New Scientist video
To see our video on the shattered glass of
Beirut, go to youtube.com/newscientist
PICTURE a 2000-year-old glass jug – It can be formed into optical fibres and used to Main image (page 46, left to BOTTOM R: ANWAR AMRO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; TOP R: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, AUB
turquoise tint, elegant spout. It deliver the internet across the globe, and it is a right): Early to mid Roman-period
probably decanted wine at lavish component of renewable energy technologies – glass bowl; bell-shaped flask
Roman banquets, surviving earthquakes solar power in particular. In fact, the United from Islamic Golden Age; late
and war before finding itself standing Nations has declared 2022 the International Roman-period small cup;
among similarly beautiful, delicate pieces Year of Glass to celebrate its importance. high-necked jug with turquoise
in the American University of Beirut (AUB) tint from early Roman period
Archaeological Museum in Lebanon. Then, Yet glass wasn’t always so ubiquitous. Below: A pile of ammonium nitrate
in an instant, it shatters. Early humans used obsidian, or volcanic exploded in Beirut, Lebanon, on
glass, and other natural forms for tools, but 4 August 2020. The blast killed
At least 218 people died and thousands more it wasn’t until the late Bronze Age that our 218 people and injured thousands
were injured when a giant pile of ammonium ancestors began to manufacture glass objects.
nitrate exploded at the port of Beirut on Archaeologists have found evidence of this
4 August 2020. The blast was one of the early glassware in tombs and temples dating
largest non-nuclear, human-made explosions from around 1600 BC onwards, located across
recorded, and the subsequent shock wave what was then ancient Mesopotamia – the
wreaked devastation for kilometres around. region that today incorporates Iraq, Kuwait
and parts of Iran, Syria and Turkey (see map).
The incident was also a cultural calamity. Clues identified in the chemistry of preserved
The wider region around Lebanon is touted glassware seem to confirm the origins of
as the crucible of glass production, a material glass production in Mesopotamia, with
that has helped shape civilisation. As one of the ancient Egypt manufacturing its own raw
oldest museums in the area, the AUB housed glass within the next 100 years. Pharaohs
a particularly rich collection of ancient glass treasured it alongside gemstones like lapis
artefacts. The blast smashed 72 jars, bowls, cups lazuli, turquoise and amethyst. Clay tablets
and other vessels dating back to the ancient known as the Amarna letters from the 14th
Romans (1st century BC to 5th century AD), the century BC reveal orders from Egyptian
Byzantine Empire (4th to 15th century AD) and leaders for additional glass from the Levant –
the Islamic Golden Age (8th to 13th century AD). the eastern Mediterranean, which includes
present-day Lebanon, Syria, Israel and
Rather than try to fix everything, however, Palestine – to meet soaring demand.
AUB Archaeological Museum curator Nadine
Panayot saw an opportunity in the debris. The basic recipe for glass was the same then
Much about the origins of glass production as it is now: you take some silica, often just a pile
is opaque and yet modern material analysis of sand, then heat until molten in the presence
techniques could offer clarity, if only they of salts and other “fluxes” that lower its melting
could be brought to bear on such precious temperature. Additives can then add colour
collections. The shattered fragments of material and alter the material’s physical properties.
presented an ideal way to do this. Now, Panayot
is collaborating with physicists and engineers Yet much of the history of glass remains
from around the world in the hope of opening a mystery. Precisely how and, in particular,
a new window on the world of ancient glass. where glass was made and processed in
ancient times are questions that have
Glass is typically made of silicon dioxide been hard to address, owing to the lack
(silica), with small quantities of other chemicals of archaeological evidence from ancient
that help fashion the final material. It is defined glass-manufacturing sites. Finding more
by the jumbled, or amorphous, arrangement examples of these would be a breakthrough.
of its molecules, distinct from the ordered
structure of crystalline materials. Profoundly A further complication is pinpointing the
versatile, glass has become a vital material in the provenance of glass. An item’s form and style
modern world, from the windows that let light can give you a decent idea of where it was
into buildings and the spectacles that correct created, be it a jug, drinking vessel or item
vision to the camera lenses that capture images of jewellery. But these were rarely produced
and the optics in microscopes and telescopes in the same place as the ingots of raw material.
that reveal nature at its smallest and grandest. “Chunks of glass, the size of a head, were >
1 October 2022 | New Scientist | 47
The crucible of ancient glass production Rising from the ashes
Glass production workshops dating back to the early days of the emerging All of which explains why the shattered glass
industry are thought to have been situated in Mesopotamia, which incorporates collection offers a unique opportunity.
Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Iran, Syria and Turkey, and the ancient Levant, which Technological advances in compositional
borders the Mediterranean Sea to the east analysis could help pinpoint where the raw
materials for a piece of ancient glassware were
TURKEY taken from and, as such, promising locations
to look for archaeological remains of ancient
SYRIA M IRAN glass production sites.
LEBANON ESOPOTAM
LEVANT IRAQ I A For a combination of reasons, including
PALESTINE recent economic and political volatility, the
ISRAEL academic projects to exploit these advances
haven’t been available in Lebanon. But in the
JORDAN aftermath of the blast, museum curators
reached out to international contacts, who
KUWAIT brought in partners and the latest technological
know-how to begin the recovery work. What’s
EGYPT more, the breakages themselves were an
advantage because freshly exposed shard edges
SAUDI ARABIA provide scientists with surfaces that are more
representative of the original composition.
Levant In this way, the blast brought Panayot and her
Mesopotamia colleagues the chance to properly probe the
chemical composition of scores of pieces of
AUB OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS/ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM shipped across the Roman Empire,” says Thilo “In those first ancient glassware for the first time.
Rehren, an archaeological materials expert few weeks after
at the Cyprus Institute. “You find them up in the explosion, Initially, the response to the blast had been
York [UK], Madrid [Spain], Lyon [France] and we treated simply to salvage as much as possible. “In those
Bulgaria. Local workshops were remelting the the museum first few weeks after the explosion, we treated
glass and blowing it into the local preferred floor as a the museum floor as a crime scene,” says
shape and style of an object.” As a result, the crime scene” Panayot. Along with a team of volunteers, she
origin of a glass object isn’t necessarily the and Claire Cuyaubère, a conservator from the
same as the origin of the material it is made of. Volunteers helping French Institute of National Heritage, sifted
efforts to rescue the through thousands of shards, distinguishing
Since the basic building blocks of ancient shattered glassware ancient glass from that of the broken showcases.
glass varied little across wide areas, to answer The team managed to piece together 10 glass
the where and when of its origins, you need objects and another six were repaired earlier
to search for subtle differences in the material’s this year in a workshop led by Stephen Koob,
trace elements. Only advanced chemical chief conservator emeritus at the Corning
analyses can identify how the basic mix varies, Museum of Glass in New York. Panayot has
which gives clues to the material’s provenance. insisted that restoration work doesn’t try to
reconstruct gaps in the glass items, so that
Researchers have already identified the instead they “carry their scars – just like the
type of sand or crushed quartz pebbles used human bodies that have been scarred by this
in some ancient glassware, and from that the explosion”. A further eight of the more robust
regions where production of the glass probably glass items were sent for repair at the British
took place. Rehren says that 99 per cent of the Museum, London, where they are on display at
glass ingots used in the Roman, Byzantine and an exhibition called Shattered Glass of Beirut
early Islamic periods were produced along until 23 October.
the eastern Mediterranean coast, in a stretch
from the Nile delta up to present-day Lebanon. But Panayot recognised the opportunity
But there is a knowledge gap around Lebanon, the shattered glass presented. Most of the
largely because war and political instability glassware damaged in the explosion was
have hindered academic organisations and created during the first millennia AD many
archaeological investigations in the region. centuries after glass was first manufactured
For example, although we know of glass in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Nevertheless,
production sites in ancient Egypt, no one has tracking the movement of the material
ever found evidence of workshops producing and finished pieces could give insights into
raw glass ingots in the Levant or Mesopotamia. the dynamic power structures at the time,
particularly following the Arab invasions of
the 7th and 8th centuries and subsequent
political and economic fragmentation. It
48 | New Scientist | 1 October 2022
New Scientist Live
Find out more about the science behind life on Earth at the
world’s greatest festival of science newscientistlive.com
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT Shattered glassware before
(below) and after (above)
the repair work following
the 2020 Beirut explosion.
Left: glass flask dating back
to the late Roman period,
roughly 4th to 5th century AD.
Right, a glass beaker dating
back to the early Roman period,
roughly 1st century AD
could even point towards new archaeological way, it can reveal the material’s composition, the glass far more accurately.
sites that might give greater clarity to the even including elements that account for just a Meek says comparison of provisional
early years of glass production. fraction of a per cent by weight. The AUB team
has already used it to collect some data from findings from the eight objects with large
Very few of the museum’s glass artefacts the glass shards. While fresh shard edges are an collections of well-provenanced material
have a documented place of origin or official advantage, it is a non-invasive technique, and may reveal previously unknown ancient glass-
age, and for many items, curators only have a next the researchers plan to scan the more than producing sites. “It may be that a couple of
rough idea of their provenance from studying 1200 pieces that survived the blast intact as well. pieces not quite so easy to fit into currently
the form and style. Take that elegant, turquoise established groups could be found to have
tinted jug, for instance (see main image, Elemental deduction been produced in Lebanon,” says Meek.
overleaf). Curators think it dates to the first or
second century AD, but now they can attempt to Malek Tabbal, the AUB physicist who is leading Pinpointing workshops in the ancient Near
corroborate such inferences. Analysis of other the analysis project, is also in close contact East where the very first glass production
regional glass from the period has identified the with vitreous materials scientist Andrew Meek occurred remains a key goal in glass
mineral natron mined from dry lake beds in and colour scientist Joanne Dyer at the British archaeology. Even if the current analysis
Egypt as a flux, and it is likely that most objects Museum in London. They have been analysing doesn’t lead there directly, the Beirut blast
from the AUB were also produced with this flux. fragments of the eight glass objects sent there project can build the local science capacity
However, the kind of analysis Panayot has for repair and took some to colleagues at to enable such breakthroughs in the future.
unleashed could reveal the source of the silica, University College London to probe with a
the additives and fuel used and ultimately specialised form of mass spectrometry. They Much of Lebanon is yet to be excavated,
where the raw glass for these pieces was burned tiny pits invisible to the naked eye in the leaving scope for big archaeological discoveries
produced and transported. As well as identifying glass with a laser beam, releasing fine particles in the future. For her part, Panayot has been
bulk materials, traces of decoration (such as of evaporated material. The electrically neutral investigating the archaeological site of Anfeh
engraving or paint) could shed light on the atoms and molecules of this evaporated in northern Lebanon, an important economic
artisanal techniques and tastes of the time, while material are then charged, so that comparisons centre from the late Bronze Age to the Ottoman
residues within a vessel might indicate its use. of their mass versus their charge can be used period. With such a rich cultural history,
to reveal even trace elements in glass down to Lebanon can emerge as an important player
The Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission parts per billion. Twenty years ago, researchers in heritage studies in the coming years. It is
has now provided the museum with a handheld could only identify the 10 to 12 most abundant just a pity it took a tragedy for that to happen. ❚
X-ray fluorescence analyser. It looks like a cross components; with this technique, they can
between a hairdryer and a barcode scanner, but now typically spot 50 to 55, which means they James Dacey is a freelance
emits X-rays that stimulate elements within a can pin down the location of the sand used in journalist based in Madrid
material to give off light at specific frequencies,
depending on the substances present. In this
1 October 2022 | New Scientist | 49
The back pages
Puzzles Almost the last word Tom Gauld for Feedback Twisteddoodles
Try our crossword, Can some people see New Scientist Nose know-how and for New Scientist
quick quiz and the ultraviolet band A cartoonist’s take a hunt for thin things: Picturing the lighter
logic puzzle p53 of a rainbow? p54 on the world p55 the week in weird p56 side of life p56
The science of cooking
Getting corny
A great corn on the cob must tread the line between under-
and overcooked. Sam Wong explains why – and how to do it
Sam Wong is assistant news FRESH sweetcorn is one of the NEW AFRICA/SHUTTERSTOCK
editor and self-appointed delights of late summer and
chief gourmand at early autumn. Its sweetness the ear just after the final row of for between 10 and 30 minutes.
New Scientist. Follow derives from a genetic variant kernels, grab the end – where the The temperature will quickly drop
him @samwong1 that emerged some time after silk strands come together – and below 85°C (185°F), the point at
corn was first domesticated by shake the corn ear out of the husk. which pectin dissolves, but should
What you need people in Central America, about remain above 65°C (149°F) – high
9000 years ago. This mutation, There are many ways to cook enough to gelatinise the starch
4 corn cobs called su1, stops the plant turning corn on the cob. I love grilling corn inside the kernels.
1 lime sugar into starch while it grows. on the barbecue until the kernels
2 tbsp unsalted butter Some sugar is instead converted start to blacken. This creates some The kernel skin, the pericarp,
2 tbsp white miso into a different carbohydrate, wonderful roasted flavours thanks isn’t very permeable, so don’t
phytoglycogen, which gives to the Maillard reaction, but the bother salting the water. Instead,
The science of cooking sweetcorn its creamy texture. downsides are that the kernels add salt directly to the cooked
appears every four weeks are less juicy and the wrinkled corn. My favourite way to serve
After harvesting, enzymes skins stick in your teeth. corn on the cob, taken from Meera
Next week begin converting the sugar into Sodha’s book East, is with miso
starch, so sweetcorn is best eaten When corn is overcooked, butter and a squeeze of lime. Use
Stargazing at home on the day it is picked. Some older pectin, a carbohydrate that forms a fork to mix the miso paste into
varieties of corn can lose as much the glue between plant cells, soft, unsalted butter – the miso
as half of their sugar in 24 hours. dissolves. This results in a mushy is salty enough on its own – and
texture. For perfectly cooked corn, slather it onto the cooked corn. ❚
Most sweetcorn sold today Lan Lam at America’s Test Kitchen
comes from super-sweet varieties advises bringing a large pot of These articles are
first developed in the 1960s. These water to the boil, dropping the posted each week at
have a mutation called sh2, which corn cobs in, then turning off the newscientist.com/maker
gives them higher initial sugar heat and leaving the pot covered
levels, and they remain sweet for
longer after harvest. They also
contain less phytoglycogen than
old-fashioned corn, so aren’t as
creamy, but newer varieties are
beginning to address this.
When you peel back the leafy
outer covering, called the husk,
you will find a fibrous material
known as corn silk. A strand is
attached to every kernel, and each
one is a tube that pollen travels
down to reach the corn’s ovaries,
which develop into the kernels.
The silk can be a pain to remove.
One way to make the process
easier is to leave the husk on
and cook the corn in a microwave
for 3 to 4 minutes. Then, wearing
gloves, cut off the stalk end of
1 October 2022 | New Scientist | 51
The back pages Puzzles
Cryptic crossword #93 Set by Wingding Quick quiz #171
Scribble 1 What name is given to the process
zone in which Earth’s crust folds and makes
continental mountains?
2 In what year did William
Herschel discover Uranus?
3 One of the oldest trees in the world, known
as Methuselah, is a member of which genus?
4 Chains of relatively few
amino acids are known as what?
5 Which country lends its name to a
disease that is currently devastating
supplies of Cavendish bananas?
Answers on page 55
Answers and Puzzle
the next quick
crossword set by Howard Williams
next week
#187 Key decision
ACROSS DOWN
1 Bit dissolved and faded (8) 1 Crystallography pioneer and It is a big day for Mr Hopeful. He has got
5 Heard farm animal’s cry (4) through to the last stage of a television
8 Suitable data queue encrypted, supporter on horse (5) game show, with the chance of winning a
2 Choose half of rock or dance music (7) car. If he chooses the correct casket from the
concealing uranium (8) 3 Calamity ultimately interrupting crucial four on offer, he will find the keys inside and
9 Vital chemicals include hydrated be driving home in a brand new, top-of-the
phase of rocket launch somewhere in range electric vehicle.
magnesium silicate (4) Northern Ireland (6,4)
11 Discover guanine with gallery backing (3,2) 4 Test a team that secures property (6) He is confident, as he knows that each of
12 Citrus fruit a kind person put 6 Legislative body expelling the caskets has a clue.
leader’s relative (5)
in outskirts of Tokyo (7) 7 Nutrient in a closet unexpectedly (7) 1 2
13 Jack goes into shallow parts 10 Lacking knowledge, like police officers
surrounding narco boss (10) The keys are The keys are
of rivers and inlets (6) 13 Charlie entering broken part in caskets in caskets
14 Take in potion of healing, good to go (6) of university (7) 2 or 4 1 or 3
17 Spice wagon not here (7) 15 Loos are circulating mist (7)
19 Propelled boat over a rapid 16 A lemur? Yes, sailors say (3-3) 3 4
18 Gas escaped outside party (5)
eddy dangerously at first (5) 20 Piece of information originally discovered The keys are The keys are
21 Source of metal, a large at University of Miami (5) not in here here
amount reportedly (4) However, his self-assurance is shattered
22 Monkey and squirrel eating selenium (8) when the game show host explains that
23 Pull Kelvin – no, to the left! (4) three of the four clues are false.
24 Nude dancing welcomed by
Can you help Mr Hopeful decide which
desirable swinger (8) casket to choose to win the car?
Our crosswords are now solvable online Solution next week
newscientist.com/crosswords 1 October 2022 | New Scientist | 53
The back pages Almost the last word
Bow extras Cats may act superior,
but which animal is really
Why, when I see a rainbow, the most successful?
do I perceive two extra colours
(yellowish and greenish) directly Pat French
beneath violet? Am I seeing Longdon Upon Tern,
UV wavelengths, with my brain Shropshire, UK
interpreting them as those colours? We each perceive slightly different
wavelengths of light at each end
Guy Cox BY SIGI KOLBE/GETTY IMAGES of the “normal” visible spectrum,
Sydney, Australia perhaps due to natural variations
Your correspondent isn’t seeing This week’s new questions in the eye’s cornea or lens.
in the ultraviolet range. Instead,
they are seeing a supernumerary Animal ace What has been the most successful animal ever? How we interpret wavelengths
rainbow. This is caused by Derek Johnson, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, UK of light is cultural too. People
diffraction and interference after who live in the Amazon rainforest
the initial refraction of sunlight Paddle hand My water aerobics instructor says to press perceive finer gradations of
by raindrops, and tends to happen my fingers together to increase resistance. The total surface green than city dwellers, as
when the drops are very small. area is the same with fingers open or closed, so why does demonstrated by physicist Helen
it make a difference? Mary Jo McMullen, Tuscon, Arizona, US Czerski in her TV series Colour.
It is very difficult to photograph
(believe me, I have tried). Also, some of us can perceive
UV light. I have had the lens in my
Nick Canning right eye replaced with an artificial
Coleraine, County Londonderry, UK one. My right eye, but not my left,
Rainbows sometimes show extra now perceives the longer UV
coloured bands directly below wavelengths very brightly, which
the violet band at the bottom. means I squint at the UV emitted
by devices that kill flies.
Human eyes can’t detect the
UV bow that exists below the Eyelash expression
violet band. However, the bands
that your correspondent saw are Why do we open our mouths
when we put on mascara?
“One of my eyes Richard Swifte This smearing isn’t uniform,
perceives ultraviolet Darmstadt, Germany however: a particular colour is Mike Tobias
light very brightly, The extra colours are genuine. concentrated in a narrow band Herne Bay, Kent, UK
which means I squint They appear because a rainbow in and is much weaker outside, I have no idea, but I open my
at the UV emitted by the sky isn’t a pure spectrum like and it is these bright bands that mouth when I put in eye drops.
fly-killing devices” that, for example, from a prism. we see as the main rainbow arc.
@Nikicinder
visible light and are called A prism has smooth, flat sides They give a reasonable via Twitter
supernumerary bows. and is used with a point source approximation to a pure Maybe this is an automatic
of white light to produce the spectrum, since the weak connection related to surprise, and
Their intensity and spacing resulting dispersion of colours overlapping contributions from raising your eyebrows and opening
vary with the size of the raindrops (equal to individual wavelengths), other colours aren’t obvious. your mouth lifts your eyelids to
in the shower that creates the bow. with each colour emitted in a give better access to your lashes?
Smaller drops give larger spacing specific direction. The water Below the main arc, there is
of the colour bands, whereas droplets that produce a rainbow a large, brightish, whitish area @DilysCluer
more uniform drops give greater have rounded sides, so light enters of all the less concentrated via Twitter
intensity of colours. These are and leaves at various angles to the smeared colours, which, due Because we are trying to look up?
the result of interference effects surface. Also, the sun isn’t a point to interference effects, contains My husband opens his mouth
caused by the wave nature of light. source of light, but has an angular faint bands of distinct colours. when he looks upwards.
size of half a degree. The least faint are those nearest
Here in Ireland, in summer, we to the main rainbow arc. @Pete_Branscombe
get heavy afternoon showers and These factors lead to each via Twitter
often see intense primary bows dispersed colour being emitted In good viewing conditions, Opening your mouth is a
with strong supernumeraries. over a wide range of directions, a person with good eyesight good way of steadying all of
with consequent overlapping. could perceive some of these your face muscles for a delicate
The light from rainbows is extra colours. task. Alternatively, your mouth
polarised, so photographing may just be mirroring what
them through a polarising filter Want to send us a question or answer? your eyes are doing.
greatly increases the contrast
with the background sky. Email us at [email protected]
Questions should be about everyday science phenomena
Full terms and conditions at newscientist.com/lw-terms
54 | New Scientist | 1 October 2022
Tom Gauld Answers
for New Scientist
Quick quiz #171
Answers
1 Orogeny, or orogenesis
2 1781
3 Pinus – it is a Great basin
bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva)
and is 4854 years old
4 Oligopeptides
5 Panama
Gillian Forrester “Why do we open syndrome, is the most common Quick crossword
form of synkinesis, where the #117 Answers
University of Sussex, UK our mouths when individual presents with a
You might think there is a simple we put on mascara? drooping eyelid – however, ACROSS 9 Epizoon, 10 Umpteen,
answer to this question – by The answer isn’t as the eyelid will lift or open 11 Iridium, 12 Arcsine,
opening the mouth, we stretch the straightforward as when the jaw is moved. 13 Isinglass, 15 Beta C,
facial skin, creating a taut surface 16 Sunbeam, 19 Wolfram,
To date, the neuroanatomical 20 Brown, 21 Open-stack,
around the eyes to facilitate you might think” underpinnings of synkinesis 25 Rooster, 26 Round up,
haven’t been fully determined. 28 Cuprous, 29 Premise
the application of mascara. While older research postulates
that it results from a damaged DOWN 1 Gemini, 2 Digiti,
However, it seems that these We share this fear face with our nerve, at least one newer study 3 Tori, 4 Anomia, 5 Curassow,
suggests that synchronous 6 Spaceballs, 7 Resistor,
unconscious, synergistic eye and primate relatives, suggesting that mouth and eye opening is 8 Intercom, 14 Geek Nation,
a normal characteristic in 16 Subtract, 17 Neomorph,
mouth movements are more than these eye-mouth co-activations a significant minority of 18 Moonrise, 22 Europa,
the general population and 23 Aldrin, 24 Kepler, 27 Uvea
skin deep! In fact, the mouth and rely on evolutionarily ancient results from naturally occurring
links between the nerves #186 Neural network
eyes open together during most neural wiring. Studies dating back responsible for chewing and Solution
raising the upper eyelids.
exaggerated attempts to open to at least 1907 document people There are several equivalent
While the pairing of answers, all with half the weights
the eyes. It is likely that this whose symptoms demonstrate the muscle actions may be zero and the other half 1/4, 1/3,
unconscious, once we tune 1/2 and 2/3.
pairing is down to how we are the tight ties between the muscles into them, we can control them.
As children, many of us stuck To get A = D = 1 we must have
wired. Although separate nerves of the eyes and the mouth. For our tongues out when making 3s + 4t = 1 and 3y + 4z = 1. If we
fine-precision hand actions. have both weights into one neuron
support the movement of the instance, surgeons noted that However, as adults, we probably as zero, that neuron will be zero.
modify these behaviours – or at Since all the outputs are 1 or 2 and
eyelids and mouth, they originate children with photophobia (eye least when in polite company! ❚ half the weights are zero, it must
be that each neuron has one
in close proximity to each other discomfort from bright light) weight zero and one non-zero.
Choosing s and z to be zero gives
in the brainstem, so, when one is would often open their mouths t = 1/4 and y = 1/3. In the same
way, with B = C = 2 we have
activated, it may activate the other. while straining to open their eyes. 3u + 4v = 2 and 3w + 4x = 2,
which can be solved with u and x
In addition, human behaviours Or take cranial synkinesis, as zero, using v =1/2 and w =2/3.
don’t often occur as single body a congenital condition where 1 October 2022 | New Scientist | 55
actions in isolation. Instead, a voluntary muscle movement
we tend to function via the causes a synchronous involuntary
synchronous pairing of two or contraction of an independently
more motor movements. Take innervated muscle. Mouth and
the facial expressions of fear and eye muscles are most commonly
surprise, both characterised by affected. Marcus Gunn syndrome,
wide-open eyes and mouths. also known as jaw-winking
The back pages Feedback
Nose know-how Twisteddoodles for New Scientist No place like Neom
“Would male and female Got a story for Feedback? A new city planned for the Tabuk
participants prefer nose-based region of Saudi Arabia will be, say
gestures differently?” That question Send it to [email protected] or New Scientist, the planners, unlike other cities.
is seldom asked. But Jorge-Luis Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT One way it will be different is in
Pérez-Medina, Santiago Villarreal Consideration of items sent in the post will be delayed its proportion. The city is designed
and Jean Vanderdonckt do ask it to be only 200 metres wide,
in their study “A gesture elicitation that haven’t yet drawn extensive in case of more complex but 170 kilometres long.
study of nose-based gestures,” follow-up work. functionality like, for
published in the journal Sensors. example, typing a message”. Called “The Line”, this new
Vlastimil Havran wrote in to city is part of a larger project called
The question, they say, helped bring “NoseTapping” to Feedback’s Limits also arise in a paper Neom. Like most of Neom, The Line
guide their effort to pull together a attention. In a study delivered at called “Hitting authentication is mostly in the exciting planning-
taxonomy of nose-based gestures, a conference in Luleå, Sweden, on the nose: Using the nose for and-publicity stage of construction.
which they hope will help them in 2013, Ondrej Polacek, Thomas input to smartphone security”,
design new electronic sensing Grill and Manfred Tscheligi presented by Ann-Marie Horcher It may not have escaped your
capabilities into eyeglasses, opened some eyes with their at a symposium in 2014. It notice that The Line’s proportion,
wristwatches and other devices. paper: “NoseTapping: What else identifies another drawback 170,000 to 200 — let’s call
can you do with your nose?” of NoseTapping: “there were it the Neom ratio — differs
Nose-based gestures needn’t concerns about cleanliness”. from the ancient mathematical
involve only the nose: any gesture They begin on a touching note, Despite those concerns, standard for beautiful proportion,
that interacts with the nose can be with their focus on “nose-based Horcher proposes the use the golden ratio.
considered nose-based. Fingers can interaction in which people tap of nose prints, in which a nose
be part of it, and so can other parts or swipe with their nose on a pressed against a smart screen The golden ratio’s exact value
of the hand. Future research might touchscreen”. NoseTapping, could be scanned, its image is an irrational number defined
involve other body parts and — they say, could benefit people then becoming “a biometric by a three-step recipe: take the
maybe some day — foreign objects. who use smartphones while point of authentication”. square root of 5, add 1 to it,
wearing gloves in winter. then divide by 2. Actuaries, when
The researchers worked Horcher’s early experiments, they loosen their ties and lapse
with 12 female volunteers and It is also relatively good for brief however, identify shortcomings: into inexactitude, say the exact
12 male ones, asking them to make interactions, such as unlocking “The lower sensitivity of the value is slightly more than 1.6.
nose gestures to express specific the phone or indicating “no” nose and no visual feedback
commands, such as “turn on the TV”, versus “yes”. But there are hints made positioning of the nose The exact value of the Neom
“turn off the TV”, “turn the volume about limits: “people are not for success problematic.” ratio is 850. This is slimness far
up” and “answer a phone call”. They willing to use such interaction exceeding that of the kilopedal
identified 912 distinct gestures, millipede (Eumillipes persephone).
which they “clustered into 53 unique At 95.7 millimetres long and
gestures resulting in 23 categories, 0.95 millimetres wide, the
to form a taxonomy and a consensus Australian millipede was recently
set of 38 final gestures”. documented in the study “The first
true millipede — 1306 legs long”.
Some gestures are easy to
express in words, others aren’t. Nature is superabundant about
Commonly gestured gestures patterns. Most simple patterns
include “tap”, “push”, “flick”, “rub” can be seen, if one pays attention,
and “pinch”. Among the gnarlier seemingly almost everywhere.
are “snook” and “hold nostrils The fruits of human manufacture
open”. Gymnastics may be involved are copious in the same way, with
in certain of the more complex simple patterns recurring in various
gestures: “double flick”, “triple places. The Neom ratio can probably
pinch” and “quadruple drag”, for already be seen in the shape
example. In contrast, one sees the of many existing objects, and
gross simplicity of “finger in nose”. Feedback feels it would be
intellectually exciting to identify
The study suggests that, and celebrate a few of these
mostly, no significant nose- skinny standouts.
gestural difference exists
between men and women. We invite you to help us amass a
collection of the finest examples of
Further nose know-how the Neom ratio. What other physical
objects have this same proportion,
That nose-gesture study built 170,000 to 200? Please tell us
on a small body of nasal-centric (being careful to supply clear
investigations done by others examples, and to point to
documentation thereof). ❚
56 | New Scientist | 1 October 2022
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I am anticipating high This is my first New Scientist I am on tenterhooks The Universe Stage is very It would be horribly self-
levels of FOMO this year as Live in London and I’m to host the Future Stage much my cup of tea. What serving for me to suggest
I try to choose between the raring to go! There are so on Saturday this year – it could be more reviving than that the talk I’m most
different stages – there’s many brilliant talks on offer, truly is a line-up to have us plunging headfirst into looking forward to is MY
just so much on offer. Having but one on the top of my list thinking big and bold about some of most fundamental OWN TALK, but since no one
recently worked on a Q&A is Gaia Vince’s talk on why a whole load of subjects. questions there are? I’m else has mentioned it, I will!
with Gillian Forrester about migration is the solution to This’ll include the biggest particularly looking forward I’m going to be talking about
the way she’s getting great climate devastation, poverty number in the world, what to Jeff Forshaw’s talk, which my book, How to Spend a
apes to play with puzzles and much more. Climate we can learn about the vast will take us to the event Trillion Dollars. I think it’s
to try and understand the change is an issue that expanses of our oceans, horizon of a black hole and really important because
evolution of language, this weighs heavily on a lot and the plausible benefits beyond. Jeff will be your we can get paralysed by the
one is a must-see for me. of people's minds at the of screen time for eliciting guide for a whistlestop size of the world’s problems,
Like many, I’m sure, I’m moment, including my own. positive change. Covering tour of what the black hole but what I want to show is
also excited to hear Simon It’s profoundly important such a diversity of ideas information paradox is that the solutions, and the
Baron-Cohen speak about that people come together on just one stage is like revealing about the origins money – are out there.
his latest book, The Pattern to share ideas on how to walking into the pages of of space and time – and Also it’s an interactive talk –
Seekers, on the link between tackle climate change, New Scientist! I hope to why it turns out the universe I want to hear from you
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And I’m hoping that bringing Gaia’s thoughts. a quantum computer. the money. It’s not every
my children along to the Another one not to miss day you get to pretend to
Engage Stage on Saturday is Harry Cliff, who will be spend a trillion dollars –
to hear Jules Howard discuss explaining how tantalising so let’s do it!
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cognition might cure them of collisions at the Large
their chronic fear of dogs! Hadron Collider are
suggesting that – whisper
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