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New Scientist - December 16, 2023 USA
New Scientist - December 16, 2023 USA
Holiday &
New Year
special
Dear reader,
Welcome to our traditional, fun-filled holiday double issue,
replete with lentils that communicate electromagnetically (yes,
really!), spiders dreaming, an original story from science fiction
powerhouse Alastair Reynolds, fiendish games and puzzles,
ancient maps, bizarre flavour pairings, the physics of cocktails
and so many other seasonal treats! Add to that our news review
of the year, and you have the perfect companion for the festive
season. Here’s wishing you a happy holiday wherever you are.
News Features
8 Cosmic clumps 44 Animal dreams
Material in the universe seems Features What do spiders and pigeons
less clustered than it should be dream about – and can studying
this tell us why dreams evolved?
11 Protective crust
Biological coat is slowing the 47 Quantum lentils
Great Wall of China’s erosion The legumes could be sneakily
sending secret quantum signals
14 Wave for emphasis
Gesturing may help you speak 50 Walking with bats
new languages like a local The mystery of why there has
never been a flightless bat
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40 Perplexing puzzle
66 A marvellous map Can you solve the fiendish
The 550-year-old map that Mysteries of the Museum?
made cartography a science
Online Event
WHEN New Scientist editors sat down to We had the hottest day on record globally Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Hollywood’s
discuss the biggest story of 2023, one topic on 3 July, only for that record to be broken long history of producing AI dystopias, it
shot straight to the top of the list. It can’t again on 4, 5 and 6 July, in what became the was the US movie industry that saw one of
have escaped anyone’s notice that artificial hottest month ever. And with the heat came the biggest push-backs against the machines,
intelligence rocketed to prominence this disasters. Canada had its worst ever year for with both writing and acting unions going
year, with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, wildfires, which released huge amounts of on strike for months (see picture, above).
becoming a household name. Hundreds carbon into the atmosphere and generated While AI wasn’t their only grievance,
of millions of people are now using massive air pollution across vast areas. it did play a big role in negotiations, with
large language models on a regular basis, Meanwhile, in the US, there were 25 writers wanting assurance that their work
in a rapid roll-out of technology that is weather disasters that had losses exceeding wouldn’t be used to train AIs to pump out
essentially unprecedented. And while only a $1 billion by 8 November, beating the annual blockbusters. Meanwhile, actors were
fraction of that number are using image and record of 22 set in 2020. This year’s total concerned about having their likenesses
video-generating AIs, that still amounts to includes the August wildfires in Hawaii that scanned into a computer and puppeted by an
millions of new creations every single day. AI, leaving them out of work for future roles.
Beyond consumer use of AI, the “Decisions made today on AI and With concerns about AI running high, the
technology is also transforming huge climate change could determine UK attempted to take the lead on regulating
swathes of science. This year alone, we have the fate of billions of people” the new technology. Prime Minister Rishi
reported on advances in weather forecasting, Sunak hosted global dignitaries, business
materials science, archaeology, chemistry killed more than 100 people. In September, leaders and AI experts at the AI Safety
and many, many more fields. It is safe to heavy rains caused two dams to collapse Summit in Bletchley Park, resulting in the
say that, for good or for ill, the AI revolution in Libya, killing as many as 20,000 people in Bletchley Declaration, an agreement signed
has only just begun (see page 22). the city of Derna. The list could go on and on. by 28 countries and the European Union.
Another topic was already at the top of our What connects the stories of AI and While international cooperation is to be
list. Climate change is the biggest story of the climate change is that decisions taken today welcomed, the main substance of the
year, the decade, the century – but 2023 went could potentially determine the fate of document was to set out to host further
beyond anyone’s expectations. Although the billions of people. With AI, the long-predicted meetings, in a pace that seems at odds with
figures won’t officially be determined until rise of software taking people’s jobs may have a technology that seemingly transforms the
January 2024, it is pretty safe to say that this finally arrived, with some businesses finding world every few months. If we are to ensure
year was the hottest on record, and it may that, for example, employing someone to that AI benefits everyone, not just the firms
also be the first year in which global average babysit ChatGPT as it churns out copy is behind it, politicians must act faster.
temperatures rose 1.5°C above pre-industrial more cost-effective than employing a team That is a refrain we can echo when it comes
baselines – a monumental failure in our of humans – although whether that output to climate change as well. In 2015, nations at
efforts to halt warming (see page 16). is of the same quality remains up for debate. the COP21 summit in Paris pledged to keep
that journey. Currently, efforts to tackle Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and
other mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to
emissions are still lacking. If we take New Scientist, PO Box 3806, Chesterfield, MO 63006-9953, USA.
Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in USA
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2023, let it be that this must finally change. ❚
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Marine biology
Zoology
Unusual hedgehog After analysing seven of This hedgehog has darker brown
the animals, including their fur and spines, and slightly larger
from eastern China DNA samples, the researchers ears, than European hedgehogs
is new to science concluded that they belonged
to a new species, which they recorded, though, it isn’t thought
A DARK brown hedgehog that named Mesechinus orientalis. to be endangered, says He.
ZOOKEYS
dwells in the forests of eastern The four other known species in Previously, there were only
China has been scientifically the Mesechinus genus mainly live 17 known species of hedgehogs,
described for the first time. in northern China, Mongolia and “so we were pretty happy that we
In 2018, Kai He at Guangzhou Russia, while Mesechinus hughi known hedgehogs in its genus. Like increased that by one”, he says.
University, China, and his colleagues resides in south-west China. other hedgehogs, it is nocturnal and “For a genuine hedgehog nerd
saw unusual-looking hedgehogs in The other types live more than tends to feed on insects and fruit. like myself, this is astonishing
the provinces of Anhui and Zhejiang. 1000 kilometres away, says He. It also hibernates during winter news,” says Sophie Lund
They had darker brown fur and Weighing just under 340 grams (ZooKeys, doi.org/k74g). Rasmussen at the University of
spines, as well as slightly larger and measuring 18.8 centimetres So far, the team has found Oxford. “I look forward to learning
ears, than the European hedgehog long, on average, M. orientalis is M. orientalis in only two Chinese more about the species’ ecology.” ❚
(Erinaceus europaeus). slightly smaller than the other provinces. Based on the numbers Chen Ly
WHAT is the most space-efficient A simulation puzzling,” says Vutukuri. “We showed, both experimentally
way to pack tennis balls or oranges? shows nine thought that there was some and in simulations, that the
MARÍN-AGUILAR, ET AL. 2023
Mathematicians have studied microscopic fluke, so he repeated it a couple sausage is the best packed,”
this “sphere-packing” problem balls packed of times and every time he says team member Marjolein
for centuries, but surprisingly inside a cell observed similar results,” says Dijkstra at Utrecht University,
little attention has been paid to membrane Vutukuri. “I was wondering, the Netherlands. With more than
replicating the results in the real ‘why is this happening?’ It’s nine balls, the membrane became
world. Now, physical experiments a bit counterintuitive.” deformed by the pressure of the
involving microscopic plastic After reading up on sphere balls. The team ran simulations
balls have confirmed what packing becomes more efficient. packing, Vutukuri and his team for up to 150 balls and reproduced
mathematicians had long But what about back in the real decided to investigate and carried the sausage catastrophe, where it
suspected – with a small world? Sphere-packing theories out simulations for different suddenly becomes more efficient
number of balls, it is best assume that the balls are perfectly numbers of polystyrene balls in to pack things in polyhedrons, with
to stick them in a sausage. hard and don’t attract or repel a bag. They then compared their between 56 and 70 balls (Nature
Johannes Kepler was the first each other, but this is rarely true Communications, doi.org/k738).
person to tackle sphere packing, in real life – think of the squish “For up to nine spheres, we The sausage formation
suggesting in 1611 that a pyramid of a tennis ball or an orange. showed experimentally for a small number of balls is
would be the best way to pack One exception is microscopic and in simulations that unintuitive, says Erich Müller
cannonballs for long voyages, but polystyrene balls, which are the sausage is the best” at Imperial College London, but
this answer was only fully proven very hard and basically inert. makes sense because of the large
by mathematicians in 2014. Hanumantha Rao Vutukuri predictions with experiments surface area of the membrane with
This proof only considers the at the University of Twente using up to nine real polystyrene respect to the balls at low numbers.
best way of arranging an infinite in the Netherlands and his balls that had been squeezed into “When dimensions become really,
number of spheres, however. For team, who were unaware of cell membranes immersed in a really small, then the wall effects
finite sphere packings, simply mathematical sphere-packing liquid solution. They could become very important,” he says.
placing the balls in a line, or theories, were experimenting then shrink-wrap the balls by The findings could have
sausage, is more efficient until with inserting these balls into changing the concentration applications in drug delivery, such
there are around 56 spheres. At empty cell membranes and of the solution, causing the as how to most efficiently fit hard
this point, the balls experience were surprised to find them membranes to tighten, and antibiotic molecules, like gold,
what mathematicians call the forming sausages. see what formation the balls inside cell-like membranes, but the
“sausage catastrophe” and “One of my students observed settled in using a microscope. work doesn’t obviously translate
something closer to pyramid a linear packing, but it was quite “For up to nine spheres, we at this point, says Müller. ❚
Zoology
important for social animals to put in a container separated by a interest,” says Dahl. But if they
be able to recognise individuals transparent panel, so the spiders were exposed to a new individual,
within their species, but only a few could see each other but not make they approached each other
invertebrates have been observed physical contact. They then seemed the spiders. Three minutes later, they (bioRxiv, doi.org/k74b).
to have this ability, including to approach each other, a sign that returned to the transparent panel. The spiders consistently showed
northern paper wasps (Polistes they were interested in making an The test was done many times, so less interest in those they had seen
fuscatus), which live in colonies. initial encounter. the paired spiders were sometimes before, so they seem to have some
Now, Christoph Dahl at After 7 minutes, Dahl and Cheng strangers and sometimes weren’t. form of memory and recognition
the University of Neuchatel in replaced the transparent panel with When the spiders saw an for individuals, says Dahl. ❚
Switzerland and Yaling Cheng at an opaque one, visually separating individual they had already seen, Chen Ly
DRUGS that remove worn and In multiple in cells of the older mice than in used to rebuild myelin in treated
damaged immune cells may help sclerosis, those of the younger mice. The mice than in those in the control
JUAN GAERTNER/SHUTTERSTOCK
treat multiple sclerosis (MS), microglia cells increase was greatest in microglia, group. This suggests that clearing
a study in mice suggests. (orange) which are immune cells of the senescent immune cells may
MS is a neurodegenerative damage the nervous system. enhance myelin regeneration,
disease in which the immune protective This finding suggests a myelin says Gross, who presented these
system mistakenly attacks the sheath around injury leads to a greater build-up findings at a November meeting
protective coating around nerves, nerve cells of senescent immune cells in older of the Society for Neuroscience
called myelin. It often manifests in animals than in younger ones. in Washington DC.
people’s 20s and 30s. Most people cells, which accumulate with age. Further experiments revealed that
with the condition have relapses – These are cells that have become this increase seemed to impair the “If we can improve the
where myelin is damaged and so worn or damaged they cease ability to regenerate myelin. remyelination phase,
their symptoms worsen – followed to work. Instead of dying, they To see if targeting senescent maybe that’s another way
by periods of recovery, in which linger in tissues, like cellular immune cells could help repair to treat multiple sclerosis”
myelin regenerates. zombies. “We wanted to see if myelin in old age, the researchers
As people with MS age, they there was an increase in senescent injected a toxin into the spinal This could provide a different
usually advance to the progressive cells with age following cords of 11 mice aged 12 months. way to treat MS. “If we can improve
phase. This is when symptoms demyelination,” says Gross. They treated five of them with a that remyelination phase, maybe
worsen without recovery periods, First, the researchers damaged drug belonging to a class of that’s another way to attack the
meaning less myelin regenerates, myelin in five 3-month-old mice medications known as senolytics, problem,” says Gross.
says Phillip Gross at Georgetown and four 18-month-old mice by which remove senescent cells. The Further research will be
University in Washington DC. injecting a toxin into their spinal medication is in clinical trials and needed to find out whether
To see why remyelination cords. They then genetically isn’t yet used in humans. The other senescent-clearing drugs could
typically occurs only earlier in the analysed cells at the site of injury animals had a sham treatment. be effective at treating the disease
disease, Gross and his colleagues and found, on average, a sixfold They found, on average, a 65 per in people, says Darren Baker at
looked at the effects of senescent increase in a marker of senescence cent greater increase in a protein the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. ❚
Conservation
A BASEBALL’S seams play IF YOU are trying to master don’t use lexical stress the pronounced gesture over
an unexpectedly large role in a new language, making and may therefore find it a syllable that isn’t stressed,
shifting its journey in midair. pronounced hand gestures particularly difficult to learn while the third had the same
A typical baseball is covered could help you emphasise languages that feature it. size gesture for each syllable.
in two saddle-shaped pieces of the correct parts of words. To see if gestures could help, The fourth group saw videos
leather, usually hand-stitched In some tongues, certain Tian and his team recruited that featured no gestures at all.
together. How it flies after leaving syllables within words are 124 native Chinese speakers, Participants were asked to
a pitcher’s hand depends on factors enunciated with markedly aged between 18 and 28 years, press a key when they thought
including its speed, its spin and even more weight than others, most of whom watched videos lexical stress was being applied
the weather. When it flies, the air known as lexical stress. of people performing up-and- to different words, both without
molecules close to its surface form down hand movements that the help of gesture videos and
a slow-moving layer, called the
boundary layer, that surrounds the
ball. Later in the throw, this layer
10-15%
The boost in learning “lexical
were synced to recordings of
the same English words. All of
the words consisted of three
then with them.
separates from the surface and stress” as a result of gesturing syllables, with the lexical stress Matching up
forms a wake behind the baseball. being equally distributed among Overall, any gesture helped the
To study what effect the slightly Previous research suggests the words to fall on either the participants learn lexical stress,
raised stitched seams may have on that the use of gestures can help first, middle or last syllables. but when more pronounced
this process, Barton Smith at Utah people learn a new language, The participants were divided gestures were matched to the
State University and his colleagues and now Xing Tian at New into four groups, three of which stressed syllable, they were
launched 72 baseballs many times York University in Shanghai, watched videos that featured particularly good at identifying
each – for a total of more than China, and his colleagues gestures over every syllable of it (bioRxiv, doi.org/k7tc).
3000 throws. They varied the have found that making hand each word. In the first group, a “In general, gestures help
orientation of the seams and movements also assists us in more pronounced gesture was to learn lexical stress, but how
applied different amounts of spin using lexical stress correctly. carried out over the stressed much help depends on the
to the ball, then analysed what Languages such as English syllable, with smaller gestures nature of gestures,” says Tian.
happened as each ball passed commonly feature lexical stress. for the other two syllables. The research involved several
through a smoke-filled container. For example, the word “accent” The second group featured experiments, which makes it
The movement of smoke particles involves more emphasis on difficult to combine the results.
revealed that seams can make the the first syllable, “ac”, than the Hand gestures may help Nevertheless, Tian estimates
process by which the boundary second, “cent”. Native speakers you stress syllables that that the use of gestures helped
layer separates uneven, which then of Chinese dialects, however, should be emphasised the participants identify lexical
makes the baseball’s wake – and its stress between 10 and 15 per
motion – shift unexpectedly. cent more accurately compared
Whenever a baseball’s axis of spin with no gestures at all.
was tilted from the vertical, the Tian says this improvement
boundary layer separated earlier at is impressive considering that
the seams on one side than the other, the participants were tasked
and this skewed the ball’s wake and with learning a “new language
made its trajectory curve. The feature” that they weren’t
researchers found the magnitude familiar with.
of this effect to be comparable to A follow-up study exposed
the Magnus effect, which is already the same Chinese speakers to
familiar to pitchers and involves a Russian words, with gestures
shift in the ball’s trajectory due to its being similarly helpful for
spin. The seams could shift the ball’s learning lexical stress.
DELMAINE DONSON/GETTY IMAGES
ZHENSHAN BING/TUM/GERMANY
recognise the special signals used
by local people as an invitation to
cooperate. Greater honeyguides
(Indicator indicator) lead humans
to bees’ nests so the people will
break them open. While the
humans collect the honey, the
birds feast on beeswax and larvae. Flexi-spine makes
Brian Wood at the University of robot mouse agile
California, Los Angeles, and Claire
Spottiswoode at the University of A mouse-like robot with
Cape Town, South Africa, found an articulated spine is
that in Tanzania, honeyguides faster, more agile and
respond to 81 per cent of the defter at balancing
whistles local Hadza honey- than rigid competitors.
hunters use to call them, but to The machine is about
just 24 per cent of the trill-grunts 40 centimetres long and
used by Yao honey-hunters from weighs 225 grams (Science
LARASLK/SHUTTERSTOCK
Mozambique. Swap countries, and Robotics, doi.org/gs78bp).
the situation is reversed (Science, Such flexibility may help
doi.org/k73f). This shows the birds robots wiggle and squeeze
learn the specific signals used by through tiny gaps.
local hunters. Ryan Truscott
The best way to
Biology Chemistry grind coffee beans
To do this, the researchers Adding a drop of water to
Strange fungi look AI can tell vaporised each wine and separated your coffee beans before
like Dune worms it into its chemical components. grinding them can reduce
which chateau This gave them a readout for each mess and lead to a more
FOUR previously unknown wine, called a chromatogram, with flavourful brew. Pouring
species of sand-dwelling fungi Bordeaux about 30,000 points representing in about half a millilitre to
have been described in Hungary. different chemical compounds. a typical brew should stop
They are stalked puffballs, which wines are from The researchers used 73 of the the grounds clumping
have a round, spore-spewing chromatograms to train a machine together and improve
fruiting body on a pillar. WINES really are given a distinct learning algorithm, along with data the consistency and
Bálint Dima at Eötvös identity by the place where their on the chateaux of origin and the flavour of an espresso
Loránd University in Hungary grapes are grown and the wine year. Then they tested the algorithm (Matter, doi.org/gs75xz).
and his colleagues collected is made, according to an analysis on the seven chromatograms that
specimens from sandy grasslands of red Bordeaux wines. had been held back. They repeated Spinning gives
with dunes by the Danube river. Alexandre Pouget at the the process 50 times, changing the
locusts a hard case
They say four of the species University of Geneva, Switzerland, wines used each time. The algorithm
are new to science: Tulostoma and his colleagues used machine correctly guessed the chateau Locusts placed in a
dunense, Tulostoma hungaricum, learning to analyse the chemical of origin 100 per cent of the time. centrifuge to mimic the
Tulostoma sacchariolens and composition of 80 red wines from “Not that many people in the world conditions of hypergravity
Tulostoma shaihuludii (MycoKeys, 12 years between 1990 and 2007. will be able to do this,” says Pouget. grew tougher legs than
doi.org/k732). The last of these All were from seven wine estates It was also about 50 per cent those living normally. The
was named after the Shai-Hulud, in the Bordeaux region of France. accurate at guessing which year the results may help us to work
the giant sandworms from “We were interested in finding wine was made in (Communications out how biological materials
Frank Herbert’s Dune science out whether there is a chemical Chemistry, doi.org/k73v). evolve under stress and
fiction novels. T. shaihuludii has signature that is specific to each The work is more evidence that to design materials that
a curved stalk, so the puffball of those chateaux,” says Pouget, local geography, climate, microbes can naturally adapt
cap faces sideways, evoking a meaning one estate’s wines would and wine-making practices, together (Proceedings of the Royal
sandworm emerging from the have a very similar chemical profile, known as terroir, give wine a Society B, doi.org/gs756k).
desert, says Dima. Jake Buehler and therefore taste, year after year. unique flavour. Chris Simms
Scientist’s rundown
of the biggest science
and technology
Extreme heat like we’ve
stories this year
never seen before
Record heat
Why 2023 was probably
Greenhouse gas levels and the arrival of El Niño pushed
the hottest year we have the world’s climate into “uncharted territory” in 2023
ever seen this page >
James Dinneen
Superconductor scramble
A claimed wonder
material sent social
T HE official numbers aren’t in
yet, but this past year was almost
certainly the hottest on record,
natural variability in the climate
system. June also saw heat and
dry weather intensify wildfires
media into overdrive p18
with high temperatures driving burning in Canada. These went
extreme events across the planet. on to smash records for the area
Lingering illness
From record-breaking wildfires burned and carbon emitted, and
Covid-19 no longer led
in Canada to record-low levels of sent suffocating smoke across the
the headlines, but still
sea ice in Antarctica, researchers densely populated US east coast.
remained a concern p19
say this year’s weather phenomena Briefly the hottest month on
Terrific tile were shocking, even if they were record, June was soon supplanted
Mathematicians precisely what was anticipated by July, which saw things hot up
discovered a shape with climate change. even more. A wobbly pattern in
like no other p20 “We’re getting to a point where the jet stream continued to drive
one year was bound to happen simultaneous heat waves on
where [the effects of climate change] three continents. To take one
Lunar glory
would be so pervasive we started to scorching example, Phoenix,
India became the fourth
pay attention,” says Pedro DiNezio Arizona, suffered nearly the
nation to land successfully
at the University of Colorado entire month with temperatures
on the moon p20
Boulder. “Maybe it was 2023.” above 43°C (110°F). The global
The first intimations that average temperature for July
Wegovy demand
this year would be one for was more than 1.5°C above the
Weight-loss drugs
the record books began with pre-industrial average – the first
took off, but faced
forecasts in late 2022 that the month in which this has happened
supply shortages p21
Pacific Ocean would see a shift to during the northern hemisphere
AI revolution a warmer El Niño climate pattern summer. Researchers found
It has been impossible the following year. This came that these temperatures would
to escape the success of after three years of a cold La Niña have been virtually impossible
artificial intelligence p22 pattern that had masked the effect without climate change.
of steadily rising concentrations of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
Cancer concern
says Michael McPhaden at the US Record highs
Why the condition’s
National Oceanic and Atmospheric The hot streak continued in the Top: New York
rise in younger people
Administration (NOAA). “During following month, which was the is shrouded in
remained a mystery p23
La Niñas, the ocean takes up more hottest August on record. One of the wildfire smoke
heat than usual,” he says. “During most striking events was in South in June. Smaller
Eyes in the sky
El Niño, that heat is released America, where parts of Chile and images, left to
Chinese spy balloon
back into the atmosphere.” Argentina saw what was effectively right: a wildfire in
saga highlighted
The results of this shift started a heatwave in the middle of winter. Greece in August;
surveillance threats p23
to become clear in June, when global Another alarming indicator between the low water level
Wonders of the universe average temperatures first began June and August – which was the in Lake Titicaca,
The best space pictures, setting records. Some regions, such hottest three-month stretch on Bolivia; workers
from a solar tornado as parts of the North Atlantic Ocean, record – was in Antarctica, where fix insulating
to green comets p24 saw unprecedented temperatures, sea ice failed to recover during foam on the
as warming due to rising greenhouse the southern winter from record Rhone glacier
gases exacerbated heat driven by low levels set earlier in the year. in Switzerland
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: NYT/REDUX/EYEVINE; FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP VIA GETTY; GASTON BRITO MISEROCCHI/GETTY; AYHAN MEHMET/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY
The extraordinary heat didn’t
let up with the seasons. September,
though not as hot as the preceding
months, saw the largest difference
when compared with historical
temperatures on record, rising to
around 1.8°C above the pre-industrial
average – a huge jump from any
previous year. Zeke Hausfather
at Berkeley Earth memorably
called the size of this anomaly
“gobsmackingly bananas”.
That put to rest nearly all
doubt that 2023 would end up the
hottest year on record, replacing the
previous record year in 2016, which,
not incidentally, also saw a strong
El Niño develop in the Pacific. In its
end of September climate report,
NOAA had the odds at 99 per cent
that 2023 would be the hottest year
on record. An official determination
will be made in January.
“The truth is that we are
shocked by the ferocity of the
extreme weather events in 2023,”
William Ripple at Oregon State
University and his colleagues
wrote in an end-of-year report
on the state of the climate. “We are
afraid of the uncharted territory
Average global air temperature
that we have now entered.”
1979 - 2021
17 Between January and the end
2022
2023 of September, the global average
16
surface temperature was 1.1°C above
Temperature (°C)
15
the pre-industrial average, according
to NOAA. That is 0.03°C above the
14 previous record for that period from
2016. But this record may not stand
13 for long. As El Niño reaches its peak
strength early next year, McPhaden
12
says it isn’t unreasonable to expect
11 2024 to be even hotter. “We’re on
1 Jan 1 Feb 1 Mar 1 Apr 1 May 1 Jun 1 Jul 1 Aug 1 Sep 1 Oct 1 Nov 1 Dec an escalator that’s only going
NCEP CFSV2/CFSR | CLIMATEREANALYZER.ORG, CLIMATE CHANGE INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF MAINE (17°C=63°F) one way. And that’s up.” ❚
Materials
The viral
superconductor
A claimed breakthrough substance called LK-99
became an unlikely social media star
Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
<4%
Proportion of covid-19 deaths
different to the pandemic’s previous three
years. Across the globe, hospitalisations
and deaths reached all-time lows. On
levels in the population with occasional
outbreaks,” says Schaffner.
Some experts have suggested
that took place in 2023 5 May, the World Health Organization covid-19’s risk is now on a par with that
(WHO) announced the virus was no longer of seasonal flu. Yet there are considerable
>90%
Proportion of people in US and UK
a public health emergency, suggesting
the pandemic’s crisis phase had ended.
“It is a really important inflection
differences between these viruses. Most
notably, covid-19 is still rapidly evolving.
“We don’t have one variant that is dominant
with antibodies against covid-19 point of accomplishment,” says Maria worldwide, so there’s an unpredictability
Van Kerkhove at the WHO. “But that’s about what’s next,” says Kerkhove. Early in
EG.5
The highly transmissble variant
not the end of the story. While the
crisis is over, the virus is still with us.”
SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus behind
2023, a variant called XBB.1.5 dominated
due to its improved ability to infect human
cells. It was then overtaken by the even
that became dominant in 2023 covid-19, emerged in China towards the more transmissible EG.5.
end of 2019. Since then, around 7 million Nirav Shah at the US Centers for Disease
deaths have been reported worldwide, of Control and Prevention says emergency
which fewer than 4 per cent occurred in responses should be in place for both
ROKAS TENYS/ALAMY
2023. And while tens of thousands of covid-19 and flu. “We should start treating
people died from covid-19 each week them more akin to one another.” One
between 2020 and 2022, the weekly of these responses should be regularly
reported death rate for most of 2023 updating vaccines to better protect people
was well below 10,000 globally. against circulating variants, which has long
Hospitalisations and deaths, the two been in place to control flu. In September,
most accurate metrics for gauging an new covid-19 booster vaccines became
outbreak’s severity, have really diminished, available in countries such as the US, the
says William Schaffner at Vanderbilt UK, France and Canada, targeting XBB.1.5
University in Tennessee. This is largely instead of the ancestral strain.
due to most people having some form But not everyone who wants the vaccine
of immunity against the virus, he says. has been able to get it. Issues with roll-outs
For instance, it is estimated that more than have hindered availability in the US and
A covid-19 vaccine 90 per cent of people in the US and the UK only individuals at high risk of covid-19,
being prepared in have antibodies against covid-19. “This such as older adults and healthcare
Beijing in January indicates that the virus is now becoming workers, can get it in the UK and other
European countries.
While the threat of covid-19 diminished
considerably in 2023, its risk is still far
from insignificant. Before the pandemic,
there were two main respiratory viruses
circulating, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
and flu. The addition of covid-19 means
hospitalisations will continue to be higher
than they once were, straining healthcare
systems, says Shah. Four years in, we also
still have much to learn about the virus,
particularly when it comes to long covid
REUTERS/THOMAS PETER
Mathematics
a computer scientist,” says Craig Kaplan as it believes that the pattern may be less
at the University of Waterloo, Canada. susceptible to problems than squares.
He is on the team that found the shape, “It’s a bit bittersweet,” says Kaplan.
which it called the “hat”. Mathematicians “We’ve set these ideas free into the world
The “hat” shape can tile had sought such an object for decades. and they’ve taken off, which is wonderful,
an infinite plane without After revealing the tile in March, the but leaves me a little bit melancholy
creating repeating patterns team unveiled a second shape in May, the because it’s not mine any more.”
“spectre”, which improved on the hat by However, the team has no desire to
not requiring its mirror image to tile fully, commercialise the hat, he says. “The
making it more useful for real surfaces. four of us agreed early on that we’d
The hat has since appeared on T-shirts, much rather let this be free and see
badges, bags and as cutters that allow what wonderful things people do with
you to make your own ceramic versions. it, rather than trying to protect it in any
It has also sparked more than a way. Patents are something that, as
dozen papers in fields from engineering mathematicians, we find distasteful.” ❚
Space
moon landing The Indian Space Research While there were tentative hopes that
Organisation’s Vikram lander and the rover could reawaken for another
Matthew Sparkes Pragyan rover carried out a string of day’s exploration, that didn’t happen.
scientific experiments that will shed Sarah Casewell at the University
light on the composition of the moon’s of Leicester, UK, says the chances of
surface, and the former performed a reviving the lander or rover now are
short take-off and repositioning to give extremely slim, as they have passed
engineers insight for future missions. through several lunar nights, but this
Around two weeks after the takes nothing away from the mission’s
Chandrayaan-3 mission began – a “phenomenal achievement”.
single period of lunar daylight – both Chandrayaan-3 should be considered
devices went into “sleep mode” and a success by any measure, she says,
prepared for temperatures to plunge but given its budget of just £60 million
as low as -238°C, which would be very ($74 million), it also represents
likely to destroy electronic components. a triumph of careful planning. ❚
Amid near constant media diabetes, by as much as 15 per cent. users had gone into a coma due
coverage, demand for Wegovy Following Wegovy’s US launch, to plunging blood sugar levels.
rose so much that supplies in some the drug’s Danish manufacturer All of this demonstrates the
pharmacies ran out in the US, where Novo Nordisk couldn’t keep up incredible desire for solutions to
the drug was launched in 2021. with demand and repeatedly obesity. Mike Lean at the University
This led to knock-on shortages of delayed its other launches, but it of Glasgow, UK, says the demand
Ozempic, the version of semaglutide has since been made available in for a new drug outstripping supply
used to treat type 2 diabetes. some European countries, such as the so much has happened only a few
Semaglutide mimics the actions UK. Novo Nordisk’s obesity medicine times previously, such as when
of a hormone called GLP-1, which sales rose by about 160 per cent anti-HIV drugs came out in the
is normally released after eating. between January and June this year, 1990s. “This has almost never
This has several effects on the body, primarily driven by Wegovy sales in happened before,” he says. ❚
Technology
RESEARCHERS called this year for an urgent the problem, since an announcement in
need to understand the rising rates of cancer March by the US National Cancer Institute
in people under the age of 50, saying we must (NCI) and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) that
finally get to grips with this growing problem. understanding early-onset cancer is one
Over the past few decades, the number of their nine new “grand challenges”.
of diagnoses for those early-onset cases – The cause is probably some aspect
so-called because most tumours are of affluent modern life, says Shuji Ogino
at Harvard Medical School. That is because
the rate of early-onset cancers is rising
50%
Astronomy
But the groundbreaking telescope because it is covered in millions of Bottom left: A solar
was far from the only source of visual churning geysers of plasma that tornado seen from Earth
wonderment, because a series of last only a few minutes each.
new missions sent back pictures The image to the right of the Bottom middle: Newborn
from space (including India’s seething sun reveals a newborn star’s star Herbig-Haro 211,
Chandrayaan-3 project, see page 20), incredible supersonic jets. These captured by JWST
and the view from Earth wasn’t bad make it what is known as a Herbig-
either. Here are four of the images Haro object. The star itself is hidden Bottom right: An amateur
that dazzled us the most. in the dark cloud of gas from which astronomer’s view of
The star in the main picture, right, it formed, but as the jets shoot out comet Nishimura
was caught by JWST getting ready to on either side of it, they slam into
explode. It is called WR 124 and is surrounding gas and dust, creating
about 30 times the mass of the sun. huge shock waves and lighting up.
When stars that big run out of This particular object, called
hydrogen to burn in their core, Herbig-Haro 211, is about 1000 light
they begin to fuse heavier elements years from Earth in the constellation
instead. This fusion creates powerful Perseus. That makes it one of the
blasts of energy, blowing out gusts of nearest Herbig-Haro objects we know
wind at velocities in the millions of of, which is why JWST was able to
kilometres per hour. When those capture the most detailed image of
powerful winds strip away the outer one ever taken. This revealed strange
layers of the star, it becomes what wiggles in the jets, which may
is known as a Wolf-Rayet star. indicate that Herbig-Haro 211
Within a few million years of being actually has a companion star.
stripped, it blows up in a supernova. Our final image (bottom
The purplish blotches in this picture row, far right) shows the comet
are the clouds of dust and gas that Nishimura, seen from Earth as
used to be WR 124’s outer layers – it it streaked across the night sky.
has already lost about 10 times the Two rare green comets made
mass of the sun – and without dramatic appearances in the
those layers intact, it is now skies this year. First, in early February,
doomed to go supernova. the comet C/2022 E3 made its first
Next up, we have the tallest solar close pass to Earth in 50,000 years.
tornado ever recorded (bottom row,
near right). The event occurred on
14 March, when the rotation of the
Then, in August, amateur astronomer
Hideo Nishimura discovered another
comet – now named after him –
178k
The height of the solar flare
sun’s magnetic fields churned up which remained visible for about two (near right) in kilometres
the plasma near its north pole. months. These comets appear green
This feature rose from the sun’s
surface until the giant flare reached
178,000 kilometres tall – that is nearly
because the gas around their rocky
nuclei contains diatomic carbon,
which is a relatively rare substance
1000
Distance in light years to
14 times the diameter of Earth. made of pairs of bound carbon atoms. Herbig-Haro 211 (centre right)
This image was the result of a Make the most of the image of
painstaking collaboration between
astrophotographers Jason Guenzel
and Andrew McCarthy. They used
Nishimura now because the comet
takes about 437 years to orbit the
sun, so won’t be seen again until
437
Number of years comet Nishimura
a high-speed camera to record the the 25th century. ❚ (far right) takes to orbit the sun
Column
T
HIS was the year when equivalent mind so powerful that
two of Silicon Valley’s it might constitute an existential
biggest hype blimps – risk to humanity (see page 56).
cryptocurrency and artificial Being affiliated with EA gave
intelligence – were deflated by the impression that the work the
drama. First came the downfall Sams were doing had a higher
of Sam Bankman-Fried, whose purpose. They were building
shady cryptocurrency empire a better future, where work
landed him in court, where he was and money would be utterly
convicted of fraud and conspiracy. transformed by technology.
During his trial, witnesses and Plus, they were saving humanity!
evidence revealed that Bankman- But when push came to shove,
SIMONE ROTELLA
I
WILL remember 2023 as and then gently point out that
another year of sadness many SOBS find it offensive.
and anger, and not just Completed, please. Or just plain
because of my personal loss. English: she killed herself.
Constant alarming news on Some people will probably
the environment coupled to a regard this as “wokeness” and
political class still largely unable yet another example of how
or unwilling to heed the warnings “you can’t say anything these
from scientists frequently make days”. But I hope it demonstrates
my job a gloomy place. that being anti-woke can be
This is especially so in the UK, unnecessarily hurtful. It doesn’t
where our shopping trolley of a cost anything to be sensitive to
government has veered alarmingly others’ feelings. It is a small thing.
to the right on a lot of what ex- But it gives me a taste of what
prime minister David Cameron – LGBTQ+ people, those with
recently resurrected as foreign disabilities, ethnic minorities,
secretary – once called “green environmental protesters and
crap”. Pledges to max out North other marginalised groups
Sea oil and gas; motorist-friendly must feel when their hard won Let’s start with architecture.
policies; row-backs on net zero; gains or lifestyles are smeared At Kalambo Falls in Zambia,
crackdowns on environmental as “wokeness”. researchers found buried logs that
protesters. Those in power Don’t get me wrong – I’m had been shaped with stone tools
obviously think these are vote privileged to do the job I do and so they interlocked. They seem
winners, showing a depressing I will keep on doing it. And there Our human story to have once been part of a larger
eagerness to seek short-term gains have been highs among the lows. structure, perhaps a building.
by dismissing or denying long- I travelled a lot this year, though
Michael Marshall hails a This would be unsurprising if they
term problems. One of my big narrowly avoided a few hairy rewriting of prehistory weren’t from 476,000 years ago,
hopes for 2024 is that they are situations. I was in Morocco just almost 200,000 years before
A
proved wrong at the ballot box. before the earthquake, Israel just T THIS point, it is a truism Homo sapiens evolved.
Fighting back against the before the Hamas attack and that the story of human Art also seems to have been
green crap is all part of the war Iceland just before the volcano. evolution is undergoing invented by older hominins, and
on woke, another thing that I recently spent a few days in an overhaul. Discoveries in recent 2023 saw more Neanderthal works
has made me despair this year. Dorset. My advice: avoid this years have forced us to reconsider found in La Roche-Cotard cave in
Somehow, attempts to make the English county, something many crucial points, such as how France. Earlier species like Homo
world a fairer place for everyone bad is going to happen there. old our species is (about 300,000 erectus may have made art too,
and a greener one for nature have On top of that, I think our rivers years as opposed to 200,000). by engraving patterns on shells.
been weaponised by those for campaign helped move the issue This year was equally dizzying: By far the most contentious
whom the status quo is just fine. up the agenda. Our Rewilding discoveries continued to come claim in this area is that Homo
I am a white, middle-aged, Weekender was great, not least thick and fast. But I do think it is naledi made art. This hominin
home-owning, heterosexual, because I got to meet so many possible to draw out some overall lived around 250,000 years ago.
able-bodied male (he/him), so the of our wonderful readers. Ditto messages from the blizzard of It had quite a small brain, which
war on woke rarely touches my life New Scientist Live. And I landed finds. Two things stand out to is typical of older species – and
directly. But I’m also a cyclist and a prestigious journalism award. me. One is the growing evidence was therefore believed to be
a tofu muncher and I live in north I write this as COP28 begins in that many supposedly advanced
London, so anti-woke politicians Dubai. Hopes aren’t high, but they behaviours, such as architecture “Many supposedly
really wind me up. But that is what spring eternal. There is still time to and art, can be traced much
advanced behaviours
they are trying to do, so I will try avert a triple catastrophe of climate further back in time than we
to be zen about it. change, biodiversity loss and thought. And the other is that we can be traced much
I have learned, though, how pollution. Just don’t get me started have badly misunderstood gender further back in time
casual, careless use of language on the US presidential election. ❚ roles in prehistoric societies. than we thought”
T
HIS year I made what which is my next book on science
may have been a mistake: for generally curious readers, like
I agreed to write two books. those of New Scientist.
And having written that sentence, In the former, I am bringing
I feel compelled to reassure both together ideas from Black studies,
of my editors (should they see this feminist thought, history of
column) that all is totally fine, I am science, philosophy of science
on top of this and you will get my and the theory of aesthetics,
drafts by the agreed dates. which is the corner of philosophy
Both books, in different ways, concerned with art. I have no
are about the cosmos and my formal training in any of these
(maybe strangely) enduring love areas, although I have now been
for the thing. I say strangely working at them long enough that
because of the year we have had – people in some of these fields see
turmoil on Earth might make the me as something of a peer.
wider universe seem less relevant. It is possible I don’t know
But there is a cosmos beyond the what I am doing. But it also
bad things humans get up to and means that I have got an excuse
incapable of complex behaviours. in the way of the evidence. The there are people getting up to to do some reading that stretches
Nevertheless, in the Rising Star same is true for our ideas about great things too. my imagination. For example,
cave system in South Africa, where gender in prehistory. Archaeology I find the pressure of working I’m poring over The Dialectic
the H. naledi remains were found, was invented by societies with on my second and third books Is in the Sea: The Black radical
scientists have discovered what sexist ideas, and those notions kind of terrifying having won thought of Beatriz Nascimento,
seem to be etchings on the walls. bled into the research. This year some awards for my first one, edited and translated by Christen
They also claim to have found saw some major steps in The Disordered Cosmos: A journey A. Smith, Bethânia N. F. Gomes
evidence of H. naledi burying unpicking this stuff. into dark matter, spacetime, &
its dead in the cave. To say Perhaps most dramatic was the dreams deferred. But I have found “The tentatively titled
these claims are controversial is demolition of “Man the Hunter”. pleasure in one element of
The Edge of Space-Time
to understate the situation. Many This was the idea that, in most preparing for the task: reading
researchers say the evidence prehistoric societies, men went what other people have to say in
is my next book on
presented so far is completely out to hunt and women stayed order to deepen my knowledge of science for generally
inadequate to support them. home. However, a meta-analysis the concepts I plan to write about. curious readers”
In a sense, we shouldn’t be in June compiled data on several The book I need to do the most
surprised that so many of these dozen foraging societies and found reading for is an academic one, and Archie Davies. The late
behaviours seem to have origins women hunted in 80 per cent of which is different from what we Nascimento was a Black Brazilian
in older, extinct hominins. The them. We have also seen growing call a trade book, which is the cultural worker who had some
idea that there was a sudden evidence of women occupying kind aimed at general audiences. fascinating notions about the
explosion of creativity at some positions of power in ancient Academic books are typically put metaphysical relationships
point in our evolution isn’t societies, such as an Iberian leader out by university publishing between Black feminism,
inherently ridiculous: sometimes from around 4000 years ago who houses and academics are space and time.
a system hits a tipping point and turned out to be female, not male generally the main audience, As someone trained in the
undergoes runaway change. But as had been assumed. although many of them are Anglosphere, I am relishing this
there was never much evidence I want to end on a hopeful written with a crossover to opportunity to understand how
that human evolution worked this note. The more we learn about the general market in mind. Black thinkers around the world
way. Instead, it seems H. erectus, past societies, the more our My proposal for this book used the cosmos as a palette for
the Neanderthals and many preconceptions about how society went through peer review, freedom dreaming.
others all walked so we could run. “has to be” are upended. Inequality and I had to respond to I think after the year we
One way or another, the and patriarchy aren’t inevitable. feedback from anonymous have had, that is exactly the kind
H. naledi story will be an example They are choices, and prehistory commentators, making the case of influence I need as I chase
of letting our preconceptions get shows we can choose differently. ❚ for how I would address perceived quantum fields into 2024. ❚
Follow Ernest Shackleton’s Explore the Galapagos Islands, a Set sail and explore the Spice Islands
extraordinary voyage. Whilst at sea, major bucket list destination for and Raja Ampat as Alfred Wallace
enjoy onboard lectures from Alison wildlife enthusiasts, accompanied by did. Cruise aboard a luxury crewed
George, New Scientist features editor conservation advocate Jo Ruxton. schooner and visit several sites that
and the onboard expedition team. We have curated a distinctive trip to were important to Wallace’s
When the ship reaches the Antarctic this paradise for natural history and discoveries. Go in search of wildlife
peninsula, the aim will be to make as geology lovers, which includes the on land, in the air and at sea,
many excursions as possible, generally UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site including several species of birds of
making landings or Zodiac boat trips of Quito followed by seven days of paradise, golden birdwing butterflies
to visit penguin rookeries, discover exploring at sea. and a wealth of sea creatures.
historical sites and explore some of
the most spectacular scenery. k Explore the wildlife-rich islands k In-depth insight into the life and
of Santa Cruz, Isabela, Fernandina, work of Alfred Russel Wallace plus the
k Experience the enormity of Antarctic ice Santiago and Rabida. natural treasures of Indonesia.
and enormous tabular icebergs in the
Weddell Sea. k Get up close to spectacular wildlife, k Explore primary rainforests, marine
including blue-footed boobies and ecosystems and their flora and fauna,
k See the array of wildlife that frolic, forage giant tortoises, as well as coral and including several species of birds of
and hunt in Antarctic Sound including volcanoes. paradise and Wallace’s golden
whales, penguins and seals. birdwing butterfly.
Adam Popescu
IT WAS a foggy December, colder to stick it out a little longer, “And a warm welcome to
than usual. banking enough credits to you too.” She made a mocking
An old woman waded through reconnect with her daughter. salute before fixing the mask.
the shallows of a concrete-bound Just a couple more weeks, then “Have a nice life, mama.”
river. She wore overalls and a Lottie would be with Amelia again. She waded off, making
breather mask, a meshwork hopper It was all going well until the quick progress through the
slung over her back. She leaned newcomer arrived, climbing boot-sucking shallows. She
hard on two sticks, one with a down one of the rusting ladders sang something, some refrain
grabber on the end, the other a net. hooked over the raised lip of filtering through the mask,
At intervals, she scooped some the flood defence. some words about Christmas
grey, slimy clump from the river Lottie waded over, keen to and cutting down trees.
and deposited it in the hopper. spike this misunderstanding.
#
Dusk was falling as the woman “Hey, friend,” she said, pulling
paused for breath. She rested on her mask aside. “Welcome to the They avoided each other for a
the sticks and took off her mask. river. But I think you’ve got the couple of days. The river swung
She gazed at the fog-shrouded wrong sector.” a kink through the canyon of
stratoscrapers rising either side of The figure entered a boot at stratoscrapers, the other woman
the river, searching their mirrored a time then turned. Her mask usually out of sight.
facades. Lights were coming on, dangled from its straps. She Lottie was just starting to
yellow rectangles against the was a much younger woman, think that she could deal with
colourless grid. Occasionally, shorter and leaner than Lottie. this arrangement when the
a human silhouette appeared She possessed a sharp, feral newcomer came wading
behind the glass, an anthracite face, two close-set eyes like purposefully in her direction.
statue looking out. They rarely double-tapped bullet holes. Lottie leaned in on her sticks,
looked down. “Say what?” lifting her chin pugnaciously.
EOIN RYAN
Big yellow taxis sped overhead, “I said this isn’t your sector.” The woman removed her
shuttling between the upper levels. Lottie nodded agreeably in either breather when they were close
Drones zigzagged on repeating direction. “Just check with Global. enough to speak. She held up
errands, stitching fading, angular Any help needed, come find me.” her grabber. “Like this,” she said, exposing the
lines into the clouds and fog. The woman tightened her “You know how to fix one innards. “Watch carefully because
Periodically, a larger one descended hopper straps, squaring bony of these?” I’m not showing you twice.”
all the way to the river, collecting shoulders against the coming Lottie glanced at it with cursory She freed up the mechanism,
a loaded hopper and depositing load. “Think I got the right sector, interest. “What’s your problem?” worked the grabber a few times,
an empty one in its place. mama. Sure you haven’t made “It’s jammed.” fixed the cover back into place.
Lottie had been working the a mistake yourself?” “Call in for a new one.” The woman took the grabber,
salvage contract for a week. It paid “I’m pretty sure they’d have “That’ll mean time when I’m not passing Lottie her glove. “Thanks…
poorly and the conditions were told me if there was a problem.” earning creds. I thought maybe…” I guess.”
terrible, but she just needed “The problem is you weren’t Lottie grunted. She made a “It’s nothing.”
getting through the assignment terse, bad-tempered gesture. They stood there in silence for
quick enough.” The young “Bring it over.” a few moments. Yellow machines
woman – she was 20 at the most – The woman waded nearer. zipped overhead. The buildings
Biography shrugged unconcernedly. “But She looked tired, shrunken-in on stood severely truncated by the
Alastair Reynolds you’re OK. They’re not taking herself, as if the river had taken its fog, only their elephantine foot-
After working as a scientist with you off the job just yet.” toll in just these few short days. slopes rising from empty plazas.
the European Space Agency, Lottie bristled. “Just as long as “I just thought maybe…” “Blue,” the woman said.
Alastair Reynolds turned full-time we keep out of each other’s hair.” “Old mama could fix it.” Lottie “Blue what?”
writer in 2004. His science fiction “Where’ve you swept?” took the jammed grabber. She “It’s my name. Blue.”
novels include Eversion and the “You saw the direction took off a glove, instructed the Lottie nodded slowly, some part
forthcoming Machine Vendetta I was working in. Figure it woman to hold it while she used of her certain that the best thing
(2024), both published by Orion. out for yourself.” her nails to pop open a seam. was to say nothing, to turn away
one of them on neural mods.” had become a thousand vertical around this time of year. She liked isn’t totally monochrome. I kept
“That you speaking from metres. “I had a daughter once. Christmas. It gets raw. Same thing up the payments on yellow.”
experience?” Her name was Amelia. She’s lost happens each time: I make one “Yellow?”
“I had retinal degeneration. to me now.” last bid to raise enough to buy “It was Amelia’s favourite
A congenital condition. Back Blue took her time answering. back my memories, take on colour. Yellow Christmas lights,
when I had money, I stumped “You don’t talk?” whatever work I can find.” her yellow bicycle, yellow crayons,
for Chromeguard implants. “She’s dead. One of those mid- Blue nodded forlornly. “That’s her first dress. These things
Full vision restoration.” century ‘demics they probably what it’s about for you, then. I remember. The colour, her
Blue looked at her curiously. taught you about in school. When Trying to earn enough creds to favourite ice cream, the sound
“There’s a downside?” I say lost, I mean I can’t reach my own the thing that already belongs of her shoes on the hall, the smell
“Chromeguard were bought memories of her.” to you.” She snarled. “Screw them! of her. It’s secondary, though – a
out. The new firm had a different “What happened to them?” Screw DEUS, screw Global whole suite of peripheral feelings,
subscription model. I couldn’t “They’re paywalled.” Workspace, screw Omniserve!” with the centre gone. Like a galaxy
make the regular payments.” She “I don’t understand.” Lottie smiled. “I got angry too. of yellow stars with a vast black
paused, shuffling on the bank as “The company was called It fades, eventually. There’s no hole at the middle.”
the concrete chilled her bones. Mnemonic Gate. Neuroprosthetic point being angry. You can’t stay “I’m sorry,” Blue said quietly.
“I mean, I could, but only at the memory storage and retrieval like that all the time.” “You’ll get her back one day,
expense of something else.” She services. They put something in “You have to earn those creds,” won’t you? You’ll find a way
mulled the yellow-flecked fog. you, deep in the hippocampus.” Blue said with sudden conviction. to make those payments?”
“What happens is that they turn off “There was something wrong “How short are you?” She made “That’s the plan,” Lottie said
the receptors one by one, taking with you, like the eye thing?” a motion toward her own card. flatly. “Got to have a plan, right?”
away your colour perception.” “No. They put it in me because “No,” Lottie said firmly. “We’re
#
A frown notched Blue’s brow. my employer insisted on it, a not doing that. Besides, I’m way
“So the world is… what?” condition of work. That wasn’t off. And even if I was close, I’d still It all became clear in retrospect,
“Mostly monochrome,” Lottie uncommon. Mnemonic Gate have to make a choice. My world hours after the bad thing itself.
said. “Mostly shades of grey.” was an offshoot of Cloud9, and
Cloud9 was part of Omniserve,
#
and Omniserve was basically
They worked to their different running the world. They said
rhythms, Lottie slow and jump, you said how high.”
discriminating, Blue quicker “All right. Pretty sucky. I guess
but not so careful, but the two of you had Omniserve, we have DEUS
them always finding time to sit and Gladius Biomech and Global
and talk while the drones came in. Workspace. What went wrong?”
“What was your mother doing “Another case of buy-outs and
listening to music from a hundred mergers and changing terms.
years ago?” Suddenly I ended up having to
“She was weird. She didn’t really pay to maintain Mnemonic Gate
belong in this century.” ‘legacy services’ .” Lottie gave a
Lottie chuckled quietly. “I’m morbid little laugh. “If I didn’t
not sure any of us do.” cough up, my own memories
“She was cool, though. She stayed locked away. Including the
wanted more for me than this. entire part of my life with Amelia.”
More than just being at the Blue sat still. A slow rage formed
bottom of the heap. I’ll turn on her face. “That’s not right.”
things around, though.” Blue “It isn’t, but what could I do? For
raised her eyes to the sky again. a while, I managed the payments,
“There’s a life for me out there. It managed to hold onto Amelia.
might not be perfect, but it’ll be But I was running just to stand
closer to the one she had in mind.” still. I couldn’t meet the rising fees,
“I hope you make it. Be sure so I lost her again. A second death,
to send me a postcard.” but worse than the first because
“A what?” this time it was my failing, not
“Just send me a message, tell the fault of some damned virus.”
me how you’re doing.” Lottie sat “It wasn’t your failing!” Blue
silently for a few long moments. said fiercely.
She felt on the brink of something “That’s what I tell myself, but
dizzying, as if the drop to the water it doesn’t always work. Especially
Editor’s pick the potential to cut emissions by from humans or AIs, exciting disease burden, leading to
2 per cent if adopted worldwide. ideas are ten-a-penny? ongoing testing. Additionally,
We read in the same issue (p 19) the company responsible for the
Climate notes from
of electrocaloric cooling twice two remaining failed trials has
a very small island Our brains really aren’t
as efficient as standard air introduced an improved version
9 December, p 8 conditioners. We also learn quite that superlative of its drug, currently undergoing
From Phyl Rendell, (18 November, p 22) that mining Letters, 14 October human testing. Finally, two more
Bleaker Island, Falkland Islands spoil can yield elements and From Tom Reimchen, Victoria, trials are exploring huntingtin-
We are deeply concerned about minerals for advanced machines. British Columbia, Canada lowering strategies. Both have had
climate change and the need to do As a long-time subscriber and promising preliminary results.
our bit here in the Falkland Islands. reader, I continue to disagree with Setbacks are common and
All hail the shift to a
We live on a small island and the cliche that the human brain is frequent in science. However,
produce our own power from solar transparent market “the most complicated structure when the cause of a condition is
and wind, store water and deal with 2 December, p 40 in the known universe”. What known and there are methods to
our waste and rubbish ourselves. From Martin Sigrist, actually is the evidence for this? target it, it is only a matter of time
We have been planting native tussac Newbury, Berkshire, UK Some 50,000 years ago, when until successful treatments are
grass into eroded ground over the I welcome Graham Lawton’s early modern humans were developed. There is hope for those
past 20 years to sequester carbon. It look at true cost accounting, cowering in caves with the same with Huntington’s disease.
creates extra habitat for wildlife too. the idea that goods factor in the essential anatomical brain and
Climate change has caused environmental and social damage genome we have at present, no
Why not try this way
dryness, lack of grass growth they cause. It is a step towards a alien visiting Earth would have
and ponds drying out. We are true free market where consumers recognised any great potential of of finding alien life?
now reducing our sheep and cattle can exercise real choice. I would this biped relative to Neanderthals 25 November, p 40
numbers as farming is becoming encourage a look at other ideas. or any other primate, or to the From Fred Richardson, Alice Springs,
unsustainable and we must put For example, B-Corp certification many large-brained cetaceans. To Northern Territory, Australia
the health of the island first. could be a de facto standard for claim that the brain of those early When it comes to how to detect
I visited Europe this year and differentiating good from bad cave-dwelling humans was the signs of life on other worlds, I
there seems to be no obvious sign of business. And the Better Business most complicated structure in the think the assembly theory idea
people trying to reduce their carbon Act is a proposed change to universe is yet another instance from Lee Cronin and Sara Walker
footprint or their contribution UK law that would make firms of human-centric thinking. needs expanding on. It relies,
to profligate waste. In fact, the align interests with those of the currently, on readings from mass
opposite is evident. The lack of environment and wider society. spectroscopy, MRI and infrared
Hope of finding treatment
cheap and efficient public transport interrogation of molecules to
in the UK, for example, resulting in for Huntington’s disease derive a complexity scale. In this
AI predictions are 25 November, p 10
so many vehicles on the roads system, molecules that score
(electric or not) gives the impression more like fantasies From Carlos Estevez Fraga, below 15 could have been formed
that no one cares. People in high- 2 December, p 8 Huntington’s Disease Centre, UK in the random happenstance of
income countries must start living From John Reynolds, In a recent article on Huntington’s cosmic chemistry, while those
with less if there is to be a future. Canonbie, Dumfriesshire, UK disease, expectations for a above 15 have been shaped by
The article about AI and the successful disease-modifying evolution and/or technology. With
crystalline structures it can therapy were set low. However, the a bit of luck, Cronin and Walker
Human innovation gives
“predict” is responsibly tempered presence of mutated huntingtin might get working access to NASA’s
me cause for optimism with information about the protein is clearly associated with Dragonfly mission to Titan, which
Letters, 25 November accuracy of the results and the development of symptoms. will carry a mass spectrometer.
From Chris Uruski, concerns about the practicality It is therefore reasonable to think
Featherston, New Zealand and stability of these materials. that lowering huntingtin can
There could be downsides
Reader Ian Elliott pessimistically This raises a question of change the disease course.
suggests naming the first age of language: at what point do we Three unsuccessful huntingtin- to fattening up when old
the Anthropocene Epoch “The anthropomorphise AI? When lowering trials were mentioned. 2 December, p 12
End”. Whatever happens to our do we say, “the crystals that However, a post-hoc analysis of From Barbara Wyvill,
species, the planet will still be AI can imagine”, as a way of one has revealed possible benefits Kettlestone, Norfolk, UK
here. It has been through worse acknowledging that, whether for younger people with a low The idea that older people should
climate fluctuations in the past. be encouraged to fatten up a little
In any event, human minds is a pernicious one. Extra weight
are generating ideas to ameliorate Want to get in touch? means extra effort in moving
climate change if given a chance. Send letters to letters@newscientist.com; around and may discourage
Neocrete, with volcanic ash see terms at newscientist.com/letters exercise; in addition, a poor diet is
replacing at least part of the Letters sent to New Scientist, 9 Derry Street, unhealthy in many ways, not just
cement used for concrete, has London, W8 5HY will be delayed because it may cause weight gain. ❚
6
This exhibit follows three ancient trails left
by a person, a bird and a horse. Along each
trail are letters that make a five-letter word
when completed. But some of them have
fallen out. Can you fix the exhibit and work
out which letter you would need to replace
the yellow brick?
Ground Floor
STAIRS UP
STAIRS DOWN 6 GIFT
SHOP
EXIT
LIFTS UP
1
Six crates have been delivered to the
museum that contain parts of the above
dinosaur fossil on conspicuously letter-shaped
frames. But the museum was only expecting five
crates. Which isn’t required to build the dinosaur?
7
According to the posters next to this set of scales: a red
ball weighs twice as much as a green one; a green ball
weighs twice as much as a white one; a black ball weighs
the same as a green one and a white one. Without
moving the yellow ball, can you make the scales
balance with all five balls on them? If so, which side
of the scale has the most balls on it, left (L) or right (R)?
STAIRS UP
2 7
STAIRS
LIFTS DOWN
LIFTS UP
5 DOWN
First Floor 10
5 10
This stone circle exhibit consists of The aim of this game is to rotate the cogs and
a collection of foam stones. There are create a complete circuit along the silver lines.
eight unique designs of these stones. However, only one circuit can actually be made.
If you were to ignore all duplicate shapes, Which of the two letters on the back plate can
what letter would be remaining? be surrounded by a complete circuit?
answer U. [5] Ignoring all the duplicates would leave you with an F. [7] The correct answer is L (left). It would have three balls on it, red, white and black. [10] The solution is L. R can’t be made.
[6] The yellow block should be an H. [GIFT SHOP] The unemptied boxes form a lower case ‘e’. [2] The correct route is 3, Prime, 5, V, Consonant, R, 18th, Special Bday, 21st, ending with the
FINAL PUZZLE HINT: Once you have solved all 11 puzzles, try tracing your path through the museum, considering the building from all angles. ANSWERS: [1] The unnecessary crate is T.
3 9
STAIRS UP
STAIRS DOWN
N 9
3
LIFTS DOWN
4 8
Second Floor
4
This exhibit features the solar system’s three outermost
planets: Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These are on 8
ceiling-mounted rings, which have 12 spokes and At this exhibit, museum visitors can build
rotate clockwise at speeds that reflect the differences their own rockets using these pieces and
between the planets’ orbits. Uranus takes three times the guide on the wall. Originally, there
as long to complete an orbit as Saturn, and Neptune were enough pieces to make multiple
takes twice as long as Uranus. If you waited for Saturn complete rockets with none left over,
to do a full orbit, which letter would Neptune be over? but one piece is now missing – which?
are three of everything except for the top cone, R. [9] Each row totals 50, therefore the missing TV is 21, or U.
ANSWERS: [3] The innermost planet would see an eclipse, an O. [4] Neptune would be above the T. [8] There
Yuletide
O
NE autumn day in 2020, Daniela sleep evolved before brains evolved, as a
Rößler drove home with a car full of very fundamental thing that is required on
jumping spiders. Her lab was closed a cellular level,” says Rößler. It may enable
due to covid-19 regulations, so, after a day in animals to get rid of waste products and toxins
a dry field spent corralling her specimens, that build up when they are active, she adds.
Rößler had no option other than to bring When humans sleep, we do so in two ways
them back to her house. When, by chance, that alternate throughout the night. The first
she checked on them that night, the spiders is rapid eye movement (REM) or active sleep.
were dangling motionless by threads of silk. During this stage, our eyes move, even though
“I had never seen this before,” says Rößler, a our eyelids are closed. Our muscles also twitch
behavioural ecologist at the University of slightly, though they are largely paralysed so
Konstanz in Germany, who soon went back to we don’t hurt ourselves. In contrast, we also
the field with her colleagues. “We started engage in non-REM or quiescent sleep, during
filming them, just out of curiosity,” she says. which we barely move at all. Most dream states,
They observed the same behaviour, but and certainly those with the most vivid
only at night. Stranger still, some months later, dreams, happen during REM sleep.
close monitoring in the lab using a night vision
camera revealed not only that the spiders were
twitching slightly but also that their eyes were Ancient dreamers
moving. That is similar to what happens when There is plenty of evidence that other
humans dream, which raises the irresistible mammals have similar sleep patterns
prospect that spiders could be dreaming too. to humans. In 2022, for example, researchers
Jumping spiders aren’t the only non-human observed the brains of sleeping mice and
animal in which we have recently found found increased activity in neurons that
evidence of dream states. We are seeing hints respond to the direction the animal is facing.
of dreaming, and even nightmares, in species That suggests the animals were looking
throughout the animal kingdom – from around, as humans do in REM sleep.
pigeons to octopuses. “If we appreciate Finding evidence of dreaming itself in non-
the functions that could be connected with mammals has proven more difficult. Non-
dreaming, it totally makes sense for animals mammals’ brains are very different to those of
to dream,” says Rößler. And yet the question humans, and it can often be difficult to image
remains: do other animals dream like we do them while they are sleeping. In June 2023,
and, if so, what they are dreaming about? however, Gianina Ungurean at the Max
Figuring this out isn’t easy but it is worth Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence
doing, not least because it might even help in Seewiesen, Germany, and her colleagues
us to fathom the purpose of human dreams. succeeded in recording brain activity in awake
To dream, first you have to sleep, and there and sleeping pigeons. They first habituated
is no known animal that doesn’t slumber, says the birds inside a fake functional magnetic
Rößler. Recent studies show that sleep is resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner before
essential for even the simplest organisms swapping it out for a real one to obtain the
to reset their minds and bodies. Even some first brain scans of sleeping birds. As in
jellyfish, which have a distributed net of mammals, the recordings revealed bouts
neurons rather than a true brain, behave as of REM and non-REM sleep.
JASON FORD
though they are tired when kept awake at night Intriguingly, REM sleep activity was high
by pulses of water sent into their tanks. “Maybe in brain regions involved in processing visual
I
N THE foothills to the south of Rome sits signal alerting the roots to their neighbour’s the naked eye”, says Curceanu’s collaborator
Italy’s premier nuclear physics lab, the presence. It would be useful for plant roots to Maurizio Benfatto. In fact, biophotons were
National Laboratory of Frascati. It has all the signal in this way, says Cifra, because it would so weak that it took until 1954 to develop
equipment you would expect at a cutting-edge tell them if other plants were germinating equipment sensitive enough to decisively
science facility, with huge magnets, powerful nearby, suggesting a fertile growing space. confirm Gurwitsch’s idea.
particle accelerators and exposed electric To tease out how the onion roots were Since then, dozens of research groups have
cables spilling out everywhere. Many of the signalling, Gurwitsch repeated the experiment reported cases of biophoton emission having
researchers here are trying to unpick the secrets with all manner of physical barriers between a useful function in plants and even animals.
of the standard model, our best theory of how the roots. Wood, metal, glass and even gelatine Like onion roots, yeast cells are known to
reality works at its most fundamental level. dampened cell division to the same level seen influence the growth rate of their neighbours.
And then there is the room where Cătălina in single onion roots. But, to Gurwitsch’s And in 2022, Zsolt Pónya and Katalin Somfalvi-
Curceanu is monitoring a small box of lentils. surprise, a quartz divider had no effect. Tóth at the University of Kaposvár in Hungary
Granted, it isn’t exactly normal behaviour Compared to glass, quartz allows far more observed biophotons being emitted by
for a physicist, but Curceanu hopes the ultraviolet rays to pass through. Some kind sunflowers when they were put under stress,
apparatus and methods of nuclear physics can of weak emission of UV radiation, he which the researchers hoped to use to precisely
solve the century-old mystery of why lentils – concluded, must be responsible. monitor these crops. Elsewhere, a review
and other organisms too – constantly emit an carried out by Roeland Van Wijk and Eduard
extremely weak dribble of photons, or particles Van Wijk, now at the research company
of light. Some reckon these “biophotons” Invisible light MELUNA in the Netherlands, suggested that
are of no consequence. Others insist they Living organisms have long been known biophotons may play a role in various human
are a subtle form of lentil communication. to communicate using light. Jellyfish, health conditions, from ageing to acne.
Curceanu leans towards the latter camp – and mushrooms and fireflies, to name just a few, There is a simple explanation for how
she has a hunch that the pulses between the glow or emit bright flashes to ward off enemies biophotons are created, too. During normal
pulses might even contain secret quantum or attract a mate. But these obvious signals, metabolism, chemical reactions in cells end
signals. “These are only the first steps, but known as bioluminescence, are different to the up converting biomolecules to what researchers
it looks extremely interesting,” she says. effect Gurwitsch had unearthed. Biophotons called an excited state, where electrons
There are already hints that living things are “a very low-intensity light, not visible to are elevated to higher energy levels. Those
make use of quantum phenomena, with electrons then naturally drop to their ground
inconclusive evidence that they feature in state and emit a photon in the process. Because
photosynthesis and the way birds navigate, germinating seeds, like lentils, burn energy
among other things. But lentils, not known for quickly to grow, they emit more biophotons.
their complex behaviour, would be the most Today, no one doubts that biophotons exist.
startling example yet of quantum biology, says Rather, the dispute is over whether lentils and
Michal Cifra at the Czech Academy of Sciences other organisms have harnessed biophotons
in Prague. “It would be amazing,” says Cifra. in a useful way. “It’s intriguing,” says Greg
“If it’s true.” Since so many organisms emit Scholes at Princeton University. “Could that
biophotons, such a discovery might indicate emission be used as a signal?”
that quantum effects are ubiquitous in nature. The idea is unproven, to be clear, but it isn’t
Biophotons have had scientists stumped as far-fetched as you might think. We know
for precisely a century. In 1923, biologist that plants communicate using chemicals
Alexander Gurwitsch was studying how plant and sometimes even emit ultrasonic squeaks
SPOOKY POOKA
cells divide by placing onion roots near each when stressed. This allows them to control
other. The closer the roots were, the more cell their growth, warn each other about invading
division occurred, suggesting there was some insects and attract pollinators. We also know >
Quantum characteristics
The pair also knew that there was a
possibility of the signals having some
quantum characteristics. Quantum
particles, which include photons, behave
according to the rules of quantum theory,
which describes the often counterintuitive
behaviour of atoms and subatomic particles.
For example, photons can exist in a nebulous
cloud of many possible states called a quantum
superposition. In this case, the photons are
said to exhibit quantum coherence.
Years ago, Benfatto came across a paper on
biophotons and noticed there appeared to be
patterns in the way they were produced. The
intensity would swell, then fall away, almost
like music. This gave him the idea of applying a
method from physics called diffusion entropy
SPOOKY POOKA
CATALINA CURCEANU
Curceanu and their colleagues put their
seeds in a black box that shielded them from
interference. Outside the box, they mounted
an instrument capable of detecting single
biophotons. They also had rotating filters
that allowed them to detect photons with Are these germinating
different wavelengths. All that remained lentils communicating
was to set the lentils growing. “We add in quantum code?
water and then we wait,” says Benfatto.
In 2021, they unveiled their initial other organisms would be “very different to
findings. It turned out that the biophotons’ textbook quantum mechanics”, says Scholes.
signals changed significantly during the Then there is the question of why quantum
lentils’ germination. During the first phase, mechanics would be useful to lentils at all.
the photons were emitted in a pattern that Finding quantum effects in biophotons would
repeatedly reset, like a piece of music be a “big deal”, says Scholes, “but it’s an open
changing tempo. Then, during the second question about what would the function be”.
phase, the emissions took the form of What evolutionary advantage, in other words,
another kind of complex pattern called would using quantum signals confer on a
fractional Brownian motion. lentil? One way to think about this might be
with reference to the difference between the
workings of a classical computer, which uses
Suspicious signals bits, and a quantum computer, which uses
The fact that the lentils’ biophoton emissions quantum bits. The two systems work in
aren’t random is an indication that they could different ways that mean they are suited to
be communicating, says Benfatto. And that’s solving different kinds of problems. Perhaps,
not all. Tantalisingly, the complexity in the similarly, any quantum signals passing
second phase of the emissions is between the pulses would give them a
mathematically related to the equations of unique way of sending information – for
quantum mechanics. For this reason, Benfatto a purpose we haven’t yet fully discerned.
says his team’s work hints that signals Another possibility is that quantum
displaying quantum coherence could have a communication enables lentils to get
role in directing lentil germination. messages through without these getting lost
Cifra warns that claims about the nature of in transmission. Since biophotons are emitted
these signals shouldn’t be made based merely by all living things, the lentils’ signals could
on mathematical similarities. Just because be swamped by emissions from surrounding
something can be described by quantum-style organic matter, says Cifra. It is possible, says
maths, that doesn’t in itself prove the thing is Scholes, that quantum coherence could enable
quantum by nature. Curceanu recognises that the signals to pass through, despite this
any sign of quantum effects is still tentative. background noise.
“There’s something going on there, but Benfatto admits that, so far, the evidence for
we can’t claim to know what,” she says. quantum lentils is sketchy. Still, he is pushing
Cifra reckons that quantum mechanics is ahead with a new experimental design that
likely to play an important role in biology – for makes the signal-to-noise ratio 100 times
example, in bird navigation – just not through better. If you want to earwig on the clandestine
biophotons. The quantum interpretation of whispers of these seeds, it might just help to
the lentils research is “a stretch”, he says. “It get rid of their noisy neighbours, which is why
can easily be explained by classical effects. he will study one germinating lentil at a time. ❚
I give preference to the simpler explanation.”
Part of the problem with designing
experiments like these is that we don’t Thomas Lewton has a feeling
really know what quantum mechanical his nut roast is trying to tell
effects in living organisms look like. Any him something
quantum effects discovered in lentils and
I
N THE undergrowth of a New Zealand evolution has failed to produce a bat that The study also revealed that the vampire
forest, something stirs. A small, fuzzy can’t fly? bats have a secret skill: they can run. When the
animal is scurrying over tree roots and Bats are exquisitely adapted for flight, as treadmill speed reached roughly 0.6 metres
through leaf litter, foraging for insects and is clear to anyone who has marvelled at their per second, the bats broke into a gait that the
fruit. It scuttles with an odd gait, as if on stilts. aerial acrobatics. Take them out of the skies, researchers described as “bounding”, leaping
Is it a mouse? A bird? No, it’s a bat. The New however, and it is a different story. Most bats from all four limbs at the same time (also
Zealand lesser short-tailed bat, or pekapeka- are very bad at crawling. Leaf-nosed bats, called pronking). Imagine having a vampire
tou-poto, to be precise. ghost-faced bats, horseshoe bats and others bat bounding towards you, like a bat out of
Bats first took to the skies about 52 million are completely hapless on the ground. hell. It was thought at the time that vampires
years ago, and they have stayed there ever Some 50 years ago, bat biologist Terry and pekapeka-tou-potos were the only two
since. Among the world’s 1300 or so species, Vaughan suggested a reason. He argued that species of bat to be adept walkers. But we
not one of them is flightless. Most can’t even features of the bat skeleton may explain why have learned more recently that a number of
walk very well, which is why many of us would many of them walk so poorly. He realised that other species, including some with weaker hips
be surprised by the behaviour of the pekapeka- the rare confident walkers – which
tou-poto, a bat as comfortable on the ground include the pekapeka-tou-poto
as it is in the air. (Mystacina tuberculata) as
But exactly why there are no flightless well as the common vampire
bats is an evolutionary mystery. The other bat (Desmodus rotundus) –
great group of flying vertebrates, birds, have strong hip bones and
have evolved to be flightless multiple times
globally. They often do so on remote islands,
such as those of New Zealand, where there is
little danger from ground-based predation
(at least until humans come along – roast
dodo anyone?). In these circumstances,
flightlessness is a good adaptation because
flying is energetically costly.
As the world’s most terrestrial bat, the
pekapeka-tou-poto has long seemed key
JOEL SARTORE/PHOTO ARK/NATUREPL.COM
1. The most common form of aluminium ore, quarry of a porcine hunter. Why is this
a wild goat, a rectangular array of numbers and game a non-starter?
radiation with a wavelength of between 0.01
and 10 nanometres. What do each of these have 10. What alcoholic beverage comes next in this list: a
in common, and why was it in the news this year? government agency responsible for the development
of memory foam, an intergovernmental organisation
2. Four guests are seated for Christmas dinner. One comprising 22 member states dedicated to the
arrived from a German valley, one is good with tools, exploration of space and a planned experiment
one is said to be wise and the other has asked for a designed to detect gravitational waves?
chair with a sturdy back. One by one, three of them
will leave the table. Which will be the last one seated? 11. The following items have all been left in
a specific location: golf balls, a hammer and
3. In 2028, a crystallographer will join an feather, six US flags and 96 bags of human
abolitionist and a fire god. Where are they? waste. What vehicles would you need in
order to retrieve them?
4. Time to gather round the table and do some
bonding. Initially, what can be forged from these 12. The answer to this one is more basic than you
intriguing combinations of foods? might think, so you should be able to put your finger
on it. Assuming they could, why is it that a reindeer
SWEET NOUGAT + CHESTNUT UDON
might count the 14 days of Christmas, a sloth the
CHIPOLATAS + FLAMING EGGNOG
20 days and horses the 1100 days, while dogs
CHOCOLATE UNICORNS + ZESTY NACHOS
ANGEL GINGERBREAD + ASIAN UME and cats would join us in the 12 days of Christmas?
(And why would a snake be completely flummoxed?)
5. How about a brisk walk to work off your
Christmas meal? On your journey, you see 13. This boy, who is thought to have been born
a large dog, but not on a lead, a big bear, in December centuries ago, brings warmth to
but not in a cave, and a bull, but not in a ring. the Pacific but can make winters colder on UK
Where are you looking? shores. Who is he?
6. Hark! A rapid equalisation of pressure between a 14. In this place, which often comes in pairs, you
vessel and its surroundings has just occurred, creating will find a foot support, a tool for metalworkers,
a fabulously festive oscillation. What just happened? a percussive instrument and something to beat
it with. Where is the place, and which of the objects
7. After receiving a clutch of Turdus merula, is the odd one out?
a trio of Gallus gallus domesticus and a couple
of Streptopelia turtur, where might you expect 15. On the morning of 25 December 1968,
to find a Perdix perdix? after a long journey, people anxiously waited for
confirmation of what we had all longed to hear.
8. China’s giant Sky Eye has just one, laboratories Eventually, the message came: “Roger, please be
tend to have a few and Christmas dinner has informed there is a Santa Claus.” What was the
many. What is it? profession of the person who sent the message? ❚
player B has chosen the raising agent in bread equalisations of pressure this
and player C has chosen the subterranean holiday period
wranglers
cleanest on Earth. “Icebergs,” quips Kean,
“taste like water should taste.”
The idea of towing icebergs from the poles
to other parts of the world is more outlandish,
but it has a long history. The oceanographer
John Dove Isaacs was one of the first to
At least three teams plan to tow icebergs to warmer expound it in its modern form. In 1956,
climes in order to harvest them for drinking water. he suggested capturing an 8-million-tonne
iceberg in the Southern Ocean and towing it
Is it a good idea? Matthew H. Birkhold investigates to San Diego, California, in 200 days. Another
early dreamer was Mohamed Al-Faisal, a
member of the Saudi Arabian royal family
E
ACH June, tourists flock to behemoth blocks of frozen freshwater – who became known as “the water prince”.
Newfoundland to catch a glimpse Ed Kean tries to catch them. In the 1970s, he concocted plans to tow an
of icebergs. Sparkling as they twist in He uses his large fishing boat to harvest iceberg to the Arabian peninsula.
the frigid waves of the Labrador Sea, icebergs icebergs, then melts them and sells the Over the years, iceberg-towing mania has
have become one of the Canadian island’s water. Many local people swear to its purity waxed and waned, but now things may be at
most important industries, attracting and delicious taste. Kean’s mother won’t a tipping point. One notable proponent is Nick
more than 100,000 visitors a year. But not drink anything else. Sloane, a marine salvage engineer with a good
everyone is satisfied merely watching the But Kean won’t have the iceberg business dose of credibility as leader of the team that
SIPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
designed “water bags” to use as an emergency power to generate energy and grow. Krill
freshwater source in regions facing then feed on these phytoplankton and make
environmental disasters. homes in the cracks and crevices of the iceberg.
Icefish, comb jellies and segmented worms live
among the phytoplankton, too. And icebergs
How to shift a berg are also important for seabirds, penguins,
The first question these projects must confront seals, whales and polar bears. Depending on
is whether iceberg towing is physically feasible the size of the berg, the radius of enrichment
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
(before, for example, it melts). Here, prospects can stretch for kilometres.
are looking good. Mariners already tow Relocating icebergs would destroy these
icebergs short distances to stop them colliding ecosystems. It would also short-circuit the
with oil rigs in the North Atlantic. The crews ability of icebergs to sequester carbon dioxide
encircle the frozen targets with thousands of and require considerable amounts of energy.
metres of ultra-high-strength polypropylene And it would have an impact on the warmer
rope, closing the snare with a grapple and waters into which any berg were towed.
attaching a steel towing hawser to weigh down Estimating what exactly would happen is
the rope. They have learned that it is essential tricky until we actually try it. Olav Orheim,
to pull the berg at a point below its centre of First identify your quarry a former director of the Norwegian Polar
mass, otherwise the force causes it to overturn. (top) and net any loose ice Institute, who is working with Sloane, is in
It is also possible to move very big icebergs: chunks (middle). Then use a favour of giving it a go. “We can better figure
in 2017, the Russian energy company Rosneft boat-mounted crane to chip out the environmental consequences once we
claimed to have towed one weighing 1 million away at the main berg (above) have actually accomplished the feat,” he says.
tonnes. But when you tow, you must go slow. Others believe more research is required first,
Vessels can travel at no more than 2 knots (a Wrapping the berg in an insulating material but most people I spoke to support the idea
leisurely walking pace); higher speeds create would result in significantly more surviving. in principle because of its potential for good.
vibrations that could fracture the ice and cause There could also be ways of making the towing My investigations have convinced me
it to break apart or jolt off the securing ropes. easier, for example, releasing bergs into the that someone is going to try long-distance
Towing long distances looks feasible too. clockwise-flowing Antarctic Circumpolar iceberg towing sooner or later. Personally,
Recently, Alan Condron at Woods Hole current and then, at the right moment, towing I am intrigued and only a little worried to
Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts them into the northward-flowing Benguela see what happens. Ultimately, the impact
used a mathematical model to simulate current along the west coast of Africa. of iceberg harvesting will depend on its
icebergs being towed from Antarctica to Even if iceberg towing is possible, it still may scale and rate. Here, perhaps, we should take
Cape Town and the United Arab Emirates. not be a great idea due to its environmental a lesson from history because all of us know
Considering solar radiation, wave erosion and consequences. After calving, an iceberg that when human hubris meets an iceberg
heat exchange between the ocean and iceberg, freshens the surrounding ocean water and head on, the result can be disastrous. ❚
he calculated that an iceberg 300 metres long releases nutrients such as nitrates, phosphates,
and 200 metres thick at the time of capture iron and sulphur. The denser, saltier water
would reach Cape Town with enough bulk nearby sinks and causes water to circulate,
remaining to supply 2.4 million litres of water. creating an upwelling current that brings more Matthew H. Birkhold
That would meet the basic drinking water nutrient-rich water to the surface. A web of life practises lassoing ice cubes
needs of some 700,000 people, or around then develops around, underneath and above in the bath. His book Chasing
one-fifth of the city’s population, for one day. the iceberg. Single-celled algae such as diatoms Icebergs is out now
worlds of AI
further scenarios. One is good, and they
call it Futurama after the animated TV series,
which portrays a mostly positive future
civilisation. The other, not so much. They
call that AI-Dystopia.
AI-Dystopia is recognisable from
How will the era of artificial intelligence pan out for countless science fiction stories, most
its creators? Michael Brooks explores the possibilities famously George Orwell’s Nineteen
Eighty-Four. Here, a government uses
deep surveillance to extract unquestioning
compliance from its citizens. Inequalities
I
F YOU ask the AI-powered chatbot a ban on further development. Or we might and biases become entrenched, the workplace
ChatGPT what the rise of artificial run out of data on which to train future AI is miserable and employees are poorly paid,
intelligence means for humanity’s future, models, meaning the technology will never apart from a tiny elite. “People have said
it proffers a measured response, concluding achieve the game-changing power it promises, that the scenario of Nineteen Eighty-Four
that “the future of humanity with AI is not creating a world Aaronson and Barak call was never really feasible because you could
predetermined, and its impact will depend on AI-Fizzle. “I think this scenario is unlikely,” never have enough people watching all
how AI is developed, regulated, and integrated says Barak. “I believe that AI will change of the screens,” says Aaronson. “With AI,
into various aspects of society”. the world very significantly.” that becomes possible.”
Sensible stuff but, let’s be honest, evasive. Assuming we don’t end up in Fizzlandia, If we do arrive here, it won’t actually be AI’s
If you really want to get to grips with how as one commentator described it, we have fault, because powerful technology is only ever
the era of AI will pan out for us, you are
better off asking Scott Aaronson and Boaz
Barak, computer scientists at the University
of Texas at Austin and Harvard University,
respectively. They have already gone to the
trouble of boiling down the lengthy discourse
on the matter to a handful of outcomes – and
given each a whimsical name. “Our goal was to
map out the scenarios that people are currently
talking about,” says Aaronson.
Discussing it at length over dinner,
they ended up convinced that just five future
worlds cover all the possible endpoints of our
development of AI. The pair then wrote a post
on Aaronson’s blog, hoping that “The five
worlds of AI” would help people in the field
talk meaningfully to each other about end
goals and regulation. “We took a humorous
tone, but we are serious about trying to
ground the debate,” says Barak.
Here, then, is a vaguely choose-your-own-
adventure style exploration of their five
worlds. It is a bit of fun, with the twist that,
depending on how we play things, we could
wind up in an AI-assisted utopia...or wipe
out humanity.
The journey to these five worlds begins
with a simple question: will AI’s potential
fizzle away to nothing? It doesn’t seem that
way at the moment, but the march of AI
GIACOMO GAMBINERI
ERNIE JANES/SHUTTERSTOCK
is the best of all possible worlds, in his opinion.
“It’s basically the scenario where things are
like today, but better,” he says. Here, AI is In one scenario, AIs
used to reduce poverty and ensure that more wipe out humanity to
of humanity has access to food, healthcare, make more paper clips
education and economic opportunities.
There might be occasional harm, caused
by human malice or negligence, but human a new super-intelligent species that takes as power stations or nuclear weapons, and
inhabitants of this world are likely to be over the running of civilisation. Luckily, they the transparency and accountability of their
pretty pleased with their lot, overall. are benevolent gods, tolerant of the planet’s developers. We need to think quickly, too.
And it could get even better than that. poor, puny humans. They solve our material “It takes time to shift policy and regulation;
Aaronson is hoping that he might one day problems, providing us with unlimited the gears of government grind slowly,” says
exist in an AI-led utopia that he and Barak abundance, taking on many of our humdrum Gretta Duleba, communications manager at
call Singularia. This will happen if AI’s impact tasks and providing entertainment for our MIRI. “We do worry that we will run out of time
is so profound that it renders our future world newly understimulated minds. “It’s effectively before meaningful legislation can be enacted.”
unrecognisable in a good way. Here, you will an AI-created heaven,” says Aaronson. Aaronson and Barak, for their part,
be living alongside AIs that are, effectively, Lovely. But what if the all-powerful AIs aren’t aren’t too worried about the prospects of
so generous? Welcome to Paperclipalypse. a Paperclipalypse. While Yudkowsky sees
There is a good reason for this world’s odd a catastrophic event as the most probable
name. In 2003, mathematician and ethicist outcome, almost a default, of poorly conceived
Eliezer Yudkowsky, co-founder of the Machine AI research, Aaronson thinks this is unlikely.
Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) in Barak is a bit more circumspect: “I am not
California, described a thought experiment a believer in highly extreme things like
where humanity tasks an AI with improving Singularia or Paperclipalypse, but I do
the production of some innocuous thing – think it’s important to keep an open mind.”
paper clips, say. If the specifications aren’t That seems like a good idea – mostly to
properly thought through, the AI could end up make sure that we are careful about “how
wiping out humanity because our species was AI is developed, regulated, and integrated”,
standing in the way of harvesting all Earth’s as ChatGPT put it. If we aren’t, we might find
resources, and maybe those of other worlds, ourselves without any choice in how our
to make more and better paper clips. choose-your-own-adventure with AI unfolds.
Yudkowsky’s argument was more nuanced The truth is that even with well-intentioned
than that, but the general point is simple: regulation, it is entirely possible that we will
it isn’t difficult to imagine scenarios where end up in one of the AI-affected worlds we
creating AI might be the last thing we humans would rather avoid. In which case, we should
do. Hence, there is a need to think hard about also work out how to move between worlds.
what AIs are allowed to work on, their After all, we might someday want to find our
connection to physical resources such way from AI-Dystopia to the Futurama
scenario – or better still Singularia. “Do I want
to live in a world with unbounded flourishing
of sentient beings in whatever simulated
paradise we want?” asks Aaronson. “Yeah,
“AI’s impact could I’m pretty much in favour of that.” ❚
be so profound
that it renders
Michael Brooks, for one, is wary
our future world of our coming AI overlords
unrecognisable”
16/23 December 2023 | New Scientist | 57
Inside the
milk bank
The world’s largest repository of animal milk
is creating infant formula for some of the most
O
RCA milk smells dizzyingly fishy. Seal infant formulas that will give the animals
milk has a rich orange hue. Reindeer in their care the best possible start in life.
milk, perhaps fittingly, is as thick as As their understanding of milk has
eggnog. Not that I am tempted to try it, or any improved, however, they have realised that
of the other unusual milks I can see stacked their formulas are missing an important
on shelves from floor to ceiling. I have donned component: microbes. Now, as they explore
a puffy winter jacket and stepped inside the the microbial diversity contained in different
freezer that houses the largest collection of milks and the benefits these organisms bring,
animal milk in the world, containing that of they are striving to replicate this in lab-made
everything from tree shrews to two-toed milk – not only to better assist young animals
sloths and giant anteaters. in the zoo, but also to aid the survival of some
The collection, housed at Smithsonian’s of the rarest species in the wild.
National Zoo in Washington DC, is more than “The objective isn’t necessarily to freeze quality and taken ethically, we’re not picky –
a cabinet of curiosities – it is a critical resource milk, archive it and not touch it,” says Pierre we accept everything,” says Comizzoli.
for staff at this zoo and others around the Comizzoli, who leads the Smithsonian’s The result is a collection that illustrates the
world tasked with feeding orphaned infants. cryopreservation initiative. “It’s to use it diversity of mammalian milk. Looking at the
By studying all this white – and not-so-white – to understand and sustain biodiversity.” colours and consistencies of the samples in
stuff, Smithsonian scientists can create custom Milk is the essential first food for the freezer, it is striking just how different they
mammals. From mice and marmosets to are – the milk of each species is the result of
humans, mammals are born incapable of millions of years of evolutionary adaptations.
feeding themselves. By producing milk,
TUI DE ROY/NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY/ALAMY
procedure. “As long as the sample is good hence energy – into a small amount of milk.
Understanding these differences is vital
when it comes to looking after orphaned
Top: Poaching leaves black infants or those that aren’t thriving. This
rhino orphans. Bottom: is where the milk bank comes in. When
Orca milk smells fishy screaming hairy armadillo pup Sherman
I
T ALL seemed so simple when we knew point it will be hot enough to melt rock.
the date of Earth’s demise. In 5 billion If humans are still around at this point, we
years from now, so the story went, the solar may struggle to survive much longer, as there
system will have dramatically transformed. is, unfortunately, worse to come. As the sun
Instead of being the benign presence we are grows, first Mercury, and then Venus, will be
used to, the sun will have ballooned into a engulfed by it. Their outer layers will evaporate
giant, hundreds of times bigger than it is and the remaining cinders will spiral down
today. In the process, it will wipe out the into the fiery depths of the sun. Estimates
rocky, inner planets, including our own. suggest the red giant’s surface will eventually
Or will it? We have recently caught sight of be within touching distance of Earth’s current
the dying stages of other stars for the first time. orbit. So if it isn’t subsumed into the sun, Earth
And, miraculously, some planets seem to be will still be fried beyond recognition.
able to survive these apocalyptic periods. Such In March this year, Kishalay De at the
observations are challenging the story of how Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Earth will die and giving us hope that it might and his colleagues spotted this gruesome
somehow outlast the sun. Even if it doesn’t, all process in action for the first time. They
is not lost. The research is also giving us clues found a star around 13,000 light years away
to where humanity could best take refuge. that brightened by a factor of 100 over 10 days,
The sun is powered by nuclear fusion, in indicating it had gobbled up a planet some
LUONGDOO
which hydrogen atoms are melded together 30 times larger than Earth.
into helium, releasing vast amounts of energy
in the process. But our star’s fate is sealed by
one fact: it has a finite supply of hydrogen. Escape to Jupiter
As this begins to run out – in about another Thankfully, astronomers have an escape not only the star’s red giant phase, but also its
5 billion years – the sun’s internal structure will plan for humanity. While the inner solar dramatic death, when it completely shed the
change and it will expand to around 200 times system will become utterly hellish, its outer layers of its atmosphere and collapsed
its present size. It will transform from the currently frigid outer reaches will warm up. to become a white dwarf.
yellow dwarf it is today into a red giant. “When the sun becomes a red giant, the zone This survivor sits further from its star than
After a further billion years or so, and another of habitability will extend further,” says Rafael Earth is from the sun, around 2.8 times the
round of shrinking and ballooning, it will Luque, an astronomer at the University of distance. Its existence suggests that we could
then die and shrink back down into a Chicago. “We know there is a lot of water in indeed take refuge on the moons of a gas giant
stellar corpse called a white dwarf. the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, so there in our own cosmic backyard. Jupiter is 5.2 times
As it grows to become a red giant, the sun could be a second generation of habitability Earth’s distance from the sun. If that proves too
will get hotter as the nuclear reactions inside within our solar system.” hot, Saturn is nearly twice as far away.
its core creep outwards to find fresh sources We have solid evidence that gas giants akin However, there is a chance we won’t need to
of hydrogen fuel, closer to the sun’s surface. In to Jupiter can survive their parent star’s death. take such drastic measures. Earth might just
about a billion years from now, we think this In 2021, such a planet was observed in orbit survive the sun becoming a red giant. Shreyas
will make the surface temperature on Earth around a white dwarf near the centre of our Vissapragada at the Harvard-Smithsonian
hot enough to boil away the oceans, leaving the Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers could tell that Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts
planet covered in salt flats and dunes. Without the star and this planet had formed at around suggests that it might be pushed outwards
water, plate tectonics will stop and at a certain the same time, meaning this world survived by the expanding sun’s solar wind, which
Y
OU may think that complex equations Protein molecules are slightly electrically
and alcohol don’t, or perhaps shouldn’t, charged and have both water-loving and
mix. But make your favourite cocktail water-repelling parts. These properties cause
and you will unknowingly encounter some of them to align in just the right way to keep
the most complex processes in fluid dynamics, bubbles from collapsing – for a while, at least.
the study of how liquids flow. Stronger attractions between the protein
When researchers try to predict how a fluid molecules, and a high concentration of them,
will move, bubble or create waves, they often result in stiffer foams that behave more like
run into complicated equations. The starting solids. Foams with fewer molecules or
point for solving almost any of these problems molecules that barely interact stay runnier.
is the Navier-Stokes equations, named after For a gin fizz, we need our foam to be robust
Claude-Louis Navier and George Gabriel so that it sits on the top of the drink. If you
Stokes. The pair devised them in the 1800s, whisk the egg whites vigorously enough, the
which also happens to have been the golden proteins will stretch out, then link up, leaving
age of mixology. you with the perfect pourable foam. If you
What better way, then, to learn about prefer not to use egg whites, the liquid from
fluid dynamics than by indulging in some a can of chickpeas, known as aquafaba, is a
cocktails? Whether it is how foams are good alternative as it is chock-full of proteins.
made, the formation of unusual clouds or And if you are struggling to make a foam,
liquids spurting at supersonic speeds, some adding a bit of cream of tartar will nudge the
ALEX OVERHISER
wonderful surprises can hide in a drink. Roll up proteins to stretch more reliably and quickly.
your sleeves and dig out your cocktail shaker!
B-52
GIN FIZZ Create a complex cloud in your glass
Experience the miniature marvel of foams The physics, and the flavours, get more
First up, something fizzy. Made from two parts complex when you pour a drink with more
gin, one part lemon juice, a dash of syrup and than two layers. Take the eye-catching B-52.
a splash of soda water, the gin fizz would be This short cocktail contains equal amounts
simple were it not for its layer of foam. of three alcoholic beverages: a layer of
Foams challenge physicists. At times, they orangey-gold Grand Marnier sits on top of
behave like solids; at other times, they act like milky Irish cream, which floats on a deep
liquids. Soapy bubbles flow like water when brown coffee liqueur. And with this cocktail,
you wash your dishes, but the stiff head of a we can demonstrate something called the
beer can be sliced off in one. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.
This difference comes The drink’s layers stay separate
down to the bubbles. within the glass because each is
When bubbles crowd less dense than the one below.
together, they make a foam. Buoyant forces, caused by the
But how foam acts depends pressure on the molecules at
on the molecules inside the the bottom of each layer being
STOCKFOOD/BLUME, JENNIFER
Stokes. They found that the gas forms shock 11 centimetres per second. You can try it with
waves of various shapes behind the cork, first fruit juice, effectively preparing your own rum
resembling a crown while stuck behind the punch as the boat sails. Perhaps there is also an
slower-moving cork, then forming a foamy optimum number of cocktails to be consumed
cylinder, then finally slowing down and before beginning the experiment. Something
running along the sides of the bottle. else to try out over the festive period? ❚
Georges refers to a bottle of champagne as
A rum punch (far left), a “mini laboratory for the physics of fluids”.
gin fizz (top), French 75 But past those first few milliseconds, the only Karmela Padavic-Callaghan is
(left) and B-52 (above) experimentation left for you will lie in deciding ready for the holidays to be-gin
whether to swap the syrup in your French 75
for a sugar cube.
What’s living in C
“ AN I ask what all this is for?” The
pharmacy assistant is eyeing me
suspiciously. I have just asked for
some covid tests, urine sample pots and
sterile scalpel blades. Oh, and some latex
D
URING a stay in Venice a few years ago, world’s most important trading hub. He was
I spent time in the Correr Museum, commissioned by the Venetian government
soaking up the city’s history. Located to make his map, which took him nine years,
in Saint Mark’s Square, the museum displays even with the help of a team of artists and
imposing statues, paintings of sea battles and calligraphers. We know little about his
ancient weapons. But as I passed through the qualifications as a map-maker, only that he did
last room of exhibits, another artefact hanging some survey work on behalf of the monastery
alone in an alcove caught my eye. It was a map and had been hired to help with a project
of the world – a “mappa mundi” in Latin – but rerouting a river away from the Venetian
it was unlike any I had encountered before. Lagoon. All his geographic work on the map
Framed in gold and 2.4 metres in diameter, was informed by past maps and visitors to
HISTORY_DOCU_PHOTO/ALAMY
the world pictured here was a combination Venice, including sailors and traders.
of rolling blue seas with cresting waves In 15th century Europe, world maps were
and off-white landmasses, all covered with usually full of images of Christ and biblically
handwritten notes. It was one of the most important places, and imbued with warnings
beautiful, and beautifully complex, things of death at the hands of barbaric hordes.
that I had ever seen. Monsters inhabited their geographic
Created by a monk called Fra Mauro unknowns. Fra Mauro rejected those
550 years ago, the map had been largely conventions. For example, he didn’t centre the
overlooked for centuries, a lamentable state map on Jerusalem, as was usual at this time; he
of affairs considering it displays a level of reduced the Holy Land to its correct size; and “Fra Mauro’s
accuracy absent in earlier maps. Turn it upside Noah’s Ark is just a tiny house atop a mountain.
down – Mauro placed south at the top – and it Nor did he include any monsters, although map was an
is recognisable as a map of Africa and Eurasia. he did mention those stories within the map’s
Following my visit to Venice, I decided to inscriptions – before dismissing them. He still attempt to
find out more about this map, a project that showed the Garden of Eden and his take on
culminated in my book Here Begins the Dark the cosmos, but he placed these images off represent the
Sea. I spent more than a year delving into the the map, separated from it by a large, golden
literature on world maps, poring over Fra frame, making them officially otherworldly. world more
Mauro’s creation and trying to understand Fra Mauro also made a major geographic
what he intended it to say. It turns out that decision that rocked the world of international truthfully”
it was part of the inflection point from the trade. He was the first cartographer to show
Middle Ages to the Renaissance because it definitively that ships could sail around
was the first world map based on science the southern tip of Africa, which made trade
and geography rather than religion. As such, with Asia and the Spice Islands more efficient
it initiated the discipline of cartography. and cheaper than was the case with the
Fra Mauro was a lay monk of the combination of land and sea routes used at
Camaldolese order living on the monastery the time. That also meant people in Europe had
island of San Michele just off the northern to accept that the Indian “Sea” was an ocean,
edge of Venice, which, at the time, was the rather than an enclosed body of water. He was
YOGI BLACK/ALAMY
for him to point out where to find trade goods Ptolemy first wrestled with this problem by
and natural resources, such as gold, gems, advocating for lines of latitude and longitude
animals, cloth, spices and all sorts of edible as a grid curved into the shape of a cloak to keep
items. He underscored the international landmasses in their correct relative position.
nature of this trade by drawing various types Map-makers after Fra Mauro chose other types
of boat floating on the seas, from Chinese of projection, such as the cordiform or heart-
junks to Arabian dhows. Line by line, Fra shaped projection with curving longitudinal
Mauro is explaining to the viewer that it is lines, or the cone shape projection with a polar
a big, wide world out there and not everyone orientation. But these both distort landmasses.
looks or acts like people in Europe. He was Such distortions can, intentionally or
acting as a medieval anthropologist. not, carry political messages. The Mercator
Fra Mauro was also prepared to reject projection, for example, stretches the
received wisdom if it clashed with more landmasses nearer the poles and so makes
recent observations, unlike previous scholars some countries – those of northern Europe,
who typically accepted without question the for instance – look larger than they really
works of ancient writers like 2nd century AD are. Many observers have noted that this can
polymath Ptolemy. And like modern scientists, overstate the importance of such countries.
he sometimes changed his mind – some of his A new world map published in 2021 by
inscriptions are glued on, like Post-it notes, physicists J. Richard Gott, David Goldberg and
also the first European cartographer to place covering up past knowledge that was no Bob Vanderbei minimised such distortions.
Japan on a world map. Of course, he had no longer deemed accurate or relevant. In fact, they argue it is the truest flat projection
idea of the existence of the Americas, Australia He also noted where he obtained his of the world yet produced. It comes in the
and Antarctica, but his geography of the information, often relying on conversations form of two discs representing the southern
then-known world is surprisingly accurate. with sailors and foreign visitors to Venice. and northern hemispheres, glued together
Yet Fra Mauro’s creation is so much more Such explanatory inscriptions rarely appear to create a two-sided map.
than a map. It is also a medieval encyclopaedia, on other medieval world maps, and never to It is unlikely that this will be the final word.
intended as a conversation with the viewer. It this extent. Fra Mauro’s map, although a fine It seems we never stop fiddling with world
is festooned with more than 3000 inscriptions work of art, is also a visual and verbal defence maps. That is why there is a reproduction
written in Veneziano, the language of Venice, of a point of view that was based on known of Fra Mauro’s map hanging on my wall:
rather than the more traditional Latin, geography. As such, he initiated the science to honour our cartographic past and
suggesting Fra Mauro wanted to communicate of cartography based on direct observations acknowledge our ongoing attempts to fully
with everyone, not just the intellectual elite. by travellers and explorers, not beliefs. understand who we are and where we live. ❚
The range of topics in the inscriptions In that sense, Fra Mauro’s map was an
is extensive and informative. For example, effort to represent the world more truthfully,
he uses the words of Marco Polo and other something cartographers still struggle with
traders and adventurers to describe the today. Even though we now have clear pictures
lifestyles, belief systems and physical features of our world taken from space, there remains Meredith F. Small always gives
of peoples in Africa, South-East Asia and the the frustrating issue of projection: how to peel presents that are off the charts.
far north of the Atlantic as well as northern off the skin of the globe and flatten it out onto Her book Here Begins the Dark
Russia. Being Venetian, it was also natural a 2D surface without distorting the geography. Sea is out now
Ageotype
In 2020, Michael Snyder, a geneticist at describes “spring flowers that bloom uncannily
Stanford University in California, discovered early in the year due to changes in climate,
that we tend to age along four different suggesting an eerie time-out-of-jointness”.
pathways. He found that the biological Like so many of today’s neologisms, the
signatures associated with ageing are mostly word captures a facet of the changing
found in four parts of your body – your environment. Last year, researchers found that
kidneys, liver, immune system and general UK spring flowers are opening nearly a month
metabolism – with one or two of these earlier than they did before 1986, because of
systems ageing faster than the rest. climate change. The scary thing, says Ulf
Snyder reckons figuring out your “ageotype” Büntgen at the University of Cambridge, who
can lead you towards the best strategy to target was part of the team, is that just 1°C of global
your predominant ageing pathway, meaning warming can translate into flowering taking
you live healthier for longer. Liver agers, say, place a whole month earlier. Where does that
might consider laying off the booze. Metabolic leave insects, birds and other animals that live
agers, meanwhile, should focus on exercise. in sync with the flowering of specific plants?
In any case, we might expect the term to
rise to prominence, at least within the circles Marsification
that obsess about this stuff, on the basis that The Bureau of Linguistic Reality (BLR) is a
it is at the vanguard of efforts to personalise participatory art project that asks members of
anti-ageing interventions. the public to help devise neologisms capturing
how we feel about climate change, biodiversity
Agrivoltaics collapse and other transformations. Among
The next time you find yourself walking in the their inventions is “marsification”, an attempt
countryside, you may spot some rather odd- to describe the increasing use of “techno-
looking fields. Some will have crops co-existing utopian fantasy to transcend dire physical
with great swathes of solar panels, while others and ecological realities on Earth”.
will be full of livestock sheltering or grazing The term is a send-up of the idea that we
under a photovoltaic canopy. What you would can colonise the Red Planet once our blue
be looking at are “agrivoltaics”, a term that world becomes hostile to life. In the BLR’s
describes solar energy installations designed interpretation, however, marsification
to work alongside crops or livestock. captures a fast-developing ideology that
Inevitably, some people argue that solar presents technological fixes as “universally
farms blight the landscape and change the beneficial solutions”, while ignoring any of the
nature of rural communities. But in North tricky social, political, economic or spiritual light pollution poses for astronomy.
America, proponents of agrivoltaics are aspects of complex problems. Moreover, the Considering that – alongside Elon Musk’s
working to convince them that solar farms BLR adds, it describes attempts “to solve a growing fleet of low-orbiting satellites –
can help to restore disappearing prairies. In problem in the most statistically unlikely and the duo coined the term “noctalgia” to
any case, the term will surely stick around unselfconsciously grandiose way possible”. express what they called “sky grief” for the
because it captures a new frontier in the battle “accelerating loss of the home environment of
over the transition to renewable energy. Noctalgia our shared skies, a disappearance felt globally”.
Earlier this year, Aparna Venkatesan, an As we lose our ability to see the night sky
Antevernals astronomer at the University of San Francisco, clearly, they wrote, we are “witnessing loss
ANDY MARTIN
The nature writer Robert Macfarlane has and John Barentine at Dark Sky Consulting in of heritage, place-based language, identity,
written that this term, originally coined by Tucson, Arizona, wrote to the journal Science storytelling, millennia-old sky traditions and
environmental journalist Michelle Nijhuis, in response to an article exploring the problem our ability to conduct traditional practices
Solastalgia
Coined by philosopher Glenn Albrecht to
describe the distress caused by environmental
change, “solastalgia” describes “the
homesickness you have when you are still
at home, in Albrecht’s words, as the natural
world you knew disappears before your eyes.
Solastalgia is often caused by climate
change. In one paper, Albrecht explores
the experiences associated with persistent
drought in rural New South Wales, Australia,
and large-scale, open-cut coal mining. But it
can be triggered by many things, including
pollution and deforestation. The only good
news, such as it is, is that some suggest
solastalgia might have an adaptive benefit:
like other “climate emotions”, talking about
it may help people become more resilient.
Thinjection
“Are you tempted by a thinjection?” That
was the question posed earlier this year
The term “parasocial” was coined by in Women’s Health magazine, referring to
researchers Donald Horton and Richard a sensational new weight-loss drug called
Wohl in a 1956 paper with the subtitle, semaglutide (also known as Wegovy). The
“Observations on intimacy at a distance”. Even drug has attracted an immense amount
then, they suggested that many viewers were of attention, not only as a result of endless
experiencing strong connections with the speculation over which celebrities are using
characters in TV shows like The Lone Ranger. it, but also because “thinjections” have the
Today, the term is acquiring new significance potential to make obesity history.
grounded in the ecological integrity of as people spend ever longer on social media, It works by mimicking the effects of a
what we call home”. which tends to encourage the illusion that hormone called GLP-1, which slows the passage
Astronomers are pushing for regulation we can engage in relationships with people of food through the gut and acts on the brain
to mitigate ground-based light pollution. we can’t truly interact with. We can expect the to suppress appetite. It is remarkably effective:
But Venkatesan and Barentine argue that the phenomenon to continue because, these days, in clinical trials, a weekly injection caused
UN should designate the skies as “intangible many streamers – influencers who broadcast participants to lose 15 per cent of their body
cultural heritage” and expand the “rights of live – are deliberately seeking to exploit it. weight on average within 68 weeks. New
nature” legal theory, which proposes inherent and improved versions, which require fewer
rights for ecosystems and species, to help Promptcraft injections, are already in the pipeline. ❚
provide a framework for action. Otherwise known as prompt engineering, this
term has two meanings. For the companies
Parasocial that make generative artificial intelligence
Parasocial interaction theory seeks to make tools, such as ChatGPT, it refers to the task of
sense of a phenomenon in which people training them to deliver more accurate and Liz Else welcomes your
interact with celebrities, fictional characters, relevant responses to the questions people parasocial interactions
influencers and more as if they were in a pose. For the rest of us, it pertains to the art
genuinely reciprocal relationship with them. and science of perfecting the prompts you
S
OME foods are made for one another. North America and western Europe do tend to
From the comforting cuddle of pair ingredients that share flavour compounds.
mozzarella, tomato and marjoram atop “Flavour pairing theory” made waves in
a pizza to the tantalising trinity of ginger, garlic the culinary world, with food manufacturers
and soy sauce that make East Asian dishes sing, dedicating resources to applying the idea to
some combinations seem so natural that it is their products and start-ups tapping into open-
difficult to imagine a world without them. And source data on flavour compounds to predict
yet for centuries, gourmands and academics what the next big food trend would be.
have been confounded by why some foods And yet, the concept was fundamentally
harmonise so well. flawed: it soon became apparent that it didn’t
In 1992, chefs Heston Blumenthal and apply to many recipes from Eastern cuisines.
François Benzi hit the lab to try to solve this Now, a new network model offers a solution
culinary riddle. They happened upon the idea that could unite all food flavours once and for
DAVID STOCK
that foods that taste good together also share all. As a doctor turned food specialist, I decided
many volatile flavour compounds – the aroma- to put it to the test by creating a festive
carrying chemicals that rise up into the back of Christmas meal like no other.
the nose to create the perception of flavour on The original flavour pairing theory neatly Guests enjoy a
the tongue. Their findings were validated in explained why coffee and chocolate is a match main course of
2011, with a study that analysed 56,498 recipes made in heaven: they share a legion of roasted, turkey, peanuts
from different international cuisines. nutty and earthy flavour compounds, such as and chocolate
Yong-Yeol Ahn at Indiana University pyrazines. And it helped us create a range of
and his colleagues used the data to construct whacky food pairings. Chocolate and blue
a network model, a complex map of the cheese share at least 73 flavour compounds, for
relationships between all of the recipes’ instance, which is why a blob of Roquefort on a
ingredients and the flavour compounds cube of dark chocolate really does taste good.
they shared. This confirmed that recipes from But the data also revealed that Indian,
South-East Asian, West African and some
southern European cuisines typically
don’t pair ingredients with shared flavour “Garlic and
compounds. In fact, they do the opposite:
they tend to combine ingredients that are least strawberry
likely to share such compounds, such as lamb
and cinnamon or fish sauce and tamarind. share few
These are combinations the flavour pairing
hypothesis says should clash, but are truly flavours but
delectable, as everyone who has tried an
authentic biryani or pad thai will know. beef can act
DAVID STOCK
WELCOME DRINK
Champagne with chestnuts
MAIN COURSE
Roast turkey with chocolate cake
Mulling it over
Some things just go together, like cinnamon and Christmas.
So let’s make some mulled wine, says Sam Wong
VALENTYN VOLKOV/ALAMY
2 oranges In a study that asked wine
150 grams or ¾ cup caster and beer experts to suggest food
sugar or granulated sugar matches, some pairings were
5 cloves thought to match because of a
5 cardamom pods certain similarity in taste – for
1 cinnamon stick instance, acidic wines with acidic
Pinch of nutmeg cheeses. In other cases, elements of iron led to an unpleasant, fishy cinnamon more pleasant at
2 bottles of red wine that are strong in different ways aftertaste in scallops. For some Christmastime than in the
were said to balance one another – people, artichokes can make wine summer, and also associated
like salty cheese with sweet wine. taste sweet, due to a chemical orange and cloves more strongly
Sometimes, we appreciate called cynarin. This molecule with Christmas.
a drink that can neutralise the binds to sweet taste receptors This seems like a good enough
aftertaste or mouthfeel that without activating them. When reason to make mulled wine. Start
remains after we eat certain you sip a drink and the cynarin by infusing the spices in a syrup:
foods. For example, tea contains is washed away, this frees up the add the sugar and spices to a large
chemicals called saponins that receptors and triggers a sensation saucepan along with the orange
help to wash out greasiness – of sweetness. peel and juice, then add just
which probably explains why my While these chemical and enough wine to cover the sugar.
wife insists on a cup of tea with perceptual phenomena play a role Heat until the sugar dissolves,
The science of cooking fish and chips. Conversely, eating in some successful combinations, then simmer until you have a
appears every four weeks. cheese has been found to reduce there is no doubt our enjoyment thick syrup. You can store this
Share your cooking successes the astringency of a red wine, of food and drink pairings is partly syrup and use it later, or add the
with us on Twitter and perhaps because of an attraction down to familiarity and cultural rest of the wine, heat gently and
Instagram @newscientist, between fat droplets and tannins. context. Sometimes, we might serve immediately. Blue cheese
using the hashtag Some pairings are best avoided want to choose a drink that would be a fine companion. ❚
#NewScientistCooking because the two elements interact matches the occasion, rather than
in an undesirable way. A 2009 the food being served. According These articles are
Up next study reported that some red to a study carried out in Germany, posted each week at
60-second psychology wines containing high levels participants found the smell of newscientist.com/maker
Science to remember
Whether it is a new way to shake a martini or what
happens to spiny lava lizards when temperatures rise,
there was plenty of weird science news in 2023.
Bethan Ackerley is here to quiz you on it
1 When the holiday season rolls 5 In July, the RRS Sir David 6 In November, physicists
around, one topic is always at the Attenborough prepared for its invented a new way to shake
forefront of our minds: the mating first expedition to Antarctica. a martini that produces what
habits of frogs. But what didn’t It will be researching copepods, shape on the drink’s surface?
we learn about these amorous a kind of zooplankton whose A A thumbs up
amphibians this year? collective weight is how much? B A four-leaf clover
A Female frogs play A Half that of the entire C A heart
dead to avoid mating human population D A skull
B Male frogs have been B The same as that of the
mating with the wrong species entire human population 7 In August, we reported on
for over 200 million years C Ten times that of the evidence that fruit flies seem to be
C Female frogs yell entire human population capable of playing, but what activity
at coercive males D One-hundred times did they appear to enjoy doing?
ALEC LUHN
D Male frogs often accidentally that of the entire A Rolling wooden balls
poison themselves during mating human population B Riding a carousel
C Playing Wordle
2 In September, a security D Arranging bricks
researcher revealed that a data A It is the best place
leak from the International Space 8 We learned a lot about octopuses to build a moon base
Station meant it was possible to this year, but what didn’t we discover B It was made by a meteorite
track when astronauts did what? about these cephalopods? suspected to have caused
A Sneezed A They replay skin patterns a mass extinction
STUDIOTOUCH/SHUTTERSTOCK
B Slept from when they are awake C Its terroir makes it the best
C Urinated while they sleep place to grow red wine grapes
D Laughed B Their ink contains a D It is hidden beneath
compound that kills cancer Rhode Island
3 What unique appendage C They edit their genetic
of sharpshooter insects did code to adapt to colder water 11 Many species thought lost were
we report on in February? D They take revenge on rediscovered by science in 2023,
A Their anal catapult predators that harm them but which of the following wasn’t?
B Their swivelling stinger A Attenborough’s
C Their perineal horn 9 Buying how many tickets long-beaked echidna
D Their plasma-firing claw guarantees a win in the B The splendid poison frog
UK’s “Lotto” lottery, as two C The Pernambuco holly
4 In June, scientists announced mathematicians showed in July? D The strange big-eared brown bat
A 27
SIMON BELCHER/ALAMY
OLENA YEROMENKO/ALAMY
Antarctic Survey’s ship, the
MARK CONLIN/ALAMY
RRS Sir David Attenborough
VLADIMIR TURKENICH/SHUTTERSTOCK
C To communicate
with their young
12 13
14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22
23
24 25 26 27
28
29 30 31
32
33 34 35 36 37
38
39 40 41 42 43 44 45
Twenty-one of the following 17 Amazon half destroyed 34 Nigeria’s border soldiers finally
solutions are linked to a theme; by old Brazilian leader, sent after gold decoration (8)
their clues don’t include a definition. the former president (5) 36 At night, kiss stretchy material (5)
For a guide on how 19 Composed dawn tune 39 Half of gang drink fish sauce (5)
to solve New Scientist’s ACROSS that’s not welcome (8) 41 Some of Magritte’s
cryptic crossword visit: 1 Flowers compete with setter (6) 21 Time to enter exam, quickly! (4) landscapes (5)
newscientist.com/cryptic 4 A piece of teaching 24 Low-carbon way to get 43 Stay 40 per cent sober
equipment on a ship (6) around Baku in no time, with reporter? Not half! (7)
8 Fail to catch warm garment (4) on a tour (8,4) 46 Optical phenomenon made
12 Deliver countries’ aid packages (9) 27 Waves cut off sources of by two big cats, one skinned (9)
13 Clique worked with anthropogenic noise (6) 47 Country gripped by awful
beer after I left (9) 29 Starter of liver wrapped colonic blockage (9)
14 Kitchen tool starts in bacon, perhaps? (6) 48 Extra changing hands (4)
to reek terribly (7) 30 Dismantle cargo on a hill – 49 Issue around carbon
15 Gettin’ close, by the sounds (5) that’s strong stuff (5,7) monoxide (6)
16 Group from China designs 33 Instrument is reportedly 50 Amphibian running (6)
revolutionary car (5) stolen goods (4)
37 Climbing teacher interrupts “Next year,” the kids thought, (two words: 8,5). You might be advised to
salesperson and traveller (7) “we won’t even try it; have a copy of the periodic table to hand!
38 Finnish city expels leader (6) Santa Claus seems to be terribly quiet.”
40 Perhaps Nelson gave up By evening the kids had all leapt out of sight 1 Said three times when Santa Claus laughs (2)
house for relationship (5) “Merry Christmas, but we’re off to bed, 2 __ Man, a character in The Wizard of Oz (3)
42 Article on crop nut (5) so good night!” 3 Winter precipitation and the surname
43 Disgusting criticism of a chemist and novelist famous for
wastes time (4) his lecture on “The Two Cultures” (4)
44 Precious thing in hearing (5) #253 Two tenors 4 Nuts that form the basis of
45 Trimmed design in one fabric (5) set by Daniel Griller marzipan in a Christmas cake (7)
5 German chemist who was born on
Starting at the number 1, as you embark Christmas Day 1876 and awarded the
on a festive stroll along the number line, Nobel prize for chemistry in 1928 (7)
you will, from time to time, land on whole 6 Alcoholic component of Buck’s Fizz (9)
numbers whose digits sum to a multiple of 7 The __ , a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
10; like 46 or 785, or 90939. Let’s call often performed at Christmas (10)
these special numbers “tenors”. 8 One of the Christmas gifts from
the three wise men (12)
Sometimes, the gap from one tenor to the
next is small, like the time it takes for Santa’s Answers to these puzzles, plus the solutions to
sleigh to fly across the sky, while at other 9 December’s puzzle and crossword, on page 78
Out now
It is so familiar, and yet extremely hard to pin down. Unravel the truth
about your inner world with the latest Essential Guide.
Increasing perimeters Twisteddoodles for New Scientist Korea, giving it the title “Study
on CEO New Year’s address: Using
Some people are big on holidays – text mining method”. “CEO”, as
bigger than they were before those most holiday revellers know, is
holidays. A team at the University an acronym that stands for the
of Castilla-La Mancha and the phrase “chief executive officer”.
University of Valladolid, Spain, sized Kim’s summary of these New
up some first-year undergraduate Year’s stories is more businesslike
nursing students, then wrote about than Dickens’s summaries of his
it in a paper called “Preliminary Christmas tales. Kim says: “This
study of the increase in health study analyzed the CEO New
science students’ body mass index Year’s addresses of major Korean
during the Christmas holidays”. companies... [I] analyzed 545
The researchers assessed New Year’s addresses published
changes in the weight and waist between 2012 and 2021 by
circumference of 67 students the top 66 Korean companies in
during the course of Christmas terms of market capitalization.”
vacation. They asked students Many Korean CEO New Year’s
to measure themselves on addresses are findable on the
23 December, the day before the internet, or by sending a request
holidays officially started, and again in an admiring tone to the corporate
at two specified points during the offices. After an evening of hearing
break, then finally on 13 January, family members declaim these CEO
the day general university stories, whatever happens during
activities officially resumed. the next few days will feel like
(Presumably the students were a rousing start to the year.
honest and accurate. However, the
study includes the careful statement
Muddy White Christmas
“This was a preliminary pilot study
with self-reports. It is known that Got a story for Feedback? In contrast to snow blanketing
these reports tend to underestimate Send it to feedback@newscientist.com the land in chilly climes, having a
weight.”) The self-reported numbers or New Scientist, 9 Derry Street, London, W8 5HY White Christmas in some warmer
show that, on average, body weight Consideration of items sent in the post will be delayed places is a matter of calcium
went up by about half a kilogram carbonate (CaCO3) precipitating
during the holiday, then came back in balmy waters. The CaCO3
down by the return to campus. A small holiday bite this kindly thought: “Our take drops to the sea floor, coating
The study says: “As a whole, home message? Always flush it with thick, white lime mud.
the students who weighed more Little things that happen during the toilet before sitting down Sam Purkis at the University of
had a greater tendency to gain more any holiday can, thanks to the in countries notorious for their Miami, Florida, and team published
weight, in the case of both males timing, be especially memorable. snake population!” a study about this, titled “Always
and females.” What (not just how So it is with the case of the snake a White Christmas in the Bahamas:
much) the students ate may, the that bit the genitals of a defecating Temperature and hydrodynamics
study suggests, have played a man. G. H. Dijkema at Rijnstate
A new holiday tradition localize winter mud production
sizeable role: “The students with a hospital in the Netherlands and Some families like to gather to read on Great Bahama Bank”.
high-fat diet presented with a more colleagues lay forth the details aloud holiday stories, especially the Though for Christmas Eve
pronounced change in weight.” in a report called “Scrotal Christmas tales written by Charles recitation the writing isn’t quite
What new hill of beans does this necrosis after cobra (Naja Dickens. But families who are tired Dickens (or Korean CEO), you can
up-and-down poundage amount annulifera) envenomation”. of hearing the same old words year treat your relatives to the lyrical
to? The study concludes: “Although Essentially, this is a simple tale. after year do have alternatives. parts. This, for instance: “spatial
the weight gain was not alarming, The team compresses the basic Maybe the most profitable is to heterogeneity in the degree of
it does point to the possibility of facts into a single sentence: “A take a businesslike approach. aragonite saturation is higher in
weight gain among young adults 47-year-old otherwise healthy Yukyoung Kim has identified a the winter, and the zone of peak
during vacation periods.” male was on holiday in a South heap of stories that – because no whitings is situated in an area of
What of the student waistline African nature reserve, and while one is stopping you – you and your locally enhanced saturation state”.
size (the study calls it “abdominal toileting, a snake struck from the family can read to each other as you Accompanied by festive music
perimeter”)? That increased, on toilet and bit his genitals.” anticipate the arrival of New Year. and good cheer, your calcium
average, by about a centimetre Enough extra detail is added to Kim compiled the material as carbonate White Christmas
and stayed that way. In other fill two and a half pages, spiced up the main chunk of a master’s thesis dramatic reading will turn the
words: post-holiday, people with three photos of the injured at the College of Liberal Arts and thoughts of all to better things. ❚
tended to be just a little stouter. body part. The authors also add Convergence Science in South Marc Abrahams