science illustrated australia - issue 24 2013

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ISSUE #24ScIEncEIllUStratEd.com.aU

QUANTUM SPYCRAFTCreating a truly uncrackable code

ZOONAUTSThe amazing history of animal astronauts

lIcE: oUr conStant companIonS + amazIng StonE agE toolS + nExt gEnEratIon aIrcraft carrIErS + and mUcH morE!

How our cities will decay, and how nature will bounce back - fast!

What happens to the Earth

MEDICAL NANOBOTSSoon you’ll be fixed from the inside

DEEP SUITArchaeology’s latest toy

GIANT BLACK HOLESCracking a cosmic mystery

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personally, I don’t

think the world is

going to end any

time soon. The

human world, I mean.

I think we’ve reached

a level of technology,

knowledge - wisdom even

- that will dramatically increase our ability to

bounce back from even the worst disasters.

If you look at the great plagues and eruptions

and impacts of the past, they massively disrupted

populations and even wiped many cultures out.

But this was in a world where the total human

population was small - only a few millions - and

we didn’t go extinct.

If a comet hits central Europe tomorrow

(touch wood it won’t), the loss of life will be

unprecedented. But - harsh as it sounds - if even

two billion people are killed or die in the resulting

nuclear winter and tectonic aftershocks, that

leaves five billion humans to pick up the pieces

(and hopefully not kill too many more in the

inevitable wars that follow).

When the Black Death ravaged Europe, it

killed up to 200 million and plunged the continent

into total chaos and is a major chapter in human

history. Contrast this to the Spanish Flu in 1918.

Coming on the heels of World War I (nine million

combatants killed) it caused the deaths of as

many as 100 million around the globe. In terms

of scale, it was similar though much faster than

the Black Death, yet today it’s a historical footnote

(unless you lost someone to that flu, of course).

And what about World War II? We killed another

70 million, but our population continued to

increase faster than ever.

I’m not suggesting that a massive disaster or

disease or some kind of war that has casualties

measured in billions won’t be the worse thing

that’s ever happened to us, or that it won’t

completely change the face of the planet and of

human civilisation. All I’m arguing is that it won’t

end the world.

Our population and sophistication now is such

that even if a dinosaur-killer asteroid is detected

tomorrow, we have the technology to preserve a

core population and vast amounts of information,

even the DNA of many species. We already have

“seed banks” that are preserving plant species

against environmental collapse. It’s not a humane

or maybe even ethical way to think - billions

will be abandoned to save the lives of only a

few hundred thousand. But in terms of species

survival, it is what it is.

On any sort of reasonable time scale -

centuries for instance - our return from a

near-extinction-level event will be fast. We

understand our reproductive system. We know

how to increase our population rapidly. We

know how to establish a food supply, almost

even without a biosphere.

There will be several generations of people

who live only to survive and to carry forward a

(probably religious) vision of a restored world. But

within the sort of span of time that the universe

considers a mere twitch - even a thousand years -

we’ll have a population in the billions again.

Is the extinction of humans impossible? No -

there are many unlikely events that could scythe

the planet clean of all life, or disrupt us beyond

recovery. Am I just arguing semantics by suggesting

that being reduced to 300,000 people living in

bunkers isn’t the end of the world? Perhaps.

But around 70,000 years ago, something cut us

down to as few as 3,000 breeding pairs. And with

barely any technology, we came back. I think, in

this universe, humans are here to stay.

Anthony Fordham

Twitter: @sci_illustrated

Facebook: facebook.com/ScienceIllustratedAus

Things we learned in this issue

+ lIcE are among humanity’s oldest parasites,

and they enjoy really long lovemaking sessions.

+ nanoBotS are an engineering challenge

to create, but are actually relatively simple

machines that are smarter in large numbers.

+ anImal aStronaUtS paved the way for our

space programs, and have repeatedly shown

that life can adapt to weightlessness and other

literally otherworldly conditions.

EDITOR’S LETTER

The eNd OF The WORldIssue #24 (24 July 2013)

EDITORIAL

Editor Anthony Fordham

[email protected]

Contributors Caitlin Howlett, Damon Wilder

Photographers Damon Wilder

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THE SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED CREDO

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contentsSCIENCE ILLUSTRATED AUSTRALIAN EDITION

PUbLIShED 24Th jULy 2013

40STONE AGE TOOLS

Apart from giving us the ability to hunt

almost every animal on the planet, stone

tools had another surprising benefit: they

helped us develop sophisticated language.

60UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY

Using a combination of state-of-the-art

“articulated submersibles” and amazing 3D

image processing, archaeologists are making

astounding underwater discoveries.

26Cover Story LIFE AFTER HUMANS

Are our mighty works really that

mighty? What would happen to our

cities and monuments if we all just

disappeared overnight?

ISSUE #24

4 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED


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REGULARS

8BUll’S-EYEThe world’s largest telescope!

12ScIEncE UpdatEThe latest news and developments

in science!

16SKYWatcHThe team from Macquarie Uni

handles all your astronomy needs.

22aSK USCan we see the core of our galaxy?

74anImalS In orBItThe unsung heroes of the space program

78BY tHE nUmBErS

The insane size of US aircraft carriers

80trIVIaNow with more rocket riddles!

82BacKYard JUnglEStuck on sticky sundews...

46LICE

these tiny parasites are the bane of the

public school system, but the fact is we (or

at least our ancestors) have been living

with them for tens of millions of years.

54NANOBOTS

the days of getting cut open by your surgeon

are numbered. Soon, you may be injected with a

swarm of sub-microscopic machines that will fix

you from the inside.

68QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY

How can it be possible to create a truly

uncrackable code? With a quantum

computer, that’s how. Here’s the

secret story of the qubit.

72MASSIVE BLACK HOLES

Just when we think we’ve got a handle on how

black holes work, along come a new kind that’s

more massive that it should really be. How will

our model of the universe change now?

SUBSCRIBE

NOW! 66

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AMAziNg phoTogrAphy by AUSTrAliAN ArTiSTS, boTh AMATeUr ANd profeSSioNAlAUSSIE IMAGE

www.pittsburghglasscenter.org/exhibitions/lifeforms


australian glass

artist cas davey’s

“radiolarian” - a sort

of plankton whose

skeletons make up the

thick layer of ooze on

the ocean floor.

[left]

alex mcdermott’s “Big-

leaf maple Seedling”

[below left] Beau tsai’s

“common Kingfisher”


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CApTUred

iN glASS

Story by Anthony Fordham

Believe it or not these amazing images

are actually made out of glass. They’re

entrants from the Lifeforms Award, a

competition organised by the

Pittsburgh Glass Centre in the US. The

exhibition took 50 works from around

the world - including Australia - and

handed out awards for the best.

Award of Excellence winner

”Greater Blue-ringed Octopus on a

Teeming Coral Reef” was created by

Joe Peters from Battleboro, Maryland

in the US, while the other large image -

called Radiolarian - is by Aussie glass

artists Cas Davey.

Another Aussie, Mark Elliot, went for

a more realistic look with ”Little Terns”

(small marine birds). It’s made from

flame-sculpted and blown borosilicate

glass, while Davey’s piece was made

with a blowtorch and flame.

Why make biological sculptures

out of glass? “Lifeforms” was organised

and coordinated by Robert Mickelsen,

a Florida-based glass artist, and

inspired by father-and-son team

Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka. They

made glass biological models back in

the 19th and 20th centuries for

Harvard University’s museums.

Glass sculptures were preferred in

the days before durable plastic,

because they lasted much longer than

painted plaster or even porcelain

models. Today, museum curators

have access to realistic-looking resins

and - for actual artefacts - humidity-

controlled display cases and special

lighting systems that shield objects

against the degenerative effects of

ultraviolet radiation.

Still, it’s somehow uplifting to see

master glassblowers are still out there,

and still able to make these amazing

and beautiful objects from little more

than melted sand, a few trace

elements, fire and their own breath.

If you happen to be in

Pittsburgh in the latter half of 2013,

the exhibition is on at the Glass

Centre until 17 November.


Joe peters’ coral reef

might not be the kind

of thing you’d put in

your house, but it’s

amazing to think this is

made entirely of glass.


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BULL’S-EyE aStronomY


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In the Atacama Desert, four antennas

are aimed at the Milky Way. They are

part of ALMA, the world’s largest and

most recently inaugurated telescope.

ALMA measures cosmic radiation

from galaxies millions of light years

away. The individual, 100-tonne

antennas stand up to 16 km apart,

depending on their function.

ALMA is professional stargazers’

most sophisticated tool, and the

expectations of learning new things

from primordial gas and dust, which

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SCIENCE UPDATE


Life found in

sub-Antarctic

lake

palEontologY one of the biggest

land animals that ever roamed

the earth now confirms the

saying that size doesn’t

necessarily matter.

In 2007, palaeontologists

found a 70 million-year- old

ampelosaurus fossil near

the Spanish city of

Cuenca. the

specimen is a

15-m-long

herbivorous

sauropod.

Now, Spanish scientists have

completed a reconstruction of

the giant’s brain, and size-wise,

it’s less than impressive,

measuring just 8 cm: about the

volume of a tennis ball.

Scientists had expected to

find a bigger brain in an animal,

which had evolved over 160

million years. “But increased brain

size wasn’t needed during the

sauropods' evolution,” says Fabien

Knoll, one of the scientists behind

the reconstruction.

Three teams of scientists compete to find life in sub-Antarctic lakes. American scientists were the first to prove the existence of bacteria.

BIologY For the first time ever,

American scientists have

found signs of life deep below

the Antarctic ice sheet.

In late January, a drill, which

melts through the ice by using

jets of hot water, worked its

way 800 m down through the

ice to the underground fresh

water Lake Whillans.

Scientists secured 30 litres

of water from the lake, which

has since proved to contain

large amounts of living,

biological material.

Analyses of the samples

have revealed around 1,000

bacteria per mm of water.

the discovery is

sensational, as scientists have

never before found signs of life

under the Antarctic ice sheet,

which measures up to 4,500 m

in the thickest places.

Lake Whillans covers an

area of 59 square km and is

located in the western part of

Antarctica. the lake is only

some two metres deep, but

still highly important to

scientists. For at least 500,000

years, the lake has been cut off

from the outside world, and the

microorganisms, which live in

the water, can provide

scientists with a unique

knowledge of the evolutionary

history of early life.

Moreover, the exploration

can give scientists a hint of

whether it will be possible to

find life under similar extreme

conditions in space, including

under the semi-permanent

Co2 ice caps of Mars.

Editors: Carsten Nymann & Emrah Sutcu

drill chief frank rack from the

University of nebraska, USa,

inspects the equipment.

Giant dino had

miniature brain Brain

The ampelosaurus' brain

and internal ear, which

controls equilibrium and

rotation, were rather

small, so scientists

assume that the giant

was unable to even move

its head quickly.

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LATEST NEWS AND DISCOVERIES

Lake

eLLsworth


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THE Neanderthal

died 10,000

years earlier Based on new datings of Neanderthal

remains, an international team of

scientists has shown that this human

species probably died out 10,000 years

earlier than we thought. According to

the new studies, most Neanderthals

died around 50,000 years ago. It makes

scientists question how much

contact there really

occured between

Neanderthals and

modern humans,

who came to

Europe 40,000

years ago.

FUSION reSearcherS

develOp NeW caBleS

in 2020, the world’s first

nuclear fusion plant will

start to come online. The scientists

behind the iTer test plant have

completed the reactor’s super-

conductive cables (cables with

virtually no electrical resistance),

which produce the core's

plasma-controlling

magnetic field.

The galaxy’s youngest black hole foundaStronomY In the 1,000-year-old

remains of a supernova, scientists from

the American Massachusetts Institue of

technology have discovered what might

be the youngest black hole in our

galaxy, the Milky Way.

the supernova remnant is located

some 26,000 light years from the earth

and is the result of an unusual explosion.

Material from the dying star was not, as is

usually the case, flung into space in all

directions - it emerged faster from the

poles than from the rest of the star. When

heavy stars collapse, their centres

typically become very dense neutron

stars, but astronomers cannot find a

neutron star. this indicates that a black

hole has formed.

the W49B phenomenon captured by naSa’s

chandra x-ray telescope.

Toxins from bee stings

may be used in a future HIV

vaccine, according to new

scientific results from India.

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The UK had to give upIn December 2012, a

British team of scientists

had to give up drilling 3

km down through the

ice to Lake Ellsworth.

Technical breakdowns

caused the project to be

shelved. The British

team plans a new

attempt in 2016 or 2017.

Americans were the firstOn 28 January, scientists

from the American

Whillans Ice Stream

Subglacial Access

Research Drilling project

managed to get through

to Lake Whillans, 800 m

below the ice sheet.

Scientists retrieved 30 l

of water from the lake.

Russians drill the deepestAfter more than 20 years

of preparations, in 2012

Russian scientists drilled

their way down to Lake

Vostok, 3.7 km under

the ice cap. The

scientists have collected

water samples, but so

far, there are no

confirmed signs of life.

Lake whiLLans

Lake Vostok

a n ta r c t i c a

Three drill sites:

Scientists from three countries have set

up camps on the ice above Lake Ells-

worth, Lake Whillans, and Lake Vostok.


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SCIENCE UPDATE

Mussel glue to save

unborn babies

Drinking water is filled

with bacteria

mEdIcInE Mussels will stick to

almost anything below the surface

of the oceans. they liberate a

secretion of proteins, which

hardens into nature’s own version

of waterproof superglue. Scientists

from the North-western University

in Illinois, USA, now intend to copy

the mussels and make a similar

glue for the benefit of medicine.

the glue can be used, when

prenatal surgeons repair spina

bifida in unborn babies. At the

moment, doctors carry out surgery

on unborn babies in the womb, but

it is difficult to seal the hole in the

womb afterwards. Synthetic

mussel glue is expected to be very

well-suited in connection with this

type of surgery.

A laser-based method of analysis named

flow cytometry has revealed that drinking

water contains a lot more bacteria than

previously believed. Even top quality

drinking water contains 100-10,000 times

more micro-organisms than documented

by other test methods. Flow cytometry is

normally used by doctors for counting

such things as blood cells.

Scientists test mussel glue

on rabbit foetal membranes.

Ground water

Tap water

Mineral water

10,000 100,000 1,000,000 10,000,000 100,000,0001,000100

Lakes and rivers

Waste water

Living cells per ml

bird species have died

out in Pacific islands

due to human

colonisation, according

to scientists. Islands like

Fiji and Hawaii were

conquered by humans

700-3,500 years ago.

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Even purified drinking water

contains much more

bacteria than expected.

tEcHnologY By using a brain implant,

American scientists from Duke University

have given rats able the ability to feel

infrared light waves.

Normally, rats – like humans – cannot

see infrared light. But the scientists

developed an artificial device, which

provides rats with this ability. Before the

experiment, the rats were trained to get a

liquid reward from one of three light diodes,

which lit up in a random order.

Subsequently, the rats were implanted

with an infrared detector attached to

microscopic electrodes in the part of the

brain which handles the sense of touch.

the scientists then exchanged the light

diodes with infrared light sources. After a

month, the rats had learned to identify the

infrared light source which was turned on.

Scientists provide rats

with infrared vision

Rabbit foetus

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a rat finds the infrared light and gets

its reward in the shape of water.

Three of the world’s top car makers, Ford, Daimler, and Renault-Nissan,

cooperate to revive hydrogen-powered for a series of 2018 models.



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SkyWATCH THE LATEST IN ASTRONOMy AND COSMOLOGy

T he search and study of planets outside

our Solar System is still in its infancy.

However, despite the first discovery of an

extra-solar planet (exoplanet) less than 20

years ago, this field has become one of the

most active topics in modern astronomy

and is a major driving force behind the

development of new instruments.

Most of these planets were found

indirectly, their presence inferred from

perturbations of the light emitted from the

host star. one method measures Doppler

wavelength shifts in the starlight to detect

small velocity changes of the star with

respect to us, as it orbits the star-planet

centre of mass. However, intrinsic

pulsations on the surface of stars can

generate signals that mimic the presence of

planets. this is particularly problematic

during the final and most turbulent stages

of a star’s life (the giant phase). one way to

overcome this problem is to observe a giant

star frequently and for long enough to

determine which signals come from

pulsations, remove them, and then look for

the planetary signatures. one example of a

planet orbiting a giant star is that of BD +48

740b, in which the host star shows high

amounts of Lithium suggesting that this is a

planetary system being engulfed by the

star’s expansion, as shown in the image on

this page. this type of search, however, is

inefficient and expensive to do on large

telescopes, but can be done with small

telescopes, provided they can be equipped

with precise and calibrated spectrographs.

one such instrument is currently being

developed at Macquarie University, led by Dr

Michael Ireland with PhD students tobias

Feger and Carlos Bacigalupo. the replicable

High-resolution exoplanet and

Asteroseismology (rHeA) spectrograph is a

compact single-mode fibre-fed

spectrograph that uses novel approaches

for careful calibration and temperature

stability, which are key requirements for

precise Doppler measurements. We will be

testing the prototype using the 16”

telescope at Macquarie University’s

observatory and aim to install copies of the

rHeA spectrograph on various 0.3-1m

automated telescopes around the world.

the discovery and study of large numbers

of planets found around evolved stars are

key towards understanding the latter stages

of planetary systems, and any findings will

shed some light on what will happen to our

own Solar System in the future!

by Dr joao bento, Department of Physics and

Astronomy, Macquarie University

www.physics.mq.edu.au


NIGHT SkyStand out featureS in

the CoSmoS BETWEEN 24

JULy AND 17 SEPTEMBER:

Compiled by dr david frew, research

fellow, department of physics and

Astronomy, Macquarie University

SEE WITH yOUR EyE

At this time of year the grand arc of the Milky

Way is visible by mid-evening. for those lucky

enough to observe from a dark rural sky, the

Milky Way’s central bulge is prominent, crossed

by intricate dark patches of foreground dust.

The central bulge, positioned in the constella-

tion of Sagittarius, the Archer, represents the

centre of our galaxy, and is composed of

ancient stars much older than the Sun.

SEE WITH BINOCULARS

Sagittarius holds many star clusters of

various sizes and ages, as well as several

emission nebulae, the birth places of stars.

binoculars will how that many of the bright

patches of the Milky Way are made up of

innumerable stars at the limit of vision.

Messier 8, and Messier 17, two of the

brighter emission nebulae, can also be seen

as small misty patches of light. A good star

atlas is necessary to locate them.

SEE WITH A TELESCOPE

Messier 17 (the Swan nebula) is the brightest

of the emission nebulae in Sagittarius, and

can be seen with a small 6-cm telescope. it

appears as a small “bar” of greyish light,

without the embedded stars like other

emission nebulae such as the orion and

Carina nebulae. yet, the stars are there,

heavily dimmed by the dust located in the

molecular cloud from which they were born.

Searching for Survivors

Around Giant Stars

2Mass/u

Mass/IP

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asa/n

sf


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IncrEdIBlE

– but true!


SCIENCE UPDATE

lightning migraine Arthritis and weather changes

are often interconnected, but for

the very first time, a new study

demonstrates a connection

between lightning strikes and

headaches. American scientists

have studied 100 migraine

patients and shown a clear

connection. exactly how

lightning provokes headaches is

still not clear.

dogs in their

owners' shoesA new study shows that dogs

understand their owners better

than previously believed.

british scientists banned 42

dogs from eating the food in

their feeding bowls. As long as

the room was lit, the dogs

obeyed, but once the scientists

could not see, what was going

on, they stole food.

diamonds improve sperm qualityThe way sperm cells waste away

in a culture dish, are a well-

known problem in connection

with artificial insemination.

New scientific results show that

the surface of a petri dish

becomes toxic to cells, once it

gets wet. by adding a diamond

nanocoat, the cells’ chances of

survival improve.

Grim fate of the forams

BIologY Look closely at the rocks on

your next dive, or examine the bottom

layers of your marine aquarium, and

you’ll see dozens of tiny shells, pink

spiky tree-shapes, and other odd forms.

these are the foraminiferns (forams for

short), a kind of protozoa that builds

itself a hard shell (also called a test).

And they’re at risk from climate change.

“As Co2 levels increase, our oceans

will become more acidic, making it more

difficult for small marine creatures to

form the shells they need to survive,”

says Dr Sven Uthicke from the

Australian Institute of Marine Science

(AIMS), the lead author of a study

published in Scientific Reports, an online

journal of Nature.

Dr Uthicke and his team looked at

underwater volcanic seeps in Papua

New Guinea, an area where he says the

water has “already reached acidification

levels predicted for our oceans by 2100

in all but the most optimistic emissions

scenario… So, these seeps provide

important clues to what the marine

world might look like in the future.”

Previous studies of underwater

volcanic seeps in the same area by AIMS

scientists found that corals have trouble

growing in acidic water, as they require

alkaline conditions to precipitate calcium

carbonate out of the water to build their

skeletons. the new study confirms that

forams too suffer in acidic conditions.

“Forams are much like an amoeba

with a shell,” explains Uthicke. “these

simple organisms are vulnerable to

increasing ocean acidification as they

lack the complexity and energy reserves

of other skeleton-based marine

creatures, like corals and sea urchins.”

www.gmagazine.com.au

Tiny shelled protozoans could suffer as ocean acidity rises by CAitliN Howlett

thInkstock

forams build shells

(called tests) out of

various materials,

including the same

calcium carbonate that

corals use to build reefs.

So they’re vulnerable to

the same changes in

ocean acidity.WIkIPedIa

WIkIPedIa


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Australian recreates 17,000-year-old facepalaEontologY She is more rare

than pretty, says Australian

anthropologist Susan Hayes. By

means of forensic techniques,

the scientists recreated the

face of a 30-year-old woman of

the Homo floresiensis species.

the extinct species is named

after the Indonesian island of

Flores, where the diminutive

1-m-tall and 30-35 kg heavy

hominids lived some 17,000

years ago. Because of their

smallness, the species members

have been nicknamed hobbits.

thanks to Susan Hayes’ face

reconstruction, we can now for

the very first time get an

impression of what the species

looked like. the Homo

floresiensis face has been

reconstructed based on a skull

found in 2003.

Scientists reconstructed the face of a

30-year-old Homo floresiensis woman

based on a fossil skull.

A HANDy HEXAPOD

aEroSpacE It could have starred in a Star Wars

film, and it can jump, dance, climb, walk, and roll,

thus the name. Athlete: short for All-terrain

Hex-Limbed extra-terrestrial explorer. the

eight-metre-plus-tall rover is to be sent to the

Moon in 2017 to work for a new American wave

of exploration and maybe colonisation.

NASA’s Californian rover shop, the Jet

Propulsion Laboratory, is responsible for the

development of Athlete. the scientists were

asked to design a remote-controlled lunar rover,

which can overcome all possible hurdles and

operate in any type of terrain. the rover’s

mission will be to transport containers with up to

450 kg of goods and supplies to and from

manned spacecraft or space bases, and to take

samples from the Moon’s surface.

Several prototypes have been developed, and

the central element of the concept is six flexible

legs with a wheel at each end. on even surfaces,

the rover will drive like a car, but when it encounters

obstacles, such as a large rock or a steep slope, the

wheels are locked and become feet, allowing

Athelete to walk across the obstacle.

NASA’s new space rover Athlete is the ultimate cross-country rover.

BRIAN WILCOx

The brain behind

Athlete is NASA

engineer Brian

Wilcox. He also

developed the two

Martian rovers

Spirit and

Opportunity.

1. Busy beeOne of the rover's tasks will be to

carry goods. When a pallet lands on

the Moon, an operator directs the

rover to the goods.

2. Parts in twoThe rover splits in two. The two

three-legged halves approach

the pallet from different sides.

3. handles pallets with hooksThe two tripods grab the pallet using hooks,

and the rover stretches it legs, lifting the pallet.

4. walking roverWhen the rover moves in rugged

terrain with its load, it can walk

or crawl instead of driving.

5. split personalityUpon arrival, the goods are

lowered to the surface.

Athlete splits again and

releases the pallet.

48 cameras send images to an operator, who remote-controls the rover from Earth or a spacecraft.

Athlete is equipped with a drill, a shovel, and gripping arms.

Each wheel features clips to attach tools.

Puncture-proof tyres

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50% of africa’s lions could disappear over the next 40 years, according to a study. The lions will starve to death or be shot by hunters.


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SCIENCE UPDATE

Waste

protects

astronauts

Astronauts produce huge

amounts of waste, which

takes up space in a small

spacecraft. But now, NASA

has had a bright idea. The

waste can be reused and

converted into a shield, that

protects space travellers

against cosmic radiation.

Water bottles and other

plastic packaging is

compressed into 1.3-cm-thick

discs with a 20 cm diameter.

The discs can be used to

protect the spacecraft's

sleeping quarters.

Erupting

volcanoes can

blow bubbles

gEologY volcanoes erupt in two

ways. either lava flows slowly, or

the volcano explodes, sending

lava into the sky. Now, scientists

from england and New Zealand

have identified a third type of

eruption, called tangaroa, in

which lava is emitted in bubbles.

Scientists have studied the

ocean floor around the under-

water Macauley volcano in the

Pacific. the volcano emits

pumice, which is normally

connected with explosive

eruptions. But the rocks, that

scientists found in the ocean,

looked very special. Pumice has

a lot of gas-filled cavities, but in

this case, the cavities were

round and even, almost like

fossilised chocolate mousse.

rather than exploding, the

rocks had expanded slowly.

According to the scientists, this

means that the lava moved to the

surface in the shape of bubbles.

Scientists identify new type of eruption.

lava balls produced in the oceanThe ocean functions as a

heavy blanket preventing

volcanoes from exploding.

At the surface, the gas has

expanded so much that the outer

shell of the ball, which is coarse after

having been cooled by the water, cracks.

Incoming water makes the

ball fall apart, and pieces fall to

the ocean floor.

The lava consists of molten

pumice. As the lava balls move to-

wards the ocean surface, gas trapped in

pumice cavities expands.

Magma moves towards the

ocean bed. The weight of the

water prevents an explosive eruption.

Instead, ball-shaped lava appears.

2

1

3Pumice

Volcano

Ocean surface

Magma

Pumice:

A porous,

volcanic rock,

which contains so

much air that it

will float.

Tangaroa:

A sea god in Maori

mythology. He is

the son of

Ranginui and

Papatuanuku, the

Sky and the Earth.

dIctIonarY

claus lunau

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sa

PEKING maN drEssEd IN LEaTHEr

The peking Man, an extinct homo erectus subspecies, made leather clothes and knew about fire, according to new studies of finds made in 1920. Thus, the species was probably more sophisticated than scientists thought.

digits - the length of a newly discovered prime number found by a supercomputer,

which made 150 trillion calculations a second for 39 days.

chemical pollution causes malformed sex organs in many otters, say British scientists are concerned, as the same could happen to people.


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1. Up to 16 cameras

film the field and the

players from indivi-

dual angles. The

cameras produce

25 images/second.

2. A computer

compares the images

from several cameras,

and each player is

assigned x, y, and z

coordinates.

A field player typically runs 10 kmRunning distance measurements indicate that a field player typically

covers 10 km during a top-of-the-league match. On average,

a field player sprints 800-1,200 m during a match, whereas

he is only in possession of the ball for a total of 200 m.

3. By following

individual players

second by second,

the computer can

calculate the

distances run.

4. The ball is

also monitored,

and the system

can thus tell the

length of a goal kick.

Cameras

Soccer

field

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tHE anSWErS to lIfE’S lIttlE mYStErIES

ASk US

EDITOR: Morten Kjerside Poulsen


the StatS company has developed

a new 3-camera tracking system.

HoW IS a SoccEr plaYErS’ WorK load mEaSUrEd?TV soccer matches are often accompanied

by information concerning how far indivi-

dual players run and how many successful

assists they produce. But how are these

statistics collated?

Up to 16 cameras are located along the side-

lines in modern soccer stadiums to follow the

players' every move. Second by second, they

are assigned a set of 3D coordinates, and their

positions are described by x, y, and z coordi-

nates. As the cameras produce 25 images a

second, the system is able to measure every

movement in the field very accurately.

The ball and the referee are also monito-

red, and by means of computers, the measu-

rements are converted into information about

the distance run by individual players, but the

system can also indicate the speed of the ball.

The technology is partly inspired by missile

tracking systems and is very accurate. Tests

show that only 2-3 % of the measurements

are faulty. The system was first introduced

officially during the 2008 European Champi-

onship, but was tested the previous year in

Champions League matches. Now, soccer

without stats is only half the game!

Camera

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Cameras


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5TOP

heaviest

reptiles

1. SaltWatEr crocodIlEMaximum weight: 2,000 kg Length: 3.85 m

2. BlacK caImanMaximum weight: 1,310 kg Length: 3.6 m

3. nIlE crocodIlEMaximum weight: 1,089 kg Length: 3.7 m

4. SEa tUrtlEMaximum weight: 932 kg Length: 2 m

5. orInoco crocodIlEMaximum weight: 900 kg Length: 3.6 m

do cranBErrIES rElIEVE cYStItIS?

Is the core of

the milky way

visible from

EARTH?

From our position in the

galactic arm, the view of a

large part of the Milky Way is

unfortunately blocked by

dark dust clouds. The perfect

place to see the glow of the core

in our hemisphere is at 27 degrees

south, in late winter, where the band

of the Milky Way is parallel to the horizon -

the furthery you move away from 27S, the more

tilted the band will appear. The core is mostly blocked by dust, but is

appreciably brighter than other parts of the galactic arm.

Soccer player

Distance run: 10 km

Top speed: 35 km/h

Fastest shot: 130 km/h

NRL player

Distance run: 7 km

Top speed: 25 km/h

Hardest impact: 13G

AFL player

Distance run: 12-15 km

Top speed: 30 km/h

Longest kick: 100 m

a saltwater crocodile may

weigh up to 2000 kg and also

try to eat you...

According to an old piece of good

advice, cranberry juice is efficient

against cystitis, and scientific experi-

ments indicate that it is true. Bacteria

such as E. coli feature long protein

threads, which can bind to the bladder

wall and cause inflammation.

But apparently, proanthocyanidin

and glucose, which are contained in

cranberry juice, prevent bacteria from

binding to the cells, and instead, they

are rinsed out in urine.

A daily intake of cranberry juice

may thus reduce the risk of cystitis

in some women.

Up to 16

cameras

follow each

player’s

every move.

Soccer players work harder

Centre of the Milky Way

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thInkstock


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Was the ring finger always the ring finger?The fourth finger counted from

the thumb has been the ring

finger since Antiquity. Several

Roman writers describe the custom of

wearing an iron ring on the ring finger, which was believed to be directly connected

with the heart via a blood vessel. And the rings were not only engagement or

wedding rings, they were also worn as a symbol of friendship, trust, or status.

Is it really true that cyclones rotate

differently, depending on which side of the

Equator they are?

In the northern hemisphere, the wind of a

cyclone will always move counter-clockwise,

and vice versa in the southern hemisphere.

Cyclones are huge depressions, and air mas-

ses will always try to move directly from high

to low pressure. This is, however, impossible

on a planet, which is rotating, because of the

Coriolis effect. All motion is affected by this

effect, and the result is that any motion north

of the Equator will be bent to the right, and

to the left south of the Equator. In most eve-

ryday situations, Coriolis forces have little

effect, but for motion across long distances

or time, it may affect the air particles of a

pressure system such as a cyclone. The Corio-

lis effect increases with the distance to the

Equator, where it is 0. Between 5° N and 5° S,

it is so weak that cyclones rarely occur.

do cYclonES alWaYS rotatE In tHE SamE dIrEctIon?

the coriolis effect is the result of

different speeds of rotation at

different degrees of latitude.

At the Equator, the speed is

1,675 km/h, going from

west to east, in Hobart

approx. 1,000 km/h, and

at the South Pole, zero.

A pilot on his way north

from the Equator will

observe the Earth

rotates more slowly, the

further north his plane

gets. The aircraft itself keeps

the rate of rotation from the

Equator and thus its course will

be bent to the right (east).

Several scientific studies have

demonstrated that dogs can

actually smell cancer. Cancer

cells release odorants, and a

dog's unique sense of smell

reacts to those. Depending on

the breed, a dog’s nose is

10,000-100,000 times as

sensitive as a human's. You

may hear many dog owners

tell stories about how their

dog repeatedly sniffed or

nibbled at a birth mark, which

later turned out to be a case

of skin cancer. Likewise, there

are plenty of accounts of

family dogs, which have

suddenly changed their

behaviour, becoming anxious,

exited, or seeking a sense of

security in connection with

their owners being diagnosed

with cancer.

Can dogs

smell

cancer?

What dogs can smell:

Breath: lung cancer

Urine samples: bladder cancer

Biopsies: ovarian cancer

dogs

can smell

cancer.

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Southern hemisphere

Northern hemisphere

Right bend

Left bend

tHE anSWErS to lIfE’S lIttlE mYStErIES

ASk US


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Physics in PRACTICE

How severe is a human bite?

We bite with only 90kg of force (compared to a

shark’s 1500kg!) but our mouths contain

bacteria which often cause terrible infections.

1. A magnetron

produces the micro-

waves, which are

directed into the oven.

2. The electro-

magnetic radiation

makes the water and

fat molecules of the

butter vibrate.

3. The microwaves

affect fat molecules

less than water mole-

cules, and conse-

quently, water is

heated faster.

4. Frozen butter contains a little bit

of water in the shape of small balls.

When the water becomes vapour,

it expands several hundred times,

and it can only escape by exploding

its way out of the butter.

What is the difference between

an ocean and a sea?How big must a body of water be, before it is an

ocean, and what are the definitions of seas and

oceans?

Oceans are the primary bodies of salt water

on Earth. The definition of an ocean varies

from country to country, but oceanographers

generally recognise five: the Pacific Ocean,

the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the

Arctic Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. The

International Hydrographic Organisation

(IHO) defines boundaries and international

names of seas and oceans. A sea is typically

smaller than an ocean and is located where

an ocean encounters land, just like the Tas-

man Sea, which is located, where the west

coast of New Zealand encounters the Pacific

Ocean. Confusingly though, many scientists

refer to the whole interconnected body of salt

water on Earth as ”the sea”.

Seas are often the product of human geo-

graphy, and may not always be named seas.

Examples include the Gulf of Carpentaria, the

Persian Gulf, and Hudson Bay in the northern US.

Microwaves

1

2

Fat

Water 3

4

Vapour explosion

OceAnS

The Atlantic Ocean

The Pacific Ocean

The Indian Ocean

SeAS

The Tasman Sea

The Gulf of

Carpentaria

The Mediterranean

Hudson Bay

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WHY doES BUttEr ExplodE In a mIcroWaVE oVEn?A microwave oven heats food by using electromagnetic

”micro” waves, which make water and fat molecules vibrate.

The motion produces heat, and as water is more easily affected

than fat, it is heated much faster. This may make the butter

explode – but only if it is frozen.


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How Things Work

A. A laser beam

is produced, when an

exterior energy source

briefly exposes the

laser atoms to light.

c. The atom sheds

the extra energy

by emitting a light

particle, a photon,

which stimulates

other atoms to emit

photons as well.

e. One mirror

is semitransparent,

allowing a fraction

of the photons to

escape the chamber.

F. The lens unites the

escaped photons and

concentrates them

into a laser beam.

D. Mirrors at the ends of the laser

reflect the photons and stimulate

the emission of even more photons

with the same amount of energy,

amplifing the light intensity.

B. The light from the flash

hits the atom's electrons,

increasing its energy level.

Why do plants

germinate in

Spring?In tropical regions, seeds germinate as soon as they fall

off plants. But in order for plant seeds to survive in a

cooler climate, they must hibernate in the winter. When

a seed hibernates, the biochemical processes in the

cells run much more slowly. The seed will not

germinate until affected by sufficient light,

which converts the phytochrome photo-

receptor into its active version,

generating growth hormones.

Laser beam

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Semitrans- parent mirror

Quartz flash tube

Reflectingaluminium cylinder

Atom

Photon


ASk US

tHE anSWErS

to lIfE’S

mYStErIES

WHIcH BodY cEllS

arE tHE longESt?

The motor neurons are the

longest cells of the human

body. They send signals from

the brain to the leg and feet

muscles and extend from

spine to hallux. The longest

motor neurons may measure

more than 130 cm,

depending on your height.

IN SHORT

HoW IS a laSEr

BEam prodUcEd?A laser beam consists of light particles, photons, which all have

the same wavelengths and vibrate with the same frequency.

The first photon starts a chain reaction, as it stimulates the

emission of other photons, producing a beam. Laser: Light

Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.


WorldMags.net



magpies are often said to be clever

thieves, but is this really true?

Keys, coins, and jewellery. Legend has it,

that they are irresistible treasures to

magpies. However, the indications are

that magpies' preference for shiny

objects is nothing but urban folklore.

No scientific studies have yet proven

that magpies are particularly fond of

shiny things. In the book “The Magpies”,

biologist Tim Birkhead declares, that, in

nature, magpies will neither steal, nor

hide anything but food.

The reason why magpies are said to

be thieves is probably that, particularly in

the past, the bird was often in conflict

with humans in rural areas. There,

magpies would steal fruit from fruit trees

and food, eggs, and sometimes chickens

from open chook pens.

Australian magpies don’t often get

accused of stealing - they’re in a complet-

ely different family to the Eurasian Mag-

pie. In the early years of the NSW colony,

the term ”Bell-magpie” was proposed to

distinguish the bird, but failed to gain

widespread acceptance since our maggie

looks so much like the European species.

In any case, our magpie is more fea-

red for its fierce territorial swooping be-

haviour, while accusations of stealing

(especially blue items - see box) are

mostly levelled at the satin bowerbird.

Which baby animal is the heaviest?

blue whales are the heaviest animals that ever

lived on earth, and they give birth to the biggest

babies. A newborn calf may thus weigh 3 tonnes

The composer who

Defamed a Species

Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini

(1792-1868) contributed to giving

magpies a bad reputation. His opera

“The Thieving Magpie” is about a house-

maid, who is accused of

stealing, but it turns

out that a magpie

was the culprit.

Satin bowerbirds attract females by building

elaborate ”bowers” - these aren’t nest, but

rather a sort of performance space filled with

blue objects. Traditionally these were berries

and flowers, but since pegs, straws and milk

bottle tops went blue, the bowerbirds seem

to love or even prefer these human objects -

perhaps because they stay bright blue for

weeks, not days.

Eurasian magpies

(shown) are corvids,

while aussie magpies

are more closely related

to butcherbirds and are

in the artamidae family.

Bowerbird’s blue moves

IS It rEallY trUE tHat ...... magpIES StEal SHInY oBJEctS?

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In the film ”After Earth”, Will Smith and his son make an emergency landing on Earth 1,000 years after a mass evacuation from the planet. But what would a world without people be like? According to scientists, nature will bounce back fast. Predators will spread, human artefacts will break down, and after 1,000 years, all that will remain of us are our quarries and waste.

Nature restores itselfEcOLOgIcAL SUccESSION For nature, the

disappearance of humans will not be a loss. On the

contrary. Nature will return to the ecological

balance, which humans have disrupted. Biologists

call it “ecological succession”, by which plants and

animals will produce tougher original forms through

natural selection.

Why our world will decay ENTROPy When houses decay, it is due to the

thermodynamic law of entropy. The degree of

entropy or disorder increases over time. A shapeless

pile of sand has high entropy, while a sandcastle has

low entropy. A structure with low entropy will move

towards a state of still higher entropy, disorder, and

disintegration over time.

THe cURe FOR HUMAnITY? Humans have made drastic changes to the Earth, but to restore a pristine

wilderness, all we need to do is leave... and wait. Fundamental laws of

physics will cause our structures to decay, and life will surge into the

spaces we leave behind...

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WorldMags.net



By Antje Gerd Poulsen

the “life after people” tV series

created this cgI image of what Hollywood

might look like after 175 years.


FEATURE | after humans


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http://scienceillustrated.com.au



DAY 7 (After the sudden disappearance of

all humans) in houses and flats, on farms and

in zoos throughout the world, animals starve

to death. The majority of the world’s 1 billion

pigs die, as do many of our 400 million dogs.

YeAR 1 Wild animals enter our cities

and farmlands – particularly adaptive

species like bears and wild hogs, which eat

many types of food. On the other hand, the

population of vermin like cockroaches and

rats will initially fall dramatically as their

current numbers are supported by us.

YeAR 5 Despite our pampering,

domestic cats never lost their desire to

hunt. In Australia, where there are few

small predators, cats thrive and might

even drive native predators extinct.

YeAR 7 By now, most fish species

have recovered from decades of overfishing.

YeAR 8 A new equilibrium has

emerged. Predators and prey have

populations that can be sustained. The real

winners are the big predators - bears,

wolves, tigers, sharks: every animal

humans saw as a threat is back on top.

In Europe and northern

america, the wolf

population would explode.

In australia, cats and

dingos may dominate

WIlDlIFe Predators reclaim their hunting grounds

Day 7

year 1

year 7

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C a r s T e n r a h b e k President of the International Biogeography Society.Biogeography is the study of the geographic distribution of plants and animals.

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nature is drawn toward a dynamic balance“[In the abscence of

humans] The animals,

that benefited from a

man-made environment

will be under severe

pressure, and the

majority of our

domesticated animals

will die quite fast. But a

few of them will adapt.

In a few generations,

natural selection will see

to this. We have

observed it before. The

Australian dingo was

originally a tame dog

turned wild. Nature will

not be drawn to an

original state, it will

always be drawn

towards a

dynamic balance.”



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The first years after the loss of humanity will mean fires, flooding, and decay. But within

days, nature will begin to conquer cities, and millions of pets and domestic animals will starve to death or be

eaten by predators.

cITIeS · SIlenT, DARk, cHAOTIc

DAY 14 As many as 50,000 power

plants worldwide have shut down.

At night, the globe is almost

completely dark. Electric pumps

normally keep cities like London,

Amsterdam, and New York clear of

water, but now, tunnels are

flooded, and canals overflow, filling

basements with water.

YeAR 1 Plant seeds find

nourishment in gutters and

cracks between pavements and

high-rise facades.

YeAR 3 Windows break in

storms and temperature

fluctuations. Once wind and

water get inside, the structures

will decay quickly.

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DAY 20 The world’s 441 nuclear

power plants are close to disaster.

Cooling systems collapse, and a

few weeks later, the coolant

water has evaporated. Then,

reactors melt down or catch fire.

The air, land, and water around

the plants become radioactively

contaminated, and many animals

and plants die.

lAnDScAPeS · FIReS AnD FlOODIng

MOnTH 6 Forest fires run wild

without humans to fight them. In

nature, the fires serve

a purpose, and new plants

emerge from the ash after their

seeds are cracked in the heat. In

other places, dykes collapse, and

vast areas are flooded. Reclaimed

land (such as some airports) slips

back beneat the waves.

YeAR 5 Farm fields are now

overgrown. In 1882, British

scientists demonstrated how fast

other plants will take over an

abandoned wheat field. After

four years, only a few wheat

spikes remained, and the next

year, they were gone. Without

humans, aggressive species like

trees and hedges can dominate.



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YeAR 10 Grass grows

between paving stones, cracking them.

Trees already grow into houses.

YeAR 25 Skyscraper

windows are broken, letting wind and

rain in. The steel inside reinforced

concrete rusts. Bolts and screws corrode,

and panels fall out.

YeAR 50 The world’s one

billion cars have corroded beyond

recognition. In the humid coastal

climate, after 20-30 years a car is

barely recognisable.

YeAR 100 The steel wires of

suspension bridges have corroded. Their

flexibility is gone, and one single gust of

wind will make the bridge collapse.

YeAR 200 The joints of

the Eiffel Tower have corroded, and it

collapses. Most skyscrapers and many

older structures follow suit – particularly

those with submerged foundations.

cITIeS · Air, water and rust undoes our mightiest creations

Frost + rust break

down concrete

From high-rises to bridges – concrete is the most common building material of modern times and has been used since Antiquity. Concrete is highly weather resistant, and reinforced concrete even more so. Nevertheless, nature makes concrete crumble over time.

PlAnTSIf plants are allowed to climb a concrete structure, the roots will find even the tiniest cracks and draw water. The concrete continues to crumble.

cORROSIOnOnce the concrete is cracked, moisture gets to the reinforcement, and the steel rods corrode. They expand, making the concrete burst even more.

FROSTFrost damage occurs when water in concrete pores expands in frosty weather, first cracking and then bursting the concrete, and flaing off the surface.s

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year 25

year 50

year 200



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J o h n s T u b b sProfessor of Preservation Practice (historical buildings) and Director of Preservation Studies at the Tulane School of Architecture in New Orleans.

After 200 years without maintenance, most houses have become overgrown

ruins. Structures which have not already collapsed continue to come down.

Cities are as quiet as deep forests.

YeAR 10 Static electricity or

lightning strikes cause fires on

oil rigs throughout the

world, and unmanned

supertankers, container

vessels, and cruise liners

drifting with the current

plough into the rigs, which col-

lapse. Result: millions of litres

of oil gushing into the ocean.

YeAR 200 Corrosion makes

time bombs explode

all over the world. Silos, tanks,

and other containers with

encapsulated nuclear waste,

fuel, and chemicals begin to

leak or even explode. Animals

and plants die, but over time,

bacteria will break down

most oil and toxic residue.

YeAR 200 New ecosystems have been

established. Australia’s vast eucalypt forests have

returned, and native birds thrive. Horses are well-

established in some niches where rainfall is

constant - other less-hardy European animals are

driven out by our variable climate.

YeAR 50 Almost no

nitrate and phosphorous

remain in fresh water, but cor-

roded tanks filled with chlorine

for swimming pools leak. Toxic

chlorine gas clouds spread in

the environment, and when

chlorine encounters water

vapour, acid is produced.

Tankers with chemicals leak.

YeAR 100

Domestic animals

and pets have

reverted to their

original forms.

Racehorses have

become brumbies, ,

and the descendants

of domestic cats

resemble forest cats.

lAnDScAPeS · TOXIc TIMe BOMB

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year 50

After 200 years, most buildings will be gone

“the temperature of buildings

is key to their lifespan. With

no people around, they would

be subjected to disrupting

temperature fluctuations.

the materials will expand and

contract, until the structures

fall apart. New, mass-

produced buildings will not

last as long as carefully

constructed historical

buildings, which are often

huge and made of more

durable materials than

modern buildings.”


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More than ever, Earth is a blue planet. Even several hundred years after the last gram of coal is burned, ocean water levels are still rising, swallowing cities and landscapes.

YeAR 300 The Statue of Liber-

ty in New York collapses, and

parts fall into the harbour.

YeAR 500 The Sydney Harbour

Bridge, which contains iron, has

crumbled. Now concrete buil-

dings collapse: the twin towers

of Kuala Lumpur and St. Peter’s

Basilica in Rome.

YeAR 1000 The world’s metro-

polises have lost their famous

skylines. Instead, the cities are

hilly landscapes with rivers and

lakes. Everything is overgrown.

An archaeologist could find the

ruins, if they looked closely.

Huge trees have

overgrown angkor

Wat in cambodia -

but it’s a well-built

monument. modern

buildings would

collapse under a

tree this size.

cITIeS · A HIllY lAnDScAPe

YeAR 500 Lack of habitats and

the intense search for tusks kept

down the elephant population,

when humans lived on

the planet. But now, they migrate

with rhinos from Africa and Asia

to Europe. Those venturing far

north develop fur in cold weather.

Predators also move north. The

Romans were the last to hunt wild

lions in Greece, but now the big

cats are back to take advantage of

booming prey populations.

WIlDlIFe · RHInOS AnD

lIOnS MOve nORTH

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YeAR 400 Most cities have

been totally taken over by plants.

In 1860, French explorer Henri

Mouhot discovered what an

overgrown city looks like,

when he found the great temple

complex of Angkor Wat in

Cambodia. In 400 years, the city

had been almost devoured by

the big roots of silk cotton trees.year 500


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aniMaLs in The european virGin foresT

BisonWild hogBearWolfLynxEagleBlack storkBeaver

central Europe would be like the

Bialowieza national park in 500 years.

The virgin forest is self-sustaining

The Bialowieza National Park in Poland and

Belarus is an example of what Europe may look like after 500

years without humans. The virgin forest remains the way it

was after the ice age, and rare animals like bison, lynx, and

beaver thrive. Nature has its own ways, and when a forest is

left alone, old trees collapse, leaving room for new ones.

Thus, the forest becomes varied with trees of different ages,

swamps, and clearings: habitats for many animals.

after 300 years, the Statue of

liberty’s internal iron structures

collapse, and she falls into the ocean.

lAnDScAPeS · Oceans swallow countries. new habitats appear

Water will break free, providing new habitats

Humans and nature compete for water. Everywhere,

humans built cities near large waterways and

redirected rivers by means of dams and canals. The

course of waterways and different water levels are key

factors determining which plants thrive. Different

plant species have adapted to different moist levels,

and when the water once breaks free of its man-made

barriers, there will be habitats for more animals and

plant species.

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YeAR 400

Low-lying cities throughout the

world are underwater. Large

parts of the Netherlands have

disappeared due to collapsed

dykes, but the ocean water levels

are also still rising. Even if we

stopped emitting greenhouse

gasses tomorrow, water levels

could still rise by 1.8 m until 2500

due to the long response times

of oceans and ice.

YeAR 300

Restored fresh water wetlands are

efficient water purification plants,

which absorb chemicals.

YeAR 500

The wildwood is back in Europe,

and the African jungle and Australia’s

eucalypt forests have regrown.

YeAR 1000

Flooded cities and sunken ships

have become new homes

for marine animals. The oceans

are filled with whales, tuna,

and sea turtles, and destroyed

coral reefs recover.


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Few traces of humans will remain after 1,000 years. But humans have managed to create a few things that will endure for a millennium or more - not all of them good.

Diamonds are forever

The Mona Lisa and other paintings have long

crumbled, but works of art made of gold and

precious stones will remain for more than 1,000

years – such as “The Love of God”, a human skull

made of titanium and studded with 8,601 dia-

monds. The jewels of royal treasuries and national

banks’ gold bars will also remain intact, as will

works of art made of ceramics, glass, marble, gra-

nite, and bronze, like the presidential faces of

Mount Rushmore, which are carved into granite.

the mount rushmore granite will

remain for 1,000+ years.

ART

We should build like the RomansIn Antiquity, the Romans used granite, sandstone, and marble, which can all last for more than 1,000 years. Plus a highly durable type of concrete consisting ofcalcium, crushed tiles, and volcanic ash.

The cupola of the Pantheon in Rome is made of this material and has nowremained for almost 1,900 years. Only a

few modern buildings are constructed to similar levels of toughness.

The Channel Tunnel will still link England and France

A millennium from now, only the ruins of very few

buildings will remain. Paradoxically, some of the

most ancient ones such as the Sphinx and the Gre-

at Pyramid of Giza are still around, protected by

the warm, dry climate. Sandblasted, they are

about to be swallowed by the desert, however.

The Great Wall of China has crumbled, but still

marks the landscape. Of modern structures, only

protected concrete buildings like military facilities

will remain, and the tunnel between France and

England still exists, as it was made in an intact

chalk layer and is unlikely to collapse.

GreaT survivors

of The aGe

of huMans

The Lascaux cave paintings, Southern France

The Sphinx of Egypt

The Great Pyramid of Giza

Bronze church bells, statues, and propellers

Mount Rushmore’s presidential faces

Venus de Milo – a marble statue

The tunnel between France and England

Military concrete facilities

Gold, silver, and other precious metals

Diamonds

STRUcTUReS

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dolls can remain for

1,000+ years in a dry,

oxygen-free

environment.

environmental toxins will remain on Earth long after

humans. Heavy metals like mer-

cury, lead, chromium, and cadmi-

um. Plus radioactive waste and

plastic like the polyethylene of

carrier bags.

Plastic will remain in the sea.

Humans left more than 100 milli-

on tonnes of plastic in the oce-

ansÐ including some of the 500

million straws used in the US

every day. Plastic leaves toxic

chemicals in the food chain.

The landscape still

features traces of humans after

1,000 years in the form of mines

and quarries. But the dams of the

Panama Canal and elsewhere

have long collapsed, and the

water has blazed its own trails.

TOxiNS ARe FOReveR

Cadmium compounds: 7,500 years

Lead compounds: 35,000 years

highly radioactive nuclear waste:

100,000 years

polyethylene, pCb, and pbDe: Unknown

WASTe · RUBBISH WIll Be OUR legAcY

SOMe ARTeFAcTS WIll

SURvIve In lAnDFIll

Mobile phones, computers, TVs, and other electronics

Wine bottles and glasses

Kitchen aids and tools made of plastic and stainless steel

Car/bike tyres + other rubber objects

Newspapers, magazines, and books

Shoes and bags

Dolls, Lego, and other plastic toys

Landfill will be the pyramids of our time Ironically, our waste will survive for at least a millennium or perhaps even longer.

Huge landfills dot the landscape in the form of hills containing objects, which reveal details about

human life on Earth. Deep inside a large landfill, which is dry like a pyramid and low in oxygen like a

bog, even newspapers and books can survive, along with millions of tonnes of domestic waste.

Today, itÕs a problem - in a distant future, our junk might be a boon to visiting aliens who want to

study the long-disappeared human race.

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the first stone tools were made by

knocking two stones against each

other, producing sharp flakes.

HOMO HABIlIS

One of the earliest human species is known from 1.8- mil-

lion-year-old fossils. The bones indicate a 130-cm- tall

creature with a brain weighing 550 g. Homo habilis was a

good climber and spent much of their time in trees.

Where: east africa

When: 1.6-2.5

million years ago

prey: Small mon-

keys and small

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FEATURE | anthropology

the secret is to bang the rocks togetheR...Up to 2.6 million years ago, one of our ancestors

knocked two stones against each other and started

an arms race, which made her (or his) descendants

efficient hunters and thoughtful artisans.

With primitive stone tools, our ancestors gained better access to meat and fat – and a more efficient brain food.

Weapons date back 2.6 million years

In 1913, a German archaeologist found

some primitive stone tools in Tanzania’s

Olduvai Gorge. The tools turned out to be

1.6 million years old, and since then,

similar spectacular finds have been made

throughout Africa. Like when, in the

1990s, scientists excavated 2.6-million-

year-old stone tools in Ethiopia.

The primitive tools marked the

beginning of an unknown weapons

technology, and according to most

experts, the first members of the

Homo genus, the 130-cm-tall Homo

habilis, made the tools. The evidence?

Habilis bones had already been found

together with similar 1.8 million-year-

old stone tools.

With stone tools at their

disposal, our ancestors could sudden-

ly cut into thick-skinned animals and

crush bones, obtaining access to

highly concentrated energy in the

shape of fat, meat, and marrow, which

does not require a strong mouth and

jaws. The Homo genus’ teeth and jaw

muscles began to shrink, and so, the

skull could leave room for brain

expansion, nourished by the new,

energy-rich food. Mention that at your

next vegetarian dinner party!

The first stone tools were

made by knocking flakes

off stones. Studies have shown that

the process requires both knowledge

and training. The tool maker must know

different stone types to find the right

stones, and the technique requires

control and coordination, as the stone

must be hit at the perfect angle.

BasHING Or coup de poing..

Can cut through thick animal skin

Can cut meat chunks

Can crush bones

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Around 1.7 million years ago, the

first sharp hand axes appeared.

The weapon was so sophisticated

that, according to experts, the produ-

ction required a brain which could

make complex and long-term calcula-

tions, since the toolmaker needed to

plan the final result before he set to

work. Subsequently, he had to keep

up a mental image of the design,

which he was working on.

Once again, a new weapons tech-

nology coincides with a new, distinc-

tive human species: Homo erectus –

the oldest fully upright human. The

erectus is the first to leave Africa, and

their stone axes have also been

found in Europe and Asia.

The new sophisticated

weapons technology played an

important role in the erectus’

marked success, and hand

axes were used in Europe

until 140,000 years ago.

Homo erectus left

africa armed with

sharp stone axes

and a large brain.

Complex hand axes are evidence of humans’ mental development.

Stone axes: a planned tool

The erectus’ flat, drop-shaped hand axes are evidence of a sophisticated striking technique and thorough

knowledge of the qualities of different stones. This knowledge enabled the toolmaker to produce a more

symmetrical and sharp weapon, and waste was reduced. Some hand axes show that the erectus “fine-tuned”

its tool using softer striking tools like bones and antlers, which could knock finer pieces off the stone.

HaNd axE fine-tuned using bones

1.8-million-year-old Homo erectus fossils show a tall,

slender human with a brain of 800-1,000 g.

The erectus is considered to be the first hunter, who

could kill large herbivores like zebra and antelope.

Where:

africa and asia

When: 300,000-1.8

million years ago

prey: Zebra,

antelope, and deer

HOMO eRecTUS

1. A hammer stone is used

to knock a large flake off the

core stone, which will eventu-

ally become a hand axe.

2. The hole resulting from the first

flake can now be used to knock off

more flakes, so the holes overlap. The

edge becomes more even.

3. When the shape of the stone

is complete, light strokes with

a bone can remove small flakes,

making the edge even sharper.

4. When the hand axe

is finished, the result is a

symmetrical stone weapon

with two razor-sharp edges.

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our ancestors conquered nature with stone spearheads.

Spears: the silent killers

Finds of 500,000-year-old spearheads in

South Africa reveal that Homo heidelber-

gensis was much more intelligent than pre-

viously believed. Scientists used to think

that the Neanderthal and Homo sapiens

invented the stone spear, but the newly-

found stone spearheads show that the

heidelbergensis attached stones to spears

200,000 years before the other two.

From a technological point of view, the

stone spear is evidence of yet another IQ

leap. Apart from knowledge about the cha-

racteristics of different stone materials,

humans now also knew a lot about natural

binding agents. Stone spear production

required the heidelbergensis to collect and

process juice from trees and tendons from

prey to fasten the stone spearheads.

Unlike earlier spears, which consisted

of pointed sticks, the finished stone spears

could penetrate thick skin, and they enab-

led heidelbergensis to kill silently and effi-

With the new spears,

heidelbergensis was

able to kill large

animals such as

the buffalo.

The heidelbergensis invented the levallois

technique, which focused on making tools with

stone flakes (such as knives). After the core sto-

ne was processed with small strokes, a single

well-performed stroke could knock long, sharp

flakes off the stone.

FLaKEs fashioned into sharp knives

The heidelbergensis was a tall, slender human with a

brain of 1,100-1,400 g. The species is the ancestor of

both modern man and the Neanderthal, who split into

two branches approximately 6-700,000 years ago.

Where: africa,

asia, and europe

When: 200,000-1.3

million years ago

prey: oxen and

buffalo

HOMO HeIDelBeRgenSIS

the heidelbergensis’

brain was almost

as large as that

of a modern human.

ciently at a distance of up to thirty metres. As a

result, hunting became more efficient and less

risky, and our ancestors became the first

animals with the ability to secure a steady flow

of energy-rich meat and fat.

Can kill large prey

Makes hunting less risky

Provides a better hit rate

P. PlaIlly, e. daynes/euRelIos/lookatscIences

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70,000 years ago, there was a sudden explosion of sophistication

Brain: the ultimate weapon in the evolutionary war

New finds indicate that Homo sapiens

experienced an explosive technological

and creative development some 70,000 years

ago. Stone points found in South Africa show

that humans used modern weapons like

arrows and could harden stone tools using

fire. By using the improved weapons, humans

wrought more resources out of nature and

were able to kill small, fast prey like birds and

rabbits, giving Homo sapiens an advantage

over the Neanderthal and other species.

The new creativity produced clothes,

which made European Ice Age winters tolera-

ble, and scientists have found snowshoes,

harpoons, and scales, which is evidence of a

highly developed culture. Around the same

time, our ancestors also began to use

abstract symbols - writing - which has long

been considered a milestone in the develop-

ment of the brain. These finds demonstrate

that the human brain was just as sophisti-

cated 70,000 years ago as it is now.

FIrE converts harmless stones into sharp superweapons

Heat processing was one of Homo sapiens’

most important contributions to the stone

weapon technology. When heated to around

300 °C, some stone types are converted from

a weak material into hard stone, which is

easier to knock flakes off, results in less

waste, and is as sharp as a modern knife.

Because of its larger

brain, Homo sapiens

was able to kill all

types of prey.

A study from Emory University in

Atlanta, USA, shows that the abili-

ty to speak draws on the same

area of the brain which is used

when we make stone tools. Accor-

ding to scientists, this demonstra-

tes that the development of stone

weapons must have affected

humans’ ability to speak.

The scientific results are

based on brain scans of test sub-

jects, who watched films about

the production of stone tools.

Existing scientific results have

demonstrated that the brains of

onlookers activate the same are-

as, which are required to carry

out the activity studied. The

scans revealed that stone tools

activated the area of the frontal

lobe, which generates sentences.

Other scans showed that a

brain area, which is related to lin-

guistic expression, became four

times as active when scientists

exchanged primitive stone tools

with more sophisticated ones. The

conclusion: more sophisticated

tools triggered a more

sophisticated language.

The results make sense

because the structure of language

is divided into the same sequen-

ces of behaviour as toolmaking.

Sentences - or more accurately,

clause complexes - are words in

complex sequences, and similarly,

the production of stone tools is a

complex sequence of actions.

StonE WEaponS taUgHt US to SpEaK

Scans show that stone tool

production activates the brain’s

language centres.

Before

AFTER

1. Stones are

placed in a hole and

covered with sand to

secure uniform heat.

2. A fire is lit on

top and fed for

around 24 hours.

At a temperature of

300 °C, the stone is

chemically altered.

3. The stone is

cooled and has

now been trans-

formed into a pre-

mium material

that is easier to

process - and

more durable.

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The anatomically modern man originated about

200,000 years ago, only to leave Africa shortly after.

With their excellent IQ, Homo sapiens was the first

human species to conquer almost all parts of the globe.

When: Originated about 200,000 years ago

prey: everything

HOMO SAPIenS

Homo sapiens’

weapons technology

was sophisticated

enough to produce

modern weapons such

as arrows.

modern man’s IQ and

creativity generated new

weapons, which were much

more efficient than those of

our ancestors.P. PlaIlly, e. daynes/euRelIos/lookatscIences

benjaMIn schovIlle/asu


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FEATURE | SCARy BUGS


Back in the 1930s, American

entomologist Henry Ellsworth Ewing

carried out a simple experiment at his

local zoo. He took a louse from a spider

monkey and made it suck blood from his arm.

The louse died. Ewing repeated the

experiment with lice from a baboon. And got

the same result. With his simple experiment,

Ewing demonstrated that the small, blood-

sucking parasites are so adapted to their

hosts that they cannot survive on other

species. Strange blood is poison to them.

This dependence on specific, sometime

single-spieces hosts has been developed

over millions of generations. And in recent

years, the very close connection between lice

and their hosts has made them the subject of

renewed interest from scientists, who are

working with family trees and evolution.

Lice are a gold mine of knowledge – from

how epidemics spread to when humans

began to wear clothes. And thus, the itchy

parasites can help us map out the earliest

stages of human evolution very accurately.

A TASTE FOR BLOOD

The story of the louse begins some 130

million years ago, when the small, parasitic

insect originates. Scientists base their

estimate on a comparison of gene

sequences from different lice species.

In the Cretaceous period, some 70 million

years ago, mammals and birds experienced

an explosive evolution. New species meant

new habitats for parasites, and the different

lice families started to spread.

Today, the louse family includes more than

3,000 different species, which are Blood

Crawling through our hair and clothes, lice are the perfect human parasite...


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Buddies

Using its powerful

claws, the louse

clings tightly to

individual hairs, and

is almost impossible

to get rid of.g. beRnaRd/sPl/scanPIx


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2

3

1

4

lice go through 5 life stagesOver just 10 days, the newly hatched lice reach adulthood

and are thus ready to find new hair to colonise.

1. A louse’s life begins in the

egg. Under optimal conditions, a

female louse lays four eggs a day.

2. Eggs hatch into nymph lice

in just one week. With so many

eggs, lice are hatching constantly

in the host’s hair.

3. The nymph sheds its skin three ti-

mes before maturing into an adult, and

each nymph stage last three days.

Even as a nymph, the louse sucks blood.

4. The louse becomes sexually mature

immediately before shedding for the third time.

New eggs can be transferred between hosts (people)

though touching and sharing living space.

Female

Second nymph stage Third nymph stage

Male

parasitic on just as many thousands of

different birds and mammals, including

primates, that were included among the

ranks of lice meals approximately 25

million years ago.

Thus, lice have accompanied humans all

through our history of evolution, but

amazingly we had very little understanding

of these tiny insects until just 350 years ago.

Using primitive microscopes, the naturalists

of the times could finally begin to paint a

precise picture of the small animals.

Customized mouth parts were designed for

sucking blood, and its flat body made a louse

more difficult to get hold of, once it stuck to

our hair. The naturalists also established that

the small beast could change colours,

depending on whether it had been eating

recently or not. Later, scientists discovered

that the pigmentation of head lice adjusts to

the hair and scalp colour of the host.

MICROSCOPIC EGGS

Once the louse came under a microscope, it

was clear that, like other insects, it’s life cycle

includes mating and egg-laying. The new

knowledge made more efficient measures

possible. Previously, humans had fought

against an invisible itch, but now, they could

suddenly see the small eggs and thus

combat the lice more efficiently. Despite this,

lice are still common around the world.

This is primarily due to their exact

adaptation, which is particularly revealed

by a unique detail of the louse anatomy:

The legs feature special claws and

“thumbs”, which enable a perfect grip of a

human hair. It is this tight grip that makes

lice so difficult to defeat, once they have

settled in your scalp.

Nevertheless, humans have made

energetic attempts to defeat lice; attempts,

which probably started long before humans

took shape. Delousing is also observed

among some of our closest relatives in the

animal kingdom. And their lice are very much

like ours – at least on the face of it.

LICE NEED US MORE THAN

WE NEED THEM

Our most well-known louse species is

normally just called a louse, but its proper

designation is a head louse. Today,

scientists know for sure that head lice

were the first lice to live on humans,

and have evolved specifc traits to

do so. In fact, they adapted to

human hair and scalp to such an

extent that they cannot hope

to survive for more

The first comb was a delousing comb Combs are the earliest known measure

against lice, and fine-toothed combs have

been found in Egyptian tombs from 3000 BC.

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lice are persevering loversAs soon as lice reach adulthood, they

reproduce around the clock. The sex act

can last up to one hour. Moreover, body

lice have wild group sex, where up to six

males try to mate with a single female.



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1

2

3

couplingAt the back, you will find the

genitals. The male lice are poin-

ted at the back, while the fema-

les have two “pins”. This is where

the lice couple during mating.

Pointed mouthpartsThe mouth is designed to

penetrate skin and suck

blood. When lice do not

eat, they can withdraw the

mouth parts into their heads.

Hopelessly Addicted to... Us Lice are wingless insects measuring 2.5-3 mm and with flattened bodies. Their greatest strength is the powerful claws, which enable them move throughout your hair.

Breathe through side tubes Like other insects, lice do not have lungs, but

breathe through trachea tubes. On the abdo-

men, you will find the spiracles, which direct

oxygen into the trachea tubes.

Blood colours skin redA louse’s semitransparent to greyish

skin normally makes it hard to spot.

But when it has just finished a meal,

the skin becomes reddish from blood.

Tough claw

The reason why lice are

so hard to defeat is located

at the end of each leg.

The powerful claws enable

lice to cling tightly to a

single human hair.

Speed up and down hairsLice have six short,

powerful legs, which

are designed for fast

motion up and down

hairs. Yet despite the

rumours, lice cannot

jump. In the males,

the two forelegs are

extra strong and used

to hold on to the

female during mating.

nits: not lice, just their eggs Lice eggs are oval and measure about 0.8 mm. They are

virtually transparent or skin coloured. Once the nymph has

left the egg, the shell becomes more whitish - this is

what people see when they call lice ”nits” .

1. First, the louse se-

lects a good place on

the hair close to the

warmth of the scalp,

providing the

best conditions.

2. Then, the louse

deposits a highly

sticky secretion

of keratin-like

proteins and places

the egg in it.

3. The secretion

hardens around the

egg, but still allows

it to breathe. It is

now very difficult

to detach.

Sticky secretion

Single hair

Louse egg

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than a few hours, when they are

away from their hosts.

David Reed from the Florida

Museum of Natural History is one of

the world’s leading louse scientists.

In the past 10 years, he has

publ ished several sensational

results based on genetic analyses of

69 different lice variants.

By looking at how much the

different species deviate from each

other, David Reed and other

scientists can reconstruct the family tree

of the parasites and estimate how long

ago two given lice species split up.

Reed’s reconstruction shows, that the

chimpanzee louse, Pediculus schaeffi, and

our own louse, Pediculus humanus, shared

the same ancestor some six million years

ago, and this knowledge has now been

used as yet another piece in the puzzle of

human history.

Scientists already suspected that the

ancestor of humans split from the chimp at

that time, but Reed’s work confirms it.

Moreover, a number of scientists believe

that part of the selective pressure that

made us naked was due to parasites like

lice. Because no fur equaks no lice.

It must be the irony of fate that

humans ended up with more lice types

than other monkeys. This was primarily

due to our sporadic and different hair on

heads and bodies. But clothes also offer

several different habitats for the blood-

sucking parasites.

CRAB LICE CAME

FROM GORILLAS

Head lice have been with us from the start,

but Pthirus pubis, the crab louse, only found

us later on. Studies of crab lice noncoding

DNA demonstrate that they were originally

gorilla lice, which began to suck our blood

some 3.3 million years ago. Noncoding DNA

is DNA sequences, which do not code

directly for any proteins. Mutations in

noncoding DNA do thus not immediately

have any harmful effect on the organism,

and so the mutations are able to remain as a

kind of DNA history archive. And this very

history has presented scientists with a

number of mysteries.

While humans have had a type of gorilla

lice for 3.3 million years, the split between

gorillas and human ancestors dates more

than three times as long back. We split from

the gorillas 12 million years ago. In other

words, gorilla lice found their way to humans

millions of years after the two primates’

family trees split.

How this happened is still quite a

mystery. As crab lice are primarily transferred

by sexual intercourse, the natural and rather

shocking answer would be that our

ancestors mated with gorillas. That is

however inconceivable, and according to

scientists, early humans hunted gorillas and

took over parasites from their prey through

this activity. If so, the crab lice may have

been the dead gorillas’ itchy revenge.

PUBIC HAIR RESEMBLES

GORILLA FUR

As lice are so adapted to their hosts and

rarely able to survive on other species, the

gorilla lice should actually not be able to

survive on humans. Part of the explanation is

the non-uniform hairiness of human beings.

A crab louse cannot live in our scalps

today either. Instead, it lives in our groins,

and the hair in human groins is more like

gorilla fur than human scalp hair – and this

was probably even more so among our more

hairy ancestors 3.3 million years ago.

The hair of the groin and surrounding

regions of humans was consequently a

habitat, which gorilla lice could conquer,

because it resembled their former home.

Unfortunately for crab lice, this private

habitat is now under pressure in many

places of the world.

Pubic hair shaving is such a common

phenomenon today that according to

preliminary studies, it constitutes a

Ancient, deadly

remedies for

head lice Around 1200 BC, the

Chinese used mercury and

arsenic mixtures against lice

– undoubtedly bad for both

lice and human health.

delousing has been

a social ritual

throughout the

history of mankind.

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The 130 million year itch...Head lice have accompanied humans, ever since we crawled down from the trees. Subsequently, they developed into body lice, and then gorillas gave us yet another variant.

130-70 million years ago

Lice arise 130 million

years ago, and 70 million

years ago, the different

louse families seriously

start to spread.

25 million years ago

Lice’s long

coexistance with

primates begins. 12 million years agoGorilla lice split up

from the lice, which

later become human

and chimp lice. 6 million years agoThe human ancestor

and the chimp split up.

Their lice split into

head lice and

chimp lice.

3.3 million years agoA human ancestor,

probably Australopi-

thecus, takes over lice

from the gorilla. The lice

live in pubic hair and

become known as crab lice.

Approx. 100,000 years agoHumans began

to wear clothes,

providing

habitats for a

new louse type

called Pediculus

humanus corporis –

the body louse.

8000 BC

The earliest direct proof

that lice lived in human

hair can be seen in

Brazilian finds.

Around 350 BC

Aristotle introduces his theory that lice

arise spontaneously on human bodies.

1250

The English philosopher Roger Bacon

perfects the magnifying glass.

1500s

The flea glass, a predecessor of the

microscope, is invented.

Pediculus schaeffi

GoriLLa

ChiMpanzee

hoMo sapiens

hoMo sapiens

hoMo sapiens

Pediculus humanus

Body lice

Crab lice

Head lice

Pthirus gorillae

major problem for crab lice, which are

almost extinct on women in several places

in the western world.

BODy LICE ARE VILLAINS

As humans had less and less hair, the

original lice’s habitats were under increased

pressure. Luckily for the lice, humans began

to cover their naked bodies with something

else than fur – clothes – and thus, a new

chapter in the history of lice began.

A few visionary pioneer lice colonised

the new habitat. The lice were not yet

adapted to life in clothes, and most of them

died in the process. But the survivors

thrived. They developed a brand new niche,

as the competition for space and food was

much less intensive on people’s clothes

than on their heads.

Previously, scientists believed that the

body louse was a different subspecies than

the head louse. The debate has been going

on since the mid-1700s and has still not

been finally settled. But still more seems to

indicate that head and body lice are the

same, only they manifest themselves

differently in different situations. At the

gene level, it is impossible to distinguish

In spite of 3.3 million years of separate evolution, crab lice and gorilla lice are still much alike.

crab lice were originally gorilla lice, which were transferred to humans.

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A house full of uninvited guests Lice are not the only creatures which have invaded our bodies. Living with parasites is the price you pay for being a reasonably large animal. Even in the modern world, a wide range of creepy-crawlies have found

humans very well suited as a home and a source of food.

letting bedbugs bite LenGTh: 5 mm.

habiTaTs: Hide in cracks of beds or

in other places and creep up on the

body at night and gorge on blood.

fooD: Blood.

syMpToMs: Itching and rash.

Disease: Do not transmit diseases.

TreaTMenT: Bagging clothes and beds

DiD you knoW ThaT adult bedbugs can survive

for 18 months without feeding?

The humble flea LenGTh: 2-3 mm.

habiTaTs: Throughout the body.

fooD: Blood.

syMpToMs: Skin irritation and intense itching.

Disease: Suspected of carrying the plague.

TreaTMenT: Shaving, shampoo, special comb.

DiD you knoW ThaT fleas are a sign of

poor hygiene and sanitation?

Subdermal itch mites LenGTh: 0.3 mm.

habiTaTs: Right under the skin

fooD: The top skin layer.

syMpToMs: Itching and subsequently violent

allergic reaction to mite eggs.

Disease: Itch mites are a disease in themselves.

TreaTMenT: Non-prescription drugs.

DiD you knoW ThaT the female gnaws its way

down through the upper layers and lays its

eggs in paths under the skin?

Deadly but tiny: the tickLenGTh: 3 mm, but the tick can grow to measure

up to 11 mm, once it is saturated with blood.

habiTaTs: Moves from blades of grass to the

bodies of passing humans or animals.

fooD: Blood.

syMpToMs: You will not notice the tick.

Disease: Can transmit a virus, which causes menin-

gitis, and bacteria, which cause lyme borreliosis.

TreaTMenT: If the tick is removed within 24 hours,

infection is normally not transmitted.

DiD you knoW ThaT ticks can hide everywhere

on the body, and often in the groin?

Mites in the dust size: 0.5 mm.

habiTaTs: Live in beds, duvets, pillows, bed linen,

and similar places inside the house. Housedust

mites thrive with high humidity.

fooD: Skin flakes and other organic waste.

syMpToMs: Allergies.

Disease: Worldwide, housedust mites are the

main cause of asthma.

TreaTMenT: Ventilation to avoid high air

humidity and frequent, thorough washing

of bed linen at a high temperature.

DiD you knoW ThaT just one single

gramme of dust can harbour up to

500 house dust mites?

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between body lice and head lice in spite of

different lifestyles, behaviour, and size. This

means that body lice are actually head lice,

which just found a different habitat.

Anthropologists and other scientists have

confirmed this and observed a particular

pattern over and over again: In very poor and

dirty environments, body lice always occur,

after head lice have spread.

Thus, head lice have developed an ability

to move into our clothes under the right – or

seen from a human point of view the wrong

– circumstances. Body lice are often observed

in prisons, refugee camps, and other places

with poor standards of hygiene.

Unfortunately, the situation goes from bad to

highly dangerous, when head lice play the role

of body lice, as they can be disease carriers.

During a plague outbreak among

humans, the Y. pestis bacterium has been

found on body l ice. From animal

experiments, scientists know that lice can

transmit Y. pestis infection from sick to

healthy rabbits and kill after a few days. It is,

however, unknown, how big a role body lice

play in connection with other disease

carriers such as rats, which also thrive under

the miserable conditions, which usually

precede severe epidemics.

CLOTHES MADE HUMANS

LEAVE AFRICA

Apart from the plague, body lice probably

also transmit typhus and trench fever. It is

thus easy to conclude that body lice are in

many ways harmful, but in one respect, they

are beneficial to science.

Scientists have long discussed, when

humans began to wear clothes, and the

estimates vary a great deal. Some believe

that humans started to wear clothes three

million years ago, while archaeological finds

of primitive sewing needles indicate that our

textile adventure began 40,000 years ago.

The question is an important one, as the use

of clothes can reveal, when our ancestors

left Africa.

Now, it finally seems that Melissa Toups

from the Indiana University has found the

answer. In 2011, she compared four genes

from head lice and body lice, and her results

indicate that the body louse appeared

83,000-170,000 years ago.

As body lice live and breed in textiles, the

scientist concludes that within this interval,

humans began to wear clothes, and the use

of clothes thus only began with anatomically

modern humans, who evolved in Africa by

the end of the Middle Pleistocene period and

in the Late Pleistocene.

The clothes played a very important role

for humans’ ability to move out of Africa

and expand further north, where the

climate was cooler. For a naked ape, this

would have been impossible.

But the price was high, and humans have

paid for clothes and expansion by being

attacked by body lice and the resulting

diseases. Luckily, body lice are now rare

guests in many parts of the world, but in

very poor countries, there is still a long way

to go, and body lice tend to appear in times

of war and chaos.

Moreover, like many other animals with

a relatively short life cycle, lice are very

good at developing resistance, just as fast

as humans develop new remedies against

lice. Consequently, there is every indication

that the lice are here to stay – unless we all

begin to shave our heads. And when all is

said and done, humans are probably so vain

that we would rather keep our hair than

get rid of lice.

The Romans’

long struggle against liceShortly after the birth of Christ, Roman

armies were tormented by lice. Pliny the

Elder thought that the soldiers could defeat

the lice by drinking a snakeskin solution.

Questionable

household tipsIn the 1900s, housewives used both

paraffin oil and petrol as inflammable

“louse shampoo”. Less hazardous

methods included rubbing hair and

scalp in mayonnaise or vaseline.

1664 Robert

Hooke pub-

lishes a draw-

ing of lice on a

human hair seen

through his

microscope.

1758 Carl

Linnaeus declares

that humans have

one type of lice.

He names it Pediculus

humanus, which

includes both head

and body lice.

1767 Swedish businessman and

entomologist Charles De Geer splits

human lice into two subspecies:

head lice and body lice – a split,

which is still controversial today.

1812 Lice typhoid fever stops Napoleon’s

troops, before they reach Moscow.

1864 Louis Pasteur once and for all rejects

the millennia old theory that lice arise

spontaneously on humans.

1944-1970

Widespread use of DDT almost defeats

head lice in the US, but body lice develop

resistance quite quickly.

1990s-today Repeatedly, lice prove

to develop resistance against different

recent lice remedies. The short-lived

generations and the relative great number

of lice mean that the parasites adapt to

the chemicals fast. Lice thus still pester

humans throughout the world.

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FEATURE | nanotech


Via the blood vessels, future

nanorobots will be sent on

missions deep inside the body. d. Mack/sPl/scanPIx


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SUrgErYSoon, nanorobots will be ready to enter the body

and wage war against bacteria, cancer, and

other diseases. Scientists have already designed

much of the content of the nanorobots’ medical

tool box, and now, they have started to develop

motors and navigation equipment.

T he nurses have completed the pre-op checks,

and the patient waits for the surgery to begin.

Finally, the door opens, and two million nano-

robots in a glass ampoule enter the room on a trolley

pushed by a porter. As soon as the chief surgeon has

injected the clear liquid with the tiny robots into the

patient’s blood vessel, the bots head for the brain,

where their job is to remove a blood clot. the robots

cooperate efficiently. Some lead the team to the blood

clot and at the same time send out signals, allowing

the surgery to be monitored on screens in the operating

theatre. others are equipped with nippers, which grab

the blood clot and hold on to it, while tiny robotic

surgeons cut it up into small pieces with their sharp

scalpels. the pieces are collected by a gripping arm and

carried away in a container, while other nanorobots

dose drugs directly into the injured tissue, boosting its

ability to heal. After the successful surgery, the

nanorobots go dormant, and are flushed into the

bloodstream to be later excreted from the body. the

surgery lasts less than half an hour.

this could be the future blood clot (and a series of

other surgeries) treatment scenario. Scientists have

already managed to develop nanoscale robots and to

send them into the human body. For several years,

doctors have used very simple nanorobots, which can

trace and eliminate cancer cells by burning them

without harming the healthy tissue nearby. But the

real challenge is to develop robots which are able to

move about the body on their own, find the sick tissue,

and use tiny tools to carry out a surgeon’s job by

acting directly on tumours, blood clots and more.

today, the first prototypes are ready for trials, and it

has proved possible to customise sophisticated robots

with highly unique qualities.

CUT OUT THE CUTTING

the advantages of nanoscale robotic surgeons are

obvious. the vast majority of diseases are caused by a

defect in a cell or in one of the cell’s tiny components.

Consequently, it is often way out of proportion for

doctors and surgeons operate with scalpels and

EXTREMELy SMALL TOOLS

TARGETED DRUGS

EFFECTIVE DIAGNOSES


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sick cells. Almost all drugs have been

developed to be effective against certain

types of cell. But when the drug is given in

the shape of a pill or an injection, it affects

the entire body, markedly increasing the risk

of side effects.

Scientists have long dreamed of being

able to carry out surgery and dose drugs

deep inside the body and directly onto the

sick tissue - and only the sick tissue.

In continuation of the most recent

scientific results, the dream may very well

soon come true. One of the great

breakthroughs came in 2006, when Paul

Rothemund from the California Institute of

Technology in the US managed to fold a DNA

strand into an arbitrary figure. Since then, DNA

has become one of scientists’ favourite

building blocks for nanorobots. DNA can be

interwoven and bound to molecules in different

tHE EartH is as

many times bigger

than a soccer ball ...

... as a SoccEr Ball

is bigger than ...

... a partIclE with

a diameter of 1 nanometre.

HUMAN HAIR

(DIAMETER): 90,000 NM

nano mEanS SmallReally small. the prefix ”nano” comes from the greek word for dwarf

and is used as a designation for ”one billionth”. consequently, one

nanometre (nm) is one billionth of a metre. a nanoscale object is

anything measuring up to 100 nm. above 100 nm, you can image the

object in an optical microscope. once a thing becomes big enough to

see with visible light, it is considered merely microscopic.

a SpEcIal JEt EngInE for nanorobots uses

hydrogen peroxide as fuel. In four seconds,

the nanorobot moves eight millimetres.

Nanorocket

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Little nippers could save livesby means of tiny grids and cutting nippers, robots are to repair the body from the inside.

At nano-scale, the tools a robot needs do tra-

ditional jobs (cutting, suturing) in strange

new ways. Robert Freitas from the Institute

for Molecular Manufacturing in California has

developed round nanorobots, or clottocytes,

which can repair a burst blood vessel very

fast, using a fine-meshed grid, which will seal

the hole and prevent blood cells from esca-

ping. At the same time, signals are sent to

other clottocytes, which will quickly come to

the accident site. According to Robert Freitas,

the clottocytes are 1,000 times faster than

the body’s own blood coagulation processes.

1. In the initial position, the

cutting nippers are open.

2. The teeth are tiny

receptors, which can

recognise fibrine from

coagulated blood.

3. When encountering

fibrine, the teeth capture

their prey – a blood clot.

DNA MOLECULE

(DIAMETER): 2 NM

CELL (DIAMETER):

25,000 NM

structures, making it ideal as a nanorobot skeleton. Since

then, DNA has been used to build nanorobots shaped as

drug-carrying containers.

Another great advance was made, when scientists

managed to utilise some proteins’ ability to bind to

particular molecules. Scientists can use the technology to

develop nanorobots, which can hold on to a cancer cell or

grab hold of a blood clot.

TINy ENGINES TO POWER ROBOTS

One of nanotech engineering’s greatest challenges is to enable

the nanorobots to move about the body. The tiny surgeons

must be equipped with a type of engine, fuel, and navigation

equipment, so they can get to the sick tissue. However,

scientists are well on their way to solving these problems.

In 2010, Liangfang Zhang and Jospeph Wang from the

University of California, San Diego, developed an example of

an extremely efficient engine, which can power nanorobots.

Their rocket-shaped nanorobot uses hydrogen peroxide

(H2O2) as its fuel. The rocket’s jet engine consists of layers

of four metals – platinum, gold, iron, and titanium. When

placed in a liquid, which contains a weak solution of

hydrogen peroxide, the engine will suck in the fuel through

its front aperture and split it into water and oxygen, so

thousands of tiny air bubbles are forced out through the

rocket’s tail. The engine provides the nanorobot with so

much power, that it can move at a speed of up to 2 mm/

second. This may not sound fast, but considering the size,

it is like a car driving at 600 km/h.

The splitting up of hydrogen peroxide also provides the

power of another nanotech engine developed by scientists

from the Pennsylvania State University in the US. The

engine consists of a small metal rod with platinum at the

front and gold at the back. The hydrogen peroxide is split

into oxygen and two free protons and electrons, when it

comes in contact with the platinum. After the split, the

electrons move through the metal rod to the gold at the

back, where they encounter the protons, which have made

the same trip – only on the outside of the metal rod. Now,

the protons and the electrons are united with the

EXTREMELy TINy TOOLS

In 2012, Gabriel Lavella from

the University of California

designed a pair of nano-cut-

ting nippers. Only 100 nm

long, the nippers consist of

two jaws, which capture

blood clots when encounte-

ring the fibrine protein, which

is found in coagulated blood.

CapTure bLooD CLoTs

Nano-cutting nippersBlood

clot

EFFECTIVE DIAGNOSES



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hydrogen peroxide, generating a water molecule. The process

is repeated and creates momentum, which forcess the metal

rod through the liquid at a speed corresponding to a car driving

180 km/h. Not too shabby at all for a little tacker.

While hydrogen peroxide has so far been the favourite

nanorobot fuel, blood sugar may provide energy for the work,

which the robots are to carry out in the future. Glucose is

always present in the blood, and it can be metabolised by

utilising the oxygen red blood cells carry around. According to

calculations made by Robert Freitas from the Institute for

Molecular Manufacturing in Palo Alto, California, the principle

can be utilised by a nanorobot to generate at least 10

picowatts. This might sound pretty low-end, but it’s actually

10,000 times more power than the amount used by an e-coli

bacterium, when it swims using its flagellas. At this stage, no

glucose-powered nanobots have been prototyped - this

remains a tantalising theory.

BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED (OR NEEDED)Many nanorobot designs actually don’t need an external

energy supply. By using well-understood bio-chemical

processes, nano-cutting nippers can be made to ”bite”,

and the leg of a nanorobot can take a step forward by

itself - simply by utilising chemical reactions at the

molecular level. In 2012, Milan Stojanovic from the

Columbia University in New York used this principle to

design an extremely tiny nanorobot, which resembles a

three-legged spider.

The nanospider is only four nanometres long – five million

times smaller than an ordinary spider. The three legs are

made of short, individual DNA strands. DNA is normally a

double-stranded molecule made up by two corresponding

strands, which always seek to join up. The robot’s DNA legs

are, however, single-stranded, and thus, they will constantly

stretch in search of a corresponding DNA strand. When the

nanorobot is let loose on a surface of single-stranded DNA, it

moves its three small legs step by step. In this way, the spider

can move forward at a speed of 180 nm/h – corresponding

to an ordinary spider moving 1 m/h.

However, scientists do not only utilise the DNA molecule to

power the spider. They also use the DNA’s genetic code as a

map, with which the spider can navigate. Milan Stojanovic and

his colleagues have consequently demonstrated that the

nanospider’s movements can be controlled by laying out a trail

of single-stranded DNA sequences, which correspond precisely

to the legs of the robot. Just like Hansel and Gretel followed a

The end of side effects?Two different methods make it possible to deliver drugs accurately.

Almost all drugs involve side effects, as the harsh

chemicals will also affect the healthy cells of the

body. With this in mind, in 2012, George Church

from the Harvard Medical School in Boston

developed a nanorobot, which almost hand feeds

bacteria and sick cells with drugs. The nanorobot

is a DNA strand folded into a pill box, which can

be opened and filled with different drugs. The pill

box is closed with two locks and will not open,

until it contacts certain molecules – such as pro-

teins from bacteria flagella. Since the drugs have

been delivered directly into the sick tissue, the

side effects are reduced to a minimum.

The brain is normally so well-protected that it

is difficult for drugs to move from the blood into

the delicate brain cells. A group of American

scientists have designed a nanorobot,which may

solve the problem. The nanorobot looks like a

group of trees,with drugs instead of fruit on their

branches. In experiments with rabbits with

spastic paralysis, the nanorobot had a positive

effect, as it could pass freely from the blood into

the brain. The experiment showed that the

treatment was up to 10 times as efficient

compared to injecting drugs willy-

nilly into the blood.

Cancer? Get infected with nanowormsThe earlier cancer is detected, the

greater the chances of an efficient

treatment. Tiny nanorobots can

move deep into the body’s tissue

and study every single cell to

determine if it is healthy or has

mutated into a cancer cell. In 2008,

Erkki Ruoslahti from the University

of California in Santa Barbara

designed a nanoworm by joining

5-10 tiny magnetic iron oxide

particles into short chains. The

nanoworm was subsequently

equipped with a type of “fur” made

of bits of protein, which bind to

cancer cells. When the nanoworms

were injected into the body, they

found the cancer cells and

collected around them. In this way,

the worms’ magnetic iron content

made even the smallest of tumours

stand out in an MRI scanner.

When the nano-pill box

encounters bacteria, it opens

and dispenses drugs.

nanoworms bind to

cancer cells, so it is

easier to see them

in mrI scans.

Nanoworm Sugary substance Iron oxide nanoparticle

Cancer cell

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trail of breadcrumbs through the wood, the

nanospider follows the DNA trail laid out by

the surgeon. In this way, scientists can control

the robot, so it will either move directly to the

target or follow an alternative route, which will

wind once or twice on the way.

TINy STEPS TOWARD

A TINy FUTURE

Other scientists have also suggested how to

direct nanorobots to particular places in the

body. Sylvain Martel from the Ecole

Polytechnique de Montreal in Canada

invented a system in 2009, in which a

nanorobot is directed through a blood

vessel by means of magnets, which are

moved along the outside of the

body. And in 2011,

scientists of the Indian

Institute of Science

invented a methodto

help nanorobots find a

blood clot. The scientists took

it as their starting point, that

the blood pressure increases

around a blood clot. They

attached a nanowire which is

affected by the pressure

change, to the nanorobot.

Thus, the robot could feel,

whether it swam in the right

direction towards the blood clot,

or if it had to change its course.

Other scientists imagine that, in

the future, nanorobots can be

equipped with sensors, which can

measure everything from blood

oxygen content to histamines

from inflamed tissue, so the

nanorobots will automatically

move to the place, where their

help is needed.

It is still the job of real doctors to

carry out the work, diagnose the

illnes, and determine when and if

patients should undergo surgery.

But nanorobots will soon be

ready to leave the lab. And

when that happens, they will be

able to navigate safely to sick

cells inside patients, where, by

targeting only unhealthy

tissue, they can live up to

that ancient oath taken by

doctors everywhere: first

do no harm.

mICrOCHIPs? yOu GOTTa

THINK smaLLEr

Individual nanobots will be surprisingly basic, with a single specialised

tool and a simple communications system. But when they swarm

together, they could combine their internal processors into a powerful

distributed computer. Surgeons could reprogram nanobot swarms during

operations by using ultrasound... or even a standard WiFi network!

shutteRstock

real nanobots will be too small to

see with an optical microscope.

this artist’s impression is fanciful -

a real nanobot will be a very simple

machine that looks like strangely

geometric arrangement of

molecules.


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FEATURE | archaeology


3d mapping: a new frontier for underwater archaeology?

At the bottom of the Mediterranean, french scientists are

revolutionising deep-sea archaeology. They’re using ground-

breaking 3d imaging technology to excavate the wreck of the

the la lune – a warship which sank 350 years ago and

claimed as many as 900 lives. if this dig is successful,

the technique may soon reveal thousands of

hidden wrecks to archaeologists.

deep-dive pressure suits

like this one are expensive

to operate. By 3d-mapping

a wreck before the dives

begin, teams can save

thousands and reduce the

time spent on dives.os

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Using “haptic gloves” which transmit simulated touch ,

scientists can uncover artefacts which may not be

immediately visible to the eye.

Archaeologists and computer experts utilise the latest 3D technology to create a

virtual copy of the wreck at the bottom of the Mediterranean. Eventually,

the technology will allow scientists to explore sunken ships from their offices.

Remote photography The first step consists in collecting as much visual

data as possible from the wrecksite of La Lune.

The sea floor is divided into squares of 3 x 3 m,

which are each systematically mapped out by the

archaeologists. A sophisticated camera, which

takes high-resolution photos, is mounted on a

remote-controlled submarine robot, which moves

about the ocean floor, documenting the wreck at

different depths and angles.

a remote-controlled

submarine photographs

the wreck site.

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STEP 1


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T he French King Louis XIV only had one thing on his

mind in 1664: to flex his military muscle and

shoewwhat France could do. A war in Europe was

too risky, so he focused on the North African coast,

where pirates looted European vessels. By conquering

Jijel, a fortified city in Algeria, Louis could establish a

Photo processingPhotos taken under water are often blurred due

to haze, sediment, and more. With an image

processing programme, scientists refine

the underwater photos and intensify the

colours, so the image becomes sharper.

creating the cloudScientists compare the photos to find key points – special

characteristics of the wrecksite or the objects, which are present in two

or more photos. Using telemetry from the camera, scientists can see from

which angle the many photos were taken and calculate the subject’s

location and proportions. When a sufficiently high number of identical

subjects have been registered, the data is entered into a 3D coordinate

system, so scientists can generate a cloud consisting of points.

BEFORE

AFTER

Scientists combine

photos which have the

same subject.

bridgehead, from where he could fight the pirates. A

successful expedition would secure him public

admiration and seafaring Europe’s respect.

The expedition began in the port city of Toulon in July

1664, but it went terribly wrong. Bad planning,

incompetent officers, and worn-out ships forced Louis’

fleet to return home after just four months.

For one of the vessels, the defeat was fateful. The

three-masted La Lune flagship sunk off Toulon with

almost all 900 men aboard.

La Lune was remembered only in history books – until

one day in May 1993, when, during a submarine dive,

deep-sea diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet suddenly received

sonar signals indicating metal nearby. Shortly after, he

first registered several guns and then an entire wreck –

partly covered in sand, but intact. According to the

French ministry of cultural affairs, the wreck was La Lune.

Back then, scientists did not have the equipment to

carry out archaeological work at a depth of 90 m. But

two decades later, this is no longer the case, and in

October 2012, archaeologists were ready to take a look

at La Lune. What they discovered confirmed the

historical sources. Thßße ship sank like “a marble block”,

the leader of the expedition informed the king after the

shipwreck. Thanks to the fast demise and the large

depth, archaeologists found a remarkably well-

preserved wreck, a virtual time capsule on the oxygen-

poor sea floor.

a special instrument

carefully “blows” sediments

away from la lune without

harming it.

A cloud of points creates a 3D version of the photos.

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STEP 2 STEP 3



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The excavation of La Lune at a depth of 90 m

requires sturdy equipment, which can endure the

extreme conditions on the sea floor. The

atmospheric diving suit (ADS) is actually an

”articulated submersible”, or submarine, which can

maintain normal air pressure inside, making it

possible to operate at extreme depth. At the site of

La Lune, the pressure is 10 atmospheres. The suit has

been approved for use at depths of up to 300 m, but

was used by the US Navy in 2006 as deep as 610 m.

18 flexible joints allow the

diver freedom of movement,

as he walks about the sea floor.

Two propellers

– and their individual

blades – can be

moved in different

directions, so the

suit can be controlled

very precisely.

Foot pedals in the boots

allow the diver to control the

speed and direction of the suit.

Grip hooks allow scientists

to examine objects found

on the sea floor.

The oxygen

cylinder contains

enough oxygen for

48 hours. A special

rebreather system

removes CO2 from

the expired air, so

the air can be cycled

through again.

Two 75 watt light bulbs provide

light on the sea floor. The bulbs are full

of xenon gas, which produces brighter

light than traditional halogen bulbs.

the atmospheric diving SuitA motor-powered aluminium suit is

marine archaeologists’ most important

tool on the sea floor.

Wireless communication takes place

via radio waves and a unit, which is also

found in small subs. The diver can talk

to the ship within a 1.6 km radius.

The face shield consists of 2-cm-thick,

polycarbonate coated plexiglass polished

with small particles, making the glass

both very strong and very clear.

Extremely heavy in air, the adS requires a

crane for deployment.

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“Nothing has been stolen, as the wreck is located too

deeply for amateur divers. To us, La Lune is like Pompeii,”

says Michel L’Hour, the head of the French ministry of

culture’s marine archaeologists, referring to the Roman

city, which was buried in a thick layer of volcanic ash in

79 and excavated in an intact condition in the 1800s.

Among the finds made so far are guns, ship bells, and a

large collection of kitchenware. The archaeologisists

have not yet excavated the earthly remains of the crew,

but they hope that DNA analyses of teeth and bones

will reveal e.g. where the men came from and their

state of health.

In order to make a complete snapshot of La Lune’s last

hours, the scientists use the most modern and

sophisticated tools of archaeology. For instance, the

entire wreck site has been carefully explored by remote-

controlled robots, which can bring back interesting finds

to the André Malraux expedition vessel. The ship was

designed for expeditions like this one, and by means of

GPS, sensors, and powerful engines, it can remain directly

above the wreck without the use of disturbing mooring

lines. And with a Newsuit diving suit – a type of

customized miniature submarine, which equalizes the

pressure on the sea floor – the archaeologists can explore

La Lune without fearing decompression sickness, which is

normally involved in deep sea diving.

WRECkS CAN BE EXCAVATED FROM

THE OFFICE

The photos from the sea floor have e.g. been used to

create 3D models of the objects of La Lune, allowing

archaeologists to study them without having to dive or

rescue them. Moreover, scientists are working on a

complete 3D model of the wrecksite, so they can “walk”

about the sea floor, before they start diving.

The virtual test dives can e.g. help archaeologists find

the best route to an object, that they wish to study in

detail. The route planning will make dives more efficient

and less risky, archaeologists expect.

The excavation of La Lune will be carried out over the

next four years, but the new technologies, which

scientists are developing, reach far into the future. “This

project is aimed at developing methods for archaeological

studies at great depths. What robots can do at 100 m (La

Lune), can also be done at 2,000 m,” says Michel L’Hour.

He expects a lot from the 3D models of wrecks.Once

the system has been fully developed, scientists will not

only see the wreck. A special 3D helmet and gloves will

provide sensory impressions of the structure, shape, and

weight of objects. The helmet and gloves will be connected

to a submarine robot, which repeats the motions of the

archaeologist, eliminating the physical limitations involved

in excavating at great depths and allowing scientists to

explore more of the three million wrecks, which are

scattered across oceans and seas, according to UNESCO.

“By means of virtual reality, I will be able to explore

every wreck in the world directly from my office,” says

Michel L’Hour.

3D image generationA sophisticated computer programme connects each

of the calculated points in the “cloud”, generating

a virtual grid, which is placed across the sea floor.

As a result, the wrecksite and all objects appear

in a coarse 3D shape. Even before further refinement and

image enhancement, objects like guns and other large

items can already be identified.

objects such

as guns begin

to appear.

the conditions at the bottom of the

mediterranean have protected the

remains of the la lune warship

and e.g. preserved the anchor.

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STEP 4



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Gun including surface structure

combining 3d data with existing 2d photos

gives the model realistic texture - here’s

what it looks like before that step

Finalising the model The computer programme connects the dots of the

cloud to give the image solid surfaces and make it

more realistic. Later in the process, the objects are

also coloured by covering the 3D model with photos

from the sea floor. An underwater photo of a gun

is placed over the a virtual gun, providing it with

the right colour and structure.

virtual explorationThe last step consists in making the 3D world interactive. Different

camera angles are coded into the model, so archaeologists can either

see the wrecksite from different angles or move freely about on the

sea floor. Moreover, all objects’ qualities are defined, so scientists

can interact with them virtually, even picking up and moving objects.

In the virtual world,

scientists can touch

and move all the

objects at the

bottom of the sea.like a sophisticated

videogame, scientists

can simulate and plan

actual dives using the

3d model

cédRIc sIMaRd/3ds.coM/dassault systèMes

cédRIc sIMaRd/3ds.coM/dassault systèMes

STEP 5

STEP 6


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http://3ds.com/DASSAULT

http://3ds.com/DASSAULT



FEATURE | quantum physics


crEatIng an UncracKaBlE codE

J ulius Caesar, the roman dictator, was

in a dilemma 2,000 years ago. In

charge of a huge army like rome’s,

the general depended on being able to

send orders and receive reports from even

the most remote corners of the empire.

the risk of messages being intercepted by

enemies en route was constant, but the

romans found a solution.

By writing messages to victorious

legions in code, the emperor made sure

state secrets were not revealed, even if

enemies laid hands on the letters. today,

Caesar’s code, by which the letters of the

alphabet were moved three positions,

would be a piece of cake for any hacker.

But throughout history, code systems

have become ever more sophisticated, and

the best modern encryption, used for

military and civil communication, has never

been cracked.

World history is, however, ripe with

examples of totally “uncrackable” codes,

which have been cracked sooner or later.

But perhaps the first truly uncrackable

code is here, thanks to quantum

computers, which utilise the laws of

physics to make calculations by means of

atoms instead of transistors. Nobody

knows for how long the encoded bulwarks

will be able to resist the massive

calculating powers of quantum computers,

and consequently, over the past 20 years,

physicists and cryptologists have

developed a new coded language:

quantum cryptography.

In 2016, the new codes will be put to

the test, when Chinese scientists launch

the world’s first quantum satellite, which

can send these codes round the world.

OPEN MAILBOX USED TODAy

the quantum-encrypted messages will

first be employed for safe exchange of

strategic information between countries

esa

In 2012, austrian scientists

tightbeamed quantum-encoded

photons between the islands

of la palma and tenerife.


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in 2016, a Chinese satellite will pave the

way for uncrackable, quantum-encrypted

codes to be sent round the world. if the

experiment is successful,cryptologists may

finally win their 2,000-year-old battle

against hostile spies.

light-speed transmissionA laser beam shoots quantum-encoded photons off

towards the receiver. Photons can act as particles or wa-

ves. Unless directly observed, they can exist in several

different ”states” at the same time.

and for military uses. Civil modes of

application are however also a logical step

– such as moving money in global bank

transfers. today, public key systems are

used for sensitive communication. the

systems are based on the sender and the

receiver possessing two codes. one is

publicly known, the other is secret. When

A sends a message to B, A uses B’s public

code to encode his data, before sending it

over the Internet. B decodes the message

with his private code – the key.

the method may be compared to a

mailbox, into which everybody can put

letters, but only the owner can open. the

Quantum mechanics make hackers dizzyImmediately illogical phenomena

arising in particles, which are smaller

than atoms, are the domain of

quantum mechanics. This marvellous

physics field e.g. dictates that a

particle’s state is indefinite, until the

moment it is measured. And the very

measurement may alter the particle’s

qualities. It all corresponds to a

situation, in which you wrongly

measure a vertical column to be

horizontal, and it is horizontal, once you

have measured it. This phenomenon

makes quantum cryptograpy

uncrackable. The very moment a hacker

tries to read a quantum-encoded

particle, he will alter the particle’s

qualities. The hacker’s interference thus

disrupts the coded message, and the

recipient will immediately know and

scrap the message.

key is produced by a complex mathematical

formula, so a computer, which is sufficiently

powerful, will be able to calculate the key, if

it has enough time.

PHOTONIC AMBIGUITy

Quantum cryptography is revolutionary,

as it is not based on sophisticated maths,

but on the laws of physics.

Quantum mechanics, which regulates

subatomic particles such as electrons and

photons, has a number of odd qualities, of

which one is well-suited for encoding. A

photon, which is the primary constituent of

light and some radiation, can (unlike

Werner Karl Heisenberg is the father of

modern quantum mechanics. He invented

the uncertainty principle, which is a

prerequisite for quantum cryptography.

aRchIve

macroscopic things such as


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0

0

01

1

’0’

macroscopic things such as computer

chips) be in several different states at the

same time. You can only find out which state

photons are in, by making a measurement.

But the very measurement may alter the

photon’s state. This is uti l ised by

cryptologists. If a hacker tries to monitor

quantum-encoded photons, many of the

photons’ qualities will inevitably be altered.

The hacker achieves nothing, and he will be

revealed, as the message becomes

nonsense to the rightful recipient.

Cryptologists have been able to send

data via quantum-encrypted connections in

fibre-optic cables for more than 10 years.

But the cables have practical limitations.

The codes cannot be sent across distances

of more than 100 km, as data is lost in the

fibres, and thus, quantum-encrypted fibre-

optic cable networks are only suitable for

local communication.

SCIENTISTS TARGET THE Sky

Instead, scientists intend to send the

photons through the air, by which it will be

possible to send codes across much longer

distances. The present record (143 km) was

set in 2012, when scientists from the

University of Vienna sent quantum-encoded

photons between the Canarian Islands of La

Palma and Tenerife.

Earlier this year, German physicists from

the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich

and the German Centre for Aviation and

Space Travel in Wessling took up the baton,

exchanging quantum codes between Earth

and an aeroplane 20 km away and moving

290 km/h.

A new milestone will be reached in 2016,

when a team of Chinese scientists from the

University of Science and Technology of

China (USTC) in Hefei will be the first to launch

a satellite, which is to send uncrackable code

keys from China to Austria. The Chinese

quantum satellite plans were developed as

early as around the turn of the millennium.

According to Yu-Ao Chen from the team of

scientists, the design is now complete, and

the satellite is under construction.

HOSTILE SPIES DEFEATED

Once the satellite has been built, the

scientists will carry out a series of lab tests,

before the 600 kg device is launched by a

Chinese rocket. The project is carried out in

cooperation with the Austrian team of

scientists, which was responsible for the

experiment in Tenerife, and the first aim is to

exchange encrypted code keys between

Beijing and Vienna.

The quantum-encoded photons are sent

off one by one from an oscillating laser diode.

For practical reasons, the satellite functions

as the sender, and the two earth stations

function as receivers, as big, extremely

sensitive detectors are required, and those

are much too heavy to be sent into space.

It is a feat in itself that the detectors are

able to distinguish individual quantum-

encrypted photons from the myriad of

photons in sunlight.The scientists use

photons with wavelengths, which are rare in

sunlight, and the detectors have been

designed to filter out all other wavelengths.

If the exchange of quantum-encrypted

code keys between Asia and Europe

becomes a success, the way will be paved for

100% safe global communication, and

cryptologists will finally win their long war

against criminals and hostile spies.

Quantum codes locked by physicsThe codes, scientists intend to send between Beijing and Vienna via satellite, are based on photon swing directions.

Photon encoding

A laser sends out one

photon at a time. The

sender, a satellite, notes

whether the photon swings

vertically or diagonally at

angles of 45 or 135 degrees.

FiLters receiVe Photons

The recipient in Beijing adjusts his

filters randomly. When a filter mat-

ches a photon, he makes a correct

measurement, and vice versa.

Beijing does not yet know which

measurements are right or wrong.

The photons are read using filters, which

measure either rectilinearly or diagonally.

If the filter does not match the photon, the

filter will alter the photon’s swing direction

into one which the filter can measure. If a

hacker makes a wrong measurement, he

alters the sender’s bit - say from 0 to 1. The

satellitte and recipient in Beijing detect the

attack when they compare measurements.

HAckeRS AlWAYS lOSe4 directions = 4 Bits

Each swing direction

represents 1 bit. Vertical

may signify 1 and

horizontal 0. Likewise, 45

degrees may mean 1, and

135 degrees may mean 0.

1. BeIjIng WRITeS

A MeSSAgeA secret message is to be sent

to Vienna, and the Chinese wish

to make sure that the message

cannot be decoded if it is inter-

cepted en route. Thus, the parties

must generate a quantum-

encrypted one-shot key kode,

which only they possess.

2. SecReT cODeS

ARe geneRATeDBoth cities contact the quantum

satellite. First, it sends a secret,

quantum-encrypted code to

Beijing – in this example (1 0 0 1)

– and subsequently another

secret code to Vienna (0 0 1 1).

BEIJIng



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resuLt coordination

Beijing contacts the satellitte to learn,

which filters were adjusted correctly.

The photons Beijing measured incor-

rectly are scrapped. The sequence of

ones and zeros from the correct measure-

ments makes up the secret key. Hackers

will not benefit from monitoring the fil-

ter communication, as it is not revealed,

if the bits measured were ones or zeros.

QUAnTUM cODeS TRAvel FROM ASIA TO eUROPeFor clarity, we’ve used a 4-digit code, which would be easy to guess.

The real codes will be much, much longer.

5. One-SHOT keY IS ReADY

Beijing now knows Vienna’s secret code. Thus, the cities

have a common key, that can be used to encode and

decode their mutual message. Only the common code

has been sent through the open network.

6. BeIjIng SenDS leTTeR

The code key is ready, and Beijing encodes its

message and sends it to Vienna by e-mail,

which can be compared to an open postcard.

Only Vienna can decode the message.

The parties need not worry about the letter

being intercepted en route, as it cannot be

decoded by parties, which do not possess the

quantum-encrypted one-shot code key.

3. SATellITTe PRODUceS

A cOMMOn cODe

The satellite compares the two codes,

(1 0 0 1) and (0 0 1 1), and produces a

new common code according to this

principle: Two identical bits, two

ones or two zeros,

signify 1, and two

different bits

signify 0.

SatEllItE SatEllItE KEY BEIJIng common codE

1 0 0

0 1 0

0 0 1

1 1 1

common codE

0

1

0

1

4. cOMMOn cODe IS SenT

The satellite sends the common code to both

cities without encrypting it. According to the

same principle, Beijing now compares the com-

mon code to the secret code received from the

satellite. The result matches Vienna’s code:

IllustRatIoneR: claus lunau

VIEnna

Satellite



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FEATURE | ASTRONOMy


In a galaxy at the centre of

the pKS 0745-19 cluster,

there is a black hole with

an event horizon bigger

than our Solar System.

100 BIllIon Km is the diameter

of the event horizon, the

point, beyond which nothing

is able to escape.

500,000 lIgHt YEarS is the dia-

meter of the pKS 0745-19 galaxy.

At its centre, you will find

the ultramassive black hole.

cxc/nasa

40 BIllIon SUnS is the weight of

the most massive black holes

discovered so far.


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GIANT

HOLESBLACK

Quite by chance, a group of astronomers stumbled across the heaviest

black holes ever discovered. The holes are located at the centres of

huge, remote galaxies and harbour an unsolved mystery.

The Chandra telescope hunts

B lack holes are the most peculiar

structures in the universe – and

they are also among the most

massive. Recently, astronomers found

black holes which weigh up to 40 billion

Suns – four times the heaviest that

cosmologists otherwise knew. The holes

are so huge that astronomers had to

create a brand new category: ultramassive

black holes. So far, scientists have only

found a few confirmed examples of the

heavyweights, but there are strong

indications that they exist in droves – and

perhaps some are even heavier.

Common to the black holes are that

they consist of a so-called singularity – a

huge amount of matter compressed into

one point. The matter is so dense that

even atoms have been compressed, so the

electrons no longer orbit the atomic

By Lone Djernis Olsen


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MIkkel juul jensen

j. h

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nucleus, rather they have been

compressed into it. Normally, this is

impossible, because the electromagnetic

force and the strong and weak nuclear

forces make sure that the atoms have an

extent and that the electrons maintain their

orbits around the nucleus. But because the

gravity of black holes is so extreme, it

outcompetes the other forces, so the

atoms collapse.

The extreme characteristics of the

gravity also mean that nothing – not even

light – can escape, if it has passed a point

called the event horizon. The bigger the

mass of the black hole, the further away the

event horizon. The newly-found black holes

have an event horizon the size of our Solar

System. So if there were a black hole, where

our Sun is, it would encompass everything all

the way to the other side of Neptune’s orbit.

RAyS PUT SCIENTISTS ON

RIGHT TRACk

The discovery of the ultramassive black

holes was made by a group of scientists from

the Stanford and Cambridge Universities led

by astrophysicist Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo.

She almost stumbled across them, while she

was solving another one of the universe’s

many mysteries concerning the rays of

material called jets, which some black holes

Stars collapse under their own weightblack holes are the tombs of supergiants – some of the most massive

stars of the universe. When they die, their giant masses collapse and

are compressed into one point with an infinite concentration of matter.

A gas cloud contracts

due to gravity.

eject. Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo studied 18

black holes in remote galaxy clusters. There,

she found jets, which were ejected in both

directions along the black holes’ axes of

rotation in the same way as in black holes

near us. But one thing puzzled the astro-

physicist: Only a few of the black holes

shone. Light from black holes is normally a

sign that matter is being sucked injested.

And black holes get the energy for jets from

matter, which is sucked in from the

surroundings. On its way towards the hole,

the matter, which primarily consists of gas, is

heated and starts to shine. Astronomers can

see the light in their telescopes, until the gas

crosses the black hole’s event horizon.

But there was only very little light to be

seen, so where did the energy for the

spectacular jets come from? One possibility

was that the black holes were much heavier

blue supergigantgas cloud

2. The giant starts to shine As the gas is concentrated,

the temperature at the centre becomes so high that atomic nuclei fuse.

The fusion processes make the star emit light and heat. The energy is

released at the centre and keeps the star balanced against gravity.

1. Star originates from gasStars are formed by a large cloud

of gas and dust, which becomes

unstable and begins to contract.

Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo is fascinated by

black holes. The so-called singularity at the

centre of a black hole is extremely small,

but its forces reach far into the universe. Her

studies of black holes put Julie Hlavacek-

Larrondo on the track of the ultramassive

holes of big galaxies. Larrondo works for the

Stanford University.

Black hole hunter

Gravity from

the huge mass.

Radiation pressure

generated by

energy transport

from the centre.

Fusion- processes

I wouldn’t be surprised, if I end up finding a 100 billion solar mass black hole.

Julie hlavacek-larrondo, astrophysicist



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The outermost layers

are rejected in a

supernova explosion.

Remaining matter

is attracted by

gravity.All mass is compressed

into one point.

Black holes are formed

everywhere in the universe.

Several may fuse into

supermassive holes.

blacK Hole

than previously believed. Extra mass would

provide the weight necessary to eject

permanent jets – even without sucking in

new matter. Consequently, Julie Hlavacek-

Larrondo began to investigate, whether the

holes could in fact be an indication of a mass

of unknown dimensions.

ASTRONOMER HAD

BRILLIANT IDEA

The most accurate method for determining

the mass of a black hole is looking at how the

hole makes nearby gas or stars rotate

around it. The black hole itself is invisible, as

no light escapes. But by studying how much

it affects other heavenly bodies,

astronomers can estimate the mass.

Right now, only the Hubble space

telescope can produce data of sufficient

quality. But unfortunately, Hubble has never

observed the 18 black holes, which Hlavacek-

Larrondo studies, and it was not possible to

get it to do so within a foreseeable future.

Instead, the astrophysicist used her

knowledge about a simple, fundamental

correlation between the amount of X-rays

and radio waves emitted by the gas

surrounding a black hole and the black hole’s

mass. And the very X-rays around the

interesting black holes had been measured

very accurately by NASA’s Chandra satellite.

This meant that there was either an error

in the new calculations, or the old theory was

incorrect: a classic dilemma in scientific

research. Hlavacek-Larrondo chose to

maintain that her calculations were correct,

because the correlationbetween the amount

of X-rays and radio waves on the one side

and the black hole’s mass on the other had

held water on so many other occasions. At

the same time, she could explain how the

black holes managed to eject powerful jets.

The new numbers demonstrated that the

black holes had masses of up to 40 billion

Suns – heavier than any other holes known

by scientists.

The next step was to fit the discovery

into the catalogue of black holes. Until

recently, astronomers believed that black

holes primarily came in two versions: small

holes with a mass of 10-30 Suns and evenly

distributed across most galaxies, and

supermassive black holes, which weigh

supernova

4. A black hole remains The atoms

cannot resist gravity, and the star collapses into

a so-called singularity, whose density is in

principle infinite. A black hole has formed.

3. Fireworks end the party After millions or

billions of years, there is no more fuel. When the star stops

generating energy, the radiation pressure drops, and the matter

collapses. The outermost gas layers are rejected in a giant explosion.

X-rays are absorbed by the atmosphere, so it

is necessary to use telescopes like Chandra,

which orbit the Earth.

Radio waves, on the other hand, pass

right through the atmosphere, so in this case,

telescopes on Earth are sufficient. The

astrophysicist could obtain the observations

of radio waves she needed from Earth-based

telescopes like the Karl G. Jansky Very Large

Array, New Mexico, and the Australia

Telescope Compact Array.

Other astronomers had already

estimated the weight of the 18 black holes

– based on a theory that there is a fixed

correlation between the mass of a black hole

and the mass of the galaxy, at whose centre

the hole is located. But when Julie Hlavacek-

Larrondo calculated the mass based on data

from X-ray and radio telescopes, the values

did not match. The black holes were on

average 10 times heavier than scientists

used to believe.

light years is the distance to the big black hole at

the centre of the Milky Way. There may be many

smaller black holes in other places of our galaxy.

26,000



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jPl/n

asa

10,000-10 billion solar masses and are

located at the centres of galaxies. But recent

observations indicate that there is also a rare

type of medium-sized holes. And now, the

family of black holes has grown by yet

another type: ultramassive holes with a mass

of up to 40 billion suns.

DO BLACk HOLES SWALLOW

EACH OTHER?

The last – and still unsolved – mystery is

how the ho les became so huge.

Astronomers know that small black holes

arise, when big stars die. The stars

collapse under their own gravity and end

up as a singularity with the entire mass

compressed into one point. Supermassive

black holes may have occurred in

collisions between small black holes.

But in the case of the newly-found giants,

this explanation is not sufficient.

Astronomers are not sure, but according to

one theory, they occurred when several big,

very active galaxies collided. The central

black holes swallowed each other and grew

to massive sizes. This assumption is

consistent with the fact that scientists are

now quite positive that the majority of galaxy

centres harbour a supermassive black hole

– including our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The

black hole at the centre of the Milky Way is

located approx. 26,000 light years from our

Solar System. And by looking at how nearby

stars orbit it, astronomers have estimated

the mass at 4.1 million Suns.

NEW DESIGNATION

Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo would still like to

have her discovery confirmed by the Hubble

telescope. With Hubble, the mass can be

determined by analysing how heavenly

bodies close to a black hole are affected by

it. If Hubble provides the same result, the

theory is very reliable.

In connection with some of the 18

mysterious black holes, it has so far only been

possible to determine a lower limit of their

mass – a minimum weight of the holes. In

principle, the real mass may be much greater.

By means of the Hubble telescope, Julie

Hlavacek-Larrondo believes she may find a

black hole with a mass of 100 billon Suns.

If so, she must go back to work and find

an explanation of its formation. And

astronomers will probably also need to study

their dictionaries in detail to find another

word for the massive giants, as ”super” and

”ultra” are already taken.

PHENOMENON: Black holes outside

galaxy centres are normally relatively

small and light. Consequently, it is a

mystery that two black holes found

in the arms of the IC 342 spiral galaxy

are still able to make gas nearby shine

brightly – this would usually require

a much bigger mass. The two black

holes are so-called ULXs (ultra-

luminous X-ray sources). The holes

have been spotted by an X-ray

telescope, and the image has been

fused with an ordinary photo taken

in visible light, so the location in

the galaxy becomes clear.

POSSIBLE EXPLANATION:

The ULXs may be a rare type of mid-size

black hole. However, scientists do not

rule out that we could be talking about

ordinary black holes, which shine

brightly for a so far unknown reason.

Rogue giants: a new black hole subclass?

Shining gas reveals black holes

-273273 dEgrEES below zero is the temperature

inside black holes. The extreme cold is very

close to absolute zero.


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cxc/n

asa

cxc/n

asa

gsfc/n

asa

in 2012, scientists discovered a black hole moving fast out of its galaxy. The peculiar

behaviour is only one of a number of phenomena, astronomers are trying to explain.

four puzzling interstellar discoveries

PHENOMENON: Big black holes

are usually located at the centres of

galaxies, where they suck in mass

for millions or billions of years . By

combining data from several tele-

scopes – including NASA’s Chandra

X-ray telescope – scientists discove-

red in 2012 that a black hole is

moving out of its galaxy at a speed

of several million km/h. The black

hole is already far away from the

centre, and at its present speed, it

will leave its galaxy entirely some

time in the distant future.


According to one theory, the black

hole was originally two holes located

at the centres of two different gala-

xies. Several billion years ago, the two

galaxies collided, and the holes at

their centres fused.

The collision generated so-called gra-

vitational waves, a type of

ripple in space time – the medium, in

which all heavenly bodies move. Gra-

vitational waves can have a

huge effect on their surroundings,

and astronomers believe that the

waves may have sent the black hole

on its a long journey, essentially

washing it out like a stone on a beach.

collission sent black hole on long journey

Impossible twins, impossibly close

Black holesejectpowerful jets

PHENOMENON: In the M82 12

galaxy millions of light years from Earth,

new stars originate all the time. But

among all the new stars, scientists have

also spotted two black holes close to

each other. The holes have not been

sucked into the centre of the galaxy.


Scientists believe that these type of

holes can be the beginning of super-

massive holes at galactic centres. They

do not have sufficient masses yet.

PHENOMENON: When a black

hole sucks in gas due to its violent

gravity, the gas collects into a disc,

which it is compressed and heated.

Immediately before the gas passes

the black hole’s event horizon, part

of it is sometimes suddenly accele-

rated and sent far into space. The

two opposite gas columns, called

jets, are ejected along the black

hole’s axis of rotation.


The two jets consist of particles,

which move at a speed close to

the speed of light. Astronomers

do not quite understand how they

are formed, but scientists have

discovered that when the particles

of the two jets collide at extreme

speeds, they emit energy-rich

gamma radiation. Analyses of

the radiation are expected to

indicate how the jets arise.

Black holes

Jet

Gas cloud

Area enlarged

Galaxy centre

Black hole

Direction of motion


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laika was a stray dog from moscow,

who was chosen because the

scientists concluded that she was

used to tough conditions.

laika’s cruel high-temperature fate EXPERIMENT: Nobody knew whether

humans could endure weightlessness. So a

stray dog, Laika, became the first living

creature to orbit the Earth. Scientists did

know that Laika would not return alive, as

technology for reentering the atmosphere

was not available, but they expected the

dog to survive for a couple of days.

Unfortunately, Laika died of super-

heating after a few hours, as the launcher

did not part from the space capsule as plan-

ned. But scientists still managed to measure

normal pulse and breathing in the dog.

WHAT WE LEARNED: In spite of her tragic

fate, Laika proved that living organisms can

survive without gravity, and she laid the

groundwork for launch of humans.

1957

RIa novostI/scanPIx

SURvIvAl

FEATURE | space travel


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by lea holtze

in the early space age, scientists wrestled with a great mystery:

Can humans survive in conditions of weightlessness? To find out,

animals took the first dangerous trips to test the extreme conditions

in the name of science and pave the way for humans.

Y uri Gagarin of Russia became the

first human in space in 1961. But his

achievement took place four years

after the space dog Laika. She proved that

living creatures can endure the conditions

outside Earth’s atmosphere and function in a

state of weightlessness.

Laika is only one of a long series of animal

pioneers who have tested everything from

gravity’s influence on the nervous system to

space missions’ effect on our ageing

processes. The mission of each animal was

basically to test what humans could not or

dared not do themselves.

When Laika was launched in a Sputnik 2

rocket – sadly with no return ticket in her

suitcase – the humans in charge of various

space programs were not in any way sure that

living creatures could survive without gravity,

and they did not know how the body

from tHE ScIEntIfIc arcHIVES

1961

EXPERIMENT: In January 1961, Ham the Astrochimp became an American

space pioneer when he joined Project Mercury. The experiment involved

testing whether Ham could carry out duties in space. The monkey had

been trained to push a lever after seeing a blue light. If he did not, he

immediately got a mild electric shock via small electrodes on his body.

WHAT WE LEARNED: Ham diligently

pushed the lever during the space

mission – pausing only one second longer

than on Earth, proving that living creatures

could do work in space.

Space chimp was a space champ

nasa

after a job well done,

Ham was pensioned off

and lived another 17

years in two zoos.

animaLS in SPaCe:

WORk cAPAcITY


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as early as 1970, bullfrogs

were tested on space flights.

In the photo, microelectrodes

are attached to measure

bodily functions.

coweb spun without gravityEXPERIMENT: Scientists wanted to find out, whether a

spider could spin a coweb without gravity, and the cross

spider Arabella was included on the Skylab Mission in

1973. After 24 hours, Arabella began to spin a web,

which was not one of her best. An astronaut removed

the web, and Arabella - now acclimated to weightless-

ness, spun a new, and more well-constructed web.

WHAT WE LEARNED: Living creatures soon learn to adapt

in conditions of weightlessness.

arabella’s first coweb did not

quite measure up to the usual

quality standards.

1973

1992

getty/all oveR

nasa

Frogs breed in space

EXPERIMENT: Embryos of a female frog were aboard NASA’s Endeavour

space shuttle in 1992. Half were incubated in weightlessness, the other

half in a centrifuge, which simulated normal gravity.

For scientists, the mystery consisted in the fact that when an egg

divides, a type of symmetry occurs at one point where it becomes clear,

what is right and what is left. The theory was that the egg was

guided by gravity, but the space experiments demonstrated

that embryos can easily develop without gravity. In 1995, American

scientists also carried out artificial insemination of eggs aboard

the Atlantis space shuttle.

WHAT WE LEARNED: Frogs can easily be conceived and born in weight-

lessness – and the same probably goes for humans.

WeIgHTleSSneSS

FeRTIlITY



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2003

Roundworms survived crashEXPERIMENT: All seven astronauts were killed when the Columbia space shuttle

exploded upon reentering the Earth’s atmosphere on 1 February 2003, but by contrast,

microscopic roundworms from the species Caenorhabditis elegans were found alive in

a container among the wreckage in eastern Texas.

The worms had been sent on a space mission, because they were the first multi-

celled life forms whose genomes had been completely

sequenced. At the same time, humans share 50-60 % of

our genetic muscle material with the tiny

creatures. The worms are thus very well

suited for stuying how long space

missions will affect our physiology

and muscles.

Scientists could see that the

worms thrived in space, and

their muscles contained fewer

toxic proteins than in peers

on Earth. This is so, because

seven genes change into a

slower and less stressful

rhythm of life.

WHAT WE LEARNED:

Muscles – including those

of humans – are probably

able to adapt to long space

missions and may even age

at a slower rate.

1998oyster toadfish quickly find

alternatives to gravity.

EXPERIMENT: Like all other vertebrates,

fish have a sense of balance, which is

controlled by gravity. But what happens

to the nervous system, when the balance

organ is invalidated by weightlessness?

On a mission with the Columbia

space shuttle, scientists carried out no

fewer than 23 experiments with oyster

toadfish to see how their brains and ner-

ves reacted to the unfamiliar conditions.

WHAT WE LEARNED: The nervous system

proved to be the body’s most adaptive

system. Without gravity to guide them,

fish quickly got used to swimming with

their backs to the light.

would react to being launche at a speed

of more than 3,000 km/h.

Scientific experiments showed that

animals tolerated life in space surprisingly

well. In the early days, the zoonauts could not

be returned to Earth, as spacecraft were not

designed to survive atmospheric re-entry.

But measurements revealed that breathing,

pulse, and other life functions functioned

normally in most cases, even when the

animals were hundreds of kilometres above

Earth. Laika demonstrated that animals in

space can both eat and react to their

surroundings by barking.

After Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 moon

landing, the ranks of zoonauts came to

include turtles, insects, fish, and algae. Such

creatures are smaller and easier to handle,

and muscle reactions might as well be studied

in roundworms as dogs. Algae could also be

useful in connection with future utilisation of

photosynthesis on space missions. Moreover,

the small creatures are not as cute as big,

furred animals and thus cause fewer

problems with animal protection groups.

MICE PAVE THE WAy TO MARS

Today, scientists would like to venture further

into space and stay there for longer periods of

time, particularly in connection with a future

Mars mission. Staying in space for 500+ days

has an unknown effect on the body, and once

again, animals are to help scientists.

Before 2020, Danish Profesor of

Gravitational and Space Physiology Peter

Norsk must answer 32 questions about

physiological risks facing astronauts on

long-term missions: how they can be

protected against muscle degeneration,

kidney stones, and visual disorders caused

by the increased pressure on the brain

generated after a few months.

To answer the questions, Peter Norsk and

his colleagues will carry out a number of

experiments, in which at least 1,000 rats and

mice are sent to the International Space

Station. So zoonauts will not be out of a job

anytime soon.

roundworms may live longer

lives in space.

Fish adapted

The C. elegans roundworm

nasa

nasa

BAlAnce AgeIng



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first appearing in WW2, these ocean giants are still being built. in 2015, the USS gerald

r. ford will leave Virginia, USA, as the first of a new generation of aircraft carriers.

aIrcraft carrIErS

300,000,000watts of electricity are generated by the aircraft carrier’s two

A1B nuclear reactors. In comparison, an electric locomo-

tive typically generates 5,000,000 watts.

1922 The first vessel designed

to be an aircraft carrier,

the Japanese Hosho, is put into service.

Five years earlier, the British HMS Furious

(above), was modified to allow planes to land.

1945The first jet aircraft lands on

an aircraft carrier, the British

HMS Ocean, which is subsequently employed

in the Korean War. Decommisioned in 1962.

1961The world’s first nuclear

aircraft carrier, the USS Enter-

prise, joins the US Navy. The last oil engine-

driven ship, the USS Kitty Hawk, is introduced.

2001The first non-American,

nuclear aircraft carrier,

the Charles de Gaulle, is deployed in France.

It is Western Europe’s largest warship.

2012China’s first aircraft carrier,

the Liaoning, is introduced.

The refitted ship was originally Russian.

SecOnDStime it takes the

airstrip wires to bring

the 25t combat aircraft

from 240 km/h to a standstill.2SHIPS ARe FlOATIng cITIeS

Modern aircraft carriers are whole communities with up to

7 levelS below deck. Crew sleep in dormitories with as

many as 60 colleagues – and sailors working below deck often

go without sunlight for stretches up to 2 WeekS at a time.

The ships are complete with everything from cinemas and

gyms to restaurants and dental clinics. The mess halls and

cafeterias of an aircraft carrier serve up to 18,000 MeAlS

a day. The Harry S. Truman even has its own Starbucks cafe.

91 yrs

by søren bjørn-hansen. Photos: us navy & us naval historical center

BY THE NUMBERS


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333metres - length of the

ship’s hull. The beast has a

beam of 40 metres, and

the flight deck itself is an

epic 78 metres.

370 km/h

is the speed of a jet, when launched by electromagnetic catapults.

BIllIOn DOllARS is the price of one aircraft carrier. That many dollar coins would weigh 87,600 tonnes –nearly twice the weight of the ship. 14

30knots - top speed of the ship,

(approx. 56 km/h). Roughly as

fast as a grizzly bear can run.

47,000 t of steel

are used for the construction of

the Gerald R. Ford supercarrier.

types of aircraft can take off from the

Gerald R. Ford. Their reach is only

limited by refuelling requirements.

7 coloUr palEttEDifferent coloured worksuits indicate

the roles of the deck crew.

Violet aircraft refuelling

blue aircraft parking and lift operation

Green catapult control, cargo

yellow flight control officers

reD weapons and ordnance specialists

brown aircraft take-off

white aircraft mechanics

people work on the

Gerald R. Ford. That’s

actually 1,500 than

its predecessor, as

several systems have

been automated to

reduce the total size

of the crew.

75 4,500


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1. Which indigenous inhabitants

of Japan, especially of the

northern islands, were only

officially recognised by the

Japanese government as a

distinct ethnic group in 2008?

2. Of all the weird and wonderful

quantum particles, which type of

quark has the strangest name?

3. Consisting of many folded

plates or ”pages” that maximise

surface area, which unique organ

do spiders and other arachnids

use to breathe?

4. What can Spacex’s

Grasshopper rocket do that no

NASA rocket has ever done in the

history of the space program?

5. If ”perigee” means the point in

an orbit closest to the Earth, what

does ”perihelion” mean?

6. In mathematics, does i (the

square root of -1) come before e

(the exponential function)?

7. If you drop a 2mm-diameter

cylindrical magnet down a

2.5mm-diameter copper tube,

will it fall faster or slower than it

would in empty air?

8. In what ratio do people with

Type II Diabetes (usually caused

by obesity + genetics) outnumber

those with Type I Diabetes

(usually congenital)?

9. Established in 1583 with a

voyage to Newfoundland and

following the creation of the

Plantations of Ireland, when did

the British Empire finally come to

an end (according to historians)?

10. Which US electric car

company, owned by the

sometimes zany billionaire

creator of PayPal, is named after

a famous Serbian ”mad scientist”

who competed with Edison (and

also the measure of magnetic

field strength?)

Trivia countdown (use fewer clues, get a higher score!)

5 POINTS 4 POINTS 3 POINTS 2 POINTS 1 POINT

Much of the conflict

took place in the

Crimean peninsula,

which is located in

the northen part of

the black Sea.

The war was

fought in 1853-

1856. one famous

clash is the battle

of Sevastopol.

Among the war

heroes is nurse

florence

Nightingale, who

took care of

wounded soldiers.

russia fought

against an

alliance made up

by england, france

and some others.

The english

photographer

roger fenton's

photos from this

war are among the

earliest war photos.

3. CONFLICTs

Name this

war

This metro is

located in england

in the same city as

buckingham

palace, Westminster

Abbey, and big ben.

The citizens rarely

call their beloved

subway anything

other than

the Tube.

A total of 11 lines

make up the

system, including

the bakerloo line,

the piccadilly line,

and the Circle line.

The first train left

in 1863, making

this metro the

oldest in the world.

This subway

features (as of

2013) 270

stations, and it

boasts a total

length of 400 km.

This film was

directed by

hungarian Michael

Curtiz and produced

by hal b. Wallis for

Warner bros.

2. TraNsPOrT

Name this

famous

subway

The film, from

1942, is about war

refugees trying to

get to the US via

the city of

Casablanca.

The lead actors are

humphrey bogart

and ingrid

bergman. peter

lorre plays a

secondary role.

it featured several

classic lines, not

least“here’s

looking at you, kid”

and “play it, Sam”.

it was inspired by

a by then never-

performed play

named everybody

Comes to rick’s.

1. FILms

Name this

classic


TRIVIA


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What’s covered in tentacles,

lives in a swamp and has a

voracious appetite for bugs?

the sundew plant of course.

Nature has many ingenious ways of

surviving in adverse environments. Unlike the

majority of animals, plants are destined to

live or die in the exact spot that they strike

their first roots. If the water or soil nutrient

supply is lacking, they will likely wither and die

there. through an ingenious adaptation,

sundews are able to thrive in wet and boggy

soil too nutrient-poor for most other plants.

their leaves are covered in hundreds of

tentacle-like stalks each crowned with a

BACkyARD JUNGLE

KIllEr VEgEtaBlES: SUndEWS

FAmILy NAmE Drosera

cOmmON NAmE Sundew

DISTRIbUTION throughout Australia and every

continent apart from Antarctica

DIET Insects

but where nutrient-poor soil means mosses

and other damp-loving plants can’t

proliferate. Sundew patches may be very

small, just a few metres across, but crowded

with dozens or even hundreds of plants.

these patches are often quite isolated.

Sundews are easy to find in the Blue

Mountains near Sydney - the sandy soils and

shady creeks provide an ideal habitat.

Damon Wilder is an award-winning photographer and the editor of naturalselectionmedia.com

sticky blob of mucilage that both catches

their insect prey and also digests them. the

sticky secretion is sweet smelling and

attracts passing insects looking for a feed.

once caught, the sundew can bend its

tentacles around the ensnared victim

ensuring it doesn’t escape. As the victim

succumbs, either to exhaustion or

suffocation from the sticky secretions

clogging its spiracles, the leaves begin to

secrete enzymes that fast track the

digestive process. the plant then absorbs

the nutrients through its leaves.

Sundews can be found in damp or boggy

areas, often in shade, where water collects

trivia answers: 1. The Ainu 2. The Strange Quark 3. A book lung 4. land and launch again 5. The point closest to the sun 6. Though i is an imaginary number, its square is -1, which is less than e which

equals about 2.718. So... kind of! 7. Slower - and it will also generate a small electric current. 8. 10:1 9. in 1996 with the return of hong Kong to China. 10. Tesla

trivia countdown: name this film: Casablanca name this subway: The london Underground name this war: The Crimean War


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science illustrated australia - issue 24 2013

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