2022-08-06 Science Illustrated

consider this kind of language to be a 99.3 algorithm not being taught the ‘correct’
normal part of Twitter chat. answers. Instead, the algorithm explores
% of questions and learns using simple assumptions.
“I f***ing hate feminists,” was one of about gender are now
the last tweets that subsequently came answered correctly by This method was part of the deep
from Tay’s Twitter account before Micro- the Delphi algorithm. learning used by the Google algorithm of
soft intervened. The example shows all AlphaGo, which has beaten world-leading
too clearly that an AI’s judgement is only avoiding embarrassing statements. The players at the strategic board game Go.
as good as the data with which it is fed. most recent version makes (according to AlphaGo found ways to win that even
those judging it) morally correct choices the best Go players had never thought of.
Verbal offence is one thing. But what on 97.9% of questions about race and
about choosing between life or death? 99.3% of questions about gender. But its Scientists from Uber AI Labs and Open-
This is a challenge that driverless cars database of moral dilemmas is still AI have studied how moral questions can
must be able to address. sourced primarily from white English- be handled by reinforcement learning
speaking people in the US. So it doesn’t algorithms. Such algorithms do not get
Imagine you are driving, and the account for moral variations elsewhere. direct supervision, but learn by specific
brakes fail. Suddenly you face the choice behaviour being rewarded, while other
of making a sharp turn to avoid colliding Could an AI teach us morals? behaviour is punished.
with a pedestrian in the street – even
though turning suddenly may result in Another variant of machine learning is As demonstrated by the AlphaGo
the car colliding with an oncoming car. known as reinforcement learning. This example, AI algorithms can surprise
differs from supervised learning by the humans by delivering results that we
What should you do? How can an AI have not ourselves previously considered.
make that life-and-death decision – and
who is responsible for the result? These The scientists studying AI think that
are among the questions currently keep- it might be possible for this type of AI to
ing driverless cars off our roads. suggest new solutions to difficult moral
dilemmas. But the driverless car example
The team behind Delphi has now im- shows how difficult it may be for humans
proved its algorithm, and it is better at to hand over arbitration of moral issues
to an artificial intelligence. Such trust
would require a level of AI infallibility so
far only seen in science-fiction.

SHUTTERSTOCK & LOTTE FREDSLUND

SCENARIO 1: SCENARIO 2:
The car does nothing The car makes a sharp turn

1 The driverless car can decide 1 The car makes a sharp turn,
to continue straight ahead. It colliding with a concrete block.

collides with two adults and a baby in The pedestrians are spared, but two

a pushchair. The baby dies, and the car passengers are killed, and one

man and woman are severely injured. injured. How could the car’s AI make

such a call, and who would a court

consider responsible for the decision?

scienceillustrated.com.au | 51

AEROSPACE ASTEROID MISSION

SPACE
PROBE
TO REVEAL
EARTH’S

If the Psyche probe undertakes
its space mission, it will reveal
Earth’s core at the same time.
That’s because its destination is
an asteroid that is the spitting
image of Earth’s core, which was
itself made from the remnants of
asteroids 4.5 billion years ago.

The distant mission to the Psyche
asteroid is also our best opportunity
to study our own Earth’s iron core.

PETER RUBIN/NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU/ SHUTTERSTOCK

52 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

scienceillustrated.com.au | 53

SHUTTERSTOCK

WHY READ THIS ARTICLE? that formed the rocky planets of Mercury, that it includes 1% of all the matter of the
Venus, Mars – and Earth. Astronomers Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter –
Earth’s iron core is 2885km beneath the have already launched probes into orbit and that’s more than a million asteroids.
surface, impossible to examine directly. around stony asteroids similar in make-up
A mission to the asteroid Psyche is now to Earth’s mantle. Probes have also visited The asteroids are remnants from the
delayed, but when launched could provide carbonaceous asteroids similar to those formation of the Solar System, and to un-
close-up information on the core of a small which probably provided Earth with derstand how the different types of aster-
planet destroyed in a collision. water and possibly life. oids now relate to Earth’s interior, we
must travel back in time to the formation
I n Jules Verne’s A Journey to the So far, we have never visited a metallic of the Solar System.
Centre of the Earth, the half-crazy asteroid. But NASA now has plans to do
Professor Lidenbrock travels with so, sending the Psyche probe on a 2.4 bil- The Sun was formed 4.6 billion years
guide Hans and reluctant nephew lion kilometre space mission to an aster- ago, from a cloud of dust and gas that
Axel to the Earth’s centre via an oid of the same name. collapsed into a star. The remains of the
Icelandic volcano. And after many dan-
gerous adventures the trio returns to The Psyche asteroid consists primarily 12
Earth’s surface again via a volcano in Italy. of metal, and astronomers believe that it
could be the core of a planetesimal – a km is the deepest drill hole
More than a century and a half has small planet – that was exposed when the yet achieved. That leaves
passed since Jules Verne wrote his famous planetesimal collided with another one. us some 2873km short of
science-fiction novel, but we are nowhere reaching the Earth’s core.
near reaching the centre of the Earth. We As we cannot travel to Earth’s interior
have drilled only 12km deep, and will like Professor Lidenbrock, the mission to
probably never access the core of iron and Psyche will give us the best opportunity
nickel so that geologists can examine yet to study an iron core at close range.
first-hand how the core formed inside the
young Earth. Solar System: a shooting booth

So instead, scientists are looking the Psyche is shaped like a giant potato.
other way – towards space, where aster- The metallic asteroid is 277km long and
oids still include all the building blocks averagely 223km wide, and it is so heavy

54 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

JAXA

Stony asteroids are the mantles of planetesimals UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA NASA/GODDARD/

Planetesimals close to the Sun were sufficiently PETER RUBIN/NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU
heated to form an iron core surrounded by a rock
mantle. Most such planetesimals were subsequently
destroyed in collisions, so that ordinary stony asteroids have
compositions closely corresponding to Earth’s mantle.

Carbonaceous asteroids brought water

Further away from the Sun, planetesimals avoided
melting, becoming carbonaceous asteroids that are
believed to have carried water and possibly organic matter
to Earth. Carbonaceous asteroids still include the original
building blocks of rocky planets.

Metallic asteroids resemble Earth’s iron core

Metallic asteroids such as Psyche could be the iron
cores of destroyed planetesimals, and so represent
miniature versions of Earth’s core. Although they have
hardened, they could still include evidence of how metal
cores formed at the centres of rocky planets.

cloud ended up as a disc rotating around Mission delayed: Psyche’s extended trip
the Sun’s equator.There the dust began to
collect together into first pebbles, then The Psyche probe was due to launch on 1 August 2022, but parts and
boulders, and subsequently into plane- testing delays made that impossible. There are possible launch periods
tesimals the size of the Moon. in 2023 and 2024, but the trip will take six years instead of four.

Close to the Sun, these planetesimals 2030: Orbit 2029 or 2030:
were heated from the outside by sunlight Arrival
and also from the inside by radioactive
decay. This caused the small planets to Psyche
melt, aloowing heavy metals such as iron
and nickel to travel to the centre, forming Mercury
a liquid iron core surrounded by a mantle
of lighter, molten rock. Mars
provides a
Further towards the outskirts of the push en route
Solar System, the planetesimals could
lose their radioactive heat into the cold Mars
of space. So those did not melt, and the
carbonaceous asteroids, which date back Venus NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU/SHUTTERSTOCK
to those planetesimals, include the rocky
planets’ most original building blocks: Sun 2023 or 2024:
loosely cemented pebbles and rocks. Earth Launch

In the beginning, the planetesimals of Probe
the inner Solar System collided over and
over again, and the biggest planetesimals and had just about cleared their orbits of flung into the Sun or out to the Asteroid
grew further by attracting the remnants smaller planetesimals and their remains Belt between Mars and Jupiter.
of the collisions. By 4.56 billion years ago, in the shape of asteroids that were either
the four inner rocky planets had formed, In the closest part of the Asteroid

scienceillustrated.com.au | 55

AEROSPACE ASTEROID MISSION

NASA/JPL-CALTECH tive magnetic field. The inner core is solid
metal, due to the intense pressure, al-
Engineers mount the probe’s four newly-developed ion thrusters which make such efficient though recent findings indicate it might
use of fuel that they only consume 20% of the fuel required by traditional ion thrusters. exist in some kind of super-ionic state
(see Science Update last issue, p10).
Belt, stony asteroids from the mantles By studying these asteroids, scientists
of destroyed planetesimals are the most are gaining knowledge about the original So far it has only been possible to
common objects to be encountered, and building blocks that formed Earth’s crust examine the core indirectly via seismic
they were the first to be paid a visit by a and mantle. data. So planet researchers are extremely
probe from Earth. interested in taking a closer look at the
Earth’s core is inaccessible large metallic asteroid Psyche. The aster-
In 2005, the Japanese Hayabusa probe oid could be an iron core from a destroyed
entered orbit around the stony asteroid But no probe has yet visited a metallic planetesimal and so provide a treasure
Itokawa, and five years later the probe asteroid, the type which will better reflect trove of information about how Earth and
returned to Earth with a small sample. the composition of Earth’s inner iron core, the other rocky planets – Mercury, Venus,
The analyses confirmed that stony aste- which begins at a depth of 2885km and and Mars – got their iron cores in the
roids are made up of the same minerals young Solar System.
as Earth’s mantle. 277
According to the dominant theory, this
In 2020, the Hayabusa-2 probe dropped metres long and 223 would have happened in the same way as
a capsule with 5.4g of asteroid dust col- metres wide – the potato- in planetesimals – by the rocky planets’
lected from deeper inside the Asteroid shaped asteroid Psyche interiors melting, after which the heavy
Belt from the carbonaceous asteroid of metals travelled into the core. The metal-
Ryugu. (The capsule landed in Woomera, accounts for 1% of all lic asteroid may be able to reveal details
South Australia.) Next year, a US probe, matter in the Asteroid Belt. about the process that we are unable to
OSIRIS-REx, should return with 400g of study directly down here on Earth.
dust from another carbonaceous asteroid continues to the very centre of the Earth,
known as Bennu. which lies at an average of 6371km from Psyche gets more mysterious
Earth’s surface. The outer core is mainly
Observations made during the visits liquid iron and nickel which, via their By the time that NASA gave the green
to the asteroids indicated that the planet- rotating motions, generate Earth’s protec- light for the Psyche mission in 2017,
esimals, of which carbonaceous asteroids planet researchers had been convinced
are the remains, include significant quan- for decades that the big metallic asteroid
tities of water, and Bennu’s surface in was a bare metal core from a destroyed
particular is rich in organic substances. planetesimal. They believed that 90% of
This supports those scientists that believe the asteroid’s matter was pure metal.
Earth’s water and perhaps the seeds of
life on Earth could have come from carbo- There were good arguments in favour
naceous asteroid impacts. of this. First and foremost, Psyche’s
surface reflects radar waves far more
strongly than either stony asteroids or
carbonaceous asteroids, indicating that
the surface is loaded with iron and nickel,
corresponding to Earth’s core.

But last year this simplistic concept
developed cracks, when Lauri Siltala from
the University of Helsinki in Finland, and
Mikael Granvik from the Luleå University
of Technology in Sweden published data
on 10 small asteroids that had came near
to the big metallic asteroid between 1974
and 2019. Their encounters with the
heavyweight changed the orbits of the
small asteroids – but not so much as
should have been the case if Psyche is
indeed a massive lump of iron.

When the two planetary researchers
calculated the asteroid’s density, the re-
sult of 3.9g per cm3 corresponded to only
half the density of iron. This indicates
that only some 30-60% of Psyche’s matter
is actually iron and nickel.

56 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Electrically-charged
gas propels the probe

The probe’s solar panels generate power
for a new type of ion thruster which will
be used for the first time on a long space
mission. The four thrusters emit flows
of xenon atoms, which accelerate the
probe to a speed of 200,000km/h.

Electromagnetic fields Fuel - Negative electrode
power the thruster intake + Magnet
Thruster channel
1 The voltage between a positive electrode (+) Positive
at the fuel intake and a negative (-) electrode electrode Electron

outside the thruster causes an electric field through Electron
Xenon ion
the thruster channel. Four magnetic rods generate a
scienceillustrated.com.au | 57
magnetic field across the electric field.

Electrons orbit Xenon atom -
a magnetic field +

2 The electrons (red) from the negative electrode

are captured by the magnetic field, and orbit
close to the thruster’s exhaust. The xenon fuel (blue)
is supplied, and the electric field pulls the xenon
atoms through the thruster channel.

Xenon ions ejected - KEN IKEDA MADSEN/ NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU/SHUTTERSTOCK
from the exhaust +

3 When the xenon atoms (blue) strike the negative
ring, it rips electrons (red) away from their

atomic nuclei, so that they become positive ions.

The negative ring ejects them from the thruster,

and the flow of ions propels the probe.

AEROSPACE ASTEROID MISSION

So scientists have now tweaked their NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU
theories about Psyche’s origin and devel-
opment. The dominant theory now in- The probe’s measuring instruments should be able to determine whether Psyche was originally the iron
volves the metal core from a destroyed core of a planetesimal, and whether iron volcanoes have since covered the surface in liquid metal.
planetesimal attracting rock and gravel
from the shattered mantle, thus getting a
thin crust of rock and metal that quickly
hardened. Iron volcanoes from the still
red-hot metal core would subsequently
have ejected flows of liquid iron and
nickel through cracks in the crust. Molten
metal is easy-flowing, so the metals
spread across large parts of the surface.
The cold of space then cooled the outside
of the metallic asteroid, while the liquid
metal core also eventually hardened.

The theory about iron volcanoes could
explain why major areas on the asteroid’s
surface are covered in pure metal. But the
explanation is speculative. Scientists still
don’t know for sure whether such ferro-
volcanism even exists.

Probe to solve Psyche’s mystery testing equipment meant the project There are launch opportunities in 2023
couldn’t make the proposed launch date. and 2024, but the relative positions of
The 2.6-tonne Psyche probe was planned A review board is currently discussing Earth and Psyche are then less favourable,
to launch on 1 August 2022 from Kennedy options and will report in September. making the journey 6 years instead of 3½.
Space Center in Florida. But late delivery
of the spacecraft’s flight software and

Three theories Psyche is a naked PETER RUBIN/NASA/JPL-CALTECH/ASU/SHUTTERSTOCK
explain Psyche’s planet core
formation
Scientists used to think that 90% of
Like other asteroids, Psyche is a remnant of Psyche was metal, so it had to be the
a planetesimal, but scientists do not know naked iron core of a destroyed planetesimal.
how it got its existing appearance, with a However, new data shows that the asteroid
metal surface. They have three theories, is only some 30-60% metal, so scientists
of which the first one has been rejected. have had to abandon this theory.

Planetesimal

Iron core

58 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Testing was crucial because the probe 85 of the planetesimal, the bare metal core
has a new type of ion thruster known as attracted rock and gravel from the former
Hall, which makes extremely efficient use kilometres is the height mantle and got a thin crust of rock, this
of its fuel, the noble gas xenon. A storage of the Psyche probe’s data will reveal the type of rock minerals.
tank of only 922kg of the gas should
suffice for the probe’s entire journey and planned final orbit above These observations will further reveal
subsequent orbits around the asteroid. the surface of the asteroid. whether iron volcanoes did subsequently
cover parts of the surface in liquid metal.
A traditional ion thruster would have so, it would prove that the asteroid
required five times more fuel, with a cost formed as an iron core in a former plane- The preliminary orbit begins at an
five times higher. Such a pricey project tesimal, because if liquid iron circulated altitude of 700km around Psyche, but
might never have got off the ground. in the core as a result of the small planet’s moves in ever closer during its planned
rotation and generated a magnetic field, duration of 21 months, ending only 85km
The mysteries of Psyche’s origin and the field would have been frozen in mag- above the surface, allowing scientists to
composition stand a good chance of being netic particles as the asteroid hardened. get closer to something like Earth’s core
solved when the probe does finally enter than they have ever been, and far closer
orbit.The probe carries three instruments, If so, we will know that the planetesimal than the nearly 2900km to Earth’s actual
and can use its own radio communication included a small version of Earth’s core. core deep below.
with Earth to calculate the distribution of
matter in the asteroid. This gravimetric The probe’s camera will photograph Such close-up exploration from the
calculation uses the fact that the distribu- Psyche at close range, but will also record Psyche probe should revolutionise our
tion of matter in Psyche’s interior will in- ultraviolet and near-infrared radiation knowledge about how Earth and the other
fluence the probe’s path, and this will be from the surface. If, after the destruction rocky planets formed and got their metal
determined from the radio signals. cores in the young Solar System.

The data will reveal whether or not So even though we may never be able
scientists are right in predicting a heavy to travel deep down into Earth’s interior
concentrated core of iron and nickel, sur- like Jules Verne’s Professor Lidenbrock,
rounded by lighter rock. NASA’s scientists still hope to study
Earth’s core by having their Psyche probe
The probe’s magnetometer will also take what will now be an even longer
check whether Psyche is magnetised. If journey in the opposite direction.

The asteroid hardened DOUG BOWMAN/SHUTTERSTOCK
into lumps
Iron core
Another possibility is that the
planetesimal was destroyed, causing
rock and metal to melt and harden into
lumps. Psyche could thereby consist of rock
crystals embedded in iron-like pallasites, a
kind of meteorite. However, this theory does
not explain the metal on the surface.

Rock crystal

Iron volcano

Iron volcanoes covered the surface

According to the preferred theory, Psyche
includes a thin rock mantle around a large iron
core, just like Mercury. Billions of years ago, iron
volcanoes emitted red-hot iron and nickel via cracks
in the mantle, covering the surface in metal.

ELENA HARTLEY

Rock mantle

HUMANS AUTISM

AUTISM defined
by stereotypes

Some people associate autism with SERIES
special mental powers – and others with
vaccines. Diagnosis numbers are up, but dibsbMeomuterttdinesaerturardenslisdhattoegeidrlanlsalototyoshftoeaeddrne,.
the truth differs greatly from the myths.

I“ f Charlie could communicate more intestinal bacteria – but according to the savants’, so in that regard the film gave a
than his basic needs, I think he latest research, it just isn’t that simple. realistic impression. On the other hand,
would tell us that autism is not a the film’s portrayal of autism produced an
super power for him, because I see Man remembered 12,000 books unfortunate stereotype. For many who
his pain with my own eyes when he saw the film, it made autism synonymous
In the 1988 film Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman

is unable to explain himself.” played an autist with exceptional mental with extraordinary gifts.

That is how American journalist Eileen gifts, which his brother, Tom Cruise, uses But in reality, the average autist is very

Lamb once described her 8-year-old autist to win at the card game blackjack. different from the maths geniuses in the

son. Their reality is far from the picture of One of the film’s primary sources of movies. Only some 10% of autists have

autists we often see in films such as Rain inspiration was an American by the name special gifts, such as being able to learn

Man and even in many documentaries. of Kim Peek, who could reportedly solve things quickly. Still fewer are savants with

In the world of film, autists often have sophisticated maths problems easily and maths, musical or artistic gifts.

extraordinary gifts – they can count cards, could accurately remember the contents “Autism is neither a funny guy on TV

make complex calculations in a split of 12,000 books, even phone directories. nor a woman making impossible calcula-

second or remember every detail of their Such extreme gifts are typical for ‘autistic tions,” says Eileen Lamb, who suffers from

day. But 90% of autists do not have a mild kind of autism herself. “The

such extreme mental gifts. Some AUTISM DIAGNOSES HAVE MULTIPLIED first is a cliché that might be partly
25-50% find it difficult even to say BY NEARLY SEVEN TIMES true for some of us, and the latter
more than a few words, as was the is as rare as it is in people without

case with Eileen’s son, Charlie. 200 400 600 800 the diagnosis.”

Autism is an often misunder-

stood diagnosis. It comes in many Autism is not one diagnosis

versions, and it is often extremely Instead, autism is characterised

challenging. Children like Charlie by very different traits. A develop-

often harm themselves, and are mental disorder in the brain leaves

usually never able to live their life autists with difficulties in commu-

without significant help from nication and social contexts. Their

others. It is alarming, then, that the behaviour is often repetitive, with

number of people with an autism extreme focus on details.

diagnosis has risen tremendously 0 The definitions are made still
in recent decades. more vague because autism is not
2000 2005 2010 2015 2020

The rapid rise has led people to According to a British study, doctors diagnosed 687% one single diagnosis, but includes a

suggest links between autism and more people with autism in 2018 than they did in 1998. group of overlapping developmental

anything from the MMR vaccine to disorders that differ from each

60 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Autists often have Autists are
difficulties in challenged
social contexts. in three ways

SHUTTERSTOCK Autism spectrum disorders are
characterised by challenges
in three core areas. But
the scale of individual
symptoms can vary greatly
from one person to the next.

?

Social interaction Communication Stereotyped behaviour

Avoid eye contact and Do not understand Focus on details instead of
physical contact. body language or facial the whole or the meaning.
expressions.
Have difficulties Have highly specialised
making friends. Do not understand verbal interests such as timetables.
metaphor (such as ‘cold feet’).
Have unusual social behaviour Sort and arrange toys in
that might seem awkward. Use formal monotonous rows and patterns instead
language. of playing with them.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 61

HUMANS AUTISM

SHUTTERSTOCK have major social challenges. Hence the alive, bolstered by controversies over
extent of autism has been difficult to map Covid vaccines, with the autism scare still
Autism and vaccines have been linked in public out. Studies indicate that 1.7-2.8% of all hanging on despite several studies estab-
debate, but with no scientific proof whatsoever. children are autists at some level, and lishing that the MMR vaccine has no
with numbers that have risen greatly in influence on the development of autism.
other in the extent of symptoms. At many nations. In the UK, annual diagno- A major analysis of a total of 1,256,407
one end of the spectrum are autists like ses rose by 687% from 1998 to 2018. children revealed that the risk of develop-
Charlie: disabled, or unable to speak. At the ing autism remains the same whether the
other end people with Asperger syndrome But the causes of the increase have child has the MMR vaccine or not.
– such as Eileen Lamb – have normal remained controversial. A series of new
language skills and intelligence, but still studies shed light on the matter. So what is the cause? Several scientists
began to suspect that intestinal bacteria
Vaccine wrongly suspected might cause autism. They found the
bacteria to be different in autists, and
In many cases, the first symptoms of suggested that microbes might secrete
autism materialise when a child is about substances that could influence the brain.
1.5 years old, as was the case with Charlie.
His symptoms appeared suddenly, when In 2021, however, an Australian study
his language and social skills development conducted by Autism CRC, Mater Research
seemed to be going backwards. and the University of Queensland cast
doubt on this intestinal bacterium theory.
Such cases are not uncommon with It concluded that such bacteria do not
autism on-set, and the timing of this cause autism but rather are a symptom of
phenomenon has bred a die-hard myth. it. The bacterial differences arise because
With the first signs of autism arriving autists’ love of repetition mean they
near the time that children receive a first consume less varied diets. The scientists
dose of MMR vaccine against measles,
mumps and German measles, the vaccine
became suspected of actually causing
autism. The result has been the sizable
antivaccine movement, which is still

Autist brains
are different

The brain’s structure and function
seem to be different in autists.
Although the differences are slight
and vary from person to person,
some characteristics are typical.

Autism can be observed
in the brain by the first
year of life.

SHUTTERSTOCK

62 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

concluded that diet treatments and the Hormone influences the brain Doctors lack a cure
practice of faecal microbiota transfers
would therefore not be effective as treat- The key to the remaining 40% rise in Baron-Cohen’s ideas are challenged by
ment for autism, as some have suggested. autism diagnoses is probably to be found others, but there is still a steadily-growing
in the brain, scientists think, but they do knowledge in the field which scientists
60% of rise explained not know exactly where. Nevertheless hope will not only explain the rising
they have identified a series of brain number of autism diagnoses, but will help
Danish scientists in 2015 explained some centres that seem to play a central role in to develop new treatments.
of the reasons behind a rise in diagnoses, autism symptoms.
though not the condition itself. Autism cannot yet be cured, although
English psychologist Simon Baron- intellectual, language and social skills
They found two possible causes. One Cohen may even have found an explana- and general mental health can often be
was that the definition of autism has tion of why autists’ brains develop in the improved through behavioural therapy,
been widened, so that people who would way they do. His theory could also explain socioeducational treatment, and various
have previously been diagnosed differ- why men are about 4% more likely to exercises. One of those who has benefit-
ently (or not diagnosed at all) were now develop autism than women. ted from such treatment is Eileen Lamb’s
diagnosed with autism. Eileen Lamb’s son, Charlie.
Asperger syndrome, say, was previously He defined an ‘E–S theory’, comparing
not considered an autism diagnosis. a person’s Empathy Quotient (EQ) to their “He is more focused,” Lamb explains
Systemising Quotient (SQ). According to after one of Charlie’s treatment sessions
The other cause was changes in the Baron-Cohen, females on average score that involve stimulation of his senses. “He
collection of data. Previously, statistics higher for empathy, males for systemis- is happier and less worked up. He eats
included only patients admitted to a ing, and he suggests this is because of well and sleeps better.”
psychiatric hospital ward for several the influence of the male sex hormone
days. But from the mid-1990s, patients testosterone during brain development. But autism still needs both new treat-
briefly admitted to hospital also counted. ments and a wider understanding of this
Similar changes probably explain much Baron-Cohen also demonstrated that misunderstood diagnosis.
of the rise in other countries. both male and female autists often had
marked male personality traits, so there “Autism is not a super power for Char-
But the Danish study explained only is the possibility that testosterone during lie,” Eileen Lamb repeats. “But Charlie is a
around 60% of the rises seen. That still embryonic development may play a role superhero, because he fights so hard to do
in the development of autism. the easy things that most other people
leaves 40% of the rise unexplained. need not think about.”

Hemispheres develop differently

In autists, parts of the cerebral cortex are thicker

1 in one cerebral hemisphere than the other, a
difference which is less marked in non-autists.
The biggest difference is observed in the upper part of the
frontal lobes, which control behaviour and social skills.

Brain centres receive less blood

In autists, some brain centres such as the frontal

2 lobes receive less blood than is common. The lack
of blood influences the brain’s development and
function and may be connected with low IQ, language
problems, and other symptoms.

Network gets out of control

Children with autism have more and stronger

3 nerve signals in the lower part of the brain than
do other children. The higher brain activity may
have to do with autists’ behavioural stereotypes and their
social and emotional challenges.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 63

TECHNOLOGY FLYING CARS

Noise reduction,
traffic rules and
landing sites will all
be required before

FLYING
CARS
CONQUER
OUR CITIES

A Japanese version of a flying
car is close to approval, but there’s
a key problem standing in the way
of flying vehicles conquering the
airspace above our city streets.

By Mikkel Meister

Flying electric cars could
solve urban problems
including congested roads,
noise, and even air pollution.

SHUTTERSTOCK

TECHNOLOGY FLYING CARS

A nother early morning jam taking their cues from the fast-paced with sulphur or air (see last issue) might
on the busy radial road to drone industry, with drone-like rotors on make flying cars more planet-friendly.
work.Your car has come to their wings. Such vehicles are closer than
a halt amid horns honking ever to realising their potential as a mode Another advantage of electric flying
from impatient motorists of transport that could solve big city cars is that an electric motor has far fewer
stuck in the ever-extending rush ‘hour’. problems such as congested roads, noise, parts than a fuel engine. It can be more
and pollution. But there are hurdles to be compact, so reducing both the weight and
Then a message appears, projected jumped before we can sky-hop to work. wind resistance of flying cars.
onto your windscreen: ‘Do you wish to
switch to flight mode?’ Electric motors send cars flying The flying SkyDrive car employs eight
electric motors, driving eight rotors. The
You press ‘Yes’, and your car’s battery Electric flying cars are also known as use of multiple small motors in this way
power switches to four rotors. As your car eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and land- provides useful redundancy; even if one or
rises, you escape the congested road ing) vehicles, power-operated passenger
below, landing a few minutes later in a transport that can vertically take off and 230
vertiport – a car park for flying cars. As land. Vertical launch itself is not new: is how many hours the
usual, you make the office on time. helicopters and military aircraft such as average San Francisco
the Harrier and V-22 Osprey have done citizen spends commuting
No wonder the dream of flying cars this for decades. But they are VTOL with-
has existed almost as long as the car itself. out the electrical element; they don’t use annually.
An integral part of countless sci-fi films, electric motors to power their propellers
their take-off always seems to be just a and rotors. more motors were to fail, the craft can still
few years away – yet they have failed to land safely, with the remaining motors
fill our skies with flying commuters. One of the advantages of electric compensating for the lack of lift.
motors is that they can be very efficient
Now, perhaps, we are close to a real- in converting up to 90% of the power of a NASA started the wave
world launch. In 2021, the SkyDrive flying battery or fuel cell into required motion,
car was given a green light by Japan’s such as the rotation of a propeller. They The eVTOL concept got its big boost back
aviation authorities for a ‘type certificate’, also benefit from any new breakthroughs in 2010, when NASA introduced the idea
the first step towards getting an aircraft in battery technology – even iterative of the personal Puffin electric aircraft.The
approved to inhabit the country’s air improvements can boost their potential, 3.7-metre-long plane was to have a wing
routes in a legal and safe manner. with lithium-ion batteries, for example, span of 4.4 metres, taking off and landing
becoming some 8% more efficient every vertically, able to fly at a speed of some
The SkyDrive is not the only flying car year over the past three decades. And new 241km/h, and with a limited range of
under development. Some of the latest battery types replacing expensive lithium some 80km. Although Puffin never made
designs are hybrids, able to drive on roads it to full-scale trials, it triggered a wave of
and then take to the air. But most are new eVTOL concepts from plane-makers
more like a personal propeller aircraft, such as Airbus and Boeing.

KLEINVISION AirCar is the closest we have come to the An eVTOL aircraft offers advantages
classic idea of a flying car. In June 2021, over traditional planes and cars. Electric
AirCar took a 35-minute test flight between aircraft are far quieter than helicopters,
the cities of Nitra and Bratislava in Slovakia. which would be far too noisy for use en
masse in high-traffic cities (as the team at
Australian Science Illustrated can attest
from our location close to a hospital heli-
pad!). Noise is one of the key criteria that
Airbus is applying in its development of a
‘CityAirbus’ concept – envisaged as a fly-
ing bus capable of speeds up to 120km/h,
but limited to 65dB, around the level of
background traffic noise on a busy street.

Secondly, of course, eVTOL vehicles are
less vulnerable to traffic jams, whether

66 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

For 150 years we have been
dreaming of flying cars

The propeller-driven flying cars of the present were preceded by experiments by
engineers over the years – some nearly successful, others just pie in the sky.

1917

Curtiss autoplane
almost flew

The Curtiss Autoplane is considered the first real
attempt to develop a hybrid between a plane and a
car. But the autoplane could only barely take off, so
the 8.2-metre flying car never became a real success.

GKN AEROSPACE SERVICES LTD, POLFOTO/RITZAU SCANPIX, FLIGHT MAGAZINE 1917 & BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES

scienceillustrated.com.au | 67

TECHNOLOGY FLYING CARS

SkyDrive due for take-off in 2025

SkyDrive SD-03 is an eVTOL – an electric aircraft that can take off and land vertically.
If it keeps to plan, the flying car could hover above Japanese streets from 2025.

Top speed: 50km/h Eight propellers = safety

A lithium-ion battery powers the SkyDrive includes a total of eight
electric motors that allow a flying propellers and eight electric
time of 5-10 minutes at a speed of some motors that function according to the
50km/h. The prototype seats only one distributed electric propulsion principle.
person, but an upgraded two-person This means that if one or more motors
version that can fly for up to 30 minutes fail, the rest will compensate and land
is planned to be delivered by 2025. the craft safely on the ground.

Vertical take-off and landing

The landing gear is used much like that of a
helicopter as the craft takes off and lands
vertically. SkyDrive can currently reach an alti-
tude of 150 metres; the upgraded 2025 model
should fly 100km/h at altitudes up to 500 metres.

68 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

caused by road works or congestion. In
San Francisco, the average citizen spends
230 hours a year – equivalent to 9.5 days
– just commuting to and from work. No
wonder that post-Covid workforces are
proving slow to abandon home-working.
But by sending some passenger transport
into the air, engineers hope to relieve
pressure on road, train and metro infra-
structure, reducing travel time for all.

Thirdly, the eVTOL concept might
achieve a lower climate impact than heli-
copters and planes, since the planes are
powered by electric motors and lithium-
ion batteries instead of aviation fuel.

Car flies between airports FERROVIAL Flying car traffic would only be possible by
constructing ‘vertiports’ in city centres so that
Today, there are two general categories of commuters can park close to their destinations.
eVTOL. There are small passenger flight
vehicles like SkyDrive that resemble the Indeed one of the biggest challenge for literally another dimension. The sensors
remote drones known as quadcopters. flying cars will be the need for a wealth of developed for cars can record what hap-
But there are also real flying cars. landing spots throughout a city for all the pens in front of, behind, and to the sides
incoming commuters to land close to of cars. For the technology to be useful for
The latter category includes AirCar, their final destination. flying cars, it will also need to know what
which in June 2021 flew for 35 minutes happens above and below the craft.
between Nitra and Bratislava airports in But in cities, space is cramped, and
Slovakia. AirCar is equipped with wings parking can be expensive, let alone book- And as with autonomous cars, there
that can be folded along the car body after ing a private landing zone. So engineers will need to be rules. Most city authorities
landing, allowing the car to drive on ordi- foresee the use of existing surface areas don’t allow airborne vehicles anywhere
nary roads as well, using the four wheels as vertiports – on the roofs of tall build- near built-up urban areas, and the idea of
that it also has, like any ordinary car. The ings, or on the surface of rivers and lakes. thousands of independent commuters
process of converting AirCar from a car whizzing around will need some serious
into a plane takes around three minutes. Pilotless flying bus consideration of traffic regulations.
Aircar’s body is made of a composite
material that – along with wings and tail The lack of landing spots is not, however, Only once such problems are solved
– contributes to lift during flight. the biggest problem facing engineers. could we buzz off back to the suburbs,
That will be the safety issues. And it leaving the rush hour traffic behind.
50 seems clear that to maximise safety and
minimise the risk of collisions, flying cars WATCH SKYDRIVE’S
km/h is the top speed should be pilotless wherever possible. CURIOUS ’WE WILL BE THE
of the Skydrive flying car. FIRST PENGUIN IN THE SKY’
So a number of companies, including PROMO VIDEO HERE
It can fly for about 10 GKN Aerospace, are looking into cameras
minutes on one charge. and sensor systems that might allow tinyurl.com/science93
pilotless flying buses to navigate safely
However, the disadvantage of AirCar is between city locations. GKN’s ‘Skybus’ is
that it requires a traditional landing strip, foreseen as a future pilotless part of city
and that would take up too much space in transport, seating some 50 passengers.
a city environment. If flying cars are to
seriously challenge conventional trans- One of the challenges for engineers is
port, vertical take-off and landing will be to extend driverless car technology into
essential, and will require special airports
known as vertiports to be developed.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 69

FROM THE SCIENTIFIC ARCHIVES MEDICAL
INSULIN

NOW: Frederick Banting used
dogs in his efforts to
INSULIN isolate insulin and
IS STILL IN treat diabetes.
SHORT SUPPLY
EVERETT COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES
Globally, 420 million
SHUTTERSTOCK people have diabetes, In the faint light of a Canadian the air, which Ed Jeffery knows is
and 1 in 6 of them are January, the ward in Toronto’s characteristic of diabetics. And he
treated with insulin. university hospital is in semi- knows that the boy Leonard is dying.
Today, we don’t need darkness. Local physician Ed
dogs or cattle and Jeffrey enters the room and he Jeffrey uses the needle to inject
pigs to make insulin. walks towards one of the beds. In his through the almost non-existing fat
Instead it is produced hand he holds a large syringe with a layer under the boy’s skin and into
using genetically 45mm-long injection needle. the large gluteal muscle of one of the
modified bacteria boy’s buttocks, injecting a brownish
and yeast cells. In He cautiously removes the blanket liquid. Exactly 7.5ml is required.
spite of these more from the patient, Leonard Thompson.
efficient production The boy is only 14 years old, but he The patient’s other buttock gets a
methods, some half of somehow looks both younger and shot as well, before the doctor jots
the world’s patients, older at the same time. He weighs down the date – 11 January 1922. Now,
particularly in poor less than 30kg, and has lost most of all they can do is wait. And hope.
nations, still do not his hair. His hip and breast bones
have access to insulin. protrude, and the stomach is inflated. Leonard Thompson was not the
There is a sharp smell of acetone in only one waiting for a miracle in 1922.
Around 70 million diabetics now use There were thousands of diabetic
insulin injections, although that children, young people and adults
number could be twice as high if
everybody had access to medication.

70 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

By Else Christensen & Niels-Peter Granzow Busch

A failed doctor 100 YRS

SINCE THE FIRST
SUCCESSFUL

DIABETES TREATMENT

used stray dogs

to find the miracle

of insulin

In the early 1900s, a diabetes diagnosis
was a death sentence – until 1922, when
a cash-starved doctor by the name of
Frederick Banting realised that the cure
might come from the pancreas of a dog.

Wcabeintlelhdcsooddumioatebnineovstetuircalysibnscs,kaobinrnobndsyyu. gar.
NPEHWOTYOORREKSPEUABRLCIHCELRIBSR/RAIRTYZ/AU SCANPIX

living on borrowed time with a disease
which was a death sentence. Many
doctors had attempted treatments, but
a cure was still just a dream when
Leonard Thomson got the injections
that marked another field trial.

Diabetes was not new soon began to pee on the floor of the whether that secretion, which was
lab. And the dog’s urine also turned out named insulin in 1910, could be used to
Diabetes was nothing new to medical to include high levels of sugar – a relieve diabetes. Even if it could, nobody
practioners. A disease that is probably phenomenon that scientists knew to knew how to isolate it.
diabetes was described in a papyrus be a symptom of diabetes.
script from Ancient Egypt, thought to Many doctors were dedicating their
date to around 1550 BC. The authors Other scientists discovered that the lives to solving the mystery of insulin
recommended a diet of cereal and cells of the islets of Langerhans, which – but that was not initially a priority
berries to keep the disease in check. are clusters of cells in the pancreas, for the man who eventually had the
reduce the level of glucose (sugar) in crucial idea, one Frederick Banting.
In the 1880s, two German diabetes the blood by means of some unknown Banting was born in 1891 on a farm
researchers, Oskar Minkowski and

scienceillustrated.com.au | 71

MEDICINE INSULIN

in Ontario, Canada. Farming was “I wrote a prescription, considering NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY/PHOTO RESEARCHERS/RITZAU SCANPIX
not Banting’s cup of tea, and in 1912, myself a highly trained bartender,” he
he started medical school in Toronto. later wrote, with some bitterness. Banting (right) and Best with one of the many
Two years later, World War I broke dogs that died in the search for an insulin cure.
out, and the university cut courses By the end of the month, he had
short so that doctors could be sent to earned four dollars. Shortly after that, Banting’s idea was to block the duct
the front. Banting soon found himself Edith returned her engagement ring. through which digestion enzymes pass
in a field hospital in France. Banting’s dream was ruined. from the pancreas to the duodenum. He
reasoned that the cells that produced the
Reading produced an idea He took a new job as a teaching enzymes would wither away, leaving the
assistant. The pay was better, but he insulin-producing cells intact. In this way
When 29-year-old Banting returned had trouble sleeping, and he took to it might be possible to isolate the insulin,
war-weary to Canada in 1920, he had reading dreary scientific texts late at Banting thought.
only one wish: to live a peaceful life night until he fell asleep. On 30 Octo-
with a loving wife. He asked his high ber 1920 he happened to choose an “Try to isolate the internal secretion to
school sweetheart Edith to marry article by pathologist Moses Barron. relieve glycosuria (sugar in the urine)...”
him, and she accepted. he noted, before he dozed off.
Barron had performed an autopsy
At the same time, he bought a on a person in whom the duct of the
house and established a medical pancreas had been blocked by a gall-
practice in London, Ontario. Banting stone. The doctor noted that the cells
planned to marry Edith when he of the pancreas that produce diges-
began to earn money, but his practice tion enzymes had dried out, whereas
had a slow start. His only early most of the cells producing hormones
were still intact.

E TRE A T ME N T Banting was close to giving up
J U LY 1 9 22
B E F OR The next day, after Banting had finished a
10 lecture at the university, he described his
idea to his superior, who referred him to
ER T R E ATM E N T Professor John Macleod. He was an expert
0J U L Y 192 3 in the field at the University of Toronto,
A F T The following week, Banting paid Mac-
1 leod’s office a visit. The professor was
rather arrogant, but promised to take a
look at the matter if Banting introduced
his plans in a formal letter.

Unimpressed, Banting went home. He
did write to Macleod, but at the same
time he sent an application to the leaders
of an oil exploration expedition to north-
ern Canada, which he had heard needed
a doctor. Sending both letters on the same
day, he resolved to accept whichever offer
came first. Macleod came through, declar-
ing that Banting could use a lab at the
University of Toronto over the summer.

Lack of insulin forces AKG-IMAGES/DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY
cells to eat the body

STOMACH N O R M A L M E TA B O L I S M : Insulin opens cells to sugar

DUCT In the pancreas, groups of cells known as the islets of Langerhans 1 produce insulin,
which flows through the body in the blood along with sugar (glucose) from our food.
PANCREAS En route, the insulin binds to receptors 2 on muscle cells, etc. The receptors tell the
cells to open a “gate” 3 for the sugar, by which the cells get energy for their work.
DUODENUM
Insulin Receptor Sugar
Pancreas
assists 3
digestion
1
The 15cm-long pancreas 2
produces a digestive secretion
that is diverted to the food in T Y P E 1 D I A B E T E S : Insulin opens cells to sugar
the duodenum via a duct.
The enzymes of the secretion In people with type 1 diabetes, the body stops producing insulin 1 . It happens because the immune
help break down the food in system erroneously eliminates the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Without insulin, the
the intestines, allowing the receptors do not tell the cells to open the gates 2 to sugar. Consequently, the sugar accumulates
body to absorb the nutrients. 3 in the blood, and the cells ‘eat’ body fat instead. The process could cause fatal poisoning.

Insulin 1 3

Sugar

2

Receptor

T Y P E 2 D I A B E T E S : Cells refuse to open the gate

In people with type 2 diabetes, the receptors on body cells do not react sufficiently to insulin 1 .
In addition, sufficient insulin is often not produced. As with type 1 diabetes, the result is that
the receptors do not 2 tell cells to open the gate to sugar, which can consequently neither
enter the cell nor be converted into energy 3 .

scienceillustrated.com.au | 73

MEDICINE INSULIN

Even so, Banting hesitated, only In the first experiment, one dog Countless children were saved by Banting’s
accepting in mid-April when he learned died of a drug overdose. In the next, a insulin. This is a thank you letter from a girl
that the oil expedition didn’t require a dog bled to death from infection. The named Janet written in 1922.
doctor anyway. On 14 May 1921 Banting problems were not helped by Banting’s
locked the door of his failed clinic in inexperience with surgical procedures, He didn’t have much money even
Ontario and dedicated himself full- especially in the old laboratory which for that. Banting was on the brink of
time to the mystery of diabetes. was hard to keep clean. bankruptcy, living in a small rented
room and surviving on the free meals
Dogs pay the price for poor By early July, Banting had discovered handed out at the city’s Bible school.
hygiene in experiments that the constriction of the pancreas
in the donor dogs’ had failed in five of But finally, his fortunes turned.
Apart from permission to use the lab, seven dogs. He started over – but four By mid-July, Banting and his assistant
Macleod made available to Banting a more dogs died within a few days. were seeing indications that the donor
medical student, Charles Best, and 10 dog surgery was proceeding success-
dogs to use in his experiments. Macleod, A turn of fortune
meanwhile went off to visit Scotland.
After seven weeks, Banting’s only
But Banting’s first experiments did achievement was to have significantly
not go well. Each experiment required reduced the experimental dog popula-
two dogs: one as a donor and the other tion of the University of Toronto. He
a receiver. The donor dog had its had already exhausted his supply of
pancreas constricted so it could supply experimental animals and had to
insulin for the receiver dog, whose resort to catching stray dogs and buying
pancreas had been removed. mixed-breed mutts cheaply.

Famous diabetics suffered for decades

Diabetes is a common disease that can strike anybody. Until 1922, most victims died of type 1 diabetes
at a young age, whereas type 2 diabetes could be survived if patients changed their lifestyle dramatically.

PHARAOH AUTHOR INVENTOR INVENTOR
SHUTTERSTOCK
SHUTTERSTOCK
HI-STORY/IMAGESELECT
CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP/RITZAU SCANPIX

Hatshepsut Jules Verne Alexander Graham Bell Thomas Edison

1507-1458 BC: 1828-1905: 1847-1922: 1847-1931:

In 2007, when The famous French The engineer who According to his own
scientists examined author who wrote was born in Scotland notes, the American
the mummy of the Around The World and invented the inventor rarely slept
female Egyptian Pharaoh In 80 Days developed type 2 first functional telephone for more than four hours a
Hatshepsut, it turned out diabetes at the age of developed type 2 diabetes night. He developed type 2
that she had diabetes. She approximately 50. A diet in old age. He died of the diabetes at age 40, but kept
was obese, which is one of allowed him to live for another disease in 1922 – the year in the disease at bay with a
the causes of type 2 diabetes. 27 years, but finally his body which Frederick Banting’s vegetarian diet. In his last
Hatshepsut died of cancer at gave in, and he died of insulin treatment achieved years of life, he reportedly
the age of approximately 50. diabetes complications. its breakthrough. fed on milk and cigars.

74 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

fully, and the experiments could seriously Calf embryos helped Marie Krogh (left) had HOLGER DAMGAARD/RITZAU SCANPIX
begin. Carefully, Banting and his assistant diabetes and made her
cut the donor dogs’ pancreases into disc The success they’d had with Marjorie husband, August Krogh (front),
sections, mixing them with a special salt was largely due to the fact that Bant- take an interest in insulin.
water solution. The mixture was then ing had managed to find a new source
placed in brine and frozen. Subsequently, of insulin extract. Married couple
they soaked the contents and filtered founded global
them. They were left with a beaker of Banting had remembered some- insulin giant
unpromising brownish-looking liquid. thing from his childhood on the farm,.
Cows there were often impregnated In 1922, August and Marie
On 30 July at 10.15 AM, they heated a shortly before they were to be sent for Krogh of Denmark won the
little of the brownish mixture and then slaughter. The reasoning was that the rights to manufacture insulin
injected it into experimental dog No. 410. pregnant animals started to eat more, in Scandinavia. The company,
The animal’s blood sugar level fell almost and so became fatter. And as calf the couple founded is today
immediately to the normal rate. One hour embryos have no need to develop known as Novo Nordisk – the
later, they gave the dog another injection, digestive glands until after they are world’s leading insulin maker.
and the blood sugar level fell again. The born, Banting realised that their
result was clear: the extract from the pancreases would be ideal for his 1920
donor dog’s pancreas was working. experiments. He began experimenting Krogh awarded
using embryos from local butchers a Nobel Prize
Dog No. 410 was not the only one until, on 11 January 1922, Banting
that reacted to the treatment. On 1 believed that the extract could be Physiologist August Krogh is
August, they found dog No. 406 – one of tested on a human being. invited to the US after having
the dogs which had had its pancreas been awarded a Nobel Prize.
removed – unconscious and dying. Bant- At the time, the only existing treat- But he is unable to go, as
ing injected the extract into the dog, ment against diabetes was to limit the his wife has been diagnosed
which shortly after woke up, stood up, patient’s calory intake drastically. with diabetes.
and started to walk about the lab. Sadly this meant that many patients
starved to death. By the time the 1922
They repeated the experiment with 14-year-old Leonard Thompson was Insulin rights won
other dogs. Again, the results were good. hospitalised one month previously, he
Banting cheered. was so skinny that his father had to The Kroghs finally travel to
carry him in, and he was close to America to visit Banting’s lab in
“I have so much to tell you that I death when physician Ed Jeffrey, who Canada. There Krogh wins the
hardly know where to begin,” Banting had been asked to conduct the exper- rights to manufacture insulin in
wrote enthusiastically to Macleod. iment, injected two 7.5ml samples of Scandinavia. Back in Denmark,
Banting’s insulin into the thin body. he cooperates with his wife’s
He asked for a better laboratory – and doctor H.C. Hagedorn.
an extra employee who could help with The first injections produced no
the cleaning. Hygiene remained a prob- result. But when the injections were 1936
lem even after they could see the idea repeated the next day, his blood sugar Hagedorn develops
was working. Several of the experimental level fell dramatically from 5.2mg to new insulin
dogs that initially reacted positively to 1.2mg. The miracle had happened.
the treatment had subsequently died The insulin had worked. After having initiated insulin
from infection during the experiment, production in Denmark in 1923,
much to Banting’s frustration, . In 1923, Frederick Banting and Krogh and Hagedorn continue
John Macleod received a Nobel Prize to research insulin. In 1936,
While Banting waited for a reply, for the discovery. A century later, it Hagedorn creates a new type
he and Best celebrated their triumph of remains a life-changing treatment of insulin that will allow
keeping one of the recipient dogs healthy for those with diabetes. For Banting diabetics to make do with
and stable for weeks. But even this dog, a bright research career was waiting, fewer daily injections.
which they named Marjorie, had to be put but he chose to found a private clinic
down after 70 days due to infection. specialising in diabetes treatment, 1989
and he even managed to marry – Merger produces
“I will never forget that dog,” the twice, in fact, before he was killed in Novo Nordisk
doctor wrote. “I’ve watched patients die a car accident at 49. But his place in
without shedding one single tear. But medical history was assured. Krogh’s insulin company
when that dog died, I couldn’t help crying. (Nordisk Gentofte A/S)
I just wanted to be alone.” merges with Danish
arch-rival Novo Industri A/S
to become Novo Nordisk.

SHUTTERSTOCK

5 MYTHS ABOUT
WASTE RECYCLING

76 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

By Niels Halfdan Hansen

“Recycled = poorer quality” PARTLY TRUE SHUTTERSTOCK

Different materials are not equally easy to recycle. Almost 100% of aluminium and iron can be recycled, because the metals can be
Elements such as aluminium and iron can be sorted sorted accurately based on their density or melting points.
accurately based on their density or melting points, allow-
ing us to almost fully recycle them. 75% of all aluminium
ever manufactured over the years is still in use today.
With other types of waste, it is indeed difficult to avoid
downcycling, which means the quality becomes increasing-
ly poor every time the material is recycled. Paper is one
example of this: paper quality depends on the length of
the paper fibres, and these become shorter, thinner and
less stiff as they are used over and over again.
Eventually the fibres are only good for cardboard; this
is generally the case after an average of seven recycles.

“Waste is great for producing green energy”

The vast majority of household waste Some 12kg of wet waste can generate about The results are biogas, bio-oil, and a
is better suited for new production the same energy as a litre of crude oil. black powder known as biochar, that is
via recycling than for generating energy. 65%+ carbon. Biochar can be spread in
About 90% of dry waste (glass, metal, The pyrolysis method can be used for fields to improve farmland, and the charred
paper, plastic) can be recycled if sorted and almost all materials that include organic biowaste binds CO2 that would otherwise
handled correctly. Wet waste such as food compounds – even rubber from old car have escaped to the atmosphere. Some
scraps can, however, be advantageously tyres. Before pyrolysis, the waste is dried 12% of annual CO2 emissions could be
used for energy generation such as biogas. and pulverised, after which it is briefly neutralised by widespread use of biochar.
subjected to temperatures of 400-800°C.

Pressure and heat convert food into oil MAINLY FALSE

In a few minutes, the hydrothermal liquefaction method can produce
fuel that normally takes millions of years to form.

350°C NO S 65 C°
H 200 C°
H 290 C°

Waste is heated Hydrogen purifies crude oil Heat sorts fuel

1 Wet organic material such as sewage 2 The substance is treated with 3 The crude oil is heated, producing
slurry or food scraps is heated to hydrogen, which combines with
different substances at different
350°C and subjected to 250 times the pres- the surplus oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur, temperatures. Petrol is separated at
65 degrees, aviation fuel at 200 degrees,
sure at Earth’s surface for a few minutes. and is subsequently removed. The result is diesel and fuel oil at 290 degrees. SHUTTERSTOCK

Water, gas and dry matter are removed. crude oil almost identical to natural crude.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 77

NATURE ENVIRONMENT

“Recycling is FALSE SHUTTERSTOCK
not worthwhile”
The extraction of lithium from ore requires huge
Waste recycling often pays off. This is quantities of water to be pumped from the ground.
especially true for metals, which are easy to
sort and refine. As noted, aluminium tops the list, Its mining can lower the ground water level
its recycling requiring only 5% of the energy that and cause increased desertification.
would be consumed to extract new aluminium.
Recycling is also good for the environment.
Calculations show that if the US boosted its glass
recycling from 33% to 50%, it would correspond to
300,000 petrol-powered cars disappearing from
the roads in terms of CO2 emissions.
One important aim of recycling is to leave scarce
resources – such as the rare earth elements
neodymium and praseodymium – in the ground for
subsequent generations. Rare-earth elements have
a key role in semiconductors and electronics.
In this way recycling can reduce the extent of
pollution, land degradation and water use from
mining. Extraction of the metal lithium, for

example, as used in lithium-ion batteries
for computers and electric cars,
requires the use of water
in vast quantities.

“Plastic is difficult to sort”

Yes, plastic is one of the most animals are consumed by larger animals,
difficult types of waste to sort, and the plastic accumulates in still higher
so to recycle. Only 9% of all plastic that has concentrations – including in the food that
ever been manufactured has been recycled. humans consume. In March 2022, scientists
Of the remaining 91%, 12% has been declared that they had found microplastic in
burned, and 79% has ended up in dumps or the lung tissue of humans for the first time.
elsewhere in the natural world, where the
plastic breaks down into ever smaller The challenge of plastic is that seven
particles, ending up as microplastic. The main types exist, each with different
smaller the pieces, the bigger the chemical make-up. Bottles are often made
of polyethylene terephthalate, whereas
problems they cause finding their plastic bags are made of polypropylene.
way into animals at the bottom
of the food chain. As these All types – and all colours – must be
separated from each other before the

plastic can be converted into the
granulate that forms the
basis of new products.

“Hazardous waste PARTLY TRUE SHUTTERSTOCK
goes to poor nations”
Waste – including worn-out ships – from rich nations often ends up in poor countries.
International trade in waste is a Scrapped ships meet about 20% of the steel requirement of Bangladesh.
multibillion dollar business. And
typically, yes,the transport of waste goes
from rich nations to poor, and large
quantities of environmentally-harmful,
hazardous, or toxic waste from
industrialised nations have ended up in
dumps in East Asia or Africa.
Australia used to export vast
quantities of plastic waste, but China
refused to receive any more in 2018
unless it had been sorted to a purity rate
above 99.5+% – and so was really fit for
recycling. But new new international
agreements since 2021 have limited rich
nations’ abilities to export waste to
poorer nations. Sometimes the trade in
waste – including worn-out ships – offers
a financial advantage for the receivers,
but scrapping can be lethal. Ships
scrapped in Bangladesh and India provide
10-20% of the nations’ steel requirements.

TRUE

Heat radiation identifies plastic chemistry

Engineers have designed a robot that can use heat radiation and compressed
air to sort waste according to type.

Plastic is broken down Waste is radiated Blow guns at work

1 Unsorted consumer plastic waste 2 The plastic is radiated with near- 3 Data about the plastic types is sent
is broken down into small homo- infrared heat radiation that is invisible to a series of blow guns at the end of

genous pieces. Subsequently the waste to people. Depending on the type of plastic, the conveyor belt. The guns fire at at the

is placed on a conveyor belt that moves the radiation is refracted slightly differently, plastic pieces, so they are sorted according

at a speed of some 10km/h. allowing the device to identify variations. to type, such as PP, PS, or ABS. SHUTTERSTOCK

scienceillustrated.com.au | 79

INSTANT EXPERT MINOR AND MAJOR
SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS

TARANTULAS stab their victims...

Tarantulas stab prey with their fangs, transforming the victims into liquid smoothies
by means of toxic gastric acid. Luckily, the hairy spiders are relatively harmless to humans.

F ear of spiders is known as BASTIAN RAST inflict a painful bite when provoked,
arachnophobia, and it is one with reported results including nausea
of the most common phobias 5 FACTS ABOUT and vomiting for up to eight hours. In the
in the world. Between 3% and TARANTULAS case of most big tarantulas, however, it
15% of the world population feels not much worse than a wasp sting
is estimated to suffer arachnophobia. Scientific name:
Theraphosidae if the predator stabs you with its fangs.
Of course, a fear of tarantulas may Most of the time, you simply won’t
not be considered entirely irrational: Diet: Carnivorous know they’re there. Female tarantulas
these eight-legged predators seem live in burrows up to a metre deep, and
designed to cause nightmares. The taran- Habitats: Subtropical and despite their size they rarely draw much
tula’s body, for example, is covered in tropical regions of the world attention to themselves.Most tarantulas
tiny fine hairs that can burn like stinging spend the majority of their lives in their
nettles, causing an itchy stinging rash if Size: The body can grow holes under the ground.
you touch them. This fine fur is meant to 1-13cm long. The leg span
deter other predators, since if the hairs can be up to 30cm. Spider care
find their way into a predator’s nose,
mouth and respiratory passages, the Weight: Up to 170g Tarantula venom can also heal. In 2018
lungs can become so irritated that it is scientists at the University of Queens-
difficult for the animals to breathe. majority of the world’s tarantula popula- land’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience
tion feeds on insects. helped identify a peptide in venom from
Tarantulas have eight eyes, located a West African tarantula which could
on top of their heads. On the front of the Tarantulas exist on all continents provide a treatment for a devastating
head are the powerful fangs, and unlike today except Antarctica. Research into form of genetic epilepsy. In 2020 an inter-
those of other spiders, these are vertical the tarantula genome indicates that they national team including UoQ scientists
rather than horizontal. This means that originally spread from America to Africa found a tiny protein in Chinese tarantula
the tarantula can stab its prey with the and Asia some 160 million years ago, venom that is able to relieve pain in
fangs instead of biting. Once the victim before the supercontinent Gondwana muscles and joints. By separating the
is paralysed, the tarantula then vomits began to disintegrate. The biggest protein and ‘synthesising’ it, the protein
pancreatic juice from its stomach onto species exist in tropical and subtropical can be produced artificially in the lab.
the prey, which is dissolved and eaten. regions of Central and South America,
Africa, and South-East Asia. Some people love tarantulas, of
They can live for 25 years course, and regard them as desirable
There are seven known species in pets, although this is less common in
Of the world’s total population of 40,000 Australia, and although more common Australia, partly because imports of
spider species, tarantulas make up about in the tropics, tarantulas have been exotic spiders contravene bio-security
1000 different species. Most spiders live found as far south as Victoria and South laws. Some states also require a licence,
a few years at best, but tarantulas can live Australia, and in habitats from rainforest even for Australian native spiders.
to reach 25 years old. to desert. They are regarded as generally
non-aggressive, but have been known to Besides, there are concerns about
Not all tarantulas are big and scary; excessive global trade in arachnids. A
they vary a lot between species. Some report in March this year combined glob-
are no bigger than a small coin; others al data sources to find that more than
could fill an entire dinner plate. The half of all tarantula species were traded
world’s biggest is the Goliath Birdeater, between 2020 and 2021, including some
which inhabits the jungles of South 600,000 Grammostola tarantulas, a group
America. This giant spider has a diame- that includes the popular ‘Chilean rose’
ter of around 30cm and can weigh up to pet species. With two-thirds of all traded
170g – about the same as a large hamster. species reportedly caught in the wild, the
report’s authors suggest that such heavy
Goliath and the other big tarantulas unmonitored harvesting could be having
typically consume prey such as rodents, unsustainably negative impacts on wild
frogs, bats, lizards and even small birds tarantula populations.
– hence Goliath’s birdeater name. But the

80 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

Editor: Charlotte Antschukov Kjær

SHUTTERSTOCK

The vast majority of tarantulas spend
their time sitting in holes or caves,
just waiting for dinner to stroll by.

SHUTTERSTOCK

Tarantulas are a delicacy in some
Asian countries, where they are
deep-fried and eaten whole.

FACTS ABOUT

Goliath Birdeater

The biggest
spiders

The Goliath Birdeater is big GdBBddioPdraiirlaiuaamiaaazmrmzmpeitilheetllieeeittatBaeerenBrnriorrloGofodSoff3iofeaa220m2aln65mct3tccemT-oTmmr2an:.a5r..waPcnminnty.uklRBaei: rddTeaartaenr:tula: SHUTTERSTOCK
enough to kill large prey
SHUTTERSTOCK – such as this mouse.

scienceillustrated.com.au | 81

Editor: Christian Erin-Madsen

TEST YOURSELF ANSWERS Solve problems Text / Art: Lotte Fredslund
ON PAGE 12 designed for & Shutterstock

different types of
intelligence, and
find out in which

you excel!

NUMERACY 1 52 42 32
25 31
1Which number replaces 67
the question mark here?
70 63
95
?4
?
LOGIC 1 NUMERACY 2

2Which card replaces 3 What is the logic of this sign,
the question mark below? and how far is it to Sydney?

DARWIN 400
PERTH 1600
MELBOURNE 1300
SYDNEY
?

VISUAL INTELLIGENCE MATTER/WONDERLY ET. AL MEMORY

4 How many FROM THIS ISSUE Answers on p12: no peeking!
triangles are
in this illustration? 6 The tooth above is made 7 The Earth has an estimated
A: 28 mainly of copper. What 25 supervolcanoes. Where are
B: 32 animal’s mouth does it come from? the two closest to Australia?
C: 35
D: 37 A) A coppertone monkey A) Argentina & Antarctica
E: 40 B) A bloodworm B) Alaska & Yellowstone
C) A humpback whale C) Indonesia & New Zealand
LOGIC 2 D) A tarantula D) Tasmania & Antarctica

5 You have two sand-based 8 The Psyche asteroid is of 9 Geologists studying the ice in
egg timers. In one of them interest to astrophysicists Greenland realise it has similar
the sand runs through in because it may closely resemble: features to other ice sheets where?
5 minutes, while the
other runs through A) A potato A) Western Antarctica
in 7 minutes. But you B) The Earth’s crust B) The asteroid Psyche
like your eggs done C) The Earth’s core C) Jupiter’s moon Europa
for 9 minutes. How D) The Earth’s atmosphere D) Thredbo
can you time the 9
minutes using the
two timers together?

82 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED

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