EMBARK | BREAKTHROUGHS
DISPATCHES
FROM THE FRONT LINES
OF SCIENCE
AND INNOVATIONPHOTOS (FROM TOP): JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK;
CIRCUSTHEATERRONCALLI; DIDIER DESCOUENS, MUSÉUM DE TOULOUSEANIMAL WELFAREGLOW ING NEW ACTS TO
SEE UNDER THE BIG TOP
CIRCUS NOSTALGIA MEETS MODERN TECHNOLOGY
At Circus Roncalli, based in Cologne, Germany, the dancing
elephant is 20 feet tall. Such a behemoth should weigh more
than 10 tons, but this creature is weightless—and slightly trans-
lucent. It’s a three-dimensional hologram, a six-million-pixel
creation that performs thanks to 15 engineers, more than 3,000
processors, and 11 laser beams. The spectacle is “a combination
of nostalgic circus with modern elements,” says founder and
director Bernhard Paul, who invested in the technology after
watching a hologram of the late rock star Prince perform at the
2018 Super Bowl. The circus animates holographic fish and horses
as well as elephants but bills itself as “otherwise animal free.”
The innovation has been applauded for respecting both circus
tradition and animal protection. —CLAIRE WOLTERSIf ticks bite, opossums bite back
Black-legged ticks, which spread Lyme
disease in much of North America,
feed on various hosts. One, the
opossum, is a tick-eliminating champ,
grooming away 96 percent of tick
larvae that infest it, a research study
says. Preserving Earth’s biodiversity
helps keep this and other natural
pest traps on the job, the study
concludes. —PATRICIA EDMONDSANTHROPOLOGYWorked to
the bone
in antiquity
In millennia-old
bones, scientists
can see how
the sexes divided
chores. A U.K.
study of prehistoric
agriculturalists’
remains found signs
in men’s arm and
leg bones that they
did hard labor. But
women’s arm bones
also showed signs
of manual labor
and impressive
strength—up to
40 percent greater
than a control group
of modern women.
Anthropologist
Alison Macintosh
Murray says the
findings refute the
idea that women
didn’t do “as much
as the men.” —PE