Table of contents for May 2020 in BBC Science Focus Magazine

In Shanghai, China, a public transport company has installed powerful ultraviolet lamps in its garages in order to disinfect its buses. This is in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus that is currently rampaging across the globe. The cleaning process is controlled remotely and sees the buses drenched in an eerie blue light. It takes around five minutes to treat each vehicle. Ultraviolet light is routinely used in hospitals, water treatment plants and aeroplanes as a means of sterilisation, as it damages viruses’ genetic material and prevents them from reproducing. It is known to be effective against other coronaviruses such as SARS, but it is as yet unclear whether it will have the same effect on SARS-CoV-2. The World Health Organization warns that UV light should not…

An international research team has developed a blood test that can accurately detect over 50 types of cancer, often before symptoms start to show. The test can also determine the tissue in which the cancer originated and reveal its type. All cells, including tumour cells, shed cell-free DNA (cfDNA) into the bloodstream, and this test looks at the chemical changes, called methylation, within the cfDNA. Abnormal methylation patterns and the resulting changes in gene expression can contribute to tumour growth. “This is a landmark study and a first step toward the development of easy-to-perform screening tools,” said Prof Fabrice André, editor-in-chief of the journal Annals Of Oncology. “Earlier detection of more than 50 per cent of cancers could save millions of lives every year.”…

“The human brain is reliant on social interactions and gets a lot from them. Cutting these off abruptly isn’t going to be pleasant or easy” Stay at home. Don’t visit friends and family, and don’t have them visit you. Keep clear of strangers. These don’t sound like particularly challenging instructions. Except, if you look at the news, at social media, or even out of the window at times, it’s clear that a lot of people are struggling with the whole ‘social isolation’ thing. Why? What could be difficult about not going to work and not engaging with others? As it happens, everything. We humans are an incredibly social species, arguably more so than any other on Earth. Our brains have evolved for socialisation in a variety of different ways, which…

What were you doing on 10 January 2020? It was a Friday, so chances are you were arranging to meet up with friends. The days of completely unrestricted normality seem a distant memory. But it’s the date that the race to create a coronavirus vaccine began. That day, the Chinese government released the genetic sequence of the virus – SARS-CoV-2 – responsible for the pandemic. It enabled researchers around the world to start building bits of the virus in their labs, with the aim of developing a vaccine that will make us immune. There are around 35 research teams around the world now working on a vaccine. Millions of pounds are being pumped into vaccine development by organisations and wealthy individuals, including Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, who has pledged to…

When a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 is developed, it will initially be in limited supply as production is ramped up. So priority is likely to be given to healthcare workers who are in contact with COVID-19 patients. Older people and those with underlying health conditions would also be a priority, as they are most likely to become seriously ill. If you don’t fit into one of these categories, you will have to wait a little longer. “I doubt that in a year we’re going to see this given to you and me,” says Dr Maria Bottazzi, part of a team developing a COVID-19 vaccine at Baylor University in Texas. Taking a global view, there’s also the question of how evenly the COVID-19 vaccine will be distributed between countries. During the 2009…

WHY DO WE HAVE BIASES? In evolutionary terms, we are designed to differentiate between people, and make those quick decisions between people who belong to our group, or our tribe, and those who don’t. That was kind of a survival strategy because resources were limited and people had to say, “this is a threat to me or to the limited resources, and so this person is an out-group.” We make these quick decisions about whether this person or an object is a threat, or should we fear this person. These kind of in-group, out-group demarcations are made quickly, because we have to process so much information. There’s no time to take every bit of information on a rational, logical level. So, a lot of this is processed on the basis…

Castorocauda SIZE: 500-800 grams, 43-50 centimetres long ORIGIN: Inner Mongolia, Middle-Late Jurassic, around 166-157 million years ago FACTS: Adapted for life in the water, this early mammal had paddle-like limbs, a flattened tail, and specialised teeth for eating fish. It’s one of the largest known Jurassic mammals, and although it somewhat resembles a modern beaver or platypus, it’s not closely related. Kayentatherium SIZE: Equivalent to a large cat or mid-sized dog ORIGIN: Southwestern USA, Early Jurassic, around 200-183 million years ago FACTS: One of the closest relatives of true mammals. They had at least some hair, walked upright, and had a high metabolism. Volaticotherium SIZE: 70 grams, 12-14 centimetres long ORIGIN: Inner Mongolia, Middle-Late Jurassic, around 166-157 million years ago FACTS: With its skin membrane (patagium) stretching between its body…

HOW DO I FIND THE NORTH STAR? WHEN: ALL YEAR ROUND, NORTHERN HEMISPHERE As the seasons change, so do the stars visible in the sky. But from the northern hemisphere, one star is constant. The North Star, or Polaris to give it its official name, is so-called because it is positioned almost exactly above our North Pole, in line with the Earth’s rotational axis. As the Earth rotates, Polaris stays almost fixed, while the other stars appear to rotate around it. Polaris is actually three stars, but they’re locked in a mutual orbit and appear to us as one star in the constellation Ursa Minor (Little Bear). The largest of these is a yellow supergiant with over five times the mass and more than 1,000 times the brightness of our…

1 Shanghai Maglev Speed: 430km/h (267mph) Country: China 2 Harmony CRH 380A Speed: 380km/h (236mph) Country: China 3 Shinkansen H5 Speed: 360km/h (224mph) Country: Japan 4 AGV Italo Speed: 359km/h (223mph) Country: Italy 5 Siemens Velaro E Speed: 349km/h (217mph) Country: Spain 6 Talgo 350 SRO Speed: 349km/h (217mph) Country: Saudi Arabia 7 ICE 3 Speed: 330km/h (205mph) Country: Germany 8 KTX-Sancheon Speed: 330km/h (205mph) Country: South Korea 9 Eurostar e320 Speed: 322km/h (200mph) Country: Europe & UK 10 SNCF TGV Duplex Speed: 320km/h (199mph) Country: France…

The Great British Intelligence Test This Horizonspecial reveals the results of The Great British Intelligence Test, which saw 250,000 people from around the nation take part online. Dr Hannah Fry and Dr Michael Mosley discuss the science of intelligence, and what the test’s findings mean for our future. BBC Two, check Radio Times for details CrowdScience No question is too big, too small, or too silly for the CrowdScienceteam. This month, the programme answers questions from listeners on space, particles, maths, toilets and tickling. BBC World Service, new episode every Friday Between Life And Death This BAFTA-award-winning documentary from 2010 is available on BBC iPlayer. It follows doctors working in the brain injury unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, who can interrupt, and even reverse, the process of death. BBC iPlayer…

“WE CANNOT JUST DO AWAY WITH ALL OUR BIASES. BUT WE CAN DO AWAY WITH THE STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICES AND DISCRIMINATION THAT IS LINKED TO SOME OF THE BIASES WE CARRY”PRAGYA AGARWAL, p64 Laws and licences I was surprised to read that Jaguar Land Rover anticipate that people may not want to drive, nor own cars, in future (March, p40). This crossed my mind recently when I applied to sit my driving test again (third time’s the charm!). However, I see that the autonomous shuttle they have developed is fitted with a “steering wheel and pedals, just in case”. My question is, will it be necessary for people who are ‘driving’ autonomous vehicles to hold a driver’s licence? Nicola Kiely Every ‘driverless’ car currently on public roads actually needs a driver.…

A study from Toho University in Tokyo, Japan, suggests that babies as young as four months old enjoy receiving a hug from their parents. The research found that when parents hugged their child, both individuals experienced reduced heart rates – as measured by an increase in heartbeat intervals on an electrocardiogram –suggesting that they felt more relaxed. When the child was simply being held, the same calming effect was not seen. In contrast, when the infant was hugged by a female stranger, their heart rate was unaffected. According to the researchers, this offers evidence about the importance of hugging in the bonding process between young babies and their parents.…

Scientists at the University of Madrid have found that the average wing length of nightingales has decreased over the past 20 years. They think that later onset of spring along with intense summer droughts are shortening the breeding season for the birds, so they produce smaller clutches with reduced wing size. In winter, the birds fly from breeding grounds in Europe and parts of Asia to sub-Saharan Africa, but the team found that the shorter-winged birds were less likely to make the return trip. The shortening wings might be an example of ‘maladaptation’, where the response to a changing environment is harmful rather than helpful.…

Call it the iPlop. Scientists have invented a toilet that analyses your number ones and twos to look for signs of disease. Developed by a team at Stanford University, the device is an ordinary toilet that’s been fitted with health-monitoring gadgets inside the bowl. When you use the smart loo, your urine and stools are captured on video, which is processed by a set of algorithms. These look for anything strange, such as unusual stool consistency, urine flow rate or urine volume. Meanwhile, ‘dipstick tests’ in the bowl measure 10 different biomarkers in the urine. These are things such as proteins and white blood cells that can flag up certain health problems, including infection, bladder cancer and kidney failure. If the loo detects any problems, it could send an alert…

Chinese wet markets offer meat in its natural state: unrefrigerated, unprocessed, unpackaged, uncooked and sometimes unslaughtered. When I lived in China, wandering through the open-air stalls felt liberating and authentic, a welcome change from sterile supermarkets where the chicken lies behind glass, plastic-wrapped by faceless corporations. Similarly, Chinese medicine represents a natural alternative to the pills pushed by Big Pharma. Gnarled roots, ground herbs, wizened mushrooms, and exotic animal parts line the traditional pharmacy’s walls. These claim to be Mother Nature’s cures that will realign us with her rhythms, unlike the synthetic chemicals that, according to some, will end up making society sicker. Now, of course, we are reckoning with the catastrophic shortcomings of unregulated open-air wet markets. Calls for change within China will hopefully lead to safer food standards…

In March, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Together, At Home campaign with activism group Global Citizen, which has since seen 30-minute Instagram Live sessions from artists such as John Legend, Niall Horan and Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Then on 18 April, WHO, Global Citizen and Lady Gaga curated an eight-hour entertainment special to celebrate the efforts of community health workers around the world. One World: Together At Home globally broadcasted sets from Andrea Bocelli, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and many more. It was hosted by American talk show personalities Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, and televised in the UK on BBC One. If you missed it, you can watch the concert on BBC iPlayer. Meanwhile, Andrew Lloyd Webber announced a new YouTube channel, The Shows Must Go…

DAVID COLLINS WHY DO ANIMAL PUPILS COME IN DIFFERENT SHAPES? The pupil is the gap in the eye’s iris that allows light through to the retina. The muscles of the iris vary the pupil’s size, altering the amount of light that can get through. Our pupils are circular because the muscles are arranged in a ring that contracts evenly towards the centre. This has the advantage of giving even focus across the entire field of view, but circular pupils aren’t able to constrict as tightly as other pupil shapes. Animals that hunt – or are hunted – at night need large, sensitive eyes that would be overwhelmed in bright daylight, so they have evolved an extra set of muscles to pull the pupil into a narrow slit shape during the…

I’VE BEEN STOCKPILING TISSUES FOR THE PANDEMIC, BUT MY OTHER HALF SAYS HANDKERCHIEFS ARE BETTER. WHO’S RIGHT? You are! First off, handkerchiefs are less hygienic than single-use tissues. When you blow your nose in a handkerchief, you’re providing a fresh influx of snot to any germs already there. If these germs are viruses, the protein in your snot can help protect them from drying out; if they’re bacteria, the extra moisture can help them to grow. When you next use your handkerchief, any germs that survived from the previous use are transferred back to your hands, which will contaminate the next door handle you touch. You can do a lot to limit this spread by washing your hands every time you blow your nose, but this isn’t always practical. Far…

Dropping doppelganger I was fascinated to read about the grass in South Africa’s Cape Province (March, p50) that has somehow managed to produce seeds that mimic the look and scent of antelope droppings! Now I’m no expert but I’ve never seen a plant that has eyes and a nose, so I’m left wondering what type of wizardry does it use? Mark Smith, Derby True, plants don’t experience the world like we do, but they still respond to all kinds of sensory cues, and they face the same selection pressure as animals. This grass hasn’t purposefully set out to create seeds that mimic antelope droppings, but a lucky genetic mutation in the past proved to be beneficial, and so this trait has stuck around and been honed over time. In this…

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on 24 March that the government had ordered 3.5 million antibody test kits, which are able to identify in 10 minutes whether someone has had the COVID-19 infection. The kits can be used at home, involving just a finger prick to produce a blood sample that is then tested for immune cells specific to the coronavirus. A positive result on the test would mean that a person had successfully fought off the SARS-CoV-2 virus and would have some immunity against future infection – though for how long that immunity would last is still unknown. For some viruses, such as smallpox or polio, one instance of infection is enough to give a person lifetime immunity. Others, such as norovirus, result in immunity against re-infection for up…

A newly discovered raptor shows that these dinosaurs stalked the southwest of North America right up to the bitter end. The raptor was discovered from a 67-million-year-old fossil, dating it to within a million years of the cataclysmic event that killed off all non-flying dinosaurs. It has been named Dineobellator notohesperus, which means ‘Navajo warrior from the southwest’, in honour of the people who live in the region where this dinosaur once roamed. It belongs to a family of dinosaurs known as the dromaeosaurids, the most famous of which is Velociraptor – that’s why these dinosaurs are commonly known as ‘raptors’. Dineobellator was a lightly built meat-eater, measuring about two metres in length. Features on the animal’s forelimbs suggest that it boasted strong arms and claws – handy for holding…

Fossilised monkey teeth unearthed deep within the Peruvian Amazon suggest that ancient monkeys journeyed there from Africa, according to a study at Keck School of Medicine, in Los Angeles. The fossilised teeth belong to a monkey species previously unknown to science. The researchers have named the species Ucayalipithecus perdita, and found that it belongs to an extinct family of African primates known as parapithecids. One plausible explanation, according to the team, is that the monkeys made the trip on floating rafts of vegetation that broke off from coastlines, possibly during a storm. At the time, the landmasses of Africa and South America were closer together, which means the voyage may have been about 1,450km (900 miles). Based on the age of the Amazonian site and the similarity of U. perdita…

BUGGIN’ OUT Mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects could be controlled using drugs which delete a newly discovered gene, scientists from Imperial College London have found. The team discovered a new nutrient-sensing protein in the intestines of fruit flies. Named ‘Hodor’, the protein supports the regulation of food intake and development. They found that deleting this gene in mosquitoes was fatal, providing an avenue for targeting and controlling the insects by ingestible drugs. Only insects have this type of gene, so a drug could potentially be developed which targets carriers of malaria and other diseases but is harmless to humans, the researchers say.…

HOME COMPOST According to the charity Waste and Resources Action Plan, the United Kingdom throws away around 9.5 million tonnes of food every year. In a landfill site, the lack of air getting to this organic waste means that it decomposes to release methane, a harmful greenhouse gas. Home composting can cut these emissions, and even produce a nutrient-rich compost for your garden. A year’s worth of composting can save around the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as using a kettle over the same period, England’s Recycle Now campaign says.…

At the time of writing, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that, outside of health professionals, people should only wear masks if they display symptoms of COVID-19 or are taking care of someone who does. However, more and more countries now recommend that people wear face masks in public places, and WHO is reconsidering its advice based on new evidence. Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer and a specialist in epidemiology and pandemic preparedness, said in a briefing on 3 April: “…there is no evidence that general wearing of face masks by the public who are well affects the spread of the disease in our society. What matters right now, of course, is social distancing.” CAN FACE MASKS STOP THE SPREAD OF COVID-19? “The problem with the new…

In late March, as UK lockdown was just beginning, surveys in the UK and the US were already showing that the pandemic was negatively affecting people’s wellbeing. Thankfully, there are resources out there to help us. Mental health apps can provide one way to calm the mind and help you keep track of wellbeing. Here are five of our favourites, all available on iOS and Android. 1. CALM Calmplaces mindfulness front and centre, and is the place to go for pure relaxation. Open the app and you’re greeted by the sound of lapping waves. There’s a 10-minute ‘Daily Calm’ meditation, plus an archive of themed mindfulness lessons, expert masterclasses and mindful stretches for the body. Calm’s other main focus is sleep, with a library of bedtime stories for grown-ups,…

GREEN ABOUT THE HILLS HOUTOUWAN, CHINA In the 1990s, residents started leaving Houtouwan village on China’s Shengshan Island. This hilly isle is part of the Shengsi archipelago, lying less than 100km from the bustling streets of Shanghai on the mainland. In less than 30 years, Houtouwan has been entirely engulfed by vegetation. Only a decade before it was abandoned, it was a fishing village with 3,000 inhabitants. When the residents’ demand for seafood began to outstrip what the island could supply, fishers took their families to the mainland, with a few later returning to show tourists around. Visitors like to peek inside the abandoned buildings, many of which have a museum-like quality, with remaining furniture and household items painting a picture of the recent past. However, locals have had to…

A few years ago, I visited Liaoning Province in China, to study the region’s famous feather-covered dinosaur fossils. One day, after many hours of measuring bones and photographing feathers in a museum, I needed a break. My Chinese colleagues exchanged a few hushed words of Mandarin and motioned for me to follow. “We have something secret to show you,” one of them said. “And it’s not a dinosaur.” We left the museum, hopped into a car, and snaked through the narrow streets of Beipiao city, clogged with bicycles and noodle vendors. We pulled into an alleyway that opened into a small courtyard. Into a dark apartment we ventured, sidestepping a clutter of boxes and wooden crates. One of my colleagues ducked into a side room and came out holding two…

If you’d been told in January that you’d be able to work from home for months on end – dodging overcrowded trains and office politics in the process – it might have sounded like a start-of-the-year bonus. The reality, of course, is not so enjoyable. As the world adjusts to the coronavirus pandemic, one of the biggest changes is enforced home-working. Staying motivated, retaining a work-life balance and negotiating video-conference etiquette are just some of the challenges. But science is here to help. Even before quarantines and social distancing measures became the norm, researchers debated what remote working does to your mental health and productivity. So we conference-called leading psychologists to ask them how best to thrive in the shadow of COVID-19. DRESS FOR THE JOB YOU STILL HAVE Fashion…