRD DAY, Normby found a

golden retriever. A bigger animal might
make a better sensor shield. The dog
didn’t resist when Normby scooped it
up. He gave the dog an extruded bacon-
flavoured strip for cooperating. The dog
licked Normby’s faceplate. He could
sense its willingness to be helpful,
as good a best friend to a simulated
human as to a real human.
He held the dog at his waist and
proceeded up the driveway. The dog’s
tail thumped against Normby’s back
with a hollow, metallic sound. The
water spray did not come on this time.
But as he approached the porch, Normby
noticed that the end of the driveway, the
final rectangle of concrete, was different in
colour – as if newer. Normby stopped and
directed his high-power radar at it, sensing
springs and circuitry underneath. It was a
trapdoor that dropped at a robot’s weight.
His microphone picked up an ultrasonic like that in all robo-salesmen. It would not changed slightly, the sound of an alarm
blip. The ultrasonic pulse hit the dog in allow him to bend the rules – circumvent, circuit being deactivated.
the side, though the dog didn’t notice. The yes, but not bend. The door opened to a middle-aged
sound waves were modulated by the dog’s It was curious how the rules of law were woman. “Yes?” Her facial muscles tightened
flesh, affected by skin and muscle, vibrating like programming. Even when obeyed as she examined him and the corners of her
in response to the ultrasonic pulse. scrupulously, unintended results could occur. mouth pulled down.
A flesh detector? Normby logged this The laws governing robo-salesmen were “Yes, ma’am, I’m a robot.” Normby gave
new information to Colossal’s database, a source of much anger and frustration a small bow. Now he had to make a correct
waiting 20 milliseconds before marching for humans. No matter how explicitly selection of goods or services to present.
over the trap and stopping in front of the each new law tried to kill or cripple The woman patted the dog’s head
door. Success! The dog shield had fooled robo-sales, robot designers found a way and smiled. “Such a pretty girl.” The dog
the flesh detector. He’d get points for around them. Human society couldn’t ban responded with enthusiastic tail wagging.
discovering and defeating the ultrasonic door-to-door robot salesmen outright, as “Is this your dog?” Normby asked, even
flesh jiggler. Now if only he could get the robo-salesmen had been preceded by robo- though it was clear that it wasn’t.
sale too. surgeons, robo-pilots, and robo-dentists. “No.” The woman continued to pet the
Normby lowered the dog to the porch,
giving it another bacon strip. The dog A person who tried desperately to keep robo-salesmen
wagged its tail and looked up expectantly,
hoping for another. Normby accessed his out was a person with low sales resistance.
psychological database. Humans loved
dogs. The dog’s presence was probably a After that, robots had been developed to dog. “I don’t recognise her.”
good thing. He gave it an additional strip. do dangerous and unpleasant jobs, like “But you have a pet?”
“Sit,” Normby said, making the tone high-voltage wiring, plumbing repairs, “Yes. A pair of cats.”
of voice that issued from his speech unit and slaughterhouse work. Finally, robots “Ma’am, would you be interested in
both friendly and firm. To his surprise, had moved into jobs even fewer humans seeing more about the wonderful products
the dog obeyed. wanted – when illegal immigrants refused we offer for making your pet’s life better
The hanging decorations visible through to sell magazines, siding, brushes, or and longer-lasting?” Normby didn’t wait for
the front window indicated a woman in vacuum cleaners door-to-door. an answer, deploying a paddle screen from
the house. Flowerbeds in front of the Normby couldn’t understand it. He liked his left hand.
small porch. A decorative gnome statuette meeting each and every new person, talking The woman nodded as Normby made his
under a chrysanthemum bush. A woman to them and presenting the products and sales points, talking about how increasing
was an 83% probability. No cars in the services that would make their lives better a pet’s happiness increased the owner’s
driveway, though, so the probability of a and more fulfilled. happiness and buying a pet product would
single woman homeowner was high. An benefit both animal and human.
embroidered wall hanging indicated an HE PRESSED THE doorbell. The intercom Normby displayed his catalogue of pet
elderly woman, as the saying hinted darkly activated. “Who is it?” products and the woman flipped through
at the foolishness of the young. Normby The voice signature correlated with it. She paused several times at a cat play
couldn’t comprehend, as newer and older a woman, aged 55 to 62, judging from post structure, then made conflicting
robo-salesmen models were exactly the the vocal cord tension and dryness statements of how her cats would love
same. Why did humans treat longer measurements. “Good morning, ma’am! it, along with comments about the cost.
existence as an accomplishment? Maybe And how are you this fine day?” The tension lines around her mouth were
he’d understand with future updates to his “Who are you? What do you want?” consistent with a high level of indecision.
psychological programming. “You don’t know me, ma’am.” He selected
A male appearance was called for. Was the voice of actor Burt Powers, popular NORMBY MODIFIED his faceplate display
this the time to try his new technique? with women over 50, and with a trust to create a simulation of a male face, young
Normby paused for 30 milliseconds to rating of 78%. Too bad Normby couldn’t and blonde with exaggerated smile lines. “I
consider. His new technique would try to toss out one of Burt’s catchphrases, can tell you love animals. You must really
exploit the human desire to interact with but the studio that held Burt’s contract care about your cats.” He lowered the timbre
other humans, even though simulating a had declined. “I have a dog here. Are of his voice even more. “That is wonderful
human was illegal. Federal law prohibited you missing a dog? A golden retriever, of you. Your husband is a lucky man.”
robo-salesmen from emulating humans or adult from the look of the animal.” All Some of the friendliness on the woman’s
being visually indiscernible from a human. of it truthful and correct. The robot face slid away. “Not so lucky. He died three
The second clause was the key. As long prohibitions didn’t require full disclosure, years ago.”
as his initial contact was conducted with a such as that he had intentionally sought He’d been correct. A lack of an extra car or
robotic appearance, it would not violate the out the dog and brought it along. cars correlated to single status 69% of the
law to switch over to a human appearance “Just a minute.” His sensitive microphone time, according to his relational database.
for his sales pitch. He was sure it would heard the woman mumble to herself, then “Ah, I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am. How
stand up to legal scrutiny, and Normby’s the deadbolt mechanism turned. The hum long did you decide to wait?”
>>
prohibition programming was very strict, of the electrical circuit inside the house “Wait? Wait for what?”
>>
“How long did you decide to wait How much did you pay for the Badger
before you let suitable gentlemen come to system, ma’am?”
call? Certainly you made a choice not to “Only 5,000.” A human wouldn’t
entertain such thoughts for an appropriate have noted the quaver in her voice.
time after your husband’s… passing.” But Normby detected it with a Fourier
“Uh…” The woman exhibited all the signs analysis of her response.
of confusion, the unfinished response, He’d have to be well below that sum.
fluttering eyelids, leaning back slightly, Good thing a system cost Colossal only
and a blank expression. Then the small 1,000. “I can offer you a 1,000-crediton
beginning of a smile played at the corners discount, to make up for the poor quality
of her mouth. “Well… one’s never in a of the Badger system, but I want to get you
hurry to start all over again.” more. One moment, please, while I consult
No denial. That was to be expected. The with the company.” He froze his display
flattery was so obvious and shallow, yet it again, remaining quiet and motionless for
worked. It always worked. five agonisingly long seconds. Then he
Normby selected a wink from his menu twitched and displayed three eye blinks,
of facial expressions, choosing a we-both- signalling he’d returned from his fake
know-a-secret wink and not the you’re-so- consultation. “That’s better. I can award
attractive-too-bad-I’m-not-human wink. you 2,200 creditons, taking your cost down
Gauging the proper level of overtness was to 3,800. What do you think?”
the only trick in using flirtation. The woman The voice signature Her mouth opened. Judging from the
knew he was a robot, yet the biological number of breaths and their sharpness,
programming almost always won out. correlated with a woman, she was still 10% above her internal
What was perplexing was that humans purchase threshold. She made a quick,
expected robots to have human actions aged 55 to 62, judging from jerky turn, only rotating 14 degrees,
and mannerisms, despite the prohibitions. an uncompleted impulse to flee back
Robot designers called it the “97% rule”, the vocal cord tension and into her house. But she didn’t retreat.
as robots could mimic human appearance,
speech, and mannerisms up to 97%.
dryness measurements. Human conditioning about breaking off
a conversation was very strong. Stronger
Anything greater and humans complained. than humans realised. A conversation
She bought the cat play post. Normby Colossal robo-salesman, had figured out couldn’t be ended without proper
followed up his advantage and sold her a how to defeat her system. It would not be exchanges. His programming countered by
large set of cosmetics, touted as exploiting tactically sound to acknowledge that her not responding with the same verbal and
the newest discoveries in pheromonal defensive system was functioning properly. non-verbal signals. Normby shuffled his
signalling. The cosmetics were so expensive “Yes, that’s right.” She took the receipt feet forward in tiny steps that a human
that Normby did not press further. Her printout that Normby proffered, shifting it couldn’t detect, reclaiming the closeness
brief flashes of frown indicated a stop- from hand to hand as if uncertain whether she was trying to break.
buying threshold. she wanted to keep it. “But that isn’t the price I’m going to offer
He presented his payment approval “Disappointed?” he asked. you,” Normby continued. “I’ll give you our
pad and displayed a string of movie star “Well… yes.” existing customer discount of 10%, since
endorsers. The woman hesitated for 220 “Do you feel it was money wasted?” you just bought the cat play post.”
milliseconds before extending her hand and “Yes, it was.” Her respiration rate dropped by 7%. But
thumb-printing the purchase. Approval! “Let me access our company database and her inhalation amplitude was still 15%
Normby allowed his exultation circuit to check something. One moment, please…” above baseline. And she hadn’t turned back
send a message of success to Colossal Cow Normby froze his display face, as if to face him.
& Bully’s confirmation centre. communicating with the remote computers “Then I’ll add in a new customer instant
He removed the handsome young blonde of Colossal. But it was only for appearance rebate. That brings the cost down to 2,100
male face from his faceplate. Annoyance and he didn’t request any information. creditons.” He noted with satisfaction that
flitted across her features. “Because of your… fruitless expenditure her pulse dropped, along with her respiration
Time for the final phase. “I see that on a Badger system, I’m going to make you rate. Tension lines on her forehead and
you have a robo-sales defensive system, a special offer. I can sell you a replacement around her mouth eased. “What do you say,
ma’am. Must be a Badger unit, since I robo-sales-proof security system for … let ma’am? Can I sign you up?”
walked up to your front door without me run a few calculations… 6,000 creditons.” She exhaled loudly, the last bit of
harm.” Normby displayed the handsome He observed her face, noting the telltale resistance being released. She had come to
male face again, giving it a sympathetic rapid blinking, the low gasp, and the wide- the realisation that she wouldn’t get rid of
smile, with the display crinkling up skin at eyed look of shock. “But you get a credit for Normby without buying.
the corners of the eyes. your previous security system, even though “Just a word of warning, ma’am.” Normby
By law, he could not lie. But he wasn’t you bought it from… a lesser company. It is moved closer, lowering the volume output
compelled to say that he, the second-best clearly an inferior product, don’t you think? of his speech unit. “I’ve heard that one
of Badger’s top robo-salesmen has been “How did you get past my system?” She “Yes, it is. Good day, ma’am. Let’s
following me, working my route three or stared at his faceplate as if she’d be able to go… dog.” Normby caressed the dog’s
four days behind me.” This was correct, read an expression or reaction there. head just as the woman had done.
according to Colossal’s surveillance. Normby gave a small bow, then displayed Showing affection for a human pet would
“Ma’am, I’d like to know that they won’t a sardonic smile on his male face. “Sorry, make him more accepted by humans,
be able to make it to your door. We can trade secret, ma’am.” he realised. The dog rose to its feet,
have your new robot-proof defensive But he couldn’t leave it at that. Never sniffing the woman’s leg before turning
system installed in two days.” He nodded to leave the customer unhappy. and licking Normby’s metal hand. The
confirm his stalwart resolve to protect her. “I will not be back to your door until warmth of the tongue was surprising.
The new system would not be easily fooled at least a year has elapsed.” His speech And the dog’s willingness to accompany
by the use of an organic shield – at least, unit pronounced it softly, as if it would him left Normby with a feeling of
not if the robo-salesman was a Badger or sadden her, but was intended to inform happiness. No wonder humans loved
Hawk robot. her that purchase was rewarded with dogs as they did.
a respite. “I cover a very large sales It was a great day. He had fulfilled his
SHE EXTENDED HER thumb, pressing territory. It is company policy that I not programming and had served a human,
it to Normby’s confirmation pad. The return for a year – unless you request a providing items that the woman hadn’t
Robo-Salesman of the Year Award was sales visit.” Company policy also dictated even known she needed. He’d received
now his. Forty points for defeating a new that he not disclose that the one-year unconditional affection from a dog, as
defensive tactic and for making the sale. period was part of the robot prohibition if he, Robo-Salesman of the Year, was
Plus an additional 20 points for selling laws. The knowledge that Colossal robots equivalent to a human. And he’d made
her a new robot-proof defensive system, a would have to stay away for so long a sale that would put him well ahead
system that would be far more receptive to always left the customer happy – though of Trochus24.
Colossal Cow & Bully’s robots than to the Normby couldn’t understand why. They will buy, Normby exulted in his
competition’s robots. “Good luck finding the owner,” the sales-effectiveness analysing routine.
“Now the next robo-salesman who comes woman said. She hadn’t deduced that
along will not be able to make it to your Normby was merely exploiting the animal. Gregg Jansen is a patent attorney based in Colorado who
front door – as I just did.” “That’s a great dog.” enjoys writing science fiction, fantasy and dark humour.
REVIEWS
Edited by Rivqa Rafael
INTERVIEW
MATTHEW SNOWDEN
Inside the World
of Dinosaurs app
developer
M5859 STUDIOS
INSIDE THE WORLD of
Dinosaurs, a dinosaur
encyclopaedia app, won
the Best Education Award at the 2012 Appy
Awards, in San Francisco, for its cinematic-
quality, interactive 3-D dinosaur models.
Matthew Snowden, head of the creative team
at M5859 Studios in Melbourne, chatted to
Tiffany Hoy about making the app, his favourite
dinosaurs, and having Stephen Fry as narrator. Two Dilophosaurus face off. Right: In the app, dinosaurs
TH: Inside the World of Dinosaurs was about can be viewed by geological period.
12 months in the making and more than 30
specialists were on the
team. Can you describe the
experience? No one had seen dinosaurs this
MS: Very hectic. It was like
producing a film where
way: fighting in mid-air, suspended
you’re overseeing different almost Matrix-like.
departments: art direction, How did you create the dinosaur sounds?
sound, animation, modelling. We had a team of four people who recorded
When we saw the app’s main logo with the I’m a fan of the Liopleurodon, the big marine the sounds. Pretty much 95% were original
two fighting dinosaurs spinning in mid-air, dinosaur that leaps out of the water. sound effects – they did a lot with their own
I said, “We’ve got to do them all like that.” That was also one of my favourites. None of the voices and applied special effects. We’d speak
The original project didn’t have any fighting team really wanted to do water particles – it’s to palaeontologists and ask if this dinosaur
dinosaurs, it was just dinosaurs walking. When so much work. I saw a poster on a phone box of could have made this sound, given its body–
we saw some of those spectacular models, we a girl leaping out of the air with water particles mass ratio and throat structure. There’s no
changed direction. all around her. I thought, we’ve got to have this scientific proof of what they sounded like
No one had seen dinosaurs this way: fighting giant dinosaur coming out of the ocean with or what colour they were, so there’s a bit of
in mid-air, suspended almost Matrix-like. The water particles spinning around in 3-D. That creative license.
team’s brief was to create something no one was the inspiration: a phone booth. How did it feel to have Stephen Fry on board as
had seen before on iPad that was Does your team have a thing a narrator?
equivalent to the special effects for epic battle scenes? It felt great, and the team loved the idea of
of a Hollywood film. I would say that was the having him on board. But it took a few months
You could have made an app driving force. People love of talking to his agent, because he was so
about anything, why dinosaurs? dinosaurs, and if you’re 12 busy. It only happened when we showed them
I love dinosaurs, I always have years old and you want to see some of the animations and screenshots. He
– a lot of kids do, and [so does] a dinosaur, you want it to be said, “Oh, I can see where this app’s going and
my team. We thought as a really slick. There’s a famous it’s going to be very different.” And [Fry] read
first bet for an app it was our fossil of a Velociraptor and a the whole thing [without] pauses, not even in
strongest. We did a lot of test Protoceratops locked in battle. dinosaur names. There were two sessions – one
animation and thought we We recreated the fight, 10 in London and one in New Zealand because he
M5859 STUDIOS
could do it. seconds before they died. We was there to do The Hobbit. He just walked into
Do you have a favourite entry? worked with palaeontologists the studio and read it. Amazing.
Monolophosaurus – the dinosaur to make sure that everything What’s next? Do you have plans for expansions?
that became the icon, because was scientifically accurate. Definitely. We’re doing an iPhone version and
they look almost like classical Matthew Snowden and his team We had to make sure it was maybe even a game. We might also do more
ice-skaters. won an Appy Award for their efforts. authentic, but exciting. science apps along the lines of Dinosaurs.
NON-FICTION
DARWIN’S GHOSTS: IN SEARCH OF THE FIRST
“confessing a murder”.
Novelist and historian
WHAT’S HOT
EVOLUTIONISTS Rebecca Stott eloquently
by Rebecca Stott, Bloomsbury Publishing (2012), rrp $39.99 narrates us through the NON-FICTION
OF ALL THE COMMENTS he received after rediscovery of those Our pick of the top life sciences
publishing On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin progressive individuals books this month.
was most disturbed – even riddled with anxiety – who dared to voice
by a letter calling his work “intellectual theft”, and theories of evolution in 1. Birdsense: What It’s Like to
him a fraud. After rushing the book to print, and devoutly religious times. be a Bird
lethargic from an irritating chronic skin condition, From Aristotle to Darwin’s by Tim Birkhead, Bloomsbury,
Darwin had failed to acknowledge his predecessors contemporary, the naturalist $35
and state how much of what he had written was Alfred Wallace, Stott presents a detailed account 2. The Brain That Changes Itself
actually his. of the “ghosts” behind Darwin’s most seminal by Norman Doidge, Scribe,
After this vicious accusation, Darwin became work. This historical narrative is rich in factual $29.95
almost obsessed with compiling an exhaustive list detail, but Stott always keeps it light-hearted and 3. The Epigenetics Revolution
of all the natural philosophers who had written entertaining. I found it an easy but educational by Nessa Carey, Icon, $22.99
about evolution before him. He even came to think read, and a great choice for anyone interested in 4. Sleights of Mind: What the
of them as “allies, as fellow outlaws and infidels” understanding how modern knowledge of evolution Neuroscience of Magic Reveals
in a time when to question religion was almost like came about. – Selina Haefeli About Our Brains
by Stephen Macknik and Susana
Martinez-Conde, Profile, $22.99
NON-FICTION If you’re after a broad-picture analysis 5. Nest: The Art of Birds
MEGACATASTROPHES! NINE as well as the nitty-gritty details of the by Janine Burke, Allen & Unwin,
STRANGE WAYS THE WORLD end of life as we know it, this book is for $32.99
COULD END you. The chapter “Physics gone wrong”
by David Darling and Dirk Schulze-Makuch, includes not just a blow-by-blow account List supplied by Abbey’s Bookshop,
Oneworld Publications (2012), rrp $29.95 of how the LHC works, but also an 131 York St, Sydney, abbeys.com.au
DARLING AND SCHULZE-MAKUCH explanation of subatomic particles and
line up nine disasters that could a rundown of a bizarre theory called the
spell the end of humanity – but this quantum Zeno effect, which suggests that SCIENCE FICTION
is no ordinary doomsday checklist. just by measuring the universe physicists 1. A Rising Thunder
The authors take us through today’s are bringing our destruction closer. Yes, by David Weber, Baen, $39.95
cutting-edge science that could end you’ll feel your brain growing as you read. 2. Armored
in tomorrow’s melt down – from nanobots to But the authors aren’t above including a little edited by John Joseph Adams,
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), superviruses, April Fool’s joke about a man in too much tweed, Baen, $17.95
renegade artificial intelligence, alien invasion claiming to be from the future and trying to shut 3. Singularity
and even being fried by our own Sun – explaining down the LHC before it destroys the universe. by Ian Douglas, Eos, $19.95
the science and rating the likelihood of each Touché, gentlemen. It’s not all doom and gloom. 4. Legion of the Damned
catastrophe with a panic button. – Tiffany Hoy by William C Dietz, Ace, $19.95
5. Doctor Who: Shada
by Douglas
TECH: APP containing details of the planets, with updates Adams and
KEPLER EXPLORER of the latest information and new discoveries. Gareth Roberts,
Free app for iPad and iPhone, available Interactive graphics allow users to zoom around the BBC, $39.95
from the App Store solar systems, examining the planets and their host
KEPLER EXPLORER ALLOWS stars up close. – Ashley Wright List supplied by
armchair astronomers to Infinitas Bookshop,
explore alien worlds. The Shop 22, Civic
free app, which was developed by a team that Arcade,
included an astrophysicist, a digital artist and 48–50 George St,
a computer games designer, gives people the Parramatta.
opportunity to see planetary systems discovered infinitas.com.au
by NASA’s Kepler space telescope. The project
was the initiative of scientists at the University of
California Santa Cruz.
The US$600 million Kepler Mission aims to
detect Earth-sized planets outside our Solar
System, and has found around 2,300 (unconfirmed)
planets so far. The app features drop-down menus
NON-FICTION facts and paints a vivid picture of his
METAMORPHOSIS: UNMASKING characters as he describes their theories
THE MYSTERY OF HOW LIFE and experiments as well as their personal
ASU/TOM STORY
TRANSFORMS struggles and achievements.

by Frank Ryan, Oneworld (2011), rrp $19.95 The book doesn’t shy away from the
METAMORPHOSIS IS the fact that metamorphosis is far from being
transformation of caterpillars fully understood by science. Even so, the
into butterflies and tadpoles informed reader will be left wondering
into frogs. Frank Ryan introduces about the inadequate genetic testing of
BOOKMARK myriad lesser-known examples of one of the central themes in the book:
Lawrence Krauss is a celebrated mainly marine creatures that show Don Williamson’s controversial theory
theoretical physicist and author. Based stunning transformations as part of larval transfer, which proposes that
at Arizona State University (ASU), he of their lifecycles. metamorphosis arose through hybridisation of
researches topics such as dark matter In an equally entertaining and informing fashion, distinctly different species.
and the origin of the universe. He Ryan guides his readers through the lives and Aimed at an interested general readership,
often speaks to academic and general works of some of the key figures who explored the Metamorphosis provides an engaging cross-
audiences about science and its place mystery of metamorphosis, its mechanisms and disciplinary account of a truly astonishing
in society. His most recent book is A
its evolution. He interweaves prose with scientific biological phenomenon. – Achim Eberhart
Universe from Nothing.
Which books are you reading?

NON-FICTION and even space and time – due
The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011)
A UNIVERSE FROM NOTHING: WHY THERE to fluctuations and vacuum
by Steve Pinker
IS SOMETHING RATHER THAN NOTHING energy (the ‘energy’ of empty
The Social Conquest of Earth (2012) by
Edward O. Wilson by Lawrence Krauss, Free Press (2012), rrp $29.99 space). Predictably, people have
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks “YOU COME FROM nothing, you’re going argued that this isn’t nothing; the
(2010) by Rebecca Skloot back to nothing. What have you lost? criticism being that to rely on
I’m interested in evolutionary Nothing!” So ends Monty Python’s Life of the laws of quantum mechanics
psychology because of my Origins Brian, and so may well begin Lawrence requires an explanation as to
Project at ASU and for a book I might Krauss’s latest page-turner A Universe where those laws came from.
write. Pinker’s book is a monumental from Nothing. Popular science books rarely Philosophical nitpicking
triumph, and a brave stand against garner reviews that are themselves subject aside, A Universe from Nothing
conventional wisdom. I’m sceptical to reviews, but Krauss’s latest offering has provides a concise outline of the
of Wilson’s arguments on group had scientists, theologians and the general public advancements in cosmology over the last century
selection, but they are relevant to my making a fuss (arguably over nothing). up to the present. From the mysterious entities
current thinking and he’s a wonderful What the reviewers can’t agree on is Krauss’s that dominate our universe (dark matter and dark
writer. Skloot’s book is a classic of use of the term ‘nothing’. In the book, Krauss energy), to contemporary theories of inflation
hard work and good science writing. details how a universe can conceivably emerge and the multiverse, this book should be required
out of a quantum state of nothingness – an initial reading – if only for the last line, prior to the
Which book has been most influential condition devoid of matter, particles, properties, epilogue. – Ashley Wright
in your life?
Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller
Heller’s classic reinforced some
key aspects of my world view that COSMOS LOVES
continue today, in particular the
absurdity of much of conventional
social and political activity, obviously
including war, and also the need for
♥ THE TRANSIT OF VENUS across the
Sun on 5–6 June 2012 (depending on ♥ If you’ve had the flu, upload your details
to FLUTRACKING.NET to help citizen
humour in that absurdity as a way your location). It won’t be back until science prevent disease.
of coping with a world that doesn’t December 2117.
care about you. But perhaps most
important, from a writing perspective,
♥ FINGER MONKEYS: We have a common ♥ MOON DAY on 20 July 2012 is the
43rd anniversary of the Moon landing.
Heller taught me the importance of ancestor with these babies. Check them We’ll be celebrating by watching Moon
juxtaposition, in particular the power out at http://bit.ly/fxEZ4M and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
of juxtaposing ideas and experiences
that seem mutually incompatible.
♥ NIKOLA TESLA DAY, on 10 July 2012,
commemorates the neglected genius ♥ NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK is coming
up in August. With events for all ages
What would you like to read next? inventor’s birthday. He helped invent in all branches of science, there’s
I look forward to reading my next electricity, radio, the X-ray and radar. something for everyone.
book, whatever that will be on.
NASA
RETRO
REVIEW THE
SPECIES
DVD/BLU-RAY 27 years old
BACK TO THE FUTURE this July
directed by Robert Zemeckis, Universal Pictures
(1985), $19.95
MOST LIKELY, it’s a good thing that
time travel hasn’t moved from science
SEEKERS
fiction to science fact. Any number of
things could go wrong, and in Back to
the Future they almost do. Street-smart
teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) Heroes, Fools and
travels from 1985 to 1955 when his
scientist friend ‘Doc’ Brown (Christopher Lloyd) is interrupted the Mad Pursuit of
Life on Earth
by terrorists (yes, really) just before his planned jump forward
in time. Marty is still finding his bearings when he accidentally
disrupts his parents’ meeting, threatening his own existence.
Fortunately, he locates the younger Doc and together they plan
to reunite Marty’s parents and send him back to his own time.
From the mid-eighteenth
After 27 years, Back to the Future is a double nostalgia fest century to the early twentieth,
– the ’80s music, slang and pop culture are as much of a treat a colorful band of amateur
as their ‘50s equivalents. The humour’s still fresh – I especially naturalists explored the most
loved the UFO riffs and the Star Wars and Star Trek mashup. The perilous corners of the planet
improbable relationship between Doc, the stereotypical mad to discover new life-forms.
professor, and Marty, the feckless adolescent, is as endearing
as ever. And the souped-up DeLorean time machine and its flux
Amid globe-spanning tales of
capacitor are entrenched pop-culture symbols – because even adventure, Richard Conniff
if time travel might have disastrous consequences, as Doc says, recounts a dramatic historical
why not do it with some style? – Rivqa Rafael shift, as humans finally
discovered the pantheon of life
on Earth-and our place within it.
NON-FICTON
THE DREAMS THAT STUFF IS MADE OF
edited by Stephen Hawking, Running Press (2011),
rrp $42.99
AT THE DAWN of the 20th century,
the disruption in knowledge known as
quantum physics transformed the way we
think about energy and matter. In a book
as weighty as the topic itself, Stephen
Hawking and colleagues have gathered
the seminal papers from the prodigies of
physics who led the revolution. Beautifully
translated from the originals, these papers signpost the process
whereby geniuses successively stood on each others’ shoulders
to build an unparalleled edifice of inspired theories.
Despite the famous uncertainty of simultaneously knowing
where a subatomic particle is and where it’s going, there is
nothing but confidence in these theories. In their publications,
these pioneering scientists describe the thinking and research
behind their dogma-shattering conclusions. They postulate that
energy is packaged in quantum bundles, that electron orbitals are
quantised and that matter is mirrored by antimatter – and all are
captured in this tome. This was the era that first acknowledged
the pivotal role of uncertainty in science: a principle that, sadly, ISBN 9780393341324 • RRP $22.95
remains poorly understood by the general public.
Despite the excellent translations, the reproduced articles
are heavy going. The attraction of this compilation is in the RICHARD CONNIFF
explanatory introductions by Hawking and Joel Allred, coupled
with the sheer joy of having so much brilliance bundled between
a single set of covers. - Alan Finkel
COSMOS 45
OPINION
New worlds from old

It has rewritten the story of life on our planet and, in bang for buck, delivers
better value than physics or astronomy. Yet palaeontology will not be viable
unless scientists are willing to reinvent it, argues John Long.
P
ALAEONTOLOGY TOOK its Investment in palaeontology block of rock, extracting
first tentative steps in the early can underpin good the entire faunal content
19th century as a system of exhibitions and yield of a past environment
naming and classifying fossils financial rewards. for the first time.
so geologists could date rocks. Some museums Such stunning work
It was crucial in establishing the geological are experiencing now needs further
timescale: the record of changes in the a dinosaur- development.
Earth’s climate, life and extinction for the led economic Future
past 4.5 billion years. recovery. Two collaborations
When Charles Darwin published On the new fossil with mathematics
Origin of Species in 1859, palaeontology galleries at the and computing
had little relevance to his central thesis Natural History could mine raw
on evolution, and few museums held large Museum of Los The classic spiral-shaped palaeobiological
shell of an ammonite fossil.
fossil collections. Within decades, fossil Angeles County data for more refined
WIKIMEDIA
discoveries began to challenge, test and have doubled visitor numbers in the past two environmental and dating
ultimately strengthen Darwin’s theory. years and boosted merchandise sales by 84%. information. This is crucial for developing
Today, with more than one billion fossils Palaeontology still needs to build stronger our understanding of past environments
in museums, transitional fossil forms that global collaborations. Australia has some of and climate shifts, and has positive
link the major groups of Earth’s animal life the best fossil sites in the world, and other economic implications for improving the
are well known and documented. countries have the technology and cutting- effectiveness of exploration drilling.
The mid-20th century was the golden edge methodologies needed to mine them Australia today has about 30 full-time
era of palaeontology. Every museum and for new information that could further research palaeontologists in universities
university employed palaeontologists, as did boost our understanding of evolution. and museums, and several on short-term
large exploration companies. But successive A good example is the work done on postdoctoral positions and fellowships
cutbacks changed all that. Now, in an the 515-million-year-old complex fossil who may never be fully employed. By
increasingly competitive funding landscape, eyes that made the cover of Nature in contrast, China has some 500 professional
palaeontologists have attempted to keep December 2011. It was a collaboration palaeontologists with 10 specialised
their discipline alive by collaborating with between a team of Australian scientists palaeontological museums, attracting
geoscience, biology, computing, mathematics, and colleagues in Spain and London. tourism to its regions and protecting its
physics, engineering and chemistry. Further examples of applied fossil sites. It’s a policy Australia could heed.
Today, this cross-disciplinary palaeontology include the development We need more regional, on-site museums
palaeontology is a cost-effective of labs to study ancient DNA, the growth at our world-class fossil sites. This will
investment that packs a hefty punch. Like of palaeobiology conservation studies to create jobs (especially in country regions),
astronomy, palaeontology offers deep mitigate effects of climate change on fauna boost local tourism, protect important sites
insights that usually lack immediate real- and flora, and biomechanical studies that from vandalism and harvest new fossils
world application, but carry the potential shed light on the engineering factors that for research. It’s about developing our
for big breakthroughs. Unlike astronomy, it shaped the evolution of modern animals. resources and protecting our heritage – and
does not rely on very high-cost equipment, One intriguing area of research is in meeting our responsibilities.
such as large telescopes. And while learning how to extract the total fossil
astronomy attracts up to 1,000 times more content from a rock to study the complete John A. Long is an Australian palaeontologist and the
global funding than palaeontology, the two ecology of past environments. Again, Vice President of Research and Collections at the Natural
fields are neck-and-neck in the number Australia is in on the ground floor. Work at History Museum of Los Angeles County, in California.
of pages they publish in high-impact the Australian National University in the His most recent book is Hung Like an Argentine Duck: The
publications such as Nature and Science. 1980s replicated every single fossil in a 3-D Prehistoric Origins of Sexual Intimacy.

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Saturday, 4 August, 10am – 4pm Berwick, Gippsland and Peninsula
Sunday, 5 August, 10am – 4pm Caulfield, Clayton and Parkville
Monash Open Day is all about finding the course and the Find us here too:
opportunities that will give you the skills and the confidence to facebook.com/Monash.University
make a world of difference to your life and the lives of others.
twitter.com/MonashUni
monash.edu/openday weibo.com/monashuniversityaust
Australia n China n India n Italy n Malaysia n South Africa

WELCOME & CONTENTS
WELCOME TO THE GUIDE
TAKE IN THE CAMPUS VIBES, enjoy some live
entertainment and get your uni queries answered by staff and
students all in the same day. Here at COSMOS Magazine we’ve
created a calendar with all the university open days across
CONTENTS
NSW & ACT OPEN DAY CALENDAR 4
the country, including highlights, freebies and other fun stuff. VIC & TAS OPEN DAY CALENDAR 8
And not that we’re biased, but we’ve heard there will be a lot of
pretty spectacular science activities and displays taking place. IN FOCUS SCIENCE OPTIONS AT MONASH UNI 9
So if you’re not quite sure which uni to go QLD & NT OPEN DAY CALENDAR 12
to, or just want to have a fun day out, be
sure to check out our one-stop guide for
IN FOCUS GRIFFITH UNI’S INDUSTRY
the lowdown on open days coming up AFFILIATE PROGRAM 13
around Australia. SA & WA OPEN DAY CALENDAR 15
Selina Haefeli
COSMOS intern and science graduate MULTISTATE 16
(neuroscience)
Cover photography by Narelle Browne, RMIT University DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE AT WWW.COSMOSMAGAZINE.COM/OPENDAY
Science. Your path

to the future.
A QUT science degree can help you make a difference.
Your career path could put you at the forefront of the latest discoveries using
nanotechnology, developing solutions to protect plant and animal species for
future generations, investigating resource deposits or renewable energy sources,
or solving problems like water shortage, salinity and climate change.
QUT combines real-world learning and relevant, up-to-date courses designed to
challenge your thinking. And you’ll have the flexibility to choose from a wide range
of complementary or diverse study options to match your interests and aspirations.
Science studies
Biological | Chemistry | Earth | Environmental | Physics
Choose from the majors above, then add your own choice of secondary study areas.
Apply your passion and enquiring mind to some of the big issues shaping
SCI-12-123 CRICOS no. 00213J
the world today.

More information
Come and see us at QUT Open Day on Sunday, 29 July 2012 at our
Kelvin Grove campus. Or visit www.qut.edu.au/science-engineering.
Sarah Harris’ geoscience degree gave her real work experience with Origin, including
assessing drilling operations and conducting field analyses. This experience helped
her secure a role as a geologist with oil and gas consultancy group, AWT International.
ACT
NSW &RMIT
NSW & ACT

IN FOCUS
OPEN DAY CALENDAR
AT A GLANCE
WOLLONGONG
WHAT YOU’LL LOVE
Enjoy sand and surf on one side,
or entrancing bushland and quaint
heritage villages on the other. This
thriving city is a great place to live,
work and play.
NO. OF UNIVERSITIES 1
AVERAGE RENT (WEEKLY)
In the city: $420 (house); $350
WIKI
(unit)*
On campus: $163–$420
depending on catering and style of
Wollongong’s forests and accommodation
coastline await exploration. Prices are a rough guide only.
* Source: propertyobserver.com.au.
NSW & ACT LISTINGS

n AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE
ACADEMY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25
9am – 4pm
Northcott Dr, Canberra
Highlights Personal tours from ADFA
Navy Midshipmen and Army and Air Force
Officer Cadets; information sessions.
Demos Displays by the Navy, Army
and Air Force navigating the above-pool
Wollongong’s steelworks
obstacle course, abseiling down the side makes the city a large
iSTOCK
of a building, climbing the rock-climbing industrial centre.

wall and practicing martial arts.
Free stuff Live music and free bus
services will be available on the day.
openday.adfa.edu.au Demos Mini-displays and hands-on Bathurst campus: Panorama Ave,
exhibits from the College of Engineering Bathurst
n AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY and Computer Science, workshops and Wagga Wagga campus: Boorooma St,
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25 exhibitions from the School of Art. North Wagga
9am – 4pm info.anu.edu.au/studyat/Student_ Albury-Wodonga campus: Elizabeth
ANU Sport and Recreation Centre, Recruitment/openday Mitchell Dr, Thurgoona
North Rd, Acton csu.edu.au/oncampus/campus-life/tour
Highlights Explore the campuses, take n CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITY
a tour, or chat to the researchers and OPEN DAY EVERY DAY – personalised n CQ UNIVERSITY
students who will be on hand to offer tips campus tours for prospective students at SUNDAY, JULY 29
and advice. a time and day that suits you. 11am – 2pm
104 COSMOS open day guide www.cosmosmagazine.com/openday

OPEN DAY CALENDAR NSW & ACT
Sydney campus: 400 Kent St, Sydney student-developed augmented-reality n UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
For more information, see the QLD/NT software that allows people to interact SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
listing or cqu.edu.au/study/key-dates with a computer-generated animation. 9am – 4pm
newcastle.edu.au/campaigns/opendays Anzac Pde, Kensington
n MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY Highlights Advice and information
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 n UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND on courses; campus tours, lectures,
10am – 4pm PERSONALISED CAMPUS TOURS postgraduate information, live music.
Balaclava Rd, North Ryde AVAILABLE. Demos Different science faculties will
Highlights Guided campus tours, art 9.30am and 1.30pm weekdays, and by be giving demonstrations, test your
gallery, camel rides, kids’ craft and appointment on weekends vision with the School of Optometry and
science activities, mini-lectures, art Elm Ave, Armidale Vision Science.
gallery and sculpture park. Highlights See the residential colleges, Freebies Entertainment, music, and
Demos Chemistry magic show. libraries, cafes, shops, sporting facilities the Chocolate Society will be giving out
openday.mq.edu.au and lecture theatres. chocolate.
une.edu.au/for/future-students/ studentlife.unsw.edu.au/events/unsw-
>>
n SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY tours.php open-day
PERSONALISED CAMPUS TOURS
AVAILABLE.
Phone +61 2 6626 9286 to book
UNSW
Coffs Harbour campus: Hogbin Dr, Coffs

Harbour Future students check
Lismore campus: Military Rd, Lismore out what’s on offer at
the University of New
Tweed Heads and Gold Coast campus: South Wales open day.
Brett St, Tweed Heads
scu.edu.au/marketing/index.php/10
n UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25
9am – 4pm
University Ave, Bruce
Highlights Course advice sessions, tour
of the campus and facilities.
Demos A variety of demonstrations in
a number of university laboratories and
specialist learning spaces.
Freebies Entertainment, live performances.
canberra.edu.au
n UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25
10am – 3pm
Newcastle campus: University Dr,
Callaghan
SATURDAY, AUGUST 18
10am – 3pm
Central Coast campus: Chittaway Rd,
Ourimbah
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30
3pm – 6pm
The glasshouse: corner Clarence St and
Hay St, Port Macquarie
Highlights The Computer Science
and Software Engineering School will
present three interactive activities.
The NUBots will be playing soccer with
the advanced DarWIn-OP humanoid
robotic platform.
Demos Face-recognition software that
guesses age, gender and expressions;
www.cosmosmagazine.com/openday COSMOS open day guide 105

facebook.com/COSMOSmagazine
It’s your daily dose of
Australia’s favourite
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FAST AND
FURIOUS
Volcanoes just
got deadlier p71
Evolution
MATTER OF
FAITH
31-PAGE
local and international

Dawkins on
aliens, God SPECIAL
and truth p48
p84
BEYOND
BIOSPHERE
Climate change
in a box
RED DEER CAVE EXCLUSIVE
A new find sparks a radical
ELEMENTS review of human evolution p52
science events
OF BEAUTY THE OTHER DARWIN
The art of Wallace’s living legacy p38
chemistry p30
HAIRLESS APES
Why we stood up
ISSUE 45 JUNE/JULY 2012
and lost our fur p58
A$10.95 NZ$12.90
ISSN 1832-522X
45
FUTURE HUMAN
What your descendants
9 771832 522008 will look like p64
COSMOSmagazine.com
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COSMOS
Experience our
new iPad app
ART MEETS CHEMISTRY | THE OTHER DARWIN | DAWKINS ON EVOLUTION | RED DEER CAVE | THE NAKED APE | FUTURE HUMANS | VOLCANOES GET SPEEDY | THE LAST GLACIERS | FICTION BY GREGG JANSEN
FAST AND
FURIOUS
Volcanoes just
got deadlier p71
Evolution
MATTER OF
FAITH
Dawkins on 31-PAGE
aliens, God SPECIAL
and truth p48
p84
BEYOND
BIOSPHERE
Climate change
in a box
RED DEER CAVE EXCLUSIVE
A new find sparks a radical
ELEMENTS review of human evolution p52
OF BEAUTY THE OTHER DARWIN
The art of Wallace’s living legacy p38
chemistry p30
HAIRLESS APES
Why we stood up
ISSUE 45 JUNE/JULY 2012
A$10.95 NZ$12.90 and lost our fur p58
ISSN 1832-522X
45
FUTURE HUMAN
What your descendants
9 771832 522008 will look like p64
COSMOSmagazine.com
045
CHEMISTRY ■ HISTORY ■ EVOLUTION ■ FUTURE ■ CLIMATE ■ REVIEWS ■ FICTION ■ TRAVEL
C45_Cover_FOLD_v2.indd 1 23/05/12 2:54 PM
It’s the perfect timeline addition for anyone with a curious mind:
facebook.com/COSMOSmagazine
OPEN DAY CALENDAR NSW & ACT
n UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Highlights Forensic tent set up like a
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25 crime scene, science activities for all ages,
9:30am – 4pm tours of labs and facilities.
University Rd, Camperdown, plus Demos The traditional Chinese medicine
campuses in Surry Hills, Darlington, tent will demonstrate making some
Camden, St James, Rozelle, Cumberland. medicine recipes.
Highlights Tours and mini lectures on undergraduate.uts.edu.au/events
everything from accommodation and
scholarships to degrees and careers. See n UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN SYDNEY
why the University of Sydney is rated SUNDAY, AUGUST 26
number one for student life with their 10am – 2pm
200+ clubs and societies. Parramatta Campus, Rydalmere (entrance
Hands-on activities See one of the via Victoria Rd), Parramatta
largest snakes in Australia or hold one Highlights School tours, workshops,
of the heaviest insects in the world. See food tasting, live music and displays.
the Sun at work, have a health check- www.uws.edu.au/openday
up by our nursing students, or prove
your mathematical genius by solving n UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG
mathematical problems on display. You WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27
can even extract DNA from a strawberry. 3–7pm
UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA
sydney.edu.au/open_day Northfields Ave, Wollongong
Highlights Campus tour, presentations
n UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY from each faculty; meet and speak
SYDNEY to staff; lectures from various faculty
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25 representatives.
A BBQ at a University of
9am – 4pm uow.edu.au/future/events Canberra open day.
15 Broadway, Ultimo
VIC &RMIT
TAS
VIC & TAS

IN FOCUS
LISTINGS
WIKI
OPEN DAY CALENDAR
University of Ballarat’s city cam

■ CQ UNIVERSITY heritage-listed buildings from
pus features
SUNDAY, JULY 22 the Gold Rush.
11am – 2pm
vic & tas

Melbourne campus:
108 Lonsdale St, Melbourne
For more information, see the QLD/NT ■ LA TROBE UNIVERSITY
listing or cqu.edu.au/study/key-dates SUNDAY, AUGUST 5
10am – 2pm
■ DEAKIN UNIVERSITY Albury–Wodonga campus: University Dr,
SUNDAY, AUGUST 12 Wodonga
9am – 2pm Highlights Explore your psyche at the
Warrnambool campus: Princes Hwy, psychology testing stations. Visit the
Warrnambool Murray–Darling Freshwater Research
SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 Centre and find out what freshwater
9am – 3pm ecologists do. Experience the Wodonga
AT A GLANCE Geelong Waterfront campus:

1 Gheringhap St, Geelong
Geelong Waurn Ponds campus:
Sustainability Fair.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 10
3pm – 7pm
BALLARAT 75 Pigdons Rd, Waurn Ponds Shepparton campus: 210 Fryers St,
WHAT YOU’LL LOVE SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 Shepparton
A perfect blend of history and 9am – 4pm FRIDAY, AUGUST 17
heritage with all the mod cons of a Burwood campus: 221 Burwood Hwy, 3pm – 7pm
vibrant city. Ballarat has a thriving arts Burwood Mildura campus: 471 Benetook Ave,
and entertainment scene including deakin.edu.au/openday Mildura
nightclubs and playhouses, plus Highlights Tour the clinical nursing unit.
walking trails, goldfields and quaint
historic villages.
Launceston looks over the Tamar River.
NO. OF UNIVERSITIES: 2
(unit)*
iSTOCK
LAUNCESTON
WHAT YOU’LL LOVE
Open-air concerts at the Gorge and
the chance to lose yourself in the wild.
With waterfalls, lakes, walking trails,
and lavender fields… you won’t want
to go home!
NO. OF UNIVERSITIES: 1
(unit)*
Prices are a rough guide only.
* Source: propertyobserver.com.au.

IN FOCUS MONASH
Three ta kes
on science enty
At Monash, there are pl
MONASH
atch
of options to mix and m
different areas of interest
icine
within a science or med
MONASH
degree.
Minto Felix’s medicine degree
could lead him to research
Jacinta Jenkins is mental health or work as a
studying the role
MONASH
clinical psychologist.
of a hormone in
obesity.
I
T’S OFTEN DIFFICULT to
decide what course to study at
Jacinta Jenkins is in her
Honours year of a Bachelor of
QUICK FACTS
university and that’s certainly Science (Advanced). Like many ABOUT STUDYING
true of science. Many science
students end up graduating
science students, she didn’t know
exactly which field of science she
AT MONASH
in fields quite different from those would end up in. “In first year n Degrees in science and
they might have expected when the subjects are general, such as medicine take three to
their courses began. biology and chemistry, and this five years full-time
This interdisciplinary gives you the opportunity to n There are more than 30
movement is high on the list Judy Tran is combining decide which field you would like areas of study within
of reasons that make science pharmacology with marketing. to learn more about,” she says. the science school, and
such an exciting field to study. Jenkins ended up doing a many units from other
Three students from Monash University in double major in biochemistry and physiology, faculties that can be
Melbourne told us more. a decision based on the subjects she took in her added to your course
Second-year psychology student Minto first year. Science offers a choice of subjects, n Combine your love of
Felix likes the fact that while undertaking an she says, “but not so many that you become science with another
“intensive psychology degree”, his course has overwhelmed”. For her Honours project she is interest by doing a
introduced him to related areas of science such researching the biochemistry of a fat-derived double degree
as public health, biomedicine and behavioural hormone, leptin, and its role in obesity. n There is the opportunity
neuroscience. Felix is interested in looking at For Judy Tran, the option to do a double to study abroad and
psychology from a public health perspective, degree in science and commerce was the perfect exchange for both
focussing on mental health issues in the combination, as these were her two favourite undergraduate and
adolescent population. He also feels his course subjects at high school. Tran is now in her final research students
will set him up for work in clinical psychology, year, majoring in pharmacology and marketing, n You have access
and is happy that the program has enough scope which she plans to combine by pursuing a career in to state-of-the-art
for students to follow either path. marketing of pharmaceutical products. Tran says equipment, and the
This year Felix has a field placement with Monash University holds fairs to help students opportunity to work in a
a psychiatrist working in refugee mental in their final year find out about, and apply for, laboratory with leading
health. People working in psychology come graduate positions in their fields of study. She’s academics even in
from a diverse range of fields, and this sort of now applied for some graduate positions at various undergraduate studies
interdisciplinary collaborative work is what really companies, but is also considering doing an
attracted him to study in this area. Honours year first. – Selina Haefeli

VIC &RMIT
TAS
SUNDAY, AUGUST 19
IN FOCUS
10am – 4pm
Bendigo campus: Edwards Rd, Flora Hill
RMIT
Demos Civil engineering: see testing
OPEN DAY CALENDAR
of metals and concrete and check out

surveying and GPS demonstrations in the
Engineering foyer. Discover research and
teaching facilities, including molecular
and cell biology labs and model pharmacy.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 26
10am – 4pm
Melbourne campus: Kingsbury Dr,
Bundoora
Demos Get hands-on experience with
RMIT University’s open day is a
demonstrations of computer games and chance to meet staff and students.
software systems. Check out final-year
electronic engineering projects and try
your hand at building circuits. See the
latest in robots, biomedical engineering, ■ RMIT UNIVERSITY ■ UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
modern communication systems, electric SUNDAY, 12 AUGUST SUNDAY, AUGUST 19
vehicles and the TIGER radar. 10am – 4pm 10am – 4pm
Highlights Exciting demonstrations and Brunswick campus: 25 Dawson St, Brunswick Parkville campus: Grattan St, Parkville
interactive activities and experiments Bundoora campus: Plenty Rd, Bundoora Southbank campus: 234 St Kilda Rd,
in chemistry, biochemistry, genetics City campus: 124 La Trobe St, Melbourne Southbank
and pharmacy. Eye-opening physics and Highlights Visit RMIT on Open openday.unimelb.edu.au
nanotechnology demonstrations. The Day to learn more about your study
Physics Live show is every hour on the options in science, engineering and ■ UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA
hour, 10am – 2pm, outside the Student health. Presentations from current staff SUNDAY, AUGUST 26
Hub. Find out about our two new world- and students, tours of facilities and 10am – 3pm
class research facilities – La Trobe Institute demonstrations will be held all day. Hobart campus: Churchill Ave, Sandy Bay
for Molecular Science (LIMS) and AgriBio, Demos Demonstrations and Launceston campus: Newnham Dr,
the Centre for AgriBioscience. competitions include the RMIT Trade Newnham
latrobe.edu.au/openday Skills Competition, Micro Air Vehicle Cradle Coast campus: 16–20 Mooreville
demonstrations, Warman Design Rd, Burnie
■ MONASH UNIVERSITY Competition, Hydrogen and Electric Car Highlights A comprehensive course
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 displays, Vietnam Project presentations, information expo, with presentations
10am – 4pm and a Statistics in Sport demonstration. by each faculty, general information
Berwick campus: Clyde Rd, Berwick rmit.edu.au/openday sessions and special guest speakers. Take
Gippsland campus: Northways Rd, Churchill a campus tour and talk to academic and
Peninsula campus: McMahons Rd, ■ SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF general staff.
Frankston TECHNOLOGY utas.edu.au/openday
SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 SUNDAY, AUGUST 19
10am – 4pm Hawthorn campus: John St, Hawthorn ■ VICTORIA UNIVERSITY
Caulfield campus: 900 Dandenong Rd, Prahran campus: 144 High St, Prahran SUNDAY, JUNE 24
Caulfield East Lilydale campus: Melba Ave, Lilydale 10am – 4pm
Clayton campus: Wellington Rd, Clayton swinburne.edu.au/openday Footscray Park campus: Ballarat Rd,
Parkville campus: 381 Royal Pde, Parkville Footscray
Highlights Tours and information ■ UNIVERSITY OF BALLARAT Highlights Tour the campus, attend
sessions on everything from combining SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 information sessions, get valuable career
study with travel to social clubs and 10am – 3pm advice and speak first hand to current
sports activities. Mount Helen campus: University Dr, students. On-the-spot applications and
Demos See paramedics in action, 3-D Mount Helen advice. Competitions, entertainment and
special effects and animation workshops. SMB campus: Lydiard St South, Ballarat interactive displays.
Freebies Register your interest in Camp Street campus: Camp St, Ballarat vu.edu.au/events/open-day-2012
attending and go into a draw to win one of Highlights Register your interest in
two Apple MacBook Airs. attending and go into a draw to win an iPad.
monash.edu/openday ballarat.edu.au/openday

+ Discover the best science, engineering and
I.T. undergraduate courses and careers in
our definitive guide
+ Learn which exciting industries will boom
+ Read real life success stories
+ Discover how to score that dream job
DOWNLOAD NOW OR ORDER YOUR FREE PRINT COPIES AT

www.cosmosmagazine.com/ultimatescienceguide
POSTGRADUATE
2012
SURVIVAL GUIDE
LOOK OUT FOR IT IN THE AUG/SEPT ISSUE OF COSMOS
Expand your horizons with this comprehensive Postgraduate Survival Guide.
Be inspired by profiles of early career scientists, growth industries and
international opportunities. Use our postgraduate information sessions
directory to start planning the next stage of your career.
For more information

Visit www.cosmosmagazine.com/postgrad or email info@cosmosmagazine.com
OPEN DAY CALENDAR QLD & NT
QLD & NT program specialisations in ecology and
iSTOCK
conservation biology, analytical and
molecular science, and agriculture and
food science. Bring your family and friends
and enjoy a fun day out with a range of
food and entertainment on offer.
cqu.edu.au/study/key-dates
n GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
SUNDAY, AUGUST 12
9am – 2pm
The University of Southern Queensland’s Japanese Gold Coast campus: Parklands Dr, Southport
Garden is one of the many parks in the city. Nathan campus: 170 Kessels Rd, Nathan
South Bank campus: 140-226 Grey St,
AT A GLANCE South Bank

Highlights Explore our campuses and
degrees, and your full-time, part-time or
TOOWOOMBA online study options. Discover how you’ll
WHAT YOU’LL LOVE benefit from our world-class research and
The second-largest inland city lecturers who are pioneers in their fields.
in Australia, Toowoomba is griffith.edu.au/open-day
home to over 150 parks and
gardens. Revel in the annual n JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY
music, flower and agricultural SUNDAY, AUGUST 19
carnivals and festivals. 10am – 2pm
Cairns campus: 14-88 McGregor Rd,
NO. OF UNIVERSITIES: 2 Smithfield
QLD & NT LISTINGS AVERAGE RENT (WEEKLY)
In the city: $200 to $250*
SUNDAY, AUGUST 26
10am – 2pm
On campus: $131–$283 Townsville campus: 1 James Cook Dr,
n BOND UNIVERSITY Prices are a rough guide only. Townsville
SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 * Source: propertyobserver.com.au. SUNDAY, AUGUST 5
10am – 3pm 10am – 2pm
Robina campus: University Dr, Robina Gold Coast campus: 60 Marine Pde, Gold Mackay campus: Bridge Rd, Mackay
Highlights Roaming performers Coast Highlights Chat to staff and academics
– stilt walkers, string bands and FRIDAY, AUGUST 3 about your career aspirations and
rhythmic drummers. Live music on the 3pm – 7pm opportunities in your area of study. Work
Amphitheatre Main Stage, and free Gladstone campus: Bryan Jordan Dr, through the Adult Directions program
balloons for the kids. Performances from Gladstone with friendly staff from Counselling,
student groups – cheerleading, salsa SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 Careers and Employment to find your
dancing and a giant game of chess. Get an 10am – 2pm ideal career based on your personality
all-access pass to the campus and explore Noosa campus: Goodchap St, Noosaville and interests. Stimulating presentations –
every area that interests you. SUNDAY, AUGUST 12 information, lectures and activities.
bond.edu.au/about-bond/introducing- 10am – 2pm Demos Forensic trail and hands-on
bond/open-day Bundaberg campus: University Dr, Branyan activities for kids and adults.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 www-public.jcu.edu.au/study/openday
n CHARLES DARWIN UNIVERSITY 10am – 2pm
SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 Mackay campus: Boundary Rd, Planlands n QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF
10am – 3pm SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 TECHNOLOGY
Casurina campus: Ellengowan Dr, 10am – 2pm SUNDAY, JULY 29
Casurina Rockhampton campus: Bruce Hwy, North 9am – 3pm
cdu.edu.au/openday Rockhampton Kelvin Grove campus: Cnr Musk and
Highlights Find out everything you Victoria Park Rd, Kelvin Grove
n CQ UNIVERSITY want and need to know about your future SUNDAY, AUGUST 19
SUNDAY, JULY 15 study options. Take a campus tour and 9am – 2pm
11am – 2pm get involved in activities – information Caboolture campus: Manley and Tallon
Brisbane campus: 160 Ann St, Brisbane sessions, demonstrations and interactive Street, Caboolture
SUNDAY, JULY 22 displays. Learn about the diverse career Highlights Go behind the scenes,
11am – 2pm options in science and CQ University’s access all areas and talk to QUT staff and

IN FOCUS GRIFFITH
Curtis Levinsky is gaining valuable Levinsky is measuring pollution in
field experience working in industry creeks in Redland City , Queensland.
while he finishes his degree.
iSTOCK
Algae such as Volvox globator can
destroy waterways if they bloom.
COURTESY OF REDLAND CITY COUNCIL

K ick-s ta rt
re er
CURTIS LEVINSKY
yo ur ca e real world
Morgan Walker did the IAP in 2011
and found her current employer through
the program. She and her boss were on a
Experience working in th panel discussion held for the IAP Project
t credit for it. Expo at the end of the semester. “After
while you study, and ge the discussion I asked if he had any work
experience available, and that led to casual
G
employment, which led to the full-time
RADUATES OFTEN FEEL three months. He’s position that I’m in currently,” she says.
MORGAN WALKER
they have all the theoretical working on a program in Morgan Walker found For her IAP project, Walker worked on a
knowledge they need, but are Redland City, southeast her employer through pilot study with a research team that was
completely clueless and daunted Queensland, monitoring her experience. measuring indoor and outdoor water use in
when it comes to the practical pollutants that enter creeks during storms. households in Queensland.
side. Looking for a job can be tough when “My research project uses an analysis “The government had statistics that
you don’t have much workplace experience. software program to get the total load of my industry partner believed to be quite
Griffith University in Queensland pollutants that comes through in a storm outdated, and they did not incorporate
recognises this problem and runs the event,” he says. “We’re finding that the people’s perspectives from the drought,
Industry Affiliates Program (IAP) for creeks there are pretty badly polluted – with or the water-saving initiatives that were
final-year undergraduate students and lots of algae blooms.” implemented,” she explains. The results the
postgraduates, to help them get a foot in Levinsky’s experience has been very team got highlighted this discrepancy.
the door and gain real-world experience positive. “The program really gets you Walker says that although she’s now
while they’re studying. It’s designed to engaged in a project, and it’s useful to get working in an area unrelated to her IAP
give science, environment, engineering into the industry,” he says. “You get to project, she still feels that she gained
and technology students the tools to be talk to a great range of people and work valuable insights from it. “I would definitely
confident and cluey in their field and with city planners and regulators that you recommend doing this program,” she says.
integrate more easily into the workforce. wouldn’t otherwise be able to communicate “It gave me experience in the workforce and
Curtis Levinsky is in his final year of a with.” He’s also thrilled that he’ll get the it gave me confidence in things like going
Bachelor of Environmental Management, chance to present his findings at a student through the formal interview process.”
and has been doing the IAP for the past conference in Shanghai in June. – Selina Haefeli

OPEN DAY CALENDAR QLD & NT
students. Live music, roving entertainers of fun activities and demonstrations. enjoyable (and successful) one. Discover
and food stalls. Open Day is your chance to find out what what type of degree suits your interest,
Demos Nursing and paramedic: clinical going to uni at UQ is all about. or find out about career opportunities.
simulation centre tour. Human movement: Demos Visit the Science Precinct’s Information sessions, showcasing the
health clinics tour. At the Caboolture animal, environment and food displays, see support offered to students and plenty of
campus, visit information tents and course the Physics Demo Troupe in action or solve entertainment to enjoy.
experience rooms, which display student some maths puzzles. Tour the Anatomy usq.edu.au/openday
work and showcase facilities. and Physics Museums, the Small Animal
Freebies Plenty of freebies, free popcorn, Vet Clinic and our new first-year labs. n UNIVERSITY OF THE SUNSHINE
fairy floss and a giveaway of two Apple youruq.com/openday COAST
iPads – check-in on Facebook Places or fill SUNDAY, AUGUST 12
out an entry form on your way out. n UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN 10am – 3pm
qut.edu.au/openday QUEENSLAND Sippy Downs campus: Sippy Downs Dr,
SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 Sippy Downs
n UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND 10am – 1pm Highlights Explore the campus, attend
SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 Fraser Coast campus: 161 Old information sessions, meet university
9am – 3pm Maryborough Rd, Hervey Bay staff and get your questions answered.
St Lucia campus: Sir Fred Schonell Dr, SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 Chat with USC students about uni
St Lucia 10am – 3pm life and get involved in fun activities,
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8 Toowoomba campus: West St, Toowoomba demonstrations and displays.
2.30pm – 6.30pm SUNDAY, AUGUST 26 Demos Tour the facilities, labs, Sports
Ipswitch campus: 11 Salisbury Rd, Ipswitch 10am – 2pm Precinct and student housing. Cycle the
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19 Springfield campus: Sinnathamby Blvd, world’s hardest courses using 3-D visual
9.30am – 3pm Springfield software, get ‘Up close and physical’ and
Gatton campus: Warrego Hwy, Lawes Highlights Find out what happens at don’t miss the paramedic simulation.
Highlights Meet university staff, attend USQ and what we can offer you. Meet Freebies Giveaways, competitions and
info sessions on study areas and careers, Student Relationship Officers who can live entertainment.
tour the campus, and take part in a range help make your university experience an usc.edu.au/openday
OPEN DAY CALENDAR SA & WA
SA & WA AT A GLANCE
KALGOORLIE
COREY BUTLER
WHAT YOU’LL LOVE
A goldfields town and home of
Australia’s largest open-cut gold
mine, the Super Pit, Kalgoorlie has
plenty of ways to relax after study
with nearby parks and bushland. The
West Australian School of Mines and
Rural Medical School are two of the
campuses located here.
In the city: $380 (house); $350 (unit)*
On campus: approximately $120
MOUNT GAMBIER
WHAT YOU’LL LOVE
Built on the slopes of an inactive
volcano, and home to the famous
colour-changing Blue Lake, Mount
Gambier offers a relaxed country
lifestyle and the chance to explore
abundant natural features, such as
The floral emblem of South caves, sinkholes, lakes and craters.
Australia, Sturt’s desert pea
thrives in arid regions.
In the city: $235 (house);
$180 (unit)**
SA & WA LISTINGS Prices are a rough guide only.
* Source: reiwa.com.au.
** Source: propertyobserver.com.au.
n CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

Heinz College Blue Lake is one of the dramatic
MOUNT GAMBIER TOURISM
crater lakes of Mount Gambier.

220 Victoria Sq, Adelaide
See the website for more information:
heinz.cmu.edu/australia
Highlights Explore cutting-
n CURTIN UNIVERSITY edge campus facilities and
SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 talk to current and past ECU
10am – 4pm students. Demonstrations,
Bentley campus: Kent St, Bentley talks and careers advice.
Highlights Speak to lecturers and Competitions and prizes: play
students, learn about courses and support amazing alloys – wire that has a mind of Nova Cash Grab and win!
services, get involved with activities. its own. Now that’s science! reachyourpotential.com.au/openday
Demos Get your hands dirty and your openday.curtin.edu.au
brain busy at the Science Hub. Chemistry: n FLINDERS UNIVERSITY
disappearing ink and instant reactions; n EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, AUGUST 17–18
see how clicking a metal disk creates SUNDAY, JULY 29 10am – 4pm
crystal chaos. Environmental science: try 10am – 4pm Bedford Park campus: Sturt Rd, Bedford
out environment-saving technology in an Joondalup campus: 270 Joondalup Dr, Park
oil disaster and use Pier Cam to spy on Joondalup Highlights Get involved with one of
sharks, fish and other marine animals. SUNDAY, AUGUST 12 many interactive displays, chat with
Nanotechnology: discover Ferrofluid, a 10am – 4pm our friendly staff and students and take
magnetic liquid, and nano clothes, now Mount Lawley campus: Enter from a campus tour. Chill out and enjoy the
available at a store near you. Physics: see Central Ave, Mount Lawley entertainment on campus.

OPEN DAY CALENDAR SA & WA
MULTISTATE
n AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC
UNIVERSITY
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25
5.30pm – 8.30pm
Brisbane campus: 1100 Nudgee Rd,
Banyo
BEN MACMAHON
SUNDAY, AUGUST 12
10am – 4pm
Melbourne campus: 115 Victoria Pde,
Australia’s open day. Fitzroy
Prospective students at the University of South
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25
9am – 4pm
Demos Robotics: from toys to defence Demos 74 hands-on activities. Canberra campus: 223 Antill St,
systems, investigate the mechanics, Experience evolution with an interactive Watson
electronics and communications of animation. Interact with an evolutionary SUNDAY, AUGUST, 26
robots. Watch live demos and learn about tree and find out how the genomes of 10am – 3pm
how we may use robots in the future. model organisms can help us understand Ballarat campus: 1200 Mair St, Ballarat
Computer gaming: play games developed human disease. Try out keyhole SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
by our students, and find out what you surgery in our Animal and Veterinary 9am – 4pm
need to build a video game and where Sciences marquee. Remotely fire a laser North Sydney campus: 40 Edward St,
those skills can take you. and determine the age of a zircon grain! North Sydney
flinders.edu.au/openday Discover how we are helping the wine SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8
industry deal with smoke taint from 9am – 4pm
n MURDOCH UNIVERSITY bushfires. Identify important aromas and Strathfield campus: 25a Barker Rd,
SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 taste wine made at the Waite Campus. Strathfield
10am – 4pm adelaide.edu.au/openday Highlights Tour your local ACU
South Street campus: 90 South St, campus, discuss your study options
Murdoch n UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA with our friendly lecturers, staff and
Highlights Enjoy fairy floss, rides and SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 students, and get a sense of what your
a great line-up of live entertainment in a 9am – 4.30pm future might be like at ACU.
festival atmosphere. Experience hands- City West campus: enter via North Tce, acu.edu.au/apply_and_enrol/useful_
on activities, pick up course and career Adelaide links/events/open_day
information and take guided tours of our Highlights With over 50 information
world-class facilities. booths and 80 program and career n UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
Demos Race a hydrogen car, take a presentations, this is your chance to SATURDAY, AUGUST 25
wetlands safari and create gold nano meet the University of South Australia’s 9am – 4pm
particles. Visit our internationally staff and students. Presentations from Sydney Broadway campus: 104
renowned vet school, explore our media engineering, science, aviation, information Broadway, Broadway
centre, learn about mooting and check out technology, advanced materials, and See the website for more information:
our engineering pilot plant and new sports environmental and geospatial science. www.nd.edu.au/sydney/events/open_
science facilities. unisa.edu.au/openday day2.shtml
murdoch.edu.au/OpenYourMind WEDNESDAY, JULY 4
n UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN 10.30am – 1.30pm
n UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON AUSTRALIA Darlinghurst campus: 160 Oxford St,
School of Energy and Resources SUNDAY, AUGUST 12 Darlinghurst
220 Victoria Sq, Adelaide 10am – 4pm Highlights Tour our facilities, meet
See the website for more information: Crawley campus: 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley our academic staff and find out what
ucl.ac.uk/australia Highlights Talk to us about uni study studying nursing at Notre Dame is like.
and where you should head. There’s This event is open to all current year 10,
n UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE course information, scholarship details, 11 and 12 students as well as mature-
SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 career advice, guest speakers and great age prospective students.
9am – 4.30pm entertainment for all ages. www.nd.edu.au/sydney/events/
North Terrace campus: between Kintore open.uwa.edu.au nursing_life.shtml
Ave and Frome Rd, Adelaide

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What are some of the features of the COSMOS iPad app?

What are some of the features of the COSMOS iPad app?

What are some of the benefits of subscribing to COSMOS magazine?

What are some of the benefits of subscribing to COSMOS magazine?

...

COSMOS has evolved onto the iPad ...

Download the above issue

BECOME A NEW SUBSCRIBER!

THE SCIENCE OF EVERY

n Free gift for 2- and 3- year subscriptions

See page 82 for more details iPad

ELEMENTS Five frontier technologies

Star Trek and

transform our world. p59

ENERGY n MEDICINE n SPACE n HISTORY n PHYSICS n BOTANY n INTERVIEWS n OPINION

DEPARTMENTS & REGULARS

Australia n China n India n Italy n Malaysia n South Africa

PUBLISHER Kylie Ahern

MANAGING EDITOR Heather Catchpole

COSMOS EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD ISSN 1832-522X

Alan Finkel, Chairman Paul Davies

Just the facts, ma’am

EDITH SUERET was

n GILBERT PRICE In another project, Price will study

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Elusive neutrino oscillations

ROY KALTSCHMIDT, LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY

may see improved treatments based on the

❱❱❱ POPCORN GETS HEALTHIER

twitter.com/cosmosmagazine Emperor penguins aren’t as rare as previously thought.

Rewiring your brain against fat

Your science degree is just the

“I chose to join the Shell Questacon Science

ANU is where great research and creative

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Australia’s leading nuclear scientists

Dr David Fink, from ANSTO, and Dr Paul Augustinus, University of

are helping to understand climate change.

Baboons prove reading

©CNRS PHOTOTHÈQUE/CYRIL FRÉSILLON

words and non-words, and could apply

Carbon released from permafrosts over 50 million years

Earth’s orbit triggers dramatic

The team reported finding the partial

to 2.9 million years ago. The disagreement,

The risk of immediate death also dropped

Not as cuddly as it looks –

UNIVER SITY OF PADERB

Walk towards new

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE NORTHEAST REGION

THE ANSWERS TO LAST ISSUE’S WHAT IS THIS? COMPETITION WAS:

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Frog skin slime battles superbugs

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A GERMAN–AUSTRALIAN scientific collaboration with the meteorite matter. This

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Bionic Eye by Tiffany Hoy

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