Science Illustrated 2010-07-08 PDF

SIZING UP THE STARS 8 YEARS WITHOUT FOOD
P. 58 P. 60
CSI
118
:
AMAZING
IMAGES
INSIDE!
POLLEN
The Brilliant
Forensics Tool That’s
Catching Criminals
around the World 36 P.
P. 70 134ºF TOURIST TRAP

Surviving Death Valley
A GIANT FISH TAIL

July/August 2010
P. 32
Using NASA Tech to Track Whale Sharks
46 OCEANS OF ENERGY
US $4.99
P.
Harnessing the Power of the Seas

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KRZWKHURFNVXQGHU\RXUIHHWDUHIRUPHGKRZWRUHFRJQL]HD 1. Origin of the Universe 19. Streams—The Major Agent of Erosion
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WHFWRQLFVUHYHDOVDERXWZK\QDWXUDOSKHQRPHQDRFFXUZKHUH 3. Continental Drift 21. Stream Erosion in Arid Regions
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5. The Formation of Minerals 23. Groundwater
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WKHÀXFWXDWLRQRIJDVSULFHVDQGZKDWWRGRZKHQDZHOOUXQV 7. The Identification of Minerals 25. Karst Topography
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HGXFDWRU ZKR KDV WDXJKW LQWURGXFWRU\ JHRORJ\ IRU RYHU 10. Metamorphic Rocks 28. The Geologic Structures
\HDUV²WKHVHOHFWXUHVUHYHDOWKHZRQGHUVRIJHRORJ\7KH\ 11. Volcanic Activity 29. Faults and Joints
DOVRWHDFK\RXKRZWR¿QGWKHKLVWRU\DQGPHDQLQJKLGGHQLQ 12. Phases of Volcanic Activity 30. Earthquakes
WKHPDQ\SLHFHVRI(DUWK 13. The Hawaiian Islands and 31. Damage from Earthquakes
Yellowstone Park 32. Seismology
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14. Mass Wasting—Gravity at Work 33. The Formation of Mountains
FROOHJHOHFWXUHVHULHVIURP7KH7HDFKLQJ&RPSDQ\ $ZDUG 15. Mass Wasting Processes 34. Orogenic Styles
16. Weathering 35. Economic Geology of Coal
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DQG WKH OLEHUDO DUWV KDYH PDGH PRUH WKDQ FROOHJHOHYHO 18. Climate and the Type of Soils
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The Nature of Earth: An Introduction to Geology
Course No.
Course No.1700
550
36 lectures (30 minutes/lecture)
DVDs $374.95 NOW $99.95

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Contents JULY/AUGUST 2010
TOOLS + TECHNIQUES P.58 ZOOLOGY P.60
sizing up the stars 8 Years without food

p. 58 p. 60
CSI
118
:
amazIng
ImageS
InSIde!
How astronomers measure the mass of Pollen

The Brilliant
From feast to famine—the ingenious ways
the sun and more-distant stars. Forensics Tool That’s
Catching Criminals animals survive during times of scarcity.
around the World 36 p.
.70
134ºf tourist trap
Surviving Death Valley
.32
a giant fish tail
FORENSICS P.36
Using NASA Tech to Track Whale Sharks
.46 oceans of energy

Harnessing the Power of the Seas
CONSERVATION P.32
ON THE COVER: ROB KESSELER AND MADELINE HARLEY/PAPADAKIS PUBLISHER, FROM POLLEN: THE HIDDEN SEXUALITY OF FLOWERS
“Suspended in clouds,
fossilized inside
ancient rocks, hidden
Pollen does more than make you sneeze— in the lint in your Tracking the world’s biggest fish, whale
it’s also a cutting-edge crime-fighting tool.
pants pockets—pollen sharks, with star-mapping software.
is everywhere.”
ECOLOGY P.70 RENEWABLE ENERGY P.46
Ecology
P.36
California’s Death Valley is an extreme
environment—one of the hottest, driest
U.S. and lowest spots on Earth. It takes a
convergence of dangerous geological forces
DEATH
VALLEY to drive temperatures here above 120ºF
134º
and
J
uly of 1913 was not
an especially hot
PHYSIOLOGY P.50
Sunny
month in Cali-
fornia, but one day,
in a little valley hidden
behind tall mountains,
the mercury climbed to
an incredible 134ºF—the
highest air temperature
that had ever been re-
corded anywhere in the
world. That blast fur-
nace of a place is called
Death Valley, now part
of a national park. (The
record has since been
eclipsed, but just barely:
The Libyan desert once
reached 136º.) Because of
Death Valley’s very spe-
cial geological conditions,
it remains one of the
hottest, driest and lowest
pieces of land on Earth.
Almost nothing can survive on the On average, temperatures
salt-covered floor of Death Valley. soar above 90º for seven
What makes California’s Death Valley one Next-generation hydroelectricity: Tide-

of the hottest, driest places on Earth? and wave-power research makes strides.
Scientists pinpoint disease-fighting

compounds released during exercise.
JULY/AUGUST 2010 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM | 3

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Contents
ASK US P.27 BY THE NUMBERS P.76

Departments
Bull’s-Eye P.8
This month’s gallery of amazing images: a
neuron close-up, dragonfly eyes, a Roman
artifact and a solar-powered prototype.
Science Update P.19

Good news for giraffes, long-lost cityscapes,
better-fitting dentures, sailing into space,
Stone Age cannibals and a robot fish.
Ask Us P.27
You asked, we answered: What’s a galactic
collision like? How do birds get their colors?
What’s the biggest predatory land mammal?
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: HUBBLE/NASA; CORBIS/POLFOTO; GIRAFFECONSERVATION.ORG; YAEL HANEIN
By the Numbers P.76

A look at gold’s vital statistics.
Letters P.6 !"! $"

Trivia Countdown P.78
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Brain Trainers P.80 )&!"!.%!) +$
SCIENCE UPDATE P.24
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BULL’SEYE P.12
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" !! ) #& "
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The paper used for this

magazine comes from
certified forests that are
managed in a sustainable
way to meet the social,
economic and environ-
Please recycle mental needs of present
this magazine. and future generations.

Letters letters@scienceillustrated.com
Administration and the Intergovern- Editor-in-Chief Mark Jannot

mental Panel on Climate Change, Creative Director Sam Syed
Deputy Editor Jacob Ward
both of which use the mass of CO2 Senior Editor Jennifer Abbasi
to measure emissions. Other sources Science Editor Martha Harbison
Editorial Production Manager Felicia Pardo
measure emissions using the mass of Translator Jonathan D. Beard
Copy and Research Director Rina Bander
carbon, which gives lower numbers. If Copy Editor Ellen Weiss
Research Editors Katherine Bagley, Brooke Borel, Erika Villani
you convert the carbon figures to CO2, Staff Editors Lauren Aaronson, Doug Cantor, Bjorn Carey, Nicole
the emission amounts are roughly as Dyer, Seth Fletcher, Mike Haney, Corinne Iozzio, Susannah F. Locke
Editorial Assistant Amy Geppert
stated in the article. Contributing Art Director Patrick F. Albertson
Photo Editor Kristine LaManna
Contributing Mathematician I. Martin Isaacs
Contributing Writers Gorm Palmgren, Anders Priemé, Ebbe Rasch,
Relatively Close Ib Salomon

Editorial Interns Alessandra Calderin, Sandeep Ravindran
I was surprised that “Long Live BONNIER’S TECHNOLOGY GROUP
the Horseshoe Crab” [May/June] Group Publisher Gregg R. Hano
Group Director, Sales & Markering Steven B. Grune
didn’t mention that the animals Associate Publishers Wendi S. Berger, Anthony Ruotolo
are believed to be descendants of Executive Assistant Christopher Graves
Associate Publisher, Marketing Mike Gallic
trilobites, extinct marine inverte- Financial Director Tara Bisciello
Heated Debate brates that were dominant around
Northeast Advertising Office Matthew Bondy, Lauren Brewer,
Scott Constantine, David Ginsberg, Sara Schiano
Midwest Manager John Marquardt 312-252-2838
In “Reengineering Earth” [May/ 540 million years ago. Ad Assistant Krissy Van Rossum
June], you discuss biochar produc- David Bartolic Via e-mail West Coast Account Managers Robert Hoeck, Bob Meth
310-227-8963,
tion, a process I research, in which Ad Assistant Kate Gregory
Detroit Manager Edward A. Bartley 248-282-5545
decaying plant material, which pro- EDS: We asked John Tanacredi, a marine Ad Assistant Diane Pahl
duces CO2, is partially burned and scientist at Dowling College, to weigh Southern Manager Jason A. Albaum jason@afatlanta.com
Classified Advertising Sales Patrick Notaro, Chip Parham
the remains plowed back into the in: “Horseshoe crabs have evolved Interactive Sales Manager Chris Young
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soil. Contrary to your story, there from a similar body plan as trilobites Sales Development Director Alexis Costa
is enormous potential for biochar and probably shared the same marine Sales Development Manager Mike Kelly
Group Director, Creative Services/Events Mike Iadanza
carbon sequestration without any environment as them several hundred Director of Special Events Michelle Cast
Special Events Manager Erica Johnson
need to produce additional crops million years ago,” he explains. “Some Marketing Art Directors Lindsay Krist, Shawn Woznicki
Promotions Manager Eshonda Caraway
that compete with food production. believe they are direct descendants, but Consumer Marketing Director Bob Cohn
Christoph Steiner Via e-mail the majority of scientists think we don’t Associate Directors Lauren Rosenblatt, Andrew Schulman
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University of Georgia know definitively.” New Business Manager Cliff Sabbag
Retention Director Connie Cotner
Single Copy Sales Director Vicki Weston
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Tricky Figures Life As We Know It Human Resources Manager Kim Putman

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You state that humans emit 600 Although bacteria are numerous Operations Director Mimi Rosenfeld
million tons of CO2 into the air ev- in the Antarctic Dry Valleys, they SCIENCE ILLUSTRATED DENMARK
Editor-in-Chief Jens E. Matthiesen
ery week [“Reengineering Earth”]. are not the sole inhabitants of this International Editor Christian Bækgaard
Art Director Hanne Bo
This is equal to 31.2 billion tons region [“Contrast,” March/April]. Picture Editors Allan Baggesø, Lisbeth Brünnich, Peter Eberhardt
a year, which is four times the Our research team has found thou-
actual amount. sands of metazoans (i.e. nematodes,
Chairman Jonas Bonnier
Ruben Behnke Via e-mail tardigrades, rotifers, springtails Chief Executive Officer Terry Snow
and mites) living in soil and water Chief Operating Officer Dan Altman
Chief Financial Officer Randall Koubek
EDITORS: Our statistic was based on sampled from this environment. SVP, Corporate Sales and Marketing Mark Wildman
Vice President, Consumer Marketing Bruce Miller
figures published by the U.S. Depart- Adam Clayton Via e-mail Vice President, Production Lisa Earlywine
ment of Energy’s Energy Information Brigham Young University Vice President, E-Media Bill Allman
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6 | SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM JULY/AUGUST 2010

Truly Unique
Time travel at the speed of a 1935 Speedster?

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Bull’s-Eye
8 | SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.Com july/august 2010

Nature
nearsighted
Early-morning dew glistens
on a sleeping dragonfly,
captured here by amateur
photographer Mirosław
Świętek in a forest near
the town of Mikoszowa in
southwestern Poland. The
jewellike beads of water
magnify the insect’s eye
facets, or ommatidia, which
Miroslaw swiETEk/solEnT
work together to give the

bug a spherical field of
vision. Dragonflies can
have as many as 30,000 eye
facets, the highest number
yet found in nature.
july/august 2010 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.Com | 9

Bull’s-Eye
gOLden steed
archaeologists in Hessen, Germany,
prepare a 2,000-year-old bronze horse
head for restoration. The artifact,
which is covered in gold, is believed
to be part of a life-size statue of the
roman emperor augustus astride a
horse. Two similar bronze equestrian
statues have been found in italy, and
all date back to when the areas were
occupied by the romans. The head
was discovered in an ancient well
during excavations at waldgirmes,
about 30 miles north of Frankfurt, at
a site now thought to have been a
planned roman city. researchers also
found what they believe is the heel of
the rider and hundreds of other frag-
ments scattered across the site. The
settlement was abandoned sometime
between a.D. 9 and 16.

Culture
JoHannEs EisElE/rEuTErs

Bull’s-Eye

Medicine
eYe PatCh
a rat neuron [pink] and a glial cell
[light brown] that helps support it
cling to a mat of carbon nanotubes,
demonstrating what could be a flrst
step in restoring eyesight in the
blind. Physicist Yael Hanein of Tel
aviv university’s school of Electrical
Engineering is researching merg-
ing retinal neurons with electrodes,
like this wired mat, to stimulate
YaEl HanEin
cell development. This scanning-

electron-microscope image shows
how readily the cells bond to carbon
nanotubes, which will make electri-
cal stimulation more eficient.

Bull’s-Eye

Technology
Bright FLight
after seven years of research and development,
the solar-powered HB-sia aircraft took its
premiere test flight over the swiss countryside
in april. The prototype is the first to come out of
the solar impulse project spearheaded by swiss
adventurer Bertrand Piccard, who is aiming for
completely solar-powered circumnavigation
of the globe by 2013. For this 87-minute test
run, which proved that the craft could fly as
well as it did in simulations, the HB-sia ran on
laurEnT GilliEron/rEuTErs
four batteries charged by electrical-grid power.

in future runs, including night flights, the craft
will be powered purely by battery-stored solar
energy collected from 11,000-plus photovoltaic
solar cells that cover the plane’s wings and the
horizontal stabilizer on the tail.

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P. 20 P. 22 P. 24
Details of a Bones suggest The West
distant galaxy Stone Age African giraffe
come into view cannibalism bounces back
Aerial photos taken with

City wall
near-infrared radiation
reveal buried ruins.
Large
theater
Canal Basilica
Small theater
A female Herennia multipuncta spider

[above left], can grow to be five times as
large as a male [right] of the same species.
New Spider Species

Has Biggest Females Roman City Revealed
BIOLOGY Golden silk orb Plant health aboveground offers clues to ancient structures beneath the surface
spiders are known for their large
size—around 1.3 inches long for ARCHAEOLOGY Italian scientists have In 2007 researchers at the University
females—and fantastic webs. Ne- found a way to map a city—despite the of Padua took aerial photos of the area
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: M. KUNTNER; A. NINFO/UNIVERSITY OF PADUA; CLAUS LUNAU
phila komaci, the newest member fact that it’s been buried for centuries. during a drought using near-infrared
of the group, is the biggest yet: The The ancient Roman city of Altinum was radiation. Healthy plants appeared as a
body of the most complete female abandoned between A.D. 400 and 600, different color than crops struggling in
specimen is 1.5 inches long, with a when invaders drove out its inhabitants. the dry conditions. The photos revealed
4- to 5-inch leg span. As the city’s residents moved onto the the outlines of Altinum’s structures, with
Matjaz Kuntner, a biologist at islands of a nearby lagoon, founding the thirsty crops growing in the shallow soil
the Slovenian Academy of Sci- city of Venice, Altinum was covered by above buildings and walls, and healthy
ences and Arts, and Jonathan Cod- floodwaters and soil. Although archae- crops growing in the deeper, more hy-
dlington, an entomologist at the ologists have long known that Altinum drated soil above canals and ditches.
Smithsonian National Museum of existed just north of Venice, they haven’t Now that the researchers have
Natural History, believe the species been able to get a good look at the mapped the buried city, it could help
might help explain why females remains of the city until now. them to select excavation sites.
of some animal groups are much
larger than males. Like other spe- Ruins Leave Clear Traces in Plant Growth
cies in the Nephila genus and the 1. Moist soil in ancient ditches and canals causes crops
related genus Herennia, N. komaci to thrive and be green even during droughts.
females can grow to be about five
times as large as the males. Being 2. Stone walls hold little moisture, so crops above
bigger might help them ward off 1 them struggle during droughts.
predators and have more babies. 1
1
2

Science Update
Lead researcher
Peter Kühmstedt scans
a model’s mouth.
New Scanner Takes 3-D

Photos of Your Teeth
A technological breakthrough maps the mouth to help construct precisely fitting dentures
TECHNOLOGY Researchers at the them to the lab for the final cast. Many every tooth or gap. The dentist then
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics dentures come back ill-fitting, requiring inputs the images into 3-D software,
and Precision Engineering in Jena, Ger- still more adjustments. which conducts a pixel-precise com-
many, have developed a 3-D imaging The 3-D system, designed for the parison to map the patient’s mouth.
system that is poised to revolutionize German dental-technology company Technicians are then able to create a
the field of dental prosthesis. Hint Els, takes less time and improves dental prosthesis with a more exact fit.
Making dentures today is a multi- accuracy. An optical scanner is inserted Hint Els is currently working on
step process. Dentists take impressions into the patient’s mouth, where it takes commercial production of the optical
of the bite, make wax or stone-material a rapid sequence of pictures from vari- scanner, called directScan, which could
models from them, and test them in the ous angles every 200 milliseconds, be available as soon as September. Bet-
patient’s mouth for fit before sending recording the surface and shape of ter- fitting dentures are on the way.
FROM TOP: FRAUNHOFER INSTITITE; STSCI/AURA/ESA/NASA
The Best Look at a Faraway Galaxy

ASTRONOMY Wide Field Camera 3, in- from the galaxy’s core [the bright white
stalled last year on the Hubble Space Tele- region at right]. Their ultraviolet light
scope, has captured the most detailed ionizes lingering hydrogen gas bubbles,
view of distant star formation yet in the encasing them in a red glow. In some
galaxy M83, located 15 million light-years spots, energetic winds have been created
away in the constellation Hydra. by the young stars’ charged particles and
The images of M83 show stars at every remnants from recent supernova events.
Recent images of the
stage of development. Young stars—less These winds have blasted the hydrogen M83 galaxy show details
than 10 million years old—reside at the away, making the slightly older blue star of star development.
edge of the dark dust ridges spiraling clusters behind them clearly visible.

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Science Update
LightSail-1 will
put solar sailing to Probe to Unfurl Its Sail 500 Miles
its first real test. above Earth’s Atmosphere
LightSail-1, slated to launch next year, will hitch
a ride on a rocket to prove that solar sailing
CubeSats works. Later versions will study solar storms.
1. LightSail-1 will weigh
less than 11 pounds. Solar
panels will encase three mini-
satellites called CubeSats,
which house the sail.
Solar panel
2. When the craft is at

4. The sail will least 500 miles above
measure 350 square Earth’s atmosphere, the
feet and will be about four solar panels will open,
a quarter the thickness revealing the CubeSats.
of a trash bag. Sail
Solar Sailing 3. Four 13-foot-

long masts will
push out from the
CubeSats
Gets Ready for Liftoff CubeSats, unfurling

the solar sail.
Mast
Energy from light will propel a craft on its maiden voyage, turning an idea from the 1920s into reality
SPACE TRAVEL A nearly century-old from light, or photons, reflecting off than 11 pounds and has a small sail,
FROM TOP: PLANETARY SOCIETY/CLAUS LUNAU; GENERALDIREKTION KULTURELLES ERBE RHEINLAND-PFALZ

dream of space exploration is moving an ultrathin foil sheet on a spacecraft which enables it to accelerate faster and
closer to reality as the Planetary Society would push the craft forward. The Plan- maneuver better than the Planetary
in Pasadena, California, plans its second etary Society attempted the world’s Society’s first, 88-pound craft. Light-
attempt to send a spacecraft sailing first launch of a solar sail into space in Sail-1 will fly 500 miles above Earth’s
toward the stars powered entirely by 2005, but the Russian rocket carrying it atmosphere, where its sole mission will
energy from light particles. exploded over the Barents Sea. be to prove that solar sailing works.
In the 1920s, Russian scientists Shortly after the failed launch, the The design for the craft will be final-
Fridrich Tsander and Konstantin Tsiol- Society took over Nanosail, NASA’s ized this year, says the Society’s execu-
kovsky first contemplated solar sails. solar-sail R & D program, which was tive director, Louis Friedman. The group
In the 1950s and ’60s, a number of about to be shut down. The planned is currently seeking a rocket on which to
researchers theorized that the pressure craft, renamed LightSail-1, weighs less piggyback for a 2011 launch.
Skulls from the

German site Stone Age Cannibals Uncovered?
Thousands of bone fragments and hundreds of smashed skulls found
between 2005 and 2008 in Herxheim in southwestern Germany are
evidence of ancient cannibalism, says French anthropologist Bruno
Boulestin of the University of Bordeaux 1. Boulestin and German
colleagues believe that 7,000 years ago, Stone Age people killed and
consumed at least 500 human victims here, possibly during a social or
political crisis raging in Europe . Other researchers, however, posit that
the site was simply used for reburial purposes.

Science Update News Flash!
28
Countering recent
political attacks on
Robot Fish Slices climate researchers, the
work of 255 members
through Water of the U.S. National Acad-
emy of Sciences published
BIOMIMICRY The most vulnerable part a statement in Science
of any underwater robot is its propeller, reaffirming evidence that
which can be easily damaged on rocky “humans are changing
terrain or get caught in submerged plants. the climate in ways that
The number of years naked mole The black ghost knifefish, a South Ameri- threaten our societies and
rats have survived in captivity, the can river species, has no such problem: the ecosystems on which
longest known life span of any An undulating fin that runs along its belly we depend.”
rodent, according to research from propels it through obstacles. Keri Collins,
the City College of New York a doctoral student at the University of Seventy-million-year-old
Bath in England, developed a robot called dinosaur bones found in
Gymnobot (for Gymnotiformes, a group Romania are the remains
of fish species including knifefish) using of an adult dwarf species,
the fish as a model. The robot’s flexible fin, not a juvenile, say scientists
attached to a rigid body, is tangle-proof, at the University of Bonn
according to laboratory tests. When com- in Germany. A study of
plete, Gymnobot will help scientists study the fossils’ microstructure
Niger’s giraffe population
has grown from 50 to 220
marine life in coastal waters, where varying confirmed the previously
in just 10 years. terrain and habitats are tricky to navigate. dismissed theory.
Australian researchers
Keri Collins is modifying
the robot to swim backward report that adolescents
and up and down. with autism spectrum
disorders were better able
to distinguish facial
expressions after receiving
an inhaled dose of oxytocin,
a hormone associated
with love, trust and social
FROM LEFT: GIRAFFECONSERVATION.ORG; NIC DELVES-BROUGHTON/UNIVERSITY OF BATH

recognition.
West African Giraffes Make Strides

One of the world’s most threatened populations gets a chance at survival
CONSERVATION Sixteen years of work by the Association to Safeguard the Gi-

raffes of Niger (ASGN) are paying off, says Jean Patrick Suraud, the group’s scien-
tific manager. In the early 20th century, West African giraffes roamed a vast area
that stretched from Chad to Senegal. By the late 1990s, poaching and deforesta-
tion had decreased the population to only 50 individuals clustered 37 miles from
Niger’s capital, Niemey. Since 1994, ASGN has worked with the government of
Niger and several international wildlife societies, banning poaching and creating
conservation projects to protect the subspecies. The animals now number 220,
making this one of the fastest repopulation efforts in giraffe-conservation history.

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Ask Us P. 28
What makes a
P. 28
How do scientists
You ask, we answer.
P. 30
How big can a
bird’s feathers see atoms? carnivorous land
so colorful? mammal grow?
Can coal- Two galaxies collide because of mutual
plant waste gravitational attraction, leading to the

formation of a single larger galaxy.
be recycled?
In the U.S., more than 40 percent
of fly ash, a fine powder produced
in coal-fired power plants, is recy-
cled and used in the construction
of highways, pavement, bridges,
dams and buildings. Fly ash was a
major air pollutant in the late 19th
and early 20th century, when it
was released directly into the air
from industrial-plant chimneys,
but today’s incinerators mostly
limit the emission of the ash into
the atmosphere.
Although a large amount of
the fly ash extracted from power
plants is dumped (exactly how
varies by state), most of what
What happens when
remains is made into a hard,
long-lasting form of concrete. It is
also useful in producing cement,
galaxies collide?
FROM TOP: HUBBLE/NASA; COURTESY AMERICAN COAL ASH ASSOCIATION
asphalt and pavement. Some fly When mutual gravitational attraction galaxy, the Milky Way, probably developed
ash can even be reburned to get brings two nearby galaxies together (a from the collisions and mergers of smaller
more energy out of it. relatively common event), their gases ones. And in turn, collisions between two
collide violently. As gas and dust smash spiral galaxies, like ours, are thought to
together at speeds of millions of miles form still larger elliptical galaxies.
an hour, they combine the raw materials Andromeda and the Milky Way are
Fly ash consists for new stars in a spectacularly hot and among the largest galaxies in our ga-
of various amounts of
unburned carbon. bright display. Over millions of years, new lactic cluster, known as the Local Group.
stars and even new galaxies can form this Andromeda, which is located about two
way. Highly energetic collisions could million light-years away from our galaxy,
also be the cause of rare cosmic objects is on track to collide with it in three to four
called quasars, which, despite being much billion years. When this occurs, many new
smaller, can be hundreds of times as stars will form and others will go super-
bright as giant galaxies, allowing them to nova. Nearby exploding stars will probably
be observed from great distances. render Earth uninhabitable. That is, if a
Whereas some galaxies formed on larger, hotter sun—something our star will
their own, many others, including our become—hasn’t already done so.

Ask Us
From left: Bearded vultures bathe in red soil to get their color. Parrots get their red feathers from special pigments called
psittacofulvins. The structure of hummingbird feathers creates the iridescent colors on these birds.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: NATURE PL; K.W. FINK/ARDEA; COURTESY PDPHOTO.ORG; ANDREAS RIEMANN/WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Birds can see a larger spectrum of colors eating plants. These pigments can interact hues on the throats of many hummingbird
than most of us, and they flaunt a variety with melanins to produce even more colors, species, for example, are caused by the
of eye-catching plumage. Pigments called like olive green. The final group, porphyrins, splitting of white light into its component
melanins, carotenoids and porphyrins made appear as a wide range of colors, including colors in a phenomenon known as interfer-
in the birds’ skin produce most feather brown, pink, red and green. Certain birds, ence. A special kind of diffraction of light,
colors. Melanins produce black feathers, such as parrots, get their bright colors from called the Tyndall effect, can produce the
but depending on the concentration of the less-common pigments produced directly blue color of many birds, including some
pigment granules, they can also range to in their feathers. species of tanager and blue jay. In these
reddish browns and pale yellows. Bright red, In some birds, the structure of the species, small, finely dispersed reflecting
yellow and orange feathers are produced by animals’ feathers produces the appear- particles—often pockets of air—present in
carotenoids, which birds generally get from ance of certain colors. The bright iridescent the feathers reflect blue and violet colors.
With high-powered microscopes. Most of our early knowledge of atomic structure was
based on indirect experimental observations, but in 1955, Erwin Muller and Kanwar Bahadur
of Penn State University imaged individual atoms using field-ion microscopy. Fifteen years
later, scanning-transmission electron microscopy produced atomic-resolution images from
a stream of electrons scanning across an object’s surface. Since the 1980s, scanning-
tunneling microscopes have been used to image individual atoms. These microscopes
A scanning-tunneling microscope image of a detect electrons as they tunnel across the distance between the microscope’s probe and a
silver surface, showing individual iron atoms surface. By observing this process, scientists can see the surface with atomic resolution.

Who . . . ?
Who first tried to
sail around Africa?
A Greek explorer, Eudoxus of
Cyzicus, made the first known
attempt to sail the entire perim-
eter of Africa in the 2nd century
B.C. His first boat ran ashore,
and his second expedition was
lost. No one tried again until
the late 1400s.
Who first used the

Yellow carotenoid pigments
secreted by a special gland give
word “computer”?
great Indian hornbills their color.
The word comes from the verb
“compute,” meaning to deter-
mine, especially by mathemat-
ical means. That word comes
from the Latin computare.
Often, structural colors combine with “Computer” was first written
in 1646 by English author
pigments to produce the colors seen in Thomas Browne to describe a
feathers. For example, the green color of person who computes.
some parrots is the result of the interplay
between structural blue-reflecting feath-
Who invented the
ers and yellow pigments.
pocket watch?
Some animals “paint” themselves with
so-called cosmetic colors from resources Peter Henlein, a German
available in their surroundings or from locksmith, is thought to have
invented the first watches in
their own secretions. Birds such as horn- the early 1500s. Unlike clocks,
bills and pelicans change the color of their these used springs instead of
BIRDS GET THEIR COLORS plumage by coating it with yellow or red drive weights, allowing them
to be small and portable.
IN THREE DISTINCT WAYS pigments secreted from a special gland.
And some feather colors aren’t produced
t1JHNFOUTChemical com-
by birds at all. The bearded vulture, for in-
pounds produce color.
stance, splashes itself with red soil to get its
t4USVDUVSF Physical charac- characteristic hue. There are varied reasons
teristics create colors. some birds paint themselves and others
t$PTNFUJDT Birds add have evolved fanciful displays of color, the
colors to themselves. most important of which may be to attract
mates during courtship or to signal status.
FROM TOP: NATURE PL; CORBIS/POLFOTO
“It’s generally not a problem,” says pediatric gastroenterologist Esther Israel of the North
American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. Gum will al-
most always pass through your gut within three days. But in rare cases, swallowing gum—
specifically, the additives in some brands—can have surprising repercussions. Large
amounts of sorbitol, a sweetener in many sugar-free varieties, can cause diarrhea, gas
and abdominal pain; cinnamon flavoring has been linked to ulcers; and a licorice flavor-
ing has been associated with high blood pressure. An even rarer complication observed
mainly in young children involves a large wad of gum blocking the gastrointestinal tract.

Ask Us How . . . ?
How do electric eels
The extinct bear
generate electricity?
Arctodus simus, shown These fish contain special cells
to scale next to a polar called electroplaques that
bear and an average- produce electricity through
sized human was once the excitation of nerves. Large
the largest mammalian numbers of electroplaques in
carnivore on land. the tail region of the eels form
the electric organs, which the
animals use to stun their prey.
The organs can discharge up
to 650 volts, nearly four times
the peak voltage produced by a
Polar bear Arctodus simus household outlet.
Weight = 900–1,800 pounds Weight = 1,700–2,200 pounds
How was the

speed of light
first measured?
English astronomer James
Bradley calculated the speed
of light in 1725 by measuring
changes in the position of stars.
Theoretically, around 2,425 pounds for exceed about 44 pounds, they can generally He correctly concluded that the
movement of the Earth along its
terrestrial mammals, according to models meet their energy needs only by eating prey orbit, and the fact that light had
developed by researchers at the Institute of of their own size or larger. Large prey provides a finite speed, caused the stars’
Zoology in London. That number takes into significant food and energy but also takes apparent orbital movement.
account the fact that larger animals need to more energy to hunt, and this imposes a limit
eat more, and that carnivores spend much on the maximum size of carnivores. The very How do squirrels
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ALASKA STOCK IMAGES/NGS AND ARK/WIKIMEDIA; CHRIS KNAGGS/IMAGESELECT; MIKKEL JUUL JENSEN
more time and energy looking for (and kill- largest mammalian predators must modify choose which acorns
ing) food than herbivores do. their behaviors to conserve energy. For exam- to store for winter?
Carnivores face energy-based challenges ple, lions lie around more than 90 percent of
related to their size: The larger a predator the time, and many bears become dormant Squirrels favor acorns from red
oaks because they last through
becomes, the more difficult it becomes to [for more on dormancy and hibernation, turn the winter without sprouting.
take in enough calories. Once mammals to “The Superstarvers,” page 60]. Polar bears, Once they sprout, the acorns
which weigh 900 to 1,800 pounds, are the are less valuable as food.
largest living carnivorous land mammals. The
extinct bear species Arctodus simus, estimated
Gigantic Carnivores to have weighed as much as 2,220 pounds,
Among the largest predators to have holds the all-time record.
ever lived on land were the dinosaurs Reptiles have much lower metabolic
Spinosaurus aegyptiacus and Tyranno- rates—the rate at which the body consumes
saurus rex. Biologists believe these rep- energy—than mammals, which might be
tiles were able to reach much larger sizes how some carnivorous dinosaurs reached
than carnivorous mammals because weights of more than 26,000 pounds. Mam-
their metabolic rates were relatively low. malian herbivores, like the 30,000-pound
Indricotherium, a type of extinct hornless rhi-
Spinosaurus noceros, can get even bigger because of the
"4,64
aegyptiacus
relative ease with which they find their food.
"/%8*/"
Weight: 26,455 pounds SCIENCE
Putting animals in the water changes
Length: 47 feet
ILLUSTRATED
Height: 16 feet the equation. Aquatic mammals, like sperm
5ʰ4)*35
whales and elephant seals, can become
Tyrannosaurus Send your question
much larger than terrestrial ones because to our editors. If we
rex
Weight: 22,046 pounds their fat helps them float and also provides answer it in an issue, we’ll send you this
Length: 39 feet insulation, thus decreasing the energy they cool T-shirt. E-mail your questions to
Height: 13 feet expend while swimming and regulating askus@scienceillustrated.com
their body temperature.

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Does anyone read “how to” books to learn

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MAN MEETS
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Th arge ne o w
sl o o -
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d is y
an st— ks in wa
ti har new
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Brad Norman affixes a “daily diary” to a

whale shark’s 5.5-inch-thick skin. The device
tracks the animal’s speed and depth.
32 | SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.Com JULY/AUGUST 2010

T
Conservation
N
B
rad Norman has loved the ocean
since he was a little boy, but
after a surreal encounter with
a feeding whale shark, he de-
cided to dedicate his life to protecting
the species. The Australian marine
conservationist encountered the mas-
sive fish in 1995 while conducting
master’s-degree research at Murdoch
University in Australia. As it passed,
the whale shark ignored Norman
completely. “I was laughing into my
snorkel,” he says, recalling “a mix of
excitement and relief.” Soon he was
diving with the species regularly, in-
trigued by how little researchers knew.
These gentle giants, which can grow
to 60 feet long during their lifetime,
sport glowing white spots on their
skin. Norman thought the markings
might be used to identify individuals
just as fingerprints identify humans.
Before a 1986 review, Norman
soon discovered, there were only 320
recorded observations of whale sharks.
He realized that no one had any clue
how many individuals there were in
the world. And so, in 1999, Norman
founded Ecocean, a database where
he and other divers could pool their
photos of the whale sharks and their
markings. The idea was to find a way
to identify individual sharks and to
JULY/AUGUST 2010 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.Com | 33

raise public awareness of the species. harpooned a pregnant female off the
Whale sharks are classified as vul- coast of Taiwan. Around 300 embryos
nerable on the International Union for of various sizes were found in her
Conservation of Nature Red List be- two uteruses, leading to suspicions
cause of past unregulated harpooning that the species is ovoviviparous,
in Taiwan, India and the Philippines. meaning eggs hatch inside the female.
The animals are now protected in the
latter two countries, and protective The Team Forms
regulations are pending in Taiwan. In 2002, while diving in the Red Sea off
But conservation is hampered by how the coast of Djibouti in northeastern
little scientists understand about the Africa, Jason Holmberg, a technical
animals. For instance, whale-shark writer, also fell in love. “As we were
reproduction is a mystery. They have about to leave, someone said ‘whale
never been seen mating because they shark,’ so I dove back in,” he recalls.
spend most of their lives in waters too The object of his affection was an
Brad Norman’s Ecocean database can identify individual
deep for observation. A rare insight eight-foot juvenile. He was particu- sharks from photos by comparing the pattern of spots
surfaced in 1995, when a fisherman larly fascinated by the glowing spots with more than 26,000 other pictures in the database.
from top: kurt amsler/rolex awards; juergen freund/nature pl; preceding pages: juergen freund/rolex awards
The increased popularity of diving

and snorkeling has helped
researchers keep better track of
sharks, with amateur photos.

Conservation
Empirical Evidence: Travel
A whale shark and divers

at the Georgia Aquarium
How to Get Close to Whale Sharks

Georgia Aquarium, the world’s San Diego Shark Diving offers Whale sharks swim with their mouths open and expel
the water through gill slits to filter their prey.
largest, is home to the biggest indoor a five-day trip into the Gulf of Mexico,
aquatic exhibit, Ocean Voyager. Here which includes three mornings of
you will find four whale sharks that you guided warm-water snorkeling. You
can observe behind glass, swim with, or can expect to swim with massive whale
dive alongside. The aquarium also offers sharks in their natural habitat during the “daily diaries” to individual sharks.
a special whale-shark diving certificate height of the season. These devices record the speed,
program, available to certified divers. depth and location of the animals,
WHERE: Isla Holbox, Mexico allowing Norman to track their ac-
WHERE: Atlanta tivity. Through these recordings, he
WHEN: June through August has learned that whale sharks, which
WHEN: All year swim slowly in shallow depths, climb
COST: $1,500 (includes transportation and dive repeatedly and quickly while
COST: Adult admission, $26; children, from Cancun airport to Chiquila, ferry feeding at depths of up to 4,220 feet.
$19.50; seniors, $21.50; swim, $225; dive, from Chiquila to Isla Holbox, and a double- Because getting an exact count
$325; certificate program, $75 occupancy hotel room at Isla Holbox) on the whale-shark population is so
georgiaaquarium.org sdsharkdiving.com difficult, Norman is still collecting
data, and he hopes to gain a better
understanding of the species’ health.
from left: courtesY patrick williams pHotograpHY; Valerie taYlor/ardea
Researchers speculate that whale

sharks’ extensive migrations follow
on the shark’s skin. Holmberg won- published proof that such an algo- food pulses, or mass spawning of
dered, like Norman had, if he could rithm could, in fact, identify sharks. corals and other animals in tropical
use the spots to identify individual Today Ecocean contains more than reefs near Australia, the Philippines,
fish. “It was just an afterthought,” he 26,000 photos of over 2,100 whale Mozambique, the Gulf of Mexico and
says. “But the more I thought about sharks identified by the algorithm. the Galápagos (as filter feeders, their
it, the more curious I became.” He These contributions, coming from a diet consists of zooplankton, small
approached Zaven Arzoumanian, a mix of researchers and amateur divers, fish and mollusks). If whale sharks
research scientist at NASA Goddard have become essential to whale-shark stop visiting a particular area, it could
Space Flight Center, about adapting research. “By taking these photos, be an important indicator of the
the Groth algorithm—used to map anyone can become a citizen scien- health of their environment there,
stars observed from the Hubble Space tist,” Norman says. Using Ecocean, which could also affect other species.
Telescope and other facilities—to iden- which won Norman a National Geo- “I like to think of whale sharks as a
tify spot patterns on whale sharks. To graphic Emerging Explorers Award canary in a coal mine for how our
test the algorithm, the pair needed in 2008, people have recorded whale ecosystems are faring,” Norman says.
photos of the animals, and that’s how sharks off the coasts of 43 countries. In the end, it seems, falling in love
Holmberg and Arzoumanian found In addition to Ecocean, Norman with these giant fish means falling
Norman and Ecocean. In 2005, the trio has also been able to attach digital in love with the entire ocean.

Photo Portfolio Forensics
Grains of
Truth
Fingerprints? DNA? That’s ancient history for a handful of
dogged forensic scientists around the globe. They’re
catching bad guys with the unlikeliest of evidence: pollen
PHOTOgraPHs BY rOB Kesseler and Madeline HarleY

O
n December 2, 1989, a private the aircraft’s flight or approach, and curlycup gumweed, two insect-
twin-engine plane traveling clogging the fuel line and causing pollinated flowers that grew in the
from San Diego crashed near power loss. Filters, they claimed, yard where the plane parts had been
a regional airport in Ruidoso, would have prevented the crash. stored. Hardly any pollen would have
New Mexico, killing the pilot and his In an unusual move, the defense at- been in the air during the winter when
wife. Investigators found no defects torneys called in palynologists—experts the crash took place, let alone insect-
in the engines and attributed the on pollen and spores—to pinpoint the dispersed pollen, which is heavier
crash to pilot error before storing origin of the mass, which included plant than grains carried by the wind and
the wreckage in a yard outside the leaves and hairs and a small pellet of is scarce at high altitudes. Plus, the
airport. Attorneys for the children pollen grains. Did the vegetation enter pollen was fresh and intact, showing no
of the couple later salvaged some of the fuel line when the plane was air- signs of being burned in a fiery crash.
the plane parts and conducted their borne, or later, when the wreckage was The possibility that the matter had
own investigation, turning up a small stored outside? The experts analyzed entered the motor in-flight was ruled
mass of plant matter in one engine’s the grains under high magnification out, and the defendants were exoner-
fuel lines. They sued the plane’s and identified them ated. The source of the plant
manufacturers, asserting that the mainly as yellow mass: a rogue bee that had
engine sucked in the vegetation during sweetclover taken up residence in the
PurPle rain
The ornamental thistle’s pollen grains are
spiked, which may help them cling to insects or
to the species’ showy magenta blossoms.

Forensics
engine after the crash, leaving a tell-

tale hair embedded in the pollen.
Suspended in clouds, fossilized
inside ancient rocks, hidden in the
lint in your pants pockets—pollen is
everywhere. Some 240,000 described
species of flowering and coniferous
plants produce the fine dust—many in
huge quantities—yet single grains are
invisible to the naked eye. Their diverse CatChing a ride
beauty is revealed best in scanning- Two pollen grains of a high mallow flower
electron-microscope images like those are attached to a bumblebee’s leg. animal-
on these pages, magnified thousands of dispersed pollen is usually bigger, heavier and
times and hand-colored. Pollen’s shapes more adorned than wind-dispersed varieties.
and adornments fulfill a practical pur-
pose, researchers theorize: Each grain is
designed to help the male reproductive
cells inside it find their way, whether
PaPadakis Publisher, from Pollen: The hidden SexualiTy of flowerS

on wind, water or animals, to female
parts of the same species, and stay
there. Yet lately pollen has begun to
play a very different role—as a sophis-
ticated form of forensic evidence.
The Pollen Print

French forensics pioneer Edmond
Locard famously stated that every
contact leaves a trace. This is a de-
fining principle of forensics. Trace
evidence may be clothing fibers,
a fingerprint or DNA from blood
or hair. Or it could be pollen.
Bees, like other animal pollinators,
pick up the grains as they travel from
flower to flower, collecting nectar

POllen ParaChutes
The wind-dispersed grains of the douglas
fir, commonly used for Christmas trees, rely
on air-filled sacs [yellow] to stay afloat.
OPen Wide
Most pollen, like that of the
pinang palm, has one or more
apertures, openings covered by
membranes that burst under
pressure from its pollen tube
[not shown]. reproductive cells
travel down the tube to the
ovule of a receptive flower.
Pretty PriCkly
The apertures are closed on
this ginger-bush grain and
appear as small bumps
between spines.

COnneCted fOr life

long, sticky threads link
fireweed’s triangular grains.
and pollen for food and nest building. of different types of pollen and spores some on the exhibits.” All three of the
Pollen grains that travel on animals present on the scene. Matching the suspects were found guilty, thanks in
tend to be relatively large (up to 200 pollen print from a crime scene to large part to Wiltshire’s pollen anal-
microns, or 0.008 inch, across) and can samples found on a suspect’s belong- ysis, and sentenced to life in prison.
be elaborately adorned. These adorn- ings may place the person at the scene. DNA, the current darling of foren-
ments may have evolved to help the If a suspect denies having been there, sics, is faster to process than a pollen
grains attach to animals or to the pollen may show that he’s lying. And assemblage, which must go through
stigma, the female receptive organ on if a victim and suspect have the same a painstaking chemical treatment
a flower. Wind-dispersed pollen is usu- pollen profile on them, it can often to remove the material surrounding
ally smaller (five microns at its tiniest), be concluded that both were at the it and the cytoplasm and sex cells
smoother and more plentiful, but it’s same place at the same time. “Pollen inside it and then be carefully ana-
no less striking. A glance at the grains is one of the most powerful tech- lyzed through a microscope to identify
in a scanning electron microscope niques in trace and contact evidence,” each individual species. Palynologists
explains why palynologists refer to pol- says Patricia Wiltshire, a forensic can determine a plant group—spruce
len’s artful topography as “sculpture.” ecologist, botanist and palynologist trees, for example—using a standard
Surprisingly, not all pollen is at the University of Gloucestershire light microscope at up to 1,500 times
spherical. Some is disc-like, some in England, which leads the world magnification. More time-consuming
football-shaped and some triangular. in the use of forensic palynology. and expensive is the higher-resolution
The pollen of a particular species scanning-electron- or transmission-
even differs from that of its closest Beautiful Tool electron-microscope analysis that’s
relatives. Spores, the reproductive Last year, Wiltshire used pollen to con- sometimes needed to identify a plant
cells of the planet’s roughly 26,000 vict three drug dealers for murdering species. So why bother with pollen?
described ferns, mosses and other a drug runner. “It was a spectacular “The problem with a single hair is,
primitive, asexual plants, also vary case,” she says. “One of the gang hid how did it get there?” explains Dallas
from one another. All this diversity behind an oak tree within a cypress Mildenhall, a principal scientist at the
of shape and size means there’s a dif- hedge. We showed that the palyno- forensics lab GNS Science in New Zea-
ferent “fingerprint” for every plant logical assemblage in samples from land. “Couldn’t it have blown in from
in the world. These fingerprints are the crime scene—from leaf litter, soil, the window? But when you’re dealing
the domain of forensic palynolo- washings from the oak tree trunk with a large number of pollen grains,
gists, a small group of experts who and from foliage on the cypress the chances are highly likely that they
use pollen and spores to link ob- hedge—was very similar to that on the were transferred at a precise time.”
jects and people to crime scenes. clothes, shoes and vehicles retrieved “For a while, DNA was God,” adds
And just as every plant has its own from the suspects. There were a Lynne Milne, Australia’s leading
fingerprint, every location too has a number of rare plant pollens that were forensic palynologist at Curtin Univer-
distinct “pollen print,” the assemblage in the soils at the scene that matched sity of Technology. “It almost seemed

Pollen’s stunning
shapes and
adornments
fulfill a practical
purpose: Each
grain is designed
to help the male sex
cells inside it find
their way to
female parts of
the same species,
and stay there.
grOuP travel
Orchid pollen, like that of
Calanthe aristulifera, is dis-
persed in a pollinarium, a group
of grains [bottom] attached to
a branch, or caudicle [middle],
connected to a sticky structure
called the viscidium [top].


like if there was no DNA, there was The Coldest Cases
no evidence. But now people are Pollen’s cell walls are very durable,
looking at it differently.” One of pol- so the grains can survive for millions
len’s greatest advantages for forensics of years. In one case in Wales, pollen
is its microscopic size. Criminals from a walnut tree that had been cut
don’t realize they’ve taken it with down 80 years prior linked suspects
them or left it behind. In Milne’s to the scene of a crime where the tree
first case, in 1997, a man washed his had once stood. The pollen had per-
clothes after murdering his estranged sisted in the soil and made its way into
wife. Laundering the clothes didn’t the suspects’ vehicle. Pollen’s longevity
succeed in eliminating the trace makes it especially useful for investi-
evidence on it. Milne still found an gating cold cases, like the mysterious
uncommon type of acacia-shrub identity of a teenage girl murdered
pollen on his shirt clearly linking in a cornfield in upstate New York
him to the woods where he had in 1979. Twenty-seven years later, in
dumped his wife’s body and to the 2006, palynologist Vaughn Bryant,
car that had been used to get there. the director of the palynology lab at
taking flight
Pollen is produced in anthers,
the sacs on the tips of the sta-
men, the male organ of flowers.
shirt tales
Pollen on clothing, like these
silk-tree grains trapped on the
fibers of a cotton shirt, can link
people to crime scenes. This
species sheds polyad pollen, in
which grains are packaged in
groups of four or more.

Case ClOsed
grains of pollen from the
acacia, or wattle, family of
shrubs helped solve a 1996
murder in australia.
Texas A&M University, analyzed her “Or they don’t want to pay for it.” Yet pollen’s purview extends far
clothing and found pollen that occurs Interest has grown at the federal beyond violent crimes. Around the
only in the southwestern U.S., pos- level since 2001. “After 9/11, Bryant world, it has been used to break up a
sibly around San Diego. This supported says, “the U.S. government was eager cocaine ring, authenticate antiques,
the local police’s belief, based on to do anything to find out who had find counterfeit Viagra and antima-
other evidence, that she was from the committed the attacks and to prevent larial drugs, and even track down
southwest, not the northeast. “Pollen it from happening again.” Pollen has stolen sheep and a lawn mower. Pol-
is an incredible tool and resource,” since been used in several terrorism len’s seemingly limitless versatility
says Livingston County sheriff John investigations. Although he couldn’t is one more reason why it’s a crucial
York, who is still searching for the comment on the cases, Bryant hinted addition to the forensics toolbox.
girl’s identity. “We can always suspect at their nature: “Pollen is a very And it won’t be the last. A few years
where a person came from, but to have good telltale for where things come ago, a fungus expert, or mycologist,
definitive proof is another thing.” from.” The burned clothing of suicide named David Hawksworth advanced
The U.S., with its huge diversity bombers, for example, may retain Wiltshire’s work by sharing his knowl-
of flora and extensive pollen records, pollen that could hold clues to their edge of fungi, whose spores, like those
is ideal for forensic palynology. The origin. Pollen has also been used to in- of plants, can link objects and people
field debuted here in the mid-1970s, vestigate war crimes. In the late 1990s, to crime scenes. Mold can also be used
when the Department of Agriculture forensics experts working with the to determine time of death when other
first used pollen to ensure that bee- United Nations in Bosnia found pollen clues, like flies swarming a corpse,
keepers receiving domestic subsidies evidence indicating that more than aren’t present. Hawksworth and Wilt-
were actually making their honey 2,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys shire later married, and today the two
in the U.S. But it’s only been used executed over five days in 1995 during are championing the use of ecological
in a handful of criminal cases here the Bosnian war had later been moved evidence in forensics. Pollen and fungi
since then. “Local law-enforcement from five large mass graves to several evidence have bolstered each other in
agencies don’t know about it or don’t smaller ones scattered across the some cases, Wiltshire says. Fungus,
believe it’s useful,” Bryant says. countryside to cover up the massacre. it seems, is the next frontier.

Behind the sCenes
The scanning electron micrographs in this story color and adjusted to give the form a stronger
were captured by visual artist rob Kesseler, a feeling of three-dimensionality while also indi-
former fellow at the royal Botanic gardens, cating different functional characteristics of the
Kew, in england, and Madeline Harley, the pollen grain,” he explains. “i spend a lot of time
former head of the palynology unit at Kew and building up subtle layers of color to create the
a current research fellow there. Kesseler colored final image. although i use a graphic pen and
the black-and-white images—including the drawing tablet, the artistic sensibilities are in
group on this page, from his car’s air filter—by many ways no different than when i draw with
hand. “My coloration is based on the flower pastels or paint with watercolors.”

Oceans
of
ENERGY
Waves and tidal currents are two of

nature’s most renewable resources.
The U.S. and European nations
are finally taking notice, with
prototype power plants
springing up in their
coastal waters
A tidal turbine is installed

off the coast of the Orkney
island of Eday.

Renewable Energy
W
ater crashes against the Energy Center (EMEC), a testing ground in a turbine, driving a generator to
steep, rocky cliffs on the for wave- and tidal-power installations. produce electricity. But ocean-power
western coast of Mainland, Ocean-power generators are simple stations must be able to withstand
the largest of the Orkney in theory. Like conventional hydro- the heavy currents and unpredict-
Islands north of Scotland. The waves electric power plants, which are often able weather of the open seas.
rolling in from the Atlantic are typi- located in river dams, marine plants EMEC will need to ensure the
cally 6 to 10 feet high in the summer. rely on moving water—either from reliablity and safety of ocean instal-
In winter, they can reach 30 feet. It’s a strong tidal currents or big waves—to lations under such harsh conditions
perfect home for the European Marine turn a mechanism such as the blades and prove that the projects won’t harm
Exploiting the Power of the Tides to Create Energy

Energy can be harvested from tidal currents in various ways, from very simple
High-Powered Tides underwater turbines to enormous damlike projects. Here are four designs:
The areas around
Orkney-øerne
the British Isles
Hydrofoil
with the most
potential for tidal
power are in yellow. Turbine
Tidal-flow Tidal-flow
Map courtesy of Sustainable direction direction
Development
Commission, Scotland
U.K.
Tidal Activity
High Low
Horizontal-axis turbine: The force of the Hydrofoil generator: Tidal water

The Earth’s Tides ocean’s tidal currents causes the turbine’s blades
to turn, causing the components of a generator
streaming past causes the unit’s wings to flap
up and down, driving a hydraulic piston and
Explained to spin, producing electricity. thereby a generator.
Generator
The tides are controlled by the gravita-
tional pull of the moon and the sun.
The moon is the major player, causing Dam
water to collect at the points on the
Earth that are closest to it and opposite Tidal-flow Turbine
it. This results in high and low tides ap- direction
Tidal-flow
proximately two times a day. direction
Features on the Earth’s surface can affect
the height and speed of the tides as well.
The tides flow over an uneven ocean floor Vertical-axis turbine: The same concept as Tidal barrage: Tidal water is captured at high
and around uneven landmasses, sometimes the horizontal turbine, but with vertical blades. tide behind a dam. When the tide turns, the
This allows turbines to be placed in configurations water is released to the sea, passing through a
spreading out over an especially deep or
that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. set of turbines.
wide body of water and sometimes funnel-
ing into especially shallow or constricted
areas such as bays, inlets or even rivers.
This funneling often causes choppy over a shallow area of the ocean floor. It water, sometimes accompanied by high,
waves, whirlpools and fast-moving cur- can also cause a phenomenon known as a powerful waves. On the Amazon River, for
rents—like the nearly 9mph stream at the tidal bore, in which the incoming high tide example, the waves of the tidal bore can
European Marine Energy Cen- creates a wave that travels up and against reach 12 feet high and are strong enough
ter’s Eday test site in the the usual current of a river or inlet. to dislodge logs along the river’s edge.
Orkney Islands—as wa- STATUS Tidal bores can speed along And on China’s Fuchun River, waves crest
The first commercial
ter travels between two or three times as fast as as high as 15 feet, and the current travels
tidal-power plant is operating
two landmasses or off the coast of Northern Ireland, with the tidal current in open up to 15 mph when the tidal bore rolls in.
a waiting list for several more designs
to be tested at the European Marine
Energy Center’s test site in the
waters around the
Orkney Islands. JULY/AUGUST 2010 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM | 47
the marine ecosystem. To do so, it has the area’s almost 9mph tidal streams— projects still in the planning stage. To
started laying down infrastructure for among the fastest in Europe—to help America catch up, last year the
test projects from companies around generate electricity. Likewise, cables Department of Energy invested more
the world in the waters near Orkney. have been laid from the open waters than $17 million to support research on
Undersea electric cables connect equip- off Mainland to test harnessing waves. the technologies. Part of that money
ment just off the coast of the island established the Hawaii National Marine
of Eday to a substation onshore. The Others Dive In Renewable Energy Center at the
cables carry power from underwater The U.S. lags behind the U.K. in wave- University of Hawaii and the Northwest
installations that will attempt to use and tidal-power technology, with most National Marine Energy Center, run
Waves of the first ever to deliver power to the grid—

went bankrupt, forcing the farm to shut
test Pelamis’s attenuator-style machines [see
Attenuator, facing page] at the European
the Future down after just a few months at sea. But Marine Energy Center’s Orkney site later
supporters of wave power haven’t been dis- this year. And in March, Pelamis announced
Wave power has always lagged couraged. “We learned a huge amount from another energy-company partnership with
behind tidal power, which takes ad- the Portugal project,” says Max Carcas of plans to manufacture and test a second
vantage of the slightly more predict- Pelamis Wave Power, the Scottish company machine at Orkney. Each test-site installation
able nature of currents and has more responsible for the design and manufacture will produce enough electricity to power
similarities to wind power. of the equipment used at the Portugal farm. 500 homes. If all goes well there, the com-
Wave power suffered a setback in “We’re keen to move forward,” he says. pany will deploy larger wave farms at other
2008, when a principal investor in a The company is partnering with the Eng- sites around Scotland, ultimately generating
wave farm off the coast of Portugal— lish energy supplier E.ON UK to install and enough electricity for 100,000 homes.
STATUS
The first wave farm failed finan-
cially, but new installations connected
to the grid (each with the capability to
PELAMIS WAVE POWER; PRECEDING PAGES, FROM LEFT: MIKE BROOKES ROPER; CLAUS LUNAU
power 500 homes) are in the works
in the U.K., and full-scale wave farms
could eventually provide enough
electricity to power
100,000 homes.
Pelamis’s wave-power installation

resembles a sea serpent and will soon
be installed at the European Marine
Energy Center’s test site.

Renewable Energy
jointly by Oregon State University and Across the pond, the fi rst com- power plants have the potential to
the University of Washington. Much mercial tidal-power plant, owned by be the next big thing in alternative
like EMEC, the centers will host ocean- Marine Current Turbines, is already energy. And although there’s still a
power prototypes and allow researchers operating in Northern Ireland. long way to go—wave and tidal power
to study the performance and With the U.S. increasingly focused on lags about 20 years behind wind,
environmental effects of their designs. eco-friendly energy and the Euro- and no one is quite sure which of
The DOE is also keeping track of some pean Union committed to drawing the proposed designs will prevail—
70 other wave and tide projects being 20 percent of its energy from renew- researchers are working hard to help
tested in U.S. waters. able sources by 2020, ocean-based ocean power enter the playing field.
Rugged Installations Generate Power on the High Seas

Powerful wave conditions demand strong materials such as giant plants built into coastal cliffs
and resilient equipment that can move with the force of the water. Here are four designs:
More Ways to
Harness the
Buoy Ocean’s Energy
In the future, tides and waves
will probably be the most
Piston
Floating elements Joint important sources of energy
from the seas, but not the only
ones. Even though the major
oceanic currents usually move
far more slowly than tidal
Attenuator: As floating parts linked by joints Point absorber: A buoy is set in motion
bob up and down in the waves, a hydraulic system by the waves, and that vertical motion currents, they could provide
channels the motion of the joints to operate a powers a generator through hydraulic or energy. Researchers in Florida
generator, creating electricity. mechanical systems. are studying whether the en-
ergy in the Gulf Stream, which
flows along the East Coast,
Air stream could be tapped.
Air column
A method known as ocean
thermal energy conversion
Generator
(OTEC) takes advantage of
Turbine Floating element the substantial temperature
difference between cold
deep-sea water and warm
surface water, using both
Oscillating water column: The motion of Overtopping device: Waves breaking into in a process that generates
water up and down in a partly submerged tube a reservoir fill it higher than the surrounding electricity. OTEC systems
or chamber pushes air in and out of the chamber sea level. When the water is released, it flows are being researched at the
through a turbine attached to a generator. down through turbines that drive a generator.
National Energy Labora-
tory of Hawaii Authority facil-
ity in Kailua.
Where the Waves Are And last November, the
Not all the world’s European energy company
seacoasts have useful Statkraft opened its prototype
wave energy. Some seas
are placid; others have osmotic power plant in Tofte,
powerful waves rolling Norway, which harnesses
CLAUS LUNAU
in year-round. Here, the the pressure of saltwater and

red lines show the areas
with the most potential. freshwater mixing through a
Average wave strength 5–29 semipermeable membrane to
(in kilowatts/meter of wave crest) 30–60 drive a turbine.

The Strength
to LiveExercise causes the
body to secrete many
compounds that keep us
disease-free, which could
help explain why a lack
of activity can lead to
diabetes, cardiovascular
disease, depression
and cancer. Here’s how
movement sustains us

Physiology
BACKGROUND
Calcium Ions Make Us Move

Muscle
Muscles contain many layers of fibers. Chemical reactions
in the innermost layer are responsible for movement.
Skeletal muscles are the most com-

mon type of muscle in our body and
the only ones we can consciously
control. These muscles are composed
of hundreds or thousands of muscle
fibers bundled together in groups
called fascicles. Each muscle fiber is a
single long, cylindrical muscle cell
Muscle fascicle
and is in turn made up of cylindrical
filaments called myofibrils.
Fiber
Myofibril
Sarcomere
Each myofibril contains thin and thick

filaments, with dark bands where both
types of filament overlap. The area between
the bands is called the sarcomere, which
forms the primary unit responsible for
muscle contraction.
Ca2+
Myosin
Actin
When a nerve impulse activates a muscle, calcium ions (Ca2+) stream out into the muscle cell.
The calcium allows actin (thin) and myosin (thick) filaments within the myofibril to bind, pulling
the filaments toward each other. The sliding filaments cause each sarcomere to contract a bit. This
process occurs simultaneously across all the sarcomeres, so that the entire fiber contracts at once.

Physiology Our identification
of the muscle
secretome will set a
new agenda for
the scientific
community which
is likely to dominate
the coming decade.”
–Bente Klarlund Pedersen

Centre of Inflammation and
Metabolism at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen
E
xercise is the cornerstone of only in the past decade that they have longer voluntarily move their muscles,
clockwise from top: m. eskestad/polfoto; centre of inflammation and metabolism (2); courtesy elsevier; preceding pages: claus lunau
good health—it strengthens the begun to understand the biological suggested that muscles reduced inflam-
heart and lungs and helps us underpinnings of the phenomenon. mation directly, rather than being
keep our weight under control. mediated solely by the nervous system.
Staying active also benefits the body How Exercise Bestows Its Benefits When these patients’ paralyzed
in more-subtle ways, reducing the Scientists had been looking for half a muscles were electrically stimulated,
risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovas- century for a conclusive link between the researchers noticed metabolic
cular disease. For example, physical exercise and the changes it induces. and hormonal responses despite no
activity seems to ward off insulin The skeletal muscles that help us move involvement of the nervous system.
resistance, which occurs when cells our limbs were obvious targets for As a result, scientists hunted for
become less sensitive to the ability studying exercise-related physiological an “exercise factor,” the exact process
of the hormone insulin to decrease and biochemical changes. Many of or chemical released by contracting
blood glucose levels. This resistance the effects muscles have on metabo- skeletal muscles that might account
can cause a buildup of blood sugar, lism and systemic inflammation were for some of the exercise-induced
which may lead to several illnesses, thought to be indirect—somehow changes in other parts of the body. “It
including cardiovascular disease. muscle movement affected the nervous was while looking for a mechanistic
Sedentary adults are more likely to system, researchers believed, which explanation for exercise-induced
suffer insulin resistance, a condition in turn reduced inflammation in the immune changes that I came across
that could eventually lead to Type body. But experiments in patients with interleukin (IL)-6,” says Bente Klarlund
2 diabetes. And people who don’t spinal-cord injuries, who could no Pedersen, the director of the Centre
exercise are more likely to suffer
atherosclerosis, a condition in which
plaques form on the walls of arteries.
1 3 4
The deposits can become so thick
that blood cannot flow through.
A common factor in all diseases
associated with a lack of exercise is
constant, low-level inflammation in
the body. This inflammation manifests
as a slight increase in the number of 2
immune-signaling molecules, called When mice are fed a high-fat diet, they typically
cytokines, circulating in the blood. accumulate large amounts of abdominal fat [1, 3].
But although researchers have known But mice that were genetically modified to
secrete more myokines were leaner and stronger
about the interplay between exercise despite being on the same diet [2, 4].
and inflammation for some time, it is

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UP
TO
Physiology
of Inflammation and Metabolism at
Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. “Our
identification of muscle as a cytokine-
Contracting Muscles
producing organ was a breakthrough.” Produce Myokines
In 2000, Pedersen found that con-
tracting muscles released significant When a nerve signal causes a muscle to contract, it begins to
amounts of IL-6 into the circulation produce chemicals called myokines, such as IL-6, which
during prolonged exercise. Such have many beneficial effects on the body.
muscle-secreted cytokines and
hormones were dubbed myokines. Myofibril
Further experiments also showed that Cell nucleus Mitochondria Fiber
this muscle-derived IL-6 has played
Transcription
an important role in metabolism. factor
The First Piece of the Puzzle

IL-6 is a classic pro-inflammatory
cytokine, normally secreted as a
signaling molecule to cause inflam-
mation that helps the body fight off
infection by microorganisms. IL-6 is
Sarcomere
also the first and most abundant myo-
kine produced during exercise, and its
concentration increases exponentially
during strenuous activity, peaking
at the end before falling back shortly
after. Pedersen and her colleagues
Two Processes Might Produce Myokines
initially thought that muscle damage 1. An increase in muscle calcium (Ca 2+
) activates Ca2+
from exercise induced immune cells to transcription factors to go to the cell nuclei, where they
may turn on genes that produce myokines.
secrete IL-6. One of Pedersen’s key dis-
Transcription
coveries was that contracting muscles factor
produce IL-6 themselves and secrete
it into the blood. She also found that
exercise-induced IL-6 actually reduces Complex of Ca2+
inflammation rather than causing it. and transcription
factor
Because IL-6 is mainly produced
in immune cells, researchers tried Cell nucleus
to figure out why muscles released
it during moderate exercise. One
explanation is that calcium secreted Myokine production
within muscle cells during a contrac-
Reactive oxygen species
tion could cause intermediate proteins,
known as transcription factors, to
stimulate IL-6 production. Another
theory is that reactive oxygen species
(ROS)—chemical waste products cre-
ated in muscles during exercise that 2. Increased energy pro-
react with and alter other compounds duction by mitochondria Mitochondria
in the cell—could act on other tran- in muscle cells creates
scription factors to raise levels of IL-6. chemically reactive waste
claus lunau
products, ROS, which

“Some of the benefits of regular
could stimulate the gene-
exercise may be due to its anti-
ration of myokines.
inflammatory effects, which may
be mediated in part by IL-6,” says

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A Sedentary 2GFGTUGP6JKUƂPFKPIYCUKPKVKCNN[
EQPHWUKPIUKPEG+.ECWUGUKPƃCO
Lifestyle Causes mation when secreted by immune
cells. The key to this conundrum
Disease UGGOUVQDGQVJGTRTQKPƃCOOCVQT[
molecules, such as tumor necrosis
factor alpha (TNF-alpha), which de-
Part of the benefit of exercise stems
termines whether IL-6 will increase
from the anti-inflammatory effects
QTFGETGCUGKPƃCOOCVKQP9JGP
of myokines. Without them, TNF-alpha is present, IL-6 promotes
abdominal fat promotes mild KPƃCOOCVKQP$WVGZGTEKUGCRRGCTU
inflammation in the body, which to inhibit TNF-alpha, and the IL-6
is associated with a number of OQNGEWNGUUWRRTGUUKPƃCOOCVKQP
chronic diseases instead. Whether IL-6 has a pro- or
CPVKKPƃCOOCVQT[TQNGVJWUFGRGPFU
on when, in which cells and with
which other molecules it’s released.
Dementia and depression: Exercise helps Using Myokines to Boost

guard against depression, possibly by increas-
Metabolism and Prevent Diseases
ing production of a myokine, BDNF. This myo-
kine helps the cells of our nervous system grow After IL-6, other myokines were dis-
and survive, and reduced levels have been EQXGTGFGCEJYKVJCURGEKƂEGHHGEV
associated with depression and impaired on body composition and physiology.
memory and cognition. A myokine expressed in skeletal
muscle called IL-15 promotes muscle
formation and may also reduce ac-
Cardiovascular disease: Chronic inflam- cumulation of fat, especially in the
mation can activate immune cells, and these abdomen. Belly fat is particularly
cells can influence plaque formation in ar- harmful because it is associated
teries. These deposits cause a narrowing of with insulin resistance and diabetes.
the arteries, leading to high blood pressure Mice that expressed high levels of
and increasing the risk of blood clots, heart +.JCXGUKIPKƂECPVN[TGFWEGFDQF[
attacks and strokes.
fat; and the results are similar in
people. Humans with higher IL-15
gene expression levels, which can be
Breast and colon cancer: Inflammation can achieved through strength training,
cause the pancreas to secrete more insulin, which also tend to have lower levels of body
can increase cell growth, especially in the colon, and
CLAUS LUNAU
fat. Further, researchers believe that
may ultimately lead to cancer. It is also possible that
lack of exercise could prevent the secretion of a myo-
IL-15 promotes muscle growth both
kine with anticancer properties, but such a myokine
hasn’t yet been identified.
PERSPECTIVES
Type 2 diabetes and obesity: Low-grade in-
flammation and insulin resistance are also known
to lead to Type 2 diabetes. In addition, without Exercise Pills
exercise-induced secretion of IL-15, we accumulate
abdominal fat, which can contribute to obesity.
Chronic inflammation is associated with
aging and long-term medical conditions, but
exercise can alleviate the inflammation be-
cause of the secretion of anti-inflammatory
myokines during physical activity. To mimic
the effects of exercise in those who cannot

Physiology
by increasing protein production
Researchers analyze a
and inhibiting protein breakdown. patient’s metabolism to try
Another kind of myokine, IL-8, helps to understand the beneficial
the body form new blood vessels. effects of exercise.
The brain is not immune to the
effects of myokines, either. One
myokine, brain-derived neurotrophic
factor (BDNF), helps regulate the
survival, growth and maintenance of
nerve cells. Decreased levels of this
protein are associated with major
depression, impaired memory and
cognitive function, and Alzheimer’s
disease. Although this protein in-
creases in muscles after exercise, it
is not released into the bloodstream,
so BDNF’s direct effect may be only
on fat metabolism in the muscle.
Its other effects may be indirect.
To understand myokine regulation
and its effects on body composition,
biologist Kenneth Walsh of Boston
University bred mice that expressed
a protein that increases the secre- cell proliferation that could result in muscles as hormone-secreting organs,
tion of fibroblast growth factor-21 cancer. Pedersen speculates that some like any other gland. This knowl-
FROM TOP: CENTRE OF INFLAMMATION AND METABOLISM; CLAUS LUNAU
(FGF21), another myokine. These mice myokines may have anticancer prop- edge should provide rich territory
became leaner and stronger than erties, and her efforts to find more for scientists to mine and could lead
others despite being fed the same diet myokines will undoubtedly uncover to drugs that could alter myokines’
and getting less physical activity. more of these proteins’ positive effects. activity. For people who are bedridden
Myokines’ influence on inflamma- because of illness or infirmity, drugs
tion, obesity and insulin resistance Next Step: Put It in a Pill that mimic beneficial myokines could
has implications for cardiovascular Exercise plays a central part in regu- help reduce the incidence of chronic-
diseases and even cancer. Low-grade lating metabolism and protecting us inflammation-related disease. “Our
inflammation and insulin resistance from chronic diseases, but just how it identification of the muscle secretome
can lead to hypertension, stroke and improves our health involves a com- [the entire map of all the proteins
heart disease, partly through ath- plex interaction between cells and that muscles secrete],” Pedersen says,
erosclerosis. The increased insulin signaling molecules, such as myokines. “will set a new agenda for the scien-
secretion that occurs as a result of As the roster of known myokines in- tific community which is likely to
insulin resistance can also promote creases, it has opened up the study of dominate the coming decade.”
physically do it, researchers are investigating treatment with IL-15 could help ameliorate fen, an anti-inflammatory agent. Unfortu-
whether these myokines could be given as Type 2 diabetes and build muscle, and IL-6 nately, high doses of these medications can
a supplement. This could prove particularly supplements may protect healthy individuals cause serious side effects in humans. But
beneficial for those with limited mobility. against insulin resistance. some drugs, like salsalate, have shown prom-
Both aging and getting too little exercise Anti-inflammatory drugs could also ising results against inflammation-induced
also result in muscle wasting, which leads to restore protein synthesis and thus prevent insulin resistance, and similar treatments
a vicious cycle of further inactivity and insuf- muscle wasting. Researchers treated age- could one day be used to protect against
ficient myokine secretion. In this situation, related muscle atrophy in mice with ibupro- chronic diseases and muscle loss.

Tools+Techniques: Finding Stellar Masses
Solar Weigh-in
Astrophysicists determine the mass of stars using simple equations
cientists can’t weigh a star that gravity exerts on a mass.) This by calculating how much gravity one
S on a scale, but they can, with

the help of gravitational for-
mulas, find a star’s mass, or the
amount of matter it contains. (Weight
is a different measurement: the force
knowledge helps astronomers and cos-
mologists understand how bright a star
shines, plus when and how it will die.
The mass of celestial objects, like
planets and stars, can be determined
exerts on the other. For example,
the mass of the sun can be found by
looking at its gravitational pull on
the Earth using Newton’s version of
Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Mo-
ASTRONOMERS CALCULATE DOUBLE STARS’ MASSES IN THREE WAYS

1830 1835
1. The Visual Binary Method 1825 1840
1845
1910 1912
The first step to determining the and the binary system. P is mea- 1850
mass of stars in far-off double- sured directly by observing the 1855
1905
star systems starts in the observa- amount of time that it takes for m2 1860
tory, visually determining how the stars to complete one orbit.
1865
long it takes for one star to orbit With these two numbers and
1900 Orbital time P = 88 years
around the other. Some orbits are the gravitational constant, the 1870
so long that this can take many combined mass of the two stars, m1 1875
years of painstaking observation, m1 + m2, can be calculated. 1895
which hampers its usefulness as a In most cases, the individual 1880
measurement tool. masses of the stars in a visual 1890 1885
The semimajor axis (a) is binary system can’t be found
When both stars in orbit around each other, m1 and m2, can be seen from Earth, it is
calculated using the largest without also applying the spec- possible to measure the periods of their orbits, quantity P, which may be many years.
visual distance between the two troscopic method [see facing The value of the semimajor axis (a) requires that their distance from Earth is known.
stars and the known distance page] because the angle of the
between the observer on Earth stars’ orbits is unknown. Orbital period (P) is
ILLUSTRATIONS: CLAUS LUNAU; PHOTOGRAPHS: AF HENRY NØRGAARD

calculated from the
four positions. 4
3 1
2. The Eclipsing Binary Method 2
The most direct way to measure star system. The rate of “blinking”
a binary system’s orbital period, from this system indicates the
and thus its mass, occurs when orbital period. Add to this the
the system’s orbit is perfectly data from the spectroscopic 2 4
1 3
Light intensity
aligned with Earth. When that method, which tells scientists the
happens, one star blocks our total mass of the system, and the
2. Small, dim star is in 1, 3. Light from both 4. The small star is hidden
view of the second as it passes in individual masses of the two stars front of the larger star. stars is visible. behind the larger one.
front of it. This happens at regular can be precisely calculated. Alas,
intervals. Astronomers can draw only a small fraction of binary star
Based on the timing of the light fluctuations when binary stars, as seen from Earth,
a graph of the light intensity, a pairs are perfectly oriented along eclipse each other, astronomers calculate the orbital period (P), the semimajor axis (a)
”light curve,” from the double- Earth’s line of sight. and the relative distance between the two, which gives the ratio of the stars’ masses.

Our Sun
To determine the mass of our own sun (msun),
tion: a3 / P2 = Gm. Here a represents the are in binary systems—two stars we use the following equation:
semimajor axis—the longest radius of that orbit each other—and their . 2. 3
msun = 4 2∏ a
an elliptical orbit—of the Earth and orbit sizes are known. The Milky P .G
the sun. In this case, a is the distance Way has some 400 billion stars, and Where
between the sun and Earth because about half are part of binary sys- a = Semimajor axis: the distance
between the sun and Earth
Earth’s orbit is nearly circular. P is the tems. Even so, reliable masses are
time it takes for the planet to orbit the known for only around 200 stars. P = Earth’s orbital period
sun, and G is the gravitational constant In binary systems, astronomers G = The gravitational constant,
for the force of gravity. To solve for the find the combined mass of the two which is defined as
sun’s mass, m, scientists plug in the stars using the formula a3 / p2 =G (m1 Nm2
G = 6.67 x 10-11 3
distance from Earth to the sun and the + m2). Here m1 + m2 is the sum of the kg
time it takes Earth to orbit the sun. two stars’ masses, a is the sum of the (where N, newton, is the unit kilograms times m/s2)
This method is also used to semimajor axes of the stars, P is the If we insert these measured values:
measure the mass of stars outside time they take to orbit one another, a = 150 million km, which is 1.5 x
our solar system, but only if the stars and G is the gravitational constant. 1011 meters
P = 1 year, which is 3.15 x 107
seconds, we get:
msun= 2 . 10 kg
30
3. The Spectroscopic Binary Method

As two stars in a binary are longer; when a star
system orbit each other, the moves toward the Earth,
spectrum (wavelengths of the spectrum shifts to the
light) they emit will vary if shorter, blue end of the light
the star is moving toward scale. These fluctuations can Orbital time (P) = 1 year
or away from Earth. When be translated into a velocity
stars move away from Earth, graph for each of the two
the spectral lines skew to stars, and if the ratio of their
the red end of the spec- velocities is known, the ratio
trum, where light waves of their mass is also known.
Semimajor axis (a) = 150 million km
When star A moves toward Astronomers

Earth, the light shifts to the translate
blue end of the spectrum. variations in the
A light emitted by
B A binary stars into
B a velocity graph
for the two stars,
and from this
When star A moves away from Earth, its light
they determine
shifts to the red end of the spectrum.
the binary’s
B orbital period (P).
A B
A
Away from us
+60
+40 Star B
Speed in km per hour
+20
Days
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Toward us
-20
Star A
-40
Orbital time (period) = P

The
Superstarvers
During scarcity, drought or winter,
hunger becomes part of an animal’s life.
But there are many ways to survive
famine, and certain species have learned
to soldier on without food
Eastern Pygmy Possum

Gets fat, then dormant
Australia’s Eastern pygmy possum [below] survives an un-
predictable climate and irregular food supply by having the
longest known period of body-fat-fueled hibernation among
mammals—up to 310 days on average. Biologists think a re-
lated species, the little pygmy possum [right], hibernates for
up to six months. Both species eat insects, pollen and nectar.
When food is readily available they eat until they’re fat, ac-
cumulating reserves to get them through lean times.
FAST LENGTH:
310 DAYS

Zoology
F
The little pygmy possum or most animals,
may fast for up to six months
life is a balance
in its dormant state.
between periods in
which food exists
in surplus and periods of
scarcity. The better a spe-
cies is at dealing with the
hungry times, the better
its chances of survival.
Some animals are hunger
artists, so superbly
adapted that they can
last months or even years
without food. Others are
at risk of death after just a
few days without eating.
Efficient energy con-
servation is the key to
surviving long periods
of hunger. In order to
preserve vital energy,
some animals reduce
their body tempera-
ture. Many of them also
cut back on the blood
supply to their organs
and put their diges-
tive tract and immune
system on standby.
The tiny Arctic
ground squirrel takes
energy savings espe-
cially seriously. It allows
its body temperature to
fall to about 27˚F during
its 8- to 10-month-long
hibernation. The black
bear, on the other hand,
enters a so-called dor-
mant state, in which
its body temperature
remains at an almost
normal level, and shivers
to keep warm. And the
Australian striped bur-
rowing frog can live in
its arid environment
without food or water
by remaining dormant
for periods of four or
five years. It survives the
fasting period by bur-

rowing underground and changing Many migratory birds subject them-
A TYPICAL HUMAN ADULT can survive
its metabolism so that it uses its selves to extreme physical exertion
without food for as long as 70 days,
GPGTI[TGUGTXGUOQTGGHƂEKGPVN[ YJGPVJG[OCMGPQPUVQRLQWTPG[U
after which the body will have
over deserts or oceans, where there
exhausted its energy stores.
Consuming the Body’s Stores are limited opportunities to eat or
Most animals have a predictable cycle HOW LONG WE CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT: FTKPM1PVJGYC[VJGUGDKTFUCNOQUV
of starving and eating and plan accord- entirely consume the stored resources
KPIN[5VQTORGVTGNEJKEMUCEEWOWNCVG OXYGEN: 2–4 minutes KPVJGKTDQFKGU9JGPCICTFGP
NCTIGUVQTGUQHHCVHQTGZCORNG+VKU SLEEP: Unknown warbler migrates from Tanzania to
thought that these reserves provide WATER: 1–10 days 'VJKQRKCQXGTVJG5CJCTCHQTKPUVCPEG
energy during the intervals between KVUNKXGTURNGGPMKFPG[UCPFFKIGUVKXG
FOOD: 70 days
HGGFKPIYJKEJECPNCUVHQTUGXGTCNFC[U U[UVGOUJTKPMVQLWUVJCNHVJGKTPQTOCN
Brown Bear
Sleeps and slims down
The brown bear is dormant for as
long as seven months in winter.
The bear decreases its metabolic
and heart rate but not its body
temperature. During the part of
the year it is awake, it accumu-
lates energy reserves in the form
of fat by gorging itself on berries,
roots, insects, fish, rodents and
other animals. By spring, the bear
has used up its fat deposits.
FAST LENGTH:
E. BACCEGA/NATURE PL; PRECEDING PAGES: D. WATTS/NATURE PL (2)

7 MONTHS

Zoology
FAST LENGTH:
7 MONTHS
FAST LENGTH:
3 WEEKS
Atlas Moth
Never eats at all
R. WILLIAMS/NATURE PL
Although caterpillars eat a great deal, once they become adult moths they may
Fat-Tailed never feed again. The mouthparts of many adult moths, including the Atlas, do
Dwarf Lemur not develop completely. These adults have to rely entirely on fat deposits ac-
cumulated in the larval stage. But these energy reserves don’t have to last long:
Acts reptilian Atlas moths die within two or three weeks.
This native of Madagascar

becomes dormant every
winter for up to seven
months. It curls up in holes
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: R. WILLIAMS/NATURE PL; I. ARNDT/NATURE PL; SARA M. KAYES; M. VARESVUO/NATURE PL
FAST LENGTH:
in trees, surviving on fat 5 YEARS Australian Burrowing Frog
deposits in its body and tail.
The lemur saves energy by
Goes underground
letting its body assume the The Australian burrowing frog buries itself
ambient temperature, like a to survive long droughts and can live for
reptile. In a poorly insulated about five years on its fat reserves. It lies
tree hole, its body tem- cocooned in a layer of shed skin. When the
perature fluctuates with the rains return, the frogs quickly surface to
weather, but in a well- reproduce and to feed. They then begin a
insulated hole, the tempera- feeding frenzy, consuming animals up to
ture stays relatively constant. half their body size.
Bar-Tailed Godwit
Flies 7,000 miles on one tank
The Alaskan variety of these waterfowl undertakes an amazing nonstop journey
every year and eats nothing along the way. One study followed a female that left
her nesting grounds in western Alaska and landed in New Zealand eight days
later, after a migratory flight covering 7,257 miles—without a single in-flight
snack. Before godwits take off, their digestive organs shrink, and half their body FAST LENGTH:
weight consists of fat for energy storage. 8 DAYS

Zoology
Python
Lets its gut shrivel
Pythons can go more than a year
without a meal, but when they do
FAST LENGTH:
eat, they can consume animals of
MANY WEEKS more than one and a half times
their size. Unlike humans and
other animals, a python’s diges-
tive system doesn’t operate be-
tween feedings. It restarts once a
python eats, and within 24 hours
of eating large prey, the snake’s
intestines can double in size.
Land Snail
Locks itself inside
During periods of prolonged drought or cold weather, Europe’s land snails
can shut themselves in for days or weeks. They withdraw into their shells
and secrete a mucus membrane that closes the opening. This slows the loss
of water by evaporation, and the snails also conserve energy by reducing
FAST LENGTH:
their metabolic rates. When water is available again or the temperature
increases, the snails wake up and come out of their shells. 1.5 YEARS
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: R. MAIER/ANIMALS ANIMALS; W. BOLLMANN/PHOTOLIBRARY; PHILLIP COLLA/SEAPICS.COM; SPL/FOCI
FAST LENGTH:
2 YEARS Lungfish
Slows down to survive
The African lungfish, so named
because it has both gills and
air-breathing lungs, burrows into
the floor of a river or lake and
secretes a mucus coating that
protects it when water levels fall.
The fish slows down its metabo-
lism to save energy.
Tardigrade FAST LENGTH:
8 YEARS
Returns from the dead
Tardigrades can survive without eating for almost a decade. These microscopic
animals go into a dormant state called cryptobiosis. With their metabolism com-
pletely arrested, they can withstand extreme conditions, including temperatures
ranging from near absolute zero (–459.67˚F) to around 200˚. They have also been
found to survive pressure of up to 6,000 atmospheres.
STORY CONTINUES

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Zoology
weight—and even the birds’ heart and microscopic terrestrial animals called shutdown of metabolic activity, and
flight muscles lose part of their mass. tardigrades, losing almost all their after long-term starvation, people
water is no big deal. Found virtually often suffer from gastrointestinal
Learning from Superstarvers everywhere on Earth, these unusual problems when they eat again. Not
Lack of food is dangerous, but lack of creatures can survive for around a so with burrowing frogs, which are
water is the real killer. Although energy decade in the most extreme dormancy able to successfully switch from
from food is the body’s fuel, think of in the animal kingdom—cryptobiosis, starvation to consumption as soon
water as its motor oil—a necessity for in which metabolic activity appears to as food or water becomes avail-
the body to function. Water enables come to a standstill. This allows them able. By studying how superstarvers
countless chemical reactions and to handle extreme atmospheric regulate their metabolism to get
transports nutrients around the body, pressures and temperatures ranging through long periods of dormancy
while helping dispose of harmful waste from close to absolute zero to around under extreme conditions, we might
products. Humans begin to suffer 200˚. They resume their metabolic someday create therapies that could
detrimental effects after losing just 2 activities upon rehydration. allow us to turn our metabolism up
percent of their body weight from fluid Biologists and physicians are eager and down like thermostats, control
loss, and losing more brings on even to understand how such superstarvers weight gain and loss, and survive
more serious symptoms. But for survive. Humans cannot withstand a extremes of temperature.
Emperor Penguin
FAST LENGTH:
4 MONTHS
Starves for love
Emperor penguins breed during the Antarctic winter,
and their chicks are welcomed into the world by tem-
F. POLKING/PETER ARNOLD/FOCI
peratures that can reach as low as –76˚, accompanied by

fierce winds. After laying her egg, the female abandons
incubation to her mate and goes off to the ocean to
feed and refresh her fat deposits. The dutiful male
fasts while incubating the egg under a fold in his skin
for about four months. When the female returns, she
relieves him of his duties.

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California’s Death Valley is an extreme
environment—one of the hottest, driest
U.S. and lowest spots on Earth. It takes a
convergence of dangerous geological forces
DEATH
VALLEY to drive temperatures here above 120ºF

Ecology
134º
and
J
uly of 1913 was not
an especially hot
Sunny
month in Cali-
fornia, but one day,
in a little valley hidden
behind tall mountains,
the mercury climbed to
an incredible 134ºF—the
highest air temperature
that had ever been re-
corded anywhere in the
world. That blast fur-
nace of a place is called
Death Valley, now part
of a national park. (The
record has since been
eclipsed, but just barely:
The Libyan desert once
reached 136º.) Because of
Death Valley’s very spe-
cial geological conditions,
it remains one of the
hottest, driest and lowest
pieces of land on Earth.
Almost nothing can survive on the On average, temperatures
salt-covered floor of Death Valley. soar above 90º for seven

months of the year. Some years are at 14,494 feet. By the time this air is
even hotter. In the summer of 2001, over Death Valley, it very rarely has The mysterious tracks in Racetrack
Valley are thought to be the result of
there were 154 consecutive days of enough moisture for precipitation. Less stones blown across slippery terrain
100º or higher, and 1996 saw a stretch than two inches of rain typically fall by strong winds after rainstorms.
of 105 days that were at least 110º. here in a year, and in 1929 and 1953,
Death Valley is one of numerous no rain fell at all. The wettest years on
valleys in the western U.S. that formed record are 1923 and 1983, which each
along active faults as the Earth’s crust saw around four and a half inches.
extended under North America, or
was stretched apart, by tens or hun- What Fuels the Furnace
dreds of miles over the past 35 million The lack of precipitation is not the
years. The faults caused large chunks decisive factor in making the valley
of the crust to tilt downward in some so hot, however. Instead, the deadly
places, forming valleys, and upward in heat results from the relation be-
others, to make intervening mountain tween elevation and air temperature.
FROM TOP: EBBE RASCH/ILLUSTRERET VIDENSKAB; OWENS VALLEY HISTORY; CLAUS LUNAU;
PRECEDING PAGES, FROM TOP LEFT: CLAUS LUNAU; EBBE RASCH/ILLUSTRERET VIDENSKAB
ranges. Valleys in the vicinity of Death The higher you go into the atmo-
Valley started to take shape as early as sphere, the lower the air pressure.
13 million years ago, but its current This thinner air is cooler. Generally,
topography emerged more recently. for every 1,000 feet of altitude, the
The many mountains west of Death temperature will fall by about four
Valley account for its dryness. When degrees up to elevations of 5,000 feet,
moisture-laden winds blow off the and at a slightly higher rate at higher
Pacific onto the continent, they hit the elevations. Large parts of the deserts in
mountain ranges and rise. This cools the American West lie at altitudes of
the air, condensing water vapor and roughly between 2,000 and 5,000 feet.
turning it into rain or snow, which Death Valley’s situation is very
then falls on the ranges’ western different. Here, crustal extension has
slopes before the wind passes over pulled apart the ground so that the
the highest mountains. Every time valley dropped downward, and Death
the winds encounter another range, Valley’s lowest point, Badwater Basin—
they lose moisture. To reach Death just about 90 miles east of Mount
Valley, they must cross several major Whitney—lies 282 feet below sea level.
ranges, among them the Sierra Nevada, This makes the valley the lowest-lying
which includes Mount Whitney, the area in the Western Hemisphere. In
highest peak in the lower 48 states, addition, the tall mountains around
Mule-drawn wagons in the late 1880s hauled

borax from the valley to a rail line. This
photo of a wagon train was taken in 1949.
Mountains Make Death Valley Bone-Dry
Death Valley is so dry and hot because it lies hidden behind long ranges of high mountains.
When moist air from the Pacific rises to cross a mountain range, it loses moisture, and by the
time the air reaches the skies over Death Valley, it has almost no water left.
Sierra Nevada/Mount Whitney: 14,494 ft.
Argus Range: 7,490 ft.

Owens Valley: Approx. 4,100 ft.
(Not to scale)

Ecology
Stones That Leave Ghostly

Trails in the Dust
A unique geological phenomenon occurs in a long desert valley
at the northwestern end of Death Valley. In this oval-shaped dry
lakebed, or playa, known as the Racetrack, rocks as big as oil
drums appear to have moved around under their own power,
leaving long, snaking tracks in the hard dirt.
The stones certainly do not move themselves. According to one
theory, they are pushed around by the wind. This could occur
because the floor of the playa is practically flat. The Racetrack is
more than three miles long, and its northern end is just one and a
half inches higher than the southern end. When it rains, its dry, hard-
packed surface becomes an extremely slippery layer of mud, and if
strong winds blow through the valley right after a rain, the rocks are
set into motion, leaving their mysterious wakes. No one has, in fact,
ever witnessed one in motion. But the evidence of their movement
has been studied by many groups of scientists. In an experiment
conducted from 1968 to 1975, geologists marked about 30 stones
and tracked their movements. They found that the rocks sometimes
moved more than 200 feet in one winter. The rocks typically move
only during this wetter season, and even then, a stone moves only
once every two or three years.
Death Valley Was a Mecca for Miners

In the 1800s, thousands of fortune-seekers here in 1881 and was mined heavily until
defied the heat to look for minerals in Death 1928, when a large-scale discovery of the
Valley. At first it was stories of silver and gold mineral in Boron, a nearby mining complex,
that led miners here, and although these rendered the Death Valley operations nearly
heavy metals were mined in the area, less- obsolete. The valley is still peppered with
glamorous minerals like talc and borax were mineshafts and the ruins of ghost towns to
the most profitable. Borax was first found remind tourists of that short boom time.
Panamint Range: 11,049 ft.
Black Mountains: 6,384 ft.

Panamint Valley: Approx. 1,840 ft. Death Valley: 282 ft. below sea level

Empirical Evidence: Travel
How to Survive
Death Valley
GETTING THERE
The easiest way to reach the valley is by fly-
ing to McCarran International Airport in Las
Vegas and renting a car. Taking NV-160 W
from the airport should get you there in
just over two hours.
WHERE TO STAY
There are plenty of camping sites in the
area, but if you prefer the great indoors,
check out Furnace Creek (furnacecreek
resort.com) or Stovepipe Wells (stove
pipewells.com), the valley’s only lodgings.
HOW TO STAY ALIVE

Hydrate: On average, at least one person
dies of heat exhaustion every summer in
Death Valley, so stock up on water. Death
Valley public information officer Terry Bal-
dino recommends at least a gallon per per-
son per day, plus an extra gallon in the car.
And don’t forget moisturizer and lip balm.
Stay Cool: Light-colored clothes and

protective gear like hats, sunglasses and
sunblock will keep you from swelter-
ing and burning. If you want to hike or
cycle, Baldino suggests you do it in the
early morning or at night, or in the fall and
winter when daytime temperatures drop to
the 60s and 70s.
Stay in the Car: If you get lost or stuck, Not Your Typical Desert
do not try to hoof it. Rescue parties can
find a vehicle more easily than a wander- Contrary to popular belief, not all deserts are good beneath the dunes’ surface. Water from
ing hiker. This is when that extra water you covered in wide expanses of sand. In fact, less rainfall is trapped in the tiny interstices be-
stashed in the trunk could come in handy. than 1 percent of Death Valley National Park is tween grains of sand. When the top layers dry
composed of sand dunes, which formed out, they insulate the lower areas, keeping them
Plan Ahead: Decide what you want to when particles that eroded from nearby can- moist. This enables plants such as creosote and
EBBE RASCH/ILLUSTRERET VIDENSKAB
do and see in advance, and let family or yons were blown by the wind and trapped mesquite to find water by extending their roots
friends know your exact itinerary. If you by the surrounding mountains. The park’s deep into the dunes.
don’t return by a certain time, they should Eureka dunes, at around 680 feet high, are the Despite the typical image of a cactus-
report it immediately. A rescue team will tallest in California and some of the tallest in strewn desert, cacti are relatively rare through-
thereby have clues as to where exactly North America. out Death Valley. The arid heat, as well as
you might be. Go to nps.gov/deva for Although sand dunes are a symbol of bar- saline soil, make it habitable to only about 15
help in planning your trip. ren deserts, living conditions are reasonably cactus species.

Ecology
Death Valley hold in the hot air. As and deepest of which is Badwater. It
The dunes on Mesquite Flats a result, temperatures in the valley is one to six feet deep in places and
flow across Death Valley. are often 10 to 20 degrees higher contains sulfate and carbonate salts,
than in the surrounding deserts. as well as sodium chloride. The high
chemical concentration makes the
A Watery Past water undrinkable but also makes for a
About a million years ago, enormous fascinating landscape, which includes
quantities of water stemming from small crystal-rimmed blue-green
melting glaciers in the Sierra Ne- pools and giant saucers made of salt.
vadas filled huge lakes that covered Despite its inhospitable climate,
all low-lying areas. In fact, most of people have, over the years, settled
today’s Death Valley was covered by the valley. Native Americans occupied
Lake Manly—a giant body of water the region on and off starting around
that was once 100 miles long and 600 12,000 years ago. The most recent
feet deep—until about 10,000 years group, the Tumpisa Shoshone, lived
ago, when climate changes caused the here until settlers, including many Eu-
lake to dry up. The area flooded again ropean immigrants, flooded the valley
between 2,000 and 5,000 years ago, in the 1800s. Gold was discovered in
but the more recent lake was just 30 California in 1848, and some fortune-
feet deep and has since evaporated, seekers on their way west crossed
leaving a thick layer of salt called a salt the valley. One group almost died of
pan, along with brackish, chemical- hunger, thirst and exhaustion, and
laden pools, on the valley’s floor. before escaping, one member turned
The present salt pan includes three to cry out: “Good-bye, Death Valley!”
large interconnected basins, the largest That’s been its name ever since.
Animal Life Defies High Temperatures

Although unprotected extended expo- At about 150 pounds, the Nelson
sure to Death Valley’s extreme combina- bighorn sheep is the largest wild mammal
tion of heat, sun and lack of water will species living in Death Valley. The sheep
kill any human, a wide variety of hardy are well adapted to the extreme tempera-
animals all manage to live here. Fifty-one tures and get most of the water they need
species of mammal, 307 birds, 36 reptiles, by eating desert plants.
three types of amphibians, five fish spe- The North American desert tortoise,
cies and one fish subspecies call the valley which is designated as vulnerable on
J. BRANDENBURG/MINDEN PICTURES/L.M. STONE/NATURE PL
home. How do they survive in a place that the International Union for Conservation
is otherwise so deadly? of Nature Red List, survives the heat by
excreting waste as a white paste, instead
of urine, to slow its rate of water loss. Adult
Bighorn sheep and
tortoises can live for about a year without
desert tortoises
are among the taking a drink.
animals inhabiting
Death Valley.

By the Numbers: Gold
42.5 lbs.
ATOMIC NUMBER: 79 The weight of a one-
liter milk carton filled
DENSITY: 316.3 grams/cubic inch with gold. That’s around
the weight of the
MELTING POINT: 1,947.5ºF average five-year-old.
BOILING POINT: 5,172.8º
0.0004 ounce
of gold may be found in the
body of an average adult male—
presumably from dietary intake.
Gold mine
$1,215.70
At press time, the record high
price for gold per ounce, set on
December 2, 2009
158 lbs.
The weight of the
Welcome Stranger,
the world’s largest
Elevator
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: D. NUNUK/SPL/FOCI; KENNETH BO DRABAEK; ALAMY/IMAGESELECT; CLAUS LUNAU
gold nugget
Transport level 2/3 The fraction of the gold supply

2,485 tons
of gold are produced 0.000000000004
between 2003 and 2008 that was newly mined. from 400 mines ounce of gold is in each
Much of the remaining third was recovered from worldwide every year. cubic foot of seawater.
scrap, such as connectors in circuit boards.
Transport level Golden Empires

China led the world in gold mining in 2007.
Digging Deep for Gold

The world’s deepest gold mine, at 2.4 miles Russia: 169.2 tons
below the surface, is TauTona in South Africa. Uzbekistan: 75.3 tons
Canada: 101.2 tons
4,600 people work in the mine. U.S.: 239.5 tons China:
Production level: 280.5 tons
52.5 feet/second The mine’s fastest elevator’s speed 2.4 miles deep Indonesia: 146.7 tons
Ghana: 75.1 tons
497 miles of tunnels have been excavated.
Peru: 169.6 tons South Africa: Australia:
140º The temperature of “virgin rock” at the mine’s 269.9 tons 246.3 tons
deepest point

Gold Jewelry
6 grams go into an Olympic gold

Top 5 Consumers
70 tons
of gold are used every
medal. For the Vancouver Olympics, each around the World
gold medal contained 550 grams of silver,
year in dental bridges Half the world’s gold goes into
plated with six grams of gold.
and crowns. jewelry. Most purchases in 2009:
1. INDIA
24 karat denotes
pure gold; 14-karat-gold 1 ton of ore 405.8 tons
jewelry is 58 percent pure. must be processed to make
1 pure-gold 2. CHINA
wedding band. 347.1 tons

3. U.S.
150.3 tons
4. SAUDI ARABIA
82.3 tons
5. TURKEY
75.2 tons
GEOGRAPHIC (2); ROYAL CANADIAN MINT; M. DEVILLE/GETTY IMAGES/ALL OVER; CLAUS LUNAU; CORBIS/POLFOTO; CORBIS/POLFOTO
99.99
The percentage of gold in
Canada’s Gold Maple Leaf
bullion coin—higher than
any other coin in the world
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: C. BJORNBERG/PRINC/FOCI; AFP/SCANPIX; J.L. STANFIELD/NATIONAL
5,052 tons of Almost 243 lbs.

of solid gold were worked
gold, worth about $6.2
billion, are stored in the into the innermost of
U.S. Bullion Depository Tutankhamen’s three sarcophagi.
in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Gold Consumption
in 2009
Jewelry: 51.6%
Investment: 37.6%
Industrial: 9.3%
1 ton of personal computing scrap
contains more gold than 17 tons of gold ore. Dental: 1.5%

Trivia Countdown
Earn more points by using fewer
clues to answer each question. 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Twenty species of One species common to This tree’s nuts are Its dark, fine-grained Its name comes
deciduous trees in the the eastern U.S., J. nigra, encased in hairy, wood is used for from the Old
BOTANY
Name this genus Juglans go by has blackish bark and yellow-green husks, furniture, paneling and English walhnutu,
tree this name. produces edible nuts. which are sometimes
used to make dye.
rifle stocks. or “foreign nut.”
Humans didn’t reliably Its original source on In Greek myth, This reaction can often It requires fuel, oxygen
CHEMISTRY
Name this “produce” it until around Earth was probably Prometheus stole this be stopped with water and heat to occur.
7,000 B.C. lightning. from the gods to help or gases such as carbon
reaction mankind. dioxide.
A Dutchman, Jan van This capital is sometimes Rising over the city In Xhosa, a Bantu The local government
GEOGRAPHY
Name this Riebeeck, arrived here called its country’s is the picturesque language spoken here, opposed its country’s
city on April 6, 1652, and
set up a provisioning
“mother city.” backdrop of the famous
Table Mountain.
the city is called iKapa,
and in Afrikaans it is
policy of apartheid,
which was legally
station for passing ships. Kaapstad. abolished in the
early 1990s.
This Serbian-American Thomas Edison was He is well known for An all-electric car, which The standard unit for
PERSONALITIES
Name this inventor emigrated to his first employer in his alternating-current debuted in 2006, bears magnetic induction is
the U.S. in 1884. America, but they did inventions—and his his name. named after him.
person not work together long. fantastic claims, like
communicating with
other planets.
Erik Rotheim, a Norwe- In 1941, American The 1989 Montreal Its manufacturers The first half of its
INVENTIONS
Name this gian, first patented this chemist Lyle Goodhue Protocol banned today use hydrocarbons name is a combination
invention in 1927. developed it further to versions that used or carbon dioxide as of the Greek word for
device help American soldiers ozone-harming propellants. “air” and the English
ward off mosquitoes chlorofluorocarbons. word “solution.”
during World War II.
What year was it?

March 27, Bikini Atoll Your guess Points
On a barge moored nearby, the U.S. military detonates
a hydrogen bomb [right] in a test called Castle Romeo.
The bomb has a yield of 11 megatons.
correct
year 5
4
HISTORY
± 2 years
May 7, Vietnam
Viet Minh forces capture Dien Bien Phu, defeating ± 4 years 3
French troops and ending the first Indochina War.
± 6 years 2
December 2, Washington, D.C.
1
corbiS/PolFoTo
The U.S. Senate strongly censures Senator Joseph ± 8 years

McCarthy for his anti-Communist witch hunt.
24–30 genius 9–16 Passing grade

Your score: 17–23 Top of the class 0–8 Hit the books! Answers appear on page 79

79 | JULY/AUGUST 2010 SCIENCEILLUSTRATED.COM
TRIVIA three numbers is 256, or 44. Since this is 63 + y + 85 + x. These two sums of
Botany: Walnut the fourth power of 4, we can continue sums must be equal. Thus
Chemistry: Fire the pattern by putting 4 at the bottom. 58 + 63 + 61 + y = 63 + y + 85 + x.
Geography: Cape Town Subtracting 63 + y from both sides
Personalities: Nikola Tesla 4. A, B and D. yields 58 + 61 = 85 + x, and thus x = 34.
Inventions: Aerosol can
History: 1954 5. 2,730. In the first column, the num- 2. B. Each full row contains five dark
bers after the first number are obtained green dots, so the missing square
BRAIN TRAINERS by multiplying by 3, then 4, then 5. In should have just one dark dot in its
1. 26. The numbers increase by 5, 1, 5, the second column, they are obtained middle row; this eliminates A. The num-
1, 5, 1 and 5. The next increase should by multiplying by 4, then 5, then 6. In bers in each complete row total 10, so
be 1, yielding 26. the third column, we multiply by 5 and the middle row of the missing piece
then 6. To continue the pattern, multi- must total 6; this eliminates C and D.
2. D. Figures A, B and C are duplicates ply by 7 to get the missing number.
that have simply been rotated, while D 3. 6. The blue team can’t all be lying:
is the mirror image of the other three. HEADBREAKERS if 2 is lying, then 3 must be telling the
1. 34. The numbers in row 1 match the truth. Thus, they are all telling the truth.
3. 4. In the first figure, the product of numbers in column 2, so the first-row 5 says “yes,” so the cat must be under 4
the top three numbers is 625, or 54, the sum is 63. Let x be the sum of row 4 or 6; but 3 says “no,” so it is under 6.
fourth power of the bottom number. In and y be the sum of row 2. Since row 2
the second figure, the product of the matches column 4, the sum of column 4. 8,008. All the numbers in this
top three numbers is 1,296, or 64, the 4 is also y. Now the sum of the four increasing sequence are unchanged if
fourth power of the bottom number. In column sums is 58 + 63 + 61 + y, and they are rotated 180 degrees. The next
the third figure, the product of the top the sum of the four row sums is number that fits this property is 8,008.
Answer Key
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%HFRPHD6RODWXEHė3UHPLHU'HDOHU=PZP[^^^ZVSH[\ILJVTKLHSLY

!
VYJHSS

!
^^^ZVSH[\ILZTHY[JVT
!
.L[[OLMHJ[ZH[
!
YVVTPUVUS`[^VOV\YZ0[»Z`V\YTV]L
[LJOUVSVN`[VIYPUNUH[\YHSSPNO[PU[V]PY[\HSS`HU`
+H`SPNO[PUN:`Z[LTZ\ZLPUUV]H[P]LIYLHR[OYV\NO
VMWLVWSLOH]LL_WLYPLUJLK6US`:VSH[\IL

+PZJV]LY[OLHTHaPUN[YHUZMVYTH[PVUTPSSPVUZ

IYPNO[LU`V\YKHYRYVVTZ
;OLZTHY[LY^H`[V
Brain Trainers
1 What number comes next in this sequence? 4 Which three pieces complete the jigsaw puzzle?
A
2 Which one of these mosaics is different from the other four? B
C
D
A B C D
F
3 What number goes into the empty space?
5 What number completes the grid?
5 27 8 7 2 13
25 5 12 4 16 2 21 8 65
5 6 ? 84 40 390
420 240 ?
yes
Headbreakers 6
yes no
1 Each of the hand 3 Three players from the red 5 1
signals represents team and three from the
a number. The sum blue sit around a table
4 2
of the numbers in playing cards, and a cat sits
yes no
each of the first three 85 under one of their chairs. on
columns and the third each of the teams, either all 3
row is shown. Find the ? of the members tell the truth or no
sum of the numbers 58 63 61 all of the members lie. When each
in the fourth row. player is asked if the cat is under one of the two chairs
next to him, they answer as shown in the diagram.
Where is the cat?
2 Which of the small squares fits
into the large square?
3 3
2 2
5 5
4 What number comes next in this pattern?
?
2 2 3 5
A 4 2 B 4 2
1 3
7 3
2 2 9 1
C 2 2 D 2 5 1 4
4 6 4
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10016. PErioDicAlS PoSTAgE PAiD AT nEW YorK, nY, AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES. NO PART OF THIS MAGAZINE MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF SCIENCE
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