ISSUE 37

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VERY brain entertainment

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he quest for knowledge
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WHAT HAPPENS good
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p.28

WHAT FOOD
WHY PETS ARE GOOD FOR YOU IS GOOD
How
FOR YOU?
long
can a
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human MAY HAAVE YOU
HAVE U
hold
his or her ON
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breath p.16
for?
fo ?
DO SOCIAL
NETWORKS
p.52 MAKE US p.24
ANTISOCIAL?
Plus:
Price R47.90 | €7.00 | £4.90

• Do elephants really never forget?

I
pp.60
In association with • Why do the centres of galaxies
SADC countries: R41,02 (Excl. TAX)

contain black holes?

SCIENCE • What is the deepest lake on Earth?

ISSUE 37 SEPT/OCT 2017

• Why does yeast make bread rise?

When willll
Whe
machines think
WORLD • Who really invented the telescope?
• Why do we dream more in specific places? for themselves?
 SMC Pneumatics (South Africa) Pty Ltd

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 Focus

Sturdy wind
n aerial drone captured this image of
A construction workers as they assembled the
foundations of a wind turbine near Jacobsdorf,
eastern Germany. The foundations, made of
metal and concrete, need to be able to withstand
the huge mass of the structure, as well as any
vibrations of the tower. Wind power comprises
around 13% of Germany’s total power. The country
is currently in the midst of its ‘energiewende’, or
energy transition, as it attempts to eliminate the
use of fossil fuels by 2050.

37/2017 1
 thisissue
VERY

VI@panorama.co.za
@V_I_mag (Twitter)
VeryInterestingmag (Facebook) p.16

For better
or worse
In putting together this edition, we
found ourselves regularly faced with
needing to make a call about
something being good or bad. This
made us think about the many
shades of grey that make up our
everyday decision-making processes,
which was fairly distracting as we
found that most people are often
willing to embrace what’s most
convenient rather than what’s most
p.60
worthwhile.
But enough with the philosophy: in
this issue, there is insight and NATURE
information that will help you make
your own good versus bad decisions 8 Can bees play football?
in a number of areas. Who should Research that gives a new meaning to ‘stinging
you believe when it comes to the the hands of the goalkeeper’.
health benefits of coffee, alcohol or
red meat (read Is anything good for SPACE
you any more? on page 16 to find
out)? Or consider whether your 9 Was ‘snowball Earth’ caused by a
decision to own a dog should be perfect storm of fire and ice?
based on considerably more than the It’s a question, but it also sounds like a hotel
amount of fur on the couch (in Your advert ...
dogtor will see you now on page 28).
And tear yourself away from MEDICINE ENVIRONMENT
Facebook for long enough to get
involved in the debate about the 10 What causes antibiotic resistance? 11 What could we expect from a
impact of social networks on our Can you hear the bacteria sing? Singing the magnitude 10 earthquake?
lives (read Do social networks make songs of angry bacteria ... A change of pants, certainly.
us antisocial? on page 52).
If all this complexity gives you a SCIENCE
headache, don’t stress – humans will
p.50
all be gone one day. And we have 12 What is emulsion paint?
that covered, too – in Life after man, Know how much trouble you’re in when your kid
on page 42. paints your couches.
Go forth and be good – or at least,
with your newfound knowledge, a SPACE
little better. And keep your
questions coming to VI@panorama. 13 Is the US flag still on the moon?
co.za. Also, take advantage of our Litterbugs – what are you gonna do?
subscription deals at www.coolmags.
co.za/product/vi/. BODY
Bruce Dennill 15 Why are human brains so big?
Editor Well, where else are you going to store all the
fascinating facts in these pages?

2 37/2017
thisissue
p.42

PSYCHOLOGY
15 Why can’t we remember early life?
This question was first asked years ago ...

FOOD
24 Why are some foods so widely disliked?
We can’t all have had a bad experience with baked
beans, surely?

ENVIRONMENT
25 Are rainforests being replanted?
Tree-mendous efforts are needed.

HISTORY
40 Looking back at the future
A popular science book from 1988 made some incredibly
accurate predictions about modern innovations. PLUS
Q
All the questions you didn’t know you
wanted the answer to including:
Do elephants really never forget? Q Who really invented the
Q What time zones are used at the telescope?
INTERVIEW North and South Poles? Q What is the dodo’s closest living
70 An impudent effort Q What’s the inside of a kangaroo’s relative?
Terence Tracey drove from Johannesburg to London in a pouch like? Q What’s the neurological
50-year-old car. Q Why do the centres of galaxies difference between anaesthesia
contain black holes? and sleep?
Q What is the current death/birth Q Why do we dream more in some
p.36 rate ratio in the world per year? places than others?
Q What is the deepest lake on
Earth?
Q What’s the longest a human can
hold their breath underwater?
Q How large does an object have to
be for something to orbit it?
Q Why does yeast make bread rise?
Q Why were dinosaurs so big?
Q Why are some plastics recyclable
while others are not?
Q How does the atmosphere rotate
with the Earth?

4 37/2017
 interesting
the quest for knowledge
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6 37/2017

Dark side of the
moon
7There are many moons in our
solar system. However, it seems
as if our moon is the only one
that does not rotate on its own
axis – always showing us only
one side. Why is this?
Bernard Vorster, Southbroom
This is a common misconception
due to the fact that the moon
experiences synchronous
rotation. The moon takes
plants flowering months earlier
than normal.
In theory, it shouldn’t be
impossible to recreate the
triggers for a plant’s seasonal
change. You need to supply a
correctly controlled environment,
though, meeting all of the plant’s
triggers for seasonal change.
Plants such as daffodils and
other bulbs and branches from
certain spring-flowering trees and
shrubs can be tricked into
blooming early, providing spring
flowers in winter.
In trees, three pigments control
leaf colour:
7 Chlorophyll determines the
green.
7 Carotenoid determines, yellow,
orange and brown.
7 Anthocyans determine red.
When sunlight hours are reduced
going into autumn and winter,
deciduous plants respond by
producing less chlorophyll,
eventually stopping production.
Then the carotenoid already in
the leaves finally shows through,
with the leaves becoming a bright
rainbow of golden yellows, bright
Questions, suggestions or observations? Share them with us:
A Editor, Very Interesting, Private Bag x4, Kyalami, 1684 A Twitter: @V_I_mag
A Email: VI@panorama.co.za
Please include your name and address. The editor reserves the right to shorten and edit letters.
27.322 days to orbit the Earth,
while also taking 27.3 days to
complete a revolution on its own
axis. This creates the impression
that the moon stays completely
still, showing only one side to us.
The side that we see is called the
near side of the moon, while the
‘back’ side of the moon is called
the far side or sometimes the
dark side. While the dark side
sounds intriguing, it is not
factually correct: during the new
moon phase, when the moon is
oranges and warm browns. The
reds in leaves are produced by
anthocyans. While days are warm
the leaves produce sugar that
during the cooler nights can
prevent the sap from flowing out
of the leaves. Anthocyans are
protectors that allow the plant to
get the sap before the leaves fall.
The right weather conditions
produce a magnificent display of
red leaves in many parts of the
world, delighting artists and
gardeners alike.
Walking back to
happiness
7How many steps does the
average person take in their
lifetime?
Louise Olivier, via email
According to Snowbrains.com, the
moderately active, average person
takes about 7,500 steps per day.
Averaging that out with a life
expectancy of 80 years gives us a
total of 216,262,500 steps in a
lifetime. This equals the
approximate distance of five
completed equatorial circuits
Spinning plates; a
beginner’s guide
@V_I_mag
The brains trust
Join our social media
network today.
7 Cynthia Kingston
Your articles are fascinating
Shorts – I love facts.
7 Lewis Nkbande
A A lunar day lasts 708 I always learn something new
hours. with your magazine.
A The moon is moving
7 Mark Schenkler
away from the Earth at The Issue 36 cover freaked me
approximately 3.8cm
per year. out, then made me laugh!
A The moon is 3,475km 7 Thandi Magagula
in diameter and is the Your story about teens got a
fifth largest natural long conversation going
satellite in the solar between me and my daughter.
system. 7 Henny Smit
situated between the Earth Love space stories – thought
and the sun, the far side of your Back To The Moon story
the moon is bathed in light. was so good.
Like us on Facebook (Very
around the globe – an impressive Interesting), follow us on Twitter
feat. (@V_I_mag) and ask a question at
Walking is said to be the best way VI@panorama.co.za.
of reducing the risk of heart
disease, lowering diabetes, steps per day. This extra exercise
managing weight, reducing stress, equated to 20 minutes of
extending life expectancy and moderate walking.
improving bone and joint health,
among other benefits.
The USA National Academy of
Sports Medicine suggests the
following tips for walking to
improve your health:
7 Walk tall, with good posture.
7 Keep your chest upright.
7 Have your arms slightly bent at
around a 90° angle to help pump
as you walk. Occasionally shake
them out to keep blood flowing to
all extremities.
7 Be sure not to over-stride. Walk
within your comfort zone.
7 Focus on controlled breathing
patterns.
The results of new research from a
trial called Navigator were recently
published in Lancet. Scientists
determined that people showing
warning signs of pre-diabetes
lowered their chance of heart
problems by taking an extra 2,000
37/2017 7

7NATURE
Footballing bees shed
new light on insect
intelligence
e bet these guys are good on
W the wing: bumblebees have
been taught to play football by a
team at Queen Mary University of
London.
The team trained the bees to dribble
a ball into a round goal in three
different ways: some observed a
previously trained bee scoring a
goal, some watched the ball being
moved into the goal by a magnet,
and others simply ‘found’ the ball in
the goal. The bees were rewarded
with a sugary treat for a successful
‘shot’.
Of the three, those observing other
bees learnt the quickest.  such behaviours,” said researcher Dr
 “Our study puts the final nail in the
7 INNOVATION
Recycled plastic building bricks
Technology start-up ByFusion is currently developing machinery that can transform any waste plastic into building bricks
8 37/2017
“BUMBLEBEES, ALONG WITH
MANY OTHER ANIMALS,
MAY HAVE THE COGNITIVE
CAPABILITIES TO SOLVE
COMPLEX TASKS”
The bees’ team
colours were yellow
and black
coffin of the idea that small brains
constrain insects to have limited
behavioural flexibility and only
simple learning abilities,” said
researcher Prof Lars Chittka.
Further tests showed that the bees
were able to apply their ‘training’
to various situations, such as
balls placed in different locations
and balls coloured differently.
“It may be that bumblebees,
along with many other animals,
have the cognitive capabilities to
solve such complex tasks, but will
only do so if environmental
PHOTO: LIDA LOUKOLA
pressures are applied to necessitate
Olli J Loukola.
1. Plastic rubbish is put
into the machine.
2. The rubbish moves
along into a shredder that
cuts the plastic into
smaller pieces.
3. The plastic is then
mixed with superheated
water and compressed.
4. The bricks emerge from
the machine and can be
used for building.
5. The bricks can be fixed
together with metal rods
to create structures,
before being coated with
chicken wire and mortar.
6. Any plastics can
be used.

7SPACE
Was ‘snowball Earth’ caused by a perfect
storm of fire and ice?
f you were to hop in a time machine and
I travel back about 717 million years, you’d
be greeted with scenes reminiscent of the ice
planet Hoth in Star Wars. But exactly how the
Earth came to resemble a giant snowball has
long been up for debate.
Now, a team from Harvard University thinks
that the runaway glaciation event that froze
the entire surface of the planet could have
been triggered by a huge volcanic eruption
that devastated an area stretching from
present-day Alaska to Greenland and
happened to coincide with several other
specific atmospheric conditions.
“It is not unique to have large volcanic
provinces erupting,” said researcher Robin
Wordsworth. “These types of eruptions have
happened over and over again throughout
geological time, but they’re not always
associated with cooling events. So, the
question is, what made this event different?”
The team’s computer models show that large
Back when Earth
gave humans the
cold shoulder ...
POETRY LOVERS
Knowing your rhyming couplets from your iambic
pentameter is good for you. Listening to the
specific rhythms of poetry can trigger positive
feelings in listeners’ brains, researchers at
Bangor University have found.
BIRDWATCHERS
It’s time to dust off the binoculars. Indulging in a
relaxing spot of birdwatching can make us less
anxious and depressed, researchers at the
University of Exeter have found.
G O O D M O NTH
BA D M O NTH
INTERNET TROLLS
Like posting nasty comments online? It might be
time to get back under your bridge: Google has
started trialling a comment-policing AI to sift
through internet forums and remove toxic posts.
TATTOO ARTISTS
amounts of sulphur dioxide could have been
pushed into the atmosphere as the volcanic
rocks erupted through the sulphur-rich
Getting inked up can be just as painful for the
artist as the client. A team at Ohio State
University has found that the long working hours
sediment. As sulphur dioxide is highly and poor posture that are typical for tattoo artists
reflective, this would’ve created an umbrella- can lead to headaches and chronic back pain.
like effect that shielded the Earth from the
sun’s rays. The fact that the eruptions took
place near the equator would’ve further
exaggerated the effect, as this is where most
solar radiation reaches the Earth.
Ice created by this umbrella’s cooling effect
would have then reflected more sunlight away
from the surface, cooling the planet further.
This in turn would’ve created more ice,
reflecting more and more sunlight. Eventually
a positive feedback loop would’ve taken over,
making the runaway snowball essentially
unstoppable.
“Cooling from aerosols doesn’t have to freeze
the whole planet; it just has to drive the ice to
a critical latitude. Then the ice does the rest,”
said researcher Francis Macdonald.
37/2017 9
Q&A
Questions & Answers
Got questions you’ve been carrying
around for years? Very Interesting
answers them! Mail your questions
to VI@panorama.co.za
PHOTO: GETTY
Q&A
FLASH
A Female elephants
can continue to have
babies until they are
around 50 years old.
A Their gestation
period is an
exhausting 22
months!
What causes antibiotic resistance?
Amahle Bhuyeni, Lenasia
ntibiotic resistance is a good
A example of natural selection.
Exposure to antibiotics increases
selective pressure in bacterial
populations, boosting the percentage
of resistant bacteria, with new
bacterial generations inheriting
resistance genes. Bacteria can
sometimes pass on resistance by
Here, the wall of a bacterial cell is expelling sharing genetic material with each
antibiotics (green) via a pump mechanism other. They can also become resistant
10 37/2017
Do elephants
really never
forget?
Theo Govender, Aliwal North
n elephant has a very
A large brain for its size and
the ‘temporal lobe’ region
responsible for memory is more
developed with a greater
number of folds – this results in
powerful abilities to ‘download’
important survival data such as
where to find food and water,
and who is friend or foe. The
matriarch of a herd (who can
live for 60 years) may recognise
over 200 individual elephants
and can react to the call of a
deceased member of her herd
two years after their death.
During droughts, these
grandma elephants lead family
members to waterholes by
recalling detailed maps they’ve
made spanning hundreds of
kilometres. So although they
undoubtedly forget what they
don’t need to remember, they
appear to remember what they
cannot afford to forget!
following spontaneous changes to
their genes. Some gene mutations
allow bacteria to produce enzymes
that inactivate antibiotics. Others
change their outer structure so that
antibiotics can’t gain access. Some
bacteria even develop pumping
mechanisms to expel antibiotics.
Overuse and misuse of antibiotics has
exacerbated the problem of antibiotic
resistance.
 McMurdo Station in Antarctica
can support around 1,200
people at a time

What time zones are

used at the North Pole
and South Pole?
Sara Davids, Sasolburg
he rotation of the Earth means that time zones
T are dictated by the lines of longitude connecting
the two poles. But at the poles themselves, all these
lines converge, meaning that technically the poles are
in all the time zones simultaneously. In practice,
polar explorers and scientists simply choose whatever
time zone is most convenient. Those working at
McMurdo Station in Antarctica, for example, have
chosen to use New Zealand local time.
Q&A

FLASH What could we expect from a

A There are about half
a million earthquakes
magnitude 10 earthquake?
around the world Ntombi Cele, Ulundi
each year. he 2011 Tõhoku earthquake store in the rocks. Very large
A The average

earthquake lasts for

T off the coast of Japan
created a tidal wave 40m high
about a minute. and shifted the entire main island
of Honshu east by 2.4m. More
than 127,000 buildings collapsed
and almost 16,000 people died.
This magnitude 9.1 earthquake
only released about 3% of the
energy of a theoretical magnitude
10 quake. But there’s an upper
limit to how much energy you can
earthquakes release more energy,
but it is spread over a much
longer section of fault line. It’s
doubtful that there are any fault
lines on Earth big enough to
release a magnitude 10
earthquake, but if one happened,
you could expect the ground to
shake just as hard as a magnitude
9, but for a lot longer – perhaps
as much as 30 minutes.

A tsunami roars
PHOTO: GETTY

into the city of

Miyako, following
2011’s earthquake

37/2017 11
Q&A
Questions & Answers
Got questions you’ve been carrying
around for years? Very Interesting
answers them! Mail your questions
to VI@panorama.co.za

PIGMENTS BINDERS
What is 25%
Titanium dioxide is
25%
Acrylic or epoxy

emulsion used for white, iro

on
oxide for yellows, re
eds
and browns, chromiium
polymers
p surround
tthe pigments and
help them to bind to
he

paint? oxide for greens,

and carbon is used
for blacks.
ed
the wall.

Gene Wittford, Cape Town

mulsion paint consists of tiny polymer
E particles within which the pigments
are trapped. The particles are suspended OTHER
in water, then as the paint dries the ADDITIVES
particles fuse together creating a film of SOLVENT
5%
paint on the wall. Once this happens the 45% These include
Nearly half of emulssion
polymer can’t be resuspended in water, paint is made up p
biocides
bio to stop algae
which is why you can’t wash a water-based of water.
and
an fungi growing on
emulsion paint back off the wall once it your walls.
has dried.
Q&A

FLASH
What is the A Saturn weighs as
much as 95 Earths.
most reflective A The planet has 62

moons.
body in the
solar system?
Tina Cloete, Vryheid
his prize belongs to
T Enceladus, a small moon

PHOTOS: GETTY X2, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY ILLUSTRATIONS: RAJA LOCKEY

of Saturn. Recent
measurements indicate that it
reflects about 90% of the
incident light from the sun,
making it brighter than freshly What’s the inside of a
fallen snow! The reason for
this high reflectivity lies in the
constant replenishment of the
kangaroo’s pouch like?
Thando Simelane, Wellington
surface with ice particles vented
from hydrothermal geysers. ewborn joeys, also known as feed joeys of different ages – a
This implies that Enceladus has a
subsurface liquid ocean that is
N ‘jellybeans’, quickly scale a
wall of fur to climb into the warmth
clever adaptation to enable
offspring to be cared for at
heated by gravitational forces. This, and safety of their mothers’ cosy different stages of their
combined with the presence of pouch. This fleshy pocket is development. Every now and then,
nitrogen and simple organic molecules, stretchy and slightly sticky, and mothers have to clean their babies’
makes Enceladus a candidate for opens horizontally upwards to nursery to ensure it doesn’t
harbouring simple life forms. Several lessen the chance of the young become smelly and unhygienic.
missions have been proposed to investigate this falling out. The pouch is hairless They do this by licking inside the
possibility. inside and contains teats that pouch to remove dirt, poo and
produce milk of different types to urine – a true labour of love.

12 37/2017
Is the flag still on
the moon?
Bob Vermaak, Badplaas

Do any other animals get male

S ix flags were planted on the moon – one
for each Apollo landing. Apollo 11’s flag
was too close to the lander and was knocked
over by the rocket exhaust when Armstrong
and Aldrin took off again. But high resolution
images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
show that the other five are still standing. The
flags were made of ordinary nylon though, so
they have all long since been bleached white
by the sun.
pattern baldness?
Mary Mchunu, Clifton
he sensitive response to androgen – a sex
T hormone – is an important feature of
human hair. At puberty, hair grows in places
where we had none; and as we age, changes in
hormonal levels can lead to thinning hair in
both men and women, and to baldness in
some. But humans are not the only animals to
experience this. It happens in chimps and
stump-tailed macaques in nearly the same
way. And mice, rats, hamsters, rabbits and
sheep became sensitive to fur loss when their
androgen levels were manipulated in the
laboratory. There was even a report in which
wattled starlings in the wild displayed a bald
scalp in response to natural changes in
androgen levels.

Why do the centres of

galaxies contain black
holes?
Atandwa Gumede, Irene
ince the 1960s, astronomers have
S uncovered evidence that most galaxies
contain so-called supermassive black holes
at their cores. With masses between a million
and a billion times that of the sun, these
leviathans first revealed their presence in
so-called quasars – distant galaxies with
Q&A

FLASH
cores so luminous the only plausible source
of power is the intense gravity of black holes
devouring matter. Since then, studies of
stellar orbits have shown that even relatively
tranquil galaxies like our own Milky Way A The Milky Way

harbour hefty black holes. Their origin galaxy is between

remains a mystery, however. They may have 100,000 and
PHOTOS: NASA, GETTY X2

been created by the gravitational collapse of 180,000 light years

giant gas clouds from which galaxies were in diameter.
formed, or from the merger of many smaller A It’s part of

black holes over time. Another possibility is the Sagittarius

that one simply grew over billions of years by constellation.
steadily devouring orbiting stars.

Email your questions to VI@panorama.co.za

37/2017 13
Q&A
Questions & Answers
Got questions you’ve been carrying
around for years? Very Interesting
answers them! Mail your questions
to VI@panorama.co.za

What is the current death/birth rate ratio What is the

in the world per year? Tony Uys, Malelane deepest lake on
Earth?
Zodwa Chamane, Roodepoort

his title goes to 1,642m-deep Lake

T Baikal, which is located in southern
Siberia. The lake is part of an ancient rift
valley, and has formed as the planet’s crust
slowly pulls apart in that area. It contains
around one-fifth of the world’s unfrozen
freshwater reserves. Its isolation and age
have led to the evolution of an unusual
ecosystem, containing many plants and
animals that are unique to the area. When
winter rolls around, a thick layer of ice can
form on the lake’s surface, trapping streams
of bubbles released from algae living in the
chilly depths.

ccording to the World Bank, for every 1,000 people in the world, an average of 7.748 people
A will die each year and 19.349 will be born. That’s a ratio of about 2.5 births for every death.

Q&A
Those figures are from 2014 but both are slowing at similar rates, so the ratio hasn’t changed much
in the last 10 years. FLASH
A It’s estimated that
there are around

vs
117 million lakes on
Earth.
A The bulk of those

lakes – up to 85%
– are found at low
altitudes (less than
500m above sea
level)
MO FARAH USAIN BOLT
1.75m Height 1.95m

60kg Weight 94kg

4 Olympic gold medals 8

12.98s 100m 9.58s

3min 56.49s Mile 4min 30s (estimate)

sain Bolt is the fastest human in the world,
U but only up to 200m. His huge legs, packed
with fast-twitch muscle fibres, allow explosive
acceleration but they can’t sustain prolonged
aerobic exertion, making them dead weights over
longer distances. Usain Bolt has never actually run
a mile, but most experts think he’d struggle to get
a time under 4min 30s.

14 37/2017
 The water in Lake Baikal is very clear,
so it is possible to see to a depth of
40m from the surface

Why are human brains so big?

Tim Bailey, Zeerust
ne possibility is that large brains are sexier. The person that can
O make music and art, or tell stories, may be more attractive to
potential mates. But in the 1990s, anthropologist Robin Dunbar
suggested that humans might also need large brains to keep track of their
complicated social lives. Human social circles normally comprise around
150 people, compared with 50 for chimpanzees. Larger social groups
have exponentially more interrelationships and our survival and success
depends on being able to react to and predict the behaviour of our peers.
Related to this is the idea of social dominance. Once our ancestors had
begun to master their environment, their biggest threats were other
humans. Leadership tussles within and between tribes favoured smarter
humans much more than those that were just stronger.

Why can’t we remember

early life?
Esther Dlamini, Alberton
PHOTOS: GETTY X3, ALAMY, KRISTINA MAKEEVA ILLUSTRATIONS: RAJA LOCKEY

ur inability to remember study showed that three-year-

O anything from before the
age of three or four is referred to
as infantile amnesia and it’s still
fairly mysterious. We do know
that infants can form long-term
memories: chat to a three-year-
old about past events and you’ll
see for yourself. In fact, one
olds had a memory of an adult
they’d met just once when they
were aged one. But for some
reason, likely related to the
immaturity of infant memory
processes, our earliest memories
are lost by the time we are about
seven years of age.

37/2017 15
Food

S
ANY-
G
GOO
O
YOU
O
The world of food is full of conflicting advice.
Drinking coffee is good for you; it will give you cancerr.
E are part of nature’s’ natural bounty; they raise
Eggs
your cholesterol. So many claims, so little agreement.
Y despite the headlines there is a fairly consistent body of
Yet
research that points at the health benefits, or otherwise, of most
popular foods. We’re
’ here to sort the facts from the fads. Enjoy!!
H
ILLUSTRATION: MAGIC TORCH

7 WORDS: DR SALEYHA AHSAN AND DR MICHAEL MOSLEY

16 37/2017
37/2017 17
Food

COFFEE
here have been numerous claims over the years
T that drinking coffee will increase your risk of
succumbing to a whole range of terrible things. Yet
when scientists followed over 120,000 men and
women for more than 20 years they found something
altogether more surprising. The study, The
Relationship Of Coffee Consumption With Mortality,
concluded that “regular coffee consumption was not
associated with an increased mortality rate in either
men or women”. In fact, they found moderate coffee
consumption appears to be mildly protective. Based
on this and other studies, the most effective ‘dose’
seems to be two to five cups a day. More than that
and any benefits drop off. But we simply don’t know
what it is in coffee that helps.
The amount of coffee you can safely drink without side
effects, such as a temporary rise in blood pressure or
insomnia, may be down to your genes, and in particular
how much of the liver enzyme CYP1A2 you have.
CYP1A2 helps determine the speed at which caffeine is
cleared from your body. This could explain why I can
drink coffee in the evening with no problems, while one
cup in the afternoon has my wife twitching.

VERDICT: Two to five cups of coffee a day are fine, but

side effects may be dictated by your genes.

18 37/2017
 EGGS
few years ago we were
There’s little A being told by
nutritionists not to eat more
evidence that diet than a few eggs a week on
the grounds that eggs
soft drinks actually contain cholesterol and
help people lose cholesterol is bad for you. At
the time, it was widely
weight believed that elevated
cholesterol in our blood is
caused by cholesterol in our
food. In fact, most of the
DIET DRINKS excess cholesterol in our
blood is produced by the
’m teetotal, so on a night out mine is a diet soft drink of some liver and is a response to
Iresearch
sort. But even though the label on the bottle says sugar-free,
suggests I shouldn’t be fooled into thinking it’s any
eating too much saturated
fat. A meta-analysis of 17
better for my waistline than a standard version. Health studies published in the
commentators argue there is little evidence that ‘diet drinks’ British Medical Journal
containing artificial sweeteners actually help people lose weight (BMJ) in 2013 concluded
and therefore should not be recommended as part of a healthy that “higher consumption of
diet. In fact, many existing systematic reviews promoting the eggs is not associated with
health benefits of diet drinks are sponsored by the soft drinks increased risk of coronary
industry itself, and are hence unreliable. heart disease or stroke”.
According to a recent review by Imperial College London, these Whether scrambled, boiled
diet drinks stimulate sweet taste receptors, potentially or poached, eggs are a
encouraging us to eat food as compensation. Psychologically, we superb source of protein, are
might be more inclined to treat ourselves to something rich in vitamins and minerals
unhealthy, as we’ve had a ‘good’ low-calorie drink. I can vouch and make a great start to
for that one. the day. How do you like
When it comes to drinking standard drinks versus a diet drink, yours?
I still opt for diet. If I’m serious about making the best choice, I’ll
opt for water – although I have been known to order a cup of tea
on a night out! VERDICT: As long as you’re
not frying them or
VERDICT: Stick to water rather than soft drinks and your body smothering them in fat, eggs
(and wallet!) will thank you. are an excellent breakfast
choice.

ALCOHOL
ou can’t open a newspaper without reading a story about
Y alcohol being good or bad for you, or making no difference
at all to your health. So what’s the truth? Well, if you like the odd
tipple, there is some good news.
Though it has been challenged, there is a fairly consistent body of
evidence that drinking modest amounts of alcohol may protect
you against heart disease. A recent study, which was published in
the European Heart Journal, followed more than 14,000 adults
aged 45 and older for 24 years and found that men and women
who reported drinking up to 12 units of alcohol per week (the
equivalent of around six glasses of wine) had a lower risk of
developing heart failure than those who never drank. They also
found that those most likely to have died from any cause over the
course of the study had been heavier drinkers, where women
were drinking more than 14 units and men were drinking more
PHOTOS: GETTY X2

than 21 units a week. Cheers!

VERDICT: Enjoy up to six glasses of wine a week to potentially

reduce your risk of heart failure. Any more could be hazardous
to health.

37/2017 19
Food

RED MEAT
o you walk round the shops thinking about
D what to slap on the barbecue, pause by the
steaks, pick them up, put them back and then
go in search of something healthier? In a
restaurant do you order fish, even though you’d
secretly prefer lamb?
If you believe the headlines, then eating meat
will stop your heart, give you cancer, shorten
your life and destroy the planet. The meat which
is said to be a threat to health is red meat like
steak, lamb, pork and mince. Red meat looks
darker thanks to higher levels of haemoglobin
and myoglobin, which are the iron- and oxygen-
binding proteins you find in blood and muscle.
On the upside, red meat is an excellent
source of micronutrients. But on the
downside, it’s richer in saturated fat than,
say, tofu. It has also been linked to an
increased risk of bowel cancer. But overall
just how bad for you is red meat?
One recent paper, Meat Consumption And
Mortality, tried to answer that question. It came
to the – perhaps surprising – conclusion that
eating moderate amounts of red meat had no
effect on mortality; in fact it seemed to be
protective. The lowest overall mortality rates in
this study were among those people eating up to
80g a day, not those who shunned it. This
particular paper was based on findings from the
European Prospective Investigation into Cancer
and Nutrition (EPIC). In this study, European
researchers followed more half a million people
in 10 countries for more than 12 years.
The researchers found that although there was a
small increase in overall risk for those who ate
over 160g day, there was also a higher death
rate among people who ate no meat at all. They
concluded that “a low – but not a zero –
consumption of meat might be beneficial for
health. This is understandable as meat is an
important source of nutrients, such as protein,
iron, zinc, several B-vitamins, as well as vitamin
A and essential fatty acids”. In other words,
vegans and vegetarians may not have been
getting sufficient essential micronutrients.
Now before meat eaters go off rejoicing, there’s
a significant sting in the tail. The EPIC study
found that eating processed meat, like
sausages, bacon and ham, did have a negative
effect on health. Over 40g a day (fewer than two
slices of bacon) and deaths from heart disease
and cancer began to climb. “In this population,
reduction of processed meat consumption to
less than 20g/day would prevent more than 3%
of all deaths,” it said.

VERDICT: Small amounts of red meat are fine,

but keep the processed stuff as an occasional
treat.

20 37/2017

SALT
M ost of us know too much salt is bad for
us. What’s less well-known is that too
little is also harmful. We need salt for muscle
and nerve activity. If we eat too little, we
develop cramps and neurological symptoms,
and can even die.
But hold on, that doesn’t mean you can start
munching bumper packs of crisps. Most of us
consume too much salt. Excess salt intake is
linked to high blood pressure, increasing the
PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK, GETTY
risk of heart disease or stroke. The NHS
recommends that adults should consume 6g of
salt a day, but our intake is nearer 8g. Yet
working out how much we eat can be tricky
because salt is hidden in many foods. A
whopping 75% of the salt we eat comes from
foods like bread, baked beans and biscuits,
while salt added during cooking and at the table
makes up a small amount of our intake.
A whopping 75%
of the salt we eat
comes from foods like
bread, baked beans
and biscuits
And there are other benefits of cutting salt.
I often meet patients who cut out fluids
during the day to try to reduce their night-
time trips to the loo. That’s harmful and can
affect kidneys. A recent Japanese study
presented to the European Association of
Urology congress has found that cutting salt
intake can reduce frequency of nocturnal
urination.
VERDICT: Keeping salt intake down can help
blood pressure stay healthy.
CHOCOLATE
love chocolate, but I have always
Ishould
seen it as a guilty pleasure. So
I feel bad about eating modest
amounts?
Chocolate contains cocoa, and cocoa
is a good source of iron, magnesium,
manganese, zinc and phosphorus.
Cocoa is also rich in antioxidant
flavonoids. The downside of your
favourite chocolate bar is all the
added fat and sugar.
So how well does the good stuff stack
up against the bad stuff? Chocolate’s
main claim to health is its effect on
your arteries. In 2012 a systematic
review of the effects of cocoa
consumption on blood pressure, which
looked at 20 studies involving over
800 people, concluded that:
“Flavanol-rich chocolate and cocoa
products may have a small but
statistically significant effect in
lowering blood pressure.” But the
team pointed out that most of the
studies they looked at took place over
a short period of time (between two
and eight weeks) and the size of the
effect was not impressive.
A more recent paper, published in the
journal Heart in 2015, also gave hope
to lovers of chocolate. In this study,
researchers asked nearly 21,000 men
and women from Norfolk to fill in
detailed food questionnaires and then
followed them for an average of over
11 years. What they found was that
those eating the most chocolate (up to
99g a day) had the lowest risk of
developing heart disease or stroke.
Their conclusion was that “higher
chocolate intake is associated with a
lower risk of future cardiovascular
events”. However, the researchers go
on to say there may have been
confounding factors at play, such as
the chocolate eaters being more
active.
VERDICT: The odd square of dark,
cocoa-rich chocolate isn’t going to
hurt, but the jury is out as to whether
it will do you any good.
37/2017 21
Food

FRUIT
n apple a day keeps the
A doctor away, or so ‘they’ say.
Along with the rest of the
inhabitants of the fruit bowl,
apples have a reputation of being
able to lower the risk of mortality.
But how true is this? Plenty of
studies out there show that people
who eat fruit tend to be healthier
than fruit-shunners, and have
reduced risks of cardiovascular
disease and cancer. This could be
because fruit contains vitamins
and fibre, which are good for
health, as well as antioxidants
that repair cells.
Yet the debate around the daily
amount of fruit to consume
continues. A BMJ study suggests if
you can stretch to seven portions
of fruit and vegetables you’re
doing yourself some real favours.
Risk of disease development over
the course of the study reduced by
42% for seven or more portions of
fruit and veg. The government’s
current advice sticks at five daily
portions. We still have problems
reaching that target, let alone
increasing it.
But don’t get your fruit fix by
swigging back juices or smoothies.
Many fruit juices contain large
amounts of water and sugar. And
juices that are 100% fruit still
contain almost as much sugar as
a sweetened drink. You’re better
off eating the actual orange than
drinking it.
And here’s another excuse to slip
that apple into your teenager’s
school bag. Recent studies reveal
that a high intake of carotene-rich
fruit – such as apples, oranges,
bananas and grapes – during
adolescence is associated with a
lower risk of breast cancer. Just
three portions of fruit a day could
reduce the risk of breast cancer by
an impressive 25%.

VERDICT: Start the fruit habit

early, but eat it in its natural form
rather than squished into juices
and smoothies.

22 37/2017

BUTTER
n recent years there has been an ongoing
Iconsumer
debate about butter, which has led to
confusion in the supermarket
chilled section. Let’s set the record
straight.
Butter is a saturated fat. For decades, we
have been advised to reduce saturated fat
in our diets, centring on the argument that
it increases bad cholesterol in the blood,
which can clog arteries, causing heart
attacks or strokes. Public Health England
advises people to cut down on saturated
fat, based on a review of 15 clinical trials.
On the other hand, researchers at the
University of Cambridge presented a study
in 2014, published in Annals Of Internal
Medicine, reviewing existing published
data. The team stated that there was no
significant evidence regarding a correlation
between saturated fats and a higher risk for
heart disease. Hence the ‘butter is back’
headlines that were splashed all over the
internet. But those behind the study warned
against over-simplification. They had found
that there are different types of saturated
fats with varying compositions that all do
Some dairy goods
might cut disease
risk, but that thought
does not include
butter
different things – some good, some bad.
While some dairy products might turn out
to cut disease risk, that thought wasn’t
extended to butter. The team agreed with
butter being linked to bad cholesterol.
This is backed up by a recent study by
researchers from Harvard, who found that a
5% higher intake of saturated fats, like
butter, was associated with a 25%
increased risk of heart disease. This
supports current guidelines focusing on
reducing saturated fat intake and replacing
butter with oils high in unsaturated fat.
Nevertheless, according to the study you
won’t see any benefits of cutting out
saturated fat if you continue filling up on
refined carbs like white bread. It’s only by
eating complex carbs like vegetables and
wholegrains that you can slash your risk.
And with that, hot buttered toast remains
for me an occasional treat.
VERDICT: Not all saturated fat is created
equal, but more research is needed. Stick
to olive and sunflower oil for cooking, and
use butter sparingly.

PASTEURISED MILK
uring my rheumatology
D attachment, my consultant
insisted that every patient was given a
daily glass of milk. There are
recognised health benefits of the white
stuff – it’s full of nutrients and helps
build strong bones.
Recently, proponents have been
claiming that drinking raw milk, rather
than pasteurised, offers even more
health benefits. But what’s the
difference? Raw milk comes from
grass-fed cows and is full of nutrients,
including beneficial bacteria like
Lactobacillus acidophilus. This ‘good’
bacteria produces vitamin K2, improves
absorption of nutrients and normalises
gut function. Raw milk contains high
levels of vitamins, enzymes and
PHOTOS: GETTY X3
Pasteurisation is a process where heat
is applied to milk to destroy harmful
bacteria. Unfortunately, it kills the
beneficial ones too. Still, according to a
2015 analysis by Johns Hopkins
University, consumers are 100 times
more likely to get food-borne illnesses
from raw milk than pasteurised. For
consumer safety, European and North
American legislation mandates the
pasteurisation of milk, and that’s what
we buy from shops.
If you want to give raw milk a try, you’ll
have to go to specialist outlets, like
farm shops and markets. Unpasteurised
cheeses, like Parmesan, are more
widely available because harmful
bacteria occur in such low numbers.

calcium. But it can also contain
bacteria that cause food poisoning and
can be particularly harmful to children,
people who are unwell and pregnant
women.
VERDICT: Milk is a great way to get
calcium and other nutrients, but
pasteurised is safer. 7
VI@panorama.co.za

37/2017 23
Q&A
Questions & Answers
Got questions you’ve been carrying
around for years? Very Interesting
answers them! Mail your questions
to VI@panorama.co.za
75
The number of litres of urine
released by swimmers in a
large swimming pool over a
Why are some foods three-week period.

so widely disliked?
Greg Cook, Betty’s Bay

How large does an object

69
The percentage by which
butterfly numbers have
reduced in UK towns
need to be for something to and cities over the last two

PHOTOS: GETTY X4 ILLUSTRATIONS: RAJA LOCKEY

decades.

ctually, a recent survey by BBC Good

A Food found that curry was both the
5th best loved and the 4th most hated,
while fish was simultaneously the 2nd worst
food and the 8th best. Liver is pretty much
universally unpopular, but 30 years ago was
more beloved. Intense food dislikes are
often more about memories and
associations than taste, so it may be that
childhood experiences of school dinners are
to blame for putting us off certain foods.
orbit it? Linda Dickson, Centurion
T here is no magic size or mass required for an object in
order to have a ‘satellite’. An ‘orbit’ occurs when the
gravitational pull from a nearby object exactly matches the
forward motion or momentum of the orbiting body. All objects
(with mass) have gravity, however small they are. So,
R980
The price a Japanese
theoretically, any object can have another object in orbit around company charges for a
it; as long as that object moves slowly enough to be ‘captured’ ‘fake friend’ to come and
by the gravitational pull. Of course, this is unlikely unless these pose with you in photos for
objects are both moving extremely slowly, are close to each two hours.
other, and are completely isolated from all other forces.

What’s the longest a human can

hold their breath underwater?
Jason Kew, Kyalami   

Sloth
40 mins

Sea lion
20 mins
Cuvier beaked whale
2 hrs 18 mins

Human
24 mins
Elephant seal
62 mins

24 37/2017
 Access to the Amazon

Q&A
FLASH
was improved during
the 1970s, indirectly
leading to greater
deforestation
A In the Middle Ages,
the word ‘forest’
referred to a part of
the countryside used
for royal hunting

Why don’t black

Are rainforests being replanted?
Cedric Mansfield, Durban   
number of projects across the world
A aim to regenerate areas of rainforest.
Brazil, for example, has committed to
restoring 12 million hectares of forest by
2030. But even after several decades,
replanted ‘secondary’ forest tends to have
lower rates of biodiversity (particularly fewer
large animals) than virgin rainforest, which
houses a blend of species developed over
hundreds of thousands years. Many
replantation efforts focus on linking isolated
patches of original forest with ‘corridors’ of
restored forest. Deforestation is still a major
problem in many parts of the world, so
preserving existing rainforest is key to
conservation efforts.
holes ignite?
Jenny Freedman, Houghton
P hysics cannot yet describe the kind of material that
ordinary matter becomes once it is inside a black
hole’s event horizon. However, one thing is certain; matter
does not survive in a form containing atoms. The usual
particles of ordinary matter, electrons, protons and
neutrons, have all combined into other particles or broken
apart completely into quarks (or ‘preons’). They may have
been squeezed into a mere quantum probability, or not be
‘matter’ at all! Given that black holes are not made of
regular matter, there is no process (nuclear fusion for
example) by which they can ‘ignite’.

n all mammals, including humans, a dive reflex is activated when the face is submerged. The heart rate slows, and blood flow is diverted away from the limbs
I towards the head and torso. In aquatic mammals, this reflex is particularly well-developed. Without training, we can manage about 90 seconds underwater
before needing to take a breath. But on 28 February 2016, Spain’s Aleix Segura Vendrell achieved the world record for breath-holding, with a time of 24 minutes.
However, he breathed pure oxygen before immersion.

Otter
Beaver 8 mins
15 mins

Dolphin
20 mins

Muskrat
17 mins
Walrus
10 mins

37/2017 25
Focus

26 37/2017
MOBILE
DISCO
tiny mirror spider, no
A more than 5mm across,
scatters light through a
Singapore forest thanks to a
collection of small ‘mirrors’ on
its abdomen.
This species is a lesser-known
member of the genus
Thwaitesia. Despite their
blinged-up appearance, the
spiders are actually masters of
disguise. The mirrors provide
camouflage by reflecting the
surrounding environment,
dispersing light like a disco
ball and giving the spiders the
appearance of water droplets
lying on the plants.
“A spider that even an
arachnophobe could love,
these sequined or disco ball
spiders reveal just how rich
and diverse the spider fauna
of the world is,” says Prof
Adam Hart, BBC broadcaster
and entomologist at the
University of Gloucester.
The silvery patches are
made up of guanine crystals,
a substance that also gives
fish scales their shimmer and
shampoo its shine. Though
they look like solid shards, the
‘mirrors’ often change in size,

PHOTO: NICKY BAY

retracting when the arachnids
are threatened and swelling up
when they relax.

37/2017 27
Health

While we know our furry friends are brilliant companions, could

they actually be making us healthier too?
7 TEXT: DR JOHN BRADSHAW

PHOTOS: ISTOCK

28 37/2017
37/2017 29
Health
D
ogs: the universal
stress-buster.
That’s the claim
increasingly
made for ‘man’s
best friend’ as dogs find their
way into all kinds of
unexpected medical
situations. Last year, my own
institution, the University of
Bristol, teamed up with the
Guide Dogs charity to offer
stressed students a puppy play
session. This was by no means
the first of its kind: more than
a thousand universities have
put animal visitation
programmes into place to
help students. At Bristol
University, the 600 slots
quickly filled up. And the
students’ enthusiasm is
supported by research. In one
study, after as little as seven
Dogs at universities
have helped
students de-stress
30 37/2017
minutes’ interaction with a
friendly dog, students
reported significantly less
anxiety and greater feelings
of contentment. Viewing a
slideshow of the same dog for
the same length of time had
no effect on their mood. It
seems that actually stroking
and playing with the dog is
crucial. Sorry, YouTube.
As well as stress, dogs are
widely touted as a cure for all
kinds of ills such as high
blood pressure, loneliness,
heart disease and depression,
to name a few. A quick search
of the internet will reveal
countless articles extolling
the health benefits of keeping
pets. Some of these claims are
supported by science, others
remain to be investigated
thoroughly, while a few seem
to be little more than wishful
thinking. So what does canine
companionship really offer?
Stressed students clearly
value the calming sensation
of stroking a dog, and this
effect is well supported by
experiments. In this kind of
research, a scientist will
usually ask a person to read
aloud to a stranger (which
seems pretty tame compared
to the sheer terror of an
exam). Nevertheless,
measurable reductions in
stress have been recorded just
by placing a dog in the same
room as the subject. If
stroking the dog is allowed,
the reduction in stress is even
greater. Moreover, it’s not
simply that the reader reports
feeling less stressed, it’s
actually reflected in their
physiology too: their blood
pressure falls and their heart
beats more slowly and
rhythmically.
A Different strokes
Long-term stress is a trigger
for heart disease, so not
surprisingly, it’s been
suggested – and is now
widely believed – that the
relaxing effect of contact
with dogs might benefit
cardiovascular health over a
lifetime. Early studies
supported this idea, showing
that dog owners were more
likely to recover from heart
attacks than people with no
pets. However, the act of
petting alone is unlikely to
have been a major factor,
since cat owners seem to be
more susceptible to heart
PHOTOS: BHAGESH SACHANIA/UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL, GETTY
 THE MAKING OF MAN’S BEST FRIEND

Can we tell when dogs were first domesticated?

hen and where dogs were first
W domesticated is still hotly
debated among scientists. There are a
few hard facts that all agree on: dogs
were once wolves (and not jackals, as
Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz once
maintained) and they were the first
animal to be domesticated, some time
in the late Pleistocene, before the
dawn of agriculture. Beyond that,
there is little agreement. The earliest
archaeological remains that are
unequivocally dogs and not wolves
date from 14,000 years ago, but
30,000-year-old skulls have been
discovered in France and Belgium that
are not pure wolf and may be dogs.
With such baffling archaeological
evidence, most scientists have turned
to DNA to find out when and where
dogs were first domesticated. Tens of
thousands of blood samples have
been taken from street dogs around
the world, for comparison with those
of wolves. It’s even possible to analyse
DNA from ancient bones: minute
samples from the 30,000-year-old
skulls mentioned earlier are currently
being studied, and it has already been
shown that ancient dogs preserved in
the Alaskan permafrost were
descended from Asian wolves, not
American ones.
Indeed, the ancient DNA may turn out
to be more informative than the DNA
of living dogs. Because dogs have
been carried hither and thither around
the world, for thousands of years, their
current distribution may tell us very
little of their origins – hence the
competing claims of different groups
of scientists that dogs variously
originated in eastern Asia, Mongolia,
Siberia, Europe or Africa.
But why were the animals
domesticated in the first place? The Ancient cave paintings
most recent theory is that dogs in Tassili n’Ajjer,
domesticated themselves, initially Algeria, appear to
living as scavengers in and around our depict dogs alongside
villages. Today, this is a way of life still humans
shared by three-quarters of a billion
unowned dogs worldwide.

A 20-year-old man was more successful in While office workers’ stress

obtaining young women’s phone numbers if
he had a dog at his side
disease. Focus, therefore,
shifted to the known benefits
of taking regular moderate
exercise, which many dog
owners do. Not all, of course:
a surprising number of pet
dogs get their only exercise
in their owner’s back garden.
Moreover, many dog walkers
seem more interested in their
smartphones than what their
dog is up to, and are
therefore unlikely to walk
sufficiently fast to enhance
their cardiovascular health.
It’s been claimed that dog
owners get more exercise
walking their pet than
someone who takes out a
gym membership. But
perhaps that’s not much of a
claim, since over half of
people who take out an
annual gym subscription in
January have stopped going
by April. And even though
some dog owners
undoubtedly do take more
moderate exercise than
people with no dog to walk,
this doesn’t seem to translate
into their living any longer.
Perhaps dog ownership,
compared with a brief
encounter with a dog cared
for by someone else, is
stress-neutral: the daily
routine of exercising the dog
may be relaxing, but owning
an animal can be stressful,
particularly if it is disobedient
or prone to illness.
Recently, the American
Heart Association stated
that dog ownership is
“probably associated” with a
reduced risk of heart disease.
Since this doesn’t seem to
translate into dog owners
living longer, there may be
another explanation. It could
be that it works the other
way around: people with
poor health think twice
before embarking on the
responsibility of caring for a
dog for the next 15 or so
years. Perhaps they get a cat
instead, which would account
for the generally poorer
health of cat owners
compared to the rest of the
population.
A Working dogs
Dogs can do more for their
owners than just get them
outdoors: they also provide
companionship to a degree
unmatched by any other
animal. Some dog owners
even like to take their pets
into the office. In fact,
campaigns to persuade
companies to allow dogs in
the workplace have been
gathering momentum since
the turn of the millennium.
levels generally increase from
the beginning to the end of
the working day, studies have
shown that if employees are
allowed to bring their dogs in,
they actually feel less stressed
by the end of the day. It’s
unclear how co-workers feel
about sharing their space with
other people’s animals, but
anecdotally it seems as
though a dog can reduce
tensions by providing a focus
for conversation.
Several studies have
confirmed that dogs do
indeed bring people together.
In one, conducted in France,
it was found that a 20-year-
old man was far more
successful in obtaining young
women’s phone numbers if he
had a dog at his side: fewer
than one in 10 complied if he
was on his own, one in three
if he was with the pooch.
While there are certain
drawbacks to bringing dogs to
work, including complaints
from those with allergies and
conflicts with religious
beliefs, they do seem to bring
about a general lightening
of mood.

37/2017 31
Health
DOG MYTHS BUSTED

OLD DOGS CAN’T BE

TAUGHT NEW TRICKS
Nonsense. Like all animals, dogs find
it easier to learn while they’re young,
but their brains are still capable of
altering established patterns of
behaviour well into middle age.

DOGS HAVE A BETTER

SENSE OF SMELL THAN
CATS DO
Yes and no. If we’re talking about the
dog’s actual nose, then it is 10 to
100 times more sensitive than a
cat’s. But both cats and dogs have a
second ‘nose’ called the
vomeronasal organ, and the cat’s is
the more sensitive.

DOGS CAN FEEL GUILTY

Nope, their emotions are probably
restricted to simple ‘gut feelings’
like joy, anger, fear and anxiety. The
clues that owners interpret as a
dog’s ‘guilty look’ are actually signs
that the dog is anticipating
punishment, but doesn’t know what
it’s done wrong.

DOGS PREFER CANINE

COMPANY
Wrong again. Given the choice, most
dogs prefer to spend time with
people, and become distressed
when their owners leave the house.
Therefore, taking dogs to work Forever friends:
probably benefits them even more 12,000-year-old skeletal
than their owners. remains of a human and
dog, photographed in
Israel
A HEALTHY DOG ALWAYS
HAS A WET NOSE
A Paws for thought to the needs of their owner,
Partly true. While a dry nose may be So, it appears that dogs whether that’s waking them
a sign of illness or dehydration, it
build bridges between people from nightmares, bringing
may also be because the dog has
and make their owners seem medicines, or leading them to
just woken up and not licked its
more trustworthy. These may safety when they experience a
nose yet.
be the main benefits that dogs panic attack.
provide for veterans of A dog’s capacity to bring
DOGS NEED TO BE ‘KEPT conflict who suffer from people together may also
IN THEIR PLACE’ post-traumatic stress disorder explain their effectiveness in
No. Current scientific thinking on
(PTSD) and other mental many kinds of therapy,
dogs’ minds indicates that they are
health difficulties. Although it including the benefits that
has been suggested that all dogs bring to nursing homes,
PHOTOS: GETTY X7, ISTOCK

highly unlikely to have any concept

of their position within the family
hierarchy. Furthermore, although
physical punishment used to be a
staple technique in dog training,
studies have shown that it creates
disobedient and anxious dogs.
veterans should have dogs,
some find dog ownership too
difficult. Trained PTSD dogs
will bring the same stress-
reducing benefits as any dog,
but to be effective they also
need to be trained to respond
especially to those institutions
that care for individuals
suffering from dementia. In
one recent Italian study,
scientists examined the
reactions of dog-loving
residents to regular half-hour

32 37/2017
 There is evidence that
some children with autism
spectrum disorders benefit
from the company of a dog

For mo
re in
i te est
about yo re ing artic
ur pets les
pick up , why no
a copy t
Animalt o f
alk?

sessions with therapy dogs.
Playing with the dogs brought
about a remarkable change in
the residents’ behaviour. They
went from being largely
apathetic to become more
active and animated, but also
more spontaneous with the
dogs – for example, throwing
a ball for the animals to
retrieve. Another notable
feature of interaction with
dogs is the extent to which
elderly residents reach out and
touch them, reducing their
feelings of emotional
isolation. Unfortunately,
although claims have been
made that contact with dogs
might improve mental
functioning, no such benefits
have been detected.
There is evidence that some
children with autism spectrum
disorders benefit from the
company of a dog. Some such
children form intense
relationships with animals,
seemingly finding them easier
to relate to. One recent study
from France indicated that to
be effective, the dog has to be
obtained when the child is old
enough to interact with it:
such children tend to ignore
pets who were there when
they were a baby.
But dogs really come into
their own when they can
combine their outgoing
natures with their incredible
ability to read our body
language – and their ultra-
sensitive noses. Seizure alert
dogs are now being trained to
assist people with metabolic
conditions such as brittle
diabetes and Addison’s
disease, but the original idea
came from the dogs
themselves, some of which
seem to have taught
themselves to alert their
owners to an impending
attack. It’s not known
precisely how they do this, but
a dog’s ability to detect
minute changes in the body
odour of the subject must play
a part.
The relationship between us
and dogs has been in
existence for over 10,000
years, and shows no signs of
weakening. But it is changing,
as the traditional tasks that
dogs performed have been
supplemented by new roles.
Getting a dog may not
automatically make you
healthier, but if you train it
well it will undoubtedly make
you happier – and encourage
you to make new friends. 7
VI@panorama.co.za

37/2017 33
Focus

34 37/2017
Like the wind
es, that is someone cycling.
Y Down the side of a mountain.
This is Eric Barone, also known as
Le Baron Rouge, setting a new world
speed record for mountain biking on
18 March 2017. He reached a speed
of 227.7km/h while bombing it down
the snow track at Vars ski resort in
France.
“The only thing propelling the bike
was gravity,” explains Marc Amerigo,
lead engineer of the project, “so
Eric’s bike, helmet and latex suit
were all designed to minimise air
resistance. We made a 3D scan of
the bike with Eric sitting on it, and
then added external ‘fairings’ to the
frame to get an optimal airflow. He
also has pieces of foam under his
suit to make him as aerodynamic as
possible.”
Eric Barone has a taste for speed.
As well as working as a stunt double
for actors like Sylvester Stallone
and Jean-Claude Van Damme, the
56-year-old Frenchman holds the
PHOTO: G ETTY

world speed record for bicycle

on gravel – an equally impressive
172km/h.

37/2017 35
Visual
Raúl Martinez at an evaporation
pool, where lithium carbonate is
concentrated from brine. Miners
must protect their skin and eyes
from the sun’s UV radiation and
the surface glare

The Bolivian salt plains hide vast

reserves of lithium. With demand for
rechargeable batteries set to soar, could
this be the site of a new gold rush?
7 WORDS: HAYLEY BENNETT TRANSLATION: ADRIANA CASTRO
PHOTOS: DANY KROM/REDUX/EYEVINE

DIGGING FOR
ELECTRICITY
H
igh up in the Andean
Mountains in Bolivia is a
vast expanse of white
desert, the world’s largest
salt flat: Salar de Uyuni. Stretching
160km from west to east, its cracked
surface heals during the rainy season
to form a giant natural mirror. Until
recently, this extraordinary
environment had kept all but
migrating flamingos, salt rakers and
the most intrepid of tourists at bay.
Just below the surface, however, is
something that the mining industry is
itching to get its hands on: 10 million
tonnes of lithium. This soft, silvery
metal is the stuff of the rechargeable
batteries that power our smartphones
and laptops.
In the so-called ‘lithium triangle’
covering the borders between
Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, lithium
is extracted from brine beneath the
crusts of salt plains. These three
South American countries alone hold
56% of the world’s lithium stores.
Bolivia’s lithium is thought to have
leached from the surrounding Andes
into a prehistoric lake that dried to
form the present-day salt flat. It
contains more lithium than even the
most productive flat, Chile’s Salar de
Atacama.
The Bolivian government is shelling
out millions to help unlock the
potential of this huge, untapped
resource, but whether it all pays off
may depend on the future of the
electric car industry.

36 37/2017
 S Evaporation pools,
Mining the brine separated by levees,
concentrate the lithium
ithium carbonate is extracted from the salt
L desert by piping brine from below the
crust into large evaporation pools. Three litres
W Lithium-rich brine is
pumped from beneath
of Salar de Uyuni brine contain less than a the crust
gram of lithium metal, so it is concentrated
under the glare of the sun before being
collected for processing. The lithium at Salar
de Uyuni is also bound up with magnesium,
which has to be removed before the lithium
can be turned into electrodes and electrolytes
for batteries.
Right now, there is only one working pilot plant
at the salt flat, where, as former director of
communications for the plant, Raúl Martinez,
explains, 99.7% pure, battery-grade lithium is
being produced.
“This project demonstrates that the Bolivians
have all the potential to obtain lithium
carbonate of commercial and battery grade in
the salt flats,” he says.
However, the state mining company Comibol
may need to scale up its operations. It shipped
less than 30 tonnes of lithium carbonate in
2016, making the target of 10,000 tonnes by
2021 seem like a stretch. Bidding for
construction of a second plant, designed by
German company K-UTEC, is underway. 

37/2017 37
Visual

A young boy amuses

Uncertain times himself by playing
he Bolivian government plans to plough football while his
T R12.5 billion into the lithium industry by
2019. President Evo Morales dreams of building
dad makes bricks for
building salt hotels
a high-tech future for his country, based on
manufacturing smartphone and electric car
batteries. However, outsiders claim he needs
foreign investment, and so far this hasn’t been
particularly forthcoming. What’s more, there’s no
guarantee of lucrative markets like China being
reliant on lithium in the future. Prof Martin
Bertau, director of the Institute of Technical
Chemistry at TU Bergakademie in Freiberg,
Germany, thinks lithium battery-powered cars
may only be a short-term solution for China,
while another potentially greener technology
based on methanol fuel cells ramps up.
“If direct methanol fuel cell cars emerge [in
China], lithium electrical vehicles may lose their
significance overnight,” he says. “It is this
scenario that truly will not be helpful for Bolivia.”
There also remains uncertainty over the
environmental damage that could be caused by
widespread lithium mining on the salt flat, with
accusations flying back and forth between
mining and environmental organisations.
According to Martinez, all mining activities at
Salar de Uyuni must comply with state
regulations to reduce their environmental
impact. The Bolivian National Evaporite
Resources Authority has switched from
lime-based to sulphate-based technology,
because this produces less sludge, although
research on the impacts of sulphate in this
environment is scarce. 

Compounds extracted from the brine Battery-grade lithium

are stored in large silos carbonate

emand for lithium in batteries has risen on average by 20% a
D year since 2000. The most powerful Tesla Model S electric car
(the P100D) carries a 100kWh rechargeable battery, with each 6kWh
of performance requiring around 5kg of battery-grade lithium
carbonate.
What makes the market situation unpredictable is that lithium has
other uses – the most important being for strengthening and coatings
in glass and ceramics. It’s almost impossible to predict accurately
what the future of the lithium industry will look like, but earlier this
year, Bertau published a paper on lithium supply and demand in the
journal Energy Storage Materials that gives us a short-term idea.
140,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate were produced in 2014. If
electric cars really take off, demand could reach 300,000 tonnes by
2020, or less than 200,000 tonnes in a more modest scenario.
Bertau thinks the modest scenario is more realistic, but either way, it
looks like lithium is going to be in demand for some time yet. What
this will mean for the Bolivian mining industry, and those who depend
on it, remains to be seen.

38 37/2017
 This aerial shot gives a
bird’s-eye view of a brine-
filled evaporation pool
Innovation
BACK
TO THE
FUTURE
Many of today’s technological wonders, big
and small, were confidently predicted nearly
30 years ago
7 TEXT: BRUCE DENNILL
A
s fans of George
Orwell’s novel 1984
note that more and
more of the author’s
imaginings of a dystopian
future (the book was
published in 1949) are coming
true, it’s interesting to note
that ideas that felt like science
fiction around 30 years ago
are now not only established
but in some ways changing
the way scientists think about
the future.
Facts & Fallacies, published
by Reader’s Digest in 1988,
contains a number of
examples of stories in which
40 37/2017
supposedly established facts
were challenged and the
boundaries of our collective
learning expanded.
So much progress has been
made – check out what was
published in 1988 and then
look at updates from this
year.
A Smart cards
Then: From Facts &
Fallacies: “One of the most
versatile of storage systems is
the pocket-size plastic card,
similar to a credit card. The
magnetic strip on each card
contains an identification
code number (in magnetic or
optical form) that can be read
by an electronic device and
transmitted to a central
computer.”
Now: Most South African
credit cards are smart cards,
with embedded
microprocessors as well as the
old magnetic strip for storing
data. Such technology has
been around in some form for
a decade or more, but it is
now being utilised in a wider
range of contexts, including:
Qcredit cards and other
banking applications.
Qsatellite television.
Qloyalty systems.
Qgovernment identification
systems.
Qcomputer security.
Inside a smart card, there
could be up to 8 kilobytes of
RAM, 346 kilobytes of ROM,
256 kilobytes of
programmable ROM, and a
16-bit microprocessor. This
processor can encrypt
information and uses power
from external sources
including card readers.
A The supercollider
Then: From Facts & Fallacies:
“Physicists in the United States
plan to build a vast machine
large enough to encircle
Washington DC. Its purpose:
to examine elementary
particles, the smallest particles
known. Called the
superconducting supercollider,
the machine promises to help
scientists understand more
about the origins and make-up
of the universe.”
Now: The superconducting
supercollider, called CERN
(Conseil Européen pour la
Recherche Nucléaire or
European Council for Nuclear
Research) and headquartered
in Geneva rather than
Washington, has been using
particle accelerators since the
late 1950s with infrastructure
consistently upgraded. Using
the Large Hadron Collider that
is the project’s current
centrepiece, scientists isolated
the long sought-after Higgs
boson in 2012. This result is of
huge significance.
“It paints a completely different
picture of the world to the one
 Facts & Fallacies by Reader’s Digest
Higgs p was published in 1988
among articles
several are
by the S predicte
physics tanda d
. They m rd Model of HOW COULD DRIVERLESS CARS CHANGE MOTORING?
field’, w ake up
hich ca th
an invis n be tho e ‘Higgs
ible tre ught of
other p a cle thro as Although autonomous vehicles have the potential to make our roads
articles ugh wh
interac , su ich safer, there are still a lot of bugs to work out with the technology, and
t and th ch as atoms,
erefore
appear
questions to answer regarding its use. The only thing we can say with any
to have
mass. certainty is that it’s going to be a long time before the human element is
completely taken out of the driving equation.

PARKING
Some cars already have ‘parking assistance’ that allows the vehicle to
manoeuvre itself into tight spots. But they require the driver to be there
‘just in case’. If a driverless vehicle could be trusted to park itself, it
could drop you off at your destination and find a space on its own.

LEARNING TO DRIVE
It’s likely that anyone operating a vehicle, autonomous or not, will still
require some sort of training in order to do so. But the arrival of
autonomous vehicles is expected to result in changes to the rules of the
road and possibly the skills taught while a new driver is learning.

TAXIS
If a car can take you anywhere without you having to drive, why do we
need taxi drivers? Uber has stated that its plan is to eventually operate
an autonomous fleet. So while it may be goodbye to awkward
The Large Hadron conversations with drivers, there may also be considerable job losses.
Collider at CERN

we’ve had since the ancient
Greeks,” says Prof Andy Parker
of Cambridge University.
“It means we can no longer
think of atoms – and the things
they make up – as having their
own intrinsic mass. They get
their mass from the way they
interact with the Higgs field.
The trouble is, there’s
currently no concrete
explanation of how the Higgs
boson gets its mass. One
possibility is that it gets its
mass through the way it
interacts with
‘supersymmetric’ particles. So
these will be the next target for
physicists at the Large Hadron
Collider.”
A Self-driving cars
Then: From Facts & Fallacies:
“Computers will soon take
full control of the automobile
to help a driver arrive at his
destination quickly and safely.
All over the world, major car
and computer
manufacturers are
working on
in-automobile
navigation
systems. These
systems may
become a
standard feature
on all models by
the year 2000.”
Now: Today, driverless cars are
ready to hit the roads. Google’s
autonomous vehicles have
already covered 482,800km
without fault, and most
manu-facturers have versions of
their own robotic cars. The only
roadblock to their progress is
legislation. Pair their inevitable
rise with the popularity of
Uber, the app that connects
people who need a ride with car
owners with free time, and it’s
not hard to envision driverless
taxis that people summon
through a smart device. 7
VI@panorama.co.za

Now Then

37/2017 41
 ILLUSTRATION: ANDY POTTS

42
Environment

37/2017
 LIFE
AFTER
MAN
From asteroid strike to climate change to nuclear war, humanity faces all
kinds of existential threats. But if our species disappeared tomorrow, what
would actually happen – and what kind of planet would we be leaving
behind?
7 TEXT: DUNCAN GEERE

37/2017 43
Environment

W
e are living
through the
dawn of a new
epoch in our
planet’s history – the
Anthropocene. Humans have
always shaped aspects of their
environment, from fire to
farming. But the influence of
Homo sapiens on Earth has
reached such a level that it
now defines current
geological time.
From air pollution in the
upper atmosphere to
fragments of plastic at the
bottom of the ocean, it’s
almost impossible to find a
place on our planet that
humankind has not touched
in some way. But there’s a
dark cloud on the horizon.
Well over 99% of the species
that have ever existed on
Earth have died out, most
during cataclysms of the sort
that killed off the dinosaurs.
Humanity has never faced an
event of that magnitude, but
sooner or later we will.
A The end is nigh!
Human extinction, many
experts believe, is not a
matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’. And
some think it will come
sooner rather than later. In
2010, eminent Australian
virologist Frank Fenner
claimed that humans will
probably be extinct in the
next century thanks to
overpopulation,
environmental destruction
and climate change.
Of course, Earth can and will
survive just fine without us.
Life will persist, and the
marks we’ve left on the planet
will fade faster than you
might think. Our cities will
crumble, our fields will
overgrow and our bridges
will fall.
“Nature will break down
everything eventually,” says
Alan Weisman, author of the
2007 book The World
Without Us, which examines
what would happen if humans
vanished from the planet. “If
it can’t break stuff down, it
eventually buries it.”
Before too long, all that will
remain of humanity will be a
thin layer of plastic,
radioactive isotopes and
chicken bones – we kill 60
billion chickens per year – in
the fossil record. For evidence
of this, we can look to areas
of the planet that we’ve been
forced to vacate.
In the 19-mile exclusion zone
surrounding the Chernobyl
power plant in Ukraine,
which was severely
contaminated following the
1986 reactor meltdown, plants
and animals are thriving in
ways they never did before. A
2015 study funded by the
“Of course, Earth can and
will survive just fine without
us. Life will persist”
Natural Environment
Research Council found
“abundant wildlife
populations” in the zone,
suggesting that humans are
far more of a threat to the
local flora and fauna than 30
years of chronic radiation
exposure.
The speed at which nature
reclaims a landscape depends
a lot on the climate of an
area. In the deserts of the
Middle East, ruins from
thousands of years ago are
still visible, but the same can’t
be said of cities only a few
hundred years old in tropical
forests. In 1542, when
Europeans first saw the
rainforests of Brazil, they
reported cities, roads and
fields along the banks of
major rivers. After the
population was decimated by
diseases that the explorers
brought with them, however,
these cities were quickly
reclaimed by the jungle. The
ruins of Las Vegas are certain
to persist far longer than
those of Mumbai. Only now
do deforestation and remote
sensing techniques offer us a
glimpse of what came
before.
PHOTO: GETTY X2

HOW COULD IT HAPPEN?

Six ways that Homo sapiens could come to a sticky end:

SYNTHETIC VIRUS
S CLIMATE CHANGE
W millions of deaths
With
cchalked up to natural viruses
lilike smallpox, influenza, HIV
and Ebola, it’s unsurprising
a unprecedented, and will have
that
th t experts
t see an engineered virus as
one of the key existential threats to
humans. The first synthetic virus was
created in 2002, and with the genomes
of over 3,000 viruses available online, it
may only be a matter of time until one is
deliberately released.
C S
SUPERVOLCANO
T rate at which humans
The ERUPTION
E
are altering Earth’s
a TThe eruption of a
atmosphere is
a supervolcano,
s like the one
u below
b Yellowstone, could
dire consequences unless it is slowed. As
di pump outt so much ash that it would
the planet heats up, vast swathes of the block out the sun, sending the Earth into
world will become uninhabitable, leading an ice age and driving huge numbers of
to mass migration and conflict. Harvests species extinct along the way. Without
will fail and the oceans will empty of fish. the sun’s energy driving almost every
With nothing to eat and nowhere to live, natural process, humans have little
it’s hard to see us surviving for long. hope of holding on.

44 37/2017
 Just like these
Roman ruins, today’s
buildings would still
be recognisable in
the future

AI TAKEOVER
A N
E
Experts estimate that we’ll
arrive
a at an AI as smart as a
human
h within the next few
decades.
d But it won’t stop
there: soon tthe AI will be far smarter,
th
and we’ll no more be able to
comprehend its thinking than a dog can
comprehend ours. The likely result?
Immortality, if we can keep our digital
servants focused on the right goals. Or
extinction, if we can’t.
NUCLEAR
APOCALYPSE
A RESISTANCE
TThe number of nuclear-
armed
a countries is rising.
Any
A significant exchange of
nuclear
l weapons would have a similar
effect to the eruption of a supervolcano,
with ash blocking out the sun. A nuclear
winter, combined with the radioactive
fallout, would result in a world where, as
former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
once said, “the living will envy the dead”.
A
ANTIBIOTIC
R
T discovery of penicillin in
The
1928 changed the world: an
1
nfection was no longer a death
in
sentence bbut a minor inconvenience. But
the over-prescription of antibiotics,
combined with the meat industry’s
fondness for routine antibiotic injections
into healthy animals, has bred an
increasing number of superbugs that are
immune to our strongest medicines.

37/2017 45
Environment
Plant and animal species corn that wasn’t much bigger looks delicious is going to get food web caused by the
that have formed close than a sprig of wheat.” devoured.” disappearance of humankind
bonds with humanity are the The sudden disappearance of The bug explosion will in turn may still be visible as much as
most likely to suffer if we pesticides will also mean a fuel a population increase in 100 years into the future,
disappear. The crops that population explosion for bug-eating species, like birds, before things settle down into
feed the world, reliant as bugs. Insects are mobile, rodents, lizards, bats and a new normal.
they are on regular reproduce quickly and live in spiders, and then a boom in Some wilder breeds of cattle
applications of pesticides and almost any environment, the species that eat those or sheep could survive, but
fertilisers, would swiftly be making them a highly animals, and so on all the way most have been bred into slow
replaced by their wild successful class of species, up the food chain. But what and docile eating machines
forebears. even when humans are goes up must come down – that will die off in huge
“They’re going to get actively trying to suppress those huge populations will numbers. “I think they will be
outcompeted, fast,” says them. “They can mutate and be unsustainable in the long very quick pickings for these
Weisman. “Carrots will turn adapt faster than anything term once the food that feral carnivores or wild
back into Queen Anne’s lace, else on the planet except for humans left behind has been carnivores that are going to
corn may go back into maybe microbes,” explains consumed. The start proliferating,” says
teosinte – the original ear of Weisman. “Anything that reverberations throughout the Weisman. Those carnivores

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46 37/2017
 will include human pets,
more likely cats than dogs.
“I think that wolves are going
“Species that have close bonds with
to be very successful and
they’re going to outcompete
dogs,” Weisman says. “Cats
humanity are most likely to suffer”
are a very successful non-
native species all over the
world. Everywhere they go
they thrive.”
The question of whether
‘intelligent’ life could evolve
again is harder to answer.
One theory holds that
intelligence evolved because
it helped our early ancestors
survive environmental
shocks. Another is that
intelligence helps individuals
to survive and reproduce in
large social groups. A third is
that intelligence is merely an
indicator of healthy genes.
All three scenarios could
plausibly occur again in a
post-human world.
“The next biggest brain in the
primates per body weight is
the baboon’s, and you could
say that they’re the most
likely candidate,” says
Weisman. “They live in
forests, but they’ve also
learned to live on forest
edges. They can gather food
in savannahs really well, and
they know how to band
together against predators.
Baboons could do what we
did, but on the other hand I
don’t see any motivation for
them. Life is really good for
them the way it is.”

A Polluted planet
The shocks that could drive
baboons (or other species)
out of their comfort zone
could be set in motion by the
disappearance of humans.
Even if we all vanished
tomorrow, the greenhouse
gases we’ve pumped into the
PHOTOS: GETTY X4, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY X2, ALAMY

atmosphere will take tens of

thousands of years to return
to pre-industrial levels. Some
scientists believe that we’ve
already passed crucial
tipping points – in the polar
regions particularly – that
will accelerate climate
change even if we never emit
another molecule of CO 2 .
Then there’s the issue of the
world’s nuclear plants. The
evidence from Chernobyl
suggests that ecosystems can
bounce back from radiation
releases, but there are about
450 nuclear reactors around
the world that will start to
melt down as soon as the
fuel runs out in the
emergency generators that
supply them with coolant.
There’s just no way of
knowing how such an
enormous, abrupt release of
radioactive material into the
atmosphere might affect the
planet’s ecosystems.
And that’s before we start to
consider other sources of
pollution. The decades
following human extinction
will be pockmarked by
devastating oil spills,
chemical leaks and
explosions of varying sizes
– all ticking time bombs that
humanity has left behind.
Some of those events could
lead to fires that may burn
for decades. Below the town
of Centralia in Pennsylvania,
a seam of coal has been
burning since at least 1962,
forcing the evacuation of the
local population and the
demolition of the town.
Today, the area appears as a
meadow with paved streets
running through it and
plumes of smoke and

37/2017 47
Environment

carbon monoxide
emerging from below.
Nature has reclaimed the
surface. 7
A The final traces
But some traces of
DAYS
humankind will remain, even Fuel runs out at the
tens of millions of years after emergency generators
our end. Microbes will have that pump coolant into
time to evolve to consume nuclear power plants.
the plastic we’ve left behind. Approximately 450
Roads and ruins will be reactors around the world
visible for many thousands of
years (Roman concrete is begin to melt down.
still identifiable 2,000 years
later), but will eventually be
buried or broken up by
NO MORE
natural forces.
It feels reassuring that our art
HUMANS
will be some of the last
evidence that we existed.
Ceramics, bronze statues and
ANY MORE …
monuments like Mount A post-apocalyptic timeline
Rushmore will be among our
most enduring legacies. Our
broadcasts, too: Earth has
been transmitting its culture
over electromagnetic waves
for over 100 years, and those
waves have passed out into
space. So 100 light years
away, with a large enough
antenna, you’d be able to pick
up a recording of famous
opera singers in New York –
the first public radio
broadcast, in 1910. Those
waves will persist in
recognisable form for a few
million years, travelling 1
further and further from
Earth, until they eventually YEAR
become so weak they’re
indistinguishable from the
2 Human head
and body lice go
background noise of space.
But even radio waves will be
DAYS extinct, while
outlived by our spacecraft. Without active cockroaches
The Voyager probes, maintenance and in cities at
launched in 1977, are pumping, New York temperate
whizzing out of the solar City’s subways latitudes freeze
system at a speed of almost to death.
flood with water
60,000km/hour. As long as
they don’t hit anything, which and become Domestic and
is pretty unlikely (space is impassable. farm animals
very empty), then they’ll perish in
outlive Earth’s fatal enormous
encounter with an inflating numbers.
PHOTOS: GETTY X13, ALAMY

sun in 7.5 billion years. They

will be the last remaining
legacy of humankind,
spiralling forever out into the
inky blackness of the
universe. 7

VI@panorama.co.za

48 37/2017
3
YEARS
Pipes burst in
colder regions,
flooding cities
with water.
Buildings lose
100,000
structural
integrity
YEARS
CO2 in the
as they atmosphere
expand and returns to pre-
contract with industrial levels.
temperature Microbes evolve
changes. to biodegrade
plastic. Plutonium
bombs made
during the age of
humans become
safe to handle.

20 300
YEARS YEARS
The Panama Most of the world’s
Canal closes, bridges fall.
rejoining North Dams silt up and
and South
America.
overflow, washing
away entire
10,000,000
Many crops
disappear,
cities. Suburbs
become forests
YEARS
Bronze sculptures are
outcompeted by as endangered
still recognisable, as
wild varieties. species rebound.
are the faces on Mount
Rushmore. Life still
thrives on Earth, but in
new forms.

37/2017 49
Interview

THE HEAT IS ON FOR

VULNERABLE
SPECIES
Climate change is driving animals out of their natural
ranges. Prof John Wiens has been studying just how bad
these ‘local extinctions’ are becoming
A lemur in Madagascar. Climate change is expected to
have devastating effects on wildlife in tropical regions

How might species respond to How does climate affect a

warmer temperatures?
They could stay and change
themselves: maybe spend
more time in the shade, where
their tolerances expand. We
call that a ‘niche shift’. Or
they can adapt evolutionarily.
But my study shows that
doesn’t seem to be
happening. Instead they’re
tracking the suitable climate
over space.
species’ geographic range?
Temperatures get cooler as
you move higher in elevation,
towards the top of a mountain,
or higher in latitude, towards
the North or South Pole.
Every single species has a sort
of elevational range and a
latitudinal range. We call the
lowest latitudes and elevations
the ‘warm edge’ of a range,
because they have the highest

50 37/2017

temperatures. That’s where we
expect to see species affected
by climate change.
What are ‘local extinctions’?
Local extinction means that in
one place, all the individuals
are gone. So it’s not
necessarily the whole species’
range, but in that particular
place, people can’t find it any
more. Maybe 50 or 60 years
ago, they looked at a bunch of
“Species are going to lose
most or all of their ranges,
and a lot of them will go
extinct”  It’s almost a two-fold
species along a mountain
slope and documented what
species were there; then in the
past 10 to 15 years, they’ve
found it’s different.
So how many species have gone
locally extinct?
In one or more parts of their
ranges, 47% out of 976
[surveyed]. The other 53%
were able to stay at their
‘warm edges’. This is the
of between 1°C and 5°C, so I
think that a lot of species are
going to lose most or all of
their ranges, and a lot of them
will go extinct.
You found that extinction is greater
in tropical zones. Why is that?
difference. That has an
intuitive explanation: in the
tropics there’s much less
seasonality. At low elevations
it’s warm all year long, and at
higher elevations it’s cool all
year long. Whereas in
temperate zones, it’s hot in
the summer and cold in the
winter. So if you’re in the
temperate zone, you have to
be able to tolerate a broad
range of conditions, and that’s
not so in the tropics. We
think most species on Earth
are in the tropics, so it’s vital
to note that there could be
more loss of species.
Will local extinctions affect
humans?
Particularly in the developing
world, 50% of humans’ diet is
coming from grasses. If you
have a bad crop year, people
will die. Those are places
where, instead of the plants
being irrigated, they depend a
lot on local climatic
conditions. It’s very bad. It
doesn’t have to be extinction
of the entire species, because
even a local extinction will be
devastating for people. 7
VI@panorama co za
VI@panorama.co.za
Madagascar, one of the
regions looked at in Prof
Wiens’ study
climate change that has
happened so far which,
relative to what’s expected, is
actually really small. So
there’s been less than a 1°C
increase [in average global
temperature], but still there’s
these local extinctions across
the whole planet in about
half the species that anybody John Wiens is professor of
has looked at. It’s going to get ecology and evolutionary biology
worse. We think there’s going at the University of Arizona
to be an additional increase
37/2017 51
Psychology

52 37/2017
 DO
SOCIAL
NETWORKS
MAKE US
ANTISOCIAL?
Many of us have experienced the ways in which social media
has changed the online world.
But should we be worried about it altering our behaviour too?
7 WORDS: DR DEAN BURNETT

37/2017 53
Psychology

“The truth is, our social

R
ecently, I witnessed Compared with other
the unpleasant animals, including
breakdown of a our closest relatives,
relationship. One
partner accused the other of
infidelity and promiscuity; the
interactions, both online we are quite friendly

other retaliated with claims of

emotional abuse, drunken
and in person, have a
behaviour and an inability to
perform sexually. All this, in
much more sweary language
huge effect on our
than that conveyed here. It
got nasty fast, with children
being dragged into it, and
thinking and cognition”
friends taking sides and
furiously rowing with those
who’d taken the other side.
All very grim, and it made me
vow to avoid any and all of
those involved as a result.
That wasn’t difficult though,
as I’d never actually met any
of them to begin with. This
whole breakdown happened
on Facebook. Some friends of
friends had asked to add me
to their network, I’d
unthinkingly agreed, and thus
I ended up with a front-row
seat to their hideous
break-up. Ironic, that a social
network was essentially
responsible for the
destruction of so many social
bonds.
You’ve no doubt heard many
complaints about social
networks before. They’re
time-consuming, invasive,
confusing, compromise your
privacy and so on. But do
they actually make us
antisocial? Is there any
credibility to that claim?
If, like many do, you draw a
clear line between online have such big brains to begin junctions, which show recognised by psychologists
interactions and real-world with. The argument is that increased activity when the as a form of torture. On the
interactions, with more primitive humans banded subject contemplates being other hand, too much social
importance being placed on together in communities, and part of a group. Areas like interaction isn’t good either.
the latter, then yes, arguably this co-operative approach the ventral medial prefrontal Social interaction is mentally
there is. But to really get to proved very useful for our cortex and anterior cingulate taxing: engaging with
the heart of the matter, you survival. But this lifestyle cortex show increased activity someone is a lot of work for
have to look at how social requires a lot of information when processing our sense of the brain, as it requires
networks affect our behaviour to be processed; who do you self, our identity, and when mental effort. This explains
and actions towards other trust? Who will help you? processing awareness of the the apparent contradiction
people. They can and do have Who owes you favours? And groups or communities we between humans needing
significant impacts on these so on. A substantial amount feel we’re part of. This all social interaction, but also
things, because of the way of detail needs to be available suggests our social needing privacy. Social
our brains work. The truth is, at a moment’s notice. interactions are a major interaction wears our brain
our social interactions, both Basically, you need a lot of component of our identity, at out, so we need privacy to get
online and in person, have a grey matter to maintain this. a very fundamental level. away for a bit and ‘recharge’.
huge effect on our thinking That’s the theory, anyway All this shows that the brain
and cognition. The social (and there are others). A Social butterflies strikes a precise balance to
brain hypothesis, first put In support of this, brain Humans need social ensure we get the most from
forward in the ’90s by imaging studies have shown a interactions. Depriving our social interactions. But
anthropologist Robert network of regions, including humans of social contact, as just as putting 10 times the
Dunbar, suggests that our cortical midline structures when prisoners are sent to required amount of sugar into
sociable nature is why we and tempero-parietal solitary confinement, is a cake doesn’t make it 10

54 37/2017
 We can control
how we portray
ourselves online by
only posting the best
updates, videos and
images
PHOTOS: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, GETTY X2
times better, so social
networks can amplify aspects
of socialising and social
relationships in ways that are
unhelpful, if not downright
harmful.
As early as 2010, professional
psychiatrists were arguing
that social network addiction
Dopamine is released
by the brain when we
enjoy a successful social
interaction, giving us a
rush of pleasure
was a real phenomenon that
should be classed as a clinical
disorder, citing a case study of
an individual who spent five
hours a day checking
Facebook, rarely leaving the
house to do so, losing jobs
and in one case interrupting
the therapy consultation to
check their updates –
tantamount to opening a beer
during an AA meeting. It
essentially means cutting off
all other forms of social
contact to focus solely on
social media, to the detriment
of your overall existence.
There are explanations for
this. A successful social
interaction means we
experience a real-world
reward in the brain. Oxytocin
release gives a general sense
of well-being and connection,
and the mesolimbic reward
pathway, buried deep in the
centre of the brain, releases
dopamine, giving a rush of
pleasure. Some argue – and a
few studies even provide
some evidence – that a
successful social interaction
online, such as a popular
Facebook post or widely
shared tweet, can also
produce this positive
response in the brain.
Unfortunately, these social
‘hits’ are a lot easier to get
online, without all the effort
of ‘normal’ social
interactions. Drugs of abuse
operate on similar principles,
triggering the reward
pathway, but without the
hassle of actually doing the
action that the brain would
consider deserving of a
reward. Over time, the brain
adapts to expect these
pleasurable signals, and does
things like disrupt the areas
responsible for inhibitions or
conscious self-control to keep
them coming. Indeed, a 2013
neuroimaging study at the
University of Zurich led by
psychologist Dr Katrin
Preller revealed that cocaine
addicts have diminished
activity in areas like the
orbitofrontal cortex, resulting
in reduced emotional
empathy and willingness to
socialise. So if social network
addiction is exploiting similar
mechanisms to cocaine
addiction, then social
networks may well be having
an ironically negative
impact on individual’s
37/2017 55
Psychology
“As early as 2010,
psychiatrists were
arguing that social
network addiction should
be classed as a disorder”
We are social creatures
– isolation is used as a
form of torture and can
warp the mind
ability to socialise,
rendering them more
antisocial. More research is
needed.
A Control freaks
Another issue is that people
have a greater deal of control
over their interactions online,
meaning they can decide, to a
much greater degree, how
others experience them. You
can put up only good photos,
delete unwise comments,
spellcheck, share smart
memes and so on. This
satisfies an underlying process
the brain engages in known as
‘impression management’,
where we’re constantly
compelled to present the best
possible image of ourselves to
others, in order to make them
more likely to approve of us.
A 2014 study led by the
University of Sheffield’s Dr
Tom Farrow looked at
impression management.
Using scanning technology,
the team asked subjects to
56 37/2017
choose behaviours that would
make people like them, and
that would make people
dislike them. Activation was
recorded in regions including
the medial prefrontal cortex,
the midbrain and cerebellum,
suggesting that these brain
regions are involved in
processing the image of
ourselves we want to present
to others. However, these
areas were only noticeably
active when subjects tried to
make themselves look bad –
that is when they were
choosing behaviours to make
people dislike them. If they
were choosing behaviours that
made them look good, there
was no detectable difference
to normal brain activity.
Coupled with the fact that
subjects were much faster at
processing behaviours that
made them look good as
opposed to bad, the
conclusion was that presenting
a positive image of ourselves
to others is what the brain is
Social networking can trigger
reward pathways in the brain,
and may lead to addiction
doing all the time! It’s the
brain’s default state.
Granted, it was a small and
limited study, but it’s an
interesting outcome
nonetheless. And if we’re
constantly focused on
presenting a positive image of
ourselves, it’s no wonder social
networks are so popular, as
they offer a much greater
sense of control of how we
come across.
But this control is a double-
edged sword. Even if you’re
just sitting with friends, the
tendency to check your phone
rather than talk can be
overwhelming. The brain is
usually averse to risk,
preferring predictable options
over less certain ones, and the
cool, calm interface on the
screen is often subconsciously
more reassuring than the
chaotic conversation going on
around you. The people you’re
with may consider this
behaviour antisocial. And
rightly so.
More worryingly, a 2015
survey of men aged 18 to 40
by Jesse Fox and Margaret
Rooney in the journal
Personality And Individual
Differences revealed that the
amount of time spent on
social networking sites,
posting selfies and,
revealingly, editing selfies to
make them look better, was
correlated with traits like
narcissism and psychopathy.
This isn’t to say social
networks cause these things,
but they offer an outlet, a way
for them to be expressed free
of consequence, where they
may otherwise be criticised or
challenged, thus ensuring
more socially acceptable
behaviours.
Another intriguing finding,
from a 2015 study led by Prof
Joy Peluchette at Lindenwood
University, was that certain
types of behaviour on social
networks – namely
extroversion and ‘openness’
– actually increase the odds
of being a victim of cyber-
bullying. It may sound
counterintuitive, but it makes
a certain amount of sense. A
person may typically keep
their more flamboyant or
expressive natures
suppressed, because social
norms deter such things.
Subtle signs of discomfort in
those around you, awkward
body language and responses,
muted atmospheres – these
all act to keep gregarious or
overly personal tendencies in
check, to some extent.
However, such cues aren’t
present online, so you can be
as overly expressive or
personal as you like on there.
But other people may find
this unsettling or off-putting,
or could see it as cynical
attention-seeking. Either way,
they react aggressively, and
attack the person. But social
networks also protect the
attacker from the
consequences of their actions,
introducing a distance and
degree of anonymity between
themselves and their victim,
shielding them from the
immediate effects, but
supplying the same ‘rush’ of
having lowered someone’s
status and boosted their own.
So social networks again
become a way to facilitate
and perpetuate antisocial
actions.
Social networks also give us
the ability to pick and choose
what we see and hear from
others, meaning we can end
up in the oft-cited ‘echo
chamber’. Social networks
make it much easier to form
groups, and constantly
remain part of them. This can
give us a more ‘extreme’
leaning, making us more
intolerant of contrasting
views as we grow unused to
encountering them. What
should be a casual meet-up in
a pub can easily become a
blistering row about a football
team. Antisocial behaviour,
caused by social networks.
It’s not all doom and gloom.
More nervous or socially
awkward people can be
liberated by the controlled
and organised
communication offered by
social networks, and great
friendships and relationships
can form across the world
now that would never have
Spending time socialising
with people can be hard
work for the brain
been able to exist before. But
the truth is, for all that they
may sometimes not work that
well, the human brain has
evolved a variety of systems
to make sure social
interaction happens as
efficiently as possible. Social
networks, though, throw
many spanners in the works
here, causing overall
disruption, which can
sometimes mean they end up
achieving the opposite of
what they’re built for, and
making people antisocial.
Like and share this article if
you agree! 7
VI@panorama.co.za
37/2017 57
Q&A
Questions & Answers
WHAT CONNECTS
PREGNANCY TESTS
AND FROGS?

This whooping
crane chick is
1.
Home pregnancy
being fed by tests use
its disguised a
antibo
odies that bind
surrogate to hormones
h in a
‘mother’ pregnant
g w
woman’s urine.
The antibo odies have dye
m
molecule es attached to
tthem, wwhich create a
vvisible lin
ne on the test.

2.
The hormone
being detected
is called
human
chorionic
gonadotropin,

How small can a population or HCG, which

the placenta
secretes once a
be and still survive? fertilised egg has
implanted. It is
Amy Sinclair, Sandton detectable from the day the
e often hear of species being on the brink out by such challenges. Below a few hundred, woman’s period is due.
W of extinction, with reported remaining
numbers from several thousand to a few dozen.
species become vulnerable to genetic
inbreeding, while species with fewer than around
But their fate depends on whether they can be 50 members can be wiped out by otherwise
protected from three key threats. The most normal blips in birth and death rates. Even then,
potent threat is environmental, such as changes their fate is not sealed: conservation efforts have
in food and water supplies. The other two are rescued species such as the whooping crane of
disease and the emergence of a new predator.
Populations below 10,000 can be quickly wiped
North America, which in the 1940s numbered
fewer than 23 individuals. 3.
Although HCG is
specific to humans,
other vertebrates have

What causes sleep similar gonadotropin

OS: GETTY X6, SCIENCE PHOTO LLIBRARY ILLUSTRATIONS: RAJA LOCKEY

hormones that regulate
their reproductive
paralysis? cycle. HCG collected
from humans is used
Langa Mbuso, Colesburg by vets to induce
uring rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, our body ovulation in horses.
D is paralysed to stop us from acting out our
dreams. When sleep paralysis occurs, features
of REM sleep are continuing into our waking
lives. In particular we are unable to move
4.
But it isn’t only horseses
that HCG can affect ct. In
and sometimes experience hallucinations. the 1960s, clinica cal
Both genetic and environmental factors pregnancy testss involved
are at play. Circadian genes might be injecting a wom man’s urine
important, although more research is into the leg of a live
needed to specify which genes are African claw wed ffrog. Iff
involved. As for environmental aid eggs the
the frog lai
influences, it appears that anything next day,, the
that might disrupt our sleep – woman was
including stressful life events and pregna ant.
alcohol use – can be a risk for sleep
PHOT

paralysis.
P

58 37/2017
What is the earliest, geologically, that humans

Q&A
FLASH
could have survived on Earth? A The oldest fossil
Phumlani Mvelase, Brakpan
yet found – aged
f we used a time machine to travel back to a strange-looking shellfish, without wood to make a approximately 3.2
I prehistoric period, the earliest we could survive
would be the Cambrian (around 541 million years
spear or plant fibre to make a fishing net. And you’d
have to eat them raw, unless you could find a way to
billion years – is a
blue-green algae
ago). Any earlier than that and there wouldn’t have extract oil from these animals, or burn dry seaweed. that lived on rocks in
been enough oxygen in the air to breathe. At the For a more comfortable existence, you might be better South Africa.
beginning of the Cambrian, the air at sea level would off skipping ahead 100 million years to the Silurian. A These single-cell

have felt like base camp at Mount Everest, but the
climate was milder and more uniform than today. A
bigger problem would be finding something to eat
because there were no land plants or animals. You’d
need to find a way of catching trilobites and other
This had slightly more oxygen and a warmer climate, organisms are, when
as well as simple land plants and the first bony fish, taken individually,
which might have been more palatable. Unfortunately, also the smallest
you would have to share the land with prehistoric fossils ever found.
millipedes and spider-like creatures.

Q&A
FLASH
A Mars’ two moons,
Phobos and Deimos,
are named after the
Greek gods of panic
Is Mars really heating up and terror.
A Dust storms on

quicker than Earth? Mars have winds of

up to 200km/h.
Mark Visser, Nelspruit
ecently, debate about global warming on Earth has been
R intensified by the observation that Mars appears to be
undergoing a period of climate change. It has been suggested
that warming is therefore a result of natural processes rather
than human activity. However, climate change on Mars is
mostly determined by changes in the tilt and shape of its
orbit and the only reliable evidence merely indicates that
Mars ended its most recent ice age about 400,000 years
ago. Although some studies in the 2000s purportedly
showed evidence of climate change on Mars, these were
shown to be either localised effects due to Martian
‘weather’ and dust storms rather than ‘climate’. The
most recent studies show that there have been no
significant changes in the average Martian temperature
since at least the time of the Viking landers in the
1970s. So there is no evidence that Mars is actually
heating up at all.

37/2017 59
Technology

MEET THE
___
ROBOTS
THAT CAN
ILLUSTRATION: PHIL TOLEDANO
LEARN
___
Robots are everywhere these days, but how close
are they to the next natural step in their evolution –
thinking for themselves?
7 TEXT: DR PETER BENTLEY

60 37/2017
01001001001

37/2017 61
6
63
Technology

R
obots are
customarily
portrayed in sci-fi
movies as
futuristic creations
that walk on two legs and
think like humans. But this
isn’t really an accurate
portrayal, as we’ve been using
robots of one kind or another
for some time – they just look
a bit different. Some of the
earliest programmable
machines invented were
looms made to weave fabric
in the early 1800s, while
robot arms have been used in
our factories since the 1960s,
and the military have used place. Breakthroughs in
robotic weaponry such as
cruise missiles since World
artificial intelligence and
‘machine learning’ research
“Our Intelligent Autopilot
War 2.
In fact, these days our
everyday lives are practically
are now allowing us to create
devices capable of more than
following a set of simple
System is capable of
overrun by robots hiding in
plain sight. Our dishwasher is
a robot that stands
instructions – these robots
are capable of learning for
themselves. For example, the
performing many piloting
permanently in the kitchen,
washing away the remnants of
new generation of cars can
study our driving styles and tasks while handling severe
our meals; our vehicles are adjust how they respond to
robotic devices that listen to
the movement of our hands
us. Some can park
themselves, perform
weather conditions and
and feet, and manage the
firing and transmission of a
combustion engine, the
emergency braking, or drive
themselves on motorways.
The best digital recording
emergency situations”
movement of suspension, and devices can now anticipate or
the braking of wheels. Even predict the kinds of simulation of the neurons from something that’s been
our alarm clocks are little programmes you might want used in the human brain’s drawn by a human.
robots that follow a simple to watch, and store them visual cortex – the region “Trying to do anything that a
program to make sure we without you even asking that processes information human does with a robot
wake up at the right time. But them to. from our eyes. Paul finds the makes us realise the
how close are we to creating And this is just the important features and draws complexity of the tasks we
the thinking machines of beginning. Take ‘Paul’, a what it sees, using lines of perform naturally without
science fiction? portrait-drawing robot that different lengths. The images thinking,” explains Tresset.
was created by London- that are produced have a “It also shows us the
A Robot see, robot do based artist Patrick Tresset. sketch-like quality that complexity of physical
In the last few years, a sea Paul understands what it sees makes them almost reality.”
change has begun to take by using a software impossible to distinguish It’s one thing to paint a portrait

62 37/2017

on a fixed canvas, but it’s quite
another to learn the skills of
our most highly trained and
responsible professionals. For
example, could an AI ever fly a
passenger plane with the same
skill as a human pilot, and keep
the passengers safe no matter
what? Computer scientist
Haitham Baomar thinks it
could. His research at
University College London
adds an additional layer of
PHOTOS: PHILIP EBELING, GETTY ILLUSTRATIONS: JOE WALDRON
In the last few years, we’ve
seen cars that can drive and park
themselves
Patrick Tresset with Paul, the
robot that can draw portraits
that operates in a similar
manner to the human brain,
with many different neural
nodes arranged in tiers and
each one solving a different
part of the task
simultaneously. Each
successive tier receives the
output from the previous tier
rather than the raw input.
The nodes each have their
own bank of knowledge built
up from their original
WHAT IS MACHINE LEARNING?
achine learning is a type
M of artificial intelligence
that focuses on enabling a
computer to learn new
information all by itself. Some
learning methods allow
computers to find patterns in
large amounts of data, such
as identifying similar sets of
genes across a selection of
DNA sequences. Others can
cluster data into different
groups, allowing them to find
different patterns of fraud or
normal behaviour in credit
card transactions, for
example.
Others are taught to recognise
data by viewing many different
examples, so they can
understand text or different
objects in a video. Still others
learn the ‘shape’ of data so
that they can predict what
might come next, enabling
them to anticipate where an
object may move, or how the
stock market might change.
Over many decades, all these
different learning methods
have grown from two main
sources of inspiration:
statistical mathematics and
biology. Most recently, some
of the biology-inspired
methods such as genetic
algorithms (based on natural
evolution) and deep learning
(inspired by the way that
neurons learn in the brain),
combined with some clever
new maths, have produced
some of the most impressive
results we’ve seen in robotics.

intelligence to aircraft programming rules, plus

autopilots, enabling them to
cope even when the aircraft is
faced with unpredictable
weather or damage.
“Our Intelligent Autopilot
System is capable of
performing many piloting tasks
while handling severe weather
conditions and emergency
situations such as engine
failure or fire, rejected take-
off, and emergency landing,
which are far beyond the
current capabilities of modern
autopilots,” explains Baomar.
The AI uses a neural network
anything they’ve experienced.
Just as a human pilot may be
simultaneously using one part
of their brain to move
muscles, one part to assess
instruments and another to
speak, the AI uses many
separate parts of its brain to
solve all the different
problems of flying. The AI
learns directly from
observing human pilots,
watching their every move in
microscopic detail in order to
learn how to cope with
whatever gets thrown at it.

37/2017 63
Technology
“I think in three to five years
we will forget what it was
like when our devices didn’t
understand emotion”
It can then apply those
skills to novel situations,
flying new aircraft in
scenarios and conditions that
it has never seen previously.
The system is designed to
complement human pilots
rather than replace them, but
Baomar hopes the AI will
improve air safety
dramatically.
A Iron chef
Researchers at the
University of Maryland have
taken a similar observational
approach and used it in the
kitchen. Their robots can
watch videos of people
preparing and cooking food,
and by doing so, learn to
perform similar actions.
64 37/2017
“We use neural networks to
acquire knowledge for our
robots by learning the
functionality of objects,”
says Prof Yiannis
Aloimonos. “Can this tool
be used for scooping; can
this object be used as a
container? Our neural
networks look at many
examples and they have been
taught to make geometric
calculations. The
combination of deep
learning with geometry leads
to recognition of the action
being performed.”
These AIs learn the
underlying ‘grammar’ rules
of action so that they can
achieve their intended goal
without necessarily needing
to perform identical motions.
For example, the rules of
stirring using a spoon to
repeatedly mix a liquid in a
pot apply to any liquid and
any pot. A simpler AI might
only learn how to use one
specific spoon for one
specific pot, containing one
specific kind of soup.
This higher-level thinking
using such grammar rules is
then combined with a large
number of processes that
track and monitor the hands,
Robot chefs could spell
the end of sweating
over a hot stove
Dr Rana el Kaliouby
demonstrates emotion-
sensing technology
used by her company’s
artificial intelligence
objects, tools and their
movements, all continuously
running in the background.
“All of this implemented in a
robot gives rise to the robots
of the future that
‘understand’ the humans
around them, and learn from
them,” explains Aloimonos.
Baomar thinks this form of
robotic learning can find
countless practical
applications. “I believe that
if we give robots the ability
to learn from humans or
 even from other systems, the
outcome should be intelligent
robots that are capable of
learning a wide spectrum of
skills, ranging from domestic
chores to performing surgery
and flying complex
machines,” he says.
A Come with me if you
want to love
So the robots of the future
are likely to be capable of
learning and performing
complex, highly skilled tasks.
But how about emotions?
Humans are complex
creatures, unpredictable and
often not entirely rational.
Our emotions are just as
important as our intellect in
driving our actions. Affective
computing – software that
recognises and interprets our
emotions – and human-
computer interaction have
started to enable AIs to
detect emotions.
“We know from years of
research that emotional
intelligence is a crucial
component of human
intelligence,” says Dr Rana
el Kaliouby, CEO of artificial
intelligence company
Affectiva.
“People who have a higher
emotional quotient [EQ] lead
more successful professional
and personal lives, are
healthier, and even live
longer.”
Affectiva is using deep
learning, a special kind of
neural network containing
many layers of neurons, to
enable computers to detect
our emotions from our faces.
Their AI is trained on a vast
database of more than half a
million faces analysed from
people in 75 countries, with
50 million new emotion data
points – a face expressing
emotion such as happiness,
sadness or surprise – being
added every day.
“We are giving machines the
ability to sense and respond
to human emotion,
something that is deeply
human but that today’s
technology has not been
capable of doing,” says
Kaliouby. “We like to say we
are bringing AI to life!”
Tomorrow’s robots will not
be mere machines, cold and
heartless. They will be
emotionally aware – and it
will happen soon,
researchers say.
“I think in three to five years
we will forget what it was like
when our devices didn’t
understand emotion,” says
Kaliouby. “It’s similar to how
we all assume that our
phones today are location-
aware. Someday soon, it will
be the same for emotions.”
Tresset wonders what the
robots that learn will be able
to do in the future. “Robots
can already learn, but as long
as they are not able to make
the decision to produce art,
they cannot be seen as
artists. Intentionality is very
important in art,” he says. “If
a robot on an assembly line
starts to hit a car to produce
a sculpture, then will it be an
artist? If a military drone
starts to dance in the sky,
then will it be an artist?”
“When we design intelligent
robots,” says Aloimonos, “it
is as if we are trying to
understand ourselves – it is
what the ancient Greeks
referred to as ‘gnothi
seauton’ [know thyself]. This
quest will never end.” 7
VI@panorama.co.za

FIVE OF THE SMARTEST ROBOTS IN HISTORY

1966 1994 1997 2011 2015

ELIZA VIRTUAL DEEP BLUE IBM DEEP-Q
CREATURES WATSON NETWORK
One of the first examples Deep Blue was catapulted
PHOTOS: VOA NEWS, AFFECTIVA ILLUSTRATIONS: JOE WALDRON

of a chatterbot. When Computer artist and
running a script dubbed researcher Karl Sims
‘DOCTOR’, ELIZA could created a group of virtual
ask and answer questions creatures that inhabited
like a psychotherapist. It their own virtual universe.
didn’t understand a great Using genetic algorithms,
deal, but with some clever they evolved until they
programming was still could swim, crawl, jump
able to convince many and compete against one
users of its intelligence. another. Unfortunately,
they were too concerned
with their own virtual lives
to talk to us.
into public consciousness IBM Watson was the first
when it won a chess game AI to beat human players
against grandmaster at US TV quiz show
Garry Kasparov – the first Jeopardy!. This AI was
supercomputer to achieve clever enough to process
such a feat. However, it text and then found likely
was given a lot of help answers to the questions
from human programmers asked using its internal
and used pretty basic AI body of knowledge, which
methods to think of its comprised around 200
moves, so maybe it was million pages of content.
not so bright after all. Sadly, it struggled to
answer some basic
questions.
This earlier work from the
team behind AlphaGo, the
AI that defeated a master
of the complex Japanese
strategy game Go, learned
how to play 49 classic
Atari games just by
looking at the screen – it
didn’t get any help from
programmers. While it
was brilliant at a lot of the
games, it couldn’t get the
hang of Pac-Man.

37/2017 65
Q&A
Questions & Answers
Can different
bird species
understand one
another’s
songs?
Justin Ndlela, Ramsgate   
irdsong is more like
B music, rather than a true
language. Birds sing to attract
mates and defend territories,
and the information contained
in the song is basically just
“Listen to my song, isn’t it
pretty?” or “Keep out, this area
Why does yeast make belongs to me!” Birds recognise the
alarm calls of other species, but the

bread rise? song of a lovesick sparrow is of no

interest to a pigeon, so there is no
reason for them to pay attention.
Cindy Forbes, Mossel Bay
east is a single-celled fungus, and the cells are still alive when
Y you mix them into the dough. The yeast releases enzymes that
convert the flour starch into sugar, which the cells absorb and
metabolise. This process releases CO2 gas, which forms bubbles
that become trapped in the stretchy dough. During baking, the
oven’s heat expands the bubbles even further.

Why do we dream more in some

places than others?
Simphiwe Gumede, Midrand

reams most commonly occur sleep less well in a novel

D during rapid eye movement
(REM) sleep, and are easier to
remember if we wake during this
stage of sleep or soon afterwards.
Evolutionary theories emphasise the
need to feel safe in order to lose
vigilance and go to sleep, so we may
Why are some plastics
recyclable and others
environment, or in rooms that are too
hot, cold, noisy or uncomfortable.
When we wake up more frequently
during the night, we are more likely to
remember our dreams. This gives us
the impression that we dream more
in certain places than others.
Q&A

are not? FLASH

Mpho Jele, Welkom
ost of the plastics we use are either thermoplastic or A Not everyone
M thermosetting. Thermoplastics include acrylics, nylon and
polyethylene (polythene). As you heat them up they get soft, so
dreams in colour.
Interestingly, the
they can be shaped into any form you like, which also makes percentage of
them easy to recycle. Milk containers can be melted and dreamers who only
reformed into furniture, plastic water bottles become fleece visualised scenes
jackets, and hard bottle tops can get a new lease of life as in black and white
storage boxes. Thermosetting plastics, like Bakelite or seems to have shrunk
polyurethane, are different because they harden as you heat since the arrival of
them. Once they have set, you can’t melt them. This makes colour television.
thermosetting plastics almost impossible to recycle.

66 37/2017
 Why were d
so big?
Terry Graham, Paarl   

inosaurs lived during

ng the Triassic, Jurassic and
D Cretaceous. During these periods, the climate was
much warmer, with CO 2 leevels over four times higher
g than
today. This produced abuundant plant life,f and herbivorous
dinosaurs may have evolvved large bodies i partly because
there was enough food too support them. But being large
also helps to protect agai i t
ainst predators. The giant
sauropods had to eat plaants as fast
f as they could, to
grow big enough to be saf f
afe from carnivores like
T. rex and Spinosaurus. Meanwhile,
M i the
How does the carnivores were becoming larger jjust so
they could tackle their ennormous

atmosphere rotate prey. Another possibility is

the herbivorous dinosaurss
were ectothermic
i thatt

with the Earth? (cold-blooded), and

being huge helped them
Dick Norris, Hillcrest
regulate their
ound to the Earth by gravity, most of the temperature. This theory
B atmosphere spins along with it as a result of
friction with the ground and the viscosity or ‘stickiness’
is problematic though
because evidence increasi singlyy
of the different layers of air above it. Above 200km, suggests that the large c arnivores
i
however, the incredibly thin atmosphere actually spins were endothermic (warm--blooded),
faster than the Earth. The cause of this bizarre which means that dinosaurs would
‘super-rotation’ effect remains unclear, but has also have evolved two differennt metabolic
been detected on Venus. systems, side by side.

How could you survive the Titanic disaster,

if there was no room in the lifeboats?
PHOTOS: GETTY X4, NASA ILLUSTRATIONS: RAJA LOCKEY

1. LAYER UP 2. DON’T JUMP 3. KEEP CALM 4. STAY WARM

Put on as much clothing as you
can find. Wool repels water,
creating insulating air pockets
even when wet. A waterproof
layer will trap air and help keep
you afloat. Put on a life jacket or
stuff your top with empty
containers for buoyancy.
Titanic’s lifeboat deck was
17.6m above the water, and even
a 6m jump is enough to
compress your spine and break
bones. Wait for the boat to sink
first – the idea that you will be
sucked under with it has been
tested and disproved.
Breathe out as you hit the water to
help counter the inhalation reflex
caused by the cold shock
response. Cold shock also causes
a minute of hyperventilation. Once
this subsides, you have 10
minutes before your limbs are too
cold to move.
Climb onto some debris. Even a
cold wind won’t freeze you as fast
as the sea. If you can’t find
anything, huddle next to other
survivors. In cold water it takes 15
to 60 minutes for your core
temperature to drop below 28°C
and stop your heart.

37/2017 67
Q&A
Questions & Answers
Got questions you’ve been carrying
around for years? Very Interesting
answers them! Mail your questions
to VI@panorama.co.za

Who really invented The Nicobar

pigeon is an island
the telescope? specialist, and is
mostly found in
Southeast Asia and
the western Pacific

HANS LEONARD
LIPPERSHEY DIGGES*
n 1992, a telescope built by the British
I astronomer and historian Colin Ronan was
shown on The Sky At Night. Telescopes have
been vital to science since Dutch spectacle
maker Hans Lippershey patented the
What is the dodo’s closest living relative?
Arend Heunis, Tongaat
now-familiar arrangement of lenses in 1608.
But what made Ronan’s telescope different he dodo’s closest relative was the Rodrigues branched off from the pigeon family before the
was that it was built to a design pre-dating
Lippershey’s by decades. Ronan claimed
T solitaire, a large bird that lived on the island of
Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean. But that’s also
pigeon family radiated. Some records (bit.ly/
nicobar_pigeon) list the Nicobar pigeon as the
that an Elizabethan surveyor named extinct. Those two formed their own group, which was closest living relative of the dodo. This is based on
Leonard Digges had found a combination of equally related to all pigeons. So there isn’t a single genetic comparison, which is more reliable than
a glass lens and curved mirror that also living species the dodo was closest to. Their group inferring relationships from physical characteristics.
made distant objects appear closer.
Descriptions of the device began to
circulate around 1570, and its potential
military use prompted Lord Burghley, chief
adviser to Elizabeth I, to commission a
What’s the
report. After discovering this manuscript in
the British Library, Ronan built the device,
neurological
and suggested that it had a claim to being
the first telescope. He also suggested difference between
Digges’s son, Thomas, had used it to
observe the sky years before Galileo.
Ronan’s claim has failed to convince
anaesthesia and
historians, however. They argue that
Elizabethan technology was not capable of
sleep?
Lettie Kraus, Pretoria
making the optical components to the
required quality, and that the telescope is f a neuroscientist used
too awkward to use in any case. So the I electroencephalography (EEG) to record
PHOTOS: GETTY X3, TRANSPORT ACCIDENT COMMISSION
consensus remains that Lippershey is the your brain’s electrical activity while you were
o
originator off the fifirst working telescope. under anaesthesia, the results would look
different from how they appear when you are
*No images of sleeping. In fact, your brain waves under
Leonard Digges are anaesthesia would more closely resemble
available those seen were you to have the terrible
misfortune of falling into a coma after brain
illness or injury. Doctors often tell surgery
patients that they will be ‘put to sleep’
during the operation, but in terms of the
neurological effects of the anaesthesia, it
would be more accurate (and more
unsettling) to tell them that they will be put
into a reversible coma.

68 37/2017
Race face
eet Graham. This
M sculpture was
designed by the Transport
Accident Commission, as
part of an Australian road
safety campaign. He portrays
how the human body would
have to evolve to survive a
car crash. His skull is large,
and contains extra fluid and
ligaments to protect the
brain. Meanwhile, his flat
face is covered with fatty
tissue to reduce impact
damage, and his strong,
barrel-like chest is equipped
with airbag-like sacs to
protect the heart and lungs.
Find out more at
meetgraham.com.au.

37/2017 69
Interview
AN
IMPUDENT
EFFORT
Author Terence Tracey drove from Johannesburg to
London in a 50-year-old Hillman Imp – in order to get
to a birthday party
7 TEXT: BRUCE DENNILL PHOTOGRAPHY: SUPPLIED
O
n 6 May 2013, a
group of fans of
the Hillman Imp,
the small, rear-
engined car conceived by
the Rootes Group to
compete with the Mini,
gathered in Coventry to
celebrate the vehicle’s
50-year anniversary. On the
RSVP list were Terence
Tracey and Geoff
Biermann, who had left
South Africa on 28 March,
and were driving through
Botswana, Zimbabwe,
Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya,
Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt,
Turkey and half of Europe
to get there.
70 37/2017
You had such a ridiculous goal
– failure was almost guaranteed.
Other than the appeal of being
an explorer and adventurer, why
press ahead?
I’ve always had a simple
determination to do what’s in
my mind. I’m too stupid to
analyse everything – I just set
off and expect to get there.
Had I understood the dangers
we faced once we got north of
Nairobi, it might have been
different.
There’s an enormous amount of
paperwork involved in a journey
like this. How much of the
experience came down to doing
boring admin?
Probably around 20 to 25% of
the effort was admin, border
crossings and forward
planning. I’m the worst at
that sort of thing; I’m just
happy to do. Maybe my
strength is knowing my
weakness: when I get a
business partner, I put all of
that stuff on their plate so I
know it’ll get done!
Through all of that – and the tough
times on the road – you managed
to maintain a positive attitude.
How did you manage that?
The trip was all about highs
and lows – and belly
punches when things went
wrong. When our car
collapsed into the mud in
Kenya, it felt like we had
more chance of falling
pregnant than moving
forward. But in those
situations, you find out that
you can do it; you throw
caution to the wind, and
you find that, somehow, you
get presented with miracles.
We were also fortunate in
that Geoff and I struck a
good balance. When I was
despairing, Geoff would
MacGyver a solution, and
other times, I could help
pull him through. There
was amazing synergy: we’d
only met three or four
times before we left, but

now we’re great friends –
and may even be doing
another trip.
To make sure that you could tell
your story, you would have
needed to fit in a fair amount of
writing as you travelled?
Actually, I only did it when I
had a chance, which wasn’t
regularly. I did a bit of
blogging then, but much of
the detail was from memory,
with details checked against
phone messages and other
communications. That said,
there’s not a word there that’s
not true – we didn’t need to
make up stories to make this
exciting!
Your story is wonderful to read,
but that obviously wouldn’t have
guaranteed a publishing deal ...
I again demonstrated my
consummate skill as
administrator with that
process, sending off the
manuscript to a few
publishers and then forgetting
to follow up. Once I became
familiar with the impersonal
arm’s-length feeling I was
getting, I accepted the fact
that I’d need to self-publish,
so I pretended I could afford
it and went ahead.
Then I received a call from a
lady called Trinity Loubser, a
book designer. She said she
had a soft spot for Imps, so
we got chatting and I asked
her if she had ever met Tim
Fry, the car’s designer. Turns
out he was her father! So she
offered to design the book,
which was very special.
Improvisation became second
nature during this trip as you
had to fix the car on the fly and
come up with solutions to
unexpected problems.
You can achieve a lot more
than you think you can – we
all underestimate ourselves.
To begin with, Geoff and I
had to deal with the denial
part; thinking we should
never have started the
project. But once we realised
that getting home was going
to be as difficult as going
forward, our attitude
became, ‘Do whatever it
takes’. We developed
resilience and inventiveness,
and started expecting to find
a miracle.
We also had two amazing
supporters in South Africa
– Roger Pearce at Emgee
Workshops in Randburg,
who had done the trip five
times before, and Roy
McBride in Cape Town, who
was a member of the Imp
Club and put together a
great web page for us as well
as providing technical
assistance via SMS and
WhatsApp.
When our clutch collapsed
in Khartoum, Roger’s
response was simply, “What
address in Khartoum can I
send the parts to?” And
when we asked Roy to sound
out buyers for the car in
England so we could sell it
and be able to afford air
tickets back to South Africa,
he organised a drive where
the Imp Club members
offered to send us money
instead.
Perhaps my favourite
example of our
improvisation was when we
needed a spring for a release
bearing in Khartoum. It was
a Sunday afternoon, and I
hitched a ride to a local
industrial area on the back
of a motorbike, wearing a
filthy, ill-fitting helmet and
thinking there was no
chance I’d actually get
anywhere. But I did find a
spring, and came back with it
carefully wrapped in my
handkerchief, by which time
Geoff had made one with a
piece of wire, a vice grip, a
hammer and a stone!
We also had an incredible
experience with some locals,
also in Khartoum. We had
asked them where we could
find an ATM or a bank to
draw the money – about $300
– that we needed for the next
phase of the trip, and were
told that none of our cards
would work in Sudan
because of the international
sanctions against the
country. So this group of
guys who’d been chatting to
us about the trip went off
and were playing cards, when
one of them called me to talk
to his friend. I went over, oil
all over my hands, and he
pulled out three $100 notes
and gave them to me, saying,
“This is a gift from the
people of Sudan.”
How was the change from Africa
to Europe once you reached that
part of the journey?
When the ship we took to
Turkey left the dock in Egypt,
I felt an immense sense of
relief, and thought we could
actually make the event in
England. In Europe, the
roads were more predictable
and the borders, though
strict, were efficient. It was
wonderful.
When we eventually reached
London, I was asleep. I
remember waking up to
Geoff opening the passenger
door and saying, “Get out!”
My first thought was that we’d
broken something again, but
he said, “We’ve done it!” and
gave me a bear hug. It was an
amazing moment. 7
VI@panorama.co.za
No Way Back!
is available
at Exclusive
Books, Bargain
Books and
directly from
the author.
Author Terence Tracey is also a
restaurateur and motivational
speaker. Contact him at
ttracey@polka.co.za.
37/2017 71
nowtrending
The ultimate
power nap
Wits scientists use ‘Fitbits’ to track
elephant sleep in the wild
hy we sleep is an enduring
W mystery of modern science.
Along with eating, defence and
reproduction, sleep is among the
major biological imperatives of
existence.
Although sleeping precludes these
other activities, all animals sleep.
Some creatures, like whales,
dolphins, seals and some birds, sleep
very unusually – with only half their
brain at a time. Some sleep a lot,
others less so.
“While there are many hypotheses
regarding the function of sleep, the
ultimate purpose of sleep is yet to be
discovered,” says Professor Paul
Manger from the School of
Anatomical Sciences at Wits
University.
Lack of sleep, even over quite a short
period, can lead to brain damage,
and ultimately death. Evidence of this
is fatal familial insomnia and
sporadic fatal insomnia, conditions
that afflict humans.
Larger animals tend to sleep less
than smaller animals, but researchers
wondered if this applies to elephants.
Behavioural studies of how elephants
in zoos sleep reveal that these
elephants sleep around four hours
per day, and that they can sleep
standing up or lying down. But how
do elephants sleep in their natural
environment?
Researchers from Wits University, the
University of California, Los Angeles,
and colleagues from the NGO
Elephants without Borders used
small activity data loggers – scientific
versions of people’s Fitbit fitness
trackers – to study the sleeping
patterns of elephants in Chobe
National Park in Botswana.
Two matriarch elephants were each
equipped with an implanted activity
data logger. This implant showed
when the elephants used their trunks
when they moved around. A GPS
collar with a gyroscope around their
necks indicated when and where the
elephants lay down to sleep.
This is what the study found:
Q These elephants slept only two
72 37/2017
hours per day on average and mostly
in the early hours of the morning, well
before dawn.
Q Temperature and humidity (but not
sunlight) related to when these
elephants fell asleep and woke up.
This finding is the first to indicate
that sleep in wild animals is likely not
related to sunrise and sunset, but
that other environmental factors are
more crucial to the timing of sleep.
Q Wild elephants can sleep standing
up or lying down, although these two
only lay down every three or four days
and for about an hour.
Q It is likely that these elephants
could only go into REM (dreaming)
sleep when lying down, meaning
elephants possibly don’t dream daily
like people do, but may dream only
every few days.
“REM sleep is thought to be
PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK
important for consolidating
memories, but our findings are not
consistent with this hypothesis of the
function of REM sleep, as the
elephant has well-documented
long-term memories, but does not
need REM sleep every day to form
these memories,” says Manger. Understanding how different animals humans sleep – and how we might
Q When disturbed, these elephants sleep helps us understand the get a good night’s rest!
could go without sleep for 48 hours animals better and discover new
and would walk 30km after the time information that can inform
of the disturbance. This suggests they management and conservation For more, go to www.wits.
put distance between themselves strategies. Knowing how different ac.za/news/latest-news/
and the threat, but at the expense of animals sleep and why they sleep the research-news.
sleep. way they do helps us understand how
 7 SPACE

Solid structures 3D-printed from

‘Martian soil’
hey may look like something you
T wouldn’t want to tread in, but these
3D-printed structures could one day
help humans build a colony on Mars.
The miniature igloo and corner wall were
manufactured by a team of researchers
at the European Space Agency, who
were investigating the feasibility of one
day using locally sourced materials for
building on Mars and other planets. The
structures were produced by mixing
JSC-Mars-1A – volcanic soil that has
undergone careful processing to match
the known composition and
characteristics of Martian soil – with
phosphoric acid, then squeezing it
3D printing with
modified Martian
soil is feasible
PHOTO: WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
through a nozzle and depositing it in
successive layers.
“The hardened results demonstrate the
technique has potential for hardware
and structural manufacturing on a
variety of planetary bodies – it does not Your hair stores
depend on the destination,” said more information
researcher Christoph Buchner.  about you than you
These objects mark an exciting step might imagine
forward for what the researchers call
‘in-situ resource utilisation’ – the 7 SCIENCE
concept of using locally sourced
materials as much as possible on
planetary missions, in an effort to
Hair strands give clues about criminals’
minimise the spacecraft’s payload on
launch.
appearance and lifestyle
esearchers at West Virginia investigators’ go-to technique.
R University have developed a
hair analysis technique that could
However, Jackson argues that hair
strands found at most crime
provide investigators with vital scenes don’t contain enough viable
clues about a person’s age, sex, DNA for analysis, and the
body mass, diet and exercise technique can only provide a
habits. genetic profile of a suspect, rather
“Who you are, where you’ve been, than lifestyle clues.
what you eat, what drugs you take The technique developed by

– it all shows up in your hair,” said Jackson’s team works by analysing

researcher Glen P Jackson.
Forensic hair analysis was once a
common feature of criminal
investigations, but as it relied on a
simple examination of hair colour,
thickness and curvature, it was
often inaccurate and unreliable.
Currently, DNA testing is forensic
the differing atomic structures of
the 21 chemicals that make up
keratin, the protein found in hair.
In a pair of recent experiments, the
team used the method to identify
the body mass index of subjects
with 80% accuracy, and their sex
with 90% accuracy.

7 NATURE

World’s first fluorescent frog

discovered in Argentina
n regular light, the common South
I American tree frog doesn’t look
particularly special: it’s a small, pale
green animal with a pattern of red
spots across its back. But under a UV
spotlight, it turns into an amphibian
disco ball, with fluorescent light
beaming from its body.
The unusual property was discovered
by accident by researchers from
Buenos Aires, Argentina while they
were studying other properties of the
frog’s colouring.
Natural fluorescence has been
observed in several species of fish
and turtles, but never before in an
amphibian. The psychedelic
glow-in-the-dark effect occurs when
shortwave light is absorbed and then
re-emitted at longer wavelengths,
and is caused by compounds called
hyloins found in the animal’s lymph
and skin glands. It increases the
frog’s brightness by around 20%
during a full moon, and around
30% during twilight.
The fluorescence occurs at a
frequency of light that directly Glow and get
matches the sensitivity of the ‘em, frogs
frogs’ night vision, making it likely
that they can see the glow, the
researchers say.

37/2017 73
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ith a heap of new tech inside, the PS Pro
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watching VR movie clips.
R1,190, vr.google.com

74 37/2017
 Books
Guide To Trees Introduced
Into Southern Africa by
Hugh Glen and Braam van
Wyk
If you have ever spent some time in
Gauteng during spring, or scrolled
through your social media news
feed, you would’ve seen the beauty
of a jacaranda flower-littered
street. Southern Africa is home to
more than 2,000 introduced trees,
DVD
the jacaranda tree being just one.
This guide features nearly 600 of
the most common and familiar
species. It also provides an
essential guide for landscapers
and gardeners needing to
understand the relationship
between exotic and endemic
species, and for enthusiasts who
find these species beautiful,
whatever the science.
101 Bets You Will
Always Win! – The
Science Of The
Seemingly Impossible
by Richard Wiseman
Richard
Wiseman is
a psych-
ologist who
has travelled
the globe in
search of
the world’s
greatest bets. The results
from his travels are
reflected in the thrilling
mixture of tricks, science
and mathematics that can
be found in this book. The
challenges are broken down
into steps with images,
giving you the insight you
need in order to make sure
that you never lose a bet.
The best part is that all you
will need to do so is your
body, everyday objects and
this book.

The Undoing Project

– A Friendship That
Changed The World
by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis
has written
many
bestsellers
including The
Blind Side
and
Moneyball.
Race (PG) Hitler and his cronies, and with influential Leading off the responses
Jesse Owens was a once-in-a- filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Carice Van Houten) he received for Moneyball,
generation athlete. Coming from a creating the dramatic propaganda he wanted to Lewis was introduced to
poor background, driven by present to the world, Goebbels was set up for Israeli psychologists Daniel
ambition and aided by pure natural success. Kahneman (psychologist
talent, he rose to the top of his Owens rather ruined that narrative with his and Nobel Prize winner in
chosen niche – track and field record-breaking performances and popularity, economics) and Amos
athletics – winning four gold and Riefenstahl – an artist first and a Nazi Tversky (cognitive and
medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. That date, collaborator later – could hardly ignore the mathematical psychologist).
and the places in which Owens (played with the spectacle unfolding in front of her. Jason The two met in war-torn
requisite intensity by Stephan James) is forced Sudekis puts in a fine performance as Owens’ 1960s Israel and their
to operate, first as a novice and then as the coach Larry Snyder and Jeremy Irons and friendship found expression
USA’s top medal hope, add a permanent air of William Hurt convince in small roles. in their intellectual
tragedy to his story. Some of the minor details are embellished for collaboration. Interest is
The US was, at the time, one of the most effect, but the story as it happened is maintained throughout the
segregated nations on Earth, but one of the few remarkable enough. Race is a compelling course of the book by
less friendly places for a black man to go to was historical primer, a reminder of a terrible period showing the reader how the
Nazi Germany. The 1936 Games were in our shared past and of an individual who friends’ partnership
conceptualised by Joseph Goebbels (a managed to transcend institutionalised evil and ultimately played a role in
supremely sinister Barnaby Metschurat) as a – for a period – give millions hope when it was shaping the world we now
showcase for the racist policies championed by sorely needed. live in.

37/2017 75
Puzzles

MIND GAMES
PIT YOUR WITS AGAINST THESE BRAINTEASERS BY DAVID J BODYCOMBE,
your fe edb
hear
We’d love toack on
les.
these puzz ail
Please em o.za.
ma.c
VI@panora
QUESTION-SETTER FOR BBC FOUR’S ONLY CONNECT

QUESTION 1 QUESTION 5 QUESTION 7

A few years ago, Marks & Spencer
removed its ‘Five items or less’
checkout signs and had them
reprinted due to a complaint from a
teacher. What was the quibble?
The letters of which nine-letter word Move the listed cards into the grid so that the best possible poker hand in each
can be seen here (barely)? row and column matches the label shown. The cards are not necessarily in the
right order (for example, 5-4-6-7-3 still counts as a 7-high straight).

QUESTION 2
If the ball is kept in contact with the
circle as it makes one circuit, how
many times will it rotate? The circle is
three times as wide as the ball.

QUESTION 6
How many identical, fully inflated
footballs can you arrange around one
football such that all the other balls
are touching that central ball?

QUESTION 3
Which system, used every day, is a
combination of binary, duodecimal
and sexagesimal counting?

QUESTION 4
Try working this out in your head:
what is 123456789 x 8 + 9?

then fit three more on the top and bottom, making 12 in all. Q7) See illustration.
PM, 12 hours, 60 minutes/seconds). Q4) 987654321. Q5) Whitewash. Q6) Six can go around the central ball in a hexagon-style arrangement. You can

Quick quiz three times that of the ball, one rotation is ‘unwound’ due to the ball’s anticlockwise rotation around the circle. Q3) Telling the time (in terms of AM/
Q1) The teacher said that, to be grammatically correct, the signs should say ‘Five items or fewer’. Q2) Twice. Although the circle’s circumference is

Test your knowledge of Solutions

the sun

QUESTION 1 a) Ulysses suggest that the sun is at b) Faculae QUESTION 6

How many years does it
take for the sun to make
one orbit of the Milky
Way?
a) 125 million years
b) 225 million years
c) 325 million years
Answers: 1b, 2a, 3a, 4c, 5b, 6a
b) Icarus the centre of the solar c) Granules What is the approximate
c) Helios system, and not the speed, in kilometres per
Earth? QUESTION 5 second, of solar winds?
a) Aristarchus of Samos What is the estimated a) 450km/s
b) Galileo Galilei speed of gases in the b) 560km/s
c) Nicolaus Copernicus tornado-like storms found c) 620km/s
in the atmosphere of the
QUESTION 4 sun?

QUESTION 2 What is the name of the a) 50,000km/h

Which NASA/ESA small, cellular features b) 500,000km/h YOU ARE:
spacecraft completed the QUESTION 3 that cover most of the c) 5,000,000km/h 0-1 Dimly lit
first fly-by of the sun’s Who is credited with sun’s surface? 2-4 Glowing brightly
poles in 1990? being the first person to a) Cells 5-6 Going supernova

76 37/2017
THE CROSSWORD
BY POPULAR DEMAND
DOWN
1 Objection to a new English fuel (6)
2 Those people have logo design
to study (8)
3 Element of relativity? (11)
4 Prisoner gets more stupid in
cooler (9)
5 Against detaining that woman
with victory badge (7)
6 Slam intent displayed by
episode (10)
7 Relief from herbal medicine (4)
10 London area cannot have a
function (6)
11 Dreadful, crumbling around
prop (7)
12 Drive to turn green by a year (6)
19 Flavouring cooked for fans (7)
21 Family has to tear out a protein (7)
24 Dual gala can be organised on
Pacific Island (11)
26 Using different kinds of material
about a timid mule (10)
28 Copy score displayed by
temperature gauge (9)
29 Bird has celebrity friend outside (7)
30 Old king sees flare set off by
daughter (6)
32 Fruit on the tongue (8)
33 Boy gets answer thanks to
composition (6)
34 Diary broadcast around – it shows
dryness (7)
38 Work for politicians (6)
40 A shade dull (4)
ACROSS
8 Upset, if such a flower (7) 25 Most expensive insurance payment (7)
9 Dye used on chalice (9) 27 Growth of bacteria shows refinement (7)
13 Queen adjusted to a muse (5) 30 A time to tail new warlord (6)
14 A shilling and a pound for a mollusc (5) 31 Earth provides a reason (6)
15 Important substance, almost essential, 32 Without a mathematical sign (5)
takes time (7) 35 Kicks soldier to get mushrooms (5)
16 Expert sent note when solvent (7) 36 Sort out getting old perch (5) ANSWERS
17 Caught goon swimming in river (5) 37 The French point to lion, terribly fat (7)
18 Real trouble with small beam (5) 39 Encourage chief to be a boffin (7) For the answers, visit
20 A grape for a gecko (5) 41 Dog takes one to a papal court (5)
veryinteresting.co.za/solutions.
22 Sickness caused by sodium, uranium 42 Range of morning section (5)
Please be aware the website
and water (6) 43 Hotel pie delivered with unknown print (9)
address is case-sensitive.
23 By taking pixie right to the top of the tower (6) 44 Laugh, having built construction for fish (7)
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Next issue On sale from 23 October 2017

7 PSYCHOLOGY

Why do jokes
make us laugh?
Comedians,
Comedi ians get
your notebooks.

7 SPACE

What are the

biggest stars in the
Milky Way?
The paparazzi called. They need to know.

7 BODY
What happens
in my body
when I sneeze?
You place a tissue in front of your
nose as it happens – manners!

7 NATURE

How do chameleons
change colour?
It’s all make-up. Because they’re worth it.

ALSO IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF VERY INTERESTING: Much more about matters technological, psychological, historical, natural and scientific.
Plus all your questions answered … What do you want to know? Mail VI@panorama.co.za

37/2017 79
Outlook

HIGHL IGH T S ON ONE PAGE

THIS ISSUE’S

INDEX
Bizarre 34, 52, 70
Body 6, 7, 15, 24, 68
Books 75
Culture 14, 58, 69
DVDs 75

Is anything
Environment 11, 14, 25, 42, 50
Food 16, 24, 66
Gadgets 75

good for you

Health 28
History 40, 59, 67, 68
Innovation 8, 40, 58
Medicine 10

anymore?
This week coffee is great; next
Nature 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 26, 73
Puzzles
Psychology
76, 77
15, 52, 58, 66
Science 24, 36, 66, 67, 73
week it gives you cancer. Space 7, 9, 12, 13, 25, 59, 73
What’s the truth? p.16 Technology 60

Your dogtor will see

w
you now
Is your pet makin
ng
you healthier? p.2
28

Meet the robots

that can learn
How long do we have before robots start
thinking for themselves? p.60

Plus
Can different bird species understand one another’s songs?
How could you survive the Titanic disaster? Do any other Life after man
animals get male pattern baldness? Do social networks What would happen if our species
make us antisocial? Why don’t black holes ignite? vanished tomorrow? p.42

80 37/2017
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