MIT's 2016 Celebrations: a Century of Calling Cambridge "Home"!

by E. Rosser

Killian Court, courtesy of web.mit.edu.
(Can you see why it's the Institvte?)

For a century’s worth of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Instivte (as they like to call their school--take a look at the famous inscription in Killian Court, and you’ll see why!) has considered Cambridge “home.”  It’s hard to imagine that one hundred years ago, MIT went by the nickname “Boston Tech,” rubbing elbows with Trinity Church and Boston’s Copley Square.  When the promising technical school started to outgrow its city dwellings, however, then-President Richard Cockburn MacLaurin, the MIT Corporation, and their few but fervent supporters began looking for a fresh start, finally deciding to erect their new campus on the open plots of Cambridge.

A Souvenir Program from the 1916 dedication,
courtesy of the MIT Archives

After an impressive architectural race to erect the “New Tech,” the heart of the new campus was ready for business in the spring of 1916--nearly 100 years ago.  The only buildings constructed at the time were the “main group,” Buildings 1 through 10 surrounding the Great Court, which was not to be renamed “Killian Court” until three decades later.  The Institvte’s new home was dedicated in style from June 12th to 14th, 1916, with a weekend of banquets, class reunions, picnics, tours, and a final ceremonial crossing of the Charles River in an elaborately decorated barge.  With that grand arrival, MIT officially relocated to Cambridge, spurring 100 years of innovation that have made the city the incubator of science and technology that it is today.

This spring, on the 100th anniversary of MIT’s momentous move to Cambridge, the MIT community plans to match the revelry of its predecessors with the MIT 2016 Celebration.  From February 29th to June 4th, the Institvte will remember its humble beginnings in Boston in 1861, explore the challenges of carving out a brand new home across the river, recognize the years of discovery and technological development that has been fueled on- and off-campus, and speculate what further adventures the future might hold.  Some of the events include:

• The  “Imagining New Technology” Exhibit at the MIT Museum opens on March 1st.  A brand-new exhibition highlighting the design of the new Cambridge campus joins other science, technology, and MIT history exhibits at the MIT Museum.  At the heart of the exhibit is a crowd-sourced 3-D printed model of the campus and its surrounding community, which will be dedicated by Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons and MIT President L. Rafael Reif.
• A special Celebration Concert by MIT Music and Theater Arts on April 2nd, 7pm-9pm, in Kresge Auditorium.  Enjoy not only performances by the MIT Symphony Orchestra, MIT Concert Choir, MIT Chamber Chorus, and members of the Chamber Music Society, but the unique architecture and excellent acoustic design of Kresge Auditorium--its roof is one-eighth of a perfect sphere!  This concert is free, so no advance tickets are required to attend.
• Explore all five tenets of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) at the Cambridge Science Festival from Friday, April 15 to Sunday, April 24--hosted at various locations around Cambridge!  This year marks two big anniversaries, since in addition to MIT’s Cambridge centennial, 2016 is the Science Festival’s 10th year.
• MIT opens its doors to the community during the Under the Dome MIT Open House on April 23rd.  Countless departments, research groups, clubs, and activities are putting their most exciting work on display.  From learning Creme Brulee Chemistry with the Educational Studies Group, to driving a robot arm with the Research Laboratory of Electronics, there’s something to fascinate everyone under the Dome!
• History will be recreated on May 7th during Moving Day, starting with the Crossing The Charles Competition.  The MIT and Cambridge community are invited to make the trek from Boston to Cambridge by bridge or by water, with Grand Marshal Oliver Smoot (MIT class of ’62) leading the procession starting at 2pm.  The multimedia presentation “Mind and Hand: a Pageant!” (echoing the famous 1916 pageant, “The Masque of Power”) will commence on Killian Court at 8pm, followed by an evening of community dance parties.

An artist's rendering of "The Masque of Power."  The Court was so full,
MIT was even selling tickets to watch from the roof and windows! Courtesy of the MIT Archives

The colorful history of MIT, the Cambridge area, and science and technology are wonderfully intertwined, and this spring’s anniversaries are the perfect way to weave your way through the fascinating threads of that history.  Come take a peek into a world-class lab, step into the shoes of an engineer, or just join in the festivities as we remind ourselves, just as President MacLaurin did in 1916, why we’re so proud to call our community “home”!

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Hello, everyone!  My name's Rosser, and I'm finishing up my last year at MIT--a place that has grown very near and dear to my heart over the years, so I naturally can't wait for the big celebrations!  I'm studying Science Writing and Mechanical Engineering, and trying to learn as much MIT lore and history as possible along the way.  Join me as I investigate some nifty questions about science and geek out about the upcoming Cambridge Science Festival!

TENacious Engineering: Celebrating TEN Years of the Cambridge Science Festival

By Marybeth Martello, Ph.D.

TEN years ago, in the Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council chambers, a whimsical, Rube Goldberg-inspired chain reaction launched the first Cambridge Science Festival. The MIT students who built the intricate machine stayed true to the well-known, playful humor of MITers; they used an oversized red sneaker to perform the Festival “kick off.” Since 2007, the Festival has carried forth the spirit and creativity of that first chain reaction. In fact, the Festival is a chain reaction. Through community building and public outreach, the Festival has triggered a decade of interest, excitement, and fun around STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics). The ripple effects of its growing programs have steadily extended the Festival’s geographic boundaries. While still thriving in Cambridge, the Festival now touches communities across the Commonwealth.

TENacious Engineering is a project to celebrate the Festival’s TENth Anniversary. Inspired by the first kick-off, TEN teams, spanning the state from North Adams to Cape Cod, have been hard at work constructing TEN original and fascinating chain reaction machines. And these aren’t any old teams. They each reflect unique partnerships linking college departments, museums, organizations, high

schools, K-12 students, artists, and engineers. The machines echo the people, places, and collaborations from which they emerge. And there will certainly be some surprises. Billiard balls, pink flamingos, and drones – oh my! On the evening of April 15, at the Festival's Big Ideas for Busy People event, Governor Charlie Baker will unveil a short film. In this film, the chain reactions will count down to the Festival's TENth Anniversary opening via a meta chain reaction that links all TEN machines together. Machine TEN will set off machine nine, and the chain reaction will proceed in sequence until machine one sets off the Festival itself. Watch closely. You might even catch a glimpse of that red sneaker!

The MIT Museum team was the first to complete their chain reaction (see photos). The other nine TENacious Engineering teams are working, largely in parallel, with little knowledge about what the other teams are doing. They must, however, coordinate the exit and entry points that link neighboring machines in the meta chain reaction. What will the chain reactions look like? How will they all link together? We can’t wait to find out! In subsequent CSF blog posts, we will check in with these teams and learn about their chain reaction experiences. 

Were you at the State House for the first Festival kick-off?

What do chain reactions mean to you? 

Try your hand at chain reactions and other engineering feats at one of these Festival events...

Music at the Cambridge Science Festival!

Hello, Everyone!

My name is Shantasia Jones and I am currently a senior at the Community Charter School of Cambridge. I am currently interning with the Cambridge Science Festival. I find what they do here absolutely astounding because I get to see the different functions of the MIT Museum and how the festival operates. I am truly grateful to have this opportunity of interning at the Cambridge Science Festival because I know that science is all around us on our journey of everyday life, and to learn more about it makes me so excited.

One of my personal passions is music - What is the purpose of music? What does it mean for us? What does it mean for the listeners, the audience? As for me, I always listen to music whether I'm doing my homework, on the train, or even doing laundry. Music creates a mood. It gives you a creative mind outlook!

But wait, before I get too deep in my thoughts, let me explain the basics on how we are able to hear music. Sounds are different noises that come together to create energy that soon turns into an array of vibrations. In order for this process to end up being successful, you will always need to have air. Conveniently, we breathe in air so that will never be a problem. The formula for sound can be viewed as an equation: Energy+Vibrations+air = Sound, but if you eliminate air from the equation you get Energy+Vibration-air = No sound. Perhaps no human life as well? Just kidding!

Anyways, the air around you carry the vibrations, which is why air is so essential.
The creativity found with a music note would be lost without science. New science and technology allows me to carry music around with me, allows me to listen to new styles and music from all around the world and different cultures.

Most importantly to me, music puts me in a state of mind where I can think. While listening to music, I feel anything is possible! Music gives me space to imagine and create. For example, if you were listening to the sounds of waves you might imagine a seabird in its natural habitat by the seashore. This could bring you further curiosity and questions about sea-life and biology. Without curiosity and questions, the science would be meaningless.

If you were to listen to music with a harsher beat, the harsher sound could connect to a different mood, leading you to imagine a lion in the wilderness chasing its prey. Or, perhaps, a techno beat illustrates how far music production and digitization has come in the last century.

Music has an impact on individuals minds that can open doors to an extravagant world in science and technology.

Try it, turn up your music, and see what comes to mind. Don't forget to buckle up because it might be a crazy ride or come hang out with us and experience what your brain has to offer!



Here are some of our Cambridge Science Festival events about MUSIC!
Youth Balinese Gamelan Workshop
Soundscience Fun!
Giants of Science
Science, Music, and the Art of Creative Thinking
Harbinger of Spring

See full Schedule of Events here.

Red Dwarfs: A Planet’s Favorite Host

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ From the NASA Art Gallery "Planets Under a Red Sun" depicts 3 planets orbiting around a red dwarf star. 

By Paola Salazar

For about as long as civilizations have existed, mankind has wondered one question: are we alone? Is there something out there in the stars that’s like us?

While we can’t really speak on the existence of any alien civilizations or lack thereof, we can now, at the very least, safely say that planet formation around stars in and of itself is not uncommon. In fact, there are now over 2,000 confirmed planets, and around 5,000 candidate planets.

Prof. Andrew West/bu.edu

Boston University’s Andrew West, an associate professor in the Department of Astronomy who focuses his research on the stars that most commonly form these planets. These stars are known as red dwarfs or M-dwarf stars. Prof. West teaches a course on these exoplanets, called “Alien Worlds,” and has participated with other organizations to bring the science of stars and planets to the forefront of public attention. For example, his “Alien Worlds” course was brought online so that 11,000 people around the world could take it (so far anyway, with only two sessions having been complete), running an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit, where he answered dozens upon dozens of questions that the public had related to science, astronomy, and his particular research within it.

On Monday, Professor West and his amazing crew of past and current graduate students appeared before an audience of about 120 people at The Burren, a bar in Somerville. The talk was part of a series of discussions programmed by Science in the News, a student group coming out of Harvard University and fellow science aficionados from other universities. SITN organizes events at the Burren with local researchers, giving scientists and the public a unique opportunity to learn about science in a relaxed, fun and less structured venue (find out more here). They also run other events throughout the city with the overarching aim of getting people more involved in STEM-related issues.

As you might be able to guess, this particular session was focused on red dwarf stars, some of the smallest, low-mass stars in the universe. Prof. West, with his background, was one of the prime people in the area for getting the public to better understand these stars and the environments that host exoplanets, particularly, ones like ours.

“About 20 years ago, we might be having a conversation about the eight planets that we knew of at the time,” he said, “But at this point, there’s been a giant revolution, really within the last few years, and we now know of over 2,000 confirmed planets...with at least one planet per star.”

West noted that this is a huge statement, because in our galaxy alone, there are around 100 to 200 billion stars! Knowing that there are other planets, we are beginning to find ones that are in what astronomers dubbed the “habitable space,” or Goldilocks zone. This is referring to the planets location around the star that it relates to. If a planet is too close to its sun, its temperature and environment are too extreme and volatile for life as we know it to exist, whereas if it’s too far from the sun, then it’s too cold for life to exist, because everything is frozen over.

Astronomers are starting to zoom in on such planets, to look for the tell-tale signs of life as we know it on earth—they look for some of the most basic elements necessary for our brand of life, such as nitrogen and oxygen. One thing they noticed when they began finding more and more planets, is that a lot of the smaller planets tend to form around smaller stars, which is why some astronomers then focused on researching these stars themselves.

There are different kinds of stars, but of them all, about 70% of them are these smaller, cooler stars that are the red dwarfs. There are about 70-150 billion of them, and for each of them found there are about 2.5 earth-sized planets, with a quarter of them being within that habitable zone.

Because of their makeup and size, red dwarf stars also have a ridiculously long lifespan in comparison to more massive stars, because they’re less volatile, so any habitable planets around them have some time to actually at some point, perhaps hold life.

“For example, fast cars are like the most massive stars in the galaxy. They have an enormous gas tank, they go really fast, but they have really bad gas mileage and you have to refill all of the time,” West explained, because massive stars tend to explode in shorter time frames than less massive stars.

A slower car that may struggle to speed up, will have a tiny gas tank, but have great mileage, meaning you can go longer without having to refill. Keeping in mind that the universe itself is about 14 billion years old, red dwarf stars can be seen as sort of an extreme version of this sturdy car—they have life times that range from hundreds of billions of years up to trillions of years, so every single one of them that’s ever been born is still alive! So really, it’s no wonder that planets seem to preferentially form around these kinds of stars.

Prof. West said that the surge in planetary discoveries over the last few years is likely to continue as technology keeps advancing. He expects that within the next decade, we’ll be able to actually probe these planets and see if life, as it is here, is at all common out there on other planets.

Will you play a part in finding out? If you’d like to, Prof. West has some very important advice.

To anyone now struck with the desire to study these stars or really anything else in STEM-related fields, Prof. West said that the most important quality to have outside of the obvious qualities involved in the field you want to pursue, is writing. Why writing?

Oftentimes, communication can be what gets in the way of great research. Whether it’s for grant writing (how most scientists get their funding for their projects), for publications or for communicating with your own team, if you can’t write well and organize your thoughts in a way that’s easily understood, it ultimately gets in the way of your productivity as a scientist.

If it’s because of his communicative abilities that Prof. West is capable of getting his audience to be passionate and inquisitive about the stars and planets in our Milky Way, then we’re all for encouraging aspiring scientists to improve their skills.

And his advice isn’t just for show. “He was great at literally bringing galactic topics down to earth,” said guest Joseph Diaz, who didn’t seem at all surprised by this, noting Prof. West’s success both in the classroom at BU and online via EdX, Reddit and other media. Joseph also happens to be a volunteer with both SITN and the Cambridge Science Festival.

So, what say you? Ready to take off?

Paola is a Boston-based science journalist with a background in social and life sciences.

The (Science) Monster Mash!

By Paola Salazar

Want to do more than just trick or treat this year? How about making some gooey, weird, possibly tasty experiments that will give you some goodies to show off during Halloween weekend?

If you're interested, look no further! We scoured the world for some of the best creepy crawlies, smushy witches (that's right), and a few more activities that you and your family can do to have fun this weekend while still learning the science behind them.

1. Glow in the Dark Drinks & Ice: 

If your family is hosting a Halloween party, did they buy a blacklight? Do you just have a blacklight at home because you're cool like that? Well get ready to be cooler--with glow in the dark drinks. 

If you use it for the punch bowl, you can even add other accessories to the bowl for extra creepiness!

Tonic water can glow in the dark, giving the drinks you serve an eerie look. You can mix tonic water in several different drinks, whether they're adults-only or not. Click here for some tasty recipes! 

Also keep in mind, you don't have to use it in the drink itself, but can also make some ghostly ice cubes (try mixing in small googly eyes to give it an extra ghoulish look).

2. One Melted Witch Coming Up!

This is quite literally what it sounds like. Generally, what you do is get a large (gallon size at least) Ziploc bag, some fake eyes or googly eyes, something slimey/gooey in a large enough quantity to fill the ziploc bag, a small witch hat, black string, and whatever creepy things you think a witch would be made of, and stick all of the above inside the Ziploc bag. You can also double bag it, if you don't want mom to have a heart attack.

                                                      

If you want to spice it up a little more, you can use cooked pasta with green food coloring and throw that in as well--this allows for some great sensory exploration as well, adding to the squishiness and sliminess of the contents in the bag.

As for "something slimey/gooey," there are two ways you can approach this--you can use clear hair gel and get some green food coloring to make the hair gel have a green consistency for our melted witch, or you can make the slime yourself. 

This being a hub for young explorers and future mad scientists, we know many of you will likely want to make it yourself. So we've recruited Science Bob to give you the full instructions here! 

3. Creepy Howls

This one is simple, but fun because you may actually give someone a small fright! Purchase a nut from the closest hardware store and place it inside a regular balloon, then inflate it and tie it off at the neck. Hold the balloon by the knot and begin to swirl it around. As the nut whirls inside, it will begin making an eerie sound perfect for Halloween chills. You can up the freaky factor by getting a white cloth with two black circles drawn in for eyes and a bigger one for a ghostly mouth, cut a small hole at the center of the cloth and then poke the balloon's knot through it. Now they're ghostly moans!

4. Brains!!

While we can't get into super detail on this one due to the sheer number of possibilities that come with it, we couldn't resist sharing the find. There are molds for jello shaped like a brain!! While it may be too late to find one in time for Halloween, this mom shows that there are countless times and ways in which you can use this to play and learn. Our favorite is the play-doh brain, because you can easily use different colored play-doh to represent the different parts of the brain and make it a true learning activity. The full list is here! 

                             

5. Hands, Ice, and Creepies

Did you know salt can melt ice faster than it would melt on its own? We found a great way for you to find out, using the items below and some Halloween spirit.

You'll need some surgical gloves, Halloween trinkets small enough to fit inside the gloves' fingers and palm area, water, food coloring, salt (lots) and freezer space. Start filling in the finger space first, then place some slightly bigger items in the palm space. Fill the glove with water and mix in some food coloring. Tie off the base of the hand as securely as possible, then shake it up a bit (preferably above a sink) to get the color well distributed. You can mix different colors in and this way, discover the color they blend into as well. Once it's settled, put the glove in your freezer for the day.

                                                            

The next day, mix some food coloring with the salt. You can fill a bowl with it and throw in some creepies in there too, then with any tool with a scoop or outlet, begin glazing the gloves in salt and watch it work. You can make this a bit more fun by trying to dig out the different items you put inside the glove as the salt makes its way through the ice! See here for an example.

6. Spooky Eruptions

Because what's a science experiment without baking soda eruptions, am I right?

First, find a bin about the length of a keyboard, if not a bit longer, with a good width to it. Fill a layer of inch with baking soda  mixed with black tempera powder paint . You can toss in other food or slimy elements in as well (here they used black beans). Using Halloween cups or neon shot glasses, fill them with baking soda mixed with food coloring or Kool-Aid for good "fun" measure, Then, with a squeeze bottle filled with lemon juice, you can begin making some neat eruptions inside the bin!

7. The Thing!

Now for my personal favorite, the play-doh that wasn't. Or, rather, how to make play-doh that will only be solid while you're fiddling with it...and will have a mid-life crisis and "melt" in your hands if you stop.

You can find more detailed instructions here, but basically, you get to mix sand and corn starch with washable paint or food coloring, a bit of water, and then let it solidify. You can play with it, mold it, etc, but if you're still for too long, (you were warned) you'll be looking at a puddle of goo. 

If I were you, I'd put this muck inside of a pumpkin or , and have people stick their hands in it as part of a Monster Table--you know, the ones where you put things that have a funky feel to them in bowls and containers then have your guests blindfolded as they try to guess what's in the bowl!



Anyway, we hope that you and your families enjoy a super fun weekend filled with lots of candies, lots of exploring and hopefully, some in-season experiments! 

P.S. For mom and dad, we also got you a way to help get rid of the excess/old candy while steering clear of your child's tears: look here for some fun experiments using candy! 



Paola is a Boston-based science journalist with a background in social and life sciences.

The Blood Moon Super Moon!

                 

Flickr/ NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

By Paola Salazar

Families and friends across the globe were watching the stars and sky Sunday night, whether cozily on porches and balconies, in the streets, at museums or at observatories, for a view they won't get for quite a while--the blood moon super moon! We dare you to say that five times fast.

But among our curios explorers at the Cambridge Science Festival, some may have been wondering--what exactly causes a blood moon, what makes this one a super moon or just generally, what is this big red thing in the sky where our "normal" moon should be?!

Fear not, for we are going to break it down for these curious minds right here, right now.

If we pretend this is an equation, the layout is like this:

Super Moon + Total Lunar Eclipse = Blood Moon Super Moon

But before we get into the nitty gritty details behind that, first we need a briefer on how the moon moves.

The moon and Earth both have elliptical orbits, meaning they move around in a not-quite circular fashion. The Earth revolves around our sun, while the moon completes a revolution around the Earth every 27 or so days.

Now, moving in an elliptical orbit also means that the moon and Earth don't have a set distance between each other. The average distance between the earth and the moon is 384,600 kilometers.

However, the distance varies at two points in particular--the apogee and the perigee. While not exactly the same, this is generally like the shape of an egg--one side is "taller," or further away (the apogee), while the end opposite that is closer to the center, or the "perigee."

blog.nasa.gov

The other thing is, the moon doesn't create its own light, it simply reflects the light that hits it from the sun. As the moon changes position around the earth, the side of the moon facing us reflects a different amount of sunlight as the light bounces off the surface of the moon--this is why every month, you can see a difference in what the moon looks like when it's waning, waxing, full and a new moon.

The amount of light and shade of color that we see from the moon depends not only on the postion of the moon, but on the type of rays that hit the moon. This is a form of "filtering" of colors that occurs because of the particles in our atmosphere at the time of night.

Every so often, the alignment of the sun, moon, and Earth, and the type of light that hits the moon during these alignments, result in some really neat tricks that can be visible to the naked eye (although sometimes, we need to wear protective sunglasses to see it).

For example (check out this video!)...

The Super Moon

source: DeviantArt | Nope, not that kind of Super Moon.

When the moon is in perigree, and the closest to Earth that it ever gets, we see it bigger and brighter than ever! The moon, at a distance of 363,700 km away, appears to be about 14% bigger from our perspective, and about 30% brighter. The size and brightness of it is what led to astronomers dubbing it the super moon!

When the moon is the furthest away from Earth, or in apogee, it's at about 405,600 km away and is the smallest that we can see it, appearing dimmer because of it. For these reasons, when the moon is in apogee, we refer to it as a minimoon.


Total Lunar Eclipse (AKA Why was the moon red?)

AstroBob.com

 A total lunar eclipse occurs every two and a half years when the Earth is aligned right between the moon and sun. While you might think that because the Earth is bigger than the moon, the moon should be entirely dark, the reason we don't see that happening is because the sun is, of course, even bigger than the Earth!

What that means is that when the moon is caught behind the full shadow of the Earth, the moon will still have some  reddish rays hit it as they get bent by the Earth's atmosphere, but only those reddish tones because of the "filtering" in our atmosphere, as mentioned above (read here for more). 

Or, rather, "You're basically seeing all of the sunrises and sunsets across the world all at once being reflected off the surface of the moon," as Dr. Sarah Noble, a program scientist at NASA, said with the New York Times.

The Blood Moon Super Moon

What made last night's viewing especially awesome for spectators is that while a total lunar eclipse and super moon occur pretty frequently, a super moon that coincides with a blood moon has not occurred since 1982--that's 33 years ago! The next one isn't expected for another 18 years too. That's quite a long time ago, and quite a while until we get to see this again! 

Seeing something this unique last night gets people across generations and continents to look back up at the stars with wonder, Dr. Noble suggested, resulting in the birth of the next generations of future astronomers.

Will you be among them?

                           

NASA/Lauren Harnett/Wikimedia Commons

Food for Thought:

Ask your older family members if they remember seeing the blood moon super moon back in 1982--what were they doing when they saw it and who did they see it with?

What did you do to see the blood moon super moon last night?

The next one will be in 18 years. What do you think you'll be doing then? How do you think the world might be different 18 years from now? 

Paola is a Boston-based science journalist with a background in social and life sciences.

Homo naledi: A new Homo Species Shrouded in Mysteries

By Paola Salazar

Picture this: a woman covered head to toe in dirt and debris, her hair in a ponytail under a helmet, loose long clothing enveloping her lanky body, her hand reaching up to her cheek to wipe away sweat.

She’s wearing a helmet with a big bright flashlight attached to the front, and as she approaches a crack in the ground ahead of her, she switches the flashlight on. The fissure is about 7.5 inches wide, and is the entryway to a cave system that’s about 30 meters deep.

Robert Clark/National Geographic: Lee Berger’s daughter, part of the excavation team (left). Paola Salazar/Facebook/American Association of Physical Anthropologists: The FB announcement from Lee Berger (right).

This is one of the “underground astronauts” who flew to South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind when in 2013, paleoanthropologist Lee Berger announced the need for researchers who could fit into the cave entrance of what would then be known as the home of a newly discovered extant species related to modern humans, the Rising Star Cave. 

It’s through her and a team of five other female explorers that two years later, Berger was able to announce last Thursday that after two excavations, the results of their efforts was a whopping 1,550 hominid bones--hominid meaning humans and their fossil ancestors--and what’s more, that these fossils were attributed to at least 15 members of a new species, Homo naledi.

The researchers say that the species had a brain about the size of an orange, stood about 5 feet tall, and weighed about 100 lbs. They've also revealed more on its anatomy within their paper, published on the journal eLife.

Homo naledi/Witswatersrand University

But first of all, what exactly is a paleoanthropologist?

A paleoanthropologist is someone interested in studying, finding and/or analyzing modern human’s ancestors--human-like creatures known as hominids that, depending on how old they are, may still have some ape-like features.

Hominids come in two different genera, which is the general name for species or animals that are more closely related to each other than to other species--like how dogs are related to wolves and cats are related to wildcats under the same genera--Canis and Felis, respectively.

Depending on which anthropologist you ask, there are generally two genera for human ancestors: Australopithecus, for earlier and much older ancestors, and Homo, for the more recently extinct species and the current species, Homo sapiens. While paleoanthropologists have currently discovered numerous species related to humans, in each of the different species groups, they don’t have very many individual examples of each.

This is part of what makes the Rising Star Cave so unique--15 individuals were found! Not only that, but they found some that were children, some that were adults and even the elderly.

During the excavations back in late 2013 and early 2014, Berger and his research team shared much about the process of the excavation. They also provided an exciting day-by-day number count of the amount of bones being collected that started wowing interested parties across the globe from the very beginning (see the NatGeo blog here).

Most researchers will only release such information over time or with the actual publication itself, which can take years. However, Berger and his fellow researchers on the analysis and excavation teams strongly support open scientific communication with the public.

Still, he left one very important question unanswered: what was it? Was it a close relative to humans? Was it an australopithecine?

And now that Berger finally revealed the identity of Homo naledi...he then left many new questions for us to ponder!

So we at the Cambridge Science Festival tried getting some answers from one of the researchers, former Boston University professor, Jeremy DeSilva, who is now an associate professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

One of the new bits of mind-boggling information we got from Berger was the suggestion that the cave itself, being so far deep into a larger cave system (see here) was actually being used as a burial site by Homo naledi during its time as a living species.

    National Geographic: The fossils were found in the Dinaledi Chamber--look how far down that is!

National Geographic

DeSilva explained that while this idea was the first of its kind for species this old (since most signs of purposefully burying the dead are about 100,000 years ago), it was the only one they could seem to fit with the evidence they have so far.

“The thing is, with cave sites, we can usually tell what the caves are used for. For example, if there are signs of bite marks on the bones found and if we find bones of other animals that are not hominids, then we know it was likely a dump site for predators. Here, we really only found Homo naledi--that’s it.” Any animal bones found were higher up within the cave system.

He also said that there was sedimentation between each different fossil group that they found, meaning that after revealing one set of bones, the next set of bones would be another layer or two of digging below.

To top it off, there’s also ways of telling if the bones got there by natural causes like landslides, or perhaps rain carried sediment further down the cave system, and the bones traveled with it. Again, there was no sign of this on the site!

Another odd thing about the site was that they weren’t able to date when Homo naledi was actually walking around on land, which is information that’s highly important for researchers trying to figure out the significance of the discovery.This is again because of the fact that Homo naledi was found by itself, or isolated, from other signs of life during its time.

See, having the bones of other animals would mean that the researchers could analyze those bones as well, trace where and when in time that animal was alive, and be able to tell from there when Homo naledi was alive.

But because there were no animals found with the Homo naledi fossils, and because cave dirt and mud is very hard to analyze for dating purposes as well, the researchers won’t be able to date Homo naledi until they’re done analyzing its bones and can “sacrifice” one to someone on the team who can analyze the bone directly to date it.

“When this guy was walking around makes a big difference,” DeSilva said. “If it was older than 2 million years old, then it could be the earliest member of the Homo genus; if it’s around 2 million years old then it’s adding to the collection of cousins to modern humans; and if it’s younger than 1 million years old then that’s huge, because it could mean that earlier versions of modern humans weren’t the only ones walking around at the time,” DeSilva explained, since right now, that is what human evolutionary history suggests.

Still, DeSilva said that going by its anatomy, he does not think Homo naledi would be younger than 1 million years old--though he admits he’d be excited if it was.

Aside from the significance of when exactly they were alive, something else that’s intriguing about Homo naledi is that whenever it is that they were walking around, they actually walked around with features that were still somewhat primitive (more ape-like), which is odd for something that has so many human-like features.

For example, their shoulders and slightly more curved fingers suggest that they were still much better at climbing than we are now. Were they climbing in trees or through caves? Was it for shelter or to escape predators?

That’s also unknown, unfortunately, according to DeSilva, who specializes in the functional morphology (how and why bones look the way they do) of foot bones and the lower limbs. He said there aren’t enough studies on the biomechanics of cave or rock climbers--meaning we don’t fully understand the range of motion that cave/rock climbers use, or what kind of forces they exert on their bones, or how those forces affect the shape and density of their bones after years of climbing in that way.

DeSilva said that while the big reveal has just happened now, they’ve already spent the last year focusing on more detailed analyses related to how Homo naledi lived: how it walked (this is what he and a few others are working on), what it ate, trying to see if they can recover any DNA, and more.

While they work towards better defining Homo naledi, the release has brought criticism from other researchers as well, due to disagreement on whether or not Homo naledi is actually a new species or an addition of specimen for an already known early Homo species.

The research team welcomes the criticism though, and has even made the fossils available online (link at the bottom) to anyone wanting to see the fossils out of curiosity or out of the desire to find evidence for whatever is believed to be incorrect in their conclusions. They did this because in addition to their open-access mentalities, they realize that some of the conclusions they made after careful consideration of what was discovered are hard to wrap our heads around--burials, new species, its features, dating, etc.

“There’s no doubt that this is a significant find,” DeSilva said. “But without the date, we can’t fully tell just how significant it is.”

“It absolutely questions what makes us human,” Lee Berger said in an interview for CNN, “And I don’t think we know anymore.”

Berger, his fellow researchers, and South African leaders and government officials suggest that one of the more important aspects about the discovery is that it introduces or reignites people’s interest in human origins, field work, and science in general across generations.

Speaking to a group of high schoolers for the World Science Festival, Berger said younger generations are crucial to making even more discoveries not just in technology, but out in the open.

“We need [these] generation[s] to get out from behind those computers and start exploring,” Berger said, “Even areas where we think we know what’s there, because there are still things to be discovered.”

Want to see the actual bones? Click here!

For more on Homo naledi, the researchers, and the excavation, click here!

Want to see and read more on how hominids move? Catch more info from Prof. DeSilva here!


Paola is a Boston-based science journalist with a background in social and life sciences.

More on the Brain: How Do Our Brains Control Our Bodies?

By Paola Salazar

[“El Jaleo” by John Singer Sargent, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA.]

12-year-old Amanda Kelly asks how it is that one organ (the brain) can control an entire body’s functions and motions. Again, the MIT student group Communicating Science provided an answer for us.

The brain is made up of a vast number of special communication cells called neurons that carry signals around the body. The brain has a sort of special highway of neurons that carry instructions directly to your spine. This is the spinal cord, where motor (for motion) and sensory (for feeling) nerves branch out.

[http://www.headbacktohealth.com/dictionary.html]

From the spinal cord, the motor signals are sent out to your muscles, where they release tiny signal molecules called neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters cause your muscles to contract, leading to motion. 

We don't really understand how the spinal cord knows which signals to send to which muscles, though - these kinds of questions remain open for the next generation of scientists, like yourself!

For anyone wanting to read more on what we know about how the brain controls movement, click here! 

Paola is a Boston-based science journalist with a background in social and life sciences.