The world’s greatest festival of science brought us entertainment and education – it also revealed the noises gorillas make when they eat, the surprising location of the hottest place in the solar system and much more
A Boston Dynamics robotic dog struts its stuff at New Scientist Live
Jonny Donovan
New Scientist Live, the world’s greatest festival of science, finished yesterday after three days of mind-expanding talks and exhilarating experiences. Thousands of people attended each day, meeting robots, trying cutting-edge virtual reality set-ups and learning everything from whether science can save humanity to the design flaws in the human body. Most importantly, we had an amazing time. Here are nine incredible things we learned there.
Gillian Forrester
Tim Boddy
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1. Just like humans, gorillas make noises when they eat – and better food elicits different sounds. We heard Gillian Forrester explain that we may be able to shed light on the longstanding mystery of how humans evolved the ability to speak by studying these great apes.
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2. The first person to notice climate change lived in the 11th century. Atmospheric physicist Simon Clark talked about what weather is, how the atmosphere is changing – and how the first person to notice climate change was a polymath called Shen Kuo, who lived in the 11th century. He realised that the climate had altered after discovering fossilised bamboo. In a 1088 work called Dream Pool Essays, Shen wrote about how a landslide exposed a cavity inside which bamboo plants “had turned to stone”. Shen suggested that the climate in the region must have been different in the distant past – making his work arguably the first written account of how the climate in specific places could change over time.
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3. Placing greater priority on science will lead to greater military security, more resilience to future threats from pandemics and climate change, and will also boost the country’s economy, according to the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance. “The current government seems to have quite a focus on growth. And if you want growth, then you have to have science, engineering and technology,” he said. Vallance called for all government departments to consult more experts on science, technology and engineering, and for more graduates in these fields to be employed in the civil service.
Fascinating talk by @DoctorChrisVT and @xandvt about ultra processed food – learnt that most of our “food” is made from waste ? But have caved, after eating nothing all day, & bought crisps and skittles, the only foods I could find that I can eat ? I feel sick. Sorry boys pic.twitter.com/7R42VkDzi1
— . (@TrebbleJayne) October 9, 2022
4. Ultra-processed foods are the main driver of obesity today, revealed twin doctors Chris and Xand van Tulleken from children’s television series Operation Ouch!. They said ultra-processed foods now make up 60 per cent of the average diet in the UK – and virtually 100 per cent for young babies. They claimed that these types of food are the main driver of obesity today, as we tend to eat more calories when processed food is on the menu. “It’s our national diet,” said Chris van Tulleken. “It’s what we build our bodies from and the bodies of our children from.”
It’s not true that only cancer cells have “cancer-causing mutations”, says @Kat_Arney at #newscientistlive @newscievents @newscientist pic.twitter.com/jYbzAXSg9U
— Clare Wilson (@ClareWilsonMed) October 8, 2022
5. It isn’t true that only cancer cells have “cancer-causing mutations”. Science writer Kat Arney delved into some of the surprising science behind cancer. We find cells with mutations even in people without cancer. Arney said that if these mutations were seen in tumour cells taken in a biopsy, doctors would assume these were what had caused the cancer, so clearly science has more to learn.
Spot the robot dog at New Scientist Live
Tim Boddy
6. Nothing draws the crowds as consistently as a Boston Dynamics Spot robot, which spent the three days of the show trotting around its enclosure and interacting with big crowds. The event was no doubt an easier assignment than Spot’s other job: assisting the UK Atomic Energy Agency with safe inspection and decommissioning of nuclear power plants.
Chris Jackson on the Engage Stage at New Scientist Live 2022
Tim Boddy
7. A little greenhouse gas is actually needed, said geoscientist Chris Jackson. Without any at all, the world’s temperature would be an average -20°C (-4°F). But there can obviously be too much as well: our climate is entering an anthropogenic era in which human-created emissions are pushing the temperature ever higher.
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8. The hottest point in the solar system isn’t the sun, but actually in a building about 16 kilometres from Oxford, revealed Joe Milnes from the UK Atomic Energy Authority. The plasma inside the JET fusion reactor can reach 150 million °C (270 million °F), which is many times hotter than the surface of the sun. Working out how to contain that temperature – and eventually use it to generate electricity – is a massive engineering challenge.
3 of @lordmartinrees’ colleagues have opted to freeze themselves after death in case they can be revived: two paid for full-body, and one “cut price” head-only.
“I told them i’d rather end my days in an English churchyard than in an American freezer,” he says.#NewScientistLive
— Matthew Sparkes (@Sparkes) October 9, 2022
9. Three of Astronomer Royal Martin Rees’s colleagues have opted to be frozen after death. It isn’t an option he wants to pursue himself, he told the audience.
New Scientist Live will return in October 2023, and super early bird tickets are already available. We look forward to seeing you there.
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