WorldOfKnowledge201410 PDF

WARNING!
30 LIES YOUR DOCTOR TELLS ISSUE 18 OCTOBER 2014

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AUSTRALIA
SPACE MYSTERIES
Alien life Unexplained signals Time travel
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but the locals wouldnt have it any other way. In the face of extreme adversity the LandCruiser 200,
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CONT
From the search for alien life to how the universe began Walruses might not be the most attractive of animals,
the intriguing cosmic riddles that even the worlds but their lumbering bulk has its benefits not least when
smartest brains cant solve. PAGE 10 it comes to fighting off predators PAGE 20
ON THE
COVER
Misdiagnoses, outdated treatments and questionable Artificial brains and robot armies are only the start.
motives World of Knowledge uncovers 30 medical In the secretive Google X lab, the internet giant is
myths perpetuated by doctors. PAGE 38 planning the future of humanity... PAGE 44
This marathon through Brazils jungle is the worlds most On a galatic scale, the hypergiant star Eta Carinae is
brutal race: where else would you have to battle extreme pretty much right next door to us on Earth. So would we
heat, 100% humidity AND deadly snakes? PAGE 66 be in danger if it exploded? PAGE 74
4 www.worldofknowledge.com.au
ENTS
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COVER
WORLD EVENTS
44 Google: From Internet Empire To New Superpower
The true extent of the internet giants influence
66 Marathon Through The Green Hell
The most dangerous endurance race in the world
NATURE
20 Cold Water, Warm Heart
How walruses force polar bears to flee
SCIENCE
10 Spaces Unsolved Mysteries
The cosmic head-scratchers science cant answer
56 What Secrets Is My Brain Hiding From Me?
How did the Allies achieve success in the greatest Whos really controlling your mind?
liberation campaign in history? We examine the 64 Smarter In 60 Seconds
1944 Normandy landings in detail. PAGE 30 Theme: The subconscious
74 How Dangerous Is It When A Nearby Sun Goes Bang?
What would happen if one of Earths neighbours exploded?
TECHNOLOGY
82 Lab Test: Can You Hack An Entire City?
COVER PHOTOS: Alamy; Corbis; Getty Images (2); Paul Nicklen/NGS

How cyber-criminals plan to bring down our cities
THE HUMAN BODY

38 Is Your Doctor Lying To You?
World of Knowledge puts 30 medical myths to the test
78 The Man Who Survived 400 Days Lost At Sea
How to survive for 13 months at sea
HISTORY
30 The Day That Hitler Lost The War
70 years on from D-Day, we revisit the deadly beaches of Normandy
Free will? According to neurologists, its just an illusion. REGULARS

New scientific studies show how powerful our 8 Amazing Photo
subconscious really is. PAGE 56 A fascinating photo and the story behind it
88 Questions And Answers
Amazing facts from science, technology and everyday life
96 And Finally
Why horned marsupial frogs are real high fliers
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The miraculous story of castaway Jose Alvarenga, and
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WELCOME
FROM THE
EDITOR
Ive never met anyone who isnt fascinated
in some way by the universe. And I think I
know why: whether or not we consciously
realise it, it humbles us as a species. It
makes us remember our place in the cosmic
hierarchy, sitting here as we do on the
third rock from the Sun, in a galaxy of 400
billion other stars, which is itself merely
one of 200 billion galaxies in the universe.
(Well, this universe, anyway; according to
some theories, theres more than one).
Next time you see someone gawping
into a star-packed sky at night, watch
the way they compose themselves, lean
back, tilt their heads. Its nothing less
than a bow performed in reverse. The
ultimate act of respect.
We also love its mystery. We
love the fact that people with
sophisticated brains (scientists,
astronomers, astrophysicists, etc)
are only beginning to understand
a tiny, tiny fraction of it that even
they cant explain how the universe
began or what its made of. We love
the fact that even they cant prove or
disprove that alien life exists out there
somewhere leaving the door open
for intrigue to run riot.
Vince Jackson, Editor
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AMAZING PHOTO
THE REEF REVOL

Up to 14,000 animal species can live in a single coral reef. Only
about five per cent have been identified so far but with the launch
of a fascinating new project, scientists are trying to change all that
60 PHOTOS PER MINUTE

The three cameras in this state-of-the-
art photography system capture an
image every three seconds, thereby
generating a massive database about
life in the coral reefs.
1,000 SPECIES IN EVERY

SQUARE METRE
Few ecosystems are as valuable as
the coral reef. As well as helping to
prevent flooding, each square metre
is home to up to 1,000 animal and
plant species, including the extremely
poisonous lionfish (pictured above).
UTION
CRUISE CONTROL
Despite carrying 40kg of equipment,
Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero, marine
ecologist from the University of
Queensland, glides almost
weightlessly through the water: his
camera is powered by a propeller.
The lionfish is trapped. He cannot run and he cannot the underwater landscape. Thanks to Google Ocean, anyone
hide Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero already has him in his can view the photos from the comfort of their own homes.
sights. With the SVII, an innovative 360-degree underwater Ninety-nine per cent of people have never gone for a dive and
camera, the marine ecologist is cataloguing virtually every never will, says project director Richard Vevers. One of the
resident in the Barrier Reefs off the Caribbean coast of Belize biggest issues around conservation is engaging people with
even those that are not welcome, like the flashy lionfish the ocean, and this is a powerful way to accomplish that.
with its red and white stripes and spiky fin rays. This is one of The scientists hope to raise awareness about the need
many invasive species humans released them into the water to protect the coral reefs. These images also show that not
here and it just loves to eat coral. Since this poisonous fish every marine creature living in a reef actually belongs there.
doesnt have any natural predators in the Caribbean, it is In Australias Great Barrier Reef, for example, they discovered
reproducing at an explosive rate and eating coral faster than huge populations of crown-of-thorns starfish another
it can grow. After discovering these non-native fish, scientists species that poses a massive threat to coral. Divers were
took drastic measures: they fed lionfish to native reef sharks, subsequently deployed in culling operations to control the
PHOTOS: Ocean Street View; Corbis
training the sharks to treat them as prey. It sounds macabre, spread of the pest. These unusual measures are an attempt
but to the coral its a matter of life or death. to protect these unique ecosystems some of the most
The Catlin Seaview Survey project intends to go even species-rich biotopes on the planet.
further: Gonzalez-Rivero and his fellow scientists are Tropical reefs shelter around a third of all marine
planning to map and photograph all of the worlds major coral species, explains biologist Nancy Knowlton. And to date
reefs to better understand how they function. Their most humans have only seen 5% of this underwater world. With
important tool is the $20,000 SVII. Its three cameras take trips planned to the Indian Ocean and the Far East, Gonzalez-
up to 900 photos per dive, supplying a 360-degree view of Rivero will keep on diving to make sure this changes.
SCIENCE
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WORDS: Vince Jackson PHOTOS: Getty Images (14); Corbis; PR
HOW DID ALL THIS BEGIN?

The stars, gases and dust visible in this image of the Great Nebula
in Orion all came from somewhere. The most popular scientific
explanation is the Big Bang Theory that the universe began
13.8 billion years ago with a massive explosion, producing hydrogen,
helium and lithium, the building blocks of the cosmos. But this is just
a theory, and like all theories it has flaws. Critics say the Big
Bang model implies that at one time all the matter in the universe
SCAN PAGE WITH was compressed into a single point. Opponents also raise the following;
FREE VIEWA APP the theory goes against the first law of thermodynamics, which
TO EXPLORE SOME says its impossible to create or destroy matter or energy; the early
OF SPACES BIGGEST
CONSPIRACY inflationary period of the Big Bang violates the rule that nothing can
THEORIES. travel faster than the speed of light; the theory explains the evolution
AND MORE! of the universe, but not its creation. The fact is, as a civilisation,
we still dont know how we came to exist.
STAR QUALITY
The Orion Nebula is our closest
nursery of massive stars, but the
region is so crowded with them,
astronomers know relatively little
about the famous night-sky sight.
HOW DO GALAXIES ACTUALLY WORK?

Orion is one of the most distinctive constellations in our galaxy,
the Milky Way, which is about 120,000 light-years in diameter, and
contains 400 billion stars. Our solar systems celestial home
is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning its shaped like a spiral, with
a central bar structure of stars, and swirling arms on its outer
regions. But the question of why galaxies are organised into
this and other fantastical shapes leaves astronomers scratching
their heads. Why arent they square? Or tubular? Why do they
tend to be either spiral or elliptical? Scientists have also noticed
another peculiar quality about galaxies they form stars at a rate
that consumes more matter than they actually have inside them,
and yet theyve managed to keep up this birthing schedule for
billions of years. In 2012, scientists from the Max Planck Institute
in Germany offered the best theory yet: galactic recycling,
a process whereby our Milky Way and other galaxies gather
back the mass that they lose. The team found evidence of
six distant galaxies retrieving gases that had been expelled
when their stars had died, as well as radiation from bright suns.
WHAT IS THE UNIVERSE MADE OF?

Imagine the frustration for astronomers: they only know what 5% of
the universe is made from the rest is a total mystery. At this point
in time, scientists are certain that this measly portion consists of
ordinary atomic matter thats everything on Earth, and everything
humans have ever observed with our instruments. But in recent
decades, theyve theorised that the remainder of the universe is
constructed from two mysterious properties: dark energy (68%) and
dark matter (27%). The latter is believed to be a kind of cosmic glue
holding galaxies and star clusters together, and doesnt appear to
interact with light, hence the dark handle. Dark energy was
discovered in the early 1990s, and is thought to be the driving force
behind our expanding universe. Previously, scientists generally
accepted that gravity was slowing down the universe, and as such,
some now think that dark energy calls Einsteins Theory of Gravity
into question. Either way, mankind still has much to learn about these
two weird properties if indeed they do exist.
MYSTERY: EXTRATERRESTRIALS
HOW COULD WE
FIND ALIEN LIFE?
I LISTENING FOR PROOF
ts something most scientists agree
on: statistically, the odds of life
existing elsewhere in the universe Under the collective banner of SETI (search for extraterrestrial
are high. Based on the results of the intelligence), at any one time thousands of people across the planet
are listening to the heavens, patiently waiting for signals from another
four-year Kepler space observatory, 22% civilisation. The Allen Telescope Array (ATA), at the Hat Creek Radio
of the suns in our galaxy the Milky Way Observatory, California, is one of the biggest facilities dedicated to
have Earth-like planets orbiting in their detecting life beyond Earth. Right now, 42 dishes are scanning the
habitable zones. But if extraterrestrial life universe, seven days a week, looking at different regions of the cosmos
simultaneously. When ATA reaches peak capacity, project leaders at the
forms are out there, how do we locate Stanford Research Institute hope to offer reconnaissance of more than
them? And if we do, then what? a million nearby stars. As well listening for extraterrestrial signals, the
facility is researching other mysterious space phenomena such a black
holes, gamma rays and dark matter. Although NASA once funded ATAs
work, its now supported by private companies and individuals. To date,
no contact has been made with alien life
PHASE 1: DETECTION
1,000,000 STARS REACHED
350 CHANCES
With enough funding, the Allen
Telescope Array hopes to eventually
house 350 dishes, with a collecting
area equivalent to 114 metres in
diameter, and the angular resolution
of a dish 700 metres across.
NASAS PLANET-FINDER PRIMARY MIRROR
When it blasts off in 2018, one of the main
missions for NASAs James Webb Space
Telescope [right] will be to search for
exoplanets with the potential to sustain
extraterrestrial life. The $8.8 billion craft, SUN SHIELD
the agencys successor to the Hubble
Telescope, has some serious kit at its
disposal: a 6.5-wide mirror, the largest ever
seen in space, will scan the atmospheres of
distant planets for oxygen and other gases
that could be produced by living organisms.
With the James Webb, we have our first
chance our first capability of finding signs
of life on another planet, says MIT INSTRUMENT BAY
astrophysicist Sara Seager.
ITS ALREADY HERE!

Its known as a diatom, a microscopic single-celled algae and in
2013, a research unit from the University of Sheffield and Buckingham
University in the UK, insisted its the first evidence of alien life
on Earth. Using a balloon 27 kilometres above Britain, the team
gathered samples during a Perseid meteor shower, arguing that the
organism in question originated from space going against the
common belief that mirco-organisms are transported skyward by
storms and other natural processes. It is generally accepted that a
EERIE SPACE SIGNALS particle of this size found cannot be lifted from Earth to heights of 27
kilometres, said project leader Professor Milton Wainwright.
One long-standing mystery is the so-called Wow
signal, detected in 1977 by the Big Ear Radio
Observatory at Ohio State University, USA. Hailing
from near the Sagittarius constellation, the
72-second radio-wave transmission was 30 times
more powerful than the average radiation from
To declare that Earth

deep space leading some to speculate it was
either a massive astronomical event 220 million
light-years away, or a signal sent by an advanced
must be the only

civilisation. To date, it has never been explained.
In 2012, a project led by the National Geographic
Channel and Arecibo Observatory, replied to the
planet with life in the

signal, with a package of data including Twitter
messages and video clips.
universe would be
inexcusably big-
headed of us
Neil DeGrasse Tyson,
astrophysicist
and author
MYSTERY: EXTRATERRESTRIALS
WHAT WOULD ALIEN

LIFE FORMS LOOK LIKE?
H
ollywood movie directors have shaped
our mental impressions of what an
extraterrestrial would look like. In
cinema, aliens tend to be either ugly,
slimy and out to kill us (Independence Day) or cute,
funny and friendly (ET). And even if they dont GREYS
resemble humans, they at least have some human
The clichd image of the grey-skinned alien,
characteristics eyes, mouths, limbs, personalities. complete with large, domed head, bulbous eyes and
But what form do scientists believe aliens will take a relatively small body, gained momentum in pop
on? How will their own evolution and environment culture after the fabled, but never proven, Roswell
alien-capture incident in 1947. Now, Greys make up
affect their appearance? around 50% of supposed
alien encounters in
Australia. Neurologist Dr
Steven Novella argues that
PHASE 2: IDENTIFICATION their prevalence in
mythology owes more to
human imagination. The
aliens do not just appear as
human, they appear like
HUMAN humans with those traits

we psychologically
associate with
It is difficult to image evolution in intelligence.
alien planets operating in any manner
other than Darwinian, says Professor
Simon Conway Morris at Cambridge
University. In the end the number of
options is remarkably restrictive. If
aliens are out there they should have
evolved just like us.
INSECTS
David Aguilar, from the Harvard-
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
envisions aliens resembling bugs.
One potential species, dubbed cave
crawlers, would combat its planets
extreme heat by burrowing into dark
caves, using their multiple eyes and
spiky feelers to survive in caverns.
BACTERIA
In 2010, a NASA-led team found a new
bacteria in Californias Mono Lake,
which they say is the first life-form
that uses arsenic to make its DNA and
proteins arsenic is supposed to be
toxic to most organisms. This shows
organisms can exist in places
biologists once thought impossible.
PHASE 3: COMMUNICATION
HOW WOULD WE
TALK WITH
ALIEN LIFE?
A
ssuming we made contact with
alien life, wed then be faced with
the issue of how to communicate.
Exolinguistics, the hypothetical
study of the language of alien species, tries to
MORE LIKE A JELLYFISH tackle this problem. What form would it take?
Would we recognise the language when
My vision of aliens is an inhuman, silicon-based life form that looks much faced with it? Here are some of the most
more like a jellyfish than sci-fis little green men, says Dr Maggie likely methods of human-alien interaction.
Aderin-Pocock, a scientist at European space agency Astrium. Silicon is
just below carbon in the periodic table, has some chemical similarities,
and is widely available in the universe. So perhaps we could imagine similar
instructions to DNA but with silicon. She suggests the jellyfish cousins
would live on a world similar to Saturns moon Titan, drifting through
methane clouds, gobbling chemicals for nutrients. Theyd communicate
via pulses of light visible along their back sections.
PICTURES
In the early 1970s, NASA placed a pair of plaques
on board the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 space probes
[photo above], each depicting a naked man and woman,
the position of Earth in our solar system/galaxy, and
a symbol representing hydrogen, the most abundant
known element in the universe in the hope it would,
one day, be found by another intelligent civilisation.
MATHEMATICS
In 1960, Dutch mathematician Hans Freudenthal invented
Lincos, a language based on basic maths and symbols
which he hoped could be used for human-alien
communication. Other academics, like renowned
astronomer Carl Sagan, have suggested using the
universal nature of prime numbers as a starting point.
THE GREY CONSPIRACY ALGORITHMS

The alien autopsy image above Dr John Elliott, a professor at Leeds Metropolitan
was popularised by the supposed University, UK, believes algorithms are the best way
capture of an extraterrestrial in to decode an extraterrestrial message. Hes already
Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. developed a computer system that breaks down languages
But as far back as 1893, author on Earth into simple structures, and says the method
H.G. Wells had referenced could be adapted to communicate with alien life. all
grey-skinned aliens in his work. languages are fundamentally identical, he says.
MYSTERY: THE MOON AND SUN
LSIUS
WHERE DID
S CE
THE MOON EE
COME FROM?
R
W
DEG
hile not the largest in the solar
system that honour goes to
Jupiters Ganymede our
Moon is the largest satellite
OF
relative to the body it orbits. Its accepted
that our only natural satellite was formed
MILLIONS
around 4.5 billion years ago, not long after
the Earth, but no ones sure exactly how it
came to be hence these main theories.
5,50
IMPACT WITH PLANET
Known in scientific circles as the giant impact hypothesis,
this model puts forward the idea that a Mars-sized body
called Theia smashed into Earth, expelling vapourised
chunks of our planet into space which were then
bound together by gravity, creating the Moon.
EXPLAINS: Why the Moon is less dense than Earth
the material that formed it came from our crust.
CO-FORMED WITH EARTH

Its not uncommon for moons to form at the same time
as their parent planet. Under this theory, the gravity
present in the early solar system caused dust and
gas to bind together to create the Earth and Moon
at roughly the same time.
EXPLAINS: The Moons proximity to Earth.
SOLAR PUZZLE
CAPTURED Violent solar eruptions can happen
hundreds of times a year, especially
when the 11-year solar cycle is at its
Some astronomers believe Marss moons Phobos and peak. Scientists still dont know why
Deimos were captured by the larger body, and similarly, the cycle loops in this time frame, or
its possible Earths gravity could have dragged the why it can suddenly stop. Research
Moon as it was passing through the solar system. into solar cycles of the past 10,000
EXPLAINS: The vast differences in composition between years suggests the Sun is in quiet
Earth and the Moon. mode for about 15% of its history.
WHY IS THE SUN
HOTTER ON THE
10 OUTSIDE THAN
THE INSIDE?
T
0,0 heres a big, fiery hurdle
preventing scientists from truly
00C understanding how the Sun
works, and thats its
unimaginable heat. Our star is millions
of degrees Celsius around its outer
atmosphere, known as the corona. But
weirdly, this aura of plasma is 200 times
hotter than the Suns core, which only
measures around 5,500 Celsius. Think
about this paradox: the further you go
0C
away from a heat source, the hotter it
becomes? Thats like the tips of the
flames from a camp fire being hotter than
the glowing embers in the middle. It
doesnt seem to make sense. In 2013,
scientists from the UK offered a possible
explanation: magnetic forces. A team
from the University of Sheffield and
Queens University Belfast suggested that
the powerful magnetic field created by
the Suns superheated gases were
causing atoms in its atmosphere to move
very quickly in general, the faster atoms
move in something, the hotter it becomes.
However, two years previously scientists
from Lockheed Martins Solar and
Astrophysics Laboratory and the
University of Oslo claimed the Suns heat
riddle could be solved by examining
spicules hot jets of plasma that shoot up
from the Suns surface and supposedly
heat the corona. Until space explorers can
get closer to the burning ball of gas, the
debate around the mechanics of solar
heating is set to run and run.
MYSTERY: TIME
COULD HOW WORMHOLES WOULD WORK
WORMHOLES
Wormholes could be created by immense forces that bend space-time,
creating tunnels that enable short-cuts to be made across the universe.
LEAD TO DISTANT
ENTRANCE
GALAXIES? BEND IN
SPACE-TIME
T
ravelling to far-flung regions of EXIT
the solar system, let alone
another galaxy, seems like
pie-in-the-sky thinking, the
realm of sci-fi movies. Impossible with
existing technology and fuel sources.
That didnt stop Albert Einstein and
Nathan Rosen from suggesting in 1935
that journeys across the universe could be
made through theoretical passages called
wormholes (also known as Einstein-Rosen
bridges). These shortcuts across the
cosmos are mathematically predicted by
Einsteins famous Theory Of Relativity,
and are created by immense forces that
warp space-time, creating two mouths
from one point in the universe to another.
There are a few drawbacks to Einsteins
theory not least that wormholes are yet
to be discovered. Firstly, they would be
very unstable, liable to collapse very
quickly, therefore trapping anyone or
anything in them. And although high-
profile astrophysicist Stephen Hawking
reckons wormholes could exist in atomic
form, they would be too small for any
human to squeeze through. All hope is
not lost, though: Hawking believes one
day humans could have the technology to
capture, stabilise and enlarge wormholes.
Until then, like their cousins black holes,
they remain a mystery.
FAST TRAVEL
Some scientists have hypothesised that
not only would wormholes allow quick
travel across the universe, they could
also lead to different universes.
WHEN WILL THE
UNIVERSE END?
B
ad news first. Yes, at some point
22
in time, the universe and
everything in it will probably
cease to exist. The good news
BILLION
is it wont happen for billions of years,
perhaps longer, according to which
of the following theories you cling to
YEARS
The Big Rip theory has the universe
100
literally being torn apart by dark
energy, which eventually expands so
fast it unbinds the forces holding
molecules and atoms together.
BILLION
YEARS
Under the Big Crunch scenario, the
density of dark energy becomes
negative, causing the contraction
of the universe. All matter collapses
100
into black holes.
TRILLION
YEARS
In Big Freeze conditions, the
universe continues expanding as it is
now, then starts losing heat, meaning
stars burn out, galaxies evaporate
and the cosmos goes dark.
END OF THE ROAD:

According to some
theories, the Milky Way,
seen here over a county MORE SPACE!
road in South Australia, TURN TO P74 TO SEE
will eventually evaporate HOW EXPLODING
as the universe dies STARS COULD
THREATEN EARTH!
NATURE
COLD WATER
WARM HEART
Weighing up to two tonnes, the walrus instills unease in even the most powerful
of predators its completely fearless and extremely well-armed.
But beneath its blubbery skin, the giant hides a mixed personality:
sometimes its a lifeguard, sometimes a big softie
ARCTIC
WEAPONS
Even mighty polar bears and orcas have
reason to fear these teeth: the tusks,
measuring up to a metre long, make
the Arctic walrus almost invincible.
At the same time they serve as
a multi-purpose tool, allowing the
mammal to hack breathing holes in
pack ice. The two-tonne member of the seal family
is also a living fortress: one group of researchers
observed a polar bear attempting to attack a walrus
lying on the shore yet neither its paws nor its fangs
could inflict a single scratch. The walruss blubbery
hide is extremely thick and tough.
WEIGHTLESS
Though they might appear plump and ungainly on land,
in the sea its a different matter. Walruses spend around
two-thirds of their lives gliding gracefully through the
oceans. Remarkably, theyll have spent nearly 30 years in
the water by the time they reach their maximum age of
40. Walruses are extremely well-equipped for underwater
living. They have large quantities of myoglobin in their
blood, a protein which transports oxygen and is stored in
the muscles. As a result, a single breath allows a walrus
to stay underwater for 30 minutes. Still, the giants rarely
450
WHISKERS
Tusks aside, the walruss bristly nose
is its most distinctive feature. It uses
its 450 whiskers to locate and identify
need to dive below depths of 80 metres to find food. potential prey on the sea floor.
-2
WATER TEMPERATURE
C
Its wrinkled hide, measuring up
to four centimetres thick, with
an additional 15-centimetre
layer of blubber, insulates the
walrus from the bitterly cold
temperatures of the Arctic
Ocean. Though they look bald
from a distance, a walruss skin
is actually covered in short
hairs, each just a centimetre
long. These fall out in old age.
70
LONG
cm
The tusks of this Odobenus rosmarus
specimen measure 70 centimetres in
length. In extreme cases, they can even
reach one metre. For the bulls, the tusks
are also a mark of their position within
the hierarchy of the herd.
CARING
COLOSSUS
The average walrus weighs two tonnes, yet the
creatures are extremely gentle. The mother
in this photo is leading her calf through the
underwater world of Hudson Bay, Canada,
regularly embracing it with her pair of tusks.
Mother and baby maintain almost constant
contact with one another. Even when the
young mammals are weaned from their
mothers milk at 24 months, they remain
with their mother for three more years.
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34 km/h
The walruss extremely flexible front
flippers function like rudders and
allow them to glide nimbly through
A POLAR BEAR the water at 34km/h. Its muscular
TAKES ON A back flippers, on the other hand,
WALRUS. ensure momentum.
AND MORE!
GOURMET
A fully grown walrus demolishes around 65kg of
grub every day, proving itself to be a true foodie
in the process: they munch almost exclusively
on mussels and snails unearthed from the dark
ocean floor. To reach these, they shovel away
sand using their flippers and nose. A single
meal sees a walrus devouring approximately
6,000 mussels. The only downside of this
cuisine? It gives them constant bad breath.
O
n a beach on Apollonova an island
in the middle of the Arctic Ocean,
almost 1,700 kilometres north of the follow the walrus into the water, things could
Siberian coast a ravenous polar end fatally for the bear. Underwater, these bulky
bear charges at a herd of sleeping creatures are surprisingly nimble and extremely
walruses. Driven by hunger, it precise when deploying their weapons
leaps onto the back of one of the 1.5-tonne
creatures in a single bound, attempting to HOW DOES A WALRUS USE ITS
incapacitate it using its teeth and claws. FEARSOME TUSKS?
At first, the lumbering heavyweight barely moves The biologist Paul Nicklen knows just how
a muscle. A few seconds pass before the walrus dangerous the giants can be he dives with them:
decides to swing its tusks in the direction of its Your gut is telling you youre making a big mistake.
attacker. The effect? The predator immediately Its like saying, Im going to walk up to a lion in the
releases it. Just to be on the safe side, the walrus Serengeti. My nerves were tested the whole time.
crawls into the shallow water at a sluggish pace, Both male and female walruses possess a pair of
mind you. Panic just wouldnt be appropriate in this deadly tusks, which can weigh up to 5.4kg. These
situation. The bear, the biggest land predator in the remarkable weapons also give this member of the
world, repeats its attack on other animals in the seal family its Latin name: Odobenus rosmarus,
herd, with exactly the same result. It doesnt leave which means tooth-walking sea horse.
behind a single scratch. If, in desperation, it were to The ivory tusks are capable of much more than
merely defending against humans and polar bears,
though. A walrus can use its tusks to heave itself
out of the water onto land. They also come in handy
when the mammal wants to hook itself onto an ice
floe and float across the sea surface with just the tip
of its snout protruding from the water. per cent of its diet consists of snails and mouth-
Known as bulls, the males also employ their teeth watering mussels found there. But what if these lie
to assert their dominance: the longer the tusks, buried deep on the seafloor? No problem the
the higher a bulls position in the herd. However, walrus uproots them by shooting a powerful jet of
PHOTOS: Paul Nicklen, Robert Rosing/NGS (3); Paul Souders/Corbis; WaterFrame

Odobenus rosmarus is capable of far more than just water from its snout. Prawns, crabs, soft corals,
baring its teeth. For one thing, walruses can sing. squid and sea cucumbers also feature on the menu.
Walrus vocalisations are very beautiful and unique.
They sound like harps, says Polly Hessing, biologist WHEN DOES A PREDATOR BECOME A SOFTIE?
at the University of Alaska. We actually had a Occasionally, Odobenus rosmarus shakes off its
camper who came by one night and said, Someones gourmet habits and laid back manner to reveal a
playing guitar and I cant figure out where they are. predatory side. Bulls have been observed hunting
It was a walrus. The creatures use all possible seagulls and slaying 200kg bearded seals. But
forms of communication barking, grunting and this aggressive behaviour remains the absolute
whistling. For over ten million years, the walrus has exception for the most part, they glide lazily along
been filling the vast Arctic empire with its songs. the waters surface at a relaxed 6km/h.
When not singing, the walrus is diving the depths On land, they maintain intimate contact with
in the hunt for food. Using its extremely sensitive one another, cuddling and pressing their snouts
whiskers, the colossus is able to detect objects together. Walruses love to be near other walruses.
measuring just three millimetres in the sand. Ninety They pile on top of each other, shoulder to shoulder,
says Tony Fischbach from the US Geological
Survey. It looks like this heavyweight is actually
the Arctics biggest softie.
ONE FOR
ALL
When theyre not swimming, herds of up to
15,000 walruses romp about on the shoreline
or on pack ice. Here they display their more
sociable side. The creatures often scratch each
other with their flippers when parasites create
the urge to itch their skin. Researchers have
also observed walruses caring for injured
comrades or protecting them from predators
by baring their tusks. Females, in particular,
jealously defend their calves. If a young animal
loses it mother, it is adopted by anther female.
CE EXPE
AN
R
D
ENDU
ITI
ON
CKLETON
SHA
10
0 Y e a rs
HISTORY
THE DAY TH
HITLER
EXIT TO HELL
For the soldiers, this is the deadliest
moment of the entire landing. As the
ramps on the transport boats lower,
the troops crowd together at the exit.
For the German machine gunners who
are positioned up on the embankment,
they make for easy targets.
THE SWIMMING COFFIN

Each Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP)
carries 36 soldiers. In all, 839 of these transport
boats are deployed for the Normandy landings;
57 of them are destroyed. Tragically, the choppy
waters cause some LCVPs to capsize while still
out to sea, sweeping the infantrymen who are
laden with equipment to their deaths.
AT
They fought and died to liberate Europe:
70 years ago, the largest
landing operation in military history was
launched. Many believed it was
doomed to fail. World of Knowledge recons
tructs the hell of Normandy,
LOST THE WAR

and reveals how the Allied forces prevail
ed, against the odds
THE LONG MARCH

The men must traverse 300 metres onto
Omaha Beach before they can effectively
engage the enemy. Theres between 40
and 90 metres of freezing sea to wade
through. Loaded down with full kit, each
soldier carries up to 40 kilograms of
equipment and in most cases the water
reaches up to his chin.
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D-DAY LANDING.
AND MORE!
OPERATION OVERLORD
The Allies have two goals: first, to liberate France from the occupying
German forces; second, to establish a second front, in addition to the
one that the Soviets have set up in the east. But these aims form just
00.15
part of the overall mission statement for Operation Overlord, which is
broken down into several sub-operations, Operation Neptune the
landing in Normandy included. It commences a few minutes after
midnight on 6th June 1944 when more than 10,000 aeroplanes take to
the air. Some drop paratroopers, others bombard German positions.
SILENT INVASION
Almost 20,000 paratroopers
are dropped behind enemy TRAPPED
lines using huge, near-silent
Shortly after midnight, Allied troops
military gliders.
parachute down onto both sides of
the enemy lines. Their mission: to
capture important bridgeheads and
then hold onto them, so that German
forces are unable to send
reinforcements into Normandy.
M A N D Y
NOR
PUPPETEERS ISIGNY-SUR-MER
For the purposes of
distraction, the Allies
drop dummies over COLLEVILLE-
remote areas. When SUR-MER
these collide with the
BAYEUX PORT-EN-
ARROMANCHES-LES-BAINS BESSIN
ground, in-built
OMAHCAH
dynamite detonates.
This leads German SAINT-AUBIN-
forces off in the SUR-MER
BEA
D
GOLACH
wrong direction. CAEN
0
BE 06.3
JUNOCH
D BEA 07.3
0
DIVES-SUR-MER
SWORCH
BEA 08.0
0
E I NE
VILLERS-SUR-MER
A S
0
L )
07.3
D E E I N E
BAIE OF THE S
(BAY
h
Britis
50th try
RY
Infan ion
MIL ER
ITA
nadian Divis 70 men

D
3rd Ca try 24, 9

GLI
LE HAVRE Infan on
itish Divisi 0 men
3rd Br ry 21, 40
Infant n
6th Brit
ish Divisio 0 men
Airb o r n e 28,45
Div is io n
en
4,255 m
FINLAND
SWEDEN
NORWAY
THE ATLANTIC WALL Controlled by
the Allies GREAT BRITAIN
Adolf Hitler referred to the area occupied by the Nazis
as the fortress of Europe. The fortress main defence Controlled by the DENMARK
IRELAND
is the so-called Atlantic Wall, a 2,684-km long route Axis powers of
running along the north coast of France, Belgium, the Germany and Italy NETHERLANDS
Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. The wall is secured POLAND
BELGIUM
by German positions equipped with artillery, grenade Neutral nations
launchers and machine guns. The beaches are riddled GERMANY
SOVIET UNION
with mines and anti-tank barriers. In all, the Atlantic Atlantic Wall
Wall has 8,199 German-controlled bunkers. FRANCE SWITZERLAND HUNGARY
PORTUGAL
YUGOSLAVIA
SPAIN ITALY
e BULGARIA
Airborn
m erican
st A
1 01
irb orne GREECE
nA
e rica
m
n dA
82
CARENTAN CHERBOURG
82nd and 101st
SAINTE-MRE-GLISE American Airborne
Division (Paratroopers)
13,000 men
UTAH
BEACH BARFLEUR
MILITARY
06.30 GLIDER
N N E L
L I S H CHA
erica
n EN G
4th Amntry
n Infa ion
erica Divis 50 men
1st Am try
Infan ion 23,2
Divis 50 men ONLY THE BEGINNING
24, 2
The invasion of Normandy is the first step
towards the liberation of Europe. Back in the
UK, 1.7 million British troops and 1.5 million
US troops stand ready to push the German
occupying forces back towards Berlin. But
first, Normandy must fall into Allied hands.
Paratroopers Main bunker and In Allied hands

artillery of the by midnight
Planned landing zone Atlantic Wall on D-Day
THE WAR AGAINST THE WAVES
The invasion is originally planned for 5th June 1944 until in height lash over the railing. Desperate infantrymen have
General Dwight D. Eisenhower who will later become to scoop both vomit and water out of their boats using
US President delays Operation Neptune by one day. their helmets. At 06.30, the first ships reach the beach.
Oceanographers have forecast rough conditions for 5th The German positions immediately open fire. Many of the
June, and high waves would make a landing on the coast Allied soldiers can barely stand up straight due to extreme
impossible. The sea calms somewhat during the night of seasickness; they stagger and tremble, struggling to keep
6th June although its still so rough that many of the hold of their weapons. Some of the boats dont even reach
soldiers feel nauseous. The boats lurch back and forth, the beach: the surf is so strong in places that the battered
causing many on board to vomit. Waves up to two metres ships capsize midway across the Channel.
ARMADA WAITING LIST

Southampton, Theres only
England: 5,000 space for 36
boats await their soldiers on each
deployment to transport boat.
Normandy. To These troops
prevent them must wait for
being discovered the wave ahead
theyre covered of them to reach
with camouflage the beach before
netting. advancing.
TRANSPORT ZONE LANDING ZONE

Time needed to 40 mins 4 hours
complete section:
3 hours
OPEN LANDING STRIP

The beach is a 300-metre death zone with no
cover to hide behind. Up on the embankment,
guns rain bullets down onto the Allied forces
while grenade launchers spew explosives.
After four hours of bloody conflict, 3,000 men
have been killed.
ARTILLERY FIRE
The German artillery positions are
five kilometres behind the beach. The
soldiers rarely come face-to-face, but
they dont have to. If a shell explodes
near a landing vessel, the resulting
waves will capsize the boat.
ESTABLISHING A DEATH ZONE
In 1943, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel declares that an invasion by Allied
forces would have to be intercepted immediately, right on the beach.
Belgian gate fences restrict access to a beach, even if travelling
underwater. Mines are mounted on nutcrackers and mine shafts,
while Czech hedgehogs prevent tanks from advancing.
BELGIAN GATE MINE SHAFT NUTCRACKER CZECH HEDGEHOG
HAIL OF BULLETS
The Allied forces
only have anti-
tank barriers to
protect them
from the machine
gunners. Intended
to repel tanks, REINFORCEMENTS FROM A DISTANCE
the barricades The paratroopers who dropped in during the night spring into action,
prove lifesavers seizing the approaches to German enemy positions. Reinforcements
for the Allies. are prevented from entering the area.
BATTLE ZONE DROPPING ZONE
JUMP TO THE DEATH

The German forces are fully prepared for
Allied paratroopers: rivers have been
diverted in order to flood large swathes of
land. If any of the Allied paratroopers land
in these artificial lakes, they must quickly
untangle themselves from their parachutes
or they risk death by drowning.
1,500 SHOTS PER MINUTE

LAST BARRIER Hitlers Buzz Saw, the Bone Saw, the Singing Saw
Three rows of barbed wire separate the beach the German MG 42 machine gun had many nicknames,
from the embankment. Seabees (the nickname with the latter one coming from the noise produced
given to US Navy forces) cut their way through, by the weapon. Rattling off 25 bullets per second, its
or simply jump the barrier. The last section is impossible to hear individual shots, instead theres a
a minefield; on Omaha Beach alone 17,000 unique rat-a-tat sound. Silencing these ferocious
mines are hidden in the sand. guns was uppermost in the Allies minds.
16.00
LIBERATING ARMY
Following the battle on Omaha Beach, hundreds of
Allied ships start unloading tanks and trucks. The
battle for Europe has only just begun
I
t begins with one of the greatest feints in Beach, Juno Beach, Gold Beach, Omaha Beach and
military history. As early as 1943, the Allies Utah Beach. More than 5,000 ships are already in
are amassing equipment suited to a mighty position. Around 140,000 soldiers are on their way
invasion force in south-east England: into the unknown, the vast majority of them under
aircraft, ships, tanks and artillery. However, the age of 25. Many have tightly wrapped their rifles
these are not made of steel and iron, but to protect them from the damp. The Channel is
of cardboard, wood and rubber. rough and choppy as usual. The largest armada
Operation Fortitude leads Germany to believe that ever seen is smashed by massive wave after massive
the invasion of France will occur at the narrow point wave. The bombs dropped by the aeroplanes echo
of the Channel, near to Calais. Immense effort is put across the water. It is three in the morning as the
into making this deception believable: there are fake fleet begins to move in.
news reports, fictitious soldiers, and very public visits Although the Germans are expecting an attack at
by the invasion troops commander-in-chief, General Calais and have assembled extra troops there, the
George Patton. The Germans are all too aware of beaches at Normandy have also been fortified. The
this build-up of forces: their reconnaissance planes biggest dangers facing the Allies are the machine
capture photos and many secret radio transmissions gunners up on the dunes. These defence positions
are intercepted all part of the Allies plan. have been constructed to give the gunners a clear
When the biggest landing ever attempted begins view of the entire beach. Its essential that the Allies
on 6th June 1944, the Germans have reinforced disable as many of these gun nests as possible. But
the Calais coastline. But 250 kilometres away, they have no luck at Omaha Beach: all 448 of the
their positions are comparatively thinly manned. B-24 bombers attacking the area miss their targets
due to poor visibility. When the first transport boats
THE BIGGEST ARMADA IN HISTORY arrive at Omaha Beach, the German machine guns
Its just after midnight when the German occupying are all still fully functional. The time is now 06.30.
forces hear the aeroplanes. Its not possible to see
them in the night sky, but there must be thousands. DEATH ON THE DUNES
Then the bombs start falling, smashing the concrete Allied infantrymen outnumber German soldiers by
bunkers into rubble and tearing deep craters in the five to one. But the Germans have a weapon that
ground, wounding and killing German soldiers. cancels out this advantage: the MG 42. Firing 1,500
Five sections of beach in Normandy are to serve as bullets per minute, the cutting-edge machine gun
gateways for the invasion. Their code names: Sword boasts the highest firing-rate in the world, rattling
+++ CASUALTIES +++
THE SILENCE AFTER THE INFERNO In all, 170,000 Allied soldiers take part in the attack many
Even during the operation itself, medics put their lives in die within the first few hours. Many more are injured.
danger to tend to the wounded. Only after the battle has ALLIED SOLDIERS ................................................10,000 deaths
ended, however, can they properly tend to the injured. GERMAN SOLDIERS ................................................ 4,000-9,000
off bullets twice as fast as any machine gun used lies ahead of them: barricades, barbed wire, then
by the Allies. Bullets hurtle towards the transport a minefield. Behind them, the next transport boats
boats at more than 800 metres per second, dashing are releasing their cargo of death-defying soldiers.
against the steel armour with a loud ping. Dozens, Among the troops in the second wave are US Navy
hundreds, thousands of bullets Seabees. Their mission is to blast a way through the
The Allies have no choice but to press on the first barricades with dynamite. The time is now 07.00 hrs.
PHOTOS: DDP; Ullstein; Everett Cole/Picture Alliance; Corbis (2); PR (2); Images.de; Laif; Library & Archives Canada
wave must struggle onto the beach. The next boats
are already on the approach. The boats ramps are THE PUSH FOR FREEDOM
lowered. Bullets hit the water in front of the soldiers, Progress is painfully slow and by 10.00 hrs Omaha
sending foamy water metres into the air; some hit Beach is littered with around 3,000 bodies. Allied
their targets, piercing through bones and flesh. The troops have now reached the embankment and are
landing boats become death traps. Soldiers clamber crouching for cover. Theyre almost bereft of
out sideways, dropping into the Channel only for leadership all of their commanding officers have
their heavy equipment to drag them into the depths. fallen. Except for one: General Norman Dutch Cota.
Only those who think to remove their rucksacks save Displaying no fear, he assembles the remaining men
themselves from drowning. on the embankment and yells an order that will
ILLUSTRATIONS: FOCUS-Magazin; Andrew Timmins/Stern/Picture Press

Just two-thirds of the 1,400 soldiers in this first become legendary: Gentlemen, we are being killed
wave reach the beach alive. They crawl across the on the beaches. Let us go inland and be killed.
sand, offering the smallest possible targets to the Cota rushes forwards and his men follow him,
German gunners. A hail of MG 42 bullets strike the racing across the last metres to the gun nests that
sand as grenades explode all around them. Bodies have been relentlessly raining death down on them.
are hurled through the air. The sound of crashing The German forces surrender. They had remained
waves mingles with the barrage of gunfire and the desperate for reinforcements right to the end. The
agonised cries of the wounded. 12th SS Panzer Division is stationed nearby, but is
Many soldiers seek protection behind the anti-tank under the command of Hitler himself, and hed been
barriers, huge steel structures distributed across the at his mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden, sleeping
entire beach. They were designed to protect against through the invasion. Nobody had dared wake him.
an invasion by the Allies, but theyre now acting as When Hitler is finally told about the Allied landing
shields for them. But the soldiers know they cant in Normandy, he believes it to be a mere distraction
stay here they must reach those dunes. Only there ploy and opts not to issue the command to send in
can they engage the enemy. A 300-metre death zone reinforcements. In doing so, he seals his fate.
HUMAN BODY
IS YOU
LYI
UR DOCTOR 30 MYTHS OF
I NG TO YOU?
THE BODY EXPLORED
World of Knowledge on the dangerous
medical misinformation being spread
through doctors surgeries and hospitals
Misdiagnoses, risky therapies, outdated knowledge and

questionable motives: doctors taking liberties with the
truth spells danger for their unsuspecting patients
question of whether doctors will always truthfully
W
recommend the treatment they consider to be the
hen is lying a crime? The law most effective was answered in a survey conducted
can often be lenient with people by Duke University, North Carolina. The conclusion
who avoid telling the truth. was alarming: of 500 doctors surveyed, 40%
Youre permitted to lie in recommended an operation to their patients that
a job interview, for example, they themselves would personally reject. The only
if the question asked concerns your health. In reason behind their false recommendations? The
a criminal trial, meanwhile, defendants, unlike mortality rates were lower in comparison to other
witnesses, may lie to the court in order to avoid options, minimising the risk of any consequences
incriminating themselves. for the doctor, should the patient not survive.
And anyway, its generally difficult to prove 3. Arrogance: The American Journal of Medicine
whether a person has been consciously lying or estimated the frequency of misdiagnoses to be at
stating incorrect information out of ignorance. around 15%. Doctors who were absolutely sure
Obviously, no one likes being lied to. But what of their diagnoses were wrong in 40% of cases,
if your health was dependent on the truth of a stated the researchers behind the study.
statement? What if your doctor had intentionally 4. Abuse of privilege: Secret financial interests
deceived you? Many doctors have lied to protect will often result in one particular therapy being
themselves against legal action and career damage. prioritised. According to doctor and author Gunter
But patients are also often denied the truth about Frank, patients seeking advice are part of a
their conditions from the outset. A dangerous grey medical supply chain. For example, in the case of
area of medicine exists, in which some doctors the aforementioned sudden hearing loss, many
prescribe inappropriate and unnecessary therapies. doctors recommend treatments such as magnetic
The reasons are numerous. resonance or oxygen therapy. The benefit of these
1. Ignorance: Groundbreaking new medical treatments has yet to be proven, but they bring in
findings can take up to 15 years to be accepted by more money than simply sending the patient to a
all doctors. For example, until just a few years ago, physiotherapist even though acute hearing loss
cortisone infusions were regularly used to fight can often be caused by muscular tension that can
hearing loss, until studies proved that they were be erased by physiotherapy.
not only ineffective, but that cortisone can cause Over the following pages we present 30 medical
irreparable nerve damage. In spite of this, some myths, shown by studies to be completely
doctors still recommend this therapy. outdated. Yet many doctors continue to perpetuate
2. Dishonesty: Its a question many doctors fear: them. Whether thats out of ignorance or for more
What would you do, in my position? The sinister reasons is, of course, impossible to know
30 MYTHS OF THE
BODY EXPLORED
Theres a wealth of misinformation about how the human body works
and how it reacts to external influences such as food and many of
these erroneous ideas are circulated by doctors. Working with a
4. THE DOCTOR SAYS:
PATCHES ON THE NAILS
IMPLY A LACK OF CALCIUM
THE TRUTH: These small white patches
are harmless. Theyre usually a case of
poor nail-care, an excessive retraction of
the cuticles, or an injury to the base of the
nail. Calcium deficiency is not the cause.
team of experts, World of Knowledge has submitted some commonly
Source: NHS Choices
held beliefs to a serious fact-check often with surprising results.
1.
THE DOCTOR SAYS: EAT NO 5. THE DOCTOR SAYS: LOTS OF VITAMIN C
MORE THAN TWO EGGS STRENGTHENS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
PER WEEK, OR YOUR THE TRUTH: Theres no clear scientific evidence that proves
high doses of vitamin C protect against infection. Men and
CHOLESTEROL LEVELS women who took vitamin C from the beginning of their cold
WILL RISE displayed no difference in the overall length of their illness.
THE TRUTH: Its perfectly healthy to Zinc and magnesium are far more effective.
eat one egg a day. Yes, they contain Study by the Australian National University
a lot of cholesterol, but recent
studies have revealed that eggs do
not influence blood-cholesterol 6. THE DOCTOR SAYS: BOTOX CAN EASE
levels. In fact, the lecithin in eggs WRINKLES ON THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE FACE
protects the liver and the mucosal THE TRUTH: Not in the long term! In many cases it leads to an
lining of the large intestine, and unnatural-looking, mask-like appearance. Botulinum toxin is one
improves both concentration levels of the strongest neurotoxins in the world, and can even lead to
and the memory. It also prevents the paralysis if used incorrectly.
uptake of cholesterol from the eggs Study by ETH Zrich
yolk in the intestinal wall.
7.
Source: European Food Safety Report
THE DOCTOR SAYS:

2. THE DOCTOR SAYS: PATIENTS WITH ACNE ALL WISDOM
SHOULD EAT LESS SUGAR AND FAT TEETH
THE TRUTH: Diet can influence your complexion but a MUST BE REMOVED
connection between acne and high levels of sugar and fat THE TRUTH: If they havent yet
consumption has never been proven. Nutritionist Udo broken through the gums and
Pollmer suspects that acne that occurs during puberty is arent causing any pain, an operation is completely
linked to sex hormones and the stress hormone cortisol. unnecessary. And as for the claim that they displace front
These messenger substances influence the sebaceous anterior teeth, theres no proof of that at all.
glands in the skin, says Pollmer, and, in turn, this can Study by the University of Bergen
lead to a breakout of acne.
3.
Study by Columbia University, New York
8. THE DOCTOR SAYS: FOLLOWING A HEART

THE DOCTOR SAYS: COFFEE ATTACK, YOU SHOULD ABSTAIN FROM SEX
THE TRUTH: No. Sex actually stimulates the circulation and
INTENSIFIES DEHYDRATION
the regeneration of the heart. Its true that sexual activity,
IN DIABETICS particularly during orgasm, greatly increases heart rate and
THE TRUTH: Even diabetics can blood pressure, but only in the short term, for seconds at a
drink coffee. It only slightly time. Levels will rarely exceed a pulse of 130 per minute,
reduces the bodys fluid balance and can or a blood pressure of 170 mmHg, says cardiologist Norbert
be factored in to the daily fluid allowance. Smetak. In addition, the release of happy hormones can
Whats more, because of its magnesium assist patients in overcoming the anxious/depressive phase
content, coffee may actually help to ward that can follow a heart attack. The only rule to bear in mind:
off diabetes. take things very slowly.
Study by the University of Utrecht Scientific statement from the British Heart Foundation
40
9. THE DOCTOR SAYS:
TOO MUCH
CHOCOLATE TRIGGERS
MIGRAINES
THE TRUTH: Chocolate and other sweet
treats are considered to be among the most
common triggers for migraines. Up to 70%
of sufferers report craving something sweet
before an attack. But a recent study proved
that sweet foods do not cause migraines,
and a craving for them is simply a warning
of an oncoming attack. The brain demands
energy to cope with the approaching attack,
says Professor Peter Kropp. And if youve
never had a migraine, you wont get one 13. THE DOCTOR SAYS: FREQUENT LEG-CROSSING
from eating chocolate. CAUSES VARICOSE VEINS
Study by the Centre for Nerve Medicine,
University of Rostock THE TRUTH: Completely untrue. Genes are responsible for whether or
not somebody gets varicose veins or spider veins. Heavy smoking and
a sedentary lifestyle will also encourage a predisposition to connective
10. THE DOCTOR SAYS: tissue weakness.
MARGARINE IS BETTER FOR Source: New York Times
THE HEART THAN BUTTER

THE TRUTH: Vegetable oils and fats are also
capable of encouraging arteriosclerosis.
Whats more, during the production process
14. THE DOCTOR SAYS: STAY AWAY
FROM CARBOHYDRATES IN THE
used for spreads, trans fats are created, and
these are more harmful than the cholesterol EVENING THATS HOW YOU GAIN WEIGHT
in lard or butter. THE TRUTH: This is solely dependent on the amount of
Advice from the British Heart Foundation calories consumed. When and how much you eat is
irrelevant. The myth that eating sugar in the evening will
make you fat quicker stems from the idea that our body
11. THE DOCTOR SAYS: TOO draws its energy from our fat stores during the night;
MUCH SUGAR INCREASES THE eating carbs in the evening, goes the theory, hinders
this process because they raise the level of insulin,
RISK OF DIABETES which activates sugar uptake in the cells and scuppers
THE TRUTH: The key risk where type 2 the fat-burning process. However, the scientific proof
diabetes is concerned is not sugar, but for this is absent. On the contrary, one long-term study
obesity. Visceral abdominal fat, as its found that eating carbohydrates shortly before bed can
known, is responsible for the development even make losing weight easier. The group that only ate
of type 2 diabetes. This tissue releases carbohydrates before bed experienced greater weight
particularly high amounts of inflammatory loss than the group that spread their intake of
substances that can cause body cells to carbohydrates across the entire day.
lose their sensitivity to insulin. Type 1
Study by Tufts University, Boston
diabetes is also not caused by sugar, but is
triggered by an auto-immune response.
Source: The Global Diabetes Community
12. THE DOCTOR SAYS: TAKING

ANTIBIOTICS WILL MAKE YOUR
INFECTION GO AWAY QUICKER
THE TRUTH: Over 90% of infections of the
15. THE DOCTOR
SAYS: DRINK
AT LEAST TWO LITRES
upper respiratory tract are caused by viruses,
OF WATER DAILY
against which antibiotics are powerless. By THE TRUTH: This recommendation
simply taking a swab a doctor can see if the dates back to the year 1945, but the
bacteria present are infection-causing only scientific evidence for it is lacking.
then would antibiotics be appropriate. But in Liquid derived from food fruit,
reality, doctors rarely carry out this test. vegetables, soups etc should also
Study by the Infectious Diseases Society be included within these two litres.
of America Study by the University of Pennsylvania
16. THE DOCTOR
SAYS: EAT AS MUCH FIBRE
19. THE DOCTOR SAYS:
BLEACHING YOUR TEETH
AS POSSIBLE DOES NOT DAMAGE THEM
THE TRUTH: Be careful! An excess of THE TRUTH: Quite the opposite! The chemicals used
roughage in a diet can cause serious destroy your tooths protective enamel, says dentist
problems, particularly in older people. Martin Fallowfield, a spokesperson for the British Dental
Wholemeal bread, bran, muesli and Association. This causes teeth to become sensitive and
uncooked vegetables are especially in extreme cases can lead to tooth loss. Whats more,
high in fibre and altering your intake some home tooth-whitener kits contain the same acid
can negatively affect the uptake of used to disinfect swimming pools.
painkillers (aspirin, paracetamol) and Study by the University of Regensburg
antibiotics (penicillin, trimethoprim).
20.
Food high in fibre should not be eaten
immediately before or after taking
these medicines. THE DOCTOR
Study by the University of Maryland
SAYS: TOO MUCH SALT
RAISES BLOOD
PRESSURE
17. THE DOCTOR SAYS: BABY POWDER THE TRUTH: Salt raises
PHOTOS: Getty Images; Bauer intern; Fotolia (6); Shutterstock (2); Corbis (2)
blood pressure;
HELPS BURNS BECAUSE ITS COOLING doctors say this is because salt binds
THE TRUTH: An old remedy that has the potential to cause with water. When the levels of salt in the
a nasty infection. Burn injuries must be gently cooled and blood are high, the overall volume of blood also increases,
treated with moisture that means cleaning the wound and presses against the walls of the blood vessels. But
and then running lukewarm tap water over it for far longer researchers have now discovered that this mechanism is
than seems necessary. mostly only a factor in patients who react with sensitivity
18.
Study by the Rhr University to salt. The majority of the population tolerates salt with
no problems, even when large quantities are consumed,
though NHS guidelines still recommend that people limit
their intake to six grams a day or less.
THE DOCTOR SAYS: Study by the Cochrane Collaboration
ILLLUSTRATION: Agentur Focus
KEYHOLE SURGERY CAN HELP KNEE

WEAR AND TEAR
THE TRUTH: Its among the most common of operations,
21. THE DOCTOR SAYS: VISIT THE
but experts increasingly advise against knee arthroscopy. HYGIENIST TWICE A YEAR
The procedure involves the knee joint being opened via a THE TRUTH: Many dental practices offer teeth-cleaning
tiny incision in the skin and cleaned with a sterile saline as a preventative measure, but the procedures advantage
solution in order to smooth out the worn- in terms of dental health is unproven. According to some
down, damaged cartilage. Theres experts, simply cleaning the teeth twice a day with
always the danger that something a toothbrush, mouthwash and floss is sufficient
in the knee will be removed, and wont hurt your bank account so much.
22.
something that has nothing to Study by IGeL-Leistungen, a health insurance company
do with the ailment, says
Dr Martin Marianowciz
of the Society of
Spinal Endoscopy.
The patient THE DOCTOR SAYS:
then suffers ASPIRIN IS THE
the side- BEST THING TO TAKE IF YOU
effects.
HAVE THE FLU
Review in the THE TRUTH: The active
New England
Journal of ingredient in aspirin can
Medicine actually worsen the
symptoms of flu,
according to scientists at
Oxford University. Whats
more, taking the painkiller
for several weeks at a time
can result in a bleeding
stomach or a stroke.
Study published in The Lancet
23. THE DOCTOR SAYS: SPORT
HELPS MUSCLE ACHE
THE TRUTH: It was long thought that muscle
ache was caused by the metabolisms waste
products. But this myth can now be laid to
27.
THE DOCTOR SAYS: YOU
rest: in amateur sportsmen and women, or SHOULD REST IF YOUR
in the case of people undertaking unusual LOWER BACK HURTS
exercise, muscles become overburdened. THE TRUTH: False! Gentle exercise is
As a result, small tears in the muscle fibres the best thing to help ease back pain.
occur, says Professor Ingo Froboese of the To avoid pain, the body adopts relieving
German Sport Hochschule in Cologne. In postures that lead to painful tensions
the opinion of many sport physiotherapists, in both the short and long term, says
stretching exercises can do more harm than one orthopaedic surgeon. A catch-22
good; muscle fibres can become even more situation arises that often ends in chronic
damaged as a result. Its better to indulge in back pain. Targeted muscle training is
a training break that will allow your aching your best bet.
muscles to warm up. Study by Arthritis Research UK
Study by the German Sport Hochschule in Cologne
24. THE DOCTOR SAYS: LONG 28. THE DOCTOR SAYS: RED MEAT
SLEEPERS LIVE LONGER CAUSES HEART ATTACKS
THE TRUTH: No. People who sleep a lot are, THE TRUTH: No. Red meat does contain trans fatty
in fact, more susceptible to depression. The acids that raise cholesterol levels, but these alone do
reason for their fatigue is suspected to be not cause cardiovascular problems. More important
a lack of light, which weakens bones and factors are obesity, smoking, stress and a sedentary
defences. Seven to eight hours of sleep is lifestyle. Beef and lamb are actually fairly healthy
ideal. If you spend more than ten hours in because they contain many vitamins and minerals.
bed, your risk of dying prematurely rises by Even salami often maligned as deeply unhealthy
as much as 30%, as heart disease, strokes is extremely rich in vitamin C.
and diabetes frequently occur in people Source: European Prospective Investigation into Cancer
who sleep more. and Nutrition (EPIC Study)
Study by the University of San Diego
29. THE DOCTOR SAYS: SITTING UP

25. THE DOCTOR SAYS: NATURAL STRAIGHT PROTECTS THE SPINE
REMEDIES HAVE FEWER THE TRUTH: Most of us sit for around seven hours every
INTERACTIONS day but our spines are not designed for extended periods
of sitting. And sitting up straight with pelvis tilted forward,
THE TRUTH: No, natural remedies do result
chest pushed out and head help up strains the spinal
in medical interactions, often to a severe
discs more than when we sprawl lazily across the sofa.
extent. The best example is St Johns Wort,
Tip: sit upright with slightly tilted hips and your back sloping
which can be taken as a mood-elevator. It
gently backwards, and briefly stand up every 15 minutes.
can impact the effect of heart medicine or
Study by the British Chiropractic Association
stomach-protecting drugs.
30.
Source: International Journal of Clinical Practice
26. THE DOCTOR SAYS: A GLASS

OF RED WINE HELPS YOU SLEEP THE DOCTOR SAYS:
THE TRUTH: Its true that a glass a day does SWIMMING IS THE BEST SPORT
not damage your health, but it wont help you FOR ARTHRITIS
sleep, and may actually have an enlivening THE TRUTH: Even if you have joint pain, you
effect. You may feel sleepier after a glass of shouldnt take it easy, says Dr Rene Conrads.
red wine, but as the alcohol is broken down It is only during movement that the body
in the body, the brain experiences an urge produces the synovia (lubricating fluid) you
to stay awake. Youll wake up more often need. Breaststroke should be avoided, however,
during the night and wont feel revitalised in as the leg movements cause the joints to become
the morning. In addition, alcohol relaxes the so severely stressed that it can make arthritis
throat muscles, making snoring far worse. worse. Its far safer to opt for backstroke or crawl.
Study by the London Sleep Centre Study by Arthritis Research UK
WORLD DICTATOR
R N E T E M P I R E TO
++ FROM INTE
rt ifici a l b ra in , th e g e n e tic code
++ An a a rm y o f ro b o ts, drone
for etern a l life , a n is
technology: in athla boratory, Google nity
in g e fu tu re o f h u m a
busy plann re a s th e m o st p o werful
fu tu
and its own e world. But what are the
company in th ltimate aims?++
organisations u
?
WORLD EVENTS
SUPERPOWER
O NEW
A.I. EXPERIMENT
HIGHER LEARNING
WILL GOOGLES COMPUTERS BE
ABLE TO THINK LIKE A HUMAN?
N
o computer has (see inset picture right for the
ever come close to results). Earlier this year, Google
replicating the human bought London-based DeepMind,
brain yet that hasnt a company specialising in deeper
stopped Google from trying. In learning, a cutting-edge branch
2012, their in-house scientists of science which uses algorithms
established a neural network to learn from complex sets of
comprising 16,000 powerful data independently of humans.
computer processors, then let Facebook, Microsoft, IBM and the
them loose on the internet to see Chinese Google Baidu are also
if the machine could learn for itself investing in this controversial field.
PAWS FOR THOUGHT
The first thing 16,000 processors learnt about
the internet? Its full of cats! Yes, after being
fed 10 million different YouTube clips, Googles
network immediately taught itself to recognise
cats, even drawing its own image of a feline.
GOOGLE PROJECT LOON
NETWORKING THE WORLD

WILL WE SOON HAVE WI-FI EVERYWHERE ON EARTH?
L
ast year, Google ran a recruitment alongside Wi-Fi experts, developed balloons
drive which initially seemed like the one pictured here. Filled with helium
unusual for one of the worlds and powered by the constant wind
biggest technology companies: currents 20 kilometres above the Earth, the
Urgently wanted, said the job advert, plan is for the balloons to orbit the planet
tailors and balloon experts. Months later, and supply even the most remote corners
all became clear when 30 flying objects of the world with Wi-Fi. This will enable
rose into the sky above New Zealand, each Google to reach the billions of people in
about 15 metres wide and more than 12 rural and underserved areas currently
metres tall. Under the codename Loon, the without internet access, helping the
appointed tailors and balloon experts had, firm to consolidate its monopoly.
SCAN PAGE WITH
FREE VIEWA APP
TO FIND OUT
HOW BIG
GOOGLE REALLY
IS. AND MORE!
WEIGHTLESS WI-FI
TRANSMITTER
With Project Loon, Google plans to provide
an internet service to even the most
far-flung regions in the world. If all goes
according to plan, thousands of balloons will
circle the Earths stratosphere transmitting
Wi-Fi signals. The first test flights have
already seen promising results.
THE POWER BASE
GOOGLE
CITY
G
oogles HQ. The Google X Lab,
headquarters where scientists develop
WHERE IS THE FUTURE can be found in

Mountain View,
secret projects, is only
half a mile away. Google
OF HUMANITY BEING California. The companys

most important decisions
Glass, self-driving cars
and artificial brains
PLANNED? are made in the

200,000-square-metre
all started life in this
massive ideas factory.
T
1. There is a monopoly of power.
2. Fundamental rights are abolished.
he conquest of the world has 3. One ideology is dominant and takes over all
taken just 16 years: no other aspects of the peoples lives.
state has risen to such an
exalted position of power So which of these characteristics actually apply to
within such a short time period Google? What are the companys future plans?
as Google. Since its creation in
1998, the internet giant has
constructed an empire spanning 1. DICTATORSHIPS HAVE A
the globe one that billions of MONOPOLY OF POWER
people call home. Such is the They go by the names of WildCat, BigDog and
corporations influence, it probably knows more Cheetah, and some of them can run quicker than
about its users than all of the worlds governments the fastest human. Some can climb walls and trees,
combined. However, superpowers like the USA others shift loads of up to 180 kilos.
hardly have any control over Googles actions. The US company Boston Dynamics has been
The company simply has too much power. But developing autonomous robots for more than
what if Google misused this control? More and 20 years. These include machines which can
more experts are of the view that the company be deployed in place of real soldiers during
abandoned its Dont Be Evil motto a long time combat. Though they are not armed (yet), it would
ago, and even believe that Google is already be easy to equip them with weapons systems.
edging towards dictatorship. These combat robots are already operational,
To address these points, it is helpful to remind and the company that produces them is the
ourselves of the essential characteristics of global leader in its field.
a dictatorship. Authoritarian rule is primarily On 12th December 2013, Boston Dynamics got a
characterised by the following three pillars: new owner. The takeover happened in the blink of
GOOGLES
an eye. The company that bought it? Google
for an undisclosed sum.
Nobody knows what the operator of the worlds
most successful search engine wants with an
LACK OF
army of autonomous robots, and it wasnt long TRANSPARENCY
before the first conspiracy theories started
appearing on the web. Does Google want
ONLY SERVES TO
to enslave the world with an army of machines? PRESERVE THEIR
POWER. ITS NO
sceptics asked, usually a precursor to referencing
the Terminator movies, which depict a cyborg
military force overthrowing humanity.
In fact, Google has purchased half a dozen of the
DIFFERENT TO AN
worlds leading robotics companies over the past AUTHORITARIAN SYSTEM.
18 months. As a result, the corporation now has a
Data protection representative Edgar Wagner
major stake in the sphere of future warfare. And its
not just in the field of military robotics that Google
has a monopoly
Google already has an unbelievable amount of
power, which is underestimated by many users
and politicians, explains IT expert Robert M.
Maier. Its not for nothing that the following saying
exists in IT circles: Knowledge is power. Data is
more powerful. Google is all-powerful. With a
market share of more than 65%, Google already
controls the international search engine market.
The corporation also uses another tool beloved
of dictatorships: censorship. Google actually >
NEST LABS
HOW DOES GOOGLE KNOW
WHEN WE ARE COLD?
O
n 14th January 2014, Google
paid $3.2 billion for the
connected device company
Nest Labs, which was
founded by Tony Fadell (right) and
produces thermostats and smoke
alarms. As a result, the firm gained
further access to the most important
raw material in the world: data.
Google is sent the data from millions
of households by Nest Labs sensors
(above right). These sensors tell Google
if someone is at home, which room they
are in and even if the inhabitant is cold.
decides what we find when we search and what knows where you will spend your next summer
we dont. Usually, companies and organisations holiday, whether you are overweight and what you
that have paid to advertise through the plan to do about that, even thanks to Google Flu
corporations advertising service Google AdWords Trends where the next epidemics will break out.
appear higher in the rankings. Though probably The year 2014 was just two weeks old when
below the companys own sites like Google News, Google announced that they had acquired the
Google Maps, Google Books and YouTube. Californian company Nest Labs for $3.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Googles in-house operating system, Experts shook their heads in disbelief when they
Android, now runs on 70% of all smartphones. By first heard the figure: Nest Labs manufactures
comparison, only 20% of handsets use Apples IOS. smart thermostats and smoke detectors connected
Moreover, anyone with a Gmail account (thats at to the internet. At first glance these products
least 425 million people worldwide) has their emails dont seem like the important technologies of
scanned by Google for advertising purposes. I am the future. But from Googles point of view, the
not a critic of technology. But I do criticise the deal makes perfect sense.
monopoly of power through technology. We
should look at Google equally as critically as we
do Wall Street or the banks, argues IT expert
DATA IS THE NEW
Evgeny Morozov. CURRENCY AND
Thanks to its monopoly, Google doesnt just boast
the largest database in the world. It also has one of
GOOGLE IS THE
the strongest war chests, totalling more than $50 NEW CENTRAL
BANK. WERE PAYING
billion, with a million more added every hour. Only
Apple surpasses this, with an even larger fixed
deposit of about $100 billion. However, unlike
Google, Apple doesnt really know what to do with
WITH OUR PRIVACY.
such large amounts of cash. Google reinvests the IT expert Evgeny Morozov
money and not just in the digital world. This has
long since become too small for the company. Nest Labs grants Google access to millions of
households. The time people spend at home, how
many people live in a house, the temperature of the
2. FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS ARE ABOLISHED rooms in the future Google will collate all of this
IN DICTATORSHIPS information. The sensors save all of the data and
About three billion searches are typed into Google send it to gigantic servers. Ideally Google wants to
every day, by millions of people and the internet accompany people for their whole lives. This is
giant earns money from every single one of them. where the synergies in the business are at their
The earnings mostly come from adverts, and the largest, says internet sociologist Stephan Humer.
collection and processing of data. Critics claim Some experts are now warning that the
that Google has bypassed data protection rights corporation is fashioning itself on a kind of
in the past and collected sensitive information surveillance state, one that invades the everyday
about our lives. No state in the world has been lives of its citizens. In 2013, Google was even
able to stop it in its tracks. Google has the awarded the Big Brother Award at a ceremony in
most specific user profiles in the world Germany, a prize presented to institutions that show
probably more precise than those a particular disregard for data protection and the
of the NSA, says IT expert Gerald Reischl. private sphere. And even if Google isnt planning
Googles business aim is not to make information to misuse the data, who can guarantee that
accessible to the world. Googles business aim is to it will always stay that way? What would
earn money from the data. Data is the new currency happen if its system of worldwide surveillance
and Google is the central bank. Were paying with and data collection fell into the wrong hands,
our privacy, adds Evgeny Morozov. beyond Googles control?
In fact, thanks to its complex algorithms and over History has already shown what happens when
a million servers that record your searches, Google a powerful new instrument is abused. Over 70 years
ago the Nazis used an IBM computer system named
after the German-American inventor Hermann
THE PRIZE THAT
Hollerith to track down Jews and other enemies WE ARE AFTER IS
of the state. Many historians agree that, without
this technology, it would have been logistically SO LARGE THAT
impossible to capture, deport, imprison and
murder six million people in just a few years.
MONEY IS IRRELEVANT
The developers of the IBM computing machine ON THE WAY THERE.
imagined all sorts of possible uses for their
Google chief developer Sebastian Thrun
invention yet they could never have envisioned
the horrific crimes it helped to commit.
Googles vision, meanwhile, extends far beyond
computers. The new world power has far grander into account. The X in Google X means 10 every
plans their impact on the future of mankind invention must be ten times bigger, better and
cannot be underestimated. To help them, Google is faster than everything that has come before. They
using a symbol which has become the mantra for should make a problem ten times better, with
the firms entire research section: X (or 10). a timeframe of ten years. It is precisely this formula
that Google has used to further build up its empire
for years, rendering the competition inferior.
3. IN A DICTATORSHIP, AN IDEOLOGY TAKES Self-driving cars, flying wind turbines hundreds
OVER ALL ASPECTS OF PEOPLES LIVES of metres high which send their electricity
Googling wont be much use for this sort of research. to base stations, Google Glass all of these
Anyone looking online for official details about the projects, long regarded as utopian dreams,
Google X laboratory will be disappointed. Very have been developed in the Google X lab. The
few photos of the labs interior are available and corporation invested $8 billion into the semi-secret
floorplan layouts are non-existent. As to how research unit in 2013 alone. In the long term,
many people work there, sources across the the inventions should revolutionise the spheres
internet offers only vague guesses. Insiders of communication, mobility and energy
assume its a four-figure number. Google doesnt just have the product rights,
In an unusual display of openness, Google recently its in possession of the most important key
revealed that the labs researchers are currently technologies. It is in a position to determine
working on over 100 projects always taking the X the direction of human development. >
SMART GLASSES
IS GOOGLE ABOLISHING THE PRIVATE SPHERE?
G
oogle Glass (pictured) is just one of many
innovations being developed in the Google X
Lab. The glasses are controlled by
a touchpad on the bracket, head
movements and spoken commands. Every user can
record images of other people without their permission
and all of this data ends up on Google servers.
Google is waging war against our private sphere with
these glasses, says internet expert Andrew Keen.
GOOGLES MASTERMINDS Google employs more than 50,000
workers worldwide. Heres what
the current hierarchy looks like
LARRY PAGE: SERGEY BRIN: SEBASTIAN THRUN: ANDY RUBIN: ERIC SCHMIDT:
CO-FOUNDER CHIEF RESEARCHER VICE-PRESIDENT, ROBOTICS CHIEF COMPANY
AND CEO AND CO-FOUNDER GOOGLE X FOUNDER CHAIRMAN
The 41-year-old computer Alongside Larry Page, the The 47-year-old German is The developer of the The 59-year-old
scientist founded the 40-year-old made it to one of the worlds leading Android operating manager and computer
search engine Google in number 17 in the Forbes computer scientists. The system was appointed scientist is not just
1998 together with Sergey List of the most powerful former Stanford professor head of robotics Googles chairman. Hes
Brin. Today his assets are people in the world in established the Google X research in 2013. Today also a trusted advisor
estimated to be worth over 2013. His assets? About lab in 2010. Today, hes a he is also responsible to the US president,
$20 billion. $31.8 billion. vice-president at Google. for Boston Dynamics. Barack Obama.
even logical thinking. In other words, longer

term, Google Brain may be in a position to think
like a human being.
To date, the most ambitious project attempted Google researchers are also working on
behind the walls of the Google X lab is whats a project known as Calico. The scientists vision
known unofficially as Google Brain the creation of is to use algorithms and genetics to discover why
artificial intelligence. Two years ago, researchers the human body gets weaker and more susceptible
linked together 16,000 computer processors and fed to illness with age. Their eventual aim is to find
the network for three days with clips from YouTube, out how this process can be slowed down,
the video platform which Google also owns. The extending life by up to 100 years.
aim: like the brain of a newborn child, the network Insiders believe that Google plans to use the
should learn to process new information, create results of this project to produce medicines that
connections and to recognise people. After ten will allow people to lead longer, healthier lives.
million video images, the artificial brain recognised This sector has the potential to be a billion-dollar
PHOTOS: PR (5); Picture Alliance (2); Laif; Getty Images (3)
objects, people and cat it had learned all by itself. business, one that along with the other ambitious
This sophisticated new branch of commercial research projects and products covered in
science is dubbed deep learning. this story, serve to illustrate the grand scale
Google Brain can already remodel a million of Googles future aims.
ILLUSTRATIONS: Picture Alliance; PR (2)
neurons and a billion connections, but this number And whats its main competitor got up its sleeve?
is constantly rising. Geoffrey Hinton, professor at While Google was working on its artificial brain,
the University of Toronto, is the worlds leading Apple unveiled a new series of iPhones in bright
expert on computer and neuroscience, and also colours. It was a development which Google CEO
works for Google. We are intrigued by the idea Larry Page described as unsatisfactory a few
that this brain is consistently learning in the same months after the launch, before stating: If you
way, he says. And as soon as we have found out change the lives of 100 million people, then you
how that works, it makes no difference whether we are not successful. You are only successful when
teach the system sight, hearing, feeling or maybe you change the lives of a billion people.
GOOGLES WORLD MONOPOLY
70% OF ALL
SMARTPHONES
worldwide run on the Google operating
system Android. The mega-corporation
has access to the private data of billions
of people. In contrast, Apples share of
the mobile phone market is 20%. No
40,000 government in the world knows as much

about its citizens as Google.
SEARCH QUERIES
most of them in the USA are entered
into Google every second. What
information people find, and what they
dont, is determined by Google
based on more than 200 criteria
which the corporation has not
made public. SIX ENEMIES OF
THE STATE IN EUROPE
are currently suing Google in court.
France, Germany, the Netherlands,
the UK, Italy and Spain all claim that
Google is breaching data protection
laws. Monopoly commissions also
regularly investigate Google on the
grounds of the firms dominance
of the market.
EMPIRE OF POWER
HOW MUCH INFLUENCE DOES GOOGLE REALLY HAVE?
M
ore than a billion people use has repeatedly demonstrated that it can
Googles search engine. forecast the location and severity of a flu
Hundreds of millions upload outbreak with the help of manually entered
videos to its subsidiary, YouTube, data. Google Flu Trends already exists in
and log on to the second biggest social 29 countries. But for some nations, Googles
network after Facebook: Google+. The power has already become worryingly large.
company saves reams of data about its Several authoritarian regimes even turn off
users on its million-plus servers and is able to the internet to block their citizens access
deliver extremely accurate forecasts using to sites like Google and YouTube, perceiving
algorithms. The worlds newest superpower Googles position of power as a threat.
SCIENCE
WHAT SECRETS IS MY
BRAIN HIDING
FROM ME?
How yourols
brain conatr ur
your behutvyioou
Just like an iceberg, 90%
of your brain activity is hidden
witho cing away. On a busy day youll make around 10,000
even noti
decisions, most of which you have no control over.
The reason? Your subconscious works in secret,
deciding who you fall in love with, which car you buy,
and what mistakes you make. Now, experts are finally unlocking
the secrets of how your all-powerful hidden self operates
O
peration Medusa is in full swing.
Two of NATOs fighter jets thunder
over the White School in Pashmul,
a cluster of Afghan villages 25
kilometers south-west of Kandahar.
The pilots are aware that the place
is an insurgent stronghold the school has been
converted into Taliban headquarters. Western troops
are already engaged in serious conflict with the
Taliban, and the building is currently in flames.
But the militants are so well-armed that the NATO
ground forces have had to call in air support.
Within minutes, the Thunderbolts are roaring over
the soldiers heads. The experienced pilots view the
blazing battlefield and open fire killing one of their
own men and wounding 37 more.
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF REALITY DOES YOUR

BRAIN ACCURATELY REFLECT?
The blame for this tragic friendly fire incident was
placed on the two pilots subconsciouses, both of
which made terrible decisions without their
knowledge. But these particular errors of judgment
represent merely the tip of an iceberg. In fact, our
neuronal systems are constantly failing us, resulting in
mishaps and problematic situations, every single day.
Usually, of course, our subconscious blackouts
dont lead to the drastic consequences experienced
by the NATO forces. Only the most tragic cases end
up making the news: the zoned-out driver swerving
into oncoming traffic without realising; the panicking
husband shooting his wife after mistaking her for an
intruder; the doctor neglecting to remove his scalpel
from a patients stomach during an operation. But
dramatic cases such as these do serve to illustrate
the inherent problem with the subconscious: on the
one hand, it can override decisions made by your
consciousness; on the other, its far from infallible.
But why does the conscious mind become sidelined
when were making decisions? Whats happening in
our minds during these moments? And how do these
incidents lead to errors of judgment? In order to fully
understand this phenomenon, we need to analyse
the aforementioned tragic case of the NATO fighter
pilots Mark Douglas* and Brendan McKellar*...
First, you have to understand how the brain
*Name has been changed
works: 90% of what we think and do

occurs unconsciously.
This means that, basically, we never have any idea
what were really thinking. Take Mark Douglas and
Brendan McKellar: they would wake every morning,
butter their toast without thinking, dress themselves
without even realising it, and power their fighter jets
through the troposphere without a seconds thought. >
THE ROOTS
OF THE SUB
Almost every action that we already know how to
perform is carried out in this automatic mode. For
example, youre not conscious of your brain
transmitting the thought, Kindly blink now so that
the protective film over your eyes remains fresh.
In particular, its the processes that are essential to
life breathing, blood-pumping, digesting, defending Who really calls the shots? Roughly 100 billion
against infection and so on that, from infancy, occur neurons in your head, connected to each other by
without our conscious knowledge. If all of these tasks trillions of neural pathways. But were oblivious to
required the conscious mind to complete them then most of their work because, for the most part, the
it would collapse within seconds, just as 50,000 volts system functions on an unconscious level. Were only
would melt a standard household cable. The aware of thoughts that develop in the cerebral cortex.
consciousness can only process between four and
five pieces of information at a time. And during this
processing, it devours more energy than is used in
the muscles of a professional athlete.
The consciousness is located in the cerebral cortex,
covering the brain like a 3.5-millimetre thick cap. In
terms of evolution, the consciousness is the youngest
region in the brain. And in the wiring hierarchy, it is
inferior to all other areas of the brain.
IS MY CONSCIOUSNESS LIVING IN THE PAST?

Thats certainly the case where Brendan McKellar is
concerned, as he sits in his fighter-jets cockpit, his
CAN YOU
PROGRAM
dashboard and control stick in front of him. His most
important data-input is coming from his balance and
his sense of touch, as both give him a feel for his A CELL
body and the position in which hes currently sitting.
Next, theres his visual perception, which is actually
TO LEARN?
far weaker than he might assume. When were first born, the
Of all the objects that pass within one metre of us, neurons within our brain
we see only a tiny fraction of them in sharp detail, are functioning on a basic
setting. Neurologists call
says Stephen Macknik of the Barrow Neurological
this condition naivety. The
Institute, Phoenix. That fraction is about as big as
> connections to other cells
your thumbnail. And everything that the eyes dont are not yet distinct.
However, the naive neuron
NEURONAL HIGH PERFORMANCE is receptive it wants to
Training and experience in a fighter jet alter the brain: learn. To do so it connects
tests by University College London revealed that fighter to its neighbour cells via
pilots can filter relevant information and block out
its synapses (its contact
irrelevant data markedly better than most people.
points). Every thought,
every new word, every
experience strengthens
these synapses in the
brain. The new information
is stored in the long-term
memory and this entire
process runs completely
automatically.
CONSCIOUS
HOW DOES
A THOUGHT
FUNCTION?
All of our memories,
knowledge and decisions
course through our nerve
cells. Information is fired
through the network at
speeds of up to 360 km/h.
The individual cells are
made up of three main
components: the cell body,
the dendrites (cell
HOW processes) and the axon
SUSCEPTIBLE
(the neural pathway).
The cell body is primarily
IS MY BRAIN TO concerned with metabolism
MANIPULATION?
and the regeneration of
cells. The dendrites act as
Our brains can actually be stimulus receptors all
reprogramed, as a result information arrives here.
of stress. In frightening or The axon, meanwhile,
depressing situations the transmits the processed
body floods the brain with signals onwards.
stress hormones. A boost
of adrenaline results in
anxiety, upset and fear.
Afterwards, cortisol is
released, in an effort to
dampen the effect of the
adrenaline. And when a
cortisol molecule enters a
nerve cell, it bores its way
into the nucleus. In so
doing it establishes direct
access to the DNA, the
cells genetic code, and
alters it. Unconsciously,
this then alters behaviour
for example, you may
suddenly become highly
aggressive.
A professional chess player is
far more skilled at strategic
analysis and planning than most of us
and these thought-processes occur
almost completely automatically.
Psychologists at the University of
Wrzburg and the University of
Dortmund found that a professional
chess player can evaluate the layout
of pieces on a chess board and save
it into their brain on the basis of just
one fleeting glance. They analyse the
various pieces and order them into
levels of importance automatically.
A second experiment revealed that
if you showed a player engaged in a
game of computer chess a second,
simple game of chess (with just three
pieces) for just 20 milliseconds, it
/// EXPERIMENT 1 managed to influence the players
decisions this, despite the fact that
CAN 20 milliseconds is not long enough to

achieve a conscious perception.
PROFESSIONALS
These results only occurred when
the experiment was performed on
professional chess players, however
PLAY CHESS thus proving that their

subconsciouses had been trained to
AUTOMATICALLY?
identify and evaluate the figures and
their positions automatically.
/// EXPERIMENT 2
HOW DOES MY BRAIN
KNOW HOW TO BET
IN A GAME OF CARDS?
Initially, it all seemed fairly straightforward:
Matthias Brand (right), a psychologist at the
University of Duisburg-Essen, invited test subjects
to take part in a computerised card game known
as the Iowa Gambling Test. They see four face-down
decks; on a rotating basis, they draw one card from
one of the decks. Some cards will gain them points,
others decrease them. There is a winners deck with
many good cards, and a losers deck with bad cards.
The stress levels of the subjects were measured,
revealing just how quickly our subconscious works.
After ten rounds of play, the subconscious knows
which deck is the losing one and transmits stress
signals when cards must be drawn from it. Yet the
subject only becomes consciously aware of there
being good and bad decks after the 80th round.
see clearly is filled in by the brain. But Brendan
McKellar doesnt need to see everything in front of 99% of what we see is
him sharply, because, thanks to years of experience, present in our memory; just
he knows the position of every switch and gauge. 1% comes from our eyes,
His brains memory-centre takes control of a large GERHARD ROTH ears and other senses.
segment of his perception of reality.
Back at the start of his career, McKellar viewed Its with strategies like these that our brain secures
flying differently. He trained in a cockpit simulator, our survival. The subconscious is able to control the
repeatedly and rigorously. He made mistakes again flood of information that bombards us every second
and again, until the cockpit dashboard eventually and sift out only the relevant information. Some
branded itself onto McKellars brain. A network of experts estimate that the subconscious, with its
cells was formed, its only task being to operate the enormous processing speed, can deal with 200,000
switches and read the gauges, automatically. times more information than the conscious part of
Thats why McKellar now only sees his altitude at the brain. And thats how our brain navigates the
a subconscious level: his gaze fleetingly sweeps over chaos of daily life while also ensuring we dont get
the scale, and the information is transmitted to his run over by a bus, or suddenly forget to breathe.
thalamus, which responds with a decision in mere If you want to test this out, try to limit yourself to
milliseconds: 12,000 metres, everythings okay. The blinking only when you consciously command
conscious mind is not, at first, burdened with dealing yourself to do so. Youll be able to do it but youll be
with this figure, because the subconscious filters all unable to do anything else at the same time.
inbound information. The brain will only sound the
alarm in an emergency situation. For example, if the HOW DO YOU JUDGE A FACE IN MILLISECONDS?
altitude suddenly drops to 400 metres, McKellars For this reason, the NATO pilots in Afghanistan can
consciousness will swiftly switch on to deal with only focus on a few things at a time; many of their
the problem thats arisen. tasks must be done automatically, overseen by their
In general, however, your subconscious controls subconsciouses. Douglas and McKellar have flown
90% of your life. I often ask myself, Whos the boss more than 800 missions between them, all without
here? Whos in control? says Allan Snyder, incident. So what goes wrong in Pashmul?
neuroscientist at the Centre for the Mind, in Sydney, Three factors are subconsciously controlling the
Australia. The subconscious dictates almost all our men: 1) The knowledge that their NATO comrades
decisions. Consciousness is just our brains clever PR are under heavy fire and that some have already
campaign to make it look like we have some control. died; intervention is required as soon as possible;
Susana Martinez-Conde of the Barrow Neurological 2) The village and the surrounding region is still in
Institute, Phoenix adds: the hands of the Taliban, who are almost impossible
We constantly live in various states of illusion. to defeat; 3) They have orders to fly towards the
Theres never or very rarely a 100% agreement burning building and fight the militia there.
between reality and perception. When they reach the location, they immediately
Whats more, its difficult to analyse the subconscious spot the fire. Both their subconsciouses identify the
as it leaves behind barely any traces. It works like a troops on the ground as the enemy and the pilots
secret service within our heads, slyly studying every automatic attack modes kick in, without their
external signal before we even become aware of it. consciousnesses being informed of the decision. The
The cerebral cortex then receives a small selection of problem? The camp set up by NATOs fighting forces
memos that it cannot trace back to the source. Were lies less than a kilometre from the jets target, and
wired so that the consciousness can effectively deny a large bonfire is burning there. Had the pilots
all of the unconscious influences placed upon it. subconsciouses doubted their evaluations for just a
At the same time we live in the past. Gerhard Roth, moment, their consciousnesses would have looked at
neuroscientist at the University of Bremen, explains: the situation again and vetoed the original decision
Everything that we consciously perceive is at least immediately. Tragically, Douglas and McKellar only
a third of a second old. So were all living in the past. recognised their joint error following their attack
But we dont experience that third of a second; we The power of the subconscious can be observed in
dont experience the work of the subconscious. We everyday situations even when we truly believe
think that we experience everything immediately. that we have conscious control over our behaviour
And in terms of our perception, that means that the and are making well-considered decisions. Think
memory is our most important sensory organ. youre free to choose your partner? Helen Fisher, >
anthropologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, Its astonishing: the brain makes
rebukes this notion. Shes discovered that there are a judgment on the wine after just
four basic brain types that decide on our choice of 230 milliseconds. Its already
partner for us. The prevailing messenger substance made up its mind long before the
determines which category a person falls into. ANTONIO RANGEL person expresses their opinion.
Fisher found that all people can be categorised when a person looking to buy a car goes with
as either dopamine-controlled explorers; serotonin- their gut feeling. Social psychologist Ap Dijksterhuis
controlled nest builders; testosterone-controlled from Radboud University in the Netherlands
directors; or oestrogen-controlled negotiators. The asked two groups of test subjects to choose the
first two types feel attracted to people from the same best car from a choice of four. During the decision-
batch. But when it comes to the latter two types, its making process, Dijksterhuis distracted one of
a case of opposites attract: in other words, directors the groups by giving them anagrams to decipher,
find negotiators attractive, and vice-versa. but left the other group to consciously ponder their
The subconscious also takes into account countless selection for four minutes.
other factors when choosing a partner their smell, Sixty per cent of the first group preferred what
for example. By analysing a potential mates natural was the best of the four cars in terms of its
aroma your body can check to see if your immune engine output, safety, steering, petrol consumption
system is compatible with theirs, and, therefore, if and other key factors. But in the other, non-distracted
youd be capable of producing healthy offspring. group this figure was just 22%. The results
Research by Alexander Todorov, a psychologist at show how the subconscious can function more
Princeton University, has uncovered another aspect effectively and make wiser decisions than the
of the hidden self. Todorov laid out photographs of conscious mind. The brains fully automatic
unknown faces in front of test subjects, and asked system had proved itself.
them to evaluate which people seemed to be friendly Many experiments have shown that unconscious
and competent. Although they had no background decisions can completely surpass decisions made by
information whatsoever on the people they were the conscious mind,says Dijiksterhuis. It all comes
looking at, in 80% of cases the test subjects applied down to the fact that the subconscious processing
the same attributes to the same faces. power and speed is far greater, and its in a better
In only about 100 milliseconds, a person will position to judge the relative importance of different
determine whether they like or dont like a person, factors. This autopilot system is not a 100% exact
based on their face. machine, as its unable to apply many of the basic
PHOTOS: Gamma; Fotolia; Mauritius Images; WDR/Arte; PR (4); ILLUSTRATION: Andre Kutscherauer
says Todorov. These split-second judgments are not rules of logic. Try to multiply 23 by 26 without
always correct. Above all, its our facial features that consciously using your brain its impossible. For
determine how others perceive us. tasks such as that, you need your conscious mind.
But your subconscious can also deliberately outwit But can a person consciously control their own
you a fact confirmed by Antonio Rangel, a neuro- fully automated subconscious? If you try to
economist at the California Institute of Technology. consciously perceive and control simple movements
He got test subjects to sample wine while in an MRI such as bouncing a basketball you handicap
brain-scanner, and asked them to state which wine yourself. The cerebral cortex jams the signal
tasted the best to them. Rangel told the subjects how of whats normally an automatic, unthinking
much each wine had cost. The result? The higher the process; the motor cortex receives conflicting
price, the more intensely certain brain areas lit up, signals and becomes confused.
and the better the person perceived the taste to be. Constant conscious thought would make our lives
But there was a twist: the subjects were told they impossible. For this reason, there will always be
were drinking five different wines; in reality, there situations in which we have to simply accept any
were three two were offered twice, marked with mistakes made by our subconscious. However, it is
different prices. Rangel showed that the subconscious possible to train your brains decision-making
connects superior taste to expense. But that doesnt abilities and improve their overall effectiveness.
mean that their enjoyment is a delusion! says
Rangel. When the brain believes that its drinking a
better wine, it genuinely enjoys it more. NEXT MONTH PART 2:
The subconscious is not only powerful, it can also HOW OUR BRAINS CAN
be a remarkably reliable ally. That becomes apparent
BECOME IRRATIONAL
/// EXPERIMENT 3 Allan Snyder, a neuroscientist at the Centre for the Mind in
CAN YOU
Sydney, wants to paralyse our subconscious. To be more
creative you must lift the hidden mechanisms of the subconscious,
states Snyder. In mathematics tests he discovered that people act
SWITCH according to thought patterns known as mind sets: when a solution

had worked for ten consecutive problems, a test subject could no
OFF THE
longer solve problems that were formulated differently.
In order to counteract this locked thought-routine Snyder designed
the creativity cap (see above), a headband that emits low-voltage
SUBCONSCIOUS? electricity. In the process, some of the left temporal lobe the area
responsible for the outdated thought-pattern is disabled. Because
of this, test subjects were then able to solve the unusual problem.
Isnt that fascinating? says Snyder. We can increase creativity
by turning off certain parts of the brain!
/// EXPERIMENT 4
A B C D
WHO WOULD YOU VOTE
FOR AS PRIME MINISTER?
Imagine that tomorrow is election day and
you can vote for one of the four candidates to
the right (A, B, C, D). Whom do you vote for?
perceive us, Todorov explains.
its our facial features that determine how other people
would be judged as particularly trustworthy. Above all, Eyebrows curved Eyebrows
be classified by most people as trustworthy, while Face 2 downwards curved
The diagram to the left shows why Face 1 would not upwards
Deep dent
does our subconscious judgement of a face work?
the outcome of elections with 70% accuracy. But how
between eyes Shallow
Todorov came to the conclusion that he could predict dent
between
After endlessly repeating and refining his experiment,
eyes
The result? Eighty per cent opted for candidate C.
believed looked the most trustworthy and competent.
test subjects and asked them all to choose the one they Flat cheekbones Prominent
cheekbones
University, put faces A to D in front of 1,000
1 2
Alexander Todorov, psychologist at Princeton
Flat chin Protruding chin
SMARTER IN 60 SECONDS
The subconscious
How well does
a pilots
subconscious
function?
12 There are very few things as adept
at training the subconscious as a
flight simulator. They help to
safeguard millions of lives each year. Thats
because, through repetition, a pilot stores
every process, hand movement and
emergency plan. As a result of regular
training, neurons in the brain become linked
with certain tasks. Thanks to them pilots can
95% SURVIVAL RATE call up the necessary information in
Flight simulators help to ingrain the correct fractions of a second. Researchers have now
procedures for pilots to follow in the event of an discovered just how well the flight simulator
emergency. Thanks to the simulated experiences of system works: for every one million decisions
pilots, 95% of passengers and crew survived made by a pilot, he or she makes just four
emergency landings and accidents involving US flights mistakes. And these are almost always of
between 1983 and 2000, according to statistics from little significance and dont lead to a crash.
the National Transportation Safety Board. Pilots have been training their subconscious
using flight simulators since 1957.
How does tea manipulate How does my brain

my subconscious? recognise faces?
12 Imagine youre drinking tea and at the same 12 Jennifer Aniston is a famous actress. But what
time a new work colleague is introduced to happens in the brain when we see her face?
you. Well, according to John Bargh, Rodrigo Quian Quiroga from the California
psychologist at Yale University, the chances of you Institute of Technology discovered that for faces that
finding this new person friendly straightaway are we often see and store away in our heads, a network is
high. Bargh discovered that hot drinks affect our formed in the fusiform gyrus, an area in the brains
subconscious. In numerous experiments he revealed temporal lobe. In addition, individual brain cells can
how the smallest, most unremarkable factors can also become extremely specialised: one test subject
control our behaviour. Another example: if were possessed a neuron that only became active when they
sitting on a hard chair, we behave more aggressively saw a picture of Jennifer Aniston. The cells only task
than when were sitting on a soft one. was to identify the actress.
Why are we always searching Where do most bicycle

for our sunglasses? accidents occur?
12 Its a familiar story. Only when we 12 It sounds like a paradox: the
reach up do we realise that our fewer cyclists on the roads,
shades have been resting on top of the higher the likelihood
our heads for the past ten minutes without us in percentage terms of an accident
PHOTOS: Corbis (2); Getty Images
realising it. This information escapes us between them and a car. Thats down to
because it is old. We register the glasses motorists subconsciouses. Because fewer
only when we place them on our heads. After cyclists are on the streets, the drivers
that our subconscious decides that we no subconsciouses are not attuned to this
longer need to feel them. If we were to risk factor. To put it another way: the
consciously process every last piece of more a car driver sees cyclists and has
information permanently, our brain would be to react to them, the better their mental,
completely overwhelmed. fully automated bicycle-radar system.
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WORLD EVENTS
Giant stars
MARATHON THROUGH
THE GREEN H
Dense rainforests, murky rivers, poisonous snakes
and near-100% humidity youd have to be mad to
attempt to run a marathon in the Amazonian jungle.
We find out exactly how mad
HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
Although only 4% of the Earths
surface is covered with
rainforest, about half of all
animal species live there. And
not all of them are friendly to
humans: every year, poisonous
animals such as spiders, snakes
and scorpions kill almost 3,000
people in the rainforest.
HELL
ONE MOMENT
ID BE TRYING TO
FIND THE TRAIL;
THE NEXT I WAS
BATTLING CRAMPS
TWELVE HOURS OF AGONY
Its three oclock in the morning when the starters pistol
fires, commencing arguably the worlds toughest, craziest
race: running, cycling and paddling through the largest jungle
on the planet. The temperature never drops below 20C, even
at night, and humidity is almost 100%. An untrained amateur
would collapse early on in the race.
SCAN PAGE WITH
FREE VIEWA
APP TO WATCH
HIGHLIGHTS OF
THIS BRUTAL
RACE. AND MORE!
IT
GRIN AND BEAR d the finish
n th e st ar t an
Betwee l
ust cross severa
lines, runners m , m ud dy wa te r
da rk
streams, where in .
rking with
hides dangers lu
I
magine running on a lurks behind every liana vine. You
treadmill, inside a need to be prepared for nasty
sauna, says Pericles surprises out here in the dark.
Villaca with a grin. It is frightening, declares
Thats what you can Fernando Bezerra, who, as the
expect out here. Not to fastest of the runners, crossed
mention the hazards of the jungle the finish line in just three hours
you wont find them in a sauna! and 15 minutes. Its just you,
The 39-year-old is stood on the alone, out in the wilderness.
starting line, in the dead of night, Something crossed my path a
his head filled with dreams of few metres up ahead. I had no
becoming a Kirimbawa. Thats the idea what it was. It was very
name that the local Indio tribe, black, very fast and very large.
Inha-B, bestows on its greatest An ape? A peccary? Maybe a
warriors. And only a true warrior jaguar? Bezerra will never know.
would have the slightest chance Here, even tiny creatures can
of surviving a race like this prove dangerous as Fernanda
Maciel learned the night before
WHAT DANGERS ARE
the race. I couldnt get to sleep
LURKING IN THE DARK?
in the hammock, and just when
We transplant the best athletes I finally dozed off, a beetle bit my
in the world to a place where few face, she recalled. At 2am my
can survive, says race organiser eye was so swollen that I had to
Bernardo Fonseca. Every team find a doctor.
consists of three specialists: an
ultra-marathon runner, a kayaker HOW MANY ATHLETES HAS
and a mountain biker. The race THE JUNGLE DEFEATED?
begins early in the morning, in Everyone taking part in the event
total darkness. The runners face is an experienced athlete, but
50km of terrain that humans today they all feel like complete
would normally avoid and death novices. The biggest challenge
>
I WAS STRUGGLING
WITH PAIN AND
STRESS FROM START
TO FINISH
THE PATH OF PANIC
Fear pulses through the athletes skulls every step of the
way and not just the fear of deadly animals or the dank,
stagnant water teeming with dangerous bacteria. No,
what these athletes fear most out here is failure. If one
person drops out, the agony that their teammates went
through will have been for nothing. Its a hugely potent
source of motivation that keeps the athletes going to the
point of self-destruction. Its possibly also the reason
why, even in these extreme conditions, cyclists still
manage to maintain speeds of almost 30km/h.
I BEGAN TO
SWEAT DURING
THE FIRST
MILE AND
I DIDNT STOP
ONLY 22 ATHLETES SUCCEED
The kayakers battle consists of 50 kilometres
of rowing against the current of the Amazon,
Rio Negro and Rio Solimoes. Eight of the 30
participants gave up in despair and their
failure meant disqualification for their entire team.
THE DANGERS 85KM CYCLING
OF THE JUNGLE
AMAZONIA KIRIMBAWA A serious fall into one of the
mud holes along the course
BRAZIL would be fatal: the closest
hospital is five hours away.
Teams participating in
the Red Bull Amazonia 50KM RUNNING
Kirimbawa Adventure Race on Not only do the runners face
7th December 2013 struggle for endless vines, bacteria-filled
almost 200 kilometres through muck and possibly even getting
lost, they also encounter such
South Americas rainforest. Each
creatures as the poisonous
of the 30 teams comprises of lancehead pit viper.
three athletes competing in
different stages: first to set
50KM KAYAKING
off are the runners, then the
mountain bikers, and finally Swarms of mosquitos
the kayakers. All three of the mount attacks on
kayakers from above.
athletes must cross their And should they capsize,
respective finishing lines they may end up as a
for a team to win. crocodiles dinner.
CONTAMINATED
JAGUARS SNAKES WATER
POISONOUS
CROCODILES MOSQUITOS
FROGS
is rationing your energy in this You are totally dehydrated,

cauldron, says Jose Virginio, an says Ricardo Pscheidt. I was
ultra-marathon runner. The same struggling with pain and stress
problem affects the mountain from the start to the very finish.
bikers. Instead of contending But its the kayakers who face
with their usual mountain trails, the cruellest torture when they
they face slogging through muck set off for the final segment of
and sludge and in exhausting, the race. They must row 50
steam-bath-like conditions. kilometres, in the midday sun
I began sweating after the first and theyre going upstream! This
MY BLEEDING
mile and never stopped, says is the race that claims the most
Rubens Valeriano Donizeti as he victims: this year, eight kayakers
HANDS, THE
catches his breath at the finish gave up in complete exhaustion.
line, his limbs trembling Many of the kayakers are fighting PHOTOS: Getty Images; Red Bull Photoles (6); Google Earth; PR
HEAT, THE
uncontrollably. Towards the end against the currents and their
there was an area of open own minds for seven hours.
THIRST IT
terrain. I dont know which was One moment Id be trying to
worse: the humidity of the jungle find the trail, the next moment Id
or the blazing heat of the Sun. be battling muscle cramps, and
Despite these conditions, the
fastest cyclists travel the
the next fighting thirst, winces
Marcelo Lins. Ive never taken WAS BRUTAL
85-kilometre route through this part in such a long, difficult race.
ocean of muck in under three My bleeding hands, the heat, the BLISTERS AND CALLUSES
thirst it was utterly brutal. In this relentless humidity, the kayakers
hours. By the time they struggle
skin simply peels off from the friction.
across the finish line, their bodies Lins and his teammates won
are completely dehydrated. A the race after almost 12 hours
few swigs from a bottle is no earning themselves the title
match for water loss such as this. of the best of the Kirimbawas.
SCIENCE
T
he astronomers havent dared leave
their observation posts for months.
A host of the worlds biggest
telescopes are directed at the
Perseus constellation: a star with
a mass 150 times that of the sun
explodes before the eyes of the gathered scientists.
And yet the word explodes hardly does justice to
the sheer brutality of this event. The star collapses,
and a nuclear chain reaction begins, emitting huge
gamma ray bursts. Weve never seen anything like
it, explains astronomer Nathan Smith from the
University of California. This was back in 2006
and a very long way away. SN 2006gy as the
explosion was named occurred about 238 million
light years away from us, in another galaxy entirely.
The happy fact is the Earth sits in a relatively
quiet area of the Milky Way. Stellar explosions and
other cosmic catastrophes have rarely happened
here. But that is set to change: there is a giant star
in our immediate vicinity which is ready to burst
and its just 7,500 light years away from us. This
hypergiant is called Eta Carinae.
With a size of 100 to 120 solar masses, and a
surface temperature of about 30,000C, it is five
million times brighter than our sun. If we orbited
this monster, instead of our friendly little star,
its dimensions would reach the orbit of Jupiter. >
HOW DANGEROUS
IS IT WHEN A NEAR
SUN GOES BAN
What happens when a star explodes in proximity to the Earth?
This is a question thats occupying the minds of astronomers right
now, as they closely observe the hypergiant star Eta Carinae.
Because the end of this gigantic sun is imminent, and its certain
to be one of the most spectacular celestial events imaginable
READY TO BURST
Hypergiant stars are a source of many mysteries
for astronomers: are the giants one single star,
or several close together? And how large can a
star become: 150 solar masses or even 256 like
R136a1, the largest known star? One things for
sure: hypergiants have short lives and explode
with a violence that can shake entire galaxies.
RBY
NG?
The stellar menagerie: mega-gi
All stars are not created equal: some are massive giants, others are small dwarf stars. The latter make up
90% of all stars, which is why the mega explosion of a hypergiant like Eta Carinae is so rare. The exact
opposite of megastars are brown dwarfs: no longer planets, but not bright enough to shine as a star. But it
is around the more mundane stars that astronomers are most likely to find Earth-like worlds. Because one
thing is sure: you can forget about life in the vicinity of a hypergiant
PLANETS BROWN
Earth-like
planets
Methane-rich
When it explodes, Ammonia-rich
gas planets
gas planets
like Uranus
it will be bright like Saturn and Neptune
enough to see in
the day
Earth would not exist, and neither would much to see it during the day too, explains the US
else, as the giant star can only control its enormous astronomer Dave Pooley. But when will this
mass and associated gravitational forces with incredible event happen?
extreme difficulty. A visible consequence of this is The timescales vary between in 20,000 years and
that the hypergiant continuously expels tremendous anytime. Its not possible to be more exact
amounts of its mass. science still knows too little about stellar explosions.
But we are keeping an eye on it, says the US
A TICKING TIMEBOMB IN THE MILKY WAY: astronomer Mario Livio. Eta Carinaes explosion
BUT WHEN WILL IT EXPLODE? could be the best stellar show in the history of
The last time Eta Carinae was visible with the naked modern civilisation. But can this show pose a
eye from Earth was in 1843: it was temporarily the danger to the Earth? And what will we get from the
second brightest star in our night sky, as it ejected vast amount of energy released in such a hypernova?
ten solar masses of material which shot into space From what is known about exploding stars, it will
at a speed of 700 kilometres a second and left principally be neutrinos and gamma rays. Neutrinos
behind two mushroom-shaped clouds at the stars are extremely mysterious particles. They cross the
poles. This released the same amount of energy that entirety of space but are almost impossible to detect
our Sun produces in 200 million years. because they barely react with other particles. Its
For astronomers, this event signals the beginning strange then that neutrinos transport 99% of the
of the end for the star. When Eta Carinae explodes energy of a supernova into space. The pure
as a supernova, its glow will be bright enough for pressure wave makes up just 1%, while the all-
us to be able to read at night. And we will be able destroying gamma rays account for 0.01%.
ants and dwarfs
DWARFS STARS
Sun-like Giant
stars stars
Gas giants Red dwarf star
which shine
weakly
NEUTRINO TSUNAMI AND GAMMA its entire lifetime of roughly ten billion years.
RAY BOMBARDMENT A ten-second long gamma ray blitz could wreak
havoc on the ozone layer, and it would remain
ILLUSTRATIONS: Oliver Burston/Getty Images; D. Florentz/Science & Vie, Jan 2014

In the case of Eta Carinae exploding, 16 trillion damaged for years. The resulting x-radiation would
neutrinos, from a distance of 7,500 light years, cause a fatal chemical chain reaction in the
would strike every square centimetre of the Earth. atmosphere. Computer models have revealed that
Would they harm us? Neutrinos are created by the up to half of the ozone layer would be destroyed
continuous fusion reaction of hydrogen and helium within a matter of weeks. In addition to this, a
atoms in the Sun, explains astrophysicist and gamma ray bombardment would produce nitric
author Harald Lesch, 70 billion of them strike each oxide in the atmosphere which would block the
square centimetre of the Earth as a result. The fact sunlight and, in a worst case scenario, turn our
that we dont notice this is because neutrinos planet into a frozen snowball. But the gamma ray
interact only very weakly with matter. Purely jets usually move along the axis of the exploding
mathematically, the Eta Carinae explosion would star. Eta Carinaes axis has a 40-42 degree line of
release 0.2 quadrillion joules of energy, which could sight to the Earth, explains NASA astrophysicist
greatly increase the chance of neutrinos interacting Michael Corcoran. Most of the dangerous
with the atoms inside a human body though the emissions should not come into contact with us.
risk to health is probably very low. The most likely scenario would see only global
The second danger comes from the resulting communication satellites suffering damage.
gamma ray burst. A collapsing giant star releases A small price to pay, considering that a world
more energy in a few seconds than our sun does in is collapsing next door
HUMAN BODY
THE MAN WHO SURVIVED
400 DAYS
LOST AT S
It was supposed to be a harmless fishing trip,
but turned into an unimaginable nightmare.
After hitting a wild storm, 37-year-old Jose
Alvarenga became lost at sea and stayed
that way for almost 400 days. How did the
El Salvadorians body survive this ordeal?
And what tactics did he use to stay sane?
The following story will astound you
RESCUED!
After 13 months at sea,
Jose Alvarenga washed up
on the Marshall Islands in
January this year. He looked
astonishingly well-
nourished for a castaway.
EA T
he scorching sun burns his eyes,
while under a crust of salt his
chafed skin is red and sore.
Wherever he looks nothing but
water. Jose Alvarenga spreads out
the remains of the fish across the
deck of the seven-metre long wooden boat and
waits. The plan works: a seagull lunges at the bait
precisely what the 37-year-old from El Salvador
has been hoping for. He grabs the bird and rips off
its wings. Then he breaks the animals neck.
Alvarenga will use this tactic hundreds of times.
What was supposed to be a two-day shark hunt
with his colleague Ezequiel Cordova became an
odyssey across the Pacific Ocean lasting for more
than 396 days. Engine failure and a storm meant
that the men lost their way off the coast of Mexico
and were driven into the open sea into a world not
meant for humans. Only one would survive the
journey. The other would succumb to hunger and
thirst. But how quickly does the body shut down
its functions? And where do its limits lie? >
WHAT ARE A
HUMANS LIMITS HOW QUICKLY DOES A
IN THE COLD? PERSON DEHYDRATE?
If our core body temperature dips Dehydration is one of the main causes of death at
from 37 degrees Celsius to under sea and can drive people to madness. They are
25 degrees, death is inevitable. constantly surrounded by water that they cannot
In between there are many phases drink. And the sea air is salty which only increases
that gradually rob us of our their desire for water, says Professor Mike Tipton
consciousness. Between 37 and from the University of Portsmouth.
32 degrees, brain function is The physiologist is an expert in survival at sea and
compromised. Personality has calculated how much time our body has before it
changes, forgetfulness and gives up. Without fluids, a person will die of thirst
aggression develop, explains after six to seven days. We lose at least 1.5 litres a
physiologist Mike Tipton. day through sweating, breathing and urinating. If
the body is not replenished with this amount, it
becomes saturated with salt, which would normally
WHAT HAPPENS be flushed out with the urine. The sensitive fluid
WHEN A PERSON balance in the veins, cells and organs then begins to
STARVES TO tip the blood thickens and flows much more slowly,
and it doesnt transport enough oxygen to the brain.
DEATH?
The consequences are headaches, delirium and
Our brain becomes an egomaniac.
eventually coma. The bowels and kidneys reduce in
Although it only takes up two per
function until they stop working and death follows.
cent of our total body mass, it
According to Tipton this agony can be avoided, even
needs glucose as an energy
with just small amounts of water, if you adhere to
source and begins extracting
the following rules
reserves from the rest of the body.
Our main organs, including the DEHYDRATION SURVIVAL GUIDE
heart, begin to suffer, the muscle
fibres can shrink by up to 20%. 1. Shipwreck survivors should not drink any water
Bones become porous their in the first 24 hours because the body already has
density decreases by up to 15%, enough reserves, explains Tipton. If you drink
making them more likely to during the first day, most of the water will be
fracture. Muscular atrophy in the secreted because the kidneys only switch into
lungs leads to shorter and weaker saver mode after 24 hours.
intakes of breath. The livers 2. Drinking just 200 millilitres of liquid a day
efficiency decreases so that toxins dramatically increases your chances of survival. If its
are no longer broken down as available, aim to drink about half a litre a day more
effectively. This leads to eventual if it rains a lot. Share out the water supplies fairly.
liver failure and death. 3. Look for shade during the day in order to protect
yourself from sunburn. Fishing, or repair works,
should be carried out in the early morning, or in the
evening. Thats because the sun increases our need
HOW HOT CAN OUR for water as a result of sweating.
BODY BECOME? 4. In warmer climates you can minimise sweating
Heat can be just as deadly as by dipping your clothes in the sea. When the
cold. If you are constantly exposed water evaporates, it helps to regulate your body
to direct sunlight, your core temperature without the need to sweat, says
temperature can rise to over 40 Tipton. The downside: salt crystals can form
degrees. The side effects are and irritate the skin.
feeling disorientated, difficulty These tips are only useful when a castaway has
concentrating, nausea and access to water. Stricken Salvadorian fisherman Jose
hallucinations. Once the bodys Alvarenga was lucky that he was lost in the Pacific.
temperature goes above 42 Rainfall is plentiful there and he was able to collect
degrees, you are likely to suffer it in containers. When it didnt rain, he had to resort
from deadly heatstroke. to more brutal methods
PROFESSOR MIKE TIPTON
URINE THE LAST RESORT? University of Portsmouth
Out of desperation, and only a short time into his

ordeal, Alvarenga was forced to drink his own urine process it. Our bodies need a small amount of
a potentially serious error. Urine is enriched with carbohydrates in order to digest fat. Some of these
salts and minerals, says Professor Tipton. One litre can be produced by the body itself, says Tipton.
of urine contains 20 grams of salt more than twice But you should also try to eat some carbohydrates.
as much as blood, which contains nine grams. If you These are present in the biscuits found in a
drink your urine, your blood becomes enriched with lifeboats emergency rations, or in seaweed.
even more salt, speeding up the dehydration process.
The same principle applies to saltwater, except HOW DOES THE SEA
that the oceans contain even higher concentrations MANIPULATE THE PSYCHE?
of salt than urine (30-39 grams per litre). Alvarengas Hunger, thirst, cold, heat all of these factors
life-saving alternative: I grabbed sea birds, tore off weaken the psyche as well as a persons body.
their heads and drank the blood from their throats. During his odyssey, Alvarenga constantly battled
The 37-year-old also guzzled the blood of captured suicidal thoughts. I decided Id stab myself with my
turtles. It sounds revolting, but is actually very fish knife. I pressed the six-inch blade to my throat
nutritious. In contrast to fish blood, the salt content and could hear voices saying, Go on, just do it! he
of turtle and bird blood is relatively low. It consists recalled. Eventually his will to survive carried him
of 70% water and is similar to human blood. through. But how do you retain your mental strength
Next comes food. And in this area Alvarenga has in a situation that seems hopeless?
a decisive edge over other castaways Alvarenga tried to keep to certain routines
like eating at set times. For the rest
HUNGER I grabbed sea of the day he hunted, collected
SURVIVAL GUIDE birds, tore off their rainwater, sang songs or
The fact that he had a maritime heads and drank prayed. On a few occasions,
background and knew how to be at though, he almost lost his mind.
sea and survive has got to be an
the blood from Seven months into his ordeal,
enormous behavioural advantage, their throats a container ship sailed past
Tipton is keen to emphasise. him without stopping. Alvarenga
Without any food, a person would JOS ALVARENGA, waved like mad, but the sailors
survive for between 40 and 60 days. CASTAWAY FROM EL SALVADOR simply waved back, leaving him
Alvarenga ate fish, turtles and sea crying with frustration. How did
birds. I caught birds, ripped off their he possibly come back from such
wings and let them run around on the deck. That a low point? By inventing a macabre game
meant their flesh remained fresh sometimes with the captured birds.
I had ten of them scampering about in the boat, I threw a fish into the boat. The birds then kicked
he said. Alvarenga only ate the raw muscle and the it around like a football. That was my main form of
organs if he had to, because an overdose of proteins entertainment, he said. It sounds barbaric, but the
can interfere with digestion. He also contracted impromptu game of seagull soccer saved him from
parasites, but remained alive in spite of these a mental breakdown. For 13 months he drifted
unwelcome guests. His fellow fisherman, Ezequiel across the Pacific. Then, in January 2014, he washed
Cordova, was unable to cope with these dietary up on the Marshall Islands.
changes and starved to death after 16 weeks at sea. Because he was in relatively good shape, many
According to experts, by employing various eating people didnt believe Alvarengas story at first.
strategies you can optimise your metabolism and However, following numerous medical examinations,
increase your chance of survival. If you dont have an analysis of the weather conditions and a lie
ILLUSTRATION: Bryan Christie; Corbis
much water on hand, you should avoid protein-rich detector test, the facts of the fishermans tale started
PHOTOS: Getty Images (2); PR
food. Protein speeds up the process of dehydration, to make sense. Its true that he didnt conquer the
Tipton stresses. On a menu consisting of just fish ocean, but, considering his plight, he got along with
and meat, that seems unlikely but there are it remarkably well.
alternatives. Theres also quite a good layer of fat For now, hes steering clear of boats. But in spite
on a turtle, just under the shell, he explains. Turtle of his nightmares and panic attacks, this isnt the
fat is particularly useful because protein can prove end. Fishing is in my blood, he says. So one day
counter-productive as the body needs a lot of fluid to I might go back to the sea.
POWER PLANTS
Power plants are surrounded by tall barbed-wire
fences and have hundreds of surveillance cameras
monitoring every inch of the site. But they can often
be extremely vulnerable, because energy companies
fail to sufficiently protect the plants online control
systems. Most industrial sites use the internet to
maintain and monitor their facilities remotely. If the
web connections to things such as water pumps or
cooling systems are left open or secured with a
single, simple password then hackers can easily
infiltrate the system and cause chaos.
CAN YOU
HACK AN
ENTIRE CITY?
Traffic lights, CCTV cameras in the next few years, many vital services in Australian
cities will be controlled via the internet. The downside? Hackers can break into
these systems, take control of a citys infrastructure, and bring it to its knees
WI-FI HOTSPOTS
CCTV CAMERAS Any information sent via a public Wi-Fi network
is potentially at risk, says Troels Oerting, head
The internet can be deployed to alert criminals
of the European Cybercrime Centre. Your emails,
when the coast is clear for a break-in. How? Via
photos, online banking transactions this data is
electricity meters, alarm systems and surveillance
not encrypted in Wi-Fi hotspots, making it easy
cameras. Many such devices can be easily traced
prey for hackers. If data thieves are nearby and
online using the search engine Shodan and if they
using the same hotspot, they can easily copy your
arent password-protected, anyone can access them
passwords and sell them on to other criminals.
and monitor their readings. Shodan is a perfectly
legal service for checking alarm, power and CCTV
systems: it lets you know if a building is empty, if an
alarm system is deactivated, and by monitoring the
electricity readings, if the lights are on or off.
TRAFFIC LIGHTS
Transport authorities operate traffic lights
remotely, via the internet. But one security
consultants experiment produced shocking
results: It was fairly easy to gain access to
the online Econolite software, reported IT
security expert Dan Tentler. I could have
controlled the citys traffic lights. The only
warning message that appeared onscreen
stated Dont do this, you can kill people!
D
an Tentler sits at his computer, trawling Scott Erven believes that its possible to remotely
the internet for potential hacking victims. administer painkillers via a computer-controlled IV
The IT security consultant is attempting pump. What would appear to be a tragic accident
to pin down exactly how well Australian would actually be murder by morphine overdose
cities are protected against cyber attacks. How easy and only the hacker would ever know the truth.
is it to take control of traffic-light systems? How
secure are our power plants? And is it possible to CAN YOU SWITCH OFF
manipulate the high-tech devices used in hospitals? SPEED CAMERAS?
To answer these questions, Tentler doesnt need
any sophisticated hacking tools he simply fires up A hacked SCADA system could also be used to
the search engine Shodan, which trawls the web cause chaos on the streets of Australia. When
looking for devices with an internet connection. Tentler hacked into the speed-camera system
Once hes found such a device, Tentler tests to see Autoplate, he didnt even need a password. You
how quickly he can hack into it. His results prove can tell it to forward any pictures it takes to
shocking even for security experts. someone else besides the police, he says. Back
in January 2013, an unknown cyber-criminal shut
WHY ARE FACTORIES BEING down thousands of speed cameras in Moscow.
CONTROLLED REMOTELY? He hacked into the network and destroyed every
system they had, explains Vitaly Kamluk of IT
Most large-scale computer systems, whether used security firm Kaspersky. It took weeks before the
for private industry or a citys public infrastructure, cameras were up and running again. And until
can be controlled remotely using software known then, Moscows drivers could drive with blatant
as SCADA. The upside? Its cheaper than sending disregard for speed limits. Many, however, wouldve
an engineer out to a particular site. The downside? been unaware that their cars could be the next
Often, SCADA systems are not sufficiently secured. target for cyber-criminals
Several major companies are guilty of using
passwords that are no more cryptic than 1234. HOW DO YOU HACK INTO A CAR?
Hackers can easily break into these companies
vulnerable servers to steal trade secrets or New cars are built like smartphones, says French
manipulate production processes. It took security hacker Jonathan Brossard. Most of them have 30
researcher Paul McMillan just 16 minutes to find to 70 minicomputers that use four or five different
30,000 unprotected systems online (although not all networks to communicate with each other and the
of them were from corporate networks). internet. If you want the latest traffic information
Globally, billions of devices are connected to on your cars GPS device, youll need to connect to
the so-called Internet of Things (IoT). Were all the internet through an external service provider
reliant on intelligent devices that have their own and that puts your car at risk. In tests with one
IP addresses and are controllable via the internet. car manufacturer, my team managed to hack into a
According to experiments by McMillan and Tentler, car from outside, through its internet connection,
these devices include such things as two New says Brossard. He wont name names, or confirm
York hydroelectric power plants, a wind-power if the maker operated in Australia, but will say
station in France, and the building controls at this: Every network in the car was operated by a
Google Australia which hackers infiltrated in 2013. microcontroller. If you can hack into that and gain
You could easily manipulate industrial boilers or access to the cars controller-area network, you could
cooling systems and cause them to overheat, says unlock the doors at the touch of a button.
Tentler. The instruction manual is available online, Your cars security features can be used against
for free. Such manuals are aimed at the engineers it. Every new car has whats known as a police
who control these facilities remotely but in the link thats used for things such as adding a new
wrong hands, theyre weapons of mass destruction. key code, Brossard explains. If this police link was
Making a power station overheat could kill hundreds hacked, youd be unable to unlock your car with
while crippling the citys vital power supply. your radio-control key but the hacker could.
And if you can hack into a hospitals IT servers, Brossard worked with games company Ubisoft on
you can commit the perfect murder. Security expert the development of their newest title, Watch Dogs.
THE ULTIMATE HACKER
There are 25,000 security cameras for every 2.7 million
citizens in the US and no city is more hyper-connected
than Chicago. Thats why Ubisoft chose to make the city the
setting for its new game, Watch Dogs. The player takes on
the role of hacker Aiden Pearce (pictured left), who is on
the hunt for the man who killed his niece. Gamers step into
Aidens shoes and use their hacking skills to change traffic
lights, snoop on peoples personal data, intercept phone
communications and manipulate the citys infrastructure.
And according to experts, tricks like these are all perfectly
feasible. The only unrealistic element is the games pace,
says IT security expert Vitaly Kamluk. In real life, hackers
spend months at their computers, analysing every line of
software code in order to exploit the weak points.
To find the malware you have to sift through

millions of lines of code, says Kamluk. We start
by searching the machines log books for new files
or recently added programs. As soon as they find
a new program, the analysis begins. How does
it store data? How does it interact with users?
Normally, a program will check with the user
The game allows the player to assume the role of a before copying things such as password files.
hacker and infiltrate the technological infrastructure Malware, however, does not. It duplicates data as
of an entire city in order to complete their mission. discreetly as possible but its precisely this covert
We wanted the game to be as realistic as activity that can lead us to the malware.
possible, says creative director Jonathan Morin.
And as Brossard confirms, Theyve succeeded in WHAT CLUES DO HACKERS
that, across the board. The hacks are all completely LEAVE BEHIND?
doable. Ubisoft also contacted Kasperskys Vitaly
Kamluk. I was surprised at how current some of But while its one thing to identify the malware, its
the hacks depicted were, he says. For example, another to actually find the hackers who put it there.
when the protagonist empties cash machines were US malware expert Kyle Wilhoit went on the hunt
currently investigating a similar crime in Russia. for malevolent hackers using a honeypot trap. He
constructed a replica hydroelectric pump station,
HOW CAN YOU MANIPULATE with its own SCADA system. Although no more
A CASH MACHINE? than a few second-hand devices bought on eBay, the
water facility appeared, to hackers, to be genuine
In order to take control of Moscows cash machines, and was an appealing target. Within a few months,
cyber-criminals have been installing back doors in Wilhoit reported 74 attacks, many from China. Using
their software. A back door allows unauthorised malware hed developed himself, he traced the
access to a machine, says Kamluk. Even though attacks to get a rough idea of where the hackers
youre not a bank employee, a back door enables were and what IP addresses they were using.
you to manipulate a cash machine, either remotely The Internet of Things has already become the
or on site. Its essentially malware; a software area of the web with the most serious security
component containing code that can be used to issues and the greatest risk of damage, says
empty the machine. After the malware has been US security researcher Marc Rogers. And if we
installed, it waits for the hacker to input a trigger- continue to inadequately secure our CCTV cameras,
code into the cash machines PIN keyboard, at public infrastructure and industrial facilities, it will
PHOTOS: PR
which point it cuts off communication with the continue to be childs play for cyber-criminals to
banks network and spews out all the cash. send our cities nosediving into chaos.
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87
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
A N Y M O
M
HOW TWEEN TH
FIT BE
ARE HAMMERHEAD SHARKS AGGRESSIVE?

Only three of the nine hammerhead shark
species are a danger to humans and the
great hammerhead pictured here is one
of the most threatening. But luckily for
photographer Michael Patrick ONeill, this
particular specimen only has eyes for its
favourite prey: the stingray.
DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR OUR TEAM OF EXPERTS?
Simply send us an email with Questions and Answers in the subject line
to worldofknowledge@bauer-media.com.au
S
R TWO EY E S ?
H E S E
PORES CANAL
ELECTRORECEPTORS
NERVOUS
SYSTEM
HOW DO THESE MOTION SENSORS WORK?

The ampullae of Lorenzini are located on the underside of
the sharks head and on its snout. Each ampulla is a
jelly-filled canal connected to the surface by pores in the
skin. The jelly transmits even the slightest electrical
impulses directly to the sharks central nervous system.
With more than 3,000 ampullae of Lorenzini, hammerhead which can grow up to six metres long, plenty of room for all
sharks have some of the most sensitive motion sensors those ampullae. They are so sensitive that the predators can
in the ocean at their disposal. The sharks use these detect five nanovolts per square centimetre of ocean floor
electroreceptors to detect bioelectrical fields created by the equivalent to identifying a 12-volt battery at a distance of
muscle contractions of other animals. Many cartilaginous 11 kilometres. That said, this electrical monitoring system
fishes like rays and chimaeras also possess this sixth performs best at close range. While hunting, hammerhead
sense. Using these, they can sense even the slightest of sharks often swim just a few centimetres above the ocean
movements on the ocean floor. floor, acting rather like a giant metal detector. These 450kg
The unusual head shape of members of the Sphyrnidae marine predators have little interest in humans. They prefer
family is not exactly beautiful, but it gives these sharks, to use their sixth sense to track down rays buried in the sand.
7
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
questions about
air conditioning
1 HOW DO AIR CONDITIONERS WORK?
A cooling agent in the form of a liquid gas flows through a closed
circuit in an air conditioner. When the fan sucks in hot air, it heats
the cooling agent to its boiling point: about ten degrees Celsius. The
liquid cooling agent then vaporises, but since it is still colder than the
exterior air, it has a cooling effect.
2 CAN AIR CONDITIONING BE ADDICTIVE?

According to scientific studies, our bodies adapt extremely quickly
Why are most people to cold, dry air. When you use an air conditioner, your body can
right-handed? literally become addicted to it. Your innate resistance to heat can
decrease in just a few days. At the same time, you quickly develop
Eighty-nine per cent of people favour their right hand. This
a craving for cold, dry air.
is mainly due to the division of labour in the brain. Two of
its main tasks are language and fine motor skills (using 3 WHAT HAPPENS IF AN AEROPLANES AIR
our hands). Its easier for the brain to combine these two CONDITIONING SYSTEM FAILS?
functions in one of its hemispheres. The left hemisphere The air conditioning system on a plane does not only regulate the
controls language function in most people, so it makes temperature, it also supplies oxygen to passengers and keeps the air
sense for fine motor skills to be controlled there too. As pressure inside the aeroplane similar to that found at an altitude of
the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, it 8,000 feet. If the system fails, the cabin stops receiving oxygen and
follows that the majority of people are right-handed. a sudden drop in pressure occurs. Oxygen masks are then deployed
and the aircraft must make an emergency landing.
4 WHERE IS THE WORLDS MOST POWERFUL AIR

CONDITIONING SYSTEM FOUND?
In the desert state of Qatar, the worlds largest cooling plant has been
built on The Pearl, a 400-hectare artificial island. The system provides
chilled water to run the air-conditioning in the homes of the islands
41,000 residents. It can provide 130,000 tonnes of refrigeration.
5 WHY WAS AIR CONDITIONING INVENTED?

Making indoor temperatures cooler during the summer was the
furthest thing from American engineer Willis Carriers mind when he
invented the first air conditioner in 1902. His cooling system had only
one objective: to regulate the humidity in a New York printing shop.
The colder the air was, the faster the ink dried.
How much honey can a bee collect? 6 WHAT DO AIR CONDITIONERS HAVE TO DO
WITH COMPUTERS?
Left to their own devices, individual bees would be far
Without air conditioning, Facebook and Google would not exist. After
more vulnerable and much less productive. A lonely
all, hard drives, microchips and even computers themselves have to
bee would have to fly approximately 240,000 kilometres
be manufactured in climate-controlled spaces. The mere existence of
and endure 15 months of hard labour to produce a single
these inventions is all thanks to the humble air conditioner.
kilogram of honey thats longer than the maximum life
expectancy of a worker bee. A bee colony with up to 7 WHICH COUNTRY HAS THE MOST AIR CONDITIONERS?
80,000 individual bees can amass almost 7.5 kilograms There is no other place in the world with more air conditioners than
of honey in one year. However, the exact size of the the US 100 million US households own one. Together they account
harvest depends on factors like levels of precipitation, for 15% of total US energy consumption thats more than the annual
wind, ambient temperatures and the plant species nearby. combined energy consumption of the entire African continent.
HOW CAN OIL BE USED
TO HELP TURBULENCE? The wind tunnel in NASAs Langley Research
Center is completely dark, except for the
plane undergoing an extreme stress test thats
glowing blue. The experimental aircraft X48-C,
touted as the aeroplane of the future, is a
joint development project between NASA and
Boeing. The main objective is to find out how
wind impacts the skin of the aircraft. But how
can you make aerodynamics visible? Before
the scientists hit the X48-C with different wind
velocities and movements, it is sprayed with
fluorescent oil. The oil has a higher density
than water, causing it to move more slowly
ENERGY SAVING over the aircrafts skin and enabling the camera
The X48-Cs wings are integrated to capture the dynamics. Fluorescent paint is
directly into the fuselage, added to the oil so that the researchers can
leading to a 30% decrease calculate movement patterns under black
in fuel consumption.
light after the experiment.
52,000
square kilometres of the Amazon rainforest
is vanishing every year, according to a
US study. Scientists estimate that humans
destroyed around 930,000 square kilometres
of forest worldwide from 2000 to 2012.
Wedge cut
Back cut
Horizontal cut
CAN YOU EAT ELECTRICITY?

How do you chop down a tree? Yes, if youre the common bacteria Rhodopseudomonas palustris.
You just saw right through the trunk, right? Unfortunately, its These microbes require sunlight to generate energy and so must
not quite that simple. Lumberjacks follow a set of basic rules: remain close to the topsoil. However, the iron they need to survive
1. First, make a horizontal cut, one-third the width of the entire is located in sediments below the surface. Their ingenious
trunk, into the fall side of the tree at roughly hip height. 2. solution? They live in the top layer of earth, where sunlight can
Set your saw above the first cut at about a 60-degree angle to penetrate, and use natural conductivity to pull electrons from
remove a V-shaped notch. 3. Now cut a narrower notch into minerals deep in the soil. In the process they create iron oxide
the opposite side of the tree at the same height as the first cut, crystals that trickle into the soil. Over time, these crystals become
leaving about one-tenth of the trunk intact. The tree will tilt natural conductors and act as circuits, allowing the bacteria to
toward the V-shaped notch, as that side has less support. oxidise minerals they wouldnt otherwise be able to reach.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
110 METRES
7 M ETRES
25
HOW DO YOU DEFUSE

A TICKING TIMEBOMB?
Like a massive dirty bomb, the accident scattered says nuclear technician Don Kelly. Every step takes us
radioactive material across the continent as far as Western into previously unexplored territory. Even preparing the
Europe and remains the biggest nuclear disaster in history. construction site has proved difficult: in order to lay the
When a reactor block in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant eight-metre foundations, workers had to remove hundreds of
exploded on 26th April 1986, all rescue workers could do tonnes of contaminated soil. The first of the arches (above)
was to fashion a temporary protective shell made out of has just been completed and is gradually being pushed into
concrete. Twenty-eight years on, its beginning to crumble place at the site of the accident. The shell boasts seriously
last year part of the roof even caved in. Thats why high-tech gadgetry: the sarcophagus has its own ventilation
authorities now plan to seal off this ticking timebomb with and air conditioning system, hermetically sealed off from
a new 32,000-tonne steel sarcophagus by 2017. the environment. The price tag? At least $2.1 billion but
Nothing like this has ever been attempted before, the chamber is designed to last for at least 300 years.
COMPLETELY COVERED
Two arches are being
placed over the entire
reactor. The 110-metre
structure is large enough
to contain New Yorks
Statue of Liberty.
CONCRETE SARCOPHAGUS
The 32,000-tonne steel
sarcophagus is designed to
protect Ukraine and the
rest of Europe from nuclear
radiation. The section
pictured here shows just
half of the entire structure.
Why does a balloon

make a loud bang
when it pops?
Under a microscope, a balloon looks like a pile of spaghetti because
the latex it is made from is composed of molecules attached to their
neighbours by a flexible bond. When you blow up a balloon, this network
of molecules is placed under extreme tension and large amounts of
energy are stored in the latex. When a pin is stuck into the balloon,
a tiny hole in the lattice structure forms, shifting the balance of these
sensitive bonds between molecules so that the stored energy is suddenly
DANGEROUS WASTE
Today, 28 years after the released. In under a second, the force rips the latex away from the hole.
disaster, between 150 to The air that was inside the balloon is free to expand and this creates a
180 tonnes of radioactive pressure wave that we hear as a loud bang. The balloon pops faster than
material still lie within the the speed of sound and the volume can reach 100 decibels almost as
walls of the power plant. loud as a shot from a small calibre rifle (approximately 105 decibels).
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
How much does a

cloud weigh?
This weighty issue is dependent on a clouds size and density. Clouds mainly
consist of tiny water droplets ranging in size from a tiny one-hundredth of
a millimetre to hailstones several centimetres wide. A typical fair-weather
cloud, known as a cumulus cloud, covers an area of 100 by 100 metres with
a thickness of about one kilometre, explains meteorologist Eberhard Reimer.
HOW FAST IS A CLOUD?
It can weigh anything from 5,000 to 10,000 kilos. But cumulus clouds are
With strong westerly winds,
clouds can reach speeds of up lightweights compared to water-saturated storm clouds. A storm cloud
to 100km/h. Near intense low could weigh more than 1.5 million tonnes; tropical storm clouds would be
pressure systems, clouds can somewhere in the range of hundreds of millions of tonnes perhaps even
travel as fast as 200 km/h. billions, adds meteorologist Bjrn Alexander.
Arctic tern
Sooty shearwater 70,000km
64,000km
WHICH ANIMAL HAS
M FER
ENCE
OF THE EART
H2
4,9
THE BEST STAMINA?
U 02
IRC mi
Its got to be the wandering albatross, right?
C Wrong. Compared to that powerful creature, the
le
animal with the greatest endurance is physically

s
Grey whale 22,500km tiny. But no other animal on the planet travels as
great a distance between its winter and summer
habitats than the Arctic tern. This migratory
bird, which measures just 38 centimetres in
Great white shark 4,000km length, is such a sun worshipper that its
RATION
constantly searching for a home with ample

daylight. It breeds in the regions around the
Wandering albatross 1,000km
IG
North Pole but, come the Northern Hemisphere

EM
autumn, the tiny bird circumnavigates the globe

IN
R
MA to spend its winters at the South Pole
travelling a staggering 70,000 kilometres and
covering up to 480 kilometres per day. The
route depends on the tailwinds that provide the
MARATHON FLIGHT
AE
most lift and where fish are most plentiful.

The Arctic tern migrates
RI A
seven times further than The distance a single Arctic tern flies in its
LM
the wandering albatross. lifetime is the equivalent of an astronaut

GR
I
AT
IO
N travelling to the Moon and back three times.
PHOTOS: Laif; SPL; Getty Images; Corbis (2); Photoshot; David C. Pearson/www.pearsonfaces.com
94 www.worldofknowledge.com.au ILLUSTRATIONS: Sharkproject.org; PR (2)
AND FINALLY...
OK KIDS
JUST DON
Ever seen a frog family before? Probably not, since the male then pushes these into the females pouch. This form
99% of female frogs lay their spawn in a pond and then of parental care has advantages, as the mothers back is the
promptly disappear. The female horned marsupial frog, safest place to protect the offspring from predators.
on the other hand, isnt the sort to abandon her brood. Why? Seventy days later, the little uns claw their way out of the
Well, the clues in her name. In common with other marsupials, pouch and have just one thing on their mind: food. To learn
she has a pouch in her case on her back where she stores how to catch flies and beetles, they stay at their mothers side
and carries her eggs until theyre ready to hatch. for the first few days, or hitch a ride on her back. Like big cats
Before they can hatch, though, they need to be conceived. who teach their youngsters how to hunt, the little frogs copy
The action doesnt take place in any old pond, but in the dense every movement, from stalking their prey to the attack itself.
cloud forest of Costa Rica. Nearly 60 metres above the ground Most of this training will take place after dark, because
in the branches of a mighty ceiba tree, to be precise. Its here Gastrotheca cornuta are nocturnal hunters. The two baby frogs
that a series of loud pops can be heard, as if someone is pictured here, then, must wait until the sun has set. It seems
uncorking one champagne bottle after another. Thats the eight- that patience is a virtue in the horned marsupial world, too.
centimetre-long male marsupial frogs, calling to their female And is this alternative form of child-rearing a success? It
partners. After a successful tryst, the female lays around eight would seem so the frogs have been carrying their young
hefty eggs, the biggest in the amphibian world. Using its heel, through the treetops for almost 50 million years, after all.
The horned marsupial frog is blissfully unaware that it does almost
everything differently to virtually every other frog in the world.
Such as raising a family a full 60 metres above the ground
NT LOOK DOWN
PERFECT GRIP
PHOTO: Brad Wilson/Getty Images
A damp twig, 60 metres above the ground, is

home-sweet-home for the horned marsupial frog.
In this high-rise habitat, equivalent in height to
a 12-storey building, the frog needs an extremely
good grip. The round pads on its feet create this
bond by adhering firmly to the wood. From a young
age, its offspring also possess these climbing aids.
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WARNING!

30 LIES YOUR DOCTOR TELLS ISSUE 18 OCTOBER 2014

COVER PHOTOS: Alamy; Corbis; Getty Images (2); Paul Nicklen/NGS

THE HUMAN BODY

Free will? According to neurologists, its just an illusion. REGULARS

World of Knowledge blog!

PHOTOS AND FACTS YOU SEE

Get the magazine

iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered viewa is available on Android devices,

on your tablet every month!

THE REEF REVOL

60 PHOTOS PER MINUTE

1,000 SPECIES IN EVERY

HOW DID ALL THIS BEGIN?

HOW DO GALAXIES ACTUALLY WORK?

WHAT IS THE UNIVERSE MADE OF?

ITS ALREADY HERE!

To declare that Earth

must be the only

planet with life in the

WHAT WOULD ALIEN

HUMAN humans with those traits

THE GREY CONSPIRACY ALGORITHMS

CO-FORMED WITH EARTH

END OF THE ROAD:

SCAN PAGE WITH

PHOTOS: Paul Nicklen, Robert Rosing/NGS (3); Paul Souders/Corbis; WaterFrame

THE SWIMMING COFFIN

LOST THE WAR

THE LONG MARCH

SCAN PAGE WITH

nadian Divis 70 men

3rd Ca try 24, 9

Paratroopers Main bunker and In Allied hands

ARMADA WAITING LIST

TRANSPORT ZONE LANDING ZONE

OPEN LANDING STRIP

BELGIAN GATE MINE SHAFT NUTCRACKER CZECH HEDGEHOG

BATTLE ZONE DROPPING ZONE

JUMP TO THE DEATH

1,500 SHOTS PER MINUTE

ILLUSTRATIONS: FOCUS-Magazin; Andrew Timmins/Stern/Picture Press

Misdiagnoses, risky therapies, outdated knowledge and

question of whether doctors will always truthfully

THE DOCTOR SAYS:

8. THE DOCTOR SAYS: FOLLOWING A HEART

THE HEART THAN BUTTER

12. THE DOCTOR SAYS: TAKING

KEYHOLE SURGERY CAN HELP KNEE

29. THE DOCTOR SAYS: SITTING UP

26. THE DOCTOR SAYS: A GLASS

NETWORKING THE WORLD

WHERE IS THE FUTURE can be found in

OF HUMANITY BEING California. The companys

PLANNED? are made in the

even logical thinking. In other words, longer

40,000 government in the world knows as much

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF REALITY DOES YOUR

works: 90% of what we think and do

IS MY CONSCIOUSNESS LIVING IN THE PAST?

CAN 20 milliseconds is not long enough to

PLAY CHESS thus proving that their

SWITCH according to thought patterns known as mind sets: when a solution