FORGOTTEN NUTRIENT

Why you need more

choline in your life
ECO-ANXIETY
Advice on dealing with
climate worry
CANCER KILLERS
How we’re harnessing
viruses to destroy tumours
WEEKLY 26 October 2019

SPECI A L ISSUE

THE INTERNET AT 50
What next for humanity’s flawed masterpiece?

How the internet

came to be
+
What it is now
+
The dark net

+
+
A race for space
+ INTERVIEW
The forces tearing WITH
the internet apart VINT CERF
+ The net’s founding
The shape of father on why he’s
things to come still an evangelist

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This week’s issue
On the
cover
34 The internet at 50
What next for humanity’s
flawed masterpiece?
42 Interview with Vint Cerf
The net’s founding father on
why he’s still an evangelist
News
8 Deepfake dubbing
AI-generated videos are
becoming useful at last
10 Gorilla selfie risk
Our hunt for the perfect photo
may be making apes ill
17 Artificial embryos
Stem cell breakthrough creates
early mouse fetuses without
sperm or eggs
Views
23 Comment
New discoveries are degrading
the concept of a moon
24 The columnist
Could Britain grow most of its
own food, asks James Wong
26 Letters
Community building isn’t
enough to make morality
28 Aperture
Strange and beautiful nature
under the microscope
30 Culture
Refreshing realism in an
exhibition about life on Mars
20 Forgotten nutrient
Why you need more
Coming
choline in your life next week
12 Eco-anxiety
Advice on dealing with
climate worry
44 Cancer killers
How we’re harnessing
viruses to destroy tumours
The rainmakers
Our planet’s water cycle
depends on vast airborne
rivers generated by trees
15 Lost city of Irasaĝrig 18 The sand dunes on Titan
9 World’s loudest bird 51 A great week for planet-spotting
Vol 244 No 3253
Cover image: KTSDESIGN/Getty
Features
34 The internet at 50
Insight Everything you need to know
about a technology that has
transformed the world
42 Interview with Vint Cerf
One of the net’s founders on
why the best is yet to come
44 Cancer killers
CLAUDIA TOTIR/GETTY IMAGES; NICOLAS REYNARD/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Harnessing viruses to defeat
tumours and strengthen our
immune systems
The back pages
51 Stargazing from home
How to see six planets this week
52 Puzzles
Cryptic crossword, a goblin
game and a quick quiz
20 The case for choline The nutrient that plant-based diets may lack 53 Feedback
An operating system for the
apocalypse: the week in weird
14 News
“When arrested, his blood 54 Almost the last word
Coordinated running and fast
alcohol level suggested swimming: readers respond
he’d had 20 drinks – but he 56 The Q&A
Eugenia Cheng on chocolate
hadn’t had a single one” and abstract maths
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 3
The leader
The power to transform
As the internet reaches its half century, we look to what it might become
IN HALF a century, the internet has
transformed society. Billions of us can
connect at the touch of a button. Access
to information, banks, shops and memes
has never been easier. The world has
changed dramatically and continues to
do so in ways we couldn’t have imagined.
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary
of the first message sent across the
precursor of the internet (see page 34),
we salute the ingenuity of the people
who built it, built it to last and built it to
be freely available for all – not least Vint
Cerf, co-author of the rules that run the
internet, who we interview on page 42.
The internet isn’t without downsides.
It has unleashed forces that undermine
things we hold dear. By design, it has
IMAGINIMA/GETTY
no central authority, and this makes
protecting people online or tackling
misinformation, cyberterrorism or
PUBLISHING & COMMERCIAL
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More than half
of the world's
population is
now connected
to the internet
bullying a near-impossible task.
Efforts to wrestle back some sort of
control will determine what the internet
will become. The European Union, for
example, wants its citizens to have more
digital rights. But when it introduced
legislation last year to do this, people
in the EU suddenly found their internet
a little smaller. Rather than changing
their websites to avoid illegally tracking
Europeans, many companies simply
blocked visits from people in the EU.
MANAGEMENT
Chief executive Nina Wright
Finance director Jenni Prince
Chief technology officer Chris Corderoy
Marketing director Jo Adams
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Russia is protecting its portion
of the internet by attempting to
control it: its telecoms companies are
required to monitor and filter internet
traffic. It is also experimenting with
an off-switch to sever its internet
from the rest of the world in the
event of a cyberattack.
China has had extensive internet
censoring infrastructure in place for
years, and its technology firms are
increasingly challenging US tech firms
for market dominance. Many who enter
that market end up self-censoring.
How these developments play
out will shape our future. If the past
50 years have been dominated by
free and open exchanges, the next
50 will be about whether rules and
restrictions actually make the internet,
and the world, a better place. ❚
EDITORIAL
Editor Emily Wilson
Executive editor Richard Webb
Creative director Craig Mackie
News
News editor Penny Sarchet
Editors Jacob Aron, Timothy Revell
Reporters (UK) Jessica Hamzelou, Michael Le Page,
Donna Lu, Adam Vaughan, Clare Wilson
(US) Leah Crane, Chelsea Whyte
(Aus) Alice Klein, Ruby Prosser Scully
Interns Gege Li, Layal Liverpool, Jason Arunn Murugesu
Digital
Digital editor Conrad Quilty-Harper
Web team Lilian Anekwe, Anne Marie Conlon,
David Stock, Sam Wong
Features
Head of features Catherine de Lange (parental leave)
and Rowan Hooper
Acting head of features Tiffany O’Callaghan
Editors Gilead Amit, Julia Brown,
Kate Douglas, Alison George, Joshua Howgego
Feature writers Daniel Cossins, Graham Lawton
Culture and Community
Editors Liz Else, Mike Holderness, Simon Ings
Subeditors
Chief subeditor Eleanor Parsons
Bethan Ackerley, Tom Campbell, Chris Simms, Jon White
Design
Art editor Kathryn Brazier
Joe Hetzel, Dave Johnston, Ryan Wills
Picture desk
Picture editor Susan Banton
Production
Production manager Alan Blagrove
Robin Burton, Melanie Green
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 5
 C AT C H T H E W I N T E R L I G H T
W I T H N I KO N

Photographer: ©Alex Stead

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 News
AI crowd counting CRISPR upgrade Amphibian mimicry Patient records 40,000 satellites
A new way to Tweak takes us closer The toad that looks Google to get five SpaceX’s ambitious
estimate protest to “find and replace” and hisses like a years’ worth of data telecommunication
numbers p8 gene editing p10 venomous snake p14 from NHS trust p16 plans revealed p17

Pollution

Quieter school run

halves air pollution
CHILDREN travelling to
school via back streets rather
than main roads cut their
exposure to air pollution by
almost half, according to the
largest study of its kind.
Earlier this year, more
than 250 children at five
London schools wore
backpacks with pollution
sensors and GPS trackers,
recording whether they were
travelling by foot, car or bus.
There was a clear difference
in exposure to levels of the
harmful gas nitrogen dioxide
(NO₂) between those using
PAUL FAITH/GETTY

main roads and quieter ones.

The research highlights
the impact of the school run
on children’s exposure to
NO₂ – linked to asthma and
other health concerns. On

Abortion laws relaxed average, they faced levels of

As of midnight on 21 October, women and girls in Northern Ireland
gained legal access to abortions. Jessica Hamzelou reports
ABORTIONS and medical aftercare
are now legal for people living
in Northern Ireland, and the UK
government will fund journeys
to England for the procedure.
While abortion in some cases
has been legal throughout most of
the UK since 1967, it had remained
illegal in Northern Ireland even in
cases of rape, incest and when the
fetus was unlikely to survive.
As a result, many women in
Northern Ireland have travelled to
England and Wales for abortions.
In 2018, 1053 women did so. It isn’t
known how many of those who
were unable to travel bought
abortion pills online. In 2015,
Belfast’s High Court ruled that
abortion laws in Northern Ireland
broke human rights legislation.
Earlier this year, MPs voted in
Westminster to pass a law that
lifted the ban on 22 October if the
Northern Ireland assembly, the
province’s devolved government,
didn’t reconvene before then.
Unionist politicians, who oppose
abortion law liberalisation, tried
to recall the assembly, but were
told on Monday that it couldn’t
act as a speaker wasn’t elected.
Ongoing prosecutions, such
as that of a mother who bought
abortion pills for her 15-year-old
daughter, will now be dropped.
Local abortion services should
be in place by 31 March 2020.
Keep up to date online
The latest health, science, environment and tech news
newscientist.com/section/news
“When it comes to being able
to make decisions over their
own bodies, women and girls in
Northern Ireland will no longer be
threatened with the criminal law,”
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP in
London who tabled the abortion
amendment, said in a statement.
“We are working closely with
colleagues in the UK to ensure
relevant training and support is
available to enable our clinicians to
deliver safe abortion care services
within Northern Ireland,” Carolyn
Bailie at the Royal College of
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
said in a statement. ❚
NO₂ five times higher when
going to school and four
times higher on the way
home, than while at school.
Benjamin Barratt at King’s
College London says the
study aimed to make air
pollution “seem more real
and relevant to their
everyday lives”. The project
led to 31 per cent of the
participating children
changing their school
commute to reduce their
exposure to dirty air, he says.
On average, walking on
back streets resulted in the
lowest exposure to pollution,
at 78 micrograms of NO₂ per
cubic metre of air. Car or bus
travel was 85 μg/m3 and
exposure was 143 μg/m3 for
those who walked by main
roads. An annual average of
40 μg/m3 of NO₂ in any one
place is the legal limit for the
pollutant. ❚ Adam Vaughan

26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 7

News
Technology

Dubbing with deepfakes

Artificial intelligence is so good at manipulating videos, companies
are using it to dub adverts and messages, reports Donna Lu
FAKE videos created by artificial which has generated Donald facing the camera and footage campaign video in which David
intelligence are now so good that Trump’s voice. Canny AI’s system where they are side-on. The result Beckham appeared to speak in
film-makers are taking note. needs about a minute of speaking is a video in which the subject nine languages.
Israeli tech firm Canny AI is one footage of both the person being looks and sounds like they are Using such deepfake AIs
of several companies cashing in deepfaked in the video and the saying the new dialogue. commercially brings up legal
on so-called deepfakes, using the voice actor saying the words The algorithm is trained on questions, says Lilian Edwards
technology to edit videos into that will be edited in. the footage scene by scene, so at Newcastle University in the
different languages. The firm The system learns to transfer dubbing five languages into one UK. “There’s an underlying issue
is currently using its AI to dub the movements of the lower half scene requires less processing there about what parts of yourself
advertisements and messages of the dubber’s face and neck into power than dubbing for five you own,” she says. “Do you own
from celebrities for audiences the video being edited. It works for separate scenes, says Omer Ben- your face, do you own your image,
in different countries. It plans to both footage where the speaker is Ami, co-founder of Canny AI. do you own the voices coming
use the technology for television UK tech firm Synthesia also out of your face?”
shows and films in the future. Italian Oscar-winning offers a dubbing AI, based on These are questions that
Deepfakes make it easy for film Life is Beautiful was facial mapping. Its deepfakes companies and celebrities will
people with a bit of technical dubbed in English in 1999 were behind a malaria awareness have to consider when entering
know-how to create fake videos. into contracts, says Edwards.
So far, they have mostly been “Every client we’re working
used to make pornographic films with has to declare they are
involving celebrities or to create responsible for copyrights and
videos where well-known figures liability issues,” says Ben-Ami. The
appear to say something that they AI is an example of how deepfakes
haven’t. Canny AI, for example, can be used positively, he says.
ALLSTAR PICTURE LIBRARY/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

created a satirical deepfake “Any technology is a double-

of Facebook founder Mark edged tool,” says Edwards. The
Zuckerberg that went viral in June. danger is that as AI video editing
The firm’s technology requires a becomes more user-friendly
voice actor to provide replacement and widespread, people could
audio, unlike other algorithms use deepfakes “to put words
that have learned to synthesise in the mouths of politicians,
convincing fake speech, such as public figures, people they hate,”
that of UK-based company Faculty, she says.  ❚

Machine learning

AI could count how claims were made earlier in
the year, they were disputed
many people are by fact-checking organisations.
in large crowds A method developed by
Reza Bahmanyar at the German
ARTIFICIAL intelligence may Aerospace Center and his colleagues
be able to settle the debate over that uses artificial intelligence
how many people attend protests could improve counts in the future.
or gatherings. To create the system, the
Vast numbers of people took to researchers hand-counted nearly
the streets of London last weekend a quarter of a million people in 33
to call for a second referendum images taken from planes, drones
on the UK’s membership of the and helicopters, then used this to
European Union. But exactly how train an algorithm called MRCNet.
many people were there is disputed. MRCNet divides each image into
Protest organisers say there were small squares and analyses how
1 million people, but when similar many people are in each one.
The results are better than
other AI-powered crowd estimation
systems, proving 15 per cent more
accurate than the nearest competitor
at reaching the correct number
in a crowd. The system is much
faster than hand counting, taking
0.03 milliseconds to compute the
number of people in each square
(arxiv.org/abs/1909.12743).
At present, the researchers have
used the AI only in lab conditions,
“The team hopes to soon
mount the system onto
planes and helicopters
to do real-time counts”
but Bahmanyar hopes to soon
mount the system onto planes and
helicopters to do real-time counts.
“I think in the right places, this
technology could be really useful,”
says Keith Still at Manchester
Metropolitan University, UK,
who invented one of the best
current manual methods for
estimating crowds.
However, Still questions whether
protest groups or governments
actually want the real figures.
“They want marketing numbers.
Will they invest in something that
punctures their claim?”  ❚
Chris Stokel-Walker

8 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

 Zoology Agriculture

World’s loudest
male bird bellows
Going fully organic would
at nearby females increase farm emissions
Adam Vaughan Michael Le Page

A BIRD that lives on mountains deep GREENHOUSE gas emissions and 4 per cent lower for organic do use pesticides) or for the sake
in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest would rise if all farms in animal products. However, of wildlife. And not all products
has the loudest voice of any bird England and Wales went organic yields per hectare are are equal, he says. Organic bread
species recorded so far. organic. Though the emissions also lower on average. For is the worst, because wheat
Both songs of the male white of individual farms would go wheat and barley, for instance, yields are so much lower, but
bellbird (Procnias albus) are loud, down, much more food would yields are just half of those of for vegetables, the differences
but one is extremely so – at an have to be imported, as the conventional farms. This means are much smaller.
amount they would produce 1.5 times as much land would Going 100 per cent
You really don’t would decrease substantially. be needed to grow the same organic could also harm global
want to perch “The key message from my amount of these foods. biodiversity. The extra land
next to a male perspective is that you can’t The estimated increase used for farming would mean
ANSELMO D’AFFONSECA

white bellbird really have your cake and eat it,” in emissions varies greatly, the land available solely for
says Laurence Smith, now at the depending on where the wildlife would be smaller and
Royal Agricultural University extra farmland comes from. more fragmented (Nature
in the UK, who was part of the If only half comes from turning Communications, 10.1038/
team that ran the numbers. grassland into farms, the s41467-019-12622-7).
Smith is a proponent of organic increase could be as low as 20 per
average of 116 decibels, it is on a farming and says “there are a cent. If grassland that would “For wheat and barley,
par with a piledriver and beats all lot of benefits to the organic otherwise have been reforested organic yields per
previously documented birds approach”, but his analysis is turned into farmland, hectare are half of those
(Current Biology, doi.org/dczb). shows that organic farming emissions could nearly double. of conventional farms”
“It’s really, really distinctive and has downsides too. “Organic farming has
it’s unusual because it’s very simple. Farming and changes in this greenhouse gas problem,” Rob Percival at the Soil
It’s one loud note, like a horn,” says land use, such as cutting down says team member Guy Kirk Association, which certifies
Jeffrey Podos at the University of forests, are responsible for a at Cranfield University in the organic farms in the UK,
Massachusetts. third of all greenhouse gas UK. “You can’t ignore it.” thinks the analysis is “flawed”.
It isn’t just the volume that emissions. That means reducing This doesn’t necessarily “The study assumes no
is unusual, but also the fact that farming emissions and the land mean people should stop eating change in diet, which is clearly
the males sing so loudly so close needed for farming is required organic produce, says Smith. untenable,” says Percival.
to the females. Most animals that to limit further global warming. Individuals might choose “Dietary change will benefit the
make very loud sounds – such Smith and his colleagues organic food for other reasons, public’s health and free up land,
as howler monkeys – are trying to found that emissions per unit such as to reduce their pesticide making an organic scenario
communicate over long distances. of food are, on average, 20 per exposure (though contrary to entirely feasible.”
Joseph Tobias at Imperial College cent lower for organic crops popular belief, organic farmers There is no doubt that
London speculates that the close reducing meat and dairy
proximity suggests the loudness consumption would reduce
of the song is a sexual signal. emissions. Per kilogram,
“If females detect the loudest emissions from animal-based
males from longer range and find foods can be up to 50 times
the loudest males most attractive those from plant foods, so the
at close range, then sexual selection kind of food we eat matters
would drive the evolution of more than whether it is
extremely loud songs,” he says. organic or produced locally,
Another possible explanation says Hannah Ritchie at the
is that, unlike most birds, the University of Oxford.
species has great abs, with thick Smith says the best option
and defined stomach muscles. may be to use some organic
KELVIN MURRAY/GETTY IMAGES

The loudness also seems to be and conventional farming

a by-product of the ecological niche methods in combination.  ❚
the birds have evolved to occupy:
their beaks open remarkably wide, Most organic foods
allowing them to grab the fruit they have smaller yields, so
eat, as well as make a loud song. ❚ they require more land

26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 9

News
Animal health
Tourists taking selfies risk
giving gorillas deadly diseases
Clare Wilson
ECOTOURISTS are getting too
close to mountain gorillas, risking
passing on potentially deadly
human coughs and colds – and
the proof is on Instagram.
CHRISTOPHE COURTEAU/NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY
A search of the social media site
has turned up hundreds of shots
of people standing closer than
the recommended 7 metres away
from the apes. Part of the problem
is people seeking the perfect
selfie to post online, says Gladys
Kalema-Zikusoka at the Ugandan
charity Conservation Through
Public Health.
Often the close encounters
are initiated by young gorillas.
“Juvenile primates tend to be
more inquisitive,” says Gaspard
van Hamme at Oxford Brookes
University, UK, one of those who
conducted the analysis.
Mountain gorillas, which are
found in Rwanda, Uganda and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), are classed as endangered,
with just 1004 animals at the
last count. Their numbers have
been slowly rising since the 1980s,
although outbreaks of respiratory
infections have been increasing
in the past few years.
Gene editing
CRISPR tweak
makes it better
and faster
THE CRISPR genome-editing
technique revolutionising biology
just got a major upgrade.
A new variant, called prime
editing, makes it possible to add
or delete short DNA sequences, or
change one DNA letter to another,
with fewer unwanted side effects.
The technique, devised by
Andrew Anzalone at the Broad
Institute in Massachusetts, gets
closer to the ideal form of genome
10 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
physical contact. Of those taken
in the DRC, about two-thirds
showed people wearing face
masks, but no one used them in
the other two countries. The team
presented its work at a European
Federation for Primatology
meeting in Oxford, UK.
People may be wearing face
masks most of the time and just
taking them off for a photo,
says van Hamme. “But that still
presents a risk.”
The tourism should continue,
though, as it brings much needed
money into conservation work,
“Outbreaks of respiratory treks into the forests to see says Kalema-Zikusoka.
infections have been rising gorillas, but people are meant It is up to tour sites to enforce
among mountain gorillas to keep at least 7 metres away. In the rules more strictly, says
in the past few years” the DRC, they are also supposed Fabian Leendertz at the Robert
to wear face masks. Koch Institute in Berlin. “There’s
In one case in Rwanda, 11 out To see if the rules are being big variability among the guides.
of 12 animals in a group had followed, van Hamme and his People are more likely to give a
runny noses and were coughing colleagues searched Instagram guide a tip if they get a good selfie.”
and lethargic. Veterinarians for pictures of people on treks Van Hamme believes people
managed to give antibiotics to since 2013. For any image that who care about protecting
five, but two untreated gorillas showed a person and a gorilla, gorillas would be willing to wear
died. Post-mortems showed they the researchers estimated masks and keep their distance if
were infected with a virus that the distance between them. the reasons are explained. “I don’t
normally affects people called Out of 643 photographs, nearly think the experience would be
human metapneumovirus. every one showed people closer less enjoyable. But the pictures
All three countries permit than 7 metres and 20 showed may get less likes on Instagram.” ❚
editing, which would work like CRISPR is a sometimes fix an error in one by
the “find and replace” command powerful tool referencing the other. A normal
BETTER$SETTLE$FELLOW/SPL
in a writing app. for altering DNA Cas9 cuts both strands, introducing
Use of CRISPR has grown rapidly and changing or mutations during repairs.
since it was devised in 2012 disabling genes Anzalone’s hybrid protein uses
because it made the “find” part an extra segment in the guide RNA,
far cheaper and easier. CRISPR which adds a section of DNA to the
exploits a protein called Cas9, target site. The protein then cuts
which hooks up with a piece of the opposite DNA strand, prompting
guide RNA and seeks out matching Anzalone and his colleagues have the cell to repair it using the added
DNA sequences in a cell’s genome. altered the Cas9 protein and fused DNA as the template.
The “replace” part is harder. Cas9 it with another protein so it works In effect, Anzalone has made
is usually used solely to introduce differently (Nature, doi.org/dczp). CRISPR fully programmable.
mutations that can disable a gene, DNA’s double-stranded structure The sequence of the guide RNA
by cutting the cell’s DNA. It is rare for helps cells repair some forms of determines both the site of an
any piece of DNA added at the same damage: because the two strands edit and the change to be made. ❚
time to be spliced into the cut site. are complementary, the cell can Michael Le Page
News
Mental health
Stressed about the climate?
Eco-anxiety may be on the rise, but there are ways
to quell the sense of dread, reports Penny Sarchet
IF THE prospect of climate change
makes you stressed, anxious
or depressed, you aren’t alone.
With reports of some children
becoming terrified by climate
change and the protest group
Extinction Rebellion holding
“grief-tending workshops”,
there is an increasing awareness
of so-called eco-anxiety.
A UK Council for Psychotherapy
conference met in London on
19 October to discuss how best to
manage such anxiety. While there
is little quantitative evidence
about eco-anxiety yet, here are
eight approaches that speakers
suggested may help.
1. Live more in alignment
with your values
There was disagreement at the
meeting over the value of lifestyle
changes. The effect of individual
actions can be very small, but
psychotherapist Mary-Jayne Rust
suggested that changing how
you live to be more compatible
with your ideals can help with
eco-anxiety. You could eat less
meat and dairy, drive less and
stop buying and disposing of
so many items, for example.
“We consume much more than
we need and it’s not making us
happy,” said Neil Jennings at
Imperial College London’s
Grantham Institute on climate
and environmental science.
2. Give your home an
energy health check
Household energy use
accounts for 14 per cent of total
UK greenhouse gas emissions.
Reducing your home’s energy
use can help you take some
ownership of your consumption,
said Jennings. Make sure you have
good insulation and draughtproof
windows and doors, and try
putting on an extra layer rather
than turning up your heating.
12 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
It isn’t just about you, though.
Jennings said that we also need
government support to improve
our homes’ energy efficiency.
3. Cut back on flying
The Swedish concept of flygskam
(“flight shame”) has recently
gained wider attention, but a
minority is responsible for the
lion’s share of emissions from
flights. A 2014 analysis found
that 15 per cent of adults in
Great Britain account for 70 per
cent of flights taken, so it is those
who take three or more flights
a year who will make the most
difference by cutting back. If
taking fewer flights could put
your job at risk, try switching
from business class to standard.
The Grantham Institute says
this uses a plane’s capacity
more efficiently.
4. Don’t feel ashamed
However, in her discussion of
flygskam, the environmental
writer and activist Emma Marris
noted that billions of people fly.
“My individual actions are not
actually capable of solving climate
change,” she said. While altering
A schoolchild protesting in
Edinburgh in March as part
of global climate strikes
action on climate change is
important, and writing to your
bank or pension provider to ask
if you can opt out of funds that
invest in fossil fuels.
6. Find like-minded people
Rust recommended finding
a community of like-minded
individuals so you can express and
share your feelings of eco-anxiety.
JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY
Marris agreed, saying that you
can’t solve climate change alone
and that joining a group of some
kind will help you to make friends.
“I’m not an expert on mental
how you live and travel may help health, but I feel like making
you by letting your life be more friends is helpful,” she said.
aligned with your values, you
shouldn’t feel ashamed for not 7. Protect and nurture
being able to fully comply with local green spaces
these. “The systems in which we Getting involved in community
are all enmeshed essentially force environment projects may help
us to harm the planet, and yet we your mental health, as well as
put all that shame on our own being good for the planet. The
shoulders,” said Marris. “The Grantham Institute notes that
shame is not helping anybody.” green spaces absorb carbon
dioxide, cool down urban areas
5. Focus on changing in hot weather, reduce flood risk
systems, not yourself and provide habitats for wildlife.
Marris argued that accepting Additionally, a recent study found
that we can’t get where we want that spending 2 hours a week
to be through individual action outdoors in nature is linked to
better health and well-being.
“The systems we live in Rust recommends trying to find
force us to harm the planet, some time outside every day.
yet we put all that shame
on our own shoulders” 8. Bring others with you
Jennings highlighted the
has therapeutic benefits. “I don’t importance of talking about
think a complete narcissistic focus your experiences – the challenges
on the self is healthy,” she said. as well as the positives – and
Instead, Marris suggested you bringing other people along with
can have a much more meaningful you. “Talking about the practical
impact by working with others things people can do in their
to lobby governments. day-to-day lives gives people some
The Grantham Institute advises sense of control back, which I
letting your MP, local councillors think can really improve people’s
and mayor know that you think well-being,” he told the meeting.  ❚
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News
Evolution

Toad that looks like a viper

The amphibian mimics a venomous snake to deter predators
Michael Marshall

AN AFRICAN toad has a nifty way

to scare off predators: mimicking
a venomous snake. This strategy
is common in some animal groups,
but is very rare in frogs and toads.
In a 2017 lecture, Eli Greenbaum
at the University of Texas at
El Paso showed a photograph of a
Congolese giant toad (Sclerophrys
channingi). A student named
Theresa Edmondston told him she
kept venomous snakes as pets, and
that the photo looked like the head
of one of her favourites: a Gaboon
viper (Bitis gabonica). The two, as
viewed from above, are compared
in the inset (toad left, snake right).
The pair then explored the idea
with Chifundera Kusamba at the
Natural Sciences Research Centre
in Lwiro, Democratic Republic of the
Congo. He told them that the toads
hiss when approached, which might
KONRAD MEBERT

make it even easier to confuse them

with snakes (Journal of Natural
History, doi.org/dcx3). ❚

Microbiome

Man got drunk on beer brewed in his gut

A MAN in the US started
producing beer in his gut after
it accidentally became colonised
by high levels of brewer’s yeast.
The normally healthy 46-year-
old began to experience mental
fogginess, dizziness and memory
loss in 2011 and had to give up his
job. He saw multiple doctors, but
they couldn’t work out what was
wrong. A psychiatrist prescribed
him antidepressants in 2014, but
this didn’t help.
A few months later, the man
was arrested for erratic driving.
His blood alcohol reading was
200 milligrams per 100 millilitres,
about the level that would be
expected if he had consumed
20 standard alcoholic drinks.
He said that he hadn’t had
anything alcoholic to drink,
but the police didn’t believe him.
Baffled, the man saw a
gastroenterologist, who
discovered high levels of a
fungus called Saccharomyces
cerevisiae in his stool. This fungus
is also known as brewer’s yeast,
because it is used to convert
carbohydrates into alcohol.
Subsequent tests showed
that a similar conversion process
was happening in the man’s gut.
Every time he ate carbohydrates,
his blood alcohol level shot
up, sometimes to as high as
400 milligrams per 100 millilitres.
In 2017, the man attended a
specialist clinic at Richmond
University Medical Center in
New York, where he was diagnosed
with auto-brewery syndrome.
This case of auto-brewery
syndrome was probably
triggered by a prolonged course
of antibiotics that the man took
in early 2011 for a thumb injury,
says Fahad Malik, one of the
doctors at the centre who
made the diagnosis.
These antibiotics probably
disrupted the man’s balance of
gut microbes, causing abnormal
growth of S. cerevisiae, which
“The syndrome was
probably triggered
by a prolonged course
of antibiotics”
normally exists at low levels in
the human gut, says Malik. He
will present the case at the annual
meeting of the American College
of Gastroenterology this week.
Malik and his colleagues
are the first to describe auto-
brewery syndrome resulting
from antibiotic use. However, it
has also been reported in people
with gut disorders like Crohn’s
disease, most commonly due to
the overabundance of other fungi.
Malik treated the man with
antifungal medication, probiotics
and a low-carb diet to get rid of the
excess brewer’s yeast in his gut.
He has now been symptom-free
for almost two years.  ❚
Alice Klein

14 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

Machine learning Archaeology

AI beats humans at
filling in damaged
The race to find the
ancient inscriptions lost city of Irisaĝrig
Gege Li Paul Cooper

ARTIFICIAL intelligence is learning ARCHAEOLOGISTS are and the beliefs they held about Irisaĝrig from Umma taken
to decipher damaged ancient Greek endeavouring to find a lost their mother goddess, says four millennia ago by a group
engravings. The AI is better than Sumerian city that was once Eckart Frahm at Yale University. of workers. They went on a
humans at filling in missing words, home to a mysterious ancient “Perhaps even some new round trip of 23 days, towing
but may be most useful as a cult before it is emptied of its mythological texts related a barge upstream, loading it
collaborative tool for narrowing artefacts. In recent years, to her would be discovered.” with barley and floating it back.
down the options. thousands of clay tablets have Irisaĝrig was probably Molina retraced this journey
Many ancient inscriptions have been rescued from smugglers, abandoned during a period using satellite images and
become eroded or damaged over suggesting that looters must of social collapse along with landed at a location known as
the centuries, resulting in segments have discovered the site many other cities. As a result, Site 1056, a heavily looted tell
of text being lost. Figuring out what somewhere in Iraq. southern Iraq is dotted with 73 kilometres north of Umma
was once in the gaps is a tricky task Irisaĝrig reached its zenith ruin-mounds, known as tells, on the banks of the river Tigris.
that involves looking at the rest of about 4000 years ago. “It was where towns once stood. Now Maurizio Viano at the
the inscription and similar texts. the capital of a major province Irisaĝrig could be any of them. University of Turin in Italy
Yannis Assael at DeepMind of the Neo-Sumerian state,” says has taken this strategy further.
and his colleagues trained a neural Manuel Molina at the Spanish “A text records a boat “I was not convinced by
network, a type of AI algorithm, to National Research Council in journey to Irisaĝrig Molina’s reconstruction of
guess missing words or characters Madrid, who has spent much taken by workmen the direction of the current
from Greek inscriptions, on surfaces of his life searching for it. four millennia ago” along the canals,” he says.
including stone, ceramic and metal, The city was frequently In 2014, an expedition
that were 1500 to 2600 years old. visited by Sumerian kings. Over the past few years, discovered inscriptions that
The AI, called Pythia, learned to One set of tablets recovered many more tablets that seem allowed Viano to pinpoint the
recognise patterns in 35,000 relics, from smugglers tells the story to have come from Irisaĝrig location of another ancient lost
containing more than 3 million of a woman from Irisaĝrig called have turned up. In August, city called Keš, which is known
words. The patterns it picks up Ninsaga, who managed her own the British Museum returned to have been close to Irisaĝrig.
on include the context in which large estate. This changed to Iraq a set of 156 cuneiform Using this information, he tried
different words appear, the historians’ views of the role tablets that had been to plot the route of the boat trip.
grammar and also the shape of Sumerian women. The city confiscated from smugglers at He concluded that the lost
and layout of the inscriptions. is also thought to have been London’s Heathrow airport. city wasn’t on the Tigris, but
Given an inscription with the centre of a cult that Molina first tried to figure connected to it by a now-
missing information, Pythia worshipped the Sumerian out the location of the city in dried-up 30-kilometre canal
provides 20 different suggestions mother goddess Ninhursag. the late 2000s, based on a text known as the Mama-šarrat.
that could plug the gap, with the If the city were discovered, it discovered through excavations When Viano followed this
idea that someone could then could reveal much more about in the ruins of the city of Umma. vanished watercourse, it led
select the best one using their own how these ancient people lived, The text records a journey to to an enormous ruin-mound
judgement and subject knowledge. named Tell al-Wilaya (Journal
“It’s all about how we can help the of Cuneiform Studies, doi.org/
experts,” says Assael. dcvs).
The team tested the system in “There is sufficient reason
a head-to-head against humans. to suggest the identification
When filling in text for almost of Irisaĝrig with the site of
3000 damaged inscriptions, human Tell al-Wilaya,” he says.
experts made 30 per cent more No excavations are planned
mistakes than the AI (arxiv.org/ at the moment due to the
abs/1910.06262). unstable situation in Iraq.
This shows the potential of But Frahm remains hopeful.
TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM

AI-assisted restoration, says Thea Maybe Irisaĝrig has now been

Sommerschield at the University of found, he says. “Maybe it really
Oxford, who was part of the team. is Tell al-Wilaya. It is exciting.” ❚
“The reward is huge because it tells
us about almost every aspect of the Cuneiform tablets
religious, social and economic life taken from smugglers
of the ancient world,” she says. ❚ at Heathrow

26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 15

 News
Analysis Infectious diseases Health data

Wrecking the planet could worsen outbreaks Both Details of NHS data
malaria and Ebola could spread further than before due to deal with Google
deforestation and climate change, reports Adam Vaughan revealed
Adam Vaughan

The Ebola virus is GOOGLE will receive five years’

thought to jump from
fruit bats to people
cent increase in malaria cases
there – almost 10,000 extra
a year. That is probably because
more people end up settling closer
to mosquito-infested areas and
are more likely to get bitten, while
logging creates more mosquito-
friendly habitats.
JUAN CARLOS MUNOZ/GETTY IMAGES
worth of sensitive National Health
Service (NHS) patient records under
the terms of a deal signed last
month, despite controversy over
similar contracts in the past.
The extent to which patient data
was shared between an NHS trust in
England and AI company DeepMind
was first revealed by New Scientist
in 2016. The data watchdog later
ruled that the deal failed to comply

The relationship also seems to with the law because of failures

hold in reverse: as malaria rises, to inform patients.
economic activity, and hence However, other NHS trusts
deforestation, slows. MacDonald went on to sign agreements with
says that effect will never halt tree DeepMind. Last month, five of them
loss though, so the world needs to chose to transfer their contracts
pay attention to greater disease over to Google Health after it
risk from environmental damage. absorbed part of DeepMind, which
FRUIT bats and mosquitoes “By changing the environment, “I think the sorts of large is owned by the same parent
rarely feature in discussions of we are going to directly impact environmental changes we are company – Alphabet – as Google.
the potential impacts of major our health,” says David Redding seeing today, including climate One NHS trust decided against it.
environmental changes such as at University College London. One and land use change, have a high Although Google says there is
deforestation and climate change. way in which climate change will potential to lead to changes in no material difference in the content
But two studies last week showed affect the risk of diseases such health outcomes, including the of the deals, DeepMind Health
how environmental destruction as Ebola spreading is by making transmission of infectious chose to publish its contracts with
could lead to a greater spread new areas into suitable homes diseases,” he says. the NHS – something that is no
of deadly diseases to people via for disease-carrying species. For “Climate change definitely has longer the case with Google.
animals such as these, with dire example, if the trees that fruit bats, an impact on infectious diseases,” However, a contract released
consequences for public health. believed to be a reservoir for the says Elke Hertig at the University of in response to a freedom of
The 2016 Ebola outbreak Ebola virus, rely on can grow in Augsburg, Germany. But whether information request by New
in West Africa killed more than a new area, the bats can follow. the impacts are good or bad will Scientist shows that Taunton and
11,000 people directly, and always hinge on local factors, she Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
knock-on effects, such as diverting
medical resources away from 15%
other conditions, led to thousands increase in areas where Ebola
says. In her own research, Hertig
has found that while warmer
temperatures will help malaria-
will grant Google five years’ worth
of anonymised historical data on
patients. In a previous arrangement
more deaths. Worryingly, climate may erupt in a warmer world carrying mosquito species spread between DeepMind Health and the
change could cause a rise in Ebola northwards across Europe, some Royal Free NHS Trust, anonymised
rates over the next 50 years, say Global warming isn’t the only Mediterranean areas will become data included patients’ medical
UK and US researchers who have environmental change that could too hot and dry for them. history, diagnoses, treatment dates
created a predictive model for the increase disease risk. Clearance Daniel Bausch, who is part of and ethnic background.
disease. They successfully tested of the Amazon rainforest may the UK’s rapid disease response “This deal shows just how little
it on past outbreaks of the virus. also increase the spread of unit, says we should take the has changed for one of the most
In the worst-case warming malaria, suggests research by influence of environmental change controversial NHS data projects
scenarios, the model shows areas Andrew MacDonald and Erin on disease risk seriously. However, of the last half decade,” says
possibly affected by “spillovers” of Mordecai at Stanford University the strength of healthcare systems Sam Smith at campaign group
Ebola – when the virus jumps from in California (PNAS, doi.org/dcxz). remains key to determining future MedConfidential. He asks why
animal to human – will rise by Their analysis of 13 years of outbreaks of disease, he says. the contract suggests data will
nearly 15 per cent compared with malaria cases and satellite data for “We need the modelling and the be copied in bulk, rather than
today (Nature, doi.org/dcx2). That the Brazilian Amazon found that ecology research to understand accessed using an international
may expose new parts of western a 10 per cent rise in deforestation the high risk. But then we need standard used for sharing medical
and central Africa to the disease. was associated with a 3.3 per to act on that.” ❚ records, known as FHIR. ❚

16 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

 Communications
SpaceX plans to send
up 40,000 satellites
Mark Harris
HUMANS have only ever put about
9000 satellites in space. But that
number will be dwarfed if SpaceX’s
plan to launch tens of thousands
of satellites comes to fruition.
Documents filed by the space
firm with telecommunications
authorities show that it has plans
to launch 30,000 small satellites.
The documents were filed with the
International Telecommunication
Union, a UN agency that
coordinates satellite launches.
The plans will need approval from
other bodies, however, and it may
be several years before the first
batch of satellites can be launched.
SpaceX already has permission
to launch nearly 12,000 satellites
to low Earth orbit, and 60 of these
are already up there. It plans to use
these to create a wireless internet
service called Starlink.
The firm says the 30,000 extra
satellites are also part of its plans
for internet services. But they
will be well situated for Earth
observation too. They will operate
between 330 and 580 kilometres
above the planet’s surface, which
SpaceX launched
60 Starlink satellites
into orbit earlier this year
SPACEX
means they could be used for
taking high-resolution pictures
or video of things happening at
ground level.
At such altitudes, there will be
little risk of creating long-term
orbital debris because the
atmosphere there is thick enough
to drag satellites or pieces of
space junk down so they will burn
up. SpaceX also wants to make the
satellites black to reduce their
impact on astronomy.
However, the numbers are
unprecedented. “With that many
satellites, there does need to be
a very, very close look at the
collision risk, disposal and
re-entry risks,” says Hugh Lewis
at the University of Southampton,
UK. “SpaceX will have learned
a lot from their first generation
of 60 Starlinks, but the more
satellites you have in a given
volume of space, the more close
approaches you will have.”
SpaceX told New Scientist
that demand for fast, reliable
internet is escalating and that
it is “taking steps to responsibly
scale Starlink’s total network
capacity and data density to
meet the growth in users’
anticipated needs”. ❚
Stem cells
Mouse embryos
made without
sperm or eggs
Alice Klein
FOR the first time, artificial
embryos made without sperm
or eggs have started to form live
fetuses after being implanted
in female mice. However, the
embryos were malformed,
and we are still a long way
from being able to make
human babies this way.
The artificial mouse embryos
were made using extended
pluripotent stem cells. These
have the ability to generate the
three cell types found in early
embryos, such as those that
will become the placenta.
“This is the first time
artificial embryos have
developed into fetuses
in the uterus”
Jun Wu at the University of
Texas Southwestern Medical
Center and his team coaxed
the stem cells to turn into the
three embryo cell types and
self-assemble into embryo-
like structures by soaking
them in nutrients and growth
stimulants. “They essentially did
the job on their own,” he says.
The team then transferred
the artificial embryos to the
uteruses of mice, where 7 per
cent successfully implanted.
A week later, the implanted
embryos were surgically
removed. They had started
to form early fetal structures,
albeit with major malformations
(Cell, doi.org/dcvw).
This is the first time artificial
embryos have started to develop
into fetuses in a uterus. Other
groups have made artificial
mouse embryos from stem cells
but they haven’t successfully
implanted or have been able
to form only placental cells
and not the other cell types.
The challenge now will be to
fine-tune the artificial mouse
embryos so they can develop
into perfectly formed fetuses,
says Wu. This may involve
growing them in a mix of
nutrients and growth stimulants
that more closely matches the
environment that embryos are
normally exposed to, he says.
Wu says the purpose of the
experiments isn’t to generate
offspring. Testing the ability
of artificial embryos to grow
in the womb allows us to see
how realistic those embryos are,
he says. Once they are realistic
enough, researchers will be able
to use them as substitutes for
real embryos that are normally
obtained from mice.
These realistic artificial
embryos could be studied in
dishes to better understand
early mammalian development,
optimise IVF conditions and
screen drugs for their potential
to cause birth defects, says Wu.
Nevertheless, the findings do
hint that it may be possible to
generate offspring from such
embryos, says Wu. Some of
the stem cells his team used
to make the artificial embryos
were originally made by
reprogramming ear cells from
adult mice. Hypothetically
speaking, if we could do the
same with human ear, skin or
other non-reproductive cells,
we could generate viable human
embryo-like structures without
sperm or eggs. “But this remains
science fiction,” says Wu.
There are no good medical
reasons to make human babies
from artificial embryos created
without sperm or eggs, says
Nicolas Rivron at the Institute
of Molecular Biotechnology
in Vienna, Austria. However,
artificial embryos made this
way could potentially be used
to study fertility problems in
the future, he says. ❚
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 17
 News In brief
DAVID TIPLING/GETTY IMAGES
Solar system
Cosmic rays helped
form dunes of Titan
TITAN is the only other place in the
solar system with liquid oceans on
its surface, but it also has swathes
of desert covered in sand dunes.
The material that makes up these
dunes is commonly assumed to
have fallen from the sky, but a new
study suggests it may have been
made on the ground instead.
The dunes on Titan, Saturn’s
largest moon, stretch across its
equatorial region and are up to
100 metres high. Images from
NASA’s Cassini probe have shown
that the dunes contain some dark-
coloured organic molecules, based
on long chains of carbon atoms.
We also see organic molecules
in Titan’s thick, hazy atmosphere,
leading many researchers to infer
that they form there and then fall
to the ground. But Ralf Kaiser at
the University of Hawaii at Mānoa
and his colleagues have found that
they may form on the ground too
18 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
Animal behaviour
Nightjar’s migration waxes
and wanes with the moon
A BIRD that migrates from
northern Europe to sub-Saharan
Africa seems to synchronise its
flying with phases of the moon.
The European nightjar’s behaviour
is the first time a link has been
shown between animal migration
patterns and the lunar cycle.
Nightjars feed at night. We
already knew they change feeding
habits based on the moon’s phase,
gobbling more insects on moonlit
nights, but not if they schedule their
migration in a similar way.
To find out if they do, Gabriel
Norevik at Lund University in
Sweden attached tracking devices
to 39 European nightjars. The
measurements reveal a key role
of the full moon in the nightjar’s
itinerary, which consists of long
night-time flights with daytime
resting punctuated by much
Genetics
in a process that could also take
place on other worlds. DNA tweak lets you
Cassini found the signature get by on less sleep
of acetylene ice in the same
regions as the dunes on Titan, A GENETIC mutation that allows
so Kaiser and his team performed people to feel fully rested with
an experiment to see if this ice fewer than 6 hours sleep a night
could be chemically converted has been identified, the second
into complex organic molecules. such finding in recent months.
They bombarded acetylene ice Ying-Hui Fu at the University of
in a laboratory with high-energy California, San Francisco, and her
radiation similar to the cosmic colleagues have been studying
rays that propagate through the families in which some people
galaxy, then heated the ice up seem to need less sleep than
until it sublimated so they could normal. Her team has found
determine its final make-up. several mutations that mean
They found that radiation
hitting the ice did cause it to react
chemically to create the organic
molecules we see in Titan’s dunes
(Science Advances, doi.org/dcvz).
These molecules are also probably
created in the atmosphere, so they
PHANIE / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
could come from there as well,
says Ralph Lorenz at Johns
Hopkins University in Maryland.
All may become clearer when
NASA’s Dragonfly craft lands near
Titan’s dunes in 2034. Leah Crane
longer rests at stopover sites.
On moonlit nights, the birds’
foraging during migration stopovers
more than doubled. Then, as the
moon wanes, increasing numbers
of nightjars embark on migratory
flights, peaking at around 11 days
after a full moon. Sometimes, all
of the tracked birds would migrate
simultaneously at this time.
Norevik says he and his team
were astounded by how well the
activity pattern followed the cycles
of the moon. This is the first time
lunar phase has been identified as
a regulator of migration schedule
(PLoS Biology, doi.org/dcvr).
Cecilia Nilsson at Cornell
University in New York says the
findings raise questions about
the impact of artificial lights on
migrating birds relying on the
moon. Jake Buehler
people need less sleep. In August,
Fu’s team reported on a gene
called ADRB1. It allows 12 members
of a family to sleep as little as
4.5 hours per night without feeling
tired. This gene codes for a protein
common in the brain’s dorsal pons
area, known to regulate sleep.
Now the team has found a
mutation in a gene called NPSR1 in
another family. Of the two family
members whose sleep habits they
studied, one averaged 5.5 hours a
night and the other just 4.3 hours.
NPSR1 codes for a brain protein
known to be involved in arousal
and sleep behaviour. When the
team engineered the mutation
into mice, they slept less without
any obvious effect on health or
memory (Science Translational
Medicine, doi.org/dcvx).
On average, people need 8 hours
sleep a night. As far as Fu’s team
has been able to tell, however,
people who sleep less because they
have one of these gene variants are
healthy and don’t appear to suffer
any ill effects. Michael Le Page
 New Scientist Daily
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Ecology
Really brief
more common, possibly leading Some migratory birds starved as
Too much snow may to the extinction of some species. they waited for the snow to melt
doom Arctic species He is part of a team monitoring (PLoS Biology, doi.org/dcwq).
ecosystems around Zackenberg There was heavy snow across
MORE extreme Arctic weather in north-east Greenland. The much of the Arctic in 2018, not
may threaten the survival of growing season there is very short just north-east Greenland, says
wildlife there. In 2018, it snowed – just July and August – so if the team member Tomas Roslin
so heavily that some areas ground remains covered by snow at the Swedish University of
VERENA WAHL

remained covered in snow well too long it has a major impact. Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala.
into summer, stopping many During the past 23 years, on While many people assume a
plants and animals breeding. average only 4 per cent of land has warming world means less snow,
“If this is a one-time event, it’s still been covered by snow by the this isn’t the case in colder regions
Desert ants are not an issue,” says Niels Martin third week of July – the height of where the air is usually relatively
world’s fastest Schmidt at Aarhus University in summer. In 2018, it was 45 per dry. As the Arctic warms and sea
Denmark. Arctic wildlife can cope cent. For the first time since ice shrinks, the air gets moister,
Saharan silver ants can with occasional bad years, he says. monitoring began, almost all meaning more snow can fall
run at almost a metre But he fears it could become much plants and animals failed to breed. when conditions are right. MLP
per second, covering
100 times their own Childhood Neuroscience
body length in that time.
Researchers used a
high-speed camera to Closing in on secrets
see that the ants take of our mental power
over 40 steps per second
to reach such speeds HOW did humans get to be so
(Journal of Experimental much cleverer than other apes,
Biology, doi.org/dcvp). given the lack of major structural
differences in our brains
Whales trap prey compared with theirs? One
with their flippers counter-intuitive idea is that it was
BETSIE VAN DER MEER/GETTY IMAGES

to do with a slowdown of our brain

Humpback whales use their growth during fetal development.
flippers to swat salmon The suggestion comes from a
into their mouths. A team study that used the relatively new
found that the whales first approach of growing embryonic-
generate a net of bubbles like stem cells in a dish and
to confine prey near the coaxing them to turn into nervous
water’s surface. They then system cells until they form pea-
guide the prey towards Closer play with a baby could sized three-dimensional clumps
them with their flippers known as organoids. These are
while lunging with an open pave way to a cuddlier future also called “mini brains”.
mouth (Royal Society Open Gray Camp at the Max Planck
Science, doi.org/dcvn). PLAYING with a baby may help activity. One, known as methylation, Institute for Evolutionary
shape their hormone system for suggests the gene is “switched off”. Anthropology in Leipzig,
More Neanderthal social interaction, possibly creating Between the two play sessions, Germany, and his colleagues
DNA found in people more receptors for oxytocin, also the mothers’ levels of methylation used stem cells from humans,
known as the “cuddle chemical”. at the oxytocin receptor gene stayed chimpanzees and macaque
We know that many people Kathleen Krol at the University constant. But the levels changed for monkeys to grow mini brains for
have tiny bits of DNA that of Virginia and her team recruited babies – those who had experienced each species. After four months, a
come from extinct species 101 mothers and their babies for more involved play had a fall in key difference was that the nerve
of human. One of the first two play sessions – at 5 months and methylation, while those who cells in the chimp and monkey
studies to look for longer 18 months of age. Interaction, such received less attention had an organoids were more mature.
sequences has analysed as how close mother and baby were increase (Science Advances, doi.org/ Identifying such differences
genomes of people from and eye contact, was observed. dcvv). This suggests that babies may be a step towards explaining
Melanesia in the Pacific. Each time, DNA was taken from given more involved play have more why humans are more intelligent,
It found one sequence that mother and baby, so the team could oxytocin receptors, says Krol. although the team doesn’t
came from Neanderthals look at epigenetic modifications to a It is too soon to draw parenting speculate on exactly how its
and one from Denisovans gene that codes for the receptor for advice from this, says Emma findings might relate to this
(Science, doi.org/dcvq). oxytocin. These modifications don’t Meaburn at Birkbeck, University puzzle (Nature, doi.org/dcws).
alter DNA but can control gene of London. Jessica Hamzelou Clare Wilson

26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 19

News Insight
Nutrition
The neglected nutrient
The importance of choline is becoming clear – and if you are cutting
down on meat you may not be getting enough, says Clare Wilson
WHETHER we follow it or not,
most of us know the standard
advice for eating healthily. Not
too much red meat, fill up on
whole grains for fibre, eat oily
fish for the omega-3 oils, and
have plenty of fruit and veg for
the vitamins and minerals.
But there is another essential
nutrient that most of us have
never heard of – and that standard
advice may be stopping us getting
enough of it. The substance is
“It is now accepted that
adult livers can make some
choline, but most of us
don’t produce enough”
called choline and Emma
Derbyshire at Nutrition Insight,
a consultancy in Surrey, UK,
recently argued in the journal
BMJ Nutrition, Prevention &
Health that a lack of it might be
an emerging public health crisis.
It is still unclear exactly how
much choline we need. But
because eggs and red meat are
some of the best sources of
choline, the trend for eating fewer
animal products could mean we
are missing out on a vital nutrient
without knowing it. Even those
of us who eat meat might not be
getting enough.
In the past, most vitamins
were discovered because people
who were malnourished got a
characteristic disease that was
cured when they ate certain
foods. Sailors deprived of fresh
fruit got scurvy because they
lacked vitamin C, for example.
Choline’s history is less
straightforward. It was first
isolated from bile in 1862 and was
later found to play many roles in
the human body. It makes up cell
membranes, and is important in
the liver’s fat metabolism. It also
helps make a nerve signalling
molecule called acetylcholine,
20 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
found in the brain and muscles.
It was thought, though, that
the human body could make its
own choline. It produces plenty
of other biochemicals, and
there was no known choline
deficiency disease.
That was questioned in the
1980s, partly because of studies
showing that some animals get
sick on a diet lacking in choline.
Steven Zeisel at the University
of North Carolina then devised
a definitive test by getting
volunteers to stay in hospital
for several weeks eating only
the food provided.
His team created a baseline diet
with very little choline – mainly
salads, a soy-based protein
shake and bread rolls. Some
people got rolls with added
choline, some didn’t.
Within a few weeks, the
volunteers who got rolls without
choline had more liver enzymes
in their blood and their livers
accumulated fat. When they were
switched onto the choline-laced
bread, they recovered. “I had
Here is how much choline you would get
from eating 100 grams of various foods
compared with the recommended
minimum intake in the US
Beef liver
Hard-boiled
egg
Human milk
Beef steak
Salmon
Pork chops
Chicken
Women
Almonds
Broccoli
Baked beans
Milk
White rice
0 100 300
Choline
SOURCE: doi.org/dcst (milligrams)
discovered the first new
nutrient since the basic
vitamins,” says Zeisel.
Because of this and other
lines of research, choline was
reassessed. It turned out that
human breast milk is rich in
choline, and that pregnant women
pump it across their placenta.
Levels can be 10 times higher in
fetuses than in mothers’ blood.
That had to be for a reason.
It is now accepted that adult
livers can make some choline, but
most of us don’t produce enough
to meet the body’s requirements.
In 1998, the US Institute of
Medicine advised that men should
consume 550 milligrams a day and
women 425 mg (more if they are
pregnant or breastfeeding).
Most people don’t hit that level.
Surveys suggest that average daily
intake ranges from 260 to 470 mg.
Large numbers of people aren’t
being hospitalised with liver
failure, though, so perhaps the
original targets were too high. Eating a plant-based
They were based on Ziesel’s study diet? You may be low
that compared just two diets, on choline
one with 500 mg of choline
a day and one with 50 mg. It is There have also been a few
possible that some intermediate small trials to see if giving
level is enough. pregnant women higher doses
Still, some people may need of choline helps their fetuses’
more choline than others. About brain development. Results are
one in three people in the US have mixed, but one of the longest trials
a mild case of fatty liver. This is showed that when the women
usually blamed on unhealthy took twice the recommended dose
eating. But Zeisel says lack of of choline while pregnant, their
choline may be responsible in children did better at a simple
some cases. He has shown that memory task when 7 years old.
people with fatty liver are more “There’s something very special
likely to have certain gene variants about this nutrient,” says Marie
Men
that mean they make less choline. Caudill at Cornell University in
However, the biggest concern New York, who helped run the trial.
over choline intake is connected Choline might not just affect
to fetal brains. Animal research the brain while it is developing.
suggests that choline is needed Studies in mice suggest that
to build brains: when pregnant higher choline intake in
500 mice are deprived of choline, adulthood staves off the effects
their babies do worse at mental of dementia, although trials in
tasks like negotiating mazes. people haven’t yet been done.
 More Insight online
Your guide to a rapidly changing world
newscientist.com/insight
For babies and fetuses at least,
there is growing consensus that
choline is essential. Baby milk
manufacturers must now
ensure a minimum level in their
products, both in the US and
Europe. And in 2018, the American
Academy of Pediatrics called for
pregnant women to ensure they
are getting enough choline.
That isn’t easy. Most prenatal
multivitamins contain no choline.
Some include a dose of 100 mg,
which is much less than the
advised 425 mg for pregnant
women in the US. The trouble is,
including that amount in a
multivitamin tablet would make
it too bulky to swallow. The UK
National Health Service’s dietary
advice for pregnant women also
makes no mention of choline.
Derbyshire says choline should
be of particular concern for those
eating fewer animal products.
There are plant sources of choline,
GETTY IMAGES
such as nuts and soya beans, but
they contain far less than eggs
and red meat (see graph, left).
“You can get it, but you have got
to be very rigorous in your diet,”
says Derbyshire.
Vegetarians and vegans
can, of course, take choline
supplements. But many don’t
know to do so. The UK Vegan
Society says choline is nothing
to worry about for those eating
“If a substance in meat
is so beneficial, why do
people live longer when
they eat less red meat?”
a varied diet mainly based on
minimally processed plant foods.
A spokesperson told New Scientist
that the nutrient wasn’t on its
agenda until recently, saying,
“it’s just not a nutrient that
deserves any attention”.
This is where the emerging
Working
hypothesis
Sorting the week’s
supernovae from
the absolute zeros
science on choline gets entangled
with the wider debate over meat.
As is common in nutrition
research, some of the studies
have been funded by the food
or supplement industries, which ▲ Spacewalk
some people find suspicious. Christina Koch and
Advocates of veganism Jessica Meir completed the
highlight that Derbyshire has been first all-female spacewalk,
a member of industry-funded an achievement ruined
meat and choline advisory only by a congratulatory
panels. She says, however, that phone call from US
she has advised numerous president Donald Trump.
commercial bodies, including
a vegan food firm. ▲ Big bubbles
Others are just keen that the An underwater volcano in
spotlight on choline doesn’t Alaska belched stadium-
detract from the possible health sized bubbles of gas.
benefits of plant-based foods. Reports of rugby fans
“Choline is clearly an important stocking up on beer to try
molecule, but we still don’t know to beat the record haven’t
what amounts are needed for yet been confirmed.
optimal health,” says Walter
▲ Snot catchers
Willett at Harvard Medical School.
“This should not delay us from Marine biologists have
shifting to healthier and used drones to catch snot
sustainable diets.” from dolphins.
Willett points to a paradox.
If a substance found mainly in ▼ Phone security
animal products is so beneficial, A bug allows anyone to
why does most research find that unlock a Galaxy S10
people live longer when they eat smartphone through its
less red meat? inbuilt fingerprint reader.
It may be that the benefits of Thankfully, you can
eating less saturated fat outweigh always change your
the harms of less choline – if so fingerpri… oh.
you could get the best of both
worlds by swerving meat and ▼ Government tech
taking supplements. Some After six years of arguing
have recently argued that the and delays, the UK
advice to avoid red meat was government has ditched
wrong, because it was based on its plan for online
potentially flawed population pornography age checks.
3D STOCK ILLUSTRATIONS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; NASA
studies rather than randomised
trials (New Scientist, 5 October, p 9).
We still have lots to learn about
choline. But there are signs that
it is getting on more people’s
radar. Vegan bloggers are talking
about it, and Derbyshire’s recent
paper has grabbed attention.
“I just want to raise awareness,”
she says. ❚
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 21
Food for thought
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with a New Scientist subscription

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 Views
The columnist
Could Britain grow
most of its own food,
asks James Wong p24
Letters Aperture Culture Culture columnist
Community building Strange and beautiful Refreshing realism in Helen Marshall on
isn’t enough to make nature under the an exhibition about emerging trends in
morality p26 microscope p28 life on Mars p30 science fiction p32

Comment

Shoot for the moons

New discoveries are degrading the concept of a moon. It is time
to do a Pluto and tidy up the solar system, says Leah Crane

O
K, WHAT I’m about
to say may cause some
distress. You remember
how it was with Pluto? In 2006, the
International Astronomical Union
(IAU) voted to downgrade the
much-loved ninth planet to a
mere dwarf planet. More than a
decade later, it seems some people
still haven’t gotten over it. But
I’m still going to say it: things
are getting a little out of hand
with the solar system’s moons.
On 7 October, astronomers
announced the discovery of
20 moons around Saturn. This
took the total number of moons in
the solar system to 214. The thing
is, these new satellites are all about
5 kilometres in diameter. It would
take me less than 4 hours to walk
the entire circumference of one of
them. Compared with some of the
objects we currently call moons,
which would qualify as planets
if they weren’t orbiting another
planet (like Earth’s moon), these
are really just large rocks.
For all the controversy about
its redefinition of a planet, the IAU
has, as yet, no official definition
of a moon. Generally, planetary
scientists take a moon to be any
natural object orbiting a planet or
dwarf planet. Some add that other,
smaller objects can have moons as
well, including moons themselves,
whose theoretical satellites have
been dubbed “moonmoons”.
Some use the term “moonlet” for
small objects, for example those
orbiting within Saturn’s rings.
JOSIE FORD
moons and these smaller rocks.
That isn’t just because we are
discovering smaller and smaller
orbiting objects, but also because
the importance of moons is
growing. Three moons in our
solar system – Enceladus, Titan
and Europa – are widely agreed to
be the best places to look for signs
just isn’t feasible on a 5-kilometre
boulder with simple chemistry
and little surface diversity.
So where to draw the boundary?
The simplest way would be to set
a minimum moon size. Planetary
scientists often shy away from that
kind of thing, however, because
the sizes of objects can be difficult
Leah Crane is a reporter for
New Scientist based in Boston
@DownHereOnEarth
orbiting a planet outside our
solar system – it is likely that
we will be able to determine
its mass but not its radius.
Then perhaps we should
define a moon based on its mass.
One of the IAU’s requirements
for an object to be a planet is that
it has enough mass for its own
gravity to have pulled it into an
approximately spherical shape.
Icy objects become rounded
more easily than rocky objects,
so icy moons could be as small as
400 kilometres across, while rocky
ones would have to be closer to
600 kilometres in diameter.
That would exclude many of the
objects that we currently consider
moons, like Saturn’s ravioli-
shaped moons Pan and Atlas. We
would be left with only 19 known
moons in our solar system: four
orbiting Jupiter, seven around
Saturn, five of Uranus, one each
for Neptune and Pluto and, of
course, Earth’s moon. The rest
of the things we currently call
moons would be moonlets, or
perhaps dwarf moons.
This number of moons would
be a lot more manageable, and
would also mean that the group
of objects called moons would
have much more in common
with one another than they do
now. Job done. Now I will just sit
back and wait for the hate mail

It is time for us to find a means of life beyond Earth. What is to determine from afar. If we ever saying I just demoted someone’s
of distinguishing between real possible on these larger objects detect an exomoon – a moon favourite moon.  ❚

26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 23

Views Columnist
#FactsMatter
The dream of food self-sufficiency Proponents of Brexit argue
that it is an opportunity for the UK to grow more of its own food.
A great idea – but there are just a few problems, says James Wong
W
ITH the global
population predicted
to hit close to 10 billion
by 2050, and forecasts that
agricultural production in some
regions will need to nearly double
to keep pace, food security is
increasingly making headlines.
In the UK, it has become a big
James Wong is a botanist and talking point recently too, for a
science writer, with a particular rather particular reason: Brexit.
interest in food crops, Brexit is seen by some as an
conservation and the opportunity to reverse a recent
environment. Trained at the trend towards the UK importing
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, he food. The country produces only
shares his tiny London flat with about 60 per cent of the food
more than 500 houseplants. it eats, down from almost
You can follow him on Twitter three-quarters in the late 1980s.
and Instagram @botanygeek A move back to self-sufficiency,
the argument goes, would boost
the farming industry, political
sovereignty and even the nation’s
health. Sounds great – but how
James’s week feasible is this vision?
What I’m reading Answering this question in
Mainly Twitter, getting detail could be the subject of an
anxious about the world. entire PhD. Fortunately, we can get
I need to do less of that. to the crux of the issue with some
simple stats. According to a report
What I’m watching on UK food production from the
Magical Andes on University of Leeds, UK, 85 per
Netflix. I did my master’s cent of the country’s total land
research in Ecuador and area is associated with meat and
am a wannabe Latino. dairy production. That supplies
80 per cent of what is consumed,
What I’m working on so even covering the whole
Preparing for the Youth country in livestock farms
Ag Summit in Brasilia wouldn’t allow us to cover all
(4-6 November), which our meat and dairy needs.
will reveal what the next There are many caveats to
generation of the world’s those figures, but they are still
farmers are working on. stark. To become much more self-
sufficient, the UK would need to
drastically reduce its consumption
of animal foods, and probably also
farm more intensively – meaning
WORAWUT SAEWONG/SHUTTERSTOCK
fewer green fields, and more
factory-style production.
But switching to a mainly plant-
based diet wouldn’t help. There
This column appears is a good reason why the UK is
monthly. Up next week: dominated by animal husbandry:
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein most of its terrain doesn’t have the
24 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
right soil or climate to grow crops
on a commercial basis. Just 25 per
cent of the country’s land is
suitable for crop-growing, most
of which is already occupied by
arable fields. Even if we converted
all the suitable land to fields of
fruit and veg – which would
involve taking out all the nature
reserves and evicting thousands
of people from their homes – we
would achieve only a 30 per cent
boost in crop production.
Just 23 per cent of the fruit and
vegetables consumed in the UK
are currently home-grown, so
even with the most extreme
measures we could meet only
“There’s a reason
why the UK is
dominated by
animal husbandry –
most of its land
is no good
for crops”
30 per cent of our fresh produce
needs. That is before we look for
the space to grow the grains,
sugars, seeds and oils that
provide us with the vast bulk
of our current calorie intake.
Britain’s reliance on food
imports is far from a modern
phenomenon, stretching back
until at least the mid 1700s, when
the population was just a fraction
of what it is now. As early as
the 1930s, just 30 per cent of
the food eaten in the UK was
domestically produced.
The fact that number is now
so much higher is down to the
green revolution of the mid 20th
century, in which innovations in
agricultural technology caused
average crop yields to almost
treble. By 1987, the country was
74 per cent self-sufficient. Since
then, however, agricultural
productivity has stalled, for
reasons that aren’t well
understood. With increasing
demand from a growing
population, self-sufficiency
levels have fallen again.
Proponents of UK food
self-sufficiency often point to the
Netherlands, a country that is the
world’s second-biggest exporter
of food, despite having a land area
roughly a sixth of the UK’s and
almost twice the population
density. But this stat is based
on the economic value of the
Netherlands’s agri-food exports,
not on the amount of calories the
country produces. It includes sales
not just of food, but of the sector’s
single biggest export: cut flowers.
In addition, a large part of
these exports are foods that
were initially imported. The
Netherlands is, for example, the
world’s fifth-largest exporter of
oranges, despite a distinct lack
of Dutch orange groves.
Expressed in terms of calories,
not cash, the Netherlands is
actually in the bottom 10 for
self-sufficiency in the world
according to the United Nations,
being on a par with countries like
Syria, Armenia and Zimbabwe.
The Netherlands is a global leader
in sustainable agricultural tech,
but like the UK, it has to contend
with the limitations of geography,
climate and population.
Can the UK become less reliant
on imports when it comes to
food? Probably. Can it become
self-sufficient, even in foods
typically grown in the country,
in the timescales being talked
about? To put it bluntly, using
current technology, it is a
mathematical impossibility. ❚
 17MORE
THINGS YOU
NEED T O
UNDERSTAND
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Quantum theory & general relativity
The theory of evolution
Artificial intelligence
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Climate change
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Views Your letters

Editor’s pick
Community building isn’t
enough to make morality
28 September, p 44
From John Hastings,
Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, UK
Patricia Churchland’s account of
how our moral behaviour evolved
to promote the well-being of human
communities appears plausible,
but she leaves two major issues
out of her reckoning.
The first is that these community-
building behaviours apply only to
our own community or nation. In
relation to other communities, we
may be prejudiced and, in extreme
cases, regard the “others” as
subhuman. Such prejudices can lead
to conflict and even genocide. The
second issue is that for all of history,
women have almost universally
been regarded by men as inferior
beings to be kept subordinate.
These two aspects of human wrote that “the anatomy of the subtle. For example, Extinction for Applied Systems Analysis in
behaviour have evolved just as the clitoris has not been stable with Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam Austria says. But we should also
community-building behaviours time” – it has been written in and claimed on the BBC HARDtalk be concerned by countries such
have evolved. We can’t use out of anatomy textbooks programme in August that “science as Greece, which also has vast
evolution to distinguish between according to current medical predicts” that 6 billion people will solar resources but is mining
them. If we regard one set of fashion. die this century because of climate around 50 million tonnes of
behaviours as morally good and They concluded that, like change if we continue on our lignite (brown coal) per year. The
the other as morally bad, we must an iceberg, most of the clitoris current trajectory. This claim was EU needs to persuade the Greek
be using some other criterion. is hidden inside the body. This audited by Climate Feedback, a government to implement a solar
If we don’t have some standard work led me to wonder whether worldwide network of scientists power revolution and
of morality, independent of our the clitoris has a role to play in that sorts fact from fiction in reject support for a coal sector
evolved behaviour, against which birth, with the passage of the fetal climate change media coverage. It that campaigners describe as a
we can assess our behaviour, we head triggering orgasm. It would concluded that Hallam’s assertion backdoor subsidy, in violation
have no reason to say that any thus provide a handy cushion was “not supported by published of EU electricity market rules.
behaviour is morally right or wrong. of engorged tissue, a shot of the research” (bit.ly/2pcKwis).
So what is this standard of morality hormone oxytocin and both I agree with Lawton that From James Runacres,
and where does it come from? Or vaginal and uterine contractions the current surge in activism Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, UK
are we simply wrong to think in to help complete the birth. around climate change is “a long- The failure to give developing
moral terms about our behaviour? Some women report birth to overdue outbreak of sanity”. But countries an incentive to transform
be orgasmic. I, alas, am not one unfounded, apocalyptic claims their energy systems is a major
of them, but I certainly benefited risk undermining the long-term stumbling block to meeting
I wonder about another
from the oxytocin rush. health of these movements. the targets of the Paris climate
role of female orgasm agreement. Renewable technology
5 October, p 8 is ready for deployment in
Unfounded apocalyptic We need better incentives
From Margaret Jowitt, countries such as Botswana.
Ventnor, Isle of Wight, UK claims harm climate action for renewable energy
The female orgasm may originate 12 October, p 22 5 October, p 7
Population and limits
in a reflex that makes some female From Gabriel Carlyle, From Victor Cheetham,
mammals ovulate during St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, UK Bolton, Greater Manchester, UK to Earth’s life support
intercourse, Clare Wilson reports. Graham Lawton describes the Digging up coal may well be a 14 September, p 39
In humans, clitoral stimulation is oft-repeated “fact” that we have 11 “strange decision” for a country From Colin Gallagher,
better at eliciting orgasm than years to save the planet as “a subtle such as Botswana that has vast Hexham, Northumberland, UK
penetration. In 2005, Helen misrepresentation of the science”. solar resources, as Joeri Rogelj Fred Pearce asks Johan Rockström
O’Connell and her colleagues Other misrepresentations are less at the International Institute whether human population size

26 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

should be added to his list of
“planetary boundaries”. Rockström
responds that Earth’s  life-support
systems aren’t defined by human
activity. Really? The extraordinarily
rapid growth of the human
population, particularly over
the past two centuries, is surely
the major influence on
all of those boundaries.
Were these succulent
berries down to the wire?
24 August, p 42
From Claire and Greg Sullivan,
Ottawa, Canada
Research into the effects of
electric fields on plant growth
has resumed in China. A number
of years ago, we owned an old
summer house in Charlevoix,
east of Quebec city. An activity
that we enjoyed there was picking
the wild blueberries that were
abundant not too far away.
Sometimes we hiked for a
couple of miles to the swathe
of power lines carrying electricity
down from hydroelectric plants in
Labrador.
Under the lines, the blueberries
were much bigger and juicier than
they were close to our home. We
jokingly commented that it was
the “juice” from the wires above
that had enhanced them.
I insist that thought does
depend on language
Letters, 7 September
From David Werdegar,
Naperville, Illinois, US
People with severe aphasia –
the loss of ability to understand
or express speech – may be
unimpaired in other thinking
abilities, such as chess or spatial
navigation, Peter White argues.
And Martin Greenwood suggests
that composers use non-verbal
thinking, and cites mathematical
physicist Roger Penrose’s claim
that much scientific and
mathematical thought is
non-verbal (Letters, 31 August).
A composer may internally
hear a melody, hum the tune and
have a second person hum it too.
But developing it for an
instrument or an entire orchestra
requires much thought, and that
thought requires language.
Penrose may think he can purely
conceptualise without any words,
but the mathematics he uses
is a language in itself.
Aphasia is caused by brain
damage. Those with a severe
form are unable to navigate
their way down a hospital corridor
and require help with feeding,
because they can’t conceptualise
the corridor, the dining room or
that the fork or spoon in front of
them are to be used as a means
of transporting food.
Language skills, words and
grammars are so subtly accessed
in most of our pursuits that we are
often unaware of them lying just
below the surface of our actions.
Insight on the information
rate of language perhaps
14 September, p 17
From Peter Lavers,
Canberra, Australia
You report experiments appearing
to show that the rate at which
speech conveys information is
about the same in different
languages, despite them having
varying densities of information
per syllable. This reminded me of
evaluating the accessibility of an
online product’s user interface
with a tester who was blind and
used screen-reader software.
We found it very difficult to
keep up with him, as he set the
speech rate of the reader to what
seemed like three or four times
the rate of normal speech. This
included reading instructions
and checking prose, such as
legal agreements, as well as
page navigation. We joked that
he must get really bored and
impatient with our slow speech.
Exploring such scenarios may
shed light on the phenomenon.
Want to get in touch?
Send letters to New Scientist, 25 Bedford Street, London
WC2E 9ES or letters@newscientist.com; see terms at
newscientist.com/letters
Signing is another example that
could help distinguish auditory
from semantic content
information processing.
Refit your kitchen for heat
transfer between fluids
Letters, 14 September
From Matthew Allan,
Eastleigh, Hampshire, UK
Dinah Sage comments on the
relative inefficiencies of ovens
and microwaves, inviting us to
reconsider our use of domestic
appliances. A new approach to
services within the home could
create opportunities to increase
efficiency and reduce carbon
dioxide emissions.
Typically, a house in a developed
country contains a washing
machine, a dishwasher, a tumble
dryer, a fridge, a freezer and room
heating, with or without air-
conditioning. These are installed
as discrete units, incorporating
duplicated components such
as pumps, compressors, heat
exchangers, valves and controls.
But the key functions of each
system involve heat transfer
between fluids. They could be
designed as an integrated whole,
creating a more efficient and
robust building services unit.
Heat that is discarded in
conventional systems could be
recovered and used elsewhere.
It would be straightforward
to give the homeowner options
in terms of the style, size and cost
of the domestic appliances built
into such a unit.
The principle could be extended
to include water recycling, rain
water and grey water recovery,
heat recovery from cooking
appliances and inputs from
renewable energy sources.
Such an approach could
improve comfort in homes while
helping meet targets to reduce
environmental damage.
We don’t need evolution to
explain religion’s origins
21 September, p 38
From Andrew Brooker,
Dursley, Gloucestershire, UK
In his interview with Richard
Dawkins, Graham Lawton refers
to the idea in evolutionary biology
that human brains are naturally
receptive to religious ideas. I am
not sure we need an evolutionary
explanation for religious belief.
Like many animals, we can
see patterns and relations in
geography, time and behaviour.
These are essential for survival,
helping us learn where to find prey
or ripe fruit, how to obtain water
in very dry seasons and which
areas we need to be careful in.
But humans also have the
ability to find explanations of
how the world works and, indeed,
a need to find them and a pleasure
in doing so. For most of our
existence, we have lacked the basic
knowledge required to answer
many important questions.
Why are some years bountiful
while others bring droughts or
floods? Why does an epidemic
take some children and not
others? What are thunder,
lightning and volcanoes?
What made the world and
what can destroy it?
Answers to these questions
have been attributed to spirits
and gods: that makes sense if you
have no real science or technology.
The gods and spirits must then be
praised and placated. A priest
caste develops, with doctrines
and rituals, and defined rights
and wrongs. These become part of
human cultures, often developed
far beyond the original teachings.
A broader perspective on
annoying teenagers
14 September, p 56
From Ben Haller,
Ithaca, New York, US
Dean Burnett says “far from being
a constant annoyance, teenagers
may be the reason humanity is
as smart and successful as it is”.
Can’t they be both?  ❚
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 27
Views Aperture

28 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

Small wonders

Photographers Teresa Zgoda/

Teresa Kugler; Andrei Savitsky;
Karl Deckart
Nikon Small World

NATURE can be so strange and

beautiful that it challenges our
perception of reality. And rarely is
this truer than at the microscopic
scale, where even familiar forms
turn into something alien.
Take the psychedelic-looking
animal (large image). It is clearly
a turtle, but Teresa Zgoda and
Teresa Kugler from the US have
used stereomicroscopy and
fluorescence to take hundreds
of colourful photographs of the
different layers of this embryo,
then stitched them together to
give us an otherworldly glimpse
inside the reptile’s shell. Their
stunning final image has won
them the 2019 Nikon Small World
photomicrography competition.
The image that came 9th
(top left) subverts the idea of
the beauty of flowers. It is a
cross section of a tulip bud by
Andrei Savitsky from Ukraine.
At the centre is the female pistil,
surrounded by six male stamens –
rendered as blue and yellow
butterflies by having their tops
sliced off. Around them, petals
and sepals curl delicately.
Perhaps the strangest image
(bottom left), which came 17th,
was created by Karl Deckart from
Germany. Is it a furry mammal’s
eye? Or the end of a peacock’s
feather? No, it is an essential part
of your diet. Deckart dissolved
crystals of vitamin C and let them
recrystallise on a microscope slide.
He then used a polarisation filter
to create the stunning colours of
the eye-like shape you see. And
it isn’t your imagination – it is
looking right back at you. ❚

Chris Simms

26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 29

Views Culture

Our next big adventure

An exhibition about how to live on Mars shows welcome realism,
along with a resurgence of optimism and possibility, writes Simon Ings
Exhibition
Moving to Mars
Design Museum, London
Until 23 February 2020
STEP into Moving to Mars,
an exhibition on the realities
of missions to colonise the
Red Planet at London’s Design
Museum, and you are immediately
confronted with some very good
reasons not to move there.
Minatory glowing wall-texts
announce that Mars wasn’t made
for you; that there is no life and
International Space Station
(hollow and filled with ball
bearings to increase their utility
in zero gravity) are wall-mounted
beside a nifty low-gravity table
that has yet to leave, and may
indeed never leave, Earth.
This, of course, is the great
strength of approaching science
through design: reality and
speculation can be given equal
visual weight, drawing us into
an informed conversation
about what it is we actually
want from a future on Mars.
Halfway round the show,
I relaxed in a fully realised Martian
HASSELL + ECKERSLEY O'CALLAGHAN

precious little water; that, clad in living pod made by international

a spacesuit, you will never touch,
taste or smell the planet you now
call “home”. As Lisa Grossman
wrote for New Scientist a couple
of years ago, “What’s different
about Mars is that there is nothing
to do there except try not to die.”
It is an odd beginning for such
a celebratory exhibition, but it
provides a valuable, dark backdrop
against which the rest of the show
can sparkle – a show that is, as its
chief curator Justin McGuirk
remarks, “not about Mars; this
is an exhibition about people”.
Moving along, there is a quick
yet lucid dash through what
science-fiction writer Kim Stanley
Robinson calls “the history of
Mars in the human mind”. A
Babylonian clay tablet and a Greek
vase speak to early ideas about the
planets. A poster for the original
Total Recall film reminds us of
Mars’s psychological menace.
The bulk of the show focuses
on our current plans for the Red
Planet. There are real spacesuits
and copies of rovers, models of
3D-printed Martian settlements
and prototypes of suitable
clothing and furniture. Mission
architectures and engineering
RAEBURN
design firm Hassell and its
engineering partners Eckersley
O’Callaghan. They assembled
this as part of NASA’s 3D-Printed
Habitat Challenge – the agency’s
programme to develop habitat
ideas for deep-space exploration –
and it combines economy, Hassell’s Martian base.
recycling, efficiency and comfort Below, space fashion by
in surprising ways. Xavier De Christopher Raeburn
Kestelier, Hassell’s head of design
technology and innovation, was The profound limitations of
particularly proud of the chairs, that life were brought home by a
made of recycled packaging: “The hydroponic system from vertical
more you eat, the more you sit!” farming firm Growstack. Its trays
So much for Martian living. of delicious cress and lettuce
reminded me, rather sharply,
that for all the hype, we are a very
long way from being able to feed
ourselves away from our home
world. We are still at the point
where a single sunflower and a
single zinnia blossoming aboard
the ISS – the former in 2012, the
latter in 2016 – make headlines.
The Growstack exhibit and
other materials about Martian
horticulture also mark a cultural
shift from the strategic, militarised
thinking that characterised cold-
war space exploration towards
more humane, more practical
questions about how to live an
The Russians were thinking
seriously about these questions
long before everyone else, and it
was good to see Russian space
culture given its due in this
impressively international
show. All through the 19th
century, researchers for the Tsarist
governments tried to develop
agriculture in barely fertile,
mostly frozen Siberia. Well into
the Soviet era, soil scientists were
undertaking extreme expeditions
over vast distances in pursuit of
wild agricultural speculations.
It shows up in Russian popular
culture. The space documentaries
of Pavel Klushantsev, born 1910 in
St Petersburg, are full of succulent
gardens glistening under domes
and bowls full of peaches beside
every workstation, offering a
literal taste of home.
I was delighted to see a
screen showing Mars (1968),
Klushantsev’s saturated,

sketches line the walls. Real ordinary life in an extraordinary, multicoloured vision of humanity
hammers meant for the severe environment. on the Red Planet. It is the film

30 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

 Don’t miss

is essential to good design. Visit

with the dog in the spacesuit:
an image that even people who
have never heard of this director
treasure for its kitsch value. It is
also what earned him a telegram
that read: “Due to the low quality
of your work, we hereby inform
you that we are terminating your
contract with the studio.” So much
for the Soviet imagination.
But other cultures, each
with their own deep, historical
motivations, have since stepped
up with plans to settle Mars. My
favourite projects originate in the
Middle East, where subterranean
irrigation canals were greening
the desert a full millennium
before astronomer Percival
Lowell thought he spotted
similar structures on Mars.
settlement on Mars by 2117. A
development hub, Mars Science
City, is scheduled to open in Dubai
in the next three to four years and
will feature a laboratory that will
simulate the Red Planet’s terrain
and harsh environment. It will be
a sort of extension of the 520-day
Mars-500 simulation that, starting
“Approaching science
through design draws
us into a conversation
about what we want
from the future”
in 2010, sent six volunteers on
a round trip to Mars without
stepping out of the Institute of
Biomedical Problems in Moscow.
Space forces you to work from 24/7, an exhibition of
first principles. It compels you art and design inspired
to think about mass, transport, by Jonathan Crary’s
utility and reusability. 2013 book about
I don’t think it is much of a modern sleeplessness,
coincidence that Eleanor Watson, explores our increasingly
the assistant curator on this show, regulated and sleep-
has been chosen to curate the 2019 deprived way of life. From
Global Grad Show in November, 31 October at London’s
which will be bringing the most Somerset House.
innovative new design thinking to
Dubai – a city which, with its own
set of environmental extremes,
can feel halfway to Mars already.
Leaving the show, I was drawn
up short by what looked like some
cycling gear. Anna Talvi, a graduate
of the Royal College of Art in
London, has constructed her flesh-
hugging clothing to act as a sort Read
of “wearable gym” to counter the The Lost Planets by
muscle-wasting and bone loss John Wenz (MIT Press)
caused by living in low gravity. She tells the curious and
has also tried to tackle the serious frustrating story of
psychological challenges of space Peter van de Kamp, the
exploration by permeating her visionary astronomer
fabrics with comforting scents. who was first to claim
Her X Earth perfumed gloves he had detected planets
“will bring you back to your orbiting a star other
Earth-memory place”, with the than our sun, and reveals
smell of freshly cut grass, say, why he was wrong.
or your favourite horse.
Those gloves, even more than
that hydroponically grown lettuce,
brought home to me the sheer
ghastliness of space exploration.
It is no accident that the past year
or so’s most ambitious science
fiction movies, Aniara and Ad
Astra, both focus on the mental
and spiritual damage we would Watch
face were we ever to swap our Doctor Sleep, a sequel
home planet for a life of to Stanley Kubrick’s
manufactured monotony. The Shining (both films
There is a new realism creeping being based on books by
MARIA FRANCESCA MOCCIA/EYEEM

Having raised major cities
in one of the most inhospitable
regions on Earth – and this in
less than a generation – we should
hardly be surprised that the rulers
of the United Arab Emirates believe
it is feasible to establish a human
The playfulness of “Martian
thinking” is quite properly
reflected in this lively and family-
orientated exhibition. The point,
made very well here, is that this
play, this freedom from strictures
and established lines of thought,
into our ideas of living off-world,
along with a resurgence of
optimism and possibility.
This is good. We need light and
shade as we plan our next great
adventure. How else can we ever
hope to become Martian?  ❚
Stephen King), stars Ewan
McGregor as a man
coming to terms with
a terrifying telepathic
gift. In UK cinemas from
31 October, if you dare.

26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 31

Views Culture
The science fiction column

Building worlds From alienated life in post-Arctic Sweden to saving your future
self and failing to engage with tech’s new intimacies, an excellent new sci-fi
anthology offers diverse glimpses into the future, says Helen Marshall

Time travel is a major

theme in a collection of
up-and-coming writers

of wealth has strengthened global

institutions. But the introduction
of Dream Seeds – a universal basic
income in Kenya – leads to a divide
between Doers and Don’ts, those
Helen Marshall is an editor, who choose to make, build or
award-winning writer learn and those who want only
and senior lecturer at the to be entertained.
University of Queensland, The growth of entertainment
GAVIN HELLIER /ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Australia. Follow her on platforms, whether in virtual

Twitter @manuscriptgal
THERE is nothing like an
anthology for taking the pulse
Book of new science fiction. One of the
The New Voices of latest and best is The New Voices
Science Fiction of Science Fiction, which includes
Hannu Rajaniemi and many new writers who have
Jacob Weisman (editors) received or been shortlisted
Tachyon Publications for the Nebula or Hugo awards.
Editors Hannu Rajaniemi and
Helen also Jacob Weisman promise a “tonal
recommends… freshness”. So while the collection
features mostly US authors, it does
Books seem refreshingly diverse, with
Stillicide widely divergent glimpses of the
Cynan Jones future from the likes of Sam
Granta Books J. Miller, Rebecca Roanhorse,
Twelve sparely written but Kelly Robson and E. Lily Yu.
moving tales of near-future The short story is an ideal form
water shortages and for sci-fi: a premise can be tested,
overpopulation. its ramifications developed and
radical consequences presented.
Interference Such anthologies are important
Sue Burke for providing a snapshot of the
Tor Books field and its future trajectory.
A sequel to Burke’s Locus So where do the new writers’
Award-nominated debut concerns cohere? Time travel is
Semiosis, this is a riveting a recurrent trope. Alice Sola Kim
exploration of the dangerous offers the tale of a scientist who
misunderstandings that rescues her 9-year-old self from
arise when humans bullying to change the harmful
encounter radical new patterns of her older iteration.
forms of sentient life. Likewise, in Amal El-Mohtar’s
poignant “Madeleine”, a young
woman compares her drug-
induced jaunts through time
to her mother’s Alzheimer’s.
Many stories are suffused with
dystopian threads: fraying social
bonds, environmental disruption
and widening inequality. All have
effects on the most vulnerable.
Miller’s “Calved” follows a refugee
“Space exploration is
limited to resource
extraction, with the
greatest changes
happening at home”
from drowned Brooklyn living in
a near-future, post-Arctic Sweden.
A long-haul ice fisherman with
few prospects, he struggles to
connect with his adaptable
son, who sees him as a relic.
Bucking the dystopian trend
is Yu’s “The Doing and Undoing of
Jacob E. Mwangi”. It imagines how
a scarcity-riven society might
create “a deep immune response
in the human psyche” to the
onslaught of inequality and
rage. A massive redistribution
reality or on social media, is a
distinctive trend. “Openness”
by Alexander Weinstein explores
relationships that fail to cope with
the intimacy offered by new tech.
One stand-out story, “Utopia, LOL?”
by Jamie Wahls, is stylistically
gutsy. Here, humanity’s future
after the singularity looks strange,
with consciousness shifting easily
between trillions of realities,
from a knock-off Middle Earth to
FloTiSim – a floor-tile simulator.
Not surprisingly, the near-future
tales stick closest to extrapolation,
with new economies for
counterfeit meat in Vina Jie-Min
Prasad’s “A Series of Steaks” and
unusual cultural encounters in
Roanhorse’s “Welcome to Your
Authentic Indian Experience™”.
These stories attend as much to
world-building as to the lived
experience of those brutalised
by capitalism’s retrenchment.
In this superb collection, the
radical freedom of the digital
typically contrasts with resource-
depleted physical landscapes.
Space exploration is limited to
resource extraction, with the
greatest changes happening at
home. Reinventions of the body
meet backlashes and resistance
as often as love. Ultimately, these
new writers have very human
stories to tell, necessarily
complicated by compromises
and failures as much as heroics.  ❚

32 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

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 Features Cover story

LAST year we passed a milestone marked

3.9 billion. For the first time, more than
half of humanity was connected to the
biggest information-sharing network
the world has ever seen: the internet.
Just 50 years after we first learned to
make computers talk to one another,
many of us can’t imagine life without the
net and the services that exploit it: email,
file-sharing, messaging, the World Wide
Web. We use it to communicate, to learn, to
shop, to broaden our horizons and satisfy
our whims, to make friends and find lovers.
But the internet can be a wild, raw space.
Owned by no one, virtually ungoverned
and practically ungovernable, its promise
of information and connectivity for
all comes with a huge flip side:
misinformation, cyberterrorism
and drastic economic dislocation.
As it celebrates its half-century, the
internet stands at a crossroads. In
this 10-page special

THE
use Symfony\Component\Mime\Part\DataPart;
use Symfony\Component\Mime\Part\Multipart\FormDataPart;
feature, we explore
$formFields = [
how the internet
‘regular_field’ => ‘some value’,
‘file_field’ => DataPart::fromPath(‘/path/to/uploaded/file’),
came to be, what it
is today and what

INTERNET
];
$formData = new FormDataPart($formFields); it might become
$client->request(‘POST’, ‘https://...’, [
> $formData->getPreparedHeaders()->toArray(), in the future –
‘body’ => $formData->bodyToIterable(),
]);
starting with
Donna Lu’s look

@50
$response = $client->request(‘POST’, ‘https://...’, [
// defining data using a regular string at how the internet
// using a closure to generate the uploaded data
was shaped for good
gets the HTTP headers as string[][] with the header names lower-cased
$headers = $response->etHeaders(); and bad.

Everything you need to know about a

technology that has transformed the world

34 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019


I
T BEGAN – some would say, as it meant to
go on – with an error message. Late on the
evening of 29 October 1969, student
programmer Charles Kline attempted to send
some text from a computer at the University
of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to another
at the Stanford Research Institute, more than
500 kilometres up the Californian coast.
“LOGIN”, it was supposed to say. Kline
got as far as “LO” before the system crashed.
The full message was resent an hour later.
What would eventually morph into the
largest communications network in human
history had made its debut: the internet.
LIAM MADDEN
It is fair to say that no one there quite
appreciated the full scope of what had
happened. “We knew we were creating an
important new technology that we expected
would be of use to a segment of the population,
but we had no idea how truly momentous
an event it was,” Leonard Kleinrock, Kline’s
supervisor, later said. Fifty years on, we are
still only just beginning to come to terms
with the consequences.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network, or ARPANET, as the internet’s
precursor is better known, was an academic
project intended to allow computers to share
information. Funded by the US Department of
Defense, the UCLA and Stanford computers
were the first two nodes of this network. By
December 1969, two others had been installed:
at the University of California, Santa Barbara,
and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
In 1973, ARPANET went international,
connecting via satellite to nodes at the
Norwegian Seismic Array in Kjeller near
Oslo and University College London. Today,
a backbone of fibre-optic cables under sea
and land, supplemented by satellite links
and lower-tech copper telephone wires,
ensure near-global coverage (see “A global
network”, page 38).
Key features of how the modern internet
works were there right from these small
beginnings. Crucially, there was no centralised
control. ARPANET was a distributed “network
of networks”. Information, broken into
hundreds or thousands of small packets,
travelled from node to node through or
between these networks. If one node went
offline, the information would find another
way through, with each packet basing its
trajectory on feedback from previous ones.
This concept, known as packet switching,
had been developed in the early 1960s by
three independent groups of researchers in
the UK and US, including Kleinrock’s team.
“It made for a very resilient system,” says
Johnny Ryan at tech firm Brave, author of
A History of the Internet and the Digital Future.
“These packets are blindly going through the
network trying to find a quick route.”
Shared communication required a shared
language. That came in the form of a set of
standards known as TCP/IP – the Transmission
Control Protocol and Internet Protocol – first
made public by computer scientists Vint Cerf
and Bob Kahn in 1974 (see “The internet
evangelist”, page 42). These covered, among
other things, the standard format of data
packets and a unified system of addressing
so that networks could identify one another.
Such IP addresses are still assigned to all
networked computers today.
“That was a breakthrough,” says Wendy Hall,
a computer scientist at the University of
Southampton, UK. Open and free, TCP/IP
enabled anybody to put a computer on
the network, and any computer to talk to
another. On 1 January 1983, ARPANET adopted
it as its standard for “internetworking”,
and the modern internet was born. >
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 35
 Initially, it connected just a small
bunch of like-minded academics. “It was
“Profit, once The rise of powerful business interests
marked a shift in direction for the decentralised,
extremely useful for transferring data and considered permissive guiding ideals of the internet. At the
communicating among dispersed groups outset, its egalitarian ethos had flattened power
of scientists,” says Grant Blank at the antisocial, has and social hierarchies, but the lack of regulation
Oxford Internet Institute in the UK.
There was no formal policing, but people
become the now enables seemingly limitless commercial
growth. Profit, once considered antisocial, has
rarely misbehaved. As an MIT computing
handbook covering network etiquette noted,
internet’s raison become the internet’s raison d’être. Companies
that do things well – Alphabet, Amazon,
“Sending electronic mail over the ARPAnet d’être” Facebook, Netflix – can achieve vast economies
for commercial profit or political purposes is of scale. “You have a winner-takes-all system
both anti-social and illegal. By sending such where a handful of companies can have
messages, you can offend many people.” cascading monopolies,” says Ryan.
uses an algorithm to turn up relevant results With that concentration of power, the
from more popular websites – changed the internet’s infrastructure has started to
Wider still and wider online landscape forever, turning the web into centralise, too. The rise of cloud computing,
It was an “anything goes, free-for-all, the trove of information it is today. pioneered by companies such as Amazon,
good-faith approach”, says Ryan – one that That, as well as the later explosion of social means that more information flows via vast
has persisted as the internet has grown. media, paved the way for commercialisation. server farms where it is stored and processed.
“A lot of the roots of issues that exist today The sheer number of eyeballs fixed on All this suggests a very different next
come from that period,” says Black. sites such as Google and Facebook, and the half-century for the internet. “It’s only with
The lack of built-in security was one such unprecedented ability to gather data about regulation, and enforcement of regulation,
example. “Basically, the default was to trust individuals’ likes, preferences and moods and that you can see this centralising trend reverse
everyone else,” says Black. Extending the sell it on to advertisers, have made the internet in any way,” says Ryan. The internet’s first
internet to public use opened it up to fraud a gold mine for a select few companies. Last 50 years have been a story of freewheeling
and criminal activity. As its use widened, the year, digital advertising accounted for more growth, for good and ill. The great question
net’s anonymity, with users identified only than 85 per cent of the $136.8 billion revenue we now face is whether anyone can and
by their IP address, also encouraged the of Google’s parent company, Alphabet. should take control of it – and if so how. ❚
spread of misinformation and vitriol.
The widening of access came about through
a few pivotal software developments that took
advantage of the internet’s open ethos. Chief
among them was the World Wide Web. A
system of addressing and publishing protocols
that allowed documents sitting on different
computers to be publicly visible and linked
to one another, the web was created by
Tim Berners-Lee, then a researcher at the
CERN particle physics centre near Geneva,
Switzerland, in 1989. Berners-Lee also wrote
the first web browser in 1990, and the web
was made publicly available in 1991.
Although we now use “the internet” and
“the web” interchangeably, they aren’t the
same thing. “The internet is an infrastructure
on which so many things sit,” says Ryan.
“The web is just one of them.” Others are email,
which was an initial driving force behind many
people joining the internet, messaging apps
and file-sharing services. As these publicly
accessible parts of the internet have grown,
so too have parallel, shadier “dark net” services
(see “The dark side”, right).
The rest is modern history. Public web use
really took off in the mid-1990s, and with it
came the need to organise the available
information and make it easily accessible.
The development of search engines –
especially Google’s PageRank model, which

36 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

 THE DARK SIDE
Right from the beginning, the
internet has had its shadowlands:
parts of the network deliberately
hidden from public view. The
original “dark net” comprised
nodes on ARPANET that received
messages but didn’t appear in
network lists, or acknowledge
or respond to messages. Today,
perhaps the most prominent
example of the dark net is the
Tor network, which enables users
to disguise their identities and
communicate anonymously.
An acronym for “the onion router”,
Tor involves layers of encryption,
analogous to the layers of an onion,
that let someone send data without
their computer’s unique IP address
being revealed.
Just as the internet is often
confused with the web, the dark
net is often muddled with the deep
web, the parts of the web that
aren’t typically indexed by search
engines such as Google. That has
many legitimate uses. Indeed,
most of us are part of the deep
web if we use webmail, a company
intranet or a restricted-access
social-media profile.
The dark net and Tor are most
often associated in people’s minds
with illicit trading in commodities
like drugs and arms on online
markets such as the now-shuttered
Silk Road. But the anonymity the
dark net affords can also facilitate
whistle-blowing and protect users
living under authoritarian regimes
from censorship – a not
inconsiderable boon, given the
pressures the internet is under
today (see “Open or closed”, right).
Donna Lu
4.8 trillion
gigabytes of data will pass
between IP addresses in 2022,
three times the amount in 2017
SOURCE: CISCO
Open or closed?
The idea of one, unified, global internet is under threat.
How much should we care, asks Douglas Heaven
O
NE sure sign of a mature technology is
that you only ever think about it when
it doesn’t work. You don’t consider the
pipes beneath your feet until your drain gets
blocked. Similarly, you don’t reflect on the
internet until your video call dies.
The internet’s foundational organisational
principle – that it has no organising principle –
has given it an unprecedented reach into our
lives. At least in theory, anyone can join it,
extend it, write software for it, make money
from it. As a result, today’s internet isn’t just
about emails, Facebook updates and hours
and hours of Netflix. Information exchange
through it has come to underpin essential
everyday services from power grids to public
transport. Without it, the world we know
would stop.
Today, the internet is continuing to grow
apace, as gaps in its global coverage are closed
and ever more devices are connected to it, from
smartwatches to cars and even refrigerators.
Yet at the same time, the very principles of
openness that underpin it are under threat
from an unholy coalition of government,
commercial and other interests. The question
is whether that is necessarily all a bad thing.
Might a more closed, better regulated internet
actually be in all our interests?
An example of the threats the internet
currently faces came with a message on 12 June
this year on the Twitter account of internet
messaging app Telegram. It announced
that “GADZILLIONS of garbage requests”
had knocked out its network. Telegram’s
end-to-end encryption makes it popular with
privacy-minded users. This huge “distributed
denial of service” attack came at the height of
street protests in Hong Kong against mainland
China’s attempt to gain greater control. The
company later said that the attack appeared
to have been orchestrated from China.
If so, it wouldn’t have been the first time:
in 2015, a similar attack on a US website hosting
anti-censorship software seems to have come
from the same location. The possibility of
waging this sort of cyberwarfare is a
consequence of the internet’s open, borderless
structure. Ransomware like NotPetya or
WannaCry, which took computer systems
around the world hostage in 2017, is another
favoured tool. Once released, such software
can spread like wildfire in open grassland
through the internet’s distributed nodes.
Cyberwarfare is the stated reason why
Vladimir Putin’s government wants to follow
China’s lead and erect borders around Russia’s
portion of the internet. A “sovereign internet”
bill, passed earlier this year, requires telecoms
companies to monitor and filter all internet
traffic passing into Russia, and proposes an
off switch to separate the country from the rest
of the world during a cyberattack. The details
are still hazy. China has been building barriers
since the internet arrived there, but Russia’s
internet is well-connected. Cutting itself off
will probably involve the state taking over
Russia’s internet service providers – a power
with obvious potential for abuse.
One country, two systems
China is certainly clear in its antiglobalist
internet vision. In 2015, it hosted what it billed
as the second World Internet Conference. In
an opening address, president Xi Jinping said:
“We should respect the right of individual
countries to independently choose their own
path of cyber development.”
In fact more or less everyone is begining to
do this in their different ways. The European
Union’s General Data Protection Regulation,
or the GDPR, came into effect in May 2018 to
strengthen the privacy rights of internet
users and limit the power of tech companies
over EU citizens’ data. Rather than comply with
the stipulations, certain websites have instead
just blocked access to European visitors.
In the US, the central principle of net
neutrality – that no data is privileged over any
other as it passes through the internet – is under
threat. Rules adopted in 2015 mandating the >
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 37
 #8 UK
27 million
Number of fixed broadband
connections (top 10 countries)

#2 US
116 million

#6 Brazil
31 million

A global network
The backbone of the internet is a
series of undersea fibre-optic cables
linking national telecoms networks.
Often owned by companies or
consortia of them, sometimes
with government involvement,
they provide the intercontinental
highways through which data
packets ping back and forth.
The density of these undersea
connections determines the
bandwidth available for the main
global data flows (see diagram,
far right). That bandwidth is largest
between the US and Canada and
Latin America, Europe and Asia; and
Whenever anyone connects
to the internet, usually via an
internet service provider, they Percentage of people with
become part of the overall internet access (2017)
network. Separate networks
across the globe communicate South Korea European Union
with each other using a common
language, known as TCP/IP, to
route data from point to point.
Since 1998, responsibility for
basic internet regulation, including
KEY
In-service
96% 84%
apportioning the IP addresses that submarine cable North America Middle East and
allow computers to locate one North Africa
another, has been held by the
non-profit Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers,
Planned
submarine cable

Landing station
88% 65%
between Europe and the Middle ICANN, based in Los Angeles.
East and Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa Originally subordinate to the US Japan Latin America
is more sparsely served – and has government, since 2016 it has and Caribbean
the lowest proportion of people
connected to the internet of any
part of the globe (see the red
been overseen by an internationally
appointed committee, ensuring the
internet is truly owned by no one.
85% 63%
numbers, right). Richard Webb SOURCE: WORLD BANK

38 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

 #5 Russia
32 million
#4 Germany
34 million
#7 France
29 million

#1 China
407 million
#3 Japan
41 million

#10 India #9 South Korea

18 million 21 million

Intercontinental ASIA–EUROPE EUROPE–US & CANADA

21,442
13,889
internet bandwidth
(2019; gigabits per second)
China ASIA

54% ASIA–US & CANADA

21,508 EUROPE

India
EUROPE–MIDDLE EAST
34% OCEANIA 20,757

Pacific island
small states AFRICA
US &
33% CANADA

MIDDLE
Sub-Saharan EAST
Africa LATIN
AMERICA
SOURCES:
25% INTERCONTINENTAL INTERNET BANDWIDTH &
CABLE MAP: TELEGEOGRAPHY
NUMBER OF FIXED BROADBAND CONNECTIONS: LATIN AMERICA–US & CANADA
WORLD BANK 36,848

26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 39

 SKY NET Federal Communications Commission to

Even as the internet threatens

to break apart (see main story),
ensure net neutrality were repealed again in
2018, allowing telecoms firms to offer faster,
higher-bandwidth connections to customers
28.5 billion
people continue to sign up who pay for them. That is a potential win for big devices are expected to
apace, with a few hundred companies such as Facebook and Netflix, but be online by 2022, more
million new users joining every bad news for small businesses and local news
year. Many are in developing sites. Twenty states are challenging the repeal
than three for every person
nations such as India and those in the courts, and California has passed its own on the planet
SOURCE: CISCO
in Africa, and most do so via net neutrality laws, effectively asking internet
smartphones connecting to traffic to obey different rules when it enters
cell towers or by visiting the state. Other states look likely to follow.
internet cafes. Coverage in In a way, all these developments are can join up (see “Sky net”, left). A truly global
remote areas far from the symptoms of a technology that has outgrown internet will undoubtedly bring huge social
internet’s modern fibre-optic itself. “The internet was not meant to be used benefits. In other respects – not least
backbone remains patchy in the ways we are using it today,” says economically – the case is less clear-cut.
though, mainly supplied by computer scientist Konstantinos Gkoutzis As internet connections improve, remote
a network of a few dozen at Imperial College London. One person’s working and virtual commuting are set to
satellites operated by openness is another’s borderline anarchy, become more common. Companies could
companies such as after all. Whether through concern for national employ people anywhere in the world, with
O3b Networks and Iridium. security or user privacy, a desire for control machines in US factories, for example,
A handful of more pie-in-the- or to protect commercial interests, there are operated by workers in Bangladesh or
sky schemes have aimed to many reasons why countries might want to Botswana. With a positive spin, the gig
accelerate uptake. Loon, owned regulate internet traffic. economy, based on internet apps such as
by Google’s parent company In some cases that might be good, says Uber that connect those wanting to buy goods
Alphabet, is developing a Gkoutzis. The power of big tech firms and or services more efficiently with those willing
network of high-altitude telecoms companies has made the future of to supply them, could increase employment,
balloons to beam the internet the internet precarious. “If nothing changes, economic output and prosperity.
down to the ground. It recently it could soon become borderline unusable, That’s certainly the view of many in places
started working with telecoms where companies the size of small countries like South Africa, where unemployment is
companies in Kenya to test the control what you see,” he says. Regulations high, says Anri van der Spuy at Research ICT
technology. In 2018, Facebook such as the GDPR aim to counter that power. Africa, a think tank in Cape Town. The reality
cancelled a similar project These problems, and questions of how could be more nuanced: the global digital
involving a fleet of large, to regulate them, are only set to become economy often works to drive down worker
solar-powered drones that more pressing as the internet continues to protections and pay in favour of big business,
could shoot the internet down evolve. New infrastructures to carry internet says van der Spuy. “We tend to neglect the
from the sky with lasers. traffic are accelerating the rate at which the fact that internet access could exacerbate
The ambition of both these unconnected half of the world’s population inequalities rather than alleviate them.”
initiatives could be dwarfed by
plans for a space-based internet
such as billionaire Elon Musk’s
Starlink. This network of The internet
thousands of satellites would is becoming
provide an alternative space- ubiquitous,
based route for high-speed but what does
internet traffic and offer that mean for
coverage to every part of Earth’s privacy?
surface. The first few test
satellites have already been
launched. Douglas Heaven
BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

40 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019


It isn’t just inequality. The balance between
personal privacy and public security is only
likely to become more delicate as digital
connectivity increases. Again, that raises
questions of what sort of internet we want,
how it should be regulated and by whom.
Take the internet of things. This evolution
of the internet, in which it isn’t just computers
and smartphones beaming data to and fro,
but also objects from household refrigerators
to autonomous vehicles, is now in train.
“We already have smart hairbrushes, noodle
forks and fish tanks,” says internet privacy
researcher Paul Bernal at the University of
East Anglia, UK. “In 50 years, it will be a very
rare thing that isn’t online.”
The advantages could be big: homes
or offices automatically adapting themselves
to your preferences when you arrived, or
cars drawing up to meet you when you left.
The security risks, however, are also
significant. Hooking up cars or home
appliances to the internet exposes them
to the same kind of malicious cyberattacks
phones and laptops face. Yet where a
hacked phone probably can’t kill you, a
hacked car or oven perhaps could. Again,
maintaining an open internet in an era
of universal connectivity brings risks.
One response could be more personalised
security to regulate our access to the internet.
A few people have already inserted RFID
chips in their hands or fingers – similar to
the microchip injected into the scruff of a
pet’s neck – that let them open car doors
or turn on coffee machines with a gesture.
But even without going to such extremes,
systems such as face recognition are likely to
become more widespread, essentially bringing
us online too, like it or not. “We will be
recognisable by who and what we are,” says
Bernal. “Faces, retinas, fingerprints, voice
recognition are just the start. How we move
our hands, how we use a touchscreen, pretty
much anything we do will be recognisable.”
Protesters in Hong Kong already hide their
identities from internet-connected
7.5 million
distributed denial of
service (DDoS) attacks
worldwide in 2017
SOURCE: CISCO
surveillance cameras by wearing masks.
They have stopped using public transport
cards, which record every trip in a central
database. And they use encrypted messaging
apps to prevent eavesdropping on their
conversations – until they get switched off.
In 50 years, Bernal thinks we will still
both care about privacy and be able to
protect it when we need to. “All technological
developments will be accompanied by
parallel disruptive technology,” he says.
There will be make-up and clothes that thwart
biometric recognition, spoofers that disguise
our location or fake our identity, and signal
blockers that disrupt Wi-Fi or its successors.
Haters gonna hate
Of course, hackers will still hack, scammers
will still scam and trolls will still troll. There
will still be viral memes and pornography.
The trend towards filter bubbles and walled
gardens will hardly stop. There will still be hate
speech and extremism. “These are not
dependent on tech but on human nature,” says
Bernal. “It won’t be possible to clean up the
internet, whatever our governments think.”
However we are actually wired up,
everyone and everything will be connected.
We will probably think about the internet
even less than we do now. Being a node in
a non-stop, two-way flow of information will
be the norm, for most humans and objects
alike. Whether we will all be seeing the same
thing is less certain.
In September, an international working
group met at the United Nations headquarters
in New York to discuss the future of the
internet. The meeting made few headlines,
but China again took the opportunity to push
its vision of an internet broken into state-
controlled zones. Others are starting to take
notice, drawn by the desire for greater control
and protection from outside influence and
attack. Besides Russia’s plans, Vietnam and
Tanzania have also adopted Chinese-style
internet restrictions in the past few years.
The open internet is no longer a given.
It may well be that an internet without borders,
allowing free movement of information,
enabling commerce and spreading innovation,
is better. But as we come to appreciate the
significant downsides – cyberattacks,
misinformation and big business running
amok – it is a case that must now be made,
rather than simply taken for granted. The
internet has changed the world immeasurably
in its first 50 years; its next 50 years depend
crucially on how that argument plays out. ❚
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 41
 The internet
evangelist
Vint Cerf’s protocols underlie the workings of the
internet, and have stood the test of time – but the best
days of the net are yet to come, he tells Richard Webb

WHEN the era of computer networking
dawned with the first message on
ARPANET, the precursor of the internet, on
29 October 1969 (see page 35), Vint Cerf was
a 26-year-old graduate student in the data
packet networking group at the University of
California, Los Angeles. He has been a central
figure in the evolution of the internet ever
since. Together with Robert Kahn, he wrote
TCP/IP, the Transmission Control Protocol
and Internet Protocol that underpin the
functioning of the net. A long-time champion
of an open internet, in 1992 he cofounded the
non-profit Internet Society with Kahn and
others to help maintain that ideal. Since 2005,
he has been Google’s chief internet evangelist.
You’re sometimes called the father of the
internet. Can you explain what you did?
Of course, I didn’t go around planning to be
called the father of the internet or a father of
the internet. Bob Kahn and I got together in
1973 to solve an engineering problem that the
US Department of Defense laid on the table.
The only computer networking that had been
successfully demonstrated was between
machines in air-conditioned rooms. Our
problem was to use satellite and mobile radio
DAVID S. HOLLOWAY/GETTY IMAGES; COLLAGE: LIAM MADDEN
emerge. But we designed the system to be
ultra-flexible and amenable to the addition
of new protocols, networks and networking
technologies. We made it as open-ended as
possible, and invited anyone to participate in
the system’s implementation and evolution.
We decided not to patent the technology at all,
to remove any barrier to its adoption. I would
say we were fairly successful in that decision.
Does that open ideal still exist in today’s
internet, dominated by private interests
and big companies?
That’s sort of a loaded question. Let me back
up for a moment and say it’s very rare that you
have an architecture that can manage the kind
of growth the internet has seen. With regard
to large companies, yes, there are certainly
economies of scale. But there is a lot of Doesn’t that underplay the internet’s dangers?
competition and new players come along Did you know that people find things in
quite readily, even in China, where the Chinese libraries about how to build bombs and
government supposedly controls the internet make weapons? I mean, it’s shocking, isn’t it?
nowadays. Look at [Chinese e-commerce giant] The internet may make access to information
Alibaba, coming out of nowhere. And then more readily available, but I would argue
we’ve seen companies that were very strenuously that its beneficial effects outweigh
prominent decline: AOL, for example, the deleterious ones. The invention of the
and Yahoo. So people who get excited about printing press brought similar problems: the
successful companies should keep in mind American Revolution was partly stimulated by
that success isn’t guaranteed. anonymous printed tracts. We came to terms

communication in addition to dedicated
telephone centres to link computers together.
In solving that problem, which took about
six months, we developed a set of protocols,
of procedures, formats and mechanisms for
allowing computers to talk to each other.
Did you have an idea at the time
how big that would be?
I think we believed that it was an extremely
powerful technology, although I guarantee we
didn’t know of all the applications that would
You’re currently Google’s chief internet
evangelist. What does that mean?
All of my work has been aimed at getting more
internet out there. I believe it’s better to have
access to the internet than not. On a daily basis,
I get a heck of a lot more utility out of the
internet than I get disadvantage. This isn’t
to argue there isn’t any misinformation
and the like. It’s sort of like walking out in
the streets of London: it’s dangerous if you
don’t pay attention to what you’re doing.
with that and I believe we can come to terms
with it online as well.
Is the answer more control over what people
can and can’t do on the internet?
No. I think that would be very harmful.
There are some regimes that don’t like it
that people can use the internet to find
information, to share information, to
coordinate their activities. Anyone who
watched the Arab Spring in 2011 will appreciate
the use of mobile technology and social media

42 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019


“Did you know that
people find things in
libraries about how
to build bombs? It’s
shocking, isn’t it?”
to organise it. I look at things from the Western
point of view, that connectivity and access
to information is extremely valuable and
should be encouraged. But it also leads to
the promulgation of misinformation and
disinformation. We have to figure out how to
handle that without turning the internet into
an authoritarian environment where people
don’t feel free to express themselves.
Could companies such as Google be doing more?
Internet firms are working across financial and
legal boundaries. We have a lot of work to do to
get countries to collaborate with each other to
deal with some of the abuses that we’ve seen.
What we need is education. We need people
who can think critically about what they see
and do online, who are capable of analysing
and dissecting bad quality information.
And we need consequences for people who
are deliberately misleading others.
You mentioned the importance of access.
Is that battle being won?
We’re only halfway there. About half of the
world is online, and much of the half that isn’t
is rural parts of countries where it’s expensive
to buy connectivity. You can see some of
the responses to that problem in the form
of large-scale satellite networks, as well as
cables, not only to connect major continents,
but even islands in the middle of the Pacific.
What most excites you about how the
internet is evolving now?
Several things. First of all, that rapid increase in
access to the network, the increasing amounts
of Wi-Fi, certainly 4G and maybe 5G. Similarly,
the internet of things, connecting all sorts
of devices to the internet, in the sense of
convenience and the possibilities, but also
in the sense of the dangers. Inadequately
protected devices, like webcams, become a
security risk. Our increasing dependence on
the internet may make things more brittle.
Have we fully thought through those issues
with the internet of things – not just security,
but the bandwidth and energy implications?
I’m less worried about power requirements
and problems with carbon neutrality, because
we can work on all sources of energy coming
from green energy production. I’m much more
worried about the vulnerabilities that these
devices might have, especially if the people
who make them don’t supply a way to update
software or if they use outdated operating
systems.
You’re a science fiction buff – with that hat on,
fast forward another 50 years, and how will the
internet have changed?
It might still be called the internet, but it may
look very different. I think there will be
widespread connectivity, and it will largely be
invisible, like you just plug into it anywhere.
It will be hard to escape access to the internet
anywhere in the world, possibly from large
satellite constellations. We already have
internet protocols that are on board the
International Space Station as well as those
on Mars rovers. Without any doubt, in 50 years
we will be running an interplanetary network,
linking Earth, Mars and some of the other
planets using protocols adapted to the variable
delay and disruption associated with
interplanetary communication.
Will it still be the original internet you designed?
I wish I could say that, but I can’t because we
discovered that the TCP/IP didn’t hack it
between planets. So, we developed a new
protocol and called it the Bundle Protocol that
can do interplanetary communication.
Any particular points of pride or regret looking
back over 50 years?
I regret the malicious behaviour, of course.
But that’s the human condition, and we have to
deal with it. We haven’t changed in 50 years.
But I’m very proud of the fact that what we did
has scaled up as well as it has, and of what it has
achieved. I would like to be remembered as
someone who tried very hard to develop a
better world. ❚
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 43
Features
Infectious optimism
Harnessing viruses to kill tumours may help us beat
cancer – and spur our immune systems to join the fight,
finds Michael Le Page
T
EN years ago, Randy Russell found
out that a small mole on his shin
was skin cancer. He got it removed,
but then he found another, and more after
that. Each time he had the tumour cut out.
“After 10 or 11 surgeries, I got aggravated
because it was beginning to bankrupt the
family and it wasn’t working,” he says.
Ultimately, he was told it was the end of the
road. “They said, ‘You’ve got maybe six, seven
months to live. Just go home and die.’” Then,
as Russell was leaving the hospital to return
to his home in Rock Spring, Georgia, one of
the doctors shouted down the hall after him:
“Try Vanderbilt!”
A few weeks later, Russell was having an
experimental drug injected into his tumours
at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in
nearby Nashville, Tennessee. Each time he
went back, the tumours were half the size.
“It was just amazing,” he says. “Finally, the
44 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
doctors said, ‘Look, there’s nothing more we
can do for you. It’s just gone.’”
That experimental drug, called T-VEC,
was actually a live virus that researchers had
tinkered with to make sure it was safe for
Russell’s healthy cells, but deadly to his cancer. It
is the first ever virus to be approved for treating
cancers, and many more are now being tested.
These anticancer viruses could give us a
powerful new way to kill tumours, not only
because they target tumour cells directly, but
because they spur our immune systems to do so
too. That could make them particularly potent
when combined with other immune therapies
already transforming cancer treatment.
Usually, viruses cause us harm, from the
minor miseries of the common cold to the
devastation of Ebola. But they can have an
upside (See “Hijacking the hijackers”, page 46).
This was first reported in cancer in 1904,
when a doctor described a dramatic drop
in cancerous cells in the blood of a person
with leukaemia after a bout of flu. After that,
there were many other reports of cases where
people with cancer saw improvements in their
condition after coincidentally getting infected
with a virus.
It was thought that this effect was due to the
viruses being more likely to infect and kill
cancer cells than normal cells. “They love cells
that have found a way to avoid the immune
system,” says Charlotte Casebourne of
Theolytics, a UK company developing viruses
for treating cancers. And they also love rapidly
dividing cells, like you get in many cancers.
When a virus gets inside a cell, it makes lots
of copies of itself and then breaks the host cell
apart to release all these new viruses, which
go on to infect other cells. “One virus enters
the cancer cell and out come 10,000 viruses,”
says Gunnel Halldén of the Barts Cancer
Institute in London. The idea that viruses
thrive in tumours was then confirmed in
several human trials starting in the 1950s.
In one, for instance, 30 women with cervical
cancer saw their tumours temporarily shrink
after they were infected with an adenovirus,
the kind that causes colds.
These pioneering trials often produced
positive results, but they never led anywhere,
partly because of safety fears. Then, in the
1990s, biologists began to figure out how
to engineer viruses that can kill cancer cells
without harming healthy ones, which led
to much more interest in this approach.
The first to be tested in people was Onyx-015,
an adenovirus with some genes deleted so
it can replicate only in cells in which a key
anticancer gene called p53 is inactive, as in
most cancers. It proved safe and made some
tumours shrink.
These early trials also revealed something
crucial: that viruses kill cancers not just by
directly infecting tumour cells and bursting
them apart, but also by stimulating immune
attack. Tumours hide from the immune
system in several ways, taking cover behind
a shield of normal cells, say, or exploiting
signals our healthy cells use to tell the immune
system not to attack.
A virus can stimulate such a strong immune
response that it overcomes the “don’t attack
“A person with
leukaemia had
a dramatic drop
in cancerous cells
in the blood after
a bout of flu”
me” signals. And when viruses burst cells open,
that releases a lot of debris, some of which is
specific to the tumour. “You’re showering off
lots of bits of cancer,” says Hardev Pandha at
the University of Surrey in the UK. That debris
effectively unmasks the cancer to the immune
system and helps it learn to target it.
This immune response to cancers triggered
by viruses may be just as important as the
direct killing effect, if not more. “A virus can’t
be guaranteed to get into every bit of a cancer,”
says Pandha.
This is why T-VEC was designed from the
start to boost the immune response as well as
to kill cancer cells. First, the team took a herpes
simplex virus – the kind that causes cold
sores – and removed a gene that helps the virus
overcome cellular defences. These defences
get turned off in most cancers, so the result
is a herpes virus that can replicate in a wide
variety of cancers but not in healthy cells. >
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 45

HIJACKING
THE HIJACKERS
Viruses are one of humankind’s
greatest enemies, but they can also
be harnessed to prevent and cure
diseases. The first vaccines were
simply less harmful strains of deadly
viruses, such as the cowpox virus
used to protect against smallpox.
Modern genetically engineered
vaccines are far more sophisticated.
For instance, the vaccine being
used in the ongoing Ebola outbreak
in central Africa uses a different kind
of virus in which the gene coding
for the outer protein coat has been
replaced with the Ebola version.
This makes it look like Ebola to the
immune system, and it is proving
to be highly effective.
Viruses have also been used since
1990 to deliver gene therapies to treat
rare genetic disorders. For instance,
some children have to live in plastic
“bubbles” because mutations in a key
immune system gene prevent them
fighting infections. Adding a normal
copy of the gene to cells can often
cure the disease – and adding genes
to cells is what viruses excel at.
Viruses replicate by injecting their
DNA into cells and making those cells
produce lots more copies of them.
For gene therapy, the viral DNA is
replaced with whatever doctors
want to deliver to cells. These “viral
vectors” aren’t infectious as they
can’t replicate themselves.
46 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
The researchers also deleted a couple of
genes that help the virus infect skin and
nerve cells. Most importantly, they added
genes for a protein called GM-CSF that boosts
the immune system response to the debris
of shattered cancer cells.
After a clinical trial showed that T-VEC
shrank tumours in a third of people with
melanomas that can’t be surgically removed,
it was approved in 2015 by the US Food and
Drug Administration and the European
Medicines Agency for this use. In that trial,
for 16 per cent of people the tumours vanished.
David Ollila at the University of North Carolina
has just analysed T-VEC outcomes at three
centres in the US. “People wanted to know,
‘Hey, in the real world is this drug working
as well as it is supposed to?’” says Ollila.
His team found that it wiped out the
tumours in 39 per cent of people treated.
That success reflects the fact that doctors
now know which patients are most likely
to benefit, says Ollila.
T-VEC also has minimal side effects,
meaning people can go straight back home
after injections. “I hear all these horror stories
about people with their chemo, and their
radiation, and their sickness and all. My
treatments were a blast,” says Russell. “It was
like a road trip. There were zero side effects,
none at all. I went to work the next day.”
Upping the potency
Biologists have no shortage of ideas for
making viruses provoke an even stronger
immune response, so the next generation
of viral treatments should be even more
effective. In the first instance, combining
viruses with the immunotherapies already
revolutionising cancer treatments (See
“Immune boost”, right) could produce much
better results than either alone.
For example, new drugs that block the
“don’t attack me” signals that cancer cells
exploit have also been producing excellent
results for many cancers. But these drugs,
called checkpoint inhibitors, don’t work for
everyone. They really only make a difference
if your immune system initially recognised
and went after the cancer before the tumour
developed the “don’t attack” signal. “There
needs to be a pre-existing response to a
tumour, which the brakes can then be taken
off,” says Robert Coffin, a member of the team
that developed T-VEC. “In most patients, there
just isn’t a response.”
Lots of teams around the world are trying to
understand why, and to find ways to provoke
“One company
is generating
thousands of
mutant viruses –
evolving viruses
to be better at
killing cancers”
this immune response in the first place. One
strategy is to use personalised cancer vaccines.
To create these, one approach is to extract
tumour cells, break them open – like viruses
do – and then mix the debris with immune
cells also extracted from the person being
treated. This trains the cells to recognise the
cancer before they are injected back into the
patient. “That’s very complicated, and takes
time,” says Coffin, who now runs Replimune,
a UK firm that is developing anticancer viruses.
Using off-the-shelf viruses to do the same
thing inside the body is faster and cheaper –
and could be even more potent when
combined with immunotherapy drugs.
In people with melanoma, a trial that
combined T-VEC with the immunotherapy
drug ipilimumab found the treatment was
twice as effective as giving the drug alone.
Several similar trials are under way.
Meanwhile, researchers are trying to
engineer viruses that are even more effective
at triggering this immune response. To create
one called RP1, Coffin and his team at
Replimune began by screening 200 strains of
herpes to find the one that was best at killing
cancers. Then they armed it to the hilt: adding
a gene that makes cells fuse together before
dying and the GM-CSF gene that boosts the
immune response to debris of shattered cancer
cells. This souped-up virus is already in human
trials and is being tested both alone and
alongside other drugs right from the start.
Entering trials is, of course, no guarantee
of success. So far, T-VEC remains the only virus
Killing cancer by going viral
Altered viruses allow us to target cancer – and spur the immune system to action too.
One example is T-VEC, an engineered herpes simplex virus
ADD
Genes that code for the GM-CSF
protein that boosts the immune
response to shattered tumour cells
Inside a healthy cell, the new virus
is unable to replicate
Inside a cancer cell, the virus
replicates and breaks the cell apart.
It also releases the protein GM-CSF,
which increases the immune
response to the tumour debris
to get approval. Several others have failed. In
August, for instance, a major international trial
of a virus therapy called Pexa-Vec was halted by
regulators after it failed to show any benefit in
people with advanced liver cancer.
There are several reasons for these failures.
Trials like the Pexa-Vec one have involved
notoriously hard-to-treat cancers. “My heart
always sinks when a new virus is made and
the first thing they go for is refractory brain
cancer,” says Pandha, whose team has just
IMMUNE BOOST
In 1891, New York doctor William Coley
began injecting inoperable cancers
with various bacteria, in the hope that
a resulting infection might cause the
tumours to shrink. His idea sometimes
worked; occasionally tumours even
disappeared entirely.
In 1909, German doctor Paul Ehrlich
proposed that the immune system kills off
most cancers long before we detect them,
and that only cancers that evade this
immune surveillance become a problem.
We know now that Ehrlich was right,
and that Coley’s treatments worked by
stimulating the immune system to attack
cancers that had previously been evading
immune surveillance. However, it took
REMOVE
Genes that cause cold sore blisters
and enable the virus to overcome
healthy cells’ defences
GM-CSF PROTEIN
reported good initial results for bladder
cancer using another modified virus.
“It must be the hardest of all to treat.”
He thinks researchers should go after
easier targets and get viruses established
as a standard way of treating cancers before
taking on such tough challenges.
Another issue is that researchers worried
about safety have chosen “wimpy” viruses,
says Coffin. And Casebourne thinks they are
playing it too safe by sticking to what they
until the early 2000s to establish this.
For many decades, doctors instead focused
on killing cancers directly, using surgery,
drugs and radiation.
Now, a wide variety of immunotherapies
are being developed, and many have
proved highly effective. Some drugs
stimulate the immune system generally.
Others, known as checkpoint inhibitors,
block the “don’t attack me” signals many
tumours use to evade detection.
Another approach is to take immune
cells from the body, program them to
attack cancer cells and put them back. One
way of doing this, known as CAR-T, works
very well against blood cancers such as
leukaemia, but not solid tumours so far.
know. Instead of making a handful of changes
to an existing virus, her company, called
Theolytics, is generating thousands of mutant
viruses and picking the ones that work best.
In other words, it is evolving viruses to be
better at killing cancers.
Yuman Fong at the City of Hope cancer
centre in California has used a similar
approach. His team created a promising virus
called CF33 by generating hundreds of different
vaccinia viruses – the virus type used for
smallpox vaccines – and testing which ones
killed 60 different kinds of human cancer cells
growing in a dish. Those found to be safe in
animal tests were then winnowed down based
on how strong an immune response they
provoked. Clinical trials will start next year.
There are many other promising
developments. Halldén recently found that
a virus she had created killed the connective
tissue cells that surround and protect
pancreatic cancers, for instance. “This is one
of the reasons why it is so difficult to treat
pancreatic cancer,” she says. Kerry Fisher
and his team at the University of Oxford
have added a gene to a virus that leads to
the destruction of this shield of normal
cells around some tumours.
Meanwhile, Amin Hajitou at Imperial
College London is doing things completely
differently to most other groups, by using
a virus that normally only attacks bacteria
and that can’t replicate in humans. His team
modified the virus so that it injects DNA
coding for toxic proteins into cancer cells.
Human trials are due to start this year.
As well as developing better, more potent
anticancer viruses, many researchers are also
trying to create strains that can be injected
directly into the bloodstream and reach
cancers anywhere in the body, rather than
having to be injected directly into a tumour.
There is no shortage of ideas for new ways
to supercharge viruses, and many big drug
companies have started to pay close attention.
It is too early to tell whether viruses will
become a common treatment for all kinds of
cancers. But for some people they have already
been lifesaving. Like Russell, dozens of the first
people treated with T-VEC have remained
cancer-free for five years or more, long enough
for doctors to call it a cure. “It’s the beginning
of the possibilities,” says Coffin. ❚
Michael Le Page is a reporter at
New Scientist, covering everything
from gene editing to climate change.
Follow him @mjflepage
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 47
Recruitment

Professor or Assistant
Professor (Tenure Track)
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50 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

The back pages
Puzzles Feedback Twisteddoodles Almost the last word The Q&A
Cryptic crossword, An operating system for New Scientist Coordinated running Eugenia Cheng
a goblin game and for the apocalypse: A cartoonist’s take and fast swimming: on chocolate and
a quick quiz p52 the week in weird p53 on the world p53 readers respond p54 abstract maths p56

Stargazing at home Week 6

A guide to planet-spotting
Six of the solar system’s planets are visible this coming week.
Abigail Beall explains how to find them

THE coming week is a great

Abigail Beall is a science writer
in Leeds, UK. This series is
based on her book The Art of
Urban Astronomy @abbybeall
time to look for planets. A new
moon on 28 October means no
moonlight and, with the exception
of Neptune, every planet is visible
at some point in the coming days.
Even distant Uranus, which at
8 pm GMT on 27 October will be a VENUS
mere 2.8 billion kilometres away.
Venus is the easiest to find, with
an apparent magnitude of -4.6. In
the magnitude scale, objects with
lower numbers are brighter. It is
close to the sun, so you can find

MATT CHAMPLIN/GETTY IMAGES

What you need Venus in the east before sunrise
Binoculars or in the west after sunset. On
29 October, you should see it below
For next week the crescent moon after sunset.
You don't need anything The following day at the same
time, Mercury (magnitude -2.0)
will be very close to Venus. We will
be returning to Mercury in a few
weeks’ time, however, when it is
at its furthest point from the sun.
The other planets are harder
to find, so it helps to know how
they differ from stars. The first is
that stars twinkle more. Twinkling
Next in the series happens because light refracts in
1 Model the equinox different directions as it passes
2 Find the North Star through Earth’s atmosphere. Stars
and Southern Cross are points of light, so they seem to
3 Test your area’s twinkle more than the light spread
light pollution over the disc of a planet.
4 Identify the craters Another giveaway is position.
of the moon Stars stay fixed relative to one
5 Orion and Sirius: another, but planets move and
how to star-hop can appear in a different place
6 Planet spotting: Mars, from one night to the next.
Mercury and Uranus The ancient Greeks called them
7 Taurus and wandering stars, planetes asteres,
the zodiacal hence the name planet.
constellations That wandering isn’t random.
Star-hop from Orion Because they orbit in a similar
into the zodiac plane as Earth, from our point
Stargazing at home online
Projects will be posted online each week at
newscientist.com/maker Email: maker@newscientist.com
of view planets all follow the path
of the sun, roughly speaking.
Jupiter is fairly bright, glowing
blue-white at -2.7 magnitude.
It will be near the moon on
Thursday, setting in the west at
about 8 pm local time. If you have
binoculars, try to spot the tiny
pinpricks of its moons spread in
a straight line on either side.
Mars’s magnitude varies. At
the moment, it is fairly dim at
around 1.8. It has a reddish glow
and this month appears in the
east/south-east before sunrise.
Saturn (magnitude -0.5) is pale
yellow and this month will set
about 2 hours later than Jupiter in
the southern part of the sky. The
way Saturn’s poles are tilted right
now means it is a good time to see
its rings if you have a telescope.
Even though Uranus is close, it
is very dim: magnitude 5.7. If you
did the light pollution test from
week three, you should know if
it is possible to see it from your
area. On 28 October, it reaches
opposition, meaning it is on the
opposite side of Earth from the
sun, so in theory, it is visible all
night. Uranus rises in the east as
the sun sets, following the sun’s
path and reaching the highest
point in the sky around midnight.
If you are uncertain about what
you can see, try a stargazing app to
confirm whether you were right.  ❚

26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 51

The back pages Puzzles
Cryptic crossword #17 Set by Sparticle
   


 

  


ACROSS
1 Greek character bags first
in drama school (6)
4 Coppers, for example, wiped
out last of species (6)
9 No leader to correct a
faulty nuclear device (7)
10 Tip: incorrect to substitute
power for work (5)
11 Searches for a little solace
amid rejections (5)
12 Examine insult to
religious minority (7)
13 Transformed this mansion
into an American museum
complex (11)
DOWN
1 Automatic rifle tears into
wild cat voice box (6)
2 Signifies wealth (5)
3 Character from Star Trek
prepared a wealth of
information (7)
5 Diarist heard noises (5)
6 Battered car gets
a puncture – it’s
infectious! (7)
7 Significant to lose wife
when past retirement
age (6)
8 I get on top of research that
Answers and the next quick crossword next week.
52 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
   conservation laws”. Which








18 Rare astronomical
phenomenon: alternating
pencils in Pisces (7)
20 Bashed in cooker (5)
22 Final three vanishing of
horniest monster? (5)
23 Company tried
manufacturing explosive (7)
24 Type of lens to annoy
criminal, if reversed (6)
25 A criminal organisation
possesses the last atomic
single-celled organism (6)
has no one eye-catching
quality (11)
14 A large number of
fragments of up neutrino
I’ll implant (7)
15 Most run straight
for medicine (7)
16 Encountered little Richard’s
measurement system (6)
17 Swelling contents of
embargoed emails (6)
19 Quietly polish handheld
device (5)
21 Rusts when ironed? (5)
Quick quiz #26 Puzzle set by Zoe Mensch
1 “Symmetries give rise to
#27 The goblin game
German mathematician’s
name is associated with Annie and Beth are about to play
this profound physical “Goblin”. Like snakes and ladders, it
statement? is a game played on a 10 x 10 grid of
squares numbered from one to 100.
2 What name is given to
the phenomenon of light Players start with their counter off the
splitting into a rainbow board (next to square one) and take it in
of colours as it passes turns to roll a single die, aiming to be the
through a prism? first to get to square 100.
However, instead of snakes or ladders,
3 What chemical element
there is just one hazard: a goblin. Each
accounts for about 65
player gets one goblin and is allowed to
per cent of an average
place it on any square they want (apart
human’s weight?
from square 100) before the game starts.
4 Zygodactyly describes If you land on your opponent’s goblin,
what arrangement of toes, you lose, and the same goes for your
found in chameleons and opponent. If a player lands on their own
many tree-climbing birds, goblin, they are safe. If neither player
including parrots and lands on a goblin, the first to get to 100
woodpeckers? wins (an exact final roll isn’t required, just
5 A PET scan, used getting to the 100 square is enough).
to observe the body’s Annie, who has never played before,
metabolic processes, decides to place her goblin on square 31,
depends on a radioactive because that is her lucky number. Where
nuclide emitting what should Beth place her goblin to have the
strangely scarce form maximum chance of winning?
of matter?
Answer next week
Answers below
Quick #26 Evening out
Crossword #43
Solution
Answers
ACROSS 1 Alice Roberts,
10 CyWorld, 11 Acetify, 12 Steno,
13 Skycrane, 15 Arrhythmia,
16 Talc, 18 Acai, 20 Typhoon Flo,
22 Tarragon, 24 Abjad,
26 Tsunami, 27 Bugatti,
28 Praseodymium
DOWN 2 Low gear, 3 Carboxyl,
4 Redo, 5 Black light, 6 Rheic,
7 Spiraea, 8 Ice stalactite, Move two of the matchsticks used to
9 Cyberchondria, 14 Chrysolite, make 439 and you can make at least three
17 Coral gum, 19 Air pump,
numbers containing only even numbers.
21 Fujitsu, 23 Agama, 25 Ibid
Did you find any others?
Quick quiz #26
Answers
emission tomography
positron; PET stands for positron
a positively charged electron, or
5 Antimatter, more specifically
two backwards
4 Two toes facing forwards,
3 Oxygen Get in touch
2 Dispersion Email us at
Noether’s theorem
crossword@newscientist.com
1 Emmy Noether: it is
puzzles@newscientist.com
The back pages Feedback
Rebooting civilisation
Between escalating geopolitical
tensions and the spectre of climate
catastrophe, the world often
feels like it is going to hell in a
handbasket. Good news for those
selling handbaskets, less so for the
rest of us trying to block it all out
with a round of Candy Crush.
But how to keep your streaks
going after the fall of civilisation?
That is where Collapse OS comes
in: an operating system created
specifically for use in a post-
apocalyptic world. Software
engineer Virgil Dupras has
designed the system to run on
Z80 8-bit microprocessors, which
can be easily scavenged from Old
World items such as cash registers,
calculators, musical instruments
and more.
Dupras has said that Collapse
OS could also run on a slightly
more advanced piece of obsolete
hardware, a Sega Mega Drive.
He is currently seeking out
“collapsniks” to help develop the
code. Like-minded preppers can
visit the project at collapseos.org.
We wish them all the best, and will
sleep easier knowing we will still
be competing to beat the Jelly
Queen even as irradiated wolves
gnaw at the door of our bunker.
Eggcrobatics
The packaging on the quiche that
Roger Pither bought for his supper
informs him it is made with 100
per cent “Free run Eggs”. “Should
I feel bad about those free running
eggs being killed for the quiche
I have just enjoyed?” he asks. The
answer, presumably, depends on
how hard-boiled you are. We find
ourselves posing a different
question: however do they
catch them in the first place?
Don’t all scramble to answer.
Heavy metal
The no-doubt artistic Hue White
spots a new unit for measuring
the carbon footprint of buildings
in the September issue of
The RIBA Journal.
Engineer Steve Webb castigates
the architectural profession for its
Twisteddoodles for New Scientist
love affair with the environmentally
unsound materials steel and
concrete, writing: “If I drive a Range
Rover to the supermarket I produce
about 400g of CO₂. Should we
measure environmental morality
in Range Rover Shopping Trips –
RSTs? An RST is an ugly spectacle:
me a paunchy middle aged guy,
my wrap-around shades, in a
‘commanding’ driving position,
nonchalantly palming my giant
car between trolley-pushing
pedestrians in the Sainsbury’s
car park.”
“Quite the visual, isn’t it?”
says Hue. If you think that’s bad,
it is nothing compared with the
half a billion RSTs Webb says were
committed for the steel-vaulted
new Terminal 5 building at
Heathrow Airport in west London.
What better impetus for change
than imagining millions of paunchy
men in Range Rovers navigating a
Sainsbury’s car park?
Warm words knowledge and ways to modern the world is there any record of
society”. Quite so: next time your a seven-headed snake”. Strange:
A Japanese student of ninja boss asks if you have typed up the Feedback distinctly recalls being
history has aced her homework latest sales figures, simply hand read a tale about something similar
assignment by handing in a blank them a blank sheet of paper with before bed, once upon a time. This
essay. The AFP Tokyo bureau a knowing nod. was, however, a very long time ago.
reports that 19-year-old Eimi
Haga, who is a member of a club at Much better than one Heat treatment
Mie University that is devoted to
studying the tactics of stealth and Feedback previously noted a Nominative determinism
espionage embraced by the ninja marked increase in the number of forsworn, at least for one week.
warriors of Japan’s feudal period, heads per animal body, particularly Oh, go on then, a small one won’t
concocted her own invisible ink among snakes (21 September). do any harm. A colleague writes:
made from soybean paste. The This trend appears to be escalating, “I just discovered a consultant
essay included instructions on as reports slither in of a seven- urologist whose surname is Burns-
how to reveal the message by headed snake on the move in Cox, and this made me laugh more
heating the paper. Kanakapura in southern India. than it reasonably should.” Shame
As well as creating the ink, The snake itself is still in hiding, but on them – mind you, long-time
Haga experimented with three residents say a cast-off skin found Feedback readers will remember
different types of paper to find near Marigowdana Doddi village that our fascination with
one that could absorb the ink shows seven papery bonnets. nominative determinism
but resist heating long enough Snake expert Ramu P. has scaled originally sprang from a pair
for the message to be revealed. back expectations, though, telling of urologists named Splatt
In retrospect, Feedback reflects, The Times of India that “nowhere in and Weedon.  ❚
a message that bursts into flames
after reading would be great for
secret communications.
Haga’s instructor, Yuji Yamada, Got a story for Feedback?
commended her work, telling Send it to New Scientist, 25 Bedford Street,
reporters that “by learning London WC2E 9ES or you can email us at
about ninja… we can apply their feedback@newscientist.com
26 October 2019 | New Scientist | 53
The back pages Almost the last word
Run the world
If the world’s population all met
in one place and all ran in the
same direction, would this affect
Earth’s rotation?
Martin Gregorie
Harlow, Essex, UK
There would be no detectable
effect on Earth’s rotation, no
matter how fast people accelerate
when they start to run. That’s
because their mass is so much
less than that of the planet.
An ant running over my foot
while I float in the International
Space Station would have more
effect on my rotation because its
weight is more comparable to
mine than that of Earth’s
population is to Earth.
Herman D’Hondt
Newtown, New South Wales,
Australia
This would have about the same
effect as if one of the cells in your
body started running around you.
In other words, the total effect is
too small to be measurable.
Earth has a mass of around
6 × 1024 kilograms, and that of its
7.5 billion people totals about
4 × 1011 kg, making the planet about
10 trillion times more massive
than us. You have about 30 trillion
cells (ignoring bacteria). Hence in
terms of mass, the proportion of
one cell to the body is comparable
to that of all people to Earth – and
the effect will be similar.
There is another factor to take
into account. The main effect
of the runners on Earth would
happen when they start. Once
running, they only have to push
against Earth with a much smaller
force to overcome the friction of
the air. When they stop, they exert
a push in the opposite direction,
which cancels out the starting
push. Hence, the overall effect
consists only of the force needed
to overcome air resistance.
Hillary Shaw
Newport, Shropshire, UK
Humanity isn’t collectively as
heavy as you might think. Even if
54 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
How can spiders move
so rapidly on their webs
without getting entangled?
atmosphere is estimated to have
a mass of more than 5 × 1018 kg,
which is about 1 millionth of
Earth’s total mass, but far more
than the mass of its people.
Simon Rockett
Ipswich, Suffolk, UK
Can I refer you to Randall
YIPENGGE/GETTY IMAGES
Munroe’s analysis of “everyone
in the world jumping together”
as a reason not to try this, even
to answer a science question. The
key point being: what happens to
the world while everyone is away,
This week’s new questions and how do they all get home?
Web sense How are spiders able to move so quickly Swim for it
along their webs without getting their legs entangled?
Mantz Yorke, Manchester, UK My preferred form of exercise is
swimming. For a given distance,
Playing dirty In view of the need to reduce which stroke is the best to use
emissions because of climate change, which sport has in terms of calories burned
the highest carbon footprint after considering all factors? (continued)?
Chris Humphries, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, UK
Harry Parkes
London, UK
there were 8 billion people with an running, they have a certain Previous correspondents stated
average mass of 100 kg each, that amount of angular momentum, that front crawl is the fastest
would be a total of 800 million so the counterrotating Earth stroke, but this isn’t strictly true.
tonnes. This equates to a block must have an equal and opposite There are two underwater
of land 1 square kilometre by angular momentum. strokes that are faster: the
250 metres deep; or a square km This expression is dominated dolphin kick and the fish kick.
of water 800 m deep; or a volume by the ratio of the mass of people These involve moving the legs
of air 30 km by 30 km by 1 km. to the mass of Earth. If everyone together up and down while
Our mass is tiny even compared ran at 10 kilometres per hour, the flexing the body and keeping
with the moving air masses we call opposite velocity of the surface of one arm straight out in front
weather. Think of ocean currents Earth would be about 10-13 metres in the direction of travel.
and tides too. Typically all this air per second. It would take people With dolphin kick, a person
and water will be going in different running at this velocity around typically swims facing
directions at any one time, 10 years to move Earth’s surface downwards. With the fish kick,
resulting in the forces cancelling by the width of a human hair. the swimmer is on their side. The
each other out. So all humanity fish kick is the fastest of the two.
running together will have no Richard Swifte They aren’t recognised
more effect than a fly buzzing Darmstadt, Germany as official strokes, but as an
round a car has on the car’s Seasonal climatic shifts, by enthusiast of underwater hockey,
balance and momentum. comparison, do have a measurable I and my teammates regularly
effect. In January and February, break into dolphin kick to get that
Malcolm Cunningham Earth’s rotation slows by a few extra bit of speed when racing
Paraparaumu, New Zealand milliseconds per day. Earth’s towards the opponent’s goal. ❚
To quantify the effect, we use the
physical law of conservation of
angular momentum. This states Want to send us a question or answer?
that the angular momentum of a Email us at lastword@newscientist.com
closed system remains constant. Questions should be about everyday science phenomena
Once the group of people are Full terms and conditions at newscientist.com/lw-terms
The back pages Q&A
As a child, what did you want to do
when you grew up?
I wanted to be a mathematician, a pianist, a pastry
chef, a newsreader, a Blue Peter presenter, be on a
TV cooking show, be in a shampoo advert. I have
managed to do some version of quite a few of
these while mainly being a mathematician and
pianist – apart from the shampoo advert.
Explain your work in one easy paragraph.
My research is in category theory, a branch of
(very) abstract mathematics that is about
understanding how it all works. I like to say it is
the “mathematics of mathematics”. I believe
that mathematics is the core of thinking: it is
everything that is logical. Not everything in life
behaves according to logic, but it is important
to understand which parts do.
Why did you choose this field?
I think I never stopped being the toddler who
keeps asking the question “Why?”. For me,
mathematics provides the most satisfying and
irrefutable answers to that question, and
category theory does that inside mathematics.
Did you have to overcome any particular
challenges to get where you are today?
Oh my goodness, where to start? I have
faced the expected quantity of challenges
through being a woman and non-white.
But probably the biggest was discovering that
the normal academic career path didn’t
suit me, and deciding what to do about that.
What achievement are you most proud of?
I’m most proud of building a portfolio career that
perfectly suits my combination of abilities.
Were you good at science at school?
I suppose I was, but I didn’t really enjoy it. It
involved too much memorising. I liked physics
in principle, but felt we were told things without
explanation, so I turned to mathematics.
If you could send a message back to
yourself as a kid, what would you say?
Just hang on. When you are an adult, you
can sleep when you like, be as untidy as
you like and eat chocolate for breakfast.
56 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019
Mathematician and pianist Eugenia Cheng
on the joy of category theory, freezing Brie
and getting to do everything she wants in life,
apart from appearing in a shampoo advert
How has your field of study changed
in the time you have been working in it?
Category theory was quite niche and considered
too abstract, even by mathematicians, when
I started working on it. But it has become
remarkably pervasive, not just in pure maths
but also theoretical physics, computer science
“The biggest
and even biology, chemistry and engineering.
I didn’t expect that. I am motivated by its
powers of illumination, and the breadth of
topics it is able to illuminate is very exciting. challenge was
If you could have a conversation with any
discovering
scientist living or dead, who would it be? that the normal
academic career
I would like to talk to mathematician Emmy
Noether about how she kept going through all the
obstructions and oppression she faced: for being
a woman, a Jew and then having a tumour.
path didn’t suit
me, and what to
What scientific development do
you hope to see in your lifetime? do about that”
Feeding all the hungry people in the world.
Do you have an unexpected hobby, and
if so, please will you tell us about it?
I make my own chocolate from raw ingredients,
and temper it by hand.
What is the best thing you have read
or seen in the past 12 months?
Becoming Ms Burton: From prison to recovery
to leading the fight for incarcerated women
by Susan Burton (pictured) and Cari Lynn. This
deeply inspiring book tells a story that needs to
be heard so much — about the way black people
are disadvantaged by the structures of American
society, as well as by systems and individuals.
OK, one last thing: tell us something
that will blow our minds…
The other day I told someone that I often
freeze Brie and it is perfectly fine after thawing,
and their mind was blown.  ❚
Eugenia Cheng is Scientist in Residence at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her latest
book The Art of Logic is out now in paperback
© CHARLIE JH ROUND-TURNER, 2012; THE PHOTO ACCESS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
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