The Week - UK (2020-09-12)

NEWS 21

BronzeAgeBritons notonlykeptthe

remainsoftheir dead loved onesclose

to them; they alsofoundusesfor them,

according toanew analysis.

Archaeologistsfromthe Universityof

Bristol examineditems collected from

various Bronze Age burial sites in Britain,

and found several cases wherepeoplehad

beenburied with bits of humanbonethat

were not theirown. What’s more, these

fragments hadbeen“curated”–crafted

intokeepsakes. In oneexample,athigh

bone hadbeencarvedinto awhistle before being buriedatStonehenge.

Thatbone be longed to someonewhohad livedat around thesametime as the man

with whom itwasburied.But carbondatingsuggeststhatinother cases, the relics

had been kept forseveral generationsbefore they were buried. “Althoughfragments

of human bone were included asgrave goods with the dead,they were alsokeptinthe

homes of theliving,buriedunder housefloors andevenplaced ondisplay,”saidProf

Joanna Brück. Usingmicro-CTtechnology,the team established thatsomeoft he

bodi es had beenallowed todecomposeinthe airbeforetheirboneswere collected;

others hadbeenburnt or buried, andthen exhumed.

Health &Science

12 September2020 THE WEEK

Sociopathsavoidfacemasks

Peoplewhorefusetowearprotective

masks,andfloutsocialdistancingrules,

aremorelikelytodisplaysociopathic

traits,anewstudyhasfound.Forthe

research,around1, 600 peopleinBrazil

wereaskedtofillinquestionnairesused

bypsychologiststoassessempathyand

exposepersonalitydisorderssuchas

narcissism.Theywerethenquizzedabout

theirattitudestovarioussafetymeasures

imposedorrecommendedtoslowthe

spreadofCovid-19.Theresearchers

foundthatsome 400 ofthemdisplayed

sociopathictendencies,andthatthese

peoplewerelesslikelythantheothersto

seetheneedtocomplywiththeguidelines.

“Ourfindingsindicatedthatantisocial

traits,especiallylowerlevelsofempathy

andhigherlevelsofcallousness,

deceitfulnessandrisk-taking,aredirectly

associatedwithlowercompliancewith

containmentmeasures,”saidthestudy’s

authors.However,they cautionedthatjust

becausesomeoneisn’t wearingamask,

thatdoesn’tmeanthey areasociopath.

Black hole collision rattles Earth

Thegravitationalshockwavescreated

whentwo vast blackholes collidedseven

billion yearsago havefinallyhitEarth.The

existenceof gravitationalwaves–ripples

in space-timecreatedby cataclysmicevents

–waspredictedbyAlbertEinsteininhis

theoryofrelativity.Massive atsource,

theyarebillions oftimessmallerbythe

timetheyreachEarth–and were only

physically observedfor thefirst time in

2015 ,bytheultra-sensitivedetectorsat

theLIGOobservatoriesintheUS.(A

breakthroughthat won theastronomers

in question aNobelPrize.)Theselaser

detectorshavebeenfurtherrefined

sincethen,and inMay last year, the

LIGOdetectors,andtheirEuropean

counterparts,pickedupaverybriefsignal

(lastingless thanone tenth ofasecond),

which immediatelycaughtthe attention of

theastrophysicists workingonthe project.

From what they cantell,thesignalcame

fromasourcethatwasroughly17 billion

light yearsaway, when theuniverse was

abouthalf itscurrent age. Asfor what

created it,the evidencepointsto ithaving

beengeneratedby two spirallingblack

holesspinningintoeachother.Thismerger

would havereleasedtheenergy ofeight

Suns inan instant,and created anewblack

holewithamass14 2 timesthat ofthe Sun.

The case against vaping

Chemicalsine-cigarettes cancombinein

thelungtoform new substancesthatkill

livingcells,scientistshavefound.It is

generally agreedthatvapingissaferthan

smoking,butthere isgrowingconcernthat

it isstillharmful. For thenewstudy,a

teamatDukeUniversityintheUSlooked

attheflavouringsandsolventsin

e-cigarettes.Manufacturersclaimthese

chemicalsarestableandharmless,butthe

researchersfoundthat,incombination,

theyformunstablecompounds.These,

theytoldtheEuropeanRespiratory

Society,appearedtoirritatereceptorsin

nerveendingsinthebronchi(theairways

connectingthewindpipetothelungs);and

eveninlowconc entrations,theykilledcells

thatlinethebronchi.Separately,astudyin

theUSindicatedthattakingupvapingis

notaneffectivemeansofquittingsmoking.

Nearly2,700smokerswho’dexpresseda

desiretokickthehabitwererecruitedfor

theresearch;aboutaquarterofthemtook

upe-cigarettes.Ayearon,theywereno

morelikelytohavestoppedsmokingthan

theothers.However,thestudystartedin

2015,andtheresearchersconcedethat

moremoderne-cigarettesmaydeliver

nicotinemoreeffectively.

Whyitdoesn’tpaytobeajerk

Ineveryoffice,there’s someonewho’ll

rideroughshod over their colleaguesto

getahead.But itseems thatitdoesn’t

payto beajerkat work. Researchersat

theUniversity ofCaliforniaasked 671

Americanstudentsto takepersonality

tests. Over adecadelater, thesubjectswere

interviewedto see howwellthey’dfaredin

theircareers,andtheir workmateswere

quizzed too. Contrarytoexpectation,it

turned outthat thestudentswhowere

aggressive, manipulativeandselfish had

advancedno furtherthanthekindand

generous ones,regardlessofthenatureof

theindustrytheywerein. The researchers

found thathavingdisagreeable traitscould

helppeople getahead–butanyprogress

theymadewas offsetbytheirinabilityto

formgoodrelationships with colleagues.

Would Gekko have been anti-mask?

Acharity that organises clean-ups of

Britain’s beaches and rivers says it has

seen an “explosion” in levels of plastic

waste over the past few months. Surfers

Against Sewage says its volunteers are

still finding discarded plastic bottles and

the like–and on topofthat, a“new

wave” of plastic in the form of single-

use masks and gloves. “You see the

masks everywhere, on parks and in the

streets,” said Charlotte England, who

takes part in mass clean-ups in Bristol.

“This isabig problem, because before

lockdown these items weren’t ever

really in circulation among the general

public: they were limited to the medical

industry.” This month, Surfers Against

Sewage is runninganew campaign, The

Generation Sea: Plastic Protest, which is

organising 600 beach clean-ups, and

Return to Offender,adrive to “name

and shame” the worst plastic-waste

companies on social media.

PPEpollution

What the scientists are saying...

Our ancestors lived with thedead

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