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#62017
SEPTEMBER
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Solar energy
Pirates
Planet of the Apes ANI MATED C OV ER
Fantastic Beasts Radiation NZD
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ISSN 2537-7744
Hip Hop
SEPTEMBER 2017
ISSN 2537-7744
Cold Nuclear Fusion 9
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774006
The Great Dying
Game Theory
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SOCIAL MEDIA
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TABLE OF CONTENTS PHYSICS
MATH
Can radiation turn you into a superhero? p. 12
Game theory: why do people not always work together, even if it is in their best interests to do so? p. 4
MythBusters: cold
nuclear fusion
p. 18
DOING BUSINESS
Simple Genius: who is the author and holder of 1,136 patents? p. 36 TECHNOLOGY
CRISPR / Cas9: How can we harness
solar energy? p. 24
how to edit DNA p. 30
BIOLOGY
CULTURE
What was the most severe extinction in the history of the Earth? p. 42
Pirates of Hollywood: the curse of the black truth p. 78
Cambrian explosion:
Hip-hop:
what was the reason of the sudden appearance of an enormous variety of animals on our planet 541 million years ago? p. 68
from A to (Jay) Z
p. 90
Fantastic beasts: fact and fantasy
p. 49
Nature’s most wanted: they attack quickly, suddenly, and, as a rule, lethally p. 54
Sandfly scaled 100x p. 66 FAQ
How does
fear work? p. 58
p. 60
SCI-FI
Planet of the apes: discover the intelligence of our animal-relatives
What do the Khmer Rouge and Freddy Krueger have in common? p. 74
MEGAPIXEL
T ECHNOLOG Y
TECHNOLOGY
SUPERHEROES
UNDER THE INFLUENCE
1. DAREDEVIL
2. DR. MANHATTANN
3. CAPTAIN ATOM
4. THE FANTASTIC FOUR
He became blind after getting radioactive waste in his eyes, but because of it, his hearing and sense of smell improved. There is nothing strange in this — with the loss of one sense, a person begins to more actively use the remaining ones. But before you blindfold yourself, we must warn you — even a very good sense of hearing will text not make you a superhero in real life.
Disintegrated into elementary particles as a result of radiation, and then he “reconstructed” himself. An interesting fact: if a person is divided into at least two roughly equal parts, the chance that he will restore himself to wholeness by the power of his thoughts is zero. So this story, in our opinion, is the most unbelievable.
Few people will remember this superhero. He survived an atomic explosion, and the alien metal that settled in his body gave him superpowers. Well, what can we say? The tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has shown us that surviving such an explosion gives you cancer, not super-strength.
A group of scientists orbiting the Earth fell under the influence of cosmic radiation, which gave them special abilities. It would be interesting to elaborate on this idea and imagine what powers Yuri Gagarin or Neil Armstrong possessed after their flights into space. All astronauts receive a dose of cosmic radiation, and they are all heroes in our eyes, but still not quite super.
17
#6 SEPT E MBE R2017
OF
RADIATION
5. NEGATIVE MAN
6. SPIDER-MAN
7. THE HULK
His path to becoming a superhero began when he was accidentally exposed to a radioactive field in the atmosphere while piloting a test aircraft. There is a grain of truth to this: the source of radiation inside an aircraft is cosmic rays penetrating the Earth’s atmosphere. Thus, the higher the aircraft gets, the higher the dose of radiation. Passengers are at risk, but only those who fly almost every day have cause to be concerned about this.
According to the original story, Peter Parker was accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider. As a result, he acquired “spider-like” superpowers. Since a spider bite cannot actually lead to changes in the genome, in the 2002 film the spider was not radioactive, but genetically modified.
Originated after the explosion of a gamma bomb created by physicist Bruce Banner. And if our explanation of radiation was somewhat incomplete, then Bruce’s transformation is even more incomprehensible as to how he gets around the law of conservation of matter when turning into the enormous Hulk. Perhaps, in fact, he does not actually become muscular, but simply inflates himself like certain fish do to frighten their enemies?
19
#6 SEPT E MBE R2017
Hot Cold and
Without light, you’re in trouble if you aren’t a cat or an owl... And even as it gets more and more expensive, you must admit that we cannot live without electricity!
A “Domesticated” Star Power engineers, consumers, and Greenpeace all dream of cheap and safe electricity, and of energy in general. Unfortunately, there’s a problem: “green” electricity obtained from alternative sources (solar cells, wind and tidal power, heat pumps, etc.) is several times more expensive than that obtained from conventional thermal and hydropower plants. Don’t want to pay a lot? Then you have to put up with millions of hectares of fertile land flooded by reservoirs, hundreds of thousands of tons of ash and soot emitted into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, and an abundance of other byproducts of energy production.
Is there any escape from this impasse? In fact, there are several. One of the most attractive solutions, at least theoretically, is the controlled and long-lasting reaction of nuclear fusion, that is, the creation of man-made stars. In the end, what is a nuclear reactor? Think of a bomb, whose explosion is extended for a long time. Why not try to repeat the same effect that occurs in a hydrogen bomb, in which this synthesis occurs? But this is impossible for several reasons. First, to initiate the reaction of the fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium, protons
T ECHNOLOG Y
How to Edit DNA CRISPR / Cas9 Technology in Layman’s Terms
31
#6 SEPT E MBE R2017
DNA can be compared to a large book; to read it is to live. Its ability to accurately edit its own text, correct mistakes, and finish new “chapters” brings promise of victory over many diseases and problems of our time. And we are getting closer to this: there is especially strong hope surrounding the recently developed CRISPR / Cas9 technology. Do not be intimidated by these complicated abbreviations - we’ll explain everything in layman’s terms. We’ll break it down into the letters and the chapters of the “book of DNA.”
DOIN G BUSIN E SS
“If we’re not going to discover something new, then we’ll never produce anything new!” Artur Fischer
SIMPLE GENIUS
BIOLOG Y
the great Once upon a time, a stone the size of a mountain crashed into our planet. It left the Gulf of Mexico in its wake. And then a “nuclear winter� set in. After that, dinosaurs went extinct. And then people found out about all this and believed it. Perhaps you are among them? Maybe you also believe that this was the most severe extinction in the history of the Earth. Well, we must disappoint you.
#6 SEPT E MBE R2017
dying
T
43
here have been several periods of extinction on our planet (while researchers do not have exact figures yet, they say there have been about six mass extinctions all together). Some colossal, others small. Some long, and some short - on a geological scale, of course. This means that they could have lasted from a couple million to 35 million years. That’s right, this is no instantaneous event. If we had lived in those times, then we would most likely not have noticed anything special going on. In fact, some scientists believe that we are living in another era of mass extinctions right now. But do such extinctions really exist? They certainly do. It’s just that for us, something that seems long is merely a blink on the scale of eternity. Let us tell you about the most interesting of these “great deaths.”
BIOLOG Y
NATURE’S MOS These animals are almost entirely inaudible. Some are virtually invisible. They attack quickly, suddenly, and, as a rule, lethally. Death comes in a matter of hours, or even seconds, and is incredibly painful. In this article, we will tell you about the most dangerous animals on the planet.
Black Mamba
A black mamba with prey
Just the name of this “smiling” and widespread snake that inhabits southern Africa is enough to make one shiver. It’s called “smiling” because of its characteristically-shaped mouth, which, incidentally, has nothing to do with a cheery emotional state. The snake is not black at all, but more
like a dark olive or gray in colour, with a metallic lustre. The “Black” part of its name actually comes from the internal cavity of the snake’s mouth, which is pure black in color, and, when fully opened, looks like a coffin. Scared? That’s nothing. The mamba does not appear to be dangerous at first glance (although its dimensions are impressive — it can grow up to 3 meters in length), but because of its deadly venom. Among other things, it contains so-called neurotoxins, which damage the nerve cells of animals and humans, and compounds that cause heart failure. That being said, the snake is not terribly aggressive. When a person approaches, it usually tries to flee or simply go unnoticed. But if it perceives itself to be in danger, it will attack at lighting speed, biting the head or body of the offender. And it is even able to pursue a victim, reaching, according to some sources, speeds of up to 16 kilometers per hour (that’s the average speed of a trained teenage sprinter)! There are even legends of black mambas chasing horses and moving cars, which, of course, can’t be true — it’s still a snake, not a terminator.
BIOLOG Y
Planet
of the Apes
Macaques can do math, and chimpanzees and gorillas can joke, understand words, communicate in sign language… and even fry fish. Terrible as it may seem, they can deceive their elders. So, if you ever tried to change a C in your teacher’s gradebook to an A — you know you’re not the only one. What else are apes capable of ?
100x
magnification
YO U S E F A L H A B S H I
75
#6 SEPT E MBE R2017
Wes Craven
From Cambodia to the USA At the end of the 1970’s, the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia, having established a political dictatorship in the country. In order to retain their power, they turned to large-scale purges of the population, during which they killed millions of their county’s residents. One family, in an effort to save themselves from the horrors, which were known as the “killing fields”, escaped to the United States. At first, everything was going well with this family, but their son unexpectedly began to have nightmares, in which he was pursued by something that was trying to get him. The boy spent entire nights lying awake. The parents did everything to try and save him from his nightmares. Then, it seemed as
though the crisis was already behind them. Once, however, in the middle of the night, they heard heart-wrenching cries from the child’s bedroom. When the parents burst into the room, their son was already dead. He had died in his sleep while having a nightmare. This story was published in the Los Angeles Times, where it was read by the still relatively unknown screenwriter, Wes Craven. At that time, Craven had been out of work for a few years, his first marriage had disintegrated, and he had lost his home. At that difficult moment, an idea for a film, which would change the world of cinema for good, occurred to him. I think you have already guessed that we are talking about the film “A Nightmare on Elm Street”.
(1939-2015) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter, famous for his work in the horror/slasher genre.
C U LT U R E
Hypertrichosis, until this disease was sufficiently investigated, was sometimes mistaken for “werewolfism,” because it caused excessive, uncontrolled growth of hair all over the surface of the body.
M USIC
Hip hop is the most contradictory, interesting, and rhythmic musical genre. It’s not just music, but a lifestyle with its own dances, clothing, and even language. Its history, like that of any recent cultural phenomenon, is closely tied to modern life. The genre, after its birth at the end of the 1970’s in poor neighborhoods of the South Bronx (New York City), quickly found worldwide popularity. But until this point, the roots of the movement have been shrouded in mystery and myth, and therefore there are many inaccuracies and gaps in the story of the genre. Let’s plunge into it, and try to get a grip on this, yo!