New Scientist Magazine - November 19 2022

BIRDS THAT LIVE IN
ETERNAL SUMMER
QUANTUM TIME FLIP

ROGER PENROSE
ON THE ORIGINS OF

THE UNIVERSE
COP27 CLIMATE
SUMMIT LATEST

WEEKLY 19 November 2022

SPECIAL REPORT The future
of pain
PA I N
treatments
How pain is
created in the brain

A new way A mysterious new
to measure type of pain

your pain

What causes Why emotions can
chronic pain – and physically hurt

how to treat it

No3413 £6.95 CAN$9.99



This week’s issue

On the 28 Birds that live 38 Features
cover in eternal summer
“Paracetamol
38 Special report: Pain 12 Quantum time flip not only
38 How pain is created helps reduce
in the brain 46 Roger Penrose on the physical
40 Why emotions can origins of the universe pain, but
physically hurt also the pain
41 A mysterious new 7 COP27 climate of social
type of pain summit latest rejection”
42 What causes chronic
Vol 256 No 3413 Features
pain – and how to treat it Cover image: Sofia Iva
43 A new way to 38 Special report: Pain
Pain is an integral part of
measure your pain the human experience. Our
44 The future of pain understanding of the condition,
its causes and how to treat
treatments it is far from complete – but,
thankfully, those studying pain
News News MARK KERRISON/IN PICTURES VIA GETTY IMAGES are making key breakthroughs

11 Pandemic terrorism 8 Making polluters pay Why climate reparations are on the agenda 46 Cosmic thoughts
Leading geneticist warns Roger Penrose discusses his
of lab-made virus threat theories of the universe and
consciousness
13 Midterm elections
US voters show support The back pages
for climate action
51 Citizen science
14 Your perfect movie Cloud spotting on Mars
How will AIs that generate
videos from text transform 53 Puzzles
media online? Try our crossword, quick quiz
and logic puzzle
Views
54 Almost the last word
27 Comment Would life on Earth be any
Eugenia Cheng on how different without moonlight?
she brings maths to life
55 Tom Gauld for
28 The columnist New Scientist
Penny Sarchet on the birds A cartoonist’s take on the world
that pursue an eternal summer
56 Feedback
30 Aperture Morbid curiosity and
The geothermal landscapes punishments for cursing
of Italy’s Devil’s Valley
19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 1
32 Letters
Shouting about the
shortcomings of biofuel crops

34 Culture
Take a satire-laced trip to the
imagined worlds of Telluria

Elsewhere
on New Scientist

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Weekly

This week, the team gets a
COP27 update from reporter
Madeleine Cuff, who is on the
ground in Sharm el Sheikh,
Egypt. There is also news of an
exploded star with a solid surface
on which gravity and time would
behave strangely. Plus, new
insights into bird “divorce”,
with evidence that the practice
is more common among birds
that migrate long distances.

newscientist.com/nspod

2 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022





The leader

All in the mind

Embracing subjectivity in our experience of pain is the path to better treatments

FOR several weeks after a Caesarean and hope. As you can read in our special But these advances come with a sting
section, you aren’t allowed to drive. report, starting on page 38, breakthroughs in their tail. If we are really going to win
There is good reason: if you needed in pain research are coming along swiftly. the war against opioids, we need to fight
to stop suddenly for a child darting We have a better understanding of how another battle: to broaden acceptance
into the road, the pain felt from pain is processed throughout the body that subjective thoughts and feelings
your seat belt crushing your surgical and brain (page 38) and how to measure play a major part in our experience
wound would prevent you from braking it (page 43). We have discovered important and treatment of pain.
properly. Your brain, your unconscious
mind, forces you to act to avoid your “We need to accept that Incorporating subjectivity into
own pain – no matter the consequences. subjective thoughts and feelings medicine has always been a challenge
play a major part in pain” for doctors and patients alike. “It’s all
You would think, given how important in the mind” has historically been a way
this sensory experience is for governing differences between three types of pain of dismissing someone’s pain. Now, we
our behaviour, we would know more (page 41). We understand that chronic pain must embrace the idea that our mind has
about it. The fact is, when it comes to is its own condition (page 42) and have a vital role to play. With more than 30 per
pain, we have been muddling through pieced together the relationship between cent of the world’s population living with
for decades – made desperately clear by pain and conditions like depression and chronic pain, it is more vital than ever
the 80,816 deaths in the US that involved anxiety (page 40), leading to better that we understand pain’s subjectivity.
opioid painkillers in 2021. treatments (page 44). Lean into that and we may start making
the progress we so desperately need.  ❚
Now, though, there are signs of change –

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19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 5



News COP27

Fingerprint scanners Insect farmers Pest control Machine learning Spinal injuries
UK plans to track Ants have evolved A gene drive could AIs help other AIs get Zapping neurons
people facing to cultivate plants on be used to wipe out better at answering helps people with
deportation p16 many occasions p19 invasive mice p20 questions p21 paralysis to walk p23

US politician Nancy Pelosi
meets Egyptian president
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES currently no language on the
“phase-out” or “phase-down”
Climate change of fossil fuel use in the document,
which Greenpeace said in a
COP27 talks in disarray statement was “scarcely credible”.

Negotiations on key issues are at an impasse as the UN summit However, a positive sign was that
enters its second week, reports Madeleine Cuff in Sharm El Sheikh on the sidelines of the G20 summit
in Bali, Indonesia, on 14 November,
A STREAM of newly arrived traditionally struck at the end of a made by parties last week. US president Joe Biden and
delegates injected a fresh buzz UN climate conference – were still It is still a “laundry list” of Chinese president Xi Jinping
into the cavernous conference in the very early stages as New agreed to restart formal talks on
halls of COP27 as the climate Scientist went to press. possible options, says Eddy climate issues, after a three-month
summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Pérez at the non-governmental hiatus following US politician
Egypt, entered its second week, but “The negotiations are organisation Climate Action Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
behind-the-scenes negotiations facing a backlog,” says Jen Network. “We’re still far from
were in disarray, with talks Allan at Earth Negotiations really concretely being able to start The White House released
running well behind schedule. Bulletin, an independent a statement saying the two
reporting organisation. “Language on temperature leaders “agreed to empower
Discussions on key areas, such targets and climate finance key senior officials to maintain
as loss and damage – payments The cover text is seen as a matters are seen as major communication and deepen
from the most polluting nations to key document to send a political sticking points” constructive efforts” on “climate
those dealing with climate change’s signal from the talks, showing change and other issues”.
worst effects (see page 8) – and the world’s progress on climate discussions about the different
strengthening emissions cuts, were change since last year’s COP26 options that are most suitable.” China and the US are the world’s
at an impasse on 14 November, but summit in Glasgow, UK. two biggest emitters and their
ministers weren’t due to intervene Language on temperature co-operation on decarbonisation
to force progress until the middle But instead of a draft text targets, loss and damage and efforts is crucial for achieving the
of this week. for countries to work from, wider climate finance matters global temperature goals set out in
on 14 November, the Egyptian are seen as the major sticking the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Meanwhile, talks on the cover presidency of the event circulated points dividing nations, New
text – a political agreement only a “summary of possible Scientist understands. There is The tone set by G20 leaders
elements” that set out requests in their joint statement this
week will play a decisive role in
the outcome of COP27, analysts
believe. A strong signal on climate
action from the G20 communiqué
would send a message to ministers
at COP27 to push for more
ambitious agreements, says Pérez.
“If leaders at that level talk, then
ministers would want to follow
that kind of guidance.”

Week two of the UN climate
summit has also brought fresh
action on decarbonising energy
systems, with the US, Japan and
other partners brokering a
climate finance deal worth
$20 billion to help Indonesia
increase its renewable energy
supply and retire ageing coal
plants. The Just Energy Transition
Partnership follows the same
model as a deal signed in Glasgow
to support South Africa.  ❚

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 7

News COP27

Analysis Climate finance

Why ‘loss and damage’ payments are now on the agenda
Advances in attribution science have made the argument for climate
reparations impossible to ignore, says Madeleine Cuff

IT HAS been more than two decades are widely covered by the world’s AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
since the issue of “loss and damage” media. “Nowadays, we have more
was first raised at a UN climate peer-reviewed methods, but also strand of the scientific research People displaced by
summit. Since then, talk has come more and better model simulations, informing the policy debate on floods at a camp in
cheap. Finding a way to force as well as longer observational loss and damage. Chachro, Pakistan
high-income countries to produce records,” says Sjoukje Philip,
some cash to help vulnerable co-founder of the World Weather Another developing field of study is “The science of loss and damage
countries manage the impacts of Attribution (WWA) initiative, which to consider loss and damage as what really looks at those places in the
climate change has proved much, specialises in real-time attribution happens when a populated region world where adaptation limits are
much more difficult. analysis of extreme weather events. hits a “hard limit” of survivability, being approached.”
for example when sea levels rise
But at this year’s COP27 summit In the past few weeks alone, Philip so high they drown small islands or Research to date on the limits to
in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, everything and her colleagues have determined when a city or region hits a “wet bulb” adaptation is thin on the ground, but
is different. For the first time, loss that soil droughts across Europe, temperature – a measure of heat that is changing fast, says van der
and damage is at the heart of the North America and China this year and humidity – that the human Geest. “Ten years ago, nobody was
conference agenda. “This is an issue were made five to six times more body struggles to endure. doing research on what the limits of
whose time has now come,” the likely by human-caused climate adaptation look like,” he says. Now,
UN’s climate chief, Simon Stiell, change, while the heavy rain that led “With scenarios of intensifying there are findings trickling in from
told the media at the summit on to Pakistan’s devastating floods was climate impacts, there will be more all parts of the world, he says, much
10 November. made up to 50 per cent more intense. and more places in the world where of it with a growing focus on the
Yet more analysis is under way on adaptation hits limits, and that’s social, cultural and health impacts
Why now? The debate over loss the role of climate change in the where loss and damage starts,” says on a community when a hard limit
and damage payments – or climate Sahel drought and Nigerian floods. Kees van der Geest at the United to adaptation is reached.
reparations – to countries struck Nations University in Bonn, Germany.
by extreme weather is an intensely The fact that WWA researchers can Not everyone will agree that
political issue. But academic research now respond so quickly to real-world Protesters at political talks about loss and damage
has added weight to the arguments events is an important factor driving COP27 in Sharm should be tied to the limits of
of climate justice campaigners. the policy conversation around El Sheikh, Egypt, adaptation. It sounds an awful lot like
climate impacts, says Philip. “This last week giving up on low-income countries,
5-6 times allows us to inform the public soon says Lisa Schipper at the University of
after an extreme weather event Oxford: “A Global South perspective
Climate change made this year’s and allows decision-makers to put would be: well, don’t say that
droughts in Europe and North it on the agenda and to act more adaptation is no longer possible
America this much more likely rapidly,” she says. because we still want to see the
funding, we still want to see the
For years, it was almost impossible Researchers are even working projects and we also want to see the
to say whether any particular extreme on ways to trace historical emissions efforts put in to help us try to adapt.” ❚
weather event was fuelled by climate from a specific country directly to
change and therefore to lay some extreme weather events in another
of the blame for the resulting jurisdiction – progress that could
devastation at the door of the see individual countries targeted
most-polluting nations. for climate liability.

But thanks to huge advances Weather attribution is just one
in weather attribution science,
the link between extreme weather DOMINIKA ZARZYCKA/NURPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
and climate change is now clear. For
the past decade, researchers have
worked to develop more sophisticated
models and standardise calculations
to produce faster and more accurate
analysis of climate change’s
fingerprint on extreme weather.

Hundreds of attribution studies
have now been published in
academic literature and the results

8 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

Conservation

Crucial Congo forest under threat

The area of forest felled in the Congo basin rose last year, but schemes giving
power to Indigenous communities could be key to reversing the trend

IF THE Amazon is the lungs of “We have issues with climate “We consider the forests Bikaba insists that working with
the world, then the Congo basin is the people who live in the forests
its beating heart. This vast region change, and it’s real.” as our environment where is the best way to protect these
in central Africa is home to the ecosystems. Evidence backs
world’s second-largest – and most Each year, Bikaba’s team waits we live, but also this is the him up: a study published earlier
pristine – tropical rainforest, this year by Jocelyne Sze at the
spanning six countries and for the rainy season that starts place of our identity” University of Sheffield, UK, and
170 million hectares of land. her colleagues found that forest
in September so trees can be cover in Africa was better
But this unique habitat, which preserved on Indigenous lands
boasts a dazzling array of wildlife planted in deforested tracts of than in officially protected areas.
from forest elephants to mountain
gorillas, is in trouble. Last year, land. But this year is different. There are now more than
forest loss in the Congo basin 150 community forest concessions
jumped by 30,000 hectares, a “In September, we didn’t have in the DRC, according to a database
rise of 4.9 per cent compared with maintained by Rainforest
the previous three-year average, any rain. We don’t have rain now,” Foundation UK, and another
according to analysis in a report by 42 in waiting. In all, these cover
the Forest Declaration Assessment he says. “We have more than 636,000 almost 3.5 million hectares
released last week at the COP27 200,000 seedlings right now of rainforest. Other nations
summit. Logging, industrial that are waiting for rain.” across the Congo basin are also
mining and commercial implementing similar schemes.
agriculture are the biggest drivers. Yet despite the worrying signals, Area in hectares of forest loss
Guardians of the forest
This could have global there are signs of hope from in the Congo basin in 2021
implications, warns the report’s But campaign groups say this
lead author, Marion Ferrat at people living within the rainforest. approach is still underfunded.
consultancy firm Climate Focus. At the COP26 summit last year,
The forest is “crucial for meeting Bikaba is one of hundreds of 3.5m countries including the UK, the
climate goals; it’s an immense grassroots campaigners taking US and Germany partnered with
carbon sink”, she says. major corporations to promise
advantage of a decree passed in Area in hectares covered by $1.7 billion of financing to support
The Congo rainforest is home Indigenous communities’ role as
to the largest expanse of tropical the DRC in 2014, which gave existing and proposed community “guardians of forest and nature”.
peatlands on Earth, storing However, a study published
the equivalent of three years communities the right to manage forest concessions in the DRC in September by Rainforest
of global fossil fuel emissions Foundation Norway suggests
in the soil. As climate change the local forest for conservation. that Indigenous peoples are only
disrupts rainfall patterns, those In August, Strong Roots secured set to receive a fraction of that
peatlands could tip into drought funding under current structures.
and release this “carbon bomb” $1.7bna series of official titles creating
into the atmosphere, according Joseph Itongwa from the
to a recent study by Simon Lewis 21 community forests across Funding promised at the Walikale territory in the DRC
at the University of Leeds, UK, has travelled to COP27 in Sharm
and his colleagues. South Kivu in eastern DRC. The COP26 summit to support El Sheikh, Egypt, to urge world
leaders to live up to their
The dry season in the Congo protected areas together span Indigenous communities promises to provide support
rainforest has already lengthened for Indigenous communities.
by six to 10 days in recent decades, 600,000 hectares – two-thirds of it After all, they have the strongest
pushing the region closer to that incentives to protect the forest,
dangerous tipping point. intact rainforest . The network will he says. “We consider the forests
as our environment where we live,
Ask locals and they will create a wildlife corridor between but also this is the place of our
say the change is obvious. identity,” he says. “We are the first
Dominique Bikaba, the founder the Kahuzi-Biega National Park victims of deforestation.” ❚ MC
of Strong Roots, a conservation
organisation in the Democratic and the Itombwe Nature Reserve,
Republic of the Congo (DRC), says:
helping to protect the world’s only An area of forest cleared

population of the eastern lowland to plant oil palms near

gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri). Kisangani, DRC

SAMIR TOUNSI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 9



News

Interview: Kevin Esvelt

Risk of pandemic terrorism

Geneticist Kevin Esvelt says the technology to create a dangerous virus and
trigger a pandemic is in a growing number of hands, reports Michael Le Page

THE world must take the threat E. DEBENEDICTIS animal viruses that could cause At present, many biologists are
of pandemic terrorism more human pandemics, the list of trying to find out which animal
seriously, a leading geneticist Profile pandemic-capable viruses is going viruses could cause a human
has warned. Kevin Esvelt at Kevin Esvelt is a geneticist at to grow over the coming decades. pandemic, and sometimes also
the Massachusetts Institute of the Massachusetts Institute So is the number of people capable what would make them more
Technology says the ability to of Technology and created of recreating them from their dangerous, known as gain of
take the DNA sequence of a virus the first artificial gene drive DNA sequence alone, which Esvelt function research. There has long
from a database, turn it into a estimates at 30,000 people today. been a debate about the wisdom
living virus and intentionally faster international spread and of such efforts, and Esvelt says
infect people with it is an give us less time to respond, for A deliberate pandemic isn’t it could aid attackers. “From a
extremely serious threat. He has instance. A virus might also be likely to start tomorrow, says security perspective, is there
now published a road map to help engineered to be more lethal, Esvelt, who doesn’t think the anything you could do to make a
counter this kind of bioterrorism. or several different ones released SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was homicidal bioterrorist happier?”
at once. “That’s a potential purposely released from a lab.
It is just a matter of time before civilisation-ending catastrophe,” But he does think we aren’t doing Controversial view
an individual or group wanting says Esvelt. nearly enough to address the risk
to cause mass deaths deliberately of an intentional release. He compares publishing such
starts a pandemic this way, he says. He thinks smallpox is the only work to publicly releasing
“I think it definitely will happen.” virus we know about that could “I’ve been trying to draw critical software vulnerabilities
definitely cause a pandemic if attention to this emerging before there is a patch, and says
Esvelt began thinking about released, and a number of issue, but what I’ve found is that, it should be banned. This is a
the risks of biotechnology in 2013, countries have vaccine doses especially at the highest levels, controversial view, given that
when he used CRISPR gene-editing stockpiled as protection. But with once people understand the many virologists think this kind
to create the first artificial gene researchers trying to identify magnitude of it, they tend to of work is needed to help prevent
drive, a technology that could be just freeze,” says Esvelt. This is why animal viruses naturally jumping
used to drive species to extinction he wrote the road map, which was to humans. This phenomenon
(see page 20). He came to the published on 14 November by the is probably what caused the
conclusion that gene drives Geneva Center for Security Policy. covid-19 pandemic.
“The message is, this is serious but
“I’ve found is that once this is totally solvable,” he says. Another delaying tactic is to
people understand the ensure that all DNA-synthesising
magnitude of the issue, There are three parts to Esvelt’s equipment – the machines needed
they tend to just freeze” road map: delay, detect and defend. to assemble viral genomes from
scratch – automatically scan for
aren’t a serious bioterror threat, The aftermath of the potential threats. Esvelt is working
as they spread slowly and are easy with cryptographers to develop
to counter, but that intentional 1995 Aum Shinrikyo ways of doing this without
pandemics are a very real threat. revealing what sequences the
sarin attack in Tokyo machines are scanning for.
He gives the example of the cult
Aum Shinrikyo, which in the 1990s JIJI PRESS/AFP/JAPAN OUT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES If these kinds of delaying tactics 
killed 13 people in Tokyo and eight fail, any released pathogen must
in Matsumoto with the nerve be detected as early as possible.
agent sarin. Its members included This could be done by, say,
a virologist. “If he lived today and untargeted sequencing of sewage
had a list of pandemic-capable at airports looking for anything
viruses, he would absolutely have growing exponentially, he says.
both the skill and malicious intent
to assemble infectious samples Finally, preparing for another
and deliberately release them,” pandemic would greatly reduce
says Esvelt. its impact. For instance, we
should develop better protective
What’s more, an intentionally equipment and stockpile enough
started pandemic could be much for all essential workers so they
worse than a natural one, he says. can keep society going even
Deliberate releases at major during a pandemic, says Esvelt.  ❚
airports would result in much

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 11

News

Physics

Quantum experiment flips time

A photon can be made to appear to run forwards and backwards in time,
which could have implications for quantum computing, says Alex Wilkins

A QUANTUM experiment that or backward. So, like the cat, you other from left to right. While the between two quantum
right-to-left path sees the photon logic gates, which are used in
sees a particle of light travel would end up being in a coherent travel normally, the left-to-right quantum computation. In this
path through the crystal affects case, the inputs and outputs can
both forwards and backwards in superposition of forward and the photon’s polarisation, or be reversed – that is, computed in
orientation, in exactly the way either direction. When attempting
time, at the same moment, is yet backward, which means that you it would be affected if it was this experimentally, both teams
going backwards in time. found this task was only possible
another example of the weirdness are neither forward nor backward, for every pair of logic gates if you
The photon splitter means the have access to a quantum time flip
of the quantum realm. Although or that you are both forward and researchers can’t tell which route (arxiv.org/abs/2211.01283).
the photon has taken, because it is
this quirk, which has now been backward at the same time.” in a superposition of both paths. A new quantum tool
But at the end of the path, they
demonstrated by two research “This is not completely recombine the split photon and “We show that if you can
measure its polarisation. By superpose a process and its
groups, has no immediate crazy, if you think about it,” repeating this enough times, the time reversal, then there are
team could statistically prove that computational tasks for which
practical use, it could eventually says Eric Lutz at the University the photon must have been in a you can outperform processes
superposition of time processes in which time flows in a definite
have implications for quantum of Stuttgart, Germany, who (arxiv.org/abs/2210.17046). direction,” says Strömberg.

computers or even help develop wasn’t involved in the research. Teodor Strömberg at the “That’s really exciting, because
University of Vienna, Austria, now you have a tool, something
a theory of quantum gravity. “Quantum mechanics allows for and his colleagues have also used that was buried there since the
a similar set-up to demonstrate very beginning of quantum
Unlike our one-way sense of a superposition of states – why not a quantum time flip, and both mechanics,” says Lutz. While it
teams wanted to see what it could isn’t immediately obvious how it
time, the laws of quantum physics a superposition of processes?” be used for. In 2021, Chiribella’s might be useful, the importance
team devised a task that involved of quantum superposition also
are indifferent to the way things examining the relationship wasn’t immediately obvious when
it was discovered, but it now plays
run. You can’t un-cook an egg, “In a certain sense, the a crucial role in making quantum
computers work, says Lutz. “The
but you can reverse the state of quantum time flip is prospect of doing something
similar, with a superposition of
a photon travelling through a Schrödinger’s cat for forwards and backwards time
directions, is exciting.”
crystal, which is mathematically the direction of time”
It could also help us tackle
equivalent to the photon going one of the biggest problems
in physics, namely combining
back in time. Now, Chiribella and his team quantum mechanics with our
understanding of gravity to create
Another oddity of the quantum have experimentally shown a quantum theory of gravity, says
Lucien Hardy at the Perimeter
world is that a quantum state can that a quantum time flip is Institute in Canada. “This new
theory of quantum gravity, we
have multiple values at the same really possible. They split a would expect it to have causal
indefiniteness,” he says, meaning
time, called a superposition, until photon, a particle of light, into a that superpositions of different
directions of time would crop up.
you measure it. Schrödinger’s cat superposition of two separate “It makes us think more carefully
about those concepts, about what
is a famous example, in which a paths that go through a crystal, we mean by time direction.”  ❚

theoretical cat can be said to be in one from right to left and the

a quantum state of both alive and

dead inside a box until you open it.

Last year, Giulio Chiribella

at the University of Oxford

and his colleagues combined

these two ideas, fleshing out

the mathematics of what a

superposition of processes

going forwards and backwards

in time might look like. They

call it a quantum time flip.

“In a certain sense, you can

say that the quantum time flip is

Schrödinger’s cat for the direction

of time,” says Chiribella. “Instead

of alive or dead, you are a forward

agent or a backward agent, and

some quantum particle that can SHUTTERSTOCK/MARCHCATTLE

be in a superposition state could

control whether you are forward

Light can travel both
forwards and backwards
in time simultaneously

12 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

Politics

US midterm voters had
climate change on their minds

James Dinneen

SUPPORTERS of climate action SARAH YENESEL/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK improve water quality and Mark Baldassare at the
saw more success in the US conserve land. Public Policy Institute of
midterm election on 8 November Voters in New York California, a non-profit think
than expected. decided to raise funds “It’s absolutely historic that tank, says initial support for the
to tackle emissions we’ve passed the largest bond measure dropped among voters
Many Democratic candidates act in New York state history,” of both parties after California’s
known to support climate policies also presented with a range of says Jessica Ottney Mahar at Democratic governor, Gavin
won seats in state legislatures and environmental ballot measures. The Nature Conservancy, a Newsom, appeared in ads
in Congress, retaining control of The biggest win was one in New non-profit organisation. She opposing it. Newsom called
the Senate and losing fewer seats in York, a state that generates about says the money, alongside larger
the House of Representatives than 3 per cent of total US carbon federal funding packages, will help 71%
was projected before the election. emissions. Voters there were in reduce the state’s emissions by
This victory could give President favour of allowing the state to sell improving building efficiency, of US voters said climate change
Joe Biden’s administration a freer bonds worth more than $4 billion buying electric school buses and was a serious problem
hand to pursue its climate agenda, to raise funds for measures to protecting natural landscapes
including implementing the reduce emissions, increase that store carbon. the proposal a handout to the
nearly $400 billion of climate resilience against flooding, ride-sharing company Lyft,
and energy policy promised On the other side of the country, which spent tens of millions
in the Inflation Reduction Act. California, which has ambitious of dollars supporting it.
existing emission-reduction
The outcome “was better than policies, voted against a measure Elsewhere, a $50 million
we thought”, says David Shepheard that would have raised tens measure passed in Rhode Island
at Baringa Partners, a US consulting of billions of dollars to address to improve coastal resilience
firm. “Climate outcomes were climate change. Through a new against flooding and storms and
on the ballot even if they weren’t 1.75 per cent tax on incomes above to restore habitat in Narragansett
explicitly mentioned.” In an $2 million, the measure would Bay, while Florida voted against
exit poll by CNN, 71 per cent of have raised between $3.5 billion a proposal to reduce the cost of
voters said climate change was and $5 billion each year for electric making homes more resilient
a “very serious” or “somewhat vehicle tax incentives, charging to flooding, despite bipartisan
serious” problem. stations and preparedness against support and the state’s ongoing
wildfires, which are expected to recovery from Hurricane Ian.  ❚
Alongside choosing elected become more frequent in the state.
representatives, voters were

Zoology

Herds of pig-like He started to suspect that their Peccaries travel in giant
peccaries vanish and population went through cycles herds, transforming the
reappear years later when he heard from Indigenous Amazon rainforest
groups in the Amazon about the
HUGE herds of hairy, pig-like animal’s role in mythology. Village JOSÉ FRAGOSO The herds probably get so
animals called peccaries suddenly leaders told him that shamans had big they become vulnerable to
disappear and don’t come back died and taken the peccaries with The populations grow until outbreaks of disease, which wipe
for many years – and it could be them to the underworld, but one there are between about 25 and them out, says Fragoso.
because their populations grow day they would return. 100 peccaries per square kilometre,
so big that disease wipes them out. and then they collapse – similar to Peccaries travel in herds of
Historical records of the trade in lemming populations. hundreds, transforming forests.
This is the largest example of peccary skins and observations by “They basically eat all the seedlings
natural population cyclicity in terms Indigenous groups helped provide The peccaries vanish for between and seeds in an area, so no one plant
of geography and timescale for evidence of periods of boom and seven and 10 years across areas as species can dominate,” says Fragoso.
any mammal, says José Fragoso at bust. Fragoso and his colleagues large as 5 million square kilometres They are important for forest health,
the University of Brasilia in Brazil. documented 43 disappearances in before slowly spreading again. make up much of the diet of several
nine countries, from Argentina to Indigenous groups and are key prey
Fragoso was studying peccaries Mexico, revealing that the animals for jaguars, so their absences have
in the Amazon in 1991 when have a 30-year population cycle large knock-on effects, he says.  ❚
they suddenly seemed to vanish. (PLoS One, doi.org/gq5g34). Luke Taylor

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 13

News Insight

Technology

Your perfect movie

Artificial intelligences that turn text into video are making rapid progress,
but are we ready for what comes next, asks Alex Wilkins

IMAGINE being able to produce META AI
a high-quality video of almost
anything, whether based on text prompts resembling a script, “unsupervised” learning to scan Stills from a video
reality or something entirely
fanciful, just by describing what albeit at lower quality. through YouTube. “There might created by Meta’s
you want to see. This isn’t possible
yet, but text-to-video artificial None of the videos created from be limits to how much you can Make-A-Video AI
intelligence algorithms, such as
Meta’s Make-A-Video and Google’s these models is flawless – these learn just from unsupervised Those creating text-to-image AIs
Imagen Video, are rapidly heading have already faced this problem,
towards this goal. In the coming films aren’t high-definition, they videos,” says Meta AI’s research with OpenAI covertly adding
months and years, this technology words such as “black” or “female”
could have a profound impact contain strange visual artefacts director Devi Parikh. “But I don’t to some text prompts in an effort
on creative industries and trust to improve the diversity of results.
in online media, as we enter and they struggle to replicate real- think we’ve hit that yet.”
a world in which seeing is no Bias isn’t the only concern.
longer believing. world physics – but the first text- Already, however, people are In a world where misinformation
is already rampant, there are
The rise of text-to-video to-image models were also grainy raising concerns that any biases fears that AI-manufactured
generators follows incredible video could make it harder to tell
progress over the past year in and unrealistic, before rapidly or stereotypes that exist within what is real – though so far, this
text-to-image AIs, which have hasn’t happened with existing
gone from a novelty to tools that improving. A key problem for the videos used for learning might AI tools. When AI-powered video
can produce professional-quality alteration – so-called deepfakes,
images – Microsoft has even text-to-video models to crack be propagated through the models which can put one person’s head
integrated OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 on another’s body, for example –
model into Microsoft Office. will be understanding motion first arrived a few years ago, some
Meanwhile, smaller companies warned that trust in online media
have released open-source and the passage of time. “You’ve “Would you want your child would fall. To date, there have been
alternatives, such as London- no high-profile cases of people
based firm Stability AI with its got this snapshot in time which to learn everything about being fooled by a deepfake, but
Stable Diffusion. Unlike the closed
models of the big tech companies, contains no information about people in society by just
these are available to anyone and
subject to less stringent control. what happens next – the model watching YouTube?”

Limited for now doesn’t have any understanding

For the time being, video of causality or physics,” says and appear in the outputs. “Would
generators lag behind their
image counterparts. Make-A-Video Tom Mason, Stability AI’s chief you want your child to learn
generates 5-second videos at
768×768 resolution by starting technical officer. everything that they know about
with 16 frames from a text-to-
image model. It then stitches Video models also lack the the composition and roles of
these together by comparing
them to millions of videos from detailed, labelled data sets that people in society by just watching
YouTube and stock footage sites.
Imagen Video also makes 5-second text-to-image models have relied YouTube?” says Arthur Holland
videos, but at a slightly higher
resolution of 1280×768. Another on for progress. For example, Michel at the Carnegie Council
team at Google has released a
model that can create much longer Make-A-Video instead uses for Ethics in International Affairs.
clips, generated using multiple

14 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

More Insight online

Your guide to a rapidly changing world
newscientist.com/insight

Michel points out that creating demo.” Google didn’t respond 5 responsibly with Copilot from
them requires a sophisticated to a request for comment. the start, and will continue to
understanding of the technology. Length of videos created by Meta’s evolve the product to best serve
Even if text-to-video doesn’t Make-A-Video and Google’s developers across the globe,”
“With something like an contribute to misinformation, Imagen Video, in seconds said a GitHub spokesperson in
effective text-to-video generator, the societal impact on the creative response to the lawsuit’s launch
the accessibility is much industries could still be huge. 16 on 8 November.
greater… in terms of the ability Many of the images and videos
for someone with very little used to train these AIs are Number of still frames used The case could set a precedent
technical capability to create copyrighted works, so reproducing by Meta’s Make-A-Video for other disputes over alleged AI
something credible,” he says. them without permission is infringement, but the overall lack
against the law unless there is an Images created by of case law may mean politicians
In reaction to the emergence of exemption, such as “fair dealing” Google’s Imagen AI, will need to introduce new laws
deepfakes and now text-to-video, or using them for research which can generate to cover generative AI. Yet it is
Yvonne McDermott Rees at purposes, says Matt Hervey, head pictures and videos unclear whether legislation can
Swansea University, UK, and her of artificial intelligence law at keep up with this fast-moving
colleagues have started a five-year legal firm Gowling WLG. “In most GOOGLE IMAGEN technology. “The law already
project to measure whether jurisdictions, if you’re doing this really does most of the things it
people’s attitudes to online media for an academic paper, where what can do, to some extent,” says Lilian
are changing. Existing studies you produce is of no commercial Edwards at Newcastle University,
show that which media people value, it is probably going to fall UK. “One problem with fake news
believe and share online is often under some sort of fair dealing generally, as a phenomenon, is
dictated by an individual’s or fair use exception,” he says. that it’s not obviously illegal. It’s
preconceptions. “So, does this harmful, but it’s not illegal.” This
align with their political beliefs But as these AIs move from could extend to the outputs of
or their pre-existing ideological research projects to commercial text-to-video AIs too, she says.
beliefs?” says Rees. products, they may be open to
legal challenges. Currently, there A possible workaround for
Misinformation risk is little to no case law in this area. preserving the trust in online
“No judge has ever had to look at it, video is using a certificate of
Such beliefs may be the driving but the expectation is the training, authentication, which states
force behind misinformation, the AI or the output will be a form exactly where a piece of media
rather than the quality of a video. of copyright infringement,” says originated from and how it was
One notorious example of online Hervey. “For a commercial AI, created. Adobe, Microsoft and
disinformation, a simple, slowed- you will also need to have some others have formed the Coalition
down video of US politician Nancy exception, such as fair dealing for Content Provenance and
Pelosi that was designed to make in the US or a specific exception Authenticity, which aims to
it seem as if she were drunk, for commercial data mining, as create an open-source technical
went viral in 2019 simply because proposed by the UK government.” standard to do just that.
many people wanted it to be true.
“That’s not even a deepfake, but While there have been no legal Swift action may be necessary.
so many people believe that and challenges against text-to-image Stability AI is aiming to release a
reshared it,” says Rees. models so far, a group of lawyers text-to-video model to the public
has launched a lawsuit against this year, according to Mason.
Asked whether Make-A-Video Microsoft, GitHub and OpenAI When that happens, there will be
could be used to spread for their Copilot code assistant, even more pressure on Google and
falsehoods, a Meta spokesperson which has been trained on Meta to release theirs, as OpenAI
said: “As part of this research, millions of lines of code written did when it widened access to
we are continuing to explore by human programmers. The DALL-E 2 within a year of the
ways to further refine and mitigate lawyers say it appears that arrival of Stability AI’s text-to-
potential risk. For example, Microsoft, which owns GitHub, image model. “This is true with
we reviewed and filtered our has mishandled the open-source all models: they reach these state-
training data to reduce exposure licences for much of the code it of-the-art coherence levels and
to questionable material and used to train Copilot and failed sometimes that happens much
will continue to evolve our to credit human authors. “We’ve quicker than even the researchers
approach before we share a been committed to innovating are expecting,” says Mason. ❚

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 15

News

Technology

Row over fingerprint scanners

A new form of surveillance for people subject to deportation orders in the UK has
attracted criticism from privacy campaigners, reports Jason Arunn Murugesu

PEOPLE subject to deportation REKLAMLAR/GETTY IMAGES “People will still have their their clients a few days to gather
orders in the UK will soon have
to carry a GPS-enabled fingerprint location tracked 24/7 and further the medical evidence required to
scanner at all times, so that the
Home Office can verify their anxiety may come from being argue against the use of GPS tags
location and identity. Privacy
campaigners say the devices are unable to submit your fingerprint before they are fitted. The Home
unnecessary and could exacerbate
people’s mental health problems. scan for one reason or another.” Office says it follows published

The UK began using GPS- Fraser Sampson, the UK’s bail guidance on representations
enabled ankle tags to track adult
foreign-national offenders who biometrics and surveillance from individuals.
are subject to deportation orders
in August 2021. People in this camera commissioner, whose job “We’ve had several cases where
position aren’t UK citizens and
have committed a crime that is to ensure fingerprint data used we’ve got evidence showing that
resulted in a custodial sentence
of more than 12 months or are by the police complies with the GPS tags are exacerbating trauma
considered “persistent offenders”.
government’s code of practice,
The new devices, which resemble
a large key fob and are produced says he had no idea that the Home “We’ve had several cases
by tech firm Buddi, will be given to
such people soon, the Home Office Office was going to bring in these showing that GPS tags are
has confirmed. They will track
an individual’s location 24 hours devices. “Increasingly, there are exacerbating trauma for
a day. Users will have to scan their
fingers when prompted, to confirm other agencies using biometrics vulnerable individuals”
their identity and proximity to the
device. The Home Office wouldn’t that aren’t the police,” he says.
say how often this will be required
and hasn’t said why the scanners Fingerprint scanners “The government does not regard for very vulnerable individuals,”
will be better than ankle tags. can be used to verify
a person’s identity this as falling within my remit.” says the lawyer. Only after several

In a report by the independent A lawyer who has represented weeks will the Home Office back
chief inspector of borders and
immigration earlier this year, several clients who have been down from its initial judgement
Home Office officials said that such
devices may be used to monitor required to wear GPS ankle tags to tag someone, they add.
people with “vulnerabilities” that
prevent them from wearing an and wishes to remain anonymous “The public rightly expects
ankle tag or those “considered
lower harm” to the public. says the safeguards in place to us to carry out our legal duty

But these new devices are just as protect vulnerable people aren’t to electronically monitor any
intrusive as ankle tags, says Lucie
Audibert at Privacy International. good enough. foreign criminals released on

Many people who are subject immigration bail whilst awaiting

to deportation orders experience deportation,” a Home Office

post-traumatic stress disorder, spokesperson says. “A decision to

they say, and so 24-hour GPS tag is taken on a case-by-case basis

monitoring may exacerbate their and a combination of fitted and

condition. They say the Home non-fitted devices is used.”

Office only provides lawyers and Buddi declined to comment.  ❚

Health

Probiotic coated in is to use different drugs for different Now, the researchers have reactive oxygen species,” says Hu.
nanoparticles may The researchers tested the
ease bowel disease stages of disease, which is very attached nanoparticles to the tannic
approach in mice with symptoms
PROBIOTICS coated in nanoparticles complicated and not working acid coat. The idea is that when of IBD. Mice given the probiotic
can relieve symptoms of with nanoparticles lost less weight,
inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) very well,” says Quanyin Hu at the loaded-up bacteria enter the gut, on average, after four days of
in mice. The findings suggest the treatment than mice given just the
probiotic could treat the condition University of Wisconsin-Madison. the nanoparticles are released and coated probiotic or no probiotic. The
in people, if it is safe and effective. nanoparticle probiotic also reduced
In IBD, gut inflammation is partly bond with molecules called reactive colon shrinkage, which can result
IBD covers a group of conditions from gut damage and inflammation
that can involve stomach pains, driven by relatively high levels of oxygen species that easily react (Science Advances, doi.org/gq7wnc).
diarrhoea, weight loss and fatigue
caused by the immune system harmful bacteria and low amounts of with other molecules. This reduces “We need to test the
mistakenly attacking the gut. nanoparticle-coated probiotic in
beneficial bacteria. Some probiotic the damage the molecules can do. large animals and then humans, but
“The current treatment approach it looks very promising,” says Hu.  ❚
bacteria can increase the number of “The bacterium improves the Carissa Wong

beneficial bacteria in the gut. Hu and balance of gut bacteria and the

his team have previously coated the nanoparticles scavenge the

probiotic bacterium Escherichia coli

strain Nissle 1917 in a polymer “The current treatment

made of tannic acid to help it stick approach is very

to the gut wall, improving how long complicated and not

it can boost beneficial bacteria. working very well”

16 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022



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News

Biology

Ants have evolved to farm plants
on at least 15 separate occasions

Michael Le Page

THE cultivation of plants by ants is they form hollow structures called other examples of plant says Laura Campbell at Durham
more widespread than previously domatia that the ants nest in. cultivation that have been University in the UK, one of the
realised, and has evolved on at overlooked. “They have never study authors.
least 15 separate occasions. The ants defecate at specific really been looked at in the
absorptive places in these framework of agriculture,” says By looking at the family trees
There are more than 200 species domatia, providing nutrients Chomicki, who is now at the of the ant species, the team was
of ant in the Americas that farm for the plant. In return, as well University of Sheffield in the able to determine on how many
fungi for food, but this trait as shelter, the plant provides UK. “It’s definitely widespread.” occasions plant cultivation
evolved just once sometime food in the form of nectar. evolved and roughly when.
between 45 million and 65 million The team identified 37 examples Fifteen is a conservative estimate,
years ago. Biologists regard the This discovery prompted of tree-living ants that cultivate says Campbell. All the systems
cultivation of fungi by ants as Chomicki and others to review plants that grow on trees, known evolved relatively recently,
true agriculture long predating the literature on ant-plant as epiphytes (Trends in Plant around 1 million to 3 million
human agriculture because it relationships to see if there are Science, doi.org/jkxb). Epiphytes years ago, she says.
meets four criteria: the ants plant struggle to get enough nutrients,
the fungus, care for it, harvest Some ants cultivate so they have a lot to gain by Whether the 37 examples of
it and depend on it for food. Hydnophytum forming a relationship with ants, plant cultivation identified by
formicarum plants the team count as true agriculture
By contrast, while thousands depends on the definitions used.
of ant species are known to EMANUELE BIGGI / NATUREPL.COM Not all of the species get food
have a wide variety of symbiotic from the plants, but they do
relationships with plants, none rely on them for shelter, which
were regarded as true agriculture. is crucial for ants living in trees,
But in 2016, Guillaume Chomicki says Campbell. So the team
and Susanne Renner at the thinks the definition of true
University of Munich, Germany, agriculture should include
discovered that an ant in Fiji shelter as well as food.
cultivates several plants in a
way that meets the four criteria “I absolutely agree with the
for true agriculture. authors that nutrition is only
one of the reasons for agriculture,
The ants (Philidris nagasau) both human and non-human
collect the seeds of the plants agriculture,” says Ted Schultz at
and place them in cracks in the the Smithsonian Institution in
bark of trees. As the plants grow, Washington DC.   ❚

Health

Knee ligament Injuries to it are common in some The team analysed MRI scans to Scans showed that the ligament
injuries can heal had regrown to form one
without surgery sports, especially those that involve examine rates of healing among continuous length, albeit a bit
thicker or thinner, and signs of
ABOUT 30 per cent of anterior sudden changes of direction, such active adults in Sweden, aged healing were visible as early as
cruciate ligament (ACL) tears have three months after injury (British
been found to heal within two years as football or tennis. between 18 and 35 years, who Journal of Sports Medicine, DOI:
without knee surgery, challenging 10.1136/bjsports-2022-105473).
the long-standing assumption Reconstructive surgery is often had ruptured an ACL.
that this tissue won’t mend itself “It appears that ACLs can heal
if ruptured. Letting the injuries done to replace a torn ACL and Participants in the randomised to varying degrees and in different
heal without an operation could ways,” says Filbay.
be an option for some people. stabilise the knee. But two-thirds trial either received surgery to
Larger MRI studies might help
The ACL straddles the knee to of young people who undergo replace their ACL or rehabilitation. physicians predict at the three-
connect bones in the leg – the tibia month mark which ACL tears are
in the shin to the femur in the thigh. these procedures don’t return to Sixteen people in the group of 54 likely to heal and who needs to
have surgery, she says.  ❚
sport within a year, and one in who managed their injury only with Clare Watson

four injure the ligament again. strengthening exercises had some

Now, Stephanie Filbay at the degree of healing within two years.

University of Melbourne, Australia,

and her colleagues have found that “Signs of the ACL mending

a much larger fraction of torn ACLs itself were visible on

than expected seem to heal with scans as early as three

rehabilitation alone. months after injury”

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 19

News

Biotechnology

Gene drive could wipe out mice

Parasitic DNA that spreads through a population and makes females infertile has
been shown to work in a mammal for the first time, reports Michael Le Page

FOR the first time, researchers have PETER BROWN/CSIRO would slow the spread of the drive –
made a gene drive – a sort of genetic 80 per cent actually works better,
parasite – that could eradicate says Thomas.
invasive mammalian pests such
as mice by making them infertile. One of the risks of gene drives
is that they could spread to areas
The technology could provide a where animals are native and
humane alternative to the poison aren’t invasive pests. So, for the
baits currently used to tackle lab tests, the components of the
invasive mice on islands. These gene drive were split and put on
animals have severe impacts on different chromosomes, meaning
native birds, reptiles and plants. the drive couldn’t spread if
the mice somehow escaped.
“It’s the first example
of a mammalian gene drive This is why it was only tested
technology that has had proof over one generation. The tests
of concept in a laboratory setting,” were also done in a high-level
says Paul Thomas at the University containment lab. “We’re very
of Adelaide in Australia. conscious of the safety aspects
of this,” says Thomas.
Most animals have two copies of
each chromosome, but their Mouse plagues are a The natural gene drive, Invasive species
offspring gets only one copy from common problem in called the t haplotype, works
each parent. This means that if a farms in parts of Australia by slowing the swimming speed The team has been identifying
piece of DNA is added to one of all sperm unless they carry genetic variants specific to each
chromosome of an individual, only 95% the gene drive, which encodes invasive mouse population
half its offspring will inherit it. a counter mechanism. This on islands, and the next step is to
Gene drives are bits of DNA that A male with one copy of the results in 95 per cent of offspring create a fully assembled gene drive
encode various mechanisms for gene drive passes it on to this inheriting the t haplotype. To this that works only in mice with one
cheating the system and ensuring proportion of his offspring existing drive, the researchers of those variants. If this works in
they get inherited by more than added a component that mutates lab tests, the team hopes to get
half of offspring. This means they 200,000 a gene essential for female fertility. regulatory approval to release it
can spread in a population even if on the island whose population
they are harmful. Population of mice that could When the team tested the the gene drive targets. “Baits are
be wiped out in 20 to 25 years system in mice in the lab over expensive and do not always work,”
Various natural gene drives by releasing 250 mice with the one generation, the gene drive says Thomas. “You also don’t have
have been discovered. In 2013, gene drive disabled 80 per cent of the fertility the horrible cause of death aspect.”
Kevin Esvelt at the Massachusetts genes (PNAS, doi.org/gq7f55).
Institute of Technology created If the gene drive succeeds in
the first synthetic gene drive using If the drive was released, female eradicating mice from islands,
the gene-editing technology mice would initially inherit just it might one day be used to tackle
CRISPR (see page 11). Such CRISPR- one mutated copy and remain mice on mainland Australia too, he
based gene drives work extremely fertile, but, as the drive spread says, but that isn’t the goal for now.
well in insects and several teams in a population, more and more
hope to use them to prevent the would inherit two copies, The results are very promising,
spread of malaria, either by wiping rendering them infertile. says Kimberly Cooper at the
out mosquitoes or by making “That’s when the population University of California, San Diego,
them less likely to infect people. starts to crash,” says Thomas. whose team is trying to get CRISPR-
based drives to work in mice.
However, CRISPR-based Computer modelling shows
gene drives don’t work well in that if 250 mice carrying this gene “The individual components
mammals, for reasons that aren’t drive were released on an island do work quite well in a single
understood. So Thomas and his with a population of 200,000 mice, generation, and therefore may
colleagues instead started with all the mice would be wiped out very well work as modelled over
a natural gene drive common in 20 to 25 years. Surprisingly, the multiple generations,” she says.
in mice and modified it so that model also shows that mutating But the system will need to be
it makes female house mice 100 per cent of fertility genes tested over many generations
(Mus musculus) infertile. to confirm this, says Cooper.  ❚

20 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

Technology

AIs are better at answering questions
if you get another AI to ask them

Alex Wilkins

AN ARTIFICIAL intelligence that “let’s think step-by-step” to comparable or better on 19 of the APE works by showing a
makes suggestions to another AI large language model a desired
can get it to produce results that prompts seems to make language tasks (arxiv.org/abs/2211.01910). output from a particular input,
are as good as or better than if the then generating various inputs to
prompts came from humans. The models better at solving problems “Using our algorithm, we find produce the output. It ranks these
technique could be used to improve suggestions and picks the one that
the performance of AIs whose they tend to struggle with. better prompts than a world-class seems best, although how APE
internal workings remain opaque. reaches its decision isn’t known.
Now, Yongchao Zhou at the human prompt engineer,” says
Large language models are APE only works for language,
neural networks that are trained on University of Toronto in Canada Zhou. For example, one prompt but it could be useful to expand
vast data sets of online text and can it to work for AI text-to-image
produce convincing language. You and his colleagues have developed generators like DALL-E, says Yao
give the model an input, called a Lu at University College London.
prompt, and it gives you a response. a model called Automatic Prompt “Using our algorithm, we Prompts that seem similar to us,
No one knows exactly how these such as “a grey-haired man” or “a
models arrive at their results, but Engineer (APE) that uses a language find better prompts than man with grey hair”, can lead to very
by tweaking the prompt, you can different outputs. The model could
sometimes get better results. model to create similar prompts. a world-class human optimise a prompt to make the
output less variable, he says.  ❚
For instance, adding the phrase Zhou and his team used APE to prompt engineer”

come up with prompts for 24 tasks

that tackle different aspects of they found is “Let’s work this out in

language understanding, such as a step-by-step way to be sure that

identifying similarity or causality, we have the right answer”, although

and compared the results with why this is better than “let’s think

those from prompts made by step-by-step” is a mystery, he says.

10 human “prompt engineers”. There could be better prompts

They found that APE was out there, says Zhou.

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News

Medicine Physics

Zapping neurons helps Particles pop up out
people with paralysis to walk of empty space in a
miniature cosmos
Carissa Wong
Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
NINE people with lower body their spinal cord. Six of them the therapy induced sustained
paralysis regained the ability had some feeling in their legs rewiring of spinal cord neurons. AN ANALOGUE of a tiny, expanding
to walk with the aid of a frame but little to no ability to move universe has been created out of
after receiving prolonged them, while the others couldn’t To better understand how extremely cold potassium atoms.
electrical stimulation to the feel or move their legs at all. this occurred, the researchers It could help us understand cosmic
injured area of their spine. induced spinal cord injuries in phenomena that are difficult to
This led to the identification Electrical stimulation was mice, paralysing their hind legs. directly detect, such as pairs of
of neurons that could improve applied to the spinal cords, They then delivered electrical particles that may emerge in empty
walking ability post-paralysis. with the pattern and location of pulses to the animals’ spines space as the universe expands.
these pulses being personalised and their walking improved.
Electrical stimulation of via an artificial intelligence. Markus Oberthaler at Heidelberg
the spinal cord is often used Participants were asked to walk Next, the researchers mapped University in Germany and his
to relieve pain in people with for 6 minutes, with the aid of a the gene activity of the neurons colleagues cooled more than
spinal cord injuries. In the latest at the mice’s spinal injury sites, 20,000 potassium atoms in a
discovery, electrical stimulation 50m which revealed that certain vacuum, using lasers to slow them
also accelerated walking neurons became more active down and lower their temperature
recovery among people with The average distance people after electrical stimulation. to about 60 billionths of a degree
spinal cord injuries who had kelvin above absolute zero.
enough functioning neurons could walk post-therapy Finally, they used a genetic
in the affected area. tool – controlled via light – At this temperature, the atoms
frame, to provide a baseline of to silence and reactivate the formed a cloud about the width of a
“We mimic the way the spinal performance when aided. The neurons linked to walking human hair and, instead of freezing,
cord is normally activated by electrical stimulation enabled recovery. The rehabilitated mice became a quantum, fluid-like phase
electrical signals from the brain them to travel up to 25 metres. could only walk when these of matter called a Bose-Einstein
when you walk, by electrically neurons were switched on. condensate. Atoms in this phase can
stimulating the right spot of Over the next five months, the be controlled with light. Using a tiny
the spinal cord at the right stimulation was continued, on “After spinal cord injury, you projector, the team precisely set the
time to move leg muscles,” says top of physiotherapy sessions, have a lot of chaotic activity atoms’ density, arrangement and
Jocelyne Bloch at the University up to five times a week. At the where a lot of neurons are forces they exert on each other.
of Lausanne, Switzerland. end of the study, they could trying to function,” says Bloch.
walk 50 metres in 6 minutes, on “The electrical rehabilitation The team made the atoms follow
Bloch and her colleagues average (Nature, doi.org/gq7gz9). organises the network of cells an equation called a space-time
implanted electrical devices into and you increase the activity of metric, which, in an actual, full-scale
the spinal cords of nine people Four of the participants could a specific type of cell, while all universe, determines how curved it
with injuries to a similar area of even walk without any electrical the other cells are not activated.” is, how fast light travels and how
stimulation, suggesting that much light must bend near very
Silencing these neurons in massive objects. In this simulated
NEURORESTORE/JIMMY RAVIER non-paralysed mice had little universe, the atoms moved in
effect on their walking ability. exactly the kind of ripple pattern
that would be expected if pairs of
“These cells are important for particles were popping into
recovery of walking in injured existence – a phenomenon called
mice, but when we switch them particle pair production. The
off in healthy mice without researchers say this suggests that
injury, it hardly affected their the particle pairs can be produced in
ability to walk,” says Bloch. an expanding universe, like our own
(Nature, doi.org/gq7m3p).
Manipulating the neurons
could reveal new ways to Physicists don’t quite know how
improve walking ability after quantum effects and gravity
paralysis, said Kee Wui Huang combine in the universe we live in,
and Eiman Azim at the Salk but experiments like these may let
Institute for Biological Studies them try out some ideas, and they
in California in an opinion could inspire new targets for
article accompanying a paper observations in our much larger and
on the research. ❚ more complex cosmos, says Alessio
Celi at the Autonomous University
People were able of Barcelona in Spain. ❚
to regain the ability
to walk with a frame 19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 23

News In brief

Technology Really brief

Artificial sleep helps DAFNA GAZIT/ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY A mushroom skin
SHUTTERSTOCK/UKJENT computer chip
AI learn new task
Skin from a fungus has
ARTIFICIAL intelligence can learn been used to make the
and remember how to do multiple base of a computer chip
tasks by mimicking the way sleep that could be recycled.
helps us cement what we learned Ganoderma lucidum grows
during waking hours. on dying wood and forms a
skin to protect its root-like
Many AIs can only master one mycelium. The skin is a
set of tasks – they can’t acquire good insulator, withstands
additional knowledge later on high temperatures and
without losing everything they decomposes in soil (Science
had previously learned. Advances, doi.org/jmgn).

Now, Maxim Bazhenov at Star explosion seen
the University of California, just 6 hours later
San Diego, and his colleagues have
trained a neural network to learn The Hubble Space
two tasks without overwriting Telescope has captured
connections learned from the first an image of a distant star’s
task. To do this, they interspersed supernova that shows light
focused training periods for the emitted just 6 hours after
second task with sleep-like periods it began. It is the earliest
simulated by activating the we have seen such a
network’s artificial neurons in a distant supernova – the
noisy pattern (PLoS Computational star is 21 billion light years
Biology, DOI: 10.1371/journal. away – and helps reveal the
pcbi.1010628). Jeremy Hsu original star’s properties
(Nature, doi.org/jk4d).
Health Archaeology
Mouthbrooding fish
Testosterone linked Oldest legible in use as early as 4300 years ago. eats own offspring
sentence using Yosef Garfinkel at the Hebrew
with kidney injury first alphabet Females of Astatotilapia
found University of Jerusalem and his burtoni, a fish in the
LOW testosterone levels appear to colleagues unearthed the comb cichlid family, protect their
protect kidney cells in mice. The THE oldest readable sentence in 2016 at Tel Lachish in southern offspring by keeping them
finding could explain why women written using the first alphabet has Israel. It came from a level of the site in their mouths. But far
are at a lower risk of acute kidney been found on the side of an ivory dating back roughly 2700 years, from always keeping their
injury than men. comb (pictured). The words are but from the style of the writing on young safe, they commonly
carefully inscribed in letters 1 to 3 the comb, Garfinkel’s team argues eat up to half of their brood.
Tomokazu Souma at Duke millimetres wide and take the form it is about 1000 years older Doing so may alleviate
University in North Carolina of a plea: “May this tusk root out (Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, some of the physiological
and his team found 128 genes that the lice of the hair and the beard.” doi.org/gq7bjm). stress of parenting (Biology
were expressed differently in the Letters, doi.org/gq7gbv).
kidneys of male and female mice. Writing emerged in Mesopotamia The writing comprises 17 letters,
Many were related to a cell process and Egypt about 5200 years ago. two of which are damaged. They
that protects against a form of These early writing systems were seem to form a complete sentence
cell death that is a driver of acute non-alphabetic: they generally written in an ancient Canaanite
kidney injury in people. used signs to represent words and language spoken at Tel Lachish.
syllables. The alphabet came later, “This is the earliest sentence we
The team found that male mice but its history is mysterious because have in the alphabet,” says Garfinkel.
without testicles had a fivefold of a lack of archaeological evidence.
increase, on average, in the It isn’t clear when it was invented: It is a significant discovery,
expression of two of those genes many researchers argue for a date says Christopher Rollston at
compared with mice with testicles. around 3800 years ago, but there George Washington University
This wasn’t seen in female mice is some evidence the alphabet was in Washington DC. He says it was
without ovaries. This suggests easier for Garfinkel’s team to read
that testosterone leaves male mice the inscription because it was
more susceptible to cell death in carved on a comb that still carries
their kidneys, says Souma (Cell bits of the exoskeletons of dead lice,
Reports, doi.org/jk4v). Grace Wade offering clues about the text’s likely
subject matter. Colin Barras

24 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

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Views Aperture Letters Culture Culture columnist
The eerie geothermal Shouting about the Take a satire-laced Sally Adee welcomes
The columnist landscapes of Italy’s shortcomings of trip to the imagined a new twist on the
Penny Sarchet on the Devil’s Valley p30 biofuel crops p32 worlds of Telluria p34 multiverse trope p36
birds that pursue an
eternal summer p28

Comment

Bringing maths to life

Relating the subject to questions of politics and social justice
can help address its image problem, argues Eugenia Cheng

MATHEMATICS has an SIMONE ROTELLA The answer there is clearly no, but
image problem: far too then we go on to discuss whether
many people are put to an order relation such as “is less However, rather than sticking we think this function should be
off it and conclude that the subject than”. We then study functions to this type of dry mathematical order-preserving or not, and why.
just isn’t for them. There are many that map members of one ordered example, I introduce ones about
issues, including the curriculum, set to members of another, and issues like privilege and wealth. My approach is contentious
standardised tests and constraints ask which functions are “order- If we think of one ordered set with because, traditionally, maths
placed on teachers. But one of the preserving”. A typical example people ordered by privilege, we is supposed to be neutral and
biggest problems is how maths might be the function that takes can make a function to another apolitical. I have been criticised
is presented, as cold and dry. an ordinary number and maps set where the people are now by people who think my approach
it to the number obtained from ordered by wealth instead. What will be off-putting to those who
Attempts at “real-life” multiplying by 2. We would then does it mean for that to be order- don’t care about social justice;
applications are often detached say that if x < y then also 2x < 2y, preserving, and do we expect it to however, the dry approach is off-
from our daily lives, such as so the function is order- be so? Which is to say, if someone putting to those who do care about
arithmetic problems involving a preserving. By contrast the is more privileged than someone social justice. In fact, I believe that
ludicrous number of watermelons function that squares numbers else, are they automatically more all academic disciplines should
or using a differential equation to isn’t order-preserving because, wealthy? We can also ask about address our most important
calculate how long a hypothetical for example, -2 < -1, but (-2)2 > (-1)2. hours worked and income: if issues in whatever way they can.
cup of coffee will take to cool. If we work through those squaring someone works more hours, Abstract maths is about making
operations, we get 4 and 1. do they necessarily earn more? rigorous logical arguments, which
I have a different approach, is relevant to everything. I don’t
which is to relate abstract maths demand that students agree
to questions of politics and social with me about politics, but I do
justice. I have taught fairly maths- ask that they construct rigorous
phobic art students in this way for arguments to back up their
the past seven years and have seen thoughts and develop the crucial
their attitudes transformed. They ability to analyse the logic of
now believe maths is relevant to people they disagree with.
them and can genuinely help
them in their everyday lives. Maths isn’t just about numbers
and equations, it is about studying
At a basic level, maths is different logical systems in which
founded on logic, so when I am different arguments are valid. We
teaching the principles of logic, I can apply it to balls rolling down
use examples from current events different hills, but we can also
rather than the old-fashioned, apply it to pressing social issues.
detached type of problem. I think we should do both, for
Instead of studying the logic the sake of society and to be more
of a statement like “all dogs have inclusive towards different types
four legs”, I might discuss the of student in maths education.  ❚
(also erroneous) statement
“all immigrants are illegal”. Eugenia Cheng is at the

But I do this with specific School of the Art Institute
mathematical structures, too.
For example, I teach a type of of Chicago. Her new book
structure called an ordered set,
which is a set of objects subject is The Joy of Abstraction

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 27

Views Columnist

Wild Wild Life

Eternal sunshine Some bird species fly vast distances to enjoy an
almost unlimited summer. We are still learning about how they
evolved and how they know where to go, finds Penny Sarchet

IVERY much enjoy autumn’s stop down the middle of the route. One idea is that plate
display of golden leaves and Pacific Ocean to New Zealand tectonics played a role, gradually
fungi, but as a bird lover in or south-east Australia, a flight pushing suitable seasonal habitats
further away from each other by a
the UK, the real thrill at this time of about 11,000 kilometres in few millimetres a year, until they
were many kilometres apart.
of year is the influx of migratory eight days or so. Last month, an
However it initially arose,
birds that arrive from Scandinavia, individual arrived in Tasmania migration became genetically
encoded in various species.
Iceland, Eastern Europe, Siberia after the longest recorded non- Experiments with young captive
European blackcaps have revealed
and Canada. I am pleased to have stop flight yet – 13,560 kilometres that the birds inherit a preference
for the direction they would like
already seen redwings this season. covered in 11 days and 1 hour. to travel in. And of course young
cuckoos, which grow as parasites
Penny Sarchet is New The UK is lucky when it comes The science of migration has in the nests of different species,
Scientist’s news and digital know to migrate like other
director. She is a former to bird migration – in the winter, many interesting avenues – how cuckoos, without having met any.
plant scientist and a lifelong
birdwatcher. You can sign up to we get a wide variety of birds do birds prepare, navigate and But it turns out this isn’t the
her free monthly newsletter at case for all migratory birds. A
newscientist.com/wildwildlife heading here to escape harsher know where to go? One central study published earlier this year
revealed that young Caspian terns
Penny’s week conditions further north. And question is: why do it? What is the are closely accompanied by their
fathers on their first migration
What I’m reading then in spring and summer, we are benefit – and if there is one, how from northern Europe to Africa.
The Book of Trespass Any young birds that lost contact
by Nick Hayes, about the visited by birds from Africa such as did evolution stumble across it? with their dads during the early
swathes of English land stages of migration died. The
off limits to the public. swallows, chiffchaffs and cuckoos There is still much we don’t following year, when the surviving
birds migrated solo for the first
What I’m watching that make the most of our long, know, but we do know more time, they closely followed the
I enjoyed the BBC’s routes taken with their fathers.
Autumnwatch, although light days for having their young.
I do wish it had featured We don’t yet know the full
more migratory birds. While the long flights taken are “A bar-tailed godwit details of how the world’s long-
distance migrators evolved or
What I’m working on undoubtedly impressive, there are clocked up the learn their routes. But it is clear the
As we prepare for the some species that fly considerably longest recorded benefits of such a perilous journey
festive season, I’ve been further, spending much of their non-stop flight yet, may not be stable in our changing
digging into the archive to lives at the extreme ends of Earth, covering 13,560 km climate. When Arctic terns arrive
find our best articles from flying vast distances to enjoy an in the northern hemisphere, they
Christmasses past. are hungry for sand eels. In 2004,
almost unlimited summer. in 11 days and 1 hour” the UK saw a sudden drop in sand
This column appears eels, thought to be due to climate
monthly. Up next week: I was lucky to get a glimpse change. According to the Royal
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein Society for the Protection of Birds,
of this years ago, while whale than we did a few hundred years the Shetland Islands usually hosts
28 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022 more than 20,000 pairs of Arctic
watching off the coast of Japan. ago, when we thought that when terns, but didn’t see a single chick
survive to adulthood that summer.
We happened upon thousands swallows disappear, they went to I have so much admiration for the
world’s furthest fliers – I just hope
of short-tailed shearwaters: the moon or were sleeping at the they can cling on and that we can
come to fully understand them.  ❚
black seabirds that migrate in bottom of ponds. As for why they

huge numbers. After breeding do migrate, some journeys are

between September and April in easier to explain. It makes sense

Tasmania and southern Australia, to head somewhere warmer for

the shearwaters head to the far winter, but it can be harder to

eastern edge of Russia and then explain why, for example, some

Alaska to feed, before travelling African species then return to

back south along North America’s Europe for summer when food

western coast and then returning is still plentiful in their wintering

home to the same burrow. grounds. It could be because

But shearwaters aren’t the there is less competition here, or

record holders when it comes to because our longer, cooler days are

sun-seeking birds. The Arctic tern useful, or simply because there is

has the world’s longest migration: food ready to be exploited. Some

a round-trip of 35,000 kilometres trips are even harder to explain.

annually. Arctic terns break up For example, the ancient murrelet

their long journeys though, so flies almost 8000 kilometres

if you are looking for the world’s from Canada to Japan and China,

longest non-stop flyer, that record despite very similar conditions.

is held by the bar-tailed godwit. One thing I have always

One of its subspecies breeds in wondered is how a bird could

western Alaska before flying non- evolve such a long migratory



Views Aperture

30 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

Infernal energy

Photographer Luigi Avantaggiato

RESEARCHERS have studied
the region around the Valle
del Diavolo, or Devil’s Valley,
in Tuscany, Italy, since the end
of the 18th century, fascinated by
the fissures spewing steam and
volcanic gases that turn it into
an area reminiscent of Dante’s
Inferno. The first geothermal
power plant in the world was
completed in nearby Larderello
in 1913, and locals today consider
their underground resource
to be a “gift of nature”, says
photographer Luigi Avantaggiato,
who took these photos as part
of his project The Cloud Factory.

Geothermal energy is the
natural heat produced within
the planet. It can escape as steam
or fluid through cracks in Earth’s
surface, to heat hot springs, for
example – or to be exploited as
a source of energy.

“All the [inhabitants] I have
met have given me back incredible
positive feelings, as if that form
of energy were a divine, almost
sacred gift,” says Avantaggiato.
He believes the practices in
these “small, autonomous
energy communities” are
“very important resources for
guaranteeing a sustainable and
environmentally friendly future”.

The images, taken around
Monterotondo Marittimo,
show (clockwise from top left):
the contrast between vegetation
and white, sulphurous rocks at the
Biancane nature park; the Valle del
Diavolo, with the Monterotondo 1
geothermal power plant and its
extraction and injection well;
geochemist Rosario Avino
analysing the composition of
volcanic gas at Biancane; and
the inside of the Monterotondo 1
power plant’s cooling tower.  ❚

Gege Li

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 31

Views Your letters

Editor’s pick Red-lit roundabout as cheese, yogurt and kimchi. It more cramped and worse
is a modern marvel is also found on fresh vegetables. ventilated quarters. Isn’t this
Thanks for shining light Rather than prescribing expensive how we got into this position
on solar’s clear advantage Letters, 5 November pills containing the bacterium, in the first place, when bird flu
From Tim McCormick, would it not be better to mutated to a more deadly form
5 November, p 27 Evesham, Worcestershire, UK recommend a healthy diet? in captive birds in China?
From Fred White, Nottingham, UK Sam Edge’s letter regarding street
Thank goodness Michael Le Page lights that use red LEDs rather US experience suggests Did the long sleep
highlights the rarely stated gap in than white ones was fortuitously sports helmets are no cure help rural France?
energy yield between crops grown read by me on the morning after
to produce biofuels and solar I experienced my first red LED-lit Letters, 29 October 15 October, p 46
photovoltaic panels, of 50 to roundabout. This was at the new Peter Jacobsen, Port From Philip John, Oxford, UK
110 fold. Those figures need island junction just east of Upton- Townsend, Washington, US In the not-so-distant past, a form
proclaiming in headlines. upon-Severn in Worcestershire. The call to consider US-style of human hibernation might have
I could hardly believe it as I headgear to ease head injuries in been more common than thought.
What possesses Western approached: an island junction rugby isn’t supported by evidence Graham Robb, in his book The
governments to press on with entirely bathed in red light. It from other sports. All but one of Discovery of France, describes it as
subsidies for biofuel crops so was a pleasant experience and 111 deceased former professional a physical and economic necessity
large that farmers literally can’t it looked very safe, too. American football players who in remote parts of rural France. He
afford to ignore them is beyond donated their brains for research writes that lowering the metabolic
comprehension. Such a huge Just peeling back layers had evidence of degenerative rate would have prevented hunger
difference in yield makes biofuels of the cosmic onion brain disease resulting from that might result from exhausting
(as opposed to energy from bio repetitive brain trauma. supplies. He quotes an observer
waste) technically, morally and 5 November, p 43 from as late as 1908 saying that,
economically indefensible. From Eric Kvaalen, From James Hammond, in winter, the peasants “pass their
Les Essarts-le-Roi, France Fordingbridge, Hampshire, UK lives asleep, corked up like snails”.
From Sue Band, The introduction to your Although a seemingly sensible
Gauls of Murthly, Perthshire, UK interview with Laura Mersini- suggestion, helmets don’t reduce Why UK will fail to really
With reference to your article Houghton began by asking: the damaging intracranial motion shrink its carbon footprint
supporting the principle of solar “How did our universe begin?” of the brain on impact or resulting
panels on agricultural land, why long-term cognitive effects, as the 29 October, p 38
don’t we cover part of the roofs of But, of course, her theory doesn’t current health crisis in American From John Cantellow, Derby, UK
large car parks with solar panels, tell us how it began. She says that football demonstrates. This is Sadly, I don’t share Michael Le
as I saw in Italy a few years ago? “in the very first moment, before probably due to the perceived Page’s optimism that the UK will
As well as generating electricity, the universe emerged in space- safety of the helmet leading to eventually manage to curb carbon
this has the added advantage of time, you can think of the universe an increase in impact intensity emissions sufficiently. Its target
shielding vehicles – and the people as a wave function in an abstract and head-on-head collisions. is based on domestic production,
walking to and from them – from space of energies”. But how did when it is domestic consumption
hot sunshine and precipitation. that come into existence? that is driving big emissions both
there and beyond its borders.
Every little helps when it For a dose of healthy gut Confining poultry just
comes to energy saving bugs, try some kimchi creates another risk A solution to the AI art
copyright conundrum
22 October, p 12 5 November, p 20 22 October, p 7
From Terry Threlfall, London, UK 8 October, p 17
The UK government’s resistance to From Greg Nuttgens, From Sam Edge, From Anthony Woodward,
publicising energy saving advice is Porthcawl, Bridgend, UK Ringwood, Hampshire, UK Portland, Oregon, US
bizarre. While only a small portion Your article about probiotic It struck me that the increasing You raise questions over copyright
of the populace would take notice appetite suppressants makes prevalence of dangerous strains of AI-generated works. AI is
of the likes of “opt for a jumper no mention of the fact that the of bird flu in the wild in the UK, essentially an algorithm stored
rather than an overheated house” bacterium involved, Hafnia alvei, which has now led to commercial on a microchip. Microsoft’s
or “try to make one journey fewer is part of a normal, healthy gut flocks being required to be kept Word is similarly an algorithm.
this week” or even the ancient biome and is present in a wide indoors, is leading to exactly the If I create an original document
“is your journey really necessary”, variety of fermented foods, such conditions required for even using Word, I own the copyright
it would still save energy. worse strains to develop in those to that combination of words in
the document. Similarly, if I use
It would also show solidarity Want to get in touch? an AI algorithm to produce a
with Ukraine. If we could export document or artwork, I own the
any surplus energy, it might even Send letters to [email protected]; copyright to the work produced.  ❚
help relations with Europe and see terms at newscientist.com/letters
our balance of payments. Letters sent to New Scientist, Northcliffe House,
2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT will be delayed

32 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022



Views Culture

Kaleidoscope world

Telluria is a satirical fantasy set in the fragments of a neo-Russian empire,
where everyone craves a psychotropic drug, finds Boyd Tonkin

Book Medieval hierarchies
with futuristic technology
Telluria rule Earth in Telluria

Vladimir Sorokin, everyone is united in craving
Translated by Max Lawton tellurium. In Sorokin’s world, the
NYRB Classics metalloid is now a psychotropic
that induces persistent euphoria
WE ARE in Telluria, a tiny state that SHUTTERSTOCK/PREECHAR BOWONKITWANCHAI and a feeling of timelessness.
gives its name to a novel, recently
released in translation. A holy on scientific accuracy), mingled Even by 2006, his Day of the Sorokin conjures a future of
war between Europe and Islamic with political dystopia, alternative- Oprichnik, set in 2028, imagined radical particularity. Regimes
powers has plunged the world into worlds fantasy and grotesque, a restored dynasty that was range from a crusader-led
a neofeudal era of micro states. punkish provocation. This mix protected from alien ideas by Republic of Languedoc to
In one of these lives Golden Throat, made him a bravura, heretical a “Great Russian Wall”. Moscovia, ruled by a sinister
a singer whose ballads denounce guide to the anarchic post-Soviet “Sovereign”. There is even a
the immorality of the elite; for years. Later, his taboo-busting Having heralded an imperial Stalinist theme park where a fix
him, “the benefit of decomposing prose extravaganzas tracked comeback, Sorokin quickly buys you a hallucinatory audience
despotism” is “rich satirical the rise of Vladimir Putin as imagined its disintegration. In with Comrade Stalin himself.
material”. Unsurprisingly, Golden a postmodern Tsar. Telluria, written in 2013 and set
Throat comes to a sticky end. later this century, the patchwork Each of Telluria’s 50 chapters
On 27 February, after Russia’s of states that emerged from the adopts a distinct style, captured
His creator is Vladimir Sorokin, invasion of Ukraine, Sorokin empire are ruled, steampunk-style, in the virtuoso polyphony of Max
an outrageous and courageous warned in The Guardian that Putin by medieval hierarchies equipped Lawton’s translation. This hectic,
Russian writer now living in craves “a new Middle Ages”. That with advanced technology, virtual kaleidoscopic carnival of satire
Berlin. A safe distance from all nightmare of neofeudal autocracy reality and genetic engineering. and speculation seldom slows
that decomposing despotism, has long haunted Sorokin’s work. Europe may have splintered, but down. It closes, though, with a
he harvests rich satirical material classic Russian glimpse of the
from the tumult of his native land. low-tech good life: a self-sufficient
peasant cabin in the woods.
Sorokin trained as an engineer “That’s how I’ll live out my
before he hit the underground century,” its builder muses.
literary scene of the 1980s. The
strands of his writing are drawn Good luck with that – in Russia,
from “hard” science fiction (a late- or anywhere else.  ❚
Soviet speciality, with its emphasis
Boyd Tonkin is a critic based in London

Thor actor’s amazing life hacks

TV But he makes it clear at the include walking along a crane atop resilience, supercharge memory
start of his documentary Limitless an 80-storey skyscraper, climbing and confront mortality, so can we.
Limitless With With Chris Hemsworth that he 30 metres up a rope dangling over
Chris Hemsworth experiences the same mental and a canyon and fasting for four days. The actor is a compelling host.
health issues as everyone else. Honest and vulnerable, he
National Geographic Over six episodes, Hemsworth As he endures the challenges, articulates his feelings and
Airs on Disney+ on 16 November sets out to show that, rather than doctors and specialists explain reactions in an illuminating
being overwhelmed by your both how his heart, brain and way. And he is backed up by fine
ON THE face of it, Thor star Chris problems, scientific studies organs react and the negative consultants offering useful advice.
Hemsworth lives an idyllic life. demonstrate that it is much health impact on his body, before
The Hollywood A-lister is married healthier to confront them. they detail how to handle it. It is just a shame that each
to another successful actor, Fast episode feels 10 to 20 minutes too
& Furious’s Elsa Pataky, with With the help of experts, he Hemsworth is out to extend long. Ultimately, this micro-series
whom he has three children. puts himself in more and more his life expectancy, showing that ends up more like a lecture than
precarious situations. These if he can repair bodily damage, fun, when it should be both.  ❚
maximise strength, build Gregory Wakeman

34 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

Don’t miss

The life spiritual

A meticulous and respectful guide to one of our most intimate
areas of life makes for a fascinating read, finds Grace Wade

a short history of the field’s founder, similar presentations are common Watch
in some mental illnesses, such as Strange World finds
Book psychologist William James. In the schizophrenia, research shows Searcher Clade (Jake
early 20th century, James wrote about 80 per cent of people who Gyllenhaal) reluctantly
The Varieties of key texts on attention, memory have had a spiritual experience view living up to his name,
Spiritual Experience and emotion, as well as the first it positively, and about two-thirds as he leads his family
scientific book about spiritual say it improved their well-being. to an uncharted land
David B. Yaden and experiences, The Varieties of where alien creatures
Religious Experience, from which Using survey responses, Yaden await. In cinemas in the
Andrew B. Newberg and Newberg identified six broad US on 23 November and
categories of spiritual experience. the UK on 25 November.
Oxford University Press Some centre on “numinous”
experiences, in which people Read
this new book takes its name. describe feeling God’s presence. Neuropedia by Eric H.
Others are broader. Revelatory Chudler delivers on being
HAVE you ever heard God’s voice, The authors go on to summarise experiences, for example, include a “brief compendium of
seeing visions, hearing voices and brain phenomena”, as
spoken in tongues or perhaps felt the modern neuroscientific and glossolalia, the practice of speaking it takes you on a tour of
in tongues, which is common the nervous system and
you are one with the universe? psychological approaches used to among US evangelical Christians. introduces the dedicated
An early imaging study of people researchers who chip
Well, you aren’t alone: more study spiritual experiences, such as speaking in tongues suggested an away at understanding
association between the practice human consciousness.
than 30 per cent of people report brain imaging and psychometrics. and decreased activity in the On sale 22 November.
frontal lobe, a brain area linked
having had a spiritual experience. to consciousness and self-control. Visit
Sustainability and
In The Varieties of Spiritual “About 80 per cent of Other spiritual experiences are Artificial Intelligence
more familiar, such as aesthetic explores AI’s impact
Experience: 21st century research people who have had experiences, when people describe on Earth. Hosted by the
and perspectives, researchers David a spiritual experience feeling awe and admiration for Centre for Technomoral
Yaden and Andrew Newberg argue view them in a nature or art. Many astronauts Futures at the University
that, since these experiences are report this type of experience. of Edinburgh, UK, catch
this panel discussion
so prevalent, it is worthwhile, even positive light” The final section of the book there or online at 6pm
delves into the potential uses GMT on 21 November.
necessary, to examine them using of spiritual experiences, such
as treating addiction, alleviating 19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 35
psychology, neuroscience and a fair They also admit where these depression and improving people’s
outlook on life. Yaden and Newberg
bit of philosophy. This approach methods fall short. For example, it also explore the role of psychedelics
in spiritual experiences, what such
results in a meticulous compendium is difficult to predict when someone experiences can tell us about
consciousness, and their social,
of what we do and don’t know will have a spiritual experience, philosophical and evolutionary roots.

about these types of altered making it nearly impossible to study Importantly, the authors avoid
invalidating people’s experiences
states – and why they matter. them during magnetic resonance or beliefs, focusing more on the
outcomes of spiritual experiences.
The first section of the book imaging sessions – though the use They investigate thoughtfully and
respectfully, often reflecting on the
introduces us to the scientific study of psychedelic drugs is changing many unknowns. Ultimately, they
conclude that, while science can
of spiritual experience, starting with this, as they may be able to reliably illuminate spiritual experiences,
it may never fully explain what are
induce such experiences. among life’s biggest mysteries.  ❚

Spiritual experiences can involve One reason to study spiritual

aesthetic feelings of awe and experiences is to understand their

admiration for nature or art impact on mental health. While

NAZPHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES
UPPER: DISNEY; LOWER: SHUTTERSTOCK/WK1003MIKE

Views Culture

The sci-fi column

The strangers we become Nathan Tavares puts a new twist on the multiverse
trope in A Fractured Infinity, a coming-of-age novel that reminds us all of the
horror of being young, says Sally Adee

When we are young, we
fight off the idea of a final
version of ourselves

Sally Adee is a technology JONATHAN KNOWLES/GETTY IMAGES worse, become a stable identity.
and science writer based But, in fact, the “final
in London. Follow her on IT SEEMS like the multiverse is becomes aware of the existence
Twitter @sally_adee draft” Hayes aims for isn’t the
everywhere right now, if you’ll of an alternate version of himself, increasingly suspect mega-genius.
Book The version he yearns to become
pardon the pun. From its origins as a towering genius who seems to is a good husband to the man he
A Fractured Infinity loves, a good citizen amplifying
a groundbreaking head-exploder have unlocked inter-universe other people’s struggles; a person
Nathan Tavares who doesn’t let other people down
Titan Books of a scientific theory, it seems to communication and whose by being “a mess”. But that is hard.

Sally also have achieved the dubious honour extraordinary accomplishments From studies in behavioural
recommends... economics, we already know that
of being the go-to lazy plot twist. cast our relatively uninspiring your future self is a stranger. It is
Book why we don’t save for retirement
But it can also elevate other protagonist’s shortcomings or eat our allotted vegetables and
Neom all that dreadfully boring stuff.
potentially tired genres. This is into glaring relief.
Lavie Tidhar It is only when that future
Tachyon Publications the trick Nathan Tavares pulls off self make itself a bit more keenly
Everything that ignites felt – with the aches and pains of
passion and outrage today in A Fractured Infinity, using it to “From behavioural impending middle age, or broken
will be decrepit and decayed provide new facets for the humble economics studies, relationships you can no longer
tomorrow. Neom, in Tidhar’s coming-of-age novel. mend – that we stop treating that
eponymous book, isn’t a If you tip the idea on its side and we already know self like a person in a different
plan for a cutting-edge universe. So it is with Hayes,
city in Saudi Arabia that squint, what is the multiverse but that your future who begins to internalise that his
has appalled many, but actions really have consequences.
a fait accompli that is the the infinite sea of possible future self is a stranger”
backdrop of a beautiful and The multiverse is a wonderful
far more interesting story. selves that cast their inverted twist on these strands, tying them
together into something that
36 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022 shadow over terrified teens and That other Hayes is the “final fizzes. A Fractured Infinity is
populated by some of the best
20-somethings? Will you unlock draft”. When we are young, we sci-fi has to offer: a sardonic best
friend who is a robot in human
your best self when you become an are in constant battle against drag; living deepfakes; a drowned
future city whose streets are lit by
adult? Be dragged to hell by your our imaginary “final draft”. It passing bioluminescent jellyfish;
a Native American state in a post-
worst? Or, even more horribly, relentlessly wags its finger at civil war de-United States. And
that is just Hayes’s home universe
end up stuck as some mediocrity us, alongside the well-meaning (it gets weirder from there).

between the two extremes? people in our lives who are trying The multiverse trope here
provides an easy, entertaining
This is how Tavares’s to help us avoid becoming our vehicle for very deep philosophical
lessons about what it takes to grow
protagonist, Hayes Figueiredo, own worst-case scenarios. up at any age. A Fractured Infinity
will be a great choice for young
starts the story, dubbed In some ways, this is the hardest people and will remind older
readers why our earlier years
“nondescript” by the leader of part of being young, the one we are often so excruciating.  ❚

a secretive lab that recruits him, forget as we age out of this roiling

despite his unimpressive résumé, state of constant possibility,

to work on a world-changing waveforms collapsing into the

project. That is also when he first settled selves that, for better or

To advertise here please email [email protected] or call 020 3615 1151 19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 37

Features Cover story

Pain is one of the most treat it is still far from complete. WHAT IS PAIN?
integral parts of the human Improving our grasp of all this is
experience and our crucial, however, as pain is on the WHETHER it is a fleeting ouch from
relationship with it is complex. We rise and society’s relationship brushing against a hot oven or a
need pain for survival and yet it with painkillers often does more longer-lasting throb from a broken
can drive us to utter despair. We harm than good. Thankfully, those leg, pain gives us an evolutionary imperative
experience pain as a physical studying pain are making some for survival. Without it, we might allow our
process and yet the sensation of key breakthroughs on all these tissues to be singed and battered without a
pain is created in the brain. What’s fronts, as we explore in the coming thought. Life-saving it may be, but pain can
more, this physical experience is pages. Read on to discover what we also be catastrophically debilitating.
deeply intertwined with our now know about pain, to delve
emotional state  – indeed, into the technological advances And it is a growing problem. Life expectancy
emotional pain is a very real that can help understand and is increasing, but those extra years are often
phenomenon. Perhaps it is no monitor it and to explore the associated with poorer health. Of all medical
wonder that, even in the 21st prospects for new treatments to afflictions, the most common is pain, in
century, our understanding of help manage the most prevalent particular chronic pain that lasts for more than
pain, what causes it and how to health condition of our time. three months (see “What is chronic pain?”
page 42). We desperately lack effective
Special report treatments, and the ones we have bring their
own problems, as evidenced by the opioid
epidemic still ravaging the US, where the rate
of opioid-related deaths increased by a third
between 2020 and 2021. Pain is an increasingly
challenging global health issue, hence the
need for a better understanding of the
experience, what causes it and how to treat it.

Remarkably, it is only relatively recently that
we established a good picture of how and
where the sensation of pain is created. On a
basic level, this feeling is triggered in a similar
way to all our sensory contact with the world
around us. Receptors at the ends of sensory
neurons collect information from the skin,
muscles, organs, joints and any other parts of
the body exposed to sensory stimuli, such as
temperature, vibration and pressure.
These neurons extend to clusters known as
dorsal root ganglia, which shuttle signals to
the spinal cord and brain.

When sensory stimuli are of a certain type
and magnitude, they activate a receptor at the
end of a particular type of neuron in these
clusters, called a nociceptor, and the signals
register as pain. This “painful” part of the
process is known as nociception, the detection
of noxious stimuli.

This basic mechanism for nociception has
been known since the early 19th century, but
the details have taken a longer time to pin
down. It wasn’t until 1997, for instance, that
David Julius at the University of California, San
Francisco, and his colleagues identified the
gene TRPV1 and the protein it encodes, TRPV1,
which is found at the ends of nociceptors and
makes cells sensitive to heat both from
temperature and chillies. They did this by
switching on genes that aren’t usually active in
cells that don’t typically respond to capsaicin –

38 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

“The pain we experience isn’t
necessarily a reliable reflection
of the threat it poses”

SOFIA IVA the chemical that makes chillies “hot”. They pain prevention. As it happens, this is already plethora of hazardous and potentially fatal
discovered a single gene that made cells a rare but natural occurrence. side effects (see “How can we treat pain?”, page
sensitive to capsaicin, as well as hot 44). What’s more, we are increasingly
temperatures. For this work, Julius shared the In 2006, Geoff Woods at the University of understanding that nociception isn’t the full
2021 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine Cambridge and his colleagues reported on story when it comes to the mechanism of pain.
with Ardem Patapoutian at Scripps Research in “congenital insensitivity to pain” (CIP), which
La Jolla, California, who discovered proteins is thought to affect just one in a million people. The experience of pain is nuanced, involving
that sense touch. Those with the condition feel no pain a “pain network” – a multitude of brain
whatsoever and, without the deterring caution areas with coordinated electrical activity.
Identifying TRPV1 filled in an important it elicits, often don’t survive far into adulthood. “We know that pain is highly complex,” says
piece of the pain puzzle, as it offered hope of Some of the team had travelled to Pakistan to Beth Darnall, a pain psychologist at Stanford
blocking the protein to treat pain. However, meet a boy with CIP, who attracted attention University in California. “It’s a noxious sensory
understanding – and ultimately blocking – the following incidents where he reportedly experience, but it also includes emotional
component of the pathway that shuttles the pierced himself with knives and walked on hot and social dimensions.”
signal to the brain could provide more generic coals as street theatre. He died tragically
following a jump from a rooftop before the As well as nociception to tell us where it
researchers arrived. When the team studied hurts, there is an affective, or emotional,
DNA from the boy’s extended family, including system in the brain, which is even more
six other children with CIP, they discovered the complex and less well understood (see “What
root of the condition: a mutation in a gene are the boundaries between emotions and
called SCN9A, which provides instructions for pain?”, page 40). “The context in which we
making a sodium channel on nociceptors that experience pain, the meaning we attribute to
makes them fire. Without it, pain signals never it, our thoughts, our emotions, the quality of
make it to the brain. our sleep the night before – all of these things
can have an influence on our experience of
Is the next step a revolution in painkillers? If pain,” says Darnall. So, the pain we experience
only it were that simple. For a start, blocking isn’t necessarily a reliable reflection of
the routes used by pain signalling is prone to a the threat it poses.

This link between quality of life and pain is a
two-way street, and measuring things like
sleep and mobility can give a window into the
level of pain someone is experiencing and how
to treat it (see “How can you measure
someone’s pain?”, page 43). In fact, attempting
to wrestle with a person’s attitude to pain is
one widely accepted non-pharmaceutical
intervention, particularly for nociplastic pain
(see “The third type of pain”, page 41). Pain may
be inevitable, but if understanding it better can
diminish its impact, there is cause for hope.
Stephani Sutherland

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 39

WHAT ARE THE BOUNDARIES
BETWEEN EMOTIONS AND PAIN?

FEAR that makes you vomit, the sting of a Brandl adds that psychotherapy and could help in conditions like chronic pain or
rejection, paralysing grief – emotional antidepressants have both been suggested to fibromyalgia, the effects of which can be
pain can manifest in many physical work on all three conditions. “Now, we have strongly influenced by emotions.
symptoms. And while writers and musicians found overlapping [brain changes], we can
have spun tales and crafted songs intertwining better justify overlapping treatment The relationship between physical and
physical and emotional pain for centuries, strategies,” he says. emotional pain is complex, but there is one
scientists have found it more difficult clear benefit of overlapping brain mechanisms
to describe the relationship between the two. Another potential explanation for the for both: you might have a treatment for some
co-existence of chronic pain and certain emotional pain in your cupboard. In 2011,
Now, recent breakthroughs are shedding emotional conditions is that they are both the researchers discovered that paracetamol
light on the shared mechanisms that underlie result of chemical imbalances in the ventral (acetaminophen) not only helps reduce
both kinds of pain, offering an explanation as pallidum, a brain region involved in our physical pain, but also blunts the pain of social
to why one leads to the other and providing motivation to avoid pain and seek pleasure. rejection. To really underscore the importance
avenues for treating some of our most Two chemicals are released here: glutamate of thoughts in tackling pain, it works best when
debilitating conditions. and GABA, which lead to behaviour associated combined with feelings of forgiveness towards
with fear and pain or reward, respectively. those causing the pain.
While senses like vision and hearing have Helen Thomson
nerve pathways that can be traced from the Bo Li at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in
eyes and ears to a distinct brain region, brain New York suggests that conditions like chronic “Paracetamol not
activity in response to pain is more complex. It pain or depression result when the typical
incorporates thoughts and emotions, which is balance between these two chemicals shifts, only helps reduce
why a good book can lessen a toothache, for producing a heightened sensitivity to potential
instance, or the pain from a hot probe hurts threats that makes the individual more prone to physical pain, but
more when you feel sad. pain and the urge to withdraw into themselves,
while at the same time stifling the joy of reward. also the pain of
But emotions do more than just modulate “This is a typical symptom of depression,” says
existing pain symptoms. Distress from grief or Li. “You aren’t motivated to pursue otherwise social rejection”
embarrassment can lead to pain that may have meaningful things in life and are more sensitive
no physical cause, but is no less real. Brain to negative experiences.”
scans show similar activity in the pain
network, which includes areas such as the State of mind
insula, thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex
that consistently respond to painful or While the emotional and physical side of pain
attention-grabbing stimuli, when people are are undoubtedly linked, in 2015, Choong-Wan
feeling psychological pain like social rejection Woo, then at the University of Colorado,
and when they have physical pain. Boulder, and his colleagues managed to
distinguish for the first time between the
Understanding the emotional aspects of neural activity associated with pain from a
pain could help tackle certain mental health physical cause and that linked to state of mind.
conditions. Some studies have suggested that They did this by applying increasing heat to
up to 75 per cent of people with chronic pain volunteers’ arms during a brain scan. As the
also experience anxiety and depression. participants felt more pain, specific brain
“Having a predisposition for one of the activity was triggered, which the researchers
conditions may make it more likely that you called the neurologic pain signature.
will experience another,” says Felix Brandl at
the Technical University of Munich, Germany. The experiment was then repeated, but this
time the volunteers were asked to think of the
To find out why, Brandl and his colleagues pain as blistering heat or a warm blanket on a
performed a meta-analysis of 320 brain scan cool day, which let them alter the amount of
studies of people with chronic pain, anxiety pain they felt. As they did so, although the
conditions and major depressive disorder. neurologic pain signature remained the same,
They found several shared brain changes, a new brain signature appeared in a distinct set
including similar decreases in brain volume of brain structures. The team suggested that
and consistent changes in how neurons were you could compare the strength of both types
connected in the prefrontal cortex – thought of signature to work out how much of a person’s
to be responsible for making judgements and pain has a physical cause and how much is
goal-motivated actions – and the insula, which linked to their state of mind. Knowing this
has been implicated in emotions, perceptions
and self-awareness.

40 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

Personal reflection

THE THIRD
TYPE OF PAIN

W E FIRST knew something strange was syndrome. I looked it up and the pain was in pain and struggle to understand it, she says. “As
going on when Clare, my wife, was the wrong place. But it took another six weeks physicians, we like to do a test that can direct us
given intravenous morphine in the to find out what she did have, during which to a diagnosis. It’s really challenging to see a
emergency room. She had excruciating pain in time her physical and mental health declined person who looks completely well, the
her ribcage and back, which had started alarmingly. I eventually secured a consultation examination might be 100 per cent normal,
months earlier and was getting worse. At its with the complex pain team at University but that person complains of a silent suffering.”
peak, she described it as feeling like somebody College Hospital in London, who told us she
had thrust two swords between her ribs and had nociplastic pain. It was a non-deteriorating Limited options
was prising them apart. condition, we learned, and it was manageable.
Treatment options are limited. There is no
Morphine gave no relief. The doctors were The team’s leader, Fausto Morell-Ducos, magic bullet; no drug, surgery or talking
baffled. Clare spent five days undergoing tests. explained that nociplastic pain is the “third therapy can quickly reverse it. Clare was
She was eventually discharged with a diagnosis category of pain”. The first is nociceptive pain, prescribed antidepressants, which are the only
of complex regional pain syndrome and a bag which responds to an injury or inflammation. category of drugs that the UK’s National
of powerful antidepressants, sleeping pills and The second is neuropathic pain, caused by Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
anti-anxiety meds. damage to sensory nerves. Both are created by recommends. They helped, for a while.
the brain as a defence mechanism against
She didn’t have complex regional pain further injury. The brain assesses signals from “Management is very challenging,” says
the damaged part of the body and transmits Fitzcharles. The main focus of treatment is
instructions back to the site of the damage that non-pharmacological interventions, such as
generate an appropriate level of pain. mindfulness meditation or small bouts of
activities that bring joy, designed to reprogram
Nociplastic pain is when that system goes the pain-obsessed brain back to its default
wrong, a state known as central sensitisation. settings. NICE also recommends cognitive
The brain’s pain centre becomes hypervigilant behavioural therapy and acupuncture.
and responds disproportionately to minor
injuries or inflammation, converting them Clare practised mindfulness and tried to
into excruciating pain. In some cases, there is find fragments of joy. She liked to be in nature,
no nociceptive pain at all, but the brain still to go swimming and have foot massages. We
sends out extreme pain signals. Negative did as much of those as she could bear, but
mental states, such as anxiety or tiredness, can these often led to flare-ups. When that
also be converted into pain. In Clare’s case, the happened, she was bedridden, in excruciating
pain led to anxiety, which led to more pain, in pain and ruminating on her predicament. The
a vicious cycle of torment. hole she found herself in became an abyss. She
came to believe she was beyond help and
Nociplastic pain was only added to the attempted suicide three times. She finally
taxonomy of the International Association for completed it in August.
the Study of Pain in 2017. There are several
subcategories, including fibromyalgia and That is thankfully an unusual outcome –
chronic primary musculoskeletal pain. The most people at least regain some quality of life,
latter is what struck Clare. says Fitzcharles, though most will continue to
endure some pain and have flare-ups. Up to
Estimating prevalence is difficult as many 20 per cent of people with chronic pain
people with nociplastic pain have one of the conditions have suicidal thoughts, and 5 to
other categories of pain, too. But according to 14 per cent go through with them.
Mary-Ann Fitzcharles at McGill University in
Montreal, Canada, it could be as much as 15 per It is too late for Clare, but there is hope.
cent of the general population, with women Neuroscientists are starting to understand
more likely to develop the condition. how the neural circuits go awry. Pharma
companies are working on drugs. “There’s so
Pain specialists believe there are two routes much wonderful work going on, which will
to nociplastic pain. One is bottom-up, where hopefully lead to new treatment strategies,”
an “ordinary” pain trigger balloons beyond all says Fitzcharles. It cannot come too soon.
proportion. Clare’s started that way, with an Graham Lawton
injury. The other is top-down, where there is
no obvious trigger. “In this context, we believe Need a listening ear? UK Samaritans: 116123
that the primary abnormality is centred (samaritans.org). Visit bit.ly/SuicideHelplines for
in the nervous system,” says Fitzcharles. hotlines and websites for other countries.

Doctors aren’t widely aware of nociplastic

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 41

WHAT IS
CHRONIC PAIN?

WHEN pain lasts for three months or with danger or fear has become oversensitive,” to prescribe therapies that work for acute pain,
longer, it is classified as chronic, a says Gordon. This idea is supported by multiple but, it transpires, simply don’t work for
condition that affects more than studies showing an association between persistent pain. Improved understanding of
30 per cent of the world’s population. chronic pain and symptoms of post-traumatic the distinctions now offer a more hopeful
stress disorder. future with treatments that are non-addictive
Chronic pain was long believed to be and work to target the real cause of the pain.
a stubborn version of acute pain – which This oversensitisation of pain pathways Lucia Osborne-Crowley
passes in less than three months once the is  now implicated in many conditions, such as
damage is healed – and it was treated in much fibromyalgia, in which people experience
the same way. Yet an increasing body of widespread pain, often without a clear
research has led doctors to believe that chronic physiological cause – as well as chronic fatigue
pain should be treated as a disease in its own syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome
right, rather than an enduring symptom of and chronic daily headache.
tissue damage or physical trauma. This could
have major implications for the treatment of The different mechanisms behind acute and
lasting pain, together with the way we chronic pain that research is beginning to
prescribe addictive opioids. reveal mean that for decades, people with
chronic pain have been dismissed or wrongly
Recent research has revealed that in some treated by a medical profession that continues
people, chronic pain is a problem with the
brain. An injury can lead to pain that persists “The brain
after the tissue has recovered because the
brain has rewired itself and learned to send interprets tissue
pain signals, despite there no longer being a
reason. Known as central sensitisation, it is as damage and
if the volume has been turned up on pain.
misfired signals
One way this seems to occur is when the
brain experiences pain without relief for an the same way”
extended period. “The brain interprets tissue
damage and misfired pain signals exactly the
same way,” says Alan Gordon, director of the
Pain Psychology Center in California. “[The
pain is] all equally real and equally valid.”

To help deal with the issue, Gordon
has  developed a talk therapy called
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), which
involves shifting people’s beliefs about the
causes and threat of pain (see “How do you
treat pain?”, page 44).

There are other explanations for chronic
pain. In his book The Song of Our Scars, Haider
Warraich at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in
Massachusetts, argues that chronic pain isn’t
always linked to physical sensations, but rather
to a combination of physical sensation,
emotional trauma and memory.

This fits with the fact that chronic pain can
happen without any physical injury at all.
Gordon describes people who come to him
with chronic pain complaints without being
able to identify any initial injury.

He believes chronic pain can occur
when people experience psychological
stressors as well as physical ones, which may
be the result of an overactive fear response.
“Somewhere along the way, their relationship

42 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

Painful HOW CAN YOU MEASURE
prejudices SOMEONE’S PAIN?

It is a sorry fact: a woman’s P“ AIN yearns to be communicated,” says DOSEMEDIA/UNSPLASH different treatments, says Tracey, who
experience of pain is more likely Haider Warraich at Brigham and described the experiment at the Advances in
to be dismissed than a man’s. Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts. Pain conference in New York earlier this year.
This “gender pain gap” is reflected Instinct makes us yell when we are hurt, and
in longer waiting times in communicating pain is often described as a For example, anxiety and depression can
emergency departments, a therapy itself – even screaming a swear word worsen a person’s experience of pain, dull the
greater incidence of misdiagnosis or two after stubbing your toe seems to soothe efficacy of opioids and heighten the risk of
of heart attacks and a lower the agony. And yet modern medicine flounders chronic pain (see “What are the boundaries
likelihood of receiving treatment when it comes to interpreting a person’s pain. between emotions and pain?”, page 40). The
for pain at all. An exacerbating More often than not, it attempts to compress strength of social support networks and small
issue is the different mechanisms the physical and emotional complexity that variations in genes also feed into how a person
by which cisgender women and contributes to the experience of pain into a feels and working out the best way to treat
girls and transgender men single figure on a pain intensity rating. them. If a person’s brain activity suggests they
experience pain through the are responding well to a pain-relief drug, yet
activation of T cells – as opposed That is problematic, says Jeffrey Mogil at they are still feeling pain, it may be that one of
to the microglial cells activated in McGill University in Canada, not least because the other elements is the predominant factor
the spinal cord of cisgender men rating your pain between 0 (none) and 10 (the influencing their overall experience.
and boys and transgender worst imaginable) is intrinsically subjective.
women – which makes them Artificial intelligence can also help by
more sensitive to painful stimuli. One alternative is qualitative sensing analysing multiple pain metrics. Tech and
This has only come to light over testing, where you apply stimuli and ask the
the past 20 years because clinical individual to indicate when they start to feel it, A smartwatch helps
studies were historically biased when it feels uncomfortable and when to stop. monitor biometrics
towards using male animals. Mogil says this allows you to compare an for gauging pain
Recent research also suggests individual’s general experience of pain against
transgender and cisgender the average, but says little about the pain that innovation firms IBM and Boston Scientific
women have a higher pain person is experiencing in the moment. have embraced this approach with a joint
sensitivity compared with project that began by recording 34 different
cisgender men, highlighting the Another option is the McGill Pain metrics from 1700 individuals experiencing
importance of gender identity. Questionnaire. First published in 1975, it chronic pain. Pairing Boston Scientific’s
suggests 78 descriptors for pain, from “searing” expertise in measurements with IBM’s
Other biases play into pain to “annoying” and “blinding”. A person strength in machine learning, a team of
assessment too. Haider Warraich chooses a number of words, each of which has researchers whittled these down to just seven
at Brigham and Women’s Hospital an associated score that can be tallied. The types of useful data, which combine 12 of the
in Massachusetts says someone’s individual also indicates the parts of the body original 34 metrics. Many of these can be
attractiveness, skin colour, experiencing pain and gives an intensity recorded with a smartwatch and are a
language and socioeconomic rating. Despite its subjectivity, Mogil says it is combination of self-reports on mood,
status can all affect how and the intensity rating in the questionnaire that alertness, sleep and so on, as well as objective
when pain is treated. “These all tends to get used the most. measures, such as mobility.
come to affect the person in pain,
perhaps more than any other Many researchers believe a more objective The project uses AI to assess an individual’s
patient who seeks medical care,” measure is needed. They are working on pain and predict how it will evolve, allowing
he says. He highlights a US study systems that go beyond self-reporting, personalised, pre-emptive interventions. To >
on appendicitis, a well-understood attempting to find biological signals, such as
condition with straightforward pulse rates, sleep patterns or even brain 19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 43
tests and treatment, that involved activity, that could help to determine the type
were children. “My thought was and intensity of a person’s pain.
we might have a kinder, gentler
approach to children,” says Progress has been made, says Irene Tracey, a
Warraich. Nevertheless, Black neuroscientist at the University of Oxford. For
children were much less likely instance, brain scans reveal a difference in the
to receive opioids as a standard response to two painkillers – the opioid
pain relief treatment compared tramadol and pregabalin – which the person’s
with white children. own pain-rating scores don’t reflect.You might
wonder what good that is if the person taking
the drug isn’t feeling the benefit. But these
insights are helping to piece together the
extent to which different factors contribute to
the experience of pain, all of which can point to

New Scientist audio

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HOW DO YOU
TREAT PAIN?

demonstrate its effectiveness, researchers “Subjective TENS of millions of people live with
enrolled 76 people who were using spinal experiences are chronic and in some cases disabling
stimulators to manage chronic lower back or really at the heart daily pain in the US alone, in addition to
leg pain. For the first 30 days of the trial, of what makes those experiencing acute pain. Yet treatments
participants followed their usual stimulation us human” for pain relief remain only partially effective
programme, which was based on standard and only work for some people.
recommendations. For the next 30 days, an AI An artwork memorialising
analysed their metrics and gave daily people who died from For instance, paracetamol (acetaminophen)
recommendations for what stimulation opioid-related causes may have little or no effect on extreme
programme to use. Participants recorded their pain and exceeding the recommended dose
pain intensity and the quantity of opioids used can be toxic to the liver. Similarly, ibuprofen
daily. At the end of the trial, 84 per cent and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
of participants showed a significant drugs – which tackle the inflammation that
improvement in pain experienced and quality presses on nerve endings and causes pain –
of life with the AI recommendations. have a range of side effects, including
headaches and indigestion, as well as
For now, this approach still uses self- interacting with drugs used for several other
reported pain intensity scores in conjunction conditions. This leaves opioids, which mimic
with biological measures. Ultimately, retaining the body’s natural painkillers and are among
an element of self-reporting may not be a bad the most effective form of pain relief.
thing, so long as the complexity of the pain
experienced and its impact on quality of life is Yet while opioids may work for many types
recognised. After all, “pain is subjective”, says of acute and chronic pain, they can be
Warraich. “Subjective experiences are really at ineffective against others, and are associated
the heart of what makes us human.” with addiction and the risk of overdose. The
Anna Demming opioid epidemic has cost hundreds of
thousandsof livesintheUSandhasunderlined
ALLISON BAILEY/NURPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK the need for alternative treatments. But as
John Wood, a pain researcher at University
College London, puts it: “There has been a
tremendous succession of failures trying to
make new analgesics.”

For years, pharmaceutical companies had
been looking for a way in through a single gene
that might be vital for pain, he says. So, in 2006,
when a team led by Geoff Woods at the
University of Cambridge discovered such
a gene, called SCN9A (see “What is pain?”,
page 38), “this seemed to be like manna from
heaven”, says Wood.

Sodium channels are a vital part of the
process that allows neurons to fire. There are
nine known types of sodium channel, each
found in different parts of the nervous system
and the heart. Blocking them all would be fatal,
but SCN9A suggested a way to block pain
signalling while leaving other sodium channel
activity intact, because it encodes Nav1.7, a type
of sodium channel found almost exclusively
in sensory neurons.

However, while experiments had
demonstrated that animals and people
without SCN9A feel no pain, inhibiting Nav1.7
channels has rarely yielded the sought-after
painkilling effects. Then, in 2015, Wood and his
colleagues showed that the neurons scattered

44 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

Placebo
power

throughout the body that release natural A placebo describes a treatment in California. She advocates embracing other
painkillers also differ in people and animals that has no true medical effect, methods, such as psychological treatments.
without Nav1.7 channels. This may explain yet provides a benefit. According to “It’s common practice to recommend such
why drugs that selectively block the channels Beth Darnall at Stanford University psychosocial strategies for pain only after all
fail to generate the full pain-blocking effect in California, pain’s universality medications have failed, but our research
found in people who lack SCN9A. A more and malleability make it a useful is suggesting that we should apply this
nuanced gene therapy approach is looking paradigm to study placebo and approach in all people, because a substantial
promising in rodent trials. nocebo, the opposite effect in subset benefit from it.”
which negative beliefs can worsen
A surprising source of pain relief might the pain experience. Researchers Drug-free therapy
be bacterial toxins. Researchers had previously are trying to leverage the placebo
attributed the pain of bacterial infection to effect to improve pain treatments. In a study of people undergoing surgery for
the activation of immune cells causing breast cancer, for instance, those who
inflammation, with the resulting “Placebo is really well studied participated in a programme of mindfulness,
swelling leading to pain. However, in 2013, in the context of pain,” says pain education and techniques to self-regulate
immunologist Isaac Chiu and neurobiologist Darnall. The effectiveness of pain called My Surgical Success needed
Clifford Woolf, both at Harvard University, placebos historically rests on opioid medication after surgery for five days
and their colleagues found that bacteria deception: people experience a less than a control group, without reporting
could directly activate the sensory neurons benefit because they have been higher pain.
that signal pain – as well as silence them. told they were receiving an active
treatment. But more recently, many In another study of a psychological
The reasons for these effects aren’t well studies have shown that “open treatment called Pain Reprocessing Therapy
understood. However, in 2021, Chiu led a study placebos” – when people are (PRT), which involves learning to reframe pain
on mice with either acute or chronic pain and explicitly told that a treatment is as non-threatening, 50 people were given four
showed that toxins derived from Bacillus inert – can relieve pain as well. weeks of PRT and compared with groups given
anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, either a placebo therapy or routine care. At the
could silence sensory neurons. Crucially, the Surprisingly, a study published end of the trial, 66 per cent of those in the PRT
pain returned, indicating that the toxin hadn’t in Scientific Reports in January group were pain-free or nearly pain-free,
damaged or destroyed the neurons, only suggests that placebos can work compared with 20 per cent in the placebo
temporarily blocked their activity. “This does even when they aren’t actually group and 10 per cent of those who received
show that microbes can be a source for used. Participants who had usual care. Brain scans taken before and
therapeutics,” says Chiu. possession of a placebo oil after the trial showed significantly reduced
were able to withstand the pain responses in pain pathways among people
Yet chronic pain includes much more than a of ice-cold water longer than in the PRT group.
physical sensation – it is a complex emotional those who didn’t have the oil.
experience, too, and it should be treated as Darnall has developed her own programme
such, says Beth Darnall at Stanford University called Empowered Relief, which consists
of a single 2-hour session that is similar to
Pain prevalence My Surgical Success. According to a study of
263 people with chronic lower back pain, it can
Trends during the period 2002 to 2018 for US adults aged 25 to 84 demonstrate the increasing prevalence of be as effective as eight 2-hour sessions of
chronic pain, including lower back pain, neck pain, severe headache or migraine, facial or jaw ache and joint pain cognitive behavioural therapy, a well-
established psychological treatment for pain,
Men Women and it offers greater pain relief than a
health education session that included
65 65 Age 65-84 information about nutrition and managing
medications.
55 Age 65-84 55
Age 45-64 “We don’t yet have very clear data on
the mechanism,” says Darnall, but she believes
45 that these pain education programmes
Age 25-44 can help where opioids sometimes don’t,
Percentage with pain Age 45-64 because they equip people with a skill set
Percentage with pain to calm the nervous system, including pain
45 Age 25-44 and other stressors. “Medications alone
don’t do that,” she says.  ❚
35 2006 2010 2014 2018 35 2006 2010 2014 2018 Stephani Sutherland
2002 Year 2002 Year
19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 45
SOURCE: DEMOGRAPHY (2021) 58 (2) : 711–738

Features Interview

Cosmic thoughts

During a career spanning more than seven decades,
mathematician Roger Penrose has never shied away
from big, bold ideas. He gives Michael Brooks his latest take
on theories of the universe, consciousness and how we
might contact beings from another cosmological aeon

EARLY in his career, the University of the existence of singularities. I think he computer calculations, which were very
Oxford mathematician Roger Penrose would have thought, “No, no, there must rudimentary at the time. They just said, “Well
inspired the artist M.C. Escher to create be something wrong with the theory”. look: everything’s broken down!” You didn’t
Ascending and Descending, the visual illusion know whether that was because it had run out
of a loop of staircase that seems to be eternally It seems the view had been that instead of memory or because the calculations had
rising. It remains a fitting metaphor for of generating a singularity, everything would given up for some reason. So they didn’t tell
Penrose’s ever enquiring mind. During his swish around and come swirling out again. you that singularities exist either.
long career, he has collaborated with Stephen And I showed that this is not what happens.
Hawking to uncover the secrets of the big bang, What I proved then doesn’t mean general Has the 2020 Nobel prize for discovering
developed a quantum theory of consciousness relativity is wrong, but you do have to black holes mathematically made a difference
with anaesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff have singularities. to your work?
and won the Nobel prize in physics for his In 2020, there was a good thing and a bad thing
prediction of regions where the gravitational But despite the existence of singularities, that happened to me. I had been travelling
field would be so intense that space-time itself around and didn’t have much time to think
would break down, the so-called singularity the idea of black holes wasn’t a wild idea? about problems. But because of the [pandemic]
at the heart of a black hole. Undeterred by the No, because at the time the quasars [extremely lockdown, I was able to work out certain ideas
march of time – Penrose turned 91 this year – he bright objects at the centres of galaxies] had that have been buzzing around in my head.
is continuing to innovate, and even planning been observed. And the strength of the signal I wrote down some notes and sent them
communications with future universes. indicated that they must be enormously around to colleagues, and this then ended
large – as in massive – but also small in terms up being a paper – which may well end up
Michael Brooks: In 1965, near the start of of spatial dimensions. That kind of large and being a book that I hope to do at some stage.
small together indicated something very This was the good thing.
your career, you used general relativity to dense like what we now call a black hole. So it
did suggest that quasars were things that were The bad thing was getting the Nobel prize
make the first prediction of the existence of very compressed, concentrated bodies, down because it stopped the whole thing dead. I’m
to the sort of level where you would see this being a bit unfair really, but I haven’t done
singularities, as in the centres of black holes. kind of [singularity] problem arising. anything on these notes since getting the
Nobel prize; there’s just been no time. I should
How did it feel to see the first photograph of Even so, at the time, black holes were not add that it’s a bit misleading to say I got the
considered things you would actually get Nobel prize for black holes. The citation said
a black hole more than half a century later? [from the mathematics]. But these arguments that I showed black holes are a robust prediction
Roger Penrose: If I’m honest, it didn’t make were looking at exact models such as the of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. What
much impression on me because I was symmetrical Schwarzschild solution to I really showed is that singularities are a robust
expecting these things by then. However, back the equations of general relativity, which prediction of general relativity.
when I first proved this [singularity] theorem, specifically models a black hole that is not
it was quite a curious situation: I was visiting spinning and has no charge, or as in the Kerr Could a singularity exist without giving rise
Princeton to give a talk and I remember Bob model, a rotating, but still neutral, black hole. to a black hole?
Dicke – a well-known cosmologist, a very They don’t tell you anything about a general We believe you only get singularities that are
distinguished man – came and slapped me situation [where the presence of charge hidden behind event horizons [boundaries
on the back and said, “You’ve done it, you’ve or rotation, for example, isn’t specified]. beyond which nothing, not even light, can >
shown general relativity is wrong!” And that I wasn’t convinced by these arguments.
was quite a common view. I suspect that The alternatives were these complicated
even Einstein would probably have had that
reaction because he was very much against

46 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022

DAVE STOCK

19 November 2022 | New Scientist | 47

“My claim is much

more outrageous

escape from the gravitational pull] – that is, a RICCARDO CASSIANI-INGONI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY than ‘it’s quantum Left: Neuron
black hole. But maybe you could get “naked” mechanics in microtubules
singularities without an event horizon around the brain’ ” (stained red), which
them, and information could come out of them. may be involved in
New Mind: that consciousness involves quantum a quantum theory
As far as I’m aware, there is still no proof effects. I know it has evolved into the idea of for consciousness.
that, in the general case, you do not get naked “orchestrated objective reduction” (Orch OR), Right: Centaurus A,
singularities: it’s still a conjecture. Nobody but is it something that you still stand by? which has a
seems to talk seriously about it much – the When I wrote that book, I had thought that supermassive black
general community is sort of resigned to I would see how quantum mechanics comes hole at its centre
the idea that what you get is black holes. into the manifestation of consciousness
But then lots of questions arise, and I feel by the time I got to the end of it. But I sort If you think consciousness is beyond
that most of these questions are going of gave up on that hope in the end – I had to computation, does that mean you think
along the wrong track. finish the book somehow, so I did something it is beyond what science can discern?
I didn’t really believe in and I shut up about No, it’s just beyond current science. My claim is
What new cosmological ideas are you that particular idea. much worse, much more serious, much more
working on now? outrageous than “it’s quantum mechanics in
I’m just writing a paper with a colleague However, I thought the exploration of the brain”. It’s not that consciousness depends
about “conformal cyclic cosmology” (CCC). how computing and physics relate to the on quantum mechanics, it’s that it depends
This is the view that the big bang was not mind might at least stimulate young people on where our current theories of quantum
actually the origin of our universe, but the to do physics. Yet pretty much all the letters mechanics go wrong. It’s to do with a theory
continuation of the remote future of a I got were from old, retired people. However, that we don’t know yet.
previous aeon. So the universe expands there was one from [US anaesthesiologist]
and contracts and then indulges in this Stuart Hameroff. He had the view that But I think we have made some progress.
exponential expansion which we now see consciousness had to do not with nerve There are about four mainstream views about
in our own aeon, where the expansion of transmission, as everybody else seemed what consciousness is, and one of them is this
the universe accelerates. And it continues. to think, but with microtubules, these little Orch OR idea that Hameroff and I developed.
tiny structures much, much smaller than That’s a bit of a shift. People used to say it is
So with CCC you’re arguing that the universe nerves. It seemed much more promising. completely crazy, but I think people take it
cyclically balloons and compresses and what we So we got together and did things – though seriously now. There are also experiments
refer to as the big bang is merely the beginning we didn’t quite know what we were doing. looking at phenomena to do with quantum
of this aeon, the period of the universe’s life There are certain rough edges to our Orch OR effects and to do with effects of general
that we are living through, rather than the actual argument, but whatever consciousness is, anaesthetics, and there do seem to be some
start of everything. Would it be fair to say that it must be beyond computable physics. connections there. So it’s coming into the area
this idea hasn’t had a lot of pick up from the rest of experimental confirmation or refutation;
of the physics community? I find that exciting.
You’re absolutely right: it does not get a lot of
pick up. I find that when I give talks to people Can you remember what it was that first excited
who are not physicists, they latch on to it you about maths and physics?
much more easily than the people who are I got a lot from my father: we used to do
conventional cosmologists, very few of whom things like making polyhedra and variations
take me seriously. But I don’t fully understand
why because CCC does have observational
implications and the evidence for it is really
quite strong. What we claimed to see in this
paper is something we called a “Hawking
Point” – a point ringed with polarised light,
left by a black hole from a previous aeon.
I hate to say this, but this reluctance to
consider a new idea in the face of strong
evidence is one reason why I think people
should worry about science.

Another of your controversial ideas is the one
put forward in your 1989 book The Emperor’s

48 | New Scientist | 19 November 2022