New Scientist International - 20 January 2024

TINY T.
REX FOSSILS
MAY BE A WHOLE
NEW SPECIES
BLACK HOLE ‘ISLANDS’ COULD
SOLVE HAWKING’S PARADOX
INTERVIEW: MEET
THE FIRST WOMAN TO
FLY TO THE MOON
WEEKLY January 13 -19, 2024
SECRETS OF THE
MEDITERRANEAN DIET
The real reason it’s so successful and how
to enjoy the beneﬁts wherever you live
Science and technology news

www.newscientist.com
No3473 US$7.99 CAN$9.99
PLUS HOW VENUS FLIPPED ITS SPIN / AFRICA’S LOST MANATEES /

IS IT TIME TO SHUT DOWN BITCOIN? / 2024’S BEST VIDEO GAMES
This week’s issue
On the 18 Tiny T. rex fossils may

be a whole new species
36 Features
cover “How
10 Black hole ‘islands’ could
32 Secrets of the solve Hawking’s paradox manatees
Mediterranean diet
The real reason it’s 41 Interview: Meet the first swam across
so successful and how
to enjoy the benefits
woman to fly to the moon
the Atlantic
wherever you live
Ocean to
Africa is a
15 How Venus flipped its spin mystery”
36 Africa’s lost manatees
Vol 261 No 3473 12 Is it time to shut down bitcoin?
Cover image: Rachel Tunstall 30 2024’s best video games
News Features
8 Largest primate 32 An olive a day
How the mysterious ape Views Indulging in a Mediterranean
Gigantopithecus went extinct diet can stave off heart attacks
16 Viral trigger 36 Elusive manatees

Severe covid-19 infections Strange sightings of these
linked to schizophrenia risk aquatic mammals far from their
usual coastal habitat in Guinea
17 Vital refuge
Submerged area near 41 Back to the moon
Australia may have hosted Christina Koch will become
500,000 people the first woman to travel
to the moon later this year
Views
The back pages
21 Comment
We should all be concerned 44 Mathematics of life
by the shortage of science How to calculate your ancestry
teachers, says Alom Shaha
45 Puzzles
22 The columnist Try our crossword, quick quiz
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein and logic puzzle
on a stellar year for space
46 Almost the last word
24 Aperture What are the odds of Voyager 1
Images of flocks of starlings or 2 hitting a star or planet?
26 Letters 47 Tom Gauld

Why surviving doomsday for New Scientist
may be for the few A cartoonist’s take on the world
SØREN SOLKÆR
28 Culture 48 Feedback
An optimistic book on saving Black hole batteries
Earth from climate change 24 Birds of a feather Søren Solkær’s photos of starling murmurations and confusing coffees
13 January 2024 | New Scientist | 1

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The leader
The great moon rush

A flood of lunar missions will be a boon for science, but we must proceed with care
THIS is the year of the moon, and it is exploration, preparations are also afoot Earth’s past, but about the evolution
already kicking off. The first launch of to have humans land there as well, a feat of the entire solar system. Plus, it is an
the Vulcan rocket on 8 January marked the that hasn’t been accomplished since 1972. important jumping-off point for any
start of what may be the biggest deluge of NASA’s Artemis II mission, planned for the journeys further afield. The technologies
missions the moon has ever seen, thanks end of the year, will take four astronauts for those missions will have to be tested
to NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload around the moon, including Christina somewhere, and the moon, with all its
Services (CLPS) programme (see page 7). Koch, the first woman to travel to similarities to Mars and other relatively
The first CLPS mission is Astrobotic’s small worlds, is arguably the best place
Peregrine lander, an uncrewed craft “The moon could be said to be for doing so.
lofted on Vulcan that hoped to reach the entering a new geological era Still, with so much activity on the
lunar surface on 23 February. It could have akin to the Anthropocene” lunar surface that it could be said to be
been the first time a private firm touched entering a new geological era akin to the
down on the moon, but Peregrine suffered Earth’s satellite (see interview, page 41). Anthropocene (see book review on page
a fuel leak and won’t now make it to its If it goes well, this will be the last dress 29), we should proceed with care to avoid
intended destination. Nevertheless, there rehearsal for the return of astronauts despoiling it. Our moon is a pristine
are more such missions planned this year, to the lunar surface. time capsule from our planet’s past and a
with the world’s space agencies and firms That surface, free from the influences reminder of the way our world has changed
determined to make it to the moon. of geological and biological activity, through our actions. To not learn from
In the midst of all this robotic can give us crucial details not just about our mistakes would be unforgivable. ❚
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News
Marvellous material Waste not, want not Not so golden Neuro-rehabilitation Coloured by history
Graphene turned into Grinding bones Mining in Bolivia Psychedelic drug Neptune isn’t as
a semiconductor for into paste can make is causing mercury helps treat traumatic blue as we thought
the first time p9 meat go further p11 poisoning p14 brain injury p15 it was p19
Space
Vulcan
launches
NASA’s first attempted mission
to the lunar surface since the
Apollo missions in the 1970s
began with the launch on
8 January of a Vulcan rocket
carrying a robotic lander.
Unlike previous NASA
missions, the new efforts will
be public-private partnerships.
But the mission is doomed
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experienced a fuel leak that
means it won’t reach the moon.
CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

News
Palaeontology
Giant ape’s extinction explained

We now know more about why the mysterious Gigantopithecus blacki died out up to
295,000 years ago, after failing to adapt to a changing climate, reports James Woodford
THE largest known primate
GARCIA/JOANNES-BOYAU (SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY)
KIRA WESTAWAY/MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

went extinct between 295,000
and 215,000 years ago, probably
driven by its inability to adapt
its food preferences amid a
changing climate.
A relative of today’s orangutans,
Gigantopithecus blacki, known as
“Giganto”, was 3 metres tall and
weighed up to 300 kilograms.
Despite surviving for more than
2 million years, the species has
been a bit of an enigma since its Pollen and sediment
fossilised tooth was found in a in caves (above)
traditional medicine shop in Hong suggest the largest
Kong in 1935. The enormous tooth ape on Earth lived
was initially purported to belong in grassy areas,
to a dragon, but palaeontologists as illustrated (left)
quickly recognised it was, in fact,
from a primate.
“When you think about them,
you think about giants,” says
Kira Westaway from Macquarie researchers write. “However, just availability of their favourite food. Fossils resembling G. blacki have
University in Sydney, Australia. before and during the extinction Being unable to adapt to a shifting also been found in Thailand,
“Normally when you think window between 295,000 and climate, and the food variability Vietnam and Indonesia.
about a giant, you think about 215,000 years ago, there was that came with it, probably sealed “One thing seems almost
a dinosaur, but this was a giant enhanced environmental the creature’s fate, they say. In certain: their actual geographical
in the primate family.” variability from increased contrast, orangutans, of which range through time would have
seasonality, which caused there are three surviving species, been much greater than current
changes in plant communities adapted their dietary preferences fossils indicate,” says Louys. “How
Failure to adapt and an increase in open forest and behaviour in response to much this will affect the timing of
To establish a timeline for when environments,” they add (Nature, increasing climate variability. the global extinction of the species
the ape went extinct, Westaway DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06900-0 ). “Ultimately [G.blacki’s] struggle is impossible to tell.”
and her colleagues studied By studying banding in the to adapt led to the extinction
hundreds of its teeth and four animals’ fossilised teeth, the of the greatest primate to ever
jawbone fragments found in researchers detected signs of inhabit the Earth,” the researchers Fossil shortage
caves across Guangxi province chronic stress caused by a lack of write. They also dispel the idea Anne-Marie Bacon at the French
in southern China. Looking at that hominins may have National Centre for Scientific
the radioactive decay of certain competed with or hunted the Research says that the study
elements, such as uranium, within
teeth and bone allows researchers
to gauge how much time has
295k
Maximum years since extinction
species, helping to drive its
demise. “There is no evidence
for this,” says Westaway.
helps us to understand G. blacki’s
extinction, but just studying
fossils from China only reveals
passed since death. of Gigantopithecus blacki Julien Louys at Griffith part of its history.
They also looked at other University in Queensland, “This paper focuses on Chinese
deposits, such as pollen and
sediment, within the caves to
determine the conditions that
215k
The minimum number of years
Australia, says the researchers
present a convincing case that
changing environments, and
records, but due to the scarcity of
palaeontological sites in Asia, we
don’t know if the geographical
G. blacki – a herbivore – lived in. since the primate died out particularly increased habitat range of the giant ape extended
“We show that, from 2.3 million variability, probably had on the Indochinese peninsula
years ago, the environment was
a mosaic of forests and grasses,
providing ideal conditions for
2 million
The total span in years over
detrimental effects on G. blacki.
He adds, however, that the
fossils studied came from a quite
[mainland South-East Asia],
and, furthermore, what was the
southernmost limit of this range,”
thriving G. blacki populations,” the which G. blacki roamed Earth restricted geographical region. she says. ❚

Technology
First working graphene semiconductor

could lead to faster computers
Matthew Sparkes
A WORKING semiconductor A graphene either prevents or allows current rate of miniaturisation has slowed
GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
has been created from graphene, semiconductor, to flow through it. Their process recently as engineers reach circuit
potentially paving the way for grown on should be conducive to scaling densities beyond which electrons
a new type of computer with a silicon up because it relies on techniques can’t be reliably controlled.
greater speed and efficiency carbide wafer not dissimilar to those used to “The fact they’re using wafers
than today’s silicon chips allow. create silicon chips. is important because that’s really,
Graphene is a material made De Heer’s group used wafers of truly scalable,” says David Carey at
from a single layer of carbon silicon carbide that were heated, the University of Surrey, UK. “You
atoms that is stronger than steel forcing the silicon to evaporate
at comparable thicknesses. It is a the flow of current to be switched before the carbon, effectively “Using graphene instead
good electrical conductor and is on and off, so it is either conducting leaving a layer of graphene on top of silicon is like driving
resistant to heat and acids. But a or not conducting, creating the (Nature, doi.org/mbzf). De Heer on a gravel road versus
working graphene semiconductor, binary system of zeroes and ones said in a statement that the driving on a freeway”
which can be controlled to used in digital computers. electrical properties of a graphene
conduct or insulate electricity While previous research has semiconductor were far better can use all the technology that the
at will, has evaded scientists. shown that graphene can be than those of silicon chips. “It’s whole semiconductor industry is
Such semiconductors are key made to act like a semiconductor like driving on a gravel road versus totally comfortable with to scale
to creating the logic chips that on a small scale, it had never been driving on a freeway,” he said. up this process.” But he is sceptical
power computers. scaled up to sizes that would make Silicon chips are cheap to that the world will soon shift to
The problem has been the lack a computer chip practical. make and backed by massive graphene chips, because silicon
of what is known as a bandgap. Now, Walter de Heer at the manufacturing infrastructure, has such a head start. “Most
Semiconductors have bands of Georgia Institute of Technology but we are reaching the limits people who work on silicon are
higher and lower energies and in Atlanta and his colleagues have of what they can do. Moore’s bombarded on a daily basis by
a point – the bandgap – at which created graphene with a bandgap law states that the number of new, wonderful materials that
excited electrons can hop from one and demonstrated a working transistors in a circuit will double are about to replace it and none
to the other. This effectively allows transistor, an on/off switch that roughly every two years, but the of it’s ever happened,” he says. ❚
Climate change
2023 was officially goal applies to the long-term A billboard displays 118°F
average temperature rather than (47.8°C) during a heatwave
the world’s hottest the average for a single year. in Phoenix, Arizona, in July
year on record “The extremes we have observed
over the last few months provide heavy rains of Storm Daniel, which
LAST year was the hottest ever a dramatic testimony of how far we breached dams and killed more
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
recorded. The global average now are from the climate in which than 11,000 people in Libya last
temperature for the year was our civilisation developed,” said September, much more likely. The
1.48°C warmer than the 1850- Carlo Buontempo, the director of July heatwave in North America
1900 pre-industrial average, C3S, in a statement. “We need and Europe would have been
according to the European Union’s to urgently decarbonise.” “virtually impossible” without
Copernicus Climate Change Service In a first, every day of the year climate change, the World Weather
(C3S). That is the highest since was at least 1°C warmer than its Attribution initiative said in a report.
records began in 1940 and equivalent in pre-industrial times. Ocean temperatures were
probably the highest in 100,000 Richard Betts at the Met Office, the also unprecedented in 2023,
years, sparking heatwaves, UK’s national weather service, says “The Met Office makes according to C3S, and contributed
droughts and wildfires. 2023 was even more scorching than predictions on the forecast for to events like Hurricane Otis, which
The year’s average temperature expected. That is partly because the coming year every year,” intensified more in 12 hours than
of 14.98°C (58.96°F) came close El Niño, a natural climate phase says Betts. “2023 was the first any storm in history.
to hitting 1.5°C above pre-industrial that boosts temperatures, started time it was substantially above This year will also be hot
times, a limit that countries are earlier in the year than usual, what we would predict.” and could even break 2023’s
aiming to avoid under the 2015 although most of the warming The sweltering temperatures record, says Betts. ❚
Paris Agreement – although the is still due to human emissions. made extreme weather like the Alec Luhn

News
Astrophysics
A way to solve the black hole paradox

We may be able to measure “islands” that contain copies of information that black holes have lost
Alex Wilkins
WE MAY be able to find out what Nothing escapes a black hole’s

happens to matter that falls into a gravity, but we may be able to
black hole, something previously detect what is going on in one
thought impossible. This is
because some parts of a black but the distance they poked out
hole’s interior, called islands, appeared to be smaller than the
may actually poke far enough out tiniest possible length we can
of the hole for us to measure them. measure physical effects on, which
If we can do this, then Stephen made islands seem like more of
Hawking’s black hole paradox a mathematical curiosity than
MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/ALAMY

might finally be resolved. a physical reality.
Now, Raphael Bousso
“There’s some extremely and Geoff Penington at the
surprising physics that is University of California, Berkeley,
no longer hidden behind have calculated that for more
black hole horizons” complicated black holes, like
the ones that actually exist, the
In the 1970s, Hawking realised islands can extend even further
that when the laws of quantum outside the black hole’s event
mechanics are applied to the horizon. For a supermassive black
sphere around a black hole where in different ways to an observer sending a person or instrument hole, this could be by as much as
light can no longer escape, called depending on whether they past the black hole’s event horizon, an atom’s length, which raises
its event horizon, then radiation have fallen into the black hole which is, by definition, inescapable. the prospect of measuring one
should be emitted by the black or remain outside. But, in 2019, researchers found (arXiv, doi.org/mb3w).
hole. This means the black hole Although this appears to create that for some specific simplified “We show these islands actually
slowly “evaporates”. two “copies” of the information hypothetical black holes, some protrude beyond the horizon of
This Hawking radiation, and violate a key principle of information about the interior the black hole far enough that, in
which contains only some of quantum mechanics called might be detectable on the surface principle, there is no obstruction
the information of whatever is the no-cloning theorem, these of the event horizon, in a so-called to probing them and coming back
sucked in by a black hole’s gravity, copies are actually just different entanglement island. out,” says Bousso. “That’s actually
will eventually cause the black viewpoints, described in Albert At the event horizon of a black pretty dramatic because it means
hole to totally evaporate, which Einstein’s theory of relativity, so hole, you have virtual particle pairs that there’s some extremely
creates a paradox. In physics, that no single observer could see popping in and out of existence. surprising and radical new physics
information can’t just disappear, both copies at the same time. If one of these quantum entangled that is no longer hidden behind
but if something falls into a black However, in 2012, a group black hole horizons or hits you
hole and the Hawking radiation of researchers found black “You can do this when you try to jump into a black
only contains some of the hole scenarios in which this observation of a hole, but which is, in principle,
information about it, then when complementarity would, in fact, black hole without accessible to us.”
the black hole evaporates, some lead to an observer being able dying, in some sense” Getting a scientific instrument
information would be lost forever. to access both copies at the within an atom’s width of a black
same time, again violating the pairs is split up by the event hole horizon would require far
no-cloning theorem. These horizon, then one will be held in more advanced technology than
Competing ideas researchers proposed that there the black hole and the other will we currently have, because the
Physicists have come up with was actually an incredibly hot fly out as Hawking radiation. gravitational pull is so strong. The
many ideas to resolve the paradox, “firewall” around the black hole’s The entanglement islands, if we closest black hole that is massive
but the most popular ones focus event horizon that would destroy could measure them, would reveal enough to have a potentially
on what happens to the Hawking everything on contact, again what happens to the “prisoner detectable island is thousands of
radiation after it is created. An separating the two copies. particles” and the seemingly light years away. But, says Bousso,
approach called complementarity Physicists have argued over duplicated information that would “with futuristic technology, the
says that the lost information is which interpretation is correct for exist if complementarity is right. laws of physics don’t prohibit
actually stored at the black hole’s more than a decade, and settling Tantalisingly, researchers found you from probing it”.
boundary while also passing the matter via experiment seemed these surfaces could even extend “You need to get within about
through to its interior, appearing impossible as it would require slightly beyond the event horizon, the size of an atom from its

Environment
Grinding bones into an edible

paste could reduce food waste
James Dinneen
horizon and then get back out THEY looked, smelled and tasted quantities of bones go to waste. other nutrients not found
again. That’s pretty hard to do. like your average fish balls, but Many cultures use bones in muscle. “Feeding them to
Like really, really hard to do,” says the salmon snacks served on to make broth or eat softened humans is the best way to do
Penington. One way this could crackers in the New Scientist bones as part of their meals, it,” he says. “I’m pro bone.”
be made easier is if the black hole test kitchen were made with a but in Europe and North America, SuperGround attempts to
itself were electrically charged, large share of ground-up bones. deboned meat is the norm, and make bones more palatable
which is theoretically possible, but Don’t be surprised if your next Vekkeli says few people spend by grinding them up, briefly
unlikely given that the universe is chicken nugget or fish stick is hours making their own broth. exposing them to high heat
electrically neutral. You could then stuffed with edible bones too. Instead, lots of these “hard parts” and pressure, then grinding
make your spaceship the opposite A Finland-based start-up end up in landfills: the world’s them further into a paste.
charge to the black hole, which, firm called SuperGround has more than 20 billion broiler The resulting bone “mass”
assuming you could get it close developed a way of pulverising chickens leave behind so many can be incorporated into other
enough in the first place, could fish or chicken bones into meat products, increasing the
then propel your ship away again.
If the probe is vaporised before
it gets to the event horizon from
a nutritious paste that can
be added to meat products.
Two large seafood processing
40%
Potential boost to food production
amount of food produced from
the same number of animals by
as much as 40 per cent, according
something other than an obvious companies, Kalavapriikki and from animals by using bone paste to Vekkeli. Getting more meat
physical effect resulting from Royal Greenland, started testing from fewer animals would, in
radiation or gravitational tidal paste made this way in some bones that their remains serve theory, lower environmental
forces, then this would show the of their products in late 2023. as a potential marker of the impacts and save money. Vekkeli
firewall interpretation is correct, “It’s always better to eat Anthropocene – the age of says the process also uses less
says Penington. If the probe everything you can eat,” says planetary change due to humans. energy than the hours of boiling
returns unscathed, then it would Santtu Vekkeli, founder of “I have dreamt of using bones,” needed to make broth and
show that complementarity is SuperGround. Consuming bones says Joe Regenstein at Cornell leaves key nutrients intact.
probably correct. along with meat uses more of University in New York. Many But will consumers eat
Being able to differentiate the animal, making it a more large bones are used as a source ground bones? In an unpublished
between complementarity and efficient way to produce food. of collagen for gelatine, and study SuperGround conducted
a firewall would be an important And yet, he points out, huge smaller ones are put in animal with more than 100 people
development, says Juan feed and fertiliser, but he says at the University of Turku in
Maldacena at the Institute for Workers at Kalavapriikki this is less efficient than eating Finland, participants reported
Advanced Study in Princeton, are testing out using trout them directly. Regenstein adds no preference between fish
New Jersey, even though he isn’t bones to make edible paste that bones contain calcium and balls with or without the paste,
convinced we would be able to although they slightly preferred
measure a physical black hole. chicken nuggets containing bone
“You are not going to be able to paste (described as “meatier”).
do it for a realistic black hole, but When New Scientist sampled the
one might be able to do something same fish balls used in this test,
similar for toy black holes that which contained 15 per cent
you can make in a laboratory,” salmon heads and bones, the
says Maldacena. “You can do snacks had a spongy consistency
this observation without dying, and a fishy flavour, but were
in some sense.” largely indistinguishable
One way would be to simulate from regular fish balls.
one on a quantum computer, Vekkeli acknowledges
which Maldacena, in a separate that eating less meat would
work, has calculated would require have far greater environmental
about a million quantum bits, benefits than simply eating more
or qubits, some way beyond of the bones, but says gradual
the 1000 qubits of today’s best steps that change what the
quantum computers. However, average person eats are also
KALAVAPRIIKKI
it may be possible to test for these necessary. “It’s a lot easier to

islands in simpler models that use a machine than to change
require fewer qubits, he says. ❚ how people act,” he says. ❚

News
Analysis Cryptocurrency emissions
Should nations try to ban bitcoin because of its environmental impact?

Miners of the cryptocurrency aren’t curbing its energy and water use, leading
some to argue that governments should intervene, says Matthew Sparkes
THE amount of electricity used to to landfill annually. The problem

mine and trade bitcoin climbed to was highlighted last year by an
121 terawatt-hours in 2023, 27 per art installation called the Skull
cent more than the previous year. of Satoshi (pictured), created by
While other cryptocurrencies have art activist Benjamin Von Wong.
made bold changes to cut their “The growing climate and
impact, bitcoin’s decentralised community impact of bitcoin
VONWONG/SKULL OF SATOSHI/GREENPEACE BLOG.VONWONG.COM/SKULL
community of developers, miners mining is stark and heavily

and investors are showing little documented,” says Erik Kojola
interest in changing course. If at Greenpeace USA. “Even
bitcoin can’t clean up its own act, with this knowledge, bitcoin
should governments step in? miners and investors continue
The latest data from the to forge forward.”
University of Cambridge shows Kojola says financial firms
that bitcoin accounts for 0.69 per like BlackRock, Fidelity and
cent of all electricity consumption JPMorgan Chase are looking to
worldwide. It also requires vast push wider adoption of bitcoin
amounts of water, both for by creating financial instruments
electricity production and for that allow people to indirectly
data-centre cooling. A study last invest in it. “Our concern is that
year found that a single bitcoin this will drive up bitcoin’s price,
transaction uses enough water creating an explosion in the
to fill a small swimming pool. Skull of Satoshi, a sculpture bitcoin mining companies for environmental and social
To dispense with centralised by Benjamin Von Wong that an interview on the issue. Argo, footprint,” he says.
control but to ensure security and highlights bitcoin’s impact TeraWulf, Hut 8, Riot, Block BlackRock says it was unable
reliability, bitcoin traders register Mining, Frontier Mining and to discuss its bitcoin fund because
transactions in a record called currency control the network, HIVE Digital Technologies didn’t of US Securities and Exchange
the blockchain by carrying out rather than those who own and respond. The email address of Commission rules on products
vast numbers of calculations. operate computing power. This the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC), being reviewed. The other
This protects the network slashed the network’s energy a members’ body set up to speak companies highlighted by Kojola
because hackers would need to consumption overnight by more on behalf of mining companies, didn’t respond to a request for
control more than half of that than 99.99 per cent. More than appeared to be no longer valid. an interview from New Scientist.
computer power to fake or undo a year on, the experiment has A statement on the group’s If the bitcoin community or the
a transaction. But it also sucks proved successful, and Ethereum website says: “The BMC believes finance industry don’t work on a
up resources and pumps carbon remains secure. that Bitcoin’s energy usage is a fix themselves, governments will
into the atmosphere. It is De Vries says the bitcoin feature, not a bug, and provides need to force changes through,
estimated that bitcoin accounts community refuses to take the tremendous network security.” says Rachael Orr at the charity
for 0.16 per cent of global same step and remains wedded Climate Outreach. “It’s really
greenhouse gas emissions. to proof of work despite its “Without global consensus, important that people are made
Alex de Vries at VU Amsterdam environmental impact. individual bans on bitcoin aware of the environmental cost
in the Netherlands believes “Such a system is just totally are likely to lead to a of trading in these currencies,”
bitcoin’s impact is indefensible. inappropriate at a time where game of whack-a-mole” she says. “Our research shows that
“The whole system is built to human-induced climate change is people are willing to change their
incentivise participants to making it more and more urgent A campaign called Clean Up behaviours, but they need strong
waste as much resources as they to be more mindful about the Bitcoin, backed by the US non- leadership from governments.”
can possibly afford on making way we use resources,” he says. profit organisation Environmental However, bitcoin’s decentralised
computations of which the result “We would instantly reduce global Working Group and Greenpeace nature makes it hard to enforce
is immediately discarded,” he says. electricity consumption by half USA, aims to pressure the industry change. Countries can individually
In 2022, another a per cent and worldwide carbon to reduce its environmental ban bitcoin mining – as China
cryptocurrency, Ethereum, emissions by a quarter per cent footprint, pointing out that the did in 2021 – but without global
ditched this wasteful “proof-of- [if bitcoin ditched proof of work].” rapid turnover of machines consensus, that is likely to lead
work” system and replaced it New Scientist approached designed to mine bitcoins also to a game of whack-a-mole where
with one where those who own several of the world’s leading sends 30,000 tonnes of e-waste miners move to evade bans. ❚

Materials science
Bubbles could do photosynthesis

Soap films with distinct sides are a step towards copying the way plants create useful chemicals
Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
A SOAP film with one side were identical, the device would required for photosynthesis “We now have all the pieces and
chemically different from the experience the equivalent of (Physical Review Letters, in press). they are working independently.
other could be used for artificial a battery’s short circuit. In nature, plants and some Next, we have to integrate them
photosynthesis in the future. The sides of a single film don’t bacteria use energy from sunlight into one device,” says team
All other soap films and differ naturally, so Hammarström to chemically process water and member Sylvestre Bonnet
bubbles made so far have and his colleagues had to modify carbon dioxide into sugar. The at Leiden University in the
been the same on both sides, the chemistry without destroying soap film would similarly host Netherlands. Soap is also cheaper
says Leif Hammarström at the fragile film. Methods like chemical reactions, with water on and takes less energy to make than
Uppsala University in Sweden. pipetting different chemicals on artificial photosynthesis devices
“We are making the first ones to each side were too destructive, “If you want to be inspired that use more solid components.
that are not the same.” but the researchers found that by nature, which does Soap films like these make for
Hammarström and his spraying different molecules on photosynthesis very well, a good imitation of membranes
colleagues wanted to design each side of the film did the trick. this may be a good way” and molecules that are important
a soap-based device for In this way, they repeatedly for photosynthesis in nature, says
photosynthesis, the chemical created small samples of soap one of its sides and carbon dioxide Hamid Kellay at the University
reaction in which plants use films that lasted for a few minutes on the other in order to produce of Bordeaux in France. “If you
sunlight to make the compounds at a time and had two chemically useful chemicals like novel fuels. want to be inspired by nature,
they need to grow. But calculations distinct sides. The molecules they The films don’t enable which does [photosynthesis]
and computer simulations sprayed respond differently to photosynthesis yet, but very, very well, this may be a good
showed that they would only light, which helped confirm that together with a prototype of way,” he says. ❚
be able to mimic photosynthesis the sides of the film were different, a device that can keep producing
if the two sides of the film were and they are appropriate proxies many films one after another, See page 19 for more
chemically different. If they for the light-sensitive molecules the work is a key step towards it. on photosynthesis
Linguistics
AI sheds light on After comparing the English fruitful avenues of research.

names with those from other “The first step is to work out
origins of England’s places, Dalvean found that the fundamental language,
place names Harlington is the most otherwise you don’t know what
archetypically English and would meanings to apply,” he says.
BY ANALYSING similarities between therefore have been chosen by But some place-name academics
the names of villages and towns people who spoke the language. are sceptical about the AI technique.
in England and those in a host of This was closely followed by other Keith Briggs at the University of
other places, artificial intelligence places with the same “ton” suffix, Oxford says that analysing the
has revealed hints about their roots. such as Widdington, Beckington, spellings of places will probably
Michael Dalvean at the University Didlington and Toddington. At the reveal little about their original
MIKE BOOTH/ALAMY
of Western Australia took a list other end of the spectrum, Anna names, as these will have morphed
of 18,799 place names from was the least English of the place and changed over time. Thousands
England and 84,687 from Ireland, names in England, followed by of years ago, place names wouldn’t
Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, others such as Lamanva, Laira have been written down – possibly
Sweden, France, Germany, the and Lana (arXiv, doi.org/mbx7). not until their spellings were
Netherlands and ancient Rome. Places with the suffix “ton”, Dalvean concedes that some recorded by visitors, such as tax
He then used machine learning like Widdington in Essex, place names could originate with collectors or census takers, he says.
to analyse similarities between are quintessentially English pre-Indo-European languages “One of the fundamental
the names in England and those that were rarely, if ever, written points of place-names study is
from other places, comparing as is conventionally done by down, making statistical language that you can’t deduce anything
263 variables, such as the pattern place-name scholars, relying analysis difficult or impossible from the modern spelling of a
and location of each letter of on pure statistics meant he when trying to uncover the name,” says Briggs. “The spelling
the alphabet within the words. could uncover fresh information origins of these particular names. changes over time and it’s the
Dalvean says that rather than or at least hints pointing to Nevertheless, he hopes his study spelling in the past that matters.” ❚
studying language and history, new avenues of research. could help point others towards Matthew Sparkes

News
Environment
Poisoned by a gold boom

People living along rivers in Bolivia have neurological symptoms and dangerously
high levels of mercury because of pollution from gold mining, reports Dan Collyns
THE river Beni, which springs from Dredging for gold on the
the highlands of La Paz in Bolivia banks of the Kaka river
and snakes down into the Amazon in La Paz, Bolivia
basin, is the lifeblood of the Esse
Ejja community. “We eat all kinds scale gold mining, and to protect
of fish, big or small, every day,” vulnerable populations from
says Apolinar Ocampo. “We don’t contamination. But the state
have anything else to eat.” But is doing little to mitigate the
those fish are poisoning them. Amazon gold boom’s toxic fallout.
Mercury is key to alluvial gold Between 2015 and 2019,
mining, a practice that is booming Bolivia imported 990.9 tonnes
in Bolivia. Miners dredge up
ALL IMAGES BY DAN COLLYNS
of mercury. Imports fell from the

sediment, then add liquid 2019 peak to 91.66 tonnes in 2021,
mercury so it forms a coating but this still puts it among the
around the gold particles in the top five importers in the world,
silt. Later, microbes in the water according to World Bank data.
and soil transform this toxic It is also a hub for the resale of
additive into methylmercury, the metal to other countries, says
which ends up in the bodies of fish Methylmercury causes many deficits is very severe,” says Miroslava Castellón at Bolivia’s
and other animals. It passes up the neurological symptoms. Esse Ejja Roger Carvajal at the Higher vice-ministry of environment.
food chain, becoming 10 times villagers complain of aches in University of San Andrés in La But since June 2023, mercury
more concentrated at every step. their bodies and heads, memory Paz. “We presume that a whole imports have had to be registered
This is having a devastating loss and confusion, as well as generation of children, teenagers and authorised by the mining
impact on the Esse Ejja, whose vomiting and diarrhoea. One man, and young adults will have ministry, she says, and there is a
name means “people of the river”, Carlos Sosa, with a test registering learning difficulties.” plan to phase out its use, although
and other riparian Indigenous 13.6 μg/g of mercury, says he can’t Since 2013, Bolivia has been no reduction targets are set yet.
peoples in northern Bolivia. sleep due to constant pain and a signatory to the Minamata It is no coincidence that gold
uncontrollable tremors. Convention on Mercury, an has become Bolivia’s principal
“There is a pact of silence. A study in 2021 found elevated agreement by 128 countries to export. In 2022, the country
Miners know about it, but levels of mercury in women in curb or eliminate almost all uses exported 52.25 tonnes of it worth
say nothing. They only care Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia, of the metal, including in small- $3.2 billion, nearly eight times
how much gold they get” but the highest by far were seen in the amount in 2011. Powerful,
Bolivian women, averaging nearly unionised mining outfits called
Oscar Campanini at the Bolivian eight times the safe limit. High “cooperatives” account for
Documentation and Information levels during pregnancy can virtually all the gold production.
Centre and his colleagues collected impair development in fetuses. “Here, there is a lot of gold,
865 human hair samples from the Ocampo, who has eight but there is also a lot of poverty,”
communities living in the basins children, says they struggle to says Pablo Camacho, a doctor in
of the Beni, Madre de Dios and learn at school. “When the teacher Mayaya, a mining town on the
Mamoré rivers. Almost 90 per says do this or that, they don’t get Kaka river. He has seen multiple
cent of them registered mercury it. My daughter is 5 years old and health problems in Indigenous
levels exceeding 1 microgram per she barely speaks.” communities, including low birth
gram, the safe limit established by His wife, Cristina Torres, had weights and babies born with
the World Health Organization, mercury levels of 6.35 μg/g, missing fingers, unformed
with some results as high as more than six times the safe outer ears and cleft palates.
114.4 μg/g. The data is expected to limit and her last child was born “There is a pact of silence,” he
be published fully later this year. underweight and has anaemia. says. “The miners know about it,
“We knew there was a problem “The problem of cognitive but say nothing. They only care
because of all the studies that had how many kilos of gold they get.” ❚
been carried out in various areas Miners on the Kaka river
of these rivers,” says Campanini. (above right); Cristina Torres This story was produced with support
“But we did not imagine that the and Apolinar Ocampo with from the Rainforest Journalism Fund
scope and intensity was so high.” some of their children (right) in partnership with the Pulitzer Center

Mental health
Psychedelic drug helps treat PTSD

and traumatic brain injuries
Grace Wade
THE psychedelic substance The veterans took a dose of measured symptoms in the for depression, anxiety or post-
ibogaine may treat chronic ibogaine to match their weight – participants before and after traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a
symptoms of traumatic brain 12 milligrams of the drug per treatment using a scale of 0 to month after treatment. They also
injury (TBI). A single dose of the kilogram of body weight – and 100, with higher scores indicating saw significant improvements in
drug led to lasting improvements received an intravenous infusion greater disability. At the start of processing speed, problem solving
in physical and social functioning, of magnesium to help prevent the study, participants scored an and working memory (Nature
cognition and mood in a group cardiac problems associated average of 30, implying mild-to- Medicine, doi.org/mbwm).
of military veterans with with the drug. moderate disability. Four to five But it is unclear whether the
combat-related TBI. Williams and his colleagues days after the treatment, this score effects are due to the psychedelic
“This is the first time anybody fell below 20 and, a month later, to drug or something else. “The big
has really been able to show that Military personnel around 5, indicating no disability. problem is [that] a lack of a control
there are neuro-rehabilitation sometimes get combat- At least 83 per cent of group is going to make it near
effects from any psychedelic, related brain injuries participants no longer met criteria impossible to say for sure what
and a pretty profound signal is going on here,” says Albert
of improvement,” says Nolan Garcia-Romeu at Johns Hopkins
Williams at Stanford University University in Maryland.
in California. He says that talking with a
He and his colleagues recruited therapist, attending wellness
J VALENZUELA/MEDIANEWS/INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN/GETTY IMAGES
30 male US military veterans with activities or even travelling

TBI to attend a treatment facility could have contributed
in Mexico for five days. They were to these improvements.
each given a dose of ibogaine, However, a lot of these
a psychedelic substance from variables have previously
the iboga plant native to Africa. been explored as treatments for
All the participants met neurological illnesses with little
a therapist before and after success, says Williams. He believes
taking ibogaine to prepare a constellation of mechanisms
for and to discuss their may explain how ibogaine
psychedelic experience. The could treat TBI. For instance,
participants could also attend the drug is known to enhance
activities like yoga, massage neuroplasticity, or the brain’s
and meditation at the facility. ability to rewire itself, he says. ❚
Space
Renegade moon Technologies in Chicago have done slowing the moon down until circumplanetary disc, but any other
a series of simulations of Venus it ripped apart and fell onto the smaller satellites,” says Makarov.
may have flipped capturing one of these rocks in orbit. planet. The whole thing would “Neith would clear up the vicinity
Venus’s spin They found that it would have probably have taken between of Venus relatively quickly before
been easier for Venus to capture 100,000 and 1 million years crushing itself.”
VENUS rotates in the opposite a massive moon in a backwards, (Universe, doi.org/mbwk). The hypothesis is difficult to
direction to the other planets in or retrograde, orbit than one in It could also explain why Venus prove, though. “Even with extensive
the solar system, and astronomers a regular, forwards orbit. If Venus has no moons now, unlike all the geochemical data from Venus – a
aren’t sure why – but it may have started out spinning in the same other planets in the solar system proposition that’s decades away –
been caused by the drag of an direction as the rest of the planets, apart from Mercury. “A falling, it seems essentially impossible to
ancient moon in a backwards orbit. the gravity of this hypothetical massive, captured moon sweeps up test their idea,” says Paul Byrne at
The early solar system was a moon, nicknamed Neith, could have and removes not only the primordial Washington University in St. Louis,
chaotic place, with rocks hurtling slowed it down and reversed its spin. Missouri. There are other
around at extraordinary speeds. As this process continued, Neith “The moon would clear up explanations, he says, like Venus
Valeri Makarov at the United States would have smashed into any objects in the vicinity of colliding with a planet-sized object
Naval Observatory in Washington matter in the disc of material left Venus relatively quickly early in the solar system’s history. ❚
DC and Alexey Goldin at Teza over from Venus’s formation, before crushing itself” Leah Crane

News
Mental health
Covid-19 linked to schizophrenia

Severe infections with the SARS-CoV-2 virus seem to increase risk of mental health issues
Grace Wade
PEOPLE with severe covid-19 Collaborative. About 219,000 infection, 2573 people had One idea for why this may
infections are more likely to be participants had moderate, severe been diagnosed with a psychotic be is that covid-19 increases
diagnosed with schizophrenia or fatal covid-19 infections, and condition, about half of whom inflammation in the brain,
or other psychotic disorders than roughly 213,000 had tested had contracted covid-19. People which, in turn, leads to higher
those who haven’t been infected. negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus who had covid-19 were 4.6 times levels of a substance called
This suggests covid-19 heightens behind covid-19. The remaining as likely to be diagnosed with a kynurenic acid. Research has
the risk of schizophrenia. participants had acute respiratory psychotic condition than those shown that people with
Schizophrenia is characterised who tested negative for the virus. schizophrenia and psychosis
by hallucinations, delusions “People with schizophrenia Those with ARDS were about have elevated levels of kynurenic
and other cognitive impairments. have elevated levels of 25 per cent less likely to be acid in their brains and spinal
It is unclear what causes it, though kynurenic acid in their diagnosed with these conditions fluid, and Erhardt and her
previous research has suggested brains and spinal fluid” than those who tested negative. colleagues have seen similarly
that it may be triggered by viral About three months after raised levels in those with
infections, including covid-19 in distress syndrome (ARDS), a infection, people with covid-19 severe covid-19. She and others
some small studies. life-threatening lung condition were still 70 per cent more likely hypothesise that kynurenic
To find out more, Wanhong unrelated to covid-19. No one had to be diagnosed with a psychotic acid is a driver of psychosis.
Zheng at West Virginia University a history of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder than people who tested “It’s really important to
and his colleagues have analysed disorder, depression, personality negative or who had ARDS understand the relationship
diagnoses of schizophrenia and disorders or trauma. (medRxiv, doi.org/mbkh). between the immune system
similar conditions in people aged The researchers examined how This is in line with the idea and psychiatric symptoms,
17 to 70 who had had covid-19. many participants went on to be that having covid-19 raises the including cognition, to identify
They collected data on more diagnosed with schizophrenia, risk of psychosis, says Sophie new pharmacological treatments
than 650,000 people from the acute psychotic disorder or related Erhardt at the Karolinska so we can help these patients,”
US National COVID Cohort conditions. Three weeks after Institute in Sweden. she says. ❚
Artificial intelligence
5% chance that AI most AI researchers don’t find it There are fears AI could end
strongly implausible that advanced civilisation by causing catastrophe
will drive humans AI destroys humanity,” says Katja or making robot armies
extinct, says survey Grace at the Machine Intelligence
Research Institute in California, an are indistinguishable from a Taylor
MANY artificial intelligence author of the paper. “This general Swift banger or coding a payment
researchers see the possible future belief in a non-minuscule risk is processing site from scratch. Other
tasks, such as installing electrical
SARAH5/PANTHER MEDIA GMBH/ALAMY
development of superhuman AI much more telling than the exact

as having a non-trivial chance of percentage risk.” wiring in a new home or solving
causing human extinction – but There is no need to panic just yet, mathematics mysteries, are
there is widespread disagreement says Émile Torres at Case Western expected to take longer.
and uncertainty about such risks. Reserve University in Ohio, because There are also more immediate
The findings come from a survey many AI experts “don’t have a good worries, given that 70 per cent
of 2700 AI researchers, the largest track record” of forecasting future or more of participants described
such survey to date. It asked AI developments. AI-linked scenarios involving
participants to share their thoughts Many AI researchers now predict deepfakes, manipulation of public
on possible timelines for future AI that AI will hit certain milestones automatable was given 50 per cent opinion, weaponry, authoritarian
technological milestones, as well as earlier than they predicted in odds of occurring by 2116. These control of populations and
good or bad societal consequences. a 2022 version of the survey, estimates are 13 and 48 years economic inequality to be of
Almost 58 per cent of researchers before the launch of ChatGPT. earlier than in the 2022 survey. substantial or extreme concern.
said they considered that there The development of AI that can Respondents also predicted that, “We already have the
is a 5 per cent chance of human outperform humans on every task within the next decade, AI systems technology, here and now, that
extinction or other catastrophic was given a 50 per cent chance have a 50 per cent or higher chance could seriously undermine our
AI-related outcomes. of happening by 2047, and the of managing most of 39 sample democracy,” says Torres. ❚
“It’s an important signal that possibility of all jobs becoming tasks, including writing songs that Jeremy Hsu

Earth Technology
Submerged Australian area may Humanoid robot

acts out phrases as
have hosted 500,000 people if playing charades
James Woodford Alex Wilkins
A ROBOT that can perform actions

based on text prompts could pave
the way for machines that behave
and communicate more like us.
Large language models (LLMs)
like GPT-4, the artificial intelligence
behind ChatGPT, are able to write
many kinds of computer code, but
can struggle to do this for robot
movements. This is because robots
have such varied physical forms and
are controlled by different software.
KASIH NORMAN
0m
Much of the code for this isn’t on the
0 50km
internet, and so isn’t in the training
-270m data that LLMs learn from.
Takashi Ikegami at the University
AN AREA of land north of able to talk about landscape Above left: satellite image of Tokyo in Japan and his team got
modern Australia that was features that were important covering the submerged round this by using a humanoid
submerged by rising seas at to people,” she says. Northwest Shelf. Above robot, as there is a lot of data on
the end of the last glacial period The inland sea existed in right: detailed map of the human body available for LLMs.
could once have been home to a stable form between 27,000 the area’s topography They used GPT-4 to control their
as many as 500,000 people. and 17,000 years ago, the study Alter3 bot, which has 43 moving
Kasih Norman at Griffith found. A 2000-square-kilometre “This massive landscape that parts in its head, body and arms.
University in Brisbane, Australia, freshwater lake nearby was is not there now would have Ikegami and his team gave two
and her colleagues have stable from 30,000 to 14,000 been unlike anything that we prompts to GPT-4 to get the robot
reconstructed the topography years ago. The lake would have in Australia today,” says to move in response to a request.
of around 400,000 square have been a vital refuge for Norman. “To have a freshwater
kilometres of land that is now people escaping the arid lake of that size next to an The Alter3
covered by the Indian Ocean, conditions of the Australian inland sea is just incredible and humanoid robot
known as the Northwest Shelf. continent to the south. people would have been living gesturing in
Far from being uninhabitable, By modelling these across it. This is a lost landscape response to
RAITA FUTO (CC-BY 2.0)
as was previously thought, geographic features, the team that people were using.” text prompts
the team says it was home to estimates that the region could But at the end of the last
thriving populations of people have supported a population of glacial period, sea levels began
for tens of thousands of years. between 50,000 and 500,000 to dramatically rise. At first, the
The study reveals features people (Quaternary Science sea would have risen by about
including an inland sea, Reviews, doi.org/mbkg). a metre every 100 years, but The first asked the LLM to translate
similar in size to Turkey’s Sea from 14,500 to 14,100 years ago, a request into a list of actions the
of Marmara, as well as a vast it rose 4 to 5 metres every 100 bot had to perform to make the
freshwater lake, along with
gorges, rivers and escarpments
like those that now exist in
400k
Area of the analysed region
years, says Norman. At that rate,
people would have been able
to watch the sea levels rise and
movement. The second got the LLM
to transform each action into the
Python programming language,
Kakadu National Park in the in square kilometres would have been forced to move with code mapping to body parts.
Northern Territory of Australia. inland to escape inundation. The system could come up with
Norman says this flooded
land has long been known
about because of oil and gas
14.5k
Number of years ago when seas
The modelling of how many
people this region might have
supported has never been done
convincing actions for a range of
requests, including “pretend to be a
snake” and “take a selfie with your
exploration, but Geoscience started to rapidly rise there before, says Peter Veth at the phone” (arXiv, doi.org/gs9km3 ).
Australia has recently released University of Western Australia, Although it takes a minute or so to
detailed sonar data, with each
pixel representing an area of
just 30 by 30 metres. “This is a
4-5m
How fast the sea was rising
and was made possible because
of the new, fine-grained
palaeogeographic data available
go from a request to Alter3 moving,
Ikegami hopes such human-like
motions will make our interactions
high-enough resolution to be every 100 years to Norman and her colleagues. ❚ with robots more meaningful. ❚

News
Materials science Palaeontology
Notoriously complex
‘nightmare’
Tiny T. rex fossils may be from
substance created a distinct species after all
Karmela Padavic-Callaghan James Dinneen
A STRANGE and fiendishly TYRANNOSAURUS rex may A T. rex skull (top) and
difficult-to-create material known not have been the only large what could be the skull
as “plumber’s nightmare” has been carnivore reigning over North of a Nanotyrannus
made from tiny, intertwined tubes. America in the late Cretaceous
Although the substance itself after all. A reinterpretation of bones, which form as bones
isn’t especially useful, the fossils sometimes categorised pause their growth each year.
technique needed to produce as being from young T. rex adds As an animal’s growth slows,
it could be used to build other weight to the idea that a smaller the distance between the rings
hard-to-make materials. species, called Nanotyrannus shrinks. The researchers found
Plumber’s nightmare consists of lancensis, lived alongside the a tightening of these rings,
a pattern of six intersecting tubes, king of the dinosaurs. which they say suggests the
meaning that a sample contains “This is the most famous smaller fossils are young adult
many tubes connecting and fossil animal in the world,” Nanotyrannus rather than
intersecting in complex ways. says Nicholas Longrich at the juvenile T. rex. They estimate
The material was theorised University of Bath, UK. “There arguing that the variation that adult Nanotyrannus would
20 years ago and hadn’t previously are a lot of people looking at it. between the smaller fossils have weighed between 1000 and
been made from a solid material. And we can’t agree.” and full-size T. rex fossils are 2000 kilograms, up to a quarter
Moon Jeong Park at Pohang The debate has divided differences of age, not species. of an adult T. rex’s mass. “Any
University of Science and palaeontologists for decades. Now, Longrich and Evan way you graph that data, you
Technology in South Korea and A 1960s paper proposed that a Saitta at the University of can’t get that animal to turn
her colleagues started with many skull unearthed two decades Chicago have brought together into a T. rex,” says Longrich.
long, chain-shaped molecules made earlier in Montana’s Hell Creek six lines of evidence in favour The newest piece of evidence
from the polymers polystyrene Formation was from a T. rex that of identifying the smaller fossils is a fossil bone that sits between
and polyethylene oxide, which had died before reaching full as Nanotyrannus. This included the eye and skull, kept at the
are both derived from petroleum maturity. But in the 1980s, cataloguing more than University of California Museum
and are similar to plastic. others argued that this fossil 150 characteristics that differ of Paleontology. The researchers
They modified the ends of each was in fact an adult of a distinct between the controversial interpret it as being from a
chain so that they would connect species, which they named fossils and known T. rex fossils, juvenile T. rex. “It’s an animal
to each other in new ways and Nanotyrannus lancensis. including things like a narrower that’s smaller than the
assemble into shapes they don’t More recent work based on snout and smoother teeth. They Nanotyrannus but it’s got
form naturally. Some of those additional fossils disputed this, argue it would be implausible the T. rex morphology,” says
shapes turned out to be plumber’s for all of these to change Longrich (Fossil Studies,
nightmare (Science, doi.org/mbnh). Illustration of between a juvenile and an adult. doi.org/mbng).
Now that the team has found a Nanotyrannus The researchers also analysed Some remain unconvinced
a recipe for making plumber’s fighting a young T. rex patterns of growth rings in that the controversial fossils are
nightmare, other rare, from a separate species. “I have
unexpected or new polymer no problem with Nanotyrannus
structures could be discovered being a real thing if science
by trying the method with shows that,” says Holly
different ingredients, says Glenn Woodward at Oklahoma State
Fredrickson at the University University, who authored a
of California, Santa Barbara. 2020 study of growth rings
An-Chang Shi at McMaster that pointed to the juvenile
University in Canada says the T. rex explanation. She says
LOWER: RAUL MARTIN; UPPER: NICK LONGRICH
team’s method could also be a specimen of a fully grown

used by synthetic chemists to Nanotyrannus would be needed
create soft polymer components to resolve the matter.
with any structure they may “This new paper will not
need, such as microreactors full resolve the debate, but I am
of tiny compartments in which optimistic that this paper will
different chemical reactions shake things up,” says Scott
can take place or novel containers Persons at the College of
for drugs in medicine. ❚ Charleston in South Carolina. ❚

News In brief
Space
Really brief
Neptune isn’t as blue
as we thought it was
THE true colour of Neptune is a
pale, greenish blue similar to that
of Uranus, not the much deeper
shade of blue most people picture.
DARCY OGADA
In the 1980s, NASA’s Voyager 2
spacecraft sent back photos
showing that Uranus and
Neptune were markedly different
colours. Now, Patrick Irwin at African birds of
the University of Oxford and his prey under threat
colleagues have reprocessed the
images to show how the human Dozens of species of
eye might see the planets (Monthly African birds of prey are
Notices of the Royal Astronomical in steep decline, with many
Society, doi.org/gtcc2d). now considered at risk of
Voyager 2’s original photos extinction. These include
were enhanced to highlight secretary birds (Sagittarius
certain features, making Neptune serpentarius, pictured),
appear more blue. This detail the population of which
VCG/VCG VIA GETTY IMAGES

was included in the initial picture dropped by 85 per cent
captions, but Neptune’s deep-blue over three generations
shade later became enshrined as (Nature Ecology &
fact in the public consciousness, Evolution, doi.org/gtcbkf).
says Irwin. Alex Wilkins
Brain zaps make
Microbiology Technology hypnotism easier
taken between 2017 and 2021 Sending electrical pulses
Early fossil evidence Most large covering the coastal regions where to a specific part of the
for photosynthesis most large-scale fishing and other brain makes people more
fishing boats industrial activities take place. susceptible to hypnosis.
PHOTOSYNTHETIC structures The researchers trained several People who received
have been found inside fossils operate as AIs to detect and categorise electrical stimulation of
of cyanobacteria that are boats within this dataset. their dorsolateral prefrontal
1.75 billion years old. ‘dark vessels’ By comparing this global cortex, located at the front
Emmanuelle Javaux at the map of vessels with a database of of the brain, became easier
University of Liège in Belgium THREE-quarters of the world’s boats that publicly broadcast their to hypnotise for up to an
and her colleagues analysed large fishing boats and a quarter location, the researchers found that hour (Nature Mental
fossils from rocks at the roughly of transport and energy ships are the majority weren’t keeping their Health, doi.org/mbn8).
1.75-billion-year-old McDermott “dark vessels” that don’t publicly automated identification systems
Formation in Australia. The share their location. The finding on (Nature, doi.org/gtb49f). Such Drug works against
researchers extracted tiny comes from an analysis of satellite identification isn’t always required,
resistant bacteria
fossilised cyanobacteria, which, images using artificial intelligence but the lack of its use may indicate
like plants, produce energy from that could help us track the impact illegal fishing and other activities. A molecule that destroys
sunlight via photosynthesis. of human activities on the oceans. Publicly available satellite the outer membrane of
The cyanobacteria contained “We had an idea that we were imagery lacks the resolution certain bacteria could
thylakoids, membrane-bound missing a big chunk of the activity to detect fishing vessels less be effective where other
sacs where photosynthesis occurs. happening in the ocean, but we than 20 metres in length, write antibiotics fail. In trials
This is the oldest known evidence didn’t know how much,” says Konstantin Klemmer at Microsoft in mice, zosurabalpin
of these structures (Nature, doi.org/ Fernando Paolo at Global Fishing and Esther Rolf at Harvard killed antibiotic-resistant
mbnv). The earliest fossils of Watch, a non-profit organisation University in a Nature article Acinetobacter baumannii
cyanobacteria are about 2 billion based in Washington DC. commenting on the study. But they bacteria. It is currently
years old, but it is believed these Paolo and his colleagues used said efforts like this can improve being tested for safety in
organisms drove the build-up satellite images – including radar monitoring of activities in protected humans (Nature, doi.org/
of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere images that can reveal objects marine areas and unregulated parts mbn9; doi.org/mbpb).
2.4 billion years ago. Grace Wade regardless of clouds or darkness – of the ocean. Jeremy Hsu

Events
Online Event
The dark side

of the universe
BOOK
Wednesday 21 February 2024, 7pm - 8pm EST and on demand
TODAY
to get the early
Join Katherine Freese, Director of the Weinberg Institute for
bird discount
Theoretical Physics and Director of the Texas Center for Cosmology
and Astroparticle Physics, as she recounts stories from her book
The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter, including the evidence
for the existence of dark matter in galaxies. Many cosmologists believe
Scan me to book
we are on the verge of solving this mystery and this talk will provide
the foundation needed to fully fathom this epochal moment in
humankind’s quest to understand the universe.
For more information and to book your place, visit:

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Views
The columnist Aperture Letters Culture Culture columnist
Chanda Prescod- Dramatic images Why surviving An optimistic book Jacob Aron picks
Weinstein on a stellar of murmurations doomsday may on saving Earth from the best upcoming
year for space p22 of starlings p24 be for the few p26 climate change p28 games of 2024 p30
Comment
Teaching without teachers

The global shortage of science teachers should worry everyone
concerned about diversity and equity in the field, says Alom Shaha
T
EN years ago, I was asked Teaching is a demanding
to predict what science job with a workload many find
teaching in schools would unacceptable. It also lacks the
look like in 100 years. I replied, flexibility, status and pay of
somewhat facetiously, that it some other graduate roles. In
would look exactly the same as these circumstances, the use of
it did 100 years ago: classrooms online learning may well offer
full of children sat at desks with a better solution than relying
a teacher in front of them. Today, on underqualified staff to
I would find it much more difficult teach science. The current UK
to be light-hearted about such a government seems to think so
question, because I am concerned too, funding pilot schemes of
that the way some students are AI-powered teaching resources
being taught science is changing. and work towards “providing
Around the world, from the US every teacher with a personalised
to the UK to Australia, a shortage of AI lesson-planning assistant”.
relevant teachers may threaten the While such resources are
future of science and engineering. becoming more sophisticated,
In some places, like my home city we should be wary of overreliance
of London, the crisis in recruitment on them. We mustn’t allow those
and retention means that many with a vested interest, such as
students are already having creators of online learning
lessons where there is no science platforms or those making budget
ELAINE KNOX
teacher. Instead, they are using decisions in schools, to minimise

an online learning platform while the qualities that enthusiastic and
a cover teacher watches over them. dedicated science teachers bring
I am a physics teacher; I am students from families with or geography teachers whose to the classroom, nor the impact
not against the use of technology lower socioeconomic status. best physics qualification was such teachers have on students.
in schools, and this isn’t an If we are concerned about taken at age 16. Schools with the Surveys consistently show that
article about how AI will end diversity and equity in science, largest numbers of pupils from many scientists, myself included,
teaching as we know it. But there this should perturb us. disadvantaged backgrounds are credit their teachers as the reason
are implications for the future of The UK’s Institute of Physics least likely to have teachers with they pursued a career in this field.
science, and who gets to do it, that told me there should be around relevant science qualifications. Let’s hope that, whatever happens,
we should consider. An analysis of 10,000 teachers in England with The leader of the UK’s Labour science education doesn’t become
US data found that “communities a “background and expertise” in Party, Keir Starmer, has pledged so impoverished that it deprives
that suffer the most from teacher physics, but there are only about that a Labour government would future generations of the life-
shortages are often low-income 6500. The group blames 25 years “tackle the retention crisis” by changing experiences that inspired
and under-resourced”. In the UK, of under-recruitment and high recruiting 6500 more teachers many scientists before them. ❚
the Sutton Trust educational attrition rates and estimates there to subjects with shortages, such
charity has found the shortage are up to 500 secondary schools as physics. But I fear he is mistaken Alom Shaha is author
of qualified science teachers (for those aged 11 to 16) in England in his, or anybody’s, ability to do of Why Don’t Things
results in a disproportionately without a single specialist physics this without making drastic Fall Up?: And six other
large and detrimental effect teacher. I know of schools where changes to teachers’ pay and science lessons you
on the progression rates of the subject has been taught by PE working conditions. missed at school

Views Columnist
Field notes from space-time
Stellar prospects The past year saw developments

that upend our ideas about galaxies. What a time to
be an astrophysicist, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
T
HERE were some exciting the IGM before because it isn’t of the Milky Way, the Small
goings-on in astrophysics visually exciting the way other Magellanic Cloud, should be
last year. The one that visible matter formations are. It thought of as composed of
probably got the most attention isn’t bright like stars and it isn’t a two distinct stellar systems
was the question of whether weird space-time formation like superimposed on one another. My
NASA’s latest flagship observatory, black holes. But the IGM is thought first response to this new paper on
aka JWST or what I like to call the to be home to about half of the social media was: “Huge if true!”
Just Wonderful Space Telescope, visible matter in the universe, and This was a bit of a joke, not only
had upended what we know about because it is hard to see, like dark because it is the Small Magellanic
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein the timeline of galaxy formation. matter – the as-yet-undetected Cloud and not the large one, but
is an associate professor The hints that there might be a form of matter that makes up also because galaxies are both
of physics and astronomy, problem with our understanding some 85 per cent of the total mass massive and large in spatial extent.
and a core faculty member of how galaxies take shape came of the universe – we have to infer a This result is especially
in women’s studies at the almost as soon as JWST started lot about it by looking at galaxies. exciting for me as someone who
University of New Hampshire. returning data. In 2022, the world The IGM is quite unlike dark has spent the past few years trying
Her most recent book is The watched as astronomers learned matter though, because it does to understand the relationship
Disordered Cosmos: A journey that galaxies seemed to form actually radiate, and when it is between galaxies and their dark
into dark matter, spacetime, earlier, or at least faster, than backlit by X-rays coming from matter halos. Studying the visible
& dreams deferred expected in the early universe. components of Milky Way satellite
The story continued in 2023. “Doing science galaxies is one of the best ways to
In September, researchers led by doesn’t lead to gain insight into this galaxy-halo
Kasper Heintz announced they relationship, since we think nearly
the end of science,
had discovered an early universe every galaxy, even the satellites,
Chanda’s week breakdown in a well-established but rather to more lives inside its own dark matter
What I’m reading correspondence between star questions in need halo. By looking at how stars are
I am listening to actor formation and galactic gas of answers” moving inside the galaxy, we
Peter Ganim read Nathan metals. In astronomy, the word can reverse engineer the impact
Thrall’s A Day in the Life metals means any element more bright objects like galaxies with that dark matter is having and
of Abed Salama: Anatomy massive than helium. The team especially powerful black hole in the process maybe even learn
of a Jerusalem tragedy. had been studying the rate at engines at their centre, we can something about the fundamental
which stars formed in the early take a look at it. There is still a nature of this matter.
What I’m watching universe and the amount of lot to be learned, which is part of As of writing, this result is so
I absolutely loved the metals in galaxies. There should what makes this JWST mystery so hot off the press that it has been
horror-comedy film be a clear correspondence because alluring. It is possible that the low accepted into The Astrophysical
Vicious Fun. it is via nuclear fusion in stars that metallicity in these early galaxies Journal, but has yet to be formally
any element more massive than is telling us something about the published there. My expectation is
What I’m working on hydrogen or helium typically history and structure of the IGM that there will be robust follow-up
I’ve been trying to forms in the universe. The latest and how galaxies have interacted this year. There are a lot of parts
teach myself some JWST data suggests that, in the with it over time. Thus, JWST has to this research and scientists
quantum optics! early cosmos, the amount of opened a host of new questions will want to check and recheck
metals is less than expected, based about star formation, galactic whether the assumptions and
on how many stars already exist. gases and extragalactic gases. calculations make sense.
How this can possibly be is now This is a great example of how My prediction? In the end, this
a new question for astrophysicists doing science doesn’t lead to the is an exciting result that will not
and cosmologists to reckon with. end of science, but rather to more only hold up, but also transform
The authors of the 2023 report questions in need of answers. how we think about our galactic
propose that this indicates that And while these are tantalising neighbourhood. As a member of
galaxies in the early universe were datasets, they weren’t the most the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory
in effect being watered down by exciting galaxy-related result (which is set for first light in 2024
the non-metallic gases that make in 2023, at least not for me. and 2025), I am keen to see if this
This column appears up the intergalactic medium, or That honour goes to the Claire has shifted the science we thought
monthly. Up next week: IGM, that surrounds them. It is E. Murray-led study apparently we were going to do. What a time
Graham Lawton possible you have never heard of showing that a satellite galaxy to be alive and doing cosmology! ❚

Discovery Tours
Retracing Charles Darwin’s

travels across North Wales
13 May 2024 | 6 days for £2,995 (approx $3,789)
Uncover the best of Wales as you explore you to delve deep into the beautiful
the dramatic Welsh landscapes of Eryri landscape and geology of this area.
(Snowdonia) National Park and examine the Admire sites such as South Stack
regions geology and how it has been Lighthouse on Anglesey, scenic Llyn Ogwen
transformed by volcanic and glacial activity and the incredible glacier-formed landscapes
over the years. Discover the story of Charles around Llanberis and Cwm Idwal. See signs of
Darwin's 1831 and 1842 tours of Wales, and Welsh history and conflict around ruined
retrace his travels on this small group journey forts and well-kept castles.
to Shrewsbury and Snowdonia. Enjoy comfortable accommodation
The Snowdonia scenery has been hundreds throughout your tour, starting with a Darwin-
of millions of years in the making, and is themed Georgian townhouse in Shrewsbury
dominated by sedimentary and volcanic rocks that boasts a relaxing garden and well-
from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods. appointed rooms. Travel on to a welcoming
You will also be accompanied throughout by country house hotel and restaurant in north
Darwin expert Michael Roberts, who will Wales, offering an exceptional menu of
immerse you in the story of Darwin’s life, as delicious Welsh dishes.
you explore the famous evolutionary Take away a unique experience of
biologist's hometown of Shrewsbury, as well travelling in Wales and Snowdonia, with a
as enjoying short walks in Snowdonia to the fascinating look at Darwin’s life and work,
exact locations Darwin visited on his tours. and enjoy walks to areas of incredible beauty
Geology Professor, Rob Knipe, will also join and interest.
For more information and to book

´
call US +1 281 214 2540 Scan me to
find out more
email tours@newscientist.com
or visit newscientist.com/tours
Views Aperture

Flock together
Søren Solkær
National Nordic Museum, Seattle
THESE exquisite images show

starlings swirling and swooping as
one in dramatic, cloud-like flocks
known as murmurations. Shot by
Søren Solkær, better known for
portraits of the likes of Björk and
Paul McCartney, they are from
a new collection of his photos.
As a child growing up in
southern Denmark near the
Wadden Sea, Solkær had
been entranced by starling
murmurations. Returning
years later, he witnessed a
large group of these birds being
attacked by a peregrine falcon.
“The shapes and formations the
flock created, in order to scare off
the attacking bird of prey, blew my
mind – beautiful, dramatic and
resembling a Japanese ink drawing
or a piece of calligraphy,” he says.
After three years capturing the
phenomenon, known as “black
sun” in Denmark, he expanded the
project to other parts of Europe.
At far left is Black Sun #145, taken
above Rome’s Piazza Venezia
from a nearby rooftop. Moving
clockwise, Black Sun #50 was taken
in Glastonbury, UK, while below it
is Black Sun #230, photographed in
Sardinia, Italy, early one morning
as the birds left their roost.
“I believe that patterns
in nature speak to us human
beings on a deep, universal level,”
says Solkær. “There is joy and
recognition when we experience
these pure forms. To me, they
seem to form a kind of language
that I believe many people can
relate to. Ultimately, I am hoping
to inspire a deeper connection
with nature – and to ourselves.”
These images feature in his new
book Starling, a sequel to Black
Sun. Solkær’s photos are on show
at the National Nordic Museum,
Seattle, until 10 March. ❚
Alison Flood

Views Your letters
Editor’s pick textiles, but these rarely survive We are losing Earth’s refrigerator. makes more sense if we say that
compared with metals or wood. Due to the lag between cooling and having children later in life is
In August 2023, I saw a woman such ice reforming, it will take genetically linked to dying older.
Surviving doomsday
demonstrating weaving. She was much more cooling than we have Establishing a career before
may be for the few using a bowed branch, which had had of warming to regrow snow committing to family life is the
16/23 December 2023, p 60 grown naturally to that shape and ice cover. The net zero goal will preferred choice for some, an
From Tony Green, Ipswich, Suffolk, UK before being cut. So, before looms, hinder this process because taking outlook that takes a longer view.
I fear Stuart Clark is being over- people could weave using natural out as much carbon dioxide from The resulting ability to live more
optimistic in saying that “we” could materials from their surroundings. the air as we put in will maintain healthily should anticipate a
take refuge on a gas giant’s moon Even if they survived, such wooden warming, melt more ice and snow, longer life. Could such a mindset
when our sun becomes a red giant. “looms” would, I assume, be seen reduce albedo more and further be reflected in our DNA?
Creating suitable habitation and as tree branches, not useful tools. weaken Earth’s refrigerator.
transporting people and materials The only way out is to cut
In defence of the brain
will be prohibitively expensive and emissions drastically. Even at the
Ice wranglers, leave as a complex structure
it is very probable that the only Paris Agreement’s preferred
people who could afford such a them icebergs alone warming limit of 1.5°C, ice and Letters, 16/23 December 2023
move would be the mega-rich. 16/23 December 2023, p 54 snow will keep melting, our From Chris Newton,
The only “ordinary” people who From Rosemary Sharples, refrigerator will keep shrinking Berkeley, Gloucestershire, UK
would be able to go would be Sydney, Australia and the world will keep warming. Tom Reimchen says we shouldn’t
those needed to pander to the Given the disappearance of Escaping this fate will be a vast claim the human brain is “the
needs of their wealthy masters. ice from polar regions due to challenge. Net zero is a sticking most complicated structure in
global warming, how can anyone plaster on a mortal wound. the known universe”. I agree, if it
justify towing icebergs away? is put like that. It would seem very
Super elite will call the
reasonable, however, to claim that
shots in our AI future Is carbon dioxide removal
it is “the most complicated known
16/23 December 2023, p 56 Why net zero is a sticking tech just a new pipe dream? structure in the universe”.
From John Fewster, London, UK plaster on a mortal wound 2 December 2023, p 14
Regarding the potential future of 30 December 2023, p 11 From Nick Hunn, London, UK
No easy way back from
artificial intelligence, if there ever From Colin Summerhayes, On reading your story on negative
needs to be a ban or control on Cambridge, UK emissions technology, it struck me collapse of civilisation
further development, who will Although the COP28 summit that this could have been almost 9 December 2023, p 36
action it? We have already seen recognised that the planet is any article written about fusion From Hillary Shaw,
the US, European Union and warming due to emissions of reactors over the past 50 years, Newport, Shropshire, UK
UK governments incapable greenhouse gases, which inevitably but with the words “nuclear Collapse of our techno-civilisation,
of understanding, let alone leads to rising sea levels, there was fusion” replaced with “carbon built on fossil fuels, would have
controlling, simple social media. no recognition that the melting of dioxide removal”. If the latter dire and permanent implications
Control reminiscent of Nineteen snow and ice greatly reduces the happens, it will be great, but the for future technology. Where will
Eighty-Four is well advanced, reflection of solar energy back into feeling remains that it may always survivors find coal or tin to dig out
with the masses submitting space, known as Earth’s albedo. be 10 years away. Promising a new by a pit and ladder, or oil you can
to surveillance and haplessly This allows more of the sun’s heat game changer to policy-makers drill down tens of metres to tap?
consuming tangible and virtual to be captured by land, sea and air, desperate for a short-term fix risks Such low-hanging fruit to fuel a
goods that they mostly don’t need especially in polar regions, which, delaying the steps we need to take. rebirth of advanced civilisation is
with money they mostly don’t as a result, are warming up to four long gone. There may be no further
(yet) have. The whole scenario is times as fast as the global average. technology on this planet until
Another way of viewing
in the hands of a tiny super elite. These regions operate as Earth’s geology creates new near-surface
The idea that “we” have influence refrigerator, keeping our climate family life and longevity reserves, millions of years hence.
of any kind is sheer fantasy. moderately cool, but because they 16/23 December 2023, p 9 Perhaps this era will be the
are losing their albedo, they are From Chris Wilkins, Telopisticene: the End of Science. ❚
experiencing a double whammy – Tewin, Hertfordshire, UK
Another forgotten
first from global warming due to You report that having children
branch of ancient art For the record
increasing greenhouse gases, then earlier in life is genetically linked
16/23 December 2023, p 28 from the reduction of the albedo. to dying younger. Perhaps this ❚ S8 can be measured via
From Pamela Manfield, gravitational weak lensing
The Narth, Monmouthshire, UK (16/23 December 2023, p 8).
Michael Marshall’s article about Want to get in touch? ❚ In our look at an animal milk
forgotten art and culture from Send letters to letters@newscientist.com; bank (16/23 December 2023,
ancient times was fascinating. see terms at newscientist.com/letters p 58), Vlad the two-toed sloth
Even more forgotten is the input Letters sent to New Scientist, 9 Derry Street, was a faecal donor, while
of women. They tended to work on London, W8 5HY will be delayed rhinos have a fibrous diet.

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Views Culture
A world to save
From climate change to deforestation, a smart but controversial new book
makes a strong case for optimism about Earth’s fate, says Madeleine Cuff
Advances in green energy
such as solar power show
Book how to quit fossil fuels
Not the End of the World
Hannah Ritchie waste enters the ocean each year?
Chatto & Windus The book is at its most
compelling, however, when
IS THE world doomed? If you Ritchie uses her research to
have read much of the news debunk alarmist news stories.
in recent years, you would The world’s oceans won’t be
be forgiven for thinking the empty of fish by 2048, despite
planet is rushing headlong what headlines suggest. Nor will
into environmental catastrophe, the planet suffocate without the
dragging humankind to almost “lungs” of the Amazon rainforest
certain annihilation. Reports will providing oxygen. Lazy reporting
tell you that 2023 is set to have been and poor science is to blame for
the hottest year on record by a much of the climate “doomerism”
huge margin, and that the poles are that dominates today’s society,
melting, forests are disappearing she believes.
and corals are bleaching. Not the End of the World is
But we shouldn’t be consumed an admirable feat, managing
by despair, insists data scientist to transform reams of data and
Hannah Ritchie in her first book, dense research projects into a
LUC BEZIAT/CULTURA RM/ALAMY

Not the End of the World: How highly readable guide to fixing
we can be the first generation the planet. Yet despite the book’s
to build a sustainable planet. optimism, there is no getting
Ritchie, a researcher for the around the fact that the world still
Our World in Data project at the has a huge mountain to climb to
University of Oxford, has long been avert environmental catastrophe.
a go-to expert for those looking for Some of the power to secure a
a clear-eyed assessment of global fixing it. The truth, she argues, is pollution could soon be a problem safe future lies in the hands of the
environmental trends. In her that we are far from doomed. In of the past if the world pushes average reader. In richer parts of
book, she finds inspiration in the fact, we know how to solve almost forward with rolling out green the world, for example, most
work of the late Hans Rosling, the all of the world’s most pressing electricity networks and clean people should be eating less meat
statistician famous for TED talks environmental challenges. cooking equipment. and switching to electric cars.
highlighting progress in global What’s more, in many cases, With the right combination of But eating habits aside, most
development. change is already well under way. technologies, progressive policies of the solutions that Ritchie
Like Rosling, Ritchie uses and behaviour change, a truly highlights – such as implementing
datasets spanning decades, even “The average British sustainable future for the planet a global carbon price or investing
centuries, to communicate the is possible, Ritchie insists. in public transport systems – rely
citizen now has a
truth of the world’s environmental It is rare to find a book covering on appropriate action from policy-
problems, how bad they are and
carbon footprint climate change with such an makers and businesses. Given
the prospects for solving them. equivalent to that of optimistic message, packed with their sluggish response to date,
And she, too, argues that the someone in the 1850s” feel-good nuggets of information. I am not sure that I find this
situation is actually brighter For example, did you know that, in particularly reassuring.
than it might appear. Take climate change. Global the UK, per capita emissions have In Not the End of the World,
Not the End of the World takes greenhouse gas emissions may fallen so much that the average Ritchie has created a smart
seven environmental issues in still be rising, but, for the first time British citizen now has a carbon crash course on the world’s
turn, ranging from air pollution in history, the world has a pathway footprint equivalent to that of environmental challenges that
and climate change to overfishing out of its reliance on fossil fuels, someone alive in the 1850s? Or won’t leave readers consumed
and deforestation. For each, she thanks to huge advances in clean that despite the media outrage by climate despair. Has it left
assesses the scale of the problem energy and storage technologies, surrounding ocean plastics, in fact me thinking the planet can be
and what chance we stand of Ritchie writes. Similarly, air just 0.3 per cent of global plastic saved? Maybe, just maybe. ❚

New Scientist Book Club
Read Naomi Alderman’s The Future (see right) with us New Scientist
Join online at newscientist.com/sign-up/bookclub/ recommends
Earth’s beautiful satellite

Intriguing facts and forgotten history mingle in what is
essentially a love letter to the moon, finds Abigail Beall
phase of crewed lunar exploration. It is surprising to discover that, Alison Flood

I have followed Boyle’s science before the satellite era, there was Comment and
Book culture editor
journalism for years, and after no way for military planners to have
Our Moon spending many evenings enjoying known how dramatically the lunar
London
Rebecca Boyle
the wonder of the moon through alignment would affect the tides. I have been reading
Hachette
my own telescope, I was excited Boyle’s long-standing fascination Naomi Alderman’s
to learn more. Her book tells all with the moon makes for an exciting The Future, a sci-fi novel
THERE is a quote I have seen a the stories you might expect: how read, but it also means that Our that I am now desperate
few times recently on social media we think the moon was made, how Moon is a great resource to dip back to discuss with other
platforms. From James Baldwin’s it exerts its impressive but complex into after reading in its entirety. people because I
1972 essay “No name in the influence on Earth, and how we first With NASA’s Artemis programme loved it so much.
street”, it goes: “There is a reason, sent people to stand on it. But it to return humans to the moon in full “On the day the
after all, that some people wish also weaves in tales of Boyle’s swing – the first crewed mission to world ended,” it begins,
to colonize the moon, and others enter lunar orbit is planned for the and then we meet tech
dance before it as an ancient friend.” “Human activity might end of this year – this is the perfect billionaire Lenk Sketlish,
The quote is about billionaires, time to reappraise the moon. And who, in the middle of
be moving so much of
civilisation and, of course, with recent evidence that human a meditation session
colonisation. And it kept springing the lunar surface that activity might be moving so much intended to help him
to mind as I read Rebecca Boyle’s we are, in effect, causing of the lunar surface about that it deal with his anger issues,
new book, Our Moon: A human a lunar Anthropocene” is causing the moon to enter a new receives an alert. It warns
history. The moon, with its geological period (we are, in effect, him that it is time to hit
proximity to Earth, is the first target family, ancient humans and, and causing a lunar Anthropocene), it the prepper bunker he
for any crewed space exploration forgotten history – some about is vital to remember the history we has been spending
beyond Earth’s orbit, and humans Boyle’s own family. share with our only natural satellite. his fortune on.
are all ready to go back to it in the For example, we meet her Our Moon is, on the face of it, Alderman also wrote
coming year (see page 41). grandfather, Jack, who was part of a about how we understood and set The Power, a dystopian
I don’t get excited by the second world war mission disrupted foot on this rocky world, and about story about the fallout
prospect of space colonisation – because of a rare apogean neap our struggle to grasp its influence when teenage girls gain
quite the opposite – but having tide, caused when the moon is on Earth. But, at its heart, it is a the ability to deliver electric
grown up hearing stories of the especially far away. “The marines love letter to the moon. I will watch jolts from their fingers.
Apollo era, there is something fun planned their invasion [of a the Artemis missions with joy and I didn’t expect to finish her
about being around for this second Micronesian atoll] during a neap fascination. More importantly, when new book feeling hopeful
tide and couldn’t understand why I next peer at our friend through my about the outlook for
Being relatively close to Earth, the tide not only failed to rise telescope, it will be with renewed humanity. But I did, and
the moon is a natural first stop enough but did not rise at all, for appreciation. I may even dance, but chose it for New Scientist
for crewed exploration almost two days,” Boyle writes. that might just be to keep warm. ❚ Book Club. Join our 6000-
plus members and read it
with us (see top of page).
I have also been

enjoying the TV series
JAMES PARDON/BBC STUDIOS
Doctor Who as Ncuti

MILAMAI/GETTY IMAGES
Gatwa (pictured, left)

steps into the lead role.
I can’t wait to see where
he takes the character.

Views Culture
The games column
Playing to win This year should bring rich gaming with Star Wars Outlaws,
wonderful surprises such as World of Goo 2 – a satirical physics puzzle game –
and, maybe, the much-delayed Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, says Jacob Aron
In Star Wars Outlaws,

you play as Kay Vess,
a Han Solo-like pirate
looking alternate version of

the US with what appears to
be a punk band in a tour bus
driven by robots.
One game I am extremely
Jacob Aron is New Scientist’s surprised to put on this list
news editor. Follow him on is World of Goo 2, the sequel to
Twitter @jjaron a charmingly satirical physics
puzzle game in which you build
bridges and other structures
out of, well, goo. The original
was released in 2008 and there
had been no sign that another
one would ever come out.
UBISOFT
Elsewhere, Final Fantasy VII

Rebirth is probably going to be a
hard sell if you aren’t already into
Games AS A new year begins, I am aficionados, imagine a vision video games, since it is the second
Star Wars Outlaws looking ahead to the biggest of the future where the Pope is game in a planned trilogy remake
Massive Entertainment games of 2024. At the top of a cyborg and everything looks of 1997’s acclaimed Final Fantasy
PC, PlayStation 5, my list is Star Wars Outlaws, an like it has crawled off the cover of VII (although, you don’t need to
Xbox Series X/S open-world role-playing game a 1980s heavy metal album. This have played the preceding six).
Warhammer 40,000: (RPG) set in the famous galaxy game is a sequel to the 2011 shoot/ Final Fantasy VII Remake
Space Marine 2 far, far away. Trailers released so hack-em-up, and I can’t wait to was seriously impressive, and
Saber Interactive far suggest you will play as Kay mow down hordes of aliens. I am expecting Rebirth will be
PC, PlayStation 5, Vess, a Han Solo-like pirate trying For something a bit more one of this year’s bigger games.
Xbox Series X/S to get ahead while dodging both cerebral, I have my eye on Still And yes, despite the fantasy
the Galactic Empire and the Wakes the Deep, a horror game name, it does belong in New
Still Wakes the Deep
criminal underworld. Scientist, because it is all about
The Chinese Room
PC, PlayStation 5, I am hoping that this will be “In Dustborn, you travel a group of self-proclaimed eco-
Xbox Series X/S everything 2023’s Starfield wasn’t, across an alternate US terrorists trying to prevent an evil
with a focus on a few planets corporation from over-exploiting
Dustborn rather than an algorithmically
with what appears to be the planet’s natural resources.
Red Thread Games generated sprawl. There are a punk band in a tour OK, fine, there is also magic...
PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, bus driven by robots”
some big boots to fill – the classic Finally, there is a game
Xbox One and Series X/S
RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old with the dubious honour of
World of Goo 2 Republic, released in 2003, still set in the 1970s aboard a decrepit appearing for the third time in
2D Boy in collaboration with triggers fond memories. With a oil rig off the coast of Scotland. a row on my preview list. To be
Tomorrow Corporation remaster of Star Wars: Dark Forces, In the trailers, the sea comes fair, the Ukrainian developers
Platforms to be announced a 1995 shooter, also set for release across as a roiling, consuming of Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl,
in 2024, everything is looking good threat, and I am intrigued to learn a sci-fi survival game set in the
Final Fantasy VII
for fans of George Lucas’s universe. what the drilling has unearthed… Chernobyl exclusion zone, have
Rebirth
Square Enix Speaking of nostalgia, while my you know it can’t be good. a good excuse for pushing back a
PlayStation 5 days of painting plastic miniatures In a complete tonal shift, planned 2022 launch since their
are definitively over, I am really I would also like to know more country was invaded by Russia.
Stalker 2: Heart looking forward to Warhammer about Dustborn, which explodes The game is now slated for
of Chornobyl 40,000: Space Marine 2. If you with comic-book colour in what some time in 2024, but I wouldn’t
GSC Game World aren’t familiar with the 40k I have seen so far. You play as Pax, be surprised if we are still waiting
PC, Xbox Series X/S
universe, as it is known to who is travelling across a strange- this time next year. ❚

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Features Cover story
An olive
a day...
Decades of research suggest a Mediterranean way of
eating carries important health benefits. We are finally
starting to figure out why, finds Michael Marshall
W
HEN it comes to healthier diets, news is that, over the past decade, we have
one of them has always had a begun to learn which components of the
have-your-cake-and-eat-it feel. diet offer the biggest health benefits and why.
For decades, we have been told that the secret This means we are closer than ever to offering
to staying well is to indulge in the delicious the best advice on eating well, even for those
fresh foods of the Mediterranean. Adding who will never reside in the beautiful
more tomatoes, focaccia and olive oil to Mediterranean countryside themselves.
your dinner plate – and washing it down The Mediterranean diet owes its fame
with a glass of chianti – is claimed to be a to US physiologist Ancel Keys and his wife
great way to reduce your odds of having a Margaret, a chemist turned nutritionist.
heart attack or developing type 2 diabetes. In the 1940s, Ancel became one of the first
Most surprising of all, this isn’t just to argue that saturated fats – mostly found
overhyped nonsense. Evidence has in animal products like meat and dairy –
been mounting for over 50 years that the are a major cause of heart disease because
Mediterranean diet really can improve your they lead to a build-up of cholesterol in the
health in many ways. “We have long-term, large blood. He said that unsaturated fats, which
clinical trials with hard clinical events as the are more common in plant products and
outcomes,” says Miguel Martínez-González at fish, are a healthier alternative.
the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. Building on this, the couple travelled the
And not many diets get a UNESCO world to study the diets people ate in different
listing. A decade ago, this United Nations regions. The result was the Seven Countries
body added the Mediterranean diet to its Study, which began in 1956 and compared diet
Representative List of the Intangible and health in parts of the US, Japan, Finland,
Cultural Heritage of Humanity. the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and what was
TOP IMAGE: REDHELGA/GETTY IMAGES
But despite all this praise, figuring out what then Yugoslavia. The research consistently
it is about the diet that leads to such benefits offered evidence for the link between eating
has been tricky. For starters, nutritionists unsaturated fat and a reduced risk of heart
can’t agree on the exact form it should take. disease – a finding confirmed by other studies.
And then there are factors like eating as a So far, so predictable. But during their work,
family, cooking at home and other non-dietary Ancel and Margaret noticed something else. In
elements that must be considered. The good one of their study areas – southern Italy – there

were a surprisingly large number of
centenarians. The pair became convinced
that details of the local diet, which was high in
unsaturated fat, were the key to this longevity.
Ancel and Margaret began singing its praises,
later even relocating to southern Italy to feel
its benefits themselves. The fact that both of
them went on to live long lives – Ancel died in
2004 at the age of 100; Margaret followed two
years later, aged 97 – just seemed to add further
credence to their message. The Mediterranean
diet became increasingly popular.
But along the way, confusion began to arise
about exactly what it comprises. One thing at
least is clear: it doesn’t feature large quantities
of the more indulgent foods of Italy, Greece
and Turkey, such as lasagne, moussaka, pizza
and kofta kebabs. In fact, many people in the
region don’t eat the version of the diet that
has been tied to health benefits.
Defining a diet
One of the most widely used definitions of
what it should include is the Mediterranean
Diet Score (MDS). This was developed in the
1990s by Antonia Trichopoulou, then at the
National School of Public Health in Athens,
Greece. An updated version was published
in 2003. According to the MDS, a fully
Mediterranean diet is one containing lots
of vegetables, legumes, fruits and nuts, cereals
and a moderately high amount of fish. It also
contains little meat, poultry and dairy – and,
perhaps surprisingly, it includes a moderate
amount of alcohol, typically red wine.
“This is the most commonly used
definition,” says Martínez-González. However,
he and his team developed an alternative in
2011 called the Mediterranean Diet Adherence
Screener that also considers the use of olive oil
in cooking (desirable) and the consumption
of fizzy or sugary drinks (undesirable).
Other changes to the standard definition
of the diet have accumulated over the years
as researchers have continued to refine
their understanding of the optimal form
it should take for a prolonged healthy life.
“Dairy is considered neutral now,” says Richard
Hoffman at the University of Hertfordshire in
the UK. The amount of alcohol recommended
has gone down too, he adds. But as a result of
this constant tweaking and redefining, “there
is no formal consensus” on the exact profile
of the diet, says Martínez-González.
RACHEL TUNSTALL
Even if the precise list of foodstuffs is up for

debate, a series of large-scale and long-term
studies have broadly confirmed Ancel and >

New Scientist audio
You can now listen to many articles – look for the
headphones icon in our app newscientist.com/app
Margaret’s hunch that a generalised version

of it carries health benefits.
“The Mediterranean Mediterranean diet doesn’t work for everyone.
One of the biggest investigations of this
“The best evidence is for cardiovascular diet is generally way of eating is the Moli-sani study, which
disease,” says Hoffman. “The Mediterranean follows over 20,000 people who were recruited
diet is generally considered to be the best considered to be in southern Italy between 2005 and 2010. In
dietary intervention to prevent somebody a 2018 update, researchers led by Marialaura
getting a heart attack or a stroke.” For instance,
the best dietary Bonaccio at IRCCS NEUROMED, a neurological
in 2022, a study called CORDIOPREV suggested
that following the Mediterranean diet rather
intervention institute in Pozzilli, Italy, found what seemed,
at first, like a straightforward confirmation
than a generalised low-fat diet leads to a to prevent a of an existing finding. Based on 4.3 years of
statistically significant reduction in the data, people who followed the Mediterranean
chances of a second cardiovascular event heart attack” diet were less likely to experience
in people who have already had one. cardiovascular health problems.
However, there was a twist. The benefits
were only seen in highly educated people
Protective properties and those with high household incomes.
There is also evidence that the diet reduces “If you belong to a low-educated group
the risk of developing cardiovascular disease or to a low-income group, this protection
in the first place. A 2020 review by Cochrane, was not seen,” says Bonaccio.
a UK charity that examines evidence on health Why would people with lower household
issues, looked at 22 randomised controlled incomes or a lower educational status not
trials investigating this issue and found get the same health benefits as wealthy
“moderate quality evidence” that the and highly educated people?
diet reduced cardiovascular risk factors. One possibility is that the details of what
A comprehensive overview published the people eat really matter, says Bonaccio.
following year by a pair of researchers at “We ask people, for example, how many fruits
Harvard University found “strong evidence” you eat per day,” she says. But studies don’t
that the diet protects cardiovascular health. reduces the risk of certain forms of cancer, ask about the type of fruit, how it was grown
These protective properties are what some including those of the breast and bladder, or the form it took. The quality of the food,
researchers use to explain why the mortality although more evidence is needed she suggests, may play a role. This would
rate from cardiovascular disease in Italy to confirm the link. fit the data: people from lower-income
is far below the global average: they argue While some of these purported benefits households may have little choice but to
that enough people in the country follow may disappear as more rigorous studies are buy and eat cheaper frozen or processed
the diet to substantially affect the statistics. conducted, Martínez-González is confident foods, which may not be as nutritious as fresh
7THESHADOW/SHUTTERSTOCK
The benefits seem to extend beyond that the diet is still worth adopting. “No foods. However, finding out if this is the real
cardiovascular disease. A 2020 review study that I know has shown a harm of the explanation would require finer-grained
concluded that people who follow the diet Mediterranean diet,” he says. studies of what people are eating.
are 20 per cent less likely to develop type At this point, you may be preparing to With that in mind, researchers are now
2 diabetes than those who don’t. It has also dash to the shops to buy some aubergines focusing on how specific components of
been suggested that the Mediterranean diet and pine nuts, but hang on. It seems the the Mediterranean diet may account for its
health benefits. One ingredient in particular
is emerging as key: extra-virgin olive oil.
“The Mediterranean diet is the diet of the
countries that grow olive trees,” says Bonaccio.
ALFIO GIANNOTTI/REDA&CO/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Olive oil producers press and grind

fresh olives to release the oil, which is
actually derived from the fruit, says Hoffman.
This makes it unlike other oils that come
from seeds and have to be extracted using
chemicals and high temperatures. Extra-virgin
olive oil, which tends to have a darker colour,
is extracted by grinding the olives without
heating them in a way that would alter the oil.
“The Mediterranean diet is far more
effective if it includes extra-virgin olive oil,”
The Mediterranean says Hoffman. For instance, a review published
diet usually contains in June 2023 found that extra-virgin olive oil
a high amount of fish consumption is associated with lower blood

It is possible to eat Hoffman stresses its importance. But,
a Mediterranean of course, encouraging people to buy this
diet without key ingredient is tough at a time when
Mediterranean the cost of the oil is going up.
vegetables Martínez-González wants to see taxes
introduced on ultra-processed fare like
sodas and fast food, and for the revenues
to be used to subsidise healthier options.
The improvements to public health that
better-quality diets should bring would
cut the costs of medical care. “If the
governments do that, they will save
money at the end of the day,” he says.
However, even for those who can afford
to purchase high-quality foods, there is one
potentially vital component of the diet that
can’t be found on supermarket shelves. It is
JESSICA HENRIQUE CARDOSO/GETTY IMAGES
possible that some of the reported benefits

of the diet aren’t due to the food itself, but
to the associated lifestyle. Bonaccio points
out that the Mediterranean villagers studied
by Ancel and Margaret Keys – and later by
Trichopoulou – didn’t just eat a specific diet,
“they also had a specific way of living”. For
instance, they resided in the countryside
and their work was often outdoors and
physical. Other studies show such factors
pressure, higher levels of “good” cholesterol specific versions of the diet for promoting make a difference: research published in
and lower levels of “bad” cholesterol. health in particular people. March 2023 found that walking just an
The oil is rich in the unsaturated fats that So where does all this leave anyone eager extra 500 steps a day reduces the risk of
were championed decades ago by Margaret to benefit from the Mediterranean diet? Some cardiovascular disease in older adults.
and Ancel Keys. But there is growing evidence researchers aren’t convinced it is for everyone. Strength training is particularly effective
that its health benefits are partly explained They think that, as we have learned more about at lowering this risk.
by additional components that are lost if it is what is going on, it has become increasingly It is probably also significant that
further processed to produce “refined” olive unclear whether the diet can be made to work the Mediterranean villagers studied in
oil. These include a host of plant chemicals, beyond the Mediterranean itself. For instance, the 20th century prepared their own food
one notable kind being polyphenols. The Bonaccio says we now know that each world and often ate leisurely meals in social
June review concluded that polyphenols region is characterised by distinctive features, groups – which some research suggests
were probably responsible for extra-virgin like climate and microbes, that alter the local boosts general happiness and life satisfaction,
olive oil’s benefits. In line with this, a study optimal diet. “I believe that each country both of which are also linked to better health.
published in February 2023 found that should discover its own traditional diet “You cannot do the Mediterranean diet
polyphenols altered the gut microbiome that can protect them from diseases and without cooking,” says Bonaccio.
of mice in a way that seemed to prompt the help them to live longer,” she says. Unless we can find the time to prepare
rodents to develop significantly lower blood our own meals and savour them with friends,
pressure in their arteries as their hearts we may never feel the full effects of the
beat than mice that were fed a standard Vital ingredients Mediterranean diet. But carve out those
mouse diet or a mouse diet enriched Others are more optimistic about the extra hours each day for such dining, while
in either butter or refined olive oil. Mediterranean diet’s broad applicability – also remaining active, and it might be possible
It isn’t just the microbiome that might although they argue that it is most for all of us to experience the health benefits
be implicated in the health benefits of extra- important to replicate its general that so impressed Ancel and Margaret on their
virgin olive oil. Personal genetics may play a features rather than its specifics. visits to southern Italy in the 1950s. You could
role too, given evidence that specific nutrients “You don’t need to be eating Mediterranean call it having your focaccia and eating it. ❚
in olive oil and other components of the vegetables like peppers and aubergines,”
Mediterranean diet may influence the activity says Hoffman. “You can be eating northern
of genes linked to things like inflammation. European vegetables like cabbages and Michael Marshall is a science
It has even been suggested that, as we learn carrots, and that counts just as much.” writer based in Devon, UK, and
more about this tie-up between nutrition and Some components, like extra-virgin olive author of The Genesis Quest
genetics, it may be possible to recommend oil, would appear non-negotiable, however:

Features
ALL IMAGES BY JOHN WENDLE UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED
On the trail of Africa’s

elusive manatees
Rumour has it that a unique group of manatees, which
usually inhabit coastal waters, can be found far from the
ocean in Upper Guinea. John Wendle joins the search
T
“ HIS is a perfect place for of West Africa, and anecdotal down into the forested savannah in
manatees,” says Lucy Keith- evidence over the years has hinted search of these elusive creatures. In a
Diagne, squinting at a slow, at another population high up in two-week expedition, Keith-Diagne
muddy sweep of the Niandan river. tributaries near its source. What’s and her team will interview locals,
It seems improbable: why would more, Keith-Diagne believes this chase up any leads on recent sightings
these lumbering aquatic mammals, group has been separated from and look for telltale signs of feeding
also called sea cows, be living some other manatees for so long that its along riverbanks. Crucially, they will
4000 kilometres up the Niger river in members could be evolving into a also collect samples of river water to
Guinea, almost as close to the Sahara separate subspecies. “They went up examine later for traces of manatee
desert as to the Atlantic Ocean? the Niger. They found good stuff. DNA. Confirmation of such an isolated
But as the world expert on African They kept going. They never came population here would be a major
manatees, Keith-Diagne would know. back and they became different,” she scientific discovery. It would also be
These chubby creatures are says. But, for now, this is just a guess. the first step in protecting these rare
known to reside lower down the To find out more, we have driven animals from the growing threats
Niger river, which stretches like a hundreds of kilometres from Guinea’s posed by dam construction, poaching
giant boomerang through much swampy coast, over the highlands and and human encroachment.

IMAGINECHINA/SIPA US/ALAMY
A lack of
infrastructure
and maps makes
searching for
manatees in
Guinea tricky,
but local fishers
can provide vital
information
Manatees belong to an order independent US scientist who has years, but it has been a long and
of mammals called Sirenia, named been based in Senegal for nearly difficult road,” says Sangbe, who
for the old belief that they were two decades. That is partly due to is largely self-taught. “There are
mermaids. There are three species. the animals’ immense range across no resources. There are no research
The West Indian manatee is found territory that is often inaccessible, centres. No research tools. Frankly,
along the south-east coast of but another problem is a dearth of we lack everything.” However, the
the US, throughout most of the local manatee experts. Keith-Diagne, team does have an invaluable skill:
Caribbean and as far south as Brazil. who co-founded the African Aquatic the ability to speak to villagers
The Amazonian manatee, classified Conservation Fund, is trying to suspicious of outsiders in their own
as vulnerable, lives only in the remedy this by training researchers language. And now, after two years of
Amazon river and its tributaries. in central and West Africa. However, planning, the researchers are finally
The African manatee ranges for in Guinea, where only the coast has beginning their search of an area that
thousands of kilometres along the been surveyed, there are no manatee encompasses four high tributaries
coast of West Africa, from Senegal to experts. Instead, the rest of Keith- of the upper Niger: the Niandan,
Angola, and is also found throughout Diagne’s expedition team comprises Milo, Sankarani and Tinkisso rivers.
the Senegal river and in the lower Nyan Sangbe, a herpetologist Walking through a hand-tilled field
Niger river. It, too, is vulnerable, with specialising in crocodiles, snakes carved out of the forest, Sangbe spots
an estimated 10,000 individuals only. and turtles; Kolanga Camara, water through the trees. He shouts
Unlike its more famous American a botanist and ornithologist; “Bingo!” and slides down a steep
cousins, vanishingly little is known Louise Haba, a geographer; and bank to the Niandan. Sangbe pulls
about this species. Antoine Claver Loua, a sociologist. a plastic water bottle out of his
“[Africa] is a black hole for manatee “The level of scientific research backpack and approaches the
information,” says Keith-Diagne, an in Guinea has advanced in the past river’s edge. “Aren’t there hippos >

and crocodiles in there?” I ask. “Yes,” Ibrahima Condé bingo! “There are manatees here
he says. Then he casually takes off his Kebre, a hunter in during the wet season,” says Condé
boots, steps in and plunges the bottle Guinea (above). Kebre. His sightings upriver from the
into the silty water. This sample will Fisher N’Fali Keita dam confirm Keith-Diagne’s hopes,
be analysed later for environmental has seen manatees but also her fears. “We just found
DNA (eDNA), genetic material from at the mouth of the manatees in a river that nobody
such things as the skin and faeces Milo river (below). knew they were in before. But it’s
that all animals leave behind in their Kolanga Camara also concerning because it turns
environment. “We’re at one of the and Lucy Keith- out to be a river that they’re never
furthest points that manatees could Diagne filter going to be able to leave,” she says.
possibly come up a river in Africa,” river water to Another encounter isn’t as
says Keith-Diagne. “And we have extract eDNA productive. We are at a regional
just collected the first eDNA water (opposite page) government office for forests and
samples anywhere in West Africa
for manatees.”
We walk back up the slick trail from
the Niandan to our trucks, which
are parked at the entrance to the
construction site of the Fomi dam. It
is a new hydroelectric project, one of
a growing number of infrastructure
schemes in the region that will not
only bring energy to local people,
but also disruption to ecosystems
and threats to local wildlife. Keith-
Diagne has struggled to get details
about the development from afar
and is keen to see it for herself.
Here, we meet Ibrahima Condé
Kebre, a local hunter. Sangbe starts
chatting with him – and again,

wildlife, a mould-covered building hour of chat, the questioning finally African manatees diverged from
tucked in an electric green forest comes around to manatees. The a South American population
of young teak trees. A poster on the chief and other local fishers describe 3 million to 5 million years ago.
wall shows species that are protected sightings of a large, grey, shy animal How the creatures, which are reliant
in Guinea, including its famed in nearby waters. They also tell us on fresh water, swam across the
chimpanzees. The sign exhorts where it hangs out. Atlantic is a mystery. Her studies
“don’t eat your brother”. Manatees Every day, Keith-Diagne is getting have also helped show that there are
should be included, but they aren’t. more excited about what the team probably four subspecies of manatee
François Delamou, the office’s is discovering. But she is well aware in Africa. These include the Niger
director, says he has never seen one, that the interviews are subjective river population, of which the least
or even heard of them. “When you is known and which Keith-Diagne
come, it is good, because we get “How manatees thinks has long been separated from
information about what species the wider African population.
are protected,” he says. But putting swam across Tissue samples are genetically
conservation into practice isn’t so revealing, but they are hard to
simple, he adds. “The problem is
the Atlantic obtain and export for analysis.
changing people’s mentalities. Ocean to Africa That is why this expedition is
People think with their bellies focusing on eDNA. The new but
and not with their heads.” is a mystery” fast-developing technique allows
Although the team has drawn a scientists to sample aquatic,
blank here, other interviews confirm and concrete evidence is required terrestrial and aerial environments
a local awareness of manatees – and to prove that manatees live here. cheaply and non-invasively to
the value of conducting on-the- “That’s why we have to do confirm whether a certain species
ground surveys. One comes after a genetics,” she says. is present. “We don’t ever have to
long day spent tracking down travel When she started researching touch an animal,” says Keith-Diagne.
permits and speaking to officials. African manatees in 2006, all That evening, the researchers
We cross the Niger river on a ferry anyone knew was that there was spend yet more long hours filtering
made from thick planks laid over a single species scattered across water samples. On a plastic table
handmade canoes called pirogues 21 countries. Genetic analysis of under a tree filled with screeching
to reach a village where the chief the few tissue samples Keith-Diagne fruit bats, they use a small motor to
has agreed to a meeting. After an has managed to collect reveals that slowly pump the cloudy river water >

A fisher poles his says he has seen manatees at the
pirogue up the nearby mouth of the Milo, but they
Milo river (above). always swim away. Two years ago,
Louise Haba, however, one got caught and died
Nyan Sangbe in someone else’s fishing net. “It
and Antoine was beautiful,” he says. Then, as if
Claver Loua confirming Keith-Diagne’s concerns,
view the Niandan he adds: “The meat tastes like beef.”
river near the I am struck by how bittersweet it
construction site of would be to confirm the existence
the Fomi dam (left) of manatees in this extraordinary
location – to know that they are
here, but also that they face a
through a filter. The pores are small seen manatees regularly, including perilous future. On the way back
enough to catch scraps of DNA and a mother and calf. The fisher says from another day of interviews
the filters will be analysed later at the animals make deep holes in the and water sample collection,
a lab in the US, where researchers riverbed and use them during the I chat with Camara and Sangbe
will look for manatee DNA. Results dry season, when water levels drop. about this. Despite the dangers
should be available in a few months, These are his best fishing spots, from dam building and local
and Keith-Diagne eagerly anticipates he adds. He leads us to a bend in hunters, they see deforestation as
them. “This might be one of the the watercourse where he says the biggest threat facing Guinea’s
bigger discoveries of my entire manatees congregate, and here wildlife. And they believe the
career in Africa,” she says. we find a possible clue to their only way to protect manatees is
For now, the team is thrilled with presence: crushed clamshells on through a government campaign
the anecdotal evidence. But even the riverbank. This points to another to raise awareness and educate
with this new information, there peculiarity of African manatees. people about them.
are few solid facts about the lives Although other manatee species Sangbe, his usual humorous
of African manatees. “So much is are vegetarian, Keith-Diagne has demeanour gone, says: “If nothing
unknown,” says Keith-Diagne. She widely documented them eating changes, if nothing is done, this
hopes to expand our knowledge of molluscs and also sucking the species will disappear outright.
basic information, including their meat off fish trapped in fishing nets. That’s it.” ❚
range, how often they have calves, Where the Milo meets the Niger,
how long they raise them for and the river braids and winds through John Wendle is a journalist
their average lifespan. a series of feathered sandbanks. and photographer based
Every river is a chance to learn Here, fisher N’Fali Keita squats, in Senegal. More of his
something new. Along the Milo, picking leaves and sticks from his work can be seen at
we meet a man who says he has casting net. Speaking to Haba, he johnwendle.com

Features Interview
‘I come to work to do cool

things, like go to the moon’
KLAWE RZECZY
This year, astronaut Christina Koch will become the first

woman to fly to the moon. She tells Leah Crane about her past
adventures in space and how she is preparing for the next one
C
HRISTINA KOCH has the kind of job she will cement her place in the history NASA’s colossal Space Launch System rocket
children dream of. Beginning in 2019, books. On the Artemis II mission, scheduled and the Orion craft that sits atop it, setting
on her first mission to the International for November, Koch will spend 10 days on a trip the stage for future missions with the aim
Space Station (ISS), the NASA astronaut lived to circle the moon with three other astronauts. of landing humans on the moon for the first
in space for 328 days – the longest time any Doing this will probably mean she won’t get time since 1972. Koch spoke with New Scientist
woman has spent there. During that mission, to set foot on the lunar surface in the future, about her vital work aboard the ISS, what space
she 3D printed biological tissues, grew proteins, however, due to the lifetime safety limits on smells like and the unique microgravity sports
worked on a dark matter experiment and made how long an astronaut can spend in space. you can play in orbit.
up half of the first all-female spacewalk. Nevertheless, she will become the first
Now, as part of the space agency’s ambitious woman to orbit Earth’s satellite and set Leah Crane: What was it like to be up there on
project to send people back to the moon, Koch eyes on its mysterious far side. the ISS for so long? Did you feel cooped up?
is getting ready for her next adventure. With it, Artemis II will be the first crewed test of Christina Koch: I was very lucky that I got to >

New Scientist video
Watch video accompanying this feature and
many other articles at youtube.com/newscientist
spend almost 11 months on board the ISS

as my first space flight mission. I absolutely
loved having that long mission – a typical “A couple of weeks
mission on the ISS is around six months,
and I probably would have been devastated before I came back,
if I had to go home after six months.
I definitely wasn’t ready to leave. I thought, ‘I should
I never got cabin fever. It was pretty far into
my mission before I realised, “I haven’t felt the really think about
wind on my face in a long time, I miss that.”
There were definitely days where I would go what it’s going to
over to our tiny greenhouse, which is about
the size of a couple of shoe boxes, and just feel like to walk’ ”
smell the plants. Just to smell something that
was organic, that actually did a lot for me.
I’ve never really thought about the smell

aspect – does the space station smell like
anything? Body odour, maybe?
NASA
You know, if it does, we get nose blind to it
very quickly. The main smell that I think most
new folks notice is almost a metallic one. We
sometimes say it’s the smell of space. When men and women, whether on the ground or in
we have a visiting cargo vehicle come and dock space-flight adaptation, is an area to explore.
and we first open that hatch, there’s a space in
between the station and the cargo vehicle that Is this one reason it is so important to
has been exposed to just the open vacuum of have a diverse astronaut corps?
space. It has this weird metallic smell. Absolutely. Collectively, we’ve made the
Sometimes, right before we open the hatch, decision that it’s important to be representative
we would call everyone over to have a smell. of everyone that we are carrying dreams for as
So, luckily, we don’t necessarily notice all those we explore. NASA made this decision many,
human smells as much, but the uniqueness many years ago, and that’s why now we have
of that space smell, I really will never forget. an astronaut corps that represents everyone.
The reason that’s important is manyfold. Plenty
How did it feel to break the record for the NASA’s uncrewed of studies have shown that missions are more
longest space flight by a woman? Artemis I launched in successful when you have a diverse group of
A lot of people talk about this individual 2022, powered by the people contributing to them. Not only will we
accomplishment of having a record. I like Space Launch System discover more, get there more efficiently, learn
to think of it not so much as that, but that more and be more successful because we’re
the milestone is important because it diverse, but we will inspire a larger segment
communicates where we are and what the of the population when people look at
state of the art is right now in human space the astronaut corps.
exploration. I hope that the record I set is
exceeded as quickly as possible. I know that there’s a lot of work to be done on the
I also used it as inspiration. Those days space station, but do the astronauts up there get
when I didn’t necessarily feel up to it, I knew to unwind and have a laugh sometimes too?
I had to bring my best and try to get the most Human bowling is something that we
out of every day because what I was doing do on our off time. We do have time off as
was different from the usual ISS mission. astronauts: we have weekends, typically,
It was an ultramarathon, not a marathon. and, of course, there is time after work. We
work about 12 hours a day, five days a week,
Doing that sort of thing is important for and then some extra hours on the weekend.
medical research on how long-term space But when we do have time off, we definitely
flight affects women, right? take advantage of the fact that we are in
SHUTTERSTOCK/BLUEEE77
I think that I would characterise it as the microgravity. Human bowling is where one
long-term effects on any human, and the fact person kind of gets in a cannonball position
that I happen to be female could illuminate and either someone throws them or they
where there would be a difference. In general, launch themselves off some handrails. Then
anything we see that’s a difference between the rest of the crew is sort of standing like the

During her every person we’ve ever loved, every forest
11-month I’ve ever walked in, is all far, far away on
stay on the that one planet.
International
Space Station, What has the training been like so far?
Christina Koch It’s been a lot of different things. There are a lot
did all kinds of of people to meet. There are a lot of things to
jobs, including learn about, things that have been in the works
maintenance of for many, many, many years. So, part of what
spacesuits (left) we’re doing is actually a lot of travel to meet
and a spacewalk the far-flung teams – every time we meet the
(below) to carry teams, we learn both the technical side of what
out repairs on they are doing and also their culture. We learn
the ISS (bottom) what we need to know to feel that sense of trust
in the vehicle, and they learn what they need to
know to see who their operators are going to be.
But then, of course, we have the real
technical training, the hardcore stuff, which
typically happens at the Johnson Space Center
in Texas. It’s been classroom work: a lot of
background theoretical knowledge about the
spacecraft, about the mission, about the orbital
pins in bowling. And the idea is that you have and to be a part of it as a crew member is a mechanics and about the science that we can
to, you know, bowl with your body. There has complete dream come true. The moon has do during the journey.
also been human surfing. been something that has inspired me for my Now, we’re moving into the phase where we
whole life, really. I love gazing at the moon, get a little bit more hands-on. We’re getting to
Is that just one person standing I always have, and I think seeing it up close play with the displays, we’re getting to learn
on top of another? will really bring that perspective that it is a the flight software; eventually, we’ll do full-
Yes. real and separate body in open space. length simulations with the mission control
I can only imagine what it’s going to be like teams all over the world. And then there’s the
After almost a year in space, was to look back at Earth and see the whole thing [full] hands-on stuff: there’s getting in suits,
coming home super weird? out the window. To know that everything, getting into the vehicle, learning how we’re
I would say super weird defines it pretty well. going to get out of the vehicle if and when
Coming back to Earth, standing on your own we need to, working with the recovery team.
two feet, feeling the wind on your face – all I think the biggest takeaway is how many
those Earth things that you don’t experience people it takes to put together a mission like
on board the space station. I remember a this and the awe of being a part of it.
couple of weeks before I came back, I thought
to myself, “I should really think about what Are you disappointed that you won’t
it’s going to feel like to walk”. That’s because get to walk on the moon?
I just hadn’t experienced that in so long and I am nothing but stoked to be a part of this
the idea of balancing on my two feet seemed mission. I am so excited that I’ll get to watch
completely foreign to me. some of my friends walk on the moon, that
JSC/NASA
There’s the physical aspect: your body I will know those people, that I’ll know the
really does a great job adapting to microgravity, teams that got them there, that I will know
which means, of course, you have to readapt the whole process that they’ve gone through
to gravity when you come home. There’s also in the Artemis programme.
a huge psychological and mental aspect to I am just really excited that we are doing
coming home. I’ll never forget when my head this, and to have a role to contribute is really
popped out of that capsule. I looked out and just where the dream comes true for me. Every
saw about five times as many people as I had single day I wake up and come to work, I feel
seen in almost the last year all looking up at like I am going to work to do cool things with
me and I thought, “Oh wow, I’m really happy my friends, like go to the moon. ❚
to be home, but that’s a lot of people.”
ESA/L. PARMITANO
Now that you are back, are you looking forward Leah Crane is a reporter
to your next mission, travelling around the covering space for New Scientist
moon as part of the Artemis programme?
I’ve been excited about it for many years,

The back pages
Puzzles Almost the last word Tom Gauld for Feedback Twisteddoodles
Try our crossword, What are the odds of New Scientist Black hole batteries, for New Scientist
quick quiz and Voyager 1 or 2 hitting A cartoonist’s take confusing coffees and Picturing the lighter
logic puzzle p45 a star or planet? p46 on the world p47 twists and turns p48 side of life p48
Mathematics of life
All in the family

How many of us are related to Henry VIII’s Master of the Mint?
Peter Rowlett runs the genealogy calculations to find out
IN 1540, Henry VIII’s coins were

made in the Tower of London.
One of the Masters of the Mint
was Ralph Rowlett, a goldsmith
from St Albans with six children.
I wondered: am I descended from
Ralph? My Rowlett ancestors were
Sheffield steelworkers, ever since
my three-times great grandfather
Peter Rowlett is a moved north in search of work.
mathematics lecturer, The trail goes cold in a line of
podcaster and author Bedfordshire farm labourers
based at Sheffield Hallam in the 18th century, offering no
University in the UK. Follow evidence of a direct relationship.
him @peterrowlett My instincts as a mathematician
led me to investigate this in
DEREK CROUCHER/ALAMY
a more mathematical way.

I have two parents. They each
have two parents, so I have
four grandparents. So, I have
eight great-grandparents,
16 great-great-grandparents
and 2ⁿ ancestors n generations huge difference here because we of a thousand people, where
ago. This exponential growth are dealing with something called everyone has only a 5 per cent
doubles each generation and a small-world network: most chance of moving to another
takes 20 generations to reach people are in highly clustered town to reproduce. It took about
a million ancestors. groups, tending to pair up with 20 generations for everyone to be
Ralph lived 20 to 25 generations nearby people, but a small number descended from a specific person
before me in an England of about are connected over greater in the first generation. I ran the
2 million people. The exponential distances. An illegitimate child same simulation with 15,000
growth argument says I have of a nobleman would have a people living in one town, and the
several million ancestors in his different social class to their spread took about 18 generations.
generation, so, because we run father. A migrant seeking work So the 15-town structure slowed
out of people otherwise, he is could reproduce in a different the spread, but only slightly.
one of them. geographic area. What does this mean for Ralph
But this model is based on We don’t need many of and me? There is a very good
the assumption that everyone these more remote connections chance we are related, whether
Mathematics of life reveals is equally likely to reproduce with to allow a great amount of spread through Rowletts or another
the mathematical ideas and anyone else. In reality, especially around the network. This is route. And if you have recent
shortcuts behind everyday at certain points in history, the origin of the six degrees of ancestors from England, there
situations. It appears monthly people were likely to reproduce separation concept – that you is a good chance you are too. ❚
with someone from the same can link two people through
geographic area and demographic a surprisingly short chain of These articles are
Next week group as themselves. friend-of-a-friend relationships. posted each week at
Debunking gardening myths But I am not sure this makes a I ran a simulation with 15 towns newscientist.com/maker

The back pages Puzzles
Quick crossword #149 Set by Richard Smyth Quick quiz #234

set by Bethan Ackerley

Scribble 1 The condition in which certain sounds,
zone such as chewing or a clock ticking, trigger
negative emotional or physiological
responses is known as what?
2 Who first discovered extraterrestrial

radio waves?
3 What is the most abundant element

in Earth’s crust?
4 What was the first program deliberately

designed to perform automated reasoning,
subsequently described as the first artificial
intelligence program?

5 Lentinan is a substance derived from
which species of mushroom?
Answers on page 47
Answers and
the next cryptic
crossword BrainTwister
next week set by Katie Steckles
#2 Piles of money
ACROSS DOWN You are given a heap of N tokens, which
1 Apollo 11’s Columbia, for example (7,6) 2 Point of effluence (7) you may divide into any number of smaller
10 Rotary wings (5) 3 Spirit or Curiosity, perhaps (4,5) heaps. You will then receive an amount of
11 Inverse function to exponentiation (9) 4 Synthetic fabric (5) money equal to the product of the number
12 Capacity; sustainability (9) 5 Iron ore mineral (9) of tokens in each heap. The rules of this
13 ___ film, thin plastic wrap (5) 6 Paul ___ , English physicist (5) game state that if you were to just leave all
14 Patterns of brain activity (2,5) 7 Li (7) the tokens in one heap, you would win £N.
16 Superhero alter ego of Tony Stark (4,3) 8 One skilled in calculation (13)
18 Paperbark or honey myrtle (3,4) 9 The prime meridian, for example (9,4) What is the largest sum of money you can
20 9 Down around Earth (7) 15 Apple co-founder (5,4) win starting with six tokens?
22 Railway town in north-west England (5) 17 Production of eggs (9)
24 Female sex hormone (9) 19 16 Across, for one (7) What about starting with 10 tokens?
26 Another name for an earthworm (9) 21 Hydrogen-3 (7)
27 Protuberance at the back 23 Corundite (5) Is there a general best strategy for N tokens?
of the human skull (5) 25 Device such as an hourglass (5)
28 The study of röntgen radiation Solution next week
coming from space (1-3,9)
Our crosswords are now solvable online

newscientist.com/crosswords

The back pages Almost the last word
Why do crows have such

Crash course
distinctive and individual voices,
If they continue on their current compared with other birds?
trajectories, what is the probability
Voyager 1 or 2 will crash into a of a star, but this will take an
planet or star in the (distant) future? extraordinarily long time.
The Voyagers’ highest chances
Mark Thompson of collision were in the solar
Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, UK system, around the planets and
Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in the asteroid and Kuiper belts,
have reached interstellar space. which they have already safely
Currently, Voyager 1 is located traversed. Their trajectories were
23 billion kilometres from Earth, carefully planned to maximise
while Voyager 2 has made it to a the chances of safe passage.
distance of 19 billion kilometres. The next highest chance
Since both have already passed of collision will occur in some
by the planets in our solar system, 300 years, when both spacecraft
LINDA BUREK/ALAMY
they aren’t expected to crash into are expected to enter the Oort
a planet or star for some time. cloud, a hypothesised cloud of icy
However, the trajectories of the planetesimals surrounding the
probes are influenced by the sun at distances of around 2000
gravitational forces of the stars This week’s new questions to 200,000 times that between
they pass, which could cause the sun and Earth. The Oort cloud
them to change direction. Crowing about it How do crows develop such distinct and constitutes trillions of objects and
For now, Voyager 1 is moving individual “voices”? I don’t hear this with other bird species the traverse will take some 30,000
in the general direction of the in my garden. Jill Colman, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK years, but models suggest that the
constellation Ophiuchus, while objects there are a few hundred
Voyager 2 is heading towards Tempus fugit Why do older people seem to experience time metres to a few kilometres in size
Sagittarius. Still, the vast distances passing more quickly? Derek Johnson, Moreton-in-Marsh, and are separated by millions of
between stars mean the probes Gloucestershire, UK kilometres. The probes are most
are unlikely to approach any likely to sail though untouched.
Afterwards, the probes will
“Voyager 1 is moving in obstacle in interstellar space energy density due to starlight be in empty space, where there
the general direction are vanishingly small. is only twice that of cosmic rays, is nothing to collide with. For a
That includes entire solar so they are relatively abundant. collision to occur, they would need
of the constellation systems. Our solar system is Cosmic ray particles are to come close enough to a star and
Ophiuchus, while about 60 astronomical units (AU) energetic and when they hit approach at the right velocity to
Voyager 2 is heading in diameter (up to Neptune) and a solid object, they will knock be drawn towards it by gravity,
towards Sagittarius” the nearest star system, Alpha an atom sufficiently hard that it after which they could collide
Centauri, is about 270,000 AU generates a cascade of secondary with the star itself or with one of
specific star system for away. This means that, at the impacts. In a structure as small its orbiting planets or other bodies.
tens of thousands of years. distance of Alpha Centauri, as a typical space probe, this will Considering that star systems are
Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 our solar system would occupy result in a shower of atoms ejected usually separated by several light
are powered by radioisotope only three-billionths of the surface into space at high speed. This years, this is extremely unlikely.
thermoelectric generators, area of a sphere of that radius – amounts to stochastic “spallation” Calculations in a 2019 paper
which convert the heat generated quite a small target. If a probe that will, given sufficient time, from Coryn Bailer-Jones and
by the decay of plutonium-238 did pass through a star system, abrade any probe to nothing. Davide Farnocchia indicate that in
into electricity. These are expected it would almost certainly trace Such is the fate of the five probes the next 11 million years, Voyager
to provide enough power to a hyperbolic orbit and exit that are bound for the stars so far. 1’s closest approach to another
keep the Voyagers’ instruments unscathed, as did the extrasolar star will be at a distance of around
running until around 2025. After asteroid ‘Oumuamua. Damir Blazina 0.3 parsecs and a relative speed of
that, the probes will no longer However, macroscopic obstacles Chester, UK 46 kilometres per second, while
be able to communicate with aren’t the only sort in interstellar Both Voyagers will eventually Voyager 2 will come no closer than
Earth, but they will continue space: there are cosmic ray particles collide with something, 0.5 parsecs at a relative speed of
to travel through space. too. In any volume of space, the most likely the remnants over 70 km/s. (A parsec is some
31 trillion kilometres). This is too
Luce Gilmore Want to send us a question or answer? far and too fast to be significantly
Cambridge, UK Email us at lastword@newscientist.com affected by the stars’ gravitational
The chances of collision between Questions should be about everyday science phenomena fields, so the probes won’t collide.
a space probe and a macroscopic Full terms and conditions at newscientist.com/lw-terms However, the spacecraft lack

Tom Gauld Answers
for New Scientist
Quick quiz #234
Answers
1 Misophonia
2 Karl Jansky
3 Oxygen
4 Logic Theorist
5 The shiitake (Lentinula edodes)
Cryptic crossword
#126 Answers
ACROSS 7 Thiamine, 8 Mute,
9 Denial, 10 Floury, 11 Spay,
13 Shivered, 15 Roughs it,
17 Wink, 18 Silica, 20 Gasket,
22 Zinc, 23 Chatbots
DOWN 1 Ghee, 2 Ratify, 3 Violists,

4 Leaf, 5 Impose, 6 Sturgeon,
12 Prolific, 14 Integral, 16 Glitch,
17 Wasabi, 19 Arch, 21 Efts
#1 Digital sevens
the velocity to escape the galaxy, “A detergent reduces Mark Dirnhuber Solution
meaning they will eventually pass the surface tension Bristol, UK
close enough to some star to be This phenomenon applies 106 is the next number after 95.
of the water, making
drawn towards it. The same paper to cellulose sponges.
estimates that the timescale for it more compatible Cellulose is a polymer of Two consecutive numbers would
one of them to collide with a star with the low surface glucose and owes its strength need to end in 9 and 0 to have
is in the order of 10²0 years. This energy of a sponge” to extensive hydrogen bonding their digit sum differ by 0 or a
is six orders of magnitude longer between numerous hydroxyl multiple of 7, and the smallest
than the time by which all stars in lower than the surface energy, groups, holding the glucose example is 69999, which has
the universe will have exhausted or surface tension, of water. chains tightly side by side. These digits that add up to 42 (a multiple
their fuel, so the collision will be A dry sponge will therefore also give it great affinity for water, of 7), and 70000, which has a
with a stellar remnant such as tend to float when placed on water, so cellulose surfaces are very digit sum of 7.
a white dwarf or a black hole. only absorbing liquid gradually. wettable because this attraction
It can be forcibly wet by being is even stronger than that between For numbers two apart, the only
Suck it up submerged, compressed and the water molecules themselves. pairs under 100 are (59, 61)
released so that water fills its open- This results in the wet cellulose and (68, 70).
Why does a slightly damp cell structure. When the bulk of sucking up the water into the
sponge absorb water so much the water is squeezed out, there pores by capillary action.
better than the same sponge will be sufficient remaining water Dry cellulose will first need
when it is bone dry? in the sponge for the internal to be wet for this to happen, and
surfaces to be almost perfectly there are energy barriers to be
Chris Daniel hydrophilic, allowing water to overcome, notably due to the
Colwyn Bay, Conwy, UK enter and fill the sponge again. surface tension of the water itself.
Sponges for dish washing can When washing dishes, a Because the cellulose surface is
be made of polyester, which has detergent is usually added to rough, a water droplet might sit
mechanical properties that make reduce the surface tension of the there for a while as a bead before
it useful as a cleaning material, as water, making it more compatible the wetting takes place. Cellulose
well as being soft to handle when with the low surface energy also absorbs some water into (not
dry or wet. However, the polymer of a sponge, in addition to its just onto) its structure, which will
is hydrophobic, or water-repellent, primary purpose of helping divert water from the surface and
which means its surface energy is to remove fats from surfaces. further slow the wetting. ❚

The back pages Feedback
Tiny black hole batteries Twisteddoodles for New Scientist Feedback column (4 November
2023) called “New insights on the
Following on from Feedback’s genetics of hair whorls from twins
discussion about the Black Hole and the southern hemisphere”.
public toilet in New Zealand Sam finds it hair-raising that
(25 November 2023) comes word the paper drew any attention.
of a plan called “Using black holes He says: “The old chestnut
as rechargeable batteries and about drain circulation rears its
nuclear reactors”, published in head again, I see. Given the tiny
the journal Physical Review D. volume and mass involved in a
Successful technologists, head of hair, coupled with the fact
almost as much as unsuccessful that people spend a significant
technologists, are not so easily amount of their time in a non-
cowed by limits others believe vertical pose and moving around,
to be insurmountable. The plan’s it’s ridiculous to suggest that the
authors, Zhan-Feng Mai and Coriolis force could be involved
Run-Qiu Yang at Tianjin University, in hair whorling.” The Coriolis
China, keep their chins up and force, you will recall, is a surprising
their minds cranking. twist in how things appear to
They write: “Though the black move while something rotates.
hole’s strong gravity forbids that Feedback hopes it won’t set
the classical matters escape from Edge on edge to learn that there is
it into outside, fortunately, the a new version of that paper. Now
energy can be extracted from titled “Genetic determinism and
the black hole through quantum hemispheric influence in hair
or classical processes.” whorl formation”, it appears
They handwave away the in the Journal of Stomatology,
swath of problems reputed Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
to afflict anyone who suggests The new version gives a
even going near a black hole. Got a story for Feedback? twisty, this time distanced,
Their black hole, they specify, Send it to feedback@newscientist.com nod to the Coriolis question:
will be a “tiny black hole”. or New Scientist, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY “Other non-hemispheric factors
This kind of confidence Consideration of items sent in the post will be delayed should [be] assessed on samples
inspires venture capitalists, from various Northern and
a variety of humans who are Southern hemisphere locations,
experiencing a golden age here had when my children were little. medical investigations – and such as maternal health, maternal
in the early 2020s. Many are “I could read them a bedtime medical pronouncements – nutrition, and/or prenatal
looking for new big opportunities story out loud while at the same about good and bad health hormone exposure, before
to raise funds and invest portions time silently reading a novel to effects of drinking coffee. considering a potential effect
thereof after extracting appropriate myself. I have no idea how my Some people in some places of hemispheric environmental
fractions therefrom. brain managed to separate out the drink espresso, some drink other physical factors such as the
Black hole batteries could be their two stories, but it certainly helped forms of coffee. Some drink Coriolis force.”
next big thing, following hard on the with the tedium of reading the filtered coffee, some unfiltered.
flighty footsteps of cryptocurrency same bedtime story yet again.” Some people in some places drink
Sheffield names harvest
and artificial intelligence, both coffee “in relation to a meal, thus
of which flocks of investors have influencing absorption and effect Susan Frank doesn’t beat about
Coffee with confusion
found to be as compellingly on the gut”, some drink it standalone. the bush in conveying garden
attractive as black holes. Ambiguity has a field day in this Some people are men, others are variety information.
medical journal headline: “Coffee not, with possible differences in She writes: “I thought you’d
and heart failure: A further potential “the absorption of macro and micro like the names of two of our
Two-story superpower
beneficial effect of coffee”. nutrients and in their bioavailability”. trustees associated with the
Alison Litherland tells of That title rides atop a letter Further studies, Mattioli and Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust,
a beneficially duplicitous to the editor from Anna Vittoria Farinetti suggest beneath their Barbara Plant and Christine Rose.”
trivial superpower. Mattioli and Alberto Farinetti confusion-inducing headline, are Feedback notes that the Sheffield
She says: “Your mention of at the University of Modena and required to “not create confusion”. Botanical Gardens Trust website
Rosemary Firman’s husband’s Reggio Emilia in Italy. The journal clarifies (by displaying the info
ability to read two different is Nutrition, Metabolism and
Edge on edge specially within parentheses) that
pages of braille at the same time Cardiovascular Diseases. trustee Miles Stevenson, who is
(16 September 2023) reminded Mattioli and Farinetti explore Sam Edge is vexed about a paper neither a plant nor a rose, is a chair. ❚
me of the trivial superpower I some of the ambiguities in that featured in a previous Marc Abrahams

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TINY T.

Science and technology news

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For more information and to book your place, visit:

Teaching without teachers

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Stellar prospects The past year saw developments