New Scientist International Edition - September 17, 2022

60 Pages·2022·34.3 MB·English

This week’s issue
On the 48 Why humans are
the only talking apes
cover
25 The wonderful benefits
38 Return to the moon of outdoor swimming
The new push to create
a permanent lunar 16 How probiotics
outpost, and what it could be used to treat DDuuee ttoo rreecceenntt eevveennttss iinn tthhee
means for humanity rheumatoid arthritis UUKK,, tthhee eeaarrllyy bbiirrdd ttiicckkeett ooffffeerr
ffoorr oouurr ffllaaggsshhiipp sscciieennccee sshhooww
hhaass bbeeeenn eexxtteennddeedd ttoo  2255
SSeepptteemmbbeerr.. DDoo ssiiggnn uupp  iiff yyoouu
ccaann ffoorr tthhee vveerryy bbeesstt ddeeaall yyoouu
wwiillll ggeett ffoorr tthhee  sshhooww..
Vol 255 No 3404 newscientistlive.com
Cover image: ArdeaStudio/Jlee
News Features
8 Protein factories 38 Return to the moon
Self-replicating ribosomes are News Discover what’s to come as we
a step towards artificial life enter a whole new era of lunar
exploration and exploitation
12 Tipping points
Major climate impacts are 48 The language puzzle
closer than we thought Gillian Forrester explains
how flummoxing gorillas
15 Just like home can help us figure out how
One of the most habitable speech evolved
exoplanets ever seen
Views The back pages
25 Comment 51 Science of gardening
Outdoor swimming should Boost your soil with leaf mould
be a public health measure,
says Mark Harper 53 Puzzles
Try our crossword, quick
26 The columnist quiz and logic puzzle
Annalee Newitz on the
corporate side of social media 54 Almost the last word
Why are we the only
28 Aperture “hairless” mammals with
Photos and artwork capture ENII pubic hair?
G
V
the spirit of the ocean V E
O
K
EN 56 Feedback
H
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30 Letters EI Snore scores and a standards
R
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Will accessible HRT ever arrive? EG fair: the week in weird
K/
C
O
T
S
32 Culture ER 56 Twisteddoodles
T
T
An account of YouTube’s rise HU for New Scientist
S
explores its wider impact 11 Of mice and men The sex of researchers affects mouse experiments Picturing the lighter side of life
17 September 2022 | New Scientist | 1
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The leader
Shoot for the moon
We should return to the moon not to escape Earth, but to learn to live better back home
ASTRONAUT Gene Cernan was the last heavy industry off it and onto the moon. It doesn’t really wash when we are already
person to walk on the moon, in 1972. is a nice idea, but it is a long-term prospect facing catastrophe.
“Apollo came before its time,” he said. and won’t, on its own, save our planet. But we should go back to the moon for
“President Kennedy reached far into the If you are NASA, or China’s space science, to explore, to create knowledge
21st century, grabbed a decade of time and organisations, you might think we need and to learn how to collaborate. The
slipped it neatly into the 1960s and 1970s.” a presence on the moon for political moon is a time capsule, a pristine record
Fifty years later, we have reached that reasons. “Control of space means control of how things were at the start of the solar
decade of time. Many nations and private system. From astronomy to studying the
“Once we are on the moon, we
enterprises are plotting crewed missions moon’s water ice, science will be more
will learn to do things we should
to the moon. This time, it isn’t merely a easily done in person. Once we are there,
have done years ago on Earth”
race to get there. The intention is to build we will learn to recycle efficiently and use
a lasting presence, as we explore in a renewable energy, things we should have
special feature starting on page 38. of the world,” said former US president done years ago on Earth. Once we are
You might reasonably ask why, when Lyndon Johnson, in shock, when the there, we will cooperate – as lunar
we have enough problems on Earth, are Soviet Union put Sputnik into orbit. settlements will need to be diverse and
we spending billions to go back to the Elon Musk has said that we need international. We have to ensure that
moon. If you are Jeff Bezos, you might an independent human settlement this time, we create a presence on the
answer that we need to relieve the as insurance for our species if there moon that is a beacon of hope seen by
ecological pressure on Earth by moving is a catastrophe on Earth – but that everyone watching back home.  ❚
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News
Brighter than Venus Map of aromas A year like no other Stone Age surgery Big chill
Massive satellite Google AI can predict Why have we seen Child had foot The world’s largest
causes concern for what molecules so many heatwaves amputated 31,000 fridge for quantum
astronomers p9 smell like p10 in 2022? p14 years ago p17 computers p18
A researcher tests a sample
for polio at Queens College,
New York
community spread and that all
samples were types of polio that
can cause paralysis.
No infected people have been
identified besides the Rockland
county man, but for every known
case of paralytic polio, health
officials estimate that hundreds
of other cases are undetected.
While there is no cure, polio can
be prevented through vaccination.
Statewide, the vaccination rate is
nearly 79 per cent, but counties
where wastewater samples tested
S
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A positive for polio have rates as low
M
TY I as 58.7 per cent.
T
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A G The state of emergency
VI
FP authorises extra healthcare staff,
A
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S such as midwives, paramedics
EI
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A and pharmacists, to administer
L
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N polio vaccines. The measure also
A
requires healthcare workers to
Health send polio vaccination data to
New York battles polio the state’s department of health
in order to track progress and
direct immunisation efforts.
The goal is to vaccinate 90 per
A state of emergency has been declared to boost vaccination efforts cent of all New York state residents.
Officials also recommend that
after poliovirus was found in sewage samples, reports Grace Wade
fully immunised adults who may
come in contact with the virus,
NEW YORK has declared a state of like meningitis or permanent world because it is inexpensive such as healthcare or sanitation
emergency after tests on sewage paralysis, according to the US and easy to use. On extremely rare workers, get a booster.
samples showed that poliovirus Centers for Disease Control and occasions, the virus from the oral “We have the ability to keep
is spreading in the community. Prevention (CDC). Between 2 and vaccine can revert to a form that people protected,” says David
Officials detected the virus – 10 per cent of people with paralytic causes illness and circulate in Hirschwerk at North Shore
which was largely believed to polio will die. Even those who fully areas with low vaccination rates. University Hospital in New
be eradicated in the US – in five recover can still develop paralysis York. “The state of emergency
“ If you or your child are
counties, including New York City. up to 40 years later. declaration allows a sharper
unvaccinated or not up to
“On polio, we simply cannot roll In July, an unvaccinated man focus on the problem.”
date, the risk of paralytic
the dice,” said Mary Bassett, New from Rockland county, New York, The US, UK and many other
disease is real”
York’s state health commissioner, became the first person in the US high-income nations use a polio
in a press release on 9 September. to test positive for paralytic polio vaccine containing inactivated
“If you or your child are in nearly a decade. Officials say Following this case, state poliovirus, which cannot replicate,
unvaccinated or not up to date he contracted the disease from health officials in New York began and is more than 99 per cent
with vaccinations, the risk of someone inoculated with an oral analysing wastewater samples effective at preventing infection,
paralytic disease is real.” polio vaccine, which contains a for polio, as people who are according to the CDC.
Polio is highly contagious. weakened version of the live infected shed the virus in their Poliovirus was also detected
While more than 95 per cent of poliovirus that can still replicate. stools. They identified polio in sewage samples in London
cases are asymptomatic or cause The US hasn’t administered in 57 samples taken from five earlier this year. Health officials
mild, flu-like symptoms, about 1 in this vaccine since 2000, but it is counties between May and August. there have offered boosters to
100 result in serious complications still widely used elsewhere in the Genetic testing confirmed children aged 1 to 9. ❚
17 September 2022 | New Scientist | 7
News
Molecular biology Human evolution
Self-replicating ribosomes are
One mutation may
make us smarter
a step towards artificial life
than Neanderthals
Carissa Wong Michael Le Page
Ribosomes build MODERN humans have a mutation
proteins by reading that boosts the growth of neurons
genetic instructions in the neocortex, a brain region
associated with higher intelligence.
indeed observed,” says Aoki. The mutation is absent in more
It is unclear whether the ancient humans like Neanderthals.
new generation of ribosomes “We can assume that it made
then self-replicated or how us smarter,” says Anneline Pinson
many rounds of replication are at the Max Planck Institute of
possible. “Nascent ribosomes Molecular Cell Biology and
may self-replicate themselves Genetics in Dresden, Germany.
Y
AM to produce another set of “I would say so,” says her
L
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T/ ribosomes. However, there colleague Wieland Huttner.
D
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ST is currently no good way to “But we cannot prove it.”
G
R
BU separate signals [between these The mutation results in a single
H
P
O ribosome generations],” says amino acid change in a protein
T
S
HRI Aoki, whose team is working called TKTL1. Previous studies have
C
to resolve this question. shown that this mutation is present
TINY protein factories, or have finally established Further work will also in almost all people today, but not
ribosomes, have been made to the conditions required be needed to pinpoint all in more ancient humans, such as
self-replicate outside a living for ribosomes to replicate of the components within Neanderthals and Denisovans, or
cell for the first time. The themselves outside a cell – the E. coli cell extract that in other primates.
achievement is a crucial step after seven years working to are critical for the reaction. The TKTL1 protein is known to
towards building self-replicating optimise the reaction mixture. Nevertheless, the achievement be produced in the progenitor cells
artificial cells from scratch The researchers put is a big step forward. that give rise to the neocortex – the
and understanding how the DNA coding for ribosome “Being able to construct a outer layer of the brain involved in
first living things started components along with ribosome that makes a copy of conscious thought and language –
reproducing themselves. ribosomes derived from itself, outside of a live cell, is a suggesting that the mutation
Ribosomes are where the huge milestone resulting from helped shape our brains.
200
genetic code gets translated into large feats of engineering,” says To find out what difference the
proteins – complex molecules Kate Adamala at the University mutation makes, Pinson, Huttner
that make up the machinery Types of molecules involved of Minnesota. “It’s significant and their colleagues added the
of living cells. In order for the in ribosome self-replication not only for making synthetic modern human TKTL1 protein
earliest life to get going, many cells, but also for the studies of to the brains of mouse and ferret
researchers think ribosomes E. coli cells into a tube. To that, the origin of life.” embryos. They also grew brain
must have been able to they added a tweaked version “This is indeed exciting organoids from human cells,
assemble and replicate of the liquid, or cytoplasm, work,” says Jan van Hest at some of which were gene edited
before there were cells. extracted from E. coli cells. Eindhoven University of to produce the older version of
But ribosome self-replication Guided by an artificial Technology in the Netherlands. TKTL1 (Science, doi.org/jbxw).
is incredibly complex, involving intelligence, the researchers “Ribosomes are one of the most The mutation increased the
around 200 types of molecules established the precise complex machines in our cells. number of neocortex progenitor
coming together in just the molecular cocktail that Making them in the test tube cells, called basal radial glia, which
right way, so scientists have would kick-start ribosome solves one of the stumbling resulted in more neurons. This
struggled to make this happen self-replication. The winning blocks to construct self- would increase the size of the
in the laboratory. formula enabled ribosomes to replicating artificial cells.” neocortex, or the density of
“Ribosomes are solely produce new ones within 3 hours Learning how to create neurons in it, or both, says Huttner.
responsible for protein (bioRxiv, doi.org/gqsg5w). artificial cells could help Studies of skulls suggest that
synthesis in all known forms “We suspected it was a false researchers develop new the brains of modern humans
of life. How ribosomes self- positive. However, no matter research tools and therapies. and Neanderthals were similar in
replicate themselves is a big how many times we repeated Quoting the theoretical size, but Neanderthals had more
question,” says Wataru Aoki the experiment and analysed physicist Richard Feynman, elongated brains. The researchers
at Kyoto University in Japan. it from other approaches, Aoki says: “What I cannot speculate that this difference in
Now, Aoki and his colleagues we found that the signal was create, I do not understand.” ❚ shape is due to the mutation.  ❚
8 | New Scientist | 17 September 2022