Sometimes we need extreme measures to keep things at bay. And right now the world needs a “North-European Enclosure Dam” (NEED) to protect more than 25 million Europeans against the ravages of an expected sea-level rise of several metres over the next few centuries. This extreme dam would consist of two dams — a 475-km-long dam between the north of Scotland and the west of Norway, and a 160-km-long dam between the west point of France and the southwest of England. The depth of water at both locations is technically manageable; engineers have already handled deeper waters. The costs look very high: 250 to 500 billion Euros. But, as oceanographer Dr Sjoerd Groeskamp puts it, this is “merely” 0.1% of the gross national product, annually over 20 years, of all the countries that such a dam would be able to protect. The critical issue is elsewhere. “Besides being a possible solution, the design of such an extreme dam is mainly a warning”, said Groeskamp. “It reveals the immensity of the problem hanging over our heads.”
SNEAK PEEK
1. The same genes?
Researchers are taking a closer look at the so-called “longevity genes” that helped humans survive ancient airborne toxins. Who hypothesised that adaptation to these toxins may be guarding us today from new airborne pollutants such as cigarettes and diesel smoke?
1. Benjamin C. Trumble and Caleb E. Finch
2. In just 20 minutes
Participants in a test were exposed to high heat on their forearm but their brain behaved as if it’s subjected to normal temperature. The secret is mindfulness. Who evinced that just 20 minutes of mindfulness can help people deal with physical pain and negative emotions?
2. Yale University psychiatrist Hedy Kober
3. An early constraint
The Earth of 3.2 billion years ago was a “water world” of submerged continents. This put an important environmental constraint on the origin and evolution of life on Earth as well as its possible existence elsewhere. Who found it in an analysis of ancient ocean crust?
3. Geologist Benjamin Johnson with Boswell Wing
4. In birth, in death
Right before and after birth, about half of the neurons in the developing brain die. Early birth prompts cell death to start a day early but delaying birth does not delay the occurrence of cell death. Who proposed that a developmental process takes over when birth is delayed?
4. Dr Alexandra Castillo-Ruiz (Source: Society for Neuroscience)
5. Implied truth effect
Attaching warnings to certain fake news stories would make readers to trust the accuracy of stories without warnings. This is the “implied truth effect”. Who found an example of the effect in Facebook’s practice of putting warning tags on news stories deemed false?
5. David Rand (MIT Sloan School of Management)
6. Bubbles in a bath
Bubbles in a bath are like groups of people. They merge into bigger bubbles because they want to fit in with the rest. When people speak and listen to each other, they conform to patterns of speech. Who used simple laws of physics to predict the formation of dialects?
6. Dr James Burridge (University of Portsmouth)
7. Let the cars pass!
“Driver yielding” means drivers stopping their cars for pedestrians waiting at crosswalks. Turns out, drivers of expensive cars are not good at it. An increase of US$1,000 in the car’s value would cause a 3% decrease in driver yielding. Who came up with the data?
7. UNLV public health professor Courtney Coughenour
8. A part of the flow
Young burglars can’t identify a clear initial decision when they are about to commit a burglary. It’s just part of the “flow” of what they are doing with their adolescent comrades. Which forensic psychologist reported that skill and financial reward will take over only later?
8. Dr Claire Nee (University of Portsmouth)
9. Bees like it warm
East-facing sunflowers get heated up more quickly in the morning. They attract five times as many pollinating insects. “Bees like warm flowers.” Who found that heating up west-facing flowers with a portable heater would bring more pollinators back to these flowers?
9. UC Davis plant biologist Stacey Harmer
[ANSWERS]
1. Benjamin C. Trumble and Caleb E. Finch
2. Yale University psychiatrist Hedy Kober
3. Geologist Benjamin Johnson with Boswell Wing
4. Dr Alexandra Castillo-Ruiz (Source: Society for Neuroscience)
5. David Rand (MIT Sloan School of Management)
6. Dr James Burridge (University of Portsmouth)
7. UNLV public health professor Courtney Coughenour
8. Dr Claire Nee (University of Portsmouth)
9. UC Davis plant biologist Stacey Harmer
QUIZ No. 944
1. ‘There’s no place to hide in a social network’ whether you join it or not. Who said it?
– Lewis Mitchell
– Alfred Ray Lindesmith
– Wilhelm Heitmeyer
1. Lewis Mitchell
2. “Happiness sweat” (sweat produced under happiness) is infectious. Who found it?
– Gun R. Semin
– Mortimer Louis Anson
– Pamela J. Bjorkman
2. Gun R. Semin
3. Who proposed that it’s group competition that ironically sculpted our cooperativity?
– Irving Louis Horowitz
– Harold Dwight Lasswell
– Sarah Mathew
3. Sarah Mathew
4. Who did a ballet based on ‘Alice in Wonderland’ with Lewis Carroll as a character?
– Herbert Baumann
– Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
– Nikolai Tcherepnin
4. Herbert Baumann
5. Only a 9-year-old boy survived a 2010 plane crash. Which novel was inspired by it?
– Dear Edward
– The Fortress of Solitude
– Wuthering Heights
5. Dear Edward