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Contents
28
PENGUINS: FIRST CO
STOVER
BIRDS IN THE WATER RY
AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED
108
PUBLISHED 4 JULY 2024
They lost the ability to fly,

but by trading their wings
for flippers, penguins gained
access to an ocean full of food.
ISSUE #
34 40
IS THERE A HIDDEN PLANET? CONTROLLING OUR DREAMS
With our far-seeing space telescopes, it seems impossible Scientists are getting closer to detailed
that we could be missing a planet larger than Earth manipulation of our dreams. It could
somewhere out beyond Nepture. But it may be there. be fun, but who gets to be in charge?
46 REGULARS
EARTH AFTER AND OTHER
HUMANS FEATURES EDITORIAL
Editor: Jez Ford
editor@scienceillustrated.com.au
Once we humans 6 MEGAPIXELS DESIGN
have managed to A rare tiger selfie photo and an Art Director: Malcolm Campbell
send ourselves illuminating Adelaide experience.
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Here’s how. and updates from Managing Director: Arek Widawski
the ever-fascinating INTERNATIONAL EDITION
world of science. Editor-in-Chief: Jonas Kuld Rathje
BONNIER PUBLICATIONS A/S
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MEGAPIXEL TIGER SELFIE
6 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED
Tiger shoot: endangered
cat sends a selfie greeting
Tigers are a rare sight in Malaysia. The big
cats are threatened by deforestation and
poaching, and the population has plummeted from
around 3000 in the 1950s to fewer than 150 today.
But recently, one of the rare creatures was spotted.
A wildlife photographer working with an anti-poaching
organisation set eight photo traps, and a curious
tiger triggered this selfie. Globally, tiger numbers fell
as low as 3200 in 2010, but have recovered since then;
there are now thought to be more than 5500 tigers.
Photo // Emmanuel Rondeau

WWF-US
scienceillustrated.com.au | 7
MEGAPIXEL ART MEETS SCIENCE
Touching technology:
EDEN comes to Adelaide
Berlin-based creators flora&faunavisions
are bringing ‘EDEN’ to the ‘Illuminate
Adelaide’ festival during July: this digitally-
immersive collision of art, science and nature
uses 150 square metres of LED screens and
allows visitors to interact with the lush flora and
create their own digital garden. The interactive
digital wonderland will run in The Light Room at
Adelaide’s Centre of Immersive Light and Art
(ILA) from 04–21 July: general admission is $25.
Photo // Lacey Wright
S C I E N C E U P D AT E THE LATEST FINDINGS
AND DISCOVERIES
NASA / SHUTTERSTOCK
23 eyes explore Stereo camera Laser beam makes

the terrain provides 3D images the rock evaporate
With 23 cameras, ‘Percy’ has From the rover’s mast, The SuperCam aims a laser
the Mastcam-Z camera beam at a rock up to 7 metres
more eyes than any other rover. produces panoramic 3D images. away. A small quantity of the rock
The cameras filmed during landing, Armed with these, researchers can evaporates and is analysed for
make the rover stay on course, determine the distances to the most chemical compounds that could
and reveal the contents of dust, interesting rocks on the surface. offer evidence of previous life.
rocks and the atmosphere.
Weather station tests

humidity and dust
The MEDA weather station
measures wind speed,
temperature, humidity and air
pressure. The instrument also
provides data about varying levels
of dust in the atmosphere.
Ground-penetrating Oxygen to be extracted Robotic arm brings the

radar looks down from the Martian air instruments up close
The RIMFAX at the back The MOXIE device will reveal At the end of the 2-metre-long
beams radar signals 10 metres whether carbon dioxide from robotic arm, there is a drill,
into the ground. As the Norwegian the atmosphere can be converted a camera, and two instruments
instrument picks up the echoes into oxygen for future astronauts to SHERLOC and PIXL, which analyse
of the radar, it reveals rock, sand, breathe. The oxygen could also be the chemistry of minerals that have
ice or water in the ground beneath. used as rocket fuel. been uncovered by the drill.
Editor: Karen Grubbe
Perseverance
rover discovers The brain is more
ex-lake on Mars active when making

handwritten notes
A new study demonstrates that
writing notes by hand involves more
Based on radar studies beneath Martian earth, cognitive processing than typing.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has found evidence
that water once flowed in the Jezero Crater. HUMANS As computers and phones
gradually replace pen and paper, taking
UNIVERSE In February the Jezero Crater that the notes by hand is becoming ever more rare
2021, the rover Perseverance researchers believe are a result in schools, universities and everywhere
(‘Percy’) landed in the 45km- of water – probably a large lake else. But some students still prefer the
wide and 1km-deep Jezero Crater which shrank slowly to form a tactile sensation of taking notes by hand.
on Mars. The six-wheeled rover large delta, then eroding into Is one method better than the other
from NASA’s Mars 2020 mission the geological details that are when it comes to learning?
has been trundling around the visible on the surface today. Researchers from NTNU in Norway have
Red Planet ever since, seeking It is a key discovery which found the answer and written it down
evidence of life. confirms speculation that water (probably using a keyboard) in a new study
The rover’s radar, RIMFAX, once flowed in this location, that placed 256 small sensors on the heads
allows it to see 10 metres says David Paige, a professor of of 40 Norwegian students. They wrote
below the crater’s surface. planetary sciences at UCLA and down words that appeared on a screen
Each time Percy travels 10cm, the lead author of the report on either by hand or using a keyboard.
it emits and collects radar waves the discovery. Meanwhile the research team monitored
for analysis, revealing the “The radar images show that the students’ electrical brain activity.
structure and composition of the sediments are regular and The researchers were particularly
underground layers. Any horizontal – just like sediments interested in patterns of connection
accumulations of minerals, deposited in lakes on Earth.” between the areas of the brain
organic materials or other The results support the associated with learning. Learning
substances that have built up in theory in which NASA scientists is a complex process that involves
layers over time may indicate have long believed: that cold, collaboration between different
what previous environments dry and lifeless Mars was once regions of the brain, including the
have existed in any given place. a warm, wet, and perhaps hippocampus, which is often associated
From May to December habitable planet. with learning and memory, and is the
2022, Perseverance moved onto Now there is clear evidence brain area that often plays a key role in
a delta, which a report from that water onced flowed in the formation of new memories.
UCLA describes as a vast the dry Jezero Crater, there is a After repeated experiments, the
expanse of 3 billion-year-old higher chance that rock samples trend was clear to the Norwegian
sediments. From orbit, this may reveal evidence of life. researchers that the students used
resembles the river deltas on Perseverance is collecting more parts of the brain when writing
Earth, and now the radar data 30 ‘tubes’ of samples for a by hand. According to the researchers,
seems to confirm the future ‘Mars Sample Return’ this is because a larger part of the brain
comparison, revealing distinct mission planned by NASA and is active when notebook and pencil
deposits in the layers beneath the European Space Agency. are employed. In other words, more
cognitive processing takes place during
handwriting, as it requires active
consideration of arriving information.
S C I E N C E U P DAT E
UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO
SHUTTERSTOCK
How
Alzheimer’s
conquers
the brain
Mild cognitive
1
impairment
AFFECTED AREA:
Alzheimer’s begins in the
medial temporal lobe.
SYMPTOMS: impaired
short-term memory.
DURATION: approx. 7 years.
Mild
2
Alzheimer’s
AFFECTED AREA:
the disease spreads in the
temporal and parietal lobes.
ADDITIONAL SYMPTOMS:
impaired orientation,
The semi-human robots can imitate human motions quite realistically under the water. reading and recognition.
DURATION: approx. 2 years.
Robot uses human muscle tissue to walk 3

Moderate
Alzheimer’s
Japanese engineers have designed a robot that uses human muscle tissue AFFECTED AREA:
and a silicone skeleton, then zapped it Frankenstein-style to bring it to life. Alzheimer’s spreads
to the frontal lobe.
TECHNOLOGY When modern robots and the robot began to walk forwards impulsivity, impaired
are made to appear and behave in human with smooth, gentle motions. attention and judgement.
ways, this recognisability often makes it “By using muscle tissue, we can build DURATION: approx. 2 years.
easier for people to accept the technology, a compact robot and achieve efficient
and to interact with robots. silent motions with a soft touch,” says Severe
4
But in comparison with robots, Professor of Mechano-Informatics Shoji Alzheimer’s
human bodies are still more flexible, Takeuchi in a press release. AFFECTED AREA:
and able to perform finer and smoother The muscle tissue even enabled the the disorder spreads
to the occipital lobe.
motions. So a Japanese research team robot to crawl and swim straight ahead,
from the University of Tokyo has taken and to make sharp turns – an important disturbance of vision.
the step of combining the machine with feature for robots to avoid obstacles. DURATION: approx. 3 years
human muscle tissue in a fusion of nature However, the current version of the (followed by death).
and technology similar to the cyborgs of robot involves several limitations. It must
science-fiction, which are able to perform remain submerged in water because the
complex human-like motions. muscle tissue dries out when exposed to
The researchers designed this biohybrid air. Its motions are also still relatively slow
robot to mimic a human gait when compared to those of a real human being. 2
operating in water. The robot’s skeleton But the researchers foresee the 3
was made of silicone rubber which can technology as paving the way for silent
bend and adapt to muscular movements, and agile robots that can better achieve
along with muscle tissue from a skeleton. tasks in similar ways to humans, and so 4
With the robot in its tub of water, more directly replace us. They next aim 1
the researchers zapped the water with to give the robot both joints and thicker
electricity to bring the cyborg to life. muscle tissue, allowing it to perform
This caused the muscle tissue to contract – more accurate and powerful motions.
Blood samples might
reveal dementia 15 years
before the first symptoms
A study of blood samples from 50,000+ British individuals has shown that the
first evidence of the disease appears in the blood many years before its onset.
H E A LT H Early detection is key These samples were collected in special algorithms that could predict
in the battle against most diseases. 2006-2010, but analysed 10-15 years the development of three different
The earlier we can detect a disease, later. And by then, 1407 of the subtypes of dementia with 90%
the better and more targeted the individuals had developed dementia. accuracy based on the participants’
treatment can be. The researchers analysed almost levels of the fosur blood proteins and
This applies equally to diseases of 1500 different proteins in the blood data such as age and gender.
dementia such as Alzheimer’s. Early samples to to see if any of them could It is not the first time that proteins in
intervention can reduce the risk of predict the disease that had broken out the blood, including GFAP, have been
secondary complications. a decade later. The analyses showed mentioned as possible predictors of
Researchers from Fudan University that elevated levels of four specific Alzheimer’s. The researchers behind the
in Shanghai have completed a study proteins appeared to be associated with study hope that the results can be used
that could prove of great importance the development of dementia. Ten or to develop a simple blood test that
for people at risk of developing such more years before the first symptoms, could identify people at high risk far in
severe and progressive brain diseases. participants who developed dementia advance of symptoms arising. But other
The researchers analysed blood had unusually high levels of GFAP, scientists suggest that further studies
samples from 52,645 healthy English GDF15, NEFL, and LTBP2 proteins. from more diverse populations are
citizens, part of a large, well-known With the assistance of artificial needed before we can reliably use the
biomedical database: the UK Biobank. intelligence, the researchers developed proteins to screen for the severe diseases.
Moonquake alert! Should NASA

missions avoid the lunar south pole?
NASA images show cracks in the Moon’s surface, allegedly proving that there is
seismic activity in an area that is a key destination for future lunar landings.
UNIVERSE NASA plans to get humans scientists are currently scrutinising the The danger originates in the Moon’s
back on the Moon for the first time in environments that await us up there. interior, which has cooled considerably
more than five decades as soon as And a new NASA-funded study by the over the past millions of years. During the
possible. Since a schedule adjustment in Smithsonian Institution is now warning cooling, the Moon’s outer crust hardens,
January, it is currently aiming for a launch against allowing missions to land on the while lunar matter is forced inwards. As a
date of September 2026 for Artemis III, Moon’s south pole. result, the Moon’s radius has shrunk by
which will land the first astronauts near The south pole is an attractive landing about 100 metres since it formed some 4.5
the lunar south pole. site for space missions, because there may billion years ago. The result is moonquakes.
Since the overall aim is to establish be water at the pole in the shape of ice – Unlike earthquakes that only last a few
a long-term presence on the Moon, a crucial condition for permanent human seconds, moonquakes can last for hours.
settlement, as it would be both expensive “Like earthquakes, moonquakes are
and difficult to bring enough water from caused by faults in the Moon’s interior,
Earth. But NASA’s images show cracks and they can be severe enough to harm
in the Moon’s surface here, people, man-made structures, and
reportedly evidence of equipment on the Moon,” says geologist
intense seismic activity Thomas Watters, a senior scientist at the
in the very areas Smithsonian Institution and member of
identified as the team behind the study.
landing sites. The newly-discovered consequences of
the Moon’s shrinkage are important to
keep in mind when planning the precise
location of settlements on the Moon,
according to the researchers.
“It may seem like a gradual process,
but the shrinkage is causing significant
surface distortion on parts of the
Moon, including areas proposed for
NASA’s manned Artemis III landing,”
Thomas Watters elaborates.
Why is the Moon shrinking?

The Moon’s interior used to be hot, but it has
cooled dramatically over millions of years.
During cooling, the outer crusts hardens, while

the entire mass shrinks. And because the outer
surface hardens, it cracks during the contraction,
NASA/LRO/LROC/ASU/SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
a bit like a grape shrinking into a wrinkled raisin.

The surface of the Moon simply breaks into pieces,
causing the formation of hills and valleys.
As the surface contracts, it is divided into

plates, the edges of which rub against each other.
This may be the cause of many of the moonquakes
reported by NASA.
UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE
Amateurs discover
470-million-year-old world
The discovery has made palaeontologists flock to the South of France.
NATURE Since they were 20 years palaeontologists arrived in the wake of Back then, the Cabrières Biota was
old, French couple Eric Monceret and the Monceret couple’s discoveries, one located at a latitude close to the
Sylvie Monceret-Goujon have spent fossil after another started to emerge. planet’s South Pole, and the fossils
their spare time as amateur fossil The site has already yielded almost indicate that the site may have been a
hunters, searching for secrets of the 400 exceptionally well-preserved fossils. refuge for species that escaped extreme
past. After 37 years of searching, their They range from fungi, corals, and algae equatorial temperatures during a period
efforts paid off handsomely, with the to ancient arthropods and jellyfish, of intense global warming.
discovery of an incredibly fossil-rich all embedded in a mixture of mudshale “It is a crazy world,” says Farid
area from the Ordovician Period and siltstone. The oldest specimens Saleh, a paleontology researcher from
485-444 million years ago. date back 470 million years, according the University of Lausanne and part
The site is Cabrières Biota in the to palaeontologists from the University of the Cabrières study team. “At this
South of France (‘biota’ refers to the of Lausanne, whose findings have been time of intense global warming, the
animal and plant life of a particular published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. creatures existed at high polar latitudes
region, habitat, or geological period), Another interesting discovery is the and escaped extreme temperatures.
and it has captured the attention of geographic importance of the biota to The distant past offers us a glimpse
researchers worldwide. After leading life on Earth half a billion years ago. of our possible near future.”
New test can detect the

early stages of 18 cancer types
An American biotech company has developed a test that could
become a crucial weapon in the struggle against severe diseases.
H E A LT H Just as a blood test for early report having developed a test that could proteins that appeared to be different
detection of dementia (see p13) could help identify 18 different cancers in their early between the healthy plasma samples and
deliver targeted treatment for that stages, before symptoms develop. The those from cancer patients.
disease, early detection of cancercan also study behind the test has been published The researchers behind the study
save lives. It is as simple as that, but in the scientific journal BMJ Oncology. believe that the test holds great potential
it’s not always easy to put into practice. The researchers tested the method by and may even form the basis of a screening
Many countries have screening collecting plasma, the fluid in which blood method that can cover many different
programmes that aim to detect some cells are transported, from 440 people. types of cancer.
common cancers, such as cervical, breast The test subjects had been diagnosed with But it is far from practical yet. Other
and colorectal cancer. However, not all 18 different types of cancer, while 44 of the researchers not involved in the study point
cancers can be detected early enough or participants were healthy blood donors. to the small size of the current study and
with a high enough level of accuracy to The researchers then analysed for more the continued possibility of false positive
justify screening the entire population. than 3000 proteins that can be associated results, indicating that the system is still
So researchers across the world seek new with cancer, first detecting the proteins in far from achieving realisation.
methods for early medical detection. the blood and then trying to trace which
A group of researchers from the US tissue and cancer type was the source.
biotech company Novelna may have come The researchers were finally able to M O S T DA N
one step closer to practical method. They identify a total of 10 gender-specific
CANCER TGEROUS
YPES
1. Lung cance
r
Every year
1.8 million
from lung c people die
ancer world
wide.
2. Colorecta
l cancer
is responsib
le for 916,0
deaths a ye 00
ar globally.
3. Liver can
cer
Worldwide,
liver cance
830,000 pe r kills
ople annua
lly.
4. Stomach
cancer
Every year,
769,000 pe
as a conseq ople die
uence of th
e disease.
5. Breast ca
ncer
The disease
is responsib
685,000 de le for
aths annua
lly.
SHUTTERSTOCK
ESO/M. KORNMESSER
New star’s birth disc

observed in another galaxy
Astronomers have found evidence of a disc around a star outside the Milky Way.
The discovery may teach us about the formation of solar systems in the early universe.
UNIVERSE Stars are born when Earth, and it rotates around the star in a press release. “We know that discs
dense clouds of molecular gas and dust HH 1177, which is indeed embedded are crucial to the formation of stars and
collapse under the effects of gravity. in a massive cloud of gas. planets in our galaxy, but this is the first
The young star begins to spin around Initially, astronomers located time we have observed direct evidence
itself, pulling more material from the powerful jets emerging from a star of this in another galaxy.”
cloud toward it. using data from the European Southern It is generally difficult to find
As the material gradually gathers Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in accretion discs around stars, as they
around the star, it forms a rotating disc the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. can be hidden by their surroundings,
around it, known as an accretion disc. Such jets are common in star formation, especially within our own galaxy. But
The phenomenon has been observed so astronomers guessed that there other galaxies have different conditions.
around young stars in our own galaxy, must also be a disc around the star. “It is exciting to discover a disc in
the Milky Way, but never beyond it. To test the theory, the research team this galaxy beyond our own, because
But now a team of astrophysicists used the giant Atacama Large conditions there are closer to what we
has found evidence of a disc around Millimetre/submillimetre Array in think things were like in the early
a star in a neighbouring galaxy. The Chile, which has 66 small antennas universe,” says another researcher,
international research team is led by that combine into a radio telescope. Megan Reiter from Rice University.
Durham University in the UK, and the “When I first saw evidence of a “It is like getting a window into how
discovery could teach us more about rotating structure in the ALMA data, stars formed in the young universe.
how solar systems form. I could not believe that we had When the new stars are fully formed,
The newly discovered stellar disc is discovered the first extragalactic planets, moons, and asteroids then
located in the Large Magellanic Cloud accretion disc,” says astrophysicist form from the accretion disc, combining
galaxy, about 163,000 light years from Anna McLeod from Durham University to make up a new solar system.”
The eye has

complex
mechanics
The iris
The iris is a coloured
1
area with muscles
that control the pupil.
The pupil
The pupil is an
2
opening in the iris
that adjusts the quantity of
light entering the eye.
The lens
SHUTTER The light from
STOCK
3
the pupil hits the
lens, which can become
thicker or thinner, allowing
the eye to focus from
different distances.
The cornea
Crabs are versatile 4
Refracts light so
environmental pioneers that it is focused
on to the retina.
We often think of evolution as a one-way street, with ocean creatures emerging The retina
onto land and evolving to stay there. But a new study finds that over 100 million The inside of the eye
years, crabs have gone from ocean to land and back again no fewer than 17 times. 5
is covered in visual
cells that convert light and
colour into nerve impulses.
NATURE Crabs can move their lives to The comprehensive study involved a
new locations when necessary, and the 20-year effort in which researchers The optic nerve
invertebrates are known for their ability gathered data from various sources to Via the optic nerve,
6
to adapt to different environments. understand the evolutionary history of ~1 million nerve
But a comprehensive 20-year study has crabs. The results show that crabs have fibres connect to the brain.
shown how this talent has been harnessed left the ocean, settled on dry land, and
Vitreous body
to an extraordinary extent over the last returned to the ocean many times during
A clear, jelly-like
100 million years, as researchers from the animals’ evolution. 7
substance that gives
Harvard University investigated how many However, not all individual crab species the eye its shape.
times crabs have abandoned their lives in are equally independent of seawater.
the ocean in favour of other environments. Some are restricted to land areas with
“Our research shows that crabs have water, such as tidal zones, lagoons and
repopulated dry land and freshwater back estuaries, while others have adapted
and forth about 17 times over the past completely to life on dry land. 7
100 million years,” says Joanna Wolfe, One interesting conclusion from the
lead author of the study and Postdoctoral study is how much trouble the crabs go
Fellow in evolutionary biology at Harvard through to cope with terrestrial life. 5
University. This is a remarkable contrast to “It is up to 100 times more difficult 1
most other animal species, which have for crabs to transition to a more water- 6
typically left the marine environment in independent and mostly terrestrial life- 2
3
favour of dry land once and for all. style than it would be just to stay in the
Crabs have also been able to settle in ocean. But evolution sometimes requires 4
highly diverse environments, from beaches predators to change their behaviour to
to estuaries, rivers, and mangroves. survive,” says Wolfe.
NYU LANGONE HEALTH
BEFORE
AFTER
Doctors perform
transplant of a whole eye
A team of 140+ medical staff has removed the eyeball and a section of face from
a donor and transplanted it all intact onto the face of an electrical burns victim.
H E A LT H On a June evening in 2021, squint, blink, and move his face; his might potentially restore some or all of
Aaron James was working as a high- surgeon believes there is still a chance James’ vision over time.
voltage technician when his face briefly his vision could be stored. “Although there is no vision yet,
brushed against a live cable. The surgery lasted 21 hours and we have crossed a barrier that many
The careless moment resulted in involved more than 140 surgeons, people did not think was possible,” said
the 46-year-old American receiving an nurses and healthcare professionals. Professor Eduardo Rodriguez, Director
electric shock of 7200 volts directly The eye was never removed from the of the Transplantation Programme at
to the face. He survived the accident, donor’s face, so that the surrounding NYU Langone, who led the surgery.
but lost his left eye, most of his face, tissue and optic nerve were intact. “The surgery paves the way for the
and his left arm. Yet transplanting the new eye was next patients, and it is a huge step in
Now surgeons from NYU Langone difficult. Blood vessels surrounding the figuring out how to restore the optic
Health have performed the world’s first eye are extremely small, making it a nerve, directing its fibres or axons to
successful full eye transplant on Aaron challenge to restore the blood flow. the appropriate targets, as well as
James, and a successful transplant of a Connecting the optic nerve is ensuring that the corneal nerves are
partially new face. The donated face another challenge. As part of the well preserved.”
and eye came from a single donor. surgery, surgeons injected adult stem The technical and extremely
Although Aaron is not yet able to cells into James’ optic nerve to make complex surgery marks a significant
see (his right eye remains working), the the nerve produce new healthy cells. step forward in the field of transplants.
transplanted left eye has a good blood The technique has never been Face transplants also remain a rare
supply, maintains its pressure, and attempted on a living human being procedure; fewer than 50 have been
generates an electrical signal. He can before, and this is the method that performed since the first one in 2005.
ASK US SCIENTISTS ANSWER QUESTIONS
FROM OUR READERS
Why does a circle Greek astronomer

Hipparchus is
have 360 degrees?

credited for bringing
the sexadecimal
system to the West
from Mesopotamia
where it had been in
“We learn in school that a circle has 360 degrees. use for millennia.
But why? Could the degrees in a circle not be a number
that is easier to work with in calculations, such as 100?”
PHYSICS The tradition of dividing circles into 360 degrees using 10 as your base, there are only two divisors other than
dates back to ancient Mesopotamia – now Iraq and parts of 1 and 10 which yield non-fractions: 2 and 5. So base 10 yields
Syria. That was where one of the first writing systems, a less practical system for geometry.
cuneiform, originated approximately 5000 years ago. The 360 degrees in a circle involves other advantages
Cuneiform was used in mathematical and astronomical than avoiding fractions. Astronomers of the later Babylonian
documents in which Mesopotamian cultures used a civilisation, which originated around 1850BC in southern
sexadecimal number system, so having a base Mesopotamia, wanted to divide up the sky.
number of 60. This is the system from Almost everything that happened in the sky
which our modern division of minutes was seen as a significant religious omen,
and hours into 60 units derives, along and since the position of the Sun in
with the division of a circle into 360 relation to the stars changes by about
degrees, which is 6 × 60. 1 degree for each of the 365 days in a
One of the advantages of this year, a 360-degree circle provided
system is that the number 60 can be astronomical benefits.
divided by 10 different integers (in In Greek and hence Western
addition to 1 and 60 itself) without maths, the division of a circle into
the result involving fractions. Divide 360 degrees is attributed to second
by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 or 30 century BC astronomer Hipparchus.
and you still don’t need to deal with In the wake of Alexander the Great’s
fractions (although the Sumerians, the conquests of the region around 300BC,
earliest civilisation in Mesopotamia, were Hippoarchus helped introduced the
already using weight systems that included sexadecimal number system in the West,
basic one-third and two-third measures). When and we have been using it ever since.
Editors: Morten Kjerside Poulsen & Esben Jes Schouboe Alminde
ROMAN KHOMLYAK/SHUTTERSTOCK
Circles can be ‘cut’
in several ways
A 360-degree model is the most
common method to describe circle
sections, but it can be done other ways,
including the decimal system.
LOTTE FREDSLUND
The exact location of the

world’s tallest tree is kept
secret to protect the tree from
climbers, carving knives, etc.
Degrees went from East to West

The Babylonians may have divided
1 circles into 360º because the
position of the Sun in relation to the Where is the world’s tallest tree?
stars moves about 1º a day, or simply The location of the tallest tree in the world is currently a secret, to protect
to avoid fractions. Greek philosophers
adopted the Babylonian practice. it. There are fines just for finding it. But we do know a few things about it.
NATURE Keeping the world’s tallest location is kept secret, and the area
tree hidden sounds like quite a is completely cordoned off. If eager
challenge. Yet that is what the National enthusiasts do manage to find the
Park Service in the US, which manages tree, they risk a US$5000 fine and
their national parks, is trying to do. up to six months in prison. The cordon
The tree is a giant redwood, and fine were introduced after the
nicknamed Hyperion, and is rooted National Park Service found litter and
somewhere in Northern California. It human faeces around the tree.
New degrees originate was named the world’s tallest tree in The authorities also wish to prevent
from the decimal system
2006, and measures 116 metres – taller attempts to climb the tree or to carve
New degrees were introduced
2 during the French Revolution than the Statue of Liberty in New York. initials into the bark. Isolating the area
and, like metres and grams, they Very few people have even seen also protects vegetation around the
were based on the decimal system. Hyperion's 10-metre-wide trunk. No tree from being trampled, which could
A right angle became 100 degrees, a trails lead people past the tree, its eventually affect the root system.
semicircle 200, and a full circle 400.
KATERYNA ONYSHCHUK/SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND
The radian is natural maths

The radian is the unit of angle in
3 the SI system we use today. The
radian number is the ratio of the arc
length of the angle to the radius of the
circle. There are 1π radians for a semi-
circle and 2π radians all the way round.
metres is the height of the world's tallest tree, Hyperion,
located in Redwood National and State Park, Califonia.
ASK US
PHILIPS, ISTOCKPHOTO
Are our bush fires getting worse?
NATURE Almost certainly yes. Identifying the underlying data shows that at least seven times over the last 2000 years,
causes is no simple matter, but a new study of Antarctic ice bushfire weather in south-east Australia was as bad as or
cores may shed light on the matter, while also suggesting worse than during the Black Summer bushfires of 2019/20.
that we may be underestimating the intensity of future fires. These new findings show natural climate variability can
The study was a collaboration between multiple produce even more severe bushfire weather. On top of that,
organisations, led by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate climate change is further adding to the intensity and
Extremes at the University of Tasmania. It acknowledges frequency of severe bushfire weather.”
previous research showing fire intensity increases over a The report concludes that not only is climate change
quarter to almost half of global burnable land masses, with fuelling larger fires, but that the new evidence of natural
decreasing relative humidity a driver of 75+% of increases, variability extremes over the 2000-year reconstruction
and rising temperatures for 40% of significant trends. indicates that massive future fires could be caused by natural
The new study, which focused specifically on South-East events exacerbated by human-induced climate change.
Australia, goes further. It concludes that the intensity of The report also highlights the influence of Westernised
the 2019/20 Black Summer fire weather was unprecedented land management decisions since white occupation of
since observations began in 1950, while the frequency of Australia and the disruption of Indigenous cultural burning
above-average fire weather leading up to and including Black practices. Indigenous knowledge is still more robust on this.
Summer has only occurred once since 1950 (early 1980s). “Planned burning meant that in most places there was
But it also notes that our observation records are simply not enough fuel for killer fires, and where there was,
inadequate for longer-term study, with our fire observations for example in dense forest with scrub, people ringed it with
reliably extending only back to 1950, though proxy rainfall open country heavily grazed or frequently burnt,” writes
records (based on indirect data) can stretch back 500 years. ANU Emeritus Professor Bill Gammage In the First Knowledges
To go further, the team found a new way to use existing data publication Country: Future Fire, Future Farming. “Fire has
from ice cores to extend the historical record of extreme always been part of being Australia,” he writes in a moving
bushfire weather: sea-salt concentration. chapter called ‘Poor Fella My Country’, “but what that means
“The sea-salt aerosol records captured in Antarctica go has been upended since 1788. Then it meant maintaining an
much further back than our weather records in Australia,” alliance; now it means fighting an enemy. Or, to judge from
says the study’s lead author Dr Danielle Udy. “The ice core some responses to Black Summer, dodging an enemy.”
Negative atmospheric pressure anomalies over SE Australia

(extra-tropical cyclones and cold fronts) increase the chance of
high fire danger days. The same processes reduce coastal sea-
salt aerosol production, which the new study could identify in
Antarctic ice cores to provide bush-fire data stretching back
over 2000 years. This figure, taken from the report, shows
synoptic conditions over the Black Summer fires of 2019/20.
UDY, UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA
RICK STEVENS VIA UNSW
Can we save the bilby?
ECOLOGY The Greater Bilby is is working with the traditional
the last remaining species in its knowledge of Indigenous rangers
genus, and is listed as ‘Vulnerable’, to protect bilbies there.
with fewer than 10,000 still in the A new study at Taronga Western
wild. It is already considered extinct Plains Zoo in Dubbo has raised hopes
in New South Wales, and has not of bilby reintroduction to those
lived within the temperate zone of more temperate areas. Scientists
their former range – SE and SW from UNSW Sydney and Taronga
Australia – for more than 100 years, Conservation Society Australia used
with their main threats being cats tiny GPS tracking devices to study
and foxes, altered fire regimes, and how bilbies respond to temperate
ongoing habitat destruction. environments, finding they are not
There are significant efforts to limited to only sandy soils good for
save the bilby and to reintroduce it burrowing, and also that females
to areas where it can be protected are more sensitive than males to
from predators. The Australian the soil quality and location of
Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) resources. Bilbies are great
protects almost 10% of the entire ecosystem engineers, moving and
remaining population, while WWF aerating up to 1.5 tonnes of earth Bilbies have not been seen in Australia’s temperate zones for 100
Australia’s Kimberley Bilby Project per kilo of bilby per year. years. New studies in Dubbo bode well for their reintroduction.
APHELLEON/SHUTTERSTOCK
Where is the centre

of the universe?
Astronomers can see equally deep into space in all directions.
Does that mean that we are right at the centre?
UNIVERSE If you imagine outside, it is clear that the

that the universe began as an surface of the balloon has no
exploding point in the Big Bang, centre (at least within its own
it is reasonable to think that the dimension), nor does it end
universe also has a centre. anywhere. The universe is
But that is not the case. infinite, without necessarily
Before the Big Bang, there being infinitely large.
was no time or space, so it When we point our
makes no sense to talk about telescopes at space, we are also
the universe being born in a looking back in time, and we can
specific place. see equally far in all directions.
Since the Big Bang, all of Although the age of the
space has expanded, and so universe is estimated to be
everything has travelled ever 13.8 billion years, the limit of
further apart. This is why the our visibility – the visible
universe is often compared to universe – is 46.5 billion light
the surface of a balloon being years, precisely because of the
inflated. No matter where you expansion of the universe.
are on the surface of the Everything beyond this limit
and-a-half billion light years is the balloon, everything is moving is travelling faster away than the
limit on how deep into the universe we away in all directions, creating speed of light, so its light will
can theoretically peer. More remote the illusion that you are at the never reach us, and we will
galaxies will always be invisible to us. centre. But observed from the never be able to see it.
ASK US
Is it dangerous
DAVID PINEDA SVENSKE/SHUTTERSTOCK
to hold in
your farts?
HUMANS Most cultures consider
farting embarrassing, and few people
appreciate the smell of other people's
intestinal gases. That is why most of
us have developed a social reflex that
tightens the anal canal so that an
urgent fart won’t embarrass us at a
job interview or on a first date.
Farts are caused by the breakdown
of food waste. Colon bacteria produce
gases such as methane, hydrogen,
carbon dioxide, and hydrogen
sulphide. The gases increase the
pressure in the intestines, causing an
emission 5-15 times a day to equalise
the pressure.
Does a red rag really If we refuse to fart, the increasing

pressure can cause discomfort,
burping, bloating, abdominal pain,
make bulls go crazy?

or simply uncontrollable farting.
Refraining from farting has also
been suggested as a significant factor
in the development of diverticulitis, in
which inflammation occurs in colon
According to myth, you should not wear so much as a outpouchings. But researchers have
red handkerchief when in the presence of a bull. But is not yet conclusively proved this link.
this true? Does a bull really hate the colour red? If the anal canal is fully blocked,
some of the gases can escape via a
Scientists have long since
NATURE into three acts, each aimed at different route, through the intestinal
proved that bulls, like most other exhausting the bull and causing it to wall and into the blood circulation,
mammals, are red-green colour blind. lower its head and attack. In the first passing to the lungs, from where the
and indeed have only a very weakly two acts, the bullfighter usually uses farts are exhaled in the breath.
developed sense of any colour. yellow capes, and the bulls react with Farts are not considered rude in
Unlike the human retina, a bull's the same fury as they do to a red cape. India (except in constrained areas like
retina has only two types of cones. In the third act, the bullfighter uses a trains). In the largest tribal group of
It cannot see red and will have difficulty cape that is red – and significantly the Amazon, the Yanomami, farting is
distinguishing other colours either. smaller than the yellow capes. used as a friendly greeting.
Colours do not make the bull go The size is to show the bullfighter’s
ZOENIE/SHUTTERSTOCK
into a rage – is it motion that does skill, while the colour is thought to
that. In bullfighting, it is the soften the impact of blood – from bull
matador's motions that make the bull fighter or bull – which is harder to see
attack. A classic bullfight is divided on a red cape than on a yellow one.
THE ORIGIN OF THE MYTH

The earliest recorded mention of the phrase is in English author
Charlotte Yonge's novel "The Pillars of the House" from 1873.
She writes that something is "like a red rag to a bull". The phrase
certainly originates from bullfighting, which was known in England
at the time. Bullfighting today is a contentious practice, deplored by
animal welfare groups but culturally supported in some countries.
It still takes place in Spain, southern France, and Latin America.
It is likely about to be banned in Colombia, effective from 2027. This Bangkok taxi sign enforces the generally
held view that public farting is offensive.
WHAT IF...
Air determines
course of fall
If you jump into a hole through the
Earth, you can end up either at the
centre or on the opposite side of the
globe. Air is the key deciding factor.
SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND

...I dug SPEED INCREASES
When you jump into the hole,
1 the acceleration begins, as Earth’s
mass pulls at you. In an air-filled tunnel,
a tunnel
you quickly peak at a few hundred km/h,
but in an airless one acceleration continues.
through the Earth?

“Imagine that it is possible to dig a hole right through the
centre of the Earth. What would happen if I jumped in?”
PHYSICS As you probably know, resistance increase, because the WEIGHTLESSNESS REIGNS
such a hole is not possible. The depth weight of the air column above you is At Earth’s centre, you are weightless,
of the deepest hole ever dug, the constantly rising. In addition, gravity 2 because there is equal mass in all
12.3km-deep Kola Borehole, got less acceleration decreases because there directions. In an air-filled tunnel, air
than 0.01% of Earth’s equatorial is less and less of Earth’s mass below resistance stops you. In the air-void version,
you will move on at a speed of 28,000km/h.
diameter into the planet. you pulling you downwards, and ever
But if we assume there was such more above you pulling in the
a hole, and you jumped into it, you opposite direction. So with air in the
would, of course, fall towards the hole, your trip will stop close to the
centre. If there is air in the tunnel, centre of the Earth. There you will be
you will be slowed down by air weightless, as there is the same mass
resistance. If you fall on your in all directions.
stomach with your arms and legs If the hole is void of air, the ride is
stretched to the sides, you should a little wilder. Without air resistance,
reach a speed of around 200km/h, acceleration continues until you pass
but you might reach 480km/h if you the centre at about 28,000km/h.
FALLING BACK AND FORTH
descend head first and streamlined. Then you gradually slow down, and
In an air-filled tunnel, you must climb
The top speed will be reached after 42 minutes you reach Earth’s 3 the 6371km from Earth’s centre to
within the first few minutes. After surface on the opposite side of the
J.J. GOUIN/SHUTTERSTOCK
the surface. In an air-void tunnel you fall at

that, you will fall ever slower. Down globe. You should then grab hold of an ever slower speed, until you reach the
through the hole, air pressure and air something to stop going back down. surface again, only to bounce back down.
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N AT U R E PENGUINS
Penguins took advantage

of dinosaur extinction:
FIRST
BIRD IN
THE WATER
60+ million years ago, penguins
gave up their full wings and started
waddling about in remote ice deserts.
Now scientists know the reason for
the drastic move. Penguins seized a
unique opportunity to become one of
the ocean's most efficient hunters.
By Rasmus Kragh Jakobsen
The ocean became a penguin buffet

When dinosaurs disappeared around 66 million years ago, their habitats
became available to other animal groups. While mammals settled on dry land,
and early birds took to the skies, the oceans were left as one big open pantry.
ASIA
AFRICA
SOUTH AMERICA
20-40 million 20-40 million AUSTRALIA

years ago years ago
42
1
m
2 yea illion
rs a
50 go
mil
yea lion
rs a
42 million go
years ago
3
A N TA R C T I C A
The bird spread Penguins went Modern species

in the South with the flow are isolated
The oldest fossil penguin, The great ocean currents Today, predators greatly
1 2 3
the flightless Waimanu, of the Atlantic and Pacific restrict penguin movement.
existed in New Zealand 62 million bring nourishment. Fossils suggest Penguins only breed in Antarctica
years ago. From there, the animal that the currents carried penguins and a few other places (green),
spread via Antarctica to Africa and back and forth between Africa and where predators are less likely
SHUTTERSTOCK
South America. South America. to snatch their eggs.
N AT U R E PENGUINS
Penguin
evolution
Several fossils plus DNA 60-62 MILLION YEARS AGO 36 MILLION YEARS AGO
analyses of modern
Ancestor conquered Giants in
penguins show that the ocean deep waters
penguin evolution began The first penguin, Waimanu Giant penguins were almost
in the dinosaur era. manneringi, walked upright and 2 metres tall and weighed up to
had short wings, a long beak, and flat 100kg. They were probably the first to
The oldest known fossil is compact bones. This made it a good diver venture into the deep sea, where other
62 million years old and to conquer the unexploited ocean. animals later outcompeted them.
from New Zealand. Since
HABITAT: New Zealand HABITAT: Peru
then, the penguin has HEIGHT: 80-100cm HEIGHT: 1.5 metres
gradually evolved into WEIGHT: 15-20kg WEIGHT: 60-100kg
the bird we know today.
M
illions of years ago, the which is just four million years after a suggest that penguins had split from the
ancestors of penguins meteor strike had led to the extinction of common ancestor of other birds some
spread their wings and the great dinosaurs and sea lizards. And 68-70 million years ago.
flew in the air just like with the dinosaurs out of the game, the No one yet knows exactly what that
other birds. But as we role of predator was now open to other common ancestor was, but it would most
all know, they no longer do so. Life in the animal species. likely have been a bird that lived by the
air has long since been replaced by life as Waimanu (pictured above) looked sea, using its wings to both fly and dive,
fat waddling creatures tied to windswept like a slender cormorant, with a long, like modern diving petrels.
rocky islands and icy deserts in Antarctica. pointed beak. But the bird’s heavy bones
Scientists have long puzzled over the and short wings show that it could not Cooling system opened the oceans
penguins’ seemingly strange evolution for possibly have flown. While flippers and diving weight were a
years. But a recent series of discoveries has Heavy bones were one of the big wins bonus in the water, there were obvious
solved the mystery, and revealed the switch once penguins gave up flying. This extra disadvantages when back on land. With-
to have been a stroke of genius. In exchange weight allowed the birds to dive deeper
for flight, penguins developed a number of and further. Meanwhile the prehistoric
traits that made them the apex predator of penguin’s small wings were the prototype
the Southern Hemisphere’s oceans. for modern penguins’ stiffer flippers. DAN KSEPKA
“The loss of flight is probably the best Researchers are confident that Waimanu PALAEONTOLOGIST,
thing that ever happened to penguins,” did indeed use its wings to pull itself BRUCE MUSEUM, US
says palaeontologist Dan Ksepka from the through the water.

Bruce Museum in the US, and one of the Waimanu was so similar to modern The loss
leading researchers on penguin evolution. penguins that Dan Ksepka and his colle- of flight
agues believe that these physical features is probably the best
Extra kilos in exchange for flight together must mean that the original form thing that ever happened
In 2006, scientists discovered the oldest of penguins would have predated the
to penguins.”
specimen of a prehistoric penguin to date. Great Meteor Impact.
Named Waimanu manneringi, it existed in This is supported by DNA analyses of
New Zealand some 62 million years ago – penguins and their close relatives, which
20-25 MILLION YEARS AGO 5 MILLION YEARS AGO NOW
Expert diver on the hunt Small penguin Penguins in the

Brain scans have revealed that existed in Africa South... and North
the penguin Paraptenodytes Africa was colonised several Today, most penguins still stay
antarcticus had fully adapted to times by penguins such as Inguza south of the Equator. But for the first
diving, including mastering the predemersus via Atlantic Ocean time one species, the Galápagos penguin,
acrobatic manoeuvres required to currents, which were a conveyor belt has entered the Northern Hemisphere –
hunt at great ocean depths. between South America and Africa. if only by a few hundred metres.
STEPHANIE ABRAMOWICZ
HABITAT: Chile and Argentina HABITAT: Africa HABITAT: Antarctica / Galápagos
HEIGHT: 70-80cm HEIGHT: 40cm HEIGHT: 110-130cm /45-50cm
WEIGHT: 8-12kg WEIGHT: 2-4kg WEIGHT: 23-45kg /2-3kg
out the ability to fly, penguins became

more vulnerable to predators eating their
eggs. But New Zealand was predator-free,
and it still is, in native fauna terms, since
all modern predators of penguins in New
Zealand are introduced: stoats, dogs and
feral cats. But back then most of the land
we know today as New Zealand was under-
water, so that the region was a paradise of
small rocky islands with abundant food
for the first penguins, which remained
there for some 10 million years.
Then some 50 million years ago, some
penguins left New Zealand for Antarctica,
and from there, relatively quickly, to Africa
and South America.
The team of researchers headed by
Dan Ksepka has revealed that penguins
had good reasons to wait 10 million years
CLARKE ET AL. 2010/UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
before any long-distance travel. The team

noticed small parallel grooves that no one
had previously noticed in the fossilised
wing bones from prehistoric penguins.
These grooves are the marks of blood ves-
sels that ran to the tip of the wing and
back, acting as a kind of heat exchanger,
helping the penguins to stay warm so that Fossilised feathers with preserved pigments (left) from Chile have revealed that penguins were
they could spend longer in the water. On originally brown. Later they evolved black and white feathers (right) for camouflage purposes.
N AT U R E PENGUINS
showed it to have been reddish-brown on

its belly and grey on its back.
The fossil also had short symmetrical
wing feathers with broad shafts, densely
packed in overlapping layers to provide
protection against water and cold, the
wing stiff and perfect for cutting through
water. Together with other findings, this
shows that penguins have had the same
basic build for the past 20-30 million years.
The brain adapted to marine life

The evolutionary transition of penguins
from land to water can also be observed
in their brains, which quickly adapted to
the new element. CT scans of the brain of
BILL COSTER / RITZAU SCANPIX
a 22 million-year-old penguin have shown

that penguins reduced the size of the
brain area that controls the sense of smell,
while the penguin relied more on vision to
hunt, and so the brain lobe that controls
the sense of vision grew.
Penguins frolic in the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere, but breed only in isolated places A special area of the brain known as
where predators cannot snatch their eggs. These are emperor penguins in Antarctica. the flocculus lobe is also unusually large
in penguins. The lobe stabilises vision
its way out into the wing, the warm, Rival hunters change colours during rapid head motion and so is an
oxygenated blood from the heart passed Exactly why these giants disappeared is a advantage for penguins when chasing
close to veins with cooled oxygen-poor mystery, but it was probably the arrival of prey with lightning-fast movements.
blood returning from the wing. In this mammals in the oceans’ vast larders. As After millions of years of evolutionary
way, the warm blood was cooled while ancient seals and whales appeared some optimisation, penguins are now among the
the cold blood was heated. 20 million years ago, they likely displaced best hunters in the ocean. Two Japanese
But notably they did not find these giant penguins. Marine mammal predators researchers, Yuuki Watanabe and Akinori
grooves in any of the prehistoric Waimanu probably also gave penguins their later Takahashi of the Tokyo National Institute
fossils from New Zealand, only in the first counter-shading of black and white – their of Polar Research, have conducted extensive
penguins in Antarctica. Ksepka therefore research on Adélie penguins in Antarctica
concludes that this heat exchange mech- using penguin-borne cameras and speedo-
anism enabled the penguins to travel the meters to provide rare insight into their
3
long distances between continents. From hunting methods. They found that the
their original home in New Zealand, Adélie penguins used several different
penguins colonised the entire Southern specialised hunting strategies, seeming to
Hemisphere, thriving in different forms. adjust their foraging behaviour based on
Palaeontologists have found more than the availability and distribution of their
50 species of prehistoric penguin. Their prey (primarily krill in this research).
findings testify to a golden age some 20-40 million years after a meteor The penguin formula created a highly
million years ago. Researchers have found wiped out dinosaurs and efficient hunter. But many penguin spe-
up to 10 different penguin species on the sea lizards, penguins had cies are today endangered through human
same islands, with such species variation already conquered the ocean. activity on land and at sea, and by melting
suggesting that living conditions were so ice. The yellow-eyed hoiho is thought to
good that each species could specialise to be one of the most ancient of all living
avoid over-competition for food. penguin species; around 1500AD, when
In particular, researchers have found black backs hide them from above against humans sent the waitaha penguin extinct,
many giant penguins. Their large bodies dark deep water, while their white bellies the haihos benefitted from their vacated
retained heat better and could absorb more blend with lighter surface waters when territory. But its own time has come: it is
oxygen, allowing them to dive for longer seen from below. In 2010, in a desert near now the world’s rarest penguin. Its main-
periods of time. Scientists hypothesise that the coast of Peru, researchers found the land New Zealand colonies have crashed,
while small penguins fished close to shore, only penguin fossil to date with preserved and there are only some 4000 remaining
groups of giant penguins travelled far out feathers. Recreating the colours from this on island colonies. The ancient species is
to forage along the continental shelves. 36-million-year-old fossil penguin showed expected to disappear within 30 years.
The penguin flies in water
The body was originally designed for flight, but a series of adaptations
enabled the penguin to switch from air to water. The switch in no way
weakened the bird, which is now an excellent swimmer.
Legs steer
Short thick legs act as
perfect rudders in the
water, but give the penguin
a comical walk on land. The
tail and tail feathers become
a bundle of stiff bristles on
which the penguin can rest
Wings are flippers when they are on land.
The wing bones are
wide and flat. The
elbows and wrists can barely
bend, so the wings act as wide,
stiff flippers. The wings are
useless for flying, but ideal
when the penguin is speeding
through the water.
Feathers provide
protection
Short, stiff feathers
with a wide flat shaft
provide dense thermal
insulation, and the feathers
overlap to keep out water
and wind. The white belly
feathers make the bird blend
in with the surface when
The body is pointed viewed from below, while
The body is water-drop- the black back blends in
shaped and pointed at with the dark depths when
both ends, making penguins viewed from above.
very streamlined when swim-
ming. Their bones are also
more compact and dense
than those of other birds,
which helps them dive deep.
SHUTTERSTOCK
THE SOLAR SYSTEM HIDDEN PLANET
Astronomers have
a new theory:
IS THERE A
PLANET HIDING
IN OUR OWN
SOLAR SYSTEM?
An unknown planet the size
of Earth may exist in the outer
Solar System. New telescopes will
try to find the hidden planet, and
assess whether it might hold life.
Scientists believe that a hidden

planet may explain the orbits of a
number of small objects on the
outskirts of the Solar System.
CLAUS LUNAU
By Mikkel Meister
A P L A N E T T H AT I S
S L I G H T LY B I G G E R T H A N
E A R T H M AY E X I S T O N T H E
FA R S I D E O F N E P T U N E .
The planets we have lost
T
ext books about planets are for ‘unknown’ rather than 10). According
in constant danger of being The Solar System includes eight familiar to Lowell, Planet X could explain discrep-
out of date. We used to learn planets: the inner rocky planets of Mercury, ancies between the calculated and ob-
that the Solar System had Venus, Earth and Mars, the gas giants of served orbits of Uranus and Neptune.
nine planets, along with a Jupiter and Saturn, and then the ice giants In 1930, 14 years after Lowell’s death,
possible 10th planet ‘X’... but then Pluto of Uranus and Neptune. From 1930 there the discovery of Pluto made headlines
was demoted and we were down to eight. was a ninth member, Pluto, but it became throughout the world. It was located at
Now the number may be nine again, at downgraded to a dwarf planet by the Inter- roughly the distance Lowell had predicted,
least according to two researchers from national Astronomical Union in 2006. but was too small to have the expected
Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory. So we are now used to talking about effect on the other planets. Hence Pluto
The ninth planet may have deep valleys, eight planets. But the Solar System was could not have been the fabled Planet X.
vast plains, high mountains and volcanos probably once populated by many more. Today, astronomers look in particular
– just like Earth, although instead of lava, Some of those planets may have been to the Kuiper Belt when searching for new
the volcanoes there would spew ice, flung out of the Solar System altogether.
water and toxic vapour. The Sun, when it Others probably ended their lives in
sets, would be just a tiny dot on the hori- collisions, smashing into each other. The
zon – 40,000 times fainter than if viewed prevailing theory for our own Moon is PATRYK SOFIA LYKAWKA,
from Earth. that a giant collision occurred billions of ASTRONOMER
According to the Japanese scientists, years ago between the young Earth and
this unknown planet is more likely to ‘Theia’, a Mars-like planet.
exist than not – and mathematically it Some scientists even believe that one “If the
should exist, in order to explain previous or more unknown planets may still be planet
baffling motions of dwarf planets and hiding on the outskirts of our system. exists, it is only a
asteroids in the outer Solar System. Theories of such hidden planets go back matter of time before
But if there really is a ninth planet out a long way. In the early 1900s, famous we discover it.”
there, what does it look like – and why in American astronomer Percival Lowell
heaven don’t we already know it’s there? spoke of the enigmatic Planet X (‘X’ was
INNER
SOLAR SYSTEM
Supercomputer points The scientists

analyse orbits
to hidden planet 1
First the researchers studied
small heavenly bodies on
the far side of Neptune.
Some of their orbits are skewed in a
Japanese scientists fed a supercomputer with data way that cannot be explained by the
gravitational effects of known
about small heavenly bodies with mysterious orbits. heavenly bodies alone.
The computer’s best explanation was a hidden planet
that has been influencing these small objects.
NAOJ
Scientists from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan used the research centre’s supercomputer to calculate the mysterious orbits of a number of
small objects around the Sun, and then to explain deviations that didn’t match the gravity of known objects. The best explanation involved an extra planet.
heavenly bodies. The Kuiper Belt is a vast puzzle astronomers, partly because the explained solely by the gravitational
band of comets, asteroids and dwarf plan- orbits are not aligned with the plane in influence of the eight known planets and
ets on the far side of Neptune. The belt which Earth and the other known planets the other mapped Solar System objects.
extends from about 4.5 billion kilometres follow their orbits around the Sun. So astronomers Patryk Sofia Lykawka
to some 7.5 billion kilometres from Earth. One of the objects is the dwarf planet and Takashi Ito from Kindai University
In the remotest regions of the Kuiper of Sedna, which takes some 10,500 years in Japan set out to test alternative
Belt, some of the objects have orbits that to orbit the Sun. The orbits cannot be explanations. First they closely followed
Hidden
planet
Hidden
planet
Supercomputer simulates Computer calculates New planet is

the Solar System hidden planet the best explanation
A computer then simulated The computer analysed The computer compared the
2 the development of the Solar 3 different models of Solar 4 simulations to scientists’
System from the beginning: System development in original analyses of the orbits
the four giants of Jupiter (red), Saturn which the big planets travelled of small heavenly bodies, finding that
(orange), Neptune (green), and outwards, and most small heavenly the most likely explanation of the
Uranus (yellow) were closer to the Sun bodies were flung out of the system. observed orbits is a hidden planet
than today, and many more small In some models, the computer some 1.5 to 3 times Earth’s mass.
objects orbited at greater distances. included an extra planet.
KEN IKEDA MADSEN
the orbits of a number of objects in the Belt Planet is closer to the size of Earth.
Kuiper Belt using a telescope, feeding the And the calculations show that the Kui-
orbital data into a supercomputer. PATRYK SOFIA LYKAWKA, per Belt Planet alone can explain the ob-
ASTRONOMER
The computer was asked to simulate servations – without the need for other
how the orbits of nearly 50,000 large and hidden planets such as Planet 9,” he says.
small heavenly bodies developed over the “The
Solar System’s 4.5 billion years of life. Telescopes to search for planets
likelihood
The researchers made the computer run You might think that the question could
simulations based on 61 models in which
of life on the supposed be solved relatively easily. We have space
the Solar System develops slightly differ- planet may be higher telescopes that can look millions of years
ently from model to model, including than we think.” back in time and discover exoplanets in
varying numbers of big and small bodies. distant galaxies. Couldn’t they find one of
Some of the models included an extra our own planets fairly quickly?
planet. After months of simulations, the Apparently not. If a larger and colder
best explanation for the skewed orbits in with the observations,” Lykawka tells version of Earth does exist in the outer
the Kuiper Belt was given by the inclusion Science Illustrated. Solar System, it will be difficult to detect,
in models of an undiscovered planet. So Lykawka and Ito’s new calculations partly because we do not yet know exactly
According to the computer’s calcula- have become part of the century-long where to look, says Lykawka.
tions, the planet must have a mass of search for a planet beyond Neptune. And But help may soon be at hand from a
between 1.5 and 3 times that of Earth. they are not the only ones to suggest an 2682-metre-high mountain peak in Chile,
Patryk Sofia Lykawka emphasises that extra planet along the lines of Lowell’s where the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory
the potential hidden planet, which has Planet X. Back in 2016, astronomers at (see p54) should begin scanning the night
been nicknamed the Kuiper Belt Planet, Caltec in the United States made headlines sky in 2025. One of the most important
so far exists only on a computer; no direct when they hypothesised that a ‘Planet 9’ tasks of the observatory’s 8.4-metre
evidence for the planet has been found. was hiding out there somewhere. But Simonyi Survey Telescope will be to build
But at the same time, he is convinced of there are key differences between the a detailed catalogue of large and small
the explanation. Planet 9 idea and the Kuiper Belt Planet, heavenly bodies and their motions.
“So far, only the Kuiper Belt Planet as Patryk Sofia Lykawka explains. This will help to confirm or deny the
model has managed to explain the outer “Planet 9 is a super-Earth, with 5 to 10 existence of one or more hidden planets
Kuiper Belt and at the same time agree times the mass of Earth, while the Kuiper – as will upcoming observations from
new large telescopes such as the
Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and the
Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT).
According to the two astronomers, the
Kuiper Belt Planet is likely to be a rocky
planet covered in ice; it may have moun-
tains, canyons, ice caps, plains, and cryo-
volcanoes ( ice volcanoes). But like Earth,
it may also have a hot core that heats the
planet from the inside. So despite its bar-
ren exterior, the Kuiper Belt Planet might
have a liquid ocean beneath the ice caps,
like Jupiter’s ice-covered moon, Europa,
and Saturn’s Mimas (see News last issue).
It would an astronomical sensation if
the unknown planet actually exists and
is one day spotted by an Earth telescope.
“We need to find the planet to
better understand its physical properties,”
as Patryk Sofia Lykawka says. Even if it
does exist, many new observations and
analyses will be required to determine
whether it meets the conditions for life.
CALTECH/R. HURT
But according to Lykawka, the odds

are in favour of it being out there some-
where, and so the text books will then
In 2016, researchers from the California Institute of Technology proposed the theory of an need updating again to list nine planets
undiscovered Planet 9, which would have a mass of 5 to 10 times that of the Earth. in the Solar System. For now.
Giant telescopes to
search for lost planets
So far, we have mapped out only a fraction of the
Solar System’s small objects on the far side of
Neptune. But soon, three huge telescopes will begin
scanning the Solar System for hidden bodies.
Fast telescope takes pictures

The Vera C. Rubin Telescope (see p54)
1 moves quickly using a motorised rail
RUBIN OBS/NSF/AURA/B. STALDER

system to take some 1000 pictures of the
sky per night. It will help prepare a catalogue of the
motions of thousands of heavenly bodies.
CHILE
H AWA I ’ I
Sensitive camera studies collisions
With its 30-metre-wide mirror, the
2 Thirty Metre Telescope (TMT) will be
extremely sensitive. It will be able to
TMT INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATORY

make a detailed examination of ‘families’ of small
objects in the Solar System formed in collisions
between large heavenly bodies.
CHILE
Giant mirror scrutinises
the outer system
The 39-metre-wide Extremely Large
3 Telescope (ELT) will for the first time reveal
the mass of a number of objects on the far
side of Neptune, potentially providing data that
could prove or disprove hidden planets.
ESO
HUMANS DREAM CONTROL
SCIENTISTS I
f you were to dream of a bowl of
crispy cereal with milk, the chances
are that you would wake up wanting
cereal for breakfast. So imagine if a
company could somehow make you
dream about their cereal, or perhaps pay
CAN CONTROL
to place a cereal product placement in your
dream, alongside educational or entertain-
ment content that you’re paying to absorb
while enjoying a good night’s sleep.
All rather Philip K. Dick science fiction?
YOUR DREAMS
Not any more. Researchers are well on
their way to finding out how the subcon-
scious mind can be influenced to make us
dream about something specific.
In a study at MIT, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, dream researcher
Adam Haar Horowitz has manipulated the
dreams of test subjects using equipment
Normally, you have no that gave them a specific cue, and then
control over your dreams. woke them up in the middle of a dream.
The experiment was one of several to
But scientists have used a show that dream manipulation is not only
new method to make people possible, it can also boost our creativity,
and even make us smarter.
dream about something But there is a downside when allowing
specific — and companies others to influence our dreams. Not only
are standing ready to might such dream manipulation change
purchase decisions, the same method
conquer the land of could be used to influence political views,
your dreams. or even control entire populations.
We hallucinate before we sleep

Our sleep is divided into cycles of around 90
GUY WILKINSON/WWW.GUYWILKINSON.PHOTOGRAPHY/GOING-LUCID
minutes. During a sleep cycle, we generally

go through stages of light sleep, semi-deep
sleep, deep sleep, and finally REM (Rapid
Eye Movement) sleep, which is also known
as the dream stage.
During REM sleep, the brain is almost as
active as when we are awake. The centre of
vision produces images inside our heads,
strong emotions such as fear and joy are
activated, and the brain tries to activate the
muscles, making our arms and legs twitch
when dreams are at their most intense.
Although dreams are usually associated
with the REM stage, we also have another
lesser-known type of dream that occurs
during the N1 stage of light sleep.
The state is referred to as hypnagogia,
and it lasts just a few minutes, during
which you gradually lose consciousness
until you are in a semi-awake state. During
this period, you may experience dream-
like hallucinations that include images,
Using sensors and electrodes, researchers can identify when we dream, allowing them to time sounds, or a sensation of flying or falling.
potential manipulations of the content of the dreams, for example by playing certain sounds. The hypnagogic hallucinations are also
By Gorm Palmgren
SCIEPRO/SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND

The entire brain is active in dreams
The brain does not rest while we dream, indeed it intensifies its activity
in areas responsible for conjuring up emotions, images, and motion.
In return, it shuts down reason, making dreams often strange and absurd.
3
3
2
4
2
4
3
3
The brain tries Reason and Dreams are The centre of

to activate the judgement full of strong vision provides
muscles are on standby emotions lifelike images
The motor During dream The amygdala, Dreams are
1 centres that
2 sleep, activity
3 hippocampus,
4 highly visual
control our muscle decreases in the and other brain areas and full of powerful
motion are extra frontal lobes and involved in controlling images, largely
active when we other areas that our emotions become because the centre of
dream. The high level control logic, judge- particularly active vision in the occipital
of brain activity ment, self-control during the dream lobes of the brain is
causes a sense of and concentration, stage. This tends to strongly activated.
motion that makes causing dreams to makes dreams highly The centre of vision
dreams more vivid, become confusing emotional, filled with creates the vivid
even if the muscles and illogical, often joy, fear, love, and images of dreams,
are paralysed. with a constantly other deep emotions and we see them as a
shifting focus. film inside our heads.
ART FANTASY/SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND/ OSCAR ROSELLOE
Researchers plant AWA K E
microdreams in the N1
Tree!
subconscious mind
N2
N3
REM
In one experiment, researchers made people
dream about something specific by giving
CUES LIGHT SLEEP
them a cue before they went to sleep and
waking them up again after a few minutes. Test subjects
are given a cue
The subjects wear a special kind of
1 glove known as Dormio on their
hand and lie down on a bed. A computer-
ised voice gives them a cue, such as “think
of a tree”, leaving them to fall asleep.
known as microdreams, and you will you up during microdreams. Dormio has showed that when the subjects’ micro-
usually remember then if you are disturbed sensors that measure the pulse rate in dreams were manipulated with a cue, it
while falling asleep and so wake up again. the fingers, the electric conductivity of also had a significant effect on their crea-
The content of microdreams is often the skin, and muscle tension. This infor- tivity. When they were asked to tell a story
an extension of thoughts inside your head mation is enough to tell when you are from memory, it contained more descrip-
when you go to sleep. But because you are transitioning from wakefulness to light tive details, the language used was more
gradually losing consciousness, they are sleep, and so may be in the process of varied, and the stories included more
allowed a more free rein to enter the experiencing microdreams. emotion and humour.
world of imagination, unbound by logic Using Dormio, Adam Haar Horowitz
and traditional thinking. has developed a method to manipulate Clicking sound in dreams
This can be used to advantage. There the microdreams of test subjects. improved logic
are anecdotes about both Salvador Dalí The subjects put on the Dormio glove Our real dreams in the REM stage of sleep
and Thomas Edison going to sleep while and go to sleep, while a computerised can also be manipulated, with surprising
thinking of a new idea for an invention or voice might say: “think of a tree”. When effects. One method is referred to as cue-
a work of art – but deliberately holding a the glove registers that the microdreams based memory retrieval and has been used
heavy object while they dozed off. And of must be in progress, the subject is woken by Canadian researchers in an experiment
course once they fell fully asleep they up by the computer voice and asked to in which 10 participants had to practise
would then drop the object, causing a loud describe their dreams. solving difficult logic problems while lis-
bang. This woke them up in the middle of In a study from 2020, Horowitz tested tening to a constant clicking sound.
their microdreams, which they could then the method on 50 subjects, and 67% of The following night, the same clicking
remember and perhaps use in their work. those who had the cue “think of a tree” said sound was played into the test subjects’
afterwards that they had dreamt of trees. ears again. Half heard the sound during
Microdreams can be manipulated Many of the dreams were also highly dream sleep, while the other half heard it
One of the leading microdream researchers imaginative, prompting Adam Haar when they were in deep, dreamless sleep.
is Adam Haar Horowitz from MIT, the Horowitz to conduct another experiment, A week later, all participants were
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in in which participants were subjected to a asked to solve the difficult logic problems
Cambridge, USA. Horowitz has developed series of established psychological tests of again. It turned out that the participants
a kind of glove named Dormio that wakes their creative abilities. The experiment who had heard the clicking sound while
Glove records the
transition to sleep
Dormio records the test subject’s After 1-5 minutes of light sleep,
2 heart rate, skin conductivity, and
3 the test subjects are woken up,
muscle tension. In doing so, the glove and the computer voice asks them to tell
records when the subjects go from a what they dreamed about. Result: 67%
waking state to the light sleep stage N1. of the participants had dreamt of trees.
dreaming had 23% more correct answers time, then the morning
than those who heard the sound during song of birds might trigger
DREAM RESEARCHER
dreamless sleep. ADAM HAAR HOROWITZ, your dreaming subconscious
Manipulating dreams clearly has great MASSACHUSETTS to relate that to the advertised product,
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
potential when it comes to improving our reinforcing a desire to buy it the next day.
cognitive skills. This is like subliminal advertising,
However, there is a clear and obvious
“Advertisers where a single frame ad is inserted into
concern. Who gets to do the manipulating, can reward people with programming, almost too quick to see,
and to what end? The ability to influence free products for playing but not too quick for the brain. It’s illegal
dreams and so thoughts is raising concerns video and audio when in Australia to insert anything less than
that the mind could be manipulated for they go to sleep.” three frames in this way – but search
commercial or political purposes – and you online and you’ll find many clever exam-
might not have any idea it’s happening. ples of this rule being circumvented.
Such perspectives have led Horowitz
Bird song makes you want to buy that sounds unlikely, consider a 2021 US and 37 other researchers to draw up a set
In the long term, companies may develop market research study which found that of ethical guidelines on how to protect
technologies that infiltrate your dreams 77% of advertising agencies were already consumers – not only commercially, but
with subtle adverts to make you want sub- planning to manipulate dreams to help to guard against political or state indoc-
consciously to try a new type of soft drink their clients increase sales. trination, a new psychological warfare.
or buy a certain car model. But how would Although tech for night-time insertion “There are still so many unanswered
they persuade us to let them do it? is not yet fully developed, advertisers are questions, and hopefully researchers and
“Advertisers can enter our dreams by already showing great interest in the ideas authorities will get involved in those
rewarding people with free products for behind it. Advertisers can capitalise on the debates,” says Adam Horowitz.
playing video and audio when they go to fact that you dream more in the last part of There are many positive aspects to the
sleep and during the night, that manipulate your sleep, which often coincides with manipulation of dreams. But if you wake
their dreams to include the specific prod- early morning bird song. So if a TV advert up in the morning with an unusual crav-
uct,” said dream researcher Adam Haar for a specific product is accompanied by ing for cornflakes, perhaps you should be
Horowitz to Science Illustrated. And if bird song, and they play it just before bed- watching late-night TV ads a little less.
How to use your

dreams actively
You might think your dreams are meaningless,
but it can be a good idea to pay them more
attention. Research shows that they can make
you smarter and happier: here are some tips.
SMIT/SHUTTERSTOCK
KYRYLO RYZHOV/SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND
OYOO/SHUTTERSTOCK
BETTER REST IMPROVED LOGIC G R E AT E R C R E AT I V I T Y
Wake up Learn to Think before

during a dream dream lucidly you sleep
Counter-intuitively, you feel Lucid dreams are dreams Hypnagogic hallucinations
most rested if you wake up in that you can control, or microdreams are similar
the middle of your dream sleep – influencing their course of action. to real dreams, but occur for only
because this is when your brain During a lucid dream, you are aware a few minutes before you lose
waves are most similar to your that you are dreaming. consciousness and sink into light
waking state. It has the added Research suggests that people sleep. Studies have shown that the
benefit of making it easier for you who have lucid dreams are also more (and more intense) micro-
to remember your dreams. On the better at figuring out reality while dreams you have had, the more
other hand, if you are woken up in awake, and find it easier to solve creative you will be the next day.
deep sleep, it is difficult to wake up problems that require logical If you think of a certain word
fully, and you risk feeling tired and thinking. Patrick Bourke from the when you go to sleep, you will
unrested during the day. University of Lincoln showed this in often experience intense and
Dream sleep comes at the end an experiment in which participants imaginative microdreams about
of each sleep cycle, which typically were presented with three words that word. When we wake up after
lasts 90 minutes. So to be the and then had to find a word that a night’s sleep, we have forgotten
most refreshed in the morning, could be a prefix to all three. Those the microdreams, but if you pull
it is a good idea to sleep for full who had lucid dreams had 29% the Edison/Dali trick of holding an
90-minute periods. more correct answers. object over the edge of the bed as
If you go to bed at 11PM, you You can train yourself to realise you fall asleep, you’ll drop it just
might set your alarm for 6.30AM – that you are dreaming by checking as sleep has set in, and you can
after seven-and-a-half hours of if your reflection in the mirror looks then probably remember the
sleep (equivalent to five sleep natural during the day. Eventually, microdream. By repeating this,
cycles) – rather than grabbing an you will get used to doing the you may have intense micro-
extra half or full hour of sleep. same check in your dreams. dreams that boost your creativity.
JAMESTEOHART/PROSTOCK-STUDIO/SHUTTERSTOCK
CVM /SHUTTERSTOCK
G R E AT E R S E L F - I N S I G H T
BETTER MOOD
Look in the Sleep late

right place on and undisturbed
the timeline Dreams make us better at
While scientists do not coping with stress and
generally believe that our unpleasant experiences, because
dreams have any specific meaning, dream sleep acts as a kind of
many people find that they dream soothing therapy, removing the
about the things that are sharp edges from the negative
particularly important to them. emotions of the day. Dreams also
So you can use your dreams to gain reinforce positive emotions such
insight into what struggles you as happiness, so a good experience
don’t even realise you’re having. will be even better if you dreamed
If you want to connect a dream a lot the previous night.
to your past experiences, make You do not start dreaming
sure you are looking in the right until about an hour and a half after
place in your memory. The you fall asleep, so if you wake up
experiences that find their way into very often, you may never dream.
your dreams rarely happen at The longer you sleep, the more
random times. Research shows that you dream, and after the first six
you typically dream about events hours of sleep, you dream about
that happened either the same day half the time. So it is important
or 5-7 days before. It is apparently to ensure a long uninterrupted
much less likely that experiences of night’s sleep if you want to be
the day before yesterday or two sure to dream as much as
weeks ago will be the things possible, and so reap the
haunting your dreams. benefits.
HUMANS EARTH WITHOUT US
RTH AFTER
EA MANS
THE HU g stu pi d enou gh
d o
to
n’t
kill u
p o
s
ison
all
e
,
v
what
a
er
p
y
i
thing
dly.
in e d r
d o so meth s sum ing w w ill sprea rs e ends.
ce h umans r pla n et? A in k n ature il th e unive
On
p pen to ou
cie n tists th urv iv e unt
will ha ur demise, s ity should s
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Bu RSTOCK
SHUT TE
By Antje Gerd Poulsen & Christian Ammitzbøll Juul
YEAR ZERO YEAR 1
Water flows in first

Day 14 Year 1
SHUTTERSTOCK
With the world’s 50,000 Plant
power plants all stopped, seeds find
the world is almost completely nourishment
dark at night. Electric pumps in the gutters
normally keep cities like London, and cracks of
Amsterdam and New York clear of pavements
water, but now the tunnels are and between
flooded and canals overflow, high-rise concrete
filling basements with water. and glass facades.
Nuclear power plants poison their surroundings

Day 20 SHUTTERSTOCK
Month 6
The world’s 441 nuclear Wildfires get out of control
power plants are now without humans to fight
close to disaster. Cooling systems them. But in nature, the fires
collapse, and within a few weeks serve a purpose, and new
the coolant water has all plants emerge from the ash with
evaporated. The reactors then a new chance at life. In other
melt down or catch fire, places, dams and dikes collapse,
radioactively contaminating flooding vast areas and perma-
air, land, and water around the nently changing geography.
plants, killing flora and fauna.
Animals conquer cities

Day 7 Year 1
Many domestic Wild animals spread in the
animals starve to landscape and in cities –
death in houses and bears and wild hogs in America,
apartments, on farms probably urban-friendly
and in zoos throughout kangaroos like eastern greys
the world. The majority in Australia. On the other
of the world’s billion hand, the number of pests
pigs die, along with such as cockroaches and
many of the world’s rats are heavily reduced, as
SHUTTERSTOCK
~400 million dogs. they depend on humans.
YEAR 1
Nature brings down the high-rises

Year 3 Year 10 Year 25
SHUTTERSTOCK
Windows will gradually Grass grows Skyscraper windows are
be removed by storms between paving broken, letting wind
and temperature fluctuations. stones, which lose and rain in. Moisture makes
Once wind and water get their grip on the ground the joints between walls
inside the buildings, the and begin breaking up. and roofs crumble. Bolts
structures decay fast. Trees are already and screws corrode, and
growing deep into panels fall out.
houses.
Oil and toxins spread

Year 5 Year 10
Crop fields are all Static electricity or
overgrown. In 1882, lightning strikes cause
British scientists tested how fires on oil rigs throughout the
fast other plants would take world, and unmanned
over an abandoned wheat field. supertankers, container
After four years only a few vessels and cruise liners
wheat spikes remained, gone drifting with the current strike
SHUTTERSTOCK
the next year. Since then, the the rigs, which collapse.
field has become a wood of Result: millions of litres of
ash and mulberry trees. oil gush into the ocean.
Animals reclaim what they lost

SHUTTERSTOCK
In spite of centuries of Fish populations are recovering In the Northern

human assistance, from decades of overfishing. Hemisphere,
domestic cats never stopped the number of wolves
hunting. That benefits them is increasing steadily.
now, as they must subsist Wolves reproduce fast
on mice and small birds. and find new hunting
Frail pedigree cat breeds grounds in cities.
SHUTTERSTOCK
have gone extinct. Depending on the supply

of prey, their territory
stretches 250-1000km2.
YEAR 200
SHU
T TER
STOC
K
SHUTTERSTOCK
The world’s The steel The joints of the Eiffel
1 billion cars wires of Tower have corroded, and
have corroded suspension it collapses. Most skyscrapers
beyond recognition. bridges have and many old structures follow
In a humid coastal corroded. Their suit – particularly those with
climate, it takes flexibility is submerged foundations.
20-30 years for a gone, and one
car to rust out. big gust of wind
will make them
collapse.
Year 200
Corrosion makes time
bombs explode all over
the world. Silos, tanks and
filled with chlorine wear out other containers with encap-
and leak. Toxic chlorine gas sulated nuclear waste, fuel,
clouds spread in the environ- and chemicals begin to leak or
ment, and when chlorine even explode. Animals and
SHUTTERSTOCK
encounters water vapour, acid plants die, but over time

is produced. Tankers with bacteria will break down
chemicals add their leaks. most oil and toxic residue.
Year 100 Year 200

Domestic animals and New ecosystems have
pets are close to their been established: prairie
original forms. Racehorses have and bison across the whole US
become sturdy wild horses, grain belt. In Australia, where
and the descendants of the landscape has been shaped
domestic cats resemble by humans for 10s of thousands
Norwegian forest cats. of years, a new balance will be
found by the species that thrive.
SHUTTERSTOCK
HUMANS EARTH WITHOUT US
YEAR 200
Cities disappear under a green carpet

The Statue of Liberty in Most cities have been Most structures
New York collapses, and totally taken over by which contain
chunks of her plants. In 1860, French explorer iron have crumbled.
fall into the Henri Mouhot discovered what Now some of the
harbour. an old overgrown city looks like strongest concrete
when he found the great temple buildings collapse:
complex of Angkor Wat, Cam- the twin towers of Kuala
bodia. In 400 years the city had Lumpur and St. Peter’s
been almost devoured by the Basilica in Rome.
big roots of silk cotton trees.
Water and forest take over landscapes

Restored fresh water Low-lying cities throughout The virgin
wetlands function as the world are under water, forest is
efficient water purification including large areas of Sydney, back in Europe,
plants, which absorb Melbourne docklands and other and the African
remaining chemicals. coastal cities, due to both collapsed jungle and
dams and rising ocean levels. Even South American
if we stopped emitting greenhouse rainforest have
gases tomorrow, water levels would spread fast.
still rise by 1.8 metres towards the
year 2500 due to lags in response.
Elephants and lions migrate north

Year 500
Lack of habitat and the demand
for tusks kept down elephant
populations when humans lived on
Earth. But now they migrate with rhinos
from Africa and Asia to Europe. Those
venturing far north develop fur to
survive. Predators also migrate north.
Not since Roman times have wild lions
been living in Greece, but now they
are back to hunt on the plains.
YEAR 1000
The last evidence of humans
will survive for trillions of years
SHUTTERSTOCK
Year 1000
The pyramids
SHUTTERSTOCK
The world’s
can last a long time
metropolises
have lost their famous In year 1000, only a few
skylines. Instead, structures will remain,
the cities are hilly including some of the most
landscapes with rivers ancient such as the Great Pyramid of
and lakes. Everything Giza, which is protected by a warm,
is overgrown. The dry climate. From the modern era,
valleys still include only protected concrete structures
a few ruins. such as military installations will
survive. The Channel Tunnel
between France and England still
exists, because it was built through
an unbroken layer of chalk and so
has only a small risk of collapse.
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Landfills tell our story
SHUTTERSTOCK
Ironically, our rubbish
Year 1000 will be one of the things
Flooded cities and sunken ships to last for 1000+ years.
have become the new homes of Huge rubbish dumps will remain
marine animals. The oceans abound as hills in the landscape,
with whales, tuna and sea turtles, protecting things that tell the
and destroyed coral story of human life on Earth.
reefs are restored. Deep inside a large rubbish dump,
it can be dry like a pyramid and
oxygen-poor like a bog, so
artefacts from the present will
last for 1000+ years – including
worn shoes, broken toys,
and shattered glasses.
The very last evidence of

humanity may very well
Year 1000 be the Voyager space
probes, which were launched in
In 1000 years, the entire planet
1977 and have left the Solar
will be teeming with animals,
System. According to calculations,
but the number of species has not
the probes stand a good chance
grown much yet. But in 3-7 million
of surviving for trillions of years,
years, Earth’s species biodiversity
existing even long after the last
will be restored to the same level as
stars in the universe have burned
before humans arrived on Earth.
out – moving in a dark world
populated only by black holes
and other dead heavenly bodies.
HUMANS BLOOD
imminent death. As many as 67% of the

people who had one of the combinations
had died within five years of the sample
being taken, and 88% died within 10
years. And there was a second discovery:
the researchers also found combinations
that indicated longevity. Only 1% of the
people with these promising combina-
tions died within 10 years.
Blood sample paradox

Stefánsson and his colleagues measured
the levels of thousands of different
proteins, but one protein stood out:
GDF15. The level of this one protein
could predict death almost as accurately
A new blood test offers to tell you as all the other proteins combined.
with 88% accuracy whether you are Among a group of subjects with a
specific combination of gender, age and
going to die within the next 10 years, GDF15 levels, 74% died within 10 years.
and perhaps the cause of your demise. The conclusion is that high levels of
GDF15 are a warning that death is just
But do you really want to know? around the corner. And the researchers
have an idea why this is the case.
Previous studies have shown that
I
f a simple test could reveal whether Stefánsson did. In recent decades, through GDF15 levels are elevated in connection
you are going to die in the near his deCODE Genetics company, Stefánsson with a number of severe conditions, such
future, would you join the queue at has collected blood samples and detailed as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and
your local pathology clinic? Or data from 160,000+ Icelanders – half of the diabetes. A high level of GDF15 may mean
would you politely decline? country’s entire population – as well as an imminent life-threatening disease.
Icelandic geneticist Kári Stefánsson from hundreds of thousands of other peo- That does not mean, however, that
has given you the choice. Using blood ple around the world. GDF15 is a villain. Paradoxically, the
from 23,000 people, he claims to have In 2021, Stefánsson and his colleagues
developed a test that, based on a simple took an unprecedented deep dive into
blood sample, can predict with 88% cer- almost 23,000 of the Icelandic blood sam-
tainty whether you will die within the ples, all collected between 2000 and 2006.
next 10 years. And he believes he has a Since those blood samples were taken,
duty to reveal any unpleasant results to more than 7000 of the subjects had died,
you – whether you want to know or not. giving the researchers a unique opportu-
nity to investigate whether there was
Scientists predict death anything in the blood of the deceased
If you have advanced cancer, doctors can that could have revealed that they were
tell you roughly how long you have left. approaching death.
But if you do not have a life-threatening The researchers did not look at genes,
disease, it is much harder to predict your but rather measured the proteins in the
death. Gene tests can give you a clue: they blood. Proteins are produced by body cells
HALLDOR KOLBEINS/AFP/RITZAU SCANPIX
can reveal the risks of certain severe con- and serve a variety of purposes in the
ditions. But they usually cannot tell you blood, as hormones or neurotransmitters
much about when or how badly such con- for the immune system, and they can tell
ditions will affect you, as the development us a lot about our health.
of diseases depends heavily on lifestyle Stefánsson’s team analysed levels of
and other environmental factors, not only 4684 different types of proteins in each
on genetic factors. sample, comparing these with the genders
So researchers need to look beyond and ages of the subjects. Kári Stefánsson is the head of the company
genes if they want to know whether your They found a clear pattern. Specific deCODE Genetics, whose researchers have
death is just around the corner. And that combinations of gender, age and protein analysed blood samples from hundreds of
is exactly what Icelandic researcher Kári levels turned out to be a clear sign of thousands of people.
By Christian Ammitzbøll Juul
BRAIN
KRAKENIMAGES.COM/SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND

HEART
LIVER
SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND
Immune cell
GDF15 Nerve cell in
hindbrain
Signal
AT P
Nerve cell in
Mitochondrion Heart cells hypothalamus
Energy boost Defence protects Saturation signal

prevents diabetes the heart lowers weight
Ageing and a poor diet Several severe heart GDF15 (blue) triggers a
1 can reduce the activity 2 diseases are caused by 3 nerve signal that runs
of cell powerhouses overactive immune cells from the hindbrain (the
mitochondria (green), which (white) attacking heart tissue lower back part of the brain) to
could lead to insulin resistance and causing inflammation. the brain’s appetite centre, the
and diabetes. GDF15 (blue) GDF15 (blue) binds to the hypothalamus, where it causes
counteracts this by increasing immune cells and prevents them a feeling of satiety. So the
mitochondrial energy from attacking the heart, protein acts as a slimming agent
production (yellow). reducing the risk of disease. that counteracts obesity.
Death messenger is a hero

High levels of GDF15 may provide a warning that death is approaching,
but paradoxically the substance has a number of beneficial effects.
HUMANS BLOOD
protein appears to have a protective she was more mature and better able
effect in many cases. Several studies to handle the situation. Now she is
suggest that GDF15 is a versatile neuro- IRIS KATRÍN considering preventative surgery.
transmitter in the body which helps BARKARDÓTTIR Barkardóttir’s opinion is shared
TO GLOBAL
reduce inflammation, prevent heart prob- HEALTH NOW by many others – including doctors and
lems, and counteract obesity. researchers. But in a way, she was lucky. A
So the explanation for the paradox This postponed test could be too late.
is probably that diseases cause the body requires
to crank up GDF15 in an attempt to save mental maturity. It was Predictions can save lives
itself. The more stressed the body is, the important that I did not Kári Stefánsson’s blood test can reveal
higher the GDF15 levels become. signs of disease that would otherwise
realise it earlier.”
The proteins in the blood may provide go undetected. Early detection gives the
an accurate picture of whether the body patient a significantly better chance of
is silently fighting a battle against death. beating death. In cardiovascular disease,
This is why Kári Stefánsson believes early diagnosis even allows the patient to
he has a duty to tell patients about the own risk of developing cancer – but she reverse the progression through lifestyle
results of the test – whether they want initially chose not to have it done. The changes such as diet and exercise to
them or not. According to him, a consent test examines the presence of mutations reduce the risk of fatal complications.
form should not be necessary when it is a in a gene known as BRCA2, mutations Early detection makes a big difference
matter of life and death. But the law which result in a 69-80% risk of breast in cancer treatment. Where lung cancer is
doesn’t necessarily support Stefánsson. cancer in women. However, the risk of detected at an early stage, survival rates
breast cancer can be lowered by as much are as high as 87.3%. If detected at a very
Ignorance is good for the soul as 90% with preventative surgery such as late stage, survival drops to just 18.7%.
In Iceland and several other countries, the breast removal. Similar figures apply to other cancers.
law gives citizens the right not to know Despite the possible benefits of the This is because cancer cells are initially
test results such as those produced by test, Barkardóttir felt that the results confined to a single location in the body;
Kári Stefánsson. And many people who could ruin her life. If she had known they can be removed relatively easily, such
have experienced the issue first-hand about a cancer-causing mutation in her as via surgery. But if later the cancer cells
support the right. One of them is Íris body from a very young age, fear and anx- spread to several other tissues, this elimi-
Katrín Barkardóttir of Iceland. iety would have haunted her constantly. nates the ability to remove all the cancer
Her mother died of cancer in 2011, At the age of 29, she finally decided to cells from the body. Often the scattered
when Barkardóttir was 24 years old. At be tested – and the results showed the cancer cells end up killing the patient.
the time, the young woman had known very mutation she had feared. But she
for years about a test that could reveal her is glad she had the option to wait until Blood tests become a cure
Stefánsson has not stopped his research.
His desire to save lives requires that his
DR P. MARAZZI/SPL
test be further developed so researchers

can see not only potential imminent
death, but also the cause of the problem.
That would allow doctors to aim treat-
ment at the specific problem, such as
cancer or heart disease. And last year
Stefánsson and his colleagues made a
significant advance in this regard.
Again, the researchers looked at the
proteins in the Icelandic blood samples,
but this time specifically at the subjects
Breast cancer (red) is who later died – or were close to dying
dangerous if it spreads, – from cardiovascular disease. This has
but if detected early the allowed them to develop their test so that
chances of survival are good. it will predict whether a person was in
imminent danger of dying from this spe-
cific type of disease.
So Stefansson’s blood test is getting
ever better at predicting the future – and
therefore better at saving lives. But only,
of course, if you are willing to listen to the
test’s predictions.
PEDRO BENTO/SHUTTERSTOCK JOHAN LARSON/SHUTTERSTOCK
HUMANS BLOOD
I E W
The contents OV E R V
of your blood
Your blood is vital. But do you really
know how it works – what platelets and
white blood cells do? Delve into the
individual components of your blood
and find out why each part is so vital.
DESIGN_CELLS/RUMAX/SHUTTERSTOCK
RED BLOOD CELLS RED CELLS SUPPLY BODY WITH OXYGEN

PEDDALANKA RAMESH BABU/SHUTTERSTOCK
WHAT ARE THEY? WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?

Red blood cells are small flat cells Body cells constantly need oxygen,
that carry oxygen about the body by which is why red blood cells are
means of haemoglobin. They are extremely indispensable. Malnutrition, illness and
numerous – they make up around 84% other influences can cause the number of
of the body’s cells and 40-45% of the red blood cells to drop – a phenomenon
blood’s volume. On their surfaces are known as anaemia – and this can have
special proteins that determine our blood serious consequences. Initially the lack of
type. Red blood cells with ‘A’ antigens will oxygen will cause fatigue and dizziness, but
give you blood type A, while ‘B’ antigens without treatment, the condition can cause
give you blood type B. The function of the life-threatening heart problems. Anaemia
proteins remains unknown, but they may can be treated with blood transfusions,
influence our health. dietary supplements, or medicine.
WHITE BLOOD CELLS SOLDIERS OF THE BODY DEFEAT THE ENEMY


White blood cells, also known as White blood cells fight bacteria,
leukocytes, are the soldiers of the fungi and viruses, and also clear out
immune system, and they come in a the body’s own cells if they are sick. This
multitude of different types, each with their makes them a crucial weapon against
own task. They are cells, and although they infections and cancer. Lack of white blood
make up less than 1% of the blood volume, cells is therefore a serious problem, as
they are extremely important. Neutrophil otherwise harmless infections can become
granulocytes react quickly to infections life-threatening. Conversely, overactive
and can break down bacteria. Another white blood cells can also be a problem,
type, B lymphocytes, produce antibodies because they attack the body’s healthy
against bacteria, helping the body react cells and cause autoimmune diseases such
faster the next time it is attacked. as diabetes, arthritis, or psoriasis.
BLOOD PLATELETS CELL FRAGMENTS STOP BLEEDING

Blood platelets, also known as Without platelets, our body would be
thrombocytes, are small cell unable to stop bleeding. This includes
fragments that make up less than 1% of both external bleeding, such as when we
the blood’s volume. The function of cut ourselves with a knife, and internal
platelets is to stop bleeding by forming a bleeding, as we observe when we have a
clot in the damaged blood vessel, so blood bruise. Some people have few platelets or
cannot escape. Like cells, platelets have a lack some of the substances that help
cell membrane that encloses a fluid-filled platelets clump together, resulting in
interior. Inside are substances that are frequent bleeding from mucous membranes
released during haemorrhage and attract and blood accumulation in joints, etc. The
other platelets which can then clump condition can often be treated by injecting
together via proteins on the membrane. the missing substances into the blood.
FOOD AND WASTE NUTRIENTS ENERGISE CELLS

SERGEY TARASOV/SHUTTERSTOCK

After we eat or drink, the digestive The cells in our body die if they
system breaks down food into are not constantly supplied with
nutrients, which are then absorbed into the nutrients. Some nutrients act as fuel to
blood. There they are dissolved in the blood energise the cell for its activities – such
water, or plasma, which makes up about as moving or pumping substances from
55% of the blood’s volume. The substances one place to another. Others are used as
include carbohydrates, amino acids, fats building materials, to make proteins, or
and vitamins which can be absorbed and to maintain the cell membrane. However,
utilised by cells. The cells subsequently too high a level of nutrients in the blood can
release waste products such as ammonia, also be problematic, as it can stress cells or
which are removed from the blood by the cause obesity.
kidneys and excreted in the urine.
SUBSTANCES AT WORK CELLS SEND MESSAGES IN THE BLOOD

ADAO/SHUTTERSTOCK

In the plasma, there are also The substances in the blood are
substances that body cells have essential for body cells to communicate
produced themselves, each serving a and cooperate as a whole. Either low or
specific function. Hormones such as elevated levels of certain substances can
adrenaline are used to deliver messages to have major consequences. Deficiency of
distant parts of the body. Adrenaline is the hormone insulin means that body cells
released by the adrenal glands, but affects cannot absorb glucose from the blood. An
activity in the brain, heart, lungs and excess quantity of the stress hormone
many other places. Other substances in cortisol, on the other hand, can lead to high
the blood are used to control the work of blood pressure. Imbalances of other
the immune system, to control muscle and substances can lead to weight gain, harmful
bone growth, or to help stop bleeding. inflammation, or abnormal bone growth.
KEN IKEDA MADSEN / SHUTTERSTOCK
By Christian Bierlich
New computer uses ‘virtual

particles’ to predict storms
Even in an absolute vacuum, particles appear out of nowhere like ghosts.
Scientists have used this phenomenon of quantum physics in a new kind
of computer that might yield much more accurate weather forecasts.
D
ark clouds are building, and the US, have developed a groundbreaking meaning that you can always predict the
two-metre waves are crashing new computer that was itself designed to outcome if you know the data fed to the
on the beach. The storm is generate random results – and then to computer. But this approach comes at a
clearly building, but will it be use them in calculations. price: when the computer has to perform
so powerful that sandbags This probabilistic computer makes calculations of phenomena that involve
should be filled and evacuation plans be use of a phenomenon in quantum phys- probabilities, such as the weather, the cal-
put in place? ics where pairs of particles are born out of culations become highly complex, and so
Knowing the exact strength and path nowhere seemingly randomly. The com- the predictions are very slow.
of a storm as early as possible is crucial puter is based on a vacuum – so a space This is particularly the case when the
to save lives and minimise damage, but containing effective nothing. Yet it could computer has to predict extreme events
meteorologists’ predictions are currently make weather forecasts and other proba- that have a very low probability, but
subject to considerable uncertainty. Pre- bility calculations far more accurate. which might have major consequences.
dicting the weather involves such a large Even if a deterministic supercomputer
element of randomness that traditional Weather forecasts are too late can calculate exactly where a hurricane
computers are very poor at handling the Ordinary computers perform complex will hit, it can take so long that the result
task. But now researchers from MIT, the calculations with fixed and predictable is sometimes not available until after the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in logic; they are called ‘deterministic’, storm has passed; not much use.
Each bit type BIT P-BIT QUBIT
has its own

strength
Computers work by means
of bits, which in traditional
computers have a value Ordinary computer Probabilistic computer Quantum computer
of either 1 or 0. But the is a logician is a fortune teller is a code breaker
ordinary bit has been joined A traditional computer In a probabilistic While both a regular bit
by the quantum computer’s bit always has one of two computer, the bits do and a p-bit can be in only
values, 0 or 1, and each bit enters not have a fixed value, but one state at a time, the quantum
qubit and now also the
the computer’s calculations by constantly fluctuate between computer’s qubit can exist in
probabilistic bit, the p-bit. switching between the two 1 and 0 with a specific multiple states simultaneously.
Each type of computer is states. The mainstream probability that can be set This gives the quantum computer
particularly suited for a computer is particularly suited by the user. This makes the a huge parallel processing
specific type of tasks. for strictly logical calculations p-bit suitable for calculations capacity and makes it great at
that do not involve probabilities. involving randomness. cracking encryption keys, etc.
that can have either one of two possible
frequencies when reflected between two
mirrors. The frequency ‘chosen’ by the laser
is influenced by vacuum fluctuations.
Measuring the frequency provides a
source of randomness – a flow of random
numbers – that can be used in weather
simulations and other computer models
that require random input. But the crucial
new feature of MIT’s computer is that
researchers can control the probability of
a bit being 1 or 0. So the user can choose
probabilities that suit the calculations
they want to perform, making the new
type of computer truly useful for weather
forecasting for the first time.
Scientists place the

weather in boxes
Although researchers may understand the
physics behind all the different weather
phenomena that combine to create a
ANTHONY TULLIANI
storm, the variables are far too extensive

to calculate the entire process from start
to finish. Instead, meteorologists use what
is known as a Monte Carlo simulation,
The probablistic computer currently exists at MIT in the United States as a complex system of mirrors where each phenomenon that affects the
and lasers in a lab. But researchers believe it could be designed for a microchip within a few years. weather is categorised in ‘boxes’, so perhaps
ocean currents in one box, atmospheric
A probabilistic computer is different in completely empty, but includes short- pressure in another, and so on. Researchers
its fundamental design. All computers term energy fluctuations. This might be then add parameters to describe how each
work using ‘bits’, which can be thought of compared with waves in an ocean that box affects each other, assigning each
as switches. In a traditional computer, appear then quickly disappear again. parameter with a specific probability.
each bit has a value of either 0 or 1, so the The fluctuations manifest as pairs of The more parameters included in the
switch is either off or on. But in a particles that appear out of nowhere and weather model, the more accurate it is
computer designed for probabilistic likely to be, but the calculations increase
calculations, the probabilistic bits (or exponentially. The probabilistic computer
p-bits) do not have a fixed value, only a is so efficient at delivering the flow of
2
probability of 0 or 1. This means that the random numbers required by weather
output of the computer can always vary, models that it can allow more parameters
even if the input is the same. in the calculations than can traditional
Scientists have been trying different computers. The output is different –
ways of creating p-bits, but now the MIT instead of a single ‘correct’ answer, the
physicists think they have found a break- probablistic computer provides a range of
through method that is both faster – and
mysterious particles that possible solutions, each with their own
allows you to adjust the probability of 0 emerge randomly from a probability And that is ideal for simulating
and 1 depending on the job you require vacuum form the basis of the chaotic events of real life, whether the
the computer to perform. the new computer type. weather or the spread of infection during
an epidemic.
Virtual particles become numbers So far, the p-bit experiment requires a
The new computer is based on the theory large set-up of mirrors and lasers. But the
of how the smallest of particles behave in disappear again almost instantly. Where MIT physicists behind it are optimistic
quantum mechanics. and when the virtual particles appear is that their probablistic computer could be
A fundamental principle of quantum unpredictable – physicists know only the integrated on a microchip within a few
mechanics is that the energy in a system, probability of their appearance. years. If it works, their desktop experiment
such as a vacuum, can never be determined It is this probability that the physicists with laser light in a quantum vacuum
with absolute accuracy. So in the world of are harnessing in the new computer. At might soon solve many complex prob-
quantum mechanics, a vacuum is not the centre of their new design is a laser lems, and even save many lives.
The computer harvests
vacuum randomness
When computer models are asked to predict the weather, they need an input of random
numbers. The probabilistic computer makes use of unpredictable quantum physics
oscillations to harvest randomness from a vacuum.
Scientists create
Mirrors
a vacuum
The space between two
1 mirrors is emptied of light
particles, leaving it completely dark.
The space is a vacuum for light, but
quantum mechanical oscillations, Virtual
also known as virtual particles, particles
appear randomly out of nowhere.
Laser beam is reflected

between two mirrors
The researchers switch on a
2 laser, so the light beam is
reflected between the two mirrors. Two possible frequencies
The laser is so weak that each laser

pulse consists of only one light
particle. The light can choose one Laser beam
of two possible frequencies.
Virtual particles
interfere with the laser
The virtual particles affect
3 the frequency of the laser
beam. Since it is not known
where or when they occur, the
effect is random, but with an
electric field (blue), researchers Electric field
can control the probability.
The result is
random numbers
The two laser frequencies
4 are read as bit values
of 0 and 1. Since the researchers
can only control the probability
of 0 and 1 and not the final
outcome, the result is a
controlled random number.
Bit value 1 Bit value 0
TECHNOLOGY COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS
A GREEN DAWN
FOR OLD POWER
STATIONS?
We can’t seem to ditch coal,
despite coal-fired power plants
being smelly, outdated, and
generally very bad for the planet.
But via a few simple steps, our
end-of-life power plants might
be converted to provide us with
more climate-friendly power.
pow e r th e planet
Fossil fuels l Review of World Energy, coal, oil,patinodn
e Statistica energy consum
According to th 0 +% of w orl d
ra l ga s still accounted for 8
new ab les and nuclear power.
na tu om re
20 22 . On ly so me 20% came fr
in
Oil
gas
Natural
Coal
power
Nuclear
ergy
Green en
lanes
tes Ships and p
y is Coal domina stuck on oil
Green energ in Asia One third of o
ur
ind
lagging beh Coal still accou
nts 3 energy co n su m p-
Sunlight, wind, 2 for 25+% of the
tion comes fro
mo il ,
1 ro- supply.
bioenergy, hyd world’s energy which is dif fi cu lt to
h erm al is refined
power and geot Consumption is replace given
it
t for ly
on any d marine
energy accoun declining in m into aviation an es of
14% of world en
ergy ill rising o typ
places, but it st fuel. These tw
D espite s of Asia, considered
consumption. steeply in part transport are
d turbines l burning ges in the
all the new win so that the tota major challen
these her
and solar cells, of coal set anot green transitio
n.
up with
cannot yet keep record in 2022
.
and.
the energy dem
By Niels Halfdan Hansen
COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
One of America’s largest

coal-fired power plants in
Somerset, New England,
is converted into an
energy terminal for
wind turbine power.
C
oal has generated cheap power fired power plant has an average lifespan high-grade timber, which is far slower to
since the 1800s. Unfortunately, of 46 years – and until a plant is worn out replace; some experts suggest a carbon
coal is also one of the dirtiest of (and has paid for itself), neither private nor cycle of 35 to 100 years, and that’s if new
fuels; it emits about twice as government owners will be willing to close forests have actually been planted.
much CO2 as natural gas for the it. But the coal is simply a fuel source to That’s a big ‘if’: nobody is growing new
same quantity of energy. Coal fills the heat water and produce steam in a large forest around their power stations; land
atmosphere with toxins such as lead and boiler, steam which then powers turbines is simply too expensive. In 2018, Dutch
sulphur, major contributors to premature and generators, generating electricity. researchers calculated that biomass is the
deaths of 6.7 million people every year due The more steps in a coal-fired power least land-efficient type of renewable
to air pollution. plant that other technologies can utilise, energy. Biomass delivers only 0.08 watts of
For both climate and health reasons, the the more of a power plant can be reused. power per square metre (W/m2), compared
technology should long since have been The simplest conversion – which has
replaced by green alternatives. Yet globally been already implemented in many coal-
around one-third of our power is still gen- fired power plants – is to change the fuel,
1.4%
erated from coal. In Australia coal’s share from coal to biomass, meaning organic
of electricity generation has declined from plant matter such as wood pellets.
83% in 1999/2000 but was still at 47% in The purported advantage is that the
2022, while in China, the world’s biggest CO2 released by the combustion of wood
user, it is still nearly 60%. The world’s total pellets is the atmosphere’s own, which the
consumption of coal hit another record trees’ photosynthesis extracted from the
high in 2022, and most of the world’s 8500+ air only a few years earlier. The carbon in
is the speed of annual
coal-fired power plants are set to continue coal, on the other hand, has been under- increase in global
burning, with planned closures (such as ground for millions of years and is being energy consumption.
Eraring, Australia’s largest coal-fired power added to the atmosphere as extra CO2.
plant, located in Lake Macquarie) being The ideal would be for new forests to
delayed in order to ‘keep the lights on’. be planted around a power station to pro-
But what if we could switch these vide a source for local pellet production, so with hydropower’s 0.14W/m2, wind ener-
end-of-life power plants away from using that the CO2 circulates in a short cycle, gy’s 1.84W/m2, and solar energy top of the
polluting coal to other technologies? slowing climate change. list with 6.63W/m2.
But that is not how current biomass Meanwhile burning pellets can actually
New sources contribute plants operate. Many biomass operations pollute on a par with natural gas, and with
The world’s total power requirement is have been criticised for dubious carbon higher particulate pollution than coal.
increasing by 1.4% annually – faster than accounting. The extensive production and This is why researchers are looking for
new wind turbines and solar cells can be transport of biomass is not necessarily as other alternatives.
brought online, which is why coal is still sustainable as the biomass itself. And they
used extensively. At the same time, a coal- often require the pellets to be made of Small reactors move in
For many coal-fired power plants, nuclear
power could provide a better conversion
option than burning biomass. These plants
are known as coal-to-nuclear, C2N.
In C2N plants, small reactors are
installed in modules, depending on the size
of the power plant. A small power plant
might require two or three modules, while
the largest power plants could have 10.
The US Department of Energy calculates
that the cost of such a conversion is a third
less that for building a new nuclear power
plant from scratch.
Unlike biomass, however, nuclear power
cannot reuse the boiler and turbines of the
coal plant, especially if the coal plant is old
NALIDSA/IMAGE SELECT
and not geared for easy fuel switching. In

addition, very different safety standards
apply when radioactive water is involved.
The first C2N project is already active in
Replace coal with biomass such as wood pellets, and CO2 emissions drop significantly. But it causes Kemmerer, Wyoming, where the Naughton
other kinds of air pollution, while pellet production requires land and may not itself be carbon-neutral. coal-fired plant has been remodelled to
Molten salt
cools reactor
The reactor is
3 surrounded by
molten sodium, which
absorbs the energy and
transmits it to turbines
and generators that
generate power. Liquid
sodium can transport
eight times more
Uranium keeps energy than water.
warm for decades
The reactor
1 contains 169 rods
of uranium-238 that are
constantly moving
around each other so
they release their energy
uniformly and only need
to be replaced after
several decades.
Modified atoms
provide the energy
Uranium-238 is struck
2
Small reactor replaces coal by neutrons and

becomes uranium-239, which
decays into neptunium-239
and then plutonium-239.
When neutrons strike
TerraPower has invented a groundbreaking small reactor plutonium-239, energy and
that can be installed as modules in old coal-fired power plants. more neutrons are released.
CLAUS LUNAU
use a small modular reactor from Terra-

Power, a US company founded by Bill Gates.
But as we are seeing currently here in
Australia, nuclear power is a very emotive
issue. Nobody wants a nuclear plant in
their backyard; there are radioactive waste
issues; and in a world now post-Chernobyl
and Fukushima, general belief in nuclear
solutions is low. Nuclear stations also take
a decade or more to come online, and
current performance is poor, as witnessed
by EDF, the French government nuclear
provider; more than 20% of its reactors are
STEVE MORGAN/IMAGE SELECT
currently shut down for various reasons.
Salt stores sunlight

But there are other ways that old coal-fired
power plants can undergo green transition.
Nanticoke in Canada was once North In the Gemasolar plant, mirrors reflect light towards a 140-m-high tower full of sodium salt.
America’s largest coal-fired power plant, The heat melts the salt, which can then heat water into steam in a power plant.
but it has now been converted into a solar
farm. And in the US, New England’s largest
coal-fired plant in Somerset will get wind formers and the high-voltage lines taking be used to melt sodium salt, which can
turbines and become the landfall point for the power away can be reused. transport eight times more energy than
cables from offshore wind turbines. But other renewables can reuse more water, without being pressurised. The salt
However, the projects in Nanticoke and parts of an old coal power plant. One idea acts as a battery that can release its energy
Somerset made almost all the old power is for excess power from wind turbines, as required, its heat turning water to steam,
station plant redundant. Only their trans- solar cells and other renewable sources to which can be fed into the turbines of the
Green energies revive

different amounts
of a power station Biomass recycles
the whole plant
1
In the first stage of a coal-
fired power plant, coal is
When a coal-fired power plant is modified for pulverised and burned to heat
water into steam. If the fuel
other fuels, the percentage of the original
changes from coal to biomass
structure that can be reused varies greatly. such as wood pellets, the entire
Biomass could recycle the most, while coal-fired power plant can
essentially be reused.
solar and wind power recycle the least.
power plant. A form of salt storage is critical water reaches the surface, it can be
already being used in several places via a used directly to power old coal-fired plant
technology known as concentrated solar systems and reuse turbines.
power, CSP, where a large number of mir-
rors direct sunlight towards a central point.
One of these is Gemasolar in Spain, which
consists of 2650 large mirrors around a
140-metre-high tower. The mirrors have
500°C Quaise’s next step is to test two drilling
systems currently under construction. If
successful, they might pave the way to an
almost inexhaustible green energy source
that neither makes a mess nor requires
is how hot water can get at
motors to follow the Sun and reflect its light vast plantations, and one that could fuel
towards a tower which holds 29,000 tonnes depths of 20km. Researchers power plants into a greener future.
of sodium salt. The heat melts the salt and hope to use its energy in old
generates power, while excess molten salt coal-fired power plants.
is stored in tanks. So power generation at
Gemasolar can continue for up to 15 hours,
even if it is dark or cloudy.
CSP technology is only viable in very
sunny countries – and much of Australia basic idea is sound: models show that at
qualifies. In 2023 the Australian Renewable a depth of 20km, temperatures between
Energy Agency (ARENA) announced $65m 400°C and 500°C prevail all over the globe.
funding to construct a 30MW / 288MWh One US company, Quaise, is developing
CSP plant in Port Augusta, as a technology a new drilling technique in which micro-
demonstrator for larger future builds. waves melt through the ground many
times faster than a traditional drill bit.
The future is in the deep This may make it possible to reach the
Geothermal energy can operate regardless depths in Earth’s crust where there is
of weather, and this is another technology ‘supercritical’ water, in a state between gas
investigated in Australia, though with a and liquid that can contain 10 times more
chequered history in implementation. The energy than ordinary water. When super-
Geothermal energy Nuclear power Sunlight and wind only

powers the turbines speeds up generators reuse infrastructure
In the second stage of a In the third stage, the rotation of In the fourth stage of a
2 coal-fired power plant, the
3 the turbines powers a generator
4 coal-fired power plant,
energy of the steam powers a turbine that generates power. If the coal is transformers transform the power
that converts the heat into rotation. replaced by a nuclear reactor, to the right frequency and voltage.
With geothermal everything from this everything from the generator Solar cells and wind turbines can
stage onwards can be reused if the onwards can be recycled. Nuclear reuse this part of the power plant’s
energy comes from 400-500°C water power requires new turbines, as the infrastructure, but the rest would
coming from deep underground. water will become radioactive. require demolition or redesign.
UNIVERSE RUBIN TELESCOPE
The Vera C. Rubin

Telescope will take
pictures with the world's
biggest digital camera.
The sensor at the centre
has 3200 megapixels.
By Jens E. Matthiesen
VERA C. RUBIN
WILL WATCH
THE ENTIRE
UNIVERSE
Astronomer Vera C. Rubin
died in 2016, but the telescope
named in her honour should
THE TELESCOPE’S become operational in 2025.
The telescope’s camera will take
CAMERA IS
thousands of photos every night,
THE SIZE delivering data that could solve
OF A CAR. the greatest mysteries of the
Solar System and the universe.
TODD MASON/MASON PRODUCTIONS INC./LSST CORPORATION/WIKIMEDIA/SHUTTERSTOCK
TODD MASON/MASON PRODUCTIONS INC./LSST CORPORATION/WIKIMEDIA/SHUTTERSTOCK
A
s the luminous band of the The organisation behind the telescope theory that some 85% of the matter in the
Milky Way stretches across is the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope universe is invisible – dark matter.
a clear starry sky above the Corporation, funded by both private Just as Vera C. Rubin stood out in the
Chilean Andes, a huge tele- funds and the US government. male-dominated world of astronomers,
scope perched high on a The idea was conceived in 1996, and the telescope bearing her name is also
mountain peak rotates slightly to take the construction began in 2015, but it was not very special. The 8.4-metre-wide primary
next of the night’s 1000 images. until 2019 that the telescope got its name, mirror places the Rubin Telescope among
At first glance, the new image looks when the organisation decided to name it the world’s 10 largest. And even in that
identical to a picture the telescope took after American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, exclusive club, it is one of a kind.
three nights earlier – the same section of who passed away in 2016. Rubin was a Unlike other telescopes, the Rubin
the sky, the same stars, nebulae and gal- telescope will not focus only on selected
axies in the same positions. But one of objects. Instead it constantly changes its
the thousands of stars in the sky section outlook, and scans one third of the entire
shines a little more brightly in the new sky – every single night.
image. It is probably a developing super-
nova. In another image, a small dot has
moved ever so slightly – perhaps an
unknown asteroid heading towards Earth.
Such discoveries will become routine
once the Vera C. Rubin Telescope starts to
1500
screens are required to
The design had to be both compact
and rigid, to protect against vibrations.
The telescope needs to focus on a new
section of sky within seconds, and to be
fully stabilised before taking a picture.
This is crucial for the telescope to scan
monitor the night sky in 2025, spotting and display just one of the one third of the sky by taking more than
tracking even the smallest of such changes. Rubin Telescope’s images 1000 images per night
It will help us to discover many things, and in full detail. So the telescope's optics are a special
perhaps to understand the biggest drama in design in which the light first hits the
the universe: the duel between dark matter primary mirror and is reflected up to a
and dark energy. secondary mirror, which sends it down to
prominent pioneer in the exploration of a third mirror which is integrated in the
A perfect view of the Milky Way galaxy rotation. In the late 1960s, she primary mirror. The third mirror subse-
From its vantage point in Chile, the Rubin discovered that the outermost stars in quently sends the concentrated light up
Telescope has a perfect view of the Milky galaxies rotate far faster than they towards the digital camera.
Way band in the sky, and its location on should. This could only happen if they are
the 2700-metre-high Cerro Pachón moun- affected by the gravitational pull of some- Three-tonne camera
tain provides dry and clear air to ensure a thing we cannot see. This discovery was That camera is equally unusual. It weighs
minimum of atmospheric interference. important evidence supporting the almost 3 tonnes, and is the size of a small
car. The light passes through three lenses
and a filter that determines in which part
FARRIN ABBOTT/SLAC NATIONAL ACCELERATOR LABORATORY
of the light spectrum the image is to be

recorded. The first of these lenses is the
largest ever made, diameter 1.55 metres.
Once the light has passed through the
lenses and filter, it encounters the camera
sensor. This has 3200 megapixels – more
than 70 times the resolution of Canon’s
highest-res D-SLR digital camera. So Rubin
has the world's largest and most sensitive
digital camera, recording pictures of such
high resolution that it would require 1500
HDTV screens to show just one image in
its native resolution.
Every night, the camera will generate
20 terabytes of data (the equivalent of three
years of uninterrupted Netflix streaming).
The data is sent via newly-laid fibre-optic
cables down the mountain and on to a data
centre at the National Accelerator Labora-
tory in California.
The camera directs light from the sky through three lenses. The front lens is the largest in the world There the images are analysed and
with a diameter of 1.55 metres. It is installed within in a supporting black carbon-fibre shell. compared to previous pictures of the
RUBINOBS/NSF/AURA/BRUNO C. QUINT/ DARK ENERGY SURVEY/DOE/FNAL/DECA/LOTTE FREDSLUND
3000 images will
capture the sky
Every night, the Rubin Telescope
will scan the sky, taking extremely
high-resolution images. Over the
course of three nights, the camera
will have photographed the entire
Southern Hemisphere sky – only
to begin again the next night.
Camera sensor
Camera
Second
mirror
The Moon
Third
mirror
Primary mirror
Three mirrors capture Each image takes up Computers spot

the light in the sky 40 full moons tiny changes
The telescope’s primary The telescope’s digital Each image is analysed by
1 mirror (bottom) captures
2 camera must take about
3 computers and compared
the light and sends it up towards 1000 images per night, so the with all previous images of the
the second mirror. From there it telescope will be pointed at a same section of sky. Even the
is reflected down towards a third new section of the sky in a matter smallest of changes will be
mirror, which is integrated in the of seconds. The size of each detected. The number of
primary mirror, before it is sent section corresponds to about recordings on a single night’s
back up towards the camera. 40 full moons in the sky. images might be 10 million.
ASTURFEITO
The telescope
is a champion
at all distances
The Vera C Rubin Telescope's
images will reveal objects
at all distances – from small
asteroids and comets in the
Solar System to faint galaxies
deep into the universe. In just
10 years, scientists expect to
find 37+ billion objects.
same section of the sky. It takes the inform every field of astronomy from the that might be on a collision course with
computers about one minute to analyse inner Solar System to the most distant of Earth. One day the telescope might warn
an image, but in that short time they can galaxies. The images could reveal aster- us in time to avoid a devastating impact
spot thousands of differences that could oids travelling into our neighbourhood like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs
66 million years ago.
On the far outskirts of the Solar Sys-
KPNO/NOIRLAB/NSF/AURA/WIKIMEDIA
tem, the telescope will show us comets

we have never seen before. And perhaps
the images could provide proof that an
unknown planet – Planet 9 – is orbiting on
the edge of the Solar System, as some
astronomers suspect (see also p34).
Images will show the

history of the galaxy
In the long term, the Rubin Telescope will
also help astronomers to learn more
about the history of the Milky Way. Ten
years of monitoring the sky will reveal
which stars were born in our galaxy and
which are from galaxies that the Milky
Way has captured.
Stars from a small galaxy that has
been swallowed lose their original rota-
tions and end up in a globular cluster that
is pulled around the larger galaxy. So far,
As a woman in a male-dominated field, Vera C. Rubin (1928-2016) had to fight hard to astronomers know of 24 globular clusters
be recognised – until she proved that the universe contains mysterious dark matter. around the Milky Way, but the Rubin Tel-
ALEX KONON /VADIM SADOVSKI/SHUTTERSTOCK
NASA/JPL-CALTECH/R. HURT (SSC/CALTECH)/ CHAINFOTO24 /SHUTTERSTOCK
DARK ENERGY SURVEY/DOE/FNAL/DECA/ MURATART/SHUTTERSTOCK

Planet 9 Globular cluster
Supernova
Solar System: motions The Milky Way: stars show The universe: supernovas
reveal unknown objects the history of the galaxy map out dark matter
Objects that change position The telescope could reveal Astronomers expect the
1 relative to the stars could be
2 approximately 17 billion
3 telescope to find 20 billion
asteroids, comets, or perhaps unknown stars in the Milky Way. distant galaxies. The light from
even an unknown ninth planet. Some of them exist in globular supernovas in galaxies can reveal
Scientists expect to find around clusters, which move differently how far away they are, and their
six million such unknown objects than other stars because they precise locations could provide new
in our own Solar System alone. originate from smaller galaxies that insights into how dark matter in the
the Milky Way has swallowed. universe is distributed – if it exists.
escope may find many more. Astronomers Supernovas: universal rulers

will learn more about how our galaxy – The exploding stars are supernovas, and
20
and large spiral galaxies in general – have they emit a known level of brightness.
evolved over billions of years. And since astronomers know how light
intensity decreases with distance, they can
A universe of candy-floss easily calculate exactly how far away is the
The Rubin Telescope’s view does not stop supernova, and therefore the galaxy.
here. The decade of monitoring is hoped terabytes of data will be In just a few months, Rubin may find
to locate up to 20 billion galaxies scattered collected by the camera more Type Ia supernovas than astrono-
across the Southern Hemisphere's night every single night, the mers have observed in all of history. So the
sky. By drawing precise 3D maps of them, equivalent of three years of telescope could provide new detailed
astronomers might then determine the knowledge about how dark matter and
constant Netflix streaming.
distribution of dark matter. dark energy have shaped the universe. A
According to the prevailing theory, map of dark matter distribution may also
gravity from dark matter was essential for help scientists understand what proper-
visible matter to collect and form galaxies universe. In regions with high densities of ties it possesses, what it is made of.
in the early universe. Since then, gravity visible and dark matter, gravitational But there are counter-arguments to the
has acted as glue that has held both dark forces can still hold out against dark energy, existence of dark matter. Despite decades
and visible matter together, as the universe while other regions become increasingly of searching, we have never found any.
has continued to expand. empty. As a result, the universe has a The laws of physics may be different on
Astronomers have also discovered that structure like candy-floss on a grand scale, galactic scales, removing the need for dark
the expansion does not slow down over with galaxies and clusters of galaxies matter. Or we may not fully understand
time, but rather accelerates. This means clinging to the sticky strands of dark mat- what gravity is, and whether is it constant.
that there must be a force that works in ter stretched out by ever-expanding voids. Vera C. Rubin could provide evidence
the opposite direction of gravity, and To map the distribution of dark matter, for those theories, or prove the existence
which is getting stronger as time passes. astronomers need to determine the exact of dark matter. Either way, the telescope
The unknown force has been named distance to each galaxy. And special type of will be remembered forever – as will the
dark energy, and it continues to inflate the exploding star will help with that. visionary pioneer who gave it her name.
GEOLOGY C O N T I N E N TA L D R I F T
THE F
ORG
STORY OTTEN
O F. . .
Contine
ntal drif
Discover
rivalries
the forgo
tten dram
t
and ‘aha’ a,
preceded exp eriences
the most that
invention exceptio
s and scie nal
breakthr ntific
oughs.
THE CONTINENTS FIT
By Else Christensen
Rearranging
a planet
How meteorologist
Alfred Wegener became
the ultimate drifter
When he proposed his theory in 1912, Alfred Wegener was
characterised as “a raving lunatic”. Almost 60 years would pass
before evidence forced scientists to reconsider the German
meteorologist’s claims that Earth’s continents are moving apart.
D
uring the Christmas holidays of 1910, the continents collided together and then subsequently
30-year-old Alfred Wegener was like a were pulled away from each other again to become
small boy fascinated by his first atlas of independent continents as we know them today.
the world. As he leafed through the 161 Wegener was convinced. But his theory of drifting
colourful pages of the Andrees Allgemeiner continents did not get the reception he had expected.
Handatlas, he realised that some of the continents of Instead of scientific approval, Wegener and his theory
the world seemed to fit together, as if they were pieces were met with scathing or downright vicious criticism.
of a giant jigsaw puzzle. The more he looked, the more No force could be strong enough to drag continents
matches he found. He was transfixed. How had this around, geologists and physicists noted with disdain.
not been noticed before?
“Look at the world map,” he wrote excitedly to his Theory developed in just one year The maps in
fiancée, Else Köppen, shortly after New Year. “Does the The 30-year-old Wegener may not have been the obvious ‘Andrees
east coast of South America not seem to fit into the candidate for the task of turning everything science knew Allgemeiner
Handatlas’
west coast of Africa, as if they were once connected? I about Earth’s evolution upside down, but there was convinced
must pursue the idea.” nothing wrong with his qualifications. He had a degree Wegener that
He did so. Wegener began collecting information in meteorology and a doctorate in astronomy. And he the continents
beyond the pages of his atlas, and what he found had practical experience from the field. were once
connected.
seemed to support his hypothesis. A theory soon took In 1906-1908, Wegener took part in the Denmark BILDARCHIV FOTO MARBURG,
ANDREES ALLGEMEINER
shape. At some point in the geological past, Earth’s Expedition, a scientific mission to North-East HANDATLAS
Greenland, where he studied the upper layers of while the general scientific community reacted with
Earth’s atmosphere using balloons and kites. On his indifference, even when Wegener’s book ‘Die Entste-
return, Wegener secured a teaching position at the hung der Kontinente und Ozeane’ (The Origin of
University of Marburg. It was while working there Continents and Oceans) was published in 1915.
that he made his discovery about the matching The reason for the indifference was that the
shapes of continents during the Christmas of 1910. geologists of the day were confident that they already
But the young teacher had no experience in the knew everything there was to know about Earth's
disciplines that directly concerned Earth’s evolution: evolution. The commonly accepted view was that
geology and geophysics. So Wegener had to start Earth had not undergone any major changes since
from scratch when in early 1911 he began collecting its formation, although admittedly landscapes had
data that could prove or disprove his theory. somehow been compressed into mountain ranges or
Within a few months, he ploughed through all the pulled into the sea by geological forces.
geological literature he could get his hands on. And But the continents were where they had always
he soon found information that seemed to confirm been. This was an established scientific fact.
his theory of continental drift. The fact that animals and plants had apparently
He read about the discovery in Brazil of mesosaur spread from one continent to another was explained
fossils – small slender reptiles that existed during the by their belief that land bridges once provided perma-
Permo-Carboniferous glaciation some 300 million nent links between continents. But as Earth’s core had
years ago. And crucially, these cooled, the globe shrank, and the land bridges sank
fossils were identical to into the ocean. Such was the accepted wisdom. The
mesosaur fossils that had far-fetched theories from a young and inexperienced
been found in SW Africa. meteorologist were nothing short of ridiculous.
The discovery of identical
“I do not think the old sediments – clay, gravel, and Erroneous explanations caused outrage
ideas will survive for rock – deposited in the ice in The World War from 1914-18 then stalled scientific
Australia, Southern Africa, discussions, especially across national borders. But
another 10 years.” and South America during once the war ended, Wegener presented his ideas in
ALFRED WEGENER, 1911 the Late Carboniferous period lectures and articles with renewed vigour. And this
further strengthened the time he received a lot of attention. But unfortunately,
theory that the continents not the kind he had hoped for. Scientists from both
were once connected. As did Wegener's subsequent Germany and Austria attacked Wegener. In 1918, the
discovery that Glossopteris – fossils of fern-like plants Austrian palaeoclimatologist Fritz Kerner-Marilaun
from the Permo-Carboniferous glaciation – also referred to the theories as the “feverish ravings of
existed in both South America and Africa. people with bad cases of continental drift disease
So he now had a time scale: some 200-300 million and polar plague”.
years ago, the continents were joined in one huge The criticisms were reinforced by Wegener's
landmass, which later disintegrated and turned into lack of explanations for the mechanisms behind his
the independent continents of the modern day.He continental drift. What force would be able to tear
later named the original unified continent as entire continents apart and reassemble them again?
‘Pangaea’, which is Greek for ‘All the Earth’. Wegener himself had doubts concerning this. In
After a year of preliminary studies, Wegener was his book – a work of only around 100 pages – Wegener
ready to present his conclusions. admitted that he had not yet uncovered the forces.
“Why should this idea be held back for 10 or He could only theorise two possible causes. It might
maybe 30 years? I do not think the old ideas will sur- be either the Earth’s centrifugal force that sent the
vive for another 10 years,” he wrote to his father- continents moving towards the Equator, or it might
in-law Vladimir Köppen on 31 December 1911. be the attraction of the Sun and Moon’s masses that
influenced the motions of the continents.
Land bridges refute the drift theory These explanations were easily refuted by
Only a few days later, on 6 January 1912, Wegener geologists and geophysicists, who were more than
unfolded his theory enthusiastically in a lecture to happy to explain that Wegener’s forces were simply
the Geological Society of Germany. not strong enough. They were not polite in doing so.
The presentation was titled ‘Die Herausbildung der “The evidence of continental drift has been
Grossformen der Erdrinde (Kontinente und Ozeane) auf obtained by inadequate means and fails completely,”
geophysikalischer Grundlage’ – the geophysical forma- wrote geologist and palaeontologist Max Semper,
tion of the earth’s crust (continents and oceans). who then descended to a sarcasm that testifies to his
Shortly afterwards, he gave a similar talk at the Soci- contempt for Wegener’s writings.
ety for the Advancement of Natural Sciences. Both “... So one can only ask for the necessary distance
lectures received polite applause, but little more, to be maintained and the request to stop honouring
EARTH STOOD geology in the future, but to visit specialist areas that
have so far forgotten to write above their gate: “Oh
STILL FOR TWO holy Saint Florian, spare this house, set others on fire!”
GENERATIONS
Symposium rejected Wegener
ANDREES ALLGEMEINER HANDATLAS

Seven years later Wegener’s 1915 book was translated
A study of
into a number of languages, including English. It ‘Andrees
didn’t help; instead the criticism simply spread fur- Handatlas’
ther afield. At a conference of geologists at the Royal convinced
Geographical Society in London in 1923, one partici- Wegener that
the continents
pant remarked that the theory of land bridges was so were once
generally accepted that “no one who values his own one single
scientific probity” could be in favour of the idea of landmass.
drifting continents. Almost 60
years passed
Geologist Philip Lake went one step further.
before his
“He [Wegener] is not seeking the truth,” he theory was
1910
announced. “He is advocating a cause, and is blind to recognised.
German meteorologist Alfred Wegener studies an
atlas and realises that the outlines of the continents every fact and argument that tells against it.”
fit each other like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The idea was spreading, but rejection continued.
He suspects that the continents may once have
made up one large unified landmass. In 1926, Wegener’s theory was the subject of a major
symposium in New York, in which 13 of the world’s
most prominent scientists took an active part.
1915 Accounts vary as to whether Wegener attended or
Wegener unfolds his theory of continental drift not; several accounts have him sitting quietly, smoking
in a book, which is met with near-silence by his pipe, while further humiliation was heaped upon
other scientists. World War I is raging,
and many consider Wegener’s hypothesis
him as most of the assembled geologists rejected the
to be completely far-fetched. theory of continental drift outright. Geologist Rollin T.
Chamberlain perhaps unconsciously identified one of
the factors – apart from professional pride – that influ-
1926 enced the attitude of established scientists the most.
High-ranking scientists meet at a conference in “If we are to believe Wegener's theory, we must
New York to discuss Wegener’s hypothesis.
forget everything we have learned in the past 70 years
Wegener’s research is almost unanimously
condemned as scientific nonsense, and his and start all over again,” he said. And so it would be.
theory is labelled worthless.
New technology changed everything
With the condemnation in New York, Wegener must
1962 have felt entirely defeated. All indications were that he
New technology makes it possible to explore the
subsequently chose to bury his continental drift
ocean floor. Studies of ocean ridges – mountain
ranges on the ocean floor – put researchers on the theory forever in a desk drawer. But he had accepted
track of seafloor spreading, a process that plays a a professorship of meteorology and geophysics at the
crucial role in continental drift.
University of Graz in Austria in 1924, so he continued
working, and turned instead to his other passion:
Greenland. In 1930 – four years after humiliation in
1968
New York – he obtained government backing to set
After studying earthquakes in the South Pacific,
three American scientists, Jack Oliver, Bryan up continuous weather-monitoring equipment at
Isacks, and Lynn R. Sykes, summarise their three stations on the Greenland glaciers, as part of
observations in a paper which conclusively proves
Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift. an expedition to study the strong high-altitude
winds that would later become known as jet streams.
Drift ice delayed the expedition, and the Arctic
weather proved brutal. But he was soon up on his Wegener (left)
beloved ice glaciers, together with sled-dog handler died during an
expedition in
Rasmus Villumsen, carrying supplies to his colleagues Greenland in
at the inland stations. 1930, when
It was an unusually severe winter, with heavy he and sled
snowfall and temperatures as low as -52°C. The team dog handler
Rasmus
was forced to spend the winter on the ice sheet –
Villumsen
Wegener celebrated his 50th birthday at one of the
AL
(right) set out

FRE
D-W
remote weather stations. It was to be his last. in a blizzard.

EGEN
ER-INS
TITUT
Wegener and his companion Villumsen died on cable was laid. In the post-war era, scientists were
their return trip west to the coast, hiking out into the finally able to sample and date the ocean floor.
icy landscape in November 1930 to search for a station The results stunned the world of science. It turned
with supplies of food and medicine. out that none of the sediments were more than 200
Wegener’s body was found on 12 May 1931. million years old.
Villumsen, who was carrying This made them far younger than formations on
Wegener’s diaries, has never dry land; an observation that was incompatible with
been located. the claim that Earth had remained largely unchanged
Over the following decades, since its formation. More studies and measurements
Wegener’s theory was some- of the thickness of the ocean floor determined that it
If we are to believe times raised, but only to be was and is constantly changing.
Wegener’s theory, dismissed again. The theory put Wegener’s ideas back on the agenda.
“The known past and pres- And this time, scientists were more supportive.
we must forget ent distribution of terrestrial Harry H. Hess had conducted ocean surveys for the
everything we have animals cannot be explained US military during World War II, and was now on the
learned in the past by the continental drift hypoth- staff of the prestigious Princeton University. Based on
esis... The distribution of his experience and new studies, Hess declared in 1960
70 years and start mammals clearly supports the that “the ocean floor spreads like a conveyor belt,
all over again.” hypothesis that the continents carrying the continents along”.
were generally stable through-
GEOLOGIST ROLLIN T. CHAMBERLAIN, 1926
out the time that mammals Heat from the rift helps Wegener’s theory
have existed,” wrote the US The theory was complementary to Wegener’s earlier
palaeontologist George Gaylord Simpson in 1943. hypothesis of continental drift. But like Wegener, Hess
But with technological advances following World fell short when it came to explaining the mechanism
War II, Wegener’s old theory received more positive behind this ‘conveyor belt’ activity.
attention. In 1947, American geophysicist and ocean- The answer came later in the 1960s, when the US
ographer Maurice Ewing explored the Mid-Atlantic cartographer Marie Tharp created a profile map of
Ridge, a long rift zone of seamounts, volcanoes and
faulted plateaux on the ocean floor stretching from
Iceland to the southern tip of South America.
This geological phenomenon was discovered in
the 1800s, when the transcontinental telegraph
YEARS AGO
One super- 225 MILLION
EUROPE
ASIA
continent NORTH AMERICA
turned into SOUTH AMERICA

AFRICA
ON
TS
K
DI
many
E NE
O VB
SK
KEL
MIK
Earth has one

Alfred Wegener was ridiculed continent
when he theorised that the globe All of Earth’s land
once consisted of a single continent
1 masses are united
in one continent, which
that split into smaller pieces. But Wegener names ‘Pangaea’,
today we know that he was right. Greek for ‘all the Earth’.
the ocean floor, based on sonar data. The map revealed The acceptance of Wegener’s theory also brought
a 600-metre-deep and 300-metre-wide rift running about a new scientific approach to Earth’s evolution.
along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – and furthermore, data Ever since, the research has undergone rapid develop-
showed that this rift radiated intense heat. ment. Scientists now know that before Pangaea there
Based on the observations, researchers concluded was another supercontinent, which is referred to as
that the rift ran through Earth’s crust and that new hot Rodinia. It emerged around 1 billion years ago, but later
material from Earth’s interior – magma – must be split into eight continents.
gushing out constantly. The continents reunited 300 million years later to
That magma pushing through the cracks would form Pangaea – which then again split into independ-
cause the continental plates to move away from each ent continents, completely in line with Wegener’s
other, with the result that the continents move to theory. Today, 100 years after his rejection in a hail of
either side along with the underlying plates of Earth's sarcastic false accusation, he enjoys a deserved
lithosphere – the uppermost 100km of the solid Earth. reputation as one of the pioneers of geological
theory. And in those 100 years, the conti-
Final acceptance nents have continued moving. Since
The final breakthrough for the continental drift theory he studied that atlas in 1910, the
came from three American scientists in a joint study Atlantic Ocean has become
in 1968. The researchers studied earthquakes in the almost four metres
Pacific Ocean, and their observations of the occurrence wider.
of tremors fit with the theory that Earth’s crust has
split into different plates that slowly move about.
When plates pull away and slide past each other,
they cause eruptions and earthquakes that make
mountains form, the researchers concluded.
The logical reasoning convinced the world of
science. Wegener’s theory was restored to
favour some 60 years after he proposed
it, though 40 years too late for him to
know his ideas had been proven.
ILLION YEARS AGO NOW

50 M
EUROPE EUROPE
NORTH AMERICA ASIA ASIA
NORTH AMERICA
AFRICA
AFRICA
SOUTH AMERICA
SOUTH AMERICA
Continents Continental drift

float about continues
The huge continent The large pieces
2 has split into smaller
3 have become
pieces that float on the independent continents.
heavier crust just as They continue to move at
icebergs float on the ocean. a rate of a few cm a year.
GEOLOGY THE EARTH
5 THINGS
YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT
EARTH’S INTERIOR
55,400km beneath our feet lies Earth's inner core – a red-hot and very
hard ‘heart’ made of iron and nickel, which is spinning slightly faster than the
rest of the planet. And scientists have discovered that the heart is growing.
CLAUS LUNAU Earth’s core is

rotating faster
than Earth
In 1851 a French
1 physicist named
Foucault used a
pendulum to show that
Earth is rotating. However,
it was only in 1997 that
scientists realised Earth’s
core is rotating faster than
the rest of the planet.
The discovery was made
by seismologists from two
US universities. According
to the researchers’
calculations, the core spins
0.25-0.5 degree further
than the rest of Earth’s
layers annually. This means
that over the course of
about 1000 years, Earth’s
INNER CORE OUTER CORE core spins an extra
revolution compared to
the rest of the planet.
Scientists have yet to
determine the cause of the
phenomenon. Some believe
the difference is due to the
INNER MANTLE OUTER MANTLE influence of powerful
magnetic fields produced
by the outer, liquid part of
Earth’s core. The fields cause
a torque that makes the core
spin faster, similar to how
alternating magnetic fields
power an electric motor.
CRUST
At the centre of our

planet is an inner core
of hot, compressed
iron and nickel.
By Else Christensen
1. NASA 2. EVEN NEUHAUS 3. LUC RIOLON 4. ANDRE BELOZEROFF 5. PAVEL CHAGOCHKIN/SHUTTERSTOCK

Danish researcher Earth’s crust Drilling race Cooling
solved the mystery is teeming produced a makes the
of Earth’s core with life new record core grow
Geologists once Life does not exists In 1970, Soviet As Earth gets older,
2 agreed that
Earth’s inner
3 only on Earth’s
surface and in the
4 engineers started
drilling on the
5 its inner solid core
grows by around
core is liquid, but in 1936 oceans. Living organisms Kola Peninsula in Northern 1mm per year, because
Danish geophysicist Inge can also be found deep Russia. The drilling, which Earth is constantly giving off
Lehmann published an below the ground. was only visible on the a little heat to space. The
article arguing otherwise. American researchers surface in the shape of a heat emission makes the
While observing ‘P waves’ – have discovered living derrick, reached 12,262 liquid outer core produce
seismic waves that travel organisms at a depth of metres into the ground. iron crystals that settle on
through Earth during 4.8km. The majority of Russia beat its US rivals’ the solid core. The growth is
earthquakes – Lehmann microorganisms are either record of 5500 metres. greatest in regions where
discovered that the waves bacteria or archaea, the The drillers used a one tectonic plate slides
are bent when they latter being a group of microwave generator that under another one.
encounter solid material. microorganisms that, unlike made the rock in front of Plate tectonics take place
She assumed that the bacteria etc., do not have a the drill evaporate at a in Earth’s mantle thousands
material was a solid core. cell membrane. At such temperature of 3000°C. But of kilometres above the
“I hope that what is depths, there are also in 1989, repeated accidents core, but the sunken plates
proposed here will be eukaryotes – microbes or made engineers give up attract heat from the core,
considered by other multicellular organisms trying to go deeper. cooling the surrounding
scientists and that useful with cells that contain a Pressure and temperatures areas – a process that
material may be found for membrane or organelles. made it impossible, and in causes more crystal
the study of P curves,” Researchers have also found 1992 the project was formation. The ongoing
Lehmann modestly wrote. roundworms (small worms definitively abandoned. cooling theoretically means
24 years later, during an without joints) in crevices The Quaise company now that all of Earth’s core will
earthquake in Chile, her of rock formations deep plans to drill to a depth of one day be solid, but the
hypothesis was finally below Earth's surface. 20km to utilise geothermal process is very slow.
confirmed, and today we The organisms are small, energy for power (see p66). Scientists have calculated
know that the core consists but numerous. Their total This project will use a that the core will become
of two layers: the outer mass of carbon, the basic microwave generator. 20km completely solid by about
layer is about 2200km thick building block of all living would be a new record, but 91 billion years’ time,
and liquid, while the inner organisms, is 15-23 billion if Earth’s radius is compared which is approximately 86
core is solid. The solid part is tonnes – some 300 times to a large novel, 20km billion years after the Sun
made of iron and nickel and more than the carbon mass would be the equivalent of will have burned out.
has a radius of some 120km. of all human beings. only about one page.
ANSWERS FROM p82: no peeking!

then 16% (men) + 12% (women) go to the 7: A. See page 56. 8: A. See page 56. you might quickly realise that 93 + 103 will
rock, plus another 20% from the women; 5: C. See page 30. 6: B. See page 14. 2: Just 2. If you knew that 93 = 729, then
40% of the total is male, then 32% likes good minutes on the bus, travelling 20km.
3: 50. Keep track of the percentages. If third row is 3, 6, and 12 to the fifth power. 240 minutes total they spend 40
famously remarked to GH Hardy. 2, 4, and 8 to the fourth power, and the 5 times as much for walking, so with
is possible, as Srinivasa Ramanujan cubes of 1, 2, and 4. The second row is for 1 period of bus time they need
for which two options of two cubes 4: X = 16, Y = 7776. The top row are the available for travel. We know that
group of volunteers must number 50. Indeed this is the smallest number they have four hours, or 240 minutes
Zep fan centre. If 28% = 14 people, then the equal 1729. But so will 13 + 123. 1: 20km. Taking breaks into account,
Solve problems
designed for
different types of
TEST YOURSELF ANSWERS
ON PAGE 81 Editors: Christian
intelligence, and Erin-Madsen
find out in which & Erik Wied
you excel!
NUMERACY
A group of tourists has booked a sightseeing tour
1 by bus, leaving at 9AM. But they also want some
exercise, so they will walk back. They would like an
hour for lunch, and an additional half-hour break during
the walk home. If their bus averages 30km/h, and they
walk at 6km/h, how far can they go if they want to get
back in time for a 2.30PM afternoon nap?
LOGIC 1
All positive integers can also be described as
2 the sum of cubes. So 2 can be described
as 13 + 13, and 99 can be described as the sum
of 23 + 33 + 43 (8 + 27 + 64). What is the lowest
possible number of cubes needed to reach 1729?
LOGIC 2
Lene is working on set theory with a group of
3 volunteers. She asks all the men – two-fifths
SHUTTERSTOCK/COPILOT-DALLE3
of the group – to stand in a corner. Then she
invites everyone who likes good rock music to
stand in another corner. Four-fifths of the men go
MEMORY
there, as do a third of the women. Finally, Lene
asks everyone who
likes Led Zeppelin
to go to the centre
of the room. Only
people from the
group who like
good rock go – half
of the men and
three-fifths of the
women. There are
c i e n ce
now 14 people in S uiz
the centre. How
many volunteers FROM THIS ISSUE
Q
does Lene have?
5 Giant penguins are thought to

have foraged in the deep ocean. 6 A new study warns NASA
off landing at the Moon’s
NUMERACY 2 How much may they have weighed?

A) Up to 20kg
south pole. For what reason?
A) Excessive solar radiation
B) Up to 50kg B) Possible ‘moonquakes’
What are
4 the values
of X and Y?
1 8 64
C) Up to 100kg
D) Up to 600kg
C) Another country owns it
D) There is no chance of water
X 256 4096 7 Your blood type is determined

by special proteins on the
surface of which blood component?
8 The Vera C. Rubin telescope uses
the largest optical lens ever made.
Approximately how wide is it?
A) Red blood cells A) 1.55 metres
SHUTTERSTOCK
B) White blood cells B) 15.5 metres

243 Y 248,832 C) Platelets C) 55 metres
D) Plasma D) 155 metres
DON’T MISS ISSUE #109
NEXT ISSUE ON SALE 15 AUGUST 2024
Jellyfish are heartless,

but they can live forever.
They have no face, but can
still see. And according
to new research, the
primitive creatures have
impressive mental
abilities, even though
they have no brain.

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They lost the ability to fly,

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Under license from Bonnier

62 Studying an atlas in 1910, young Alfred

least partly converted NOW! p2 THE SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED CREDO

Photo // Emmanuel Rondeau

Photo // Lacey Wright

23 eyes explore Stereo camera Laser beam makes

Weather station tests

Ground-penetrating Oxygen to be extracted Robotic arm brings the

ex-lake on Mars active when making

Robot uses human muscle tissue to walk 3

Moonquake alert! Should NASA

Why is the Moon shrinking?

During cooling, the outer crusts hardens, while

a bit like a grape shrinking into a wrinkled raisin.

As the surface contracts, it is divided into

New test can detect the

New star’s birth disc

The eye has

Why does a circle Greek astronomer

have 360 degrees?

The exact location of the

Degrees went from East to West

The radian is natural maths

Negative atmospheric pressure anomalies over SE Australia

Where is the centre

UNIVERSE If you imagine outside, it is clear that the

Does a red rag really If we refuse to fart, the increasing

make bulls go crazy?

THE ORIGIN OF THE MYTH

SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND

through the Earth?

the surface. In an air-void tunnel you fall at

&     '(

       

Penguins took advantage

The ocean became a penguin buffet

20-40 million 20-40 million AUSTRALIA

The bird spread Penguins went Modern species

South America. South America. to snatch their eggs.

says palaeontologist Dan Ksepka from the through the water.

Expert diver on the hunt Small penguin Penguins in the

out the ability to fly, penguins became

before any long-distance travel. The team

showed it to have been reddish-brown on

The brain adapted to marine life

a 22 million-year-old penguin have shown

Scientists believe that a hidden

The planets we have lost

Supercomputer points The scientists

Supercomputer simulates Computer calculates New planet is

But according to Lykawka, the odds

Fast telescope takes pictures

RUBIN OBS/NSF/AURA/B. STALDER

TMT INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATORY

& '(