Inhoudsopgave van September/October 2021 - Discover

A future in which chocolate, wine and oranges are affordable only for the wealthy certainly feels dystopian. But this may very well become reality, as some of our favorite crops are now in danger of succumbing to plant diseases. To tackle the problem, Anne Elizabeth Simon, a virologist at the University of Maryland, is attempting to create what she calls a vaccine for perennial crops, which could help protect our food supply. Researchers have long dealt with pathogen spread among plants by quarantining infected flora to spare surrounding ones. And, depending on the type of disease, plants may also receive pesticides or antibiotic sprays. But to create more reliable protection, Simon is part of a team developing a vaccinelike solution as an efficient and relatively quickly deployable way to preempt,…

Food is key to our daily functions, fueling our activity and fortifying our bodies and minds. But most of us with access to various food sources don’t need to worry about meal prepping quite as much as NASA. In space, where astronauts confront drastic environmental and physical changes, the need for safe, nutritious and energyladen food is particularly vital to overall health. But for those traveling far from Earth’s food supply, it’s particularly challenging to produce, transport and prepare healthy food. Beyond providing energy and nourishment, space meals must be palatable and stay safe for consumption for months — or even years. Above all, space food must provide adequate energy to fuel astronauts on their grueling missions, according to NASA. Without a sufficient caloric intake (which exceeds earthly needs and…

In February 1945, U.S. Navy nurse Dorothy Still was a prisoner of war in the Japanese-occupied Philippines. Along with 11 other Navy nurses, Nurse Still provided care for civilian inmates in a prison camp where food was scarce and guards were brutal. Few inmates weighed more than 100 pounds, and most were dying from malnutrition. On the night of Feb. 22, Nurse Still and the other inmates watched as their captors set up guns around the perimeter of the camp and turned the barrels inward. Other guards dug shallow graves. The inmates had long suspected the camp commander planned to massacre them all, and it seemed the rumors were coming true. Yet Nurse Still and another Navy nurse reported to the infirmary for the night shift. They had little medicine…

IF YOU WERE A RAT, the smell of cat urine would likely scare you as much as a rattlesnake’s hiss. But the rat navigating a maze for Joanne Webster, pathobiologist at London’s Royal Veterinary College, was no ordinary specimen. As it explored the labyrinth that stretched ahead — cautiously, at first, then more boldly — the rat stumbled upon a strange smell wafting from one of the corners. The scent seemed to draw it in. What the rat found so tempting, as did many of his labmates tested in the maze, was indeed cat urine — turned, somehow, from rodent repellent to love potion. The rats had previously been infected with Toxoplasma gondii, a brain parasite that, as the scientists running the trials were learning, considerably altered the way the…

We’ve long known that crows exhibit extraordinary intelligence. These birds — along with ravens, jays and others in the corvid family — have inspired myths and legends for centuries. But the more scientists unravel about their brain structure and behaviors, the more crows seem to resemble humans. Remarkable leaps in corvid research have captivated John Marzluff, ornithologist at the University of Washington, for decades. He’s explored the exceptional size and function of crow brains, their long life spans (likely up to 30 years) and communal lifestyle. “Big brain, long life and sociality, those are really linked features,” Marzluff says. “You put those together, and it should sound pretty familiar.” To top that off, just last fall other researchers determined that crows seem to exhibit a level of consciousness demonstrated only…

There’s no shortage of myths about the Middle Ages, like the oft-repeated — and easily debunked — notion that everyone back then thought the Earth was flat. Another common misconception is that scientific progress largely went dark during this era, snuffed out by the medieval Church. But if you ask University of Cambridge historian Seb Falk, the reality is far brighter. Falk, who researches the history of science in the later Middle Ages, has more recently focused on how — and by whom — science was actually done in medieval times. His book, The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science, gives an insider’s look through the tumultuous life of a single 14th-century monk and astronomer, John Westwyk. Falk caught up with Discover to talk about myths about the so-called…

Some of us are better at holding our breath than others. But we’ve all been put to the test. Tune in to your body next time you plunge your head into water. Close your lips and conserve the air within. Many people describe a wave of relaxation in this moment — an all-consuming calm, a quieting of the mind, a slowed mental state — until the lungs demand another breath. When that happens, most of us experience a rush of anxiety. The mind goes on immediate alert at the mere prospect of lacking oxygen, even if your blood and organs have plenty for another minute or two. But you don’t need to go swimming to find this anxiety. You’ve likely held your breath plenty over the past tumultuous year and…

Even as a child, before he devoted his life to the search for extraterrestrial life, Frank Drake wondered whether Earth was alone in its ability to harbor life. He wasn’t the first or the only one to wonder. There’s a reason so many are fascinated by the question: Its answer helps reveal humankind’s place in the cosmos. Drake’s musings inspired him to pursue astronomy, serving as director of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and president of the SETI Institute — which, as the acronym suggests, is devoted to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and exploring the possibilities of life elsewhere in the universe. Drake is perhaps most famous for his eponymous equation — an estimate of how many alien civilizations might exist in our galaxy. Presented in 1961, the…

INVISIBLE INK Can you spot the differences between these baby squids? Look closely: The ones with light pink eyes and fewer dark speckles (called chromatophores) got a makeover in July 2020 by scientists using the CRISPR-Cas9 geneediting tool. A team of researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, found a way to make Doryteuthis pealeii hatchlings more transparent by switching off the gene that controls eye and skin cell pigmentation while they’re still embryos. The feat is the first time researchers have knocked out a gene in cephalopods, a class of invertebrates that includes octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus. With future applications in biomedicine, such as pain-management therapies, the potential to turn individual genes off (and on) may not only impact our boneless brethren, but humans, too.…

If you asked your doctor about migraine headaches just a few decades ago, you may have been underwhelmed with the treatment options. But within the past 20 years or so, a lot has come to light about what causes migraines and how to help people with them. It’s about time: Migraines have (supposedly) been around since at least the time of ancient Egypt. Migraines are estimated to affect 1 billion people worldwide. And they’re not just extra-painful headaches, but rather a whole batch of disabling symptoms that come in waves. The most well-known include nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. A single migraine attack can last multiple days. Migraines are, in part, genetic. They’re three times more common in women than in men, and you’re much more likely to…

Her thin frame was tangled in the sheets, shaking and agitated, unable to find a comfortable position. Chloe looked miserable. She was curled up on the hospital bed, sweaty and shaking, wracked with waves of nausea, her heart racing. I gave her a cool washcloth and a basin as the nurse started her IV. I had cared for her before; though only 16, she’d been in the hospital a dozen times already. “I think it may be another heart valve infection,” I told her. She nodded, familiar with the diagnosis, and the treatment that followed. She was at particular risk for a type of infection called endocarditis, where bacteria invade and infect the valves of the heart. Chloe was born with an aortic valve that had only two parts, instead…

You find yourself at a crowded party. People are dancing and drinking and sweating and — wait — why isn’t anyone wearing a mask? You wake up, anxious and confused, and realize it was all a dream: Fears from daily pandemic life just crept into your mind when you were asleep. Early last year as the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold, Deirdre Barrett, a dream researcher and psychologist at Harvard University, started looking into how this chaotic — and largely collective — experience was affecting our dreams. In March 2020, Barrett created an online survey asking participants from around the globe to describe the dreams they had about the pandemic. By the following March, she had collected and analyzed more than 15,000 dreams from more than 5,000 individuals Pandemic dreams…

When a video of the double-decker Ruyi Bridge in China’s eastern Zhejiang province widely circulated online in early 2021, some viewers assumed it was fake. It’s certainly a surreal sight. The nearly 330-foot-long winding glass bridge is composed of three wavy footpaths and spans the foggy gorges of the Shenxianju Scenic Area. Designed by steel structure expert He Yunchang, who also worked on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games “Bird’s Nest” stadium, the viral bridge evokes the shape of a curving ruyi scepter that symbolizes good luck and success in Chinese culture. The site opened to visitors last fall and dares them to walk across a glass deck, peering down more than 450 feet below. In recent years, China has constructed several fear-inducing, see-through bridges that attract brave visitors. These include…