theGIST Issue 16-Networks

THEGIST

GLASGOW INSIGHT INTO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NETWORKS

ISSUE 16

SUMMER 2022

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Is Blockchain worth the Hype?

By Gulpreet Kaur Chadha Gulpreet Kaur Chadha provides an insight into Blockchain, a great technology that has immense potential to revolutionize the digital world, but it should be embraced with caution, and one should think things through as it could also lead to techno‐determinism.

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lockchain, as a technology, has been very controversial from the beginning. Even now, people don’t fully understand it and associate it with cryptocurrency, unaware of its true value. Blockchain was introduced to the world in 2008, in the form of Bitcoin’s backbone by Satoshi Nakamoto (1). In 2018, it was listed as Cognizant’s top “Biggest let-downs of 2018” but once, it was considered as the “future of everything” (2). So, what changed? In today’s world, blockchain is being used in multiple industry verticals, specifically in areas where trust and security are required to coexist together, and therefore blockchain has always been considered as a technology that has the potential to take us to the New Age of Digitalisation. This article intends to throw some light on the same.

The idea of blockchain was first introduced to the world as the backbone of bitcoin, the cryptocurrency. In simple terms, blockchain is made up of two main components: the distributed ledger and the consensus algorithm.

The public distributed ledger is a database with copies held by all participants of the blockchain network. The consensus algorithm of the blockchain is its Unique selling point as it can influence changes in data and choose the decision rules that enable a new entry to be added in the public blockchain. Hence, a blockchain is basically a public database that is consensually shared and synchronized across multiple sites, and is accessed by many people, and it uses a consensus algorithm to achieve an agreement about adding data to the block.

It ensures reliability in the network. Blockchains are of two types: public, which is the basic decentralised version where each parti-

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cipant has access to content, and private, where only approved members have access.

The type of blockchain being used by an organisation depends on the transparency required by the organisation.Therefore, it shows that blockchain is a shared, and non-changeable ledger that helps organizations and individuals record and store details about transactions.The key elements of a blockchain are distributed ledger technology, immutable records, and cryptographic functions. It can create value for businesses with its unique traits of security and immutability, thereby adding a source of trust.

The idea of blockchain was first introduced to the world as the backbone of bitcoin, the crypto‐ currency.

Blockchain is rightly considered to be a fascinating data structure that has a lot of hype around its concept and applications in various domains. As mentioned above, blockchain has the potential to revolutionise the digital world, and monetise and unlock the digital values that are hidden yet. It can also have a massive social impact and lead human interactions with a new perspective. The main reasons that led to blockchain gaining massive attention were its key features of trust, uncensored repositories of data and information, no location barriers, distributed ownership, immutable and irrevocable data, and cryptographic signatures. Any system that used blockchain was guaranteed authenticity and authoritativeness. Therefore, it can be

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rightly said that blockchain has the potential to impact the world at large, and change how we live, work and interact with others.

Due to its unique features of security and trust, blockchain fits many use cases in a diverse range of industries. Initially, blockchain was believed to only enable the creation of cryptocurrencies, but since then, it has also been believed to transform entire industries.

The global blockchain technology market is estimated to accumulate $20 billion in revenue by 2024. Currently, the financial sector accounts for more than 60% of blockchain’s worldwide market value and this number is believed to grow even more soon. Other key industries that use blockchain are supply chain industry, healthcare, real-estate and retail (3).

Blockchain is being used in the banking and finance industry to serve a range of purposes, such as executing international payments, improving capital markets, and conducting trade finances. It is also well-suited for tracking realtime goods and can be an asset for the supply chain industry. As healthcare is becoming more and more digital with every passing day, blockchain can help connect medical devices and interlink patient data. Blockchain could also be used in the real estate industry to help verify finances, reduce fraud using encryption, and offer transparency in the buying and selling process. Media companies have also started using blockchain to eliminate fraud, reduce costs, and protect Intellectual Property (IP) rights of the content. Also, blockchain can be used to execute energy supply transactions. Another key aspect of blockchain is implementing smart agreements in the form of smart contracts, and blockchain based Internet of Things (IoT), however all aspects of these areas still need a lot of research to be undertaken. Blockchain's potential as a decentralised method of record

Blockchain is rightly considered to be a fascinating data structure that has a lot of hype around its concept and applications in various domains.

keeping is nearly limitless. The technology, thus, has the potential to transform industries, and it can be incorporated in various business methods ranging from voting, government, education, information storage, contract exchange, healthcare to facilitate change and enhance businesses.

Cryptocurrency is one way of incorporating blockchain in a business, but it's not everything. Of course, it provides the users with an immutable database, source of trust, and a way of securing data but that’s not all a blockchain has to offer. Blockchain is much more than just the fuel behind bitcoin, but for this technology to be used to its full potential, in-depth research needs to be conducted to gain a better understanding about the implementation of blockchain applications. There is a lot more work to be done before the technology can fulfil its promises. Blockchain systems have weaknesses in many domains, and that makes mass adoption of blockchain a farfetched idea. The technology faces various challenges in the form of data privacy and security, implementation costs, scalability, and insufficient knowledge of blockchain. Blockchains are only as secure as their weakest link, causing a threat to privacy of the entire chain.

The complete transparency that is offered by blockchain, is not always a good idea as the data of customers and partners would be exposed. In terms of scalability, the larger the blockchain, the more the vulnerability, and the redundancy of blockchain makes it hard to scale. The core concept of blockchain, decentralisation, leads to there being no central authority to enforce law and order in the network. Blockchain technology uses more energy than any other type of centralised sys-

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tem. Not only does its redundancy require more power than a typical centralised cloudbased system, but its transaction validation mechanism also plays an important role.There are always some significant technology costs associated with adding blocks. Also, in most cases the blockchain tasks can be met by using some cheap alternatives, therefore it’s not the answer to all problems and should be used where the specific system needs are being met by the key features of blockchain. In the future, blockchain is expected to grow tremendously with IoT (Internet of Things) being the key driver to the proliferation of blockchain. Last few years have been quite interesting for blockchain technology, both in terms of adoption and mainstream acceptance. Many institutions had taken a step forward to become part of the ecosystem but incorporating blockchain is not that simple.

Using blockchain is a very slow process and has scalability issues. It requires high energy consumption, is inefficient, and expensive.

Blockchain is also difficult to maintain as each user needs to maintain their own wallets or else, they may lose access. This technology, in my opinion, is still not mature enough and has a long way to go before it gets standardized.

The main reasons that led to blockchain gaining massive attention were its key fea‐ tures of trust, uncensored repositories of data and information, no location barriers, distributed ownership, immutable and irre‐ vocable data, and cryptographic signatures. equate knowledge about blockchain and time requirements. Many organisations may want to implement the blockchain technology, but it is important to consider and understand the boons and banes it is offering.Whether or not blockchain is right for an organisation depends on if the benefits outweigh the cost. Nonblockchain based systems that offer centralised systems will always be cheaper, faster, easy to implement and maintain, and less secure.

But, if a blockchain-based decentralised system is offering the security needs and transparency a business requires, then blockchain is the right choice! The key lies in figuring out what works the best for an organisation.

Now, to answer a major question: “Is blockchain really worth all the hype and attention that it is getting?” The answer is not that simple. There are a lot of things to consider when using a blockchain-based platform, starting from making sure that you have ad-

Specialist edited by Aqib Ahmed, copy edited by Claire Thomson

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Penny for your thoughts: the science of daydreaming

By Hazel Imrie Join Hazel in letting your mind wander into the How and Why of daydreaming, and find out why the Default Mode Network is a name to remember.

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hat goes on in your mind when it wanders to what you’ll have for tea; to memory fragments of Last Night; or just to a pit of nothingness where your focus is anywhere but the lecture you’re trying so hard to concentrate on?

And is this daydreaming useful? Could it even be an indication of intelligence or creativity? In the words of psychologist Eric Klinger, “These desultory concoc­ tions [(daydreams)], sometimes unob­ trusive but often moving, contribute a great deal to the style and flavour of be­ ing human. Their very humanness lends them great intrinsic interest; but bey­ ond that, surely so prominent a set of activities cannot be functionless.” In­ deed, it seems that daydreams, and the brain networks that underlie them, serve many vital purposes. But what are these networks, and how did we discov­ er them?

In 1929, Hans Berger first proposed that our brains are always active, even during rest and sleep, and that this baseline activity may be just as import­ ant as that which occurs during con­ scious thought. Recent research has taken this one step further with the dis­ covery of a close­knit network of brain

Recent research has taken this one step further with the discovery of a close-knit network of brain regions called the Default Mode Network.

regions called the Default Mode Net­ work. Interestingly, misdevelopment of this network may also increase an indi­ vidual’s risk of developing a wide range of disorders, from autism to depression.

What is the Default Mode Network?

The DMN is a series of highly inter­ connected brain structures that spans the entire brain, and is thought to con­ trol daydreaming, autobiographical memory, and future conceptualisation.

As the name suggests, it is activated when we enter ‘default/automatic mode’ — that is, when we do not focus on the task at hand, but instead passively al­ low our minds to follow an internal train of thought, unrelated to external sensa­ tions. Conversely, it is deactivated by goal­directed activity and deliberate thought. It has also been suggested that the DMN mediates empathy and several social behaviours. Read more about the DMN here (1). So, how exactly does the DMN control daydreaming, or any of its other functions? First it’s important to understand how the DMN brain regions communicate with each other through brain waves.

How does the Default Mode Net­ work communicate?

The DMN brain areas all emit low fre­ quency brain waves called ‘alpha waves’.

These brain waves are specific patterns of disturbances in local electrical fields around neurons caused by the rhythmic neural activity in the brain. When neur­

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ons are at rest, they are negatively charged relative to the extracellular brain environment. However, when they are activated, positively charged mo­ lecules flow into the neuron at one end (the cell body), which creates a charge difference between the now positive cell body, and the still negative neuron tail (the axon). This charge difference (called polarisation) disturbs the elec­ trical fields that exist all around us. The neurons thus cycle between rest (fully negative) states and active (polarised) states. Importantly, when they are at rest, they cannot be activated. As many neurons of the cerebral cortex (the out­ er, functional layer of our brain) are parallel to each other and fire at the same, specific times, their cyclic activity creates large, rhythmic disruptions in the electrical fields which look like si­ nusoidal waves. We can see these waves in the electrical field by placing elec­ trodes on a person’s scalp (a technique called electroencephalography), as seen in the image below. To find out more about the different brain waves seen in humans, see here (2). The type of wave observed in the DMN during rest is an alpha wave ­ a wave with low frequency and high amplitude. Importantly, if neurons of one brain area send signals to neurons in another brain area, in­

Simplistically, it can be said that the DMN conjures thoughts that don’t pertain to the immediate environment during rest or well-rehearsed tasks (...), and therefore allows for ‘freedom from immediacy’. formation will only be exchanged if the receiving neurons are cycling with the same pattern, and at the same time (al­ pha for the DMN). Thus, the DMN con­ trols which of its regions are communicating by altering the timing of their alpha wave patterns, allowing for tightly regulated information exchange.

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How does the Default Mode Net­ work mediate daydreaming?

Simplistically, it can be said that the DMN conjures thoughts that don’t per­ tain to the immediate environment dur­ ing rest or well­rehearsed tasks (e.g., you’re doing dishes, but thinking of what you want for dinner), and there­ fore allows for ‘freedom from immedi­ acy’. This means that we needn’t think about every action we take, allowing us to ‘conserve’ attention for unfamiliar or difficult tasks and permits subconscious cognitive processing and daydreaming.

Why is daydreaming important?

There are many articles that claim daydreaming has different functions; some accurate, some less so. Generally, it is thought that it mediates future­ planning, reconciliation of past (partic­ ularly autobiographical) experiences with current sensations for decision making, organisation of thoughts, and creativity. Interestingly, social cognition, the ability to analyse and predict the feelings and behaviours of others, is seen to involve the same DMN areas that are active in daydreaming.

Moreover, the content of a person’s day­ dreams is thought to change over time in adaptation to new social environ­ ments, to involve people they are close to and to become less fanciful as they settle into such new social contexts.

Therefore, some researchers have pos­ ited a link between daydreaming, learn­

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ing social cues, and socialisation — however, whether this link is causative or correlative is debatable.

Aside from social functions, a study showed that pilots, who were required to constantly divert their attention between mentally demanding tasks, had increased DMN activity, resulting in a long­term increase in cognitive perform­ ance. Thus, the DMN, and by extension daydreaming, may also play a role in cognitive processes like problem­solving and triaging tasks for importance. To read more about this study, visit (3).

The Default Mode Network, day­ dreaming and neurodivergence Of course, excessive daydreaming and ‘freedom of immediacy’ can become a problem, specifically in impairing your ability to complete goal­directed tasks, such as studying for a test. Disrupted daydreaming and DMN activity is also thought to contribute to the pathology of several neurological disorders, including depression, obsessive compulsive dis­ order, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s dis­ ease, and autism. For example, improper development of the medial prefrontal cortex, a key DMN area, has been linked to the over­attentiveness of some autistic patients to environmental stimuli, or to their difficulty to integrate social cues with previous experience, making social situations more challen­ ging. Similarly, the medial temporal lobe, another DMN region, is one of the

Moreover, the content of a person’s daydreams is thought to change over time in adaptation to new social environments... first to be affected in the progressive brain damage seen in Alzheimer’s, and could serve as an early marker for the disease. To find out more, visit (4). These links are, however, still correlative, and causation is yet to be evidenced. For now, the DMN remains a promising route for research, and only time will tell for the role of the DMN in such con­ ditions, and whether it can be manipu­ lated in treatment.

So, how does daydreaming work? It’s complicated. But it seems that the De­ fault Mode Network, a chain of inter­ connected brain areas that communicate via specific brain waves, is important.

Not only does the network mediate day­ dreaming, but it may have a role in so­ cial behaviour, attention, and cognitive tasks. Consequently, many disorders in­ volve the DMN, and research continues to further our understanding of its im­ portance, and how we can use it in treatments.

Copy Editor: Rachel Shannon Specialist Editor: Fathima Afsal

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Some propose that science will never be able to solve the hard problem of consciousness, as it is deeply rooted in personal experience.

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The present consensus is that conscious perception likely arises from the synchronous activation of neurons in the brain.

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Maybe, in the distant future, someone still trying to crack open the hard problem of consciousness may laugh at our current, ludicrous, models of consciousness, seeing them as adorable (almost child-like) ideations from ignorant and naive times.

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Are you flirting with me?

How the environment shapes insect sexual signals Swipe right for a fun and flirty insect that vibrates to attract attention ;)

By Eleanor Gourevitch Specialist edited by Patience Asanga, copy-edited by Claire Thomson

Communication is key Most of us have experienced the importance of communication in our relationships.

We’ve recognised the importance of spelling out what we want and how we want it. Similarly, for a chance at mating, insects must have an effective means of communication.

Often, their communication lines cover long distances and carry with them sufficient personal information to woo their mates.

Insects covey all sorts of information in their signals, which can be audible, chemical or tactile, including their sex, developmental stage, mating status and their suitability as a mate. These signals travel over long or short distances depending on the signalling method used. However, as many people on Tinder find, securing a mate goes beyond sending out signals. For insects, finding mating partners is largely dependent on the signal’s efficacy. Signals used in sexual communication have evolved to maximise efficient signal transfer, either reaching as many mates as possible or efficiently reaching that one special insect (1). Let us take you

through some of the main signals used by insects to find the perfect mate.

Chemical signals Most insects communicate using chemical signals. They use these signals to attract mates, ward off predators or signal where there is food. Chemical signals, which can be both long-distance and intimately close, play specific roles in sexual selection (2). For instance, pear sucker bugs produce semiochemicals that indicate the sex of the bug, thereby reducing same-sex mating (3).

Sometimes, chemicals released by other organisms create mating opportunities for insects. Like in the case of the broad bean plant, which releases volatile chemicals that attract the European tarnished bug. This chemical provides a vital mating opportunity for these bugs by cluttering them together on the plant (4).

Stridulation Stridulation is where one part of the body is rubbed against the other to produce sound usually by using a “scraper” and a “file”. It is a very common form of long-range communication in insects.

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The songs produced during stridulation are highly complex and are used to communicate throughout courtship and copulation. Stink bugs and assassin bugs produce enough songs to communicate a full relationship. Each song is unique and bears information on location, acceptance, rejection and rivalry during courtship (5), (6). While sound production helps insects to find their perfect mate, it has its drawbacks. Auditory signals sometimes expose insects to predators and might be compromised by interference with other songs in the environment, decreasing the effectiveness of their tune. Imagine trying to hum Taylor Swift and someone blasts Red Hot Chili Peppers, you wouldn’t know what to focus on. However, some bugs have adapted to overcome this. A good example is the stink bug. When two individuals call at the same time, males and females change the time parameters of their call to increase the frequency difference and avoid confusion (7).

Abdominal vibration These vibrations travel along the substrate that the individual is perched on; hence, it is a shorter range communication, one that is safe from eavesdroppers (8), (9). This method of communication is commonly found in smaller and softer insects that have a higher cost of sound production and might not be able to form sound-producing organs (10). Vibrations are produced by rapid tremulation, releasing energy and creating waves, or percussive vibration, actually beating the substrate with the abdomen or wings. The success of this signal depends on the substrate as the wrong substrate could dampen the pathway and decay the signal. Harlequin bugs often live on cabbage, broccoli or kale plants (11). The veins in these plants

carry the vibration signals more efficiently than the head of the plant, and harlequin bugs are even able to estimate how far away the signaller is by the strength of the vibrations. As vibrations make no noise and don’t travel far, they are often safer from eavesdroppers than with other forms of communication, but not always. The parasitoid wasp can trace the female stink bug’s vibration signals to her eggs (12). In water, vibration signals cause ripples, sending out signals to rivals mates and predators.

Water striders have a special sense organ that can distinguish between the ripples of a predator and that of a potential mate; it’s very useful for avoiding dangerous situations (13).

Antennation Antennation is the grooming of a partner with antennae during courtship and mating. This form of communication is involved in the detection of chemical odours, localisation of vibratory signals, grooming and physical restraint during copulation. Because of the wide range of behaviours they can be involved in, antennae have evolved into complex shapes specific to their use. For instance, the antenna used to receive chemical signals are often larger and more filamentous than other types of antennae (14), (15). When close to an insect, antennation can be used in shortrange communication, including tapping, vibrations and stroking (16). This behaviour assesses an insect’s quality as a mate and their willingness to mate. It can also initiate mating. For instance, a male leaf-footed bug will gently anten-

Insects covey all sorts of information in their signals, which can be audible, chemical or tactile (...)

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nate the female’s head, antennae, and abdomen with his antennae and front legs during courtship as a sign that he wants to mate and in response she allows the male to mate with her (17).

Some antennae are used in a more aggressive style of mating. Water striders antennae are wrench shaped with a spike that fits into the female’s groove, allowing him to hoist himself onto her (18).

Patterns in the patter Insects will find that the success of the signal that they send out will be impacted by their environment, which determines how well signals travel and are received. Insect behaviour, morphology and environmental factors such as climate, seasons, habitat structure, predators and prey determine how well signals travel and are received. Tailoring communication signals to specific environments has created behavioural diversity across many different species; however, there is a pattern. A broad pattern was discovered in an analysis of different types of habitats occupied by 76 families of True Bugs (Heteroptera) and the types of sexual signalling they used (19). It was discovered that insects living on plants are more likely to use vibrational signalling, like stridulation

or abdominal vibration, as are insects that live in water as the properties of water favour vibrational signals. Also, cryptic species, for instance, hidden in tree bark and leaf litter, are more likely to use chemical signals that can keep them hidden. Cryptic insects are more likely to use antennation than others.

Insects will find that the success of the signal that they send out will be impacted by their environment, which determines how well signals travel and are received.

For some of these signals, it is easy to see how they would arise under specific environmental conditions. For instance, vibrations travel easily through the water making it a perfect form of communication for this environment. However, sometimes the link between the signal and the environment is more difficult to see. But patterns CAN be found. Understanding how the environment shapes sexual signalling is important as our planet becomes more and more disrupted by climate change and this may be vital for the survival of species and their sex lives.

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By Andrew Cook How eight nations are paving the way for a peaceful future in outer space.

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n the 1960’s, at the height of the Cold War, the USA and the USSR were in the midst of a heated technological race for control over mankind's future in outer space. Fearing the issues that could arise from countries moving into the final frontier, the United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union collectively drew up a treaty to establish some rules in the previously lawless territory. The “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.”, which, thankfully, is better known as the more succinct Outer Space Treaty, was presented by the trio in 1967 and quickly backed by the United Nations. The Treaty, which has since been signed by a further 110 parties, instituted a number of basic rules. For instance, Article II established that nothing in space could be claimed by a country; Article IV stated that no weapons of mass destruction could be kept or deployed from orbit; and Article VI made clear that nations would be held responsible for the actions of private corporations in space, among other significant tenets.

The problem with the Outer Space Treaty was that it has always been considered only a minimum set of guidelines and since its inception, several further problems have arisen around it. Moreover, there have been a number of cases where countries have been able to work around the writings of the Treaty, particularly as technology has developed and the Treaty itself has become more and more dated. Together, these issues have paved the way for a new set of laws, The Artemis Accords.

Accords are a newly-drafted set of laws and guidelines (...), which aim to start a new age of international cooperation in the exploration of our universe

Following the recent surge in interest in space exploration due to prominent NASA missions and private industry spaceflight, it became clear that the guidelines of space law needed to be updated. In late 2020, NASA and the U.S. State Department revealed the Artemis Accords, building upon the goal of their 2017 launched Artemis Program, which aimed to put the first woman on the moon by 2025. The Artemis Accords are a newly-drafted set of laws and guidelines, firmly rooted in the thoughts and ideas of the Outer Space Treaty, which aim to start a new age of international cooperation in the exploration of our universe. These new accords are primarily focused on making our journey into the great unknown one that is truly for all of humanity, and ensuring that it is not held back by politics or geography. The Accords consist of 12 sections which ensure that this age’s treaty is written with humanity as a collective in mind. This idea is present throughout almost all of the Accords, with Sections I and II noting the benefits of peaceful space travel for all of mankind and stating that it aims to, “establish a common vision via a practical set of principles”.

Moreover, Sections IV through VI consider the necessity of cooperation among different agencies which will, “enhance spacebased exploration, scientific discovery, and commercial utilization”. Other Sections aim to ensure that our actions in outer space remain both peaceful towards each other and inflict the least possible harm on the stellar bodies we seek to understand.

The first countries and respective agencies signed the Accords in October 2020 and, in addition to the USA themselves, represent their historical allies (Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates and the UK). Since then, the draw of the Artemis Accords in

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furthering technological advancements as well as building and solidifying diplomatic bonds across the international community has been clear. An additional ten parties, in chronological order, have signed the agreement — Ukraine, South Korea, New Zealand, Brazil, Poland, Mexico, Israel, Romania, Bahrain and Singapore. Upon signing in Singapore only last month, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remarked that, “It’s amazing how much worldwide commitment for this effort has grown over the past year and a half and I can’t wait to see what the coming months bring as additional countries sign on to join our quest for peaceful exploration of space under Artemis.”

Despite the steady increase in international interest, not all of the news around the Artemis Accords has been positive.

There are still a number of nations and agencies who have not signed in support of the Accords, and while some may be on their way to doing so, Russia (a prominent spacefaring nation) has been missing from the Artemis Accords and has been vocal

Regardless of how the Artemis Accords are received internationally, it is clear that they will play a pivotal part in how humanity spends the next decades of space-based exploration about its reasons for this. Dimitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, claims that parts of the Artemis Accords are too “US centric” for Russia to consider taking part. The Artemis Accords are almost entirely written and defined by the US, which is a major difference between them and the meticulously negotiated spacefaring treaties of the past. The idea that this newer treaty may simply be a work-around for other previously written agreements is a significant deterrent for a number of potential members such as France and Germany. Particularly, the fact that the original eight founders are a mix of natural allies and smaller agencies could be a troubling sign of the US’s true intentions with the Accords. Russia has long since been a major part of the world's joint space

Caption: Logos of the 18 agencies that have signed the Artemis Accords. - Source: NASA

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efforts since the end of the Cold War, with the Russian Soyuz capsule carrying astronauts to the International Space Station since 2011. Their use of Soyuz cost the US around 80 million dollars per launch, and with the collaborative project of the International Space Station planning on coming to an end by 2024, the future of US-Russian joint space efforts are tense. The US’s reservations towards working with China are also straining their relationship with Russia, as the two eastern nations have been increasingly vocal about their interest in furthering space based research programs as a duo. However, the real reason for Russia’s absence from the Accords has been questioned. Current relationships between the US and Russian space agencies are strained to say the least. US trade sanctions on Russia, implemented as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, are sure to “degrade

If all goes well for Artemis, it will be the beginning of a new age of space travel

cords is true cooperation for the benefit of the human race. At a press conference shortly after their reveal, NASA Administrator at the time, Jim Bridenstein, stated, “What the Artemis Accords are really about is coming up with those foundational principles that we all agree on so that when we go explore these worlds together, there’s commonality.” He also added that, “The whole purpose of it is to prevent misperceptions.”

The start of the Artemis missions that the Accords are named for are closer than ever, and with the first planned test flight of the lunar bound rocket scheduled for this August, their writings are ready to be put to use. If all goes well for Artemis, it will be the beginning of a new age of space travel.

Regardless of how the Artemis Accords are received internationally, it is clear that they will play a pivotal part in how humanity spends the next decades of space-based exploration.

Want to know more about the Artemis Accords? Visit (1) for their history, latest news, and to read the Artemis Accords themselves. Or have a read of the original Outer Space Treaty at (2).

their aerospace industry” according to President Biden, who spoke on the issue in February. There have also been claims of corruption at the top of Roscosmos for years. Regardless of the cause, it is clear to all involved that the absence of Russia, as well as other well established space agencies such as those in China, Germany and France, proves a significant problem to international acceptance of the Accords. In the hope of quelling doubts, NASA wants to ensure that the focus of the Artemis Ac-

Much of the Artemis Accords focus on humanity’s expansion towards our moon. Licensed under CC by 2.0.

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Tackling the mysterious 8%: A new chapter for human DNA

By Jennifer Ann Black In 2022, scientists now have the most complete genome of Homo sapiens in history. How did we get here? Jennifer investigates.

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The DNA double helix structure

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n almost every single one of the ~37 trillion cells in the human body (1), there exists a simple (genetic) code made up of four chemical units. This code, called deoxyribonucleic acid or ‘DNA’, is a combination of these four units (‘bases’): Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C), and Guanine (G).

Most of the DNA in a cell is stored as structures called chromosomes which can be found inside the nucleus. In fact, about 2 m of DNA is twisted up into a tiny space of around 10 µm in diameter! (2). DNA itself is made of these four bases (A, T, C and G) chained together like a twisted up ladder which scientists call a DNA double helix. The two sides of the ladder are joined by chemical interactions between these bases: A pairs with T and G pairs with C (3). To be precise, we know about ~ 3 billion of these bases are paired up inside each human cell; collectively called the ‘genome’ (4).

Hidden within our DNA is an astonishing amount of instructions used to make a human being from scratch. And, at the simplest level, depends upon these 4 DNA bases. From eye colour (5) to the shape of your ears, it’s all in there somewhere.

However, some of the information hidden away in our genetic code may also tell us a lot about diseases of the human body. For example, why some individuals become sick with diseases like cancer and others don’t (6).

But to really understand what each instruction does and how instructions go wrong, and in some cases cause disease, we need a way to read and interpret all the information within. Yet it’s only really in the last 20 years scientists have been able to do this, and still about 8% of our DNA code was missing (7) until recently. Here,

we will investigate the dawn of the human genome and how we have finally (?) completed the human instruction book.

The dawn of the human genome If we imagine life before the internet, instructions could be found in books stored within libraries; catalogued for you to find what you need. Each of our cells also, like a library, contains a vast amount of information. Up until the 90s, scientists only had some of the instructions, relying on summaries of one line here and there, published for other scientists to read and investigate what the instruction is for. Over time the accessible information expanded, and the known content of the library grew, revealing a vast amount of information. But still, the true view of the library was obscured. Nobody had complete access. And nobody was able to index the contents alone because there was simply so much information. At the time, suitable technologies to do this cheaply and efficiently were still under development. Once the technologies and resources became available, a project was conceived, the core of which centered on a simple question: why not complete the human genome?

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Two groups embarked on tackling this momentous task independently: the Human Genome Project (HGP), a worldwide group of scientists hailing from ~ 20 countries across the globe, and Celera Genomics, a private company originally headed by influential biotechnologist Dr. J. Craig Venter (8). Both took different approaches to solve the same problem, and ultimately in 2001, two drafts of the human genome emerged from each consortium, within one day of each other. The HGP published their work in the scientific journal Nature (9) and Celera Genomics in the journal Science (10). Approximately 13 years since its conception, the HGP declared completion in 2004, ending over a decade of work, and Celera Genomics a few years earlier. Since their publications, scientists all around the world have extracted the previously untouchable information contained within the human genome library leading to incredible advances in our understanding of what it takes to make a human (at the genetic level). Importantly, and as was hoped, our understanding of how diseases of our DNA, like cancer, develop has rapidly improved. Now scientists can even check for changes to single bases

in the DNA sequence and how they may contribute to increased cancer risk (11)].

But if our genome was so ‘complete’, then why do it all again?

In reality, our genome was never ‘completed’ in the early 2000s, but was only ‘essentially complete’. To understand why we have to look at how the original genomes were built. During the HGP, scientists cut up human DNA into lots of smaller pieces. These pieces were inserted into bacteria, which grew lots of copies of these different fragments. The fragments were removed from the bacteria and cut up again into even smaller pieces, loaded onto a

In reality, our genome was never ‘completed’ in the early 2000s, but was only ‘essentially complete’. machine (a sequencer). Then the order of the As, Ts, Gs, and Cs were read for each fragment. Using computers, scientists then stuck all the pieces back together, and bingo, human DNA. Celera genomics used an approach called ‘shotgun’ sequencing.

Like the HGP, the DNA was broken up into many smaller pieces. However, these smaller pieces were then not given to bacteria.

Instead, they were sequenced on a sequencer, and computers were used to look for overlapping bits i.e presumably they came from the same DNA region. Where they matched, the overlapping bits acted like ‘glue’, sticking the two pieces of DNA together until essentially the whole DNA sequence was finished. Over time, the human genome was updated and updated, improving the quality (12). But still, around 8% of mysterious DNA remained; that’s about 300 million unknown DNA bases!

(13).

These missing regions were problematic.

They all looked pretty similar: the same

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bases in a chain or similar patterns of bases repeated over and over and over again. And though in the 2000s, both scientists and software alike worked tirelessly to resolve ~ 92% of the genome, these repeated regions confounded the best. The problem was the short pieces of DNA that were needed for the sequencing. This meant there wasn’t always enough information around the repeated DNA sequence for either the program or the human to decide exactly where it should go. Unfortunately, some of the missing information was important. For instance, the smaller ‘arms’ of five chromosomes were missing. Scientists were also struggling to understand how the centromeres looked. Centromeres are important because they are the sites on chromosomes that hold together the two pieces (chromatids) that form when the original DNA is copied. They are anchors for the machinery needed to separate the two chromatids when the mother cell divides into two daughters. Some diseases are linked with this process, like Down’s Syndrome (or Trisomy 21), where people have one extra copy of chromosome 21 (14).

Understanding the sequence of this DNA may give clues as to why this happens.

Using this approach, the T2T consortium, on the final day of March 2022, published the complete sequence of a human genome in Science.

So birthed the Telomere-2-telomere (T2T) consortium, a community of scientists, coled by Drs Karen Miga and Adam Phillippy, set on uncovering the true nature of these missing regions and (finally) completing the genome from one end of each chromosome (the telomere) to the other (15). Their work, unlike the HGP and Celera Genomics, was made possible by rapid advances in sequencing technologies and better software.

Nowadays, some sequencing machines can sequence longer and longer pieces of DNA. These ‘long-reads’ i.e very long pieces of uninterrupted DNA sequence, are much easier to work out which bit overlaps with what as there is simply more information around mysterious repeating regions to make the decision; effectively solving the ‘repeat’ problem. Using this approach, the T2T consortium, on the final day of March 2022, published the complete sequence of a human genome in Science. A final total of 3.055 billion base pairs with almost no gaps (16).

What did they find?

This new genome (“T2T-CHM13”) now contains the missing information: 5 chromosome arms, centromeres, and telomeres (sequences of DNA to protect the ends of chromosomes). All of which are very repetitive regions of our DNA. Even in the short space of time between the genome being published and now, thousands of potential avenues to investigate further have opened.

Some of these previously missing pieces may aid in how the body defends itself against infections, why we have big brains, developed brains and there may even be new ways we could target cancer hidden amongst the many repeated DNA bases (17) (18) . Interestingly, this new genome may even help us understand better how humans age. Current research suggests longer telomeres are associated with longer life.

And now, with improved telomere sequences, scientists can delve deeper into the roles of these important DNA structures (19).

What surprised many, however, was the lower number of core instructions (or ‘genes’) than previously thought were needed to make a human. This may mean that though we use a comparably smaller core instruction set that forms the founda-

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tion, more complex alterations, and interactions, occurring in ways we do not yet understand, may really shape who we are and what our bodies become. Continuing work on the human genome will reveal more in the coming years.

So now the genome is complete. Are we done yet?

No. This DNA sample came from a cell with one set of chromosomes (‘haploid’), forming when something went wrong. When egg and sperm met, a problem occurred, keeping only the sperm cell’s information. In this case, the sperm cell was carrying 23 chromosomes (humans have 46 or 23 pairs) including an X-chromosome. Genetically male humans have one X chromosome, and another called Y. The published genome misses both a complete T2T Y-chromosome and what is happening on the paired chromosomes. In reality, this genome is just a single picture. It comes from a special type of cell, at one point in time and space, from an individual that never came into existence. Though it is representative of humans, we know that DNA can change a lot over time and will vary from one person to the next.

What surprised many, however, was the lower number of core instructions (or ‘genes’) than previously thought were needed to make a human. you? Could we use our genomes routinely to find diseases before they start? Can we delay aging?

With technology becoming cheaper and faster, it could be possible in the not-toodistant future for everyone to have their genome sequenced and their library indexed. But what if we do find what affects intelligence, personality, cancer predisposition, and genetic disease? How is this information stored? Who do we share it with?

Can we deal with knowing ourselves and others on the genetic level? What happens when we find there is no treatment?

That said, what is so exciting about this new genome is exactly that-The unknown.

We are left with so many positive opportunities to advance our understanding of ourselves.

Beginning with the stories missed over the 20 years.

Copy Editor: Sridevi Kuriyattil Specialist Editor: Shona Richardson

The task for scientists now is to investigate what parts of this sequence represent us all and which parts don’t, but we need complete genomes, sequenced T2T, from a diverse population of humans across all areas of our vast planet to really understand this.

And what about genetic diseases, like cancers? What is the same and what is different? How can we apply this knowledge to make better decisions in the medical field for more effective, safer, and maybe even more personalized treatments? Will it be possible one day to make a drug just for 24

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Our thanks go out to the incredible artists from Comic Creators Club who contributed to this issue.

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