HOW TO CHANGE YOUR PERSONALITY

Inside the How human activity is Which makeup is

PENTAGON’S UFO FILES CHANGING EARTH’S SPIN HARMING YOUR HEALTH?

SCIENTISTS
AND EXPERTS PICK

A N D T H E I D E A S T H AT W I L L S H A P E
THE NEXT 25 YEARS

Tech Sleep Psychology

The terrible ideas we wish How ‘cognitive shuffling’ Can you overcome your
inventors had kept to themselves can put your mind at ease brain’s biggest blind spot?
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If I travelled
really far back
in time, would I

FROM THE
still be able to
breathe? –›p84

EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS

On the eve of a quarter century, it seems like a good time to

PROF ISEULT LYNCH
pause and take a look back (and forwards) at the science that
Many of us use cosmetics to
matters. Of course, it’s all important, but it’s fun to wind the spruce ourselves up. But could
clock back and argue about the breakthroughs that have really they contain chemicals that
blown our minds since the year 2000. potentially harm our health?
I think my answer is rather dull sadly, but I can’t see past it: Environmental scientist Iseult
the smartphone. Yes, the first device you could call a investigates. –›p33
COVER: ANDY POTTS THIS PAGE: PAUL WILKINSON/THE ROYAL INSTITUTION/BBC, GETTY IMAGES, KYLE SMART, RICHARD ANSETT/BBC STUDIOS

smartphone arrived in the 90s, courtesy of IBM. But the one really bearing a
resemblance to the handsets of today took root in 2008 (in the UK at least)
with the arrival of the G1 (Google’s first Android phone), Apple’s iPhone and PROF MICHAEL
the 3G networks to support them. BOHLANDER
What’s truly significant for me is how the smartphone empowers the US Congress has just heard
curious to explore the world. In my garden I can take a photo of any flower, testimony regarding claimed
sightings of UFOs. Michael, a
and upload it to one of dozens of identification apps and, in an instant, I
Chair in Global Law and SETI
have a name. With that name comes a torrent of information: what it is, Policy, tells us the story
where it’s from, the kind of soils and light it prefers, and so on. At night I can behind the hearings. –›p30
point my phone skywards and discover that the bright, orange-hued object
that caught my eye, is in fact Mars. I can travel the world without much of a
plan, speak to locals and read signs with translation apps and find DR CHRISTIAN
practically anything I need, all via a smartphone. It’s easy to take for JARRETT
granted, but as a conduit for knowledge, the smartphone is unparalleled. Your personality isn’t set in
Thankfully, we also asked some of the world’s leading scientists and stone. As neuroscientist
science commentators for their take on the biggest breakthroughs of the Christian explains, simple
21st century (so far), and they provided some much more interesting changes can boost your
confidence and reduce
answers, starting on p38. Of course, our list is by no means exhaustive,
neurotic tendencies. –›p76
so please let us know what we missed at [email protected].

IAN TAYLOR
Forget counting sheep. The
Daniel Bennett, Editor latest and greatest method
for dropping off fast is said to
WANT MORE? FOLLOW SCIENCEFOCUS ON FACEBOOK X (FORMERLY TWITTER) PINTEREST INSTAGRAM be cognitive shuffling. Ian
delves into why it’s supposed
ON THE BBC THIS MONTH... to be so good for calming our
restless minds. –›p90

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CONTENTS 22
DISCOVERIES
30
REALITY CHECK

REGULARS

06 IMAGES OF 30 REALITY CHECK

THE CENTURY The science behind the
headlines: US Congress
The best shots of the is talking about
21st century so far, from extraterrestrial activity
Earth… and beyond. again. Is the truth really
out there?; Could your
21 FEEDBACK cosmetics be harming
A selection of the physical your health? Human activity and our growing Why the US government’s latest
and electronic mail that demand for water is having an attempt to get to the truth
has arrived this month. 76 THE BIG QUESTION effect on Earth’s tilt. behind UFOs and UAPs failed.
Can you change your
22 DISCOVERIES personality? Cognitive
neuroscientist Dr Christian

80
All the month’s biggest
Jarrett looks into the
news, including: Human
techniques and methods
activity is changing Earth’s
that claim to be able to
rotation and tilt; Poop and help you become a more
vomit reveal how the confident, extroverted
dinosaurs got so big; Your and fulfilled person.
cholesterol level predicts
your dementia risk; Giant
hailstones herald future
80 Q&A
Our experts answer your
storms; Key weight-loss
questions. This month:
mystery solved;
How can I identify my
Abbreviations make your
psychological blind spot?
text messages seem less How can some animals
sincere; Star outside our smell food from so far
galaxy imaged for the first away? How many people
time; Map of 100 million are killed by fridges each
human body cells revealed. year? Could I build a death
. ray in my garden? What’s
the biggest snowman ever
built? And more…

36 89 CROSSWORD
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89 NEXT MONTH
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90 BETTER LIVING
THROUGH SCIENCE
A new theory on sleep
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38 THE BIGGEST Focus is available on all major

digital platforms. We have
BREAKTHROUGHS OF versions for Android, as well as an
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THE 21ST CENTURY
Leading experts pick the
breakthroughs that have
made the biggest impacts
on their fields since the
year 2000, including: the
discovery of the Higgs
boson, self-repairing
materials, mRNA vaccines,
large language models,
exoplanets, the growing
evidence for the existence Can’t wait until next month to get
of dark matter and more… your fix of science and tech?
Our website is packed with
56 10 IDEAS THAT news, features and Q&As to

WILL SHAPE THE keep your brain satisfied.

sciencefocus.com
NEXT 25 YEARS
Glimpse into what science
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quarter of a century and
what it means for the
world of tomorrow.

68 THE WORST
INSTANT
IDEAS OF THE
38
GENIUS
21ST CENTURY Our bite-sized masterclass in
podcast form. Find it wherever
Hindsight is wonderful
thing. Here are the most THE BIGGEST you listen to your podcasts.

promising innovations
from the last 25 years
BREAKTHROUGHS OF
that… flopped dismally. THE 21ST CENTURY

56 30
10 IDEAS THAT WILL SHAPE PROF MICHAEL BOHLANDER LUNCHTIME
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IS NOT A MATTER
OF NATIONAL
SECURITY”
5
THE WORLD IS FULL OF WONDERS, AND HIGH-RESOLUTION
CAMERAS LET US SEE THEM IN UNPRECEDENTED DETAIL.
CHECK OUT OUR FAVOURITE IMAGES CAPTURED DURING
THE FIRST 25 YEARS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
WORDS: HAYLEY BENNETT

BEST. SELFIE. EVER.

MONT MERCOU, MARS
2021

Launched in 2011, NASA’s Curiosity Rover was sent to search for signs that
life could have existed on Mars. It has now spent well over a decade on the
Red Planet, carrying out experiments with its onboard laboratory. While
Curiosity isn’t heading back to Earth any time soon, the take-home message
from its Martian campaign is that the planet once had free-flowing water
and the kind of chemistry suitable for supporting life, namely microbes.
One of Curiosity’s most memorable moments came in 2021, when the six-
wheeled wanderer took this cheeky selfie while posing on a small outcrop
of rock that scientists named Mont Mercou, after the French mountain. It’s
perhaps not quite the ‘moment’ that it first appears, though. To create the
selfie, scientists had to composite 60 images taken over two days with two
NASA/JPL

cameras – most by using a robot arm like a selfie stick and the remainder
using the ‘Mastcam’ on Curiosity’s head.

6
SNAPS OF THE CENTURY FE ATURE

7
FE ATURE SNAPS OF
IMAGES OFTHE
THECENTURY
CENTURY

MUMMIFIED LOST IN THE

MAMMOTH SHADOWS
THE YUKON, C ANADA AMERICA (FROM THE DEEP SPACE CLIMATE OBSERVATORY)
2022 2024

This is Nun Cho Ga, the only whole baby woolly A total solar eclipse happens only once every year and
mammoth to have been discovered in North America a half, and not everyone on Earth experiences a total
(near Dawson City, Yukon) to date. In the Hän language eclipse each time – only those along a band called the
spoken in the region where her mummified remains ‘path of totality’. This is where the Moon’s shadow
were found, her name means ‘big baby animal’. Nun tracks briefly across Earth. On 8 April 2024,
Cho Ga was preserved in permafrost for 30,000 years Americans across 13 US states experienced totality.
before gold miners found her and handed her over to This image of the Moon’s shadow was captured by the
the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation and Yukon Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) housed
governments. In 2024, she was moved to the Canadian in the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite.
Conservation Institute to be carefully preserved. America, say “Cheese!”

8
IMAGES OF THE CENTURY FE ATURE
NASA/JPL, FAIZ BUSTAMI/MIRRORLESSMACRO, TR’ONDËK HWËCH’IN GOVERNMENT

OUT OF
HIS HEAD
SINGAPORE
2017

It’s hard to find any sympathy for flies, but try to spare
a thought for this ill-fated fellow, who has vacated his
skull following colonisation by the parasitic ‘zombie
fungus’. Cordyceps (Ophiocordyceps unilateralis)
fungi infect and take over the minds of their insect
victims, which are generally ants, but also flies.
The fungi don’t seem to infect their victims’ brains
directly; instead, they release mind-controlling
molecules to do their bidding. Infection ends with the
hapless insect climbing to the fungus’ ideal sporing
height, where it bursts through the insect’s skull.

9
FE ATURE IMAGES OF THE CENTURY

GHOSTS IN
THE MACHINE
GENEVA, SWITZERL AND
2017

How do you catch a particle that travels at near-light

speed and weighs virtually nothing? That’s what this
huge, gold, waffle-surfaced box is designed to do.
Constructed between 2016–2018 at the CERN facility
in Switzerland, the Deep Underground Neutrino
Experiment (DUNE) is one of two prototypes for larger,
US-based versions being built to detect fundamental
particles called neutrinos (also known as ‘ghost
particles’), which originate from the nuclear reactions
occurring within stars. The chamber acts as a
Thermos flask for liquid argon, which boils at very low
temperatures, so must be held below -184°C (-299.2°F).
It contains detectors that can capture traces of the
electrons released when neutrinos hit argon atoms.
While neutrinos don’t interact with much – trillions
pass through us every minute with seemingly no effect
– the density of atoms in liquid argon makes their
interactions easier to sense. When operational, the new
full-size chambers (20 times bigger than DUNE’s) will
hold 72,000 tonnes of argon and be able to detect
beams of neutrinos fired from test facilities 1,300km
(almost 810 miles) away. Scientists hope the chambers
will help them fit neutrinos into the particle puzzle.

TOUCHDOWN HEAD IN
ON TITAN THE CLOUDS
TITAN (FROM THE HUYGENS PROBE) 11,000M (36,000F T) ABOVE THE PACIFIC OCE AN
2005 2016

“We’ll soon be landing in Adiri. The weather is breezy Santiago ‘The Storm Pilot’ Borja has received many
with temperatures of -170°C (-274°F).” We can imagine plaudits for the pictures he takes from the cockpit of
space tourists one day hearing these words as they his Boeing 767 passenger plane. He initially tried
prepare to disembark at a spaceport on Titan, Saturn’s taking photos of mountains and cities, but realised they
largest moon. As of now, though, the Huygens probe were too small to appreciate from the air. So he
remains the moon’s only visitor from Earth – mainly switched to taking photos of the weather instead, often
because getting there is such a chore. Having departed using lightning to illuminate the scenery. Although he
at the end of the 20th century – October 1997 – aboard uses relatively long exposures, his photos aren’t blurry:
the Cassini spacecraft (see ‘Basking in the Sun’s glow’, the lightning works as a fast flash. This atmospheric
p16), it took the robotic lander until January 2005 to image focuses on an ‘overshooting top’ – a patch of
NASA/JPL, CERN, SANTIAGO BORJA

begin its descent to Titan’s surface. As it parachuted cloud where strong updraughts in a thunderstorm
into the moon’s Adiri region, Huygens took a number have caused a protrusion from the top of a
of photographs, including this one, before making a cumulonimbus. They’re small in meteorological terms,
soft landing in sand and dirty ice. Thanks to the measuring around 15km (about nine miles) across.
lander’s (strictly business) trip, we now know that Textbook examples appear as distinct spots in infrared
Titan’s atmosphere contains complex organic satellite imagery. Overshooting tops are important in
compounds and its surface is scarred with dried-out meteorology because they mark the location of the most
rivulets of what may have been liquid methane. severe conditions in storms.

10
11
12
FE ATURE

SINK
OR SWIM
MA A SAI MAR A, KENYA
2020

The River Talek in Kenya is one of

five tributaries that flow into the
Mara River, which drains the famous
Maasai Mara National Reserve.
Home to elephants, wildebeest,
rhinos and big cats, like these
cheetahs, the Maasai Mara is a
wildlife haven and safari destination.
But when the region was inundated
with flood waters in January 2020,
the river burst its banks and there
were fears that animal populations
would be swept away – as one man
was, while trying to cross a bridge
over the river. The cheetahs in this
image also faced a difficult crossing,
though witnesses say they were
lucky enough to survive. Meanwhile,
camps in the Maasai Mara were
flooded and some tourists had to be
rescued after seeking refuge on
rooftops. Unfortunately, the region
continues to be hit by deadly
flooding, which is attributed to
climate change. In May 2024, the
BUDDHILINI DE SOYZA

River Talek broke its banks once

again, following a particularly
intense rainy season. Around 200
people are thought to have lost their
lives in flash floods and mudslides.

13
PLAYING WITH FIRE “PRIOR TO 2021,
REYKJANES PENINSUL A, ICEL AND
2022
THERE HADN’T
Volcano tourism has exploded in recent decades, as thrill-seeking hikers flock to
hotspots like the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park or the smoking craters of Mount BEEN MUCH
VOLCANIC
Etna in Sicily. The risks of doing so aren’t to be taken lightly, however. In December
2019, a tour group visiting the White Island in New Zealand was caught out when

ACTIVITY
the volcano erupted, killing 22 of the 47 tourists. Still, when lava started spewing
from the ground at the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland in 2021, some sightseers
remained undeterred. Iceland is, of course, well-known for its volcanic activity, but
this region is easily accessible from the capital, Reykjavik. In this photo, taken a year
later, tourists are witnessing an eruption at a second location, about a kilometre away IN THE AREA
in the Meradalir Valley. Prior to 2021, there hadn’t been much volcanic activity in
the area since the 12th century, but now, new vents are opening up on a regular basis. SINCE THE
In 2023, a 3km-long (1.8-mile) crack appeared not far from the fishing town of
Grindavík, prompting 3,800 people to leave their homes. Many have yet to return. 12TH CENTURY”
14
IMAGES OF THE CENTURY FE ATURE

CENTRE OF ATTRACTION
SAGIT TARIUS A* (FROM E ARTH)
2022

We first stared into the astronomical abyss in 2019, when the international team of scientists
working at the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) captured an image of M87*, a supermassive black
hole in the centre of a galaxy 53 million light-years from Earth. Three years later, the EHT team used
its global array of telescopes to produce this composite image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive
black hole that lies 26,000 light-years away at the centre of the Milky Way – our home galaxy. In this
image and the image of M87*, it’s not the black holes we see, but the glowing gases swirling around
them. Even though it’s considerably closer, it was much harder to get a clear shot of Sagittarius A*
because of its lower mass. At ‘only’ 4 million times the size of the Sun, it’s a baby compared to M87*,
which is a whopping 6.5 billion times bigger than the star at the centre of our Solar System. This
size discrepancy means the gases swirl around Sagittarius A* within minutes, as opposed to days at
M87*, making for a changing pattern of brightness that’s difficult to image. EHT scientists are now
working to produce the first movie of a black hole, after the 15m-wide (49ft) Africa Millimetre
Telescope in Namibia was added to the array.
ODYSSEAS CHLORIDIS, EHT COLLABORATION

15
“ALTHOUGH THEY BASKING IN
LOOK SMOOTH THE SUN’S GLOW
SATURN (FROM THE C A SSINI SPACECR AF T)

AND CONTINUOUS,
2006

THE RINGS ARENASA launched its Cassini spacecraft from Cape

Canaveral, Florida, in 1997. Seven years later, it
years ago by Galileo, but, backlit like this,
they appear brighter and perhaps more

ACTUALLY reached Saturn, its primary destination, having

travelled 3.4 billion kilometres and taken in the
beautiful than we’ve ever seen them.
Although they look smooth and continuous,

FORMED FROM
sights of Jupiter along the way. Upon its arrival they’re actually formed from billions of
at Saturn, the spacecraft embarked on a grand pieces of water ice and rock – some as small

BILLIONS OF
tour of the ringed planet’s many moons, as grains of rice, some as big as mountains.
including Titan (where it dropped off the With the information Cassini was able to

PIECES OF ICE
Huygens lander – see p10), Dione, Enceladus and gather, scientists were able to learn more
Rhea. In total, Cassini collected 453,000 images about where this material comes from. For
during its mission, including this stunning instance, we now know that many of the icy

AND ROCK” portrait of Saturn, taken as the planet occulted

the Sun. Saturn’s rings were discovered over 400
chunks in the E-ring – one of the fainter,
outer rings – were vented from Enceladus.

16
RECORD-BREAKING
RESOLUTION
NORTH C AROLINA, USA
2023

This is a slice through a brain scan that’s 64 million

times sharper than any ordinary magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) machine is capable of producing.
The full, 3D version – unveiled in 2023 on the
50th anniversary of the invention of magnetic
resonance imaging – allowed scientists to view
NASA/JPL, DUKE UNIVERSITY

mind-boggling details of the circuitry inside a

mouse’s brain. It’s the result of four decades of work
at Duke University’s Center for In Vivo Microscopy.
Researchers there plan to use ultra-high-resolution
scanning to study brain tumours and get to grips
with what’s really going on in neurodegenerative
conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.

17
FE ATURE SNAPS OF
IMAGES OFTHE
THECENTURY
CENTURY

BIG MACHINE SEEKS CALIFORNIA

SMALL PARTICLES BURNS
GENEVA, SWITZERL AND VENTUR A COUNT Y, C ALIFORNIA
2005 2019

ATLAS is the world’s biggest particle detector, housed In 2019, wildfires raged across 1,122km2 (697 sq miles)
at the CERN facility in Switzerland. It catches fallout of California. The ‘Maria’ fire (right) engulfed 16km2
from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which fires (10 sq miles) of Ventura County before firefighters
beams of high-energy particles at each other inside a could put it out. More than 10,000 people evacuated
27km (almost 17 miles) doughnut-shaped tunnel under their homes as it rampaged through the region just
Geneva. This image was taken before the final pieces northwest of Los Angeles, all while firefighters across
were lowered in and the LHC was powered up. California battled other large blazes. But 2019 was a
Following its detection of the Higgs boson in 2012, ‘good’ year for California – the average area consumed
scientists began upgrading ATLAS. In 2020, two by wildfires is currently closer to 4,000km2 (2,485 sq
new detectors were installed that can pinpoint the miles). The California Air Resources Board says
position of a muon particle to within a tenth of a hotter, drier conditions driven by climate change are
millimetre in less than one 400,000th of a second. increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires.

18
IMAGES OF THE CENTURY FE ATURE
ALAMY, NASA/JPL, CERN

PLUTO, UP CLOSE
PLUTO (FROM THE NEW HORIZON’S SPACECR AF T)
2015

When NASA launched its New Horizons spacecraft

in 2006, Pluto was still a planet and the only one in
the Solar System that remained completely
unexplored. Later that same year, however, Pluto
lost its full planet status as the International
Astronomical Union officially designated it a ‘dwarf
planet’. This may have downgraded the importance
of the mission, but it didn’t change its trajectory.
New Horizons was already past Mars and well on its
way towards Jupiter, taking advantage of a gravity
assist by the gas giant to knock three years off its
journey time. Finally, in July 2015, the spacecraft
passed within an astronomical hair’s breadth –
12,553km (7,800 miles) – of Pluto, using its telescope
to take the photo above. Prominent in the centre-
right of this image is the Solar System’s biggest
glacier, Sputnik Planitia, first spotted by the Sputnik
1 satellite in 1957 and measuring around 1,000km
wide (621 miles). Thanks to data from the flyby,
scientists were able to conclude that Pluto is bigger
than they thought, although it’s not actually size that
determines planetary status. The issue for Pluto is
that its gravity isn’t strong enough to have cleared
‘its neighbourhood’ of other objects.

by H AY L E Y B E N N E T T (@gingerbreadlady)
Hayley Bennett is a science writer based in Bristol, UK.

19
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LE T TERS L E T T E R S M AY B E E D I T E D F O R P U B L I C AT I O N

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the whole experiment went down like a lead basalt as being a mineral. In actuality, basalt is
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Okay, society might well have changed since requirements, a regular crystalline structure and
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(combined, Jan-Dec 2023)
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David Schaffert, Tewkesbury compositions can vary depending on the source.
David de Gruyter, Alaska
WORTH
WRITE IN AND WIN! OVER
GETTY IMAGES X2, ALAMY

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21
DISCOVERIES

POO’S CLUES SCALE STORM WAR OF THEWORDSWORDS

Fossilised dino dung reveals who was Scientists have discovered why Abbreviations in text messages make
eating who in the Triassic period p24 hailstones are getting bigger p25 you seem less sincere,
sincere say experts p27

NEWS FROM
THE FRONTIERS
OF SCIENCE

GEOPHYSICS

Human
activity is
changing
Earth’s
tilt and
rotation
Scientists have found that
using underground water has
more of an impact on Earth’s
tilt than melting polar caps

ven though we can’t feel it,

most of us are aware that
our planet spins like a top
during its interminable
journey a round t he Sun.
Rather than revolving about a
vertical axis, however, Earth
has always been off-kilter, spinning
about an axis (or pole of rotation)
that’s tilted at 23.44°. The amount
of tilt – also known as obliquity
– is never constant, and displays
natural short-term oscillations and
longer-term cycles.
Earth’s tilt can also be changed
by shifting huge amounts of mass
a round t he pla net. And t his
is happening right now, on a n
extraordinary scale, due to us.
As global heating drives t he
melting of the polar ice sheets, it
ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES

decants colossal volumes of water

into the oceans. In a recent paper,
scientists have revealed that this
redist ribution of mass is ver y
slightly modifying the world’s tilt.

22
can we get this line behind the pic?
DISCOVERIES

LEFT Underground
freshwater reserves
are being drained to
irrigate crops

OPPOSITE The
Three Gorges Dam
in China holds
40 billion cubic
metres of water

a century; a value that could more

than double by 2100 if we fail to
curb emissions.
Like a spinning figure skater
throwing out their arms to slow
down, this huge transfer of mass,
from polar regions close to Earth’s

“We can see our Seoul National University, and his

co-authors, observe, it’s “like adding
a tiny bit of weight to a spinning
axis to the wide expanse of the
world’s oceans, will continue to
slow the planet’s rotation further.

impact, as humans, top; Earth spins a little differently

as water is moved around.” Between
Compounding prodigious volumes
of water behind China’s Th ree
1993 and 2010, this transfer of water Gorges Dam (left) has had the same
on the whole mass raised global sea levels by
more than 6mm (0.2in), shifting the
knock-on effect, slowing Earth’s
rotation and increasing day length

Earth system” rotational pole by nearly 80cm (2.6ft).

DEEP IMPACT
by 60 billionths of a second.

A MATTER OF TIME
Should we be worried? Such a tiny While these changes don’t have a
But there’s more. In itself, polar change in tilt isn’t going to have an detectable impact on our physical
melting isn’t sufficient to account impact on the climate, so the answer environment, they certainly present
for all of the tilt change – something should be no. On the other hand, a challenge for electronic systems
else has to be happening too. The this finding shows that how we live and networks predicated on accuracy
answer, the authors of the paper today, has a measurable impact on and precise time measurement.
say, is beneath our feet. a planetary scale. These include: the GPS that allows
In recent decades, the world’s Prof Benedikt Soja of ETH Zurich planes and ships to navigate, the
ever-growing population has resulted in Switzerland noted in a recent algorithms that underpin today’s
in a huge increase in demand for inter view t hat “we can see our fina ncial ma rkets and global
freshwater, particularly for use impact, as humans, on the whole timekeeping. When a ‘leap’ second
in crop irrigation. This need has Earth system, not just locally, like was added to the world’s atomic
been largely met by sucking up the rise in temperature, but really clocks in 2015, glitches were
an estimated 23 million cubic f unda mentally, altering how it reported across multiple networks.
kilometres of groundwater that moves in space and rotates.” As groundwater aquifers a re
was once locked away in aquifers One of the more outlandish claims drained further, and polar melting
beneath Earth’s surface. of the denier community is that continues, repeated tweaks to
The authors have shown that humanity is too puny to have any timekeeping and positioning
the tilt change can be completely real effect on the climate and how systems – to account for new tilt
explained if, over the period of Earth operates in general. But this and day length variations – will be
study, a water mass of around 2,150 latest evidence is another nail in essential to prevent their potentially
billion tonnes (equal to 2,150 cubic the coffin of this dangerous idea. catastrophic failures.
kilometres) was abstracted from In addition to modifying tilt, the
aquifers and used in one way or redistribution of mass from polar by BILL MCGUIRE (@ProfBillMcGuire)
another, before finding its way, regions into the ocean basins has Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of
ultimately, into the oceans. also contributed towards slowing the geophysical & climate hazards at UCL
As Prof Ki-Weon Seo, a planet’s rotation. This is estimated and author of Hothouse Earth: An
geophysicist at Sout h Korea’s to be happening at 1.3 milliseconds Inhabitant’s Guide

23
DISCOVERIES

HEALTH

Your cholesterol
level predicts your
dementia risk
People with stable levels have a lower risk
of neurological conditions, says study

cientists have discovered

your cholesterol levels
could be significantly
linked to your risk of
developing dementia. And
it’s not just high cholesterol
PALAEONTOLOGY that matters: fluctuating
levels over several years could
Poop and vomit reveals increase your chances of the
disease by 60 per cent, suggests a
how dinosaurs got so big new study of 10,000 people.
The research also suggests that,
It wasn’t meat but plant-based diets that even if you don’t develop dementia,
helped dinosaurs rise to the top a large cholesterol variability –

inosaurs enjoyed a long everything from beetles to bones and

reign as Earth’s dominant even half-digested fish in the fossils.
species, but for a long time, When researchers combined this
scientists wondered why it information with climate data and
took them 30 million years other fossils, it revealed which
to reach their apex status. animals and insects were roaming
Now, a new study of their Earth alongside the dinosaurs.
fossilised faeces and vomit may “Sometimes, what look like
have found the answer. unremarkable fossils contain
According to the study, published remarkable information that can’t
in the journal Nature, it was herbivore be found elsewhere,” Dr Martin
dinosaurs bulking up on plants Qvarnström, co-author of the study,
that paved the way for the biggest told BBC Science Focus.
dinosaurs, such as the sauropods and In the study, researchers scanned
the carnivorous Tyrannosaurus rex. digestive material samples from
The fossilised faeces and vomit south Poland. In the late Triassic,
(collectively known as bromalites) this would have been in the northern
were dated to around 230–200 million part of the Pangaea supercontinent.
years ago – about 100 million years Around this time, experts believe
before the reign of T. rex, and 150 there was a rise in volcanic activity
million years before the Chicxulub and humidity, that ultimately led to
asteroid hit Earth. more plant growth.
ILLUSTRATIONS: ADAM GALE

Using the bromalites, the scientists &T )T\GIQT\ 0KGFōYKGF\MK

pieced together a ‘food web’ that co-author of the study, added:
essentially showed who ate who “Everyone hunts for fossilised
throughout the Triassic period and skeletons, but it’s the bromalites
how the food chain evolved. They that tell the most about the dramas
scanned over 500 fossils and found from millions of years ago.”

24
DISCOVERIES

swinging from high to low levels – is METEOROLOGY autonomous region in northern

linked to an increased risk of general Spain) collected giant hailstones
cognitive decline by 23 per cent.
“Those experiencing big year-
Giant hailstones up to 12cm (4.7in) in diameter and
then used computed tomography
to-year variations … may warrant herald future storms (CT) scans to look inside them.
closer monitoring and proactive Usually, CT scans are used in
preventive interventions,” said lead
Study reveals how massive ice balls more of a medical context – the
author Dr Zhen Zhou, a researcher get bigger… and become lethal rotating X-ray machine creates
at Monash University, in Australia. 3D images of people’s bodies.
In t he study, t he scientists But in this case, the machines –
considered t he two main types borrowed from a dental clinic –
of cholesterol. Firstly, t he ‘bad ailstones that are bigger allowed researchers to study the
cholesterol’ or low-density than your fist plummeting ‘anatomy’ of the giant ice balls
lipoprotein (LDL), which previous towards the ground pose without breaking them apart.
studies have shown can cause huge risks to people caught Each cross-sect iona l image,
outside during hail storms. k now n a s a ‘slice’, of t he
Now, a new analysis of hailstones revealed the density

“Large annual these giant hailstones’

inner structure reveals how
of the layers, showing how they
grew at different stages of the

fluctuations in
they’re able to get so big – a storm. The researchers discovered
discovery which could help t hat even t he most spher ica l
scientists predict hailstorms hailstones have irregular insides

LDL cholesterol before they become a threat.

Hailstones are formed during
storms, when a raindrop freezes in a
– in fact, st ra ngely, t he nea r-
perfect-looking spheres had the
most off-centre cores.

(the ‘bad’ one) very cold part of a cloud. They then

grow in diameter as gravity pulls
The researchers say this reveals
that hailstones don’t grow evenly

could lead to faster the increasingly heavy particles

downwards.
For t he new study, published
in each direction, cont ra r y to
prev ious a ssu mpt ions about
ha ilstones – a discover y t hey

cognitive decline” i n Frontiers in Env ironmental

Science, a tea m of resea rchers
from Barcelona and Catalonia (an
think could help to predict violent
storms before they happen and
limit the damage they cause.

cardiovascular disease. They also

examined ‘good cholesterol’ levels,
which scientists refer to as high-
density lipoprotein.
The resea rch suggested huge
a nnual f luctuations in LDL
cholesterol (the ‘bad’ one) could
lead to faster cognitive decline
than in people with stable levels.
Large swings of ‘good’ cholesterol
were not found to impact the risk
of cognitive decline, however.
In the US, just over one in four
people have high levels of LDL,
which health professionals define as
over 130mg per decilitre (one-tenth
of a litre) of blood. On the other end
of the spectrum, they consider LDL
levels below 100mg per decilitre as
optimal, especially for people with
diabetes or heart disease. Doctors
can check your cholesterol levels
with a simple blood test.

25
DISCOVERIES

HEALTH t’s a universal truth of

Key weight-loss weight loss that even if you
manage to shed some body
mystery solved fat, you’ll probably find it’s
harder to keep it all from
New research suggests fat cells have a ‘memory’ coming back. Why does
this happen? A new study
may have the answer: fat tissue
retains a ‘memory’ of sorts after
the cells become obese.
“This is a piece of the puzzle
in potentially explaining how
changes in adipose tissue (body
fat) occur during weight change,”
Dr Ferdinand von Meyenn,
assistant professor at ETH Zürich’s
Department of Health Sciences and
Technology, told BBC Science Focus.
Von Meyenn and his team found
transcriptional changes (alterations
to t he way our cells copy and
control genetic material) in the
cells of people they studied. They
compared the sequences of cells
within the fat tissue of people
who were and weren’t living
with obesity, before and after a
25-per-cent reduction in their body
mass index.
“The genes [we looked at] were
so deregulated during obesity,
that they didn’t return to their
normal state, even at transcription
level,” says von Meyenn. “The
body really fights against [weight
loss] and wants to return to its
original weight. The adipose tissue
is programmed to want to regain
that weight.”
This may not be news that people
trying to lose weight want to hear,
but von Meyenn shared hopes the
findings will help to destigmatise
weight fluctuations.
“People who can’t maintain their
body weight aren’t ‘weak’ people.
There really is a n underlying
molecular mechanism driving
gaining the weight back,” he said.
Von Meyenn explained that the
best strategies to help with global
obesity trends are preventative.
ILLUSTRATIONS: ADAM GALE

“Intervention early on is really

key because once you’ve gained
weight, it’ll be much harder to lose
it again,” he said. “So, at a societal
level, enforcing healthier living
measures is quite important.”

26
DISCOVERIES

PSYCHOLOGY
SPACE
Abbreviations make your
messages seem less sincere Star outside our
FYI, the common practice can make it look like galaxy imaged
you’re not fully invested in your correspondence for first time
Scientists have captured a
close-up of WOH G64
ot getting many replies to The research, published in
your text messages? A new the Journal of Experimental
study suggests it could be Psychology: General, analysed
down to a common texting conversations from 37 countries
habit: abbreviating words. and more than 5,300 texters. The
While most texters use conversations, including ones
abbreviations in their with and without abbreviations,
messages, research carried out came from messages on dating
at Stanford University, in the apps and chatrooms.
US, suggests it could signal that Rather than making
you’re not fully invested in the participants appear laid-back, the
conversation you’re having. findings suggest that not spelling
The researchers discovered that out words in full made a person
people who used abbreviations – whatever their age – appear
in their text messages were insincere. Nevertheless, 80 per
less likely to receive replies, cent of participants predicted that or the first time ever,
and the use of them could cut others wouldn’t mind the use of scientists have captured a
conversations short. abbreviations – and four per cent zoomed-in image of a star
“Our findings are especially wrongly thought it would have a outside the Milky Way.
relevant when we want to appear positive impact. Known as WOH G64, the
more sincere and strengthen “We thought texters might like colossal red supergiant
social ties, such as at the abbreviations because it would was pictured 160,000 light-
beginning of a relationship or convey an informal sense of years away shedding its outer
when we need to make a good closeness, so we were surprised layers, the prelude to a supernova
impression,” said lead researcher that abbreviations elicited explosion.
David Fang, a doctoral student at negative perceptions about people To date, experts have only taken
Stanford University. who use them,” explained Fang. zoomed-in, detailed photos of 25
stars within our galaxy.
“This sta r is one of t he most
extreme of its kind and any drastic
change may bring it closer to an
explosive end,” said Dr Jacco van
Loon, co-author of the study that
reported the observation.
The dying star lies within the
Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf
galaxy that’s about one-third the
size of the Milky Way.
“Obser ving a sta r wit hin our
gala xy in such detail would be
rema rkable, but it’s even more
extraordinary given that WOH G64
is located beyond the Milky Way,”
Dr Da r ren Baskill, physics a nd
astronomy lecturer at the University
of Sussex, who wasn’t involved in
the project, told BBC Science Focus.

27
DISCOVERIES

BIOLOGY

Map of
100 million
human body
cells revealed
Over three dozen new studies mark
a significant milestone towards
a complete Human Cell Atlas

37
he image on the left might
resemble an estuary system

trillion
The number
painted in neon colours, but it’s
actually an extreme close-up
of your small intestine. The
of cells in the
organ is around 7m (almost
human body
23ft) long and plays a key role
in breaking down the food
100 that you eat.

million
The image is part of a project
known as the Human Cell Atlas: a
The number of map of the human body on a scale
GRACE BURGIN/NOGA ROGEL/MOSHE BITON/KLARMAN CELL OBSERVATORY/BROAD INSTITUTE

human cells the that takes in the tiny cells that

researchers have make up our organs, and includes
mapped so far information on how they change. It’s
considered to be the most thorough
10,000
The number of
map of its kind ever made.
New research carried out in the
people the cells course of completing the Atlas, and
used to compile published across 40 studies in the
the Human Cell Nature portfolio, may help to answer
Atlas have come significant medical mysteries, such
from. Researchers as how bones form, and how arthritis
JQRGVJGƂPCN
and Crohn’s disease develop.
Atlas will include
billions of cells Prof Sarah Teichmann, founding
co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas,

1.6
who also works at the Cambridge
Stem Cell Institute, said: “This new

million
level of insight into the specific genes,
mechanisms and cell types within
The number of tissues, is laying the groundwork for
cells needed to more precise diagnostics, innovative
create an intricate
drug discovery and advanced
map of the gut
regenerative medicine approaches.”

29
RE ALIT Y CHECK

REALITY
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE HEADLINES

CHECK

REVIEW

US Congress is talking about extraterrestrial

activity again. Is the truth really out there?
Despite several testimonies, the question remains frustratingly unanswered

30
RE ALIT Y CHECK

For more fact-checking

n 13 November 2024, four witnesses appeared

O
news, visit the BBC’s
before the Joint Subcommittee on Oversight Verify website at
and Accountability of the US Congress bit.ly/BBCVerify
for a session of testimony about so-called
‘Un ident if ied A noma lous Phenomena
(UAPs)’. This is the necessary rebrand of the term
‘UFO’ – people spouting those three letters in the past
were hardly seen as credible, or worthy of testifying
in front of the US government.
The four witnesses were the former commander of the
US Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command,
Rear Admiral Dr Tim Gallaudet; retired director of
the Pentagon’s former Advanced Aerospace Threat
Identification Program, Luis Elizondo; investigative
journalist Michael Shellenberger; and former NASA
associate administrator Michael Gold.
The four submitted written testimony ahead of the
hearing. Shellenberger also filed an allegedly original
document from an unnamed whistleblower about a
programme called "Immaculate Constellation", an
“unacknowledged special access program” for top-
level oversight of UAP-related activities.
The document contained an extensive database
of high-quality evidence collected over a series of
decades, all of which had previously evaded the
democratic scrutiny of Congress.
An earlier hearing was held on 26 July 2023, with
former US Navy pilots testifying to events like the

So fa r, it seems fair to say t hat t he attempt at ABOVE An image

transparency has failed abysmally. Witnesses have taken from a video
“They reported refused to disclose classified materials that may violate provided by the
US Department
their oaths of confidentiality, and the government’s
being threatened denial of their declassification of materials (or even of Defense in 2015
showing a UAP
acknowledgement of the materials’ existence) created
not to disclose obstacles that affected the UAP disclosure debate
from really taking off.
LEFT An artist’s
impression of a
any classified The hearing of 13 November 2024 was no exception.
Chairwoman Nancy Mace started off the hiding game
disc-shaped
aircraft said to be

materials” by stating that she wasn’t going to “name names”.

She also said that there had been people trying to
in development for
the US Air Force in
influence her not to hold this hearing. the 1950s
All witnesses, except Gold, repeatedly stressed that
encounter with the famous “Tic Tac-looking object” they were either not allowed or willing to discuss
and the FLIR (forward-looking infrared) video from the certain questions in an open session, or not allowed
2004 USS Nimitz encounter, as well as the GoFast and or willing to discuss them full stop (Shellenberger
Gimbal videos from the 2015 USS Roosevelt incident. claimed it was to protect his journalistic sources).
Earlier reports of UAP/UFO sightings date back They also reported that they had been the subject of
to the 1940s and, according to some, even centuries intimidation and outright threats to not disclose any
before that. The reveal of new evidence and previously classified materials.
hidden reports appears to come in waves. Suspicions
about government cover-ups have been in the air since CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
the 1947 Roswell incident, but this recent surge in Gold didn’t disclose any confidential information at
interest regarding government secrecy was triggered all, if he even had any. He merely – and correctly –
in 2017 thanks to a New York Times article about the emphasised the need for an independent scientific and
Pentagon’s alleged UAP programme. academically rigorous investigation of the phenomenon.
GETTY IMAGES, ALAMY

This caused the US Congress to take bipartisan That did not, however, stop the witnesses from
interest in uncovering the extent to which the US claiming that they had knowledge of crash retrieval
government and intelligence agencies had withheld programmes and of encounters with underwater UAPs
information about sightings. They committed to (unidentified submersible objects). They also implied
provide transparency to the American public. that staff were being treated for injuries sustained ´

31
RE ALIT Y CHECK

“Why risk revealing classified

documents unless you’re 100-per-cent
certain that they’re true?”
´ from contact with UAPs, and that humanity was BELOW Brigadier And unfortunately, not all of the witnesses who
already dealing with non-human intelligence (NHI). General Roger M appeared before Congress on 13 November have a
Pieces of information that, if true, would fundamentally Ramey identifying spotless reputation when it comes to due diligence
change our view of our place in the cosmos. This also metallic fragments and fact-checking their information.
points towards there being a mountain of classified found by a farmer Elizondo, for example, was recently caught out at
materials still being withheld. near Roswell, New a talk presenting a photo that was supposedly taken
Mexico, as pieces of
The witnesses are, to some extent, allowed to talk in Romania in 2022 and obtained from a government
a weather balloon
about facts that would normally qualify as ‘official contact. He alleged it to be of a giant “mothership”,
secrets’, yet they’re forbidden to disclose the classified but it turned out to be a fake.
material that would support their claims. This means His response was to congratulate the people who
we can never really know if what they say is true. spotted his mistake and to say he was always happy
A sufficient inkling of doubt always remains around to have false evidence eliminated from the serious
their testimony. UAP narrative.
They may all be sincere in their beliefs or have Be that as it may, former US officials ought to
access to pertinent evidence, but it’s this personal reconsider their blind loyalty to secrecy and examine
redaction that inevitably sets witnesses up for failure if there’s any real benefit to obeying their government’s
– and in the worst cases, ridicule. demand for silence. Currently, their unwillingness
In many of the hearings so far, however, they’ve to disclose information is only further empowering
presented nothing more than stories they’ve been told – the US government’s quest to obscure the democratic
‘hearsay evidence’, in legal terms – which legal systems by PROF MICHAEL
process. If the witnesses’ claims are true, then this
a rou nd t he world deem to be a n inad m issible BOHLANDER knowledge should be shared with the world, not held
type of evidence. Michael is the Chair by one country’s government.
This makes it easy for so-called ‘debunkers’ to point in Global Law and
out that the evidence is always announced as being SETI Policy at Durham WAR OF THE WORDS
disclosed soon, but never is. Law School. The question of whether we’re alone in the Universe,
or even on this planet, is not, by definition, a matter
of national security. This short-sighted view currently
held by domestic intelligence agencies is not fit to be
a guiding policy principle going forward.
Someone someday will inevitably have to take the
drastic decision to publish or release the classified
materials they have access to, stamping their name
on them and risking the consequences. In actuality,
the threat of legal consequence would not only add a
lot of credibility to the whistleblower’s character, but
also reliability to their testimony. Why risk revealing
classified documents unless you’re 100-per-cent
certain that they’re true?
It’s u nlikely t hat t here would be a ny act ua l
repercussions once the truth got out to the public;
“There’s no point in trying to defuse a bomb once
it’s gone off,” to steal a line from Jack Ryan in Clear
and Present Danger.
Until then, the pointless charade of unchecked,
hearsay testimony will play out again and again on the
floors of Congress. It’s better to ignore the witnesses’
protests that they can’t reveal any real information
and actively discourage their spreading of unverifiable
allegations, than it is to remain in the permanent
limbo of alien gossip and innuendo. Keeping their
lips zipped is ultimately doing a massive disservice
to whatever truth is behind UAPs.

32
A N A LY S I S
This is followed by a call for evidence, in which any
Could your cosmetics
ABOVE Skin is an
interested person or group submits data and evidence effective barrier for
for the safety or otherwise of the chemical in question. keeping out

be harming your health?

This evidence is then evaluated by the various scientific unwanted
committees. Then a recommendation is made and, chemicals, but they
finally, a decision is agreed upon by the European can still find ways
Commission. The process can take several years. into your body
Cosmetic companies are phasing out As companies are warned when changes in regulations
microplastics and so-called ‘forever are coming, however, they’re able to voluntarily reduce
chemicals’ to help protect consumers and replace the substances that will be restricted in
the future. This was seen, for example, with the plastic
microbeads that used to be found in toothpastes and
facial scrubs. Companies began phasing them out even
he cosmetic industry is big business. In 2023, before the ban on microbeads came into full effect in

T the European market was worth €96 billion,

with the UK being the fourth-biggest consumer,
spending €11 billion, after Italy, France and
the leader, Germany. More and more of us,
both men and women, are routinely using cosmetics
and the trend shows no sign of slowing down anytime
2018, as the industry knew that microbeads would
soon be banned, so products containing them were
rapidly removed from store shelves.
Plastic is still a major component of many
cosmetics, however, especially leave-on ones,
designed to remain on the skin for several
soon. But what are we actually putting on our hair and hours. These products were not covered
skin, and could it potentially cause us harm? by the microbeads ban, but are now being
The ingredients used in cosmetics are tightly regulated phased out over the next seven years as
in the European Union and many other areas. Only part of the EU restriction on intentionally
GETTY IMAGES X2, ALAMY

approved ingredients can be used and this list is added microplastics.

regularly updated based on emerging scientific evidence. There a re a number of reasons t hat
The process for banning an ingredient from cosmetics microplastics are considered to be potentially
in Europe is that the European Chemicals Agency harmful to humans – the main one being their small
(ECHA), which is responsible for the regulation of size. We can breathe them in and eat or drink them.
chemicals, first files an intention to restrict notice. They also breakdown very slowly and can thus ´

33
RE ALIT Y CHECK

´ remain in our bodies for extended periods of time. and non-polymeric) have been identified as being used ABOVE The use
In most cases they were not designed to be ingested in cosmetic products. They’re intentionally added to of microbeads in
or inhaled, and so they typically contain additives some products for a number of reasons, for example, rinse-off cosmetics
such as flame retardants or plasticisers, which are as a binder to keep powders together and as a skin was banned in the
EU in 2018
toxic to humans. conditioner to aid moisture retention.
The skin is a very effective barrier at keeping things PFASs aren’t a common ingredient in cosmetic
RIGHT The
out and thus you might think that microplastics in products, however, at least not in the UK and EU, phasing out of
cosmetics aren’t a major source of internalisation. There where ECHA’s cosmetic database indicates that across PFAS chemicals in
are still potential pathways of uptake for microplastics all categories of cosmetics products, PFAS-containing recent years means
via hair follicles or damaged skin, however. products make up less than 10 per cent of the products fewer cosmetic
on the market. products
COSMETICS ARE FOREVER In the UK, a 2020 survey by the Cosmetic, Toiletry intentionally
Another group of chemicals that is receiving a lot of and Perfumery Association, which represents 85 per contain them today
attention are so-called ‘forever chemicals’ – the family cent of the UK cosmetics market, found that only 1.5
of more than 10,000 multiply fluorinated compounds per cent of member companies reported use of PFASs.
with three or more carbon atoms, collectively called Even then, only nine PFAS ingredients were reported
poly- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). as being used and they’re being phased out rapidly.
The extreme persistence of these synthetic chemicals But there are potential routes for PFAS to get into
in the environment means that even ones that were products unintentionally, for example as a degradation
banned over a decade ago are still being detected in product or an impurity that’s not referenced on the
human breast milk and blood. 36 PFASs (polymeric ingredients list.
ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES

“There are still potential pathways of

uptake for microplastics via hair
follicles and damaged skin”

34
RE ALIT Y CHECK

The vast number of different PFAS molecules makes the restriction is not expected to cause much of a
generalisations about their human health effects challenge for the industry. Approximately 47 products
challenging. But there are indications that the long- from large companies and 197 products from smaller
chain substances such as PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic companies might need reformulation. In comparison,
acid) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) can cause tens of thousands of product reformulations may be
reproductive and developmental issues, as well as required in the case of the restriction of intentionally
liver and kidney immunological effects in laboratory added microplastics.
animals. Furthermore, both chemicals have caused So, should you be concerned? The regulatory
tumours in animal studies. process is working hard to respond to new information
Anot her recent study using model sk in also and to phase-out the use of chemicals of concern
demonstrated for the first time that dermal exposure in cosmetics. Europe and the UK also have robust
to PFASs can allow them to pass through the skin regulations regarding the labelling of products,
barrier, and that dermal exposure could be a significant and cosmetics and other products must list their
source of exposure to shorter-chain PFAS. ingredients in order of quantity, starting from the
ones present in the highest amounts.
GETTING CLEAN While t he chemical na mes may be ha rd for
Driven by the persistence of PFASs and their widespread most consumers to follow, the CoSMILE database
use, in early 2024, ECHA announced its intention to (cosmileeurope.eu) provides clear information about PROF ISEU LT
restrict the production, use and placing on the market specific ingredients that you can look up. There’s LY NC H
(including import) of at least 10,000 PFASs, including also a range of smartphone apps that can scan Iseult is a professor
those used in cosmetics. ingredient lists and highlight any potential health of environmental
Based on the low amount of cosmetics that contain hazards, including a lack of available data (which nanomaterials
PFASs, and the fact that the cosmetics industry has been is classified as a hazard). Consumers can use these at the University
actively phasing out their use for the past five years, to better inform their purchases. of Birmingham.
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38
FE ATURE
BREAKTHROUGHS

ILLUSTRATION: ANDY POTTS

BREAKTHROUGHS FE ATURE

39
FE ATURE BREAKTHROUGHS

An illustration of
artificial biological
tissue growing on a
hyaluronic scaffold

TISSUE ENGINEERING
Author of It’s a Gas: The Magnificent and Elusive Elements
that Expand Our World

Going to the dentist and having a synthetic resin

filling is fine, but it’s not as good as a real tooth.
But what if we could grow real teeth in the lab from
a person’s own stem cells and implant them back
into their mouth?
This sounds like science fiction, but tissue
engineering is a breakthrough technology that’s
already being used to grow human tissue, through
‘scaffold technology’. Scaffolds are porous materials
that support stem cells as they divide and grow into
new tissues. Artificial ears, trachea (windpipes) and
bone have been grown this way and successfully
implanted into human patients. Because the
implanted tissues are grown from a patient’s own
cells, there are no problems with immune rejection.
Artificial kidneys, knee cartilage and even hearts
are also being grown this way, although these are
still confined to lab experiments. No one can yet put
a limit on this new technology, but the successful
regrowing of teeth is on the horizon.

…BUT ALSO SELF-REPAIRING MATERIALS

A modern smartphone contains half the elements in
the periodic table and yet only has a lifespan of two
to three years, on average. To save the massive
amounts of energy we’re wasting on continually
producing (and even recycling) phones and
everything else that fills our lives, we need to find a
new way of making products that last longer.
This is where the breakthrough technology of self-
repairing materials comes in. Imagine a smartphone
that can repair itself overnight when you plug it in.
Many different types of this technology are
already on the market. Self-healing paints have
room temperature fluidity, allowing them to flow
back into cracks and fill the fissure when they form.
Self-repairing concrete for bridges and self-repairing
asphalt for roads have already been deployed this
century. Self-repairing electronics are coming to
help us build a sustainable future.

40
BREAKTHROUGHS FE ATURE

THE SCIENCE
OF DREAMING
´ Prof Richard

UNIVERSAL Wiseman
Professor of the Public Understanding of

PROGRAMMABLE
Psychology, University of Hertfordshire
Author of Magic Your Mind Happy

Until the turn of the last century, psychologists

CHEMICAL ROBOTS
often argued that dreaming was a meaningless
experience best confined to the fringes of
science. But the 21st century has witnessed a
surge of scientific interest in our nocturnal
adventures and produced a steady stream of
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, CRONIN GROUP/SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY/GLASGOW UNIVERSITY

articles exploring the psychology of dreaming.

Some of this work has explored how
dreaming can help people process
negative emotions and prepare
them for challenging events in
the real world. Another strand
What if any chemical reaction could be performed of research has explored the Listen to Prof
ABOVE A
Wiseman’s episode
chemputer through code? This is what has become possible link between dreams and
robot in Prof of The Life Scientific
with the ground-breaking advancement known as creativity, and has shown that
Cronin’s on BBC Sounds
chemistry lab chemical computation, or ‘chemputation’. our dreaming minds often come now
in Glasgow Chemputation combines automation, computation up with new and innovative
and modular hardware to transform chemical solutions to pressing problems.
synthesis into a programmable, universal process. There’s also work that has looked at the social
At its core is the ‘chemputer’ – a revolutionary side of dreaming, with psychologists arguing
platform capable of executing any feasible chemical that discussing a dream with others is an
synthesis. It uses a concept known as ‘chempiling’, effective way of forming and maintaining
which translates chemical synthesis pathways into caring relationships. Other scientists have
executable hardware configurations – basically taken a different approach and developed
acting as a chemical Turing machine. This process techniques that allow them to communicate
digitalises chemistry, increasing efficiency, with people experiencing a lucid dream.
accelerating research and reducing the risk of Finally, there’s dream engineering, wherein
human error. researchers use smells, sounds and suggestions
The integration of artificial intelligence into to manipulate our dreaming minds.
automated synthesis takes this innovation further, For years, trying to convince scientists to take
Prof Lee Cronin
enhancing decision-making at every step of the dreams seriously was a nightmare. Now the tide
appears in series 3
of Brainwaves. process, from molecule design to reaction execution. has turned and we’re starting to uncover the
Listen now Because of this, chemputation is unlocking many ways in which dreaming makes a vital
immense potential in drug discovery, material contribution to our waking lives.
science and more.

41
FE ATURE BREAKTHROUGHS

GLOBAL HEATING
Only by looking into the past can we get an inkling of
the seriousness of today’s climate predicament. The
terrifying reality is that the global average temperature
rise, which is now teetering on the edge of the 1.5°C
dangerous climate breakdown guardrail, is occurring
50 times faster than when the world warmed after the
Ice Age. That was 56 million years ago, during the
Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).
The episode of rapid heating saw dead, oxygen-
Author of Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant's Guide depleted oceans and sea levels 50m higher than they are
now. And the global temperature today is ramping-up at
least ten times faster than during the PETM.
We’re in the middle of a unique climate experiment,
continually pumping out 40 billion tonnes of carbon
dioxide every year, and hoping that it’ll be fine.
I can tell you now, it won’t be.

…BUT ALSO ATTRIBUTION ANALYSIS

In a nutshell, attribution analysis seeks to determine
the extent to which global heating has influenced a
An air tanker drops fire
retardant on a house in particular extreme weather event, such as increasing
California during one its intensity or raising its likelihood.
of 2024’s wildfires
It involves running two computer simulations. One
assumes today’s artificially heated climate, the other
assumes a pre-industrial climate with all the human
influences removed. Comparison reveals whether
global heating had an effect and, if so, what it was.
The first-ever attribution analysis determined that
the 2003 European heatwave (which claimed 70,000
lives and saw temperatures breach the 37°C/98°F
mark for the first time in the UK) was made twice as
Listen to Rethink likely by global heating.
Climate on BBC Attribution analysis sheds light on the growing
Sounds impact global heating is having on our weather
patterns, while also loudly undermining the climate
deniers – a win all round.

MRNA VACCINES
lives in their first year of use. In the coming years,
we’ll likely have a range of new mRNA vaccines for
other viruses that change regularly, like the flu, as
well as for viruses that haven’t responded well to
previous vaccine technology, like HIV.
GETTY IMAGES, JOE PETRIK/UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

…BUT ALSO THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT

In 1990, scientists began to sequence the human genome.
It took until 2022 to produce a complete sequence.
This achievement has profoundly changed biomedical
The use of mRNA for various medical applications science, allowing for research and technology that
has been in development for decades. It wasn’t until wouldn’t be possible otherwise, like using CRISPR to
the COVID-19 pandemic that the impact of the modify genetic diseases.
technology was first felt, however. We’re just starting to feel the impact of this
mRNA vaccines allow for the development of achievement on medical practice. By knowing our
vaccines far more quickly than was previously genome, it’s possible to find changes in genes that are
possible – two months for COVID-19 compared to the associated with, or even cause, various diseases. This
previous record of four years. It’s estimated that the increases our understanding of those diseases, as
COVID-19 mRNA vaccines saved nearly 20 million well as our ability to diagnose and treat them.

42
BREAKTHROUGHS FE ATURE

SOLVING THE ‘EINSTEIN’ PROBLEM Listen to More or

Less: Behind the
Stats on BBC
Sounds

I believe the most important mathematical breakthrough this though the ‘hat’ occasionally needed to be flipped over to
century is the solution to the long-standing ‘einstein’ (one- successfully tile the plane.
stone) problem. The einstein problem asks whether there is a But no sooner had the preprint of their work been released,
shape that can tile an infinitely large horizontal surface so that than David came up with the ‘spectre’ – a chiral aperiodic
the pattern never repeats. monotile, which didn’t need flipping. Even more impressive,
Brilliant minds had searched for decades for such shapes. the ‘spectre’ was a member of a larger class of such tiles that
Then in 2022, David Smith, a retired print technician and allows the straight edges to be wavy. Again, his colleagues
amateur maths enthusiast, began working with software and proved the truth of his intuition. This was a beautiful
cardboard cut-outs at his home in Bridlington, Yorkshire. achievement, led by an extraordinary mathematical hobbyist.
Smith had worked for years on tiling patterns and had a strong
intuition his shape, nicknamed the ‘hat’, would both tile the RIGHT A tiling of
surface and never repeat. ‘hats’ – this tiling can
continue forever and
He didn’t have the mathematical tools to prove his hunch, there will never be a
however, so he turned to the community of tiling enthusiasts repeat in the pattern
and got help from Prof Craig Kaplan at the University of
BELOW Prof Craig
Waterloo, Canada; Prof Chaim Goodman-Strauss from the Kaplan was one of
University of Arkansas; and software engineer Dr Joseph the people who
Myers from Cambridge. helped David Smith
prove that his hat
Together they came up with computer-based and analytic and spectre shapes
proofs for a whole family of shapes, and their preprint study solved the einstein
problem
was greeted with international acclaim in March 2023 – even
FE ATURE BREAKTHROUGHS

A NEW TYPE
OF STEM CELL
´ Dr Helen Pilcher
Author, speaker and science
communication consultant
Author of Life Changing: How Humans
are Shaping the Course of Evolution
Fluorescence light
micrograph images of
neurons derived from
induced pluripotent
Before 2006, if researchers wanted to work with …BUT ALSO THE CURE FOR HIV stem cells
human embryonic stem cells, they had to work with There was a time when HIV was a death sentence.
human embryos. This was ethically charged Then anti-retroviral drugs came along and
territory – the embryos were leftovers from fertility prospects improved. More and more people became
treatments and were destroyed in the process. able to live with the disease, but a cure still seemed
Then Prof Shinya Yamanaka from Kyoto like a distant dream.
University devised a way to make embryonic stem Then in 2007, an HIV-positive man called
cells without using embryos. By adding a handful of Timothy Ray Brown received a bone marrow
genes into cultured skin cells and nurturing them transplant for his leukaemia. Chemotherapy had
with certain nutrients, adult cells could be failed and Brown was running out of options. His
reprogrammed to become ‘induced pluripotent stem doctor, Dr Gero Hütter, thought that the treatment
(iPS) cells.’ ‘Pluripotent’ means that these lab-made might be able to cure his cancer, but he also
stem cells can turn – or ‘differentiate’ – into many realised that if he could find a donor who was
other types of cells, including heart cells and genetically resistant to HIV, there was a chance that
neurons. Now researchers can take cells from an the same treatment might also cure his HIV.
adult animal, turn them into iPS cells and then turn Some people are naturally HIV-resistant. They
them into the specialised cells of their choice. carry a mutation in a gene called CCR5, which
iPS cells are now routinely used to help test new codes for a receptor protein that HIV uses to enter
drugs and therapies, but perhaps their most exciting host cells. After scouring the register, Hütter found
use is in the field of regenerative medicine. Imagine a donor who not only matched Brown’s immune
a patient with heart disease. Now imagine taking profile, but also carried two copies of the mutated
some of their skin cells and using iPS technology to gene. The transplant went ahead and a few years
create a pool of healthy heart cells. The replacement later, researchers could find no trace of HIV in
tissue could then be transplanted into the patient’s Brown’s body. Brown came off his anti-retroviral
heart to repair it, and because the cells are the meds and went on to live the rest of his life HIV-
patient’s own, there would be no danger of the tissue free. He was the first person to be cured of HIV.
being rejected. The same method could be applied to Since then, at least six more people with cancer
other conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and have been cured of HIV using bone marrow
kidney failure, raising the prospect of cures for transplants. The treatment, however, is brutal, with
currently incurable diseases. risks so great that it’s unlikely ever to become a
Such brilliant, versatile cells… It’s no wonder that routine procedure, but it has taught researchers a
Yamanaka received a Nobel Prize in 2012 for his great deal about HIV and given hope to the world
work in their discovery. that a cure for HIV will, one day, be possible.

44
BREAKTHROUGHS FE ATURE

TRANSFORMERS AND Listen to Prof

LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS

Wooldridge’s episode
of The Life Scientific
on BBC Sounds
now

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been in the news

for more than a decade, largely because one key AI
technology – neural networks – finally started to
work at scale. The new AI era was heralded by the
advent of ‘deep learning’ around 2005, driven by
cheap computer power and plentiful data for
‘training’ neural nets. The field exploded and
we began to see a host of impressive applications.
AI hit the headlines.
And then, something unexpected happened.
In 2017, a Google team published a scientific
paper describing a new architecture for organising
neural nets – the so-called ‘transformer
architecture.’ The transformer architecture is a
neural network architecture for token prediction:
taking as input a sequence of tokens (words) and
then predicting the next token (word) to appear.
They’re trained by feeding them ordinary
human text, and given a ‘prompt’ (for example: capabilities: the ability to do things that it wasn’t
‘a summary of Winston Churchill’s life’). They’ll designed to do. Questions, like the famous Turing
then try to predict the word most likely to appear Test, which had been of strictly philosophical
next. They do this one word at a time, but the interest previously, suddenly became practical
process can be repeated over and over. experimental questions.
It wasn’t obvious in 2017 that transformers The unprecedented success of Large Language
would be so… transformative. To realise their full Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT (above) took Silicon
power, you had to be prepared to build them on an Valley by surprise and now the world’s richest
unprecedented scale, throw mind-boggling companies are pivoting to try to embed this
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY X2, GETTY IMAGES

quantities of training data at them and train them remarkable new technology everywhere, in the
with AI supercomputers running for months. hope that they’ll find the killer application.
Google didn’t make that bet; it was a little-known For all their success, LLMs aren’t the end of the
organisation called OpenAI, supported by road for AI; the dream of a helpful household robot
Microsoft. And it paid off, spectacularly. that can clear your dinner table and load the
The first real hint that we were entering a new dishwasher still seems frustratingly distant.
era was the release of GPT-3 in June 2020. Those But the technology is astonishing nonetheless.
with access to OpenAI’s new program seemed We’re living at a remarkable time in technological
genuinely startled by how capable it was. Just as history: our history will be divided into pre-GPT
remarkable for AI researchers was its emergent and post-GPT.

45
FE ATURE BREAKTHROUGHS

HPV VACCINE
achievable only for infectious diseases – through
widespread HPV vaccination and robust
screening programmes.

…BUT ALSO DIGITAL CONTRACEPTION

At the turn of the century, scientists knew that Non-hormonal digital contraception has
cervical cancer was caused by Human revolutionised family planning by combining
Papillomavirus (HPV). Of over 200 known HPV data-driven insights and user-friendly
strains, two high-risk types – 16 and 18 – are technology. Apps like Natural Cycles and Clue
responsible for over 70 per cent of cervical cancer empower women to track their menstrual
cases. While the UK’s cervical screening cycles and use the data to prevent or achieve
programme, launched in the 1960s, successfully pregnancy, offering a convenient and accessible
reduced cervical cancer rates, a huge shift came alternative to traditional contraceptives.
with the introduction of the HPV vaccine. These apps utilise algorithms that analyse
The vaccine became part of the UK’s national patterns in body temperature, ovulation cycles
programme in 2008. Today, it’s licensed in over and other physiological markers, providing users
100 countries and offered to both girls and boys to with real-time predictions of the fertility window
prevent HPV-related diseases, including multiple in their cycle.
cancers and genital warts. This innovation marks a turning point in
In the 15 years since its introduction, the women’s health. In 2018, Natural Cycles became
vaccine has provided excellent protection against the first digital contraceptive to achieve US Food
HPV and has delivered remarkable results – an and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation,
estimated 90-per-cent reduction in cervical cancer elevating the app to a regulated medical
rates among women aged 20–30. intervention. Natural Cycles reports that the
The next frontier is achieving the elimination of algorithm behind its app has a 93-per-cent success
cervical cancer – something once thought rate, the same as the contraceptive pill.

Patterns in the Cosmic

Microwave Background

DARK MATTER
appear to correspond with
Listen to Prof the possible distribution
Heymans’ episode of dark matter
of Brainwaves on
BBC Sounds boson, there were
high hopes that the

´ Prof Catherine Heymans

theoretical ‘lightest supersymmetric
particle’ and favourite candidate for dark
matter, would be discovered next.
Professor of Astrophysics compelling. Using gravitational effects to Sadly, the elusive dark matter particle
at the Royal Observatory, deduce where and how much of it there has yet to be found. The lack of detection
is, we’ve created maps that reveal a means that we know what it’s not, even if
University of Edinburgh
pervasive and invisible web. The patterns we don’t yet know what it is. Scientists
Author of The Dark Universe
seen in these maps, in the cosmic are working to build the most advanced
microwave background and in the detector yet, potentially in the UK.
The majority of the Universe is unseen, distribution of galaxies, almost match our Combined with upgrades at CERN and
composed of two entities called dark matter expectations for a dark Universe. upcoming observations from the Euclid
and dark energy, and physics is currently But while 25 years of looking up has telescope and Vera Rubin Observatory,
unable to explain the origin of either. increased astronomers’ confidence, the hope is very much alive that it won’t
Over the last 25 years, evidence for the experimentation tells a different story. be another 25 years before we understand
existence of dark matter has become more After CERN’s 2012 detection of the Higgs the dark matter side of the Universe.

46
BREAKTHROUGHS FE ATURE

LEFT Prof Peter

Higgs, in front of a
picture of the Large
Hadron Collider

Einstein’s two theories of relativity, to the structure

of the atom with Ernest Rutherford.
But the theories and experimental discoveries
over the past hundred years have still been
remarkable, leading to deep insight into the
fundamental building blocks of matter, potentially
getting us closer to completing the jigsaw puzzle of
reality. One piece of the puzzle that had been
missing ever since it was first proposed in the 1960s
by Prof Peter Higgs (and others), was the Higgs
boson. The particle was proposed as a manifestation
of the Higgs field and the Higgs mechanism,
explaining how elementary particles acquire mass.
Then, on 4 July 2012, experimental teams working
with two giant particle detectors, ATLAS and CMS,
at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, announced
they had finally observed the Higgs. It was a
landmark achievement in particle physics and a
testament to technological innovation in ‘big
science’, international collaboration and the human
pursuit of knowledge. It commanded global
attention and captivated the wider public.
One might, of course, argue that the discovery of
the Higgs wasn’t as profound as, say, the
accelerating expansion of the Universe in 1998
(which therefore just misses out on this list),
because physicists expected to find the Higgs. But
it confirmed a critical component of the Standard

THE HIGGS BOSON PARTICLE

Model of particle physics.
The Standard Model is an amalgamation of two
separate quantum theories – the electroweak
theory and quantum chromodynamics – which
together describe the properties of all the known
elementary particles and the forces acting between
them. Yet the Standard Model can’t be the final
word because it doesn’t include gravity, doesn’t
explain dark matter or dark energy, or where all
the antimatter that should have been created at the
If we were to compare the most important Big Bang has gone.
discoveries in physics in the first quarter of the Fifteen months after the discovery of the Higgs,
21st century with those of the same period in the in October 2013, the Physics Nobel Prize was
GETTY IMAGES, ESA/PLANCK

20th, we might feel quite disheartened by the recent awarded jointly to Prof François Englert and Prof
paucity of fundamental advances. Maybe this is Watch Secrets of Peter Higgs, “for the theoretical discovery of a
because we have largely uncovered the basic laws Size: Atoms to mechanism that contributes to our understanding
of the Universe. Supergalaxies on of the origin of mass of subatomic particles...” It was
It’s certainly hard to deny that those first two or BBC iPlayer awarded not for the experimental confirmation of
three decades of the previous century were a golden now the Higgs’ existence, but for the original theoretical
age of physics, from the quantum revolution to prediction half a century earlier.

47
A NASA engineer
checks six flight-ready
segments of the JWST’s
primary mirror, a third
of the final total

THE JAMES WEBB

for one. The problem was solved by designing the
mirror so that it could fold up for transit and open like
the petals of a flower at its destination.

SPACE TELESCOPE
That destination needed to be far from any bright
radiation sources, such as Earth and the Moon, for
JWST’s extremely sensitive infrared detectors to
work. Consequently, its base observation site is
located 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, on the
opposite side to the Sun. Fortunately, upon its arrival,
JWST deployed without incident, which is just as
well, because being so distant, there’s little we could
have done to fix any problems.
In December 2022, JWST discovered the most
Launched aboard an Ariane-5 rocket on Christmas Day distant, and therefore earliest, galaxies ever observed.
2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is A galaxy survey project called JWST’s Advanced
nothing short of a technological marvel. Augmenting Deep Extragalactic Survey looked at an area where
and improving on the role established by the Hubble Hubble had recorded 10,000 galaxies, and detected a
Space Telescope, the JWST is designed for infrared mind-blowing 100,000 galaxies in the same patch of
astronomy in the wavelength range of 0.6-28.5 microns. sky. It’s not just unfathomably distant objects that
The JWST targets many important areas of have had the JWST treatment, though. Jupiter, Saturn,
astronomy and cosmology, from studying the first Uranus and Neptune have all come under JWST’s
Watch stars and initial galaxy formation, to spotting scrutiny, and spectacular new details about each
BBC Sky at Night: exoplanets and analysing their atmospheres. world have been revealed as a result.
Ancestral Skies on A technologically and financially ambitious As time goes on, JWST continues to break new
BBC iPlayer project, it hit many snags along the way to final ground and its observations are challenging existing
now deployment. The JWST’s large primary mirror was theories about object evolution, posing many more
too large to be carried inside the rocket’s payload bay, questions along the way.

48
BREAKTHROUGHS FE ATURE

EXOPLANETS
It makes the night sky far more interesting if like. For that, you’ve got to detect some light …BUT ALSO GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
we think of every star as being at the centre reflected from the planet. That’s much Gravitational waves are significant for
of a system of planets, like in our Solar harder and, so far, has only been done for two reasons. Firstly, they’re an important
System. Of special interest is the possibility really big planets, not Earth-sized ones. The physical phenomenon that tells us about
that many of those planets are like Earth: challenge for the coming 25 years is going to the nature of gravity, confirming a further
the same size and at a distance to their parent be detecting the light from the Earth-like consequence of Einstein’s General Theory
star that allows water to exist. Could there be planets orbiting nearby stars. of Relativity. Secondly, detecting them has
life on them? The James Webb Space Telescope may been an amazing technical achievement.
Though they were officially discovered in do some of this, but a giant ground-based The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-
about 1995, most of what we know about telescope – the Extremely Large Telescope – Wave Observatory (LIGO) was a huge
exoplanets has come in the last few years. is being built by a consortium of European technical challenge because the expected
We’ve now detected over 5,000 of them, countries in Chile. Its mirror is 39m (128ft) amplitude of these waves is very small and
mainly with the ‘transit method.’ This is across, so it could collect a lot more light must be detected at a vast distance. The
where you don’t actually detect any light from faint objects than the Webb telescope, effect you’re looking for is like the thickness
from the planets, but the effects on the which is ‘only’ 6.6m (21ft) across. of a hair at the distance of a nearby star.
brightness of a parent star when a planet There’s so much this new area of study Quite amazing.
passes in front of it. could show us. I think if I were talking to a Many of us thought that LIGO wouldn’t
The most successful way we’ve carried out young person embarking on an astronomical find anything. Or, if it did, events would be
the transit method is by looking through the career, I would advise focusing on fantastically rare, the instruments only being
Kepler Space Telescope. Though the exoplanets. The field is clearly going to be sensitive enough to detect collisions once a
telescope has revealed a lot, it doesn’t tell us expanding and full of a high rate of century or so. But LIGO has been more
about what the surfaces of these planets are discoveries in the coming decades. successful than any of us expected, detecting
a pair of black holes about 50 times the
mass of the Sun crashing together within a
short time of being switched on. It was
amazingly exciting and it’s now detecting
about one or two such events a week. It’s
worth celebrating for the hundreds of
people who were involved with the set-up
of these instruments.
The gravitational waves that LIGO
observes are a short pulse of radiation of
about 100 cycles per second, which is
roughly the orbital period of two 50 solar-
mass black holes when they merge
together. But there are far bigger black
holes in the centres of galaxies with
masses millions of times higher than LIGO
can detect. Mergers of these are much
rarer, but can be detectable out to greater
distances. The radiation produced,
however, is at a much lower frequency.
This has to be detected by instruments
that, instead of having mirrors a few
kilometres apart, has mirrors a few
million kilometres apart.
An artist’s impression The ESA-led Laser Interferometer Space
of the Kepler-10 Antenna (LISA) is planned to launch
system, the 10th
planetary system within the next 10 years. It should detect
the rare mega-cataclysms when galaxies
NASA/JPL X2

observed by the Kepler

Space Telescope merge and the supermassive black holes
in their centres collide.

49
FE ATURE BREAKTHROUGHS

PSYCHEDELIC SINGLE-CELL GENOMICS

THERAPY cells then interact with other cells in
their microenvironment leading to
the spread of the cancer.
Single-cell genomics has the
Author of Why Your Parents are Hung-Up power to resolve the individual cell
on Your Phone and What to do About it types and cell states, revealing the
pathways that promote tumour
After much deliberation and campaigning from growth, allowing for the development
various interested parties, 2024 saw the United States of targeted therapy.
Food and Drug Administration opt not to approve Another example is Crohn’s
official use of MDMA-assisted therapy for post- A colorectal cancer disease, where the comparison of
traumatic stress disorder, citing insufficient evidence cell. Single-cell healthy and diseased tissue at the
genomics is shedding
of the drug’s (commonly known as ecstasy) efficacy. new light on how single-cell level revealed the reason
Despite this setback, it’s important to appreciate cancers like this grow for a lack of response to therapy in
what a substantial breakthrough it is that we’ve even some patients. During the pandemic,
got to this point. While the benefits of psychedelics single-cell genomics was used to
have a long history, the previous high-watermark of The human body is made up of almost determine which cells are susceptible
realising their potential therapeutic applications was 40 trillion cells and conventional to infection and later studies
in the 1950s and 1960s, when LSD use was wisdom suggests these are divided determined which organs are most
widespread. into about 200 cell types. Before the affected and why. These are just a
Unfortunately, a combination of LSD’s association advent of single-cell genomics, our few of the applications of single-cell
with counterculture and President Richard Nixon’s technologies studied cells in bulk, genomics and the list is expanding
‘War on Drugs’, resulted in LSD – and psychedelics in providing an average readout for all the time.
general – falling victim to the brutal backlash. Their thousands of cells without resolution More than 3,000 scientists around
use was suppressed, both recreationally and in of the individual cell identities. the globe are making a Human Cell
research contexts, for decades. In the human body, as in all Atlas (HCA) to provide a complete
The loosening of the restrictions on research into multicellular organisms, there are single-cell map of all the organs of
psychedelics in the 21st century has produced potent different cell types within the same the human body. This initiative has
and fast-acting treatments for depression, anxiety, tissue that have distinct roles: muscle already led to a paradigm shift in the
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, ALAMY, THE FIELD MUSEUM

obsessive-compulsive disorders, addiction and even tissue contains subtypes of muscle understanding of the function of
sexual disorders. cells, but also blood vessels, neurons, normal cells and forms the basis for
It’s still early days for psychedelic therapies. Much immune cells and more. Without the understanding of the mechanisms
of the research remains small-scale and short term, understanding this complexity, it’s leading to diseases. The progress
political and ideological barriers remain, and a impossible to determine how being made is leading to better
mainstream rollout of psychedelic therapy would subpopulations of cells in different diagnosis and treatment.
require significant investment. organs relate to each other and how It has been less than a decade since
Even so, especially with the relative stagnation in they might be altered by disease. single-cell analysis was developed
‘traditional’ pharmacological interventions for In cancer, the DNA of a single cell and only six years since the HCA was
mental health issues, this growing reassessment of mutates to allow it to multiply launched. The next decade of single-
the safety, potency and benefits of psychedelics could without control, leading to the cell genomics promises to be an even
prove world-changing. formation of tumours. The tumour more exciting one.

50
Prof Christopher Brochu
took a huge step forward
by subjecting a T. rex
skull to a CT scan The CT scan of
the T. rex skull

CT scanning
´ Prof Steve Brusatte
Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution, University of Edinburgh
Author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

A little over a century ago, palaeontologists in New York cut open hospital, using a series of X-rays to build a three-dimensional
the skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex, so they could see inside its digital model of the stuff inside the skull. It revealed that T. rex
brain cavity. It was a bold thing to do, as they had to destroy some had a big brain with enormous olfactory bulbs, which graced this
of the priceless fossil. But they decided it was worth it, as it was iconic predator with a sharp sense of smell.
the only way they could try to understand how this most iconic of Brochu’s study wasn’t the first CT scan of a fossil, but it made
dinosaurian beasts sensed its world. worldwide headlines and sparked a torrent of new research.
Fast-forward to the turn of the millennium, when new Suddenly everyone was putting their fossils in CT scanners.
technology rendered these destructive fossil surgeries obsolete. Today the procedure is so routine that many palaeontologists
In 2000, Prof Christopher Brochu published a scintillating study have scanners in their labs.
on the brain, intelligence and senses of T. rex. He didn’t use a We use them for so many things: to identify hidden bits of
saw; he used X-rays. Brochu put a fossil T. rex skull into a fossils still encased in rock, or describe the microtexture and
computed tomography (CT) scanner. growth marks inside bones to understand how ancient organisms
As the skull was the size of a bathtub, he needed to persuade grew and metabolised. They can also help to make digital models
engineers at Boeing to give him access to the machines they used that we can subject to computer simulations, testing how
to scan aeroplane engines to look for imperfections. Although dinosaurs fed and moved. To me, CT scanning is the biggest
huge, the scanner worked like one a doctor would use at a breakthrough in palaeontology over the last 25 years.

51
FE ATURE BREAKTHROUGHS

NASA’S
CURIOSITY ROVER
Author of The Search for Earth’s Twin

In the kind of PR masterpiece we’ve come to expect

from NASA, they didn’t play down the difficulty of
landing their Curiosity rover on Mars. Instead, they
called it their “seven minutes of terror” and
explained that in those 420 seconds, it had to go
from a speed of close to 21,000km/h (13,000mph) to
zero in order to land safely on the planet’s surface.
When they achieved that, the mission’s place in
history was all but secured, especially since they for future human missions and the search for ABOVE Curiosity
had used an innovative ‘sky crane’ landing system, extraterrestrial life. To seal its place in 21st-century looks back to capture
an image of the
which guided the rover to a much more precise culture, Curiosity also took a selfie (see p6). Marker Band Valley,
landing than any previous planetary mission. where it found signs
Then came the science. Since 2012, Curiosity has …BUT ALSO NASA’S DART MISSION of an ancient lake
made ground-breaking discoveries on Mars that help This entry made one of the biggest impacts both ABOVE RIGHT
paint a more detailed picture of the planet’s past figuratively and literally. On 26 September 2022, SpaceX’s reusable
environment, its previous habitability and even its NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) rockets are bringing
down the costs
present ability to support life. mission smashed into the asteroid Dimorphos. The associated with
It found chemicals and minerals in Gale Crater collision destroyed the spacecraft completely and launching people
and tech into space
that indicated the past presence of liquid water, shifted the orbit of the asteroid – all on purpose.
clearly a pre-requisite for life. It then found various DART was a ground-breaking test of our ability to
organic molecules that serve as the building blocks alter the orbit of a small asteroid, should we detect
for life and can be used as food by microbial one on a collision course with Earth – and it
organisms. While they don’t prove that life existed succeeded spectacularly. For the first time in
on the planet, they at least show that the correct history, humankind changed the trajectory of a
molecules were present. celestial object and in so doing, proved a method for
But perhaps the rover’s most tantalising discovery averting a natural disaster.
has been the detection of a seasonal release of The asteroid in question was the smaller
methane from beneath the planet’s surface. Every component of a double asteroid. The larger of the two
Martian summer, the gas has welled up from Gale is called Didymos. Originally discovered in 1996,
Crater. While water-rock interactions could be Didymos is a chunk of rock with dimensions of
responsible, scientists can’t rule out biological roughly 851 x 848 x 620m (2,792 x 2,782 x 2,034ft). Its
activity. The next generation of Mars rovers, such as companion, eventually named Dimorphos, was
ESA’s Rosalind Franklin will carry subsurface drills confirmed in 2003. With a dimension of just 177 x
to investigate further. 174 x 116m (580 x 570 x 38ft), it was the perfect test
Put together, Curiosity’s longevity and its subject for the mission.
extraordinary scientific results significantly Being locked into orbit around Didymos meant
enhance our understanding of Mars, paving the way that the amount by which it had been moved would

52
show up in a change of the time it took to circle the upright, the cost of launching people, supplies and
larger asteroid. Before the impact, Dimorphos took technology into space started to tumble.
just under 12 hours to orbit Didymos. After, the The reusability enabled more frequent launches,
impact, this time had decreased by just over half an again expanding the range of commercial and
hour, showcasing a viable method for deflecting scientific opportunities that space could offer. For
potentially hazardous asteroids from Earth. example, it has made SpaceX’s Starlink project
DART’s accomplishments extend beyond viable. This endeavour aims to fly thousands of
planetary defence, though. The mission has smaller satellites in low-Earth orbit to provide
provided critical data on asteroid composition and unbreakable global internet coverage.
impact mechanics, not to mention celestial With Falcon 9, the cost of reaching orbit is around
navigation by hitting a 100m-wide (328ft) target at $2,000 (£1,500) per kilogram. The giant Starship
speeds of kilometres per second while having rocket that SpaceX is now test-flying is estimated
travelled millions of kilometres from Earth. to slash the cost to an extraordinary $200 (£158)
per kilogram.
…AND FINALLY, SPACEX’S REUSABLE ROCKETS SpaceX’s achievements have reshaped the global
For decades, the biggest roadblock to the exploration aerospace industry and mark a pivotal step toward
and utilisation of space has been the cost of humankind permanently extending its presence
launching objects and people into space. The throughout the Solar System. But such progress
enormous Saturn V, used to transport astronauts to doesn’t come without a cost.
the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s, achieved a cost of The ability to launch so much into space threatens
around $5,000 (about £3,950) per kilogram lofted to dramatically increase the amount of space debris,
into space, but since the 1990s, smaller disposable which imperils working satellites and interferes
rockets have only managed to achieve costs of with astronomical observations of the night sky.
NASA/JPL, GETTY IMAGES

around $10,000 (approx £7.900) per kilogram. Hence the innovation that these rockets allow must
SpaceX has blown that figure out of the water and be understood in relation to the ‘environmental
is currently in the process of revolutionising damage’ that it could bring to Earth’s orbits and the
spaceflight. The game changer was the introduction night sky in general.
of the Falcon 9 reusable rocket in 2015. With a first Nevertheless, SpaceX has brought us to a true
stage booster that could return to Earth and land watershed, not just in science but human history.

53
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FE ATURE WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS

GETTY IMAGES X4, ALAMY X3, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Predicting the future is considered a week, so there are plenty of ‘tea leaves’
fool’s game. But it’s one many of us for us to read in the hopes of discerning
like to play. And seeing as we asked a the direction that tomorrow’s winds
selection of experts about the biggest may be blowing. And so, with the fool’s
breakthroughs of the century so far (p38), game proviso above, here’s our pick of
we couldn’t help but wonder what ideas the 10 technologies we think will be
we’d be talking about in the decades to FGƂPKPIQWTFCKN[NKXGUKP
come… presumably while sitting in a This list is by no means comprehensive,
bar on the Moon, sipping anti-ageing, but it is ours. Of course, we would
dark matter martinis. love to hea r what your lists look
*WPFTGFUQHUEKGPVKƂERCRGTUETQUU like. Send your predictions to us at
the BBC Science Focus news desk every [email protected].

56
WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS FE ATURE

by B R I A N
CLEGG

57
FE ATURE WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS

NANO-MEDICS
WILL REBUILD US Nanotechnology works
on the minuscule size of
nanometres – billionths
of a metre. To get a feel
for this scale, a human
hair is 80,000–100,000
nanometres across.
While the concept of such technology
conjures up images of miniature
surgical machines, travelling through
the bloodstream to operate directly
on affected body parts, it’s more about
making use of the distinctive physical
and biological properties that occur at pharmaceuticals. But by placing them
this very small scale. in specially engineered nanoparticles,
It becomes possible, for example, to there’s the potential to transport a drug
deploy medication directly to the area through to the brain to take direct action
where it’s needed, reducing the chances on conditions such as Alzheimer’s.
of it damaging the body’s mechanisms Similarly, using nanotechnology for
along its way. This would also reduce the chemotherapy drugs could ensure they
chance of the body’s defences stopping only act at a desired site instead of
the medication before it reaches its goal. wreaking havoc on the whole body.
Much modern conventional medicine The technology could even improve
depends on designer molecules, which is imaging. By deploying special iron-oxide
a form of nanotechnology, particularly nanoparticles to concentrated areas,
with the development of mRNA vaccines doctors could improve the contrast
such as those used against COVID-19. achieved in MRI scans.
But the term is more dramatically Although we’re unlikely to see nano-
applied to indirect mechanisms that surgeons converging on tumour sites
don’t exist yet. One example likely anytime soon, it’s certain that the use
to be commonplace by 2050 is using of nanotechnology, possibly combined
nanotechnology to access the brain. This with advancements in metamaterials
is protected by the blood-brain barrier, a will enable more complex procedures
structure that recognises and rejects most at the nano-level.
WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS FE ATURE

SPACE EXPLORATION
BECOMES BIG BUSINESS

The golden age of science Those who believe we’ll colonise Mars
ƂEVKQPHGCVWTGFUVQTKGUQH also see asteroids as a potential source
asteroid or lunar miners, of water.

"IT'S POSSIBLE, transferring the American

Wild West mentality
According to Dr Andrew May, author
of The Space Business, “Something like

FOR EXAMPLE,
into space. It’s already asteroid mining looks feasible enough
technically feasible to on paper – in engineering terms, at
mine materials from the Moon or the least. But from a business perspective

TO DEPLOY
asteroid belt, and it has the potential it’s iff y, because a company might
VQDGGZVTGOGN[RTQƂVCDNG need to invest a decade or two
For example, there could be 10 times developing the technology before seeing

MEDICATION
as much of the isotope helium-3 on the tangible returns.”
Moon than there is on Earth, and much However, he points out t hat as
of it is near the Moon’s surface. This “governments are generally less averse

DIRECTLY TO may be a valuable resource for nuclear

fusion reactors.
Although the asteroids a re much
to long-term projects”, they could put the
brunt of their efforts into a more readily
abundant space resource: solar energy.

THE AREA WHERE

GETTY IMAGES, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

further away, cutting off parts of them, Solar panels on Earth only receive a
or moving all of an asteroid by attaching fraction of the sunlight that’s accessible

IT'S NEEDED"
a rocket, would be a relatively easy way from space. If this energy could be
to haul them back to Earth. beamed down to Earth using microwaves,
The most likely resources would be we would have a sustainable surplus of
rare metals, particularly those used in solar energy on tap. This has already
electronics, though there’s a danger that been tested on a small scale in 2023,
a single asteroid could contain so much but China plans to have a space solar
material that the market would collapse. power station active by 2050.

59
FE ATURE

A REPLACEMENT FOR

Climate change batteries while maintaining the

makes ditching same power output.”
fossil f uels a “New battery chemist ries,
priority. In UWEJCUƃQYDCVVGTKGUQTOGVCN
t ransport, t he air batteries, may also be used
single biggest for ultra-long duration energy
barrier to this is storage.”
battery technology. Current It’s also quite likely t hat
lithium-ion batteries are great supercapacitors will revolutionise
for small devices, but have elect ric vehicles. Unlike a
serious limitations for vehicles, battery, which stores energy
in terms of capacity, charge time, in an electrochemical reaction,
durability and safety. capacitors build up electrical

WE'LL ALL USE

By 2050, we’ll likely see a cha rge on t heir elect rodes
completely new take on battery – common components used
technology, with a host of new in practically all elect ronic
components. Electrodes, and the devices. Supercapacitors add a
electrochemically active material structure to these electrodes that

COMPUTERS
between the electrodes, will be enables them to hold a double
replaced altogether. layer of charge. This engages
Dr John-Joseph Ma rie, a a battery-like phenomenon
principal analyst at the Faraday called ‘pseudocapacitance’,
Institution, notes that, “Many allowing it to store incredible

LIKE IRON MAN

new battery chemist ries a re amounts of energy.
under development that may All this to say, supercapacitors
be in widespread use by 2050. charge up in seconds. And where
Portable elect ronics, where a lit hium battery degrades
energy density is so important, after a few thousand charges,
will increasingly rely on silicon supercapacitors survive for
anodes to reduce t he size of around half a million cycles.

60
WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS FE ATURE

1PGQHOCP[UEKƂRTQOKUGU However, t he development of t he DGƂPGHQTICOKPICVJQOGDWVYQWNF

yet to materialise is the technology is now well on its way. While likely turn a few heads if you wore it
VTCPUHQTOCVKQPQHƃCV& eye tracking is currently used to see walking down the street. It’s likely that
computer interfaces into what the user is looking at, developers spatial computing will only take off, if
f ree-f loating dazzling are working towards versions able to it can be built into hardware no more
pixelated visions t hat respond to facial expressions in the obtrusive than a pair of glasses.
dance in front of our eyes way a human can. We can also expect Still, look how far mobile phones
and react to the wave of our hands. better hand tracking, so that a user can have come since the turn of the century.
Currently, spatial computing is appear to directly interact with the We’ve raced from their basic inception
available – think technology like Google superimposed digital world. to make them smarter, smaller and more
Glass and Apple Vision Pro – to bridge Currently, the biggest obstacle facing sophisticated than previously thought
the gap between our world and the digital spatial computing is persuading people possible. The average weight of a phone
GETTY IMAGES, ALAMY

realm. It can track eye movements and that it’s worth having a 650g (1.5lb) was just 148g (about 5oz) in 2019, and
recognise voice commands, but seems headset strapped to their face at all think how far we’ve come since then.
pretty stilted next to what Tony Stark times. Not only does this quickly get Who knows, by 2050, we might all have
used in the Iron Man movies (not to uncomfortable, but it looks very odd from upgraded from iPhones to hologram-
mention pricey and niche). the outside. A bulky 2025 headset might based eye phones.

61
FE ATURE WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS

It may sound familiar digital twins might

THE DOCTOR WILL SEE

like a new type be our own. We already have
of deepfake, smartwatches and other
but digital devices that monitor things
twins are a like our heart rates and blood
concept that’s pressure. Our digital twins

YOUR DIGITAL TWIN

ready to rock could use this data to assess
the medical world. our health, waltzing off to
Where regular computer the doctor’s surgery to get
simulations replicate the help before we’re even aware
behaviour of objects or there’s a problem.
situations, a digital twin Dr Roger Highfield,
adds a layer of realism. The co-author of Virtual You,
simulation is fed real-time writes that, “Simulations
data from the original object, are already in regular use
enabling it to more accurately in drug development and
match what’s really going on. they’ll become more common,
The concept originated providing truly personalised
with NASA, but has rapidly and predictive medicine.”
developed to support a range “Hundreds of digital twins of
of tasks. For example, a digital a single patient could explore
twin can both monitor the their virtual futures and the
state of a nuclear power station long-term effects of treatments,
and use up-to-the-minute diets and lifestyle changes.
data to predict its behaviour. While the most sophisticated
As you might imagine, this twins might be limited to
could be particularly useful researchers or the rich, simpler
in preventing potential versions will allow everyone
meltdowns. to benefit from this greater
By 2050, though, the most emphasis on prevention.”

CRISPR STARTS EDITING OUR GENOME

For decades now, we’ve diseases, as well as a range of cancers.
been promised that gene 5KPEGYJGPVJGVGEJPQNQI[YCUƂTUV
editing (making direct injected into a human body, a number of
changes to human genes) clinical trials have been established, but
will transform healthcare there are obstacles facing its regular use,
with tailored solutions to both from a safety and ethical standpoint.
medical problems. But the Dr Nessa Carey, author of Hacking
next 25 years could see it come to fruition. the Code of Life predicts that, “by 2050,
Tools that make precise changes to genes we’ll see a relatively routine use of gene
are available now, notably CRISPR. It was editing in the treatment of people with
WUGFQPJWOCPGODT[QUHQTVJGƂTUVVKOG inherited disorders, and with some other
by Chinese scientists in 2015 in an attempt conditions such as cancer.”
to correct a gene defect responsible for the “I think by then we’ll also see the
disease beta-thalassaemia. Though these editing of embryos from families with
were non-viable embryos, it highlighted inherited conditions for which there may
controversies facing CRISPR’s medical be no other effective options. Though
use and in most of the 86 embryos, the technical challenges will be resolved
procedure was unsuccessful. before the ethical ones, by mid-century
CRISPR has also been studied for I doubt we’ll be able to justify withholding
treating both viral and bacterial infectious this option from desperate families.”

62
WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS FE ATURE

Material science often seating on demand so that no one has

lacks the glamour of other to miss Taylor Swift’s next Eras tour.
technologies – and yet it Current attempts often make use of
EQWNFDGCPGZEKVKPIƂGNF ‘solid-liquid phase change pumping’,
to watch over the next 25 where a material shifts between solid and
years. Perhaps one of the liquid states, reshaping before solidifying.
simplest yet most To date, this has only been possible on a
promising new materials is self-repairing small scale, but over the next 25 years,
concrete. Self-repairing is a ‘biomimetic’ we could see the approach expand to a
process – one where technology is practical level.
developed inspired by the capabilities Perhaps the most exciting new
of the natural world – as it echoes the materials, though, are metamaterials.
abilities of living tissue to repair damage. Designed with unusual structures made
We can expect most concrete of the to hijack quantum phenomena, they can
future to heal itself, using, for example, gain unexpected super-abilities.
dormant bacteria that produce calcium At the simpler end, these metamaterials
carbonate when water gets into the might improve safety helmets by changing
OCVGTKCN1TGXGPƂNNGTNKMGJGCNKPICIGPVU how much pressure they can resist. On
that are released when microcapsules are the more spectacular end, scientists
broken as the material shifts. are working on honest-to-goodness
+PUEKƂYGQHVGPUGGGZQVKEOCVGTKCN invisibility cloaks. The metamaterial in
that can reshape itself when needed these cloaks can bend the light around
ALAMY X2, GETTY IMAGES

(think Terminator 2’s T-1000 melting them, preventing objects underneath from
through prison bars and taking the forms being seen. Currently, the cloaks have only
of its various victims). Programmable worked on small items, illuminated with
substances might have more positive uses non-visible, infrared light, but by 2050 we
in the real world. For example, stadiums can expect materials capable of making
could be programmed to provide new small items disappear in visible light.

63
FE ATURE WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS

64
WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS FE ATURE

QUANTUM
COMPUTING
POWERS
THE NEXT
GENERATION
OF AI
Quantum computers are example, to bring materials to ultra-low
well on t he way to temperatures. But with the amount of
performing calculations research effort going into improving
t hat would take them, it’s likely that this won’t be an
conventional machines issue in 25 years.
t he lifetime of t he Quantum computers will also
Universe to complete. likely be capable of completing
Though currently very limited and multiple calculations simultaneously,
error-prone, algorithms are already t ransforming t he capabilities of
being developed so that they can, for CTVKƂEKCNKPVGNNKIGPEG
example, gain the ability to search While we might not see artificial
exponentially faster than their general intelligence – computers capable
conventional counterparts. of human-like thinking and feeling – in
By the time we reach 2050, we can the next 25 years, quantum AI might
expect quantum computers to be stable be able to better explain the reasoning
enough to be used as everyday remote behind its decision-making processes.
servers, particularly where complex This would make it more trustworthy
GETTY IMAGES

searching is required. At the moment, when handling tasks that could greatly
most quantum computing is limited by impact human lives – think healthcare
its need for laboratory conditions – for CPFƂPCPEG

65
FE ATURE WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS

ORBITAL CLEAN UP

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mess. For decades situation will be far worse.

AND FINALLY,
we’ve been Some debris is self-disposing as
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satellites into The higher the orbit, the longer
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recently t he orbits will usually be gone within

FUSION
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hugely accelerated how much is OKNGU WRKVECPVCMGCEGPVWT[
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At t he same time, smaller re-enter at a rate of between
orbiting debris is accumulating, one every three days and three
TCPIKPI H TQO H NGEMU QH RCKPV a day. Geostationary satellites,
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stages. This stuff is moving OKNGU VQQTDKVCVVJGUCOG For decades we’ve been
fast. According to NASA, the rate as Earth rotates, are usually promised that nuclear
average impact speed of debris is moved to higher ‘graveya rd fusion would provide
MOJ ORJ $GKPI orbits’ to clear space, while lower clean, green energy and
JKVD[LWUVCEO KP RKGEGCV flying satellites are now often finally – finally – by
VJKUURGGFKUNKMGDGKPIJKVD[C intentionally brought down. 2050 the promise might
DQYNKPIDCNNCVPGCTN[MOJ $[CTCPIGQHVGEJPKSWGU deliver.
ORJ YKNNNKMGN[DGWUGFVQFKURQUGQH The concept is simple: harness the
There are more than 25,000 debris, including capture vehicles, power source of the stars. Where
MPQYPQDLGEVUDKIIGTVJCPEO nets and lasers to vaporise the current nuclear energy depends on
KP KP FKCOGVGT EWTTGPVN[ debris or slow it down so that ƂUUKQP URNKVVKPICVQOU HWUKQPOCMGU
orbiting us, and tens of millions of its orbit decays. Unfortunately, use of the energy released when atomic
GETTY IMAGES X2

pieces overall. The International CNCEMQHEQQRGTCVKQPDGVYGGP nuclei merge to form new elements,
Space Station regularly receives states, commercial operators and converting a small amount of matter
small dents from tiny debris and space agencies may limit effective
has to steer to avoid larger pieces debris clearance.

66
WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS FE ATURE

to energy in the process. Fusion experiments started in the worldwide within the next 25 years.”
6JKUJCUOCP[CFXCPVCIGUQXGTƂUUKQP UYKVJCPGZRGEVCVKQPVJCVVJG[ She also points towards the increasing
It produces far less radioactive waste, would join the power grid within about diversity of the technology as a promising
uses more easily obtained fuel and has 30 years. With the pressure of climate sign. “We might see a range of fusion
no potential for a meltdown. change driving a move away from fossil technologies being used depending on
Stars rely on immense pressure HWGNUKVUGGOUNKMGN[VJCVHWUKQPYKNN the size and location of the reactor:
from their gravitation, as well as high be generating significant amounts of microreactors for instance could use a
temperatures. Without that, a fusion power by 2050. different technological approach to larger
generator on Earth typically runs at far $WV&T5JCTQP#PP*QNICVGCWVJQT scale power plants.”
JKIJGTVGORGTCVWTGU4GCEVQTUGKVJGTYQTM of Nuclear Fusion, provides a note of
by heating plasma to intense temperatures caution: “It’s hard to predict when – or
and high pressure, or by using powerful GXGPKHsYGoNNDGDQKNKPIQWTMGVVNGUXKC by B R I A N C L E G G
lasers to blast small fuel pellets inwards, fusion-generated power, but I’m hoping it Brian is an award-winning science writer and the
producing intense pressure and heat. might start feeding electricity into grids author of over 40 books.

67
COMMENT WORST IDEAS

by I A N TAY L O R
ENVATO ELEMENTS

NOT ALL IDEAS CAN BE HITS. ALONGSIDE GROUND-BREAKING INNOVATIONS,

21ST-CENTURY SCIENTISTS HAVE HELMED THEIR SHARE OF WILD TECH FLOPS, DUBIOUS
THEORIES AND OVERHYPED BREAKTHROUGHS. HERE ARE THE BIGGEST TO FORGET

68
WORST IDEAS COMMENT

69
COMMENT WORST IDEAS

THE METAVERSE
If you don’t know what the metaverse is (no judgment because
it was horribly sold), it was a word that Mark Zuckerberg and
roughly four other people used to describe loosely connected
immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented
reality (AR), open-world gaming, digital avatars and non-
fungible tokens (NFTs). The internet 3.0, if you will.
Zuckerberg imagined a terribly animated dystopia where
we could work and socialise on a hybrid plane of semi-digital
existence. We would have avatars to attend meetings for us,
but for some reason, they wouldn’t have legs. You could buy
COCPUKQPOCFGQHRKZGNUPQVDTKEMU2QRWRPQVKƂECVKQPU
would bombard our retinas via AR glasses that superimposed
online content over the real world. And thanks to VR, we
could do anything or go anywhere simply by strapping a
heavy, sweat-inducing computer to our faces.
5QOGQHVJGUGVGEJPQNQIKGUCTGUVKNNƂIJVKPIHQTNKHGDWV
many have faded from relevance or completely stalled.
Zuckerberg’s VR branch has now lost a staggering $58bn
(£46bn) since 2020. Don’t expect those losses to be a blip – a
survey of 624 tech experts found that nearly half believe the

HYPERLOOP
metaverse won’t play a major role in our lives, even by 2040.

From an engineering perspective,

hyperloop is a bold, world-changing
form of transport – if only someone
could get it to work. The idea is to
encase people and cargo in a steel
tube, then propel them with magnets
through a near-vacuum at 1,000km/h
(about 600mph), hopefully without
rearranging anyone’s internal organs.
Elon Musk wrote a white paper
on the concept in 2013 and multiple
start-ups and test tracks have since
been built around the world. Critics
UC[/WUMXCUVN[QXGTUKORNKƂGFVJG
construction and infrastructure
work required to make hyperloop
a reality. Some even claim he only
proposed it to shut down high-speed
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electric car company, Tesla.
Whatever t he t rut h, a Dutch
GETTY IMAGES X4

hyperloop company conducted its

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30km/h (19mph).
WORST IDEAS COMMENT

FINGERSTICK BLOOD 3D-PRINTED GUNS

TESTING… FOR CANCER
When 3D printers for playing around
YKVJCVJQOGƂTUVJKVVJGOCTMGVQWT
minds all leapt to Star Trek’s replicators.
We dreamed of machines that could
materialise tea, Earl Grey, hot – cup and
CNN5CFN[CDQWVƂXGOKPWVGUKPVQVJG
Think big, fail fast. Silicon Valley’s At its peak, Theranos was valued 3D-printing-at-home craze, some bright
unofficial motto works well if at $9bn (£7.1bn). Its founder, spark created a set of instructions that
you’re building another social Stanford dropout Elizabeth Holmes, could print a gun. And just like that,
media platform or the next big thing was feted as the youngest self-made our future looked less like Star Trek
in blockchain-powered fintech billionaire in history. Eventually, and more like The Terminator.
management software (is that a whistleblowers came forward,
thing? We think that’s a thing). followed by federal investigators.
When ‘Big Tech’ gets into the health They found that Edison produced
space, however, lives are at stake. unreliable results. One patient was
The biggest cautionary tale comes told they were HIV positive when
from Theranos, a company that they weren’t. Another was told she
claimed to have invented a blood had miscarried when she hadn’t.
test that would change the world. There were also multiple false
It was called Edison – a handheld diagnoses of cancer and diabetes.
laboratory that could detect over By the end of 2022, Holmes and
200 diseases, cancer included, from her partner Ramesh Balwani had
a tiny amount of blood extracted received a prognosis of their
from a finger. Spoiler: it very own: 11 and 12 years in
absolutely couldn’t. jail, respectively.

THE LIKE BUTTON We could debate the

pros and cons of
social media all day
until we hate each
other, but… well,
that’s what social
media is for. Surely
one thing we can
agree on, however, is the like button.
Bad idea. Terrible. As well as creating
a new form of social currency that kept
us addicted to our phones and needy
for the button-press of strangers, it also
became a gateway through which ‘Big
Tech’ algorithms understood us.
In 2015, psychologist Prof Michal
Kosinski found that, armed only with
a person’s Facebook likes, a computer
model could predict t hat person’s
personality better than their family
or friends could. Where’s the thumbs-
down button for this idea?

71
COMMENT WORST IDEAS

MICROBEADS
Patents go back to the 1960s, but it was in the
early 2000s that microbeads (plastic spheres less
than 1mm across) became prevalent in our soaps,
toothpastes and practically every other cosmetic.
All the better for whiter teeth and smoother skin.
Of course, they were an environmental disaster.
6QQUOCNNVQDGƂNVGTGFD[UGYCIGU[UVGOUVJG[
washed out to sea and into the food chain before

OVERPRESCRIBING
bans started to roll in from 2014. We probably
swallowed them too. In recent years, microplastics
have been found in human brains, lungs, testes
and other organs, although to be fair, those could
also have come from car tyres, coffee pods, food
packaging or any number of other sources.

SEGWAY
The Segway was supposed to
do for cars what cars did for
OPIOIDS
“What’s that, you’re having
some moderate discomfort?
It’s also a global t rend.
Researchers estimate that 60
horses, a revolution in transport Here, have a bottle of wildly million people are battling the
that investors claimed would be addictive tablets and we’ll addictive effects of opioids.
bigger than the internet. It didn’t see you again when you Close to 80 per cent of the
work out like that. The company overdose.” We’re reasonably world’s deaths due to drugs
vastly overestimated our appetite certain that no doctor has were related to opioid use.
for two-wheeled ‘personal ever said those exact words, Overprescription isn’t the
transporters’ and didn’t even but some of them might as only factor, but public health
IGVVJGOEGTVKƂGFHQTTQCFWUGKP well have. Between 1998 and experts agree that it’s a big
a lot of places. Lazy tourists still 2016 opioid prescriptions in one. Egged on by salespeople
use them in some cities, but let’s England increased by 127 per from ‘Big Pharma’, physicians
ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES X5

be honest, everyone looks a little cent, according to The Lancet. spent the early 21st century
tragic on a Segway. None more A sharper rise has been seen handing out high-strength
so than British businessman Jimi in the US, where an estimated painkillers like they were
Heselden, who bought Segway plasters. The result? A deeply
Inc. in 2009. He died a year later, upsetting wound in our
reversing one off a cliff. collective medical records.

72
WORST IDEAS COMMENT

NFT ART LOOT BOXES

According to a paper from Harvard Business School,
gamers spend $15bn (£11.8bn) a year on loot boxes. These
collectable in-game tokens give your character a cooler
outfit or a weapon that will smite your enemies more
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Except, for many players, in-game purchases have ruined
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mobile games are now
designed to maximise
Are rich people okay? The most infamous loot box revenue at the
This was the question NFT project was the expense of playability.
asked in 2021, when NFT Bored Ape Yacht Club, To advance in many
artworks started selling valued at $4bn (£3.2bn) games, you have to keep
for millions. at its peak in 2022. By spending. This pay-
‘Non-fungible tokens’ VJGƃQQTRTKEGJCF to-win model is often
are unique digital assets collapsed by 88 per cent. compared to gambling
stored on a digital ledger That doesn’t mean and can encourage
called a blockchain. To now is a good time to addictive behaviours
outsiders, buying them invest. In 2024, analysts in young gamers. We’d
looked like people were claimed that 96 per cent rather KO this custom.
paying Lamborghini of all NFT collections
prices for JPEGs. were effectively dead.

GOOGLE GLASS
It’s funny, isn’t it, how many
so-called sma rt products
your inbox hands-free. Or
scroll social media while
are designed with the bare visiting your grandmother,
minimum of common sense. updating her in real time on
Google Glass may be t he the latest celebrity divorces.
ultimate example, the head- She’d love that.
mounted wearable lasting all Google Glass also included
of two years on the market a camera to record Nana’s
before being discontinued. reaction, but also everything
It looked like something and everyone, all the time.
from Star Trek. The device It gave us t he creeps just
had a tiny display that put as much as it gave privacy
the internet just millimetres campaigners an open goal
from your eyeball, so you the size of the Grand Canyon.
could access sweet, sweet Google halted production
content at any moment. in 2015, but recently a slew
Finally, you could take a of new, but no-less-creepy,
scenic walk while reading prototypes have emerged.

73
COMMENT WORST IDEAS

HEALTH HALO
A box of granola may be ‘organic’,
but it could still pack enough sugar
to make your eyeballs hum. A ‘high-
protein’ ready meal might also be
swimming in trans fats. And that

FOOD LABELS
loaf of ‘multi-grain’ bread sounds
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g ra i n s, t hen muc h of t he f ibre
and many of the nutrients will be
stripped away during production.
;QWoNNCNUQƂPFRNCPVDCUGFHQQFU
labelled ‘cholesterol-free’ when,
A weird paradox of the 21st century in truth, all plant-based foods are
is t hat wh i le people a re more cholesterol-free.
healt h-conscious t ha n ever, our This effect works the other way, too.
diets now include more unhealthy Most scientists believe genetically
and processed foods than at any modified foods have incredible
poi nt i n h istor y. I n t he US, for potential for public healt h, but
insta nce, ult ra-processed foods many consumers are put off by the
account for more than half of all label. Meanwhile, foods splashed
calories consumed. Meanwhile, food YKVJXCRKFWPUEKGPVKƂENCDGNUCTG
labels are stuffed with buzzwords regularly sold as health foods.
that make products seem healthier Oh, it’s ‘100-per-cent natural’, you
than they actually are. say? Great. So is arsenic.

POWER POSING
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of body language was supercharged in 2010 when
researchers from Harvard and Columbia found
that certain poses make us feel more powerful
and in control. Not only that, the right ‘expansive’
poses – such as reclining with your hands behind
your head – could reduce stress hormones
and increase testosterone.
The idea caught on quickly. Peacocking

MARS ONE
CEOs strutted around the board room and
people questioned why politicians were
delivering speeches while standing
like a superhero.
Five years later, power posing
lost a lot of its presence when 9CPVGFDTCXGUQWNUVQDWKNFVJGƂTUVJWOCP
researchers realised that colony on Mars. The year was 2011 and Dutch
some of the results of the entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp had a dream to send
original study couldn’t be human beings to the Red Planet. The catch? Mars
TGRNKECVGF+PHCEVEQPƂFGPEG One would be a one-way trip.
in t he whole field of social That didn’t seem to put people off, neither did
ALAMY X3, GETTY IMAGES X3

psychology was faltering in what Lansdorp’s plan to fund your slow death in part
has since become known as ‘The with a Big Brother-style reality TV show.
Replication Crisis’. Still, we’re sure Scientists and aerospace engineers were aghast,
it’s not hing a st rong handshake and listed serious misgivings about hardware,
couldn’t sort out. logistics and the health of astronauts. They needn’t
have worried. Mars One went bankrupt in 2019.

74
WORST IDEAS COMMENT

FACEBOOK RUNNING GEOENGINEERING

EXPERIMENTS ON US
Such is the scale of the climate crisis
that rational scientists think it might
be a good idea to spray aerosols into the
upper atmosphere to bounce sunlight
back into space. Others plan to cover
deserts and glaciers with some kind
of sheeting. There are also proposals
to meddle with the weather or boost
the oceans’ alkalinity.
Pretty much every geoengineering
plan is controversial, their results
uncertain and t heir side effects
unknown. But, you know… nothing
ventured, nothing gained. Climate
talks are failing and decarbonisation
is too slow. Might as well shoot for the
Moon, eh, folks?
In the words of the American writer
Eli Kintisch, geoengineering is a bad
idea whose time has come.

The big tech firms that emerged The delightfully Orwellian study
in the noughties gathered more aimed to manipulate people’s
personal information on their users emotions by controlling what turned
than any corporation in history, up in their news feeds. Beyond
and not always with our best privacy concerns, critics slammed
interests at heart. Case in point, social media’s ability to choreograph
in 2014, Facebook – early motto: RGQRNGoUOQQFUCPFKPƃWGPEGVJGKT
move fast and break things – ran political opinions. Facebook (now
an experiment on 700,000 users Meta) apologised though, so no
without their knowledge. harm done.

OVERPROMISES
The early 21st century has been a time of fast and
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like all Homo sapiens, scientists are sometimes
guilty of getting ahead of themselves. This
century alone, we’ve been promised warp drives
and cold fusion, personalised medicine and
tepid semiconductors. And every time there’s
the smallest breakthrough, researchers say the
world-changing development will be with us
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Maybe they just say that to make sure the research by I A N TAY L O R
keeps getting funding. Still… better get a move on. Ian is a freelance science writer and the former
The 22nd century is only 75 short years away. deputy editor of BBC Science Focus.

75
THE BIG QUESTION PERSONALITY CHANGE

THE BIG QUESTION

How can I
change my
personality?
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by D R C H R I S T I A N JA R R E T T

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personality as being
grounded in various
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76
Few people are happy with all their personality traits, but there are ways to work on adjusting them that might increase your satisfaction with life

2CTVKEKRCPVUJCFVQEJQQUGCVTCKVVQ UEQTGUCPFVJKPMCDQWVJQYsCPFOQTG A blueprint for change

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77
THE BIG QUESTION PERSONALITY CHANGE

´ make tweaks. It’s helpful to think of KPƃWGPEG[QWTCRRTCKUCNQHVGORVCVKQPU

ways to change both from the inside-out “Recent studies sVGNN[QWTUGNHVJCVVJGEQQMKGUNQQMQNF
(adopting new habits of thought, for
instance), and the outside-in (recognising have shown that and your phone makes you stressed.
The next step is to make the
that your environment and the people
you interact with also shape you).
when introverts alternatives sparkle. Remind yourself of
how good you’ll feel after you’ve eaten
If you’re serious about changing one or
more of your traits, it’s worth not only
act more some fruit, or how rewarding it’ll be to
read a book.
learning new skills and habits, but also extroverted,
taking a look at things like your work Extroversion
culture or your friendship group, to they enjoy it much Surveys show the next most sought-after
consider whether they’re conducive to trait change is to become more of an
your personal development goals. more than they extrovert. This could be a shrewd move

Neuroticism
think they will” sOCP[TGEGPVUVWFKGUJCXGUJQYPVJCV
when introverts act more extroverted,
Surveys show that lowering neuroticism they enjoy it much more than they think
is the most popular change to make. If they will. They’ve even reported that it
[QWUWEEGGF[QWoNNNKMGN[DGPGƂVsQPG makes them feel more authentic.
study from 2013 estimated that a small One fun way to boost your extroversion
reduction in neuroticism would boost is to learn a different language that makes
your wellbeing by the equivalent of an you feel less inhibited (research suggests
extra $314,000 income per year (that’s 5RCPKUJOKIJVDGCIQQFEJQKEGDWVƂPF
over $400,000 in today’s money, or what works for you).
approximately £312,000). A completely different approach could
If you’re a high scorer in neuroticism, DGVQJQPG[QWTƃKTVCVKQPUMKNNUs[GU
it’s likely that you experience many really. A study from 2022 found that just
negative thoughts, such as self-criticism VJTGGJQWTUQHVTCKPKPIYCUUWHƂEKGPVVQ
and worry. Schools of psychotherapy help make gains in extroversion.
abound with tips and tricks for getting Ultimately, these are just some initial
these thoughts under control. KFGCUHQTJQY[QWECPKPƃWGPEG[QWT
One of my favourites is the so-called by D R C H R I S T I A N JA R R E T T
traits. To achieve any meaningful change,
‘mind-bus’ technique. Imagine that you’re Christian is a cognitive neuroscientist, science writer you’ll need to stick at it and make a habit
VJGFTKXGTQHCDWUCPF[QWTFKHƂEWNV and author. He is the author of Be Who You Want. of your new ways of living.
thoughts are the passengers. You can then
have fun, for example, getting them to
sing what they’re nagging you with, or
telling them you’re in charge. The idea
is to help create a distance between
yourself and your thoughts so that they’ll
trouble you less.

Conscientiousness
After lowering neuroticism, the next most
sought-after personality change is to
become more conscientious. It’s a good
choice because more conscientiousness
is associated with receiving more work
promotions and living longer.
One way to get started is to realise that
the secret to higher conscientiousness is
not having ironclad willpower. It’s about
CXQKFKPIVGORVCVKQPUKPVJGƂTUVRNCEG
Psychologists talk about a ‘temptation
generation cycle’ and you can get into the
GETTY IMAGES

habit of disrupting it at different stages.

First of all, you can remove temptations
(don’t leave the cookie jar out; don’t take
your phone to bed). Secondly, you can Studies suggest introverts often find acting like an extrovert isn’t as daunting as they might imagine

78
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Q&A

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

GL ADYS MOORE, BATH

HOW CAN I
IDENTIFY MY
PSYCHOLOGICAL
BLIND SPOT?
In the 1950s two American psychologists,
Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham,
proposed a way of thinking about
psychological blind spots – things you don’t
know about yourself – that they called the
‘Johari Window’ (the term is a combination
of their first names).
Picture a two-by-two grid, like a window.
In one quadrant of the Johari Window is all
the things you know about yourself and that
other people know about you. Luft and
Ingham called this ‘free activity’, in reference
to all the information about you that’s freely what this might be, but perhaps you’re though you’ve always seen yourself as more
shared and available. changing beneath the surface, slowly of an introvert.
In another quadrant is all the stuff you shifting in your political beliefs, say, or The Johari Window provided a framework
know about yourself, but that other people maybe your tastes in music or film are for thinking about these things, but it’s only
don’t know about – you could think of these gradually evolving. in more recent years that psychologists have
as your private beliefs or ways that you The final quadrant is, in some ways, the conducted research that establishes that
behave when no one else is around. most interesting one – this contains the people really do have these kinds of blind
The other two quadrants are filled with things that other people know about you, spots. These days, the ability to discern how
your blind spots. One of the quadrants but which you don’t know about yourself. other people perceive you is known as
contains knowledge and information about Maybe other people think of you as lazy, but meta-perception. The studies suggest that,
you that no one knows – not you and not you don’t see yourself that way, or maybe overall, we’re actually pretty good at
the people who know you. It’s tricky to think others see you as friendly and sociable, even meta-perception, but at the same time,

80
Q&A

PETE DR HELEN DR CHRISTIAN PROF PETER CERI PERKINS IAN TAYLOR DR ABBIE
LAWRENCE SCALES JARRETT BENTLEY Everyday Health & JORDAN
Astronomy Marine biology Psychology Technology science nutrition Biology

“THESE DAYS, THE ABILITY TO JOANNA WOODWARD, VIA EMAIL

DISCERN HOW OTHER PEOPLE HOW CAN SOME ANIMALS SMELL

PERCEIVE YOU IS KNOWN AS FOOD FROM SO FAR AWAY?
META-PERCEPTION [AND] Nature’s finest scent trackers owe their incredible sense of smell to the
abundance of olfactory receptors in their noses – or trunks, in the case

STUDIES SUGGEST THAT of elephants. Polar bears, for example, have enough receptors packed
into their noses to smell prey from over 32km away (almost 20 miles).

WE’RE PRETTY GOOD AT IT”

Some dog breeds, like bloodhounds, have
up to 300 million receptors (humans
have around 6 million). On a good
day, dogs can detect food that’s
20km (12 miles) away. Additionally,
most of us do have genuine blind spots – the structure of most dogs’ noses,
that is, there are significant aspects of with large amounts of nasal tissue
ourselves that other people agree on, but and a high surface area for sensing
which we’re ignorant of. smell, is designed for scent
So, how can you find out what your blind detection, especially when
spots are? There are some more systematic it comes to finding food. AJ
and scientific ways of going about this,
but also some quirkier, less formal
techniques that, nonetheless, could end up
being rather revealing.
ERIC DALE, LONDON
For a systematic approach, you could ‘Death by refrigerator’ was a big problem
consider completing a basic personality test HOW MANY PEOPLE in the US, because, historically, their
(there are plenty of free ones available refrigerators and freezers were not only
online – I suggest using one that’s based on ARE KILLED BY the largest, but also renewed so
the ‘Big-Five’ model of personality, rather frequently. Old appliances were left lying
than something that’s not evidence-based, around outside and became the ‘perfect’
such as the Myers Briggs). Then ask a sample hiding places for kids playing hide and
of trusted friends, relatives and/or seek. Old-style refrigerators with
colleagues to complete the same test about mechanical door catches were deadly.
you. Ask them to be as honest as possible. Once closed, the door couldn’t be opened
Finally, compare your test scores with the from the inside.
GETTY IMAGES, ALAMY ILLUSTRATION: KYLE SMART

ones other people gave you and brace In the 1950s the problem was so severe
yourself for some surprises. In business, this that volunteers and health inspectors
kind of approach is called 360° feedback. would seek out abandoned refrigerators
For a less formal approach, you could try a and take off the doors to try and prevent
‘dinner of truth’. It’s imperative you do this more tragedies. By 1958 the US
with someone you trust and who you have a Refrigerator Safety Act was introduced
strong relationship with. At the dinner, you that required these appliances to close
ask them to tell you one really annoying magnetically instead of mechanically.
thing about you that they’ve never shared Yet even today, it’s estimated that
before. Tread carefully, but the more people 60 people a year die in the US after
you try this with, the more revelations and getting trapped inside old refrigerators –
blind spots you might uncover. CJ usually children. PB

81
Q&A

NATURE’S WEIRDEST CREATURES

THE MARY RIVER TURTLE

Take a look at a Mary River turtle and it’s shells, scientists had never seen them in the Cann also named another species from
plain to see why they used to be so popular wild. It was only the pet turtles that brought Queensland, the Fitzroy River Turtle, which
as pets. Tufts of grassy-green algae on their the species to the attention of Australian shares an unusual way of breathing with
heads give them a look that’s more ‘aged herpetologist, John Cann. He spent most of the Mary River turtle. As well as using lungs,
punk rocker’ than regular reptile. These the 1980s trying to track down their natural like most other reptiles, these river turtles
freshwater turtles are endemic to the Mary range and searched all over northern can also do what’s known as ‘cloacal
River in Queensland, Australia, where, 60 Australia until eventually tracing them to breathing’ – in other words, they can
years ago, their nests were raided for the the Mary River. In 1994, he named them as a absorb oxygen through their hind openings,
pet trade. Thumb-sized hatchlings were new species: Elusor macrurus. or cloacas, orifices normally reserved for
sold in pet shops in Adelaide, Brisbane, As well as their punky hairdo, Mary River reproduction and excretion. Specialised
Melbourne and Sydney as ‘saw-shelled turtles have a distinctly long tail, which in glands inside their cloacas allow these river
snappers’ or ‘penny-turtles’. The trade males can be almost two-thirds of their turtles to stay fully submerged for three
depleted the turtles in the wild and pushed entire shell length. They also have big days at a time.
the species towards extinction. webbed feet for fast swimming and a pair Further studies revealed the Mary River
Despite being one of Australia’s largest of fleshy, finger-like projections under their turtles are highly evolutionarily distinct.
freshwater turtles, with 40cm-long (15in) chin, presumably for sensing prey. Their ancestors diverged from all other

82
Q&A

JOSEPH ODLING, VIA EMAIL

COULD I BUILD A DEATH

RAY IN MY GARDEN?
The legendary heat ray of Archimedes Defence has recently been trialling its
was supposedly a weapon used to burn Dragonfire laser-directed energy weapon.
attacking Roman ships in 212BC. Mirrors This can punch a hole through a mortar
reflected the Sun to a focussed point, casing or fry a drone, and costs just 10p
resulting in such a high temperature that (about 13 cents) per use. There’s also a
the ships it was aimed at caught fire. ‘laserweeder’ device in development for
While this is likely to have been a myth, farmers in the US: weeds are zapped to
various modern experimenters have death by AI-controlled lasers pulled
shown that, with the right mirrors, it’s behind a tractor, no chemicals required.
possible to focus the Sun and generate But don’t be tempted to try any of
fire. This fact is known all too well by the these at home or in your garden. Curved
UK’s fire brigades who have attended mirrors and magnifying glasses focussing
many housefires caused by curved sunlight – and lasers – can be extremely

“THEY DON’T REACH beauty mirrors (placed on bathroom

windowsills, they can catch summer
dangerous. In 2008, a music festival in
Russia ended in disaster when rain forced

SEXUAL MATURITY UNTIL

sunshine and focus the light onto the organisers to erect giant tents, but
combustible materials). In some cases, nobody remembered to turn off the laser
entire homes have been burnt to the display that was supposed to illuminate

THEY’RE AT LEAST ground, all because of a magnifying mirror

in the wrong place at the wrong time.
the sky. Instead, the laser light reflected
off the tent walls into dancers’ eyes

25 YEARS OLD”
The modern equivalent of a death ray causing severe vision loss. Even a laser
is a laser, which directs light in a narrow, pointer can cause damage to eyes, so be
focussed beam, and the UK’s Ministry of very careful when using them! PB
living species of turtles around 40 million
years ago. This is why, in 2018, the species
was added to a list compiled by the
Zoological Society of London (ZSL) of
‘Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally
Endangered’, or EDGE, reptile species. ZSL
has published EDGE lists for various groups
of animals, including amphibians,
mammals, birds and corals, all of the
species that are not only at risk of
extinction, but also have few close living
relatives on the tree of life.
On the reptilian EDGE list are such
oddities as the Madagascar blind snake,
which looks like a pink wriggling worm; the
minute leaf chameleon, which barely
reaches 3.5cm (1.4in) in length; and
Williams’ dwarf gecko from the forests of
NATUREPL.COM X2 ILLUSTRATION: KYLE SMART

Tanzania, which, like the Mary River turtle,

has been overexploited for the pet trade
because of its stunning turquoise blue
colour. If any of these species go extinct, a
huge amount of irreplaceable evolutionary
history would be lost with them.
There’s no more pet trade in Mary River
turtles, but it will take time for their
numbers to recover, because they don’t
reach sexual maturity until they’re at least
25 years old. HS

83
Q&A

C ARL MCCULLOUGH, VIA EMAIL

IF I TRAVELLED
REALLY FAR
BACK IN TIME,
WOULD I STILL
BE ABLE TO
BREATHE?
Breathable air has two key features: it contains
enough oxygen and it’s free from toxic
components in harmful concentrations. When
Earth first formed around 4.6 billion years ago,
neither condition would have been met.
The early atmosphere was likely a thick,
inhospitable soup of carbon dioxide, water
vapour and nitrogen (much like the toxic
atmosphere on Venus today), which spewed
from ancient volcanoes and bubbled up from a
vast, simmering ocean of magma. Oxygen was

C ASSIE ALVAREZ, VIA EMAIL

SHOULD I STOP of saturated fat known as

EATING MARGARINE?
trans-fat (one of the worst,
strongly linked to the
grimmest long-term
Spread the word: there’s no easy answer health prospects).
to this question because butter versus Other types of
margarine is a debate that’s been churning spread, including
for more than a century. It’s complicated some made from
by our often-evolving understanding of olive oil are also
fats, plus the fact that margarine has hydrogenated. So, overall
been made to different standards and it’s a complicated matter.
with different processes over time and There’s also a dosage
by country. This means some of the consideration. If you’re scraping a
literature out there is no longer relevant blob of butter or margarine across
to the margarine found on supermarket some sourdough toast once or
shelves today. twice a week, then it’s unlikely to
The bottom line, as things stand, is that be the thing that kills you. If it’s a
most researchers believe that neither bedrock of your diet, then it’s
margarine nor butter are particularly probably a good idea to look for
healthy. Both are high in fat and calories. substitutes or other ways to switch
Margarine is classified as an ultra- up the food on your plate. Remember
processed food and these are increasingly that some fats are good for you. Dietitians
linked to poor long-term health. Butter cardiovascular disease. Margarine is a recommend the monounsaturated fats in
is higher in saturated fat, which is still good source of omega-6 polyunsaturated avocado (great on toast) or olive oil (great
associated with higher levels of cholesterol fats (one of the good ones), but some in the pan) as a way of managing low-
in our arteries and the risk of hydrogenated margarine is high in a type density lipoprotein cholesterol. IT

84
Q&A

ASTRONOMY FOR BEGINNERS

nearly non-existent and travelling this far
back in time would be a death wish. 18 JANUARY 2025, 6pm GMT
So how much is enough oxygen? Today, it
makes up about 21 per cent of Earth’s
atmosphere and humans have evolved to
function best at this level. At concentrations
below about 19 per cent our cells begin to
struggle; at 16 per cent our hearts race and
our judgment falters; we vomit and lose
consciousness at around 10 per cent; and at
six per cent, we go into cardiac arrest.
Scientists study the composition of the
prehistoric atmosphere by looking for clues
in ancient rocks. There are still many
uncertainties, but we know that a major
turning point in the evolution of oxygen on
Earth happened around 2.4 billion years ago,
a few hundred million years after tiny
oceanic microbes called cyanobacteria began
to photosynthesise.
During this interval – known as the Great
Oxidation Event – atmospheric oxygen levels
crept up to, at most, a few per cent, but this
set the stage for life on Earth as we know it.
Around 600 million years ago, oxygen levels
leapt to around 12 per cent, as melting
glaciers dumped a bounty of stored nutrients
into the sea. In theory, you could train
HOW TO SEE THE EVENING PLANETS
“THE EARLY ATMOSPHERE WHEN: EARLY-MID JANUARY

WAS LIKELY A THICK, Venus is the brightest planet seen from

Earth, so intense it casts shadows that
noticeable at the end of January when
Venus will appear as a beautiful crescent.

INHOSPITABLE SOUP OF
can be seen with the naked eye under the The planet’s apparent size increases too
right conditions. It’s an inferior planet as it approaches Earth in its orbit.
meaning its orbit is smaller than Earth’s. Venus isn’t alone in the evening sky.

CARBON DIOXIDE, WATER From our vantage point, it appears to

move from one side of the Sun to the
Saturn appears nearby for much of the
month with minimum separation

VAPOUR AND NITROGEN

other, barely escaping the evening or occurring on 18 January.
morning twilight when at the extremes of Speaking of Saturn, if you have clear
this movement. Currently it’s in the skies on the evening of 4 January, look for

(MUCH LIKE THE TOXIC evening sky, an unmissable sight much

brighter than anything else in the vicinity,
the planet near the waxing crescent Moon
around 5pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

ATMOSPHERE ON VENUS)”
save for the Moon when it’s about. If At around 5:20pm GMT the Moon passes
you’re struggling to see it, let the sky in front of Saturn, hiding it from view.
GETTY IMAGES ILLUSTRATIONS: KYLE SMART, PETE LAWRENCE

darken a bit, then it’ll be obvious above Reappearance occurs around 6:26pm GMT
the southwest horizon. with Saturn popping out from behind the
yourself to breathe this air, but it would feel Venus reaches a position called Moon’s bright edge. Timings will vary
like breathing the air at Everest’s Base Camp. greatest eastern elongation on 10 January slightly by location so start viewing at
Oxygen only reached modern levels 2025, a point in its orbit where, from least 15 minutes before the stated times,
around 350 million years ago, some 80 Earth, the Venus-Earth and Venus-Sun so you don’t miss anything. PL
million years after plants first gained a lines are at right angles. This is the
foothold on land. But it fluctuated wildly over position when Venus appears farthest by P E T E L AW R E N C E
the next 150 million years, between about from the Sun in the evening sky. If you (@Avertedvision)
15 and 35 per cent. To be on the safe side, you have binoculars or a telescope, these will Pete is an astronomy expert and
may want to keep your time-travel jaunts to show Venus’s phase. This will be more presenter on The Sky at Night.
this side of 200 million years ago, when
oxygen levels again hit a comfortable 20 per
cent and haven’t dropped below since. CP WATCH THE SKY AT NIGHT ON BBC FOUR AND BBC IPLAYER

85
Q&A

T YRONE KIDD, DE VON TERESA THOMAS, VIA EMAIL

WHAT DETERMINES WHAT’S THE

HOW MANY ABS I CAN GET? BIGGEST
SNOWMAN
EVER BUILT?
The world’s tallest snowman is actually a
snowwoman. In 2008, the residents of Bethel,
Maine, in the US, built Olympia the snowwoman
(right). Olympia stood an impressive 37.21m
(just over 122ft) tall.
Science has contributed to determining how
to build the ultimate snowman. It turns out that
getting the right type of snow is key. Snow that
accumulates when the air temperature is just
above freezing, around 0–2°C (32–35°F) is best.
At this temperature, free water is created
between the ice crystals, which acts like a glue
that allows your snowman to hold its shape.
Assuming you’re a human being, you In theory, a 10- or even a 12-pack is Snow with a moisture content between 3–8 per
have exactly the same number of abs as possible, but that tends to refer to people cent is ideal, but you’ll be faced with slush if it
everybody else: two. They’re called the with such low body fat that their obliques exceeds 15 per cent.
rectus abdominis, a pair of flat, parallel (the muscles at the side of the ‘six-pack’) But why do we build snowmen, when they’re
muscles that are commonly spotted on are also visible. just going to melt? The first known depiction of a
underwear models, pro athletes and If you want to see any abs at all, then snowman dates back to 1380 in a Dutch prayer
anyone else with very little belly fat. low body fat is the key. If you have too book called the Book of Hours. Unlike cheerful
Now, there are other abdominal much subcutaneous fat around the belly, images of Frosty the Snowman or Olaf from
muscles – shoutout to the transversus it’ll cover the muscle like a duvet. For Frozen, this 14th-century illustration shows an
abdominis, plus the external and internal men, a body fat percentage of 6–12 per angry snowman melting by a fire.
obliques. But let’s assume your question cent is usually recommended. For According to the historian Robert Eckstein,
is about the hallowed ‘six-pack’, those women, it’s a little higher at 14–20 per snow provided a way for people to express
midsection muscles that look like an cent. It’s also worth noting that both themselves. In fact, he described snow as “free
anatomical ice tray. Those aren’t six figures are lower than the thresholds art supplies.” Building snowmen likely served as
muscles at all, just the regular rectus most doctors define as healthy body fat both entertainment and a creative form of
abdominis that we’re all born with. percentages. So, you can be perfectly self-expression, much like today’s selfies. People
They are, however, divided by healthy and never see a single ab. could craft snow versions of themselves for fun
connective tissue known as tendinous If you do want a six-pack, but there’s a (or vanity). Even the famous Michelangelo was
intersections. This tissue crosses over the layer of fat obscuring it, you’ll need to asked to build a giant snowman in 1494 for Piero
front of the rectus abdominis, a bit like the start expending more calories in the Unfortunate.
string that a butcher uses to tie up a movement and exercise than you take in Building snowmen has also provided a creative
boneless pork shoulder. It allows us through food and drink. This is known as way for people to voice their thoughts about
greater forward flexion while also making a calorie deficit. You’ll also want to do political issues. In 1511, the people of Brussels
the rectus abdominis look like separate more than sit-ups. Research shows that created over 200 snowy scenes, many of which
chunks of muscle. abdominal exercises alone won’t shift the made fun of politicians or other public figures.
But what determines how many of body fat covering your abs (though they Snow became a medium for communication.
these chunks you can get? Well, it has as will make the muscles larger). So, if the snow appears this winter, give the
much to do with genetics as it does gym There are endless combinations of history of the humble snowman a brief thought
membership. Our genes help determine nutrition and exercise that can help, but a before you start building. AJ
where we store fat and how much of it large study from 2022 in the journal
we tend to pack on. They also determine Obesity Reviews concluded that resistance
how many strings of connective tissue training, combined with a calorie deficit,
cross over the rectus abdominis. That’s was the most effective way of reducing a
why some people can get a six-pack, person’s body fat percentage.
while others can get an eight-pack. If Alternatively, you could just be happy
there’s just one band of connective tissue, with the body you have. Either way, more
then a four-pack is your max. power to you. IT

86
Q&A

QUESTION OF
THE MONTH
ROBERT GREEN, VIA EMAIL

WHY ARE WIND

TURBINES SO BIG?
Back in 1985, a typical wind turbine
stood around 25m tall (just over 82ft)
and had a rotor diameter of 15m
(49ft). Today, offshore turbines loom
like skyscrapers over the water, some
of them hoisting rotors with
diameters that span almost 220m
(722ft) – the Haliade-X turbine,
installed in the Dogger Bank Wind
Farm off the east coast of England,
for example.
The reasons for this are two-fold.
First, larger turbines are more
efficient; doubling the length of its
blades lets a turbine capture four
times as much wind. Wind speed
tends to increase with altitude, too,
so taller turbines harness more
energy and produce more electricity.
Second, bigger turbines are
smoother, steadier and more reliable.
This was always the case, of
course. What has changed in recent
years is our ability to
manufacture,
transport and
assemble such
colossal parts. CP

W IN NE R
The winne
r of next is
Question sue’s
wins a pair of the Month
of popular
books: The science
Inne
and The Nvi r Clock
dia Way
worth £45!
GETTY IMAGES X2, CHRIS DARLING/WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS TO

[email protected]

87
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New materials are taking
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PENCILS AT THE READY!

PLUS
ACROSS DOWN
1 Pressure swelling when 1 Complies unexpectedly in
somewhat overweight (5) debate (8)
4 60s group making entrances (5) 2 Cruel sort of complaint (5)
8 Behold copper getting married to 3 Ceremony that is returned to DOES DRY JANUARY
9
doctor (5)
Tonne transported by railway 4
one doomed city (7)
Daughter finds small bishop a
MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
– it’s a sign (2,5) nerd (5) The surprising benefits of taking
10 Mine is inside ship itself (3) 5 Rampaging on a riot in province
11 TV detective’s code (5) (7) a short break from booze
12 Ingot found among stolen 6 Sauce over a bean (4)
capital (6) 7 Where practical work is done PLANET OZEMPIC
14 Coach to notice timepiece (8,5) – as a screever? (2,3,6)
17 Fellow is concealing a company 13 Draws small boats (8) How the weight-loss drug is reshaping
– disaster (6) 15 Attacking call about help (7) our waistlines and our world
19 Clever, removing front side (5) 16 Prudent vehicle wasted fuel (7)
22 Deploy stratagem, but not 18 Reported spectacles and
initially (3) locations (5)

ON SALE 21 JANUARY
23 Enamoured of small glove (7) 20 Reaching conclusion, ready to
24 Trust in a woman (5) complain (5)
25 Republican, before long, is 21 New arts supremo (4)
furious (5)
26 City guides, by the sound of it (5)
GETTY IMAGES

ANSWERS For the answers, visit bit.ly/BBCFocusCW

Please be aware the website address is case-sensitive.

89
BETTER
LIVING
THROUGH

DO THE
SCIENCE

COGNITIVE SHUFFLE
Trouble sleeping? A lot on your mind?
Use this trick and sedate your synapses

T
he human brain is a remarkable exploits what happens in the brain things because as you naturally fall
lump of electrified glob – the during sleep onset, that dream-like asleep, that’s what the brain does.”
most complex object in the known in-between land where you’re not Cognitive shuff ling also hits a
Universe, or so we’re told. But every quite conscious, but not quite asleep. sweet spot between conscious and
now and again, especially at night, “Sleep onset isn’t instantaneous. unconscious thought – enough of a
don’t you wish it would just shut up? It proceeds gradually,” explains task to keep unwelcome thoughts at
Racing thoughts are one of the most Beaudoin, an adjunct professor at bay, but not complicated enough to
common symptoms when we can’t Simon Fraser University in Canada warrant much in the way of executive
sleep. The lights go out, our heads who has also built businesses around function. “All the while you’re doing
hit the pillow, but our frontal cortex cognition and sleep. “It’s a unique time it, you’re not thinking as much about
isn’t done for the day. Egged on by in the day when your thinking isn’t your mortgage,” Beaudoin says.
caffeine, anxiety or everyday stress, really connected.” The technique is one part of a broader
our brains start acting like a pinball The cognitive shuffle aims to bring theory of sleep onset that Beaudoin
machine as thoughts ricochet from some light structure to your thoughts, has developed, called ‘somnolent
one place to another. just when it feels like they’re spiralling information processing’. The idea
Psychologists call it rumination or out of control. It mimics what the brain describes a kind of control system for
mental perturbance. It’s a repetitive does naturally, producing something sleep onset and lists factors that help
pattern of negative thinking, and some like a picture show of unrelated smooth this process as well as some
of it is not even conscious. We dwell on imagery that lulls you unconscious. that hinder it. Mental perturbance –
mistakes, over-analyse the day, worry “It basically gets you to imagine those racing thoughts we all experience
about tomorrow. It’s worse in people things one after another,” Beaudoin from time to time – are one of the
with mental health conditions, but says. “One way to do that is to pick a things that hinder it.
it can happen to anyone, especially word, any word, like the word ‘piano’. Beaudoin has run a number of pilot
when there’s too much to do or life Now, imagine a piano for 5-6 seconds, tests on cognitive shuffling, but wants
isn’t going the way we want it to. maybe touching it or playing it, even to do more, comparing the technique
by I A N
The start of the new year, when we’re if you don’t know how. with other cognitive strategies used
TAY L O R busy making plans and putting things “Then, we’re going to spell the word to help people get to sleep. “We’ve
Ian is a
freelance right, is the prime time for overthinking. piano and for each letter, we’re going had encouraging results, but we need
science So what if there was a better way to to come up with as many associations to do more studies,” he says. “And
writer and control our runaway minds when we’re with each letter as we can.” it’s important to emphasise that no
the former trying to get to sleep? Psychologist So for ‘piano’, you’d start with P: cognitive treatment, including the
deputy
editor of
Dr Luc Beaudoin believes he has a peach, Pluto, pupil, pumpkin and so cognitive shuffle, is expected to be
BBC Science solution. It’s called ‘the cognitive on. Keep each object in your mind for used in isolation.”
Focus. shuffle’, a non-Jedi mind trick that 5-6 seconds and when you run out of He says that good sleep hygiene and
ILLUSTRATION: JOE WALDRON

Ps, you move on to the I, then the A. other science-backed recommendations

“COGNITIVE SHUFFLING HITS A

The hope is to fall asleep long before are also important. If you drink a
you get to the end. double espresso just before bed, no

SWEET SPOT BETWEEN CONSCIOUS

Part of why it seems to work is that amount of cognitive shuffling will
each image you bring to mind is only send you to sleep. Do it right, however,

AND UNCONSCIOUS THOUGHT”

loosely connected with the next. “We and maybe tonight you’ll shuffle off
want your brain to be thinking different to sleep in record time.

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