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New Scientist - September 07 2019
New Scientist - September 07 2019
New Scientist - September 07 2019
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SPLIT VISION
Mystery of double
gravitational wave
THE HUNGRIEST
CATERPILLAR
Armyworms on
march across the world
ZOOM AND ENHANCE
AI learns to deblur face pictures
WEEKLY September 7–13, 2019
HEALTHY
GUT,
HAPPY
BRAIN
How what you eat
directly influences
your mental health
No3246
US$6.99 CAN$7.99 THINGS CAN
ONLY GET BETTER
3 6
BEING
HUMAN
Take a step back from the everyday
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big – and small – questions about our
nature, behaviour and existence.
News Features
9 No ‘gay gene’ 34 Healthy gut, happy brain
Many genes shape sexuality, Interview Knowing gut bacteria shape our
each having only a small effect mood should make us all happy
Views
The back pages
23 Comment
Stop shipping’s emissions, 51 Maker
says Bertrand Piccard Create a squirrel-proof bird feeder
26 Letters 53 Feedback
Some people without Solar roadblock and AI’s robot
language can think confusion: the week in weird
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The leader
Mood boosters
Mental health researchers are looking to the gut for answers
“KILLS all known germs” was once an microbes influence our moods. Still,
effective advertising slogan. Now we we know enough about psychobiotics to
know this promise isn’t as desirable as start to benefit from them. Experiments
it might sound. Not all “germs” are bad. show that consuming certain probiotic
In fact, you couldn’t survive without foods can help people cope with
help from the many microbes that live anxiety and depression, the most
on and within you. common causes of disability worldwide.
A thriving microbiome isn’t just With more research and a better
essential for your physical health, understanding of the bacteria involved,
though. In the latest twist to this story psychobiotics look set to offer a real
it turns out that microbes in your gut alternative to drugs and cognitive
also influence your mood. behavioural therapy for a range of
These so-called psychobiotics are Bacteroides found in the human mood disorders.
intimately entwined with us from birth. gut can affect your state of mind Some will find this liberating,
DENNIS KUNKEL MICROSCOPY/SPL
They help shape the developing human because it offers hope of taking back
brain, particularly the areas associated (see page 34). Intriguingly, bacteria in control from a mental health condition.
with emotions. They also exert day-to- our intestinal tract can produce almost But the psychobiotics revolution has
day control over how we feel. all the same neurotransmitters we implications for all. Anyone can cultivate
The mystery of how single-celled generate in our brains, and they have feel-good bacteria in their gut with the
organisms have an effect on our minds a hotline from the gut to the head. right kind of diet (see page 36). You really
from a distance is starting to be solved As yet, we don’t know exactly which can eat yourself happier. ❚
INSTANT EXPERT:
MYSTERIES
OF THE MIND
November 23, 2019
District Hall, Boston
You’re in possession of one of the most complex and
incredible objects in the known universe: the human brain.
How does a 1.4 kilogram tangle of nerve cells allow
you to sense, understand and change the world?
Discover why this is the most exciting time in the
history of brain science with six experts working at
the forefront of neuroscience, genetics and psychiatry.
Dorian’s devastation
Grand Bahama may have endured the longest pummelling ever by
the worst winds a hurricane can unleash. Michael Le Page reports
PARTS of Grand Bahama were weather, even as Dorian weakened land. It is also remarkable because underwater on Monday. The
battered by the strongest winds from a category 5 to a category 3 it slowed to a near halt over Grand surge there was around 0.2 metres
of hurricane Dorian for up to hurricane and moved slowly away. Bahama. This meant that parts higher than it would have been
15 hours on Monday, driving Dorian is now forecast to of the island remained in the eye without global warming – that is
a storm surge that inundated move north up the US east coast. wall, with sustained wind speeds how much sea level has risen due
most of the Caribbean island. Storm surges and heavy rain of around 300km/h, for between to our carbon dioxide emissions.
No land in or around the are expected to cause extensive 10 and 15 hours on Monday. It could rise by 3 metres by 2100.
Atlantic, and possibly worldwide, damage there even if the eye of There is some evidence that Hurricanes are also expected
has ever been subjected to such the storm remains offshore. hurricanes are moving more to intensify faster, to become
powerful hurricane winds for so The fastest winds in a hurricane slowly due to global warming, stronger overall and to dump
long in recorded history. occur in the wall of the eye – the though what part if any this played more rain as the world warms,
By Tuesday, five deaths and clouds around the clear centre of in Dorian’s stall isn’t yet clear. and that seems to be just what
extreme damage to infrastructure the storm – and drop off rapidly Grand Bahama was also is happening. All these factors
had been reported in the nearby further out. Since a hurricane inundated by a massive storm make storms far more damaging.
Abaco Islands, also part of The typically moves at least surge of up to 7 metres, fuelled by Grand Bahama may never fully
Bahamas, which were struck first. 15 kilometres an hour, the the intense winds. Video footage recover from the damage caused
The full extent of the impact on strongest winds don’t usually showed the airport turned into an by Dorian. Economic studies
Grand Bahama is unlikely to last long in any one place. inland sea and waves lapping at suggest that growth and incomes
become clear for days. When New But Dorian isn’t only notable the windows of houses. in areas hit by tropical cyclones
Scientist went to press, the island as the joint strongest Atlantic Satellite images confirmed that remain lower than they would
was still being hit by extreme hurricane ever recorded to strike most of the low-lying island was have been for decades after. ❚
There is no such
thing as a ‘gay gene’
Jessica Hamzelou
contain a gene that allows the THE largest ever genetic study of identify five specific genetic
plant to make an insecticide. sexual behaviour has found that variants that were associated
But these are banned in many many genes influence sexuality, with same-sex experiences to
African countries and may be each with tiny effects. a statistically significant degree.
too expensive for smallholders Previous studies have Two of these were in both men
to use anyway. “The economic identified individual genes that and women, two were specific
model is going to be very different may influence sexual orientation to men and one was specific
and I don’t know how you make it in boys and men. But these to women.
compatible with the smallholder studies have all been too small All five genes had only a small
situation,” says Melanie Bateman to pin down any genetic drivers effect and were far from being
at CABI’s office in Delémont, of sexuality. predictive of whether a person
Switzerland. Robbee Wedow at the Broad had had sex with a person of the
Another possible solution Institute of MIT and Harvard same sex. Since the team had
would be to use a pesticide. and his colleagues collected already found that a third of the
A study from researchers in data from the UK Biobank variation in sexual behaviour
Ethiopia this year looked at a range and the genetic testing firm
of commercial pesticides and
found four of them effectively
killed 90 per cent of the pests after
23andMe. Both organisations
ask the genomes’ owners
about their sexual behaviour.
477,000
Number of people in the largest
72 hours. But the UN’s Food and This gave the team genetic genetic study of sexual behaviour
Agriculture Organization says data and information on the
REUTERS/SOE ZEYA TUN
pesticides should only be part of sexual behaviour of around can be explained by a person’s
a package of measures. If used 477,000 people. genes, this suggests that there
inappropriately, they can have First, the team compared the are many other genes that
negative side effects, such as genomes of people who said contribute at a very low level.
killing parasitoid wasps. Bateman they’d had sex with people of The team says there could be
says there are better alternatives the same sex with those who thousands of them. “Our results
Fall armyworms, like such as the pesticidal oil of the reported only heterosexual really underscore that this
this one in Thailand, south Asian neem tree and behaviour. They found that a behaviour is a normal part of
love to feast on maize viruses or nematode worms that person’s genes could together human variation,” says Wedow.
specifically attack armyworms. explain around a third of “Because we have so many
insect by rearing armyworms Meanwhile, the caterpillars are whether they’d had same-sex different [genetic regions]
and watching to see what still marching. In 2018, they were experiences or not. involved, it implies that there
emerges from within them. spotted in India, then Sri Lanka, Next, the team was able to are multiple genetic ways to
However, the most promising Yemen and Myanmar. This year, end up queer,” says Jeremy
wasp appears to be Telenomus they have been confirmed in Thousands of genes Yoder at California State
remus. This species is known to China and, as of July, they are in may be involved in University Northridge. “And
target armyworms in South Japan too. Day and his colleagues driving our sexuality that’s kind of a poetic idea.” ❚
America and was being considered say Australia could be next.
for import when, in March, There is one saving grace:
researchers reported that it was the pest can’t survive freezing
already established in at least five temperatures, which should
African countries. This means it limit its spread north. But there
could be reared and released in are a few places in Europe where
large numbers without such it could overwinter and many
ZOLTAN GALANTAI/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
SOME slim people seem able to their fat cells burn a lot of energy
eat as much as they like without through a “futile lipid cycle”,
gaining weight. It now appears says Gheldof. This means the
that they can do this because fat cells are stuck in a loop of
their fat cells burn energy breaking down and rebuilding
differently. The finding could fat molecules – a process that
lead to new obesity treatments. is powered by mitochondria.
Nele Gheldof at the Nestlé Fat cells may be smaller in
UNIVERSITY OF BERN, ILLUSTRATION: THIBAUT ROGER
STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SPL
underweight – despite eating adipocytes
and exercising the same amount
as the average person.
Gheldof’s team took small
fat samples from these people’s
tummies and found that genes
PLUMES of volcanic gas spotted Exomoons are tricky to involved in both breaking down lipid cycle builds up only a small
near a distant planet may be spot, unless they happen and making fat were unusually amount of fat before breaking
the first indirect evidence we to spew volcanic gas active in their fat cells. it down again, says Gheldof,
have seen of a moon in a different They also found that these although further studies are
solar system – an exomoon. planet (arxiv.org/abs/1908.10732). fat cells were 40 per cent needed to confirm this.
Astronomers suspect that This would make it reminiscent smaller than those of people In contrast, people with
there are huge numbers of of Jupiter’s moon Io, the most with a normal BMI and obesity often have faulty
exomoons out there. So far, volcanically active world in our contained greater numbers of mitochondria in their fat
however, we haven’t obtained solar system. more active mitochondria – the cells, meaning they can’t
concrete evidence for any of them, Oza and his team say the signal energy powerhouses of cells burn energy via the futile lipid
largely because they are so small. they picked up can be explained (American Journal of Clinical cycle, says Sihem Boudina
Apurva Oza at the University by a flow of sodium gas from this Nutrition, doi.org/c92q). at the University of Utah.
of Bern in Switzerland and his so-called “exo-Io” streaming These findings suggest that Several groups are
colleagues used the La Silla into the planet’s atmosphere. some slim people are resistant investigating ways to restore
Observatory in Chile to examine “We’re quite confident that only to putting on weight because mitochondrial activity and
light coming from an exoplanet an exo-Io can fit the data for this start the futile lipid cycle to
orbiting a star called WASP-49B particular planet,” says Oza. Different people drive weight loss in people with
about 550 light years from Earth. If they are right, Oza and his metabolise food in obesity, says Boudina. The new
team would have the first indirect different ways findings suggest that they are
550
Distance from Earth to the star
evidence for an exomoon. Several
candidates have emerged before,
but none have stuck. Follow-up
on the right track, she says.
Cold exposure has been
shown to boost the futile lipid
WASP-49B in light years observations will be needed cycle, which could explain the
to prove whether there really trend of wearing ice vests and
The exoplanet has roughly half the is a moon there. having ice baths to slim down.
mass of Jupiter. The team detected “What they are suggesting here However, this cold shock
what seems to be the signature is certainly plausible, but it is not strategy works only for people
of sodium gas around the planet. a direct proof that they have found whose mitochondrial machinery
However, the signal extends so far an exomoon,” says Uri Malamud is already functioning. It won’t
into space that it probably can’t at the Technion-Israel Institute have the same effect for people
SOUTH AGENCY/GETTY
have come from the planet’s of Technology. Malamud says that whose mitochondria aren’t
surface. Instead, Oza thinks the if the moon is confirmed, Oza’s functioning well enough for the
gas may come from a volcanically work could be useful for spotting cycle to be initiated in the first
active rocky moon orbiting the other exomoons. ❚ place, says Boudina. ❚
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News
Wildlife
of the ZSL.
The estuary is also home to
harbour porpoises, seahorses
and two kinds of shark. ❚
Fossils
the border into China for sale. unregulated mining in Hukawng Graham Lawton
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News
Artificial intelligence
“ENHANCE!” Artificial intelligence The team trained the AI by into a final clear photograph. important if a photo is being used
is turning the TV crime drama providing it with thousands of The team tested the system’s for crime investigation purposes.
trope – in which a blurry image of photos of people’s faces, both ability using 16,000 images that Others include different weather
a suspect is made crisp and clear clear and blurry. In each picture, had been blurred, comparing the and light conditions or a person
by computer – into reality. different parts of the face were algorithm’s result with the being partially obscured by objects
Vishal Patel at Johns Hopkins labelled, such as the eyes, nose original flaw-free photo. or other people, says Shufan Yang
University in Maryland and his and mouth. Previously, AIs have Its performance was assessed at the University of Glasgow, UK.
colleagues have produced an AI had difficulty deblurring these using a structural similarity High-speed winds and magnetic
that can automatically deblur kinds of features. index, where a score of 1 indicates fields can also interfere with
pictures of faces. From this, the AI learned to an exact match between two cameras, she says.
The system was developed in deblur features, including skin images. The algorithm did “The other thing that you
collaboration with a researcher and hair, and then combine them extremely well, scoring up to see in CCTV cameras is low
at Adobe, a company that makes 0.96 (arxiv.org/abs/1907.13106). resolution,” says Patel. As a
software including photo-editing Poor images may no longer Blur is just one of several factors result, the images they produce
programs. It could one day be used be a barrier to identifying that can affect the quality of an are often small and lack detail.
to improve facial recognition on suspects caught on camera image, which is particularly To counter this problem,
long-distance surveillance images, software that creates extra
such as those taken from a drone, image detail has been developed
says Patel. It could also be used as to increase resolution.
a tool to automatically fix blur in Many ethical questions need
our everyday snaps. to be answered before such
Altering images in this way technologies can be used as
is challenging because many part of criminal investigations,
different types of blur exist given the risk that an AI could
and it is difficult to determine generate a clear picture of a
which kinds are present in order suspect that is different to
to correct them. Examples their actual appearance. When
include motion blur, which combined with inaccurate or
SPMEMORY/GETTY
Genetics
CRISPR could Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio. cells from a mouse, correcting the Hamer of the University of
There are several known genetic mutation and implanting them back Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
fix one form of mutations that prevent the stem in the same mouse. Four months Vij thinks using germline genome
male infertility cells in the testes giving rise to later, the mice mated with females, editing – DNA changes that can be
healthy sperm. For decades, and nine out of 11 fathered healthy passed on to offspring – to treat
MALE mice with a mutation that biologists have been exploring offspring (Stem Cell Research infertility would be justified. But
stopped them producing sperm ways of correcting these mutations. & Therapy, doi.org/c9zz). the birth of many children as a result
have fathered offspring after a In 2015, for instance, one team However, it is too soon to try this of using CRISPR would also open
team in China fixed their infertility showed that they could restore in people. The biggest obstacle is the door to other uses, she says.
by editing their genome. the ability of mouse stem cells to that there is no reliable way of “It’s a slippery slope, right?
The approach, which used the produce healthy sperm by using isolating human sperm stem cells, All of a sudden you are doing
CRISPR DNA-editing technique, CRISPR genome editing to correct says reproductive expert Geert a tremendous amount of
could one day help many infertile the underlying genetic mutation. gene-editing, creating scientifically
men around the world. “Most Now Xiaoyu Li’s team at the “Biologists have long been made babies,” Vij says. “Once you’re
of us think this is the future for Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong seeking ways to correct able to do this, then you are able to
these men,” says Sarah Vij, Medical University has pushed this the mutations that stop edit for all sorts of things.” ❚
an infertility specialist at the work a step further by taking stem healthy sperm production” Michael Le Page
Quantum X-ray
machine takes
Skull from one of our early
super-sharp snaps ancestors found at last
Leah Crane Michael Marshall
OUR X-ray vision has just got FOR the first time, a partial skull We may knew quite a lot about
sharper, thanks to a method of belonging to one of our most directly anamensis,” says team
imaging that uses radiation with important ancestral species has descend member Stephanie Melillo at
quantum properties. been found. It sheds light on a from the Max Planck Institute for
One problem with X-ray images crucial stage of our evolution. A.anamensis Evolutionary Anthropology
CMNH/MATTCROW
is background radiation blurring The skull was discovered in in Leipzig, Germany. “But
the picture. Conventionally, we 2016. Yohannes Haile-Selassie we didn’t have a cranium.”
have avoided that by shielding the from the Cleveland Museum According to the team’s
area or using a huge dose of X-rays. of Natural History in Ohio and analyses, our ideas about the
Now Sharon Shwartz at his colleagues were excavating “It’s a great find,” says Fred evolution of Australopithecus
Bar-Ilan University in Israel and in the Woranso-Mille area of Spoor at the Natural History now need a rethink.
his colleagues have developed a Ethiopia. One day, a local man Museum in London. Most anthropologists
method that works by firing X-rays named Ali Bereino approached The team has now identified agree that A. anamensis is the
into a diamond, which splits them Haile-Selassie with an upper the bones as being from ancestor species of A. afarensis,
jawbone. It appeared to come Australopithecus anamensis which is widely thought to have
1000
Number of times less background
from a human-like species.
Haile-Selassie accompanied
Bereino back to where he had
(Nature, doi.org/gf69hg;
doi.org/gf69hm).
Australopiths were the main
been our own ancestor. It is
both slightly older and slightly
more ape-like. However,
radiation in new X-ray images found it. “Three metres away hominins living in Africa Melillo, Haile-Selassie and their
from the upper jaw was the between 2 and 4 million years colleagues are now questioning
into two beams. Each photon in rest of the head,” he says. ago. This is several million the standard story of how one
one beam has a corresponding The team sieved through the years after our ancestors split gave rise to the other.
photon in the other beam with surrounding sediment, much from those of chimpanzees. Many believe this happened
similar quantum properties. of which was buried under Australopiths walked upright by anagenesis. “That’s when one
One beam, called the idler, is a pile of old goat faeces. This as we do, but their brains were species is evolving and gradually
sent straight towards a detector. unpleasant task yielded several smaller than ours. We know wholesale turns into another
The other, called the signal, is shone important pieces, including of several species, including species,” says Melillo. The
through the object to be imaged some of the left cheekbone. Australopithecus afarensis: transition from A. anamensis to
before hitting another detector. The skull seems to have the species to which the famous A. afarensis has been “one of the
Then, the readouts are compared. belonged to a male. Given “Lucy” fossil belonged. strongest cases for anagenesis
Because each idler photon how badly worn his teeth A. anamensis is crucial in the fossil record”, she says.
corresponds to a particular signal were, he was probably old because it is the oldest known But when the team compared
photon, it is easy to determine when he died. The ages of the Australopith species. First the new A. anamensis skull
which photons are from the surrounding rocks suggest he described in 1995, it lived about with those from other
beam and which are just lived 3.8 million years ago. 4 million years ago. “We already hominins, they concluded that
background. “The photons are a previously unidentified bone
created two by two, kind of like from 3.9 million years ago is
Noah’s ark,” says Miles Padgett from A. afarensis. This is older
at the University of Glasgow, UK. than the A. anamensis skull,
DALE OMORI, COURTESY OF THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
EARLY on 28 August, gravitational single collision because of an and bent, the later signal might not the case. “It is much more
wave detectors felt two ripples in effect known as gravitational come from waves that had to likely that the localisation and
space-time wash over them. But lensing. This normally refers to travel further along a curved path distance of the candidates
due to a strange effect of general how the gravity of a massive object to get to our detectors. Such a coincide by chance than that
relativity, both may actually be warps the path of light. In this case short delay means that the lensing the source aligned with a lensing
from the same event. the idea is that it might have bent object would have to be something object in its way,” says LIGO team
Gravitational waves, which the path of the gravitational wave. relatively small and compact, like a member Gabriela González at
stretch and compress space-time, “It would look like two separate black hole, Cooray says. “If a whole Louisiana State University.
emanate from massive objects events, but it’s really one event galaxy was lensing this, the time Also, while the areas the signals
smashing together. The Laser that’s being split into two by a delay would be much larger.” seem to have come from are close,
Interferometer Gravitational- large object in the way,” says Some members of the LIGO they don’t align precisely. If they
Wave Observatory (LIGO) has Asantha Cooray at the University collaboration say this is probably come from a single event, they
seen the waves from more than of California, Irvine. must be in exactly the same spot.
30 such events since 2015. Another This could account for the time Colliding black holes This doesn’t completely rule
detector, Virgo in Italy, has also delay between the two signals: if create detectable out a gravitationally lensed wave.
come online. Multiple detectors the gravitational waves were split ripples in space-time “The preliminary localisations are
make it possible to find more regularly seen to shift upon final
signals and figure out where they analysis,” says LIGO team member
came from more precisely. Derek Fox at Pennsylvania State
The two signals that came in University. So although they don’t
last week are unusual in ways appear to line up exactly at the
that have led some astronomers moment, that could change.
to say they might be from a single We will find out for sure
source. For one thing, they hit the whether the waves are from
THE SIMULATING EXTREME SPACETIMES (SXS) PROJECT
Microbiology
Giant virus has its use for editing genomes, it evolved recognise and destroy a virus called This shows that the system
in bacteria as a way of defending zamilon, but critics questioned this. isn’t specific to zamilon, and that
own kind of CRISPR against viruses. The bacteria So Raoult and his colleagues have a mimivirus could almost instantly
to destroy invaders “cannibalise” bits of DNA from the now transferred the MIMIVIRE acquire resistance to a different
viruses that attack them and add system to an E. coli bacterium. invading virus by cannibalising its
A JUMBO virus has evolved a this to their own genomes. This Crucially, they swapped zamilon DNA, says Raoult. His team is now
CRISPR-like immune system to allows them to recognise and DNA for bits of a gene within the searching for strains of mimivirus
defend against smaller viruses destroy any matching viral DNA E. coli genome. When they activated that have done this.
that attack it. A team in France the next time they get attacked. MIMIVIRE in the E. coli, it destroyed It might be possible to adapt
has confirmed how it works by In 2016, Didier Raoult at that gene (bioRxiv, doi.org/c9z2). MIMIVIRE for gene editing, as has
transferring the entire system to Aix-Marseille University in France been done with CRISPR variants
a bacterium and tweaking it to
destroy a different target.
While CRISPR has become
claimed that a giant virus called
mimivirus had independently
evolved a CRISPR-like system,
400
The length, in nanometres, of mimivirus,
from bacteria and another branch of
single-celled life known as archaea.
But Raoult has no plans to try this. ❚
famous as a tool geneticists can dubbed MIMIVIRE, that helped it one of the largest known viruses Michael Le Page
brain region called the dorsal pons, short sleepers are very happy about
which is known to regulate sleep. their sleep pattern – they usually
In the dorsal pons of unchanged fully take advantage of their extra
rats, ADRB1-expressing brain cells time,” says Fu. Alice Klein
He and his colleagues used in some other oil spills. A historic “With silicon, the fabrication
remotely operated underwater oil spill in Buzzards Bay in New temperature is 1000°C or higher,
vehicles to survey the Gulf of England attracted the American but these carbon nanotube
Mexico around the site of the lobster in droves,” he says. transistors can be made at
disaster. They did the survey in The animals seem to die essentially room temperature,”
June 2017 and compared their there, perhaps because the says team-member Christian Lau.
findings with surveys done in the chemical signals also deter The next step would be
two months after the oil spill. other animals they prey on to shrink the components,
While the number of animals from entering the area, he says. allowing them to charge and
increased in that time, the Chelsea Whyte discharge faster. CW
to judge speed and texture – and rougher textures moved faster to both tell us how fast a
sometimes confuse the two. than smooth ones. For instance, material is moving across the
Sliman Bensmaia at the thin corduroy was judged to be skin. “The texture-sensitive ones
University of Chicago and his faster than thick corduroy. tell us how much of that signal
Red wine linked to team blindfolded volunteers The team also measured the can be attributed to the texture,
diverse microbiome and strapped their right hands vibrations on the skin, which but we don’t listen to the latter
down facing upwards with their increased with rougher textures enough, so our perception of
People who drink red wine index fingers extended. and higher speeds (PLoS Biology, speed is still biased,” he says.
have a more diverse gut The team dragged materials doi.org/c9zt). Ruby Prosser Scully
microbiome than people
who drink other kinds of Agriculture Physiology
alcohol, according to a
study of 3000 people
(Gastroenterology, doi.org/ Lab brains behave like
c92f). Having a wide array those of early babies
of gut bacteria is thought
to be beneficial to health. MINI brains grown in a lab
The team behind the work show similar activity to that
think antioxidants called seen in premature babies’ brains.
polyphenols in red wine This challenges the idea that
may explain the link. brains must develop in a uterus
or be connected to other organs
Worm robot wiggles to function.
through the brain Alysson Muotri at the
KAREN ROBINSON/PANOS
the lane-keeping assistance meant computer systems. Hills, where usually simpler methods available
he could take his hands off the road markings can temporarily to achieve the same ends.
wheel – as long as the road didn’t disappear at the crest, have It would be easy to worry about
curve too sharply. The salesperson flummoxed lane-keeping systems, being watched in your car too.
couldn’t say exactly what that according to IIHS research. “Quite But the EU rules demand that
limit was, though, and McDermid simply, the technology is not yet drivers can’t be identified from ▲ White rhinos
was unwilling to find out by mature enough,” says McDermid. any recorded data. Plus, the black Even if the last two female
trial and error. There’s also the fear that adding white rhinos felt horny,
The trouble goes beyond that more technology to vehicles “Half of drivers in one there are no males left.
anecdote: half of drivers in the might make them potential survey said they didn’t Now some of their eggs
University of Iowa survey said targets for hackers. For instance, understand their automatic have been fertilised with
they didn’t understand how their Dudi Nassi at Ben-Gurion braking system” frozen sperm.
car’s automatic braking system University of the Negev, Israel,
worked. “I think the driver needs and his colleagues recently box required by the rules is ▲ Putting
to be given much better training showed they could fool road sign- only checked in the event of an Paging all bad golfers.
and warning about these things recognition systems in vehicles by accident. The point is to “provide Nissan has developed a
than they actually are,” says firing images of fake signs at them. for a more equitable allocation golf ball that rolls itself
McDermid. Such concerns might be of responsibility when a crash into the hole. Alas, it
It is also important that these overblown. Steve Shladover, occurs”, says Shladover. In the US, won’t go on general sale.
systems remain advisory for a research engineer at the such a device continually records,
the time being. It is hard to University of California, Berkeley, overwriting data until a crash, ▼ Space probe
distil down the skill of driving to says that when people worry when it stops recording, keeping Astronaut Anne McClain
concrete, logic-driven decisions about terrorists hacking cars, only the previous 30 seconds. has been accused of an
that are comprehensible to he reminds them that there are People in the US sometimes offence in orbit, after she
choose to have a black box because accessed her estranged
it can reduce their individual spouse’s bank account
Eyes on the road insurance premium. Having them from space. She denies
in every car might push premiums any wrongdoing.
Here are five of the 15 driver as measured by the percentage of down for everyone if it encourages
assistance technologies that will time their eyes are closed. One in people to drive more safely. “These ▼ Titanic
be required in all new cars in the five European drivers say they technologies are reducing costs A dive has found the ship
European Union from 2022. have fallen asleep at the wheel in for insurers because they’re is decaying fast. As if the
the past two years, and 7 per cent reducing the number of crashes iceberg wasn’t enough,
INTELLIGENT SPEED ASSISTANCE of these cases led to an accident. that occur,” says Cicchino. iron-eating microbes
will recommend sticking within What’s more, the data collected and strong currents are
speed limits, but can be LANE-KEEPING ASSISTANCE in human-driven cars will help ravaging what remains.
overridden in an emergency. tracks road markings using a train automated driving systems
camera and keeps the vehicle in to the point that they could be ▼ Football
ALCOHOL INTERLOCK SYSTEMS lane – in theory. But such systems ready for large-scale deployment A study of 88,000
monitor drivers’ breath and stop have struggled on bends or hills, in the future. After all, many matches in Europe has
them from starting a vehicle if so can’t be relied upon entirely. ADAS systems will be used in found that football is
their blood alcohol level is too automated vehicles. “These are getting more boring, as
high. A quarter of road deaths in EVENT DATA RECORDERS are the precursors to automated rich sides win constantly.
Europe are due to alcohol, and one of the most controversial driving,” says Carsten. Thanks, oligarchs.
such systems can be up to 95 per technologies because of fears As a result, what may at first
cent more effective at preventing that these black box recorders glance seem like an intrusive
repeat drink-driving than fines. encourage surveillance. However, surveillance technology actually
the EU rules say the system looks set to be a benefit for
DROWSINESS AND ATTENTION won’t be used except in the event society. “Drivers should think of
DETECTION uses eye-tracking of a crash – and they help with it as an extra layer of protection,”
technology to warn people to take insurance claims and police says Cicchino, “rather than the
a break if they appear drowsy, investigations. vehicle trying to take over driving
from you.” ❚
THE
QUEST
FOR
SPACE
Don’t miss a special souvenir issue from
New Scientist celebrating the 50th anniversary
of the moon landings. Explore the past, present
and future of space exploration with over 100
pages of in-depth articles on the wonders of the
solar system, plus 20 pages of newly resurfaced
historical content from New Scientist’s archive
detailing the original space race as it happened
Comment
T
HREE per cent. That is how electricity grid to support activities
much the shipping industry such as loading, heating and
contributes to total global lighting, rather than using their
carbon emissions. It might not auxiliary engines. Ports including
sound much for a sector that Vancouver and Seattle have
carries 90 per cent of world trade. been equipped with shore-power
But given current predictions for technologies. California has
climate change, that number even made it mandatory.
needs to fall drastically, and fast. Fourth, shipowners need to
It isn’t just about greenhouse embrace innovation. Through
gases. The shipping industry the Efficient Solutions labelling
still uses “bunker fuel” made scheme established by my Solar
from the remnants of petrol Impulse Foundation, I have come
refining. Loaded with noxious across astonishing innovations
gases and fine particles, it is that can reduce costs as well as
a major contributor to the emissions in the shipping sector.
4.2 million people whose deaths Auxiliary wind propulsion
are attributed to air pollution systems, such as Bound4blue’s
globally every year. rigid wingsails or Norsepower’s
Some progress has been made rotor sails, are inspiring examples.
already, with an agreement to Support is needed from
slash the maximum sulphur elsewhere to help those prepared
content in fuels from 3.5 to 0.5 per to take risks. In June, the banking
cent from 2020. This took the sector created the Poseidon
174 members of the International Principles to encourage lending
Maritime Organization 12 years for greener shipping. That is
to negotiate. We don’t have that heartening, and fundamental
kind of time for the next steps. most ambitious targets don’t yet regulations on dirty fuel such as to ensuring that the next wave
In 2018, the shipping exist. If we leave the companies to the 2020 sulphur cap, because this of ships to be built don’t lock us
industry set a target of reducing carry all the responsibility and gives them a competitive edge. into a carbon-intensive maritime
greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 risk, we shouldn’t be surprised Second, we must impose speed future until mid-century.
to half what they were in 2008. The if they abandon their ambitions. limits. Cutting speeds now by For years, I have been an
world’s largest shipping company, To succeed, we must combine 20 per cent below the 2012 average advocate of bridging the gap
Maersk, set a zero-carbon target easy-to-implement, short-term would by 2030 reduce emissions between economy and ecology,
for mid-century, and has ploughed measures with ambitious, long- by up to a third compared with using the market to find solutions
more than $1 billion into cutting term policies and investment. business as usual. Yes, this would that protect the environment
emissions. Other companies are First, we must ban bunker slow trade, but goods transported and make good business
taking similar steps, installing fuel and stop oil companies by sea aren’t generally perishable. sense. For shipping too, those
scrubbers to reduce sulphur using the shipping industry Technology can help to make the solutions are out there. ❚
emissions, converting boats as a waste disposal system for flow of ships more predictable and
to run on liquefied natural gas otherwise unusable fuel. Major oil reduce time spent idling, such as Bertrand Piccard co-piloted
and even fitting sails. companies that have prepared for waiting their turn to dock. a round-the-world solar-
JOSIE FORD
The truth is, though, that the such a ban and have invested in Third, ships in port must be able powered flight and runs the
technologies to help them hit their cleaner fuels now support tougher to connect with the land-based Solar Impulse Foundation
E
ARLY one Saturday when I or just the theory breaking down. out a lot of radio waves – they
was 10, my mother dragged As a university student, I are “radio-loud”. But maybe my
me across Los Angeles to wanted to get involved in the favourite AGNs are blazars, which
see, of all things, a documentary. latest research on black holes. are not only very bright and radio-
It was Errol Morris’s A Brief History I learned the hard way that this loud, but also spew out jets made
of Time, about Stephen Hawking’s isn’t straightforward. There is the of particles travelling close to light
life and work. As Hawking way black holes are discussed in speed. Now there’s a thing: if black
discussed the “singularities” popular literature and the type holes suck in and hide everything,
at the centre of black holes, of research portrayed in Morris’s why is it that some of them have
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein I was stunned to learn that there documentary, focusing on the particles flying away at high
is an assistant professor of was something Albert Einstein quantum properties and space- speeds? And why do only
physics and astronomy, and had been unable to resolve. That time properties of black holes. some do this, and not others?
a core faculty member in black hole captured me for life. Then, there are astrophysical One possibility is that all AGNs
women’s studies at the Black holes gain form in black holes: real objects that have jets, but we can only see some
University of New Hampshire. Einstein’s general theory of seem to act like black holes and of them. This would hardly lessen
Her research in theoretical relativity, which proposes that form, we think, when massive the core mystery, however, and
physics focuses on cosmology, space and time are unified into objects such as stars collapse. that is before you get to the fact
neutron stars and particles a space-time curved by the that blazar jets and their host
beyond the standard model presence of massive objects. “There is the way galaxies have a variety of different
General relativity encourages us black holes are colours that change over decades.
to move away from thinking about discussed in popular The exciting thing is that we are
a mysterious force called gravity. making progress on a lot of fronts.
literature and
Instead, it says that a body such as A recent paper from a team led by
Chanda’s week the sun is so massive that it bends then there are Jedidah Isler at Dartmouth College
What I’m reading space-time. Planets orbit the sun black holes in New Hampshire showed that
Kaiama L. Glover’s because the straightest line they that really we might be able to find a unifying
translation of Dance on can take in space-time near it is exist” model of blazars that explains
the Volcano, a novel by an elliptical path around it. how their colour changes in time.
the late Haitian writer Take Einstein’s picture to its Meanwhile, the big development
Marie Vieux-Chauvet. logical conclusion and you end earlier this year was when the
up asking yourself what happens Event Horizon Telescope imaged
What I’m watching when an object is so massive that the region immediately at a black
I really liked the it effectively folds space-time in It is hard to see black holes, hole boundary. Over the past
documentary Hail on itself. This is a black hole. so black hole astrophysics two years, gravitational wave
Satan? about grass-roots Black holes are often described focuses on observations of what experiments have also found
political activism and as being akin to a deep well: if you happens near them. As exotic multiple small, star-mass black
religious freedom. fall in, you can’t get out. But what as black hole theory seems, we holes – most recently seeing
happens inside its boundary, or apparently have one supermassive one eating a neutron star.
What I’m working on “event horizon”, is even more black hole relatively close to us. After an undergraduate thesis
My lecture notes for the fascinating. The normal properties Sagittarius A* is a bright radio focused on astrophysical black
course I am teaching this of space and time seem to switch source at the Milky Way’s centre, holes and doctoral work that
semester, Introduction to places. In everyday life, we can and we are fairly certain that it is included considering how black
astrophysics. only move forward in time, but a black hole with the mass of a holes would work if gravity were
inside a black hole, things can only few million suns. slightly different from how
move forward in space – like being Some of the most intriguing Einstein proposed, I have moved
on an irreversible conveyor belt. questions about black holes come on to thinking about neutron
What is that conveyor belt from studying objects known as stars, which are thought to form
moving towards? Mathematically, active galactic nuclei (AGN): when objects not massive
space-time curvature becomes extremely bright, compact enough to make black holes
EHT COLLABORATION
infinite at a black hole’s central galactic centres believed to have collapse. But for me, as for many
This column appears singularity, whatever that means. black holes of even greater mass others, black holes will remain
monthly. Up next week: But we don’t know whether at their cores. These come in a my first gateway to the wonders
Graham Lawton that reflects physical reality variety of classes. Quasars give of the universe. ❚
Editor’s pick
Some people without
language can think
Letters, 20 July
From Peter White, Cardiff, UK
David Werdegar says “it is
impossible for us to think without
language”. But people who have
severe aphasia – loss of language
abilities – because of strokes or
other brain damage may be
unimpaired in other thinking
abilities, including arithmetic,
logical and causal reasoning,
chess playing, spatial navigation
and theory of mind (thinking about
the mental states of other people).
This doesn’t mean that language
isn’t one of the wonders of the
human brain. We shouldn’t, though,
overestimate the extent to which
other cognitive capacities depend
on it. It isn’t clear what this tells us
about the thinking abilities of other
species, because their brains differ We and our microbiome different diets: for instance, those shut off safely when its power
from ours in many ways, but their comparing northern European level gets too low. But nobody
can have diet advice
lack of language doesn’t justify populations that typically would claim that the smartphone
the claim that they can’t think. 13 July, p 32 consume more animal-based “feels tired”. It isn’t experiencing
From Dusan Cech, Farnborough, fats with southern European tiredness in a conscious way like a
Queensland, Australia populations whose diets feature human. It experiences no qualia.
Little Sun’s ‘social change’
Clare Wilson does a good job fish, vegetables and olive oil. That is the problem to be
doesn’t change enough revealing the pitfalls of most Other studies compared the explained, and no amount of
13 July, p 28 studies looking at diets. She health of Japanese immigrants hand-waving about “illusions”
From Christine Wolak, could also have mentioned the to the US who adopted typically will make it go away. Even if qualia
Dublin, California, US emerging discoveries of the health lower-quality American diets are illusory, the hard question
The news from Olafur Eliasson effects of the composition of our with those in Japan who followed remains: how is it that such
that Little Sun lamps increase the microbiome – the organisms a traditional diet. illusions produce a conscious
homework efficiency of girls in in our gut and on our skin, for Studies comparing vegetarians experience in a human brain?
households without electricity example. Perhaps knowledge of with meat eaters support the value
by 80 per cent isn’t inspiring: how changes to diet can affect this of a vegetarian diet.
Is it worth studying the
it’s a sad story about the unequal composition will become the next
expectations for boys and girls. form of dietary advice when it health of toothless people?
Experiencing a feeling of 10 August, p 42
I support the health and goes mainstream.
safety and climate justifications frustration about qualia From William Graham,
for replacing oil lanterns with From William Meggs, 22 June, p 34 Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, UK
solar-powered LED lamps. But Greenville, North Carolina, US From Ben Haller, Debora MacKenzie reports that
describing how they enable girls to Wilson correctly points out the Ithaca, New York, US infection with Porphyromonas
do the dishes and their homework limitations and inconsistencies Trying to explain away the gingivalis, a bacterium involved
while boys only do the latter tells of observational studies based on “hard problem” of consciousness, in gum disease, may cause a
girls that they can study and still questionnaires, and the inability Rowan Hooper claims qualia are variety of serious diseases. I have
have time to take care of everyone to perform randomised controlled illusory and so there is nothing heard that having all one’s teeth
else. Where does that extra time studies of diet and health. She to explain. He says “we don’t extracted was a not uncommon
come from? Most likely from concludes that the problem is normally talk about our qualia, 21st birthday present in parts
either sleep or play – time that a serious enough that we should we talk about things such as being of England until the middle of
boy gets but a girl doesn’t. Unless be sceptical of all dietary advice. tired”. But that misses the point. the 20th century. It would be
this extra homework time leads to But there are studies that A smartphone can register interesting to know if any similar
increased opportunities for girls, examine health differences in that its battery is low, display a studies have been carried out on
will it really matter in the end? geographical populations with low-battery icon on its screen and the health of people without teeth.
Fire clouds
Michael Le Page
Pieces of brilliance
The machineries of empire can sometimes be
unnervingly beautiful, finds Chris Baraniuk
Nowhere to run Aniara, the story of an interplanetary cruiser thrown off course,
is one of the smartest movies of the year because it understands that the best way
to portray the future is as though it were the present, says Simon Ings
R
EMEMBER the last time you had a our gut to change our mood and feelings.
stomach bug and just wanted to It is early days, but the promise is astounding.
crawl into bed and pull up the covers? The World Health Organization rates depression
That is called “sickness behaviour” and it is and anxiety as the number one cause of
a kind of short-term depression. The bacteria disability, affecting at least 300 million people
infecting you aren’t just making you feel worldwide. The new findings challenge the
nauseous, they are controlling your mood whole paradigm of mental illness being caused
too. It sounds absurd: they are in your gut by a chemical imbalance in the brain, and
and your feelings are generated in your brain. offer an alternative to drug treatment. You’ve
In fact, this is just an inkling of the power that probably heard of probiotics, but these are their
microbes have over our emotions. new incarnation – psychobiotics. They could
In recent years, such organisms in the gut be about to change the mood of the planet.
have been implicated in a range of conditions Bacteria have been associated with sickness
that affect mood, especially depression and almost since they were discovered 350 years
anxiety. The good news is that bacteria ago by Dutch biologist and microscope pioneer
don’t just make you feel low; the right ones Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. Only recently
can also improve your mood. That has an have we begun to understand that microbes
intriguing implication: one day we may be also contribute to our health. They produce
able to manipulate the microbes living within vitamins and help us eke out extra energy
from otherwise indigestible food, for example.
Most importantly, by outcompeting and
directly battling pathogens, our home-grown
microbes protect us from disease.
It wasn’t until the 21st century that we
Megan Rossi is a research fellow at King’s right bacteria for six weeks, we can see an
College London and a dietician and founder of increase in activation in parts of the brain
the Gut Health Clinic at Harley Street in London. associated with mood and emotions, compared
Her background as a clinical dietician and sports with a placebo group. Gut bacteria can influence
nutritionist in Australia helped her realise the symptoms of depression, too.
depth of the link between what we eat, the
bacteria in our gut and how we feel, subjects she So should we all be taking prebiotics and
now researches at King’s. Her book Eat Yourself probiotics regularly?
Healthy is published on 19 September. You don’t need to take a prebiotic supplement:
prebiotics are found in thousands of foods
It made me laugh when you said in your book we would normally eat. If you’re generally
that “intimate kisses” can transfer bacteria healthy, you don’t need any extra probiotics
between partners. Are there consequences? either, but there is really good evidence that
There are millions of bacteria in our saliva, so we’d people with certain conditions will benefit from
like to see if these impact our partners’ health in taking a probiotic supplement. One example
some way. In observational studies, there’s an is when you’re taking antibiotics. Probiotics
increased risk of being obese if you have an obese can significantly reduce your risk of antibiotic-
mental health”
see if there was a way to improve the health of We know that people who have at least
these patients by giving them prebiotics, which are 30 plant-based elements in their weekly diet
dietary fibre that feed gut bacteria, and probiotics, have a more diverse range of bacteria in their
which are the actual bacteria. My work showed gut, which is associated with better weight
that this decreased the toxins in their blood that management, better heart health and better
were associated with kidney disease and helped mental health. One easy change is to get a packet
their gut problems. cells in the gut, which produce a range of of mixed seeds and put a teaspoon on your
At the same time, I was the nutritionist for chemicals that affect the brain; and they produce breakfast – that’s four extra elements right
the Australian Olympic synchronised swimming chemicals that travel in the blood. Some can there. Or get a packet of mixed leaf salad, rather
team and I saw that the girls who had the most get through the blood-brain barrier to the brain. than a single lettuce, because each different
performance anxiety had the most gut issues. And it works in both directions. type of lettuce has different plant chemicals
All these things showed me how essential the that feed different bacteria.
gut was to every organ in the body. What is the effect of this gut-brain
communication? Do we need to keep an eye on what comes
How is it that gut bacteria can affect our brain? This is an area that scientists are desperately out of our bodies, as well as what goes in?
It has been known for ages that there is a trying to understand. There are studies in people Yeah. You don’t need to talk about it at the
connection between our gut and brain via nerves, that suggest that bacteria can affect hormones dinner table, but listening in to our gut health,
but now there is a new player, gut bacteria. They and neurotransmitters like GABA, which has a keeping an eye on our poop every few weeks
communicate with the brain in three different calming effect on some areas of the brain, but and talking about what we’re eating to help
ways: they send signals up the vagus nerve the exact mechanism is something we don’t our bowels are definitely things we should be
directly into the brain; they influence immune quite understand. However, if we give just the more open about. ❚
“Microbes can
produce almost
every neuro-
transmitter
found in the
human brain” CHUNG SUNG-JUN/GETTY IMAGES
gut-brain axis. Sudo’s discovery fascinated is, how can bacteria in your gut communicate Probiotics like kimchi
researchers across a wide range of fields and with your brain?” says Cryan. could boost your mood
launched a spate of studies. Some of these A clue seemed to lie in the astonishing
uncovered differences in the brain chemistry discovery, in the early 2000s, that microbes spaghetti-like axons running helter-skelter
of germ-free mice compared with normal ones, can produce almost every neurotransmitter throughout the brain, in a complex wiring
including a dramatic reduction in serotonin, a found in the human brain, including serotonin pattern that is unique for each of us. That
neurotransmitter linked to depression. Others and dopamine, which is involved in motivation wiring starts getting laid down in the uterus
showed that mice bred to model depression and reward. But there was a problem: the brain and continues in earnest during the first
in humans appeared to benefit from being fed is designed to insulate itself from most outside three years of a baby’s life. Amazingly, gut
certain types of bacteria. A study by John Cryan influences with a “blood-brain barrier” that microbes can influence this process. Germ-free
and Ted Dinan, both at University College prevents cells, particles and certain molecules – mice show abnormal development in their
Cork in Ireland, found that the bacterium including neurotransmitters – from getting amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
Lactobacillus rhamnosus, which is in some in. How could these chemicals produced by How gut microbes do this, and influence
live yogurt, has potent anti-anxiety effects microbes in the gut affect the brain? the brain thereafter, is less clear, but we do
in mice. “They became a lot more chilled out know that these structures aren’t static.
and relaxed. They behaved as if they were on For example, depression can cause your
Valium or Prozac,” says Cryan. “We looked at Hotline to the brain amygdala – which is responsible for the crucial
their brains and found widespread changes.” A breakthrough came in 2017 with the fight-or-flight response in life-threatening
It isn’t possible to do germ-free research discovery of special cells in the gut lining. situations – to become more active and
in humans. However, Cryan and Dinan also These enterochromaffin cells can detect swell up. The condition can also cause the
found that giving normal mice a faecal neurotransmitters produced by microbes, hippocampus to shrink, potentially affecting
transplant from a person with depression resulting in a pulse being triggered in the your memory. These physical changes explain
led to the mice developing depression-like vagus nerve, which connects the gut to the why you can’t simply “think yourself happy”.
symptoms. This convinced them that the brain. What’s more, experiments in mice The exact extent to which microbes are
findings in mice have relevance to people. show that cutting this nerve terminates involved is unknown, but a link has been
The pair also realised that if gut bacteria many psychobiotic actions. For example, found between gut bacteria and the way
influence our emotions this would have huge Dinan and Cryan found that L. rhamnosus healthy people process emotions. In 2017,
implications for how we understand and treat a didn’t alleviate stress in mice when the vagus Kirsten Tillisch and Emeran Mayer, both
variety of mental health issues. In 2013, together nerve was severed. More evidence suggests at the University of California, Los Angeles,
with their colleague Catherine Stanton, they that gut microbes and the molecules they examined the gut microbes of 40 women
proposed the idea of psychobiotics – a new produce can directly modulate the integrity and found the volunteers could be divided into
class of probiotics that could improve people’s of the blood-brain barrier too. two groups: those with lots of bacteria from
mood. Not least, the new line of research This apparent communication between the genus Prevotella and those with lots from
suggested ways in which we could use our gut microbes and the brain may even affect the genus Bacteroides. The researchers then
diet to positively influence our mood (see the organ’s development. The brain is full of used functional MRI scans to look at activity
“Eat your way to happiness”, left). structures with specialised functions. Those in specific parts of the women’s brains while
It was an audacious idea, not least because, involved with stress and mood include the they viewed emotionally disturbing images.
at that point, nobody was sure how the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus Each group had distinct brain activity, which
gut-brain axis might work. “The question and hypothalamus. They are connected by was different enough to indicate which an >
Bacteria such as Prevotella Tillisch. However, she cautions that the studies able to get a fine-grain view of the microbes
(left) and Bacteroides (right) in people show correlation, not causation, so it in the guts of over 1000 people. In April,
influence how your brain is possible that mood is affecting the microbes they reported that people diagnosed with
processes emotions rather than the other way around. depression had reduced numbers of bacteria in
This is all very exciting, but there is still two genera, Coprococcus and Dialister. These,
individual belonged to with an accuracy of another hurdle before psychobiotics can then, are potential human psychobiotics.
87 per cent. In particular, the group with plenty become mainstream treatments. Currently, we The subjects also completed questionnaires
of Prevotella bacteria, which was much smaller, have only the vaguest notion of which bacteria about their quality of life. This revealed that
had less activity in the hippocampus. This is might have a good influence on moods. In fact, people with a better quality of life tended to
also found in people with depression. we don’t even know exactly which microbes have more microbes that produce butyrate,
Tillisch and Mayer have also found that are in our gut, because many can’t be cultured. a short-chain fatty acid that nourishes and
they can influence the way people’s brains Thousands of gut microbes have been heals the gut. Their gut microbes also produced
process emotions by using probiotics. They identified by analysing samples for a small more of a precursor to the neurotransmitter
gave 36 healthy women probiotic yogurt sequence of genetic material called 16S rRNA. dopamine. One of the team, Mireia Valles-
containing four types of bacteria twice daily But this can only reliably distinguish bacteria Colomer, subsequently identified a bacterium
for four weeks. Brain scans revealed that this down to the genus level. However, a new called Butyricicoccus pullicaecorum 25-3T as
affected the activity and physical connectivity technique is revolutionising microbial another potential psychobiotic.
in the emotion centres of the women’s brains, research. Called whole-genome shotgun This large-scale human study was possible
producing changes associated with healthier sequencing, it can find species and even because Belgium keeps extensive electronic
emotional processing. subspecies by looking at every gene in a medical records that are available for scientific
Ingesting microbes may even help people sample taken from any environment. analysis. Several northern European countries
at risk of depression and anxiety. Several Using this technique, Jeroen Raes and have similar data sets and, with whole-genome
studies focus on pregnant women because colleagues at KU Leuven in Belgium were shotgun analysis, they are likely to reveal
severe depression affects around 15 per cent the identity of more possible psychobiotics.
of women during and after pregnancy, and can However, we may be able to do more than
interfere with their ability to bond with their simply finding “good bacteria”. Dinan and
babies. In a 2017 study, more than 200 women Cryan suspect that just as pathogenic bacteria
were given L. rhamnosus from early pregnancy share certain genes, there may also be genes
to six months after delivery. It found they connected with mental health benefits. If
had better scores than a control group on so, then the ideal psychobiotic might be a
tests of depression and anxiety. The finding genetically modified organism containing
is particularly welcome because many women genes from several different bacteria, they say.
are reluctant to take antidepressants during That is for the future. There are things we
pregnancy or while breastfeeding. Likewise, can all do now to boost the psychobiotics
healthy college students who took off-the-shelf we already possess. This is such a hot topic
probiotics for a month showed improvements it can surely only be a matter of time before
on several measures of anxiety, including psychobiotics offer an alternative treatment
panic, worry and negative mood. Students with Scott C. Anderson is the author, for people diagnosed with a variety of mood
the highest stress levels, who took the most with John Cryan and Ted Dinan, disorders. Instead of targeting the head, we
probiotics, showed the biggest improvement. of The Psychobiotic Revolution could go for the gut. “This new way of looking
“I do believe the data supports a role for published by National Geographic. at brain health is literally turning things
microbes modulating how we feel,” says Follow him on Twitter @Psychobiotic upside down,” says Cryan. ❚
Hidden hotspots
To preserve the diversity of the world’s wildlife, Kate Ravilious
finds we should focus on unusual terrain, not animals and plants
T
HE disused quarry in Cheffois in ways of putting the brakes on the current mass nooks and crannies, slopes and hills, sunshine
western France doesn’t seem like extinction may be to protect our planet’s rocks and shade, wet and dry. The thinking was
it would be high on anyone’s and soils: its geodiversity. They may not look that even if the climate of the region changed
conservation watchlist. A swampy marsh like much, but neglected quarries and unloved significantly, the local climate variability would
leads to a sinister-looking pit pond, guarded scrubland may be key to ensuring the long- be greater, giving species a greater chance of
by a dense thicket and overhung by trees and term survival of life on Earth. finding a suitable new habitat locally.
shrubs. Above the pond, a staircase of rock This change in perspective emerged around To test the idea, Anderson and his colleagues
walls stretches skywards, while mosses and a decade ago. Mark Anderson at the Nature started tracking how species richness changed
ferns monopolise the dank, shady corners. Conservancy, a conservation charity in the US, with landscape and climate variables across
Although a far cry from classic nature havens was assessing which areas of landscape they 14 US states and three Canadian provinces.
like the Galapagos Islands, this somewhat should prioritise. “I realised that we were They found that over 90 per cent of species
uninspiring landscape could rival them in buying up land to protect the species living diversity in temperate climates could be
value. Not only is the quarry brimming with there now, but climate change impacts might explained by just four landscape features:
wildlife, including many rare and threatened mean this wouldn’t be the right place in the number of rock types, latitude, elevation
species, but the secrets to its biodiversity future,” says Anderson. That led to an epiphany. range and amount of chalk or lime bedrock.
could help save all life on our planet. Instead of buying land with great biodiversity “We expected landscape to influence species
It is now widely accepted that Earth is today, he decided to look for areas that would diversity, but we were surprised by just how
experiencing a sixth mass extinction event. retain their diversity as the planet warmed. strong that link was,” says Anderson.
The United Nations estimates that about His initial focus was on landscapes with a In retrospect, it makes good sense. Geology
1 million species are threatened, and many wide range of microclimates: places with affects the chemical and physical properties
have already been lost to human activity. We of soil and water. As Anderson suspected,
can’t save everything, so how do we prioritise? it also influences local climate via the
Until now, the focus has been on biodiversity “Unusual or contrasting topography it creates. The more geodiverse
hotspots, locations with good habitats that the underlying landscape, the greater the
support exceptional concentrations of geologies can range of habitats and the more species a
different species. But maybe our efforts have
been misguided. Instead of focusing on
stimulate evolutionary region can support. “It seems that unusual
or contrasting geologies can stimulate
specific species or habitats, one of the best diversification” evolutionary diversification,” says Anderson.
GETTY
Changing focus to geodiversity could the landscape, ensuring there is room for A new breed of conservation
be beneficial in other ways. Collecting wildlife to move between habitats as the areas, from left: Cheffois
biodiversity data is time-consuming and climate changes. “Our work has identified quarry in France; the Loess hills
expensive. Some of the most biodiverse areas some really scary pinch points,” he says. of Iowa; the Spireslack open
in the world are almost certainly unrecognised Disused quarries are another surprising cast coal mine in Lanarkshire,
and unprotected because no one has recorded poster child for the conservation movement. Scotland; the lakes of Finland
what lives there. Geodiversity is easier to The range of gradients and variety of
recognise, and getting easier all the time: microclimates (hot south-facing slopes and
Joseph Bailey, a geographer at York St John cool, shady north-facing crannies) make for
University, UK, has been working on a way a massive range of ecological niches. A 2013
to use satellite data to measure geodiversity study of Cheffois found that it represents a
automatically. By homing in on very beacon of biodiversity in an area where richness across the UK and compared it against
geodiverse regions, we can pinpoint where intensive farming practices have long geodiversity. He found that there was a very
our most biodiverse locations are likely to threatened wildlife. Its multitude of different strong link between the two, but that there
be and target our conservation efforts. landforms supports 27 kinds of cricket alone, were inevitable exceptions to the rule: single
The strategy pioneered by Anderson has along with hundreds of plants, including rare geologies that bred a diversity of life. What’s
gradually gathered traction. He and his mosses, ferns and rock-loving flowers. more, there are also very geodiverse areas
colleagues have now mapped geodiversity The UK landscape is peppered with such sites, that are comparatively barren, such as high
and estimated the resilience of the landscape but many are being sold off as rubbish dumps. mountain environments that are rock-rich
across most of the US. The Rockies and desert “The pressure to use old quarries as landfill sites but fairly hostile places to live. “I see
areas of the south-west United States are the is huge,” says John Faithfull at the University geodiversity as another string to the bow of
last two outstanding areas, which they hope of Glasgow, UK. Some, such as Trearne quarry conservation, rather than being something
to complete by the end of the year. Their work in Ayrshire, have already been stuffed full of we should switch to completely,” says Bailey.
suggests that to give US wildlife the greatest rubbish, and others face uncertain futures. Even so, it is a string that has so far been
chance of adapting to and surviving future But there are success stories, too. Thanks to the underused. We have done a reasonable job
climate change, around a quarter of the US campaigning efforts of geologists, two Scottish of protecting majestic landscapes – lush
landscape needs to have protected status. open-cast coal mines, Spireslack and Mainshill islands, awe-inspiring coastlines and dramatic
Thanks to the Nature Conservancy and a Wood, may soon become geoconservation mountaintops – but the less photogenic pieces
number of other agencies, 40 per cent of those sites. Today, peregrine falcons nest on and of land aren’t as well-loved. If we want to stop
resilient locations are already protected. Now, hunt from Spireslack’s exposed cliffs, whilst the mass extinction of life on our planet,
their focus is on the remaining 60 per cent. curlews and lapwings relish the undisturbed we will need to fight it not only on the beaches
Their wish list may seem surprising, with moor and grassland nearby. and on the hills, but in the floodplains and the
overworked farmland and dull chunks of Geodiversity also applies underwater, quarries too. ❚
prairie often ranking above pristine as a recent Finnish study shows. “We found
wilderness. But Anderson believes that if the that the greater the geodiversity, the higher
land is in the right place and is underlain by the the aquatic plant species richness,” says Kate Ravilious is a science
right mix of rocks, then these areas can have Maija Toivanen from the University of Oulu. writer based in York, UK.
greater conservation value. Right at the top of Saving geodiversity on its own won’t save Follow her on Twitter
the list are places that can provide corridors in the planet. Bailey mapped plant species @katerav
The last-mile P
AUL WRIGHT didn’t know what to
expect when he showed up for his new
job. For the previous few years he had
earned his keep playing online poker. But he
was in a relationship now and needed a stable
revolution
income. With a lengthy gap in his CV, he had
decided to take work where there was lots of
demand: as a delivery driver for Amazon.
It was a rude awakening. One of his first
shifts involved driving some 50 kilometres
around the north-east of England, including
Our love of online shopping has caused a pile-up through a toll system, dropping off packages as
he went. “By the time you take off the £1.70 toll
of polluting vans. Chris Stokel-Walker navigates charge and the petrol for that huge route, it
the technology that can reinvent home delivery makes your hourly rate terrible,” says Wright.
He was driving great distances, criss-crossing
the region, yet earning less than he had from
the comfort of his living room.
Parking predicament
69%
of people in the US say they shop
Delivery firm UPS decided to move its depot
from outside Hamburg to much closer to the
Bates and his colleagues have developed a online. Of those, 37 per cent say centre. This was expensive, but it meant the
system that does this, calculating delivery they buy something on Amazon last-mile delivery could be handled by couriers
routes where driving and walking are at least once a month on electric or pedal bicycles with trailers. The
accounted for. When they tested it on a case SOURCE: NPR/Marist poll firm was forced into the move, but it actually
study of 144 package deliveries, they could turned out to be cheaper, says Winkenbach. As
reduce the time a delivery route took by a fifth. a result, similar schemes are now cropping up
All this makes what may be an unreasonable
assumption, however: that the parking
81 billion
The number of kilometres
across Europe and the US. In Paris, for instance,
delivery porters pick up parcels from Vert Chez
spaces are actually available. “Parking is a driven by vans in the UK in 2017 Vous’s depot on the River Seine, then deliver
pretty big issue,” says Matthias Winkenbach, SOURCE: Department for Transport them by bicycle and tricycle.
director of the Megacity Logistics Lab at the Banning vehicles from cities can raise the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hackles of the delivery firms. More generally,
“If you pick a random street in Manhattan
these days, you’ll probably see a UPS or FedEx
1 in 4
Proportion of items bought online
experimenting with new delivery methods is
expensive for firms, which can mean they are
truck double-parked on the road in minutes.” in the UK that are returned for loathe to try – which in turn means nothing
It’s something Wright is very familiar with. refund or exchange changes. Wise’s hope is that by conducting
“If I parked legally, my 4 hour shift would have SOURCE: Government Office for Science research on models of delivery, she can test
been 10 hours long,” he says. out industry-wide changes that would be
A raft of start-ups is trying to alleviate beneficial for the whole city, without any one
Percentage change in
60 300
distance covered
distance covered
banned all
40
20
200
commercial
0
100 vehicles from
-20 0
its city centre”
1995 2005 2015 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
SOURCE: UK DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT SOURCE: AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT AND REGIONAL ECONOMICS
company having to make a risky investment in lidar-enabled device called the FedEx SameDay upward trajectory: Europe’s second-biggest
unproven strategies. Bot that will be piloted in US cities over the delivery company, DPD, for example, saw
One of her ideas is to introduce a courier’s coming months. Another start-up, Starship a doubling of the number of people who
courier: a single, centralised carrier that would Technologies, has been testing its robots in returned items between 2017 and 2018.
organise deliveries for various firms in an area. Washington DC for more than a year, and Finding ways to help customers avoid
That one company would be a single point of delivered its first package in Milton Keynes, returns is among the biggest things we can
contact for city groups, removing duplication UK, in November 2018. do to stem the tide of delivery-related traffic.
of vehicles and alleviating the fight for parking These robots are electric, meaning they In fashion, where return rates are among the
spaces. The carrier would be independent are potentially emissions free, and they don’t highest, there are options. Designers can be
of the others, so no one firm would have a contribute to traffic congestion. There is also smarter about the sizing of their clothes, for
monopoly, but it would share resources. evidence that we would have little trouble instance. One group of academics and major
London’s Gnewt Cargo already carries out accepting them. Researchers from Harvard UK retailers is using 3D body scanners to
some last-mile deliveries using electric vans University recently had a robot posing as a identify the size and shape of 11,000 people
on behalf of several companies. delivery agent for the fictional start-up Robot in the US. That information is used to create
More radical still would be to remove Grub approach a student dormitory and ask more representative sizing and cuts for clothes
drivers from the equation entirely. Doha-based people to let them in. Sixteen out of 21 people compared with the conventional method of
company Airlift and Dutch start-up Geeba did so, suggesting that, if anything, we trust basing designs on one supposedly
Technologies are testing deliveries by drone robots a little too much. representative body model.
in Rotterdam, while Israeli firm Flytrex is Ultimately, if anything is to change,
delivering packages from Icelandic consumers must change their behaviour,
e-commerce company Aha to around half of Return to sender which is easier said than done.
Reykjavík. Wider uptake will be challenging, The problems with home delivery are “I definitely shop online,” says Wright,
however. “The question is: where does the compounded by one thing above all: who knows the impact of on-demand
drone do the delivery?” says Wise. Flytex’s many deliveries take more than one attempt. deliveries better than most. “Do I feel guilty?
drones hover outside a building, then lower Drivers often arrive to drop off a parcel only I mean, a little. But it’s the bourgeois
the items down on a cord. That won’t work to find the recipient isn’t at home. That can democracy and capitalistic ideology we live
everywhere. mean they have to take it to another depot, in,” he says. He surely has a point: no one can
An easier way to get robots involved may then it has to come back again, multiplying transform the last mile on their own. But if we
be to have them remain on the pavement. traffic and pollution. all make the right changes, we might just turn
In January, a small, six-wheeled blue and That many online retailers offer to return this juggernaut around. ❚
black box began trundling along streets near packages for free has an effect on how we shop,
Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. These Amazon too. Packages ping-pong between buyers and
Scout robots are currently being accompanied sellers, with many customers conditioned to Chris Stokel-Walker is a
by a human, but the hope is they will over-order and return. About a quarter of items freelance journalist based
eventually be able to deliver packages alone. bought online in the UK are sent back for in Newcastle, UK, and author
FedEx has also revealed a similar-looking refund or exchange. That figure is on a rapid of Youtubers
O
LA ROSLING isn’t afraid to point out for our tendency to notice bad events rather
your mistakes. He is the president than good ones, and to assume that some The fact of
of Gapminder, the foundation he things are destined to happen. the matter
set up with his wife Anna Rosling Rönnlund You may have already seen Ola Rosling’s
and his late father Hans Rosling. Gapminder work via his father’s TED talks. The first, given Economic information
is dedicated to exposing common in June 2006 on “the best stats you’ve ever shows that the world
misconceptions about the world and promoting seen”, has now been viewed more than really has got a lot better
a fact-based viewpoint. The foundation uses 16 million times. Last year, the trio behind than we might realise.
data visualisations and quizzes to reveal how Gapminder published Factfulness – a book In 1918, for example,
little we really know, asking people things that identifies the common pitfalls that make 67.1 per cent of
like whether they believe the world is getting us see the world as a scary place. It became a the world’s population
better or worse, and what they think is the global bestseller. was living in extreme
average life expectancy for people globally. poverty (see charts,
SOURCE: GAPMINDER.ORG
He also advocates a “factfulness” mindset, You make a compelling case that the world is below). A hundred years
one that seeks to overcome our brain’s better than we believe. Why don’t we notice this? later, this proportion
inbuilt biases. These arise from the mental For some reason, historically, it was beneficial had dropped to just
“rules of thumb”, known as heuristics, that to worry about everything, to see problems 10.6 per cent.
we use to make decisions, and are responsible and plan for disaster. It was the way previous
1918
EXTREME POVERTY
$/day
02 05 1 2 5 10 20 50 100 200 500
Number of people
by income
2018
EXTREME POVERTY
$/day
02 05 1 2 5 10 20 50 100 200 500
1800
2012-16 11% 10%
1 2015 22%
1980
1940 1960 1980 2000 1970 1800 1900 2000 2010 1800 1900 2000 1980 1990 2000 2010
SOURCE: Factfulness
Can you give examples of these rules of thumb? the results of a survey where we asked
One is the fear instinct, which is the tendency
of humans to pay attention to frightening
things. In 2016, for example, 40 million
passenger flights landed safely at their
85 13 questions about global development
to 12,000 people in 14 countries. Most
people were wrong.
We started the book with the same test
destinations and 10 ended in fatal accidents. Percentage of people because we wanted to expose the readers to
You probably heard about the 10 that their own ignorance. If we had only presented
crashed not the 40 million that were fine. with access to the results of the survey, the readers would
Another chapter is on the blame instinct. electricity in 2014 have thought we were talking about someone
It comes naturally to put the blame on
It com else. People need to be exposed to their own
one individual
i when things go wrong. ignorance to realise they need to learn.
This tendency undermines our ability We tend to think we already know
to solve a problem because we are stuck stuff, which means we have no reasons
with finger-pointing, which distracts us from to learn. To develop a fact-based worldview,
the more complex truth. we need to realise that we are ignorant
about our ignorance.
Spreading these ideas has become a family
mission. Did you ever expect it would result Finally, do you have a favourite statistic?
in a worldwide bestselling book? When my son was 1 year old, he got
It’s kind of a mistake that we didn’t write the meningitis and almost died in my arms.
book earlier. We got famous by visualising data My favourite trend is that child mortality
and with Hans’ first TED talk, where he showed went down from 43 per cent to 4 per cent
visualiz
visualizations that I and Anna had developed between 1800 and 2016. As a parent, having
for six years. It was the first viral TED talk ever. almost lost a child, I know what that number
We thought of ourselves as digital means and it’s the meaning behind that
developers and made fun of books because number that really counts.
they are made of paper. You can get arrogant That’s why I do this work. Our world
when you’re successful in one field and ignore really is improving and we know how to
the possibilities of other fields. This is bad. We Ola Rosling is a Swedish statistician help those last 4 per cent of children. They
realised that communicating to wider and co-founder and president of the are dying for no good reason. We already
audiences is 100 times easier with a book. Gapminder Foundation. He developed have the cure. We know exactly what they
Trendalyzer, a bubble chart tool that need. They need clean water, they need a
So you think the book makes it easier for people was acquired by Google, and led the mum who went to school and they need
to understand a fact-based worldview? firm’s public data team. primary health care and vaccines. ❚
The method of the book is pretty strict.
Besides the rules of thumb, we present Jacob Aron is deputy news editor at New Scientist
Bring your
career to life
Sign up, create your own job alerts
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residents are eligible to apply
Cryptic crossword #14 Set by Wingding Quick quiz #19 Puzzle set by Angus Walker
1 Of land mammals,
African elephants have the #20 Caesar cipher
second-longest and humans
have the longest. What?
2 Up, down, top, bottom,
strange… what is missing?
JULE BERLIN/GETTY
3 Approximately how
many genes does the
human genome contain:
(a) 20,000, (b) 100,000
or (c) 20 million? How might Caesar get you from 3 to 47?
A bit of general knowledge might help you
4 What historic event linked
here, or some numerology, because there
the University of California,
are two neat solutions to this puzzle.
Los Angeles, and the
Stanford Research Institute
on 29 October 1969? Answer next week
A GAME OF THRONES
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN
Illustrated by Jonathan Burton | Introduced by Joe Abercrombie
INCLUDES
SPECTACULAR
FOLD-OUT
MAP
ORDER NOW
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foliosociety.com/GOT
The back pages The Q&A
As a child, what did you want to How has your field of study changed in
do when you grew up? the time you have been working in it?
I spent most of my first decade in creeks turning I feel like we’ve gained humility. Neuroscience is
over rocks, so maybe I wanted to be a scientist. such a new field, and it seems there is much more
that we don’t know than there was when I started.
Explain what you do in one easy paragraph.
I’m interested in understanding what is different If you could have a long conversation
“I’d bet that
about the brains of those who are at high or low with any scientist, living or dead, answers to big
who would it be?
questions in
risk of addiction. We know that a large part of
the variance is inherited, but most of the Marian Diamond, who found the first evidence
biological risk remains unexplained. that the brain changes with experience, now
known as neuroplasticity. Or Candace Pert,
neuroscience
Why did you end up working in this field?
I had my first experience with alcohol at age 13
who discovered opiate receptors. aren’t going to
and spent the next 10 years taking any and every What scientific development do you be found inside
hope to see in your lifetime?
mind-altering substance I could get my hands on.
Judging from the nearly transcendent experience I’m really happy that sex differences in our heads”
of that first drink, I was probably one of those neurobiology are finally being given serious
innately at risk. I ended up in a treatment centre. attention. I think we will continue to find
Faced with a choice between an early grave and differences and that these are going to further
abstinence, I wanted neither and thought curing understanding about general brain function.
addiction would provide a way out.
Did you have to overcome any particular Do you have an unexpected hobby, and
challenges to get where you are today? if so, please will you tell us about it?
Ha! I’d been expelled from three schools by the I’m a big fan of live music, and especially keen
time I came up with this scheme. Fortunately, on so-called jam bands. Much of my extra time
addicts are known for resourcefulness and and money goes toward Phish shows.
perseverance despite adversity, and these
qualities were an asset in graduate school too.
How useful will your skills be after the
Were you good at science at school? apocalypse?
Science courses were my favourites, so yes, when Relevant skills include curiosity and a willingness
I went to class I tended to do well in those. to take risks and to try new things.
What’s the best piece of advice OK, one last thing: tell us something that
anyone ever gave you? will blow our minds…
Someone once recommended that I “keep I’d bet that answers to big questions in
showing up”. I’ve benefited from sustained effort, neuroscience aren’t going to be found inside
even when things don’t seem to be going well. our heads. Everything is connected, and it is
impossible to understand the brain out of its
Is there a discovery or achievement you broader context – involving such disparate
wish you’d made yourself? influences as the night sky, microbiota,
I was astounded by the work of Nachum Dafny stress and each other. ❚
in the late 1980s, showing that opiate addiction
depended on an intact immune system. Now, Judith Grisel is professor of psychology at Bucknell
30 years later, there’s a burgeoning appreciation University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Her book
of the critical role of immune signalling in the Never Enough: The neuroscience and experience
brain in stress, pain and addiction. of addiction is out now
CREDIT: TAYLOR HILL/GETTY IMAGES