R.N.I.MAHENG/2010/35422

SCIENCE HISTORY NATURE FOR THE CURIOUS MIND

A Times of India publication Volume 4 Issue 4 June 2014 ` 125

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R.N.I.MAHENG/2010/35422

SCIENCE HISTORY NATURE FOR THE CURIOUS MIND

A Times of India publication Volume 4 Issue 4 June 2014 ` 125

regulars

6 Q&AOur panel of experts answer the questions youve always wanted to ask

12 snapshotOutstanding photographs to inform and engage

18 UpdateThe latest intelligence scientists discover a new phase in stem cell research and how Chinas pollution is causing a change in global weather patterns

68 How Do We Know: the existence of IsotopesWe trace the isotopes from their discovery to their widespread application in the 21st Century

74 Ye olde travel Guide: Amsterdam,1648 We travel to the city of Amsterdam, the confluence of science, art, and commerce

features32 Uninvited Guests

There are parasites living in your body that you are un-aware of. Here are 10 of them

38 All Aboard the Future express Inventor Elon Musks proposed revolutionary mode

of transport will help commuters travel faster than the speed of sound

44 Portfolio: Food MapsA mouth-watering approach to cartography by photogra-

pher Henry Hargreaves and food stylist Caitlin Levin will have you reaching out for your forks rather than the atlas

52 Monument Mysteries Using 3D laser technology, discover how historys

greatest monuments and buildings were constructed

54 Is this What A Genius Looks Like? On the occasion of William Shakespeares 450th birthday,

we answer some pertinent questions on his life

60 Forecast From the Past? Will the rising CO2 levels turn our weather into the

inclement weather of the pre-historic era?

64 noahs Ark the true story A scientific analysis of the biblical vessel reveals

the authentic facts about its existence

Cover story24 Memory

Is the memory you cherish, real or fake? Find out how eerily close science is to manipulating your memories

2 June 2014

76 ResourceOur picks offer the best of science, history, and nature on the web

80 Inside the PagesThe master of short stories, author H. H. Munro, spins a spine-chilling tale set in the country side. Read the full story

82 edu talkInterview with Dr Ayyappan, Director-Education of the Sree Gokulam Public Schools, Kerala

84 GadgetsThe next phase of lifestyle gadgets is here and it is in our homes and on ourselves

90 In FocusLudwig Wittgenstein, the 'anti-philosopher' who changed the landscape of analytical philosophy

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The big sources

of co2

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Did you get a chance to see the movie Noah? Did you know the legend of Noahs Ark predates the Bible, and even the Babylonians had a version of a flood story? That an ancient version of this story exists in the form of a tablet according to which the Ark was not long but round? Read the fascinating interview with researcher and author Irving Finkel about the real truth

behind Noahs Ark (on page 64).

This months cover feature is on memory. If you, like me, have a lets just say less than spectacular power of recollection and retention, and can get hazy about bits and pieces of your life, then this story will interest you. According to the latest strides in genetic research in this area, there is a good possibility that memory can not just be drastically improved but also permanently deleted or implanted.

If you want to lay your bets on the natural way, then they say a Mediterranean diet is key to an active brain and longevity. And what is a Mediterranean diet? It is a magical combination of foods staple to that area ie, Greece, Palestine, Spain, Portugal, and Southern Italy. And consists of foods like olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, cheeses, fruit and vegies along with fish and other meats. In this issue, we bring a fascinating photo feature on countries beautifully illustrated by the foods they are famous for. It is a must see - on page 44.

Read about philosopher Wittgensteins life and Elon Musks game changing Hyerloop (yeah it goes faster than the speed of light) that is set to change how we commute. Look over disgusting bugs that actually look quite pretty and who would love to live in our bodies. And learn about Shakespeare who turns 450 years old this year. Wasnt he the one who has written hell is empty and all the devils are here?

Another month, another exciting issue of BBC Knowledge.

Enjoy.

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KnowledgeMagINDKnowledgemagazineindia

KnowledgeMagInd

Download this current issue from www.zinio.com www.magzter.com www.rockasap.com www.readwhere.com

Has something youve read in BBC Knowledge Magazine intrigued or excited you? Write in and share it with us. Wed love to hear from you and well publish a selection of your comments in the forthcoming issues.

email us at: edit.bbcknowledge@wwm.co.inWe 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. We regret that we cannot always reply personally to letters.

edit.bbcknowledge@wwm.co.inwww.knowledgemagazine.in

FRoM tHe eDItoR

senD Us YoUR LetteRs

4 June 2014

Nicola Davies is a regular contributor to Nursing Standard, UKs best-selling nursing journal and also works with Macmillan Cancer Support in designing

and evaluating self-management programmes for cancer survivors. In this issue, she explores the science behind how our brains store memories. See page 24

Dickson Despommier is an ecologist, a microbiologist, and an author. He is also the Professor of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences at

Columbia university. In this issue, he introduces us to the unwanted parasites living in our bodies. See page 32

stuart Nathan is the features editor at The Engineer magazine, where he has been writing on technology and innovation since 1996. He has also

worked at Chemistry & Industry magazine as Deputy New Editor. In this issue, he covers Elon Musks revolutionary transport mode, the HyperLoop, that could change commuting forever. See page 38

Paul edmondson is Head of Education at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and an Honorary Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute and the director for the

Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival. In this issue, he answers some of the most contentious questions about The Bard. See page 54

exPeRts tHIs IssUe

HERES HOw TO gET IN TOUCH

Team IndIaChief Executive Officer tarun rai

Editor Preeti SinghFeatures Editor Kamna Malik

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Printed and published by Joji Varghese for and on behalf of Worldwide Media Pvt. Ltd., The Times of India Building, 4th floor, Dr. D. N. Road, Mumbai 400001 and printed at Rajhans Enterprises, No. 134, 4th Main Road, Industrial Town, Rajajinagar, Bangalore 560044, India. Editor- Preeti Singh. The publisher makes every effort to ensure that the magazines contents are correct. However, we accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions. Unsolicited material, including photographs and transparencies, is submitted entirely at the owners risk and the publisher accepts no responsibility for its loss or damage. All material published in BBC Knowledge is protected by copyright and unauthorized reproduction in part or full is prohibited. BBC Knowledge is published by Worldwide Media Pvt. Ltd. under licence from Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited. Copyright Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part prohibited without permission. The BBC logo is a trade mark of the British Broadcasting Corporation and is used under licence. British Broadcasting Corporation 1996CIN: U22120MH2003PTC142239

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6 June 2014

Susan Blackmore (SB) A visiting professor at the University of Plymouth, UK, susan is an expert on psychology and evolution. alastair gunn Alastair is a radio astronomer at Jodrell Bank centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, UK. robert Matthews Robert is a writer and researcher. He is a Visiting Reader in science at Aston University, UK. gareth Mitchell As well as lecturing at Imperial college London, Gareth is a presenter of Click on the BBc World service.

luis villazon Luis has a Bsc in computing and an Msc in zoology from oxford. His works include How Cows Reach The Ground.

Ask the experts?Email our panel at bbcknowledge@wwm.co.in Were sorry, but we cannot reply to questions individually.

YouR QuEstIoNs ANswEREd

& Do music or acting genes run in families? p8 Would birds be able to fly on other planets? p10 Why do some people sleep with eyes open? p11

Its called trypophobia and its not a fear of open man-holes or caves. Rather, it is the revulsion some experience when they look at asymmetric clusters of small holes, or dark spots on anything from skin to wood or a plant. If that doesnt sound horrifying, try Googling trypophobia. Youll see real or Photoshopped images of people with clusters of pockmarks dotted on their face

or hands. Some are simply dark holes, others

might be eggs or larvae. Severe

trypophobes are also revolted by much more innocuous things like the bubbles in a Nestl Aero.

The term trypophobia was

only coined in 2005 and the reasons for it

are still poorly understood. One theory is that it

might be a behaviour that evolved to make us avoid people with skin parasites. Another study at the University of Essex published last year found that the clustered patterns that tend to trigger trypophobic reactions are also found on some very dangerous animals, such as the spots on a blue-ringed octopus. LV

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Why are some people scared of holes?

A fear of holes could have evolved to help us avoid deadly species such as the blue-ringed octopus

experT paneL

Is personality genetic?Yes, in the sense that many personality differences are highly heritable. Some of the best evidence comes from twin studies, especially those comparing pairs of identical twins who have been raised together to pairs who have been raised apart. These have the same genetic make-up but are brought up in different families. Among the most highly heritable traits are leadership, traditionalism and obedience to authority. It may seem odd that liking traditional values and wanting rules to be obeyed are inherited, yet this is what research reveals. The biological basis may involve different levels of neuro-transmitters, including serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline. Other traits that are more than 50 per cent heritable include zest for life, sense of alienation, responsiveness to stress and risk-taking.

This does not mean that these traits are rigidly fixed. A naturally fearful person can learn to overcome fear, an excessive risk-taker can learn when its wise to hold back, and knowing how our body reacts to stress can help us understand ourselves. But we cannot change ourselves into someone we are not. SB

Bank card readers used to work similarly to the heads in a tape machine. Information was transferred as the cards magnetic strip passed over the reader. In chip-and-pin devices, the readers make electrical contact with an embedded chip on the card. Like the magnetic strip, the users PIN is encrypted on the chip. When the correct number is entered, the card authorises the payment. GM

How do bank card readers work?

VITAL STATS

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What makes icebergs flip over?Icebergs are notorious for keeping around 90 per cent of their bulk hidden beneath the surface of the sea. While this makes them far more dangerous to shipping than they appear, it does mean theyre extremely stable, and unlikely to wobble about. Yet even mountain-sized icebergs weighing hundreds of millions of tonnes have been known to flip over, creating tsunamis capable of swamping nearby vessels.

The risk is highest just after the birth of an iceberg from the edge of a glacier. As it breaks away, the iceberg tumbles off into the ocean, its irregular shape leading to the berg swaying or even flipping right over as gravity seeks to bring most of its weight beneath the sea surface. According to research published in 2011 by Prof Justin Burton and colleagues of the University of Chicago, the resulting motion can release as much energy as an atomic bomb. RM

so much easier than writing a cheque

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Top Tenloudest animals

1. sperm whaleIntensity: 236 decibels (dB)Location: Worldwide clicks generated by forcing air through a pair of phonic lips

2. Bottlenose dolphinIntensity: 220 dBLocation: Worldwide can emit thousands of clicks per second

3. snapping shrimpIntensity: 200 dB Location: Worldwide Acoustic pressures from a snapping claw can kill fish

4. Blue whaleIntensity: 188 dB Location: Worldwide songs of four notes can last two minutes each

5. Howler monkeyIntensity: 140 dB Location: south America Howls can travel 5km through dense forest

6. lesser bulldog batIntensity: 137 dB Location: south America they squeeze ear muscles shut when squealing

7. Kekapo parrotIntensity: 132 dB Location: new Zealand Male inflates like a balloon and emits a series of booms

8. moluccan cockatooIntensity: 129 dB Location: Moluccas, Indonesia screeching mainly happens at dawn and dusk

9. northern elephant sealIntensity: 125 dB Location: eastern Pacific snouts act as echo chambers

10. Bladder cicadaIntensity: 120 dB Location: Australia Deep, frog-like sound is made by males to attract females

Q A&

Do music or acting genes run in families?There are no such things as music genes or acting genes, only genes and combinations of genes that, in certain circumstances, contribute to these abilities. However, the traits of musical or acting ability do tend to run in families. The heritability of musical ability is about 50 per cent, meaning that around half the variation in ability is attributable to genetic differences. There are several genes known to be involved.

There are also stories of musicians who were adopted early in life that only discovered later that their biological parents were musicians. The opposite amusia or tone deafness affects about four per cent of the population, although watching Indian Idol youd think it was more. This too can be inherited. SB

It didnt help with her night terrors when her parents insisted on the only lighting in her room coming from a Victorian oil lamp

A nearby gamma-ray burst would wipe out all life on earth

Musical genetic genius: the Jackson 5

8 June 2014

QuicKFiRE How will aircraft be

powered when there is no more oil? The historic flight of the Solar Impulse plane last year proved that power from the Sun might be able to drive aircraft in a post-oil world. The plane flew in several hops from San Francisco to New York. All the power came from an array of 12,000 solar cells and lithium ion batteries that charged during the day and allowed the plane to keep airborne at night. In the short term, biofuels fuel derived from living organisms are likely to be the answer. gM

Would a radioactive material at absolute zero emit radiation?Strictly speaking, its impossible to get to exactly absolute zero, or 273C. Even so, the idea of chilling radioactive waste to incredibly low temperatures to make it safe is appealing. Sadly, however, it wouldnt work. Radioactivity is a manifestation of fundamental nuclear forces and these are unaffected by low temperatures. rM

Will there ever be a male pill?Unlike women, men dont have a natural monthly cycle of fertility, which means you cant control it with a simple hormone pill. Until recently, research on the male pill has focused on ways of deactivating sperm, but new research in Australia has found a way to genetically modify mice so that sperm are not added to the semen during ejaculation. To turn this discovery into a pill, you would need drugs that can mimic the effects of the genetic modifications. This could take another decade to develop and license. lv

Are there any treatments for night terrors?

Not really. There is nothing pathological about night terrors, and the best response is sympathy and understanding. Many young children get them,

especially boys aged five to seven, but most grow out of it by adolescence. Night terrors can be as

frightening to those watching as to sufferers, who typically wake up screaming and confused,

remembering nothing of what woke them. They may hit things, wet the bed, and appear terribly

agitated, but in many cases they never fully wake up. They happen during non-REM deep sleep and

usually occur after two or three hours of sleep. They are quite distinct from nightmares, which are

horrible dreams that happen later in the night during REM sleep. Although they appear terribly distressed at the time, many children remember

nothing about the event the following day. Adults occasionally have night terrors, but this is most

often due to stress or alcohol. SB

Whats the biggest gamma-ray burst recorded?Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely energetic flashes of radiation caused by the collapse of massive stars to form neutron stars or black holes. They are the most energetic events in the Universe, but extremely rare.

The record for the most energetic is named GRB 130427A, which occurred on 27 April 2013. It was detected by many telescopes, on Earth and in space, and occurred in a galaxy in the constellation of Leo, about 3.8 billion light-years away. This is relatively nearby for a GRB, which explains why it was so bright. In fact, GRB 130427A was more than five times brighter than the previous record. Its the biggest explosion astronomers know about, after the Big Bang itself. If it had happened in our arm of the Milky Way, it would have destroyed all life on Earth. AG

A skull of H. heidelbergensis found in the Pit of

Bones in spain

Whats the oldest human DNA discovered?

About 400,000 years old. This was DNA from a thigh-bone found in the Pit Of Bones cave in the Atapuerca

Mountains of northern Spain. The leg bone either belonged to an early

Neanderthal or possibly a member of the human species Homo

heidelbergensis. These are both sister species to our own Homo

sapiens but H. heidelbergensis is the older species and is probably the

direct ancestor of both the Neanderthals and ourselves.

These other species of the genus Homo are not the same as a modern human though. Homo sapiens didnt

appear for another 200,000 years, and didnt migrate from Africa to

Europe until at least another 75,000 years after that. LV

Astronomers are pretty certain there are no moons orbiting moons in our Solar System. Although possible, it is likely that the gravitational tug of the parent planet would quickly destabilise the orbit of the moons moon, eventually pulling it out of its orbit. However if the moons moon is small, the distance to the parent planet is large and there are negligible tidal forces, then such a system could exist. AG

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Q A&

10 June 2014

DiD you know?

Can a moon have a moon?

Would birds be able to fly on other planets?

Unfortunately theres no reason why you wouldnt get bird droppings on you on another planet

While the birds on other planets may not look much like those on Earth, if they exist at all, the laws of physics remain the same. They show theres no reason why birds should not be able to fly given the right combination of not too much weight and not too thin an atmosphere. RM

Why doesnt fog freeze in sub-zero temperatures?It does, eventually. But if the temperature is only a few degrees below 0C, the water droplets remain liquid. This is called supercooling and it occurs because ice crystals cant form easily without a dust particle to act as a nucleus. Because fog doesnt fall, it doesnt pick up dust as it moves through the air so it doesnt usually freeze. Supercooled fog is often called freezing fog, but only because it freezes when it touches the ground. For the droplets in the air to freeze, the temperature has to drop below 35C. This is called ice fog. LV

Its nearly spring, hang in there!

Jupiters moon Ganymede is the largest in the solar system, but doesnt have a moon itself

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Why do some people sleep with their eyes open? Children sleep with their eyes open far more often than adults and it seems to do them little harm. Nocturnal lagophthalmos is the technical term for this and in adults it can be more serious. If the eyes do not close properly then tears cannot wash across the whole of the cornea, keeping it wet and clean to prevent damage. The underlying reason may be a problem with the facial nerves that close the eyes or with the shape of the eyelid. Some skin diseases and infections can also cause lagophthalmos and it can even arise from botched plastic surgery. For example, some older people have their upper eyelids operated on to remove some of the excess skin that increases with age. This may make them look younger, but if too much skin is removed their eyelids cannot close properly and they have to sleep with their eyes open. SB

sleeping with at least one eye open makes it difficult

for anyone to steal your copy of BBC Knowledge

Q A&

Strange but true

Is it possible to harness the power of falling rain?

A 2008 French study estimated that you could use piezoelectric devices, which generate power when they move, to extract 12 milliwatts from a raindrop. Over a year, this would amount to less than 0.001kWh per square metre enough to power a remote sensor. A better idea would be to collect the water and use it to drive a turbine. The UK receives just

under a tonne of water per square metre per year. For a house with a 185m2 roof, this would amount to 3kWh of energy per year. With a 60 per cent conversion efficiency, its enough to run a 15W light bulb for 133 hours. Thats still a lot less than solar energy; we receive 60,000 times more energy per square metre from the Sun than from rain. LV

It doesnt rain hard enough for useful power, but you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise

Is light pollution causing insect species to decline?

Almost certainly. Nocturnal insects, particularly flying ones, are attracted by artificial lights. Some species circle around a streetlight, others settle on it or stop moving when they wander too close. This makes them more vulnerable to predators and interferes with their normal foraging and mating behaviours.

This is definitely causing the balance of insect species to change. However, its too early to say whether the overall number is dropping or if some species actually benefit from artificial light. LV

the moth: a lover of the light

kNOW spOtThe most densely populated city in the world is Bangladeshs Dhaka. There are 44,500 people in every square kilometre.

snAPsHotnaTUre | sNApsHot

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Horsing aroundeYes WIDe oPen

like puppets from a childrens tV show, these bizarre-looking creatures seem to be posing for the camera. though often referred to as False stick insects, they are actually Horsehead grasshoppers.

their appearance as bulbous-eyed twigs is an adaptation to help them blend in with trees in the Peruvian rainforest. some grasshoppers in other parts of the world have an elongated shape and a slanted face, but not as extreme as this, says dr George mcGavin, entomologist and BBC presenter. the females reach about 16cm in length and they can jump a fair way.

in fact, neurobiologists from the university of leicester have discovered that Horsehead grasshoppers jump without using muscles thanks to the unusual properties in their limbs and joints. it is hoped this could help in the development of robotic and prosthetic limbs.

13June 2014

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cloud control

SCIenCe | sNApsHot

14 June 2014

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cloud controlMAKe It RAIn

one hundred metres below the ground, the Cloud (Cosmics leaving outdoor droplets) experiment unfolds. this is the top of the cloud chamber where

beams of ionising particles, tuned to mimic the cosmic radiation that

rains relentlessly down on earth, are fired through plumes of atmospheric

gases. the experiment is investigating the effect of cosmic radiation on

cloud formation, an important factor in understanding the suns role in

climate change.to mimic atmospheric conditions, the chamber must be kept

as free from impurities as possible. Were the only cloud chamber in the

world that can do these experiments at the required level of cleanliness, said

Cloud spokesperson Jasper Kirkby. its a big subject but well answer the

question definitively in about 10 years.so far, Cloud has blasted high

energy particles at amines, derivatives of ammonia. next up will be sweet-smelling monoterpenes. When you

go into the forest that lovely smell is the monoterpenes. theyre organic

compounds with a lot of carbon in them and we will try to understand how they

interact with cosmic radiation.the experiment is at CeRn, the

european nuclear research facility located in France and switzerland.

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16 June 2014

Rocky start, flying finish UPWARDs AnD onWARDs

after spectacularly crashing in 2012, the team working on nasas morpheus most likely wished they could have taken a blue pill and forgotten about the whole ordeal. But now the prototype lander has found its second wind after successfully completing two flights in one week.

during the latest test flight the lander stayed in the air for 64 seconds and reached a height of 91m. on the way back down it avoided rocks, craters and other obstacles to land within 30cm of its target pad. morpheus is a re-usable vehicle propelled by a liquid oxygen-methane engine. its capable of vertical take-off and landing and can scan surfaces for potential hazards before touching down. the hope is that it will eventually be able to land unaided on craggy surfaces like the moon or asteroids.

morpheus itself was never intended for human spaceflight, but these technologies have potential for future human missions, says morpheus project manager Jon olansen.

SCIenCe | sNApsHot

UPDAte the latest intelligence

a revolutionary method for creating cells that can grow into any type of tissue has been developed by scientists in Japan, potentially ushering in a new era of personalised medicine. Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have found that almost any mature adult cell taken from mice can be transformed into a pluripotent stem cell. These are of potentially great use in medicine since they can transform into any kind of cell in the body.

The process, dubbed stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP), involves shocking cells with a suitable dose of stress. Though the exact mechanism is not yet understood, the stress causes the cells to lose their specific characteristics and enter a state of pluripotency. The scientists tried squeezing the cells, heating them and starving them, but had the best results when soaking them in a mildly acidic solution. Its exciting to think about the new

possibilities these findings open up, not only in areas like regenerative medicine, but perhaps in the study of cellular ageing and cancer as well, explained lead researcher Haruko Obokata.

Pluripotent stem cells have already been created using several different methods. One type, called Embryonic stem cells (ESCs), can be harvested from embryos that have been fertilised in vitro in a lab. However, this has proved controversial as it involves the destruction of human embryos. Another type, induced Pluripotent Stem cells (iPS), were produced in 2006 by a team from Japan led by Shinya Yamanaka. They were produced from adult cells by manipulating genetic material. The team was later awarded the Nobel Prize. However, the new technique has the

Having been made fluorescent, stem cells produced using

the new method completely populate a mouse foetus,

confirming their existence

Game-changingstem cell discoveryPersonalised medicine is a step closer, thanks to the development of a new technique

18 June 2014

advantage of being much

simpler, taking only half an hour to produce

the cells.To confirm that the cells created

through the stressing process were pluripotent, and so able to transform into other cells in the body, the researchers tagged some of them with a fluorescent dye and injected them into a mouse embryo. These glowing cells spread through the animal as it grew, proving that they were pluripotent. The mice were then bred and produced healthy offspring.

The next step is to attempt the process in other mammals and ultimately humans. If successful, doctors will be able to create stem cells specific to each patient from a simple skin biopsy or blood sample. Eventually, stem cells could be used for even growing entire replacement organs. ha

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chinas pollution goes global enVIRonMent

A commonly quoted idea of chaos theory is that a butterfly flapping its wings in China can trigger a hurricane in the US. Now, it seems it is not colourful insects but pollution in China that is affecting global weather patterns.

Using climate models and data collected over 30 years about aerosols, fine particles of liquid suspended in a gas, researchers at Texas A&M University found air pollution over Asia is impacting global air circulations. Much of it is coming from China.

The models clearly show that pollution originating from Asia has an impact on the upper atmosphere and it appears to make storms or cyclones even stronger, Professor Renyi Zhang explains. This pollution affects cloud formation, precipitation, storm intensity and other factors, and eventually impacts climate. Most likely, pollution

from Asia can have important consequences on the weather pattern over North America.

The boom in Chinas economy during the last 30 years has led to the building of countless factories and power plants that pump out huge amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere. Levels of air pollution in some cities, such as Beijing, are often more than 100 times higher than acceptable limits set by the World Health Organizations standards.

Organization standards.

In cod bloodBIocHeMIstRY

As well as tasting delicious when deep-fried in batter, cod has another impressive talent: they are able to survive in the Arctics icy waters without freezing solid. Now, scientists have used this ability as a starting point to create a new way to freeze the packs of human blood used in medical emergencies.

Researchers at the University of Warwick found that adding tiny amounts of polyvinyl alcohol, a derivative of wood glue, to stored human blood mimics antifreeze properties

found in the blood of cold-acclimatised fish. It works by inhibiting the growth of ice crystals during thawing that would otherwise damage the blood cells.

Although we need to run further tests, this new method looks very promising in terms of vastly extending the shelf life of blood stored for medical procedures and therefore preventing dangerous dips in blood availability at certain times of the year, said Dr Matthew Gibson.

Pharaohs tomb discoveredeGYPtoLoGY

Archaeologists have unearthed the 3600-year-old tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh and the first material proof of a forgotten dynasty. The tomb was discovered in January 2013 near a 60-tonne royal chamber found in South Abydos, 482km (300 miles) south of Cairo, by a team led by the University of Pennsylvanias Dr Josef Wegner.

It had been plundered by ancient looters, who had torn apart the mummified remains and stripped many of the gilded surfaces. Nevertheless, archaeologists were able to recover the bones and

determine they belonged to Woseribre Senebkay, a pharaoh who ruled in the 17th Century BC. Further analysis indicates he was around 5ft 10 inches (1m 77cm), and died in his mid-to-late 40s.

Its exciting to find not just the tomb of one previously unknown pharaoh, but the necropolis of an entire forgotten dynasty, said Dr Wegner. Work in the royal tombs of the Abydos Dynasty promises to shed new light on the political history and society of an important but poorly understood era.

total co2 emissions in metric tonnes Data for 2010 from the World Bank

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the remains of Woseribre senebkay, whose tomb was discovered last January

A satellite image shows huge clouds of pollution flowing east away from china

not just tomorrows fish and chip wrapping: the news about cod is good for blood banks

keeping abreast of the top science, history and nature research from around the worldRoUnD UP

neWs In BRIeF

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Was a Danish zoo right to kill a male giraffe?

WILDLIFe conseRVAtIon

Copenhagen Zoo has sparked an international controversy after killing Marius, an otherwise perfectly healthy 18-month-old giraffe, because its genes were deemed too close to those of seven other animals kept in the same enclosure. Vets shot the giraffe before dissecting the carcass in front of a crowd of onlookers and feeding it to the zoos lions.

Copenhagen Zoos giraffes are part of an international breeding programme, which aims to ensure a healthy giraffe population in European zoos, said scientific director Bengt Holst, defending the zoos actions. This is done by constantly ensuring that only unrelated giraffes breed, so that inbreeding is avoided. If an animals genes are well represented in a population, then

any further breeding with that particular animal is unwanted.

Holst added that giving the animal contraceptives and allowing it to live on, as some critics suggested, would have caused a number of unwanted side effects in its internal organs and reduced its quality of life.

However, Yorkshire Wildlife Park had offered to home the giraffe, but the offer was refused. Copenhagen Zoo said it could not be passed on to another institution due to rules set down by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) that prohibit the selling of animals.

EAZA itself backed the zoo. In a statement it said: EAZA fully supports the decision to humanely put the animal down. Our aim is to safeguard for future generations

a genetically diverse, healthy population of animals against their extinction.

The animal rights charity PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) condemned the decision and questioned the need for breeding in zoos. Breeding programmes serve no true conservation purpose because giraffes and other animals born in zoos are rarely, if ever, returned to their natural habitats. They give the public a false sense that something meaningful has happened, said PETAs Dan Howe. The death of Marius should be a wake-up call for anyone who still harbours the illusion that zoos serve any purpose beyond incarcerating intelligent animals for profit, he added.

20 June 2014

tattoos reveal personality

though traditionally the preserve of sailors and tough guys, tattoos are now sported by everyone from binmen to bank managers. But a study has found they may still be a useful way to spot mavericks and risk takers. Researchers questioned students at Midwestern University and discovered that students with tattoos were significantly more likely to use alcohol and marijuana and engage in risky sexual behaviour.

the beauty of maths

Its official: maths is beautiful. UK researchers asked 15 mathematicians to rate equations on a scale from -5 (ugly) to +5 (beautiful) and then have their brains scanned as they viewed the formulae. the more beautiful the equation (as rated by the mathematicians), the greater the activity in their medial orbitofrontal cortex. this is the region of the brain that lights up when we listen to a symphony or ponder an artistic masterpiece.

A new way to count whales from space could revolutionise the way populations of these mammals are monitored and tracked. Using high-resolution imagery from the WorldView-2 satellite, a trial study detected southern right whales off the coast of Argentina with 90 per cent accuracy. Its hoped that the technique will provide a safer, more flexible and cheaper alternative to counting whales from ships and planes.

Whales can be tracked using satellites, a new study carried out in Argentina has shown

Whales from space

Last year millions of students from 27,000schools in 1,350+ cities and 16 countries

competed in the SOF Olympiads!

SEP. 18 & OCT. 14

14TH SOF NATIONALCYBER OLYMPIAD

JAN. 20 & JAN. 29

5TH SOF INTERNATIONALENGLISH OLYMPIAD

DEC. 4 & DEC. 18

8TH SOF INTERNATIONALMATHEMATICS OLYMPIAD

NOV. 12 & NOV. 25

17TH SOF NATIONALSCIENCE OLYMPIAD

Important: Applications must reach us by August 31st, 2014.

INSPIRING YOUNG MINDS THROUGH KNOWLEDGE OLYMPIADS

promotional feature

Students attaining top ranks at school level, state level, and at international level will be recognised.

aWardS, SCHoLarSHIpS, & reCoGnITIonS

RANK AWARD NO. OF AWARDS

1 `50,000 each + Gold Medal* 47 + Gifts Worth `1,000 + Merit Certificate

2 `25,000 each + Silver Medal* 47 + Gifts Worth `1,000 + Merit Certificate

3 `10,000 each + Bronze Medal* 47 + Gifts Worth `1,000 + Merit Certificate

InTernaTIonaL aWardS - CLaSS 1 - 12

RANK AWARD NO. OF AWARDS

1 `5000 each + Gold Medal* 840 + Gifts Worth `1,000 + Merit Certificate

2 `2,500 each + Silver Medal* 840 + Gifts Worth `1,000 + Merit Certificate

3 `1,000/ each + Bronze Medal* 840 + Gifts Worth `1,000 + Merit Certificate

4-25 25 Gifts Worth `1,000 20,680 + Merit Certificate

STaTe aWardS - CLaSS 1-12

Medals will be awarded to toppers from each class as under:

If 10 or more students from one class write an exam - gold, silver, and bronze medals will be awarded to top three rank holders.

If between five to nine students from a class write an exam - a gold medal will be awarded to the topper.

Participation Certificates will be awarded to every student and Merit Certificates to all 2nd level qualifiers.

Performance Analysis Report for each participating student will be provided.

SCHooL Topper aWardS

Each of the four Olympiads will be conducted on two dates with a separate question paper for each date. Schools may choose a date convenient to them from either of the two dates. The entire school must conduct the Olympiad only on the given dates.

14th National Cyber Olympiad (NCO) 18 September 2014 & 14 October 2014

17th National Science Olympiad (NSO) 12 & 25 November 2014

8th International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) 4 & 18 December 2014

5th International English Olympiad (IEO) 20 & 29 January 2015

* A minimum of ten students must register for an Olympiad from a school

SCHedULe oF examS:

Girl Child Scholarship Scheme (GCSS): `5,000 each scholarship to 300 girls will be provided. Schools may nominate one girl who is academically inclined and is from an economically weak family.

Scholarship for Excellence in English (SEE): `5,000 each scholarship to 120 students will be provided. Schools may nominate one student excelling in English language.

(New) Academic Excellence Scholarship (AES): `5,000 scholarship and trophies to 160 students from class three to ten. The winner will be a student who gets the highest aggregate score in any three Olympiad exams in the 2nd level (1st level for IEO).

4th Teachers Training Camp (TTC): 100 teachers are invited to attend a three day residential education camp conducted by trainers of British Council. The boarding, lodging, and training costs are borne by SOF.

SCHoLarSHIpS

Class wise Top ten rank holders from each of 20 states / zones, who qualify for the 2nd level exam will be awarded a Certificate of Merit and a gold medal each. This will be applicable for NCO, NSO, and IMO.

(neW) STaTe aWardS For LeVeL one WInnerS

Ever wished you had a better memory so you were able to recall names, dates and faces more easily, or even get better grades in exams? How about removing all recollection of a failed relationship like the characters in Michel Gondrys Academy award-winning movie Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind? or virtually travelling the solar system via false memories implanted directly in your mind like Arnoldschwarzeneggers Douglas Quaid in the sci-fi classic Total Recall?

Well, therapies like these may be coming sooner than you think as scientists have been making great strides in how to delete, improve, and even create memories.

Memory is a very important aspect of cognition, says Dr David Vauzour, a senior research fellow at the University of east Anglia. It refers to what you can remember along with the capacity for remembering. some memories are retained for a short period of time and then discarded, but the most important ones are stored in the brain and can be retrieved at will.

this process of learning new information, storage and recall involves a complex interplay of brain functions.

It is this incredibly complex network of nerves and chemical processes that must first be unravelled to help shed light on how the human brain stores and recalls memories, before we are eventually able to figure out how to manipulate them.

NEuRoscIENcE | SCIenCe

25June 2014

What if you could wipe out a hurtful moment from your past, implant a completely new experience, or remember everything for an exam with ease? dr nicola davis looks at how science will soon be able to shape your memories

For many people, deleting memories poses an ethical conundrum. Memories can of course be a source of great pleasure. they can, however, also be a source of great pain, as is the case for sufferers of conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PtsD) or drug addiction. In this case, memory deletion may be the answer. People with PtsD constantly relive traumatic memories. similarly, drug addicts connect certain habits with a previous sensation of being high, which stimulates their craving. By removing or subduing specific memories, traumatic emotions and harmful behaviours can be prevented.

Zapping memory so, how exactly can memories be deleted? Researchers have used a three-stage model to describe how the brain learns and remembers, with impairment in any of these processes resulting in memory failure: acquisition, consolidation and retrieval, says Vauzour.

one study taking advantage of the consolidation process is a within-subjects manipulation study conducted by Marijn Kroes and colleagues at Raboud University nijmegen in the netherlands. Memories are periodically rewritten in the mind, or reconsolidated, somewhat like defragmenting a hard drive. electroconvulsive therapy (ect), however, appears to prevent memories from being rewritten or alters them during the reconsolidation process. In the teams 2013 study, published in nature neuroscience, participants undergoing ect for depression were shown a troubling story in words and pictures. A week later they were reminded about it and given ect. this completely wiped out their recall of the distressing narrative.

similar breakthroughs have also been found taking the chemical approach, as demonstrated in a 2013 study led by Dr courtney Miller of the scripps Research Institute in san

deLeTInG memorY

Diego, california. Miller sought to help methamphetamine addicts by targeting the removal of memories linked with drug use.

neurones connect to each other through small structures known as dendritic spines; this is where memories are thought to be physically stored, explains Dr Miller. the structure of spines is maintained by a scaffolding made up of individual units of actin a protein that facilitates memory formation by supporting the connections the neurones make when a memory is created. these

units of actin combine to form long chains that can enlarge spines and store memories by stabilising specific connections between neurones.

With your run-of-the-mill memory, she adds, the individual units of actin cycle very slowly one comes off the top, another is added to the bottom. But with memories formed when taking methamphetamine, these units move very fast. so we took advantage of this and gave animals drugs (Latrunculin A) that gather up those actin units so they arent available to go back on the long actin chains. With actin units still coming off the top, but no longer being added to the bottom, it seems the actin chains fall apart and we lose the structures storing the methamphetamine memory.

What makes this finding so

exciting is that the inhibitors seem to be incredibly selective as to the memory type. We think were able to selectively target drug-associated memories, and hopefully traumatic memories in the future, because the brain is using a different mechanism to store these memories.

More recent research, published in cell in January 2014, reveals that drugs known as histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDAcIs) can enhance the brains ability to permanently replace old traumatic memories with new memories. In the first phase of the preclinical study, led by Dr Li-Huei tsai of the Massachusetts Institute of technology (MIt), mice were exposed to a tone followed by an electrical shock. once the mice learned to associate these two events, they

Dr courtney Miller is using the science of memory to help drug addicts

Memories are thought to be stored in dendritic spines - seen here as fine, hair-like structures bristling off dendrites, which in turn branch off the main cell body of a neurone

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26 June 2014

Dr Li-Huei tsai of the Massachusetts Institute of technology has shown that memory can be inhibited in mice with the help of a drug

began to freeze in fear upon hearing the tone, even when they did not receive a shock. the researchers then repeatedly presented the tone without the shock to test whether the mice could unlearn the association and stop freezing in response to the tone. this was successful for mice exposed to the tone-shock pairing one day earlier, but not for mice that formed the traumatic memory one month earlier. these mice were then given HDAcIs before undergoing the unlearning exercise. the mice then stopped freezing in response to the tone.

Genetic memory Delving deeper, researchers from MIt have discovered a gene essential for memory extinction, called tet1. Published in neuron in 2013, findings show how boosting the activity of tet1 might benefit people with post-traumatic stress disorder by making it easier to replace fearful memories with positive ones.

the researchers had two sets of mice develop a fear of a cage by electrocuting them in the cage. the mice were then put into a cage without being electrocuted. those with an inhibited tet1 gene no longer feared the cage because the fear memory was replaced with the new memory of not being electrocuted.

NEuRoscIENcE | SCIenCe

27June 2014

ImpLanTInG memorYIn the Leonardo Dicaprio blockbuster Inception, professional criminals use an experimental military technology to implant ideas and memories into a victims mind while they sleep. the concept may seem about as far-fetched as a movie premise can be, but in reality, false memory implantations happen all the time including when people are awake. Whats more they can have drastic consequences, especially in the case of court trials where juries place a disproportionate amount of credibility on eyewitness testimony.

every one of us is susceptible to false

memories, even those with otherwise exceptional powers of recall. this was shown in a 2013 study led by Lawrence Patihis of the University of california in Irvine. Patihis compared 20 individuals with

highly superior autobiographical memory in other words the ability to remember personal experiences as well as more general facts and knowledge with 38 control individuals. Despite it being likely that the former group might be immune to memory distortions, the opposite was found. over a two-week period, a series of exercises designed to test participants susceptibility to forming false memories were administered. In each case, false memories were apparent just as often in those with superior memory as in controls. For example, when

presented with a word list that included thread, pin, and knitting, both groups were likely to later remember also having seen the word needle which was never actually shown.

A region of a mouse hippocampus is lit up with the protein chR2;

the technique was used to implant a memory

of fear

We think were able to target drug-associated memories, and hopefully traumatic memories in the futureDr courtney Miller of the scripps Research Institute in san Diego, california

1. A mouse is first put in an environment (blue box) and the neurones responsible for memorizing the environment are labelled. these cells were made responsive to light.

2. the mouse is put in a different environment (red box) and light is delivered to the brain to activate the previously labelled cells, so it recalls the first box. electric shocks are given.

3. When the mouse is returned to the first environment, it shows signs of fear, showing it had formed a false fear of the first box, where it was never shocked.

HoW to cReAte FeAR scientists induced false memories in mice

Physical health, emotional state, stress level and diet exert a big influence on how well you learn and remember

Fear factor Recently, nobel Prize winner susumu tonegawa was able to successfully implant fear memories in mice. tonegawa and his team genetically engineered mice to express the protein channelrhodopsin-2 (chR2) in neurones associated with memory formation and storage in the hippocampus. An interesting characteristic of this protein is that it reacts to, and becomes activated by, light.

In the experiment, the mice were placed in a safe container and the group of memory neurones, called an engram, created a memory of this container (see How to create fear, p27). the mice were then placed in a different

Kim Peek, the megasavant who was the inspiration for the four-time oscar winning film Rain Man, could remember almost everything he had ever read. He could also read both pages of a book simultaneously and retain the information. Given advances in memory research, could we all one day be like Kim Peek? thats likely to be a long way off, but fortunately there are several

ImproVInG memorY

container while light was shone on the memory neurones thereby activating the memory of the first container. As this occurred, the mice were given a shock. When the mice were being placed into the original container, they froze in fear they associated the shock with the first container, even though it was administered in the second container. the researchers had managed to implant a fear memory.

they basically tricked the system into making these memories, says Dr Wendy suzuki of the suzuki Laboratory for the study of Learning, Memory and cognition in new York.

so, can we create any type of false memory? At this point we only have access to specific kinds of memories to create, depending on the patterns of activation that we can mimic, says suzuki. But in theory if we understand the patterns of activation associated with various kinds of memory formation, we can create any kind of memory. We are certainly in the early days with these experiments, but the potential is there.

effective ways of improving your memory.

Physical health, emotional state, stress level and diet exert a big influence on how well you learn and remember, explains Dr Vauzour. one study carried out by researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, published in the Journal of neurology in 2013, suggests that following a Mediterranean diet based on fish, salads, and chicken, and rich in the fatty acid omega-3 can improve cognition. Four years of data collected from 17,478 participants revealed that those who more strictly adhered to the Mediterranean diet performed better in memory tests.

In another study, led by Yves sauv of the University of Alberta, it was shown that high levels of omega-3 in

Dr David Vauzour, a senior research fellow at the University of east Anglia

Dr Wendy suzuki believes memory implanting is still in its early stages

Give your neurones a boost by eating high levels of omega-3 muscles are a good source

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the megasavant Kim Peek was able to memorise everything he ever read

28 June 2014

SCIenCe | NEuRoscIENcE

DOL PH I N I N t eL L IgeNce

long-term effects are unknown and potentially dangerous.

Moreover, they may not even have the expected effect of improving memory. Although they can give the user the impression of a temporary memory boost, a placebo-controlled trial led by Irena Ilieva of the University of Pennsylvania showed no improvement in the performance of young adults taking Adderrall compared to those taking a placebo. so it would appear that there are no quick-and-easy shortcuts to improving memory.

in 2013, showed that aerobic exercise improves memory by helping maintain consistent and healthy blood flow to the hippocampus.

there are some people, however, who baulk at the thought of putting on their running shoes and pounding the pavement, and would instead prefer to simply swallow a memory-improving tablet. this attitude has led some students wishing to stay alert and retain memory during exams to turn to so-called smart drugs. But since these are prescription medications for conditions that most students do not suffer from, such as narcolepsy and ADHD, the

a persons diet can help to improve the communication of the neurones used for memory.

evidence suggests that

exercise is also key to a healthy memory. Research led by Dr sandra chapman of the University of texas at Dallas

Want to improve your memory? exercise is better than black market pills

Yves sauv has shown that the fatty acid omega-3 improves

the communication of neurones used for memory

Nicola Davies is a health psychologist and writer.

Your recollection of lifes events is stored in networks of billions of neurones in different areas of the brain

sYnAPsessynapses send signals to dendritic spines, small membranous branches that protrude from the dendrites at a neurones end. It is in these spines that memories are thought to be stored.

simon Rumpel and Kaja Moczulska from the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna used a technique called in vivo two-photon imaging to look at the architecture of synapses - structures that allow neurones to communicate and send electrical signals to one another. they looked at how these synapses work during learning and memorising in mice and found that the learning process created new synaptic connections.

WHaT IS memorY?

entoRHInAL coRtexthis is involved in consolidating memories, in particular spatial memory. It acts as a gateway between the memory-forming hippocampus and neocortex, which deals with sensory perception. In 1953, Henry Gustav Molaison lost his ability to store new memories after surgeon William scoville removed a large part of the hippocampus in an effort to treat his epilepsy. Recently a micrometre-scale examination of the part of his brain that was surgically removed has confirmed that those parts are involved in memory. Findings published in nature communications in January 2014 by Jacopo Annese and colleagues at the University of california, san Diego, found residue of the posterior hippocampus that had survived the operation. However, because it was disconnected from the entorhinal cortex, both learning and memory had been affected.

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30 June 2014

ceReBRAL coRtexMemories are stored in complex networks, primarily in the cerebral cortex, the outermost layer of neurones in the brain. Long-term memory can be divided into two major categories: declarative and implicit memory. Declarative memory requires a conscious effort to recall, while implicit memory such as procedural memory refers to skills and routines.

AMYGDALAWe have two walnut-shaped amygdalae - clusters of neurones that deal with emotion and fear. In a 2013 study led by Haohong Li and Mario Penzo and published in nature neuroscience, the specific part of the central amygdalae that encodes fear memory has been pinpointed its called the lateral subdivision.

HIPPocAMPUsthis seahorse-shaped part of the brain is crucial to both spatial awareness and memory. We have one on each side of the brain. Long-term memories are likely formed by a variety of different mechanisms depending on the type of memory, says Dr Michael Yassa of the University of california. there is evidence supporting the notion that long-term memories for facts and events are stored initially using the hippocampus, but eventually most memories become stored as a distributed representation throughout the brain. the process is likely some form of strengthening of communication among neurones.

NEuRoscIENcE | SCIenCe

UNiNvited GUeStS

Found along the resort beaches of central America, botflies are large and cumbersome. People usually brush them off before they can lay eggs on their skin, the flys ultimate modus operandi. so botflies use a second, more inconspicuous host, laying their eggs on the abdomen of female mosquitoes before releasing them. When egg-carrying mosquitoes

suck blood from unsuspecting people, the botfly larvae detect heat from the victims flesh and hatch, falling on to their skin. Larvae penetrate into the tissue beneath the skin, growing two inches in length over several weeks before crawling out. nice! they then fall onto the ground and pupate. Days later botflies emerge from the pupae to start the cycle anew.

Microbiologist Dickson Despommier counts down the top 10 most horrifying parasites that would love to take up residence in your body

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Being the highly successful animal that we are, we humans have attracted an exotic range of hangers-on. We harbour hundreds of species of viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoans, and arthropods. Viruses were the first parasites, infecting bacteria, and once multicellular life evolved, more complex creatures followed in their wake. of the 100 million or so species on earth, half of them might be parasitic.

In an attempt to become better acquainted with these unwelcome guests, here are 10 horrifying critters that you certainly wouldnt want setting up home inside you.

BOtFLY Dermatobia hominis10

say hello to a botfly larva it cant wait to

get under your skin

32 June 2014

JANUARY 2013 / FOcUS / X X

UNiNvited GUeStS

X X / FOcUS / JANUARY 2013

SCIenCe | pARAsItEs

WhipWOrm Trichuris trichiura

GiANt rOuNdWOrm Ascaris lumbricoides

this roundworm infects the large intestine and its normally found in the tropics. Like other roundworms, its eggs lie dormant in the soil until some unsuspecting child picks them up. Usually it just causes diarrhoea, but the strain can result in the rectum losing muscular integrity, exposing the raw surface covered

with adult worms, a truly disgusting and psychologically upsetting event. Its a terrible experience for the child, but spare a thought for the new pediatric doctor when the distraught mother brings her screaming child into the emergency clinic at 3am. If spotted early though, treatment is simple enough.

this pencil-sized roundworm takes up residence in your small intestine. Here it secretes a chemical known as antitrypsin, which interrupts your guts digestive process so it can have first dibs on our meals. Females produce 200,000 eggs a day for three to five years that pass out in the faeces and develop in soil. eggs live there for years waiting to be accidentally eaten. the giant roundworm infects two

billion people worldwide, mostly children. In small children a heavy infection can cause stunting and loss of intellect. Unfortunately, the parasites only leave in cases of extreme fever eg malaria upon which they migrate, sometimes out of the anus or the mouth. If the liver, pancreas or gall bladder is invaded, a roundworm infection can be fatal. otherwise they are fairly straightforward to treat with a drug known as mebendazole.

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this unpleasant animal can reach 50mm in length

seen magnified 120 times in this picture, the giant

roundworm can grow up to 50cm in length

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ChAGAs diseAse Trypanosoma cruzi

GuiNeA WOrm Dracunculus medinensis

this single-celled attacker is transmitted by the blood-sucking kissing bug found in south and central America. the insect has the nasty habit of defecating while it eats, which gives Trypanosoma cruzi the opportunity it needs to enter its victims bloodstream and cause chagas disease. the organism travels into the body and invades nearby cells, causing a

local swelling to develop at the site of infection known as Romanas sign. In chronic cases, it travels to the heart and nervous system or the small and large intestine. Destruction of nervous tissue causes organs to fail, and they enlarge. so-called megacolon, megaesophagus and an enlarged heart are the result of a long-term infection, which is often fatal.

Another roundworm rears its ugly head. the guinea worms larvae infect aquatic crustaceans such as water fleas, usually found in stagnant water. When an unsuspecting human drinks this water, the body digests the fleas that have been sheltering the worm larvae. once free, males and females mate a few months after infection. the males die and are absorbed by the human body while

the females make their way towards the legs and feet. once there a worm creates a blister into which it lays eggs. the blister causes a painful burning sensation that often drives its host to water for relief. the submerged blister bursts, starting the cycle again. treatment is often done by wrapping the head of the worm around a narrow stick and turning it until the worm is removed.

chagas disease is caused by the single-celled organism trypanosoma cruzi

Guinea worm larvae the longest adult recorded was 78cm in length

rOuNdWOrm Wuchereria bancrofti

this roundworm takes up residence in vessels that carry lymph a clear fluid that helps rid the body of waste products. Adults live for 10 years, producing microfilariae that migrate to the bloodstream, become ingested by mosquitoes and transform to infectious larvae. When an infected mosquito feeds again, larvae are deposited onto the victim, crawl into

the bite wound, migrate to lymphatic vessels and grow to adulthood. When adult worms die, inflammation slows the flow of lymph, and when they all die, the lymph vessel becomes completely blocked. swelling ensues, legs enlarge, skin dries out and becomes folded. the disease is called elephantiasis for an obvious reason. Human immune cells (yellow) attack a W. bancrofti roundworm

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espuNdiA Leishmania braziliensis

pOrk tApeWOrm Taenia solium

this single-celled parasite enters your bloodstream through the bite of sandflies. After infection, it starts by colonising immune cells that travel through the body. these infected cells travel to the mouth, rectum, and urinary tract - where the parasite replicates in new cells, causing ulcers. Untreated, L. braziliensis can be fatal. In unusual cases the mouth

can become so heavily infected that the roof can erode away. this condition is known as espundia and is found only in remote rural areas where medical personnel are rarely available. once diagnosed it can be successfully treated and plastic surgery can repair the oral cavity back to near normal.

Although it can reach 4m long, the adult pork tapeworm is relatively harmless, taking up residence in the small intestine. Its typically acquired by eating infected raw or undercooked pork. A juvenile is released from its cyst in the tissue and attaches to the wall of the small intestine, where it grows into an adult within three months. Its the eggs that can be a little more dangerous. If the eggs are consumed they can release tiny larvae that migrate into the blood-stream and lodge themselves in

various tissues such as the heart, brain and even eyes developing into juveniles. Unfor-tunately for us, the only way to be rid of the beast is to pass it in faeces, having taken medication.

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the grey form of the single-celled organism Leishmania braziliensis is seen alongside red haemoglobin

the fearsome-looking head of the pork tapeworm

this is a small tapeworm that infects dogs, but can find its way into humans too. sheep are the usual source of infection, harbouring the juvenile stage. When infected sheep are slaughtered, cysts in liver, containing juveniles, are often fed to dogs. once inside the canine host, the juveniles are released from the cysts and attach to the dogs small intestine, becoming adults. Infected dogs can harbour thousands of adult tapeworms. When adult worms pass eggs,

they exit with faeces. sheep ingest the eggs, acquiring cysts that may grow to the size of grapefruit. sheep farmers can also acquire the cyst by coming into contact with them. If a cyst ruptures, the infection spreads to other organs like the brain and lungs, often resulting in death.

dOG tApeWOrm Echinococcus granulosus2

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pARAsItEs | SCIenCe

dOG tApeWOrm Echinococcus granulosus

1 eYe Worm Loa loa

MIcHAeL MosLeYBeHInD tHe scenes WItH

Although this isnt the most dangerous parasite the human body can harbour, this West African parasite earns the top spot simply because it has the spine-tingling habit of crawling into its hosts eyes. Most of the time roundworm lives beneath the skin, wandering throughout the body causing little harm. Females produce larvae that enter the bloodstream and are ingested by deer flies feeding on blood. the larvae develop to the infectious stage in the wing muscles of the fly, before migrating to the

mouth parts. When infected deer flies bite, larvae crawl out onto the skin and into the bite wound. sometimes, adult Loa loa crawl over the sclera of the eye, making it clearly visible to infected individuals who might be looking in the mirror at that moment. Heres lookin at you, kid takes on a whole new meaning! the worms have to be surgically removed.

Did you feel your beef tapeworm (taenia saginata) moving at all?no, that was what was so odd. It wasnt until I saw it for the first time I swallowed a camera in a pill that I had any awareness that this was inside me. Doctors told me I might experience something, but what was surprising about the whole experience was how little you notice it. It was sat there really quite innocently, while I got on with my life.

Did you give it a name? A personal name? no. We toyed with terry the tapeworm but it seemed a little bit coy.

Do you still have it? the honest truth is that I just dont know. I took a pill that kills

it in 98 per cent of cases. But the producer was keen to take it out and wave it around after it came out the other end, so I sifted through well, at least had a look at my faeces, but nothing was ever seen. All I can do is wait and see if segments start to crawl out. the doctor seems convinced that its probably gone, but theres still a lingering fear that at some point I may detect segments. Itll be several weeks till Im fully convinced that Im clear. Did you lose any weight? they say that if youre well nourished, as I am, its not really going to have any real side effects. Its only dangerous if youre living in sub-saharan Africa on a marginal diet.

You wouldnt want to see Loa loa staring back at you when you look in the mirror

the BBc tV presenter for his show Infested, tells us what it was like to have a tapeworm inside him

How large did it grow?I think it got to about 10 feet long.

so why did you do it? I was just curious. Parasites are the most extraordinary, adaptive creatures. I hadnt really understood just how interesting they are until I made this series. And when I made a show called Medical Mavericks we looked into all these fascinating doctors who had infected themselves with different diseases. so both

things together formed a long road towards this point.

Any regrets? no, I was delighted when I saw it on the camera for the first time. It would have been a real pain to have gone through all that and not seen anything. My wife, on the other hand, wasnt terribly keen on the whole idea. she made me promise to get rid of it before segments started coming out.

Michael Mosley and a tapeworm (but not his own thats still MIA)

Dickson Despommier is a microbiologist, ecologist, author, and professor of Public Health in Environmental Health Sciences

at Columbia university.

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millions of people commute to work by Tube, whether they call it the Underground, the Subway or the Metro. But if US technology entrepreneur Elon Musk has his way, tube travel will take on a whole new meaning.

Frustrated with the shortcomings and cost of the planned Los Angeles to San Francisco high-speed rail line, Musk has come up with a combination of two high-tech science-fiction staples of train travel: the vacuum train and the magnetic levitation (maglev) train. Called the Hyperloop, the system would run pods through an elevated tube, shooting passengers along the coast of California like bullets in a gun barrel.

These vactrains work by propelling carriages along an evacuated tube. The lack of air resistance means that they can reach terrific speed, theoretically exceeding the speed of sound no air means no sound barrier. But vactrains have always been a

Meet the machine that could carry commuters faster than the speed of sound. stuart nathan explores Elon Musks Hyperloop, and the trains that will change transport forever

the future of trains | SCIenCe

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skis underneath, creating a hovercraft-like air cushion to lift the pod clear of the floor of the tube.

Power for forward motion comes from linear electric motors. Because of the lack of friction or air resistance in the tube, these wouldnt have to be continuous one linear strip every 100km or so would be sufficient to accelerate the pods up to 1,220km/h (696mph) only a little short of the current world land-speed record. The pods would

conceptual technology, thought too difficult to actually turn into reality. Musk has adapted the ideas to remove some of the potential drawbacks while still keeping many of the advantages.

Its difficult to create a perfect vacuum, so Hyperloop instead runs at a reduced pressure, about a thousandth of an atmosphere. The transport pods are equipped with compressors in their noses to suck the air out of the way and divert it to

slide on skis made from Inconel, a nickel-chromium alloy with extraordinary temperature resistance. Even so, each pod would have to carry 800kg of water for cooling. Such speeds could see a Hyperloop pod complete the 563km (350-mile) journey between LA and San Francisco in about 35 minutes about half the time it currently takes to fly.

All of this will require energy, of course, but sunny California will provide all the

InsIde the hyperloopHow do you travel nearly 600km in under 40 minutes? Elon Musks fifth mode of transport could be the answer

san francisco

Los angeles

san josefresno

bakersfield

160km

proposed route

the proposed route of the Hyperloop tube would carry it along the Interstate 5 Highway that connects san Francisco and Los Angeles. Raised on 6m-high pylons, the tube would limit environmental damage and reduce costs.

Any air left inside the vacuum tube is sucked into the nose at the front of the carriage and pumped out through skis to create an air cushion between the train and the tube.

Forget boats, planes, trains and cars, Elon Musk the pioneer behind Tesla and SpaceX wants to create a fifth mode of transport: a vacuum tube. His vision would get commuters from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and vice versa, in 35 minutes, at a fraction of the cost of a high-speed railway. While Musk wont be building the Hyperloop himself hes offered up these blueprints along with full specifications to anyone bold enough to make it a reality.

While the train cars would be sculpted out of dense aluminium, the skis upon which the carriages float would be made of an alloy called Inconel, which can handle the high pressure and heat.

SCIenCe | the future of trains

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HISToryAsoKA

electricity the system needs and more, according to Musk through high-efficiency photovoltaic panels built into the top of the tube. Musk claims that the panels would generate 57MW of power, which is three times as much as he claims the system would consume.

The tube itself or rather pair of tubes, as they could only operate in one direction would ride above the landscape on 6m-tall pylons placed every 30m or so along the

route. In all, there would be at least 25,000 of them. Because of the somewhat unstable nature of California, each pylon would be equipped with an earthquake damper, and the route would follow the existing I-5 interstate road, which would keep the cost down.

Musk claims that the whole system would cost about $7 billion (4.4bn), set against the projected $68 billion (43bn) for the California High Speed Rail project. Elon

Musk certainly has form and finances he co-founded PayPal. But despite launching Tesla Cars, commercial space enterprise SpaceX, and the photovoltaics company Solar City, he wants somebody else to develop it, although he might work on a demonstration model himself. If it works, it could change the face of medium-range travel completely. If it doesnt, itll be the latest in a long line of vactrain concepts consigned to the realms of science fiction.

Passengers inside a Hyperloop carriage would experience 0.5g (G-force); youd experience 1.5g going from 0-100km/h in a Bugatti Veryon supercar. Hyperloop pods will be

equipped with emergency brakes. other safety precautions include making sure carriages travel 8km (5 miles) apart and a seating design which prevents passengers hitting their heads against the seat in front in an emergency stop.

ClIp-AIRthese designers took the term blue-sky thinking a little too literally. the cole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (ePFL) has designed a form of transport which, it says, combines the flexibility of train travel with the reach of planes. clip-Air is a train carriage, which is designed to attach to a pair of wings with engines.

ePFL has a prior track record for delivering on outlandish ideas. Its a major technology centre in switzerland, whose facilities include a nuclear reactor, tokamak nuclear fusion reactor, and research projects including the autonomous solar-powered aircraft solar Impluse.

the clip-Air train carriage is an aircraft fuselage, designed to travel by rail to an

airport. once there, it attaches to a flying-wing aircraft, similar to the experimental Boeing x-48B. the aircraft can carry three carriages side by side, carrying passengers, cargo or a combination. According to research leader claudio Leonardi, it would be faster to board than a conventional aircraft and simpler to maintain. His team hopes to undertake aerodynamics research with a 6m-long flying model soon.

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oFF tHe RAILsthe Hyperloop isnt the only radical locomotive wdesign we can expect to see in future

taking a journey by cLIP-AIR means youd

board your flight at the railway platform

ECO4trains have always been seen as an environmentally friendly mode of transport, but this design takes it a step further. train manufacturer Bombardiers eco4 is a family of technologies. It uses an ultra-efficient magnetic engine system that draws energy from solar cells mounted to the roof. these rotate to track the sun and if its built will make it the worlds first solar-powered train. the carriages will be made of carbon fibre composites, making it strong but lightweight. since itll be a commuter train system, the eco4 will use a hybrid engine to keep it running through our dark winter months. As well as being energy efficient, the eco4 train is designed to insulate passengers from engine noise.

the eco4 pulls together a range of technologies to

make it ultra-efficient

SCIenCe | the future of trains

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CHUO SHINkANSEN

The land of the Bullet Train is now aiming to go one step further with a fully-fledged maglev high-speed train. The Chuo Shinkansen is planned to connect

the cities of Nagoya, Tokyo and Osaka, and is based on technology currently being developed on a 42.8km (26.5-mile) test track in Yamanashi prefecture.

Existing maglev trains use magnetic rails to lift trains off the ground, where theyre

held and pushed towards their destinations. Since maglev trains simply levitate, they dont lose any speed to ground friction, allowing the carriages to accelerate to speeds of up to 321km/h (200mph). The Chuo Shinkansen trains use a similar premise but with much more efficient superconducting rails, as well as a radically streamlined design. Theyre lighter than the predecessors too, using lightweight aircraft-grade aluminium alloys and composites, with minimal glass to shed further kilos. Test trains running on this line have achieved speeds of 500km/h (310mph), and the service is due to open to the public later this year. The entire line will be an extension of this test track, and is scheduled to cost a total of 9 trillion (44bn). The line is due to be completed in 2045, although Shinkansen services between Tokyo and Nagoya will begin in 2027.

lAbISThe Lashley Advanced Bi-Rail System (LABIS) is designed to be the trans-American high-speed train that doesnt stop. Travelling on elevated tracks, the trains are

wide-bodied (six passengers abreast plus tables and aisles), which makes them stable, with powered carriages. This, the designers say, avoids the need to over-engineer carriages to cope with the stresses of being pulled

along by one end. The train itself keeps moving

at a speed of some 320km/h (200mph) and doesnt stop. Passengers embark and disembark via shuttle vehicles, which stop at a station located on a parallel track. These pick up passengers, rejoin the mainline, catch up with the main train and dock onto the back. This allows passengers to board the main train and let disembarking passengers get on. When everyone who wants to leave is on board, it undocks, goes onto another parallel line and stops at the next station. The entire transcontinental journey would take about 14 hours.

the chuo shinkansen wows the press with its lightning pace and

15m-long aerodynamic nose

You wont be waiting for the LABIS train to arrive it never stops

stuart Nathan is features editor of The Engineer Magazine.

PoRtFoLIo

naTUre | poRtfolIo: food MAps

These food maps created by food stylist Caitlin Levin and photographer Henry Hargreaves are inspired by a passion for travel. The series has been imagined and created around the iconic foods of countries and continents and turned them into physical maps. The maps are a playful representation of their interpretation of food from around the world.

50 STATES OF CORn Native Americans had been growing corn in America 5000 years before Columbus discovered the country. Ranked first in the world in corn production, the United States of America have 80,000,000 acres of land reserved just for corn fields. The average American spends $267 on corn products alone in a year and consumes one-third of all corn products in the world.

created by caitlin Levin and Henry Hargreaves typography by sarit Melmed text by Moshita Prajapati

44 June 2014