interesting ISSUE 46 VERY brain entertainment the quest for knowledge Refresh your mind • Moon landings: 50th anniversary • The first woman in space • The Mars Rover • The Hubble Telescope p.14 DEAD RIGHT Corpses can tell you a lot – if LAZINESS IS GOOD FOR YOU PART TWO you know how to read them shortcuts your brain takes Cognitive biases: when your brain gets it wrong p.60 OVER THE MOON p.26 ISSUE 46 MAR/APRIL 2019 SADC countries: R43,39 (Excl TAX) Price R49.90 | €7.00 | £4.90 60 YEARS IN SPACE A BRIEF HISTORY OF In association with SCIENCE WORLD Plus: STEPHEN HAWKING p.55 • Brave South African filmmakers take on rhino poaching • Mimicking synapses to boost computers • What would happen if everyone on the planet went vegan? • Can plants communicate with insects? World-famous author and physicist laid to rest alongside Newton and Darwin We would like to thank all our loyal customers – the mavericks, pioneers and explorers – for making 2018 a great and memorable year Whether you flew for business or leisure, you inspired us to take our business to greater heights by taking you to more new and exciting destinations We wish you a peaceful festive season and look forward to sharing more extraordinary adventures with you in 2019 flyairlink.com @fly_airlink Fly Airlink 45791 Choose Airlink to fly you to one of your bucket list destinations Focus Fair and square The highly organised fashion of Barcelona’s bustling streets is only revealed when the city is viewed from above, as captured here by a drone This district is known as Eixample and was designed by pioneering city planner Ildefons Cerdà to maximise sunlight and ventilation, while the chamfered corners improve visibility at junctions 46/2019 Medicine p.14 Corpses can tell you a lot – if you know how to read them And just like language, decomposition is dependent on location Which is why some researchers say we need to start studying the dialect of decay Keep your questions coming to VI@panorama.co.za If you’d like to subscribe, or to give a gift that keeps on giving, take advantage of our special deals at www.coolmags.co.za/ product/vi/ Bruce Dennill Editor 14 A Lying in the grave Bass founded the first human decomposition research facility at the University of Tennessee after recognising how misleading the decay process could be The realisation came in 1977 after local police contacted Bass and asked him to examine some 46/2019 46/2019 DEAD RIGHT Corpses can tell you a lot – if 15 LAZINESS IS GOOD FOR YOU THE PART TWO you know how to read them Innovation shortcuts your brain takes Cognitive biases: when your brain gets it wrong SEEDS p.60 OF CHANGE O An expanding global population, the threat of climate change and the need to reduce reliance on pesticides are presenting 21st-Century farming with a host of new challenges But with technology’s help, farming is fighting back… Price R49.90 | €7.00 | £4.90 TEXT: HAYLEY BENNETT MAKING LIGHT WORK Koppert Cress greenhouse, Netherlands Under the neon pink glow of hundreds of LED lights, workers at the Koppert greenhouse in the Netherlands tend to their micro-vegetables While the lighting may suggest they’ve been sucked into a 1980s videogame – like Tron but with more cress – it’s actually a cost-saving measure A combination of red and blue light is cheaper to run than the normal colour and the micro-veg don’t mind it Covering 10 hectares, Koppert’s range includes 33 varieties of cress, wheatgrass, edible flowers and other indoor crops, which are shipped all over the world The latest addition is sweet lov, young maize that is eaten as a crunchy, newly germinated corn kernel Like the cress, sweet lov can be grown without soil, on a wet felt pad, and sold as a living crop 44 46/2019 46/2019 HISTORY 45 p.44 Spoor in the Skye Dinosaurs left only footprints, took only photographs in Scotland SPACE Holiday in the heights Start saving – holidays above the atmosphere are almost here ENVIRONMENT BODY Giant moles, possibly 10 Why is stretching such a pleasure? One reason to go to gym… FOOD 11 Can you unboil an egg? Useful if your order was wrong at the restaurant CULTURE 12 Why can’t everyone roll their ‘r’s? This is rrrrrreeeaaally important to know 46/2019 coming out of the existing facilities is very useful but it’s not directly applicable to forensic cases in the UK.” In short, people in the UK don’t decay in the same way as they elsewhere In fact, people don’t always decay the same way in the same country And we wouldn’t know that if it wasn’t for the pioneering work of forensic anthropologist Dr William Bass ISSUE 46 MAR/APRIL 2019 This year marks half a century since the first man walked on the moon, with NASA – the foremost innovators in the field of space exploration – having their 60th birthday last year (go to page 26 for a celebration of that journey) The pace of innovation has sped up considerably since 1969, with the result that we spend considerably more time looking forward now than we looking back To that end, even our bodies become useful tools, whether dead (Down on the body farm, page 14) or alive (Brain gain, page 22) Making sure the latter is the more prevalent condition is one of the driving forces behind some of the spectacular advances in farming and food production (The seeds of change, page 44) Sadly, many of the markers of where we may end up if we’re not careful about the way we manage our resources are living creatures, including the remaining rhino populations (the South African film Stroop looks at the burgeoning poaching crisis, page 52), and South Africa’s magnificent but vulnerable crane species, whose populations are some of the first to suffer when their habitats are affected (see page 40) In happier news, part two of our examination of the positive effects of laziness (page 60) begins with the headline Lazy ways to save the planet So we just might be okay… Students excavate a corpse at the body farm at Texas State University world: seven in the US, one in Australia and another in the Netherlands So why we need one in the UK? “What we know about decomposition has come out of the American facilities,” explains Williams “Before the first one opened in 1981, we really didn’t know very much about how bodies decompose in different conditions The research that’s been going on since then has really boosted our knowledge “And one of the things we’ve learned is that decomposition is incredibly dependent upon local conditions: the surrounding temperature, rainfall, humidity, soil type, ecology, insects, scavengers – it’s all dependent on these variables So, the information SADC countries: R43,39 (Excl TAX) Time for tomorrow the quest for know TEXT: ROB BANINO r Anna Williams wants to watch you rot It’s nothing personal; it’s for science, specifically the science of taphonomy, which is the study of decay and fossilisation By monitoring how corpses decompose, she hopes to increase our understanding of the subtleties of the process and improve the accuracy with which we can locate and identify dead people and determine their time of death In order to this, Williams, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Huddersfield, wants to establish a human taphonomy facility in the UK There are already nine such facilities – colloquially known as ‘body farms’ – around the p.14 D inte VERY VERY VI@panorama.co.za @V_I_mag (Twitter) VeryInterestingmag (Facebook) thisissue 13 Why countries a long way from a plate boundary still get earthquakes? TECHNOLOGY 20 Building blocks 3D-printing components for… just about anything INNOVATION 22 Brain gain Copying our brains’ synapses to improve computers In association with SCIENCE WORLD •M • N A N D BAC OO TO THE K M Space 11 OCTOBER 1958 NASA launches first spacecraft, Pioneer Less than two months later, the agency launched its first spacecraft: Pioneer This probe was designed to study the ionising radiation, cosmic rays, magnetic fields and micrometeorites in the space around the Earth and moon A mechanical problem meant that it never reached the moon, but it did return useful data on the environment around the Earth A brief history of him With 2019 marking 50 years since the first moon landings, we look back at NASA’s illustrious history, through 20 of its most iconic moments eresting PHOTOGRAPHY: NASA APRIL 1959 NASA announces its first astronauts, the Mercury NASA’s unofficial goal when it was conceived was to put an American in space before the Soviet Union launched a cosmonaut For this, America needed astronauts Exhausting and thorough medical and psychological testing found seven men – all experienced military pilots with combat experience – to be the best suited for the job When they were introduced to the public in April 1959, they were immediate heroes ISSUE 46 brain entertainment wledge TEXT: AMY SHIRA TEITEL Refresh your mind p.26 29 JULY 1958 President Eisenhower creates the agency After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, it fell to President Eisenhower (centre) to soothe the fear that was gripping his nation Knowing space could soon become a battleground in the burgeoning Cold War, he decided to establish a civilian space agency such that space exploration could be a peaceful endeavour for humanity He signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act on 29 July 1958, formally putting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the leadership of administrator T Keith Glennan (right) and deputy administrator Hugh L Dryden (left) 26 46/2019 • Moon landings: 50th anniversary • The first woman in space • The Mars Rover • The Hubble Telescope 46/2019 Psychology LAZ IS G INESS FOR OOD YO PAR U! TW T O p.60 OVER THE MOON p.26 60 YEARS IN SPACE A BRIEF HISTORY OF p.55 World-famous author and physicist laid to rest alongside Newton and Darwin WORDS: LUIS VILLAZON 60 Making headway BODY LAZY WAYS TO SAVE THE PLANET Sure, you could convert your house into a solar-panelled, rainwaterharvesting no-waste eco paradise But doesn’t that all require a bit too much… well… effort? Never fear, these tips can help you greenify your life without breaking a sweat Plus: STEPHEN HAWKING • Brave South African filmmakers take on rhino poaching Mimicking synapses to boost computers • What would happen if everyone on the planet went vegan? • Can plants communicate with insects? 25 MAY 1961 President Kennedy announces goal of landing a man on the moon The Soviet Union scored a series of firsts over the United States, including putting the first satellite and the first man into space Seeking to level the playing field, President Kennedy consulted with NASA and learned that all studies said a moon landing within the decade was possible With 15 minutes of suborbital spaceflight under America’s belt, he publicly promised a man on the moon in a famous address to Congress Acoustics and the wind p.79 24 What happens in my body when I get a stitch? People tell you that you should have waited longer before swimming ENVIRONMENT 25 Which is better for the environment: burial or cremation? Your wallet might also agree with your choice ENVIRONMENT 52 On the horns of a dilemma South African film investigates the rhino-poaching trade MEDICINE 73 Start your En-genes! A unicycle made of DNA? Why not? ILLUSTRATIONS: ADAM GALE Saying goodbye to Stephen Hawking p.55 27 Don’t wash your clothes Or at least, not so often A single load of laundry generates 600g of CO2, even if you wash at 30°C and dry it on the washing line Tumble-drying triples this But the United Nations Environment Programme and Levi’s jeans both agree that you can wear trousers and skirts at least fi ve times before washing them The same goes for wool and synthetic sweaters, jackets and sweatshirts If every household in the UK alone saved a whole laundry load per week, they would slash CO2 emissions by 840,000 tonnes a year For ordinary laundry, halving the amount of detergent will leave your clothes just as clean while reducing the phosphates that end up in our rivers These cause algal blooms that kill fish and inhibit the natural biodegradation of organic substances Use a milkman Supermarkets will only sell you milk in plastic jugs, or cartons made of laminated cardboard and plastic But local milk delivery companies are starting to bring the glass milk bottle back to your doorstep Glass now takes half as much energy to produce per tonne as it did 30 years ago Recycling milk bottles is also much greener than other bottles because they can be washed and reused, rather than melting them back down to raw glass Glass milk bottles, reused fi ve times, generate 17% less CO per litre of milk than single-use plastic jugs This rises to 60% savings after 20 uses You can even extend your breakfast laziness and get fruit juice delivered in glass bottles, too Use a dishwasher Washing up by hand can use less energy than running a dishwasher, but only with an efficient technique If you rinse the plates and dishes under a hot tap and change the water in the bowl a few times, your handwashing session can generate 8kg of CO 2, compared with 1kg for a dishwasher cycle at 65°C Using the dishwasher’s ‘eco’ cycle will drop the washing temperature to 55°C and this reduces the carbon footprint by another 20% Loading and unloading the dishwasher also takes just a quarter of the time of doing the washing up Remember, though, that dishwashers are only efficient when they are fully loaded Soak dishes in cold water or run a cold rinse cycle while you wait for enough dishes to run a full load 46/2019 PLUS 46/2019 61 All the questions you didn’t know you wanted the answer to including: Why wombats make cube-shaped poos? Are there any stars between galaxies? What would happen if a country’s annual rainfall fell in one giant drop? ■ Do dogs recognise their own breeds? ■ Large clouds can weigh tonnes How they stay up? ■ Could we reuse any International Space Station modules for a Mars mission? ■ Who really discovered continental drift? ■ How scientists weigh a planet? ■ Why doesn’t the sun fuse all its hydrogen at once and explode like an H-bomb? ■ How are fragrances removed to make fragrance-free products? ■ Can plants communicate with insects? ■ What’s the biological difference between an identical twin and a clone? ■ What would happen if everyone on the planet suddenly went vegan? ■ Do birds wee? ■ ■ ■ 46/2019 interesting VERY the quest for knowledge Refresh your mind To buy or subscribe to Very Interesting online, go to: www.coolmags.co.za/vi/ Very Interesting is available from Exclusive Books, Woolworths, Spar, Checkers, CNA, Pick n Pay and other leading newsagents nationwide Now Trending articles are solicited advertorial features PUBLISHER Urs Honegger EDITOR Bruce Dennill SENIOR SUB EDITOR Vanessa Koekemoer SUB EDITOR Nicolette Els RESEARCHER Mandy Schroder VERY INTERESTING ACKNOWLEDGES THE FOLLOWING SOURCES: quora.com; affiliateddentists.com; silveradofamilydental.com; scienceabc.com; miamicosmeticdentalcare.com; dentistjustforkids.com; awildsmile.com; practo.com; grubaughortho.com; scientificamerican.com; espn.com; core77.com; physics.stackexchange.com; discovery.com; ijens.org; racecar-engineering com; rtmc.co.za; pmg.org.za; carinsurance.arrivealive.co.za; nrcs.org.za; saairforce co.za; authorandbookinfo.com; militaryfactory.com; dod.mil.za; core.ac.uk; newsinhealth nih.gov; phoenixhouse.org; psychologytoday.com; webmd.com; casapalmera.com; narcononnewliferetreat.org; drugabuse.gov Heroine hide and seek: a niche game OPERATIONS AND PRODUCTION MANAGER Paul Kotze SENIOR DESIGNER Annie Fraser TRAFFIC AND PRODUCTION Juanita Pattenden ADVERTISING Tel: 011 468 2090, sales@panorama.co.za SALES MANAGER Gillian Johnston gill@panorama.co.za SUBSCRIPTIONS subscriptions@panorama.co.za Tel: 011 468 2090 magzter.com/ZA/Panorama-Media-Corp/Very-Interesting/Science FINANCE accounts@panorama.co.za DISTRIBUTION Republican News Agency ISSN 2223-1447 PRINTERS Predicting addiction Jan to June 2018 18,147 (total) Braintainment is printed on partially recycled paper Very Interesting is published alternate monthly; six issues per annum All rights reserved Reproduction of this magazine in whole or in part is prohibited without prior written permission of Panorama Media Corp (Pty) Ltd Copyright © 1997-2019 Panorama Media Corp (Pty) Ltd The views expressed in Very Interesting are not necessarily those of Panorama Media Corp and the acceptance and publication of editorial and advertising matter in Very Interesting does not imply any endorsement or warranty in respect of goods or services therein described, whether by Very Interesting or the publishers Very Interesting will not be held responsible for the safe return of unsolicited editorial contributions The Editor reserves the right to edit material submitted and in appropriate cases to translate into another language Very Interesting reserves the right to reject any advertising or editorial material, which may not suit the standard of the publication, without reason given The publisher, editor and contributors of Very Interesting accept no responsibility for any action taken by any reader based on their consideration of articles or opinions published in the magazine panorama mediacorp Competition disclaimer PUBLISHED BY Panorama Media Corp (Pty) Ltd Private Bag X4, Kyalami, 1684, South Africa 92 Campolino Road, Kyalami Tel: 011 468 2090 Fax: 011 468 2091/2 www.panorama.co.za These rules apply to all competitions and giveaways in Very Interesting: 1: Email entries are restricted to one per person or email address 2: Staff members of Panorama Media Corp, the sponsors of the prize, their advertising agencies as well as any immediate family may not enter 3: Prizes are not transferable, and may not be converted into cash 4: The judges’ decision is final No correspondence will be entered into 5: Panorama Media Corp staff cannot be held liable for any prizes that go missing, or are damaged in the post, or may cause harm to the recipients 6: Please note that by entering our competitions you are opting into the Panorama Media Corp database Should you receive any unwelcome communications, you will be given the opportunity to unsubscribe 7: Panorama Media Corp makes every effort to contact prize winners on either the email address or mobile number used to enter the competition Prizes that are not claimed within 90 days of the winner being published will be forfeited Prizes returned by the post office as unclaimed will be forfeited 46/2019 Why people become addicted to drugs? Amani Ngwendun, Boksburg Sadly, there is no simple answer Drug addiction is a complex disease with the drugs themselves changing the way the brain functions, making quitting even more difficult There are a number of factors that dictate why some people become addicted and others don’t Biology: Genetic makeup contributes half the risk of addiction Other factors such as mental disorders, gender and ethnicity are also contributary factors Environment: This includes family and friends, finances and quality of life Poor parenting, abuse, peer pressure and exposure to drugs are all environmental factors that contribute to the risk of addiction Development: Drug use at a younger age increases the risk of addiction, due to the areas in the brain that govern decisionmaking, judgement and self-control are still developing Most drugs affect the brain’s reward circuit by flooding it with dopamine This reinforces the pleasurable feeling gained from drug use and encourages repeated use It also puts addicts at risk of overdosing, as the pleasurable high received is felt less intense with repeated exposure, leading to more frequent use or larger dosages, putting the addict at risk of overdosing There is no known single factor capable of predicting addiction A combination of any or all of the above factors increases the risk of addiction, but still doesn’t guarantee it Questions, suggestions or observations? Share them with us: A A Editor, Very Interesting, Private Bag x4, Kyalami, 1684 A Twitter: @V_I_mag Email: VI@panorama.co.za Please include your name and address The editor reserves the right to shorten and edit letters Scooby Doo found grass hilarious Shorts Hippos have the longest canine teeth, at 0.91m (3 feet) A Frogs have teeth, but toads not A A mosquito has 47 sharp edges on its proboscis that help to cut through skin A Fangs for nothing! Why are animals’ teeth so much better than humans’ teeth? They don’t have to see a dentist or brush their teeth – it’s not fair! Volker Wesso, via email Our lifestyle and civilisation have to answer for the decay of the human tooth Processed, Hollow promises I saw a show explaining that the dimples on a golf ball creates a wave of air in front of it, reducing the friction on the ball Why is that design not used on cars, helmets and airplanes? Wouldn’t we save energy and petrol? Ehren Momberg, Cape Town The key factor seems to be the words ‘spherical spinning body’ greasy convenience foods and drinks high in sugars and acids weaken our teeth Animals, on the other hand, eat (by and large) unprocessed, raw, natural, healthy fibrous food, which actually cleans the animals’ teeth Like us, animals have bacterial flora in their mouths, some good some bad Unlike us, animals don’t eat bad carbohydrates, which can lead to an increase of cavity-causing bacteria Streptococcus mutans We live longer, and they say getting old is not for sissies Our teeth prove that! Apart from healthier eating habits, animals also don’t smoke, and species such as sharks and many rodents renew their teeth in their lifetime And animals such as horses have teeth which grow permanently Most golf balls have between 300 and 500 dimples, which have an average depth of about 0.25mm The dimples on a golf ball have been tested to reduce drag on the aforementioned spherical spinning body The dimples create a thin turbulent boundary layer of air that clings to the ball’s surface This allows the smoothly flowing air to follow the ball’s surface a little further around the back side of the ball – this reduces the pressure from drag and the size of the wake The dimples also add to the ball’s lift, allowing it to travel greater distances Research on this topic in 2009 looked at a car accessory called Fastskinz MPG-Plus, which claimed to mimic a golf ball’s pitted appearance and improve fuel consumption In a test, a car treated with the product actually showed slightly worse fuel consumption Two vehicles (one with and one without Fastskinz) were driven from the same starting point on cruise control with regular monitoring of the fuel readings They were driven until the fuel light came on and then both filled up and information compared There is also the consideration of how a car with dimples would look – buyers would likely think it’s ugly Army surplus Why don’t South African military vehicles have licence discs? Teddy Ndlazi, Nelspruit Old military registration plates used to start with the letter ‘R’, followed by a sequential number on a plain white background Post-1980 the letter changed to an ‘M’ followed by a sequential number on a plain white background @V_I_mag The brains trust Join our social media network today Wilma Koeppen I read your magazine for the first time this week So glad I did! Pia Walters I am an avid reader of your magazine and religiously read it! Renae Hislop Thanks for the great magazine! Iris Sullivan Hello! I’ve only recently found this magazine and I instantly fell in love Andreas Theocharides Thanks for the best magazine on the market – long time subscriber! Like us on Facebook (Very Interestingmag), follow us on Twitter (@V_I_mag) and ask a question at VI@panorama.co.za More than that, there is not much information regarding specific licence discs or registration processes other than the Government’s list of “Motor vehicles exempt from registration” Reg This includes: ■ A vehicle that has crawler tracks ■ A vehicle that, by reason of its dimensions or the mass thereof or the mass of a part thereof, may not be operated on a public road in terms of the Act, and which is not so operated ■ A vehicle of which the Department of Defence is the title-holder and owner 46/2019 Quickies 7ENVIRONMENT Natural polymers from planted trees W ood is made up of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and extracts (waxes, fatty acids, resin acids and sugars) Their various properties make them suitable ingredients in countless bioproducts One example is cellulose, the most abundant organic compound on Earth and the major component of wood Cellulose can be spun into textiles like viscose and rayon Extracted from wood and added to foodstuffs, detergents and cosmetics after chemical modification, microcrystalline cellulose acts as an abrasive, absorbent or adhesive; an anticaking, binding or bulking agent It can stabilise emulsions or increase viscosity It is applied as a filler in low-fat yoghurt, tablets and washing powders and is used to make cellophane wrap and other biodegradable plastics, among other things thepaperstory.co.za I N N U M B E RS 421,000 The number of bacterial cells found on the outside of the average person’s shoes, as discovered by a team at the University of Arizona Among them were potential harmful varieties such as E coli and C diff 200 7HISTORY Spoor in the Skye D ozens of dinosaur footprints dating back around 170 million years have been found in a shallow lagoon on the coast of the Isle of Skye in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides Researchers from the University of Edinburgh measured, photographed and analysed about 50 footprints in a tidal area at Brothers’ Point on Skye’s Trotternish peninsula The find is globally important as it’s rare evidence of the Middle Jurassic, from which few fossil 46/2019 sites have been found, they say In order to overcome the tidal conditions, the researchers used drones to photograph and map the site They then used a paired set of cameras, along with specialised software, to produce 3D models of the footprints They identified two defined trackways and many other isolated footprints “This new site records two different types of dinosaurs – long-necked cousins of the Brontosaurus and sharp-toothed cousins of the T rex – hanging around a shallow lagoon, back when Scotland was much warmer and dinosaurs were beginning their march to global dominance,” said the University of Edinburgh’s Dr Steve Brusatte By analysing the clearest prints, the team was able to determine the overall shape of the track outline, the shape and orientation of the toes, and the presence of claws HOURS The time we need to spend with an acquaintance before they become a true friend, according to a study carried out at the University of Kansas 30% The amount of plastic bags found in marine litter in UK seas has dropped by this percentage since 2010 PHOTOGRAPHY: PAIGE DEPOLO, SUPPLIED The themed bird-feeders were very popular Orion Span is aiming for a chic, spacious interior: “Ikea-ish, but much higher end.” 7SPACE Holiday in the heights I f you’re one to plan ahead, you might want to consider the Aurora Station for your holiday in 2022 Your trip will start in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where you’ll be launched 320km above the Earth’s surface to board the Aurora Station for a 12-day stay Orion Span, a Californian space technology start-up, is running the station, which they describe as the world’s first luxury space hotel It’s being developed by the company’s team of space industry veterans, who have 140 years of space experience between them The holiday will set you back a whopping R120 million per person, but you only need to put down a R1.1 million deposit to secure a spot That’s much cheaper than previous holidays to space – to date, eight people have taken trips into orbit as tourists, each paying an estimated R280 to R560 million Planning is essential Holidaymakers will need to complete three months of training before leaving, most of which can be done online The four guests on each trip will be joined by two crew members, both of whom are ex-astronauts Once in space, you’ll be able to float around in zero gravity and take part in experiments, such as trying to grow food in orbit The Aurora Station will complete an orbit of Earth every 90 minutes, so you’ll have hundreds of opportunities to gaze down – you can post any snaps you take to Instagram via the station’s high-speed internet connection 7TECHNOLOGY Linked if you’re lonely DIAMETER: 4.2 METRES LENGTH: 13 METRES 7TECHNOLOGY brakes with a regenerative function that pumps power back into the battery when you brake The Signature Cruz’s surf vibe is all in the accessories The handlebars, seat and removable surfboard rack are wrapped in leather The rear rack is mounted with insulated panniers that double as cooler bags and there’s even a bottle opener attached Front and rear LED lights mean you can set out before dawn and return after dusk California cyclin’ L egendary surfer Jeff Clark has collaborated with Vintage Electric on the Jeff Clark Signature Cruz – an electric bike that’ll make you feel like you’re cruising down the sunny Californian coast, even if you’re just battling Tuesday morning traffic in Durban Powered by a 52V battery, Vintage Electric claims its direct-drive hub motor is completely silent and takes only two hours to recharge It has a 56km range, and a top speed of 57km/h The Signature Cruz also has Shimano hydraulic disc Vintage Electric Jeff Clark Signature Cruz R75,000, vintageelectricbikes com S cientists from research institutes in Korea designed Fribo, a robot for your home, to foster interaction between young people living alone Revealed in March 2018, Fribo listens for activity in your house and reports it to your friends in an effort to encourage chat Fribo recognises activities such as someone opening a door or turning on a light (it doesn’t record voices) and shares those updates with your network, prompting friends to reach out to each other by texting or calling Users can also respond to an update by clapping near their Fribo, which can send a message back, such as ‘welcome home’ to someone arriving to an empty flat 46/2019 Quickies G O O D TI M E S Modern human skull (white) compared to Homo heidelbergensis (brown), which has a much more prominent brow ridge INTELLIGENT MEN Men who score higher on IQ tests – especially those testing verbal intelligence – are more likely to be in a happy marriage, a Finnish study has found The effect could be down to more intelligent men being able to charm the ladies – or outwit their rivals THE BILINGUAL Ukhuluma isiZulu? A study at Montreal’s Concordia University has found that speaking a second language may help to protect you from age-related cognitive decline by boosting tissue density in brain areas associated with memory BA D TI M E S 7HISTORY Mobile eyebrows may have helped early human ancestors to survive I UNIVERSITY OF YORK t looks like Groucho Marx was onto something: mobile, expressive eyebrows help humans to communicate subtle emotions and may have played a crucial role in the survival and success of human ancestors, research from the University of York suggests Our early ancestors sported pronounced brow ridges, which, like the antlers on a stag, were seen as a signal of dominance and aggression In contrast, modern humans have a much smoother forehead with eyebrows capable of a much greater range of movement, able to express a range of subtle emotions This allowed humans to establish large social groups and may have been key in allowing us to out-compete the now extinct Neanderthals The team used 3D-scanning software to map the pronounced brow ridge of Kabwe 1, a skull belonging to a species of archaic hominin, Homo heidelbergensis, who lived between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago 46/2019 It has previously been proposed that the strong ridge was either to fill in the space between Homo heidelbergensis’s brain cavities and eye sockets, or to help stabilise their skulls while they chewed However, computer simulations suggested neither of these to be the case, leaving the team to conclude that the ridges became less pronounced to help our ancestors communicate “Eyebrow movements allow us to express complex emotions as well as perceive the emotions of others A rapid ‘eyebrow flash’ is a cross-cultural sign of recognition and openness to social interaction and pulling our eyebrows up at the middle is an expression of sympathy Tiny movements of the eyebrows are also a key component to identifying trustworthiness and deception,” said study co-author Dr Penny Spikins “Eyebrows are the missing part of the puzzle of how modern humans managed to get on so much better with each other than other now-extinct hominins.” RETIREES If you are saving like crazy and planning for a leisurely early retirement, you might want to have a rethink A team at University College London has found that cognitive function and short-term memory take a rapid nosedive after retirement due to the sudden lack of stimulating work UNDERGROUND COMMUTERS Sound levels on some London Underground journeys can reach upwards of 85 decibels, leaving passengers at risk from potential hearing loss and tinnitus, researchers at University College London have found Panorama 68 46/2019 Ride or die PHOTOGRAPHY: ZUMA/EYEVINE his picture shows some of the 50 brave souls who took T part in a mass ride along China’s most hair-raising cycle path last year The Laojun Mountain path is a 1.83m-wide glass walkway that sticks straight out from the mountain’s vertical granite cliff face, at a height of 1,006m, or a little under halfway up the 2,216m-tall mountain Each of the riders pictured is on the same type of three-wheeled electric motorcycle, the iTango from Chinese EV manufacturer Doohan, who sponsored the daredevil escapade with a view to raising awareness of the damage done by carbon emissions, and of the low-emission alternatives that are available The 2km ride would at least have been over fairly quickly: in 2016 around 100 even braver souls camped overnight on the walkway, in order to watch the sunrise from a mountain that is regarded as a sacred site by followers of the Tao religion 46/2019 69 Q&A Questions & Answers Got questions you’ve been carrying around for years? Very Interesting answers them! Mail your questions to VI@panorama.co.za Why slugs and snails produce a silver trail? Rebecca Francis, Morgan’s Bay Lung Heart Kidney Who really discovered the law of gravity? Mucus gland Stomach ROBERT HOOKE T he characteristic slime trail left by slugs and snails has some of the qualities of both a glue and a lubricant It helps the creature glide forwards when pressure is lifted, or stick to surfaces when pressure is applied It’s made from a carbohydrate mucus and a ‘hygroscopic’ protein – meaning that it absorbs moisture from the air, helping to prevent it E Dart sac from evaporating The slime is secreted from a gland inside its ‘foot’, and the chemicals it contains are also important for communication Interestingly, the medical community is now investigating the adhesive and elastic properties of this slime, with the hope that it might lead to a synthetic glue that’s capable of repairing tissue damage If gold and silver were mixed together, what colour metal would you end up with? John B Cooper, Parktown Figure of a deer, moulded from electrum, dating back to the Thracian-Getan civilisation in the 4th Century BC T he naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver is commonly known as electrum Its colour depends on the ratio of gold and silver in the mix: a whitish alloy appears below 50% gold, turning to greenish yellow as the amount of 70 46/2019 gold increases, and brightxxx yellow at around 85% xxxxx xxx xxxxx xxx gold To get a wider range of colours, xxxxx xxx xxxxx xxx xxxxx metallurgists and jewellers may addxxx in axxxxx thirdxxx xxx xxxxx metal Introducing copper, for example, leads to xxxxx xxx xxxxx red-yellows and deeper brassy reds veryone knows that Isaac Newton came up with the law of gravity after seeing an apple fall from a tree in his mother’s garden Newton himself told the story to several contemporaries, who recorded it for posterity Ever since, Newton has been credited with discovering the law, describing how “all celestial bodies whatsoever have an attraction or gravitating power towards their own centres” But these words are not Newton’s They were penned by his scientific rival Robert Hooke in 1670, decades before Newton started telling people the apple story This has led some historians to suspect Newton deliberately made up the story of the apple to back his claim to priority While Hooke is best known today for a dull law about springs, he was one of the most brilliant scientists of his time and made a host of discoveries He even showed Newton to be wrong on an esoteric point concerning falling bodies This did not go down well with the pathologically prickly Newton, who seems to have set about showing he had worked on gravity years before Hooke, leading to his claim about being inspired by the apple back in 1666 No one doubts that Newton made the biggest contribution to understanding gravity, but sadly for Hooke, Newton wanted to have the credit for everything ALAMY, FORD, GETTY X4, EYEVINE, AKG IMAGES ILLUSTRATIONS: RAJA LOCKEY Mouth ISAAC NEWTON Q&A What connects plague and Eau de Cologne? FLASH Ford has invested R15 billion in Argo AI, a robotics company, to try and create a fully autonomous car by 2021 A Google launched its self-driving car project in 2009 A Until bacteria were discovered in the 17th Century, infectious diseases were thought to be caused by noxious smells The word ‘malaria’ comes from the Latin for ‘bad air’ LIDAR creates a ‘map’ of a driverless car’s surroundings Would it be possible for autonomous cars to use echolocation like a bat in order to scan their surroundings? Rita Graham, Port Edward S ending out sound waves and listening for their echo is a great way to detect obstacles in water – submarines can detect objects many kilometres away But sound doesn’t travel nearly so well in air Bats can only detect objects up to 20m away, falling to around 2m in poor conditions Light is less affected by atmospheric conditions, which is why self-driving cars use LIDAR (‘light detection and ranging’), bouncing infrared laser light off objects in order to detect them Why don’t flies fly in a straight line? Kenneth Clarke, Roodepoort During the Black Death in Europe in the 14th Century, towns and cities would build bonfires of scented wood to try and purify the air and drive away the disease For more portable protection, the rich carried their own vials, filled with strongsmelling plant essential oils The word ‘perfume’ comes from the same root as the word ‘fumigate’ T o escape from predators, flies have a highly aerobatic flying style Instead of turning by flapping harder with one wing than the other, they roll their body to one side and pull up, like a fighter pilot in a high-G turn Random zigzags like this make it much harder for birds to get a ‘missile lock’ on them As perfume became associated with wealth, an industry grew up in Europe to cater to changing fashions The original citrus recipe of Eau de Cologne dates back to 1709 46/2019 71 Quickies #CLIMATE CHANGE BYE BYE, BABY Rising temperatures due to climate change are leading to a decline in birth rates, a team at UCLA has found After trawling through 80 years of US birth rate data looking for trends, they found that periods of hot weather seemed to have a negative impact on the number of children born nine months later It is thought that the effect is due to sperm production falling as temperatures soar BREAKING THE ICE A 6.4km-long iceberg has been filmed breaking away from a glacier in eastern Greenland Researchers from New York University captured the event during a trip in June 2018 Melting ice is a concern – if the entire Western Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt, it would result in a 3m sea level rise, which is enough to cause serious flooding in many coastal areas #MENTAL HEALTH MOOD-BOOSTING BACTERIA Beneficial bacteria injections can kick-start antiinflammatory effects in the brain, making it more resistant to the harmful effects of stress Researchers at the University of Colorado have found that injecting rats with Mycobacterium vaccae boosted the levels of the antiinflammatory protein interleukin-4 in the hippocampus – a brain region responsible for modulating cognitive function, anxiety and fear The rats who received the injections were much less anxious when placed in stressful situations, they say The researchers are now working on a study to investigate if a different bacterial strain, Lactobacillus reuteri, can help counter the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder NATURE 1, DEPRESSION Taking a nature walk may help to reduce the risk of suffering from depression, according to researchers at Stanford University The team had two groups of volunteers walk for 90 minutes, one in a grassland area scattered with oak trees and shrubs, the other alongside a traffic-heavy fourlane road The researchers found little difference in physiological conditions between the groups, but marked changes in the brain Neural activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, a brain region active during repetitive thought focused on negative emotions, was markedly decreased in the people who enjoyed the grassland walk compared to those who strolled along the busy road 72 46/2019 T H E Y D I D W H AT ?! 7NATURE Green-haired ‘punk’ turtle added to endangered list T he Mary River turtle, an Australian reptile that can stay underwater for up to three days, thanks to its ability to breathe through gill-like organs in its genitals, has been added to a list of the world’s most vulnerable reptile species by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) The turtle, which can only be found in the Mary River in Queensland, was listed as the 30th most endangered reptile by the ZSL’s EDGE of Existence programme This initiative uses a complex formula to highlight species that are particularly ‘evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered’ Each species is given a score, which combines extinction risk with a measure of how isolated or unusual it is on the tree of life “Reptiles often receive the short end of the stick in conservation terms, compared with the likes of birds and mammals,” explained EDGE reptiles coordinator Rikki Gumbs Topping the list overall is the Madagascan bigheaded turtle Other additions include the gharial, a freshwater crocodile once common across much of Asia but now confined to a handful of rivers in northern India and Nepal, and the Round Island keel-scaled boa, a non-venomous snake found in Mauritius that can change colour over a 24-hour period The Mary River turtle often has strands of green algae growing on its head, resembling a mohawk MONKEYS’ BATHING HABITS SCRUTINISED 7TECHNOLOGY Start your En-genes! NASA, MORRISONS, GETTY, ALISTAIR WALSHAM/STEPHANIE SCHULLER, JULIAN VALERO R iding a unicycle is an impressive feat under normal circumstances But it’s especially so when the contraption is only 30 nanometres in size (one nanometre = one-millionth of a millimetre) And that’s what has been built by a team of scientists split between the University of Michigan in the US and Germany’s Caesar Institute and University of Bonn The team, led by Prof Michael Famulok, constructed the tiny vehicle using a pair of self-assembling DNA rings Aside from its size, the tiny vehicle also differs from its full-size counterpart in the way it’s propelled – instead of pedal power, the nano- unicycle is motorised “One ring fulfils the function of a wheel, the other drives it like an engine with the help of chemical energy,” said Famulok The protein T7 RNA polymerase serves as fuel by coupling to the ‘engine’ ring The enzyme synthesises an RNA strand based on the DNA sequence and the chemical energy released in the process drives the ring’s rotational movement As the RNA strand grows it forms an ‘exhaust’ that can be used to steer the tiny unicycle On its first test drive the nano-unicycle covered 240 nanometres (for a sense of scale, a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometres thick) but it’s not fast – one turn of the tiny wheel took approximately 10 minutes Possible applications for this emerging technology include molecular computers or tiny machines that can transport drugs through the bloodstream What did they do? A team of researchers at Japan’s Jigokudani Monkey Park recorded the bathing habits of a group of Japanese macaques In particular, they tested how levels of glucocorticoids, hormones associated with stress and body temperature management, varied as the animals bathed Why did they that? In 1963, the monkeys were first observed taking extended dips in the natural hot springs that occur in the mountainous areas of Japan It was always assumed they did this to warm themselves up in order to cope with the low temperatures during the winter months, but this hypothesis had never previously been tested What did they find? They found that monkeys who took regular baths displayed lower levels of glucocorticoids This suggests that, as well as helping to keep the animals warm, hot spring baths also help to lower the animals’ levels of stress 46/2019 73 BRAIN CANDY WANTED ALL DAY INSPIRATION Imagine how productive you’d be with a stream of inspirational messages from the likes of Salvador Dali, Walt Whitman and Mark Twain Quotes Watch sends motivational words to your wrist as often as you like to spur you on GAME CHANGER PlayTable is the first blockchain game console It works with physical pieces, cards and dice and is designed to work as an interactive board game, using blockchain tech to keep track of moves and ‘level up’ your pieces PlayTable R7,600, playtable.com 74 46/2019 Light sleepers rejoice! QuietOn Sleep noise-cancelling earphones are designed to block out the specific frequencies of snoring They’re still a prototype so the look might change, but they’ll stay small and comfortable Quotes Watch R1,520, bit.ly/quotes_watch SILENT NIGHT Tapplock One turns your garden shed or your gym locker into a secure fortress Only your fingerprint will unlock it But if it’s too cold to take off your gloves, you can tap in a Morse code combination instead QuietOn Sleep R1,860, bit.ly/quietonsleep FITBIT FOR KIDS Fitbit’s contribution to the fight against childhood obesity is the Fitbit Ace It tracks steps, active minutes and sleep, and rewards kids with messages and virtual trophies when they hit daily goals or win step challenges Fitbit Ace R1,420, fitbit.com LOCK UP, LOOK SHARP Tapplock One R1,240, tapplock.com BRACING FOR IMPACT GoPro’s updated its entry-level offering, integrating a two-inch touchscreen and waterproof body to what will be its cheapest model There’s no 4K or slow motion, but for half the price of its highend model, it’s worth it GoPro Hero R3,550, gopro.com Books Moods Of Nature by Heinrich van den Berg Large-format coffee table books, at a time when printed books are allegedly increasingly out of favour, might seem like a quaint idea, but happily, nobody has told photographer Heinrich van den Berg His Moods Of Nature is a follow-up to a trio of other similar publications: Reflection, Shades Of Nature and Art Of Nature Van den Berg’s philosophy involves keeping matters particularly simple, trusting his large black-and-white photographs to convey what he wants to say and backing up those inferred messages with brief captions – not direct descriptions of the images, but further poetic, metaphysical additions to the pictures There are a number of different, loosely collated sections – mountains, wilderness, desert, water and more – with a separate, smaller booklet tucked in the back of the book with some additional thoughts on the provenance of the photographs Top 10 Of Everything: 2019 by Paul Terry With at least half of the internet comprising pages and pages of lists of top 10s (or 14, or 23, or 72, or some other random number), this hardcover compendium of statistics and facts about quite a lot of stuff – rather than the ‘everything’ the title promises – will not necessarily present unique material, but it does allow for faster access than even tapping into your rich neighbour’s uncapped Wi-Fi You will learn which list includes Gangkhar Puensum and what Eugene Cernan became the third human to There are lists about everything from architecture to computer games and deserts to celebrities’ Twitter accounts Editor’s pick Atypical (PG13) This Netflix drama series focuses on what seems to be an increasingly prominent theme in popular entertainment, from literature to film, theatre and streaming TV – autism Keir Gilchrist plays Sam, a teenager navigating high school with his condition adding significantly to the considerable challenges – friendships, bullying, romance, planning for college – his peers already face In addition, Sam’s family, though loving and supportive, have plenty of their own issues The show’s writing cleverly keeps each of their individual threads strong and stimulating, meaning that Sam’s autism never feels like a gimmick to differentiate the show from similar family dramas and little more A superb cast – Jennifer Jason Leigh and Michael Rapaport as Sam’s parents Elsa and Doug and Brigette Lundy-Paine as his sister Casey among them – all step into the spotlight from time to time Rapaport in particular is a highlight – he’s a superb actor and is not seen often enough in fare like this In a supporting role as Zahid, Sam’s colleague in the electronics store where he earns pocket money, Nik Dodani is the point man in achieving one of the show’s most important outcomes: highlighting how treating autistic people as capable, valuable and leaders in their areas of strength is actually easy and rewarding if you’re up for skipping a few clichéd prejudices There are two seasons of the show with a third in development at the time of writing Hopefully more are on the way The Skeptics’ Guide To The Universe by Steven Novella The title of this hefty book will attract plenty of readers who are fans of questioning and potentially disproving conspiracy theories, challenging controversial topics like genetically modified food or similar And it will give them plenty of ammunition to help them achieve that goal, but it must be noted that Steven Novella (along with coauthors Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella and Evan Bernstein) takes his topics seriously – indeed, there’s a section about scientific journalism and why it’s often so poor – so this is not a light read It is entertaining, though, and will leave readers more knowledgeable about a number of subjects than they were before What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest For The Meaning Of Quantum Physics by Adam Becker Quantum physics Read the phrase and many people’s eyes will begin to glaze over, but author Adam Becker does more than simply try to remind folks that, however complex, quantum physics is behind much of what makes the world tick To that, he adds fascinating introductions to and examinations of the work of the leading lights in the field who challenged what had been established as gospel by Niels Bohr Albert Einstein, David Bohm, Hugh Everett and John Bell all made huge advances, but were also challenged in ways that many readers might have thought only applied to the persecuted likes of Galileo, hundreds of years ago 46/2019 75 Puzzles MIND GAMES PIT YOUR WITS AGAINST THESE BRAINTEASERS BY DAVID J BODYCOMBE, QUESTION-SETTER FOR BBC FOUR’S ONLY CONNECT QUESTION QUESTION What is the connection between 15 February 1971 and June 1944? The left-hand cylinder can hold one litre of water The right-hand cylinder has the same base area but is slanted by 30° – what is its capacity? QUESTION hear We’d love toack on b d e fe your les these puzz ail Please em o.za ma.c VI@panora QUESTION Move the listed cards into the grid so that the best possible poker hand in each row and column matches the label shown The cards are not necessarily in the right order (for example, 5-4-6-7-3 still counts as a 7-high straight) Find the missing number: QUESTION QUESTION If you added four more pentagons with their uppermost point on each dot, what familiar shape is formed? QUESTION What (not exclusive) property the words WATCH, VIDEO, LIGHT, FIGHT, RECORD, WALK and TARGET all share? Find all the solutions for which A + B + C = A x B x C and A, B and C are three consecutive counting numbers? Solutions How well you know your medical procedures? QUESTION Q1) ‘D-Day’ – of UK decimalisation and World War II, respectively Q2) 5, since there are five other numbers in the same row and/or column as it Q3) The space between the pentagons is a perfect five-pointed star Q4) The noun and verb forms are the same (for example, you can walk the walk, record a record etc.) Q5) 1litre also, because capacity = base area x perpendicular height This is an example of Cavalieri’s Theorem Q6) The prism is split up into three pyramids (BEFD, ABFC and ABFD) of identical volume This is why the volume of a pyramid is 1/3 x base x perpendicular height Q7) Three solutions exist: (-3,-2,-1), (-1,0,1) and (1,2,3) Q8) See illustration (right) Quick quiz What geometrical formula does this diagram prove? (Hint: imagine the prism is twice sliced through with a knife, following the dashed lines.) QUESTION QUESTION Answers: 1a, 2a, 3b, 4a, 5c, 6b, 7a The earliest known surgical texts are roughly how old? a) 3,500 years b) 1,500 years c) 500 years 76 QUESTION What is the process of fusing two bones together called? a) Arthrodesis b) Arthroplasty c) Arthrodaly 46/2019 QUESTION Who introduced the practice of ‘scrubbing up’ in the 1860s? a) Louis Pasteur b) Joseph Lister c) Ignaz Semmelweis When did Friedrich Sertürner first isolate morphine from opium? a) 1804 b) 1854 c) 1904 QUESTION Which anaesthetic’s use was first pioneered by Sir James Young Simpson? a) Ether b) Nitrous oxide c) Chloroform QUESTION A heart transplant where the existing heart remains in situ is called what? a) Homotropic procedure b) Heterotopic procedure c) Heterocardiac procedure QUESTION What is an operation to repair a hernia using stitches called? a) Herniorraphy b) Herniotomy c) Hernioplasty YOU ARE: 0-3 Only observing 4-5 Scrubbing up 6-7 Making the incision THE CROSSWORD BY POPULAR DEMAND DOWN 10 11 12 19 21 24 26 28 29 30 32 33 34 38 40 ACROSS 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 22 23 Dead cells in navel somehow captivate me (7) Caught a story about spy’s rigidity (9) Heather and another woman (5) Bore a monkey (5) Repair has worked around island, that’s plain (7) Bird ran wild in basin (4,3) Equipment sailor brought back for fabric printing (5) Body part with its own set of keys (5) City has rub off on Aboriginal woman (5) Covert operation shows directional force (6) Big change, to permit some offal (6) 25 27 30 31 32 35 36 37 39 41 42 43 44 Sample left in esteem (7) Method of mural production (7) Cleaner marine animal (6) Sarah sent to a wasteland (6) Quiet about a great deal of laziness (5) Radiation that isn’t serious (5) Drink makes an impact (5) Rare solution, to stomach a mistake (7) Administrator finds dog on a hill (7) Levy on article after it is returned (5) Picture one game differently (5) Agreement to charge for an instrument (9) Encourage chief to be a boffin (7) He refutes the thickness of the fibre (6) Soldier throws a lob in a curve (8) Element makes mine delve away with hesitation (11) Realm most affected by confusion (9) Georgia right to take pointed stick to fish (7) Lamb, to me, is about chemical processes (10) Consumer’s new ruse (4) Rodent with broken rib and leg (6) Fellow at home gets support from rorqual (7) A fanatic, after exercise, needs food (6) Old Italian gives girl one sign (7) Not glib about dried food (7) Power achieved by being star-struck (5,6) The unthinking existence of plants (10) Flower that can transport people (9) Cheat me out of a knife (7) CIA is worried about large mineral (6) Without humour, honest (8) Strike a bone in the ear (6) At university, raged about modernisation (7) Emperor has time to give artist 31 days (6) Crop cost initially missing (4) ANSWERS For the answers, visit veryinteresting.co.za/solutions Please be aware the website address is case-sensitive 46/2019 77 Want to horse around intellectually? VERY the quest for knowledge interesting brain entertainment VERY interesting ISSUE 42 brain entertainment NEW EDITION 04 Refresh your mind p.25 • World’s most bizarre match • Have you met the tournament’s mascot? • Match schedule: pick your winners! p.49 PER MAKE CHOFECT H COLA OT TE Part One test your knowledge, grow your mind HOW DOES MY HEART WORK? DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY p.26 PLUS fun facts about Russia TOP HIGH G FLYERS S p.2 BODY BASICS Science that makes us What things happen when I sneeze? p.42 feel good about the future Amazing animals • Why was a penguin knighted? • Do immortal jellyfish exist? • Meet Buddy, the hero dog p.60 ESCAP NG THE NAZIS How a nuclear pioneer gave Hitler the slip MAGIC NEW DISCOVERY: EXPLODING ANTS! p.40 p.16 ISSUE 42 JULY/AUG 2018 Plus: In association with SCIENCE WORLD • How much of a cereal box gets reused when it is recycled? • Would alien life need to have DNA? • Am I more likely to get a cold if I’m short on sleep? • Why does food rot? Can we end ANIMAL TESTING? Will new research techniques save the day? p.52 WHERE DOES OUR SOLAR SYSTEM END? p.6 OUR PLANET LIFE AFTER M N Price R35.90 | €4.00 | £3.00 ALONE LONELINESS IS BECOMING AN EPIDEMIC CAN SCIENCE FIND A CURE? p.42 Can I die from a nose bleed? p.5 VOL 01 ISSUE 04 2018 Price R49.90 | €7.00 | £4.90 Can they help to put an end to depression ‘rebootin by ‘rebooting’ the brain? YOU ARE NOT SADC countries: R31.22 (Excl TAX) MUSHROOMS SADC countries: R43,39 (Excl TAX) Entertain your brain with the best info-tainment magazine in South Africa Read Very Interesting and challenge the kids with the newlylaunched Very Interesting Junior MR TRASH WHEEL: A SUPER COOL FLOATING RUBBISH COLLECTOR p.38 WHO WOULD RULE THE WORLD? p.16 ON SALE NOW EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE coolmags.com • 011 468 2090 subscriptions@panorama.co.za Science Scattered in the wind Get your head around outdoor acoustics TEXT: HELEN CZERSKI PHOTOGRAPHY: SMOLYANINOV M y Saturday mornings are often spent paddling along the Thames in a six-man outrigger canoe These canoes are common in the Pacific but almost unheard of over here, and they’re generally designed for exploring sunny coastlines rather than paddling past British pubs in the drizzle Last Saturday was a grim, windy day My friend Maria was two seats in front of me, making the call “hut”, which was the signal for us all to change sides with our paddles, but I could barely hear her At the turning point, she agreed to shout louder, but also said it would be easier for me to hear her coming home because I would be downwind of her instead of upwind We turned into the wind and it was true – I could hear her much more easily when I was downwind But why should the wind direction affect the sound you hear over such a short distance? A Disrupted flow It’s drummed into every experimental physicist that a change in a measurement might have two causes: the phenomenon itself or the detector you’re using to measure it Our ears are fabulous measurement instruments, but they have one major flaw from a physics point of view: they’re attached to our heads And in this case, your head is an obstacle to the wind Imagine standing with the wind coming from your left At your left ear, where the air is being stopped by your head, there’s a region of turbulence where the air is being mixed and mashed as it’s caught between the oncoming flow and you This layer of turbulence extends right around your head and as the air is shoved to and fro, your ears detect the associated chaotic pressure variations You hear white noise: the roar of the wind Any other sound has to compete with this roar, which is why it’s always hard to hear on windy days In a stiff breeze, this sound itself can be as loud as 70 or 80 decibels On top of that there’s another pattern As the air approaches your head, it splits apart and flows around your left side relatively smoothly But it doesn’t just join together again on the other side and carry on Instead, there will be a region of swirling air currents called eddies just to the right of your head, as the air jostles to fill the space after the obstacle This extra turbulence can add another 10 decibels, so the wind is significantly louder at your downstream ear But in the canoe, we all sit facing forward, so both ears should hear the same level of wind noise if the wind is in our faces or on our backs A Smooth sailing As I was paddling along thinking about all this, it occurred to me the difference might not lie with my detectors, but with the call coming my way Maria was calling while facing away from me So when I was upwind from her – the wind was at our back – she was shouting directly into the most complicated region of swirling eddies and maximum turbulence around her own head As soon as the call left her mouth, it would be distorted slightly as it passed through the turbulence, making it harder for me to distinguish what was said But when we turned around so that I was downwind, Maria was calling into relatively smooth air, and her call would have been clearer When we got back, the boathouse seemed peaceful after the acoustic battering we’d had from the wind But at least I’ve found a silver lining to console me during the hard work of paddling into a headwind – paddling might be hard, but communication is easy! VI@panorama.co.za Dr Helen Czerski is a physicist and BBC presenter 46/2019 79 Next issue Issue 47 on sale from 22 April PSYCHOLOGY Why is destruction so satisfying? Answer provided by editor’s children HEALTH BODY Does flossing your teeth really make a difference? Can men and women evolve separately? Even dentists don’t know – otherwise why they need to ask you? Answer provided by editor’s mother-in-law SPACE What’s the smallest known star in the universe? Don’t ask their agent… ALSO IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF VERY INTERESTING: Much more about matters technological, psychological, historical, natural and scientific Plus all your questions answered… What you want to know? Mail VI@panorama.co.za 80 46/2019 TAG Heuer Boutiques; Sandton City & V&A Waterfront Also at selected fine jewellers nationwide For further information please call 011.669.0500 www.picotandmoss.co.za TAG HEUER CARRERA CALIBRE HEUER 01 Formula E is leading the charge in developing the technologies of tomorrow, and like TAG Heuer, never cracks under pressure ... taphonomy facility in the UK There are already nine such facilities – colloquially known as ‘body farms’ – around the p.14 D inte VERY VERY VI@panorama.co.za @V_I_mag (Twitter) VeryInterestingmag... safe return of unsolicited editorial contributions The Editor reserves the right to edit material submitted and in appropriate cases to translate into another language Very Interesting reserves... advertising or editorial material, which may not suit the standard of the publication, without reason given The publisher, editor and contributors of Very Interesting accept no responsibility for any