Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2019 från BBC Science Focus Magazine

Fifty years ago, on 20 July 1969, humans first set foot on the Moon. It was a moment that captured the world’s imagination like no other, inspiring a generation of scientists, engineers and artists alike. Sadly, a few years later, as priorities – and, of course, money – shifted away from the Moon, Gene Cernan would unwittingly become the last person to walk across the lunar surface in 1972, and one of the last people to leave a low-Earth orbit. In the time since, our exploration of space, particularly in the last decade, has exploded. Okay, so we might not have put our feet on other worlds, but in the last 10 years we’ve visited the outer limits of our Solar System, observed Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars, landed on…

Putting the art in AI OXFORDSHIRE ,UK Meet a pioneer of the art world: Ai-Da. She’s the first robot artist able to draw from sight. The brainchild of Oxford gallery director Aidan Meller, Ai-Da’s body was created by Cornish robotics firm, Engineered Arts. Her head is made lifelike with silicone skin, 3D-printed teeth and gums, and individually punched hair. The secret to Ai-Da’s artistic prowess lies in AI algorithms, developed at the University of Leeds, that process the information captured by her camera eyes and send instructions to her mechanical arm. Ai-Da can sketch people in pen and pencil, and also creates abstract artworks such as those shown here. For these, her artistic output is passed through further algorithms, printed on canvas and painted over by a human. Ai-Da’s first…

Food allergies are on the rise – especially in kids – and now we may know why. Researchers have found a link between junk food and food allergies in kids aged 6 to 12. The study, at the University of Naples Federico II, found higher levels of ‘advanced glycation end-products’ (AGEs) in children with food allergies. AGEs are formed when proteins or fats combine with sugars, and large amounts are present in highly processed foods. “Existing hypotheses of food allergy do not adequately explain the dramatic increase [of allergies] observed in the last years,” said study leader Dr Roberto Berni Canani. “Dietary AGEs may be the missing link.”…

If your screaming kids, nagging boss and mounting debts are driving you mad, the chances are your pooch is feeling the burn too. Dogs mirror the stress levels of their owners, according to a study at Linköping University, Sweden. The team monitored the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in 25 border collies, 33 Shetland sheepdogs and their owners over several months. “We found that the levels of long-term cortisol in the dog and its owner were synchronised, such that owners with high cortisol levels have dogs with high cortisol levels, while owners with low cortisol levels have dogs with low levels,” said Ann-Sofie Sundma, who led the research.…

@timspector Tim is a professor of genetics who researches and writes about the microbiome, and unpicks the relationship between food and health. @saraheeberry Sarah is a doctor of nutritional sciences at King’s College London. @alex_freeman Alex is executive director at the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge. @Sander_vdLinden Sander is an assistant professor in social psychology at the University of Cambridge. He studies the psychology of social communication, and the spread of fake news.…

One of my medical heroes is Prof Barry Marshall of the University of Western Australia. We met in the 1990s when I made a documentary about him and his colleague, Robin Warren. I created the film, Ulcer Wars, because they had a great story to tell: they had identified and grown a species of bacteria they called Helicobacter pylori and had become convinced that it was responsible for the majority of cases of gastric cancer and gastric ulcers. As a film-maker, it appealed to me that in the 1980s Barry had drank from a beaker containing H. pylori. He became ill and a biopsy of his gut revealed that the H. pylori had indeed begun colonising his stomach lining and the upper part of his small intestine, causing inflammation, or…

Picture a world where you no longer have to run a gauntlet of tedious, invasive tests when you suspect that something is amiss with your health. Instead, your smartphone or wearable device tells you that there’s something wrong before you have any symptoms, and suggests that a trip to the GP might be in order, gaining you precious time to beat the illness. One day, perhaps you could be warned by a sensor that’s implanted inside your body to keep tabs on your health. Such a world may not be that far into the future. Most of the technology already exists, and it has been right under our noses all along. It relies on a resource that has been with us since the dawn of humanity: the power of smell.…

DR ALASTAIR GUNN Astronomer, astrophysicist ALEX FRANKLINCHEUNG Environment/ climate expert DR PETER J BENTLEY Computer scientist, author PROF ALICE GREGORY Psychologist, sleep expert DR HILARY GUITE Former GP, science writer CHARLOTTE CORNEY Zoo director, conservationist DR HELEN SCALES Oceans expert, science writer DR CHRISTIAN JARRETT Neuroscientist, science writer DR EMMA DAVIES Chemistry expert, science writer LUIS VILLAZON Science/tech writer JULES HOWARD Zoologist, science writer PROF ROBERT MATTHEWS Physicist, science writer…

KEEP IT LOOSE A 1980 study found that the black robes worn by the Bedouins in the desert keep them cool by allowing air to flow between the robe and the skin – the colour is largely irrelevant here. So if you’re wearing black, go baggy. HAVE AN ICE LOLLY Melting ice requires heat energy to rearrange the molecules into liquid form. So sucking an ice lolly will use up some of your excess heat, cooling you 30 per cent more than the same volume of cold drink. EAT SOMETHING SPICY Capsaicin in chillies tricks the thermoreceptors in your mouth into thinking you’re hotter than you really are. This makes your skin flush, and you also sweat more. Both are efficient ways to shed heat quickly – provided there’s a…

The origins of this idea date back at least to the Ancient Greeks, with Aristotle 2,300 years ago claiming that the Moon could influence the human mind. But madness wasn’t the only outcome: the original meaning of ‘lunatic’ referred to epilepsy rather than insanity. The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder argued that the Moon was able to exert its influence via the water content of the brain – rather like the tides. This is now known to be nonsense: the forces involved are far too small. Even so, the belief persists and has been investigated scientifically many times. A 1985 review of dozens of studies of alleged links between the Moon and everything from psychiatric issues to criminal behaviour found no compelling evidence. But it still remains an active research…

Eye opener AI-DA DRAWING Watch Ai-Da the robotic artist at work as she draws a portrait using her mechanical arm. She’s able to draw people from sight, using AI algorithms to convert what she sees into an abstract style that’s inspired by Expressionism and Cubism. bit.ly/ai_art Reality check THE DANGERS OF PLASTIC IN OUR OCEANS Dr Lucy Quinn from the British Antarctic Survey looks at the plastic ingested by an albatross in this clip from Blue Planet II . bit.ly/plastic_albatross IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A SAFE TAN? Michael Mosley asks dermatologists Dr Richard Weller and Prof Charlotte Proby how much Sun exposure is too much. bit.ly/safe_tan Practising for the Moon LUNAR LANDING RESEARCH VEHICLE TEST FLIGHT In this vintage NASA clip, Neil Armstrong carries out a training flight…

reply@sciencefocus.com BBC Science Focus, Eagle House, Colston Avenue, Bristol, BS1 4ST @sciencefocus www.facebook.com/sciencefocus @bbcsciencefocus Power problems With regard to your article on Chernobyl (July, p36), there is a certain irony. I read a recent article, in The Telegraph business supplement, suggesting that the Russian Nuclear Energy Agency – Rosatom – was doing well, setting up reactors in a variety of Third World states. It is only in the West that the difficulties occur; as illustrated by the German decision to ban nuclear power following Fukushima, even though the chances of a Tsunami striking Germany seem decidedly low. In fact, there seems to be a considerable degree of irrationality and ignorance when it comes to nuclear power – you will probably have seen the badge featuring the Sun with a smiling…

x4 Titan is the only moon in the Solar System with an appreciable atmosphere. It is four times denser than Earth’s atmosphere. 15 DAYS 22 HOURS This is the amount of time it takes Titan to orbit Saturn. Titan keeps its same face to Saturn, like our Moon does to Earth. -179 ° C This is the surface temperature on Titan. This means that methane can exist as a liquid, and water freezes as hard as rock. 90% The amount of sunlight falling on Titan that is absorbed by its thick atmosphere. This means that it is always twilight. 25 MARCH 1655 The date that Titan was discovered by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, after whom the ESA lander was named.…

#Male contraceptive James Owers and Diana Bardsley, a couple from Edinburgh, have become among the first people in the world to trial a male contraceptive gel. The gel is rubbed onto the chest and switches off sperm production in the testes. Gene Matthews @GeneMatthewsLaw Interesting clinical trial for male contraceptive gel started in the new year. If successful, it should provide a further reliable contraceptive option for men (perhaps better sharing the responsibility). B @bacloughton Injections... Implants... Hormonal pills...copper coils... Vs Gel I’m extremely JEALOUS AND ANNOYED #Heatwave Summer heatwaves have been sweeping across Europe. According to a climatology institute in Potsdam, Germany, Europe’s five hottest summers since 1500 have all been in the 21st Century. Simon King @SimonOKing New June records were broken in Germany, Poland and the Czech…

SEA LOVERS A dip in the ocean could leave us prone to infection, as skin bacteria are washed off and replaced by waterborne bacteria, a team at the University of California reports. The skin microbiome of volunteers was replaced with oceanborne bacteria for up to 24 hours after ocean swimming. CHICKEN CONNOISSEURS White meats such as poultry have a similar effect on cholesterol as red meats, find researchers at the University of California. Both types increase cholesterol-enriched LDL particles in the blood, which is linked to an increased risk of heart attack.…

1. The British indie rock band Florence and the Machine released the song Dog Days Are Over in 2008 as the second single from their debut album Lungs. 2. The title is a reference to the ‘dog days of summer’ – the hot, sultry days in July and August when the weather is usually at its most uncomfortable. 3. The phrase goes back to the Ancient Greeks, who used it to refer to the time following the rising of the ‘Dog Star’ in the Northern Hemisphere. 4. The Dog Star is also called Sirius – the brightest in the night sky. It gets its name because it faithfully follows the constellation of Orion the hunter across the sky.…

I’VE GOT A CRACKING SUNTAN AT THE MOMENT. WILL IT PROTECT ME FROM THE SUN? Afraid not. A suntan is a sign that the damage is already being done. When your skin is exposed to the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation, the body responds by producing the dark pigment melanin. This helps to protect your skin by absorbing UV energy, but it gives only a limited amount of protection, especially in fair-skinned people. UV radiation will still be able to penetrate skin cells and damage the DNA, increasing your chances of developing skin cancer. So if you’re going out, make sure you slather on the sunscreen (dermatologists recommend at least SPF 30). If you love having that post-holiday glow, fake tan might be the way to go in future. HG WASPS…

ROGER BRITTON, LANNER HOW CAN ONE EYE ALONE PROVIDE DEPTH PERCEPTION? One of the main ways our brains perceive depth is by using a technique called ‘binocular disparity’, which compares the slight differences in view from each eye to determine the distance to objects. If you close one eye, however, you’ll notice that you can still perceive depth. This is thanks to a number of extra visual cues that our brains exploit. For example, we know the size of things from memory, so if an object looks smaller than expected we know it’s further away. Our brains also understand perspective, where parallel lines (such as train tracks) get closer together as they stretch into the distance. There’s also a nifty mechanism called motion parallax: when we’re moving, objects appear to…

MAN’S PLACE IN NATURE THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY (WILLIAMS & NORGATE) Among the most provocative books ever published, Huxley’s 1863 masterpiece explained that humans are primates and that we are close relatives of chimps and gorillas. THE ANNOTATED AND ILLUSTRATED DOUBLE HELIX JAMES D WATSON, ALEXANDER GANN AND JAN WITKOWSKI (SIMON & SCHUSTER) Despite Watson’s controversial views on many topics, the story of his epiphany in 1953, when he understood how the DNA molecule must be assembled, is inspirational. BETTER NEVER TO HAVE BEEN DAVID BENATAR (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS) David develops the most unsettling idea in modern philosophy, that the human experience of existence is best avoided. Sadly, his argument is watertight.…

WHAT IS IT ABOUT UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY THAT MAKES IT SPECIAL? Every time you jump into the water, you don’t know what you’re going to see, and that makes every single dive really exciting. With land photography, you’ll likely set out with an idea of what you want to capture and the kit you’ll need, and 9 times out of 10 you’ll get it. When you dive, you don’t have that guarantee. You have to try and prepare for every situation and take each dive as it comes. But there is just something so special about being underwater and seeing what so few people get to see. Being able to capture those things in pictures and share them with others – there is no other feeling like it. WHAT ARE THE…

AMY SHIRA TEITEL How do you practise walking on the Moon? Spaceflight historian Amy looks at the training methods that put Apollo astronauts through their paces. p36 JAMES LOVELOCK On the eve of his 100th birthday, the man who first proposed the Gaia hypothesis shares his new theory with us. p56 DAVID SPIEGELHALTER If you believe the papers, sugary treats and processed food are going to kill you. Well it’s not quite as simple as that. David helps us navigate the headlines. p32 ROSIE MALLETT ‘E-noses’ – electronic devices that can sniff out disease – could soon be helping us pick up signs of illnesses, years before they can be detected by current methods. Rosie tells us more. p73…

WHAT DID THEY DO? A team at the University of British Columbia placed Atlantic salmon in swim tunnels with adjustable water flows – essentially a fish treadmill – and tested their endurance capabilities. WHY DID THEY DO THAT? They wanted to test the effect of plasma-accessible carbonic anhydrase (paCA). This is an enzyme anchored to the walls of the blood vessels of salmon and is thought to play an important role in their cardiovascular function. They inhibited the paCA in some fish and tested their ability to swim against strong water. WHAT DID THEY FIND? They found that the paCA enzyme kicks in when the fish were in low oxygen environments. It helps to reduce how hard the hearts of the salmon had to work by up to 27 per…

Analysis of 300 stars has hinted that the gas giant Jupiter could be something of a cosmic anomaly. Astronomers using the Gemini Planet Imager – an infrared detector attached to a telescope in the Chilean Andes – spotted six gas giant planets orbiting some of the stars they studied. But all six of those planets were orbiting large, bright stars: not one was found around a smaller star similar to our Sun. This suggests that our Solar System might be unusual in harbouring such a large gas planet – a finding which may help astronomers to better understand how Earth formed and became habitable.…

JENNY HARRIS, SUTTON DO ANIMALS GET EMBARRASSED? It’s hard to imagine that a pug dressed up as a hot dog doesn’t feel embarrassed, especially if it’s displaying expressions that we normally associate with that emotion, such as looking away. But perhaps the dog is just uncomfortable in the costume, or even scared. Likewise, an animal which has done something we deem to be naughty or silly might appear to be embarrassed, when it’s actually just responding to our body language and anticipating a reaction from us. While scientists agree that some animals are capable of experiencing basic emotions, a lack of research means that the jury is still out on these more complex ones. CC CIAN MCCARTHY, CORK, IRELAND WHEN WE START UPLOADING OUR BRAINS TO COMPUTERS, WILL OUR SENSE…

Versions of this idea have been discussed all the way back to antiquity. The modern interpretation was popularised by Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2003 and has since been expanded by many others, including MIT professor Rizwan Virk. The simulation argument supposes that computer power will continue to increase to the point where it is possible to model enough of reality to mimic everything that we are currently able to perceive and measure. This needn’t be as complex as a complete model of the Universe. The stars in the sky could be simulated just as points of light, with no other features until we point a telescope at one. If we assume such  simulations are possible, then it seems inevitable that there will be more than one; and thus,…

ELVIE BREAST PUMP £249, ELVIE.COM Breastfeeding is hard: fact! So anything that gives a mother a break from the relentlessness is a winner. My friend, Lae, has tried standard pumps, but being strapped to a noisy machine with wires and tubes is not what she would call a break. That’s where this pump comes into its own, and she found it to be a gamechanger (if you want to call it a game). The Elvie pump is small, and fits neatly inside a nursing mother’s bra, where it gently expresses milk via seven different intensity settings. Lae washed up, drove, and even enjoyed her dad’s 70th birthday party while discreetly using the pump. She loves that it has given her a little bit of freedom and taken the edge off…