New_Scientist_-_2020_09_26

Sadistic cladistics

enables the growth of cancers that many of us Classifying nature was once so that birds are reptiles, since all
will eventually succumb to. It is also to blame simple. Learned, often bearded, members of both groups share
for pesticide-resistant insects that spread men travelled the world a common ancestor, and you will
diseases such as malaria, “super rats” immune collecting specimens and be doing just fine. Confusingly,
to poison and weeds that shrug off herbicides. ordered them on the basis of though, both birds (Aves) and
shared behaviour and traits into mammals (Mammalia) are true,
Some solutions are low tech. For instance, their rightful groupings to give a monophyletic clades each with
companies selling seeds for crops that are branching hierarchy of kingdom, a separate, common ancestor.
genetically modified to produce an insecticide phylum, class, order, family,
called Bt often mix these seeds with non-Bt genus and species. Cladistics also causes trouble
versions. If farmers grow only Bt-producing for the largest group of
crops then only Bt-resistant pests will survive. All that began to change in vertebrates on the planet,
Using a mixture allows some Bt-susceptible the 1950s – and that is in turn the bony fish. Traditionally,
pests to survive too and mate with others, changing how we view the they were put in the class
slowing the evolution of resistant strains. products of evolution. Devised Osteichthyes. But given that
by German entomologist Willi tetrapods – land vertebrates –
Winning the arms race Hennig, cladistics is a more evolved from a fish that learned
systematic way of analysing the to walk, cladistics would classify
The opposite strategy is to attack organisms relationship between organisms all mammals, birds, amphibians
on so many fronts that they have no chance of based on traits that aren’t just and reptiles, including dinosaurs,
evolving resistance. This has saved the lives of shared, but also genetically as fish. (Yes, that makes you
millions of people who are HIV-positive. While derived from one another. As our a fish, too.) The problem is
the virus rapidly evolves resistance in the tools for doing “phylogenetic” solved in modern taxonomy by
bodies of people taking just one antiviral drug, analyses have become more redefining the Osteichthyes as
it is overwhelmed by combination therapies. powerful, cladistics has run a “superclass” consisting of the
Lee Cronin at the University of Edinburgh, UK, a coach and horses through tetrapods and lobe-finned fish,
believes combination therapies can tackle many familiar and much-loved which share a common ancestor.
antibiotic resistance too. His team is creating taxonomic groupings. Ray-finned fish, which are
a robotic system for generating and testing most of what we consider fish,
the new drugs needed to do this. Part of the In cladistics, the gold standard are hived off into their own
approach is to predict how superbugs will for a group, or “clade”, is to be satisfyingly monophyletic class,
evolve, to stay ahead in the arms race. monophyletic, meaning all the Actinopterygii.
species in the clade share one
Others are creating “anti-evolution” super- common ancestor. Slightly TANGLED CLADES
weapons. To reverse antibiotic resistance, sniffed at are groupings that turn
they take viruses that attack bacteria and equip out to be paraphyletic, meaning But marine taxonomists take
them with the CRISPR gene-editing system. that all species in them share a note: corals, crustaceans,
The CRISPR system can be programmed to common ancestor, but there are jellyfish and sponges all officially
delete genes that confer antibiotic resistance, species outside them that also don’t exist either, because they
rendering bacteria vulnerable to antibiotics share that common ancestor. are all paraphyletic. In fact,
once more. Groups working on this approach Doubleplusungood is for a invertebrates generally aren’t a
include an Israeli-based company called Trobix group to be polyphyletic, with thing, phylogenetically speaking:
Bio. It is developing a pill, codenamed TBX101, its members having more than if they were, they would have to
intended to target gut bacteria that are one common ancestor. include all vertebrates too. More
resistant to a group of antibiotics called specifically, you may be pleased
carbapenems. These bacteria can cause A prominent casualty of to learn that there is also no such
deadly hospital-acquired infections. cladistics analysis is the class thing as a wasp. They are
Reptilia. The common ancestor paraphyletic, sharing a common
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Barrick at the University of all scaly, cold-blooded reptiles ancestor with ants, of which
of Texas at Austin is trying to undermine the – crocodiles, lizards, snakes, there are more than 10,000
genetic mutation process itself. He tweaks the tortoises, dinosaurs and the like species. Moths are out too, for
proteins that replicate DNA in E. coli bacteria so – also gave rise to the warm- the same reason. But butterflies
that they make fewer mistakes when copying blooded, fur-and-feathered all share a common ancestor,
the genetic code. That means fewer mutations mammals and birds, but at so they can stay. Worms,
and slower evolution. Ironically, Barrick different points. So reptiles meanwhile, once misidentified
achieved this using a method for engineering are cladistically paraphyletic. as reptiles, are a complete
desirable protein variants called directed To be taxonomically correct, you tangle of long, thin things
evolution. Evolution is evolving – and not just should refer to birds, mammals belonging to a whole host of
through its own devices. Michael Le Page ❚ and reptiles together as different clades. Richard Webb
“amniotes”. Alternatively, accept

26 September 2020 | New Scientist | 49

FellowshipsforPostdoctoral Scholars

Scholarships are available to new or recent doctoral graduates in diverse areas of research
Applications will be accepted from doctoral recipients with research interests associated with the following:

Departments - Applicants who wish to conduct Recipients of awards are selected competitively, with
primary emphasis placed on research promise. Scholarships
research on topics of general interest to one or more of the are awarded for 18-month appointments with a stipend of
departments are encouraged to apply. Interdepartmental $62,250 per year, a health and welfare allowance and a
research, including with the Marine Policy Center, is also modest research budget. Recipients are encouraged to
encouraged. The Departments are: pursue their own research interest in association with resident
Scientific and Senior Technical Staff. Communication with
ƒ Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering potential WHOI advisors prior to submitting an application
is encouraged. Completed applications must be received by
ƒ Biology October 15, 2020 for the 2021/2022 appointments. Awards
will be announced in December. Recipients of awards can
ƒ Geology & Geophysics initiate their study and research period at the Institution any
time after January 1, 2021 and before December 1, 2021.
ƒ Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry
ƒ Physical Oceanography

A joint USGS/WHOI award will be given to a postdoc Further information about the Scholarships and application
forms as well as links to the individual Departments and their
whose research is in an area of common interest between research themes may be obtained through the Academic
USGS and WHOI Scientific Staff. The individual will interact Programs section of the WHOI web pages at:
with both USGS and WHOI based advisors on their research.
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The Center for Marine and Environmental
Radioactivity (CMER) will award a fellowship for research Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer

on natural and human-made radioactive substances in the
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award a fellowship for research on twilight zone
(100-1000 m) ecosystems and processes, including
biomass, biodiversity, life histories and behavior,
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and ways to engage scientists with stakeholders.

The back pages

Puzzles Almost the last word Tom Gauld for  Feedback Twisteddoodles
How many pages are How people in the New Scientist The weird science for New Scientist
there in Farewell My Arctic learned to cope A cartoonist’s take that won this year’s Picturing the lighter
Blubbery? p52 with little sun p54 on the world p55 Ig Nobel prizes p56 side of life p56

Maker Science of gardening

Green your walls

Growing ivy is a great way to cover ugly walls and support local
wildlife. Just don’t let it get the better of you, says Clare Wilson

Clare Wilson is a reporter THE latest thing in architecture CERI BREEZE/ALAMY
at New Scientist and is green buildings – covering walls
writes about everything and roofs with a carpet of plants to Ivy has a reputation for are willing to get up a ladder twice
related to life sciences. insulate, soak up rain and provide damaging buildings, but a year to cut off any shoots that
Her favourite place is her a home for wildlife. Many such according to the UK’s Royal are approaching danger zones.
allotment. @ClareWilsonMed buildings need complex systems Horticultural Society, this doesn’t One option is to paint vulnerable
for holding and irrigating the usually happen unless they already structures with anti-graffiti paint
What you need soil, but there is a much easier have cracks – the aerial roots can’t that contains a chemical called
approach: growing some ivy. penetrate sound masonry. The silane. This reduces attachment
An ivy plant other fear is that it can make walls of the plant’s aerial roots.
A wall Ivy is a group of about a dozen damp, but Blanuša’s study found
A pot (optional, species of evergreen climbing that ivy raised humidity next to Because of ivy’s vigorous nature,
but recommended) plants in the genus Hedera that the wall by only a small amount. I also wouldn’t recommend
are happy in shade or full sun and You do need to be careful, though, planting it in a flower bed with
Science of gardening will with most kinds of soil. They don’t as once ivy has been in the ground the intention of covering a fence
appear every four weeks need supports as they grow aerial for a few years, it can grow like or shed, as you will be forever
roots that latch on to most things. billy-o. In some parts of the US pulling out shoots trying to take
Next week Many people use ivy to quickly and Australia, certain kinds of over the patch. Instead, you could
cover an ugly wall or fence. It also ivy are classed as invasive weeds. use a large pot or confine it to a
Citizen science provides nectar for pollinators small patch with a few bricks –
and its berries are a valuable food I can empathise, having had I took some from my patio. You
source for birds in winter. a few battles with ivy plants that just have to keep the upper hand.  ❚
I let get out of control. If it reaches
In a temperate climate such the roof, it can get under tiles and Maker projects are
as the UK’s, an ivy covered wall block gutters. So don’t plan on posted each week at
will slightly warm a room in covering a wall with ivy unless you newscientist.com/maker
winter. As well as insulating,
ivy cools a room in summer
through shading and by water
evaporation from its leaves. “It
cools the surrounding air. It’s like
sweating,” says Tijana Blanuša
at the University of Reading, UK,
who has examined the insulating
effects of climbers. She and her
colleagues found that Hedera helix
ivy created a larger cooling effect
than two other climbers, Boston
ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata)
and climbing hydrangea
(Pileostegia viburnoides).

This is probably because its
leaf cover is so dense, says Blanuša.
Hedera helix’s exact cooling effect
is hard to quantify as it depends
on so many factors, but it could
be by a few degrees, she says.

26 September 2020 | New Scientist | 51

The back pages Puzzles

Quick crossword #67 Set by Richard Smyth Quick quiz #70

Scribble 1 The first test of a UK atomic bomb
zone took place in which country?

2 What is made using the
Haber-Bosch process?

3 How many qubits did Google’s
Sycamore computer use to achieve
quantum supremacy in 2019?

4 Latvian mathematician Daina
Taimina is best known for using crochet
models to visualise what concept?

5 Ménière’s disease affects which
part of the body?

Answers on page 55
Answers and
the next cryptic Puzzle
crossword next week
set by Chris Maslanka

ACROSS DOWN #78 Farewell My
Blubbery
1/4 2006 BBC wildlife documentary series (6,5) 1 William ___, 18th-century philosopher
8 Flower – of cherry or apple, perhaps (7) noted for the watchmaker analogy (5) “The most interesting thing about
9 Waxy, strong-smelling substance, C₁₀H₁₆O (7) Milly Farlowe’s latest ‘effort’ in
11 Fear of water; rabies (11) 2 Ability to soak up (10) the detective fiction genre is the
12 See 14 Down 3 Global sum of ecological systems (9) page numbering: it starts at 1 and
14 Part; segment (5) 5 Video game developer founded in the goes up to some highest number,
15 Circling a planet or star, for example (8) a number of itself quite modest,
17 Safety signal; medical diagnosis (3-5) US in 1972 (5) but far too high for a plot of such
18 See 10 Down 6 Magnetic recording medium (4) flimsy construction.” Thus spake
19 Fall of a tide (3) 7 Contained in a chrysalis, perhaps (8) Zara Thrusta, the literary critic of
20 Domestic messaging machine (11) 10/18 Tomorrow’s ___, long-running BBC the Daily Grind, dismissing her best
24 Largest continental land mass on 1 across/ friend’s new crime novel, Farewell
science programme (9,5) My Blubbery.
4 Across (7) 13 Maps of the night sky (4,6)
25 Organic compound with a −C N 14/12 Carl Sagan’s famous description of Well, I had a look at the numbering
and it was just as Thrusta had said.
functional group (7) 1 Across/4 Across (4,4,3) But I noticed something else. If you
26 Emulsion produced by some trees, used 16 Member of the family Ptilonorhynchidae, reverse the order of the digits of the
three-digit number at the bottom
to make rubber (5) noted for elaborate courtship displays (9) of the last page of this book, you
27 Thomas ___, “The Wizard of Menlo Park” (6) 21 Unwanted sounds or signals (5) get exactly the same number as
22 Synthetic polymer first used commercially the total number of digits used in
numbering its pages. “Is it a long
in 1938 (5) book?” I hear you ask. Well, you tell
23 Hypothesis of 1 Across/4 Across devised me: how many pages are there in
Farewell My Blubbery?
by James Lovelock (4)
Answer next week

Our crosswords are now solvable online

newscientist.com/crosswords

52 | New Scientist | 26 September 2020

Join the AWIS community

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&BDI PG VT JT JO B DPOTUBOU TUBUF PG FWPMVUJPO

DPOUJOVBMMZ MFBSOJOH BOE FYQMPSJOH XIBUhT
OFYU JO PVS MJGF BOE DBSFFS

Dr. Lisa Ballance
Director, Marine Mammal & Turtle
Research Division, SWFSC, NOAA
AWIS member since 1990

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NPSF BU BXJT PSH XIBUT OFYU XFCJOBST

The back pages Almost the last word

Sundown How many rainbows
can you get all at the
How did people in the Arctic in the same time?
distant past deal with no sun in
winter and weak sun the rest of the communities. Once again, the
year? Did food provide vitamin D? consumption of raw meat comes
to the rescue: vitamin C is present
Roger Williams in uncooked caribou liver, seal
Lucerne, Switzerland brain and muktuk, a traditional
According to the US National food of frozen whale skin and
Institutes of Health, 100 grams of blubber. If these were cooked, the
salmon or trout provides enough vitamin C would be destroyed.
daily vitamin D for adults of most
ages. This wouldn’t have been ANN & STEVE TOON/NATUREPL.COM Cycle logic
hard for a hunter-gatherer to
find in Arctic Scandinavia, North This week’s new questions A triplet bike is lighter and has less
America or Russia. resistance per person, so is more
Rainbow riot I have seen many double rainbows, but can you efficient than a tandem, which is
Guy Cox get triple or quadruple ones? If so, where are the best places to more efficient than a regular bike.
School of medical sciences, see them? What is the maximum number that could occur at Does this trend hold however long
University of Sydney, Australia the same time? Carys Slack, Barry, South Glamorgan, UK the bike? (continued)
The major dietary source of
vitamin D is oily fish, which was, Shedding tears What is the biological advantage of crying Peter Mynors
and is, a staple food in northern when emotional? Gary Greene, London, UK London, UK
latitudes (just try to separate a In 1962, I was one of five
Swede from pickled herrings). they derive the vitamin D they David Muir undergraduates who cycled from
So vitamin D deficiency wasn’t a need from their diet, which Edinburgh, UK the UK to Greece – two of us on a
problem. In English slums, rickets includes oily fish, the reality is The traditional diet of Arctic tandem and three on a triplet bike.
caused by vitamin D deficiency that their vitamin D levels are coastal indigenous people, like
was a major problem in the 19th lower than those of northern the Inuit, is high in protein and fat On level roads and moderate
and early 20th century. During Europeans, yet their skeletons from marine mammals and fish. uphill slopes, the triplet was
show no signs of rickets. Berries, roots and seaweed can noticeably more efficient than the
“Raw meat comes to supply carbohydrate, but so does tandem. On steeper hills, the main
the rescue: seal brain, Vitamin D is biologically inert fresh meat in the form of glycogen influence on progress was how
uncooked caribou and is converted into its active when the meat is eaten raw. soon one of the riders needed
liver and muktuk, form by a chemical reaction in the to pause for breath and that
made from whale liver and kidneys. Even though a Vital vitamins and minerals are team had to stop.
skin and blubber” single exposure of UVB produces present in Inuit diets. More than
less vitamin D in darker-skinned adequate amounts of vitamins A Restarting either a tandem or
and after the second world war, people than in those with lighter and D are found in the livers triplet on a steep uphill section
the UK government issued cod skin, it appears that the former and oils of cold-water fish and can be difficult, so we often
liver oil to all children. Because of have adapted to be better at mammals, so the synthesis of continued pushing that bike all
this, rickets didn’t really exist at converting vitamin D into its vitamin D in the skin through the way to the top. With a solo
the time. But the oil tasted awful. active form. This may explain why exposure to the sun isn’t vital. bike, you can more easily remount
nearly half of African Americans and ride on, which is one reason
Mike Follows are classed as having a deficiency As the richest natural sources why tandems are often regarded
Sutton Coldfield, in vitamin D, yet they show fewer of vitamin C are fruits and as poor for climbing hills.
West Midlands, UK signs of the health impacts that vegetables, you would think that
Most people get the bulk of the would usually result from this. getting enough of this might pose On the unsurfaced roads
vitamin D they need from the a problem for Arctic indigenous through Yugoslavia, the longer
action of sunlight on their skin. wheelbase of the triplet gave a
Ultraviolet light turns cholesterol Want to send us a question or answer? generally more comfortable ride,
in the skin into vitamin D. at least for the middle rider.
Email us at [email protected]
However, many indigenous Questions should be about everyday science phenomena With a well-matched team
Arctic people have a dark Full terms and conditions at newscientist.com/lw-terms of riders on the triplet, we found
complexion that acts as a natural it more efficient to have the
sunscreen and makes getting pedals displaced by 60 degrees
vitamin D this way more difficult. relative to the rider ahead, rather
While it is widely believed that than the usual arrangement
for tandems in which both
riders’ downstrokes occur
simultaneously, as the 60 degrees
setting provides constant power.

54 | New Scientist | 26 September 2020

Tom Gauld Answers

for New Scientist Quick quiz #70

Answers

1 Australia. It was detonated in a
lagoon of the Montebello Islands,
an archipelago off the country’s
west coast, on 3 October 1952

2 Ammonia

3 53. The chip’s 54th qubit failed

4 Hyperbolic planes – surfaces
where the space curves away
from itself at every point

5 The ear

Matt Chamings “On steeper hills, The ability to climb steep hills Cryptic
depends on the power-to-weight Crossword #40
Barnstaple, Devon, UK the main influence ratio of the bike and its rider or
Steering is one problem associated on progress was riders, not on the power-to-air Answers
with extending a bike for more how soon one of resistance ratio, because most of
than one person. Turning a bike the riders needed the riders’ efforts are devoted to ACROSS 1 Peat, 3 Price war,
involves leaning into the turn. increasing gravitational potential 9 Algebra, 11 Testosterone,
energy, not pushing the air aside. 13 Sirius, 15/10 Alfred Nobel,
With more weight shifting off to pause for breath” 17 Osteoporosis, 20 Oxeye,
The fact tandems climb poorly 21 Truffle, 22 Halloumi, 23 Pans
the centre of balance, the person suggests that their actual power-
to-weight ratio is less than that of DOWN 1 Phantasm, 2 Aegis,
holding the handlebars would Richard Ellam good solo bikes. That is probably 4 Reacts, 5 Control group,
because of increased losses in the 6 Webinar, 7 Roll, 8 Absolute zero,
need enormous strength to stop Bristol, UK transmission due to the chainsets 12 Odysseus, 14 Roswell,
being coupled and difficulties in 16 Sputum, 18 Sofia, 19 Moth
the whole thing toppling over. The discussion about multi- the riders synchronising their
physiological efforts, despite #77 Sir Prancelot's
person bicycles assumes that being mechanically coupled. archers

Adam Osen triplets are more efficient than My wife and I rode a tandem for Solution
several years. When riding with
Harlow, Essex, UK tandems, which in turn are more solo cyclists, it was common for The eight archers at the turret
the solos to pass us on climbs. must alternate odd/even, so the
The previous discussion on efficient than solos. Practical napping archer must be an odd
On the descent, we would number. The four evens at the
tandems focused mainly on experience suggests that this catch up and overtake them in turret add to 20, so the four odds,
short order as we were much which must also sum to 20, can
the hardware. The software is isn’t always the case. The truth faster downhill. Even with very only be 1+3+7+9, meaning the
low gear settings, climbing our napping archer is number 5.
important too. A few years ago, of the claim rests on the definition local hills, which we can do quite
comfortably on our solo bikes, There are two possible
my daughter and I rode a tandem. of “efficiency”. could be pretty purgatorial on arrangements of these eight
the tandem. ❚ archers around the turret:
When we got back, I remarked A tandem bicycle with its riders 12389476 and 12983476
(clockwise or anticlockwise).
that it was surprisingly hard. She will be lighter than the same riders
26 September 2020 | New Scientist | 55
smiled. Apparently, I had been on two solo bikes and will have

doing all the work, while she roughly the same air resistance

enjoyed the ride. On the other as a solo. So, with about twice the

hand, when I rode up a hill with power available, it can be ridden

my son on the back, it was like faster than either rider can

having an electric motor. Perhaps comfortably pedal a solo when

an app that displayed the power air resistance is dominant, for

being provided by each rider example on flattish roads and

might help the efficiency gains of when riding into a headwind. But

the tandem to be better realised. not when it comes to hill-climbing.

The back pages Feedback at the Ig Nobels

“Everybody has won, and all Twisteddoodles for New Scientist A less extreme version of getting
must have prizes.” Feedback annoyed by annoying sounds, and
subscribes fully to the Dodo’s Got a story for Feedback? the possibly annoying people who
verdict on the Caucus race in make them, is a human near-
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Send it to [email protected] or universal. So, at least, Feedback’s
Equally, however, some have New Scientist, 25 Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ES banishment to the stationery
won more than others, and Consideration of items sent in the post will be delayed cupboard would suggest. Denys and
they must have further prizes. his colleagues have since developed
Kiss ‘n’ tell but unequal British apparently kiss a therapy programme that involves
From this angle, we approach, compared with the French, whose mixing annoying sounds with ones
gingerly, the scientific world’s top Speaking of which, the economics égalité seems to exceed both their that evoke pleasant responses,
looking-glass awards, the Ig Nobels. prize went to a group of researchers liberté and their fraternité. All in all, which has a success rate in soothing
Now in their 30th year, the prizes from Australia, Brazil, Chile, though, we can only recommend frayed nerves of over 50 per cent.
for “achievements that first make Colombia, France, Poland and the allaying of mutual economic Our colleagues should please note.
people laugh, and then think” the UK for trying to quantify the insecurity as an excuse for
were announced last week in a relationship between different anyone caught in flagrante. The worm turned
ceremony all the more glittering countries’ national income
for being held entirely in the pixels inequality and the average amount Nails on board What happens to an earthworm
of the internet. of mouth-to-mouth kissing. when you vibrate it at a very high
The award for medicine went to a frequency? The answer, according
Feedback attended the virtual They found that the two team at the University of Amsterdam to the recipients of this year’s
red carpet, slightly faded and were locked in a passionate in the Netherlands for adding a new physics prize, is that its entire
bearing a couple of nasty stains embrace: the higher a nation’s term to the manual of psychiatric body adopts a standing wave
(the carpet, that is). Gini coefficient, a measure of conditions: misophonia, or an form known as a Faraday wave.
economic inequality, the higher impulsive and aggressive response
Bite worse than bark its self-reported kissing frequency. to annoying sounds made by fellow Ivan Maksymov and Andriy
Team member Christopher humans. Team member Damiaan Pototsky at Swinburne University
This year’s acoustics prize was Watkins was unsurprised by the Denys was first moved to propose of Technology in Melbourne note
awarded for inducing a female result, as all sorts of research it after treating someone who that this happens because “it is
Chinese alligator to bellow in points to a committed partner became aggressive whenever plausible to consider the worm
an airtight chamber filled with being seen as more important she heard someone sneeze. “It to be a liquid drop enclosed by
helium-enriched air. when resources are tight. was spring and I suffer from hay a thin elastic skin”.
Nevertheless, certain facets of fever, so I was very tense during
Crocodilians are among the most the work puzzle Feedback, such as the diagnostic interview,” he says. Feedback applauds this
vocal non-avian reptiles, notes the the fervour with which the frigid significant step closer to that
team from Austria, Japan and an holy grail of physics, a model
alligator farm in Florida, deftly organism that actually conforms
sidestepping the scaly question to equations. Move over,
of how one accurately defines spherical cows in a vacuum.
a reptile (see page 49 for a
full-frontal assault on that). The eyebrows have it

There remains, however, Finally, visibly moved by her success
the delicate matter of what the is Miranda Giacomin at MacEwan
loud bellows they produce, which University in Edmonton, Canada.
are particularly frequent during She and Nicholas Rule at the
the mating season, are for. Is their University of Toronto won the
purpose – and we hesitate to say psychology award for devising
the word – sexual in any way? a method to identify narcissists
through their distinctive eyebrows.
By demonstrating the presence
of “formant” frequencies created by The research was very data-
the shape of the vocal tract, which driven, she explains: they looked
are increased by breathing helium, for facial cues that seemed to
the researchers suggest yes: the predict narcissism and, “after
calls may advertise an appropriate systematically breaking down the
body size to potential mates. components of the face, the data
led us to the eyebrows”, she says.
Feedback applauds the integrity
of those behind the work, who Feedback makes no comment,
return triumphantly with these new and merely raises one of our
insights from the crocodilian interior. distinct, shapely and quite frankly
Simultaneously, we surreptitiously glorious pair. More Ig Nobels the
add an entry to “mating and dating same time next year, possibly.  ❚
strategies” in the relevant place in
our extensive piling system.

56 | New Scientist | 26 September 2020

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