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Scientific American COSMOLOGY SUSTAINABILITY NEUROSCIENCE The Puzzle of Climate Refugees The Brain’s Dark Energy of Syria Garbage Disposal MARCH 2016 ScientificAmerican.com MYSTERY HUMAN Enigmatic bones found in South Africa are stirring a debate about our origins © 2016 Scientific American MARCH 2016 VOLUME 314, NUMBER 3 50 EVOLUTION SUSTAINABILITY 28 Mystery Human 50 Syria’s Climate Refugees A trove of enigmatic bones Farmers who have escaped the found in a cave in South Africa battle-torn nation explain how has stirred up a long-simmering a drought, among other things, debate about our origins. drove them away. By John Wendle By Kate Wong BIOLOGY Duke University Duke COSMOLOGY 56 Editing the Mushroom 38 The Puzzle Precise gene-editing tools may of Dark Energy soon yield improved crops. Will the Mercyhurst University University Mercyhurst Why is the universe expanding public accept them or label them at an accelerating rate? After Frankenfoods? By Stephen S. Hall two decades of study, scientists GEOLOGY still don’t have an answer, but 64 Anatomy of the question is much clearer. a Mass Murderer By Adam G. Riess and Mario Livio Epic volcanic explosions are NEUROSCIENCE behind most of Earth’s mass extinctions. By Howard Lee 44 Brain Drain FILES WERE DOWNLOADED FROM WWW.MORPHOSOURCE.ORG WWW.MORPHOSOURCE.ORG FROM WERE DOWNLOADED FILES ON THE COVER Our most complex organ BIOLOGY Skull of new human species Homo naledi was maintains its own internal 66 The Cellular Compass virtually reconstructed from fossil fragments garbage-disposal system for From insects to mammals, a small belonging to several individuals. In this artist’s University of Zurich; Zurich; of University toxic wastes. The cleanup set of genes and proteins controls conception, which is based on a 3-D image file ritual happens while we sleep. the orientation of cells and tissues. released to the public by the discovery team in South Africa, blue indicates areas for which fossil By Maiken Nedergaard By Paul N. Adler material has not been recovered. COVER ILLUSTRATION SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, HEATHER GAVIN GAVIN HEATHER WITWATERSRAND, THE OF UNIVERSITY SOURCE: ILLUSTRATION COVER AND PETER SCHMID and Steven A. Goldman and Jeremy Nathans Illustration by Bryan Christie. Photograph by John Wendle March 2016, ScientificAmerican.com 1 © 2016 Scientific American 4 From the Editor 6 Letters 10 Science Agenda The states, not insurance companies, should set the quality of health care. By the Editors 11 Forum New measures to halt the use of antibiotics in animal feed have no teeth. By Keeve Nachman 12 Advances Low oil prices undermine carbon capture and storage plans. Europe heads to Mars. Fukushima’s cleanup 11 drags on. Chemists measure a transition state’s energy. 23 The Science of Health Parenting skills are the key to bridging the health gap. By Michael Marmot 26 TechnoFiles Can a universal cable end the cord war? By David Pogue 72 Recommended The power of pollination. Slavery’s environmental effects. Major health contagions. By Clara Moskowitz 73 Skeptic Political bias troubles the academy. By Michael Shermer 12 74 Anti Gravity Mustaches outnumber women in med school leadership positions. By Steve Mirsky 75 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago 76 Graphic Science All Earth’s species form a circle of life. By Mark Fischetti ON THE WEB Cabinet of the Universe Scientific Americanexplores astronaut/video game developer Richard Garriott’s unique artifact collection documenting the history of the universe. Go to www.ScientificAmerican.com/mar2016/universe 72 Scientific American (ISSN 0036-8733), Volume 314, Number 3, March 2016, published monthly by Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc., 1 New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, N.Y. 10004-1562. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post International Publications Mail (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40012504. Canadian BN No. 127387652RT; TVQ1218059275 TQ0001. Publication Mail Agreement #40012504. Return undeliverable mail to Scientific American, P.O. Box 819, Stn Main, Markham, ON L3P 8A2. Individual Subscription rates: 1 year $39.97 (USD), Canada $49.97 (USD), International $61 (USD). Institutional Subscription rates: Schools and Public Libraries: 1 year $72 (USD), Canada $77 (USD), International $84 (USD). Businesses and Colleges/Universities: 1 year $330 (USD), Canada $335 (USD), International $342 (USD). Postmaster: Send address changes to Scientific American, Box 3187, Harlan, Iowa 51537. Reprints available: write Reprint Department, Scientific American, 1 New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, N.Y. 10004- 1562; fax: 646-563-7138; [email protected]. Subscription inquiries: U.S. and Canada (800) 333-1199; other (515) 248-7684. Send e-mail to [email protected]. Printed in U.S.A. Copyright © 2016 by Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved. Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www.springernature.com/us). Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers. 2 Scientific American, March 2016 © 2016 Scientific American FROM THE EDITOR Mariette DiChristina is editor in chief of Scientific American. Follow her on Twitter @mdichristina er ancient members of our human family, as well as what they Looking to might mean for H. naledi’ s behavior. For instance, H. naledi may have been intentionally disposing of its dead in the cave, a sup- position backed up by the lack of sizable animal bones, which the Rising Star would suggest predators or other factors at work. Turn to page 28 to begin a fascinating journey into our intriguing origins. We humans are many, but we are also one. Species, that is. For much of our evolutionary ENTRIES OPEN history, however, members of With a mission to help foster the young researchers whose work our family of ancestors, the will improve the world through the process we call science, the hominins, trod the planet at Google Science Fair opened for entries on February 17. Now in the same time. Piecing togeth- its sixth year, the annual competition is for students around the er how and where these differ- world ages 13 through 18; each entry can be by one student or ent species arose and lived up to three as a team. Scientific American is a founding partner, from fragments of bone has and I serve as the chief judge; other partners are Lego Education, always seemed an astonishing National Geographic and Virgin Galactic. challenge to me. The Scientific American Innovator Award recognizes work in This issue’s cover story, “Mystery Human,” by senior editor basic research topics, as well as the behavioral sciences, with Kate Wong, explores a recent puzzle from a cache of enigmatic a cash prize of $15,000 to be put toward the students’ studies, fossils found in a cave in South Africa outside Johannesburg,­­ a trip with a guardian on a Scientific American/Bright Horizons called Rising Star. The bones of a new species, Homo naledi, rest - cruise, a year of mentorship to advance the winning work, and ed nearly 100 feet below the surface, in the “Dinaledi chamber.” digital access to 170 years of Scientific American’ s archives for the The expedition to find them in­­volved steep climbs and squeez- winners’ schools for one year. The submission deadline is May 17. ing through passages as tight as eight inches across. In total, sci- The global finalists will travel to Google headquarters in entists have recovered more than 1,550 specimens from at least Mountain View, Calif., for the awards event on September 27. 15 in­­dividuals—so far. Tantalizingly, the bones combine primi- Read about past winners at www.ScientificAmerican.com/ tive and more modern traits. Therein lies a series of provocative education. For more, go to www.googlesciencefair.com. —M.D. claims and debates about the relation of the new species to oth- BOARD OF ADVISERS Leslie C. Aiello Kaigham J. Gabriel Christof Koch Martin A. Nowak Terry Sejnowski President, Wenner-Gren Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer, President and CSO, Director, Program for Evolutionary Professor and Laboratory Head for Anthropological Research Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Allen Institute for Brain Science Dynamics, and Professor of Biology and of Computational Neurobiology of Mathematics, Harvard University Laboratory, Salk Institute for Roger Bingham Harold “Skip” Garner Lawrence M. Krauss Robert E. Palazzo Biological Studies Co-Founder and Director, Director, Medical Informatics and Director, Origins Initiative, Dean, University of Alabama at Michael Shermer The Science Network Systems Division, and Professor, Virginia Arizona State University Birmingham College of Arts and Sciences Publisher, Skeptic magazine Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech Arthur Caplan Morten L. Kringelbach Carolyn Porco Michael Snyder Director, Division of Medical Ethics, Michael S. Gazzaniga Director, Hedonia: TrygFonden Leader, Cassini Imaging Science Professor of Genetics, Stanford Department of Population Health, Director, Sage Center for the Study Research Group, University of Oxford Team, and Director, CICLOPS, University School of Medicine NYU Langone Medical Center of Mind, University of California, and University of Aarhus Space Science Institute Michael E. Webber Vinton Cerf Santa Barbara Steven Kyle Vilayanur S. Ramachandran Co-director, Clean Energy Incubator, Director,
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