Untitled

THE SCIENCE OF ADDICTION LEGENDS OF THE HEART
Drugs, alcohol, risk and more. How well do you know the
Why do we lose control? muscle that keeps you alive?
AU STR ALI AN
TECHNOLOGY
MELTDOWN-PROOF SUPERSONIC
REACTORS
TUBE TRAINS
EXPECT THE
TECHNOLOGY
FLYING CARS UNEXPECTED!

AT LAST!
GADGETS
ALL-WEEK
BATTERIES
2017
The Year Ahead
in Science
TIME
A UNIVERSAL
CALENDAR
SPACE
ROBOTICS
ANDROID FULL BODY

TRANSPLANTS
FINDING A
ASTRONAUTS NEW EARTH
The Amazing Brains of Insects Drone Racing

See Your Own DNA! A Starship Powered by Laser
Bionic Gloves Why We Need Robot Caterpillars
EDITORIAL
Lets Talk About the Awesomeness of Bugs
A
Issue #47 (12th January 2017) s our population Oh there are some species of insect - the
EDITORIAL
rockets toward larger, more beautiful ones usually - that face
Editor Anthony Fordham eight billion, its extinction as humans continue to radically
afordham@nextmedia.com.au
tempting to think that alter the world. But as a group, as a type of life,
DESIGN
Art Director Malcolm Campbell humans are the most insects are just going from strength-to-strength.
successful animals on the Well, except for one very big setback that
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ph: 02 9901 6175 that really true? See, back in the Carboniferous period, about
Production Manager Peter Ryman
Because the insects number not in the 300 million years ago, the percentage of oxygen
Circulation Director Carole Jones billions, trillions or even quadrillions. Rather, in the atmosphere was much higher. Today its
INTERNATIONAL EDITION entomologists estimate the current LIVING about 20%, but back then it was 30-35%.
Editor-in-Chief Sebastian Relster Theres good evidence to suggest this high
International Editor Lotte Juul Nielsen
insect population of Earth at around 10
quintillion individuals. oxygen level allowed insects to grow much
BONNIER INTERNATIONAL
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animal like a human or indeed anything else. fossil is Meganeura, a dragony with a 65
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Lisbeth Brnnich, Peter Eberhardt their millions every day. Tiny changes in the The oxygen-rich air in the Carboniferous may
environment that humans wouldnt even notice also have been denser than modern air, making
can wipe out entire populations of billions. it easier for large insects to y.
And yet, our ability to deliberately control Another key aspect of life in the
NEXTMEDIA any given insect population remains basic at Carboniferous was a lack of large, ying
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best. Weve had some success eliminating predators such as birds. With nobody keeping
mosquitoes - and thus malaria - from regions the bugs down, it was possible for insects to
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world a better place.
scienceillustrated.com.au | 3
CONTENTS
ISSUE #48 SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED AUSTRALIAN EDITION
PUBLISHED 12TH JANUARY 2017
24
COVER
STORY
RIDING A LASER TO THE STARS
36 We have the technology to send a fleet of

tiny spaceships to Alpha Centauri. But do we
2017: THE YEAR AHEAD have the political will to do it?
Our pick of the most important

science stories youll be
reading this year
54
MYTHS OF THE HEART
We take our hearts for granted and believe

all sorts of things about them. Let us set you
straight on affairs of the heart.
2017
4 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED
REGULARS
AND OTHER
FEATURES
6
30 44 MEGAPIXEL
Elephants vs crocodiles!
3D PRINT YOUR HOUSE! THE SCIENCE OF ADDICTION
3D printers arent just for making We know that some things are addictive, but
toys and engine parts. We can harness this WHY are they addictive? Whats the mechanism
technology to build houses cheap and fast. at work, to make us fail in our self-control?
10
SCIENCE UPDATE
Weve found a cute new pterosaur!
64 72 18
ASK US
THE AMAZING BRAINS OF INSECTS DRONE RACING: THE WORLDS NEWEST SPORT Who jumps
the highest?
Once we thought they were mindless robots, They might look like toys, but they require
acting purely on instinct. But research shows incredible skill to pilot at insane speeds through
insects are more sophisticated by far... tricky courses. Lets meet the new stars.
78
HOME CHEMISTRY LAB
How to see and touch your own DNA.
80
TRIVIA
Now with more quantum conundra!
82
BIODIVERSITY
Dragonflies change colour
in the name of love.
SUBSCRIBE
NOW! 62
Get Australian Science
Illustrated delivered to
your door and save $$$!
MEGAPIXEL | METEOROLOGY
A Window in the Clouds
A lake of air? A celestial magnifying glass?
What has apparently punched a hole in the
clouds above Victoria? The phenomenon is rare but
well-known, and now scientists understand how it
forms. As a plane speeds through an altocumulus
cloud, the temperature around its wings drops. Water
droplets freeze and start a chain reaction, in which
more droplets are captured and freeze. As the frozen
droplets are heavier than water droplets, they collect
into a cirrus cloud slightly below the altocumulus
cloud. Sunlight reflects the frozen droplets into a
rainbow. It's called Fallstreak hole.
Photo // David Barton
MEGAPIXEL | ZOOLOGY
Snack Attempt Ends
In Brutal Beatdown
Not even elephants are totally safe, when it
comes to the dangers lurking under the quiet
surface of a waterhole. On rare occasions, Nile
crocodiles, which can grow to six metres, attack the
calves of the world's largest land-mammal. And once
in a while, the crocodiles do manage to drown young
elephants. According to some scientists, the crocs
attack because they think that the animal at the other
end of the slender trunk is smaller than it really is,
mistaking it for a gazelle perhaps. Adults quickly rush
CATERS NEWS/POLFOTO
to the calf's aid, beating the crocodile back.
Photo // Francois Borman
Science Update
Junos three solar
panels include a total
of 18,698 solar cells,
FACTS ABOUT JUNO which power the probe.
The probe weighs 3.6
tonnes, which is compara-
ble to a small elephant.
Three solar cell panels
measuring 9 m each have
taken Juno to Jupiter.
Juno rotates twice per
minute to remain stable.
Jupiters Secrets Revealed

The Juno probe's camera sends unique images of
the large gas planets unknown regions back to Earth.
ASTRONOMY After a five year journey and 2.8 million which show Jupiters north pole flooded in bluish light
km through the Solar System, NASAs Juno space probe and a glowing red aurora near the planets south pole.
has come closer to Jupiter than any other probe. And The maximum resolution is 2-3 km/pixel.
from its orbit around the giant of the Solar System, the Until February 2018, Juno will make a total of 37
craft has now begun to send spectacular images back to orbits around Jupiter. Although Jupiter has ruled the
NASAs astronomers. Solar System for 4.6 billion years, scientists knowledge
The first fly-by of Jupiter lasted six hours and took of the planet is still very limited. They do not know,
place at a distance of down to 4,200 km above the thick whether Jupiter contains water or what the planet is
clouds. It took NASA 1.5 days to download those images, made up of, but astronomers hope to get the answers to
but they were worth the wait. Juno has taken a series of those questions and many others from Juno, which has
photos with a wide angle camera mounted on the probe, brought an arsenal of sophisticated instruments.
THE LATEST
FINDINGS AND
DISCOVERIES
GLOVE MAKES WEAK HANDS STRONG

Children with muscular dystrophy can get
XINYANG TAN/ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART
new strength from the Vigor glove, which

features integrated sensors that detect muscle
signals in the arm, passing them on to a support
mechanism at the wrist. Obeying orders, it
strengthens muscular movements.
Editor: Babak Arvanaghi
Powerful auroras glow near pole

SENSATIONAL
Already during Junos first of a total of 37 fly-bys, the gas
planet showed that violent storms rage its north pole and
1 terabit
IMAGES that the auroras are more powerful than expected. is the capacity per second
of a new type of Internet.
FROM THE JUNO At this speed, you can
download an entire 6 season
P ROBE TV series in one second.
Storm
Blue north pole Missin
The first images of
le hexagog
Jupiter's north po n
eal that fierce sto rms Unexpect
rev has not ca edly, Juno
region . Th e
rage in the hexagon
ptured a
blue
north pole is more formatio
al cloud
s of
than other region nn
north po ear Jupiter's
SARINDR BHUMIRATANA/COLUMBIA ENGINEERING

re
the planet, and the such a he
le. Saturn
has
ck
are none of the thi xa
north po gon at its
ise
stripes that otherw fierce sto
le due to
a
r.
characterize Jupite above th
rm ragin
g
e pole. Storms
Rings
A new-found dinosaur was much

smaller than the other pterosaurs
with wing spans of 11-12 m.
Saturn's hexagon
Unknown
pterosaur was
South pole is a blaz
NASA, HENNING DALHOFF & SHUTTERSTOCK
e
Juno's infrared camera rev
eals that
the size of a cat
the auroras near the sou
th pole are
extremely bright. The ima PALAEONTOLOGY While
ge is a
combination of three pho the awesome, snorting
tos taken a few
minutes apart. Scientists Tyrannosaurus rex ruled the
will now take a
closer look at the aurora
particles. Earth in the late golden era of
the dinosaurs, huge pterosaurs
boasting wing spans of up to
11-12 metres ruled the air.
Robotic caterpillar pushes 10 times its weight However, fossils discovered
on the west coast of North
TECHNOLOGY Like a real caterpillar, this America reveal that 77 million
robot wriggles across all types of surfaces and years ago, the air also included
Micro-robot
through even the smallest of openings. The robot a much smaller creature.
is thin, soft, and transparent, only measuring 15 A toothless pterosaur with a
mm, but it is very strong and able to push no less wing span of only 1.5 m and a
than 10 times its own weight in front of it. modest body the size of a cat
Scientists from the University of Warsaw, roamed the skies.
Poland, have made the micro-robot of liquid The fossil remains of the
crystals consisting of light-sensitive molecules. unknown pterosaur, which has
When the molecules are illuminated by a laser not yet been named by
beam, they contract, subsequently expanding scientists, were discovered in
UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW
again, once the light is out. This provides the the small island of Hornby,
robot with its wriggling gait, which will get it Canada. The studies of the
anywhere due to its small size. prehistoric creature were
Scientists hope that micro-robots can be used carried out by scientists from
efficiently in cancer treatment, as they can Light-sensitive crystals make the robotic caterpillar the University of
deliver medication directly into body cells. wriggle forward just like a real caterpillar. Southampton. 11
SCIENCE UPDATE
LOCAL FOCAL POINT Skellefte, Northern Sweden
T
Decades of efforts
establishing reserves,
etc., have paid off:
Driverless trucks roam underground mine
Four driverless Volvo FMX trucks will be tested in 2017 in the Bolliden mine of Sweden
The giant panda is no
1 km below the ground. The trucks feature radar and laser sensors that scan and map longer endangered.
out the narrow surroundings, so the trucks know where and how fast to go.
Its status has been
NASA
changed to vulnerable.
And talking of pandas ...
120,000 yrs
is how long ago it was that Earth was as warm as it is now,
They are omnivorous,
consuming fish, fruit,
and small vertebrates, but
according to a study of the temperatures of the past 2 million years. their favourite food is bamboo
of which they only consume
25 of a total of about 100
The worlds oldest signs of life in Greenland bamboo species. They forage
PALAEONTOLOGY In the Isua Greenstone 1-4-cm-high, conical structures known as for up to 16 hours/day.
Belt some 150 km north-east of the stromatolites which were shaped by ancient
Greenland's capital of Nuuk, scientists from micro-organisms. The fossils are no less than Pandas have a special
the Australian University of Wollongong have 220 million years older than the existing record bamboo finger, i.e. a
discovered what they consider to be the holder of early life, which was discovered in small outgrowth on the
world's oldest fossils and oldest signs of life Australia, indicating that life originated forepaw pads. The animals
ever discovered. The fossils in the ancient rock incredibly soon after the formation of Earth. hold a stem between the
layers are 3.7 billion years old and consist of However, several experts are sceptical of bamboo finger a
the discovery, stressing that fingers, peel of e s.
it could be other types of
natural formations.
EARLY LIFE ON EARTH

Some 4.6 billion years ago,
the Solar System is formed.
3.8 billion years ago,
the first rocks are formed.
3.7 billion years ago,
bacteria and alga mats
described as the oldest
life originate in what
is now Greenland.
Sensitive tattoo
understands finger touch
Several versions of tattoos convert finger
motions into different commands.
Touch: Can Sweep: Can Point: Functions

be used as an switch music as a pointing field
on/off tracks and flip that controls the
switch, etc. through mouse of a
photos. laptop.
If you sweep your finger
across the tattoo, you can The tattoo consists of a chip and gold leaf,
change the music track on which is electrically conductive and a
your phone. relatively cheap material.
Tattoo paper coated with

silicone, which seals and
protects the electronics.
Gold leaf with an

integrated chip.
Control your phone

Insulating layers between
electronics and skin.
Tattoo paper with

adhesive, which must be
with a tattoo
A new electric, touch-sensitive tattoo allows you to remote-control
wetted before it is placed on
the skin like a kid's tattoo.
both your phone and computer with a single touch of your arm.
TECHNOLOGY Combine decorative technology an electronic unit that the an electronic circuit or chip that can
and practical purposes in a tattoo which user wears just like a fitness bracelet. interact wirelessly with smartphones,
can remote-control your smartphone and The invention, which is known as making use of Bluetooth.
other devices. That is the future vision of DuoSkin, is a tattoo of printed gold leaf, The body "art" functions just like a
scientists from the Massachusetts which makes technology and body pressure-sensitive area, and by using your
JIMMY DAY & CLAUS LUNAU
Institute of Technology (MIT) and interact. The tattoo is not permanent, but finger to press, sweep, or point, you can
Microsoft Research, who have developed functions like a kids tattoo that sticks to navigate websites, answer calls, tap out
the prototype of a new piece of wearable the skin by sweat. The gold leaf includes messages and more.
DRONE WITH ROBOTIC ARMS

A new drone from the Prodrone
company has powerful robotic arms
that can hold on to anything from
chairs to radioactive materials. The
Japanese company aims to make
drones handle more tasks: from taking
photos to carrying out physically demanding,
PRODRONE
dirty manual work.

SCIENCE UPDATE
BEFORE AFTER Disfigured firefighter

was given a new face
MEDICINE About a year after having
gone through historys most extensive face
transplant carried out by 100+ doctors and
nurses, Patrick Hardison face has healed.
During the surgery, nose, chin, and
cheekbone tissue from a donor were
transplanted to Hardison. Moreover, eyelids,
ears, and auditory canals were added and
linked with blood vessels and nerves to
ensure blood supply and sense of touch.
Several minor surgery sessions
followed, in which doctors corrected
In 2001, firefighter Patrick More than a year after the face
NYU LANGONE MEDICAL CENTER
Hardison was severely burnt, transplant, the face has healed. Hardisons new lips, forehead, ears, cheeks,
when he was caught in a fire under Hardison was the first to receive and eyelids. For the first time since the
a collapsed roof. His entire face was not only a face, but also ears, accident, Hardison can blink, meaning that
damaged and his eyes obscured.. eyelids, and scalp from a donor. he can keep his eyes clean.
HUGE PEARL HIDDEN

UNDER BED
Approximately 10 years
ago, a Philippine
fisherman was surprised
495 km/h
is the top speed of the VBB-3 racing car, which has
just set a new world record for an electric vehicle.
to catch a huge clam that
included a 34 kg pearl. He
hid the catch under his SHOOTING STAR Mars
PUERTO PRINCESA TOURISM OFFICE/EPA/SCANPIX
bed, but now he has

shown it to experts, who
estimate that the huge
pearl could be sold at a
price of no less than
$100 million.
34 kg
Remote-controlled car sends colour photos from Mars

Immediately, this landscape looks like a stony desert such as the Grand Canyon in
south-western USA, but the pictures of the rock formations are from Mars, where the
Curiosity rover took the photos of eroded sandstone at the foot of Mount Sharp.
NASA
SCIENCE UPDATE
Fatal fall from

tall tree killed Lucy
NJUNJIC
Analyses of bone fragments reveal numerous bone fractures

The beetle looks like a spider with its in the hominid Lucy that may have been caused by a fall.
long legs. But it is revealed to have
six, not eight legs. ANTHROPOLOGY Some 3.2 million seconds. She had climbed a tall tree,
years after her death, the early human possibly to sleep, but disastrously, she
Beetle can ancestor, Lucy, has been subjected to a
high-tech post-mortem examination, by
lost her grip, fell, and hit the ground
with her legs first and was killed.
"dress" as a which her bones have been CT scanned. The theory of a fall being the cause
spider After scrutinising the images of the
broken bones, anthropology professor
of Lucy's death is
not supported by
ZOOLOGY Deep inside caves in John Kappelman from the University of all scientists
Montenegro, Serbia, and Croatia, Texas is sure that Lucy died of the such as Donald
the walls are crawling with long- injuries she incurred falling from a Johanson of the
legged creatures that look considerable height in what is now US, who
exactly like spiders. Ethiopia. Based on the injuries and their discovered Lucy.
However, DNA analyses have locations on Lucy's body and after According to him,
surprisingly revealed that the having consulted orthopaedic surgeons, it is impossible to
spiders are beetles that have John Kappelman has tried to reconstruct say what killed
adapted to life in a place that the details of Lucys last hours and the hominid.
never sees the light of day. The Lucy, our early
beetles have no eyes, no colour, ancestor, is an
and no wings, but their Australopithecus
extremely long legs like those afarensis.
of spiders and antennas enable
them to feel their way forward
and so compensate for the lack
Fast fall crushed
of vision. Scientists have
discovered four species of the Lucy's bones
long-legged cave beetles, which Bone injuries bear witness of
have been named Graciliella. The Lucy falling to the ground from
beetles are the descendants of a 12-m-tall tree at a speed of
ordinary beetles that lived on the 2 60 km/h.
ground and had short legs.
8
1 7
NEWS FLASH! 5
Large flocks 4 6
of birds fly 3
faster
Swedish scientists have
used lasers to determine 1 Foot bone fractures indicate
that Lucy landed on her feet. 5 She fractured both humeri
trying to cushion the fall.
that large flocks of birds
fly faster than small ones. 2 An injury of the left knee reveals that
Lucy twisted her ankle as she landed. 6 Lucy probably landed on a
stone which entered her pelvis.
CLAUS LUNAU & CREATIVE COMMONS
Large flocks often consist

of large birds, which are
better at resisting the
3 The knee cap was forced into
the hominid's thighbone. 7 Several vertebrae and ribs were
crushed, as Lucy hit the ground.
slowing turbulence. 4 Lucy fractured her right hip socket,

as she hit the ground. 8 When Lucy's head hit the ground,
she fractured her skull and lower jaw.
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Ask Us
Which weather can
close an airport?
How much wind is required for airports to close and
keep planes on the ground? Ice
Airports close, if weather conditions controllers are highly aware. A
make up a threat to planes and microburst is an area of the
passengers. As take-off and landing atmosphere, in which the wind blows
are the most critical times of a flight, down-wards. Microbursts typically
the rules are very strict. Many types occur in connection with
of weather can close an airport: snow thunderstorms, in which heavy, cold
on the runways, fog that blinds pilots, rain cools the air in an area below the
or freezing rain which affects the cloud. Cold air is heavier than warm
SCIENTISTS ANSWER
QUESTIONS FROM
OUR READERS
planes' airworthiness by leaving ice air, so it will move down towards

on wings, and more besides. Earths surface. In extreme cases, the
However, wind is rarely a vertical wind speed could come close
problem. Planes require fewer metres to 250 km/h, which could quickly
of runway for take-off against the force a plane towards the ground.
wind, as the wind provides lift. The Microbursts are difficult to predict,
only exception is microbursts, of and so, airports often choose to close,
which both pilots and air traffic as a thunderstorm is passing.
Ice on the wings, intense

thunderstorms, and fog on the
runway can force planes to
remain on the ground.
WHO WAS THE GREATEST GEOLOGIST?

Charles Lyell (1797-1875) of Scotland is
considered the Charles Darwin of geology,
as he too revolutionized natural sciences
with a set of books. In his three volume work
The Principles of Geology, Charles Lyell
explained, how Earths surface has slowly
changed its appearance
over time rather
than as a result
of sudden,
MURDEN
violent events.
Editor: Morten Kjerside Poulsen
TOP 5
Microbursts are a nightmare
Microbursts are high winds that occur in connection with thunder- Which animal has
storms, confusing pilots and forcing planes towards the ground. the densest fur?
1 Approaching the airport,

a plane encounters a
SHUTTERSTOCK
thunderstorm.
4 Sudden tail wind

reduces the wings'
lift, and the plane crashes.
Sea otter
SEA OTTER
1 100,000-400,000 hairs/cm2*
The hairs of the sea otter's fur
are so dense that they make up a
watertight shield.
COMMON OTTER
2 80,000 hairs/cm2
The fur captures air bubbles,
which help protect the otter
from the cold water.
2 Upward-moving
wind lifts the plane.
The pilot makes the plane 3 Downward-moving
wind forces the 3
CHINCHILLA
50,000 hairs/cm2
The crop of hair is so dense that
dive to compensate. diving plane down fast.
the rodent is protected against
lice and ticks, that bite the skin.
MINK
WIND PRESSURE
KILLED 136 PEOPLE
4 24,000 hairs/cm2
The dense hair of a mink is the
In 1985, the Delta Airlines Flight
main reason why the creature is
191 jumbo jet crashed due to
a popular fur farming animal.
microbursts as it approached Dallas,
STAR-TELEGRAM/NTSB & HENNING DALHOFF
ARCTIC FOX
5
Texas. Downward-moving wind
forced the plane towards the ground 20,000 hairs/cm2
1+ km before the runway, hitting cars The fur is so efficient that an Arc-
on a freeway and catching fire. 136 tic fox will only begin to feel cold
people were killed. at temperatures below -40 C.
* In comparison, people typically have
100-200 hairs/cm2 on their heads.
How fast is the Milky Way rotating?

BODY-SAVVY?
Our galaxy is rotating its own axis at a speed of
? How does the 864,000 km/h, corresponding to the Solar System

taking about 220 million years to complete one
thyroid gland work?
rotation, also known as a galactic year. In its 4.6
The thyroid gland is located at the billion years of existence, the Solar System has only
top of the throat on the hard rotated the centre of the Milky Way 21 times. So,
thyroid cartilage that makes up the Earth is 21 galactic years old.
Adams apple. The gland produces Astronomers primarily use radio telescopes to
hormones such as thyroxine, which determine the Milky Ways rotation. Heavenly bodies
emit radio signals, and by studying the signals of
are passed on to the entire body. The Milky Way
specific heavenly bodies over a number of years,
The hormones primarily control the
NASA
scientists can see how different parts of the galaxy

metabolism, but also body growth move as compared to us. Subsequently, astronomers The Solar System travels about the Milky
and temperature. can calculate how fast the galaxy itself is rotating. Way at a speed of 864,000 km/h.
ASK US
Why are eagle wings so large?

Eagles have very long and wide wings, as they BIRDS ARE
cover huge areas in gliding flight, searching DESIGNED FOR FLYING
for food. Large wings are necessary, when Their bones are honey-
birds are to glide without consuming very combed to increase durability.
much energy. Small birds that search small Their lungs are plumbed
areas at a time to find insects or plant seeds to pump air through the lungs
have short, rounded wings which make them one way, for more oxygen.
more manoeuvrable. Birds featuring long, Their reflexes are fast,
SHUTTERSTOCK
pointed wings are usually very fast flyers, allowing them to manoevre
and avoid collisions.
allowing them to easily catch fast prey. On the
Their feathers are light,
other hand, they are not very good at gliding The eagles wide wings ensure
strong, and flexible.
and often not as manoeuvrable as their peers. that it can glide across long distances.
How is gluten-free flour made? THE 4 STEPS

Answer: Gluten-free flour is either made of wheat starch, which has been
washed out of wheat flour and stripped of gluten, or from raw materials that do
not contain gluten, such as rice, corn, millet, oat, quinoa, and buckwheat.
Water
Wheat grains
Dough
1 Wheat is harvested and ground into flour. The cereal

includes natural gluten that is produced by the wheats 2 The wheat flour is mixed with water into a dough.
To become gluten-free flour, the starch must be
protein and located at the centre of wheat grain cores. extracted from the wheat, so the dough must be washed.
Hot air drying stove
Gluten-free
bread and cake
Gluten-free
wheat starch
3 The dough is rinsed. As gluten is not soluble in water, the

wheat starch can be washed out. When the rinsing water 4 The wheat starch is dried in a hot air drying stove.
Subsequently, it is added to gluten-free baking mix,
is no longer milky white, there is no more starch in the dough. which cannot include more than 20 mg of gluten per kg.
The Maasai
jumping
dance can
go on for
24 hours.
The Maasai jump without

moving their arms.
Do the Maasai jump higher WE USE OUR ARMS

TO PRODUCE FORCE
If we are to make a high
jump, we move our arms
than everybody else?

It looks spectacular, when African Maasai sides. When others try to make high jumps, we
back, subsequently
swinging them forcefully
forwards as our feet
leave the ground. The
extra force produced
jump high into the air, keeping their arms to often move our arms to optimise the jumping. helps us jump higher.
their sides. Did they train themselves to Scientists from the University of
jump higher than everybody else? Copenhagen have measured how high the
Maasai jump. The study proved to be more
When Maasai men of Kenya and Tanzania, difficult to make than expected, as the Maasai
Africa, perform their traditional jumping dance, do not want to jump without singing. So, the
they jump about 50 cm into the air. So, their scientists had to measure the mens individual
jumping altitude is about the same as an jumps, as the other men of the tribe were
average young man's in other places of the singing. The jumps of about 50 cm that the
world. However, Maasai men do not move their scientists recorded are probably a little less
SHUTTERSTOCK
arms, as they jump they keep them to their than when the Maasai perform their dance.
WORLD RECORDS
Who organised the world's
USA
biggest fireworks display?
On 1 January 2016, the world's largest Where: The Philippines
quantity of fireworks was fired in the What: The world's big-
Phillipine capital of Manila. The number gest fireworks display
How long: 61 minutes
of fireworks in the show was
810,904 EZRA ACAYAN/REUTERS/SCANPIX
ASK US
How can glass

be transparent?
The vast majority of materials are not transparent, as
they either reflect or absorb light. The leaves of trees
are green, as the red and blue colours of the light are
absorbed, whereas the green colour is reflected.
On the other hand, window glass is transparent, as
light of the wavelengths that are visible to us pass
through the material.
A photon (light particle) is only absorbed by an
object if it is able to supply an electron with so much
energy that it is elevated into a higher energy state.
In transparent materials, the atoms are packed in Glass is transparent, as the
such a way that the visible light does not have materials atomic make-up prevents
SHUTTERSTOCK
sufficient energy to affect the electrons, and pass light particles from being absorbed.
through the material instead.
Which signs of animals are the oldest on Earth? The world's oldest evidence of animals were dis-
covered off Newfoundland, Canada, and possibly left by a remote sea anemone ancestor
565,000,000 yrs
ago
In November 2015, Intel
WHAT IS THIS? created a spectacular
display of fireworks at
the Flugplatz Ahrenlohe,
Germany, by means of
drones equipped with LED
light.
100 flying drones with LED

light of different colours lit up
the sky above Hamburg,
producing impressive patterns.
The show was produced by

4 drone pilots, who each
controlled 25 drones. It was
entered into the Guinness Book
of Records as the highest
number of drones ever in the air
at the same time.
The drones were

LED light programmed to coordinate and
change their light, etc., in
accordance with the music played
by an orchestra.
INTEL
THREE FACTOR
S
DETERMINE IF
YOU
WILL CATCH A
COLD
If your hair is wet, you will Your age: Kids ar
e more
more easily feel cold, and vulnerable, as th
eir immune
so, you are more likely to systems have no
t yet been in
catch a cold. contact with mos
t common
cold viruses. Elde
rly people
in poor health ar
e also
vulnerable.
Lifestyle: In the
winter,
we are in closer
contact with
each other indo
ors. So, the
infection can ea
sily spread
in schools, etc.
Indoor climate:
If the air
is dry due to air
conditioning,
etc., the cold viru
s can hover
in the air for a lon
ger time,
infecting more pe
ople.
True or False?
You will catch a cold if you

have wet hair in cold weather?
First of all, the word cold refers to the The mucosa fight a cold
disease being due to cold and thriving
during the cold season from May to with three different weapons
August (September to April in the north). Three defences in the mucosa of the mouth, the nose, and the upper
If you step outside with wet hair, the air passages make up efficient protection against a cold.
heat loss from your head increases, as
the body tries to make the water
evaporate. So, you will be cooled down
and start to feel cold. Mucus layer Virus
Enzymes
According to some studies, we are and toxins
Cilia Receptor
more vulnerable to cold virus infection, 1
when we feel cold. According to the 2 3
theory, the cold makes the mucosa of Mucosa
the upper air passages contract, so they Mucus gland
become more vulnerable to infection.
Moreover, the immune system is not as
efficient at low body temperatures.
Cold is very common and highly White blood cell
contagious. Adults typically catch a cold
2-5 times a year, whereas children get 1 MUCUS AND CILIA
make it difficult for
virus to approach mucosa
2 ALARMS in the shape of
receptors on the surface
of cells are activated by
3 CHEMICAL WEAPONS
in the form of enzymes,
toxins, and neurotransmitters
ill 6-10 times. A sick person averagely
cells. The mucus is virus, demanding help from are liberated by cells to
manages to infect six other people. In
HENNING DALHOFF & SHUTTERSTOCK
secreted by glands. the immune system. render the virus harmless.

the winter, we are closer together
inside houses, etc., allowing the 200+ The mucus layer In kids, the alarms The chemical
different cold viruses the perfect can dry out and do not work well in weapons are
weaken in dry air. the immature body. weakened, if we feel cold.
opportunities to spread.
SPACE | STAR MISSION
MARS PLUTO VOYAGER PROBE

Distance from Earth: Distance from Earth: Distance from Earth:
225 million km 6 billion km 20.5 billion km
7 MONTHS YEARS YEARS

Normal travel time: 6- Normal travel time: 9 Normal travel time: 40
Starshot travel time: Starshot travel time: Starshot travel time:

ONE HOUR ONE DAY ONE WEEK
VOYAGER
THE SUN
EARTH MARS JUPITER SATURN URANUS NEPTUNE PLUTO
This tiny, fragile sliver

of electronics could be
The First
Starship Using a huge laser gun on Earth, an ambitious space
project aims to send a fleet of tiny, light-powered
spacecraft towards the closest solar system
Physicist Yuri
Milner holds the at an incredible speed of 216 million km/h.
tiny "ship" in
his hand.
By Gunver Lystbk Vestergrd
ALPHA CENTAURI
W
Distance from Earth:
ay back in 1865, science fiction writer
41 trillion km
Jules Verne wrote in his novel From
Earth to the Moon that the highest
speeds would one day be obtained by means of
light or electricity. With such vehicles, human
beings would one day travel to the Moon, the
planets, and the stars.
Some 150 years after Jules Vernes
prediction, it looks as if his science fiction vision
of a light-powered spacecraft on a voyage to
another star could come true. If it were up to
Silicon Valley, and prominent scientists, we
would switch on a 100 gigawatt laser in Chile in
ALPHA CENTAURI
a few decades that would push a tiny
spacecraft's metre-square light sail to speeds
1,000 times higher than any other technology
has ever achieved. Next stop: Alpha Centauri.
The dream of sending a ship or even a fleet of
spacecraft the size of microchips off towards the
stars was born in 2016, when physicist and IT
billionaire Yuri Milner, and astrophysicist Stephen
Hawking created Breakthrough Starshot.
Together with other prominent people
,000 YRS
Normal travel time: 19
such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg,
they invested over $130 million in
researching the possibility of sending an
fleet of tiny ChipSats towards our
St a r s h o t t r a v e l t im e : closest neighbouring star system.

According to plan, the tiny
ChipSats will reach Alpha Centauri,
20 YEARS
4.37 light years from Earth, after
about 20 years; a distance that
it would take at least 19,000
years to cover using a regular
probe. Thanks to miniature
cameras and a small laser,
the tiny vehicles will send
images of any planets they
pass by back towards Earth.
All the parabolic reflectors
and mirrors of the laser gun
can be converted into the
worlds most sensitive light
telescope that would be
ready to receive the first
signal from a human craft in
another star system.
The project is part of
the Breakthrough Initiatives
space programme.
Apart from Breakthrough
Starshot, one million stars are
to be monitored to find signs of
life in the Breakthrough Listen
project, and with Breakthrough
The Breakthrough Starshot project aims to send

a fleet of tiny ChipSats off towards the closest
star at a speed of one fifth of that of light.
CLAUS LUNAU & HENNING DALHOFF
STAR MISSION
Message, the initiators hope to send, as Earth orbit, one will be sent off per day. The exploded. This means that a number of
the name suggests, a message into the laser gun needs at least one day to recharge, safety precautions must be taken. The laser
universe with data about humans and Earth. enabling it to begin a new 10 minute session gun could be a devastating weapon, if the
The Breakthrough Starshot project is the filling the solar sail of each ship and beam were reflected towards Earth from a
most ambitious one. Theoretically, no part of accelerating it to approximately one fifth of mirror in space, so before firing, it is important
the project is impossible, but its success the speed of light. After the ten minutes has to make sure that planes, flocks of birds, or
depends on technological advances, so it will passed and the laser is deactivated, the craft other flying objects are not located above
probably take 20-30 years to develop the will already have covered one third of the the beam's focus. The wavelength of the
prototypes for the fleet of ships. distance to Mars. Such is the power of light. beam will be in the infrared, which cannot be
The laser will be the most powerful one in seen with the naked eye.
LASER TO "FIRE" ONCE A DAY the world, and the 10 minute long burn time The laser must be very accurate to strike
The mission itself would begin with the will expose the tiny ChipSat and its thin light the tiny craft millions of kilometres away from
launch of a mothership carrying 1,000 sail to the same quantity of energy that was Earth, but Earths atmosphere could affect
ChipSats. Once they have been lifted into released, when the Hiroshima nuclear bomb the light and challenge the sensitive aim. To
Mission requires a huge laser

and an unbreakable starship
A fleet of spacecraft weighing only a few grams each could travel to the
CLAUS LUNAU
closest star at a speed of 216 million km/h. The scientists behind the Breakthrough
Starshot project hope to launch the first light-powered craft 20 years from now.
Mothership Craft
MILLIONS OF LASERS PROJECT REQUIRES

2 UNITED INTO ONE 3 EXTREME ACCURACY
A beam of 100 gigawatts To hit the sail millions of km
MOTHERSHIP
1 ENTERS ORBIT consists of millions of small, 10 from Earth, the laser gun must
A mothership carrying 1,000 tiny kilowatt lasers that are united have an accuracy of much less
spacecraft is entered into orbit Laser beam into one beam. It is a huge than one millionth of a degree.
60,000 km above Earth. Once a
is focused. challenge to unite millions of The laser must be fired when
day, a tiny craft consisting of a beams. In 10 minutes, the laser Earth is located in a specific
microchip and a 16 m2 light will accelerate the light sail to position in relation to Alpha
sail is released. The craft is one fifth of the speed of light. Centauri, and no planets or
placed above the laser. asteroids are in the way.
Chance of succes: Chance of succes:
Chance of succes:
95% 20% 80%

Control room
Laser gun
avoid interruption, the laser will be built in one technology, and that may be Breakthrough make it huge (compared to the ship) and the
of the most elevated and dry places on our Starshots major challenge. On the other "pressure" of light could be enough to
planet such as the Atacama desert in Chile, hand, solar sails are scientifically plausible, accelerate it to incredible speeds.
where many telescopes are already located. and so far the only way we can think of In the 1970s, physicist Robert Forward
getting a ship to another star system within showed that it is theoretically possible to
LIGHT IS POWERFUL BUT INEFFICIENT a human lifetime. accelerate a spacecraft to up to 10 % of the
The project depends on the possibility of The scientific idea behind light-powered speed of light by equipping it with light sails.
using light as the source of acceleration. aerospace activities dates back at least to But in order to get a craft going, the light
Light is cheap, and Earth is bombarded with it Einstein. According to relativity, light has no source must be extremely powerful and the
all the time, so for decades, scientists have mass, and so it can only provide a craft with sail ultra-thin. An ordinary nuclear power plant
been trying to develop ships that could very limited momentum. But photons have generates about one gigawatt. If that energy
obtain just a percentage of the speed of light. plenty of speed, so they can push a mirror, were concentrated into one single laser beam,
Unfortunately, light is also very inefficient very slightly, when the light is reflected by it would produce a push of seven newtons,
fuel, which cannot yet be used by existing the glass. Make the mirror a reflective sail, which is not even enough to lift one litre of
CLAUS LUNAU
Antenna
Solar panel
THE TECHNOLOGY
5 IS ALMOST READY
The tiny ChipSats must bring
several scientific instruments,
but the total weight cannot
exceed a few grams. Satellites
like this already exist, so in this
respect, the project is very
close to possible right now.
Chance of succes:
STURDY, ULTRA-
4 LIGHT LIGHT SAIL
Both the light sail of 4 x 4 m and
the skeleton holding it in
place must be very sturdy. The
90%
skeleton could be made of
composites such as carbon fibre,
whereas the sail could be made
of silicon, graphene, or plastic The risk of striking large, visible
film coated with aluminium. particles in space is only 10%,
but collisions with cosmic dust
Chance of succes: make up a greater risk to the
electronic equipment.
40% scienceillustrated.com.au | 27
STAR MISSION
milk from Earth. It is also very difficult to so, the initiators hope for new major according to Starshot scientists calculations,
make a thin light sail that will not immediately breakthroughs within powerful compounds each part of the light sail will be hit about
be destroyed by the laser beam. based on graphene or materials made of 1,000 times by particles of less than one
One of the scientists who inspired the silicon and silicon dioxide. The sail and chip micrometre. Even tiny particles could
project and the work with laser propulsion is must be able to travel at a speed of 60,000 puncture the sail or harm the instruments,
Physics Professor Philip Lubin from Univserity kilometres a second, cover almost 40 trillion and so, both the sail and the chip must be
of Santa Barbara. According to him, the kilometres, and still be operational after 20 covered in a protective layer of a light and
development of nanotechnology will make it years in hard vacuum exposed to radiation. extremely durable beryllium copper alloy.
possible to produce sails that are only a few En route, the craft will need to correct its
hundred atoms wide and take advantage of flightpath using small motors, which require COULD THEY FIND LIFE?
99.9 % of the light's energy. energy, and that is another one of engineers Once the ships have been launched, they are
major challenges. The existing ChipSats have more or less left to themselves. By means of a
TINY SPACECRAFT MUST BE TOUGH no batteries, but the engineers hope to be small laser, the tiny ChipSats can transmit
The craft itself must consist of a small, able to use tiny radio isotope generators. images back, but due to the
square silicon chip measuring only a few Radio isotope generators, which are used distance, they will take more
centimetres across and weighing a few on space missions to the outskirts of our than four years to reach
grams. Scientists have been working for Solar System and in Mars rovers, consist of a Earth. The large laser gun
years to develop the worlds smallest small lump of radioactive plutonium-238 or can be made to reverse,
satellites, ChipSats, which can be launched americium-241, the thermal energy of which functioning as the worlds
into space to send scientific data back to can be converted into power. Today, they are m o s t s e n s i t i ve l i g h t
Earth. These ChipSats have already been still too large for a ChipSat. telescope. No existing
tested in low Earth orbit space missions, but The mission to Alpha Centauri will also be telescopes are able to
never outside Earths atmosphere. a long obstacle race into the unknown. capture a signal from a
The Starshot chip must include a camera, Outside Earths atmosphere, there will be ChipSat, as the light would
a motor, navigation and communication dust, rocks and who knows what else in the
equipment, and a few scientific instruments. great void between stars. New Horizons left Earth in 2006,
Many of these components are available Collisions with large, visible fragments are reaching Pluto nine years later
now, but the light sail requires innovation, and very unlikely in interstellar space, but in July 2015.
NASA
Probes are the fastest things ever

The fastest rifle bullets travel at a speed of about 4,000 km/h, which is nothing in
comparison with deep space probes which are the fastest tech we've yet built.
JUPITER PROBE BEAT ALL PROBES OBTAINED DIZZYING PLUTO HUNTER WAS THE
SPEED RECORDS SPEED APPROACHING THE SUN FASTEST TO LEAVE EARTH
By travelling at 265,000 km/h, the In 1974 and 1976, the Helios 1 and 2 The New Horizons space probe hit
Juno space probe holds the speed probes were launched towards the Sun. the fastest launch speed from
record of all spacecraft. Right now, On their way into orbit, the probes Earth. It was launched in 2006 at a
the probe is orbiting Jupiter. reached a speed of 253,000 km/h. speed of 58,536 km/h. The high
speed was necessary to send the
NASA
NASA
craft directly towards its

destination, Pluto.
3 obvious
star mission
destinations
Alpha Centauri is the star system closest to our Solar
System, but there are also other interesting stars in Earths
neighbourhood. Around several of those, planets are orbiting,
which could include life, according to scientists.
NEIGHBOURING STAR COULD

HAVE TWO HABITABLE WORLDS
Distance: 112 trillion km
Five planets may orbit Tau Ceti, two of which, Tau

Ceti e and f, are located in the habitable zone.
Tau Ceti is much like the Sun, and it could be the
obvious destination of the next star mission after
Alpha Centauri.
TRIPLE SYSTEM HOME

TO "SUPER-EARTH"
Distance: 2.23 quadrillion km
Gliese 667 has three small stars Gliese

A, B, and C. At least two exoplanets orbit
Gliese C in the habitable zone. One of
them is known as a super-Earth, as it is
a rocky world larger than Earth.
NEWS FLASH!
CLOSE NEIGHBOUR
MAY HARBOUR LIFE
Distance: 41 trillion km
Alpha Centauri system has two stars
the size of the Sun and a small red dwarf
known as Proxima Centauri. The red dwarf is Proxima b is the
only 4.25 light years from Earth, and one closest exoplanet
planet, Proxima b, could hold liquid water. ever discovered.
ESO
TECHNOLOGY | 3D PRINTERS
Houses are printed according to the

same principles as ordinary 3D prints,
but on a larger scale.
By Esben Schouboe
10 houses were built in one day, and an office building

was finished in 17 days. A new construction boom is
gearing up, where huge 3D printers produce
customised buildings in record time.
A 230 square metre house

IMAGINE CHINA
can be built in 20 hours
3D PRINTERS
Cranes
Two 6-m-tall cranes on
each side of the Crossbeam
building raise and
On the crossbeam,
lower the crossbeam.
the printhead can
move back and
forth across the
width of the house,
as an extra arm
installs roof plates.
Printhead
The printhead consists
Rails of three nozzles that
add the wet concrete
The two cranes move
layer by layer.
back and forth along the
length of the building
on a set of rails.
Huge printer builds a 1
new home in one day

Adding layer by layer of concrete, a huge 3D printer can build
3
2
Nozzles create framework

a house that is customised according to the owners dreams. 1 Two of the printers nozzles print
the outlines of the wall. The nozzles can
One of the oldest and most simple types quick-action hardening agent, allowing be adjusted to make parts of the wall thicker.
of 3D printing uses a nozzle to release a the printer to add a new, 13 cm layer
Trowels smooth surface
material and build the structure layer by
layer. The new construction method of
every hour. The work is carried out
according to a 3D computer model of the
2 On each side of the nozzles, trowels
smooth the surface of the concrete. They can
contour crafting uses the same final structure, and the printer can be be angled according to the shape required.
principle, but on a larger scale. First, the instructed to leave space for water
contours of the walls of a house are pipes, sockets, etc. In this way, it is easy The wall is filled up
built. In the cavity of the wall, the to customize ones home from the start. 3 The central nozzle fills the cavity
printhead adds concrete in a zigzag According to the inventor of contour with concrete, leaving space for water
B. KHOSHNEVIS
pattern, which provides the structure crafting, Behrokh Khoshnevis, a house of pipes, power cables, etc.
with strength. The concrete includes a 230 m2 can be finished in only 20 hours.
U
sually, it takes weeks to finish according to the same basic principle. First, a in private homes. Enthusiasts from all over the
primary construction on a house. 3D model of an object is made on a computer, world are experimenting with 3D printing
First, concrete workers must lay a including accurate measurements in all three anything from computer components to new
foundation, then a frame goes up, the walls dimensions. Subsequently, a printhead prints tools and even new 3D printers.
are filled in, the roof is covered, and windows layer by layer of materials such as plastic or Now, the same principle is used in the
are installed. Sometimes this order changes concrete, until the object has been completed. construction industry, as companies and
depending on the design and materials, but In the beginning, 3D printing was primarily scientists experiment with huge 3D printers
that's the basic idea. But now a Chinese used to build prototypes fast, as companies that can function as future bricklayers.
company, WinSun, says it can build 10 homes were designing new products. Instead of having
in only 24 hours. Normally, this would have a new version of the design built in a factory or CUSTOMIZE YOUR NEW HOME
required an army of workers, but not when by craftsmen, it is easy and fast to send the By using 3D printers in construction sites
the houses are made by a huge 3D printer. digital model to a printer. In recent years, the instead of skilled craft workers, construction
The 3D printing technology has existed prices of 3D printers have been considerably projects cannot only be finished faster and
since the 1980s and is still carried out reduced, and they have become popular tools more safely, they can also be much more
LE PRINTING
MODU
In 2016, this office building in Dubai

was put into service after only 17
days of construction.
INSIGHT MEDIA/ALL OVER // IMAGINE CHINA
Three different printing meth

ods
flexi ble. A new 3D

printed building needs
not look like all the
others. You only need to Layer by layer
Modules
alter the computer PRO: The entire structure is printed. Freeform
PRO: Easy to integrate.
model and make the CON : Requ ires very large printers. PRO : Flexible design.
CON: Difficult to customise a house.
The layer by layer method is used to CON: Slow process.
printer follow the new 3D The method allows the 3D printing of
print entire houses on site, making Unlike the layer by layer method,
instructions to the customised bricks, concrete sections,
construction process much faster and freeform printers do not require an
customise your new etc., and delivering them to a
cheaper than any other method. It existing base. Robotic arms with
construction site. The Softkill company
home according to your requires a huge printer that can mov welding torches add new material,
e makes huge plastic sections that can as
personal requirements. about the entire layout, printing to be it is printed. The method involves
the assembled in the construction site, no
Moreover, it is possible height required. flexible design, but is slower and more
need for any welding or concrete maki
ng. expensive than the other methods.
to include holes for
sockets and plumbing
right where you will need
them, and you are not dependent on the course be much easier to comply with, when printers. As for printer concrete, it is
shapes of prefabricated concrete elements the construction site is not full of people, but important to find the perfect thickness and
or the limitations of ordinary bricks when you rather of big printers. make-up, so the concrete hardens faster and
design your house. If you already know that is sufficiently durable.
you would like a room with a pool table, you NEW CONSTRUCTION BOOM It will probably take some time for the
can have the room built according to 3D printers still face a number of major construction industry to adapt to new
accurate measurements leaving lots of challenges in the construction industry, one methods. Architects, structural engineers,
space around the table. Or perhaps you of which is the development of printer and craftsmen must learn how to use the
would lake a large, circular living room with building materials. Even some of the best new technology, and procedures and
skylights at the centre of your home. existing 3D printers can only print one legislation must be adjusted, as 3D printing
Normally, this type of specific requests material, but as we all know, houses are construction is still very new. Consequently,
requires special expertise, but a 3D printer made up of many different materials. it is up to risk-minded companies to pave the
just works according to its instructions. If you needed a separate 3D printer for way for others, demonstrating that 3D
Improved safety is one of the greatest every material, the technology would not be printers could play a major role in the
advantages of the new technology. Today, it able to compete with skilled craft workers construction industry of the future.
is highly dangerous to work in the and mass-produced concrete sections. However, the Chinese WinSun example
construction industry. In 2014, 1 in 5 work- Moreover, the right materials have been shows that a major breakthrough is coming
related deaths in the US took place in missing. The concrete that is usually used for up. The success of 3D printers is partly due to
construction sites. Safety regulations are of building foundations cannot be used in 3D the fact that in recent years, materials
MES
10 HO T IN
BUIL URS
24 HO
The 10 houses were

printed in wall modules
and assembled on site.
IMAGINE CHINA
PRINTING
FREEFORM
researchers have been focusing ever more on
3D printers, as the printers have become
Later this year, a 3D printer will popular among hobby enthusiasts and
build a bridge across one of professional designers alike.
X3D
Amsterdams many canals.

ADRIAAN DE GROOT/M
The research now pays off in the shape of

JORIS LAARMAN/MX3D
stronger, more flexible materials made
specifically for 3D printers such as the
customised concrete WinSun used for the 10
houses in China. The company is not only one
that is ready to switch from ordinary
construction methods to 3D printers. In
response to the lack of cheap homes in the city
state, the government of Singapore has chosen
to build 3D printed homes, particularly for
elderly people, and plans have been made to
build 10-storey housing blocks. Each storey will
be 3D printed, and everything will be assembled
on site. In Dubai, the local government has
supported a project, in which an entire office
Welding torch prints bridge without base building of 250m2 was constructed in only 17
The Dutch company MX3D is printing a flame. A robotic arm controls the days, using a huge 3D printer. Looking into the
metal bridge across the Oudezijds torch, and as the metal hardens, the future, the government aims to build 25 % of
Achterburgwal canal of Amsterdam, arm moves on. The bridge is built as a the citys structures via 3D printing in 2030.
which will be finished in 2017. MX3Ds self-supporting grid structure,
printer continuously adds new metal ensuring that it can be printed 3D PRINTED LUNAR BASE
to the structure by means of a welding without the need of a base. But which is the smartest way, when it comes to
using the new 3D construction printers? Some
LAYER BY L
AYER PRINTING
prefer printers mounted on cranes that move
on rails, whereas others rely on printers placed
WASP
The Big Delta 3D
in a huge, stationary steel structure. Some
printer is to build
use concrete, others print mud or plastic, and
simple mud huts in
it is even possible to make 3D printed bricks.
the poor regions of
One of the technologies that are at an
the world.
advanced stage of development, contour
crafting, was invented by Behrokh
Khoshnevis of the American University of
Southern California. Today, the method is one
of the few made for printing houses on site,
unli ke printing individual parts and
subsequently carrying them to the
construction site.
The building process is carried out by
nozzles printing concrete, while trowels
automatically smooth the surface of every
concrete layer. At the same time, a robotic
arm can continuously paint the walls built by
the printhead. Another gripping arm can
place reinforcing steel bars and plumbing in
the wall, as it is built. In this way, contour
crafting can make bricklaying work much
more efficient, as all elements are built into
the wall from the very beginning. According
to the scientists behind the method, an
ordinary home of 230m2 can be finished in
only 20 hours.
The team behind contour crafting is
12-m-high printer builds
supported by NASA, which plans to build a
lunar base, adjusting the new method to print
mud huts in poor regions
based on the materials that are already The Big Delta 3D printer is designed with a roof over their heads cheaply and
available on the Moon, so NASA needs not to build huts fast and cheaply from fast. Boasting a height of 12 m and a
use expensive rocket fuel to launch building easily accessible materials such as diameter of 6 m, Big Delta is one of the
materials into space. mud in order to relieve the housing largest 3D printers in the world.
shortage in poor regions of the world. Delta printers typically consist of a
PRINTED HOMES FOR THE POOR circular printing area at the centre and
But in the first place, 3D printers are much The number of people in the world is three arms stretching from the three
needed on Earth. In the future, a major part of rising much faster than the number of surrounding supporting columns and
the worlds population will not have a roof homes, particularly in poor, urban areas. moving the print-head in circles. With
over their heads. The population is growing, So, the Italian company WASP is circular motions, the printer adds layer
and more and more people are moving to big developing a method to provide by layer of material, building simple mud
cities, where there are not enough homes. homeless people throughout the world huts. The printer can use accessible
Italian experts have addressed the problem materials close to the
by developing a power-saving 3D printer, which construction site such as
is going to help the Third World. Known as Big clay, mud, and soil. The
Delta, the printer can build homes of mud, clay, scientists behind Big Delta
water, soil, and plant fibres. It is ultra-cheap to were inspired by ancient
operate and only consumes 100 watts of Italian construction
electricity comparable to a large, ordinary TV methods, by which soil is
set. The scientists aim to place the printer in strained and mixed with
poor urban areas that are often hit by water and plant fibres into
devastating natural disasters, so the cities a powerful material.
can quickly be rebuilt.
According to UN data, up to 100,000 Big Delta can print a mixture
houses a day need to be built worldwide of mud and soil, which is
towards 2030. So, scientists throughout the held together by plant
world consider the new, fast 3D printers the protein.
saviours of millions of homeless people.
2017 | WHAT'S NEXT FOR SCIENCE
THE YEAR AHEAD...

Welcome to
2017 highlights: Flying cars, head transplants, and

satellites that capture space junk. Science Illustrated is
2017 pleased to introduce the scientific novelties of 2017.
New research helps you keep your New Year resolutions:

Our brains are born as addicts, which will do anything to spoil
2017 New Year resolutions. But new drugs are to cure our brains.
2 Read more on page 44.
Logical calendar eliminates date chaos: No more quarters of

different lengths, holidays occurring on different dates, and
2017 birthdays on different days of the week year after year.
3 Read more on page 50.
By Mikkel Meister
TECHNOLOGY MEDICINE
Top speed in th Scientists experiments with

e air:
200 km/h maturing sperm cells will now
C be tested on people to help
childless couples.
A REAL-LIFE TRANSFORMER
Vitamin mix
tu
The wings are folded along the body, when
A the car is on the road, and unfolded, when it matures spe re
rm
flies. Wingspan: 8.2 m. Length: 6m. Weight: 450kg.
The propeller powers the car during flight. The

B driving force is supplied by a 4 cylinder, 74kW 10 m
KALLISTEM
engine the same engine power as a Skoda Fabia.
The cockpit includes two seats, one for the

C pilot and one for a passenger.
Scientists
Top speed on
ground: 160 km
the
/h
Create
Artificial 1 A testicular bi
taken from an
opsy is
infertile
Sperm Cells man or from a
start cancer tre
boy about to
atment.
Tissue from infertile men is converted
into usable sperm cells in the lab.
AEROMOBIL
A Flying "Car"
P oor sperm quality in men is often the
reason why couples cannot have babies.
French scientists have developed a new way
In 2017, the Aeromobil 3.0 will speed along of creating artificial sperm cells outside the
highways and through the air. human body by means of a tissue sample
from the infertile male patient. The tissue
2 The spermatog
stem cells are m
a culture dish.
onial
atured in
They are mixed
F or years, the Slovakian company Aeromobil has
been working on a cross-breed between two of
the most popular means of transport: the car and
sample contains spermatogonial stem
cells - immature sperm cells - which
scientists claim they are able to convert
with testostero
vitamin C and
maturation pe
ne and
others. The
riod is
the plane. In 2017, the company expects that its into fully mature sperm cells in a culture approximately
72 days.
Aeromobil 3.0 flying car will finally be ready for sale dish. In 2017, the method will be tested
to interested buyers, who will need a driver's for the first time on people, and if it lives
licence, a pilot's certificate, and lots of money. up to the expectations, could mean a
Thanks to its special wings, that can be folded along new type of treatment against infertility.
its body, the flying car can be driven on highways It could also help boys who have
3 The artificially
SHUTTERSTOCK
and take a flight of up to 700 km. The man behind been in chemotherapy to be able to matured
sperm cell is us
the concept, tefan Klein, has spent over 25 years father babies at a later point in life. IVF treatment. ed for
developing and refining the flying car, which he has Chemotherapy may harm boys
already shown to work in real life. The price is spermatogonial stem cells, and so, a
expected to be several hundred thousand euros. But sample could be taken from a boys testicles
is it really a flying car... or just a drivable aeroplane? and frozen before cancer treatment.
37
WHAT'S NEXT FOR SCIENCE
AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY
The capsule proposed by the Dutch Delft University of

Technology
Students Will
TESS (Transiting
Test Hyperloop
Exoplanet Survey
Satellite) will seek
capsules
NASA
planets orbiting
The pneumatic tube train will come one step
other stars.
closer to reality, when capsules are tested.
NASA Satellite To Seek
Earth-like Planets
I n January 2017, students from 29
universities throughout the world will
T housands of new planets outside our Solar
System could be discovered by NASA's TESS
satellite, which will be launched in December 2017,
test their proposals for a Hyperloop capsule
on a 1.5 km track in California. In short, the
according to plan. Over a period of two years, TESS concept is a solar-powered, high-speed train
cameras will search at least 200,000 stars and focus inspired by pneumatic tube transportation.
on any brief light intensity reductions. Such change A Hyperloop track consists of up to hundreds
indicates that a planet orbiting the star is of km of vacuum tubes, in which capsules
temporarily blocking out its light. NASA hopes to seating up to 28 passengers travel at speeds
discover about 500 Earth-like planets, for study in of up to 1,220 km/h. The track is provided by
more detail by Earth-based telescopes and the SpaceX the aerospace company founded by
future James Webb space telescope. Elon Musk, who is also the man behind the
Tesla electric car and Dragon space capsule.
BIOLOGY Dutch students imagine that

a Hyperloop tube could link
Amsterdam and Paris.
MAX PLANCK INSTITUT
A battery and solar cells

make sure that the 5
gram GPS transmitter
can work for a year.
Scientists Will Monitor

Insects... From Space
F rom June 2017, the travelling habits of insects

and small birds can be mapped out in greater
detail than ever before. Scientists will equip bees
with newly developed electronics, which weigh less
than 5 g, but still include GPS, an accelerometer,
and a thermometer. The creatures movements will
be monitored from the International Space Station.
Creatures that scientists have so far been unable to
TU DELFT
track accurately are of particular interest.
GADGETS ENGINEERING
SLALOM PR
ODUCES SU
PER POWER
1 In the first 1.7
facility, electro
km of the FUL X-RAYS
Lithium ion accelerated to
that of light be
ns are
a speeds close
fore continuing
to
2 The magnets m
slalom. The el
X-ray radiation
ake the electro
ectrons start to
ns
emit
a system of op to with the same
posing magne as laser light in qualities
ts. ultrashort,
very powerful
pulses.
Electrons
X-ray radiation
Magnets
Lithium metal
500 Wh/kg 3 The X-ray

pulses
reach labs at
Energy density of the new battery about twice
the end of the
as much as that of existing lithium ion batteries.
facility, where
the light is used
to study cell
structures, etc.
A 4,000 mAh
SOLIDENERGY SYSTEMS
Laser laboratory
lithium metal battery will only take up half
the space of an iPhone battery of 1,960 mAh.
DESY & CLAUS LUNAU
New Tech
Reduces Bulky 3.4-km-long
Gadget Batteries X-ray Laser Will
Lithium metal batteries are twice as durable as
the popular lithium ion batteries.
Expose the
Interior of Atoms
A s 2017 continues, we'll see the appearance of
new batter tech, which offers much longer
durability than the good old lithium ion batteries.
With 27,000 X-ray pulses per second, the laser
will reveal the innermost secrets of atoms.
Some of this tech will take years, before it finds its
way out of the labs and into our smartphones,
computers, and electric cars. However, American
company SolidEnergy Systems' lithium metal
C ompared to its competitors, the European XFEL
X-ray laser will be much more intensive, when
it is inaugurated in 2017. The X-ray laser stretches
batteries are now at such a state of development 3.4 km through underground tunnels from the DESY
that the first ones can be in placed in smartphones research centre in Hamburg, Germany. By emitting
and smartwatches in early 2017. The company X-ray pulses, which are one billion times more
promises that its batteries have twice as high powerful than ordinary X-rays, 27,000 times per
energy density as any others. So, a lithium metal second, the XFEL can illuminate and expose atoms
battery will be able to power a smartphone for just and molecules in closer detail than ever before and
as long as a lithium ion battery, while taking up so reveal the molecular make-up of cells or the
half as much space. tiniest atomic details of a virus.
AUS
TRA
LIA
N
2017 ALMANAC
1 JANUARY: San Francisco JULY: China's spacecraft
bans the sale of goods in Change 5 lands on the
styrofoam. The ban aims to Moon to collect samples and
improve the aquatic returns to Earth again.
MAX PLANCK INSTITUT
environment by reducing
the amount of waste 21 AUGUST: A total solar
MOLEY
including styrofoam, eclipse can be experienced
which does not biodegrade. in several US states such as
JUNE: German scientists Illinois. The maximum OCTOBER: Moley Robotics
27-29 JANUARY: install ultralight GPS duration of the solar eclipse introduces a chef robot that
Capsules for the Hyperloop transmitters on anything is 2 minutes and 40 seconds. can cook in your own
tube train tested on a 1.5 km from butterflies to goats, to kitchen based on a recipe on
track in California. map the behaviour of flocks 15 SEPTEMBER: NASA's your smartphone.
of animals in much more Cassini probe is destroyed
detail than ever before using after a 20 year journey, NOVEMBER: China
a receiver mounted on the during which the probe has inaugurates a nuclear power
TU DELFT
International Space Station. taken a close look at plant in Shandong, which is
Saturn's rings and its largest supposedly meltdown-proof.
FEBRUARY: Nine linked moon, Titan. Before Cassini It is the first time that a
radio telescopes on Earth burns up in Saturn's generation IV plant is put
"photograph" the event atmosphere, it will complete into commercial service.
horizon of a black hole for the 22 orbits between the
first time. The subject is the planet's surface and the
GLEB GARANICH/REUTERS/SCANPIX
Sagittarius A* black hole at inner side of the rings.

NASA
the centre of the Milky Way.

SEPTEMBER: After a one
MARCH: Nintendo expected JUNE: In the NASA Space year journey, NASAs OSIRIS-
to launch its new game Robotics Challenge, several REx asteroid hunter flies by
console called the Switch. teams compete to Earth to take advantage of
HENNING DALHOFF
programme the Robonaut 5 Earth's gravity to be hurled

MARCH: Ori robotic humanoid robot to carry out further into space, heading NOVEMBER: A huge
furniture hits stores. Inspired tasks in a simulated for the Bennu asteroid. sarcophagus seals
by origami, the furniture can environment on Mars. Chernobyl's devastated
be folded in different ways, reactor 4 for good. The steel
converting a living room into JUNE: SpaceVR launches a enclosure weighs 36,000 t
an office or a bedroom, etc. virtual reality satellite into a and is 110 m high.
The target group is people low Earth orbit to record 360
living in small flats. degree video, allowing DECEMBER: US Moon
people wearing VR goggles Express becomes the first
APRIL: 70 % of evacuees to experience Earth seen private company to send a
from the Fukushima nuclear from space. spacecraft to the Moon.
disaster return home.
JULY: In Japan, lettuce DECEMBER: SpaceX
CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES
king Spread becomes the OCTOBER: Microsoft and becomes the first private
world's first fully automated Facebook link Bilbao, Spain, aerospace company to send
lettuce farm. The company and the US state of Virginia astronauts to the ISS.
says all phases of lettuce by a 6,600-km-long, under-
growing except sowing the sea, fibre-optic cable, so the DECEMBER: The
seeds will be taken over by countries can exchange data hydrogen-powered Coradia
industrial robots. at a speed of 160 terabits/s. iLint passenger train starts.
GADGETS MEDICINE
Conductive yarn is sewn into the

denim cloth, providing a
link to the smartphone.
The spine is
stabilised
with screws. 1 Glue is applied to
nerve endings.
Spinal cord
2 Loose stitches
reconnect the
CLAUS LUNAU
spinal cord.
Glue links nerves

Once the head has
1 been removed from
the body, the spinal cord The head and the body
nerve paths are fused with 2 are stitched together,
the donor body nerve paths all blood vessels are linked,
by means of special glue. and blood flows to the brain.
Italian Doctor
GOOGLE
Clothes To Control Will Give Russian

A Smartphone Man a New Body
Risky surgery will move a paralysed patients
No more fumbling to get your phone out of your Valery Spiridonov
head onto a healthy donor body.
pocket. Just touch your sleeve to answer a call. suffers from a rare
hereditary disease
L evis will introduce a new, electrically

conductive textile that makes clothes cooperate
L ike a modern Dr. Frankenstein, an Italian doctor,
Sergio Canavero, intends to move the head of a
paralysed Russian citizen, Valery Spiridonov, onto a
that makes his spinal
cord nerve cells die.
with your smartphone so it will be easier for people new, healthy donor body. According to plan, the SERGEI FADEICHEV/TASS/GETTY IMAGES
to use their smartphones, such as during a bike surgery will take 36 hours and require a team of 100
ride. Moving a hand across a special area of the doctors and nurses. In the process, head and spine
sleeve, the cyclist can answer calls or choose a are cooled and gently parted. Subsequently, the
music track without having to fumble with the nerve endings are fused with a special glue,
phone. It combines thin metal alloy threads with and Valery Spiridonovs head is sewn onto
wool, silk, or polyester to produce thin, electrically the new body. Critics emphasise that road
conductive yarn that can be woven into textiles. A accidents and all
small battery supplies the power, and a wireless previous experiments
chip passes the motions on to the phone. with monkeys show
that it is not
WATCH THE SMART possible to make
CLOTHES AT WORK the nerve paths
A computer detects the
exact points in which
join properly
engineers touch the again. We
electrically conductive shall see
textile.
youtu.be/qObSFfdfe7I who is
right.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR SCIENCE
TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING
The technology from Googles

driverless cars will be applied
Floating Nuclear
to ordinary cars in 2017. Power Station Launched
L ate in 2017, the 144-m-long Akademik
Lomonosov barge will leave the dock in
Saint Petersburg, Russia. The barge is really
a Russian-designed, floating, nuclear power
station with two 35 megawatt reactors,
which will supply up to 200,000 people in
remote towns along the Arctic coastline of
Russia with power. Towboats will tow the
power station from port to port in
accordance with the demand.
GOOGLE
Driverless Family ALLAN HJEN Apart from supplying

power, the nuclear power
Cars Will Soon Be station can desalinate seawater.
The Norm
In cooperation with Chrysler, Google will focus
even more on self-driving cars. COMMUNICATION
F or the first time ever, Google teams up with a

carmaker to build and test driverless cars. The
IT giants self-driving cars have already completed
about 2.5 million km in California, but now, their
100 Chrysler numbers will be increased. According to plan,
Pacifica Hybrid Chrysler will supply about 100 of its Pacifica Hybrid
family cars will family cars, which have been prepared for Google to
become self- install the necessary sensors, computers, and
HYPERLOOP TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES
driving in 2017. software. The new cars will more than double the Train passengers can
CHRYSLER
number of Google driverless cars, and even more quickly check the weather
are on their way. forecast for Frankfurt, etc.
German Train Windows

Will Get Touch Controls
S oon, Deutsche Bahn passengers will be able to

see more than just the landscape from their
train windows. The German railway company and
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies are going to
build an innovation train, in which the windows
feature integrated, transparent touch screens
showing info to passengers.
AEROSPACE
METHOD 1: HARPOON METHOD 2: NET
From a chamber hidden in the satellite, a harpoon is The satellite also includes a net, which fires to capture
fired towards the space junk. The harpoon penetrates the space junk. Subsequently, the net can be retrieved
the junk, which is placed in the hold of the satellite. back into the satellite again just like the harpoon.
Junk and satellite burn up.

Once the junk has been captured,
RemoveDebris will head for the
atmosphere, where it burns up.
6,800
tonnes of spac
CLAUS LUNAU
e junk are
located in a lo
w Earth orbit
just like the IS
S space
station and ot
her satellites.
Spacecraft Will Capture 36,000 km/h

is the top spee
d of the junk.
Junk With Vast Net

The RemoveDebris satellite will remove the heaps of hazardous space
junk orbiting Earth and posing a threat to aerospace activities.
P aint, old screws and bolts, and worn-out

satellites. Approximately 700,000 pieces of space
junk measuring 1-10 cm are orbiting Earth at speeds of
target like a wild animal. Another method fires a
harpoon, which seizes the junk. Weridly enough, when
the satellite is tested in 2017, it will bring its own junk
up to 36,000 km/h, and the hazardous junk threatens for trying out the methods.
to collide with satellites, the ISS, and other spacecraft.
So, British scientists have developed a satellite called WATCH THE
RemoveDebris, which is going to try to clear away SATELLITE CONCEPT
some of the junk using a very basic technique. In the video, you can watch
To begin with, the satellite is to test different the two methods for capturing
space junk, which Remove-
methods for capturing the junk and sending it down Debris will test in 2017.
through Earths atmosphere, where it will burn up. The youtu.be/mI_0CInQb0A
methods include a net, which is fired to capture the
HUMANS | ADDICTION
Less alcohol Less spending

20171 THE YEAR IN The intoxication takes
over your brain, making
Buying more things will
give you a kick, but the
2 SCIENCE you crave so much for

a drink that your nerve
cells twitch at the mere
thought of alcohol.
rush reduces your brains
ability to predict your path
towards nancial doom.
Your brain will

oppose any
attempt at
keeping your New
Year resolutions,
but new research
brings us one step
closer to finding the
ultimate treatment
Born
that can make our
worst habits go away.
By Gorm Palmgren & Christian Juul // Photos: Shutterstock // Art: Claus Lunau
Healthier food
Sugar caresses your
tastebuds, but the tiny
molecules also inltrate
your brain and make No cigarettes
you crave more of the
sweet stuff. Nicotine makes your
brain articially happy,
destroying your ability
to be naturally happy
without lighting up.
Less Facebook
Your brain cannot control itself, as
your friends constant updates ll
up your mobile phone. However,
your online life could kill your
brain cells.
to be Addicts
YOUR BRAIN CELLS ARE DESIGNED TO
FORGET YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS
45
ADDICTION
Y Less alcohol
our brain cells are at war with one
another. Scientists have shown that
reason and bad habits divide the CHANCE OF
SUCCES
nerves into two teams that are constantly
battling for control of your behaviour. The
winners determine whether you can control
yourself or give in to the craving. However, your The mere thought of
brain is designed to let the compliant nerves
gain a lead, and after only one day, unwise alcohol rewards the brain
behaviour may become irresistibly tempting. Alcohol seeps from the blood to the brain, suspending your common sense
The bad habits manipulate your innermost and intoxicating you to go back to the bottle over and over again.
thoughts and intoxicate you to forget all
reason. Willpower and patience are usually the
way to beat addiction, but scientists
emphasise that some brains give in more easily
A lcohol hits your brain hard. The
forceful molecules spread fast,
affecting the majority of brain regions.
signal in the reward system. They
scanned the brains of a number of test
subjects who were shown pictures of
than others. But armed with the most recent Nerve cells which normally control food or alcohol, and the experiment
knowledge about addiction, scientists hope to balance, emotions, and judgement revealed that the sight of a beer bottle
find treatments that will allow everybody to are partly suspended with obvious triggered a more powerful reward
get rid of their worst bad habits. results. However, the alcohol also signal in the brain than the sight of a
stimulates the brains reward system, delicious pizza.
BRAIN DESIGNED FOR ADDICTION and hence, most people associate
The human brain is pre-programmed to alcohol with a feeling of well-being. Frontal lobe Hippocampus
become addicted. A network of brain cells are Indeed, the intoxication is only
constantly ready to provide you with a feeling outperformed by the one resulting
of happiness, when you engage in anything from drugs such as heroin and
from eating cream puffs to spontaneous cocaine. On the other hand, alcohol
online shopping. But the integrated reward does not affect the reward system just Ventral teg-
system is not only there to give us bad habits. as permanently as drugs do, and the mentum Cerebellum
The overwhelming rush is necessary, not only craving for alcohol is consequently not
for us, but for the survival of our species, as it usually due to a damaged brain, ALCOHOL
makes us want to eat, drink, sleep, and have rather to the memory of a good Alcohol rewards the brain by
children. The complex network of happiness experience. In 2015, American means of signals in the ventral
nerve cells stretches across most of scientists demonstrated that tegmentum, whereas
judgement and control are
the brain. Some of the most the mere thought of
affected via frontal lobe
important elements of the alcohol could trigger a restraint. Affection of the
cerebellum and hippocampus
influences balance and memory.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR

NEW YEAR RESOLUTION
Be patient, as the withdrawal
symptoms typically go away
after a few days, and they
can often be avoided by
slow, gradual
reduction.
system are the ventral tegmentum and the memory, so we will remember what made us next day, when scientists changed the rules
nucleus accumbens. happy and try to obtain it again. Unfortunately, of the experiment. Now, the participants were
When the ventral tegmentum is activated the system makes us the easy victims of to forget about colours, looking for figures
due to sensory impressions or certain unhealthy temptation, and according to a with specific shapes instead. Moreover, they
substances that enter the brain via the blood, recent experiment, the bad habits make the did not get any money, no matter what they
a signal is sent on to the nucleus accumbens, brain forget what is good for us. found. The experiment showed that the test
and that is the signal that we experience as subjects could not forget the expectation of
joy. The signal between the two brain regions DOPAMINE REVEALS REASON a reward in connection with red figures, so
is transmitted when long offshoots of the Last year, an American scientist, Susan every time a red figure appeared, they
nerve cells of the ventral tegmentum release Courtney, asked 20 test subjects to find red focused their attention at it. Brain scans also
the dopamine neurotransmitter directly into figures on a computer screen full of figures of revealed that at the same time, dopamine
the nucleus accumbens. There, dopamine different colours. When they found a red was released in the brains reward centre.
binds to the surface of the regions nerve figure, they received $1.50. In their efforts to In only one day, the brain had developed a
cells, where a series of proteins trigger an earn as much as possible, the test subjects behaviour that remained, even though it did
electric impulse. Apart from providing us with were not surprisingly particularly attentive to not pay off. The bad habit even prevented the
an immediate rush, the reward system also the red figures, and they were able to identify participants from carrying out their new task
sees to it that the emotion is stored in our them very quickly. The surprise came the efficiently. Such experiments show that
CHANCE OF
SUCCES
Less Facebook
Glutamate is released, when
mGluR5 the brain gives a signal.
HEALTHY BRAIN
A protein lid restricts the
signal from the mGluR5
protein. As the glutamate
neurotransmitter binds to
mGluR5, the lid opens, and Protein lid
Glutamate OBSESSIVE
the signal is passed on.
BRAIN
When mice lack a protein
mGluR5 lid, mGluR5 can give a
signal without the help
of glutamate, triggering
compulsive behaviour
reminiscent of peoples
excessive use
of Facebook.
Missing protein lid
The Brain 'Forces' Prefrontal

cortex
Supplementary
Us To Check Facebook motor cortex
Reckless brain cells make you stick to that news feed, but brain scans show that Anterior
cingulate
constant compulsive Internet action breaks down your brain. cortex Cerebellum
A major study including more than

11,000 European teenagers showed
that 4.4 % were addicted to the Internet.
perhaps it is a good idea to forget about
social media updates. Chinese scientists
have shown that prolonged Internet
SOCIAL MEDIA
Prolonged, excessive Internet
use could lead to partial
This led to spending less time on activities addiction causes major brain injury. disintegration of the cerebellum,
with friends and family. According to some the prefrontal cortex, the
HOW TO KEEP YOUR supplementary motor cortex,
scientists, Internet addiction is a variant of
the OCD mental disorder, which causes
NEW YEAR RESOLUTION and the anterior cingulate
Delete the app from your phone and cortex, affecting both your
compulsive action that the cells of the brain only check social media on your mind and your work capacity.
are unable to control. However, the computer. Replace the behaviour
compulsive action can be halted, and with reading a good book, etc.
ADDICTION
CHANCE
OF SUCCES
Healthier food
Sugar makes you want more
Hypothalamus
Sugar is better than a cocaine rush. An the drugs for a little sugar water. However,
experiment from 2007 showed that if rats other experiments indicate that sugar does
can freely choose between sugar and not cause real addiction. Instead, the sweet
cocaine, they will choose the sweet molecules can directly affect the hunger-
stuff. Even cocaine-addicted regulating nerves in the brain to Nucleus
rats were willing to skip make you want more. accumbens
HOW TO KEEP SUGAR

YOUR NEW YEAR Sugar triggers a reward in
RESOLUTION the brain via signals in the
nucleus accumbens. The
Satisfy your craving fructose carbohydrate, which
with sweet spices makes up a major part of the
such as cinnamon sugar we consume, can also
and keep up your activate signals in the
blood sugar level hypothalamus, which
with wholegrains controls our appetite.
and vegetables.
dopamine blurs our ability to think
Less spending
rationally, and that is the reason why it is
difficult for us to quit our bad habits.
However, Susan Courtneys experiment CHANCE
also showed that the participants reacted OF SUCCES
differently. Some released more dopamine

than others at the sight of the red figures,
and those test subjects also found it more Shoppers cannot predict loss of money
difficult to focus on the new task. The Some 6 % of the population buy more display other brain activity changes.
difference means that some people will be than they can afford, and according to Normally, the brain will restrict your
more inclined to become addicts and have experiments, that is because of a rush craving to buy, when the price is high,
more difficulties getting rid of bad habits. in the brain triggered as they buy. but in eager shoppers, this function
However, shopping addicts also has been considerably impaired.
RATIONAL NEURONS LOSE THE FIGHT
An even more detailed impression of reasons Anterior
struggle with temptations was produced, cingulate HOW TO KEEP YOUR
cortex NEW YEAR RESOLUTION
when Nicole Calakos from the American Duke
University took a closer look at the brains of Make a budget for your shopping
addicted lab mice. She divided the mice into activities and plan them ahead to
Nucleus avoid impulsive behaviour.
two groups and trained one group to become
accumbens Insula
very addicted to sugar. Subsequently, she
opened the mices brains to find out if the bad
habit had left marks on the densely packed SHOPPING
networks of the brain. Increased nucleus accumbens
It had indeed. In the basal ganglia, which activity causes a rush in
include the reward centre, scientists found shoppers, whereas low insula
activity means reduced ability
two types of nerve cells that they named
to predict loss of money.
stop and go neurons. Signals in the go Shoppers anterior cingulate
network speed up unhealthy behaviour, cortex is busy, indicating
whereas the stop network tries to stop it. In conflicting decision making.
both normal and addicted mice, the two
networks were entangled, and both networks
were very active. However, scientists just like Susan Courtneys experiment, this
Go neuron discovered that it was the timing between indicates that some people may need more
Stop neuron
the signals from the stop and go neurons that than reason to get rid of their addiction.
determined whether reason or temptation
won the battle in the end. In normal mice, the MAGNETS CURE BAD HABITS
stop neurons started before the go neurons, The results of the two experiments allow the
enabling the mice to control their craving. In development of new treatments which can
the addicted mice, the stop neurons tried to help highly addicted people get rid of their bad
curb the sugar intake, but the effort was in habits. According to Susan Courtney, it may be
CALAKOS LAB, DUKE UNIVERSITY
vain, as the go neurons were faster, managing possible to produce drugs that restrain the
to start the behaviour. The high sugar intake dopamine signals in the reward centre and
had reprogrammed the brain and distorted consequently support reason in the struggle
the mices ability to control their own against bad habits. Nicole Calakos, on the
b e h a v i o u r. T h e e x p e r i m e n t a l s o other hand, emphasises the use of magnetic
Mouse experiments show demonstrated that the mice which boasted fields which can stimulate the brains stop
that two types of brain neurons the most efficient go networks had greater signals and strengthen the networks that are
struggle to control your behaviour. difficulties quitting the unhealthy food, and to help us all keep our New Year resolutions.
CHANCE
OF SUCCES
No cigarettes
Smoking destroys Prefrontal
cortex
Ventral
tegmentum
your brain
The much-coveted active ingredient of tobacco, nicotine, leaves a Nucleus
powerful mark on your nerve cells and captures your brain. accumbens
Amygdala Hippocampus
N icotine destroys your brains natural

ability to make you happy. The
extremely addictive ingredient of
cigarettes, their ability to concentrate and
remember deteriorates, and some people
may experience drastic mood swings.
SMOKING
Nicotine stimulates the
cigarettes stimulates the brains award nerves of the ventral
tegmentum, from where
system and consequently makes the
HOW TO KEEP YOUR signals are sent to the
system less sensitive to the brains own nucleus accumbens award
NEW YEAR RESOLUTION
happiness signals. Hence, smoking is a area, the reason of the
habit that is very difficult to quit. However, The worst withdrawals are over after prefrontal cortex, the
about two weeks, so be patient. You memory of the hippocampus,
nicotine also leaves its mark on the brain could use nicotine gum and gradually and the emotions of the
areas responsible for reason, memory, and cut the number of cigarettes to get the amygdala.
emotions, so when smokers quit their brain used to the lack of nicotine.
|
HUMANS | NEW CALENDAR
Life Would be
Simpler with
a 13th Month
Our present calendar was
invented more than 2,000
years ago, and its changing
holidays and quarters cost
society billions annually.
Two scientists want to fix
the mess left by a bunch of
monks, and give us a new,
improved calendar.
Your birthday will

always be on a Tuesday
Starting in 2018, all years astronomy and
would be the same. American economy, have been
scientists Richard Henry and working on the new,
Steve Hanke have proposed a optimised calendar for
new, logical calendar, in which years. In the US, they say
each date will fall on the same adopting it would save
day of the week every year. So, hundreds of billions
if your birthday is 21 August, it of dollars annually.
will be on a Tuesday for the rest
CATO INSTITUTE & JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
of your life. However, the

scientists emphasise that
people can celebrate their
birthdays as they please, and
they hope that the huge
financial gain makes up for
predictable birthdays. The two
scientists, who are experts on
By Stine Overbye
20171 THE YEAR IN

3 SCIENCE
O
ur present calendar is, at best, a
compromise, designed to keep our
months in sync with the seasons.
That's fine for harvesting grain, but ironically we
need time itself to be a bit more granular, these
days. Employers and accountants often
complain about the Gregorian calendars
lack of logic, which constantly requires
the correction of work schedules and
accounts. But now, astrophysicist
Richard Henry and economist Steve
Hanke from Johns Hopkins University
in the US want to introduce a new,
rational calendar that can clear the
mess and save the world economy,
Extra mini-month they say, billions of dollars. The
synchronises calendar new calendar always begins on a
To make the new calendar fit the physical year, Monday, and all quarters are
scientists created the leap week, which is a exactly the same length. The two
separate month known as Xtr. The leap week
scientists hope that on 1 January
occurs every 5-6 years.
MIKKEL JUUL JENSEN 2018, the entire world will say
goodbye to the old calendar and
adopt the Hanke Henry calendar. Its probably a
pipe dream, but if it comes true, we can look
forward to a more logically organised year.
SCIENTISTS INTRODUCE LOGIC

Basically, the new calendar is organised in the
same way as the existing one with 12 months
and 52 seven-day weeks. But in order to make
all years begin on a Monday and end on a
Sunday, the number of days of a year needs to
be divisible by seven. So, the scientists have
reduced a year to 364 days. On average, Earth
takes 365.24 days to orbit the Sun, so the two
scientists must add more days to the calendar,
or it will gradually get more and more out of
step with the seasons, and Australia's
Christmas will end up in the winter (and worse,
in summer for Santa himself). The solution is a
leap week, which is added once every five or six
years. By adding an entire week, the scientists
make sure that the number of days in a year
can still be divided by seven.
Hanke and Henry have also adjusted the
length of the months, so the year can be
divided into four identical quarters consisting
of two months of 30 days and one month of
31 days. According to Henry and Hanke, the
regularity will make it much more simple to
keep company accounts and make financial
51
NEW CALENDAR
SHUTTERSTOCK
One World,
One Time Zone?
Henry and Hanke aren't just dreaming
of a new calendar, they also want us
MOSCOW to reset our clocks. Today, the world
15:00 is divided into 24 time zones, but
12:00 the two scientists aim to scrap
NEW YORK TOKYO those and introduce one universal
07:00 21:00 time zone. The global time is to
12:00 NEW DELHI 12:00 be determined by ultra-accurate
17:30 atomic clocks that are
12:00 synchronised by the fluctuating
energy of electrons. The new time
will mean that it will be 12 oclock
at the same time in New York and
BRASLIA Moscow, although it is daytime in
10:00 one place and night in the other.
12:00 CANBERRA The idea of synchronising clocks is to
23:00 make international trade more
12:00 streamlined, and planning of events,
meetings and more much easier. But this
will require a much bigger social
revolution than adding a few days to a
calendar. With a single timezone, 11 pm in
Canberra will become 12 pm. The sun will
When it is the same time rise at 7 pm. Except am and pm will no
PRESENT TIME throughout the world, longer be needed and it will just be 1900h.
NEW TIME the Sun will rise in Tokyo This might be good for trade, but what
at 10 PM and set at 8 AM. about travel? A single timezone seems so
confusing, it must surely be doomed to fail.
calculations. The existing calendars The present chaos of popular to scrap. So, we still have a calendar
irregular quarters force economists to make time zones, daylight that, apart from some 500-year-old tweaks, is
inconvenient, temporary solutions to the saving time, and calendar more than 2,000 years old. It was developed
detriment of society as a whole. differences would be over. by none other than Julius Caesar.
Steve Hanke and Richard Henry // The scientists Originally, the Roman calendar followed the
NEW CALENDAR SAVES CASH behind the new calendar in an article in the Globe Asia phases of the Moon, and a year lasted 355
Today, the calculation of loan interest rates or business magazine days. But this model of year quickly fell out of
bond yields is simplified by assuming that all step with the seasons, which caused big
months include 30 days, but the simplification The two scientists also want a year that problems for the backbone of civilisation:
makes the calculation inaccurate, and the will be much easier to plan. Due to the farming. In 46 BC the year before Caesars
constant errors are potentially expensive for existing calendar, huge quantities of time calendar was introduced the timekeepers
authorities, companies, and citizens alike. and effort go into making new work added 67 leap days to get the year back on
For instance, the existing calendar had a schedules every single year, especially track, before the new system had even begun.
major impact on the stock market back in 2012, teacher having to struggle with complex That's two months extra, by bureaucratic order!
when the price of electronics giant Apples exam schedules, curricula, days off, and In the new Julian calendar, the months
stocks fell by 10 % due to a quarterly financial holidays over and over again. If all years are were the same length as today, and every
statement that was "disappointing" as the same, this can be done once. fourth year included a leap day. But although
compared to the same quarter in 2011. But the the calculation of the length of the year was
income difference was due to the fact that the OUR ANCIENT YEAR very accurate, Caesars calendar fell out of
2011 quarter had been one week longer. The Over time, several attempts have been made step over time. The Romans couldn't know it
extra week in 2011 had been added in order to at reforming the calendar, and like in the with their technology, but its years were
correct the irregularities of the calendar. case of Hanke and Henry, it has often been about 11 minutes too long. So every 128
Hankes and Henrys new, rational calendar motivated by the wish to make all years the years, the year fell a full day out of step with
divides the year into regular sections that allow same. But time and time again, the existing Earths cycle around the Sun. So the seasons
for more simple calculations without errors. calendar has proven too well integrated and kept "drifting", just more slowly.
SHUTTERSTOCK
During the French Revolution, the
country tried to get rid of the old
Christian calendar and introduce a
more modern system.
To solve this problem, Pope Gregory

XIII updated the calendar system to its
present version in 1582. The Gregorian
calendar excludes leap years in years
divisible by 100, but not by 400. So,
19900 wasn't a leap year, 2000 was
(2000/4=500), but 2100 will not be. Yes,
the Gregorian calendar still differs from the
solar year by about three days per 10,000
years, but Coordinated Universal Time adds
leap seconds to keep this in check.
OUR CALENDAR: A HISTORY OF HATE

Henry and Hanke are far from the first to
propose a new calendar. In 1930, World
Calendar Association founder Elisabeth Achelis
designed a rationally organised global calendar.
Just like in the Hanke-Henry calendar, a year
was divided into four identical quarters, and 1
January was always on the same weekday. But
to make the calendar follow the solar year,
Achelis chose to introduce "world days", which
popped up between Saturdays and Sundays of
specific weeks and were to be days off.
France: Bold Enough To
The world calendar ended up being one of
the most popular so far, and it was close to
Tinker With Decimal Time
being adopted by the entire world. But in The history of France includes a minute was 100 seconds.
1955, when the US (as usual) said it would calendar that had a bloodstained Unsurprisingly, this revolutionary
not support the new calendar, the reform birth. Even today, billions of people calendar was never very popular. The
was given up. An important reason for the have alternative calendars based on French did not appreciate having one
ditching was religious resistance. Due to the cycles of the Sun and the Moon, and day off every 10 days instead of every 7
world days, some weeks would include eight old traditions, but whereas the Jewish days. Even so, Decimal Time lasted for
days, and this was troubling to followers of and Muslim calendars are still in use, 12 angry years before being scrapped.
holy books stipulating a seven-day week, the French calendar has long been
such as the Christian Bible, the Islamic Koran forgotten. During the revolution in the
and the Jewish Tanakh . late 1700s, France gave up the seven
Hanke and Henry have avoided making the day week, introducing a 10 day week
same mistake, as every week of their calendar with one single day off at the end. The
includes seven days (even though 10 might be length of the units of time was also
better), which gives them hope of a better adjusted, so one day was 10 hours, one
chance of success. The resistance now has to hour was 100 minutes, and one
do with the major cost of carrying out a global
calendar change, but the scientists promise
Until the 1700s, astronomers
that the calendar will quickly earn the world
used astrolabes to measure
economy hundreds of billions of dollars.
the annual cycle.
CHRIS HELLIER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
|
HUMANS| THE HUMAN HEART
1HEA0
RT
MYTHS
TANRUE
D/OR
FALSE
Have you heard the one

about how your heart beats
faster when you're in love?
And if it stops, a powerful
electric shock can restart
it. There are many myths
about the lump of muscle.
But separating fact
from fiction may not
be as straightforward
as you think...
By Andreas Andersen & Rikke Jeppesen
A Broken Heart
Can Kill You
T
he expression "a broken heart" took on a brand
new meaning in 1990, when Japanese doctors
discovered that the hearts of patients suffering
emtional trauma had changed shape. Research has made
it clear that some people are affected by such grief
following the loss of a spouse, that they suffer a type of
heart paralysis. The pain is so intense that they
experience the symptoms of a heart attack.
Scientists have named the condition "broken heart
syndrome", and the pain occurs when the body reacts to
a traumatic event by releasing the adrenaline and
noradrenaline stress hormones into the blood, where
they prepare the body to fight, if necessary. The heart
beats faster, and blood vessels throughout the body
contract. When blood vessels around the heart contract,
they carry less oxygen to the heart, causing severe
chest pain. Moreover, the heart grows slightly, losing
some of its pumping power.
The broken heart syndrome usually passes after a
week, but the disease is not harmless. People who
already have heart problems risk suffering a blood clot
during their grief.
SICK HEART HEALTHY HEART
Relaxed Contracted
ventricle ventricle
PER HEDBERG & SHUTTERSTUCK
Deaths, financial problems,

or divorce may release so The left ventricle does not The heart ventricles normally
many stress hormones that contract in people suffering contract completely, as they
the heart is weakened. the broken heart syndrome. pump blood into the body.
THE HUMAN HEART
MYTH Cardiac Arrest

Will Kill You Instantly
If the cardiac rhythm falls out of step, all body organs will fail. So, doctors
do their utmost to avoid cardiac arrest.
C
ardiac arrest is not what it sounds like. It manage to make the heart pump again, the next
doesn't mean the heart completely stops, step is preventing another cardiac arrest. The
but instead it quivers and jerks, never quite solution could be placing a pacemaker under the
managing to complete a single proper beat. A patients skin, which emits slight electric shocks
heart in this state cannot pump blood about the that make the hearts muscles contract regularly
body, meaning that all body organs lose their and pump blood into the body.
oxygen supply, and without oxygen, the organs Now there's a new type of pacemaker an
will fail one after the other. electric membrane that wraps around the heart.
When doctors massage the heart of a patient The membrane is studded with sensors that
in cardiac arrest, they do so to force blood about sound the alarm if they measure sudden
the body. They add pressure to the heart fluctuations of the hearts condition,
ventricles, so their contents of blood are forced subsequently kick-starting electric impulses that
into the blood vessels of the body. If they send the heart back on track.
ELECTRIC MEMBRANE
MONITORS THE HEART
A stretch meter keeps an eye
on the rate of expansion of
the heart, as it beats. If the
hearts muscles are idle, the
stretch meter will detect it.
An EKG sensor measures

electric activity. The sensor
registers if the hearts electric
impulses reach the muscles
located right under the sensor.
Diodes scan small areas of

the heart using light. Known
as optical mapping, the
method keeps an eye on the
cardiac rhythm.
A pH meter monitors the blood

supply to an area. Without
blood, heart tissue cannot
liberate CO2 waste, lowering
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS & WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
the pH value of the area.
A heat-sensitive sensor
measures the temperature in
the heart. pH measurements
must be compared with
temperature to be reliable.
US scientists have developed a thin membrane
that can be wrapped around the heart to
measure important values.
NORMAL PERSON
Thin muscle wall
Athletes Have Big Hearts

W hen athletes intensify their
training before a
competition, their hearts also
inside them increases, and blood
is sent into the body. When the
muscle wall relaxes, the
exercise. The heart is a muscle ventricles grow, causing under
that, like the biceps of the upper pressure and forcing blood into
arm, grows if working overtime. the heart. So, the heart
When the muscles of the body are constantly alternates between
used more than they usually are, relaxation and contraction.
they need extra oxygen, which When athletes exercise, their
ATHLETE
they get via blood from the heart. hearts must pump more efficiently
The heart is a double pump and faster, and the myocardium Thick muscle wall
that both pumps blood into the grows to keep up with the bodys
body and to the lungs to capture new needs. So, athletes will
oxygen. So, the heart has two develop bigger hearts than other
main ventricles surrounded by a people over time. Consequently,
ANDRE LA GERCHE ET AL./EU

wall of muscles, the athlete hearts are large, as they
myocardium. When the muscle have been adapted to pump lots
wall contracts, the ventricles of blood fast.
become smaller, so the pressure
X-rays reveal that highly trained athletes
ROPEAN HEART JOURNAL

have markedly larger hearts than other
people. The more you exercise, the more
your heart grows to meet the new
requirements of the body.
The Heart is
Always On The Left
O nce in a while, patients turn up in the emergency room, and
cause much confusion. One of them was a 22-year-old man
from Nigeria, who had been suffering mysterious pain in the left
side of his stomach for six years. If the pain had been located on
the right side, doctors would immediately have treated him for
appendicitis. X-rays made doctors realise that the positions of all
his organs were inverted. His heart was located on the right side
of his chest above the stomach, and his liver was located on the
left. Not only was the man suffering from severe appendicitis, he
was also diagnosed with situs inversus, that is very rare, and by
which all internal organs are inverted. The condition is not
dangerous, and many people possess some of the genes
that could provide our children with inverted
internal organs.
Heart
SPL
Fewer than one in 10,000 people are born with

situs inversus, in which body organs are inverted.
THE HUMAN HEART
Wine is Good
For Your Heart
U nfortunately, the reputation of red wine is a bit too
good to be true. The drink is no better for your
heart than other types of alcohol. The myth originated,
ONE GLASS IS
BENEFICIAL
when scientists discovered that the French consumed According to studies, moderate
lots of red wine, but rarely suffered from heart disease. alcohol intake protects the heart.
In red wine, scientists found a special substance, Scientists think that alcohol
resveratrol, which was used as a dietary supplement and increases the bodys contents of
said to eliminate anything from pimples to varicose veins good cholesterol, which removes
and wrinkles. Resveratrol is an antioxidant that also fat from the blood vessels, so
they will not clog. Unfortunately,
exists in grapes, chocolate, raspberries, and it proved to
alcohol is also converted into
protect slightly against cardiovascular diseases in cancer-inducing acetaldehyde in
mouse experiments. Unfortunately, it later the human body, and
turned out that the selected mice had been fed a consequently, red wine will
quantity of the substance that was more than probably never be included in
1,000 times higher than in a glass of red wine. So, official dietary guidelines.
SHUTTERSTOCK & NEOCELL

we need to drink 1,000 glasses of red wine a day
to obtain the protective effect.
Red wine includes the resveratrol
antioxidant that is also sold in pill form.
Only Old People Have Heart Trouble

A lthough most heart trouble occurs in elderly
people, your lifestyle determines how early you
need to worry. Cardiovascular disease occurs because
with blood and oxygen. If those become narrower, the
heart is in severe trouble. In some people, the process
takes place so fast that their blood vessels are fatally
the bodys blood vessels change over the years. clogged at the age of 30.
If you smoke and consume lots of saturated fat from If you wish to take good care of your heart, you must
pork and fat dairy products, your blood vessels will be eat a balanced diet (including plenty of fruit and
worn and slowly lined with bad cholesterol. This means vegtables) and exercise. A good diet will lower your
that the blood vessels become narrower and carry less bodys bad cholesterol, which sneaks into our blood
blood than they used to. Around the heart, you will find vessel walls and triggers the lethal arteriosclerosis that
the special coronary arteries which supply the heart halts the oxygen supply to your heart.
Blood vessels clog

HENNING DALHOFF
1 The blood carries bad

cholesterol to the blood
vessels of the heart, where it
2 White blood cells
find their way to
the cholesterols hiding
3 When foam cells
accumulate over
many years, they
4 The fat can accumulate over
several years in many blood
vessels, so they will slowly become
5 When a blood
vessel is blocked by
a blood clot or a thick
settles on the vascular walls. place and convert it produce fat deposits narrower, and a blood clot could easily wall of foam cells, the
into foam cells. in blood vessel walls. get stuck in the narrow passage. blood cannot pass.
Your Heart Beats Faster,
When You Are In Love
New couples benefit from an adrenaline rush that prepares
the body for the worst and makes the heart work overtime.
O
ne fifth of a second is all it takes to glands at the top of the kidneys: the
fall in love. The condition exists in adrenal bodies, which react fast to different
the brain, where a type of chemical types of stress by producing hormones
short cut occurs, which will subsequently such as adrenaline, that they send into the
affect the entire body, filling the stomach blood stream. Adrenaline prepares our
with butterflies and making the heart beat bodies for fight or flight.
at the mere sight of the one and only. By In the heart, adrenaline will quickly bind
means of brain scans, scientists have shown to special receptors, making it beat faster
that the areas that are activated when we and more violently. The adrenaline rush is
are in love are the same that light up in harmless to most of us, but in people
connection with cocaine abuse. suffering from heart disease, falling in love
The brain communicates with the body by could be fatal. The heart consumes more
sending electric signals through nerves that oxygen, when it beats faster, and in a
reach different parts of the body. A brain, weak heart, the reaction could cause
which is in love, sends electric signals to two severe lack of oxygen.
AUSES Your brain makes

ORTAGE C
BLOOD SH UTTERFLIES
STOMACH
B your heart beat
g sensa-
When you ha
ve a bubblin
t of your stom
ac h before 1 When you meet a potential partner,
the brain registers it via visual, olfactory,
tion in the pi rtan t m ee ting, and sensory impressions. Your brain reacts to the
an impo
an exam or an at io n. As impressions by liberating a series of
ientific expl
there is a sc re na lin e, the neurotransmitters and sending nerve
ls with ad
the blood fil ng m or e signals to the adrenal bodies.
faster, pumpi
heart beats . At th e sa me
the body
blood about
tim e, th e bl oo d is distribute
e he ar
d, so
t, the
2 The adrenal bodies are
two small glands located
at the top of the kidneys.
ws to th
most of it flo he re -
e muscles, w When they receive nerve
lungs, and th in tes- signals from the brain,
h and
as the stomac they release adrenaline
es re ce iv e less blood
tin into the blood.
ually do, pro-
than they us
eling of but-
ducing the fe
in yo ur stomach.
terflies
3 Adrenaline flows
through your blood
vessels, reaching the
heart at some point,
where the hormone
binds to receptors on the
hearts muscle cells,
making the muscle cells
contract faster, so the heart
beats faster and harder.
SHUTTERSTOCK
THE HUMAN HEART
Your Arm The body

Hurts During a is ripe with
referred pain
Heart Attack Pain from the lungs
P ain is the bodys weapon for limiting injury.

When your finger gets stuck in a door, warning
signals pass through nerves to the brain, where the
Pain from the heart
Pain from the liver
Pain from the gall bladder
signals are converted into pain in your finger, making Pain from the kidneys
you withdraw your arm. If the damage is done in the
heart, where a blood clot could get stuck and kill the
cells around it, we also feel pain. But it warns us by
making another place hurt the left arm, as the brain
gets confused when the heart is injured.
When heart cells die, they liberate substances
that trigger nerve signals. The nerves pass the
message on, and that is where the confusion
begins. The signals touch the cerebral cortex in
the exact same place as nerves from the skin of
the left arm. So, the brain will have to decide,
where the pain comes from. Based on
experience, the brain estimates that it is probably the
left arm that is in trouble. The phenomenon is known
as referred pain and also occurs with other organs.
Heart attacks feel the same

in men and women
V ery few people associate nausea, cold sweat, and
jaw pain with the heart, so doctors have often sent
women with fatal heart disease home without the right
symptoms. Cardiovascular disease research has primarily
been carried out on men, and consequently, their
symptoms are the most well-known.
treatment. Not until in recent years, scientists have New studies have shown that the hearts of the two
discovered how differently men and women react to sexes also age differently. Men develop a thicker muscle
coronary thrombosis. wall around the heart ventricles, but it looks as if
Men typically feel severe pain in the chest, whereas womens heart ventricles slowly shrink. In
women feel stomach pain, when a blood clot affects the both cases, the heart loses part of its
blood vessels of the heart. Scientists explain the pain by pumping power, but the two
the fact that a blood clot will typically be located in one scenarios require different
of the hearts large blood vessels in a man, affecting a treatments. So, scientists have
major area and causing severe pain. In women, gone back to their labs to
many small blood clots often block several small develop new drugs for women
vessels, making the women suffer more diffuse with heart trouble.
Women feel stomach pain, men feel chest pain

WOMEN TYPICALLY SUFFER: MEN TYPICALLY SUFFER:
Stomach, neck, or jaw pain Chest pain
or pain between shoulder blades Discomfort in chest and stomach
Discomfort and chest pain Pain in the left side of the throat
Nausea and cold sweat and the left shoulder
Fatigue Blood clot in Shortness of breath
SHUTTERSTOCK
minor blood
Shortness of breath
vessels Blood clot in major blood vessels
You Can Restart A Heart
With A Defibrillator
The heart beats in a nicely coordinated rhythm. If it falls
out of step, the rhythm could be restored with a shock.
T
he shock from a defibrilators electrodes is so
powerful that it makes a lifeless body jerk, but
the devices electricity will only revive a
patient if his heart still includes certain electrical
activity, that is, it has not entirely stopped.
Heartbeats are powered by regular electrical Doctors energise active hearts
impulses that pass through the organs millions Before doctors treat a disrupted heart with a shock, they
of muscle cells, making them contract. The measure the cardiac rhythm. The curve determines whether a
impulses usually begin in a small knot in the right patient can be saved.
ventricle of the heart, from where they spread to
the rest of the organ. If the cells of the knot lose
their rhythm, the flow of blood is disrupted. NO SH OC KS A flat curve indicates that there is no
electrical activity in the heart. Doctors
One of the most well-known types of will not use shocks, rather they try to
disruption makes the heart beat 200+ times per alter the rhythm with massage or drugs.
minute, losing its ability to pump blood
efficiently about the body. The disruption could NO SH OC KS Some rhythms indicate pulseless
develop into ventricular fibrillation, by which electrical activity, i.e. hearts that
the heart "quivers" up to 400 times per minute, include some electrical activity, but
not pumping any blood about the body at all. do not pump blood about the body.
Some types of disruption can be cured with a
powerful shock from a defibrillator, resetting SH OC KS A regular curve with lots of summits
the cells of the small heart knot to the old indicates a very high pulse rate.
Doctors use shocks, when they see the
rhythm again. Other types of disruption are so
curve (ventricular tachycardia).
complex that it is impossible to save the patient.
SH OC KS An irregular pattern indicates that
the heart beats extremely fast and
Normal
cardiac rhythm without pumping. Doctors use shocks.
SHUTTERSTOCK & DR. DOAA KAMAL/AIN SHAMS UNIVERSITY
Doctors only send

power through a
heart, if it is
still active.
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NATURE | INSECT BRAINS
The unexpected brilliance of
THE WORLDS TINIEST

BRAINS
Insect brains are only one millionth the volume of
a human brain, but nevertheless, these creatures
can feel anxiety and cheat each other.
Scientists have studied the tiny brains by
means of microscopic electrodes and
ultrasharp scans, and have discovered more
in common with us than they expected...
Insect br3ain
1 mm
Like human brains, insect brains

contain several specialised centres.
SHUTTERSTOCK
By Gorm Palmgren
a n b ra i n
Hum 3
1,200 cm
INSECT BRAINS
T
he next time you try to hit a fruit fly
EMOTIONS
that has settled in your food, you
should know that it will be scared.
The fly will not just instinctively move away,
it will fly in panic and terror.
That is the conclusion drawn by two
scientists from Macquarie University after FE A R
having studied insect behaviour for years.
According to the scientists, insects possess
a kind of awareness, and in spite of a size of
Shadows 'scare'
less than 1mm3, their brains are much more
sophisticated than we used to think. The
fruit flies
scientists have taken a close look at the Fruit flies will not instinctively take which they sped about in confusion,
results of a long series of experiments, in flight to be safe, but they experience an until returning to their meal after a
which they peered into the brains of the tiny unpleasant sensation much like human few seconds. However, the creatures
creatures by means of sophisticated brain fear, according to new experiments did not react in the same way every
scans. What they found astonished them. carried out by US scientists. time. The more times the shadow
The new results dismiss the impression of The scientists scared fruit flies was cast on the insects indicating
insects as mindless automata that only act away from some food with a fan that that more than one creature was
according to a limited set of pre-programmed briefly cast a shadow on them just attacking the faster, longer, and
"instincts". Instead, these tiny creatures can like in the case of an attack by flying more panicky the flight. As the
make deliberate decisions and that they have predators. The threat made the flies insects reactions differed depending
an extensive gamut of emotions, including take flight in a kind of panic, by on the magnitude of the threat,
selfishness and even a kind of pessimism. scientists conclude that the
flies act out of fear and not
INSECTS HAVE A MILLION NERVE CELLS only by reflex.
Scientists have studied insect behaviour for
centuries, and back in 1973, Austrian
scientist Karl von Frisch was awarded the
Nobel Prize in medicine for decoding the
sophisticated dance steps that honey bees
use to tell their peers where to find food.
Honey bees and cockroaches are
considered to be among the most intelligent
of insects, and their brains are made up of
around one million nerve cells. That is four
HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE

times as many as in ants and fruit flies, but
still very few in comparison with humans.
Our brains, according to the latest research, The fruit flies were trapped inside a flat
include approximately 86 billion nerve cells. culture dish, so their flight was restricted,
Like in humans, each of a honey bees nerve and scientists could easily observe the
cells produces 1,000-10,000 links to other creatures with a video camera.
nerve cells, allowing the insects to build an
extremely complex network, which can
combine a huge quantity of information from Cockroaches have
their sensory organs and process it in
countless ways. Consequently, the creature
different tempers
can make a decision and carry out the optimal In 2015, a group of Belgian scientists showed
action, depending on the situation. that a cockroachs personality determines
In the last 15 years, scientists have whether it will leave a hiding place, when its
developed very tiny electrodes, which can be peers do so, or wait. As cockroaches thrive with
placed on one single nerve cell to measure company, the scientists created 19 teams of 16
the exact signals that it sends. Since then, creatures, subsequently observing for how
the electrodes have been used on bees, fruit long the teams remained in a hiding place.
ALIT
flies, cockroaches, and locusts, allowing ON The experiment showed that while
PERS
scientists to accurately study how the insect some teams were in no hurry, others
brains process sensory impressions. In 2014, left faster. Individual teams boasted the
NATUREPL
a team of German scientists decoded how same behaviour during all experiments,
female locusts decide whether a males showing a consistent "personality".
Anxiety and pessimism. Aided by a series of experiments,
scientists studied insects personal emotions, and demonstrated
that the tiny creatures do not always act instinctively.
Bees expect the worst

When people are in a bad mood, they become pessimistic and
expect the worst. Bees feel the same way.
A bad mood makes bees less adventurous, persistint state of distress, which
according to a team of English scientists. In meant that they were less likely to
SSIM
an experiment, the scientists subjected the visit flowers with a suspicious smell than PE
IS
bees to unpleasant shaking, subsequently other bees were.
M
measuring a major reduction in the quantity So, the scientists concluded that like
SHUTTE
of happiness hormones in the insects brains. humans bees can become affected by a
In other words, the shaking put the bees in a sensation similar to pessimism.
RSTOCK
A bad mood makes
bees pessimistic Half the bees
Scientists made bees taste two sugary liquids, 2 were subjected to
subsequently shaking half of the bees. The shaking unpleasant shaking for
upset the bees and made them less optimistic. 60 seconds.
Liquid A Liquid B
including a bad taste
The pecentage of bees that tasted the mixture
0.8
Undisturbed bees
A B 0.6
Shaken bees
28 bees were introduced to two different

1 sugary liquids including different pheromones. 0.4
Whereas one liquid had a good taste, the other one
was characterised by an unpleasant aftertaste.
The brains production of happiness hormones 0.2
100 %
0.0
1:9 3:7 1:1 7:3 9:1
0%
Dopamine Serotonin Increasing content of liquid B
Finally, the scientists analysed samples from Subsequently, the bees were introduced to five
4 the bees brains, measuring their contents 3 different mixtures of the two liquids. The experiment
of the dopamine and serotonin happiness showed that the shaken bees avoided mixtures that included
hormones. The shaken bees included much less. the smell which they associated with the bad taste.
INSECT BRAINS
singing is sufficiently attractive for her to flashes competed for the attention of the bees, selfishness. This corresponds to the human
mate with him. The scientists showed that and by means of the electrodes, scientists way of filtering the countless sensory
several groups of nerve cells analyse could see at what the bees attention was impressions and information that we receive
different tones and grade them in the shape aimed. When the insects looked at a flash of a all the time and which depend very much on
of a series of nerve signals sent quickly or specific frequency, the electrodes registered our own individual personalities.
slowly after one another. The nerve signals nerve signals of the same frequency.
from all the groups are united in a large The experiment demonstrated that the INSECT BRAINS WORK IN CENTRES
network, which determines whether the bees were not equally interested in all the Based on experiments like this, Andrew
female is interested or not. flashes, rather they chose some of them, at Barron and Colin Klein from Macquarie
which they subsequently aimed all their University back in Sydney concluded that
BEES FILTER SENSORY IMPRESSIONS attention. Every single bees impression of insects possess a kind of awareness that
Of course, scientists cannot ask an insect the world is based on its own interests, and probably dates back at least 400 million
what it is thinking, so in 2014, a scientist from scientists interpret this as an indication of years to when they began to conquer the
Brisbane used tiny electrodes to find out subjectivity, or arbitrary choice based on ocean, the land, and the air.
what bees are have on their minds. what the bee thinks is best for itself, rather The free movement of the insects and
The scientist placed electrodes in several than following some kind of species-level their well-developed senses, which constantly
places of the brains of bees, installing displays instinct or limited universal set of common bombarded the insects with new impressions,
with flashing light around the creatures. The behaviours. In a way, its almost a kind of meant that they had to manage extreme
Frontal lobes Hippocampus
The equivalent
A tiny cousin to
centres in
humans
Memory
Insect learning and
the human brain

Just like in humans, insects memory,
memory are controlled by
the corpora pedunculata
area, which is located at
the front of their brains.
motions, and senses are controlled by

separate brain centres.
W ith a size of only 1 cubic mm, insect brains

are smaller than a pinhead. But in spite of
its tiny volume, a bee brain contains 960,000
Striatum
nerve cells and can carry out 100 billion

calculations per second comparable to the
fastest supercomputers of 2005. In recent
years, scientists have discovered that the Action
tiny brains contain a number of specialised Visual impressions are
processed in the pons
centres that carry out the very same tasks
cerebrales area, allowing
SHUTTERSTOCK
as centres in the human brain. insects to plan an action

an set it in motion.
Thalamus
Just like a human Coordination

brain, a bee brain The stable flight of insects
is made up of is ensured by a part of the
several centres with protocerebrum area that
coordinates sensory
different functions. impressions, wing and
leg motion.
PHUONG CHUNG AND JULIE
H. SIMPSON/HHMI
quantities of information. Consequently, the different from insect brains, and has
tiny creatures had to choose what to be evolved along a very different
aware of and where to go. This required that pathway from our last common
the insects put themselves first, developing a ancestor (a sort of sponge-thing 530
self-consciousness which properly formed million years ago) , the two brains
the basis of human awareness. have much in common. The insects New, sharper scans have
In the experiment with the bees and the corpora pedunculata has almost the taught scientists more about
flashing light, the scientists had placed same function as the human the tiny brains of insects.
electrodes in several places of the bees hippocampus, whereas the tiny
brains, demonstrating that the bees creatures central complex brain
attention was controlled by the medulla, centre plays an important role for their sense structure a brain) in two very different
which activates an area known as the corpora of space just like the basal ganglia of humans. groups of animals, and comes up with
pedunculata, that is involved in learning and different solutions that, because they have to
memory. This revealed that like human brains, BLEACH REVEALED HIDDEN CENTRES do the same thing, end up looking very similar.
insect brains are divided into a number of Don't worry: this doesn't mean we're In 2015, a Swedish scientist from Lund
different centres which specialise in discrete descended from insects. It's most likely an University removed the eyes and the 3 mm
functions and cooperate to solve tasks. example of convergent evolution, where brain of an Acherontia atropos moth, placing
Although the human brain is very physically nature faces the same problem (how to it in hydrogen peroxide to bleach the
The basal ganglia
Motions
Insects motions and sense Motor cortex
of space are controlled by
the central complex area,
which is located at the
centre of the brain.
Muscles
All muscle motions are
integrated in the
ventrolateral
protocerebra area, which
sends nerve signals to
make the muscles move.
Centre of vision
Olfactory bulb
Vision
In continuation of the optic
nerve and close to the
complex eyes of insects,
you will find the medulla
Sense of smell centre, that processes
visual impressions.
Nerve signals from scent
receptors travel to the
deutocerebrum, which
decides when the insect is
to react to the scent.
1 mm
INSECT BRAINS
INTELLIGENCE
Ants cheat each other CH
EATI
N
G
The clearly defined roles in an ant collective are genetically determined,
but an ant can get a new status by activating and deactivating genes.
A nts are social insects that live in

complex communities, in which
everybody helps each other for the benefit
cells, and they react to nerve signals in a
way that is determined by the genes at the
cores of the nerve cells. But although all
small chemical substances, so the ants
behave differently, almost as if they had
been affected by a mutation. The marking
of the collective. However, just like among ants of the nest include the same genes, the method is based on epigenetics, and so,
humans, there are rotten apples among latter are not always equally active. Ants the ants can cheat their way to
ants that try to cheat the others for their social behaviour is very much determined reprogramming their brains. In this way,
own benefit. The cheating is carried out by by the genes that are active or inactive. the tiny, energetic workers could suddenly
means of marked genes. The ants can take advantage of this to act like their large, inactive peers, not
In the brain, individual nerve cells are obtain another role in the ant collective. contributing their fair share of the work in
included in a network with other nerve They do it by marking selected genes with the ant colony.
Ants play with marked genes High HDACi blocks the genetic
mechanism that makes large
In 2016, US geneticist Shelley Berger showed ants inactive, boosting their The HATi substance counteracts the
how, by injecting a substance into the brains level of activity. mechanisms that make small ants
of ants, she could change their behaviour. hard-working, so they became just
Usually, an ants genes dictate its as inactive as the large ants.
behaviour, but the substance marked
the genes, so they played according
ACTIVITY
to other rules, changing them.
Low
SHUTTERSTOCK
No injection HDACi HATi
ALYS
AN SOUR SWEET
Bees see patterns
IS
in differences GROUP A
Humans can categorise objects in ways In the experiment,

that aren't just based on what they look the bees were given a
like. We know a rowboat and a luxury little food on a plate, on which
yacht are both boats, but that one is two symbols had been drawn. The two GROUP B
"expensive", a way of describing the symbols looked the same, but they were
yacht not based on sensory input. For a sometimes arranged horizontally, other
long time, scientists thought that times vertically. This arrangement Over 30 training sessions, the bees learned
humans were about the only creatures determined what kind of food was on 1 that the food was sweet and delicious if it
capable of abstract thinking, but in the plate. The bees quickly learned to was on a plate with 2 symbols located over each
2012, French scientist Martin Giurfa identify the symbol arrangements, and other. On the other hand, the food was bitter, if
showed that bees can also find patterns. select the best food. the 2 symbols were located beside each other.
pigments of the eye that usually make it
Chemicals and sharp brain scans have revealed that insects are impossible to see the nerve cells of the optic
much more intelligent that we used to think. The tiny creatures nerve. The scientist then added pigments,
are capable of abstract thinking and cheating each other. that bind to specific proteins in the brain.
When the brain was studied using a
SHUTTERSTOCK
microscope, scientists obtained the first
detailed image of the medulla and lamina
brain areas that had until then been invisible
and merely theorised about.
At the Imperial College London, a scientist
last year did something quite different to
obtain a clear image of bumble bee brains.
The scientist used a special variant of the
well-known CT scanner, which reveals very
fine details. Since X-rays can pass through
tissue, the scientist did not need to cut up
the brain to see its interior. Instead, he
focused the scanner at a specific level of the
bees brain, subsequently changing the focus
to a level further inside the brain, taking a
new photo. Finally, he was able to combine all
the images into an accurate 3D model of the
bumblebee brain.
Social wasps think OP
ERA
TI
CO
INSECTS ARE THE NEW TEST ANIMALS

with a common brain ON The new brain models have provided
scientists with many new ideas and directions
Social insects help each other in the mushroom-shaped area for research, and several researchers are now
best interest of the collective, but that can be compared to our trying to use insects as test animals.
some wasps go one step further, hippocampus and frontal lobes, One of them is Daewoo Lee from Ohio
sharing the entire colonys which we, more or less, use to do State University. In 2014, he demonstrated
intellectual tasks and thinking mental work - or 'thinking'. The area how fruit flies might pave the way for an
together, so individual wasps need was markedly smaller in the most efficient treatment of Parkinsons disease. A
not think so much. The surprising social wasp species, whereas it was major part of the small insects brain is used
discovery was made in 2015 by bigger in the species that lived to coordinate its motions. The work takes
American scientist Sean ODonnell. individually. Apparently, the social place in two particular centres that are
In 29 closely related wasp species, wasps help each other think, so they similar to the centres in the human brain, in
he measured the size of the can make do with a smaller brain. which Parkinsons disease arises. In the
experiment, the scientist genetically
manipulated a group of fruit flies, so certain
nerve cells became light-sensitive. In this
way, he was able to control the
production of an important neuro-
SOUR SWEET
transmitter called dopamine, which
Bees can find the good plays a central role in Parkinsons
GROUP A meal based on the disease, allowing him to trigger and
position of symbols. subsequently halt the disease.
SHUTTERSTOCK Using the model, Lee studied the
development of the disease, concluding that
a specific substance can prevent the disease
GROUP B from developing not only in tiny insects, but
also in humans. And Lee is not the
only one. Other scientists have
used insect brains to identify
Subsequently, the bees were tested
2 with a new type of symbols. They had the genes that cause cancer
learned the difference between over and and find new types of drugs.
beside, and in 70 % of the cases, they So one day, instead of
went for the good taste. spreading a disease, insects
might end up curing it.
TECHNOLOGY | DRONES
Racing Drones 5
in Air Rally
Drone racing is a popular new
sport with championships
and fortunes at stake. The new
contests push the boundaries
of how fast and aerobatic the
small, remote-controlled 3
aircraft can become.
T
onight, the 76,500 seats of Miamis and many countries now have national drone
huge football stadium are empty, but racing championships. In a few years, the
the spectacular arena is still showered small, remote-controlled quadcopters have The major breakthrough
2
in light. Large, green light gates have been gone from a life in hobby workshops to came in 2010, when the
placed strategically between the seats and in playing the main role of a fast, worldwide French company Parrot
the tunnels under the grandstands. sports phenomenon. introduced its A.R. Drone
Far away, you can hear humming that at the worlds first consumer
sounds like angry bees. The sound quickly gets STOOD STILL FOR 100 YEARS electronics trade fair. The A.R.
louder, and suddenly, four drones erupt from a The special aircraft type with four horizontal Drone was a quadcopter that could
stairwell. One after another, they fly through rotors is known as a quadcopter. You might be remote-controlled with a smartphone.
the light gates at a speed of almost 130 km/h, not believe this, but the first of its kind was Today, half a million units have been sold,
hurrying through the last gate, that explodes built by the Breguet brothers of France to take hundreds of other companies have copies
into a spectacular display of fireworks. off back in 1907. It was designed according to the idea, and the success has contributed to
the same principle as modern, remote- the quadcopter drone becoming
DRONES CONQUER SPORTS OF DRON controlled quadcopters, which tremendously popular among hobby pilots.
We are witnessing the first AR E have two rotor blades that rotate The very development of smartphones is
YE
contest in the new Drone Racing clockwise and two that rotate in one of the main explanations of the success
League (DRL) for customised the opposite direction, so the of drones. Small, cheap components
racing drones, and although the quadcopter does not just spin including both a gyroscope and an
phenomenon still only exists in
America, the company behind the 2 16 around its own axis.
Unfortunately, the Breguet
accelerometer, were developed for
smartphones but are now important drone
races aims to conquer the world. brothers never managed to make instruments. The accelerometer provides the
The DRL is just one of many their vehicle rise more than 1.5 metres software with input concerning sudden
initiatives taken in recent years to arrange above the ground, and it was so difficult to external influences such as wind gusts,
major sports events with small, fast drones. control their quadcopter that four men had whereas the gyroscope can tell if the drone
In March 2016, the World Drone Prix was held to stand around it, holding on to its steel is level. Computers make quadcopters fly.
in Dubai. Thirty-two of the worlds very best skeleton to keep it on an even keel. The When the first iPhone was introduced in
drone pilots participated, competing to win a troublesome control and lack of stability 2007, a new industry was born. The
total of US$1 million ($1.34m) . were general problems in the sporadic competition in smartphones contributed to
In Hawaii, the official World Drone Racing attempts during the 20th century to make a making accelerometers and gyroscopes
Championships were held in October 2016, well-functioning quadcopter. better and cheaper.
By Morten Skeldal stergaard
Ultralight racing drone with

a top speed of 130 km/h You don't buy a racer off the shelf, you buy parts and build
a drone that's just right for your flying style. These custom
drones aren't just fast, they're tough too, and respond
instantly to operator control inputs.
4
Carbon fibre ensures sturdiness
1 The drone body is made of lightweight carbon

fibre. It is designed as a skeleton that
protects the electronics inside the drone.
Motors make the drone fast
2 Each rotor blade is powered by an electric

motor. The four engines produce 720 watts,
providing a top speed of 130 km/h.
1 Propellers replace rudder
3 The drone needs no rudder to steer it through

the air. All manoeuvres are carried out by
regulating the propellers rotational speed.
4
The camera is the pilots eyes
The camera records HD video, which is
received by the pilots video goggles with
a delay of only 20 milliseconds.
5
Antennas keep contact
Large, external antennas ensure that the
pilots video from the drone is not even
interrupted when it flies through a tunnel.
DRONE RACING LEAGUE (DRL)
Aerodynamic racing drones are ORDINARY DRONE RACING DRONE

X shape H shape
designed to move forward
Most prefabricated drones that Consequently, the drones are
are available in shops are balanced and can be
quadcopters, and are steered by manoeuvred equally well in all
adjusting the motor power of directions. The DRL racing
four individual rotors. Ordinary drones, on the contrary, are
hobby drones are typically shaped as a narrow H to reduce
symmetrical with the four rotors air drag. They only need to fly in
located in an X from the body. one direction: forward.
300-600 mm 200 mm
DRONES
Video goggles are the

pilots virtual cockpit
Video from the drone is transmitted
directly into the pilots field of
vision with very little delay.
Pilots video goggles provide them with the drones

vision, so they can manoeuvre accurately at high
speeds. This can be overwhelming for beginners.
T he drones of the Drone Racing League

(DRL) use a camera that films the
area in front of the drone. The video
It is necessary to be able to react fast to
obstacles and competing drones close
by. The company behind the DRL has
signal is transmitted to the pilots video developed its own radio technology, ensuring
goggles, which provide him with the communication with the drone, even as it flies
best vision, as the drone flies through through a tunnel.
the course at a speed of 130 km/h. As the video goggles surround the pilots
The pilots video goggles receive entire field of vision, he feels it as if he is flying
the video from the drone through the air, though he is sitting in a chair
camera with a delay of with a remote in his hand. This may cause
only 20 milliseconds. dizziness and nausea to inexperienced pilots.
Pilots must steer their drones safely
through the green gates to score
points in each heat.
Drone racing is 3D slalom

Normally, motor sports and other types of spectators seats, into the tunnels under the points are awarded for passing two
racing include curves on a flat surface. In a grandstands, and through several storeys of checkpoints on the course and completing
drone race, drones compete in all three an empty car park. En route, the drones the heat by passing the last gate. Not
dimensions in a battle to be the fastest. must pass through gates just like in slalom. everybody gets that far - many crash (but
The course is as varied and entertaining The pilots fly through the same track in their drones survive). A pilot is awarded 10
as possible. At the Sun Life stadium in three heats, and the winner is the one points per second he finishes faster than
Miami, Florida, the drones flew above the who get the most points. In each heat, 50 the official time limit of two minutes.
SHARP DIVES AND CURVES SPECTACULAR COURSES FULL SPEED ON THE LONG SIDE
Drone path
Drone path
Drone path
The course is designed to allow the drones to The courses are designed to appear diversified. The final part of the course is a long, straight
move in all three dimensions. Here, racers must The drones fly through old ruins and empty stretch, allowing the drone pilots to fly as fast as
turn sharply in the middle of a dive. underground car parks. they can and show off their fine control.
DRONE RACING IS THE NEXT STEP hand, the drone is very difficult to control. increasingly carried out by drone pilots.
Similarly, innovation resulting from the The challenge of drone races make visual Racers could be the best of the best.
competition to build the fastest and best inspection with a drone camera at the top Although drone racing is still a new
drone will benefit more ordinary hobby of wind turbines and oil rigs very easy for phenomenon, scientists from the University
models over time, according to Nicholas racing pilots. And vital tasks such as rescue of Florida have already paved the (air)way for
Horbaczewski, the founder of the DRL. gear and emergency supply delivery are a brand new sport. The university organised a
He also believes that the competition race in which pilots wore a special helmet,
will result in a new generation of talented that could control the drones by means of
drone pilots who can make themselves WATCH THE FAST DRL electric brain signals. However, physical
useful outside race courses. DRL drones DRONES COMPETE remote control still works much better, but if
must make very violent turns and rolling Are you a future drone the number of spectators and investments
motions in the air, so the accelerometer, pilot? Size up the in drone racing continue to grow, the
competition and experience
w h i c h n o r m a l ly c o u n t e ra c t s m i n o r a speedy race at: technology will be better and cheaper, so
destabilising motions, has been left out to youtu.be/bOWkkoczEPQ one day, pilots may be competing by the
allow the pilot full control. On the other power of thought.
HOME CHEMISTRY LAB
See Your Own DNA

Turn your kitchen into a biochemical laboratory and get
HOME CHEMISTRY LAB hold of the invisible matter that includes the code of life.
YOU WILL NEED: GUIDE:

It will take 10-15 minutes to do the experiment.
1
Your own spit A sprinkle of salt
Spit into a small glass and add a sprinkle of salt.
Lemon juice
Washing-up liquid
or acetic acid
Ethanol A swab or toothpick

2 Add a splash of washing-up liquid and a little
lemon juice. Shake the glass carefully.
A small, clear glass
3 Add a little ethanol and wait 10 minutes.
4 Use a swab to get the white DNA strands out of

the glass.
Ethanol may irritate your skin, so rinse carefully with

water,in case it gets in contact with your hands. Be very
careful, if you use acetid acid, as the acid is corrosive.
Spit contains cells from the inside of the

cheeks. To extract DNA from the cells,
their fatty membranes must be broken
down using washing-up liquid.
By Kristian Filrup
Salt reveals invisible code

A mysterious matter is hiding deep inside your cells, determining your destiny, and
still, you have never seen it. But with a few simple ingredients from your kitchen
cupboards, you can now reveal the DNA molecules and hold them in your hand.
Y our body includes thousands of

billions of copies of your DNA. The
vital matter, that exists in almost all your
up liquid. Lemon juice acid halts enzymes
that would otherwise cut up the cells
molecules, ensuring that the DNA remains
cells, holds the genetic code that controls intact. But the mysterious matter is still
your bodys development and not visible. DNA is electrically charged, and
maintenance. The indispensable molecules this very quality makes sure that it can be
are normally crumpled up and dissolved in dissolved in water, which is also partially
water, so we cannot see them. But a charged. In a dissolution of salt and
simple experiment can extract the DNA ethanol, the molecules unfold, and the
from its hiding place inside cells and make salt ions neutralise their charges. When
it visible to us. Spit is a good source of this happens, the DNA clots, appearing as
DNA, as it contains thousands of cells from white threads in the liquid. You can use a
the inside of the mouth, and the cells can swab to capture the threads and touch the
easily be opened up with a little washing- matter that makes you who you are.
POSITIVE IONS FORCE DNA MOLECULES TOGETHER

Negative charges keep DNA dissolved in water water aside, the positive salt ions can reach the
by binding weakly to the positively charged DNA, neutralising the negative charge. The
water molecules. When ethanol pushes the neutral DNA molecules appear as thick bundles.
Negatively charged DNA Ethanol molecules Positively charged salt ions Neutralised DNA
Lump of DNA molecules
The microscopic DNA molecules

clot and appear as white bundles
at the top of the dissolution.
MEGAPIXEL | HAEMATOLOGY
Cold Hands Warm Heart... Or
Just a Circulation Problem?
Heat-sensitive cameras reveal the hidden
diseases of the body. When a healthy person
takes his hand out of ice-cold water, his blood will
immediately rush to heat the hand. The heat is seen
THERMAL VISION RESEARCH/WELLCOME LIBRARY, LONDON

as red and yellow colours through the special
cameras. In a person suffering from Raynauds
disease, the image is very different, as his blood
vessels do not function properly. Lack of proper
response in the muscles around the blood vessels cut
off the blood circulation, and the finger temperature
remains around 20 degrees (black in the image).
Photo // Matthew Clavey
Trivia
PUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE
TO THE TEST
1. Which class of warm-blooded

animal uses seven air sacs and non-
expanding lungs to breathe?
2. ENIAC, installed at the University of

Pennsylvania in 1946, was one of the
rst general-purpose what?
3. Once the end of the Silk Road,

the Syrian city of Aleppo went
into decline in 1869 after q. 5
the digging of what?
7. Literally meaning ying carriage, 9. The Mycenaean Period of Ancient
4. Which famous express passenger the quirky French invention called a Greece is the setting for a cycle of
train service between Edinburgh charvolant is a carriage pulled epic poems about which city?
and London, begun in 1863, officially along by what?
gained its name in 1924? 10. The rst letter
8. Which minor in English from
5. Whats the name of Scotlands gemstone is an indigenous
second-largest loch by surface area, totally black, and Australian, thanking
but largest by water volume? has an organic a lady for her care
origin (ie was q. 9 while he was in
6. How many horns does formed from a England, was written
Rhinoceros unicornis have? once-living thing)? in 1796 by whom?
Trivia Countdown (use fewer clues, get a higher score!)

5 POINTS 4 POINTS 3 POINTS 2 POINTS 1 POINT
1. GEOGRAPHY It was founded by the In 1999, it was the In September, it In 1992, it hosted the The city has one of the
Romans around 15 first and only city to celebrates the summer Olympics, world's best soccer
Name this BC as a military be awarded the Catholic La Merc which is particularly teams. Another well-
city stronghold. Today, distinguished RIBA festival, that lasts for remembered for a known landmark is
some 1.6 million gold medal for its 7 days. Many people burning arrow lighting the Sagrada Famlia
people live in the city. architecture. take the week off. the Olympic torch. cathedral.
2. MEDICINE The active ingredient The active ingredient Its effect was Ever since, the drug, The drug can relieve
is called sildenafil, blocks out the PDE5 discovered as a side which is sold as blue, erectile dysfunction,
Name this but the drug is enzyme. The drug reaction, when a diamond-shaped pills, also known as
drug known under a very was first approved for drugmaker tested a has treated 20+ impotence, by
different name. treatment in 1998. new remedy against million men stimulating erection.
high blood pressure. worldwide.
3. TECHNOLOGY The development of The electronic unit The product has been Many people Since then, it has
this product began in was introduced in the subject of lots of consider it the first turned into a series
Name this 2004 as a top secret January 2007. The patent disputes, as it real smartphone. It of smartphones
product operation known as product was in great has earned the included apps and developed and
Project Purple. demand in spite of its inventor company allowed Internet marketed by the Apple
high price. billions of dollars. access too. computer maker.
ANSWERS ON p82!
USE NEW TECH!
To read about new science and tech!
Thats right, you heard right, the Australian Science Illustrated app is out now!
Plus, you can check out our other great science title Australian Popular Science.
WHY GO APP?
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Save money! Subscribe for even greater savings!
Use your expensive tablet for something more enriching than tweets and recipes!
AVAILABLE NOW ON APPLE NEWSSTAND.

Load the Newsstand store and search for SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED and POPULAR SCIENCE
BIODIVERSITY | ENTOMOLOGY
DRESSED IN RED AND READY FOR LOVE

T his mature male dragonfly pauses in
his endless quest for either mate or
prey, to rest for a moment on the dried
and newly hatched adults can be yellow or
black-and-orange. As the dragonfly grows,
a chemical reaction takes place within the
husk of a seasonal flower. Not so long ago pigments in its exoskeleton, slowly turning LORD OF TWO WORLDS
he lived at the bottom of a nearby swamp, the insect bright red. Dragonflies lay their eggs
the terror of smaller insects and even Scientists dont yet understand the into ponds and creeks, and
nymphs spend as long as four
tadpoles. Now, hes master of the sky precise mechanism that causes the change,
years breathing water and killing
within his tightly held territory. His but theyve been able to replicate it using everything they can catch. While
wraparound eyes give him constant vitamin C. Its possible the change occurs as insects like water scorpions (the
surveillance, and hes always ready to the dragonfly is exposed to sunlight, since Nepidae) can challenge them,
seize prey, chase off a challenger or dance these insects rely on vision to identify each usually the dragonfly nymph is
for a prospective mate. other - mates and rivals alike. the largest and most fearsome
aquatic insect in any small body
Dragonflies are incredible predators, Dragonflies are one of evolutions
of water. Like cicadas,
and catch over 95% percent of the insects greatest success stories. An ideally- dragonflies need to find a secure
they target - thats a much better kill rate adapted predator that rarely misses a place to crawl out of the water
than the leopard (38%) or even a great meal and dominates its environment both and hatch into adults. We know
white shark (around 55%). If you are a bug, as an adult and as a nymph. In previous of a wildlife hide near a wetland
in NSW where generation after
and a dragonfly wants to eat you, you geological eras, when the oxygen levels in
generation of dragonflies crawl
might as well just let it happen... the atmosphere were much higher, some up into the wooden rafters to
This dragonflys incredible colouring dragonfly species grew to have metre-
MEGAN POWELL
hatch, resulting in a ceiling

signifies he is sexually mature. Dragonfly wide wingspans. Imagine having to clean covered in thousands of
nymphs are mostly a sort of drab brown, one of those out of the cars radiator... brittle, empty husks...
TRIVIA ANSWERS 1. A bird 2. Computer 3. The Suez Canal 4. The Flying Scotsman 5. Loch Ness 6. One 7. A kite 8. Jet
9. Troy 10. Bennelong Trivia Countdown Name this city: Barcelona Name this drug: Viagra Name this product: iPhone

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THE SCIENCE OF ADDICTION LEGENDS OF THE HEART

FLYING CARS UNEXPECTED!

ANDROID FULL BODY

The Amazing Brains of Insects Drone Racing

Lets Talk About the Awesomeness of Bugs

THINGS WE LEARNED IN THIS ISSUE

36 We have the technology to send a fleet of

Our pick of the most important

We take our hearts for granted and believe

Photo // David Barton

Photo // Francois Borman

Jupiters Secrets Revealed

GLOVE MAKES WEAK HANDS STRONG

new strength from the Vigor glove, which

Powerful auroras glow near pole

SARINDR BHUMIRATANA/COLUMBIA ENGINEERING

A new-found dinosaur was much

LOCAL FOCAL POINT Skellefte, Northern Sweden

EARLY LIFE ON EARTH

Touch: Can Sweep: Can Point: Functions

Tattoo paper coated with

Gold leaf with an

Control your phone

Tattoo paper with

DRONE WITH ROBOTIC ARMS

dirty manual work.

BEFORE AFTER Disfigured firefighter

HUGE PEARL HIDDEN

bed, but now he has

Remote-controlled car sends colour photos from Mars

Fatal fall from

Analyses of bone fragments reveal numerous bone fractures

Large flocks often consist

slowing turbulence. 4 Lucy fractured her right hip socket,

CThe Bok Prize .696<;:;)5,15/9-:-)9+0*@)5656<9: ):;-9::;<,-5; CThe David Allen Prize.69-?+-7;165)3):;96564@+644<51+);165

Donate to the Foundation for the Advancement of Astronomy

planes' airworthiness by leaving ice air, so it will move down towards

Ice on the wings, intense

WHO WAS THE GREATEST GEOLOGIST?

1 Approaching the airport,

4 Sudden tail wind

How fast is the Milky Way rotating?

? How does the 864,000 km/h, corresponding to the Solar System

scientists can see how different parts of the galaxy

Why are eagle wings so large?

How is gluten-free flour made? THE 4 STEPS

1 Wheat is harvested and ground into flour. The cereal

Hot air drying stove

3 The dough is rinsed. As gluten is not soluble in water, the

The Maasai jump without

Do the Maasai jump higher WE USE OUR ARMS

than everybody else?

810,904 EZRA ACAYAN/REUTERS/SCANPIX

How can glass

100 flying drones with LED

The show was produced by

The drones were

You will catch a cold if you

secreted by glands. the immune system. render the virus harmless.

MARS PLUTO VOYAGER PROBE

7 MONTHS YEARS YEARS

Starshot travel time: Starshot travel time: Starshot travel time:

This tiny, fragile sliver

St a r s h o t t r a v e l t im e : closest neighbouring star system.

CThe Bok Prize .696<;:;)5,15/9-:-)9+0*@)5656<9: ):;-9::;<,-5; CThe David Allen Prize.69-?+-7;165)3):;96564@+644<51+);165