No title

CO NTE NTS

Volume 205 No 2744

NEWS 3 4 6

COVER STORY

EDITORIAL Should we be calling ET? UPFRONT History is against Haiti. Congo war

We're over here!

deaths may be overestimated. Asia exports ozone

To have any hope of finding

THI5WEEK

alien intelligences, we need

Gravity's origin. How smart can a blob be? Blow

an exolanguage

for anti-ageing red wine drugs. Asteroids may

Meet the neighbors

be hiding in solar system's blind spots. Brain's "asymmetry" underlies hypnosis

11 INSI(jHT Swine flu "hoax" claims are premature

You can tell what intelligent

14 IN BRIEF Supersonic stones. Bright males

aliens will look like from the

have the best sperm

way they talk

17 TECHNOLO(jy Boost for the internet backbon e. S niffing out

Cover image Steve Rawlings

explosives. Interactive pop-up books

OPINION 22 Just add (BD There's a key ingredient missing

The mind­ snatchers

in the debate over cannabis and psychosis, argue Amanda Feilding and Paul Morrison

23 One minute with . . . Newton Jibunoh, the soil engineer behind a green reality-TV show

Western notions

24 LETTERS Rituals and belief. Present-giving

of mental illness

26 Invasion of the mind-snatchers (see right)

are spreading round the world

FEATURES

like a disease

28 How to talk to other worlds (see right) 34 Evolving sideways Darwin's ideas are only part of the story. Something more complex is in ultimate control

38 Spasers set to stun A minuscule laser could open the way to computing with light

42 Fat busters We investigate the treatments that claim to shave inches off your waistline in a few lunchtime sessions

REGULARS

Co m i ng next week

24 ENI(jMA 46 BOOKS &: ART5

Our next giant leap

Craig Callender's philosopher's-eye-view on

Forget Mars, the future

physicist Sean Carroll's take on time... plus Carroll's own answers to readers' questions

of crewed space flight

47 Reviews Terrified minds. Inside the Royal

lies elsewhere

Society. A tale of transmutation 56 FEEDBACK Quantum potatoes 57 THE LAST WORD Downforce driving

48 JOBS &: CAREERS

Holographic gravity Hope at last that we can fill in the

PLUS How your brain

gaps left by Newton and Einstein

gets the joke

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23January 2010 I NewScientist 11

EDITORIAL

Hello El, we come In peace •

The advantages of advertisin g our existence to the universe outweigh the risks

sophitosticushi catedoextraterrestri als wilwhiknowle stil how n the cul t u re shock showiThesengargument us their marvel smore . wil be s and debated weeketyi.nItLondon atbeathemeetfiristng oftimthee theRoyalnext Soci wi l not isfisuesrm concl haveubeen aibutred,siandmplnobody expects a si o n, ydevel talkinogp them t h rough coul d encourage us to some viitnalg forhumicullittuyres. Contwhoactthisinmost unsettl twelhe lcentadvirseedoftothprepare e universe,ourselso weveskwoulfortheythedarebe revelation that in galactic terms humanity is

wewebreakhaveourbeeninterstel lanrgsithelence?skieIns theiSHOULD 50 years scanni n searchheardofiextraterrestri alnothi intel nigg.ence, all we have s a whol e l o t of We have even sentto noa fewavaihopeful transmiSETIssiresearchers ons into space, l . Now some are suggestandingsystthatematwe tiackeallaymore actiisevoure approach advert exiOthers stencesayto thethicosmos (seerash,pageand28)t. hat to merely one small and backward tribe. s woul d be shoutlitinletoidtheeadark iors unwi s,eiswhen we have broadcasti So shoulndgweourtrypresence to promoteto thecontact by very who, what out there. heavens? exist, theywiarel notlikelarriy tovebe There' ionaryes argument that soIf alfarienawayciviltihsatiat oourns message anypredatintelsoarylgood ig(sentee evol alpageienu31)tspeci i s l i k el y to be . Whiltoe itpreyis far-onfetched unthereil aftto elorse?weWearemigone.ghtIasn twelhatlcase, whatknow is tomay,worrylikethatus, havetheyaggressi wil want us, they t l e t them ve tendenci ees.ctronic thatIf,weby chance, used to betherearound. Physi c al i n vasi o n i s i m probabl e , but el areoflinitelghtligyears ent from warfare coul d be waged across the l i g ht years al i e ns wi t hi n a few tens iinnttehleigform of comars.puter viruses or even alEartreadyh, theihaver ownsnifSET!fed usprogrammes mingght ent avat out , by pi c ki Cosmic cultuWhen re shocktwoihuman s a morecilvikiellisyations iupn ourtheatmosphere, spectral signsoroftuinnidustri atol polourlution consequence. n g i n Italisrnoteadyinbeen conceinotvabledebythatsomeour wimaketh verycontdiactfferent lessvelteschnol of technol olygy broadcasts. presence has , the l e o gi c al develleotpedhat onedoestends to comewelloffforbadlus, especi y. al y nearby alovert ien ciuvres,ilisatiratheron. Sothanlet'slemake some Whi not bode fri e ndl y ave them to wonder toif ET'evols cive,vithelisatioption mhasistshadhopemilthations ofyears what we'vewhygot we'to hirednote transmitting, and "It is not inconceivable that our presence has already been noted by some nearby alien civilisation"

. •

Blob intelligence is not unlike our own

AmoulDECADE ago,d solresearchers showed that slaitimoen d s coul v e a maze. Much specul followeddisplthayiatnthese sinmglentary e-celledformorganiof sms were g a rudi iunderpi ntel igencen our-oneown.that might ultimately cloiali(msees arepagebei8)n.gItmade for a bltooNow, bcalofl thefsilomblatiiolnabgrsmart i s a stretch -iencet jubyst girespondi ves the ng to appearance of i n tel l i g ordered formationseein it"deep s enviconnecti ronment.oEven so,between someinblresearchers ns" o b i n tel l i g ence and our own. Inteltoligsubj enceeicts hard to defionnie,standscieeven harder to reducti nce.se Even so, we know i t must somehow ari from we'rephysi all blocbss and chemistry. Deep down, . •

Get a d rop of gravity

ASgraviEVERY schoolto Isaac childNewt knows,ontheafteconcept of t y came r a cl o se encounter withgoanonappltoele-orarnsoEinthesteistno'sryvigoes. Olofgravi der students ewe a t y: that masses warp spacet i m e l i k balin onl onanaexpl rubberanatsheet . Nwhere ow wegravi couldtybecomes closing i o n of from:objitemictsgareht beorgani anemergent property ofitythe way s ed, much as fl u i d y ofwatc now,er (butsee page 6)s .ofThithes ifutarideasuesremiasigt ahtmipropert seem exoti to ki d ghtbe as familiar as apples . •

What's hot on NewScientist.com houses The multi-storey concrete

I'aIili •

bui ldings that made up much of

cosmonaut tra i n in g facility to NASA's

a cat with webbed feet that just

g reeting cards turns electronic

loves water

circuitry into art and presents the

GEOLOGY Rebuilding Haiti's

SCI-FI Images of space-age

occasi ona I ly othe r orga n isms -

dreams From Russia's

from around the world, This week

Port-au -Prince turned into death

Apollo control centre, our gallery takes

traps when the earthquake struck,

you inside the space industry - but with

but constructing new shake-proof

a twist. Photographer Vincent Fournier

NEUROSCIENCE Empathising

bui ldings is not as expensive as you

goes beyond d ocumentary ima ges,

wi th robots Exposure to robots

might expect

mixing reality with fiction to create a

in movies and on television could

D

TECH Interact ive greeting cards A new ap proach to

recipient with an interactive treat � MOTION Flash, whoosh, blur: movement through the ages

•

give the next generation the ability

Images from a London exhibition

to empathise with our artificial

fo llow attempts to capture movement

ZOOLOGGERThe amphibious

counterparts, That's accordi n g to a

in science and art through history

avalanche catches a grou p-member

mystery cat Zoologger is our

study of the bra i n regions that are

unawa res, fellow skiers can save them

new weekly column highl ighting

i nvolved with our ability to relate

For breaking news, video and online

by inflati n g their airbag remotely

extraordinary animals - and

to each other

debate, visit newscientist.com

dream-like, retro-infused world

D

TECH Networked airbag could save skiers If an

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 3

UPFRONT

History is against Haiti LAST week's earthquake i n Haiti has

building standards were not

as the worst humanitarian crisis

adequate for major earthquakes.

in decades, with estimates of the number of dead ranging from 50,000

big quakes i n the region occur i n

factthat the quake hit a densely

sequences and that the eastern side

populated capital city, k nocking out

of the fault might be expected to

many of the agencies that would have

rupture next.

Geologists speaking to New

Scientistexplained some ofthe other

4 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

of all earthquakes that have struck on "splinter faults" on the Caribbean

a n d warned that more may come,

plate, like last week's, h ave

because not all the pent-up seismic

accounted for only half of the energy

energy was released in the tragedy.

associated with plate movement, leavin g the other half stored up and

source" and so allowed less warning

prone to release by a submarine

time to get out of buildings than deep

fault. One such fault lies to the east,

quakes. And Port au Prince is built

where the Atlantic Ocean plate dives

not on solid rock but on soil, which

underneath the Caribbean plate.

(IRC) in NewcluYork. Researchers surveyed sters of househol ds MORE than 20 years aftertens THE death tol l s of several recent i n the DRC and extrapol a ted the resul ts to gisaysve athatnatiothnale clmortal ity from of milthioenstanker of litresExxonof oiVall spidez,l ed wars overesti rate. Mack u sters cltheaimconflmays a reviicbet thatevastw ofdevast studiaetsemofd ates, were not represent attheivebasel of theinDRCe sihigdnidenficantbeneath amountthesbeaches remain of as a whol e , and that theCongoDemocrat i c Republ i c of t h e rate useddeathswasduetoo ThiPrinsceis WirailsiinagmtheSound, Aloanska.of betweensay1998thatandthe2003.much­ lpre-ow,wcausiar mortng thealityexcess questi The authors it shoulit doesd beliclttleeanedharm.up iciinsedcludeatdes confl h tol icoft-r5.el4amitedl ion, to Lesthe Robert war to sappear overl ya high. whether of Col u mbi or l e ft where whipubl c h York, whosaystook MiversicheltyBoufadel ofTempl e deaths that occurred afttheer ttrhuee war Unipartviersin thetyIiRnCNewresearch, t h at Uni i n Phi l a del p hi a , ended, i s at l e ast t w i c e oflesswar-rigtorous orn regithanons Pennsyl vaniversia, andty ofHaiGeosci longeLincesof Theywarssuspect thatSudan, deaths whiare ilneevisurveys t a bl y Chi n a Uni dueandnumber. toIraqthemay ibe nsiDarfur, ones inypeaceti figures ilanyersBeijiofngoisuggest buriedthe "Itollsftyouhat arekeepwrong comim.ni.lgayou'rlupy iwilnflthated. broadl agree wimte,h theotherIRCsurveys. l survivthate because discrediAndrew t the methodol oSigy,m"on warns Mack of Fraser ersity inoftVancouver, Canada,Unianvauthor he report publishedSecurion 20tyJReport anuaryProjby tehct.e Human Mack' criticismspublfocusishedonbya the seriInternati es ofssurveys onal Rescue Committee

Satellite measurements over several decades show that the sum

reasons why the quake was so bad,

First, the quake was "shallow

"If you keep coming up with death tolls that are wrong... you'll discredit the methodology"

Uri ten Brink of the US Geological Survey said that, historical ly,

to 200,000. The UN blamed the

dealt with disaster relief.

Death toll doubted

collapses when shaken. Finally,

been described by the United Nations

Alaska's oily legacy

sms thattheydegrade imit lacckroorgani the oxygen need: 10.1038/ 001 nge0749). DaviResearch d SantilLaboratori o ofthe es Greenpeace at thethiUnis contami versityofnatiExeter , UK,le says o n, whi "not risButk tosevere", iOlnodifLividncoulualden,danianstimlecolalposes.ogiast atin tMalhe Worl d Maritimsayse Uniclevaniersintgy m o, Sweden, Princeharm Wil iathanm Sound coul"Fromd doanupenvi more good. standpoi-asntlong theas itoiislliersftonmental ofwhere little concern it is," he says. (Nature Geosciences,

NASA's yard sale

SPACECRAFT forng,salonee, fulcareful ly loaded, aiowner. r condiIt'tsioanibargai cut$28.t8hmie pril icoen.of a spacen: NASAshuthastle to Theconstructi vehicles wionl figonionshessalone after theschedul Internati onallaterSpace Station, e d for thi s year. When announced iprit woulcedNASA dthembe seloriatli$42gnignthealmilylshuttl es, it i o n each. Now the agency has slashed the

For daily news stories, visit www. NewScientist.com/news

60 SECONDS

primuchce aftit woul er recald costculatotinprepare g how a shuttle foritpublfromiciditssbase playattandhtoe forHASits cribeentics,abutwhiNASA' ppingsboy transport Kennedy centofrthe einshuttl Florideas,to boost Ares 1 trocket received a rare aDiUSscovery, airport.space One h i s week. DespiteNASA' budgets Aerospace and technical promi sedr andto concerns, theSpaceSmiMuseum thsoniis alarneady Nati o nal Ai WashingtonareDC. belSafetyievesAdviAressory1 isPanel (ASAP)bet Butstil Atlupaforntigrabs. s andinEndeavour t h e best forInternati flyingoastronaut sStatito theon after nal Space Iyourfanbudget entire, consi shuttdleerisabeyond enedretiwires,thbecause maihoped n itthhase spacebeenshuttl desi g the engi n e i n stead. NASA had safet y of i t s crew i n mi n d. toforcharge up to $800, 0 00 api e ce theseit tobutofferlackthem of interest hasbe shuttlOthere inpotenti al heirs toatlhcargo e cl u de commerci forced for free: warned, they're heavy on fuel. spacecraft refit ed to carry people, Rocket boosted

IT

the report 's autto pass horsmuster, say none hasbutsafetbeen shown y-wise.e"Swid, weltchil-dnesig from a demonstrat g ned, safety-onoptinotmhisiedngsystem toanone based more t h unsubstantiated claims would "Ares 1 is the best bet because it has been designed with astronauts' safety in mind"

seemOneacommerci poor choicae,l rocket " they wri-maker, te. thatd it belstSpaceandievesupX, itoltots dspacecraft woul scrutiny ifevaluated. New Scientist

Corpses can wait Bodies piling up in Haiti pose a minimal disease risk and don't need to be instantly buried or disinfected, the World Health Organization says. Instead, resources should be focused on the living. In a natural disaster, where most people were healthy up totheir death, the WHO considers survivors more likely to spread disease than corpses.

IPCC checks its facts The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is reviewing its claim that Himalayan glaciers could d isappear by 2035. The claim, published in its 2007 report, was traced backto a statement in a

HIV to fight back

ALLit wivil berusesHIVdo's turn. it someStudidaye-soon s ofdrug­gay SanresisFranci s can men suggest ns ofthe virus wil surgePeopltantinetstrai hwietnext fi v e years. h HIVmakiare gingvient leass cockt a i l of drugs, lStiikell ,yabout that resi15 perstancecentwiofl newemerge. infectresiionsstantin SanstraiFranci sco are from n s. UniAngelWhen versies,tSalandy oflycolCalBloleiwerfagues orniofa,thefedLos datintoaaabout theeSanr model Franciofscans comput viprediral transmi ssidrugon, itrcorrect lyHIV c t e d how esi s tant hasamongalreadygay men evolvovered andthespread past 20theyears. When t h e team asked modelarapito predi ct thineresifuture,stantit foresaw d surge strai ns,lwiy cithrcul60apertingcentcapablof those current ofin "selwhifc-hsusteachainininfectg epieddperson emices", spreads to more than one1O.1126/sci newtherecience.straipient1n180556) .of the As Europe and the rest have resisismtantilarstsurges rains, BlUSthoere.weralsoMeanwhi expects poor count rieofs areantisetretrovi to vastrallydrugs, ilne,crease t h e use boost resistance. which could (Science, 001:

New Scientist article. The panel has

US 'im ports' foreign pol lution

been severely criticised for citing a

ASIA may be exporting more than

colleagues decided to investigate.

non-peer-reviewed source.

just goods to the US. The world's

They used data collected between

emerging industrial hubs in the

1995 to 2008 by balloons and

Magnetic mirror

region seem to be sending harmful

aircraft fitted with ozone-measuring

A mysterious "ribbon" of particles

i nstruments. The team also used

atthe edge of the solar system has

Emissions of gases such as

computer models and meteorological

been explained. The ribbon, spotted

ozone towards North America. nitrogen oxides are the primary

data to retrospectively work out the

by NASA's Interstellar Boundary

source of ozone in the troposphere.

movement history of pockets of air

Explorerspacecraft last year, is the

These gases a re both health hazards

that had passed over Asia during

reflection of the solar wind in a giant

and greenhouse gases. Satellite

those years.

magnetic field in the interstellar

studies between 1996 and 2005

The team found that the air pockets

suggest that there was a decrease in

that had the greatest probability of

emissions of such ozone precursors

having passed near the land surface

from North America and Europe but

in east and south Asia were the

an increase from China and other

ones found 15 days later in regions

parts of Asia.

of the US that showed the greatest

As ozone levels remain h igherthan

increase in ozone concentrations. This

estimated in North America, Owen

suggests that the emissions of ozone

Cooper of the Earth System Research

precursors came from Asia (Nature,

laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, and

001: 10 1038/nat u re 08708)

.

.

space next to the solar system (The

AstrophysicalJournal Letters, 001: 10.1088/2041-8205170B/2/U26).

Treat MS with a pill A pill taken for just eight to 20 days of the year has reduced relapse rates and slowed disease progression in

.

people with multiple sclerosis (The

New EnglandJournal of Medicine, 001: 10 1056/N EJMOa0902533) .

Current treatments for MS require regular injections or transfusions.

U-turn on baby bottles A suspect i ngredient in some plastic food containers and baby bottles may come under stricter regulation. In a reversal of its position, the US Food and Drug Administration now concedes that small doses ofbisphenol A could be linked to cancer and heart disease. The FDA i s recommending limiting exposure to itand reassessing potential harm.

23 January 2010 I NewScientist 1 5

THIS WEEK

inhespace. Iftrue,ailtexplcouladnatiproviondwee wiEinthsteihins trefiheorynedofNewtgeneralon's ideas t fundament Ciravity's origin haveVerlbeenindeseeki ng forhis decades. relatbetter ivity. Hedescrishowed thatthegraviwayty posted paper to the was b ed by talhel pulfabrilecdoftowards the prerint physiandcssiarchi ve earlmanyier anuniobjverse.ect warps falling into place physi this pmonth, n ce then We are he Eartis hcurvibecause thesurroundi planet's ng cistsashavepromigreetsinegd(athrxie v.org/ tmass n g the proposal time.is not the end ofthe abs/100l. 078S)cal.physi Nobelcilsatureat e 't spaceYet that andHooft theoreti Gerard ofaUtndsrechtstressesUnivtheersiitdyeasin the stproviory.dThough Newtoninsiandghts,Eintstheieirn Netherl ed profound develobypment , butde'siapproach. s ldescri propert ietshofe phenomenon. the universe combine need aws areptionlons.y mat"Theyhemat iacialn how to creat e expl i m pressed Verl i n tyfrom, works," saysbut notVerlwhere it WHAT exactexperi ly is gravi tyi?t, but is proposi Now onengtheoreti calnewphysiwaycist Eri"[Unlk isikstressi e] manyng strealrinphysi g theoricalsts gravi a radi c al Everybody e nces comes i n de. liabstke mass and force, notcs," Theoret pinnigraving down to lookUniat gravi ttyy.ofEriAmster k Verlinddeam, concepts ical physing gravi cs hastyhadwitahtough v ersi t i m e connecti hasproved tdifyfiicnulthewhyt. fitherst pluniaceversehas ofthe j u st fancy r act mathemati the othiern theknownunivfundament al tnhteeNrnatethierionalands,ly respected a prominstrientnandg hemysays.perspect "That'ives encouragi nigst.from forces erse. The Al t h ough gravi t y has been i as a physi c " successful lyIsdescri bedowin andth lalwsater attracti theorist,onargues thatbe thgravi tatit oofnal graviNewttyworks on firstonshowed howes by been standardour best modelframework , which hasforlong devi s ed by aac Newt coul d e resul l a rge scal AlberthowEinsteithenfundament , we stil don'alt materi the wayalinobjformat n aboutsed treati weeneyes"). descri subatomicsmworlandd, includesbinelgethectromagneti know ects isioorgani objectnsg(siteeas"Aapplforcee forbetyour Newton an d Einstein only described gravity.

Have we now found hints of its root cause?

Martijn van Calmthout

6 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

In this section • How smart can a blob be? page 8 • Asteroids may be hiding in solar system's blind spots, page 10 • Brain's asymmetry underlies hypnosis, page 12

framework migThei ht applr "holytootgraphi he c ofbetinwformati theforcesstrong-butandnotweak nucl ear whol originateisniinntformat he mostionlikcontely ent. een botohnmasses. Thito sachange gravi t y . i s l i n ked change changes e uni v erse. principfundament le" has provedal theori usefules.in inThen, physity mayciststudoubt ittoever many the energy ofstatithessystem. Thigravis stityl. Butdoesn'pluggit poingntindithrecte ly to wibeMany ldel. Gravi rn out usi n g ti c s to c consi iveredcalvipartia theclacties calonleofd priVerlncipinledetousesconsithederholwhatographi basic expressi oholnsoforgraphiinformati on dsmal er alll possi bandle movement s content i s hypotheti of the c surface, of the mass the energy invols tovward ed, Verltheinbideggerfinds relits aenergy ppeninndigstotancea smalfroml massa bigatger changes gravi tofons,theibutr exiso farstence.thereGraviis noty's ahacertai contmassenttoandenergyEinsteileadsn's proof movement t i o n of on'osnliaswonlofygravity. sayl amassstar ora liattlplea, nethe shows, . Moving mass awkwardness has been onees ofliktehe mass, arethanthermodynami cally more diA relrectlatiyvtoistiNewt t h e smal maistrinngreasons why theori l i k el y ot h ers. Thi s effect c versi changi nrgopy,theofinaformation both theory and quantum lionop means furthtoer,deributvagaie. Andn it can bemasses seen astoagetnethforce pulcliisntsg astfewraigsteps cont e nt , or ent gravi t y have been proposed er. Physi ht f orward hypothetical holographic surface call this an entropic force, as it plseems recent decades. to"Fiapplndiyntog Newt both oappln's leaswsand a nets. Verl i n de' s work offers an alproblternatem.iv"Iewayam convi of lookincedng now, at the alulckyovercoiagaincidnence, could" have beeninade. l says Verl "Ashowsrelatthiivisstiiscfargeneral isatithanon a few gravi ttyhies fundament a phenomenonal properti emergiensg from deeper ofTospaceunderst and tiandme,what " he says. equati oinnsde'tus rnipaperng outhas jprompted ust right." Verl i n de i s Verl proposiuidintyg,inconsiwatedr.erInthedivconcept prai se fromDijksome physi cists.nent offlmol i d ual Robbert graaf, a promi eelsyhavetheynodo.flSiuimdiitlya,rlbuty, the mathemati ctalyphysi cist also at the Uni v ersi of Amsterdam, colforceleecticulofvgravi saysihende'admis concepts. res the el"Ietgance ofng istenotr itsomethi Verl i s amazi iextra ngraiphysi ned incalmattyeffect, semergi elf. It insgnang no oneier, hasit locome upst sowisithmthiples from the i n terpl a y of mass, t i m e earl oks j u s ideais andTheyetjuconvi nciilnoutg," heforsays.many ofandbasedgravispace, tonythese assaysanfiVerl "entrstirprinopide.ncciHiforce" ry i s st ples of others. Some belar reasoni ieve thatngVerlin hiinsde twihermodynami c s -but works i s usi n g ci r cul equattiyo.ns,Othbyers"start inexpressed g out" with animeexoticallecddescri ption of space-Holthinotgraphy hol o graphy. gravi have inbroadl theorety thicealsame concern aboutcs inthevolalved,mostleavitrinvgial mathemati physi c s fol l o ws most ofconcepts the theoryofbased ontimverye ples as thee, whiholchograms onpridimnaensicibanknot are t h ree­ general space, andStiannlformat ion.of Brandeis iconcept n a two-oidnnalimphysiensiimagescosnalwasembedded surface. The e y Oeser developed UniMassachusetts, versity in Walwhose tham,work has expanded relappears ativity,tosaysthebe ascope Verlpromiinofde'sigeneral sgworkavenue n butthatadds thatake aitliost"aofbombshel l wi l t di g esti n g, Hawkidge nandg chal leongin andng alHooke l our dogmas from attJiancobthheeBekenstei Uni1970SversibytyStephen ofn atCambri Newt to Ei n st e inis." t h e Hebrew Verl i n de stresses hi s paper onlis noty thevene firasttheory on theyet,subjbutect.a"It Unito descri versitbyeofJtheeproperti rusalemeisnofIsraelblack holthates.a hypotheti Theirworkcallesphere d to thecoulinsidght proposal for"ahenewsays.paradi gmhard or framework, " A l the store all thoennecessary "bits"wiofthin. work comes now." iInnformati aboutt h e mass the1990s, 'at nford HooftUniandvLeonard Susski n d at St in California proposed thatersithitys APPLE FORVOUREVES

"We went into the garden and drank

i n proportion to their individual mass,

thea, under some apple trees. . . he told

and the force between them falls off

me he was just in the same situation,

with the square of their distance.

when the notion of gravitation came

Nowthe original manuscript

i nto his mind. 'Why should that apple

featuring the story, entitled

always descend perpendicularly to

Memoirs Of Sir Isaac Newton's Life,

the ground; thought he to h imself." So wrote archaeologist and

is available for all to read. As part of

its 350th anniversary celebration,

biographer William Stukeley in 1752,

London's Royal society has published

recounting the famous story as told

a digital version of the document,

to him by a young Isaac Newton.

which is tucked away in their

Newton went on to show that, on a

archives. See royalsociety.orgl

large scale, two masses are attracted

turning-the-pages. Amanda Gefter

"Like the fluidity of water, gravity is not ingrained in matter itself. It is an extra physical effect"

•

Martijn van Calmthout is science editor

at de Volkskrontnewspaper i n

Amsterdam, the Netherlands

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 7

THIS WEEK

Hints of intelligence in dumb drop of oil

King's Cross St. Pancras

tensiofonthofethepH gradi oil droplent,et, butsurface because idropl t affectset unequal oppositley.siThedessurface of the tensi oacin ids idic f"front ferent" atoftthheesldropl ightleyt more than atis theultimback.atelyThiress diponsifference is what b l e forthemovi maze'nsgexithet droplet towards 10.Nakagaki 1021/ja9076793) .l ing to extend i s unwi tdropl he notiet.o"Intofis inonsense ntelligencefortomethetooil

DYED tdeposi he smalpitednl,kiatnandanithedoped mentaterance dropwithtoofacitoihdel,is lmiy setnutess off tlmaze oaterwards, i-and tt emerges heieximmedi t.atAtfewhateeother end. No one woul d equate ng problButem­ solapparentl vnewitnhgeoriwiytehastoni is onntelhuman lsihigence. inhteesil imgence n suggest tgoverni plngethemolandoiecullthedroplabrair processes et'osur may apparent l y smart behavi bethosefundament al yhowsimiwelaractto . t h at govern A decade, nowagoatToshiHokkaiyukido Nakagaki Unireportversiedttyhiatn Sapporo, pan,d consider intel igence in non-living the slimeJamoul coulfoodd systems, " he says.at thBute UniAndyversiCltyark,of a phi l o sopher negot i a t e a maze to reach atinthe exit."thiBoldsliym, hiplsieteam wrote does Edinburgh, UK,Grzybowski suggests'stsethat-uthip s s that not do celprilmuliatirvmateri aiglsence". can show a down justice.toMuch ofstbiryo, lClogyarkboipoilsnts e i n t e l chemi out. "Thecal stuff meredoifactngthatwhatit'ist jdoes ust NowstBartosz Grzybowski ,vaersity physi chemi at N ort h west e rn Uni Ioil ilndropl ois, haset flshown can' t beets,a"strihe ksays.e agai"What nst theever toninhataEvanston, si m pl e o at i n g dropl be It's ofganateaqueous solex umazetion can iinnteltellliiggentencealils,thitecan'wayt down. alinstotophnavi a compl is caselumptoofreachgel atanthacie exid­ t. justSodumb stuffthatetdumb he bottom. "et soaked why does dropl in an is geltheThesetsmaze.dropl upTheaepHt acimoves gradid changes ebecause nt witthihethen alappear inltelaround ligentto beus,way?movisaysThenClganswer ark. Colin Barras

Metropolitan Circle lines

(Journal ofthe American Chemical Society, 001:

"Whatever intelligence is, it can't be intelligence all the way down. It's just dumb stuff at the bottom"

Physarum polycephalum

Nature:

Intelligent oil?

Humans relt forms y on tthheesame toftrick,he Thesurroundi aqueousngenvi ronment says Cl a rk. I basi s t h e dropl e t i s extandeDavi ndeddmiChalndmthers,eorynow,whiatchthCleark to suchentathhiatghit degree bytstructured the pH gradi makes et appearonsmart. Austral ianproposed National Uniin thversie latety in Canberra, "It'howhesdumb amuch neatdropl demonstrati of j u st probl em-fromsolvaing between 1990s. Theyminsayd andtheenvidivirsonment ion i s punch you can get ternalinstg renviucturonment re ." ltehsse mirigniddthan previ ouslyiotnhought; uses i n format imin anniimcalelyinenabl within tohneofenviitselronment as an extensi f . Whie tlherough a persona maze can landearnthena rout iatewoulthe maze by memory, anegot person d appear equal ly smart to an out s i d er i f t h ey simazemplytofolreachlowedthesiexignposts i n the t . "A smart person, liketothcanny e droplcombi ets, isnoftatioenns smart due ofstriuctnteurnalre,"andsaysextClaerk.rnal

An acid-soaked gel sets up a pH gradient in the aqueous maze which drives the pink oil droplet to the finish, despite errors along theway

8 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

anc:

For daily news stories, visit www.NewScientistcom/news

brain andsomethfundament e oil dropleat ldo share attri utes, in parti ceiulrar they botenvihbrrespond to t h onment totmih Bayesi nimiseanerrors. Thi s ti e s i n wi braiour brain thneory,s as atwhitecmhptpiicntures g to underst a nd t h e worl d by ngntg,hethenvien irmonment andobservi maki proviwilng, predi c t i o ns about what haonppen a unifnext. ied thFrieorysMaytonofisthworki e braipnng that matthe braihematn conti icallynualdescrily bes how iobservi mprovesngiittsspredi conment tions by envi r andHemiseesnim"deep isingsierrors. betdroplweenet'shimovement s theorymandi.lAsarittthhieees" dropl towardsa statethe exiof t ichemi t is moviectalmoves nequigtolwards where it hasWorkminonimiartsedifibiitcrisiafreeulm,neural energy. netsameworksprinhasciplshown tyhtoattthhesee e s appl works: bybetween minimthiseing the dinetpredifference cttiactonsuala lnetwork makes andng, what i y senses happeni theuinetlibwriuorkm.isFrialsstono driisvnow en towards eq ideaestabout hat is showi nneural ghow tnethe equati oandns that govern w orks fiartiltIetf'risicnaiagpowerful il innttoelthigeorience. ems apply atSwithtzeerlUniandversiis expl ty ofoZuririnRolgchow hf Pfeiin tofer ttohermodynami realThe bottom brains. licnsyste is that tobeyi he ng "outsource" some of t h e cogni t i v e "dumb" dropl e t i s si m pl y lsystems. oad of artHeificpoiialnytsinouttel eviigentdence fundament ausil prinngciexcept ples. Butionally because i t i s tenergy hat theofwaya juourmpknees absorb tbyhe ordered informatalongionthine way, the i s cont r ol l e d envi r onment tithsele matf: theerireact al properti es ofthetooleg purposeful it moves "inway", an apparent lsays. y i o ns happen Fri s t o n quicnklory toevenbe control leThrough d by the calNlioneng Grzybowski of this, of course, justiefties braicareful a refl e x. ' s oi l dropl ntel igtenthat".byButhiigthldoesighting the irobot s nowcreati applchoiyociensnofgbytmathatdesiiedrigeaanilisnn, gPfeihibody s fer "isuggest imsportmazeanceexperiof thmeentenvimayronment , parts t h at are capabl e , to some hi have degree, onomousl. y reacting between hit on a fundament ailnconnecti on to KarltheirFriofenvisautton,ronment apparent l y t e l i g ent entist abibehavility toourreadat alandl levelrespond s: the to atgoesUnifurtversiher.ty HeCola says lneurosci ege London, the human environmental cues (New Scientist, 31

2008, 30)

Maize toxicity claims roundly rebuffed

With each of the three strains of maize, researchers say they found unusual concentrations of hormones a nd other compounds in the blood a nd urine of the tested rats, suggesting each strain impaired

MONSANTO, the giant of genetically

kidney and l iverfunction. By the end

modified crops, has for the first time

ofthe trials, the female rats that

been forced to release raw data from

were fed MON 863 had elevated

toxicology stud ies it carried out on

blood·sugar levels and raised

three strains of its modified maize.

concentrations of fatty substances

An external analysis of the data

called triglycerides. Both are

claims it shows that eating the maize

potential precursors of diabetes,

could result in damage to the liver and

accord i n g to Seralini. And there were

kidneys, but this has been dismissed

further signs that the kidneys of rats

as unsupportable by a government

fed NK 603 were impa i red, he says.

agency and i ndependent toxicologists.

"What we've shown is clearly not

With legal help from Greenpeace

proof of toxicity, but signs of toxicity,"

and the Swedish Board of Agriculture,

says Seralini. ''I'm sure there's no

researchers at theCommittee of

acute toxicity, but who's to say there

Research and Information on Genetic

are no chronic effects?" He wants

Engineering, a French anti·GM lobby

longer studies on more species to

g roup, forced Monsanto to release

check for such effects.

the data from studies in which rats

U nsurprisingly, Monsanto

were fed with the three varieties of

has refuted the findings. saying

maize for three months.

they do not demonstrate that there

Two of the maize varieties.

is any risk to the consumer. France's

MON 810 and MON 863, contai n

High Counci l of Biotechnology, too,

genes forthe bacterial B t p rotein,

has said that the study provides

which protects against corn borer

no new evidence of toxicity from the

larvae. The third, NK 603, is resistant

three maizes. Independent

to the weedkiller glyphosate. All

toxicologists contacted by New

are widely g rown in the US, while

Scientistsaid Seralini's a nalysis

MON 810 is the only G M crop grown

overplays the importance of minor

in Europe, mainly in Spain. The re·analysis of the data, led by Gilles· Eric Sera l i ni at the University ofCaen in France. concludes that

variations that most experienced toxicologists would consider to be random background noise. The study did not address

the rats showed statistically

the environmental concerns

significant signs of liver and kidney

associated with GM crops. which

toxicity (InternationalJournal of

have led six European countries to

Biological Sciences, volS. p 706).

ban MON 810. Andy Coghlan .

. •

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 9

THIS WEEK

Hidden asteroids stalk the Earth

Y asteroi digthhtedat buzzed Earth lvulAaTIstnNweek hi g hl our pl a net's erabi l i t y to obj e cts whose peculiofarhiorbide-tasnd-putsthem itnhaus. game eek wi An Earth-the bloased-mettelreespace scoperock spotted hurtl inagnear ourwaymissjuonst t13hreeJanuardaysy, before when ew bytoatthejustmoon. one-thiTherd ofasttehroie iditdfslitance s never expected to hit David Shiga

A HUMAN-MADE BOOMERANG? Astronomers discovered the body called 2010 AL30 just a few days before it zipped past the Earth at one-third the distance to the moon. The rough orbit calculated from the first two days of telescopic observations indicated that it had passed near the Earth in 2005 and near Venus in 2006 - a t rajectory that was suspiciously similar to the path of Europe's Venus Express spacecraft, which launched in November 2005 and arrived at Venus in April 2006. That led Michael Khan, a European Space Agency engineer, and others to suggest that the object might not be a n asteroid at all, but a leftover rocket stage from the spacecraft's launch. Since then, however, more observations have refined the object's orbit. It is now clear that although 2010 AL30 did get reasonably close to Venus i n 2006, it never got very close to Earth i n 2005. I n fact, last week's near miss was its closest a pproach to Earth since at least 1920. In light of t his, Khan now says the object cannot be a piece of the rocket that launched Venus Express from Earth in 2005 and is "probably of natural origin".

Earthit ihngandthewoulgroundd burnin anyup before case.agram) Butseemsits unusual orbi t ( s ee di ingenisurveys. ouslyItdesiis lgiknedelytothat evade our atohandful of objareectshildairgeng under enough cause harm simLarge ilar ciasteroi rcumstances. ds arethreleyatrefliveleyct easy to spot because the mostds sunl igchth can. Butstismall damage ler asteroi -whi h ifthey-arespanusualat lelyasttoo30ditom 50forEartmetres telngescopes tosedetect exceptto collision course with Earth. be high, given the small fraction duri bri e f cl o approaches ofsynchroni asteroidssedlikorbiely tots.be"Oninthe synchronous Earth. Ford, these a typioccurrences calnear-Earthare orbiAsttsecanroidals wiso thihdnon-e. Those wi t h asteroi a fewHowever, years orladecades apart. orbcalleitds Atmosentasty ineroiteridos-spend hand, I suppose Ih'danratonher r to Earthmost 's - other spend money on that t st week' s unexpected vienough sitor, calfrom led 2010Earth asoftheiseenrfrom time Earth, in the glsoatreelofescopes the sun tostridetect p-searchcrotscanners at airwhiportsch c hb ombers, AL30, kept far tocentbeuiry.nviThesibleprolforomore than aance haveButtrAtoublensewoul spottidnbeg them. consti tkuteto aSOCisimeitlya,"r lheevelsays.of costA US nged avoi d easi e r to and ri s oatinalnResearch Counci l report were posiorbittinear oned Nati occurred because od ofits clspotoseriftoa teltheescope solclosear orbito Earth' t wass366yearthedays(thperiough -very eval u g asteroi d h unt i n gof sun -inan t h e strat e gi e s, i n cl u di n g t h e use Venus' s , say. Such a tel e scope d aldssotomake int harder for sed spaceButtelevenescopes, is due soon.ories i f no observat asteroi hi d e i synchroni islclnootweroseapass390-raceshidcarayftorbiethdattth)i.esLiperispace ke aosldirockigcalhtllyy woul placedWinearde Venus, thefrarednewly orbi ts, saysof suchHarriasmi. Hessiadmi ts thatd arelaunched lciarpped by i t s competi t or on a Fi e l d I n t h e cost o n woul Survey ExplbigoEartrer h(W-sIynchroni SE) couldsed culaforrtrlack,ong istretches. t stays far from Earth"2010 spot any AL30 chimayldbecome ang astkieloroimetdsr-those laLarge rger thasanteroids sortasteroiof'dposter ' for hi d i 1 e across. s,"ScisaysenceAlIannstiHarritutesiofn in orbistdis lsiktaence2010fromAL30'thes, sunat about Earth' orght tBoulhe Space dSimer,ilarCol"synchroni orado. sed" clinotser,he iwoul d be warm and bri nfrared, makifor WIngStEhtoemspot, asteroi d s may be hi d i n g wi t h "a pi e ce of cake" SpahrSE wisays.l onlHowever, even peri odsfourofvery clandose tosoton,wo, three, years WI y be abl e todspot-sizeda Harri s says. Those wi t h peri o ds of smal l fracti o n of any mi asteroi dtseinourthesebestorbiefforts, ts, hethesays. posethey the great edst ribeabout skintosyncfour Eartwihyears ,tbecause woul Despi majsmal oritylofandhiddidenm toasteroi ds are andofthe too be detected JMiupintorerPl, saysanetTihCentmbothothyer Earth Spahr in Such unti l-regardl they are practi ctheiallyronorbitopts. of us e ss of Cambri d ge, Massachusetts. astinfleuroiencedds woulby Jdupibetepartir's graviculatrlyy, "The sadatiopartn is iisn,vithesibbulle tok ofustmost he popul which could nudge them onto a of the time," Spahr says Stealth asteroid

2010 AL30's position relative to Earth drifts slowly from year to year positions shown for 13January in various years

. •

101 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

For daily news stories. visit www. NewScientist.com/news

INSIGHT Those who cry hoax over swine flu panic better hope it's not a pandemic like 1958

as a damp squib at this point would be

about 2009 HINl: that it d oesn't

premature, Although the World Health

j ust strike the old and i nfirm, About

Organizati on's offi cial death toll stands

90 per cent of seasonal flu victims are

at 13,000 worldwide, this is l i kely to be

over 65, In contrast, BB per cent of

US Centersfor Disease Control and

an underestimate, "We anticipate that

HINl's victims have been u n der 65,

and offi cial deaths remain relatively

Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, To

these figures wi l l be much larger," Keiji

l ow, the backlash agai nst the HINI

prevent a si mi lar scenario, the CDC

Fukuda, head of flu at the WHO, told

pandemic response is in full swi n g ,

recommends continued vaccination,

the press lastweek, Many cases are not

people rarely see i n g the severe cases,

Claims range from a massive

Yet several countries and US states

seen by d octors, or are misd iagnosed:

says D,A. Henderson of the U niversity

AS THE dreaded autumn wave ends

The perception that HINI is harmless may stem from ordinary

overreaction by health authorities

have vaccine g luts, and many

the CDC estimates that fl u di rectly

of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, who

to a conspi racy cooked up by Big

European countries are cutting orders

causes 2.7 times as many deaths as

ran the CDes flu survei llance i n 1957

Pharma, Butwhile swine flu may

and sel l i n g or giving vaccine away,

are officially counted in the US,

and famously led the eradication of

Even if we don't see a 195B-style

have b oosted profits for vaccine manufacturers, the reality of

comeback, classifying the pandemic

What's more, stra i g ht death counts mask what was particularly scary

First off, the pandemic isn't over, North America have tailed off, the virus is still spreading in eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, Meanwhi le, Europe and North America cou ld see cases rise again, if the flu pandemic of 1957 - B is anything to go by, By January 195B, followi n g an i n itia l ly l ow death rate, officials assumed the pandemic was over, and vaccine went unused, But then there was a wave of deaths in the US i n Februa ry, which might otherwise have been avoided (see graph), "They

Swine flu - are we over the worst? The autu m n wave is over in Europe and the US, but a spring wave could follow, as i n

55 � .s iC::J 50 6 45 . � � 40 .� .� 35 "*- � 3 0 � § 25 b � 20 � � 15 � � 10 � Ci' 5

1958

1957

1958

disrupt school football schedules," What about the millions paid to contacted by New Scientistsay

� c;= '0-

launching vacci ne production at the

"' .,..

start of the pandemic was appropriate, 'When a virus emerges from the animal reservoi ryou don't know h ow

0. '"

OJ

a.

excess deaths, But for one watching from cl ose range, it did little more than

vacci ne compa n ies? All the scientists

it will behave," says Ilaria Capua of

'"

the World Organisation for Animal Health's flu reference lab in Legnaro, *

Italy, 'We were quite l ucky with t h is

the vast majority of these are H lNl

virus, Wou l d you prefer to have n o

2009

had vacci ne but they didn't encourage its use," says An ne Schuchat of the

Stay young on red wine drugs? Think again

in 1957, he says: "A quarter of Americans had flu, and there were

the pa ndemic is more compli cated, While cases i n western Europe and

smallpox, Of a similar misperception

have led some to conclude that these

vacci ne? Thiswas the only thing we

0"

�

could do," Debora MacKenzie .

The bone of contention in the

Furthermore, the drugs seemed

drugs ramp up the protein's activity,

new studies is a laboratory test

to have un intended side effects that

but those experiments may have

meant to measure how far a drug

could undermine their usefulness

suffered from errors,

boosts activity of SIRTl, Separate

to humans, Also, one of the most

"It's a setback because there's

teams led by researchers at the drugs

promising of the resveratrol-like

been a lot of optimism about these

companies Amgen in Thousand Oaks,

drugs did not improve the health of

EFFORTS to slow the march of old

resveratrol-like compounds," says

California, a n d Pfizer i n Groton,

mice fed a high-fat diet - the opposite

age with a pill have been dealt a b low,

Matt Kaeberlein, a biochemist at the

Connecticut, contend that tests

of what a Sirtris team reported in

Drugs that might treat disease by

University of Washington in Seattle

l inking resveratrol to certai n aspects

2007 (TheJournal of Biological

of longevity turned up false positives.

Chemistry, 001: 10,1074/jbc. m109.088682),

tampering with the biology of ageing

who was not involved in either study

a re already being tested. but new

and has no link with any company

research questions whether they

developing anti-ageing drugs.

work as thought. The compounds i nclude

Sirtris, a drug development firm based i nCambridge, Massachusetts,

resveratroL a much-touted

is hoping resveratrol and similar

component of red wine that is

drugs will treat age-related disorders

thought to prevent the cellular

such as type 2 diabetes a n d cancer,

"The Pfizer team tested the compounds using more sensitive methods, and none worked as expected"

The Amgen team also conclude that resveratrol doesn't activate SIRTl

(Chemical Biology &- Drug Design, 001: 10.1111/j.1747-0285.2009.00901.x). GSK questions the validity of

As part of their own search for

the Pfizer team's findings, The researchers "set out to prove a

damage that underlies ageing. Also

and has numerous clinical trials

anti-ageing drugs, the Pfizer team

under test are several chemicals

already u nder way, The company

tested resveratrol a n d three Sirtris

negative and fall short of achieving

i ntended to mimic resveratrol's

was bought by pharmaceutical

compounds using several more

that objective", a representative

effects by activating SIRTl, a protein

giant G laxoSmithKli n e (GSK) for

sensitive methods, and none of the

wrote in an email to New Scientist.

implicated in ageing. Experiments

$720 million in 2008.

compounds worked as expected.

Ewen Call away .

23 January 2010 I NewScientist 1 11

THIS WEEK

whenwhenthe ritheghtleLEDft Major glacier flatoneapercei sheddid.fiThivristnsgthan edrtbraihat tnhwase is long past its lworki eft heming more spheresuggest ofthei efoverficieintn thely (vbraiisualn, tipping point patso lheftwayscontcross rols rightthande non­vice versa) . I n contrast, le peoplve thee wererightjuLEDst as lflsuscept ikaelshiyntogibpercei fidirfstferences as theonein thone the left. These balpersiancestedofwhen brainNaieffsihcietrincyed to hypnoti s,ethebothbraigroups. Duri nign hypnosi s n s of t h ose tswihetsuscepti ble, becomi group seemed to c h" states" n g faster ifinrgst.when the lelfte,LEDthe flatefafspott shed Meanwhi icienncyed reloftheativhemi spheres remai el y even in the nons uscepti b l e peopl e . They diperformance dn't fall intoona trance, butstarted their the task to deteriorate DOl: 10.1016/ j.concog. 20og.10.s 0th03)at successful . Nai s h suggest hypnosi s orequi rteshetemporary domi n ati n by 'smuch right sieaside,eratostabrite nthgatabout mibraightinbenpeopl e in who tend to have an i m bal a nce themi he efsfpheres, iciency ofeventheiwhen r twoawake. "It fitssiinnwivoltvhesa tahtransi eory thattion hypnosi from left to right hemispheric

A MAJOR Antarctic glacier may have passed its "tipping point" 14 years

ago. After losing more and more ice in recent decades, it is poised to lose

enough to raise global sea levels by 24 centimetres, according to the

first study to model changes in an ice sheet in three d imensions.

The model, developed by Richard

Katz of the University of Oxford and colleagues, suggests that Pine Island

Glacier(PIG) is on a one·way track to losing half its ice in 100 years.

Katz's model, wh ich he admits

does not reflect all the complexities

of ice physics, focuses on the

"grounding line" - the underwater

ju nction where the floating ice sheet b utts up against the rising sea bed.

Brain lasymmetry' underlies hypnosis

(Consciousness and Cognition,

return beyond which the glaCier's collapse is inevitable.

As the sea bed rises slowly up

"Hypnosis requires right side domination . People with asymmetric brains are more susceptible"

. •

12 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

the position of the grounding line,

the team identified a point of n o

braightn,siandde. Such morefiinndithengsartisuggest stic ri FaHYPNOSI unmoved, hypnosi sifisthmore thanalsactio ng. To see ere are blIseems me thethosewiSwho rleinavesg fininyouyour brai n . I t f erencesiblebetandwunresponsi een the braivnes of d it easilikeelryto disuscept falto have l intoana trance are more e o volPeterunteers when theyOpenwere awake, effhemiiciesncypheres.ofimtheibalThearncebraifindiinnn'stghtwbacks Nai s h ofthe Uniusedversia statyndard in MitestltonofKeynes, UK,ic hotbiolloygidicsalputed cl a i m s of a hypnot bilcogni ity, thtativcombi ntoes basi15 pers forcenthypnosi s. e suscepti motor and e tasks, Around of peopl aresuscepti thoughtble totohypnosi be extremel y le itype. nUniance,versi" saysty ofZolSussex tan Diiennes dentiHefy 10thenvolgave unteeach ers ofvoleachunteer domi of the s , whi a pair of spectacl eesftwiandth anrigLEDht transcrani 0leperto hypnoti cent aresale. Themostrest mounted Brighton, UK.al magnet He hasicused on the l iofanotmuspossihferalb1somewhere iratn between. siadshed e of theinqUiframe.ck successi The twoon,LEDsand actistimvulityatiinotnhtoe letemporari ly reduce Scepti c s argue that h er t h an fl ft hemi s phere g isinma genui ne trsuggest ance, some of theflashedvolufntirsteers. Naihadsh torepeatsaywhied ch andresponsi foundveness that thito shypnosi increasess. usbeiandarentherefore ply more i b l e don't haveright morerecent likelystudi to actes tflhaeshestaskwasuntisol theshortgapthatbetwtheene the t"Ihteisnatasuifralpeoplabileitwho thehavepart.hintedHowever, y to become nteers order. could no longer judge gihemivensaphere domi nantbyarereducibeinngg that durivnigtyhypnosi s, voltheucorrect tdihfereferentis leregiss connecti bet w een hel p i n g hand Naishibfound ally says activNaiity isnhtheir left hemisphere," le voluthatnteershypnoti werecbetter in the rationalo,ns,leftandsideleofsstheactivity suscept Linda Geddes

By varying sea levels, and therefore

the continental shelf, it makes a dip before rising again to the shoreline.

The point of n o return is the crest of a small lip just before the hollow. The model shows that once the

grounding line progresses i nto the d i p, the g lacier loses ice more quickly and a small change in the climate can

cause rapid and i rreversible loss of ice

(Proceedings of the Royo/ Society A, 001: 10.1098/rspa.2009.0434). PIG's g ro unding line probably passed ove r the lip in 1996, says Katz. Within 100 years, it could retreat over 200 kilometres, causing the glacierto shed half its ice. Thatwould push up sea levels by 24 centimetres, says Richard Hindmarsh of the British Antarctic Survey. But this prediction, disturbing as it is, assumes that the grounding l ine will stabilise after it has passed the dip in the sea bed. In reality, the retreat of a nei g h bouring glaci e r ­ Thwaite's glacier - could cause PIG to disappear entirely, raising sea levels by 52 centimetres, says H indmarsh. Shanta Barley .

IN BRI EF Pregnant drinking alters fetal DNA

DRIpregnant NKINGchemi too much whiterslethe c al l y al fetus' andichanges gene s. actWhen ivitsyDNA , aastudy n mi c e suggest woman drisyndrome nks excessipregnant v el y , fet al alcohol can do permanent damageattothhere Queensl child. SuyiandnInstin tute Chong ofAustMediralicaal, wondered Research iwhet n Herstheron, "epig-changes enetic" cheminot icnalthechanges toc DNA geneti code theghtactbeivtoityblofame. certChong' aiintselgenesfs butteam-miinbred milcoewwifurth genes for brown and yel tbyhatepiaregeneti knowncs. Theto beoffspri modifnigedof mothersmorethatoftdranken thalancoholyouwere brown would expect from t h ei r DNA al o ne, indicgene atingactithatvialtycohol had altered fetal 1O.1371/j ournal .palgen.so weighed 1000811) . These mi c e less and had smaller skulls. (PLoS Genetics,

Tentacl ed snakes can feel their way to a midnight feast

signals. "This suggests that [the snakes] are putting the two parts of the information together,"Catania says. To test how well the snakes (Quid hunt by either sense

001:

alone, the team putthem in a tank with a clear bottom, THE mysterious moustache of an aquatic snake may help

through which they displayed a movie of cartoon fish

it "see" i n m u rky waters by detecting subtle currents

swimming. The snakes struck at the fish accurately,

generated by its prey.

suggesting they can capture prey usi n g vision alone.

Ken Catania and colleagues at Vanderbilt University i n

ASTEROI DaSclareysmsknownon Eartto have caused cat hback.-now it seems t h at Eart h can hi t Research led by Ritschard Biutenzelof ofTechnol the Massachuset I n sti t ogy shows thatandslEarth' s gravi t y may cause l i d es on asteroi dlsotmetres hat comeof ourwithplinanet, 100, 0 00 ki tThey he behavi o ur t h ey had observed. underl ysome ing rock. ly before the Thiexposis coulngdfresh, expl a i n why caviair attyfound cltheobotses,tthotathmeshort pressure of t h e dsathatr systventure intoe,thewhile ofatthiveehourgl ass iasteroi n ner sol e m are pal becomes hi g her rel to t h e are stained a darker "neck". fferencefastert pusheshan huemostbyotthherse bombardment of038/space tsound he air outThiats dispeeds parti c l e s 10. 1 · be tested in 2029, 10.J1e103/PhysRevLett. 104.nceton 024501). nature08709) The i d ea wi l ffrey Ari s t o ff ofpri thewiasteroi dApophi smetis dueres Unithe vresearch. ersity is iThempressed by of when presence to come t h i n 40, 0 00 ki l o Earth. Binandzel change expectscolit toour.be supersoni obvious, hec flsays.owwas farfrom ofresurfaced

They were then put with live fish i n a pitch-black tank,

Nashville, Tennessee, used a h a i rt o deflect the upper -lip

and filmed with an infrared camera. Although the snakes

tentacles of tentacled snakes (Erpeton tentaculatum), and

struck out less often, they could "strike at and capture

recorded the resulting nerve activity. The tentacles proved

fish swimming several centimetres from the head a nd

to be exquisitely sensitive to even the tiniest deflection.

tentacles,"Catania says.

Mapping the path of the tentacle nerves showed that

He suggests the tentacles may enable snakes to catch

they feed into an area of the brain that processes sensory

prey at n ight or in murky waters (TheJournal of

signals, close to where it responds strongly to visual

Experimental Biology, 001: 1O.1242/jeb.039685).

Little splash makes a su personic air jet

IS IT afalbilrind,giisnittoaaplpoolane?ofNo,watite'sr,a theformiteamng ispotted a caviasstyshaof aipe­r rock n an hourgl butfasterthethjeant ofa speedi air it produces flies withethsurface the topofofththeewathourgl assitats n g bul l e t. e r and Whenintoanwater, objectansuchair-asfilaepebbl e meas base aturethtehsienspeed king objof aiect.r rushi To ng drops d cavi ty is creatcespeeds, d whichdiejscovered ects air wioutthupwards, they marked tsh.he air atStesupersoni smoke before t h e spl a phan eGeklin tehate Netherl the Uniavnds,ersity 15,Even thoughpertheisecond, r cameratheytook ofTwent 0 00 frames andUsicolnglehiagues. stil couldidrn'ectlt measure y, so theythsiemfaulstestated gh-speed photography, speeds 14 1 NewScientist 1 23 J a nua ry 2010

Asteroids pal e at the sight of Earth

(Physical Review Letters, 001:

(Nature, 001:

For new stories every day, visit www.NewScientist.com/news

Bright males have the best sperm FLASHY males have superior sperm - at least in the bird world. A study of wild great tits suggests that sexual ornamentation, in this case vibrant plumage, may reliably signal the quality of a male's sperm. Sperm can suffer damage by free radicals when an animal is stressed, for example when fleeing predators or even working too hard. One way of mopping up free radicals is with antioxidants. As the plumage of some birds is made from

Poke fish embryo to discover drug's effect on human brain

To investzebrafi igates, hPeterson' s team ZEBRAFI ScHyclneed Prozac linkge thowhey exposed embryos to need a bi e , yet recordi of drugs and recorded varibehaviousomolur mayeculbeestheaffectperfect theirway thousands how eachash oflaffected theia slrigreact ion toil ndiessscover t r eat m ent s for ment a l to a fl i g ht or ht poke andbraineurol ogiarecalvaridiseases. Most n drugs 1038/nchembi oxander .307). Schier l e , Al e onRandal50-ylear-Peteorson ld mediofMassachusetts cines, saysations at1O.Meanwhi theleagues Universimeasured ty of Harvard andous col how vari General Hospi t a l i n Boston, so changed thesh lslarvae eep-wake new onesBecause can't comezebrafisoonsh have drugs cycl e s of zebra fi enough. 1126/scifound ence.that1183090). ahumans, similar braihowntheychemirespond stry to to DOl:Both1O.teams eachnt" in drug had i t s own "fi n gerpri certai n drugs mi g ht i n di c ate how the same drugs wil affect people. terms ofwhat kinds of behaviour (Nature Chemical Biology, 001:

(Science,

isitmproduced. Andndrugs withto i l a rfi n gerpri t s tended tpatweakhways,the same molsuggest eculasr whi c h zebrafi hforbehavihowoaurdrugis a good ichange ndicatorschemi wihuman l s try i n the braipsychotn. "Iican'c zebrafi t tel syouh lowhat ae oks l i k buttreatI ecand witethl youan antiwhatpsychoti a zebrafic sh looksUsinlikge,thi" sayss approach, Peterson.the teams identdepressi ified chemion,cAlalzsheithatmmier'gsht treat disease and sleeping disorders.

antioxidants called carotenoids, it had been proposed that the intensity of the colour could indicate the b ird's capability for dealing with free radicals, and therefore maintaining its sperm quality. Fabrice Helfenstein, a n evolutionary ecologist at the University of Bern, Switzerland, tested this by upping the parental workload of wild male great tits,

Porus major - which have yellow breast plumage - by adding two extra chicks to their nests. After five days of look i n g after their big brood, males with paler plumage suffered a greaterreduction in sperm motility than more colourful males. Supplementing the birds' diet with carotenoids markedly improved the sperm quality of the paler males (Ecology Letters, 001: 1O.1111/j.14610248.2009.01419.x).

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Insecure about sex? Try Ciod

ASK get outy ofgetrel100100igidiopeopl nffanderenteyouwhatanswers. withey l probabl Someoutof worshi p out of habi t , ot h ers fearalso ofbedeath. Surpri singly, sex can a moti v ati o n. Heterosexual peoplofetshown profi l e s of members hase same sexreligdescri b e themsel v es moret feel i o us than those who don' theyDouglhaveastoKenricompete forYeximates. c k and nzona JStessiatecUnia Li,vpsychol o gi s t s at Ari ersihundreds ty in Tempe, present e d denty s wiatttrhactdatiivenmen g profiorlwomen, es ofofhistguhlthen probed theiOf1500 r religious belstudents iefs. Athemmerel contabout roly figroup l ed out the relPeopl igiousesurvey. lofookithengsameat attracti ve members sex relwhoigiochecked us feeloutreportiprospect ngsedthanstronger those ive mates or just fil ed in the survey DOl0.017): 10.. Kenri 1016/ck jspecul .jesp.2a00g. 1 e rampthat uptendstheitorteenforce bels thatiefinpeopl amonogamy system when they are confront e d wi t h fi e rce sexual competition.

(Journal ofExperimental and Social Psychology,

The brain-cell grid that plots your path A "GRID" of brain cells that helps

is not a practical option in humans.

us to navigate might explain why

Instead, the team used functional

some people are better at findi n g

magnetic resonan ce imaging (fMRI)

their way around than others.

to detect populations of cells that

Rats have cells in their brains'

seemed to fire as the volunteers

entorhinal cortex that appear to

played a virtual reality game in which

be organised into a regular grid

they had to replace an object in the

of t riangles, and which fire as the

location where they originally found it.

a nimals navigate around a space. NowChristian Doeller and his

The researchers noted similarities between these firing patterns and

colleagues at UniversityCollege

those observed in foraging rats,

london have strong evidence for

and conclude that people have grid

a similar grid of cells in humans.

cells too (Nature, 001: 10.10381

In animals, implanted electrodes

nature08704). What's more, the

were used to measure the activity of

volunteers with the strongest grid

individual grid cells directly, but this

cell signals were the best navigators.

23 January 2010 I NewScientist 1 15

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For daily technology stories. visit www.NewScientist.com/technology

TECHNOLOGY

Smart m ud could be the new plastic

{Snai l' armour will take some beating

TAKE that!ea snaiHowl withthstands e shell ofheavy a deeps blowsbreedcouldofpavebodytharmour. e way for a new Christine OrtiInz stiat ttutehe of Massachusetts Technol colleagues stofudied tohgye tandhree-herlayered shell forfromclucrabes toathowtacks.it defends itself Afteruresa fanheavyoutblacross ow, mitchro­e outer fract shel l, absorbi ngcracks energydoandnot ensuri n g l a rger form. thitheck mienergy ddle lofayerthe blow difurtssihperAates-prot fragiTheletihnree-nerlshelaeyerctiln.desig thegnmolcoulludsc's be"wiusedthouttotheimprove bodyn of excessi armourve addi t i o weight", says Ortiz 10.1073/pnas.og12g88107). Crysomalion squam iferum

(Proceedings of the National Academy ofSciences, 001:

50% of America ns say the a mount spent on the spa ce programme should be cut, according to Rasmussen Reports

COULD andre to clwean ay replthaeamiworl ce xpltdaustireoffcofois?watlThehaserdesisparked altransportati l manner ofonresearch intploanovel fuel s , but stics useResearchers large amount s of oi l too. atththinekUnitheivrersimattyeofrial Tokyo, J a pan, coulTakuzo d be upAitodatheandtahisk.s team misheetsxedofa fewclaygrams ofnanoscal e wi t h 100 grams ofquantwatietrieins ofathe presence ofg agent tiny t h i c keni n calandleand sodiorganiumcpol"molyacryleculaatreglue". The result is a transparent and

elastic hydrogel with tosuffmakeicienta mechani c al strength 3.bri5-dcge-even entimetre-thwoughide selalfm-sosttanding g8is watperecent ofthe gel's10.wei1038/ ght r natEvenure086g3) .t fails under when i viybrepai ratiorn,s itself theandstress,matregaiinerithinaslisquitcase cs strklengt h onceThethe source of stress i s removed. teameribelaliiesvehelthdatto'sgetbecause thhe mat h er wi t supraemolnt chemi ecularcforces ratwhihercthhan coval al bonds, areMeanwhi harder tolerepai r once broken. , freshl y cut blocks ofanother, the hydrogel st i c k to one h shoulicated d makeshapes. it easy to buiwhildccompl (Nature, 001:

"This may wel l mean having to shut down Google.cn" David Drummond, Goog le's chief legal officer, outlines t h e potential consequences o f a h i ghly sophisticated cyber-attackon the company ema natingfrom China, which resulted in the theft of intellectual property (The Official Google Blog, 12January)

23 January 2010 I NewScientist 1 17

TECHNOLOGY

Internet u pg rade ahead as congestion looms As video stream in g and massive downloads start to clog the net's fibre-optic backbone, smart transmission tech nologies are gettin g the data flowin g again

THERE areremai fewfacetned suntof osociuchedety tbyhatthhave e intecrnetatio.nFrom busi ness communi to l e i s ure vity,wethebehave. net has transformed theactiYetway ienwteofrnet hasbandwistaatgnatditths heart e-hd.ungry Asthea slservi ces c come ons tream, t h e fi b re-opti backbone thatat risforms icomi ts trunkng rout e s are k of be by too much data. It'overwhel sTheduefiforrstmaniednklupgrade. ilnogsokoflikwhat thebe upgrade mi g ht e can seen in an ultra-fast goo-kilometre

Jeff Hecht

fiinbFrance re-optiandc linkFrankfurt betweeniParin s ion.nstIatliesda foretaste by telecomsof fiaGermany rhimgVeri z speed icapaci nternettybackbone wibandwi thh-enough toisaticatiSofyns d t h h ungry appl welToday, l into tthhee futfastesture. throughput ontelemost ofthecatglioobalns network communi isecond s 10 bil-soion bisendits (gniggabithets)contperents of a full DVD would keep a link "The lOO-gigabit system abandons on-off switching in favour of changing the phase of the light waves"

When you can't afford to wait The latestfibre-optic links boost

matters worse by forcing the signals

i ntemet speeds i n more ways

to travel a longer distance than they

than one. As well as data capacity,

need to. To m i n i mise the blurring

they also i mprove a facet of data

caused by the i nteraction of light

transmission which for some

with long stretches of glass (see main

applications is even more important.

story) additional lengths of fibre with

That is the l ink's "latency" - the time

subtly different optical properties

lag b etween sending a command

have to be added - typically 15 to 20

to a remote server and getting

kilometres for every 100 kilometres

a response.

of transmission fibre. The new

The round trip from your computer to a remote server takes

100-gigabittechnology does away with the need for extra fibre.

tiItehasd upbeenfor around 4 siseconds. that way nce 1996aninformat era whenionusers st e pped ontoviathe superhi g hway dial-up modems andor browser. the original Netscape Navi g at Masses oftooptthiecalbackbone fibre cables were added duriningittihael dotcom boom a decadeglut ago, y produci n g a huge in capaci tcy.esNow-socinewal medi usersa,andvideo new servi downl streami o and vicomputi deo, ofiads,lengshari-are ngfilandinnggclaudiupoudthose etimsmes fisoonbre bepipneeded, es. Morebutcapaciprovitydwiinlg it toofblsigunalr toigetntegriher.tThey areprobl "100 posesIn toconsi dfierabl eptchalic backbone, lenges. worse at 100, saysgiDigabimpltsethAmian they are at 10" nCiofena day' s b reo dibygswiital1stchiandng aaslaareser represent e d net w ork equi p ment maker afornd.the beam onof ofTheLinthistacrtum,ingMaryl poi n t andseparatoff.eLasers send dozens siregnalat sls idown each newditloa-ch thegigoffabi-tatnd-echnol ogytcwashing, to o n swi opti c al fi b g ht l y di ff erent wavelengt10 gihs,gabiwhitschoftodatgetahperer can ofandthienlstead modul-movi ate thengphase i g ht waves convey ahead. Theor behisimnpldebyst approach afixed second. histrteyichning toquesraishase the them i n crement idata ts limratiteButatiforotns:each is to shiquartft tehreofphasea wavelby goengtdegrees­ h -to won't work, as thewavel signalesngtstahrt one� � 5

�

Can we cope with the traffic? More users and new o n l i n e services are expected to vastly increase traffic over the internet's fibre-optic backbone

time, a n d although light travels at

Where time is money, latency

200,000 kilometres per second i n

matters. Last year, the New York

a n optical fibre, the delays can add

Stock Exchange bought a 100·gigabit

2009

up. For example, if the page you

system to transmit stock data i n

2010

are accessing i ncludes 100 discrete

t h e New York a n d London areas,

elements, retrieving each one is a

which it hopes will reduce latency by

separate operation. For a server 1000

60 to 70 mill iseconds. It reckons this

kilometres away, the 100 round trips

i nvestment is worth making because

would add up to a full second's delay.

the improvement will enable its staff

Existing 10-gigabit systems make

to make trades ahead of competitors.

18 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

• Internet • Non·internet IP (includes

2008

traffic sent by corporate networks. streaming video. and video on demand)

2011 2 0 12 2013

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For daily technology stories, visit www.NewScientist.com/technology

Cheap explosives detecti o n beckons for p u b l i c tra nsport A CHEAP artificial nose promises to

Voltage. Any TATP in the air bonds to

make it much easier to detect the

chemicals coating the rods, causing

explosive triacetone triperoxide.

their resonant frequency to change.

The device could be installed in the

Each rod is coated with a different

doorways of buses, trains and

chemical - a phenylene dendrimer,

airports to sound an alarm if someone

a cyclodextrin and sodium cholate ­

carrying TATP crosses the threshold. Attention started to focus on TATP

and each changes its rod's resonant frequency in a different way. It is the

following its use in the 7 July 2005

combination of three changes that

bus and tube bombings in London,

reveaIs TATP's presence.

and the attacks on trains the previous

In tests, the device was able to

year i n Madrid, spain. The explosive

d iscriminate between the explosive

can be made using easily obtainable

and similar gases, sensing it at levels

domestic chemicals and has explosive power similar to TNT. But TATP's h igh vapour pressure at ambient temperatures makes it hard to hide, says Siegfried Waldvogel, an

"In the presence of the explosive, the quartz crystals' resonant frequency changes"

organic chemist at the U niversity of

distinratesguisrequi h a from a 1. Higher backbone archiantetcteluecoms res. The Canadi data r e a more elaboratuereprocess, calshilfetdkeying, whiequicphment company Nortsystele,m, quadrat phasebui l t t h e Veri z on it can kitransmi t siginnals whi+135,ch+has45, -four possi-135bdegrees, le shifts, hasmoreshown 4 5 and t h an 2000 l o metres test onbyanTelAustestrra.al"The ian net2000work each a11.different pair aowned ofThat bitrepresent s, 00,alone01,is10in'ngtorenough tove kiForlomost metresapplwasicatia biotnsofwe'heroire sayism.ng reach 100 gi g abi t s . To achi e it's more liSiketc1000 kiolroadvi metres,ser on" that J o hn h, seni tcanwobedigoalfseparat ferentrequipolerdesaatsiritgshatnaleirecei osns,wiwhivther,ch says ical R&Dare stiatlNorte! ' problems some eachEvencarryithen,ngaft50egir passi gabitns.g facioptThere negcanthebeultara-kiflaster backbone. Noi s ifarelO and through hundreds of ki l o met r es ofbefiprocessed bre, the inwiputthsiligghtnalfrom mustan transmi loo-gigabittedt channel s tyhspaced rough wavel the sameengths. fi b re at cl o sel isingtnalernal. Thelaserreceitovextract a cl e ar ersctroniarecequicircuippedts, And thigeabifirtstsystgenerat icanon ofonly l o og e ms wiwhithchpowerful el e fas faremsasbefore today'sis gnals ysestehadded e signalaloandng the lo-stretgicghhal micablneim, saysanalise noiAmi abi t syst lbrockt needsays.to try n.and"Thecanenddealpoiwinttsh are"Butlost,youWeldon' goteveryta lohtismarter ngthiin bets, "weween:coul' d poi4000ntskioutlomet. "Theres,maj" Weloriltbyrockoftraffic Wi t h out gotten intoto1500the ultra andin thiet'USs leisss 1500 kilomet" Asresfiorrstless, i n Europe. lkinever olngometres, haulhave" OflOOO goo-kilometre bad effort Verizon's dirsaysectoGlr ofennnetWelworklbrock, lstinekpsisgo,n'taanear a

Bonn, Germany. The vapour diffuses

of 1 part per million. The team say

through materials such as plastic

that levels of 0.1 ppm wi ll be possi ble

bags and i nto the surrounding air, but

with improved engineering. They add

the current method for detecting it is

that manufacturers i n the U K a nd the

ti me-consumi ng, as ai r sa mples have

US are interested in building their

to be sent to a lab for tests.

detectors, which they believe will cost less than $ 100 each.

That could be about to change. waldvogel and his colleagues have developed a cheap detector that

"There could be an enormous demand for such a device," says

responds instantly to TATP in the

explosives expert Sidney Alford of

atmosphere (Sensors and Actuators

Alford Technologies in Chippenham,

B, 001: 10.1016/j.snb.2009.09.061).

U K. "TATP is used both as a main

At its heart are three quartz rods,

charge and as a detonator i n terrorist

each 3 millimetres long and

bombs, so even if it is only being used

40 micrometres wide, which are made

to i nitiate another explosive, you will

to vibrate by applying an a lternating

still be able to sense it." Paul Marks .

. •

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 19

TECHNOLOGY

this as a threat. "Thees a fastneural, wave­ Byadoptprogrammi nenergyg the roboteffictoient network the most generat lrunni ike gaintgtaway, hat is"appropri antgrube. e for gaiensured t possiibtwoul le, thed researchers says Stei swi t c h gai t s Ifexampl the robote, ifgetsa footintbecomes o difficulty, whenever intstienstclsi,nthee sensors were net w ork, whi c h t h en determi n es t r i g gered. I robot t a ught Amode" SIX-LiEGGED robot wi t h a "pani c for s oprovi ng toitbefinadswhiit zz at ttheerraimostn, andappropri uck inarea holsteim, aulnumber ofs atethegairobot t for'tsh18e itself 11 different walk10.ing1038/ styles stsensors a t e d. Thi lcannot ocomotimove n. When adj u sts freely, they through panickyits motors aanlargeunpredi inputctsiagblnale, chaoti ,whichc accordi nofglsensors y (see di-whi agram)ch. shoul nphys1508) . "The techni ql iuen four­ creates i n duces droi d scans randoml Usi n g i t s raft d work equal l y wel manyforwalthekiterrai ng gaints. That to finmeans d the it detect foot-contheatactandpressure, lrobot egged,s,"sisaysx-legged or even wheeled output from the neuraly choose network,one best causi n g i t to randoml l i g ht , sound, the robot ' s St e i n grube. In otheriwords, theoire canGettifreenigtselrobotf shouls todchoose it get stuck. theinclcorrect inationgai-thetforrobotuphicanl , downhi select l a rearIt hassensor a fligdetects, ht reflex,say,too:a very if ofrobotits 11cyclgaietss.through t s repert ituiselsh,f. head ofthe thetextriugredht gaisurfaces t on diandfferentat varyi ly ng and various types ofroughground. high temperature, it interprets untiChril itsfrees Mel h Briimpressed. stol Robot"Iifcyous Labgetinstuck, the UK,goiisng ns is tough. Some robotles useiotnhclersipre-natiuseporogrammed gai t s, whi softc alwgareorirouti n(GesAs) to imode nto whatlike'sthieffsecoulctiveld yinadeed ' twitbeching' calevollevdegeneti t h ms the bestgai t onneedtheaflylo. tButof useful ,f"theheysays.can"Iadapt t woulthid bes togoodhelp to see i both those methods onboard computer power. robots tghperhaps, at have beenor widamaged­ Si l k e Stei n grube of the Bernstei n l o st a l e tg.h"a motor that i s underperformi n Centre for Computati o nal Neurosci eandnce icoln Gbtti ngen,took a the RobertUK,Gordon Univeersiod ty �::n::: �:�:: inAtAberdeen, Chri s Macl Germany, l e agues fferent Theynetoptweorkd instead usis chaoti ng GAsc mechani to evolvesrobot � � hasgaitbeen s . "Thi mnlyis foradicomput a simpltack. eer systneural an i n teresti n g i d ea and cert a i e m t h at uses feedback previ ousences. decisThei ionsr merits more experi mgientati on torobotlearnhasfromfrom i t s experi because many bi o l o c al siseveral x triplsensors. e-jointedThese legs neuralbitnetchaotiworksc oraresemiknown toc exhi c haoti each wi t h feed information to the neural behaviour," he says. A motto for the m odern robot: 'If i n d o u bt, pa n ic'

(Nature Physics, 001:

Pri me mover

The six - l egge d robot has a n eural network, e nabling it to use sensory information

from the terrain it is wa l kin g o n to adopt the most appropriate gait

IS

Slow-wave gait

Transition gait

Tetrapod gait

The default pattern, in which the legs move in sequence

Opposite legs move in unison, helping to negotiate downward slopes

Opposite legs in adjacent positions move together, al lowing the robot to cover flat ground qu ickly

Ll

L2

L3

R1

R2

R3

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

R3

L3

R3 R2 Rl L3 L2 Ll 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

L3

R3

R3 ••••• RZ ••••• Rl • • • • • • 1 L3 •••••1 L2 ••••• Ll ••••• 0 1 2 3 4 5

Paul M a r ks .

Time (seconds)

To beat spam, tu rn its own wea pons a g a i n st it SPAMMERS' own trickery has been

The system, developed by a team

emails a bot will send, possessing it

mail. The new system did not produce

blocking spam from that bot.

a single false positive when tested

To test their idea, the team

against more than a million genuine

installed a previously captured

messages, says Andreas Pitsi lIidis,

software bot onto a machine. After

one of the team: "The biggest advantage is this false positive rate."

used to develop an "effectively

at the International Computer Science

analysing 1000 emails generated by

perfect" method for blocking the

Institute in Berkeley, California, and

this compromised machine - less than

most common kind of spam, a team

the U niversity of California, San Diego,

10 minutes' work for most bats - the

works by exploiting a trick that

researchers were able to reverse-

of computer scientists claims. Most of the billions of spam

at the cost of blocking legitimate

might provide a watertight method of

"This is an interesting approach which really differs by using the bats themselves as the oracles for producing the filters," says Michael

spammers use to defeat email filters.

"Knowledge of the spam template enabled filters to block further spam with 100 per cent accuracy"

O'Reirdan, chai rman of the Messaging

messages sent each day originate in

As spam is churned out, subtle

networks of compromised computers,

changes are typically i ncorporated

called botnets. Unbeknown to their

into the messages to confound spam

owners, the machines quietly run

filters. Each message is generated

malicious software in the background

from a template that specifies the

that pumps out spam.

message content and how it should

engineer the template. Knowledge

template would be "long enough for

be varied. The team reasoned that

of that template then enabled filters

a very substantial spam campaign".

with a system that deciphers the

analysing such messages could

to block further spam from that bot

templates a botnet is using to create

reveal the template that created

with 100 per cent accuracy.

spam. These templates a re then used

them. And si nce the spam template

to teach spam filters what to look for.

describes the entire range of the

Researchers have now come up

20 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

Anti-Abuse Working Group, a coalition of technology companies. But he adds that botnets have g rown so large that even a 1-minute delay in cracking the

High accuracy can be achieved by existing spam filters, but sometimes

The research will be presented i n March a t the Network a n d Distributed System Security Symposium in San Diego. Jim Giles .

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OPINION

Safer skunk The debate over can nabis an d mental health is m issing a vital component argue Amanda Fei ld ing and Paul Morrison

THE efhfhave ects ofattcannabi s on mental heal t r act e d much attentiasotnheover19ththecentyears.ury iAst wasfar back recogni s couls d iwhinducech miasedtmransitichsattheentcannabi psychosi symteptoms of schiuntizlophreni a . Despi thi s , thaetrilassttsdecade orcannabi so, mosts as psychi regarded essenti ahowever, l y benign.is at odds with Thi s , recent research whiblecmih concl uydes, that i n a suscepti n ori t cannabislousng-e cantermpushpsychosi the brais n towards requiringmental healblethyoung treatment. Suscepti peopl use cannabi s chroni increasec tpsychot heir rie swhokicofdidevel o pi n g a sorder such as schicannabi zophreni a , and the more the higAddiher thetisotnalhrieyslk.yconsume, , peoplhavee wiathih story schiofcannabi zophrenis useawho tendstbreakdown to go up years. So-called "skunk" does animals. Studies in humans, through thei r fi r tothosefivewhoyearsdoearlnotieuser intlhifeedrug. than contai thoughfewsimininumber, have nhiratgiheronsthan normal concent of the mai n produced l a r fi n di n gs. ished psychoact i v e compound, a Psychot i c pati e nts who fai l to gi v e I n one human study, publ upsymptoms, cannabismore experirelenceapsesmoreand end tmoletrahydrocannabi ecule called delnta-ol9(-THC). in 10.1038/npp.2009.184), upThese in hospidistcoveri al morees oftaboutthe en. What is lconsti ess weltluentknown, cannabi is thatdiol colSagnileagues k Bhattacharya andtute of at t h e I n sti another lpsychosi ink between cannabi s anddely skunk Psychioanaltry MRIin London used ng to (CBO), through has beenseleliemctiinvatede breedifromng functi brai n scanni s have been wi reported inethed bymediwarnia, noftgsetnhat toTheincrease thenatTHC contentmay. study ththee effects ofTHC andthy CBO on brai n s of heal accompani el i m i i o n ofCBO ya key rols. eLaborat in the devel opment volanduCBOnteers.actThey found tthioatn;THCin street cannabi s hasyears risenandin ofplapsychosi strength i n recent e d i n opposi o ry studi e s poses havecauses showntransi that pure, synthetisc brain regionswhere THC e nt psychosi rithserefore kThitos,thehowever, susceptiaimajsbtooleomirsihealmnoripltihtsytic:. THC n 40 toe. I50n stperarkcentcontofrasthealtotTHC, hy peopl theimportant type offactor. cannabiStreet s takencannabi is an s iCBD ic effectto have , at leanastantin i­ has indeed changed over the psychotappears Neuropsych0 pha rmacology (001:

"The elimination of cannabidiol from skunk may play a key role in the development of psychosis"

22 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

creasedine,neural activity from aandinbasel CBO decreased it, viIn acfurte-versa. hdiernexperi mofentus , a group i n cl u g one (MorriBecklson)ey, Foundati in collaborati on with thecompared o n, thec THCeffeandcts CBO, ofa mi(toxture ofmisynt h et i monic tirtadis owntional(to cannabi s) with. THC mi m i c skunk) Theofferedaimprotecti was to fionndagaioutnifstCBOthe psychot icyeffects ofTHC. Heal t h vol u nt ers were giy forven thetwomolsessieoculns.esTheyintreavenousl receidurivedngthe same amount ofTHC sessihoern;ttheheyonlreceiy divfedference waseach whet CBO asinjwelectilo. Thin a rconsul ty mintutes after psychiandatrist iratnteervid theiewedr experi the voleantnces. unteers Overal l, volsigniuntficeanterslwere rat e d as bei n g lessandpsychoti cafter beicompared nggiventoyTHCTHC CBO ontheitspresence own. Theof iCBOmpliicnaticannabi on is thats count eracts THC' s tendency to t r i g ger transiAnother ent psychosi s. the st u dy from IOinstiForttutei andofPsychi atry byreached Marta col l e agues sipsychosi milar concl usiocompared ns for chronithec s . They cannabi s habipsychot ts of 280ic patinewlentsy with dithoseagnosed Of17mat4 healchedthyforvolage,untesex,ers who were educat onal attaic stnament and socigroupso-eiconomi t u s. Both were equal l,ystrilikelkiyngltoyhave tripsychot ed cannabi s , but , i c pat i e nt s were seven times more likely to have been

Comment on these stories atwww.NewScientist.com/opinion

skunkin thusers. So inunopposed real life, as welby l asCBO eappearslab, THC be partial healcultahrly hazardous fortoment VOI195,P488) . has important Thi s research imedi mpliccalatimari ons forjuana.bothOnstreetthe and medihcalersiCBOde, withel questi on is whet be a useful antiTophelsychoti cdiout,n itstheownBecklrightey. p fi n Foundati on isectsettiinncolg uplaborat a ion research proj wiandthaUnileadiversing tmedi y ColclealgemariLondon jucanah disupplspensary i n Cal i f orni a whi ies overwil 30,anal000ysepatidifferent ents. Thestraistudy cannabiPatis foretheints wir THCl andbe asked CBOns ofwhicontent. ce,hhow strainthseytheycompare find most ef f ect i v wirattehotconvent ionalbothdrugs,benefi and ctoial h er effects, andAsnegat irveete. cannabis, the for st Beckl ey Foundati obenused hopestothatmake thiit safer. s research wi l Skunk, wi19tperh a typicentcandal THCa content of 15 t o eatent theof zero,streethasmarket come. toICBOronidomicont n caldomi ly, manynanceconsito bederaskunk's market consequence of prohis havebitioaln,wasays itleendedgal drugtowardsmarket higher potenci es. The Beckl e y Foundati o n seesregul this aastiyetng theanother argument forcannabi recreat iaonal s market . Onl y i n regulaetedged market cans research the be knowl from thi used to create straifor users. ns which are lessThehazardous the ianddeathatthatevithenatdencereiurensupports knows best, troducti oTwon of CBO woul d be benefi c i a l . molecules are better than one (British Journa/ ofPsychiatry,

. •

One minute with . . .

Newton Jibunoh

The African soil engineer has created a reality TV show called Oesert Worriors to highlight the dangers of desertification

What gave you the idea for Desert Warriors? The idea came out of a number of solo expeditions I made through the Sahara desert, starti ng in 1965 when I hadj ust finished my university education in England, But it was only when I went back across the Sahara in 1999 that I realised the effects of desertification and how climate change had become a global issue

I

affecting mil lions of Africans, realised that one of the best ways to get

Africans to know and experience the Sahara desert is through a reality television show that would bring the whole topic of cli mate change and desertification into African living rooms,

How does the show work?

PROFILE

Before the actual expedition, 50 selected

NewtonJibunoh is a Nigerian soil engineer

participants will be invited to become contestants

and founder of the NGO Fight Against Desert

on an endurance reality show in Agadez, Niger, For

Encroachment ( FADE), He has crossed the

a month they'll be put through endurance exercises

Sahara desert single-handed, twice

and physical fitness challenges, They'll then work with Niger's Ministry of Environment on various green projects such as tree planting. TV vi ewers

survival i n the desert. Based on my u nderstanding

will choose the fi nal 15 contestants, who will

of the soi l textures and formations, I believe there

become the official Desert Warriors, These

are petroleum, gas, gold and possibly diamond

individuals will drive across the Sahara, travel ling

deposits in the Sahara.

from Ni geria and ending u p in the UK, We're canvassing for participants right now, The series will be broadcast in Niger and Nigeria from March.

Where in Africa has desert encroachment had the worst impact? Lake Chad is drying up,

Why should Africans care about desert encroachment when there are more pressing

It

has lost 70 per cent of

its water in the last 30 years, The lake borders four countries - Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and

issues, such as war and famine?

Niger, The people who live there are sufferi ng

If desertification is not tackled soon itwill render

untold hardships,

Africa a desolate conti nent. Its effects will lead to water shortages, low food production, forced migration, the spread of disease and armed

Has your organisation, FADE, had any success in slowing down desert encroachment?

conflicts, Desertification is equally, if not more,

In Makoda village in Kano State, Nigeria, we

lethal than the melting of the ice caps and the

have established a tree-planting progra mme, We

disappearance of the rai nforests,

have also em powered N igerian women through the use of conage industries that utilise local

Amanda Fe i l d i ng is director of the Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust

How has being a soil engineer helped in your exploration of the Sahara?

products from these trees, To nurture the trees we provided a borehole, complete with generator

based in Oxfo rd, U K, that promotes the

It has taught me about the dynamics of sand - the

power to pump the water, The result is that a nearly

investigation of consciousness and its

shifting-sand phenomenon - as well as helping me

abandoned village has now come back to life,

modulation. Paul Morrison is at the

understand which trees have the highest rate of

I nterview by Curtis Abraham

I nstitute of Psychiatry i n London

23 Ja n u ary 2010 1 NewScientist 1 23

OPINION LETTERS

thosetudewhoforhaveinnovati a partiocn.ular Robert Rowl a nd Smi t h' s charmi n g apti essaycissiontudestheofsocigiaftl-andgivineconomi cto Kate Dougl a s' s arti c l e di s cussi n g vi g omi t s I n hi s arti c l e on gi f t g i v i n g, thein diusefferentand itmypesportance ofiorintuals that RoberttheRowltradiatndionSmiis based th stateson homementiomnadethe oremotihard-onalto-fvalind,ueyetof of rel i g personalI amgigratfts.eful to Smith (remi 19 December 2009,a recent p paper thedescriChribinstigathen natgifivtsitgiyvstenoryto cheap,However, n ded me of clofarelimiignigonthatcoulthed beevolintuitimoatnely themenbaby(19 December Jesus by the2009,threepwi34)s.e forChriinstmas: spiringa framed my presents forof thinexts Paul Monaghan criticised copy relaigteiodustorithetualcosts onimtheposedbeliebyvers plaCustoms varyginalfromly giplftsawere ce to essay on the perils of giving. finegat ive comments about butthe l m relwho ce, but ori himspactcallsofneoni forresearch iointod the practpaperise, tbyhem.Joe Henrich oftSt Niencholgivenas'sonday.6 December, The i c oti n Aft e r t h e from versity of BriCanada tish found pestintc(i1d2esDecember on coloni2009, es mispses29)the. Reformatit unacceptabl ion, Protestante to giareasvegifts ColumbitheaUniin Vancouver, poi Whileebees around healththeinworl manyd is ithen honour oftoaChri saint,stmas so shiday.fted volthe 30,costply244)ritual, suggests t h at countri custom s,assuch"credias bility gifItns many ipesti ndeedcidveryes butpoorthe, itspread is notof partibutseofd tothetheworlChrid, tshte scari f i c at i o n, act are at t r tmireatment -irsesitosbltaname.t varroa enhanci ningtensidisplfyays"the(belCREDs) that chimenldwere himselinvoked f; the three wise serve to i e f of l a ter and t e s that Thi2008s wasby confi r med i n November those partaki n g i n , watchi n g or onl y l o cal l y . As the wi s e men are aFoodstudySafetcarriy Agency ed out by(AtheFSSA)French evenTheheariideanigs aabout thebleriandtuals. supposed to haveBethltaken sometheir , pl a usi ti m e to reach e hem, whi c h found t h at "factors iwinttehresttheinmodel g one devel that tioepeds inbynicely arriJanuary. val is oftIfeginfconsi d ered to be ihidentigh mortal fied [aist1yresponsi beles for t-shoul givingdwere based i n col o ni Harvey Whi t ehouse, whi c h forms on thei r story, i t happen have been mostl y biologiscagent al, ". theHenritheme of Douglexplas'asiartin howcle. onThethathidate.story ofChristmas parti c ul a rl y the varroasi c h' s CREDs This dids"notof a confi rm thenant evolvedoffers in customs isgoften at leasticatedas as Dave Boothman notes that factors hypothesi thethea mechani firelrstigplioaussmce;ribytWhiuwhialstehouse predomi i n teresti n and compl role kattrieepibnutedg profeSSi to pestionalcidsesinby psycholbyogiSmicalth.dimensions ithatndiccoulatorsd beofiregarded as strong n tel l i g ence, such as beework to promote religchioCREDs n. thediscussed French beeconclcolounyded.mortality", theandnumber of patents awarded t h e study performance at uni v ersi t y , do notch lneces sarimlytocorrel autdee well, whi e ads hi concl tinhtelat IlQigence is not(1a9good measure2009,of Jim Ring describes his experience Enigma N u mber 1579 December mite infestati oantioinn by p 30)Tests. Heofisanyrightdescri . ption follow ofhisalvarroa Fifteen o cal honeybee popul lnyhimisnimal atheconvergent modelbe ,eiintherwhiricghht effreleatctinong thepolapparent l i n ati o n i answer must orcomponent wrong. Yets ofonehigofhtheabilkeyity is New Zealp 29)and. garden (12 December 2009, However, honeybees downoti fruit thewicapaci to diverge.answerComing normal upfrom teveryone h a dityfferent l y pol l i n ate the ki rawberriaffected. es he menti oplnsantsas eln anse does not orthestcrops getbutyouit is marks i I Q test, These is needed domakenotitexude enough nectar to toresponses innovatpreciecannot . Asseldiy vwhat ergent worth thei r whi l e . Commerci al farmersto polcanlionlnatey bes domarked rireflghtectorthiwrong, t e st not i n duce honeybees pltoafulntsfibyl theigivrinneedg themforsugar s vitoalnidinmg.ension of these syrup a food mentTheaexil functi source. The honeybees wi l then s tence of a test fordiffdierence vergenceto ourcoulabidlmake n, ity to iadentify goplatontskijwusti fruiforttheandpolstrleawberry Appropriate religion

Presence of presents From Dean Conrad

From Laurel Fogarty

From Wiebke MWier

London,

UK

Mite-y foe

62)

From Dominic Dyer, Crop Protection Association

Hess/e, East Yorksh ire, UK

Vanishing ofthe Bees,

(Evolution and Human Behavior,

6

Diverge from IQ

From Kate Hopkinson, Inner Skills Consultancy

St Andrews, Fife, UK

Jii/ich, Germany

Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, From William Summers

©

ALBERT HADDAD

©©© F I V E

I n the addition sum on the rightthe

©© F I V E ©

digits have been replaced by letters

+© F I V E ©©

and smi ley faces, Different letters

= F I F T E E N

stand for d ifferent digits, the same letter stands for the same digit. a

If FIVE is divisible by 5 and

smiley face can be any digit, and

ELEVEN i s divisible by 11, what

lead ing digits can not be zero.

number is FIFTEEN?

WIN £15 will be awarded to the sender of the fi rst correct

answer opened on Wednesday 24 February, The Editors decision is final.

Please send entries to Enigma 1579, New Scienti st, Lacon Ho use,

84 Theobal d's Road, London WClX 8NS, o r to [email protected]

(please include your postal address),

Answer to 1573 Sat. Sun, Man, Tue: The numerical total is 59136 The winner Neil Dunford of Walton on Thames, Surrey, UK

24 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

UK

For more letters and to join the debate, visit www.NewScientist.com/letters

proviThedopied tnhieyonarepiecenearby. lhoneybee et er relatdied,sappearance which cltoawhiimiedscnothththate apglobalandtrendindeed theOctober letter itselasf, cause me t o vi e w aithoneybee-demi se deni er.sWhidomle itackls good to see recei v ed wi s should onlybe with greateed,rwithisdom. (24

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26),

New Scientist

breed in captivity have faiThiledsthem October p The i s not ent i r el y true. Taronga WestSouth ern PlWalainseZoos, in Dubbo, New Austral iali,thasters,bredinclaudinumber ofcubs cheet a h n g t w o born inspend much In theofwithldeither timtweo sexes IrealbeliieSveingthethizoo's ands success wasapart. i n keeping them in separate enclosures. (31

200g, 28).

recovery. lcertookiainnglyinbeMaybe topreferabl this;ititiswoulworte todhinvasive procedures like trepanation. Waterford West, Queensland, Australia

200g.

Reassigned phrasing From Jennie Kermode, Trans Media Watch

Your general ly well-many writ epeopl n piecee about t h e concerns have with the Mark Buchanan ditsude,cussesstating manageri a l i n epti menti o ns i t s effect on in a parti csular Islniphipis nartig, MicleconhaelthBrooks e sciencestates: of Arran Frood's article on the use transgender people December rolthate wia lel ngtimhpaiy stir anntempl o yee' performance becausebogged "peopldown e of tJruepanat ionpto treatmadedementi a regard The artbyithecle iuses letofdown in this event "It's ascifunny oldteachworlrestd, where PhD e nti s ts a urant u al l y become the phrase ne me inecompet eence". changeoftensurgery". Notoratonlively yis, byItnhmyeir own cleaners how to cleanpfl49)oors". What thimother nk backwastodiagnosedwhenwimyth acute­ "sexexperi nce, t h thi s term used pej December for thi. Peopl s is, ienusual fact, ly t is alseoxmisetslofeadiprocedures, ng as it reduces a slexplightlanatiy dioffnerent is notlosow payfunnyaccorded is the lotowclstatus .balIn aafewnced,weeks icompl whi c h shecomposed wentdementi fromladyaawho andeverywhere. eaners onset start a jobivwie, ltohtsa offreshideas and may notridinsoundbi volve actte.uTheal surgery, looked perspect aft e r hersel f to a compl e t e l y to a l u term We woul d surel y see far fewer amountgoby,of enthusi asm.have uninhibwho ited,atunrecogni sablnoteeven better deaths fromwerehospi taltheinfectstatusionsandif woman "gendersuireassi gnment " would Asa hugetheyears the i d eas t i m es di d clpayeaners gi v en t your purposes. herthatchisomeldren.weeks theirworkmirealsconcept ly deserves. The remember been impliveemented, theset in a rut, perspect becomes wianyone despread i o n t h at I noti c ed andthe boredom the enthusiofaasmfamiis lrepliar routacedinbye. ier herreasons, diabeteswispecithdrawn alist had,the standard,canandcletanhattothaeyprofcanessidoosonal forantiearlsound Thentaconundrum ofn how tove ammattakioryngmedi catiloyn mai i n moti v ati o and dri shebasihad-sinfortflbeen on a dai ng managers is or he previdiosusturbances years. Mark Buchanan' sgiarties forcle selecting onein loofng-thservie headaches After the mental of seni di s cussi n g st r at e promoti onngment ioned management. a lowrin ­ stafffor t h e i d ea of choosi unsuccessful daionappeared, ltyhedosebasisheofs tslhwasatowitrelwasputeaseonunlaspi peoplnote sostranded as to ensure thattheythey to Shecausestarted harm.to improve, andikely arecannot i n j o bs performThewelartilcle imDecember p ple iideeas siaspix weeks aft e r st a rt i n g to t a ke the t h at thi s i s an unacceptabl r i n she was back to her pl a ci d , that cannot be who implwork ementoned,thebut calookmafter and normal self,nabl. Shee tolived many of those lunti hersel f agai floorpract suspectice. it is already l durinonfurther g whichmental time shop she suffered common onandthetragedy cheap,inhasto toobrought pai n Theinpremi sieviesworkers that theare many lives. disItamurbances. most effect convi n ced her dement i a tothetheleast blthoeod systplaceematwhereicaltlhyeymoved can do flwassudden owtheto therescessatiulbrait ofonndecreased caused by ofcheratioantn, i­ damage: management ., Known as t h e Di l b ert pri n ci p l e it wasst iwhinflachmmat o ry medi devel o ped by Di l b ertcartooni has the effect of thi n ni n g Iinnformed his let eusr, Colof hilysnexperi Riversences theincreasiblood.ngSubsequent ly giving Scott Adamsto theas apopul satiriacrialty bl o od fl o w by response od thinthener-aspi ofNictame ch Henryto hera broughtbloabout miraclerin­ of the Peter principle. hollscheetahs, replied thatto whiattempts

SturminsterNewton, Dorset, UK

Weston, ACT, Australia

Skilled cleaning

From Jeffrey Bowes

Dementia treatment

From Maaike Waldburger

(13

(lg

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ofMen tal Disorders (12 200g, P 38).

From Anthony Williams

200g, 33) 2001

200g,

Glasgow, UK

Managers manage?

From Neil Fairweather

2S

High Peak, Derbyshire, UK

(lg

200g, 68).

For the record

• The correct reference for the study

which compared the i ncidence of

heart attacks in London bus drivers

2007,

a nd conductors is The Lancet,

vol 262, p 1053 (9 January, p 34).

Nuneaton, Warwicksh ire, UK

Letters should be sent to: Letters to the Editor, New Scientist,

Breeding the beasts

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From Tom Bellas

Risley, Cheshire, UK

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23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 25

OPINION TH E BIG I DEA

Invasion of the m i nd-snatchers Western notions of mental illness are one of the US's most insidious exports - and they are spreadin g around the world like a contagion, says Ethan Watters

IN THIeStoagevalofueglandobalbeisatsensiion,tyouive about wouldtheiexpectr peopl lcoulocalddibefferences andticaldithanversidityf.ferent And fewpeoplareases' more cri understandi ngaofthe human miness.nd when it comes to ment l heal t h and i l For exampl e, atuNiralgerily dianstimannct form mightof experi e nce a cul depressi on bywhidescri binngesea "peppery" feelght ing ispeak n his head, l e a Chi farmer mi only ofwomen shoulderrefugees or stomach aches. Salpsychol vadorean sufferi nilgwar, on o gi c al t r auma aft e r a l o ng ci v eninexperi nce somethi ng caltheForleotdhaerlonghand,timaofte,feelpsychi gofatriinestense body heat. ts andil nmediess icnal anthropol o gi s ts studyi n g mental diarefferent cultyuresdistfound thatglomental il ndoesses not evenl r i b ut e d bal l y , and not takeunattheesame formhealfromthplprofessi ace to plonalace.s Unfort l y , mental in the US,howwhomentaldomiilnnateessestheareglocatbaledigoriscussised on about andthesetrdieatfferences. ed, have often ignored or dismissed versions ofsedmental il nessescan areversiWorse, nowonsbeiatloancalngexthomogeni i n t o Ameri raordinaryin whiratec.hThiI expls is ore why I wrot e thestressspread offoUTanorexi il nesses:a, schipost-zophreni traumatia andc di s order, depressiforms on. In tofhimental s essay, Iilconcent rate on towno western ness -depressi calorias,

Crazy Like Us,

and PTSD -whithe speed ch areofspreadi naggiaround the worl d wi t h a cont o us di s ease, bulil nlessdoziasnthey g indigo.genous forms of mental Twovingpowerful differents ofPTSD forcesisarebeing drispread thiby rovis. Thengbutdibands agnosi ofwesternogictrauma counsel l o rs who set up psychol al firAnd st aid centres after wars and natural di s asters. ourpromotwestern concepti onioofnaldepressi on is beiens g e d by mul t i n at drug compani who htibuyly whentheiother culepressants. tures adopt theLaurence idprofiea andt miKithengrmayer, r anti d diralrector ofathetrydiatvision ofMcGisocil aUnil andversitranscul t u psychi tyGlinaMontreal , Canada, had a front r ow seat as xoSmi t hKl i n e l a unched its antil/Seroxat depressant paroxet ine (mKiarketrmayer, ed as Paxi ) i n J a pan i n anon authori tiyl noness,thehadimbeen pact ofinvicultetduralto abeliefs ment a l ItheGSKt wastruesponsored onlagenda: y whenacademi hethearricompany vcedconference thatwanted he realinhiisJsedapan. dge toihell nessp itcanunderstand how cultural belknowl"The iefseabout be changed. ntyicials apresentati on ofonldepressi oennts' andethnocul anxicletiural funct i o n not y of pati backgrounds, but ofthethey find structure of the heal t h care system themsel ves intheyand encounter the diagnostiin cmasscategorimediesa amarket wasdiaformi ds ablof depressi e. The natonio-n did have andand concepts cl i n i c al gnosi with family,lfriaterendsin and butdescriit wasbed notan ihl innessg likase devast the USaversi oandn: itas t i n g cliniicniadins,al"oKiguermayerwrote In a globaltransacti ising worlodn, all forstigthematsalisiensgprospects as schizophreni ad.epressants Worse, at least ofandthesetransformati factors areoninacross "constant of anti es ofrace, imeln Jaapan,ncholitywaswererare.notMostconsiother states of in d ered i l n esses culcultture,ural clbelass,iefsandaboutnatidepressi on". Iboundari n otherwords, apan.sadness Indeed,wastheoftexperien consi encedoferedproltoobenged, onmessages and the self Jdeep areexported malleablfrome andoneresponsi v e to a aer.personal ture toin another. The challenge GSKculfaced the Japanese charact To makehardshi paroxetpitnheata buihit,lds 2000.

"Globalisation's greatest

success story may be the

spread of PTSD diagnosis"

utsubyo ­

The Journal

PROFILE Ethan Watters is a journalist who writes on social trends for publications that include Wired and The New York Times Magazine. His books i nclude Urban Tribes. This essay is based on h i s latest book, Crazy Like Us: The globalization of the American psyche (Free Press/Sirnon and Schuster)

26 1 NewScientist I 23January 2010

ofClinical Psychiatry.

jibyo,

For more opinion articles and to add your comments, visit www.NewScientist.com/opinion

The Sri Lankan experience of the 2004 tsunami differed significantly from western diagnoses

In our rush to treate, wetheselpsychi c wounds ofcan traumati s ed peopl d om ask i f PTSD beof auseful lyleappleventiedhaseverywhere. "Theimeani ng horri b a tremendous m pact ondiffersthe human psyworlche,dand. Thethmeani at meaning nmatg ters across the aspsychol muchoasgisthet atevent, " saysColKenlege,MiCllaeremont r, a , Pomona ifornia,thewhoreacti studioensd iton Afghani stan and elCalsHeewhere war trauma. foundon anymanywestern psycholPTSDogicsymptom al reactionslisthatt, were not andEnglaisfewh. InwiAfthghani no ready transl ationein, there to s tan, for exampl was theasensati type ofonnervous anger, andf h of agi t ati o n or pressure. aornithraa State Fernando, a psychol oAngel gist ates, CalalsGioiffound Uni v ersi t y , Los cultrauma turallyindipoststincttsunami psycholSriogiLanka. cal reacti o ns to By andhololagirge,cal reacti Sri Lankans dilinden'wit report patstates o ns i n th'sthePTSDinternal maki n g up most oft h e west checkl (khe)yperarousal andnegattheiviselticonsequences . Rather, they,oftemoti teragindedocnalevent tonumbi sees itnheng terms ofdamage to socishowed al reltheatiopeopl nshipes. Fernando' s research who contiisolnuedatedtofromsuffertheiwerer socithoseal netwhoworkhador become who wereThusnotSrifulLankans fil ing theiconcei rroleviedn kithneship groups. tsunami damage inrsionment de their. miMany nds butresearchers outside,asioccurri nwhothefound socinganotl envi culturalwhetly her dicounsel stinctlexpressi o ns of t r auma worry beof dieffectstress.iveArtifthheyur don' tman, know thea medilocalcaloidrsantiocanmshropol Kl e i n at Harvard Unido notversioccur ty, saysin thethatwest,oalgithst"weough mostindiandsasters come pathol ogistoe theiliverwireactith thions.s siWetuatisayon''y. ouWedon'taket know how theiaterrir culbletuexampl ral narrate ofivdehumani es and impose ours. Iet.'"s s i n g peopl ust symptal om ldiissDepressi ts.orderJustofthe asohystn andViecritoriPTSD a wasanaren' aera,quisotnjtessenti PTSDhowandthe depressi o n speak vol u mes about US andntheassumpti west concei ve of thethe seleventf. Theys that contai o ns about mipsychol nd andogiwhere the landwiinledamage lpathol ies betowgitheeencalhuman normal c al states ones.wiThey go farbeyond descri b i n g di s orders t h a symptom with them, we are exporting a worldvicleuwster: asabi, e-bala,

it wouldfornotpeopl be enough to cornerwiththe small market e di a gnosed AsinflKiurencemayertherealJapanese ised, GSKunderstandi intendedntog of sadness andI wasdepressi onnatg wastheadeepest latievelonal. "What wi t nessi mul t i n pharmaceuti cal corporati onment workianl ghealhardth," toKirredefi n e narrat i v es about mayerng effects, said. "These changes have far­ral reachi i n formi n g t h e cul t u conceptitheions rofeveryday personhood andAndhowthispeopl e conduct l i v es. i s ngnonag long-globalheldscalculet.uralThesebelcompani es arethehappeni upendi i e fs about meanich isnexact g of illynwhat ess andGSKhealappears ing." to have Whi accomplished. Promoting depression as a utsubyo.

- popul a coldaofristhee thesouldia"gnosi - s. GSK managed to In thefirinsteyearinJaonpanthebrought marketin, sales ofmil ion. paroxet were approaching $350 mil ion andByGi2005, rivisninggthey qui c kl y . depressis. It ohasn stionlffycompeti tifoinciaisl"the PTSD di a gnosi been" of siPsychi nce atricwhen Associiattientered on's the Americbutan it has haduseaitmeteori cdriesafter e. Westnatural ern counsel lors now worl d wi di s asters, wars andcalgenoci des. oAccordi ng tolAl, tlhane Young, aofmedi anthropol gi s t at McGi spread PTSD as a di a gnosi s worl d wi d e may be "greatest success story ofglobalisation". the kokoro no kaze

"

$100

1980,

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ofMen tal Disorders,

is ar

­

. •

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 27

How should we broadcast our existence to extraterrestrial civ i l isations? Stephen Battersby we ighs up the options

28 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

HEdecades cosmosofstisrquiainient.gEeriourlyradiquioeearst. After Th,forweahavewhisheard per ofnotcivhiliinsatig. Noonsreassuri beyondng Eart helpful recior pe forformessage buiavertldiiofnngguniglfastovbaleersalr-catastrophes. than-peace.lightNospacecraft a stPerhaps ray intetrsthere'el asrnobody advertisoutement.thereNotaftevener Or perhaps it'as ljuinstteearll igyencedays(SiET!n the), andsearch foralwe'l. rextraterrestri isteninwavel g to theengths. wrong star systems or at thee lwrong

Therehead is another possi bilityla,rsaysMessage Douglas Vakoch, of the I n terstel Composi tnioVineprogramme at, whithe cSET!h ponders Institutthee in Mountai w, Cal i f orni a questi n of howeveryone' we shoulsdlicommuni catenowioneth alis itransmi ens.o"Maybe s teni n g but tltiisnatig.oMaybe it takesto doanthat.audaci" ous young ci v i n l i k e ours Sovoishould? Andd weifstart sendicannweg messages intoves theunderst so, how make oursel oodronomer to beingshaswealrknow nothi ng upabout? One ast eady st e pped to the challenge. Alexander Zaitsev at the

COVER STORY

idesti nto space. "Igdigambl slike seeied wingthmybychia coupl ldren'e s n y bei n itofmhreedozen ageother ofarrogant themembers alien,peopl " sayshaveeBriwhoquin. Siclt nforincegsittohmenoneilar some sympat harey wimuch th Britooreasons. ni'ms poiportVakoch nat ofnt viandehasw.too"These i s sues compl exoton."be resolved aftIefrtheonlenthusi y a few days of di s cussi aastsrealforefactifortvtoe SETIsendgeta message, their way and t h ere i s theSome nextearlquestiy attempts on is: whatto communi should wecsay? ate wito tNASA' h aliesns-iPioneer ncludi10nandg the11plspacecraft aques attached , and tprobes he phonograph records on the Voyager -were realreceily onlvedy symbol iciseftfhorte s. More l i k el y to be one day powerful radioDrake broadcast devifrom sed bythSETIe piArecioneerbo Frank and sent tela loengscopewaiitnforPuerto Ricoifiwen 1974.relyon Wethishave contact won' thefor di25,s0tant,00though: staryears.cltheuItsterwasmessage italwasso aaivery medbritat,reach M13, ef message, cont"These aininareg onlgreety 210inbytg cards, es of"insaysformat ion. Set h ShostInak,stiwhotute.is"Iat seniis niocer astronomer atintghcard, e SET! to get a greet butdon'hard to deciand,pherbecause if it's inthea laamount nguageofyou t underst material is so limited."

We're all ears, yet we haven't heard from any extraterrestrials

The Arecibo message shows: • the numbers l to 10

D atomic number of key biological elements • the sugars and bases in the nucleotides of DNA • the DNA double helix D the number of nucleotides • a human • average height of an adult human • the h u man population i n 1974

the solar system • the Arecibo telecope • diameter ofthe Arecibo telecope

Russi aEngin Academy ofandSciElence'ectronis Instics tinuteMoscow of Radi o n eeri n g has sentbeamed four itonterstel lar than messages sinceof1999, each no more a handful nearby sun-llscalike stars. Zaitsev'ands efforts arehis pret t y smal e , however, so far group is moreoperatior leossnsalofoneferiexcept for some lmessage ow-power n g to send your to t h e stars for a fee. Thatwicoulth spendi d be aboutng sotolochange. Perhaps bored ng heari nnggnothi ng, tconsi he widdereraSET!morecommuni t y i s starti t o active approach. They wil

getit attogether tog idin Apri scussl iwhet her toCigoty,forTexas. a meeti n n League Vakoch, who"I havewil chai rhelthesed thesessiposions,tioins talhlat iaftn favour. l o ng r broad-d bebased inactternative SET!ional,"consul tation, weIetshoul doi n g he says. stronomer andwas'ascis anmember enceapproach fictiofotnhtautheatInhworri orternatDavieisoex-dnalBriaAcademy n, who ofresiAstronauti cstheSETIcommi paneltuntteeibackt l 2006.racked He g ned when ondiscussi the wordi ng ofdela protiberatocoleltyhbroadcasti at called forng on before

Alconstructed, though theiAreci boicmessage is cunni ngly t i s di ff ul t even for a human to1679understand. The sichosen gnal contai ns sequal a seritoestofhe bi t s , a number as i t i ofistwothispriwiml eprompt numbersan-23acuteandali73.en Theproduct hope arrangee. DoithengIssoandrevealOs ins toa rata her 23-recicomplbpY-ie7intto 3catedrectangl piformat cture,iwhion about ch is supposed tocalgive some basi c i n our chemi andthe solbioalrosystem gical makeuilp,ustrati our ciovn,ililseatift)o. n and ( s ee me it lfourookseyesa bitandlikeeiagsmalht bushy l personeyebrows. with aSobiTotghehead, e got riagge.ht i"Is tthies much "person"worse, andif tyouheredon'Ionlhadtyhaveabibit Ig'lvoadvant xts,aifysyouShostak. don't even knowSowhere aboutmightt ofwecontfindesome commoncs. This ground wi t h ET? Perhaps i n mathemati ideasuggested goes back about thcoulree centuri es,nwhen it wasmoon that we d hai l bei gs on the byicutti ng aforests diagramof SiofbPythagoras' s theorem n to the eri a . In 1960, Dutch mathematician Hans Interstellar geek speak

Homo sapiens,"

>

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 29

hcalal lproposed anthatinstarts terspeciwitehs simple lmatFreudent anguage e d Uncos hematical1 statements -apIserie. ietsthofenbeepsuses totheserepresent 1 2 for exam toaldefily buineldloingigcupal reltoamore tionshicompl ps, ex event u concepts of timyeiandn thespace. More recentl 1990s, mathemati cian Carl DeVi t o and l i n gui s t Robert Oehrl e , both then atantheattempt Universitotspeed y ofAriupzonathisinprocess Tucson, made by assumiedgenofg thatphysirespondents haveIn DeVisometo's knowl c al concepts. scheme, once some mathemati cal andd llaounch gical symbol s have been defi n ed, we woul into adidescri penergy tion ofithen teperirmsoofdispeci c tablfei,candheats then s cuss ofcivtihliesatieleoments ande ofsorecei on. They argue thato any n capabl v i n g our radi edge ofphysics tosigWhi buinallsdlemust radiinterstel ohave receilasome vrers.geek-knowl speak misystghtembeandfine forthe sendi n g detai l s of your sol a r notsuchsoaseasyhuman to move onnattoularetestmoreandteculabstchnolture.ractogy,How ideas,it'swoul d youinconvey a si"Imt plseems e sentithmatentsoonerlike "weor lacome peace"? ter one must falmilgback onthepionlctures, " saysto convey DeVitoto. Imanagesalien ht be y way whatwe'ourrworl e talkdiinsgliabout, andwoulto show them what k e. They d n' t need to have vision like ours, merely some way

andThenspatthey ial patcoulternsd atintaatchlesymbol ast twos each bit ofssioinnformat ion byslishightfltyinupg torhedown. A ditotomunderst ensi o ns. transmi frequency meaniwencangs, ldoikebetter a childthanwith"cows a picturego moo". book. binumber t can represent a blabeckbuior whilt uptepisquare, andxela And of t h em can x el by pi nto a serieSome s of piofctures liform ke theaoriratghiernalsketchy Arecibo Paol o Musso, avphiersilotysopher at thitealPonty, hasifical imessage. Urbani a na Uni i n Rorne, t h em outl combitalneematusinhgematthe ics drawi "bilinngualgs meant imagetoglshow ossary"concepts -a dozeninclhanduding andprocessiinmedagesofoneanaltowaytelogy.ltoaFimoral rmean st, aririthmeti c iswrong, used to andpeoplRussie, famianwords ly, natuattached. re and games, wihasth Englalsoish establ i s h si g nal s that g ht and Zai t sev defiThesenedcanbythensumsbethaappltareiedritoghcartt andoonswrong.showing soot incluhdede, oranperhaps excerptirofritthere miiennlmusi c to a t e , al i s teners. whatManywe ofconsithesederapproaches to be good andstartbadwitactih ons. counti ng,concept butwhatofiarifthethmeti slimyc?ones"Theredon'istno But the main content was a series Of127-by-127 have our ee that if ETse wihaveth ours,mat"hsaysematVakoch. ics it wil piStone" xel im, devel agesoformi ngastronomers the "interstelYvan lar Rosetta ped by Dutil beHeguarant commensurabl and ot h ers have i n st e ad suggest e d a more and St e phane Dumas from Defence Research Canada'sinandValDeVi cartieto'r,s creat iveechannel ofcommuni catiobn:lesendi ng andQuebec.DevelUkeopment exampl s of our cul t ure. I t i s possi , Vakoch Freudenthal thethimere.agesTheystartalwiso tihnclariudethmeti c says, tuse-Lautrec hat aliens wipail devel opora taste forLux approaches, Toul o n ti n gs Meade and bui l d from graphs strate physi chs,'sastopography well as sketches ofman the Lewi s boogidonee-wsomethi oogie numbers, andwhitlheen. Inwe2008 tosolialrusystem, Eart and the wiNASAl have n g wort h from thecomplPioeneerx sigplnalaque.s, Zaitsev transmi Beatl esmatedthe andAswoman wel l as these stotherar Polsounds aris, whiandttedlemessages artia songst JobyThe e Davi s has ai at-Cosmi two nearby stars. hasIn "Atrmessage ansmittefrom d a moreEartlhig",htsentweiignht2008,message. Zai t s ev' s l o nger messages c Cal l I contri butiwereons from users ofa sisocinglealplnetanetary working andof these2, andideas.TeenEachAgemessage Messageconsi -combistsnofe aseveral beam si t e Bebo di r ect e d at se 581. toIf anyone sent fromUkraithenEvpatori radio tsystem telof radiescopeo waves in southern e,whichaencoded hinere2029is around l-folistenilowedntheg, theybystar26,canGl0i00eexpect recei vtexte it unsol i c i t ed messagesttedcolllaestctedyear.byAt 50 to 60magazi ne and transmi ki l o bytes, "How do you convey a s i m p l e tthanhereiins themoreAreciinformat ion in tgihveiCosmi cnCalls sentiment l i ke iwe com e i n peacei b o message, n g al i e cryptol and lianhelguipsitsngsomethi nlogttoofwork to an a l i e n spec ies?" wiwhatth. hasToogigibeen vsetsthem hand, a sentrealislyredundant. "Redundancy helps,a"guess says Shost ak,thase imeani t allowsngaandrecithen pientcheck to make about e in a crossword. Heunderst suspectsood mithatghtallbetheunnecessary. polit,itliekeffort s tolobet of "A people wondercs orwhatpictures? we shoulMyfidrsend. Music, mathemati st thought is iItnprobabl y doesn'suggests t matter,t"hheat wesays.just st e ad, Shostak gabbl e. "MytheconclGooglusioenservers. is that youThat'wouls and just send them enormous nformatc. Much ion, much ofis ipornographi t redundantamount andc too,pibutcoftoigraphi of i t I expect theyquesticoulonsd like, handl e t h at . " ( A l t h ough i t rai s es canAccordi Earth handl e a tril iosncalorders forons,Visendi agra?n) g n g to Shostak' c ul a ti so much that ET isstveryuffbecomes good at lispract teninicgalandifwehasassume the +

=

Give them porn

Cosmos

The Arecibo telescope has transmitted several messages to the stars

30 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

Aliens intelligent enough to communicate with us are likely to be predators

technol pihcekbackground up a faint, rapinoidselyofchangi ng sigalgnalaxy.agaiIofgythneytost thave t h e trulencycl y vast radiopedio diassandhes, then we can send them evenShostak librarialessoinapoisensi blethatamount oftiterstelme.lar n ts out an i n iseven quitereach likelyittos desti be a onewnayuntideall : ilmessage tomay not n ati o afteryourthecionlviliyschance ation hasofended. Soanasalithiens iworls ngprobabl tel l i n g aboutas wehumani ty, we might as well say as Ofmuchdcourse, can. itchat woul, asd bethimuch better ifweus to coul d actual l y s woul d al l o w gradual other ourstanceslanguages and hinigstorih onels.iymButteach ipossineach terstel l a r di make that balteivunle. ess we can somehow sendSociaorepresent logivsersit WitlyiianmFaiBairfax,nbriVidrgegiofniaGeorge Mason Uni , is i t i e s tencoded rying to idevel o p avat a rs, human personal nonesoftwinare.to deepIfhespace, succeeds,perhaps we coul d send aersr probe. isoftprogrammed fwewcanare fiworks, nd ainwayweto ancoultoitelnterst ld even receiel vsend howavatOrourars to What themevivera aweradidecio beam. de, the nextBroadcasti problemng ilos udlwherey tototheaiwhol m oure message. skybeyond would useourlcapabi udicrouslities amounts of power, far today. Ininstead, actisystems. ve SETIAwoul diktarget promi s g star sunl etelstarescopes isuch s a start;as Keplplaenetsr shoularedbetbeteablr. Space e tofutdetecture pltelaenetscopess thatshoul are Earths i z e, and e to picandk outoxygenthoseinwitheithrliatmospheres. qduievent d watuealrlony betheablsurface This stilisl t,mihowever, ght not because be a well-citavrgetilisateidons address very thiEartnly spread. "Evends, itfhyouat mifound amay lnotistbebegood h l i k e worl gehthad enough, " says Shostak. "We' v ol40ogyyears; for 4that' bil iosn1 years, andmil radiion.o" Itelf theescopes forbitechnol i n 100 ogicalwewimindowght have for altoienstransmi is as short as100oursmilthen t tous. i o n Earths before anyone hears Fordpracti candalreasons, Shostakbottomthinlksinewe shoul wai t l i s ten. "The is that fortargetthesforeseeabl etfuthatuhave re, thecontacted only decent are peopl e you.InLetthethem doimthee, plheavy ligftouring.own " meant a nni n message coulwhatd helkipndtooffocuscommuni the micnatidsonofweSETI expert s on shoulhdinbeg tologookiby,ng weoutcanfor.expect If Earth'asbasieffortc mats arehs anyt lesson and some pictures of naked aliens OflO,OOO

. •

I

neighbours I nte l l igent a liens probab ly won't look m uch l i ke us humans - so what w i l l they be l i ke?

Stephen Battersby i nvestigates

ENTACLED monst ers, palbeie skingsnofnypure humanoi d s, shi m mery offreeTwhattoenergy allet iouren.liim.fWhen eagiformsnatitimicomes gon roam. ht ltoooktThehleikquesti e,sciweence­areon itno-acqui waitinregiofts fiextrstratpieerrest rdatial anat onobody my has yet ce of a , so knows whatfeatures weenswicome l beholface-d itfoand-face. when humans and al i OrDespi face totesquithisrlmyacksomethi ng.dence, a blend of hard evi of astronomy and earthlybiology offers

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23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 31

plabagsnet'sofsurface. Though pretves,tyitdestcoulrductbeivae torefreshi wat e r l i k e oursel ngstdraught foracibeid-dnwelgs wilersthwoul the ridghave ht bi! toobechemi r y. These formed ofr Venusi chemiacnsalllyivresiingsitantn liqmateri als. "Mul t i c el l u l a ui d c acid suggests, could haveconjveiunrisnmade ofsions glofsuladelpss,huri"icBenner g up vi ate, transly over parenttheglVenusi asswareancreatrocks.ures, rolButliglngasscareful ials notly robust the onlmaty optieriaoln:s woul mored also fit mechani c theacidbi-sltabl. "There areasflTefexilobn,le polpolyymers tnehatandare e , such et h yl e siliElcone, " Bennerin ourpoisolntasroutsyst. em, surface lakes s ewhere and seasOnexiSatsutrn'tosthmoon is dayTi-though notarewatformed ery ones. t an, they frommethane, a chil ed andhydrocarbon cocktai lspecul of ethaneates andabout Schul z eM akuch whatmigforms ofglger,ife they mis unexpected ght harbour. "Thi n gs ht be bi " i s hi conclchuconstrai sion. "Water hasvola uhimeghofsurface tensicellso. n, whiThat n s the si n gl e 's whytensibacteri aaonmetEarth areethsoanesmalblelnd." Theis surface o n i n h aneAstrobi o l o gi s t Di r k Schul z eM akuch of Washi ntgton versisuppl ty in Puliedlbymanthese amuch lbower, so siSchul ngle celze-lsMcoulakuchd behasenormous, calventculs acoul es dthatfeedStatheteaUnilenergy possi i l i t y that atrgeurnpopul asupport tion of a expl odreder-siinzedhisminovelcrobes moving over the"I have mi c robes, whi c h i n coul d boul Europa'whistetopshark,predatwoulor,d says. someenticlsutsesaretoeven whatwiisloutingthtoere.makeA fewan boleducatd ed thepyramiequidvofalepredators. surface"Thatandisguzzlscienceingfiupctihydrocarbons, " he nt of our great sciguess o n of course, but creat u"Europa re with acoulmassd ofsupport -wait a thereIn ourmayeyes,be somethi nnigainsn imit." ght seem pretty at theworl natudres. of aliens that might exist beforaitfearsome -about 1 gram. onWhat faraway the Ti t a these extraterrestri alswiexpect l be ltoike notshribemp-enough sized organi sm,feed" heasays. There woulatiodn very laid back. At around kelchemi vin, Tictalan'reacti s seasonsare depends on where and how we prey to vi a bl e popul col d and t h at makes meet them.thereBarriarentwg theo broad appearance ofitifels:ying ofShri predators biedggerdoesn'thant have that.to mean shrimp­ andsupersloslw-ow.growi"Thinng,gs" says couldSchul beveryze-Mslakuch. ow-movi"Theng saucers, possi b i l m ps i z ofabout course.how"Itiitswoul kinddoflodiok,ffi"csaysult to say years, eineitherghbours we havebyvia clsiotseingencounter wiandth ourmoons shaped, lifetimore ofperhaps such anasorgani sasmamaymilbeion.10," 000 anyt h i n g much t h e pl a nets Schul ze-anMakuch. Even ondivEartersihtyaniofmshapes als have next antinginmuch terstelmore lar phone calplalnetstodoor; creatthatorucireswerclimake ne habi di s tant evol v ed astoni s hi n g alienimsuns.plicThese tforwothe neverthel and body plessans,prepared but Schulto specul ze-Makuch iwoul s d As strange and marvellous as it would be to opti o ns have di f ferent ati o ns a te. "I these beasts, theyng toaretalprobabl y not make"That a guessis aatpretty somethisuccessful ng worm-kinlikde,of" he goiencounter shapeIf firofst what wetfiurnsnd lioutvintog there. says. n g to be very i n teresti k to. For contact be wi t hi n our ns on ourit -weintelwillectual level-or ilnydeed solar system, thenthatelavaieastlweablehavehabisome prior organi semtheonhypotheti Earth." cal ice worm of Europa faralieabove Whi l al m ost cert a i n needar knowl e dge about t ats. to l o ok beyond t h e l i m i t s of our own sol Several spots mi g ht be sui t abl e for Eart h l i k e woul d be swi m mi n g about i n bori n g ol d wat e r, astrobinoglothegistspossiare bpushi nglithefe thboatat isoutnot system. In thea fewsearchastronomers for extratehave rrestrbeen ial life basedas aonsolvcarbon biosubsoi chemilsoftryMarsandmay usinbeg anda fewponderi i l i t y of i n tel l i g ence, water ent . The g Eartshsi'soradins. SET!o earsresearchers for the soundare now of warm enough to hoste,miandcrobes akicouln tod beEarth's watare tooer-bhotased.orMost pldacesforilniqtuihedsolwatarersystto exiemst, alstireainntirnansmi too col bact e ri a , for exampl t h ere hnerg outto become more(seeproact ieve lofargersomebeasts swimoons mminofgtihnethesolwatery oceans buthostthsome ere arekinseveral other lisqtuiry,dsays s thatStmievenght anddebatstianrtg whet d of bi o chemi sendi messages "We' r outer a r system­ ofartEvol he Foundati oGain fornesviAppll ei,eFldorida. what over here! "of, pagecreat28)ure. Ifiswegoidongmake contact, especi al y Jupithter'at samoon Europa.c ocean There'lises Benner ki n d to be on the every chance deep aquati Mol e cul u ti o n i n The cl o uds of Venus hol d dropl e ts of other end of the l i n e? beneath Europa' s i c e, st r et c hi n g ri g ht down topumpthe moon' EvenstwirytorhouthabiknOWi the detaible tols ofhazard their acid, andpoolbis ofl iothnse stofuyears havecbeen ff on agothe there chemi tat, itnigs possi out hots ,rocknutrcore, ient-where rich watvoler.canic vents sulmayphuri 2:

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Film-makers have imagined alien forms

ranging from Gort (left) and The Blob . . .

Voids ofEternity.

93

Wh o's there?

32 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

...to the Vogons in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

. . . tothe Mekon in Dan Dare (below) and the Metalunansfrom This Island Earth (right)

u: '"

start,So you' dallikieelnsygetcomethesefromagaia pln.a"net with a i f our range ofh,habitheytamits notghtweltooldihavefferentsomefromofthethose onsameEartcharact eriysproduce tics. Awelbeil-nligstworlwithd leyes-so ike ours woul d probabl maybecacorrespondents recognisable facewoulaftderpresumabl all. And oury cosmi psulofthei atingrorgans toogy.fidThey dle with tmineed hegnuthtsome sevenandmani bol t t e chnol havele taihands, buttrunktheninstead? again why not"Maybea prehensi l or a it's anldant. "Maybe enna, maybe a tentaclwoule,d" says Rothschi an octopus atastefewforguesses. For a start , t h ey may have a "Predators tendbitoobelogimorest Lynn look atsusmandto develthinokp'Hteowchnolcanoyougy wiexpect thiwos organi t h i t s t iRothschi ntel igentfllde,"ofsh.saysNASA' evols Ames utionary cluWhet msy front limcreat bs?'" ures would be aquatic, ResearchhaveCenter h er such imore n Moffetmovit Fineglaround d, Californito outsmart a. "They to do lMuch ike Eartofhour's octopoi ds,ogiis cquesti onablopment e, however. thetel other guy. You don' t have to be terri b l y i n i g ent t e chnol al devel , fromfire, curi n g meat to smel t i n g met a l , i s based on are met a i n t e l i g ences i n the soci e ti e s toecosystems, grab a leafweof lcanet uexpect ce:' Ifthatto beappltalkieins gtotoalien "There oflikbees andttermi tes.colI canonyimthagiat getsne somethi ng andinsurmount learningatobleuseobstacl fire ies leven ikelyforto prove anever very cl e a termi e or ant real l y carniAndvoresthen-orthereatleisastthomni v ores l i k e oursel v es. " says Schulwhetze-hMerakuch. Thil sbedoes wattentearcldweled monst lers. Farersbetter forhertheontotallaendntebefore d, eablfacte tothatsendin andorderreceito ve notintetell iglentus,,however, cont a ct us, ET must be to sl i t they wi scalcomeyorinslaimwiy.deEvenvarionetyEarth, clever buiPuttildinnggthiteialrlintotgeterplhaernet, thaerydariempingre. radi ouwaves or laseracrossbeams,theorliguseht years. someSoother furry, medi m to reach brai n s of packages: ologil betst mithgathtSETIbe prepared tonsmake eievolthervedthnatey areuralvastradicreat uresorgans that haveto talk and otters, dolphinhoney s and badgers, primates,octopuses parrots andandcrows, sea. astrobi a very smal t y pe al i e wieyes,l o w ave squi d be soci a l mul t i c el l u l a r predators wi t h The pri n ci p l e of convergent evol u t i o n coul d ltieschnol ten tooeach other , or they have devel o ped idtieas,mesthough. "Some thiheart ngs haves, Unlsexes,ess,andofcourse, sticky-othutebialtisensofwere someusurped sort. gy. Forthithnatg that, inteladvances ligence alusoneas ias not gievolvevusedsome enough. "The many on Earth such as bythemsel smartvmachi ngesbiorotedecichnoldedogy.to modi fy species is"One that weofusarealsocioneails,"notsaysverySchulsmart­ ze­ eyes and, fur,jophotosynthesi inted limbs, ands andthefour"F"s­ es usi n I n that Makuch. fl i g ht sex, " says wenminyghumanoi htfind tentacl emd monsters, ivehbiorsoldesiogisgtnwhoplausihasble case, I'm sondumb I can'thatt evenwebuigotldona radithe omoon. . It is by" JhelackpedCohen,sciencea reproduct fi c t i o n aut worki g together pal e ski d s, shi mery beings of pure energy . . . So messages endi n g al i e ns wi l probabl y al i e ns for thei r books. "They happened have of socisocietye.tiIteneed not be itnreedependent anythsome ing likform e human s, however. oflife. If youly inrandifferent Earth agaibranches n fromofthethe Stephen Battersby is a writer based in London

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 33

From its orig i ns, life on Earth has been evolving, j ust not always in the way we thoug ht. Mark Buchanan reports

n ot er

n

0

evo u t 1 o n

34 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

that Darwi nu'stiiodn.easSuppose were only atUSThpartat suppose ofa process the story of evol never about, JEarth'theneverevols hiutievenstoonry.oflimItiagimayhefe throughout ned, haswrotebeenmost contofrandoltheling sound preposterous, butWoesethiands is exact l y what mi c robi ologidst, Carl physi c i s t Ni g el Gol d enfel both at thgen,Unibelviersieve.tyDarwi of Il inn'soiexpls at aUrbana­ Champai natistiocnatedof evol u ti o n, t h ey argue, even i n i t s sophi modern form, applies only to a recent phase of lifeAtontheEarth. rootdenceof thiforshoriideazontal is overwhel ming recent evi gene transfer­ i"hori n whizconth organi sms acqui rorgani e genetsimsc mataround erial a l y " from ot h er torhem,ancestors. rather Thethandonor verticorgani ally fromsmsthmayeir parents notm is even be the same speci e s. Thi s mechani s alevolreadyutioknown tocrobiplaayal genomes, huge rolebutin theits n of mi consequences have hardl ybeendenfelexpld, tohred.ey are Accordi n g to Woese and Gol profound, zontalitgene alcro­ters torgani he evolsmsutiandorepresented naryhoriprocess smosteloff. tSilriansfer nfeceonmiEarth forbil imost ofyears, the timinefactthat-thelife hasmostexiancisted­ent and o ns of prevalnentianform of, Woese evoluandtionGolprobabl y wasn' t Darwi at al l d enfel d say. but others are takis make ng tsense hemStrongseriandclotheiuslaimyr.s,concl "Thei rusiargument oYork n is veryUnivimersiporttyant," says bi o l o gi s t J a n Sapp of o, Canada. "The process ofbioevollogiustitson jthiiunstToront inksin't itswhat most evol u t i o nary ." couldAccordi modernngbitooWoese, logy haveit isgonea simsoplbadle y offHow track? entiiftiscmodern complacency. Evol uearltionaryy 20th bitcentaoleloofugyryscitook form i n the establMendel ishment's geneti ofthecsgenetic basicombis ofnediwinheriwithtthehtance: evolto tuhtiisonas bythenat"modern ural selsynthesi ectiDarwi on. Binso"',slandothgieorysitst hasreferofbeen the basi s for al l sub seq uent devel o pment s i n mol rbioalloogyngandthewaygenetbiiocs.loWoese belseduced ieevesculathat gitshtsinwereking by thei r own success i n t o tevolheyuhadtion.found thegyfibuinallttruth about all "Bi o l o up a f a cade of mathematianigeneti cs aroundcs withthe Darwi juxtaposinism,tio"nheofsays. Mendel "And as a result it neglected to studythe Vertical hegemony

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23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 35

The perfect code The genetic code is built from four bases · A, U , C and G . They combine in groups of three to make codons, which code for amino acids. There are 54 possible codons, but on ly 20 amino acids, so there is more than one way to make most a mino acids. Consequently, mutations that change a single base tend to produce little or no change in the resulting protein

Basic

Acidic

Polar

No n p o l a r

Codons

Amino acids

GLYCINE

GLUTAMIC ACID ASPARTIC ACI D

ALA N I N E

ARG I N INE SERINE LYS I N E ASPARAGINE

THREO N INE

METH I O N I N E + START ISOLEUCINE

PROLINE

LEUCINE

TRYPTOPHAN STOP

I

most imuportant in sciprocess. ence­ " theInnatparti reculofthear, heprobl evolargues, uetmionary nothi ng in the modern synt h esi s expl a i n s the most fundament al steps intheearlgeneti ylife: how evolandutithoen coul d have produced c code basi c geneti c machialnyerytheusedenzymes by alland organi s ms, especi innvolintovedproteiin trnansls. Mostatingbigeneti cts, ifolstructures nformati o o l o gi s othese Wing Franci s Crinformat ck, simiplve"y supposed thihsatltory". were uni accisaysdWoese, ents of That was a bi g mi s t a ke, who c reputation proviIn has1977, ng tmade hWoese e poihinstst.academi unnedc machibiolnoerygistsinwhen hiins anal y si s of the geneti vol v ed gene entirofelytwonewmajlimobr ofdomai theexpressi treens: eukaryotes-organi ofliofne.reveal Biologiedstsanknew smsntswi-andth cell nucl e i , such as ani m al s and pl a bact eria, whicahtlhaickrdcelmajl nucl ei. Woese documented o r domai n, theas Archaea. These are mi c robes t o o, but distinct from bacteriaaaregenetfromicaleukaryotes. ly as both Archaea and bacteri a enormousPacediofscovery, "vsaysersity of bi"Thi oColloosradogiwasst Norman t h e Uni Woeseutionary himselbioflseesogyiback t as a fionrsttrstack.ep Comi iinngetBoulntigndtoger.evolterms wig step. th horizontal geneIn thetransfer i s t h e next bi pastdemonst few years,rataehostd thatofDNA genomeflows studi e s have readi ly betandweenthethexte chromosomes of cally miaround crobes e rnal worl d . Typi 10l genomes per cent seem of thetogeneshaveinbeenmanyacquired bact e ri a from other organi in this way, though the proporti on24canJasmsnuary be several ti m es that. So an 2009, p 34) individfound ual miincrobethe entimayrehavemicrobiaccessal to the genes populcrobeatiospeci n around ist,natural includintogwonder those ofifother mivery e s. "I t ' thsteil concept of an organi s m i n i s ol a t i o n i s valid at this level," says Goldenfeld. (New Scientist,

CYSTE I N E STOP TYROSINE

SERINE

LEUCINE PHEN YLALA N INE

36 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

Thidescris isbaledl veryby Darwi different fromutioevoln wiultialownaysas be n . Evol changesuccessful as a resulatt ofsurvisomevinorgani sms beiabout n g more g than others. Ioccurs n the Darwi nianinmodel , evols wiutthiogenes nary change because di v i d ual epassd withese th successful ternext aits aregenerat moreion. lIassoci inkhori ely toaztontal on to t h gene transfer, by contrast,

Lateral thinking

change isfrom not agenerat functioinonoftothegenerati indiviodn,ualbutor ofof changes alEvoll theutimionctrobes ablacee towishare geneti cematx, erial. a kes pl t h i n a compl dynami i,nandteractunderst ing partandis, ng sayit demands Woesec system anda detaiGolofdlemany enfel d ofsysttheem. selOnfthe-organibasissinofgtheipoterdntstudiexplial ofeos,ratsuchtheyionaargue thnatant hori z ontal gene t r ansfer had to be a domi factEviordience n thefororitghinisallieform of evolgenetiuticon.code, s i n the Woese andin thGole 1960s, denfelnod. Though itbeenwas able ditosaysexplcovered one had evolutotioresin coulstindghaveerrors.made it soMutati exquioainssnithow elhappen y tuned codinoftg alelntheremaitimne, andunaffect yet tehde byproteithesensinglitDNA produces itches. Darwinian "Early evol ution may have proceeded through a series of stages before the Darwi nian form emerged"

evol ucoultiondsiarimplse.yButcannothoriexpl aailngenehowtsuch a code z ont r ansfer can,Thesayessence WoeseofandtheGolgeneti denfelc code d. is that ofcorrespond three consecuti vefibases, known assequences codons, to speci c ami n ochaiacidnss (ofseeamidiangram, l e ft ) . Protei n s are made of o acinds,theseso whencodonsa genearewhat is transcribed idetermi nto a protei ch amiAAUno acirepresents d gets addedthe to theamichaino acinn.esdTheaswhiparagi codon nThere e, forareexampl edons , andiUGU represents cystei n e. 64 co n total and 20 ami n o aci d s, whi c h means that thecodonscodespecihas fsome redundancy, winothacimuld. tiple yi n g t h e same ami Thisscode is unibivoersal ,tsshared byongalknown l organi ms, and l o gi s have l that it hasfor exampl remarkable, Woese e properthimiesels. Ifnpoithentedearly 1960s, outtolerance that oneforreason for tthat he code'simsildeep errors was arorcodons speci f y ei t her t h e same ami n o aci d two with simutati milarochemi c al properti e s. Hence, a nloftenda sintoglhave e base,litwhile effect le changion tnhgea codon, wi propert of theicprotei n beid Haing gproduced. IHurstn 1991,atiethesgenet i s t s Davi andwentLawrence Uni v ersi t y of Oxford furteranceher, showi n g t h at t h e code' s l e vel of error tol itsotlerulrancey remarkabl e. They studi ofan enormous numbered thofe error

thtathrough early evola seriutiesoofn maystageshavebeforeproceeded thefirst Darwi n i a n form emerged, wi t h the stavgeersalleadigenetng toicthecode.emergence ofahave uni "I t woul d acted as and,in"great novatlyioenhanci n-sharinnggprotocol ,"ysaysof Golorganidenfel t h e abi l i t sms tociashare geneti c thiinnovat ions thstatage were benefi l . " Fol l o wi n g s , a second ofhorievolzontutaiol ngenewoultransfer, d have inmade volvedpossirampant bgletobya the shared genet i c machi n ery, and l e adi n rapiorganid, exponenti ainl ritusrn,e inwoul the compl exiualtylyof s ms. Thi s , d event have ven wayic trtoansfer a thirbecame d stage ofmostevollyuverttionicinal, whiperhaps chgigenet because thderequi complrienxig atymore of organisms reached a t h reshol cicorrect rcumscrifunctbedion.floWoese w ofgenescan'ttoputapreserve dateutonion when t h e transi t i o n to Darwi n i a n evol happened, dibranches fferent tiofmbuttheesheitreen suspect eachoflofife,tshwiiet occurred tthhreebacterimaiatanlikely toToday, have changed fiinrstmul. ticellular organisms, at l e ast Darwi niinanforevolsomeutiosurpri n is domises.n"Most ant butofwelife-tmayhe st i l be si m ul a ti o ns. Second, i n none ofthei r runs di d hypot h et i c al geneti c codes, al l bui l t from t h e to reach"Witheth vertiopticmalal, advant same basey wipaithrsamibutnwio tacih codons associ atedthat anystructofutreheofcodesthe actevolualvecode. microbiaagel worlof horid -izontal s stil gene strongltransfer, y takingbutwe randoml d s. They found also tknow, from studismses idon ththie pasts too,year," saysthat the actualof howcodegoodis around one inmia mitiglatiioonn.in found Darwinthiaatn evol ution,evol" saysutioGoln getdenfs stuck eld, "weand mul i c el l u l a r organi t h e code terms i t i s at error Goldmore enfeldin. Ascongruous more genomes are sequenced, "Theandsactoutual geneti c code,thumb " saysasGolbeidnenfel dbest, does not find the true optimum." "stpossi l i k e a sore g the ever sequences ofDNAofare turni n g up. Compari s ons oft h e genomes b l e . " That woul d seem to demand some evol tiofound nary explone.anatiTheoreason, n. Yet, untsayilWoese now, noand The results were very different when they variandobushbaby, us speciesforinclexampl uding aefrog, liatezard,thatmouse oneGoldhasuenfel , i n di c one parti c ul a r chunk of DNA found i n each must al l o wed hori z ont a l gene transfer between d , i s t h at everyone has been thi n ki n g soms.ns ablNow,e towifltohwadvant ageous havezbeen acqui rtredansfer independently by inWorki termsnofg withethwrong kiVetndsiofgiaevoln, alustoioatn.the digenetfferentic inorgani novat i hori z ont a l y hori ont a l gene Kal i n the enttheiroveral e systelmoptithemcode readi lyand "The importance of this for evolvolution hasp 17023) UniWoeseversiandty ofGolIldienfel nois atd setUrbanaCrhampai gn,d in across . up a vi t u al worl yet di s covered al st r uct u re " stance in some came tosense,be uni" saysversalWoese,among"thale geneti l organic code sms. "Iisna toNobe seridoubtouslthyereconsiwidl ered. whictesth ththeey coulevoldurerun historygenetimulctcode iple times some be resi andunder ti o n ofthe emust rs, yetbemany bioloingithistsnrecogni se thuattion l orthperhaps anmiechocrowaveof thbackground e origin of lifie,s a quart different conditions vol 103, fossi j u st as e cosmi c t h ere a change ki n g i f evol ppopul 10696)ati.oStarti ng wibeith anrandom indiitfiferent al sortpoinofts echo ofthe biveryg bang.different And itfrom s formtoday's miis ficnrobiallyatol worlbe underst otheodgreat in a deepest biway.omass"Theon d hol d s to a process n of codes g used by " saysof Sapp, "butsightfor, outmostofmievolnd'u.tiThey onists l usingattihoenssameof codons DNA bases but concl Darwiunsiiaonnevolis inuescapabl tion:' Fore: thetheresearchers the Earth, i t ' s a case ' o ut of genet i c code wiorgani tamihndiosfacimsferentd-als -tassoci and must have arinatedsen ibyn anhoriearlzontal ier evolgeneutiotrnary tendIfatoparadi focusgonm shivisfitbilsependi plantsnandg, Paceanisays malsi.t" explDarwiorednihow theucode phase domi ansfer. miWhightle theevolabiveliinthyordieyoffithenrarystcode a n evol t i o n. to wifound thstandthat detGolailsdofenfelthatd admi tprocess s that piremai nningndown tfihceult wimorel beforinbigoodologyhands. "Iargethinthank Woeseany bihasolodone wri t l gists errors i m proves wi t h ti m e, they earl y s a di f thewe actual resultlsywere i n consi s tent wi t h t h e pat t ern i n hi s tory, i n cl u di n g Darwi n , " he says. "There' t a sk. However the si m ul a t i o ns suggest t h at more tonglestory arn, andbril he'iants lbeen interpreting zontalre ageneuniftireansfer aliclomachi wed linfeery,in general athelotemergi seeshared in twoamong ways. Fialrstl organi , the codesms-a hori y . " to acqui d genet never became makintghethresearchers e sharing ofnowinnovatsuspections number er. Hence, matter howof dilosngtintcthecodesteamremai ran theinedr in use no teasihereby Horizontal is o ptimal

(Proceedings ofthe National Academy ofSciences, lOS,

(Proceedings of the National Academy ofSciences,

•

Mark Buchanan is a writer based in Oxford, UK

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 37

•

I

The tin i est laser ever made revives the idea that we can compute with light says Justin Mullins

T'you5 aneed laser,abutmicnotroscope as wetoknowsee itit. .GlForeamia stnagrt, s a singlerspheri cal particle jIueeristTianylfewyigreen, tt miensghtofitbe,inanomet es across. creators have plhelansp toforfulitf.iWil a ltohng-furtbuthelherditsdream: advances, ito buit coulldbiadg superfast computer tthihatscomputes wilatsihnligght. Dubbed a "spaser", mi n uscul e is the lasatestnanoplby-paroduct ofs.aJubuzzi ng fiobjmielcedroelctknown smoni c st as isemi ts theconduct behavioourrs onof elmiecctrometre ronsectinronimetscalcsaelexpl ss, andso onanopl asmonics is

concerned nanoscalas pleacomi ngsthandat lurk terahertz range -equithevulaletravint toothelet rifrequency goion andngs ofbelentowiwittthehiethes surfaces known smons range ofl i g ht from ght of metal s . t h rough the vi s i b l e to t h e i n frared. Toaenvi sgreat age whatsea ofasfreel plasmon is,nimg elagiectrons. ne a theoriIn 2003, theirStockman studies ofatplGeorgi asmonsa State led met l as a y movi s ts Mark When ligofhtthofthe rig,htit canfrequency striwavelkesitheke UniTel Aviversiv Unity inversiAtlatyntianandIsraelDavito danBergman at surface e metal set up a unusual nwaves in thions eltheectrocean. on sea,These just ascolthleectiwivned tsohought .tPlheyasmons behaved rate lhigerht,liktoo?What e light, whielosciectron pl satupiowaves coul d be ampl i f i e d l i k the duomulhadtipliiendmisinngld ewasplaasmons laser-ltoiketurndevitcheem -plligahtsmons -acttrapped to allininttheents that andmetapurposes as waves l's surface. rwavellyemeasured ngths depend on osciintolpowerful arrayssameofwayplasmons all laser tnanometres. he metal , butTheiareTheirgeneral i n a t i n g i n the ( s ee "From frequencies span the toThespaser"mat, hpageemat40.ics of it seemed to work. By analogylaser,witthey h thedubbed acronymtheithatr braiproduces the word n chi l d iradificatiatioonn"by-spaser­ the stiand"surface mpubl ulatedplishedaemismonaspaper sioampln ofabout it . vol p 027402) The spaser miogsihttyhave remaithenedsamejusttiame, theoreti c al curi . Around however, physi csmoni istswerecs forwakieverytng uphintog thefrom potenti a l of pl a perfect lensesplatosmons sensitever ive bidone osensors (s?"ee, page "What have for us 41)that. TheMikspaser ideanov,wasanineltriectguiricnalg enough hai l Nogi engi, andnsome eer at Norfol k State Uni v ersi t y i n Vi r gi n i a ofIhit wass colnotleagues set outtask.toLibuightldisone.long-lived, an easy somiirtrored is relachamber tively easyandtoampl bounceify iitt,around in a as happens insideeantlaentiser. tPlieas:smons, by ccontallyrlastive,foraremere transi they typi cannot tsravelin a metal more before than a fewatthteioseconds, plr energy asmoniandwavel e ngt h by thethem.oceanIt wasof non­not osciat alll clateinarghowelesctabsorbed rweonsmiaround get ienough ofataall. handlIn August e on pla200g, smonsNogitoghtampl f y t h em novousandsolhiutis ocoln leagues showed how. Thei r i n geni takes of a ciIrtculconsiar partsts oficalegoljustd core nanometthe rform es across.

"Gleaming eeri ly g reen, this laser is a single

spherical particle just tens

of nanometres across"

(Physical

Review Letters,

go,

44

>

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 39

neasshelthat,l ofexcisiltiecda,ispeckl edby an wicontai texthernaldyenedlmolawiseret,hiculproduce n i t i a l y green lnanopart ight. Someiclofes that l i g ht l e aks out to gi v e the theistimrulcharact erigenerat stic greenionglofow;platsmons he restat the a tes the surface the golwayd core.of things, these plasmons Iarenabsorbed theofnormal by theButmetaltheialrmticostklinasgsoon asence talhseyo stareimproduced. i n fl u ulattmore es theldyeightmol, whiecculh ienstiunrnthe silica shel l to emi generat excityesofmoredye, lenough ight andeplssoamore on.smonsWiplatcanhsmons, a exisuffistwhicatienttchhesuppl sameThetime that t h ey st a rt to rei n force each other. siplganature ofwiathilanser-thleikdevie mulcetiispalidramati cationofc smons increase inclgreen laonlseryliagsmal ht emil inttedcreasefrominthethe nanoparti e after energy thhiesextcolelrnaleagueslaser-t heed silagstnatyearuresupplNogiiendovfrom and report vol 460, p 1110) . In October And they were not t h e onl y ones. 2009, XivaersingtZhang, cal engiey, andneerhiats thecolleUniagues yunveioflCaledaaifmechani orni a , Berkel similarlylatisernyldeviightce that exploits volplasmons to produce 461, pio629)ns generat . ed headlines at These i n novat thedeviticme more e as ancompact entirelythan newanytypeyetof seen lasingand whia convent ch, in theory, red a'sloant leexciss power ional devirequice. That ting than

How to make a nanolaser The fi rst"spaser" produces laser l ight from waves of electrons confined in a few nano metres o f a meta l l i c s u rface

Incoming laser light excites dye molecules to emit light and sets u p waves of electron motion (plasmons) on a gold surface •

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PLASMONS SILICA SHELL GREEN DYE MOLECULES

: .! ! •

•

•

•

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(Nature,

(Nature,

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The plasmons excite more dye molecules. A chain reaction ensues ending with the emission of green laser light

From laser to spaser This year marks the golden jubilee of

"gain medium" such as a crystal or

a ruby trailblazer: itwas on 16 May

gas. Zapped with light or an electric

1960 that Theodore Maiman of

current, electrons in this mediu m

Hughes Research laboratories in

absorb energy, releasing i t agai n as

Malibu. California. coaxed a synthetic

photons. These photons bounce

ruby to produce the first ever laser

around the box and stimulate further

light. The first laserto produce light

electrons to emit more photons. This

from gas - a m ixture of helium and

self-reinforcing increase in light

neon - followed later that same year.

energy is "light amplification by the

Half a century later. and there's

stimulated emission of radiation" ­

hardly an area of human endeavour that doesn't depend on lasers i n

laser action, forshort. Spasers use the same principle,

some way o r a n other: CO and DVD

except ratherthan amplifying light

players. metal cuttin g a nd welding.

directly, they amplify surface

barcode scanners and corrective eye

plasmons - the wavelike movements

surgery to name but a few.

of free electrons on and near the

Early lasers were essentially made u p of a m irrored box containing a

40 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

surfaces of metals - using that i n turn to emit light.

devel isninigtsadvances own righti,nbutthejbustl ust oneingin abusilistnofoesspment promi ofly, tahserough,technolthe devel ogy. opment of Cruci a l spasersscihasentisparked thehope thatofonetheofthe great f i c di s appoi n tments pastcal decades -the unful f i l e d promi s e of opti computi nfaceg -mayof ityet, optibecalturned into triwhiumph.ch On the computers, use lightinratformat her thanion,current s ofieldeea.ctrons to process are a great El e ctrons aretendeasyto getto mani puldown ate andas process, butthrough they bogged t h ey pass semiconductors, colinliways ding withatth atlmetimomsiatltshandande speedbounci n g off t h em and fidelbyitycontrast, of informatcanion transmi s si o n. Photons, wiin tthhsteoryandziinppiterference, anda chiarep above altol fast,the n g around at cl o se cosmiIn thec speed limvariit. ous groups claimed to be 1990s, getti ng clnogsea torealmakiity. That ng thiendream ofa concert opticaled computi cl u ded effort at theHiworll , Newd-faJemous Bell Laborat ories ibuin Murray rsey, where t h e ldinstor,g blwasock ofinvented microelienct1947.roniResearchers c circuits, the transi thereflandeet-elfootedness sewhere hitht aatsnag, however. The very made phot o ns perfectalformosthigimh-possi speedblcommuni catioandns made them e to pi n down for"Opti sensicballecomputi processinngghasofdata.a chequered use hiLabs,story," sayspartHarry iculaAtwater, rly the boondoggl estatatBell a physi c i thePasadena. CaliforniAllatIhnestiefforts tute ofTechnol ogywhenin it foundered came g anythi natg lcoulike adtransi stor:to atoggltiny,etolloigw-produci pht siowergnalndevi c e t h be used sronollaandble offlaserrelwoul iablyd. do this Itricnk,theory, a cont ifEven not forworse, one probl em -lhuge,asersreldevour power. t h ey are atively speaki n g: t h ey work by bounci n g photons around the veryengtsmalh ofltheest tlihgeyht cantheyabemiproduce. irsrored aboutcaviForhaltgreen fythe, sowavel light,thatwimeans th a wavel e ngt h of 530 nanomet r es, from 300lenanometres. Elnectg rone­ical ttliertansintlehchange sthattors,simeanwhi , are approachi ze. this is leading. Spasers are You see where aandtinoffy source ofl. Atigahtfewthattenscanofnanomet be switchedresonin at wi l size, they areectjruicstalsltransi ightlysbitors.ggerThethanspaserthe is smal l e st el tominanopl asmonics,csayss whatStockman: the transiitsitors theis to cbuilroeldingectroni block that should make optical

informati processiwinl gbepossimanyblehurdl . es to Iovercome. nevitabloForyn-, there a start,on andNogioffnov'usisnprotg another otype spaser i s swi t c hed lThataser,irats cumbersome her than beinandg swimeans tcheditelcannot ectrically. capipotetntaliiasel. onIt isthalestechnol ogy'whens low-itpcomes ower to o uncl e ar, connecti together tonalmake abe lcloegianlc gaty separated en,ghowmanyinputwispasers and out p ut si g s can he resonant spherical spasers that have so farth tbeen constructed.

What have plasmons ever done for us? Plasmons might sound esoteric,

can make continuous

some displays increases the

but it is not just with spasers

measurements, unlike chemical

amount of light they emit.

(see main story) that they are

tests which usually give a single

seeing practical application.

snapshot. A plasmonic implant

Take molecular sensing. The

could one day help diabetics to

help to tackle cancer, if tests in

amount and colour of light

monitor and control their blood

mice are anything to go by.

absorbed by a plasmonic

glucose levels in real time.

nanoparticle is extremely

Plasmons should also be

Plasmonic nanoparticles laced with antibodies can be made to

sensitive to the surrounding

useful for increasing the

latch onto tumours. When

molecular environment. This

efficiency of certai n kinds of

blasted with a focused beam of

Thehowever, most iisntthriegoneuingthataspectcoulofd spasers, make oringbreak them as the basi s of a fut u re comput technol ogy:istahbadey arethimade of metalmaki. Innoneg a sense, that n g, because moniicnchifrastructure p would requito thrate ausedwholtloymake disipilfasiferent con chipmoney s -an inhasdustbeen ry inpoured. to which bil ions in Siresearch liacon'barstopredomi nance hasogienots establ necessari lgy been ot h er technol i s hi n from whismonich plc devi asmonsce woulare generated themsel the radiocatisigonaln, fors usedexampl for e, are of ielneactrons metal . A pl a dnbein cela frequency lphoneves:communi too hi g h for si l i c on chi p s to cope abl e t o process and store i n format i o the harshest radilites,oactiin nuclve enviear rreact onments: inng wiprocess th, sogrew an entupireltoymake separatethemanufact uringde orbi gal l i u m arseni t i n g satel o rs, duri nuclPerhaps ear confltheicmost t. likely outcome, though, chicosts,ps thatanothercan.upstart To justifychithep-airchinitiatectl inuvestment re needs adosithatmilasir "kiliconl ercannot. application": something it can iother s that, plratahsmoni er thancs tandhe oneelectroni supersedi ng thtoe c s come Stockman reckons theasmoni extrca devi processices wingl Ascoexithesttransi to mutual advant agebecome ina sinsmalgle chiler,pthe. speed promi s ed by pl s tors i n chi p s generate such appl icnatig ofaster ns in processors areas like than wia fewresnanometres that connectbecome them overa sidignistances of just f i c ant crypt o graphy. "Havi everyone be a questi onal bottl for datlya.spiThatnniisnoneg theireason security,"elhesesays.wil And he poionntsoftonatianother chipseareneckcurrent r wheelwhys at M utual benefit

More impressive yet, plasmonic devices might also

property has been exploited to

flat-screen displays. I n June

infrared light precisely tuned to

build sensing devices that detect

2009, Ki Youl Yang and his

the plasmon frequency, the

levels of anything from the

colleagues at the Korea

nanoparticles heat up, killing

protein casein, an indicator of

Advanced Institute of Science

the attached cancer cells

the quality of milk products, to

and Technology i n Daejeon

while leaving the surrounding

glucose in the blood.

showed how silver nanoparticles

healthy tissue u nharmed

deposited onto organic

(Accounts Of Chemical Research,

light-emitting diodes used in

vol 41, p 1842).

W hat's significant about these

plasmonic sensors is that they

chiAsp awelgenuil as ntheatpossi, saysbiAtlitwy.ater, we should work outthathowcantobemanimadepuliantethpleasame smonsway,usiandng devi c es onsilitheconsame fabriEarlycatlaistonyear,lines,heasandordihinsary chi p s. colcontleragues at Calcetechdubbed revealtheedplanasmostor electricalthatly ol l e d devi canpassvarythrough the inittensi twhiy ofcplhahassmonsan archias thteyecture , and very similar tovolg, that ofp 897)convent iothinals mont transihs,tors . J u st a Dutch group hasectriannounced thatsource they haveof produced an el c al l y powered plsilaicsmons ble withoexigy sting on chipfulvolg,fabrily compati cp ati21)o. n technol It'syetverytoearlmatchydays,thesoperformance such innovatiof purel ons y have elnestctarnce,onicflcomponents. Thets onplandasmostor, for imore i p s bet w een i off states ionalngtransi stor,to andleaktouthsleosiofwlgnalthey thansdevihaveacconvent ane andannoyi t e ndency get lothatst. There ions stil aanytlonghiwayng other to gothan to a computer runs elchalectrons. Butng aihugel t is a starty , says At w at e r. "You' r e l e ngi successful thatButyouifacantitechnol jnyuround st replogy.green aceIt'ist.audaci "light ison'ust atosithignalnk to go ahead and give it a try, what is? (Nano Letters,

(Nature

"The spaser is to plasmon ics what the transistor is to m icroelectron ics "

reasonproblwhyemthwie spooks miconductors ght be interested. One t h semi iss that thei r del i c ate conducti o n capabi l i t i e arerays can vulsendnerabl e to i o ni s i n g radi a t i o n. Such anches ofeleelctroni ectronsc components. streaming At tbest,hroughaval del i c ate this icorrupt s datastors, and halpermanent ts calculalytions. Atdisworst, t fri e s transi ablsinisgwhere them.the metallic nature ofa Thi asextmoniracelchiectpronswoulthatd comeionisiinntog radiits own.ation can Thepiproduce are mere drops in the ocean of free

liivmerit tspeeds hinformat e speedofiabout aton,whi" says3chgielAtgahert ewctatronsezr.. "Wi"Socanrandelesobvi solconnecti ution oisns:'to replace them with photoniocus Thehasproblbeenemconvert with suching elconnecti osinsgtonals date e ctroni c ispeed nto photoni cconesiencyandthatbackmakesagaiint wort withhawhile. and effi Plthaesmons, which oweof energy their exibetstence tloight easy exchange w een d bedjuelstectrithectalhi-nogsptiforcal tandhe jelob,ectrons, makingcoula hybri

Materia/s,

•

Justin M u llins is a consultant editorfor New Scientist 23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 41

42 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

a

u s e rs

Is it poss i b le to l ose i nches off you r wa ist i n m i n utes without su rgery? Helen Thomson i nvestigates

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Paddl esarecontaiplacedningovera e ofand]a daydream, Ito'mhavein a primyvfatatezapped. clinic in devi promi s es: "once stretched, anomet r e l a ser London, ' m about ahstie realngly-wexpanded". Ialt efentelofs liakespam I've walemaikedl. ofregitheonsligofhtunwant ed fatby. Whitheleskia nsmal, thel amount Half anonhour ago,on HarlI walekyedStreetinto a plush ieverl n to t orl d equi v i s absorbed recepti l o bby tnothi e all things,elcurise, myositresearch y has gotreveal the better amedithoroughfare famedBusifornessitsisexclgood.usiTwo ve private ofDespi majadioriptosey ofttishsuee energy penetrates through to beneath. Here, bunches me. I f e d c al practi c es. at gettionngariscid ofentfatifibycallzappi ngbitlewiidthea.laThesers absorb ofgrape-liglihtkeenergy fat cellsfromattached toser,thterskiiggerin ng beauty therapi sts sit in t"You he recepti ostn3areainches tishbased chatti n g to a customer. l o st j u y pl a usi the l a i-sraemoval form of, ornon-lipolinyvasisis.vIne,2001 laser­ upa cascade ofcelbiolchemi crialnreacti ons that ends time?next Neverweek.mind,Howwe'does l seeTuesday ifwe cansuigett?"a treatment assi s ted fat fewthiIsammore wi t h the s rupt u g. gnalo NeiHospira, atalplianstiAlcbsurgeon at Redshone Deer dirAccordi nErchoni g to Ryana Medi Malocney,al, onemediof tchale main visitinegsHarlthatepromi y Fit, onese tooftransform a stringof Rodri Regi o ert a , Canada, ector at new compani ogy,holthees toenergy your unch break. My viwhen sit is a laser at cultured fat cells, and found that this diemistrtibedutbyorsthofe thilaserss technol causes form iton tahpress e culwaimrelsintleatiaseineolinannded ofyoura joonlurney t h at began the fat cel l membranes, rel e asi n g the fat i n my desk boasti n g a spacesochrome betweenc oxithedase,cellpresent s. The enzyme me "7 inches cyt inintformi he fatncelg l thitreatInt sounded nermentin that 20 toomicoulngood utes".d make to be true. Yet membrane, may pl a ya key rol e these holiens.theEnergy from tthiheslenzyme, aser causeswhich thousands of peopl eihave attendedtheworlonedofthat changes act i v i t y of theoffer hundreds of cl i n c s around affectaffects the chemi calthatstatecontrol of thethecellformat . This inion treatmnentes,speak and scores oftrevis theatwsarein emulsified the targeted tissue. He presented turn l"notifesthytheilnegmagazi of resul genes ntenanceto appear ofthe fat cell membrane, shortitofdoesn' amaZit ncome g". Atcheap, aroundbut£250with Ameri his resulcantsCongress later thatonyearPlaatstithceandsecond South andcausimaing pores perthe treatment veeSurgery in Limtha,atPeru.shining The proof is in the pictures. vall,Ipn547)2002,. matedyearto turnin thover tensalone, Reconstructi ofthebidiappeti l eiotnsintdustry ofe fordolalaestiqUirs every e US I n l a ter studi s, he showed a lothew-lbody evel lwhere aserforli6posucti minuteson wasontoabout the outsito de Neimicrroscope ck fixisisoneclearlthiynthere. a watchedto ithedentiprocess under anoeln ofectron f y t h e formati of Prai s e from customers g, but a pore withitonat635-he membrane oflaaser.fatHecelshowed l after the. exposure ithendependent scientitoficfievind.dence corroborat ing fattake place made it much easievolr to22,extract n anometre p 451) cl a i m s i s harder So whi l e the que wasnistratiapproved by the US Food thethatmembrane the contentands ofitnhteofatthecelextracel l flowedluacross promi being ablableytoamazi lose inng,chesdoesinthe Theand techni lar Drug Admi o n i n 2004. mitechninutessqeueofisrealundeni space l y work, or are peopl e parti n g Nei r a then suggested t h at i t mi g ht be possible toanddispense wisurgith thcale inprocedure vasive, and fatvoli110,s thenp 912)"passed . Erchonithrough a claimthsethatbodythdurie excess wimoreth theiimportantl r cash fory,aissnakeoil treatment? And hazardous nhowg its i t safe? costl y j u st use l a sers on thei r own. He reasoned t h at normal course of detoxi f i c at i o n" . Though After months of research, whi c h i n vol v ed ser wasentsdamagi ngfrom the fatincelsidles,toaloutsi lowindge theInbody2008,doesErchoni this, aErchoni a doesa doubl not say.e-blind readinogniseveral studiiens tofthe technol osatigysandfied theithe lracont sponsored to move questi n g experts h e fi e l d , I am spose oofn? cl67involicalunttrieaersl ofagedthe techni ttohatthIeamclinnotic toputtrtyinthgemyprocedure life at risk,forsomysel I've come needthen for lidiposucti f. To tthhee fatcellwi. Coulthoutd thethebody betweenque18toandzap65,fatwhoin "Getting rid of fat by zapping it with lasers

is based on a scientifically

plausible idea"

(Photochem ical and Photobiological Sciences,

(Aesthetic Surgery Journal,

(Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery,

>

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 43

were candi iovnaled low-level tsaysreatJmaneentLewi. "Curis, aosalsityesgotconsulthe better Hospi talmediin Boston, who uses of me," General lliapserosuctitalhlerapy on. Each(dLatesLLT)volforonuntconvent etheierrrecei t a nt from l a sers for other c al procedures. waitwsot,weeks. hip andHalf London, whoiheard about thofe tHarl reatmeyentFitwhen Wanner isn.notSpencer the onlBrown, y persona surgeon to have from raised she bumped n t o t h e owner at thithegparti hs, threecipantstimwere es a week for thi s questi o assifrecei gnedvtedhearealplacebo amybusitreatment ness conference. "Fortst showed y minutesmeaftI'der theCentUnier,vwhoersiperforms ty ofTexaslaSoutser lhipwestolysiesrninMedi cal treatment; the other hal my therapi hi s from ooked the laserin oflostmy6 ibody. nchesIiwasn' n totatlthatfromoverwhel three separat euntareasil cldoesn' inic int seem Californilogiac,alis, tequal lthey perplpuzzlexed.ing part. "It butexerciwasasdevi ie orn factdiceetthaaatlryow-lrout powerinesiwasmLED.ilaalrNoltoowedchange m ed, h at ' s duria ng weari I got backng andintoI wasa cloise-n awefit iatngthdress that I'd been But athinelyclilnosiicnalgresul ts show thathaspatitoentsbe aare thediarytriofal,tandheirpatexerciientssewere asked to keep e di f ference. " cert i n ches, so t h ere andts werefoodkeptregiconstant. mes to London, For Nigtheel Potter, awere financeevendimore rectordramati from c. rediBotstrih bBrown ution andoffatMaloroflneyuidssuspect somewhere. " ensure that these habi resul t s that the fat ismetabol brokenidown through thebody body'cannot s Overall, partiactotal ipantsgirinththereducttreatiomnentacrossgroup natural c pat h ways. "The demonstrated alcompared l four siteswi?tf89h contmirlolimsubjet�eescts(3who .51 inshowed ches) excrete triglyMalceriodney.es, butThefatbodycantberansport brokens down, " says fatproduct ty acisdwhis to ctheh thenliverundergo to be broken down into a 17-miloinminetthere reduct ion.group Maloineys a reflsaysecttheion reducti pl a cebo oxi d at i v e of thepubltypiicsalhedplalacebost month response. The results phosphoryl aetyioFint-a's customers process whiarechadviproduces were i n energy. Harl sed tofo "I l o st a total Of19. 5 i n ches from around ( v ol 41 , p 799) . do 60 mi n ut e s of exerci s e wi t h i n hours ous areas" heofsays. my body after six weeks of each farthiitsdoesis thenotonlrequi ytriarleofthe treatherment. varitreatments, trnoeattmrientals have to burnbeenoffdonethe reltoetased fat. her Itestin SoEurope any furt So far, e st whet General lyto, thaistati s slimstimicalnlgy sidown does not thiBrown nagtitoonscompl yewiEuropean th government s aids thesuspects fat lossthatprocess. t r ansl a t e i n g ni f i c ant regul as t h Uni o n has al r eady somecelofl's themembrane. released reduct i o n i n wei g ht . "Customers onl y l o se approved t h e l a ser for surgi c al use. The US fat i s used to repai r the fat Food anded experi Drug Admi nisdattratia demonstrati on has recentnlgy Sotowhat 1 kilohagramppensaftetor ltihpeolfatysionce s," saysit hasMalleoaked ney. I"Iwoul t takesd suspect a lot ofenergy to repai r celfreels fatty so that some of the recei v m ental body can'theturiexcretne orthe e fat: it acitransferred that theto press procedure works,had butyet toas announce outdoesn'ofthet comecell?out"Thethrough ds wouldipartnto that icipatenergy e in thicycls process and be went the FDA e , " he says. stool. Weweneed towhet findhouter these wheretreatments it's going to Zappi that it hasstapproved ibelt. It"s. use in the US is before nyour gfatlwiovethhandl laserseis.sn'Treatments t the onlywaythat therefore i l "off l a know target Scientififorc evisomedencepeopldoesn'e whot seemhavetousedbe the Wanner, wil be trula dermat y safe andologieffecti says Molly destroy ls byfreezicalndig (ssrupti ee "Freezi nusig fatng", necessary st fromve,"Massachusetts lulefttr)asound or creatfat celaree mechani o n by beia medi ng market edsouter forside the US. Brown acts as c al advi Ulcontouri traShape,ng tahcompany whiusecofh provi des body Freezing fat rough the ul t r asound. invasito vtae:rget ttheUlheytrfatasound applcelylshi.treatments gButh-unlenergyike theareultrlnonasound aserhways treatmtoentcreats, e whiporeschiexpl o i t bi o chemi c al pat they generat forces tnhtheat ruptfat celurel,these cells. e mechanical "The body can't excrete fat:

it doesn't come out through •

u rine or stool . So we need

to find out where it's goi ng"

Lasers in Surgery

24

and Medicine

o.S

New Scientist

Forget about a vigorous workout, or lasers

assess the level of fat damage, as well as any

to zap your fat. Could you freeze it off i nstead?

potential damage to the skin. The team found

There are hints that adipose tissue is

that the cooling plates caused a biological

susceptible to damage by the cold. The

response in the adipose tissue which resulted

phenomenon has been well documented i n

in a decrease in the level of fat at sites

a few rare cases of cold-induced fat necrosis

exposed to cold (Lasers in Surgery and

in children whose fatty tissue in their

Medicine, vo1 40, p 595).

cheeks became damaged by sucking for too long on frozen lollies. Fat appears to be selectively damaged

Happily, there was no apparent d iscomfort to any of the animals, although there were some changes in pigmentation and superficial

when exposed to low temperatures. If so, this

damage to the skin. Histological examination

might provide another way of sculpting away

showed 40 per cent of the thickness of the fat

fatty areas of the body. To test the theory, Dieter Manstein and

layer had been removed under the exposure site. It a ppeared that most of the fat

colleagues from Harvard Medical School in

disappeared from the surface layer, while the

Boston exposed a naesthetised pigs to cooling

deeper fat remained relatively unchanged.

plates at temperatures between +20 °C and -7 DC for 10 minutes. Using photogra phs,

Clinical trials are in progress to test whether freezing off fat is safe and effective on

ultrasound and histological evaluation, the

humans. The results are l i kely to be published

researchers then examined the tissue to

within the next few months.

44 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

Whi le Brown saysmorethatindestroyi ng fat celhels in thireckons s way causes t e rnal damage, provi longer-very lasting efquifect.ckly"Wi, ibutt coul thwiLLLTdthalulthesotrasound fatceldelstarecover hecreatcell iesnew fat dest r oyed. Al t h ough adul t s can s processones,takes" hemuchsays.longer than ficelxWhilisn,gthidamaged approved ason,a saftheree mechani sm forquestiassiolsenstiLLLTntog wibeistanswered h liposuctiover are happensthe when it is used by itself. Fat leakiwhatngfrom Longer-lasting effect

Cut the fat

H o w does zapping fat with lasers compare with other fat loss measures?

COST

HOW Q U I C K IS IT?

R ECOV ERY P E R I O D

POTENTIAL S I DE E FFECTS

RESULTS

I

LASER LIPOLYSIS

£250 One- hour consultation per treatment. A cours e of including a 20-minute non - invasi ve treatment 8 treatments is recommended to ac hieve noticeable change followed by in body shape l ifestyle advice

20 m i n utes

LIPOSUCTION Surgery to remove unwanted fat and sculpt body

CALORIE-CONTROL DIET GROUP Weekly meeti ngs giving advice o n diet and health, food tracking journals and meal ideas

£1550 to £5000

Around

£20 monthly subscription. 6 months recommended

damaged fatghtcelaway,ls is notso whatremoved fromiftthehe body strai happens patientcopedoesn'witht exerci se toinburn itiup?n Can the body a sudden crease cholIneonesterolrecentand smal triglylceritriadl,esMalflooatneyingloaround? oked at the19 patcholientesterol and t r i g l y ceri d e l e vel s i n sserundergoi nentgLLLT,threeThetimpaties aeweek nts recei v ed l a t r eat m forpre-twprocedure o weeks. Chol esterol levelofstwere to-akenweek and at the end h e t w treatment whereto beyouatwoul d expect anyere wasrise iann choloveralesterol i t s peak. Yet t h ioncipinants,cholwiesttehrol74 lperevelcents in 84experiper ecentncil reduct ofng apartireduct ioneistnelorolw-(dwensihichtyi­s lresponsi ipoproteiblneor"bad" chol ngofthepartiriskcofipantsheart dieitsherease)mai, whintforalein58iedncreasi peror icentncreased r levels ofcholhiegsterol h-densi(wthiy-clihpcanoproteihaven a-theprotthei"good" ectshowed ive effa reducti ect). Overon inhaltrfigofthe parti c i p ants lycerithandelcapabl evels, suggesti nngg that t h e body i s more e of copi wiWhi th thlee theincrease. resulsmalts lol,okandpromi sing, the test group was very i n dependent expert field havetyethe ltoevelbesconvi nced.and "Iwoulwould sneed dinhavethemoreexpected to go up, data to beanconvi they don't," says Neil Thomas, obesintycedexpert

30-90 m i n utes

None

6 weeks A support will be worn day and night for 3 weeks then for a further 3 weeks during the day

Ongoing requiring concerted effort and commitment

None

fromHe thealsoUnihigvhlersiighttysofotherBirmipotenti ngham,al hazards UK. such asplepancreati tis ands arefatplembol i,wiintwhih fatch mul t i bl o od vessel u gged glcapiobull aerisetsh-wiat arethtoopotelantrgeialtoy lpassife-threat througheninthge resultths.im"These diifsleeases could indcrease have siasgniwoulficantd heal pacts vel s di have d, though th" isayss mayThomas. not be an issueMicbeen ihael ftheexpect datHambla iseiconfi r med, n, a researcher Medical School in Boston who studiat eHarvard s LLLT "It may be a decent alternative to l i posuction, b ut it does nothing to i m prove health"

treatments, says thatyinunlhisikopielyn. "Whi ion these hazards are extremel iares someassocieviateddencewitthhacut at hieghpancreat blood triitgisll,yetcerithere des h i s iconsi s onlyderabl afterechroni cally high levels for a ti m e. " Maloneyed, andsaysifurts conducti her investi gplatiacebo­ on is warrant n g a cont redollecld,inrandomi sed,gatidoublon toe-evalblinud,atmule theti­ cent r i c al i n vesti effi"AtcacythiofLLLT s stage iint ilsorealwerilynnotg serum possilbipleidtolejveludges.

Possi ble risk of increased cholesterol and triglyceride levels. U nproven proce d u re

I nfection. Possi bl e reaction to anaesthetic. Blood clotting . Fluid loss. Scarring

Favourite foods may have to be avoided, o r cut back on

U p to 35 0/0

cumulative loss in hip, thigh and waist circumference over a series of treatments

U p to 3 . 6 kg loss of weight per treatment

U p to 1 kg loss of weight per week

what wiladds. happen"Its wiefftehctstheappear technolto obegy,rel" atively Thomas short -l,ivsoedthiands woulthe bid glikprobl eml beinanobesiissuety ifors fat regai n el y sti anyone usinnggtoitHarl as a means toostreduce weiag-hthal."f Accordi e y Fi t I l t w oa ndiaround nches (mmyorehithan 60stmiomach l imetaftres)erfrom p s and one? There 20-aremstiilnutunanswered e session. Woul d I go agai n questi onsfatover howhowthe body deal s wi t h the rel e ased , and much extra iotnscananswered cope witbefore h. I woulretduwant tforhesethequesti rning treatment week aft e r week. t mayowelnwhil bechaidecent alltyernati veatoble lasip"Iaosucti s perfect accept ihealc procedure, but doesd Haslnothiam,nang toobesiimcosmet prove t h, " says Davi ty speciat Lutaliosnt atandtheDunstabl Centre fore Hospi Obesitalty, Research and"Indichaividualr ofsthewhoUKundergo NationaltreatObesimentty Forum. shoul beareaware that diet andandphysithcealbest actwayivtoitdymake thea locornerstones, ng-lasting" improvement inAndhealtwhih andle questi appearance. ioptil remaion, nor,n, it'ass certHaslaaimnlysays,not aisloitng-a replotnsermastcement for a gyms membership and eating fewer doughnut . •

Helen Thomson is New Scientists careers editor 23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 45

BOOKS & ARTS

Time ain't what it used to be Why does time only move forward? Cra ig Ca llender wonders how far we should go to find out

From Eternity to Here: The questfor the ultimate theory of time by Sean

AnthiINt1upon h51ony6, Mark Zihme ara t y ultimate idea in O T emerel energy.y Iusirenewabl nstead of ng windmie l s to generat energy,tohepowersuggestbelleodwsemplto blooyiwng them aiselrf. -.bbacklowinatgthewinwidmindmil , hel s! The thought , woul d runneforever. Zi m ara' s machi ofthermodynami course. The lacwss putoffaithleed,kibosh onNoperpetual moticleverlon machi nned,es. mat t e r how y desi g eventeverualproduci ly grindntogthea haldesitheytrwiwiedtlhout This isfreeduework. to an all-pervasive Carroll, Dutton, $26,95

Tv._�" .. Ull1i11Q11 I.lUV _T,••

macroscopicenttemporal asymmetry: a measure iavainversellableyforrelawork, tedropy, tointhecreases energywith time. That is whyandicnever e meltthes and gases expand, reverse. Arguabl y it iknow s also the reason why you can s stock market results butyestWhere noterday'tomorrow' s . doesAftthiersalarrow of time c come from? l , macroscopi cts are composed ofand the milobjawsceroscopi c parti c l e s, ngct.hTheese arepartialclleegedls cany tiexecut megoverni symmetri eourantjui-stht asermodynami c behavi easi l y as thermodynami c behavisinogur,airso, how do those compri wiexecute ndmilastrajandectory the restofi"know" tog n creasi n entropy? It seems downright cons pi r atori a l . Sean Carroll'sigoals to explin ain From

Etern ity to Here

ofthiGreene' thes puzzlsames e. Whigroundle it ascovers Brianmuch (curvedis aispacetitmhee,same black holes) andaudi m ed at bookiitsdevotes dimorestinence,ctatitveentCarrol iniotwon tlo'sways: ry of tahspecul e directiatiovne ofsoltiumtitheoen.andmyst iThetmieoffers ofthe book is perhaps the bestddle The Fabric ofthe Cosmos

"The mystery is not why entropy increases with time, but why it was lower in the early universe"

anddiscussimostoncomprehensi ve that is ofti m e' s arrow witimde'elsyfasci accessinatibnleg. Carrol ltiexples inaians subtl e luciThed andstandard entertaiexplninagnatimanner. oins forthatwhyhighentropy i n creases configuratentionsropyaremifarcroscopi more likcely

ropywaysones.forThere aretmolhanvastelculowleyentsmore gasin a to be spread out room thforanexampl to be condensed i n the corner, e , j u st as there onlareTheymany onetroublpaimoreretihspoker anthitswexplohands paiarnatis.wiotnh works h diisrhiectighloynslikofely to tiinmcrease e: entin tbotroopywards e future andto thethermodynami past -the lattercs.thThecontrary ery, twihen,th tiismnote, butwhywhyentirtopywasmystilnocreases iisntothsie mpastply. Thesaythatt acceptedhe unisolwervuersetion in a state ofjiunstnocuous veryhappened low enough: entrtoopy.begitIhtnseems entcosmolropyogiposicalt observat accords wieiolnstohw iofs aphysi simplces.add-on to the landawsCarrol He finds lthe, however, low entirsopyunsatiposisfit ed.

Sean Carroll answers readers' questions about time

cathal76

an i mportant role in how we perceive

It we started to tall into a black hole, would we notice that time was moving more slowly?

Time is real! That's my positi on,

the world,

Mark B

Is time a real phenomenon or a human perception?

even then, that theory will have to show how ti me emerges to play such

amount of time elapsed on different clocks that travel through different paths in space-time,

The issue here is one of h u man

Does time exist in a n empty

Is time digital or analogue?

perception, not of physics, We

universe?

in the same way that a basketball

Kingsley

perceive time to move because we

Richard Kenna

is "real" - it's not something you can

The short answer is we're not sure,

come equipped with clocks i n our

The simple answer is yes, time would

poke at or hold in your hands, Instead,

The slig htly longer answer would add

bodies - our hea rtbeat, breathing and

exist, just as space does, It would be

we should say that time - l i ke space

"" , but it's probably analogue",

pulses in the central nervous system,

governed by relativity,

anyway. More specifical ly, time isn't real

and quarks - is "real" if it is a useful

Time is certainly analogue

We would only ever perceive time to

concept in our best und erstanding

(continuous and smooth) according

of how the universe works, And that's certa inly true, I n every theory that we have - Newtonian mechanics,

mechanics and general relativity bo h

However, the arrow of time - the

slow down or speed up if those

flow of entropy that d eterm ines

to the measurements we can do with

biological clocks became out of sync

which direction is the past and which

present-day technology, Quantum

with mechanical clocks, But a physical

is the future - would not exist i n a

phenomenon like falling into a black

truly em pty universe,

t

relativity and quantum mechanics -

feature a perfectly continuous notion

hole affects all types of clocks i n the

time plays a central role, That's not to

of time, However, it's possible that an

same way, So rather than thinking

For more of Sean Carroll's answers

say a better theory won't come along

eventual reconciliation of the two will

of time as speeding up or slowing

to reade rs' q uestions, visit:

where ti me i sn't fundamental, but

result in time becoming dig ital.

down, it's better to compare the

newscientistcom/blogs/culturelab

46 1 NewScientist 1 23 Janu ary 2010

For more reviews and to add your comments, visit www.NewScientist.com/books·art

concerned the Royal Socias liegthty'ns ing earlrods yandmembers, such balts fleoloniowsng,totoday.those that exerci s e i lunexpected as big-namegems, writers tnotabl hereAs welareyMargaret Wert heiomgy's di s cussi o n of how cosmol CAN underst a ndi n g for a oconcept offor how fear works lseleavesf, andnoOlroom i v er Mort n' s pl e a usutoe drop stop andseeiningstead Earthviasewa fragi le bl i t adventurer a dynami mourful of cycles scibeleienceveswriit can.tander, He asandintroducti flows.oInn,chisystBislcoleBryson saysthe uses stori e s of real peopl e -l i k e what i m presses hi m about SuealoneYelwilotwth aahungry il, who found hersel f ofsociitestyrange". is theThi"boundl efulssnesslylives s book mount a i n ldefended ion, and IahinsThomas, whonst a up to that description. house agai ng forest -toing expl weragiJuxtaposed react to twierrifitrhfyethese sitaltuatieosreareons.how iareexpln ourafraianatibraid.onnss andofwhatbodiiessgoiwhenng onwe Wise is aaregoodarresti writenrg,andifahibist WHEN Charl eesd at anecdotes Darwi n studi theEdinUniburghversiintytheof cursory. n"stress" gofthe liisne betunfort weenunatHi"fear"sebl, butuandrrioveral 1820S, one ofRobert his l canhis message i s hopeful : fear professors, behabitatmed, whet her bytskialwl aysor Jbelameson, fin rthemly i e ved i uati o n. I t doesn' work tdihatversway,whothough. Wannabe fixitayclofospeci els,owhiwerlofe another scuba are nat u ral l y was set fol anxi ous shoul acceptabove that watrealeitr.y transmutati on,theory Lamarck'of hows one and keep theirdheads revol u t i o nary speciThiessicanntelchange into anote her. e ct u al debat drihisvtories tahneRebecca newnovelStott.by sciSeteincen thethe falturbull of Napol ent Parieons Of1815 after -whose o deportati onhpunctuates thest is narrat i v e -t e protagoni of/toatherneson'citystowhostuidys ONEn November wet evening adistudent i1660, s patched aofsmalscholl arly wia fitehrcethecrigreattic oftransmutati Georges Cuvieor,n. group gentlemena society speci En routmens,e, hisinpapers andgfossil corals, cl u di n founded "to assisttandhe aretransmutati stolen byoanimysteri oevent us femalualley promote s t, who accumul ationThiofsuseful embroiings,ls hiendim ningunderworl dout knowl e dge". l a vi s h vol u me deal i n a shootreflntelelctesctualon thadvent e 350 years ofhat Anin thenje quarri e, satmospheri beneath PariC ands. iensued, u res t o yabl e from the problems that carefully researched yarn. Scary thoughts

Extreme Fear: The science ofyour mind in danger by Jeff Wise,

Palgrave Macmillan,

£16.99/$27

Reviewed by A l ison Motluk

I!II"�".

Intrigue i n Paris

The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott

"unnat ralsta"te-afts areerhialglhl, loyw entunlrikopyelyu-and ofspeculan explate ainnatitheheads oabsence n. Darioffnigofntosearch welmpsl­ confi r med theory, Carrol l j u from clcsutoe tostriclnuge,theory from bltoackthehole physi cinpatile,ountin: anl he arrietholernalovgraphi es at"mother hicspridestinspacetimofe" from whi c h a mul t i v erse baby uniingvupersesandarepincontchiinngualoff.ly bubbl space-tithatmgievisesabihirgthh enttoTheunirmother opyversesvacuum iexpect ke ourown, somen witofh whilowcenth weropy.canlProbl to begi emissolnatural ved, says. CarrolCarroll, because that l seemsby tslhieghtmanyly leaps embarrassed ofproposi faith hengasksthis solofhiutisoreader itnhe n, and mesused­ reads lcarprose ikesalthofeesman: piParttch of"Thisometi anshonest card,ibrakes s a dream! True, t h e t y res are bal unsound transmi butCarrol you'll andandloveother it!" peddlssioenrsstiofcky, tiversesain make us anaoffer: wimull expl the unexpl ined iwef IV

Weidenfeld N Nicolson, £14,99/$25 Reviewed by A n d rew Rob i nson

I n an i nf i n ite m u ltiverse, ind ividual arrows of time are bound to arise

youmattadders vast unconfi rmablontole ogy. offact i n to your Instconnect his caseethatd babyincluniudesverses, a hostanof dieternal motherandunihalvfersea dozenentirely unlunknown ike ours, mechani sms tonggetthis alexpll thiaisnworki n g. Assumi low entropy past­it is andhardwitothbes tsohsureemuch unknown another conspi r acy i s n' t is tIhnimost s a goodcasesdealIludon'?rkintgthiwintkhin ­ so.perenni Whyaisl Manchester Uniteam? ted y a good soccer Surel solcs udon'tionst haveof thtehem lwiawsnniofynmost physi g sor)much. How unnat ural (condi and unfai those i n i t i a l Nonethel ess, atefrotmpthtsiyonoseansone.are!ofbaby uni v erses say,Sometithatm'sesjuistt itshWebeste wayshrug inott toiands. scratch explanatory itches . •

Craig Ca l lender is a philosopherof science at the University of California, San Diego

'�mr.iii�� i

��'"k'i!I''''=

The smart set

Seeing Further: The story of science

and the Royal Society edited by Bill Brys n, HarperPress, E25

Reviewed by Jo Marchant

Till 'll"'I U 'lu11'lL� a. till A'''''I .... ..111'1

23 January 2010 1 NewScientist 1 47

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not limited to immunology, chemical biology, epigenetics and clinically oriented ski n research. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.comjob 10: 200687988

Postdoctoral Fellow ­ Oncology R&D

Gl a xoSm ithKl i ne (GSK) PA - Pennsylvania We are seeking a highly-motivated postdoctoral fellow to join our stem cell discovery unit within GSK On col ogy R&D. Ourteam is Post- doctoral Research focused on studying developmental Fellow and drug resistance pathways to Brigham and Women's Hospital & identify key molecular players in the Harvard Medical School survival and maintenance of cancer MA - Massachusetts residual disease. For more information visit We are seeking a highly motivated NewScientistjobs.com job 10: individual to work on a project co-funded with the Lovelace 200683430 Respiratory Research Institute that wi II investigate the activities of Biostatistician (204971) proteinases in COPD pathogenesis. Henry M Jackson Foundation For more information visit MD - Maryland NewScientistjobs.comjob 10: Maintain and manipulate databases 200689077 including the estab l ishi ng testi ng mai ntaining and modifying of large complex data sets. Responsib le Tier I Canada Research Chair in Computational forthe creation of a manual of operations for the application Nanochemistry systems and for querying the Concord ia U ni ve rs ity surveyors or research project QC - Quebec The successful candidate will coordinator concerning problematic data identified electronically. have established a hig hly visible, For more i nformation visit internationally recognized, innovative research program NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677892 in computational/theoretical chemistry, as demonstrated by an outstanding publication and funding record, and active graduate Director, Specialized care supervision. Program (205071) For more information visit Henry M Jackson Foundation NewScientistjobs.com job 10: DC - District of Columbia 200684139 Provide leadership and direction to the SCP clinical team covering all aspects ofthe SCP, including but not limited to. Provide overall Investigator- cancer Stem Cell clinical guidance ofthe SCP and m ultidiscipl i na ry staff to ensure the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) program is conducted in accordance PA - Pennsylvania with the intent of the Director, We are seeking a highly motivated tumor biologistto join our Stem Cell DHCC. Discovery Unit at GlaxoSmithKline For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: Oncology. The Unit's focus is the 200677891 discovery and development of innovative cancer therapies against novel molecular targets Research Scientist (205072) Henry M Jackson Foundation that maintain Cancer Stem Cells. DC - District of Columbia For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: Plan, execute and oversee the 200683423 design and development of ,

,

www.NewScientistJobs.com

computer applications, including proton treatment planning. Write computer code in high-level language (C, C++) to include sophisticated data base creation and manipulations interfacing with third party treatment planning software.). For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200686309

Immunology Team Leader­ New jersey Hu mi gen, LLC NJ - New Jersey The successful candidate will be expected to develop a strong and independent research program geared towards translational research, with goals directed to biomarker and drug discovery. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200679036

Postdoctoral Fellow Positions - Cancer Research Johns H o p kin s U n ive rsity School of Medicine MD - M aryl and A research postdoctoral fellow position is available atthe Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for molecular and cellular biology studies in cancers, including thyroid cancer, melanoma, colon cancer, and other cancers, to explore molecular mechanisms in tumorigenesis, particularly in relation to genetic and epigenetic alterations (e.g., DNA methylation and histone modifications) and aberrant pathway signalings. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200682289

Post-doctoral fellowship at johns Hopkins: Stem cells in psychiatric and neurological diseases Johns Ho p ki n s U n iversity School of Medicine MD - M a ryl a nd Research will emphasize disease modeling using iPS cells derived from patients with diseases including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Huntington's disease. The post-doc will join an expert

team committed to using stem cells to understand the pathophyisology of these diseases, with the goal of developing new approaches to therapy. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677366

Assistant Professor of OncologylVirology, University of Wisconsin­ Madison Medical Col lege of Wisconsin WI - W i sconsi n The McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research / Department of Oncology and the Institute of Molecular Virology are seeking outstanding candidates for a joint tenure-track, assistant professor position in the area of cancer virology. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200690647

Spectroscopy Laboratory Coordinator Los Alamos National Laboratory N M - New Mexico This position will involve a combination of administrative duties and hands-on laboratory work in support of Center research activities in nanoscale semiconductor and metal structures in the context of solar energy conversion. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200676014

Senior Scientist #115481 New Vork, NV ImClone Systems NY - New York Our deep expertise in molecular biology, oncology, genomics and antibody engineering has helped us establish a robust pipeline of products that are in various stages of clinical development and span virtually all major solid tumor types. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200689509

GENETICS RESEARCH SCIENTIST Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation WI - Wisconsin The Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation (MCRF) invites applicants for 2 open-rank tenure­ track Research Scientists in the Center for Human Genetics. Scientists with expertise in Genetic Networks/Systems Biology and Population (Haploblock) Structure are especially encouraged to apply

for appointment in 2010. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200684121

Post Doctoral Fellow Medical College of Georgia GA - Georg ia Experience in molecular techniques for the analysis of gene expression including microarrays, chromatin immunoprecipitation, evaluation of protein biochemistry with 2D gels, animal models, the yeast-two­ hybrid system, confocal microscopy and tissue culture is preferred. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200689513

Neurobiology Team Leader­ Newjersey Medical Diagnostic Laboratories Nj - New jersey The successful candidate is expected to develop a strong and independent research program geared towards translational research focused on disease-based

flltC

American Association for CancerResearch

Grants Manager's Position Description The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) seeks a

Grants Manager to

support the development and coordination of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) research

projects to ensure effectiveness in

all phases of grant funding. The position reports & Grants Administration and serves as proiect management and operational expert in establishing and implementing policies ­ procedures in alignment with federal regulations, AACR and SU2C guiding principles. to the Director of Scientific Review

Key Functions - assist with plan ning, implementation and evaluation of SU2C-AACR

grants program s and initiative s s upporting SU2C principle s; evaluating and monitoring business management capability and performance of

Faculty Position in Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology Ma in e Medical Center Research I nstitute ME - Maine Nationally competitive resources are available for a talented scientist to advance investigations in the overall discipline of stem and progenitor cell biology. Priority may be given to investigations that complement existing center research in hematopoietic, renal, vascular, ES/iPS and cancer stem cell arenas. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200689508

applicant organizations and operating procedures associated with business management aspects of the grants process; p articipates in oversight and allocation of budget; allocates resources, determines priorities and new initiative s ; maintains & manages grant portfolio; represents AACR and SU2e in contacts with U.S. and internation al grantees, and the internal

scientific research community. Essential Skills and Knowledge

- strong project management, grant management,

financial knowledge and scientific knowledge, experience monitoring scientific milestones and deliverables, highly collaborative, experience managing relationships across teams; Excellent written

& oral communications skills; competency with data

management tools, politically savvy, ability to deal with sensitive information, and

available for 25%

travel.

& Training - Masters Degree is required . Ph.D. or advanced degree 5 years grants management expo

Education preferred.

Specialized Knowledge,

Competencies

science, medicine, drug development, proj ect

managemen t

and Experiences - knowledge of management and grants administration

Apply to: Human Resources, P.O. Box 40138, Philadelphia, PA 1 9 1 06 e-mail: humanresources @aacr.org, fax: 21 5-440-1045

EOE

23 January 2010 I NewScientist 1

49

www.NewScientistJobs.com

bioma rkers or drug discovery platforms, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200679033

Protein Express & Purification Research Scientist - New Jersey Medica l Dia gn osti c Laboratories Nj - New j ersey MOL is currently seeking a PROTEIN EXPRESSION & PURIFICATION RESEARCH SCIENTIST to join the Antigen Discovery and High Throughput Screening group of our Research & Development department in our corporate office in Hamilton, Nj, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.comjob 10: 200679042

Agronomist/Crop Biologist (000K7) Monsanto MO - M isso u ri There is an immediate opening within the Regulatory Environmental Assessment Team for a mid to senior-level agronomist / crop scientist The successful candidate will conduct laboratory, greenhouse and field agronomic and plant assessment studies necessary to support worldwide registration, commercialization and monitoring of agricultural crops, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200688321

Group Head, Biochemical & Organ Toxicology (Cambridge) Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts The candidate will be responsible forthe design and set-up of new experimental facilities for 3 laboratories, and the management of staff therein, The candidate will also be responsible for subsequent development. implementation and management of experimental studies, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677508 50 1 NewScientist 1 2 3 January 2010

Allergist (OOODU) M ons anto MO - M i ssou ri An outstanding allergist is needed to support allergy studies of genetically modified crops in the Regulatory Sciences organization, The scientist will support registration of Monsanto's biotechnology-derived products by conducting allergy studies, providing allergy expert opinions, and monitoring research developments in the allergy community, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200688324

Applied Plant Physiologist (OOOK6) M onsanto MO - Missouri There is an immediate opening within the Regulatory Environmental Assessment Team for a mid- to senior level whole plant crop physiologist/agronomist The successful candidate should be skilled in whole plant physiological assays common for characterizing yield and stress traits in agricultural crops grown in field and controlled environments, For more information visit NewScientistjobs,com job 10: 200688326

Postdoctoral Fellow - NIH Bethesda National Human Genome Research Institute, Nati o n a l Institutes of Health (NHGRI) (NIH) MD - Maryland A postdoctoral position is available in the Metastasis Genetics Section, Cancer Genetics Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute, Our laboratory focuses on the influence of germline variation upon tumor dissemination in prostate and breast cancer, For more information visit NewScientistjobs,com job 10: 200676942

Post-Doctoral Positions Natio na l j ewish Health CO - Colorado Post-Doctoral Positions National jewish Health located in Denver,

Colorado invites PhDs with demonstrated scientific expertise in immunology, genetic engineering, or genetic epidemiology to apply for post-doctoral positions in the laboratory of Dr. David Schwartz in the Center for Genes, Environment, and Health, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.comjob 10: 200679905

Postdoctoral Position in Immunology at New York University (NYC) New York U nivers ity NYU NY - New York A postdoctoral position is available immediately in the Feske lab at New York University Medical Center (NYUMC) to study the role of calcium channels and calciumdependent signaling pathways in cells of the immune system both in vitro and in vivo, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.comjob 10: 200684137

Associate Scientist N ovartis I nstitutes for BioMedical Research (US) Nj - New jersey May obtain blood samples for Clinical Pathology or genomics testing, May obtain specimens for Electron Microscopy testing in Tox/Path and assist Novartis researchers with projects. Collect, verify and maintain study data, and measurements, and communicate results and interpretations in an accurate and timely manner, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.comjob 10: 200680047

Computational Biologist (Ph.D) Novartis Institutes for BioMed ical Research (US) MA - Massachu setts As a member of the Quantitative Biology research team in the Department of Developmental and Molecular Pathways, you will be working in a dynamic, agile 'dry-lab' research environment committed to the discovery of novel drug targets, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.comjob 10:

200677571

Fellow/Senior Fellow Safety Genomics Novartis Institutes fo r BioMedical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts Extract implicit and novel information from complex and large databases to characterize genes involved in the physiological and/ or pathological state following drug therapy, This is done by integrating and synthesizing the information from databases with bioinformatics tools as well as with statistical, partitioning and visualization techniques, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677572

Postdoctoral Fellow Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts A NIBR Postdoctoral Fellowship position is available for a highlymotivated scientist to join a dynamic group in the Centerfor Proteomic Chemistry, Lead Finding Platform. This isan exciting opportunity to perform cutting-edge research in an industry setting at our Cambridge, MA site, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677528

Postdoctoral researcher positions - The Ohio State University Center for RNA Biology Ohio State University james Cancer Ce nter OH - Ohio For work on microRNA silencing and mRNA re-capping preference will be given to individuals with a strong background in bioinformatics and experience using deep sequencing to analyze gene expression on a transcriptome-wide basis, For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677325

Senior Scientist/ Principal Scientist Pfizer US

www.NewScientistJobs.com NY - New York Proposes, plans and conducts research projects including complex experiments, some in parallel, utilizin g current concepts and recognized standard techniques, deve lopi ng new protocols as necessary. Demonstrates advanced level of problem solvi ng and troubleshooting. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200686324

Systems Pharmacologist ­ RS/R6 Pfizer US MA - Massachusetts Collaborate with a multidisciplinary project team to develop and implement qu a ntitative mechanistic mathematical m odels of pharmacology to aid in target prioritization, modality selection ,

chemical optimization, biomarker

cha racterization and early clinical trial design For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200675997

Research Associate (Assistant Professor) Department of Microbiology

U n ivers ity of Chicago IL I l l i nois Oversee research in a Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) containm ent laboratory dedicated to research with infectious agents and Select Agents. Perform microbiological standard assays and advanced genetic manipulation steps on i nfe ctious agents. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200682298 -

Postdoctoral Fellow ­ Cincinnati, OH - Academic

U n ive rsity of Cin cin n ati Department of Ca n ce r and Cell Biology OH - Ohio We are seeking candidates with a strong background in cancer and/or metabolic diseases to elucidate t he signali n g pathways in (1) Malignant periph eral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) linked to Neurofibromatosis Type 1, or (2) ,

Branched-chain amino-acid induced obesity an d insulin res i stance .

For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200687427

Assistant Professor in Aquatic Ecology and Limnology

U n ive rsity of Nebraska-Lincoln NE - Ne b raska The School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln is seeking an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (te nu re -track nine month appointment) to conduct basic and applied research in aq uatic ecology and limnology with a focus on surface water in Nebraska. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200682294 ,

CANCER Ph.D Scientist: Oncology Biotherapeutics N ovartis I nstitute s for Bi o Me d i cal Research (US) MA - Massachusetts We are seeking a h i gh ly motivated research i nvestigator with a strong publication record, a si g nif icant background in on cology and th erapeutic antibody development. The successful candidate will be expected to lead g lobal multidisciplinary project teams in the discovery and d eve lopment of novel anti body therapeutics. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677589

PhD Scientist- Oncology Biology Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts We are seeking a h ighly motivated resea rch investigator with a background in oncology research and a strong p ublication record. The successful candidate will be expected to lead global m u ltidisciplinary project teams in the d iscove ry and development of novel anti-cancertherapeutics. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200677595

CHEMISTRY Principal Scientist Medicinal Chemist AstraZeneca MA - Massachusetts The q ualified individual will be an active laboratorian with strong synthetic and medicinal chemistry ski lis and the abi I ity to devise chemical solutions to issues arising in medicinal chem istry programs. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200676385

N ovartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts The Oncology department is seeking a PhD level Research Investigator for a new cellula r assay lab which will both develop new assays and run developed assays in a high-throughput setting. In this new position the candidate will be responsible for working with drug d iscove ry teams to develop new com pou nds. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com Job 10: 200677593

-

CLINICAL Director Clinical Research­ Onglyza AstraZeneca DE Delaware Clinical Research physicians are involved in the design, conduct, monitorin g, data interpretation and reporting of clinical trials. These individuals must ensure that all clinical studies operate to the highest ethical and safety standards and in compliance with GCP and regulatory req uirem ents. For more i nformation visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200680404 -

Sr Scientist Product Formulation AstraZeneca DE - Delaware AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP is seeking a Senior Scientist for its offices in Wilmi ngto n DE to be responsible for providing expert medical scientific supportto project teams in the development and understanding of drug manufacturing processes, with a particular emphasis on solid drug dosage formul ation For more i nformation visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200680405 ,

,

PhD Research Investigator­ Oncology Cellular Assay

professional development and mentoring ofjunior level scientific staff. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677591

Medicinal Chemistry Associates/Scientists (BS/ MS) Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Resea rc h (US) MA - Massachusetts The successful candidate will perform organic synthesis expe rime nts and pu rification procedures, using standard organic ch em i stry la b o ratory techniques or new methods from the literature to obtain pure characterized compounds for biological evaluation. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 1 0: 200677581

.

Translational Strategist ­ Infection Research AstraZeneca MA - Massachusetts The translational science strategist will develop the Infection Translational Science strategy and

PhD Medicinal/Synthetic Organic Chemist Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts The q ualified individual is expected to contribute to pre-clinical research projects as a project team member. Additionally, the qualified individual will be expected to supervise the

deliver translational science studies to facilitate clinical eval u ation of small molecule anti-bacterial candidates. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200676386

Field Research Associate Stanton, MN (0017S) 23 January 2010

I NewScientist 1 51

www.NewScientistJobs.com Mo nsa nto MN - Minnesota Monsanto is seeking a highly motivated individual with the ability to work as a memberof a multi-disciplinary Research Team located in Stanton, MN. The Research Associate will primarily be responsibleforsupporting the activities of the on Site Breeder(s) and Testing Operations Manager (TOMS). For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200688519

lead international project teams in the discovery and development of novel therapeutic antibodies. The candidate will also be expected to supervise a molecular biology/cell biology laboratory that will contribute to all Ophthalmology antibody projects. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677527

EARTH & ENVIROM ENT Environment Safety and Health Technician (0016X)

Clinical Education Director Novartis Institutes for BioMed ical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts The primary responsibilityforthe successful candidate will be to work with NIBR researchers and clinicians to address their scientific and medical education needs. NIBR, a global organization responsible for research and advancing drug candidates through clinical exploratory development, is comprised of Disease Areas, Discovery Sciences, and Clinical Sciences departments For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677504

Molecular/Cellular Biology Research Scientist (BS/MS) Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts The successful applicant will participate in several early stage drug discovery projects aiming at identifying novel targets for inflammation associated diseases and elucidating the molecular mechanisms of relevantsignaling pathways. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677585

PhD Scientist: Antibody Therapeutics Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts The successful candidate will be expected to be a member of and 52 1 NewScientist I 23January 2010

M onsanto H I - Hawa i i This position will be located in Kunia, HI. Environment Safety and Health Technicians create and revise site safety procedures in conjunction with other ES&H Technicians, H R Generalist and Site Manager. For more information visit NewScientistJobs.com job 10: 200690265

ENGIN EERING Head of Engineering Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (US) MA - Massachusetts Manage all activities for systems engineering and analysis in the research, engineering, design, manufacturing and testing of new molecular diagnostic tests in the Molecular Diagnostics Unit of Novartis Pharma. For more information visit NewScientistjobs.com job 10: 200677576

MATHS & IT 3D Chip Stacking Packaging Engineer IC Resources Ltd

Canada We are currently searching for a 3D chip stacking Engineer with the following key skills: Ie, semiconductor, packaging, 3d, chip stacking, SIP, system in package, MCM, manufacturing, fab, assembly, project management, jobs For more information visit NewScientistJobs.com job 10: 200678765

Northeastern Assistant/Associate/Full Professor Movement Neuroscience Northeastern University, Boston, A1A The Departments of Biology and Physical Therapy at Northeastern

University

are

seeking

interdisciplinary

applicants in experimental or computational Movement Neuroscience. All ranks will be considered. Individuals working on neurophysiological, biomechanical and executive functions in the control of movement, rehabilitation and restoration of function, development, sensorimotor integration, muscle function and other areas related to motor control are encouraged to apply. We are interested in individuals with a variety of research methods ranging from

behavioral,

neurophysiological,

biomechanical,

electrophysiological, engineering and imaging techniques. Applicants will be expected to support a strong research program

and contribute to teaching in

the area of

neurobiology and biomechanics of movement at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Successful applicants are expected to maintain an independent research program of distinction, as well as effective collaborations with other faculty at Northeastern University and institutions in the Boston area. Qualifications

include

a

strong

record

of scientific

achievements and extramural funding commensurate with the level of the appointment, and a willingness to contribute to undergraduate and graduate teaching.

Start date: Fall 2010. To apply, visit the College website http://www.northeastern.edu/cas/ and dick on 'Faculty Positions'. For questions about the search, call: Dagmar Sternad 617-373-5093. Review of applications will begin January 15,

2010 and continue until the position is filled. Northeastern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action EducationaL Institution andEmpLoyer, Title IX University, and NSFfunded ADVANCE InstitutionaL Transformation site. Women and minority candidates are encouraged to apply.

Looki ng to h i re Post Docs for you r lab? P l ace you r message i n the N ew S c i entist Post Doc Recru itment N ews Feat u re i n the February 13 i ss u e .

I I T h i s past fa l l we were l ooki ng to fi l l a Postd octora l • • Pos i t i o n i n Ca rd i ovasc u l ar Genet i cs . H avi ng posted it on N ewSc i e nt i stJ o bs . com we rece i ved m a ny m ore a p p l i cat i o ns t h a n expected . I a m p l eased to say the

searc h h as gon e very we l l .

11

M atthew C u rren , N ew York U n iversity School of M ed i c i ne

Reservations m u st be received by February 6 , 20 1 0 . Ema i l N SSa l es@N ewSc i ent i st . com Ca l l 78 1 . 73 4 . 8 7 7 0

NewScientist Jobs

www.NewScientistJobs.com

At Monsanto, ou r talented em ployees

a re

contri buting to

o u r success as a

global leader

in biotech nology. By delivering exceptional res u lts in one of the world's m ost important ind u stries

-

ag riculture

-

we are

creati ng solutions that imp rove prod uctivity in farm i ng w h i le

reducing the i m pact on o u r environ ment.

We are looking for ta lented scientists who can work in dyn a m ic, cross-fu nction a l teams with specialization in one o r more of the follow ing fie lds: Biochemistry

N utrient and Water Use Efficiency

Bioinformatics/Genom ics

Plant Breeding and Genetics

Data Ma nagem ent/Data M i n ing

P la n t Molecular Biology

Developmenta l B i o logy

Plant Pathol ogylEntomo logy/Nematolog-y

Droug ht/A b i oti c Stress Tolerance

Plant Phys iology

Eng ineeri n g and Automation

Plant Transformation

Gene DiscoverylTr,ait C ha racte rization

Protein Sciences

Gene Suppression Tec h nology

Reg u l atory Sciences/Affairs

G lobal Germplasm Management

Stat�stica I/Quantitative Genetics

Microbiology

Structura l Biology

The l ife of the pla nts we depend upon most b eg ins in

a

small seed. With i n the right

e nviron ment it g rows to become something a mazing. At M onsanto , our ph ilosophy is th e same

-

we

a re co mm itted to helping you progress in a ca ree r with u n l i m ited potentia l .

To lea rn more about Monsanto and our exciting career opportun ities or

to apply, v isit our careers silte::

www.monsanto.com/careers

MON SANTO is an equal opportunity employer. we valus a diverse o:ombinal!lm of fd�
Monsanto

6:1

2009 Monsan

a Company

54 1 NewScientist 1 23 January 2010

Discover trade secrets a n d top t i ps of how to have a successful career w i th i n the sc ience commu n i ty.

Playing mind games We' l l be show i ng you how to breeze t h rough a n i nterview, w i n a n argument, and cope w i t h stress, a l l this a n d more to h e l p you get ahead in the workplace. Use these psychological i nsights to your advantage.

Available as a FREE digital edition at www.NewScientistJobs.comluscareersguide20 1 0

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FEEDBACK

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FINALLY, one from the department of post·Newton ian physics. Edward Roworth was impressed by the combination of relativity and

TV

q uantum theories impl icit i n an announcement at Oxford rai lway station, which urged passengers: ''To speed up time, please use all available doors to enter the train."

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I heard that a Formula 1 car

travelling at 200 kilometres per hour would generate enough

downforce (or suction) to allow it

to stick to the ceiling, Is this correct? And if it is, how is the force generated?

This is an interesting though texperiment and gave us some great answers. Clearly the longrunn ing debate over how a ircraft wings achieve lift is still alive and kicking -Ed •

"Drive fast enough and downforce exceeds the car's weight, enabling it to run along a tunnel roof"

Mike Follows Willenhall, WestMidlands, UK •

Marco van Beek London, UK

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MichaelMacpherson Automotive engineering student Glasgow, UK

This week's question

Why dithdathumans evolvtoe extserveernalany noses don' t seem useful purpose -oure thesmelhead.linOurg sensors are i n si d nosestharee majvulonrierabl epritomdamage andother t y of atwietshand mammal s manage relatively flatfaces. 01, B I G NOSE!

Dennis Newland Purley, Surrey, UK

at lpm. Limo not available on all Upper Class fares. Restrictions apply - see website for details.