Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i BBC Science Focus Magazine

Timing is everything. It's the one thing stand-up comedians and experimental physicists have in common. The ability to measure time precisely, over both vast and minute spans, underpins our observations of the world. If the Universe is a puzzle, then having an accurate measure of time is a bit like starting at the edges and corners: filling in the blanks gets a lot easier from there. That's why the physics world is getting excited about a new way to measure time. Most of us would think that atomic clocks – the current benchmark by which units of time are calculated – work very well. Indeed, the world pretty much ticks by without fault, a point that's perhaps best demonstrated by the Global Positioning System, which relies on atomic clocks to…

EYE OPENER This isn't the moment a swarm of tiny red ants (Formica rufa) finally overcomes a mighty blue ground beetle (Carabus intricatus) after a protracted battle to the death. No, luckily – for the ants, at least – the beetle was already dead when they found it. What's happening in this extraordinary image is a salvage operation. The ants have simply seized their chance and moved in to retrieve the insect – an important source of protein for them – before anything else does. The carpet of red ants are preparing their mandibles (paired jaws that work like pincers) to carve up their bounty. They'll dismember it, bit by bit, until they have pieces small enough to fit through the entrance to their nest. “Ants have strong mandibles that…

reply@sciencefocus.com BBC Science Focus, Eagle House, Bristol, BS1 4ST @sciencefocus www.facebook.com/sciencefocus @bbcsciencefocus LETTER OF THE MONTH Roman recipes Your fascinating article on the potential health benefits of olive mill wastewater (October, p32) made me wonder how the Romans used this by-product, since olive oil was so central to their diet. I checked the Opus Agriculturae of Palladius (5 AD) and found some 28 references to amurca, the Latin word for the liquid waste from olivepressing. Palladius recommends its use as a fertiliser for fruit trees and as a pest deterrent (perhaps because of its bitter taste). He does once recommend its consumption… but for cattle, as a tonic to maintain their health. This clearly acknowledges its health-giving properties. John Fitch, via email WRITE IN AND WIN! The writer of next…

An archaeological breakthrough has revealed that smoking may not just yellow your teeth, but it could actually change your bones too. It also suggests that the smoking culture during the Georgian and Victorian eras in the UK was very different to what we thought it was. “What was surprising was quite how many women had evidence of tobacco use,” the principal investigator of the new research, Dr Sarah Inskip, told BBC Science Focus. “This is at odds with many prevailing historical narratives that suggest it was really a male habit.” The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, could also be used to help solve modern crime investigations. Knowing whether someone was a smoker or non-smoker could be key information to identifying remains, but the new research method could also…

THE WEIRDEST SCIENCE NEWS OF 2024 UFOs, cat colours and unsettling robot coatings were just some of the bizarre science stories that broke this year 1 HIPPOS CAN ‘FLY’ Hippos, it turns out, spend more time in the air than we thought. Researchers have found that they run so fast they can become airborne for as much as 15 per cent of their stride cycle (their pattern of steps). That's about 0.3 seconds. 2 POOPING FREQUENCY IS A KEY HEALTH INDICATOR Goldilocks would be thrilled with this year's news that researchers calculated how much poop is just right. When it comes to your long-term health, the ‘Goldilocks zone’ is one or two bowel movements a day. That should stave off chronic disease risk and kidney damage. 3 A STRANGE UFO…

A dog hurtles past me, chasing a ball at top speed, across the wide-open flats of Seascale Beach in Cumbria. A small park and a row of shops and houses overlook the long, windswept sands. As I walk northward, tall chimneys and large cuboid buildings of a vast industrial A site creep into view. Right on the doorstep of this beach and the small coastal town of Seascale is Sellafield – a complex, 5km2 (2 sq miles) nuclear site that's home to the vast majority of the UK's radioactive nuclear waste, as well as the world's largest stockpile of plutonium. I visited Sellafield earlier this year to find out about the fate of the UK's nuclear waste. What I discovered is that the site is now an eye-wateringly expensive lesson…

INNOVATIONS 4 TRENDS WE LIKED… GENERATIVE AI Love it or hate it, generative artificial intelligence (AI) is the technology of 2024. We're sick of hearing about it and you probably are too… so let's talk about it some more. Led by OpenAI and its host of acronym-friendly products, the generative AI movement has affected everyone. Companies are obsessed with ChatGPT and your gran is asking you about Google Gemini (right). We're all being kept on our toes trying to work out what's real and what's fake. While AI's efforts in the early days were easy to laugh at – whether it was producing gobbledegook text or pictures of people with 12-fingered hands – the technology has come along quickly. AI algorithms are passing medical and legal tests with flying colours,…

FEATURE STRESS BELLY Feeling stressed? That's not surprising. The modern world, with its relentlessly breaking bad news and always-on communication, is more or less set up to keep us on edge. But there's a problem: our bodies are built for fight or flight, not fear mongering and Facebook notifications. We're increasingly finding that constant and continual stress can be very bad for us – and it's likely one of the biggest causes behind our worldwide weight gain. There is some good news, though. Even if the wider world is unlikely to change anytime soon, there are a few simple steps we can take right now to reduce the negative effects of stress on our bodies (see ‘De-stress your life’, p67). But before we take those steps, it's worth getting an…

The answer to this question depends on who you ask. US psychologist Dr Jean Twenge has conducted multiple studies comparing the psychological traits of different cohorts and claimed that, compared with earlier generations, ‘Millennials’ (people born between 1981–1996) are especially prone to neurotic narcissism and anxiety, meaning that they have “…unrealistically high expectations [and] difficulty with criticism.” Other research has failed to support these findings, however. For instance, a study of nearly half a million high school pupils in America between 1976–2006 found few if any differences in psychological traits across generations – including those like egotism and sensitivity to social status – that might reflect hypersensitivity. What's more, other studies have suggested that it's actually older generations that are more sensitive. One published in 2019 that involved hundreds of…

The Sky at Night – Ancestral Skies November saw the team look back on ancient civilisations that depended on dark skies, and asks whether modern civilisation is putting this important resource at risk. Watch now on BBC iPlayer Expedition Killer Whale Join scientists and camera teams taking a deep dive into the hunting methods and communication techniques of these apex predators. Watch on BBC Two over Christmas Check Radio Times for details The Reith Lectures In this four-part lecture series, forensic psychotherapist Dr Gwen Adshead asks, is violence normal? Is there such a thing as Evil? And can we change violent minds? Listen now on BBC Sounds…

AGEING Balancing on one leg may sound easy, but new research says that any wobbling or near-falls could indicate your body is ageing faster than you might have hoped. The study, published in PLOS, says that how long you can sustain this ‘unipedal stance test’ indicates the speed at which your neuromuscular sensory system is declining. This system is a collection of nerves that connects your muscles to your brain and spinal cord, allowing your muscles to move when needed. When it declines, your movements and responses become slower. Balancing for 30 seconds doesn't take too much muscle strength, but requires adequate neuromuscular control. As age increases, however, both of these decline, causing more swaying and a shorter balancing time. The researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, in the…

You might not need to sweat it out at the gym every day to keep your mind sharp. A new study suggests as little as one exercise session per week could help safeguard your brain from cognitive decline. In fact, scientists found doing as little as a weekly 30-minute workout could slash participants’ risk of mild cognitive impairment by as much as 13 per cent. The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, involved analysing the exercise habits of 100,000 participants in Mexico City. First, volunteers were surveyed and split into groups according to how frequently they worked out. Then a decade later, the scientists ran tests on the volunteers’ brain health to determine their memory, concentration and ability to follow instructions. The researchers gave each participant a…

A new solution inspired by swimming pools could protect diseased corals in the Tropical Atlantic (the waters on either side of the equator in the Atlantic Ocean, including the east side of the Caribbean islands). The corals in this area are being ravaged by the fast-spreading and highly lethal, deadly stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), which is brought on by pollution and warming waters. Now, an international team of researchers has discovered that chlorine powder could provide a protective barrier against the disease. Typically, antibiotics are used to prevent SCTLD, but these pollute the ocean and increase antibiotic resistance. Instead, chlorine powder – the same used to kill germs in swimming pools – is being mixed with cocoa butter to form a spreadable paste to treat the coral. The…

COLUMNISTS COMMENT Bats have long been viewed as a menace. Their nocturnal lives, as well as their unusual looks and behaviour, earned them a reputation for devilry. Stories of blood-sucking, shape-shifting vampire bats were common across central Europe during the 1700s and Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula further fuelled the negative stereotype. More recently, their reputation took a hit during the coronavirus pandemic, as the flying mammals were implicated in the spread of the virus. But bats a re some of the most unfairly treated animals on the planet. They've been much-maligned when, in fact, according to Prof Rodrigo Medellìn, a bat ecologist from the University of Mexico's Institute of Ecology, “bats are our best friends.” They're fundamental for the wellbeing of entire ecosystems. And now that climate change is killing…

FALSE MEMORIES FEATURE What is Darth Vader's most iconic line in The Empire Strikes Back? And how does the Evil Queen address her mirror in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Unfortunately, there are no points for the answers “Luke, I am your father” and “Mirror, mirror on the wall.” The actual lines are “No, I am your father” and “Magic mirror on the wall.” But don't worry if you, like so many, slipped up slightly here. Be it movie quotes or even the details of well-known images like the Monopoly Man's supposed monocle (he's never actually worn one), collective misremembering is common. In fact, there's even a scientific term for it: the Mandela Effect. The name comes from researcher Fiona Broome who, in 2009, found that many people writing on…

Use the 3-2-1 tactic One meta-analysis of more than 200 studies on mindfulness – the practice of bringing one's attention fully into the present moment – found that it's “especially effective” for dealing with stress. Start with the 3-2-1 exercise. Name three things you can hear, two that you can feel and one that you can smell or taste. “It's a simple routine that can help you look beyond your immediate surroundings,” says Dr Danny Penman, author of Deeper Mindfulness: The New Way to Rediscover Calm in a Chaotic World. Remember to breathe “One of the simplest things you can do to de-stress every day is to do a short meditation,” says Penman. “You can find some free, guided options online, but simple alternatives can involve pausing for a second…

BEN SCHOFIELD, YORKSHIRE WHAT ARE THE BESTPRESERVED ICE AGE ANIMALS? From woolly rhinos to wolves, brown bears to bison, many Ice Age animals have been recovered from the world's permafrost. Apart from being slightly crushed and maybe a little bit nibbled, very often they're in excellent condition. In 2017, for example, scientists exhumed the body of a little cave lion cub, dubbed Sparta, from the frozen bank of a Siberian river. Its golden fur may have been muddy and matted, but its skin, soft tissue and organs were all intact. Lying on its side with eyes closed, it looked more like an animal that was asleep, than one that had been dead for 28,000 years. Then there's the two-month-old horse, that died around 35,000 years ago and was discovered in…

DR LUCY MADDOX No one's memory is close to being perfect. But Lucy, a consultant psychologist, asks if we could harness this fact to plant false memories in other people's minds. DR STUART CLARK Faster-than-light travel is a staple of science fiction, but if we ever hope to make it a reality there are some seriously complex physics to overcome, as space writer Stuart explains. JOEL SNAPE In times of stress, it's all too easy to seek the comfort of a cookie or a bar of chocolate. But what if it's the stress, not the food that's expanding your waist? Health writer Joel investigates. HAYLEY BENNETT Nazca lines, giant depictions of animals scattered across the deserts of Peru, have puzzled researchers for decades. Science writer Hayley asks if AI can…

EYE OPENER No, this isn't an ostentatious sea cucumber or an alien organism. It turns out that when you look really closely at a cannabis plant, you find these rather funky colours and bulbs. Really close, mind – you'll need a microscope capable of 20x magnification. The vibrant violets are courtesy of chemicals known as anthocyanins. The pigment can also appear in different colours, like red and blue, on other plants. And those spheres? They're known as glandular trichomes and are part of the armour the plant uses to protect itself from herbivores. You can also blame these trichomes for the distinct smell cannabis has, as these outgrowths contain chemicals called terpenes, which make the plant pungent. These chemicals also affect some of the other qualities cannabis is known for.…

While early missions to the Moon focused on areas around the Moon's equator, recent efforts have centred around its southern pole. In 2009, India's Chandrayan-1 orbiter found hints of water ice in the region, locked in the corners of craters that have been angled away from the Sun for billions of years. The discovery renewed interest in returning to the Moon. Scientifically speaking, water is incredibly important to both geology and biology, and it would be a huge boon to study ice that has remained unchanged since the early days of the Solar System. There's also the possibility of mining it as a resource, as it can be split into hydrogen and oxygen (important components of rocket fuel). The region has been selected as the landing site for NASA's upcoming…

DISCOVERIES CONSERVATION A team of researchers has trained African giant pouched rats to pick up the scents of endangered animal anatomy – pangolin scales, elephant ivory and rhino horn – in an effort to provide a low-cost detection system to prevent illegal smuggling. The rats can even identify these items when concealed among other substances and have been shown to remember the smells after months of non-exposure. APOPO, the Tanzanian organisation behind the project, previously trained the rats to detect landmines and the pathogen that causes tuberculosis. When it comes to the illegal wildlife trade, the rats offer a cost-effective detection solution, they can also climb into tight spaces in packed shipping containers to hunt for poached materials. The rats had to undergo several stages of training – first learning to…

Scientists claim they've discovered the optimal way to hold a frisbee to achieve peak performance, helping disc-throwers everywhere avoid the embarrassment of lobbing one into a nearby picnic. The researchers from Berry College, Georgia, in the US, analysed amateur and professional disc golf players to work out how different thumb positions affected their disc throwing. They found that the optimum thumb position for achieving the fastest launch and spin rate is around 3cm (1.2in) from the disc's outer edge. Disc golf, first played in the US in the 1960s, is a sport in which players throw discs towards a metal basket. In 1976, it was officially formalised by Ed Headrick and eventually morphed into modern frisbee. Disc golf, as the name suggests, follows similar rules to golf, while frisbee uses…

Deep in the Chihuahuan Desert in northern Mexico lies a mysterious area known as the Mapimí Zone of Silence, where legend has it radio signals and other forms of communication can't be received. The Zone of Silence developed its supernatural reputation in the 1970s, after a failed rocket test by the US Air Force led to a large clean-up operation. Rumour has it that magnetic anomalies – either in the ground or the atmosphere – caused the rocket crash, as well as the communication failures that gave the Zone of Silence its name. People have also reported strange lights in the sky, weird mutated plants and animals, and even alien sightings. Tourists flock from around the world to witness these strange phenomena. Unfortunately, it appears that the truth of Mapimí…

Most jug-style water filters remove unpleasant-tasting chlorine (which is added to the water supply to disinfect it) as well as certain pesticides and pharmaceutical residues. They can also reduce levels of lead and copper, and some can even help to soften hard water by reducing its calcium and magnesium content. But they don't necessarily remove all contaminants. They don't remove nitrates from agricultural run-off, for instance, or small molecules including hormones, bacteria and viruses. They also struggle with heavy metals like arsenic and mercury, and vary widely in their ability to eliminate toxic chemicals called PFAS (dubbed ‘forever chemicals’ for their tendency to persist in the environment and accumulate in our bodies). The jury's still out on whether jug filters effectively remove microplastics from tap water, but one study from…