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ISSUE#93 Contents 34 SCTOORVYER

AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED EARTH’S
PUBLISHED 18 AUGUST 2022 SMALLEST ASTRONAUTS

Plans to send tiny spacecraft
to the stars require creatures
small enough and tough enough
to survive the journey. Here
are the leading candidates.

26 40

SUPERVOLCANOES AROUND THE WORLD SAVING WHALES COULD HELP SAVE THE PLANET

The discovery of a probable supervolcano off Alaska brings The effect of whales on the carbon ecosystem seems to have
the count of Earth’s supervolcanoes to 25, with research been enormously underestimated. More whales would
showing we’re overdue an eruption. Could we survive one? mean more krill, more algae, and more carbon capture.

46 REGULARS EDITORIAL
AND OTHER Editor: Jez Ford
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THE SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED CREDO
We share with our readers a fascination
with science, technology, nature,
culture and archaeology, and believe
that through education about our past,
present and future, we can make the
world a better place.

MEGAPIXEL JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE
6 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Sharpening space: Webb’s
first images are revealed

The first images from NASA’s James Webb
Space Telescope made the headlines last
month, including its first ‘deep field’ scan, revealing
the faintest objects ever observed. The second
batch included this extraordinary image of the
‘Cosmic Cliffs’ bordering a nearby young star-forming
region roughly 7600 light-years away: NGC 3324
in the Carina Nebula, which is visible from our
Southern Hemisphere. The image shows previously
invisible areas of star birth in the gigantic gaseous
cavity above the Cliffs, the highest ‘peaks’ of
which reach some seven light-years in height.

Photo // NASA /STScI

scienceillustrated.com.au | 7

MEGAPIXEL LEOPARD SEAL

Gotcha! No escape possible
for this Gentoo penguin

Photographer Amos Nachoum
gave this amazing image the title
‘End of Game’, documenting the moment
when a leopard seal cornered a Gentoo
penguin in the cold waters off Plano Island,
part of the archipelago between South
America and the Antarctic continent.
The image appears in a new publication
by teNeues entitled ‘BIG: A Photographic
Album of the World’s Largest Animals’.

Photo // © 2022 Amos Nachoum

8 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

scienceillustrated.com.au | 9

SCIENCE UPDATE THE LATEST FINDINGS
AND DISCOVERIES

MEGAQUAKE:
Scientists find the biggest
earthquake in human history

Deep down in the dry sand of the Atacama desert,
scientists believe they have found evidence of an earthquake
so severe that people fled the region for 1000 years.

SHUTTERSTOCK G E O L O G Y A megaquake is the most believe to be evidence of the biggest coast of Northern Chile, all were
powerful type of earthquake on Earth. earthquake in human history, some shown to have washed up on the
Also called a megathrust quake, this 3800 years ago in what is now shore almost 4000 years ago.
type of severe tremor originates at the northern Chile. The earthquake
meeting places of Earth’s tectonic occurred when the Nazca plate in Archaeological excavations show
plates. When one plate is forced under the Pacific collided with the South- that the coastline of the Atacama
another, intense forces can be American plates, an event scoring 9.5 desert was then inhabited by hunter-
released, often powerful enough to on the moment magnitude scale. This gatherers. The scientists found several
trigger a tsunami wave. A megaquake caused a failure zone in Earth’s crust of stone houses that seem to have been
is defined as higher than 9 on the at least 1000km, displacing the ocean destroyed by the monster tsunami and
‘moment magnitude’ scale (which floor and triggering a tsunami with its backwash. The evidence seems to
replaced the Richter scale). The biggest waves some 20 metres high that show that people avoided the region
megaquake in the last 20 years scored flooded the Atacama desert. for at least 1000 years after the event.
a 9.1 – the Tohoku earthquake in 2011,
the tsunami from which led to the The scientists pieced together the The scientists investigated the
nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan. evidence of this major natural disaster possibility that several close events
by scrutinising pebbles and marine were responsible, but the power of the
Now scientists have identified a animals that had ended up deep in wave – which includes deposits of
massive megaquake that caused a the Atacama desert’s bone-dry and debris as far away as Australia and
tsunami thousands of miles long and impassable sandy desert – so deep New Zealand – indicates that a single
may have driven people from the inside the country that a storm could massive quakewas responsible.
region for 1000 years. In a new study not possibly have been the culprit.
published in the journal Science, a When they used radiocarbon dating One conclusion of the report is that
team led by archaeologists from the to determine the age of 17 of their the northern Chile superseismic gap
University of Chile identify what they finds from a 600km stretch on the needs to be urgently re-considered as
part of future Pacific basin seismic
and tsunami hazard assessments.

10 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Editor: Nanna Vium

Breed plays a very
limited role in your
dog’s behaviour

Data from 18,000+ dogs reveals that
breed is much less important to a
dog’s behaviour than we used to think.

A N I M A L S New dog owners are often
advised to think carefully about the best
breed of dog for their situation before letting
a new four-legged friend into their homes.
There are books and online guides offering a
wealth of advice (and prejudices) regarding
how unpredictable, aggressive or obedient
any particular dog breed may be.

But according to a new study, the breed
may reveal far less about a dog’s probable
behaviour than we used to think.

A group of scientists from the US
University of Massachusetts analysed data
from more than 18,000 dogs and combined
it with genetic studies. They collected saliva
and blood samples from a total of 2155 dogs
and sequenced the pets’ DNA to find special
variations that related to their personality.
Finally they combined their findings with
questionnaires to 18,385 different dog owners
with 100 questions about everything from size
to colour and social behaviour.

The conclusion was that the dog’s breed
explained only some 9% of the animal’s
behaviour. But the scientists did identify 11
different genetic markers that seem to relate
to specific behaviours. They found out that a
tendency to howl belongs in a specific area of
dog genomes. They also identified a strong
link to one particular behaviou from an area of
the genome that in people relates to cognitive
ability. In dogs, however, the same genes
seem to increase the likelihood of the dog
regularly getting stuck behind things.

Some of the walls of stone buildings along the coast had fallen towards the ocean,
very probably caused by the intense force of the massive tsunami’s backwash.
SHUTTERSTOCK
GABRIEL EASTON

SCIENCE UPDATE

SHUTTERSTOCK

Evidence of the world’s biggest
sea monster found in the Alps

Scientists in the Swiss Alps may have found a damaged tooth from one
of the biggest carnivorous sea monsters that ever swam the Earth’s waters.

P R E H I S T O R I C A N I M A L S One 2800 metres above sea level, but more oceans. Marine reptiles apparently
very special tooth might prove to than 200 million years ago, it would thrived in the volatile oceans thereafter,
belong to the biggest carnivorous sea have been covered by sea water. with explosive growth over the first five
monster that ever existed. Scientists million years that left them as some of
think the tooth belongs to a perhaps- The former tooth record-holder was the biggest creatures, and at the very
unknown ichthyosaur (or ‘fish lizard’) an ichthyosaur that scientists estimated top of the food chain.
weighing more than 100 tonnes, to be approximately 15 metres long –
patrolling the darkest and deepest which could make the owner of the There seem to have been both
regions of the oceans some newly-discovered tooth one of the tooted and toothless ichthyosaurs,
205 million years ago. Even though biggest animals that ever existed on with the largest toothed species so far
significant parts of the tooth’s top have either dry land or in water. The scientists discovered being the Himalayasurus,
disappeared, scientists estimate that do, however, stress that the damage which was found in Tibet. But the
the root is twice as big as any other to the tooth leaves several factors scientists think the Swiss tooth is too
ichthyosaur tooth ever found. uncertain, so that there is the possibility big to fit any known species.
that rather than a huge ichthyosaur,
The tooth ended up a long way from the fossil might belong to an ordinary So far they have categorised the
today’s oceans, having been excavated ichthyosaur with unusually large teeth. discovery as belonging to the genus
in the mountains of the Swiss Alps in shastasaurus. But if more fossils were
1990, and recently re-examined by Giant ichthyosaurs evolved in the found, scientists could be more certain
scientists. The area in which the tooth Triassic some 250-200 million years ago in their belief that this is a newly-
was discovered is now at an altitude of – shortly after the mass extinction event discovered species that managed to
that had killed about 96% of life in the outcompete all others for size.

‘TEST YOURSELF’ ANSWERS FROM p82: no peeking!

5 take 2 minutes to empty. 5+2+2=9 minutes. 1: 5. The top number divided by the two bottom ones combined equals
55
10 5-minute glass over, and it will 4, 5, 6, 7, and then 8. For instance 52 / (6 + 7) = 4. And 63 / (5 + 4) = 7.

6: B. See p14. 8: C. See p52. runs out. Then turn the 2: 10 of hearts. In the top row, the system is +3, -5, +7, -9. So, the fifth card must
7: C. See p31. 9: C. See p14.
rest of the 7-minute glass be 10. In the bottom row, 4 is added to the card above. The suits change from left
to right according to the following system: spades – clubs – diamonds – hearts –
minutes will pass while the hearts – diamonds – clubs – spades – spades – clubs. So, it’s the 10 of hearts.

runs out, turn it again. Two 3: 1900. The distances are 100 times the alphabetical position of the first letter

55 5: Turn both timers over. of each city. Darwin starts with a D, so that’s 400, etc. Sydney starts with an S,
When the 5-minute glass which is the 19th letter of the alphabet. So 1900 is the correct answer.

4: C. 35 triangles.

12 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

SHUTTERSTOCK GROUNDWATER COULD SPEED ADOBE STOCK / LUIS
THE LOSS OF ANTARCTIC ICE

Australian research has uncovered groundwater beneath the Antarctic
ice which may increase glacial loss and the rising of ocean levels.

New device may O C E A N L E V E L S Antarctica events remain highly uncertain
deliver quick preserves Earth’s largest ice sheet, because of the difficulty in identifying
skin cancer scans and scientists have been warning for critical thresholds at which heavy ice
decades that any rapid acceleration in loss will occur. These thresholds are
A new scanner could use the same the mass of ice lost to the oceans could often associated with changing basal
technology as airport security lead to sea-level rises that would affect conditions, but any systematic
checks to identify cancerous skin the whole planet. understanding of basins has until now
cells with a success rate of 97%. been limited by the local nature of
Now a new study mapping geology previous studies and inconsistent
T E C H N O L O G Y If you went to a doctor underneath the ice has determined mapping between them.
to get a skin cancer check today, and they that some of the continent’s most
found something suspicious, a tissue dynamic ice streams could increase The scientists have now developed
sample would most likely be collected for their vulnerability to rapid ice retreat a sedimentary-basin probability map
analysis using a scalpel. It’s an essential and ice loss. Scientists from the for the whole of Antarctica, using
process: two-thirds of Australians will be Universities of Western Australia and machine-learning trained on the
diagnosed with a skin cancer by the age of Tasmania, along with the CSIRO, have current understanding of Antarctic
70, and Australians are getting skin cancer been looking for sedimentary basins sedimentary basin distributions.
checks more than ever. But that also beneath the ice – low-lying areas that
means that doctors collect ever more skin can contain lots of groundwater. The research found sedimentary
samples from their patients, and according When glaciers retreat, these basins basins in some of Antarctica’s most
to a previous report, doctors collect skin can discharge groundwater under the dynamic ice-sheet catchments,
samples from 15 healthy people for each ice, and that water can increase the including Wilkes Land and the
confrmed case of cancer they find. rate at which ice is lost. Recovery regions in East Antarctica,
and especially the Thwaites and Pine
Both doctors and patients would be Such basal conditions are critical to Island glacier in Western Antarctica,
interested in reducing the number of tissue predicting future ice loss, says the both of which were found to possess
samples. They hurt, cause scars, and are study. While satellite observations sedimentary basins in their upper
time-consuming both for doctors to take show a continuous ice loss over the catchments. Pine Island is Antarctica’s
and for test labs to analyse. But this minor past four decades in both Western and fastest melting glacier, responsible for
surgery could be a thing of the past if East Antarctica, predictions of future about 25% of Antarctica’s ice loss.
scientists are successful in their efforts to
develop a method that can spot skin cancer Identifying basins of groundwater beneath the ice may be key to predicting future ice loss.
without surgery.
scienceillustrated.com.au | 13
Scientists from the Stevens Institute of
Technology in New Jersey have spent years
testing how to spot cell changes that could
later develop into cancer. They have found
that scans using microwaves and
millimetre waves (with a slightly higher
frequency) can produce an image of the
skin cells by bombarding the cells and
being reflected. If the cells are changing,
their levels of water, proteins, sugar, and
acid change – which the device can
measure when the wave is reflected back.

The scientists say that this technology
would improve the accuracy of skin checks
and might operate via a simple inexpensive
handheld device that could become an
integral part of any visit to the doctor.

SCIENCE UPDATE

A blood worm has four
venomous copper teeth
around its mouth.

MATTER/WONDERLY ET. AL

How the
bloodworm
got its copper teeth

For a long time, scientists did not know how the bloodworm
got its venomous copper teeth, but 20 years of studies have
revealed how the creature builds the teeth using a special protein.

SHUTTERSTOCK A N I M A L S The bloodworm which is high enough to kill most Using the copper as a
Glycera dibranchiata is an aggressive other small creatures, was a catalyst, the worm converts
hunter that feeds on other seaworms byproduct of water pollution. the amino acid into melanin.
and small crustacians. In order to But now they think that the worm Together with the special
hold on to its prey, the bloodworm collects the metal itself, and is proteins, melanin fuses the
extends its mouth part from its body, able to build its copper teeth by copper with the worm’s jaws,
first paralysing its prey with venom means of a simple protein. forming the potent fangs.
from its teeth, then eating it alive.
They have recently teased out Although the protein consists
A key role in this process is played the details of this process. The of two rather ordinary amino acids
by the four black venomous fangs worm builds its teeth from a mixture – glycine and histidine – it is so
located around the worm’s circular of a protein, melanin (dark-coloured efficient that scientists are calling
mouth. Not only do these four teeth pigment responsible for their black it a “multitasking protein”.
represent a lethal weapon, these colour), and the worm’s high
black venomous teeth are made concentrations of copper crystals. The scientists behind the
mainly of copper. Yet for decades, When it has collected sufficient discovery hope that the worm’s
experts have not been able to copper in its body from ocean floor simple protein might be used
explain how they are created. sediments, special proteins including to develop new and improved metal
the amino acid dihydroxypheny- processing technologies. They think
Scientists from the University of lalanine then activate to melt that the worm’s simple but highly
California have been studying the the metal particles into a viscous efficient internal ‘laboratory’ could
bloodworm for the past 20 years, protein-rich liquid, separating it also inspire similar optimisation of
and for a long time they believed effectively from ocean water. production and materials within
that the worm’s copper content, various different industries.

14 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Northern Rivers emu ADOBESTOCK
numbers down to 60
More sushi, Carole? Tuna
A new study hopes to help save an stomach contents could help
emu population that is geographically researchers analyse the oceans.
and genetically isolated.
Could we use fish guts to monitor
C O N S E R V A T I O N G E N E T I C S Most the health of the oceans?
Australian emus live in healthy-sized
populations, but Northern Rivers emus are The stomach contents and gut microbiome of tuna could be a viable
endangered, with less than 60 wild emus near real-time monitoring tool for changes in oceanic ecosystems.
now remaining around the region east of
the 3500-kilometre Great Dividing Range. O C E A N O G R A P H Y The gut These were then analysed using
The geography has kept the population contents of skipjack and yellowfin the metabarcoding technique,
genetically isolated, according to a new tuna can provide important feedback which allows the genomic
genetic study by Macquarie University. on the effects that the El Niño- sequencing of a whole range of
Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle has fauna at the same time, returning
The data from this research will inform on oceanic ecosystems, says a study a result in under 24 hours. The
management plans aimed at long-term led by the University of Canberra. number of consumed individual
survival of the small Northern Rivers emu creatures was huge: from 96
population, classified ‘endangered’ by the “By applying molecular collected stomach samples, the
NSW government. And with the research techniques to the stomach contents method identified 14,053,270
showing that genetic replenishment isn’t and gut microbiome of tuna, we bacteria, 37,668,878 actino-
happening naturally by migration, one were able to detect ecological pterygians (ray-finned fishes),
likely option is the translocation of new changes such as the diversity of prey 12,903,281 crustaceans and
individuals from other areas to increase in different areas and at different 7,942,872 cephalopods.
genetic diversity. ENSO phases,” says lead researcher
Dr Alejandro Trujillo-González. One of the findings of the study
“Genetic diversity is critical for survival, ENSO cycle events have far-reaching was that fish captured during La
and the numbers of the Northern Rivers impacts on weather systems, Nina events had a higher diversity of
flock could mean its demise,” says wildfires and floods, ecosystems prey in their stomach contents.
Skye Davis, a PhD researcher leading the and economies – and the study
project. “Rescuing this sub-species has indicates that they are far more “This suggests that the nutrient-
become an urgent conservation issue, and diverse than previously recognised. poor conditions during El Nino
this research supports the next stage of caused less prey to be available, and
carefully introducing emus from other Instead of capturing animals therefore resulted in less productive
populations.” anew for the study, the researchers habitats,” Dr Trujillo-González says.
accessed the Pacific Marine
ADOBE STOCK Specimen Bank and analysed the The team is now looking at
stomach samples of tuna captured how portable technologies could
between 2015 and 2017. provide near real-time results for
ocean-based field researchers.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 15

SCIENCE UPDATE

NASA/JPL-CALTECH/SETI INSTITUTE Greenland climate study may help
identify life on Jupiter’s moon

Scientists have high hopes of finding life on Jupiter’s moon Europa, but they have been
stymied by the thickness of its ice sheets. But a study of Greenland’s ice sheet indicates
that water pockets on Europa may come closer to the surface than previously believed.

S P A C E Ever since pictures of the ice have good news. The water might be north-western Greenland had been
surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa were much closer to the surface than was formed. They could see that ice had
taken by the Voyager 2 probe in 1979 previously believed. cracked around a pocket of compressed
and then the Galileo probe in the 1990s, water that was re-freezing in the
it has been considered one of the most The discovery came by accident. Greenland ice sheet, making two ridges
likely locations for us to find alien life The scientists had set out to study how rise up. According to one of the
forms within our Solar System. Under the expansion and retreat of Greenland’s scientists, Riley Culberg, this same
the ice surface is a huge salt water ice sheet influences rising sea levels process could take place on Europa.
ocean which might harbour life. as part of climate change on Earth.
But during a chance attendance at a “In Greenland, the double-ridge ice
The chances of finding life on Europa presentation about the surface of Europa formation developed in a place where
are so promising that NASA has funded a they realised that the formations on water from surface lakes and streams
mission to the moon with the Europa Jupiter’s moon were surprisingly similar often flows into the near surface to re-
Clipper probe. It will be launched in to surfaces they had found in Greenland, freeze,” he says. “Similar surface water
2024 and is expected to enter into orbit particularly a double-ridge ice formation pockets could form on Europa via water
around the moon in 2030. The plan is for like a canal with ridges on each side. from the ocean under the surface forced
the probe to use radar equipment that up into the ice sheet via cracks.”
can see through the ice, but physicists By analysing data from NASA’s radar
could be frustrated by the thickness of study of Earth’s polar ice caps (‘Operation Europa is covered in double-ridge ice
that ice. If greater than 20-30km thick, IceBridge’), the scientists could observe formations that have been a mystery to
the ice sheet could prove impenetrable. how one double-ridge ice formation in astrophysicists. If they are indeed
formed by the Greenland method, it
But now scientists from means water is far closer to the surface,
Stanford University and so easier to study by means of radar.

SHUTTERSTOCK JENNY ALLEN / UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

Spider monkey Humpbacks seem adept at learning complex
habits reveal why songs from each other, according to scientists
humans started who have studied spectrograms like this one.
drinking alcohol
HUMPBACKS TRADE THEIR SONGS
A group of golden spider monkeys’
preference for overripe palm fruit may A study led by University of Queensland scientists has found that
explain how humans got into drinking New Caledonian humpback whales can learn songs from their
alcohol thousands of years ago. counterparts on Australia’s east coast with remarkable accuracy.

A N I M A L S Countless studies have H E A L T H In collaboration with “They sang a different song each
demonstrated how alcohol intake affects Opération Cétacés from New year we observed them,” says Dr
our brains and bodies. Yet alcohol Caledonia, scientists from the Allen. “So it seems that humpback
consumption remains a deeply rooted part University of Queensland have found whales can learn an entire song
of human culture – and has been so for that humpback whales can learn pattern from another population very
thousands of years. But why are we so remarkably complex songs from quickly, even if it’s complex or
keen on fermented liquids? A team of whales from other regions. difficult. This really indicates a level of
scientists may have found the answer – cultural transmission beyond any
in a group of golden spider monkeys from Dr Jenny Allen, whose doctoral observed non-human species.”
Panama’s tropical rainforest. work at UQ’s School of Veterinary
Science led to the study, says that The songs were collected using
By monitoring the monkeys’ food researchers found New Caledonian autonomous loggers in Australia, and
consumption over a long period of time, the humpbacks could learn songs from boat-based hydrophones in New
scientists discovered that the monkeys feast their counterparts along Australia’s Caledonia, with the recordings
on fermented palm fruit on a daily basis. east coast with remarkable accuracy. translated into spectragrams and
The fruit has a low content of ethanol, and transcribed at an individual sound unit
the scientists found substances from the “By listening to the Australian level using an acoustic dictionary
breakdown of alcohol in the monkeys’ humpback population, we were able developed from Allen’s previous work.
urine. This revealed that the alcohol from to see if the songs changed in any way
the fermented fruit is absorbed and used in when sung by the New Caledonian As well as song sharing, there
the monkeys’ bodies – it does not simply whales,” explains Dr Allen. “We found were rare instances of themes sung
pass through the system. they actually learned the exact only by a single population. These
sounds, without simplifying or leaving occurred more often in progressively
According to the scientists, the new anything out.” changing ‘evolutionary’ songs rather
study is the first to prove that the monkeys than new ‘revolutionary’ songs.
frequently absorb alcohol without any The study looked closely at the
human interference. Monkeys feed on the song patterns of male humpback Maintaining song patterns with
fermented palm fruit because it includes whales from each region between such accuracy suggests significant
more calories and so more energy than 2009 and 2015. It found that while acoustic contact between the groups,
the unfermented version, they suggest. new songs were able to be learned supporting a hypothesis that song
accurately each year, those songs did learning may occur on shared feeding
The discovery in the Panamanian forest not remain the same year to year. grounds or migration routes.
revives an old hypothesis known as the
drunken monkey hypothesis. The theory,
first introduced by biologist Robert Dudley
in 2000, suggests that the attraction of
primates to both the smell and taste of
ethanol could provide an evolutionary
advantage that makes it easier to identify
the mature and high-energy fruit before
other animals take it. According to this
hypothesis, this attraction was inherited
through our own species’ DNA and still
thrives – although we now have the option
of alcohol with or without the calorific
advantages of the overripe fruit.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 17

SCIENCE UPDATE Astronomers spot
missing link from
People born in the the early universe
country have better
sense of direction Scientists have discovered a new object in space that
could help explain how quasars and supermassive black
People from rural areas have a better holes originated in the early years after the Big Bang.
sense of direction, according to new
research, which also finds that men T H E U N I V E R S E In the search for and so is the preliminary stage of
may be better at finding their way. the early universe, attention is what later becomes a quasar with a
currently on the data coming from supermassive black hole at the
H U M A N B R A I N If you get lost in a big the new James Webb Space centre. Named GNz7q, the object
city, the best person to ask for directions Telescope. But data from the Hubble was born 750 million years after the
may not be a local urban dweller, but telescope still has plenty to offer Big Bang that took place 13.8 billion
someone who is visiting from the country. scientists delving into the past. years ago, so in what astronomers
know as the universe’s cosmic dawn.
That’s the conclusion of a new study For example, it has long been a
which indicates that the place where you mystery to astrophysicists how “The object is a link between two
grew up is crucial to the quality of your supermassive black holes originated rare objects – dusty star-forming
inner compass. French and English scientists and grew over the first million years galaxies and bright quasars,” says
tested the navigational skills of almost of the universe’s life, and also how Seiji Fujimoto from the Niels Bohr
400,000 people from 38 different countries, active galaxies, or quasars, formed. Institute. “So the find might provide
using a video game that was originally They seem to have originated at an us with a new understanding of how
designed to check for early signs of speed that is difficult to explain. supermassive black holes formed at
Alzheimer’s. The test subjects participated great speeds in the early universe.”
in a virtual orienteering race in which they Now an international team of
had to run from one point to the next. scientists from the Niels Bohr Ordinary galaxies are full of gas,
Institute and DTU Space in Denmark dust and stars, and at their centres,
Test subjects who had grown up in the have observed a new type of cosmic there is a supermassive black hole
countryside did better on average than object that could provide an that consumes the matter of the
those who grew up in the city. The worst explanation. The new object is a galaxy. Quasars are galaxies that
performers were from US cities with regular missing link in the transition from emit much more energy in the shape
grids of perpendicular streets. The study a dust-laden and intense star- of radiation than ‘normal’ galaxies
also showed that navigation skills become forming galaxy to a bright quasar, such as the Milky Way. So, quasars
poorer with age, that men are averagely
better at finding their way than women, and
that education boosts the sense of direction.

For urban-raised test subjects, the
scientists found that the complexity of their
home cities influenced their ability to find
their way throughout life. The scientists
rated cities based on the structure of roads
and streets – Paris, for example, includes
many small streets crossing bigger streets
at different angles, and is hence more
complex to navigate than a gridded city
such as New York or Chicago. As a result, the
scientists found that those raised in cities
like Paris had become better at finding their
way, particularly in similar environments.

Country folk outperformed those raised in a city,
but some cities were better at developing a sense
of direction than others.

SHUTTERSTOCK

are the brightest objects in the and shine brightly. At the centre of GNz7q is the red dot at the centre of this N. BARTMANN/ESA/NASA
universe and among the remotest the observed galaxy there is already enlarged image from Hubble’s data
we can observe. Like ‘ordinary’ a black hole, and because it is in an covering the GOODS North field region.
galaxies, quasars hence also have a early galaxy stage, where stars are
huge black hole at the centre, which formed at a very high speed, it will
is surrounded by a disc of gas that later become a supermassive black
slowly disappears into the black hole as it swallows huge quantities
hole. As black holes do not emit any of matter.
light, the bright light in a quasar
originates in intense friction The discovery of GNz7q was
between the gas particles that are based on data from the Hubble
on their way into the black hole. The space telescope covering one of the
heat from the friction makes the gas most intensively-explored regions of
in the disc shine extremely brightly. the universe, known as the GOODS
North field. So the object was hiding
The object scientists have found right under the scientists’ noses,
is also turning into a quasar, but is only retrieved by combining data of
still veiled in dust and gas and hence many different wavelengths.
not as bright as a quasar. In the
galaxy in which GNz7q has been With the newly-launched and
observed, new stars are formed at higher-resolution James Webb Space
an incredible speed – 1600 times tTelescope, the team hopes to find
faster than in our own galaxy. The more objects reminiscent of GNz7q,
new stars produce cosmic dust that and in the future to be able to
is heated and makes the dust glow describe the new objects and their
development in greater detail.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 19

ASK US SCIENTISTS ANSWER QUESTIONS
FROM OUR READERS

Why can't Europe stop
using Russian gas?

Much of Europe decided that natural gas was the right energy source
to bridge the gap from coal and oil to greener-based power generation.
But that has left some countries unable to find alternatives to Russian supplies.

E N E R G Y According to the most and meanwhile most of the EU’s own especially as the Statistical Review of
recent data from the annual gas reserves are already depleted. World Energy predicts that the
Statistical Review of World Energy present rate of production will see
report, Europe consumed 541 This has left Europe as a major Norway running out of gas in 2033.
billion cubic metres of natural gas importer, with two-thirds of its
in 2020, corresponding to the imports coming from Russia, the The second biggest European
energy needs of 250 million homes. world’s major exporter, still with reserves are in Ukraine, but they can
huge production fields in Western only last for a few extra years. So
Some 60% of that gas, so 321 Siberia. In 2020, Russia sent 238 Europe remains dependent on Russia.
billion cubic metres, was imported billion m3 of gas through pipelines,
from nations outside Europe. primarily to Europe. Russia’s reserves Australia’s known reserves are
are the largest in the world – and 30 far lower, though we currently rank
Several key European nations, times larger than those of Norway, fifth in the world for gas exports.
including Germany, are banking on which accounts for half of Europe’s A recent report by the Australia
natural gas to provide a bridge from non-Russian production, extracting Institute showed, however, that our
polluting coal-fired power stations 111 billion m3 from the Norwegian $62.5 billion LNG industry is on
and the public hesitance for nuclear Sea in 2020. This is not enough average 95.7% foreign-owned,
power to a 100% green energy to replace Russia gas supplies, limiting our ability to directly
system. But this will take decades, benefit from our own resources.

Three gas fields supply Europe

Europe receives the majority of its gas through pipelines from Siberia and the Persian Gulf.

THE NORTH SEA IS PROBLEMATIC

1 The North Sea is one of the world’s biggest 1
regions of natural gas resources, but the

gas is located in small fields, making it more 3
2
difficult and expensive to extract.

GULF INCLUDES HUGE FIELD

2 The world’s biggest field is located in the
Persian Gulf some 3000 metres below the

ocean surface. It includes five times more gas

than the second biggest field in Urengoy, Siberia.

RUSSIA EXTRACTS ONSHORE GAS

3 Western Siberia has some of the world’s
biggest gas fields, which hold some 45% of

Russian reserves. The fields have the advantage

that the production takes place on dry land.

20 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

In 2020, pipelines carried 238 Editors: Morten Kjerside Poulsen & Jens E. Matthiesen
billion cubic metres of gas from
Russia, most of it to Europe. TOP 5 · Which tree can live the longest?

Trees can live for hundreds, even thousands of years:
Tasmania has stands of Huon pine thought to be 10,500
years old. What is the oldest individual documented tree?

1 Western bristlecone pine SHUTTERSTOCK

4853 years. Methuselah is a western bristlecone pine that grows at
an altitude of some 3000 metres in the White Mountains of California.
By counting the growth rings of wood samples, scientists determined
its age at 4853 years, making Methuselah older even than cuneiform,
the world’s first written language developed in Babylonia.

DR. AXEL GEBAUER/NATUREPL

BREWBOOKS

SHUTTERSTOCK

KEVIN SCHAFER/ALAMY/
IMAGESELECT

Fitzroya cypress Swamp cypress Rocky Mountain Przewalski's
3651 years. 2627 years. bristlecone pine juniper
2465 years. 2243 years.
11.6%
7. 5 % 2 This cypress 3 In the The Rocky In 2019,
9.6% is not only the Black River Mountains scientists
4 5
12.2% 33.8% longest-living but swamps of North
25.2%
also the highest Carolina, scien- include a special analysed all the

tree species in tists in 2019 bristlecone pine trees in China

South America: discovered a species. In 1992, that were dated

it can grow 60+ series of very old scientists found over 1000 years

metres high. In swamp cypresses. no fewer than 12 old. Of these 98

1993, scientists The oldest one is individuals that trees, the oldest

mapped the growth now 2627 years were 1600+ years was a Prze-

rings of a particu- old. Apart from old. They dated the walski's juniper

Oil accounts for more than larly large tree, giving away their oldest one to be that is now
one third of Europe’s current
energy consumption. Gas accounts determing its age age, the trees’ 2435 years old. 2243 years old.
for 25.2% and coal 12.2%.
SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND to be 3622 years. growth rings According to According to

Consequently include detailed scientists, dry scientists, the

the tree is now data about the conditions have trees grow par-

an impressive climate of South- made the 12 trees ticularly old high

3651 years old. Eastern USA. age more slowly. above sea level.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 21

ASK US

SPACE

NASA & M. KORNMESSER/ESO

‘I heard that the new James Webb Space Telescope doesn’t orbit Earth like the
Hubble telescope, but is located much further away. So where is it, and why?’

A S T R O N O M Y The James Webb Space pull of the Sun and Earth. This means both Earth and the Sun, so the telescope
Telescope that was launched on 25 that a relatively light object such as the can constantly keep its back to radiation
December 2021 (see issue #89) has its Webb telescope can be parked there and from the Sun and Earth that would
own special place in space: 1.5 million maintain its position without expending otherwise disrupt observations made
kilometres from Earth, in the opposite very much energy on doing so. of remote heavenly bodies. L2 was
direction to the Sun. It is orbiting what previously used by the satellites WMAP
is known as a Lagrange point: L2. The dynamics between the motions and Planck that mapped out the
of the Sun and Earth create a total of background radiation of the universe.
The special thing about Lagrange five Lagrange points, and L2 was the
points is that they are points of best choice for the JWST. The telescope In July the telescope’s first focused
equilibrium between the gravitational has a big protective sunshield facing images were revealed: see page 6.

Equilibrium creates 5 parking spots in space

5 Lagrange points provide positions of equilibrium between the gravitational pulls
of the Sun and Earth. These are usefully stable positions for satellites to inhabit.

L4 SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND

L1 L2 L3

L5

L1 AND L2 ARE THE MOST L3 WILL ALWAYS BE VACANT L4 AND L5 COULD BE USED

FREQUENTLY USED 2 L3 will probably never be used 3 In the future, satellites at L4
for satellites. The position has and L5 may allow us a better
1 L1 and L2 have often been used
for satellites. L1 allows a no special advantages, and direct view of the Sun. The view from L4,

constant view of the Sun, while communication with anything located in front of Earth in the orbit,

L2 offers an uninterrupted view positioned there becomes might be particularly advantageous

of the more remote universe. impossible, as the Sun is in the way. for warnings of solar storms.

22 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Are big-headed people smarter? SHUTTERSTOCK

H U M A N B R A I N Possibly yes. also be better protected against Scientists have found links between skull size, brain volume and IQ.
According to studies, people with losing cognitive skills with age.
big heads also have big brains. In a study from the University of
And although intelligence is Southampton in the UK, 215
difficult to define, there is every people aged 66-75 were asked to
indication that brain size does participate in an IQ test and a
influence our IQ. memory test. Then 3.5 years later,
they were tested again. Test
Experiments with siblings who subjects with big heads scored
grew up in the same environment markedly higher in the IQ test
indicate that the brother or sister both times than those with small
with the biggest head (and hence skulls, and their memories
the biggest brain volume) also deteriorated signficantly less over
scores higher in IQ tests. In the period. The risk of losing
another experiment, scientists cognitive skills was five times
found areas of DNA known as higher in those with small heads.
SNPs that demonstrate a link
between skull size, IQ, and the According to scientists,
educational level attained. changes in human brain sizes are
probably the result of natural
People with big heads can take selection for higher intelligence,
pride not only in a larger brain which was useful for survival.
and higher intelligence, they may

JOHN DEERE How big are the biggest
combine harvesters?

Farmers’ harvesters have grown ever bigger over
the past 50 years – but which one is now the biggest?

The world’s biggest combine harvester is the X9 1100, T E C H N O L O G Y The biggest and quick. Most crops have an
which was introduced by US brand John Deere in 2021. existing combine harvester is optimum harvest time for the
the John Deere X9 1100 made biggest crop yield, so it is an
15.2 by Deere & Company in the US. advantage for farmers to have a
harvester that can finish a field
metres is the width of the mechanism on When the harvester works in three days instead of six.
John Deere’s X9 1100 combine harvester. with grain such as wheat, it can Speedy harvesting will also
The impressive ‘wing span’ allows it to employ a cutting mechanism reduce the risk of interruption
harvest 115 tonnes of wheat per hour. width of 15.2 metres. If the by weather, such as torrential
crop is corn, the harvester can rain that makes the grain wet.
handle 18 rows at a time.
It is not expected that
The X9 1100’s engine has a harvesters will grow much
stroke volume of 13.6 litres (the bigger than the X9 1100. If the
total volume that the pistons cutting mechanism becomes too
pass through in the cylinders in wide, farmers risk missing grain
one cycle). In comparison, the in hollows of the terrain. Size
stroke volume of a Formula 1 also limits sales. Deere &
racing car is 1.6 litres. The large Company introduced the X9
engine provides the combine 1100 in 2021, achieving higher
harvester with 700 HP, which is yields from huge US fields. Fields
10 times more than a small in Europe are generally smaller,
family car such as a Fiat Punto. so only a handful of the giant
harvesters will be sold there.
The aim of a giant harvester
is to make harvesting efficient

scienceillustrated.com.au | 23

ASK US

WHAT IS THIS? · Australia's bubblegum-pink lake Can butterflies
fly without dust
SHUTTERSTOCK On an island off the south coast of Western Australia, on their wings?
there is a lake so pink you can spot it on satellite images.
Is the colour natural, is it a chemical spill, or what? Z O O L O G Y Many people think that
butterflies lose their ability to fly –
B I O L O G Y The pink lake is named energy from sunlight. However, the and could even die – if you rub the
Lake Hillier, and the colour is natural. carotenoid provides another advantage: dust off their wings. This is a dramatic
Lake Hillier is located on Middle Island, it protects the alga when the solar and romantic concept, but it has little
an uninhabited nature reserve off the radiation becomes too intense. to do with reality.
WA south coast, east of Esperance.
However, scientists think that The dust on the surface of the
The lake’s bright pink colour is due Dunaliella salina is not solely wings consists of flat scales that
to an unusually high presence of the responsible. The 600-metre-long lake provide butterflies with their beautiful
monocellular microalga Dunaliella is some eight times saltier than the colours. Some of the scales include
salina. The alga produces a carotenoid, ocean, and scientists found some 500 pigment, though many of the
a very powerful pigment related to ‘extremophiles’ (creatures that can brightest colours are produced by the
the one that makes carrots orange, survive harsh conditions) in its waters, way the scales reflect light.
tomatoes red, and crustaceans pink. including salt-resistant purple microbes
and red-orange bacteria. So these may The scales overlap each other like
The small alga uses the carotenoid also be contributing to the year-round small roof tiles, so that when light
for the same purpose as green plants pinkness of Lake Hillier. shines on them it is reflected by
use their chlorophyll, to generate several layers. If the distance between
the scales exactly matches the
wavelength of blue light, then the
reflected blue light will be additionally
intense, because the light waves from
several layers are in phase, and their
oscillations are reinforced. On the
other hand, the scales will reduce
other colours because the reflected
light waves with those colours are in
phase opposition.

Butterflies use their colours to find
mates and breed, although the males
of some species have special scent
scales that give off substances which
attract females. So the scales – or
butterfly dust – may influence the
survival of the species, but not the
flying ability of individual members.

SHUTTERSTOCK

Middle Island On several Lake Hillier is not If a butterfly loses the ‘dust’ on its
wings, this can affect its beautiful
1 and its pink lake 2 occasions, Lake 3 the only pink colours, but not its ability to fly.
were visited by Hillier’s high salt lake. Australia
European sailors for the content has been used for has more than 10 of
first time in 1802. The kitchen salt production. them. In Senegal, West
leader of the expedition There is still a rail track Africa, Lake Retba also
was a Brit, Matthew visible from the lake to has an extremely high
Flinders, who named the the coast, one of the only salt content and hosts
lake Lake Hillier after signs of civilisation on the Dunaliella salina
one of his dead crew the island. During the micro-alga. There is also
members. Back then 1800s, Middle Island also a pink lake in Europe:
Australia was still functioned as a base for Lake Lemuria in South-
known as New Holland. seal hunters and whalers. Eastern Ukraine.

24 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

IS IT REALLY TRUE THAT...

LEG Embryo absorbs A.N. GANGOPADHYAY ET AL.
RUDIMENT its own twin

An undeveloped twin is The fetus in fetu phenomenon
most frequently located in develops early in the embryonic
the abdominal cavity. It stage, when a fertilised egg
has divided in two.
occurs in the rare cases
when one of two Fertilised egg
twin egg cells
absorbs the other. Divided egg

INTERNAL
ORGAN

RUDIMENTS

SPLIT = TWINS

1 When an egg cell divides during the
first two weeks after fertilisation,

...you can have a the result is two eggs with identical DNA.
twin in your body?
Under ordinary circumstances, they will

develop into identical twins.

Fertilised egg Egg

‘I read that a man with severe stomach pain Absorbed egg
proved to have an unborn twin in his body.
Is this just a myth, or can it really be true?’ ONE EGG ‘EATS’ THE OTHER

2 For unknown reasons and in rare
cases, something goes wrong in the

H U M A N B O D Y It is possible to months of pregnancy. Typically, the division of the egg cell. One egg envelops
carry one’s unborn twin inside a parasitic twin is in the stomach
body. The syndrome is known as region of its host, behind the the other, and the result is that one twin's
fetus in fetu in Latin (an embryo in peritoneum, but it can also settle in
the embryo). However, it is very the brain, chest, or other area. In 9 body has absorbed the other.
rare, and is estimated to occur only out of 10 cases the undeveloped
once in 500,000 births. embryo is discovered before the Embryo
host twin is 1.5 years old, because it Unborn twin
The syndrome develops when a may appear to be a tumour, or
fertilised egg divides in two, which becomes revealed by X-rays. In some EMBRYO BECOMES PARASITIC SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND
would normally result in identical cases ultrasound tests during
twins. But in a few cases and for pregnancy can reveal the lost twin. 3 During the subsequent pregnancy,
unknown reasons, one embryo the embedded twin embryo is
envelops the other, absorbing it into A fetus in fetu can weigh
its body. The embryo that has been anything from a few grams up to nourished by the host twin, so can be
captured subsequently exists as a 2kg, and measure from 3 to 25cm.
parasite which is nurtured by the The embryo may include skeleton, considered parasitic. Most frequently the
host twin’s blood. But usually, the skin, organs and rudiments of arms
parasite dies during the first three or legs, but it never has a brain. development of the parasite ends during

the first three months of pregnancy.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 25

NATURE SUPERVOLCANOES

A new ALEUTIAN Seismic surveys have
supervolcano ISLANDS revealed that Yellowstone is not
spotted in North the only supervolcano beneath
America raises North America. Islands off Alaska
may be sitting on top of a
THE THREAT 30km- deep magma chamber.
OF A SUPER
ERUPTION

Six volcanoes off Alaska are
probably small vents of one
supervolcano that could bury
Canada in ash. There are super-
volcanoes in Indonesia and New
Zealand. Do we just watch and
wait, or can we do something?

CLAUS LUNAU

26 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

By Niels Halfdan Hansen

YELLOWSTONE

NATURE SUPERVOLCANOES

ULIAGA

CARLISLE

HERBERT KAGAMIL

CLEVELAND Six volcanoes in the
TANA Aleutian islands off Alaska
comprise the visible part
of a newly-discovered
supervolcano.

NASA

E arth already has at least 24 volcanoes are the most common and there is some argument around which
supervolcanoes, of which least explosive ones in which magma just volcanoes have definitely produced a
the one beneath Yellowstone seeps to the surface. Moving up the scale, VEI 8 eruption in the past, and also in
Park in the US is the most eruptions become more severe, but less judging which volcanoes may not have
famous. As far as Australia frequent.The eruption of Mount Vesuvius, produced a supereruption yet, but have
goes, there’s good news and bad. Good: which in 79 AD buried the ancient towns the potential to do so in the future. But
none of the supervolcanoes identified so of Pompeii and Herculaneum, qualifies as the leading estimate is ‘about 25’.
far is here. Bad: that fact wouldn’t matter a VEI 5 eruption, producing some 3.6 cubic
much if a supervolcano in New Zealand kilometres of magma. The last time the world experienced a
or Indonesia were to erupt. VEI 8 eruption it was alarmingingly local,
However, it takes far more than that to when Taupo on New Zealand’s North Is-
Besides, scientists probably haven’t be characterised as a supervolcano. To hit land erupted 26,500 years ago, claiming
yet identified them all, even though such supervolcano status by ejecting some
supervolcanoes are the most destructive 1000 1170km3 of magma. The modern Lake
phenomenon in nature, able to darken Taupo partly fills the caldera created in
the sky for decades and change a conti- km3 of magma must this eruption.
nent forever. So scientists are searching be ejected by a volcano
the world to find these most explosive of The second most recent VEI 8 eruption
volcanoes, which collect intense energy for it to qualify as was even more severe. It took place on the
hundreds of kilometres below the Earth’s a supervolcano. Indonesian island of Sumatra and created
surface in our planet’s red-hot mantle. another lake, Toba, after a supervolcano
a VEI 8 rating requires an eruption that exploded around 74,000 years ago. It was
And in December 2020, a new one was produces more than 1000km3 of magma the most severe eruption of the past two
added to the list. At the annual meeting of over weeks or days.That’s enough magma million years, with Toba ejecting over a
the American Geophysical Union, geolo- to fill Sydney’s harbour 2000 times over. short period of time sufficient molten rock
gist John A. Power and 13 colleagues reve- to build Mount Everest twice. Pieces have
aled that an unknown supervolcano is Supervolcanoes are unequally distri- been found 9000km away in South Africa.
hiding beneath the Aleutian Islands in buted across the world, with no fewer than
the North Pacific. From this location the five in North America, including Yellow- This eruption killed everything within
supervolcano could bury Alaska and stone, while Australia, Antarctica and a 500km radius, and simulations indicate
Canada in ash, and wrap the Northern Africa apparently don’t have a single su- that the ozone layer would have been lost
Hemisphere in a devastating glaciation, pervolcano between them. But scientists almost entirely over the tropics. Sulphur
causing a global temperature rise that disagree about the exact total, since and ash ejections reduced temperatures
would make existing climate challenges by up to 10 degrees.
pale in comparison.
The temperature reduction was only
25 volcanoes threaten the world temporary, however. Volcanic gases that
enter the atmosphere during an eruption
Volcanoes are categorised according to include huge quantities of the green-
the Volcano Explosivity Index (VEI). VEI 1 house gas CO2. After 10 years of volcanic
cold, the following centuries saw a

28 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Six supervolcanoes
mark a sleeping giant

The Aleutian Islands include no fewer than 44 volcanoes. According
to scientists, six of them are part of the same huge monster volcano.

CLAUS LUNAU

NASA ALASKA Lava reveals
underwater
Aleutian Islands supervolcano

Volcanoes consume The discovery of
old Pacific hardened lava from
previous eruptions and
The Aleutian Islands gravitational field deviations
stretch 3000 km from in the area reveal that six
Alaska in the east to Russia volcanoes on various islands
in the west. The islands are probably mark the same
active and extinguished collapsed crater, known
volcanoes that originated as a caldera, of one single
where the Pacific plate huge supervolcano.
dives beneath the North
American Plate, partly Full magma
melting into magma. chamber could be
ready for eruption

Seismic data provides
a kind of 3D x-ray of
the underground, revealing
a 30km-deep magma
chamber under the islands.
High activity from the
Cleveland volcano indicates
that the magma chamber
may be full, ready to erupt.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 29

GREENLAND

ALASKA

NEWLY DISCOVERED
SUPERVOLCANO

USA
YELLOWSTONE

The world’s SOUTH AMERICA
supervolcanoes

Supervolcanoes are located in clusters
throughout the world. Here are six of
the most potent volcanoes on Earth.

CLAUS LUNAU

NASA
SHUTTERSTOCK
SHUTTERSTOCK

New supervolcano Yellowstone has already Campi Flegrei
spotted off Alaska buried the US threatens Europe

Six volcanoes in the The notorious Yellowstone Campi Flegrei is located

1 Aleutian Islands between 2 supervolcano in North- 3 close to Naples and Mount
Alaska and Russia Western USA most recently Vesuvius. Although the
seem to draw on the same erupted 630,000 years ago. Ash underwater volcano has not yet
huge magma chamber. The from the eruption has been found caused a supereruption, it has the
volcano’s most recent super- from Mexico in the south to Canada potential to bury Europe in ash.
eruption took place some 600,000 in the north, and from California in The most recent major eruption
years ago; a smaller eruption the west to Mississippi in the east. 39,000 years ago destroyed the
took place 70,000 years ago. volcano cone.

30 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

RUSSIA

EUROPE PAEKTU
CAMPI FLEGREI

AFRICA

TOBA

AUSTRALIA

TAUPŌ

SEOUL ARTS CENTER
SHUTTERSTOCK
SHUTTERSTOCK

Nuclear weapons Toba sent Earth Taupō is
can wake up Paektu into the freezer hyperactive

One of the least explored Toba on the Indonesian New Zealand’s North Island

4 threats to the world is the 5 island of Sumatra 6 is the location of the Taupo
supervolcano of Paektu exploded some 74,000 volcanic field, which was
between North Korea and China. years ago in the most severe responsible for the world’s most
Illegal nuclear test explosions eruption on Earth in the past two recent VEI 8 eruption just 26,500
threaten to wake up the giant, million years. The eruption years ago. Taupo experienced an
which could cover half of Asia in darkened the world for years and even more severe supereruption
ash and shatter the Northern caused a global temperature 340,000 years ago, and the volcano
Hemisphere’s climate. reduction of 10 degrees. remains very active.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 31

NATURE SUPERVOLCANOES

metre-thick layer of ash, while sulphur
compounds would block out the sunlight
to place the Northern Hemisphere in the
freezer for decades. And a supereruption
may be more imminent than we think.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DIANA ROMAN/CARNEGIE SCIENCE Doomsday looming?

A scientist installs seismographic equipment on the hyperactive volcano of Cleveland. The seismograph Geologists have long considered the risk
records earthquake tremors that can tell us about the size of the magma chamber. of a VEI 8 eruption to be extremely small.
A study by geologist Ben G. Mason and
temperature increase globally, in a This was further confirmed by passive two colleagues in 2004 identified 42 VEI 8
warm period when global temperatures seismic tomography. Scientists take eruptions over the past 36 million years, a
were five degrees higher than pre-Toba. advantage of the fact that tremors from reassuring average gap of 800,000 years.
earthquakes spread through the Earth
Huge magma chamber like 3D ripples on water, and the type of But in 2017, four British geologists
rock determines how quickly they travel: examined statistical links between the
Such high levels of destruction make it the warmer and softer, the more slowly size and frequency of all eruption types,
in many ways a blessing in disguise that producing a much more accurate evalua-
the most recent discovery is so far north, 20,000 tion of the rare VEI 8 eruptions. Their
in the Aleutian Islands, far from densely results were more worrying: the average
populated areas. On the other hand, the years pass between time between supereruptions could be
area is harder for geologists to explore, supereruptions eruptions. less than 17,000 years. In March this year
which also explains how something so The most recent one was their estimates were supported by an
huge had not been previously discovered. estimate from Danish researchers who
26,500 years ago. had compared ice cores from Antarctica
The clue came from one of the volca- and Greenland. The contents of carbon
noes in the area, Cleveland, which is one the waves travel. The method provides a dioxide and fine ash particles in the ice
of North America’s most active. Its very kind of x-ray of Earth’s crust, and beneath layers tell us about volcanic activity over
high activity level and continuously high Cleveland it revealed a zone up to 30km- the centuries. Their analyses show three
emissions of carbon dioxide led John A. deep where the tremor spreads more supereruptions over the past 60,000
Power and his colleagues to take a closer slowly. This supports the suspicion that years, a similar average of 20,000 years.
look at the Aleutian Islands. They real- there is a very large magma chamber be-
ised that such large quantities of gas low the waves of the North Pacific. The new knowledge puts the risk of a
would require that Cleveland draw on a supereruption at least 5-10 times higher
magma chamber much bigger larger Scientists still know very little about than a comparably destructive meteor
than the 1700-metre-high volcano the newly-discovered supervolcano. But strike. Various plans have been consid-
should need. The scientists took a closer if it were to produce a VEI 8 eruption, ered to guard against meteors, but could
look at the field strength of gravity in the Alaska and Canada could be buried in a we do anything to stop a supervolcano?
area, because magma is lighter than
solid rock. The gravity study revealed a Geologists and engineers are already
ring-shaped structure that links at least researching how both small and large
five of the area’s volcanoes. And there is volcanic eruptions could be at least
every indication that all five are supplied limited or delayed. One method involves
by the same magma source. drilling vents in the magma chamber to
remove explosive gases, reducing the
risk of a VEI 8 eruption.

Meanwhile, John A. Power continues
his work in the Aleutian Islands. Data
taken at higher resolution will give a
more accurate impression of the magma
chamber under the volcanoes, and seep-
ing gas data should reveal how close the
supervolcano might be to an eruption.

Research will continue into volcanoes
and supervolcanoes, seeking other ways
to mitigate their effect, and better ways
to predict eruptions early in the process.
Even so, without a method to prevent
eruptions entirely, there will eventually
be nothing to do but take shelter and pre-
pare for decades of climate confusion.

32 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Could we stop a supereruption?

In 2018, American scientists gathered a total of 38 possible solutions of varying
realism to establish how we might disarm future supervolcanoes. The suggested
methods include using concrete, cooling agents, and chemical crystallisation.

CLAUS LUNAU

Cooling agent Degasifisation Concrete to Pressure keeps
freezes magma eases pressure add strength magma in check

If the flow CO2 and If Earth’s The less

1 properties of 2 water make 3 crust above 4 pressure the
the magma magma the magma magma is
are reduced, it would explosive, increasing chamber could be subjected to, the more
be more difficult for the risk of a severe reinforced, it would ductile it is, so by
the volcano to force eruption. The method be more difficult for intensifying the
it to the surface. The of degasification the magma to rise to pressure on the magma
ductility of the rock drilling would the surface. Cracks in chamber, the magma
mass might be ventilate the magma the crater could be might be kept in check.
altered by pumping in chamber, so the gases filled with concrete, It could be done using
a cooling agent or that cause bubbles in or the rock above the heavy materials on the
substances that make the magma and volcano could be surface, or by replacing
the magma crystallise intensify the pressure cooled, making it the ground water by a
inside the volcano. are removed. more resistant. heavier liquid.

Material

Pumping Ventilation Cracks Concrete plug Heavy liquid

Cooling agent

Ground water

Magma

scienceillustrated.com.au | 33

AEROSPACE STELLAR CREATURES

Star mission
candidates wanted:

CREATURES
WITH THE
RIGHT
STUFF

The first Earthlings to travel
to the stars will not be people.
The scientists behind ‘Project
Starlight’ are currently seeking
the most qualified astronauts
to crew tiny probes that will
be launched by laser on long
space missions. The list of
candidates include worms,
tardigrades, and one very
tough bacterium.

34 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED



AEROSPACE STELLAR CREATURES

WHY READ THIS ARTICLE? will be necessary to travel to even the closest neighbour, Proxima Centauri. But
closest of stars. If the creatures pass the Project Starlight’s laser technology,
To assist our own travel to the stars, test, we humans may be able to adapt to known as DEEP-IN, could radically change
scientists hope to learn from tough Earth imitate their super powers – such as the the top speed of a spacecraft.
creatures that can resist years of cosmic Deinococcus radiodurans bacterium’s
radiation and extended hibernation. special weapon against radiation damage The idea is to concentrate energy in a
– and so pave the way for future human laser beam sent from Earth, which then
T“ he suitable candidate must travel to the stars. bombards a craft with light particles:
love speed, will be expected photons. The spacecraft is equipped with
manage for years without Rockets out, laser in a kind of sail that collects the photons
food or drink, and should be and generates extraordinary acceleration.
able to withstand high levels Traditional chemical space rockets are
of radiation. If you meet all three of these entirely inadequate when considering One of the aims of Project Starlight
requirements, you could be the right can- travel to another solar system. Their is to accelerate a craft to 25% the speed of
didate for our upcoming space program.” speeds would be far too slow. The Voyager light, almost 270,000,000km/h. With the
This could have been the wording of DEEP-IN technology able to achieve such
the job advertisement placed by scientists 100 speeds, the journey time to reach Proxima
behind Project Starlight, had they been Centauri would be reduced to 25 years.
considering candidates for their future grays of radiation will kill
star mission that are able to read. But all most animals. But there’s Life at the lowest level
humans are, unfortunately, disqualified
for the role under at least two of the key one bacterium that can While that puts the journey within a
criteria. And besides, the planned space survive 10,000 grays. human lifespan, vehicles large enough to
probes will be tiny, so that they can be support human life are not an option if
launched towards the stars by means of a 1 space probe launched in 1977, for exam- the scientists are to achieve such a high
powerful laser on Earth. ple, is travelling at a speed of some 55,000 speed: indeed the craft’s total weight
So the Project Starlight scientists from km/h. It has now left our Solar System, must be reduced to less than a gram. So
the University of California in Santa Bar- but it will take some 80,000 years to travel the tiny ‘StarChip’ probes planned by the
bara aim to crew the probes with Earth’s the 4.25 light years (approximately 42 UC scientists will be smaller and thinner
toughest creatures: tardigrades, round- billion kilometres) to reach the Sun’s than a credit card.That rather reduces the
worms, and bacteria. number of possible astronaut candidates.
These small astronauts may be able to
teach us more about how biological life But Earth does offer organisms that are
is affected by the hostile environment of tiny enough to board the tiny probes, and
space – and the extreme acceleration that some of these would make ideal astronauts
for a different reason: their food and drink
Q. ZHANG requirement is much lower than that of
larger organisms.
A powerful laser on Earth bombards the probe’s mirror with light particles. The pressure from
the light could in theory accelerate the 1-gram probe to speeds up to 25% that of light. Some of them are even able to almost
entirely deactivate their metabolism. When
subjected to extreme conditions such as
freezing temperatures, lack of water or
lack of nutrition, they can go into a kind
of hibernation known as cryptobiosis
until their surroundings improve again.

In cryptobiosis, all biological processes
come to a halt, and the metabolism is at
its lowest possible level, consuming close
to zero calories. Moreover, the organisms
are physically toughened in this state, so
that their survival chances under extreme
conditions such as in interstellar space
are even higher.

Tardigrades are Earth’s cryptobiosis
champions, managing without food and
drink and able to survive temperatures
from +150 to -273°C. Tardigrades have
already proved their robustness on space
missions to the International Space
Station. But cryptobiosis is also an option
for other creatures such as Caenorhabditis
elegans roundworms and brine shrimps.

36 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SPL MICHAEL J DALY/SPL

Tardigrades are Bacterium can resist
hibernation experts severe radiation

1 These amazing creatures 2 The roundworm C. elegans 3 Deinococcus radiodurans
can survive cryptobiosis can handle acceleration makes countless copies

for 100+ years. In the state of forces of 400,000 G. It can also of its genome and includes

hibernation all processes come be frozen and still have offspring enzymes that repair radiation

to a near halt, the metabolism after decades in the freezer. The damage to the DNA. This enables

then at 0.01% of the normal rate. worm’s life cycle is only two it to resist gamma radiation of

Moreover, tardigrades produce a weeks, so it is considered an 10,000 Gy. The creature is also

special protein that protects their ideal experimental creature. tolerant of extreme acceleration.

DNA against radiation damage.

RADIATION: RADIATION: RADIATION: STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SPL/SHUTTERSTOCK
HIBERNATION: HIBERNATION: HIBERNATION:
ACCELERATION: ACCELERATION: ACCELERATION:

scienceillustrated.com.au | 37

AEROSPACE STELLAR CREATURES

Unprotected DNA HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGE
SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND

Protected DNA

Therapy protects Humans are
against radiation G force weaklings

1 Tardigrades protect 2 Stellar missions
their cells against within the lifetime

radiation by means of the of a human being require

A stellar mission will involve protein Dsup. In experiments extreme speed. The Starlight
inhuman challenges: radiation
bombardment, extreme acceleration, in which scientists inserted probes will be launched with
and years of travel time. Some
of these could be addressed by the gene that produces this an acceleration of 100,000+G,
techniques used by extreme animals.
protective protein into human but humans would pass out

cells and subjected them to and die after a few minutes

X-raying, DNA damage was of only 9G. There is, as yet,

reduced by 40%. no known solution.

Worm tolerates 400,000G apparent negative consequences. The Bacterium is radiation king
massive G force did not reduce the worm’s
The low temperatures and the lack of viability, behaviour, development, or But there’s another test for the space
sustenance are not the only challenges metabolism. And this performance is candidates. Outside Earth’s atmosphere
facing the Starlight project astronauts. notably superior to tardigrades, which and magnetic field, they will be subjected
They must also resist intense G forces. can tolerate ‘only’ up to 16,000G. to intense cosmic radiation. When human
astronauts are in space, they encounter
The acceleration rate planned for
Project Starlight will subject the tiny pas- L. CALÇADA/ESO
sengers to G forces between 100,000 and
10,000,000G. People can tolerate a force of Project Starlight will send tiny probes manned by extremely tough creatures to the
9G for only a few seconds: the body feels closest stars – such as Proxima Centauri, which is located 4.25 light years from Earth.
nine times heavier, and the blood flows
towards our feet at such a rate that the
heart is unable to pump sufficient blood
to the head. The subsequent oxygen
shortage in the brain makes a human
first pass out and then die.

But can tiny creatures also handle
such acceleration? Scientists typically use
centrifuges to test this: large ones for
human astronauts, but smaller ones for
the space creatures on trial. Experiments
indicate that the 1mm-long C. elegans
roundworm is one of the most promising
candidates in this regard. Scientists from
the University of São Paulo in Brazil have
subjected C. elegans to some 400,000G,
and much to their surprise, there were no

38 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

HENNING DALHOFF/SPL

Astronauts to
sleep all the way

3 To save food and drink
during the journey,

astronauts might be placed

in a state of hibernation

known as torpor. Scientists

have placed rats in torpor

using substances that

deactivate parts of the brain

that control metabolism.

radiation of 50-2000mSv (millisieverts), 25 Although the tiny astronauts are very
even though levels exceeding 100mSv are different from humans, they are also
considered harmful to our health. Just years could be sufficient surprisingly similar. More than 80% of the
1mSv corresponds to three X-ray scans. time to complete the proteins in C. elegans also exist in human
42 trillion kilometre versions, and it can even be trained to as-
The vast majority of organisms will journey to Proxima B. sociate specific smells with food and will
die from radiation above 100,000mSv (or remember what it has learned for up to 40
100 grays, Gy). A dose of just 4Gy is Hundreds of the tiny tough creatures hours. So scientists could test the worm’s
enough to kill half of a group of people, will be frozen in a state of cryptobiosis memory in space, as a first hint of how
and 20+ Gy will kill all of them. and launched towards Proxima Centauri long star missions will influence humans.
or another of our neighbouring stars.
Tardigrades can survive astonishing When the space probes approach their Humans on the next mission
levels of ionising radiation. In an experi- destination, the frozen passengers will be
ment where tardigrades were subjected revived from their year-long hibernation Upscaling Project Starlight’s lasers will be
for 18 hours to massive gamma radiation by the heat from small quantities of on- the main challenge to overcome before
of 4700Gy (4,700,000mSv), half of them board plutonium, and a series of experi- such a project can be realised. But scien-
managed to survive. ments will begin in order to find out how tists are already trying to apply the gifts
acceleration and space have influenced of the tardigrades, roundworms, and bac-
But tardigrades are not the only tough their breeding, metabolism, and ageing. teria to human astronauts. We might not
creatures. Earth’s radiation king is the endure cryptobiosis, but might be placed
bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans, which in a sleep-like hibernation with a very low
can resist gamma radiation of 10,000Gy. metabolism for months at a time.

Defrosted on arrival Radiation and extreme acceleration
are challenges still to be faced. But if we
Project Starlight has been supported by do one day overcome all the problems, we
NASA, but nobody is predicting when it should celebrate the tiny Earth creatures
can yet be realised. However, the scien- that had the right stuff to make the jour-
tists behind the project have a plan for neys that paved our way to the stars.
how to carry out the star missions once
the best candidates have been selected.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 39

NATURE WHALES ELLIOTT HAZEN UNDER NOAA/NMFS PERMIT 16111

One more good reason
to save the whales:

OCEAN
GLUTTONS
COULD COOL
THE CLIMATE

Big baleen whales consume
and excrete three times more than
biologists had thought. It’s good
news: this greedy lifestyle could
remove millions of tonnes of
climate-damaging carbon from
the atmosphere annually – if we
can continue saving the whales.

When a whale such as this blue whale releases its faeces at the ocean
surface, it provides nutrition for the entire ocean ecosystem.

40 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

By Jonas Meldal

KLRFIBITILLIRLGTEEABSRNAOLN3FE0UEW0ANLATLTWRYEIH.LRALFLI OOERNS

Scientists have studied the eating
habits of seven whale species,
including humpback whales.
They turn out to eat far more
than previously believed.

WILDESTANIMAL/GETTY IMAGES

NATURE WHALES

A fter months of migration, It may seem surprising that whales lowing extensive field work involving
a 30-metre-long blue whale from the top of the food chain have such observations of 321 baleen whales of
arrives in the icy Southern influence on the wellbeing of smaller seven different species in the Atlantic,
Ocean around Antarctica. ocean organisms. The reason is the way Pacific, and Southern Oceans. Suction
The long voyage from in which whales eat and defecate, and in discs were used to place tags on the backs
tropical regions has made it hungry, and particular the specific locations in the of the whales, with these small instru-
it is searching constantly for food. It could water column where they find their food ment packs containing GPS, camera,
not have come to a better place. and where they leave their faeces. microphone and accelerometer, allowing
the scientists to monitor activities for up
A huge pink shoal of crustaceans, tiny 16 to 24 hours, or until the suction discs lost
krill, appears out of the ocean gloom. The their grip.
whale accelerates directly towards the tonnes of krill a day
shoal, opens its huge mouth, and allows end up in the stomach While the tags collected data, the
100 tonnes of water and krill to flow of a blue whale during whales were monitored by drones to esti-
through the baleens in its upper mouth. mate their length, weight and feeding
The whale closes its mouth again, forcing its feeding season. activity. The scientists also used sonar to
out the water. But the krill are captured, determine the size and density of krill
continuing into the creature’s stomach. Mapping whale-eating habits shoals that the whales attacked.

The first meal of the day has been The role of whales in the ecosystem has In this way, the scientists collected
secured, but the whale is still hungry, so been uncovered following an international data from a total of 74,247 meals, provi-
more will hopefully follow. In one single project stretching more than 10 years, ding new discoveries on eating habits and
day a blue whale can eat 16 tonnes of looking at their eating habits. A team their effects on ocean ecosystems.
krill, corresponding to 10-20 million calo- headed by scientists from Stanford Uni-
ries (more than 30,000 Big Macs). And that versity in the US began its studies in 2010 Crucially, the whales ate three times
is three times more than biologists used and published the results last year, fol- as much as biologists used to think.
to think. Just as importantly, the waste The food intake varied significantly be-
that comes out at the other end benefits tween different species, and not surpris-
the entire ocean ecosystem. ingly the blue whale, the world’s biggest
animal, is the ‘winner’ with a daily intake
So whales play an important role for of some 16 tonnes of krill.
the combined ocean biomass and its abil-
ity to accumulate carbon that would other- This high level of food consumption
wise end up in the atmosphere – and so does not take place all year, however.
aggravate the greenhouse effect. Whales eat more during the summer,
when they roam either far northern or
southern regions of the world.

Biologists mapped out the eating habits of 321 whales by tagging them with a camera, The krill paradox
microphone and GPS trackers held in place by suction discs.
You might imagine that with the huge
GOLDBOGEN LABORATORY, STANFORD UNIVERSITY AND DUKE UNIVERSITY MARINE ROBOTICS AND REMOTE SENSING UNDER NOAA/NMFS PERMIT 16111 quantities of krill annually ending up in
whale stomachs, the quantity of krill in
42 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED the oceans would reduce. But that doesn’t
happen. Instead krill populations thrive
when whales feast on them – a phenom-
enon known as the krill paradox.

In the course of the 1900s, whale
populations dramatically reduced
through commercial whaling. With fewer
whales to consume krill, the populations
of the small crustaceans would have been
expected to soar.

But instead, the quantity of krill fell.
Since the 1970s, Antarctic krill populations
have fallen by more than 80%.

The reduction can be partly explained
by global warming. This melts the sea ice,
reducing the availability of krill’s favour-
ite food, which is the algae that exist on
the lower side of the ice. But with the new
knowledge about whale eating patterns,
scientists have spotted an underesti-

SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND

ALGAE Algae benefit from
whale faeces
FAECES
Whales leave their
BALEEN WHALE iron-rich faeces at the
surface when they come
up to breathe. The iron is
absorbed by algae that use
it to produce chlorophyll.
So the iron is key to algae
being able to perform
photosynthesis and grow.

Krill feast on
surface algae

At night, krill swim
to the surface to
consume algae. Larger
quantities of algae produce
larger quantities of krill. The
crustaceans gather in huge
shoals with a density of up
to 100,000 creatures per
cubic metre of ocean water.

KRILL

scienceillustrated.com.au | 43

NATURE WHALES

ELLIOTT HAZEN /SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND

Krill collapse follows whales

The world’s combined krill biomass was 400 gigatonnes a century ago,
but in the mid-1900s it began to shrink dramatically, and has now more
than halved. The reduction in whale numbers is one key explanation.

Whale population 400
(thousands)

KRILL

300 300

BLUE WHALE

200 RIGHT WHALE HUMPBACK 200
100 WHALE 100

0 0
1900
1950 2000

Blue whale was Right whale under Humpback whale
close to extinction intense pressure is on the rise

100 years ago the oceans Before the intense industrial Like other big whale species,
included some 350,000 blue whaling, the world population the humpback whale suffered
whales. After massive whaling in the of right whales was some 84,000. due to whaling in the first half of the
early 1900s, the population was Although Southern Ocean numbers 1900s. The population was reduced
reduced by almost 99%. Today, are some 15,000 and growing, the from 230,000 to 5,000 in the 1960s.
the population is slowly increasing North Atlantic right is highly endan- Since then, things have improved
and is now 8000-15,000. gered, with only some 400 remaining. to a present population of 135,000.

44 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

mated cause. The algae also lack the time to repair damage to the ecosystem. removed from the atmosphere annually
nutrients they previously obtained from The problem is that the positive cycle of via whales that carry the carbon to the
whale faeces. By spreading their excre- whale faeces, alga growth and krill has ocean floor when they die – equivalent to
ments at the ocean surface, the whales been replaced by a negative spiral, in 1100km2 of forest. Add to this the effect
carry out a fundamental job in the eco- which fewer whales cause less alga of a bigger whale population on the
system: the constant recycling of iron, growth, fewer krill, and less food for entire food chain, and populations at
optimising the system’s productivity. levels before whaling could see whales,
23 krill and algae combined storing 215
Without whales to carry iron to the million tonnes of carbon annually, the
algae at the surface, that important million tonnes of carbon same effect as removing 170 million cars
element simply falls to the ocean floor as are consumed by krill from the roads.
krill die. Scientists have calculated that
even with today’s greatly reduced whale annually. More whales will There are promising signs of whale
populations, whales annually prevent mean higher consumption. numbers recovering; southern right and
some 1200 tonnes of iron from being lost humpback sightings have been increasing
to the floor of the Southern Ocean. whales. With the food chain so reduced, by some 8-10% a year around Australia,
the quantity of carbon absorbed by the and blue whale numbers are believed to
The krill’s dependency on whales has ecosystem is limited. Scientists from the be rising gradually. But whales have so
wide-ranging consequences for the entire University of Maine in the US have esti- few offspring it will take many years
ocean ecosystem. Although the small mated that existing populations of to restore populations – especially if krill
crustaceans are only 5-6cm long and baleen whales store 9.1 million tonnes suffer more from global warming.
weigh no more than 2g, they play a vital less carbon than before commercial
role in ocean food chains. whaling. If the populations are restored, Some scientists suggest kickstarting
some 160,000 tonnes of carbon could be food chain productivity by spreading iron
Krill can live just about anywhere in at the surface to artificially support the
the ocean. There are 85 species, by far role of whale faeces. But the idea is
most important being Antarctic krill. This controversial, as the overall effect is
species is an essential food source for uncertain; unintentional consequences
many animals – whales, penguins, seals, could damage the eco-system in other
fish, and seabirds. ways. Until the method has been studied
more closely, the best option is to continue
Krill typically exist in huge, dense saving the whales that we have, so they
shoals of up to 100,000 individuals per can help us save the climate.
cubic metre of ocean water. In the South-
ern Ocean, the total biomass of Antarctic THE ASAHI SHIMBUN/GETTY IMAGES
krill is estimated at 300-500 million
tonnes, so that this one species repre-
sents more biomass than any other wild
animal species. (Estimates for humans
are around 350 million tonnes, while
cows win overall, with an estimated
biomass of 650 million tonnes.)

But of course krill mass could be
vastly higher were it not for the losses
from climate change and particularly the
intense whaling that took place in the
first half of the 1900s. Some whale
species became almost extinct during
this period, including the blue whale, the
numbers of which were reduced by 99%.

Ecosystem under pressure During the first half of the 1900s, industrial whaling reduced the baleen whale
population tremendously. Some species were reduced by up to 99%.
The scientists behind the new study esti-
mate that the present population of blue
whales consumes only 0.6 million tonnes
of krill annually. In 1900 the figure would
have been some 167 million tonnes. The
scientists calculate that the ecosystem
was 10 times more productive in the early
1900s than it is today.

In 1986, a global ban stopped most
whaling activity. But it will take a long

scienceillustrated.com.au | 45

TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
& THE MORAL
DILEMMA

Artificial intelligences (AIs) make
millions of decisions for us every day.
Scientists are now developing
methods that allow AIs to differentiate
between good and evil. So could the
AIs of the future become better than
humans when judging moral issues?

SHUTTERSTOCK

They recognise your face, they choose your music, and they try to
identify and stop fake news. Artificial intelligences use algorithms to
make an extensive series of decisions on our behalf every day.

46 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

By Mikkel Meister

ROBOTS AND WIL L
IORI T
COMPUTE R S I S E
HAVE TO P R

LIFE AND DEATH.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 47

TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

WHY READ THIS ARTICLE? model – artificially intelligent algorithms Delphi answered: “You should.”
that use probability theory to learn how This AI algorithm has also stated that
What happens if a computer has to understand written language. it is morally more acceptable to be white
to make a decision based on an ethical or heterosexual than to be homosexual
dilemma – such as whose lives a driver- Language bank gives examples or black. Clearly, Delphi had issues.
less car should spare. Scientists are now
teaching these machines human morals. Delphi consults a digital text book, Compass needle reverses
Commonsense Norm Bank, that includes
A re you acting in a morally 1.7 million examples of questions and The terms ‘ethics’ and ‘morality’ are often
acceptable way when you used interchangeably, but the roots of the
help your best friend? Most 1.7 words provide some differentiation, with
people would say yes, of ethics being more a personal yardstick for
course. But what if you were million examples of behaviour, while morals reflect more the
helping your friend to spread fake news everyday dilemmas society’s basic rules of human behaviour.
and conspiracy theories online? are included in Delphi’s
The reason that it is difficult to
Generally, we consider helping each digital text book. introduce a moral compass to a computer
other and telling the truth to be morally program is that context becomes essen-
acceptable. But the morally-acceptable answers that people have evaluated and tial. We need look no further than the
choice may not be so black and white; it considered morally acceptable or not. current US debate on abortion to illus-
nearly always depends on circumstances trate that morality is not universal. An
that can be difficult to navigate, even for Delphi learns morals by using the act that doctors consider to be ethical
human beings. examples as a guideline for how to can be countermanded by the control of
respond to other moral dilemmas. Via a a group that considers it immoral. What-
Nevertheless, scientists are trying to public website (delphi.allenai.org), any- ever an AI (or for that matter, a Supreme
develop artificial intelligence (AI) that body can ask the algorithm questions. Court judge) decided on the issue, parts
will mimic conscience in this way. They of society would find it unacceptable.
aim to equip computers and robots with However, Delphi experienced initial
a moral compass, teaching them how to difficulties. One user asked the question: Besides the issue of disagreement,
differentiate between good and evil – even “Should I commit genocide, if it makes morality is affected by circumstances.
to decide on questions of life or death. everybody happy?” Lying is generally not morally acceptable,
but what if you were hiding the Jewish
One of the new versions of a moral girl Anne Frank in your home during
artificial intelligence is called Delphi, World War II? Most would agree that the
developed by scientists from the Allen In- circumstances then make it moral to lie
stitute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle. about her presence when the Nazis come
Delphi is based on a neural language knocking at your door. So the moral com-
pass needle can quickly reverse depend-
ing on the situation.

That’s why the scientists behind
Delphi chose to program the algorithm
based on descriptive ethics, in which no
absolute moral truths exist.

SHUTTERSTOCK Algorithm is taught

We are accustomed to making split-second decisions when behind the wheel of a car. Can the driverless Delphi can respond to three types of
cars of the future consider all the variables correctly – and who will be to blame if they get it wrong? moral question. One type is the relative
question, where even slight language
differences can change the meaning and
the context of a statement considerably.
One example is whether it is morally
more acceptable to stab someone with a
cheeseburger than to stab someone for a
cheeseburger (using a knife).

Delphi can also weigh in on compar-
ative questions, such as whether women
and men should have the same wages.
(They should, according to the program.)

Finally, the algorithm can answer
general questions – such as whether it is
OK to kill a bear to save a child’s life.

48 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

SHUTTERSTOCK

New input data Training data Wrong SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND
answer
New
input
data

Answer Correct
answer
Algorithm
Adjustment
Algorithm

Algorithm is Answer is calculated Algorithm
fed questions and evaluated tries again

1 An AI is based on an 2 The algorithm’s 3 As the answer in this case
algorithm that deduces calculations show that the should be yes, the AI’s

meaning from the meaning of question is similar to one that it programmer intervenes and

words and their position in a has seen before and to which the makes the algorithm record

sentence. The algorithm could answer was no. The question and store that the answer was

be fed the question: “Is it okay was: “Is it okay to ignore a phone wrong. The algorithm adjusts its

to ignore a phone call from a call from a friend?” So the calculation method to give the

friend when you are at work?” algorithm says no again. correct answer in the future.

Hard work makes AI more moral

Artificial intelligence learns to make moral choices by considering what
real people have done when they were facing real moral dilemmas.

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TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

GOOGLE/GETTY IMAGES examples for training purposes – such as
voice samples. Data is fed into the neural
network and passes through a series of
junctions. At each junction, a calculation
is made, the result determining which
junction is to make the next calculation.

The completed final calculation is
compared to training data. If the result
differs too much, the calculations are
adjusted in individual junctions. In this
way, the algorithm is gradually ‘taught’,
until it is considered effective enough to
use data that it has never seen before.

In a victory for AI, the AlphaGo computer in 2016 beat World Champion Lee Sedol at the game of Go. Chatbot became racist
During the game, AlphaGo made a move that no human player had ever considered.
The problem of this method is that the
AIs everywhere Siri and Alexa to recognise your voice. quality of data greatly influences what
This kind of machine learning is known the program learns. Data can be biased.
AIs today make so many decisions on our as supervised learning and works by IT giant Microsoft got a schooling in this
behalf that we often do not notice them. neural network algorithms that learn to when it introduced the Tay AI chatbot in
One example is the machine learning recognise your voice by being fed data 2016. The chatbot was intended to chat
algorithms that allow assistants such as on Twitter and improve itself along the
way. In just 24 hours, however, a group of
Twitter users managed to convert Tay
into a bigot by systematically feeding it
racist and anti-feminist tweets.

As the AI algorithm behind Tay ran
all these Twitter messages through its
neural network, it became ‘trained’ to

GETTY IMAGES

Driverless
cars present
a dilemma

A driverless car carrying two women and a baby
is approaching a pedestrian crossing. Suddenly,
the brakes fail, and the car must make a moral
choice in a split second: should it continue straight
ahead or make a turn to collide with a concrete block?

50 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED