BBC Science Focus - 10.2019

Q&A

ALAMY,

GETTY

IMAGES

X4,

DEEP

SEA

PHOTOGRAPHY

ILLUSTRATIONS:

DAN

BRIGHT

THE HUBBLE

TELESCOPE AND

CORNWALL?

WHAT CONNECTS

1. The Hubble Space Telescope was used
   to detect the largest electrically-charged
   molecule found so far in the interstellar
   medium of deep space. The molecules
   form hollow spheres, called ‘buckyballs’.


2. They are named aer the American
   futurist and architect Robert
   Buckminster Fuller. In the 1940s he
   popularised the use of geodesic domes.
   These are enclosed structures, made up
   of triangular elements.


3. Geodesic domes are lightweight,
   strong, and enclose a large volume,
   making them the ideal design for the two
   huge greenhouses at Cornwall’s iconic
   Eden Project, built in 2000.


4. Buckyballs are a form of carbon, like
   diamond or graphite. Properly known as
   buckminsterfullerene, the molecule
   consists of 60 carbon atoms bonded
   together into a shape that resembles a

SAMUEL MURPHY, NOTTINGHAM

WHAT PROPELS THE ‘SAILING STONES’ ACROSS THE CALIFORNIAN DESERT?

Reports of rocks apparently moving across dry lakebeds in Death Valley, California, have been

circulating for over a century. With some ‘sailing stones’ weighing over 300kg and leaving trails

hundreds of metres long, scientists have long struggled to find a plausible explanation. That

changed in 2014, when researchers led by Richard Norris at Scripps Institution of Oceanography

showed that during the winter, rain turns to ice on the lakebeds, which then cracks during the

daytime, forming large panels. These sometimes catch the wind, li up and start moving – shoving

even large boulders ahead of them across the so mud. But conditions must be just right: if the ice

is too thick, it doesn’t break into panels; too thin, and it can’t shove the rocks. RM

ANDREW CIREL, CORSHAM

COULD WE GENETICALLY MODIFY AN ANIMAL

SO THAT IT COULD LIVE UNAIDED ON

ANOTHER PLANET OR MOON?

There may already be microbes on Earth that

could survive on Mars. Bacteria from the

Dead Sea and the Arctic tundra have been

shown to survive in a simulated Martian

atmosphere. Venus would be trickier, even in

its cooler upper atmosphere, because this

planet has no ice or water. Alien life might

have its own completely dierent

biochemistry, but we couldn’t genetically

engineer it, because DNA molecules

themselves require water.

For more complex, multicellular life, the

lack of atmospheric oxygen on Mars would

probably rule out this planet. Earth

organisms that don’t need oxygen are

almost all single-celled because anaerobic

metabolisms produce much less energy. But

Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid water

ocean underneath its icy crust, and in 2009,

researchers at the University of Arizona

suggested that there might be oxygen too.

How survivable this ocean is for Earth life

will depend on what other toxins and

nutrients are dissolved in it. Deep-sea fish

and invertebrates would be good

colonisation candidates, though, and genetic

engineering might be useful to give them

improved cold and pressure resistance. LV

Deep-sea

invertebrates, like

this sea cucumber,

could be good

candidates to live on

Jupiter’s moon Europa

Q&A

ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES X4, DEEP SEA PHOTOGRAPHY ILLUSTRATIONS: DAN BRIGHT

THE HUBBLE

TELESCOPE AND

CORNWALL?

WHAT CONNECTS

1. The Hubble Space Telescope was used
   to detect the largest electrically-charged
   molecule found so far in the interstellar
   medium of deep space. The molecules
   form hollow spheres, called ‘buckyballs’.


2. They are named aer the American
   futurist and architect Robert
   Buckminster Fuller. In the 1940s he
   popularised the use of geodesic domes.
   These are enclosed structures, made up
   of triangular elements.


3. Geodesic domes are lightweight,
   strong, and enclose a large volume,
   making them the ideal design for the two
   huge greenhouses at Cornwall’s iconic
   Eden Project, built in 2000.


4. Buckyballs are a form of carbon, like
   diamond or graphite. Properly known as
   buckminsterfullerene, the molecule
   consists of 60 carbon atoms bonded
   together into a shape that resembles a

SAMUEL MURPHY, NOTTINGHAM

WHAT PROPELS THE ‘SAILING STONES’ ACROSS THE CALIFORNIAN DESERT?

Reports of rocks apparently moving across dry lakebeds in Death Valley, California, have been

circulating for over a century. With some ‘sailing stones’ weighing over 300kg and leaving trails

hundreds of metres long, scientists have long struggled to find a plausible explanation. That

changed in 2014, when researchers led by Richard Norris at Scripps Institution of Oceanography

showed that during the winter, rain turns to ice on the lakebeds, which then cracks during the

daytime, forming large panels. These sometimes catch the wind, li up and start moving – shoving

even large boulders ahead of them across the so mud. But conditions must be just right: if the ice

is too thick, it doesn’t break into panels; too thin, and it can’t shove the rocks. RM

COULD WE GENETICALLY MODIFY AN ANIMAL

SO THAT IT COULD LIVE UNAIDED ON

ANOTHER PLANET OR MOON?

There may already be microbes on Earth that

could survive on Mars. Bacteria from the

Dead Sea and the Arctic tundra have been

shown to survive in a simulated Martian

atmosphere. Venus would be trickier, even in

its cooler upper atmosphere, because this

planet has no ice or water. Alien life might

have its own completely dierent

biochemistry, but we couldn’t genetically

engineer it, because DNA molecules

themselves require water.

For more complex, multicellular life, the

lack of atmospheric oxygen on Mars would

probably rule out this planet. Earth

organisms that don’t need oxygen are

almost all single-celled because anaerobic

metabolisms produce much less energy. But

Jupiter’s moon Europa has a liquid water

ocean underneath its icy crust, and in 2009,

researchers at the University of Arizona

suggested that there might be oxygen too.

How survivable this ocean is for Earth life

will depend on what other toxins and

nutrients are dissolved in it. Deep-sea fish

and invertebrates would be good

colonisation candidates, though, and genetic

engineering might be useful to give them

improved cold and pressure resistance. LV

Deep-sea

invertebrates, like

this sea cucumber,

could be good

candidates to live on

Jupiter’s moon Europa