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FEATURES

COVER STORY 22 FACES OF THE HUMAN PAST Science and art combine to create a new portrait gallery of our hominid heritage. RICHARD MILNER AND IAN TATTERSALL

38 FAMILY TIES Unexpected social behavior

30 EIGHT ARMS, WITH ATTITUDE in an improbable arachnid, Octopuses count personality, playfulness, and practical the whip spider

intelligence among their leading character traits. LINDA S. RAYOR JENNIFER A. MATHER

ON THE COVER: The hominid species Homo rudolfensis lived in East Africa between 1.8 and 1.9 million years ago. Illustration by Viktor Deak 13 EPARTMENTS

THE NATURAL MOMENT Heart of the Matter Photograph by Matthew T. Russell

8 UP FRONT Editors Notebook L 9 LETTERS 10 CONTRIBUTORS

13 SAMPLINGS News from Nature

16 UNIVERSE Little Neutral Ones Neil deGrasse Tyson

46 THIS LAND 55 THE SKY IN FEBRUARY Ozark Mushrooms Joe Rao Robert H. Molilenbrock 58 nature.net 48 BOOKSHELF OfArms and the Brain Laurence A. Marschall Robert Anderson

52 OUT THERE 60 AT THE MUSEUM Not Seeing Is Believing Charles Liu 64 ENDPAPER Small Is Beautiful

PICTURE CREDITS: Page 54

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THE NATURAL MOMENT UP FRONT

See preceding two pages Hominid Time Machine

The year is 3.2 million B.C., the light is flattering, and for once, Og's face isn't covered with blood, grime, and the infected bites of tsetse

flies. Doesn't someone have a digital camera? Regretfully, no. And no one, to my knowledge, has unearthed a pinhole image from that luminous day, Revealing your heart to some- inadvertently recorded for posterity on some nearby photosensitive rock. one takes time. In the case of So we're stuck. If today's de- IC 1805—a hot cloud of gas near scendants of Og and his tribe the constellation Cassiopeia—the us—want pictures of our distant revelation has taken 7,500 years. ancestors for the mantel, we have That's how long light from the to make 'em ourselves. Fortu- cloud must travel through space to nately, the project is intriguing reach Earth. But close observers ot enough to attract institutional the sky will find the long-distance support and inspire such long- relationship rewarding: through term organizational discipline even a small telescope, the light that the most talented scientists from IC 1805 makes the pattern and artists in the world find their that inspired the cloud's common way into the field. Meet Gary J. name, the Heart Nebula. Sawyer (near right), Viktor Deak

The Heart Nebula owes its (far right), and their friends. color, size, and heart shape chiefly Sawyer is a physical anthro- to a group of young, energetic pologist at the American Mu- stars clustered together in the neb- seum of Natural History in New ula's center. The hot young stars York City; Deak is a paleoartist emit ultraviolet radiation that, in with that rare kind of virtuosity that can blow you away. Richard Milner turn, excites the gas around them. and Ian Tattersall tell the story of their collaboration, and the history ot Most of the excited gas particles their predecessors, in the text that accompanies the extraordinary images are hydrogen ions, so when those you'll find in "Faces of the Human Past" (page 22). ions "relax" and recombine with Yet isn't it presumptuous to suppose that an artist can envision such a free electrons, they throw off their distant past? Deak is explicit about his assumptions. With fossils from just extra energy as deep red light. one side of a face, his renderings are bilaterally symmetric. The underly- Photographer Matthew T. ing facial muscles he at carefully calculated points along the anatomical Russell caught the nebula on a path between contemporary primates and humans. Many of Deak's sub- charge-coupled device rigged to a jects look healthy, well fed, uninjured—artistic license, one might think four-inch refracting telescope this but he points out that modern gorillas are quite careful about their ap- past September, from his personal pearance. Even hair has an empirical basis: its thickness and coarseness observatory in Black Forest, Colo- reflect assessments of diet, activity level, and the role of sexual selection. rado. He tracked the patch of sky- The computer has become a powerful tool: in Photoshop. Deak can to make a five-and-a-half-hour borrow what he wants from scores of images ot contemporary primates, exposure of the nebula, using four cutting and pasting so profligately that a single final image may be made color filters to separate and re- up of 250 digital "layers" and consume a gigabyte on his hard drive. create the nebula's colors. As telescopes of Hubble-like proportion compete in a kind of Even though my editorial colleagues and I are "ink-stained wretches." technological arms race in space devoted to Natural History as a print magazine, we understand that programs around the globe, many readers today are informed and entertained through many other Russell's photograph proves that media. So won't you please write and tell me what you'd most like to see the backyard telescope still has us add to our Web site? Take a look at the current site (www.naturalhistory amazing potential, too. After all. mag.com) and then send your thoughts and suggestions to me by e-mail who said you have to be big to at [email protected], or by mail at: Natural History Web Site. capture a heart? —Erin Espelie 36 West 25th Street, fifth floor. New York, NY 10010. —Peter Brown

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Darwin's Progress tendency to culminate in without a better means of Robert L.Jaffe replies:

I was somewhat startled complex creatures like us. dissipating heat. As the text No one can stand outside by Laurence A. Marschall's There is, to be sure, a of the article makes clear, our universe and watch it statement, in his review superficial appearance of there are many effects of expand in three dimen- of Darwinism and Its progress, as Mr. Brown scaling beyond just the me- sions, but perhaps Fletcher

Discontents [10/06], that notes. Statistically, that is chanical strength to support Downey will find its two- "nothing about the process not surprising: complex the body. dimensional analog helpful. of natural selection guar- creatures are more likely Jonathan Turetsky, D. V.M. Our universe is like the antees that things must get to appear late in the evo- East Hampton, New York (two-dimensional) surface better with time." That lutionary sequence rather of a balloon as it is blown may be true in some nar- than early. But does that John Tyler Bonner up. The galaxies, like spots row, technical sense, but I imply that we should single REPLIES: Jonathan Turetsky inked on the surface of am puzzled how anyone out those complex crea- is not quite on the mark, the balloon, are flying can examine the history of tures as some end product? because the metabolic rate apart from one another life on Earth and not notice Far more new species of of the small hypothetical and, as the balloon ex-

elephant would be much pands, new space is created. greater than that of the Furthermorejust as energy

larger ones, which would is stored in the taut surface help compensate for the of the expanding balloon,

problems he raises. But the dark energy is also built up point of that figure was in the new space created by simply to show that in a the expanding universe. larger quadruped the legs The "shift" that Lika L. must be thicker to support Levi mentions comes about the increase in weight. because the amount of mat-

ter in the universe is fixed, Light on the Dark but the amount of dark en- In "Times of Our Lives" ergy grows as the universe [11/06], Robert L.Jaffe expands. In fact, dark en- states that "like a sales tax, ergy helps drive the expan-

the dark energy is a fixed sion to go faster, so more "You're the dinosaur, not me." percentage of the newly dark energy causes more the persistent drive toward bacteria and viruses have created volume of space." expansion, and in turn even complexity, culminating in evolved in the past week, implying (at least to a nov- more dark energy. The human consciousness. it is safe to say, than all the ice like me) that some sort positive feedback makes the

Dwight Brown hominid species that have of continuous creation is expansion of the universe

Kerrville, Texas ever evolved. Does that going on. Otherwise, it rapid indeed once dark en- imply evolution aims to would seem that the "new" ergy dominates: eventually

Laurence A. Marschall produce bacteria? Hardly. dark energy must have ex- it will cause the universe to REPLIES: Dwight Brown isted somewhere else in the "inflate" in much the same concedes that the undi- Elephant's Thermostat universe, and just have been way that it did in the early rected character of natural I must quibble with the il- transferred to the new loca- "inflationary" era. selection may be true in lustration on pages 54 and tion. Please set me straight. a technical sense, but he 55 ofJohn Tyler Bonner's Fletcher Downey Taking Turns misses the point that the article, "Matters of Size" Grass Valley, California Donald Goldsmith ["Turn, technical details of evolu- [1 1/06]. The gazelle-size Turn, Turn," 12/06-1/07] tion are precisely what nat- elephant wouldn't be able In his breathtaking article describes three periodic ural selection is about. The to maintain body tem- Robert Jaffe talks about a motions of Earth: a daily forces that determine the perature without some fur. shift between matter and rotation, a yearly revolution, proliferation of one geno- Likewise, it would lose too dark energy. Why should and the 25,785-year preces- type over another are those much heat through radia- there be such a shift, and sion of the rotation axis. of random mutation and tion from those big floppy where is it originating from? There are two additional population statistics, not ears. Conversely, the giant Lika L. Lei'i periodic morions—the a natural or supernatural elephant would overheat Scarsdale, New York (Continued on page 12)

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 7

CONTRIBUTORS

An astrophotographer who works out of his own personal observatory in Black Forest. Colorado, MATTHEW T. RUSSELL mm ("The Natural Moment." page 6) gathers light from distant objects in the universe for several hours (if not multiple Brown Editor-in-Chief

nights) to expose a single photograph. His images have been Beth Aberiin Steven R. Black Executive Editor Art Director featured widely in publications such as Astronomy magazine Board ofEditOtS and a recently released book by the late Carl Sagan, The Erin Espelie. Rebecca Keller. I arieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View oftlic Search for God (Penguin Mary Knight, Vittorio Maestro, I >olIy Sctton www.telescopes.ee for more of Russell's photographs Press, 2(106). Check out Geoffrey Wowk Assistant An Din of the night sky. Graciela Flore* Editor-at- Large

Contributing Editors RICHARD MILNER and IAN TATTERSALL Robert Anderson, Avis Lang, Charles Liu, Laurence A. Marschall. Richard Milner. ("Faces of the Human Past," page 22) have Robert H. Mohlenbrock.Joe Rao. Stcphan Reebs, been closely following the reconstructions of Judy A. Rice, Adam Summers, Neil deGrassc Tyson

earlv homimds by Gary J. Sawyer and Vik-

tor Deak, some of which will appear in a new Charles E. Harris Publisher

hall of human origins that opens this month Edgar L. Harrison Advertising Director Maria Volpe Promotion Director at the American Museum of Natural History SoniaW. Paratore National Advertising Manager Tattersall in York City. reconstructions also Milner New The Rachel Swarrvvout Advertising Services Manager appear in the book The Last Human: A Guide to Twenty-two Species of Extinct Meredith Miller Production Manager Michael Shectman Fulfillment Manager Humans, which is being published this month by Yale University Press, and For advertising information this article have selected. from which the photographs that accompany been call 646-356-6508 a Milner is an associate in anthropology at the American Museum, and con- Advertising Sales Representatives

tributing editor at this magazine. His book Darwin's Universe will be pub- Detroit—Barron Media Sales. LLC313-26&-3996 Chicago—Robert Purdy & Assoeiaies.312-726-"- lished this year by the University of California Press. Tattersall, a curator in IK-.-/ Coast—On Course Media Sales,3H>-71ll-7414; the division of anthropology at the American Museum, oversaw the instal- Peter Scott & Associates. 415-421-" 5 I lation of the museum's Hall of Human Biology and Evolution in 1993 and Toronto—American Publishers Representatives Ltd.. 416-363-1388 Atlanta and Miami—Pockles and Co.. 77(1-664-4567 has been co-curator of its newly updated successor. A frequent contributor to South America—Netcorp Media, 5 1 -1 -222-8038 Xatural History, Tattersall is the author of several books, most recently, with National Direct Response—Smyth Media Group. 914-693-8700 Rob DeSalle, Human Origins: What Bones and Genomes Tell Us about Ourselves, which will be published this month by Texas A&M University- Press. TODD HAPPER I "ice President, Science Education

Educational Advisor)' Board Growing up in Victoria, British Columbia, in a family fond of David Chesebrough COSI Columbus sailing, JENNIFER A. MATHER ("Eight Arms. With Attitude." Stephanie RatclifTe Natural History- Museum ofthe Adirondack Ronen Mir SciTech Hands On Museum was often on or near the ocean. Originally fascinated page 30) CarolValenta St. Louis Science Center by shore animals, she eventually came to study one of the tull- time inhabitants of the sea, the octopus. A primary focus ot her Natural History Magazine. Inc. research is comparative cognition, the patterns and "specialties Charles E. Harris President, ChiefExecutive Officer of thinking" in many different animals. Collaborating with JUDY BULLER General Manager Roland C. Anderson of the Seattle Aquarium, she conducted the laboratory Cecile Washington General Manager Charles Rodin Publishing Advisor studies she describes in these pages. Mather is a professor ot psychology at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta.

To contact us regarding your subscription, to order a new- subscription, or to change your address, please visit our As an undergraduate. LINDA S. RAYOR ("Family Ties," page Web sice www.naturalhistoryrnag.com or write to us at first 38) landed her paying job observing how mother ma- Natural History 593-1 caques interact with their offspring. Little did she realize at P.O. Box 5000, Harlan. 1A 5 1 2 5 the time that her own research would explore similar inter-

. actions—mother-young behavior that helps structure social |ur) \ucu>t ind December Jimnry K Niiunl Huron' Ma^aune. Inc., in uiilunon with the American Mnsccm ot Huonl Hnoary. Central organizations—but in quite different creatures: the ambly- Park »W it 79tll Street N IA E-rru»l rjhmM, i« for ig.com. Natural History Magmne, In.. . totcry re%ponuble pygids, or whip spiders, that she describes in her article (and editorial content and prNwwing pneti Canada and .til other eotmlria: S-l""" i year PenodiCafa ptMBge paid M New displays above), as well as ground squirrels, huntsman spiders, and prairie York. NY, and ai addinonaJ mailing officei Canada Put-; 40030827. *ili nejiD dogs. Rayor is at work on a book with a colleague. Cole Gilbert, and a pho- reterved. No pin ol'thn periodic*! may be reproduced without «Titten consent suld like to contact ui regarding wur iub*.np- tographer, Joseph Warfel, on spider behavior. She is a senior research associate oon or to cmeT a new mScnption. pJewe utiic to w P.O. Box 5000, Harlan. IA 51593-0257 Pcntmayer. Send jddre» efal in the entomology department at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. rhrhn. IA 51537-S Printed in A

10 natural HISTORY February 2007 ,

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switch every 13,000 years. cal year is the time interval all the more so because I (Continued from page 9) Elliot Ofsowitz from one vernal equinox had just returned from a Milankovitch cycles—one Sarasota, Florida to the next. Precession af- trip to South Korea and the associated with a change fects that interval, but, by Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the Earth's tilt, with a Donald Goldsmith re- definition, the seasons must that separates South and period of -M 1,1 II >( ) years, and plies: Matthew Brzostowski always occur at the same North Korea. With nothing another associated with a is correct that in addition times of the tropica! year, except watchtowers along change in the eccentric- to the slow wobble of its because the vernal equinox the 2.5-mile-wide strip that ity of Earth's orbit around rotation axis, the Earth always marks the beginning divides the entire peninsula, the Sun, with a period of has an even slower cycle of spring in the Northern fauna and flora thrive there.

100,000 years. The latter of change in the amount Hemisphere. The sidereal It the two countries become motion has had the biggest by which its rotation axis year is the time for Earth peacefully united, one hopes impact on Earth's climate, tilts from being perpen- to complete an orbit with the area could be left as a resulting in a 100,000-year dicular to its orbital plane, the respect to the so-called nature preserve. cycle of ice ages and warm- and another slow cyclical fixed stars. Hence it de- Howard S. Edelstein ing periods. change in the elongation termines which stars (and New York, New York

Matthew Brzostowski ("eccentricity") of its orbit. constellations) appear in Houston, Texas Those cycles, often col- the sky in various months. Natural History welcomes lectively referred to as the Precession leads to a repeti- correspondence from readers. Could Donald Goldsmith Milankovitch cycles, are tive cycle in the night sky, Letters should be sent via explain why precession worthy of examination in a with respect to the seasons e-mail to nhmag@natural doesn't affect when in the future article. of the tropical year. historymag.com or by fax to year the seasons occur? The answer to Elliot 646-356-651 1.. -ill letters

From the diagram on page Ofsowitz s question de- DMZ Paradox should include a daytime

22 it would appear that the pends on the difference I found Mary Mycio's telephone number, and all time of year that winter between the tropical and essay "Chernobyl Paradox" letters may be editedfor length and summer occur should sidereal years. The tropi- [4/06] fascinating reading, and clarity.

Introducing the

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1 877 245 0739 'Book notiifor mr Trip 0/ a U/efim' [email protected] —

SAMPLINGS: THE WARMING EARTH

Cloudmakers rise to clouds. Warmth causes simulation of the Southern phytoplankton to multiply, but Ocean system. The dimethyl Phytoplankton—single-cell the clouds they make filter the sulfide from phytoplankton, marine organisms—may be mi- Sun's rays, cooling the Earth's long thought to be the chemi- croscopic, but they can also play surface. The system has been cal responsible for the clouds a sizable role in regulating the known for two decades. couldn't consistently yielcU- Earth's climate. A recent study Two atmospheric scientists, enough water droplets to ac- of their chemical emissions Nicholas Meskhidze, now at count for the extra clouds ob- could change climate forecasts, North Carolina State Univer- served during large blooms. So though whether for better or sity in Raleigh, and Athanasios the team plugged isoprene, an- worse remains unknown. Nenes of the Georgia Insti- other chemical made by phyto- The chemical emissions form tute of Technology in Atlanta, plankton, into the model—and airborne particles around which studied satellite images of an out popped the extra clouds. Chaetoceros sp., a marine phyto- water droplets grow, giving immense, periodic bloom of If confirmed at sea, that plankter, magnified 1,600x phytoplankton in a remote chemical shake-up will force

area of the Southern Ocean. climate models to replace some the warming. If their popula- Sure enough, when the bloom dimethyl sulfide with isoprene, tions crash, fewer clouds may waxed, the clouds overhead be- a chemical whose properties accelerate the warming instead. came bigger, denser, and more may change climate forecasts in And phytoplankton also affect opaque to solar energy than unforeseen ways. What's more, climate by absorbing carbon di- when the bloom waned. how phytoplankton will respond oxide, a major greenhouse gas. But Meskhidze and Nenes to global warming remains Never underestimate the power

discovered a gap in that tidy unknown. If they flourish, more of the very small! (Science) logic when they ran a computer clouds may put some brakes on —Rebecca Kessler

Out to Dry surface areas of the lakes in nine outlined each lake in the images.

Lakes in Alaska are vanishing, regions throughout the state. The result is a meticulous inven- and the most probable culprit The investigators spatially tory of more than 10,000 lakes.

aerial The investigators then estimated is—you guessed it —global aligned digitized photo- warming. A trio of ecologists led graphs from the 1950s, infrared the change in the number of by Brian Riordan at the Univer- aerial photographs taken be- lakes and the area of their surface False-color satellite image of sity of Alaska Fairbanks analyzed tween 1978 and 1982, and digital waters. They also compiled me- Alaskan lakes was made in 2001. teorological for each of the The 1952 lakeshores (pink overlay) aerial images from the past half- satellite images taken between data show what has been lost. century to track changes in the 1999 and 2002, then manually nine regions. Since the 1950s, they discov-

inevitably run more slowly than in "warmer is better" hypothesis. ered, the total surface area of Bug Life their counterparts from warmer The results also highlight a the lake water in eight of the

How will insects, the most abun- climes. But other investigators largely unforeseen consequence nine study regions shrank by 4 dant animals on Earth, respond counter that natural selection can of global warming: an over- to 31 percent. What's more, the to a warmer climate? The answer enable cold-adapted organisms to abundance of insects. Frazier total number of lakes in all nine lies in a basic tenet of biology: at achieve rates of reproduction and estimates, for instance, that a regions declined by 5 to 54 per- higher temperatures, biochemi- other processes that match those warming of just two Fahrenheit cent. And mean annual tempera- cal reactions happen faster. The of warm-adapted species. degrees would nearly double tures increased significantly. principle is particularly relevant To probe the issue in insects, the number of offspring from a The shrinkage could be caused for insects and other ectothermic Melanie R. Frazier, her graduate single whitefly (Bemisia argen- by any of several effects of rising organisms, whose body tempera- adviser, Raymond B. Huey, an tifolia), a crop pest that already temperatures, the ecologists ar- tures depend on the environment. evolutionary physiologist at the produces 1.3 million offspring in gue: increased water loss through

Consequently, some biolo- University of Washington in Seat- a three-month period. evaporation, increased transpira- gists argue that "warmer is bet- tle, and a colleague compiled data Of course, not all insect spe- tion by nearby vegetation dur- ter": species adapted to warmth on rates of population growth in cies will adapt to warmer tem- ing the longer, warmer growing should always out-reproduce sixty-five insect species. The team peratures. Some will disappear seasons, or increased drainage their cold-adapted cousins. Those discovered that at their optimal and others will move to cooler into the surrounding soil as the biologists reason that biological temperatures, species from regions. But perhaps, as in B permafrost thaws. In any case, processes—locomotion, metabo- warm regions tend to be more movies, the ones that remain will the phenomenon may be a first lism, reproduction, and the like prolific than species from cold indeed take over the world. (The sign of more widespread changes in organisms from cold regions regions. The results support the American Naturalist) —G.F. to come. (Journal of Geophysical Research) —Graciela Flores

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 13 SAMPLINGS

The allele later appeared in the modern femur by Svante Paabo, a paleogeneticist

But Did They Do It? human genome around 37,000 years ago. at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Ger- When early modern humans spread through Lahn proposes that the allele was introduced many, and his colleagues. Paabo's team, Europe some 35,000 years ago, they almost to the modern human genome through inter- writing in Nature, and another group led by surely met Neanderthals. But did members breeding—perhaps even a single one-night Edward M. Rubin, a geneticist at the Joint of the two groups mate and procreate before stand—between a Neanderthal or other ar- Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Califor- the Neanderthals died out? The question chaic hominid and an early modern human. nia, writing in Science, independently com-

has spurred debate since soon after the first Erik Trinkaus, an anthropologist at Wash- pared portions of the Neanderthal genome

Neanderthal fossil was unearthed in 1856. ington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and to our own and to that of chimpanzees. A number of anthropologists think the two two colleagues recently examined 31,000- Both teams concluded that even though the groups were similar enough biologically, and year-old modern-human bone fragments modern human and Neanderthal genomes perhaps even behaviorally, cognitively, and from Romania. As with other remains he has are more than 99.5 percent identical, the

socially, that sexual encounters—and the studied from the same period, Trinkaus writes two groups diverged around 400,000 years

offspring thereof—were inevitable. Others, in PNAS that the bones exhibit a mixture of ago, and interbred little, if ever, during the however, contend that the two groups' genes modern human and Neanderthal traits. The intervening years.

never mingled. A flurry of new discoveries latter include a distinctive bulge in the back Although no signs of interbreeding or

in the fossil and genetic records strengthens of the skull, characteristic muscle-attachment the allele studied by Lahn have yet surfaced

both sides of the argument, leaving the cen- points on the lower jaw, and shoulder blades in the Neanderthal genome studies, inves-

tral question unanswered. that lack adaptations for throwing. Because tigators can't rule out the theory that early

New evidence that interbreeding took not all of his samples share the same Nean- modern humans and Neanderthals produced

place comes from Bruce T. Lahn, a geneticist derthal-like traits, Trinkaus argues that early offspring until the Neanderthal genetic blue-

at the University of Chicago, and several col- modern humans, which formed the larger print is completed, probably in late 2008.

leagues. Writing in the journal PNAS, they population, gradually absorbed the Neander- Even then, however, the genome of a single

report tracing the history of an allele, or thals, begetting hybrids along the way. Neanderthal won't tell the whole story

version, of a gene that regulates brain size, Two recent studies of the Neanderthal about interactions between the two groups.

and discovering that it originated in archaic genome, by contrast, suggest that the two "The debate," says Osbjorn M. Pearson, hominids some 1.1 million years ago. That groups are unlikely to have interbred. Both an anthropologist at the University of New

was around the time the lineage leading to are based on genetic material initially iso- Mexico in Albuquerque, "is as alive as ever."

modern humans branched off, sans allele. lated from a 38,000-year-old Neanderthal —Corey Binns

The Beast tures that, despite their Silent Alarm of Kings rarity and connotation of It pays for lovelorn male tun- royal power, were some- gara frogs to listen while they

Two medieval lions have times the star attractions call for mates in the dangerous

lurked unnoticed in the in blood sports, such as jungle twilight. A sudden silence Natural History Museum baiting by dogs. Records that interrupts the chirping,

in London for decades. from the mid-sixteenth chucking, trilling, and whining

Their skulls, along with century indicate that the of a frog chorus might herald

those of a leopard and Tower's animals weren't the arrival of an unwelcome

nineteen dogs, were exactly housed in luxuri-

discovered during a ous conditions, either:

1937 archaeological they lived in cages so

excavation of the Tower cramped they had little

of London. But their room to turn around. In

significance has only now 1831 the last surviving

been made clear. Radio- inmates were moved to carbon dating by Hannah the newly established Skull of a lion kept in London's Royal Menagerie O'Regan, an archaeolo- London Zoo, and the Lion in medieval times gist at Liverpool John Tower was demolished

Moores University in England, recent leopard (alive sometime two decades later. After they

and two colleagues shows that between 1440 and 1625) were died, the bodies of the lions, the two lions are the only big part of the Royal Menagerie leopard, and dogs appear to

cats ever unearthed that date to established in London by King have been unceremoniously

medieval Britain. John, who reigned from 1 199 dumped in the Tower of Lon- The lions, which lived be- to 1216. A section of the Tower don's moat. (International Jour-

tween the thirteenth and fif- of London called the Lion Tower nal of Osteoarchaeology) teenth centuries, and the more- housed an array of exotic crea- —Nick W. Atkinson

14 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 Vitriphagy

Microorganisms can live in the

Squid Secrets their preda- most extreme environments, As any squid knows, visual com- tors are oblivious. feed on a host of seemingly munication is a wonderful way to Squid, cuttlefish, and oc- inedible materials, and thrive convey a message. It has a major topuses are known for their abil- on improbable sources of downside, though; predators can ity to change their skin color in a skin. energy. Can they possibly still tune in to the broadcast just as spectacular way. They can blend Unlike their surprise us? Try this: they feed readily as the intended recipients instantly into the background or vertebrate preda- on glass inside submarine (other squid) can. A recent study produce a startling array of pat- tors, they can detect volcanoes. by Lydia M. Mathger and Roger terns and hues to express their differences in polarized light. Recently Hubert Staudigel,

T. Hanlon, both biologists at the physiological or motivational Mathger and Hanlon discovered a marine volcanologist at the

Marine Biological Laboratory in state [see "Eight Arms, With that the two skin layers work Scripps Institution of Ocean-

Woods Hole, Massachusetts, sug- Attitude," by Jennifer Mather, independently, and that by tak- ography in La Jolla, California, gests that squid—and most likely page 30]. The secret to the ing advantage of the reflective and four colleagues published their close relatives, cuttlefish and show is the two distinct layers properties of the iridophores, a comprehensive paper aug- octopuses—have evolved a secret of cephalopod skin: The inner squid may be able to com- menting the evidence that dis- communication channel to which layer of iridophore cells is both municate with other squid via tinctive pitting in underwater

iridescent and reflects polarized polarized light. At the same volcanic glass from around the

light. The outer layer is made time, the squid can camouflage world is of biological origin. up of pigmented organs, or themselves from predators by The evidence includes telltale

chromatophores, which expand altering the color pattern in the microscopic

or contract to help change the chromatophore layer, through textures in the color or pattern of the skin. which polarized light travels glass, such as

Cuttlefish, octopuses, and freely. What happens among spiral tunnels squid have a visual system to squid stays among squid! (Biol- and branching match the complexity of their ogy Letters) —N.W.A. tunnels, which are hallmarks of Squid skin (left, magnified 9x) has an inner layer that is iridescent and microbial activ- transmits polarized light through dark, overlying camouflage spots. ity. The paper Common squid is pictured at top. also points to the presence of bat, snake, or other predator. drop on other species, too. calls of Leptodacty/us labialis carbon isotopes A study by Steven M. Phelps, To determine how much frogs as they do to those of characteristic of a zoologist at the University of attention tungara frogs pay to their own species. What was life, as well as

Florida in Gainesville, and two the calls of their own and other important about L. labialis was microbial DNA, colleagues now suggests that species, Phelps's team fooled its geographically overlapping in the tunnels. male tungaras (Physalaemus pus- captive male tungaras into range, not the sound of its The microorgan- tulosus) don't listen just for their thinking they were under at- calls: the tungaras all but ig- isms apparently own species' refrain, they eaves- tack. The team played a tungara nored a closely related species, dissolve the Volcanic g/ass chorus, then interrupted it while P. enesefae, whose calls are glass with acid. altered by micro- the of similar to their own, but whose The evidence mimicking appearance organisms, an aerial predator (they slid a range does not overlap. Phelps for glass altera- magnified 2,500x plastic plate along an overhead surmises that tungaras attend tion by micro- wire). After a brief pause, they to species with overlapping organisms occurs throughout presented the tungaras with ranges because they share the the uppermost thousand feet one of four stimuli: the recorded same dangers of predation. of oceanic crust, suggest-

call of a single frog of one of By eavesdropping on the ing that the process may be three species or silence (as a calls of other frog species, playing an important role in control). Then they measured tungaras can maximize both cycling elements between sea- how quickly and vigorously the survival and reproduction: they water and the seafloor. And tungaras resumed calling. enhance their predator early- because volcanic glass dates The investigators discov- warning system while reducing to 3.5 billion years ago, the

ered that male tungaras pay their time spent in silence. authors argue, it might be just

nearly as much attention to the After all, the jungle rewards the place to look back in time with mates or punishes with for the most ancient forms of

Male tungara frog sings death in an instant. (Behavioral life. (GSA Today) —C.F. for a sweetheart. Ecology) —N.W.A.

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 15 UNIVERSE

Little Neutral Ones

In John Updike's memorable description, "The earth is

just a silly ball /To them, through which they simply pass."

By Neil deGrasse Tyson

You'd never know it, but 6 tril- Along with the photon, the elec- lion subatomic particles pass tron, and the less-familiar quark, the through every square inch of neutrino lays claim to being one of your body every second at nearly the the fundamental, indivisible building speed of light. Most are leftovers from blocks of nature. Pauli had tactfully the big bang, but others arrive fresh remarked in his 1930 letter that ifsuch from their superhigh-energy origins a particle existed, physicists should near black holes, deep inside gamma- already have seen one. Not long after- ray bursts and supernovas, and within ward he confessed, in a candid assess- the core of our Sun. They zip across ment of what he had wrought, "I have

space, pass through your flesh and done a terrible thing. I have postulated bones as though you didn't exist, and a particle that cannot be detected."

continue heedlessly on their way. But it could be. Indeed, it was. Just Before these particles were actu- after the Second World War two ally discovered, the Austrian physicist American physicists, Clyde L. Cowan

Wolfgang Pauli hypothesized their Jr. and Frederick Reines, realized that existence. In a letter to his colleagues, the place to search would be a nuclear written in December 1930 and ad- reactor, where, as in a nuclear bomb, dressed to "Dear Radioactive Ladies disruptive changes to atomic nuclei and Gentlemen" (yes, that's physics lead to the prodigious emission ofneu- humor), Pauli proposed an electrically trinos. So they looked in the Savan- neutral particle that he called a neu- nah River Plant, a just-finished un-

tron. It was, he admitted, "a desperate derground fission reactor near Aiken.

remedy to save . . . the law of conser- South Carolina, built to produce tri- rj i vation of energy"—a law that, to the tium and plutonium for the Cold War surprise of his colleagues, appeared to nuclear arsenal of the United States.

be failing on the subatomic level. The physicists' first task was to find a Two years later the English phys- way to capture these most antisocial icist James Chadwick discovered a of particles. Their second task was to relatively massive neutral particle re- disentangle the properties, behavior, siding contentedly in the atomic nu- and effects of the neutrino from those

cleus. Soon the name "neutron" was of all other subatomic particles liber-

bestowed on it. But that nuclear neu- ated by their experiment. In 1956,

tron was not Pauli 's; his hypothetical based on their detection of a unique savior had to be much less massive. A particle "signature," they announced year later the Italian physicist Enrico the discovery of the neutrino.

Fermi named Pauli 's still-undiscovered particle the neutrino, Italian for Pauli proposed his new particle be- "little neutral one." cause of his confidence in the laws conservation, are the Photomultiplier tubes catch the flash of blue of which among light generated by a neutrino interacting with most highly tested and fertile ideas in an atom in a detector deep underground. science. "Conservation," to a physi-

16 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 cist, does not refer to recycling or to world's test rockets due east—in the

safeguarding endangered habitats. It's direction of Earth's spin—and ignite the shorthand way to say that certain them, just to shorten the workday. properties of nature remain unchanged during a controlled experiment, no The conservation of total mass and matter what you do to it, no matter energy has illustrious roots. Be-

what anybody else does to it, and no fore Einstein proposed his most famous matter what nature does to itself. Con- equation, mass-energy conservation served properties include momentum, was instead the conservation of mass the total quantity of mass and energy, and, separately, the conservation of en- and the net electric charge. Run the ergy. The universe was endowed with experiment, and when you're done, a certain amount of each, presumed the stuff you take out of the box must from the experiments of the day to sJP /' be the same as the stuff you put into be changeless. But at the turn of the the box—for all properties described twentieth century, the discoveries of by the laws of conservation. radioactivity and other bizarre phe-

Take momentum, which is mo- nomena within the atom indicated that tion coupled with direction. Imagine mass could become energy, and energy twin ice skaters standing still and fac- could become mass. The conversion = 2 ing each other, palms touching. This recipe was none other than E mc . -'^ two-skater system has zero momen- Another conserved quantity is elec-

tum, and since it's resting on slippery tric charge. Protons carry a unit of

ice, it has only negligible attachment positive charge, electrons carry the to Earth. If the twin skaters—two same amount of negative charge, and objects with the same mass—push neutrons carry no charge at all. Charge away from each other, they will glide conservation requires that at no time apart in opposite directions at the during an experiment is the net charge same speed. The momentum of one anything other than what you started Hf- skater cancels that of the other, leav- with. And that's as true for particle ing the system as it started, with a net accelerators on Earth as for supernova momentum of zero. explosions in distant galaxies.

Arithmetically, momentum is just Armed with the conservation laws mass times velocity, so various kinds ofmomentum, mass-energy, and elec-

of pairs can still cancel. For example, tric charge, you're more or less where if one skater has twice the mass of the Pauli was in 1930. Back then, life was other, the chubbier one will glide away simpler. Particle physicists were not

at half the speed of the thinner one, yet talking about quarks, muons, glu- again leaving the system's total mo- ons, or Higgs bosons. What they did mentum at zero. Rockets do much the discuss was a subatomic process called same thing. Spent fuel spews out the beta decay, in which a proton and back while the body recoils forward, an electron spontaneously fly apart, leaving the momentum of the entire accompanied by unbalanced momen-

system unchanged from its prelaunch tum and a loss of mass-energy. Had repose on the launch pad. the conservation laws lost their grip on Even when rocket engines are an- nature? Or could the existence of an chored to the ground while fired unforeseen and undiscovered particle

(which is what goes on at testing facili- resolve the conundrum? in often emerge ties) , something's got to give. Typically, Discoveries physics the rockets are mounted horizontally from one's confidence in competing and connected securely to Earth by ideas. Rather than dismantle the foun- cement piers. When the high-velocity dations of physics, Pauli postulated

exhaust blasts out the nozzles, it's planet that the escaping proton and electron Earth that recoils, ever so slightly, in (both later shown to have come from the opposite direction. So a lazy but a decayed neutron) were not the sole perverse engineer could point all the products of the decay. His additional

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 17 —

particle was to have no charge, some laden dry-cleaning fluid. Every so momentum, and vanishingly small, often, m a kind of reverse beta decay, possibly zero, mass-energy. one of the passing neutrinos changes

Turns out. the key to beta decay a resident neutron within a chlorine

was not the neutrino but its antimat- atom into a proton, thereby changing ter counterpart, the antineutrino. A the chlorine to radioactive argon. The decaying neutron yields a proton, an presence of an argon atom serves as a electron, and an antineutrino. Under tracer of the neutrino's visit. Other the dictates ofadditional conservation creative designs track the flash ofblue laws, unknown to Pauli and his con- light emitted by the particle products temporaries, that's just what you'd ex- of neutrino interactions. Those tanks pect. Two of those laws decree that no are filled with ultrapure water or a process can change the net numbers mixture of baby oil and benzene.

of heavy particles (baryons) and light My favorite setup, though, is a not- particles (leptons). Ifyour experiment yet-finished neutrino observatory

starts with one baryon (a proton or a called IceCube. Its "tank" is a cubic

neutron), it must end with one bary- kilometer of clear, dense Antarctic on. That means a neutron can morph ice, in which the investigators will

into a proton. And if it starts with zero suspend a lattice of sensors, lowered

leptons (an electron or a neutrino), it through deep holes melted by a hot- must end with zero leptons. water drill. Wait a minute. Beta decay starts with ;: The Yucatan Peninsula zero leptons but ends with two leptons: Pauli didn't live _..i • Valladolid • Merida • Izamal Unfortunately, an electron and an antineutrino. long enough to see how popu- Uxmal • Kabah • Celestun • Chichen Itza Not to worry. The antineutrino lous the particle zoo would become • 8 days, 1 2 meals from $1,149* is not simply a light particle; it's an how many categories and subcatego-

Seek adventure south of the border in Mexico's anti—light particle. So in the particle ries and families and flavors particle

Yucatan Peninsula. This fascinating region is filled count, an electron and an antineu- physicists would postulate and dis-

with ancient ruins, colonial cities, and exotic trino cancel, resulting in zero net cover in the decades that followed his flora and fauna. On an educational journey with leptons. The laws of conservation tri- death. Nor could he have imagined umph yet again. that neutrinos themselves would land you'll learn about the history and architecture of the in the middle of one of the great- Mayans and experience the unique Pauli died in 1958. Fortunately for est astrophysical conundrums of the culture of modern Yucatan. him, he lived just long enough twentieth century. Explore the ruins of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Ek'Balam, to see Cowan and Reines detect his In March 1964, in the journal Physi- and Kabah, including the extraordinary "undetectable" particle. Today neutri- cal Review Letters, the late American "Pyramid of the Magician"and "Temple of Masks." nos remain among the most challeng- astrophysicist John N. Bahcall pub- Smithsonian Journeys Travel Adventures offers the ing subatomic particles to catch, even lished his calculations showing that best in educational travel worldwide. though everybody and everything is vast quantities of neutrinos should Our custom-crafted tours are created for : steeped in trillions ofthem. Problem is, continually flee the Sun as the nuclear adventurous travelers like you, who seek the thrill of they interact so rarely with other kinds furnace in its core transforms hydrogen discovery and learning, combined with flexibility of matter that you need enormous, into helium. In a tandem paper. Bah- and economical rates. And our local expert speakers clever traps to boost your chances of call's friend and colleague Raymond really make the difference between simply all. experiment he seeing and truly understanding your destination. detecting any at Davis Jr. described an Nearly all the evidence for neutri- was building in the disused Homestake Call 1-800-528-8147 and mention promotion nos from space comes from detectors Gold Mine in Lead, South Dakota. In code: A409-AX1 -91 8 or visit our web site at buried deep underground, which hold search of evidence for solar neutrinos, www.smithsonianjourneystraveiadventures.org enormous quantities of odd liquids he would place a tank of chlorine-rich * Rate is per person, land only, based on double occupancy. usual, Call for air from your gateway. surrounded by unusual hardware. liquid deep belowground. As These underground "telescopes" can the encounters between neutrinos IT'S TIME... COME & WAKE UP IN YUCA catch intrepid neutrinos from any and atoms would be exceedingly rare: direction, even those that have passed Bahcall calculated that the experiment

all the way through Earth from below. should record about ten neutrinos a YUCATAN Me i In one detector the neutrinos enter a week. But even those few neutrinos tank filled with 600 tons ofchlorine- would reveal what was «;oins; on in the

18 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 —

Sun's center, thus eliminating the need neutrinos that would turn chlorine But detection is only part of the ever to visit the place. into argon. Apparently, without tell- challenge. Next comes the urge

For years, however, only about ing anybody, they had left the Sun to compile a list of the neutrino's three of the ten neutrinos showed up. with one identity—the one the ex- properties, beyond its neutral charge That gap became the tenacious "solar- periment was designed to detect—but and its elusiveness. How about mass? neutrino problem." Some physicists reached Earth in a different guise, All attempts to measure this basic copped an attitude, suggesting that requiring a different experiment to property had failed so miserably that, astronomers didn't fully understand be detected at all. until recently, physicists were uncer- how the Sun manufactures energy Turns out, neutrinos come in three tain whether the neutrino had any knowledge that underpins much of flavors, representing three regimes mass at all. modern astrophysics. Shaken but not of energy in the universe. Not that Here's where things get spooky. stirred, Bahcall was so sure the Sun you asked, but they're called the According to Einstein's special was not misbehaving that he commit- electron neutrino (low energy), the theory of relativity, an onlooker who ted much of his career to demonstrat- muon neutrino (middle energy), and views a material object traveling at ing why. Meanwhile, Davis continued the tau neutrino (high energy). So if ever-greater speeds will see the ob- to refine his measurements. And the your apparatus is designed to detect ject's mass increase, its time slow solar-neutrino problem endured. electron neutrinos, such as the ones down, and its length shorten in the Normally, physicists hand the laws forged in the core of the Sun, then the direction of motion. At the speed of physics to astrophysicists, and it's other neutrinos will pass undetected. of light, its mass would become in- those laws that guide questions and Furthermore, if your experiment is finite, its time would stop, and its constrain answers. But every now and designed to detect neutrinos of any length would shorten to zero—all then, astro folks teach the physics folks regime, but antineutrinos are what of which led Einstein to the sensi- a thing or two about how the universe come your way, you'll miss them, ble conclusion that physical objects works. Indeed, Bahcall was right all too. As with so much else in life, you can never attain light speed. Not only along. The missing neutrinos were need to know in advance what you're that, the reverse is true as well: if the there. They just weren't the kind of looking for. thing has no mass whatsoever (if it's

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The fastest way to learn a language. Guaranteed! RosettaStonetaSti 1-800-399-6162 RosettaStone.com/nhs027 Language Learnin Success Use promotional code nhs027 when ordering. a photon, say), it must always travel trinos, rather than only the garden- say with confidence that the mass at the speed of light. variety electron neutrinos detectable of the neutrino is no more than So if the neutrino exists but has no in Davis's setup, maybe all ten ofBah- 1/2,000,000 the mass of the already mass, then it must travel at the speed call's neutrinos would show up. tiny electron, itself checking in at of light. And if it travels at the speed And that's exactly what's happened. about 1/2,000 the mass of the proton. of light, its own passage of time has John Bahcall had proceeded on the Knowing that the neutrino can stopped, leaving it with no internal perfectly plausible assumption that switch identities and has very small

"clock" to judge how old it is. To the Sun's supply of electron neutrinos (but nonzero) mass, astrophysicists an outside observer, the neutrino's would simply remain electron neu- have revisited earlier calculations that identity would forever be what it has trinos. But by the time they arrived assumed a massless neutrino. Their ever been. on Earth, two-thirds of them had efforts have lengthened the list of

But if the neutrino has mass, it changed into muon and tau neutrinos, cosmic dramas in which the neutrino must travel more slowly than light, a process called neutrino oscillation. plays more than a bit part. Astrophysi- and must therefore bear an internal Imagine that somebody threw you a cists have not seen the last of the little clock that actually ticks—one that baseball, but it turned into a football neutral ones. For all we know, neu- recognizes the passage of time. And in midflight. Ifyou were looking only trinos hold the answers to questions if the neutrino undergoes the passage for the baseball, the football might already posed, as well as to questions of time, as other particles do, then it pass unnoticed. not yet imagined. can transform itself. Unlike the neu- Once you know a neutrino can tron, however, which can decay into transform itself, you know it has a Astrophysicist NEIL DeGrasse TYSON is fundamental particles, the neutrino is self-timer. You also know it cannot the director of the Hayden Planetarium at already a fundamental particle. All it be traveling at the speed of light, the American Museum of Natural History. is it mass. can do, then, transform into another which means must have He also hosts the PBS television series NOVA variety of neutrino. So if someone As of March 2006, courtesy of a scienceNOW. Tyson's latest book is Death were to build an apparatus that could beam of muon neutrinos sent from by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quan- detect muon neutrinos or tau neu- Illinois to Minnesota, physicists can daries (W.W.Norton, 2007).

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u.^^^ ,>^* mt mmFEBRUARY 2007 Faces of the Human Past

Science and art combine to create a new portrait gallery of our hominid heritage.

By Richard Milner and Ian Tattersall Illustrations by Viktor Deak and Gary J. Sawyer

Boucher de Perthes, who trained workmen Judging from their astonishing paintings and Jacques engraved images of animals on the walls of to search for stone hand axes in the 1840s, others European caves—works that have somehow began to seek and find quantities ot prehistoric survived since prehistoric times—people have been stone tools all over Europe. Part of a fossilized making pictures for at least thirty millennia, and Neanderthal skull was discovered in a cave in the probably for a lot longer. In contrast, attempts by Neander Valley, near Diisseldorf, Germany, in scientists and artists of our own day to make credible likenesses of the cave painters and their more remote evolutionary antecedents go back a mere 150 years. In fact, scientific evidence for prehistoric humans was not gener- ally recognized much before then. One of the earliest published reports was that of the English antiquarian John Frere, who in 1800 presented his Account of Flint Weapons Discovered at Hoxne in Suffolk. Work- men digging clay for bricks had come across finely worked flint hand axes in a layer of gravelly soil, sealed beneath a sandy layer sprinkled with mammoth bones. Frere concluded that the tools were "fabricated and used by a people who had not the use of metals. [They lived in] a very remote period indeed; even beyond that of the present world." Although Frere's discovery went unnoticed until long after his death, further evidence of early humans continued to accumulate. Fol- lowing the lead of the French prehistorian

Portrait of a three-year-old female Australopithecus afarensis (left) is based on a fossil recently

unearthed at Dikika, a site in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia. An early bipedal ape that stood three and a half to four and a half feet tall when fully grown, the species was first known from the famous "Lucy" skeleton discovered just six miles from Dikika in 1974. It had a chim- panzee-size brain but humanlike tooth patterns. Lucy lived 3.2 million years ago; the Dikika child dates from 3.3 million years ago. Above: An adult male A. afarensis glares at an intruder

while taking a cooling dip in a lake. The aquatic setting is based on recent observations of goril-

las in the wetlands of the Congo forest, where they like to wade and forage for aquatic plants.

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 23 Dissection in Reverse

To reconstruct an extinct hominid, the collaborating artist and scientist first make a urethane cast of a skull and jaw. In this example, the artist Viktor Deak and the physical anthropologist Gary J. Sawyer base their reconstruction on a 400,000-year-old skull excavated from the Spanish site of Atapuerca, a fossil some have clas- sified as Homo heidelbergensis. With data from dissections of present-day animals and humans—which they and others have conducted—they me- ticulously rebuild layers of muscles, Cast of the fossil, supplied by the Missing sections of the skull are Deepest muscle layers are glands, and other tissue onto a cast excavators, is the starting point reconstructed out of an epoxy sculpted in clay based on modern of the skull, using carefully measured for the reconstruction. A silicone compound, and any distortions primate anatomy. One glass eye is

strips of modeling clay. The technique rubber mold is made from it, and a are corrected (often by comparing set in position, with its surround

is known as "dissection in reverse." new urethane cast is produced. the right and left sides). ing musculature.

1856, a find that brought the term "caveman" into fossil animal bones and early human artifacts, and popular culture. established their association in time.

Beginning in 1858, when rich prehistoric depos- Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Specie* its were discovered at Brixham Cave at Torquay, shook the world in 1859 with its one-two punch: in Devon, England, the archaeologist William evolution by natural selection, coupled with the im- Pengelly developed revolutionary new techniques mensity of geologic time. The impact was seismic, for conducting excavations. His systematic work but even before the book appeared, discoveries that at Brixham and nearby Kent's Cavern over the ancient humans had lived with extinct mammoths next two decades yielded tens of thousands of and rhinoceroses in Britain had caused many to question traditional beliefs about human origins. In 1851 the art criticjohn Ruskin had lamented in a letter to a friend that his trust in biblical author- ity was being daily eroded by "those dreadful [ge- ologists'] hammers." "I hear the clink ofthem at the end ofevery cadence ofthe Bible verses," he wrote. Now cavemen began to challenge Adam and Eve as primal ancestors in the popular imagination.

It turned out that some of the ancient "cavemen"

were fine artists. In 1879 the first-known painted cave was accidentally discovered at Altamira, Spain;

its images of extinct aurochs, bison, and horses stunned both the art and scientific worlds. Only rarely, however, had the ancient artists portrayed

Hominid with large molar teeth, Paranthropus robustus (left)

lived in southern Africa about 1.7 million years ago. Many fos-

sil features, including those of the hip and thigh, attest that it was bipedal, and characteristics of the hands indicate that the

animal may have been able to make and use stone tools, (t was a member of a diverse group of hominids that disappeared

from the fossil record by about a million years ago. Right: Adult males of the species Ardipithecus ramidus brandish branches to

frighten off a rival band of hominids. The reconstruction is par-

ticularly speculative, because the species is still poorly known.

Although a remarkably complete skeleton was discovered in

Ethiopia in 7 994, its condition is delicate, hampering its preparation and scientific description. The fossils date from 4.4 million years ago, making A. ramidus one of the earliest hominids

discovered so far, but it is not considered ancestral to humans.

24 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 Shape and size of the nose are cal- Half of the face, further built up Silicone rubber mold is made of Hairs are individually punched into culated from surrounding bone at- to represent fat and other tissue, the entire reconstruction, and a the skin, and finishing touches are tachments, and both eyes are set is covered with clay "skin." Using new cast is created in urethane applied. After the reconstruction is in place. Sculpting of superficial molds, textures are impressed rubber. Skin tones are painted photographed, the image can be facial muscles is completed. into the surface. onto the finished cast. digitally enhanced. themselves, .md never with the sophisticated real- The book also includes the earliest printed ism they had applied to other animals. That state usage of the word "cave-man." ofaffairs cried out for modern artists to reconstruct The undisputed king of the paleoartists the appearance ofwhat became an expanding roster was Charles R. Knight (1874-1953), who

of extinct humans and near-humans. The nascent inspired all who came after him. The im- genre ofpaleoart, which had originated to visual- perious paleontologist Henry Fairfield ize dinosaurs and other fossil animals, expanded to Osborn, president of the American Mu- portray extinct humans as well. seum of Natural History in New York City from 1908 until 1933, hired the gifted John Lubbock, Darwin's informal (and only) stu- young painter and teamed him with the dent, commissioned some of the first paintings in museum's best anatomists and paleontolo- the new genre. The scion of a banking family that gists. Together the teams created the most owned much of the Kentish countryside surround- accurate and realistic reconstructions of ing Darwin's home, Lubbock decorated his indulgent ancient animals and early humans and near- father's mansion with a collection ofprimitive stone humans that had ever been attempted. But tools, ethnographic artifacts, glass-enclosed colonies Knight also relied on the caveman artists of social insects, and eighteen watercolor paintings for his portrayals of Ice Age animals. of early humans going about their daily lives. The When, in 1927, he visited the French paintings, which Lubbock sponsored during the painted caves to see the Ice Age artists'

1 870s, were the work of Ernest Griset, an outstand- paintings firsthand, he had what he later ing natural-history illustrator whose anthropomor- described as "a distinct feeling of awe and phic animal drawings often lent whimsy to the pages admiration for the skill of the man who of the magazine Punch. Lubbock himself had coined had painted and incised their curious out- the terms Paleolithic and Neolithic, meaning old lines thousands of years ago." and new stone ages, respectively, in his landmark One of today's preeminent paleoartists

book, Pre-Histork Times, which appeared in 1865. is Jay H. Matternes, based in Fairfax, Vir- ginia, whose paintings are informed by his rich knowledge of primate anatomy and behavior. Knight often prepared for his painting of animals and cavemen by creating sculptures as reference points, carrying them onto the roof of his New York City studio at various times of day to

observe where the shadows fell. Matternes has adopted the same technique. "Making a preliminary sculpture, even a quick one, to study

light and shadow is a device frequently used by

artists, and I have used it often," he writes. One of the latest fruits of the vigorous tradition

in paleoart is the creative collaboration between

the physical anthropologist Gary J. Sawyer of the American Museum and the paleoartistViktor Deak. (A selection of their depictions of our early relatives accompanies this article.) In their collaboration

Paranthropus boisei was a hominid with huge molars backed by powerful jaw muscles, inspiring the nickname "Nutcracker man" when the paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey discovered

the first cranium of the species at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, in

1959. P. boisei, which dates from 1.8 million years ago, may have made some of the earliest crude stone tools, also found at Olduvai, but the fossils and tools are not firmly linked.

Additional finds of P. boisei fossils have come from deposits

near Kenya 's Lake Turkana, which have also yielded early bones of the genus Homo, showing that the two hominids may have coexisted at the same time and place.

26 NATURAL history February 2007 H. georgicus is named for fossils discovered at Dmanisi, a 1 .8-million-year-old Georgian site in the lower Caucusus Mountains. The five crania and four jawbones unearthed there since 1991 repre-

sent the earliest firm evidence of a hominid that lived outside Africa. Its brain was small (between 600 and 700 cubic centimeters) compared to that of modern humans (which averages 1,350 cubic

centimeters). The fossils were discovered in association with crude stone choppers and scrapers.

Sawyer and Deak also make sculptural busts of the up in a leafy, suburban Connecticut town that may ancient hominids, reflecting their knowledge of seem an unlikely place to dream about living the life anatomy as well as clues from muscle attachments of Neanderthals. In 1991, however, at age fourteen, that occur in the fossil bones. Superficial features of he viewed a National Geographic television program hair and skin are partly a matter of guesswork, based in a science class, which showed how the paleo- on the appearance of modern humans and apes. artist John Gurche sculpted a reconstruction of the Deak then photographs the busts, and may finally hominid Australopithecus afarensis. "I was bitten by retouch the images digitally on a computer. [See the bug," Deak recalls. "I knew immediately that I "Dissection in Reverse," pages 24 and 25] wanted to do what he did. ... I see myself in these people, living thousands of years ago. I'm haunted Both Sawyer and Deak had a childhood ob- by going back in time." session with prehistoric humans and near- As the young Deak sketched fantasies of the humans. Sawyer, a New Jersey native, was inspired remote past, he did not yet realize that he would by Knight's classic murals of dinosaurs, mammoths, need a scientific accomplice to discipline and focus and cavemen at the American Museum. Deak grew his talents. When he was twenty-six, however,

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 27 —

borrow the computer techniques offorensic medicine for analyzing data, creating sections of fossils through virtually any plane, or restoring the original shape ofskulls that have been crushed or distorted by geological pressures. Texture, hair color, and skin

are still matters of artistic interpretation, though work with ancient DNA may eventually shed light on those areas, too. The best artist-scientist teams attempt to keep their imaginations in check, and treat the emerging likeness of a prehistoric face as a puzzle to be solved, according to

strict rules of the game. As Gurche puts it, referring to an 8-million-year-old fossil ape discovered in Greece in 1990:

The final form of the animal is often a surprise

I try not to let any preconceptions guide me. 1 didn't expect Ouranopithecus to look as gorilla-

like as it does, for example, but when I followed the process I've developed from great-ape facial

dissection, that's just the way it came out.

We humans seem incapable of gazing, •-« Hamlet-like, at a bit of skull or jawbone Adolescent H. ergaster searches through swamp grass for food. The re- without trying to conjure up an image construction is based on the well-preserved skeleton, found in northern of how its owner appeared in life—and Kenya, of a nine-year-old male. Known as "Nariokotome boy" (or "Tur- how similar or different was the appear- kana boy"), this individual lived 1.6 million years ago. He was of slender build with essentially modern-human proportions; when mature, he would ance of its face from our own. Some of the

have stood about six feet tall. Some consider H. ergaster the earliest fos- homes of royal or wealthy European fami- sil hominid that can properly be called human. lies house impressive galleries of ancestral portraits that go back ten or twenty gen- he met Sawyer, who was looking at the time for erations, but most of us count ourselves fortunate an artist to work with him on reconstructions of to have a faded photo of our great-grandparents. early humans. Their partnership exemplifies a long And yet, in each generation, a few talented anthro- tradition of cross-fertilization between knowledge pologists, anatomists, and paleoartists—eternally and skill, observation and vision. optimistic—combine their skills in the attempt to show us all what our ancestors looked like, a hun- In Darwin's day, people asked, "Where is the dred thousand generations ago. D missing link?" Today, as previously unknown The images by Viktor Dealt and Gary Sawyer linn accompany this varieties ot humans and near-humans continue to J. essay arc used with the kind permission oj Nivraumont Publishing be identified, keeping up with the pace ofdiscovery Company, from the forthcoming book. The Last Human: A Guide to is a continual challenge. There are so many "miss- Twenty-two Species ofExtinct Humans, created by G.J. Sawyer and Viktor Dcak, and produced by Nevraumont Publishing Company, ing links" that paleoanthropologists don't know with a text by Esteban Sarmiento, G.J. Sawyer, and Richard Milner what to do with them all. In place of the lineal tree and contributions by Donald C.Johanson, Meave Leakey, and Ian

trunk familiar to paleoartists until the mid-1960s, Tattcrsall. The book is being published this mouth by Yale I University Press. Many the portraits hare also been incorporated in the new hall paleoanthropologists have since adopted a complex of of human origins at the American Museum qj Natural History in New branching bush that reflects the fact that several York City, scheduled to open to the public this February. kinds of humans lived on Earth at the same time and in some of the same places. Reconstruction of a Neanderthal (H. neanderthalensis) is based on a 50,000-year-old skull found at La Ferrassie, a Many more species and fossils are known today rockshelter in the Dordogne region of France. The site yield- than ever before, and new polyester resins, rubbers, ed the intentionally buried remains of eight individuals. Al- and plastics give the paleoartist finer tools that make though Neanderthals had brains as large as those of modern it possible to render ever greater accuracy of form. humans (H. sapiens), many scholars believe the two lineages Furthermore, today's paleoanthropologists can parted ways more than 500,000 years ago.

28 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 "->

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Octopuses count playfulness, personality, and practical

intelligence among their leading character traits.

By Jennifer A. Mather

Twenty-five years ago, when I started my so retiring that eventually she had to be replaced by a fieldwork on the behavior ofjuvenile com- more active octopus for aquarium visitors to watch. mon octopuses in the azure waters ot Ber- Then there was Lucretia McEvil, whose caretakers

muda, I expected all my subjects to be much the were afraid to approach her, and who ripped up the

same. I assumed their activities would be fairly interior ofher tank. All those "characters" set me to limited; individuals would hunt, rest, and avoid thinking about whether octopuses might just have

predators, all in roughly the same way. In fact, something like human personality.

I learned, their behavior is quite complex and Twenty-five years ago it was hard to know what

variable. I watched as they carefully chose rocky crevices for their dens and blockaded the entrances

with piles of rocks. I observed them navigate com- plicated routes across the sea bottom to and from

their hunting grounds. But I was most intrigued to discover that individual octopuses are very different from one another.

I could swear, for instance, that octopus number

45 never left its crevice^^except that the discarded shells of clams, crabs, and snails kept appearing

in front of the crevice. It must have been making secret hunting forays when my back was turned. By contrast, octopus number 26 was anything but

shy. One afternoon I watched it as I floated in the shallow Bermuda water, hanging on to a rocky outcrop. The little octopus peered back at me from

inside its den for some time, then suddenly jetted three or four feet directly toward me and landed on my dive glove. After about a minute of exploring,

it must have decided the glove didn't taste good,

and slowly jetted back home. I was hooked. Around the same time, Roland C. Anderson, a marine biologist at the Seattle Aquarium who has since become my frequent collaborator, noticed that aquarium workers gave names to only three kinds of animals in their care: seals, sea otters, and giant Pa- cific octopuses. The workers named the octopuses for their distinctive behaviors. Leisure Suit Larry, for instance, was all arms. He touched and groped his keepers so often that had he been a person, he would have been cited for inappropriate behavior. Emily Dickinson, by contrast, hid permanently behind the artificial backdrop of her display tank,

30 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 to expect of octopus behavior: the creatures had poles to the tropics, octopuses are reclusive beasts; seldom been studied, and when they had, it was individuals are hard to find, let alone study. mostly in captivity. Furthermore, they are inverte- The intelligence of octopuses has long been brate mollusks, and so they are evolutionarily distant noted, and to some extent studied. But in recent from vertebrates; it would have been hard to justify years, research by myself and others into their per- extrapolating the significance oftheir activities from sonalities, play, and problem-solving skills has both the well-studied behaviors of mammals and birds. added to and elaborated the list of their remarkable Most mollusks are clams or snails that hide within attributes. They turn out to be uncannily familiar hard shells and have little brainpower. But cuttle- creatures, not nearly as unlike you and me as one fish, octopuses, and squid (which along with nauti- might expect—given their startlingly different luses make up the cephalopod mollusks) are noth- physiques and the 1.2 billion years of evolution ing like their shell-bound relatives. Evolution led that separate us from these eight-armed marvels them to lose their protective shells, but what they of the sea. gained was far more interesting: dexterous, sucker- lined arms; ever-changing camouflage skin; com- Personality is hard to define, but one can begin plex eyes; and remarkably well-developed brains to describe it as a unique pattern of individ- and nervous systems. The 289 known species of ual behavior that remains consistent over time octopus range in size from the one-ounce Atlantic and in a variety of circumstances. I've adopted the pygmy octopus, Octopus joubini, to the giant Pacific model that developmental psychologists have ap- octopus, Enteroctopus dqfleini, which can weigh more plied to study the behavior of children. Psycholo- than a hundred pounds. They are all ocean-dwell- gists begin with the idea of "temperament," ers, and, though the group is distributed from the or behavioral tendencies genetically pro-

nt Pacific octopus swims by jet p draws water into its mantle, the bulbous satikthat contains

its internal organs, then expels the Water through its funnel, a tubelike appendage protruding from the mantle. For many years giant Pacific octopuses,, along w/th.sea/s and sea otters, were the only animals given names by the workers at the Seat- tle Aquarium. That prompted the author and her collaborator to explore the possibility, that octopuses have personalities. grammed before birth. After birth the envi- dimension because octopuses lead solitary lives, but ronment shapes an individual's temperament to we thought we might find differences along such give rise to an adult personality. dimensions as activity or aggression. Many people assume that only human beings We gave "personality tests" to forty-four red have personalities. Yet in the past fifteen years or so octopuses (Octopus albescens), natives of the West a number ofinvestigators have reported evidence of Coast of North America that weigh as much as personality in animals as diverse as guppies, hyenas, a pound. We exposed each animal to three test and rhesus monkeys. To pin down what can be a conditions, seven times each, during a two-week notoriously slippery concept, they have identified period. We measured and recorded their responses a number of personality traits, or "dimensions," when we opened the tank lid, when we touched them with a brush, and when we fed them a crab. The brush prompted the greatest variety of re-

sponses. Some octopuses grabbed it, stood their ground, and inflated their mantle to look bigger. Others jetted to the opposite end of the tank, leaving a cloud of obscuring dark ink in their wake. Individuals gave the same responses to the tests even after being exposed to them several times. In all, the forty-four octopuses responded to the three tests with nineteen distinct behaviors. Statistical analysis enabled us to group the nineteen behaviors and place them along three personality dimensions: activity (how much the octopus

moved around), reactivity (how strongly it reacted

to the stimuli), and avoidance (how much it kept

out ofour way) . An octopus could vary on all three dimensions independently. For example, among highly avoidant octopuses, which tended to remain in their dens during testing, some were extremely

reactive, shrinking at the first sign of the brush.

Others were not reactive at all, practically ignoring the brush. (By extension, Leisure Suit Larry, the touchy-feely giant Pacific octopus, would have rated high on activity and low on avoidance.)

So do octopuses have personality? Our answer is a qualified "yes." Because we didn't try to change their personalities by manipulating their experiences, we couldn't rule out the possibility that their behavioral variations might have been genetically preprogrammed. But given the octopus's legendary Eye-to-eye with a common octopus, the camera records a view that few fish intelligence, behavioral flexibility, and learning would survive. The octopus eye (circle with dark slit at top of the image), like ability, such preprogramming seems unlikely. that of other cephalopods, is a remarkable example of convergent evolution; it

has many of the same parts as the vertebrate eye, including a cornea, iris, lens, much ofthe behavioral differences among and retina, despite more than 1.2 billion years of independent evolution. How individual octopuses is inherited, and how

such as activity, aggression, curiosity, and sociabil- much is learned? For his master's thesis, David L. ity. Many animals, including people, can be rated Sinn, now a zoologist at the University of Tasmania along each of those dimensions, and an individual's in Hobart, raised laboratory-born California two- rating along one dimension can vary more or less spot octopuses (Octopus bimaculoides) in small isola-

independently of its ratings along the others. tion chambers and gave juveniles the same three

Could a combination of differences in genes tests Anderson and I gave our red octopuses. The and life experience—personality—have made in- genetic effects were clear. Octopuses that shared dividual octopuses behave so differently from one at least a mother (female octopuses mate several another? Our experiences led Anderson and me to times with any available male, so paternity was all think so. We didn't expect to discover a sociability but impossible to determine) reacted to the three

32 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 Cutaway view of a giant Pacific octopus (above) shows how it manipulates a clam it is about to eat. Octopuses have several techniques for breaking into clam shells. They can pull the shell halves apart with their arms and suckers (top left). They can chip with their beaks (top middle).

Or they can drill a hole by alternately secreting acid and scraping with a tooth-covered organ in the mouth (top right). If an octopus drills or chips, it secretes a paralytic toxin into the shell to weaken the muscles holding the shell halves together. Octopuses are excellent problem-solvers: which technique an octopus chooses depends on the species of clam, the thickness of the shell, and the strength of the clam's muscles. tests more similarly than octopuses from different work, which showed that squid, too, vary along the broods. Intriguingly, Sinn also discovered that as personality dimensions of avoidance, activity, and the animals matured, their responses to the tests reactivity. Shy female southern bobtail squid, Sinn changed in a predictable way. found, mate with males that are shy, bold, or any- Sinn did not raise his subjects to maturity, so no thing in between along the avoidance dimension. one knows whether youthful experiences might But bold females tend to reject shy males. Score have added a layer to the octopuses' temperaments one for the survival of the boldest. Sinn also found, to yield true adult personalities. It's too bad—it however, that shy females are more successful than would be fascinating to know whether octo- bold females at hatching their broods of eggs. No puses' differing experiences when young would obvious pattern emerges, but personality clearly result in differing adult personalities. Was Lucretia does affect survival and reproductive fitness. McEvil's destructiveness, for instance, the result of a "bad childhood"? Evidence for the octopus's intelligence begins Another question about octopus personality is with its anatomy. Intelligent animals typically whether it has evolutionary benefits or drawbacks. have large brains, and octopuses' brains are large The only scientific clue comes from Sinn's doctoral for their body size compared to those of other ani-

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 33 tnals—larger than fishes' brains and, proportion- shell. Maybe the mussels were less tasty but ally, as large as those ofsome birds and perhaps some easier to get at than the littlenecks. mammals. Moreover, three-fifths of an octopus's Octopuses conduct the business of break-

neurons aren't even in its brain. Instead, they are ing into clams with the clams near their

divided among its eight arms to coordinate the mouths, which are under their arms and so

arms' remarkable flexibility. The big brain itself is out ofsight. There they dexterously manipu- mostly dedicated to learning, planning, and coor- late the clams into position by touch. To pull

dinating actions with stimuli. clam shells apart, an octopus holds it with

Broadly defined, intelligence is the measure of the umbo (the bump near the shell's hinge)

an animal's ability to acquire information from toward its mouth. But if it chooses to chip at

its environment and to change its behavior in the shells' edge, it moves the clam's "sides," response—in short, to learn. The octopus's be- where the muscle insertions are, toward its

havioral repertoire has few fixed, preprogrammed mouth. And when it drills, it turns the broad

responses, and it can respond to a given stimulus in side of the shell toward its mouth. a great variety ofways; those are both hallmarks of Giant pacific octopuses usually drill

intelligence and learning. The sea slug, by contrast, through the center of a clam's shell into its has only a limited palette of reflexive responses, no heart. But they must learn where to drill the matter what the stimulus. In one particularly vivid holes. Anderson found that juveniles drill

demonstration, published in 1970, the biologist their first few holes randomly on the shell, William R. A. Muntz showed that octopuses could but they soon master the art of drilling near learn to tell complex visual figures apart by form- the heart or the muscles that hold the shell

ing a new rule for each for each new set of figures. halves together. Either place is a good target He concluded that octopuses aren't merely able to for injecting paralytic toxin. learn; they can also learn what to learn. We were curious about what octopuses would do with artificially strong Manila

Anderson and I became interested in how octo- clams, whose shells they usually just pull puses apply their intelligence to predation. Af- apart. We gave each octopus Manila clams ter capturing a clam, an octopus must break through held together with strong wire. The octo-

the hard shell to get to the meat inside. To do so, it puses simply switched tactics to drilling or can deploy a veritable built-in Swiss Army knife of chipping, thereby confirming the numer-

tools [see illustration on preceding page]. It can pull the ous studies such as Muntz's that had shown

shell's halves apart with its arms and suckers, chip they are good problem-solvers. They can weigh

at the shell's edge with its beak, or drill a tiny hole effort against food reward, flexibly switch pen- in the shell by alternately secreting acid to dissolve etration tactics, and orient the clam to penetrate it and scraping at it with one of two tooth-covered its shell most effectively—all good uses of intel- organs in its mouth. (Which of the two organs ligence, indeed.

it uses remains subject to debate.) If the octopus breaches the shell by chipping or drilling, it secretes After investigating a few octopus problem-solv-

a paralytic toxin into the clam's muscles so that it ing skills, Anderson and I turned our attention can more easily pull the shell halves apart—and then to two less-studied categories of behavior that are it's dinnertime. also linked to intelligence: exploration and play. We discovered that giant Pacific octopuses apply Philosophers and psychologists have debated tor

differing techniques to various clam species: they centuries about the nature of play, where it comes

break fragile mussel shells, probably while pulling from, and what purpose it serves. When animals on them; they pull apart the stronger Manila clams; play with objects, their explorations move from

and they drill or chip at the strongest clams, the "What does this object do?" to "What can I do littlenecks. We placed individuals of each species with this object?" on a device of our own design (which we darkly Gordon M. Burghardt, a biologist at the Univer- called the "clam rack"), and measured how much sity of Tennessee in Knoxville, recently offered a

force it took to overcome the clam's muscles and clear and useful definition of play in healthy ani-

pull the shell halves apart. Intriguingly, octopuses mals. Play, he writes, is made up of voluntary, in- ate plenty ofweak-muscled mussels when they had complete, repeated fragments of activity that have to open dinner by themselves, but they gobbled no obvious purpose, and which are often exagger- up littleneck clams— all but ignoring the mus- ated and out of normal context. Some scholars still sels—when we offered all three species on the half maintain that people are the only animals that truly

34 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 Giant Pacific octopus feeds on a dead spiny dogfish. Octopuses can instantaneously change color and texture, often to camouflage themselves. Giant Pacific octopuses can change from a "relaxed" rusty red to gray, pale beige, coral, orange, red, or any mottled variation in between. Certain colors may indicate an octopus's internal state: the scarlet color of the octopus shown here could indicate stress, possibly triggered by the camera's flash. Or it could be a simple, automatic reaction to the burst of light.

play. But dog owners know that when their com- at the surface of the tank. The octopuses followed panion lowers its front end and raises its hind end, a fairly predictable behavioral sequence. First, they tail wagging, it has no purpose but to communicate grasped a pill bottle with one or more of their arms that the next set of interactions should be just for and explored it with their suckers. Then they pulled fun. Crows slip down a playground slide over and it to their mouths, and sometimes bit it with their over, or grasp a clothesline in their claws and spin parrotlike beaks. Gradually, both within each trial, round and round like a pinwheel, calling "Wheee" and by the end of all ten trials, most of them lost the whole time. Those behaviors clearly conform interest in the bottle. to Burghardt's definition, and other examples are But two of the octopuses independently did documented in many animals, including dolphins, something very different in the later trials. Like lab rats, and river otters. most aquariums, their tanks had water-circulation Would an octopus play if given the chance? We systems; water entered the tank at one end and decided to find out. Animals are more likely to exited at the other. While sitting near the outflow, play when they are satiated and secure, without each animal released the bottle it had been holding any threat from predators. An aquarium tank is and jetted water through its funnel, sending the such an environment. There we presented eight bottle against the gentle current to the inflow end well-fed giant Pacific octopuses with plastic pill ofits tank. (A funnel is a tubelike appendage that an bottles containing enough water that they floated octopus uses for breathing and lor jetting through

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 35 —

the water [see photograph on pages 30—31].) When Octopuses have personalities. They learn. the bottles returned on the current, the octopuses They solve problems. They play. Does all jetted them upstream again, repeating the process that add up to a simple form of consciousness?

more than twenty times. Anderson, who had been The suggestion is even more contentious than

skeptical that octopuses play, phoned me excitedly the ideas that octopuse s play or have person-

after watching the first playful octopus and said, alities. Just defining consciousness is tricky; one

"It's like she's bouncing a ball!" general definition is that an animal with primary In vertebrates, some kinds ofplay have benefits as consciousness— a dog, for instance —is aware of well as simply being fun. They strengthen and de- the complexity of a given circumstance as well

fine social relationships, as in the roughhousing of as its role there and its decision-making options. canines. Or they give young animals the chance to Higher-order consciousness has more stringent hone fragmentary actions into polished sequences, criteria: using language, being able to report on as when a kitten plays with a mouse to "practice" the content of one's thoughts, being able to think about thinking. Only people -- *^>-v^ - r< "%ji"V ' - ::-—-.r*ri== kW^flJMfl and perhaps chimpanzees exhibit that exalted form of consciousness. But how could one tell whether octopuses have u. ^CT^' *•%•. some form of primary con- 1*> sciousness? Some theorists ,irT say it is enough to show- i«4£ • » F># complex and flexible be- •• •••!• • • havior, such as the octopus's clam-opening tactics. Oth- ers say an animal must be i able to shift its attention from one set of stimuli to another, making decisions in 1 rapidly changing conditions.

P/ay in octopuses has been documented experimentally, but remains Octopuses meet that criteri- controversial. After investigating and habituating to blocks for several on in their varied responses days, common octopuses engaged in play or playlike behavior, passing to a predator: they can flash the blocks from arm to arm, towing the blocks, or repeatedly pushing unpredictable changes in and pulling them back and forth. The octopus pictured here exploring pattern and color, jet ott in a block with her mouth was among the most playful in the experiment. an unexpected direction to In another experiment, giant Pacific octopuses sent buoyant pill bottles circling repeatedly around their tanks. escape, or squirt out ink to form a smoke screen. capturing prey in the future. Skeptics often dismiss Still other theorists argue that conscious ani- play by nonhuman animals as functional, and thus mals build a complex, multidimensional set of

in violation of Burghardt's definition that it have internal impressions about the world on the basis no obvious purpose. of their sensory perceptions. For example, the But octopuses don't have social relationships human mind constructs a three-dimensional im- they're solitary creatures, except when they mate. age of objects from the two-dimensional array of And as for the argument that only the young play stimuli that arrive at the retina. Additional study because only they need to practice their skills, Mi- of how octopuses analyze visual shapes might

chael J. Kuba, a former graduate student of mine show whether they meet that criterion, too. Or now at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, recently perhaps a conscious animal must have a concept ot showed that adult common octopuses also engage self. What do octopuses see when they look in a in playlike behavior. They passed a plastic block mirror? Answering that question will be our next

from arm to arm or pulled it along when they swam research project.

just as often as the young did. Still, in our view, It will be hard to say for sure whether octopuses

octopus play is neither as extensive as it is in mam- possess consciousness in some simple form. But

mals, nor as potentially adaptive. It may simply be from what biologists already know about them, a sign of an active mind at work. there's no denying they are some smart suckers.

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Unexpected social behavior in an improbable arachnid, the whip spider

By Linda S. Rayor

you're a fan of the Harry Potter films, you've abdomen and a combined head and thorax known Ifseen an amblypygid. The most recent cinematic as a cephalothorax), and a pair of spiky appendages installment of the series, Harry Potter and the known as pedipalps or simply palps—situated on Goblet of Fire, showed an improbable creature with either side of their mouthparts [see upper photograph a flat body, spiny "arms." and incredibly long, flail- on page 40]. ing "whips" that was ultimately killed in a class Add up those discordant parts, include their first demonstration of the Avada Kedavra curse. (In pair of legs, or "whips," and amblypygids seem

the book, a spider was sacrificed.) Most viewers rather improbable. As it turns out. their behavior probably assumed the creature was a figment of might also strike some as strange. My research sug- the director's imagination. Not so. In fact, with gests that the animals, long thought to be solitary minimal digitization and color enhancement, an and aggressive to members of the same species, are amblypygid stole the scene. surprisingly social. Mothers and siblings remain in Amblypygids—commonly called whip spiders close, interactive groups for almost a year before the or tailless whip scorpions—are neither spiders nor young reach sexual maturity. Ifmy recent studies are scorpions. Nevertheless, as their appearance sug- any indication, the creatures warrant more attention gests, they are arachnids. Spiders and uropygids than a cameo appearance on the big screen. (also called vinegaroons) are their closest relatives; other arachnids, including harvestmen, pseudoscor- The first amblypygid I ever encountered in pions, scorpions, and solfugids (also known as wind the wild loomed over me while I was scorpions) share similar characteristics. Like them, visiting an outhouse in Costa Rica. The

amblypygids have eight legs, two main body parts (an creatures often slip their flat bodies into

^^^^^^p -\

JR.A history February 2007 such places, where they can hide in narrow crev- Arizona, are the only amblypygids indigenous to ices during the day. At night they emerge to hunt, the United States. often on the trunks of trees or inside caves—or, An amblypygid's palps—the wide "arms" near their as in my case, on an outhouse wall. A total of 136 mouth—are long, covered in spines, and tipped with species occur worldwide, primarily in the trop- small stilettos. The palps can reach out to grab like ics, throughout Africa, India, Latin America, and a hand or to stab their arthropod prey like a talon. Southeast Asia. They range in body length from In many amblypygid species the adult males sport an eighth of an inch to one and three-quarters considerably longer palps than the females do. The inches. Phrynus marginemaculatus, a Florida native male palps are often deployed in intense male-male the size of a dime, and the slightly larger Phrynus contests, in which each male strikes rapidly at his fuscimanus, an inhabitant of the desert regions of opponent with open palps. Such a battle may be a

Newly-hatched whip spiders (Phrynus parvulus) ding to their mother's back in Costa Rica. They stay f aboard and remain largely. immobile for about a week after they hatch. If they happen to drop off, though, they do not survive, and their mom—about an inch long—may even eat them.

bruary2U07 NATURAL 39 with their whips. Sometimes the male vibrates his own palps or gently nibbles on one of the palps of his mate. Even when not actively courting, a couple inter- acts intensely for several weeks, typically facing each other or sitting close together for the

entire courtship period [see upper photograph on page 43\. The male amblypygid does not have a sex organ like a penis that can deliver sperm directly and internally to the female. Instead, Female Heterophrynus, pictured here among leaf litter in southern Guyana, displays her palps, or "arms" near her mouth, with spines he secretes a small white stalk and about a quarter of an inch long. Palps are formidable weapons for deposits a protein-covered sperm stabbing prey and fighting other whip spiders of both sexes. package into the stalk's clasps;

the entire structure is known as

way of assessing the size of competitors [see lower a spermatophore. The upright stalk is glued to the photograph on this page]. surface of the tree or rock where the couple has been All aspects of an amblypygid's life center on the courting. The male hopes to entice the female to use of their delicate first pair of legs, which put the take up the sperm package. Each time she does, a

whip in the name whip spider. The whips are not spermatophore stalk is left behind, and so by counting used for walking; rather, they are covered with fine stalks, one can tally the number of times a couple

chemosensory and mechanosensory hairs that func- has mated. I have counted more than nine stalks left tion much like an insect's antennae. The sensory by a single male during a two-week period when hairs on the whips can distinguish a multitude of his mate was receptive. airborne odors—a rare ability in arachnids—or detect Following courtship, the male and female move mechanical changes through touch or air currents. The whips are incredibly flexible and may be three to four times the length of the walking legs—as long as three feet in the larger species. Each whip comes with as many as 148 joints, which enables the animals to delicately explore 360 degrees around

their bodies. It's no wonder the whips are constantly sweeping and probing their environment. When something interesting comes along, the whips move accordingly. For example, my students

and I have shown that if prey or, alternatively, a sibling, approaches from one side, the near-side whip moves faster than the far-side whip. A hunting amblypygid may even reach around a corner with

its whip and gently touch potential prey, such as

a cricket, so that it is led. unaware of the danger,

toward the hunter. That keen technique is evidence that amblypygids may be among the smartest arach-

nids. Nicholas J. Strausfeld, a neuroanatomist at the University ofArizona in Tucson, demonstrated that amblypygids have the largest mushroom body—an area of the brain associated with spatial memory and learning—of any of the arachnids.

Although they are fearsome predators, ambly-

pygids are also solicitous lovers. Males court Two males (P. parvulus) grapple for territorial supremacy potential mates by stroking the females repeatedly on a tree in the lowland forests of Costa Rica.

40 NATURAl history February 2007 apart and seemingly have little more to do with their mother and stroked her palps, whips, and legs each other. The female deposits her eggs in a brood with their whips. What amazed me about those in- pouch on her abdomen. After roughly ninety days teractions was that they appeared to indicate social for smaller species and 120 days for larger ones, bonding between a mother and her offspring.

the eggs hatch; even the shorter gestation time is After watching that mother-offspring behavior

surprisingly long for an arachnid. Like young scor- in amazement, I set out to discover just how social pions, vinegaroons, and wolfspiders, newly hatched the creatures might be. In the past five years my

amblypygids climb onto their mother's back for students and I have quantitatively documented about a week [see photograph on pages

38—39] . During that stage, they do not eat. Their hard exoskeletons do not sclerotize, or darken and harden, and so they remain a vivid lime green until they molt, climb off their mothers back, and begin catching prey for themselves.

The traditional thinking has been that amblypygids lead entirely solitary lives. In fact, when

I first began my research on them,

I was told that a mother would kill her own young if they remained with her after the first week. So, given the reputation of adult amblypygids for aggression, imagine

my surprise when I first observed their social interactions. Now my

students and I, working with captive mother-offspring groups, have shown that the animals lead highly complex social lives.

One morning, as I watched a P. marginemaculatus mother with her

three-week-old young, I observed Mother Damon diadema (right) circles a thin "whip, " or modified leg, to stroke one an amazing sight: The mother of her young (left). The youngster is about four months old and measures three- walked directly over to a group of eighths of an inch long. A second youngster is under the mother's left palp. ten closely grouped offspring and gently stroked them with her whips. The young extensive social interactions in captive populations moved to surround and orient to her and stroked between mothers and offspring, and among siblings, her in return, touching her whips, palps, and legs. in two amblypygid species: the Floridian P. mar- Over a period of about four minutes, the mother ginemaculatus and the much larger Damon diadema, made individual contact with seven out of the ten from Tanzania. The results are changing the view youngsters. Although the young had initially been of amblypygids as solitary animals.

sitting close together, slowly waving their whips, Why is this finding so exciting? Among arachnids, their whip movements quickened once their mother maternal care (or, in the case of some harvestmen joined the group, so that most of the youngsters species, paternal care) for the eggs and the newly

touched each other while she was with them. emerged offspring is not uncommon. Yet arachnid Then the mother left the group often, and walked social behavior, beyond the transient parental care of

directly to a separate group ofyoungsters. She stroked newborns, is extremely rare. Less than 0.1 percent them—and, as with the first group, they stroked her of the almost 93,000 known arachnid species live in turn—for about thirty seconds. Finally, she visited in interactive social groups tor extended periods.

a third group and repeated the interaction for several Along with the two amblypygid species I have minutes, before returning to sit in the middle of the studied—in which mothers and their offspring may first group. In each case, the young oriented towards remain together for nearly a year—only fifty-three

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 41 Family portrait of D. diadema includes an adult female (with a sheen because she has recently molted) and eight of her twenty-two offspring. Each

animal is touching another, being touched, or has just been touched by a

relative's whip. In the schematic diagram at left, each arrow points from the

animal touching with its whip to the animal being touched. The young are about eight months old and will continue to interact peacefully with their mother and one another for three or four more months.

spider species, eleven scorpion species, three pseudo- eusocial insects—ants, termites, many wasps, and scorpion species, and seven spider-mite species have some bees—which work together to increase the been observed to live in social groups. reproductive output of the colony, the few arachnid societies function primarily to increase the foraging Sociality is broadly defined to include interactive success of the group's members. groups whose members tolerate one another and In spite of the potential benefits of cooperation,

associate beyond early development. The sociality of mutual tolerance by arachnids ot the same species is

some groups is short-lived: in some spider groups the very rare. Why hasn't sociality evolved more often siblings remain together for a couple of instars after among them? Probably because most arachnids are eating their mother, and young scorpions remain predators that not only compete for prey but also with their mother for part of their development. At can prey on each other. For example, the longer the other end of the social spectrum are the complex offspring remain with their mother, the greater societies ofthe highly social cobweb-weaving spiders, their predatory capabilities and the greater their Anelosiiniis eximitis, of Central and South America. need for prey. As the young mature, the balance

They maintain group nurseries for their young in between cooperation and conflict, which is inherent

massive webs that house thousands of individuals. in all social groups, becomes ever more precarious. For arachnids, the benefits ofbeing social include By studying the rare arachnid species that live in having others help capture large prey, sharing prey amicable social family groups, biologists can pose

once it is caught, and cooperatively constructing a ecological and evolutionary questions about the retreat (which may be webs, burrows, or silk-covered costs and benefits of group living. lairs). Furthermore, the longer the youngsters have Amblypygid social groups share many, though

to grow and become better predators before becom- not all, traits of other groups ofsocial arachnids. My

ing independent adults, the better their survival. students and I have observed seventeen D. diadema Some investigators have suggested that unlike the family groups for a year or more in captivity. In each

42 na: history February 2007 . —

one, the mother amblypygid and her offspring have with plenty offood, they spread themselves as far apart as been peaceful and interactive. Their social relations they can (unless they happen to be courting), and

are consistently friendly, with little aggression until cannibalism is common. My student Rachel E. Walsh the young begin to reach sexual maturity, at about has shown that when seven- to nine-month-old D. twelve to fourteen months. diadema are briefly removed from their families, then As they reach sexual maturity, however, the siblings either reintroduced to their own group or placed become aggressive toward each other. My students within an unfamiliar group of the same age, they

and I find young adults with missing whips, dam- are more aggressive to the unfamiliar animals than

aged legs, or emaciated bodies (the last because the to their own family members. Since all the animals victims are forced to hide from aggressive males). in Walsh's experiment were immature, their aggres- At this age individuals are sometimes cannibal- sion did not escalate to the dramatic levels seen in ized, something we never see the battles between unfamiliar in younger animals. In the adults, but it was much testier wild, the family groups would than that among typical sib- clearly disperse by the time the lings. Walsh has also demon- offspring are sexually mature. strated that the adolescents can In some groups, the mother distinguish their mother from continues to interact with her an unfamiliar adult female by youngsters throughout their smell alone. development; in others, she leaves the group before she am not entirely sure why the molts or mates again. It is the I6young amblypygids want to siblings that form the strongest stay in close contact with oth- social bonds [see photograph on er individuals, but they clearly opposite page] do! If a clutch of young D. The most obvious social diadema are removed from a trait in D. diadema is that the familiar cage and scattered members of a family group inside a large, unfamiliar one, stay close together, constantly they gather back together touching and exploring each within minutes. Do the ambly- other and their surroundings pygids congregate into groups with their whips. Typically, because certain areas of the they form loosely connected cages—the tight spaces, such groups, within which between as where cork bark touches three and twenty animals are the glass walls of the cages in constant contact with some are more attractive than other family members. As the others? My student Lisa A. youngsters grow older and Taylor and I tested that hypo- Upper photograph: Damon whip spiders are larger, they space themselves pictured in courtship. Lower photograph: Female thesis by putting family groups progressively farther apart, but D. annulatipes from South Africa, when turned on on more uniform "bark" remain within easy reach, sepa- her back, exposes a brood pouch. Dozens of young otherwise known as ply- will soon hatch and climb onto her rated by less than a whip length. back. wood—that we installed Although there are always a around the walls of the cage, few youngsters that move away from the group, most equidistant from the glass. When we observed where of them stay closely associated with other family individuals distributed themselves, we were rather members until sexual maturity. There is remark- surprised that both species gathered together in small ably little aggression among the immature siblings. groups on the plywood, but that the location of the

In a testy exchange, one youngster might open its gatherings changed daily. Individuals were less in- palps or chase its sibling briefly, but we have seen terested in certain spots in the cage than in simply none of the grappling or standoffs with wide-open associating with others in their group. palps and flicking whips that so characterize adult Another common benefit of group living is that male conflicts. it affords some protection from predators. Group Cannibalism, always a risk among arthropod preda- members can take turns as lookouts, warn their tors, is extremely rare in the family groups. In contrast, neighbors of impending danger, or help defend when adult Damon are kept together, even in huge cages against incursions by outsiders. Amblypygids must

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 43 be preyed upon by other animals (and not only by sharing is one of the major benefits of social living. the desperately greedy people on the television show Immature animals, in particular, have the advantage of Fear Factor), but surprisingly few reports have sur- getting much larger prey than they could capture by faced ofthe capture ofamblypygids by other animals themselves. I am a behavioral ecologist who believes in the wild. Only a scorpion in Costa Rica and an that amblypygids should rightfully be considered Amazonian monkey, the golden backed uakari,have part of the pantheon of social arthropods, but I can't been observed eating amblypygids. defend my position by claiming that amblypygids Response to the risk of predation is hard to test share prey or cooperate in prey capture. On rare realistically in the laboratory. We found, however, occasions, we have seen siblings or mothers and their young briefly share prey, but the behavior has seemed incidental, rather than reflective ofcooperation or even mutual tolerance. More commonly, hungry group members try to steal prey from one another—a rather comical effort, because the thief often returns to the center of the

group to eat its ill-gotten gains, only to have the meal stolen once again.

nother important difference between A:amblypygids and most other social arachnids is that the amblypygids con- struct no communal retreat. They cannot produce silk, so webs are not an option. Nor do they dig burrows. But perhaps they have no need to collaborate on a retreat. Amblypygids are so thin they can fit into narrow spaces where they are safe from predators and from the elements. Groups of young siblings often pack into tight spaces, leaving only their whips waving

at the entrance. In fact, young amblypygids are re- Freshly-molted male whip spider (D. diadema) leaves behind an old, dark to see. Even after years exoskeleton. After a day, the animal's white exterior will darken and harden. markably hard Throughout their lives whip spiders molt in order to grow or rejuvenate. of observing them, I rarely locate the

youngsters right away. Instead, I tend to whips, that when we disturbed D. diadema families, the glimpse first the white "elbows" on their youngsters moved closer to their mother or siblings, next the movement of the waving whips, and only fingernail-size or even scurried under their mother. As the young then do I recognize that six or ten became adolescents, though, they were less likely to youngsters are right before my eyes. Their cam- in respond to a threat by gathering closer together. Most ouflage probably explains why social behavior of the time, the adolescents as well as their mother amblypygid families in the wild has not yet been easy to just scuttled rapidly away from a threat. But every explored. An adult female can be relatively night, but her once in a while a mother threatened us. On several find when she is foraging alone at occasions an adult female with seven-month-old nearby offspring may be virtually invisible if the offspring tried to defend her young with an effective light is dim and the background is at all complex. threat display. Each time she raised her body high Yet as people look carefully for young amblypygids discover more above the bark, opened her palps widely, and slowly in the field, I predict biologists will groups. stalked toward us. The display made her look even of these fascinating animals living in family off-putting to larger and more threatening. Once she tried to stab They may be peculiar looking—even be charmed by their me with the stiletto-sharp tip of her palps. Believe some—yet I cannot help but where siblings entwine me, I backed off as fast as I could! peaceful family dynamics their surroundings together. One I mentioned earlier that group living often helps whips and explore social grace, they facilitate the capturing and sharing of large prey. must admit that in their mastery of LJ Among spiders, pseudoscorpions, and scorpions, prey are incredibly alluring.

44 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 .

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Carved by wind, rain, and frost, a pedestal rock rises twenty-five feet high.

CO Dry woods Oaks and hicko- ing dogwood, red maple, briers, summer grape, and Rocky rim and exposed ries are the dominant trees; shortleaf pine, slippery Virginia creeper. bluff The gnarled trees are h- elm, the most prevalent of their and white ash. Shrubs are Among the nonwoody black hickory, blackjack oak, < species are chestnut oak, relatively sparse. They include species are Indian physic, eastern red cedar, post oak, northern red oak, red hickory, dwarf sumac, hop tree, shrub- rough-leaved goldenrod, two scarlet oak, and winged 00 shagbark hickory, and white by Saint-John's-wort, and skullcaps, spreading sunflow- elm. Shrubs include dwarf oak. Among the other major smooth sumac. Woody vines, er, Sullivant's coneflower, five hackberry, farkleberry, and < tree species are black cherry, by contrast, are common, and kinds of tick trefoils, white lowbush blueberry, all with black gum, black walnut, include fox grape, poison ivy, avens, white lettuce, and leathery leaves. Wildflowers eastern witch hazel, flower- four kinds of prickly green- white-leaved mountain mint. with very small leaves include

46 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 along Arkansas State Route ^.visi- covered with a thin layer of lichens. tors can follow two trails into the Interspersed among those bleak areas scenic area. The Pedestal Rocks are microhabitats more hospitable loop, a round trip of about two and to vegetation. Rainwater flowing to a quarter miles to the rim of the the rim in rivulets from the upland escarpment, provides a view of the woods has carved narrow channels pedestal rocks, which stand below, off where soil has accumulated. Periodi-

the edge of the cliff. Another, shorter cally replenished by rain, the chan- loop goes to King's Bluff, a flat, rocky nels usually remain wet and muddy expanse, also along the rim of the throughout the summer, enabling escarpment, that after a rain becomes several fern and wildflower species to the top of a hundred-foot waterfall. grow as high as three feet. Both trails pass through typical Ozark Other plants survive in slight de-

upland forest. The vegetation is di- pressions "where soil has accumulated. verse, despite the fairly dry and hot After a heavy rain, water stands in the conditions that prevail in the summer. depressions for a while, creating mini- Cascade at King 's Bluff, in early-spring flow All along the rim there are plenty wetlands, some just two or three feet of open stretches of what looks like across. Although the water may even- and anchorage by sending roots deep bare rock, though on close inspec- tually be lost to evaporation or seep- into fissures. Among them are black- tion the surface often proves to be age, some of the species that grow jack oak and post oak, whose leath- here also occur in more substantial ery leaves, covered by a thin coating

wetlands along streams and around of wax, reduce water loss. Because of ponds. Such cliff-top depressions are the harsh conditions, however, such also the exclusive home for limestone trees are usually small and gnarly. quillwort, a spore-producing species Other plants have adapted with

related to the ferns. It's a plant you small or even threadlike leaves, which

would have to search out between expose little surface to the sun's rays. mid-March and mid-June, because Leaf surfaces may be covered with

after that, its leaves wither away. It is scales or hairs. Succulent leaves store

easy to pass by, in any case, because it water for later use in extremely dry looks like a small tuft of grass about conditions. In the prickly pear, a

six inches tall. cactus, the leaves have evolved into

spines, and water is stored instead in must admit a special fascination the fleshy stems. I for plants that can survive on rock Then there are the so-called spring surfaces that are practically bare and ephemerals, plants that simply beat exposed to intense, direct sunlight. the heat and drought by germinating VISITOR INFORMATION Depending on the kind of rock (as during March, flowering and going Bayou Ranger District well as early Ozark-St. Francis National Forest on regional terminology), to seed during April and May, 12000 State Route 27 such habitats may be known by such and drying up by the end of May. Hector, AR 72843 terms as barrens, glades, or pave- 470-284-3150 ments. In spite of the paucity soil, of Robert H. Mohlenbrock is distin- www.fs.fed.us/oonf/ozark/ several tree species have gained a ten- guished professor emeritus ofplant biology at recreation/pedestal_rocks.html uous foothold, often getting moisture Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

nits-and-lice, pineweed, and succulent leaves include fame dry out and curl up during Limestone quillwort also pinweed. Thread-leaved flower, Illinois agave, and drought, but a summer rain is grows here. sundrops, a kind of evening widow's-cross. all it takes to revive them. primrose, has, well, thread- Spring ephemerals include Blufftop channels Christmas like leaves. The leaves of a three kinds of bluet, a Small depressions in the rock fern, Ohio spiderwort, poly- few plants, such as rushfoil, delicate grass known as six- surface Dwarf Saint-John's- pody fern, slender mountain have a scaly surface, whereas weeks fescue, and yellow star wort, rough buttonweed, mint, toad rush, winged crown- those of goat's-rue are hairy. grass. Hairy lip fern and rock three small sedges, and beard, and woodland oatgrass Prickly pear stores water in spikemoss are tiny spore- small-flowered bittercress are are among the species that its fleshy stems; plants with producing plants that simply among the wetland plants. grow in the moist soil.

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 47 —

BOOKSHELF By Laurence A. Marschall

you can call it that, is that they are hard to catch and extremely rare.

Max is the latest of many excellent writers who have reported on prions,

but his book is probably the most gripping and sympathetic. He himself suffers from a rare neuromuscular (nonprion) disease. Throughout his story of prions, he threads the saga of an Italian family plagued by FFI, perhaps the most gruesome prion

disorder of them all: it leaves cognition intact while the victim, unable to eat or sleep, twitches uncontrollably until the end. Doctors have only recently identified the cause of the debility, which has carried away George looker, Sleepers II, 7959 generations of uncles, cousins, and when they contract a degenerative parents. One hopes that, before an- Family That Couldn't Sleep: The brain disease called scrapie. No cases other generation has passed, science Medical Mystery A of sheep-to-human transmission are will find a cure, not just a reason, for by D.T. Max known, but after eating contaminat- their affliction. Random House; S25.95 ed beef, more than 150 people have died of the bovine variant of scrapie, Richter's Scale: the manitold ways we may bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Among Measure of an Earthquake, depart this mortal coil, none are or "mad cow disease," a degenera- Measure of a Man more terrifying than those that involve tive brain disorder called in humans by Susan Elizabeth Hough the slow disintegration of the central "variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease." Princeton University Press; S27.95 nervous system. So first, a warning: do What all those maladies have in not read this book—or even this re- common is that they are caused by view—unless you are absolutely im- prions, abnormal forms of small pro- For more than forty years, from mune to suggestion and hypochon- teins that quite normally occur in 1927 until his formal retirement dria. Otherwise, journalist D.T. Max animal and human cells. Prions do in 1970, Charlie Richter was an em- may scare you sleepless with tales of not reproduce like bacteria or vi- ployee of the Seismological Laborato-

innocent people whose bizarre symp- ruses, but under certain conditions ry, long a part of Caltech, in Pasadena, toms slowly turn horrific. they can propagate uncontrollably, not far from his childhood home in Do you perspire profusely and have the way a slight crack in a windshield Los Angeles. His work, for the most trouble getting a good night's sleep? can turn into a web of fissures across part, was routine: compiling and an- Have your pupils shrunk to the size the entire pane. alyzing records from a network of of the dot over this "i"? Those are earthquake detectors scattered around signs of fatal familial insomnia (FFI), Since the outbreak of mad-cow the area. Off-hours, he lived in a mod- a hereditary malady so rare that it af- disease in Britain in the 1980s, and est house with his wife and a tew pets, flicts only forty families worldwide. the consequent destruction ot millions enjoyed music, and belonged to a lo- Do you stumble from time to time? ot cattle, prion diseases have generated cal book group. When time permitted, Do your arms cross uncontrolla- almost as much public fear as urban he would hike alone in the mountains. bly whenever you turn your head? terrorism. Prions seem impervious to But apart from that, he shunned travel, Those difficulties may signal Gerst- antibiotics; they survive boiling, ultra- seldom venturing out ot the country mann-Straussler-Scheinker disease, violet radiation, and soaking in form- or out of the state, for that matter. Not first recognized in a twenty-six-year- aldehyde. They can remain dormant the kind of life, one would imagine.

old Viennese woman in 1928, and in the body for years, making it pos- to merit a 300-page biography. now diagnosed in one in a hundred sible for prion infections to become Yet Charles Francis Richter was.

million people worldwide. Do you epidemic long before symptoms are and is, perhaps the most famous seis- smack your lips reflexively when you apparent. And they are invariably fatal. mologist of our time, a man whose are tickled under the chin? Sheep do. The only upside of prion diseases, if name is mentioned in news reports

48 \ :. al HISTORY February 2007 Special Offer for Firewood Users! TRY THE ELECTRIC/HYDRAULIC DR® WOOD SPLITTER quake hits. The every time a large FOR 6 MONTHS RISK-FREE! first thing an inquiring public wants to know is: How strong? The expected answer is one measured by Give one a try for 6 months. Richter's scale of magnitudes, even If you don't agree this powerful its scientific usefulness has though machine is the easiest, most largely been superseded by more convenient way ever to split firewood — modern standards. indoors or out — you can return it for a complete refund of your purchase price! The real Charles Richter, fellow • QUIET, CLEAN & NO FUMES seismologist Susan Hough would have Use it in your garage or basement. us understand, was neither drudge • POWERFUL motor and hydraulic ram nor genius, but a complex and gifted produce up to 6 tons offeree. man who made fundamental contri- • EASY TO USE Plugs into any his field. She is also at pains butions to household outlet. Push-button start. to recount her subject's highly uncon- • COMPACT Fits on a workbench. ventional personal life. Hough bases her profile on public documents; in- Split logs 16" thick.. .indoors or out! |Vf YES! Please send full details of the Amazing Indoor/Outdoor Electric DR® WOOD SPLITTER, terviews with surviving family, col- "The DR has enough power to do the including your 6 month free trial offer, low, factory-direct leagues, and acquaintances; and most biggest logs I've put on it. And if it's prices, and seasonal savings now in effect.

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Attention Natural History Subscribers

Wee have recently learned that an unauthorized outside organization is mailing renewal notices to our subscribers. Natural History has not authorized a third party to send out renewals and we are concerned that your order may not be forwarded to us.

When your subscription is ready for renewal, the circulation department will notify you and include a pre-addressed return envelope.

The return address for renewals is: Natural History Subscriber Services Charles Richter, circa 7952 P.O. Box 3030 Harlan, IA 51593-0091 No one can quibble with Hough's assessment that the intensely pri- If you have any questions or would like to contact us, you can reach vate seismologist was a most unusual us in three ways: man. In appearance, he was the quint- Email: [email protected] essential nerd—bespectacled, baby- Phone: 646-356-6538 face smile, and hair flying in all di- Mail: Circulation Department, Natural History, rections. True to stereotype, he kept 36 West 25th Street, Fifth Floor, New York, NY 10010. detailed records of all the Star Trek episodes he watched. But Richter was Natural History, along with other publishers, is committed to much stranger than stereotype. For combatting this problem, but we need your help. Please make sure you return your renewal instructions directly to us. most of their lives he and his wife were psychoanalyze from a distance. But Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at active nudists, sunning themselves at the famous earthquake expert, she the University of Toronto. Further- various "naturist" camps around the surmises, was a man equipped "with more, the images have been annotated Golden State. He was the author of a three-hundred-horsepower engine by a team of modern-day specialists: several unpublished novels, as well as and a transmission that slipped madly an art historian (Rifkin). a biomedical painfully self-referential poetry, some between gears," who followed his engineer and pioneer in bioinformat- of it published—reams of verse, from own peculiar highway through life's ics (Ackerman), and a writer/book which, thankfully, Hough quotes with unsteady terrain. artist (Folkenberg). restraint. Judging from some of his Contrast the pictures on display here poems and letters, he may have carried with the ones in any surgical manual Human Anatomy: From the on several extramarital affairs. ot recent vintage, depicting exposed or Renaissance to the Digital Age As a scientist, though, Richter disembodied organs and tissues against by Benjamin A. Rifkin earns Hough's admiration. Accord- a featureless background. In the florid and Michael J. Ackerman, ing to his colleagues, he was a veri- engravings of earlier centuries, the with biographies by Judith Folkenberg table encyclopedia of information central figures often appear as elements Abrams, New York; $29.95 about earthquakes, and a tireless ad- of larger naturalistic or formal compo- vocate for improving building de- sitions. In Andreas Vesalius's landmark signs in quake-prone areas. In medicine, as in many other pro- text on the human body, De humani But Hough has a harder time com- fessions, the distinction between corporis fabrica libri septem, published in ing to terms with Richter's quirky science and art is a contemporary 1543, a skinned cadaver vogues against personality. She strongly suggests that idea, dating to no earlier than the the background of an Italian village:

Richter suffered from Asperger's syn- 1800s. That observation is particularly a skeleton in Charles Estienne's 1545 drome, a mild form of autism, which relevant to the history of anatomy, the dissection manual stands contempla- could account for both his ability to focus of this magnificent collection of tively before a bucolic lake, holding concentrate on details and his dif- classic reproductions from the hold- out its detached mandible for inspec- ficulty in connecting with people. ings of the National Library of Medi- tion; a disembodied arm in Govard

Of course, it's always dangerous to cine in Bethesda, Maryland, and the Bidloo's 1690 album of anatomy rests on a table as matter-of-factly as a bowl quired the collaboration of special- of fruit in a still life. ists: master surgeons whose skill with To modern eyes, those settings seem scalpel and dye highlighted organs distracting. And at times they are un- of interest; artists who could sketch settling, particularly when the bellies faster than cadavers decay; and en- of pregnant women are drawn as if gravers who could render not just cut open, to show the form and po- form, but texture and contrast. sition of the fetus, or when mouths In the twenty-first century, online are incised and spread to illustrate databases such as the Visible Human the structure of the lips, tongue, and Project (www.nlm.nih.gov/research/ teeth. The most bizarre, hands down, visible) make it possible to view ana- are engravings from the Thesaurus anatomy from any angle, distance, or tomicus primus (1701-1716) ofFrederik functional perspective with a pre- Ruysch, an anatomy professor from cision the earlier masters could not Amsterdam. They are a partial catalog hope to achieve. CAT scans and of his personal cabinet of curiosities, MRIs can render the particular in- a collection of preserved body parts, ternal structure of any individual on bones, and fetuses that represented not demand. Still, the pioneering works only abnormalities and rarities of the showcased here stand as elegant testi- natural world, but also the grotesque monials to how far science has come, imagination of Ruysch himself. Some and how long art endures. of them show tableaus created with fe- Laurence A. Marschall, author ofThe tal skeletons, posed amidst surrealistic Supernova Story, is W.K. T. Sahm Professor Engraving artfully drapes the muscles and landscapes constructed ol stuffed birds, Gettysburg College in Pennsyl- tendons of a forearm and hand (from the of Physics at stones. bovine tracheas, and kidney 1690 edition of Ontleding des menschelyken vania, and director of Project CLEA, which In spite of their conflation of art lichaams [Anatomy of the Human Body], by produces widely used simulation software for and science, early anatomy texts re- Govard Bidloo). education in astronomy.

The rough trail taught you what's most important in life a Jacuzzi suite waiting for you back at the resort.

Seize the Day

KraBuvnrai

II of fun.

ire to discover and GRANDftWMliECANYON OUT THERE ference between science and nonscience. No matter which of the three options they choose, scientists Not Seeing Is Believin; must push the new or revised ideas to their logical conclusions, deriving new predictions from them and test- The existence of dark matter is confirmed—again. ing the predictions repeatedly with new experiments and observations. A By Charles Liu proposed but untested explanation is

not a scientific explanation at all. It remains hypothetical—maybe Dark matter is ev- an educated guess, possibly erywhere. Accord- even a correct guess, but a ing to current the- guess nonetheless.

ory, it permeates our solar neighborhood surrounds So it is with the theory our Milky Way, and en- of dark matter. A few velops every other substan- scientists have supported an

tial collection of matter in alternate explanation for the

the universe. It's so dilute observations that dark mat- that astronomers can't even ter is supposed to explain.

detect its presence in our Their idea is that Newton's solar system, yet on scales second law of motion needs of millions of light-years, to be subtly modified. If its

it's the dominant source correctness could be con- of gravity in the cosmos. firmed, many observations

What's more, it's not made that seem to point to dark up of the same stuff we're matter could be explained made of— electrons, neu- in terms of ordinary matter trons, and protons. And, alone.

Aftermath of the collision of two galaxy clusters is shown in this true to its name, it's dark: Mind you, these "modified composite of X-ray, optical, and gravitational-lensing images of Not only does it give off force" guys are part of only the object 1E 0657-56. The two colliding galaxy clusters (each no visible light, but it's also a small dissenting minority white or orange speck in the two purple patches is a galaxy) have the dark-matter issue. Yet dark across the entire elec- passed through each other; hot gas (pink) that was once part of on

tromagnetic spectrum. No each cluster was slowed by the collision and now lags behind its dismissing their ideas would gamma rays, no X-rays, no former cluster. The purple overlay indicates higher distortion by hardly be scientific, either. It mass is waves of ultraviolet, infra- gravitational tensing, hence greater mass. shows that The scientifically right thing concentrated in the two galaxy clusters, even though the hot gas red, microwave, or radio to do is to conduct experi- far outweighs the galaxies' combined luminous mass, confirming frequency issue forth from ments or make observations that each cluster is permeated and surrounded by a huge amount dark matter anywhere. of unseen, cosmological dark matter. that clearly distinguish be- So what u dark matter? tween a modified-force law

Astrophysicists still don't know, but scientific theory can't explain a set and a preponderance of dark matter.

its existence has been tested again of observations, scientists have three Recently, a team at the University of and again in the past few decades, options: discard the theory and pro- Arizona led by Douglas Clowe, now and has been confirmed in various pose a new one; expand the theory of Ohio University in Athens, made ways by a number of investigators. to account for the anomalous data; or just such an observation. Yet despite all the tests and confir- propose an alternate explanation for How much testing must be done mations, plenty of people remain the observations that shows how the before a hypothesis becomes estab- skeptical. Could another explanation theory remains sound. That, by the lished scientific knowledge, or else is be consistent with the observations? way, raises a fundamental difference discarded? It depends. If an idea is

The question, of course, is spe- between science and nonscience: no revolutionary, it must be confirmed

cific to astrophysics, but that kind of scientific knowledge is so sacred that often and in many independent ways

question would be familiar to in- it can't be tested, challenged, and ul- before it is accepted. A classic example

vestigators in virtually any scientific timately superseded. is the history of the theory of gravity. discipline. Whenever an accepted Here's another fundamental dif- In the seventeenth century, Newton's

52 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 theory explained the orbits of the Earth, is actually a merger of two planets around the Sun. The theory galaxy clusters that looks like a gar-

was revolutionary, but it was repeat- gantuan, asymmetric dumbbell [see edly confirmed. image on opposite page]. Each cluster,

But Newton's theory of gravity was or "knob" of the dumbbell, is actu- eventually supplanted by an upgrade, ally made up of hundreds of galaxies,

as it were. Einstein's theory of grav- and the two clusters are more than 2 ity—general relativity—added the million light-years apart. (By com- critical idea that space-time curves. parison, our entire solar system, out

General relativity, however, was noth- to the orbit of Pluto, is about 0.001 ing more than an elegant hypothe- light-year across.)

sis until 1919, when observations of The clusters appear to have passed the apparent positions of stars during through each other after a head-on

a solar eclipse confirmed one of its collision that began some 100 mil- major predictions—that matter can lion years ago. Traveling like two bend space-time. schools of cosmic fish, the galaxies in IT WAS LIKE HIS Less than two decades later, general the clusters flew right by one another NEIGHBOR'S SHOVEL WAS relativity appeared subject to its own at millions of miles an hour. But the apparent anomalies. In the 1930s the diffuse, ionized gas that permeated American astronomer Fritz Zwicky the space between the galaxies didn't NEVER measured the speeds of galaxies in a pass through quite as cleanly. In- cluster in the direction of the constel- stead, the gas clouds dragged behind, BROKEN lation Coma Berenices as they orbited billowing like two giant jellyfish in LEAVING HIM FREE TO KEEP their common center of gravity. To the space between the clusters. All BORROWING HIS TOOLS. his great surprise, he found that the that gas is more than twice as mas-

typical speed of the orbiting galaxies sive as the star-laden galaxies, based When the shovelhead fell to the

was about 2 million miles an hour! At on estimates of its density and its vol- ground, all he could think of was the

those speeds, so many galaxies would ume from X-ray images. The result face of his neighbor who owned the

have escaped the cluster's collective is that even though the galaxies are tool. Not wanting to risk losing access

gravitational pull so quickly that the concentrated in the clusters at either to his well-stocked garage, he tried

cluster could never have formed in end, the ordinary matter is concen- Gorilla Glue. Two years later, his the first place. And yet, there it was, trated near the center of the dumb- neighbor still hasn't noticed. hale and hearty—in direct observa- bell, in the form of lingering ionized tional contradiction to Einstein's es- gas. So if there were no dark matter

tablished theory of gravity. in the dumbbell, its gravity should

Like all good scientists, Zwicky be strongest in its central region and had to choose: new theory, revised weaker at each end. theory, or same theory with alter- Clowe and his colleagues were able nate explanation? Zwicky chose door to measure how gravity varies across number three—and came to an as- the entire dumbbell by charting how tounding conclusion: a vast amount it acts as a gravitational lens: how the sP&n

•* of invisible, or "dark," matter must images of distant galaxies behind IE ^^M. Sftrtt, HMd. c*™i*. * be lurking in the Coma cluster, far 0657-56 are bent or distorted because

outweighing the combined mass of of the space-time curvature in its vi- the galaxies in the cluster. Only such cinity—as the light passes through dark matter could provide the gravi- its various parts. The resulting gravitational "glue" necessary to hold the tational-lensing map showed clearly cluster together. that most of the mass of IE 0657-56

is concentrated around the galaxy The recent work of Clowe and clusters—not in the center, where his collaborators centers on an the gas remains, even though the hot object far more distant and complex gas far outweighs the combined stel- W FOR THE TOUGHEST

than the target of Zwicky 's stud- lar mass of the two clusters. ; JOBS ON PLANET EARTH." ies. Designated IE 0657-56, the ob- A modified-force law simply can't ject, about 3 billion light-years from explain that observation. Something 1-800-966-3458 • G0RILLAGLUE.COM

3 2006 The Gorilla Glue Company. G3SV —— 8 : n

around and within the two clusters of galaxies, other than ordinary mat-

ter, is generating most of the gravitational pull in the system. What could this something be? Lots and lots of dark matter remains the best answer.

So once again, and in a new and unambiguous way, the reality of FREE earrings! dark matter has been confirmed. Has See offer below. that finally put the controversy to rest? Can we astronomers at last take

its existence as truth? Um, no and yes. No, because both as a scientific community and as individual scientists, we should never reject the possibility—however re- A Trip to Australia mote—that we are wrong. Yes, because with so many lines of over- Reveals the Wonder whelming evidence in its favor, it ft* would be silly to pretend otherwise. Giant Golden Pearls Yet we'll also keep on testing our of theories of dark matter at our labo- observatories. That's a isolated town have to worry about perfumes or cosmetics ratories and Just before 1900, in a small called Broome Australia, fishermen came discoloring these pearls like you do with good thing; it's precisely the kind of across the rarest oyster-a giant named the ordinary pearls. In a more ecologically skepticism that elevates real scientific Pinctada maxima. This world's largest oyster friendly approach, the Australian Pacific theory above the realm of mere hy- contained the voluptuous South Sea Pearl pearl seed is extracted from fresh oyster pothesis. And it's also the only way, the most sought after pearl in the world. shells and then organically micro-coated in to get coats after all, that we're ever going After this discover)', Broome soon became the laboratory with the same nacre that bottom of the great mystery of the dominant pearl trading post in the naturally grown pearls. Giant 12mm golden to the for world and literally 80% of all worldwide South Sea pearls can cost up to $50,000 what dark matter really is. pearl trading passed through Broome. an 18" strand. Why even think about that 18" when you can now wear an strand of Charles Liu is a professor of astrophysics at A trip to Broome. We took the long trip to 12mm hand-coated enhanced Australian the City University ofNewYork and an associate Australia to study the famous white lipped consistently round shape Pacific Pearls with a with the American Museum ofNatural History. oysters that produced magnificent pearls and a rare golden color for under $300. that are often 11- 14mm—about 8 times the standard rare deal Try the Australian Pacific size (and 8 times the price!) of a A PICTURE CREDITS Cover: Illustration by Viktor Deak; for p.8(bottoni): pearl. Not only did these oysters produce Collection risk-free for 30 days. If pp.6-7: Matthew T. RusseUAvww.telescopes.ee; ©ISM/Phototake, Viktor Deak; p.9: Dolly Setton; p. 1 3(top) : the rare South Sea pearl, but they also any reason you are not satisfied with (bottom) Dave Verbyla; p.14 (left): ©The Natural History tremendous amounts of your purchase, please just return it to produced a Museum London; pp. 1 4-1 5: (top) Roger Hanlon. (bottom)

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et al.; Optical: shells, and were able p. 52: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/M.Markeviteh inside of the giant Promotional Code PLS237-03 NASA/STScl; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.; Lens- to produce the breathtaking hand-coated you call. Please mention this when ing Map: NASA/STScI; ESO WFI; Magellan/U.Arizona/ Australian Pacific Pearl. Call to order toll free, D.tlowc et al.;p.64:(top) Hein Paves, (left) Jeffrey R. Holt Tora 24 hours a day, 7 days week and Jessica R. Risner, (middle) Spike Walker, (right) Golden beauties. These golden enhanced Bardal, (bottom) Dylan Burnette organic pearls are extremely large in size 800-724-9435 12mm - but they are much more consistent . 1 Southcross W.. g 1 4 1 Drive in shape ! han ordinary pearls that have to be t- p 7-°3 4-5 that are MAuet extracted from year old oysters Him*c* oiAti Smart ^Burnsville.^Minnesota 3:>33/ss „7 dead. They are also less porous so you don't www.stauer.com THE SKY IN FEBRUARY By Joe Rao

February begins with Mercury in prime and a half days past new, rides well on the 10th. Thus it is visible all night position for evening viewing. When above Venus. long, shining as a bright (zero-mag-

darkness falls on the 1st, the inner- nitude), yellowish-white interloper most planet glows low in the west- Mars rises just after dawn throughout in the constellation Leo, the Hon, just southwest at magnitude —0.9 and sets the winter and much of the spring. Al- to the west of the easily recognizable

about eighty minutes after the Sun. though it shines at magnitude +1.3, the "sickle" of stars. It is now at its bright- From the 1st through the 11th, Mer- Red Planet's low altitude in a bright- est and (for observers with a telescope)

cury will be within ten degrees and ening sky makes it a challenge to see, biggest. The rings, which have been to the lower right of brilliant Venus even for observers with binoculars. tilting increasingly edge-on since 2003,

(your clinched fist held at arm's length are still inclined at about a fourteen- measures roughly ten degrees against Jupiter rises "well after midnight and degree angle toward Earth, making tor the sky). The two planets appear closest shines brightly in the southeast to a grand sight even in a small telescope. together, approaching within slightly south-southeast in the dawn twilight. Take note of Saturn's position relative more than six degrees of each other, At daybreak—an excellent time for to the full Moon on the evening of the on the evenings of the 4th and 5th. observing Jupiter telescopically—the 2nd; the Ringed Planet is the bright Then they quickly draw apart. planet is higher in the sky than it "star" above and to our satellite's right. On the 7th Mercury reaches its has been since late last summer. The

greatest eastward elongation, or ap- noble planet shines at about magni- The Moon is full on the 2nd at 12:45

parent distance from the Sun, moving tude —2, as it creeps eastward through A.M. It wanes to last quarter on the 10th eighteen degrees east of the Sun. That the feet of the constellation Ophiu- at 4:51 a.m., and to new on the 17th delays the planet from setting until chus, the serpent holder, and away at 11:14 A.M. The Moon waxes to first evening twilight comes to an end. As from the bright star Antares, situated quarter on the 24th at 2:56 A.M. Mercury descends in the western sky, below and to the right of the planet.

it lies almost directly above the part Unless otherwise noted, all times are east- of the horizon where the Sun had set Saturn reaches opposition to the Sun em standard time. earlier. For observers at forty degrees

north latitude. Mercury is also near its maximum altitude, eight degrees COLUMBIA, Refertous above the horizon at midtwilight Read book excerpts at www.columbia.edu/cu/cup (forty-five minutes after sunset)—the second-highest evening altitude the ': :^ :-'. planet attains in 2007. The planet fades quickly thereafter by a factor of almost five in brightness, from mag- "This engaging, wise, and nitude -0.2 on the 9th to +1.5 by far-reaching book diagnoses the 15th. Thereafter it becomes lost the causes and costs of our from view on its way to inferior con- quantitative hubris, and in so doing junction with the Sun on the 23rd. points the difficult way toward a more Through a telescope, Mercury ap- useless arithmetic productive relationship among pears at as a rapidly thin- midmonth Why Environmental Scientists ning crescent. science, democracy, and the vexing Can't Predict the Future challenges of environmental

Venus is likely to be the first "star" you stewardship." see through the twilight after sunset; — Daniel Sarewitz, Director,

look lor it in the west-southwest. With Consortium for Science, Policy, each passing week Venus moves higher and Outcomes, Arizona State University and grows brighter. But it still isn't much to look at in a telescope, appearing as just a tiny, slightly gibbous

ball. Observers can see nearly all of its

illuminated face because it is now on the far side of the Sun as viewed from Useless Arithmetic the Earth. On the evening of the 19th Why Environmental Scientists Can't Predict the Future a slender crescent Moon, about two Orrin H. Pilkey & Linda Pilkey-Jarvis

February 2007 NATURAL HISTORY 55 . ADVERTISEMENT READER SERVICE

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in Cinema," by the marine biologist Of Arms Roland C. Anderson of the Seattle Aquarium, examines the creatures'

and the Brain horror-movie appeal and lists their By Robert Anderson film credits. Their fearsome reputation is not en- Last summer my son and I went tirely unfounded. Recently Japanese snorkeling in the chilly waters off investigators, filming nearly 3,000 Catalina Island, along the California feet, caught on camera an adult giant

coast. As we swam above a kelp for- squid, with an arm span (tip to tip) est swaying with the surf, we spotted of twenty-six feet, in the act of hunt- fish by the hundreds. Then my son ing—the first images of an adult both pointed excitedly toward a yellowish- alive and in the deep (go to news.bbc. brown creature jetting along the rocky co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4288772.stm and click bottom. Sliding over some dark green on the video near the upper right).

stones, it instantly changed to a match- ing color, vanishing from sight as if by Still, their monster image notwith-

magic. This master of camouflage, I standing, cephalopods are an im- later learned, was a California two- portant source of the world's protein, spot octopus. as well as a favorite animal in medical Members of the Cephalopoda, the research. At the Web page of the Na- class that includes cuttlefishes, nau- tional Resource Center for Cephalo- tiluses, and squids, along with oc- pods at the University ofTexas Medi- topuses, can change appearance in cal Branch (www.utmb.edu/nrcc), click seconds. You can watch marine bi- on "Cephalopod Literature and Infor- ologist Roger T. Hanlon's clip of the mation Resources" and then on "The action by going to video.google.com Peerless Squid" for an overview of how and typing in "chameleon octopus" the study of the squid's giant nerve

to access the video. To see a species cell, with its readily manipulated pen- Unforgettable that does more than just disappear cil-lead-thick axon, has led to key dis- Adventures into the background, type "Indone- coveries in neuroscience. sian mimic octopus." That takes you Of all the invertebrates, the giant

Exceptions! octioors to a short video of an octopus that Pacific octopus is often cited as the mimics any one of three toxic spe- most intelligent. David Scheel, a ma- 3CH£tK/Le! cies that occur in its native waters: a rine biologist at Alaska Pacific Uni- lionfish, a sea snake, or a sole. versity in Anchorage, has a site de- "The Cephalopod Page" (www.the voted to the animals (marine. alaska cephalopodpage.org), maintained by pacific.edu/octopus), which notes that James B. Wood, a research scientist at they can reach several hundred Backcountry Northwest Coast the Institute of Sci- pounds and span nearly dozen Archaeology: Art & Cultures of Bermuda Ocean two Comb Ridge Vancouver Island ences in St. George's, is a good place feet from arm tip to arm tip. PBS's May 5-12, 2007 August 1-11. 2007 to discover what features besides Nature series has the most startling

Chaco Canyon: Four Corners: camouflage make cephalopods so fas- video clip ofall—an excerpt from "The Two Perspectives Past and Present cinating. Near the top of the page, Octopus Show" (www.pbs.org/wnet/ May 20-26, 2007 September 2-8, 2007 click on the "Lessons" section to se- nature/octopus). The keepers at the

Archaeology of Hiking Carrizo lect among the modules on cepha- Seattle Aquarium kept finding the re- Bandelier and the Mountain Country lopod biology. There you'll find out mains of four-foot-long sharks in their Pajarito Plateau September 9-1 2007 5, about the mechanics of quick color tank for big fish. Nighttime filming June 10-16,2007 changes and the physiology of the caught the culprit red-armed: the giant Little Colorado River Clay Workshop with Rock Art cephalopod eye, which is similar to Pacific octopus they had innocently

Michael Kanteena Sept. 30-october 6. 2007 our own. Or click "Cephalopod Ar- placed in the enclosure was snacking July 1-7, 2007 ticles" on the menu at the top to find on the so-called "top" predator. more detailed (and marvelous) infor-

(ROW (AN YON mation: for example, "20,000 Ten- Robert Axdersox is a freelance science AMHAEOLOCKAL (ENTER tacles Under the Sea: Cephalopods writer tiring in Lav Angeles. Near Mesa Verde in Southwest CO

8Q(M22.8975 / www.crowcanyon.org 58 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 EXP LOREfrGU IDE

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AMNH to Confer Doctoral Degrees

For nearly a century, ° Museum are three molecular graduate students have i laboratories, a powerful parallel

conducted doctoral re- S computing facility, a frozen tis- search at the American Mu- £ sue collection with a capacity of seum of Natural History, but jq one million samples, an imag- always for a degree at another 1 ing and microscopy laboratory, 1 institution. Until now. The more than 30 million speci- American Museum of Natural mens and cultural artifacts, and History is now the first—and the largest independent natural only—American museum to history library in the Western grant its own Ph.D. degree. Hemisphere. Under authorization by the The American Museum of New York State Board of Re- Natural History has long been gents, candidates for a doctor- known for its comprehensive ate in comparative biology will approach to biological studies. study and within work the Mu- Michael J. Novacek, Provost, Se- seum's unparalleled collec- nior Vice President, and Cura- tions and laboratories in the tor in the Museum's Division of newly established Richard Paleontology predicted, "Pro- Gilder Graduate School, with found biological discoveries will its faculty drawn from an in- come from examination of myr- ternationally recognized staff iad species. Here, we link of curators. emerging information on "The Gilder Graduate School, genes, form, and species diver- capitalizing on the Museum's Graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in comparative sity in a way that powerfully in- unique and unrivaled combi- biology at the Museum will have plenty of paleontology and forms our understanding of the other specimens at their fingertips in the treasured public nation of scientific leadership, evolution of life." galleries as well as in the Museum's collection of more than world-renowned collections, The first class of the Gilder 30 million specimens. and active program of field re- Graduate School, a select group search, will train the next generation of scientists to investigate of 8 to 10 students, is scheduled to arrive in September 2008. many of the most pressing issues confronting society in the Four donors have, combined, given more than $50 million to support the new graduate school in endowment, fellowship support, and capital enhancements required 21st century," said AMNH President Ellen V. Futter. to accom- modate the new Graduate School: the Gilder Foundation, the Hess Foundation, Inc., The new Ph.D. candidates will work in some of the most an anonymous Museum Trustee, and the City of New York—the Department of Cultural advanced scientific facilities in the world. Located within the Affairs and the New York City Council.

Podcast News That's because the American Museum panel discussions, and other educa- of Natural History, in collaboration tional programs. The next time you assume that with Science & the City, the online Just visit www.amnh.org/podcast, teenagers with the tell-tale wires hang- newsletter of the New York Academy of where you will find a list of podcasts ing down from their ears are zoning Sciences, is now posting its world-class by noted scientists and authors on out to the latest band on their iPods, educational content in free podcasts. everything from the 1906 San Fran- think again. They might just be pon- Podcasting, downloading audio cisco earthquake to biodiversity in dering the legacy of Charles Darwin's files to a portable player or personal New York City, the thrill of whale voyage on the Beagle or learning the computer, expands the Museum's watching to what motivates someone secret sticking power of a gecko's toes. reach by providing access to lectures, to spend their life studying snakes. Unleash your inner lepidopterist PEOPLE AT THE AM NH I a Butterfly! Spy with the Museum's online Butterfly

WWW.AMNH.ORG which is focused on the colorful Cam, Leslie Martinez creatures of the in-house hothouse that Coordinator, Sleepover Program is The Butterfly Conservatory, on view through May 28, 2007. To get there, simply click on the exhibition itself at the Museum's home page, www.amnh.org, and follow the prompts to the Butterfly Cams. As a bonus, you will also find three prerecorded film clips of monarchs and swallowtails enjoying a meal and the amazing spectacle of a zebra longwing chrysalis. Julia butterfly (Dryas iulia) emerging from its

Every Thursday, when many people Dedicated to Dunham race for the door at the end of their workday, Leslie Martinez heads You dance because you have to. to the Akeley Hall of African Mam- —Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) mals for an evening animal drawing

Katherine Dunham sought, in the native dances of the Caribbean, in the pounding class. "I love it," she says. "It's a way rhythms of Africa, the cultural origins for the distinctive form of dance she pio- to get to know the dioramas—and the neered. She spent her long life creating art of transcendent power and beauty, coupled Museum at night." with awareness of both racial inequality and ethnic pride. The Museum at night is Leslie's baili- Dunham was an exceptional and wick now, as coordinator of the recently

in r " gifted woman—when she died in New revived sleepover program which 300 , § 2 York last May at 96, she held a 1936 8- to 12-year-olds and adult chaperones degree in cultural anthropology from explore the Museum after hours before

the University of Chicago and scores of setting up camp in the Milstein Hall of

honorary doctorates. She founded revo- Ocean Life. "I only slept for one hour

lutionary dance troupes, choreo- but it was all worth it," she emailed a

graphed at the Metropolitan Opera, colleague, exhausted but exhilarated

and performed on Broadway. Her after the first trial run in October. "It great love for the Haitian people led was amazing to see children with their her to embrace the Vodoun religion favorite stuffed animals getting ready and to capture headlines by going on a to sleep under the blue whale with 47-day hunger strike at age 82 to their families." protest U.S. treatment of Haitian Like so many AM NH employees,

refugees. Leslie's enthusiasm is heightened by

"Dedicated to Dunham" is the that of her daughter, Whitney, 10. Museum's tribute to this remarkable "Whitney grew up here," says Leslie, woman, a one-day festival on Sunday, who started at the Museum in 2001 as

February 25, during African-Ameri- a part-time membership assistant while can Heritage Month, celebrated as earning her B.A. in history at Baruch part of the Museum's Global Week- College. Whitney is also her best pro- Katherine Dunham in Cabin in the Sky, 1940 ends programming. From 1:00 to gramming adviser. "She tells me what 5:00 p.m., dancers and educators who studied with Dunham and the young stars flies, what doesn't." who are influenced by her extraordinary work will perform, present panels, and If there is a downside to her new job,

screen films about Dunham and her remarkable life. it's turning someone away; for example,

"I used to want the words 'She tried' on my tombstone," Dunham once said. "a dinosaur-crazy 5-year-old on his birth-

if Leslie her and the "Now I want 'She did it.'" Dedicated to Dunham shows that, indeed, she did. day." But has way

selling out as it has Dedicated to Dunham is coproduced by the American Museum of Natural History; Barbara Horowitz, founder and program keeps president of Community Works; and Rivers, executive producer of New Heritage Theatre Group. Voza been, when that little boy turns 8, the Global Weekends are made possible, in part, by The Coca-Cola Company, the City of New York, the New York City will still be going strong. Council, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support has been provided by the sleepovers May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., theTolan Family, and the family of Frederick H. Leonhardt.

The contents of these paces are provided to Natural History by the American Museum of Natural History. Museum Events American Museum 5 Natural History ^J www.amnh.org

founder and director of the live on a planet or moon with

Akamba Peace Museum in temperatures of -400 degrees

Kyanzasu, Kenya. Fahrenheit. In this workshop, in-

vestigate extreme cold in our FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S solar system. PROGRAMS

Bones, Brains, and DNA Robots in Space II Saturday, 2/10, 2:00 p.m. (Intermediate)

Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall Three Thursdays, 2/1-15,

EXHIBITIONS the life and legacy of anthropol- have coauthored an engaging 4:00-5:30 p.m. Gold ogist, dancer, choreographer, illustrated book, Bones, Brains, (Ages 8-10)

Through August ig, 2007 and teacher Katherine Dunham. and DNA. DeSalle will examine Continue your exploration of ro-

This glittering exhibition ex- See p. 61. both paleontological and genetic botics by designing increasingly plores the captivating story of evidence relevant to human complex robots and completing the world's most desired metal. evolution with the help of ever more challenging missions. Extraordinary geological speci- Museum mice Wallace and mens, cultural objects, and in- Darwin, narrators of the book. Dr. Nebula's Laboratory: teractive exhibits illuminate Life with Lucy gold's timeless allure. ASTRONOMY PROGRAMS Sunday, 2/18, 2:00 p.m.

Cold is organized by the American NEW! Twinkling Stars What would it be like to live, Museum of Natural History, New York Tivo Tuesdays, 2/6 and 13, work, and play with Lucy, a (www.amnh.org), in cooperation with The Houston Museum of Natural Science. 4:00-5:30 p.m. (Ages 4-6, three-million-year-old human

This exhibition is proudly supported by each child with one adult) ancestor? Come join Dr. Neb- The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, with additional support from Classroom activities and obser- ula's apprentice, Scooter, as she American Express* Cold Card. vations in the Hayden Planetar-

ium Space Theater reveal the

The Butterfly Conservatory stars above and the ancient sto-

Through May 28. 2007 LECTURE ries and traditions that have fol- %?-. Visitors mingle with live, free- Death by Black Hole: And lowed them through the ages. flying butterflies in a tropical Other Cosmic Quandaries \Stawu environment. Tuesday, 2/13, 7:00 p.m. NIGHT!5 Neil deGrasse Tyson introduces Yellowstone to Yukon readers to the physics of black fiJAZl&TAPi

Through February 18, 2007 holes by explaining just what p

Spectacular photographs em- would happen to your body if Rose Center for Earth phasize the diverse flora, fauna, you fell into one. He explores and Space and geology of the Yellowstone these "and other cosmic quan- to Yukon wildlife corridor. daries" in this entertaining and Sets at 6:00 and 7:30 p.m.

This exhibition was developed by informative talk. the American Museum of Natural Friday, February 2 History's Center for Biodiversity and Arturo O'Farrill Conservation in concert with the ADULT WORKSHOP Ensemble Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative The 7:30 set will be broadcast live on Bead Workshop and the Wilburforce Foundation and is WBCO|azz88.3FM "Light echo" illuminates dust made possible by their support. Additional by Samuel Thomas around a supergiant star. 1 generous support provided by the Sunday, 2/18, 12:00 noon- z Woodcock Foundation. > y.oo p.m. NEW! Frosty Adventures =1 GLOBAL WEEKENDS Both East African bead winding Sunday, 2/4, 11:00 a.m- African-American Heritage and a similar technique used by 12:30 p.m. (Ages 4-5, each child 1 1 A ' U Month: Dedicated to Dunham the Iroquois will be demon- with one adult) and 1:30-

Sunday, 2/25, 1:00-5:00 p.m. strated in this workshop with 3:00 p.m. (Ages 6-7, each child

A day of performances, work- Iroquois beading artist Samuel with one adult) shops, and symposia celebrate Thomas and Munuve Mutisya, Imagine what it would be like to Destination Space: HAYDEN PLANETARIUM Cosmic Collisions was developed in col- Astrophysics PROGRAMS laboration with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science; GOTO, Inc., Tokyo, (For 2nd and yd graders) TUESDAYS IN THE DOME Japan; and the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Made possible Have you ever wondered what it Virtual Universe through the generous support of CIT. would be like to live, work, and The Grand Tour Cosmic Collisions was created by the American Museum of Natural History travel in space? Join others who Tuesday, 2/6, 6.30-7:30 p.m. with the major support and partnership share your interest in astro- of the National Aeronautics and Space physics and learn more about This Just In... Administration's Science Mission Directorate, Heliophysics Division. the universe. February's Hot Topics Tuesday, 2/20, 6:30-7:30 p.m. SonicVision Robotics Fridays and Saturdays,

(For 4th and

your own robot to explore an Tuesday, 2/27, 6.30-7.30 p.m. take viewers on a ride through unknown planet using Lego fantastical dreamspace.

Mindstorms robotics kits and LECTURE Presented in association with MTV 2 and in collaboration with renowned computers. The Road to Reality artist Moby. Monday, 2/5, 6.30-7.30 p.m. Roger Penrose of Oxford Uni- Lucy, an early human ancestor versity highlights his account explores the mystery, myth, and of theoretical physics that does science of our earliest not shirk its mathematical ancestors. foundations.

This program is made possible, in part, by an anonymous donor. HAYDEN PLANETARIUM AMNH ADVENTURES: SHOWS WINTER CAMPS Cosmic Collisions Monday-Friday, 2/ig-2j, Journey into deep space—well Astronaut Michael Gernhardt is g:oo a.m.-4:oo p.m. attached to the space shuttle beyond the calm face of the Forfurther information, please Endeavour's robot arm during night sky—to explore cosmic a spacewalk. call 2i2-y6c)-5758. collisions, hypersonic impacts that drive the dynamic forma-

tion of our universe. Narrated Earth's Moon was created by INFORMATION by Robert Redford. a "cosmic collision." Call 212-769-5100 or visit www.amnh.org.

TICKETS AND REGISTRATION

Call Galileo Thermometer 212-769-5200, Monday-Friday, 9:00 a. 171.-5:00 p.m., ^ or visit www.amnh.org. A service charge may apply.

All programs are subject to change. As winter deepens across much of the country, track the cozy AMNH eNotes delivers the latest information on Museum climate indoors with this programs and events to you monthly via email. Visit elegant version of a www.amnh.org to sign up today! device originally a conceived by Galileo in the 1600s. Housed in a cherry-wood stand, colorful spheres encased Become a Member of the in glass rise and fall, American Museum of Natural History indicating the ambient temperature of the room. Call our You'll enjoy many valuable benefits, including unlimited free Personal Shopper a general admission, discounts on programs and in shops, 1-800-671-7035 subscriptions to Natural History magazine and or shop at our Members' newsletter Rotunda, and much more! www.amnh.on i© For further information, call 212-769-5606.

THE CONTENTS OF THESE PAGES ARE PROVIDED TO NATURAL HISTORY BY THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. Top: Stamen cells in the small pink flower of a Tradescantia plant undergo cytoplasmic streaming, the movement of organelles along microfilaments. The "tracks" show the organelles' paths. The image is magnified 700x. Above: Sensory hair cells (green) of a mouse's utricle, 550x. an organ of balance in its inner ear, appear in an image magnified Above middle: Longitudinal section of a rat fetus reveals its humanlike anatomy, including its tongue (blue), heart (green), and liver (right of in the heart, in blue). The image is magnified 3x. Above right: Cartilage lOOx. ventral fin of a turfaot, a flatfish, is shown in an image magnified Right: Regenerating bag cell neuron, which helps initiate the reproduction of a hermaphroditic sea slug (Aplysia californica). Thin projections called filopodia (pink), protruding ahead of the leading edge of the neuron (yellow), enable the cell to move. The image is magnified 300x.

64 NATURAL HISTORY February 2007 Screw-on cap • Platinum-plated fittings • No two Maestro pens are exactly alike

.2 5 a-ZD ra :J3jawe!Q wui 981-/981. :paddeo . swbjd" 1.9/09 IU&om • wiu 9917891- :pajsod • ww n/H E PREVI

Anita Studer

saved the Atlantic Forest in northeast

Brazil.

ENVIRONMENT

Sanoussi Diakit6

created a system for easy preparation of fonio, an African staple food.

TECHNOLOGY COULD YOU TAKE THE NEXT SMALL

Lonnie Oupre

undertook the first STEP FOR MANKIND? summer crossing of the Arctic.

EXPLORATION

Kikuo Morimoto

revived traditional

silk fabrication in rural Cambodia.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

Teresa Manera de Bianco

preserved prehistoric #'*. animal tracks j at a unique South r\ f American site.

SCIENCE

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