DINOSAUR COLORS REVEALED
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Melanin preserved in fossil feathers is giving us the best look at dinosaurs yet.
We got rid of bedbugs once. Can we beat them now that they're back?
The out-of-this-world ships that might someday take us to the stars.
... 'NEXT10 ~YEARS.. MEDICINE
The next decade in medicine: targeting cancer, banishing obesity, and more.
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A pictorial odyssey through the world's
the oldest leprosy case confirmed by DNA.
largest freshwater wetland, the Pantanal. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 1
Contents BULL'S EYE P.8
Bull's-Eye
P.6
This month's gallery of amazing images: a crab pileup, a lettuce factory, bloodtransfusion tech and a messy ritual.
P.15
Science Update
Lunar lander lost and found, how some whales became toothless, a drag-reducing coating for ships' hulls, and the oldest evidence of seafaring.
P.25
Ask Us
Where did wedding rings originate'What are comets made of7 When's the next ice age? How much water do elephants drink?
By t he Numbers Vital statistics of subways around the globe.
P.4
letters Trivia Countdown
P.76
Brain Trainers
P.80
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The paperusedfOfthis magazine comes frOfn certified forests thatare . .~ managed in a sustainable ~ waytomeetthesocial, economk and environmental needs of present ' PEFC/29-31 -75 and future generations.
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2 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 20 11
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I
New technology usually starts out at astronomical prices and then comes down years later. We skipped that step to allow everyone the chance to experience this watch's brilliant fusion of technology and style. We originally priced the Stauer Compendium Hybrid at $395 based on the market for advanced sports watches ... but then stopped ourselves. Since this is no ordinary economy, we decided to start at.8.8%_uff fro m day one. That means th is new technological marvel can be yours for only $49! Welcome a new Digit al Revolution. With the release of the dynamic new Compendium, those boxy, plastic wrist calculators of the past have been replaced by this luxurious LCD chronograph that is sophisticated enough for a formal evening out, but rugged and tough
enough to feel at home in a cockpit, camping expedition or covert mission. The watch's extraordinary d ial seamlessly blends an analog watch face with a stylish digital display. Three super-brigh t luminous hands keep time along the inner dial, while a trio of circular LCD windows track the hour, minutes and seconds. An eye-catchi ng digital semi-circle animates in time with the seco nd hand and shows the day of the week. The watch also features a rotating bezel, The Compendium: The stopwatch and alarm spectacular face of the functions and blue, latest watch technology. electro-luminescence backligh t. The Compendium Hybrid secures with a rugged stain less steel band and is water-resistant to 3 ATMs. Guarant eed to change the way you look at time. At Stauer, we believe that when faced with an uphill economy, innovation and better value will always provide a much-needed boost. Stauer is so
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letters@scienceillustrated.com
mol<e. believe
passed down by mothers, and nuclear DNA comes from either parent, could only male Neanderthals have contributed to our genome?
POPULAR
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James S. Welsh Shreveport, La.
Waves of Our Own I've always thought generating electricity from waves was a good idea ["Simple Design to Harness the Power ofWaves," November/ December 2010]. Is there U.S. interest in wave power?
EDS: The Neanderthal Genome Project's Svante Paabo responds:"We believe both sexes contributed. If only males were involved, the Neanderthal contribution to the X sex chromosome of modern humans would be substantially smaller than to other chromosomes, since males contribute an X chromosome to only half their offspring (their daughters) and a Y to the other half (their sons). Currently we cannot see that in our data:·
Correction
Live model shoot
Evidence that some modem humans harbor Neanderthal genes in their nuclear DNA contradict<;
"Can Allergies Fight Cancer?" [Nov./ Dec.] misstated the position of Manuel Penichet. an immunologist and microbiologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, as supporting on ly the immunosurveillance hypothesis, in which the antibody responsible for allergies (lgE) might also confer protection against cancer. Penichet actually stated that although the immunosurveillance hypothesis and the prophylaxis hypothesis- in which certain allergic reactions may help wash carcinogens away- are not mutually exclusive, studies suggest a potential protective role of lgE against cancer in both allergic and nonallergic individuals. Additionally, he said t hat other molecules that participate in the allergic immune response might
SIGN UPTODAY!
previous studies of mitod1ondrial
also confer protection against cancer
digitaldaysphoto.com
DNA ["Why Did the Neanderthals Die Out?" Septembe r/October]. Because mitochondrial DNA is
and that further studies are needed to better understand those possibilities. We regret the error.
© EMILY WILLIAMS
Ta~e great
1ctures.
Shoot better video. Creative tips and techniques
Mildred K. Henderson Lancaster, Pa. EDITORS: In 2009 the U.S. Department of Energy spent $17 million to develop wave- and other ocean-power technologies."There's no doubt in my mind that in five years we'll see commercial wave-power plants [in the U.S.);' says Robert Paasch of the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center.
Light and composition Digital workflow Master your camera's settings
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CRUSTACEAN MIGRATION
8 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
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Seaweeds Thrive As Reefs Die
warming and acidification, seaweed is killing coral reefs. Toxins on the surface of up to 70 percent of seaweed species in reefs off the coasts of Fiji and Panama are killing off corals, GeorgiaTech biologists report. Historically, seaweed and corals rarely interacted, but today overfishing has decimated seaweed feeders, allowing the plants to sprawl over coral reefs. Researcher Douglas Rasher hopes to limit the damage: "Our work has initiated talks of increasing the size of Fij i's marine protected area to increase the recovery of their reefs and increase stocks of food fish es~ Bright green Chlorodesmis fastlgiata seaweed off the coast
of Fiji may be onecoral killer.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 15
Aquatic-Plant Structures Hold Key to Greener Ships A hull coating that mimics a fern's water-loving surface could reduce friction and increase fuel efficiency BIOMIMICRY The unique surface properties of an aquatic fern called Salvinia molesta is inspiring a coating that could be applied to ships' hulls to increase their fuel efficiency. Researchers from the universities of Bonn, Karlsruhe, Rhein-Waal and Rostock, all in Germany, discovered the plant's properties last year.
stabilizes the trapped air layer around and within the eggbeaters. The hydrophilic tips have such a strong stabilizing effect on the air layer that it is kept in place for the lifetime of the leaf. By reducing the wetted surface area on the leaf, the eggbeaters reduce drag.
The team is now developing a frictionreducing material based on the fern. An air layer trapped around the hull of a ship would ease it through rough waters and reduce its fuel consumption by 10 percent, the team estimates. The coating could be ready for lab testing within five years.
Afriction-reducing hull coating could bring down container-ship fuel consumption.
Teaching Marsupials to Avoid Food Poisoning .ioi.Oio..,..~!6Y University of Sydney ecologists are conditioning the northern quoll,
and tracked the quolls and found that those conditioned to equate the taste of cane
an endangered cat-size marsupial native to
toads with sickness lived much longer on
northern Australia, to avoid eating poisonous cane toads that were introduced by farmers as a form of pest control in 1935. Last year, the researchers captured 62 juvenile quolls and fitted them with radio collars. Half were fed small, dead cane toads laced with the nausea-inducing drug thiabendazole.The researchers released
average than those in the control group. Next the team placed small "toad sausages" laced with the drug in areas not yet invaded by cane toads. "We still have to check a series of issues, such as what other native species will take these baits and how they might be affected by them;' says lead researcher Rick Shine. "But so far our results are encouraging:'
JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 201 1
News Flash!
Asingle drop of water suspended on the tips of hairs t hat coat S. mo/esta ferns
World's Oldest Sailors? zz
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dence ofseafaring was just 50,000 years old. Archaeologists found the quartz and chert artifacts embedded in 110,000- to 130,000-year-old coastal terraces, butthey were probably ancient even when the terraces formed. The style of the tools matches those made 400,000 to 800,000 years ago in Africa, the researchers say, suggesting that the early hominins journeyed to Crete from there.
JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 17
Q) Science Update
First Asphalt Volcanoes Found off California Can Gene Therapy Prevent Paralysis? MEDICINE Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine are investigating whether gene therapy immediately following a spinal-cord injury could prevent paralysis. After such injuries. the Abcc8 gene ramps up the activity of a protein called SUR1 . Under ordinary circumstances, SUR1 regulates the flow of insul in. SUR1 goes into overdrive at the site of an injury, killing nerve tissue and blood vessels to prevent cell death. The response can cause more harm than good in the case of extreme injury. The researchers recently discovered that the diabetes drug glyburide suppresses the Abcc8 gene if it is ad min路 istered to rats and mice immediately after a spinal-cord injury. Putting the brakes on SUR1 increases the chances of recovery. Researchers are now planning clinical trials in people with spinal-cord injuries.
IIOoiiiiiiiOoiiiil~.,. Geologists have confirmed that seven gigantic underwater volcanoes discovered a few years ago 10 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara are the first asphalt volcanoes ever found. Although the domes of all other volcanoes form from lava, geologists from the University of California at SantaBarbara say these dormant giants are made of asphalt, the hardened remains of ancient crude oil. Asphalt volcanism was first reported in 2004, when researchersobserved oil bubbling up from the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Mexico. But until now, no asphalt volcanoes had actually been identified. Located at a depth of roughly 700 feet (210 meters), the range's largest dome rises
18 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY
to the height of a six-story building and is 400 feet across. Together, the seven domes contain about 100,000 tons of asphalt that has been carbon-dated to between 32,000 and 44,000 years old. Huge quantities of methane gas also bubbled up through the porous asphalt as the volcanoes formed. By estimating the volumes of pits and depressions skirting the edges of the two largest volcanoes, the geologists estimate that up to 1.8 million tons of methane have spewed from them. The gas very likely changed the biogeochemistry of the Santa Barbara Basin and probably killed off much of the region's life for a time, says lead researcher David Valentine.
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Limited Availability Less Than ~290
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African Gelll Cutter Makes $2,689,000 Mistake...Will You? T his story breaks my heart every time. Allegedly, just two years after the discovery of tanzanite in 1967, a Maasai tribesman knocked on the door of a gem cutter's office in Nairobi. The Maasai had brought along an enormous chunk of tanzanite and he was looking to sell. His asking price? Fifty dollars. But the gem cutter was suspicious and assumed that a stone so large could only be glass. The cutter told the tribesman, no thanks, and sent h im on his way. Huge mistake. It turns out that the gem was genuine and would have easily dwarfed the world's largest cut tanzanite at the time. Based on common pricing, that "chunk" could have been worth close to $3,000,000! The tanzanite gem cutter m issed h is chance to h it the jeweler's jackpot...and make history. Would you have made the same mistake then? Will you make it today? In the decades since its discovery, tanzanite has become one o f the world's most coveted gemstones. Found in only one remote place on Earth (in Tanzania' s Mcrelani Hills, in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro), the precious purple stone is 1,000 times rarer than diamonds. Luxury retailers have been q uick to sound the alarm, warning tha t supplies of tanzanite will not last forever. And in this case, they're right. Once the last purple gem is pulled from the Earth, that's it. No more tanzanite. Most believe that we only have a few years supply left, which is why it's so amazing for us to offer th is incredible price break. Some retailers along Fifth Avenue are more than happy to charge you outrageous prices for this rarity. Not Stauer. Staying true to our contrarian nature, we've decided to lower the price of one of the world's rarest and most popular gem stones.
Our 2-Carat Sunburs t Tanzanite Ring features marquise-cut gems set dramatically in gorgeous sterling silver. Each face t sparkles wit h the distinct violet-blue hue of t he precious stones. Behind the shine you'll find t hat the exquisite silverwork of the setting calls to mind the detailed treasures being produced by Europe's finest jewelers. This is a ring designed to impress and it does not disappoint. Now is t he point where opportunity knocks. If you open t hat door today, you can own this spectacular ring for less than $100. If you wait? We can't say for sure. Your satisfaction is completely guaranteed. For our client -friendly approach, Stauer has earned a rare At rating from the Better Business Bureau, a rating we wish to keep. So, of course, your satisfaction is 100<M) guaranteed. If you are not completely aglow with the Sunburst Tanzanite Ring, send it back within 30 days for a prompt and courteous refund. Bu t, p lease don't wait, our supply is dropping rapidly. JEWElRY SPECS路
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Genetic Diversity
Strongest in Africa GENETICS African bushmen who live within walking distance of each other possess more genetic diversity than European and Asian inhabitants living thousands
of miles apart. A team of ge- 路-.~..-.!~ neticists, co-led by Stephan Schuster of Penn State University, recently announced this surprising conclusion after sequencing the genomes of four members of Namibia's Ju/'hoansi tribe. All non-Africans are descended from just 150 people who researchers believe left eastern Africa 40,000 years ago, Schuster explains. Modern-day Africans, on the other hand, descend from many more people, and their genome has been changing since modern humans arose on the continent more than 200,000 years ago.
!Gubi is the only Namibian bushman whose complete genome has been sequenced.
20 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JAN UARY/ FEBRUARY 2011
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According to the U.S. Government, women should take sufficient levels of folic acid (400 micrograms/day) during pregnancy to help prevent neural tube defects and reduce the risk for cleft lip and palate. When folic acid is taken one month before conception and throughout the first trimester, it has been proven to reduce the risk for neural tube defects by 50 to 70 per cent. Be sure to receive proper prenatal care, quit smoking and drinking alcohol and follow your health care provider's guidelines for foods to avoid during pregnancy. Foods to avoid may include raw or undercooked seafood, beef, pork or poultry; delicatessen meats; fish that contain high levels of mercury; smoked seafood; fish exposed to industrial pollutants; raw shellfish or eggs; soft cheeses; unpasteurized milk; pate; caffeme; and unwashed vegetables. For more information, visit www.SmileTrain.org. Smile Trainis a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit recognized t1f the IRS, and all donations to Smile Train are tax-deductiblein accordance with IRS regulations.© 2011 Smile Train.
@ Science Update
The estimated number of eastern North Pacific right whales that remain today. Researchers believe that just eight of them may be females. This population could be too critically endangered to recover.
Leaner, Meaner Monitor Lizard Found American and Filipino biologists have identified a six-foot-long monitor lizard in the Philippines that was previously known only to locals.
OubbedVaranus bitatawa after the locals' name
closest relatives in the Philippines. The forest-
for it, the creature has a unique yellow-and-
dwelling species is highly reclusive, which is pro-
black pattern and is longer and stronger than its
bably why it took biologists so long to find it.
22 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
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Concerned persons suggest that unless there is an "awakening," government in America's smallgovernment republic will continue being transformed into the large-government, progressive ideology. But what awakening is powerful enough to halt the progressive juggernaut of large-government control of what people can and cannot do? The writer would like you to consider that the above awakening to the existence of a natural law of right behavior has that power. The law is known as nature's law of absolute right. For nearly two decades, this behavioral law has often been carefully explained in one-page advertisements in several national magazines and newspapers, and on radio broadcasts. There is also a Website where people worldwide can learn how to get out of trouble, stay out of trouble, and start a new life. This natural law exerts the power of life and death for every person alive today as is evidenced by the untold trillions of those people who had previously populated this planet. "How?" you ask. Creation's law of absolute right states: Right action gets right results; wrong action gets wrong results. The law defines right action as thoughts and behavior that are rational and honest and fill the need of each situation. Therefore, people's motivation consisting of manmade laws, judgments, beliefs, likes and dislikes, wants and don't wants does not conform to creation's law of absolute right, and when wrong results occur, people do not look to themselves. Laws of nature never play favorites. People obey natural laws or they suffer the consequences. That is the awakening information for this generation. And if some people choose to ignore nature's behavioral law, eventually their wrong action will cause an eternal sleep from which there has been no awakening. WHOEVER OR WHATEVER IS THE CREATOR revealed this behavioral law to the mind of Richard W. Wetherill in 1929 in answer to his fervent appeal for an understanding of humanity's plight. And although Wetherill took no credit tor identifying this law, his efforts to inform people of the flaw in their approach to life met with an almost impenetrable wall of resistance and opposition until he published
Richard W Wetherill 1906-1989
his book, Tower of Babel, on January 2, 1952. Then small study groups were formed near several large cities in America. Later all the members who were able to relocate came together under Wetherill's direction in southeastern Pennsylvania. So much for a brief history of the group that now brings you the good news of the law of absolute right, and the awakening that it brings to a world population in deep trouble and chaos. A few centuries ago the Founding Fathers of America did their best to establish a country ruled in a God-fearing way by representatives of the people. Newcomers from other countries who were willing to be governed by its Constitution and Bill of Rights were welcomed. Over the years, people came in droves. Now the divergence of thinking about whether the country should be transformed is causing much turmoil and confusion for the populace. There is only one solution: everybody must obey creation's law of absolute right or suffer the consequences of disobedience to whoever or whatever is the creator of natural laws and all that exists of planet Earth. Visit our colorful Website www. alohapub.com where several essays and seven books describe the changes called for by whoever or whatever created nature's law of absolute right. The material can be read, downloaded, and/or printed FREE. This public-service message is from a self-financed, nonprofit group of former students of the late Mr. Wetherill. Please help by directing others to our Website so that they can learn that obeying this natura/law provides a life that is both fair and well worth living.
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In theory, yes. In 2007, Alternate Energy Holdings in Idaho had plans to build a tower in Texas that would act like a lightning rod Incoming lightning energy would be stored in a giant capacitor. But prohibitive costs prevented the project from getting off the ground So the bigger question is, is harnessing lightning worth it? Probably not. A lightning bolt conveys about 30,000 amperes of current When it strikes, 10 gigajoules of energy move through the sky-enough to light five 100watt bulbs for a month. Although the bolt is extremely powerful, it's short-lived, so the total energypower multiplied by time- is relatively insignificant. What's more, almost all of that energy is lost as heat. The air temperature in the lightning channel between the sky and ground can reach more than 54,000째F. Only enough energy remains to keep those five bulbs lit for just a few hours.
lightnlng7.___
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 25
26 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
Who ••• •••invented the @ CVInbnl7
•••came up with Braille?
Comets Are Frozen Time Capsules Comets start out as dirty snowballs that formed at the cold outer regions of the solar system. ln addition to ice, the objects contain cosmic dust, most of which predates the formation of the sun and planets.
~ No. Human blood and that of alm ost all
g lobin to transport oxygen, but some
other vertebrates contains hemoglobin.
use other proteins. Horseshoe crabs, for
When bound w ith oxygen, this protein,
example, use hemocyanin. The copper in
called oxyhemoglobin, absorbs most
this protein reflects blue light and makes
light in the blue and green areas of the
the crabs blue-blooded. And several
spectrum and reflects red light, giving our
species of marine worms and clam like
blood its red color.
creatures called lamp shells have pink
Most invertebrates also use hemo-
blood from the protein hemerythrin.
JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 27
ÂŽ AskUs Ice cap 20,000 years ago NORTH AMERICA
ice age, when maThevastlastregionmajor of the globe was frozen over, peaked about 20,000 years ago, and if the pattern of the past half million years persists, the next one isn't due for at least another 80,000 years. But analysis of chemical and fossil evidence from ice cores shows that between the ice ages of the past, milder but st:ll significant variations in the Earth's climate occurred. According to paleoclimatologist Dorothy Peteet of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, past cycles show that the Earth should now be cooling. Yet it isn't Average global ternperatures have risen by 1.5°F since preindustrial times as a result of unprecedented amounts of heattrapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In the SOO,OOOyears before the industrial age, C02 levels peaked at 280 parts per million, but the burning of fossil fuels and forests have sent that 1evel skyrocketing to 385 ppm. Based on model analysis of paleoclimate data, NASA climate expert James Hansen warned in a recent paper that the level is approaching a tipping point, after which a domino effect of cataclysmic events will begin. If current trends are left unchecked, he contends, ice caps will melt. sea levels will rise, coastal cities will be flooded, and mass marine extinctions will result from the increased acidity of the oceans.
JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011
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Hovv can tvvo $5 Gold Eagles have a 600% difference in value? If you're not interested in the answer, give this to your best friend. Almost everyday, very successful, very sophisticated business people tell us they're interested in buying gold. The problem is, they don't have the first notion of where to begin .
This is t he pinnacle of a coin's state of quality. It just doesn't get any higher. Bottom line: collectors often pay more for them.
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You want to buy collectible gold, but not just any collectible gold.
Use our Collector's Checklist when you go shopping for gold. First on our list: collectors look for a coin that's in demand. And there are few gold coins that collectors want more than the American Gold Eagle. It was created during Ronald Reagan's administration. In real estate, value is driven by location, location, location. In coins, it's quality.
You've paid close attention to our collector's checklist: Is it in demand? Has it earned the highest grade possible? Is it a First Strike? Our recommendation:
For collectors, the higher a coin's grade, the higher the coin's value. That's number #2 on our checklist. One of those $5 Gold Eagles is the highest collectible grade possible: the absolutely flawless grade of MS70 (MS stands for "Mint State"). It's referred to as the "perfect" coin.
You'd expect to pay a premium for such a unique combination of quality factors.
Consider this: In its bullion grade, a 2001 $5 Gold Eagle is valued at $150-but a perfect grade MS70 is valued at $950-a staggering 600% difference!
$279 each for up to 4 coins $265 each for 5 to 9 coins The best deal-$249 each for 10 coins or more!
Of course you have to understand that the population of this MS70 coin is small, but it's an example of a coin in its finest Mint State grade.
Hurry! This is a first come, first served offer! Call1-888-201-7047 to find out how you can qualify for free shipping. Mention offer code: PGE174-02
No. 3 on our checklist: Collectors covet First Strikes. If a $5 Gold American Eagle in MS70 is sizzling hot, what happens when it achieves the exalted status called First Strike™?
A 2010 $5 Gold American Eagle MS70 First Strike.
But we have a special opportunity for you:
CaH First Federal Toll-FREE today 1-888-201-7047 to Reserve Your 2010 $5 Eagle MS70 First Strike! Offer Code PGE174-02 PIMse mention this code when you call.
Past puformmu:e is IWI all indicator offuture performance. Pn"cts subject to change without notice. NtHe: First F~deral ClJin Cmp. is a private distributor ofgu~><tmmtnl and pl'ivmt coin and medal/it i.Jsues and is not affiliattd ••ith tJ1e United Statts giJl'tJ'nmens. Facts and figures were deemed accurat~ as ofAugu.5t1010.
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1-888-201 -704 7 www.1 stfederalcoin.com/10geagle61
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32 I SCIENCEIUUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 33
NUCLEAR POWER
Blasting Away on Advanced Propulsion Much of the research into advanced propulsion is focused on finding fuels w ith a higher specific impulse-the amount of thrust provided per unit mass of fuel to take us faster and farther than conventional rockets. In 1947 that search led mathematician Stanislaw Ulam to propose using nuclear bombs to propel rockets. Designs for the ship varied, but they all had one thing in common: a metal plate at the base of the craft that could deflect the energy of the bombs as they detonated. The U.S. government believed that a bomb-based design, called Orion (not to be confused with the recently scrapped NASA craft designed to go to the moon), could bring a crew to Mars, but the Nuclear Test- Ban Treaty of 1963 put an end to the project. Still, the idea of a nuclearpowered spacecraft lives on. In the early 1990s, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed a concept craft called the Vehicle for Interplanetary Space Applications (VISTA). In it, pellets of deuterium
and tritium (isotopes of hydrogen)
34 I SCIENCEIUUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
Space Exploration
HOW PROJECT ORION WOULD HAVE WORKED would explode to create a cloud of plasma that would interact with a magnetic field to propel the ship. In another scheme, nuclear reactors could provide the necessary energy. One such craft, designed by Franklin Chang Dfaz, a former NASA astronaut and the founder of rocket company Ad Astra, the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, or Vasimr, could use the electricity generated by nuclear reactors to heat gas to a plasma. The plasma jets out of the
back of the rocket with some help from powerful magnets, providing the rocket w ith thrust. Vasimr has been tested in vacuum chambers on Earth, and in 201 4 it will be tested from the International Space Station in the harsh conditions of space.To help fund development of the craft to go to Mars and beyond, Vasimr could deploy and reposition satellites and clean up space debris on a contract basis to private companies and space agencies.
1.
A series of nuclear bombs, each with the power equivalent to a few kilotons ofTNT, is ejected though a hole in the center of the spaceship. Several bombs detonate per second.
2. A large metal plate and shock absorbers deflect the enormous energy and convert it into thrust.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 35
All matter is made up of subatomic particles such as electrons and protons. Each part icle has a counterpart w ith an opposite spin and charge; the counterpart of an electron, for example, is a positron.Those counterpart particles make up antimatter, and when they collide w ith their ordinarymatter twins, the particles annihilate each other, converting their mass into energy. In the mid-1990s, physicist Gerald Smith led a research group at Penn State University dedicated to antimatter propulsion research. While there, he developed designs for antimatter-propelled aircraft and rockets. Antimatter is attractive because of its high Antimatter specific impulse, which allows spacecraft to carry less fuel and reach higher speeds. "If you want to compare the launch of an antimatter rocket to the launch of the space shuttle, an antimatter rocket would burn right off the launch pad and be in the clouds in
seconds;' Smith says."Because you have all this energy in a very small amount of mass. you can really push the throttle forward and get it going fast" Because of its potential for high speeds, antimatter has often been discussed as an option for journeys to faraway stars. But Smith points out that its speed would also allow for safer trips within our solar system: "The principal danger to astronauts outside the Earth's atmosphere is exposure to radiation. The less time you take to get to somewhere, the less radiation they will incur:'The possibility of antimatter propul-
sion allowed Smith and his colleagues to plan round-trips to Mars that would take just 90 days: 30 to get there, 30 on the surface, and 30 to travel back to Earth. Smith and his colleagues never got as far as building an antimatter-propelled craft. Though he developed ways to contain antimatter particles in magnetic fields, Smith, who now works on other applications for antimatter at Positronics Research, an engineering company he founded, notes that the money for further research has dried up. "It would be hard to do in the current economic climate;路 he says.
HOW AN ANTIMATTER CRAFT WOULD WORK
1. The ship carries a
2. The antimatter and its
3. This energy propels
supply of antimatter in a magnetic field.
ordinary-matter counterpart obliterate each other, releasing energy.
the ship fast enough to get to Mars in a month.
36 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 201 1
Space Exploration
FUSION
Rocket Harvests Its Own Fuel One of the problems facing interstellar travel is the lack of gas stations in space. To get around that, the Bussard interstellar ramjet-a structure that uses hydrogen atoms to initiate nuclear fusioncollects its hydrogen fuel from the interstellar medium. Proposed in 1960 by physicist Robert Bussard, the ramjet called for a 4,000-milewide magnetic funnel to collect hydrogen. According to Bussard, the ramjet could approach the speed of light Attempting to update the Bussard ramjet, aerospace engineers Robert Zubrin, the current president of Pioneer Astronautics, and Dana Andrews, now the chief technology officer of Andrews Space, made a seredipitous discovery in 1988. The magnetic funnel would create too much drag, making propulsion inefficient, but those same magnetic fields would make a great sail. "We started exploring the magnetic field first as a drag device for deceleration and then as a sail; Zubrin says. The magnetic sail would harness the force of the solar wind. But, he says, today we lack the technology, such as hightemperature superconductors, to build a good magnetic sail.
JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 37
Carbon dating determined the blackened shroud to be 2,000 years old.
A 2,000-year-old body found in Jerusalem is the oldest known case of leprosy confirmed by DNA. It's revealing surprising things about life and death in the time of Jesus wo thousand years ago, a wealthy man was laid to rest in the Valley of Hinnom in the outskirts of Jerusalem. At the time, burials there typically involved two steps. The body was wrapped in a shroud, and then about a year later, once the flesh had decomposed, the
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the bacteria that cause leprosy and tuberculosis, respectively. His grave may have been sealed to confine his infectious body after he underwent the first burial stage. Radiocarbon dating suggests the man died between A.D. 1 and SO, making his the oldest leprosy case confirmed with DNA.
bones were collected atld put inside a stone vessel called an ossuary. Yet in 2000, archaeologists were surprised to discover the remains of the man's body under a shroud in a sealed grave. An international team of archaeologists has now explained the unusual entombment: The man's DNA revealed genetic markers from Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
lecular archaeologist from Lakehead University in Ontario, and his colleagues compared the man's maternal DNA with that from bones in the ossuaries, confirming familial relationships among the bodies. Two of the shrouded man's family members also had genes indicating tuberculosis infection.
Based on evidence in and around Equal-Opportunity Disease The man's plaster-sealed grave is in a rectangular two-level tomb carved into the side of a cliff. For centuries, it kept out Jerusalem's humid air, preserving traces of the man's flesh and hair. The tomb also contained more than 20 ossuaries of other people's remains. Late last year, Carney Matheson, a mo-
38 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
the tomb, Shimon Gibson, the University of North Carolina archaeologist whose team discovered the tomb a decade ago, speculates that the family buried there belonged to the aristocracy and was possibly part of a priestly clan. A piece of the shroud was made from wool probably imported from the Mediterranean regions of Europe.
Anthropology The pieces of hair in the shroud were clean and lice-free and had even been trimmed, probably with scissors. These luxuries were reserved for the rich. The location of the tomb also signifies its occupants' status. The site has a direct view of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and is close to the grave of a prominent man named Annas, the father-in-law to Caiaphas, the high priest who handed Jesus over to Pontius Pilate in the Bible. It's unlikely that a poor family would have been buried in such a privileged burial site, Gibson says. Rich or poor, the entombment of a leper in the site surprised the researchers, because those with the disease were often banished from their communities and interred in special cemeteries when they died. The findings suggest that exceptions were made for the elite. The discovery also shows that stigmatized diseases, like leprosy and tuberculosis, were not limited to ancient society's lower castes. as some historians had previously thought. Science Confirms History The man in the so-called Jerusalem shroud most likely lived at the same time as jesus. In the Bible, jesus
walked among lepers. According to Gibson, the Bible's mention of leprosy may have referred to an array of skin diseases, including eczema and boils, as well as the actual disease. ~~~~rJ "The findings show that true leprosy was indeed in existence at the time ofjesus," he says. Matheson believes the discovery has "profound medical implications." Historical medical records from the 19th and 20th centuries indicate that approximately 30 percent of leprosy victims were also infected with tuberculosis. (Leprosy weakens the immune system, making the body more susceptible to tuberculosis infection.) These studies have confirmed co-infection in remains from Hungary, Sweden and Egypt, and similar rates have been recorded in modern leprosy cases. The Jerusalem shroud provides the oldest DNA proof of the deadly association. The researchers will now look at male chromosomal markers to determine the paternal relationship among the remains found in the tomb. These will include markers associated with the cohanim, an ancient Jewish priestly class. The analysis could help test Gibson's theory that the tomb was the final resting place of priests whose paths crossed jesus's. â&#x20AC;˘
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0
outh America's Pantanal is the world's largest freshwater wetland. Its spectacular biodiversity reflects the region's dramatic extremes. In the rainy season, the rivers overflow and flood up to 345,000 acres, distributing fish to the region's thousands of species of mammals, birds and reptiles. In the dry season, when the water recedes, many plants bloom and produce fruit, and some animal species that had m igrated before the flooding return to breed. PHOTOGRAPHS BY OLIVIER GRUNEWALD
40 I SCIENCEIUUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011
JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 41
ONTHEPROWL
RODENTS OF UNUSUAL SIZE
Six-foot-long giant otters patrol the waters. Fewer than 5,000 of these skilled predators are thought to remain in the wild, but their numbers may be rising thanks to conservation efforts.
Capybaras, which grow to weigh as much as 145 pounds, consume up to eight pounds of grass every day and can hide underwater for several minutes at a time to elude predators.
42 I SCIENCEIUUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011
Life Emerges from the Water The rainy season in the Pantanal begins in October. By February, what were small ponds, creeks and lagoons in the dry season have expanded into a vast carpet of water broken only by scattered islands of forest. Frogs and toads multiply and fill the tropical nights with their croaks. Countless fish spawn in ponds where dry land stretd1ed just weeks before. The fish feed the millions of caimans and clans of giant otters that prowl the rivers, while powerful anacondas slither through the swampy sidelines, hunting large rodents called capybaras. Piglike mammals called tapirs, along with jaguars, maned wolves, armadillos, giant anteaters and magnificent hyacinth macaws- the largest flying parrots in the world-crowd together on the dry land that remains. PORTFOUOCONTINUES ~~
AWASH WITH WADERS A rufescent tiger heron nabs a meal. Many species of wading birds, including herons, storks and ibises, exploit the teeming fish and other aquatic animals of the Pantanal.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM
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Photo Portfolio Ecology
Toucans' bills can be almost half the length of their bodies but are quite lightweight. This makes them perfect for plucking fruit from trees in the Pantanal.
CHANGE IN BLOOM In the dry season, many trees and plants like this ground bromeliad begin to flower. The blossoming crescendo culminates in a bountiful array of fruit, making much of the season a time of feasting for birds and mammals.
Seasonal Surplus Around March, the rain S[OpS and the floodwaters start to recede. For much of the Pantanal's wildlife, it's time to feast and flourish. Many bird species breed and make easy prey of the fish and frogs crammed together in the shrinking lakes. Later in the season, trumpet trees burst into a profusion of pink blooms, and many plants bear succulent fruit soon after flowering. Brilliant toucans fly from tree to tree, screeching as they collect fruits and berries. The teeming life fades as the water supply evaporates between April and September, the end of the dry season. PORTFOLIO CONTINUES H
44 I SCIENCEIUUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
Elegant Jabiru storks breed during the d!'Y season, just as
THE COWBOY LIFESTYLE The Pantanal's cowboys practically live on horseback, learning while still children how to lasso cows. Some double as guides, since many cattle ranches today are ecotourist destinations.
46 I SCIENCEIUUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011
CLAIMING ONE'S OWN
TOUGH BUSINESS
Rounding up a herd spread over many thousands of wetland acres is hard work. The cattle are collected in corrals, where they are branded and vaccinated.
Today three million cows roam the Pantanal. down from five million in 1970. The ranching industry has suffered from an epidemic of horse disease, drought and a down market.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 47
What Lies
enea Many old paintings conceal secrets, such as artists' original sketches or even entire finished works later cove red up by new ideas. Modern scanning technology is enabling scientists to reveal these hidden images in incredible detail
48 I SCIENCEIUUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
D
uring the single decade of his short career, from 1880 to 1890, Vincent van Gogh produced more than 800 oil paintings and 1,200 drawings. Yet the prolific Dutch artist sold no more than three pieces of art during his lifetime, a shortfall that left him unable to afford enough new materials to keep up with his frantic work pace. With countless ideas but no fresh canvases to put them on, van Gogh often resorted to painting and drawing on whatever was handy, such as scraps of towel or even completed works that
Imaging Tech
he deemed less valuable or interesting than his new compositions. Art historians estimate that as many as 30 percent of van Gogh's paintings could have underlying images. And van Gogh was not the only
radiation have enabled scientists and art historians to see unprecedented details, like the original colors of the buried artwork, in hundreds of reexamined paintings- without having to damage the overlying layers.
recycler. For more than a century, x-rays have been revealing hidden compositions under paintings by artists including Pablo Picasso, N.C. Wyeth and Leonardo da Vinci. The radiation produced by conventional x-ray techniques can produce only black-and-white images of the underlying works. Yet in the past decade, more-focused and powerful beams of
terfeiters, most of whom are artists themselves, use historically correct materials on old canvases and fi路ames. In those cases, analysts look for scannable traits that are known to exist in an original painting, such as hidden layers or previously restored areas, which are harder to fake. For historians, revealing original sketches can illuminate the artist's process. "When we look at these hidden details, it's like we are looking over a painter's shoulder and following his or her thought process," says ]oris Dik, an art historian and materials chemist at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, who helped lead a recent analysis of several van Gogh works. "We can try and understand the choices we see him making, from the pure material choices, paints and such, to his artistic evolution." In 2005 historians fi路om the National Gallery in London examined da Vinci's 1508 painting The Virgin of the Rocks, in which the Virgin Mary, her arm wrapped around the shoulders of a child, faces another woman and child in a rocky landscape. To look beneath the masterpiece, the researchers used infrared reflectography, a technique in which infrared light passes into the paint layers and is either absorbed by dark color pigments or reflected by light ones. The reflected light is captured by an infi路ared camera and digitized into a black-and-white map of the underlying image. The team discovered the outline of a kneeling woman in another landscape of rocks, her face in profile, one arm across her chest and the other outstretched behind her.
The hidden woman's head was Masterpiece Forensics Finding hidden works isn't the only motivation for subjecting paintings to closer analysis. Curators, dealers and collectors also use imaging techniques to crack down on counterfeiters. It's relatively easy to spot poorly made fakes just by examining the paints and brushstrokes. But careful coun-
drawn in short, overlapping strokes of paint or ink, which from a distance look like a single, continuous line. This suggests that da Vinci was painting over existing marks. The right arm and landscape, however, were dashed in, and using a fatter brush, an indication that he made these strokes without an outline. Da Vinci, the historians
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 49
concluded, outlined only parts of a painting, doing the rest freehand. More-Powerful X-rays
In recent years, researchers at the Art Institute of Chicago used improved infrared reflectography on the previously discovered painting of a young woman underlying Picasso's The Old Guitarist. The scan revealed the woman's thoughtful expression and long dark hair but not the colors Picasso imparted to her. Such black-and-white images were also all that researchers initially had of a portrait of a woman hidden under van Gogh's PatchofGrass, an 1887 landscape currently at the KrollerMi.iller Museum in the Netherlands. Art historians at the museum first discovered the portrait in the 1990s using conventional x-ray technology.
Materials made of elements with low atomic weights, such as carbon-based paints, allow x-rays to pass through them easily, so they appear transparent on x-ray film. In contrast, paints that contain heavy elements, such as lead white, block the radiation and appear dark on film. Because ordinary x-rays can record the presence of different color pigments only in black and white, imaging work done on Patch of Grass provided only a vague impression of the hidden portrait. In 2006 Dik and Koen Janssens, a chemist at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, heard about a newer technique used by Stanford University scientists to decipher unreadable text in the works of the classical Greek mathematician Archimedes. The researchers had used x-ray fluorescence imaging- a technique in which
radiation from a ring-shaped particle accelerator called a synchrotron bombards a target-to reveal the hidden text. Dik, Janssens and their colleagues decided to test the technique on van Gogh's Patch of Grass, with help from scientists at the German Electron-Synchrotron in Hamburg and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France. Synchronon radiation is 100 to 1,000 times as strong as conventional x-rays, so it can penetrate layers of paint deeply and with little distortion, quickly scanning underlying properties. The concentrated beam of radiation from the synchrotron knocks electrons off the inner orbits of atoms in the target material. As electrons from the outer orbits move inward to fill the gaps, they emit radiation at characteristic wavelengths
called fluorescence radiation. Researchers analyze these wavelengths to determine the elemental composition of the material being scanned. By looking for combinations of elements that correspond to specific colors, the research team unveiled detai Is of the portrait beneath Patch ofGrass. Van Gogh used vermilion, a vivid red, and Naples yellow in the portrait of the woman. Vermilion, which is made from mercury sulfide, colored the woman's hat, lips and parts of her skin. The artist blended Naples yellow, which contains lead antimonate, with zinc-white and lead-white pigments to highlight areas of the painting. A stratigraphic sample of the paint layers-a physical core sample that extends from the surface to the base layers-confirmed the results. Why would van Gogh cover up his original work? Based on preserved letters, historians know that the artist spent time in Nuenen, a small, rural town in the Netherlands, between October 1884 and May 1885, where he chronicled peasant life in a series of paintings he later sent to his brother, Theo, an art dealer in Paris. Two and a half years after leaving Nuenen, van Gogh joined his brother in Paris. Theo gave the painter money to live, but the artist spem it all on art supplies. Dik believes that van Gogh's impulsiveness and poverty, combined with his exposure to French avant-garde artists who changed his aesthetic style, most likely Jed him to paint over the portrait, replacing it with a colorful image from nature that was more in line with the new movement.
More Masters Get Scanned X-ray fluorescence imaging is also revealing how da Vinci painted such lifelike faces. Researchers from the ESRF and the Center for Research and the Restoration of the Museums of France recently used the technique to study his use of sfumato, a range of subtle optical effects that blur outlines, soften transitions,
With the aid of infrared reflectography, resear<hers at the National Gallery in London found that Leonardo da Vind sket<hed a different motif[redl before he painted The Virgin ofthe Rocks in t he early 16th <entury.
and blend shadows like smoke. Last summer, the researchers announced that they had determined the composition and thickness of each layer in da Vinci's Mona Lisa and eight other faces he painted throughout his career. Their work also uncovered different shadowing "recipes" he used: certain pigments and additives and a technique involving glaze layers or very thin paint. Dik, Janssens and their colleagues have a lso applied x-ray fluorescence imaging to works by Rembrandt, Goya and the German romantic painter Philip Otto Runge, as well as several other van Gogh pieces that had been previously scan ned with conventional x-rays. Most recently, their analysis of an early 19th-century Runge painting of a demurely dressed, brown-haired woman uncovered an underlying portrait of a different woman, who had loose blond hair and a more revealing dress. "There has been d isagreement among scholars as to whether or not this painting even belongs to Runge," Janssens says. "By revealing the hidden layers-the colors used and style- we have provided art historians with more arguments for or against." â&#x20AC;˘
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
SCIENCEILLUSTRAJED.COM I 51
Medicine
11.1
::c 1We asked experts in the fields of neuroscience, biology, immunology and more to tell us their biggest goals for the next decade. Here are 10 breakthroughs they want to accomplish (in no particular order)
N
ow that researchers at the Human Genome Project have finished mapping the body's 25,000 genes, scientists are hard at work on an even bigger task. Genes produce pote11tially rnilliotls of proteins that form most cellular str uctures and perform virtually all the tasks necessary for life, and caljlllating which genes code for which f roteins is one of the most ambitious undertakings in medicine. Scientists must also come to a better understanding of the metabolic processes that occur within each
cell. The metabolic system controls all of the body's biochemical processes, including extracting energy from the environment and using it to help build new cells. Obesity and diabetes are considered metabolic diseases, and recently researchers have even begun investigating the role of metabolism in cancer. One major goal for the coming decade is creating the "metabolome," a complete map of the metabolic system that would let doctors observe the body's processes on a cellular level and give them insight into the chemical
differences between healthy and diseased tissues, perhaps leading to new tests or treatments. Yet another grou ndbreaking mapping initiative will detail the complex networks of the brain a11d help us determine what goes wrong in diseased brains. In the next 10 years, we'll see research strides in aging, obesity and cancer. Scientists will tackle scourges such as malaria, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and they will develop antibiotics that don't promote deadly bacterial resistance. This is how they'll do it.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 53
GOALS FOR MAPPING THE METABOLIC SYSTEM BACKGROUND: The metabolome is
CHALUNGES: We still don't under-
a complete set of the biochemical components, or metabolites, involved in metabolism. Metabolomics- the study of the metabolic system- could be used as a diagnostic tool to measure the biochemical signatures of disease. Around 3,000 metabolites have been identified, but humans could have as many as 100,000.
stand all the facets of basic biochemistry at the cellular level, which is fundamental to the rest of the field.
WHAT'SNEXT: Research is likely to
focus on mapping metabolic pathways in major organs to unravel the reilation between metabolism and disease, particularly diabetes, obesity and cancer.
54 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
NowthatourDNAhas been mapped, a next step is mapping the metabolic system.
Medicine
THE COMING DE MALARIA VACCINE IACKGROUND: Malaria kills roughly
one million people annually. WHAT'S NEXT: The first vaccine, from a group led by GlaxoSmithKiine, is poised for approval within the next few years. The inoculation could be available five years from now. CHALLENGES: GlaxoSmithKiine
expects the vaccine to be effective in about 50 percent of the people who receive it. This will make a large dent in the roughly 250 million annual infections, but it won't eradicate the disease. GSK is working on several new versions of the vaccine, and other companies are investigating different approaches.
Children and infants in sub-Saharan Africa will get the first inoculations. X
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eventually be able to deliver multiple drugs personalized for each patient within a nanocarrier, the proper drug ratios and the viability of delivering them with this method will vary widely depending on the characteristics of the type of cancer being treated.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 55
antibiotics promotes bacterial resistance.
BETTER ANTIBIOTICS BACKGROUND: Widespread use of antibiot-
ics has resulted in the mutation of many disease-causing bacteria, making them resistant to treatment. In 2007, the CDC reported 19,000 deaths from methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus. WHAT'SNEXT: Researchers will continue developing drugs to attack new bacterial
targets. Novel compounds called quorumsensing inhibitors, which disrupt bacteria's communication systems and are less likely to promote resistance, are also in the works. CHALLENGES: Each type of bacteria may use a different communication pathway, which means researchers would have to tailor quorum-sensing inhibitors for each strain.
56 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
Medicine
ALZHEIMER'S VACCINE BACKGROUND: More than 35 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer's disease,
a degenerative brain disorder. Treatments can slow the onset of dementia, but there is no cure. Patients typically have deposits of a sticky protein fragment called betaamyloid on their brain, as well as tau-protein tangles inside their neural cells. Doctors are still unsure if the disorder causes these features to form, or vice versa.
Awoman undergoes a test for Alzheimer's. An estimated 106 million people worldwide will suffer from the disease by 2050.
WHAT'SNEXT: Two therapeutic Alzheimer's vaccines that target beta-amyloid proteins, created by the Austrian pharmaceutical company AFFiRiS and licensed to GlaxoSmithKiine, are in the early stages of clinical trials. Research will continue over the next decade, but GSK says it is too early to speculate when the treatments could become available.
BACJCGROUND: Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder that
causes a number of motor problems, including tremors. musde rigidity and difficulty walking. Deep brain stimulation (OBS) can help alleviate some symptoms as medications lose their effectiveness over time. In the procedure, doctors insert a small electrode in the brain to map its structure and locate the ideal position for the DBS system. A larger electrode called a lead is then implanted in the selected spot. It's attached to a wire that runs under the skin down the head and the back of the neck, where it connects to a battery. The battery supplies an electrical pulse that stimulates the brain to ease tremors, stiffness and slowness. WHAT'S NEXT: Newer DBS systems will be smaller, sleeker and smarter. The devices will be contained in the cranium, which means fewer wires running through the body, decreasing the chance of infection. The leads will send impulses to the brain as well as receive information from it, so that doctors can observe the brain in action. This information will help neurologists deter-
mine more precisely where in the brain to stimulate and th~ idYl intensity and duration of the impulses, allowing them to tailor more-individualized treatments. CHAllENGES: DBS and other Parkinson's treatments do
not address so-called axial symptoms, which include difficulty swallowing, walking, talking and thinking. Researchers are looking for other potential treatments that could be used either in conjunction with or to completely replace DBS.
OIALLENGES: The precise cause of Alz-
heimer's is unclear, which complicates the search for effective treatments. It is possible that mechanisms other than beta-amyloid plaques or tau tangles are the culprit. Recent research indicates that brain atrophy, a separate problem, accounts for the dementia in Alzheimer's patients who are 80 years of age or older.
OFBREA
HROUGHS
We still have a long way to go, but thisis a snippet of what medical science has accomplished in the past decade
T
he past decade saw some medical leaps seemingly pulled from the pages of science fiction. Doctors perfonned surgeries on patients located across the globe. They transplanted entire body parts, grew others from scratch in the lab, and fixed a faulty organ by manipulating its genetic makeup. There were also breakthroughs in treating and preventing cancer: Researchers developed new ways to treat tumors, zapping them with particles invisible to the human eye. And the world's first cancer vaccines were created, ushering in a new stage in cancer prevention and treatment. Doctors still haven't cured AIDS, but clinical studies on preventative measures showed strong promise and, for the first time, a vaccine may be on the horizon. Here, we present some of the top medical breakthroughs of the past 10 years.
58 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
SPUFOCI; INSETS, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: T. MATIHIESEN/UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; LABORATORIES SCIENCES/BANGKOK, THAILAND; DANIEL BURKE; MAGFORCE NANOTECHNOLOGIES; NORTHWESTERN
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Come to Life Pigment cells in fossilized feathers offer the best look yet at the extinct reptiles
Feathered Dinosaurs Show Their True Colors In the past two decades, archaeologists have found dozens of dinosaur species with wellpreserved feathers, mainly in China. With the recent discovery of preserved color-pigment sacs (known as melanosomes) on these fossil feathers, scientists are starting to restore original colors and patterns one species at a time.
Velociraptor WHERE: MONGOLIA WHEN: 99-65 MILLION YEARS AGO
Epidexipteryx W~l
Tianyulong WHERE: CHINA WHEN: 145- 99 MILLION YEARS AGO
60 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
Microraptor WHERE: CHINA WHEN: 145- 99 MILLION YEARS AGO
Psittacosaurus WHERE: CHINA, MONGOLIA AND
RUSSIA
WHEN: 130-100 MILLION YEARS AGO
ANCHIORNIS WHERE: CHINA WHEN: 161- 151 MILLION YEARS AGO
E
ver since the word "dinosaur" was introduced in 1842, the long-lost reptiles have captured our collective imagination. Museum exhibits, illustrated books and Hollywood blockbusters such as Jurassic Park bring the extinct monsters to life in terrifying detail. But for the most part, the only reallite remains we have of dinosaurs are their skeletons and ambiguously colored feathers. Colorful depictions of dinosaurs have simply been educated guesses. For decades, paleoartists have drawn inspiration for dinosaur illustrations from modern reptiles, fish and birds living in habitats similar to those of their ancient predecessors. Most artists use neutral tones commonly found in nature- brown, green, gray and black- to color their models. But a few get more imaginative. "With no specific guidelines to follow, some people can go pretty wild with colors, which risks making them unbelievable," says Gary Staab, a paleoartist who has created dinosaur models for the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Smithson ian Institution in Washington, D.C. Now, however, the guessing game appears to be coming to an end-at least for the estimated 20 percent of dinosaurs that were feathered. In 2008, Jakob Vinther, a graduate student in paleontology at Yale University, announced the discovery of fossilized dinosaur- or prehistoric bird-feather
Pedopenna
melanosomes, cell structures that syn-
WHERE: CHINA
thesize and store the pigment melanin. By examining the shape and pattern of the structures, Vintherwrote in Biology Letters, researchers could for the first time identify dinosaur feather colors, such as the red-brown crest atop Anchiornis's head or the chestnut stripes on Sinosauropteryx's tail. The findings will bring about
WHEN: 176-146 MILLION YEARS AGO
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATEO.COM I 61
more than better illustrations of the creatures. Paleontologists will use information about colors and patterns to investigate the animals' biology- how males and females communicated, for example, or how the dinos recognized their own kind. The research could also help explain how feathers evolved, leading to flight. The Discovery In 2006, when Vinther was in his first year at Yale, he examined two 150million-year-old squid ink sacs. He was surprised to find within them preserved melanin, the same pigment that determines human skin color. The pigment cells were virtually identical in shape to those found in modern squid. Melanin serves a variety of functions. In humans it protects skin cells from sun damage, and in birds it increases feather strength. Squid
use it to scare off predators with a cloud of ink. But for Vinther, melanin's role in producing color in animals was the critical point. Could fossilized dinosaur melanosomes finally reveal dinosaurs' colors? If squid melanin had not changed over millions of years, Vinther thought, perhaps the same would be true for birds, the descendants of dinosaurs. Modern bird-feather melanosomes are found in two shapes: elongated rods, which store black pigments known as eumelanins, and spheres, which house red-brown pigments called phaeomelanins. Different combinations of the rods and spheres on a feather, as well as the density of the structures, produce some of the colors and shades we see in today's birds. First, Vinther needed to find out if feather melanosomes fossilize. He looked for the structures in a wreath of
and pattern of the structures, researchers could for the first time identify dinosaur feather colors.
The artist based the colors and striped patterns in this rendering of a Sinosauropteryx on fossilized melanosomes in the animal's tail and the feathered crest on its back.
62 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
preserved feathers from a 50-millionyear-old bird skull found in Denmark. A scanning electron microscope revealed what looked like eumelanins on the feathers. Yale paleontologist Derek Briggs, Vinther's academic adviser at the time, was doubtful. Two decades earlier, similar rodlike shapes on fossil feathers had been identified as bacteria, and throughout the 1990s Briggs had built a case for the role of these bacteria in fossilizing structures. Briggs suggested they examine another fossil, this one a 100-millionyear-old feather with what looked like black-and-white stripes. (Darkand-light areas can often be seen on fossil feathers, but their true colors are unknown.) The feather, found in Brazil, belonged to either a dinosaur or a prehistoric bird. Briggs and Vinther found the rod shapes only in the dark stripes; bacteria, however, would have been evenly distributed throughout the feather. The conclusion: The structures were melanosomes, not bacteria. The results, published in October 2008, sparked an international interest in "color mapping" feathered dinosaurs, or applying colors to the animals, body part by body part. Coloring Dinosaurs University of Bristol paleontologist Mike Benton, with his colleagues from England, China and Ireland, had spent two years examining feathered dinosaur fossils from Asia's 131million- to 120-million-year-old Jehol ecosystem when Vinther and Briggs's findings were published. "They had shown conclusively that these structures, once passed off as bacteria, really were not," Benton says. "The potential for new paleobiological insights were clear to everyone." That December at Bristol, the group zoomed in a little closer on the Jehol specimens and found the same rod-shaped melanosomes, as well as sphericalmelanosomes, on feathers from Confuciusornis, an ancient bird, and Sinornithosaurus, a non-avian
dinosaur. The findings indicated that the animals had both black and redbrown colorations. Another non-avian dinosaur, Sinosauropteryx, exhibited only spherical melanosomes, suggesting that the dark stripes visible on bristles along its fossilized tail, as well as a feathered crest along its back, were chestnut or red-brown in color. Benton and his team published their results in the journal Nature last February. Back at Yale, Vinther and his colleagues teamed up with paleontologists Li Quanguo and Meng Qingjin of the Beijing Museum of Natural History and Gao Ke-Qjn of Peking University in Beijing to analyze melanosomes in fossilized dinosaur feathers from China. The researchers chose Anchiomis huxleyi, a recently discovered 161-million- to 151-million-year-old dinosaur, for its wellpreserved feathers. The team scraped samples from 29 points on the chicken-size fossil. They found red- or blackproducing melanosomes in almost all. To detennine A. huxleyi's actual colors, including variations of black, brown and gray, Vinther approached biologist Matthew Shawkey of the University of Akron, an expert in modern bird plumage. Shawkey and his postdoctoral researcher Liliana D'Alba analyzed melanosome shape and density in black, gray and redbrown feathers fi路om 36 species of living birds. With this information, the pair developed a statistical tool that compares dinosaur melanosomes with those of birds to determine the extinct animals' feather colors. "With the statistical analysis, we can say with confidence for the first time 'This is a black, red or brown area,"' Vinther says. "We can also determine colors and patterns over an entire [feathered] animal
How to Color a Dinosaur By studying packets of melanin pigments (melanosomes) in ... feathers from today's birds, Jakob Vinther, a paleontology doctoral student at Yale University, and his colleagues produced a model that can predict the colors of feathered dinosaurs.The melanosome patterns in the feathered-dinosaur fossils can be seen under a scanning electron microscope. Anchiornis huxleyi [above] is the first dinosaur whose color scheme has been completely decoded. Here's how they did it.
A. Vinther's team sampled 29 areas on A. huxleyi, including the right hind limb [14-19), both forelimbs [1 - 13) and the head [25- 29). Sampling locations were chosen based on factors such as feather shape and remnants of visible patterns.
Head
B. The researchers looked at the shape and density of the melanosomes or their impressions at each site [right). The presence of rod-shaped pigment sacs indicates an area was black, whereas spherical structures indicate brown or red colors.
25A: Impressions of spherical melanosomes, which contain red-brown pigments
C. The scientists input this data into a model that colorized the fossil based on comparisons with similar melanosome compositions in modern birds. A scientific illustrator used the results to make a reconstruction of the animal.
25&:Impressions of sausage-shaped melanosomes, which contain black pigments
26 AND 27: Feather areas with spherical melanosomes (26) have red hues but, when both spherical and rod-shaped melanosomes (27) are present, gray colors are produced.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATEO.COM I 63
Feathers: From Sight to Flight Non-avian dinosaurs developed feathers roughly 260 to 230 million years ago (MYA), possibly as a form of visual communication. Color patternsmay have determined dinosaurs' ability to attract mates. By the early Cretaceous period, around 145 to 99 million years ago, the evolution of feather shape had enabled early flight.
Sinosauropteryx 260-201 MYA f SIGNALING The first feathers are threadlike bristles that endow dinosaurs with colors and stripes, like the brownand-white stripes recently identified on the tail of Sinosauropteryx. These earlyfeathers most likely play arole in signaling mates. v
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200-162 MYA
SIGNALING By the early Cretaceous period, spedes like Caudipteryx bear feathers with a central shaft and vanes. The morecomplex structureallows for pat· ternswithina single feather-an advantage for attracting mates and in speciesrecognition.
sils, indicating that either they didn't preserve as well as melanosomes or more likely that they hadn't evolved yet. Benton says the latter theory is supported by the fact that mammals never adopted them, either.
Jakob Vintherwith specimens from Yale's ornithology collection. Bird pigments hold dues to the physical appearance of dinosaurs. '\~ f
Caudipteryx
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Filling in the Blanks Coloring dinosaurs won't just improve our image of the iconic creatures. It w ill also give us greater insight into how they lived. Long before dinosaurs took to the air on wings, the reptiles used variations of feathers to regulate their body temperature, repel water, and communicate. "If you look at Anchiornis huxleyi, that red crest of feathers on its head- that was not used as camouflage," Vinther says. "It was used as display of some sort. We need to look at more fossils to say whether it was for species recogni· tion or sexual display. If we see there are differences betw·een Anchiornis specimens-that some have these red crest feathers and others don't-then
atld not just a single feather."
a striped pattern when seen fi·om
it was probably for sexual purposes:
Last March, Vinther and his colleagues published their results on A. huxleyi in the journal Science. The dinosaur had a red-brown crest atop its head and similar colored flecks on the sides of its face. Its back and most of its body was dark gray or black, but the feathers on its wings and legs alternated between white and black, which created
the side. Missing just the tail, which archaeologists didn't recover, the reconstruction is possibly the world's most realistic depiction of a dinosaur. The two other pigments- porphyrins and carotenoids-responsible for the other colors in modern birds' plumage, such as blue and green, have not been found in dinosaur fos-
identifying males and females. If they're all the same, they must be for species recognition," he explains. Beyond their quest to gain knowledge of dinosaurs. Benton says, "scientists want to answer wider questions about the great success of birds. How and when did feathers emerge? How were feather styles and struc-
64 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
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145-99 MYA
li 16H46MYA PRE FLIGHT
FLYING
With dinosaurs such as Anchiornis huxleyi, feathers take onanew function, gliding. These dinosaurs have longfeathers on their arms, legs and toes. Two pairs of wings and afeathered tail maximize surface area and forman optimal gliding plane.
Thebird-lizard Archaeopteryx has a mix of long and short symmetrical feathers, as well as asymmetrical feathers with aerodynamic characteristics such as hooked filaments. These allow feathersto catch the wind more effectively, improving gliding.
Feathers on thefirst birds, suchas Confudusornis, are longer with thicker central stalks, enabling themtostay rigid during flight. Thetail is almost gone: It's now merelya stump with long feathers that aid inflight.
tures added in time, and what were the key breakthroughs that permitted a massive diversity increase?" Most modern birds have so-called contour feathers, in which filaments branch off from a shaft. Tiny hooklike structures on the filaments hold them together in nature's version of Velcro. Vinther theorizes that this complex feather structure was sucessful because it let dinosaurs exhibit color patterns not just feather by feather, but within a single feather as well, which would have improved their displays. If scientists are able to find melanosomal evidence of this complex coloring, it could help prove that the aerial function of feathers- first gliding and later flying- was just a bonus.
gist Julia Clarke of the University of Texas to color-map a 36-million-yearold giant penguin fossil from Peru. Instead of the black and white plumage of most of today's penguins, these ancient birds were predom.inantly gray and red-brown. The work, published late last year in Science, showed that the mclanosome method can be
used to restore color on a variety of fossil species, not just dinosaurs. One group that's standing by: paleoartists such as Gary Staab. "The possibility of doing an animation or painting with more-accurate colors has everyone super-excited," he says. "We are all in this because we want to bring these fossils to life." â&#x20AC;˘
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Rewriting History The push to color-map dinosaurs is still in the early stages, with only A. huxleyi completely restored. This summer, Vinther's group will unveil new dinosaur and extinct-bird res-
torations. Be11ton at'ld his colleagues continue to color-map dinosaurs and ancient birds found in the Jehol group. Both Vinther and Benton also think preserved skin melanosomes or melanin in the rock impressions of dinosaur fossils could one day be used to restore colors in non-feathered dinos. In the meantime, Vinther and Shawkey recently teamed up with paleontolo-
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 65
®
Tools+Techniques: Weighing Atoms
Inside the massive machines that weigh not-so-massive atoms
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toms are the building blocks of all matter in the universe. There are 117 confirmed types of atoms, each of which is defined by the number of subatomic proton particles in its nucleus. Oxygen atoms, for example, contain eight protons, whereas gold atoms have 79, and this accounts for some of the differences in the physical properties of the two substances. The proton, however, is not the only subatomic particle. Another particle found in the nucleus, the neutron, also contributes to an atom's overall mass. (The mass of the electrons is negligible.) Two atoms that have the same number of protons but a dif-
ferent number of neutrons are called isotopes. The more neutrons an isotope has, the heavier it is. Chemical samples of a single element usually contain a mixture of isotopes. Consequently, to find the mass of a specific type of atom, scientists must separate its isotopes and weigh them. To accomplish this, they use a mass specu·ometer, which was invented by the English physicist].]. Thomson in 1913. Thomson exposed rare atmospheric gas ions- electrically charged atoms- to a magnet and an electrode. The force produced by the magnetic and electric fields deflected the ions as they traveled along a tube. When he tested neon in the machine, the ions diverged into two su·eams and smashed into a photographic plate at the end of the tube, leaving two bright spots. Thomson deduced that there
were two varieties (now called isotopes) of neon present. And since the same force pushed one of these isotopes farther than the other, he realized that they must have different masses. Using an equation relating the strength of the magnetic force to the deflection of each isotope, Thomson then determined the mass of each isotope. The same basic technique is used today to weigh atoms, although stronger magnets have replaced the combination of magnets and electrodes. Many fields of research rely on mass spectrometry. A group of scientists led by Robert Cotter at Johns Hopkins University is designing a mass spectrometer that will fly aboard a Mars-bound spacecraft in 2018 with the purpose of detecting organic molecules, or possible signs oflife, in the Martian environment. •
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VAPORIZATION The sample is heated, causing it to vaporize. The resulting gas flows into an ionization chamber.
2 IONIZATION Electrons emitted by a red-hot wire bombard the gas, knocking one electron (on average) off each atom, converting them into positively charged ions. Ionization is necessary because magnetic forces only affect charged particles.
3 ACCELERATION An electric field accelerates the ions aaoss a chamber, and then a beam focuser ensures that they shoot straight out into the mass analyzer.
4 MAGNETIC EFFECTS A magnetic field points perpendicularly to the ions' path, exerting a force that causes their paths to curve. Lighter ions turn more sharply than heavier ones since they are, so to speak, easier to push around.
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5 DETECTION Faraday collectors count the number of ions hitting the end of the flight tube. Each peak on the graph [above] correspends to an isotope of a given mass, illustrating what percentage of each isotope makes up the chemical sample.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 67
Know Your Enemy Humans and bedbugs have had a long, intimate, but not especially affectionate relationship. Most entomologists believe bedbugs began preying on prehistoric cave-dwellers and followed human populations as they moved from caves to man-made structures. There are about 75 species of bedbugs, and all of them feed on blood. Of those 75, just two regularly prey on humans: Cimex hemipterus, the tropical bedbug, and C. lectularius, the common bedbug. (Other species prefer to feed on birds and bats.} The latter is the one most often found in Europe and the U.S. Adults are reddish or dark brown and about one and a half times the size of a sesame seed. The insects are wingless and flat, allowing them to squeeze into the smallest cracks and crevices. When feeding, they plump up with blood. The oldest evidence of a bedbug infestation in a home is a 3,500-yearold specimen found in the ruins of an ancient Egyptian village. Around 1,000 years after the insects plagued
Egyptian villagers, Greek and Roman scholars wrote about the bugs, sometimes suggesting medicinal uses. Roman scholar Pliny the Elder suggested members of the Cimicidae family as an ingredient in a treatment for snakebite, and as late as the 18th century, medicines and ointments containing bedbugs and their relatives were recommended as cures for a broad range of ailments, from fevers to "hysteria," a catchall term that covered many mental problems. Today bedbugs are regarded solely as a nuisance. They're nocturnal, crawling out to feed a few hours before dawn. When they bite, they inject an anesthetic that makes it almost impossible to feel the skin being pierced, as well as an anticoagulant to keep their victim's blood flowing. In all, it requires five to 10 minutes for a bedbug to finish a meal. Each bug feeds about once a week, but they're such prolific breeders-females lay between 200 and 400 eggs at a time, and the young mature in about two monthsthat in an infested room, hundreds
may come out to feed every night. The intense itching and red welts result from an allergic reaction to the bugs' saliva. Although bedbugs aren't known to transmit disease, some people suffer severe allergic reactions to the bites, and the bugs have also been known to cause anemia in infants and elderly people living with severe infestations. Despite their long history with humans and the ease with which they multiply, bedbugs were almost completely wiped out in the Western world in the late 1930s, aided by the use of the synthetic pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT. The Bugs AI路e Back i n Town Almost overnight, it seems. bedbugs have returned. Infestations have been reported in cities all over the world. In New York in 2009, housing officials recorded almost 11,000 complaints of bedbug infestations, up from just 500 in 2004. And bedbugs are traveling beyond the bed. Last fall, schools in New York and Ohio made the news
Entomology after bedbugs were spotted in classrooms. and a few months before that, several movie theaters and retail stores in New York were forced to shut down to deal with infestations. This rise in bedbugs is in fact as sudden as it seems, says Jody GangloffKaufmann, an entomologist at Cornell University who served on New York City's Bed Bug Advisory Board. "I've been dealing with bedbugs for about 10 years," says Gangloff-Kaufmann, "and there were probably infestations happening before that. But from about 2005 to now, it's really gotten so much worse, and so much more quickly." So why are they back now? Nobody actually knows. Scientists do have some ideas, though. One possible factor contributing to the return of the bedbug is the ban on DDT. First introduced in the 1930s. DDT had a residual effect: It lingered on the surfaces where it was used, continuing to kill bugs that came in contact with it for weeks.
Because bedbugs don't respond to the baits used to catch other pests and they do not have communal nests that can be targeted (ants, for example, unwittingly carry poison back to their nests, killing the whole colony instead ofjust the random individuals that come into contact with the pesticide in your house), powerful DDT was one of the best ways to extenninate them. But the U.S. banned the use of
DDT in 1972, and the pesticide has since been linked to drastic declines in condor and eagle populations. The DDT ban may have played a role, but scientists and policy-makers believe that increased global travel, a lack of public awareness and a relative paucity of research are also likely culprits. Although bedbugs are most commonly found in and around matu路esses, they will hide in any small
space, such as the cracks between floorboards, joints in furniture and the seams of a suitcase. Travelers can bring bedbugs from homes to hotels and back again in their luggage- and because the females lay hundreds of eggs at a time, it takes only one bug to start an infestation. The tenacity of bedbugs makes eradication difficult. They can live for more than a year without feeding, allowing them to survive on, for example, discarded furniture left on the curb. Bedbugs can hide almost anywhere. Professional exterminators often rely on a combination of sprays to kill bugs hiding in the crevices they can reach and on desiccant dusts, compounds that dehydrate and kill the ones that survive the spray. Bedbug eggs usually aren't affected by pesticides, so it takes at least two applications to kill the insects: the first to kill the adults, and the second about two weeks later to take care of the newly hatched offspring. Complicating this effort is the fact that some populations of bedbugs are resistant to certain pesticides. Many exterminators offer heat treatments, in which hot
An advertisement from the 1950s forD DT. The U.S. banned the potent insecticide in 1972.
air or steam is applied to areas where bedbugs are believed to live, and recommend heating or freezing for areas and items in which pesticides can't be used. Heat treatments and freezing have the benefit of killing both bedbugs and their eggs, but in many cases, temperatures must get above 120째F or remain below freezing for a full week to kill the pests, which is unfeasible and expensive for the average homeowner.
But a lack of public awareness is the biggest problem, Gangloff-Kaufmann says. "I think the major factor is that people were unaware of bedbugs and unaware of the signs. We have people reporting bedbugs that had them for months without knowing it, because they thought they had a rash or a medical issue," she says. "And a lack of awareness allows bedbugs to spread. People throw away mattresses and furniture to get rid of bugs, and others pick it up, bringing the bugs home with them." Those who finally did realize they had bedbugs often tried to take care of the problem themselves by applying off-the-shelf insecticides, which cause the bugs to flee to other rooms and, in many cases, other apartments.
Humans Bite Back Scientists have begun to focus on new ways to control the bedbug resurgence. In 2006, University of Kentucky entomologist Mike Potter and his colleagues began documenting pesticide resistance in bedbug populations in the lab and and in homes. More recently, re-
Entomology searchers have been studying the biology ofbedbugs, hoping to find their fatal weakness. In 2009, Ohio State University entomologist joshua Benoit found that spraying synthetic versions of the insects' alarm pheromones-chemicals they emit when they're stressed or sense dangercaused the bugs to crawl out of their hiding places and through the desiccant dust that had been left for them. And late last year, chemical ecologist Vincent Herraca and his colleagues at Lund University in Sweden discovered that juvenile bedbugs emit a specific alarm pheromone to stop maJes from mating with them !see "How the Bugs Breed," right], which could be used to stop the bugs from mating altogether. Gangloff-Kaufmann believes that recent reports of bedbugs affecting schools and businesses migh t lead to increased funding and support for research and public-awareness campaigns. "I think it brought to light the idea that anyone can get bedbugs, and anyone can be bitten," she says. Over the past few years, many local governments have set up bedbug task forces to educate residents about the bugs. In 2008, congressman G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina introduced the Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite Act, which called for funding to help states inspect hotel rooms for the insects. And in April 2009, the Environmenta] Protection Agency held a National Bed Bug Summit in Arlington, Virginia, bringing together more than 350 scientists a nd pest-management specialists to determine what support landlords, residents, researchers and exterminators need to be more effective in controlling the insects. A second summit is planned for early this year. No one knows if we can curb the bedbug invasion as successfully as we did in the 1930s, but further research into the life cycle and suscep¡ tibilities of the insects could ease the burden and provide better recourse once an infestation happens. â&#x20AC;˘
JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2011 SC1ENCEILLUSTRATED.COM I 73
Earn more points by using fewer clues to answer each question.
5 points
4 points
3 points
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Nick Holonyak, an American engineer, is considered the inventor of this illuminating device, which he created in 1962.
In it, a current is sent through a semiconductor, which releases a stream of photons.
Recent advances in semiconductor technology allow it to produce any color in the rainbow.
Lightbulb replacements can be made from this technology by combining several semiconductors into one device.
Two common uses are as indicator lights in electronics and as automobile brake lights.
This range has 18 peaks that reach higher than 10,000 feet-the tallest is 10,964 feet
It contains peaks called Marmolada, Pala di San Martino and Antelao.
Located in the northern Alps, it is a prime tourist destination, and scientists are drawn by its impressive marine fossil record.
Its highly distinctive limestone peaks helped earn it a spot on Unesco's World Heritage List in 2009.
It is named for French geologist Deodat Gratet de Dolomieu, who conducted the first study of the area in the 18th century.
Its genus, (onnochaetes, contains two species and five subspecies, all of which live in Africa.
It lives in large, dense herds that migrate across the plains and savannas.
This awkward-looking animal has sloping shoulders, thin legs, beards and cow-like horns and is sometimes striped.
Called a"wildebeest" in Afrikaans, it is a large member of the antelope family and can weigh up to 600 pounds.
Another common name is an interpretation of a local dialect, which refers to it as
It links the Doge's Palace, Venice's chief magistrate, with the prison on the other side ofthe canal.
In Italian it is called Ponte dei Sospiri, and tourists can pass beneath it in a gondola.
lord Byron gave the bridge its name, imagining the prisoners' last view of Venice before being put in their cells.
There are usually 28 pieces in a set, each featuring dots and usually divided into two halves by a line.
The game has lent its name to the phenomenon in which the failure of a single link causes the whole to collapse.
This enclosed bridge was designed by Italian architect Antonio Contino and constructed around 1600.
It spans the very narrow Rio de Palazzo canal.
It originated in China, possibly as early as the 1Oth century, but the version we play probably came from 18th-century Italy and France.
There are several varia- Its pieces can be referred tions, including games to as bones, men, stones called muggins or mata- or cards. dor, all of which require strategy and math.
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76 I SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011
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Fine jewelry featuring meteorite
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Answer Key
9S = 8 X(£+ t>) 6£ = £X(S+8)
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=9
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® Brain Trainers
Answersappearonpage78
4 5 Which area
If you push the toothed rod to the
is bigger/ the orange or the blue?
D
right/ will the arrow point to a higher or a lower number on the dial?
Which of the figures (A through E) replaces the question mark?
•
B
A
E
Arrange the six balls
What number
so that the top three total 22. The 5-ball
replaces the question mark?
, •
13
8
must be immediately to the right of the 6-ball but cannot touch the 4-ball. The 10-ball must touch
3
17
all of the balls except the 6-ball.
14
6
® Headbreakers d
Replace the nine letters A through I with nine one-digit numbers so that
Observe that the scales balance. If purple flowers weigh 6
all eight equations are correct. Dif-
ounces/ how much do red and blue flowers each weigh?
ferent letters can represent the same number. Remember that multiplication and division must be done before addition and subtraction.
II
Which number should replace the question mark and why?
~ich of the cubes (A through E) could be made from the pattern below?
6 8
7 4 52 5 3 39
4
3
5 2
8 56
4
A."
.... ........ 8
c .•
•• IIIIP
1•
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