WONDERS OF THE DRONE AGE

Flying robots uncover the best hidden spots in the world p32

ASIA EDITION Vol. 8 Issue 6

SCIENCE HISTORY NATURE FOR THE CURIOUS MIND

WHAT MAKES
HISTORICAL
ACCOUNTS
INTERESTING
p50

THE SOCIAL
DILEMMA OF
DRIVERLESS
CARS
p56

HOW MUCH
RUBBISH IS ON
THE MOON?

GORILLA
p87

PPS 1745/01/2013 (022915)

MCI (P) 070/10/2015 ISSN 1793-9836

9 771793 983016
06 COUNTRYScientist are just beginning to understand the
SGD 7.50 | PHP 300
THB 240 | NT 200 | RM 18 secret lives of lowland gorillas p64
TOXIC BEES: NATURES MAYDAY
Premieres 17th June. Fridays at 9.35pm (JKT/BKK), 10.35pm (SIN/HK/MAL/TW)
One-third of the worlds agriculture relies on bees for pollination. Intrigued by the disappearance of bee colonies
around the world, Taiwan Public Television Services (PTS) team spent two full years looking for answers to this
phenomenon and explores the serious impacts of pesticides on both our environment and human health, which
includes ADHD.

LIFE IN THE AIR
Premieres 7th June.
Tuesdays at 7.05pm (JKT/BKK),
8.05pm (SIN/HK/MAL/TW)
Flight is the ultimate superpower, an
extraordinary ability most of us can
only dream of. Yet an astonishing
number of animals have mastered the
skies. From frogs, squirrels to birds
with exceptional skills, these animals
hunt, travel, sleep, live and die in
the air.
NATURES MIRACLE ORPHANS
SERIES 2
Premieres 13th June.
Mondays at 7.05pm (JKT/BKK),
8.05pm (SIN/HK/MAL/TW)
This observational documentary
series meets animals with some
extraordinary survival stories, and
follows the people determined to help
them get back to a life in the wild.
KOKO THE GORILLA WHO TALKS
TO PEOPLE
Premieres 28th June.
Tuesdays at 7.05pm (JKT/BKK),
8.05pm (SIN/HK/MAL/TW)
The unique and personal story of
Koko the gorilla and researcher
Penny Patterson, who taught Koko
sign language and believes that
she is living proof of the emotional
capabilities of gorillas.

www.bbcasia.com
BBC Earth is available in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
/BBCEarth
South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Mongolia.
Please call your cable operator for more details or check out our website. @BBCEarthAsia
On the cover
SCIENCE Vol. 8 Issue 6

32 Wonders Of The Drone Age

HISTORY

50 How People Make The Past

SCIENCE

COVER STORY

56 Could A Driverless Car Kill You

Q&A

87 How Long Will The Man-made 64 Gorilla Country

Objects On The Moon Last
Vol. 8 Issue 6 3
Welc me Y Send us your letters
editorial-bbcknowledge@regentmedia.sg

THE KINGDOM OF I hope you liked the cover we have chosen for this
issue, there is a definite cute factor involved in the
THE GORILLAS choice but there are also more important reasons BBC Knowledge Magazine
for it, as with most of the things we do here. Includes selected articles from other BBC specialist magazines, including
There are different species as well as sub- Focus, BBC History Magazine and BBC Wildlife Magazine.
species of gorillas, they all look big, imposing
and burly yet their existence is a fragile one.
These apes have many threats to deal with, www.sciencefocus.com
such as illegal hunters who have an appetite for
bush meat and their skins, others who capture www.historyextra.com
and steal infants for the incessant illegal wildlife
trade. Deforestation causes a destruction of not
only their habitat, it inadvertently makes it easier www.discoverwildlife.com
for poachers to reach them, not to mention the
destructive power of diseases such as Ebola that
have almost wiped out entire populations of Important change:
gorillas in certain areas. The licence to publish this magazine was acquired from BBC Worldwide by
Immediate Media Company on 1 November 2011. We remain committed to
It is no mean feat that humans are now able making a magazine of the highest editorial quality, one that complies with BBC
to observe, study and help these elusive western editorial and commercial guidelines and connects with BBC programmes.
lowland gorillas. It is through a laborious
habituation process or the gradual earning of The BBC Earth television channel is available in the following regions:
the gorillas trust so that they will accept human Asia (Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea,
Thailand, Taiwan)
observers as with most wild animals, that process
takes many years and dogged dedication on the
SCIENCE HISTORY NATURE FOR THE CURIOUS MIND
part of the researchers.
Know more. Anywhere.
Ben Poon
ben@regentmedia.sg
BBC Knowledge Magazine provides trusted, independent advice and information that
has been gathered without fear or favour. When receiving assistance or sample products
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Experts in this issue

MARGAREST
MACMILLAN
Margaret is the Warden of St Antonys College and a
Professor of International History at the University of
Oxford. She is also a member of the Royal Society of
Literature. Follow her story as she explains why we are
intrigued by personal recounts of historical people. p50
MIKE UNWIN
Mike is a prize-winning freelance writer and photographer
who spent eight years living and working in South
Africa. He writes regularly about African wildlife and
safaris. Read about his personal encounters with
gorillas. p64
COLIN STUART
Colin is a freelance astronomy writer and author. He is
a space geek who shares his knowledge with
thousands every year, ranging from schools to public
conferences and even businesses. He often writes for
The Guardian, New Scientist and BBC Focus. p78

6 Vol. 8 Issue 6
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SCIENCE

Snapshot

8 Vol. 8 Issue 6
Light echoes
used to study
protoplanetary
disks
A new studypublished in the Astrophysical
Journal uses data from NASAs Spitzer Space
Telescope and four ground-based telescopes
to determine the distance from a star to the
inner rim of its surrounding protoplanetary disk.
Researchers used a method called photo-
reverberation, also known as light echoes.
When the central star brightens, some of
the light hits the surrounding disk,causing a
delayedecho. Scientists measured the time
it took for light coming directly from the star
to reach Earth, and then waited for its echo to
arrive. The Spitzer study marks the first time
the light echo method was used in the context
of protoplanetary disks. This illustration shows
a star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk.
Material from the thick disk flows along the
stars magnetic field lines and is deposited
onto the stars surface. When material hits the
star, it lights up brightly.

PHOTO: NASA/JPL-CALTECH

Vol. 8 Issue 6 9
NATURE

Ice scours the

North Caspian sea
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on NASAs Landsat
8 satellite acquired this large natural-color image
showing a view of the Caspian Sea around the Tyuleniy
Archipelago on April 16, 2016. Ocean scientist Norman
Kuring of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center found
a puzzling feature in the image, lines crisscrossing the
North Caspian Sea. On its own, the image was strikingly
beautiful. Shallow waters surrounding the Tyuleniy
Archipelago allow you to see the dark green vegetation
on the sea bottom. But the question remained: what
caused those lines? The dark green areas, possibly sea
grass or benthic algae, and the lines are features of the
sea bottom. You can tell this by the fact that marks laid
down in January have not moved by April, Kuring said.
If those were water features, they would not persist
through one tidal cycle.
Its possible that some of the marks have a human
origin. Similar lines show up in the worlds oceans
because of trawling. But the scientific literature
suggests that a majority of the marks in the images
were gouged by ice. In January, blocks of ice stand
at the leading end of many lines, most notably in the
northeast corner of the image. By April, ice has melted
and only the scour marks persist. Stanislav Ogorodov,
a scientist at Lomonosov Moscow State University who
has published research on the phenomenon, agrees,
Undoubtedly, most of these tracks are the result of ice
gouging. Ogorodov notes that this part of the Caspian
is very shallow, about 3 meters deep. Ice that forms
here in wintertime is usually about 0.5 meters thick, so
most of it never touches the seafloor. But the ice tends
to be warm and thin, which gives rise to relatively
weak ice cover that is easily deformed by wind and
currents. When pieces of ice are pushed together, some
ice is forced upward and downward into so-called
hummocks. The keels of hummocks, frozen into the
ice fields, can reach the seafloor and scour the bed as
the ice moves.

PHOTO: NASA IMAGEBY NORMAN KURING,

NASASOCEAN COLOR WEB

10 Vol. 8 Issue 6
Vol. 8 Issue 6 11
HISTORY

Train in trouble
On the outskirts of London, a tower block
has collapsed into Waterloo tube station.
But no one has been injured. This is part of
a training exercise that took place across
four days in February and March to test
how emergency teams will respond to a
major disaster in the capital.
Using seven train carriages and
thousands of tonnes of rubble, an entire
tube station was recreated in a disused
power station close to the Dartford
Crossing. It was the largest of such
exercise ever carried out in Europe.
Firefighters, police officers and ambulance
staff all took part in the training scenario.
More than 1,000 volunteer casualties
were covered in fake blood and given
convincing injuries to make the scene as
realistic as possible for the rescuers, who
included specialist Urban Search and
Rescue teams from around the UK.
But the drill titled Exercise Unified
Response wasnt just about rescuing
trapped passengers. An incident of this
size affects everyone, from thousands
of stranded commuters who cant get
home, to distraught relatives who cant
reach loved ones, says London fire
commissioner Ron Dobson. We are
working with Transport for London,
local councils and various voluntary
organisations to simulate the wider and
longer term impacts that any major disaster
would have on the community.

PHOTO: Jeremy Selwyn/eyevine

12 Vol. 8 Issue 6
Vol. 8 Issue 6 13
 SCHOOL
CHALLENGE
2016
MALAYSIA
CANBERRA: WHERE HISTORY,
SCIENCE AND NATURE MEET!
ake a crash course in Australian
T history and culture in Canberra,
Australias political and administrative
centre. The national monuments and galleries
of this planned, spacious city are all within
easy walking distance of each other, radiating
out from the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.
Peer into Australias political past and creative
culture as you circle the lake, then get up
close to its native vegetation in the gardens
and bushland. Discuss your Australian
discoveries over dinner in Dickson, Civic,
14 Vol. 8 Issue 6
Manuka or Kingston. Then nurture your love
of nature in Namadgi National Park, where
you can hike, bike, horse-ride, rock climb and
follow a fascinating trail of Aboriginal and
European history. Heres a simple itinerary to
guide your journey:
DAY ONE
Capital attractions
Have breakfast by Lake Burley Griffin, where
you can watch the joggers, cyclists, sail boats
and determined dragon boat teams.This
huge artificial lake is Canberras centrepiece,
surrounded by many of the national attractions.
Hear Canberras story at the National Capital
Exhibition, the chiming of 55 bronze bells on
the National Carillon on Aspen Island and visit
the War Memorial. Head to the Parliamentary
Triangle to explore Parliament House and
Old Parliament House on Capital Hill. Learn
about the birth of Australias political system
and visit the public gallery to watch Australian
politicians debate issues at Question Time. See
famous Australians on canvas at the National
Portrait Gallery, pore over historical documents
at the National Library of Australia or check
out Australias first constitution at the nearby
National Archives. Complete your Australian
cultural immersion with a show at Canberras
Theatre Centre in Civic.
DAY TWO
Pioneers, art and weird science
Drive to the Australian National Botanic
Garden, where the main path meanders
through a Tasmanian rainforest gully and a
diverse range of native vegetation. Climb to
Telstra Tower at the top of Black Mountain
for a coffee and sweeping views of Canberras
monuments and planned streets. Follow a
walking trail through the bush, past native
plants and animals and brilliant wildflowers
in spring and early summer. After descending,
peer into the life of 19th century settlers
at Blundells Cottage and check out the
exhibitions at the National Museum of
Australia. Cross the lake for Questacon, a
fantastic family attraction. Experience a
volcano, go for a virtual six-metre free fall
or play a harp with beams of light.When
youve regained your bearings, browse the
nations finest collection of Australian art at the
National Gallery of Australia. In the evening,
enjoy fine dining in Civic, Kingston, Manuka
or Griffith.
DAY THREE
Namadgi National Park
Drive out to Namadgi National Park for a day
of bushwalking and outdoor adventure in the
Australian Alps. Explore forests of snow gum
and alpine ash on the Square Rock walking
track or do the short climb to Booroomba
Rocks for spectacular views.To get your
personal touch of nature, take the Mt Franklin
Road into the rugged Bimberi wilderness.
Keep an eye out for kangaroos, wallabies,
crimson rosellas and northern corroboree
frogs amongst the wet gullies and woodlands.
Visit an early European homestead in Orroral
Valley or trace the story of the Ngunnawal
people, who lived here thousands of years
ago. Aboriginal campsites, ceremonial stone
arrangements and rock art are scattered across
the park in around 400 places. Mountain bike
the fire trails, horse ride National Bicentennial
Trail or rock climb and abseil the craggy
granite outcrops. Fish from mountain streams
in summer and cross-country ski the winter
slopes. Camp overnight or return to Canberra
for some creature comforts.
Vol. 8 Issue 6 15
 OL
SCHO
CHALLENGE
2016
DATE: 06 AUGUST 2016
VENUE: PETROSAINS, THE DISCOVERY CENTRE
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

BBC KNOWLEDGE
MAGAZINE SCHOOL
CHALLENGE!
EXCITING EDUCATIONAL TOURS AND FANTASTIC
PRIZES FOR THE WINNING TEAMS

BBC KNOWLEDGE MAGAZINE SCHOOL CHALLENGE 2016 - MALAYSIA

BBC Knowledge Magazine School Challenge is an educational project organised by BBC Knowledge
Magazine to inspire youths and encourage curiosity. The project aims to provide an additional platform
for learning through a series of interactive challenges related to Science, History and Nature to nurture
and refine students thinking process.

Organiser Supported by Venue Sponsor Official School Agent

 AUSTRALIA

REGISTRATION IS FREE!
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students and one teacher-mentor from the
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 Update THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE

D I S P A T C H E S F R O M T H E C U T T I N G E D G E

Stranded on Mars, The Martians

Mark Watney is forced to cultivate
potatoes to survive

BOTANY

VEGETABLES
GROWN IN In hit sci-fi movie The Martian, stranded
astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon)

MARTIAN SOIL
feeds himself by growing potatoes in soil from
the Red Planets surface.
Now, researchers from the Netherlands have
replicated the feat using simulated Martian soil
PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX/PICSELECT.COM

made from rock taken from Hawaiian volcanoes.

The team successfully harvested 10 different
CROPS HARVESTED FROM A crops including tomatoes, peas, rocket and cress.
PHOTO: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

The plants grew just as well as controls planted in

SIMULATED MARTIAN ALLOTMENT regular potting compost.
That was a real surprise to us, said researcher
HOLD CLUES TO MAKING Wieger Wamelink. It shows that the Mars soil
simulant has great potential when properly
AGRICULTURE ON THE RED PLANET prepared and watered. Only the spinach showed
poor biomass production.
A FEASIBLE PROPOSITION The plants were grown in trays filled with a mix of
simulation soil, which was created by NASA, and

18 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 freshly cut grass in a
glass greenhouse and
ONLY THE kept under constant
temperature, humidity
SPINACH SHOWED and light conditions.
This is because we
POOR BIOMASS expect that first crop
PRODUCTION growth on Mars and the
Moon will take place
in underground rooms to protect the plants from the
hostile environment, which includes cosmic E X P E R T C O M M E N T
radiation, said Wamelink.
There is, however, one downside: the plants are
not safe to eat. The soils contain heavy metals like
LEWIS DARTNELL
lead, arsenic and mercury, and also a lot of iron. If University of Leicester astrobiologist and author of The
the components become available for the plants, Knowledge: How To Rebuild Our World After An Apocalypse
they may be taken up and find their way into the
fruits, making them poisonous, Wamelink said. How much of a landmark is this result? These results
The Dutch team has now launched a from Wageningen University are certainly exciting. Being able to
ABOVE: It may not have
crowdfunding campaign (visit their site at bit.ly/ been a bumper harvest grow our own food will be a critical component of long-term habitation
martian_meal) to finance a further experiment that (or even an edible one) on Mars well have to become space farmers! But were only just
but the veg grown
will concentrate on producing food thats safe to eat. demonstrates that working out now what crop species might be best suited, and how to
If the crops prove to be a success, they intend to food can be grown on exploit in situ resources using Martian water, nutrients and regolith
Mars in principle
invite funders to join them for a Martian meal made [dust, soil and broken rock] rather than having to fly soil from Earth all
up of the harvested crops. BELOW: Simulated the way to Mars.
Martian soil made with
rock gathered from
Hawaiian volcanoes How closely did the experiment mimic the real conditions on
proved to be a suitable Mars? This particular experiment used a simulant for the Martian
growing medium for a
variety of crops
regolith, but then added lots of organic fertiliser in the form of grass
clippings and manure, which of course wouldnt be available on Mars.
So itd be important to demonstrate yields from a more realistic testing
of an actual Mars mission, and possibly also under the sort of reduced
air pressure found in an inflatable Martian greenhouse.

Does this mean agriculture would be viable on Mars on a

scale large enough to sustain a colony? Thats certainly the hope!
PHOTOS: WIEGER WAMELINK/WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY X4

Theres still a lot of work to be done. The first crewed mission to Mars
will probably be short-term and take much, if not all, of the food they
need with them, but in the long-term this is exactly the sort of research
thats needed.

Does this mean there could be, or could have been, plant
life on Mars? The short answer is no! Showing that Earth plants
can survive in Martian soil, with added fertiliser and an Earth-like
atmosphere, does not mean that plants could ever have evolved
on Mars themselves. The environment on the Martian surface has
been exceedingly hostile to life for a long time: freezing cold, dry, low
atmospheric pressure and unprotected from ultraviolet radiation from
the Sun. Hardy extremophile bacteria might be able to survive such
conditions, but not complex, multicellular plants.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 19
Update THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE

ZOOLOGY

A STONES THROW FROM

RITUALISTIC BEHAVIOUR
IN N U MBERS

Chimps in parts of West Africa have been observed repeatedly

hurling stones at specific trees for no obvious reason
5-18g
The amount
A team led by Hjalmar Kuhl and Ammie Kalan from to gaining food or status. It could be a ritual, said subjects in a study
the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology Laura Kehoe, a PhD researcher at Humboldt
have captured footage of chimps throwing rocks University of Berlin involved in the research.
at the University
at trees behaviour that has perplexed Some have suggested the behaviour, which of Illinois reduced
researchers. A camera trap set up to record the leads to piles of stones accumulating at the base their daily sugar
primates actions when no humans were present of the trees, may be a way of marking territory; intake by after
caught the film. Chimps have long been known to others have posited it as evidence of some kind of
use tools (using stones as hammers to crack open spiritual belief system, pointing out similarities
replacing four
nuts, for instance) but whats so puzzling about with the construction of stone cairns by drinks with
the stone throwing is that it has no clear purpose. primitive tribes. plain water.
And the behaviour is not observed in chimpanzee Whatever the answer, the existence of such
populations elsewhere. ritual behaviour that is specific to a given area
What we discovered wasnt a random, one-off
event; it was a repeated activity with no clear link
indicates strongly that chimpanzee behaviour is
more complex than was previously believed. 14,600
The number
of Sumatran
THE BEHAVIOUR orangutans
living in the wild,
IS NOT OBSERVED according to a
IN CHIMP new survey. Thats
8,000 more than
POPULATIONS was previously

PHOTOS: NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY, MPI-EVA PANAF/CHIMBO FOUNDATION

thought.
ELSEWHERE

7,080
The distance
(in kilometres)
migrated annually
by some Pantala
flavescens
dragonflies,
according to
research carried
Do these stone altars suggest out at Rutgers
that chimps carry out ritualistic
behaviour? University Newark.

20 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 The hypothalamus
(highlighted in
yellow) may be the
trigger mechanism
that psyches you up
for a fight

NEUROSCIENCE

BRAIN REGION RESPONSIBLE FOR

VIOLENT THOUGHTS PINPOINTED
Before a human or another mammal commits a violent act, they will often
experience a build-up of aggressive motivations and now a research team at
the NYU Langone Medical Center believe they have worked out the exact spot
in the brain where this build-up occurs. Their findings were published in the
journal Nature Neuroscience on 7 March.
Using probes to study the brain activity in mice, the team found that
before a group attacked smaller mice, there was increased activity in the
PHOTOS: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY x2

ventrolateral region of the ventromedial hypothalamus, a part of the brain

linked to sleep, hunger and body temperature regulation. Mice in whom
activity in this part of the brain was suppressed didnt respond to the same
stimuli in the same aggressive fashion.
Dr Dayu Lin of NYU Langones Neuroscience Institute, who led the
research, said: Our study pinpoints the brain circuits essential to the The hypothalamus
regulates certain
aggressive motivations that build up as animals prepare to attack. metabolic functions
By better understanding how the impulse to engage in violence arises, its and releases various
neurohormones
possible treatments could be devised to prevent it although Lin says this is
currently only a distant possibility.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 21
Update THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE
IS EARTH SPECIAL AFTER ALL?
EARTH HAS VIOLATED THE COPERNICAN
PRINCIPLE, WHICH STATES THAT OUR
PLANET IS NOT IN A FAVOURED POSITION
B E H I N D T H E H E A D L I N E S
A new cosmic inventory suggests the Earth may be completely unique.
Graham Southorn asked Prof Don Pollacco, an exoplanet expert, what this
means for Earth and the search for intelligent life
Scientists at Uppsala University in Sweden
say theyve created a cosmic inventory of
terrestrial planets. How did they produce it?
In a way its quite straightforward. Scientists have
already put a lot of work into understanding the
history of galaxies, and were beginning to
understand the ways planets are arranged around
different kinds of stars. What the Uppsala team
has done is put the two things together. The
number of planets [in the Universe] is dictated by
the numbers of stars and when those stars came
RIGHT: Nicolaus Copernicuss
work led to the heliocentric
model of the Solar System
in which the Earth and other
planets orbit the central Sun
22 Vol. 8 Issue 6
into being. The rate of star formation has changed
since the beginning of time, and so the team at
Uppsala University looked at what would have
happened to the planets that were being made in
that time. Its all intimately tied up with the way
galaxies evolve.
They estimate the mean age of terrestrial
planets to be 8 billion years, whereas
Earth is only 4.5 billion years old. What
does that tell us?
It tells us that the mean age of stars is a lot older
PHOTOS: ESA/C CARREAU, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
than the Sun because most stars are in elliptical
galaxies. Also, the typical terrestrial planet is
in a spheroidal galaxy with twice the mass of our
spiral Galaxy
If a typical location [for a terrestrial planet] is
in a spheroidal galaxy, then youd expect most
planets to be in those galaxies. But if that is
actually the case, Earth has violated the
Copernican principle, which states that we are
not in a favoured position.
Perhaps theres some unknown reason why
spiral galaxies are preferred. If we arent violating
the Copernican principle, there must be a reason
why life is evolving in galaxies like ours.

PHOTO: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY ILLUSTRATION: JAMES OLSTEIN
ABOVE: The Uppsala study
suggests the number of terrestrial
planets is intimately connected to
the number of stars
BELOW: With twice the mass of a
spiral galaxy like the one seen
here, a typical spheroidal galaxy
would seem to be a likelier home
to terrestrial planets
How seriously should we take the
conclusions drawn from this study?
You have to remember that theres a lot we dont
know built into this work. Uppsalas scientists
would probably say the same theyve got several
pages discussing the errors. Its still very early
days for this kind of study because it involves all
the things we dont know about galaxy and
planetary evolution.
What are the implications for finding
intelligent life?
They say its possible that life only exists in one
place in each galaxy. That means there are good
reasons to do SETI [the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence] on an intergalactic scale, as opposed
to just looking at nearby stars.
They say the prospects for finding life on other
planets are better if we look closer to home rather
than far away. Why is that?
Its because of the time it takes for an evolved
society to come into existence. Its intimately
connected with the ages of planets as you look
further away, back in time, the planets are younger.
Theres no point looking at the start of the Universe
because a society hasnt had time to evolve.
T H E Y DID W H AT ?!
Penguins made
to run on
treadmills
What did they do?
A team at the
University of
Roehampton trained
eight king penguins to
walk on a treadmill and
filmed them as they
waddled along.
And what did they do that for?
King penguins have to schlep several miles
inland from the Antarctic coast in order to
breed. As they have no means of hunting for
food on land, they must first fill their bellies
with fish to enable them to survive the
breeding season. The researchers wanted
to find out if the penguins walking gait
changed with body mass.
What did they find?
Tubby penguins tend to widen their gait to
accommodate extra weight but they also
sway more from side to side. This increased
waddling gives them extra stability and
helps prevent them from toppling over. They
are still less sure on their flippers than
trimmer counterparts. However, this
potentially makes them an easier target for
predators, the researchers say.
Vol. 8 Issue 6 23
Update
THE DOWNLOAD
IRF 4
Whats that? One of the
robots from the new
Star Wars film?
Not even close. Its the first
gene ever identified with
greying hair.
Tell me more!
A team at University
College London has found
that IRF 4 is involved with
regulating the production
and storage of melanin, the
pigment that determines
hair, eye and skin colour.
Does this mean an end
to grey hair?
Possibly. Greying is caused
by a lack of melanin in
hair. Further study of IRF 4
could lead to new cosmetic
applications that could
switch off the mechanism
that causes this.
Are there any ahem,
less vanity-led findings?
Yep. The gene could
potentially be used as
a model to study the
biological processes
involved in ageing, the
researchers say.
24 Vol. 8 Issue 6
THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE
NEUROSCIENCE
MATRIX-STYLE SKILL
UPLOAD TO THE BRAIN
ONE STEP CLOSER
Take the red pill: a team at HRL Laboratories in
California has discovered that electrical brain
stimulation can speed up the acquisition of skills.
In the classic sci-fi movie The Matrix, Neo
(played by Keanu Reeves) is able to learn
kung fu instantly thanks to a device that
uploads the martial art directly to his brain.
While the HRL technique cant quite replicate
this, it was able to reduce the time trainee
pilots took to learn to fly.
The team measured the brain activity patterns
of six commercial and military pilots, and then
transmitted these patterns into novice trainees as
they learned to pilot an aeroplane in a flight
simulator. To do this, they
used a method called
ABOVE: Caps with electrodes
transcranial direct current
AS WE DISCOVER stimulation that passes a
transmitted pilots brain activity
patterns to subjects
MORE ABOUT BRAIN small current to the brain via BELOW: Neo kicks butt in The
Matrix after kung fu skills are
a head cap embedded with uploaded to his brain
STIMULATION PROTOCOLS, electrodes.
WELL LIKELY SEE THESE undergone The trainees who had
the brain
TECHNOLOGIES BECOME stimulation technique
showed improved piloting
ROUTINE IN TRAINING abilities and were able to
ENVIRONMENTS land the plane more
smoothly compared to
their unstimulated counterparts.
The methods potential to boost skills
with brain stimulation may make
accelerated learning commonplace, the
researchers said.
As we discover more about optimising,
personalising and adapting brain
stimulation protocols, well likely see these
PHOTOS: MOVIESTORE COLLECTION
technologies become routine in training
and classroom environments, explained
lead researcher Dr Matthew Phillips. Its
possible that brain stimulation could be
implemented for classes like drivers
training, SAT prep and language learning.
Sadly, this technology is not able to
teach us how to leap from rooftop to
rooftop or stop bullets in mid-air.
 FASHIONISTAS
Researchers at Penn State University found that
volunteers performed better at sports and maths
tests when they thought they were using kit made
by designer brands. The results mimic the placebo
Tortotubus is the oldest example effect seen in medicine, they say.
of fossilised fungus but shares a
similar internal structure to
modern fungi SILVER SURFERS
A study at Mayo Clinic in the US has found that
septuagenarian computer users are 42 per cent
BIOLOGY less likely to develop the cognitive issues that

ANCIENT MUSHROOM MAY

precede dementia.

HAVE HELPED KICK-START

GOOD MONTH

BAD MONTH

LIFE ON LAND THE IMPATIENT

Meet Tortotubus, the 440-million-year-old fungus to which we
may all owe our existence
The earliest examples of land-dwelling organisms
have been found on the Scottish Inner Hebridean
island of Kerrera by researchers from the University BEFORE
of Cambridge. The tiny fossils of Tortotubus
protuberans are smaller than the width of a human
THERE COULD
hair and played a key role in kick-starting the BE PLANTS OR
PHOTOS: MARTIN SMITH ILLUSTRATION: JAMES OLSTEIN
Patience is a virtue, and now researchers in
Singapore have found it may help you live longer
too. Impatient peoples DNA seems more prone to
ageing than that of their more patient peers.
YES MEN
Research by Australias Monash University has
found sycophants show more activity in areas of
the brain associated with anxiety when they read
statements they disagree with. This results in

processes required for life to evolve on land. them giving in to peer pressure more easily.
When this organism existed, life was almost TREES, THE
entirely restricted to the oceans, said researcher
Martin Smith. But before there could be plants or
PROCESSES OF
trees, or the animals that depend on them, the ROT AND SOIL
processes of rot and soil formation needed to be
established. FORMATION
By reconstructing how the fungus grew, Smith NEEDED TO BE
was able to show that the fossils are made of
mycelium, the root-like filaments that fungi use to ESTABLISHED
extract nutrients from soil.
This fossil provides a hint that mushroom-forming
fungi may have colonised the land before the first
animals left the oceans, said Smith. It fills an
important gap in the evolution of life on land.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 25
Update THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE

W H AT W E
BIOLOGY LEARNED

WORLDS OLDEST
THIS MONTH

PLUTO MAY

CHAMELEON FOUND IN HAVE CLOUDS

Photos sent back from the

AMBER FOSSIL
New Horizons spacecraft
following its flyby of Pluto
last July show what appear
to be hazy, cloud-like
Getting stuck in tree resin is bad news for ancient critters but features in the atmosphere.
Pluto was demoted to dwarf
good news for todays scientists planet status in 2006. If
A team in Florida has discovered 12 lizards together detailed pictures of the reptiles. confirmed, the finding could
fossilised in amber 100 million years ago. Among Its mind-blowing. Usually we have a foot or strengthen the case for it to
them is a well-preserved ancestor of modern-day other small part preserved in amber, but these are be reinstated as a full planet.
chameleons thats the oldest ever found. whole specimens, claws, toe pads, teeth, even
The fossils were originally found decades ago in coloured scales, Stanley said. SIMPLE FACES
Burma (now Myanmar) but remained in private The fossils shed light on exactly when many of the ARE CONSIDERED
collection until their recent donation to the American modern features of lizards appeared. For example, MORE ATTRACTIVE
Museum of Natural History. adhesive toe pads can be A study at the University
These fossils tell us a lot about the extraordinary, seen on the amber gecko of Queensland has found
but previously unknown, diversity of lizards in indicating that this symmetrical faces with
ancient tropical forests, said researcher Edward USUALLY WE adaptation originated no unusual features are
Stanley. The fossil record is sparse because the
delicate skin and fragile bones of small lizards dont
HAVE A TOE OR earlier. Similarly, the tiny
chameleon has the
perceived as more attractive.
The effect is thought to
usually preserve, especially in the tropics, which OTHER SMALL projectile tongue seen in be due to simpler faces
makes these fossils a rare and unique window into its modern counterparts being easier for the brain to
a critical period of diversification. PART BUT THESE but had not yet process.
By imaging the fossils with a micro-CT scanner, developed the body
the researchers could peer inside the amber
ARE WHOLE shape and fused toes we GETTING TATTOOS
without causing damage, allowing them to piece SPECIMENS see today. CAN PROTECT YOU
AGAINST COLDS

PHOTOS: KRISTEN GRACE /FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, ISTOCK

CT scans of the preserved
reptiles allows researchers
to peer inside the specimens
without damaging the fossils
Maybe its time to get
inked. The bodys stress
response triggered
by having multiple
tattoos can lead to a
strengthened immune
system, researchers at the
University of Alabama
have found.

CHOCOLATE MAY
MAKE YOU MORE
INTELLIGENT
Break out the choccies! A
40-year study by researchers
in New York has found that
people who eat chocolate
once a week perform better
in memory and abstract
reasoning tests.

26 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 MEDICINE

DOCTORS IMPLANT
3D-PRINTED LIVING
BODY PARTS INTO RATS
Gentlemen, we can rebuild him! A team at the Wake
Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North
Carolina has printed living body parts and implanted
them into host animals.
Dubbed ITOP, or Integrated Tissue and Organ
Printing, the system has been used successfully to
print ear, bone and muscle structures that matured
into functioning tissue after being implanted in rats
and mice. Although the technology has so far only
been tested in animals, the tissues created were of
an appropriate size and structure to be used in
human subjects, the researchers say.
This novel tissue and organ printer is an
important advance in our quest to make
replacement tissue for patients, said Anthony
Atala, director of the Institute and senior author of
the paper detailing the research, which appeared in
the journal Nature Biotechnology in February. It
can be used to fabricate stable, human-scale tissue
of any shape. With further development, this
PHOTO: WAKE FOREST INSTITUTE ILLUSTRATION: JAMES OLSTEIN
technology could potentially be used to print living This human-sized ear was
3D-printed and then
tissue and organ structures for surgical implanted under the skin
implantation. of a mouse
The system uses 3D printing technology to deposit
layers of biodegradable, plastic-like materials to form
the basic framework of the desired tissue. It then fills
this in with water-based gels containing living cells
that develop into functioning tissue.
So far the team has printed human-sized ears and
implanted them under the skin of mice, as well as
muscle tissue and human jawbone fragments which
they implanted in rats. In all cases, the implants
were successfully integrated into the host animals
and quickly began to develop networks of nerves
and blood vessels.
The ITOP system may one day be able to use data
from CT and MRI scans to tailor-make tissue for
implant. For example, if a patient was missing an
ear the system could be used to print and implant
an exact replica of the original.

T H E Y D I D W H AT ?!

Paranoia What did they find? Why did they do that?

triggered
in ravens
What did they do?
Scientists investigating
animal cognition at the
University of Vienna
encouraged ravens to hide
food next to a box with a
peephole in it, linked up to
a speaker playing the calls
of other ravens.
When the peephole was The team is trying to
open, the ravens determine whether ravens
believed other birds possess a theory of mind. If
could see their actions so, this means that they are
and would go to greater able to imagine experiencing
lengths to stash their thoughts and emotions felt by
food, even though they other animals
couldnt actually see a skill that is widely regarded
another bird watching as a sign of higher levels of
them. When the intelligence.
peephole was closed Corvids crows, ravens, magpies and jays
theyd hide the food in a are believed to be the most intelligent
more casual manner. bird family

Vol. 8 Issue 6 27
Update THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE

MAKING IT In mid-March, the ExoMars orbiter started its journey to

the Red Planet. Today, there are five satellites in orbit

TO MARS
around the planet, while four rovers are actively
exploring its surface. But we havent always been so
good at reaching Mars, as this graphic shows
Illustration: Valerio Pellegrini

28 Vol. 8 Issue 6
Vol. 8 Issue 6 29
Update THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE

IN LOCAL NEWS

SINGAPORE AIRLINES CHOOSES

GX AVIATION FOR HIGH-SPEED
GLOBAL IN-FLIGHT WI-FI
The in-flight entertainment system and connectivity has transformed tremendously
over these recent years as passengers are seeking not only wireless connectivity, but
high speed Wi-Fi on flight. Demand for high speed internet for airlines has never been
greater and Global Xpress Aviation (GX Aviation) provides just what is needed. This
groundbreaking satellite solution administers seamless air connectivity for travellers
who wish to receive a home equivalent broadband experience.
Understanding consumer needs, Singapore Airlines has jumped on the
bandwagon to work with Honeywell Aerospace which in turns provide JetWave
Satellite communications hardware for connection to Inmarsats GX Aviation
broadband solution. The installation of the first GX Aviation system is scheduled to
equip during the second half of 2016, first on the B777-300ER aircraft, followed by its
A380-800s. GX is also the only global Ka-band network designed around mobile
assets to provide global high-speed-in-flight connectivity. With this improved
system, passengers are able to send real-time social media updates, emails and live
stream television on board an aircraft to virtually anywhere in the world.

IN WORLD NEWS

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
TRENDS AT IFA 2016
The worlds leading trade show for consumer and home electronics will
take place from 2nd to 7th September 2016 at Berlin Exhibition Grounds
(Expo Center City). As in time for the most important period of the year for
sales, IFA offers an extensive overview of the latest innovations and
updates. These include Ultra-HD televisions (UHD), wearable sensors for
health and fitness purposes, superfast 3D scanners and eyeglasses and
cameras for virtual reality (VR) applications.
UDH has already taken over the mass market with pixels per inch
quadrupled compared to Full HD TV and a new quality seal that reads
Ultra HD Premium. Hollywood movies are using its advantages to the
fullest by bringing stunning images to our large screens. Smart watches
and other wearables are also set to dominate IFA 2016. Working
independently or in combination with a smartphone, these devices display
data they receive from tracking body movements to heart rate and even
measuring environmental variables. Fun, fitness and health have also
never been so interconnected till today. On the other hand, the 3D printer is
gaining popularity due to its practical uses. These printers can be used to
make chairs, coffee tables, large vases and even foodstuffs like chocolate
and sugar. Virtual Reality is also gaining popularity like no others. VR
goggles are all the rage now and more manufacturers are offering models
to create three-dimensional illusions. Smartphones are also doubling up
as VR goggles with special adapters.

30 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 Comment & Analysis
SELF-STIRRING SHAMPOO
take a moment to think about the fluid in your bathroom, shifting in a slow waltz
hen I was an undergraduate, one
W of my lecturers told tales of the
geological discoveries that had been
made by accident, of the many times when
someone saw something odd but important
while they were supposed to be focusing on
something else. This is one of the strongest
arguments for carrying out experiments, rather
than just thinking about problems. You never
know what the world is about to show you.
This month, I did a demonstration for my
students that turned out to be much more
interesting than Id expected.
I spend far too much time in shops
tilting bottles of shampoo to assess how
slowly the liquid flows. Thats because
buying colourless shampoo is a quick and
easy way of gathering a range of viscous
fluids for simple demos. For this particular
demonstration, Id filled a large glass jar
with very gloopy transparent shampoo and
floated a plastic ball in it. I scribbled on the
outside of the plastic ball with black marker
pen to demonstrate a point about buoyancy.
After the lecture, I left the jar sitting on a
table in my office.
After it had been there for two days, I
noticed that a blob of marker pen ink was
moving away from the ball. As the days
went on, I watched the black streak advance
downward and then around in circles, moving
perhaps a couple of centimetres each day.
After two weeks, the jar contained a large
whirl, stretching around in spirals, reaching
MAIN ILLUSTRATION: MATT CLOUGH PORTRAIT: KATE COPELAND

right to the bottom of the jar and back up,

using all of the three dimensions available to
it. The conclusion was inescapable: although
the transparent gloopy stuff looked as though
it was just sitting in a jar doing nothing, it was
actually moving.
The explanation must be convection.
Heating any liquid will cause it to expand
slightly. If the heated fluid is below a cooler
fluid, it becomes buoyant and will rise. The
temperature in my office varies because the
university building is only heated during the
day. In the evenings and at weekends, its
cooler. Thats one part of the explanation
the overall temperature is rising and falling.
The other question is how the convection
is driven. Is the shampoo at the top cooling
in the evenings and sinking? Or, in the
mornings, is the shampoo getting heated
up from below and rising? There are clearly
more experiments to be done!
But what really got me thinking is the
implication that all those bottles of shampoo
and shower gel in my bathroom are
presumably also moving. The movement
is really slow, firstly because the fluid is so
thick that it will only gradually respond to
a temperature imbalance. And secondly,
the density changes caused by the different
temperatures within a single bottle are tiny,
so they wont provide much push. But my
This month, a humble bottle of shampoo took
Helen on an enlightening journey
bathroom cupboard also follows a daily
temperature cycle, and so all the gloop in
there is presumably also swirling slowly
around, even if its been neglected for years.
So next time you open your bathroom
cupboard, take a moment to think about
the fluid in there shifting around in a slow
waltz, responding to the outside world even
though its sealed in. Shampoo is never
going to look quite the same again.
DR HELEN CZERSKI is a physicist and BBC presenter whose
most recent series was Colour: The Spectrum Of Science

Vol. 8 Issue 6 31
SCIENCE

WONDERS
OF THE
DRONE AGE
A NEW WAVE OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES IS
SPREADING ACROSS THE WORLD, DISCOVERING
ANCIENT CIVILISATIONS, MAPPING CAVES AND
PLUNGING INTO THE HEARTS OF VOLCANOES
WORDS: LUKE EDWARDS

A drone braves the

searing heat of an
erupting volcano to
capture 4K footage

PHOTO: ERIC CHENG/FERDINAND WOLF

32 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 Scan this QR Code for
the audio reader

THE VOLCANO
VOYAGER
olcanoes are capable of spewing lava at temperatures of up to
V 1,200C. This searing heat, combined with choking gases,
makes them tricky to study. But now, specially equipped
drones are allowing us to take a closer look.
Enter Australian drone specialist Simon Jardine, with his company
Aerobot. To make a drone that could create 3D maps of volcanoes,
Jardine needed a device that could survive extreme temperatures,
corrosive fumes and spinning winds.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 33
SCIENCE

It was no easy feat. In order to map

Vanuatus Marum Crater, Jardine and his
team lost several drones and cameras. The
prolonged exposure to acidic clouds crippled
electronics, while the shifting hot and cool air
sent at least one drone smashing into the crater
wall. Eventually, by using DJI Phantom drones
and GoPro cameras, rendered via
Pix4Dmapper, the team virtually recreated the
crater (pictured right).
After paving the way into this new
frontier, more drone volcano footage has
emerged. Drone specialist and photographer
Eric Cheng recently acquired some stunning
4K shots of active volcanoes in Iceland at the
point of the biggest eruption in 200 years.
His team f lew two DJI Inspire 1 drones
through buffeting thermals to capture the
active volcano as never seen before. They
even landed one on the lava f low for
The Marum crater is 420m
science, of course deep and 1km wide

THE MARS EXPLORER

The Red Planet has a thin atmosphere and surface NASA has already developed a drone that can
temperature averaging around -63C, making cope with the atmosphere on Mars as well as
it far less welcoming than some of the most conditions in outer space. These Extreme
inhospitable places on Earth. Access Flyers wont just snap images
Getting to Mars requires a tough and video, but will also collect actual
trip. Astronauts would be exposed samples from other planets.

PHOTOS: SIMON JARDINE/AEROBOT.COM.AU, NASA/SWAMP WORK

to incredibly long periods of space
travel, the effects of which are still
unknown. But weve still got
plenty of time to carry out the
required research, as humans are
not scheduled to set foot on the
red dirt until 2030.
Extreme Access Flyers will
Despite a lack of human explorers,
Mars has already been mapped so
accurately that there are Ordnance
Survey maps available of 3,672 x 2,721km
of the planets surface. This is thanks to the
data sent back by NASAs rovers. However, like all
wheeled vehicles, the rovers have limited capabilities,
especially when faced with walls angled at 30 or more.
Drones do not have such limitations.
While on the planet, the flyers
will use quadcopter blades and
ducted fans. But if theyre needed
in a zero gravity situation they can
turn on cold gas thrusters. The
plan, in the future, is to run the
drones on propellants made from
have to cope with the
resources that can be found on
conditions of space distant worlds.
As is the case with a lot of
technological advancements made by
NASA, these creations could be used on Earth
too. Imagine a site of heavy toxins, such as an area
of high radiation, being studied by drones, or the first
responders at a disaster being drones. Thats already
becoming a reality. All hail our drone saviours.

34 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 THE POLAR PILGRIMS
The North Pole is one of the most remote places on the planet.
Despite the harsh environment, there is contention about
ownership as there could be rich natural resources beneath the ice.
To ensure its presence in the Arctic, the Canadian government has
started working on drones capable of surviving the conditions.
Explorers have died in the sub-zero temperatures of the most
northerly point on the planet, and normal drones would likely suffer
the same fate. One of the major issues to overcome, if drones are
going to explore the Arctic, is direction. At the Earths polar tip the
use of GPS is difficult. For drones to successfully navigate in the
region, there needs to be a crown of satellites in the right positions
to establish locational data.
Canada is researching drones that
can navigate around the North Pole
and survive sub-zero temperatures
PHOTOS: GETTY, ALAMY, MEGGITT TARGET SYSTEM
Once navigation is solved, the drone then has to
survive the cold. At temperatures of around -40C, the
reactions that batteries rely on slow to snails pace. But
its not just chilly temperatures that stop f light fog is a
barrier too. In the Arctic, clouds and fog can undergo
structural icing. That means that the water droplets
crystallise on impact. Needless to say, thats a problem
for a drones spinning rotors.
Larger planes and helicopters can survive this as they
are big enough to carry de-icing kit. This just isnt an
option for a smaller drones.
The work of the Canadian government is still in its
infancy but it currently looks like drones will act as
assistants to manned missions. These could find the
fastest way around a landmass, saving time, resources and
potentially even lives.
Vol. 8 Issue 6 35
36
SCIENCE

Vol. 8 Issue 6
PHOTO: DR GUY WILLIAMS, DR ALEX FRASER AND MS EVA COUGNAN/COURTEST OF THE
UNITED STATES ANTARCTIC PROGRAM & NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Near the South Pole, the United States Antarctic
Program has been trialling drones to map the
changing sea ice. The UAV that took this picture
was paired with an autonomous sub below the
ice. This allowed a team to produce a photo
mosaic of an ice field out of 500-1,000 images

Vol. 8 Issue 6 37
SCIENCE

PHOTO: AG EAGLE UNMANNED ARIAL SYSTEMS, RYAN DEBOODT

Fixed-wing drones can
smash into a tornado to take
measurements

THE STORM
CHASER
Tornadoes are one of Hollywoods favourite types of
weather. Twisters take unpredictable paths, tear
entire houses out of the ground and toss trucks
around like they were childs toys.
Until recently, human storm chasers had to get close
enough to a tornado to insert their measuring
equipment by hand. But these storm chasers may not
need to risk their lives for much longer. Drones could
take over, leaving scientists to take up surfing instead.
A US-based team called The Sirens Project are
carrying out experiments using fixed-wing drones to
drop probes into tornadoes.
Twisters take
unpredictable paths,
The decision to pick this type of drone was
based on its ability to remain in the air for
longest, hold stable f light in high winds and
achieve the 160km/h (100mph) target speed
needed to punch into a tornado. But getting the
drone into the tornado is half the battle then
they need to get the data out.
DroneDeploy is a company that has created a
remote recording and transmitting device capable
of surviving inside a tornado. This allows for an
internet-based connection with the drone, on top
of the telemetry hardware built into the wing, but
also helps to find it after its dance with the
elements is over and its likely left broken.
This unit also allows for control of the drone
from anywhere in the world via the internet. So

and toss trucks around

if tornado chasers want units set up at multiple
locations, then thats an option. More data

like they were toys

collection means more early warnings, which
means safer humans.

38 Vol. 8 Issue 6
THE CAVE
DWELLER
Vietnams Hang Son Doong cave is enormous,
and the prospect of mapping it is daunting. Its
main passage is over 5km long, 150m wide
and 200m high. Despite its incredible size, the
cave was only discovered in 1991. The Cave of
the Mountain River, as its name translates to,
was stumbled upon by a local man after he
heard the whistling of wind and the roar of its
river. Until then, the perilously steep descent
of the entrance had kept humanity at bay.
At some point the roof of the cave
collapsed, leaving two large holes that let in
sunlight. Trees and other vegetation have
flourished in these sunny spots, making the
cave look almost inviting. But climbers
wanting to explore and map the cave came
across some tricky obstacles. One individual
who entered the cave early on described
climbing 6m blades of limestone to
circumnavigate the 150 networks of
connected caves. They were ultimately
stopped by a 60m wall of muddy calcite.
Time for the drones. Beijing-based
photographer Ryan Deboodt sent his DJI
Phantom II drone equipped with a GoPro Hero4
into the caves depths to get a better look. He
successfully managed to snap clear and wide-
spanning views of the cavern. The ability of
drones to move freely at speed highlights just
how much more adept they are at exploring than
humans Indiana Jones included.
From August, heavy rains in Vietnam cause
river levels to rise, making the caves largely
inaccessible for humans. But for drones its Photographer Ryan Deboodt
used a drone to snap these
year-round open season. stunning images of Vietnams
Hang Son Doong cave

Vol. 8 Issue 6 39
SCIENCE
THE
From above, the Blue J area looks
CIVILISATION
innocuous, but drones helped
archaeologists unearth hidden
secrets beneath the surface
HUNTER
Humans have lived in the Amazon basin for more
than 13,000 years. In a bout of irony, the destruction
of the Amazon rainforest has breathed new life into
our understanding of ancient civilisations.
Deforestation has revealed over 450 geoglyphs
patterns left in the ground by former civilisations.
These patterns could reveal if societies prior to the
1490s were small bands of hunter-gatherers and
shifting cultivators, or more complex civilisations.
The problem standing in the way of improving our
understanding is about 5,500,000km 2 of thick
rainforest. Covering that on foot, which is about the
only way to get through the dense growth, would
take lifetimes. When you take into account the
potential diseases, attacks by
The drones are able
the likes of jaguars, alligators
and snakes, plus dramatic
to see through the
weather, one life per person
might not be enough. This is
canopy of leaves and
where drones can help.
One project, led by UK
scientists, employs robotic
planes to f ly over the branches
40 Vol. 8 Issue 6
ABOVE: Thermal
Amazon. The drones are equipped with a LiDAR images from Blue J (A)
and multispectral sensors, which are able to can be used to create
an interpretation of
effectively see through the dense canopy of leaves the region (B) far more
and branches that makes up the rainforest ceiling. effectively than a
standard photo (C)
The LiDAR works by bouncing light off objects to
build an image. Throw in some algorithms to factor
in light ref lecting off the leaves and youre left with a
pretty clear image of what lies within the forest.
This isnt the only place where old civilisations are
being revealed by drones. A 1,000-year-old Native
American settlement dubbed Blue J was recently
discovered in the desert of New Mexico. By flying a
drone equipped with infrared cameras, archaeologists
were able to see through the vegetation to paint a picture
PHOTOS: JESSE J CASANA, GETTY
of the former civilisation
beneath. By comparing drone
images, archaeologists are
now able to recognise varying
materials so they can
determine where to dig more
accurately than ever. Watch
out hidden cities, youre about
to get spotlit.
 THE DRONE KILLER
Drones are fast becoming the bad boys animal activists consider this a risky
of the skies. They have committed initiative because rotor blades are
THE airborne crimes such as smuggling
phones and drugs into prisons. On top
potentially dangerous, Londons
Metropolitan Police is still considering
BORDER of that, there are fears terrorists may
start using drones. Plus, there have
using the birds of prey.
Drone laws are still not set in stone,
DEFENDER already been a number of near-misses but some rules are already in place.
at UK airports, in which drones have The UK Civil Aviation Authority
One of the least-travelled nations had close calls with aeroplanes. They (CAA) says that a camera-equipped
on the planet is North Korea. The have become enough of an issue for the drone must not be f lown within 50m
strict communist regime stops UK government to start looking into of congested areas or large groups of
the countrys residents from ways of stopping the felonious f lyers people, while commercially f lown
leaving. Getting in or out when needed. drones must have permission from the
of the country is risky. So what better way to stop a CAA. Meanwhile, the USAs Federal
North Korea and man-made drone than with Aviation Administration states
South Korea one of Mother Natures drones must not be f lown within
have been in a perfectly evolved 8km (five miles) of an airport.
state of armistice Drones have sneaked predators, the eagle?
over Koreas heavily
since 1953. The two militarised
Police in the Netherlands have
nations lay claim, despite DMZ already trained eagles to pluck pesky LUKE EDWARDS IS A TECHNOLOGY AND
its Demilitarized Zone name, drones out of the skies. While some GADGETS WRITER.
to the worlds most heavily
militarised border. This area
stretches for 250km (160 miles)
and is 4km (2.5 miles) wide. It is Dutch police are
using birds of prey
heavily guarded on the surface to disable drones
and has been penetrated by
underground tunnels on
numerous occasions. But now
drones are leaving North Korea,
apparently to spy on their
southerly neighbours.
In response, South Korea is
researching drone-killing bots.
Their mission is to search, locate
and disable other unmanned
aerial vehicles. Currently,
automated tracking weapons
such as missiles wont lock onto
things as small as drones, so it
falls to other drones to stop them.
The future could see drones
versus drones on the battlefield, as
smaller guard drones defend larger
attack drones. The Dutch company
Delft Dynamics has shown off a
drone with a cannon that can fire a
net over target drones, disabling
and grounding them.
While a future of drone warfare is
a worrying one, at least itll mean
fewer human casualties, right?

Vol. 8 Issue 6 41
NATURE

SETTLING IN
SUBURBIA HERONS AND EGRETS ARE MAKING THEMSELVES AT
HOME IN THE SUBURBS OF CALIFORNIA, BUT HUMAN
PROXIMITY BRINGS NEW DANGERS. SCIENCE WRITER
BRENDAN BUHLER FINDS OUT HOW THE LOCAL
COMMUNITY IS WORKING TO KEEP THEM SAFE

42 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 A great egret alights in the top of a
eucalyptus tree to pass a twig to its
mate in Sonoma County, California.
The male begins the nest, but when
he finds a partner the pair complete
the work together. Great egrets are
often the first birds to nest in mixed
heronries of various species. Sadly,
at the end of the 19th century roughly
95 per cent of North Americas great
egrets were killed for their plumes
as ornaments for ladies hats there
were similar declines in Europe.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 43
NATURE

ABOVE Great, snowy and cattle egrets

and black-crowned night herons roost
together in eucalyptus trees at the 9th
Street rookery, near downtown Santa
Rosa, California. They are attracted to
the nearby wetlands and creeks and
spent years trying to establish a colony
in the area, only to be evicted from one
back yard after another because people
objected to their copious acrid guano and
loud cries. The birds eventually settled
into city-owned trees in the middle of a
busy road.

LEFT Dawn in Sonoma County. A black-

crowned night heron returns to the nest
after a hunting trip as a four-week-old
chick begs for a regurgitated portion of
the nights catch.

44 Vol. 8 Issue 6
ABOVE RIGHT Its feeding time at
this nest in Sonoma County as two
four-week-old great egret chicks beg
for food. Female egrets and herons
lay eggs at intervals, and chicks hatch
in order of laying. Older, bigger chicks
have more success when demanding
food, and in lean years their smaller
siblings may starve or fall victim to
siblicide note the dead chick in the
foreground.

RIGHT Brigitta Lewis picks up a month-

old cattle egret that has fallen out of
its colony at the 9th Street rookery and
wandered into the road. Lewis works
as a bus driver for an elementary
school, and over the years has rescued
hundreds of fledglings.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 45
NATURE

A black-crowned night heron attempts to look

fiercer than its age (one or two weeks) as
it faces down Suzis camera. The chick has
just had its broken wing set with bright green
elastic veterinary tape at International Bird
Rescue in Fairfield, an hours drive south-east
of the 9th Street rookery in Santa Rosa.

46 Vol. 8 Issue 6
ABOVE LEFT X-rays of a black-crowned night
heron chick that was struck by a car. Young birds
have hollow bones and weigh little, which is why
they may fall out of a tree and sustain almost no
injury; but such a lightweight build is no defence
against traffic.

ABOVE RIGHT A black-crowned night heron

chick that is less than a week old is weighed
at International Bird Rescue. Fledglings may
leave the nest at one month, but do not fly
until about six weeks old in the meantime
they join flocks to forage by dark.

RIGHT International Bird Rescues Isabel

Luevano examines a one-week-old great egret
chick. Every new arrival is weighed, has their
temperature and a blood sample taken, and
receives a thorough physical examination. The
most common injury found by rehabilitation
technicians such as Isabel is a broken wing.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 47
NATURE

LEFT Snowy egrets huddle in the

back of an animal carrier, awaiting
release by volunteers of The Bird
Rescue Center, which is also in
Santa Rosa. The birds grew to full
size at the facility all of them
now wear coloured rings and will
be tracked on the registries of
International Bird Rescue and the
US Geological Survey.

ABOVE Only after a period of quiet

do the snowy egrets creep out of
their crate into the chosen wetland.
Like most of the birds rescued
from the 9th Street Rookery, they
are released near where they
hatched. The Laguna de Santa
Rosa is the largest wetland near
the coast of northern California
it exceeds 12,000ha and the
most biologically diverse region of
Sonoma County. In addition to open
water, the birds will have access to
creeks, marshes and woods.

48 Vol. 8 Issue 6
LEFT Back at International Bird
Rescue, black-crowned night
herons aged between one and
two weeks old huddle for warmth
in an incubator. Rescued birds
especially chicks are glad of the
company, but are segregated by
age and species to prevent fighting
and additional injuries. Between
2002 and 2014 the facility took in
nearly 4,500 herons and egrets,
most of them black-crowned night
herons and snowy egrets.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 49
HISTORY

THE HISTORY ESSAY

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A soldier says his goodbyes before leaving for Egypt during the Suez Crisis of 1956. Great impersonal forces such as wars and social change may be historys engines but
personal experiences are what really bring the past to life, says Margaret MacMillan

HOW PEOPLE
MAKE THE PAST
THE GREAT CURRENTS OF HISTORY ARE IMPORTANT, BUT ITS
GETTY IMAGES

THE INDIVIDUALS WHOSE STORIES FASCINATE US MOST

BY MARGARET MACMILLAN

50 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 THE HISTORY ESSAY

L
ET ME START WITH TWO VERY DIFFERENT STORIES IN TWO VERY DIFFERENT
PARTS OF THE PAST. IN THE 1790S, A YOUNG WOMAN CALLED ELIZABETH SIMCOE
WALKED IN THE TWILIGHT THROUGH A FOREST IN UPPER CANADA, A SCARCELY
SETTLED PART OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. A FIRE HAD RECENTLY SWEPT THROUGH
AND ITS SMOKE STILL LINGERED.

Every so often, one of the smouldering trees shot out a tongue of
flame. It was, she reported, a little like Tassos enchanted wood. In
her copious journals, written for those she had left behind in England,
we share her surprise and delight at the new world in which she found
herself. Some three centuries earlier, Babur, a prince from central Asia,
also decided to set down his thoughts and experiences in a journal,
which somehow survived his turbulent and adventurous life. And so
we can read about Baburs complicated feelings when he first fell in
love but was tongue-tied every time he encountered his adored one.
We can sympathise as he gets discouraged in his quest for a kingdom
of his own and muses on whether he should simply give up and go
and wander around China.
Babur is famous in history as the founder of the Mughal dynasty
which ruled over much of India from 1526 to 1858. Mrs Simcoe has
been known only to a few specialists in Canadian history. Yet they are
both historys people, part of that long cavalcade of the renowned and
the obscure, whose separate stories feed into and enrich history. I was
drawn to them, as I have been to other individuals, partly because they
wrote such vivid memoirs, but also because they each in their own
way were part of great historical trends. He was part of that restless
movement of peoples out of central Asia which helped to create new
empires from Persia to China, while she was a part of the imperial
edifices that the European powers were building around the world in
the 18th and 19th centuries.
The past is a far-off country, but voices such as theirs bring it
closer to us. Their lives, like ours, were shaped by the great
currents that run through history: economic and social
changes, the spread of new ideas or technologies. Yet
they were also individuals like us, with loves and
hates, fears and hopes, biases and beliefs. And some
of them, like Babur, changed the course of events.
I must confess, as an inveterate gossip, I love their
stories. They are also the stuff of the history I
write. As a historian I need to know about both
individuals and their times and how they
interacted. I have found that the best way to
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA
the First World War, for example, but it is when I describe the
experiences of a young man who went into the army, or of the
woman he left behind, that I help my listeners and readers see what
that war meant for millions of lives.
The letters, diaries and memoirs which the past has bequeathed the
present are an unending source of entertainment, enlightenment and
edification. They can take us into worlds unlike our own and make us
acquainted with people who may have very different values and
attitudes. Today, for example, we tend to look at politicians with
suspicion and wonder why anyone would choose to enter such a
suspect profession. For young men of good families in ancient Rome,
however, politics was the noblest of careers, but personal ambition for
its own sake was despised. For inhabitants of the Byzantine world,
what was seen was only part of reality. The invisible world, with its
gods and spirits, was equally important and the Byzantines spent much
thought and energy on placating or tricking the denizens of that other
world. The Prussian Junker class, made up of sober country squires
who believed in serving God and their king, has vanished, but we can
learn something of its values when we read the memoirs of Countess
Marion Dnhoff or Libussa Fritz-Krockow, people who grew up just
as a way of life that had lasted for centuries was about to be swept away
by the Nazis and the Second World War.
Yet, we have moments when we recognise that here is another
human being sounding very much like ourselves. We know what
Samuel Pepys in 17th-century London is feeling when he
complains about his wifes boring friends who always seem
to be hanging about just when he wants a quiet evening
at home. When the 17th-century wit and woman of
letters Madame de Sevign writes to her beloved
daughter about how much she misses her, we can
share her pain. In the essays of Michel de
Montaigne, the nobleman who retired to his
estates in Frances troubled 16th century, we
encounter his search to understand human
nature. The questions he poses are ones we
might well ask ourselves. Why is it that our

draw students and readers into an understanding minds wander? Why do we find certain people
and enthusiasm for history is to tell them about beautiful and not others? What, if anything,
people. I can explain the strategies and tactics of happens to our souls when we die?

Diarists such as Elizabeth Simcoe

(17621850) give us a unique
window on history

Vol. 8 Issue 6 51
HISTORY

THE HISTORY ESSAY

BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY

A scene from Baburs memoirs shows him at the spring of Khawaja Sih Yaran. As the first Mughal emperor, Babur changed the course of history. Yet, says Margaret
MacMillan, he was an individual like us, with loves and hates, fears and hopes, biases and beliefs

52 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 THE HISTORY ESSAY
WE ARE ALL PRODUCTS OF OUR OWN SOCIETIES: WE TAKE ON THEIR
VALUES AND ASSUMPTIONS, OFTEN WITHOUT REALISING. IF WE HAVE
OPPORTUNITIES, THOSE COME BECAUSE THE TIMES ALLOW FOR THEM
Marion Dnhoff pictured (far right) during a visit by Paul von Hindenburg to her family home, Friedrichstein Castle. Her memoirs give
us a fascinating insight into the world of the Prussian Junker class before it was atomised in the 1930s and 1940s
We all love stories, and I think I first became interested in
history through the ones my parents and grandparents told me
about their own lives. And then there were books for children:
historical novels by Geoffrey Trease or Rosemary Sutcliffe and
carefully sanitised versions of The Arabian Nights or King Arthur and
His Knights of the Round Table. As I grew older, I learned that
history is more than a collection of stories about individuals. It is about
economic, social or ideological forces and the great changes they bring,
such as the industrial and scientific revolutions of the 18th and 19th
centuries, or the spread of liberal democracy and the rise of its
totalitarian opponents.
So we need to ask how did Mrs Simcoe, an heiress from England,
find herself quoting an Italian Renaissance poet in one of the British
empires newer colonies? Or why was Babur drawn to conquer India
and what made him succeed? What were the currents that swept them
along? Without the great expansion of European empires there would
have been no Upper Canada for Mrs Simcoes husband to rule. Babur
could not have taken India if its rulers had not been pitted against each
other. We are all products of our own societies: we take on their
AKG IMAGES
values and assumptions, often without realising it. If we have
opportunities, those come because the times allow for them. Think of
all the women in history who did not get the same educations or
chances in life as their brothers. Napoleon was a man of many and
extraordinary talents. Yet, as someone from a modest family in the
backwater of Corsica, he would not have been able to exercise those if
the French Revolution had not swept away much of the old order.
Napoleon did not just fall through an open door into a position of
power. He stormed through it and made himself the master of France
and then Europe. We have to ask if there was anyone else in France
who could have done it, which is not the same as going back to what
EH Carr, the distinguished British historian, called the Bad King John
approach to history the view, as he put it, that what matters in
history is the character and behaviour of individuals.
It does, however, seem legitimate to ask what would have happened
if certain individuals had never lived. Would socialist thinking in the
19th century have been the same without Karl Marx? There were
many variants of socialism, but through his work and his powerful
intellect he created a theory so all-encompassing that it influenced
politics for the next century. Or what road would Germany have
followed if Hitler had been killed, as he nearly was, in the First World
War? Other radical nationalist leaders shared his racism and his
ambition to dominate Europe, but it is hard to imagine that Goebbels
or Goering could have mesmerised the German people as Hitler
did, or would have been prepared to see the German nation perish
Vol. 8 Issue 6 53
HISTORY

THE HISTORY ESSAY

IF WINSTON CHURCHILL HAD DIED WHEN HE WAS KNOCKED DOWN BY
A CAR IN NEW YORK IN 1931, WOULD ANY OTHER
BRITISH POLITICIAN HAVE RESOLVED TO STAND UP TO HITLER?

rather than surrender. In Soviet Russia, the Bolshevik leadership

believed that collectivisation of the farms was the necessary first
step towards industrialisation, yet it took Stalin to force it. If Winston
Churchill had died when he was knocked down by a car on Fifth
Avenue in New York in 1931, he could not have become prime
minister in the spring of 1940, the darkest days of the Second World
War. Would any other leading British politician Neville
Chamberlain, for example have determined that Britain must not
attempt to make peace with Hitlers Germany, that it must fight on,
even in the face of likely defeat? It is hard to imagine anyone other
than Churchill taking that stand.

ometimes the character of the man or woman in power

really does matter. As the crisis of 1914 reached its
culmination in late July, two men could have stopped the
slide to war: Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of
Germany. Each had to sign the order for his countrys
general mobilisation; each hesitated in the hopes of
maintaining the peace; and each gave way to pressure
from his advisers (both were afraid of appearing weak).
President John F Kennedy faced similar pressures in the Cuban
missile crisis in 1962. Many of his top military advisers told him that he
had to get tough with the Soviets and demand the removal of their
forces from Cuba, even at the risk of nuclear war. Kennedy opted for a
combination of blockade and negotiation. Perhaps it helped that he
had just read Barbara Tuchmans history of how Europe blundered
into the First World War. Individuals are swept along for the most part
by the currents of history, but we need to be aware that sometimes
there are those who ride and steer those currents and, occasionally,
turn them in another direction altogether.
In every society there are some who are more daring, ambitious or
simply more restless than the rest of us. Such people will go up in
balloons, climb unconquered peaks just because they are there, or go
into space even though they know that they are risking their lives. In
the great age of exploration, they set off in tiny ships across uncharted
waters or walked across unmapped continents. Entrepreneurs and
inventors, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs, will persist in
the face of failure. Martin Luther defied the might of the Catholic
church and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn the Soviet government.
Richard Nixons time as president will always be marked by
Watergate, the scandal that destroyed him, when he used the
powers of his office against his opponents. Yet he was also a
statesman who took a risk in re-establishing American
relations with China. At a time when anti-communist
feeling still ran deep in the United States and memories of
A historic handshake: would the Sino-American rapprochement of 1972 have happened if
Richard Nixon hadnt been president?
when he went to Beijing. His trip paid off, not right away perhaps, but
in the longer run. Not only did Nixons opening of relations with
China put the United States back in the centre of world affairs, but it
made possible a more stable Asia. It helped that, on the Chinese side,
Mao Zedong had also decided that China needed the United States as
a friend. The two countries had strong reasons for coming together,
but it took Nixon and Mao to make it happen.
Still other personalities in history stand out for me simply because of
who they were. They might be witty and amusing like the Duc of
Saint-Simon at the court of Louis XIV, who noted down all the court
gossip and the damning details about the king, whom he greatly
disliked. Perhaps, like Madame de la Tour du Pin in the French
Revolution, they encountered adversity bravely. She went from being
a privileged member of the French court to living on a farm in New
York state. Others still set out on improbable adventures, stepping out
boldly in the face of obstacles and minefields. Edith Durham, from a
prosperous upper-middle-class family in London before the First
World War, was miserable looking after an invalid mother. When the
doctor advised that she take some holidays every summer, Durham
chose to explore the wilder parts of the Balkans, often on her own. In
time she became a leading authority on Albania.
What all such people have in common is curiosity, about the
peoples and places they encounter. When Babur conquered
India, he wrote copiously about the land (which he found
flat and ugly compared to his beloved mountains), its flora
AKG IMAGES/MARY EVANS

American troops fighting Chinese ones in the Korean War and fauna. He liked the hibiscus and oleanders, and what
were still vivid, he took a considerable political gamble to him were the strange and different customs of its

Some individuals, like former Apple CEO Steve Jobs

in the field of technology, are capable of changing
the course of history

54 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 THE HISTORY ESSAY
WE SHOULD NOT IGNORE THOSE INDIVIDUAL VOICES FROM
THE PAST. THEY REMIND US BOTH OF OUR COMMON HUMANITY
AND OF THE DIFFERENCES AMONG US
Pages from Elizabeth Simcoes diaries. Her curiosity about the world around her is evident in her
observations on everything from Niagara Falls to Native Americans
people. Mrs Simcoe sketched and described everything she came
across, from Niagara Falls to Native Americans.
ithout such acute observers history would be
much poorer. We know a great deal about
Nazi Germany, thanks in part to the records
the Nazis themselves kept, but without Victor
Klemperer we would not know first-hand
what it was like to be a Jew there. Because he
was married to what the Nazis classified as an
Aryan, he was spared deportation and death in the camps to the east.
He kept a diary, a brave act in itself, which shows, hideous detail by
detail, how the regime tightened its grip and systematically excluded
German Jews from society throughout the 1930s. Klemperer and his
ARCHIVES OF ONTARIO
wife chose not to emigrate and when war came they no longer had the
choice. We see through the diaries Klemperers gradual realisation that
Europes Jews are being exterminated and we wait with him for the
war to end.
History is always changing. We find new documents and artefacts.
We bring in new insights from other fields such as biology,
anthropology or archeology. And we ask new questions because of
what preoccupies us. Climate history, for example, is a new and
exciting field. Yet we should not ignore those individual voices from
the past. They remind us both of our common humanity and of the
differences among us. Above all, they bring history to life and help us to
understand why it is important and show us that it can be fun too.
MARGARET MACMILLAN IS A PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
Vol. 8 Issue 6 55
SCIENCE

PHOTO: GETTY

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56 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 IN F OCU S

COULD
YOUR
DRIVERLESS
CAR CHOOSE
TO KILL
YOU?
TWO KIDS ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A MOUNTAIN ROAD. YOUR
CAR COULD DRIVE STRAIGHT INTO THEM, OR AVOID THEM
BY SWERVING OFF THE SIDE, KILLING YOU IN THE PROCESS.
SO WHICH CHOICE SHOULD IT MAKE?
WORDS: HEATHER BRADSHAW-MARTIN

Vol. 8 Issue 6 57
SCIENCE
he sound of screeching tyres followed by a bus
T hurtling directly towards you. Its not exactly
something youd want to come across when
cycling up a steep, narrow road. But in March 2015, on
Franschhoek Mountain Pass in South Africa, that was
just what one cyclist faced with after a bus driver
swerved in an attempt to avoid two other cyclists while
negotiating a sharp corner. The bus overturned and
three passengers lost their lives. In the investigation that
followed, the police talked of prosecuting the bus driver
for culpable homicide, a charge resulting from the
negligent killing of a person according to South African
law. But what might they have said if the bus had been
driven by autonomous software?
The driver was faced with a rare and complicated
type of moral dilemma in which they were forced to
choose between two bad options. Analysis of the above
scenario raises two main questions: the first is to ask
whether the accident could have been avoided by better
vehicle maintenance, more careful driving, better road
design or other practical measures and whether there
was negligence in any of these areas. The second is to
ask that if the accident was not
Driverless avoidable, then what was the
morally least bad action?
cars will be When thinking about these issues
in terms of autonomous vehicles, the
able to stop first question is relatively easy to
answer. Driver software will have
extremely faster reaction times and be more
cautious and physics-faithful than
quickly once human drivers, meaning driverless
cars will be able to stop extremely
they detect a quickly once they detect a hazard.
hazard. Also,
Also, they will never show off or get
drunk. However, their sensors and
they will
image classification processes will
remain cruder than human
never get
perception for some time to come,
meaning they may not recognise or
drunk classify unexpected hazards the way
humans do. They wont be able to
58 Vol. 8 Issue 6
reliably tell the difference between children and adults,
for example. Nor will they know whether other
vehicles are empty or are carrying passengers.
Some commentators believe that once the
technology is perfected, autonomous vehicles could
provide us with a completely accident-free means of
transport. Yet large-scale statistical analyses, such as
those carried out by Noah Goodall at the Virginia
Department of Transportation, indicate that this is
unlikely. Thanks to the existence of pedestrians,
cyclists, and even animals, our roads are too
unpredictable for any autonomous system to take
everything into account.
So how do driverless cars fit in with the moral
question? Firstly, autonomous vehicle driver software
wont have had years of real-life experience to learn the
nuances of morality through praise, blame and
punishment the way a human driver has. Nor will it be
able to use its imagination to build on these previous
learning experiences.
Imagine a similar situation to the above scenario.
A vehicle being driven completely by software and
carrying one passenger is travelling uphill around a
steep corner on a narrow two-lane mountain road. Two
children are riding bicycles down towards it on the
wrong side of the road and a heavy truck is approaching
in the other lane. To avoid the children, the car can
head for the truck or drive off the side of the road, but if
it stops the children will hit it. Driving into the truck or
off the precipice will likely kill the human passenger
but save the children. Attempting to stop could lead to
the children being killed if they crash into the car, yet
the passenger will be protected. What should the cars
software be designed to do?
RARE DILEMMA
Of course, such dilemmas are rare occurrences but they
are nevertheless of key concern to engineers and
regulators. But whereas the human bus driver
mentioned above had only a frightening fraction of a
second to make a life and death decision, the
engineers have hours and hours in the safety of an
 1 1 Self-driving pods are
already being tested in
the UK
2 Cyclists are safe when
Googles driverless car
is on the streets
3 In the Franschhoek
accident, the bus driver
swerved to avoid two
cyclists but did he
have an alternative
option?

4
PHOTOS: CORBIS X2, PRESS ASSOCIATION

Vol. 8 Issue 6 59
SCIENCE

To visualise how driverless cars view the

world, ScanLAB a UK-based 3D
scanning company drove a 3D laser
scanner through Londons streets

60 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 A human
driver might
instinctively flinch
away from a large
office to design how the
object like a truck,
vehicles driver software will without being able
react. Of course, this means
to process
that they cannot claim that
the presence
they reacted instinctively due
to time pressure or fear. In the
of cyclists
event of an accident, courts
will say that the engineers have
programmed the software
rationally and deliberately and
thus expect them to be fully morally responsible for their
choices. So what must they consider?
There are three broad schools of thought. One:
autonomous driver software may be expected to operate
to a higher moral standard than a human driver because
of the lack of time pressures and emotional disturbances
and its greater processing power. Two: it could be
expected to operate to a lower moral standard due to the
sensors lack of classificatory subtlety and the overriding
belief that only humans can act ethically because
software cannot be conscious or feel pain. Three:
software may be expected to operate to the same moral
standard as applies to human drivers.
All three options imply that the moral standard
expected of human drivers in such dilemmas is
definitively known. But when forced to act quickly,
humans will often use their instincts rather than
conscious, rational analysis. Instincts may be honed
through life experience or deliberate practice but they
are not under conscious control at the point of
application. Our emotions can also inf luence instinctive
action. So a human driver might instinctively f linch
away from a large object like the truck, without being
able to process the presence of the cyclists. Or, a human
with different instincts might act to protect the
vulnerable children without recognising their own
danger. Such unconsidered reactions are hardly moral
PHOTO: SCANLAB PROJECTS
decisions that are worthy of praise or blame. So what
would moral behaviour require if we set aside the
confounding factors of time and emotion?
The study of such questions takes us into the territory
of ethical theory, a branch of philosophy concerned
with extracting and codifying the morally preferable
options from the morass of human behaviour and
beliefs. Philosophers have
developed logically consistent
theories about what the
morally preferred actions are
in any given situation.
Today, two main contenders
exist for the top theoretical
approach: consequentialism and
deontology. Consequentialist
theories say the right action is
that which creates the best results. Deontological theories
say the correct action is that in which the peoples intentions
were best, whatever the results. Despite starting with
different founding assumptions about what is valuable or
good, these two theories agree on the morally preferable
action in the majority of common situations. Nevertheless,
they do sometimes differ.
MACHINE ETHICS
Both consequentialism and deontology are based on
consistent reasoning taken from a small set of assumptions,
which is something algorithms can do. So, can we write
algorithms that will calculate the best course of action to
take when faced with a moral dilemma? Those working in
the small scientific field of machine ethics believe that we
can. Artificial intelligence researchers Luis Moniz Pereira
and Ari Saptawijaya have been collating, developing and
applying programming languages and logic structures that
capture deontological or consequentialist reasoning about
particular moral problems. These programs are limited in
scope, but their work suggests that it would be possible to
program an entity to behave in accordance with one or
other of the major ethical theories, over a small domain.
This work is often criticised, not least for not covering the
entire range of ethical problems. But a slightly deeper look
at moral theory suggests thats inevitable.
Most cases where the two moral theories agree are easy
for courts of law to decide. But there are certain types of
cases in which judges must call on the wisdom drawn from
years of courtroom experience. Examples include trials for
war crimes, shipwreck and survival cases, medical law, and
also road accidents. Because of their complexity and the
moral discomfort they cause, cases such as these attract
lots of legal and philosophical attention.
Vol. 8 Issue 6 61
SCIENCE

LIDAR vision systems bounce

lasers around the car to generate
a picture of its surroundings

THE TROLLEY
PROBLEM
This popular ethics dilemma makes you choose
between killing one person or five, and was first
introduced by philosopher Philippa Foot

A runaway trolley is hurtling

down the tracks; youre
standing by a lever that can
change the trolleys direction

If you pull the

lever, it will
switch direction
and kill the
single person
on these tracks

Do nothing, and the trolley will

plough into the five people
standing on these tracks

TROLLEY PROBLEM five is only an unintended side effect of doing something

In ethical theory, complicated moral dilemmas are named perfectly acceptable: nothing. But a minority feels very
trolley problems after a thought experiment that was strongly that consequentialism is preferable and MRI scans
introduced by British philosopher Philippa Foot in 1967 (see of their brains show more stimulation of logical reasoning
diagram above). The experiment asks you to imagine a areas when considering the problem. They would pull the
runaway trolley (tram) travelling at breakneck speed towards a lever because one death is a much better outcome than five
group of five people. You are standing next to a lever that can deaths, and whether there
switch the trolley to a different set of tracks where there is just was a deliberate intention to
one person. Whats the right thing to do?
The two main ethical theories disagree about the morally
kill or not is irrelevant
only the outcome matters.
In the world of
correct course of action in trolley problems. Humans also
disagree with which is the best course of action. Studies
Similarly, if we think back
to our earlier scenario of
law, judges have
show that most people will not pull the lever and therefore
fall on the side of the deontological theory. MRI scans
the passenger travelling on
the mountain road, then
to recognise that
show that the areas of the brains associated with emotions
light up when these people considered the question. Their
consequentialist theory
would claim that it makes
some actions
thinking goes that to pull the lever knowing about the one sense for the car to kill they dont
PHOTOS: GETTY, ALAMY

person on the side track would be to take an action them because two children
intended to kill the one. Deliberately acting to use one would be saved. And saving agree with are
person to benefit five others is considered wrong, two lives is preferable to
irrespective of the outcome. Here, standing by and doing saving one. still morally
acceptable
nothing is acceptable because as there isnt an act, there Acting in accordance
cant be a wrong deliberate intention. The death of the with either theory is

62 Vol. 8 Issue 6

considered to be ethically principled behaviour. In the
world of law, judges have to recognise that some actions
they dont agree with are nonetheless still morally
acceptable. Respecting others ethical reasoning is one way
we recognise and treat other humans as moral agents with
equal status to ourselves. This is an important although
subtle part of our Western ethical consensus today,
because we believe that being faithful to our ethical beliefs
contributes towards our well-being.
This makes the problem more difficult for designers of
autonomous driver software: there isnt a single moral standard
expected of human drivers in these dilemmas. Whichever
theory they choose, they will end up offending the morals of
ethically principled customers who favour the other theory.
Imagine, purely speculatively, that engineers tend to fall in
the consequentialist minority and therefore design
consequentialist driver software. However, imagine that the
majority of customers are deontological. The engineers
PHOTO: HERE.COM
would have imposed their own moral preferences on many
people who do not share the same ideologies. Being true to
ones moral convictions is an important part of human well-
being, so we run the risk of inadvertently breaking a moral
principle of our societies and adversely affecting the well-
Autonomous cars could pick up
traffic data in real time, negotiating
you through the jam safely
being of other people.
I co-authored a paper with Dr Anders Sandberg, an expert
in ethics and technology. In the paper, we suggested we
could get around the problem of different principles by
developing code that would follow either consequentialist or
deontological reasoning in a trolley problem scenario. The
passenger could selected their chosen principle at the start of
their journey. This would preserve the basis of respect for
moral agents that allows our societys ethical and legal system
to deal with the two different ways that people make their
decisions about trolley problems.
We cant have a piece of code that decides between the
theories for us. Human moral preferences seem to be a result
of learning through praise and blame, not logic. For now, we
have to leave that choice to human users of technology. Until
they become moral agents in their own right, autonomous
cars will act as what Sandberg has called a moral proxy for
the users own human morals. In other words, we will select
how they choose to act.
HEATHER IS AN AUTOMOTIVE SOFTWARE ENGINEER AND TEST DRIVER. SHE
HOLDS A PHD IN BIOETHICS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL.
Vol. 8 Issue 6 63
NATURE

Scan this QR Code for

the audio reader

64 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 The silverback Makumba. Fiona Rogers and Anup
Shah spent two months photographing his troop
in the Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Special
Reserve in the Central African Republic.

GORILLA
COUNTRY
SCIENTISTS ARE FINALLY BEGINNING TO UNCOVER THE
SECRET LIVES OF LOWLAND GORILLAS. MIKE UNWIN
PHOTOS BY FIONA ROGERS AND ANUP SHAH

EXPLORES THE LATEST DISCOVERIES SHEDDING LIGHT ON

THE BEHAVIOUR AND BIOLOGY OF OUR CLOSE RELATIVES

Vol. 8 Issue 6 65
NATURE

id-morning in the rainforest, and the humid

M air hums with insects. There is no movement
just the metronomic chime of a tinkerbird
from high in the canopy. Yet the trackers are on high
alert: theyve been out since first light and now the
trail is getting warmer. Somewhere behind that wall
of foliage is what theyre searching for.
After a tense wait brushing away the swarming
sweat bees their patience is finally rewarded: a rustle
of leaves, a glimpse of black through green and, finally,
that rapid, telltale pock, pock, pock tattoo of a chest-
beating silverback. They relax. The troop is still here.
The lowland tropical rainforest that covers much
of the Republic of the Congo, spilling over into the
Central African Republic and Cameroon, is very
different terrain from the cloud forests of the Virunga
volcanoes, far to the east. The latter a cooler, hillier
habitat is the kingdom of the mountain gorilla, star
of 1988s Gorillas in the Mist and a famous televised
encounter with a floppy-fringed David Attenborough
for 1979s Life on Earth. The former region, however,
is home to the far less familiar western gorilla. Only
recently have scientists begun to uncover its secrets.
To clarify: Africas two species of gorilla are not
the lowland and mountain, as is often thought.
The western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) inhabits
lowland equatorial rainforests from Gabon north Makumbas troop feed on sedge
to Cameroon, and is split into a pair of subspecies grasses in a clearing in Dzanga-
Sangha. At the far left is a five-year-
the western lowland and Cross River gorillas. old male known as Mobangi.
Meanwhile the eastern gorilla G. beringei occurs
further east, in the vast Democratic Republic of
the Congo and over the border into Rwanda and
Uganda. It also has two subspecies the mountain
Fruit is an important component of
gorilla is a high-altitude race of the eastern lowland the diet of western lowland gorillas,
form, with longer, blacker fur. requiring them to range widely.

It is the lifestyle of
western gorillas, NOT
APPEARANCE, that best
distinguishes them from
their lowland cousins.
Western gorillas are greater in numbers with a
population estimated at more than 100,000. This
might seem a lot, but the species is still classed as
Critically Endangered due to the frightening speed of
its recent decline. These are the gorillas you are most
likely to see in zoos, such as Twycross and London.
Though they are slightly smaller than eastern gorillas,
they are still hugely impressive.
A mature male western gorilla weighs about 160kg
and stands up to 1.8m tall. He has a rusty-brown
forehead and crest and, like mountain gorillas, acquires
a pale grey cape across his upper quarters from about
18 years the point at which he becomes known as a
silverback.

66 Vol. 8 Issue 6

LOWLAND LIFESTYLE
Its the lifestyle of western gorillas, rather than appearance,
that best distinguishes them from their high-altitude cousins.
While mountain gorillas move little, munching through their
lush salad bowl of herbaceous staples, western gorillas have a
more seasonal, fruit-based diet that requires them to wander
much farther. From the moment they rise, at about 6am,
until the moment they construct sleeping nests of arrowroot
leaves and bed down, they are on the move.
Each night they sleep somewhere new and each morning
head out to fresh feeding grounds. Indeed they have the
largest home ranges of any gorillas, covering up to 3km
per day to find what they need. They are also more
arboreal than their mountain counterparts, even the massive
silverbacks clambering high into the canopy to harvest fruit.
Fruit becomes especially important during the
AugustNovember wet season, when the gorillas may
consume more than 100 different species. At
other times they switch to a greater variety
of vegetable matter, from roots and shoots
to tree bark and pulp. They often visit
swampy clearings, known as bais, to feed
on aquatic plants notably the tubers of
the kangwasika waterlily and, for extra
protein, rip into termite mounds.
Such is the challenge of studying these
ultra-shy, mobile primates, however, it
wasnt until the 1990s that we began to
THE WORLDS RAREST GREAT APE
Like the eastern gorilla, the western by at least 300km from the nearest
gorilla has a high-altitude subspecies. western lowland gorillas. Hunting,
The Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) cattle grazing and loss of genetic
diehli is restricted to a tiny area of diversity pose a severe threat. WWF
highland rainforest at the headwaters is working with the governments of
of Nigerias Cross River, along the Nigeria and Cameroon to improve
Cameroon border. This, the rarest law enforcement and establish safe
great ape on Earth, numbers no havens, including much-needed
more than 250300 individuals in corridors that will enable gorillas
11 isolated locations, all separated to move between different groups.
unlock their secrets. In 1991 primatologist Magdalena
Bermejo at Lossi Sanctuary in the Republic of Congo
became the first to habituate a western lowland gorilla
The dominant male troop to humans much as Dian Fossey had done with
Makumba is 32 years mountain gorillas 30 years earlier.
old gorillas can reach
40 years of age Similar initiatives soon followed. In the Djk Triangle,
in the wild. an area of virgin forest further north, the Wildlife
Conservation Society founded the Mondika Research
Center, where from 1993 to 2003 US anthropologist
Diane Doran-Sheehy succeeded in habituating
the Kingo gorilla group. Across the border in the
Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Special Reserve
of the Central African Republic, a WWF-
backed programme habituated another group
of gorillas.
Habituation the gradual earning of the
gorillas trust so that they will accept human
observers is an arduous process. It requires
daily visits over many years, running the
gauntlet of biting insects, hostile terrain and
unfriendly forest elephants. Success has been
down to the local BaAka trackers. These
once-nomadic hunters have walked the
Vol. 8 Issue 6 67
NATURE

The four-year-old male Tembo crosses a

river by walking upright newly observed
behaviour in gorillas. Makumba and Mobangi
are feeding in the background.

68 Vol. 8 Issue 6
Mopambi carries her 18-month-old
baby Sopo as she crosses a river. The female Malui feeds on leaves.
Gorillas are weaned when about Even the much bigger males will
three to four years old. climb trees when hungry.

Years of observation and countless
photographs have enabled scientists
to identify each individual gorilla.
Opposite centre: forests for centuries and can locate the apes by bent twigs,
females such as
Malui care for their
disturbed leaves and faint knuckle prints.
young for
the first four or
five years of life.
SOCIAL DIFFERENCES
Opposite bottom: The miraculous skills of the BaAka have rewritten the
the 13-year-old
male Kunga plays textbooks. They have taught us that we cannot make
with the five-year- assumptions about western lowland gorilla society based on
old male Mobangi.
Play helps social our knowledge of their mountain gorilla relatives.
bonds wrestling It seems, for a start, that western lowland gorillas form
and a form of tag
are common. smaller family groups just four to nine members on average,
Opposite: another typically a silverback, three females and their offspring and that
photo of Mobangi.
Almost all males these groups spread out much farther.This social structure is
leave their natal more vulnerable than that of mountain gorillas, says Michelle
group at puberty,
if their silverback Klailova, an adviser to the WWF programme in Dzanga-Sangha.
denies access to If a group male dies, there is generally no other male available
fertile females.
to take his spot, so the group immediately disintegrates. And
while each group has a home range, there is no strict territorial
demarcation and their boundaries often overlap.
Field studies have also examined the differing roles of males
and females. Among all gorillas, the silverback is generally
assumed to be the leader of a group. Usually calm and non-
aggressive, he is nevertheless capable of intimidating displays of
size and strength hooting, beating his chest and mock-charging
in order to gather his group or defend them from a threat.
Females, however, may have a more influential role in
decision-making than was once thought. In one troop they
have been seen to fake distress calls in order to divert the
silverback from a course he insisted on and redirect him
towards a more productive feeding area. Furthermore, it
seems to be the females who, by evaluating males, determine
how partners pair up arguably the ultimate power in gorilla
society. After all, females cant afford to get it wrong: they
dont reach sexual maturity until eight or nine years of age,
and only give birth every four or five years.
Some of the most productive research has taken place in the
marshy bais where numerous large forest animals, including
western lowland gorillas, are attracted by the rich plant growth
and mineral salts. At Mbeli Bai, a clearing in the Congos
Nouabal-Ndoki National Park, researchers have constructed
a wooden platform from where, working every day since 1997,
they have studied 14 separate gorilla groups.
Years of observation and countless photographs have enabled
the scientists to identify each individual gorilla often going by
its unique nose-print. In this way they have painstakingly built
up family trees, tracing lives from infancy to adulthood.
NEW BEHAVIOUR
A bai functions like a town square for gorillas, where groups
that are usually hidden from each other in the forest gather
to interact. Males and females check each other out, while
the former size up the competition. For researchers, it offers a
wide-angle view of social dynamics and has allowed them to
observe some never-before-seen gorilla behaviour. At Mbeli
they have witnessed adolescents splashing water in dominance
displays, adults crossing deeper pools by walking upright and,
most exciting of all, tool use.
In 2005 a female known as Leah stripped a branch
of leaves and used it to test the depth of a stream and as a
walking stick when she crossed. Tool use of this kind by
wild apes had previously only been observed among some
chimpanzees and even fewer orangutans. This raises new
questions about the extent to which gorillas may be
using other tools behind the cover of the forest.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 69
NATURE

EBOLA: A VACCINE FOR GORILLAS?

First discovered 40 years ago, ebola has been that one year of ebola vaccination could save
as devastating to West Africas great apes as as many individuals as decades of anti-
to its people, with western lowland gorillas poaching activities. Gorilla vaccination will
the worst affected. Since 2011 scientists benefit humans as well, by blocking a source
have been developing a vaccine. Progress of infection and proving the effectiveness
is promising: chimpanzees have already of a potential vaccine under difficult field
demonstrated a strong immune response, and conditions. Theres no time to lose.
there are no unwanted side effects.
But challenges remain. Darting
in the wild is impractical, given the
terrain and the apes behaviour,
so attention has shifted to an oral
vaccine based on a rabies model
used for red foxes in Europe. The
recent outlawing of medical testing
on captive apes, even when it is for
their benefit, is another obstacle.
The first gorilla vaccine is due to A check-up at the
be tested on wild apes in March Senkwekwe Center
in Rumangabo in the
2016, and conservationists believe Democratic Republic of
the Congo.

Above: Makumba But just how secure is this forest? Today the apes have
forages in a forest
clearing. Though many threats to contend with. Illegal hunting for bushmeat,
silverbacks are skins and charms and to capture infants for the pet trade
not aggressive by
nature, they need removes an estimated 5 per cent of the population every year.
to be formidable Industrial-scale deforestation not only destroys habitat it
fighters to defend
their troops. opens up logging roads, providing easier access for poachers.
Disease is also taking a heavy toll. Like humans, gorillas
may also be infected with ebola. In 20022003 an outbreak
in the Lossi Gorilla Sanctuary killed virtually all of its
habituated gorillas an estimated 5,000 animals perished in
an area of 2,700km2. With mortality rates of about 95 per
cent, some scientists believe that the disease may have so far
accounted for up to a third of the worlds gorilla population.
NEED FOR HUMAN INTERVENTION
The future of the western gorilla depends upon our
help. Taking a lead from the success of mountain-gorilla
conservation in Rwanda and Uganda, conservation bodies
are working with governments and local communities to
develop ecotourism. The Sangha Trinational Initiative brings
together key western gorilla strongholds in one block of
protected habitat that straddles the borders of the Republic
of Congo, the Central African Republic and Cameroon. It
includes Nouabal-Ndoki National Park, the Djk Triangle
and the Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Special Reserve.
Each of these beautiful forests now offers gorilla viewing for
adventurous visitors, who can track individuals and observe
them at the bais.The region has other charismatic mammals
too, such as forest elephants, colobus monkeys and bongo
antelopes plus more than 300 species of bird.
The long-term presence of tourists and researchers
protects the environment and causes a reduction in
poaching, says Michelle Klailova. Tourist money helps
sustain the Dzanga-Sangha programme, enabling monitoring
of forests and providing employment to more than 45
BaAka and nearly 70 other local people.
For wildlife photographers Anup Shah and Fiona Rogers,
whose images illustrate this article, a two-month assignment
with the Makumba troop at Dzanga-Sangha proved more
intense than any of their previous encounters with wild great
apes. Rogers came to feel a sense of solidarity with them.I
always felt happier in that forest when I was with Makumba, the
silverback, she says.He was our eyes and ears. I felt closer to
him and those gorillas than I have done with any other primate.
Such observations may not be strictly scientific, but
they do underscore the fact that we have much more to
learn from these complex primates. Studies are already
revealing how gorillas are essential to forest structure and
composition, dispersing seeds of numerous plant species in
their droppings. Scientists have also observed that the apes
feed on certain treetop leaves commonly used in herbal
remedies by local people, and have speculated that they
may select plants for their medicinal properties.
A more intriguing question, perhaps, is how much light
gorillas can shed on our own species. We know that they
suffer from our ailments not only ebola, but also malaria
and heart disease. Studies of their social systems and
communication may yet teach us more about the origins
of behaviour that we persist in seeing as uniquely human.
They are so close to us, says primatologist Chloe
Cipolletta, who works for the Dzanga-Sangha programme.
They too have a culture; they kiss, they embrace, they
hold hands.
Western gorillas undoubtedly still have secrets to share. But
unless we act to conserve their forests, they may never get the
chance. And we, like them, may be the losers.
MIKE UNWIN IS A NATURALIST AND AUTHOR. HIS BOOKS INCLUDE 100
BIZARRE ANIMALS W

70 Vol. 8 Issue 6

U N D E R S TA N D
FORENSIC SCIENCE
UNDERSTAND
FORENSIC
SCIENCE
SCENE-OF-CRIME OPERATIVES IN PLASTIC OVERALLS ARE A COMMON
SIGHT ON OUR TV SCREENS. BUT WHAT DO THEY ACTUALLY DO?
hat is forensic science?
W Any scientific process used
as part of a criminal
investigation is considered forensic
science. This spans both the grim,
grisly procedures of the autopsy
room and the cutting-edge analysis
of a crime scene. But it also
encompasses the less glamorous,
painstaking lab work of DNA
profiling, fingerprint analysis and
the uncovering of hidden digital
files. There is even such a thing as
forensic accountancy.
What techniques are used to
solve crimes today?
The bulk of modern forensic work
involves the analysis of DNA or
fingerprints left at a crime scene. In
murder cases, forensic autopsies help
work out how a person died.
A range of more specialised and
elaborate forensic techniques can be
used to identify suspects in the most
serious cases, such as tracking serial
killers or terrorists. These methods
include forensic ecology, where tiny
traces of pollen or fungal spores can
PHOTO:BBC
be used to tell where a suspect has
been, or forensic entomology, where
SCIENCE
WORDS: TOM IRELAND
the presence of certain insects can
help reveal how long a person has
been dead.
As people spend more and more
time on devices like smartphones
and computers, so-called digital
forensics is playing an ever-greater
role in criminal investigations, too.
The growth in this field of forensic
science also ref lects the fact that
there are now over four million
CCTV cameras in the UK.
Is forensic science anything like
what we see on TV?
Rarely. According to forensic
scientist Prof Sue Black, who has
advised a number of crime writers
throughout her career, There is an
element of truth in TV crime, but
also an element of fantasy the work
is often long, slow, and laborious.
But viewers quite rightly dont want
to see us doing our double-blind
trials.
Nathan Clarke, a professor of
digital forensics and cyber security,
says the depiction of tracking
technology in spy movies, where Forensic science isnt as glamorous
security services miraculously as television shows suggest
enhance fuzzy images of
Vol. 8 Issue 6 71
SCIENCE
U N D E R S TA N D
FORENSIC SCIENCE
suspects, is pure fiction. In reality,
you need someone to sit there and
watch hours of video, he says.
How does DNA profiling work?
Although 99.9 per cent of our DNA
is the same in every person, the
remaining 0.01 per cent is different
enough to distinguish one individual
from another.
Forensic DNA profiling looks
specifically at highly variable
stretches of DNA called variable
number tandem repeats (VNTRs).
These are short sequences of genetic
code that may occur tens or
hundreds of times at specific points
in a persons DNA.
VNTRs are often located in parts
of the human genome with little or
no known function. Mutations in
the genetic code here will not cause
abnormalities, and so over many
generations these sections of our
genome have become hugely varied.
And because unrelated people will
almost certainly have different
numbers of VNTRs in different
places, they can be used to
discriminate between two people.
DNA found at a crime scene is
processed so that these sections can
be compared to those from a sample
swabbed from a suspect, or compared
to a huge number of DNA profiles
held on police databases. As well as
helping to identify suspects, DNA
profiling has helped prove the
innocence of people incorrectly
convicted, in some cases decades
after the crime, and is often used to
help identify victims, especially
where people have been killed in
large numbers or when their remains
are badly damaged.
Whats the smallest amount of
DNA from which a suspect or
victim can be identified?
As technology advances, scientists
can process smaller and smaller
72 Vol. 8 Issue 6
Even a tiny sample
of DNA can
provide crucial
evidence
samples to develop a DNA profile.
Modern techniques can amplify
tiny amounts of DNA from minute
traces of any material that contains
fragments of tissue or cells, such as
blood, semen, saliva, urine, faeces,
hair, teeth or bone. Low-level or
touch DNA can sometimes even be
collected from a few skin cells left
behind after a person has touched an
object or victim.
With a full sample and the latest
DNA profiling techniques,
investigators are able to generate a
match probability of up to one in a
quintillion (1x 1018). The chance of
a random person in the population
having that DNA profile is
infinitesimally small.
If a suspects DNA is found at a
crime scene, will it always lead
to a conviction?
Not necessarily there are all sorts of
innocent reasons why a persons
DNA could be at a crime scene or on
a body. And even when DNA found
at a crime scene is clearly that of the
perpetrator, the police still need to
find a match if the murderer is not
already a suspect, and their DNA
profile is not on file, the evidence is
effectively useless.
However, in such cases a persons
own family can land them in it. A
serial killer known as the Grim
Sleeper, who killed at least 10 people in
Los Angeles between 1985 and 2007,
eluded police for decades, despite them
having a sample of his DNA.
A suspect was finally apprehended
when his son was arrested for weapons
offences. The son gave a regulation
DNA sample, which partially matched
the DNA profile found at all of the
Grim Sleeper crime scenes, which led
the police to investigate his relatives.
Police posed as waiters to get the
fathers DNA from a pizza slice, and
found that it matched the crime
scene DNA. He was arrested in
J A R GO N BU S T E R
DNA PHENOTYPING
Something of a holy grail for forensic
scientists, DNA phenotyping would be
the creation of a photofit image based
on a DNA sample alone. But our current
knowledge of, and ability to analyse,
DNA is not yet sufficiently advanced to
make this a reality.
Blowflies are usually
the first insects to
invade a dead body DNA PROFILING
A persons DNA profile is not simply their
entire DNA sequence, which is billions of
letters long. Instead, profiling compares
the DNA in around a dozen highly
variable stretches of the human genome.
ENTOMOLOGY
The study of insects. Forensic
entomologists can work out the time of
a victims death by studying the types of
insects feeding on their corpse.
LOOPS, WHORLS
AND ARCHES
These are the classic patterns made by
the ridges of skin in a fingerprint.
Fingerprints are still commonly used to
identify suspects today.
MATCH PROBABILITY
This complicated calculation essentially
gives the probability of a forensic match
occurring by chance for example, the
likelihood that your DNA matches some
DNA found at a crime scene which is not
actually yours.
PALYNOLOGY
The study of pollen and other tiny
biological spores, which can link a
PHOTO: GETTY/ISTOCK
suspect to a crime scene. Pollen is
useful as its very easy to pick up but
very hard to remove from clothing, and
is normally completely invisible to
anyone other than an expert.
PHOTO: GETTY

CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

Forensics officers are a crime show staple, but how does the work
they really do match up to what we see on our TV screens?

Vol. 8 Issue 6 73
SCIENCE

U N D E R S TA N D
FORENSIC SCIENCE
In one tweet
Theres actually no such thing as forensic science.
Any science used in a criminal investigation is
#forensicscience.

2010, but is yet to be convicted at the

time of writing.

Can DNA evidence be faked?

Although DNA profiling is an
excellent way to distinguish between
individuals, it is still not immune to
falsification, errors or manipulation.
In 1992, a doctor and rapist called
John Schneeberger evaded justice by
injecting other peoples blood into
his arm just before his DNA was
sampled by police. He was found
guilty when forced to take another
test years later.
Its also possible, although
extremely rare, for a person to
be a genetic chimera, meaning that
they have cells in their body with
different DNA from the rest of them.

Why do forensic scientists still

use fingerprinting?
With fingerprints, police can often
use their own in-house specialists
rather than call on external forensic
scientists. The digitization of
fingerprint records means a
photograph of a fingermark can be
sent from a crime scene and compared
to a database almost in real time.
According to the Fingerprint
Society, fingerprints remain the
number one ID metric for crime
scenes in the UK, accounting for the
identification of well over 100,000
suspects in 2012. Prints can also help
indicate what someone was doing or
how they entered a building for
example, if they are found leading up
to a broken window or in a grip
figuration on a weapon. And unlike
DNA, its hard to plant a fingerprint
at a crime scene.
How accurate is it?
Fingerprints may be considered an
older forensic technique, having
Lonnie David Franklin well as the well-known method of
Jr was arrested for the dusting for fingerprints at the
Grim Sleeper murders
in 2010. At time of scene, forensics teams can also use
writing, his trial is still
ongoing
chemical reagents and lasers to reveal
extremely faint prints.
Even more sensitive tools can be
deployed if objects are taken back to
the lab. One method involves gold or
silver particles being placed with a
sample in a vacuum; the metal will
settle on the faintest of marks.
Is everyones fingerprint really
unique?
The underlying patterns of ridges on
peoples digits are determined
genetically, but the way individual
ridges divide and break is dependent
twins will be different, while their
DNA will be the same.
What else might police look for
at a crime scene?
Criminals often wear gloves while
committing premeditated crimes, but
they cant float in and out of the crime
scene, so footprints can be crucial.
While footwear cant definitively
identify an individual, knowing the
exact model of shoe the perpetrator
wore is still very useful intelligence
when looking for a suspect.
In more serious crimes, forensic
ecologists will look for traces of
biological material that can link a
suspect to a certain area, such as the
PHOTO: GETTY

first been used in the 1890s, but the on conditions in the womb and the type of woodland where a body has
technology behind them is movement of the developing foetus. been found. Pollen and fungal spores
continuously being improved. As Even the fingerprints of identical are especially important as they are

74 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 ANATOMY OF A MODERN CRIME SCENE
A man has been found murdered in a suburban home. The killer may have got away, but
forensic scientists have plenty of evidence to pore over

1 FINGERPRINTS 4
Prints can be recovered from surfaces. Their
position helps detectives sequence events.

2 INSECTS
Insects on the body can help to determine
when the victim died. Blowflies and then
maggots arrive first, followed by beetles.
3
3 SALIVA
There may be visible bodily fluids, but DNA
can be collected from less obvious sources
such as a drinking glass.
6
4 VEGETATION 1
Pollen and spores from plants and fungi can
stick to clothes or car tyres, linking suspects
to a precise location. 5
5 FOOTMARKS
Forensics can recover a footmark thats
almost invisible to the eye. 2
6 DIGITAL FOOTPRINT
With our smartphones, travel cards and
online activity, most of us now leave a
digital trace that can be easily followed.

W HAT W E S T IL L DON T K NOW

1 WHO OWNS
OUR DNA? 2 HOW TO POLICE
THE DIGITAL WORLD 3 CAN DNA GIVE
US AN IDEA OF
WHAT A SUSPECT
Police forces have been Government security agencies are locked in a battle with technology
compiling large giants over how to access evidence they say is crucial to preventing LOOKS LIKE?
databases of DNA terrorism. Amazingly, even the FBIs digital experts find it difficult to
profiles for years, unlock encrypted iPhones without the help of Apple. Even more Scientists have been able
sometimes from people worrying for security services is the burgeoning art of digital to map how certain genes
theyve arrested but then steganography hiding secret messages within seemingly benign files are linked to certain facial
released. Having the DNA such as holiday photos. features, but this
profile of everyone in the relationship is immensely
country is a detectives The FBI wants Apple to unlock a complex and not yet
dream, but others say it terrorism suspects iPhone, but accurate enough to be
Apple refuses
turns everyone into a useful. A DNA sample is
suspect. With also unlikely to ever be able
DNA-testing companies to tell us whether someone
and the NHS also is overweight or
collecting DNA samples suntanned, as these are
en masse, theres no easy environmental, and not
answer to the question of genetic characteristics.
PHOTOS: GETTY

who actually owns your Besides, you can always

genetic code, or what put on glasses or (if male)
they can do with it. grow a beard.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 75
SCIENCE
U N D E R S TA N D
FORENSIC SCIENCE
picked up easily but not easily shed,
even from clothing and footwear
thats been washed. But suspects are
likely to have walked through many
types of soil, mud, or vegetation
before and after being at a crime
scene. It all adds up to a huge
headache for those trying to analyse
and compare all the biological
material found on the suspect. The
rarer the pollen or spore that
forensics can match, the more
credible the case.
A good example is also the first ever
example of forensic ecology. In 1959, a
man was murdered while travelling
down the river Danube in Austria, but
a body had not been found. Mud on
the suspects shoes contained a type of
pollen from ancient hickory trees.
Scientists concluded this could only
have come from vegetation growing
on exposed Miocene-age rocks, and
the only place such soil had developed
was a small section of the river 20km
north of Vienna. Presented with this
theory, the suspect confessed and took
police to the body exactly where the
scientists had predicted.
Other techniques often seen on TV,
such as blood spatter and ballistics
analysis, may give detectives an idea of
what happened at a crime scene, but
rarely help find the perpetrator.
What can forensics teams learn
from human remains?
In the first 72 hours after death, a
pathologist is usually able to provide
a reasonably accurate determination
of the time and cause of death. If a
person has been dead for longer,
forensic entomologists may be called
on to estimate the time of death,
based on the number and type of
insects feeding on the corpse. This
method can be used to determine a
period of hours, weeks or even years
since death.
Blowf lies are almost always the
76 Vol. 8 Issue 6
Forensic
entomologist
Mark Benecke at
work in his lab
first insects to arrive and lay eggs on
a corpse, as they are mobile,
common and able to smell death
from up to 10km away. Eventually
other families of insects are attracted
to the body, such as beetles. For
more heavily decomposed or
damaged remains, forensic dentists
can match remnants of teeth to
known dental records, or even use
what they find to draw conclusions
about the victims age, size, gender,
race and socioeconomic status.
What is currently being developed
at the cutting edge of forensic
science?
Forensic scientists can use anything
to link a suspect to a crime scene, as
long as they can prove the samples
are unlikely to match by chance. In
the US, scientists have looked at the
atomic structure of fragments of glass
to prove it was from the same sheet
of glass as that found broken at a
crime scene.
Pioneering techniques that mix
digital forensics with anatomy are
also now being used to identify
people from small areas of their body
seen in photos or videos. Features
such as vein patternation or knuckle
marks can identify suspects from
images showing only small areas of
their hands or arms. Grimly, this is
likely to be used in cases involving
sexual abuse.
As our understanding of DNA
improves, we may one day be able to
create a photofit-style image of a
suspect solely from DNA evidence.
However, such DNA phenotyping
is not yet accurate enough, and cant
predict many aspects of how a person
looks, such as whether they have a
beard.
TOM IRELAND IS A JOURNALIST AND MANAGING
EDITOR AT THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY.
E XPL AIN IT TO A FRIEND
1ITS NOTHING
LIKE TV
Forensic science, especially DNA
analysis, can often involve tedious
laboratory work something that TV
programmes usually neglect to show.
For forensic evidence to hold up under
scrutiny in court, every stage of the
process collection, handling, storage,
and analysis must be conducted to
impeccable scientific standards.
2
PRINTS AND
PROFILES
DNA and fingerprints are the most
commonly used forensic evidence in
criminal investigations. Apart from
identical twins, no two people have the
same DNA, and DNA samples are
compared at points where the human
genome is known to be incredibly
varied. Fingerprints are still used,
though, as theyre cheaper to process
and more likely to indicate what
someone has been doing.
3EXTRAORDINARY
EVIDENCE
A huge range of materials can be
collected and analysed to match a
suspect to a crime scene. The more
unique or rare the material, the more
Fingerprints credible the case against them. It can
have been used to
identify criminals
be anything from pollen grains and
since the 1890s mud to chemicals and even bacteria.
PHOTOS: GETTY, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
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SCIENCE

MAKING
WAVES IN FEBRUARY THIS YEAR, PHYSICISTS
ANNOUNCED THAT THEY HAD DETECTED
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES TOWARDS THE END OF
2015. COULD THESE RIPPLES IN THE FABRIC OF
SPACE-TIME HELP US DECIPHER SOME OF THE
STRANGEST PHENOMENA IN THE COSMOS?
WORDS: COLIN STUART

n 14 September 2015, a new window into the Universe was

O opened. Researchers at LIGO (Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory) caught the distant
murmurs of two black holes colliding, and in doing so made the first
direct detection of gravitational waves. This discovery is yet another
victory for Einsteins General Relativity. But more than that,
because gravitational waves carry information about some of the
most exotic events in the cosmos, they will allow astronomers to see
the Universe in a new way. At the beginning of this revolution, here
are some of the game-changing developments astronomers may
uncover in the years ahead.

78 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 ABOVE: When two black holes merge, they

Black Holes
alter the motion of gravitational waves

The signal picked up by LIGO is believed to have come
from two huge black holes colliding 1.3 billion light-
years away. One of the black holes in the merger
detected by LIGO was around 29 solar masses (one
solar mass = the mass of the Sun), the other tipped the
scale at 36 solar masses.
By analysing the way the gravitational waves
changed as the black holes spiralled towards each
other, the LIGO team established that the two black
holes were initially orbiting each other 30 times a
second, but this ramped up to 250 times, before a
telltale chirp in the signal indicated that the two
behemoths had combined.
LIGO and other gravitational wave experiments will
help us learn more about black holes and General
Relativity.
One of the most dramatic predictions of General
Relativity is that black holes with large spins will dance
in their orbits, says Prof Bangalore Sathyaprakash
from Cardiff University. It is impossible to mimic such
an experiment in any laboratory or with other
astronomical observations. They will only be visible in
the gravitational window and thats something we
hope to observe in the coming years, he adds.

W H AT A R E G R AV I TAT I O N A L WAV E S ?

Gravitational waves are ripples in
the fabric of space-time. Think of
space a stretched sheet of nylon.
If you placed a bowling ball into
PHOTO: ISTOCK
towards the centre where the causes distortions in this fabric,
bowling ball is. The Sun makes a which ripple outwards as waves.
similar depression in space itself, The bigger the mass of an
giving rise to the gravity that object, the bigger the waves. The

the centre, the fabric would warp pulls Earth towards it. recently spotted gravitational
and sink, creating a kind of As an object accelerates waves came from two colliding
funnel. Drop any more balls onto through space say a planet black holes some of the hugest
the the sheet, and theyll roll orbiting a star its motion objects in the Universe.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 79
SCIENCE

Galaxy
Formation
The black holes observed by LIGO are tiny
compared to those found at the centre of
some of the most massive and distant
galaxies. Take the system known as OJ 287,
for example. Here, a hefty black hole of 100
million solar masses encircles a beast of 18
billion solar masses.
Such humongous beasts are thought to
have been formed by a succession of
previous mergers. Given that most galaxies
are thought to host such supermassive
black holes at their centre, systems such as
OJ 287 could give us clues about the role
that black hole mergers play in galaxy
formation.
Gravitational waves emitted by a system
like OJ 287 are too low frequency to be
picked up by LIGO. Instead, astronomers
are hoping to detect the waves indirectly by
observing their effect on pulsars. This is the
kind of measurement that the North Puerto Ricos Arecibo
American Nanohertz Observatory for Observatory is used by
NANOGrav astronomers to
Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) will be help them decipher galaxy
detecting. formation

Neutron
A tiny neutron star
alongside a larger surface. These asymmetries should
white dwarf generate gravitational waves as the

Stars
neutron star spins. Detecting such
waves would be a real boon for theorists
trying to understand how these
mountains form.
PHOTOS: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY X3

Neutron stars are compact, city-sized Unfortunately, the processes leading

stellar objects resulting from the explosive
death of much larger stars. They are
incredibly dense a neutron star the size
of a golf ball would weigh around one
billion tonnes. They spin extremely rapidly
thanks to the power of the explosion from
which they are created.
It is thought that some rapidly rotating
neutron stars have mountains on their
to these deformations are very difficult to
model. A direct observation would give
us important insights into the stars
history, says the University of
Southamptons Prof Nils Andersson.
Studying gravitational waves may also
help astronomers to pin down the exact
size of these extreme objects,
Andersson says.

80 Vol. 8 Issue 6

Dark
Energy
Artists concept
of dark energy
In the 1990s, astronomers found that
the expansion of the Universe is
speeding up. This was unexpected
because it was thought that the
expansion would be slowing down as
the initial force of the Big Bang
continued to fizzle out.
It is thought that an invisible material,
known as dark energy, is acting as a
sort of anti-gravity and pushing clusters
of galaxies apart.
Measuring distance in space has
traditionally been done using events
such as Type Ia supernovas. These
explosions have an initial fixed
brightness that fades over distance and
are known as standard candles.
Gravitational waves could offer an
alternative approach. Waves from
colliding black holes get smaller as they
spread out through space. These fading
chirps would provide a new measuring
stick called a standard siren.
This can be compared with dark
energy models for the expansion history
of the Universe, and so measure dark
energy, hopefully better than the Type Ia
supernovas, says Prof Andy Taylor at
the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are among the
most violent and energetic events seen
in the Universe
Gamma-ray bursts
Gamma-ray bursts (GRB) are intense
explosions of gamma rays and are among
the most violent and energetic events seen
in the Universe.
Currently, we can only observe these
events if the beams of gamma rays
conveniently head in our direction. But the
gravitational waves created by GRBs travel
out in all directions.
Observing gravitational waves could also
help us to work out what is causing so-called
short GRBs those that last less than two
seconds. The current leading contender for
the origin of short GRBs is the collision of
two neutron stars, but astronomers have so
far been unable to detect the proverbial
We still dont know for
sure what causes
gamma-ray bursts
smoking gun. However, this could be about
to change. Within the next two years,
upgrades to the LIGO experiment will make
the detector sensitive enough to pick up any
neutron star mergers occurring in the closest
300,000 galaxies.
Seeing both a gamma-ray burst and
gravitational wave would completely nail
down the progenitors of GRBs, because with
a gravitational wave signal we directly
measure the mass of the merging system,
explains Prof Andrew Levan
from the University of Warwick. Studying
the gravitational waves means we can see
these mergers even when the gamma rays
are directed away from us.
Vol. 8 Issue 6 81
SCIENCE

Cosmic
Inflation
When astronomers try to peer into the early Universe,
they hit a smoke screen around 380,000 years after
the Big Bang. At this time the Universe was composed
of a dense sea of subatomic particles that prevented
light from escaping, which means theres nothing to
detect to tell us about the early Universe. Gravitational
waves, however, would have been able to spread
unhindered, allowing us to look back further than
previously possible.
Observations of gravitational waves could be used
to test a theory known as inflation. Its the idea that
the Universe underwent a rapid burst of expansion in
When the Universe
its earliest moments, taking it from many times first expanded, it
smaller than an atom to about the size of a marble in could have sent
gravitational waves
a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second. This rippling through
extreme growth spurt could have sent gravitational space-time
waves rippling through the fabric of space-time.
LIGO doesnt operate at the right sensitivity to pick
up the kind of gravitational waves thought to have
been spawned by inflation, but the next generation of
detectors might find them.
Their amplitude would point to the energy scale of
inflation, which is a major unknown, says Prof Uros
Seljak from the University of California at Berkeley.

The feather and the hammer hit the lunar dust

at exactly the same time, despite their vastly
different shapes and masses

Equivalence
Hammer time: a feather and
hammer dropped on the Moon hit
the lunar surface at the same
time, proving Einsteins
equivalence principle

Principle
LIGOs detection of gravitational waves ended a game of
cosmic hide and seek that began 100 years ago when
they were predicted by Einsteins General Theory of
Relativity. Now that we have found them, gravitational
waves could be used to test another cornerstone of
Einsteins theory: the equivalence principle. Put simply, it
says that all objects, irrespective of their composition, fall
with the same acceleration in a gravity field. The most
famous example is the feather and hammer dropped on
the Moon by Apollo 15s Commander Dave Scott in 1971.
Both objects hit the lunar dust at exactly the same time,
despite their vastly different shapes and masses.
But just because the equivalence principle holds in
our Solar System, it doesnt necessarily mean it is
universal. Thats where gravitational waves come in. A
recent paper published by Xue-Feng Wu of the Purple
Mountain Observatory in China calculated that
combining light signals with gravitational waves from
the same event could help test the equivalence
principle to an accuracy of 0.0000000001 per cent
several factors of 10 better than the best current efforts.

82 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 Gravitons
PHOTOS: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, T PYLE/CALTECH, NASA
Perhaps the ultimate quest for physicists
is to find a single, coherent theory that can explain all
phenomena in the Universe. We currently have
Einsteins General Relativity to explain the very big,
and quantum physics to explain the very small, but
the two are at odds with one another.
Part of the problem is that gravity, as explained by
General Relativity, doesnt seem to want to play
nicely with the other three fundamental forces of
nature: the electromagnetic force, the strong nuclear
force and the weak nuclear force. These three forces
are known to be mediated by gauge bosons
particles known to transmit force. It is thought that
there is an equivalent for gravity called gravitons,
but we havent found them yet.
In conventional General Relativity, gravitons are
Einsteins General Relativity says that space-time is
warped by massive objects, but this doesnt work
with quantum physics
predicted to be massless. However, in their efforts to
piece together a theory that combines General
Relativity with quantum physics, theorists have been
toying with the idea that the graviton may in fact have
mass. If the graviton had a mass it would change the
black hole chirp. As this is very accurately measured
it puts very strong constraints on it, says Prof Andy
Taylor from the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. This
means that by studying the behaviour of gravitational
waves, researchers will be able to investigate the
possibility that the graviton has mass, taking them a
step closer to the elusive theory of everything.
COLIN STUART (@SKYPONDERER) IS A FREELANCE ASTRONOMY
WRITER AND AUTHOR.
Vol. 8 Issue 6 83
 YOUR QUESTI0NS ANSWERED
BY OUR EXPERT PANEL

& DR CHRISTIAN
JARRETT
Christian edits
The British
Psychological
Societys Research
Digest blog. His
latest book is Great
Myths Of The Brain.
DR ALASTAIR
GUNN
Alastair is a
radio astronomer
at the Jodrell
Bank Centre for
Astrophysics at
the University of
Manchester.
PROF ROBERT
MATTHEWS
After studying
physics at Oxford,
Robert became a
science writer. Hes
visiting professor
in science at Aston
University.
DR PETER
J BENTLEY
Peter is a
computer
scientist and
author who
is based at
University College
London.
LUIS
VILLAZON
Luis has a BSc in
computing and an
MSc in zoology
from Oxford. His
works include
How Cows Reach
The Ground.

editorial-bbcknowledge@regentmedia.sg

What happens
to the donors
DNA in a blood
transfusion?
There is virtually none there to begin
with. Only the white blood cells have
a nucleus, so they are the only cells
that carry any of the donors DNA.
Red blood cells and platelets lose
their nucleus during production in the
bone marrow. Donated blood is spun
PHOTO: SOUTH WEST NEWS SERVICES

in a centrifuge to separate it into

plasma, platelets, red cells and white
cells and only the first three are used
for transfusions. If whole blood is
used in an emergency transfusion, it
causes a fever called febrile
non-haemolytic transfusion reaction,
as the recipients own white cells
So whole blood makes
destroy the foreign DNA. LV you ill? No wonder
Dracula was so stroppy

84 Vol. 8 Issue 6

What makes
a dinosaur
a dinosaur?
Its all to do with the shape
of the pelvis. Dinosaurs
are divided into two
groups: the Saurischia, or PUBIS
lizard-hipped dinosaurs,
have a pubis bone that
points forward; the
Ornithischia (bird-hipped)
have a backwards-
pointing pubis. Any fossil
with either of these pelvis
types is classified as a
dinosaur. Ironically, birds
are actually descended
from the Saurischia. Their
bird hips evolved
independently, much later
in time. LV
What ignites supernova explosions?
Although there are many
classifications of supernovae,
there are two basic
mechanisms that result in
stars blowing themselves
apart. The first involves the
accumulation of material into a
white dwarf star, the extremely
dense final evolutionary state
of most normal stars. This
extra material could come
PHOTO: GETTY ILLUSTRATION: PHIL ELLIS
from a merger with or by
simple accumulation from
a close companion star. As
this material accumulates
on the white dwarf, its core
temperature increases until
a runaway nuclear reaction
occurs. In a fraction of a
second most of the white
dwarf undergoes nuclear
The hips dont lie: dinosaurs are
split into two groups, called
Ornithischia
bird-hipped (left)
and lizard-hipped (right)
Saurischia
ILIUM
ILIUM ISCHIUM
PUBIS
ISCHIUM
fusion, blowing the star apart
in the process.
The other way a supernova
can ignite is by the
collapse of a high-mass
stellar core. As the star
reaches the end of its life
the nuclear fuel becomes
exhausted, the energy
source switches off and the
pressure holding the star up
against gravity disappears.
The core collapses almost
instantaneously, causing
a catastrophic release of
energy that destroys the
star. If the core mass is
high enough, however, the
star may become a neutron
A supernova is a rare event,
star or black hole with little in which a star explodes at
radiated energy. AG the end of its life
Vol. 8 Issue 6 85
 &
IN NUMBERS
30
metres
is the height
of the biggest wave
20
ever surfed
teeth are present in the mouth
of a common vampire bat
the fewest number of teeth
of any bat species
THE THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
How fat do you have to be to stop a bullet?
1. IT DEPENDS ON THE GUN
Experiments using ballistic gelatine to mimic
the human body suggest that a 9mm bullet
from a handgun will penetrate about 60cm
through human fat tissue. A fully jacketed
bullet from an assault rifle, such as an
AK-47, will go much further and can easily
shoot through a brick wall.
86 Vol. 8 Issue 6
2. NOBODY IS THAT FAT
A morbidly obese person weighing over
125kg might have 60cm of fat at the
thickest point, including subcutaneous fat
and the fat that surrounds their organs. But
no one has that thickness evenly across
their entire body. Even a blue whales
blubber is only 30cm thick.
Could my pet
catch my cold?
The viruses that cause ordinary
colds are all quite species-
specific. Dogs cant
catch human colds (or
vice versa), but they
do have their own
version, called canine
infectious
tracheobronchitis or
kennel cough. The influenza
virus is much more adaptable
though. Bird, pig, horse, dog and
human flu have all been shown
to jump the species barrier. And
bacterial diseases are even more
contagious. Cats and dogs can
both catch tuberculosis from
humans, for example. LV
PHOTO: ISTOCK ILLUSTRATION: PHIL ELLIS
3. DO YOU FEEL LUCKY?
In 2010 Samantha Lynn Frazier was hit by a
stray bullet in a shooting in Atlantic City,
New Jersey. The bullet lodged in her love
handles and she was otherwise unharmed.
This is rare, though, and we cant know for
sure whether the bullet ricocheted off
something else before it struck her!
 LIQUID NITROGEN
AUXILIARY
HOW IT WORKS GUIDING GEAR

AUXILIARY

EDS maglev
SUPPORTING GEAR

COMPRESSOR UNIT IN
CAR-MOUNTED HELIUM
There are two main types of REFRIGERATION SYSTEM
maglev train that use
magnetism in different ways. BOGIE FRAME
Electromagnetic suspension
(EMS) uses C-shaped arms AIR SPRING
that wrap underneath the track.
Electromagnets on the
underside pull the train up by
attracting the arms to the
bottom of the track.
Electrodynamic suspension
(EDS), pictured here, uses the
trains motion to induce
magnetic eddy currents in the BEAMS
metal rail, which creates a LIQUID HELIUM
cushion of magnetic repulsion.
The sides of the track have REFRIGERATOR
magnetic coils built in, which LEVITATION
create an overlapping pattern GUIDANCE COIL
RADIATION SHIELD
of alternating north and south
magnetic fields. To accelerate,
the train rapidly alternates the
direction of its own
SUPPORTER
supercooled magnetic coils to
attract the front of the train to SUPERCONDUCTING COIL
the next coil along the rail. PROPULSION COIL

WHEEL SUPPORT PATH

How long will the man-made

objects on the Moon last?
It has been estimated that there are more than
180 tonnes of man-made material on the
Moon, ranging from bags of human body
waste to crashed spacecraft. But there is very
PHOTO: NASA ILLUSTRATION: PHIL ELLIS

little to affect this material no wind, pollution

or water to erode, rust, dissolve or abrade it
although the action of sunlight, particularly UV
radiation, has probably already bleached the
US flags left there by the Apollo astronauts.
While the constant bombardment by energetic
micrometeorites is likely to gradually erode this
material over time, current research suggests it
could survive for up to 100 million years! AG

Vol. 8 Issue 6 87
 &

Can microwaves change the

molecular structure of food?
Yes. When you microwave a piece of chicken,
energy from the microwaves causes the
protein molecules to vibrate faster. This
can break the hydrogen bonds and sulphur
bridges that give the protein chains their
specific three-dimensional shape. With
a piece of bread, a high enough dose of
microwaves will cause the starch and protein
molecules to break down and react with each
other to create dozens of complex organic
molecules. When you put food under the grill, the surface of the food, which gets brown
you are cooking it with infrared waves, which and crispy. Microwaves tend to spread their
are part of the electromagnetic spectrum energy more evenly throughout the food,
just like microwaves. The difference is that so it cooks before the outside becomes
infrared rays have a longer wavelength that brown, but the basic chemistry is much the
doesnt penetrate as far into the food. Most same. There are no chemical reactions unique
of the energy therefore gets deposited at to food cooked in a microwave. LV

HEAD TO HEAD

Why are
vs some people
so hairy?
PHOTOS: NASA, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, ISTOCK ILLUSTRATOR: SAM FALCONER

UK SMOKERS UK DRINKERS
10 Number of (millions) 24 Hair growth in humans is complicated
and influenced by several different
genes and hormones. The prevailing
US$14bn TAXES RAISED (per yr) US$14.5bn theory is that we evolved to have
less hair than primates because our
ancestors evolved sweating as a
US$3bn COST TO NHS (per yr) US$5bn strategy to keep cool on the African
savannah, and too much hair gets
in the way of sweating. But the
450,000 HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS (yr) 1,100,000 evolutionary reasons why hairiness
varies with ethnicity are unclear.
Caucasian people are generally hairier
100,000 DEATHS (yr) 6,600 than the Japanese, for example, even
though testosterone levels are the
Which is worse - smoking or drinking? As alcohol-related violence and drink driving. And same. The difference seems to be in
an individual, cigarettes are much more smoking rates have almost halved since 1974, how sensitive the hair follicles are to
likely to kill you eventually, but alcohol can whereas average alcohol consumption figures those testosterone levels. LV
kill you at any age; through binge drinking, have fallen much more slowly.

88 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 Werewolf
syndrome, or
hypertrichosis,
causes thick hair
to grow over
the body
Why do we talk in our sleep?
When we are sleeping, there is a
brain mechanism that stops the
neural activity associated with
dreaming from triggering speech or
body movements. But this system
isnt perfect, and sometimes
signals can get through. This can
lead to mumbling and groaning
and sometimes even proper
speech (and sleep walking).
Are public Wi-Fi networks safe?
PHOTOS: ISTOCK, GETTY X4, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
No Wi-Fi network is completely
safe if you have the wrong
settings on your phone or
computer. When you browse
http pages, you are transmitting
and receiving unencrypted text;
this makes it easy to intercept,
making your passwords
vulnerable. Only https pages
are secure. If you have Sharing
The content of sleep talking
can be complex and is usually
grammatically correct. It may be
influenced by recent events in the
sleepers life, but can be strange
and nonsensical. Sleep talking is
usually benign, although stress
and other psychological problems
can increase the likelihood of it
occurring. CJ
enabled on your computer, it
is possible to access your files
or even remotely log on to your
system. For these reasons its
best to keep Sharing switched
off, your Firewall turned on, and
do not browse sensitive websites
on public networks. If you have to
do so regularly, you should use a
Virtual Private Network (VPN). PB
Vol. 8 Issue 6 89
 &
Whats the difference
between viruses,
trojans and worms?
A virus is a nasty piece of software that is
inserted into a normal piece of software, just
as a biological virus infects a cell. When the
normal software is run, the virus copies itself
into other software while also doing unwanted
things such as recording keystrokes to steal
passwords. A trojan is similar, but it does not
replicate itself. It hides inside a seemingly
innocuous program run the program and the
trojan wreaks havoc, from deleting your files to
giving hackers access to your system. A worm
is an independent program that replicates on
its own, typically spreading across networks
and causing major disruption to systems. PB
Why do planes have to be de-iced?
Planes are designed to cope with
extremes of temperature, allowing
them to take off from searingly hot
desert runways before cruising in the
bitter -55C cold of the stratosphere
just minutes later. Yet even the most
sophisticated aircraft can be put at risk
by freezing conditions. When ice builds
up along the leading edges of the wings
it changes their shape and thus their
90 Vol. 8 Issue 6
W H AT C O N N E C T S
Fridges to frying pans
1.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
are organic molecules with a
low boiling point. Before they
were discovered to deplete
the ozone layer, CFCs
were widely used as the
refrigerant gas in fridges.
2.
The company that first
used CFCs in fridges was
Kinetic Chemicals, owned by
General Motors and DuPont.
They trademarked their
particular blend of CFC
compounds as Freon
(pictured) in 1930.
3.
PHOTOS: BAE SYSTEMS, ALAMY, GETTY, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY X2 ILLUSTRATION: PHIL ELLIS
In 1938, a DuPont researcher called
Roy Plunkett found his gas cylinders
of the CFC tetrafluoroethylene
were clogged with a white slippery
substance. The iron cylinder was
catalysing the CFC into
4.
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
DuPont
trademarked
PTFE as
ability to generate lift. Aircraft are fitted with Teflon. It
de-icing systems, but in severe conditions wasnt
even these can be inadequate, requiring until 1954
the application of high-pressure blasts that French
of antifreeze. Failure to use them can be engineer Marc
disastrous. In 1982, ice on the wings of a Grgoire tried using
Boeing 737 taking off from Washington it as a non-stick coating on
DC prevented it from climbing adequately. frying pans. The company
It crashed into the frozen Potomac river, Tefal was named after Teflon
killing 74 passengers and crew. RM and aluminium.
W H AT I S T H I S ?

Osteosarcoma cells
These human osteosarcoma cells
were viewed using a light microscope.
A stain has been applied to show the
structure of the cells. Osteosarcomas
are malignant cancerous bone
tumours, most frequently seen in
children and young adults.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 91
 &
T O P 10

Top 10 wettest Regions of the UK in 2015

Could captured CO2 be We cant just chuck carbon
dioxide into the oceans to

stored in the deep ocean? prevent global warming

1. Western Scotland
Actual rainfall: 2,254.1mm
Difference from 1961-1990 Capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) to stop it
average: 135%
boosting global warming seems like a
good idea, but raises the problem of
2. Northern Scotland where to store the stuff. One
Actual rainfall: 1,980.5mm low-cost solution is simply to pump
Difference from 1961-1990 it into the deep ocean, but CO2 is
average: 123%
toxic to marine life and would also
combine with the seawater
3. Northwest England to produce an acid, which
and North Wales would pose unknown
Actual rainfall: 1,576mm environmental risks.
Difference from 1961-1990
average: 123%
Underground or sub-seabed
storage are thought be less
risky options. RM
4. Eastern Scotland
Actual rainfall: 1,367.7mm
Difference from 1961-1990
average: 123%

Why does garlic give you bad breath?

5. Southwest England
and South Wales
Actual rainfall: 1,304.5mm Garlic contains a chemical bloodstream intact. This
Difference from 1961-1990
average: 108% called allyl cysteine means that it can diffuse out
sulphoxide or alliin. When a through your lungs into the
raw garlic clove is crushed or air you exhale for up to two
6. North England chopped, an enzyme in the days. Brushing your teeth
Actual rainfall: 1,118.8mm
Difference from 1961-1990
garlic cells is released that has only limited effect
average: 119% reacts in a matter of seconds because the chemical is still
with the alliin to produce a in your blood. LV
chemical called allicin. This
7. Northeast and breaks down into lots of
East England other chemicals, most of
Actual rainfall: 841.4mm
Difference from 1961-1990
them stinky. Nearly all of
average: 112% these chemicals are broken
down in your stomach and

PHOTOS: ALAMY, GETTY X2, ISTOCK ILLUSTRATION: PHIL ELLIS

liver, but allyl methyl sulphide
8. Midlands is one that survives to be
Actual rainfall: 798.1mm
Difference from 1961-1990 absorbed into the
average: 103%

9. South England
Actual rainfall: 758.2mm
Difference from 1961-1990
average: 99%

10. Southeast
England
Actual rainfall: 756.6mm
Difference from 1961-1990
average: 99%

92 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 W H O R E A L LY I N V E N T E D

What happens to lost body THE TELEPHONE

fat when we lose weight?

Fatty acids are

broken down
into smaller
molecules and
fed to the
power plants
of our cells, the
mitochondria
(pictured)
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL ANTONIO MEUCCI

Credit is usually given to the Scottish-

Our fat is stored as
triglycerides. When we
need it for energy, enzymes in
the blood break it down into fatty acid
chains and glycerol. The fatty acids are
absorbed by cells and broken down into
even smaller molecules and fed to our
mitochondria (the
power plants of our cells).
The ultimate waste products of
this complex sequence are just CO2 and
water, which we breathe out. So when you
exercise, you are turning fat into puffing and
panting. LV
born scientist and engineer Alexander
Graham Bell, who was granted a US
patent for what he called an acoustic
telegraph in 1875. His claim comes
complete with the famous story of Bell
using his invention to call his colleague
in the next room with the words: Mr
Watson, come here I want to see
you. Yet like many major inventions,
whether Bell deserves all the credit has
long been the subject of debate, not
least over what exactly constitutes a

Why do
true telephone. For example, some
historians point out that Italian engineer

sneezes come
Antonio Meucci and German inventor
Philipp Reis independently invented

in twos or telephone-like devices that achieved

the key breakthrough of turning sound

threes? into electric signals over a decade

before Bell. In 2002, the US House of
Representatives accepted that
Meuccis work was so important that it
Sneezing is a way for your could have been enough to prevent
body to reset the nasal Bell getting a patent. Over the years,
environment by getting rid Bells right to any credit has been
of any irritating particles challenged by evidence that he
and restoring the correct plagiarised key parts of his design.
level of mucus either too
much mucus or too little
can trigger a sneeze. For a
single sneeze to guarantee
to shift any possible irritant,
it would have to be
PHOTO: ISTOCK, GETTY X2

dangerously powerful.
Sneezes already expel air
at 160km/h (100mph), so
its safer to just chain a few
sneezes together if the first
doesnt do the job. LV

Vol. 8 Issue 6 93
 &
QUESTION OF THE MONTH

Why does Uranus orbit the Sun on its side? The reason for this is not
known for sure. The most
likely cause is that Uranus
South pole will be in sunlight
collided with a large object
for 42 Earth years soon after its formation.
The problem with this
explanation is that if the
NORTH
planetary system were
disrupted by a single
SOUTH
impact it would result in
the moons of Uranus
having retrograde orbits
N (orbiting in the opposite
direction to the spin of the
S planet). However, this is
SUN not what is observed.
Encouragingly, the latest
research suggests that
two or more impacts with
Earth-sized protoplanets
South pole will be could result in exactly the
in darkness for kind of orbits displayed by
42 Earth years
Uranuss moons. AG

IN NUMBERS
After 10 days of going

300 Why are habits

cold turkey, James was
now 48 hours into his
nose-picking binge

so hard to break?
hours
of video are uploaded to Habits are behaviours that we

35
YouTube every minute perform automatically, especially in
response to a prompt, such as a

PHOTOS: ALAMY, GETTY X2, ISTOCK ILLUSTRATION: PHIL ELLIS

particular place or time of day.
Theyre so tricky to break because
they usually happen without any
thought, a bit like a reflex. One
solution is to identify the trigger that
cues your habit, and either avoid it
somehow (for example, dont leave

metres
is the height of the tallest
the buscuit tin out on display), or plan
in advance an alternative action,
known as an if-then plan, such as If
I see a croissant in the cafe, then I will
Lego structure it was built buy an apple instead. Easier said
outside St Stephens Basilica than done! CJ
in Budapest and contains
around 450,000 bricks

94 Vol. 8 Issue 6

02
EMBRACE OUR
MORTALITY
In his new book Death On Earth, Jules Howard
explores death in the animal kingdom, asking what
it can tell us about our own approach to death. He
talks to JAMES LLOYD
Why did you decide to write a
book about death?
I spent about three years looking at the
evolution of sex [for my last book] and I
realised that sex in the animal kingdom is
heavily influenced by the chances of death
death is always there in the background.
So I decided to investigate this. But what
starts off as a journey into the evolution
of life in the shadow of death turns into a
broader exploration of mortality.
What was the most memorable
experience you had while writing
your book?
I visited a field where forensic scientists do
pathological investigations on dead pigs to
study how corpses decompose. It was just
fascinating to see the myriad of life forms
that have made death their home clown
beetles, rove beetles, parasitic wasps,
maggots. What I thought would be a rancid,
stench-filled hellhole actually turned out to
be a fireworks show.
What was the most challenging
part of your book to write?
It was the chapter about how and to
what degree animals perceive death.
Were famously told about elephants and
chimpanzees mourning, but these are
often anecdotes its very hard to assess
A feast for the mind
Resource
whats going on in the animals minds. I
went to a donkey sanctuary and talked
to the scientists about how the donkeys
often display distress when they lose a
stablemate. But is this true grieving and
mourning, or are these just human labels?
Death is one of the last taboos
in human society. Why do you
think that we find it so difficult
to talk about?
I think as a species we have a degree of
narcissism and self-importance, and any
reminder that were a temporary blip in the
history of life is difficult to deal with. And
thats fair enough. Perhaps one of the things
that makes us most human is our inability to
properly get our heads around the fact that
were going to die.
Did writing your book change the way
you think about death?
Well, I have a will now! This is going to
sound like a clich, but being immersed
in death hasnt made me depressed its
been really life-affirming, in a way I hadnt
predicted.
Death On Earth: Adventures in
Evolution and Mortality
by Jules Howard
PHOTO: GETTY
is published on 10 March
Donkeys are known to
show distress when their
friends die
Vol. 8 Issue 6 95
Witty Viewpoint
LAUGHTER
When the tribe laughs at you, theyre
really telling you never to do that again
hich will come first: a universal theory that unites quantum
W mechanics and the General Theory of Relativity, or a
scientifically scrupulous theory of humour, where laughter
and the underpinning of all jokes is explained in a single, pithy
sentence? My money remains on the universal theory.
Why are they laughing? is the question of the paranoid man
and the lecturer in anthropology. Humour studies is accused of
being humourless, but its still fun to think about what makes
something funny. Unlike biochemistry or cosmology, I dont
think an objective and scientifically accurate theory of comedy is
necessary, though jokes can help us to understand the structure of
our brains, the nature of artificial intelligence and what it means to
be human.
So why do we laugh? Maybe a good place to start is with a
couple things that make me laugh. As a teenager, comedy was my
obsession. I fell off my chair laughing at Rik Mayall stepping in dog
poo in More Bad News. Ive watched it over 50 times, and still it
makes me laugh.
My other laughing-until-apoplectic highlight was Billy Connolly
re-enacting the experience of bathing in the North Sea. His
impression of the involuntary noise that comes out of your mouth
as the cold sea touches your genitals was the funniest noise in the
world to me.
Why would I experience near-death by joyful asphyxiation when
seeing and hearing these things? With Connollys anguished cry,
it may partly be the laughter of recognition. When we recognise
ourselves in a comedians routine, were united with whoever else is
watching or listening. Being a self-conscious being on a small planet
can be a lonely, alienating business. This moment of laughter says,
You are not alone. Thats why people can be so furious when
they dont get a joke; the noise of laughter is really an accusatory
cry of You are not one of us.
Rik Mayalls pratfall into poop may fall into the category of how

MAIN ILLUSTRATION: JAMIE COE PORTRAIT: KATE COPELAND

laughter educates through shame. Its an evolutionary thing. No
one likes being laughed at, so when the tribe laughs at you, theyre
really telling you never to do that again. Its a way of controlling the
behaviour of the group. The clumsy man on the mammoth hunt
who slips on his own spear and ends up piercing his bottom is not
very useful, so it makes more sense to laugh at him while hes still
slipping in dung, before its developed into the sort of behaviour
that sees him impaling himself.
Laughter also offers solace during repression. When youre under
the cosh, and physical rebellion is not an option, each joke you punchlines in the pub wont be any better.
make at the expense of the oppressor is a secret little victory. Then So maybe we should stop thinking about it and just enjoy the
theres the theory that a punchline works by producing a twist in laughter. After all, in the words of Billy Connolly, Good hearty
behaviour that delivers the unexpected, which makes me wonder laughter its just the most extraordinary thing you can do for a
how quantum physicists manage to get anything done when they fellow human being..
must be perpetually blinded by tears of laughter.
I delight in pondering humour theories, but in the end, I realise Robin Ince is a comedian and writer who presents, with Prof Brian Cox, the BBC Radio 4 series
that even when the most rigorous comedy research is complete, the The Infinite Monkey Cage.

96 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 SCIENCE

MY LIFE SCIENTIFIC
EDZARD ERNST
A report commissioned by Prince Charles
claimed no end of dangerous nonsense
Both my father and grandfather were doctors, so in a way
I was destined to become a medic too. But before I studied
medicine, I studied psychology and became a musician. I played
the clarinet, saxophone and drums. For a long time, I considered
myself a professional jazzer and an amateur medic!

My first medical job was at a homeopathic hospital in

Munich. When you are studying medicine you dont have time to
think critically because there is so much to take in, so I was actually
quite impressed with what I saw.

When I took a job as a researcher, it changed my life.

It turned me into a scientist and a critical thinker.

I never look for controversy, but there have been a few

times when Ive found myself in the thick of it. The first
was when I was professor at the Medical Faculty of Vienna.
I did some research into the Nazi occupation of Austria
and disclosed how the Nazi cleansing of the
medical faculty led to unspeakable atrocities.
Austria wasnt ready for this, and I felt like the evil
spirit hadnt quite vanished from my own faculty.

In 1993 I moved to England to take up my

position at Exeter University. I expected
a peaceful backwater and had no idea how
contentious the new job would turn out to be.

I tried to rigorously test alternative

medicine and keep a low profile, but
after about 15 years of research I became
more outspoken. At this stage, it was blatantly
obvious that well over 90 per cent of the claims
made by enthusiasts were not just wrong but often
dangerous too. Disclosing this undeniable fact
was nothing less than my duty, but it did not exactly
increase my popularity.

In 2005, I couldnt help but criticise a report that

Prince Charles had commissioned which claimed
no end of dangerous nonsense. Charles secretary filed
an official complaint. The worst for me was the abominable lack of
support from my own university. I was treated as guilty until proven I write something almost every day. It helps me to relax.
ILLUSTRATION: PETER STRAIN

innocent. Although in the end I was cleared of any wrongdoing, it
led to the closure of my research unit.
Im quite a shy person. I think more than I talk. Sometimes
I can be stubborn, but I try to be honest and sometimes brave. Last
year, I was awarded the John Maddox Prize for Standing Up For
Science. Im really chuffed with that. So much of my life has been
about defending science, transparency and integrity.
I have my blog and I continue to publish books. I also have two
drum kits at home. Sometimes I join my old band, The Jazz Kids,
and we play together. Considering our age, we should perhaps
rename ourselves as The Swinging Zimmerframes!
EDZARD ERNST is a qualified doctor and rigorously researches alternative medicine.
He is also editor-in-chief of two journals.

Vol. 8 Issue 6 97
The Last Word

irst thing every morning I go

F through the same ritual. I stand on
the bathroom scales to check if my
weight is below 73kg. If its not, my day is
pretty much ruined. But if it is, I feel happy
for, oh, as long as 30 seconds. The reason:
73kg is the weight above which someone of
my height becomes an official, certified fatty.
Health experts put it slightly more politely: its
the weight that, when expressed in kilograms
and divided by the square of my height in
metres, gives a Body Mass Index (BMI) in
excess of 25 which classifies as overweight.
And that, in turn, means Id face a greater risk
of ill health and an early death.
Is it any wonder, then, that I feel
depressed when the digital display of the
scales flashes up 73kg followed by a 68kg
(or, if its Sunday morning, 80kg)?
Yes it is, because I feel happy or depressed despite
having known for years that the whole ritual is nonsense.
The BMI is, bluntly, pure bull.
The idea of a simple formula that separates the lean-and-
healthy from the fat-and-doomed is undoubtedly alluring. It
has its origins in research carried out more than 150 years ago
by Adolphe Quetelet, a Belgian statistician obsessed with the idea
that human traits follow mathematical laws. After studying data on
human development, he argued that human weights are typically
proportional to the square of height. Quetelet didnt have decent
scientific explanation for this; his law just fitted the data. whose fighting weight BMI makes him a flabby 28.4 (you can tell

MAIN ILLUSTRATION: ADAM GALE PORTRAIT: KATE COPELAND

That didnt matter too much until the early 1970s, when the
influential American public health researcher Ancel Keys made
Quetelets formula the basis of research into obesity. Keys coined
the term Body Mass Index, and its remained central to research
into obesity ever since.
Yet its always been clear that the BMI can be very misleading. Sure,
people who are unhealthily fat tend to have large BMIs but you cant
simply flip that around and insist that having a large BMI means youre
unhealthily fat. Thats like arguing that because everyone with Ebola
starts with a fever, everyone with a fever has Ebola.
This isnt just logical nitpicking. If you calculate the BMIs
of world-class rugby players, boxers and the like, they often
end up categorised as waddling fatties an obvious absurdity.
Thats because muscle is denser than fat, so if youre healthy but
powerfully built, youll end up with the BMI implying youre
overweight.
You dont have to be professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko,
him), to fall foul of the formula. There is a heap of evidence that
shows BMI fails miserably for the rest of us too.
The latest comes from researchers at the University of California,
who compared the calculated BMIs of over 40,000 people with actual
measurements of health markers like blood pressure.
The research study showed that nearly half of those who were
classified as overweight had perfectly good health marker levels.
And the flipside was also true: more than 30 per cent of
those with BMI values in the healthy range proved to have dodgy
health markers.
Id bet I fall into this latter category. Yet somehow I cant stop
putting my trust in Keys simple yet patently silly formula. The
trouble is, neither can health policymakers and until they do,
many of us will remain self-deluded fatties.
ROBERT MATTHEWS is Visiting Professor in Science at Aston University, Birmingham

98 Vol. 8 Issue 6
 AMERICAS ROCKY MOUNTAINS LOCAL ROME VICTORIA EXTRAORDINARY STAYS
Win! A 2-NIGHTS STAY*
CITY AT A GLANCE AT THE

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 3
LAGUNA HOLIDAY
The birthplace of Japanese CLUB PHUKET
RESORT
tradition and culture
in Kyoto
E X T R A O R D I N A RY P L A C E S T O S TAY

place s to stay
Extraordinary

MAGAZINE
ASIA
A good hotel, much like a good relationship, boasts equal parts
comfort and excitement, intrigue and indulgence, while fulfilling the needs
and interests of both parties. For oenophiles seeking a couples retreat, a
boutique hotel amidst lush aromatic vineyards may be the perfect getaway.

MAY/
Urban dwellers who catch themselves marvelling at historical architecture
may prefer staying in culturally-rich abodes. Whether you seek a private
respite or a fairytale setting, here are some home-away-from-home options

JUNE 2016
for that next great romantic escape.

Win!
WORDS JOSMIN ONG
MAY/JUNE 2016

A 2-NIGHTS STAY* AT

Great Escape THE LAGUNA HOLIDAY

CLUB PHUKET

Rocky
RESORT
local Rome

Mountains
LOCALS ROME

78 MAY/JUNE 2016

E X T R A O R D I N A RY P L A C E S T O S TAY
p78-81_Extraordinary Stays.indd 78 4/27/16 4:53 PM

HOTEL DANIELI
Venice, Italy
LOCALS ROME

WHAT IS THE EXOTIC EXPERIENCE? Fans of

Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp might be thrilled
to know that the A-listers have filmed in this
very establishment for The Tourist, a romantic
thriller. Part of The Luxury Collection, Hotel
Danieli is a patrimony of Venetian excellence

Americas most stirring

and dominates the Venetian lagoon as it sits
steps away from the Bridge of Sighs and the
famous monuments of Piazza San Marco. Be Cobbled Via dei Cap-
whisked away into the contemporary comforts pellari in the district of
of the hotel as you learn about its precious art Parione. Right Flavio,
and antiques that play witness to the citys owner of Flavio Al Ve-
CEYLON TEA TRAILS history, evident through its paintings and dcor
around the hotel.
lavevodetto, carries two
local pasta dishes from his

national parks offer seasonal

Sri Lanka kitchen
WILL I BE CONVINCED? Though there are
WHAT IS THE EXOTIC EXPERIENCE? Stay within the worlds first bungalow resort perched at many rooms and suites to choose from, we
an altitude of 1250m atop Sri Lankas panoramic Ceylon tea region, which borders on the World highly recommend the Doge Dandolo Royal An 18th-century sacred
Heritage Central Highlands. A residential tea planter will bring you on a journey of the age-old Suite. Covering an impressive 150sqm and with fresco outside the
Church of SantEgidio.
tea making process from trekking through dense jungle to picking the best tea leaves and later a coveted corner position on the Piano Nobile of
Right A cat poses out-
on, learning the art of making a good brew of tea. Pampered with tea-infused cuisine, tea-based Palazzo Dandolo, this is undoubtedly the hotels side an antiques shop in
GREAT ESCAPE ROCKY MOUNTAINS KYOTO VICTORIA

spa treatments and trekking trails that traverse tea-blanketed hills, you will literally lose yourself crown jewel. Wake up to 180-degree views of Trastevere. Opposite

activities galore
in the romantic fragrance of tea. the Venice lagoon and explore the original an artfully positioned
antique furnishings, fabrics, paintings and Vespa
WILL I BE CONVINCED? This iconic property is the first Relais & Chateaux resort in Sri Lanka chandeliers that brings life to the room.
and holds a total of five restored colonial era bungalows, coupled with gracious butler service and
gourmet cuisines. Enjoy a relaxing weekend against the idyllic backdrop of mountains, lakes and RATE: US$575++ per night
waterfalls within the comfort of your private bungalow. Go on foot and enjoy the hikes and clear
waters of the rivers as you kayak through them. Mountain biking through tea valleys, croquet, danielihotelvenice.com
tennis and whitewater rafting are also available for adventurous couples.

RATE: US$665++ PER NIGHT

resplendentceylon.com/teatrails
PHOTOGRAPHS: CEYLON TEA TRAILS, HOTEL DANIELI

52 MAY/JUNE 2016

MAY/JUNE 2016 79
p46-57_Local Rome.indd 52 4/26/16 7:37 PM

p78-81_Extraordinary Stays.indd 79 4/27/16 4:53 PM

Great Escape
* What to do, Make it perfect in Americas
eat & see Rocky Mountains

* Best spots to

ROME
AMERICAN ROCKIES

rest your head Plan your trip

1 2 3 4
* Maps included
Before exploring Colorados Elk herds and hardy Bison graze as
the Rockies, fuel up Rocky souls forge tracks boiling fountains
in Boulder, a city Mountain through the snow in erupt in an ever-changing
making the most of its National Park is Wyomings Jackson landscape that few
mountainside environment decked out in its winter Hole, in the shadow of experience in the cold
in its off-time and its finest, when the forest takes Grand Teton (p46). theres nowhere quite like
mealtimes (p42). on a secretive allure (p43). Yellowstone (p48).

The Eternal City through the eyes of its locals

MAP ILLUSTRATION: ALEX VERHILLE. PHOTOGRAPHS: SANDRA LEIDHOLDT/GETTY IMAGES, HOLGER LEUE/GETTY IMAGES, MATT NAGER PHOTOGRAPHY, RAY ROPER/GETTY IMAGES
TAKING THE HIGH ROAD SGD 7.50
RM 20
NT 270
03

Wine and dine in Victorias High Country

RP 75.000
A PUBLICATION OF

THB 195 9 7 7 2 0 1 0 0 8 2 0 1 7
MCI (P) 116/09/2015, PPS 1747/12/2012(022909)

TRAVEL MADE EASY

AMERICAN ROCKIES

6 MINI GUIDES RIO DE JANEIRO ATLANTA HONG KONG PRAGUE STOCKHOLM TYROL
Great Escape
R O C K Y
38 MAY/JUNE 2016 M O U N T A I N S
Winter has an awesome beauty in the American Rockies: explore a small
but star-studded stretch in Colorado and Wyoming, starting with a capital
of craft beer, before heading into the mountains for snowshoe hikes,
p37-51_AmericanRockie.indd 38 4/27/16 4:05 PM

wildlife-rich national parks and the planets most spectacular geysers

WORDS RORY GOULDING @RGouldingTravel l PHOTOGRAPHS PETE SEAWARD @Petersphotos

A view towards
4,011-metre-high Taylor
Peak, one of the points
along the Continental
cover-v7i3-Final.indd 1 4/28/16 3:31 PM

G R E AT E S C A P E
Divide of the Americas,
inside Colorados
snowbound Rocky
Mountain National Park

Short
breaks you
can book
MAY/JUNE 2016 37

p37-51_AmericanRockie.indd 37 4/27/16 4:05 PM

now

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