New Scientist 3123 2017 04 29.pdf

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The chimp-like ancestor
with a human brain
PROTO SAPIENS
WHOLE LOTTA STUFF
Why it’s so hard to
clear out our junk
Mystery of the infrared
space explosions
WEEKLY
April 29-May 5, 2017
HOT FLASHES
BITCOIN’S LAST STAND
Now or never for the currency of the future
No3123 US$6.50 CAN$6.50
1 7
0
70992 30690
9
Science and
technology news
www.newscientist.com
US jobs in science
NEW ERA OF ALCHEMY
We’ve cracked the toughest bond in chemistry
Mobile transactions
are on track to
increase
over the next
three years.
The right payments
partner helps you tap
into that growth.
CONTENTS
News
Volume 234 No 3123
This issue online
newscientist.com/issue/3123
Leader
CAMERA PRESS/EPA/JOHN HAWKS/UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
6
Small-brained
but smart?
Early human
Homo naledi’
s brain
looked like ours
3
What does the Brexit election mean for
dementia research?
News
4
UPFRONT
The global March for Science. Marijuana’s
medical rise. New plan to visit Europa
6 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY
Koala chlamydia cured with a jab. Why we
might never find alien intelligence. Hunger
hormone promotes new brain cells. Moth
caterpillars munch plastic. Mysterious hot
flashes in space. Zika may have reduced live
births in Rio. Brain zap boosts memory.
‘Hobbit’ may be kin of
Homo habilis.
On
patrol for eel poachers. AI learns video game
with English language help. Naked mole rat
fine with low oxygen. Psychedelic drugs
cause different state of consciousness
17 IN BRIEF
Sociable crayfish get drunk easily. Mars’s
companions may be wrecked mini-planet
On the cover
28
Outsmarting
dementia
How to beat the
21st century’s
dreaded disease
Proto sapiens
The chimp-like ancestor
with a human brain
34
Whole lotta stuff
Our struggle with junk
9
Hot flashes
Strange space explosions
22
Bitcoin’s last stand
Now or never for the
currency of the future
37
New era of alchemy
Toughest bond cracked
6
Analysis
22
Bitcoin at a crossroads
Will the digital
currency finally become money we can use?
24 COMMENT
Online political bubble theory goes pop.
Time to prep for the coming human flood
25 INSIGHT
Technology won’t stop viral violence
Aperture
Features
26
Pink weevil prepares for rainforest take-off
37
We’ve cracked the
toughest bond in
chemistry
WLADIMIR BULGAR/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/GETTY
Features
28
Outsmarting dementia
(see above left)
34
Whole lotta stuff
Why it’s so hard to
clear out our junk
37
New era of alchemy
(see left)
40 PEOPLE
The ocean farmer trying to revive the seas
New era of
alchemy
Culture
42
Seeing is not perceiving
Why context is all
43
Brush with nature
The story of an epic
experiment to domesticate foxes
44
End of capitalism?
Alternative economies
are coming of age
Coming next week…
Rocks of ages
Crystals that repeat in time, forever
Regulars
52
55
56
57
LETTERS
Knowledge is a relationship
SIGNAL BOOST
A say in our flying future
FEEDBACK
Flat Earth dream shattering
THE LAST WORD
Shark swimming school
Clearing the smog
The truth about air pollution and your health
29 April 2017 | NewScientist |
1
LEADER
ALFRED PASIEKA/SPL
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Prognosis uncertain
What does the Brexit election mean for dementia research?
TWO years is an awfully long time Brexit vote. Cameron quit and the
in politics. In April 2015 the UK
pledges of 2015 became irrelevant.
was in the middle of a general
The UK now faces another
election campaign that, by today’s general election. The manifestos
standards, felt very much like
have yet to be published but the
politics as usual. All the major
danger is that – with Cameron
parties published manifestos
gone and the task of extracting
laying out their positions on the
the UK from the EU subsuming all
economy, the NHS, benefits,
else – those admirable but costly
housing and so on. There were
commitments to dementia
even some pledges on science.
research will fall by the wayside.
One of the more eye-catching
That would be a serious setback
was the Conservatives’ proposal to for both UK and international
turn the UK into an international
research. Even though progress
leader in dementia research.
“Last week’s March for
They promised to pump £300
million into basic science, create a
Science proved that
science activism is alive
separate fund for drug discovery
and well in the UK”
and establish an international
dementia institute.
has been made in the past few
The initiative was the pet
years, the job is incomplete.
project of the prime minister,
Campaigners say that funding
David Cameron, who described
for basic dementia science needs
dementia as “one of the greatest
to double again by 2025.
challenges of our lifetime”. And
For now, the messages from
with good reason (see page 28).
the government are mixed.
Around 50 million people are
When Alzheimer’s Research
living with dementia worldwide,
UK announced in January that
and the number is expected to
Cameron would be its new
double in 20 years. Progress on
president, a spokesperson for the
treatments is painfully slow: in
prime minister Theresa May said:
recent months several promising
experimental drugs have crashed “We are committed to taking
forward the plans that have been
and burned in clinical trials.
already set out for increased
Cameron unexpectedly won
support for helping people with
the election and, to his credit,
dementia and tackling this vital
set about making good on the
issue.” Warm words, but well short
promises. But then came the
of explicit backing for the
research element of the project.
On the plus side, only last week
May’s government announced
further details of the promised
Dementia Research Institute,
which is being set up at University
College London with £150 million
of public money. But that merely
honours an existing pledge.
More momentum could be lost
if the Conservatives (and the other
parties) don’t explicitly recommit
to research. Even if they do,
challenges lie ahead. A “hard”
Brexit might make it difficult to
attract the overseas talent and
international collaborations
that are an important part of
delivering world-class science.
The uncertainty over dementia
research is a warning to the entire
UK science base. The Conservatives
look set to win at a canter in June,
and may be tempted to write a
manifesto short on policies to
ensure their hands are not tied by
inconvenient spending pledges
when the work of Brexit kicks in.
Last week’s March for Science
proved that science activism is
alive and well in the UK. But it
must be the start of something
bigger. Now is the time to crank
up the pressure and make sure
science does not vanish from a
general election campaign that is
anything but business as usual.
■
29 April 2017 | NewScientist |
3
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