Australian Science Illustrated — Issue 54 2017

MEDICINE Umbilical cord blood can improve
the memories of elderly people. According to an
experiment published in the Nature journal, blood
from human umbilical cords improves the
memories of mice.
Brain researcher Tony Wyss-Coray from the
Stanford University and his team isolated a
protein, TIMP2, from umbilical cords. When
injected into old mice, it optimised the cells in the
the hippocampus. The
protein probably
improves the transfer of
information between
cells – the synapses –
making brain cells
better at remembering.

ARCHAEOLOGY Skull, jaw,

and bone remains discovered in

a cave in Morocco might

change our evolutionary

history. Newly discovered

bones, which are more than

300,000 years old, are the

oldest known examples of

Homo sapiens. The second

oldest fossil is 100,000 years

younger, and this changes the

very cradle of mankind,

explains paleoanthropologist

Jean-Jacques Hublin from the

Max Planck Institute in Leipzig,

who contributed to the fossil

analysis. “We used to think that

the cradle of mankind

originated in East Africa

200,000 years ago, but our new

analyses show that Homo

sapiens evolved throughout the

continent”. The conclusion

paves the way for a much more

complex interpretation of the

history of mankind than

previously believed.

Baby blood improves memory

The blood from the umbilical cord of a newborn baby

contains proteins which affect the hippocampus.

Skull, jaw, and bone remains from a

cave in Morocco could change the

history of mankind drastically.

1,

new plant species were dis-

cribed in 2016 by scientists,

according to a study by the

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

near London, England.

A Jaw Could

Change History

SHUTTERSTOCK

The umbilical cord

connects blood vessels,

to the placenta.

Umbilical cord blood

contains stem cells.

ENCYCLOPEDIA

Editors: Rikke Jeppesen & Nanna Vium

NASA & KEN IKEDA

(^1)
The artificial bubble of low-
frequency radio waves was
produced by radio signals, which
spread 24,000 km into space.
2 The edge of the bubblecoincides with the outer^
radiation belt. According to scientists,
the bubble pushes the belt, as data
from the 1960s shows that the belt
was closer when we did not use low-
frequency radio waves.
3 The outer Van Allen beltlocated 15-20,000 km from is
Earth. It can expand and contract
according to solar radiation, and it
includes the most high-energy
electrons, which could harm
satellites and other low Earth orbit
space traffic.
RANDOM PARTICLES
FORM ORDERED CIRCLES
High-energy space particles are
held on to by Earth’s magnetic field in
two doughnut-shaped radiation belts
around Earth: the Van Allen belts. They
can expand and approach Earth, but the
bubble seems to keep them at bay.
OUTER
RADIATION BELT
INNER
RADIATION BELT
Bubble pushes radiation belts
Radio waves from Earth keep high-energy particles
from space at a safe distance. In this way, the waves
also protect electronics in low Earth orbit.
JEAN-JACQUES HUBLIN/ MAX PLANCK INSTITUT
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