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    New Scientist - 0209

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    REVEALED: THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE ‘HOBBIT’ DISCOVERY INDIA’S MOON i cd MISSION TRIUMPH DOES EVERY WORKPLACE NEED AN Al WHISPERER? WEEKLY 2 September 2023 THE SMARTER WAY TO UNWIND Why relaxation could be as vital as sleep - and the six secrets to doing it better No3454 £695 CANS9.99 PLUS CAN ALL ANIMALS GET DRUNK? / AVI LOEB ON ALIEN FIRST CONTACT / HOW TO BAKE THE PERFECT COOKIE : PELOTON D BEYOND. With classes in everything from meditation to boxing, there's more to Peloton than you might have thought. ONEPELOTON.CO.UK Internet connection and Peloton All-Access Membership (£39/mo) required to access Peloton content. This week’s issue Onthe cover 82The smarter way to unwind Why relaration could boas vitals step ~ and the sx secrets to doing it beter News ‘Celular surprise "Deron creamed up by Dhysiesexstsinourcals 110 Hunting equaliser ‘Women and men row spears ‘equaty wel wit ancient ool 13 Standtall Your helt may affect your ‘ut icrobiome’s versity Views 21.Comment ‘Thehisioryof mathematisis diverse, sayskte Kagawa 22 Thecolumnist ‘Ourprioriies for newtech are ‘wrong, says Annalee Nevitz 28 Aperture ‘Anenormous US fact for handling and moving coal 2scutture What tke to get ight pclosetoa vocano? SiLetters Weneedtogoa step furtherto sveturties ‘36Revealed: the ‘rue story behind the ‘"mobbit’ discovery ‘India’s moon ‘mission triumph 17 Does every workplace ‘need an Al whisperer? 446 Canal animals get drunk? Vol259 No3as4 29.AuiLoeb on aten fst contact Cover image: Antonio Sortino ‘44How to bake the perfect cookie {18 Reproduction on ice Emperor penguins lost chicks due oice breakup 36 Features “This creature was beyond any area where we thought early humans ever got” Features 52Relaxtothe max Howrest and etaxation affect yourbran and body 36Bonesof contention Thediscover/of Homo floresienstsn indonesiais sit causingastirtwo decades ater {40 VICE mission Does ie lurk beneath they ‘exteriors of utes moons? The back pages 44 The science of cooking Howto make the prfectcookie 45 Puzzles Tour cossword quickquiz andioaic puzzle 46 Almost the last word ‘hry didEarthcoolafter the hothouse Tiassic Period? 48 Feedback Debugoing iterature, pls _atechnalogy ints infancy 48 Twisteddoodles for New Scientist Picturing the lighter side of ite 2 September 2025 |New Scentist x on New Scientist NS Live ‘Seven wonders of school science Authorand science teacher ‘Nom Shahawillberaking an appearance at the New Scentst Liveschools'day on 9 October toemplain whata good scence education shouldircluge His tak wilexpiore thevale ofexcting demonstrations and he need todiscss the biggest ideasin science, and wil convince even the most sceptical students that sclence's wellwort studying newsclentist.com/nsimag Tour The science of the Renaissance: Italy Immerse yoursef inthe world of thetaian Renaissance on this tourof Florence, Boloonaand Pisa, Ledbyartand architecture expert Andrew Spira and joned by former New Scientist efor Jeremy Webb, you eam ‘out Leonardo da Vinci and Galfeo Gallet as wells visting the European Gravitational (Observatory This eight-day tourbeginson 13 November andcosts £2395, newscientist.com/tours Podcast Weekly Could calls rom the placenta help rept the damage caused byhear attacks? Evidence from studlesin mice supgeststhatit ‘may be passibe. Christe Tylor andthe podcast team alsohear about arecent surge in mariuana andpsjchedelc ruguseinthe US.Pus, the nuclear records that arelocked anay in turtle shal. newsclentist.com/nspod al NewSclentist|aSeptember2023 Repair system Cells from thepancreas might help healthe heart Video Non-stick toilet (nour YouTube chanel this week, theres ootageof ato thatis so lppery that vetualy nothing stkks ot Bult researches, inhina tis 30 peed tema rmicur of plastic and hyrophabic sandgrars and remainssipoery ‘evenattereing attacked wih snipapet Ths meansit might rotneedtobe flshed aster, potently saveg water yyoutube.com/newscientist Newsletter Health Check The World Heath Organizations embrace of complementary medicine isting controversy, vers are Witon We shoud be fee take ary emedy we want, she says outwe diesen accesso evidence abouts tsk and benef ana thst always avatablformedcines outside mainsteamheatcare. newsclentist.com/ hhealthcheck Anotefrom ean pS == Dearreader, (urfiagship event, New Scientist Live isretuming to ExCeL London ‘n 7109 October. For many af you, the world’s greatest festival ofideas and ciscovery needsno introduction. Butfor those wh haver't come along ye, Ican wholeheartedly ‘ay that his isthe highght of ‘ur calendarat New Scientist. Not only will wehave three days packed wth talks from some of themostbllant mings inscience andtechinology,thereis a huge space fullofexcting exhibits and experiences. Subscribers wil. as ‘an added benefit nave a dedicated zone to relaxin andmeet our team, Frmintigued to get inside thermind ofa doiphin with aline Paull who willbe talking about her bbookPod.lalso cant wait tohear ‘Suzanne O'Sulivan speak about the power of mind over body. Then there's the fopic du our he future ‘oF Aj,on which Mike Cook and Amy Smithwilluna lve demonstration. ‘Thisyear,our schools’ day is onthe Monday anditis atime for curious young rinds to erioy talks ‘rom thelikes of Stofan Gates and Anne-Marie krafidon,andto get hands-on withthe exits, Do check out the full programme at newscientstive.com where you ‘an get dscountedeatlybirdtickets for mast days f you are quick. [hope to ee you there butif you cantattendin person, the talks will asa be available online — details ‘xeavalabe on the website, Catherine de Lange New Sclentist magazine eator As our farmers know all too well: no pain, no grain. ‘They say nothing worth having comes easy. Unfortunately for our farmers that's true of the barley we use to brew our beers, We use a classic variety called Golden Promise, grown to our own unique specification. The biscuity, golden malt it produces is the perfect partner to our natural spring water, and is vital to Landlord's depth and delicate balance of flavour. It’s also a type of barley that’s notoriously hard to grow, and our exacting specification makes it even more difficult, Which makes itacostly ingredientandareal challenge even for experienced farmers. Luckily we can offer some liquid therapy. All for that taste of Taylor’s Bt tee tC Liters dct g Big summer reads... amazingly small price aCe eta R Leia | 09) ALN Aen te Pee Gee eM ian as Seen eel A Lease Le Deen ouoeselices Visit newscientist.com/20312 or call +44 (0) 330 333 9470, quoting 20312 Racer eatcaetete ee ety secant id ra ee te te meee ates at The leader Digging deeper The way ancient artefacts are discovered tells its own story — if we want to hear it WITHOUT fossils, we would struggle tounderstand theancient roots of ‘humanity. Yet itis easy to overlook the circumstances surrounding thelr discovery, which may carry additional significance. The way fossils arefound cantellits ownstory, one that can remainhidden from view orskewed in itsreporting But as we reveal on page 36, itisnevertoo ate to uncoverthe truth. For instance, the 46,000-year-old ‘Harbin skull, which hit the news two years ago, may overturn long-accepted ‘ideas concerning theoriginof our species. However, this skull was actually discovered 90 yearsago by aconstruction workerin China, He kept ita secret, as Harbin was underthe control oflapanese {ofallintotheirhands, He old no one about his discovery until he was on his deathbed in 2018, Nolessastonishingisthe story behind, thediscovery of fom floresiensis— known informally as thehobbit~onthe Indonesian island of Flores. Unearthed “The insights that ancient fossil discoveries give us into modern lives is just as valuable” ‘20 years ago this month, Hi floresiensis has shaken upthe human family tree to an even greater extent than the Harbin sll. But it also ledto arguments and ‘outrage across Indonesia and beyond, Now, on theanniversary of ts discovery, forcesin1933andhedidn'twantthe fossil _weexplore what really happened when PUBLISHING & COMMERCIAL, Cements un ened decor dean Newton Display aves ‘eases cg 4p mel dapigues@newaetitcom ‘Steere or account manager inate Partership scout manager itd AA ‘esag (09 61sa8 mallee. ‘ratment sles anager er ages ‘eyaccount manager eek Vg! a Head of event arn Daves eee iSoarenres feet ee ‘lorena hin Heat ua acne ae nie unlrBtenddeoper ten es Puteri cones line ars Mower Pt Ww Tend dg devine ond devoper isn Tey NewScientist hie excatire i Wht sande ot ‘nance openons (eoutcrel fenace mage Chants ab “Gonmeral anor mage ar ‘Maagementacounant iseutoson commer management scent a is um buiness pater im subaanims corners = Se mon Ca ns notin nriat a octets eee cee ed casera ewe ron onetime ma sutscrfnsneeestcom arpa developments grew | rossi wos oe Ferymnnt Roa, Tejera Wests cagoynerscorti tomas ners al) ‘cn cgunty mean rg this extraordinary find was unearthed, revealing a different, and more nuanced, version of events, ‘Thestory off floresiensis reminds us that the motivations of scientists vary. ‘Wemay assume, forinstance, that all palacoanthropologists are driven by the same desireto challenge scientific orthodoxy and emphasise the global significance of ancient remains, ‘Wewould be wrongto doso. Discoveries like H.floresiensis are the lifeblood of palacoanthropology and the information they reveal about ancient human species is something to be celebrated. But we would do wellto dig alittle deeper into the story around these discoveriesthe insight this can give us {nto modern livesis ustas valuable. 8 EDITORIAL syn me sete ee epee eee ne oe aiid oo eeaiete ian nator om tent moor a arteorgn its eet ae ray sau ot one spel ee Worle oS eat ele nears eat 2 September 202 NewSclentists Subscriber Benefits yas od - ‘Howtosimulate __ the universe , eee noe oy crt Sut uae < Caine pel aaron hele Race ee ccc car. ae newscientist.c: Bea we ee cL) ree en eu enn ne eee te Re ea ora ete erent oe Sema Ea eee a om/universe ad . See reer ett gue ewe ae Coe Ce oe ee De an eaa News [Natural fertiliser Sleddogstur ‘Svalbard green Moving target Whyitissodittiut tomakevaccines against dengue pis Energy storage Plasticbottes berecyeled into with ther faeces pro supercapacitors pas Peale rere) eT ae Ls Dae Oe nei into thisimage from the james Drea) Prd er antes ee oc) using infrared data, dark regions show warm dust,red ones show Ce i Pree tet) Pee) ce rere Nature vsmurture GGenesinfluence ‘education more than} thought pia ‘Sweetvision Beesmay beableto tell watercontains sugarby locking pi _ September 2005 |New Sclentist|7 News Physics ‘Demon’ dreamed up by physics actually exists in our cells Alex Wilkins AHYPOTHETICALeing described inaiss-yearold thought experiment believed atthe timeto breakthelawsof thermodynamics~actually evolved billions of years ago Intheformofproteinsusedby almost every living organism, In1867, physicist James Clerk Maxwell was pondering possible exceptions othe second law of thermodynamics, which saysthat things must always low from hot tocold unless thereissome energy source to counter this tendency. Heimagineda weightless door between twoboxes of gas, ‘operatedby atiny demon. tf the ‘demononly lets faster particles move intoonechamber and slower ones into the other ‘chamber, one box would heat upand the other would coo! down. This would mean you ‘could create energy from nothing by exploiting the temperature difference of the boxes, violatingthe second law. Thisappatent paradox was solved inthe 20th century, ‘when information theorists like Rolf Landauer realised the demon would haveto measure informationabout each gas particle, storeit ints memory anderase its memory for more measurements. This would require more energy than the demoncould create by having boxesat diferent temperatures, Innaturethereare many ‘non-equilibrium systems” similarto the hot andcold boxes, such asthe different concentrations of molecules Inside and outside living els Now, Paolo De Los Rios at the Swiss Federal Institute of ‘Technology in Lausanne andhis colleagues haveshown that ABC transporters-tiny proteins that can shuttlemolecules across ‘1 New Scentst|2september2023 cell membrane~act exactly likethe demons proposed in Maxwells original paradox. “Naturealready understood ‘therulesbillions of years ago” says De Los Rios. ABC transporters are present in all bacteria, They arereally really ancient. They go back tothe last universal common ancestor ofalllifeon Earth” “These transporters go back to the last universal common ancestor ofall life on Earth” eLos Riosand his team first ‘wrote down simpleequations describinghow ABC transporters keep different concentrations ‘ofmolecules inside and outside acellThey considered how they ‘work~such as using ATP. molecularsourceof energy, to transport moleculesacrossthe membrane—andtheshapesthe ‘transporters takewhen facing Inside oroutsidethecell To play the role of Maxwell's demon without breaking the laws of thermodynamics, Landauer theorised that an ‘entity needs to consume energy, Pe pees EL Cee) Cee Corres E ‘make recorded measurements and operate the door based on these measurements. De Los Rios andhis colleagues found that the solutionto their equations had three parts that matched these three conditions (Communications Physics, oLorg/krcv), ‘Their model assumed that each ABC transporter only uses one molecule of ATPat atime, but DeLos Rios says more complex models should also ‘workas Maxwells demons. Given the similar roles of many ‘molecularmachines, Maxwell’ demon is likely tbe widespread innature,hesays “They make very concrete connections between the rigorous idea of Maxwell’ demonasitisnow understood instatistial physics andthe way these ABC transporters work” says Nahuel Freitasat the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. This connection also ‘meansthat an ABC transporter canbe thought ofasasimple computational device, doingthe same logical AND" operation that silicon computer chips perform, says Freitas. conservation Kakap6 genomes sequenced to help save them Alice Klein ‘TOSAFEGUARD the critically ‘endangered kakap@ ~ a unique New Zealand parrot - the genomes ‘of nearly all remaining individuals have been sequenced, providing vital information for conservation. ‘The kak3p6 (Strigops habroptil) isthe world’s heaviest parrot, with ‘some males exceeding 3 kilograms. Itisalso the only parrot species that ‘ar't fly instead climbing trees or foraging on the ground for food. ‘The once- widespread greenish birds were almost completely ‘wiped out by introduced predators Te cats and rats. The 250 0° 0 left are managed by New Zealand's Department of Conservation in partnership with Mori groups con tive predator-freeislands. ‘The small population size makes it challenging to prevent inbreeding. So, Joseph Gunlin and Peter Dearden _at the University of Otago inNew Zealand and their colleagues have ‘sequenced the genomes of about 20 percent of the remaining birds. ‘The Department of Conservation {snow using this information to ‘decide which k3k’p6s to move betweenislands, aiming to increase the chances of mating between less closely related birds ‘and aise the genetic diversity of the overall population says Gublin. ‘The department also picked fourkakipastoreintroduce to New Zealand's Northisiand last ‘month, after an absence of more ‘than SOyears. The chosen ones. had fairly standard genomes, meaning "they could afford to 90 because they weren't carrying rare ‘genetic variations" says Dearden. ‘The esearchidentitied genetic variants associated with traits Tike the number of e995 aid, the growth rates of chicks and disease susceptibility (Noture Ecology t Evolution, doiorgikrc). Guhtin hopes that the work ‘canserve asa blueprint forthe conservation of other animals. 1 ‘Space exploration India’s historic moon mission The success of Chandrayaan-3 has made India the first nation to land a craft near the moon's ice-rich south pole, reports Matthew Sparkes INDIANS Chandrayaan-3 moon mission isnow exploring the lunar surface near the south pole Buoyed by its success, the country {slooking to push ahead with putting a human in space andsendinga craft to Mars. Fourhours afterthe Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mission landedon 23 August,and. thesun had risen on thelanding site, Chandrayaan-3 lowered rampand the six wheeled Pragyan rover, which weighs 26 kilograms, rolled onto the lunar surface. Overtwo weeks, the roverwill carry out experiments to research thecomposition of thesurface with its Alpha ParticleX Ray Spectrometer and lookfor water lee, hich has the potentialto providea futurecrewed base with drinking water, oxygen and fuel for spacecratt. Boththe lander and the rover India's moon landing was ‘watched by the public top)and celebrated by employeesofits spaceagency (bottom). Its rover (below ight)is now exploring the lunar south pole areexpectedtooperatefor one Junar day equivalent to14 Earth, days) before sunset cuts thelr ability toharvest energy from solar panels. SRO hasnt ruled out, the possibility that both will revive oncetthesun rises after two weeks of darknessand temperatures that willdip to-238°C, but this, would bea bonus. Indiaachieveda histori fist with thelandingnearthe moon's south pole.Only China, the USand the Soviet Union had previously softly landedcraft anywhereon themoon and no country had explored the south pole. The mission has been remarkable not only forts firsts, butalsoforits budget ofjust Rs 615 crore (£59 milion) This is less than halfoftheinflation-adjusted $149 million budget forthe1995 film Apollo 13, which needed only todepict amission tothe moon, ‘Chandrayaan-3, hich takes its name fromthe Sanskrit word for “mooncralt’,tookoffonboarda Launch Vehicle Mark IIlrocket from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on ig july andspent six weeks covering about 360,000 kilometres en route tothe moon, After soft landing-which ISRO said had taken place 40 days, hours and2g minutes after Jaunch~Shri M. Sankaran, director of SRO'SU RRao Satellite Centr, referenced the preceding Chandrayaan-2 mission, which ended in fallure in 2019 whena software glitch caused its Vikram, atmosphere from an orbit at point between Farthandthe sun, called Aditya-L,isalready dduefor launchon 2 September. ‘Thesuccess of Chandrayaan'3 followsa string of failures in ‘moon missions from around theglobe.A private attempt bya Japanese start-up in Aprilended. ‘unsuccessfully when iterashed Into the surface. Russia's latest “These missions are attempt at lunar exploration highly visible and they itsfirst moon mission innearly Serveasanindicatorof —_halfacentury-alsoendedin asstate's great power” disasterlast week Russia's Lunaaslanderwas due totouch down gently butinstead slammed intothe surface at speed after what was intended to bea short engine fringtorepositionit seemingly continued fr oo long. Dimitrios Stroikos atthe London Schoolof Economics and Political Sclencesaysthat ‘when ISRO irs lated theidea ‘ofan Indian moon mission t was abitdifficulttosellit”toa sceptical publi but that things havechanged and public support has grown enormously ‘Now 'smoreabout ‘Great, ‘wedid that, weneed more ofthat, ‘what'snex® What about human space light?" says troikos “These sorts fmissionsare very highly visible and they serveasa normative indicatorofastate's great power, status, modernity and prestige. Butit'sagreat scientific feat as well. [As]wesaw g with Lunas, it's very difficult to 3 achieve a soft landing” & _ Chandrayaan-3 might leave a | lastingmarkon the moon. ISRO 2 didn'trespond toa request for 5 interview, but Pragyan’s rear + wheels are reportedly stamped | with the ISRO logoand a Buddhist symbol either the Lion Capitalof Ashoka orthe AshokaChakra,and = willeave imprints of bothon the surface ofthe moonasit traverses }2 at just 1 centimetre a minute. # Janderto crash into the moon's surface. twas destroyed, along with the six-wheeled rover t contained, also named Pragyan, that wouldhaveexploredthe moon's south pole. Today, we have achieved what we set out to achieve in 2019," said Sankaran, “twas delayed by about four years, but we havedone it” Sankaran went ontosay that, Indiawouldnow lookto push ahead with ts space programme and puta human into spaceand sendacrafttoMars. A planned mission tomonitorthe solar 2 Septemberz025|New Sclentst|9 News ‘Anthropology Women and men throw spears equally well using ancient atlatl tool Jeremy Hsu ‘THEatlatl,anancientspear- throwing too first used thousands ‘of years ago, enables women and men tolaunch projectiles with similar velocities. The discovery, ‘which comes from experiments Involvingatlatls, provides more ‘evidence that prehistoricfemale hunters would have been as. capableas maleones of putting meat on thetable. ‘Theresearchstarted when ‘Michelle Bebber at Kent State University in Ohio began teaching ‘a course inwhich students spent aday practising throwing javelinsandusinganatlatL The atlatlisa hand-held stick with ‘acupor groove a the end that Is designed tolaunchalong, feathered projectilewitha forward-flinging motion, “Thegirls would often just naturally pickup the atlat and the [projectiles really f says Bebber. “Some of themale athletes would really be putting theirallintoitand getallittle frustrated thatthe girls were doing this sowell” 0, Bebber and hercolleagues ‘measured the performance of Environment Sled dogsturn Svalbard greener ih their faeces DOGS that pullsleds for tourists {are erlising the Arctic archipelago ‘of Svalbard with their droppings. og sledding has become popular tourist attraction inSvalbard, which has edto aboomin ts dog population. “"When| started visting there 0 years ago, there werea few ‘dog yards, andnow there are dozens of them;'saysesamine Bartlett at the Norwegian Institute 10 |New Sclentist|2september2023 more than100 volunteers to see how well hey could throw javelins and launch atlatl spears. Some 42menand6 women patticipated, along with 10 people ‘who didn' disclose their biologicalsex. Each person threw ajavelin rotimesand launched anatlat] spear otimesandthe velocity of the projectiles was measured, The female-launched javelins travelled ‘Archaeologist Michelle Bebber using anattat! topropelaspear {for Nature Research in Trondheim. So, Bartett and her colleagues decided toinvestigateif dog yards ‘and other animal settlements have affected local vegetation perhaps ‘through faeces or leftover food ‘enriching the area with nutrients. ‘The teamanalysed satelite ‘observations that measured the ‘wavelengths of light reflected by Eartiys surface todetermine how much vegetation there was at various sites in Svalbard between 11985 and 2021. Thesitesinciuded “Even relatively minor ‘active dog yards, pony stables, cliffs ‘where seabirds lve historial animal settlements and undisturbed zones. at between .1and 1.5 metres per second, whereas male-launched javelins achieved between &.1and 16a metres per second, ‘Theatlatl spear velocities were ‘much moresimilar: 1011020. m/s for female participants versus 10.1t0 244 m/s for male volunteers (Scientific Reports, dol. orgy gsmkpk)."Theatlatisan equaliser” that could have encouraged "unification of labour” among female and male hhunters, says team member Metin Eren, also at Kent State University. Side-by-side comparisonsof the same people using both javelins andatlatls provide valuable information, says Annemieke ‘Milks atthe University of Reading, UK. Its possible that javelins may have been hardertoleamtouse and required more body mass or strength, she says, which may have spurred development ofthe att Milks says physiology isn't the only factor determining hunting ‘capabilites. “[Hunting] skillsare not just about ourbuild, ability, orstrength, but arealso about knowledge and understanding of prey,environmentsandhowthese Intersect with social factors” she says."We know ethnographically andarchaeologically that women hunt, even ifthoseactvities are not as widely or frequently practised asthey are by men.” Bebberand her colleagues say tis possible that women ented theatlatlorother weapon innovations.“We know that in certain primate species, the females innovate and produce spearsto go hunting,” says Bebber. “it interesting tothinkthat perhaps women also were involved ininnovating the atlatl” ‘"Therehas been some evel of ‘greening across all sites, probably (Eco voRxiy, doiorg/krd3). “Even relatively minor at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Butlargerincreasesin vegetation ecosystem,” says Gallos. greenness were seen where animals Agreener Svalbard may liveorlivedinthepast. Thegreatest not necessarily be better, says jump was seen at dog yards and teammember Kristine Bakke {former animalsettiements, which Westergaard atthe Norwegian were sper centand339 percent University of Scienceand ‘more greenin 2021 thanin 1985 Technology in Trondheim. More ‘reenery means more nutrients for both native and non-native species, developments can have —_shesays,whichmay changethe drastic impacts on the ‘dynamics between them. H surrounding ecosystem” — chenly Analysis Infectious disease ‘When will we see widespread vaccination against dengue? The way the four subtypes of dengue virus vary in their prevalence means making avaccine against it is particularly challenging, says Jason Arunn Murugesu AMID growing dengue outbreaks ‘around the world, 2023 could turn ‘out iobe one ofthe worst years on record forthe infection, The World Health Organization (WHO) has said dengue poses a pandemic-level threat, with outbreaks being reported inthe Americas, Asia and Afica, BButthe way different types ofthe {dengue virus provoke immunity or ‘ompications mean that developing aneffectivevaccinehas been dificult. Asof the end uty more than. 3 milion dengue cases and 1500 deathshad been reported worldwide in 2023, with Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina the worst-hit counties, In the Americas reported cases have already surpassed those from the entirety of 2022. the situation caries ona iti the WHO has sad there couldbe more than ‘4 milion cases glabaly bythe end of ‘he year, putting itclose tothe record 5.2 millonreported casesin 2019, Dengue hasno specific treatments andusualy resolves over one to two weeks, However it can cause severe ‘symptoms, known as dengue fever, andcan sometimes be Ie-threatening, lack of treatment makes developing an effective vaccine tal says Jorge Kall atthe Universty of $30 auloin Brazil ‘Attwee-dose vaccine called Dengvaxia is approved bythe US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency But tis widely used for several reasons says MartinHibberd at ‘he London Schoolof Hygiene Tropical Medkcine, ‘The main problemis that dengue virus four serotypes, which are ‘groups withina single species of microorganism that have different surface structures. For dengue, ‘hese ae called dengue-2, 2,3 and. The seratypes crcuate at dlfferentlevelsineach country, fluctuating in ther prevalence Being infected with any serotype canresuitinifetimeimmunity to that specticsubtype, but can also lead to complications if someone is laterinfected with another serotype, says Hibberd, However ifthe samme persons infected again with one of the other two serotypes, they usually arent atthe same risk as they were With their second infection, he says. Dengvaxiais based ona yellow fever virusthat hasbeen madeto ‘express proteins fromall four dengue serotypes. The vaccine is strongest ‘against dengue-4 and weakest ‘against dengue-2. When Dengvaxia isgiven to people who have never been exposedtto any dengue serotype it acts ike ther frst infection if tat vaccinated person The dengue vaccine Dengvaxiaisn’t widelyused ‘hen becomes infecteawith a serotype hati dengue-t, they canhavea far more severe reaction ‘hanif they hadnt been vaccinated, |n 2016, the Philippines was, the frst Asian country to approve ‘Dengvania and gaveit to $00,000 children. Ayear later it emerged that ‘he vaccine can cause more severe dengue complications when given to people wha haven’ previouslybeen infected but go onto be infected after vaccination, The Pilopines subsequently banned Dengvaxia, ‘The WHO naw recammends ‘hat Dengvaxia ony be usedifit \sacministered after ablood test that shows someone has previously been infected with dengue, so the vaccine wouldnt be thelr fst brush with the virus, Having the vaccine be their second exposure ft ‘nought to bean sue “fyouhada natural dengue infection previously, ‘nen had the Dengvaxia vaccine ‘administered, you would boost ‘mat orginal protection’ says Hibbera, and also generate a ‘more protective response against other remaining serotyoes, ‘The serotypes aren the only issue. Even against dengue-4, Dengvaxia becomesiess effective Collecting samplesto test fordenguein Bangladesh InOctober 2022 Hibberd, This, coupled with the ‘need to administer a blood test pre-vaccinationand the factit requires tree doses, hase to ‘avery lowuptake he says Producing justone vaccine that has an equal response fo all four serotypesis ficult says Anna ‘Ourbinat Johns Hopkins University in ‘Maryland. One experimental vaccine isin the inalstages of cirical tials ‘and shows some promise, she says, Itismade up of al four dengue serotypes, genetically edited tornat cause seriousness. contains ‘more genetic material of the four serotypes than Dengvaxia andis therefore thought to elicitastronger Immune response against them al. Early results froma talin Brazil published ast year shawed that the vaccine was 89.5 per centetfectve 4 million ‘Number of dengue cases the ‘world son course for this year against dongue-1 and 69.6 per cent effective against dengue-2 It Isunclear howeffeciveitisagainst the other two serotypes because these werent widely circulating inthe country during the study. Its too early to tell nowlong this vaccine'sprotecton last, but more resuitsareexpectedinthenext year ‘or two) Says Durbin, who was involved insorne ofits trials. Nevertheless it Imvolvesa single dose, so would be easier to administer than Dengvaxia Ifapproved, sie says. Durbin hopes thenew vaccine ould pay big olen tackling the \rus.“in 10 years’ time, tink we're stil going tobe seeing alot (of dengue fever, but also think well ‘bevaccinating the vast majority of people whoneedit” she says. ‘September 2025 |New Scentist at News Technology Alcanspot early signs of a tsunami from atmospheric shock waves Jeremy Hisu ABETTER early warning system fortsunamis may soon be possible with the help of antficial intelligence. Widely available ltechnology can, detect subtle disturbances insatellitesignals when tsunami’s waves begin to form, which could provide warnings {forcoastal communities long before thetsunamt hits. “Theres no global network {for detecting tsunami waves, and installing physical hardware like buoy-based systems, isexpensive, says Valentino Constantinowat ‘Terran Orbital Corporation, satellite manufacturing ‘charged particledensity over Atsunamicaused ‘company based in Florida, timeintotwo-dimensional widespread devastation ;But we know that small Imagesthatcanbeanalysed —_inDichato, Chile, in 2010 satellite constellations are by off-the-shelf Al models, just proliferatingeverywhere” —‘TheythentaskedtheAlwith they filtered out ionospheric Those GPSsatellites and Identifyingtsunami-related disturbance patterns that other global navigation satellite featureswithintheimages. weren't detected by atleast systems constantly exchange Theresearchers rainedand 70 percent ofgroundstations radio signals with ground lested the Alon data fromthree in contact withthe individual slations.Crucially,thespeed _earthquake-riggered tsunamis: satellites passingby overhead oftheradio signalsisaffectedby onethatstruckChilein2010,a (arXiv, doiorg/kgth). thedensity ofcharged particles 201event inJapanandanevent This produced "pretty inanarea ofarth’sionosphere that occurredoffCanada’swest good results’, witha reported some300to3s0kilometres _coastin2012.Theteamthen detection performance of abovethe lanet’ssurface. _validatedthe Al'sperformance _morethan go percent, says Tsunami-triggered shock Quentin Brissaud at NORSAR, vavestrvelingupiniotne GY QYOL aselsmicresearch foundation atmosphereatfect the density ‘oO in Norway, whowasn't involved ofthese particles generating Assuecessat detecting inthestudy, smallbut measurablechanges _atsunamiinonestudy But hesaysit remains tobe inthe satellite radio signals. seenif performance based on In2o¥y,research groups _—_ondatafromafourthtsunami,_datafrom four tsunamtevents at NASA's Jet Propulsion this one triggered by the 2015 can lead to accurate detection of Laboratory California andthe Mlapelearthquake offthecoast amore diverse set oftsunamis. Sapienza University ofRomein of Chile. This revealed how ‘The arity ofhuge tsunamis Iealy developedacomputer_welltheAlcoulddistinguish__makesit challengingto analyse algorithm for measuring tsunamitelated disturbances and predict such events, he says changesinthedensityofthese —_fromnormal variationin truly effective tsunami charged partclescausedbythe _ thelonosphere. detection systemwould formation ofatsunam Oneconcern theresearchers also requireintemational Constantinouand his hhadwas that the Almight cooperation to share data colleaguestransformedthe falsely detect periods of fromsatellte constellations, dataproducedthroughthat__tsunamixelateddisturbance says Constantinou. “Theres technique-aonedimensional thatdidn'texist Toreducethe _nooneplacetograbthe data lineshowing changes in possibilty ofthishappening, _foraglobalsystem.” 4 s2|New Scientist |2 September 2025 ‘Animal behaviour Cougars are shifting their hunting tactics tooutsmart bears Corryn Wetzel COUGARSin Yellowstone National Park are hunting an increasing roportion of their prey onrugged ‘terrain, which may be to reduce the chance that ther kills willbe stolen by bearsand wolves. InYellowstone National Park inthe western US, the habitat of ‘cougars (Puma concolor)~ also known as mountain ions overlaps ‘with that of grey wolves (Canis {upus), grizzly bears (Ursus arctos ‘horribls) and American black bears (Ursus americanus). Inthe 1920s, cougarsand ‘wolves were eradicated from the national park and bears were arr ‘ight. But the numbers of all four ‘animalshave climbed over recent decades, increasing competition {or similar food sources like deer. To see how this was influencing the big cats lack Rabe atthe University of Minnesota and his colleagues tracked 13 cougars tsing GPS collars. Ther analysis, presentedat arecent meeting of the Ecological Society of America, included 381 killsby the cougars ~ primarily deer and elk ~ from 2016 10 2022. They found sionsthat bears had visited about 30 per cent ofthe cougar kilsites, probably scaring the cats off their I. Wolves visited cougar killsites ‘around 8 percent ofthe time. Comparing the data with similar ‘racking data recorded two decades ‘earlier showed that cougars are ‘now hunting a greater proportion ‘of their prey onrough landscapes, including rocky slopes and forests. "Cougars are definitely better hunters where the ambush territory isbetter” says Rabe. Thecats may be returning to the hunting strategy ‘hey relied onbefore the oss of ‘other predatorsleft an abundance ‘of ek and deer for them topick off inmore open areas ‘The hittin hunting tactics is an encouraging sign of the park's, health, saysRabe. 1 Your height may affect your gut The diversity of bacteria in your gut microbiome may be related to how tall you are David Cox. APERSON'S height may influence thebacterial diversity oftheir gut microbiome. This could be due totallerpeople having longer gastrointestinaltracts that can house more microorganisms. ‘Not everyoneis convinced, however, withone scientist arguing that aperson's genetics ‘ora poor diet during childhood couldboth inhibit growthand affect the gut microbiome. ‘Among vertebrates, larger species seem to have more diverse colonies of gut microbes, but it wasn't known ifthis trend applied toindividual people. Kat Sarmiento at the Institute {for Systems Biology in Seattleand hercolleagues gathered data from morethan 5000 people who took part ina gut-related experiment and more than 3000 people froma welIness programme. Allprovided information on Chemistry Plastic bottles can berecycled into supercapacitors PLASTIC bottles canbe upcycied intoparts for supercapacitors, hich store energy lke batteries but release it much faster. Pastic pollutionis widespread. ‘According to some sources, ‘38 billion disposable bottles are sent to landfill each year in the Salone. Shengnian Wang at Louisiana Tech University ands colleagues wanted to turn some of them into supercapacitors instead. ‘The researchers developed a chemical procedure that rearranges the carbon atoms inthe lear polyethylene plastic used in bottles into supercapacitor component. First, they cut plastic bottles Into pieces and reacted them with theirheight, which ranged from 127 to 218 centimetres, as well as, faecal samples needed for gut, ‘microbiome sequencing. ‘They foundthat the diversity, of bacterial species within the participants’ guts increased in proportion totheir eights ‘Theresearchers ikenthis tothe {sland biogeography idea, which states that larger islands tend to have greater species diversity than smaller ones, Perhaps taller people havelonger gastrointestinal tracts allowing for greater microbial diversity they say. ‘Tounderstand what this might ‘mean forhealth, the researchers then focusedon 130 people who tookpartinthe gut experiment, allofwhom hada history of infection with the bacterium Clostridium difficile. This usually lives harmlessly inthe bowel, but, can cause diarrhoeaifthebalance ‘water nitricacid and ethanol at high temperature and pressur They spunthe resulting mixture a high-speed centrituge before drying it inan oven. This produced ‘thin sheets of carbon speckled ‘with carbon nanoparticles, less ‘than 2nanometres across. The small size gives the nanoparticles ofbacteria inthe gut changes. ‘By comparing theseindividuals tothe remaining participants inthe gut experiment, the researchers found that those with ahistory of C difficile infection were marginally horterwithan “Shorter individuals would benefit from changing their diet to increase their gut microbiome diversity” average height of 68, centimetres ‘compared with17.7centimetres~ and had lowergut diversity (iokxiv,doLorg/kqta). ‘When theresearcherslooked atdata on other aspects ofthe participants'lives, they found that ceatinga high-fbre diet seemed toprotect against. difficile more than height did. "This suggests that theeffects ofheightcan be overridden by diet” saysteam ‘unusual electrical properties, ‘making them what physicists callcarbon “quantum dots", ‘When t comes to making ‘energy storage devices with carbon ‘components, sheets and dots both hhave drawbacks. But using the two incombination makes storage devices more effective, said Wang ‘member Sean Gibbons atthe Institute for Systems Biology. ‘Ourresearch would suggest shorter individuals would benefit from changing their diet to increase their gut microbiome diversity” says Sarmiento. Yet Christopher Dammanat the University of Washington {nseattlesays a person's height doesn't necessarily tally with the length of their gastrointestinal ‘ract."While the small intestine does correlate with height toa certain degree,thecolon—where ‘most ofthe gut microbiomelies~ correlatesbetter with weight and body mass index,”he says. Ratherthan height affecting gut microbial diversity, people ‘maybe shorterasa result of their genetics or poorchildhood nutrition, witheither ofthese also potentially influencing thelr mieroblome, says Damman. Wie throw aay bilfons of bottles tha could be made into electronic components Inapresentation at an American, ‘Chemical Society meeting in ‘San Francisco last month. He and his colleagues discovered that their *all-sheet carbon structure” supercapacitor charged ‘and dischargedas expected and, after charging, it could power a small red LED light. Additionally, charging and discharging it 12,000 times decreasedits ‘apacityto store energy by ‘oniy 2 percent. ‘The researchers also built ball-sheet structures using amore ‘pureand less processed plastic. ‘When used in supercapacitos, these hhad a similar performance level to those made from drinksbottes. 1 Karmela Padavie Callaghan september 20a[Mewsclentist 9 News How genes affect education Studies have overestimated the impact of the environment on how long people stay in education. Our genes are more influential to it than we thought, discovers Clare Wilson ‘THE environment that children ‘grow up inmay have a much smaller impact than their ‘genes on how longthey stayin ‘education. This is the conclusion ofa study on twins, which suggests that most previous such research has overestimated the effects of upbringingby failing totake into account twokey sources of bias. Ithaslongbeen debated ‘whether various aspects of our personalities and abilities are Influenced more by our genes or ‘our eatly environment Scientists sometimes investigate the ‘questionby comparing different kinds oftwins. Identical twins shate 100 per centof thelr DNA, whilenon-identicaltwinsare Twinsarestudiedtotease Afteranalysingthisdatausing likely tohavegrown up inthe assumedtoshareso percent. _outtheetffects of genes thetraditionaltwin study design, same financialcircumstances, Theextenttowhich identical and upbringing onour lives environmental differences ‘gone tothe sameschooland soon. twinsaremoresimilarin any between families wereestimated -Theresearchersestimated how particular trait than non-ider ithas not been taken intoaccount toaccount forqspercent ofthe much thiseffect skews the results, twinsreveals how much variation inthetraditionaltwin method” variation inyearsofschooling. _of twin studies, by comparing inthat trait is down to genetics, Iassortativemating with Then,Morrisand Wolfram thenumberofyearsthat pairs ‘Therestisusually ssumedto _respecttoany traitdoeshappen, _analysedthesamedata using __of non-identical wins and pairs bedue tothe environment. then any fullsiblings,including _amethodthatalsoincludedthe _ofonetwinandttheirnon-twin Suchstudies haveshown that non-identicaltwins, wouldshare _parents'yearsofeducation. Sure sibling spentineducation. When, many aspects ofourabilitiesand — morethan so percentofthe genes enough, therewas moresimilarity this was aken into account as personalitieshavelittletodowith that influencethat rait,because _betweentheeducationalyearsof wel, theestimated environmental ‘urenvironment.Butameasure ofthegeneticoverlapbetween each parental pairthanwouldbe _influencefelltoxo percent. callededucationalattainment~_theirparents.Thismeansthat expected bychance.Takingthis_ “This isavery intriguing definedashow many years people theusualtwinstudy methods intoaccount,theenvironmental finding,” says Jeremy Freese at spendinfulltimeeducation— _forcalculatingthe genetic stanford University in California hasoftenbeen calculatedtohave _contributionwwouldgiveafalsely “itis unimaginable tome “"Thetechnical prowessandthe arelatively largeenvironmental _low figure and therefore the to think that everything ‘thoughtfulness in this paper ‘component, of around 3s percent. environmentalcontribution that goes on with parents _ispretty evident. Butitis ‘Thesestudiesusually overlook would appear falsely high. is only abit player" “unimaginable ome, thinking two factors, however, leading Morrisand Tobias Wolfram at about how college decisions are tofalselyhighestimates of Bielefeld University inGermany contribution wasestimatedto made, tothinkthat everything ‘environmental effects says havenowinvestigatedwhether _bejusta6percent(npjScience _that goeson with parentsis only Damien Morrisat King’s College _assortative matingforeducation of Learning, doL.org/kapk abit player inthe story’ London. Thebiggest overlooked happens byusinga recent German Thepairalsoanalysedthe Other kinds ofstudieshave factoristhatpeopletend to have twinstudyinwhich datahadbeen — tmpactofasecond factor alven higher estimates forthe children ith someonewitha _collected,notjustforthetwins, usually overlookedintwin studies. environmentalcontribution similarlevelof education 2s butalsofortheirparentsand | Thisisthefactthattheearly ——_toyearsof schooling, says themselves,anideaknownas _anothersiblingofthetwins. environments oftwinsare more Alexander Youngat the University assortativemating. They examined dataon yearsof _similarthanthoseofnon-twin of California, Los Angeles. “sasourceof substantial bias” education fornearly ooo families siblings because they areborn at “Uitimately, we need to saysMorrs "Parents match very includingidenticalornon. thesametime.Aswellashaving triangulaedifferent sources Closely onthischaracteristic,but_ identical twins,borninthe1g90s. sharedauterus,twinsaremore of evidence," he says. © ag|New Scientist [2 September 2025, ‘Materials science Toughest known structure discovered by robot laboratory Alex Wilkins 'AROBOTIC lab that can 3D print and test mechanical structures without human supervision has discovered the most energy-absorbing one ‘measured so far. The structure could bbeuseful for cushioning impacts. Keith Brownat Boston University inMassachusetts and is team used an autonomous system they calla Bayesian experimental autonomous researcher (BEAR) to study structures that are tough, and.can absorb alot of mechanical eneray without faling. "We built a system that designs mechanical structures, tests them and then uses the results of allprevious tests to design and test additional structures” says Brown. Itruns ina closed oop andit's totaly autonomous.” ‘BEAR has five 30 printers that canuse seven kinds of plastics, setof scales and testing machine that compresses eachstructureit ‘makes and measures its response, ‘as wellasa robotic arm anda ‘computer vision system to move samples. The lab performed more than 25,000 experiments, about 50 per day. tran autonomously, but sometimes researchers intervened, suchas for adjusting temperature. Different structuresperformed ‘well depending onthe plastic use. structure they called Willow, shaped like a twisted, elongated four-leaf clover, madeout ofa kind of polyester called PLA, had an average energy absorbing efficiency (f73.3 per cent, meaning it absorbs that much ofthe energy from an impact. This beat the previous best ‘example the researchers could find records of, balsa wood, at 71.8 per cent efficiency (arKi, doi.orarkaq2). ‘Such structures might be relevant forbike helmets, says Devesh Mistry atthe University of Leeds, UK, but they willneed further testing. ‘The automated process could also quicken the discovery of new ‘materials, saysiman Mohagheghian atthe University of Surrey, UK. limatechange The tropics could get so hot that all leaves on rainforest trees die Michael Le Page ATINY proportion of eaves in thecanopies of tropical forests are dying because they are passing the critical temperature threshold beyond witich they can't photosynthesise Experiments suggest that the proportion ofleaves affectedin this way willrise exponentially aslocal temperatures increase "Weare predicting total leaf death” says Christopher Doughty at Northern Arizona University. “Ifitwas tooccur, thiswould bea majortipping point [forthe climate} However, his team’s findings indicatethat this tipping point {slikely tobereached only inthe ‘worst-case warming scenarios, Which atenow thought to be implausible. “It doesnt seem like we're goingtoget tothat, Dut i's possible," hesays Labstudies show that, when the leaves ofrainforest tees reach about 47°C (17°F), Leaves onrainforest trees candieifthey gettoohot the cellularmachinery that captures energy from sunlight isirreversibly damagedand theleaves usually die. “Itseems high,’ says team ‘member Martijn Slot at the ‘smithsonian Tropical Research Institutein Panama, "Butleaf temperature can bea lot higher than airtemperature: ~47°C Teepe aan Desert plants cantolerate temperatures above 47°C, but in rainforests there are only small variations in heat tolerance between species, says Slot Tet was thought that no leaves intropica forests were atthelrtolerance limit. But When the team analysed plant temperature measurements from the ECOSTRESS instrument ‘onthe International space Station from 2018 102020, it revealed that about 0.01 per centofleavesin the canopies ofrainforests globally aealready reaching the threshold, ‘Toconfirmthis, the team did ‘ground-based studies around the world, placingtemperature sensors on leaves inthe upper canopy of rainforests, ‘Thegroup created amodel based on these findings and ‘on experiments on warming plants. Itshowed that the proportion of leaves affected ‘will goup as local temperatures Increase, rising morerapldly after reachinga tipping point between 2and8°C(3.6and 144°P oflocal warming, most likely at °C (72°F) (ature, dot.orgigsmcv), There are several reasons why therise mightaccelerate, says Doughty. For instance, the pores ‘ofleaves, called stomata, close during high heat and drought toprevent water loss. Without the cooling effect of evaporation ‘through stomata, leaves warm rapidly. In addition,oncethe ‘most heat-exposedleaves die, others that were sheltered are exposed and dieas well, Continuingdeforestation will makeit morelikely that, local temperatures could increase tolevels where lots ofleaves startexceedingthe limit, says Doughty. "Where you have fragmentation of forests, theexisting forests get quite abit warmer" he says. Itispossible that therising ‘number oftrees dying inthe Amazon is due in part tothis temperature threshold, he says Studies also suggest that the Amazon has started releasing ‘morecarbonthanitsoaks up, leadingto further warming. Tis paperismore evidence that we need tostopand reverse climate change as quickly as, possible” saysJuliaJones at Bangor University inthe UK. # a September 2005 |New Sclentst 35 News Genomics The human Y chromosome has been fully sequenced for the first time ‘Michael LePage ‘TWENTY yearsafterthe Human. Genome Project was declared ‘complete, the ¥ chromosome has finally been fully sequenced. ‘Most people have22 pairs ‘ofchromosomes plustwosex chromosomes-elther apair ‘ofX chromosomes oroneXand ‘oneY chromosome. Havinga Y¥ chromosome usually but not always~results inan embryo ‘developing male characteristics. TheYisoneofthe smallest ‘chromosomes and has the fewest genes coding for proteins Because it normally has no paired ‘chromosome to swap pleces with before sexual reproduction, itis, ‘especially Ukely to accumulate 4 bitsof repetitive DNA. arly methods of DNA sequencing involved breaking § DNAup intosmall pieces, 4 reading their enetiecodeand hen reassembling the pieces by ooking for overlaps. This doesn't fork with repetitive DNA where lots ofthe pieces ate identical ‘Animal intelligence Bees may be able to sugar just by looking BUMBLEBEES can identity sugary liquids before they eventakea sip. ‘This could mean some approaches used to assoss bee intelligence ‘need re-evaluating. “Much of what we know about insect cognition comes from work ‘onbees," says Tomer Czaczkes at ‘the University ofRegensburgin ‘Germany. In many such studies, bees choose between artificial “flowers” after being trained to associate one option witha reward ‘such as sucrose water, and the other ‘with plain water ora bitter solution. But t wasn't known f bees could 6 |NewsScientist[2September20x3, AhumanX (lef) and¥ chromosome seenwith scanning electron microscope Because of this,the “completed” human reference genome that ‘was announced in 2003 was actually far from complet. "The Ychromosome just kept being pushed aside” says Charles Lee at the ackson Laboratory forGenomicMedicinein Connecticut. “I's ahard ‘chromosometo complete because ‘of alltherepetitive sequences” In2o21,ateam including Karen Migaat the University of California, Santa Cruz filled in ‘many gaps,and again declared the human genome complete ‘What made this possible is technique, developed by a ‘company called Oxford Nanopore, tellthe difference ata distance. Czaczkes andhiscolleagues have now tested 90 butf-talled bumblebees (Gombus terestris). {After famiiarising the bees wit howto feed on sugar water from ‘several artificial flowers, the tearm put each bumblebee ina clear boxcontaining a choice between ‘sucrose solution and plain water inthree set-ups: apairof large ‘droplets, apair of cigarette filters ‘soaked in the solutions and two plastic tubes containing the iquids. Inthe droplet and cigarette filter ‘ests, the boes went tothe sugary solutions more often than would be expected by chance, suggesting ‘they could quickly toll the difference between the two. However, they visited the tube with the sugar that reads the sequence ofa single DNA moleculeasit goesthrough atiny hole, producing pieces that are millions of DNAletterslong ratherthan afew hundred. But the “complete” genome sequenced by Miga and her colleagues was a female one, consisting ofthe 22 normal chromosomesalong with the X chromosome. Only now has “Miga’s team completed the Yehromosome as well, rom ‘aperson of European descent. This complete Y chromosome hhas 106 protein-coding genes, which is41more than inthe reference genome, But almost alltheseextra genes are just copies ofone gene called TSPY WWacure, doLorg/kapb). ‘At the same time, Lee team has sequenced the ¥ chromosomes of g3diverse ‘men, including 21of African origin (Nature doi.org/kqn9). Theteams were independent, but did collaborate, saysLee, solution about a oftenas the tube with plain water. The researchers ‘ink this may be because the ‘tubes were suspended inan opaque ‘up, making it harder to see their contents. This suggests the bees Only three ofhis team’s ‘Ysequences are truly complete, he says. The rest still have between ‘oneandfive gaps. The43¥ ‘chromosomes show considerable diversity. says Lee.Forinstance, the number of copies ofthe TSPY ‘gene ranges between 23and39. “The Y chromosome kept being pushed aside. Itis hard to complete because ofits repetitive sequences” Unfortunately, the studies reveal littlenew about the parts ofthe Y chromosome that include genes, and most biologists havelittle interest inthe repetitive DNA, says David Page a the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ‘Whether the repetitive DNA, doesanything importantisn't clear. "Ibelieve there'sa lotto lea about repetitive DNA and wejust don'tunderstandit yet, and sowe've stlldismissed it as junk’ saysLee. Buft-taled bumblebees: might be even cleverer thanwe tought ‘are picking up on visualcues that betray where the sugaris, perhaps difference in colour (bioRxiv, doiorgfiape). Researchers often trainbees ‘with sugar and water but conduct further tests of t ies ‘without ether, says Czaczkes. The bees’ performance in many tasks tends to drop between training and ‘he ist test. This could be because ‘Some bees ae using their sugar- ‘sensing abilities to take a shortcut ‘and arent being trained. "We may have been underestimating how ‘smart insocts are/ he says. Jake Buehler Artificial intelligence The rise of Al prompt engineers Firms are hiring specialists to help them get more out of artificial intelligence, but the long-term need for such skills is debatable, finds Matthew Sparkes ASTHE capabilities of artificial a intelligence keep growing, some : companiesarehiring’Alprompt Ss engineers" tohelp them get thebest out ofthe emerging technology. Arethesejobsset tobecomea ubiquitous presence, orarethey passing fad? ‘ Generative Alcreatestext or Tee {magesin responseto prompts ne a enteredby the user.This canbe : 5 assimple as askingfor something ae inplain English, not dissimilarto a usingasearch engine. Butas with search engines, there isaknackto itsincluding the ight references, hintsand keywords can guidethe Altowards the desired outcome. Ben Stokes isthe founder ‘ofPromptBase,an online spectalisingin creating images engineers nto Al jobs for five marketplace where freelancers tendtocomefromaphotography years, butonly came across sellpromptsintendedtogetthe _orgraphicdesign background, __theterm prompt engineer” best results from so-alledlarge _andthoseworkingon promptsfor _earlierthis year. Inthe second Janguagemodelsthat include _generatingtextoften usedtowork quarter of2023,hiscompany AlchatbotslikeChatGPTand —_inmarketingorcopywriting.In ado promptengineer roles image-generating Als like essence theyarehelpingelients advertised in sectors from ig DALL-E and Midjourney. uuseAltodothesamejobsthey _techtodefenceandhealthcare, “Althoughit’sjustasentence once didthemselves. bbutthis has nw dropped oo. oftext, some people can find Customersaren'talwayscalling Sines aysthereisalot ofhype itquitehardtoapproachthese _inapromptengineerfortheir _aroundthetermat themoment, generative Almodelsandput _nuanceor reliability, says Stokes, and that alot ofthecompanies into exact words what they want approaching him looking fora themtogenerate”saysStokes. “Alfirm Anthropicmade —_—_“promptengineer” areactually “Bybuyingapre-built prompyou headlines by advertising _seekinga more rounded Al canensureitwillgeneratewhat_ a prompt engineer job researcher with technical skills. youwantanddoitconsistentl;” witha $375,000 salary" —_Hebelieves Al models could ‘Amongthe prompts available becomebetterat extracting fonPromptBasearetemplates but sometimesto cut costs information from humansabout helpingthe buyertocreate Companies ike Opendl, the maker what they want, makingthe idea botanicalwatercolourillustrations of ChatGPT, charge third parties of aspecialised prompt engineer cofany species,aprompt that turns usingtheservicebasedonthe obsolete, but thinks there will CChatGPTintoa"financial planning lengthofthe promptthey un, always beaneed for humans assistant” andonetofixerrors in soacarefullycraftedrequest_tooversee Al modelsduring softwarecode.Theaverage price _caneasly offset its cost. development andapplication. {s$350, but some promptscan ‘Therearesignsthat companies “Right now, salaries forthe cost hundreds of dollar. arekeentohiretalentthathelps _rolesthat we havefilled are pretty Stokessaysbusinessisgood, _themunlockthebenefitsof Al. _ crazy, butthe value of these roles, with morethan1s000 prompt ‘The lfirm Anthropicrecently _isgoing tobescrutinised and engineersregisteredandabout __madeheadlinesby advertsinga__questionedasthese systems fourbuyerstoeveryengineer. _promptengineerjobwithasalary become morecapabl;’ says ines. Mostofthepromptengineers as highas $375,000. year ‘Albert Phelpsisa prompt onthesitedon'thaveatechnical Aaron Sinesat USrecruitment_engineerat consultingfirm background, hesays.Engineers _firmfRazoroohasbeen placing Accenture. Heisone of about Artificiatintelligences are built of code, but may not respondina logical way ‘yo such engineers inhis part ofthe business, mostly existing staff who weretrained on Al “Thisissomething new and different because there’sno instruction manual ntermsof how touse thesevery open-ended capabilities” says Phelps."A ot (of my workisn’tabout building highly proprietary prompts. Realy, whatI'm helping my clients with is what arethe diferent ‘promptingstrategies thatyoucan use froma technical perspective, and how doyou best apply that with your own proprietary data, Fornow, promptsarea valuabletype of intellectual property, ut almost impossible to protect. han Qinat Zhejiang University in China saysone of is, students bought some prompts, and soon realised he could have re-uploaded them toa different ‘marketplace and started selling them. Qin and his colleagues have proposed a watermarking system that could, along with legislation, help to protect the ‘work of prompt engineers. Hesays complex prompts, and the prompt engineers who reatethem, areunlikely to disappear any time soon because Almodels aren't ike traditional algorithms that work on logic andcanbe entirely understood by humans. Designing a prompt foran Alwhose inner workings are mysteriouscan bemore like“magievoodoo" than programming, he says "Some promptsareshort, ike ‘maybe 20 or 30 characters. But thereare alot of very, very long, prompts. Even the generators of those prompts do not know the exact logic or meanings behind those magical words” says Qin. & _2September 2023 |New Scientist a7 News Chemistry Map of every molecule could be possible with Al Karmela Padavie Callaghan ARTIFICIAL intelligence may be able to help chemists build a map ‘of every conceivable molecule. ‘This could accelerate the discovery ‘of new drugs and materials. ‘The dea forthe map would be that molecules sit near others with similar properties. Different properties would be represented indifferent dimensions inthe ma ‘This means that if you knew of catalyst that contains a toxic ingredient, you could move along ‘the toxicity dimension to find a safer option that works just as wel, Heather Kulieat the (Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggested at arecent ‘American Chemical Society meeting inSan Francisco that Almay now be ‘good enough tohelp with the vast {ask of putting such a map together. “f we know theright questions toaskof Ali's possibleto think about coming up witha discovery ‘ofanew molecule in days or weoks ‘that would have normally taken \decades/’she said. She has used Alto speed up the discovery of ‘compounds for solar energy storage. ‘Similarmaps exist, such as ‘chemMaps, which has nearly '50,000 drugs and other compounds ‘organised ina three-dimensional ‘rid of chemical properties. However, map of every molecule ‘would be far bigger. Forjust small,

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