8 January 2022 | New Scientist | 55Answers
Quick quiz #133
Answers1 In the nose2 Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn3 The double-slit experiment4 Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter5 The bullet antQuick Crossword
#98 AnswersACROSS 6 Ammeter, 9 Fewer,
10 Kilovolts, 11 Epsilon,
13 Strait, 15 Charles Darwin,
19 Upload, 20 Nuclear,
23 Strontium, 24 Range,
26 Lotuses, 27 EpitaxyDOWN 1 Smew, 2 Sterol,
3 Broken leg, 4 Elevator,
5 Palliative, 6/17/7A Alfred
Russel Wallace, 7 Weld, 8 Ersatz,
12 Sphalerite, 14 Odd number,
16 Realness, 18 Artery,
21 Cervix, 22 AIDS, 25 Near#148 Much ado
about muffins
Solution2520 muffins. The total number
of muffins must be divisible by
9 (the number of bakers) and
8 (the number of flavours). And
because the muffins can be split
equally between 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and
7 tables, the total is divisible by
those numbers too. Because
the number of muffins is the
minimum possible to meet these
criteria, the total must have the
minimum number of factors
(in this case, the lowest prime
numbers that can generate all
the necessary divisors: 2 x 2 x
2 = 8, and 3 x 3 = 9).
These factors are 2 x 2 x 2 x 3 x
3 x 5 x 7 = 2520.Tom Gauld
for New Scientist
Pat French
Telford, Shropshire, UK
Surely you and the universe you
have created for yourself lie in
the electric flux that constantly
refreshes and is revised across
the synapses and neurons of the
brain, rather than in the brain
matter itself.
So no, duplicating the atoms of
your brain might be like building
an identical house, but there
wouldn’t be anyone at home.
Magnetic influence
Do magnets have any effects
on human cells? (continued)
Mike Follows
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, UK
Individual atoms can be affected
by magnetic fields, and strong
fields can induce nausea, but it
isn’t clear if there are discernible
effects at the cellular level.
We are diamagnetic, which
means we are repelled by a
magnetic field. Normally, the
effect is too small to be observed,
however a human could be
levitated by a strong enough field.
Electrons orbit the nucleus of
each atom. These current loops
act like nanoscale electromagnets.
Usually, they point in random
directions in our bodies so there
is no overall magnetic field. But
place us in a magnetic field and
the current loops adjust so they
each form a tiny magnet pointing
in the opposite direction to the
externally applied field.
Diamagnetism was first
observed in 1778, yet was largely
forgotten until the late 1990s,
when a research group at the
University of Nijmegen in the
Netherlands levitated a live frog
using a magnet with a strength
of 10 tesla, which is several orders
of magnitude stronger than a
typical fridge magnet. The leader
of a religious sect got wind of theresearch and offered £1 million
for a machine that could levitate
him in front of his congregation.
Quite aside from the ethical issues
involved, it would have required
a specially shaped 40-tesla
superconducting magnet.
In 2009, NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory successfully levitated
mice with the aim of investigating
the effect of microgravity on
bone and muscle mass. In 1992,
volunteers spent 40 hours inside
a 4-tesla whole-body magnet with
no ill effects. However, people
working around 4-tesla magnets
have reported experiencing
vertigo and nausea. I have felt a
bit queasy when moving around
an 8-tesla magnet, though this
may have been psychosomatic.
Many creatures can navigate
using Earth’s magnetic field, so
humans may well be sensitive
to magnetic fields too. However,
the jury is still out as to whether
there is an effect at the cellular
level. Any biological effects are
likely to depend on the magnitude
of a field or the frequency of a
changing field. ❚“ If our universe is one
of infinitely many,
the recurrence of a
person’s brain pattern
is almost certain to
occur among them”