BBC Focus - 04.2020_

DISCOVERIES

FISHSCALESCOULDBEUSED

TOCREATEECO-FRIENDLY

WEARABLEELECTRONICS

Aneco-friendlywearable

electronicdisplaymadefromfish

scaleshasbeendevelopedbya

teambasedatNanjingTech

UniversityinChina.Theflexible

film could make it possible to place

glowingtattoo-likescreensdirectly

ontoskin,theysay.It wascreated

bypouringa gelatinsolutionmade

fromfishscalesintoa mouldand

lettingit dry.It canthenbelayered

withelectricalandlight-emitting

componentstocreatea display.The

materialis completelyrecyclable

and biodegrades in soil in 24 days.

Ghost ship washes up on southern

Irish coast after unmanned journey

across the Atlantic

Inmid-Februarythisyear,StormDennis

broughta highlyunusualvisitortothe

coastlineofCountyCork:a 77-metrelong

‘ghostship’,calledtheMVAlta.

Thecargovesselhadbeendrifting

aroundontheAtlanticOceansinceit was

abandonednearBermudain2018,partway

througha voyagefromGreecetoHaiti.The

ship’s 10 crewmemberswererescuedand

takentoPuertoRicobythecoastguard,after

a poweroutageleftit strandedat sea.It is

unclearexactlywhathappenedtothevessel

afterwards,butit wasnextspottedadriftin

themid-AtlanticinSeptember 2019 bythe

BritishRoyalNavyship,HMSProtector.

Onceabandoned,shipsaresimplyleftto

driftfreelyonthemanyoceancurrents,some

ofwhichcanflowformanyhundreds or

thousands of kilometres.

Theworld’swatersareconnectedbya

complexinterconnectedoceancirculation

system,drivenbywind,tides,theEarth’s

rotation,theSun’srays,andvariations

inwaterdensitycausedbydifferencesin

temperatureandsalinity.Theshapeofthe

oceanbasinandanynearbylandmassescan

alsoaffectthebehaviourofthecurrent.

TheexactroutethattheMVAltahastaken

is unknown,butit’sspeculatedthattheship

headedtowardAfrica,thendriftednorthpast

theIberianPeninsulaandintotheCelticSea,

beforeberthinginCountyCork.

Tofurtherdeepenthemystery,it is as

yetunclearwhoactuallyownstheship.

Discussionsarenowongoingbetweenthe

IrishCoastguard,CorkCountyCouncil,the

ReceiverofWrecksandotherrelevant bodies

over what to do with the vessel.

STORM DENNIS

In numbers

4,

Thenumberofconfirmed

exoplanets(planetsoutside

ourSolarSystem)asof

1 February 2020

328

Thenumberofdays

USastronautChristina

Kochspentonboardthe

InternationalSpaceStation

• thelongestcontinuoustime
  spent in space by a woman.

2.

METRES

Theapproximatediameter
ofanewlydiscoveredmini-
moonthattemporarily
orbited the Earth.