BBC Knowledge February 2017

Knowledgemagazineindia KnowledgeMagIND KnowledgeMagInd A TIMES OF INDIA PUBLICATION
Volume 7 Issue 2 • February 2017 `125
SCIENCE • HISTORY • NATURE • FOR THE CURIOUS MIND
HOW
TECHNOLOGY
IS REWIRING
YOUR BRAIN
ARE YOU A YOUR DOGTOR
GENETIC WILL SEE
SUPERHERO? YOU NOW
GAME OF
GREATS INDIAN QUEENS
AUTHORS:
R. K. NARAYAN
RISE OF THE SUDHA MURTY

ROBBER INTERVIEW &
BARONS EXCERPT
Portfolio: Discoveries & Q&A

Baby Animals Innovations R.N.I. MAHENG/2010/35422
CONTENTS
38 64
Knowledgemagazineindia KnowledgeMagIND KnowledgeMagInd A TIMES OF INDIA PUBLICATION
Volume 7 Issue 2 • February 2017 `125
HOW
TECHNOLOGY
IS REWIRING
YOUR BRAIN
ARE YOU A YOUR DOGTOR
GENETIC WILL SEE
SUPERHERO? YOU NOW
GAME OF
GREATS INDIAN QUEENS
AUTHORS:
R. K. NARAYAN
RISE OF THE SUDHA MURTY

ROBBER INTERVIEW &
BARONS EXCERPT
Portfolio: Discoveries & Q&A

Baby Animals Innovations R.N.I. MAHENG/2010/35422
40 COVER STORY
Is Technology
Changing Our Brains?
Is our increasing
reliance on technology for
information wise?
82 60
FEATURES
ILLUSTRATION: ANDY POTTS, ISTOCK, 123RF, AMIT DESHPANDE

60 Interview: Sudha Murty 78 Rise of the Robber Barons
A freewheeling chat with author Nation builders or selfish capitalists?
Sudha Murty, whose enthusiasm Meet the titans of American industry
78 for story-telling shows no sign of in the 19th century
letting up
82 Game of Queens
64 Your Dogtor Will See You Now An intertwining of female friendships
Apart from being man's best friend, and familial bonds ruled the roost
are dogs making us healthy too? in 16th century Europe
70 Genetic Superheroes 86 Know your Authors:

Do you not fall sick often? R.K. Narayan
Are you immune to mass infection? Author Urvashi Butalia profiles
Then you could be the genetic the life and words of one of
superhero we are all looking for! India’s most beloved authors
2 February 2017
10 70
86
52
REGULARS
GETTY, ALAMY, ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAVIDE BONAZZI, SUZI ESZTERHAS, HASHIM BADANI
10 Q&A 52 Portfolio: Early Days

Your questions answered These intimate portraits of newborn baby animals
with their parents will warm your heart
20 Discoveries & Innovations
Dispatches from the cutting edge of science and technology 89 Puzzle Pit
Challenge your grey cells
32 On the Shelves
Changing consumer tech, bestselling novels and the hottest 92 In Focus: Isaac Asimov
games in the market await you on our pages! Get to know one of the ‘Big Three’ authors
of the Golden Age of Science Fiction
38 News from the World of Travel & Food
Read what makes the Great Wall of China great and
savour the spicy taste of a Hungarian goulash
50 Panel of Principals
Educators and principals discuss how technology
has changed the learning curve in schools
32
FROM THE
EDITOR A very happy new year to you. The beginning
of each year invites us to re-evaluate our EXPERTS THIS ISSUE
thoughts on the everyday, and the pulling
together of this issue forced me to think about Jo Carlowe is a freelance journalist, editor
and copywriter. She has contributed features
how all-pervasive technology is - even in the
to various publications including Reader's
lives of people who bemoan the loss of Digest, The Guardian and BBC Focus.
a simpler past. Why, then, do we sometimes In this issue, she examines the influence that ever-
baulk at the idea of how much we depend increasing amounts of readily available information
on technology? For parents, it may be worry and technology can have on our brains.
about how many hours a child may spend
absorbed in something with a screen. Sarah Gristwood is an author, biographer
and former journalist. She has authored
For young people, it might well be all about FOMO - the fear of
two biographies about England’s Tudor
missing out. queens and also written historical novels.
In this issue, she reveals the women who wielded
There are, of course, the ardent advocates of technology - Steve Jobs, immense influence in 16th century Europe.
Elon Musk, Bill Gates, among them - but, for us, perhaps it is best to bring
it down to daily living. It is about giving technology its place in our lives, Adam IP Smith is a Senior Lecturer at
University College London who specialises in
just like eating the right amount of food, drinking enough water, even
American history. He has written several
getting enough sunlight. Is Technology Changing Our Brains?, books, including a biography of Abraham
our cover story this issue, takes a cold, hard look at how technology Lincoln and also presents radio programmes for the BBC.
is rewiring our minds, for better or for worse. In conjunction with In this issue, he looks at the great American capitalists of
this story, we’re proud to present the first module of the BBC Knowledge the latter 19th century.
Panel of Principals, educators from across India weighing in on the
subject, as well as responses from our BBC Knowledge Community Padma Shri Urvashi Bhutalia is a prominent
Indian author and publisher, who has
on social media. There’s more on the new and the happening in
contributed writings to numerous
our Discoveries & Innovations pages, augmented by a re-imagined publications such as The Guardian and
On The Shelves section that explores new and classic technology, Outlook, as well as writing seven books. In this issue, she
gadgets, games and literature. kicks off our series on India’s greatest writers with a
profile of R. K. Narayan.
Still, perhaps the beauty of our rapidly-evolving life on earth is that some
things are constant. How baby animals are adorbs. How we’ll always
love the genius of R. K. Narayan and his Malgudi world. How there’s 
always time for a good tale, especially when the storyteller is Sudha SEND US YOUR LETTERS
Murty. How so many of us love how dogs could now be dogtors. Has something you’ve read in BBC Knowledge Magazine
How nature is always steadfast - even in the face of relentless change. intrigued or excited you? Write in and share it with us.
We’d love to hear from you and we’ll publish a selection of
your comments in the forthcoming issues.
I leave you with a thought from Jerry Baumgartner that will soothe
Email us at: [email protected]
both the advocates and naysayers of technology:
“Technology gives the quietest student a voice.” We welcome your letters, while reserving the right to edit
them for length and clarity. By sending us your letter you
permit us to publish it in the magazine. We regret that we
cannot always reply personally to letters.
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Knowledgemagazineindia KnowledgeMagIND KnowledgeMagInd
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AG
Q&
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Volume 7 Issue 1 • December 2016 `125
SP
A AC
ES
PE
CIA
W
L
LETTERS
THE LAST
GREAT ENIGMA
W
TH
OF OUR
SOLAR SYSTEM
I S S U E
What will Juno unearth

WHERE ARE ALL HOW WILL
OUR ACTIVE beneath Jupiter’s surface? TIM PEAKE
SPACECRAFT? ADAPT TO LIFE
ON EARTH?
DOES ZERO-G
AFFECT HOW CLOSE CAN
ASTRONAUTS’ WE GET TO EXPERT PANEL
DREAMS? A BLACK HOLE? Dr Christian Jarrett Dr Mark Lorch
Christian is a psychology and neuro- Mark is a senior lecturer at the University
science writer. His latest book is Great Myths of Hull, where he teaches chemistry
WHAT WOULD WHY DO Of The Brain. and science.
MARTIAN WATER ASTRONAUTS
TASTE LIKE? LOVE PRAWN Dr Alastair Gunn Dr Elizabeth Pearson
COCKTAIL? Alastair is an astronomer at the Jodrell Bank Elizabeth is Sky At Night Magazine’s
Centre for Astrophysics at the University news editor and has a PhD in
of Manchester. extragalactic astrophysics.
Prof Robert Matthews Colin Stuart

Robert is a physicist and science writer. Colin is a science writer and astrophysicist.
He’s visiting professor in science at His most recent book is Physics In
Aston University. 100 Numbers.
Dr Peter J Bentley Dr Stuart Clark

Peter is a computer scientist and author who Stuart is an astronomy writer with a PhD
is based at University College London. in astrophysics. His latest book is The
His latest book is Digitized. Unknown Universe.
Luis Villazon Shannon Walker
ILLUSTRATION: ANDY POTTS

Luis is a freelance science and tech writer Shannon is a scientist and NASA astronaut
with a BSc in computing and an MSc in who went to the International Space Station
zoology from Oxford University. in 2010.
Portfolio: Visions The Golden Age King of the

of the Future of Indian History Mountains R.N.I. MAHENG/2010/35422
10 December 2016
Jumping! Great for history! My question, your answer!

My favourite question In the December I have always been
in the latest issue of 2016 issue of BBC a big fan of BBC
BBC Knowledge was Knowledge, the article Knowledge.
“How high could you I liked the most was My favourite part
jump on other planet on the Gupta Age by of this magazine is
bodies?”. It was Himanshu Prabha Ray. the Q&A section.
shocking how low you can jump! Historians indeed have had divided There are so many questions in my
The lowest was Jupiter (only 20m) opinions on whether the Gupta head and Google doesn’t always
and it was crazy how high you can Empire marked India’s golden age. give me the right answer! But BBC
jump on Phobos – 847m high! I am a history enthusiast, and I like Knowledge always helps. If you are
This issue also taught me about to research the subject. The facts in a science guy like me, you’re going
many new moons like Phobos, the article about Gupta architecture, to love this section. I was really
Ceres, Io, Europa and Titan. literature, mathematics and amazed to know that life would be
It was amazing! astronomy are fascinating. We come possible on Mars soon and that
to know a lot about an empire if we animals can sense human beings’
MADHAV TANEJA, 9, The Somaiya School,
Ghatkopar, Mumbai know the coins used at the time, feelings and much more!
since coins usually have the face ADITYA ANAND, 12, St Gregorious High
of the reigning emperor, and even School, Chembur, Mumbai
some orders issued by the king.
Outta space! The literature of an empire shows
BBC Knowledge is the taste of people in poems, We know now!
a nice educational books and plays.
initiative for children. Another article I liked was “How As we have
It contains lots of Safe Is Your Plane?”. I had never always wanted
informative features even realised that planes had to to know more
on space, science, undergo such tests to be cleared about the solar
the environment, etc. It keeps us to fly.These tests prepare a plane system and
updated with its current affairs for every possible situation it may spacecraft, we
section. It attracts us with its have to deal with. I’ve always heard liked the article entitled “Where Are
interesting quiz, games and riddles. the announcement about using life All The Active Spacecraft In Our
HOW SAFE IS Solar System?”. It was great finding
I truly loved the Information about jackets in case the plane has to land
YOUR PLANE? on water, but I was never clear out which countries have spacecraft
space in the December issue, which
answered many of my questions. about how it could land on water, out there and where these are
I also loved the games section. or what would happen if a bird currently located. We also enjoyed
HOW
discovering more about the Hubble
SAFE To me, this magazine is a big hit. gets inside the plane’s engine.
Space Telescope, Lisa Pathfinder
IS YOUR BBC Knowledge is proof that there This article was the answer to all of
PLANE? is no better resource for education my queries. The next time I sit in and Kepler.
IN
Thanks for all the information – we
So many of us take to the skies so often.
than books and magazines. I am a plane, I will definitely marvel

Neil Ashton looks at the rigorous tests that planes
undergo to ensure flying remains one of the
THE FREEZER
While passengers get to enjoy the comfort of air
safest modes of transport
can now share this with our friends

conditioning, the engines have to be able to cope with
temperatures as low as -55°C during cruise conditions.
eagerly awaiting the next issue of at the tests undertaken on each

Here, one of the latest engines is being pushed to its limits
at a General Electric testing facility in Winnipeg, Canada.
It’s being blasted with icy water from hundreds of nozzles
A
at sub-zero temperatures to check that it will maintain
IR travel is more popular than ever. Although miles. In contrast, air travel comes in at just 0.07 deaths
at school and in our neighbourhood.

power in cold environments. Temperature tests are
aeroplanes have made it easier for us to explore the per billion passenger miles. Of course, statistics can’t important to the airlines because they want to make
part of the plane.

world, nearly one in three of us claims to be cure someone’s fear of flying, but they do prove that it’s
this magazine.
sure that their planes can operate in as many
anxious or fearful of flying. one of the safest ways to get from A to B. This safety is environments as possible. Each time they have
NOAH KALINA
Is this fear justified? thanks to the testing that every single part of the aircraft to ground an aircraft because of bad
US statistics taken from between 2000 and 2009 show has to go through before it’s allowed to undertake its weather, they lose money.
that car drivers or passengers suffer 7.3 deaths per billion first flight.
80 December 2016
ROHINI V NAIR, 12, St Therese Convent SIDDHARTH SHARMA, 13, Lokhandwala SONIA AND TANIA ABREO, 14, Auxillium
High School, Dombivali,Thane Foundation School, Mumbai Convent English High School, Wadala,
Mumbai
Thank you for the insights solar energy, weather prediction, etc, and it’s great that we have
a resource to keep us updated about these breakthroughs.
The most intriguing world for us humans is outer
BBC Knowledge is a great reference for basic insights and I am
space. The mention of the words “space”, “universe”
sure many children will get extremely motivated to evaluate space
and “solar system” invariably raises more questions
as a career option. Three or four decades ago, we fantasised about
than answers. The children of today have come to
becoming pilots, but now children dream about becoming astronauts.
embrace this vast universe and are seeking answers.
I would go to the extent of saying that, what BBC is to World News,
The December 2016 issue of BBC Knowledge seeks
BBC Knowledge is to basic science, history and nature. I especially
to answer a lot of the questions that are required to build up that extra
like the Q&A section; it has answered so many questions that even
interest in the exploration of our solar system. Satellites, space
us adults wouldn’t have answers to.
stations, reusable crafts for to and fro travel to space are bringing
about a revolution in communications, material design, medicines, DIVYESH THAKRAR, 58, Powai, Mumbai
6 February 2017
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OA &
Are left-handers smarter? • Why do knots weaken a rope? • Does
chicken soup really help a cold? • Do we all see the same colours?
• If you fell into a black hole, would time really feel slow?
• Why do phones explode?
EXPERT PANEL
Dr Christian What time is it
Jarrett (CJ)
Christian edits The British
Psychological Society’s Research
on the Moon?
Digest blog. His latest book is Fundamentally, and ignoring the complications
Great Myths Of The Brain. of Einstein’s Special Relativity, it’s the same time
as it is here on Earth. But this is a bit of a cheat,
Alastair Gunn of course, because we haven’t defined how we
Alastair is a radio astronomer are measuring time.
at Jodrell Bank Centre for There are many ways to define the ‘time’
Astrophysics at the University at a particular location. Here, on Earth our usual
of Manchester, UK. system (‘solar time’) is defined by the motion
of the Sun in the sky (although we usually keep
Robert Matthews track of time with an atomic clock). This means
Robert is a writer and researcher.
that the local time depends on where you are on
He is a Visiting Reader in Science
Earth and we get around this complication by
at Aston University, the UK.
having many different time zones. Now, we could
also define a similar time system based
Dr Peter J Bentley
Peter is a computer scientist and on the motion of the Sun as seen from the Moon.
author who is based at University Such a system exists (Lunar Standard Time) but
College London, the UK. it is not much more than an interesting exercise
in physics. What is more useful, however, is
Luis Villazon a definition of time that doesn’t vary with
Luis has a BSc in computing and location. This is called Universal Time (UT)
an MSc in zoology from Oxford, and is a modern form of Greenwich Mean Time.
the UK. His works include How It is the same everywhere in the Universe.
Cows Reach The Ground. So, the UT time on the Moon is the same as
the UT time on Earth. AG
Alexandra Cheung
Alexandra has a degree in
environmental science, and
has worked for CERN and
Imperial College London, the UK.
ASK THE EXPERTS?

Email our panel at
[email protected]
GETTY X2, REX
We’re sorry, but we cannot

reply to questions
individually.
10 February 2017
QUESTIONS ANSWERED |
YOUR
ATS
ITAL ST
V
16 b e
days
r of n that
num tio
The concepmbryo’s
f t e r n e
Why does the smell of
a ma uld
a hu eart co ing.
h e a t
tb
star
lavender help you sleep?
It’s not just because it reminds you of the comforting
smell of your granny’s house. Lavender oil is mainly
linalyl acetate and linalool, which are chemicals that
are both rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream.
Studies on mice have shown that these compounds
inhibit several neurotransmitters and have a sedative
and pain-relieving effect. In humans, lavender also
lowers the heart rate and reduces anxiety. LV
Lavender harvesting
in France: the world’s
most relaxing job?
Why does cold weather

make joints sore?
There is a psychological link:
people who claim the weather
affects their joints do feel
more pain than those who
don’t make these claims.
If weather sensitivity was a
purely physical phenomenon,
then people would be affected
whether they believed that the
variability was related to the
weather or not. But a 2007
study also found that every
10°C drop in temperature
resulted in worse arthritis
pain. This may be because
cold weather causes changes
in the fluid that lubricates
each joint. LV
AND ANSWERS
QUESTIONS
Why do knots
weaken a rope?
Anyone who relies on the strength
of a rope takes great care to prevent
knots forming in it, as they can reduce
the breaking strength by more than
50 per cent. The reason is that knots
create curved regions of rope whose
outer circumference is greater than
the inner part. This difference in
length creates stress across the
rope’s width when put under tension,
undermining its strength. RM
Are left-handers smarter?

The idea that left-handed people are more intelligent than right-
handers is a myth. There have been lefty geniuses in history like
Leonardo da Vinci, but this is not part of a larger pattern. If anything, Why do sneezes smell
the opposite is true. In 2015, Dutch researchers combined the results
from over 30 previous studies involving over half a million people and like honey?
found no link between handedness and verbal ability and a small
advantage for right-handers in terms of spatial ability. Another recent Most people’s don’t… but a significant
study based on data from tens of thousands of people actually found minority do report a sweet or floral smell
that left-handedness was more common among people with very low when they sneeze. This could be the smell
IQ than among people with typical IQ. CJ of ketones from your bloodstream, which
might be a sign of diabetes. But it is much
more likely to be the cocktail of chemicals
produced by the bacteria living in your
Does rain ever fall as pure water? sinuses or ears. Be grateful that yours
smell of honey – some people’s sinus
bacteria give them the sneeze equivalent
No. Water is an excellent solvent and rain always contains dissolved of halitosis. LV
gases from the atmosphere. Even in a remote, pollution-free region,
rainwater will still be slightly acidic because carbon dioxide in the air
reacts with water to form carbonic acid. Rainwater isn’t even pure
when the raindrop forms, because each drop precipitates around
a speck of dust, or an airborne bacterium. LV
GETTY X4, ISTOCK
Snot on toast,
anyone?
12 12 FebruaryFebruary
2017 2017
STATS
VITAL
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under
travel sea ice.
Arctic
What is the greenest

energy source?
All renewable energy sources are strong
contenders for the title of ‘greenest energy
source’ since they harness carbon-neutral
sources of energy such as the Sun or wind
and don’t cause air pollution, putting them
leagues ahead of coal or gas power.
Picking a clear winner is, however, tricky.
Once you consider the emissions
associated with their manufacture and
installation, hydropower has the lowest
carbon footprint, according to one major
study. But there are also many other
environmental impacts to bear in mind.
For example, building hydropower dams
can cause disruption to river ecosystems,
while manufacturing solar panels typically
involves toxic chemicals. AC
The PS10 Solar Power Plant is

located in Spain. A total of 624
mirrors concentrate the Sun’s
rays onto a solar receiver on the
top of the tower
AND ANSWERS
QUESTIONS
How fast could you

cycle in a vacuum?
When you ride a bike normally, the wind
resistance increases with the cube of
your speed. At 32km/h, the power
needed to overcome the drag accounts
for more than 75 per cent of the total
cycling effort, and this rises to over
80 per cent at 40km/h. Recumbent
bikes, which have much lower profiles
to reduce their wind resistance, can
already reach speeds of over 80km/h.
If you removed air drag completely,
the only friction would be from the tyres
and the bearings. Provided you had
a high enough gear ratio to allow your
legs to pedal at an efficient pace,
you could probably reach well over
150km/h. An easy way to simulate
this would be to try pedalling on a
stationary bike, but there are no
published records for this sport. LV
Are humans naturally

monogamous?
Humans aren’t sexually monogamous in the sense that many
birds are. Geese form lifelong couples and virtually never mate
with anyone except their partner. We are termed ‘socially
monogamous’ by biologists, which means that we usually live
as couples, but the relationships aren’t permanent and some
sex occurs outside the relationship.
There are three main explanations for why social monogamy
evolved in humans, and biologists are still arguing, which is the
most important. It may be because human babies need a lot of
looking after and stable couples can share the parenting burden.
Or it could be because men want to stay close to prevent their partners
from cheating. And it could also be a strategy that women evolved to
discourage men from killing infants that they suspected were not theirs.
Monogamy in humans is beneficial because it increases the chances of raising
STATS offspring, but it is actually very rare in mammals – less than 10 per cent of mammal
VITAL
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7 millio
species are monogamous, compared with 90 per cent of bird species. Even in
GETTY X7, ISTOCK
primates, where it is more common, only about a quarter of species are monogamous.
Our early ape ancestors weren’t monogamous and the practice probably didn’t take
ells
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2017 2017
WHAT CONNECTS...
The ‘mine kafon’
detonates mines as it is
blown around by the wind
Why is space ...GAS STREET LIGHTING

three-dimensional? AND NUCLEAR POWER?
In principle, it’s possible for the Universe to
have many more space dimensions; some
attempts to explain the fundamental forces of
1.
In 1885, Austrian scientist
nature assume no fewer than six extra ones. Carl Auer von Welsbach
invented a new form of gas
Yet for reasons still unclear, any additional
lighting which produced
dimensions that may have existed at the a much brighter light than
Big Bang somehow failed to take part in the the ordinary flame lamps
cosmic expansion and remained far smaller used before.
than the three dimensions we inhabit. What is
certain is that, had they grown in size, the
Universe would be a very different place.
2.
Theoreticians have shown that any extra
dimensions would make atoms unstable, while
any fewer would eliminate the force of gravity.
Max Tegmark, a cosmologist at the The lamps introduced by von
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Welsbach surrounded the
USA, has gone further, arguing that the very flame with a thorium oxide
mantle. Thorium oxide has
fact we exist to ask about extra dimensions of a 3,300ºC melting point, which
space proves they don’t exist. RM lets the mantle glow white hot
without melting away.
Does chicken soup

really help a cold?
There is some evidence for this. Several studies
3.
Unfortunately, thorium
have found that something in chicken soup is also radioactive and
interferes with the ability of white blood cells to decays to radon-220,
flock to the scene of an infection. Since these which is also radioac-
tive. Using a thorium
white blood cells are responsible for
gas lamp isn’t dangerous,
the inflammation of your throat but old gas mantle factory sites have
and sinuses, chicken soup problems with contamination.
may help to relieve
the symptoms, even if it
doesn’t actually cure the
4.
infection. LV
For nuclear reactors,

thorium is a safer
alternative to uranium or
plutonium.Thorium can’t
be weaponised, and its
high melting point makes
it less prone to
catastrophic meltdown.
February 2017 15
AND ANSWERS
QUESTIONS
Does the speed

of light ever change?
Light has long been
known to slow down whenever it
passes through a medium such as air
or glass. Light also interacts with the
molecules in its surroundings. But
over the years, some theorists have
proposed that the speed of light in a
vacuum may have been far higher
during the Big Bang. While this would
solve some of the technical problems
concerning the early Universe,
there’s no compelling evidence that
this is the case. RM
Do we all see the same colours?

A minority of people are ‘colour blind’, in that they see colours
ISTOCK, GETTY X2, PRESS ASSOCIATION, LAURENTIU HUIANU/WELLCOME IMAGES, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
as duller than usual and have difficulty distinguishing certain

colours. These problems aside, whether your experience of red
is the same as mine is a tricky philosophical question because
we can never truly know each other’s subjective experience.
What’s for sure is that the same object can be perceived as being
a different colour by different people, depending on the
assumptions their brains make about the background lighting.
Just look at the ferocious internet argument in 2015 over whether
a striped dress – pictured on Tumblr – was white and gold or blue
and black (Google ‘the dress’ to read more). CJ
Is hacking getting harder?

Computer security is becoming more and more
advanced, and computer systems are complicated,
so it is a more difficult task to attack or intrude into
well-established computer networks. In this respect,
hacking is more difficult and requires greater
expertise compared to 20 years ago. However, there
are more and more internet-enabled devices in the
world, many of which run relatively simple software.
Therefore, there are endless opportunities for
STATS
hackers to exploit the security loopholes in central
heating controllers, smartwatches, websites,
VITAL
7.74
smartphones, games consoles, CCTV cameras,
vehicle controllers or even electronic toilets. PB
ds, of
e, in secon tning
h
The tim est ever lig in
lon g u d
rre
the It occ
flash. e in 2012.
2017 2017 Franc
WHAT IS THIS? WHO REALLY INVENTED
THE PERIODIC TABLE
DMITRI JOHN
MENDELEEV NEWLANDS
On the wall of every school chemistry

laboratory is a poster of the periodic table
of elements. It has been the go-to
reference on chemical elements for
almost 150 years. Yet while the Russian
chemist Dmitri Mendeleev is often
credited with finding the rules behind
the block-like patterns of elements,
he was hardly alone: others had found
them some years before, but failed to
win recognition.
One of these scientists was John
Newlands, an English chemist who, in the
mid-1860s, pointed out that elements with
similar properties lie close together if
arranged according to their atomic mass.
But in describing his findings to fellow
scientists, he drew parallels with octaves
of musical notes, which prompted howls
of derision. Newlands’, discovery had in
any case been presaged by the work of
another English chemist, William Odling,
but he, too, failed to garner much interest.
Mendeleev’s claim to fame lies in
the fact that he realised that the patterns
were more complex than others had
realised, leading to some columns on the
table being longer than others. He also
THE CLAP SNAPPED suspected that gaps within the resulting
blocks implied the existence of as-yet
Seen in this photograph are Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria that undiscovered elements, and bravely
cause the infection gonorrhea, also known as ‘the clap’. The bacteria attempted to predict their properties.
are spread via contact with an infected person, most commonly His confidence was vindicated with the
through sexual intercourse. Each bacterium measures between discovery of gallium, germanium and
0.6 and 1 micrometre. The hairlike appendages are called ‘fimbriae’ scandium, ensuring his place among the
and they allow the bacteria to attach to surfaces. great names of 19th-century science. RM
February 2017 17
STATS
AND ANSWERS VITAL
QUESTIONS
1,200 cheeta
ber of afficked
h
TOP 10 e nu m tr
Th legally e last
cubs il frica over th5
f A t 1
out o cade. Jus ed
de viv
nt sur
perce journey.
MOST EXPLOSIVE th e
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS*
1. Lake Toba
Volume of erupted tephra**:
2,800km3 (That’s 376 Loch Nesses!)
When: 74,000 years ago
2. Pacana Caldera
Volume of erupted tephra: 2,500km3
When: 4,000,000 years ago
3. Whakamaru
4. Taupo It was at this point that

Dave wondered whether
the game of ‘truth or dare’
5. Cerro Galán had gone a bit too far
ILLUSTRATIONS: CHRIS PHILPOT, GETTY X2, ISTOCK X2, CRUSHADER/IMGUR,

When: 2,200,000 years ago
6. Yellowstone Creek
If you fell into a black hole,
7. Long Valley Caldera
Volume of erupted tephra: 580km3 would time feel really slow?
8. Tambora No, because you would have no way of ‘feeling’ the

Volume of erupted tephra: 160km3
When: 1815
passage of time. It is true that large gravitational forces
(such as when you approach a black hole) slow down
9. Crater Lake time, but you can only be aware of this by comparing your
Volume of erupted tephra: 50km3 experiences with someone far away from the black hole.
You will see a distant friend ‘speed up’ rather than feel
10. Krakatoa yourself ‘slowed down’. They will see you ‘slowed down’
Volume of erupted tephra: 25km3 rather than feel themselves ‘sped up’. The closer you
When: 1883 approach the black hole’s ‘event horizon’, the more sped
up you see your friend. But, for you, time would ‘feel’ just
as it does to you right now. AG
* Since early humans evolved, 4,000,000 years ago **Rock fragments and particles
2017 2017
THE THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
HOW FAST WOULD I HAVE TO RUN TO CATCH FIRE?
1. ATMOSPHERIC 2. HYPERSONIC 3. WRAP UP WARM

COMPRESSION The best place to run would be But that’s the temperature to
Why do phone At high speeds, it isn’t friction with
the air that produces most of the
a long beach, like Pendine Sands
in South Wales, the UK. The air is
completely incinerate your
entire body – your clothes will
batteries heat, it’s the compression.
Like a ship moving through water,
denser at sea level, which means
there are more molecules to
catch fire long before you
reach that point. Nylon has an
explode? you push a bow wave of air in front compress and heat up. Bodies are
typically cremated at around
ignition point of about 500°C
and wool will catch fire at
of you. The air molecules can’t get
out of the way in time and they 1,500°C and aircraft research 230°C. Which means that,
Lithium ion batteries have bunch up, banging into each other from NASA reveals that you’d with the right attire, you could
two electrodes sandwiching and getting hotter. Any parts of your need to be running at Mach 5 trot along at a leisurely
a layer of flammable organic body facing into the wind will be (6,000km/h) to reach that 2,500km/h and still burst into
heated up. temperature. flames.
solvent electrolyte between
them. Mobile phone batteries
are so slim that the gap
between the wide, flat
electrodes is tiny. In the case
of the Samsung Galaxy Note
HEAD TO HEAD
7, manufacturing defects
squashed these electrodes
and allowed them to touch.
When that happens, the
vs
battery short circuits
and creates lots of heat.
This speeds up the chemical
ORCA GREAT WHITE
reactions, which generate
even more heat, leading to
SHARK
a thermal runaway condition. 9m LENGTH 6m
Lithium batteries can also
catch fire if they are 5,600kg MAXIMUM MASS 2,200kg
overcharged, or charged
48km/h TOP SPEED 40km/h
below 0°C. This causes
lithium metal to build up on 48 TEETH 40-56*
the negative electrode, which
will also eventually cause 240,000 DAILY CALORIE INTAKE 15,000
a short circuit. Protection
Although the great white shark has a fearsome reputation, in a straight fight, it is outclassed by the orca.
circuitry in the battery is Not only are orcas much bigger, they are also smarter. Great whites are now known to be warm blooded
supposed to prevent this, but but orcas still have much higher metabolic rates because they breathe air. In the wild, orcas have been
this can also fail. LV seen preying on great white sharks.
* Exposed teeth at one time. Great whites have further rows of developing teeth behind the visible ones.
February 2017 19
| NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE
SCIENCE
DISCOVERIES
DISPATCHES FROM THE CUT TING EDGE
BIOLOGY
HEALTHY MICE BORN

K HAYASHI/KYUSHU UNIVERSITY/NATURE
FROM LAB-GROWN EGGS

In a world first, Japanese researchers have transformed mouse skin
cells into egg cells, and used them to raise healthy mouse pups
2017 2017
J
APANESE researchers have successfully raised
mice using stem cells that they transformed
into egg cells. Though the technique has so
far only been proven using mice, it could one day
help infertile human couples to have children
without the need for egg donors, researchers say.
The team, led by Katsuhiko Hayashi at Kyushu
University in Japan, took skin cells from the tips
of the tails of adult mice and transformed them
into induced pluripotent stem cells. These are cells
that have been genetically modified to behave like
embryonic stem cells, which are capable of
forming any adult cell type.
To coax the stem cells into growing into eggs,
the researchers treated them with growth factors
and hormones taken from mouse ovaries.
The eggs were then fertilised using established
IVF techniques, before being implanted into the
wombs of living mice. “This is the first report
of anyone being able to develop fully mature and
fertilisable eggs in a laboratory setting right
through from the earliest stages of oocyte [egg
cell] development,” said reproduction expert
Richard Anderson, from the University of
Edinburgh, who was not involved in the research.
“One day, this approach might be useful for STEM CELL SCIENCE
1908
women who have lost their fertility at an early age,
as well as for improvements in more conventional
infertility treatments.” Russian biologist Alexander Maksimov coins the term
The method’s far from perfect. Only 11 ‘stem cell’, predicting the existence of cells that can
of the 300 embryos implanted resulted in differentiate into any other specialised cells in the body.
1978
successful births. What’s more, many of the
artificially produced eggs showed slight
differences in gene expression from their naturally Gregor Prindull and colleagues discover haematopoietic
produced counterparts, suggesting they develop Above: Fertilised stem cells, those that can differentiate into all kinds of blood
slightly differently. mouse egg cells cells in the body, in the blood of the umbilical cord.
The next step is for other teams to repeat the
result, perhaps in animals such as pigs or sheep,
to confirm its validity. But debate of the ethics of
1998
A team led by James Thomson at the University of
using the technique in humans should begin now, Wisconsin-Madison in the USA, collects pluripotent stem
says the University of Cambridge’s Azim Surani. cells, those that can differentiate into nearly all kinds of cells,
“Ethically, this issue has yet to be discussed from a human embryo.
fully by the scientists and society.
These discussions have occurred in the past,
and are continuing within the regulatory bodies,
2005
Researchers at Kingston University and the University of
certainly in the UK,” he said. “This indeed is the Illinois discover pluripotent stem cells in umbilical cord blood.
right time to start a debate and involve the wider
public in these discussions, long before and in case
2007
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, FLPA
the procedure becomes feasible in humans.”

Kazutoshi Takahashi and Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto
University, as well as researchers from James Thomson’s lab,
transform human muscle cells into pluripotent stem cells.
“THIS APPROACH MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR

WOMEN WHO HAVE LOST THEIR FERTILITY 2013
Will Shu’s team in Heriot-Watt University in Scotland,
AT AN EARLY AGE” develops a 3D printer that uses pluripotent stem cells

as building blocks.
S PA C E
NASA’S MINING BOT GETS ROLLING

We definitely dig this. NASA has started Pathfinder in-situ resource utilisation system. to let the opposite side dig into the soil. It has a top
testing the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems This pulls water and ice out of the regolith speed of 4cm per second, five times faster than the
Operations Robot (RASSOR). This robot is and turns their chemicals into fuel or air for Mars Curiosity rover, and is capable of hauling
designed to mine resources on the surface of astronauts working on the surface. around 20kg of material.
asteroids, the Moon or even Mars. The primary challenge for any digging “[On Mars] there are some areas at the poles
The bot is in development at Kennedy Space robot operating in low gravity is that it has where they think there’s a lot of ice, so you’d be
Center in Florida. The agency has released to be light and small enough to f ly on a rocket, digging in ice,” said NASA engineer AJ Nick.
a video showing a simulated mission in which but heavy enough to operate in gravity lower “There’s other areas where the water is 30cm
RASSOR was used to scoop up regolith, which than Earth’s. RASSOR tackles this problem down, so you actually have to dig down 30cm
is the loose, rocky material on the surface of by using digging bucket drums at each end and take off the top and that depth is really where
a planet. It then loaded the regolith into a of the robot’s body that rotate in opposite you want to start collecting water ice.”
device called a MARCO POLO/Mars directions, giving enough traction on one end To see the RASSOR in action,
visit bit.ly/2eQ7wev
NASA technologist Rob

Mueller (left) inspects the
RASSOR with Apollo
astronaut Buzz Aldrin
NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE |
SCIENCE
NEUROSCIENCE
PHYSICAL ROOT OF
DEPRESSION FOUND
IN BRAIN
It seems abnormalities in grey matter may lead
to black moods. A team based at Warwick
University and China’s Fudan University has
found evidence that depression has a physical
root in the brain.
The findings could lead to new treatments
for depression by targeting the root cause
of the illness and helping depressed people
to stop focusing on negative thoughts,
the team said.
“More than one in 10 people in their
lifetime suffer from depression, a disease
which is so common in modern society and
we can even find the remains of Prozac – a
depression drug – in the tap water in
London,” said researcher Jianfeng Feng.
“Our finding enables us to locate the roots of
depression, which should open up new
avenues for better therapeutic treatments in
the near future for this horrible disease.”
NASA, GETTY ILLUSTRATION: RAJA LOCKEY, FLPA, LORI SANDERS/HARVARD; ILLUSTRATION: RAJA LOCKEY
After using high-precision MRI to scan the
brains of nearly 1,000 volunteers, half with
depression and half without, the team found during feelings of disappointment such as when and lower self-esteem.
that the medial and lateral orbitofrontal expected rewards are not received. The They also found reduced connectivity
cortexes, areas of the brain associated with researchers found that in depression sufferers it between the reward brain area in the medial
emotion and reward, are wired up differently is more closely connected to areas of the brain orbitofrontal cortex and memory systems
in those suffering from depression. involved in one’s sense of self, and could elsewhere, meaning depression sufferers are less
The lateral orbitofrontal cortex is activated therefore explain their negative self-perception likely to recall happy memories.
T H E Y D I D W H AT ?!
SCIENTISTS SEARCH FOR REGIONAL

ACCENTS IN COD
What did they do? due to climate change driven migrations may
A team at the University of Exeter struggle to hit it off with their new neighbours.
eavesdropped on the conversations of cod.
What did they find?
Why did they do that? American cod make a “staccato, banging, bop
They were looking for regional differences in bop bop sound” while European cod make
the sounds that fish make to establish a “deep rumbling growling.” The difference
territories, raise the alarm and attract mates. is thought to be due to localised breeding
If separate populations communicate grounds being established for thousands
differently, fish meeting for the first time of years, leading to regional accents.
FebruaryFebruary
2017 2017 25 23
SCIENCE
M AT E R I A L S
GRAPHENE-MUNCHING SILKWORMS
SPIN ‘SUPER SILK’
If you want your silkworms to spin super-
strong silk, just feed them graphene.
Researchers at Tsinghua University in W H AT W E L E A R N E D
China have found that spraying a solution THIS MONTH
containing 0.2 per cent graphene or carbon
nanotubes (basically rolls of graphene)
onto a silkworm’s regular diet of mulberry DINOSAURS
leaves causes them to spin silk that is DIDN’T ROAR
50 per cent stronger than usual.
The T. rex just got a little less
After putting the silk into a spectrometer, terrifying. A team at the
the team found that the ‘super silk’ had University of Texas has found
a more orderly structure than regular silk that, rather than roaring,
with parts of the fed carbon nanomaterials dinosaurs made a honking sound
incorporated into the fibres. This graphite- similar to that made by geese.
like structure also allows the fibres to
conduct electricity. CHEESE MAKES WINE
The team is as yet unsure how the carbon
TASTE BETTER
materials made it into the silk but say the
process could be scaled up to produce Want to hide the fact you are
serving your dinner guests
large batches. It could potentially be used Adding carbon nanotubes
cheap plonk? Break out the brie.
to make eco-friendly protective fabrics, (pictured) or graphene
to a silkworm’s diet allows Researchers at the Centre for
stronger medical implants or wearable them to create stronger silk Taste and Feeding Behaviour in
electronics, they say. Dijon, France, have found that
drinking wine after eating cheese
increases the aroma of red fruits
and reduces the astringency
The silkworm spins a cocoon, caused by tannins.
made of a single thread up to 900m
long, before turning into a moth
ASTRONAUTS FACE
DEMENTIA RISK
EN ROUTE TO MARS
Prolonged exposure to energetic
charged particles, such as those
found in cosmic rays, could
cause significant long-term brain
damage resulting in cognitive
impairments and dementia,
researchers from the University
of California have found.
ELEPHANTS WALK
ON THEIR TIPTOES
What do elephants and ballerinas
have in common? They both walk
up on their toes. Researchers
at the University of Queensland,
Australia, have found that
GETTY X2
elephants put most pressure on

the outside toes of their front feet
as they plod around.
2017 2017
IN NUMBERS
81,000
YEARS
The time it takes asteroid
Was a comet responsible impacts to completely
for the formation of the
change the surface of the
Stickney Crater, seen here
on the right of Phobos? Moon, according to
a seven-year study carried
out at Arizona State
University.
122
S PA C E
THIS IS HOW MARS’S BIGGEST MOON

CAME TO LOOK LIKE THE DEATH STAR The age of Jeanne Calment
when she died in 1997,
making her the oldest person
to ever live on official record.
Thanks to an enormous ding on its surface known crater without destroying the moon if you
Results from a global study
as the Stickney Crater, Mars’s moon Phobos is said use the proper porosity and resolution in a 3D
from the Albert Einstein
to look like the Death Star from the Star Wars simulation,” said researcher Megan Bruck Syal. College of Medicine, New
movies. The crater is presumed to have been “There aren’t many places with the computational York, suggest this may be
caused by comet impact, but exactly how resources to accomplish the resolution study near to the maximum age
a 9km-wide crater could have formed on we conducted.” a human can ever reach.
a 22km-wide moon without destroying it has As well as solving a longstanding mystery, this
2
remained something of a mystery. research also acts as a proof of concept exercise for
Now researchers at Lawrence Livermore the team’s modelling software, Spheral, which
National Laboratory think they have the answer. they use to simulate various methods of deflecting
TRILLION
Using computer simulations, they found that potentially hazardous Earth-bound asteroids.
the most likely culprit was a comet with a 250m “Something as big and fast as what caused the
diameter, travelling at close to six kilometers Stickney Crater would have a devastating effect
per second. on Earth,” Syal said. “If NASA sees a potentially
The number of galaxies in
Previous studies using 2D simulations lacked hazardous asteroid coming our way, it will be
the observable Universe, as
the resolution to model the Stickney Crater essential to make sure we’re able to deflect it.
estimated using data taken
successfully and failed to account for the fact that We’ll only have one shot at it, and the conse- from the Hubble Space
Phobos is made of much less dense material than quences couldn’t be higher. We do this type Telescope. The figure was
its host planet. of benchmarking research to make sure our previously thought to be
“We’ve demonstrated that you can create this codes are right when they will be needed most.” 10 times smaller.
SCIENCE
THE FAST TRACK

Daniel Bennett tests two of this year’s smartest cars to find out
how technology is shaping our future drives
The new Mercedes E-Class is dripping with an accident is imminent, the car’s Pre-Safe the look on people’s faces as the car parks
gadgets. Touch-sensitive pads on the features leap to your aid. Depending on itself. All you have to do is keep an eye
steering wheel control your ‘infotainment where it sees the crash coming from, the car on your surroundings and a finger on
system’, displays offer customisable will inflate the seat to push you away from your phone’s touchscreen to keep
dashboards and you can even choose from the impact zone. Just before impact, it’ll play the car moving.
64 colours for your interior lighting on some pink noise. This sound triggers your
the fly (we went for Tron blue). But that’s ears’ defensive reflex, shielding your inner Call me Godzilla
not what makes this car interesting. ear from sounds over 100dB, seconds before While the E-Class uses tech to stop
This Mercedes cares about you, a lot. the potentially deafening noise of a crash. you squealing, Nissan’s 2017 Skyline
Not only does it want you to get from A Of course, we didn’t get to see if this works, GT-R Prestige, affectionately dubbed
to B safely, but it wants to help you get there but it’s nice to know it’s there. ‘Godzilla’, uses tech to make you scream.
with minimal effort. In fact, if we were to Each of the wheels is watched by a CPU
give the car a name, we’d call it Alfred. that reads the connection between the
THE E-CLASS USES TECH

This is just the net effect of Mercedes’s tyre and the road, delivering more or less
‘Intelligent Drive’ system, which is the power where needed to provide traction.
name given to the car’s safety and assistance
features. On the road, 360° cameras and
TO STOP YOU SQUEALING; Pair this with a new gearbox that changes
gears faster than you can, and you get
radar keep a watchful eye. These sensors THE GODZILLA USES IT TO a car that approximates what it’s like to
also enable the car to take care of the driving
on a motorway, though you need to keep MAKE YOU SCREAM be fired out of a catapult.
Outside of Tesla Model S 90D,
your hands on the wheel at all times. the only other cars that can manage this
Get into traffic and it’ll free you of the When you finally reach your destination, kind of acceleration will need you to take
mind-numbing business of stopping and Alfred kindly uses its sensor array to park a mortgage out to even look at them. It’s
starting, as the E-Class’s sensors keep an itself. You can sit comfortably in the driver a feat that’s been achieved through sheer
eye on the gap ahead. seat while the car completes the manoeuvre, attention to detail. Each engine is hand-
So far, so familiar. But the E-Class has or jump out, fire up Mercedes Benz’s assembled by one of four “takumi” –
some new tricks in its catalogue. If it senses Parking Pilot system on the app and watch master craftsmen certified to build
GT-R engines. This might not sound
high-tech, but these engineers work in
the margins of microns (one millionth
of a metre). They’ve even designed the
car to minimise bad road noise while
MERCEDES pumping in good engine noise through
the speakers to make it feel faster .
E-CLASS Obviously, to actually get your
money’s worth out of a GT-R, you’ll
need to head to a track. With a Nismo
edition, the sat-nav will pick up your
location and switch your display to a map
of the track, complete with your sector
times and telemetry. You can record
this data and, back at home, plug it into
your PlayStation 3 to virtually race
yourself on Gran Turismo 6, just like F1
drivers do.
Crucially, on the track, all this
NEWSPRESS
technology metaphorically falls away,

giving you a drive that’s friendly and
scary all at once.
2017 2017
NISSAN
SKYLINE
GT-R
February 2017 27
SCIENCE
New evidence shows that Neanderthals

did indeed make jewellery, settling
a decades-long debate in palaeontology
W H AT W E L E A R N E D
THIS MONTH
DOGS CAN
UNDERSTAND US
“Who’s a good boy? You are,
yes, you are.” A Hungarian
study has found that pooches
use the left hemisphere of
their brain to understand
the meaning of words and
the right to understand their
tone – just like humans do.
GIANT PANDAS
ARE NO LONGER
ANTHROPOLOGY ENDANGERED
WERE NEANDERTHALS Contrary to the black and
DR MARIAN VANHEREN, TIM EVANSON/WIKIPEDIA, ALEXANDRA WEY/EPA/CAMERA PRESS
white bears’ reputation
THE ORIGINAL HIPSTERS? of having a blasé attitude

towards the continued
existence of their species,
researchers have found giant
We’ve already had the paleo diet, but could paleo infant. And radio carbon dating shows that the panda numbers in southern
jewellery be the next big hipster trend? A team from sample is around 42,000 years old. This puts it near China actually increased from
the University of York has found that Neanderthals the end of the Pleistocene epoch, which ranged 1,596 in 2004 to 1,864 in 2014.
crafted necklaces and other items of jewellery using from 1.8 million to around 11,000 years ago – This means the animal is
animal teeth, shells and ivory. Such behaviour was a perfect match for the date of the artefacts that can now classed as ‘vulnerable’
previously thought to be exclusive to humans. now be assumed to have indeed been the work of rather than ‘endangered’.
In the late 1940s, a large collection of hominin Neanderthal jewellery-makers.
remains was found surrounded by intricate body As interesting as that is, it’s perhaps the protein THE MOON
ornaments and jewellery in the Grotte du Renne analysis technique involved that’s the real story here. CAN TRIGGER
in Arcy-sur-Cure, central France. Over the “For the first time, this research demonstrates
EARTHQUAKES
intervening decades, debate has raged among the effectiveness of recent developments in ancient
palaeontologists as to whether Neanderthals would protein amino acid analysis and radiocarbon dating Large-scale quakes are more
likely to occur during full
have been capable of the complex, symbolic to discriminate between Late Pleistocene clades,”
and new Moons, researchers
thought processes required to produce such said researcher Matthew Collins. “These methods in Japan have found. The
decorative items. open up new avenues of research into contexts effect is due to the pull of the
Now, by analysing the proteins of some of where hominin remains are scarce and where the Moon’s gravity being stronger
the previously unidentified hominin specimens, biological nature of remains is unclear due to DNA at these times, putting
the researchers from York were able to determine not being preserved. This is of direct relevance to extra stress on the Earth’s
the remains most likely belonged to a Neanderthal our understanding of hominin evolution.” tectonic plates.
28 30 February February
2017 2017
INNOVATIONS
PREPARE YOURSELF FOR TOMORROW
LET THE
On 8 October, 2016, the city of computer game using brain-
Zurich in Switzerland played host computer interfaces, as shown by
to the first ever Cybathlon, which Sebastian Reul of German team
CYBER
saw disabled athletes from around Athena-Minerva in this image.
the world competing against each Another event involved bicycles
other. Unlike the Paralympics, that could be pedalled by someone
GAMES
though, the Cybathlon is as much with no movement in their legs,
about showcasing technologies using a technology called functional
such as prosthetics and robotics electrical stimulation. There were
BEGIN!
as it is about winning medals. One also more familiar races for those
event, for instance, saw paraplegics with prosthetic arms or legs, and for
competing in a specially-designed wheelchair users.
February 2017 29
17
SCIENCE | NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE
VIRTUALLY
HERE!
With all the VR devices out there, it can be
difficult to know where to start. Let tech guru
Ian Evenden be your guide
O C U L U S R I F T
Facebook-owned Oculus VR has been
a standard-bearer for the new wave of
head-mounted VR displays on the PC.
With the release of its Touch controllers,
it’s also the first system to
get an upgrade.
Previously, Rift games have been
H T C V I V E played with an Xbox One controller
from Microsoft; while these are great R A Z E R
The Vive has been developed as
gamepads, they’re not kitted out to track
a partnership between electronics Razer, in partnership with VR firm Sensics,
the movement of your hands. The Rift’s
manufacturer HTC and videogame is building a headset based on the Open
new controllers allow it to catch up
maker/seller Valve. It offers room-scale Source VR Project. This is an attempt to
in this area.
VR for the PC, thanks to a pair of base free virtual reality from the domination
The Rift offers head-tracking through
stations that you mount onto the walls of major tech companies and create an
a sensor that stands on your desk, but
FACEBOOK, GETTY, PRESS ASSOCIATION, NEWSPRESS
of the room you’re going to use it in. open standard around which hardware
the need to remain seated in front of it
They track the movement of the player, and software can be developed. Using
means there’s no following of your body
who controls the game via two wireless, the OSVR software development kit, all
movements. Despite this, the Rift feels like
motion-sensing controllers. hardware on the market can be supported
a complete VR package, just one that may
Integration with the real world, through by software makers.
need another upgrade in the future.
links to your phone for messages plus Its headset, the Hacker Dev Kit, is
www.oculus.com
a front-facing camera, mean you never similar in specs and looks to the Rift and
feel cut off and are less likely to fall over Vive, connecting to your PC via USB and
the coffee table. HDMI. A software plugin lets it work with
As with the Oculus Rift, you’ll need games from the Steam store.
quite a powerful PC to play VR games. The Hacker Dev Kit, as suggested by its
A GeForce GTX 970 or AMD R9 290 is the name, is perhaps best for those who really
minimum graphics processor supported, know what they’re doing. It’s an exciting
along with a recent quad-core CPU. idea, though, that could open up virtual
reality to all customers.
www.vive.com www.razerzone.com/gb-en
30 February 2017
32 February 2017
D AY D R E A M PLAYSTATION VR
VR that uses a smartphone in a headset Sony’s recently-launched
has been around for a while in the form PlayStation 4 add-on could be
of the Gear VR, but Google has recently the release that launches VR
announced its Daydream device, the into the mainstream. It requires
software for which will be built into a console to play on and
Android phones running version 7.1 or software support is currently a
later of the operating system. little limited, but it should ramp
Daydream is platform-agnostic, up over the coming months.
unlike Gear, that which requires a
Samsung handset. Phones will need
H O L O L E N S Although Sony recommends
that players remain seated while
certain hardware features, such as nine- Microsoft’s head-mounted display looks playing, the PlayStation Camera
axis motion sensors and low-energy different from all the others, being more is capable of motion tracking
Bluetooth, to be compatible with the like a set of smart glasses than an all- over an area of about three
headset, which will come packaged with enveloping helmet. The Hololens acts metres by two metres, as long as
a wireless controller. Its low price is due differently too, mixing VR with reality you remain 0.7m away from the
to it being made out of cloth – a step up rather than replacing it completely. camera. Therefore, make sure
from the Google Cardboard headset that It also contains powerful processors you’ve got enough space when
was the firm’s first foray into smartphone in the headset itself, rather than relying you start playing games that
VR. Games, movies and other content on the host PC. require movement.
will come from the Google Play Store. The current version is aimed at software The PSVR is user-friendly and
www.vr.google.com developers rather than consumers, easy to set up, when compared
and is both expensive and lacking in to PC-based VR systems. It’s
software support. But there is a version the only place you’ll get to be
of Minecraft that allows you to play the Batman too, as Rocksteady’s
block-building game on your kitchen Arkham VR is a title exclusive to
table, while a 3D-modelling program can the platform.
output to a 3D printer. The PlayStation system is
Hololens may not be the best way to capable of displaying on a
experience VR, but it could offer a glimpse television as well as in the headset,
into the future of computing. allowing VR and non-VR players
www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens to play together.
www.playstation.com
| BOOKS
ON THE SHELVES
READ WORDS: NICOLO GOVONI
NEW READS
JERUSALEM WE KNOW IT WAS YOU high school. The pivotal question is: Who killed
By Alan Moore By Maggie Thrash Brittany Montague?
Twenty years after his first novel, graphic Can’t wait for the Twin Peaks revival next year?
novel master Alan Moore hits the shelves Treat yourself to the mysterious demise of SWING TIME
again with exactly what you’d expect from another high school sweetheart, Brittany By Zadie Smith
him: a massive, over 6,00,000-word-long Montague, who, on a Friday night, while the Two mixed race girls in the 1980s. Then,
epic tale about pretty much everything, whole school is celebrating the football game, the same two, now grown women, in today’s
but, more specifically, about “poverty, jumps off a bridge to her death in the river. London, coping with life, struggling with the
wealth, history, madness, ghosts, and the No one can believe this has happened, and burdens and failures generated by their own
confusion of dreams, visions, memories, so Mystery Club team members Benny and passions. Through an intimate first-person
and premonitions.” Longer than The Bible, Virginia don’t waste a minute believing it— narration, jumping back and forth in time to
Jerusalem is set in Northampton, the author’s because they saw Brittany jumping off that trace all the individual, familial and class
hometown, and develops over the centuries, bridge, and also the man standing next to her. differences that brought the two childhood
combining a variety of writing styles – We Know It Was You mixes teen drama friends from being sister-like close to being
Samuel Beckett’s and James Joyce’s, among with fast-paced intrigue, leading the reader almost strangers, Swing Time captures the essence
others – and literary genres (magical realism on a trail of hints and half truths that will unveil of same-sex friendship with all its nuances
and fictionalised history, for instance) a reality far more unsettling than what you of loyalty and jealousy, thoughtfulness and
to explore, through a wide roster of would expect from an average American competition. Smith takes the chance to touch
characters, Moore’s experiences, ideas, on a number of social issues such as race, class
and philosophy of life. and cultural appropriation, which take a more
“FREEDOM IS THE RIGHT realistic turn when, in the second half of the
book, the action shifts to Gambia, and the
THE WONDER
By Emma Donoghue TO TELL PEOPLE narrator is exposed to all the dynamics that
characterised her life, but on a much wider scale.
Lib, a young English nurse, and her young
patient, 11-year-old Anna, who allegedly WHAT THEY DO NOT FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
WANT TO HEAR”
has lived without touching food for months,
are stuck within the four walls of a room, by J. K. Rowling
waiting for the truth to come out. Is the Three years ago, no one would have believed
little girl a moneymaking hoax or is she truly – GEORGE ORWELL a new instalment of the Harry Potter saga would
a miracle child? Room, Donoghue’s most soon see the light of day – let alone two in
acclaimed novel, became a sensation a year a single year. After Harry Potter and the Cursed
ago when it was made into a feature film, Child premiered as a West End play and a play’s
earning Brie Larson an Academy Award. script of the same name was released last July,
So it comes as no surprise that The Wonder, November 2016 was once again a month of
the plot of which once again revolves celebration for millions of fans around the globe.
around a child, was one of the most Following the theatrical release of Fantastic Beasts
anticipated books this fall. Fans looking for and Where To Find Them, bookshops worldwide
the claustrophobic atmosphere of Room have been taken by storm by Rowling’s
won’t be disappointed, for The Wonder screenwriting debut, which takes readers back
has it all: a kid and an adult trapped inside in time and far from Hogwarts, following
a room, surrounded by a sense of abuse and magizoologist Newt Scamander in a prequel
helplessness, and an added twist of mystery. adventure set in 1920s New York.
123RF
2017 2017
THE TOP 5 ROBOTS IN LITERATURE
HAL-9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey
Supercomputer-turned-psychopath, HAL-9000 is, hands down, one of the
most iconic robots out there. In charge of the Discovery One spaceship,
he initially comes across as a rather comforting addition to the gang.
He speaks in a soft and measured voice, takes care of the crew members,
and keeps an omnipresent eye on the wellbeing of the spacecraft to
make sure everything is a-ok. In other words, HAL is a highly reliable nanny,
theoretically incapable of making mistakes. Only, he does. Created by writer
Arthur C. Clarke and brought to cinema by Stanley Kubrick’s cult sci-fi movie,
HAL goes bonkers in the middle of a mission to Jupiter, offing an astronaut or
four, and ultimately ending up deactivated as he sings Daisy bell.
WALL-E in Wall-E
The Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth-Class, aka Wall-E, is, by far,
the cutest robot on this list and, in spite of his relatively recent
introduction, one of the most beloved Pixar characters of all time.
Left on a future version of planet Earth, where trash has submerged
cities and the pollution has gone up beyond livability, Wall-E spent
centuries cleaning the environment. Over time, as he watched his
fellow trash-recycling mates gradually falling into oblivion, Wall-E started
developing emotions – curiosity and loneliness among others – that had him
befriend a cockroach named Hal (Got it?), wonder about the vastness of the
universe above him and, eventually, fall in love with the beautifully-shaped,
LED-eyed EVE.
best seller OPTIMUS PRIME in Transformers

Toy, transforming truck, self-righteous leader and an excuse for Michael Bay
to throw massive explosions at random – these are only some of Optimus
Prime’s titles. Head of the Autobots, the good guys in the Transformers
HARRY POTTER PAPERBACK franchise, Optimus has been entertaining the public for over 30 years now,
BOXED SET, BOOKS 1 - 7 always finding new ways to engage in massive robot fights that usually result
By J K Rowling, Mary GrandePre (Illustrations)
in entire cities being levelled, with close to no human casualties. He is not famous
for his psychological complexity, but he sure has a cool set of technologically-
advanced alien weapons – the Ion Blaster, the Barrage Cannon, the Energon
Hooks, and the Dual Energon Swords to mention some.
THE FEVER CODE T-800 in The Terminator

(MAZE RUNNER SERIES #5) With those sunglasses, that shotgun and with Arnold
By James Dashner Schwarzenegger’s face, T-800 couldn’t but earn his seat in the pantheon of most
memorable robots. Sent from an apocalyptic future where machines have taken over
the world, he has one mission: Stop mankind from putting up resistance to said
THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR robot-dominated society. How is he planning to do that? By taking the mother of the
By Nicola Yoon resistance’s leader, out of the picture of course. T-800 is the antagonist in
The Terminator, the first installment of an over 30-year-old franchise, but other
versions of the same android, always played by Arnie’s signature muscles and jaw,
end up joining the good guys in the sequels.
HEARTLESS
By Marissa Meyer
MAJOR MOTOKO KUSANAGI in Ghost in the Shell
Motoko Kusanagi, often referred to simply as Major, is an augmented-cybernetic human, an employee
of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, and the protagonist of the anime-turned-classic
SCYTHE (ARC OF A SYCTHE SERIES #1) Ghost in the Shell. She also has the ability to connect her cyberbrain to a virtually unlimited network,
By Neal Shusterman which makes her an absolute force to reckon with. Contemplative and gloomy, Major may sometimes
come across as an emotionless fighting machine, but, deep down, she is contemplative in nature, torn
COURTESY WWW.BARNESANDNOBLE.COM with doubts about her own humanity, wondering whether her cybernetic body has a soul at all.
| GAMES
ON THE SHELVES
NINTENDO
SWITCHES IT ON
T
HERE’S one name that gave the gaming new Joy-Con controller is truly revolutionary. Switch will likely appeal to an untapped
industry touch screens, made motion It’s detachable, comes in two pieces and has audience: the mobile game players. But why
control popular, and redefined the way the ability to shape-shift according to the player’s would you bother buying Switch when you
we play over and over: Nintendo. Recently, requirements. You can use it as a traditional already have a smartphone? Because Switch
the company unveiled its new home console gamepad by sliding it into a supporting case, gives gamers an unprecedented feature: local
– Switch. Nintendo has always preferred the or clip it to the sides of a tablet for use as portable multiplayer. Switch is not meant to kill
pursuit of innovation instead of just a periodical a portable console. Joy-Cons can also be used time as you endure a boring lecture, but to be
hardware upgrade. This time is no different. separately, with one in each hand, or shared an alternative to a book, a TV show, or a movie.
Nintendo now aims at lounging with you not with friends, one Joy-Con each. The announcement that third party developers
only in your living room, but also tagging along like Bethesda, Electronic Arts, Activision and
as you go on a trip, or to a party, or simply After over a decade using optical discs, Ubisoft will be working on titles for the console
when you walk your dog to the park. Switch will feature cartridges, so as to avoid makes the Switch’s launch in March 2017
spinning motors, which would hinder the an even more highly-anticipated event.
The big news is that Nintendo Switch is both battery life of the tablet when used as a handheld The point here is that Switch is as fulfilling
123RF, NINTENDO
a home and a handheld console. At its core is console. An Nvidia Tegra processor promises as your home console – because it is your
a touch screen tablet, which can either be a seamless in-game shift from home to handheld, home console.
plugged into a docking station connected to and on-the-go connectivity between two or
your TV, or used on the go. However, the more devices. WORDS: NICOLO GOVONI
2017 2017
FROM PLAYING CARDS TO SWITCH,
We chart Nintendo’s innovative streak
1889 – Everything began in 1889, when 1985 – NES
entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi opened The Nintendo Entertainment System,
his first Hanafuda shop, called Nintendo NES for friends, was the first Nintendo home
Koppai. Based in Kyoto, Nintendo’s first 1980 – GAME & WATCH console. The NES, with the intuitive simplicity
product was playing cards. The Game & Watch, a series of handheld videogames of its gamepad, set a model for each and
featuring a maximum of two built-in games per device, was every controller that followed till date.
Nintendo’s first appearance on the international gaming stage.
It not only singlehandedly started the era of portable consoles,
but it also foreshadowed the Switch’s gamepad-plus-screen 1989 – GAME BOY
concept by decades. The Game Boy series ditched inbuilt software to adopt
cartridges, which allowed a potentially unlimited game
1996 – NINTENDO 64 library, gave players the possibility to connect two devices
The Nintendo64 introduced the possibility of guiding its 1991 – SNES through a cable, and overall popularised portable gaming.
characters seamlessly in space through all three axes, and it The SNES, aka Super Nintendo Unmatched, Nintendo virtually created and dominated
brought to the industry not one but two fundamental Entertaining System, introduced the handheld industry as we know it today, pulling off some
innovations. First, the implementation of an 8-direction analog the shoulder buttons to an already of the greatest franchises of all time. Pokémon, anyone?
stick, the key component to every contemporary gameplay; near-perfect gamepad. It paved the
and second, the “Rumble pack”, an attachment that gave the way to one of today’s most popular
player a force feedback, basically making the controller vibrate. genres: shooting games. 2011 – NINTENDO 3DS
How would you play Call of Duty As the name suggests,
without them? the Nintendo 3DS
2001 – GAMECUBE / brought glasses-free 3D to
GAME BOY ADVANCE portable gaming. Thanks to
The GameCube introduced the 2004 – NINTENDO DS 2006 – NINTENDO WII the stereoscopic technology
possibility of connecting portable and The Nintendo DS stunned the In 2006, the world was divided into implemented in the upper screen,
home consoles. Via a “link cable”, the gaming industry by featuring and two categories of people: those who the console can simulate a feeling of
GameCube and the Game Boy Advance popularising the touchscreen owned a Nintendo Wii, and those depth to enhance the gaming
could be connected and could interact technology, implementing it in who knew someone who owned it – experience, while the lower screen
with one another, turning the latter into an a handheld console featuring a double and used to play over the weekend. keeps the player engaged through
additional controller or a second screen. screen. More than 10 years later, the The Wii introduced motion control the beloved touchscreen.
This was the first step towards the device has made it into over 150 to the masses and changed the way Additionally, using 3D cameras,
Switch’s hybrid vision. million households, making the we play entirely, it opened the the Nintendo 3DS took a first step
DS Nintendo’s most gaming industry to casual users, towards augmented reality.
successful hardware line to working as the ultimate
date, and a full-blown cult. “gateway console” for a share
of the audience that had never
been involved before.
CHARACTERS
Mario: Having appeared in over 200 video games since his creation in 1981, the plump and brave Italian
plumber is hands down Nintendo’s most popular mascot and one of the most iconic characters Japan has
ever come up with – he even showed up at the Rio 2016 Olympics closing ceremony.
Link: With his green cap and pointy ears, Link is the main hero in The Legend of Zelda, a fantasy saga that,
since 1986, has mesmerised millions of fans around the world. Breath of the Wild, the latest installment
of the series, will be one of Switch’s launch titles.
Donkey Kong: Few know that the nasty lady-kidnapping and barrel-throwing gorilla of the first installment
of the series is not the same, friendly primate racing against and partying with Mario today. The current Donkey
Kong is, in fact, the original’s grandson.
Pikachu: Often compared to Mickey Mouse in terms of worldwide popularity, the electric-yellow
rat is Pokémon’s undisputed ambassador and a Japanese pop culture icon. Fun fact: no one knows
Pikachu’s gender. The creators have kept it vague so that it will appeal to both boys and girls.
Samus Aran: Less known today, but rather game-changing back then (1986), Samus is the
protagonist of the Metroid series, a sci-fi adventure featuring space prates, life-sucking aliens and whatnot.
In the jaw-dropping ending scene of the original installment, the spacesuit comes off and Samus is
revealed to be a woman. She is considered the first playable human female character
in a mainstream videogame.
| GADGETS
ON THE SHELVES
NEW
TECH
ON THE BLOCK
MOTO Z
The smartphone’s multitasking potential effectively ended
the era of feature phones – devices that touted a single
special feature like a camera or a music player in addition
to their calling and messaging facilities. Still, although
smartphones integrate nearly every imaginable feature
into a single device, the specialisation that came with
feature phones was lacking. Motorola’s solution to this
problem is to go modular. The new Moto Z is a
highly-capable smartphone that pairs with a range of
WORDS: DUSHYANT SHEKHAWAT special Moto Mods. These Moto Mods attach to the
phone’s surface via magnets, and, after some quick
set-up, open up a whole new world of specialised
gadgetry. The Moto Mods include attachable lenses, power
HERE ONE pack back covers, projectors and speakers. Partnering
Ever wished you could literally with quality manufacturers like JBL and Hasselblad
mute the sounds of the world around ensures that customers picking up Moto Mods will get
you so you could enjoy your music their money’s worth from this smartphone.
better? Doppler Labs has made that dream a
reality with Here One, a new pair of wireless
earphones that allows you to personalise your
listening experience via a connected app. Alongside
real-world volume control, the Here One earphones also
offer smart noise filters, allowing you to tune out a
particular noise in the background, like construction
work or traffic. They also offer speech
amiplification, so that you needn’t strain to have
conversations in loud and crowded spaces.
Add wireless streaming, phone call
capabilities and an in-built equalizer,
and it’s easy to see that these are
earphones for the future.
SPECTACLES
One of the biggest complaints about millenials is that they experience the world through
their smartphone screens. Well, Snapchat, the wildly popular image-sharing app, just put
paid to that grouse with Spectacles. The phone camera need no longer come between
you and your subject – here, a built-in video lens allow you to record upto 30 seconds of
video or take still photos from your sunglasses, without your phone ever leaving your
pocket. Even if you don’t have your phone with you, the images and video are saved on
the Spectacles and can be transferred later. Spectacles come with a charging cable and
charging case, and are to be sold at pop-up kiosks known as Snapbots. This might be the
coolest and simplest application of wearable technology to accessories and fashion yet.
2017 2017
IPHONE 7
Apple’s latest update is a less radical upgrade than in previous years,
and the disappearance of the headphone jack has caused consternation.
On the plus side, the camera is a big selling point with its twin wide-
angle and telephoto lenses, while other key improvements include
stereo speakers and a 25 per cent brighter retina display.
Those things plus brand loyalty mean it shouldn’t bomb –
but can it retain its market-leading position?
iPHONE 7 iPHONE 7 PLUS

OPERATING SYSTEM iOS 10 iOS 10
SCREEN SIZE 4.7-INCH 5.5-INCH
SCREEN RESOLUTION 750 x 1,334 1,080 x 1,920
RAM 2GB 3GB
ONBOARD STORAGE 32-256GB 32-256GB
CAMERA 12MP, F/1.8 12MP, F/1.8
VIDEO MAX RES (30FPS) 2,160P 2,160P
TALK TIME 14HRS 21HRS
HEADPHONE JACK NO NO
VS
PIXEL PIXEL XL
OPERATING SYSTEM ANDROID 7.1 ANDROID 7.1
SCREEN SIZE 5-INCH 5.5-INCH
SCREEN RESOLUTION 1,080 x 1,920 1,440 x 2,560
RAM 4GB 4GB
ONBOARD STORAGE 32-128GB 32-128GB
CAMERA 12MP, F/2.0 12MP, F/2.0
VIDEO MAX RES (30FPS) 2,160P 2,160P
TALK TIME 26HRS 32HRS
HEADPHONE JACK YES YES
When you stack the specs side-by-side, the Pixel, from Google,
PIXEL
nudges ahead of the iPhone in most departments, but it’s a close
call. So the Pixel’s real selling points are a camera that’s being
touted by Google as “the best phone camera ever,” and Google
Assistant. This replacement for Google Now reflects the fact that
Google’s banking heavily on AI being the next big tech wave.
APPLE
Whether Google’s right, of course, remains to be seen.
February 2017 37
| AROUND THE WORLD
TRAVEL & FOOD
NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF
TRAVEL FOOD INFO NUGGETS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE

&
KOKKREBELLUR, KARNATAKA NORTHERN IRELAND NEPAL
Spot-billed pelicans come to Kokkrebellur every year Crossing the 20m-long Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge The 5th-century Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu
end (November – December), and are welcomed by is an adventure in itself – it shakes with every step, survived the massive 7.9-magnitude earthquake in 2015
the locals. The villagers treat the birds well, protecting exciting since you’re walking 30 metres above that flattened several World Heritage sites in Nepal
them and looking after orphaned chicks that fall out the rocks below! First erected by salmon fishers like the iconic Dharahara Tower and Durbar Square.
of the nests. In return, the urea-rich droppings of in 1755, it originally had only a single rope hand rail, The temple is a sacred Hindu religious site and of great
the birds are used as fertiliser in the fields around. but now is a two hand-railed bridge. cultural significance in the country.
MYANMAR NORWAY TURKEY
Most boys in Myanmar under 20 undergo a coming-of- The 20.2km-long Flåm Railway is one of the world’s Beneath Cappadocia’s world-famous rock formations
age ceremony called shinbyu, after which they become steepest tracks, taking in 10 stations and 20 tunnels is a network of subterranean cities, some of them 5,000
novice monks. Allowing a boy to be a monk for a while, if along its short route. Its highest elevation is 866 metres, years old, which once housed up to 10,000 people each.
123RF X8
not for the rest of his life, is considered one of the most and, deservedly, it is currently one of Norway’s most The deepest city that has been excavated is Derinkuyu,
important religious gifts parents can give a son. popular attractions. parts of which are open to the public.
2017 2017
5 GREAT-TO-KNOW TRAVEL WITH FOOD
FACTS ABOUT
GOULASH, HUNGARY
THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA This beef stew is a staple in every
• China’s most iconic structure, household in Hungary, and also
the Great Wall is 13,000 miles of very popular in Austria and Croatia.
fortifications built over 1,800 years
across mountain ranges and deserts. The name comes from ‘gulya’,
which means ‘herd of cattle’ in
• It is not one continuous wall -- rather,
it takes in natural barriers, trenches and, Hungarian. It’s an old recipe, dating
now, isolated chunks of wall in various back to the 9th century, when it
states of decay. was a favourite with shepherds;
• It was built to defend China’s northern it used to be cooked and dried in
frontier, but enemies, most significantly the the sun, then refreshed with water
Mongols and the Manchus, crossed the wall
in the 13th and 14th centuries respectively. to make a filling and comforting
meal. `Paprika is an important
• The oldest parts of the wall date back to
221 -- 206 BC, the time of the Qing ingredient. Each homemaker in
Dynasty, and are made of earth and, Hungary has her own recipe,
if you will believe this, the bones of which she believes is the best.
the people who died building them. These days, it is often served
• It’s not true -- you cannot see the more as a soup than a stew.
Great Wall from space!
February 2017 39
40
SCIENCE
| THE BRAIN
February 2017
Is technology
changing our
brains?
G
We increasingly rely OOGLE is making you stupid, your iPhone’s making you fickle
and your social networks are making you anti-social.
on social media to talk If the newspaper headlines are to be believed, our brains are
to friends, GPS to under attack. Modern technology is pummeling each of us into
a cognitive wreck, and, if we aren’t careful, we’ll be beaten into
navigate and the web a stupor. Of course, the real story isn’t as clear-cut as all that. But
stories persist because the sense that something is eroding our mental
for information. abilities feels right. We struggle to remember our own phone
number, when, only a few years ago we could recall dozens.
But, asks Jo Carlowe, Online, readers prefer short, simple stories to long, nuanced pieces
is that wise? (although we’re sure BBC Knowledge readers are the exception),
and we all know someone who breaks out in a sweat when separated
from their smartphone.
So what’s really happening? The first thing to consider is that
this kind of ‘neuro-anxiety’ about the tools we use is nothing new.
In 370 BC, Plato warned that the Greeks’ “trust in writing” would
“discourage the use of their own memory”. Sound familiar?
The reality is that our brains do change when we use
a smartphone or computer – but they also change when we use
a pen, a screwdriver, or any other tool for that matter. They change
when we mow the lawn, play golf or cook dinner. Our experiences
continually shape the way the brain works. So the question isn’t really
“is tech rewiring our brains?’ but ‘how are our brains adapting to
living in today’s screen-first, always-online, networked world?”
Scientifically speaking, we’re a long way from definitive answers,
but we looked at the latest research and talked to leading experts
in their fields to discover how they think our collective brains are
being affected… 
February 2017 41
| THE BRAIN
SCIENCE
Attention
PHONES BUZZING with text messages, Facebook teachers questioned, and 2,000 parents of
notifications and news alerts continually tempt preschool and primary-aged children, seven out of
the world to distraction. Many experts believe 10 said that children’s attention spans were shorter
that this incessant bombardment, and the need than they used to be.
for instant answers, has eroded our ability to focus. Meanwhile, in the USA, the Centers for Disease
A 2015 study by Microsoft surveyed 2,000 Control and Prevention has reported that 11 per
Canadians and used electroencephalograms (EEGs) cent of school-age children have, at some point,
to watch the brain activity of a further 112 people. been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Their analysis found that the average human Disorder. Before 1990, the figure was less than
attention span had dropped from 12 seconds in 5 per cent.
the year 2000 to just eight seconds. Goldfish are These studies shine a spotlight on our
thought to posses a impressive nine-second diminishing attention spans, with modern
attention span. technology in the crosshairs as the culprit.
This wasn’t just a company chasing a catchy More research is needed if we’re to be sure of
headline. The research in the area is mostly a causal relationship, but experts feel certain
anecdotal, but a number of surveys do back up they’ll find one. “I am personally convinced that
the idea that attention spans are shrinking. In a technology has led to a decreased ability to focus
2012 Pew Research Center survey of more than and wait, and an increased need for immediate
2,000 teachers in the US and Puerto Rico, 87 per information,” says neuroscientist Prof Russell
cent reported that their students had short attention Poldrack, of Stanford University.
spans and were easily distracted. The same year,
a UK poll from the learning company Pearson Verdict: Yes, the information age has shortened
reached the same conclusion. Of 400 UK English our attention span.
Is internet
addiction real,
and should we
be worried?
IN A FAMOUS test, rats given a lever to
activate their nucleus accumbens
(the brain’s pleasure centre, responsible
for dopamine production) pressed it
continuously until they died of starvation
or exhaustion. The same brain structure
lights up when addicts score a fix.
Reports have emerged of young men
dying following excessive bouts of video
game playing: like the rats, they forgot
to eat, sleep or move. In one well-known
case, a South Korean man died after
50 hours of non-stop gaming.
Studies suggest that brain activity
seen in excessive internet users
resembles that of drug addicts, with
less grey matter volume in parts of the
prefrontal cortex linked to willpower.
GETTY X3, ALAMY
But cause and effect is not clear:

the difference could be a precondition
for, rather than a result of, excessive
internet use.
42 February 2017
Mood
SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN reporting strong links between
heavy internet use and depression, with a particular
focus on social media. This came as no surprise to health
education expert Dr Aric Sigman, who says high exposure
to social media can leave people feeling inadequate.
“There is a relationship between the amount of time
you spend on social media and increased body
dissatisfaction. High consumption of idealised images
seems to activate neural networks in the brain like the
amygdala, associated with fear and anxiety.”
Sigman cites a study in which girls who instant
messaged their mothers released the stress hormone
cortisol, rather than the feel-good hormone oxytocin
associated with face-to-face interaction. “We may be
hard-wired to need a certain amount of contact with
people we care about. A deficit in human contact may
result in health problems.”
Facebook, it seems, might not be giving us
enough facetime.
Verdict: Technology can affect mood, but it depends

how we use it.
Memory
WITH PHONE NUMBERS, routes and facts just a touch
away, we’re becoming less reliant on our memory – and
German neuroscientist Manfred Spitzer warns this
‘cognitive offloading’ could be leading to a kind of
‘digital dementia’.
Studies on internet and gaming addicts has uncovered
atrophy (shrinking) in the brain’s grey matter, says
the University of Bedfordshire’s Prof James Barnes.
Overdosing on tech seems to cause the frontal lobe –
a brain area that governs functions such as planning
and organising – to suffer in particular. However,
he adds that more research is needed on ‘real’ as
opposed to ‘addicted’ internet users.
Digital offloading may also make memories less vivid.
A US study asked museum visitors to photograph some
exhibits and just look at others. The next day their
memory was tested. Visitors were worse at recognising
objects they had photographed, and worse at recalling
details about the objects they’d photographed.
But Dr Sam Gilbert, of University College London, says
there are also positives. “Research shows that when you
save information to an external store like a computer,
this can help you to store new memories. Your mind is
no longer cluttered with information that you don’t need.”
Verdict: Short-term changes are likely, but more research

is needed on long-term impact.
| THE BRAIN
SCIENCE
Social skills
“THROUGHOUT THE WORLD – in caves, huts and
houses – it was almost a reflex to turn your face
to a returning parent,” explains health education
expert Dr Aric Sigman. But, he says, kids are now so
glued to their screens they no longer look up.
Though some parents might be glad of the respite
that screen-time provides, research suggests that
excessive screen use seems
to damage our ability to interpret faces.
“They [excessive internet users] find it more difficult
to read faces in experiments,” explains Sigman.
In one study, children showed a significant
improvement in reading facial emotions after
spending five days away from all devices. In
another experiment, Chinese psychologists scanned new media can actually be beneficial for the can be a distraction from positive learning
the brains of ‘normal’ versus ‘excessive’ internet development of youngsters’ brains. and social engagement.
users, while they viewed images of faces and “Young people who are taking advantage “It’s not the availability of media that
objects. The internet junkies showed smaller brain of online tools like search, forums, open educational determines this, but whether they have life
wave responses to faces than their peers. resources and complex games are learning at a opportunities, positive peer influences and caring
Sigman’s view is that technology use itself isn’t more accelerated rate, and in specialties that they adults who support and guide them to positive
damaging – just like sweets, it’s simply a case of would never have had access to in earlier eras,” media engagements.”
ensuring children don’t consume too much, too she argues.
often. Prof Mizuko Ito of the University of California, However, she adds that, for disengaged kids in Verdict: New media is just a place to ‘hang out’,
meanwhile, believes that a reasonable serving of distressed circumstances, digital media but, for the socially disengaged, there are risks.
Sleep
WE NOW SPEND more time on our devices than we do
sleeping. According to an August 2015 Ofcom survey,
we engage in media or communication activities such
as texting or gaming, for eight hours and 41 minutes
daily, and sleep for 8 hours and 21 minutes.
Technology keeps us up for two reasons.
First, we are stimulated by the content. Second, the
LED screen emits blue light, which prevents the brain
from producing the sleep hormone melatonin. The
blue light is in a bandwidth one sees in everyday
sunlight, explains health education expert Dr Aric
Sigman. “The blue light from your phone or tablet
informs your pineal gland that it’s morning and it
should shut down production of melatonin.”
In the journal Preventive Medicine (2016)
researchers found a strong association between
social media use and sleep disturbance, and warned
of a link between sleep deprivation and depression.
Sleep deprivation has also been associated with
obesity and poor academic performance.
Verdict: Screen use at bedtime will change your

GETTY X4
sleeping patterns.
44 February 2017
Reading
WHEN WE READ, we construct a mental similar findings: those who took the test on a
representation of the text in our minds, much computer scored lower, and reported higher
as we do when we look at terrain and create a stress levels, than those who took the same
mental map in our heads. But experts warn that test on paper.
we read text on screens differently, preferring Prof Ziming Liu, of the School of Information
to skim, scan and click hyperlinks, rather than at San José State University in California,
‘deep reading’ in the old-fashioned sense. believes digital screen readers engage in
Norwegian experts tested the theory by greater use of shortcuts such as browsing for
dividing students of comparable reading skills keywords. His research also reveals that
into a paper group and LCD monitor group. screen users are more likely to read a
In a follow-up reading comprehension test, document only once and expend less time on
the group who’d read texts on computers in-depth reading.
performed a little worse than the traditional
readers. And a Swedish study in which Verdict: More research needed, but
volunteers completed a reading test reported technology may make us less thorough.
Multitasking
OUR ‘ALWAYS-ON’ culture has been dubbed deeply embedded in our memories.
“infomania” by psychologist Dr Glenn Wilson, Researchers from University College
who tested the IQs of subjects in either a quiet London recently linked frequent
room or one with mobiles ringing and emails multitasking to smaller grey matter
arriving. The technological distractions diminished density in the anterior cingulate
IQ by 10 points. cortex (ACC), which is the brain
Similarly, a US study found that students who region that is involved in empathy
instant messaged with friends during a reading and decision-making. However, it is
task took between 22 and 59 per cent longer unclear whether having a smaller ACC
to complete the task, even accounting for the makes you more likely to multitask,
additional time spent messaging. or whether it’s multitasking that causes
Brain-imaging reveals that multitasking uses the ACC to shrink.
different brain regions to focus on one task. But some experts say technology has
Learning while focusing on one task uses the made us all more skilful at multitasking.
hippocampus, which stores ideas and creates Hong Kong researchers report
rich and flexible memories. This area allows us to multitaskers are better at multisensory
compare old ideas with incoming data to put what integration, while a 2016 study from
we learn into context, effectively leading to deeper Microsoft found our ability to
understanding. Multitasking, on the other hand, multitask has “improved drastically”
uses the striatum — a brain region that stores since the turn of the millennium.
procedures and skills. New information acquired
using the striatum is less flexible and can’t be Verdict: Technology may make us
generalised in the same way. This suggests that more adept multitaskers, but
knowledge acquired while multitasking is less perhaps at a cost.
| THE BRAIN
SCIENCE
Navigation
IN 2000, a study found that taxi drivers who
acquire The Knowledge, which requires
memorising thousands of London streets – have
a greater volume of grey matter in the posterior
hippocampus but less in the anterior
hippocampus, making them better at memory
tasks involving landmarks but poorer at recalling
complex visual information. This provided
evidence for plasticity in the adult human brain.
Could our reliance on GPS also be changing
the way our brains work? Researchers from
McGill University in Canada used fMRI scans to
compare GPS users with non-GPS users.
Those who navigated without GPS had higher
activity and a greater volume of grey matter in
the hippocampus than those who relied on GPS.
In another study, people who drove a route
using sat-nav could not remember scenes from
the journey as well as those without sat-nav,
and were poorer at retracing their steps from
memory alone.
“It’s possible that reliance on technology
could cause some brain areas to grow and others
to shrink,” says University College London’s
Dr Sam Gilbert. “Something similar was shown
in the original taxi driver study. But occasional
use of sat-nav probably won’t have as strong an
effect as learning The Knowledge and relying on
it as part of your job.” Jo Carlowe is a freelance journalist with a degree
in psychology. Her work regularly appears in
Verdict: Yes, technology may change our brains UK broadsheet newspapers as well as in medical
when it comes to navigation and scientific publications.
Ghost phone calls

Have you ever imagined your phone is vibrating in your
pocket, only to pull it out and find you imagined it?
You’re not alone: it turns out ‘phantom vibration
syndrome’ is a common phenomenon. A study of
doctors at a hospital in Massachusetts found that
70 per cent of doctors reported experiencing such
‘ghost calls’, while a US study of college students found
up to 90 per cent were familiar with the phenomenon.
But fear not – psychologists say this is not a sign of
madness, but rather that we are so alert to phone calls
and messages that we misinterpret slight muscle
spasms as proof of a call. We are so anxious not to miss
GETTY X2
a call that our brains overcompensate by biasing us

towards false alarms.
2017 2017
26
-P
AG
Q&
E
Volume 7 Issue 1 • December 2016 `125
SP
A AC
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PE
CIA
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THE LAST
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OF OUR
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READERS’ SURVEY
SOLAR SYSTEM
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WHERE ARE ALL HOW WILL
OUR ACTIVE beneath Jupiter’s surface? TIM PEAKE
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Q9. From where did you pick up this copy?
Note: If YES, answer Q.2 to Q. 8. If NO, go to Q.9 & Q.10  Newsstand
Q2. If yes, please choose your reason for subscribing?  Bookstore
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| FROM THE KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY
SOCIAL MEDIA
We posed the question to our BBC Knowledge Community and

here are some of the interesting responses we received
Technology
enhances our
way of thinking,
creativity and
implementing
skills.
Time is precious and knowledge is power and @Vishal_konaparthi
the presence of technology helps to connect
these together. We have the internet at our
fingertips to search for any information that we
would want to make ourselves knowledgeable.
Soumyabrata Chakraborty
Technology
connects
Technology > Connection > Universe > people. It makes
Evolution > Mankind going about
performing
Nabankurb our daily tasks
easier – from
ordering food
I love online, through
Because it has become similar to technology scrolling
salt. Its existence is pleasurable because I get news sites for
and absence miserable. to convince information,
Manali @BeLikeManali
people that to connecting
my life is with our friends.
amazing Technology has
*Answers have been edited for clarity.
and that made the world

If it weren’t for technology, I wouldn’t I am really more connected
be working for an America-based firm gorgeous and it would be
from India. when I am impossible to
Neha Chamaria @NehamsChamaria not. live without it.
@Simprajapati @Rutuja_016
PANEL OF PRINCIPALS
OPINIONS NEW!
Panel of Principals
is a knowledge circle
that taps into the
collective wisdom
of educators and
academicians
IS TECHNOLOGY
CHANGING STUDENTS’
BRAINS?
In our inaugural panel discussion,
the country’s leading education experts weigh
in on the impact of technology on young minds
Yes, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say

that technology and the dawn of
the information age brought with it “We’re
the single largest factor in the way seeing more
human thinking and learning has young minds
evolved. The concept of merely
remembering facts has given way
become creators
and entrepreneurs
“Technology to why this information matters and
how it can be used. While some than ever
has made our argue that the 21st-century learner
is considerably lazier than his/ her
before”
brain lazy” counterpart of two decades ago due to easy
access to information, I believe that students today are
“I recall a time when we knew the telephone more efficient in their use of this information to innovate
numbers of our family members and close friends and create. Easier access to information gives students
by heart; they remained registered in our mind. the opportunity to explore things beyond the standard
However, technology has made our brain lazy curriculum in schools and universities. Today, we see
and we don’t bother to remember them any more. more young minds become creators and entrepreneurs
“The fast-moving pictures and information available than ever before. Simultaneously, technology has enabled
at the click of a button have decreased tolerance levels. different learners to consume and process information
The brain is malleable, it adapts to change, and, in this time in the way most comfortable to them, leading to each
of fast-paced technology, it moves faster, resulting in low student moving ahead into the future on a path not
concentration levels. We are coming across more cases of necessarily dictated by standard
children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention practices and procedures. Technology
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) than ever before. enables today’s learners to think and
“Another very important aspect of the brain getting addicted inquire, to take risks and find solutions
to technology is instant gratification. Additionally, the human to problems rather than be mere
mind may not be able to compete with the machine, participants in a static system that
causing unhappiness and discontentment.” wants to cater to the ‘average’.”
Ms Seema Sapru Ms Manika Sharma

Principal, The Heritage School, Kolkata Director, The Sri Ram Schools, New Delhi
2017 2017
“The brain is now being
hardwired for speed and surface
knowledge, not deep thinking”
“It’s not just genetics, but also our thoughts, experiences and our responses that shape and evolve our brains,
including the overexposure to the world of technology. The human brain is wired differently today, and is under threat
in the modern world. There’s no doubt technology has made lessons more stimulating, interesting and fast paced,
but kids are losing out on sensory and motor skills. While tactile stimulation (touching, hugging, etc) and motor
coordination is under-stimulated in their growing years, there is an overload of visual and auditory systems.
“The constant exposure to multimedia has improved children’s visual-spatial capabilities and the ability to hunt for
and scan information in a jiffy, but it has also resulted in information overload, distraction, a dip in thinking, and
a weaker imagination. Even memory, reasoning and problem solving have, unfortunately, taken a back seat.
“This imbalance is redesigning the neurological development in the brain’s anatomy. The neuron pathways are
becoming permanently damaged. The brain is now being hardwired for speed and surface knowledge, not deep
thinking. This is a wake-up call for all stakeholders.”
Ms Mrinalini Kaura
Director & Founder Principal, Venkateshwar International School, New Delhi
“Lethargy “This is our

of mind has opportunity
crept in...” as educators
“Nothing is more dynamic than the human mind. From the Stone Age, we have transformed to embrace the
ourselves into a civilization that is deeply impacted by gadgets, smart devices and computers,
all of which make life effective and efficient. Credit goes to the human brain that could imagine, positive aspects
learn, observe, and create.
“But, while arduous chores have vanished, giving us more time, relaxation and ease, of change”
we can’t deny the lethargy of mind that has crept in.
“The increased dependence on Google, GPS, calendar alerts, smart phones, “Yes, technology is rewiring young (and not-so-young)
and calculators have left the human brain delible. One can discern a radical change in our brains. This is not a new phenomenon; technology has
capabilities of retaining, remembering and, thus, sorting information. I remember my grandfather always profoundly impacted thinking. The difference
savouring the lyrics of classic poems and having the lexicon at his fingertips, metaphorically. He today is the sheer pace of change. Student brains are
was from the generation that was blessed with the ‘pre-internet brain’. currently being challenged to respond to more and more
“From ignorance of our surroundings and absent-mindedness to the hovering dangers stimuli, at ever-increasing rates, and there is little doubt
of critical forgetfulness or early Alzheimer’s, the human brain is gradually losing its intrinsic that our students think and learn in profoundly different
abilities.‘Use it or lose it’ stands apt for human brain. In a world engulfed by technology, ways than we did in school. Our opportunity as
the human brain is suffering from sleep disorders, attention and concentration issues, and educators is to recognise the trends, embrace
deteriorating problem-solving skills. the positive aspects of change, and prioritise for
“The current horrifying news from across the globe of youngsters losing their lives while our students the skills and dispositions that might
posing for selfies is an indication that technology is also gravely impacting individual identities otherwise be lost amid this reshaping process:
as more and more of us are displacing the ‘true self’ with an exaggerated, ideal self. authentic social engagement, creativity and passion,
“Technology, implicitly, has transformed the human brain into a shallow thinker, losing attention to detail, an aptitude for reflection and
its connect with nature, tradition and self.” the capacity for joy and wonder.”
Mr Corey Stixrud
Ms Suruchi Gandhi Principal, Kodaikanal International School, Kodaikanal
Principal, Bal Bharati Public School, New Delhi
| PORTFOLIO
NATURE
PORTFOLIO
Early
days The first few weeks of an animal’s life are
fraught with danger so, as Suzi Eszterhas’s
intimate pictures show, parental protection
is vital to the newborns’ survival
Words by Mike Unwin
52 February 2017
58 BBC Wildlife October 2016

A bat-eared fox in Kenya’s Maasai Mara
Reserve watches over her 13-day-old kit,
newly emerged from the den. She will
continue to suckle her litter for 14–15 weeks
but thereafter, in a reversal of the usual roles
among canids, the male assumes most of
the parenting duties, grooming, feeding and
defending his progeny, and transporting
them between den sites.
October 2016 BBC Wildlife 59

| PORTFOLIO
NATURE
An eight-week-old cheetah cub plays

with its mother in Kenya’s Maasai Mara
Reserve. Some scientists have
suggested that the silvery mantle of
young cheetahs – shed as they grow
older – offers them some protection by
mimicking the appearance of the
notoriously aggressive honey badger.
2017 2017
A young Hoffman’s
two-toed sloth at the
Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary,
Costa Rica, settles into
the hammock of
its mother’s underside,
a position it has
instinctively adopted
since birth. At two months
old, it now feeds for itself,
although it may remain
with its mother for up
to two years.
February 2017 55
| PORTFOLIO
NATURE
In cats, such as the lion (left, Maasai Mara Reserve, Kenya) and the serval (right, Tanzania)
the eyes don’t generally open until they are around two weeks old.
2017 2017
A newborn giraffe – pictured here in Kenya’s
Maasai Mara Reserve – stands nearly two
metres in height. Though able to run within
hours of birth, it spends most of its first two
weeks in hiding. Females kick fiercely to
defend their single calf against predators.
Three brown bear cubs climb on

their mother’s back as she cools
off in a river in Katmai National
Park, Alaska. A female bear mates
with various males during her
two-week oestrus period, so these
cubs may have different fathers.
February 2017 57
| PORTFOLIO
NATURE
Being fewer than three weeks

old, this calf in Kenya’s
Maasai Mara Reserve
doesn’t yet have control of
its trunk. Full coordination
of mouth, trunk and feet
takes nine months.
A young ring-tailed lemur in

Madagascar’s Berenty
Reserve holds on while its
mother drinks. After spending
its first fortnight clinging to
her chest, the youngster will
thereafter ride on her back.
2017 2017
This young Adélie penguin at
Shingle Cove, South Orkney
Islands, is shedding its juvenile
down. Three weeks after
hatching, it joined other chicks in
a crèche that provided
protection from predators.
Suzi Eszterhas is an award-

winning wildlife photographer
based in California. She is
well known for documenting
family life in the wild (www.
suzieszterhas.com).
February 2017 59
| INTERVIEW & EXCERPT
LITERATURE
The
IMAGINATION
of the
STORYTELLER
Sudha Murty’s The Serpent’s Revenge: Unusual tales from
the Mahabharata throws new light on the little known aspects of
the Kurukshetra War and the characters who peopled it
S
UDHA Murty laughs a lot.
She laughs without restraint, with
spontaneity. Heard over
the phone, it’s laughter that makes you
picture in your mind
a person who will make you believe
that the world is an interesting place,
a place that you can shape, at least to
some extent, as you wish.
Hearing that unbridled laughter makes
it easy to understand why Sudha Murty
is such a great storyteller. A few years
ago, she used to read out stories on radio
for children, and many of her books
- in both English and Kannada – are
also perfect for reading aloud. Fittingly,
with The Serpent’s Revenge, she once
again takes on the role of storyteller,
reintroducing India’s greatest epic –
the Mahabharata – through charming,
often extraordinary tales. “I am not
the author of these stories,” she writes
in the introduction, “I am simply
a storyteller who has tried to dip into
this ocean of ancient, mesmerising tales
after referring to multiple sources and
removing many illogical details in
2017 2017
an effort to connect to today’s readers.” So we use symbolism in stories, and explain should be able to relate the story to
The result is a wonderful compilation what it means. Like, when a person has today’s scenarios. That is very important.
of riveting stories that will offer new 10 heads, it means that that person can Otherwise the story is a fail.”
insights into characters we think we know. think in 10 different ways. A person
who has four heads can see in all directions. “I get up early to write.
It means he is very knowledgeable and “It doesn’t take me very long to write.
EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW communicative, someone who can Because I’ve written so many books,
“Storytelling is a great creativity tool understand all that is going on. I know what I want to write, I don’t have
for children. And someone can look like a serpent, but to write and rewrite. But I think and
“Through stories, you can improve children’s he is just someone from the Naga tribe. research for many years before I write.”
imaginations. For example, when you show I try to make it as practical as possible so
the Ramayana on the TV, they get an idea that they can relate. Ultimately, our children “The Serpent’s Revenge is the first
of how Rama looks. Their imagination book of a series.
will not grow. But, when you tell a story, the “There are four books in the series.
imagination stretches. The sky is the limit. I would like to release one book each year
Children can relate to the story. Being able “When you tell a story, on Children’s Day (November 14).”
to listen to stories is better than reading.
When you tell a story, children get involved the imagination stretches. “I like the story of Barbarika a lot.
in a way that is not achieved even by reading “Barbarika was the son of Ghatotkacha
many books.”
The sky is the limit. Children and Maurvi. I like the story because it’s
can relate to the story. really unusual. Barbarika is worshipped
“Our children are very smart… in Haryana and Rajasthan as Khatushyam.”
“If you tell them, ‘he did this, or did that,’ Being able to listen to stories
they will not believe you today. They will I also like The King of Udupi.
Google it, they are knowledge seekers. is better than reading” “It is a simple story, but a nice story
What adults say is not final for them. (laughs heartily).”
EXCERPT
The King of Udupi

When the war of Kurukshetra took place, even seemed to know exactly how much food had to be
the rulers of other lands ended up choosing sides made every day, but that also meant that he knew
and were compelled to fight each other. beforehand how many soldiers would not live to see
For instance, King Shalya, the maternal uncle of another night.
Nakula and Sahadeva, was tricked into siding with Curious, the Pandavas asked the king one day,
the Kauravas. King Vinda and King Anuvinda, “Please tell us how you know the exact number of
Krishna’s brothers-in-law, also fought for the Kauravas. soldiers that will make it back alive each day?”
One of the Kauravas, Yuyutsu, was the only one to He smiled. “I have a simple technique. I take a bag
switch sides and join the Pandavas. Krishna’s brother of peanuts to Krishna at the end of every day and
Balarama, upset with the whole affair, went on observe him closely. Then I multiply the number of
a pilgrimage instead. peanuts he eats by one thousand and deduce the
The king of Udupi, unable to choose a side, refused number of soldiers that are going to die the next day.”
to take a decision. He said, “I will be in charge of The Pandavas were stunned.
the kitchen and feed soldiers from both camps.” After the war ended, Krishna blessed the king,
The war began. saying, “You have taken care of all the soldiers who’ve
Each day took the lives of many soldiers. At the end fought in this battle, without any bias. Your future
of the day, the remaining fighters from both the camps generations will be famous for making delicious food
PHOTOGRAPH: JYOTHY KARAT
came to the kitchen and ate together. and serving it efficiently.

There was one strange thing that didn’t escape People say that this is the reason
notice – no food was ever left over after everyone had we see so many Udupi restaurants
finished their meal in the evening. The king of Udupi across India!
February 2017 61
| INTERVIEW & EXCERPT
LITERATURE
EXCERPT
The Yaksha’s Quiz

One day, a man approached the Pandavas while
they were in exile in the forest. “I need your help,
Yudhishthira!” he said, addressing the oldest
of the five brothers.
“I had hung some arani from a tree branch next to
my ashram,” he continued. “Suddenly, a deer came
and started scratching its back on the tree. In the
process, it shook the arani, which fell from the branch
and got stuck in its horns. Startled, the deer took off
at a high speed. I ran behind the deer but couldn’t
catch up with it. I can’t start my yagna without
the wood. Please, will you help me?”
The Pandavas knew that they could easily get
the arani wood back for the man. It was their duty
to care for their subjects, so they agreed to help him.
The five brothers began to look for the deer.
Soon, they saw the animal from a distance and
tried to surround it, but it sprinted away. They
tried again and again to capture the deer, but
it proved too fast for them. Tired, the brothers
finally sat down under a tree.
Yudhishthira said to his younger brother Nakula,
“Brother, will you fetch some water
for all of us?”
Nakula nodded and climbed up a tree so he could
locate the nearest water body. He saw one not too far
away from them so he got down and told his brother,
“There is a pond nearby. I will bring some water for all
of you.”
When Nakula reached the pond, he was mesmerised
at the fabulous sight in front of him – the crystal-clear
water was surrounded by beautiful trees, creepers
and flowers. Then he remembered his thirst and stepped
into the pond. He wanted to drink a little water before
taking it back to his brothers.
Just as he was about to take a sip, there was
a loud voice from the skies above. “Don’t drink this
water, Nakula.”
Nakula stopped, stood up straight and looked around.
There was nobody in sight.
“I am the owner of this pond,” said
the voice. “You have to answer my questions before
you proceed. You can take the water only if I am happy
with your replies.”
“Maybe I’m just too tired and that’s
why I am hearing voices,” thought
2017 2017
Nakula. Ignoring the voice, he bent down to drink “O Yudhishthira, “What is man’s worst enemy?”
the water again. “Anger.”
The voice repeated the warning. But by then, I bless you. You are truly “What disease will never have a cure?”
Nakula was too thirsty and drank the water. “Greed is incurable.”
Satisfied, he turned around and started walking away a follower of your path. The yaksha smiled again. “A last question, my friend.
from the pond. Suddenly, he fell to the ground and died. What is life’s biggest irony?”
Meanwhile, Yudhishthira was starting to get worried I grant back the lives “It is the desire to live eternally.
about Nakula. He said to Sahadeva, “Go and find out Every day, we encounter people dying
what’s taking Nakula so long.”
of all your brothers. but we always think that death will
The tired and hungry Sahadeva reached the same From this day on, never come to us.”
pond and saw his younger brother lying dead on “Yudhishthira,” said the yaksha. “I am pleased with
one side. Shocked and upset, he took a few minutes you will also be known your answers. So I will grant you the life of any one of
to calm down and then, unable to take the thirst any your brothers.”
more, hurried to the pond to drink some water. as Dharmaraja “I choose Nakula,” responded Yudhishthira immediately.
As soon as he touched the water, the voice warned “Yudhishthira, you will need warriors like Arjuna
him, “Be careful, young man. Stop whatever or the king of dharma” or Bhima in the war that’s coming. What makes
you are doing and listen to me first. If you don’t, you choose your stepbrother Nakula instead of
you will share the same fate as that man lying there.” your mighty brothers?”
Disregarding the warning, Sahadeva drank the water Yudhishthira bowed to the yaksha. “My father,
and immediately fell dead. decide whether you can drink from the pond or not.” Pandu, had two wives, Kunti and Madri,” he explained.
When Sahadeva also didn’t come back, Yudhishthira Yudhishthira thought for a while and stepped back. “While my mother, Kunti, had three sons, mother Madri
turned to Arjuna. “Take your bow and arrow and find our “Fine,’ he said. “Ask me your questions. I will try my had twins – Nakula and Sahadeva. If I choose Arjuna
brothers,” he said to the master archer. “I suspect some best to answer them... but, tell me first, who are you?” or Bhima, it will be unfair to my other mother, Madri,
danger has befallen Nakula and Sahadeva.” Suddenly, Yudhishthira saw a yaksha approaching who will be left with no sons of her own. I must be fair
Arjuna saw his dead brothers lying near the pond, him. The being sat in front of him and began firing and hence I choose one of her sons. That is the call
and looked around carefully for the hidden foe. Then, questions rapidly at him. of dharma – to live with compassion and conscience,
overcome by thirst, he, too, bent close to the water. “What is bigger than the Earth?” the yaksha asked. without bias and in peace.”
Right on cue, the voice repeated its warning to Arjuna. “A mother,” replied Yudhishthira. The yaksha was delighted. “O Yudhishthira, I bless
“Show yourself! Come out and talk “What is taller than the sky?” you. You are truly a follower of your path. I grant back
to me,” Arjuna roared. “If you don’t, I will use my “A father.” the lives of all your brothers. From this day on, you will
shabdavedi arrow and destroy you.” “What is faster than the wind?” also be known as Dharmaraja or the king of dharma.”
Without waiting for the voice to respond, Arjuna “The mind, of course.” Yudhishthira smiled. Thus Nakula, Sahadeva, Arjuna and Bhima came
drank the water and dropped dead immediately. “What grows faster than hay?” back to life and together they knelt down in front
Now, Yudhishthira sent the mighty Bhima, “Worry.” of the yaksha.
the strongest of the five brothers, to the pond. When “What is the greatest dharma in the world?” queried Yudhishthira said, “I am sure that you aren’t just
Bhima saw Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva and heard the yaksha. a yaksha. You killed my four brothers within seconds
the voice, he shook in anger, but the same fate befell “Compassion and conscience.” and you revived them equally quickly. You must be
him as well. “With whom is friendship never-ending?” Lord Vishnu or Lord Shiva or someone just as powerful.
Finally, the weary and thirsty Yudhishthira trudged “With good people,” responded Yudhishthira Will you please reveal your true identity to us?”
to the pond himself. When he saw his brothers lying patiently. The yaksha then transformed into Yamaraja, the god
dead on the ground, he rushed to examine them. “What is the secret to never feeling unhappy?” of death. “I bless all of you,” he said, smiling. “I am the
There were no physical injuries on their bodies. “If one can control his or her mind, one who went to the poor man in the form of the deer,
Yudhishthira understood that they had not been then that person will never feel sad.” causing you to come here. I would like to give you
in a fight and that some other forces were at play. The yaksha increased his pace now. “What is a boon. Tell me, what would you like?”
Yudhishthira went closer to the pond to have a sip the greatest kind of wealth?” “O Yamaraja, give us a boon that will allow us to
of water. Just as he was about to commit the same “Education.” live the thirteenth year of our exile in anonymity,
mistake as his brothers, the voice spoke yet again. “What is the greatest kind of profit?” as is the condition of the bet that we lost. If we are
“My child, stop. I own this pond and you can’t drink “Health.” recognised, then we are bound to repeat the thirteen
the water unless I say so. See what happened to your “What is the greatest kind of happiness?” years of exile again. Please help us disguise ourselves
brothers because of their arrogance. I only want to ask “Contentment,” said Yudhishthira, ever during that year,” said Yudhishthira.
you some questions and hear your replies. Then I will prompt with his replies. “So be it,” said Yamaraja.
February 2017 63
| ANIMALS
NATURE
While we know our furry friends are brilliant

companions, Dr John Bradshaw finds out if they
could actually be making us healthier too
ISTOCK
64 February 2017
71
| ANIMALS
NATURE
D
OGS: the universal stress-buster. That’s the claim experiments. In this kind of research, a scientist will usually
increasingly made for ‘man’s best friend’ as dogs find ask a person to read aloud to a stranger (which seems pretty
their way into all kinds of unexpected medical tame compared to the sheer terror of an exam).
situations. Last year, my own institution, the University of Nevertheless, measurable reductions in stress have been
Bristol, teamed up with the Guide Dogs charity to offer recorded just by placing a dog in the same room as the
stressed students a puppy play session. This was by no means subject. If stroking the dog is allowed, the reduction in
the first of its kind: more than a thousand universities have stress is even greater. Moreover, it’s not simply that the
put animal visitation programmes into place to help students. reader reports feeling less stressed, it’s actually ref lected
At Bristol University, the 600 slots quickly filled up. Yet the in their physiology too: their blood pressure falls and their
students’ enthusiasm is supported by research. In one study, heart beats more slowly and rhythmically.
after as little as seven minutes’ interaction with a friendly
dog, students reported significantly less anxiety and greater Different strokes
feelings of contentment. Viewing a slideshow of the same Long-term stress is a trigger for heart disease, so not
dog for the same length of time had no effect on their mood. surprisingly it’s been suggested – and is now widely believed
It seems that actually stroking and playing with the dog is – that the relaxing effect of contact with dogs might benefit
crucial. Sorry, YouTube. cardiovascular health over a lifetime. Early studies supported
As well as stress, dogs are widely touted as a panacea for this idea, showing that dog owners were more likely to
all kinds of ills such as high blood pressure, loneliness, heart recover from heart attacks than people with no pets.
disease and depression, to name but a few. A quick search of However, the act of petting alone is unlikely to have been
the internet will reveal countless articles extolling the health a major factor, since cat owners seem to be more susceptible
benefits of keeping pets. Some of these claims are supported to heart disease. Focus therefore shifted to the known
by science, others remain to be investigated thoroughly, benefits of taking regular moderate exercise, which many
while a few seem to be little more than wishful thinking. dog owners do. Not all, of course: a surprising number of pet
So what does canine companionship really offer? dogs get their only exercise in their owner’s back garden.
Dogs at universities
have helped students Stressed students clearly value the calming sensation of Moreover, many dog walkers seem more interested in their
de-stress stroking a dog, and this effect is well supported by smartphones than what their dog is up to, and are therefore
2017 2017
THE MAKING OF MAN’S BEST FRIEND
Can we tell when dogs were first domesticated?

When and where dogs were first samples from the 30,000-year-old skulls
domesticated is still hotly debated among mentioned earlier are currently being
scientists. There are a few hard facts that all studied, and it has already been shown that
agree on: dogs were once wolves (and not ancient dogs preserved in the Alaskan
jackals, as Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz permafrost were descended from Asian
once maintained) and they were the first wolves, not American ones.
animal to be domesticated, some time in the Indeed, the ancient DNA may turn out to
late Pleistocene before the dawn of be more informative than the DNA of living
agriculture. Beyond that, there is little dogs. Because dogs have been carried
agreement. The earliest archaeological hither and thither around the world, for
remains that are unequivocally dogs and not thousands of years, their current
wolves date from 14,000 years ago, but distribution may tell us very little of their
30,000-year-old skulls have been origins – hence the competing claims of
discovered in France and Belgium that are different groups of scientists that dogs
not pure wolf and may be dogs. variously originated in eastern Asia,
With such baffling archaeological Mongolia, Siberia, Europe or Africa.
evidence, most scientists have turned to But why were the animals domesticated
DNA to find out when and where dogs were in the first place? The most recent theory
first domesticated. Tens of thousands of is that dogs domesticated themselves,
blood samples have been taken from street initially living as scavengers in and
dogs around the world, for comparison with around our villages. Today, this is a way of
those of wolves. It’s even possible to life still shared by three-quarters of a Ancient cave paintings
analyse DNA from ancient bones: minute billion unowned dogs worldwide. in Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria, appear
to depict dogs alongside humans
Perhaps they get a cat instead, which would account for the
generally poorer health of cat owners compared to the rest
A 20-YEAR-OLD MAN WAS MORE SUCCESSFUL of the population.
IN OBTAINING YOUNG WOMEN’S PHONE Working dogs

Dogs can do more for their owners than just get them
NUMBERS IF HE HAD A DOG AT HIS SIDE outdoors: they also provide companionship to a degree
unmatched by any other animal. Some dog owners
even like to take their pets into the office. In fact,
unlikely to walk sufficiently fast to enhance their campaigns to persuade companies to allow dogs in
cardiovascular health. the workplace have been gathering momentum since
It’s been claimed that dog owners get more exercise walking the turn of the millennium.
their pet than someone who takes out a gym membership. While office workers’ stress levels generally increase
But perhaps that’s not much of a claim, since over half of from the beginning to the end of the working day, studies
people who take out an annual gym subscription in January have shown that, if employees are allowed to bring their
have stopped going by April. And, even though some dog dogs in, they actually feel less stressed by the end of the
BHAGESH SACHANIA/UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL, GETTY

owners undoubtedly do take more moderate exercise than day. It’s unclear how co-workers feel about sharing their
people with no dog to walk, this doesn’t seem to translate into space with other people’s animals, but anecdotally it seems
their living any longer. Perhaps dog ownership, compared as though a dog can reduce tensions by providing a focus
with a brief encounter with a dog cared for by someone else, for conversation.
is stress-neutral: the daily routine of exercising the dog may Several studies have confirmed that dogs do indeed
be relaxing, but owning an animal can be stressful, bring people together. In one, conducted in France, it was
particularly if it is disobedient or prone to illness. found that a 20-year-old man was far more successful in
Recently, the American Heart Association has stated that obtaining young women’s phone numbers if he had a dog
dog ownership is “probably associated” with a reduced risk at his side: fewer than one in 10 complied if he was on his
of heart disease. Since this doesn’t seem to translate into dog own, one in three if he was with the pooch.
owners living longer, there may be another explanation. While there are certain drawbacks to bringing dogs to
It could be that it works the other way around: people with work, including complaints from those with allergies, and
poor health think twice before embarking on the conf licts with religious beliefs, they do seem to bring
responsibility of caring for a dog for the next 15 or so years. about a general lightening of mood.
February 2017 67
| ANIMALS
NATURE
DOG MYTHS BUSTED
OLD DOGS CAN’T BE TAUGHT

NEW TRICKS
Nonsense. Like all animals, dogs find it easier
to learn while they’re young, but their brains
are still capable of altering established
patterns of behaviour, well into middle age.
DOGS HAVE A BETTER SENSE

OF SMELL THAN CATS DO
Yes and no. If we’re talking about the dog’s
actual nose, then it is 10 to 100 times more
sensitive than a cat’s. But both cats and
dogs have a second ‘nose’ called the
vomeronasal organ, and the cat’s is
the more sensitive.
DOGS CAN FEEL GUILTY

Nope, their emotions are probably restricted
to simple ‘gut feelings’ like joy, anger, fear
and anxiety. The clues that owners interpret
as a dog’s ‘guilty look’ are actually signs
that the dog is anticipating punishment,
but doesn’t know what it’s done wrong.
DOGS PREFER CANINE

COMPANY Forever friends: 12,000-year-old
Wrong again. Given the choice, most dogs skeletal remains of a human and dog,
prefer to spend time with people, and photographed in Israel
become distressed when their owners
leave the house. Therefore, taking dogs
to work probably benefits them even
more than their owners. Paws for thought
So, it appears that dogs build bridges between people and
make their owners seem more trustworthy. These may be
the main benefits that dogs provide for veterans of conf lict
A HEALTHY DOG ALWAYS HAS
who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and
A WET NOSE
other mental health difficulties. Although it has been
Partly true. While a dry nose may be a sign suggested that all veterans should have dogs, some find dog
of illness or dehydration, it may also be
ownership too difficult. Trained PTSD dogs will bring the
because the dog has just woken up and
not licked its nose yet.
same stress-reducing benefits as any dog, but, to be effective,
they also need to be trained to respond to the needs of their
owner, whether that’s waking them from nightmares,
DOGS NEED TO BE bringing medicines, or leading them to safety when they
‘KEPT IN THEIR PLACE’ experience a panic attack.
No. Current scientific thinking on dogs’ minds A dog’s capacity to bring people together may also explain
indicates that they are highly unlikely to have their effectiveness in many kinds of therapy, including the
any concept of their position within the family benefits that dogs bring to nursing homes, especially to those
GETTY X7, ISTOCK
hierarchy. Furthermore, although physical institutions that care for individuals suffering from dementia.
punishment used to be a staple technique in In one recent Italian study, scientists examined the reactions
dog training, studies have shown that it creates of dog-loving residents to regular half-hour sessions with
disobedient and anxious dogs. therapy dogs. Playing with the dogs brought about
2017 2017
THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT SOME CHILDREN
WITH AUTISM-SPECTRUM DISORDERS
BENEFIT FROM THE COMPANY OF A DOG
a remarkable change in the residents’ behaviour. They went to read our body language – and their ultra-sensitive
from being largely apathetic to become more active and noses. Seizure Alert Dogs are now being trained to assist
animated, but also more spontaneous with the dogs – people with metabolic conditions such as brittle diabetes
for example, throwing a ball for the animals to retrieve. and Addison’s disease, but the original idea came from
Another notable feature of interaction with dogs is the the dogs themselves, some of which seem to have taught
extent to which elderly residents reach out and touch them, themselves to alert their owners to an impending attack.
reducing their feelings of emotional isolation. It’s not known precisely how they do this, but a dog’s
Unfortunately, although claims have been made that ability to detect minute changes in the body odour of
contact with dogs might improve mental functioning, the subject must play a part.
no such benefits have been detected. The relationship between us and dogs has been in
There is evidence that some children with autism- existence for over 10,000 years, and shows no signs of
spectrum disorders benefit from the company of a dog. weakening. But it is changing, as the traditional tasks that
Some such children form intense relationships with dogs performed have been supplemented by new roles.
animals, seemingly finding them easier to relate to. Getting a dog may not automatically make you healthier,
One recent study from France indicated that, to be but, if you train it well, it will undoubtedly make you
effective, the dog has to be obtained when the child is happier – and encourage you to make new friends.
old enough to interact with it: such children tend to
ignore pets that were there when they were a baby.
But dogs really come into their own when they can Dr John Bradshaw is an anthrozoologist based at the School of
combine their outgoing natures with their incredible ability Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol. the UK.
February 2017 69
70
SCIENCE
| GENETICS
February 2017
ARE YOU A
GENETIC
SUPERHERO?
Recent research has revealed a handful of ‘superheroes’
walking among us, whose DNA gifts them with resistance
against serious diseases. Now, as Kat Amey observes, just have
to find them…
February 2017 71
| GENETICS
SCIENCE
S
UPERHEROES are everywhere
right now. Righting wrongs,
saving planets and generally
punching each other senseless in films,
comic books and TV shows. But just as
Clark Kent wanders unrecognised
through the world, only turning into
Superman when his help is needed,
there are genetic superheroes dwelling
among us, and, in most cases, they’re
completely unaware of their amazing
powers. Only now, by trawling
through the DNA of thousands of
people, are we discovering their
hidden identities.
Gaulty genes
Dr Cisca Wijmenga and her team at
the University of Groningen in the
Netherlands never set out to find
superheroes. Their project was
important but unexciting: reading
the DNA of 250 Dutch families to
establish a baseline for the genetic
make-up of the country. Then, as
future studies turned up interesting
gene variations and faults (mutations)
linked to disease, they would be able to
tell if they were genuinely responsible
for causing illness or just part of the
underlying DNA of Dutchness.
Then they found them.
Two unlikely heroes, both in their
There are hundreds of healthy

Dutch people going about their
daily lives, defying the faulty
genes within them
sixties and both carrying two faulty And there was more. Wijmenga
copies of a gene called SERPIN A1 points to other examples in the data,
(we usually have two copies of every such as the 177 people in her study
gene, one from mum and the other who should by rights have a genetic
from dad). This particular gene disease called pseudoachondroplasia.
normally makes a protein that helps The condition leads to unusually short
to protect the tubes and air sacs in the stature and joint pains. But most of
lungs. Without it, these delicate the individuals were just fine.
structures start to break down, causing The list goes on: Wolfram syndrome
serious breathing problems by 30 to (high blood sugar, sight and hearing
40 years of age. But these two loss); Wilson disease (liver problems
individuals had both made it into and psychiatric issues); Niemann-Pick
GETTY
their sixties without suffering from disease (nerve problems and failure
any severe lung problems. to grow properly in childhood),
2017 2017
Above: The tests and more. There are hundreds of population revealed that nearly somehow perfectly healthy.
by the Dutch team healthy Dutch people going about 8 per cent of the island’s inhabitants Led by Dr Rong Chen at the Icahn
found some their daily lives, defying the faulty carry two copies of ‘bad’ versions School of Medicine at Mount Sinai,
surprising genetic genes within them. of disease-causing genes, but many New York, along with Dr Eric Schadt
mutations among A similar study by Prof David van of them are perfectly fine. and Prof Stephen Friend, the scientists
the population.
Heel and his team at Queen Mary These findings aren’t just limited trawled global databases containing
University of London came out in to humans either. Researchers have information about people’s DNA
March 2016, looking at the DNA discovered dogs carrying a genetic and whether they were affected by
Left: SERPIN A1 is of more than 3,200 British Pakistanis variation that protects them against any illnesses. The team focused on
the gene that living in east London. It revealed the doggy version of Duchenne mutations responsible for childhood
provides instructions 38 people carrying faulty or missing muscular dystrophy. genetic diseases, known as highly
for making a type versions of genes linked to serious penetrant Mendelian diseases
of protein (blue) that
blocks the activity diseases. Yet the majority were Real superheroes (see overleaf ), where carrying two
of certain enzymes perfectly healthy. In the close-knit Then, in April 2016, came the big one. copies of a faulty gene, or even just
(green). When there Pakistani community, where there are “Thirteen anonymous genetic one in some cases, is enough to cause
are faults with high levels of marriage between blood superheroes walk among us,” severe effects.
SERPIN A1, relatives, there’s an increased chance proclaimed the headlines, reporting To start with, Chen spotted around
structures in that people will inherit two dodgy on an impressive analysis of more 15,000 individuals who could be
the body can
copies of a given gene. And although than half a million people’s genetic heroes, carrying ‘bad’ mutations in
break down.
there are definitely higher levels of make-up. A team of US researchers nearly 200 genes linked to more than
genetic diseases in this group, they known as the Resilience Project 160 severe diseases. Further analysis
aren’t as high as might be expected. discovered that this lucky handful narrowed this down to 300 people,
Similarly, a 2015 study on the carry mutations that should leave finally ending up with strong evidence
genetically reclusive Icelandic them with serious illnesses, yet are for the existence of just 13 who
February 2017 73
| GENETICS
SCIENCE
were resilient to a selection of eight identity mix-ups along the way (not
genetic conditions. unusual in such large-scale projects)
GENES AND MUTATIONS: Three were resistant to cystic or that they do actually have mild or
A QUICK REFRESHER
fibrosis, a serious disease affecting even more severe forms of the
the lungs and other organs. conditions they appear to have evaded.
Another three were unaffected by There may be other issues too.
What is DNA? gene faults that should have caused The biggest is the mutation database
DNA is the genetic instruction major bone abnormalities, known as itself. This is the resource that lists all
manual in our cells. Genes atelosteogenesis. Two were immune the genetic faults known to be linked
are stretches of DNA that to the impact of mutations in a gene to diseases. This makes Wijmenga
act as ‘recipes’ for making called DHCR7, usually responsible sceptical about the powers of many of
molecules called proteins, for a severe developmental disorder the individuals she found in her study.
which build our bodies known as Smith-Lemli-Opitz “All of them are disease genes, but
and keep them working. syndrome. Another five had their own some of them are really common in the
unique genetic superpowers against a Dutch population, and that makes you
selection of brain, bone, skin and auto- wonder if those are true mutations or
What is a mutation? immune diseases. they just ended up in the database in
the past but don’t actually cause
Changes in genes (mutations) Holding out for a hero disease,” she says. “For some of these
can affect the protein they Frustratingly, the identities of these variants, around 90 per cent of the
encode, making it more or masked men and women will remain people have the mutant version,
less active, or causing a mystery. Due to anonymisation which doesn’t make sense if it’s a real
disease. For example, if you and lack of the right consent to re- mutation. These things should be rare.
have a mutation in the gene contact the people in the databases, So this tells us that the databases aren’t
BRCA2 (pictured), you have a the Resilience Project wasn’t able to that good.”
higher risk of breast cancer. track any of them down for further That said, there’s still evidence
investigation. This problem has led that some superheroes, at least in the
to some criticisms of the study: there’s genetic sense, are real. And although
How do mutations still a chance that there may have been the identities of those in the Resilience
happen?
Mutations can be inherited
or can occur when eggs Cystic fibrosis is caused
when a child inherits the faulty
and sperm are made, or in mutation (red) from both their
the fertilised egg (pictured left). mum and their dad.
Can adults get mutations?

Mutations can occur in the DNA
within cells in the adult body.
While these changes can’t be
passed on to the next gener-
ation, they can lead to diseases.
For example, smoking damages
DNA, which can cause lung
cancer (pictured).
Should I worry?
As well as rare disease-
causing mutations, we each
have thousands of minor
genetic changes – known as
variations – that have lesser
effects on our bodies, brains
and health.
2017 2017
Project’s first study will never be
known, the next phase promises to
bring a new generation of heroes into The plan is to recruit up to a million people
the spotlight. The plan is to recruit up
to a million people from the general from the population, find the superheroes
among them, and figure out how they got
population, find the superheroes
among them, figure out how they
their powers
got their powers, and work out how
to harness them for good.
“At this point, it still sounds rather
ambitious and crazy to say things like
that,” explains Jason Bobe, founding to believe they are a superhero and what’s so special about this guy?
director of Harvard’s Personal are resilient to disease. In some cases, How did he get lucky?”
Genome Project, who’s been brought they may have incredibly strong Bobe is also keen to attract people
in to head up the search. “It’s like evidence for this. who have no reason to believe they’re
claiming that you have a platinum “For example, we’ve found a guy superheroes, just regular genetic Joes
record without first writing a hit song, who has a really strong family history with no strong family history of
and the challenges of reaching a large of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, disease, but who are interested in
GETTY X4, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY X3

number of people are serious.” which is typically fatal within 10 years. finding out more about their genomes
He’s after three types of people He’s had a dozen family members die and getting involved in research.
to get involved, signing up through of this disease, which only takes one Falling into the third category
an interactive app that will take them mutation. He’s almost 70 now and are those people who are affected by
through consent forms and figured that he dodged that genetic a serious Mendelian disease, because
questionnaires – almost like Facebook bullet,” explains Bobe. “So he joined they’re clearly not resilient.
for genetics – evolving over time into a research study and, to his surprise, he “If you’re actually suffering from
the most ambitious genetic research discovered that he actually has the very the disease, there’s still a role for you
project ever undertaken. The first same mutation that killed so many of too,” Bobe explains. “We would love
group of people who Bobe is keen to his family. Then the question becomes to have the participation of people
hear from is those who have reason
M E N D E L IAN D ISEASES
ONE GENE, ONE DISEASE?

Just one copy of a faulty gene is
enough to cause a genetic condition
We inherit two copies of every gene, one from mum, the other from
dad, and they are not necessarily the same. Scientists have discovered
hundreds of diseases that are caused by inheriting either two copies
of a faulty gene, known as recessive mutations, or just one (a dominant
mutation). These are known as Mendelian diseases, after Gregor
Mendel (pictured) who first laid down rules about how traits are
inherited. Recessive mutations usually break the gene’s function,
so people with one copy are unaffected as their remaining
healthy gene can compensate. But even inheriting two
recessive or one dominant Mendelian disease fault
doesn’t necessarily mean someone will be
severely affected. Genetic superheroes are
at the extreme end of this spectrum,
carrying ‘bad’ gene faults but appearing
to be healthy.
February 2017 75
| GENETICS
SCIENCE
Below: Dr Cisca Wijmenga is leading the Dutch

study into genetic superheroes.
Bottom: In this digital representation of the human

genome, each colour represents one of the four
chemical components of DNA.
“In the past, we had this kind of

black-and-white idea about genetics
but now there are all shades of grey”
dealing with and managing these how they’re doing it. Take the
NWO/IVAR PEL, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY X2, GETTY
diseases to serve sort of as a example of the man who dodged the

National Guard, so, when we do find Alzheimer’s bullet.
somebody who resilient to cystic “It’s what I like to call a smoking
fibrosis, we would love to call upon airbag, the opposite of the smoking
all those individuals with cystic fibrosis gun. This guy has had an airbag in
to serve as controls in the decoding.” his biology that has gone off and we
need to find it, but it’s looking for
Deciphering the data the needle in the haystack.
It’s this part, the decoding, where What other genetic or
things get really hard. As the previous environmental factors in this guy’s
studies have shown, superheroes are life have enabled him to escape this
out there and are relatively easy to find. disease, where in every other case
But the big challenge is working out that we’ve seen it’s been fatal,”
2017 2017
running around with these
mutations but still have no disease,” H ER O HUNT
she says.
“I think if we found out that this is
environmental, then that’s even
ARE YOU
better. If you can find out what
those environmental factors are, you
A GENETIC
have much better ways to treat
people with ‘bad’ genes. It is much
SUPERHERO?
harder to change your genetics than The Resilience Project was
your environment.” planned to begin its first
Whether it’s nature, nurture phase of recruitment in
or a combination of the two, the
autumn 2016. It will initially
existence of genetic superheroes
launch in the US, before
tells us that strictly Mendelian ideas
about one gene fault always leading expanding to other countries.
to one disease are far too simplistic. It will take people through a
Now we’re starting to rif le through short survey to assess their
the genes of the fit and well, we’re chances of being resilient to
finding all kinds of surprises. For a genetic diseases. Find out
start, we need to start viewing more and sign up for updates
people who carry genes for ‘pure’ at resilienceproject.com
Mendelian diseases as existing along
a spectrum, ranging from severely
affected at one end to superheroes at
the other. And, in fact, everyone’s a
bit mutant, carrying up to 40 ‘bad’
gene faults.
explains Bobe. Above: Niemann- As head of a clinical genetics
“Now that we have molecular Pick disease causes department, Wijmenga finds this
tools like whole genome a fatty substance ambiguity challenging. “We’re
sequencing, we can generate a lot called sphingomyelin dealing on a daily basis with
to accumulate
of data on this one person and try in the body, as seen patients,” she says. “We sequence
to identify the factor that’s in this bone marrow. their genome and find a mutation,
providing protection. Because, Some individuals and we have to predict what we
if we can identify something like in the Dutch study think that means.
a protective mutation that’s actually had the genes It’s important that we have a
fending off this heritable disease, for it, but are much better understanding of
seemingly healthy.
then we can identify either our genome and when a
preventive strategies or maybe mutation matters and when it
develop new therapies.” doesn’t. In the past we had
The environment may also play this kind of black-and-white
a role in determining whether idea but now there are all shades of
someone succumbs to the effects grey. It’s an interesting time to be a
of a mutation or not. That could geneticist, I would say!”
cover anything from a person’s diet
and lifestyle to the womb where
Kat Arney is a London-based science
they grew from a single cell into
writer and broadcaster. Her first
a baby. It’s this aspect, that most book, Herding Hemingway’s Cats:
excites Wijmenga. Understanding How Our Genes Work
“In the end there are still people (Bloomsbury Sigma) is out now.
February 2017 77
| AMERICA’S FIRST SUPER-RICH
HISTORY
Rise of the
Robber
Barons
Grasping monopolists or American heroes?
Adam IP Smith tells the story of a new
breed of ruthless businessmen who made
fortunes from oil, steel and railroads in
the second half of the 19th century
R
AILWAY bosses were not supposed ‘the Commodore’, as he was known – was
to order their own freight cars the man who showed what could be done
to be burned. But, in 1859, if you disregarded old rules and made
the superintendent of the western your own. In the 1850s, Vanderbilt was
division of the Pennsylvania Railroad engaged in fierce competition to control
– a diminutive, barrel-chested 24-year- the lucrative sea route to California via
old Scotsman called Andrew Carnegie Central America. At one stage, his rivals
– did exactly that. From a business point paid him a subsidy in exchange for him
of view, Carnegie’s logic was impec- suspending his line.
cable, if unconventional: a derailed train To the Times, though, Vanderbilt’s
was blocking the line, and it would be behaviour was literally robbery.
quicker and cheaper to destroy it than to He resembled “those old German barons
Jack and the Wall Street haul it to the nearest depot. Keeping who, from their eyries along the Rhine,
Giants, Udo J Keppler’s
c1904 cartoon in the the network moving, Carnegie realised, swooped down upon the commerce of the
satirical magazine was the highest priority. noble river and wrung tribute from every
Puck, depicts President The metaphor is irresistible: Andrew passenger that floated by.” The label
Theodore Roosevelt
(below right) facing Carnegie, on his way to becoming one ‘robber baron’ was born in that angry
‘robber barons’ including of the richest men the world has ever
John D Rockefeller and known, ruthlessly destroying anything
JP Morgan
that stood in his way.
In February of the same year, The
New York Times used a sinister simile to
attack Cornelius Vanderbilt – a man
born in the 18th century, when travel
times were limited to the speed of
the fastest horse, but who went on to
dominate the early development of both
steam ships and railroads.
To Carnegie’s ambitious generation,
the venerable Vanderbilt – or
78 February 2017
editorial; 20 years later, it was in wide By 1890, railroads employed around
circulation as withering shorthand for three per cent of the entire national
the handful of men who dominated workforce, or 800,000 men – many times
business in what Mark Twain dubbed more than worked for the government or
“the Gilded Age.” served in the armed forces.
In the wake of the American Civil The personification of these otherwise
War, with the nation reunited on the impersonal organisations, the robber barons
back of the abolition of slavery, these were, among other things, literally cartoon
so-called robber barons – generally characters. Their names and faces became
identified as Vanderbilt, Carnegie, familiar to millions through the pages of
John D Rockefeller and a handful satirical illustrated magazines such as Puck
of other hard-nosed and hugely in which the titans of industry were drawn
successful businessmen of that era – as crooked hucksters carving up the
profited from one of the most profound country, or as obscene octopuses strangling
revolutions in the human experience: the populace. The cartoons fed into a mass
the transition from a society in which movement to defend the principle of
most people were either self-employed government of, for and by the people against
or in some form of unfree labour, the monopolists who had stolen the
to one in which most worked for wages. American dream.
Ida Tarbell, a feisty journalist
Bigger is better whose father’s oil-producing
One thing they all had in common business in western Pennsylvania
was that they made their money from had been ruined by Rockefeller, was
the relentless logic of the economies the most acerbic of the critics. Tarbell
of scale. By driving out competition, and her millions of sympathetic readers
controlling the supply and distribution were fighting, they thought, to defend the
chains, and keeping wages as low as dying ideal of an egalitarian republic of
possible, the robber barons ruthlessly small-scale farmers and artisans.
cut costs. They forged their path in For others, however, the likes of Carnegie
the business world at a time when new and Rockefeller were heroic entrepreneurs
technologies – steel, oil refining, who were making America a steam-powered
railroads and steam-powered factory superpower. They were the real-life proof
technology – were remaking the of the moral wisdom of those immensely
material basis of the western world. popular Horatio Alger stories for young boys
They were the exploiters, not the in which, in America, hard work always paid
inventors: men who took small-scale off and the poor could rise up.
operations and scaled them up, and Critics and fans alike saw the robber
then up again. barons, for good or ill, as the masters of
Size was everything. As John D this new world. But these men did not
Rockefeller realised, one big oil refinery always see it that way at all. They were,
was vastly more efficient than 20 small by their own accounts, driven as much by
ones. Similarly, as Jay Gould and Leland anxiety as optimism. Neither Horatio
Stanford were to demonstrate, big Alger’s heroes nor Ida Tarbell’s villains, they
railways with no competition could saw themselves as the necessary instruments
move more freight and charge higher by which the economy could be managed.
rates than a bunch of small railroads Rockefeller and Carnegie claimed that
competing for the same traffic. they were motivated not by personal
The robber barons created the world’s ambition but by public-spiritedness.
first large-scale corporations –
impersonal organisations that, with the
aid of bankers such as JP Morgan, could
raise undreamed-of capital from
financial markets. When Morgan
ACCORDING TO THE TIMES,
bought Carnegie’s steel business in VANDERBILT RESEMBLED “THOSE GERMAN
1901, he paid the equivalent of
BARONS WHO, FROM THEIR EYRIES ALONG
GETTY IMAGES
US$370bn in today’s money.

Rockefeller’s Standard Oil totally
dominated the world’s production,
THE RHINE, SWOOPED DOWN AND WRUNG
refinement and distribution of oil. TRIBUTE FROM EVERY PASSENGER”
February 2017 79
| AMERICA’S FIRST SUPER-RICH
HISTORY
Three titans of big business

THE TOUGH PHILANTHROPIST
Andrew Carnegie
1835 – 1919
Wealth: He sold Carnegie Steel for
US$480m – if calculated as a share of
GDP today, at least US$370bn.
How he made his money: Steel. Carnegie
was born in Fife into a family of struggling
weavers who emigrated to western
Pennsylvania in search of a better life when
young Andrew was 13. He worked his way up
from telegraph messenger boy to a senior
position in the Pennsylvania Railroad, thanks
to the patronage of railroad president Tom
Scott. Avoiding service in the Civil War by
paying for a substitute to fight in his place,
Carnegie made his mark, and the basis of his
fortune, by investing in steel companies.
THE FIRST OF THE BARONS His innovation was to find ways of using new
processes and technologies to produce steel
Cornelius Vanderbilt more cheaply and in vastly greater quantities THE OIL BILLIONAIRE
1794 – 1877 than ever before. Driving out competition and
buying out all his suppliers, Carnegie’s
Wealth: At his death, Vanderbilt’s fortune companies provided, among other things, John D Rockefeller
was estimated to be around US$100m the rails that crisscrossed America in the 1839 – 1937
which, as a share of US GDP at the time, late 19th century.
Wealth: The world’s first dollar billionaire,
makes him perhaps the second-wealthiest
How he spent it: He gave away 95 per his fortune at the time of his death was
American in history, after only John
cent of his fortune in his lifetime, endowing estimated to be around US$1.4bn, making
D Rockefeller.
libraries, universities and concert halls, him by far the richest man in the country,
How he made his money: Shipping, and campaigning for international peace. then or since.
then railroads. Vanderbilt began work as
Legacy: He was culpable for vicious labour How he made his money: Oil. The son
a ferryman in New York City harbour, soon
relations, but was also a great philanthropist. of a bigamist father and a devout mother,
working his way into a partnership with the
from a young age, Rockefeller had a steely
operator of a state-of-the-art steamboat.
determination to make money. Like
By the 1850s, he ran a transatlantic
Carnegie, he avoided military service in
passenger line and was competing hard,
the Civil War, going into partnership to
using every trick in the book to dominate
build his first oil refinery in 1863. In the
the lucrative transport route to California.
1870s he built a near-monopoly, squeezing
(At that time by far the cheapest and
out the competition and agreeing
quickest way to the goldfields was to take
exclusive discounts with railroads to
a ship from New York to Panama or
transport his products. He was a great
Nicaragua, make an overland crossing
practitioner of vertical integration,
from the east coast to the west, then
bringing every element of the supply
embark again for the sea journey up the
train, from western Pennsylvania oil
North American Pacific coast.) After 1860,
drillers to distributors and retailers, into
Vanderbilt sold his shipping interests
his business empire. His Standard Oil
and invested in railroads instead. He
was the first ‘trust’, a new kind of vast
spent the final 10 years of his life building
corporate entity that contained, in this
up the New York Central, the principal
case, 41 other corporations. At its height,
route from New York City to Chicago.
Standard Oil controlled 95 per cent of the
How he spent it: Establishing one of oil business in the US.
his sons as his heir. Not one of the great
How he spent it: Creating foundations
philanthropists, he nevertheless endowed
supporting education and science.
Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
Legacy: He was an innovator in corporate
Legacy: Vanderbilt was the first of the
structure – the great monopolist.
so-called ‘robber barons’.
Andrew Carnegie, who

latterly gave away some
US$350m of his fortune
80
The two were hardly soulmates
(Carnegie got a kick out of giving an
annual Christmas present of fine Scotch
whisky to the teetotal Rockefeller) but
they each developed a theory of
capitalism according to which the vast
organisations they built were the
necessary means of managing the
hellishly disruptive forces unleashed by
industrialisation.
Their companies, they argued,
reduced inefficiency and wasteful
over-production. Where there was
chaos, they brought order; where there
was strife, they brought harmony.
This was a breathtaking inversion of how New York’s Carnegie Hall is packed to the rafters on its opening night in 1891. The world-famous concert
many saw them, but it was repeated with hall was funded by the magnate who gave it its name, Andrew Carnegie
conviction, and it drew on a coherent
and, to them, self-evidently true
narrative of their careers.
A prime example concerns how
CARNEGIE HAD A GREAT DESIRE FOR PUBLIC ADULATION
Rockefeller understood the crucial AND A HUGE DETERMINATION TO PRESENT HIMSELF
turning point in his business career.
This occurred in the early 1870s, at a
AS ACTING ALWAYS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST
time of falling prices in the nascent
oil-refining business, when he leveraged Great Depression, they abandoned in the right hands, such as his own) bring
a freight deal with a railroad to compel decades of anti-monopoly politics. about a great dispersion of public benefit.
his competitors in Cleveland to sell out In its place, they sought ways of
to him. Charged with behaving centrally managing a capitalist system A disappearing world
aggressively and dishonestly, Rockefeller in which no one imagined a return to Contrary to the way they are often
responded that his company was an 19th-century levels of growth. imagined, the robber barons were, in fact,
“angel of mercy.” Standard Oil, he later Carnegie had a greater desire for the champions neither of unfettered free
claimed, was “the Moses who delivered public adulation than Rockefeller markets nor of unfettered individualism.
[his benighted competitors] from their ever seemed to require, but a similar Paternalists more than libertarians, they
folly which had wrought such havoc determination to present himself as saw rational central planning as the
in their fortunes.” acting always in the public interest. antidote to the insecurity and irrationality
Carnegie adopted a similar business After he sold his business, Carnegie of market competition. Hailed for their
strategy and, in essence, a similar moved into a newly-built mansion in role in the onrush of modernity, they
rationale when he moved from railroads Manhattan (complete with an elevator harked back to the virtues of a disappear-
into steel, combining investment in new and a prototype air-conditioning ing world and worried about the spiritual
technologies with using every trick system) and wrote tracts in a library and social consequences of the gulf
in the book to eliminate rivals. with Sunday school-type mottoes between rich and poor to which they had
painted high on the walls. Gazing up contributed so much. Their material
The curse of bigness from his desk at the injunction that success assured, the robber barons sought
At the heart of the problem – as their ‘Thine Own Reproach Alone Do Fear’, something more: validation that their
critics saw it – was the sheer scale of the Carnegie worried about the contrast work was of public worth.
robber barons’ enterprises. It was ‘the between “the palace of the millionaire These larger-than-life industrialists had
curse of bigness’ that gave these men and the cottage of the laborer.” an all-too-human capacity for self-
the giddying power they had. But the To combat the dangers of “rigid deception, and it is easy – and not entirely
robber barons’ riposte was that the new castes” living in “mutual ignorance” unfair – to charge them with hypocrisy.
ALAMY/GETTY IMAGES, TOPFOTO
economy required central planning. and “mutual distrust” of each other, he But that does not mean we should not take
“The day of combination is here to poured millions of dollars into building seriously their own rationalisations. The
stay,” Rockefeller assured an interviewer public libraries – more than 2,500 of words of these robber barons reveal much
in the 1920s, as Europe experimented them around the world. This munifi- about how these powerful men made the
with different types of state planning. cence was possible because of the vast choices that helped shape our world.
“Individualism is gone, never to return.” business he had created and was
It was a sentiment echoed by New therefore, to him, evidence that great Adam IP Smith is a senior lecturer at
University College London in the UK,
Deal planners when, in response to the concentrations of wealth could (at least
specialising in American history.
February 2017 81
| 16TH-CENTURY QUEENS
HISTORY
82 February 2017
Game of
Queens
For more than 100 years from the late 15th century, women held
positions of power in Europe. Sarah Gristwood traces
the intricate network of interrelated queens and regents
ILLUSTRATIONS BY DAVIDE BONAZZI
A
FTER her accession ceremony on protégés. Lessons were passed from Isabella their power, in a specifically female way.
13 December, 1474, Isabella of Castile rode of Castile to her daughter Catherine of Aragon The age of queens did not outlast the 16th
through the streets of Segovia – behind and thence Mary I, and from the French regent century. Women had found themselves at
a horseman holding a naked sword. Even her Anne de Beaujeu to Louise of Savoy, through the forefront of the great religious divides that
husband, Ferdinand of Aragon, was shocked, Louise’s daughter Marguerite of Navarre to tore Europe apart, but those divisions meant
protesting that he had never before heard of her daughter Jeanne d’Albret, to Marguerite’s that, though Anne Boleyn could be educated
a queen “who usurped this masculine attribute.” admirer Anne Boleyn and thus to Elizabeth I. in two foreign countries, her daughter
But Isabella’s reign ushered in an explosion of Their experiences are echoed today. Elizabeth never set foot out of her own land.
female rule, unequalled until our own day. Headlines about Angela Merkel, Theresa May, Overleaf we introduce 10 key female figures
In the 16th century, England, Scotland, France, Nicola Sturgeon and Hillary Clinton emphasise who dominated 16th-century Europe, and
the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Hungary a powerful woman’s looks and likeability; explore the relationships that linked them.
all came at one time or another to be controlled the problem of gendered abuse, of seeming tough
by a woman, whether as regent or queen regnant. enough for high office without being dubbed Sarah Gristwood is the author of Game of Queens:
These rulers were linked by a complex unfeminine; the question of whether female The Women Who Made Sixteenth-Century Europe
web of mothers and daughters, mentors and leaders will relate to each other, and exercise (Oneworld, 2016).
February 2017 83
| 16TH-CENTURY QUEENS
HISTORY
The power grid Margaret of Austria

(1480 – 1530)
A web of family and influence linked top noblewomen The child of Mary of Burgundy (ruling duchess of what
would later be known as the Netherlands) and future
Isabella I of Castile (1451 – 1504) DAUGHTER-IN-LAW
Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian, Margaret was,
while still a toddler, contracted to the French king-to-be
Before she even took the throne, Isabella broke with Charles VIII. When that alliance fell through, she married
tradition by arranging her own marriage to Ferdinand of Juan, heir of Isabella and Ferdinand, and then, after
Aragon, uniting the two main Spanish kingdoms. They his early death, the Duke of Savoy. After he died she
ruled together as the mighty Catholic Monarchs, returned to the Netherlands where, for many years she
famous for their expulsion of the Moors and Jews, for ruled as regent on behalf of her nephew, the future
establishing the Inquisition in Spain, and for their emperor Charles V. She raised four of his sisters, all
sponsorship of Christopher Columbus. Ferdinand of whom became queens consort – of France, Portugal,
and Isabella produced only one short-lived son but Denmark and Hungary. Mary of Hungary succeeded
several influential daughters – among them her aunt as regent of the Netherlands and raised another
Catherine of Aragon who, in 1509, married generation of influential nieces. Though Margaret of
England’s king Henry VIII. Austria never bore a living child, she has been called
the Grand Mère – ‘Great Mother’ – of Europe.
SISTERS-IN-LAW
DAUGHTER
PROTÉGÉ
Catherine of Aragon
(1485 – 1536) Anne Boleyn (c1501 – 36)
Catherine was defined by Spanish heritage. Henry VII of In 1513, Anne came to the court of Margaret of Austria as one of
England sought the valuable Spanish alliance by her maids, before spending seven years at the French court.
wedding her to his eldest son, Arthur; after Arthur’s early This continental education gave her a glamour that made
death, she married his younger brother, Henry VIII. her a star when she returned to England. But it also
As regent in 1513, “in imitation of her mother Isabella”, PROTÉGÉ gave her the opportunity to witness the religious
she rallied English troops to resist a Scottish assault. But, reforms promoted by Marguerite of Navarre, and to
as daughter to a successful queen regnant, she was see women exercising power in a way still unfamiliar
poorly placed to understand her husband’s in England. Before her marriage to Henry, Anne – as
obsessive desire for a son. When her marriage an active promoter of French interests – was seen as
was rent by Henry’s infatuation with her former a useful alternative to the Habsburg Catherine.
protégé Anne Boleyn, Catherine still, after But, a few years later, when a Habsburg
almost 30 years in England, described herself alliance was desirable, that French
as a stranger in the land, appealing for help to identification contributed to her fall.
her former sister-in-law Margaret of Austria.
DAUGHTER
DAUGHTER
STEPDAUGHTER
Mary I (1516 – 58)

Catherine of Aragon inculcated in her daughter Mary
her own belief in the validity of her marriage to Henry
VIII, and her own resolute Catholicism. “We never come
unto the kingdom of Heaven but by troubles,” she
GETTY IMAGES/BRIDGEMAN/ALAMY
assured her daughter. Mary’s determined resistance

to her father’s religious reforms was attributed to her
“unbridled Spanish blood.” She endured years of real
hardship before, in 1553, the death of her younger
brother Edward (and a passage of armed resistance
reminiscent of her female forebears) brought her to
the throne. Once on it, as observers noted, she always
favoured Spain and promoted her mother’s religion. HALF-SISTERS
She married Philip of Spain and her efforts to restore
the Catholic faith, involving the persecution of
Protestants, earned her the sobriquet ‘Bloody Mary’.
84 February 2017
PROTEGE Anne de Beaujeu (aka Anne
of France, 1461 – 1522)
Eldest daughter of the French king Louis XI, Anne was
widely noted as a woman of great ability. The Salic Law,
however, prohibited her from acceding to the throne.
Instead, on Louis’s death she acted as regent in all
but name during the minority of her younger brother
Charles VIII. Anne wrote an advice manual for
noblewomen, Enseignements [Lessons for my Daughter]
that has been compared to Machiavelli’s
The Prince. “When it comes to the government of their Marguerite of Navarre (aka Marguerite
lands and affairs, [widows] must depend only on
themselves; when it comes to sovereignty, they must not
d’Angoulême, 1492 – 1549)
cede power to anyone,” was one of her maxims. Anne was
in charge of the upbringings of Margaret of Austria during Louise of Savoy’s daughter Heptaméron, Marguerite was
her marriage to Charles VIII, and of Louise of Savoy. Marguerite was also in Cambrai an intellectual leader among
when the ‘Ladies’ Peace’ was the great ladies who sought to
negotiated. Louise, François and reform the Catholic church.
PROTÉGÉ
Marguerite were so close that The number of ideas, books

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS
they were known as ‘the trinity’; and contacts they had in common
neither of Marguerite’s two suggests that Marguerite
marriages (to the Duc d’Alençon became a role model for Anne
and to Henri II of Navarre) Boleyn during the latter’s years in
Louise of Savoy (1476–1531) impeded her devotion to her France. Anne would later send
DAUGHTER brother, nor her sway over his word to Marguerite that her
Louise’s status rose steadily as several French kings in court. Author of the book of “greatest wish, next to having a
succession died without heir until the closest in line to short stories known as the son, was to see you again.”
the throne was François, her son by the Count
d’Angoulême. After François I became king in 1515,
DAUGHTER
Louise was widely regarded as the power behind
his throne. In 1529, she sat down with Margaret of
Austria (her childhood playmate when they were both
raised in Anne de Beaujeu’s care) to negotiate the
so-called ‘Ladies’ Peace’ of Cambrai. Neither Louise’s
son François nor Margaret’s nephew Charles could Jeanne d’Albret
compromise their dignity by being the first to talk of (1528 – 72)
reconciliation, but, Margaret wrote: “How easy for
ladies… to concur in some endeavours for warding off In 1555, Marguerite’s daughter Jeanne inherited her
the general ruin of Christendom, and to make the first father’s Navarrese kingdom. Reared in her mother’s
advance in such an undertaking!” reforming tradition, in 1560, she publicly converted to
the Protestant faith, joining France’s Huguenot rebels
inside the besieged fortress of La Rochelle,
she became a heroine of the Reformation.
PROTÉGÉ
When summoned to appear before the Inquisition,
Jeanne was saved by the intervention of Catherine de
Medici, even though the latter was on the other side of
Elizabeth I (1533–1603) the religious divide. Catherine tried to promote religious
tolerance, but the marriage of her daughter Marguerite
Thanks in part to her long reign, notice everything yet to see to Jeanne’s son Henri in 1572 provoked the slaughter
Anne Boleyn’s daughter is nothing, ears to hear everything of Huguenots known as the Bartholomew’s Day
remembered by many as yet to know nothing,” Anne de Massacre (pictured below). “You cannot govern too
England’s greatest monarch. Beaujeu had urged. wisely with kindness and diffidence,” Anne de Beaujeu
ALLIES
She represents the apogee of an Elizabeth corresponded with had said – the final bitter ‘Lesson’ with which her
age of queens – which, however, Jeanne d’Albret, Catherine daughters were to end the century.
was perhaps already waning de Medici and the influential
before her death. Elizabeth Ottoman consort Safiye. But
might be seen as exemplifying the religious divisions of the
many of the maxims laid down Reformation denied her the easy
for powerful women at the contact with other women across
beginning of the 16th century the continent that had been
by the French regent Anne de enjoyed by earlier generations,
Beaujeu (above). Elizabeth’s and fostered her long rivalry with
motto was Video et taceo – I see her Catholic kinswoman Mary,
but say nothing. “Have eyes to Queen of Scots.
| KNOW YOUR AUTHOR
LITERATURE
R. K. NARAYAN
NEWES
I
SER DIAN
Author and historian
ON IN
AUTH
ORS! Urvashi Butalia
tells of the life
and words of one
of India’s most-
beloved writers
R
ASIPURAM Krishanswami Iyer
Narayanswami is not a name that is
particularly well known in the literary
world.Yet it belongs to one of India’s best
known writers, more commonly known as
R.K. Narayan, the creator of Malgudi,
a fictional South Indian town that has
endeared itself to thousands of readers across
the world. In Malgudi, the stories are simple:
children play, they go to school, marriages
are arranged, there’s a boy called Swami,
there are man-eating tigers and much more.
But the simplicity, a mark of all major
writers, is deceptive, for Malgudi is a mirror
of life, its little stories filled with wisdom,
compassion and humour.
Narayan is best known for the creation
THE TIMES OF INDIA GROUP. © BCCL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
of Malgudi, which featured in many

of his writings, and although his oeuvre
of novels, short stories, essays and more
was quite formidable, somehow
Malgudi and its characters were
so precious to young and old alike that
the stories continue to be read and reread.
The son of a school headmaster in
Chennai (then Madras), Narayan studied
for some years at his father’s school.
Because his father had to travel for his job,
it was Narayan’s grandmother who looked
after him. At her home, he made friends
with a peacock and a monkey! From
his grandmother, the young Narayan
learned Sanskrit and music, as also
arithmetic and mythology.
As a young man, he loved to read,
2017 2017
devouring the books he found at home it did that of many writers and, during that
and, later, when the family moved time, he lost the connection with England.
to Mysore, accessing the extensive library At home, he started his own publishing
in the Maharajah’s College High School company, Indian Thought Publications,
where he studied. Soon, he began to which became well known. Once money
write – initially short journalistic pieces, began to come in, Narayan was able
mostly for English papers and magazines. to build himself a house in Mysore.
Interestingly, after he finished at school,
Narayan did not succeed in making it Away from the autobiographical
through the university entrance examination The same year that he built the house,
and decided to stay at home for a year 1953, his books were published in the
to read and write. His family supported Narayan shorten his name to become United States. He now also began to travel
his decision, and it was during this time more accessible to English readers, to promote his books, to write journalistic
that Narayan began the process of turning particularly those in England. pieces and it was during one of his trips
into the writer he eventually became. In 1933, Narayan went to Coimbatore to the United States that he began to write
Later, after once again attempting to visit his sister and for a short vacation. a book, Guide, that was to become a sort
the university examination, and clearing There, he met a young woman called of classic and was later made into a film
it this time round, he joined university, Rajam, and fell in love with her. Rajam starring Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman.
although he took four years to complete was only 15, but Narayan managed to The story of love between a guide and
his courses, rather than the usual three. secure her father’s permission and married a lonely and unhappily married woman
Over a period of time, his conviction her. The marriage was short-lived, though; tourist touched the hearts of thousands
that writing was the career he wanted to a mere six years later, in 1939, Rajam died of people and the book acquired, as
pursue became stronger and, with his family’s of typhoid, leaving Narayan devastated and books often do, a new life through the film.
support, he began to move in that direction. deeply depressed. His books written at It was at this point in his life that
In the first year of his writing, he earned the time – in particular The English Teacher Narayan began to move away from the
a sum of nine rupees and 12 annas! but also The Bachelor of Arts – are quite autobiographical and wrote some books that
His first book, Swami and Friends autobiographical and reflect what he was focused on human relationships, in particular,
(later to become a classic) was rejected going through as a result of his wife’s death. on domestic discord within marriage, but
by many publishers – an experience that is Even as he wrote novels, Narayan’s his canvas also grew wider, with politics
not uncommon for new writers. This book, journalistic career continued alongside. and political figures entering his work.
and two subsequent ones, are said to be Shortly after he married Rajam, he took Waiting for the Mahatma, for example,
quite autobiographical, but Swami’s singular up a job as a reporter for a Madras-based
contribution to the world of literature was paper called The Justice, which brought
the creation of Malgudi, which was to form him in contact with a wide range of people.
the core of so many of his other works. Later, he also worked for the Government “His firs
It was Swami and Friends also that was of Mysore and also tried to set up a journal,
Swami a t book,
(later to nd Friends
to introduce Narayan to Graham Greene, which he gave up very soon as it became
the master storyteller. The story goes that clear that it was not going to work.
a friend of Narayan’s sent the manuscript Literary success did not come easily.
classic) beco
of Swami and Friends to Graham Greene, While Narayan’s books were appreciated,
was rejeme a
and Greene was so impressed with the book they did not make waves and he did not
many pu cted by
that he suggested it to his own publisher
and the book was then published in 1935.
make much money. Malgudi Days, his first
collection of short stories, was published b l
an exper shers – i
i
not uncoence that is
Greene continued to help Narayan with in 1942. Over time, with Greene’s help in
his books, finding him publishers in getting publishers abroad, Narayan began
mm
new writ on for
England who took them up and, in this way, to become known internationally and
encouraged him to write. It was also Greene to gradually acquire an international
who is believed to have suggested that readership. The war impacted his life as ers”
February 2017 87
| KNOW YOUR AUTHOR
LITERATURE
bases itself on an imagined visit to Malgudi Around the 1960s, he began once again to
by Gandhi. A fairly traditional man himself travel, and went to the USA and Australia
(his daughter had a marriage arranged where he lectured on Indian literature. And
by him, and his own marriage, though he expanded his body
a love marriage, was complete with all the of writing, doing long pieces also for
rites and rituals of a traditional ceremony), The Hindu and literary magazines overseas.
he wrote about the horoscope matching that The early teachings on mythology, given
happens in Hindu marriages. The Financial by his grandmother, stood him in good stead
Export, considered one of his best works, when he published Gods, Demons and Others,
focuses on the life of Margayya, a real-life a collection of stories on the Hindu epics.
character who was supposed to be a financial Narayan had an equally famous brother,
expert.Yet, although his works began R.K. Laxman, the cartoonist. The two often
to focus on wider social realities, their focus worked together with one illustrating
still remains small and individual, something the other’s work. Other novels came –
that increasingly became Narayan’s strength. The Vendor of Sweets, The Painter of Signs,
and translations of the Kamba Ramayana and,
And on to other writings later, the Mahabharata. He continued to take
and preoccupations... on assignments, even writing a book on
Every now and again, Karnataka for the tourism authorities
Narayan also wrote in the state. He continued to write,
essays, which were and several novels, including
collected in a A Tiger for Malgudi, Talkative Man,
volume called Malgudi Days, and more.
Next Sunday. In later life, he came to
be interested in agriculture
and began to farm. Every
evening, he would sit with When the honours began coming, they did
his friend, N. Ram, the editor not stop. He received honorary degrees,
of The Hindu, and talk about prizes for his work, recognition from the
all sorts of things. Narayan Indian government, a nomination to the
also sat on a committee chaired upper house of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha.
by Prof.Yash Pal that created In many ways, Narayan endeared himself not
the most radical change in only to his readers, but to a range of people
textbooks in the Indian including politicians, editors, journalists.
education system. He was reclusive, living in his large house
and writing there, he did not appear in the
media much, nor attend literature festivals
and other book events. Narayan was also
a family man, and his daughter and grand
daughter were important to him. It was
his grand daughter, Minnie, who looked
after him when he was ill. When he died
on 13 May 2001, the sense of loss and
tragedy was not limited to Mysore and
Coimbatore but spread across
the world. India had lost one of
its most important writers, but
Narayan’s death was much more
than a loss to India, it was a loss
to the world.
Urvashi Butalia is the director

and co-founder of Kali Women, India’s
first feminist publishing house. A
recipient of the Padma Shri award, she is
a historian whose research focuses on the
Partition and oral histories. Her book, The
Other Side of Silence, collates the tales of
the survivors of the Partition.
88 February 2017
PUZZLE PIT
CROSSWORD NO. 36
ACROSS DOWN
6 Popular open source 1 Payment option on many
operating system (5) websites (6)
7 Software ____ : using 2 Samsung's smartwatch
unauthorized or illegal (4)
programs on your 3 IBM co-founder Charles
computer (6) Ranlett ____ (5)
9 T in hard drive capacity 4 ___ optic: Cable type
unit TB (4)
commonly used in
11 The N in Android N (6)
broadband (5)
12 iOS' major domo (4)
5 Farmville developers (5)
13 An online journal (4)
14 Google's social network
8 First ever Tibetan search
(4) engine (7)
17 High definition motion 10 Julian ____ : Wikileaks
picture format (4) founder (7)
18 The not so well known 13 Online currency
Steve of Apple (7) introduced in 2008 (7)
20 City which plans to test 15 High speed
Self-driven taxis in March transportation system
2017 (9) developed by SpaceX (9)
23 Social network for 16 IBM's artificially
YOUR DETAILS people in professional intelligent computer
occupations (8) system (6)
NAME:
24 Country which recently 19 Online marketplace that
AGE: started streaming court enables people to list
ADDRESS: trials (5) and rent vacation homes
26 Microsoft's email client (6)
(7)
21 Technology which greatly
28 DVD successor (3-3)
aids navigation (3)
PINCODE: 29 Google's Virtual Reality
22 Sony's handheld
TEL: MOBILE: platform (8)
gaming device which
30 One of the world's largest
SCHOOL/INSTITUTION/OCCUPATION: online distributors for PC was succeeded by the
games (5) Playstation Vita (3)
31 Information about you 24 Google browser (6)
EMAIL:
which a website may 25 One of the first Windows
store on your computer Web Browsers (6)
(6) 27 A Twitter update (5)
✂
How to enter for the country to country. Novices should note WINNERS FOR CROSSWORD NO. 35 SOLUTION OF CROSSWORD NO. 35
crossword: Post your entries to that the idea is to fill the white squares with
BBC Knowledge Editorial, Crossword No.36 letters to make words determined by the
Worldwide Media, The Times of India Bldg, sometimes cryptic clues to the right. The
4th floor, Dr Dadabhai Naovroji Road, numbers after each clue tell you how many
Mumbai 400001 or email bbcknowledge@ letters are in the answer. All spellings are Aashka Jain, Mumbai
wwm.co.in by 10 February 2016. UK English. Good luck! •
Entrants must supply their name, address Sayantika Biswas, Gurgaon
and phone number. Terms and conditions: Only •
residents of India are eligible to participate. Niraj Mehta, Bharuch
How it’s done: The puzzle already, Employees of Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.
will be familiar to crossword enthusiasts are not eligible to participate. The winners
although the British style may be unusual will be selected in a lucky draw. The
as crossword grids vary in appearance from decision of the judges will be final.
PUZZLE PIT FIND YOUR WAY OUT OF
THE MAZE
Q1 PICTURE SEARCH
In the jumble below, the words represented
by each of the 16 pictures are hidden either
horizontally, vertically or diagonally forward
or backwards but always in a straight line.
See how many of them you can find? Look
out for descriptive names.
Q2 SCRAMBLE
move one
Solve the four anagrams and
h square to form fou r ordinary words.
letter to eac
rke d with an asterisk
Q3 HEAD AND TAIL
Now arrange the letters ma
r to the ridd le or to fill in
(*) to form the answe
ind icated .
the missing words as
er in the
to solve the answ
* * * Look at the clue d word. The second part
un
LYEER form of a compo next
answ er is the first part of the
* * * of the
TVIIS answer, etc.
Short
deceit
* * Deprive of by
EILNDN
* Reroute
*
HIOSDM
rden
Student's bu
awake and
Success - keeping your ____
Scott (4,..,6) Manpower
your ____ asleep. - Walter
Repel
123RF.COM
Tennis stroke
Brake
Auto need
90 February 2017
Q4 ENIGMA CODE BBC KNOWLEDGE QUIZ
Each colour in our code Q5 DOUBLE BARR
ELLED
See how you fare in the general
represents a letter. When you knowledge quiz given below.
What word ca
have cracked the code, you will n
five words sh be placed in front of the Ratings: 1-3 Poor, 4-5 Fair, 6-7 Excellent
be able to make up seven words. own to form,
another word in each case
The clue to first word is given to ? , 1) Leicester City won the 2015-16
help you get started. Premier League title. How many
The Clue: Inure, set A B L E teams have won it so far?
a) 5
b) 8
H O R S E c) 6
O U T 2) Where did Alexander the Great die?

a) Babylon
L O A D b) Persia
c) India
B O O K 3) What is the SI unit pascal used to
measure?
a) Force
b) Pressure
c) Momentum
Q6 BRAIN TEASERS 4) Which social network was founded

in 2003 is now co-owned by Justin
1) I am the only thing that always extraordinary pharmaceutical Timberlake?
tells the truth. I show off a) Myspace
intellectuality, counterbalancing b) Twitter
everything that I see. I come in indecipherability, transcendentalizes
all shapes and sizes. So tell me c) Friendster
intercommunications'
what I must be! incomprehensibleness. 5) Who wrote the Iliad?
2) Can you show that four added a) Socrates
4) Solve the letter equation b) Plato
to six will make eleven? given below: c) Homer
3) What's so peculiar about 7 S of the W
this sentence? 5) What does the following 6) Which is the world’s shallowest sea?
I do not know where family doctors a) Dead Sea
rebus represent? b) Black Sea
acquired illegibly perplexing LAUG SIDE HTER
handwriting; nevertheless, c) Sea of Azov
7) Who won the 2016 Nobel Prize for

Literature?
a) Bob Dylan
Q7 PICK AND CHOOSE b) Anthony Doerr
c) J K Rowling
of sets of letters
sing the right combination
Solve the six clues by cho d only once and only in
ch set of letters can be use
given be low . Ea cifies how many
r at the end of the clues spe
the order given. The numbe
4 a) Myspace, 5 c) Homer, 6 C) Sea of Azov, 7 a) Bob Dylan
the solution.
sets of letters are used in
BBC Knowledge Quiz: 1 c) 6, 2 a) Babylon, 3 b) Pressure,
4 Ukulele, 5 Traditional, 6 Ligature
Q7 Pick and choose: 1 Isosceles, 2 Vienna, 3 Accomplished,
1. Triangle type (3) 5 Sidesplitting laughter
letter longer" than the word before it!, 4 7 Seas of the World,
2. Capital of Austria (2)
below VI and you get XI, 3 Each word in the sentence is "one
Q6 Brain Teasers: 1 A Mirror! 2 Add IV turned upside down
3. Successfully carried out (4)

Q5 Double - Barrelled: Work
Sacred, Spaced
Q4 Enigma Code: Harden, Arched, Danced, Endear, Header,
4. Four string guitar (2) Hand-Brake.
Q3 Head & Tail: Short-Change-Course-Work-Force-Back-
5. Customary (4) desire asleep. - Walter Scott
Answer: Success - keeping your mind awake and your
Q2 Scramble: Words: Leery, visit, linden, modish
6. Bandage (3) shovel, telescope, towel, watermelon, yacht
XXX
ISO URE ION glider, guitar, laptop, mountain, Obama, panther, policeman,
LELE DIT ACCO Q1 Picture Search: Ambulance, aubergine, beetle, emerald,
ED TRA AT
MPL
SOLUTIONS:
LIG VIE April 2013 97
NNA ISH LES
SCE AL UKU
| PROFILE
PEOPLE
IN FOCUS
“I DO NOT FEAR
COMPUTERS. I FEAR
THE LACK OF THEM”
ISAAC ASIMOV (1920 – 1997)
One of the ‘Big Three’ authors of the Golden Age of Science Fiction,
Isaac Asimov was also a hugely influential interdisciplinary thinker of his time
C ONSIDERED one of the fathers of

the science fiction genre, Isaac Asimov
is also one of the most widely read
and prolific authors of all time, with more than
500 books to his name. Born between 1919
50 years. Over this illustrious period, Asimov
wrote some seminal classics of the science-
fiction genre, including the Foundation series,
the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series.
During his lifetime, he won the Hugo Award,
and 1920 (the exact date is considered the highest accolade for science fiction and fantasy
unknown, though he celebrated authors, multiple times. Asimov
it as January 2, 1920) in the was also posthumously inducted
former Soviet Union, Asimov’s into the Science Fiction and
family emigrated to the United Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1997.
States of America when he Asimov’s legacy has endured
was only three. long after his passing. He was
DID YOU KNOW?
His love for reading pulp the first person to coin the term • In 2009, the Asimov Crater on Mars
magazines – his father ran ‘robotics’, which has come to be was named in the author’s honour.
a newspaper and concession one of the most essential fields • Asimov was such a prolific writer that
stand at which he devoured in technology today. His Three his books can be found in nine out of
numerous magazines and Laws of Robotics and theory the 10 categories in the Dewey Decimal
newspapers – led him to make of a positronic brain have had System of library classification.
the acquaintance of John W. a real world impact, often
Campbell, editor of Astounding serving as guidelines for actual • In his autobiography, Asimov confessed to
Science Fiction magazine, who robotic experiments. Even in a fear of flying; he flew only twice in his life.
grew to be both a mentor and fictional universes, the concepts • Asimov had a love of small, enclosed
a friend. Campbell encouraged Asimov explored through his spaces, and had stated that his childhood
the young Asimov to pursue his work have become important dream was to own a magazine stand in one of
WIKICOMMONS, GETTY
dream, and, by March 1939, Asimov had his themes in such popular franchises as Star Trek: New York’s underground subway stations.
first story published in Astounding Science Fiction. The Next Generation and Doctor Who, and his
• Asimov is credited with introducing three
This marked the start of a long, successful tryst stories have been adapted for the screen several
words to the Oxford English Dictionary:
with writing. Asimov’s literary output remained times, the most recent being the 2004 Will Smith
Robotics, positronic and psychohistory.
steady up until his death, marking a career of over starrer, I, Robot.
2017 2017

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Who is Sudha Murty and what is she known for?

Who is Sudha Murty and what is she known for?

Knowledgemagazineindia KnowledgeMagIND KnowledgeMagInd A TIMES OF INDIA PUBLICATION

Volume 7 Issue 2 • February 2017 `125

SCIENCE • HISTORY • NATURE • FOR THE CURIOUS MIND

RISE OF THE SUDHA MURTY

Portfolio: Discoveries & Q&A

Knowledgemagazineindia KnowledgeMagIND KnowledgeMagInd A TIMES OF INDIA PUBLICATION

Volume 7 Issue 2 • February 2017 `125

SCIENCE • HISTORY • NATURE • FOR THE CURIOUS MIND

RISE OF THE SUDHA MURTY

Portfolio: Discoveries & Q&A

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