ey Scientist + Dae eo} CLIMATE CHANGE: A SPECIAL ISSUE HOW WORRIED SHOULD WEBE? Your guide to a year of extreme weather Pefestancenst Reunmacnc [ueetetend oat a Pe Devt iany adapt to soaring Rronr etnies Why both doomers and resent eiients enone itd ree Coe tier Certitoageraccel Remereeel PLUS THE TRUTH ABOUT ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS / LK-99 NOT A SUPERCONDUCTOR AFTEI THE UNIVERSE'S MOST AMAZING LIGHT SHOWSThis week’s issue On the cover How wortied should we be? Yourquide toa year of edreme weather 10s the world warming faster than expected? News 15 Night moves: What youlstentobefore you sleep can shape your creams 15Martion weather The Red Planet used to hhave wel anc dry seasons 16Nomales needed Female stickinsect danes Itset despite sexwith males Views 21 Comment Knowing hor butmaking somethingless bad Isn'tthesame-and isn'tas ‘worthy-as removing the cause. Wecan’tjustpreach torainforest nations 29 July, p26 From David Myers, Commaugny, Switzerland Having visited Boliviaon several ‘occasions, found it spectacular. Moreover. asa scientist well understand the consequences of destroyingits forests, However, {still have to question the nature ‘ofthe commentary in your recent picture tory on this. How can, peopleliving in higher-income countries suggest that Bolivians don'thavetheright tofarmin thelrown country? Surely. if Westerers want rainforests to bbeundisturbed, we must provide funds and technology so that their {inhabitants havealternative ways, toincrease theirstandands of living tothe levels weeny. Your thoughts on how tothinkabout new Als 29yuly,p32 From Eric Van, Watertown, Massachusetts, US Youwritethat“untilweknow ‘what consciousness, theres, nosolid way of testing frit” in anartifcial intelligence. There i, infact, asimple way oftesting for it provided the Alisincapable of lyingaboutitsel, has colour visionandhasn'tbeen rained ‘onthe concept of subjective experience" and its mysteries. Youaskit:"Isn'tit remarkable that when you see the colour red, youmightbehavinga subjective experience of everyone else’ greencolour? And, vice versa, youcouldbehavingred experiences when seelng our green, None of us would even be aware that this swap of subjective experiences was happening! Thisisthe inverted spectrum thoughtexperiment, staple ofphilosophy of mind. Ifthe At can't make sense of this,thenit, isn’tconscious. fitcan, tis. From john Andreae, Lower Hutt, New Zealand You tate; "Perhaps the relevant question isn't whetherornot Als canbecome conscious, but why we ‘would want them tobe conscious” Ifyousee conscious awareness as the ability to express feelings, ‘thoughts and intentions, then the importance of consciousness inrobots that aretobe useful assistants, carers or interesting companiensis obvious From Michael Harrington, Sydney, Australia The consequence-oreconomic threat ifyouare personally affected of Alis that armies of white-collar professionals, suchas architects, lawyersand accountants, may become permanently redundant. Youask an l:"Show me somedesigns for aneast-facingbeach house with, averandaand water views that backs ontoa bush reserve You scroll through few images and floor plans then choose one ~the Alknows the locationandcandoa design down tothemillimetrethat is compliant with localrules. Any problem with thecouncilandan Al can generatea legally perfect letter foryou,aswellasorganise finances toyourbest advantage. Job done, Wantto get in touch? see terms a newselentist.com/letters nA Send letters toletters@newscientist.com; Letters sent to New Scientist, 9Derry Street, London, WS sHY will be delayed ‘One person’s luxury isanother’s necessity -za}uly, p37 From NigelOlliver, Darwin River, Norther Territory, Australia Icouldn'tagree morewith ‘Madeleine Cuffs report regarding ‘the carbon taxation of luxuries However, defining luxury isno simple matter, She mentions two ‘examples sirtravel and SUVS, Imagine three people, Band C- areallonthesame plane travelling fromasmallruraltownto the big city. Aisonatrip to thecasino, Bis going toagrandchild’s wedding and Cis visiting the hospital for ‘chemotherapy. The degree of luxury is different for each. Towna four-wheel-drive vehicle, Without it, wouldn’tbe ableto gett the shops ora doctor's surgery during the wet season. ‘That hardly compares with the ity dweller who ownsa farlargerand more prestigious vehicle partly foritsvalueasa status symbol. ‘Thedifferenceis inthe motivation ‘the user, not the item itself, ‘and that is farharder to judge. Costly space telescope is proving its worth Letters, 22 uly From Martin Whittle, Sheffield, UK ‘The lames Webb Space Telescope ‘was priceyat 1obilion, but the ‘game-changingscience that it Isproducing really makes it ‘great value for money. Yourcorrespondent needsto seeitincontext and should save herireforthe ol companies that ‘make huge profits by drilling for the stuf that reallyisdestroying ‘ourenvironment.Forexample, BP profits doubled to $28billion last year, while Shell made record profits of$39. billion. ExxonMobil shareholders werealso rubbing, theirhands, with reported profits of 357 billion.Note that siobillionisjustsa percent of USdefencesspendingfor2022at $877 billion. f]WST hadn't flown, wonder what that money would havebeen spentoninstead? # 19 August 2003|New Scientist 29,Features Cover story 30 New Scientist |19 August2023Too hot to handle? Climate change means extreme heat will become the norm for millions of people across the world. Graham Lawton joins an expedition in Saudi Arabia to find out how humans will respond RUDGING tought esa i hae TT eicmtinintrcntiastie se Clog Aterabourgominuer, Lmatenched detyatedand drained lant imagine doings for a day dragging all ny gearbehndme~inclaing ores of water enough rfvedaye-onatwontheled ole Burtt serach the people traelng whet done Tamim the Natu der avastirctt say andocty whdernes in notbern Saud abla oexprenceleet of eat ht am netbulltoendure-andtomect2 people paripating nan expdlton called Deep Ghats dedeatedto understanding how humans spondtoexttemeconditons “The ini tost how human eingscan apt tounev ind ofenironmen ey Chrstan Gottheleaeroftneenpedtion and dior ofthe Human dapationnstten France Aste clinate ana thelsusisbecorng Increasing pres Bven inde the mot optimiescenaroyhescorchinghet cen ivouternBurpeandacr the US verthe pastcouplect months wh erpertres exceeding 40°C (see page 8), will become thenormtnmanyparsote word That rman thequston ct whathoppensto ourbransand bodes andthe extent to whi ‘human physiology can cope with extreme ‘heat, matters for millions of people. "You're going oseea great bigswathe of very densely populatedareas go up to unprecedented ‘temperatures that nobody experienced in the historical climate” says Tim Lenton at the University of Exeter, UK. who recently co- authoreda research paper called “Quantifying the human cost of global warming’. “Canweadapt toand accept nev-climate conditions?" asksClot."Wedon't know. ‘We need to learn more." The Deep Climate expedition isthe frst large-scale experiment toattempttofind out, Like every other living thing, humans evolved tohave an deal climate niche an average temperature and rainfallrangein which wecan live comfortably. "Theclimate niche describes where people lourishand have flourished for centuries, ifnot millennia” says Lenton. Technologies such asclothing, buildings, heating and airconditioning have cextended that niche and allowed people to liveinsome of the hottest and coldest places con Earth, but they haven't fundamentally ‘changed our biology. The ideal mean ‘temperature for us over thelong run saround 12°C (54°F), says Lenton. Which explains why, historically, population density peaks in locations with that mean temperatureand falls offrapidly on eitherside, (Climate change has already altered the geographical distribution ofthat niche. At current levels of warming, roughly 11°C above pre-industrial average temperatures, some areas of Earth that were once close to the niche have been pushed further away from it ‘Already, we estimate that some people have been shifted from what was the kind of climate that supported high-density populations in the past toa climate that historically would support lower density” saysLenton, Teantellyou fromexperience that constantheat is extremely testing. The average temperature in Saudi Arabla during the summer, when I visited, is around 30°C (86°P, peaking at 4s'Cin the early afternoon and dropping into the 20s (70s) at night. tis brutaland sapping Sleep is elusive, exertion {incredibly challenging [found myself prostrate in my tent, fantasising about cold beer airconditioning and swimming pools. ‘And that was dry heat, which we know to beessiertocope with than humid heat. Itisalready well-established how human, bodies respond in the short term to extreme high temperatures. The initialsymptoms are heat rash and cramps, caused by lost fluids and salts, which can progress oheatstroke:a fast, strong pulse, headaches, dizziness, nauseaand confusion. "Thisisatruemedicalemergency” says Bradley Uren atthe University of Michigan. And the more humid itis, the lower the temperature required to get there. Ataround 45°C (iu3"F) and up to 20 percent humidity, the human body can coolitself through sweating. But above 40 percent humidity, 45°Ccan be deadly. Extreme conditions What we know almost nothing about is \whether humans canadaptto such conditions Inthelong term. Enter Clot.In 2016, he realised that there was very littledata on how-humans will ope with future climates and came up with the idea forhis experiment. Tobegin with, he volunteered himselfas a human guinea pig and undertook three 40-day solo expeditions inthe extreme climates hethought were most relevant: humid heat inthe Brazilian Amazon, freezing cold {inSiberiaand dry heat in ran. Every day, hetook scientific readings on himself. Clot’ssoloeforts became the pilot project for the Deep Climate expedition. In2o¥7, the projectadvertised forvolunteersaged > 19 August 023 | Nev Scientist 33Climate change diplomacy simon Sharpe reveals how our trusted institutions are failing us ‘on climate change at New Scientist Live newscientist.com/nsimag, between 2s and so whowere fit, spoke French and were prepared tolerate tough conditions, They whittled the applicants down to about 3. ‘There were tobe threelegs ofthe experiment, each lasting 4odaysand 4gonnights: humid heat, extreme cold (which willalsobecome more commonas the climate changes) and dry heat. Each leg features a team ‘of 20"climatonauts” picked from the original 30:10 womenand 10 men, including lot ‘Thereisnomotorisedtransportand everything they need has tobe hauled or carried, up to200 kilograms per person, ‘Thelocations have changed dueto political instability ~French Guyana in place of Brazil Lapland for Siberia and Saudi Arabia for ran bbut the goal is the same, "We study ll the processes of adaptation, and the mechanisms Inthebrainand in thebody, to understand how we canadapt” says Clot. Byadaptation, he doesn't mean some kind of rapid evolutionary response, rather he is talking morebroadly about how our bodies and rains react, ‘whether thats tocope or otherwise, and how people behave in such extreme conditions. The French Guyana expedition was completed in january, while the Lapland leg finished in April The Saudi Arabian experiment began in early May at village called Sakaka, 210 kilometres asthe crow Mies from the finishing line at Jubbah,an oasis town, ontheedge ofthe King Salman bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve. Theclimatonauts walked up to1o kilometresa day, hauling their gear over dunes and rocksand running the gauntlet of scorpions, snakes and sandstorms. "The sand isawful” says Clot. They set offat sam each ‘morning and trekked for hours, taking, shelter during the hottest partoftheday, then walked again in the evening. Every fifth day they paused to rest 21 New Slentist|19 august 2003 “| misidentified fish as onion - the heat had addled my olfactory bulb” Throughout, they lent thelr bodies to science. "We study the individual as muchas possible ~ physiology, epigenetis, microbiota’ says chief selentist Margaux Romand-Monnler at Ecole Normale Supérieure inParis."Wealso [study] cognition and brain plastcity,and then wehave another set of studies to investigate hhow the group evolved and the dynamics and how it changed from the beginning ofthe expedition until the end: Some ofthe data acquisition was continuous. The limatonauts wore accelerometers to monitor their movement andsleep, and sociometers to record thelr Interactions with other group members-who theyare nearand whether they re talking, though not the content ofthe conversation, Every ew days, they swalloweda sensorto ‘monitor thelr core temperature. They also filled in daily questionnaires about their emotional and physical stateand recorded what theyate—a monotonous diet of rehydrated meals, latbreads, processed cheese, dried fruits, nuts and cookies. Onrestdays, theyall underwenta battery ofpphysical and cognitive tests, including heart rate, blood pressure, posture, muscle Biistering hea, felt here atthe TajMahalinindia, will become common many countries tone and oxygenation, memory, attention, Imetacognition and sensory perception, (Itook ‘asmelltestand flunked i, misidentifying fish asonion; the oppressive heat had clearly ‘messed with my olfactory bulb). They had blood and tool samples taken, the latter toassess thelr gutmiczobiome. ‘This vast pool of data, once compiled and cleaned up, wll be sent to13 collaborating research groups for analysis, along with data from the other two expeditions. They will track the changes over timeand compare the data with baselines taken beforethe treks. twill, takea year at east to get the full results. Thereis some existing research,says Romand-Monnier, but itis limited toshort- term physiological adaptation in military personnelandeliteathletes."Its really Irustrating because there slot of publications and everybody thinks, come on, ‘wealready know everything, what are you going tostudy?" shesays, “But the thing is, foranormal group in that kind of climate and that duration, we know nothing” Mind over matter ‘They dohave hypotheses, based on the pilot data from Clot’ solo expeditions. Physiology probably cart adapt very much, says Clot, but the way we thinkand operate looks lke it can respond positively. "The brain can changea lot, aanditean change really fast” he says, based on his experiences. After 40 days,alotof human beings areadapted to new-conditions.'Itisa caseof mind over matter. Foragroup of people who havebeen inthe desert for 4odays and aonights, the climatonautsall appear remarkably healthy. ‘They were, ofcourse, selected precisely because they had the right stuff Romand- ‘Monier acknowledges that this isa weakness of the study, since most people who experience climate extremes in the future won'tbe young, healthy, decked out in specialist footwearand clothing, fed and watered, Nor willthey know thereisa definitive endpoint. But you haveto start somewhere, she says, and the planis to re-run the expeditions with participants who represent different backgroundsand ages. Understandinghow ordinary people respond to extreme climates could hardly be ‘more urgent. In the era before climate change really kicked in, almost nobody lived under extremely hot conditions year-round. In the mid-1960s, perhaps 10 million people lived ‘outside the niche, says Lenton. Today, around 6o million do, overwhelmingly Inlower-Income countries such s India, Nigeria ‘and Indonesia. That increases partly due to population growth, butalso climate change. ‘Thecurrent distribution of population density still peaks ata mean annual temperature of 12°C (54°F, but thereis now another, smaller peakat 25°C (77°F). That is largely due to people living on the Indian. subcontinent, says Lenton, wherehotter ‘conditions are becoming thenorm. tis within ‘our climate niche, but only just, with frequent heatwaves nudging conditions into extreme heat, which Lenton defines as an annual mean ‘of 26°C (84°F). Even places firmly inthe niche ‘il find themselves getting warmer. "Abunch ‘of people might be shifted fromwhatwasa really great climate historically, say 1210 13°C, and are now finding themselves 17°Cor ‘maybe even 20°C” says Lenton, ‘The numbers affected will continue to grow astemperatures creep up. {we limit global warming to 15°C above pre-industrial levels, saysLenton, extreme heat will descend on areas where 400 million people currently live. Itwegoto27°C, which is where current climate ‘commnitments are taking us, that rses to zbillion.“Inthe27'C world, there's over 600 million people in India and over300 million people in Nigeria exposed to extreme heat,” Clockwise fromiett: GrahamLawtonon ‘the dry heat expedition in Saudi Arabia; participants walkin 4USIC(13F)heat during the day; tents provide brief respite at ‘thehottest timeof day ‘hesays, plus many more millions in Indonesia, thePhillppines and vast swathes ofthe Sahel region of Africa, Notably, of course, these aren't wealthy countries. Saud! Arabiais rich, and most people there canafford to modify theirliving spaces to stay within the niche. Notsoforlower-income countries onthe frontline of extreme heat. “The superrichcan find ways of getting, inside air-conditioned buildings and sourcing desalinated seawater, and find other ways ofcontinuing tothrive in extreme imates, says Lenton, “But that only works fyou have enough resources. There'san awfullot of people on the planet tillliving below the poverty line,a huge number of people who don't havethe means tohave access to some of those adaptation options” For those people, the mos ikely adaptation is mass migration. “The normal responses to move tothe better places, we see that happening forbirds for plants, and Ithas happened throughout human history” says Lenton’s colleague Marten Scheffer at ‘Wageningen University in the Netherlands. “Itwould bea very natural adaptation to consider migration, and not just migration ‘oftens of millions of people. That might beabillion orso” How the world will espond tosuch mass ‘movement isn'telear although the West's current attitude to muchsmaller numbers of refugees doesn't bode well. But the shifting niche willat east create more liveable spaces athigherand lower latitudes. “There is abright sid” says Scheffer. “Some placesaregetting, worse, but other places aregetting better. I's not lke the Earth is becoming unliveable” Itcertainly feels unliveable in the Saudi Arabian desert. My twodays there felt ke aneternity,and1was relieved to get back to the hotel. Cold beer wasn't an option Saudi Arabia sadry country in morethan one sense~but there was alrconditioningand swimming pool.Two out of three ain't bad. ‘Asthe climatonautshad wearily broken ‘camp forthe last time, Ihadasked some what they werelooking forward to most once they got home, Most said good food, wine, sleep, showers, family friends, a bitofsolitude—and respite from the heat. Many moreof us willbe Tonging forthatin the not-too-distant future. & Graham Lawton'sa features ‘iter atNew Scientist 9 hugust 200 New Scientist 33Features 1196018 presidental election Tirtcte ries epublianandDemocst nominees. asso fur meting chard onan [oan Kennedy fed ieutveon lesion thitadia The upset singing Among prove adistenedio the dba Non opener houghtoharecome cut Sntop het ered omnes Syste inne How cod Ghat be? “Theanewerls bjend what he women sit Wetendtoconeerlangunges the ony indium though wich we communi, batters she chaneiden nous ands esters renifweareunevaeof or fostuceteyarevibletomnyonewocan ‘Seung Whats more they ccm ohare $Speclldonthetruth Gesturesfen the peoples window ino urthoughtsthat orden hichnight hep enn why Kennedy wenton town the Us prideney utente donut other pope readour minds Ihmespentfivedcaes Siuyinghow wecommanate without hanasand opt tthe eens Thavedecneredtesursingpower ef foturetosapeourthouht Uhotwehnw come ores sthat gestae notinremovemente Tey Saspecalkndof thinking hats reveled through the ands Mot people so underalue them at thy often donee they ae stung thew range ofabiitthat feturingentalsmalestacortt superpower Eesti gesture andyoucr marine itsbenetiste boost karingond memory communists erecta ‘cepersacalconectons Tis ogh, what do mcany gestures? Idontneanthchandspasthateeryone aqrecsoninaporicreuturesuchaea, thus uthatmeansthngnegoodin theUSandUK Theesoclafemblensar Tkewordsinatonay Tyas tbe fancorm soon real mihboutthe thougofthepersonusingthem iste ‘34 New Scientist 19 August 2003, Express yourself MV e Ohcemtnctrra sc AeoUR ene em aye eesti Susan Goldin-Meadow reveals the hidden powers of gesture Jam interested in spontaneous gestures, ‘movements that we produce with our hands when we speak. People inallcultures gesture. And youdon't need tohave seen itdone todo it: people who are bornblind move their hands when they talk,justas sighted people do. People also gesture alongside using sign language. Anindication of just how deep-rooted gesturing iscomes rom the intriguing case “Making gestures has a powerful effect on learning”study ofa man knownas IW. Asaresultof nerve damage caused by illness, hebecame ‘unable ocontrol his movements. With great effort,IWlearned to movehisarmsandlegs, butonly when he ould see them and visually guide them, Hecouldn't move or manipulate objects in the dark, yet he could stil gesture when he talked ~in the light or dark. IWsexperiencehighlightsthat gestures aren’tlike our other movements, and rases the question of what isgoingon insideour brains when we gesture. The truth is that we aren't sure. However, we do know that learning with the aid of gesture leavesa signature in the partof the brain associated with movement, Justas learning by manfpulating physical ‘objects does. Aso, when someone simply talks about anaction, suchas tying thelrshoelaces, ‘the same areas of the brain are involved as ‘when they actually perform that action. These observations led Martha Alibaliand Autumn Hostetter both then at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to propose thatthe brain simulates actions when we speakabout them, and that when certain threshold of brain activity is reached, this simulation leads togesture. Thethreshold may differ from. person to person, creating differences in hhow much people gesture in various contexts This would explain why we gesture more when describing things we havedone than, things we have only seen, But evenifthis action simulation dea iscorrect, there must bemore goingonin thebrain because gestures aren't just about our ownactions. We use them torepresent many other things, including shapes (or example, moving yourhand ina circle to represent aball, theactions of objects (moving yourhand upwards torepresent ‘rocket taking off) and ideas (moving your hhand forwards to represent the future). Clearly, there is still much we don't now about the neuroscience of gestures The question that realy intrigues me, however, is why we gesture when we talk. The Nixon/Kennedy debates suggest one possible benefit ofthisarm gymnastics. Even f viewers don'tconsciously attend to gestures, they do subconsciously interpret them to glean more Information than from speech alone, A recent study suggests that speakers intultively know thls. James Trufiloat the Max Planck institute forPsycholinguistics in the Netherlandsand hiscolleagues wanted to see what happens togestures when wetrytocommunicateina noisy environment. They found that just as we tend toraise our voices, wealsoaccentuateand elaborate our gestures. In fact, speakers put ‘moreetfort into exaggerating their gestures than adjusting the volume of theirspeech, So, wealter our gestures ohelp people understand us, But this can't be the whole story, otherwise why would weuse our hands when talkingon the phoneand in othersituations where people can’t see us? Onelong-standingideaisthat gesturing > 19 august 2023] New Scientist 35,How our minds predict reality ‘newscientist.com/nslmag hhelps us retrieve tip-of-the-tongue words You might find yourself rotating your hand asyouttry toremember the word screwdriver” forexample.ltsounds plausibleand some researchers believeit, ut the evidence remains inconclusive Nevertheless, a slew of experiments convincingly show that gesturing helps cour thinking in other ways. For example, none study, my colleagues and used eye trackers to watch where children looked during mathslessonsin which the teacher either used gestures or avoided using them, When hergestures pointed out the numbers shewas talking about, children were more likely tolook at these numbers. hat isn't toosurprising. However, when we homed inonallthechildren whose gaze followed thesenumbers even those taught without gestures we found that children taught with gestures understood moreafterthe lesson than those who hadn't seen them. Soa teacher's gestures don'tjust help Jeamers focus on whats important, theyalsohelp them get moremeaning from what theyattend to, ‘Making our own gestures has an even more powerful effect on earning. One experiment found that pre-schoolers aged 4 and who pointed at numbers while counting became ‘moreaccurate counters than children ofthe sameage who only watched a puppet point at the numbers. Inaddition, gesturing also helps ‘us generalise what weare learning, which is essential or acquizing new knowledge. For example, qand-year-olds taught the invented 36 |New Seientst|19August2003 “Gesture lightens our cognitive load, making thinking easier” ‘word “tffing” ~meaning to squeeze the round partofa toy -were more likely extend thisknowledge toother squeezable toys ifthey had learned the word while using squeezing gesture than ifthey had learned ‘twhile physically squeezing aparticulartoy. Itseems that gesturing helps us abstract, away from thedetails ofa problem and ‘think more deeply about how to solve Aswellas helping us leam and understand, sgesturingalsoaids memory directly. My colleagues and Ishowed adult volunteers ‘videos of people, animals and toys performing various actions before testing their memory ‘immediately aterwardsandagaina few weeks later. In thelong term, they remembered ‘more items when they had used gesture ‘hile describing them afterwards than when they had used words alone. You might expect that moving your hands and talking atthe same time would require more brainpower than talking onits ‘ownsince doing the two together improves ‘memory, In fact, it seems todo the opposite Weconducted an experiment where adults had to multitask by simultaneously explaining how they solved a maths problem while rememberinga sequence of letters. ‘They remembered more, not fewer, letters hen they used gestures along with words {in theirmathsexplanations than when they used wordsalone. Instead of adding to our cognitive load, gesturing seems lighten t, making thinking easier. ‘One possible explanation for this might be that gesture exteralises ideas and puts them ina spatial setting. This isa bitlikea ‘Above: John F. Kennedy ‘gesturing to Richard Nixon. Left:Astronaut TimPeakeTuning in to gestures eer ceaeeraeeteend {act tha ts rarely noticed by the speaker ‘or listener yetis easily understoodand toteach. This willhelpthemunderstand ‘the material you are conveying. Gesturing ‘while learning wil also make them more likely to solvethe same problemin anew ‘way. That isimportant because being able ‘to generalise what we eamis essential toacquiring new knowledge. Pay attention toother people's ‘gestures. These offer a window into the ‘thoughts that speakers have but don't ‘expressin their words. These thoughts are often at the cutting-edge oftheir knowledge or address issues that are "uppermost in their minds. Noticing and responding to such gestures willimprove ‘your interactions at home and at work. ‘Observe the gesturing of infants. Wi tearing to talk children typically convey sentence-Iike meanings in combination ‘of gesture and speech before using words alone -for example, pointing at abox and saying “opent fa child failsto produce ‘these gesture-word combinations, it may bea sign that their spoken language development willbe delayed, allowing ‘you tointervene andhelp. Be careful that your gestures say ‘what you want them to. Those youttalk ‘ovil pay attention to your gestures although often subconsciously 50 ‘choose them wisely. Remember, gestures ‘canrovealwhat you might want to hide. ‘Andi youare questioning someone, be aware that a gesture may inadvertently influence them toell you what you ‘want tohear rather than give their ‘own unbiased answer. Gesture more when you speak. HRwillhelp you learn and understand, and also thinkin a more abstractway. you gesture while talking, you will, remember more of what youhave said. Dot while you are muittasking andit willghten your cognitive load. What's ‘more, when you gesture, the people around youtend to dosotoo, This can ‘give you away of seeing what others are thinking but not saying, 2 memory strategy called the “method of loc’ ‘where you mentally place each item ona list {nadifferentlocation and take an imaginary journey around these locations to ald recall. Gesture might work like this too, an intriguing ‘dea that has yet tobe tested. What s clear, however Is that gesture provides an additional mode of thought — more visual than speech and more active than pictures. Assuch, it can fillgaps left by speech. Itis particularly suited to capturing ideas visually -outlining shapes, recreating movements and displaying ‘transformations. And itcan communicate {information thats implicitina picture but difficult toexpress in words.For instance, ‘when Mary Hegarty at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her colleagues showed people diagrams of mechanical systems and asked them to work out how different parts moved, more than 90 percent cof theirexplanations were accompanied by gestures, Most of these gestures portrayed mechanical motions not described in their words and notobvious from the diagrams. Inthis way, gesture provides an extra way of thinking and communicating ideas that speech struggles with Itis tempting to think that the cognitive power of gesture might lie inthe fact that it allowsuusto use two methods—handand mouth at once, Butit isnt that simple. Gesturingcan help childrenlearn and solve problems innewways ‘My collesgues and I discovered this when. \wetaughta maths concept tohearing children, \ho used their hands to gesture and their ‘mouths o speak, and todeaf children, \Who used their hands togesture and to produce American Sign Language. The result ‘was the same inboth groups: children who produced gestures that conveyed different information from their language were more likely tolearn how tosolvethe problems than those whose gestures conveyed the same informationas their language. ‘Nevertheless, the fact that gesturing brings the body into thinking doesseem to bbeimportant. We know that our movements canhavean impact on our thinking For example, ifyoulearnanew dance while blindfolded, youwill subsequently be able torecognise those moves when someone else does them moreeasily thanadance you didntperform. Like other movements, our gestures area form of embodied cognition with the powerto shape our thoughts. Thewide rangeof functions that gesturing serves makeita multi-purpose cognitive tool, But be warned: today’s technologiesare interfering with ourabilty to ‘make the best use fit. When youareholding your phone or Zooming in toa meeting or lesson, the rch language of gesture may be partially blocked or missing entirely. On the other hand, when you recognise that gesturing ‘occurs in all contexts, from parenting to your professional and social interactions, then you can take advantage ofthe benelitsit offers (Gee"“Tuningin to gestures lef) Understand and embrace its power and Tassure you twill fundamentally hangehow effectively youcommunicate, forthe better. ‘susan Goin-Meadows professor of psychology atthe Univesity of hicago 19 August 2025] New Scientist 37