BBC Knowledge AE 2016 (Vol. 8 Issue 9)

THE HISTORIANS’ VIEW... Why has Britain decided to leave the EU?

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ASIA EDITION

Vol. 8 Issue 9

SCIENCE • HISTORY • NATURE • FOR THE CURIOUS MIND

THE LAST GREAT ENIGMA OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM What will Juno unearth beneath Jupiter’s surface? p84

PEER INTO THE MYSTERIOUS LIVES OF WEASELS

NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED IN 2016 p24

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9 771793 983016 SGD 7.50 | PHP 300 THB 240 | NT 200 | RM 18

WHERE IS DOLLY THE SHEEP? p36

18 -P SP AGE EC SP IA AC L E

PPS 1745/01/2013 (022915) MCI (P) 070/10/2015 ISSN 1793-9836

Q & A

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THE STORY OF CATS Premieres 19 September. Mondays at 7.10pm (JKT/BKK), 8.10pm (SIN/HK/MAL/TW) N&LWPHFDNWP&WP??UWCP$WPGHOWOPQMMHMFWPGNDDWBNPWODNHDOWPDKKOWPGDW@DáMHPHRDWP&NUW&EWPO'W&@UWPGDNDWNDW-2W@HļDNDMPWEDKHMDW species – and they exist in a wonderful variety of colors, shapes and sizes. We retrace the cats’ epic 11 million year journey – from the jungles of South East Asia to the African savannah and ultimately into our homes.

CITY IN THE SKY Premieres 8 September. Thursdays at 8.50pm (JKT/BKK), 9.50pm (SIN/HK/MAL/TW) This fascinating series explores the hidden world of aviation, revealing the inner workings of the airports, factories and facilities that keep this vast global network functioning.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HEALTHY EATING Premieres 9 September. Fridays at 9.35pm (JKT/BKK), 10.35pm (SIN/HK/MAL/TW) OHMFWPGDWKPDOPWOCHDMPHáCWJM&SKD@FD$W PGHOWáKLW@D?QMJOWPGDWEKKCHDOWPGPW dictate our choices. Learn how LQKPHRHPLHMWP?KDPOWGRDWM&WDļDCPW whatsoever, and why our bodies’ natural processes make detox products a complete waste of money.

THE FOOD DETECTIVES Premieres 16 September. Fridays at 9.45pm (JKT/BKK), 10.45pm (SIN/HK/MAL/TW) In this one-stop shop for food facts and guidance, scientist Alice Roberts, top chef Tom Kerridge and journalist Sean Fletcher sift through the latest tips and theories. The team meets the industry’s experts and takes part in HLLDNOHRDWDTBDNHLDMPOWP&WáM@WMOSDNOW to your questions.

www.bbcasia.com BBC Earth is available in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Mongolia. Please call your cable operator for more details or check out our website.

/BBCEarth @BBCEarthAsia

HISTORY

On the cover

Vol. 8 Issue 9

1

1

NATURE

50 Why has Britain decided to leave the EU? 2 2

3

UPDATE

42 Peer into the mysterious lives’ of weasels 3

SCIENCE

C VER STORY CO Y

24 Top 10 new species of 2016 named

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36 Where are all the clones?

76 Q&A space special Vol. 8 Issue 9

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Contents

Vol. 8 Issue 9

FEATURES 14 Rediscover the joy of learning Outdoor learning has never been more heavily emphasized than it is now. Your fun begins here in the historical and monumental capital of Australia, Canberra. Discover the treasure trove of national attractions and learn about things you never thought you would

16 BBC Knowledge Magazine School Challenge 2016 (Malaysia) Relive the day of intense competition as you explore the postevent pages. The inaugural event definitely helped to pique the interest of nature, science and history for students in Malaysia and allowed them to foster greater bond with one another

34 Yakult Did you know that Japan has a unique food awareness programme that has been ongoing for a decade now? Shokuiku is an integral part of their culture as much as local attractions and eating habits are set since a very young age. Learn about its motivations and how Yakult comes into play

76 Q&A

SCIENCE NATURE

42 Weasel Wise

HISTORY

ON THE COVER

36 Where are all the clones?

50 Why has Britain decided to leave the EU?

This year marks 20 years since Dolly the sheep captured the world’s attention. So, what happened after and why aren’t we overrun with clones today? Is there still a moral dilemma on animal cloning? ON THE COVER

Living together might help you understand someone better. In this case, Robert Fuller became a full time weasel whisperer and transformed his farmhouse into a spectacular scene that might have been set for a springwatch soap opera

HISTORY

NATURE

SCIENCE

ON THE COVER

4

Historians give their views on Britain’s relationship with Europe after the voting on 23 June 2016. How much of an awareness did history played a role in people’s voting decisions and how does this referendum fit into the history of British democracy

56 How do we know… how animals perceive the world

42

How We’ll Capture A Black Hole

It has taken scientists a long time to establish how animals’ senses work, and they are still making major discoveries today

62 Our life with Big Cats Jonathan Scott shares about his personal experience with one of the planet’s truly great wildlife within the Maasai Mara and Serengeti plains

70 The righteous royal rebel His attempt to seize the crown ended in disaster, but does the Duke of Monmouth deserve his notoriety? Anna Keay finds out Vol. 8 Issue 9

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The Latest Intelligence

Where are all the clones?

SCIENCE SCIENCE

36

96 A Witty Viewpoint

97 My Life Scientific

Robin Ince is a comedian and writer who presents on the BBC Radio 4 Series, The Infinite Monkey Cage. In this issue, we talk about music festivals and its benefits for our personal well-being

Meet Hanah Fry, a TV presenter and lecturer in the mathematics of cities at University College London

REGULARS 6 Welcome A note from the editor sharing his thoughts on the issue and other ramblings

8 Snapshot Stunning images from the fields of science, history and nature

UPDATE

50

ON THE COVER

21 The Latest Intelligence

Why has Britain decided to leave the EU?

Mysterious 176,500-year old stone circles found, stellar sounds may give keys to the formation of the Milky Way, top 10 new species of 2016 named, origin of life with RNA

33 Comment & Analysis Learn about sugar science and how it can exist as both a crystal and a glass ON THE COVER

76 Q&A This month, we answer all your cosmic conundrums in a 18-page space special that includes: why don’t more planets have rings, how do astronauts go to the loo and what is learnt from the Juno mission

RESOURCE 95 Reviews This month’s best science books on topics including GPS, hands-on science projects that are kids friendly, superhumans and luminous radium paint

8 Snapshot

98 Last Word Robert Matthews discusses why quantum theory is a touchy subject Vol. 8 Issue 9

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Welc me

Y Send us your letters [email protected]

SPACE THE EVER EXPANDING FRONTIER… This issue we feature what we have understood so far about the ever-expanding Universe as well as a whole host of other fascinating facts within an expanded Q&A section. To put things in perspective, it wasn’t so long ago, that the scientific community once thought we were the centre of the Universe, but of course now we know for a fact that we are indeed just a very small branch in the grand scheme of the Universe. The idea of parallel universes, a topic we have discussed before due to its intriguing nature will not be explored this issue. However, we prefer to exhilarate you with facts such as, how does space smell like, or can we reproduce in space or what would Martian water taste like, stuff like that. We’ve also touched on more cerebral questions such as which country amongst Europe, China, Russia, Japan, India and the USA will reach the moon next, as well as why haven’t spacesuits changed much over the years and what happens to our bodies after an extended stay in space. All great food for thought and as always, to satiate your curious mind.

BBC Knowledge Magazine Includes selected articles from other BBC specialist magazines, including Focus, BBC History Magazine and BBC Wildlife Magazine.

www.sciencefocus.com www.historyextra.com www.discoverwildlife.com Important change: The licence to publish this magazine was acquired from BBC Worldwide by Immediate Media Company on 1 November 2011. We remain committed to making a magazine of the highest editorial quality, one that complies with BBC editorial and commercial guidelines and connects with BBC programmes. The BBC Earth television channel is available in the following regions: Asia (Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan)

SCIENCE • HISTORY • NATURE • FOR THE CURIOUS MIND Know more. Anywhere.

Ben Poon [email protected] “LIKE” US ON FACEBOOK!

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Y We welcome your letters, while reserving the right to edit them for length and clarity. By sending us your letter you permit us to publish it in the magazine and/or on our website. We regret that we cannot always reply personally to letters.

BBC Knowledge Magazine provides trusted, independent advice and information that has been gathered without fear or favour. When receiving assistance or sample products from suppliers, we ensure our editorial integrity and independence are not compromised by never offering anything in return, such as positive coverage, and by including a brief credit where appropriate.

Experts in this issue…

COLIN STUART Colin is an astronomer and planetarium presenter. He talks to over 10,000 children annually and is also an avid science writer. He has penned articles for New Scientist, The Guardian, The Observer, BBC Sky at Night and European Space Agency among many others. p36

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Vol. 8 Issue 9

DR AMYJANE BEER Amy is a biologist and nature lover who is a columnist and feature writer for Wildlife Magazine, editor of Wildlife World for PTES and novice novelist. She shares her passion for weasels in this issue where she is able to write in a simple yet engaging manner. p42

DR ELIZABETH PEARSON Elizabeth is passionate about science in all forms. However, her real love lies in astrophysics where she is hoping to promote more women to do physics. Currently, she is a news editor on Sky At Night Magazine and will be keenly following the Juno mission in July. p84

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ERRATA: In Vol. 8 Issue 7 page 64, there was a mistake in formatting for the table. The correct information is shown here. We apologise for the error.

EARTH

MERCURY

MASS 5.97 x 1024kg

MASS 0.33 x 1024kg

DENSITY 5,514kg/m3

DENSITY 5,427kg/m3

GRAVITY 9.8m/s2

GRAVITY 3.7m/s2

SOLAR POWER RECEIVED PER M2 1,361 Watts

SOLAR POWER RECEIVED PER M2 9,083 Watts

BBC Knowledge Magazine, MCI(P) 070/10/2015, ISSN 1793-9836, PPS 1745/01/2013 (022915), is published by Regent Media Pte Ltd under license from Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited. Copyright © Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited. No part of this publication is to be reproduced, stored, transmitted, digitally or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher. The information contained herein is accurate at time of printing. Changes may have occurred since this magazine went to print. Regent Media Pte Ltd and its editors will not be held liable for any damages, loss, injury or inconvenience, arising in connection with the contents of the magazine. Regent Media Pte Ltd will not accept responsibility for unsolicited contributions. Printer: KHL Printing Co Pte Ltd (197801823M) Address: 57 Loyang Drive Singapore 508968. The BBC logo is a trade mark of the British Broadcasting Corporation and is used under licence. © British Broadcasting Corporation 1996

CONTRIBUTORS Acute Graphics, Rob Banino, Peter Bentley.JV [hamary, Stuart Clark,Jamie Coe, Helen Czerski, Eiko Ojala, Adam Gale, Alastair Gunn.Jules Howard, Rabin Ince, Christian Jarrett, Tonwen Jones. Pierre Daniel Kleinhouse. Raja Lockey, Mark Lorch, Orlagh Murphy, Henry Nicholls, Catherine E Offord, James Olstein,Jheni Osman. Elizabeth Pearson. Chris Philpot, Helen Pilcher, Andy Potts, Secret Studio, Colin Stuart, Luis Villazon,James Witts, Giles Yeo DISTRIBUTORS Singapore - Pansing Distribution Pte Ltd Malaysia - MPH Distributors Sdn Bhd Thailand - Asia Books Co., Ltd Philippines - Asia/Pacific Circulation Exponents, Inc. Taiwan - Formosan Magazine Press Inc Hong Kong/China/Macau - Times Publishing (HK) Ltd SUBSCRIPTION AGENTS Singapore - The Learning Craft Pte Ltd, Emit Asia (S) Pte Ltd, Adept Learning Pte Ltd Taiwan - JDM Books International Co. Ltd Malaysia - Worldwide Magazines Services Sdn Bhd A publication of

Member of Magazine Publishers Association, Singapore

Persatuan Penerbit Penerbit Majalah, Malaysia Magazine Publishers Association, Malaysia

SCIENCE

Aquanauts Splash Down, Beginning NEEMO 21 Research Mission The NASA Extreme Environment

device, and HoloLens operational

Mission Operations (NEEMO)

performance for human

21 mission began on 21 July

spaceflight cargo transfer.

2016, as an international crew

Pictured at the end of Mission

of aquanauts splashed down

Day 1 are the NEEMO 21

to the undersea Aquarius Reef

aquanauts, clockwise from top:

Base, located 62 feet below the

Matthias Maurer (ESA), Marc

surface of the Atlantic Ocean in

O Griofa (Teloregen/VEGA/

the Florida Keys National Marine

AirDocs), NASA astronaut Megan

Sanctuary. The NEEMO 21 crew

McArthur, NASA astronaut

will perform research both inside

Reid Wiseman, Dawn Kernagis

and outside the habitat during a

(Institute for Human & Machine

16-day simulated space mission.

Cognition), and Noel Du Toit

During simulated spacewalks

(Naval Postgraduate School).

carried out underwater, they

Inside the Aquarius habitat are

will evaluate tools and mission

Florida International University

operation techniques that could

Habitat Technicians Hank Stark

be used in future space missions.

(left) and Sean Moore (right).

Inside the habitat, the crew’s

8

objectives include testing a DNA

PHOTO: NASA/KARL SHREEVES

sequencer, a medical telemetry

WORDS: SARAH LOFF

Vol. 8 Issue 9

Vol. 8 Issue 9

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NATURE

Mesmerising Meanders On the south coast of Iceland, translucent tendrils wend their way through volcanic soils. These channels of water are all heading towards the river Thjórsá – Iceland’s longest river. The tributaries have their source in a nearby lake. As they flow slowly towards the river they rearrange the iron-rich soil, constantly forming new channels and creating these intricate patterns. The image was captured by Hans Strand from a helicopter at an altitude of around 91m (300ft). Approximately one kilometre to the left of this scene is the North Atlantic Ocean. “The land in this region has been shaped by the river Thjórsá over thousands of years,” says Finnur Pálsson, a researcher at the Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland. “As the glacial river reaches the coast, it slows down and deposits the loose sediments it’s carrying. Over time, the sediments pile up to create the landscape that you can see in this photo.” PHOTO: HANS STRAND

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HISTORY

STS-70 Launch Startles Birds Startled birds took flight as Space Shuttle Discovery’s STS-70 mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on 13 July 1995. STS-70 was the last of seven shuttle missions to carry a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), a tool used by NASA and other government agencies to communicate with other satellites, balloons, aircraft, and the ISS. STS-70 deployed TDRS-G about six hours after its launch. During the remainder of the mission, the five crew members completed several experiments, including testing the effect of microgravity on physiological processes in plants, insects, and invertebrate animals. STS-70 marked the first shuttle mission controlled from the new mission control center room at Johnson Space Centre, and was the first flight of the Block 1 orbiter main engine. STS-70 finished its mission on 22 July 1995, landing back at the Kennedy Space Center. PHOTO: FLICKR/ NASA ON THE COMMONS

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SCHO OL

SPECIAL FEATURE CHALLENGE

TOURISM AUSTRALIA

2016

MALAYSIA

REDISCOVER THE JOY OF LEARNING WITH CANBERRA Fun begins here as you explore the capital of Australia through the treasure trove of national attractions

o you know many Australians continue to cringe at the fact that Sydney is often referred as the capital of Australian by many? To help our readers in solving this conundrum, Canberra is now highlighting its much sought after educational sights and destinations. Here’s your opportunity to open the pages of your adventure there to learn about dinosaurs, democracy and also money.

D

SUPREME SITE Opened in 1988, the Parliament House is built upon Capital Hill and fronted by a principal design of the structure of two boomerangs topped by an 81-metre flagpole. The Parliamentary Education Office also features a 60-minute role playing programme designed to teach students about Federal parliament and, if you are lucky, you may get a chance to meet members of Parliament during recess at the Queen’s Terrace Gallery. 14

Vol. 8 Issue 9

RARE ROYALS The Royal Australian Mint is Australia’s biggest moneymaking operation with a daily production capacity of 2 million coins. The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened it on 22 February 1965. Today, visitors are able to catch a glimpse of the high tech robots and how evolution of the coin production took place from past to present. In lieu of Rio 2016 Olympics, the Royal Australian Mint and Woolworths have collaborated to mint over 12 million special commemorative $2 coins. These coins have been released since 19 July 2016.

MINIATURE MAGIC Cockington Green Gardens offers guests an unparalleled experience as they venture into delightful and fascinating display of meticulously crafted miniature buildings set within beautifully landscaped gardens. This is especially apparent on Tuesday

and Wednesday evenings as the attraction is transformed into a spectacular sea of illuminations through thousands of LED lights.

FUN FOSSILS The National Dinosaur Museum is Australia’s largest permanent display of prehistoric specimens. Guided tours are available for those interested to learn from the earliest dinosaur periods to the end of the reign of dinosaurs during the Ice Ages. Children will also have an opportunity to place their hands on a genuine 150 million year old dinosaur bone and a 150kg meteorite – one that fell right out of space! There is so much more to learn and explore in Canberra Australia so stop thinking and start packing those bags. Contact our PNL Travel Aussie Specialist at: +603 9284 4859 or email us at tours@ pnltravel.com.my to find out more. ß

SCHO OL

CHALLENGE 2016

MALAYSIA

BBC KNOWLEDGE MAGAZINE SCHOOL CHALLENGE 2016 - MALAYSIA WORDS: JONATHAN GAN

he first inaugural BBC Knowledge Magazine School Challenge was held on 6 August 2016 at Petrosains KLCC, The Discovery Centre. The event, which aimed “to engage, educate and empower” students helped inspire them to be curious about their environment. Over 80 students formed up groups of four to tackle a series of challenges to prove their mettle in general knowledge involving the topics of nature, science and history. The challenges involved a 50 multiplechoice question quiz and the completion of a short and concise presentation in 3 hours. The guest judges for the event were Ms Karen Chu, Representative of Tourism Australia; Ms Shamini Balan, Petrosains’ Director of Marketing; Mr Vincent Tan, Worldwide Magazine Service’s Managing

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Ms Jessly Pak, Sales & Marketing Director of Regent Media, together with our participants

Director and Mr. Benjamin Poon, Managing Editor of Regent Media. Proving their worth, the secondary school students of SMK Convent Bukit Nanas tasted the sensational taste of victory after being crowned the first ever champion of BBC Knowledge Magazine School Challenge.The students from Victoria Institution and SMK La Salle didn’t fall far behind and came in as first and second runner-up. The four young ladies who managed the brilliant achievement were Chrystal Foo Kai Ying, Rebecca Yenn Kay Chan, Sharifah Zeynah Alhadad and Francesca Nira Lim. “We’re very happy and surprised. We weren’t expecting this at all to be honest. We couldn’t have done it without our teacher

mentor here,” said the quartet of students thanking their teacher mentor Ms Tan Shim Yu with jubilant smiles. Mr. Poon along with the other judges expressed amazement at the level of depth the students were able to bring to the table. “Seeing their presentations and given the time constraint of only 3 hours, the judges including myself were suitably impressed with the facts the finalists managed to present to everyone. The students displayed a very high level of confidence and came up with some very creative skits all in 3 hours, which was something that even we adults can learn from.” said Mr Poon. Mr Poon also expressed thanks towards the support of the Education Ministry of Vol. 8 Issue 9

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SCHO OL

CHALLENGE 2016

MALAYSIA

Malaysia along with the other sponsors. The BBC Knowledge Magazine School Challenge was supported by the Education Ministry of Malaysia and Tourism Malaysia. The sponsors to the event include Petrosains, Tourism Australia, Sarawak Tourism Board, Lost World of Tambun,Worldwide Magazine Services, Goodday Milk, Brian Moh, Columbia watches, Resorts World Sentosa, S.E.A Aquarium and Nuevo Attraction & Destination Sdn Bhd and MUD: the story of Kuala Lumpur. Regent Media would like to extend its heartiest congratulations for a job well done to all participating teams and we are certainly looking forward to receive more teams to join us in 2017. ß Organiser, sponsors and judges

Ms Karen Chu, Representative of Tourism Australia

Ms Shamila Raj, Marketing Manager, Lost World of Tambun

Mr Brian Moh, Diving Instructor (PADI Certified)

Mr Melvyn Koh, Head of Sales Manager, Nuevo Attraction & Destination Sdn Bhd

Organiser

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Supported by

Vol. 8 Issue 9

Ms Shamini Balan, Director of Marketing, Petrosains

Mr Vincent Tan, Managing Director, Worldwide Magazine Service

Judges: (L-R) Mr. Benjamin Poon, Managing Editor, Regent Media; Ms Karen Chu, Representative of Tourism Australia; Ms Shamini Balan, Director of Marketing, Petrosains and Mr Vincent Tan, Managing Director, Worldwide Magazine Service

Venue Sponsor

Official School Agent

Educational Tour Sponsor International

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (P) Taman Petaling Stephanie Lee Shiau Wei,Nur Intan Solehah Bt Muhammad Fadhil Ong, Mery Zurina Bt Os Booron Barul,Kong Jing Ying

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Miharja Premaling A/P Ganeson, William Fung Xin Wei, Kaarthik A/L Ganasan, Nicole Lai YiYin

Taylor’s International School Chong Jia Hui, Yung Li Yoon, Aryanna Kaur Bhinder, Angelina Kuah Yin Yee

Taylor’s International School Jared Lim Jun Qian, Vanessa Joyce Tan, Lee Ying Ying, Therese Chua Shu Yi

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Sentosa Yeshodan Muruga, Ong Joon Kit, Karthik A/L Ramayis, Lee Jian Jet

Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan Katholik Celine Thien Xuan Yi, Yeo Jen Yie, Yeong Yining, Yu Li Yi

2nd RUNNER UP Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan La Salle, Petaling Jaya Alexandre Lim Eng Keat, Adam Iskandar Bin Kamarulzaman Amir Iskandar Bin Kamarulzaman, Jeryl Tee Jien

1st RUNNER UP Victoria Institution Amin Idham Bin Razalee, Lyndon Lum Wai Khuen, Iqbal Bin Lokman, Chai Chun Lik

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan ST.Mary Kuala Lumpur Wong Xi Mei, Shaheera Bt Abdullah, Koh Jia Min, Jessica Priya

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

CHAMPION Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Convent Bukit Nanas Chrystal Foo Kai Ying, Rebecca Yenn Kay Chan, Sharifah Zeynah Alhadad, Francesca Nira Lim

Educational Tour Sponsor National

Beverage Sponsor

• SMK La Salle PJ • SMJK Katholik • SMK ST.Mary Kuala Lumpur • SMK (P) Puduw • Sri Kuala Lumpur International School • SMK Taman Maluri • SMK Miharja • Victoria Institution • SMK Convent Jalan Peel • SMK (P) Taman Petaling • SMK Cochrane Perkasa • SMK Seri Sentosa • SMK Convent Bukit Nanas • SMK Cochrane • Taylor’s International School

Supporting Partners

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THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE

D I S P A T C H E S

F R O M

T H E

Update C U T T I N G

E D G E

ANTHROPOLOGY

MYSTERIOUS 176,500-YEAR-OLD STONE CIRCLES FOUND ENIGMATIC ROCK STRUCTURES FOUND DEEP WITHIN A FRENCH CAVE ARE FORCING US TO RETHINK OUR IDEAS OF NEANDERTHALS

PHOTO: ETIENNE FABRE/SSAC

Researcher surrounded by the ancient stone circles within the French caves

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Neanderthals are often depicted as slow-witted brutes that spent their time clubbing mammoths to death and dragging women around by their hair. But this stereotype is not true. Archaeologists have discovered complex circular structures made from stalagmites 300 metres inside Bruniquel cave, near Toulouse in southwest France. The limestone structures date back 176,500 years, some 135,000 years before the arrival of modern humans in Europe, indicating that they must have been made by Neanderthals, the only hominins in the area at that time. Evidence of scorch marks in the area also suggests that early Neanderthals were able to use fire for warmth and light well before Homo sapiens developed the skill. “The first impression we had of the site was that of a rather old age, certainly Palaeolithic, but perhaps not as old as that,” said project leader Prof Jacques Jaubert, of the University of Bordeaux. “The structures are spectacular and unique. There are virtually no equivalent Neanderthal structures currently known for the same period, and even for more recent periods, for example the Upper Palaeolithic.” A total of 400 stalagmites weighing around 2.2 tonnes are arranged in rough circles up to four layers deep. Marks left by the Neanderthals wrenching the stalagmites from the cave floor can be seen nearby. It is as yet unclear exactly why the Neanderthals built the circles but the team plans to head back into the cave for further investigations. “We prefer to wait to return to the site and study it more concretely, for example to excavate or establish test-pits to find some archaeological remains, before determining exactly what it is,” said Jaubert. “All hypotheses are currently just speculation and are not provable.”

“THERE ARE VIRTUALLY NO EQUIVALENT NEANDERTHAL STRUCTURES KNOWN FOR THE SAME PERIOD”

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E X P E R T

C O M M E N T

PROF CHRIS STRINGER Research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum, London

ABOVE: The Vallée de l’Aveyron, near the Bruniquel cave BELOW: 3D reconstruction of the structures made from stalagmites in the caves

The purpose of the structures and concentrated combustion zones remain enigmatic, but they demonstrate that some Neanderthals were as much at home deep within the cave as at its entrance. There are examples of human habitation of this or even greater age 30 or 40 metres into caves in Africa, but the Bruniquel occupation is some 10 times deeper into the cave, and shows constructions as complex as some made by modern humans only 20 or 30,000 years ago. Accumulations of early human bodies deep within caves are known from Rising Star Cave [near Johannesburg, South Africa] and the Sima de los Huesos [Atapuerca, Spain], but the circumstances and meaning of their deposition are disputed. In Rising Star Cave there is no archaeological material with the skeletons, while at Sima de los Huesos, archaeological material is only loosely associated with the human remains. The Bruniquel structures are dated within a long, cold glacial stage, and at that time the cave might have provided a refuge. If there is still-buried debris from occupation, it would help determine whether this was a functional shelter, or something that had more symbolic or ritual significance. This discovery provides clear evidence that Neanderthals had fully human capabilities in planning and constructing structures, and that some of them penetrated deep into caves where lighting would’ve been essential. For this reason, the scientists involved should be congratulated.

PHOTOS:MICHEL SOULIER/SSAC, XAVIER MUTH, GETTY

Update

THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE

SPACE

STELLAR SOUNDS MAY GIVE KEYS TO THE FORMATION OF THE MILKY WAY Astrophysicists from the University of Birmingham have captured the sounds of some of the oldest stars in the Milky Way. Using a technique known as asteroseismology, the team analysed data recorded by the NASA Kepler/K2 Mission to study resonant oscillations of stars in the Messier 4 globular cluster, a group of 13-billion-year-old stars located 7,200 lightyears away in the constellation of Scorpius. Sound waves trapped inside stars cause them to pulse and wobble, which causes tiny but observable changes in the brightness of the light they emit. Observing these changes allows researchers to determine the frequencies of this internal ‘stellar music’ and thus the structure of the star. The technique allows astronomers to determine the mass and age of stars more accurately than brightness measurements and opens the door to studying the very early history of our Galaxy. “We were thrilled to be able to listen to some of the stellar relics of the early Universe,” said researcher Dr Andrea Miglio. “The stars we have studied really are living fossils from the time of the formation of our Galaxy, and we now hope to be able to unlock the secrets of how spiral galaxies, like our own, formed and evolved.”

IN N U MBERS

390,900 The number of plant species known to science, as estimated by researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew.

400 PARTS PER MILLION

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere recorded at Cape Grim atmospheric station in Tasmania earlier in July. Many experts believe the figure may never drop lower again.

400 BILLION SOLAR MASSES

By lis By lliis issten te tten tening ening en iin n ng g to th to tthe he h e st staars arrs r s, re res re esssear ear e ea aarrche che ch hers rs can ccaaan n fig fig figu gu ure re ou out o utt ho u how gaaallaaxi g gal axxxiie ess evo evvo e vollve ved ve ed

The most accurate measurement of the mass of the Milky Way yet, made by researchers at Canada’s McMaster University. The figure covers all of the stars, planets, moons, gases and dust, as well as a significant chunk of dark matter. One solar mass is equal to the mass of our Sun. Vol. 8 Issue 9

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NATURE

3D scan of the ruby seadragon

TOP 10 NEW SPECIES OF 2016 NAMED

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Red dragon

Phyllopteryx dewysea, Western Australia Considering it is bright red and nearly 24cm long, it’s surprising this bizarre fish has escaped our attention for so long. It is only the third species of seadragon to be discovered.

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Flowering in plain sight

Sirdavidia solannona, Gabon Spotted just metres from a main road in Gabon’s Monts de Cristal National Park, this flowering tree was confirmed as a new species by molecular analysis. Its closest known relative is a plant found in Tanzania some 3,000km away.

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Ancient ape

Pliobates cataloniae, Spain Nicknamed Laia by her discoverers, this ape could be found scurrying up and down the trees of eastern Spain about 11.6 million years ago. The remains date back to a time before the family tree containing humans and great apes diverged from that of gibbons and could teach us more about our evolution. 24

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PHOTOS: JOSEFIN STILLER/NERIDA WILSON/GREG ROUSE, J HAWKS/WITS UNIVERSITY, THEODORE W PIETSCH, SOUZA/FERREIRA/SENNA, WASHINGTON TAPIA, PAULO M GONELLA , MICHAEL DARBY, MARTA PALMERO, THOMAS COUVREUR, JENS KIPPING

A red dragon, a 12-million-year-old ape and a carnivorous plant first spotted in a Facebook photo are among the 10 most awesome animals and plants chosen by scientists from more than 18,000 species discovered over the last 12 months. The list was assembled by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) to mark the birthday of Carl Linnaeus, an 18thCentury Swedish botanist considered to be the father of modern taxonomy. It is believed that 10 million species still await discovery, five times the number that are already known. But species are going extinct faster than they can be identified, putting researchers in a race against time. “We can only win this race to explore biodiversity if we pick up the pace,” said ESF president Quentin Wheeler. “In doing so we gather irreplaceable evidence of our origins, discover clues to more efficient and sustainable ways to meet human needs, and arm ourselves with fundamental knowledge essential for widescale conservation success.”

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Bug that builds

Iuiuniscus iuiuensis, Brazil Despite being blind, these tiny cave-dwelling isopods build impressive spherical shelters out of mud to protect themselves from predators when moulting, a behaviour never before seen in this family of crustaceans.

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Please look after this beetle

Phytotelmatrichis osopaddington, Peru These tiny beetles are around the size of a pinhead and make their homes in the minute pools of water that form in the hollows of plants. They were named after the famous marmalade-loving bear in the hope that it will draw attention to the plight of the Andean spectacled bear that inspired him.

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Social climber

Drosera magnifica, Brazil It seems social media does have a use beyond smug status updates about Michelin-starred dinners: this insect-eating plant is thought to be the first new species discovered through photos posted on Facebook. It grows to 120cm in height and is only known to exist on the peak of a single mountain, 1,550m above sea level.

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Playing the angles

Lasiognathus dinema, Gulf of Mexico Discovered during the damage assessment programme launched in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, this angler fish certainly didn’t make it into the top 10 because of its looks. Its oddest feature is its fishing pole-like dorsal fin. In some angler fish, the esca – an organ at the end of its ‘pole’ – is home to bioluminescent bacteria that produce light to attract prey.

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Ancestor unearthed

Homo naledi, South Africa Though yet to be accurately dated, the bones of 15 individual hominins found in the Rising Star cave near Johannesburg are thought to belong to a new species of human ancestor. Dubbed Homo naledi, the creature had similar hands and feet to modern humans but has other characteristics more closely resembling earlier hominins.

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A giant discovery

Chelonoidis donfaustoi, Galapagos Once thought to be a genetic variant of the tortoise Chelonoidis porteri, a closer look at the features of this giant tortoise revealed it to be a new and distinct species. With as few as 250 individuals remaining, it may have been found just in time.

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Psychedelic sparklewing

Umma gumma, Gabon This bejewelled beastie is just one of 60 new species of damselfly and dragonfly discovered in Africa in the last year. It takes its Latin name from the 1969 double album by psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd. Vol. 8 Issue 9

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The BEAM is easy to transport and assemble – just don’t wear stilettos inside

SPACE

INFLATABLE SPARE ROOM ADDED TO THE ISS Talk about expanding your horizons. NASA has successfully installed an inflatable extra room onto the International Space Station. Dubbed BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module), the aluminium and fabric unit was deployed following a previous failed attempt. It will remain attached to the ISS for two years to undergo a series of tests to see how well it can protect astronauts from solar radiation, space debris and the extreme temperatures seen in space. If successful, the technology could help the space agency to colonise Mars. Before sending the first astronauts to the Red Planet, rockets filled with cargo and supplies could be deployed to await the crews’ arrival. As they are smaller and lighter than conventional metal habitats, the use of expandable modules could 26

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V I T A L S T A T S Diameter (m) Volume (m3)

Mass (kg)

Length (m)

Packed

1,400

2.16

2.36

3.6

Expanded

1,400

4.01

3.23

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reduce the number of launches needed and overall mission costs. “The International Space Station is a uniquely suited test bed to demonstrate innovative exploration technologies like the BEAM,” said NASA’s William Gerstenmaier. “As we venture deeper into space on the path to Mars, habitats that allow for long-duration stays in space will be a critical capability. Using the station’s resources, we’ll learn how humans can work effectively with this technology in space, as we continue to advance our understanding in all aspects for long-duration spaceflight aboard the orbiting laboratory.”

PHOTOS: BIGELOW AEROSPACE

Update

THE LATEST INTELLIGENCE

IDENTICAL TWINS It’s better together, at least for twins anyway. A study at the University of Washington has found identical twins have an increased chance of living into their 60s. The effect could be due to the siblings’ strong social bond, the researchers say.

PANDAS Bumblebees’ hairs quiver when exposed to static electricity from flowers

ANIMAL

PHOTO: GETTY ILLUSTRATION: RAJA LOCKEY

BEES SENSE FLOWERS’ ELECTRIC SIGNALS WITH THEIR HAIR With their bold yellow and black markings and fuzzy bodies, bumblebees are some of the most charismatic insects seen in the British summertime. Now, a team from the University of Bristol has found that they use their distinctive fuzz to detect electric signals from flowers. The researchers found that bumblebees’ fuzzy hairs quiver rapidly when exposed to the static electricity created by flowers. By investigating the insects’ nervous system they were then able to confirm that they used the hairs to guide them to sources of pollen. The findings suggest that electroreception in insects may be widespread, they say. “We were excited to discover that bees’ tiny hairs dance in response to electric fields, like when humans hold

a balloon to their hair,” said research lead Dr Gregory Sutton. “A lot of insects have similar body hairs, which leads to the possibility that many members of the insect world may be equally sensitive to small electric fields.” Electroreception may arise from the bees’ hairs being stiff and lightweight, giving them properties similar to the spider hairs and mosquito antennae that are sensitive to sound, the researchers say. Electroreception is common in aquatic mammals, such as sharks, but has been little studied in insects. Scientists hope that research into how flower signals are perceived, received and acted upon by bees will lead to a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between insects and pollinators that keeps the planet green.

Hao Hao, a giant panda at Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium, has given birth to a male cub, making her one of only a handful to do so in captivity. There are thought to be fewer than 2,000 pandas left on the Earth, with 300 being homed by zoos.

GOOD MONTH

BAD MONTH

REGIONAL ACCENTS Jimmy Nail’s Geordie brogue could soon be a thing of the past. A Cambridge study of 30,000 Britons across 4,000 locations has found more of us are speaking like southerners. Social mobility and media are to blame, they say.

LAWYERS Canadian start-up ROSS has built an AI that can search through the entire body of case law in seconds. Type in a query and the barrister bot spits out a stream of legal citations and precedents.

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ORIGIN OF LIFE

“THE RNA WORLD HYPOTHESIS GIVES US A BETTER INSIGHT INTO HOW LIFE ORIGINATED HERE AND ELSEWHERE” German scientists have made building blocks of RNA through reactions similar to those that may have occurred on early Earth. So did an ‘RNA World’ exist before life began? We asked biochemist Prof Niles Lehman with something, a good bet is RNA. How do we know life came from RNA? We don’t. We’ll never know unless we get into a time machine and go back four billion years and see what happened on the Earth. Part of the goal of origins of life research is not to reconstruct the actual history of what happened on the Earth, but to reconstruct a plausible history. The RNA World hypothesis falls into that realm of a plausible sequence of events that could have led to life. There are a lot of ‘molecular fossils’ in contemporary biochemistry that suggest RNA was very ancient in the history of life. The fact that ATP is the primary energy currency in cells, and ATP is a piece of RNA, means that many scientists have suggested that RNA had a very rudimentary role in the genesis of life. How might RNA have been created? One of the long-standing questions is how do you make the building blocks of RNA on the prebiotic Earth [Earth before life existed]? It’s been a challenging synthesis from a chemical point of view. There have been some really nice advances in the last 10 years or so, adding to our repertoire of possible 28

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PHOTOS: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, GETTY

BELOW: RNA could have played an important role in kick-starting life on Earth

What is the RNA World hypothesis? It’s a collection of ideas that suggest that RNA [a nucleic acid related to DNA that is involved in the synthesis of proteins], or something a lot like it, was the first molecule that led to life as we know it here on the Earth. RNA is cool because it has both a genotype and a phenotype: it has a genotype in that it can store and transmit genetic information [now the function of DNA] and it has a phenotype in that it can catalyse a chemical reaction [as proteins do today]. So when that was first realised back in the 1980s, people came up with this idea that if we had to start

T HE Y DID W H AT ?!

Trees observed ‘sleeping’ What did they do? Researchers from the Vienna University of Technology used precise laser scanners to map the movement of silver birch trees from sunset and sunrise in search for signs of circadian rhythm. Why did they do that? Most living organisms, including plants, are known to adapt their behaviour according the repeating cycles of day and night. Flowers, for example, continue to open and close in rhythm with daily cycles even when they’ve been locked in a darkened cellar. But this is the first study to be carried out on trees in their natural environment.

ABOVE: Scientists are keen to establish how life began on early Earth

ILLUSTRATION: RAJA LOCKEY

BELOW: Prof Niles Lehman at Portland State University uses biochemistry to investigate the origins of life

reaction pathways that led from small molecules that would have been available four billion years ago, to the building blocks, or nucleotides, of RNA [represented by the letters A, C, G and U]. The four letters of the building blocks can be split into two types: purines and pyrimidines. U and C are purines, while G and A are pyrimidines. In 2009, Manchester University’s John Sutherland showed you could go from some prebiotically plausible molecules to an activated version of the C nucleotide, cytosine. Sutherland’s team also showed you could go from prebiotically plausible molecules to at least the nucleotide versions of G and A, guanine and adenine.

What did they find? While they didn’t exactly lie down and curl up for the night, the trees’ leaves and branches were shown to droop gradually after sunset, reaching their lowest point a couple of hours before sunrise. In the morning, the branches returned to their original position within a few hours. The effect is thought to be down to changes in internal pressure due to photosynthesis.

Why is it important to study the RNA World? I think everybody wants to understand their own origins, and one of the biggest unsolved problems in understanding where we came from is how life arose from non-life. It informs our own origins and it also informs the probability that life exists elsewhere in the Universe. Studying the RNA World hypothesis gives us a better insight into how life originated here and elsewhere. It doesn’t mean it happened that way, but in the absence of a time machine, it gives us a window into plausibility. Vol. 8 Issue 9

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PSYCHOLOGY

HALLUCINOGENS COULD HELP TO TREAT SEVERE DEPRESSION The psychedelic ‘trips’ triggered by taking psilocybin, the hallucinogenic chemical in magic mushrooms, could help to treat depression, a small feasibility trial carried out at Imperial College London suggests. The team used psilocybin to induce powerful psychedelic trips lasting for up to six hours in 12 carefully selected participants with a long history of depression. One week after the treatment all of them were found to be free from depression, with five remaining depression-free for three months. The effect is thought to be due to the action of the drug on receptors in the brain that are sensitive to serotonin, a hormone involved in mood-regulation. “This is the first time that psilocybin has been investigated as a potential treatment for major depression,” explained lead researcher Dr Robin Carhart-Harris. “Treatment-resistant depression is common, disabling and extremely difficult to treat. New treatments are urgently

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needed, and our study shows that psilocybin is a promising area of future research.” All of the 12 volunteers had previously failed to respond to courses of conventional antidepressants, with 11 of them also seeing no benefits from psychotherapy. None of them suffered from any serious side effects. The authors warn that it is too early to form strong conclusions about the therapeutic benefits of psilocybin but say the findings show promise. “The results are encouraging and we now need larger trials to understand whether the effects we saw in this study translate into long-term benefits, and to study how psilocybin compares to other current treatments,” said Carhart-Harris. In the UK, magic mushrooms are a Class A drug. The maximum penalty for supply is life imprisonment.

SPACE

W H AT W E L E A R N ED THIS MONTH

INGREDIENTS FOR LIFE FOUND ON ROSETTA’S COMET

SUSPENSE IS IN THE AIR IN CINEMAS The air in cinemas changes according to what’s being shown, research by the Max Planck Institute suggests. Comedy, action and suspense produce characteristic chemical signatures in the air because of altered breathing patterns of the viewers.

PARACETAMOL CAN MAKE YOU LESS CARING It may be the first thing you reach for to get rid of a headache, but popping paracetamol can make you less sensitive to the emotional pain of others, a team at Ohio State University has found.

GROWTH SPURTS MAKE SOME TEENAGE BOYS CLUMSY

P H O T O S : G E T T Y, E S A

Teens who gain more than 3cm in three months tend to be more physically awkward, a team at the University of Bologna has found. The effect is thought to be due to the brain having to adjust to the body’s new proportions.

MOLES MAY TOPPLE STONEHENGE IF TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO RISE Warmer, wetter weather will create ideal breeding conditions for worms, leading to an abundance of food for burrowing mammals, a study commissioned by UNESCO has found. This may lead to a rise in moles that could destabilise the stones.

BELOW: By investigating the gases surrounding comet 67P, Rosetta has found molecules that may help explain how life on Earth began

Have we all descended from aliens? Life on Earth may have originated in space, new findings from ESA’s Rosetta mission suggest. Traces of glycine, an amino acid commonly found in proteins, and phosphorus, a key component of DNA, have been discovered in the dust surrounding the comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko. The finding was made by ROSINA (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis), a detector designed to ‘sniff’ the gases surrounding 67P, and confirms the long-theorised possibility that the building blocks for life may have been brought to Earth on a comet. “The multitude of organic molecules already identified by Rosetta, now joined by the exciting confirmation of fundamental ingredients like glycine and phosphorous, confirms our idea that comets have the potential to deliver key molecules for prebiotic chemistry,” said Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist.“Demonstrating that comets are reservoirs of primitive material in the Solar System and vessels that could have transported these vital ingredients to Earth, is one of the key goals of the Rosetta mission, and we are delighted with this result.” The Rosetta probe reached 67P in August 2014 following a 10-year, 6.4 billion kilometre journey through space. ROSINA’s first detection of the substances was made in October 2014 with a second being taken in March 2015. “There is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the chemistry on early Earth and there is of course a huge evolutionary gap to fill between the delivery of these ingredients via cometary impacts and life taking hold,” said co-researcher Hervé Cottin. “But the important point is that comets have not really changed in 4.5 billion years: they grant us direct access to some of the ingredients that likely ended up in the prebiotic soup that eventually resulted in the origin of life on Earth.” Vol. 8 Issue 9

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IN WORLD NEWS

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY IN HEALTHCARE Wearable technology and devices come in the form of clothing and accessories incorporating computer and advanced electronic technologies. These designs often come with practical functions and features. Some popular devices include Oculus Rift, a virtual reality game set; the Moto 360 2 and Apple Watch, smart jewellery that comes with fertility sensors; and Fitbit, the biggest selling fitness wearable in 2015. However, did you know that wearable technology can also help people manage serious and chronic diseases? One such example is flash glucose monitoring, an interesting innovation in the health and technology industry catered specifically for diabetic patients. This system requires no routine fingerpricking but automatically collates charts and data to help the user adjust their treatment regime that is supported by an app. This is a great leap forward for people with diabetes and puts them in a proactive position when it comes to managing health conditions. Diabetes is a growing phenomenon around the world, affecting nearly one in 11 adults and linked to 3.7 million deaths

Fitbit Blaze Black Leather

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around the world each year. Asian countries contribute to more than 60% of the world’s diabetic population and the prevalence of diabetes is increasing in these countries. By equipping people with the knowledge and access to the latest monitoring system technology, it can help users achieve healthy glucose levels throughout the day without constant stress. To aid in this, Abbott invented the FreeStyleLibre system, a new and userfriendly gadget that helps obtain glucose readings with just a quick scan over the sensor. The device consists of a small sensor (no bigger than a Hong Kong dollar

Apple Watch

coin); the fully disposable sensor that last up to 14 days, requires no routine fingerprick and automatically measure, captures and stores glucose data. FreeStyleLibre first received European regulatory approval in 2014 shortly after its launch across several European countries and today, it is available in 26 countries across the globe. Within Asia Pacific, it is available in Australia, Hong Kong, China and India with plans to expand into the Singapore market once ready. Dr Yeung Chun Yip, a specialist in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, shared that technological advances have prompted significant strides in diabetes care over the years. Besides the advent of new potential treatment modalities (oral insulin, long-acting medications, gene and cell replacement therapy), we should also look forward to technologies that may allow continuous collection of glucose data through fast and non-invasive means. Ultimately, we are glad to be living in an age where smart technology exist in wearables, implants or comes in mobile applications form that allows healthcare professionals and patients to seamlessly integrate healthcare into day-to-day living.

Comment & Analysis SUGAR SCIENCE “This is the wonderful thing about sugar. It can exist as both a crystal and as a glass” ugar had never been this frustrating before. My friend Sarah and I were prowling around the pan of sweet, melting crystals, desperate to stir it all together. Siobhan, who was following recipe instructions, was stern. “Don’t touch it!” met our ears every time we got too close. Sugar looks simple, but it’s got the potential to take on different guises. Sarah and I were convinced that this batch was heading straight for the guise called ‘burnt’, but Siobhan was on a mission to do something more elegant: turn sugar into glass. Each molecule of the sugar is made up of two components: glucose and fructose. Together, these make up sucrose: 45 atoms arranged in two linked rings. Even though that gives the sucrose quite a complicated shape, these molecules can still stack up perfectly on top of one another, locked into a rigid structure called a crystal. This is why sugar glints in sunshine – the stacks can have flat sides that reflect light like tiny mirrors. This is as simple as sugar gets. The complications that follow as you heat, cool, and mix these molecules fill recipe books, and keep the confectionery industry in business. Siobhan had put dry sugar into a pan by itself and left it on the heat. My urge to stir came from my conviction that the heat was going to start chemical reactions in the hottest crystals, breaking them down into the acrid substances we associate with burnt food. But as we watched, occasionally sneaking in a quick stir when Siobhan wasn’t looking, the sugar molecules heated up and became mobile enough to drift away from the crystals, forming a pool of melted sugar at the bottom of the pan. Nothing burned. Afterwards, I looked up the temperature at which sugar melts, and was surprised to find that it’s not simple. If you heat sugar slowly, it appears to melt at a lower temperature. For most substances, it’s a fixed single temperature. But it seems that if you heat sugar slowly, chemical reactions start to happen, breaking up the sugar molecules. Those broken molecules can no longer hold their place in the crystal, and so all the molecules escape into liquid form at a lower temperature than they should.

ILLUSTRATION: EIKO OJALA

S

Siobhan eventually let us stir the sugar, and the colourless liquid became a rich, dark brown: a caramel. If we left it in the pan to cool slowly, the mobile molecules would continue to jostle each other, slowing their dance as the temperature dropped. Eventually, they would find their way back into the stack pattern to form new crystals. But Siobhan poured the whole lot over crushed nuts on a metal sheet, cooling it far too quickly for the molecules to rearrange themselves. The brown liquid was frozen in place, as a solid with an irregular liquid structure. It looked the same – transparent and smooth – but now the molecules were locked into an irregular mosaic. We hit it and it shattered like glass.

This is the wonderful thing about sugar. It can exist as both a crystal and as a glass, depending on how quickly it’s cooled. ‘Sugar glass’ used to be commonly used for props in film and theatre, since it was cheap and harmless but would shatter like the real thing. The frustration of not being allowed to stir vanished as soon as we got to eat our glassy treat. Most of the molecules had been rearranged rather than cooked, but the change in texture was worth the effort. But I still can’t see why we couldn’t have stirred it. More sugary experiments are clearly needed! ß

DR HELEN CZERSKI is a physicist and BBC science presenter. Her book, The Storm In A Teacup, will be out in November Vol. 8 Issue 9

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ADVERTORIAL

Seinan Elemantary School Principal, Mr. Yukiharu Seki giving us a welcome speech

Yakult was a special treat that day International press were given a presentation on the school lunch programme in Japan

SHOKUIKU

JAPAN’S UNIQUE FOOD AWARENESS PROGRAMME WORDS: JOSMIN ONG

t is acknowledged worldwide that the Japanese are some of the healthiest people on the planet due to their cultural habits, geographic location and a universal healthcare system. As of 2014, Japan is listed as the country with the world’s second highest life expectancy at 84.74 years. To what can we attribute this? There are many factors that can affect one’s lifespan but a big part of it lies in healthy eating habits including an extensive knowledge of food nutrition. Since 2005, the basic law of Shokuiku has been enforced to promote physical and mental health. Alongside this, is the nurturing of a well-rounded character which includes inculcating gratitude for food and understanding its importance. In recent years, there has been an even greater promotion of Shokuiku with a focus on the young generation. Some of the problems this age group faces include skipping of meals, obesity and the desire of thinness, to

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achieve the “ideal body type”. They say habits are best formed young and therefore, the mandatory elementary school lunch programme helps to establish this.

MINATO CITY SCHOOL LUNCH We had the honour to go behind the scenes at Minato City School, a 110th year old public school, to assess their lunch preparation regime and how promotion of Shokuiku is incorporated into their daily schedules. School lunch began during a time where there were food shortages after the war, with the principal Students pick up good habits from young, including serving all classmates and teachers

aim being to provide nutritional support for children. Today, the aim of the school lunch has changed greatly. In addition to contributing to the healthy mental and physical development of students, lunch has the important role of fostering a correct understanding of food and reinforcing the importance of making proper food choices. Teachers cooperate with nutritionists and cooks to provide school lunch guidance so that students learn the fundamental eating habits. In the aim to foster rich human relationships and establish healthy eating habits, the classrooms are often converted

YAKULT

Calcium and probiotics are two important nutrients to include in our daily diet

into a lunchroom to enhance the eating environment – one where teachers and students eat together. On the day of our visit, we saw the preparation of the lunches in a kitchen: huge pots and pans to prepare the Spaghetti soup to be served, Japanese style potato salad, specially cultivated fruits, milk and the day’s special treat – Yakult 400. Yakult 400 contains 40 billion L. casei strain Shirota per 80ml bottle and delivers at least twice more the usual amount of healthy bacteria to help maintain a healthy intestinal tract to maximise nutrient absorption. The students were thrilled to have this special treat that day and were seen vying for the very last bottle (there were a couple of extras for each class). Students on duty usually begins with food collection from the kitchen, followed by an act of servant leadership as they serve up lunch to their peers and teachers and eventually meal greetings. From this, we can see how the lunch system effectively helps

to promote Shokuiku in a positive manner. Students interacted with each other during meal times, finished their food and played together after lunch. This was a refreshing change as kids - and even adults nowadays - are often glued to their social media devices or televisions at home, unknowingly cultivating a bad habit. In order to foster the necessity of having a desirable diet and to practice it, it is imperative for schools to collaborate with homes and communities. Therefore, a school lunch newsletter is distributed to homes to introduce the menu, seasonal

Lunch at a glance

Food education is integrated into the education programme

vegetables, meal events, goals of the school lunch and other information. With so much positivity from this system, we are left to wonder if Singapore will ever inculcate this culture. As of now, we are just glad to be able to get our daily fix of Yakult health beverage from Yakult ladies or nearby supermarkets to keep our digestive system healthy all day! ß Vol. 8 Issue 9

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SCIENCE

WHERE ARE ALL THE

CLONES? It’s 20 years since scientists in Edinburgh cloned Dolly the sheep. Commentators at the time promised us a world overrun by cloned animals and humans. So where are they? WORDS: HENRY NICHOLLS

Scan this QR Code for the audio reader

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mbryologist Bill Ritchie knew that Dolly the sheep would be big news. But looking back to the days after the press got wind of the cloned sheep, he is still amazed by the sensation she caused. “By the Monday morning, the place was just full of trucks with dishes sending the news around the world,” says Ritchie, then at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh and one of the researchers behind the creation of Dolly. “All hell had broken loose.” One reporter imagined that Dolly might herald “a scientific explosion comparable to the atom bomb or the Moon rocket or DNA itself”. There were accusations that the scientists were ‘playing God’. Some envisaged herds of cloned sheep, consisting of thousands of identical sisters. One commentator even raised the alarming prospect that “any decent college or graduate school student could potentially clone a human being”. Others were more positive, seeing cloning as a lifeline for endangered species. Given the excitement and such wild predictions of a future overrun by clones, it’s reasonable to ask what happened. Where are all the clones now? What worked and what didn’t? Who’s still cloning and why? Twenty years after Dolly, what is her legacy? “Everyone thought it was going to be so easy,” says Ritchie. But it isn’t. In the case of Dolly, Ritchie succeeded in creating 277 cloned sheep cells. Of these, only 29 began to divide normally and were implanted into surrogate ewes. There was just one pregnancy that reached term. “It’s not a particularly efficient technique,” he explains. “I sometimes wonder how it works at all.” But have we learned anything to help us improve this efficiency? “Not a lot,” says Ritchie. “It’s still a very inefficient process.” This fact helps explain why so many of the applications envisaged for cloning

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SCIENCE

EXTRA LIVES Another application of cloning is the promise of creating a clone of a favourite pet after it has passed away. But the idea makes little sense, business or otherwise. “Why clone a pet?” asks Ritchie. “It might look the same as the last animal you had but is not going to have the same personality.” But this didn’t stop British couple Richard Remde and Laura Jacques f lying to South Korea at the end of last year to be present at the birth of two puppies cloned from their recently deceased pet boxer Dylan. The Sooam Biotech Research Foundation relieved Remde and Jacques of the princely sum of US$78,000 “to prolong the companionship with your dog by bringing back the memories that you have with your friend”. The promise of cloning to save threatened species has not been realised either for the simple reason that there is, by definition, a serious shortage of females to act as surrogates. There are isolated success stories – the European mouflon, a type of wild sheep found on

ABOVE: Dog-loving UK couple Richard Remde and Laura Jacques, splashed out US$78,000 to create clones of their boxer dog Dylan RIGHT: Dylan died from a seizure at the age of eight BELOW: These two boxer puppies, born in December 2015, were cloned from Dylan

PHOTOS: THE GUARDIAN X3, GETTY X2

have not taken off. Take agriculture, for instance. There would be huge interest in copying the most prized individuals in a herd, simultaneously improving the quality and consistency of the animals. But the low success rate of cloning, coupled with concerns over the safety of consuming cloned products, means that only the boldest players dare to dabble. In China, the world’s largest animal-cloning factory will soon begin operations in the city of Tianjin. BoyaLife’s aim is to produce 100,000 high-quality cow embryos with a view to feeding China’s growing appetite for beef, eventually scaling up to one million animals a year. The inefficiencies involved also mean that cloning of valuable animals remains a relatively niche activity that’s only accessible to the super-rich. In Idaho in the US, for instance, businessman and mule-racing enthusiast Donald Jacklin ploughed some of his wealth into a project to clone a mule. Cloning has also been used to create breeding replicas of castrated racehorses. It’s not cheap, but given the astronomical fees that a valuable stud can command there might be a financial incentive. But it remains a niche activity.

TIMELINE: ANIMALS WE’VE CLONED 1894

1902

German biologist Hans Driesch takes a two-cell sea urchin from the Bay of Naples and shakes it in beaker of water. The cells part, giving rise to two, independent but identical, sea urchins. 38

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Hans Spemann, another German scientist, uses a fine hair from his baby son to split a salamander embryo in two. The result: two amphibians for the price of one.

1952 In the US, Robert Briggs and Thomas King perform a successful nuclear transfer, by moving a nucleus from an embryonic frog cell into an egg cell whose own nucleus had been removed.

1962 Instead of using nuclei from frog embryos, Oxford biologist John Gurdon takes them from adults, demonstrating that a differentiated nucleus still has the power to build an entire animal.

1963 Chinese embryologist Tong Dizhou applies the same technique to fish, though his work, originally published in his native Chinese, does not receive much attention beyond China.

THE LIFE OF DOLLY THE SHEEP The udder cell that provided the nucleus that gave rise to Dolly came from a six-year-old white Finn Dorset sheep. The nucleus from the udder cell was injected into an egg cell from a Scottish Blackface ewe. The cloned lamb began life with the codename 6LL3. In recognition of her udder origins, 6LL3 became known as Dolly, after the big-busted singer Dolly Parton. When Dolly was born on 5 July 1996, she weighed in at a fairly hefty 6.6kg. Dolly had six healthy lambs in her lifetime. Her first, Bonnie, was born in the spring of 1998. In 2001, Dolly was treated for arthritis. The Roslin Institute denied she was ageing prematurely. Dolly was put to sleep on Valentine’s Day 2003, following the discovery of tumours growing in her chest.

Corsica and Sardinia, was successfully cloned in 2001 – but they are all species with a closely related domestic species capable of receiving the embryo. For the scientists involved in the creation of Dolly, all these applications of cloning (agriculture, pedigree, pets, conservation) were never a priority, says Miguel Garcia-Sancho, a historian of science at the University of Edinburgh. “They didn’t regard cloning as an end in itself. It was just one of the steps, albeit a crucial one, on the way to producing genetically modified animals,” he says. By the time news about Dolly broke in February 1997, the researchers at the Roslin Institute were

Dolly was stuffed and went on display at the National Museum of Scotland in E Edinburgh. g

ABOVE: Dolly with Dr Ian Wilmut, one of the scientists who created her

“A cloned pet might look the same as the last animal you had, but won’t have the same personality” 1996 The cloning of Dolly the Sheep builds on Gurdon’s method, showing that the nucleus from a differentiated cell retains the ability to make an entire animal from scratch, even in mammals. A total of 277 cloned sheep cells were created, with 29 of them developing into embryos. Dolly was the only one who continued developing after implantation into a surrogate ewe.

2001 Researchers at Texas A&M University create the first cloned pet, using a cell from a brown-and-white tabby cat called Rainbow to make ‘CC’ (aka ‘Copy Cat’ and ‘Carbon Copy’).

2001 Scientists at Advanced Cell Technology in the US are the first to clone an endangered species. Noah the gaur, a species of wild ox native to Asia, dies from dysentry after two days.

2005 Controversial South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk uses the ear cell from an Afghan hound to make Snuppy, the world’s first cloned dog. A Labrador acts as surrogate mother. Vol. 8 Issue 9

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already well on the way to producing several more cloned sheep but with one crucial difference. They were not exact copies, as Dolly had been. The nucleus (the section of a cell that contains most of the genetic material) used to create each sheep had been modified to contain a human bloodclotting protein, factor IX. The idea was that these sheep would have this protein present in their milk. The protein could then be harvested and used to treat patients with haemophilia. The basic reasoning was sound and the sheep did have the protein in their milk, though not in sufficient quantities to be commercially viable.

CLONES TO THE RESCUE In spite of this setback, cloning is an indispensable step in the creation of genetically modified animals that can be vital for scientific research. One of the most valuable applications has been to improve on existing mouse models of human disease. “A mouse is not a human,” says Angelika Schnieke, a key player in the Dolly project and now chair of livestock biotechnology at the Technische Universitat Munchen in Germany. “A pig is not a

human either but its physiology is a lot closer.” In the last few years, cloning has been used to create pig models of cystic fibrosis, bowel cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. These are being used to test new medications, imaging technologies and treatment options. In addition, cloning has brought us closer to a world in which pig organs could be routinely used in transplantation. By making modifications to embryonic pig cells and introducing a smattering of human genes, researchers have been able to clone pigs with organs that are less likely to be rejected by the human immune system. With cloning, it’s also possible to think about engineering animals that are resistant to common diseases. In 2014, for instance, Chinese scientists used genetic manipulation plus cloning to create cows that

It’s possible to think about engineering animals that are resistant to common diseases

A cell in an early embryo has something akin to a superpower. It can transform into any part of the organism, a skin cell perhaps, a muscle cell, a nerve cell or a blood cell. Before Dolly, everyone assumed that in mammals this process of specialisation, so-called ‘differentiation’, was irreversible. Dolly proved otherwise. Scientists start with an egg cell 1 . The nucleus (the part of the cell that contains the majority of the genetic material) is removed from the egg cell 2 . A single differentiated cell, in this case an udder cell from an adult donor, is picked up by a tiny needle 3 . The udder cell is injected into the egg cell and a small electrical pulse is used to fuse the nucleus into its new environment and to kick-start cell division 4 . The egg cell and differentiated cell fuse. You can see in this image that the egg cell now has a nucleus (upper centre) 5 . The embryo is implanted into the uterus of a surrogate female. She carries the clone to term 6 .

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PHOTOS: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY X5, GETTY

HOW DOES CLONING WORK?

TO CLONE OR NOT TO CLONE?

are resistant to the bacterium responsible for mastitis, a condition that causes udder tissue to become painful and inf lamed. This research could improve the lot of livestock and save farmers billions of dollars in lost revenue to boot. A similar approach could be used to engineer cattle resistant to the parasite that causes sleeping sickness, a major constraint to livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa. There could even be environmental benefits of cloning. Researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada have created Enviropigs, animals with a bonus enzyme that means they produce less phosphate in their manure and so are less polluting. But for historian Garcia-Sancho, Dolly’s real legacy is not to be found in creating vast f locks of identical farm animals or ‘resurrecting’ a favourite pet. This special sheep and the excitement she caused stimulated a lot of research and interest into human embryonic stem cells. Perhaps Dolly’s biggest contribution was to aid the discovery, in 2006, that it is possible to convert adult cells into all-powerful stem cells without having to go through the hit-andmiss rigmarole of moving nuclei from one cell to another. “Science is very serendipitous,” GarciaSancho says. ß

When it comes to ethics, some forms of cloning are easier to justify than others According to Angelika Schnieke, chair of livestock biotechnology at the Technische Universitat Munchen in Germany, cloning is of immense value to biomedical science. “It has allowed us for the very first time to make precise and controlled modification of animals,” she says. The applications are endless. By combining gene editing with cloning technology, we should be able to create livestock that is less susceptible to illness and disease, improving animal welfare and the livelihoods of humans to boot. Cloning also promises to give us more accurate animal models of human diseases, along with organs that can be used for transplantation. Banning cloning would be unethical, says Schnieke. “If I can do something more precisely and I can use fewer animals it makes more sense,” she says. “The world would be a better place for the animals and humans if we embrace this technology sensibly.”

COLIN STUART (@SKYPONDERER) IS AN ASTRONOMY WRITER AND AUTHOR OF THE BIG QUESTIONS IN SCIENCE

FOR

PHOTO: BOYALIFE

AGAINST

Those opposed to cloning raise several objections. For Helen Wallace, director of GeneWatch UK, the creation of Dolly was a watershed moment in our relationship with the natural world, “a significant further step towards seeing animals only as commodities to be created for our convenience.” The fact that cloning still remains an inefficient process is also a concern. “Many animals are subjected to surgical procedures, whilst cloned offspring are often aborted or die prematurely,” she says. Wallace’s position on the use of cloning in livestock farming and for pets is clear. It should not be allowed. But even when the purpose of cloning is to improve animal and human health there needs to be more scrutiny, she says. “Alternatives should always be considered and non-animal testing methods further developed to be more widely available.”

RIGHT: Canadian researchers have cloned pigs that create more eco-friendly manure

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Robert has converted his back garden into a weasel paradise full of surveillance cameras. He took this photo of the male he named Mr Two Spots when he was just five months old

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PHOTOS BY ROBERT FULLER

WEASEL WISE

WHEN NOTED WILDLIFE ARTIST ROBERT FULLER BECAME A WEASEL WHISPERER, THE SCENE WAS SET FOR A SPRINGWATCH SOAP OPERA. AMY-JANE BEER REPORTS Vol. 8 Issue 9

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The weasels’ climbing ability fascinated Robert, so he set up a feeding-box on wooden stilts with a twisted branch leading up to it, and got some amazing shots of them zooming up and down

ou are two minutes late, said Robert Fuller as he motions me into the stone-flagged hallway of his Yorkshire Wolds farmhouse. It’s just past 8.15am on a mid-April morning and in fact I was early. But Robert meant late for the weasels. “She’s just left the nest. He’s still dozing, though – come and see.” In the kitchen, an entire worktop is taken up with monitors displaying live feeds from cameras located in nestboxes and feeders dotted around Robert and his wife Victoria’s garden. There are more screens in the living room, office and studio where Robert paints. All this technology is part of a tried-and-tested method for stagemanaging wildlife. Robert first establishes the animals’ preferences, then he uses this knowledge to create situations in which they effectively pose for his popular wildlife paintings. The images that have resulted from this method include swallows nesting in an old hurricane lantern, badgers emerging from a hollow log and tawny owls peering from tree holes. But with the weasels, things have gone further. Robert has fallen for these tiny predators in a big way. The weasels I’ve come to see are Teasel and Mr Two Spots, who a few weeks after my visit went on to become stars on BBC Two’s Springwatch. The pair were soon dubbed the “cosy couple” but the shenanigans during their breeding season didn’t just captivate TV viewers, they confounded long-held assumptions about weasel ecology too.

Y

RISE AND SHINE On Rob’s kitchen monitor, I watch Two Spots open one eye, then close it. A few minutes later he wriggles again, lifting his white chin in a yawn that shows a pink mouth lined with tiny white ‘needles’. Then he clamps his paws to his face and rubs his eyes. It’s ridiculously endearing. He’s clean as a whistle, and, curled as he is

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STOAT OR WEASEL?

The view from Robert’s studio of the ‘Weasel Town’ he has created, complete with feeding-boxes and nesting chambers LEFT: Robert’s acrylic painting of a 48-day-old male weasel beside the drystone wall the artist built to provide a pleasing backdrop

into a tight circle, you could wear him as a brooch. There is, of course, another side to weasels. They may be the world’s smallest members of the Mustelidae – the family of carnivores that includes stoats, martens, otters, badgers and wolverines – but they’re equipped with all of the predatory hardware and tenacious ferocity that characterise their larger relatives. If voles have nightmares, they surely feature weasels. Where do you run from a killer that flows like water into your safest hiding place, faster than the eye can follow? The generic name for these slender exterminators, Mustela, is apt – it means ‘mouse spear’. Robert’s weasel obsession began when a female started visiting his garden last spring. He quickly constructed a nestbox, baited it with dead mice and waited, camera at the ready. He soon realised the scale of the challenge he’d set himself. Weasels aren’t rare by carnivore standards – indeed they can be seen in many of our

Despite the wellworn gag (that one is weaselly recognised, the other stoatally different), distinguishing these small mammals can be tricky, largely because neither is inclined to pause for long. Stoats (above) are more conspicuous due to their larger size and bolder personality, while weasels conduct their frenetic lives mainly under cover. But size is unreliable – though some

weasels are small enough to fit though a large wedding ring, a big one can rival a small stoat. The other identifier, the demarcation line between the chestnut back fur and white belly – wavy in weasels and straighter in stoats – is also fallible. The tail is a better guide, with that of the stoat being longer with a noticeable black tuft, while a weasel’s tail is very short and often inconspicuous.

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leafier urban parks and even in suburban gardens – but they’re infrequently seen, under-researched and widely misunderstood. The main difficulty with weasels is their small size and breathtaking speed. So Robert developed systems to alert him when the female was around, starting with a bell attached to a dead mouse and a large mirror on one of her regular runways. Motion sensors designed for domestic security systems followed, triggering buzzers in the house. Robert also learned to rely on the alarm calls of garden birds. “They give different calls for different predators,” he explains. “The ground-predator alert is much softer than for a sparrowhawk, for example, so now when I hear a blackbird plinking away out there I know what it’s seen.”

EARLY DAYS When Robert set up his feeding-boxes and nestboxes last year they had 32mm-diameter entrance holes – small enough to keep out stoats. When a male weasel appeared and a violent courtship ensued, Robert reduced the size of the entrance to 25mm to exclude the male and give the female a safe refuge. But at her most pregnant she couldn’t squeeze in, and gave birth in an old rat hole under a shed. 46

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Robert was just 1m away when a female weasel moved her seven kits back to the nest from an old rat hole where she gave birth, carrying them one by one

Over the following weeks, Robert was able to capture some amazingly intimate footage of the new family. First came shots of the mother suckling her offspring, which were followed by images of her kits avidly feeding on dead mice, their predilection for meat apparent at only a week old. Seven days after giving birth, when the female had slimmed down enough to access the nestbox, she moved her family in one at a time, carrying each kit by the scruff. The move proved to be only a temporary arrangement, however, because the female continued to relocate her kits frequently. Presumably this was an anti-predation measure, but despite her efforts the youngsters were eventually discovered by a stoat. She managed to drive it off the first time it appeared, but Robert was worried that it would return. Stoats hunt weasels ruthlessly – as a means of limiting competition as much as for food. “I realised just how vulnerable they were,” says Robert. In this instance, however, the stoat seemed to be staying away and, in its absence, the kits grew while their mother showed them her territory and taught them how to hunt. One memorable morning Robert watched a male kit fight and kill a young rat. “I heard them in the meadow and ran to see what was going on. I parted the long grass and

GET TO KNOW THE WEASEL FAMILY Britain’s six native species in the mustelid family vary enormously in size. Weasels are easily the smallest, but how do they measure up to their relations? WEASEL 194–217mm

ABOVE: One of the numerous ‘film sets’ in the garden FAR LEFT: Robert built this weasel nesting chamber then buried it, lining it with an old vole’s nest for the scent and placing tempting dead mice along the entrance pipes

STOAT 275–312mm

POLECAT 330–450mm LEFT: This camera set-up in the kitchen faces the feeding-boxes

watched from the action from above. They were too busy with their life-and-death struggle to notice.” PINE MARTEN 510–540mm

A DEVASTATING DISAPPEARANCE At 48 days old, the kits were exploring independently but still being suckled, even though the males were by now much bigger than their mother. Meanwhile the neighbourhood stoat was still at large and the female weasel sustained a severe bite wound fighting it off. A few days later she disappeared – for good this time. “I know the stoat got her in the end,” Robert says. How did that feel, I ask, given that Robert encourages his local stoats too, by providing food and secure denning sites in another part of the garden? “I was devastated,” he admits. “But I love stoats too. And they’d be here anyway, even if I didn’t feed them.” At least five of last year’s kits survived to independence and two remained in the area well into the autumn, one of which was Mr Two Spots. As the 2016 breeding season approached,

The kits grew while their mother showed them her territory and taught them how to hunt

OTTER 600–800mm

BADGER 750–1,000mm

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Robert began making some alterations to the weasel provisions in his garden based on last year’s experiences. “I haven’t managed to paint anything for weeks,” he tells me when I visit in April. “It’s been weasels 16 or 17 hours a day.”

FIVE-STAR WEASEL LUXURY We take a tour of the garden, or ‘Weasel Town’ as it was known. It comprises not only a variety of nesting sites and walkways along log piles, hedges, scaffold poles and specially constructed drystone walls, but also a brick extension to Robert and Victoria’s house.This incorporates two underground hides connected by a tunnel 1m wide and 6m long so he can move between hides without disturbing the wildlife he’s watching. There are cable ducts everywhere – the entire place is wired with cameras. In the corridor leading to the hide, a large wooden box is mounted on the wall. It contains a cosy nest chamber, accessed from the outside by two narrow tunnels at ground level. The chamber is lined with hay and lit with LEDs – Robert wanted to film in full colour and high definition, so illumination is essential. “Feel inside,” he instructs. I reach in – it’s deliciously warm. “I gave her a heat pad,” Robert continues, a little sheepish.

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ABOVE: Robert’s hard work proves that any wildlife lover can make a real contribution to research BELOW: Here he captured the moment when the interloper Mac mated with Teasel. The uninvited act lasted two-and-ahalf hours

Truly, this is five-star weasel luxury. It seems a little over the top, but the idea is to create a nestbox so perfect that no sane weasel would choose to go elsewhere. Clearly it’s working. Teasel showed up in March and already the insight Robert has gleaned into her life eclipses anything that’s been achieved with wild weasels before. Previous research suggested that weasels show intra-sexual territoriality – in other words, that adult females exclude other females, and males exclude other males – but that the larger ranges of males include those of one or more females. Two Spots and Teasel, however, seem inseparable; there’s no chance he has another female elsewhere. Their tenderness is remarkable, especially given the brutal kidnap/courtship between the previous pair that Robert saw in 2015. For a start, the couple cohabit, sleeping curled together

TOP RIGHT: Robert is busy raising Fidget, who was found abandoned on a footpath in the centre of York ABOVE: Careful planting around an underground feeding-box gives the appearance of a natural backdrop. The box is fitted with motion detectors

WHERE IN THE WORLD? Weasels occupy a vast range, including much of the northern hemisphere, and British weasels are the same species as the so-called least weasels of North America and mainland Eurasia. But the latter are smaller on

average, with a tendency to moult to a white winter coat (above) as some stoats do in the north of Britain. However, the species is absent from Ireland, where confusingly the animals often called ‘weasels’ are in fact stoats.

like a yin-yang symbol, taking turns to stretch and fidget before tucking themselves backk in. And when it comes to sex, Teasel is the one making all th he advances d mating Two Spots as h he initially, mounting and mock-m m to action. dozes in an attempt to stir him Then, suddenly, everything changes. Perhaps those first fumbling attempts at mating caused a surge of testosterone. Whatever the cause, two days after my visit Robert calls to say that Two Spots has attacked Teasel. “His testicles are huge. Purple and so swollen that he can’t hold his tail down. Teasel tried to snuggle up to him in the nest, but he went for her. She had to fight back to defend herself.” Teasel is duly evicted and spends the next few days whickering and scolding as Two Spots hogs the box and helps himself to the mice in her larder. Then he calms down and the pair settle again into their previous amicable habits. By this point, Robert’s efforts are yielding unrivalled detail of the breeding biology of wild weasels, in all its complexity. However, both weasels then disappear and an anxious wait ensues. Teasel eventually returns carrying no signs of pregnancy, while Two Spots is nowhere to be seen. A few days later the reason becomes clear: there’s a new male on the scene. He’s big, by weasel standards at least, and his paler pelt, beginning to moult around the shoulders, earns him the name Caramac, or Mac for short. The first time Mac appears on camera in the nestbox, he meets Teasel in the entrance tunnel and forces her backwards, whickering. A few minutes later he corners her in the box, sinks his teeth into the scruff of her neck and proceeds to mate with her for more than two hours. It’s a protracted and violent coupling, but perhaps necessary. Weasels are induced ovulators – the act of mating stimulates the release of eggs from the ovary. Sadly, the tender approach practised by Two Spots doesn’t seem to work. Nevertheless, Robert is relieved when the weasel reappears three days later, avoiding the areas that Mac uses, opting instead for the risky strategy of pilfering from the stoat feeding station.

NEW CHARACTERS, NEW CHALLENGES At the time of writing, it’s late June and Robert has received a four-week-old male from a local wildlife-rehabilitation centre. ‘Fidget’ begins eating meat right away; after just a week, his weight increases from 50g to 85g, almost adult size.The kit has his own tank, furnished with a nestbox and an old woolly sock for sleeping in, but is allowed out to explore. Robert hopes to release him back to the wild in due course. As for the garden’s weasel soap opera, the tale is far from over. Is Teasel pregnant? Will Mac stick around? Can Two Spots find another mate? How long will any of them evade the stoats? And how much of the drama will take place in view of Robert’s cameras? It doesn’t matter, he says. Robert is still figuring out what makes these furry bolts of living lightning tick. The challenges in doing so are sure to keep coming, and he intends to stay tuned as the story unfolds. ß

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HISTORY

THE HISTORIANS’ VIEW…

WHY HAS BRITAIN DECIDED TO LEAVE THE EU?

COMPILED BY ROB ATTAR

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GETTY IMAGES/REX FEATURES

On 23 June, Britain voted narrowly in favour of leaving the European Union. In the aftermath of this historic decision, we asked five historians to offer their opinions about the causes of the Leave victory and what it might mean for the country’s future

A protest against the prospect of Brexit at Parliament Square on 25 June, two days after the referendum took place

David Cameron gives his final EU campaign speech, on 22 June. Two days later he announced his resignation

THE PANEL RICHARD OVERY is a professor of history at the University of Exeter who specialises in 20th-century international history, especially the Second World War.

DOMINIC SANDBROOK is a historian, writer and broadcaster who has presented a number of BBC TV series on postwar Britain, including a forthcoming history of the 1980s.

DAVID ABULAFIA is professor of Mediterranean history at Cambridge University. He is the leader of Historians for Britain, which argued for changes to Britain’s EU membership.

HELEN MCCARTHY is a senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London who works on modern Britain. She edits the journal Twentieth Century British History.

KATHLEEN BURK

A group of Vote Leave supporters at a rally in Manchester in April prepare for a speech from Boris Johnson

is emeritus professor of modern and contemporary history at University College London. Her interests lie in British and Anglo-American history.

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Helen McCarthy: I was surprised because I believed the ‘safety first’ argument of the Remain side would resonate in the final days of the campaign and pull undecideds towards Remain. I underestimated the strength of anti-EU sentiment, even in relatively affluent parts of England, such as Essex, Suffolk and Surrey where many stand to lose a great deal in the recession which almost inevitably will follow Brexit. The result confounds the familiar logic of ‘it’s the economy, stupid’ – which has fitted so neatly with the evidence of general elections in recent decades. Do you see the Leave victory as more the result of short or long-term factors? Dominic Sandbrook: Clearly it’s a bit of both. It was close, after all. One very obvious short-term factor, for example, is the fact that Labour had such an extraordinarily unconvincing leader, which nobody anticipated even a year ago. But I also think this has been a long time coming. Public discontent about immigration has been growing for 50 years; so has the alienation of large swathes of formerly industrial working-class England. And I think it’s crucial to remember that England has a very long history of distrust and even hostility

Public discontent about immigration has been growing for 50 years; so has the alienation of swathes of formerly industrial working-class England DOMINIC SANDBROOK

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towards its European neighbours. In a sense, and though I’m sorry it happened, the nation’s verdict on 23 June was simply a reversion to our default setting. Kathleen Burk: In the long-term, Europe has frequently been an existential threat, from the French to the Germans to the Russians. During the Second World War, all othe countries in continental Europe, except Sweden, Spain and Switzerland, had been invaded, conquered and occupied; Britain had not, and faith in the state was not shaken. Then in the medium-term the widespread anger arising from the democratic deficit and the volume of regulations became increasingly intolerable. As for the shortterm: social and economic chaos and the threat of a surge of migrants were alarming. The desirable policies of the EU, such as funding, were taken for granted, while the undesirable were all too public. David Abulafia: It’s a combination. The aggressive stance of the Remainers proved counter-productive – not that the Leave campaign always conducted itself wisely. The comments by Obama and others were also, I believe, counter-productive, not least because he won’t even be president when the UK leaves the EU. But we are also looking at the release of pent-up anger after so many years during which the public was not consulted about ‘ever closer union’ and ‘the European project’. Jean-Claude Juncker bears heavy responsibility; his refusal to compromise or to introduce democratic reforms left the PM with insignificant concessions. To what extent has Britain historically stood apart from continental Europe? HM: Britain has been closely engaged in all the major events and turning points of 20th-century European history, from the two world wars and the creation and work of the League of Nations in between, to postwar reconstruction and, since the 1970s, the European project. Certainly Britain’s historic relationship with Europe has distinctive features, but that’s true of all member states to a greater or lesser degree. I dislike arguments about how the English Channel, or victory in the Second World

War, or the ‘special relationship’ with the US somehow makes it impossible for the British to feel truly European. Historians should use narratives to unpick complex processes of change and continuity in the past, not to shackle politics in the present and the future. DS: Any historian will tell you that we have a long history of entanglement with the continent: the Angevin empire, the Glorious Revolution, and so on. Yes, yes, we know all that. But the plain fact is that Britain has a long-standing self-image as an exceptional country, a cradle of Protestant liberty. Is that just a myth? Maybe. But myths matter.

A 16th-century picture illustrating French wine traders. Britain’s economic links with Europe have come under scrutiny

BRIDGEMAN

ere you surprised by the result, and if so, why? Richard Overy: I was not surprised as the result was always a strong possibility given the long history of populist hostility to Europe and the difficulty of finding a popular political language in favour of a European future. The narrow margin was also entirely predictable.

This 1783 James Gillray cartoon depicts England being mocked by other European powers, France, Spain and Holland, for having lost America

dislike of unacceptable interference by unelected institutions. DA: Very much so: the remote institutions of the EU, largely unaccountable, have generated Euroscepticism not just in the UK. The insistence on creating a ‘European identity’, based on a false notion that being European transcends national identities, has created an enormous backlash that has taken unpleasant forms, as in Hungary or France. The British public, with its milder political temper, has by and large avoided extremist positions, but the EU is now paying the price of its extraordinary arrogance, combined with impenetrable bureaucracy and corruption. Moreover, the European Court has stamped on national parliaments and supreme courts. Perhaps even more importantly, we undoubtedly had an exceptional 20th century. Britain was the only major European country not to experience defeat, invasion, occupation, civil war or dictatorship. That meant that we had a unique attitude to the European project. Alone among the major European nations, we entered grudgingly and halfheartedly. Our neighbours hoped to escape their modern history. But many British voters saw no reason to join in the first place, because they had so few of those 20th-century scars.

GETTY IMAGES

RO: Britain has never stood apart from Europe and it is an illusion to believe that it ever has. Britain (earlier England) has always been a part of the European order and has waged war and made trade in Europe continuously. Influences – cultural, economic, technological, intellectual – have flowed both ways for centuries. How far do you see the EU itself as having been responsible for Euroscepticism in Britain over the years? KB: Europe and the UK are different. They have different legal systems, different business cycles, different approaches to languages, different political cultures, different assumptions about the state. The foundation for Euroscepticism was there, providing a strong base for an increasing

RO: It is not the EU as such that has been responsible for Euroscepticism (a phenomenon by no means exclusively British) but the failure of national governments to make clear enough the nature of the union and the benefits derived from it, or to counter popular but ill-informed prejudice about the Union’s practices. Why do you think the result this time was so different from the Remain victory of 1975? KB: Forty years versus two years of experience. DA: Joining a loose trading association was one thing; being part of an increasingly monolithic United States of Europe would be quite another, and the concessions won by the prime minister simply did not go far enough

Some Leave voters appeared to subscribe to a politics of patriotism rooted in a rather generalised but historic notion of their nation’s ‘greatness’ HELEN MCCARTHY

to meet the worries of the British public. Had he managed to position the UK within a new Europe built around the old idea of a common market, he would have won the support of the vast majority of voters. DS: The answer’s very simple. Britain was at a low ebb in 1975, its confidence shattered after 10 years of terrible news. The empire had gone, the pound had been devalued; there had been five states of emergency in four years. Inflation was heading towards 30 per cent, and all the talk was of Britain being ungovernable. So Europe seemed a way out, a bulwark, even a panacea. If we had been better off in 1975, though – if we had been a more united, confident, prosperous country – I suspect the vote would have gone differently. So perhaps it is only a slight stretch to suggest that Britain was always likely to reverse the 1975 referendum once it recovered its self-confidence. How much do you think an awareness of history played a role in people’s voting decisions? HM: Some older voters seem to have been influenced by what might be described as a ‘myth of betrayal’ surrounding the 1975 referendum. In other words, they believed that they had been misled by elites promising access to a single market rather than membership of a nascent European ‘superstate’, and this second referendum presented an opportunity to settle scores. Some Leave voters also appeared to subscribe to a politics of patriotism rooted in a rather generalised but nonetheless historic notion of their nation’s ‘greatness’. This created fertile ground for Leave’s claim that the UK would thrive outside the EU, but barren soil for Remain’s more nuanced arguments about the merits of pooled sovereignty in an interdependent world. DA: For some people, I don’t doubt, there was some romantic notion of recovering an Olde England characterised by village cricket greens and so on, but I don’t think it counted for much. The debate was about the future, which is uncertain, to put it mildly. The recent history of the EU – stagnant growth, a disastrous common currency, the Schengen crisis – was surely in some

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HISTORY

people’s minds, but it was strangely ignored in favour of vapid speculation about what ‘might’ or ‘could’ happen to the economy, security and so on.

KB: I cannot think that an awareness of history played much of a part: not even the Remain camp pointed out that the EU in its early guises was set up partly to balance and constrain Germany, bringing to an end 75 years of European civil war. DS: History undoubtedly mattered a great deal. Not, curiously, the kind of history written by historians, but a version of history that’s very deeply embedded in the popular imagination – the island nation, standing alone against a succession of continental bullies. In many ways it’s a myth. But through our popular culture, as much as anything, it’s so tightly woven into many Britons’ sense of themselves that there’s probably nothing historians can do to shift it. People can write as many books as they like about our European inheritance

This could be very much to Britain’s advantage. We have the chance to make connections across the globe that the EU has failed to pursue DAVID ABULAFIA

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Has a Leave vote shifted Britain’s historical trajectory? KB: The Leave vote appears to have shifted Britain’s historical trajectory back to that of 1970: 1971–2016 appears to have been an aberration.

Trafalgar Square is decked in flags as part of Second World War victory celebrations, 1945. The war has figured in the recent debate

or the ‘invention’ of our national identity, but you just can’t change a nation’s character and assumptions overnight. How does this referendum fit into the history of British democracy? HM: Direct democracy in the form of referenda has not featured prominently in Britain’s modern political history. To the contrary, popular plebiscites were generally regarded as the mark of immature polities not yet sufficiently advanced to practise the art of representative democracy – of which the British were the supposed masters. Of course there is much Whiggish nonsense in this; arguably what this referendum has exposed is the lamentable state of political leadership in this country, which utterly failed to convey to voters the magnitude of what was at stake in a ballot of this kind. We’re witnessing the fallout of this failure in the regret subsequently expressed by many Leave supporters who didn’t think their vote ‘would count’. DS: In democratic terms, there’s never been anything like it. Personally I think it was the worst campaign in our history, with both sides reaching a terrible low. What’s also true is that the electorate have probably never rebelled so overtly (if narrowly) against the massed ranks of the political and economic establishments. I don’t even think the Labour landslide of 1945 comes close. But the referendum also represents something that few of us have really come to terms with – the eclipse of the idea of representative

DA: It means we won’t be in at the kill when the EU disintegrates. Unless its leaders take the British vote seriously, recognising the strength of Euroscepticism across the Union, the EU is doomed. In the very long term, though, leaving the EU may well position the UK between the EU and the rest of the world, very much to Britain’s advantage as a trading nation. We have the chance to make connections across the globe that the EU has failed to pursue. So this is an opportunity that has to be seized enthusiastically. DS: I think this is the biggest turning point in our modern political history. Not everyone will agree, but I don’t think the elections of 1945 and 1979 were turning points; I think the changes they unleashed were always coming. But this is different, a real lurch into the unknown. Half a century after Harold Macmillan made our first bid to join, Britain seems to have definitively turned its back on the European project. Never before has our political future been so utterly unpredictable, and never before has our national destiny seemed so uncertain. HM: While some Leave supporters might welcome Brexit as a return to glorious isolation, in truth it marks a fundamental break with the liberal internationalist traditions present within British foreign policy throughout the century. Britain was a major architect of the League of Nations and a founding member of the United Nations, and, despite wavering levels of enthusiasm on the part of postwar British governments, has found in Europe a welcome source of global influence to compensate for the loss of its own superpower status. In 50 years’ time, how will historians look back on this result? RO: Historians will have many explanations

GETTY IMAGES

RO: It is difficult to gauge this, and historians would like to think it did. It mattered less for the Remain camp, though there was some sense that union was a better future given Europe’s bloody past. It mattered more for the Leave campaign because it traded on the myths of 1940 and Britain alone against the European threat. This was, of course, a complete distortion. Alone, Britain had no prospect of winning the war. Moreover the war itself had been about saving Europe from fascism, a commitment that tied Britain more to Europe, rather than less.

parliamentary democracy by a kind of populist plebiscitary version.

Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher campaigns to stay in the EEC prior to the 1975 referendum, which resulted in a 67 per cent victory for Remain

for the outcome of the referendum, and a clear view of its consequences, which we lack. It is impossible to pre-judge, since historians are themselves deeply divided now over the issue. In 50 years’ time they are not likely to be less so. HM: Assuming Brexit actually takes place, historians will look back at the EU referendum of 2016 as the moment when Britain slipped from managed into unmanaged decline in terms of her global influence and economic muscle. Even – or perhaps especially – if parliament finds a way to prevent it, the referendum will mark one of the ugliest and most divisive chapters in the history of British democracy. Unless the Labour party finds a way to renew itself, historians might be talking about 2016 as the year in which a fundamental realignment took place in British politics favouring the far right. I sincerely hope I’ve got that one wrong.

GETTY IMAGES

KB: I suspect that it will be looked back on as a dirty, dishonest, history-changing episode. Very few of the leading lights will have come out of it well. DS: It’s genuinely impossible to say because it depends so completely on what happens next. That’s what makes it so uncertain, and at once so exciting and so terrifying. We just have no way of knowing what Britain’s future relationship with the EU will look like, or even what the economic impact will be. We don’t even know whether Britain will exist as a political unit. Sadly, I think there’s a good chance now that it won’t, and that historians will look back on 23 June as the day that the United Kingdom died.

Cameron is likely to have joined Chamberlain in the hall of those politicians whose careers ended in a huge and incontrovertible failure KATHLEEN BURK

DA: As another stage in the disintegration of the EU, coming on top of the failure of the Euro project and the mishandling of the very real refugee crisis. From that perspective, it is more a sharp tremor than an earthquake – one of a series of tremors whose effect will be cumulative. Even if we had voted the other way, disintegration would still be on the cards, though not quite so rapidly. And how will history remember David Cameron as prime minister? RO: He might well have been remembered as a reasonably successful premier, given the major problems the country has faced. But it seems inevitable that history will see him as the man who failed to stop the wave of populist revolt in Britain over Europe, and who may well have opened the way for the rest of the European right to follow suit. HM: As Lord North is remembered for losing America, Cameron will take his place in the history books as the premier who unwittingly led us out of Europe and, in all likelihood, ensured the secession of Scotland from the UK. It’s hard to recall any notable achievements, except perhaps the legalisation

of gay marriage, which come anywhere near mitigating Cameron’s car-crash decision to call a wholly unnecessary referendum. DA: David Cameron has been a very capable politician, and at the peak of his career won considerable popularity. This was his big mistake politically – he didn’t expect to have to hold a referendum, because he didn’t expect his party to win enough seats to govern on its own. Then he miscalculated by not standing above the fray but throwing himself into bitter arguments that (on both sides) sometimes stretched the evidence and reason. So something of a tragic figure: a charismatic leader who gambled and lost. KB: He is likely to have joined Neville Chamberlain in the hall of those politicians whose political careers ended in a huge and incontrovertible failure of a policy of national and international importance. A lack of judgment, a lack of familiarity with the wider electorate and a focus on tactics rather than strategy did for him. DS: I think that until 23 June, Cameron was a good, solid, moderate prime minister. Certainly he handled the economy far better that most people predicted. But even I have to face facts. Nobody is going to remember him for anything but the referendum. I’m genuinely sorry to say this, but in the space of a few hours Cameron plunged from a well-deserved place in the top half of the prime ministerial league table to an equally well-deserved one in the relegation zone. He joins Chamberlain, Eden and Callaghan as men remembered, perhaps unjustly, for just one word. In his case, not ‘appeasement’, ‘Suez’ or ‘strikes’, but ‘Europe’. ß

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SCIENCE

U N D E R S TA N D HOW ANIMALS PERCEIVE THE WORLD?

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For centuries, scientists have understood that humans have five classic senses, just like many animals. However, it was only when microscopes were invented that we could really get to grips with how these senses worked. Finally, in the 20th Century, neuroethology was established. Researchers working in this field investigate the sensory perceptions of animals and humans. Over the decades, scientists have uncovered some intriguing supersenses possessed by a number of creatures.

PHOTO: GETTY

COMMON SENSE

HOW DO WE KNOW… HOW ANIMALS PERCEIVE THE WORLD WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE AN ANIMAL? IT SEEMS LIKE AN IMPOSSIBLE QUESTION, BUT SCIENCE HAS TAKEN US DEEP INTO THE WORLD OF THE BEASTS WORDS: JULES HOWARD

ause for a second. Stop and think about your senses. At this very moment photons are pinging into your face where two watery spheres that sit in holes in your skull are taking them all in. These are your eyes. The lenses in your eyes (assisted by the iris) are working hard to direct the photons most effectively onto a small mass of cells at the back of your eyeballs which, upon bombardment, send electrical messages to the brain. Brilliant, isn’t it? It’s taken scientists centuries to understand how our senses work. But what about other animals? Could we ever hope to understand how other species experience the world? Amazingly, the answer is yes, and the science has revealed some senses of which we could only dream.

PHOTOS: ALAMY X2

P

RODS AND RECEPTORS For most of human history, animal perception was a total mystery.

Though Buddha and Aristotle had been quick to categorise the five classic senses – touch, sight, hearing, tasting, smelling – no one could imagine how they worked. Instead, they had to resort to vague notions of ‘vital forces’ that f lowed from sense organs into the brain. It was with the invention of microscopes that scientists could explore bodies in a way like never before. Finally, they could look at the sense organs and see what they were made of. Eyeballs seemed like a good place to start. Though early microscopy pioneers like Antonie van Leeuwenhoek had observed unusual looking rod- and cone-like cells at the rear of the eyeball in the 1720s, it was the German anatomist Max Schultze who first described the cellular structure of the eye in 1834,, detailing the profusion of these two strange types of cell in the retina.

ABOVE: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is known as the ‘father of microbiology’

BELOW: The first microscope, made by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, had a single glass lens that was adjusted by screws

Schultze was a brilliant comparative anatomist. By investigating the retinas of nocturnal animals, including owls, bats, moles and hedgehogs, he noticed that cone cells in these creatures were less numerous than in our own retinas, and rod cells were more profuse. Schultze postulated that rod cells were probably responsible for detecting light in dim conditions, and that h cone cells ll w were for colour vision. He was later l pr p oved right. Th was a bbig leap forward This in our underst d tanding of the

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SCIENCE

U N D E R S TA N D GLOSSARY

HOW ANIMALS PERCEIVE THE WORLD?

ECHOLOCATION The ability to navigate or hunt by emitting noises and processing the echoes from nearby objects, in the same way that ships use sonar.

SENSE STORY What’s more interesting, perhaps, is that the same receptor cells crop up again and again across the animal kingdom. All mammals have rod and cone cells in their eyeballs, for instance, because we all evolved them from the same animal – a small, badger-like creature that lived in the age of the dinosaurs. Natural selection hasn’t re-invented sensory systems in most mammals, just tinkered with them. In this sense, our eyes and ears and noses work in exactly the same way as dogs, cats, meerkats and musk oxen. Like other mammals, we can smell things in the air because molecules that drift into our nostrils bind onto the cell walls of specific odour receptors deep within our nose, rather like a key fits a lock. Once activated in this way, a burst of electrical current moves down an axon (the long fibres of a nerve cell) towards the brain, and we register a smell. Likewise, we hear the world because sound waves, amplified through our mammalian ear canals, excite special finger-like projections on sensory cells deep within our heads. We taste because there are 50 to 100 taste receptor cells within each of our taste buds, and each of these cells is capable of locking onto specific molecules in our mouths. Once binded, these send electrical

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messages that our brain will almost instantly associate with feelings of tastiness or ‘un-tastiness’. In fact, through microscopic analysis of the number of these receptors in a variety of creatures, we now know exactly how modest human sensory equipment is compared to our animal chums. Dogs, for instance, have 40 times the odour-sensitive receptor cells that humans have, totalling up to 300 million cells in some breeds. As well as detecting narcotics, dogs can be trained to detect rogue cancer cells, bedbug eggs and even TNT. Incredibly, this is also true of bees. In 2014, French and Croatian scientists reared a generation of ‘sniffer bees’ by training them to associate the smell of explosives with sugar. They hope to use these insects to seek out mines and explosives in the Balkans. But even that is nothing compared to sharks, some species of which are able to detect as little as one part per million of blood in seawater. By sensing the nostril in which concentrations of blood are highest, sharks have

INFRARED BELOW: It is thought that robins may see the Earth’s magnetic field, which they use to navigate

Electromagnetic radiation that lies beyond the far end of the visible light spectrum. It is emitted particularly by heated objects.

NEUROETHOLOGY Founded by Donald Griffin and Robert Galambos in the mid-20th Century, this is the area of science involved with sensory perception in animals, including humans.

PHEROMONE A chemical signature produced by an animal in order to influence the behaviour of an animal of the same species. Pheromones are often about sex.

RECEPTOR CELLS These are crucial in sensory systems. When excited by an external stimulus (molecules, heat, light) they fire off an electrical signal to the brain. BELOW: Honey bees can be trained to detect explosives – they stick out their proboscis when the substance is present

ULTRASONIC Sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper limit of human hearing.

PHOTOS: GETTY, REX

senses. For the first time, scientists could appreciate that there were specific cells all over the body for detecting different types of sensory information, which were named ‘receptor cells’. These cells are now known to be the most crucial part of the sensory system in humans, constantly collecting information about our surroundings.

TIMELINE: ANIMAL SENSES From quivering frogs to electrical dolphins, the story of animal senses is full of surprises

1834 183

1700 S LUIGI GALVANI (1737-1798)

1834 Though they had long been known about, anatomist Max Schultze investigates the roles of the rod and cone cells in human eyes. The idea of specific sensory receptor cells is born.

While dissecting a dead frog, Galvani notices its legs movee when an electrical current is applied. He postulates about the role of electricity in animal bodies, an effect that becomees known as ‘galvanism’.

CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882) Natural selection added an air of inevitability to the evolution of senses. Darwin appreciated that those with the best senses would flourish.

1941

PHOTOS: GETTY X3, NAOS, PLOS, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, UC SAN DIEGO SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, WILLEM KOLVOORT/NATUREPL.COM

DONALD GRIFFIN (1915-2003)

1941 Donald Griffin and Robert Galambos finish their work on bats, uncovering the secrets of echolocation. The study of animal supersenses becomes a formal part of the zoological sciences.

Griffin (pictured) was a cofounder of neuroethology. He went on to describe in detail a whole host of unusual methods through which bats use echolocation.

JULIUS BERNSTEIN (1839-1917) The German physiologist deduced that electric currents (including those in sensory messages) in cells are activated by ion exchange between cell membranes.

1959

1959 Bombykol becomes the first pheromone in the animal kingdom to be discovered and described. It is later trialled as a crop treatment to reduce moth infestations.

E O WILSON (1929-) Over a long and distinguished career, this American sociobiologist and conservationist has uncovered the use of chemical messaging in ants to influence colony behaviour.

2002

2011

As well as rod and cone cells, a third type of photoreceptor is discovered in the eye: the retinal ganglion cells. These cells play an important role in influencing sleep rhythms.

Scientists discover that the Guiana dolphin, which lives in Central and South America, can detect prey by sensing electrical fields. These sensory cells are located in a row of tiny pits on the snout.

2011

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U N D E R S TA N D THE KEY E XPERIMENT

HOW ANIMALS PERCEIVE THE WORLD?

Scientists: Donald Griffin and Robert Galambos Date: 1939-41 Discovery: Bats navigate using ultrasound

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populations of many pests and parasites, including mosquitoes. Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. To scientists of the early 20th Century, it seemed as if everything had been wrapped up. Aristotle had been right about the five senses, they had deduced, and now they had a growing understanding of the sensory cells in humans and all other animals: the receptors. Except there was a problem: bats. Bats possessed tiny eyes that looked barely fit for purpose. Yet they f lew ably at night and even hunted moths and mosquitoes on the wing. They appeared to be using a sense other animals, including humans, didn’t possess. How did they do this? Could there really be such a thing as a… supersense?

GOING BATTY Incredibly, it wasn’t until the 1940s that we had an answer. Though many scientists had attempted to solve the mystery, it took two plucky American experimental biologists by the names of Donald Griffin and Robert Galambos to figure out what was going on. Between 1939 and 1941, working out of a pitch black experimental room, Griffin and Galambos uncovered the bats’ secrets and made the breakthrough: animals had the potential to perceive the world in ways that humans couldn’t. Bats could emit ultrasonic noises and process the returning echoes to create a three-dimensional map of the world. Griffin called this sense ‘echolocation’. Though such an ability seems obvious to us now, at the time, only 75 years ago, the idea of supersenses was highly contentious. After the discovery, Griffin wrote: “Radar and sonar were still highly classified

Robert Galambos (pictured), together with Donald Griffin, established that bats use echolocation to navigate, rather like military sonar

PHOTO: NEW YORK TIMES

perfected the art of homing in on prey. Snakes also possess a host of sensory adaptations for capturing a meal. Their famous tongue deserves special mention here. This forked appendage collects odours in the air (or in water), which are then carried to an organ at the back of the mouth named the Jacobson’s organ – also found in lizards, mice, elephants, dogs and many other animals. Here, odour molecules connect to receptor cells, electrical impulses fire messages, and – in the snake’s case – the brain determines upon which prong of the forked tongue the ‘smell’ is strongest. The hungry snake moves in that direction. Interestingly, both snakes and sharks use the same senses for hunting prey as they do for seeking sex. Males and females of many shark species are able to track one another’s sexual conditions simply by sniffing out chemical calling cards (pheromones) in the environment. Indeed, advanced sensory skills are often as much about sex as they are about detecting predators and prey. We now know that a whole host of species make use of these pheromones. One famous case involved bombykol – a pheromone produced by the female silkworm moth. After its discovery in 1959, chemical companies marketed the stuff to farmers as a way of killing the caterpillars that were eating their crops, while simultaneously reducing the use of pesticides. Bombykol was sprayed onto the farmers’ fields and millions of male moths met their end, overstimulated by the sudden appearance of a million imaginary females. Today, pheromones might hold the key to managing

Griffin and Galambos’s experiment to determine how bats navigate is among the finest in the history of zoology. First, by converting sound waves to electrical signals that could be read by a machine (an early ultrasonic detector) the two scientists determined that bats emitted streams of intense sounds at frequencies beyond the range of human hearing. Second, in the most famous part of their experiments, they undertook a host of obstacle avoidance tests, using bats with temporarily impaired senses (through the use of tiny ear plugs and mouth restraints). Bats were encouraged to fly from one end of a tunnel to the other, navigating through wires which dangled from the ceiling. Those bats with impaired hearing failed the test, as did those that were impaired in their ability to produce sound. Finally, the two scientists managed to demonstrate that, when stimulated with ultrasonic sounds, the bats’ cochleas (the snailshaped region of the inner ear) produced electrical signals just like the sensory systems of other animals. The results were clear. Bats got their bearings using sound, building a map of the world by measuring the echoes off nearby objects, vibrations from which were transferred into electrical impulses that travelled to the brain.

RIGH G T: Bats fire out hhighg -pitched squeaks and listen sq ffor reeturning echooes to build a ec mapp of their m ssurrooundings

PHOTOS: GETTY X2, MICHAEL DURHAM/FLPA

developments p in militaryy gy, and the notion that bats technology, might do anything even remotely analogous to the latest triumphs of electronic engineering struck most people as not only implausible but emotionally repugnant.” Griffin went on to become an esteemed sensory scientist, and bats continued to be an inspiration. With his colleagues he went on to detail how bats use echolocation to hunt; how they can discriminate between prey types mid-flight; and even how some can ‘read’ ripples in the surface of water to locate invertebrates

ABOVE: A O A ssnake’s a es fforked tongue g allows it to detect which direction a smell is coming from, therefore helping it to track down prey

BELOW: Sharks are equipped with some powerful senses. As well as being able to detect tiny amounts of blood in water, they can also sense the electricity given off by all living things

drowning in lakes and ponds.. d From the 1940s onwards,, Griffin, G together with Galambos, foun t nded the sscience off ‘neuroethology h l y’ – the exploration of sensoryy worlds. wo ds. Bats ats turned tu ed out to bbe just one off man ny ggroups p off animals l that use Others are toothed whaales and ssonar. O dolphins, some shrews, and certain birds such as cave swiftlets and oilbirds. There are even some indications that humans afflicted with blindness have a knack for it. Through the use of tongue clicks, a number of expert human echolocators have claimed to be able to listen to and process echoes in order to find their way around.

ACTIVATE SUPERSENSE! Over the past few decades, scientists have discovered that animals use

whole swathes of sensory equipment that we humans can only imagine: bees that see right into the ultraviolet spectrum of light; sharks and dolphins that hunt through the detection of electricity given off by prey; birds that migrate tens of thousands of miles guided by the magnetic lines of Earth; cattle that spontaneously align themselves north-south. There are snakes of many species that can detect and home in on the infrared radiation given off by warm-blooded prey; spiders that can detect the mechanical strain on their bodies to assess force and vibration; fish that can detect pressure waves in water and use this information to modify their buoyancy. The science of neuroethology lives on today, and there are undoubtedly more supersenses out there waiting to be discovered. Bombarded by information from our surroundings, we – the animals of Earth – effortlessly siphon off what we need to thrive and survive. We have gone about this our entire lives. And these messages are fired towards our brains in great streams of electricity, a once-mysterious power tamed by natural selection. What took more than 500 million years of evolution to hone and craft took anatomists, experimental biologists and neuroethologists a surprising number of centuries to pick apart. And there is an irony here: bats, once viewed as creatures with sensory impairment, were the animals that helped us see most clearly how incredible sensory systems can be. ß

JULES HOWARD IS A SCIENCE WRITER AND AUTHOR OF SEX ON EARTH AND DEATH ON EARTH

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Here I am with the cheetah Kike, star of BBC One’s Big Cat Week (2003). She certainly wasn’t the first cheetah to jump up onto the bonnet of safari vehicles, mirroring the way they use termite mounds as viewing points and marking posts to reveal their presence to other cheetahs. But when Kike defecated through my roof hatch she cemented my fame as ‘the man who the cheetah crapped on’ – ensuring TV audiences of up to seven million a night in the UK alone

Our life with

BIG CATS

Jonathan Scott reflects on four decades watching big cats and other wildlife in the Maasai Mara and Serengeti, one of the planet’s last truly great wildernesses PHOTOS BY ANGELA SCOTT

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BELOW: I married Angie, a fellow photographer, in 1992 on top of the Siria Escarpment on the western side of the Maasai Mara. The site overlooks the territory of the Marsh Pride, which we featured in every one of our BBC series – from 1996’s Big Cat Diary to 2008’s Big Cat Live

ABOVE: If lions and leopards catch the eye with their power and beauty, the elegant swaybacked cheetah is the supreme specialist among Africa’s big cats. With the build of a ballet dancer, it strides across the savannah with the grace and air of a catwalk model. In this instance of breathtaking drama, a female chases an impala fawn. The species preys primarily on Thomson’s gazelles and impala in the Mara, and seasonally on wildebeest calves LEFT: Leopards – a sublime, mysterious mixture of power and suppleness – are now as easy to see as cheetahs in the Mara, particularly along the Talek River and its tributaries. This photo, taken in February this year, shows the female Bahati being greeted by her son, who is six months old. Bahati’s grandmother Bella was one of the stars of our TV series

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LEFT: What really stands out from my teenage years in England is the memory of sitting in a cinema watching Born Free (1966), the story of George and Joy Adamson’s triumph in returning the wild-born lioness Elsa to the wilderness of Meru National Park in Kenya. I ached to do something like that: grey old England looked drab and pale in comparison with the splendour of the savannah. Angie and I still love nothing better than to sit in our 4WD vehicle and watch the lions of the Marsh Pride gambolling about near our base at Governor’s Camp, a stone cottage that has become our second home. These are descendants of the lions that I first glimpsed in 1977 when I came to live in the Mara

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Learning to recognise the Mara’s big cats as individuals opened up a whole new world for me, and the Marsh Pride became the focus of my attention. Here three of the ‘Four Musketeers’ – the males that formerly led this pride – compete for their share of a warthog killed by lionesses in April 2012. Scarface in the foreground was shot in 2013 during conflict over livestock, but recovered after being treated by vets from the Kenya Wildlife Service, while eight other members of the pride were poisoned in December 2015. The conflict arises because an estimated 100,000 cows are driven into the reserve illegally at night to graze, when tourists are safely out of sight and lions are on the prowl for an easy meal

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ABOVE: When you see a magnificent sight such as this, you could be forgiven for thinking that all is well in the world of the lion. But it isn’t. Angie’s favourite big cat species has lost 90 per cent of its historical range, with numbers plummeting from about 75,000 in the 1970s to maybe fewer than 20,000 in the whole of Africa today LEFT: A female, or cow, hippo defends herself against a bull intent on attacking her calf. Hippos can open their mouths almost 180 degrees, and if provoked are capable of inflicting terrible injuries with their canine teeth

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ABOVE: Angie and I are people of the open spaces. Only landscapes as vast as the African savannahs can dwarf creatures the size of giraffes LEFT: Every May 1.3 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebras and 400,000 gazelles travel north from their calving grounds on the southern plains of Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park as the grass withers and water holes dry up. In the 1980s I spent weeks at a time following this great migration and watching wild dogs – this one is chasing a wildebeest

JONATHAN SCOTT IS AN AUTHOR, TV PRESENTER AND TOUR GUIDE. HIS LATEST BOOK IS THE BIG CAT MAN (BRADT, US$26) ANGELA SCOTT IS A LEADING WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER. SACRED NATURE SHOWCASES HER PHOTOS – AND SOME OF JONATHAN’S (HPH PUBLISHING, US$51) Vol. 8 Issue 9

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HISTORY

Protestant hero A 1683 portrait of the Duke of Monmouth. His “dashing good looks and reputation for bravery made him immensely popular”, says Anna Keay, but his 1685 rebellion against James II was to end in disaster

THE RIGHTEOUS ROYAL REBEL

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MAN OF THE PEOPLE OR POWER-HUNGRY OPPORTUNIST? THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH’S BID FOR THE CROWN PERISHED ON THE SOMERSET LEVELS IN 1685 – AND, WITH IT, HIS REPUTATION. BUT, SAYS ANNA KEAY, IT’S TIME TO REVISE OUR IDEAS ABOUT THE ILLEGITIMATE SON OF CHARLES II n a warm summer’s evening in June 1685 an invasion army of just 83 landed at Lyme Regis in Dorset. The blue banners that flapped above them as they marched down Lyme’s main street read “For God, Freedom and Religion”. At their head, impeccable in purple silk and with the garter star glinting on his chest, walked their leader, James, Duke of Monmouth, the 36-year-old illegitimate son of Charles II. An onlooker described “many townsmen and others rejoicing and joining with the enemy crying out: ‘A Monmouth! A Monmouth! The Protestant religion!’” The uprising that began that day was designed to oust the new king, James II and VII, who, as both an authoritarian and a Catholic, was regarded as a threat to English life and liberty. Within barely a week, some 4,000 men had joined up. But despite their popular appeal, luck ran against the rebels at every turn. A twin invasion of Scotland led by the Earl of Argyll, designed to divide the royal army, failed to gather momentum. Those who rose were ordinary people, while the gentry stood cautiously back, waiting to see what would happen. Four weeks later, having advanced as far as Bristol before beginning to retreat, Monmouth learnt that the royal army was just four miles outside Bridgwater where his force was based. He decided that his only hope now was surprise. In the dead of night, he led his men out of town and across the flood plain of Sedgemoor, towards the enemy camp. The deep drains that traversed the plain were a challenge to navigate in the darkness, but the rebels were drawing close when, suddenly, a soldier let off his pistol. The cracking shot awoke the unsuspecting royal army. Monmouth and his men tore the last few hundred yards across the meadows to reach a foe that was now on full alert. Lord Grey, who led the rebel cavalry, struggled to find a route across the final drain and gave up, leaving Monmouth and his eager but utterly amateur infantry to fight alone. While the royal army had guns and weaponry aplenty, the rebels had just

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three cannons, and many of the soldiers were armed only with straightened scythes. For three hours, through the darkest stretch of the night, the duke directed the attack, dashing back and forwards between the cannons and the line, weapon in hand. As the dawn began to break, it was clear they had no hope. Their cavalry gone, they were outnumbered and completely out-gunned. The battle, the last to be fought on English soil, was lost as the mid-summer sun rose. A week later, the Duke of Monmouth was executed for treason on Tower Hill. The crowd was sombre and dejected: “There was no shouting but many cryed.” Despite his immense contemporary popularity, the Duke of Monmouth’s posthumous reputation has been awful. The distinguished 20th-century historian FC Turner called him “worthless and contemptible”, wondering with disbelief that he should have “appeared so attractive to his contemporaries”. The label on Monmouth’s portrait in the National Portrait Gallery calls him “charming, ambitious and unprincipled”. Where then, in this great discrepancy, does the truth lie? Was Monmouth a monster his fellow men were too ignorant to see, or have historians got it wrong?

EARNING A REPUTATION The Duke of Monmouth was born in 1649, during his father’s exile, and at eight was kidnapped from his mother, Lucy Walter,

Drenched with honours, made a duke and married to an heiress at 14, he became the most debauched teenager of the Restoration age

on his father’s instructions. Brought to England in 1662, “a most pretty sparke”, he became Charles II’s darling. Drenched with honours, made a duke and married to an heiress as he turned 14, he became undoubtedly the most spoiled and debauched teenager of the Restoration age. Samuel Pepys described him as one “who spends his time the most viciously and idly of any man, nor will be fit for anything”. Had history stopped then, Monmouth’s reputation would have been deserved. But it did not. In the five years or so from the late 1660s, Monmouth matured from a selfish idler into a man of substance. Two years spent leading the English regiments sent to fight with Louis XIV (against the Dutch in the Franco-Dutch War) were to prove transformational. They gave him real responsibility, away from the licentious Restoration court, causing him to grow up rapidly and dramatically. They also saw him forge a formidable military reputation, not least when, in 1673, with Louis XIV looking on, he led the Anglo-French army to bring down the fortified city of Maastricht. With both the Comte D’Artagnan himself and the future Duke of Marlborough fighting under him, the siege made him a military hero. On his return from the wars, Monmouth became head of the army, a privy councillor and a figure of growing political consequence. It was a fluke of timing that on the very month he led his men to victory at Maastricht, his uncle, James, Duke of York, was forced to resign all his offices, after confirming his conversion to Catholicism. Over the next decade, as fear grew about the dangers posed by York succeeding Charles II, Monmouth emerged as the popular alternative, and – after his father expelled him from court – a member of the political opposition who tried to pass a bill through parliament excluding York from the throne. It was a political drama of which the 1685 invasion would be the last tragic act.

DEARLY BELOVED Posterity’s first charge against Monmouth is one of misplaced ambition: the absurdity of an ill-educated bastard son seeking the throne at all. It’s true that there were Vol. 8 Issue 9

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HISTORY

18 June 1685: Monmouth meets an adoring public The Queen of Diamonds from a contemporary playing card set commemorating Monmouth’s rebellion shows the “maids of Taunton” kneeling before the duke shortly after he’d landed in England

calls for Monmouth to succeed his father but they didn’t come from the duke himself. Charles II treated Monmouth with such affection that the rumours that the duke would be legitimised were widespread while he was barely in his teens. Charles II encouraged these by calling him “our dearly beloved son”, giving him a coat of arms without the baton denoting illegitimacy and allowing him to take the place in court ceremonial of a prince of the blood. By 1680, Monmouth certainly wished to see his uncle excluded from the succession, but he never actively proposed himself as an alternative. Indeed, even when he invaded England, he declared parliament should decide the succession. It was only when it became clear that the invasion was heading for disaster that he was finally persuaded to put his name forward as king. The second charge is that Monmouth was a selfish opportunist without political conviction. This also does not bear close inspection. During his army career Monmouth developed an acute sense of 72

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Charles II treated Monmouth with such affection that rumours soon spread that the young prince would be legitimised

Charles II (above) encouraged rumours that Monmouth would be legitimised by treating his “beloved son” as a ‘prince of the blood’

honour and justice. He took immense trouble to ensure that right prevailed, taking time to settle endless disputes equitably, lobbying relentlessly for pay to be on time and gaining a reputation for fairness and humanity. When he was sent to put down a Presbyterian uprising in Scotland, he refused to kill the defeated rebels as his father and uncle thought he should, remarking that “he could not kill men in cold blood, that was only for butchers”. During the 1670s, the Duke of York had become ever more jealous of his popular nephew and repeatedly blocked his appointment to senior positions. This gave Monmouth ample reason to dislike the uncle to whom he had once been close. But his decision to join the opposition was fuelled by far more than personal animosity. In fact, it was his encounter with the government’s harsh treatment of Scottish Presbyterians in the late 1670s that convinced him that the authoritarian York posed a real danger to English political and religious liberty. York resented any

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6 July 1685 : The rebels are routed The Queen of Clubs depicts the battle of Sedgemoor, where Monmouth’s men were hopelessly outgunned

15 July 1685: Monmouth is executed on Tower Hill The Seven of Spades shows the executioner about to chop off the rebel leader’s head. “There was no shouting but many cryed,” wrote one onlooker of the crowd’s reaction to Monmouth’s death

The life of Monmouth APRIL 1649 Three months after the execution of Charles I, an illegitimate son is born to the 18-year-old Charles II in Rotterdam. He is named James.

1658 The young James is kidnapped from his mother, Lucy Walter (right), on Charles II’s orders.

JULY 1662 James is brought to England by his grandmother, Queen Henrietta Maria. His father gives him a rapturous welcome.

APRIL 1663 James (left) is made Duke of Monmouth and married to Anna, Countess of Buccleuch. The groom is 14 and the bride 12.

JUNE 1673 Louis XIV’s army besieges the stronghold of Maastricht. Monmouth leads the attack, fighting with the Comte D’Artagnan, and successfully takes the city.

ALAMY/BRIDGEMAN/GETTY

SEPTEMBER 1679

resistance to royal authority, being “bred with high notions of the kingly authority, and laid it down for a maxim that all who opposed the king were rebels in their hearts”. He showed his true colours when he told William of Orange the following year that he and Charles intended to dispense with parliaments altogether. When Monmouth spoke in support of the bill to exclude his uncle from the succession in 1680, he was not acting simply out of personal enmity to one who had relentlessly blocked his progress but also out of personal conviction that English freedoms were under threat. A man of no moral compass he was not. The fierce political dichotomy between those who wished to exclude York, and those who did not, gave rise to political ‘parties’ for the first time: the ‘Whigs’ for exclusion; the ‘Tories’ against. At the forefront of the Whigs was the brilliant Earl of Shaftesbury, Monmouth’s political colleague, who has been viewed as his puppet master. But in fact, the duke and

Shaftesbury often disagreed, leading in the end to their parting company definitively.

Charles II expels Monmouth from court, as popular support for him to replace James, Duke of York as the king’s successor reaches fever pitch.

AUTUMN 1681 A SHAME AND A SIN The final charge against Monmouth relates to his capitulation before James II on the day before his execution, when he pleaded for his life and claimed to have been misled into invading. That any human, facing an imminent and violent death, might bargain for survival is hardly surprising. (Thomas Cranmer enthusiastically recanted his Protestantism in the days before being burned by Mary Tudor, for which history has forgiven him.) And there was truth in Monmouth’s protests. When he heard of his father’s death, he had been out of politics for two years and declared he would have no part in any uprising. It was only when the radical Whigs subjected him to huge emotional pressure – telling him “it would be a shame and a sin before God not to do it” – before lying about the level of support for an invasion, that he had eventually agreed.

A bill to exclude the Duke of York from the throne is passed in the Commons. Monmouth speaks in its favour in the Lords, but it is defeated.

JULY 1683 Monmouth is implicated in a plot for an armed rising against Charles II and is given harbour at the Hague by his cousin William of Orange (right).

JUNE 1685 Monmouth lands at Lyme Regis. He raises an army of 4,000, but they are defeated at the battle of Sedgemoor.

NOVEMBER 1688 William of Orange lands at Torbay. James II flees after a catastrophic reign, and the Bill of Rights heralds the dawn of constitutional monarchy.

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HISTORY

Peeling back the layers, Monmouth emerges as a different figure. He was adored by the crowds in London and on the Whig campaign tours he made of the North West and South West. In the face of a wildly unpopular royal heir, he was the Protestant son of the king whose dashing good looks and reputation for bravery made him immensely appealing. He also had huge personal charm. Ballads were printed in his name, popular prints churned out, and tales told of his exploits. When he visited Chester, he stood as godfather of the mayor’s baby daughter, participated in horse and foot races and – when he won – presented his prize to his new goddaughter. Every politician who ever kissed a baby learned a lesson from the Duke of Monmouth. All of this was to be hugely important, for this was the age in which popular participation in English electoral politics truly began.

This was the age in which popular participation in English electoral politics truly began. Every politician who ever kissed a baby learned a lesson from Monmouth

ENGLISH RISING Just three years after his failed invasion, Monmouth’s cousin and close friend William of Orange followed suit. In contrast to Monmouth’s 83 men and three vessels, William landed with 20,000 men in 500 ships. Within six weeks he had taken the kingdom. That he was able to do so owed a great deal to the Duke of Monmouth. He had shown the pitfalls of invading: the need not to rely on 74

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Sir Peter Lely’s portrait of Monmouth, who made intervening in the royal succession not just palatable, but popular among ordinary people

Englishmen rising and the importance of the support of the ruling elite – causing William to secure his ‘invitation’ to invade. And it was no coincidence that William chose Monmouth’s own West Country heartland for his landing place. Above all, Monmouth had made intervening in the royal succession not just palatable but popular among ordinary people. After his death, it was in no one’s interests – neither the dejected Jacobites nor the jubilant Williamites – to mourn the fallen Monmouth. He lived on, though, in the memory of those who had followed him – among them the husbandman John Bragg, who believed “Munmouth was noe more dead than he was and that we should see other of his doings here”. William’s wife, Queen Mary II of England, who had skated hand in hand with the duke just weeks before his invasion, commissioned a history that described the cousin she loved. Monmouth, to her, was “brave, generous, affable, and extremely handsome, constant in his friendships, just to his word and an utter enemy to all sorts of cruelty”. His invasion was not an act of preposterous vainglory, but was driven by motives that “were noble and chiefly aim’d at the good of his country”. ß

DR ANNA KEAY IS DIRECTOR OF THE LANDMARK TRUST

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The second coming William of Orange lands at Brixham in November 1688. Having learned the lessons of Monmouth’s failed uprising, William brought 20,000 men, as opposed to Monmouth’s 83. It took him just six weeks to oust James II

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DR CHRISTIAN JARRETT Christian is a psychology and neuroscience writer. His latest book is Great Myths Of The Brain.

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DR ALASTAIR GUNN Alastair is an astronomer at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester.

PROF ROBERT MATTHEWS Robert is a physicist and science writer. He’s visiting professor in science at Aston University.

DR PETER J BENTLEY Peter is a computer scientist and author who is based at University College London. His latest book is Digitized.

LUIS VILLAZON Luis is a freelance science and tech writer with a BSc in computing and an MSc in zoology from Oxford University.

DR MARK LORCH Mark is a senior lecturer at the University of Hull, where he teaches chemistry and science.

DR ELIZABETH PEARSON Elizabeth is Sky At Night Magazine’s news editor and has a PhD in extragalactic astrophysics.

HOW DO ASTRONAUTS GO TO THE LOO? P78 WHO WILL REACH THE MOON NEXT? P80 WHAT DOES MARTIAN WATER TASTE LIKE? P83 WHAT WILL WE LEARN FROM THE JUNO MISSION? P84 HOW HIGH COULD YOU JUMP ON OTHER SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES? P88

ILLUSTRATION: ANDY POTTS

COULD PLUTO BECOME A PLANET AGAIN? P92

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& How ‘intelligent’ could we make space probes?

Probes like Rosetta still need to receive their instructions from controllers on Earth

One of our biggest problems with space probes and explorer robots is that it takes time to talk to them. Depending on the position of Earth and Mars, it can take anything from four to 24 minutes for a signal to cross the void between them. It currently takes more than 17 hours for a signal to reach Voyager 1, which is our most distant probe. That may be much too slow to warn it about an impending threat. Adding some intelligence to make them more autonomous would enable them to handle such situations by themselves. An explorer robot could avoid driving into a hole, or a probe could reconfigure its electronics and recover from damage. If we make them clever enough, maybe one day a probe might be the first Earth entity to hold a conversation with alien life. PB

How do astronauts go to the loo? For ‘number ones’, they use a funnel attached to a hose that is connected to a fan that generates suction. For solids, they ‘dock’ themselves carefully over a hole about the size of a drain pipe and clamp their feet into the foot restraints. Waste is caught in an individual bag liner, which they seal after use and the package is sucked into a collection drum. LV

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Does zero-g affect sleep and dreaming? Astronauts in microgravity environments such as the International Space Station (ISS) have to strap themselves into a secured sleeping bag, otherwise they’d just float about. Sleep tends to be more disturbed on space missions than on Earth – this could be due to microgravity or to other factors such as noise, excitement, stress and jet lag type problems (there are 15 dawn and dusk cycles a day on the ISS). Astronauts report having dreams but seem to need less sleep in space – around six hours rather than seven or eight. One theory is that this may be due to the physical ease of moving in microgravity. CJ Astronauts strap into sleep restraints when it’s time to get some well-earned rest

PHOTOS: GETTY, NASA

Why don’t more planets have rings? The gaseous outer planets all have rings, whereas the small, rocky inner planets do not. Scientists aren’t sure how these rings came about. They may have assembled from leftover material from the planet’s creation, or could be the remains of a moon that was destroyed by an impact or broken apart by the gravitational force of the parent planet. As only the gas giants have rings, scientists think the ring-forming process may be related to the same mechanism that resulted in gas giants forming in the outer Solar System, and rocky planets in the inner Solar System. The energy given off by the infant Sun expelled most of the light gases and other volatile molecules into the outer regions of the Solar System, leaving the heavier elements to form rocky inner planets. This process also seems to have made it easier for the outer planets to form moons. So, the combination of large gravitational forces, the existence of volatile materials such as ices, and the shepherding of material by numerous moons probably means the outer planets were more likely to form and keep planetary rings. AG

How do chemical reactions occur in the cold of space? The temperature of objects in space varies massively. A sungrazer comet might experience millions of degrees centigrade as it hurtles around our star, but when it swings back out to the edges of the Solar System its surface will plummet to -220°C. In general, reaction speed is closely linked to temperature, the rule of thumb being the rate of reaction halves for every 10°C drop. So a reaction that takes one second on that comet just as its ice surface melts might then take 1 x 1067 years (that’s a one with 67 zeroes after it) out in the Oort Cloud. However, there are other sources of energy that can power reactions: highenergy cosmic rays or ultraviolet light from a nearby star can give chemicals enough energy to react at less astronomical timescales. ML

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& EUROPE Ever since Johann-Dietrich Woerner became director general in 2015, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been one of the most vocal bodies calling for us to return to the Moon. Woerner himself put forward the idea of building a permanent base on the Moon (concept pictured). He suggested it could be located in the Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon. Astronauts from various countries and agencies would be able to use the base to work together towards mutual goals, he says. So far, however, little money has been committed to the idea, but things could change later in the year when the agency decides its priorities and allocates its budget in its Ministerial Council meeting.

CHINA On 14 December 2013, China became a true contender in the race ra to put humans back on the Moon when the country successfu sfully landed operated for 42 its Jade Rabbit rover on the lunar surface. The rover op ee months, it was still days, and although well short of the planned three rogramme. a major boost for the Chinese exploration prog stration (CNSA) is now The Chinese National Space Administr working on its next exploration missio sion. Dubbed Chang’e 4, the mission will feature a lander and d rover and is scheduled to asin near the end off 2018. Iff touch down in the Aitken Bas he ffirst landing on the Moon’s ffar successful, it will be the eveloping a powerful new side. CNSA is also dev rocket, the Long March-9 -9 (pictured), that it says could potentially take human ans to the h Moon M sometime in the 2030s.

RUSS RUSSIA In May 2014, Russian Ru newspaper Izvestia published a government do ocument nt purported p to show that the Russian space agency, Roscos R cosmos, was drawing up plans for a manned Moon landing in 2 203 2030. Its ambitions were confirmed in October 2015 when Vladimir Solntsev, head of Roscosmos, told reporters that the country plans to send a crew to the Moon in 2029. Meanwhile, the Russians are ramping up their robotic exploration programme. Roscosmos is currently working on a range of orbiters and landers called Luna-25, Luna-26 (concept pictured) and Luna-27. The idea is that the landers will explore the lunar south pole, prospecting for resources such as minerals and water ice that could be used to sustain a human outpost. 80

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WHO REACH MOON No human has set foot on the lunar surface since NASA astronaut Eugene Cernan re-entered the Challenger module as part of the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Now, after more than four decades of inactivity, interest in putting humans back on the Moon is finally heating up again. But who will get there first?

JAPANN Th Japanese The J A Aerospace Exploration Agency g (JAXA) has se sent t two missions i i into i llunar orbit, bi 1990 0’s Hiten and 2007’s SELENE. S It’s currently l working ki g towards d making ki g i first lunar landing its g attempt. JAXA’s original g plans were forr S SELENE-2, a large g 1,000kg g lunarr l lander and 200kg g rover. But JAXA has now scaled down its plans. p The new mission,, dubbed Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon (SLIM), is

WILL THE NEXT?

a smaller, 120kg craft (pictured) that will aim to demonstrate highprecision landing on the Moon’s f surface in 2018.

INDIA F Following g the e success suc of its first lunar probe, Chandrayaan n-1 (pictured) in 2008, the Indian Space Research Organisation (pictur n announced a follow-on mission. Whereas Chandrayaan-1 carried additional instruments provided by NASA, ESA and d the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, Chandrayaan-2 was meant to be a collaboration with Russia. When the Russians failed to deliver the promised lander in 2013, India decided to go it alone. The mission’s current launch date is set for 2018, this time carrying an allIndian payload of orbiter, lander and rover.

USA PHOTOS: GETTY, NASA, REUTERS, JAXA

NASA has earmarked Mars as its next big target for manned missions. But without the rest of the world to help, it’s going to be almost impossible to send anyone there. This fact has not been missed by veteran astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who has urged the space agency to refocus on returning to the Moon. In December 2018, NASA plans to launch the Exploration Mission 1, an uncrewed test of their Orion astronaut capsule (pictured) in which the craft will loop around the Moon before returning to Earth. All being well, a crewed capsule will follow in 2023. Should the mission prove a success, the astronauts will be the first humans to see the far side of the Moon with their own eyes since Apollo 17 in 1972.

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& Does Earth have a second moon? There is only one permanent natural object that orbits the Earth: the Moon. Several small asteroids are ‘quasi-satellites’ of the Earth; from our perspective they appear to follow a loop around our planet, but they are not actually orbiting us. Occasionally, Earth

IN NUMBERS

captures an asteroid in a temporary orbit and these can be considered moons or ‘minimoons’. One such object, the asteroid 2006 RH120, was a car-sized ‘moon’ of Earth that orbited from September 2006 to June 2007. AG

716 The number of rotations made each second by the fastest-spinning neutron star.

2,100 The speed, in km/h, of recorded winds on Neptune.

An asteroid will occasionally be captured into Earth’s orbit – but only temporarily

67 The number of known moons that orbit Jupiter – but there may be more.

T O P 10

1. Olympus Mons 3. Equatorial Ridge Height: 20km Location: Iapetus (Saturn moon)

Height: 25km Location: Mars

Height: 22km Location: Vesta

Heights are given from base to peak

Everest Height: 4.6km Location: Earth

4. Boösaule Montes Height: 17.5km Location: Io (Jupiter moon)

10. Mauna Kea Height: 10.2km Location: Earth

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9. Euboea Montes Height: 10.5km Location: Io (Jupiter moon)

8. Arsia Mons

7. Elysium Mons

Height: 11.7km Location: Mars

Height: 12.5km Location: Mars

6. Ionian Mons Height: 12.7km Location: Io (Jupiter moon)

5. Ascraeus Mons Height: 14.9km Location: Mars

PHOTOS: GETTY ILLUSTRATION: CHRIS PHILPOT

TALLEST MOUNTAINS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM*

2. Rheasilvia Mons

What does Martian water taste like?

Artistic rendering of the theoretical planet nine

Most of Mars’s water isn’t present as liquid: it’s ice, mixed in with the soil. Mars has such low atmospheric pressure that pure water ice sublimes directly from solid to gas without ever melting into liquid.

There is evidence that the Red Planet may occasionally have some liquid water, but it would be undrinkably salty. If you distilled the water inside your pressurised habitat though, it would be quite safe to drink. LV

Could there be a planet nine? It is certainly a possibility. Since we haven’t discovered a ninth planet yet, we can be reasonably sure that if it exists it is quite distant from the Sun. Recently, astronomers analysed the motions of objects at the furthest edge of the Solar System and noticed something peculiar. The elliptical orbits of many of these objects all seem to line up in the same direction. This could be explained if a sizeable ninth planet exists. This as-yetunproven planet must orbit at least 20 times further away than Neptune and could be 10 times the mass of the Earth. AG

Mars ice: too salty for your G&T

BIGGEST CRATERS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

2. Utopia Planitia 4. Aitken Basin

Diameter: 3,300km Location: Mars

Diameter: 2,500km Location: Moon

10. Rheasilvia PHOTOS: NASA , CALTECH /R.HURT(IPAC)

Diameter: 505km Location: Vesta

9. Turgis Diameter: 580km Location: Iapetus (Saturn moon)

8. Rembrandt

6. Caloris Basin

Diameter: 715km Location: Mercury

Diameter: 1,550km Location: Mercury

7. Mare Imbrium Diameter: 1,145km Location: Moon

1. Borealis Basin Diameter: 8,500km Location: Mars

5. Hellas Planitia Diameter: 2,300km Location: Mars

3. Procellarum Basin Diameter: 3,000km Location: Moon

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& What will we leearn from f the Juno missiion?? On 4 July 2016, NASA’s Jun no spacecraft will complete its 2.8 billion kilom metre journeyy to the king of the Solar System: Ju upiter. For centuries the gas giant has remained a mystery, shrouded in a thick atmosphere of hyd g and helium. drogen But now Juno will look beyo ond the upper layers, y right into the planet’s heart. Juno will map the gravitattional and magnetic g structure of the planet, allow wing g researchers to test theories about how its a atmospheric g gases behave under the extreme p p pressure of Jupiter’s interior. Once Jupiter’s current construction is known, it will then be possib ble to work out how, when and potentially where y e in the Solar System the planet first formed. The NASA mission launch p hed into space from Cape Canaveral on 5 Augus st 2011 aboard an n Atlas V rocket, but this alone could not deliv liv eliver enough thrust to reach Jupiiter. On 9 Oct ct r October 2013 the spacecraft perform ing med a slin lingshot net’s gravity to around the Earth, using ourr planet et g accelerate to a final speed of of 11 11km/s.. uno will p perform 37 Once the craft arrives, Ju highly elliptical orbits over ov the planet’s poles. Its 00km above the path will pass less than th 5,00 0 efore swingi upper clouds befo g ng g out to a distance kilometres and d bac back o over of millions of ki o e es a e the e course off 14 days. ce its probe will be Once i mission is done, the p orbited burning up iin J Jupiter’s deorbi d iin 2018, b i gu i ’ atmosphere to avoid any co ontamination off its at o moons o them are moo s – there e e are a e over o e 60 of e – which c a e thought nce g to be our best chan n of finding g life outside our p planet..

JUNOCAM (hidden in this image) The only camera on the craft, JunoCam, will take colour images of the planet. However, the task of choosing what targets to photograph and processing the final images will be done by the public. Go to missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam to get involved.

GRAVITY SCIENCE Massive structures within Jupiter create fluctuations in the planet’s gravitational field that will pull on Juno as it orbits, altering its speed. Gravity Science will measure these velocity changes, creating a gravity map from the readings.

JOVIAN ENERGETIC PARTICLE DETECTOR INSTRUMENT (JEDI) One of many particle detectors, JEDI will detect the highest energy particles around Jupiter. It will also investigate X-rays emitted from the planet’s poles that do not appear to be related to the aurora.

SOLAR PANELS Juno will be the most distant spacecraft to be powered by solar energy. As Jupiter receives 25 times less sunlight than the Earth, it requires three 2.65 x 8.9m solar panels to generate the 450W needed to power Juno.

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JOVIAN AURORAL DISTRIBUTION EXPERIMENT (JADE) The three JADE detectors will detect the particles and ions caught in Jupiter’s magnetic field that cause the aurora.

Microwave radiometer (MWR) By measuring the microwave emissions from Jupiter, the MWR will discern the thermal profile of Jupiter’s atmosphere, helping to interpret how gas circulates on the planet.

JOVIAN INFRARED AURORAL MAPPER (JIRAM) (located on underside of craft) As well as imaging the aurora in the infrared, JIRAM will able to measure the thermal output of Jupiter’s upper layers and detect how much methane, water, ammonia and phosphine are present.

RADIATION VAULT The high levels of radiation around Jupiter would rapidly destroy most electronics. The craft’s sensitive systems have been encased in a 1cm-thick titanium radiation vault to protect them.

MAGNETOMETER Juno’s Magnetometer will create a map of the planet’s magnetosphere by measuring the magnetic field’s strength and direction all around Jupiter. The sensors are placed on a 3.6m boom to avoid interference from the craft’s own electronics.

PHOTOS: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

WAVES The WAVES instrument will measure radio waves in the magnetosphere to investigate the interactions between Jupiter’s magnetic field and its atmosphere.

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& With a diameter of 140,000km and the mass of 318 Earths, Jupiter dominates our Solar System. In fact, its gravitational influence is so enormous that it affects the orbits of all the planets. It is thought that the planets of the Solar System originally formed in a slightly different configuration, but Jupiter’s huge mass upset the gravitational balance, causing it and Saturn to migrate inwards, while Neptune was flung further out in the Solar System. And that’s why Juno’s mission is so important – it is impossible to understand how our planetary system formed without knowing more about this colossus. But our current understanding of Jupiter is limited. So far, all we have been able to see is the top few hundred kilometres of the atmosphere. Here, the planet has remained remarkably stable; the striped cream and brown bands that ring Jupiter have barely shifted in latitude during the centuries we have been observing the planet. No one knows what keeps these bands in motion, how deep they go, what causes their colouring or what’s behind the great vortices that periodically appear within them. However, by peering through the clouds, Juno will finally allow us to answer at least some of these questions. By measuring the gravitational field of Jupiter, researchers will be able to find areas of high density deep within the planet, and discovering the subtleties of the magnetic field will give an insight into the workings of the inner core. Together with other measurements of the surface layers, Juno will unveil the structures hidden beneath the clouds of the Solar System’s biggest enigma. EP

COMPOSITION Though much of Jupiter is hydrogen (90 per cent) and helium (10 per cent), Juno will determine the levels of trace gases such as ammonia and water. Jupiter’s atmosphere has remained mostly unchanged since its formation, so learning its composition will tell us much about the primordial Solar System that created it.

ATMOSPHERE There is disagreement as to whether Jupiter’s upper layers sit over a stable core, or if there is no clear boundary and the two mix together freely. Juno’s gravity maps will help detect which structure exists.

RINGS Jupiter is surrounded by faint dusty rings, believed to be material ejected from some of its moons.

VORTICES Caught in Jupiter’s light-coloured zones are rotating vortices measuring thousands of kilometres across. These storms can last from as little as a few days to years or even centuries. Juno will look deep into their depths by imaging them in the infrared.

MAGNETOSPHERE Jupiter’s magnetic field, or magnetosphere, is one of the largest structures in the Solar System, extending three million kilometres around the gas giant. It’s powered by electric currents deep in the interior, but Juno’s magnetic map will determine if it is a solid core or the motion of highly pressurised ‘metallic’ hydrogen that generates these currents.

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BELTS AND ZONES

PHOTOS: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, NASA

Moving in opposite directions, the cream coloured zones and darker brown belts are separated by fast-flowing winds, called jets. Juno will attempt to discover what keeps the belts in motion.

CORE It’s uncertain whether Jupiter formed from a collapsing cloud of gas, like a star, or if its atmosphere coalesced around a solid core. Studying the planet’s gravity profile will uncover whether such a core exists.

GREAT RED SPOT Jupiter’s largest storm, the Great Red Spot, is big enough to swallow the Earth three times over, yet the force driving it is unknown. Juno’s gravity measurements will allow researchers to find out how deep the maelstrom extends, hopefully determining the source of its energy.

AURORA (not visible on this image) Like the Earth, Jupiter has aurora. Particles become caught in the magnetic field and then collide with the atmosphere, emitting light. On Jupiter though, the aurora are most vibrant at ultraviolet wavelengths. Several of Juno’s instruments will study the phenomena.

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& 847m THE THOUGHT EXPERIMENT 17

HHo high could How co ld yyou jump on other bbodies? o d i e s?

16 15 14 13

Height (m)

17.6m

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4

3m

3 2

1.32m

1.32m

1

.55m Mercury

Venus

.50m Earth

Moon

Mars

Phobos

Ceres

Surface gravity

0.378G

0.91G

1.0G

0.166G

0.379G

0.00059G

0.0284G

Average person

30.2kg

72.8kg

80kg

13.3kg

30.3kg

0.0472kg

2.272kg

IN NUMBERS

90 per cent

The amount of sunlight reflected by Enceladus. It is the most reflective object in the Solar System. Some physicists think the Universe is just one of many

-13°C

The maximum temperature of the coolest known star.

110

The speed, in km/s, at which the Andromeda Galaxy is approaching the Milky Way.

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Could we ever detect other universes? The idea that the Universe is just one of many, making up one, truly infinite ‘multiverse’ is among the most intriguing – and controversial – theories in modern physics. It’s based on attempts to find the one true ‘Theory of Everything’ (ToE) that describes all the particles

and forces making up reality in a single set of equations. Some attempts to create the ToE suggest that there are myriad different universes beyond our own, each with different laws of physics. According to some theorists, these differences may reveal the existence of universes

neighbouring our own. Exactly how they’ll be revealed is unclear, but one possibility is via distortions in the heat left from the Big Bang. This has been mapped with exquisite precision, and may contain telltale patterns consistent with the lurking presence of another universe. RM

*Gas giants don’t have a clearly defined surface

7.87m

3.73m

3.62m

2.73m

Jupiter*

0.55m

0.47m

0.20m Io

Europa

Saturn*

Titan

Neptune*

Pluto

2.53G

0.183G

0.134G

1.07G

0.138G

0.91G

1.14G

0.0635G

202.4kg

14.64kg

10.72kg

85.6kg

11.04kg

72.8kg

91.2kg

5.08kg

Why is the Moon moving away from us?

PHOTOS: NASA, GETTY ILLUSTRATION: CHRIS PHILPOT

Uranus*

0.44m

Almost 300 years ago, astronomer Edmond Halley first suspected the Moon was receding, after studying records of ancient eclipses. His suspicions were confirmed in the 1970s, when laser beams bounced off mirrors put on the Moon showed that it is moving away from Earth at the rate of 3.8cm per year. It’s driven by the effect of the Moon’s gravity on the Earth. Tides raised in the oceans cause drag and slow the Earth’s spin-rate. The resulting loss of angular momentum is compensated for by the Moon speeding up, and thus moving further away.

But there’s a problem. At this rate of recession, the Moon must have separated from Earth 1.5 billion years ago – far more recently than geological evidence suggests. Creationists use this to question the scientific account of the origin of the Earth and Moon. However, astronomers say that the recession rate will have been slower in the past because of continental drift, which altered the size and depth of the oceans and thus the amount of tidal drag. Taking this into account pushes the date back by several billion years – in line with geological evidence. RM

What’s the oddest thing sent into space, and what did it cost? My favourite is probably the brainwaves of Ann Druyan. This EEG recording was included on the golden records that were sent to space aboard Voyager 1 and 2 in 1977. Ann Druyan is a science writer and TV producer who was part of the team that chose the sounds and music that went on the record. During the recording, Druyan had a list of topics to think about, including Earth history, difficulties affecting humans and what it is like to fall in love. The Voyager program cost US$778m but the brainwave recording was effectively free. My second favourite is the Lego figure of Galileo, which will arrive at Jupiter aboard Juno. LV

Mirrors placed on the Moon allow astronomers to measure its distance from Earth by bouncing lasers off the reflective surfaces

Ne N e om omn o mn mniiss ea eat eat at. On essti stttiion ons o nss n ecce e ece ceres rre esscia e cciiiaa d diis ar arum rum ru um vvo vol ollupt o up u p pttib ibu ibu bus, s, co ccon on o nse se seq eq qu ue e d du dus uss aau u uttec te ec ecus us d do dol olle ol eni eni en nimpo mp m p or po

From left to right: Galileo, Juno (Roman goddess) and Jupiter (Roman god) are embodied in Lego on the Juno spacecraft

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&

Why haven’t spacesuits changed much?

Aerospace engineer Dava Newman developed this BioSuit for Mars missions; it has a tight, elastic structure that counteracts lower pressures

Spacesuits have actually changed enormously. The earliest

suits (for training, flight and a spare) costing around US$500,000

spacesuits were essentially just airtight versions of the flight suits

each. The EMU and Russian Orlan suits, currently used on the

that pilots wore. In 1965 cosmonaut Alexei Leonov almost became stranded in space during the first spacewalk, when his spacesuit

International Space Station, are modular to keep costs down. Plus, because they are only used in microgravity, they can be

ballooned out so much from its internal pressure that he couldn’t

much heavier. These suits have a rigid upper torso, which

move or operate the airlock door. The A7L suits developed for

offers better protection and comfort. For future missions to

the Apollo missions used constant-volume joints to avoid this

Mars, NASA is developing the Z-series suits that have rigid

problem and added a self-contained air recycling unit and

joints with titanium bearings to allow the greatest flexibility.

100m of piping to pump cooling water around the suit. The

These are the first spacesuits that allow the wearer to touch

suits were custom tailored and each astronaut needed three

their toes, and they also have a built-in airlock. LV

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Is it harder to think straight in space? Space travel is definitely disorienting. Without the effects of Earth-like gravity on the sensory system in the inner ear, your brain no longer has any clear idea about what is up and what is down. This can affect astronauts’ ability to sense distances and rotate objects in their mind’s eye and it can provoke some weird perceptual experiences such as the sudden sense that everything around them has been turned upside down, or the converse, that they themselves have been flipped. Add to that the fatigue, the constant hum of equipment, the loneliness and claustrophobia, and perhaps it’s no wonder that experts talk about astronauts suffering from ‘space stupids’ or ‘space fog’. CJ

How are computers protected from radiation in space?

What does space smell like?

Space can be a dangerous place for electronics because solar flares or galactic cosmic rays can cause power resets or system failures. Electronics are protected from these dangers using several clever methods. Shielding helps stop the harmful rays reaching the delicate chips. Plus, redundant components are used, so that if one is damaged, another can take over. Special radiation-hardened (RadHard) electronics are made from Silicon-on-Insulator or Silicon-on-Sapphire instead of the normal semiconductor wafers to make them thousands of times stronger against radiation. Reconfigurable electronics are utilised, which allow circuits to be adjusted remotely in order to make them work again. PB

We can’t smell space directly, because our noses don’t work in a vacuum. But astronauts aboard the ISS have reported that they notice a metallic aroma – like the smell of welding fumes – on the surface of their spacesuits once the airlock has re-pressurised. The Rosetta spacecraft also detected compounds responsible for the smell of rotten eggs, bitter almonds and cat urine, boiling off from the surface of comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko. LV “I love the smell of welding fumes in the morning”

PHOTOS: NASA, ISTOCK, BAE SYSTEMS

One of BAE’s radiation-hardened chips

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& Can we reproduce in space? We don't know yet. Rats that flew W f in space s ffor part off their gestation were later born on Earth without the ability to t right g themselves, and other studies have shown that h h h gravity g i is i important i for development. Future f proper foetal f colony c y ships mayy need to include centrifuge c f g cabins to provide artificial f gravity for crew. LV g f any pregnant g

N babies No i have been conceived i in i space… yyet My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming... oh...

C d Pluto become a planet again?? Could When iit w Wh was discovered di d in i 1930,, Pl Pluto was h hailed as s the ninth planet in the Solar System. y But in 2006, it was controversially y d downgra ga aded to mere ‘dwarf planet planet’ statu status b the by h Int I ternational t i l Astronomical A i l Union, U i

on the h g grounds d that h iit’s ’ too t small to clear its own path around the Sun. Despite repeated p calls, Pluto hass no chance of becoming g a planet again g n without the IAU dropping d i iits orbit orbit-clearin bit learin learing n criterion. RM

How Ho ow close too a black hole could coould a space probe get? Anything Any ything that passes beyond the ‘event event hori o iizon’ o o of a b black ac hole o e is s lost os forever. oe e wever, a space probe b would ld be b How des reaching this point. sstroyed long before f This much T s is because the black hole pulls p hard der on the front of the space probe d p p th than n on the h b back, k stretching hi g iit and d tearing i g part iit ap p in i a process called ll d 92

92 9 2

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‘spaghett ‘spaghettification’. How w close your space probe can g get to the bllack hole before p being destroyed b i gd d depe d nds on the black hole’s size (or mass) an h nd the strength of your probe’s constructtion. Counterintuitively thou C ugh, a smaller black hole h l is i much h more dan d ngerous than a larger one!! AG l

Why is there poo on the Moon?

PHOTOS: GETTY X2, NASA, ISTOCK ILLUSTRATION: CHRIS PHILPOT P

The Apollo landers were designed to lift off from the lunar surface at a particular weight. Since the Apollo astronauts were charged with bringing large amounts of Moon rock back home, the weight of those samples was offset by leaving behind unwanted items. This discarded junk included, among other things, two golf balls, 12 cameras, 12 pairs of boots, a gold-plated telescope, and a total of 96 bags of ‘human waste’ – urine, faeces and vomit! Although not the best example of green thinking, this detritus will have had no permanent effect on the lunar environment. Any microorganisms present in the human waste could not have grown under the harsh conditions of the lunar surface. It is possible, however, that some could have survived for a time as dormant, inactive spores. So, after 50 years on the lunar surface the human waste, which is now probably just bags of dust, may contain important information on the survival of microorganisms in space. Astrobiologists would like to see if any of those microorganisms have undergone any genetic mutations due to the harsh lunar environment, or have indeed survived in a dormant state. They hope one day that private companies may eventually return this human waste for study! AG Wh kknows Who what w a cou couldd have a e beco e oof thee become p left on the poo Moon??

What happens to the body in space? On a five-month trip to the ISS you can expect to lose 12 per cent of your bone density and 40 per cent of your muscle mass – even with daily sessions on the treadmill. This is the equivalent of ageing from 20 to 60 in a few months. Without gravity pulling it down, the fluid in your body redistributes, and your heart grows weaker. But there are some more subtle and unexpected changes too. LV

Brain Mice exposed to the radiation levels typical of a journey to Mars showed more beta-amyloid proteins in their brains. This means that long space journeys could increase the chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Eyes Fluid redistribution increases the pressure on the eyeball, slightly crushing the optic nerve, which can lead to visual problems later on. Increased radiation levels also raise the chance of developing cataracts.

Sinuses Increased fluid in the head causes nasal congestion, bulging neck veins and a puffy face, which combine to feel like a constant head cold.

Mouth Astronauts report that food tastes more bland in space, so many prefer to eat spicy food. In microgravity, gases in the stomach do not separate from liquids, so astronauts tend to have unpleasant ‘wet burps’.

Coordination Astronauts get used to things floating and their reflexes recalibrate to allow them to catch moving objects in microgravity. When they return to Earth, they are initially more clumsy and drop things.

Kidneys Lost bone mass ends up as calcium in the bloodstream and this can precipitate into painful kidney stones.

Immune system The T-cells in your immune system don’t reproduce as well in space, making astronauts more prone to bacterial infections.

Blood For the first few days in space your body destroys any newly produced red blood cells. This stops eventually, but your red blood cell count remains lower until you return to Earth.

Feet The hard skin on the soles of your feet moults off because it’s not in constant contact with the ground any more. But the tops of your feet become raw and sensitive from rubbing against the foot straps astronauts use to secure themselves in space.

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A feast for the mind

Resource

CELEBRATE SAT-NAV We’d be lost without GPS. In his new book, Pinpoint, Greg Milner explores the science and history of this technology. He speaks to James Lloyd PINPOINT: HOW GPS IS CHANGING OUR WORLD BY GREG MILNER (US$20)

What exactly is GPS? The Global Positioning System is a constellation of 31 satellites – 24 of which are active at any one time – that transmit a radio signal. If a GPS receiver can pick up at least four of these signals simultaneously, it can extrapolate its position in three dimensions (latitude, longitude and altitude). The system itself is completely owned by the US Department of Defense – it was actually begun in the early 1970s as a potential way of dropping bombs with greater precision. A lot of the early champions of the technology were veterans of the air campaigns in Vietnam, who were driven by a desire to come up with a more humane method of air warfare. But from the very beginning, GPS was also used by civilians, and people began to realise that there were all kinds of applications for this free, incredibly accurate signal. Where’s the most unusual place that GPS is used? The same thing that’s guiding cars is used by scientists to help foresee earthquakes, guide spacecraft to Mars, measure the moisture in drought-affected regions, and even calculate the speed of subatomic particles. Perhaps the greatest achievement of GPS, though, is its use in precision agriculture, which is growing at an astounding rate in Asia and the Pacific. If you can know exactly where a seed is planted, and where exactly to place the water, fertiliser and harvesting equipment, you save an enormous amount of money. Farmers are some of the most sophisticated users of GPS today.

Is there a downside to GPS? It can be overused – I talk about ‘death by GPS’, where people blindly follow sat-nav instructions and end up driving their car into a lake. We’ve adapted to the technology so quickly that we’re only just understanding the effect it might be having on our cognitive maps. Scientists have shown that an overreliance on GPS can lead to a detachment from your surroundings and a lack of situational awareness. There’s even evidence that it might be changing our brain structures. What would happen if GPS failed? GPS is used in cellular and landline phone networks; it’s used to regulate the electrical grid; it’s used for timestamping financial transactions. Ships are dependent on it for navigation. All kinds of systems would fail. There’d be chaos, massive inconvenience, and billions of dollars of damage. The US Air Force likes to call GPS the world’s only global utility, and now I’m convinced that’s true. The modern world really does rest on the foundation of GPS.

A LSO O U T R EC EN T LY

HOME LAB BY ROBERT WINSTON (US$17, Dorling Kindersley)

Inspire the scientists of the future with this collection of 28 hands-on projects for kids. Features erupting volcanoes, soap-powered boats and homemade bath bombs, as well as a guide to the science behind every experiment.

THE RADIUM GIRLS BY KATE MOORE (US$22, Simon & Schuster)

The tragic true story of the US women who painted dials onto watches and instruments during WWI. Poisoned by the luminous radium paint they used, this book tells how they fought for justice amid the horror of a certain death.

MAKE WAY FOR THE SUPERHUMANS BY MICHAEL BESS (US$20, Icon Books)

Robotic implants, brain-to-brain interfaces, 3D-printed organs… there seems to be a new breakthrough in bioenhancement every week. Michael Bess looks at the current state of the technology, and asks where it’s heading. Vol. 8 Issue 9

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Witty Viewpoint MUSIC FESTIVALS “does science suggest that the experience of summer festivals is good for our well-being?” he Klingon lunged for me, but in doing so, his spiny forehead came loose and fell to the ground. Revealing his human head reality, ashamed, he ran back into the pit of heckling and fury. This was my abiding memory of Glastonbury 1998. The music festival has gone from outsider cultural activity, apparently populated by naked, drug-filled pagans and facially tattooed anarchists, to the sort of events contentedly critiqued by the Daily Mail, with a pictorial spread on the best wellingtons worn by the attending supermodels. Alan Moore, counter-cultural icon for four decades, went to a contemporary festival in 2013. He was flabbergasted by what he saw. What were once ramshackle and fecund fields of rebellious ideas now had swanky salmon burger retailers and corporate sponsorship. In his words, “it seemed I was the only one who wanted to spoil everyone’s fun”. So what purpose do festivals serve now, far from being an excuse for a bacchanalian weekend? Maybe it’s all about the cortisol. According to a recent study at Imperial College London, there is evidence that “attending a cultural event can have an impact on endocrine activity and downregulate stress”. Saliva tests taken before a gig and during the interval showed that stress hormones had markedly reduced. At this year’s festivals, I think I’ll bring along my saliva home-testing equipment to find out which bands are most likely to reduce my stress levels. My money is on Public Service Broadcasting, with Savages a close second. I might see if I can get them on prescription. An increasing number of academics are now scrutinising festivals, which sounds like a great alibi for calling a good time hard work. Some postulate that as people find their senses increasingly stimulated by virtual worlds, real-world events have to be more spectacular. Today’s music festivals offer spectacle in abundance, which might go some way to explaining their popularity. The collision of sounds from nine different bands at once leaves a lasting impression, as does the bevy of fire jugglers spinning past you, dizzy from perry and paraffin. Then there’s that feeling of togetherness. It’s in shared corners of fields that the unity lacking in everyday urban society can be rekindled. In 2011, researchers at the University of Queensland interviewed festival-goers aged between 18 and 29 to find out how music festivals affected their well-being. “Participants reported feeling more positive about themselves, others, and life in general as a result of attending a music festival,” wrote the researchers. “Sharing the experience with others provides a sense of belonging and social integration, which can often continue beyond the event itself.” Being placed in a field, especially one with a liquor licence and a free jazz bongo drum parade, can lower the resistance to social interaction. The mind can be altered without taking anything mind-altering. Philip K Dick worried that mass culture was eager to disturb the senses, but not the mind; a gregariously curated festival will disturb both. 96

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While the UK may now be littered with festivals, perhaps what is missing is something akin to the USA’s Burning Man festival, which takes place in the Nevada desert. Here is a public arts festival where only coffee and ice is for sale – everything else is down to barter and altruism. According to neuroscientist Molly Crockett, the removal of money allows kindness and generosity to flourish – indeed, studies show that even thinking about money makes people less helpful towards others. As Crockett states, “Burning Man is, of course, radically different from the real world.” I think we need a few more radical alternatives to the real world, even if it is only for a few days. ß Robin Ince is a comedian and writer who presents, with Prof Brian Cox, the BBC Radio 4 series The Infinite Monkey Cage

ILLUSTRATION: JAMIE COE

T

SCIENCE

MY LIFE SCIENTIFIC HANNAH FRY “In this country, people seem to think that maths is irrelevant and uninteresting” Mathematician and TV presenter Hannah Fry talks to Helen Pilcher about her love of maths, Formula 1 and her dog Molly I use maths to look at patterns in human behaviour. People leave behind traces of themselves in the data they create. When you start to look, say, at where people spend their money or where burglaries happen, you find there are patterns that can be described mathematically. You can then look at what causes these patterns and think about ways of redesigning the environment for the better. I wanted to be a hairdresser when I was at school. But my mum steered me towards doing A-levels. My dad was a pro motorbike racer, so I also quite fancied Formula 1! I wasn’t particularly brilliant at maths when I was young, but one summer holiday when I was 11 my mum bought me a maths textbook and insisted I work my way through it. Then, next term, I found that I was ahead of everyone. I realised that the more investment I put in, the more enjoyable it became. That’s the thing about maths. You can’t expect to enjoy it without putting in the time and the effort. I often hear people say that they can’t ‘do maths’, or that you have to be naturally gifted at it. But that’s not the case. In the UK, people seem to think that maths is irrelevant and uninteresting. That’s a real shame, because this perception couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, it might be difficult but if ever there were a subject that’s a natural playground, it’s maths. It’s a subject that is ripe for joyful discovery.

ILLUSTRATION: ORLAGH MURPHY

Animals can do maths. Lots of animals can distinguish between quantities that are bigger and smaller, but dolphins are unbelievable. They intuitively know how to add, subtract, multiply and understand ratios, and use these skills to help catch fish. I split my time between a real academic job and mucking around doing TV and radio. I’ve been ridiculously lucky. I travel a lot. One day, I get to fly in a helicopter over the desert in Dubai, the next I’m talking to a master brewer about making the perfect cup of tea. And the next I’m in my office surrounded by equations. I like going for walks with my dog, Molly. She looks like a teddy and is pure goodness. She’s quite naughty, but only because I don’t train her properly – I find it hard to tell her off. The other day, she buried some frozen mango in the house. That’ll biodegrade nicely.

I’d like to pause the world and do 10 different degrees. I’d like to be a better computer programmer. If you’re good, it’s like plugging your brain directly into a computer. It’s very creative. I am micro-ambitious. It’s not about five-year plans: the best thing to do is grab whatever opportunities are put in front of you and do the best you can with them. I’m just enjoying the ride while it lasts. ß

HANNAH FRY is a lecturer in the mathematics of cities at University College London. Vol. 8 Issue 9

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The Last Word im Al-Khalili’s television documentaries take on challenging subjects without being patronising or gimmicky. And that’s why I’m a huge fan of his. As the host of The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4, he does a great job of getting scientists to reveal what they do all day. And as an author, he explains tough scientific ideas with amazing clarity. But while I envy his skill, I sure don’t envy his celebrity. His website hints at the reason: it carries a polite notice saying in effect he can’t check out claims for perpetual motion machines or time travel. Like all science celebrities, Al-Khalili is a target for every crackpot with an email account. Worse still, he’s an expert in quantum theory. Everyone knows quantum theory is weird, so that’s where everyone heads when looking for explanations of weird stuff like telepathy, homeopathy and parallel universes. What gets missed is the fact that quantum theory isn’t just a grabbag of buzzwords like entanglement and uncertainty. Each has a specific meaning and comes with ‘terms terms and conditions’ that show when it applies. Take the New Age claim that quantum entanglement explains telepathy. For most scientists, this one’s easy to deal with: there’s no evidence that minds can communicate telepathically, and thus nothing to explain. But even if there were, entanglement still won’t help. That’s because despite its name, it doesn’t involve communication between objects. Entanglement is all about how it’s possible, using a very strict recipe beset with ‘Ts & Cs’, to make two objects behave as if they’re the same object, even when separated by huge distances. In a sense, then, entanglement is even weirder than telepathy, but it certainly lends it no credibility. Ironically, the keenness of nutters to reach for the ‘Q-word’ at every opportunity has made life tough for serious researchers who suspect quantum effects may explain genuine mysteries. For example, the ability of birds to migrate between continents has long perplexed scientists. Since the 1960s, it’s been clear they have some kind of compass allowing them to navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field. But how? One possibility is that they can sense it through some delicate quantum effect on their biochemistry. Or at least it would be, were it not the case that such ideas are ‘a romping ground for charlatans’, as 98

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onee distinguished o d st gu shed che chemist st o once ce put it. t. But some brave scientists have risked their reputation by taking it seriously, and now it seems that they’re on to something. Studies of the European robin suggest its eyes contain molecules that can sense the Earth’s feeble magnetism via quantum entanglement. If true, that suggests these birds have evolved a means of dodging those ‘Ts & Cs’ affecting quantum entanglement. That in turn may open the way to new quantum technologies able to cope with everyday conditions. Meanwhile, researchers have found evidence for weird quantum effects driving other natural effects, like photosynthesis, as Jim AlKhalili explains in his brilliant book Life On The Edge. Now it seems even tap water has a few quantum tricks too. H2O has many strange properties; for example, it doesn’t shrink on freezing, but expands. Now researchers have found that it uses quantum energy conjured up out of nowhere when it bonds to other water molecules. I’m praying Jim Al-Khalili’s next book covers all this, as it can’t be long before I’m in the pub and get asked: “So how does quantum theory affect my pint, then?” ß

ROBERT MATTHEWS is Visiting Professor in Science at Aston University, Birmingham

ILLUSTRATION: ADAM GALE

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places to stay

Rachel Khoo’s

Extraordinary

MAGAZIN NE ASIIA

WORDS MELISSA LORRAINE CHUA

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Win!

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AMPERING OUR SENSES NO LONGER stops at touch, taste and scent. Good hoteliers know that visual appeal plays a large part in the perception of luxury (and our derivation of pleasure) and seek to bring ocular gratification to all who pass through their doors. Good design doesn’t just stop at choosing a pleasing palette or hanging a few decorative pieces on the wall – it permeates the atmosphere, seeps into the ethos, and inspires you to live a life more beautiful and adventurous than before. Whether through a unique floor plan, gorgeous furnishings, or bespoke art, here are five hotels that play the design game exceptionally well.

Paris

THE BEST PLACES TO EAT AND DRINK LIKE A LOCAL

A 2-NIGHTS’ STAY* IN PARK HOTEL CLARKE QUAY FOR TWO T

PARIS PPARI R S PIC PPICN ICICNIC NICC ‘L Le piq pique pique e-niq -niqu nique’ ee’ is o onee of o the t e thing thi t ings ngss I llove most about the city; during the warmer months, it’s the only th way to eat. Having always lived in w tiiny flats far too small to invite lots of people round, I was forever ringing my friends and saying ri ‘meet me here, and bring some ‘m ood.’ Parisians don’t do the whole fo blanket-and-hamper thing. For bl them it’s not about the accessories, th but the ingredients: usually a bu baguette, cheese, cured meats, fruit ba nd a bottle of wine, all bought from an markets or local independent shops. m Paris Picnic does that bit for you, nd delivers the picnic wherever an you want to eat. My favourite spot is the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, ut beside the Canal Saint-Martin bu is a classic choice.

QT SYDNEY NSW, Australia

BEYOND ITS BEAUTIFUL WALLS? A boutique accommodation in the middle of Sydney’s CBD, QT Sydney is only a hop and a skip from iconic attractions such as Hyde Park, SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium, and the Sydney Tower Eye & SKYWALK, the latter offering staggering 360-degree panoramas of the surrounding cityscape. Also known for its award-winning restaurants, be sure to check out Sydney’s critics-favourites Aria, Quay, and Nel while you’re in town.

ourne Melb onomic

HOTEL CLARIS Barcelona, Spain

BEYOND ITS BEAUTIFUL WALLS? Located in Barcelona’s central Eixample neighbourhood, just steps away from the bustling Passeig de Gràcia, Hotel Claris is a great base from which to explore the city’s world-famous architecture and exciting gastronomy. Visit the top tourist attraction in town, La Sagrada Família, educate yourself on the eponymous painter’s early years at the Picasso Museum, or drink in the plethora of sights and sounds along colourful Las Ramblas.

RATE: US$180++ per night qthotelsandresorts.com/sydney-cbd

From US$35pp; parispicnic.com

Gastr delights beyond the city centre

WHAT IS ITS AESTHETIC APPEAL? The most outstanding design element at Hotel Claris is the sheer size of its art collection, whether paintings, sculptures, or furniture. In addition to being distributed throughout the common areas and rooms, the hotel’s exceptional assemblage of art can also be viewed at its first-floor museum, which houses rare Egyptian artefacts,19th-century Turkish kilims, Roman mosaics and sculptures from the second and third centuries, sketches by Catalan painter Josep Guinovart, original etchings commissioned by Napoleon in 1812, and fifth- to eighth-century Burmese and Indian sculptures, amongst many others. Its exterior is equally a sight to behold, the former nineteenth-century neo-classical Verduna Palace reworked and extended upward using glass and steel to house a rooftop pool and provide a constant stream of natural light.

RATE: US$312++ per night hotelclaris.com

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CITY AT A GLANCE

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Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge seen from Mrs Macquarie’s Chair

MINI GUIDE

Budget Sydney In this city, many of the best things in life really are free – from lazing around the beaches or checking out the wildlife, to admiring Sydney’s outstanding art collection.

MUS USEUM U OF CONT A TEMPORA A slice of Gotham h Circularr Quay Wess hass Art Decco MCA h ws since 19 eyebrow ng exhibitio changing o the hip to in-youry explicit and d somew w disturbiing. You’ll a nal art featu aboriginal ently. There prominently. guided tours (mca George St; 10am–5 Fri–Wed, d, to 9pm T

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Pass (straight) Head across through volcathe Pacific to noes and over canyons the Galápagos on the Tren de la Lib- to meet marine iguaertad, departing from nas, giant tortoises Ibarra (p50). and sea lions (p52).

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ECUADOR

6 MINI GUIDES SYDNEY X NEW YORK X KRAKOW X COSTA RICA X BEIJING X CORNWALL

MINI GUIDE

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M local Meet l l shoph Take a walk The Andean keepers among kkeeper deep into market town the colonial th l l era bbuildld- clo of Otavalo is the c oud forest, o, the t onee of the most biodi- home to weavers, iings g of Quito, highest capital hg p cityy inn vers e se environments flute makers and the the on Earth (p46). t world (p44). p . best roast pig in Ecuador (p48).

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G EA GR AT E ES SCA APE P

Great a Escape E C U A D O R EExplore xpplo oree tthe hee colonial colonnial capital capita Quito, before delving deep into cloud forest, where hummingbirds pumas stalk; next, head high into the Andes and meet the inhu umminngbirdds flit flit and and pu ddigenous ige gennous craftspeople craaftsspeo ople of Otavalo, set out from Ibarra on a scenic train ride, adventure among the unique wildlife of the Galápagos aand nd eend nd yyour ourr adven

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@peter_grunert O PHOTOGRAPHS PHILIP LEE HARVEY

@PhilipLeeHarvey Well-camouflaged marine iguanas bask on lava rocks (and one another) on the Galápagos Islands

EASY TRIPS

EASY TRIPS

Easy Trips

We’re up all night to get funky at the Singapore’s Night Festival

Traditional wood den den Yamaboko on para ade e in Kyoto o

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including Have fun in the summer sun in Kyoto, Japan Find out what floats your (beer can) boat in Darwin, Australia Art comes alive in a UNESCO Heritage Site in Penang, Malaysia Light up the night sky in Singapore Go chasing waterfalls in Bali, Indonesia

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AL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE, NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD

Lonely Planet’s Sydney (US$21) is a comprehensive guide to the city, and chapters from the guide can be downloaded at lonelyplanet.com (US$5), while Pocket Sydney (US$12) is ideal for shorter trips. Check out Friday’s Metro section of the Sydney Morning Herald for what’s on listings (smh.com.au). Sydney by Delia Falconer is an insightful dissection of the Harbour City by one of its own (US$39; NewSouth Publishing).

Singapore Night Festival

Gion Matsuri in Kyoto July is peak summer for the northern hemisphere and while many may choose to stay indoors to get away from the heat, the Japanese are one to head outdoors for a Natsumatsuri. Natsumatsuri (夏祭り), or summer festivals, are like street carnivals, where locals get together to enjoy the warm weather with food and games. The Gion Matsuri is no different and is considered one of the most famous festivals in Japan. Held in Gion, the geisha district of Kyoto, the ancient festival originated as part of a purification ritual to appease the gods that caused natural disasters and plagues. By far the highlight of the festival is the Yamaboko Junkō parade. The Yamaboko are giant wooden

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FURTHER READING

began renting loungers on Tamarama Beach, offering waiter service. It didn’t last long. Even at what was Sydney’s most glamorous beach, nobody was interested in that kind of malarkey. OFor Australians, going to the beach is all about rolling out a towel on the sand with a minimum of fuss. Ice-cream vendors are acceptable; martini luggers are not. OIn summer, one of the more unusual sights is the little ice cream boat pulling up to Lady Bay (and other harbour beaches) and a polite queue of nude gentlemen forming to purchase their icy pops. OSurf lifesavers have a hallowed place in the culture and you’d do well to heed their instructions, not least of all because they will be in your best interest.

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floats that are assembled in a traditional Japanese way that doesn’t use nails. These floats are mounted onto wooden wheels and are pulled through the narrow streets of Kyoto by at least 40 men during the parade. All eyes will be fixed on the chigo, though, during the parade. The chigo is a young boy who is chosen to act as the deity’s special page that has to cut a sacred rope with his sword in one slice as part of the ritual. In the days leading to the Yamaboko Junkō parade, attend the Yoiyama Festival, which allows parade goers to check out the floats that also act as shrines or as museums holding priceless artefacts. As with every Natsumatsuri, do check out the yatai, street stalls selling

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traditional Japanese snacks and food, as well as the game stalls where the gamed can win bags of goldfish and other trinkets. To feel like a part of the rich Japanese culture, don on a yukata

MAKE IT HAPPEN The month-long summer festival runs from 1 to 29 July 2016. The Yamaboko Junkō parades are held from 17 to 24 July. It’s best to head to the intersection of Shinjo and Karasuma, where the parade begins. Arrive early for the best views. Entry to all events is free. From Singapore, fly Singapore Airlines or All Nippon Airways direct to Kansai International Airport (KIX). From Kuala Lumpur, fly Malaysia Airlines or Japan Airlines. From KIX, grab the

(summer kimono). Yumeyakata has a wide range of colourful yukata for rent for both men and women (from US$32+ for full day rental; yumeyakata.com/english/ yukata.html).

Hankyu Tourist Pass with Limousine Bus Ticket (from US$18) at the Kansai Tourist Information Center for fast transport to Kyoto. Enjoy a full Japanese experience of staying in a ryokan with modern comforts at Maifukan, situated within Gion. Their combination Japanese/ Western-style rooms let guests enjoy the best of both worlds (from US$143 per pax per night; maifukan.com/en).

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE, NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD

JULY/AUGUST 2016

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PHOTOGRAPH: FLICKR - STÉFAN

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The know-how BEACH CULTURE

TRANSPORT Apart from national carriers, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, Qantas flies from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur daily (qantas.com). Sydney Airport taxis to the city cost from US$32, airport shuttles from US$5, while trains charge The palm-shaded communal US$12 for the short journey into garden at Bondi Beach House the city. If you’re here for a week, a MyMulti1 pass (US$33) A two-minute walk from the will get you most places on beach, Bondi Beach House offers trains, ferries, buses and trams. a homely atmosphere with Trains are reliable and frequent, rustic-chic furnishings, a terrace, while buses go where the trains courtyard and well-equipped don’t, such as Bondi and the communal kitchen (bondibeach Eastern Beaches. Ferries are an excellent way to see the harbour. house.com.au; 28 Sir Thomas Mitchell Rd; from $67). WHERE TO STAY The peaceful retreat of Tara Mariners Court Hotel Guest House has four graceful offers that rare combination of spaces with soaring ceilings location, price and a bit of elbow and French doors opening on to room, not to mention a free large verandas. The communal hot breakfast buffet. All rooms breakfast is a highlight, and have courtyards or balconies rates include airport transfers (marinerscourt.com.au; (taraguesthouse.com.au; from 45–50 McElhone St; from US$74). US$146).

WORDS: RAEWYN KOH. PHOTOGRAPH: COURTES

Sydney essentials

COMPILED BY NATALIE MILLMAN, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PETER DRAGICEVICH. PHOTOGRAPHS: MANFRED GOTTSCHALK/GETTY IMAGES, RYAN EVANS/GETTY IMAGES, DAVID SOUTH/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, BONDI BEACH HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHY BY ISAAC MACLURCAN, MEDIABLIZIMAGES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

PHOTOGRAPHS: HOTEL CLARIS, QT SYDNEY

WHAT IS ITS AESTHETIC APPEAL? Carefully crafted within the city’s historic Gowings and State Theatre buildings, QT Sydney takes design to the next level, infusing a heady blend of Gothic, Art Deco, and Italiante influences throughout its interior. Heavily inspired by its external architecture and theatrical heritage, the QT Sydney fuses cutting edge technology and quirky contemporary design to bring out the dazzling alter ego in you. Expect opulent, over-the-top features such as luxurious bath tubs, gilded gold accents, and baroque-inspired prints. You can even bring back a touch of QT flair by purchasing designer items from Qtique, the in-house gallery gift shop, which carries such quirky items as a cockatoo-shaped lamp and inflatable watermelon beach ball.

The Southeast Asian city that never sleeps takes nocturnal entertainment to the streets once again with the Singapore Night Festival. Night owls take over the Bras Basah/Bugis heritage precinct for two weekends in August to showcase a magical show in the dark during this annual midsummer celebration. This year’s Singapore Night Festival focuses on the theme of Inventions and Innovation and will see international and local artists combining science fiction with fantasy to create unforgettable performances that will dazzle through the night. Spread out over a few spots, including Armenian Street, CHIJMES, Singapore Art Museum, National Museum of Singapore and many more, festivalgoers can expect an array of events to fill up the night. Be treated to street

buskers with acrobatic acts, Singapore musicians, installations and the highlight of every Singapore Night Festival – Night Lights. The interactive light show turns the facades of the Singapore Art Museum and National Museum of Singapore into blank canvases for a psychedelic and kaleidoscopic light show. This year will also see the return of PERSPECTIVE talks and CREATIONS workshops, where registered guests will get the chance to discuss in an open panel with artists or make a souvenir commemorating their time at Singapore Night Festival at a workshop. When dawn breaks, stay in the area to participate in a heritage walk around one of Singapore’s oldest neighbourhoods. The Original Singapore Walks by Journeys will take history buffs

through Bras Basah on The Time of Empire walk. Unearth interesting facts about the 19th century as knowledgeable tour guides share about prominent names in Singapore’s history. Learn more about the Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, the

MAKE IT HAPPEN Singapore Night Festival will be held over the course of two weekends from 19 to 27 August 2016. Various programmes are ticketed but the Night Lights shows are free. Check nightfest.sg for more updates and ticketing information. Changi Airport in Singapore serves more than 100 airlines flying in from some 330 cities in about 80 countries around the world. National carrier

Sarkies brothers, The Straits Times and the cocktail drink that put Singapore on the map as you visit St Andrew’s Cathedral, Coleman Street, Raffles Hotel, Supreme Court and much more (US$28 per pax; journeys.com.sg/ singaporewalks/index.asp).

Singapore Airlines is available in 63 international destinations in 35 countries. Newly opened M Social Singapore is an ideal place to stay for the weekend. The Philippe Starck designed hotel is Robertson Quay’s newest and chicest accommodation that thrives on the idea of community and new experiences. Opening rates are available from US$187 per night for a Nice Room (msocial.sg).

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World-Changing Ideas Summit 15.11.2016 Dockside Pavilion, Sydney

Your life, your tomorrow The world is changing. Technology is transforming the human experience, medicine is overturning longheld beliefs about what it means to be human, while VFLHQWLæF EUHDNWKURXJKV DOWHU RXU XQGHUVWDQGLQJ RI the world and our place within it.

On 15 November 2016, the editors of BBC Future will be joined by some of the world’s most fascinating thinkers to explore these important global changes in a live setting. Join the BBC for a day like no other – to listen to thought-provoking talks, to see and experience cutting-edge technology, and to share a cocktail ZLWKWKHSHRSOHZKRDUHGHæQLQJRXUIXWXUH

Register to attend at www.worldchangingideas.com.au