N

N AT U R E SCIENCE PEOPLE S PAC E

E
W
Earth Magazine Issue four February 2017

Search for
an astronaut
NATUR E

7 ANIMALS
THAT LOVE Reality TV
EACH OTHER
FOR LIFE goes orbital

PEOPLE

MEET THE

Look NOMADS
FACING A

out
SEA CHANGE
The scary
secrets of
predatory
plants

SPACE SCIENCE

HOW HUMAN
COMPUTERS
Its the new
WON THE rocknroll!
SPACE RACE Liz Bonnin
Issue four 3.99 February 2017

02
PLUS SPY IN THE WILD YOSEMITE ON FIRE EXTREME WEATHER
124 PAGES OF AMAZING ANIMALS, IDEAS AND SCIENCE 9 772398 964004 >
 From the editor
This month

February

073
THE RIGHT STUFF

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Could you be an astronaut? after reading Matilda Battersbys piece (page 52)
Thats one of the questions on the real women behind the story, and how they
we pose in this months issue put the US back in the Cold War space race, all the while
of BBC Earth. An upcoming experiencing sexism and segregation.
BBC reality TV show puts Its not a completely spacey issue this month,
12 volunteers through some however. We celebrate Valentines Day by looking
of the actual training that NASA at the animals that pair up for life, and Angela Saini
Cover photographs: Alamy, NASA, Vivien Cumming. This page: Alamy

applicants undergo, so we look uncovers some fascinating insights into the

at what qualities you need to do one of the toughest neuroscience of bonding on page 80.
jobs in the universe. The first Brit in space, Helen We also salute the Gyps vulture, an unsung hero
Sharman, tells us how she earned her place on the Juno whose natural instincts at waste disposal save humans
mission, and we get a sneak peek inside the capsule billions each year. I was shocked at the stats showing
that took Tim Peake to the International Space Station their steep decline in numbers over the past 30 years.
and back again and which you can now see at the And we go down to the woods or ancient woodland
Science Museum in London. specifically to find out what Team Earth can do
I am pretty sure I will never be an astronaut (I dont to protect an irreplaceable part of our landscape.
have the maths for one thing, and long-haul travel is I love plants, so the feature on the freakiest
not my favourite activity) but the more I look, the more frankenflowers youll ever come
fascinating I am finding the whole subject of our place across, with Katie Scotts
in space. Ill be heading to the South Downs Dark Sky illustrations, was a joy, too.
Reserve for some of its stargazing events this month As always, let us know what
for sure, and cannot wait to see the film Hidden Figures you think of the issue.

/ 003
 BACK FROM SPACE
078 Contents
SCIENCE

043 DREAM JOB ENTOMOLOGIST

Fascinated by flies? Bees give you a buzz? Find out
how you could work in the world of creepy crawlies

062 TERRIFIC SCIENTIFIC

We meet TV presenter Liz Bonnin, a woman on a mission
to get kids interested in science and the natural world

096 WEATHER FORECASTING

Will it be a barbecue summer? Will Christmas be white?
Weather forecasting is an imperfect art, but the experts
have a new weapon in their armoury our smartphones

104 ANIMAL MAGNETISM

Discover the bright sparks of the natural world that taught
us how to harness and generate electricity

PEOPLE

026 PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS

N AT U R E Its conservation first, image second for photographer
Luke Massey. Plus: share your photos with us
020 SPY IN THE WILD
We go behind the scenes of the BBC TV show 031 IT SHOULDNT HAPPEN TO A PRESENTER
CBeebies My Pet and Me frontwoman Ferne Corrigan tells
048 RARE EARTH - VULTURES all about working with animals and children
They may not be pretty, but vultures are vital as
natures waste disposers and as their numbers 034 OCEAN NOMADS
dwindle, the consequences are far-reaching Vivien Cumming meets the Bajau people of the Coral
Triangle spear-fisherfolk who spend their lives at sea
058 ANATOMY OF THE SNAKE
Unexpected facts about natures most slippery customers 114 TRAVEL: STARGAZING TRIPS
Want to see the galaxy in all its splendour? Check out our
066 BIZARRE BOTANY rundown of the best astronomy spots at home and abroad
From a metre-wide flower that smells of rotting flesh
to the carnivorous plants that trap their prey in glue,
discover some of the worlds most wicked weeds

080 ANIMAL LOVE

It seems were not alone in wanting a lifelong bond with
a partner, as a surprising number of animals mate for life

088 TEAM EARTH: HERITAGE TREES

The UK has a huge number of ancient trees and woods but
did you know these leafy landmarks are not protected?

110 CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

Our series on the collection at the Field Museum of Natural
History continues with a sorry tale of overhunting

080

043
TRUE ROMANCE

BUG DETECTIVES

004 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Contents
February

062
020
MEET THE ANIMAL SPY BOTS
HANDS-ON
SCIENCE

S PAC E

052 NASAS HIDDEN HEROES

The black female computers of 1950s NASA were
instrumental in getting the first man on the moon but
they are only now getting the recognition they deserve

073 COULD YOU BE AN ASTRONAUT?

As a new BBC show starts a search for candidates with the
right stuff, we find out just what it takes to go into space

078 HOW DOES A SPACE CAPSULE WORK?

We have a nose around the Soyuz shuttle that took Major
Tim Peake to the International Space Station and back,
and find out what all those buttons do

REGULARS

008 A WORLD LIKE NO OTHER

Our planet in awe-inspiring pictures: mirror-like Bolivian
salt flats, wildebeest calving and Yosemites firefall

014 NEWS OF THE EARTH

Stories from the frontline of the natural world

016 WATCH LIST

The best things to read, view and download this month

019 WHATS ON
AROUND THE UK

088
Countrywide events

025 IN FOCUS: NOT OUT OF

SMART WATCHES THE WOODS
Find out what makes the latest
multitasking timepieces tick

102 SUBSCRIPTIONS
SPECIAL OFFER
Get three issues of BBC Earth for just 3

112 COMPETITION
Win a luxury family holiday worth 3,000

113 LETTERS
Your views on BBC Earth magazine

117 CURIOUS WORLD

The big questions answered in easily digestible chunks

034
A LIFETIME AFLOAT
120 EARTH BY NUMBERS

122
Thailands vital statistics

WHAT ON EARTH?
Can you guess the answer to our photo challenge?
Contributors
Editor Celia Woolfrey
Art director Matt Ford
PHOTOJOURNALIST Consultant editor Carolyn Fry
Acting managing editor Matilda Battersby
VIV CUMMING Chief sub-editors Jo Hooper/Vic Davies
Editorial assistant Yashi Banymadhub
Viv Cumming is an earth Picture editor Beverley Ballard
scientist and photojournalist Production director Nigel Mackay
who loves to tell stories where Senior production manager Martin Black
science and humanity are Advertising director Daniel Connor
interlinked. On page 34 she Ad production manager David Ryder
meets the Bajau people of the Sales exec Bethany Stuart
Coral Triangle, who spend
Classified executive Paul Aird
their entire lives at sea and
Inserts manager Tszkwan Chan
catch fish by diving without
Head of digital Pares Tailor
tanks of air. What struck her
most about the people she Digital manager Andy Greening
met was how relaxed they Group promotions manager Sally Gue
were in the water, as if they Promotions manager
belonged among the fish. This Kelly Ashoush
assignment was special as

034
Creative director, new business
Ive never before met people development Jonathan Clayton-Jones
so in tune with nature; every Editorial operations director
aspect of their lives involves Mary Frances
the sea, she says.
BAJAU PEOPLE Group publisher (launches) Sharon Kirby
Publisher (launches) Becca Bailey
Publishers assistant (launches)
Kate McGovern
I L L U S T R AT O R
Financial controller Gavin Love
Editorial content director Claire Irvin
K AT I E S C O T T Managing director Jackie Garford
Finance director Keith Amess
Katie Scott is an illustrator Chief executive officer Nicola Murphy
who has worked with Kew
Gardens on Botanicum , a new
BBC Worldwide
book featuring incredible
Director of editorial governance
plant species (page 66). The
Nicholas Brett
WRITER weirdest plant she illustrated WRITER
was the stinking corpse flower, Director of consumer products and
DAV I D C R O O K E S which looks like something M AT I L DA B AT T E R S B Y publishing Andrew Moultrie
from an alien planet. She says, Head of UK publishing Chris Kerwin
Journalist David Crookes It was the most fun Ive had Freelance journalist Matilda Commercial brand manager
is from Manchester, so he as an illustrator. Battersby is our acting Jonathan Williams
knows a thing or two about managing editor. She has Publisher Mandy Thwaites
the weather! Not only does he a passion for history and Publishing co-ordinator Eva Abramik
always keep a brolly handy, science, which converge
hes never too far from his in Reaching for the Moon
phone, so he was interested (page 52), about the African-
to learn that scientists are American women who helped UK.Publishing@bbc.
using data collected from propel the first US astronauts com; bbcworldwide.
smartphones to make more into space. She says she was com/uk--anz/
precise forecasts (page 96). overawed by their strength. ukpublishing.aspx

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006 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Welcome
February

All about us
Welcome to BBC Earth - now join us
on a thrilling journey of discovery

nature science people space

Theres nothing more spectacular, important, dramatic and REGULARS

exhilarating than life on this planet. Each month we invite you Every month to help you (and your children) find your way
to explore the fascinating world of BBC Earth, finding out around the magazine youll recognise these regular features:
about everything from the smallest creatures under the Adventure hackers Ever dreamed of being an astronaut or
microscope to the limitless expanses of space. a polar bear researcher? We ask the professionals how they
Our magazine is part of the BBC Earth family, and you can started out, and show you how you can, too
enjoy other BBC Earth content on television, on the web A world like no other The best of our planet in pictures
(bbc.com/earth), through virtual reality experiences and Earth news Stories from the frontline of the natural world
other digital apps and also across our social channels including Rare Earth Showcasing species on the brink of extinction
Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Earth masterclass Your essential guide to upgrading
Dive into our pages for amazing imagery, timelines, infographics your own photos
and stories that bring you face-to-face with heart-pounding Anatomy of Discover the talent for adaptation of Earths
action, mind-blowing ideas and the wonder of being human. most extraordinary creatures.

T E A M
Look out for these icons
TEAM EARTH
that appear throughout the
Get behind
magazine. They signpost DID YOU KNOW? FIND OUT MORE solutions to the
ways to drill down into Fascinating facts and Follow links for more issues facing
content and get involved. background to the stories in-depth information our planet

Follow BBCEarth across D I G I TA L E D I T I O N

social media to find out
Download BBC Earth to your tablet
even more and tell us
what you think. Digital magazine available on

Letters [email protected] (please mark if not for publication)

Saleros harvesting
the salt create these
distinctive mounds
on the surface of the
Salar de Uyuni

Mirror, mirror

008 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 A world like no other
February

he mirror-like Salar de Uyuni, the rainy season (roughly November to April), it is often

T worlds largest salt flat, is almost

indistinguishable from the horizon
covered with a shallow layer of water, which makes
it hard to tell where land ends and the sky begins.
above it at this time of year. You For years, only intrepid tourists and saleros (salt
could probably see your face in it. gatherers) have made it to this remote place. But
The 12,000sq km salt-encrusted prehistoric lakebed now the Bolivian government has ambitious plans
Words: Matilda Battersby. Photographs: Alamy

is located in Potosi, southwest Bolivia, near the crest of for mineral extraction that will bring big changes to
the Andes, 3,660m above sea level. It is almost 100 the isolated landscape.
times larger than the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in The region is believed to contain the biggest store
Utah, USA, and so flat that NASA uses its surface to of lithium in the world in demand for its use in
calibrate sensors on board satellites. lightweight batteries. Plans to link this remote area
During the dry season, from May to October, the to the modern world via new infrastructure are
surface crust of sodium chloride more than 10m underway, with the mineral wealth hidden beneath
deep in places is parched and cracked and looks as this pristine reflective surface leading some to predict
though it belongs on another planet. But, come the Bolivia will be the Saudi Arabia of the 21st century.
 he plains of the southern Serengeti Serengeti, which extends from northern Tanzania

T become a giant maternity ward in

February, as wildebeest calves are
to southwest Kenya. For many, life is an endless
journey, moving around 3,000km each year in a more
born in their thousands. Around or less clockwise direction following the rains,
8,000 calves come into the world each day making because where that falls, the grazing is lush and
a total of about 300,000 over the calving season. theres water to drink.
Wildebeest also called gnu or wildebai band If you want to spot wildebeest, or youre a lion on
together in herds tens of thousands strong because the hunt for a meal, the predictability of their
theres safety in numbers. The bigger the group, the relentless migration is great news. But, as a member
less risk an individual faces of being picked out by a of the agile antelope family, the wildebeest are far

Words: Matilda Battersby. Photograph: iStock

predator such as a lion, hyena or cheetah. from being easy prey and predators
The herd forms a barrier around must work hard for a kill. Grazing
female wildebeest while they give birth, alongside the wildebeest are zebras
and immediately afterwards, when the and gazelles both react quickly to
To watch a short clip
newborns are finding their feet. Calves the threat of attack, and provide an
of the migration
learn to walk within minutes of being from Natures Great early warning system for the herd,
born, and within days can keep up with Events, visit which can stampede for safety, and
the rest of the herd. There are an bbc.in/2h1DwON reach top running speeds
estimated 1.5 million wildebeest in the of as much as 80km/h.

010 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 A world like no other
February

Gnu-born babies

February is peak calving

season for wildebeest in
the Serengeti when their
vast numbers help to shield
the calves from predators
In February if the
conditions are perfect
the rays of the setting
sun fall on Yosemites
Horsetail waterfall
and set it alight

012 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 A world like no other
February

In full glow
oud be forgiven for mistaking this clear, there must be snow at the very top of

Y cascade of red for volcanic lava.

But it is actually the wet stuff
El Capitan mountain (to feed the waterfall with
snowmelt) but the temperatures need to be
Words: Matilda Battersby. Photograph: Alamy

a waterfall transformed into a warm enough for the water to be flowing.

firefall, one of natures rarest phenomena. If it is too cold, it is raining, or the sky is overcast
Its a spectacle you might get the chance to see at then the many photographers and spectators who
the 300m Horsetail Fall in Yosemite National Park, gather here annually will go home disappointed.
California, on just a few days in February each year. The first well-known colour photograph of the
When the conditions are right, the rays of the firefall was taken in 1973 by Galen Rowell. But it
setting sun seem to set the stream of water ablaze, wasnt until the dawn of digital cameras and
creating a luminescence lasting up to 10 minutes. photo-sharing sites like Instagram that this
But it doesnt happen every year: the sky must be Yosemite firefall achieved worldwide fame.

Listen to a clip
about what its like
to witness the
Horsetail firefall at
bbc.in/2hLsnCU
 Wangchuk (standing, far
right) with students who
helped build an ice stupa
that brought irrigation water
to Ladakhi farmers; he plans
to build 20 more

News
of the
Earth

Thanks to chimpan-seeds
Next time you munch on a chocolate bar,
think of chimpanzees. Researchers have
found that wild chimps in the Republic of
Guinea, West Africa, are helping farmers to
cultivate cocoa plants by dispersing the seeds.
After eating the pulp, chimpanzees spit out
the seeds or, erm, expel them from the
other end. Farmers later tend to the saplings,
clearing trees so sunlight can reach them.
This symbiosis reveals the ability of wildlife
to coexist in human-impacted habitats,
says lead author of the study Dr Kimberley

Words: Matilda Battersby, Yashi Banymadhub. Photographs: iStock, Shutterstock, Science Daily
Hockings from Oxford Brookes University.

News from the museum

The Natural History Museum is set for a big
transformation this year. Dippy the Diplodocus,
the 21m replica that has had pride of place in
Hintze Hall since 1979, is to be replaced with
a vast blue whale skeleton. The blue whale
was one of the first animals that humans took
the decision to protect from extinction, so Sir
Michael Dixon, director of the Natural History
Museum, thinks it is a perfect symbol of hope for
a sustainable future. The museum will also bring
back its Sensational Butterflies exhibition next
month, and introduce after-hours events such as
grown-up sleepovers throughout the year.

014 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 From the frontline
February

Super stupa
The desert-like climate 3,500m up in
Ladakh, India, is extreme: the winters are
long and bitterly cold, and in summer,
water is scarce. Farmers rely on glacial
meltwater during the April and May
planting season. But, with the retreat
of the glaciers due to climate change,
theres less of that when they need it.
Teacher and mechanical engineer
Sonam Wangchuk has come up with an
Chemicals in road
ingenious solution. Hes found a way
salt have been
of piping water from winter snow-melt found to adversely
streams that no one can make use of, affect frog biology
letting it freeze in the cold air and
storing it as an ice stupa named after
the mound-like Buddhist monuments of
Salt at fault for female frog decline
Ladakh and Tibet until it melts in spring.
Every winter, councils grit our roads and pavements to keep the
How can water flow high in the
traffic moving safely. But a new study has revealed that the road
mountains, but freeze at lower levels? salt they use can wash into ponds and have an alarming impact
Its to do with surface area. A flat ice field on the frogs that breed there. The research found that naturally
at altitude melts faster in the sun than occurring chemicals in the road salt have a masculinising effect,
a vertical cone of ice in the valley. altering tadpole biology and turning females into males in the early
stages of development. Researchers from Yale University in
Wangchuk builds the stupa by spraying
Connecticut and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York
the water from a spike at the end of the say that where there was exposure to road salt, the number of
pipe it freezes in the cold air as it falls. females was reduced by 10 per cent, and female frogs were also
In 2015, the first stupa brought 1.5 found to produce fewer eggs and of a lower quality.
million litres of water to 5,000 saplings
planted near Phyang, 14km from Leh.

Be happy,
live longer
Its official: optimists may live
longer than pessimists. Of the
70,000 women who were
monitored as part of an
eight-year study by Harvard TH
Chan School of Public Health,
those who had a positive reaction
to setbacks were 52 per cent less
likely to die from infection, No need to protist
39 per cent less likely to die of
How do you find your dinner if you live
stroke, 38 per cent less likely
underground and cant see anything? You sniff it
to die of heart and respiratory
out. Like the mole that uses scent to find its prey,
disease, and 16 per cent less
tiny single-celled organisms called protists have
likely to die of cancer. The study
been found to target their desired meal soil
also found that low-cost
bacteria using scent. Ecologists have long
interventions, such as writing
known that soil bacteria emit scents, caused by
down positive outcomes for
volatile organic compounds, as a way of talking to
different areas of life, could help
each other, but they have now discovered that the
Tuning in to the beauties boost optimism. Watch out for the
protist eavesdrops on the communication
of nature boosts your BBCs upcoming Real Happiness
between bacteria. Because soil bacteria cause
optimism levels, Project, which will look at other
plant disease, scientists at the Netherlands
scientists are finding factors that promote wellbeing.
Institute of Ecology are keen to develop protists
as a form of biological pest control, which could
have far-reaching implications for agriculture.
 Words &
pictures
The best of this months
books, apps and TV
Words: Yashi Banymadhub. Photographs: Sara Mulvanny, Brett Lowell, Anchorage Skijor Club

FILM

Young Guns
Taking in some epic locations from Norway to Japan, this vertigo-inducing short film
tells the story of two incredible young climbers: 15-year-old Ashima Shiraishi from
New York and 16-year-old Kai Lightner from North Carolina (pictured). Hanshelleren
cave, capped by a 260-foot slab of overhanging granite, can intimidate even the
most experienced of climbers, but not Ashima. For her, this is just a warm-up,
and the climax of the film documents her journey to the far east, where she scales
Mount Hiei and becomes the first woman and the youngest person to climb a grade
V15 boulder problem (a type of rock-climbing performed without harnesses).
senderfilms.com, 16 to download, 20 on DVD

BOOK
Quantum nonsense?
Everything You Know About Science is Wrong is the
App: 3D Bones and Organs
latest hilarious myth-busting book from Matt Brown
Discover the intricacies of the human
(following on from Everything You Know About London body with this free educational app.
is Wrong). This time hes challenging the basic facts Choose from 10 different organs and
of our existence, covering everything from the laws body parts, then conduct a virtual
dissection, navigating your way
of nature to the theoretical physics proposition that through the human anatomy. You
particles can pop in and out of reality or quantum can tilt each organ to view it from
nonsense, as he calls it. Youll find yourself questioning different angles and test yourself
with a quiz. The new version now
if you are actually human or whether we live in a
comes with audio pronunciation
four-dimensional universe. Its a highly entertaining read for bone names, great for helping
from the former stand-up comedian, and itll leave you children learn how to say these long
words, and a memory aid for older
questioning everything youve ever thought to be true.
medical students. Available on
Pavilion Books, 9.99 Android and iPhone.

016 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Watch list
February

BOOK
The UK and Ireland leg of the
2017 Banff Tour begins this Total eclipse
month, featuring the best films Eclipse chasers are devoted astronomers who
from the Banff Mountain Film spend their time travelling the world to get the best
Festival that takes place in view of these celestial phenomena. One such is
Canada each year. Some 60 films Frank Close, Professor of Physics at the University
celebrating mountain culture and of Oxford, and his book, Eclipse, Journeys to the Dark
adventure sports are chosen from Side of the Moon, documents his lifelong obsession
the 300 entered. A jury then that began when he first observed a solar eclipse,
selects the top films for awards, aged eight. Compelled to discover more about them,
among them Young Guns (left) he braves a war zone in the Western Sahara to try to
which won the Peoples Choice for understand the 3,000-year-old mystery described in
Radical Reels. Dont miss Dog the Book of Joshua, in which the moon was said to
Power (below) for a celebration of move backwards. These optical illusions, and the
mountain spirit across the globe. myths and legends woven around them, make for
For tickets, go to banff-uk.com. some fascinating reading.
Oxford University Press, 12.99

FILM

Dog Power
In the world of action sports, a good teammate is loyal, doesnt judge you and has got
your back in any situation. Which is why dogs make such great team players! The
unbreakable bond between human and dog is at the heart of this short film about
canine-powered sports activities that attract tens of thousands of people around
the world, from Europe to South America and Australia. We meet dozens of canine
athletes and their human teammates, and watch them train, play and race
together. We also learn about the growing number of sports that people and their
pooches can take part in, including dog sled racing, canicross (running with
dogs), skijoring (dog-powered skiing) and scooter-joring (youve guessed it
scootering with dogs). Its the ultimate feel-good film for dog lovers.
dogpowermovie.com, 5.75

BOOK

Journey into space

Shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book award for Best Book With Facts,
Destination: Space is a vividly illustrated, encyclopedic hardback covering
all aspects of space for inquisitive minds from interstellar clouds
to black holes, space robots to aliens, earth cycles to moon phases.
Astrophysics professor Dr Christoph Englerts insightful depictions
of our universe are brought to life by Tom Clohosy Coles eye-popping
illustrations, plus it comes with a giant double-sided poster showing the
beauty of the night sky on one side and an illustration of our galaxy on
the other. Sure to keep budding astronomers engrossed for hours.
Wide Eyed Editions, 12.99
 Events
February

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER
OF THE YEAR, UNTIL
19 FEBRUARY, EDINBURGH

Whats
T most prestigious collection of
The
nature photography comes to Scotland.
n
See 100 stunning images of wild
S

on this
animals and landscape from the nature
a
photographers of 96 different countries,
p
and experience events in nature that you
a

month?
may never get to see with your own eyes.
Free entry. Visit nms.ac.uk

Find talks, workshops

and more, countrywide ANIMAL MUMMIES
REVEALED, UNTIL
26 FEBRUARY, LIVERPOOL
Animals in Ancient Egypt were mummified
as an offering to the gods. See a display of
NORTHERN IRELAND SCIENCE specimens including jackals, cats and
FESTIVAL, 16-26 FEBRUARY, birds, and discover how science and CT
BELFAST AND BEYOND imaging (x-rays of structures within the
body) can give insights into how these
With more than 100 events celebrating
animals lived and their environment. Free
science, technology, engineering and maths
entry. Visit liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
to awaken the science geek within us, this
festival is the biggest annual science event
in Northern Ireland. There are daytime
shows and workshops for young children
and evening events to inspire and educate BIRDWATCHING AT NEWTOWN
adults. For prices and bookings, visit NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE,
nisciencefestival.com 21 FEBRUARY, ISLE OF WIGHT
At the Newtown National Nature Reserve
you can spot visiting winter birds and year-
round resident birds. This event is an intro
to birdwatching and is aimed at families.
Theres a guided walk and youll learn
FROST LAB, AT-BRISTOL SCIENCE
to use binoculars. Free with admission
CENTRE, UNTIL 27 FEBRUARY
charge. Visit nationaltrust.org.uk
Head to Frost Lab, which is At-Bristols
seasonal lab where children aged seven-
plus explore all things chilly. You will get to
test materials to see how they behave when
hot or cold, and theres a fun dressing-up BRIGHTON SCIENCE FESTIVAL,
activity with foil blankets and sleeping bags 11-17 FEBRUARY, BRIGHTON
to see which is best at keeping you toasty. Half-term week is chock-a-block with
Open everyday from 10am to 4pm. Free with thrilling science activities looking at
admission charge. Visit at-bristol.org.uk everything from cockroaches to coding,
giant drawing machines to microscopic
organisms. Join the BBC One Shows
resident scientist Dr Marty Jopson and
GALAPAGOS: WILDLIFE, other big scientists for some spectacular
BIRDS AND DARWIN, demonstrations. For prices and bookings,
8 FEBRUARY, TAVISTOCK, DEVON visit brightonscience.com
Words: Yashi Banymadhub. Photographs: iStock

Evolution still has some people in a flap, so

birdwatcher Ian Gaspers illustrated talk
should be insightful and entertaining. Hes
been to the Galapagos Islands in search of
Darwins finches, whose variations gave a
clue to how species adapt to survive. 3
donation. Visit devonwildlifetrust.org

Are you involved with an event of interest to readers

of BBC Earth magazine? If so, please do let us know.
Email details to: [email protected]

/ 019
 Unmissable
viewing
this month

020 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Television
February

Spy
in the
Wild

From grieving monkeys to respectful giraffes, TV spy-cams have

captured some of the most incredible footage ever seen on BBC One,
showing the remarkable links between animal and human behaviour
 Television
February

The animatronic
ow would you feel if a robot that looked like animals are designed

H you, and even sounded a lot like you, joined

your family uninvited and turned its beady
to look, move and
make the same
sounds as the species
camera eyes on what you were up to? they are spying on
We might not like it much ourselves, but animals respond
quite differently, which has made for brilliant TV in Spy in the
Wild, as a host of animatronic animals housing top camera
equipment brought us up close to some eye-opening
behaviour. In fact, the programme revealed a greater
spectrum of emotions and understanding among our furry
and scaled cousins than we humans give them credit for.
We saw langur monkeys in India adopt - and then grieve
for - a baby monkey that was actually an animatronic; we
witnessed the first wobbly steps of a newborn elephant calf
thanks to an animatronic tortoise so realistic it wandered
undetected among the herd; and we watched a procession
of giraffes apparently paying respect to a deceased elder.
Its not the first time cameras have been hidden in this way:
we saw it in Dolphins: Spy in the Pod and Penguins: Spy in the
Huddle, which used a camera hidden in a remote-controlled
ice boulder. But Spy in the Wild is some of the most creative
filming yet to hit our screens more details of which are
revealed in the making of episode screened in early February.
John Downer is the man behind all these covert animal-
surveillance documentaries, including Snow Chick:

The programme
revealed a greater
spectrum of emotions
and understanding
among animals than
we give them credit for animal counterparts and work out the right
behaviours so that the cameras can ingratiate
themselves into animal groups. For example the
A Penguins Tale, broadcast just before pup-cam has submissive movements and can
Christmas. His groundbreaking techniques wag its tail to indicate it wants to play.
turn the idea of fly on the wall into The first spy film went out in 2000, Downer
something more literal than viewers are used says. Lions: Spy in the Den featured a
to we wouldnt put it past him to make bouldercam that could safely carry a camera into
fly-size cameras in the future. the pride to capture never-seen-before footage.
All the spy-cams, many of which have As technology has evolved, with cameras
robotic capabilities, have been carefully getting smaller and lighter and still producing
invented by Downer and his team using broadcast-quality footage, so, too, have the
technology normally only seen in Hollywood possibilities for Downer, and Spy in the Wild is
films. But the filmmakers have had to think the first series shot fully in ultra high definition.
beyond making a robot look like an animal, After Lions, we developed the concept of
theyve had to make them move like their using animatronic cameras further on Dolphins:
Spy in the Pod [broadcast in 2014], where 13
different spy creatures were deployed, says
Right: spy-bowerbird, spy-prairie dog and spy-tortoise
Downer. [The technique] pioneered the idea of
are the stars of the new BBC Spy in the Wild television
series, filming animal behaviours that long-lens getting cameras close to the subject, allowing
photography would struggle to capture the conventional long lens to take a lesser role.

/ 023
Television
February

There were striking

similarities between the
challenges the animals
faced, and the way they
dealt with them, and
aspects of our own lives

This was never more evident than when primates interacted

with the spy-cam. These intelligent creatures were quick to
discover that tortoise-cam - the one that had been hanging
out with a herd of elephants was not quite what it seemed.
A young adult chimpanzee in Senegal, West Africa, tapped the
tortoise, even licked it, to try to work out what strange animal
the fibreglass animatronic might be. The curious chimp
appeared to recognise it as a toy thing, rather than a living
being, taking possession of it, turning it over in his hands, not
letting others play with it, and even bringing it to bed with him.
Not all of Downers animatronic cameras survived their
missions. Spy-pup lost its tail to a boisterous wild dog; a fake

Above: an incredibly life-like animatronic baby langur

Did you monkey meets its new family (it would later be destroyed
as a teen monkey tried to carry it around). Right: wild dogs
know? in Botswana give their spy-cam companion a good sniff

Spy in the Wild footage of

giraffes taking it in turns to
The results were incredible. Wherever the
visit the body of a dead elder
suggests an awareness of
cameras went, they captured extraordinary
death and associated rituals. intimate moments of animal behaviour, says
They even bowed their heads. Downer. Few animals had been studied in
that kind of detail before and the similarities
More than 30 spy creatures between the challenges they faced and the
were created for the series,
way they dealt with them, and aspects of our
including a spy-sea otter
and sloth, which between
own lives was impossible to ignore.
them shot 8,000 hours of The success of Dolphins and Penguins

Words: Matilda Battersby. Photographs: BBC Pictures/John Downer Productions

material over three years. inspired Downer to make his projects even
more ambitious. The aim of Spy in the Wild hatchling crocodile found itself mistaken for the real thing
Chimpanzees are capable of was to look across the whole of the animal and was yanked from its riverside position into the mouth
empathy for another species,
kingdom and investigate how like us animals of a mother caman - still filming as it suffered its watery
seen in the programme when
a young chimp found an
really are, he says. It seemed the perfect end (the caman was trying to carry it into the river, not drown
abandoned genet kitten and moment to take this approach, as there has it). The animatronic baby langur monkey fell from a great
treated it with love and care. been a sea change in the way animal height after a teenager tried to carry it around a real
behaviourists view animals. langur baby would have clung on.
Whereas once any reference to the The aim of this series was to capture these elusive
similarity between animal behaviour and our moments where animals do something so extraordinary that
own was dismissed as anthropomorphism, it makes us consider our own connection with the natural
its now almost impossible to study animals world, says Downer. Inevitably capturing these moments is
without acknowledging the links between us. rare, but by deploying a menagerie of spy creatures and other
The change came first with primatologists, remote cameras over a long period of time...it was possible.
but its now seen by behavioural scientists Spy in the Wild concludes in early February, and all episodes
studying a vast range of species. are available on iPlayer

024 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Gadgets
Smart watches
The right watch can help
ensure you dont get the
bends when diving and
can tell you where you
are if you get distracted
by a passing shoal

All in good time

Watches today do so much more than just tell the time. They underwater adventures, GPS navigation for activities on
are like mini computers on your wrist, packed with advanced land or at sea, and a built-in mobile phone. One of them is
technology to give you vital information in extreme even powered by the person who wears it. But are these
environments. They are a tool to help you be bolder in your fancy modern functions a necessity for everyday life or are
adventures and can even show you the way home if you you wasting your money? We tell you how they work and
get lost. This month we check out the latest smart watches, whether they are worth splashing out on, plus we ask
with features such as depth and pressure sensors for some sports enthusiasts for their verdicts.

GARMIN FNIX 3 SAPPHIRE HR G-SHOCK GWN-1000B TECHSIXTYFOUR GATOR SWATCH SISTEM51

GPS watch for extreme sports Shock-proof watch with GPS tracking for kids Eco watch powered by
The Garmin Fnix can tell you useful depth gauge Whats not to love about a safety movement, not batteries
precisely where youre headed The latest model of the device that can double as a spy A watch that charges up every
whether youre skiing, rowing Gulfmaster watch has new water watch for make-believe games? time you move? We were a little
or venturing deep into mountain depth sensors to help you stick Give one of these to your kids dubious. Would it stop working
trails. Its large but light to wear, to the safety ascent rate of 18m and you can easily find them when you were sat still? Actually
with an extremely helpful GPS per minute. The altimeter mode using real-time location tracking, this can happen if the watch is
navigation system and compass. means you can calculate a safe and you can even have two-way inactive for a long time (youd need
Mountain runner Jackie Newton decompression rate to prevent phone calls between their watch to wind it manually), but it wont
prefers an old-fashioned map nitrogen from staying in the and numbers that you specify. just stop overnight. Even tiny
and compass herself, but of the bloodstream, says Emma Bolton Children place calls by holding movements are enough to trigger
Fnix she says, Beginners can from the London School of Diving. down both volume buttons, which the rotor, storing hours of battery
use this watch to get their A carbon-fibre casing stops the could be a little fiddly for small life. It may not have the advantage
coordinates if they are lost as watchs metal parts from being fingers though. You can also of quartz accuracy but you wont
long as they are not competing! corroded by sea water, too. adjust the settings using the app. need batteries or any maintenance.
Costs 540; buy.garmin.com Costs 700; g-shock.co.uk Costs 99; techsixtyfour.com Costs 108; shop.swatch.com
Words: Yashi Banymadhub. Photograph: Istock

FOR THE
FOR THE
OUTDOOR KIDS
TYPE

FOR THE FOR

DEEP-SEA THE ECO
CONSCIOUS
DIVER

/ 025
 Photographer Luke
assey blends creativity
with conservation
and says he soaks up
knowledge like a sponge.
He shares his opinions
on the natural world and
reveals how he uses his
skills to make a difference
Drinking it in

026 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Photographer in focus
Luke Massey

his fish-eye-lens shot of an orphaned

T
sun bear just two months old may be
cute, but the story behind it is far from
sweet. A week earlier he would have
been roaming around the Indonesian
jungle with his mother, says Luke Massey, as he explains
that the young bear was taken so he could be sold to a zoo.
Massey, a wildlife photographer and camera operator for
the BBCs Natural History Unit says the trader making the
deal was arrested, but for every success story, there are
thousands that slide under the radar of police. The illegal
wildlife trade is now bigger than the drug trade, and
second only to the arms trade, says Massey. You can do
your bit by never having your picture taken with a slow
loris at the floating market in Bangkok, never going to the
tiger temples and never taking an elephant ride. If everyone
boycotts these awful attractions, theyll die out.
 Im willing to put myself
in dangerous situations
to highlight issues

Get a detectives
nose for a story

I saw an amazing shot

on Instagram of falcons
nesting on a Chicago
skyscraper balcony,
and messaged the owner
of the apartment to ask if
I could shoot them. Falcons
were almost extinct in the
80s and nobody could
have predicted theyd
make a comeback nesting
on skyscrapers, which are
like a cliff habitat. There
are now 20 breeding pairs
in Chicago alone.

Keep a cool head. The Iberian species. Seeing them at a weekend market was like dump. I was retching every few steps, yet there
lynx is the rarest cat in the world, seeing an amur leopard for sale at a car boot sale. were seven-year-old kids combing the heaps for
so when we went to Spain last scraps to sell. Theyll probably do that all their lives
year it took us two months to I get funny looks going through airport security, and only live to 40. I think the I cant go on holiday
find one. I was lining up the shot as I have cable ties and tape in my bag, like a serial this year unhappiness we see in the UK is a result
and there was a grass stem in killer might! I use them for attaching cameras and of consumerism. The happiest people Ive met were
the way, so I took a step to the flashes to trees. I also always have bird seed or dried the islanders of Moturiki, in Fiji. When I first visited,
left. Always think about your dog food, for attracting birds or foxes. Its sometimes they had no electricity, they lived off the land and
frame, even when youre madly excited. frowned upon, but as long as the creature doesnt sea, and hung out with each other. No hot showers,
become dependent on it, I dont see the issue. but a coral reef to swim in. Then the government
I won the Urban category at 2016s Wildlife gave them solar panels. Now, some of the islanders
Photographer of the Year awards with an image I never complain about life in the UK now. I once have TVs and fridges, while others cant afford
of meat being tossed to kites in Delhi. Locals in the spent a morning shooting on Delhis biggest rubbish them. Its created a keeping up with the Joneses
Muslim Quarter feed the kites as a mark of giving to divide. When I returned, they didnt seem as happy.
those less fortunate, which seems like an ideal way
to help Delhis 30,000 breeding pairs of kites thrive. Use the long waits to quiz local guides. I spent
But its being done in the afternoon, when locals fly IN FOCUS three months tracking a leopard family in South
paper kites. I worked with a bird rehab clinic, and Luangwa National Park. Id often wait for three
over 90 per cent of the kites they treat are hurt in Leave a little patch of your garden hours while the leopards slept. My Zambian guides
collisions with the kite strings. Locals are now wild, rather than paving it or putting were hilarious and full of knowledge about the
being asked to only feed the kites in the morning. down a lawn. Plant wildflowers, if there wildlife, so I used the opportunity to soak it up like
are none. Youll see a lot more wildlife. a sponge. You can predict the shot better, once you
Wildlife black markets are shocking. Theres a Find someone objective to choose understand the species.
saying in Indonesia that a man is only a real man your best shots. My girlfriend, also
once he has a house, a wife, a horse, a dagger and a a photographer, edits my work. If I could only choose one shooting location,
bird in a cage. So its tradition for most households My favourite shots dont win awards. it would be Zambia. Theres something about
to have a caged bird. I once saw a pair of javan African light. We only get really spectacular golden
green magpies in a market, a critically endangered light once or twice a year in the UK. They get it

028 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Photographer in focus
Luke Massey

practically daily. Last time I was there, I tried new

technology that lets you take better quality stills
while shooting video footage. Often Ill think,
Agh, this would make a great still while Im
shooting video, or vice versa. Now you can get 30
8-megapixel stills a second, which is just incredible.

London could become a wildlife haven. Id love

to see tax breaks for green roofs there. Theres a
solicitors office a stones throw from St Pauls with
a roof garden that has rare black redstarts nesting
in it. From a helicopter, you can see that London is
a sea of gravel-covered roofs. If every building in
London planted a wildflower patch on their roof, it
would only cost around 1,000 each, and we could
have a prettier city full of wildlife and birdsong.

Im a conservationist before Im a photographer.

Im willing to put myself in dangerous situations to
highlight issues such as underground wildlife
markets. I often go out with activists who have been
shot at, and Ive seen police beaten up. But I feel like
my camera protects me. It girds me with an I have
a job to do determination. The quote that keeps me
going is from Sir Peter Scott, who was a founder of
the World Wide Fund for Nature. He said, We
Dont shy away from tough issues In remote areas, trappers play birdsong out shant save all we should like to, but we shall save
of huge speakers at night to draw the birds a great deal more than if we had never tried.
In Cyprus, the killing of blackcap birds to make into their nets. The industry turns a profit of You can follow Luke on Instagram @lmasseyimages,
ambelopoulia, an illegal local delicacy where 15 million euros a year. The trapper who killed or visit his website at lmasseyimages.com
the songbirds are served pickled, grilled these black caps was arrested, thankfully, If youd like to comment on the issues raised,
or boiled, is a highly organised operation. and the 20 remaining birds were released. email [email protected]

Give it time

The adult male on the left

should be killing the cub
on the right, because
despite being his half-
brother, the cub could
Words: Catherine Gray. Photographs: Luke Massey

grow up to be a threat.
Instead, hes playing with
him affectionately. A very
rare behaviour to capture.
Rather than frantically
shooting and moving on,
sit back and wait for
scenes like these to unfold.
Photography
#Earthcapture

Our world
Your photos
Every month in BBC Earth magazine well be Brian Taylor

showcasing your pictures of the natural world.

Get inspired by our favourite images this
month, then grab your camera or smartphone
to join in the #earthcapture adventure!
Email your pictures to us at [email protected]. As well as
featuring a selection each month, well also share your work with the BBC
#earthcapture team, who regularly post contributed images on their social
media platforms. You could end up sharing your work with the world!

Kate Snowdon

Nicole Haines Lucy Smith Craig Blackley

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

I took this photo of Loch Fyne on

the west coast of Scotland during
a weekend trip from Glasgow,
where I live. I work as a doctor in a
stressful accident and emergency
department in the city, and I can
find it difficult to relax, and I dont
often get the chance to escape to
sunnier climes. I like this photo as
it shows an area only an hour from
Glasgow where I found the time to
unwind in my own country.
Mike Allen Gemma Lochhead

Want to share your work with the rest of the world? BBC #earthcapture makes that possible. Just
download the BBC Earth Capture app (its available on iTunes and Google Play) on your smartphone
and it will explain how to share your photograph or video. Selected pictures are then posted on
bbc.com/earth and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To see the stunning photographs taken
#earthcapture
by people all over the world, search for #earthcapture and prepare to be amazed.

030 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Profile
CBeebies star

FERNE CORRIGAN

They say never work with

kids or animals... I do both
Ferne Corrigans job as
a CBeebies presenter has
taken her from the Arctic
Circle to the Galapagos, but
it all began with one feisty
and scratch-happy cat

erne thought her CBeebies

F audition was an absolute

disaster. I was up against all
Ferne has filmed with
a wide variety of animals,
from huskies to guinea
these vets who really knew pigs, but will never forget
their stuff. I found myself in front of a camera being scratched by a
with a little girl and a cat. While I was trying to reticent kitty at her audition

get the cat out of its carry-box, it scratched

me and ran under a sofa. The girl screamed
and tried to climb under the sofa too. I just
stayed as calm as I could and cracked jokes.
She got the job. For the past three years,
Ferne has co-presented My Pet and Me,
a show that profiles kids and their pets, aimed age, I was stung constantly from poking
at the under-10 crowd. She has leapt from things in the garden, but it didnt deter me.
postgraduate obscurity as a runner, to being She toyed with the idea of being a vet, but
watched by tens of thousands of rapt children. wasnt sure she could handle the emotional
Her job comes with more than a few perks, fallout of always seeing animals in distress.
from international travel and a quad-bike commute up a pristine snow-capped She studied zoology and animal biology at
mountain, to stroking Siberian huskies. But Dublin university, her home town, and as part
there are also the quirks: handling tarantulas, of her dissertation, she spent six weeks on a
and singing about not forgetting to wash your game reserve in South Africa. Once, when
hands after pet-handling, to name but two. helping the rangers relocate three male lions,
Cats have continued to be Fernes nemesis. I was helping pull a lion into a box by its hind
I would like to own one, but theyre a legs, she says. He was tranquillised, but at
nightmare to film with. Ive been scratched one point I was in the box with him. He was
dozens of times. Once, I was doing a piece eyeballing me and growling, but totally unable
about cleaning litter trays. I had to pick up and to move. I was excited, not scared. I thought,
put down this sloppy turd about six times. I want the world to see this kind of thing.
Under hot lights. I feel like I will be able to How can I show kids how cool this is?
smell that poo forever. Ferne found a masters degree in wildlife
How did she break into such a competitive documentary production at Salford
industry? Persistence, she reveals. I was University and started a few months later.
always obsessed with animals. From an early I struggled greatly with the technical side,

/ 031
 Profile
CBeebies star

Filming with reindeer

she says. I had never used a DSLR camera, in the Arctic was a
let alone edited footage. I found it fiddly and career highlight for
Ferne. Below left: one
frustrating. I decided the storytelling aspect
of her first episodes,
of filmmaking was more my forte. with kunekune pigs,
She discovered that the media industry was BAFTA-nominated
was much tougher to get into than her course
tutors had suggested. You need experience
in running to become a runner. Its a
catch-22! I would advise all students to do
work experience in their holidays, with local,
independent companies. That way, theyll
graduate with experience.

I was bombing
about on sleds
thinking, I cant herders. I thought, Kian jumped into the water and was
believe this is I cant believe this thrashing around, happily chasing the
is my actual job. sharks, says Ferne. Several sharks circled in,
my actual job Its obvious that curious. The cameraman and I started to get
Ferne is a curious a little anxious, but rationally, you know that
combination of a reef shark isnt remotely interested in
fiercely fearless yet eating a human, even a snack-sized one.
After a couple of years running with endlessly cheerful, which makes her ideal for I love to cover the so-called bad or ugly
production companies, Ferne finally got working with the trouble-squared combination of the wildlife kingdom, to destroy the myths
called to audition for My Pet and Me in 2014. of kids and animals. Its challenging, she says. that they are dangerous.
As well as cat-wrangling, Ferne had to There are a lot of tantrums. From the kids, not Her ambition is to do more adventure
perform a song. She adapted the lyrics of me! One of her first episodes was BAFTA- wildlife work. By 35, I want to be the female
Queens We Will Rock You to portray a dog nominated. That was a complete shock and version of Steve Irwin, she says. And Id love
trying to catch a ball. It went something delight. It was a segment on kunekune pigs. to go into producing and directing.
like I will, I will catch you. I had this Pigs are such characters to work with. Most of all, Ferne wants to educate young
blow-up guitar that was deflating as I sang. What is her standout filming moment? We people that there is no need to be afraid of
Thankfully, they found it funny. Two long have a My Pet and Me special coming out in animals. Kids and teens seem to be more
months later, Ferne got the call saying March, set in the Galapagos and featuring a scared of bees, birds and dogs now, but
Words: Catherine Gray. Photographs: iStock, Alamy, Shutterstock, Ferne Corrigan

shed been chosen. I cried. five-year-old boy called Kian. His fathers education leads to less fear. I was so thrilled
Since then, her job has been a dream come a national park guide out there. Theres a to read that the first few episodes of Planet
true. I was in the Arctic Circle recently, harbour on his doorstep with black-tipped Earth II were watched by more young people
bombing about on sleds with reindeer reef sharks swimming around. Suddenly, than The X Factor, she says.

| SC R E E N SHOTS |

On-set must-have Coffee. Ive given it up Best part of her

for Lent, but I just get headaches. Life is job?Knowing the kids
betterwithcoffee. will remember it forever. That
Most-used phrase at work?And again! And it will likely be shown at their wedding.
again! I have to make it into a game for the kids, Worst part?Being trolled on Twitter.
them repeating themselves. I get comments from parents about
Hardest bit of working with under-10s?Trying having an annoying voice. Ouch. But,
not to swear when things go wrong. hey, you cant be liked by everyone.

/ 033
 Skilled freedivers and
spear-fishermen, the
Bajau people of the Coral
Triangle have traditionally
lived almost entirely at
sea. Vivien Cumming
meets the last true
nomads of the ocean

034 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 People special
Bajau spear-fishermen

S E A

C H A N G E

F O R

O C E A N

N O M A D S
 tide comes in, the village is accessible by
only one means of transport boats.
The Bajau people have lived in the
Coral Triangle the area of ocean north
of Australia, between Indonesia the
Philippines and Papua New Guinea for
centuries. They traditionally spent their
entire lives on houseboats at sea. Only
two generations ago many Bajau would
have been born, lived and died at sea,
rying to keep up, I dive as deep as I can, but but this existence is at odds with the boundaries of modern

T it isnt long before La Uda disappears below

me. I can barely make him out as he dives
nation states. Over past decades, under government pressure,
most Bajau have been forced to settle and have chosen to
deeper and deeper, over the lip of a coral wall build villages such as Sampela entirely on water. Even with
and down its cliff-like face past a myriad of coral and sponges. a settlement, some of the 1,500 residents havent set foot on
Suddenly, I realise that Im out of breath. Looking upwards, air land for several years. One man gestures towards the coast
seems to be far above me. I kick frantically to reach the surface and says: When Im on land, it moves. Its as though he gets
and gasp I must have been down there for a minute. La Uda is landsick, his body more in tune with the rhythms of the ocean.
still going and it seems like an age before he reappears nearly
five minutes later, proudly bearing a fish on his speargun. Deep respect
La Uda and his father, La Udedi, are Bajau spear-fishermen. Hundreds of children greet our arrival, showing off their
They are from one of the few families that still solely spearfish. acrobatics and swimming skills by launching themselves into
They live in the village of Sampela, off the coast of Indonesias the nearby water. The village is made up of rickety wooden
Kaledupa Island in Southeast Sulawesi in the heart of the Coral walkways that lead you around a maze of houses. Endless
Triangle, a region so-called for its incredible biodiversity. It is no battering by the ocean means that occasionally the walkways
ordinary village. Built entirely on wooden stilts and piles of dead collapse and sometimes you have to circumnavigate the entire
coral in the shallow water, its nearly a kilometre from the coast. village before reaching your destination.
At low tide the seabed is exposed, with meadows of seagrass There is no past or future tense in the Bajau language,
lying ready to be scavenged for their shellfish. Then, when the so asking when the village was built brings only baffled
expressions. The generally used frame of
reference for when something happened
is: My grandfather first came here,
Top left and right:
Sampelas stilt houses, or my father first came here, rather
a kilometre from than talking about years or dates.
land, with fish pens
In the early days, many of the
for aquaculture in the
foreground. Right: walkways were made up of just two
everyday food staples lengths of bamboo, and practising the
art of acrobatics to get from A to B was
commonplace. Today the easiest way to
get around, when the tide is high, is by
small dugout canoe, paddling between
the houses, under the walkways, and
avoiding the occasional childs head as it
pops up to say hello. Watching children

036 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 People special
Bajau spear-fishermen

Bajau women taking

their fish to market on
Kaledupa Island, so they
can in turn buy fresh
water and vegetables
for their families

Some residents of Sampela havent set foot on land

in several years. When they do it feels strange. Its as
though they get landsick
 People special
Bajau spear-fishermen

G O I N G D EEP ER U N D ERWAT ER

As the Bajau descend beneath the waves, their

bodies are adapted in unique ways to withstand the
ocean pressure. Having little body fat reduces
buoyancy, making it easy to dive deep without using
La Udedi, one of the
fins. With every 10m descended, pressure increases
men who still go
by one bar so at 30m below, the pressure is three
spearfishing, can
dive to a depth of 30m times that of the surface. This puts extraordinary
on just one breath forces on the body. Ear pain is the first thing you
Below: Bajau children notice. The pressure on the outside of the eardrum
increases pushing it inwards. If the pressure isnt
equalised by holding your nose and forcing air into
the middle ear, the eardrum will rupture. As you go
deeper, the pressure increases on your lungs.
However, the body has a clever blood shift
mechanism blood from other parts of the body
so at ease in the water, its easy to understand why the Bajau is diverted to the lungs to equalise the pressure.
As you continue your descent, heart rate and
are renowned freedivers. That breath I longed to take as I
metabolism slow and blood pressure increases,
followed La Uda downwards is a reflex caused by carbon
to use less oxygen. Diving deeper still then causes
dioxide building up in my body. Its a reflex the Bajau have blood to be drawn away from your hands and feet
taught themselves to ignore, gradually building confidence and sent to your vital organs. Adding to the incredible
with deeper dives. adaptations for diving deep below the waves is mind
Their relaxed attitude makes them look like underwater control. Relaxation is key to allow the body to make
all the necessary adjustments and to prevent
dancers, comfortable in that airless world. La Uda and
hyperventilation. Many freedivers enter a meditative
La Udedi are at ease using homemade wooden-and-glass state by using deep-breathing techniques. The
goggles and spearguns, swimming to depths of nearly relaxed attitude of the Bajau suggests that this effect
30m without fins, and walking along the ocean floor until even translates into their everyday lives.
they find their prey.
Traditionally, this community caught all its fish by
freediving, fishing only for subsistence, but since settling,
their way of life has changed and there are few families left
that solely spearfish. Many supplement their income by
fishing using nets and lines, or by seaweed farming.
Times are changing for the Bajau in other ways, too. While
watching them dive, I spotted none of the larger fish such
as grouper and Napoleon wrasse that are vital to the coral
ecosystems, and much of the coral was dead or damaged.
One man tells me: The fish are smaller now, gesturing with
his hands from the length of his forearm to the size of his
hand. He adds that they have to dive deeper to find bigger fish
and explains that they try to only take fish over a certain size.
Everyone knows from experience that if they take everything,
the fish disappear faster, but they have to feed their families.
Professor David Smith, a marine biologist at the University
of Essex, and director of the Coral Reef Research Unit there,

/ 039
 During a Bajau healing
ceremony at a family
house in Sampela,
a shaman heats a cup
over burning embers

The Bajau have learnt that the natural world ebbs and
flows. Such an intricate knowledge must surely come
to good use in protecting the reefs and the fish

040 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 People special
Bajau spear-fishermen

has been working in the region for

some 15 years.
Our data suggests an average 75 per
cent reduction in fish abundance since
we started recording in 2002, he says.
I would argue that habitat degradation
and overfishing are the key.
Theres no doubt that unsound
fishing practices and Asias booming
live fish trade have not helped, with
the majority of reef fish swimming in
restaurant aquariums coming from the
pristine waters of the Coral Triangle.

The old ways and the new Lean and keen

La Udedi follows the
Its easy to understand why people in
traditional Bajau method
the region itself are so reliant on fish. of fishing, using only his
It makes up all the protein in their diet, homemade speargun
and is eaten at every meal. Hospitality
is unrivalled in Bajau culture and guests
are treated to a lavish feast from the
sea on arrival every kind of seafood
I have ever seen with nothing wasted,
from fish to sea urchin to squid. meant that formerly it wasnt eaten, but many Bajau have
During one feast that preceded a healing ceremony, an converted to Islam and, with fewer fish now available, they
elderly lady a shaman speaking via a translator, explains have started to hunt and eat it.
Photographs: Vivien Cumming

some of the Bajaus animistic beliefs in which coral reefs, Islam is now commonplace, so there is a divide in the village
mangroves, even the tides themselves, are manifestations of between the old ways and the new. Most of the population are
spirit. We are spiritually twinned with either an octopus or practising Muslims. Theyve built a mosque and a school, and
a crocodile, the shaman says, adding that which one you are use nets and fences for bigger catches.
matched with depends on whether the placenta you were Sticking to animistic beliefs, using subsistence spearfishing
born with had a hole in it. This association with octopus and teaching your children the ways of the sea are now seen as
somewhat backward. But whatever path
a family chooses, fish are essential, even
if it means a trip to the market at a nearby
Did you town for the women to sell the fish their

know? husbands have caught so they can in turn

buy fresh water and vegetables.
Most Bajau can dive to depths of For every Bajau, however, there is a
20-30m with no equipment - one deep respect for the ocean. Watching the
Bajau man broke the Philippines healing ceremony, it was clear that every
freediving record in 2013 with a
aspect, including the ceremonial offerings,
dive of 79m.
Bajau children spend so much
revealed how nature and the seas are
Above: fish on sale time underwater they develop revered. The Bajau have learnt that the
at the market on
unusually strong underwater natural world ebbs and flows.
Kaledupa Island.
vision. Their eye muscles adapt Such an intricate knowledge must surely
Below: fishermen
to constrict the pupils more, and
return home at sunset, come to good use in protecting the reefs
with Kaledupa Island their eye lens shape adjusts so that
and the fish that inhabit them the Bajau
in the background objects underwater are in focus
rather than looking blurry. are, after all, the primary stakeholders.
The spleen plays an important The people I speak to have a relentlessly
role in freediving as underwater positive attitude, questioning why, If weve
pressure constricts it causing it to got fish now, why wouldnt we have fish in
squeeze out more red blood cells
10 years time?
that carry oxygen around the body.
This means Bajau blood is like that
Their belief is that the ocean is for
of people who live at high altitude everyone and will always provide. Whether
where there is less oxygen. they are right remains to be seen.
 Adventure hackers
Bug detectives

| A DV E N T U R E H AC K E R S |

If creepy crawlies such as this rhinoceros beetle dont scare you,

then you might have what it takes to be an entomologist. The
atural History useums flea-, fly- and spider-woman tells all

SO YOU
WANT TO
BE A BUG
CATCHER?

/ 043
 rica McAlister was bitten by the insect bug

E while studying for a degree in environmental

biology. She went on a placement year at
what was then the Institute of Terrestrial
Ecology (now the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) in Dorset.
I was studying the effects of climate change on heather
beetles, she recalls. Id spend my lunchtime eating
sandwiches and watching parasites emerge from the beetles
abdomens. The more I learnt, the more I wanted to know.
Dr McAlister went on to gain a PhD in ecological
entomology, which involved studying invertebrates on a
wetland, before joining the Natural History Museum (NHM)
10 years ago. Today she is the NHMs collections manager of
diptera (flies); siphonaptera (fleas); arachnida (spiders, ticks,
scorpions, mites, harvestmen and their cousins); and
myriapoda (millipedes and centipedes). Anything that bites,
pierces, maims; theyre my babies, she says, grinning.
Specifically, her babies are some 3-4 million specimens
of insects and arachnids held at the NHM, either in spirit jars,
on slides or pinned in glass-topped drawers. McAlister and
the five staff she manages divide up responsibility for this
collection between themselves. McAlister is in charge of
part of the fly collection, including the horse flies and robber

Dr Erica McAlister
is collections
manager at the
Natural History
Museum, and
has particular
responsibility for
the fly collection

flies, mosquitoes and fleas. Our main directive at

the museum is to maintain, enhance and research
the collection, she says.
This often involves taking insect collections left
to the museum by keen amateur entomologists
and incorporating them into the NHM archives.
McAlister is currently working to curate one such
collection of bee flies (bombyliidae). She has to
individually check the identity of many hundreds of
specimens, then file them into the collection within the Anything that
floor-to-ceiling grey cabinets that house the museums
insect tree of life. This painstaking, but essential, work helps bites, pierces or
to keep the collections relevant. There are many new species
being added, so the work includes keeping the nomenclature
maims; theyre
up-to-date and supporting the research of visiting scientists. my babies
Being an insect expert opens doors into surprisingly
diverse fields of work, ranging from medicine to food security.
In 2010, McAlister worked for three years in Tajikistan, helping
people to identify mosquitoes, teaching curating techniques

044 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Adventure hackers
Bug detectives

Did you
know?
The titan beetle (below), which
lives in South America, can grow
up to 20cm long.

The largest purely terrestrial

animal in Antarctica is a fly
(a 3-6mm midge).
The first animal in space was a fly.
There are more than 160,000
described species of fly on the
planet (but there are many, many
more to be identified).

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

The traditional route to becoming an that museum and university staff are very
entomologist is to study for a degree in welcoming to amateurs if they know were
biological sciences and then a further serious about what were doing, says retired
masters degree or PhD in entomology. maths teacher and amateur entomologist
You dont need to be a professional Howard Bentley. Despite his amateur status,
Immature male bees make a
bug-catcher to work with insects however. Bentley grew so skilled at identifying the
tasty snack; the Nordic Food Lab
The Amateur Entomologists Society dolichopodidae family of long-legged flies
(nordicfoodlab.org) has made
(amentsoc.org) is a good place to find out that he was asked by the NHM to help sort
granola out of them.
about alternative opportunities. The great and identify specimens in a collection
thing about entomology in this country is bequeathed to the museum.

and training in the determination of malaria in hosts. identify different insects

She also travelled to Peru to work with NHMs Queen and to understand that
of Potatoes Dr Sandra Knapp and learn more about the entomology can provide More than 2,000 species of
insects that can infest potato crops. a varied and fulfilling insects are eaten around the world.
A particularly fascinating aspect of entomology is its career. Its great when
application in forensic science. One drawer in the NHM I get a kid who comes
collection labelled entomology of the cadaver is dedicated to along and says Oh no, I thought I was going to be diving and
showing the insects that can help police to solve murders. doing adventure sports, and Ive got to collect insects with a
When a corpse is fresh and begins to smell, it attracts flies, net instead, she says. Then by the end of the day theyre
such as blow flies. Maggots that are seen in corpses are the saying, Its amazing; can we pin some more insects please.
larval stage of the blow fly. They appear on corpses Best bit: I cant answer that. Id tell you something different
immediately and have been known to travel considerable every five minutes.
distances. As the bodys fats become rancid, flesh-eating Worst bit: Having to go to meetings about things like what
hister beetles (histeridae) move in, feeding off the larvae and kind of storage cabinets to buy.
pupae of the blow flies. So the types of insects present in a Top tip: Learn maths. If youre not frightened of it, maths is
body can help police ascertain when death occurred. simply a tool. And be passionate!
Raising awareness of the diverse uses and fascinating Dr McAlisters new book The Secret Life of Flies is published
life-cycles of insects is another side to Dr McAlisters role. by the Natural History Museum in March 2017. Look out for
She often visits schools, teaching pupils how to collect and our review in next months issue.
 Adventure hackers
Bug detectives

THE VOLUNTEER
INSECT I THINK IT
SURVEYOR WOULD BE GREAT
TO DISCOVER A
NEW SPECIES

Insects are very different to

humans, both biologically and
behaviourally, making them
interesting to study. Im interested
in the way they have adapted to
different environments and the
way they have developed different
camouflage. The fact that they
support so many life forms above
them in the food chain, and that
many other species would not
Dragonflies and The surveys are repeated every few weeks to see
survive without them makes their
damselflies are among if anything has changed.
early colonisers of place in our world important.
Todd found that she quickly learned the behaviours There is a growing industry as
water bodies that
have been cleaned, so of different species and found herself looking out for people start to eat insects, which
conservationists often odonata even when she wasnt volunteering. In her could become more popular.
want to know if they Working in entomology can
local Clissold Park she spied some green damselflies
have been seen, as it involve lots of travel and
tells them that a project but couldnt quite work out what kind they were.
conservation work, which
has been successful I thought they were either emerald damselfly or interests me. I think it would be
willow emeralds, she says. great to discover a new species.
I took some pictures and our group leader, Douglas St Ledger Smith, aged 14
Rosanna, sent them off to Steve Brooks at the Natural
A chance encounter with a dragonfly led freelance History Museum and Adrian Parr at the British
copywriter and web developer Sonja Todd to become Dragonfly Society. They confirmed they were willow
a volunteer insect surveyor. She had been paddling emeralds and said it was the first official sighting of
in a stream in Manningtree in Essex when the the species in inner London. Apparently willow
beautiful turquoise damselfly, with a large black emeralds are becoming more common in southeast
JOIN THE INSECT
spot on its wing, alighted on her. England because of climate change. INVESTIGATORS
Words: Carolyn Fry. Photographs: Alamy, iStock, Trustees of Natural History Museum, London

Best bit: Seeing the willow emeralds. To see

When I got home, I looked it up and found it was a something in my first year of surveying odonata in Find out about volunteering
banded demoiselle. I was very excited, she says. Then my local park was really incredible. Its been a opportunities at your local Wildlife

the very next day, an email came through from the highlight of the year for me and its made me really Trust; wildlifetrusts.org.
Become a dragonfly detective.
Wildlife Trust seeking volunteers for a new London- excited about going out and spotting them again.
The presence or absence of
wide dragonfly survey called Water for Wildlife. Worst bit: The only downside is that it has pulled me dragonflies and damselflies can
Sonja, who lives in east London close to Woodberry away from work a little bit. Its tempting go out indicate whether a water cleaning
Wetlands, the London Wildlife Trusts newest nature every week in the summer. project has been effective. If
reserve, immediately signed up and was accepted. you live in London and see one on
your local patch, report it at
After two days training on the odonata (the order of
bit.ly/2iE70nm. The collective
carnivorous insects that includes dragonflies and
findings will be used to create an
damselflies) and on wetland habitats, she began atlas of Londons odonata.
helping with surveys at locations in north London. Use the iRecord Dragonflies
Sonja Todd works as
We undertake transect walks, she explains. You app to upload your sightings
a copywriter and web
have a set path of 50 to 100m, with the vegetation and to the Biological Records Centre;
developer but has
brc.ac.uk.
any water features mapped out. a passion for insects,
and she regularly Volunteer at the Dragonfly
We walk along in a small group looking out for Centre at Wicken Fen,
conducts dragonfly
dragonflies and damselflies and if we spot one we and damselfly surveys Cambridgeshire. More info,
make a note of it and the habitat that we see it in. for the Wildlife Trust go to bit.ly/2jdcN45.

/ 047
 Have a bone to pick with the scraggy
vulture? Just remember theyre vital
as natures waste disposers which is
why their decline is very bad news

ultures, with their big, ungainly wings, beaky

V faces and fondness for scavenging on dead

meat, have a terrible reputation. They are
seen as harbingers of death, circling dying
animals, ready to pick at decaying flesh.
But they dont deserve a bad press. They offer a vital service
by feasting on carrion, protecting us from diseases spread by
rotten meat and saving us the expense of cleaning it up.
Yet their existence has been threatened thanks to us. In
Southeast Asia, 98 per cent of vultures have been wiped out
in 20 years. The white-backed vulture, long-billed vulture,
slender-billed vulture, the Indian vulture and the Himalayan
griffon are now officially critically endangered. The white-
rumped vulture has dwindled from 80 million in the 1980s to
only a few thousand today, a decline of 99.9 per cent.
The vastly reduced species are all Gyps, a genus of Old World
vultures, typically with bald heads, beady eyes and a cloak of
dark plumage. The kind you see feasting hungrily in cartoons.
So, why have these creatures been dying in their droves in
India? Its mostly due to modern veterinary medicine. Vultures
consume the carcasses of farmed animals, exposing them
to a drug that gives them fatal kidney failure. That drug is
diclofenac, prescribed to cattle to ease joint pain and keep
them going for longer.
This first came to light in 2003 when there were reports of
the near-extinction of the white-backed, slender-billed and
Indian vultures due to unknown causes.

048 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Rare Earth
The Gyps vulture

Nice to meat you

a white-backed vulture,
one of the threatened
species, prepares to
feed on a carcass

In for the kill

 To learn more about
how magnificent
vultures are, visit
bbc.in/2izvQor

Did you Vulture species are New

World (the Americas and
actually have exceptional
eyesight and can spot a
Contrary to popular
belief, the reason vultures

know? Caribbean) or Old World

(Europe, Asia and Africa),
carcass from miles away.
They have weak legs so
have bald heads is not
so they can get inside
depending on location. never carry prey to a nest carcasses without dirtying
Its a myth that they instead regurgitating food their feathers, but because
circle dying animals they for their offspring. it helps them stay cool.

050 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Rare Earth
The Gyps vulture

Vultures have a digestive system with

special acids that will dissolve anthrax,
botulism and cholera bacteria

of Birds and other bodies, which

studied vultures and cattle
from 2006 to 2010. It found that,
While were familiar with
by 2009, the number of cattle
the vultures scruffy looks
we forget about their carcasses treated with
spectacular ability in the diclofenac fell by 49 per cent.
air. Here a Himalayan
The knock-on result of this was
Griffon soars on thermal
currents. Opposite: a pair of that diclofenac-related vulture
white-backed vultures deaths had fallen by 65 per cent.
It might be a case of too
little, too late, however. Dr Toby
Galligan, who is an RSPB
scientist and co-author of
A year later Dr Lindsay Oaks, a researcher from Washington this study, said: The good news is that veterinary use
State University, backed by the Peregrine Fund, published a of diclofenac in India has decreased significantly; the bad
report in Nature proving the connection with diclofenac. He news is that it has not stopped completely.
said: This discovery is significant. It is the first known case This is because Indian pharmaceutical companies are
of a pharmaceutical causing major ecological damage over manufacturing diclofenac for human use in vials large enough
a huge area and threatening three species with extinction. to treat livestock; and some veterinarians and livestock
On 20 November 2005, the connection was further owners continue to choose [cheaper] diclofenac over the
confirmed when villagers found an injured Himalayan griffon vulture-safe alternative, meloxicam.
vulture at Kullu in Indias Himachal Pradesh. The Gyps species of vulture might not look cuddly, but it
They took the bird to a veterinarian. It had a broken leg, plays a vital ecological role. How so? The vultures are equipped
so to treat the swelling and pain, the with a digestive system that contains
vet gave it diclofenac. special acids that will dissolve anthrax,
Two days later the vulture was botulism and cholera bacteria.
dead. It died from visceral gout of the
kidney, caused by diclofenac toxicity. Natural-born cleaners
Dr Oaks team and later studies That vultures can dispose of carrion and
proved that when vultures eat the eliminate bacteria is useful, if not vital,
flesh of livestock dosed with the drug, in countries such as India, where cattle
the effect is fatal within days. are valuable assets (for milk and dung
for fuel) and are kept until they die of
A vulture-safe drug natural causes but are not eaten.
In March 2006 the Indian government Eating beef is not acceptable in
threw vultures a lifeline by backing much of the subcontinent on religious
Words: Matilda Battersby. Photographs: Alamy, iStock

a ban of diclofenac. A similar drug, grounds, so vultures have performed a

called meloxicam, was recommended vital role in disposing of dead cattle. But
as a vulture safe alternative. there are no longer enough birds to do
However, diclofenac is cheaper than this effectively and the consequences
meloxicam and use of the drug in are significant: an estimated 65 million
India continues. cattle die in India each year, and must be
Things are improving a properly, and expensively, disposed of.
little, however. A 2014 study in The battle to save these vultures will
A fluffier young vulture. In the first few
Philosophical Transactions of the be tough, but the cause of their decline
months of their lives, vultures remain in
Royal Society B cited research from the nest, protected and fed by their parents, is now clear and the campaign to
the Royal Society for the Protection who provide regurgitated, chewed meat preserve them is well under way.
 Reaching for the moon

052 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Space
NASAs hidden heroes

They were some of the most

brilliant minds of their generation
and their desire to dream big
helped put the US back in the
space rac et the black, female
human computers of 1950s
ASA, overlooked until now
New Hollywood film
Hidden Figures stars
Taraji P Henson as one
of the black female
mathematicians whose
contribution was not
recognised at the time

hey say behind every great

T man is a great woman. But,

behind every giant leap for
mankind is a group of
individuals far larger than the names that
history remembers many of whom dont
get the credit they deserve.
Youd be forgiven for not having heard
of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan
and Mary Jackson. These were three
extraordinary mathematicians who worked
at NASA during the space race and whose
intelligence, rigour and determination
overcame the prejudices they lived with as
black women in a white mans world.
They were crucial in putting the first
Americans in space Alan Shepard and John
Glenn. Their calculations helped Neil
Armstrong to step onto the moon in 1969,
putting the USA ahead of Russia in the Cold
War-era battle for space supremacy, and starring Taraji P Henson (who plays Johnson),
inspiring awe worldwide. Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer (Vaughan)
But their remarkable contribution was and singer Janelle Mone (Jackson). It
almost forgotten. That was until 2010, when captures the irony of a time in US history that
they came to the attention of author Margot was forward-thinking enough for the
Lee Shetterly, whose father had worked at brightest minds to be working to put a man
Langley, the NASA station in Hampton, on the moon, while also refusing to drink
Virginia, and who as a girl saw that the face coffee from the same pot as a black person.
of science was brown like mine. She Virginia, where these women lived and
discovered that few people knew there had worked, was one of the worst states for racial
been women at NASA, let alone black women, inequality. Black people had to sit at the back
and she wrote their stories in Hidden Figures. of the bus, couldnt attend public schools and Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA),
The book, which came out in September even had to use separate rubbish bins on the as early as 1935. They were hired to do
2016, has been made into a Hollywood movie street. When Johnson, Vaughan and Jackson important number crunching and were called
worked at Langley, in their early days at least, computers long before the invention of
they were placed in a separate wing from computers as we now know them.
These black female their white counterparts, and were forced to Computers were women, says Shetterly.
use coloured bathrooms and dine separately. It was a job title, and it was seen as womens
mathematicians With such narrow thinking the norm, it is work just like being a writer or a driver.
were forced to use perhaps surprising to learn that there were Computers wore skirts and blouses.
women working as mathematicians at NASA During the Second World War, when male
coloured bathrooms at all. But in fact the first female members personnel were in short supply, there was an
and dine separately arrived at what was then the National influx of female computers at the NACA,

054 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Space
NASAs hidden heroes

KATHERINE JOHNSON
BORN: 26 AUGUST 1918
WORKED AT NASA: 1953-1986

Johnson was a maths prodigy who graduated

from high school at 14 years old. She became
a high school maths teacher and mother
of three girls. After her first husband died,
she became the family breadwinner,
working full-time.
Once at NACA, Johnsons brainpower
was impossible to ignore. At the height of
the space race, when Russias Yuri Gagarin
had already orbited the Earth and America
was furious to be on the losing team, NASA
needed the best minds, whatever shape or
race they came in. Johnson was given the
then totally unheard-of opportunity to join
an all-male flight research division, where
many of whom were recruited from the her propensity for analytical geography
separate, but excellent, university system meant she was able to calculate the flight
available to African Americans. trajectory for Alan Shepard, the first
On the whole, the black computers were American to go into space, in 1959.
better qualified and more motivated than After NASA began using electronic IBM
the white computers, says resident NASA computers to make these calculations,
historian Dr Bill Barry. You didnt have to Johnson was personally asked by John Glenn
have a university degree to be a computer. to double-check the numbers for his orbit
But all the black around the Earth in 1962, and he refused to
Left: Alan Shepard
computers had at fly until she had done so. She would go on to
being fitted for his
capsule seat least one degree, calculate the flight trajectory for Apollo 11s
Above right: Katherine sometimes more. flight to the moon in 1969. She was right there
Johnson calculated
Certainly time then, making the history happen: but as Shetterlys
the trajectory for
Shepards space flight to recognise their book title suggests, her contribution was
the first for the US contribution. entirely hidden from the outside world.
These women were Even after the arrival
hidden in plain of IBM computers,
Katherine Johnson
sight. They didnt continued to double-
check the numbers,
draw attention including for the Apollo
11 mission to the moon
to themselves

Johnson faced sexism on top of racism,

being barred from vital meetings because of
her sex. She overcame this with a mixture
of brilliance and personality, going on to
co-author 26 scientific papers, gaining
a historically unique listing as a female
co-author in a peer-reviewed NASA report.
She retired from NASA in 1986. Now aged
98, and still living in Hampton, Johnson told
Shetterly repeatedly during her research:
I was just doing my job.
But her place in the history books is
now secure: in 2015 she was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom and saw a
NASA building named after her but these
honours came after four decades of being
overlooked and after suffering segregation.
In the film there is a scene in which Johnsons
frequent absence from her desk is questioned
by a superior, only for her to explain that the
colored bathroom is a 20-minute walk away.
Shetterly says NASAs support in helping
this story to get told has been unwavering.
You cant change history, she says. What
you can change is
how you look at it and
Dorothy Vaughan
(left) worked at NASA how you understand
between 1943 and that it takes the good
1971 and was the first
moments and it takes
African-American
manager at the the difficult moments
organisation to move forward.

DOROTHY VAUGHAN at Langley, but always used her position to

BORN: 20 SEPTEMBER 1910 further the careers and job security of
(DIED 10 NOVEMBER 2008) talented computers of both races. She
WORKED AT NASA: 1943-1971 worked with well-known white computers,
like Vera Huckel and Sara Bullock, and would
Vaughan was also a maths teacher before later be at the forefront of electronic
becoming one of the first black computers computing at NASA. As women computers
recruited by NACA during the Second World became obsolete thanks to IBM machines,
War. From 1949-1958 she was supervisor of she made sure her workforce adapted with
the segregated West Area Computers, making the times to keep hold of their jobs.
her NASAs first African-American manager In 1971, after 28 years of service, Vaughan
and one of the very few female section heads. retired from NASA having sought, but never
The mother of four would go on to be received, another managerial position at
recognised as one of the brightest minds Langley. What I changed, I could, and what

056 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Space
NASAs hidden heroes

and equal rights at NASA as Langleys Federal

Womens Program Manager.
Her efforts for others drew on her own
struggle. She had been forced to go to court to
get special permission to join her white peers
at evening classes at Hampton High School so
she could obtain the qualification needed to
be an engineer at NASA. Her sparky attitude
won her friends and support among her male
colleagues and superiors, who encouraged
her development on numerous occasions.
She retired in 1985 and died 20 years later.
An obituary on the NASA website describes
Jackson as a role model of the highest
character, [who] through her quiet, behind-
the-scenes efforts managed to help
many minorities and women reach their
From top: Apollo 11 highest potential.
lunar module; Octavia
Spencer, Taraji P
Henson and Janelle Legacy
Mone in Hidden The work of this trio of women
Figures; Mary Jackson intersected major points in history: the
at work at NASA
Second World War, the Cold War and
the Civil Rights movement. Its one of
the reasons Shetterly chose them to
represent the hundreds of women computers
at Langley. These women were hidden in
plain sight, in a way, says Shetterly. They felt
they had a chance to do the jobs they loved
and they loved this challenging math so
they didnt draw attention to themselves.
They saw the idea of raising up other
women as part of their job at NASA. They
realised that by being excellent and by
advocating for other people, whether thats
women, black women, African-American
men or other minorities, that they were going
to have an impact on the lives of others.
I couldnt, I endured, Vaughan told the But I chose Johnson, Vaughan and Jackson
historian Beverly Golemba in 1992. As part because they were all exceptional, she adds.
of Vaughans legacy, Shetterly cites the Civil rights leader Barbara Rose Johns
successes of other West Computers alumni famously described the move toward equality
Words: Matilda Battersby. Photographs: Alamy, NASA, Getty Images,

including Johnson and Jackson, who as seeming like reaching for the moon.
flourished under her early tutelage. Which makes the fact that three talented
black women were actually helping America
MARY JACKSON reach for the moon while enduring racism
BORN: 9 APRIL 1921 and inequality all the more remarkable. That
imagery courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

(DIED 11 FEBRUARY 2005) it has taken 50 years for them to receive the
WORKED AT NASA: 1951-1985 credit they deserve just shows how long it
takes for progress to happen.
Jackson was a native of Hampton, Virginia, Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P Henson,
with degrees in physical science and maths. who plays Johnson in Hidden Figures, says:
In 1958, she became NASAs first black female I grew up in the hood, so all I ever had was
engineer, specialising in wind-tunnel dreams. Maybe if I had known women like
experiments and aircraft data. She would also this existed when I was growing up, I would
go on to have a major influence on diversity have wanted to become a rocket scientist.
 They have no legs but can outrun
their prey, they smell with their
tongue not their nostrils and
some give birth to live young.
We investigate the most slithery
riddle of the reptile world

he scaly, sibilant snake is as striking to a couple of months to be digested. Which explains

T for the physical attributes it lacks as

for the scaly ones it possesses. It is a
why some snakes only eat twice a year.
These cold-blooded reptiles inhabit virtually every
creature without legs, shoulders, hips, area on Earth, the exceptions being Antarctica, Iceland,
arms or claws. It doesnt even have eyelids or a nose Ireland, Greenland and New Zealand. They reside
(yes, it has nostrils but not to smell with). mostly on land, in deserts and forests, but can also
This tube of jewel-coloured, muscle-coated vertebrae, be found in salt and freshwater. Most reptile species
offset by a swivelling head and poking forked tongue, have four legs and there is fossil evidence to suggest
is one of the most fearsome creatures on the planet. that snakes once did, too. They may have evolved from
But though they might be the stuff of nightmares burrowing lizards during the Cretaceous period, or
and, thanks to the Bible, seen as a physical from marine reptiles called mosasaurs that appeared
manifestation of the devil only around 450 of the more in the Earths seas around 100 million years ago. But
than 2,700 species in the world are actually venomous. reports of snake evolution are conflicting and, so far,
And of those, most are unlikely to harm humans unless their development is something of a mystery although
provoked. But that doesnt mean they cant eat large palaeontologists have discovered evidence of snakes
prey. They are keen carnivores, which means they will dating as far back as 150 million years, the fossils tend
consume only meat including, sometimes, each other. to be incomplete or scattered.
Smaller snakes, like the thread snake, eat the eggs Some prehistoric snakes are believed to have reached
of insects like ants and centipedes, while the largest humungous sizes, such as the Gigantophis, a late Eocene
snakes pythons and anacondas have been known monster measuring about 10m from head to tail.
to chow down on fully grown deer and pigs. They use Still got the heebie-jeebies? Luckily, snakes have
powerful muscles to move their kill down their long poor eyesight and memories, so if you do stumble
throats into their stomachs. And once in a snakes across one, stay still for long enough and they might
stomach, the food can take anywhere from a few days just forget you and slither off.

058 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Anatomy of
The snake

scale
off
the
 Hiss
Snakes have a small opening
behind the tongue called the
glottis, which opens into the
windpipe. A small piece of
cartilage inside it vibrates
when the snake breathes
out, which produces the
characteristic hiss.

Jacobsons organ
When the snakes tongue
retreats into its mouth, the
fork touches the Jacobsons
organ, a sensory part of the
roof of the mouth, which tells
the snake what it is smelling
and whether it is good
enough to eat.

Skeleton
Contrary to popular opinion
snakes do have a backbone.
In fact, they are virtually
all backbone, their spinal
column extending from
skull to tail with fragile ribs
curving outwards from it.

Movement
Who needs legs to go fast?
Snakes certainly dont.
They push off against
rocks or trees, and use
the wider scales on their
undersides to grip the
ground and propel
them forward.

060 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Anatomy of
The snake

Eyes
Snakes have eyes but no
eyelids. Instead, they have
whats known as a spectacle Teeth
a transparent scale that is Those sharp teeth arent there
part of their skin. It is shed for chewing. They are designed
along with the rest of its to grasp and propel backwards,
skin, on average two to ensuring that, once bitten, prey
four times a year. can only move in the direction
of the snakes stomach. Non-
venomous snakes dont have
Ears fangs like rattlesnakes. Instead
While snakes lack external they have extra upper teeth.
ears, they do have internal
ones that are capable of
detecting low-frequency
sounds. The inner ear can
also detect motion and
soundwaves travelling
through the ground.

Tongue
Snakes smell with their forked
tongues. That characteristic flick
of the tongue shows a snake is
actually sniffing and tasting the
air. Snakes have a small opening
in their lips that they can stick
their tongues through so they
dont need to open their mouths.
Words: Matilda Battersby. Photographs: Alamy, Nature Picture Library, iStock

Skin
Snakes scales are made out
of the same thing as human Sex
fingernails a protein called
Many snakes mate in spring after
keratin. Their epidermis is
hibernation ends but in warmer
shed whole regularly and can
climates, mating can happen any
be an indicator of ill health or
time of the year. Some, including
poor environment if it doesnt
boas, give birth to live young.
come off in one piece.
Others, like the racer, lay eggs
and leave, while king cobras and
some pythons wait until their
eggs hatch, called brooding.
062 / / FEBRUARY 2017
 Science
A new generation

T O P O F

T H E P O P

S C I E N C E

As happy in a lab coat as she is out in the

field for alapagos, former music
TV presenter Liz Bonnin is the perfect
frontwoman for the BBCs new Terrific
Scientific project, aimed at getting kids
excited about the world around them
 elevision presenter Liz

T Bonnin has travelled the

world and seen some
incredible sights since she
left Top of the Pops and started science
broadcasting in 2005, but a recent trip to the
Galapagos Islands took her breath away.
Charles Darwin is my wildlife hero, because
of his fearless enthusiasm, she says.
And we happened to be on the island
he first landed on, on the date that he landed,
16 September, which is my birthday. It was
a really emotional and momentous day for
me. I felt very grateful and happy. I never
stop feeling inspired.
Bonnin was exploring the natural history
of the islands and the surrounding waters for
a new three-part BBC TV documentary
Mission Galapagos, screening this spring.
She travelled aboard research vessel Alucia,
which has state-of-the-art technology and
two deep-sea submersibles.
I was with a dedicated dive team and
scientists, she says. We went to the top of
this volcano in the middle of nowhere and the
scientists were studying these rare pink
iguanas and were as excited as big kids. If
people are doing extraordinary things like
that, it gives me hope for the planet. It renews
my faith in human nature.
Bonnin wants to inspire future generations
with her role as ambassador for BBC Terrific
Scientific, an ambitious new campaign that
aims to get primary children, teachers and
parents involved in nationwide, mass-
participation science experiments.
Fewer than 15 per cent of 10- to 14-year-
olds have aspirations to become scientists,
and girls are even less likely to consider a featuring famous faces like X Factor singer
science-related career. But research has Fleur East and BFG star Ruby Barnhil.
shown that girls are better at STEM [science, Next months theme will be time, with
technology, engineering and mathematics] children taking part in reaction tests to
subjects at a young age, says Bonnin. discover whether the clocks going forward
Theres a clichd image of a scientist in has an impact on their bodies, brain function
a white lab coat, but the ones I meet lead and sleep patterns. In May, children will
exciting, cool lives. People like Tim Peake conduct an audit of the carbon value of trees
and Brian Cox are flying the flag, but we in their playgrounds or local parks. All the
can do more. To ensure a more positive, experiments are brilliant, says Bonnin. But
sustainable future, we need to make science Im really drawn to the trees one because
the new rock n roll. I think we need children to understand the
The Terrific Scientific project launched last connection between us and nature.
month with the first of five UK-wide science Her own interest in science was formed as
experiments. It gets kids involved in a a child. Born in Paris to a Trinidadian mother
different investigation each month until June, and French-Martinique father, she spent the
via a series of live lessons and online films first nine years of her life in the South of

064 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Science
A new generation

Bonnin started as a
presenter on music
shows, but her work
now revolves around
her love of wildlife.
Bottom left: she
filmed with Siberian
ID ADVISE tigers in 2013
BUDDING
SCIENTISTS
TO BE CREATIVE College, Dublin, and has a masters degree
AND HAVE FUN
in wild animal biology from the Zoological
Im lucky that I have
Society of London and the Royal Veterinary
these TV programmes to College. She started her career presenting
immortalise my experiences prime-time TV shows including Top of the
but I write down special Pops and RI:SE, before realising she could
moments and things that dont
combine her broadcast experience with her
always make the cut. I never
passion for science.
travel without my big yellow
notebook; I dont want to Presenting programmes such as Operation
forget a second of it. Snow Tiger in 2013, has had a lasting effect.
My favourite nature- I worked with scientists in Russia who are
watching spot is the trying to protect the last remaining Siberian
Cairngorm mountain Im
tigers, she says. It was an incredibly special
passionately in love with it.
I also went to Mull last May
trip that changed my life. It made me realise
with the Hebridian Whale that Im not doing enough. There were around
and Dolphin Trust and we 300 of these wild animals during filming, but
were on the water when the numbers have since risen to more than 500.
first pod of dolphins arrived.
Liz lives in London and admits that it takes
It was incredible.
some adjustment when she comes home
I really believe theres
a science-related subject from a trip. I spent quite
to suit every child. Id advise a lot of time in Botswana,
budding scientists to be and landing at Heathrow
creative and have fun and
never think that a question
To ensure a was such a shock to the
system. People behave
has been answered.
more positive differently in a city like
future we need this, she says.
When shes at home
to make in London, she gets her

France, before her

science the nature fix by going for
long walks in Kensington
family moved to new rock n roll Gardens and Hyde Park.
Ireland. I remember When I surround myself
being obsessed with with trees, it just does
the birds that used to land on my balcony, something to me. I find myself getting
Words: Dawn Emery. Photographs: iStock, BBC Pictures, IDS

she says. I wanted to know how their eyes bogged down by little things in the city. But
moved, how their little hearts beat. I can be filming on a mountain in the middle
Before we moved to Ireland, my sister and of Alaska, and all my stresses and worries
I were outdoors all the time with our dogs, dissipate. Nature is the best medicine.
playing with bugs. There were And studying nature and
snakes, too. After we moved, wed science is all about being curious
go to Trinidad or Martinique on about the world around you.
holiday. They are such beautiful Ive seen so many different
To find out
parts of the world; they ignited more visit
types of scientist in my career:
Liz Bonnin is passionate about inspiring
children to get excited about science my love of the great outdoors. bbc.co.uk/ adventurers, innovators,
and the world around them Bonnin studied for a bachelors terrificscientific creatives. It shows how
degree in biochemistry at Trinity exciting and fun science is.
 B I Z A R R E

B O
T A Venus flytrap
leaves snap shut
when they feel the
movement of prey

N Y
CA R N I VOROUS PL A N T S

Carnivorous plants murder their victims then

absorb the nutrients they contain, such as nitrogen,
so they can produce chlorophyll (the green
pigment), which is vital to their survival. Insects,
lizards, mice and even rats are all fair game.
One of the most ingenious carnivorous plants
Stinking corpse flowers eat-eating is the common bladderwort (Utricularia
macrorhiza, 1), which lives in ponds and lakes.
vines? Kew Gardens Professor Kathy Its leaves grow into rounded bag shapes with a
Willis reveals our wackiest plants trapdoor at one end. When it senses prey, the
door springs open, sucking in water and its victim,
before snapping shut again.
The common sundew from Western Australia
(Drosera rotundifolia, 2) coats its leaves with a glue,
lants provide every single thing human then suffocates and digests its captured victims

P beings need to survive, from clean air and

water, to medicine, fuel, food and fibres, says
using other chemicals secreted at its centre.
Perhaps the most beautiful of these killer greens
is the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula, 3). It has
Professor Kathy Willis, director of science at
trigger hairs that snap its leaves shut when they
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Yet we tend to think about
feel its victims movement.
plants only in terms of colour, smell and the shape of a flower. Many carnivorous plants use bright colours
Willis, who is passionate about the quirkiest plant life, and tempting fragrances to lure their victims in,
is seeking to draw attention to the remarkable organisms that while passive traps, such as pitcher plants, have
grow on this planet and has written a book, Botanicum, with shiny jug-shaped leaves filled with digestive
chemicals. Lured by a sweet scent, their prey
the intention of beguiling young readers and adults with the
slips on the waxy surface and falls in. The most
incredible and surprising capabilities of some exotic plants. fearsome of these is the Rajah pitcher (Nepenthes
Plants are amazing: they live everywhere, from the tallest rajah, 4) from Borneo, which is large and strong
mountains to the deepest valleys, and in the hottest and enough to trap rats in its huge urn-like leaves.

066 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Nature
Botanical thrillers

4
 1

068 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Nature
Botanical thrillers

The parasites are some Normally, I think about the science first, but Scotts
coloured line drawings convey the dazzling beauty
of my favourites because and variety of plants so brilliantly that we decided to
I love plants that do choose plants that were visually stunning and then
find out what made them extraordinary. It took about
something weird a year altogether and I learnt a lot, she says.
Among the inclusions in the book is the greater
dodder (Cuscuta europaea), a parasitic plant that
coldest, driest and wettest places on Earth, says Willis knew very little about. But once I started the
Willis. They can be huge or tiny, beautiful or ugly, research, I found it was fascinating and quite scary
scented or smelly, weird or frightening. For instance, it seems to smell its host plant and grow towards
one of the largest pitcher plants (Nepenthes rajah) it. Willis says parasites are some of my favourites
has pitchers [urn-like modified leaves] the size of a because I love plants that do something weird.
rugby ball that can trap rats, which it then eats. What are the other more unusual plants Willis has
Whats more, we have only just begun to scratch come across in her research for the book? The huge,
the surface of mapping and understanding the plants stinking corpse flower (Rafflesia arnoldii) captures
that provide a habitat for us. So far, scientists have the imagination because it is almost more animal
counted over 400,000 plant species, but about 2,000 than vegetable. It is bright red, not green, because
new ones are discovered each year, says Willis. it gets another plant to do its photosynthesising
Botanicum showcases plants that feed off each [converting light energy into chemical energy],
other, snack on raw meat, or smell peculiar, with but not only does it look like an alien and feed off
striking illustrations by Katie Scott. The book was another plant, it stinks like rotting flesh, she says.
really fun to do but also quite Evolution has resulted in
a challenge because, for me, other fascinating monster
it was a completely different plants. Carnivorous plants
way of working, says Willis. are also brilliant, because

Flower fatales: slipper, bee and

fringed orchids lure pollinators
with gorgeous colour and pattern

ORCHIDS

There are about 28,000 known species of tabby spots and tiny freckles to checks Though one seedpod can contain up
orchid. Theyre some of the most complex and neat stripes. This is because they are to 3 million seeds, germination is so
and highly evolved flowering plants on not self-pollinating so have become complex that relatively few orchids ever
Earth. They are found on every continent skilled mimics in order to attract their flower. For some species this makes
bar Antarctica and can live for decades. pollinator, which may be an insect or survival in the wild precarious.
More than half are epiphytes, known as even a hummingbird. It also makes them hugely desirable.
air plants because they grow high up in Some, such as the fringed orchid The slipper orchid (Paphiopedilum
the branches of another plant with their (Catasetum fimbriatum, 1) are aggressive rothschildianum, 2), which helped to
roots sticking out, and draw their water and shoot pollen at their pollinator, trigger orchid fever when it was
and nutrients from the air. usually an insect. Some, such as the bee discovered in Borneo in the 19th century,
Orchids come in every size, shape and orchid (Ophrys apifera, 3) have evolved is one such living legend and is now
colour, with dazzling markings from to look like their pollinators ideal mate. highly endangered.
 PA R A S I T I C P L A N T S

Some species of plants are parasites, and is generally hidden until it produces Not all parasites are unpleasant,
meaning that they suck their food, water a single, massive, fleshy flower, which can however. With attractive white berries,
and nutrients from another living plant. reach 1m in diameter and weigh up to 11kg. mistletoe (Viscum album, 2), the
All parasites have a specially modified root At its centre is a deep bowl, into which its traditional plant we kiss under at
called a haustorium, which they use as a pollinator, the carrion fly, is enticed by its Christmas, is a hemiparasite, because
pipeline to feed from their host. awful scent of rotting flesh. This although it lives on the branches of other
Stinking corpse flower (Rafflesia frankenflower, the worlds largest, trees and shrubs, it also sustains itself
arnoldii, 1), a native of southeast Asia, appears infrequently and lasts for only through its decorative green leaves
is one such parasite. It lives on a host vine five days in the gloom of the rainforest. and photosynthesis.

The stinking corpse

flower can reach 1m in
diameter and blooms
for just five days

To find out more

about how plants
adapt to survive, visit
bbc.in/2ikAhEu

they are so well adapted to do truly horrible things. form in more than 300 million years. If you think of
And bromeliads are really cool: they dont follow any that in terms of the survival of the fittest, algae are
of the normal plant rules the pineapple, for instance, the Usain Bolt of the plant world.
is not one fruit but a whole bunch moulded together. There are still gaps in our knowledge, and areas
In the wild they create a sort of micro-climate, and where plants have yet to be studied, but Willis is
often have tiny frogs living in the water trapped in confident well get there. If life on Earth is to thrive,

Words: Diana McAdam. Photographs: Alamy, iStock, Nature Picture Library

their rosette of spiny leaves. we need to start educating the next generation
But it isnt just the big, impressive-looking, rat- of scientists so that they can protect our plants
trapping or frog-hosting plants that do extraordinary from pests and climate change. More than 40,000
things, says Willis, every species has incredible people came to our inaugural science festival at Kew
attributes and abilities. All plants are amazing, even last year, many of them children. My hope is that
tiny ones like lichens there are some that produce Botanicum will inspire young people to learn more
their own sunscreen. Algae, which tend to get about the science of plants.
dismissed as squidgy green blobs, are mind-blowing; Botanicum is published by Big Picture Press in
some varieties have had no evolutionary change in association with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 20

KEWS NEW ONLINE GUIDE

Kew is not just a botanical garden but a world-class research World Online that will eventually give details of every one of
institution for more than 300 scientists of all nationalities, who the 400,000 plant species currently held there. Each will have
work at discovery, classification, preservation and, crucially, its own web page, detailing everything from its uses and its
education. In 2017 it is launching an online portal Plants of the common names to how it links through to other plant families.

070 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Nature
Botanical thrillers

2
 Space
Be an astronaut

ut?
be a n

a
es to
ak

n
ha t i t t

ro
ve w

t
h a

s
Do yo u

How to see if the space helmet fits

/ 073
 brand-new BBC Two series

A
recently put out a call to find
Britains next Tim Peake. With
the working title The Toughest
Job in the Universe, its looking
for budding astronauts to take part in a series of
challenges to see if they have what it takes to make
it to space. The appeal has garnered a huge
response, and of those who applied from around
the UK, 12 men and women will be selected to
undergo hard training exercises, including a zero-g
flight and a real NASA mission in an underwater lab.
Theyll be tested on their self-discipline, personality
and ability to learn new skills and whether they can
make life-or-death decisions.
Overseeing the recruitment process (after all,
its just for fun) will be Colonel Chris Hadfield,
retired astronaut and a former commander of the
International Space Station (ISS). To be selected
as an astronaut is intensely demanding and
competitive, he says. Im looking forward to
meeting these 12 top finalists the very best of all
who apply and testing and getting to know them
to see who has what it truly takes.
After all, the real selection process is no picnic.
Astronauts chosen by NASA and the European
Space Agency (ESA) have to beat thousands,
sometimes tens of thousands, of applicants to the
job and will undergo rigorous physical, mental and
psychological tests and profiling.
Theres no obvious career path for astronauts,
no universities offering degrees in space travel,
or designated A levels that are needed in order to
qualify. Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut,
was a chemist. She was in her mid-twenties and
had just completed a PhD at Birkbeck University

Colonel Chris Hadfield,

former commander
of the ISS, is taking
part in a new BBC
series to find out
who is tough enough
to go into space

when she heard a radio commercial that said:

Astronaut wanted, no experience necessary.
She beat 13,000 other applicants to take part
in Project Juno, a programme to send a Briton to
Russias Mir space station in 1991. How did it feel
to be picked above all those others to embark on
eight days of weightlessness in space?
Of course I had no idea at the time how many
people had applied and I never for one minute
expected to be chosen, says Sharman, who is now
52 and works as operations manager of the
chemistry department at Imperial College London.
I didnt grow up in a house of astronauts, in a
country of astronauts. Its not the kind of thing that
scientists are expected to do in Britain.
In the 1960s, during the space race, when the
Soviet Union and the US first started launching
people into space, astronauts were picked from

074 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Space
Be an astronaut

27 and 37 years old, able to speak English and

reasonably academic.
The space agency asks for a postgraduate
degree in a natural science, medicine, maths,
engineering or computer science. Or you can be
a pilot with over a thousand hours of flying
experience, he says.
Peake, who, at 44, is slightly older than the ideal
astronaut, was chosen thanks to his 18-year career
flying military aircraft. By contrast, Sharman had
excellent science credentials. Generally, they want
people who are trained in science and engineering,
says Sharman. People who can help technically,
who can control the space station, who will
understand how the oxygen machine works.
You need to be happy doing whats known as
housework technical upkeep around the space
station and looking after the computers; and,
Clockwise from far of course, there are experiments to do, too.
left: Helen Sharman Despite the remarkable nature of the job,
(middle) was the first Sharman says astronauts should be pretty
British astronaut; Peggy normal. A middle-of-the-road, interesting,
Whitson (right) became interested sort of person is the ideal
the oldest female astronaut, she says.
astronaut in space at 56;
Peggy Whitson, who is set to turn 57 this
Tim Peakes space walk
month while inside the ISS, recently became
the oldest female astronaut in space when
she blasted off for her third NASA mission in
November last year. She has an advanced degree
in biochemistry and worked for the agency in
various research roles before being selected
as an astronaut candidate in 1996.
Whitson is currently commanding the ISS,
having previously been the first woman in charge
of it in 2007, and by the time this current mission
ends, she will have been in space for longer than

Helen Sharman was in

her mid-twenties when
she heard a radio advert
calling for astronaut
candidates. Below:
John Glenn enters the
Friendship 7 capsule

military backgrounds. Alan Shepard and John Glenn,

the first Americans in space, were among seven
air-force test pilots hand-picked by NASA to
Did you
become the first astronauts. know?
In those days they recruited the kind of people
The term astronaut
who thrived on having to fly by the seat of their
derives from Greek
pants, says Sharman. But now they want more
and translates as
measured, logical astronauts. When theres a
space sailor.
technical problem, you actually have plenty of time
Only 12 people have
to work things out, to talk about them with your
walked on the moon.
peers and solve the problem as a team.
Captain Gene Cernan
Personality is possibly the biggest clincher in
was the last man to
astronaut selection 95 per cent of the candidates
leave a footprint on the
initially selected in the ESAs latest recruitment
lunar surface.
round (when Peake was hired) were rejected
because of their personal profiles.
In a recruitment video for the ESA, Peake
describes the ideal astronaut candidate as between
 Space
Be an astronaut

An astronaut shouldnt
be too excitable, too
depressive; they
shouldnt be extreme
any other American astronaut, surpassing Jeff
Williams 534-day record.
Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became
the first woman in space in 1963 and there have
been more than 40 female astronauts at NASA;
Sharman was the first European woman in space.
In the early days of flight, the menstrual cycle
formed part of the argument why women shouldnt
become pilots, or later, astronauts with several
A physician
airplane crashes being blamed on menstruating
tests Valentina
women. This claim was refuted by studies as early
Tereshkovas fitness
as the 1940s but the theory was repeated for the as she prepares
next couple of decades and arguably blighted early to become the
opportunities for women in space. first woman in
Nowadays, regardless of gender, the key requisite space in 1963
for agencies is physical health and the ability to attain Teasers
a very high level of fitness. The ESA might want to to test
recruit people in their late twenties and thirties, but, your brain
as Whitsons record shows, if you are physically fit, power questions, and memory tests that would challenge
you can fly at any age. Glenn, who died last December even the most photographic minds.
aged 95, became the oldest man in space in 1998 We sat through exam after exam to test skills and
flying aboard the shuttle Discovery at the age of 77. intelligence, including memory, spatial awareness
However, age might be a disadvantage on a long and concentration. Then they assessed personality
mission, as astronauts typically lose as much as 40 1 Which material does a lightning and health, Peake told the BBC last year. More than
per cent muscle and 12 per cent bone mass density conductor usually consist of? 900 candidates were whittled down to 10 and
after five months in space and it can take a long unbelievably I was one of them. Weeks went by and
time to recover that strength. Plastic Lead I didnt hear anything, so I began to think I hadnt
Astronauts must also have excellent spatial Steel Tin made it. But on 18 May 2009, I was offered one of
abilities to help with the challenge of zero gravity. six places with the European Astronaut Corps.
ESA recruitment ads warn that objects dont 2 If all points within an area have The appetite for space flight appears to be
behave as they do on Earth, so you need to be able the same distance to a straight line, growing: 8,412 Europeans applied with Tim Peake
to predict their course and avoid collisions. which shape results? for ESAs astronaut recruitment drive in 2008; and
Among the ESAs fiendishly tricky aptitude tests more than 18,300 people applied to be in NASAs
are puzzles asking candidates to identify flattened Sphere Cube 2017 astronaut class, nearly three times as many as
objects in three dimensions, dizzyingly difficult Cylinder Octahedron applied in 2012. Peakes return from a six-month
mathematics, PhD-level physics and engineering stint on the ISS last year seems to have further
3 At Frankfurt airport a passenger galvanised interest in space travel in Britain, and the
wants to get from Terminal A to Russian-built space capsule Soyuz TMA-19M that
Words: Matilda Battersby. Photographs: Alamy, European Space Agency, iStock

Terminal B. On foot it would take carried Peake and his crewmates Yuri Malenchenko
him three minutes; standing on the and Tim Kopra to and from the ISS, is now on
Do you conveyor belt, two minutes. How display at the Science Museum in London.
measure up? long would it take him if he walks Both Sharman and Peake have said they were
These are NASAs on the conveyor belt? astonished to get the job of space astronaut. Before
mandatory physical her latest launch, Whitson told journalists that the
requirements: 1.2 minutes 1.8 minutes most important thing about the station is the
1.5 minutes 1.1 minutes friendships and the work we accomplish there.
Distant visual [Agencies] dont want people who are highly
acuity: 20/100 or reactive, says Sharman. An astronaut shouldnt be
better uncorrected, too excitable, too depressive. They shouldnt be
correctable to 20/20. extreme. They need to be able to work in a team
Blood pressure: and not always be the loudest voice in the group.
140/90 measured in If you enjoyed these, you can NASAs latest recruitment round is underway,
a sitting position. download the ESA practice with the class of 2017 to be announced in June, and,
Height between aptitude tests at as the agency prepares to send missions to Mars by
5ft 2in and 6ft 2in. bit.ly/2hcqbVL the 2030s, the stakes for the next generations of
space travellers are higher than ever.
Answers: 1 Steel. 2 Sphere. 3 1.2 minutes

/ 077
 WHAT
DOES THAT
BUTTON DO?
Ever wondered what it would be like to
travel through space ows your chance
to find out, as the capsule that took Tim
Peake to the ISS goes on display at the
Scienc useum in London. Heres a
sneak peek of what you can expect

Russian Soyuz space capsules have been the only way to

travel to the International Space Station (ISS) since NASA
Words: Carolyn Fry. Photographs: Science Museum, Getty

retired the space shuttle in 2011. Each spacecraft comes in

three parts: the lower instrument module holds an on-board
computer, communications kit, thrusters and propellants;
the central descent module is where the three crew members
sit during the launch and the return journey to Earth;
and the upper orbital module provides storage and living
quarters during the journey (including a loo, in case you were
wondering), along with the exit hatch and equipment needed
to dock to the ISS. Only the descent module part of Soyuz
TMA-19M will be on display at the Science Museum, as the
other modules are jettisoned on the return journey before the
capsule enters the Earths atmosphere.

BURNING UP
The outside of the Dalek-
shaped descent module is NOT COLDPLAY AGAIN!
black and charred, as its This is the instrument display
heat-resistant covering is system (IDS), which includes
designed to burn and slow the two display screens and
craft down as it travels back various system buttons and
through the atmosphere. The lights. The three black knobs
two window-like holes are, are the audio controls for the
in fact, where there would be astronaut who occupied the
containers for the main (left) left-hand seat, Tim Kopra.
and reserve (right) parachutes. HARIBO, ANYONE? These and the identical dials in
The huge main parachute, As well as carrying refreshments front of the other seats enabled
which was activated just for the journey, the capsule has a the crew to control their audio
before the module landed, survival kit containing everything inputs, through which they
is the size of two tennis the crew would need to survive listened to each other, the
courts. Although descent back on Earth if they happen to mission-control team, and a
modules are never used again land in a spot that will take a pre-flight playlist. Tim Peake
after a mission, some parts while to reach. It includes food, listened to Queens Dont Stop
of it are taken and recycled fishing tackle, a knife and a gun. Me Now, U2s Beautiful Day
the reserve parachute of this and Coldplays A Sky Full of
craft wasnt needed so it will Stars, while doing last-minute
be used on another flight. checks before blast-off.

078 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Space
Inside a capsule

LEFT A BIT
These two cylindrical controls
enable the crafts commander
to manually pilot the capsule.
The grey control on the left
moves you in the three axes UNDER PRESSURE
of direction pitch, roll and These orange valves control
yaw and the control on the the cabin pressure. The air
right moves you forward or supply to the capsule is very
backwards, explains the similar to that of an airplane, YOU ARE HERE EASY RIDER
Science Museums Doug mimicking the atmosphere This display on the IDS shows This was Tim Peakes seat.
Millard, deputy keeper, of Earth (around 80 per cent the capsules location and Each seat is made from
technologies and engineering. nitrogen and almost 20 per trajectory, in the same way a mould of the astronauts
The commander of this cent oxygen). There is a main that screens on the back of back to ensure a very snug fit.
capsule was Russian Yuri air supply and a backup one, airplane seats show passengers A hydraulic system lifts the
Malenchenko, so he occupied plus the crew wear Sokol how far the plane has travelled seat a little before touchdown,
the central seat. He skilfully survival suits. Complete with towards its destination. to help absorb the violent
docked the capsule to the ISS a built-in helmet, these suits As they are very expensive to impact of landing.
manually after the control can keep the astronauts produce, the capsules original
system generated a general alive for two hours if the IDS will be used again,
failure message. spacecraft springs a leak. so this one is a replica.
 Valentines Day may be a uniquely human celebration of romance
but were not alone in aspiring to a lasting relationship, as many animals
have a lifelong bond with just one partner. Angela Saini investigates

080 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Animal behaviour
Monogamous mates

The look of love

 icture the most romantic creatures in the

P animal kingdom. Perhaps some elegant mute

swans? A couple of cooing turtle doves? Or
maybe an adorably faithful pair of macaroni
penguins? One of the most loved-up animals you probably
arent thinking about is a shy little rodent that lives in North
America. The prairie vole isnt much to look at, with its coarse
pepper-shaded fur, but its rare among mammals for being
unwaveringly loyal to its mate. In fact, its such a perfect
model of lifelong love that scientists use it to better
understand how we, too, can plunge head over heels.
The crucial chemical that makes female prairie voles attach
themselves tenderly to their mates is the very same that
human mothers produce when theyre in labour and
breastfeeding oxytocin. A related hormone, known as Can promiscuous
vasopressin, has similar effects on the male vole. Mating
really seals the deal when it comes to pair bonding, says partners be turned
psychiatry professor Larry Young at Emory University
School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, who has been studying
into loyal ones with
prairie voles since 1994. When virgin male and female prairie a little biological
voles first mate, there is a release of several chemicals in the
brain, including oxytocin, vasopressin and dopamine, that tweaking?
creates the bond between them.
Young believes that a similar process goes on in us. In
human men, oxytocin makes our partners, but not other
women, more attractive, he says. There is lots of evidence
that oxytocin plays an important role in social bonding,
including romantic love in humans.

The one and only

While many species try to spread their seed as wide as
possible, setting their sights on one partner does have some
evolutionary perks. When populations are low so there
arent as many fish in the sea a vole has a failsafe partner
to mate with every year. There are benefits for the kids as
well. Bonding for life guarantees both sexes produce offspring
of very high quality and therefore maximise the chance to
pass on their genes, says Christophe Eizaguirre, an
evolutionary biologist at Queen
Mary, University of London. Having
two parents investing their energy
in a vole pup improves its odds of partners by inserting an extra vasopressin receptor gene
survival and good health. into their brains via a harmless virus transfer.
The question this raises is In humans, though, love is a little more complicated.
whether promiscuous partners I suspect that in humans, as long as the context is right,
might be turned into loyal ones oxytocin could hasten the onset of romantic love, adds Young.
with a little biological tweaking. But its not just as simple as a chemical. A single chemical
Could a shot of oxytocin or exposure is not going to make someone instantly fall in love
vasopressin act like a love potion? with whoever is around them, but if all the context is right,
In 2004, Larry Young showed that I think it could speed things up.
this might be possible, at least in However, as more research is done on animals that mate
voles. Male meadow voles, which for life, researchers are realising that even seemingly
look like prairie voles but are monogamous creatures can turn out to have cheating hearts.
unreliable playboys in comparison, According to Christophe Eizaguirre, among the many species
can be transformed into dutiful that pair up for life, infidelity is extremely common. For

082 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Animal behaviour
Monogamous mates

Prairie voles may

just be the most
monogamous animals
in the world, so much
so that scientists have
studied their hormones
to decode the biological
processes at work

ANIMALS THAT HEART EACH OTHER

Southern rockhopper penguins mate Albatrosses perform elaborate dances,
for life despite living hundreds of while male bowerbirds use whatever
kilometres apart most of the time. they can find, including shells, trinkets Left: Mute swans mate
for life, although if one
Using GPS trackers, scientists know and flowers, to build fancy nests.
of them dies, the other
that their mating season lasts less than One of the most recognisable images
will find a new partner.
a month. Yet, year after year, they of romance in the animal kingdom
Far left: Southern
somehow manage to find each other in comes from mute swans, whose long, rockhopper penguins
order to mate with the same partner. curved necks come together to form a travel hundreds of
Many birds go to equally enormous perfect love heart as they bow to each kilometres to reconnect
lengths to snag a long-term partner. other during courtship. in the mating season
 Animal behaviour
Monogamous mates

Almost all birds

To find out
about the tricks form eternal
animals use to find
and keep a mate, bonds but
visit http://bbc.
in/2jyLrG4 also have the
occasional tryst

biologists consider monogamous, there

are few that are always sexually faithful,
says Larry Young. This may mirror what
we see in humans. Social fidelity
having one committed partner that the
world can see is more common than
sexual fidelity what goes on in private.
People may choose to commit to one
partner, but that doesnt mean they will
always be faithful to them.

Marriage made in heaven?

Theres an awful lot of debate about
whether humans are actually
Male albatrosses
monogamous or not, says Susan
perform elaborate
dances to attract Quilliam, a British psychologist and
a potential partner relationship therapist. But this doesnt
mean that monogamy isnt still an ideal
for many people. We want monogamy
emotionally, even if were not
physiologically hardwired for it, she
example, almost all species of birds form eternal bonds says. What were looking for is having our deepest needs
with one mate, but they are also known to fly the nest at met by a partner who will stay with us for life a cry from the
times in search of the occasional tryst. heart. One theory she puts forward is that, as adults, we seek
Andrs Liker, a professor of ornithology at the University out lifelong partners to recreate the safety and security we
of Pannonia in Hungary, estimates that up to half of a female had in the womb and as children.
birds brood may contain chicks fathered by more than one In reality though, relationships in the modern world are
male. This is more likely to happen when the species is very unreliable, says Quilliam. This is one reason why we
unbalanced when there are more males than females or might look to the natural world for our ideals. When gibbons,
more females than males in a population. In some sense, grey wolves and black vultures manage to bond for life,
males and females are equally promiscuous, he says. we like to think that we can, too. Looking at animals
Paternity tests have revealed that even romantic paragons which, because theyre animals, we can project anything
like prairie voles arent always loyal. Among animals that we like onto they offer us hope, says Quilliam.

Octopuses are the biggest hearted in order to stop themselves drifting

Did you
Photographs: iStock, Alamy

creatures around they have three! away from each other.

Rafting sea otter couples have
been noted to sometimes hold
Gibbons were once regarded as
exemplars of faithfulness but are
know?
hands while they are asleep, now known to divorce each other.

/ 085
 African adventure
at its wildest
Get up close to the Big Five on an
unforgettable nine-day safari in the
Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya

In Swahili, the most widely spoken language in the East

African country of Kenya, safari means journey. And from
the dramatic wide-open plains and rolling hills of the Masai Mara
to the Great Rift Valley, G Adventures brings you the chance to
have the journey of a lifetime. Experience Kenya in all its glory on
a fantastic nine-day, full-service camping safari, with great food
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You'll explore a magical landscape of soaring snow-topped
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lakes and tropical coastlines lapped by the Indian Ocean.
From the capital city of Nairobi, travel cross-country in
small safari vans. You will get off the beaten track and,
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magnificent wildlife for which Kenya is famous herds of
zebra, antelope, elephants, rhino and mighty wildebeest.
The trip will include a visit to a Samburu village, where
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One of G Adventures guiding principles is that you should not
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G Adventures also recognises the importance of animal
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 Advertising feature
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A trunk call
for trees
Theyre an important part of our
heritage and an irreplaceable part
of the landscape, but our ancient trees
and forests are unprotected and
could do with a little help from us

f only trees could talk, they could tell

I us about a Britain dating back hundreds,

and even thousands of years.
The number of ancient trees in the UK is
exceptional compared with elsewhere in northern Europe,
and our earliest native woods and landmark veteran trees
form one of our richest land-based habitats an important
sanctuary for a huge variety of wildlife.
Equally important is their historical and cultural
significance. People come from miles around to visit the tree
believed to have witnessed the signing of the Magna Carta
800 years ago; or the yew under which Britains first ever
trade union was formed 180 years ago.
But did you know that our ancient trees and woodlands
have no legal status in this country, compared with historic
buildings, for example, which can at least be listed? This
means that there are no laws designed to protect trees from
the perils of development, climate change, pests, disease or
even not being properly looked after.
We can all do our bit to help champion our trees, though
find out how over the page. But first, here are a few leafy
landmarks everyone should know about

T E A M NEWTONS APPLE TREE

Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire
Age 400 years
Species Flower of Kent (Malus pumila)
History This tree is the stuff of scientific
legend. When Sir Isaac Newton sat under
it in the mid-17th century, his eureka
moment, the discovery of gravity, was
prompted by a falling apple.
Did you know? There is evidence of apple
trees in the UK as far back as the Neolithic
era but it was the Romans who introduced
the sweet varieties we eat today.

088 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Team Earth
Ancient woodlands

TOLPUDDLE MARTYRS TREE

Tolpuddle, Dorset
Age 300 years
Species Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)
History The first trade union was formed
under the spiky boughs of this tree. Six
farmhands met here in 1834 to form a
friendly society to protest against their
meagre pay of six shillings a week.
Did you know? Sycamores were introduced
to Britain in the 17th century. They are
attractive to aphids, caterpillars and moths.

MAJOR OAK
Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire
Age 800-1,000 years
Species English oak (Quercus Robur)
History This tree attracts around 900,000
tourists per year. Legend has it that its broad
branches sheltered Robin Hood or, more
likely, outlaws like him.
Did you know? The English oak is the most
common species of tree in Britain. Their usual
lifespan is about 200 years and they wait until
they are 40 years old to produce acorns.

ANKERWYCKE YEW
Wraysbury, Berkshire
Age 2,500 years
Species Yew (Taxus baccata)
History This truly ancient tree is allegedly
the site of two significant historic
happenings: the signing of the Magna
Carta in 1215; and Henry VIIIs first meeting
with Anne Boleyn in the 1520s.
Did you know? The yew, native to the UK,
is dioecious, meaning that male and female
flowers grow on separate trees. Usually yew
trees live for up to 600 years and can grow
to 20m high.

LLANGERNYW YEW
Conwy, North Wales
Age 4,000 to 5,000 years
Species Yew (Taxus baccata)
History This tree has been a feature of the
churchyard of St Digains in Llangernyw
village for a very, very long time. While
some argue that the main tree is probably
only around 1,500 years (a youngster!), data
suggests that the original stump it grew
around is thousands of years old.
Did you know? All parts of the yew are
poisonous if eaten, but the leaves contain
some very useful chemicals too, that are
extracted and processed into the
chemotherapy drug docetaxel.

THE BIRNAM OAK

Birnam, Perthshire
Age 1,000+ years
Species Sessile oak (Quercus petraea)
History This towering medieval tree is the
last remaining relic of Birnam Wood, made
famous in Shakespeares Macbeth, as the
branches of the trees camouflaged the
advancing army come to defeat the doomed
Thane of Glamis.
Did you know? The sessile carries its acorn
not on stalks but directly on its outer twigs.
 Team Earth
Ancient woodlands

How to be a tree champion

Trees might not have a legal status, but that doesnt threats of pollution, diseases such as chalara
mean theyre totally unprotected. Humans have long which has plagued the domestic Ash population
banded together to stand up for the rights of our pests, overgrazing and invasive non-native species.
deeply rooted companions and you can help, too. With environmental change happening at an
Organisations like the Woodland Trust and The unprecedented rate, we need to adapt, and fast,
Tree Council are committed to safeguarding old to protect our ecosystems and trees, which are
forests and mature trees, as well as planting new a habitat in their own right, are an essential part of
ones. They work to protect trees from the increasing that. Heres how to take a leaf out of their book

what
can you
do to
help?

YOUR STORIES PLANT IN YOUR

Add your voice to the call for COMMUNITY
a Charter for Trees, Woods OR SCHOOL
and People by uploading Community participation is
your stories about how a great way to get as many
trees improve your life at people as possible involved
treecharter.uk. With more and planting in a school
than 50 organisations behind teaches children vital lessons
GIVE SPECIAL TREES it, itll safeguard our trees. about conservation.
VIP STATUS THROUGH A
TREE REGISTER
The Woodland Trust has launched a
register to classify, celebrate and protect
the UKs nationally important and
best-loved trees. Thats not any old oak
however lovely it might be. There are strict
criteria these special trees and woodlands VISIT THE V.I.TREES
must meet, such as: Is it an ancient tree of The importance of a tree
native or European species? Is there a is never more evident than
historic connection? Is it potentially the when people go out of their
largest or oldest of its kind? You can way to see them. Plan your
nominate a special tree, or get involved as very own tree tourist trail
a volunteer recording trees, surveying or take part in one of the
them or updating historical records. Woodland Trusts ancient
Words: Matilda Battersby. Photographs: Alamy, iStock, Shutterstock

tree hunt events.

/ 091
 W H AT E V E R

096 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Weather
Future forecasting

T H E W E AT H E R

As a nation, were obsessed with the weather forecast which,

despite the specialised technology, sometimes leaves us unprepared.
Joe Shute reveals how traditional methods might still have a role,
while David Crookes looks at the future of prediction
 or as long as humans have

F existed on this planet,

we have been attempting to
second-guess the weather
- and it remains an imperfect art.
Organisations such as the Met Office and
MeteoGroup (Europes largest forecaster) rely
on so-called super computers. The Met
Office model cost 97m and is capable of
making 23,000 trillion calculations a second,
drawing in hundreds of thousands
of weather observations from across the
globe. The organisation claims its four-day
forecast is today as accurate as its one-day
forecast was 30 years ago.
Yet we still seem to hear of barbecue
summers and polar blasts that never
transpire. The winter of 2014 was supposed
to be exceptionally dry. Instead it turned
out to be the wettest on record. Before the
great storm of 1987, many took forecaster
Michael Fish at his word when he famously
dismissed talk of a hurricane swirling in.
Despite the best efforts of TV weather
forecasters, including the late, great Ian
McCaskill (who passed away in December
last year), many still value the old ways -
knowledge passed down through the ages,
based on close observation of how the
natural world can give us clues to what our
countrys capricious weather holds in store.
According to some, you can get warning of
a hurricane by watching for gulls flying inland
from the coast a dead cert in folklore that a
storm is coming. For many naturalists even
today, the arrival of Bewicks swans in Britain
from Arctic Russia each October marks the
onset of winter. And there are plenty of other
natural clues. Did you know, for example, that
the height of burdock and teasel in late
summer is an indicator of autumn rain (the
wetter it is going to be, the taller the plants
will grow)? Similarly, when lily pads bloom on

2016: Hottest-ever April

Last year, April felt like
W E AT H E R early summer, with
HIGHS AND temperatures breaking
LOWS the previous record
for the month by the
largest margin on file.

098 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Weather
Future forecasting

Much weather
lore dates back
to when whole
communities
depended on
a good harvest

rivers it is a sure sign that the height of

summer is on its way.
Given the damage that storms do
(left), perhaps we should watch for If you were paying attention at the start of
gull activity (below left) to predict the year, then its possible you already know
them, as naturalists do. Migrating
the weather for the year ahead: an old
swans (below right) and waterlilies
in flower (below centre) hold clues method of forecasting recorded by the writer
to other key weather events Lodowick Lloyd in 1590 has it that the first 12
days of January predict whether it will rain or
shine during each month for the following
year. The temperature on 12 January,
meanwhile, is a rough summary of what the
weather will be like overall - which isnt great
news for 2017, as we saw the first flurry of
snow of the year that day.
Much weather lore dates back to long
before the industrial revolution when whole
communities depended on a good harvest for
survival. By the late 17th century, farmers
almanacs were second only to the Bible in
sales. These detailed not just astronomical
events but also saints days, which were
deemed a key indicator of weather.
St Swithins Day on 15 July was (and to
some, still is) regarded as a key moment
in the meteorological calendar, whereby
whatever the weather was doing that day,
it would remain so for the next 40 days.
Long before clouds were officially
categorised in the 19th century, numerous
sayings existed for the forecasting
possibilities in the sky. Mackerel sky and
mares tails make lofty ships carry low sails,
describes a mix of wispy cirrus uncinus

2014: Flooded Levels

2015: Sweltering July
Fierce coastal storms,
It was hotter than
high winds and
India in much of the
widespread flooding
UK in July 2015, as the
made January miserable.
mercury hit 36.7C,
On the flooded Somerset
making it the hottest
Levels, homeowners had
July day for 160 years.
to be evacuated.
and patchy altocumulus clouds that together
indicate a rainstorm is on its way, while
the more well-known red sky at night,
shepherds delight; red sky in the morning,
shepherds warning speaks for itself. Both
can be as accurate as any modern forecast.
Similarly, a ring around the sun or moon
means snow or rain coming soon has
providence in meteorological science. The
ring is the hazy cirrostratus that is the kernel
of a weather front forming.
While folklore can, of course, fall wide of the
mark, we dismiss it at our peril. There is good
reason why home truths persist between the
generations. And, to quote Bob Dylan: You
dont need a weatherman to know which
way the wind blows.
However, these days there are smartphone
apps that can tell us rather a lot more about
Did you
the wind than you might have thought, and know?
have the potential to revolutionise the way
meteorologists predict the weather. Many smartphones contain
built-in atmospheric sensors.
The original aim was to measure
Crowdsourcing the weather
air pressure, which helps
Rather than relying solely on giant determine what altitude youre
computers, satellites and local weather at, to improve Googles mapping
stations to get accurate, time- and place- and location services.
specific warnings for extreme weather such Atmospheric scientists leapt
at the chance to use the data
as hurricanes and snow storms, forecasters
collected by smartphones to
could potentially now gather data from produce pressure maps, which
our phones. Half of the smartphones in use would lead to more advanced
right now have the capability to collect global weather predictions.
atmospheric data, telling forecasters exactly Air pressure is important for
weather forecasting. Put simply,
what conditions are like where we are.
low pressure, caused by rising
Clifford Mass, a professor of atmospheric
warm air, tends to indicate cloud
science at the University of Washington in and rain; high pressure is a result
Seattle, says collecting air pressure data from of cold air descending, leading to
just a few hundred thousand phones would clearer skies.
give more precise observations about serious There needs to be greater
take-up of the technology to
weather incidents on the ground.
forecast a thunderstorm or a
Having a greater number of pressure tornado in a specific place at a
observations can reveal structures that certain time. But the potential
lead to thunderstorm formation, explains is undoubtedly exciting.

2013: Christmas storms

Winds of 112kph were an
unwelcome Christmas
present as tidal surges and
the worst storms for 20
years left many flooded
and without power.

100 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Weather
Future forecasting

Wispy cirrus uncinus Professor Mass. The data from smartphones 200,000 users), says: The density of reliable
clouds, pulled into the
can be used to improve forecasters models. sensor data across large geographies is
shape of mares tails by
high-level winds, have Certainly, the idea of using phones as always a challenge.
long been a feature of forecasters has taken hold and there are But the data needs to be clean, too, so that
traditional forecasting; now phone apps, including The Weather it's reliable and quality-controlled before its
todays phones now
gather data for prediction
Channel, Dark Sky and WeatherSignal, that used in a weather model. This includes
contribute pressure readings to the major removing noise in the data from altitude
meteorological agencies. You simply changes, sensor errors and so on.
download the app, and your phone does the There is still frustration because of how
rest, though you can also upload information few people are actually using their phones
about the weather where to collect data at present.
you are, too, if you want. Professor Mass has been
WeatherSignal was trying to encourage Google
inspired by the barometer and Apple to integrate
in the Motorola Xoom five air pressure data
years ago. We thought it gathering into their
would be cool to create live operating systems,
pressure maps with no which would make the app
fancy equipment needed, automatically available
Photographs: Shutterstock, iStock, Getty, Nature Picture Library, Alamy

just users of apps, says to every phone owner

James Robinson from with one of their devices,
maker OpenSignal. but Apple has yet to bite.
But thats not all. If Google or Apple would
OpenSignal realised the help, the implications
temperature of a phone battery could also would be revolutionary, he says. In the
measure the outdoor air temperature, and meantime, experiments continue.
this ability has also been incorporated into There are many groups working to
WeatherSignal, with the data shared with the incorporate smartphone sensor data into
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. weather models, says Sheehy. But theres
Jacob Sheehy, who, along with Phil Jones, still a lot of work to do to find out how much
devised the now defunct PressureNet more accurate forecasts can get.
(the first smartphone network of atmosphere Joe Shute writes for The Daily Telegraph;
sensors, which at one time had around David Crookes is a technology writer

GET APPY
UWX downloaded less than 10,000 introduced barometers with the
Want to join in and record A free app created by the times, but the designers say iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and the iPad
pressure data with your University of Washington for the potential is great. Air 2. As more people join, there
phone? Download the Android phones, uWx shows you SUNSHINE will be more atmosphere data
following apps the latest weather and collects Available in the US and Canada, in the network and forecasts
and shares air pressure data. It is Sunshine works on iOS as will get better and better, says
early days, as the app has been well as Android, since Apple creator Jacob Sheehy.

2013: Spring snow 2012: Strong winds

The biggest deposit of Scotland was lashed by
snow in March for more very strong gale-force
than 30 years brought winds, which brought
with it widespread down power lines, and led
chaos and winds of to trees blocking roads
up to 96kph. and the suspension of
flights, trains and ferries.
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 DANGER
ELECTRIC
ANIMALS

From electric eels to the execution chair, the story of electricity

involves more than a shock or two. So, just how did
scientists use nature to harness this mysterious force?

e think of electricity as Its body contains three organs made up of

W something man-made and

modern. But, in fact, it exists
electrolytes, or battery cells, lined up so that
a current of ions can flow through them, and
in all of us biologically and stacked so as to add power. Its biology proved
it took the discovery of a fish capable of so pivotal to informing human understanding
zapping us with 600 volts for us to learn how of electricity that the inventor of the battery
to generate it artificially. copied its formation.
That creature was the so-called electric There are very few electric animals and the
eel (Electrophorus electricus), native to the majority of them are fish. The electric catfish
Amazon River. This sizeable marine animal is found in tropical Africa and the Nile River
(technically a fish, often mistaken for an and can emit 350 volts. The electric ray, or
eel) can expend enough electricity to leave torpedo fish, can produce around 220 volts
horses writhing in agony. and was documented by the Ancient Greeks

104 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Science
Electric animals

The electric eel can generate

more than twice the voltage of
a standard UK wall socket
 Its possible that lots of
aquatic animals use electricity
in ways we dont understand

and nicknamed the numbfish because it was used as a basic

anaesthetic in early medicine.
There are also animals that use electricity to help them
locate prey or navigate in murky waters. Sharks are famously
spectacular at electroreception, which is why theyre such
good predators. If your muscles give off a spark of electricity
(which they do if youre alive), sharks will find you.
Most electroreceptive animals are water-dwellers. But
there are a limited number of electric mammals, such as
the land-dwelling echidna (sometimes known as a spiny
anteater), and its cousin the duck-billed platypus, which
lives both in water and on dry land.
Both the echidna and the platypus have tiny
electroreceptors on their snouts (up to 40,000 in the case
of a platypus), which detect currents and allow them to
burrow through silt or dry land and locate prey with their
eyes closed. The echidnas electrical capabilities are all the
more remarkable for being on land. More recently, a species of
dolphin, the Guiana dolphin (also technically a mammal), has
also been found to use electroreception.
On dry land, the honeybee is known to beat its wings at
such a fast rate that it generates an electrical charge, which
is then transferred to a flower when it is pollinated. Another
bee can therefore detect the presence of an electrical
charge if visiting the same flower, and it tells them not to
bother foraging there.
Its possible that lots of aquatic

Did you animals, possibly other mammals, use

electricity in ways we dont understand
know? or havent logged, says Jack Ashby,
manager of the Grant Museum of
From jellyfish to worms,
crustaceans to fireflies, there are
Zoology at University College London.
many creatures that glow in the Because humans dont do it, we dont
dark. But theres no electrical pay quite enough attention to it. The shock of the new
activity behind their illumination The fact that we paid attention to When naturalists first heard about electric eels in the
its a chemical reaction, which
the electric eel is a testament to the mid-18th century, a time when Benjamin Franklin was
releases light energy.
shocking strength of the impulses it experimenting with lightning rods, the discovery sent a
Below: this specimen of an electric eel could discharge. charge of curiosity through the scientific community.
is on show at the Wellcome Collection In their native South America, The eels were sent to North America and London, where
electric eels had been known about they became part of this whole scientific spectacle that was
for generations and some early then building, says Ruth Garde, curator of the Wellcome
experimentation began in the 1700s. But Collections new exhibition Electricity: The Spark of Life.
in Europe and North America they were They were put on display in theatres and were billed as
akin to mythical beasts, like unicorns. wonders and marvels of electricity. People paid huge
More broadly, at that time, electricity amounts to see them.
was viewed as a phenomenon. Events In those days, the term electrician was used to describe
such as lightning were seen by Medieval the scientists who were interested in electrical
and Renaissance-era humans as some experimentation. As part of their investigations, electricians
miraculous, unseen occult thing like collected electrical charges in Leyden jars (literally glass
magic or Gods wrath. jars with metal lining), which occasionally gave them nasty

106 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Science
Electric animals

Below (from top): the electric catfish,

the echidna and the electric ray.
Bottom left: horses are attacked by
electric eels in an engraved title page
on display at Electricity: The Spark
of Life at the Wellcome Collection

One reason that sharks

are such superb hunters
is that they can use their
electroreceptive powers
to detect the tiniest
charge in their prey

shocks. The scientists were focused on trying to prove the

existence of atmospheric electricity.
The study of an animal that could, at will, produce more
volts than humans could store in a jar, proved to be a
huge help in advancing their understanding.
One of the earliest (and most dramatic) reports of electric
eels to reach Europe was from the Prussian naturalist
Alexander von Humboldt in around 1800. He visited what
was then Dutch Guiana, the region between the Orinoco
and Amazon rivers in South America, and described seeing
eels emitting such high voltage that they were feared as
monsters in the local area.
Humboldt describes the picturesque spectacle of
fisherman driving horses into a swamp to be shocked
by the eels in order that, once their electricity had been
discharged, they could be safely scooped up for study and
experimentation. Some of these horses were injured or
Science
Electric animals

Luigi Galvanis method

of re-animating the
legs of dead frogs with a
current helped to prove
the existence of internal
animal electricity

Words: Matilda Battersby. Photographs: Alamy/iStock, NPL, Science Photo Library, UCL Grant Museum of Zoology, Wellcome Library, London
dying and the native fishermen kept them in the swamp Its from biological or external sources, Mary Shelley was so
quite a gruesome story, but the way [Humboldt] writes about intrigued by the notion of a spark somehow reanimating the
it is very compelling, says Garde. dead that it would inspire her to write Frankenstein.
Galvani later proved, conclusively, the existence of
Highly charged rivalry internal animal electricity. But his work did not succeed in
But the arrival of the electric eel in America and Europe convincing Volta who objected to the notion on religious
wasnt just the biggest electrical event on the block. The grounds. Galvanis theory was largely ignored by the scientific
electric eel was critical in our understanding of how to develop community until his experiments were picked up again
electrical currents for our own use, says Garde. decades later, according to Marco Piccolino, the co-author of
Alessandro Volta, the Italian physicist who invented the The Shocking History of Electric Fishes.
electric battery (or Voltaic pile) and after whom the unit of Modern science accepts that all muscle cells, human or
electric potential is named, based his work on the anatomy of animal, have electrical potential. A further two centuries of
the electric eel. Volta called his earliest device an organ experimentation have confirmed that muscle contractions
a direct reference to its biological roots, Garde says. are initiated by electrical-nerve impulses and that a potential
In fact, the invention of the electric battery was an electrical energy is present across the membranes of all cells.
unexpected but happy consequence of Voltas research Why are some animals more electric than others? It
into the then controversial subject of animal electricity. seems to be a quirk of evolution that certain muscle cells
He had been a critic of the 1780s changed over millions of years into
experiments of Italian physician electrocytes generating much higher
Luigi Galvani, who connected the Electric fish fed voltages than ordinary muscle cells.
nerves of a dead frog to a metal wire Electric fish fed our understanding
and pointed it toward the sky during
our understanding of what electricity is, says Garde. It
a thunderstorm. The frogs legs of what electricity led to our understanding that
twitched as if it were alive. electricity is in our body, how it works
While Volta and Galvani were
is that electricity through our bodies and how it might
debating whether electricity came is in our body be sent through the body to help it.

BRIGHT SPARKS of generating a current), to explosive-looking

drawings of Nikola Tesla and Thomas
The Wellcome Collections latest Edisons activities in the 1880s.
exhibition, Electricity: The Spark of Life, Curators havent shied away from
features both an early electric eel specimen examining the tension between the life-
and an engraving depicting Humboldts enhancing properties of electricity and the
legendary brush with live versions. fact that it can kill us, or that we can use it for
The exhibition examines our relationship lethal purposes, such as the electric chair.
with one of the most potent symbols of the Dont miss the exhibition for a deeper
modern world, from early understanding understanding of the ways electricity has
through to generation, supply and impacted on our culture and visual landscape.
consumption and traces our fascination Electricity: The Spark of Life runs from
with it back to the ancient Greeks. 23 February25 June 2017 at the Wellcome
Many of the objects on display wouldnt Collection, London; after which it will go
look out of place in Victor Frankensteins on tour to the Teylers Museum, Haarlem,
laboratory, from terrifying curling tongs to Netherlands and the Museum of Science
early Barlows wheels (a primitive means and Industry, Manchester

108 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Coming up
Next issue

Inside the March issue

How we can stop the cheetah sprinting towards extinction

Follow Steve Backshall as he ba s mighty Baliem River
See stars and ev y from the comfort of your armchair
Adventure hackers so you want to work in paradise?
Photograph: iStock

On sale Thursday 2 March

/ 109
C U R I O S I T I E S
O F
C A B I N E T

PA S S E N G E R P I G E O N

E C T O P I S T E S M I G R AT O R I U S

F M N H N O . 2 41 5 3

C O N S E R VAT I O N S TAT U S E X T I N C T

110 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Behind the scenes
Field Museum of Natural History

In our latest feature on intriguing specimens in half a day at a time. Flocks stretched as far as a person
could see, one tier above another. The American
Chicagos Fiel useum o atural History, we profile naturalist and ornithologist John James Audubon
the passenger pigeon the biggest bird population observed one flock for three days and estimated the
birds were flying past at a rate of 300 million per hour.
the world has ever seen, hunted from billions to zero Professional hunters tracked the nomadic flocks
in just a few decades in the late 19th century and met the demand for meat and feathers by
knocking nests and squabs (young pigeons) from
trees, suffocating birds nesting in trees with
Five billion. Its estimated that when Europeans first settled in sulphurous fires, baiting and intoxicating them with alcohol-soaked
North America in the late 1500s, there were 3-5 billion passenger grain to make them easier to catch,
pigeons in the forests of eastern North America. How many are there and using live decoys with their eyes
now? Zero. And we know the exact date that this bird became extinct: sewn shut. In April 1896, hunters
Words: Lauren Heinz. Photographs: Marc Schlossman

1 September 1914. It remains the only species for which we know the found the last remnant flock of
exact date of extinction. How do we know? The last passenger pigeon, 250,000 and, in one day, killed all but
Martha, was in a cage at Cincinnati Zoo. 5,000 birds with some accounts
In the late 16th century, its thought that the Ectopistes migratorius claiming all were killed.
population comprised up to 40 per cent of the total bird population Even without commercial hunting,
on the North American continent. Yet just a few decades of reckless the passenger pigeon probably
overhunting and deforestation in the late 1800s decimated the would not have survived, because
worlds largest-ever bird population to extinction. of the progressive loss of its
In the mid-1800s, flocks of passenger pigeons had been so dense, woodland habitat.
the birds could simply be batted out of the air with clubs as they flew Captive breeding efforts failed.
over ridges; one shotgun blast could bring down as many as 50 birds. Martha, the last passenger pigeon, is
A description from 1854 says, There would be days and days when now preserved in the collections at the
the air was alive with them, hardly a break occurring in the flocks for Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC.
Competition
Family holiday

Win a luxury stay in Benidorm,

Spain, worth 3,000
Exchange the winter blues for the white sands As well as elephants, rhinos, deer and big
and aquamarine waters of Alicante in eastern cats, family-friendly Terra Natura has a
Spain - with some exciting wildlife-spotting petting zoo where little ones can get up close
and water-park fun thrown in. to creatures their own size. Both the water
Were offering readers the chance to win a park and Terra Natura belong to the European
luxury break for a family of four at the Magic Association of Zoos and Aquaria and are
Natura resort just 4km outside of Benidorm. committed to animal-welfare best practice.
The hotel, located close to the Mediterranean At the hotel, which hosts guests in spacious
coast, combines a relaxing beach vibe with bungalows set in a Polynesian-style landscape,
unlimited access to the neighbouring Terra you can swim in one of three pools, eat at one
Natura zoo and Aqua Natura water park. of several restaurants (providing all-inclusive
Zip down multi-lane slides, splash in crystalline breakfast, lunch and dinner) and party away the
waters and careen down dizzying chutes (age night at the poolside bars. The children can enrol
and height restrictions apply) at the huge Aqua in family-friendly activities by day, too, and the
Natura park, which boasts a super- fast 15m ride bungalows come with TV, Wi-Fi, minibar
that gives you a zero-gravity feeling. and wood-decked terrace.
If you want a break from the wave machines,
HOW TO ENTER
head to the water parks aquarium where you Log on and enter your details at
can see sharks and rays, and spot Nemo among The holiday is for two adults and two children bbcearthmagazine.com to enter online.
Closing date: 23:59 on 28 February 2017.
the colourful shoals of fish. Youll also learn (aged 12 and under) for seven nights.
UK (excluding Northern Ireland) entrants
about caring for our marine friends and can Accommodation is all-inclusive at the only, aged 18 and over.
watch sea lion demonstrations. four-star Magic Natura resort, just 10 minutes
Back on dry land, take a night-time safari by car from the beach.
through the famous Terra Natura zoo, home Return flights from UK airports, as well as
to 1,500 animals and 200 species - 50 of which transfers from Benidorm Airport, are included.
are on the endangered list. The animal park Includes free entrance to Terra Natura for
has been designed to closely recreate the duration of your stay.
the habitats of these animals and it runs Includes free entrance to the neighbouring
environmental workshops to teach children Aqua Natura water park with sea lion
important lessons about conservation. demonstrations and night safari.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS The promoter is River Group. A winner is picked at random from all entries submitted before the closing date
that comply with the full terms. No purchase necessary. RRP value of prize is approximately 3,000. This prize must be taken before the
end of 2017 and is subject to availability. It cannot be taken over bank holidays, Easter, July, August or during any UK school holidays. The
Aqua Natura park is open May-October. The prize is non-returnable and non-transferable.

112/ / FEBRUARY 2017

 Letters
February

Inbox
Get in touch to tell us your views on nature, science, space and everything else about BBC Earth magazine

In our December issue,

we looked at the science
of hurricane prediction

W E AT H E R WAT C H caravan near Aberystwyth and head there PROMOTING DIVERSITY

I just wanted to say that I absolutely loved for the peace and tranquillity and to de-stress Thank you for the January issue of
the first issue of BBC Earth, and Im loving as often as we can. A massive part of why we BBC Earth the diversity of information,
the latest issue now, too. I especially continue to go back is the outstanding photography and features was
enjoyed the Shipping Forecasts feature in wildlife and scenery all around this magical astonishing. I really loved the animal
the December issue (above) - my partner place. Withdrawal symptoms have kicked in symphony and the Egyptology features.
is in the merchant navy so we both share and well be heading back in February. This The Cabinet of Curiosities is also a
an interest there. I enjoyed the space visit, Im hoping for some proper winter favourite of mine. The magazine simply
features, too. To be honest, I think Ive weather to get out and photograph. combines every subject I'm interested in
just enjoyed every article! Brian Taylor wildlife, photography, science, culture
Gemma Mooney Louise Thacker

TEEN DREAM
H A P PY VA L L E YS My granddaughter asked me if I would get
I found your magazine totally by accident her a subscription to your magazine as her
Email us at
while browsing in my local supermarket but Christmas present, and Im chuffed that a bbcearthmagazine
I am loving it. While I live in the northwest of 16-year-girl should be interested in the @therivergroup.co.uk
England and appreciate all the wonderful world around her. She loved the BBCs
wildlife and scenery on my doorstep, I must Planet Earth II as well and was also given
admit that my heart is firmly routed in Mid the DVD as a gift. We all think its superb!
Wales. We are lucky enough to own a static Irene Semple

/ 113
 Seeing
stars

It used to be that sunshine was

all you wanted on a holiday but
with travellers embracing the
growing trend for astro-tourism,
the darker the skies, the better
Light pollution means that most of us never get
to see the night sky in all its glory. A study by the
Campaign to Protect Rural England found that
only 22 per cent of Englands skies were considered
pristine, with no light pollution at all. Perhaps
the surge in interest in stargazing is a reaction to
this night blight. So, this year, why not take an
awe-inspiring trip to one of the worlds best spots
for astronomy? It could be closer than you think.

114 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Travel
Astro-tourism

SOUTH DOWNS, UK Observatory Science Centre in

Just two hours away from London Hailsham, and stargazing parties
is another International Dark Sky in Old Winchester Hill and Butser
Park, as the South Downs were Ancient Farm, an open-air
awarded this prestigious status museum near Petersfield.
NORTHUMBERLAND, UK (which applies to just 12 places in There is a good selection of
You can get a clear view of the the world) last year. accommodation nearby, including
Milky Way from Britains best The Moore Reserve, named after the lighthouse at Beachy Head,
International Dark Sky Park in the British astronomer Patrick which offers beautiful views over
Northumberland. The area was Moore, is a great place to get the South Downs.
started in astronomy, especially Visit southdowns.gov.uk/enjoy/
awarded the prestigious gold tier
during this months South Downs explore/dark-night-skies/.
designation by the International Dark Skies Festival (10-26 The Bell Tout lighthouse has
Dark Sky Association in 2013, February). You can join in rooms from 138 per night
and is one of the few places in the discovery evenings at The (responsibletravel.com).
country you can see our galaxy.
Admire the heavens from the
award-winning solar- and wind-
powered Kielder Observatory
building, and marvel at the sight
of meteor showers, the planets
and the moon through its
top-notch telescopes.
Nearby, architect-turned-TV
presenter George Clarke has
created a similarly impressive
building - the Kielder Sky Den.
This lofty lodge, which sleeps four,
is hidden among the trees in the
Kielder Water and Forest Park and LA PALMA, SPAIN admire the constellations by night,
has a roof that opens up to reveal The Canary Islands may be better follow one of the islands many
the cosmos, and a telescope known for sunbathing than dedicated routes for nocturnal hikes
through which you can admire it. stargazing, but La Palma has a walk through the volcanic
become one of the worlds best landscape of lava, ash and craters
For more information, go to
destinations for astronomy. is like walking on the moon.
kielderobservatory.org and
With clear skies and strict laws for When booking accommodation,
visitnorthumberland.com/ air and light pollution, the island is seek out one of the many villas that
darkskies. The Sky Den costs the perfect venue for some of the have telescopes perfect for seeing
from 150 (for four) per night worlds best telescopes, including stars while sipping Sangria.
and can be booked through the El Observatorio Roque de los For more info and to find
Muchachos, set an altitude of stargazing accommodation,
canopyandstars.co.uk.
2,420m above sea level. visit starsislandlapalma.es/en.
Visitors can see the inner Flights to La Palma cost from
workings of the observatory but 165 per person with Thomson
sadly it is only open in the day, so to Airways (thomson.co.uk).
Travel
Astro-tourism

ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE

If youre willing to go to the ends of
the earth to see what lies beyond, then
head to Chiles Atacama Desert, which,
thanks to its high altitude, has almost
no cloud cover and no light pollution,
making it the perfect place for
marvelling at the macrocosm.
Unsurprisingly, its home to the

Words: Carolyn Boyd. Photographs: Shutterstock, James Florio, Paul Compere

planets most productive astronomical
observatories and telescopes, with some
of the best experiences for visitors
found in the Elqui Valley. Here, youll
find Elqui Domos camp, which has
cabins with viewing windows, offering
guests the chance to gaze at the stars
from the comfort of their beds.
Surrounded by spectacular scenery,
the site has its own observatory, and
offers astronomy tours, a swimming
pool and night-time horse rides.
Elqui Domos cabins cost from 126
a night B&B (elquidomos.cl). British
Airways flies direct to Santiago from
680 return (ba.com).

PIC DU MIDI, FRANCE There are just 15 guest rooms and the are projected onto screens. With some of the
In southwest France, you can have a stargazing overnight visit includes a spectacular 1,000m clearest skies in the world, guests can gaze at
experience like no other, and stay overnight in cable-car ascent up to the observatory, a sunset Saturns rings, Jupiters moons and the
an observatory on a mountain peak. Perched pre-dinner cocktail while admiring nearly Andromeda galaxy. Then, the following morning,
2,877m above sea level in the Pyrenees, the 200 miles of mountain summits, and a mouth- breakfast is served as the sun rises.
Pic du Midi de Bigorre observatory is open for watering meal of traditional Pyrenean cuisine. The overnight experience costs from around
both day trips and exciting overnight stays. The astronomy action takes place in the 260 for a single room; picdumidi.com.
Plus, this year sees the launch of its own observatorys iconic Charvin dome, where views Easyjet, Ryanair, British Airways and Flybe
planetarium the highest in Europe. from the 400mm Smith-Cassegrain telescope all fly to Toulouse.

116 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 World uncovered
February

What makes us human?

Youd be forgiven for thinking that the banana is about as far ago. So why dont we all multiply in warm, moist environments,
away from a human being as you can get. Yet we actually share lay eggs and purr? Because the genes we share with these
60 per cent of the same DNA. In fact, if you could peer through species have different functions in the human body.
the lens of a microscope at the genes that make up human While our biology may denote which species we belong to,
DNA, you would be astonished to discover how much of it is some anthropologists would claim that morality is what sets us
present in the animal kingdom. For example, we share apart as humans, while the philosopher Aristotle said that we
18 per cent of our DNA with yeast, 47 per cent with fruit flies, are separated from animals by our rationality. Delving into these
65 per cent with chickens and 90 per cent with cats. questions, Dr Adam Rutherford explores the decoding of the
Scientists believe that all animals, plants and fungi have human genome and tracks the evolution of life in the BBC
evolved from a single ancestor that lived around a billion years documentary The Gene Code. Watch a clip at bbc.in/2iESrzU.

Curious
world
What is the
happiest The Australian quokka, part of the kangaroo family,
is the happiest animal on earth. At least, thats how
animal in it appears. Once described by a Dutch sea captain
as a kind of rat as big as a common cat, the furry
the world? creatures always wear a cheeky grin even when
asleep Scientists still dont understand why the
quokkas are always smiling but they put it down to an
accident of evolution. That can make it pretty hard to
judge their character. Quokkas bite dozens of people
each year on Rottnest Island off Western Australia
(their primary home), normally when snatching food.
Who knew that appearances could be so deceptive?

/ 117
World uncovered
February

Why do we dream?
The rear part of our brain gets really active
during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep,
the stage when we are close to waking and
when we dream the most.
But dreams can also occur during so-called
slow-wave sleep. And, although scientists
have been studying the dream cycle for
decades, no one really knows for sure why
we have them.
There are many theories, including that
dreams are meaningless and are a simple
by-product of neural processes. Some
scientists, however, believe dreaming is like
a virtual-reality simulation in which we can
rehearse threatening situations. Supporting
evidence comes from the fact that the
incidence of scary situations in dreams (some
studies say 70 per cent) is much higher than
in real life. Amazingly, dreams also seem able
to influence physiological state one study
found that subjects who were deprived of
water before they slept, and who drank in
their dreams, felt less thirsty when they woke
up. Read more about the fascinating subject
of sleep and dreams at bbc.in/2je5tFp.

Curious
Can robots world
have emotions?
Artificial intelligence is developing at
a rapid pace and so-called emotional
robots, such as Pepper in Japan, are Have I shrunk?
now on the market and designed to live Feel like you were taller last time you
with humans. Pepper is said to feel joy, checked? Youre not imagining it: we do
Words: Yashi Banymadhub. Photographs: Getty, iStock. alamy

surprise, anger, doubt and sadness.

actually shrink during the day as the
But are robot feelings real enough for
cartilage in our spine compresses, making
humans to build meaningful relationships
with them? Currently, these AI emotions us 1-2cm shorter. Thankfully, as we sleep,
are only superficial, and many scientists the pressure on our spine eases and we
doubt that consciousness, which enables regain the lost height in the morning.
humans to experience emotions, will However, over time the effects do become
ever be replicated by a machine. In the
permanent, and that, along with flatter feet
meantime, robots like Pepper are
programmed to mimic what humans
and loss of muscle mass, means we can lose
would do in a certain situation up to 5cm in height by the time we are 70.
and can gauge human emotion
by detecting changes in facial
expression and tone of voice.

118 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 New app
February

colouring
Download intricate illustrations from Planet Earth II with the BBC Earth
colouring app. Then watch them come to life when you add colour!

Pick from 294 colours, which Free to download and try from Share your artwork using the
you can mix to make new tones iTunes or GooglePlay. Planet hashtag #bbcearthcolouring
for block-fill colouring or more Earth II pack (36 images) costs and keep track of upcoming line
realistic free-form shading. Print 2.99, and individual packs (12 drawings from other iconic BBC
out and colour by hand too. images) cost 1.49 to download. Earth series that you love.

/ 119
6
The different types of plant
eaten by a leaf monkey. They
snack all day as their vegetarian
diet is so low in calories.

100
Length of time in months
that macaque monkey
8,000
Average number of people bitten by
babies can exclusively snakes annually in Thailand. The pit viper
be breastfed for. is one of the most common culprits.

Sum of paradise
on Earth

30 9
million
Lifespan in years of hermit crabs,
which protect themselves by hiding
their soft bodies in the abandoned Amount of rice in tonnes
shells of other creatures. exported every year.

2
Length in metres
giant monitor lizards
which look like
modern dinosaurs
can grow to. Their
tongues are a far- 4,000
reaching 30cm long. Number of Asian elephants
in captivity in Thailand.

120 / / FEBRUARY 2017

 Earth by numbers
Thailand

30,000 Number of Buddhist

temples in Thailand.

6,000
1980
The year the golden apple snail was Number of ying foxes (fruit bats)
introduced, wreaking havoc on crops. that live at the Wat Pho Bang Khla
Today, farmers keep storks as protection. Buddhist temple.

Theres nothing like travelling to the steamy jungle from

the comfort of your sofa as we did while watching
Thailand: Earths Tropical Paradise, a three-part BBC
series that dazzled us with its scenery and wildlife.
Here are some of the most interesting things we learnt

6 metres
The size a king cobra can grow to. It is the
longest venomous snake in the region.
Words: Matilda Battersby. Photographs: iStock, Shutterstock

300,000
Number of wrinkle-lipped bats
that live in the central Thai
region, nicknamed the rice bowl
for its abundant paddy elds.
10
The duration in years that
a gibbon ape may form a
bond with one partner.
What on earth?
February

What
on earth?

In last
months
Bounty from an elder statesman of the issue
Photographs: Getty, Shutterstock

countryside, it holds food for rodents and makes Januarys

teaser showed
a nifty hat for fairies Well reveal the answer a baby sea
turtles shell
and pose another puzzler next month.

122 / / FEBRUARY 2017