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FOUND!

Century's GREATEST archaeological ruins


ISSUE 40 JULY 2016
$6.95 (INCL. GST) NZ $7.90 (INCL. GST)

MEDICAL INVESTIGATION POWER OF NATURE


The dark secrets Why this squirrel
your doctor can paralyse a
won't tell you whole country!
PP100009783
EXPERTS IN THIS ISSUE
PETER GTZSCHE
STEFAN Medical researcher
HANSEN The director of the
Test engineer Nordic Cochrane
Hansen works at the largest Center at the Rigs
aeroplane repair factory in the Hospital in Copenhagen
world. He and his team are says that in up to 61%
tasked with examining and of funded studies,
repairing more than 10,000 drug companies
parts in just 32 days. deliberately
manipulate
PAGE 56 some of the data.
PAGE 30

EMMA TEELING
Geneticist
The biologist at the University of Dublin is
researching the genes of bats. Teeling is
convinced that they hold the key to fighting the
An aeroplane most deadly epidemics in the world.
PAGE 68
maintained
by us can
theoretically
fly forever

rying to pick the worst dictator to ever hold office appeared on our radar during research. Our heads
T is a bit like deciding on the most terrible Justin
Bieber song theres just too many choices.
shake and our stomachs churn when we read about
the brutality of Saddam Husseins regime or the terror
Is someone who drops chemical weapons on of Joseph Stalins rule. But torture, executions and
his own citizens any worse than someone who human rights abuses are occurring under our noses,
subjects his people to sickening scientific right now. Heres looking at you, Vladimir Putin,
experiments? Is executing one person by firing Bashar al-Assad, Kim Jong-un, to name a few.
squad any less depraved than killing millions It made me pause for a moment of reflection.
through famine and starvation? Sure, I may moan from time to time, like we all
These are just two of the moral dilemmas we do, about paying too much tax or Google using
faced when whittling down our list of twisted tyrants my data, but Im lucky to live in a country where
to just seven. But whittle we did, and what an Im not punished for doing a magazine about
illustrious roll-call of despots it is. Even though the Historys Most Evil Dictators. And for that privilege,
men (always men) we selected for our cover story Im willing to endure a lifetime of Biebers musical
(page 8) are products of the 20th century, its torture, thats for sure. Vince Jackson, Editor
worrying just how many modern-day dictators Follow me on Twitter: @vince_jackson1

3
Deep in the jungle of Honduras,
ON THE ON THE
COVER COVER researchers have stumbled upon an
archaeological sensation

From Hitler to Mao,


the brutal truth
about historys most
08 evil dictators 20
ON THE
COVER

Top of the FBIs


most-wanted list:
the best
hackers in
the world
revealed

41 48 Its cheap in the supermarket.


But whats the true cost of water?

Why fruit bats could hold the key to


defeating the worlds worst epidemics

Decrypted:
the secret
codes of
pharaohs, popes
and the Knights
Templar
68 74
4
CONTENTS
JULY 2016
Is your doctor telling
you the truth? The
invented diseases,
useless medicines and
ON THE WORLD EVENTS
COVER manipulated studies
20 Search For The Lost White City
The search for a sunken Mayan city is full of risks
48 How Many Lives Does This Bottle Cost?
The scandalous truth behind the worlds drinking water
55 Smarter In 60 Seconds
Theme: Water

NATURE
41 The Most Dangerous Cyber Terrorists In The World
Revealed: the hackers we should really worry about
64 The Cave Of The Crystal Giants
A journey into a natural chamber rich in treasures

THE HUMAN BODY AND MIND


30 What Doctors Dont Tell You
Why you shouldnt trust everything your GP says
30 SCIENCE
68 The Flying Virus Laboratory
How do fruit bats defy the worlds most deadly diseases?
73 Smarter In 60 Seconds
Theme: Viruses

TECHNOLOGY
56 How Planes Get Their Pink Slips
Why passenger planes must be rebuilt every five years
84 The Unbelievable Physics Of Ricochets
How rebounding bullets can quickly prove fatal

HISTORY
Exclusive! Behind the scenes 10 Who Is The Worlds Most Evil Dictator?
The torturers, the executioners, the pure psychos
at the biggest aeroplane repair 74 The Great Puzzles Of World History
centre in the world Pharaohs, code-breakers, unsolved murders and more

REGULARS
3 Experts In This Issue
56 Professional people offering their insights this month
6 The Story Behind The Photo
A fascinating photo and the story behind it
90 Questions & Answers
Amazing facts from science, technology and everyday life
96 And Finally
The body language of owls
98 Letters
Your views and questions aired

Look! 3 issues
for only $6!
Turn to page 18 now for more
details about our amazing
84 How rebounding bullets can turn
into unpredictable killers money-saving subscription deal
AMAZING PHOTO

6
POOCH
ON PATROL
Birds are one of the biggest safety risks at airports.
With one exception: the Cherry Capital Airport in Michigan.
Thats because Piper works there. The border collie keeps the
runways bird-free even in the most extreme conditions

T
he eight geese waddling in below with Piper. Border collies herding
the grass next to the runway instinct means they are perfect for this
have no idea. But Piper does. job, says Edwards. Like any other runway
He knows its only a matter worker, Piper is provided with earmuffs to
of minutes before the three protect against engine noise and goggles
oclock flight taxis onto the to see in snowdrifts. He also wears boots
runway at Cherry Capital Airport and the to shield his paws from extremes of
birds are posing a serious flying hazard. temperature: it can fall to minus 20C
Piper is an eight-year-old border collie in winter, while in summer the tarmac
and a US Coast Guard airport security can get blisteringly hot.
officer. His job: to keep the runway free The hardy pooch has only ever once
from pesky birds during takeoffs and called in sick, after suffering a leg fracture
landings. There arent many things pilots chasing an owl. Thankfully he was only
fear more than a bird flying into one of off for a few weeks and soon resumed his
their engines. Over the years, dozens of familiar position on the side of the runway
aircraft have been brought down this way. much to the delight of the pilots.
Seconds later, Piper sprints from his base
to bark at the birds, forcing them to retreat
to a safe distance. Mission accomplished.
The control tower gives the pilot the all-
clear: the runway is ready for takeoff.
Piper works four days a week in
four-hour shifts, patrolling the airport.
He collects sticks and detritus from the
PHOTOS: TVC K9-Team

taxiways and drives away ducks, pigeons


and geese. Over the past year alone, hes
driven away 2,450 birds.
The other half of the airports K-9 team
is his handler, Brian Edwards, pictured
HISTORY

E V I L
WHO WAS THE WORLD'S

MO S T
DIC TAT O R ?
Theyre the bad appl
ab
es
so
of
lu
po
te po
t
w er th rough sickening violen
ons
ce,
who consolidated ions.
es an d de at hs , of te n running into the mill
human rights abus ay now
of a sq ue am is h di sp osition should look aw
Those

MAO ZEDONG
CHINA, 1945-1976 45-60 MILLION KILLED
REFORMER WHO STARVED
MILLIONS INTO OBLIVION
S kyscrapers spear towards the
clouds. Designer stores hug the
city pavements below. Sports cars
are being systematically tortured
and executed by the state. And
one man is driving almost one
a vast irrigation programme to build
dams and reservoirs. Problem
was, this meant that their lands
purr around the streets. Welcome billion people into a living hell: were untended, and crops rotted
to modern China, the worlds new Mao Zedong, Chairman of the in the first year, creating food
economic powerhouse, driving Communist Party of China, and shortages. Farmers then planted
global growth and creating a new founder of the Peoples Republic. seeds earlier to feed their families,
wealthy middle-class in the kind of Chairman Maos atrocities were but this just meant the next
numbers the communist country committed under the banner of harvest was even smaller.
has never witnessed. The Great Leap Forward, a plan By the end of the decade, as
Yet rewind just two generations devised in 1958 to modernise China peasant land was being nationalised
and the difference is chilling. The both economically and socially. and put into state hands, China was
population is starving to death. To do so, Maos regime initially in the grip of full-blown famine. The
Slave labour is widespread. People coerced millions of peasants into deprived were eating mud pies

8
IT IS BETTER TO LET HALF OF THE
PEOPLE DIE SO THAT THE OTHER
HALF CAN HAVE THEIR FILL.
MAO ZEDONG

DYING OF HUNGER
Millions of peasants
were put to work
during Mao Zedongs
Great Leap Forward,
but this created
famine on an
unprecedented scale.

(which warded off hunger executed. There are reports of century.... It was like [the
temporarily, but ended up blocking parents being forced to bury their Cambodian communist dictator]
their intestines or bowels) or children alive, or risk being set Pol Pots genocide multiplied
feasting on the straw roofs of their alight themselves. Workers were 20 times over, he said. During
houses. Some even resorted to made to work naked during the his research, Diktter discovered
cannibalism. Insanely, Mao cold depths of winter. that the Communist Party saw rural
continued to export tons of food in Many of these and other horrors farmers as mere digits, a faceless
a bid to show the world how only came to light in 2010 when workforce. All up, between 45 and
productive communism could be. Hong Kong-based historian Frank 60 million people died during Maos
In the midst of this crisis, the Diktter gained unprecedented Great Leap Forward. In the province
militia and state officials ruthlessly access to official Communist Party of Sichuan, which is about three-
enforced the party line. Anyone archives. It ranks alongside the quarters the size of New South
caught stealing or hoarding food Gulags and the Holocaust as one of Wales, half the population vanished
even children were beaten or the three greatest events of the 20th between 1958 and 1961. >
ADOLF HITLER
GERMANY, 1934-1945 15 MILLION KILLED
THE EVIL SCIENCE OF
HUMAN EXPERIMENTS
T he atrocities of Adolf Hitler?
How long have you got? The
genocide of six million Jews during
At Auschwitz, Dr Josef Mengele
experimented on almost 1,500
twins. Mengele was keen to see
the Holocaust, people he classed if the human body could be
as Untermenschen (sub-humans). unnaturally manipulated, and
At least three million prisoners whether there was a way to quickly
of war executed. Up to 500,000 multiply the Aryan race. In doing
Romani (gypsies) slaughtered. so, he undertook various macabre
The imprisonment of 100,000 procedures: injecting dyes into the
homosexuals. The euthanasia eyes of kids to see if they would
of 75,000-250,000 mentally change colour, or sewing children
handicapped Germans. The together in an attempt to artificially
list is long, and repulsive. create conjoined twins. Around 200
Theres also a strong case to be twins survived their ordeals.
made over Hitlers influence on the Then there were the freezing
deaths of 66 million people during experiments at Dachau in which
World War Two, thanks to his victims were submerged in icy
aggressive war-mongering and water for up to five hours, to see
empire expansion. if there was a way to treat German
One of the most depraved pilots whod ejected into cold seas;
exploits acted out under Hitlers the sea water experiments whereby
watch were the Nazis human groups were given nothing to drink
experiments, conducted on (or eat) except sea water, resulting
concentration camp prisoners in extreme dehydration and
INHUMANE TREATMENT
during the early-1940s. sickness; the transplant
Nazi physicians conduct a
Hideous procedures were experiments at Ravensbruck
freezing experiment on a prisoner
performed under the guise of that saw a victims joints and at Dachau in 1942. The use of
science, using people as guinea limbs amputated, then implanted human guinea pigs for sick
pigs to advance various Nazi onto someone else; or the bomb experiments was widespread
causes, including weapon experiments at Buchenwald that during Hitlers reign.
development, the rescue of involved scalding prisoners with
military personnel in combat phosphorus burns to test various
and to further the regimes pharmaceutical treatments for
twisted racial ideologies. bomb wounds. physical deformities, mental issues,
Without exception, captives But perhaps the lowest point blindness, deafness, alcoholic
were forced to take part, often and an example of just how dependence, and more). Within
resulting in death, disfigurement ingrained human experimentation two years of the act being rubber-
or permanent disability. had become within the Nazi Party stamped by parliament, around
German physicians such as was the passing of the Law for the 1% of citizens aged between
Edurad Wirths (Auschwitz) had Prevention of Genetically Defective 17 and 24 had been injected
no time for sentiment as well Progeny in July 1933, which with iodine and silver nitrate to
as Jews, Romani, ethinic Poles legalised the involuntary sterilisation stop them producing offspring.
and disabled Germans, children of anyone with diseases deemed By 1945, around 400,000
were also considered fair game. to be hereditary (i.e. those with Germans had been sterilised. >

10
I DO NOT SEE WHY MAN SHOULD
NOT BE JUST AS CRUEL AS NATURE.
ADOLF HITLER
R ST F O R
WO NIC
ETH IDE
GENOC

IDI AMIN
UGANDA, 1971-1979 500,000 KILLED
PSYCHO WITH A MYSTICAL AURA
hen a man declares Hitler was His actions certainly suggested he various Christian tribes were
W right to kill six million Jews,
you know hes a nasty piece of
didnt possess a speck of humanity.
After seizing power from Milton
rounded up into a tiny cell in
Makindye Prison in Kampala and
work. Ugandan despot and Nazi Obote in a 1971 coup, Amin quickly blown up with dynamite.
sympathiser Idi Amin was arguably went about asserting total control. In August 1972, Amin woke one
the most brutal leader to emerge from He declared himself as President, morning, claiming hed dreamt that
post-colonial Africa, a murderer, Commander-In-Chief of the Armed he must expel 80,000 Ugandans
a liar and a savage who left an Forces and Army of Chief Staff. He who descended from the Indian
indelible blood stain on his country surrounded himself with members subcontinent. That very day, he
during an eight-year reign of terror. of his own tribe, the Kakwas. ordered his troops to begin rounding
Amin was surrounded by a halo Democratic sections of the Ugandan up these people, the start of an
of mysticism, dating back to his time constitution were suspended. economic war that saw nearly all
as commander of the Ugandan army. Military tribunals were given authority 80,000 Asian Ugandans chucked
In 1964, Amin led a raid on the over civil courts. Four agencies were out of the country not before Amin
palace of the king of Bugunda, set up to carry out mass killings of had stolen their businesses and
an ethnic ruler within Uganda. The dissidents, ethnic rivals and anyone properties, and then given them
victory of this Muslim peasant over Amin believed to be a threat to his to his own supporters.
a sophisticated Christian leader power including former prime Amin died in 2003, after himself
instilled Amin with a legend that minister Benedicto Kiwanuka and exiling to Saudi Arabia. The exact
he would wield through his career, Anglican archbishop Janani Luwum. number of his victims still isnt
giving him the conviction that On one particularly gruesome known, but Amnesty International
he was something more than mortal. occasion, 32 army officers from puts the total at around half a million.

12
STATE MURDER
Idi Amins secret
police terrorised
SADDAM HUSSEIN
Uganda in the IRAQ, 1979-2003 250,000 KILLED
1970s. Here, men
lay dead in the city NOT EVEN FAMILY
of Kampala after
being massacred by MEMBERS ARE SAFE
Amins henchmen.
I n 1979, more than a decade before he would
become a household name during the first Gulf
War, Saddam Hussein stood before a gathering of
several hundred elite members of his Baath Party.
Hed just pushed aside ageing President Bakr. The
Iraqi leadership was his. Standing at the podium,
Saddam read from a list of dozens of people he
believed were involved in a Syrian-led coup. His
guards began to drag out those accused, while a
hysterical crowd chanted that the traitors be put to
death, and Saddam puffed casually on a cigar.
While even his harshest critics note that Saddam,
using the countrys skyrocketing oil reserves,
modernised Iraq during the 1970s and 1980s, his
regime was defined by savagery, and a thirst for
absolute power. His secret police force established
a network of torture centres throughout Iraq.
Citizens were banned from assembling in public
unless it was to support the government;
non-Baath political parties were closely monitored.
Like many despots, Saddam surrounded himself
with members of his own clan in this case, Sunni

I WANT YOUR
Arabs, a minority that made up only 20% of the Iraqi
population. His hatred for other ethnic groups was
legendary, especially Kurds and Shiite Muslims - and
fed the appetite of his most violent politics. In 1988,

HEART. I WANT TO during the closing days of the Iraq-Iran War,


Saddams troops attacked the Kurdish town of
Halabja with poison gas, killing 5,000 people and

EAT YOUR
injuring 7,000. In the years that followed, thousands
more died of related complications, and birth defects
in the region were common [see below].
Even family members werent safe from

CHILDREN. Saddams ire. At a diplomatic party in 1997, his


eldest son Uday murdered his fathers personal
valet with an electric carving knife in front of horrified

IDI AMIN, TO AN
guests. Saddams response? He sentenced his
first born to death (though he later retracted the
order). No such luck for the husbands of his two
eldest daughters, though, who were gunned

ADVISER BEFORE down for defecting from Iraq. >

DINNER >
PRISON HELL
Russian peasants
work on one of
Joseph Stalins
forced labour camps,
or Gulags, in 1930.
Conditions were
brutal, and human
rights abuses
widespread.

14
OSEPH STALIN
VIET UNION, 1922-1952 20 MILLION KILLED
THE TERROR OF THE GULAGS
t was conceived in order to justice know as a Troika. Under roofless enclosures made out of
transform human matter into a troika, just three people a member planks, remembers female inmate
docile, exhausted, ill-smelling of the state police, a local Communist Evfrosiniia Kersnovskaia. Below
ss of individuals living only for Party secretary and a state procurator our feet lay frozen excrement. An
themselves and thinking of nothing had the authority to issue quick enclosure measured three square feet
e but how to appease the constant verdicts of death, exile or banishment and each held three to four shivering
torture of hunger concerned with into prison camps. and frightened men and women.
thing apart from evading kicks, After being officially endorsed by Inside the camp, hunger and
ld and ill-treatment. Stalin in April 1930, Gulags quickly disease were rampant, but inmates
Jacques Rossi knows all too well became a way for the Soviet ruler to were still made to work 20-hour days.
the reality of life in a Gulag, describing both remove enemies from normal Females often endured degrading
u t some of its day-to-day horrors in society (in 1939, the camp population strip searches from guards. I was so
memoir, The Gulag Handbook. stood at 1.6 million) and to cheaply shocked about it at first, I refused,
e artist spent 19 years in one of increase the countrys industrial said one woman anonymously.
J seph Stalins labour camps, after output. Until the start of World War Soldiers kept my hands behind my
s ffering at the hands of the Soviet Two, the Gulags were providing 76% back, another forced my legs apart.
ictators infamous purges, large- of the nations tin, 60% of its gold The decline of the Gulag system
s ale operations that saw the and 25% of its timber. Its thanks to coincided with the start of World War
prisonment, exile or murder of prisoners that major infrastructure Two, when more men were needed
nemies of the working class. projects such as the White Sea-Baltic for the battlefield. When Stalin died
In Stalin-speak, this could be Canal and the Baikal-Amur main in 1953, the Gulag population
yone obstructing his path to railroad line were built. But it was shrank sharply, but continued to
solute power: fellow Communist slavery, in a different name. exist, albeit on a small scale, during
rty members, army personnel, Within moments of arriving at the the Gorbachev period in the late-80s.
iests, musicians, teachers and other Gulag, prisoners were in no doubt of Incredibly, though, a 2015 poll in
mbers of the intellectual classes. the brutal, humiliating life awaiting Russia showed that 45% of people
ll trials were non-existent. Instead, them. First we were made to strip still believe Stalins actions were to
alin enforced a form of instant naked and were shoved into some some extent justified. >

WHOS GOING TO REMEMBER


ALL THIS RIFF-RAFF IN TEN OR
TWENTY YEARS TIME?
JOSEPH STALIN, ON THE
VICTIMS OF HIS PURGES
KIM IL-SUNG
NORTH KOREA, 1948-1994 1 MILLION KILLED
THE CULT OF THE SMILING ASSASSIN
ext time you see posturing Minister of the Democratic Peoples Using Stalin as a benchmark,
N North Korean leader Kim
Jong-un on TV, threatening to
Republic by Russian dictator
Joseph Stalin in 1948, whose forces
Il-sung made sure all TVs and radios
were preset to one state-controlled
nuke the United States from were occupying the Korean channel or station. Those who
WORDS: Vince Jackson PHOTOS: Getty (8); Alamy (6); PR (5)

the world map, remember: its peninsula north of the 38th parallel. peddled information outside official
not his fault, its in his genes. Il-sungs communist buddies loaded streams were jailed, tortured or
Jong-un is descended from him up with military hardware, which executed by the secret police (who
a proud line of lunatics. While his he promptly used to invade South had set up an all-seeing, all-hearing
father Kim Jong-il plunged the Korea, a salvo which ignited network of spies). A system of labour
country into famine and ignored the a bloody three-year-long Korean camps were built to house those
basic human rights of his citizens, War, leaving 2.5 million dead. guilty of political crimes. Every
its Jong-ils father Kim II-sung who His aim was to unify the whole of industry was nationalised.
claims family bragging rights as the Korea. That objective failed. But it Individuality and free thought were,
biggest bastard of all the Kims. didnt stop Il-sung from claiming in effect, eradicated.
After rising through the ranks of victory back home, a feat made And yet, incredibly, Il-sung was
the Communist Korean Workers easier by his vice-like grip over worshipped with god-like devotion
Party, Il-sung was installed as Prime every facet of North Korean life. in North Korea, thanks to what

16
GOD-LIKE FIGURE
People bow before
a statue of former
North Korean leader
BASHAR AL-ASSAD
Kim Il-sung in SYRIA, 2000-PRESENT 250,000 KI LED
Pyongyang. To this
day, the dictator is
still revered, despite
WHEN CHEMICALS
his numerous
atrocities. RAINED ON SYRIA
he first reports filter through to a global ban on the production,
T at 02:45 local time on August
21, 2013. According to eye-
stockpiling and use of chemical
weapons, but it would be another
witnesses, at least 15 rockets 20 years before Syria came to the
have landed in Ghouta, an party and signed up, eventually
agricultural belt around the bowing to international pressure
Syrian capital Damascus, an after the Ghouta attacks on its
area controlled by opponents own civilians. (In the intervening
of President Bashar al-Assad. years, the Middle East nation
Over the next few hours, defied the global mood by
sickening videos are uploaded to stockpiling and testing, insisting
YouTube showing graphic footage the need to defend itself from

PEACE SECURED of adults, children and small


babies who are clearly sick, yet
have no external signs of injury.
Israels nuclear threat.)
But if the international
community thought ratifying the

BY SLAVISH Their symptoms, described by


medics on the ground, include
shortness of breath, blurred
Convention would end al-Assads
repugnant offensives, they were
wrong. Two years later, the

SUBMISSION IS vision, vomiting and eventual loss


of consciousness all classic
signs of a chemical weapons
presidents troops dropped
chlorine bombs on insurgent-held
areas of Syria. As World of

NOT PEACE. attack, a hallmark of al-Assads


regime during the Syrian Civil
War. By the end of the day, the
Knowledge went to press, the
last confirmed chemical attack
occurred in Aleppo on April 7,

KIM IL-SUNG death toll was more than 1,300.


The nerve agent sarin, an
odourless, colourless toxin
20 times more deadly cyanide,
2016, killing 23 people and
injuring more than 100.
When hes not poisoning his
own people, al-Assad dabbles
historians refer to as his cult of was the main culprit. in other time-honoured dictator
personality. Massive portraits of the The Chemical Weapons activities: false imprisonment,
self-styled Great Leader were erected Convention of 1993 agreed torture and executions.
around the country, beaming with
Il-sungs impossibly white grin. All
newspapers and textbooks included POISON GAS
words of instruction from the big man. The sick are treated
In 1974, Il-sung even abolished taxation. after a chemical
weapons attack in
To my childish eyes and to those
Syria in 2013.
of all my friends, Kim Il-sung [and Kim
Jong-il] were perfect beings, untarnished
by any base human function, says
author and North Korean defector
Kang Chol-hwan. I was convinced,
as we all were, that neither of them
urinated or defecated. Who could
imagine such things of gods?
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WORLD EVENTS

DANGEROUS TERRAIN
Armed with a machete, Andrew
Wood fights his way through the
jungle of La Mosquitia. The ex-SAS
officers job is to protect the
research team from the dangers
of the Honduran rainforest. But
venomous snakes, hungry jaguars
and disease-carrying insects are
not the only threats lurking in
the undergrowth

20
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SENSATION!

SEARCH FOR THE


LOST
WHITE CITY
Deep in the Honduran jungle, a team of researchers has stumbled upon the
ruins of an ancient civilisation that existed long before the Incas and the
Aztecs. But the discovery site is in the middle of a highly dangerous region.
One thats ruled by the most feared drug cartels in Central America
MYSTERIOUS SCULPTURES
Archaeologists stumbled upon 52
well-preserved artefacts including
pots carved with images of snakes,
statues and an ornate throne made
from stone. The researchers suspect
that they were left behind as a
sacrificial offering many centuries
ago and that many more treasures
lie buried in the earth.

22
t long last, Steve

A
Elkins is where he
always wanted to
be. The filmmaker
can feel his heart
pounding as he
stands on the
riverbank and peers expectantly into
the sprawling undergrowth of ferns
and creepers. Many explorers have
tried to track down the mythical
Ciudad Blanca (White City) in the
Honduran rainforest, but none has
got as close as him. Elkins pauses
for a moment and listens to the
sound of the river. Then he gathers
his thoughts and makes his way
back to the rest of the team to
tackle the final leg of their mission.

The discovery
shows that even in
the 21st century
there are infinite
amounts we
still do not
know about
our world.
Oscar Neil Cruz, Archaeologist

Carefully, the researchers clamber


up the treacherous, leaf-covered
slope. Time and again they find
themselves clinging onto liana vines
to avoid slipping on the damp
leaves, but eventually they reach
the top. While support team leader
Andrew Wood, an ex-SAS officer,
keeps a vigilant eye on the
surroundings, Elkins and the team
start to examine the area. Suddenly
the archaeologist discovers a small
tip protruding from the ground
then another, and another. >
DISCOVERY SITE
The jungle of La Mosquitia, a border region
between Honduras and Nicaragua, is
considered one of the largest, most
dangerous and impenetrable rainforests
in Central America. In this previously
unexplored valley the researchers came
across the remains of a pre-Colombian city.

24
Before they know it, the researchers Caracol in Belize, Elkins reads
have uncovered more than 50 about a technique called LiDAR
artefacts and the remains of an (Light Detection And Ranging)
earthen pyramid. For Elkins theres a technology which uses lasers to
no longer any doubt: Its just as I scan the rainforest and, importantly,
thought, all this terrain has been sheds light on what lies beneath the
modified by human hands. But is dense tree cover. Elkins thrill of the
this really the legendary White City chase quickly reaches new heights.
that the team has stumbled across? Together with researchers from the
University of Houston he charters a
WHAT TECHNOLOGY CAN plane and flies over several valleys
PENETRATE EVEN THE MOST in the Honduran rainforest, shooting
DENSE JUNGLE? images with a special laser camera.
Covering an area of some 50,000 Then, with archaeologist Chris
square kilometres, the rainforest in Fisher, he examines the data and
the Mosquitia region of Honduras finds rectangular structures that
and Nicaragua is not only the could only have been made by
largest in Central America, it is also human hands. In two nearby valleys
home to a 500-year-old myth. they find ruins stretching for miles,
Ever since 1526, when the consisting of pyramids, plazas,
Spanish conquistador Hernn terraced fields and canals. Even if
Corts first told of mysterious, this wasnt the fabled White City,
fabulously wealthy towns hidden the researchers had clearly taken
deep in the Honduran jungle, an important step closer to it with
explorers, adventurers and
prospectors have been trying to
find the mythical city with the white
I just thought to
walls. The problem: most of those
who entered the jungle never
myself: if I were a
returned and the few who did king this would
manage it later died in mysterious
circumstances. be the perfect
The story didnt deter Steve
Elkins. Ever since the mid-90s, the place to hide
documentary filmmaker has been
trying to discover the exact
my kingdom.
whereabouts of the White City.
Hes studied archaeological reports, Steve Elkins, Documentary maker
pored over accounts from drug
smugglers and geologists and this discovery. Even in this remote
examined satellite data from NASA. jungle, says Fisher, where people
In the process Elkins came across wouldnt expect it, we now have
what he thought would be the evidence that there were dense
perfect hiding place for a kingdom: populations living in cities
an undiscovered valley in the thousands of people.
northeast of the rainforest. But until With the help of the Honduran
he finds some way of looking government, Elkins puts a team
through the thick jungle canopy, together and returns to the jungle
the city will remain a myth. this time to explore the lost cities
In 2010, while researching the on foot. On 18th February 2015,
discovery of the Maya city of Andrew Wood is the first to step >
HOW DO YOU SCAN A JUNGLE?
Documentary filmmaker Steve Elkins has spent a good chunk of his life trying to track down
the legendary White City. For years he studied archaeological reports, read accounts from
smugglers and prospectors and examined data from NASA satellites all without success. It was
only thanks to LiDAR technology that he got his breakthrough: helped by a research team from the
University of Houston, Elkins flew over the region and directed hundreds of thousands of laser
pulses through the tree canopy to the ground below. By digitally stripping away the blanket-like
canopy cover, the team discovered two cities with pyramids, plazas and farm terraces.

610 metres
cruising height over
the tree canopy
i FREE VIEW
Special computer software is used to
ARCHAEOLOGY digitally strip away obstacles like trees
FROM or shrubbery.

THE AIR LASER


POINT CLOUD PULSES
At a speed of 70 Most beams of light Using LiDAR
metres per second reflect off the tree (Light Detection
the plane flies at cover, but some and Ranging)
a constant altitude penetrate the thick technology,
over the jungle and foliage, reach the large areas
directs hundreds ground and are then can be scanned
of thousands of reflected back through from the air.
infrared laser gaps in the canopy.
pulses towards the Recording how long it
ground. By takes the light to
identifying the laser return to the device
points that reach produces a point
and reflect off the cloud. From this, a 3D
ground, the tree model of the forest
canopy can be canopy is created.
digitally stripped
away, leaving a 3D MAP
bare-earth Whats left is a 3D topographic model
topographic model. FOREST of the ground, on which all geometric
The problem: LiDAR CANOPY forms and shapes can be seen.
technology doesnt
come cheap
scanning the three PLAZA
valleys in La
Mosquitia cost TERRACES
Elkins a cool
$250,000.

137m

GROUND

EVIDENCE OF
RECTANGULAR,
MANMADE STRUCTURES RUINS
REVEALING TRACES
Experts then examine the 3D model.
Theyre looking for changes to the
landscape and evidence of
ENLARGED VIEW NOT TO SCALE manmade structures.

26
BUILDINGS A CITY BECOMES VISIBLE
As most of the houses were built from
wood and earth, they would later be Using the LiDAR data and the research teams results, scientists
dissolved by the rain and swallowed up were able to generate a preliminary map of the sunken city. The
by the thick vegetation of the jungle. actual size of the structures illustrated can only be estimated as
many are still hidden under the dense vegetation.

TERRACES
On the edges of the city, farmers
cut terraces into the land. This
made it easier to grow crops

PLAZA
There were ten large
squares spread across
the city. These appear
to have been used for
ritual ceremonies and
public gatherings.

MOUNDS
Mounds of earth of
various shapes and sizes
are found throughout
the site. Its likely they
were the foundations of
old temples.

EARTHEN
PYRAMID

DISCOVERY SITE
At the base of the pyramid,
researchers discovered more than
CANALS 50 artefacts, including pots, vessels
To irrigate the fields, and a decorated stone throne.
a system of dams and
canals was constructed
on the edge of the city.
from the helicopter. Using his
machete, the former SAS officer
clears a landing spot and sets up
a base camp while the helicopter
collects the rest of the team from
Catacamas. A few hours later Elkins
and co are also standing in the
middle of the ruins of the lost city.

IS AN ENTIRE CIVILISATION
HIDING UNDER THE
WHITE CITY?
Today the excavations are in full
flow. The LiDar technicians have
already scanned all of the artefacts
and produced 3D images of them.
We believe there are even more
treasures hidden in the ground,
Fisher reveals. Perhaps even the
burial grounds of kings. These
could shed important light on the
culture that once existed here, as
well as providing clues as to why
people eventually deserted the city.
Further scans are needed to figure
out why that may have happened
and also to get a clearer idea of
the true size and scale of the city.
Aside from venomous snakes and
disease-carrying insects, theres
MILITARY PROTECTION
another dangerous element that the La Mosquitia is largely ruled by drug
team has to content with: the region cartels, so the Honduran president
where the excavation work is taking Juan Orlando Hernndez placed soldiers
there to protect the archaeologists.
place is ruled by drug cartels. Some
The exact coordinates of the dig site
88% of the cocaine smuggled from are also kept top secret.

We believe
that there are
more artefacts
lying hidden
potentially even
the raves
SEARCH FOR CLUES of kings.
Archaeologist Oscar Neil Cruz carefully
uncovers the stone artefacts. Each one
is scanned to produce a 3D model.
Chris Fisher, Archaeologist

28
South America to the US travels But according to Honduran part of a previously unknown
through Honduras. Historically, the archaeologist Virgilio Paredes these culture and that many other lost
countrys jungle has been off-limits measures havent stopped the cities lie hidden in the jungle.
to the police and military. Drug smugglers, looters or loggers: The Perhaps the real White City has yet
traffickers have taken full president promised to protect this to be found. The fact is, they lie in
advantage, clearing swathes of area, but he doesnt have enough the middle of one of the most
forest to build roads and landing money. If we do nothing this jungle dangerous and heavily fought over
PHOTOS: Dave Yoder/NGS (6)

strips or to create plantations to be will disappear within eight years. regions in the world, and the drugs
ILLUSTRATIONS: NGS, PR

used for money laundering. Keen to The researchers face a race trade will not stop for any ruins.
redress the balance, and ever against time. The mapping of the Unlike Elkins, the traffickers
mindful of the need for good valleys has only just begun, and a are not dreaming of a White City,
publicity, Honduran president Juan large number of ruins still lie but of white gold: cocaine. The
Orlando Hernndez has now placed undiscovered. Chris Fisher is war for the lost city of Honduras
the valleys under military protection. convinced that they are a small has only just begun.
HUMAN BODY
1. IGNORANCE: Even the most
groundbreaking of medical indings
can take several years to ilter war on this issue. The Cochrane
through to frontline doctors. An Collaboration is a network of
example: for three decades, studies physicians and scientists that has
have found that the sedative been operating for the last 20 years.
diazepam (Valium) is as addictive as During that time it has developed into
heroin yet it is still being prescribed an unoficial quality control institute
to millions today. for medical products and trials. The
2. DISHONESTY: What would you groups name and ethos are inspired
do if you were in my shoes? Many by Dr Archie Cochrane, one of the
doctors dread this question and fail founding fathers of evidence-based
Which medicines claim to give an honest answer or offer medicine. The researchers aim is to
more lives than they save? patients their true personal opinions. ilter the unbiased and diagnostically
An example: a survey carried out at conclusive results from studies
How is a disease invented? Duke University in North Carolina commissioned by pharmaceutical
asked doctors whether they would companies eager to get their
What criteria is used to
recommend their patients undergo medicines to market. To prevent this,
decide who receives the same bowel cancer treatment systematic checking and comparing
that they would choose. The indings of different studies aims to control
a donor organ? World of
alarmed even the experts: of the 500 the eficacy and risks of a drug and
Knowledge explores the physicians surveyed, a staggering the health of patients as a result.
40% advised their patients to have Today, 37,000 scientists in 100
dark secrets of medicine an operation that they would countries contribute to the Cochrane
personally reject because of the Collaboration as unpaid volunteers.
many negative side effects. Their goal: making sure medicines
he contract does not 3. MISINFORMATION: In reality, actually beneit patients. Some of

T
require a signature, more than 50% of funded drug the treatments I had been taught to
a spoken agreement studies are influenced in favour of give at medical school were actually
or even a handshake the pharmaceutical irms that inance harming, and sometimes killing, my
to be valid. It them. Joel Lexchin of York University, patients, says the organisations
automatically comes Toronto, analysed 30 reports on founder, Sir Iain Chalmers. With the
into force every time research funded by drug companies best of intentions, doctors and other
you set foot in the doctors surgery. and found that they were four times health professionals can do harm.
The contract between doctor and more likely to be positive than Everything starts from that.
patient states that every doctor is independently funded studies. We On the following pages World
obliged to provide their patient with found that in almost all cases there of Knowledge, aided by leading
clear information, to treat them to was a rather heavy bias in favour [of independent medical experts,
the best of their ability and to keep a drug] when the study was industry reveals how medical trials
them out of harms way. But what funded, he said. That means can be influenced, which
many people dont realise is that doctors often rely on biased research, information doctors would rather
doctors break this contract every but this is rarely communicated to keep secret and how some doctors
single day. Often unwittingly, but those being treated. Sometimes put at risk the most important
sometimes deliberately. There are doctors dont realise this themselves. commodity a human being
three main reasons for this: Now one organisation has declared possesses their health.

31
JUST HOW DANGEROUS
IS THE FLU?
Every year, flagged doubts about six months. Their reasoning: there
thousands the effectiveness of flu have also been many cases of flu
of people fall vaccinations: There is a lack of in children though an exact
victim to it in quality evidence available on statistic related to infants is
Australia around 18,000 are flu vaccination: the bottom line lacking. The Cochrane
hospitalised every year, with is we need better quality of Collaboration found it strange
3,500 deaths. This makes evidence. Studies have also that of the 52 studies they
flu an epidemic that claims shown that you need to collected on flu infections in
around a third of the lives that children, only two occupied
the recent Ebola epidemic did themselves with infants. And
There is not enough
in West Africa. Its a serious these could not prove
evidence to decide
matter when the media, healt the vaccines eficacy.
whether routine
insurance irms and the WHO In fact, there was only
vaccination to prevent
all call for people to get a one study which
influenza in healthy
seasonal flu vaccination. concerned itself with
adults is effective.
The oficial line from health the safety of vaccines:
THE COCHRANE COLLABORATION
authorities in Australia is that it was over 30 years
this is the best protection we old and only studied
have against an unpredictable vaccinate 100 eo le or ust 35 infants.
virus. Most doctors recommen ne person to beneit
their patients get a flu jab an o
millions heed this advice,
despite possible side effects
so a ro ems w t t e
i
like headaches, sore throats t-risk roup: in ants. Th
and muscle and limb pain. Center for Disease Control and
HOW ARE FLU
The flu vaccination would b Prevention in Atlanta, eo ia, DEATHS COUNTED?
seen as a true success story own a e t e vacc ne Flu deaths are dificult to count as
for the health and wellbeing o deaths are recorded as resulting from
the nation were it not for on pneumonia or a secondary condition.
stark fact withheld from This means authorities have to
patients: it is entirely possible base their flu mortality igures on
that lu vaccines have no effect estimates. To arrive at a number you
all. In reality there are a numb subtract the summer deaths from the
of critical studies that raise more numerous winter deaths and
doubt over the oficial line on call whats left over excess mortality.
flu vaccinations. A meta- Although this fatality rate can never
analysis by the Cochrane exactly match the true number of
Collaboration reviewed 36 influenza deaths, it serves as the
individual studies and basis for estimating flu-related
discovered that the annual flu excess mortality. The year 2009 was
vaccine had no proven effect an exception because that was when
on severe complications or th swine flu was spreading through
number of flu-related hospital Australia. Authorities were obliged to
admissions. Margaret report all deaths. The surprising
McCarthy, a GP based in outcome: only 191 documented
Glasgow, Scotland, has also swine flu deaths nationwide.
CAN A a chemical effect on the body. And
that includes food.
Beer, salami or mature cheese can be
similarly dangerous. As these foods age,
GRAPEFRUIT A typical day at a GPs surgery shows they build up large amounts of the
KILL ME? the extent to which doctors are ignoring substance tyramine, which can raise
this risk. As a rule, prescribing physicians blood pressure. If you are also taking
In Australia, thousands of wont usually ask about a patients eating monamine oxidase inhibitors for anxiety
medicines are licensed for habits even though the influence of foods or depression, the breakdown of tyramine
use: around half of us are on the metabolism the bodys own will be affected. The consequences:
now regularly swallowing chemistry set is indisputable. Its a headaches and dangerously high blood
prescription drugs. To treat something as similar situation with standardised patient pressure. Another example affects the
mundane as a common cold, you can forms. These will normally only ask about 2.3 million Australians with asthma. Thats
now get hold of half a dozen drugs over previous illnesses, medications or because some asthma drugs contain
the counter that can be administered at pregnancy. But what about food? No theophylline. If that comes into contact
home. The problem: it doesnt matter how chance even though doctors know that
harmless an active ingredient is when it something as ubiquitous as fruit can
Adverse reactions to
interacts with another substance, a chemical quickly become dangerous. For example,
medicines are implicated
reaction takes place. And the effects of this furanocoumarin, found in citrus fruits like
in up to 6.5% of hospital
interaction can be serious: drugs change grapefruit, has a signiicant effect on the
admissions.
their composition, cancel each other out, breakdown of medicines in the human
DR MARTIN DUERDEN,
have the opposite of their desired effect body. This can quickly turn a harmless BANGOR UNIVERSITY
or even increase in strength so much that dose into a deadly one. This drug
they become poisonous. Its a risky interaction has claimed lives: in the
Russian roulette that doctors have been 1990s a 29-year-old American died after with black pepper, the medicine reacts
warning about for years particularly in taking hayfever medication while also with piperine a naturally occurring
the case of self-prescribed treatments. drinking a few glasses of grapefruit juice compound in pepper and the level of
What they fail to mention so often is a week. The amount of the drug in his theophylline in the blood increases.
that drugs dont just react with other blood increased 30-fold, causing Possible symptoms include heartburn,
medicines but with anything that has circulatory collapse. anxiety and an irregular heartbeat.

33
The terrib
thing is that a
all
medicines hav ve
damaging sid de
effects while
many of them m
are also
ineffective

PETER GTZSCHE
DO MEDICINES DOCTOR AND DIRECTOR OF
F
THE NORDIC COCHRANE
CLAIM MORE LIVES CENTRE

THAN THEY SAVE?


Around 250 million drugs have side effects and carry the some experts believe, are selective
medicines are passed risk of complications. serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs
over the pharmacy One signiicant example comes in Debate has raged in professiona al
counter every year in the form of anti-depressants. Britain circles for years due to the suspiicion
Australia. But what hardly anybody has been described as a Prozac that these drugs actually increase a
outside of the medical profession Nation with one in 10 Aussie adults persons risk of suicide. Many experts
realises is that four Aussies die every taking some form of anti-depressant believe that this is directly related to
day from prescription pill overdose. medication. Despite their widespread the way the drugs actually affect the
Of course, theres no doubt that use, their effects are far from proven. brain. They help people suffering
these drugs save countless lives. But Dr Joanna Moncrieff from University from depression become more active
what many doctors fail to mention is College London says: People in the and able to overcome their lethargy.
that taking any medicine, even UK are consuming more than four The problem: the drugs give every
something as common as a painkiller, times as many antidepressants as thought or plan more energy, including
poses a hidden and deadly risk. they did two decades ago. Despite suicidal intentions. If the patient
The most common side effects and this, we still do not fully understand harboured suicidal intentions before
complications are caused by those the effects of these drugs. the treatment began, taking an
medicines that are also prescribed most Whats more, anti-depressants anti-depressant might motivate them
regularly, says Keihan Ahmadi-Simab, come with a long and worrying list of to act on their urge. This is
a medical director based in Hamburg. side effects. Peter Gtzsche, director corroborated by the fact that its within
And therein lies the problem, say of the Nordic Cochrane Centre, noted the irst nine days of SSRI treatment
medical experts. Something that is that antidepressant and antipsychotic that a person is most at risk of suicidal
handed over by your friendly local medications in America and Europe behaviour. The problem is, other
chemist will appear harmless, which are responsible for the deaths of anti-depressants also have side
lulls users into a false sense of more than 500,000 people aged 65 effects and alternative treatments are
security oblivious to the fact that all or older every year. The main culprits, currently thin on the ground.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
WHICH CRITERIA for every donor organ that decide on an organ recipient i
REALLY DECIDE becomes available. This means using factors like lifestyle or
WHO RECEIVES a patient might be second on likeliness to keep up with the PRINCIP-
A DONATED the list in one case, but right gruelling anti-rejection drugs LE: BRAIN
ORGAN? at the bottom in another, regime required after the DEATH
depending on blood type and transplant and its a
Despite it being
In 2015, 435 specific circumstances. maddeningly dificult task.
a commonly held
organ donors But even if the dice are rolled In practice that might
misconception,
gave 1,241 in the patients favour, they will mean that a 47-year-old dead people cannot
Australians not automatically be selected has a lower chance of being actually donate
a new chance in life. In fact, for a transplant far from it. In allocated a donor liver than organs. You can
the number of people donating fact it doesnt even mean they a 17-year-old with a genetic only transplant
organs in this country is now will get a new organ at all. condition who is otherwise organs that are
at a record high. How can that be the case? healthy. For critics thats living, explains
But waiting times for In a nutshell: once the list of cardiologist Paolo
individuals desperate for an patients eligible for a kidney Bavastro. So that
Why transplant doctors can remove
organ can be extremely long transplant has been whittled
medicine is not organs from a living
anything from six months to down to just two using the hard
subject to certain corpse without
four years, which sometimes criteria, theres a dilemma.
disclosure obligations becoming liable, an
can mean the difference For the estimated 40,000
is a mystery to me. alternative deinition
between life and death. people waiting for a kidney in of death came into
PAOLO BAVASTRO,
So does your chance of western Europe, it is a problem CARDIOLOGIST force in 1968. It is
receiving an organ increase that occurs more frequently deined as when the
the longer youre on the waiting than many would believe. To brain is no longer
list? Not necessarily, because select a patient for an organ in a bitter pill to swallow: without functioning and will
when speaking to seriously this instance, doctors must objective criteria, they believe never recover, even
ill patients, some doctors are also take soft criteria into a red line is crossed. Patrick though other parts
not completely honest. account. These are often based McMahon, a transplant of the body may
Alongside the hard criteria on subjective assessment. The coordinator, has even accused still be active or
kept alive by life
that determine whether a donor doctors responsible must doctors of playing God.
support machines.
organ is right for a patient, such
as a persons blood type and
age, there are also numerous
soft criteria that play a crucial
role in the allocation of organs.
For example, many of those
affected do not realise that the
ranking of patients on the
transplant list is calculated anew

35
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
ARE DRUG STUDIES
MANIPULATED?
The manipulation of likely to be published than negative stand in the way of drugs being
clinical studies is so ones. And even seemingly small approved because to date there are
widespread and so differences can represent billions of neither cross-disciplinary standards
serious that you should dollars on the world market, says for the peer review process, nor
only consider the reports on these Gtzsche. The principle, nonetheless, measurable quality criteria according
studies as advertisements for medical to Professor Flaminio Squazzoni from
drugs, says Professor Peter the University of Brescia in Italy.
Gtzsche, director of the Nordic
The pharmaceutical industry The real scandal, however, is that it
Cochrane Center in Copenhagen
spends twice as much on is no secret. According to research
a statement that is sure to make him
advertising as it does on carried out by the Cochrane Collaboration,
some enemies. These are extremely
research and development. tens of thousands of manipulated studies
DR JOEL LEXCHIN,
harsh words, directed not only against YORK UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
have been published. Doctors should
the pharmaceutical industry but also know about this. They have a huge
against those doctors and researchers responsibility to their patients, who
who remain silent on the matter. The seems simple: those who have the expect them to be informed about
truth is, thats what most doctors do. inancial clout decide the results, signiicant medical developments,
But what does that mean for patients? something conirmed by random spot particularly when these pertain to
New research has found that clinical checks carried out by the Cochrane a drug that they prescribe. But history
trials and research funded by Center. These showed that at least shows that many drugs or treatments
pharmaceutical companies is more likely 50% of funded drug studies inanced continue to be prescribed even
to produce results that are biased in by pharmaceutical companies are though studies no longer support their
favour of the sponsors medicine. Joel influenced in their favour. However, use. Consider PSA tests for the early
Lexchin, a Toronto doctor, analysed such manipulated studies do not diagnosis of prostate cancer. Even the
30 reports examining pharmaceutical man who developed them,
industry-funded research and found Dr Richard Ablin, now
that the studies were four times more advises against their
likely to be positive than research use because most
funded by independent sponsors. of these cancers
What we found was that in are slow-growing
almost all cases there was and do not
a bias a rather heavy bias require
in favour [of a drug] when treatment. But
the study was industry doctors continue
funded, said Lexchin. In to use them. The
actual fact, pharmaceutical same is true of the
companies dont need to sedative diazepam
invent or make up results (Valium). Although its
its enough to weigh facts been known for 30
differently or leave them years that the drug is
out entirely. Positive as addictive as heroin,
studies are far more it is still prescribed.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
ARE DIETS
ACTUALLY
UNHEALTHY?
Catherine can hardly
believe her eyes:
Diet industry
shocked! reads
the ad banner on her
computer monitor. The new
wonder drug that can help
you reach your dream weight
in just two weeks! The advert
looks genuine. Catherine clicks
on the link and lands on the
homepage of an online shop for
health products. The diet pills are
being touted as a new miracle cure
from the US. Sounds good. Perhaps
too good. Suspicious, Catherine
makes an appointment to see her GP
later that day. For eight years he has
been treating her obesity though
she hasnt lost any noticeable willpower or determination of the plan into action. It increases appetite
amount of weight. He too is patient. Its down to a physical and feelings of lethargy, and,
suspicious and counsels her against process known as the famine crucially, reduces metabolism. Side
using them. Instead, he advocates reaction. When you start losing too effects could also include back pain,
a healthy, balanced diet again. much weight too quickly, the body depressive thoughts, muscle and
She could do that easily, she thinks, brings on this defence mechanism bone weakness or memory
if only she wanted to. But what he to protect you from wasting away, problems. Salis warns: The
doesnt say is that, in one particular explains Amanda Salis from the important thing to note with these
instance, being overweight could University of Sydney. Put simply, the types of diets is that they need to
actually save Catherines life brain cannot differentiate between be done under medical supervision.
Even if medical training and long- a voluntary lack of food due to a diet I always shudder when I see people
held beliefs say otherwise, being or an involuntary one due to, say, going to the pharmacy to buy some
overweight is not always a disease that kind of liquid or detox diet. They
a person needs to be cured of. In fact, just buy something off the shelf
It is clear that obese
the opposite may be the case. A and do it themselves. This is a really
patients with heart disease
PHOTOS: Getty Images (9); iStock; Alamy (2); DDP

meta-analysis of 36 different coronary dangerous thing to do because


respond well to treatment
heart disease studies by Dr Abhishek unless youve got perfect kidney
and have paradoxically
Sharma of New York State University and liver function, you can get into
better outcomes than
found that heart disease patients a lot of trouble with very low-calorie
thinner patients.
with an above-average BMI (classed diets. And the same goes for
DR CARL J. LAVIE,
as overweight) had a lower risk of CARDIOLOGIST those diet pills, says Salis.
dying from cardiovascular disease Tinkering with the bodys
than patients with a normal BMI. metabolism is extremely risky and
Another thing Catherines doctor a famine. If it does not get enough under-researched. For this reason,
might have mentioned: the failure food, it thinks theres an emergency slimming pills will probably never
of a diet has nothing to do with the and starts to put its emergency be approved for use.

38
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
i
HOW DO YOU GRIEF OR
INVENT AN ILLNESS? DEPRESSION?
Some illnesses dont need to
be invented. Lowering or
It is a widespread disease, who have a shorter life expectancy,
redeining their eligibility
practically an epidemic explains Professor Karl Lauterbach. For criteria is enough. For
and has appeared out of that reason many pharmaceutical giants example, the criteria for
the blue. An estimated one have been putting the spotlight on diagnosing depression were
million Aussies claim to suffer from the diseases that are easier to carry over much stricter 20 years ago
symptoms of a gluten intolerance. Latest to those who can pay, and for longer than they are today.
igures reveal that as many as one in three something thats easiest to do with According to the Diagnostic
Americans avoid gluten, the protein found diseases directly designed for the and Statistical Manual of
in wheat, barley and rye. Doctors are corresponding target group. In this Mental Disorders, which
increasingly diagnosing the allergy but system doctors have become the classiies psychiatric
conditions, a diagnosis of
they often fail to tell their patients the most
depression can be given two
important thing: the existence of such an
Striving for health is weeks after a bereavement.
intolerance has never been proven.
something innate in Historically, that period was
Diagnoses can only be made indirectly:
humans. But the disease set at two months, and
if other intolerances can be excluded,
inventors exploit that. before that at a year,
then gluten is probably to blame. And because grieving people
JRG BLECH,
because doctors are not entirely sure SCIENCE JOURNALIST often exhibit similar
whether this condition exists, a gluten symptoms to those suffering
intolerance is practically an invented from depression. The result:
condition. This is in contrast to coeliac accomplices to the industry, says Blech. people who simply need
disease, an auto-immune disorder marked Thats because expensive advice sessions time to recover from grief are
by inflammation of the gut. Sufferers of or individual healthcare not co quickly declared as patients
and treated as such.
this must avoid gluten religiously. insurance is one thing above all
a others: a
Researchers believe that only one in 20 lucrative market. Sending pat ents home
gluten avoiders suffers from a genuine doesnt earn you any money, e a s.
intolerance. The winners of this fad? The food
industry, which has developed an entire range
of foods for the gluten-intolerant among us.
Thats not all. Aside from relatively The l k
innocuous food intolerances, the list of
knowledg amon
invented diseases is growing ever longer.
Theres even a name for the practice:
doctors an mi t
disease mongering. An example is Sissi continues o s oc
syndrome, a form of depression marked me. Resu t fr m
by mood swings and low self-esteem. But scientific st t n
the condition is entirely invented. Science only c me
journalist Jrg Blech claims that the into pr ct ce
disease wasnt discovered by a doctor
but in a pharmaceutical companys
years l ter.
marketing department. The irm wanted to
increase sales of a new anti-depressant,
and they needed a disease to it the drug.
But why go to this immense effort?
As far as the pharmaceutical industry KARL LAUTERBACH
is concerned, the wrong people normally POLITICIAN AND PROFESSOR AT
get ill thats to say the poor and the old, THE UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE
COMPLETE YOUR
WORLD OF
KNOWLEDGE
COLLECTION!

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NATURE

THE MOST DANGEROUS

CYBER
TERRORISTS IN THE WORLD
They are the best
hackers on the planet:
nobody has carried out more successful attacks on electricity grids
and no one has cracked more data lines than these troops.

World of Knowledge uncovers


the secret identity
of the biggest threats to public safety

41
NAME: SCIURUS
ATTACK AREA: NORTH AMERICA, EUROPE
PREFERRED TARGET: ELECTRICAL SUBSTATIONS
WEAPON: INCISORS, WHOLE BODY
DAMAGE: POWER OUTAGE, ELECTRICITY GRID COLLAPSE
Its not the worldwide hacking collective estimate the number because some last only a

# Anonymous who are the most successful


hackers in the world when it comes to our
critical infrastructure its squirrels! Critical
infrastructure includes a countrys power stations,
fraction of a second, causing a brief flickering of the
lights at most. Yet these tiny creatures can have a
big impact they have already shut down Wall
Streets NASDAQ stock exchange twice. In the city
communication networks and other vital institutions. of Tampa, Florida, a squirrel bite led to a drinking
To date, human hackers have carried out just four water emergency lasting 37 hours, with residents
successful cyber attacks of this kind, while the forced to boil their water before consuming it. And in
number of attacks by squirrels is at least 1,000 a transformer shed in Canada, a squirrel sparked a
times that. Despite this, criminal hackers continue 3,000C fireball, which cut off the electricity supply
to dominate the headlines even though there is little to an area the size of Victoria for an hour. Cyber-
evidence of the threat they pose being put into defence bosses secretly admit that the four-legged
action. Thats far from the case where squirrels are hackers represent a huge problem: The number one
concerned, though: they carry out around 300 acts of threat to the electricity grid is squirrels, says John
vandalism a year in the city of Austin, Texas, alone. Inglis, former deputy director of the National Security
No one can keep count of all their attacks or even Agency. But danger doesnt just lie in the trees

43
NAME: AURELIA AURITA
ATTACK AREA: BETWEEN THE TROPICS AND TEMPERATE LATITUDES
PREFERRED TARGET: POWER STATIONS NEAR THE COAST
WEAPON: TENTACLES, WHOLE BODY

WE STOP DAMAGE: BLOCKAGE OF COOLING WATER, BLACKOUTS

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS OPERATING


Nuclear power plants are some of the most pipes of the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant on Swedens

# secure facilities on Earth. To date, human


hackers have caused no significant damage to
them, although creatures without a brain have.
Baltic coast, a station that provides 10% of the countrys
electricity supply. This caused one of the three reactor
blocks to switch off for three days. Despite being 95%
In 2013, jellyfish began a mass assault that IT experts water, jellyfish are a force to be reckoned with power
would probably call a denial-of-service (DoS) attack. plants situated on the coasts of South Korea, Oman,
A huge swarm of cnidarians blocked the cooling water Scotland and the US have already fallen victim to them.
NAME: AVES
ATTACK AREA: WORLDWIDE
PREFERRED TARGET: HIGH-VOLTAGE LINES
WEAPON: WINGS

I BRING THE DAMAGE: DISRUPTION OF TRANSPORT

RAIL NETWORK TO ITS KNEES


Birds perched on high-voltage power lines are the whole network would grind to a halt. A more

# a common sight. And as long as they just sit


there, nothing will happen. But if a stray wing
were to bridge the gap between another line
common scenario is when a bird on a high-voltage
wire catches alight after receiving an electric shock
and falls to the ground: this can cause a huge fire.
or mast, several 10,000-volt stationary systems will Meanwhile, to keep pigeons away, dummy models of
short circuit. Even small amounts of bird droppings their natural enemies (such as owls) can be installed.
hitting the right spot can have the same effect. But that can lead to other problems: in at least one
And what if the animal hackers attacked the rail instance, a falcon has attacked such a fake owl,
networks overhead lines? Trains would stop and causing a power outage

45
NAME: NYLANDERIA FULVA
ATTACK AREA: NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA
PREFERRED TARGET: ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
WEAPON: CHEMICAL MARKERS

WE CAUSE HAVOC DAMAGE: SHORT CIRCUITS, TOTAL FAILURE

IN A CHEMICAL FACTORY
Not all ants build nests and collect leaves nibble through insulation which can short-circuit

# the Rasberry crazy ant likes nothing more than


to swarm inside electronic matter: computers,
fuse boxes and even entire power stations act
electronics. If an ant is electrocuted, its body releases
an alarm pheromone to communicate that they are in
distress. The rest of the colony are then put into attack
as a breeding ground for the three-millimetre ants mode, leading to a rampage that often destroys entire
offspring. Perhaps because its warm, perhaps electrical systems. One chemical plant saw the control
because they can easily defend the small spaces, system of its pipeline valves fail twice. The insects
suspects Texan entomologist Roger Gold. The ants cause up to $145 million of damage per year.
M
years, intelligence services have group is so powerful that the
discussed possible ways in which Association of Energy Suppliers in
hackers could bring a country to its the US has created its own activity
knees. Governments allocate more log, which registers between 0.1
and more resources to combat this and 0.6 incidents per 1,000
supposed danger: We face a cyber customers every month. In
Pearl Harbor, a new 9/11, warned California alone, these attacks cost
then-US Secretary of Defence Leon $300 million per year. Typically, the
Panetta in 2012. The greatest risk animals touch current-carrying
is a catastrophic attack on the cables and a grounded component,
energy infrastructure, General such as a mast, at the same time,
Keith Alexander, chief of the United leading to a short circuit, explains
States Cyber Command continued. Matthew Olearczyk of the Electric
We are not prepared for that. Power Research Institute.
Whats happened since then? Sometimes it only lasts a fraction
emorial Day is one of the most Nothing. Or rather, the enemy is of of a second and the power supply
important holidays in the US. a completely different kind. You restarts automatically. At other
Thousands of military parades take see, its not people times the squirrel
place as millions of people pay their behind the attacks, remains trapped
respects to the countrys fallen but curious THE NUMBER in the short circuit
soldiers. Security services are on animals: birds, position, so the
high alert as the day gives terrorists jellyish, ants and,
ONE THREAT system draws in
the perfect opportunity to strike at above all, squirrels. TO THE US more and more
Strictly speaking, electricity to
the very heart of the superpower.
Back in 2013, it seemed like the latter are the
POWER GRID IS compensate.
everyones worst fears had been true architects of SQUIRRELS Subjected to
realised. Sleeper cells had cyber-terrorism. In temperatures of
seemingly carried out perfectly some US states, JOHN INGLIS, FORMER DEPUTY over 1,000C, the
coordinated attacks: in four US every second DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL squirrel explodes.
SECURITY AGENCY (NSA)
states, explosions occurred at power outage That puts the
critical junctures on the electrical caused by an facility out of action.
grid. Tens of thousands of people animal is down to the bushy-tailed However, despite the dangers,
were affected, stuck in lifts or trafic beasts. They were also the culprits the distributor stations still prove
jams. Rumours of a large-scale on Memorial Day, 2013. In contrast, a huge draw for the animals. They
hacker attack quickly spread. Who there have only ever been three or offer shelter from predators, while
was behind it? Were the Russians four proven successful attacks on the wind and cooling fans blow
to blame? The Chinese? Actually, industrial installations by hackers seeds and other foodstuffs into
the truth is somewhat more prosaic. using the internet. The reason? the installation. Plus theres always
PHOTOS: Google; Fotolia; Caters; Getty Images; DDP; Corbis

The perpetrators were homegrown. That kind of cyber attack is very something there for them to chew
Whats more, they used neither dificult, explains IT security expert on: A squirrels incisors grow 25cm
computers nor explosives to carry Bruce Schneier. Theres a huge per year they have to constantly
out the attack their weapons were amount of programming and gnaw at things to wear them
their own four paws. expenditure involved in creating down, explains University of
a virus, which only well-equipped Arizona zoologist John Koprowski.
HOW DOES A RODENT TURN OFF and well-funded secret services Authorities have tried everything:
THE ELECTRICITY? can afford. And even then, it takes bars on windows, strategically-
Critical infrastructure power grids, months or years to plan. placed dummies of pine martens,
communication networks and trafic All of which is of no consequence even fox urine, but nothing has
systems forms the backbone of to the terrorist group we know as stopped the creatures from hacking
society. Tamper with them and civic Squirrels. They dont need money US infrastructure. The army of furry
order quickly breaks down. For to spread their influence. In fact the terrorists goes marching on.

47
WORLD EVENTS
COR POR ATIONS
TH E WATER

S
OF

E
ONS

V
ERATI

L I
THE DARK OP

HOW MAN Y
DOES T HIS
BOT TLE CO S T? Price for the

A
thought experiment: for 1,000 times its former price, a public good and is not allowed
imagine a corporation the water can be bought in to be entirely privatised at
sets up headquarters the supermarket in fact, least not yet. In many parts
in your city. Large that is now the only place to of the world, however, this
warehouses and obtain it. An absurd scenario? scenario is far from unusual
factories are built, In some countries, water is still It is just after 6pm in Doornkloof,
a new workforce is South Africa. Lawrence picks up
recruited, and a fleet a freshly packaged water bottle
of blue trucks stands ready and and makes his way home from
waiting. Then holes are drilled into Water is life. the Nestl bottling factory. To get
the ground. Deep holes more
than a hundred metres deep,
Depriving a human there, the factory worker has to
walk through a long tunnel that
reaching far into the soil. The of these natural runs beneath the motorway. Lorries
workers are searching for thunder by overhead, each of them
something. But what? When all
resources is nothing laden with the water that he has
that dribbles out from your taps short of murder! just bottled. Lawrence lives in
and showerheads is a brown, a village on the other side of the
stinking brew, you realise what the tunnel simple wooden huts,
corporation is digging for: water. cabin toilets, mountains of rubbish.
After a short time the company At home his children grab
Moulana Usman Baig
makes the commodity available All India Imams Council curiously at the half-litre bottle of
again. Packed in plastic bottles water. Replenishments will arrive >
VALUABLE GOODS
In Australia little thought
would be given to a 0.5-litre
bottle of water like this
one. In countries like
Nigeria, however, bottled
water is vital for survival
but is more expensive
than petrol.

1 - 2 a p pro x .
upermarket: $ ar
Price in the s
a t h s p e r y e
3. 6 m i l l i o n de
orld:
rest of the w t century...
i g g e s t c r i m e of the 21s
Welcome to the
b

Earths water
THE TOTAL VOLUME OF COUNTRIES THAT CONSUME
WATER ON EARTH IS THE MOST BOTTLED WATER

1,385M CUBIC KM 1 USA

2 Mexico
97.5% 2.5%
saltwater drinking water
3 China

70% Sales of 391


of that is held bottled water
in ice, clouds
and lakes in millions 212
of litres +
84%
30%
is available in
groundwater 2007 2017
(estimated)

49
Water required
for drinking and
basic hygiene is
a human right:
thats 1.5% of
global water
withdrawal. I am
not of the opinion
that the other
98.5% is a
human right.
Peter Brabeck-Letmathe
Nestl CEO

the following day. Thats because, They are allowed just one Maude Barlow, former UN Senior
although the village is just a few 15-minute break a day. The Swiss Advisor on water. Seventy per cent
hundred metres away from the irm recommends that everyone of the Earths surface is covered in
plant where 282,000 litres of water should drink at least two litres of water, but 97.5% of that is
is bottled every day, there is no water daily to stay healthy, and undrinkable saltwater. Of the
public access to water for the that includes their workers. But remaining 2.5% that is theoretically
families there. At least not since the employees are only given one useable, two-thirds is locked in
the Swiss food corporation litre of water a day, packaged in glaciers, clouds and ice, as well as
Nestl acquired the drinking two 0.5-litre bottles. in swamps and permafrost. This
water licence for the village. When a company like Nestl means that only a comparatively
In the Nestl factory, however, comes along and says, Pure Life is low volume of fresh water on
fresh water is constantly flowing. the answer, were selling you your Earth is drinkable and its that
Once bottled, it is branded as own ground water while nothing which has caused the merciless
Pure Life. Lawrence and his comes out of your faucets anymore war for the water that is raging in
colleagues work in the bottling or if it does its undrinkable thats so many countries.
factory for 12 hours a day from more than irresponsible, thats In the background an all-powerful
six in the morning to six at night. practically a criminal act, says water cartel is pulling the strings.

50
This syndicate is composed of a In their quest these giant suffer from the excessive water
so-called World Water Council, a corporations purchase the water exploitation. The consequences:
powerful lobbyist group with 300 licences for large areas valid for in many places the groundwater
members drawn from the biggest several decades. Then they pump level is sinking so much that whole
corporations in the world. Also out the clean groundwater, add towns are losing their natural water
represented are economic minerals, stick it in plastic bottles reserves. If you cant afford the
institutions such as the World and sell it at 1,000 times its original exorbitantly priced bottled water,
Bank, which promotes the value. In Nigeria, for example, a then your only option is to drink
privatisation of all public goods. litre of Pure Life is more expensive from the same rivers that are used
The influence of the World Water than a litre of petrol. It is invariably by the corporations for dumping
Council stretches to the highest the countries in which water is their rubbish. Illnesses that cause
political ranks of the industrialised already a scarce resource that diarrhoea like cholera, typhus and >
nations. Its goal: privatising all of
the freshwater on the planet.
Bottled water is the zenith of
this privatisation process. Mineral
In the driest
water companies as Nestl have
done in South Africa build huge
continent on the
bottling plants on lakes, rivers and planet, the only way
aquifers, pumping the ground dry.
Massive amounts of carbon dioxide for the price to go is
are released into the atmosphere
and billions of tons of plastic
up. Those who
waste are generated. can afford to pay
Nestl is a predator, a water
hunter. They are looking for the last for the water will
pure water in the world, says
Barlow. And Nestl is just one of
have the luxury.
many players in the $800 billion
water industry: the Coca-Cola Co.,
PepsiCo Inc. and SABMiller plc are
Kellie Tranter
also battling to gain control of Lawyer and activist
every water source on the planet.

Drinking water a human right or n


O n 28th July 2010, access to clean water
was recognised as a basic human right
by the General Assembly of the United
million people die every year because they
only have access to dirty drinking water.
Often their wells, which provide cleaner
Nations. In spite of that more than 3.5 water, are drained dry by the food industry.

783 MILLION 3.5 MILLION


people have no access
to safe drinking water ...40%
of them live
people die every year as a result
of contaminated water

south of the

2026
Sahara
that is

1 8 in

worldwide!
In the year
water will be scarce in two-
thirds of the world
other infectious diseases are
part of daily life just like death.
Worldwide this water politics kills
seven people per minute. That
equates to 3.6 million people per
year. More children die as a result
There are people who
of drinking contaminated water will buy the water when
than from malaria, HIV, trafic
accidents and all wars combined.
they need it. And the
The scope of the consequences people who have the
for the privatisation of water was water want to sell it.
shown as early as the year 2000.
At that time Bolivias president Hugo
Thats the blood
Banzer was forced to privatise the and guts of
countrys water supply by the
International Monetary Fund and
the thing.
the World Bank. The fallout for the T. Boone Pickens
population was that water prices Water speculator
shot up by 300%, meaning on and billionaire
average a quarter of their income
went on water bills alone. The city
of Cochabambas 600,000 residents injuries led to the government chronic water shortages in the
were forbidden from building wells. imposing martial law on the city. area, Nestl is allowed to extract
They werent even allowed to collect Eventually, the countrys leaders groundwater there and sell it
rainwater. A band of multinational caved in to the pressure from the packaged in bottles. The impact
corporations headquartered in the population and changed their of this is particularly devastating
US had their hands ready and minds about the privatisation. in poorer countries because
waiting on the taps. The corporations may have lost there are few alternatives to
For four months, civil unrest this particular water war but in expensive bottled water.
raged: people engaged in open hundreds of other countries, they But the practice happens in
street brawls with the police and have already won. richer nations like Canada and
demonstrated en masse against Take Mexico. While the drilling the USA, too. When almost all the
the inequality. In April 2000, the of new wells around the capital water sources in Atlanta dried up
violence escalated. Deaths and Mexico City is forbidden due to during the 2007 drought, the Coca

PURE GOLD
Here in Nigeria a 0.5-litre bottle of
Pure Life costs as much as a litre of
petrol. Nestl pays hardly anything
to extract it from the ground.
Cola Co. continued to pump water

Its scandalous out of its deeper wells and sold


the local population their own
that a company groundwater at many times the
price of tap water. It was something
like Nestl can the former vice-president of
PepsiCo, Robert S. Morrison,
take hundreds probably sympathised with.
of millions of The biggest enemy is tap
water, he said in 2000.
litres of water at In Europe, North America and
Australia clean drinking water
basically pennies spouts from the taps practically

at the same time for free. And so the water industry


invented the biggest marketing
as residents are trick of all time: they turned a basic
nutrient into a lifestyle product.
being asked to Bottled water is advertised as

conserve water. being healthier, tastier and


appropriate for the modern age
but tap water is just as clean
and healthy, and also undergoes
rigorous testing.
Liz McDowell
Campaigner and
Yet the marketing has been
water rights activist extraordinarily successful: today,
50,000 bottles of water are sold >

How much water do I need?


E ach Australian resident uses about 300 litres of water per day: for
drinking, cleaning, showering and flushing the loo. But this figure is
misleading because the production of food, clothes and other goods also
requires water. The residents of Dubai use the most water in the world
an astounding 500 litres per resident per day.

2 litres 5,000 litres


In reality, each human but the production of
being requires just a days food requires a
two litres of drinking staggering 5,000 litres
water every day of water.

1 KILO OF RICE 1 PAIR OF SHOES 1 PAIR OF JEANS 1 KILO OF BEEF 1 CAR

3,000 litres 8,000 litres 9,800 litres 15,415 litres 30,000 litres

53
every minute in US supermarkets. supply. Its reckoned that by
Thats 80 million bottles a day. 2030 more than 40% of countries
If you were to line up all the
The water wars in Asia and southern Africa will
0.5-litre bottles sold in a week, will not be fought on experience a serious shortage of
they would wrap around the drinking water. Experts like Maude
globe more than ive times. the battlefield by Barlow are certain that this
Its not only the source of the
water thats problematic, but
opposing armies, but shortage will lead to the biggest
refugee crisis in history.
the packaging too: to manufacture on the trading floor by The water crisis comes along,
the plastic bottles used to and rather than face this, these
supply a years worth of bottled
commodity traders. governments and their corporate
water in the USA alone, 2.7 billion friends and their political leaders
litres of crude oil is required. are all saying, Dont worry, its just
The plastic packaging also a temporary issue, says Barlow.
contains toxic BPAs and Anthony Turton If they really understood the water
Water expert
pthalates, which have been crisis, they would have to admit
linked to hormone disruption. that we cant keep going on the
An even greater problem microscopic plastic particles in the way were going on.
is the impact all this has on the water than plankton in 1999 the And since water is also important
environment. America has a poor ratio of plastic to plankton was for the processing industry, other
record when it comes to recycling: a sizeable 6:1, but by 2008 it had corporations are now competing
four out of every ive bottles end up rocketed. Researchers found that for a share of the market. In
in the garbage dump, where they for every kilo of plankton, there August 2012, for example, Australia
are usually buried or burnt. Some, was 46kg of plastic. These micro- sold the largest irrigation property
however, end up in rivers or the particles are consumed by small in the southern hemisphere, the
sea. Five huge garbage patches ish which, in turn, are eaten by Cubbie Station, to Chinese and
have already formed in the bigger ish and these eventually Japanese investors for AUS $232
worlds oceans mainly end up on our plates. million. The sale gives the investors
comprising small shredded The value water holds today rights to huge reserves of water,
pieces of plastic, a story is reflected in the stock market. which will likely flow into the
covered in one of the Someone investing in water Chinese textile industry.
early issues of World equity funds in 2000 would have I see fleets of water tankers
of Knowledge. seen their holding increase its and storage facilities that will
Samples taken value by 75% in the space of dwarf those we currently have
from the oceans three years. Population growth for oil and natural gas, says
show more will ensure that demand exceeds economist Willem Buiter.
The European Union is currently
negotiating the Transatlantic Trade
Why you should be wary and Investment Partnership (TTIP)
PHOTOS: Getty Images (5); Verleih; PR (5); Alamy, NASA, Shutterstock
of buying mineral water with the US. A controversial free
trade deal, its all about reducing
the regulatory barriers to trade for

T here are hundreds of brands of mineral water available to


buy in Australia and all of them are safe to drink. But if
you want to protect the environment and the people at the
big business, so corporations will
be able to bid for water concession
companies, for example.
source when you buy, its best to follow these guidelines.
John Hilary, the executive
1. The water should come from a local source: the
further it has been transported, the higher the director of War on Want, a group
carbon footprint. Evian, for example, transports that opposes TTIP, has issued
its bottles thousands of kilometres from France, a resounding warning: Instead
while Mount Franklin water comes from of water being a human right, it
ILLUSTRATIONS: PR

Australia. 2. Reusable bottles are better than would be treated as a commodity


one-use bottles. Glass is less damaging to the and people could be cut off if
environment than plastic as it is easier to they cant afford it. That would
recycle, say packaging experts. 3. Drink tap be the water corporations
water where possible. dreams come true.

54
SMARTER IN 60 SECONDS
4 FASCINATING QUESTIONS ABOUT WATER

Is the human body made of water?


Between 60% and 70% of an adult human body is water,
depending on the individual. But specific organs vary the
heart and brain are roughly 73% water while the lungs clock in
at a staggering 83%. Even our bones, which seem so solid, are 31%
water. The element enables our body to transport the materials we
need to live, such as vital proteins and nutrients, throughout the body
as well as carrying waste products out of our systems. Fun fact: a
human foetus is 95% water for the first few months of its existence.

Where is the
driest place on Earth?
How do astronauts on board the Parts of Chiles Atacama Desert are so dry they
havent seen rain since records began. This arid
International Space Station get water? desert on countrys coast is often touted as the
It might sound repulsive,
repulsive but it
its
s necessary: transporting
transportin driest place on Earth thanks to its position in a rain
materials to space is so expensive that astronauts on shadow, which means moisture is ferried away over the
board the ISS must drink their own bodily fluids. The water Andes mountains. Despite the harsh conditions, more
is purified before its consumed: on-board systems collect every than one million people reside on the fringes of the
last drop of moisture from the astronauts breath, sweat and Atacama Desert, mostly crammed into the regions
urine before using iodine to disinfect the water. For emergencies, coastal cities, harvesting fog to convert into drinking
2,500 litres of water is kept in reserve on the station. water and to grow crops with.

Where is the tap water laced with lead?


In 2014, residents of Flint, Michigan,
began to complain about the taste,
smell and colour of the water flowing
from their taps. Tests revealed that the citys
drinking water was highly corrosive as well
as being contaminated with dangerously
high levels of lead. The heavy metal has been
linked to brain damage, miscarriages and
mental health issues. Flints crisis developed
when city authorities switched the municipal
water supply source from freshwater Lake
Huron to the Flint River, a notoriously dirty
waterway used for decades as a dumping
ground for industrial waste. Their rationale?
Saving money. Although this water was
sanitised before being pumped into homes, it
reacted with the lead in the citys antiquated
metal pipes and leached into the public
water supply. State health officials now say
that every child under the age of six in Flint
should be considered lead-exposed. Whats
more: theres no time frame for replacing the
citys pipes. Residents are forced to rely on
bottled water handed out by officials for
bathing, drinking and cooking.

55
TECHNOLOGY

10,000 PARTS IN 32 DAYS


The D-Check or Heavy Maintenance Visit
(HMV) sees technicians stripping down an
entire aeroplane. It takes about a month to
complete, during which time some 10,000
parts are checked. Most planes can expect
to undergo four or five D-Checks over the
course of their lifetime.

56
Lightning strikes,
extreme temperatures
and engine failures:
for a passenger plane
to be able to withstand
all that, every five
years it has to spend
a month at the worlds
biggest repair garage.
World of Knowledge
watched one being
put through its paces
Doors, windows, fuel cap: anything
subject to in-flight stresses is
curved in shape to counter the
effects of pressure. At an altitude
of 10,000 metres the air pressure
outside the aircraft is lower than
the pressure inside the passenger
cabin. With these differing
pressures exerted on the plane,
the circumference of the cabin
expands by a few millimetres, like
a hot air balloon when it is in the INSPECTION VISIT
sky. If the windows were square, Lufthansa technician Marc Ladewig
dangerous levels of stress could (right) explains how his team checks
build up on their corners and lead around 10,000 individual parts over
to cracking. Basically, where the course of just 32 days.
theres a corner, theres a weak
spot, which is why aerospace
engineers pay particular attention
to even the smallest parts on the orthy for such
fuselage. Meanwhile, passengers of time?
are protected from outside
temperatures of minus 50C by ode of transport is
a special insulation layer visible through one of the biggest garage serviced so regularly, explains Marc
in the picture on the left. doors on Earth. Behind this portal Ladewig from Lufthansa Technology,
more than 200 metres long and the worlds largest aeroplane
fully glazed from top to bottom sit maintenance outfit. His company
three wide-body aircraft, among carries out 1,700 checks a day and
them a Boeing 747, for more than enjoys a 10% market share of this
four decades the largest passenger lucrative market. A basic check is
plane in the world. performed before
Parked in Bay 10 every flight, a more
is an Airbus A330. thorough service
The ten-and-a-half- takes place roughly
year-old passenger every two months
plane has exactly and a detailed
50,795 flying hours inspection lasting
under its wings days or even weeks
equivalent to it happens every other
spending 5.8 years year, he goes on.
in the sky. Over a But the crowning
similar period a car glory is the D-Check,
manages about a complete overhaul
4,000 driving hours that takes place
after which, in spite of regular every five years: we spend 35,000
services, it might be ready for manhours checking and repairing
the scrapyard. more than 10,000 parts over 32
This Airbus, however, only has days. Afterwards the plane is like
between a third and a half of its new again. Or even better than new,
expected useful life behind it. But because we always incorporate the
can a passenger plane really remain latest technology. >

59
BACKBONE
Inlaid floor panels cover one of the
most important structures in the plane:
the seat tracks. Not only do they hold
the passenger seats in place, they work
with the cross struts to keep the entire
fuselage stable.

60
VASCULAR SYSTEM
To connect the cockpit to the systems
in the rear, huge cables almost 50
metres long are needed. Put together,
the air vents, hydraulic cables and
electrical wires in the ceiling panels 1
measure several miles in length.

CABIN SKELETON
Each economy-class row in the 5.28m-wide
cabin seats eight passengers in a 2-4-2
configuration. But here only the overhead
luggage bins remain. The galley and toilets
are normally found in the foreground of the
image and are two of the areas most likely
to need repairs due to moisture damage.
3

STRIPPING
1 Three coats of paint weighing 200-300kg cover the exterior of the
plane. During a large-scale service this needs to be removed so that
the condition of the fuselage can be examined.
CHECKING
2 After the wing-fuselage junction, the undercarriage is the part of the
plane most subject to stress. The bolts in the middle need to withstand
150 tons during every landing. On average, a medium-haul aircraft taxis
around 13,000km a year from terminal to runway (and vice versa).

MARKING
3 Every defect even a tear in a seat is marked with a red (structure),
orange (electrics) or yellow (mechanical) sticker. All markings are
checked by two separate engineers, following the four-eyes principle.
Ladewig and his colleagues POWER UNIT
work on the 60-metre wingspan Each engine sucks in around 800 cubic
metres of air per second (equivalent to
Airbus around the clock. Depending the volume of a large detached house).
on the work required, the cost This helps generate the enormous
of its D-Check will run to seven forward thrust.
figures but delays could result
in a six-figure penalty. So the
appointment must be seamlessly prove to be faulty. These could
accommodated in the works compromise the systems
schedule. The plane with a list and put the plane in danger.
price of $320 million delivers the The engineers even clamber into
last passengers and their luggage the emptied tanks on the wings to
to Hamburg in the evening and then inspect the wiring there.
makes its way to the In around 23 days
garage where it is time the Airbus will
parked and be put through its final
scaffolded. inspection. Engineers
Today, on day ten will spend ten hours
of the check, several testing all operating
kilometres of cables wind their way and back-up systems. This is
through the skeleton of the fuselage. followed by a three-hour control
Some cable harnesses contain flight in which two pilots and two
hundreds of individually numbered engineers act out critical situations
wires. Every flight-relevant system, like a stall or an engine failure and
such as those controlling the observe whether the emergency
direction of flight, must be systems react. Only once these are
independently checked three times. completed can the aircraft receive
There are hundreds of computers its stamp and be discharged.
in the server room under the In theory a plane maintained in SANDBLASTER
cockpit, which all control the same this way can fly forever, explains test During servicing an engine reveals its
past: for example, if the machine has
flight systems, explains Ladewig. engineer Stefan Hansen. But at flown regularly over deserts, stirred-up
Because of this theyre not allowed some point the repairs become too sand abrades the metal. It also dulls the
to come from the same manufacturer expensive. And the new, optimised cockpit window.
in case any software updates models simply fly more efficiently.

62
ENDURANCE ATHLETE
Using a mini-camera, engineers also
examine the interior of the 14 rotors
in the engine. Despite temperatures of
1,200C in the combustion chamber, and
compressor blades rotating at close to
the speed of sound, the engine manages
20,000 flying hours until it needs its first
overhaul. Thats equivalent to 2.3 years
of continuous operation.

EXHAUST
A plane is not a rocket:
while the latter is
propelled as a result
of blowback during
gas combustion, the
giant rotors (left
image) in an aeroplane
engine generate thrust
that powers the plane
forward. The round
opening here serves
as a discharge point
for exhaust gases, and
less for propulsion.
Once a month the
entire engine must be
internally flushed.
PHOTOS: Christian Schmid
NATURE
SLUMBERING GIANTS
The Naica caves were fed by mineral-rich
groundwater for hundreds of thousands of years.
This provided ideal conditions for the crystals to
grow into towering pillars. It was only in 1985
when mine workers drained the caves that this
process of accretion came to an abrupt halt,
giving scientists an opportunity to examine them.
THE CAVE OF THE
CRYSTAL GIANTS
Under a Mexican desert lies a cave that is home to the biggest crystals on
Earth: tall as houses, they weigh 55 tons and are hundreds of thousands of
years old. But how could this unique treasure chamber develop? Researchers
from around the world have risked their lives to solve the mystery

65
WHAT CAUSES A
A
tremendous wall of heat slams into the men years ago. Iron and minerals from its magma
as they set foot in the cave. Pausing for mixed with groundwater to form hydrothermal
breath, the view in front of them opens up to fluids, later forming selenite crystals. It was only
reveal an enchanted magic forest a labyrinth of because stable conditions existed in the caves for
huge, intertwined crystal columns. Sixteen years millennia that the crystals were able to grow as
ago Mexican miners stumbled across this unique high as trees. Without the deeper-lying magma
natural miracle in the mountains of Naica by chambers, which keep the stone and groundwater
accident. It presents scientists with a puzzle: how at a constant temperature and ensure the steady
could the glittering giants have formed? The story supply of sulphur and calcium, the crystals would
begins with a dying underground volcano 25 million long since have collapsed

44.6C

THE CAVE FROM ABOVE 44.6C


ce
Giant crystal
ntran
E Longe
st cr ys
Door t al
32.3C

Temperature
HEAT CHAMBER
With temperatures of up to 50C and
0 metres 10 90-100% humidity, its no wonder 45.5C
N geologists have described the Naica
caves as the most unwelcoming
research laboratory in the world.
Researchers need to wear special
protective icesuits and even then they
can only spend a maximum of 50 minutes
in this vast crystal palace.

POSITION
1 Cave of 2 Queens 3 Cave of 4 Cave of
OF THE Crystals Eye cave Candles Swords
CAVES
A TREASURE CHAMBER
S
300 METRES DEEP AIN
Scientists from six different nations have Height of main U NT
been exploring the Naica caves for the past entry point A MO 1,385 metres
I C M in ab ove sea level
three years. Theyve been measuring the NA en e
tran
crystals and taking samples of rock in order -130 metres
to learn more about prehistoric earthquakes Original
and groundwater movements. Their 4 groundwater leve
-290 metres l
research has uncovered three more crystal 1 3
caves (see diagram right). The caves have
since been sealed because the influx of air 2
was causing the selenite columns to slowly
disintegrate. Once they are reflooded with
water, the crystals will begin to grow again. Ore
deposits Water level
-800 metres
Ramp

Limestone
PHOTO: DPA
ILLUSTRATION: NGS
NUMBER OF CRYSTALS
The exact number of selenite columns has been estimated
at 170. So far, 149 have been documented and examined.

LONGEST CRYSTAL
The crystals reach lengths of 14 metres
and have diameters of up to four metres.

CROSS-SECTION
ENLARGED VIEW

SIZE COMPARISON

THIS IS HOW THE 25 MILLION 1 TO 2 MILLION 600,000 YEARS AROUND 1985


CRYSTALS FORMED: YEARS AGO YEARS AGO AGO Miners looking for iron
Magma from an As the temperature falls, The temperature and silver deposits drain
underground volcano caves form as a result of levels off at 58 the mine. 15 years later
rises towards the surface movements in the Earths degrees. Selenite they stumble across a
and presses mineral-rich crust. Water floods the crystals form out of cave of crystal giants,
thermal water into the caves, dissolving calcium the calcium sulphate whose growth has been
rock. This forms the sulphate from the limestone and grow into massive halted as a result of the
Naica Mountains. in the process. columns. lack of water.

Mineral-rich In detail:
liquid

Magma Cave
Crystaolsf

67
SCIENCE

Fruit bats carry more deadly viruses than


all of those stored in the worlds high
security laboratories put together. But why
do other animals and humans die when
the hosts themselves remain healthy?
Could the key to fighting deadly diseases
be found in their genes?

THE FLYING

68
DEADLY
CARGO

HENIPAVIRUS
This family of two related viruses,
the Hendra and Nipah virus, proves
fatal in up to 70% of cases.

LAGOS BAT VIRUS


Around a third of bats carry this
pathogen, which can trigger rabies
in humans.

MARBURG VIRUS
This causes fever in humans and
can lead to internal bleeding
and death within days.

EBOLA VIRUS
This pathogen has devastating
effects: it is highly contagious
and no cure currently exists.
he stumble seemed The open wound must have come their lifespan is ten times that of
so inconsequential into contact with some faeces in other similar-sized mammals and
that Sonja Metesch* the bat-infested cave. Fruit bat they almost never develop cancer.
will only remember faeces to be precise. Droppings So does the key to healing also
it several weeks from a species that carries more lie inside the fruit bats deadly
later. During a tour viruses inside its body than all of cargo? Researchers are convinced
of a cave in the those stored in the worlds high it does and are now trying to
middle of the security laboratories. uncover the secret of the fruit bat
Ugandan rainforest, So do fruit bats really pose such immune system. They hope that we
the 40-year-old a risk to humans or was the Dutch may soon be able to thank fruit bats
Dutch woman loses womans case an extremely unlucky for improving our health and even
her footing and one-off? Humans have been afraid our life expectancies.
injures her hand of bats for centuries. In recent
supporting herself times, this fear has soared as HOW DO YOU LIVE WITH
on some rocks. scientists have proved that the A DEADLY ENEMY IN
Just a scratch, she animals carry viruses that cause YOUR BODY?
ejoins the group. deadly epidemics like Ebola even For that to become a reality,
Its a mistake that will prove fatal. though it is very rare for them to scientists first need to understand
transmit the virus directly to how fruit bats can live seemingly
HOW DO YOU GET humans. It only happens if you are healthy lives unharmed by the
INFECTED WITHOUT bitten or eat the meat of an infected pathogens lurking in their cells. The
REALISING? fruit bat, explains Tony Schountz virologist Linfa Wang from Duke-
Back in the Netherlands, Metesch from Colorado State University. Or NUS Medical School in Singapore
develops a raging fever. Then as in Meteschs case when an has researched just that. He spent
things spiral out of control fast. open wound comes into contact almost two decades in Australia
She is rushed to hospital suffering with the animals saliva, blood or studying fruit bats and how they
from multiple organ failure and, just excrement. Which begs the transmit the deadly Hendra virus
days later, dies. Metesch has fallen question: if fruit bats carry deadly to horses. Wang discovered that,
victim to the Marburg virus, a pathogens like the Ebola and unlike other mammals, the fruit
disease transmitted by wild animals Marburg viruses, why do they never bats could control the virus. They
even though she never came into fall ill themselves? Researchers displayed neither a fever nor a
direct contact with one. How could have now discovered that while raised level of white blood cells
that have happened? The virus other animals and people die from in their blood. But how did their
must have entered her body when these viruses, fruit bats wont suffer immune systems somehow
she cut her hand on the rocks. so much as a fever. On the contrary, render the virus harmless?
Scientists believe the answer lies
in the animals fast metabolism. To

+ Contrary to popular
perception, few
help them fly, fruit bats require up
to 20% more calories than a
non-flying mammal. This speedy
viruses kill metabolism raises the level of free
radicals in their blood, which have
humans. Humans the potential to damage their DNA.
actually kill To prevent this from happening, a
bats immune system is constantly
themselves, in overdrive. It cleans up the

because of dangerous molecules including


potentially deadly viruses. Since
excessive their immune system functions so

TOP SECURITY KPCOOCVKQP well, the animals dont get sick.


The virus multiplies in their bodies
These researchers are testing fruit bats for the
Ebola virus. The animals are eaten in Africa and LINFA WANG, VIROLOGIST
and they pass it onto their offspring
were the likely cause of the epidemic. DUKE-NUS MEDICAL SCHOOL but they never develop symptoms. >
*NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED

70
2

1 5

THE ANATOMY OF
FRUIT BATS
Like all bats, fruit bats belong to the
Chiroptera order. After rodents, these
are the most diverse species of mammals in
existence. They can weigh up to one kilo and
have a maximum wingspan of 1.7 metres.
3 Unlike other types of bats, most fruit bats do
not navigate using echolocation. Instead, they
have outstanding vision and an excellent
sense of smell. Their diet consists mainly
of fruit, flowers, pollen, nectar and insects.
4

The African straw-coloured fruit bat shown feeds on nectar, and thus plays an important thumbs (4) the bat is a good climber and can
here has a maximum head-to-toe length of role in the pollination of plants 40% of trees defend itself against attackers. It can use its
just 20 centimetres (1) and a maximum in the worlds rainforests would be unable to feet (5) like hands to open the shells or skins
wingspan of 75 centimetres (2). It has a produce fruit without their help. Its favourite of fruits. The bat bites into hard shells with its
dog-like head and a good sense of smell with food sources are the Borassus and date palm sharp canines and mashes the fruit between
which to sniff out ripe fruits. (3). The bat also trees. Thanks to the strong, hooked claw on its its teeth, sucking out the nectar.
WHAT MAKES THE
ENEMY TICK?
Canadian researchers
in protective suits
experiment with the
Ebola virus in a high-

+ security laboratory.

inflammation. In other words, time until we will be able to unlock


Fruit bats live up unlike fruit bats, which have a this secret once and for all. Mother

3+27261*6'3$*HWW\,PDJHV  ''32QO\:RUOG)RWRQGHU+RUVW$)ULHGULFKV$Q]HQEHUJHU35
to ten times constantly activated immune Nature has the answer.
firewall, our operating system ends Eradicating fruit bats for fear of
longer than in a short circuit and it collapses. contagion could have catastrophic
other similar-sized consequences, says Linfa Wang.
ITS ONLY A MATTER Studies have shown that culling
mammals and OF TIME UNTIL WE WILL populations can actually increase
they almost never BE ABLE TO UNLOCK
THIS SECRET
the risk of an epidemic moving or
destroying colonies increases
get cancer. Scientists are now trying to identify stress levels in the bats, which
the proteins that fruit bats use to raises their viral load and the risk of
EMMA TEELING,
control inflammation and prevent spillover. The contamination of vast
ZOOLOGIST,
UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN tumours forming. These proteins areas from injured and dead bats
or modifications thereof could also raises the risk of the virus
Unfortunately, however, this is by then be used to treat conditions spreading. This in turn raises the
no means the case for humans. In characterised by life-limiting risk of other animals being infected.
the event of a similar viral invasion, inflammation such as arthritis, Moreover, bats are crucial to the
our immune system would react by rheumatism and heart disease. The planets ecological balance because
exhibiting an extremely powerful findings could also contribute to a they eat insects that damage
inflammatory response. Wang cure for deadly viruses like SARS crops. In fact, a colony of bats can
explains: Contrary to popular and Ebola. Many human lives could end a pest outbreak in a single
perception, few viruses kill humans. be saved. Zoologist Emma Teeling night, not thanks to the viruses
Humans actually kill themselves from the University of Dublin is they carry but simply by deploying
because of the excessive convinced: Its only a matter of their excellent hunting instinct.

72
SMARTER IN 60 SECONDS
How long can a virus
survive without a hos
Most viruses can only
for a few hours outside
the norovirus (above) i
vomiting bug has been found on a carpet after
12 days. The virus can also withstand extreme climates, existing
happily in a temperature range of minus 20 to plus 60 degrees
Celsius. Added to that, the norovirus is also extremely mutable,
as well as highly adaptable. Every two to three years a new
strain develops, making it impossible for researchers to develop
a vaccine against the pathogen.

Do viruses keep the sea healthy?


Scientists have recently discovered that viruses act
as the oceans immune system. Every day they kill
bacteria and algae so that the oceans balance is not
disturbed. If there were no viruses, the worlds oceans would
clog up. Bacteria and algae would grow and grow and by the
Can viruses cure cancer? end youd have an ocean full of sludge, explains marine
Scientists at Duke University in North Carolina have biologist Willie Wilson from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean
found a way to use the polio virus as a weapon against Sciences in Maine. Viruses also regulate biodiversity
glioblastoma, the most common and most aggressive (luminescent plankton, below). When a population grows too
form of brain cancer. To do so, they genetically modified the large, it becomes susceptible to infections.
virus so that it could only multiply in tumour cells, not in healthy
tissue. The virus created as a result, known as PVS-RIPO, is
injected directly into the tumour (area shaded red, above). The
virus then fights the cancer in two ways: it directly destroys the
tumour cells and stimulates the immune system to find and
attack the infected cancer cells. The therapy was first tested on
humans in 2011 and has already achieved promising results.

Which is the worlds most aggressive virus?

In 1967 African green


monkeys were imported
from Uganda to
Germany and the Marburg
virus came with them. It is one
of the most aggressive viruses
in the world: the human fatality
rate can be up to 80% in some
outbreaks. No vaccine or
effective remedy exists. The
first victims were scientists in
Marburg, Germany, who were
carrying out research on the
monkeys in the laboratory
hence the name. Alongside the
Ebola and Lassa viruses, the
killer is still being researched
in a high-security laboratory at
the Institute for Virology at the
University of Marburg.

PHOTOS: Fotogloria; Corbis (2); PR


73
HISTORY
THE GREAT
PUZZLES OF
WORLD HISTORY
They cause wars, topple governments and hide extraordinary
things: for centuries, secret codes have concealed the
greatest mysteries in the world until now
THE OSIRIS CODE

What did the PHARAOHS


know about the realm of
the dead?

T
he moment the priest Dying away from home was
has been dreading also a major source of worry. In
has arrived. He has 30 BC Cleopatra eluded capture
carried out this and execution in Rome,
procedure dozens of choosing instead to commit
times but never on suicide in Alexandria to ensure
a pharaoh. The priest follows that the correct rituals of
one of the oldest and most mummiication were performed.
meticulous codes in history: the Without these rites, the journey
mummiication of a god king. through the underworld would be
The priest cannot afford to make fraught with danger, according to
any mistakes. Carefully, he the Book Of The Dead. The most
inserts a hook into one of the important moment came when
dead mans nostrils. Using this, the deceased was faced with the
hell mash the Eye of Truth
pharaohs
brain to a
I am yesterday, before Osiris,
the god of the
pulp. Sounds today and dead, and his
grisly, but it
serves a tomorrow. 42 judges. The
deceaseds
purpose: it BOOK OF THE DEAD, heart was
will enable Chapter 64 placed on a pair
him to pull the of scales, and if
brain out of the nose all while it was found to be lighter than
ensuring that the face remains the Feather of Truth they were
intact. If the face was damaged, declared free of sin and could
the ancient Egyptians believed, continue on to the afterlife. If the
then the pharaoh wouldnt be heart didnt betray its owner at
recognised by the judges of the this critical moment, the
dead possibly denying him a deceased then used the scarab
rebirth. That, rather than death from their grave. Magical
itself, was their greatest fear. formulae from the Book Of The
This made the priests the most Dead were engraved on the
powerful caste and turned their trinket, covering not only the
secret code for eternal life into a journey through the underworld,
holy relic: the Book Of The Dead. but also spells with which to ward
According to Egyptian off danger. Magic was seen as
wisdom, a person had two souls, the only useful weapon against
both of which escaped the body the monsters of the underworld.
after death. The aim was then to For centuries, researchers
retrieve them through religious have been trying to unlock the
rituals. But an incorrectly secrets of the Book Of The
performed action, such as an Dead. But there are still
improperly disembowelled body passages that raise questions
or a disigured face, could in the search for the Egyptians
jeopardise the rebirth. vast knowledge of the afterlife.

75
THE BATTISTA CODE YZYJ = POPE
Did the Vatican disk comprising two rotating
control Europe with dials, a polyalphabetic

the aid of a secret


codebreaker that was well
ahead of its time. The disk

CIPHER DISK? shows which letter will be


replaced with another (in the
right-hand image, N equates
to A, O to Z and so on.) The

W
hen the user gets a new code simply
irst by adjusting the disks. For
Crusaders the system to work, the
returned recipient needed an identical
to Europe cipher disk and instructions
from the on how to set it. This could
Holy Land at the end of the be speciied verbally in
11th century, they brought advance, or announced by
something dangerous the irst character of the
with them: not a foreign coded correspondence.
disease or weapons, but a For centuries, this disk was
mathematical formula one considered unbreakable
which triggered wars, toppled and gave the Vatican a
rulers and shook the power huge strategic advantage.
structures of the continent. Using the protection afforded
Frequency analysis, which IN WITH by this encryption method,
THE NEW
was used as an aid to With the cipher popes influenced politics in
breaking classical ciphers, disk, the Vatican Europe, claimed land and
could be used to decipher all established a cities, put kings under
new era of
of the codes known at the communication. pressure and dispatched
time. This meant that coded Before its powerful enemies altering
letters which passed introduction, Europe forever.
sealed letters
through the hands of dozens could easily be
of messengers, coachmen opened or
and sailors in the Middle even faked.
Ages were suddenly no
longer as safe as they once
were. No one could tell who
had read their letter before it
was delivered. This was a
disaster for Europes ruling
elite there was no
alternative but to carry on
sending messages between
kings and popes. Necessity
is the mother of invention
and what the ruling classes
desperately needed was a
new system of encryption.
In this climate, the scholar
Leon Battista Alberti was
commissioned to invent an
encryption method for the
papacy. He quickly came up
with a revolutionary cipher
THE ZODIAC CODE

Can an encrypted
FORMULA reveal how
a serial killer thinks?

I
t is 20th December Unfortunately, the cracking
1968: in a car park of the irst Zodiac code did
north of San Francisco, not lead to the breakthrough
an anonymous gunman that had been hoped for. The
shoots two teenagers message revealed how the
dead. They are the irst serial killer thought but
victims in a mysterious series there was no evidence
of at least ive murders and pointing to his identity. The
two attempted murders that Zodiac Killer has never been
have never been solved caught despite revealing
despite the perpetrator his name. One of his coded
writing dozens of letters messages begins with the
to the local press. words my name is, but
The killer used his own the following words have
encryption system that never been decrypted,
consisted of at least 65 code despite years of investigation
characters. Among them by the best cryptographers.
were the 12 star signs of the Over ive decades, police
classical Zodiac also the have investigated and
name the killer gave himself. cleared thousands of
The encryption system was suspects and the tips
so hard to crack that the FBI keep coming in.
revealed the ciphers to the
public in the hope that an
amateur cryptographer might
be able to solve the puzzle.
Married couple Bettye and
Donald Harden rose to the
challenge and managed to
succeed where the CIA had
failed: they decoded a
408-character cryptogram
sent by the Zodiac Killer in
July 1969. They suspected
the criminal had a very
narcissistic world view and
concluded that his note
began with the words I like.
This gave them the keys to
unlock the code: I like to
kill people because its so
much fun. It is more fun
than killing wild game in
the forest because man is
AMATEUR CRYPTOGRAPHER
the most dangerous animal History teacher Donald Harden
of all. To kill gives me the and his wife Bettye managed to
most thrilling experience. decipher one of the killers notes.

77
THE GEO CODE 20- 40N
Does a secret historians now know that the
Vikings visited America long
CHAIN OF PYRAMIDS before Columbus. But what if
the Egyptians architectural
connect the first civilisations? prowess travelled via
a different route?
The most important

I
ts one of the most answer to this mysterious, discovery of the ancient
amazing unexplained ancient riddle? Egyptian architects was that
phenomena in the world: In 1970, the archaeologist no other shape of stone
a chain of pyramids Thor Heyerdahl stated his building could be built as high
circles the globe, almost belief that ancient Egyptians as a pyramid. You only need a
exactly between 20 and could have sailed across the basic knowledge of structural
ANCIENT
40 degrees latitude north. Built Atlantic to the Canary Islands, NETWORK engineering and construction
by the ancient Egyptians and or even Mexico, in handmade Were the techniques to understand that
Mayans, the constructions are papyrus boats. There they pharaohs in a square of the same height
famous the world over. And could have exchanged contact with would collapse.
there are also half a dozen cultures and building tips
the Mayans in
South America? Cultural historians believe
other civilisations that built with the Mayans. Its not just that this information travelled
pyramids, too. But how did Still, concrete evidence that pyramid around the globe, almost like
this happen? Historians have this journey took place has building that Chinese whispers. It was
long assumed that the never been found. Could the suggests this: carried by artisans, architects,
cultures around the globe Egyptians have discovered South American
sailors and merchants
produce has
never came into contact with America 1,500 years before constantly being passed on
also been found
one another they had no Columbus? Thats not as in Ancient from one person to the next.
means to. So whats the crazy as it might sound Egyptian tombs. This is how a global transfer
THE TIME CODE 2951954
system for knowledge emerged
thousands of years ago. Long
Where was a secret WORLD
before Columbus, information
travelled around the globe.
GOVERNMENT founded?
Of course, using this method,

Y
it would sometimes take centuries oull ind no mention of politicians for three days with no
for simple facts to travel across this date in history books. independent journalists anywhere
continents. But the network did However, it was the most in the vicinity. Some reporters
function although where exactly important sequence of numbers have even been arrested for trying
it started from is still in dispute. since the end of the Second to gain access to the building.
And it wasnt just knowledge World War: 2951954, or 29th May Every conversation is conidential
being exchanged; so were goods. 1954. On this day, the secretive and no minutes are taken. Future
Perhaps this explains why the Bilderberg Group met for the irst policy decisions can be made
remains of South American plants time in a hotel of the same name there without legislative approval.
have been found in ancient in Oosterbeek, Holland. German sociologist Hans-
Egyptian tombs. Traces of cocaine Since then, the Bilderberg Jrgen Krysmanski is convinced:
have also been found in Egyptian Conference has taken place every The Bilderberg Conference is the
mummies which archaeologists year attended by around 140 highlight for a permanent group of
had only previously found in extremely influential people from lobbyists. Krysmanski even sees
5,000-year-old corpses in Chile. the inancial and economic circles Bilderberg as part of a large secret
How were the leaves of the coca of the US, Canada and western network that gives the
plant transported to Africa, if not Europe, as well as guests from multinational corporations ever
using boats to cross the sea? And the worlds of politics, society more influence over politics. Thats
who irst built the pyramids? Thats and the media. because, in addition to Bilderberg,
by far the biggest mystery faced by In 2015, the meeting was held there are many more so-called
archaeologists today. at the Interalpen Hotel in Austrias private meetings. These include
Tyrol region. Investors and the yearly World Economic Forum
politicians came together to (which drives globalisation) held at
discuss various issues including Davos, the exclusive Swiss ski
cybersecurity, the threat posed by resort, and the Munich Security
chemical weapons, globalisation Conference, a stooge of the arms
and the upcoming US elections industry and an international
all in total secrecy. Many experts forum on security.
believe that this secrecy means The Bilderberg Conference is,
some form of collusion must take therefore, just one arm of this
place. Think about it: the most powerful corporate octopus; a
powerful representatives of quasi ministry of the top-secret
industry meet with leading global government.

INTERALPEN HOTEL TYROL

79
THE MONA LISA CODE 83-9- 6 -2
Which secret did
LEONARDO DA VINCI
take to his grave?

I
ts arguably the most could paint the Mona Lisa
unusual decryption and her way of seeing the
programme ever made. world. It proves that the artist
Using whats known as was the irst to understand
emotion-recognition how a human perceives the
software, Italian world: the way the eye
computer expert Nicu Sebe processes visual information,
from the University of while the brain interprets it.
Amsterdam and researchers Margaret Livingstone,
at the University of Illinois a vision expert at Harvard
unravelled the worlds Medical School, says: The
greatest art mystery: elusive quality of the Mona
Leonardo da Vincis Lisas smile can be explained
Mona Lisa. by the fact that her smile is
One of the peculiarities almost entirely in low spatial
of the painting is that, frequencies, and so is seen
depending on the angle its best by your peripheral vision.
viewed from, the woman So when you look at her eyes
seems to display different or the background, you think
emotions: sometimes shes she is smiling. But when you
smiling, at others she looks look directly at her mouth,
serious. This Mona her smile seems to
Lisa code was only vanish. Leonardo
deciphered 500 years studied his model for
after the death of its months. He didnt just
ingenious painter. The paint a picture he
code? 83-9-6-2: the produced a proile of
Mona Lisas face is a person. Its been
DA VINCIS
83% happy, but the described as a painted
LEGACY
position of her eyes For 500 years, psychoanalysis. But
and the curve of her the Mona Lisa the painting also
lips mean that she kept the symbolises something
mysteries of its
also displays 9% creator until else: a new way of
disgust, 6% fear the secrets of seeing the world. Each
and 2% anger. her smile were viewer creates their
finally revealed.
Much more is own Mona Lisa
hidden behind the depending on their
enigmatic smile. In painting viewpoint. Thats probably
the iconic picture, the most important Mona Lisa
Leonardo uncovered an code: everyone has the
ancient mystery the miracle freedom to see things the way
of sight. He had secretly they want. Of course, 500
obtained corpses, studying years ago that would have
the structure of their brains, been very dangerous. Back
muscles and eyes. He needed then, the Churchs world view
to understand them before he was the only truth.
THE ALPHABET CODE GWC7

What is Google really


doing with OUR DATA?

H
ow do you persuade The disease-detecting
someone to let down nanoparticles will enter the
their guard and give bloodstream via a swallowed
away their most intimate pill. The tiny look-outs will act
secrets? In a secluded Google as an early warning system,
research laboratory with the reporting any impending
codename GWC7, just south problems to a wrist-worn
of San Francisco, someone sensor. Collated data will be
believes they have found the forwarded to the data centres
answer: offer the person of GWC7, where a diagnosis
a long, healthy life. programme is running.
The GWC7 researchers have So could a system like this
developed a method by which save lives? Of course! Google
malfunctions in the body can estimates 100,000 per year.
be detected and treated long Yet some experts are critical
before they become an issue. of the project. After all, who
The only thing that Google can guarantee that the stored
demands in return is sensitive data will not be misused?
information about peoples Medical historian Paul
health. And, for this reason, Unschuld warns that agencies
GWC7 plans to get into our could purchase the data in
heads: not just in spirit, but order to deliver health ratings.
also quite literally. Google These assessments could
wants to enter our bones, affect your chance of getting
muscles and veins to breach insurance or renting a flat, he
every single cell. How? By explains. One thing is certain:
using nanoparticles! These if nanobots start to patrol our
are 2,000 times smaller than bodies and only GWC7 is
a red blood cell and are far accountable, itll be the start
more resistant to viruses. of a new era for all mankind.

81
THE TORPEDO CODE CTATYC-6

Is Putin developing a
SUPER WEAPON?

F
or the NSA power between Russia
analysts in and the US. Its stealthy
Fort Meade, design means that a US
Maryland, it missile shield would be
came as a total useless against it.
shock. During Initial analysis of the
a news broadcast on secret document showed
Russias state-run TV that the nuclear torpedo
channel in November can travel at 183km/h,
2015, a top-secret 1,000 metres below the
blueprint appeared waters surface. It has a
onscreen for a few potential range of 1,000
seconds. It showed a kilometres. The US would
giant nuclear torpedo, be powerless to defend
alongside the codename itself and the
CTATYC-6 consequences of
(Status-6) initials an attack would
denoting a top- be catastrophic.
secret armaments According to
project run by the the document,
Russian military. affected areas
Its true some MEGA would be so
secret data got TSUNAMI contaminated with
into the shot, Russias radiation that they
therefore it was nuclear super would be
weapon could
subsequently agriculturally,
be even more
deleted, said devastating if militarily and
Dmitri Peskov, it exploded off economically
a spokesman the coast and inviable for
for the Kremlin. triggered a a long time.
The Russian gigantic The torpedo
tsunami.
secret service would be a
didnt hang around. All nightmare for the US. Not
posts about the secret so for Russia, according
torpedo code were to military expert Viktor
removed from the TV Murachowski. He says it
channels archive, videos would put the country in a
were deleted, websites strong strategic position.
were blocked but all to However, it is unclear
no avail. The internet is whether such a torpedo
too quick. The distribution actually exists or if the
of the broadcast could no leak was planned. Some
longer be stopped. say the picture was aired
The secret blueprint because the Russian
shows a long-range government want the
nuclear torpedo that world to live in fear of
could alter the balance of a potential attack.
THE SPACE CODE: 6EQUJ5 THE BAPHOMET CODE

Did the Knights


Templar worship
an IDOL?

W
hat is Baphomet? Its
a question the members
of the Knights Templar
are to hear repeatedly, following
their arrest and torture on Friday
13th October 1307 by troops loyal
to the French king, Philip IV. The
Templars are said to have
worshipped the idol a black
statue with three faces and a
beard. Later, Baphomet was
depicted in a different way with
Is a secret ALIEN MESSAGE devil horns and eagle wings.
However, their torturers believed
hiding in the Wow! signal? that Baphomet was more than
an idol: they were convinced it
was a code behind which the

A
ll day, astronomer Jerry that the signal originated from an source of power of the Knights
Ehman has been using intelligent extraterrestrial source: Templar was hidden.
Ohio State Universitys Big We should have seen it again However, although the knights
Ear radio telescope to sweep the when we looked for it 50 times. confessed under torture to acts
sky for possible signals from That suggests it was an Earth- like sodomy and blasphemy, no
other civilisations. So far, hes sourced signal that simply got information about the Baphomet
heard nothing more than the hum reflected off some space debris. code was revealed. For centuries
of space, until suddenly, at 22.16, But other scientists believe that it appeared unbreakable. Until
he receives a blast of radio waves the signal frequency hints at historians discovered something
and the printer whirrs into life. something truly out of this world. surprising: Baphomet was
A series of letters and numbers It was measured at 1420.4556 a common regional name for

PHOTOS: Shutterstock; Getty Images (3); DPA; Laif; Google Earth; Corbis; PR (3)
appears a strange MHz close to whats the founder of Islam: the
frequency reading known as the hydrogen prophet Muhammad.
6EQUJ5. The signal has line, the electromagnetic So did the Christian Templars
come from deep space. radiation spectral line that worship the Muslim prophet? It
Ehman circles it with a pen is created by a change in seems improbable, but there may
and writes Wow! the energy state of neutral be some truth behind the legend.
Nearly 40 years have hydrogen atoms. As Thats because the Knights
VOICE FROM
passed since that night THE DEEP hydrogen is the most Templar and the Muslims were
but the so-called Wow! The universe is abundant element in space, not as hostile to each other as
signal remains a mystery. never silent. extraterrestrial beings the Church liked to think. Instead,
But the Wow!
The one certainty: it might use that frequency the knights adopted the Arabs
signal was 30
travelled from somewhere times louder to transmit a signal. technology and knowledge and
near the constellation than the normal Theres just one thing: made them their own. They even
Sagittarius 200 light level of noise if the sender really was fought alongside the Muslim
found in space.
years away. The signal an intelligent being, theyll Assassins. The Templars went
never reappeared, says physicist have to wait a while for an answer: on to become one of the most
Harald Lesch. For that reason, the interstellar radio message powerful forces in Europe until
Ehman has expressed doubts took 122 years to reach Earth. they were inally crushed.

83
LABTEST

Ricocheting bullets are feared by even the most experienced


soldiers. But although they are unpredictable and extremely
dangerous, they also act according to the laws of nature

THE UNBELIEVABLE PHYSICS

RICOC
T
he time for negotiation is the true cost of the operation a police bullet or bullets, which
over: Man Haron Monis becomes apparent: three ricocheted from hard surfaces into
has just shot one of the hostages have been injured and her body. These bullets altered
18 hostages he is 34-year-old Katrina Dawson their flight path and flew through
holding captive without has been fatally hit. the room like shrapnel.
warning. An elite unit of The events of 15th But how exactly do
Australian police officers storms December 2014 end Bullets can be ricochets form?
the Lindt cafe in downtown in a bloodbath. Did Can they be
deadly even after
Sydney, firing more than 20 shots Monis return fire? avoided? World
at the Islamist terrorist. Thirteen No. Forensic
impact. Ricochets of Knowledge
bullets hit him; the rest slam into analysis reveals
can claim more explores the
the walls. Monis is killed and the that Dawson was lives than physics behind
mission appears to have been a struck by six regular these volatile
success. But as the smoke clears, fragments of shots. projectiles.
OF

H S40 HOW DOES A BULLET BECOME A GRENADE?


Mushrooming is the term experts use to describe the process when
projectiles are deformed upon impact (shown above). The projectile
can shatter into tiny fragments and ricochet in all directions.

85
HOW CAN A RICOCHET BOUNCE

1
OUT OF THE GROUND AGAIN?
When shots are ired from BOOMERANG
a raised stand, the shooter A bullet from the
Hit shooters own gun
must exercise caution: even a shot hits his ear
ired into apparently loose, soft defenders as
earth can prove fatal. Stones a ricochet.
hidden under the surface can
Ricochet from
cause the bullet to ricochet in the ground
different directions, including
straight back from where it came.
There have been cases where a a ricochet. A shot can even ricochet
bullet has penetrated half a metre off stones in the subsoil during its
into the ground and re-emerged as route through the earth, meaning
a steep shooting angle like the one
above can be extremely dangerous
for whoever is pulling the trigger.

HOW DANGEROUS ARE


2 BULLETS IN THE AIR?
AIR SHOT
What goes up, must come at shallow angles, the risk of
Unlike ricochets,
back down: in the case of dangerous ricochets rises the bullet bullets do not
a 9mm bullet ired into the air and maintains its trajectory and is less deform when shot
travelling at a speed of 350 metres likely to go into free fall. If a human into the air. They
retain their
per second, the turnaround would was standing where it fell, it could aerodynamic shape
happen at a height of 1,100 shatter their skull. In fact, and fall silently
metres. Bullets shot into people are often killed back to Earth.
the air usually fall
back to Earth with
The fatality rate for bycelebratory gunire
in 2011, falling
terminal velocities
celebratory gunfire bullets left three
far lower than is five times higher than dead on New
their muzzle for other types of Years Eve in the
velocity (the gunfi re, because falling Philippines. For
speed of a bullets often strike that reason, blank
projectile when it victims in the head. ammo is always
leaves the gun). But used for oficial
when shots are ired gun salutes.
HOW FAR
4 CAN A
RICOCHET FLY?
The shallower the shooting
angle and the harder the
target material, the more power
a ricochet contains. In a series of
experiments at the University of
SECRET MISSION Bern in Switzerland, some bullets
Sky marshals only make bounced back from a distance of
themselves known in an 1,500 metres. Even a penetrating
emergency. And even then
they dont always brandish gunshot wound can divert
a weapon as shown here in a bullet without taking
the film Non-Stop. away the majority
of its energy.
WHY ARE SKY

3 MARSHALS ALLOWED
TO FIRE WEAPONS
ONBOARD PLANES?
Opening fire 10 kilometres hit. As a result they achieve a high
above the ground sounds level of stopping power, because
like a death wish: if a sky marshal they transfer a large part of their A curled-up armadillo
the term for a counter-terror agent kinetic energy to their target when
disguised as a passenger shoots
wide of the mark or a ricochet
they strike instead of gliding
straight through. This means the
CAN
smashes through the fuselage, then
youre in big trouble.
shots can disable a terrorist, but
wont penetrate hard
RICOCHETS
Despite this, no materials like an BOUNCE OFF
shooting ban applies Ricochets on aircrafts
to sky marshals, board could lead to cabin wall. A BODY?
who are deployed catastrophe. For that Sky marshals Grazing gunshots act in
to combat any reason sky arent just the same way as ricochets
would-be marshals use a deployed on the body alters the path of the
terrorists flights originating projectile and the shot lurches
special type of
on board. in the US. Almost off course. But for a projectile to
US federal air
ammunition for every European rebound in the same direction in
marshals (FAMs)
soft targets. country has a force which it was ired is rare at least
carry a Sig Sauer P250 of its own. In Australia, when it is a human body that has
or P229 pistol as standard. sky marshals were been hit. Where some animals are
On board they use ammunition introduced in 2001, in response to concerned, thats not always the
specially developed for the purpose 9/11, although the precise details case: the thick hide of wild boars
of hitting soft targets.These remain top secret. After all, its has been known to deflect bullets,
frangible bullets will disintegrate important that the marshals while in 2015 a Texan man
upon contact with a surface harder work in secrecy in order to was wounded after iring at an
than the bullet itself or will fragment prevent terrorists from getting armadillo. The bullet bounced off
into tiny pieces when the target is an information advantage. its protective shell and hit him.

87
CAN YOU
7 CONTROL
RICOCHETS?
There are several reports
of snipers apparently able
to shoot around corners by
deploying ricochets in a controlled
way to hit targets supposedly
hiding behind cover. But to do so
the shooter would need a whole lot
RICOCHETS IN THE BODY of luck. In reality, rebound shots
Bones like the skullcap can also alter
the course or position of a bullet, as cant be controlled and the sniper
shown in this x-ray from a civil war. would have to give away his hiding
position to get the correct shot at
the right angle.
AT WHAT POINT DOES
6
In the past, ricochet ire has
A RICOCHET BECOME sometimes been deployed in order

DANGEROUS? to extend the range of the bullets


or increase their impacts. Artillery
Theyre almost always grams was enough to cause was aimed in such a way to allow
dangerous. Nine times out of damage when it was dropped the shot to strike and rebound in
ten, bullets that hit unprotected from a height of one metre and hit a succession of skips, like a stone
skin cause injury something a steel pin with a diameter of six being skimmed. Using this method,
conirmed by ballistics experts from millimetres positioned on the skin. bullets fragmented and the
the University of Bern. They Even this mini-strike caused the scattering effect had the potential
discovered that a weight of just ten skin to break in the experiment. to increase the number of hits.

RISKY EXPERIMENT
Using remote control,
physicist Andres Wahl
fires a loaded gun at
himself from a distance
of three metres. The Water is 800
water decelerates the times denser
shot and therefore
poses no danger.
than air. This
means it forms an
effective protection
HOW SAFE against ricochets.
as they do above the subject to extremely

8 ARE YOU
FROM
surface. The oxygen
contained in the cartridge is
enough to release the shot, but
strong resistance. The
same principle applies to
ricochets, except the water
RICOCHET FIRE during its trajectory the bullet decelerates the deformed

UNDER WATER? quickly loses speed and rotation.


This means that it drifts off course
projectile even more severely. On
ships, barrels of water are used to
In principle, bullets fired and sinks to the bottom after just protect against pirates who might
from a gun or rifle behave in two metres. As water is 800 times fire bullets at the boat. These liquid
exactly the same way underwater more dense than air, the bullet is shields rob shots of their energy.
CAN A RIFLE BULLET
9 BOUNCE OFF A LAKE?
In films, swimmers are liquid acts like an impenetrable
often portrayed being shot barrier. The bullet rebounds at
underwater. Yet the chances of approximately the same angle
producing dangerous ricochets, at which it hits the water. In
rather than hitting the target, are Salzburg, Austria this law of
higher when shooting at water. physics has even become a
Thats because when projectiles sport. The annual Preber Shoot
travelling at high speeds and at a sees competitors firing not at
shallow angle hit the waters a target, but at its reflection on
surface, the usually permeable the surface of the glassy lake.

WHO WAS STRUCK BY THE MOST


FAMOUS RICOCHET IN HISTORY?

10
On 22nd November 1963 gunshot wounds didnt match the
Lee Harvey Oswald shoots calibre of the rifle used. But the latest
John F. Kennedy. Conspiracy analysis has shown that Oswalds
theorists see Oswalds second shot magic shot was nothing more than
as a magic bullet because Oswald a ricochet, acting in accordance with
hit not just the then-US president, the laws of physics. The bullet went
but also Texas governor John through Kennedys neck, turned and
Connally, who was travelling with struck Connallys upper body. Then
him. How could one bullet hit two it grazed his underarm and inally
people? Whats more, JFKs horriic lodged in the governors thigh.

ROUTE OF THE BULLET


Three shots were fired by Oswald: the first was wide of the BIRDS EYE VIEW
mark, the second (illustrated below) injured Kennedy and Kennedy and Connally KENNEDY
then Connally. The third struck Kennedys head killing him. are sitting in the car
when a bullet fired from Path of the bullet
the fifth floor of a
nearby building hits
Speed of the bullet both of their bodies. CONNALLY
518-549 metres per second
PHOTOS: Getty Images; iStock (5); You Tube (2); Alamy; Ullstein; Norbert Rief

KENNEDY

Exit wound
through throat
Entry wound Entry wound CONNALLY
matches the 6.5mm matches the 3cm
bullet calibre Bullet becomes
a ricochet and length of the bullet
457-488 metres per second
ILLUSTRATIONS: wdw-Grafik; John Grimwade

begins to rotate.
Exit wound in the chest cavity
measures approx 5cm
Bullet penetrates
a neck vertebra
Fifth right 274 metres per second
rib is
shattered
NERVE REFLEX Bullet is
An injury to the spinal cord causes lodged in
Projectile grazes Connallys the thigh
a neurological reflex: Kennedy pulls arm backwards in flight
his elbows upwards, also known
as the Thorburn position. 122 metres per second
89
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION FOR OUR TEAM OF EXPERTS?
Simply send us an email with Questions and Answers in the
subject line to worldofknowledge@bauer-media.com.au

HOSTILE CONDITIONS
The atmosphere on Mars is 95.3% carbon
dioxide. Oxygen only exists in the parts-per-
thousand range. Temperatures of up to
minus 133 degrees Celsius are normal.

DEADLY RADIATION
As Mars lacks a magnetic
field, astronauts would be
exposed to carcinogenic
space radiation. Protective
shields made with four-metre
thick Martian rock could
protect the ground station
from constant exposure to
the cosmic particles.

90
HOW DO YOU CONSTRUCT A BUILDING ON

A manned Mars mission found a more cost-effective


is NASAs next big solution: they have succeeded
project, but researchers are not in producing a type of concrete
only concerned with when and using raw materials available on
how mankind will get there but Mars in large quantities.
also how they might survive on To create the material, sulphur
the inhospitable red planet. was heated to 240 degrees
The main obstacle facing Celsius so that it became liquid,
the mission? In order to build then mixed with simulated
a settlement there, several tons Mars soil made from silicon
worth of building material from dioxide and aluminium dioxide.
Earth would need to be shipped The sulphur hardens during
to the red planet an expensive cooling and binds with these
undertaking when you consider particles. Another advantage
that the transport costs of a of this Mars concrete is that it
spaceflight to Mars are in the can be melted down again and
$3 billion per ton range. recycled and its also twice as
Scientists from Northwestern stable as the normal concrete
University in Illinois have now used on Earth.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

With more autonomous unmanned lasers, while one company has


vehicles being released into the air turned to natures own predators.
every year, the risk of collisions is On behalf of the Dutch police, the

HOW DO
increasing recently, a BA flight irm Guard From Above is training
from Geneva was hit by a suspected eagles to take out drones mid-flight.
drone during its descent to Londons One video shows a drone hovering

YOU CATCH Heathrow. Now there is a growing


fear that drones could be used by
terrorists to mount airborne attacks,
in the air before an eagle swoops
down, grabs it with its talons and
flies off with it. Training the birds

A DRONE? and work is taking place on how


best to defend against the threat.
Airbus is developing jamming
takes a year and, so far, all tests
have been successful. The force will
decide soon whether to employ the
technology, Boeing is researching eagles in the war on terror.

150KM/H
is the speed a bald eagle
can reach through the air.
The metre-long bird of prey
can transport bounty
weighing up to 15kg.

The greatest danger to the eagle comes


from the drones fast-moving rotor
blades. Thankfully, the birds talons
are protected by thick keratin scales.

92
HOW QUICKLY DOES
A SHIP BREAK IN TWO?
On 14th April
1912 the Titanic 11.40pm
collided with an The Titanic hits an
iceberg and sank iceberg at a speed
in the Atlantic. of 40km/h.
1,514 people lost
their lives. Now, 1.50am The
104 years later, flooded bow sinks
researchers have while the ship tilts
generated a towards the
minute-by-minute port side.
reconstruction of
DOES MY the disaster.

BRAIN HAVE SEASONS? 2.15am The


increase in water
Winter blues, seasonal affective disorder the pressure causes
seasons can influence our moods. But now Belgian the front funnel to
break off. More
researchers have found that our brain itself water floods
experiences seasonal shifts. In a study, participants through the
additional opening.
had to solve tasks over the course of a year during
which time their brain activity was measured. The
results showed areas connected to concentration
were, in the Northern Hemisphere, most active in 2.18am The
build-up of
June and least active in December. The working pressure between
memory does considerably less in autumn than in the bow and the
springtime. Depending on the season, therefore, stern is so strong
While still on the that the hull
the brain must operate at different strengths to waters surface, snaps in two.
the Titanic breaks
achieve the same level of performance. in two. The front
part of the ship 2.19am The
sinks vertically stern also tilts
into the depths, downwards and
but the stern only water floods the
spirals towards the broken front side.
seafloor some
minutes later.
It ends up 600
metres away
from the bow.

2.20am The stern


turns so its in a
vertical position
and then slowly
spirals downwards.
Can my mobile phone 2.21am
The front mast
hunt an earthquake? breaks away, the
funnels break off.
Smartphones deliver important information but The stern rotates and
could they soon save our lives? US researchers sinks with the bow.

from the University of Berkeley have developed


the app MyShake, which uses an algorithm to
While the stern and
filter vibrations that occur during an earthquake bow sink towards
and measures them with the help of sensors in the floor, more
debris breaks away.
the phone. The data and GPS information is then
sent to the universitys seismology department.
The app is already able to recognise earthquakes
of 5.0 on the Richter scale and at a distance of At 55km/h the bow
crashes onto the seabed
up to 10 kilometres. Once the test phase has (left). The stern shatters
finished, the app should be made available to on impact (right).
both Android and iOS users.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

WHY DOES THIS JEEP WEAPONRY

COST $250,000? A missile launcher and machine


gun mount are also part of
the jeeps equipment.
It has seen action in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but now, 30 years after
its introduction, the US Army has retired its fleet of iconic Humvees. The
military vehicle will be replaced by the Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical
Vehicle (right), a 300 horsepower jeep-tank hybrid, which came
out on top after a bruising selection process. As well as
proving to be faster and more agile than its competitors, the
JLTV is clad in a special armour designed to defend against
landmines, meaning it is better adapted to a desert terrain. The
US Army plans to buy 55,000 of the vehicles, each costing
$250,000. The JLTV is due to enter service in 2018.

PROTECTIVE SHELL
External armour is
designed to offer similar
levels of protection as
a lightweight tank.
It should be able to
withstand landmines
and artillery fire.

WORKLOAD
Fully laden with equipment and
a four-man crew, the JLTV weighs
in at around 8.1 tons. Its range
is around 480 kilometres at a top
speed of 110km/h.

How much wind can


a tree withstand?
One of the many things that Leonardo da Vinci
turned his hand to during his life was studying
trees, in particular their resistance to breakage.
Today, over 500 years later, French researchers
have discovered the critical speed above which
trees planted in urban areas are likely to either
uproot or suffer broken branches. They found that
a windspeed of 42 metres per second (151km/h) is
enough to damage over half of those trees not
planted in a wood or forest be they a slender
birch or a gnarly old oak. Height, circumference,
variety of tree and soil type play hardly any role.

94
10
1
PROOF TH T PO S RE RE LLY
STRANGE
BRITISH
LAWS
Eating chocolate on the Tube
EIR

was once illegal thanks to a peculiar 19th century English


bylaw. Even more strangely, the edict applied solely to
How close can lightning strike before

Even if youre not in the immediate vicinity of a lightning


strike, you can still be struck indirectly. A bolt of lightning
will be distributed in all directions when it hits the ground,
so the actual danger zone extends to a radius of at least
ten metres from the point of entry. If you are ever caught
unawares during a thunderstorm, you should crouch as
close to the ground as possible while keeping your legs
together. Otherwise a lethal step voltage could travel
between them and may, in the worst case scenario, cause
a cardiac arrest.

women riding on the London Underground.

Wearing socks within 100 metres


2 of a monarch was made illegal by Elizabeth I, who also
banned shirts with outrageous double ruffs being worn
at the Royal Court. James I later repealed the law.

Being drunk on licensed premises


is forbidden by the Licensing Act of 1872 in other
3 words, you cant be inebriated at the pub. Luckily for
modern-day revellers, this rule is rarely enforced.

Queue-jumping in ticket lines


is illegal if instructed to join a ticket queue by an
4 authorised staff member, according to the Transport
for London Railway Bylaws.

Writing a critical reference


in the UK is technically illegal due to their libel laws,

5 unless the negative comments can be proven. For this


reason, many irms will simply refuse to comment on a
bad employee rather than risk ending up in court.

Feeling sickly? Dont hail a cab


6 According to the Public Health Act of 1985, it is illegal for
a person with the plague to knowingly travel in a taxi or
to try to ride on a bus.

Handling a salmon
in suspicious circumstances was made illegal by the
7 1986 Salmon Act. Though what exactly constitutes such
a situation remains unclear
WHY DO
CATS HATE WATER?
Beating a carpet rug outdoors Cats avoid water because they cant swim, right? Wrong!
is still an offence in any street in the Metropolitan
8 Police District. Though the law says you can shake out
a doormat before 8am.
The real reason felines tend to shun the wet stuff is because
their fur quickly becomes sodden and loses its insulation
properties as a consequence. The result: their body
Housing more than one lunatic temperature drops, they become less agile and also run the

9 at a time was barred by the now-obsolete Madhouses


Act of 1774, unless you had obtained a speciic licence
allowing you to do so.
risk of drowning. A kittys fur has other important functions,
too. It acts as a sensory organ, even helping a cat to
navigate in the dark along with its whiskers. Its also an
important part of their identity because it carries a cats own
Gambling in a library
individual body odour. If the fur becomes wet, the cat has to
10 is forbidden by the Libraries Offences Act of 1898,
as is remaining on the premises after closing time. release the odour through its saliva and secretions from
glands on the side of its head and on its front paws.

PHOTOS: NASA; Bauer Stock; Getty Images (3); www.dasgehirn.info; Shutterstock; Alamy. ILLUSTRATIONS: NGS
PHOTOS: Alamy; Mohd Khorshid/500px; Austin Thomas/Caters

96
AND FINALLY...
THE BODY LANGUAGE
OF OWLS
Owls stare, wink and pose outlandishly but
what can we infer from these actions? Owl expert
Tanja Brandt has interpreted a few particularly
eye-catching examples for us

T
he owl swoops majestically over its territory, nothing
escaping its beady gaze: owls, like the great grey owl
(left), feel most at home soaring silently through
the skies. It might sound like were stating the obvious,
but actually the opposite is true: owls like all birds
intrinsically dislike flying and, if at all possible, avoid all forms
of airborne exertion. They dont want to put on an air show,
they just want something to eat. Even if they feel hungry,
owls would still prefer to raid their supply store than go
hunting, explains owl aficionado Tanja Brandt. You see, this
flying malarkey is energy sapping if anything it will make
them even more hungry. But this isnt the only misconception
drawn from the odd behaviour of the grey owl and friends.
Take the chap top right. An owls wink is the equivalent of
our human blink reflex and has nothing to do with the sly
transmission of a specific message. Owls just couldnt do
that, stresses Brandt. Our little owl, as the genus is called,
is much more likely to be extremely relaxed, and is opening its
beak nice and wide. Not to squawk at anybody, but to throw
up some pellets leftovers from its last meal that it is unable
to digest. As this procedure is extremely tiring, the bird shuts
one of its eyes. And would now like to be alone, please.
And no, the owl in the middle picture hasnt gone into
hiding. Tanja Brandt explains: This one is making full use of
its 270-degree rotatable head to clean its tail feathers. Owls
only clean themselves when they are fully relaxed. This
greasing of the plumage is vital to the birds survival
without the constant, meticulous removal of dirt, owls would
find their ability to hunt seriously impeded. And then the
whole slog would have been for nothing because we now
know that owls arent keen on flying.
As for the odd pose struck by the owl on the bottom right
well, he may look a bit tipsy but hes actually showing off
this male owl has been in full view of a female for the entire
day. After all, it is the mating season, a time when owls
contort their bodies into ever more bizarre shapes. He looks
like hes about to take off, says Brandt. But its also possible
that he has just touched down, having leapt from his hide with
folded wings and only spread them moments before he
reached the ground. An impressive feat.
LETTERS
*Letters may be edited for publication
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worldofknowledgeau
Welcome to World Of Knowledges Letters page, where you can share your thoughts
July 18
EDITOR
on anything you see in the magazine. Write to us at World Of Knowledge, GPO Box Vince Jackson
4088, NSW, 2001 or email us at worldofknowledge@bauer-media.com.au ART DIRECTOR
Joe Ferrara
SENIOR DESIGNER
Food for thought Lemuel Castillo
BRIAN ELVIN DESIGNER
I read recently that more than Chantelle Galaz
half of the food Americans eat is BAUER MEDIA AUSTRALIA
ultra-processed. It made me PUBLISHER, SPECIALIST DIVISION
wonder... how much fast-food Cornelia Schulze
do we eat in Australia? ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER,
> The study, published in the BMJ, SPECIALIST DIVISION
defined ultra-processed as foods Ewen Page
DIRECTOR OF MEDIA SOLUTIONS
containing several ingredients
Simon Davies
including added flavours, colours, GENERAL MANAGER, MARKETING
sweeteners or other additives. That Natalie Bettini
encompasses breakfast cereals, RESEARCH DIRECTOR
instant soup, soft drinks, frozen Justin Stone
ready meals and much more. Said COMMERCIAL MANAGER
to make up 57.9% of food eaten Lucille Charles
by Americans over the age of one, CIRCULATION MANAGER
Charlotte Gray
such a diet can be incredibly MARKETING MANAGER
damaging to health. As far as Georgia Mavrakakis
Australia and fast food are concerned,
at the last count Australians made ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:
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About time fast food restaurants every month. Thea Mahony
JOHN O. BEARD In this country, the average person EMAIL:
I firmly believe that many eminent people have got it wrong eats fast food around four times a TMahony@bauer-media.com.au
when talking about time (When Will Time End?, June). month. But what effect is this having PHONE:
on our national health? A bad one, 02 9282 8583
Everybody seems to talk about time as though it was a thing,
but you cant touch it; you cant see, smell, taste or hear it. unsurprisingly. Around 65% of INTERNATIONAL
It is no more a thing of itself than feet and inches or pounds Australian adults are now obese, up EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
and ounces. A part of the misconception of time could be from 56% in 1995; a recent survey Uwe Bokelmann
that we have become indoctrinated by the clock. Our lives showed that 93% of Aussies arent INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE EDITOR
revolve around the clock: going to sleep, waking up, going getting enough veggies every day. Sebastian Junge
to school or work, eating everything. The fact that time INTERNATIONAL CREATIVE DIRECTOR
seems to go faster on a busy day and is longer on a quiet Thomas Maresch
day enforces the feeling that it is an entity. I have yet to find Twist of fate
any other explanation that convinces me Im wrong.
HARRY SCHONEFELD
As always your recent issues have
been extremely interesting, World of Knowledge: GPO Box 4088,
Rough ride particularly the article What If Hitler Sydney, NSW, 2001, 54-58 Park Street,
Sydney. Telephone: (02) 9282 8000.
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