Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
AUGUST
2017
CATCHING A CRIMINAL
EVOLUTION
AUTISM ANCIENT DNA
SURVIVING SPACE
THE PERFECT BATTERY
HOW WE DECIDE
MARIJUANA ALIEN CONTACT
DARK UNIVERSE
THE FUTURE OF FOOD
...AND MUCH MORE!
The Apocryphal Jesus
Taught by Professor David Brakke
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
T I ME O
ED F LECTURE TITLES
IT
FE
LIM
70%
R
1. The Inuence of Apocrypha
2. Jesus and Mary in the Proto-Gospel of James
31
OR
4. Joseph and the Magi in the Apocrypha
ST
D
ER
BY AU GU 5. The Apocrypha and the Cult of Mary
6. Lost Gospels and Fragments
7. Sayings of Jesus from the Gospel of Thomas
8. Jesuss Statements beyond the Gospels
9. Conversations with the Living Jesus
10. The Gospel of Judass Gnostic Vision
11. The Gospel of Peter and the Talking Cross
12. The Apocrypha and Pilates Sanctication
13. Dialogues with the Risen Jesus
14. Hope and Adventure in the Acts of John
15. Social Disruption in the Acts of Paul
16. Thecla: Independent Woman of the Apocrypha
17. Miracles and Magic in the Acts of Peter
18. Peter versus Paul in the Pseudo-Clementines
19. The Acts of Thomas and the Mission to India
20. Spiritual Love in the Acts of Andrew
21. Forged Letters of Jesus and the Apostles
What Does the New 22. Revelations That Didnt Make the Bible
23. Tours of Hell before Dante
EVERYTHING SPECIAL
FEATURE
WORTH SECTION
KNOWING Nowadays,
its common
Starting on
page 28. to experience
information
overload on a
topic, only to discover
that a lot of that
info wasnt based on
rigorous research.
You wont nd that
here. This issue offers
legit science on
16 topics. Learn
the essentials about
Auroras, How
We Decide, the
Future of Food,
Catching a
Criminal, When
We Left Water
(Evolution),
Virtual Reality,
Asteroids,
Ancient DNA,
Marijuana,
Alien Contact,
Autism Spectrum
Disorder, Ice,
Surviving Space,
Yeast, the Dark
Universe and the
Perfect Battery.
6 EDITORS NOTE
Unspooling the
Essential Code
DNA threads through all the stories in
our special feature section: Everything
Worth Knowing.
9 THE CRUX
Lab-created meat is
taste-worthy for many
people; brain function
continues in a person
declared clinically dead;
cutting carbon dioxide levels
in the atmosphere may
require more than lowering
emissions; dive into our
favorite science summer
reads; and more. Read about the James Webb and
NASAs next telescope on page 83.
4 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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6 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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THE CRUX T H E L ATEST S CI E N C E N E WS A N D N O T ES
FUSION FRAMEWORK
With his robot assistant, a technician works on the worlds largest fusion research device of its kind at the Max Planck Institute
for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany. The experimental equipment, dubbed Wendelstein 7-X, will test the feasibility of
stellar nuclear fusion in which nuclei bind together and release energy as a clean energy source. It uses magnetic elds
from 70 supercooled magnets to contain just a few thousandths of a gram of superheated hydrogen plasma. The plasma must
sustain extreme temperatures about 100 million degrees Celsius, or 180 million degrees Fahrenheit before fusion can happen.
Wendelstein 7-X took more than 10 years to build and cost over $1 billion. ERNIE MASTROIANNI; PHOTO BY STEFAN SAUER/DPA/ALAMY
10 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
BIG IDEA
What Carbon
lasts about a decade will still
cause sea levels to rise for centuries.
The reason is fairly simple. Green-
house gases trap extra heat in our
Really Costs
atmosphere, and oceans suck most of
it up. As the warmer water expands, it
causes sea levels to rise. And like a hot
bath, the ocean must radiate its heat
back out through the atmosphere
Even if we curb emissions, wrangling greenhouse gases and into space for it to cool.
will mean a price tag of trillions. Former NASA scientist James
Hansen, now at Columbia University,
helped launch climate change into the
ATOP EARTHS LARGEST active volcano, April study in Nature Communications. public sphere with his 1988 testimony
an alarm bell has tolled unheeded Add a few more centuries of similar before Congress. [A level of] 450 ppm
for six decades. In 1958, Scripps emissions, and carbon dioxide levels rise would guarantee disaster, Hansen
Institution climatologist Charles to those not seen in 420 million years, says now. If you leave it in place long
Keeling began making precise causing unprecedented sea level rise. enough, it would guarantee that you do
measurements of atmospheric carbon Keeling doesnt think itll come to lose the coastal cities.
dioxide concentrations at Mauna that. New efficiency standards and And in a recent study in Earth
Loa Observatory. Back then, Earths cleaner energy are already reducing System Dynamics Discussion, Hansens
atmosphere clocked roughly 310 parts emissions in the U.S. and other team writes that to reach 350 ppm,
per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide. It countries. If such efforts humans must spend the next
took just a year for Keeling to spot a register at Mauna Loa, it In April, century extracting billions
now-familiar upward trend. could show humans still have carbon of tons of carbon dioxide
You can think of it as taking some control. Its been an from the atmosphere. They
planetary vital signs, says Ralph alarm bell so far the curve,
dioxide hit calculated a range of options
Keeling, who continues his fathers Keeling says. But if we start 410 ppm, a to reach that threshold, putting
work at Scripps today. The news isnt to take positive steps, it can 50 percent the final price tag between $100
good. In April, carbon dioxide hit 410 become a sign of progress billion and over $1 trillion
ppm, a 50 percent increase from pre- and hope.
increase each year, for roughly 80 years.
Industrial Revolution levels. And its However, new research from pre- They found that returning
been increasing roughly 3 ppm per year, shows that reducing emissions Industrial Earth to 350 ppm by 2100
a record rate. Last year, 175 countries isnt a complete fix. If you Revolution requires planting trees on an
agreed to reduce emissions via the Paris just stop emitting cold turkey, epic scale, as well as substantial
Agreement, which optimistically the temperature drops a little, levels. investments to boost soil fertil-
could hold global temperatures to an but it doesnt drop too much, ity so it holds more carbon.
increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius since says MIT atmospheric scientist Susan Wed also need large-scale tech to
pre-industrial levels. Solomon. The temperature stays remove the gas, something not currently
We are almost there already, almost as hot for 700 years. feasible. Others are exploring alterna-
says glaciologist Eric Rignot of the Thats because the carbon dioxide tive approaches. A Harvard University
University of California, Irvine. I remains trapped in the atmosphere program is spending $20 million to
think at some point, people will realize much of it lingers a millennium launch particles into the stratosphere to
weve already passed it. later pumping more and more test a kind of solar shield.
NASAS SCIENTIFIC VISUALIZATION STUDIO
Our current emissions trajectory energy into the ocean. So temperatures Some scientists fear that even
locks Earth into a carbon dioxide level stabilize, but the seas keep rising. talking about such geoengineering
of at least 450 ppm, Ralph Keeling says. This means humans actually have will embolden people to keep polluting.
And burning fossil fuels at the same to remove greenhouse gases to reach But that hasnt stopped the discussion.
increasing rates through 2050 would levels scientists consider safe, roughly All the pollution we put in the air,
drive those levels to their highest point 350 ppm. And even short-lived were going to have to take it back,
in 50 million years, according to an greenhouses gases methane Rignot says. ERIC BETZ
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mouses spinal nerve root, part of the spinal cord that communicates with the brain. Thomas
Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at
University of California, San Diego, took this picture while researching cellular architecture.
ERNIE MASTROIANNI; PHOTO BY THOMAS DEERINCK AND MARK ELLISMAN, NCMIR
14 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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THE CRUX
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a different species and pairs plenty of Silver jacks swim beneath What They Tell Us
science with Skerrys images. a great white shark. About Ourselves
By Lee Daniel Kravetz
After moving
QUICK TAKES
to Silicon
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rash of suicides
by teenagers in
his community.
He juxtaposes his
personal journey
CAESARS THE ENDS OF ATOMIC UNSOLVED! into parenthood
LAST BREATH: THE WORLD: ADVENTURES: The History and with the worries
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Earths Past Mass Journey in to the Secret Societies his background
With sly wit and Extinctions Wild World of
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Keans vignettes The Da Vinci Code
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about key events in As a rising tide of has nothing on this
the understanding research suggests Characters major exhaustive collection inherent mimicry
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numerous of a sixth mass story of nuclear codes because can create
entertaining extinction event science come alive these are real. From dangerously
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22 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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July/August 2017 DISCOVER 27
EVERYTHING
SPECIAL
SECTION
WORTH
KNOWING
We get it. Youre bombarded with new information
every single day heck, every hour. If only someone
were around who could sort through it all and
give you the freshest, most legit stuff in science,
p. 30 Auroras a knowledgeable guide who could plow through the
thousands of scientific papers published each week
p. 34 How We Decide and just tell you what you need to know, and what
p. 38 The Future of Food youd like to know.
With our latest collection of Everything Worth
p. 40 Catching a Criminal Knowing, we aim to catch your curiosity with the story
p. 44 When We Left Water of how our distant ancestors left the oceans, help
you learn the basics of talking to E.T. and make sense
p. 48 Virtual Reality
of the systems that affect how we make decisions
p. 50 Asteroids among other things.
p. 52 Ancient DNA Consider this special section your knowledge
curator, with its blend of shorter and longer takes on
p. 56 Marijuana everything from autism to yeast. Whether you revisit
p. 58 Alien Contact favorite subjects or discover something new, youll
walk away knowing more.
p. 62 Autism Spectrum Disorder Feel free to share your thoughts with us at
p. 66 Ice editorial@discovermagazine.com. THE EDITORS
p. 70 Surviving Space
p. 74 Yeast
p. 76 The Dark Universe
p. 78 The Perfect Battery
28 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
KELLIE JAEGER/DISCOVER
30 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
through their machines and set their paper
Carrington Event on re. Rare red auroras appeared as far
south as Hawaii and El Salvador. Called
Our modern understanding begins on the Carrington Event, the incident showed
Sept. 1, 1859. British astronomer Richard auroras were caused by solar activity but
Carrington was tracking sunspots when a half a century passed before science could
group unlike any other hed seen appeared. explain how.
It sent out two intense ashes of white Forecasters still struggle to predict this
light and vanished minutes later. Those space weather, and scientists have yet to
bright ashes signaled that an enormous understand its subtleties. That ongoing
eruption the largest geomagnetic storm effort is vital to protecting power grids
In 1859, astronomer Richard Carrington
in history was heading for Earth. and satellites, which are sensitive to the observed strange sunspots evidence of
When it hit, the storm was so intense same power surges that have inspired awe the largest geomagnetic storm in history
that sparks shocked telegraph operators for thousands of years. later reproduced in a sketch.
Solar wind
A constant stream
of solar particles.
Solar
particles
Coronal hole
Lower gas density and energy
make an area slightly colder, Special K
and appear darker.
Geomagnetic storm magnitude is measured
using the Planetary K-index, after Kennziffer, a
German word for indicator. If the index rises
Prominence to 4 (on a 1-9 scale), auroras are likely and an
A large, often looping arc of gas alert is issued, a handy heads-up for power grid
that protrudes from the sun. and satellite operators, as well as aurora chasers.
E Electron
AURORA
BOREALIS
Auroral oval
Auroras most often occur in this region, which
creeps toward the equator during
geomagnetic storms. Few auroras happen
very close to the geographic and magnetic
Magnetic
poles, though one uncommon type, the
eld lines Magnetic north pole
theta aurora, cuts across the ovals center.
Geographic north pole
Geomagnetic
AURORA Cold air + + force +
ALL ILLUSTRATIONS: ROEN KELLY/DISCOVER
AUSTRALIS
- -
Warm air -
Magnetic
Cold air
+ + + pulse
32 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Space Weather Watchers All the Highlights
30,000 B.C. Early Europeans may
have carved images of auroras into
rock art panels.
Earths not alone in its regular light 1910 Another Norwegian physicist,
shows. In late December 2014, NASAs Carl Strmer, begins photographing
MAVEN spacecraft watched auroras in auroras, often simultaneously imaging
Mars atmosphere (right). And Hubble the same formations from different
caught auroras on Jupiter, too, seen in directions. Over the next four decades
ultraviolet light (below). hell take 100,000 shots, mapping the
shape of auroras and determining a
typical altitude of 50 to 100 miles.
When were presented with a choice, we carefully weigh the alternatives and
choose the option that makes the most sense or do we? Only recently has
science begun to unravel how we really make decisions.
In the face of stress or time pressure, or $5 all at once to a second group, and ask the
even seemingly unrelated cues, our assessment people how many lottery tickets they would like
of situations and the choices we ultimately to buy. Youd think both groups would buy the
make can be colored by innate biases, flawed same number of tickets after all, they got the
assumptions and prejudices born of personal same amount of money.
experience. And were clueless about how they Nope. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon found
influence our judgments. These unconscious that the first group would consistently buy twice
processes can lead us to make decisions that, in as many lottery tickets as the group that was
fact, dont really make much sense at all. given the same amount of money but only one
If youre not convinced, go to a group of chance to buy lottery tickets.
people and offer each person a dollar. Do this Heres another way to see irrational,
five times, each time asking if the individual unconscious biases in action: Change your
wants to buy a $1 lottery ticket. Then offer hairstyle. This experience inspired Malcolm
Gladwell to write the bestseller Blink, which
looked at the science of snap judgments.
After he grew his hair long, his life changed
in very small but significant ways. He got
speeding tickets, was pulled out of airport
security lines, and was questioned by police
in a rape case, even though the prime suspect
was much taller.
Unconscious processes
can lead us to make
decisions that, in fact,
dont really make much
sense at all.
The lottery and hair scenarios provide
real-world examples at odds with traditional
theories used to predict human behavior.
These scenarios tell us that decision-making
can depend on perspective and unconscious
stereotypes. These kinds of biases do serve an
evolutionary purpose, many other researchers
have found. In some cases, making snap
decisions and following your gut can be an
advantage, especially in high-pressure, time-
sensitive situations.
DNY59/GETTY IMAGES
34 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
CHECKS AND BALANCES
Daniel Kahneman won the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics for his widely referenced work in the area of human
judgment. Kahneman and others in his eld divide our decision-making process into two systems: System 1, with
its nearly instantaneous impressions of people and situations; and System 2, with its rational analysis and ability to
handle complexity. These two systems compete and sometimes overlap, acting as checks on each other.
System 1 System 2
That long-haired guy looks suspicious. That baseball player reminds me of a young
The stock market is going down I better David Ortiz, but appearances can be misleading.
sell NOW! I should ignore the compulsion to sell when
the stock market is going down. That is just
This system generally offers preferences fear talking.
based on patterns picked up by our brains
without our awareness. This is the source of These decisions are analytical, deliberate and
both unconscious biases that may lead to bad rational. A dualistic notion of decision-making
judgments, and the insight from experts with has been around forever. People assume that
signicant experience in a specic situation. System 1 is bad and System 2 is good, says Pratt.
This system tends to be fast, non-conscious People have been unreective about that until
and emotionally charged, says Michael recently.
Pratt, a professor of organizational change at Neuroscientists have traditionally called the
Boston College. information we use to make these decisions
Neuroscientists often call this implicit explicit knowledge. It relies on the traditional
knowledge. According to Paul Reber, a memory systems of the brain, such as the
neuroscientist at Northwestern University, it hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, the
is the result of connections between groups integral component of working memory.
of neurons that form throughout the sensory One might liken the hippocampus to the brains
cortex after repeated exposure to two or more ling clerk for long-term memories lose it, and
stimuli together or in quick succession. you become an amnesiac, incapable of retrieving
memories or storing new ones. The prefrontal
QUALITIES cortex is the seat of the brains executive function.
Fast, Automatic, Associative
Thats where we hold information we need
temporarily to calculate how much to pay the
ADVANTAGES babysitter or what to buy for dinner.
It is faster and can take on an automatic quality,
which makes it useful for high-pressure, high-
QUALITIES
stress situations, like combat or a basketball
Slow, Controlled, Rule-Governed
game. It can be harnessed and, through training,
be used to speed up reaction times and save ADVANTAGES
mental energy. It allows you to consider the consequences of a
decision before you make it. Also, it allows the
DISADVANTAGE application of complex rules and information;
Its not the best system for some kinds of
studied, analytical thought; and analysis. And it
structured problems, such as those based on
can insulate you from the corrosive effects of fear
math, in which there is one correct answer. Its
and emotions.
predictions and assumptions based on the sum
of previous experiences might not represent DISADVANTAGE
current reality. It is vulnerable to unconscious Its slower and can break down under stress,
biases. causing you to choke.
Implicit Learning 4
In 1953, a patient named Henry Molaison underwent an
Unconscious Biases 4
Starting in the late 1960s, Kahneman and Tversky began a
experimental brain surgery that halted his seizures. But collaboration that would eventually overturn the way people
then Molaison couldnt form new long-term memories. thought about decision-making in medicine, economics and a wide
His misfortune made him famous. range of other elds.
By studying H.M. and other amnesiacs, They focused on heuristics a series of unconscious rules or biases
neuroscientists were able to prove the role of the and how they can consistently lead us in the wrong direction.
hippocampus and related structures in long-term memory The simplest and most powerful one is called the availability
formation. Molaisons experiences also shed light on heuristic. Sometimes we grasp for the wrong answer on instinct,
unconscious, or implicit, learning. simply because it is easier to access and thus feels correct.
Molaison was given a battery of tests, which conrmed Kahneman and Tversky designed and administered a series of
his complete inability to form long-term memories. But questions to university students and their answers consistently
one test contradicted the other results. Given the test went against what one would consider rational thinking.
10 times across three consecutive days, he traced a star Students listened to recordings of lists of 39 names read aloud.
on paper using a barrier and mirror. His speed increased Some of the names were very famous people, like Richard Nixon,
steadily, but each day when he arrived at the lab, he had and others were public gures who were less well-known. One list
no memory of learning to trace the star. had 19 very famous male names and 20 less-famous female names. A
Years later, Molaison was shown 20 line drawings of second list included 20 less-famous male names and 19 very famous
common objects and animals in a series of sessions. He female names. The students were then asked whether the list of
eventually was able to identify the drawings even with names included more men or more women. When the men in the
mere fragments. An hour later, he had no memory of ever list were more famous, a majority of participants incorrectly thought
taking the test. Yet when he took it again, his scores still there were more men on the list, and vice versa for women. Tversky
improved. On some level, he had retained his ability to and Kahnemans interpretation: Judgments of proportion are based
correctly classify the fragments. on availability. Students could more easily connect with the names
This form of learning is now known as implicit learning. of better-known people.
36 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
4 High-
Stakes
A Split Decision
The brains two systems arent exclusive of each other.
They depend on shared connections and experience.
Decisions
In the 1980s, Klein wanted to
know how people made really
hard decisions under extreme
time pressure and uncertainty.
First responders and experienced
military commanders seemed
to make decisions the right
decisions under pressure all the
time. How did they do it?
To get to the bottom of this
phenomenon, Klein visited re
stations across the Midwest. When
he started out, Klein suspected
that expert commanders picked a
limited range of options to choose
from and then carefully weighed
the pros and cons. Klein expected
Sensory
SYSTEM 1
a rational, logical approach to cortex The basal ganglia, which helps
unfold in every commanders (brown) strengthen the speed of circuit
conscious mind an approach formation, and the sensory
based on System 2. cortex are major players. In
To his surprise, Klein Basal the sensory cortex (shown
consistently found the ganglia
(orange) in detail above), groups of
commanders looked at just one neurons develop patterns of
option. They knew what to do. ring that are re-established
By the time they became aware more easily with repeated
of the approach, theyd already exposure to stimuli. This is key
decided. Sometimes after the best to those split-second decisions,
approach popped into their mind, made under pressure.
they consciously imagined how
it would play out before actually
implementing it, to make sure
it would work. But for the most
part, their rst idea was the only
one they considered.
It really shook us because we
didnt expect that, Klein recalls. Hippocampus
How can you just look at one (red)
option? The answer was that they
had 20 years of experience.
Twenty years experience Prefrontal
gave the reghters the ability cortex
to do what Klein called pattern (purple)
matching. The process seemed to
involve complicated analysis of
sensory information that occurs,
BRAIN ILLUSTRATIONS: EVAN OTO/SCIENCE SOURCE. NEURONS BY JAY SMITH
Fifty years ago, two paradigms clashed over how to handle a growing
population. Some preached curtailed growth, while others believed human
ingenuity could meet the challenge.
Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich predicted many millions of people
would starve in the 1970s and 80s. The only solution, he wrote in the book The
Population Bomb, was to curb birthrates. But plant geneticist Norman Borlaug
developed a high-yield, disease-resistant dwarf wheat that boosted global
agricultural production the Green Revolution. He persuaded developing
countries to adopt this new seed and later, an improved rice ultimately
tripling global cereal grain yield. Borlaug won the Nobel Prize in 1970.
As the world braces for another population bomb, scientists are still chasing
the next Green Revolution.
PROBLEMS
A WARMER WORLD
POPULATION BOMB Climate change will bring
Seven billion people now bigger storms and more
CALAMITIES
live on Earth. By 2050, the frequent droughts, as well as
Agricultural diseases and pests
population is expected to desertication in places like
age-old problems are amplied
hit 9.7 billion. Even though sub-Saharan Africa. Precipitation
by climate change. As the cold
the rate of malnutrition patterns will change, affecting
season gets warmer, winters
has fallen globally in recent agriculture, though its not
killing frost will do less to keep
decades, nearly 800 million certain how. These effects could
crop-eating insect populations
people still dont have be strongest in the Southern
under control. And this warmth,
enough food. To feed Hemisphere, home to the most
along with stronger storms and
the world in 2050, food rapid population growth.
altered precipitation, will spread
production must diseases where they once
increase by 70 percent. werent a problem.
38 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
SOLUTIONS
1
BOOST YIELD ON
THE LAND WE HAVE
Urban expansion coupled with
land lost to climate change means
growing more crops on less land.
Biotechnology has increased yield
by introducing new crops designed
to resist pests and disease, and to
3 EMBRACE UGLY
PRODUCE
About one-third of all food
never makes it from farm and
table. Corporations are trying
to transform our ideas about
the perfect piece of produce
withstand weed-killing herbicides. by encouraging people to eat
Now, nearly all American corn and ugly fruit. Supermarkets in
soybean farmers grow genetically France can now be ned for
2
modied seed. Certain varieties dumping food that is old yet
of genetically engineered squash, still edible. But its more than
tomato and potato havent been EAT AN ANT just nes for supermarkets.
as widely adopted. Mealworms, termites, beetles Stopping food waste means
Future genetically modied and ants: Diets around the world education campaigns, meal
organisms (GMOs) could be more feature insects for protein, yet bugs portion sizing and removing
heat- and drought-tolerant and on the menu make a Westerners expiration dates on foods
provide better nutrition. And the stomach turn. Its time to expand that dont really expire.
gene-editing technique CRISPR our palates. Insects are packed
could soon let scientists tweak DNA with easily accessible proteins
with new speed and precision, and nutrients; humans can digest
leading to breakthroughs in crop about 80 percent of an insect
breeding. Experts say CRISPR could compared with just 50 percent of
make traditionally low-yield crops, a chicken or pig. And theyre easier
such as quinoa and wild legumes, on the environment than large-
more farmable, and even introduce scale livestock operations. When
traits that took thousands of comparing beef versus bug protein
years of breeding, like reduced pound for pound, cattle need 10
bitterness, into plants that have times more land than mealworms.
never been farmed.
But GMOs are no silver bullet.
They dont deal with the ecological
4
problems of modern agriculture, like
erosion and lack of soil biodiversity,
critics say. So other researchers
are developing perennial crops
that produce year after year, and
cultivating microbial diversity in the
5
soil to boost yield and nutrition.
MEGAFARM-TO-
TABLE SHORTCUTS
The typical American meal
contains ingredients from
TOILET TO TAP
ve countries. This kind of
Water, water
globalized food trade has
everywhere, but not
ecological and economic
a drop to drink or
impacts. Regional food hubs
use for irrigation.
can shorten the distance
Reclaimed wastewater
from farm to market.
graywater, sewage
efuent and other waste
might seem gross, but
if handled correctly, it can
be a nutrient-rich way to
irrigate crops. In places
like Egypt, Jordan, central
Mexico and even the U.S.,
it already is. A similar,
but costlier, technique
can transform salty water
into usable drinking and
irrigation water.
In 13th-century China, a field worker was killed with a sickle and all
villagers sickles were alike. So the investigator had every worker lay down
his tool in a field, and observed that just one sickle attracted blowflies, which
were known to seek out blood. Its owner, the culprit, immediately confessed.
The Chinese sickle slaying is one of the sex of the person who left a print based on
first reported cases of forensic investigation. proportions of amino acids found in skin oils.
The role of science in evidence collection and One of the most significant developments
presentation has only become more important in forensics the advent of DNA profiling in
over time, and it continues to evolve at an the 1980s also continues to advance. More
ever-accelerating pace. than just a means of tying a suspect to a crime
New discoveries are bolstering even the scene, genetic information can reveal clues
oldest techniques, such as fingerprinting, about a culprits appearance through a process
first systematized by Englishman Sir called DNA phenotyping. Indiana University-
Francis Galton in 1892. For instance, in Purdue University Indianapolis geneticist
2015, National Institute of Standards and Susan Walsh has successfully predicted eye
Technology chemist Shin Muramoto found and hair color based on genetic markers
that ridges on a fingerprint release a substance known as single nucleotide polymorphisms
known as palmitic acid at a predictable rate, (SNPs), and Pennsylvania State University
allowing investigators to determine when anthropologist Mark Shriver has used SNPs to
prints were laid down and whether theyre make predictive digital mugshots.
temporally relevant to a crime. And at the DNA phenotyping has met some
University of Albany, chemist Jan Halmek skepticism, which is important given
recently published a method to determine the an individuals freedom may be on the
line; overconfidence and pseudoscience
both have a long and tragic history in
forensics. Exhibit A: Galton, the father of
fingerprinting, falsely claimed that criminal
tendencies could be detected in the faces
of people who physically resembled known
lawbreakers. Last year, a study released
by the Presidents Council of Advisors on
Science and Technology raised a fresh round
of concerns, finding inadequate scientific
support for standard techniques ranging from
ballistics testing to blood spatter analysis.
However, forensic science is also a powerful
technique to scrutinize itself, as researchers
discover and correct past inadequacies.
Studying the reasons why blood spatter can
be misleading, Loyola University Maryland
biologist David Rivers recently observed that
the blood was sometimes spread by flies. So
in a move that would surely have impressed
medieval Chinas CSI, Rivers developed a
spray that could distinguish bug-borne spatter
PASIEKA/SCIENCE SOURCE
40 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
1
and fall of microbial populations follows days over a 25-day period. The microbes
Examining a reliable course as a corpse decomposes, can also show whether a corpse has been
even though the actual pace of activity moved and reveal the original location.
the Victim varies widely due to temperature and Tools from metagenomics sampling
other environmental factors. trace genetic material in the environment
When investigators nd a body, they Over the past several years, Metcalf and and methods of studying the human
want to know how long ago the victim colleagues have developed a microbial microbiome are providing insights into
died. There are numerous established clock to measure postmortem passage disease while bolstering the crime-
techniques, but each has signicant of time by genetically sequencing the ghting potential of bacteria and
limitations. Rigor mortis isnt very precise population of microbes on the skin and fungi. Were also working on using
over extended periods, and the presence in the surrounding soil. Their experiments skin microbes as trace evidence to link
of telltale insects varies by region. In at body farms outdoor facilities where people to objects they recently touched
contrast, microbes are always present scientists study the decomposition of or spaces they have recently occupied,
at a death scene, says Colorado State donated cadavers have established says Metcalf. Invisible and ubiquitous,
biologist Jessica Metcalf. And the rise a timekeeping accuracy of two to four microbes are the ideal witnesses.
MICROBIAL CLOCK
Note: This
is just a small
sampling of the
many microbes
involved in
decomposition.
2
would be impractical, wasting
Investigating precious time and potentially
contaminating evidence.
the Scene Working in collaboration with
the Dutch National Police,
of the Crime researchers at the Delft University
Microsoft HoloLens
of Technology have come up with
From protein markers for hair, to a solution that looks somewhat
microbial clocks for cadavers, to sprays like Pokmon Go: arm CSIs with able to get in contact with remote
for detecting y gut enzymes in blood augmented reality (AR). experts and solve cases more easily
spatter, the tools and techniques of Investigators wearing shoulder- together, explains Drago Datcu, a
forensic investigation now extend mounted cameras allow off-site former Delft University of Technology
beyond the expertise of any single specialists to observe the investigation researcher who now heads research for a
investigator. in real time. They can even annotate Dutch AR company called Twnkls.
As a result, the enzymes, microbes the crime-scene video feed with text Twnkls plans to commercialize the
and proteins that could prove crucial and arrows that the CSI on the ground system for law enforcement by the end
to catching a criminal might easily be can see on a wrist-mounted screen of the year. If it catches on, the Sherlock
overlooked at the scene of a crime. or through glasses like Microsofts Holmes of the future may nd himself
Bringing in large groups of experts HoloLens. The mobile policemen will be with a desk job.
View recorded
by camera INVESTIGATOR AT SCENE OFF-SITE SPECIALIST
Transmits view using Adds notes in real time
shoulder-mounted camera
AUGMENTED REALITY
Investigator can see notes
on wrist camera or glasses
TOP: MICROSOFT.COM/HOLOLENS. BOTTOM: ALISON MACKEY/DISCOVER AFTER DRAGOS DATCU/DELFT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Shared display
is visible to
both parties
Annotations
placed on live
video feed of
the crime scene
3-D arrows Area to record Warning Areas to Take DNA Barcodes tag Team Potential
highlight points with laser to avoid analyze samples for other potential notes dangerous
of interest scanning an area for prints analysis evidence substances
42 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
3
at the University of California, Davis, human being. Parker and his colleagues
Identifying has been studying unique markers in have already identied more than 100
the proteins made by DNA. The major protein markers, which together can
the Culprit advantage is that protein, particularly pinpoint one person out of 15 million.
hair protein, is more stable than DNA, Theyve also shown that these proteins
DNA proling is universally accepted as he explains. are stable enough in hair to identify
the highest standard for identication Protein-based identication relies 250-year-old human remains.
in forensics, and it has been used on the mechanism that makes DNA However, there is a gap between
successfully for decades to convict or valuable for forensic identication. feasibility and implementation, Parker
exonerate suspects. In fact, a 2009 Single nucleotide polymorphisms notes. We still need to optimize sample
National Research Council report (SNPs, used as genetic markers in DNA processing so a single hair can be
on forensic science eviscerated all proling) can produce single amino acid analyzed. And they need to nd the
other identication techniques, from polymorphisms (SAPs) in the amino acids SNPs that can identify one person out
ngerprinting to bite mark analysis, that make up protein. The challenge of 7.4 billion. He gives it a few years,
holding DNA as uniquely capable of for criminal investigation is to nd a and in the interim expects to extend his
reliably distinguishing between any two set of SAPs that can be easily isolated technique to skin akes. Criminals with
people on Earth. and are collectively unique for each dandruff, beware!
TOP: ALISON MACKEY/DISCOVER AFTER LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY/RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS/A NEW ROLE FOR HAIR IN HUMAN IDENTIFICATION. BOTTOM FROM LEFT: JULIE RUSSELL/LLNL (2); PARKER ET AL./ JOURNAL.PONE.0160653
A grouping of three nucleotide bases in a DNA sequence is called a codon. Each codon provides
instructions for creating a specic amino acid. Variations from the reference genome are called
polymorphisms and can be used as identifying markers. In this example, changing a single
Protein DNA nucleotide from A to T creates the amino acid serine instead of the expected arginine.
1. Hair from the crime scene is milled 3. The instrument measures the weight 4. When a specic SAP is found in the
and processed to break the proteins of the peptide and the weights of all the peptide sequence, the investigator
into smaller peptides. pieces of the peptide when broken up. knows that individual had the DNA
The pattern that the fragments weights to produce that polymorphism. If
2. The peptide mixture is dissolved and create can be used to match the peptide the polymorphisms in all the peptide
ionized, and then routed into a mass to a sequence of single amino acid sequences are consistent with those
spectrometer. polymorphisms (SAP). of a suspect, then that suspect can be
associated with the evidence.
Protein markers
create a pattern.
Biochemist Glendon
Parker holds a sample Mass
of human hair. spectrometer
More than 350 million years ago, our distant fishy ancestors traded in the
life aquatic for land. Once ashore, these four-limbed vertebrates, called
tetrapods, branched into an impressive range of animals: amphibians,
reptiles, dinosaurs, birds and mammals. The fossil record shows that as
species evolved to fill particular ecological niches, a few of the tetrapod clan
Surf lost limbs (snakes), turned arms into wings (bats, birds and pterosaurs) or
to Turf decided the heck with dry land and headed back to sea (including whales,
seals and some marine reptiles).
While the fossil
The tetrapods move to land has long been one of the great evolutionary puzzles. Fossil
record from
this slice of the finds from this transitional period are too few to explain why or how it occurred, or exactly
Paleozoic Era is when the first fully terrestrial tetrapods evolved. Even so, researchers are getting closer to
too incomplete piecing it all together.
to say whether The tetrapod story starts with lobe-finned fishes nearly 400 million years ago. Unlike ray-finned
any of these
animals were
fishes, which make up the majority of fish species today, the lobe-finned varieties evolved with
directly related bony limb-like fins, a handy adaptation (no pun intended).
or just distant During the late Devonian period, starting about 375 million years ago, transitional fishapods,
cousins, the with both primitive, fish-like traits and adaptations for semi-aquatic living, begin to appear in
species represent the fossil record. Although these species had evolved stronger limbs with defined digits, they still
the transitional
nature of the
vertebrate move
from water
to land.
44 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
werent truly tetrapods. All of them are a little weird,
says Cambridge University professor emeritus
Jennifer Clack, the grand dame of early tetrapod
research. None of them are like tetrapods from
later on. Thirty million years later, theyre
running about.
Researchers have yet to find the species
that can link early fishapods with fully
terrestrial tetrapods. We may be closer
to understanding how the transition
happened, however.
In the early tetrapod hotspot of southern
Scotland, for example, researchers
discovered that tetrapods apparently moved
to land during a wetter period: Many of
the tetrapod fossils turning up there have
been found in what were seasonal floodplains.
Its possible that aquatic tetrapods swam into
shallow waters or were washed in during storms
or seasonal monsoons. There, vegetation may have
sheltered them from the sun, preventing them from
drying out. An Acanthostega fossil
As researchers continue to hunt for the first landlubbers in
our lineage, heres what we know so far.
How to Be a Landlubber
Terrestrial life required four key adaptations for aquatic tetrapods.
1
LOCOMOTION
The muscles and bones in lobe-nned sh appendages
gave tetrapods, ahem, a leg up on adapting to life
Ichthyostega
on land. The rst vertebrates to forsake the seas reconstruction
probably didnt walk or even crawl, however. A 2012
reconstruction of early tetrapod Ichthyostega suggests
that it couldnt bend side-to-side like lizards do as
they walk. Its more likely the animal crutched,
like the modern mudskipper, using both front
FROM TOP: REPRINTED BY PERMISSION FROM MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS LTD: STEPHANIE PIERCE ET AL./NATURE 486, 523526 (28 JUNE 2012); SCIENCEPICS/SHUTTERSTOCK; RICH CAREY/SHUTTERSTOCK; EDUARD SOLA VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
limbs simultaneously to propel itself forward. The
shoulders and pelvis of early tetrapods expanded and
strengthened, allowing for load-bearing on land.
2
RESPIRATION
The common ancestor of both ray-nned and lobe-
nned shes had primitive internal air sacs that
allowed them to breathe air. For ray-nned species,
these sacs evolved into bladders for buoyancy
control. For lobe-nned shes tetrapod descendants,
however, the sacs evolved into lungs. Moving around
on land required signicantly more hufng and
Lobe-nned pufng and oxygen than swimming for early
sh tetrapods. Some researchers believe the atmosphere
when vertebrates were heading ashore had
signicantly higher levels of oxygen (30 to 35 percent
rather than todays 21 percent), which may have
made moving on land easier for the animals.
3
FOOD ACQUISITION
If you crawled or crutched your way from water onto
land, your biggest challenge wasnt breathing or
moving around; it was swallowing your food. In water,
sh can change the pressure in their mouths to force
water and food, which have about the same density,
into their esophagus. On land, the difference in density
between air and food makes that mechanism a no-go,
and helpful adaptations such as tongues and specialized
jaw shapes would not evolve until millions of years after
the transition to land. A 2013 study found that modern
eel catsh grab prey on land with their jaws but return
to water to swallow the meal. Its possible transitional Eel catsh
tetrapods did the same thing.
4
SENSORY SYSTEMS
In March, researchers found that tetrapod eyes
tripled in size just before they transitioned to land.
While that kind of increase would not have helped
the animals see better while swimming, it would
greatly expand their vision out of water. At about
the same time, the eye position moved from the side
to the top of the skull, as seen on some transitional
species, such as Tiktaalik. The combination of better
vision out of water and eye location suggests that
these shapods may have hunted like modern
A Tiktaalik fossil crocodiles, lying in wait in the shallows to ambush
prey on the shore.
46 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
The Trouble Mind the Gap
With Trackways
In 2010, the apparent discovery of
terrestrial tetrapod tracks in Polands
Zachelmie quarry made headlines.
At more than 390 million years old,
the trackways would predate by
tens of millions of years the period
LEFT COLUMN FROM TOP: ADAPTED BY PERMISSION FROM MACMILLAN PUBLISHERS/GRZEGORZ NIEDZWIEDZKI ET AL./NATURE 463, 43-48 (JAN. 7, 2010); NIEDZWIEDZKI ET AL. RIGHT COLUMN FROM TOP: ROB CLACK; CENTER FOR BIOLOGY AND SOCIETY/ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
Burnmouth Harbor, shown at low tide, is one of several sites in Scotland where researchers
dug for tetrapod fossils. The work, part of a project called TW:eed, paid off. In 2016, team
members described ve new species of tetrapods from Romers Gap, a span of millions of
years nearly bereft of tetrapod discoveries.
Some of the most exciting research on tetrapods has come from an interdisciplinary
project based in the United Kingdom. Tetrapod World: early evolution and
diversication (TW:eed) re-created the environments these distant relatives called
home. The team also continued lling in Romers Gap, a span in the fossil record
from about 335 million to 360 million years ago that had long vexed paleontologists.
On the far side of the gap, named after Alfred Romer, the Harvard University
researcher who rst noticed it, tetrapods are rare
and ill-adapted for terrestrial living. Fast forward
to after the gap, and we see a diverse assortment
of terrestrial tetrapods.
TW:eed researchers focused on a handful of sites
in Scotland, which was much closer to the equator
and had a tropical climate when tetrapods were
rst coming ashore. In late 2016, team members
described ve new species of tetrapod and
identied fragmentary remains of at least seven
more, all from the Romers Gap era.
Thanks to detailed study of the layers in
a 500-meter-deep borehole at one of the fossil
sites, TW:eed members were able to determine the
tetrapods habitat was a mosaic of braided rivers
Alfred Romer and oodplains, with distinct dry and wet seasons.
While some invertebrates had transitioned from
marine to terrestrial environments millions of years earlier, even more came ashore
during this period, along with the tetrapods.
A group of scientists believed the Carys Bennett, a geologist at the University of Leicester who specializes in
fossilized imprints in this slab were
made by a tetrapod moving in a manner sedimentology and microfossils, says Romers Gap is becoming a misnomer as
shown in the illustration on top. But that more species remains are discovered. Its full of life, she says of the era. It was
theory was called into question in 2015. a thriving time.
Forget reality: In virtual reality, you can be whomever and wherever you want.
VR makes the unreal real, using computer software and hardware that responds
to our bodys movements to immerse us in a convincing alternate existence.
Theres plenty of space to roam. VR places personal details: In most VR worlds, you cant
can be huge. In Second Life, an early pioneer see where other people are looking, or what
of virtual worlds, you can attend university, theyre doing with their hands. But while VR is
own a blimp, have blue fur whatever. famous for overpromising and underdelivering,
It includes more than 600 square miles of Rosedale sees progress being made on these
The otherworld existence. The worlds of Minecraft, fronts think eye-tracking sensors, or
another digital sandbox, could cover Earth gloves that communicate gestures. Within
Money eight times over. a few years, personal VR meetups could be
In 2014, the VR tech The possibilities are endless. VR movies startlingly personal.
market totaled a offer new vehicles for narrative structure. VR The future is exciting, but uncertain. VR
paltry $100 million classrooms may reach students who dont environments including headsets can
in sales. But in thrive behind a desk. Soon, we may have virtual trigger motion sickness. And critics warn that
just three years,
meetings, conferences, classes and parties. were becoming increasingly isolated and risk
virtual universes
have undergone According to tech entrepreneur Philip Rosedale, addiction or physical harm. Champions say
a very real big who founded Second Life, We have an VR brings us together. The only certainty is
bang nancially. insatiable appetite for communicating with each that as this tech experiment evolves around
Sales of software other. VR is the next medium in that regard. us, were all lab rats in the least natural
and hardware
Right now, the visual fidelity of these environment imaginable one entirely
should approach
$5 billion this year. worlds remains somewhat blocky and lacks invented by humankind.
And if these trends
continue (a decent-
sized if), some
analysts say sales
could skyrocket to
Medical Applications Patients walked on a treadmill
while watching a real-time
VR goes beyond fun and games. Doctors, engineers and video of their own feet
$38 billion by 2020.
inventors want to help people with real-world medical walking. In the six months
problems using alternate realities. after the exercise, patients
2016
who trained this way saw a
$1.8 billion
Conquer fear. Afraid of Manage prosthetics. 50 percent reduction in their
2017 ying, spiders or tight spaces? Amputees can retrain muscles rate of falls compared with
$4.9 B VR exposure therapy may associated with lost limbs in patients whod only walked on
help reduce anxiety through virtual environments and a treadmill.
2018
gradual, safe and realistic take new articial limbs for a
$13.6 B Live without chronic
contact with what haunts you. test drive.
2019 disease. Alternate worlds like
Curb PTSD symptoms. VA Avoid falls. A recent study Second Life also offer a place
WILLIAM ZUBACK/DISCOVER
$23.4 B
hospitals and others have showed a decreased risk where people who have chronic
2020 begun using VR treatments that of falling in people with diseases can leave their physical
$37.7 B allow soldiers to safely revisit Parkinsons disease who bodies behind and interact with
Source: Superdata traumatic memories. engaged with a kind of VR. other people online.
48 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
THE TECH
Five Senses
Our perceptions are shaped by sounds, sights, feels, tastes and smells.
A convincing VR world needs to hit all those buttons.
1992 Neal Stephensons combine sound and 2014 Launch of Google worlds for thousands 2016 Wide release of
novel Snow Crash projected images with Cardboard, a cheap of gamers. the Oculus Rift, HTC
showcases the Metaverse, headsets to make headset that turns a Vive and PlayStation VR,
2016 High Fidelity, a
a virtual mega-reality immersive virtual spaces. users smartphone into a high-powered consumer
company from Second
where people connect VR platform. headsets that let users
2003 Launch of Second Life designer Philip
through the internet. move around in a VR
Life, an online 3-D 2015 SpatialOS debuts, Rosedale, launches a
environment.
2000s Engineers create fantastical facsimile of a platform for coders to new VR platform for
room-sized boxes that the real world. create seamless virtual world-building.
Our early solar system was a wild place. Dust grains grew into pebbles, and
pebbles became world-building planetesimals. These rocks spun around
and bumped into each other in a chaotic dance that left a trail of debris in
its wake. The remnants of these festivities remain strewn about our cosmic
backyard. Many rocky and metallic bodies now orbit in whats called the Main
Asteroid Belt, between Mars and Jupiter.
More than just leftovers, asteroids offer clues to the earliest days of our solar
system, as well as the promise of valuable minerals and precious resources.
Assuming they dont kill us first.
50 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Trojans Two separate groups of asteroids,
known as the Trojans, are ensnared by
Jupiters gravity. Their numbers could rival
that of the Main Belt asteroids.
COMPOSITION
Silicate and metal asteroids are
somewhat uncommon space
rocks most others are mainly
Psyche Mission Scientists think the all- carbon. But rare metals, a tiny
metal asteroid Psyche was once the core of slice of the compositions below,
a protoplanet. A NASA mission of the same make them lucrative mining
name will visit the 150-mile-wide nickel- targets.
SPACECRAFT, CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: BRYAN VERSTEEG/DEEP SPACE INDUSTRIES; NASA; JAXA; NASA (3). MAP BY EKLER/SHUTTERSTOCK
IMPACTS Silicate
Small rocks can make a asteroid
big bang: The 2013 Kara crater
Chelyabinsk meteor Popigai crater
was 65 feet across,
but the shock wave Manicouagan crater
Sudbury crater
shattered enough
glass to injure over 1,000 Lake Tai crater OOxygen 36%
people. But dont panic. Large Chicxulub crater OIron 26%
impacts happen about once OSilicon 18%
every million years. South OMagnesium 14%
Africas nearly 200-mile-wide
OAluminum 1.5%
Vredefort crater places Vredefort crater Warburton crater
rst among Earths largest Morokweng crater ONickel 1.4%
conrmed impacts (right). Acraman crater OCalcium 1.3%
In 1984, geneticists recovered 229 base pairs of genetic code from a quagga,
a subspecies of zebra extinct since the late 1800s. The achievement proved
DNA could survive in dead things and spurred a new field of science:
paleogenetics. Today, technological advances allow scientists to read
billions of letters from the genomes of ancient humans and other organisms,
transforming our view of history and evolution.
The genetic record is like a lost library . . . ancestors of some living humans, contributing
and were just starting to learn the language of genes beneficial in cold environments and at
all those books that we have uncovered, says high altitudes.
Johannes Krause, director of archaeogenetics A decade ago, these discoveries were not
at the Max Planck Institute for the possible; geneticists could only read
Science of Human History in short stretches of ancient genomes.
Jena, Germany. Consequently, studies focused
For anthropologists, either on particular genes or
ancient human DNA on narrow portions of DNA:
(aDNA) provides insights the male Y-chromosome or
that could not be gleaned maternally inherited code
from fossils or artifacts. Its called mitochondrial DNA.
already settled some major These short sequences do not
debates, including whether reflect an individuals complete
modern humans interacted ancestry. For that, researchers
with Neanderthals. Ancient Quagga need DNA from across the full
genomes show definitively that our genome. Obtaining it from living
ancestors not only met, but mated with humans is not difficult, but its a formidable
Neanderthals multiple times between challenge to extract and sequence genome-wide
40,000 and 100,000 years ago. aDNA, which can degrade into fragments,
In 2015, aDNA confirmed that Kennewick undergo chemical reactions that change its
Man, an 8,000-year-old skeleton found in code, and be contaminated by modern DNA.
Washington state in 1996, was genetically With the recent development of specialized
closest to Native Americans. The revelation methods for genome-wide analysis of aDNA,
ended a 20-year legal battle and allowed tribes the power of archaeogenetics has really been
to rebury the bones. unleashed, says Krause.
Ancient DNA has also brought Now encompassing a half-million years and
surprises. In 2010, the genome hundreds of individuals, ancient DNA studies
of a pinky bone from Siberia are revising our understanding of major events,
DNA: ORANGE DEER/SHUTTERSTOCK. QUAGGA: FLORILEGIUS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
revealed the existence of such as the origins and spread of agriculture.
Denisovans, a previously Because aDNA can be used to track the
unknown type of human evolution of diseases and human resistance to
that lived around the them over time, its also valuable to medical
time of Neanderthals. research. And researchers are already working
Denisovan aDNA on identifying the genes unique to modern
also shows they humans at the most basic level, what unites
interbred with the and defines our species.
52 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Decoding aDNA 101
1. Extraction: In a sterile lab, bones 2. DNA soup: Despite cleaning, the extract
and other surviving tissues are cleaned, is a soup of DNA from the sample and
crushed into powder and dissolved with contaminated material, mostly microbes
chemicals that isolate short DNA strands. from soil where the remains were buried.
Researchers add molecular tags that will
later work like barcodes, selectively binding
to DNA to inventory and nd particular
sequences.
Ancient
human DNA
Modern
human
DNA
Microbial DNA
3. Copies: To read the DNA quickly and accurately,
computers must analyze millions of copies
simultaneously. Geneticists make these copies by
heating double-stranded DNA, causing it to separate;
enzymes then build new double-strands from each
half. Repeating the procedure makes two strands into
four, then four into eight, and so forth, until
millions of strands have identical DNA code
and tags. Because human genomes are
over 99 percent identical, researchers
often selectively copy only the
parts that differ. 4. Sequencing: In the nal round of
copying, geneticists chemically color the
different nucleotide bases better known
by their letters A, T, C and G. Computers
then read the code based on the order in
which the colors appear, analyzing all the
identical strands with matching tags at the
same time to weed out any errors.
Heat
Ancient DNA
fragments
Rejected pattern
A T CGGG A C T C A GG
GG A C T C A GGC A C T T G A T T A 6. Alignment: The short strands that have been read need
Ancient
hominin reads to be arranged into their proper positions across the full
A GGC A C T T G A T T A C C T
CYNTHIA SCHROEDER
MAP: EKLER/SHUTTERSTOCK; CLOVIS TOOLS: SARAH ANZICK; FUR SEAL: CYRIL RUOSO/NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY
member of our Homo genus that Native Americans mostly
is a fragment of genetic descend from Siberians who
code from 430,000-year-old migrated several thousand
Neanderthal ancestors found years before Anzick lived.
in Spains Sima de los Huesos
cave, which stays at a cool
50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Geneticists are starting
to have success in warmer
places, which is a priority
because most of human Seal Tuberculosis (Peru 1,000 years ago)
evolution occurred in Africa. Tuberculosis in the Americas is thought
Recently, they discovered to have arrived with European
that DNA preserves best colonists, although earlier
with up to 100 times indigenous skeletons show signs
higher recovery rates in of the disease. A 2014 study
the petrous bone. Samples found tuberculosis bacteria
of this tiny, dense part of DNA in 1,000-year-old Peruvian
the skull from places such bones; in a surprise twist, it was
as the Middle East have not the European strain, but one
yielded aDNA thats up to likely contracted from seals.
12,000 years old.
54 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Before the Black Death (Eurasia 3,000-5,000 Ice Age Immigrants (Eurasia 7,000-45,000
years ago) In 2015, geneticists discovered aDNA years ago) aDNA from 51 individuals reveals
from plague-causing Yersina pestis bacteria in the earliest modern humans to reach Europe
the teeth of Bronze Age Eurasians, revealing went extinct; those arriving in subsequent
that less-contagious strains infected people waves, starting 37,000 years ago, left
millennia before historically documented descendants who remain to this day. There
pandemics. The bubonic types responsible may also have been a migration of Near
for the medieval Black Death and recent Easterners into Europe roughly 14,000 years
outbreaks emerged about 3,000 years ago ago, detected for the rst time by aDNA
from a mutation that made Y. pestis ea-borne. analysis in 2016.
Oldest Homo DNA (Spain 430,000 years ago) Denisova Cave (Altai Mountains
Researchers in 2016 salvaged about 50,000 base 50,000-100,000 years ago) Samples
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JAMES CAVALLINI/SCIENCE SOURCE; MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY; JOS ANTONIO PEAS/SCIENCE SOURCE; MAX PLANCK/SVANTE PBO; JAVIER TRUEBA/MADRID SCIENTIFIC FILMS/SCIENCE SOURCE
pairs of genetic code from fossils excavated of aDNA from one nger fragment
years before in the Sima de los Huesos cave. and three teeth found in Siberia
The aDNA conrms what revealed Denisovans, a newly
many archaeologists have discovered type of extinct human.
long believed: The The same site also yielded a
Sima hominins were toe bone, which produced the
Neanderthal ancestors. highest-quality Neanderthal
genome sequenced so far.
Endocannabinoids O Tetrahydrocannabinols
Cannabinoids the body makes (THC): Painkiller, anti-
on its own. inammatory, antioxidant,
euphoriant, suppresses
nausea and vomiting.
O Cannabigerols
(CBG): Painkiller, anti-
The Bodys inammatory, antibiotic,
antifungal.
Cannabinoids O Cannabichromenes
(CBC): Painkiller, anti-
In the 1990s, researchers realized inammatory, antibiotic,
humans can produce their antifungal.
own cannabinoids
O Cannabinols and
LEFT: JAY SMITH. RIGHT: DREAMWAVES/SHUTTERSTOCK
56 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Good for What Ails You Theres Always
Scores of studies have found that a Downside
cannabinoids can help with specic disorders
and diseases, but not all studies are created Plenty of promising research shows
equal. Many of them use different doses, the pros of marijuana use, but also
administer those doses differently some serious cons.
and can use combinations of
cannabinoids with different ratios. Brain function and mental health:
Long-term use could lead to panic
So a lot of the results are hard to
disorders and psychosis. If youre a
compare and dont always agree. longtime user who started lighting up
Below are some disorders and in your teens, your hazy days could
diseases where cannabinoids predispose you to depression. To top it
seem medically helpful. off, repeated exposure to THC can have
a negative effect on areas of your brain
that deal with forming memories, like
OO Sleep the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
PSYCHIATRIC/
disorders
NEUROLOGICAL
DISORDERS THC improves sleep Heart health: Even minor use of
quality and quantity cannabis can cause your heartbeat
O Anxiety and for some people; to ramp up, and mess with your
panic disorders CBD increases blood pressure levels and blood ow.
CBD reduces alertness. (Research has shown both increases
symptoms. and decreases in blood pressure.)
O Schizophrenia
CBD reduces O O O O O Anti- Sexual and reproductive health:
psychotic symptoms. inammatory Men, if youre looking for some
O Parkinsons All of the most com- action, best mind your marijuana
CBD alleviates mon cannabinoids habits: Chronic use can lead to erectile
psychotic symptoms relieve swelling. dysfunction and a decrease in overall
and some issues sexual functioning (pleasure, orgasm,
with motor control. desire and arousal). And if you want
O O O O Pain to start a family, theres more bad
Most of the common news. THC has been shown to restrict
O O Heart function cannabinoids sperm mobility and its ability to fuse
THC and CBD relieve pain. with eggs. Very heavy male users (who
combination relaxes smoke eight or more joints daily) even
some arteries. risk reducing their sperm count. As for
women, researchers have yet to really
investigate how cannabis impacts
them between the sheets, and studies
OTHER DISORDERS looking at human female fertility have
been inconclusive.
OO MS
THC alleviates Dependence: You cant overdose
ODigestion MS-related pain; on cannabis, but you can develop a
complications THC and CBD dependence. Up to 17 million people
THC eases chemo- combination reduces globally meet the ofcial classication
related nausea and muscle spasms. when it comes to cannabis. Hallmarks
vomiting, helps O AIDS include inability to lessen intake,
improve symptoms THC increases using even if youve had physical or
of irritable bowel appetite and helps psychological issues related to cannabis
syndrome. with weight gain. and spending more time than youd like
O Epilepsy CBD seeking to buy the drug and recovering
reduces convulsions. from its effects. If youre trying to kick
OO Immune O O Cancer the habit, expect symptoms such as
system THC and CBD mood swings, a lack of appetite and
complications combination trouble sleeping.
THC and CBD reduces chemo-
COOLGRAPHIC/SHUTTERSTOCK
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been going for
more than 50 years, with ever more sophisticated detection systems and
creative ideas about how E.T. might come calling. Astronomers havent
heard anything yet, but perhaps its only a matter of time. Check out what
theyve been looking for, how they would know if they found it and what the
aftermath might be.
How to Listen
The universe emits many signals of its own. Black holes send out bursts of radio waves, X-rays
and gamma rays. The dusty disks of forming planetary systems shine in infrared waves.
Scientists must separate those so-called dumb signals from the smart signals that might come
from extraterrestrials. Because of that necessary sifting, they assume that aliens would try
to make their messages look different from the natural pings of the universe. In general,
astronomers look for two hallmarks of technology.
Noise
Time compression: Scientists
look for signals that last only for
Broadband signal a ash and repeat, perhaps in a
pattern that looks purposeful.
FREQUENCY
58 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
An artists rendering of
the TRAPPIST-1 system
Searches Past
and Present
1960Astronomer Frank Drake performs the
rst modern SETI experiment, called Project
Ozma (after a Wizard of Oz character). With
an 85-foot radio telescope in Green Bank,
W.Va., he looks at two sunlike stars for signs
of alien technology.
system circles its stars habitable zone. The planet was the rst astronomers Milner, begins a 10-year search that includes
found with a size similar to Earths. both radio and optical strategies.
PRO
Seth Shostak Does it come from the
Senior astronomer, Center for SETI heavens or the Earth?
Research at the SETI Institute
GAME
Im in the pro-transmitting
HEAVENS EARTH OVER.
camp! says Shostak. In one
E.T. didnt
position paper, he explains that
phone.
if an alien society wanted to
destroy us, keeping quiet wouldnt REPEAT. Gotta make
keep us hidden anyway: Any putative sure of these things.
extraterrestrials who are in possession of technology
that would allow them to threaten our world will also
be able to detect [our] unintentional leakage signals.
Call up your telescope operator friends.
ANTI Do they see the same suspicious signal NO
Jill Tarter coming from space?
Former director, Center for SETI Research
at the SETI Institute
We arent grown-up enough to YES
take on 10,000-year projects, and
transmitting for a moment or a
year makes no sense. Transmission Call even more friends, and have them call friends (an alien
is in our future, assuming we make phone tree!) to monitor the signal round the clock and
it to the advanced technological round the globe.
civilization status.
SUPER ANTI Call everyone involved with your project and scream joyfully.
Stephen Hawking
FROM TOP: SETH SHOSTAK (3); REX FEATURES/AP IMAGES
60 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Tomorrows SETI
How we might hunt alien signals in the future.
Cinematic SETI
Sometimes, ctional lm people meet extraterrestrial
beings. When the encounters are good, they are very,
COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION; COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION; 20TH CENTURY FOX/PHOTOFEST; SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT/COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION
very good. But when they are bad, they are horrid
and leave humans destabilized or dead. Here, weve
ranked some of the most famous rst-contact movies
according to how naughty or nice the aliens are, as
well as how realistic they, their technology and Earths
response are.
BENEVOLENT
2001:
A Space
Odyssey
OUT THERE
REALISTIC
John Carpenters
The Thing
District 9 Alien
There is no cure. The causes are only partially understood. And treatments
are limited to tackling symptoms, not the condition itself. One in 68
Signs and school-age kids in the U.S. have autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a range
Symptoms of developmental conditions usually marked by social, behavioral and
communication issues. While researchers are making progress in figuring out
of Autism ASDs causes and developing better treatments, theres still a long way to go.
Spectrum
Disorder
Social interaction
A NEW SPECTRUM
Avoids eye contact,
prefers to be alone,
Autism was once separate from other developmental complications such as Aspergers syndrome,
avoids physical pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) and childhood disintegrative disorder. But in 2013, the
contact, irritable, fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the standard medical
anxious, might reference for mental disorders, merged Aspergers, PDD and the old definition of autism and
be interested in
created the catchall term autism spectrum disorder.
people but doesnt
know how to talk Many experts argued the new label would be more helpful; despite including a broader range
or relate to them. of symptoms, the revised definition is worded more clearly and thus is more specific. But in
practice, other medical professionals and families have criticized the change. Although the
Communication evidence isnt cut and dried, there are several anecdotal accounts of some high-functioning
Difculty
patients who met the old, more vague criteria but not the updated one losing medical
expressing needs
with typical words services associated with autism.
or gestures, doesnt
look at objects
when someone
points to those The ASD Rainbow
objects.
The autism spectrum describes people with a wide range of developmental disorders. Many who
Repetitive were high-functioning used to be diagnosed separately as only having PDD or Aspergers. (Most
behaviors people with autism are diagnosed as children.) Now, medical experts use a series of levels to gure
Obsessive interest out where patients lie on the spectrum.
in limited areas,
adherence to AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER
routine, repeats
particular
movements
such as hand
apping or rocking
back and forth.
HIGH-FUNCTIONING AUTISM SEVERE AUTISM
Sensory overload AUTISM
Unusual reactions LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3
or sensitivity LEVEL 1 Needs substantial support Needs very substantial
to light, noise, Needs support Patients social and support
IUNEWIND/SHUTTERSTOCK
smells, tastes and Patients social and communication skills and Patients social and
textures, such as communication skills and repetitive behaviors are still communication skills and
the roughness repetitive behaviors are only obvious to the casual observer, repetitive behaviors severely
of clothing. noticeable without support. even with support in place. impair daily life.
62 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
RISK FACTORS
Only decades ago, experts thought a lack of parental affection was a major cause of autism a notion thats since been
debunked. And people who should have been diagnosed with autism were often misdiagnosed with schizophrenia or other
mental conditions and institutionalized. Today, ASD is widely viewed as the result of genetic and certain environmental
factors that influence early brain development.
twin having it is between 77 and is ongoing; some experts believe deadly diseases.
99 percent; for fraternal twins, these factors can inuence an infants But scientists found aws
the likelihood is 22 to 65 percent. odds of having ASD if theyre exposed in Wakeelds work. Ten of the
Hundreds of genes are linked to certain things during the early papers 12 co-authors denounced
to ASD, making it tough to research. stages of fetal brain development. its ndings in 2007. Three years
Currently, many researchers agree So far, the only generally accepted later, The Lancet retracted the
that 60 to 70 genes are related risk factors are related to maternal paper, and the British Medical
to the syndrome, but those genes health during pregnancy, such as Council revoked Wakeelds medical
account for no more than 20 percent inammation stemming from license. Over the years, many robust
of the cases the best medicine can an infection. studies have found no causal link
do so far. Although ASD is heritable, between autism and childhood
children with no family history Other possible risk vaccinations. Instead, most experts
of the disorder can still develop it factors: say Wakeelds work set back autism
through genetic mutations. And iPremature birth research and created unwarranted
those who have kids after theyre iAir pollution fear about childhood vaccinations
35 years old are also more likely iWater pollution that lingers today.
to have children with autism. iPesticides
TREATMENTS
Health professionals can reliably diagnose ASD in kids as young as 16 months old. They rely on behavioral observations,
medical screenings and a childs developmental history for their diagnosis. Then, families and experts work together to come
up with a tailored treatment plan that can include any combination of the following therapies below.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: PAVEL KUBARKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK; AMLIE BENOIST/SCIENCE SOURCE; EKLER/SHUTTERSTOCK
Children on the spectrum with average
or above-average intellect (IQ higher
Complementary Therapies
than 85).
Treatments aside from traditional behavioral programs may reduce a patients
10% anxiety, which can also lessen some repetitive behaviors and help in social situations.
Children who also are savants,
The most popular are:
or patients showing remarkable memory
and skill in a specic area, such as music. iPet interaction
iFine art and music participation
20% iDietary programs (vitamin/mineral supplements, diets free of yeast,
Children with enlarged brains as infants gluten or articial additives)
and toddlers.
1980 The third edition researchers publish 2003 The Autism Medical Council autism, Aspergers
of the Diagnostic and a now-retracted paper Diagnostic Interview- revokes his medical syndrome, childhood
Statistical Manual in The Lancet linking Revised, an interview license. No other disintegrative disorder
of Mental Disorders autism and childhood process that helps research has ever and PDD under
includes autism vaccinations. doctors and specialists suggested such a link. the ASD umbrella.
for the rst time. diagnose the disorder,
2003 Researchers nd 2013 The fth edition
is introduced.
1998 Andrew the rst genes linked of the Diagnostic and
Wakeeld, a British to autism, providing 2010 The Lancet Statistical Manual
gastroenterologist, clues that could lead to retracts Wakeelds of Mental Disorders
and 12 other better treatments. paper, and the British merges classic
64 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
AUTISM AND THE BRAIN
Years of studies in children on the autism spectrum suggest they have an increased brain volume that may correlate with the
severity of their symptoms. But the brain returns to normal size, or smaller, by the time a child is an adolescent. Studies have
also indicated various brain regions as playing a role in ASD, and that these areas may fluctuate in size compared with brains
of kids without ASD, but the work is still inconclusive.
Corpus callosum
Prefrontal cortex Connects the right
(includes the and left brain
cerebral cortex) hemispheres; one-
Pars opercularis Responsible for third of people
Involved in language cognitive and social born without
comprehension. learning; may cause this structure are
faulty connections on the spectrum.
to other parts of
Superior the brain.
temporal sulcus
Involved in perception Caudate nucleus
of emotions and Stores and processes
facial cues; shown memories, acting
to have structural as a feedback
abnormalities. mechanism to
regulate future
behavior.
Amygdala
Regulates emotions,
especially those for
survival, such as fear
and aggression; Hippocampus
theres conicting Deals with
evidence that memory and
neurons in this brain learning; in
area can be over- mouse models,
or underconnected. its sometimes
enlarged.
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: SCIEPRO/GETTY IMAGES; EVAN OTO/SCIENCE SOURCE; ALEX MIT/SHUTTERSTOCK
Brain size
Cerebellum About 20 percent of
Controls motor children between
skills, including 18 months and 4 years
muscles for old with ASD have
speech. brains 5 to 10 percent
larger than average.
Some scientists attribute
this to an overload of
nerve-ber growth during
prenatal development.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: KEYSTONE-FRANCE/GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY IMAGES; BILL MCCULLOUGH (2); VALENTYN VOLKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK
companies now provide this elaborate ice.
The cubes are hand-cut from big blocks of
ltered water gradually frozen in special
units for days, a process that eliminates the
air bubbles that produce cloudiness. The
cost? A whopping $1 each. The
Ice King would be green Workers harvest ice from a frozen lake in the
with envy. northern U.S. in the 1930s.
Artisanal ice is cut with a band saw and shaped into clear cubes without
bubbles for drinks at the Half Step bar in Austin, Texas.
66 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
A Most Complicated Mineral
Ice is not just the solid form of water. By denition, natural ice is a mineral,
like quartz: a naturally occurring inorganic solid with an ordered atomic
structure. Or rather, structures. It appears in at least 18 different crystalline forms,
plus amorphous forms where the atoms are randomly arranged.
The variety that cools our drinks, hexagonal ice or Ih, is the
most common type, but its also quite unusual. Unlike most
solids, its frozen state is less dense than its liquid state, thanks
to the hexagonal atomic geometry. That means frozen water
oats on liquid water not the case for almost any other
substance. The geometry is the reason icebergs oat, and
helps explain why bodies of water dont freeze solid from the
bottom up, allowing aquatic life to survive winters.
Common ice also appears as snowakes, which take on
hexagonal forms in atmospheric water vapor. Less well known Atomic structure
of hexagonal ice
is hair ice, which grows in ne laments on wood infested with
a specic fungus.
FROM TOP: KENNETH LIBBRECHT/SCIENCE SOURCE (3); UMARAZAK/SHUTTERSTOCK; GISELA PREUSS VIA THE EUROPEAN GEOSCIENCES UNION; ALISON MACKEY/DISCOVER AFTER CANADIAN GEODETIC SURVEY/NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA
Earths massive ice stores are melting, thanks in part to global warming,
and were seeing the effects on our planet. One of the biggest concerns Flexing
Ice upward
is the accompanying rise in average global sea level estimated at 3 to
6 feet by 2100. But other problems pop up with some 400 billion tons of
Greenland and Antarctic ice turning into water each year since 2011. Loaded crust
First, theres something called post-glacial rebound. Ice piled onto a sinks
landmass presses it down into the squishy mantle layer below Earths
crust. As our world warms, the formerly icy areas rebound, literally
raising the land up. Thats one reason for the varying sea level rises along Mantle flows outward
different coasts.
Also, the weight of all that ice had slightly attened the whole planet.
(A single glacier can weigh millions of tons.) Rising temperatures caused Global sea
it to start becoming spherical again. This inuenced Earths rotation, level rising
akin to an ice skater jutting out her arms to spin slower, contributing Collapsing
toward a lengthening of the day by milliseconds over the past 2,500
years. It also alters the planets axial tilt: The North Pole had been
steadily wandering toward Canada, but researchers recently realized
that the current ice melt has jolted it on a new course toward the
Crust rebounding
United Kingdom, at an accelerated rate of 7 inches a year since 2000.
Astronomers stellar observations and your phones GPS program have to
Mantle flows back
take this effect into account.
. . . AND BEYOND
Water, Water Everywhere Europa, Enceladus and other
moons of Jupiter and Saturn
have ice in abundance.
In 2015, NASAs New Horizons mission to Pluto spectacularly conrmed
that the entire solar system boasts water ice, as well as other frozen
volatile materials. The composition of these ices sheds light on the
properties of their home worlds and gives clues to how the solar system
formed some 4.6 billion years ago.
Near the sun, Mercury has water Mars cold temperatures support
ice preserved within craters in water ice, including on its North Pole. Plates of ice churn and break apart
on Europa (above), while Enceladus
permanent shadow. (Similar ice (below) boasts an icy, fractured surface.
appears on Earths moon.)
Venus, the hottest planet, cant Larger bodies in the asteroid belt, like
claim water ice, but astronomers Ceres and 24 Themis, appear to be full of
were surprised to nd several water ice in fact, Ceres may have more Saturns rings are
types of snow were possible. fresh water than Earth! practically nothing but
water ice.
Ceres icy
volcano,
Ice could one day power Ahuna
space exploration. Methane, Mons
BACKGROUND: LISA ALISA/SHUTTERSTOCK. IMAGES: NASA
68 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
could then easily combine with oxygen,
Waters Envoy e- forming our H2O ice.
The sun has
a much lower
Planetary scientists tested this by
Clearly, water ice is more abundant deuterium
p examining the hydrogen atoms in todays
than we once thought. But did our water. Deuterium, a type of hydrogen concentration
solar system just get lucky? And where Hydrogen with a neutron, is heavier than regular than our
did it come from in the rst place? The hydrogen. Scientists can classify water oceans,
answers lie within water itself. samples, and compare their histories, by suggesting
The components of water ice e- learning how many of those hydrogen atoms that much of
hydrogen and oxygen atoms are deuterium. Theyve found that the ice
have been around for much of the p Earths water
on comets has deuterium concentrations
universes history, but of course its n very similar to the water in our oceans. comes directly
not water till theyre combined. The match means our water ice stores have from the initial
Deuterium
Astrophysicists think that happened the same cosmic origin as the solar systems pre-solar cloud.
during the earliest days of our solar comets among its oldest known objects. Just think: Part
system, when the sun and planets were So, we know our watery bounty is not unique, of every sip
nothing more than a swirling cloud of hydrogen since the same conditions likely occurred during
and dust particles. If high-energy particles from of water you
the formation of any other solar system. Water
deep space, called cosmic rays, happened to hit is likely similarly abundant around other planets,
drink could be
one of those hydrogen atoms, it became ionized, raising the odds of nding life as we know it, or older than the
stripped of its electron. Ionized hydrogen atoms at least habitable conditions, somewhere else. sun.
Pluto and
other Kuiper
Belt objects
Ice, Ice, Baby?
also boast Ice may be responsible for life itself. By analyzing the light from molecular
surface and clouds, astronomers have observed not just H2O, but 200 different molecules
subsurface including H2, carbon dioxide and ammonia existing either as gases or in
collections ice that coats dust grains. These molecules can interact to produce complex
of ice. organic compounds, which could generate DNA, RNA and amino acids. Such
biomolecules or their precursors could have ridden to Earth on comets or
asteroids to seed life on our planet and possibly elsewhere.
Scientists at the NASA Ames Research Center went even further in 2015
when they exposed the organic molecule pyrimidine, found in meteorites, to
interstellar conditions. Frozen in ice under ultraviolet radiation, high vacuum
and low temperature, the pyrimidine turned into uracil, cytosine and thymine,
major components of earthly DNA and RNA.
While we have not yet found complete biomolecules or their forerunners in
molecular clouds, these are promising results. We may soon nd that lifes true
cradle may be the cold and seemingly hostile environment of interstellar ice.
A vacuum chamber at NASAs Ames Research Center exposes ices found on meteors to
space-like conditions. The radiation and harsh temperatures broke down pyrimidine in
the ice and formed new compounds related to life, such as uracil and cytosine.
70 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
THE PROBLEM
Coming Down
Is Hard to Do
Floating in space may look fun,
but its also problematic. Humans,
plants and other animals all evolved
to survive 1 g of force, the average
gravity they feel at Earths surface.
The body does less work in zero
gravity, and returning to normal
gravity strains muscles, hearts and
the whole cardiovascular system.
While the moon and Mars,
humanitys next destinations, do
have some gravitational pull, the
moon packs about one-sixth Earths
gravity, and Mars boasts roughly
one-third. Scientists think it would
be tough to adapt to Earth after
living for years on the Red Planet.
But what if Martian settlers stay
there? And what about space
explorers who dont want to touch
the ground at all?
THE SOLUTION
Take Yourself
for a Spin
Long-term orbiting astronauts
could live in a Stanford Torus. The
THE PROBLEM structure, developed by NASA and
Stanford University in the 1970s,
Astrogrub is a design for a space station:
essentially a hollow ring that spins
four times per minute. (Picture
While our technology has advanced beyond spears and ceramic jugs, food and water
2001: A Space Odyssey.) This
remain an eternal challenge. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) and
motion provides articial gravity
other nearby outposts can survive on supplies shipped from Earth, but for any human
by means of centrifugal force,
settlement to persist farther out, the thin thread of an Earth-based supply chain will
like a sock stuck to the drum of a
prove dangerously fragile. If theres a crop failure on Mars it occasionally happens in
spinning clothes dryer.
Antarcticas greenhouses, which serve as analogs colonists cant live on astronaut ice
Astronauts and cosmonauts
cream for the two years it would take for emergency supplies to arrive.
have spent over a year in zero
gravity with few problems, and
THE SOLUTION those mostly arise when re-
acclimating to Earth. So its logical
Mining and Greenhouses to assume low gravity would be
safe, perhaps even pleasant, for
The only sustainable answer is to mine and farm the solar system. short missions. But we have no
Water mining on comets and asteroids should be far more cost-effective than long-term studies of how humanity
heaving tons of H2O out of Earths gravitational grip. would cope with years spent in the
Greenhouses are also cheaper than shipping. Scientists have already grown small test gravity of another world. Our best
plots aboard the ISS. Russias orbiting Mir station ourished with plants, from wheat evidence is that between 1969 and
to weeds. And perhaps most intriguing, research suggests that Martian and lunar soil 1972, a dozen men walked on the
could be used to grow crops like wheat and even potatoes. But just in case those crops moons surface for a few days with
fail, Red Planet settlers would want enough in storage to make a doomsday prepper no ill effect. Before we discover
seem ill equipped. if we can survive as a species
Space colonizers could even adopt a DIY approach to building materials by baking beyond Earth, we should probably
lunar and Martian regolith rocks and dirt into ceramics, rather than transporting
NASA/KSC (2)
THE PROBLEM
THE SOLUTION
THE PROBLEM
storms, space-farers hunker in shielded areas of their stations
Cosmic Storms akin to tornado or bomb shelters. But scientists still dont know
how the human body will react to sustained low-level doses of
Earths atmosphere and magnetic eld protect us from the radiation inherent in space travel. There are few ethical ways
constant stream of harmful solar radiation and other occasional to nd out, however: An accidental decades-long exposure in
deadly particles from deep space. Venturing beyond Earths Taiwan suggests its not as simple as more radiation is bad.
protection is a gamble. But how dangerous is it? When 1,700 apartment buildings were unintentionally exposed
Nuclear accidents and attacks show that short, severe to radiation from 1983 until 2005, residents actually had lower
exposure to radiation is deadly for humans. During solar rates of cancer and birth defects.
THE SOLUTION
underground. Hiding some 15 feet under the surface of Mars or
Gimme Shelter the moon would provide all the radiation shielding of home.
Both those worlds also have natural caves. Ancient
Scientists still dont have a solution for shielding interplanetary underground lava ows have carved tube-like caves that can
astronauts from radiation. But a space station in equatorial stretch up to 1,000 yards wide and extend for many miles.
low-Earth orbit (ELEO) would sit inside Earths magnetic eld. It Occasionally, parts of the cave ceiling can collapse, creating a large
would receive most of the benets of radiation shielding that skylight opening. By securing these natural skylights with thick
ground-dwellers enjoy. Al Globus, a researcher with San Jose glass, the vast interior spaces could be pumped full of air and used
State University and NASA Ames Research Center, has put a lot as a pre-fab home. You can imagine setting up a large mirror
of thought into such a dwelling. ELEO is the best place for farm on the surface to bounce light into the tunnel, says Jeff
[safe] radiation by a large margin, he says. Greason, CEO of Agile Aero and an aerospace expert. Such a setup
For people who want to travel beyond Earths magnetic would bring sunlight to living or green spaces. Humanitys future
eld, the only other safe and long-term option might be
NASA/KSC
72 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Such Great
Heights
238,900 miles Humans
walking on the moon
represent our farthest reach
above Earths surface.
What
Is Yeast? BioSentinel
There are over 1,500 species of yeast.
The microscopic, single-celled, eukaryotic Mission 2018
fungus is found everywhere, and we know
Planned for launch in July 2018, NASAs
BACKGROUND: SIRO/SHUTTERSTOCK. LARGE BUBBLES: PHYSICX/ SHUTTERSTOCK. TOP: THOMAS DEERINCK/NCMIR/SCIENCE SOURCE. BOTTOM: NASA (2)
it well. Beer barons control its evolution, and
scientists ddle with its DNA. One-third of BioSentinel spacecraft (below) will expose yeast to
yeast genes have counterparts in the human the ravages of interplanetary radiation. Cards dotted
genome, many of which are associated with with a series of microwells housing three strains of
diseases, such as cancer. And given that yeast will be activated (via a hydrating injection) at
yeast is inexpensive, reproduces quickly different points along an 18-month timeline. Scientists
and is easy to work with, its the will track the yeasts growth and metabolic activity.
most well-studied organism The experiment will be replicated aboard the
known to humans. International Space Station and on Earth
for comparative samples. Itll be the rst
Winning experiment elucidating the biological
effects of radiation beyond low
Nobel Prizes Earth orbit in over 40 years,
according to NASA.
Yeast is basically the MVP of lab organisms.
Its helped scientists claim ve Nobel Prizes in the
21st century (2001, 2006, 2009, 2013 and 2016).
Yoshinori Ohsumi, the most recent prizewinner, used
bakers yeast to identify genes crucial in autophagy,
the process by which cells recycle their components.
Diseases like Parkinsons, Type 2 diabetes and cancer
have been linked to disruptions in this cellular
recycling process. The autophagy machinery in
yeast cells is similar to that in human cells,
and Ohsumis work, which began in the
1990s, gives scientists new targets for
possible treatments.
74 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Pasteurs Gross
Revenge Yeast Tricks
Beard Beer, from Oregon-based Rogue Ales,
Soaked in the vinegar of defeat after the Franco-Prussian
is brewed with a strain of wild yeast harvested
War, French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur
from nine beard hairs plucked from brewmaster
vowed to avenge his homeland by hitting the Germans
John Maier. The Baltimore Sun said the American
where it hurt: the beer.
wild ale has a smooth nish and citrus notes.
A pioneer of immunization and food sterilization, Pasteur (below) also
In 2015, British blogger Zoe Stavri reportedly
experimentally proved in the 1850s that yeasts drove the fermentation
baked a sourdough leavened with yeast from
process, gobbling sugars to produce ethanol, carbon dioxide and a host
a vaginal infection granted, it was a very
of other compounds essential to beer. He identied microbes that could
small amount. Candida albicans, the
spoil a batch of beer and devised methods to keep them out, preventing
typical culprit behind such infections,
contamination and enhancing beers avor.
likely played a role in this baking
By the time the war broke out in 1870, Pasteur, jaded by personal losses, project. Doctors do not advise
forbade publishing his brewing secrets in German, hoping to give French repeating this at home.
brewers enough scientic artillery to threaten Germanys chokehold
on the industry. Pasteur wanted France to produce the worlds nest
beer, or what Pasteur dubbed the beer of revenge. His work
inspired a generation of beer barons, including J.C. Jacobsen,
who founded Carlsberg in Denmark.
In the 1880s, scientist Emil Hansen isolated a yeast
strain and named it Saccharomyces pastorianus
in homage to Pasteur a man who,
reportedly, didnt even like the
Biofuels
taste of beer.
Weve used yeast to convert plant
cellulose and starch into biofuels
like ethanol for decades; however, the
process still isnt efcient, and scientists are
genetically altering yeast to change that.
Yeast doesnt function well in high alcohol
concentrations, so upping its resistance is one
objective. Also, coaxing yeast to move beyond
glucose to sugars found in non-food plant
DNA bers could lower costs.
As it stands, 90 percent of car engines
Slipping still run on petrol, as opposed
to alcohol.
Weve been slipping foreign DNA into
yeast since 1978, when Gerald R. Fink at
MIT gured out how. In 2015, scientists
swapped genes crucial for yeast survival with
human versions, and of the 414 genes they
Spider
tested, nearly 50 percent of the human
proteins could keep the yeast alive.
Silk
Today, yeasts are programmed to In the lab at Bolt Threads in Emeryville,
secrete human proteins used in Calif., technicians are using yeast enhanced
CENTER: WELLCOME LIBRARY, LONDON. BOTTOM: BOLT THREADS
vaccines, insulin and other with spider DNA to brew silk proteins that
biopharmaceuticals. are spun into textiles. Bolt researchers control
fabric qualities, like stretch and softness, by
manipulating protein chemistries, fermentation
conditions and other aspects of the spinning
process. In 2016, the company received
$50 million to scale up production, even
partnering with apparel company
Patagonia to develop designer
products.
FROM TOP: NASA/ESA/S. BECKWITH (STSCI)/THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STSCI/AURA); NASA/ESA/JUDY SCHMIDT; ESO/ILLUSTRIS COLLABORATION; ESA/THE PLANCK COLLABORATION; C.H. FAHAM
cannot see contained in exoplanets, galactic gas clouds,
and black holes, none of which emit light still isnt enough
to make up the difference.
iThe immense gravity from clusters of galaxies warps the
light coming from more distant objects, acting like a cosmic
magnifying glass. This gravitational lensing is far too strong to be
caused by plain ol matter.
iGas laments (in orange at right) connect scattered groups of
galaxies. This vast cosmic web makes structural sense only when
explained by underlying concentrations of dark matter (blue).
iOrdinary matter also cant explain temperature uctuations
in the Big Bangs relic afterglow. Known as the cosmic microwave
CMB
background (CMB), its visible everywhere in the sky as microwaves.
27% DISCLAIMER
Dark matter
Could Dark Matter and
Composition 5% Dark Energy Be Wrong?
of the Universe Regular matter
Oh yeah, big time. It could be that neither dark matter
nor dark energy exists. Sure, it would require a major
rejiggering of Albert Einsteins extremely well-tested
68% theories: Gravity would somehow have to operate
Dark energy differently on epic, cosmic scales. But dont count out
the possibility that current ideas about the universe are
totally wrong. Many scientists freely admit theyre really
ahem in the dark about the dark universe.
Batteries symbolize our love affair with convenience. They liberate us from
wires by juicing up our smartphones, laptops and cars. With gadgets fully
charged, we can go anywhere, do anything. One hundred percent power
feels secure.
But when the charge runs dry, were screwed.
The good news? Engineers are trying to create the perfect battery. It is efficient and safe, and it
packs a lot of oomph using little space. Its made from abundant, cheap and nontoxic materials.
It maintains a charge over thousands of recharges. It can store energy generated by wind turbines
and solar cells.
But significant hurdles remain in this quest, and the outcome will determine our electronic
future. Without better batteries, tomorrows doodads or dreams of using alternative energy
will remain points of endless frustration. Or maybe frustration is inherent. In 1883, Thomas
Edison warned that chasing the perfect battery is a fools journey: a catchpenny, a sensation,
a mechanism for swindling the public by stock companies, he wrote. Working on the latest,
greatest battery brings out a mans latent capacity for lying.
Sensation or game changer? Heres your guide to the perfect battery.
How a
CHARGING
Battery DISCHARGING
Works
Inside a battery, chemical
78 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Two Measures of Success Battery
1
Big energy, little package: Batteries are PREDICTED
FUTURE PEP
Development:
often compared by their specic energies,
measured in watt-hours per material mass. (Wh/kg) Highs and Lows
The higher the measure, the more pep Magnesium-ion:
packed into the unit. 400 SUCCESSES
Lithium-air: 1800: Voltaic pile. Italian physicist
CURRENT ENERGY RELATIVE TO MASS 1,000 Alessandro Volta builds the rst
Lead-acid electric battery by layering plates of
(to start cars) different metals (anodes, cathodes)
Nickel-cadmium separated by brine-soaked cloth
(rechargeables for (electrolyte). The battery creates a
ashlights, toys) weak but steady current.
2
Alkaline batteries use alkaline
electrolytes instead of acid, and
Cycles. How many times can you
they remain the workhorses of the
recharge a battery to its highest
battery world. These are most of
possible capacity? This is also
the AAs, AAAs, Cs, and Ds bought
a measure of how long your
everywhere.
battery will last. Lithium-ion
batteries are great cyclists, Lithium-
able to recharge hundreds of 1979-80: First commercially
ion:
times. Adding nanoparticles to viable lithium battery. Engineers
500-1,000
batteries can speed up recharge time, demonstrate rechargeable, efcient
recharges
some studies have shown. batteries that use lithium ions and
have cathodes with cobalt. Today,
theyre the battery of choice in
electronic devices.
its used to make lightweight batteries. The price is right, too: After a quarter-century on
the market, lithium-ion batteries are cheaper, thanks to better manufacturing techniques. 2010: Fire in the air. The fatal crash
Just one problem the liquid electrolyte of a UPS jet is blamed in part on a
in most lithium-ion batteries re that began in a storage area for
can burst into ames. ammable lithium-ion batteries.
Gerbrand Ceder, a
materials scientist 2012: Perfection that wasnt.
at the University of Startup battery developer Envia,
California, Berkeley, powered by $11 million from
has developed a investors and a government grant,
solid electrolyte that claims that its new electric-car
contains nothing battery has an energy density over
combustible and twice that of existing electric-car
that could last longer. batteries. Executives boasted about
A solid-state battery a 200-mile range. Reality bit when
would be the ultimate Envia and other battery technology
battery in terms of safety, companies failed to reproduce the
and probably in terms of stellar results.
lifetimes as well, he says.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: MICHAEL ROBINSON CHAVEZ/THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES; ASHLEY CHRISTOPHERSON AND REZA MONTAZAMI/IOWA STATE; CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION
is still in its infancy and is hard to predict. He likens todays progress on magnesium batteries: The more qubits you have,
to the early research in the 1980s on lithium-ions. the faster they recharge.
Hydrogen fuel cells also pack a lot of energy in a small package. The fuel cells Biobatteries. What about batteries
combine hydrogen, water and oxygen to generate electricity. Automakers have powered by living organisms? Some
begun rolling out cars powered by them, and a few states have installed hydrogen bacteria produce electric currents
refueling stations. But hydrogen remains controversial. Critics point out that its when they eat or convert sugars
expensive to produce the fuel cells and they dont store a lot of power. into usable energy. Last December,
physicists at the State University
of New York-Binghamton unveiled
Hydrogen a disposable paper battery that
fueling sites,
like this
generates a trickle of power from
one in West trapped bacteria.
Sacramento,
Calif., are Self-destructing battery. Scientists
popping up at Iowa State University have
in the United
developed a lithium-ion battery that
States.
dissolves in water in 30 minutes.
One application could be powering
temporary medical devices in
the body. Other versions of this
technology cause battery destruction
when exposed to heat or light.
80 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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magazine
WEBB DESIGN
Technicians at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., position the massive James Webb Space Telescope for tests in its assembly
room earlier this year, in preparation for a 2018 launch. While Webb will be the most powerful space telescope ever built, astronomers
are already designing its successor. The High Denition Space Telescope will have a mirror nearly twice the diameter of Webbs 21.3-foot
gold mirror and should be powerful enough to detect evidence of life on alien planets. Read more on page 84. ERNIE MASTROIANNI;
PHOTO BY NASA/DESIREE STOVER
your science drivers and your engineering and hundreds and then thousands of
constraints, and you try to find a happy exoplanets poured onto the scene.
84 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Astronomers have
big dreams for
the upcoming
telescope and
its potential
starshade, which
would enable it
to block a stars
glare and hunt for
habitable worlds.
July/August 2017
2016 DISCOVER 85
OUT THERE
exoplanet missions will have the ability to characterize a true tool and so HDST was born.
Earth twin in the habitable zone. Instead of using transits, Earth-twin investigators will look
Even around an M-dwarf star, the time required to perform for the planets directly, a feat that carries its own stiff engineer-
a full spectroscopic measurement of a transiting Earth-sized ing requirements. Theyre within reach, but they represent the
exoplanet with JWST would be similar to that used for the most pressing challenges for HDST.
86 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Jupiter
Hubble JWST
Earth
Venus
Where do galaxies get the gas to make their stars? he asks. telescopes will join in this search, but their best angular
We only understand that at a rudimentary level. To make resolution comes in the near infrared, where the color differ-
stars, galaxies must capture gas from the intergalactic medium. ences between old and young stellar populations are far less
And energetic activities like bursts of star formation that form dramatic than in the ultraviolet range HDST will access.
young and violent stars, as well as black hole evolution, can in This difference highlights the complementary nature of
turn spew gas back out of galaxies. Astronomers have many the upcoming generation of telescopes. HDST will achieve
models of this cycle, but Postman says none of them has been its highest resolution in the ultraviolet, with the 30-meter
verified at the detailed level they desire. telescopes matching it in the infrared. With its enormous team
Currently, Hubble tracks the position and motion of gas of networked dishes, the ALMA radio observatory can supply
around galaxies by studying how their gas absorbs light from the same level of detail in its target range. Together, they will
faraway quasars bright pinpricks of light caused by active, offer the most comprehensive maps of the nearby universe
much more distant galaxies far in the background. But ever seen, delivering unprecedented resolution at the same
Hubble usually can observe only one quasar per intervening spatial scale from radio to ultraviolet wavelengths. It will be
galaxy, and that only in a small number of targets. But if revolutionary, Postman predicts.
HDST
Telescope aperture
diameter: 12 meters
Starshade diameter:
80100 meters
light. The first uses a device known as a coronagraph, system worlds, such
as Jupiters moon
which sits inside the telescope and carefully obscures
Visible
88 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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These foods may cause us to gain weight and particular which may be extreme-
may actually be harming you from the inside. ly harmful to your health and is
These foods could be the cause of why you are EDQQHGLQDOPRVWHYHU\UVWZRUOG
not losing weight, no matter what you have tried - country except here in the U.S.
diet, exercise, ect.
The problem is that many food
These foods are in many Americans homes and manufacturers market some of
you are most likely consuming them every day. these foods as health foods and
you may be thinking that you are
If you ever feel like you are tired and fatigued eating healthy, but in reality, you
from your workouts, or daily life routines, the cul- may not be. This may be the fur-
prit might be these foods that you are consum- thest from the truth.
ing. These foods may affect your everyday life by
literally sucking the energy from you. Please watch this shocking
presentation at
Some of these foods have been disguised as www.BadFood12.com
health foods. These foods could be causing
what is called gut yeast to be growing inside of
your stomach.
than human mechanics are robot technicians, an area NASA further our understanding of the universe. The 2030s will be
has been researching for a decade. A robotic servicing mission here sooner than you think. D
could be flown for lower cost and safety factors than a human
expedition. So engineers will build HDST not expecting any Korey Haynes is a former Astronomy associate editor who earned
such missions, but prepared if the possibility arises. her Ph.D. studying exoplanets. Shes on Twitter, @weird_worlds
90 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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pointed out some white rocks with
sharp edges, surrounded by flowers.
Her mother struck two of those rocks
together and produced sparks
showing her daughter the secret for
making fire spill from stone.
I loved the idea that you deform
this material and create sparks, says
Dagdeviren, 32. It was very exciting.
That picnic experiment was akin to
something shed already been reading
about. A few months earlier, her father
gave her a biography of French scientist
Marie Curie, two-time winner of the
Nobel Prize and a pioneer in the study
and understanding of radioactivity.
Dagdeviren was inspired, but not
in the way her father had expected.
She became infatuated with Maries
husband, Pierre, who Dagdeviren says
was her scientific love. Pierre and
his brother Jacques first described
piezoelectricity in 1880. The Greek
word piezein means to squeeze or
press, and piezoelectric materials
generate a charge when squeezed or
deformed or smashed like smashing
two rocks together to produce a flash.
As an undergraduate at Hacettepe
University in Ankara, still pondering
how to make her own sparks fly,
Dagdeviren majored in physics. Her
father worried she wouldnt find a
job, that shed be given a hard time
immediately imagined how tech might A few companies have expressed as a woman in the field, but she was
help. As people age, their skin becomes interest in bringing it to market, and undaunted. Dagdeviren studied
thinner and less elastic; moisturizers Dagdeviren says her group is looking materials and physics, learned about
restore some of that elasticity. for ways to apply the technology to the science behind all the sparks, and
So Dagdeviren created a small, other applications. And wherever it designed her first devices.
flexible and stretchable sensor that goes, it will always be rooted to her In 2008, at a materials science
adheres like a sticker and bends with personal history, and her family. conference in Boston, Dagdeviren
the skin as a person moves. PZT approached John Rogers, whom
nanoribbons in the device generate A SPARK OF CURIOSITY she describes as a king of flexible
small charges that measure skin Dagdeviren grew up near the sea, so devices. At the time, Rogers was at
elasticity, which indicates how well for a change of scenery, her family the University of Illinois at Urbana-
the skin is hydrated and how well a would trek into nearby forested hills for Champaign. His lab has produced
moisturizer is working. During the picnics. One of these outings sparked a dizzying array of miniature
design process, she consulted with her interest in science when she was biocompatible electronic devices that
dermatologists, who suggested the 7 years old, she says. Dagdeviren use soft materials, such as plastics
device might also identify some skin doesnt mean sparked figuratively. and biological tissues. Many stick
cancers in their earliest stages. The She and her brother had just collected to the skin like temporary tattoos.
patent is still pending on the device. wood for the fire when their mother Gadgetry out of Rogers lab has
in doing that kind of [collaborative] practically invisible, says Dagdeviren. outside the body, such as from the
work, says Langer. Shes great, Her creations are stretchy, soft and motions of knees and elbows.
brilliant, innovative. robust. Theyre flexible enough to She calls them human external
laminate sensitive organs, but durable dynamos one more example of
HUMAN DYNAMOS enough to work safely in such a translating the bodys language into
Dagdevirens most recent design was complicated environment. They improved health. D
inspired by the death of a beloved look nothing like the clunky, fragile,
aunt from a brain tumor. The new beeping, invasive technology we usually Stephen Ornes writes from a backyard shed
sensor, implanted in the brain, would associate with lifesaving gadgetry. in Nashville, Tenn.
96 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
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20 Things You Didnt Know About
1 Yoga today is a mainstream fitness activity; components, controlled breath and meditation, can
1 in 5 American adults participates in what most regulate blood pressure, heart rate and respiration.
people believe is an ancient practice. Surprise: The 12 Yoga may be especially helpful to seniors hoping
yoga youre going to the mat for isnt that old. to avoid a fall. In a 2016 meta-analysis of six studies
2 What we generally think of as yoga began involving individuals over the age of 60, participants
in late 19th century India, when leaders of an showed small improvements in balance and moder-
anti-colonialism movement sought to rally their ate mobility gains after going through postural
countrymen to their cause. 3 Some of these men saw yoga programs. 13 The practice may even help
yoga, then more of a philosophy, as a non-sectarian, asthmatics breathe easy. In 2014, a meta-analysis
indigenous symbol of India that transcended of 14 randomized controlled trials investigating
divisions of religion and language: a handy tool to yogas effects on asthma found that it appeared to
have when youre trying to unify a nation. 4 These alleviate the chronic inflammatory airway condition
Victorian-era gurus, notably Swami Vivekananda, better than conventional care. 14 Dont swap your
spread their version of yoga worldwide as a inhaler for yoga pants just yet, though. The same
proudly Indian way to achieve a higher level of 2014 study stressed additional research was needed
understanding through contemplation. 5 Modern to rule out bias and to understand the mechanism
postural yoga, the practice of actually holding behind yogas apparent benefit. 15 A 2016 pilot
poses, originated with early 20th century guru study of women who described themselves as
Krishnamacharya, who taught a mix of gymnastic psychologically distressed provided a clue to how
and wrestling moves, Western calisthenics and hatha yoga works on a molecular level. After eight weeks
yoga, a medieval practice all but lost in India for of instruction, participants had lower levels of
centuries. 6 Its in hatha yoga, beginning about the certain immune system biomarkers linked to stress.
10th century, that an emphasis on controlling breath 16 While the researchers emphasized the study
SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTOS, COUNTERCLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: CHUTIMA CHAOCHAIYA; 71; DEAN DROBOT; NAZAR SKLADANYI; GURYANOV ANDREY
and maintaining certain postures arose. But it has sample was too small to draw firm conclusions, it
little in common with doing a sun salutation at appears yoga may modulate the bodys epigenetic
your local gym for tighter abs; medieval hatha response, which turns certain genes on or off,
yogas goals included divination and attaining affecting physical as well as mental health. 17 In a
immortality. 7 Whats really ancient about yoga? 2014 study, women with treatment-resistant PTSD
The word itself. Around the 15th century B.C., improved significantly during and after a 10-week
key Sanskrit writings use it to mean an animals yoga program. 18 In fact, by the end of the study,
yoke and also an entire war chariot, yoke and all. half of the participants no longer met the criteria
8 Early on, due to the association with chariots for a PTSD diagnosis. The researchers believe
used only for fighting, yoga also meant warlike, that practicing yoga may have given the women
and people believed a charioteer killed in battle greater body awareness, which is linked to improved
was taken up to the heavens in a emotional regulation. 19 A study published earlier
divine yoga. Swing low, sweet chariot, this year found that self-reported physical health
indeed. 9 In Sanskrit, yoga has numer- quality was higher among people who practiced
ous other meanings, including a constellation yoga in a school or studio setting rather than alone
of stars, the quality of industriousness and even at home. 20 That same study found participants
a fraud. 10 Were not saying theres anything also reported better mental health if they practiced
fraudulent about many of the mental and physical yoga in a group setting. So for maximum benefit,
health benefits claimed by practitioners of modern dont yoga-go it alone. D
yoga, however. 11 Studies have shown, for example,
that postural yoga, along with the practices other Gemma Tarlach is senior editor at Discover.
DISCOVER (ISSN 0274-7529, USPS# 555-190) is published monthly, except for combined issues in January/February and July/August. Vol. 38, no. 6. Published by Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box
1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. Periodical postage paid at Waukesha, WI, and at additional mailing ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to DISCOVER, P.O. Box 62320, Tampa, FL 33662-2320. Canada Publication
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