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< Back to Issue 8 Fungal Pac Man by Ksheerja Srivastava 3 June 2025 Edited by Rita Fortune Illustrated by Esme MacGillivray We live in a world where a fungus would probably beat you at Pac-Man. While playing, the average person just follows the dots, but fungi are playing a whole different game. Despite no central brain, they navigate complex mazes, optimise routes, and even communicate across vast networks. To do so, fungi use such efficient strategies that scientists are studying them as a means to improve everything from city planning to biosensors. Nature has been perfecting pathfinding long before we put a quarter in the arcade. The elongated bodies of fungi, known as mycelia, build vast and complex networks. These structures emerge from natural algorithms - specifically, a process called collision-induced branching (1). In this process, new growth divides into new paths upon meeting an obstacle. When fungal hyphae hit a wall (literally or figuratively), they don’t just stop; they branch out, adapt, and keep moving. Traditional path-finding algorithms like Depth-First Search (DFS) or Breadth-First Search (BFS) methodically crawl through paths, moving step by step without reacting to obstacles (2). Fungi, on the other hand, adjust on the fly, often landing on the most resource-efficient routes way faster. Imagine reaching a junction in Pac-Man and instead of choosing just one path, Pac-Man splits into two, each clone taking a different route to cover more ground. This is exactly why fungal networks often end up looking eerily like optimised transport systems, such as railway lines or power grids! (3) Some fungi aren’t just clever in how they grow - they can quite literally compute. Certain species, like Basidiomycete fungi, communicate through spikes of electrical activity pulsing through their mycelial networks, processing information in ways surprisingly reminiscent of neural systems (4). What makes them even more intriguing is their hypersensitivity to the world around them. These organisms can detect subtle shifts in their environment - both chemical and physical. It’s like they’ve memorised every path they’ve taken, so when a new pellet appears on the far side of the board, they don’t need to search blindly. They already know the fastest way there, no matter where the original Pac-Man started. Endophytic fungi, fungi that live inside plants without causing harm, have been used to create biosensors - devices that can detect environmental contaminants like pollutants or pesticides (5). When these fungi encounter harmful chemicals, they react, making them perfect for monitoring things like toxins in the environment. Scientists have even developed yeast-based biosensors to specifically detect chemicals like tebuconazole, a common pesticide (6). Fungi don’t stop at chemistry and computations. It turns out they’re mechanically perceptive too. In one study, oyster fungi incorporated into fungal insoles responded to compressive stress, hinting at applications in wearable tech or even seismic sensing systems (7). Mycelium-based composites also exhibit unique patterns of electrical activity as moisture levels shift, making them promising candidates for humidity-responsive technologies. As if that weren’t enough, some fungi have the incredible ability to glow in the dark, a phenomenon known as bioluminescence. This natural light can be harnessed in special sensors, which use the glow to indicate the presence of specific substances. Essentially, when the fungi detect certain chemicals, they light up, providing an easy way to spot pollutants or toxins (8). These properties make fungi wildly efficient. No random turns, no wasted loops, just constant feedback powering smarter decisions. They know where they’ve been, sense what’s coming, and find the fastest route every time. It’s Pac-Man with a built-in optimisation engine, and that’s exactly how fungi behave in the wild. How well do you think you’d do against this version of Pac-Man? Probably not great. Let’s face it: they’re not only outsmarting us, they’re doing it with no brain at all. As we look toward smarter and more sustainable technologies, fungi might just be the key to a new era of bio-inspired computing and environmental monitoring. Researchers are already tapping into their natural brilliance to create more efficient systems for everything from biosensors to sustainable materials. The next time you see a mushroom, remember: it’s not just a fungus, it’s part of a vast, intelligent network playing the ultimate game of survival, one optimised move at a time. In a world where efficiency and adaptability are paramount, fungi might just be the unsung heroes we need to help us solve some of the biggest challenges ahead. References Asenova E, Lin HY, Fu E, Nicolau DV, Nicolau DV. Optimal Fungal Space Searching Algorithms. IEEE Trans Nanobioscience. 2016 Oct;15(7):613-618. doi: 10.1109/TNB.2016.2567098. Epub 2016 May 13. PMID: 27187968. Hanson KL, Nicolau DV Jr, Filipponi L, Wang L, Lee AP, Nicolau DV. Fungi use efficient algorithms for the exploration of microfluidic networks. Small. 2006 Oct;2(10):1212-20. doi: 10.1002/smll.200600105. PMID: 17193591. Asenova E, Fu E, Nicolau Jr DV, Lin HY, Nicolau DV. Space searching algorithms used by fungi. InBICT'15: Proceedings of the 9th EAI International Conference on Bio-inspired Information and Communications Technologies (formerly BIONETICS) 2016. European Alliance for Innovation. Adamatzky A. Towards fungal computers. Interface focus. 2018 Dec 6;8(6):20180029. Khanam Z, Gupta S, Verma A. Endophytic fungi-based biosensors for environmental contaminants-A perspective. South African Journal of Botany. 2020 Nov 1;134:401-6. Mendes F, Miranda E, Amaral L, Carvalho C, Castro BB, Sousa MJ, Chaves SR. Novel yeast-based biosensor for environmental monitoring of tebuconazole. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 2024 Dec;108(1):10. Nikolaidou A, Phillips N, Tsompanas MA, Adamatzky A. Reactive fungal insoles. InFungal Machines: Sensing and Computing with Fungi 2023 Sep 17 (pp. 131-147). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. Singh S, Kumar V, Dhanjal DS, Thotapalli S, Singh J. Importance and recent aspects of fungal-based biosensors. InNew and Future Developments in Microbial Biotechnology and Bioengineering 2020 Jan 1 (pp. 301-309). Elsevier. Previous article Next article Enigma back to

Thinking of joining the OmniSci committee? We spoke to Aisyah, who incorporates her love for design into illustrations, events and social media at OmniSci, and shares her advice for those interested in getting involved (just do it!). Aisyah is a designer and Events Officer at OmniSci in her final year of a Bachelor of Science in geography. For Issue 4: Mirage, she is contributing to social media and as an illustrator. Meet OmniSci Designer & Committee Member Aisyah Mohammad Sulhanuddin Aisyah is a designer and Events Officer at OmniSci in her final year of a Bachelor of Science in geography. For Issue 4: Mirage, she is contributing to social media and as an illustrator interviewed by Caitlin Kane What are you studying? I am studying the Bachelor of Science in geography, now in my final year. Do you have any advice for younger students? It’s alright to not know what you’re doing. But on the flipside, if you do feel you know what you’re doing, be very aware that could change in the next few years. Always be open to new options. What first got you interested in science? When I was a kid, my parents encouraged me to ask questions about the world. I also had my own little book of inventions… if there was a problem somewhere, even if it was with the most outlandish invention, I would seek a way to solve that problem. That idea of being able to figure out how the world works is very fascinating to me. How did you get involved with OmniSci? During lockdown, I saw on the bulletin an expression of interest for a new magazine. I’d just entered uni, wanted to try everything and thought why not, it seems like such a great opportunity. And it is! What is your role at OmniSci? I’ve done a lot of graphic design and I’m going to return for this issue in that role. I’ve basically collaborated with writers to make art that looks good, goes with my style and can convey what they want to say in their article. I’m also in the committee for OmniSci, and have been since last year. Within that, I’ve put multiple hats on: I’ve enjoyed organising multiple events for the club, and helping out with social media. Social events have had a great turnout this year, which is awesome. A new year is always a new opportunity for more people to learn about the magazine. What is your favourite thing about contributing at OmniSci so far? I’ve really enjoyed the graphics side of things. I love creating and it’s really awesome to be able to put art to something text-based. It’s interpretation… You’re bound by what the article says and what the science says, but there is freedom within to express something. I definitely enjoy being able to put my creativity into promotion [as a committee member]. Doing it in a way that’s aesthetically pleasing—it matters to me when things look nice! Do you have any advice for people thinking of getting involved, especially more on the committee side? Yes—do it! Come and join… If you’re interested, feel free to come along because no role should be too daunting for you, and there is always opportunity to make the role fit how you want, it’s quite flexible. Can you give us a sneak peak of what you're working on this issue? If there’s a lot to come, maybe you can just tell us where you’re up to in the process. I’ll be working on the design and looking forward to collaborating with the writer as to how to convey their article properly. In the future, I’m looking forward to being able to create more content for OmniSci—really looking forward to that. What do you like doing in your spare time (when you're not contributing at OmniSci)? A range of things—I like to read, edit photos, do graphic design of random illustrations. I also crochet, do a bit of arts and crafts on the side, and take a whole lot of photos. Which chemical element would you name your firstborn child (or pet) after? Wait, let me pull up the periodic table! Let’s see… Neon. Feels like a great name for a child or an animal. Like calling your kid Jaz or Jet. It’s very snazzy! Do you have anything else you’d like to share with the OmniSci community? Stay looking on our Facebook page! Keep in touch and always keep on communicating, consuming and learning more about science, because that’s how the world progresses honestly. See Aisyah's designs Should We Protect Our Genetic Information? The Rise of The Planet of AI Maxing the Vax: why some countries are losing the COVID vaccination race What’s the forecast for smallholder farmers of Arabica coffee? The Ethics of Space Travel Space exploration in Antarctica The Mirage of Camouflage FINAL Big Bang to Black Holes: Illusionary Nature of Time

Issue 6: Elemental 28 May 2024 This issue explores the building blocks that comprise the world we live in. Our talented writers braved the elements - have a read below! Editorial by Ingrid Sefton & Rachel Ko A word from our Editors-in-Chief. Fire and Brimstone by Jesse Allen The world has long been subject to the fury of fire and volcanic eruptions. Technology to predict seismic activity may allow us to tame this elemental force. Hidden in Plain Sight: The dangerous chemicals in our everyday products by Kara Miwa-Dale Drink bottles, tinned food, receipts: a recipe for disaster? Interviewing A/Prof Mark Green, Kara exposes the hidden dangers of endocrine disrupting chemicals. A Frozen Odyssey: Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition by Ethan Bisogni A pursuit of knowledge and a testament to survival, Ethan navigates the enthralling legacy of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: The Art of Decomposition by Arwen Nguyen-Ngo Arwen breaks down the intricacies of decomposition, leading us to consider the fundamental power not only in creation, but destruction. Out of our element by Serenie Tsai Following the industrial revolution, humankind has exploited and degraded the Earth's natural resources. Serenie shows how nature resists, maintaining the capacity to restore what humans have destroyed. Cosmic Carbon Vs Artificial Intelligence by Gaurika Loomba Carbon constitutes life and death, shaping conscious human existence. What threat could AI hold to the power of this element? Proprioception: Our Invisible Sixth Sense by Ingrid Sefton Our mysterious, yet omnipresent sixth sense - proprioception is the reason we know where our body and limbs are, even in the dark. A Brief History of the Elements: Finding a Seat at the Periodic Table by Xenophon Papas There's hydrogen and helium, then lithium, beryllium - or is there? The periodic table we know today was not always so, as Xen recounts.

< Back to Issue 7 Fossil Markets: Under the Gavel, Under Scrutiny by Jesse Allen 22 October 2024 edited by Zeinab Jishi illustrated by Jessica Walton At the crossroads between science and commerce, the trade in fossils has "developed into an organised enterprise" over the course of the twentieth century. With greater investment and heated competition between museums and private collectors, fossils increasingly took their place alongside “art, furniture, and fine wine” (Kjærgaard, 2012, pp.340-344). Fast forward to the twenty-first century, and this trend shows no signs of abating. On the contrary: as of 10 July 2024, a near-complete stegosaurus skeleton - nicknamed ‘Apex’ - was discovered by a commercial palaeontologist in Colorado, and was later purchased by “hedge-fund billionaire” Ken Griffin for US$44.6 million (Paul, 2024). This makes it the single most expensive dinosaur skeleton ever sold, eclipsing the previous record set in 2020 for a T-Rex named ‘Stan’, who was snapped up for US$31.8 million (Paul, 2024). These sales came with their fair share of criticism and controversy, reigniting the long-standing debate about how fossils should be handled, and where these ancient remains rightfully belong. Fossils (from the Latin fossilus , meaning ‘unearthed’) are the “preserved remains of plants and animals” which have been buried in sediments or preserved underneath ancient bodies of water, and offer unique insights into the history and adaptive evolution of life on Earth (British Geological Survey, n.d.). Their value is by no means limited to biology, however: they are useful for geologists in correlating the age of different rock layers (British Geological Survey, n.d.), and reveal the nature and consequences of changes in Earth’s climate (National Park Service, n.d.). Though new discoveries are being made all the time, fossils are inherently a finite resource, which cannot be replaced. This is part of what makes the fossil trade so lucrative, but the forces of limited supply and high demand have also led to the emergence of a dark underbelly. Cases of fossil forgery go back “as far as the dawn of palaeontology itself” in the late 18th and 19th centuries (Benton, 2024). The latest “boom in interest" is massively inflating prices and “fuelling the illicit trade” in fossils (Timmins, 2019). Whereas the US has a ‘finders-keepers’ policy, according to which private traders have carte blanche to dig up and sell any fossils they find, countries such as Brazil, China, and Mongolia do not allow the export of specimens overseas (Timmins, 2019). Sadly, this does little to prevent illegal smuggling; the laws are sometimes vague, and enforcement can be difficult when no single government agency is responsible for monitoring palaeontological activities (Winters, 2024). According to David Hone, a reader in zoology at Queen Mary University of London, “not every fossil is scientifically valuable”; but they are all “objects…worthy of protection,” and too many “scientifically important fossils appear briefly on the auction house website” before “vanish[ing] into a collector’s house, never to be seen again” (Hone, 2024). Museums, universities, and other scientific organisations are finding it more and more difficult to “financially compete with wealthy, private purchasers” as they are simply being priced out of the market (Paul, 2024). As sales become less open to expert scrutiny, the risk of forgery and price distortions become greater. It also has negative implications for future research. Private collectors might give access to one scientist, but not allow others to corroborate their findings. If the fossils aren’t open to all, many institutions simply won’t examine the items in private collections as a matter of principle. (Timmins, 2019). The general public also loses out in a world where dinosaur fossils are reduced to expensive conversation pieces. As Hone writes, “we might never dig up another Stegosaurus, or never find one nearly as complete as [Apex].” Having waited 150 million years to be unearthed, this latest fossil is one of many that may not see the light of day for a very long time. Bibliography Benton, M. (2024, September 5). Modern palaeontology keeps unmasking fossil forgeries – and a new study has uncovered the latest fake . The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/modern-palaeontology-keeps-unmasking-fossil-forgeries-and-a-new-study-has-uncovered-the-latest-fake-223501 British Geological Survey. (n.d.). Why do we study fossils? British Geological Survey. https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/fossils-and-geological-time/fossils/ Hone, D. (2024, June 10). The super-rich are snapping up dinosaur fossils – that’s bad for science . The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/10/super-rich-dinosaur-fossils-stegosaurus-illegal-trade-science Kjærgaard, P. C. (2012). The Fossil Trade: Paying a Price for Human Origins. Isis , 103 (2), 340–355. https://doi.org/10.1086/666365 National Park Service. (n.d.). The significance of fossils . U.S. Department of the Interior. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/significance.htm Paul, A. (2024, July 18). Stegosaurus 'Apex' sold for nearly $45 million to a billionaire . Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/science/stegosaurus-skeleton-sale/ Timmins, B. (2019, August 8). What’s wrong with buying a dinosaur? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48472588 Winters, G.F. (2024). International Fossil Laws. The Journal of Paleontological Sciences , 19 . https://www.aaps-journal.org/Fossil-Laws.html Previous article Next article apex back to

The Rise of The Planet of AI By Ashley Mamuko When discussing AI, our minds instinctively fear of sentience and robotic uprising. However, is our focus misplaced on the “inevitable” humanoid future when AI has become ubiquitous and undetectable in our lives? Edited by Hamish Payne & Katherine Tweedie Issue 1: September 24, 2021 Illustration by Aisyah Mohammad Sulhanuddin On August 19th 2021, Tesla announced a bold project on its AI Day. The company plans to introduce humanoid robots for consumer use. These machines are expected to perform basic, mundane household tasks and streamline easily into our everyday lives.With this new release, the future of AI seems to be closing in. No longer do we stand idle, expecting the inevitable humanoid-impacted future. By 2022, these prototypes are expected to launch. It seems inevitable that our future would include AI. We have already familiarised ourselves with this emerging technology in the media we continue to enjoy. Wall E, Blade Runner, The Terminator, and Ex Machina are only a few examples of the endless list of AI-related movies, spanning decades and detailing both our apprehension and acceptance through multiple decades. Most of these movies portray these machines as sentient yet intrinsically evil, as they pursue human destruction. But to further understand the growing field of study of AI, it’s important to first briefly introduce its history and procurement before noting the growing concerns played up in the Hollywood Blockbusters. The first fundamental interpretations of Artificial Intelligence span a vast period of time. Its first acknowledgement may be attributed to the 1308 Catalan poet and theologian Ramon Llull. His work Ars generalis ultima (The Ultimate General Art) advanced a paper-based mechanical process that creates new knowledge from a combination of concepts. Llull aimed to create a method of deducing logical religious and philosophical truths numerically. In 1642, French mathematician Blaise Pascal invented the first mechanical calculating machine; the first iteration of the modern calculator (1). The Pascaline, as it is now known, only had the ability to add or subtract values using a dial and spoke system (2). Though these two early ideas do not match our modern perceptions of what AI is, they lay the foundation of pushing logical processes to do more than just mechanical means. These two instances in history foreshadow the use of mechanical devices in performing human cognitive functions. Not till the 1940s and early 1950s did we finally obtain the necessary means of more complex data processing systems. With the introduction of computers, the novelty of algorithms created a more streamlined function of storing, computing, and producing. In 1943, Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts founded the idea of artificial neural networks in their paper “A Logical Calculus of Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity” (3). This presented the notion of computers behaving similar to a human mind and introduced the subsection of “deep learning”. Alan Turing proposed a test to assess a human’s ability to differentiate between human behaviour and robotic behaviour. In 1950, the Turing Test (later known as the Imitation Game) asked participants to identify if the dialogue they were engaging with was with another person or a machine (4). Despite the breakthroughs made in this expertise, the term Artificial Intelligence wasn’t finally coined till 1955 by John McCarthy of AI. Later on, McCarthy along with many other budding experts would hold the famous 1956 Dartmouth College Workshop (5). This meetup of a few scientists would later be pinpointed in history as the birth of the AI field. As the field continued to grow, more public concerns were raised alongside the boom of science fiction literature and movies cropping up. The notorious 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey shaped such a role into the public perception of the field that by the 1960s and 1970s, an AI Winter occurred. Very little notable progress was made in the field due to the lack of funding based on fear (6). Finally after some time had passed and some more advancements were made with algorithm technology, the notable Deep Blue chess game against Gary Kasparov. The event occurring in May 1997 where the Deep Blue robot beat world champion chess superstar Gary Kasparov marked a silence ushering of perhaps a “decline in human society” at the fall of the machine. Fast forward to now, AI has traversed through leaps and bounds to achieve a much more sophisticated level of algorithms and machine learning techniques. To further understand the uses of AI, I interviewed Dr Liz Sonenberg, a professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne and is a Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Infrastructure and Systems) in Chancellery Research and Enterprise. She’s an expert in the field and has done a multitude of research. "Machine learning is simply a sophisticated algorithm to detect patterns in data sets that has a basis in statistics." With this algorithm, we have been able to implement it in a variety of our daily tech encounters. AI sits behind the driving force of Google Maps and navigation, as well as voice control. It can easily be found anywhere. “Just because these examples do not exhibit super intelligence, does not mean they are not useful,” Dr Sonenberg explains. Dr Sonenberg alludes that the real problem with AI lies within it’s fairness. These “pattern generating algorithms” at times “learn from training sets not representative of the whole population, which can end up with biased answers.” With a flawed training set, a flawed system is in place. This can be harmful to certain demographics and cause a sway on consumer habits. With AI-aided advice, the explanation behind outcomes and decisions are not supported either. Algorithms are only able to mechanically produce an output, but not explain them. With more high-stakes decisions untrusted upon the reliability of AI, the issue of flawed algorithms becomes more pronounced. With my interview with Dr Sonenberg, not one moment was the fear of super-intelligence, robot uprisings, and the likes brought up... With the new-found knowledge of AI’s current concerns I brought up with Dr Sonenberg, I conducted another interview with Dr Tim Miller, a Professor of Computer Science in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne, and Dr Jeannie Paterson, a Professor teaching subjects in law and emerging technologies in the School of Law at The University of Melbourne. They both are also Co-Directors at The Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics (CAIDE). As we began the interview, Dr Miller explained again that AI “is not magic” and implements the use of “math and statistics”. Dr Paterson was clear to bring up that anti-discrimination laws have been in place but as technology evolves and embeds itself more into public domain, it must be scrutinised. The deployment of AI can easily cause harm to people due to systems not being public, causing sources to be difficult to identify and causily attribute. With the prospect of biased algorithms, a fine dissonance occurs. Dr Miller elaborated on the use of AI in medical imaging used in private hospitals. As private hospitals tend to attract a certain echelon of society, the training set is not wholly representative of the greater population. “A dilemma occurs with racist algorithms… if it is not used [outcomes] could be worse.” When the idea of a potential super-intelligent robot emerging in the future was brought into conversation, the two didn’t seem to be very impressed. “Don’t attribute superhuman qualities [to it],” says Dr Paterson. Dr Miller states that the trajectory of AI’s future is difficult to map. Predictions in the past of how AI progresses with it’s abilities have occurred, but they occur much later than expected… easily decades later. The idea of super-intelligence also poses the question on how to define intelligence. “Intelligence is multidimensional, it has its limits,” says Dr Miller. In this mystical future world of AI, a distinction is placed not just on, “what will machines be able to do but what will not have them do,” states Dr Miller. “This regards anything that requires social interaction, creativity and leadership”; so the future is aided by AI, not dictated by it. However, in a more near future, some very real concerns are posed. Job security, influence on consumer habits, transparency, law approach, and accountability are only a few. With more and more jobs being replaced by machines, every industry is at stake. “Anything repetitive can be automated,” says Dr Miller. But this does not instinctively pose a negative, as more jobs will be created to further aid the use of AI. And not all functions of a job can be replaced by AI. Dr Paterson explains with the example of radiology that AI is able to diagnose and interpret scans, but a radiologist does more than just diagnose and interpret on a daily basis. “The AI is used to aid in the already existing profession, not simply overtake it.” Greater transparency is needed in showing how AI uses our data. “It shouldn’t be used to collect data unlimitedly,” says Dr Paterson, “is it doing what’s being promised, is it discriminating people, is it embedding inequality?” With this in mind, Dr Paterson suggests that more law authorities should be educated on how to approach topics regarding AI. “There needs [to be] better explanation… [We] need to educate judges and lawyers.” With the notorious Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2018, the big question of accountability was raised. The scandal involved the unwarranted use of data from 87 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica which served to support the Trump campaign. This scandal brought to light how the data we used can be exploited nonconsensually and used to influence our behaviours, as this particular example seemed to sway the American presidential election. Simply put, our information can be easily exploited and sent off to data analytics to further influence our choices. This creates the defence that apps “ merely provide a [service], but people use [these services] in that way,” as said by Dr Miller. Simply put, the blame becomes falsely shifted onto the users for the spread of misinformation. The impetus, however, should lie with social networking sites disclosing to it’s users more transparency on their data usage and history as well as providing adequate protection on their data. To be frank, the future of robotic humanoid AI integrating seamlessly into human livelihoods will not occur within our lifetimes, or potentially even our grandchildren’s. The forecast seems at best, unpredictable; and at worst, unattainable due to the complexity of what constitutes full “sentience”. However, this does not indicate that AI lies dormant within our lives. The fundamental technology based in computing, statistics, and information systems lays most of the groundwork for most transactions we conduct online, whether monetary or social or otherwise. AI and it’s promises should not be shunted aside due to the misleading media surrounding it’s popularised definition and “robot uprisings” but rather taught more broadly to all audiences. So perhaps Elon Musk’s fantastical ideas of robotic integration will not occur by 2022 but the presence of AI in modern technologies should not go unnoticed. References: 1. "A Very Short History of Artificial Intelligence (AI)." 2016. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2016/12/30/a-very-short-history-of-artificial-intelligence-ai/?sh=38106456fba2. 2. “Blaise Pascal Invents a Calculator: The Pascaline.” n.d. Jeremy Norma's Historyofinformation.com. https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=382. 3, 4, 6. “History of Artificial Intelligence.” n.d. Council of Europe. https://www.coe.int/en/web/artificial-intelligence/history-of-ai. 5. Smith, Chris, Brian McGuire, Ting Huang, and Gary Yang. 2006. “The History of Artificial Intelligence,” A file for a class called History of Computing offered at the University of Washington. https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/csep590/06au/projects/history-ai.pdf.

< Back to Issue 2 Hiccups Evolution might be a theory, but if it’s evidence you’re after, there’s no need to look further than your own body. The human form is full of fascinating parts and functions that hold hidden histories - from the column that brought you a deep-dive into ear wiggling in Issue 1, here’s an exploration of why we hiccup! by Rachel Ko 10 December 2021 Edited by Katherine Tweedie and Ashleigh Hallinan Illustrated by Gemma Van der Hurk Hiccups bring a special brand of chaos to a day. It’s one that lingers, rendering us helpless and in suspense; a subtle, internal chaos of quiet frustration that forces us to drop what we’re doing to monitor each breath – in and out, in and out – until the moment they abruptly decide to stop. It’s an experience we’ve all had – one that can hit anyone at any time – and for most of us, hiccups are a concentrated episode of inconvenience; best ignored, and overcome. Yet, despite our haste to get rid of them when they interrupt our day, hiccups seem to have mystified humans for generations. Historically, the phenomenon has been the source of many superstitions, both good and bad. A range of cultures associate them with the concept of remembrance: in Russia, hiccups mean someone is missing you (1), while an Indian myth suggests that someone is remembering you negatively for the evils you have committed (2). Likewise, in Ancient Greece, hiccups were a sign that you were being complained about (3), while in Hungary, they mean you are currently the subject of gossip. On a darker note, a Japanese superstition prophesises death to one who hiccups 100 times. (4) Clearly, the need to justify everything, even things as trivial as hiccups, has always been an inherent human characteristic, transcending culture and time. As such, science has more recently made its attempt at objectively identifying a reason behind the strange phenomenon of hiccups. After all, if you take a step back and think about it, hiccups are indeed quite strange. Anatomically, hiccups (known scientifically as singultus) are involuntary spasms of the diaphragm (5): the dome-like sheet of muscle separating the chest and abdominal cavities. (6) The inspiratory muscles, including the intercostal and neck muscles, also spasm, while the expiratory muscles are inhibited. (7) These sudden contractions cause a rapid intake of air (“hic”), followed by the immediate closure of the glottis or vocal cords (“up”). (8) As many of us have probably experienced, a range of stimuli can cause these involuntary contractions. The physical stimuli include anything that stretches and bloats the stomach, (9) such as overeating, rapid food consumption and gulping, especially of carbonated drinks. (10) Emotionally, intense feelings and our responses to them, such as laughing, sobbing, anxiety and excitement, can also be triggers. (11) This list is not at all exhaustive; in fact, the range of stimuli is so large that hiccups might be considered the common thread between a drunk man, a Parkinson’s disease patient and anyone who watches The Notebook. The one thing that alcohol, (12) some neurological drugs (13) and intense sobbing (14) do have in common is that they exogenously stimulate the hiccup reflex arc. (15) This arc involves the vagal and phrenic nerves that stretch from the brainstem to the abdomen which cause the diaphragm to contract involuntarily. (16) According to Professor Georg Petroianu from the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, (17) many familiar home remedies for hiccupping – being scared, swallowing ice, drinking water upside down – interrupt this reflex arc, actually giving these solutions a somewhat scientific rationale. While modern research has successfully mapped out the process of hiccups, their purpose is still unclear. As of now, the hiccup reflex arc and the resulting diaphragmatic spasms seem to be effectively useless. Of the existing theories for the function of hiccups, the most prominent seems to be that they are a remnant of our evolutionary development, (18) essentially ‘vestigial’; in this case, a feature that once served our amphibian ancestors millions of years ago, but now retain little of their original function. (19) In particular, hiccups are believed to be a relic of the ancient transition of organisms from water to land. (20) When early fish lived in stagnant waters with little oxygen, they developed lungs to take advantage of the air overhead, in addition to using gills while underwater. (21) In this system, inhalation would allow water to move over the gills, during which a rapid closure of the glottis – which we see now in hiccupping – would prevent water from entering the lungs. It is theorised that when descendants of these fish moved onto land, gills were lost, but the neural circuit for this glottis closing mechanism was retained. (22) This neural circuit is indeed observable in human beings today, in the form of the hiccup central pattern generator (CPG). (23) CPGs exist for other oscillating actions like breathing and walking, (24) but a particular cross-species CPG stands out as a link to human hiccupping: the neural CPG that is also used by tadpoles for gill ventilation. Tadpoles “breathe” in a recurring, rhythmic pattern that shares a fundamental characteristic feature with hiccups: both involve inspiration with closing of the glottis. (25) This phenomenon strengthens the idea that the hiccup CPG may be left over from a previous stage in evolution and has been retained in both humans and frogs. However, the CPG in frogs is still used for ventilation, while in humans, the evolution of lungs to replace gills has rendered it useless. (26) Based on this information, it seems hiccupping lost its function with time and the development of the human lungs, remaining as nothing more than an evolutionary remnant. However, we cannot discredit hiccupping as having become entirely useless as soon as gills were lost. Interestingly, hiccupping has only been observed in mammals – not in birds, lizards or other air-breathing animals. (27) This suggests that there must have been some evolutionary advantage to hiccupping at some point, at least in mammals. A popular theory for this function stems from the uniquely mammalian trait of nursing. (28) Considering the fact that human babies hiccup in the womb even before birth, this theory considers hiccupping to be almost a glorified burp, intended to remove air from the stomach. This becomes particularly advantageous when closing the glottis prevents milk from entering the lungs, aiding the act of nursing. (29) Today, we reduce hiccups to the disorder and disarray they bring to our day. But, next time you are hit with a bout of hiccups, take a second to find some calm amidst the chaos and appreciate yet another fascinating evolutionary fossil, before you hurry to dismiss them. After that, feel free to eat those lemons or gargle that salty water to your diaphragm’s content. References Sonya Vatomsky, "7 Cures For Hiccups From World Folklore," Mentalfloss.Com, 2017, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/500937/7-cures-hiccups-world-folklore. Derek Lue, "Indian Superstition: Hiccups | Dartmouth Folklore Archive," Journeys.Dartmouth.Edu, 2018, https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/folklorearchive/2018/11/14/indian-superstition-hiccups/. Vatomsky, "7 Cures For Hiccups From World Folklore". James Mundy, "10 Most Interesting Superstitions In Japanese Culture | Insidejapan Tours," Insidejapan Blog, 2013, https://www.insidejapantours.com/blog/2013/07/08/10-most-interesting-superstitions-in-japanese-culture/. Paul Rousseau, "Hiccups," Southern Medical Journal, no. 88, 2 (1995): 175-181, doi:10.1097/00007611-199502000-00002. Bruno Bordoni and Emiliano Zanier, "Anatomic Connections Of The Diaphragm Influence Of Respiration On The Body System," Journal Of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, no. 6 (2013): 281, doi:10.2147/jmdh.s45443. Christian Straus et al., "A Phylogenetic Hypothesis For The Origin Of Hiccough," Bioessays no. 25, 2 (2003): 182-188, doi:10.1002/bies.10224. Straus et al., "A Phylogenetic Hypothesis For The Origin Of Hiccough," 182-188. John Cameron, “Why Do We Hiccup?,” filmed for TedEd, 2016, TED Video, https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-do-we-hiccup-john-cameron#watch. Monika Steger, Markus Schneemann, and Mark Fox, "Systemic Review: The Pathogenesis And Pharmacological Treatment Of Hiccups," Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics 42, no. 9 (. 2015): 1037-1050, doi:10.1111/apt.13374. Lien-Fu Lin, and Pi-Teh Huang, "An Uncommon Cause Of Hiccups: Sarcoidosis Presenting Solely As Hiccups," Journal Of The Chinese Medical Association 73, no. 12 (2010): 647-650, doi:10.1016/s1726-4901(10)70141-6. Steger, Schneemann and Fox, "Systemic Review: The Pathogenesis And Pharmacological Treatment Of Hiccups," 1037-1050. Unax Lertxundi et al., "Hiccups In Parkinson’s Disease: An Analysis Of Cases Reported In The European Pharmacovigilance Database And A Review Of The Literature," European Journal Of Clinical Pharmacology 73, no. 9 (2017): 1159-1164, doi:10.1007/s00228-017-2275-6. Lin and Huang, "An Uncommon Cause Of Hiccups: Sarcoidosis Presenting Solely As Hiccups," 647-650. Peter J. Kahrilas and Guoxiang Shi, "Why Do We Hiccup?" Gut 41, no. 5 (1997): 712-713, doi:10.1136/gut.41.5.712. Steger, Schneemann and Fox, "Systemic Review: The Pathogenesis And Pharmacological Treatment Of Hiccups," 1037-1050. Georg A. Petroianu, "Treatment Of Hiccup By Vagal Maneuvers," Journal Of The History Of The Neurosciences 24, no. 2 (2014): 123-136, doi:10.1080/0964704x.2014.897133. Straus et al., "A Phylogenetic Hypothesis For The Origin Of Hiccough," 182-188. Cameron, “Why Do We Hiccup?” Michael Mosley, "Anatomical Clues To Human Evolution From Fish," BBC News, published 2011, https://www.bbc.com/news/health-13278255. Michael Hedrick and Stephen Katz, "Control Of Breathing In Primitive Fishes," Phylogeny, Anatomy And Physiology Of Ancient Fishes (2015): 179-200, doi:10.1201/b18798-9. Straus et al., "A Phylogenetic Hypothesis For The Origin Of Hiccough," 182-188. Straus et al., "A Phylogenetic Hypothesis For The Origin Of Hiccough," 182-188. Pierre A. Guertin, "Central Pattern Generator For Locomotion: Anatomical, Physiological, And Pathophysiological Considerations," Frontiers In Neurology 3 (2013), doi:10.3389/fneur.2012.00183. Hedrick and Katz, "Control Of Breathing In Primitive Fishes," 179-200. Straus et al., "A Phylogenetic Hypothesis For The Origin Of Hiccough," 182-188. Daniel Howes, "Hiccups: A New Explanation For The Mysterious Reflex," Bioessays 34, no. 6 (2012): 451-453, doi:10.1002/bies.201100194. Howes, "Hiccups: A New Explanation For The Mysterious Reflex," 451-453. [1] Howes, "Hiccups: A New Explanation For The Mysterious Reflex," 451-453. Previous article back to DISORDER Next article

< Back to Issue 5 Wicked Invaders of the Wild Serenie Tsai 24 October 2023 Edited by Krisha Darji Illustrated by Jennifer Nguyen Since the beginning of time, there has been a continuous flow of species in and out of regions that establishes a foundation for ecosystems. When species are introduced into new environments and replicate excessively to interfere with native species, they become invasive. Invasive species refer to those that spread into new areas and pose a threat to other species. Factors contributing to their menacing status include overfeeding native species, lack of predators, and outcompeting native species (Sakai et al., 2001). Invasive species shouldn’t be confused with feral species which are domestic animals that have reverted to their wild state, or pests which are organisms harmful to human activity (Contrera-Abarca et al., 2022; Hill, 1987). Furthermore, not all introduced species are invasive; crops such as wheat, tomato and rice have been integrated with native agriculture successfully. Many species were introduced accidentally and turned invasive; however, some were intentionally introduced to manage other species, and a lack of foresight resulted in detrimental ecological impacts. Each year, invasive species cost the global economy over a trillion dollars in damages (Roth, 2019). Claimed ecological benefits of invasive species Contrary to the name, invasive species could potentially benefit the invaded ecosystem. Herbivores can reap the benefits of the introduced biodiversity, and native plants can increase their tolerance (Brändle et al., 2008; Mullerscharer, 2004). Deer and goats aid in suppressing introduced grasses and inhibit wildfires (Fornoni, 2010). Likewise, species such as foxes and cats have the capacity to regulate the number of rats and rabbits. Furthermore, megafaunal extinction has opened opportunities to fill empty niches, for example, camels could fill the ecological niche of a now-extinct giant marsupial (Chew et al., 1965; Weber, 2017). Thus, studies indicate the possibility of species evolving to fill vacant niches (Meachen et al., 2014). Below, I’ll explore the rise and downfall of invasive species in Australia. Cane toad Cane toads are notorious for their unforeseen invasion. Originally introduced as a biological control for cane beetles in 1935, their rookie status was advantageous to their proliferation and dominance over native species (Freeland & Martin, 1985). Several native predators were overthrown and native fauna in Australia lacked resistance to the cane toad’s poison used as a defence mechanism (Smith & Philips, 2006). However, research suggests an evolutionary adaptation to such poison (Philips &Shine, 2006). There isn't a universal method to regulate cane toads, so efforts to completely eradicate cane toads are futile. However, populations are kept low by continuously monitoring areas and targeting cane toad eggs or their adult form. Common Myna The origins of Common Myna introduced into New South Wales and Victoria are uncertain; however, it was introduced into Northern Queensland as a mechanism to predate on grasshoppers and cane beetles(Neville & Liindsay, 2011) and introduced into Mauritius to control locust plagues (Bauer, 2023). The Common Myna poses an alarming threat to ecosystems and mankind, its severity is elucidated by its position in the world’s top 100 invasive species list (Lowe et al., 2000). It has spurred human health concerns including the spread of mites and acting as a vector for diseases destructive to human and farm stock (Tidemann, 1998). Myna also has a vicious habit of fostering competition with cavity-nesting native birds, forcing them and their eggs from their nest, however, the extent of this is unclear, and the influence of habitat destruction needs to be considered (Grarock et al., 2013). The impact of this bird lacks empirical evidence, so appropriate management is undecided (Grarock et al., 2012). However, modification of habitats could be advantageous as the Myna impact urban areas more, whereas intervening in their food resources would be rendered useless with their highly variable diet (Brochier et al., 2012). Zebra mussels Zebra mussels accidentally invaded Australia's aquatic locality when introduced by the ballast water of cargo ships. From an ecological perspective, Zebra Mussels overgrow the shells of native molluscs and create an imbalance within the ecosystem (Dzierżyńska-Białończyk et al., 2018). From a societal perspective, it colonizes docks, ship hulls, and water pipes and damages power plants (Lovell et al., 2006) Controlling the spread of Zebra Mussels includes manual removal, chlorine, thermal treatment and more. Control methods It is crucial to deploy preventative methods to mitigate the spread of invasive species before it becomes irreversible. Few known control methods are employed for certain types of animals but with no guarantee of success. Some places place bounties on catching the animals, however, the results of this technique are conflicting. In 1893, foxes were the target of financial incentives, but the scheme was deemed ineffective (Saunders et al., 2010). However, government bounties were introduced for Tasmanian tigers in 1888, which drastically caused a population decline and their eventual extinction (National Museum of Australia, 2019). Similarly, the prevalence of Cane Toads became unbearable, and in response, armies were deployed, and fences in rural communities were funded. Moreover, in 2007, inspired by a local pub’s scheme to hand out beers in exchange for cane toads, the government staged a “Toad Day Out” to establish a bounty for cane toads (Williams, 2011). Invasive species are detrimental to ecosystems, whether introduced intentionally or by accident, management of species is still a work in progress. References Lowe S., Browne M., Boudjelas S., & De Poorter M. (2000) 100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species: A selection from the Global Invasive Species Database . The Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG). Bauer, I. L. (2023). T he oral repellent–science fiction or common sense? Insects, vector- borne diseases, failing strategies, and a bold proposition. Tropical Diseases, Travel Medicine and Vaccines, 9(1), 7. Brändle, M., Kühn, I., Klotz, S., Belle, C., & Brandl, R. (2008). Species richness of herbivores on exotic host plants increases with time since introduction of the host. Diversity and Distributions, 14(6), 905–912. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2008.00511.x Brochier, B., Vangeluwe, D., & Van den Berg, T. (2010). Alien invasive birds. Revue scientifique et technique, 29(2), 217. Chicago. Cayley, N. W., & Lindsey, T. What bird is that?: a completely revised and updated edition of the classic Australian ornithological work . Chew, R. M., & Chew, A. E. (1965). The Primary Productivity of a Desert-Shrub ( Larrea tridentata ) Community . Ecological Monographs, 35(4), 355–375. https://doi.org/10.2307/1942146 Contreras-Abarca, R., Crespin, S. J., Moreira-Arce, D., & Simonetti, J. A. (2022). Redefining feral dogs in biodiversity conservation . Biological Conservation, 265, 109434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109434 Fornoni, J. (2010). Ecological and evolutionary implications of plant tolerance to herbivory. Functional Ecology, 25(2), 399–407. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2010.01805.x Freeland, W. J., & Martin, K. C. (1985). The rate of range expansion by Bufo marinus in Northern Australia , 1980-84 . Wildlife Research, 12(3), 555-559. Grarock, K., Lindenmayer, D. B., Wood, J. T., & Tidemann, C. R. (2013). Does human- induced habitat modification influence the impact of introduced species? A case study on cavity-nesting by the introduced common myna ( Acridotheres tristis ) and two Australian native parrots. Environmental Management, 52, 958-970. G. Smith, J., & L. Phillips, B. (2006). Toxic tucker: the potential impact of Cane Toads on Australian reptiles . Pacific Conservation Biology, 12(1), 40. https://doi.org/10.1071/pc060040 G. Smith J, L. Phillips B. Toxic tucker: the potential impact of Cane Toads on Australian reptiles. Pacific Conservation Biology [Internet]. 2006;12(1):40. Available from: http://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/PC060040 Hill, D. S. (1987). Agricultural Insect Pests of Temperate Regions and Their Control . In Google Books. CUP Archive. https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3-w8AAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA27&dq=pests+definition&ots=90_-WiF_MZ&sig=pKxuVjDJ_bZ3iNMb5TpfXA16ENI#v=onepage&q=pests%20definition&f=false Lovell, S. J., Stone, S. F., & Fernandez, L. (2006). The Economic Impacts of Aquatic Invasive Species: A Review of the Literature. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 35(1), 195–208. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1068280500010157 Meachen, J. A., Janowicz, A. C., Avery, J. E., & Sadleir, R. W. (2014). Ecological Changes in Coyotes ( Canis latrans ) in Response to the Ice Age Megafaunal Extinctions . PLoS ONE, 9(12), e116041. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0116041 Mullerscharer, H. (2004). Evolution in invasive plants: implications for biological control . Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 19(8), 417–422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.05.010 ANU. Myna problems. (n.d.). Fennerschool-Associated.anu.edu.au . http://fennerschool- associated.anu.edu.au//myna/problem.html National Museum of Australia. (2019). Extinction of thylacine | National Museum of Australia . Nma.gov.au . https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/extinction-of-thylacine Cayley, N. W. & Lindsey T. (2011) What bird is that?: a completely revised and updated edition of the classic Australian ornithological work . Walsh Bay, N.S.W.: Australia’s Heritage Publishing. Phillips, B. L., & Shine, R. (2006). An invasive species induces rapid adaptive change in a native predator: cane toads and black snakes in Australia . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 273(1593), 1545–1550. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2006.3479 Roth, A. (2019, July 3). Why you should never release exotic pets into the wild. Animals. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/exotic-pets-become-invasive-species Sakai, A. K., Allendorf, F. W., Holt, J. S., Lodge, D. M., Molofsky, J., With, K. A., Baughman, S., Cabin, R. J., Cohen, J. E., Ellstrand, N. C., McCauley, D. E., O’Neil, P., Parker, I. M., Thompson, J. N., & Weller, S. G. (2001). The Population Biology of Invasive Species. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics , 32(1), 305–332. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.32.081501.114037 Saunders, G. R., Gentle, M. N., & Dickman, C. R. (2010). The impacts and management of foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ) in Australia . Mammal review, 40(3), 181-211. Weber, L. (2013). Plants that miss the megafauna. Wildlife Australia, 50(3), 22–25. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/ielapa.555395530308043 Williams, G. (2011). 100 Alien Invaders . In Google Books. Bradt Travel Guides. https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qtS9TksHmOUC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=invasive+species+australia+bounty+ Wicked back to

< Back to Issue 9 Knot Theory and Its Applications. Why Knot? by Ryan Rud 28 October 2025 Illustrated by Saraf Ishmam Edited by Elijah McEvoy Knot theory is a theoretical study in mathematics, where your brain thinks of an imaginary knot, and manipulates it to your heart’s desire. Yes, the kind of knot you are probably thinking of now, it might be a shoelace, a knot in a piece of string or some utility knot. Good job, but it’s missing one detail: the knot needs to be tied at its ends. Think of this as a string with both ends tied together so that it can’t come undone when you play with it. Now you can pull at and twist this knot, as long as you don’t break it. Congratulations, you now understand the basics of knot theory. (1) So why should we care about a niche field of maths that you will probably never use in your everyday life? Well, the first answer to that is simply ‘for the love of the game’. For some people problem-solving is an endless endeavour that satisfies an urge to understand and be intellectually stimulated. But that’s not for everyone. So then we remember all the times when random elements of pure mathematics became essential when applied to seemingly unrelated topics. Such as how number theory became applied to information transmission, cryptography and computing. (2) How quaternions made for more efficient digital transformations in computer science. (3) Or how graph theory was used to strongly conjecture that any two people have 6 degrees of separation between each other. (4) Although we may not routinely ponder these discoveries, it is because of the works of pure mathematicians that we can admire certain facts that we could not prove otherwise or appreciate how they silently helped to make all the digital devices in your homes. But before we get into the applications, it is good to be familiar with some general terminology. That knot which you pictured earlier with its ends tied is called a standard knot. In 1867 Lord Kelvin thought of the revolutionary idea that what we know as elements - the ones made of protons and neutrons - are actually types of standard knots. (5) He wasn’t right, but it inspired his assistant Peter Guthrie Tait to begin the rigorous study of knots and we have been trying to find applications ever since. Here are the first knots in the greater sequence of the periodic table of knots (see cover image for more!): Figure 1. An ordered table of the first 15 prime knots. (6) There are knots made from one piece of string (prime knots) and knots made from multiple knots joined end-to-end (composite knots) (Fig.2b). There are also links, where two closed knots are combined without gluing the string (Fig.2a). Understanding any further implications of this terminology is not necessary here, but it may help to have a visual understanding of them for the next part. Figure 2. a) Showcasing types of mathematical links; unlink on the left, Hopf link in the centre and whitehead link on the left. b) Demonstrating how two prime knots are combined into a composite knot. c) Demonstrating chirality in trefoil knots, notice the overlapping pattern. Lastly, like many things in mathematics we need a way to systematically and efficiently describe how we manipulate the knots. Luckily, Kurt Reidemeister had the pleasure of providing us with a knot-manipulating moveset in the 1930s through rigorous proofs.These are the legal set of moves that can be done to a knot without changing the knot structure. If we were to cut the knot, twist or untwist the string and then reattach the ends, this is called a crossing switch and it changes the knot. Again, this is not an extensive course but it helps to know of the terminology and visualise it. Feel free to do more research into the details of these topics using the references below! Figure 3. A depiction of the Reidemeister moves. DNA and knot theory Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the most important and relevant knotting molecule. Each cell nucleus contains (on the millionth order) DNA that is regularly knotting, coiling and compressing to fit into this tight space. However, the best application of knot theory is to the closed end, circular DNA in bacteria. During DNA replication, the unwinding of DNA at one end creates immense torsional strain on the other side of the loop, which is enough supercoiling that prevents replication and leads to cell death.To counter this, bacteria utilise an enzyme known as type II topoisomerase which makes double-stranded cuts in the DNA, followed by a rearrangement of the tangle and reconnecting of the strands, a crossing switch! Without this adaptation, all cellular life would have evolved differently. If you gave this DNA to a mathematician and asked which position in the DNA would be best for this enzyme to cut with the intent of untangling, they could spend a lifetime performing Reidemeister moves and contemplating, never knowing where or how many cuts to make. In contrast to our world’s best mathematicians, topoisomerase is incredibly efficient in where it cuts. We have yet to understand what mechanism allows for such accurate cuts, but practical research into topoisomerase could potentially help knot theorists solve the immensely inscrutable question of the minimum number of crossing switches to simplify any knot. Furthermore, if an understanding of the mechanisms for topoisomerases in bacteria and humans is possible, then humanity can access a new form of control over DNA. It has been speculated that there are possible uses of topoisomerases to inhibit cancer growth, or as a revolutionary way to treat bacterial disease. While we do not have this intel right now, this is one of the ways knot theory could be integral to applied sciences and given time and research funding, it can prove itself useful. (7-8) Knots in chemistry So what other molecules can form knots? Chemists have been creating molecules which involve the basic knots and links since the 1960s (see Fig 4), when topological isomerism was discovered and characterised. Topological isomers are chemicals that are similar in many properties, but differ in spatial arrangement. We can think of it like chirality for knots (see Fig 2c). Chirality is the property of an object not being the same as its mirror image, like a right and left hand. Subsequently, these molecules were made through a technique called ‘templating’, where a metal ion or some template structure was used to produce a desired product, based on how the template interacts with the reactants. There is also another category of knot called a ravel (Fig 4h), where a knot has multiple strings connected at vertices. Altogether, the study of topological isomerism and templating techniques have been advanced by the experimental desire to produce these beautiful molecules. This then indirectly contributes to the production of new molecules and drugs that can go on to have real world impacts. (9) Figure 4. a) The first molecular trefoil knot produced in 1989. c) The first molecule pentafoil knot produced in 2011. d) First molecular Borromean rings, a type of link produced in 2004. f) The first molecule solomon link produced in 2013. h) The first molecular ravel produced in 2011. (9) The recent breakthrough in knot theory I admit, progress in knot theory is slow and perhaps you did not find the scientific revelation of knot theory here that you were hoping for. But that does not mean that current research is ineffective. As recent as June of this year, there was a groundbreaking proof. Think back to the prime and composite knots (scroll up if you have to). Prime knots have an unknotting number, which is the number of crossing changes needed to simplify it to the unknot, similar to what the topoisomerase does. If we merge two prime knots into a composite knot, it can be easily seen that it takes as many crossing switches to simplify the composite, as it does the crossing switches for the sum of the primes. In other words, to untangle a composite knot, you cut and reglue it as many times as the prime knots that make it up. Now, the breakthrough was a proof that it is possible to untangle some composite knots through less crossing switches than the sum of its prime knots. This may seem bleak, but it disproves a widely believed conjecture and now theorists are one step closer to solving the question of the minimum number of crossing switches needed to simplify a knot. (10) Conclusion I will end this with a quote from Dr Arunima Ray, a mathematician that specialises in knot theory and low-dimensional topology at the University of Melbourne, and a dear professor of mine. Hopefully this is just more proof (pun intended) that the work us mathematicians do is tangible: “I had never imagined that mathematics could be used to describe something so abstract as knot theory, but to me the appeal was its tangibility. No matter who you are, there really is something in mathematics for you.” References Pencovitch M. What’s not to love? [Internet] Mathematics Today . 2021. Available from: https://ima.org.uk/17434/whats-knot-to-love/ Koblitz N. A course in number theory and cryptography . 2nd ed. Springer Science & Business Media; 1994. Jeremiah. Understanding quaternions. 3D Game Engine Programming [Internet]. June 25, 2012. Available from: https://www.3dgep.com/understanding-quaternions/ Zhang L, Tu W. Six degrees of separation in online society [Internet]. Research Gate. 2009. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255614427_Six_Degrees_of_Separation_in_Online_Society Wilson RM. Holograms tie optical vortices in knots. Physics Today. 2010. https://doi.org/ 10.1063/1.3366639 Li M, Wang T, Kau A, George W, Petrenko A. Knots. Brilliant. 2025 [Internet]. Available from: https://brilliant.org/wiki/knots/ Catherine. All tangled up: an introduction to knot theory [Internet]. Gleammath. April 28, 2021. Available from: https://www.gleammath.com/post/all-tangled-up-an-introduction-to-knot-theory Skjeltorp AT, Clausen S, Helgesen G, Pieranski P. Knots and applications to biology, chemistry and physics. In: Riste T, Sherrington D, editors. Physics of Biomaterials: Fluctuations, Selfassembly and Evolution. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands; 1996. p.187–217. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1722-4_8 Horner KE, Miller MA, Steed JW, Sutcliffe PM. Knot theory in modern chemistry [Internet]. Chemical Society Reviews. 2016;45(23). Available from: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1394834 Brittenham M, Hermiller S. Unknotting number is not additive under connected sum [Internet]. Arxiv . 2025. Available from: https://arxiv.org/html/2506.24088v1 Previous article Next article Entwined back to

< Back to Issue 5 Why Do We Gossip? Lily McCann 24 October 2023 Edited by Celina Kumala Illustrated by Rachel Ko Have you ever heard of ‘Scold’s bridle’? A metal restraint, fitted with a gag, that was strapped about the face as a medieval punishment for excessive chatter; gossip, it seems, was not received too fondly in the Middle Ages. While the bridle may have gone out of fashion long ago, today the word gossip still carries negative connotations. The Oxford Dictionary, for instance, defines gossip as “informal talk or stories about other people’s private lives, that may be unkind or not true” (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, 2023). Entries in the Urban Dictionary use yet stronger terms, going so far as to describe gossip as the “garbage of stupid silly ignorant people” (Lorenzo, 2006). Is this too harsh? Cruz et al. (2021) propose a much more neutral definition in their analysis of frameworks to study gossip, concluding that gossip is “a sender communicating to a receiver about a target who is absent or unaware of the content”. Whether the gossip conveys positive or negative content — otherwise known as its valence — is not a requirement of the definition itself. Gossip, then, is not always “unkind” (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, 2023) or “garbage” (Lorenzo, 2006). In fact, with a bit of further reading, we can see that this “informal talk” has played an important part in our evolution and even serves positive purposes in society. In the first sense, gossip is an important facilitator of safety. It allows dangerous situations to be identified: spreading the knowledge that a certain individual is prone to violence, for instance, ensures the rest of a community takes care of their own safety with regards to that individual. On a different note, passing about the fact that another individual is skilled in certain aspects of resource procurement allows wider access to these resources. It is easy to see in these examples how gossip could give a selective advantage in the survival of societies. But the influence of gossip goes further than this. It has been shown that gossip in fact encourages cooperation and generosity (Wu et al., 2015). How? The crucial mediator is reputation (Nowak, 2006). Reputation is incredibly important - see Taylor Swift’s 2017 album for more. A poor reputation leads to ostracisation, and for an individual in prehistoric societies, this could be fatal. Cultivating a good reputation among peers thousands of years ago, as today, improves the chances of success in life by increasing access to resources and the willingness of others to help you. Positive gossip can facilitate all this. So, how do we foster positive gossip? What will encourage someone to put in a good word for us? The most effective approach is to act in a way that benefits that individual. It predisposes them to spread the word of our generosity, helping to build a reputation for goodness that will in turn have positive outcomes for ourselves. Thus, it’s easy to see how behaviours that foster good gossip are incentivised in our everyday lives. This propensity to spread the knowledge of how certain individuals interact with others has been incredibly impactful in the development of human societies. The fact that our species can flourish and sustain itself in such immense populations requires a high level of cooperation - which enables us to share resources and productivity - even with people we do not know. Otherwise known as indirect reciprocity, this ability to work with strangers is enabled by reputation (Nowak, 2006). How else do we know that it is safe to interact with a stranger, other than through the means of gossip, which informs us of their reliability and trustworthiness? But what about when gossip is incorrect? The Oxford definition hints at the possibility that information spread through gossip “may be…not true”. Can untrue gossip hinder our progress, by limiting interactions with individuals who may have the potential to help us, or promoting those interactions that would better have been avoided? And if gossip can be incorrect, does that not render reputation meaningless? What is the incentive to be good, if gossip could label you as a bad egg, regardless (Nieper et al., 2022)? Incorrectly negative gossip can be extremely impactful for the subject of that gossip. Studies have shown that it decreases productivity and prosocial behaviour - not to mention burdening victims with the psychological effects of ostracisation, injustice and loneliness (Kong, 2018; Martinescu et al., 2021). Through gossip, we can exert immense power over other beings. It is understandable, then, that we fear gossip, and try to discount it by painting it as “garbage” (Lorenzo, 2006), “unkind” or “not true” (Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, 2023). And yet, whilst negative gossip can be a detriment, positive gossip can yield great benefits, reinforcing prosocial behaviour, fostering cooperation and promoting generosity. So, rather than fearing gossip, perhaps we ought to acknowledge its benefits and harness it for good. Perhaps it's worth considering how we can each use gossip to exert a bit of good upon our world. References Dores Cruz, T. D., Nieper, A. S., Testori, M., Martinescu, E., & Beersma, B. (2021). An Integrative Definition and Framework to Study Gossip. Group & Organization Management, 46(2), 252-285. http://doi.org/10.1177/1059601121992887 Kong, M. (2018). Effect of Perceived Negative Workplace Gossip on Employees’ Behaviors. Frontiers in Psychology , 9(2728). http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01112 Lorenzo, A. (2006). Gossip . Urban Dictionary. Accessed October 10, 2023. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gossip Martinescu, E., Jansen, W., & Beersma, B. (2021). Negative Gossip Decreases Targets’ Organizational Citizenship Behavior by Decreasing Social Inclusion: A Multi-Method Approach. Group and Organization Management, 46(3), 463-497. http://doi.org/10.1177/1059601120986876 Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. (2023). Gossip - definition . Accessed October 10, 2023. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/gossip_1#:~:text=gossip-,noun,all%20the%20gossip%20you%20hear . Nieper, A. S., Beersma, B., Dijkstra, M. T. M., & van Kleef, G. A. (2022). When and why does gossip increase prosocial behavior? Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 315-320. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.10.009 Nowak, M. A. (2006). Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation . Science, 314(5805), 1560-1563. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1133755 Wu, J., Balliet, D., & Van Lange, P. A. M. (2015). When does gossip promote generosity? Indirect reciprocity under the shadow of the future. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(8), 923-930. http://doi.org/10.1177/1948550615595272 Wicked back to

< Back to Issue 7 A Coral’s Story: From thriving reef to desolation by Nicola Zuzek-Mayer 22 October 2024 edited by Arwen Nguyen-Ngo illustrated by Amanda Agustinus The sun is shining. Shoals of fish are zooming past me, leaving their nests where I let them stay for protection from bigger fish. I look to my right and the usual fish have come to dine from me, filling their bellies with vital nutrients. I feel proud of our coexistence: I feed the big fish and provide shelter to small fish, whilst they clean algae off of me. I am the foundation of the reef. I am the architect of the reef. Without me, there would be nothing. I can’t help but think that the reef is looking vibrant today. A wide variety of different coloured corals surround me in the reef, with some of my closest friends a stone’s throw away. We’ve all known each other for our entire lives, and it’s such a close knit community of diverse corals. Life is sprawling in this underwater metropolis, and it reminds me of how much I love my home. But recently, I’ve heard some gossip amongst the city’s inhabitants that this paradise may change soon – and for the worse. Something about the land giants destroying our home. I refuse to believe such rumours – why would they want to destroy us? Our home is so beautiful, and we have done nothing to hurt them. Our beauty attracts many of them to come visit us, and most never hurt us. But sometimes I feel pain when they visit on a particularly sunny day, when I see white particles drop down to the reef and pierce my branches, polluting the city. My friends have told me that these giants wear something called ‘sunscreen’ to protect themselves from the sun, but their ‘protection’ is actually poisoning us. I hope that they realise that soon. Another thing that I’ve noticed recently is that the ocean is feeling slightly warmer than before, and my growth is slowing more. Yes, I’m concerned, but I don’t think that the issue will get worse. 30 years later… The sun is blisteringly hot. I feel sick and the water around me is scorching hot. The vibrant colours of the reef are disappearing, and there are fewer organisms around. We used to be so diverse, but so many species of fish have died out. It’s eerie to see the area so desolate. My body is deteriorating and I feel so much more fragile than before. I feel tired all the time, after using so much energy to repair my body in the acidic water. I sense myself becoming paler, losing all colour in my body. I struggle to breathe. My coral friends and family are long gone, perished from the acidity of the ocean. I am the last one remaining. In my last moments, I can only wish to go and relive the past. I wish that the land giants had done more to help not only my city, but other reef cities around the world. All the other cities are empty now, and all ecosystems are long gone. If only someone had helped our dying world. Previous article Next article apex back to

< Back to Issue 9 Enter . . . the Anthropocene? by Rita Fortune 28 October 2025 Illustrated by Zara Burk Edited by Kylie Wang We live in a time where humanity’s impact on the world around us is clearly visible. From the neverending barrage of information about climate change, to extinction and habitat loss, the consequences of our actions are impossible to avoid. There’s no denying that the world around us is changing, but what if there are deeper implications? What if our impact on the planet will be apparent thousands, even millions of years into the future? Have we changed our planet’s system to such an extent that the birth of our species defined a new geological epoch? The geological timescale is how we understand the relative timing of past events. From the advent of life, to mass extinctions, all of it is documented in the rock record. Our geological past is divided into formalised time periods: eons, eras, periods, epochs and ages. These time periods are generally divided by major changes visible in the rock record, such as mass extinctions, major climate shifts, or changes in magnetic polarity, with absolute ages determined by radioactive dating (1). Currently, we are formally sitting in the Holocene Epoch, which began around 11.7 thousand years ago, with the end of the last glacial maximum and beginning of the subsequent warmer interglacial phase (2). However, due to the enormity of impact on earth systems that humanity has had, especially since the dawn of the industrial revolution, some scientists are pushing for the formalisation of a new epoch: the Anthropocene. The concept of the Anthropocene was first officially coined by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2002 (3). Initially, it was used to recognise the exploitation of earth’s resources by humankind, including the emission of greenhouse gases, urbanisation of land, and increase in species extinction rates. Crutzen and Stoermer suggested the beginning of the Anthropocene to be in the late 18th century, as, in the last 200 years, the “global effects of human activities have become clearly noticeable” (3). The concept, at its core, has remained the same since then, but there have been some changes and debate around formal definitions and informal uses of the term. The Anthropocene has been adopted in popular culture, with its broad use encompassing humanity’s interactions with the earth, but there is ongoing debate about its formal use. Furthermore, although the theory traces its origins to earth system science, efforts to formalise the Anthropocene have been multidisciplinary, involving not only stratigraphers and palaeontologists, but also experts from various scientific backgrounds (4). Formalising the Anthropocene as an epoch distinct from the Holocene relies on being able to find stratal evidence in the rock record for where this transition took place (4). There are countless pieces of evidence for our impact on Earth’s systems.Yet, there is still debate around which ones can be used to define the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene Working Group identified as potential evidence for the beginning of the Anthropocene: the increase in sedimentation and erosion rates; changes to carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles; climate change and increase in sea level, and; biotic changes such as unprecedented spread of species across Earth (4). Many of these impacts will leave permanent evidence in the geological record, indicating our existence long after our civilisations have crumbled. There are many potential ways to define the beginning of the Anthropocene. Crutzen suggested this crucial moment to be the invention of the steam engine, which led to the industrial revolution, often used as a baseline to compare our current climate to (3). However, evidence of industrialisation from this time is really only visible in Europe, with sediments from the Southern Hemisphere showing no change (5). More recently, it has been posited that the detonation of the first atomic bomb in 1945 should be the official marker of the Anthropocene, as it deposited a thin stratal layer of radionuclides, which do not naturally occur in the environment (6). While it’s clear that humans are a major source of change on Earth, some say that it does not necessarily mean we’ve entered a new epoch. Although geological time periods are often delineated based on environmental change, not every environmental change necessitates the creation of a new epoch. There have been past periods of (relatively) rapid climate change that are not associated with new time periods. An example of this is the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). During this time, there was significant global warming, change in habitats, and migration in species. This warm period lasted for approximately 100,000 years, but there were no mass extinctions. Once temperatures returned to normal, ecosystems essentially returned to how they were before the event (7). Geologically speaking, the proposed Anthropocene is a minuscule amount of time. Although the effects are extreme, if we stopped all emissions right now, it is possible that within 5000 years the climate could return to pre-industrial levels (8). Another argument presented by some authors is that the stratigraphic basis for the Anthropocene doesn’t exist yet, and is merely expected to exist in the future. Many structures which have an anthropogenic origin, such as excavation, boreholes and mine dumps, are not yet geological strata. Additionally, in strata that have recorded anthropogenic change, such as speleothems, marshes, lake and ocean floor sediments, the layers representing the Anthropocene would be so thin as to be difficult to distinguish from the underlying Holocene sediments (6). Without the gift of hindsight that has allowed scientists to examine previous epochs, it is difficult to say whether or not the change we currently see will be significant enough on a geological scale to officially move us into a new epoch. There has been suggestion that instead of a new epoch, the Anthropocene could be a Sub-Age, or an Age within the Holocene Epoch (4); acknowledging our profound impact on the earth, but believing that the earth’s system will eventually return to pre-industrial levels. Further complicating the matter, there are suggestions that humans have been altering the earth’s climate since long before the industrial revolution. Evidence shows that a rise in CO2 occurred with the advent of farming by early humans, 7000 years ago. Around the same time, there was also a rise in atmospheric methane, which has been attributed to rice paddies and livestock (9). With the increase in human population happening at this time, there was likewise an increase in land clearance, both to accommodate dwellings and farming. Even though these emissions and land clearing are tiny by today’s standards, they may have been enough to push our climate away from heading into its next glacial period, priming the warmer conditions we experience today. Some arguments have even been made that irreversible impact by humans stretches back even further, to the Pleistocene extinctions of megafauna across multiple continents (10). There is no doubt that humans have had, and are having, a massive impact on the environment. The atmosphere and oceans will take thousands of years to recover from their current level of warming. However, these massive changes do not necessarily mean that we have entered a new epoch. Although it appears there will be ample stratigraphic records of our impacts on this planet, without hindsight, it is difficult to see just how much change we have created. In the context of geological time, humans have been around for a minutely short period. Although what’s happening today might seem dramatic to us, it is possible that millions of years in the future all we will have left behind is a few centimetres of ocean floor sediment. Either way, the Anthropocene as an informal term for our current time period is valuable for acknowledging the consequences of our actions, and a reminder of the permanence of our record. References 1.University of Calgary. Geologic time scale. Energy Education. 2024. Accessed October 21, 2025. https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Geologic_time_scale#cite_note-GTS-3 2. Walker M, Johnsen S, Rasmussen SO, Popp T, Steffensen JP, Gibbard P, et al. Formal definition and dating of the GSSP (Global Stratotype Section and Point) for the base of the Holocene using the Greenland NGRIP ice core, and selected auxiliary records. J. Quaternary Sci. 2009;24(1):3–17. doi: 10.1002/jqs.1227 3. Crutzen PJ, Stoermer EF. The ‘Anthropocene’ (2000) [Internet]. Benner S, Lax G, Crutzen PJ, Pöschl U, Lelieveld J, Brauch HG, editors. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2021. 3 p. (Paul J. Crutzen and the Anthropocene: A New Epoch in Earth’s History). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82202-6_2 4. Zalasiewicz J, Waters CN, Summerhayes CP, Wolfe AP, Barnosky AD, Cearreta A, et al. The Working Group on the Anthropocene: Summary of evidence and interim recommendations. Anthropocene. 2017;19:55–60. doi: 10.1016/j.ancene.2017.09.001 5. Pare S. Nuclear bombs set off new geological epoch in the 1950s, scientists say. Live Science. 2023. Accessed October 21, 2025. https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/nuclear-bombs-set-off-new-geological-epoch-in-the-1950s-scientists-say 6. Finney S, Edwards L. The “Anthropocene” epoch: Scientific decision or political statement? GSA Today. 2016;26:4–10. doi: 10.1130/GSATG270A.1 7. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Britannica. 2023. Accessed October 21, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/science/Paleocene-Eocene-Thermal-Maximum 8. The Royal Society. If emissions of greenhouse gases were stopped, would the climate return to the conditions of 200 years ago? The Royal Society. 2020. Accessed October 21, 2025. https://royalsociety.org/news-resources/projects/climate-change-evidence-causes/question-20/ 9. Ruddiman WF, He F, Vavrus SJ, Kutzbach JE. The early anthropogenic hypothesis: A review. Quaternary Science Reviews. 2020;240:106386. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106386 10. Doughty CE, Wolf A, Field CB. Biophysical feedbacks between the Pleistocene megafauna extinction and climate: The first human-induced global warming? Geophys. Res. Lett. 2010;37(15). doi:10.1029/2010GL043985 Previous article Next article Entwined back to

< Back to Issue 9 Unravelling the Threads: From the Editors-in-Chief & Cover Illustrator by Ingrid Sefton, Aisyah Mohammad Sulhanuddin & Anabelle Dewi Saraswati 28 October 2025 Illustrated by Anabelle Dewi Saraswati Edited by the Editor-in-Chiefs Innovation evolves, and perhaps what once made headlines becomes embodied in ourselves and in our universe. The science that we once saw is no longer visible, yet no less integral in the ways in which it governs our world. Like the strings of a puppet, scientific principles guide us and coordinate the patterns and movements which shape our daily lives. Yet equally, science encourages us to look behind the curtain in order to unravel the forces which pull on the strings of our universe. Following these rich threads of knowledge, so often taken for granted, this issue brings to the fore and celebrates the science that keeps our world running. An introspective chat with the brain, a journey along the production line that creates our much-loved daily cup of matcha, fundamental questions about how we seek and create knowledge: Entwined seeks to make explanations explicit and start conversations about the scientific mechanisms embedded in our lives. When we take the time to focus our gaze, encourage awe at the everyday and seek reflection over reaction – that’s when we start to disentangle the science that binds us; that which keeps us Entwined . Begin your immersion in the world of Entwined with Issue 9’s Cover Illustrator, Anabelle Dewi Saraswati , as she explains the vision and rationale behind her work. “I found myself drawn to the world of Art Nouveau for these cover illustrations, captivated by the way forms seem to grow into each other, sharing meaning and life, much like the theme of ‘Entwined’ itself. There is something magical about that moment in history, where art, architecture, and science all seemed to bleed into one another, each discipline borrowing and lending, rooted in the emphasis on the beauty of nature after the coldness created by the Industrial Revolution. That sense of crossover felt like the perfect encapsulation for this issue, derived from pictorial history. The way feminine figures and flowing hair seem to melt into vines and leaves, everything tangled together in a quiet conversation. The motion and sense of growth, but also its hidden mathematical precision required to produce such beautiful curving forms. Art Nouveau captured how the artificial and natural worlds are always weaving into each other, inseparable. I wanted to draw from that imagery in a way that acknowledges its history I return to my architectural roots in structure, composition and line with my approach in building these pieces. The signage piece is fully hand-drawn and deliberate – reflecting the craft and typographic precision of the era. The collage is a layering of textures and fragments, letting ideas overlap and bleed into each other, much like memories and histories do. A way to begin the issue visually to trace the growth of worlds as they intertwine. Paying homage to the harmony between the natural and the human-made, to reflect on how we are shaped by the places we inhabit, the histories we inherit, and the stories we choose to keep alive.” Previous article Next article Entwined back to