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Ella Speers Photo credited to Aimee Lew Mother Nature is capable of remarkable phenomena across every biosphere, including vivid and emotive displays, colourations, diversity and interactions. However, a newly hatched fledgling pushing intact eggs out of its own nest is a sight to behold. Cuckoo birds, Cuclidae, are parasites scorning the systematic operation of nature. Through years of evolution manifesting into cheating tactics, they have freed themselves from the cost of parental care by inflicting this on a host species instead. A cuckoo will lay an egg in a host species’ nest when vacant to trick it into raising its young as part of its own brood, thus escaping the energetic expense of parental care. However, nature is not that straightforward. The cuckoo’s cheating tactics are mirrored by the host species’ own evolutionary leaps in an attempt to rid itself of the parasitic cuckoo and the expense of raising its young. It is a cyclical process, a typical pattern in nature. Over periods of evolutionary time, the cuckoo will evolve an adaptation to trick the host, the host will develop a defence to block this, the cuckoo will create another adaptation, only to again be overcome by the host, and on the cycle goes. These rapid and intensive cycles of co-evolutions by parasite and host in response to selection pressure from the other are the epitome of an evolutionary arms race [1]. Cuckoo Trickery Versus Tuning The cheating mechanisms that cuckoos use to inflict a host bird into raising its own young have earned them the title of obligate brood parasites. This parasitism has evolved independently three separate times within the cuckoo family [2]. The parasitic adaptations that a cuckoo uses to exploit its host are a form of either trickery or tuning. Cuckoo trickery includes an exhaustive list of remarkable adaptations that have arisen to overcome host defences, such as host-egg mimicry and developing stronger egg shells that are resistant to damage by the host. Trickery ultimately aims to evade the hosts’ defences and to trick the host into raising the cuckoo egg as one of their own [2]. In comparison, tuning strategies ensure that the cuckoo egg and subsequent chick development are suited to the host species’ life history strategies to give it the best chance of survival [2]. A range of specific adaptations is required to ensure cuckoo development is conducive to the host's niche, such as its incubation and provisioning strategies, which have evolved to suit the host’s life history, not the cuckoo’s [2]. Cuckoo Trickery in Accessing Host Nests The first example of trickery exhibited by a cuckoo is exhibited by its access to hosts’ nests. A female may invest a significant amount of time observing a host bird from a concealed perch [2]. This will give the cuckoo insight into how the host behaves, including its usual feeding patterns and when the nest is not guarded. Raising parasitic young is extremely expensive as it reduces the clutch size and success of the fledglings of the host’s brood [3]. To reduce the chances of their nests being seen and therefore exploited, host species employ a range of strategies which may include nesting further from sites where cuckoos have been seen to cryptically perch [2], concealing their nests [4], secretive behaviour, or unpredictable laying; methods which make timing the parasitism difficult for the cuckoo. Perhaps the most elaborate method of avoiding cuckoos, hosts may alter their nest architecture by narrowing the entrance tubes into their nests, so the bigger cuckoos will struggle to enter [5]. Host Nest Defence A host may attack an approaching cuckoo through mobbing [2]. A previous study by Welbergen and Davies [6], shows that hosts who mob approaching cuckoos more aggressively were less likely to become parasitized, giving hosts an incentive to attack intruders they recognize as cuckoos. Cuckoos aim to remain as cryptic as possible, as other hosts in the area will increase their attendance at their nests and rates of egg rejection when cuckoos have been identified in their areas [7], hence cuckoos may be inclined to avoid species they remember as being strong mobbers to avoid injury risk and attracting predators or other brood parasites [8]. To overcome hosts’ nest defences, cuckoos employ secretive behaviour and rapid laying [2]. They also benefit from plumage that resembles predatory hawk species [9], as predator resemblance allows cuckoos fitness benefits through attack avoidance by hosts [10]. Furthermore, to counter the ability of visual recognition that host species may possess, some cuckoo species have polymorphic female plumage – the existence of two or more different colour morphs over different time periods. By employing this strategy and essentially changing their appearance, cuckoos become unidentifiable to hosts and can therefore exploit hosts’ resources to raise their young. Egg Trickery While cuckoo trickery for access to host nests shows immense strategic evolution, cuckoo egg trickery is an even more complex and sophisticated mechanism. Host adaptations (egg rejection) select for parasite resistance (egg mimicry) in an intricate co-evolutionary arms race [11]. The similarity of eggs between the common cuckoo and those of hosts was first noted in the mid-18th century [12]. Research since this period has revealed that some species can recognize their own eggs. In a nest of eggs, a host’s egg may serve as a reference for the egg type that is the correct one (its own), and hence provide a template for deducing which are foreign [13]. Species of birds with no history of cuckoo parasitism showed no rejection of foreign eggs, as demonstrated in Davies and Brooke’s 1988 study [7]. In comparison, previous hosts of cuckoo parasitism did reject eggs that were unlike their own. Davies and Brooke here show that egg rejection by hosts evolves in response to cuckoo parasitism. Conversely, but also contributing to the arms race of evolution, cuckoo egg mimicry evolves because of host egg rejection [2]. For example, reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) reject eggs that differ from their own, so their cuckoo parasite produces a mimetic egg. Strengthening this concept but through the opposite mechanism, dunnocks (Prunella modularis) do not discriminate on different eggs; hence, their cuckoo host lays a non-mimetic egg in these nests. Cuckoo Chicks Favour Their Own Survival Some cuckoo species will eject the host’s eggs or kill the host’s young to enhance their own survival success [14]. While having an egg size that closely matches the size of the host’s eggs, these cuckoos, known as ejectors, parasitize hosts that are smaller than themselves to allow a newly hatched cuckoo to push the unhatched host eggs out of the nest [14]. Ejector cuckoos have, therefore, evolved a smaller egg for their body size to facilitate this phenomenon. Darwin [15] suggested the small egg size was advantageous in both deceiving foster parents into thinking it was their own egg, and hatching within a shorter period to promote the pushing of other unhatched eggs out of the nest. Chick Trickery It has been a great mystery to zoologists as to why hosts of cuckoo parasitism exhibit discrimination against eggs unlike their own, yet some will accept a cuckoo chick upon hatching [2]. In species where the cuckoo is a non-ejector and is raised alongside the host’s brood, this is especially hard to understand, since a cuckoo chick tends to be larger and have a different gape flange colour when compared to the host’s fledglings. These two cues of size and colour are precisely what is employed in egg discrimination [7], so it is difficult to understand why these cues cannot be used to differentiate between chicks too. A theory for the acceptance of chicks, proposed by Davies and Brooke [7], is that eggs look the same during the incubation period. In contrast, chicks change dramatically in appearance from day to day. Identifying a foreign chick may pose a challenge in a clutch of constantly changing chicks. In hosts that do reject foreign young, co-evolutionary theory accurately predicts that cuckoo parasites have evolved a visual mimicry of the host’s chicks’ nestling down, skin colour and gape flanges [2] that are employed to prevent cuckoo chicks from being rejected. Cuckoo Tuning to Host Life Histories Tuning of a cuckoo egg and the subsequent chick is a recent proposal that requires more research. Current findings suggest that tuning first begins with host choice, explicitly finding a host that has a suitable size, diet, and nest type for a cuckoo chick. For ejector cuckoo chicks, the nest cannot be too deep to prevent the successful ejection of the host eggs [16]. Parasitic cuckoos are likely to need cognitive ability to allow them to remember the spatial and temporal availability of suitable host nests [17], hence females of the Molothrus species exhibit a larger hippocampus region than males [18]. A suite of adaptations ensures cuckoos hatch before the host’s eggs so that ejectors can expel them from the nest. For non-ejectors, hatching first allows a head-start in development, and hence a greater chance of out-competing host chicks [2]. In cuckoo chicks, tuning requires a further suite of adaptations that differ from the egg’s. These will vary, depending on whether a chick is an ejector. In ejectors, the cuckoo is raised alone and receives all the food its host parent brings to the nest. It therefore simply needs to ensure the host brings enough food, although the usual host-specific fledgling strategies of begging for more food cannot be employed, as there are no host chicks to learn these off [2]. To compensate for this, a cuckoo chick will employ extravagant begging signals to increase host provisioning, such as rapid begging [19] and wing patches to stimulate extra gapes in the nest [20]. Non-ejector cuckoo chicks can use the other chicks to solicit food, so they tolerate the host’s chicks. However, they then have to compete for this on delivery [2]. Through tuning strategies, a cuckoo in a nest of host fledglings will take the most food by stretching higher, begging most intensively, and manipulating the hosts into favouring it over their own young [21]. Cuckoo brood parasitism is an extraordinary phenomenon that has fascinated zoologists for centuries. Trickery, the refined art of cheating, involves adaptations evolved to counter host defences, leading to remarkable co-evolutionary arms races in both parasite and host to overcome the other. Tuning may allow hosts to escape parasitism through evolutionary changes in their life-history strategies as cuckoos learn them. However, these are likely to occur on significant temporal scales, and immediate behavioural defences may suffice. Obligate brood parasitism yields an interaction between two species that is a wonder of the animal kingdom. References R. Dawkins, J. R. Krebs, J. Maynard Smith, R. Holliday, “Arms races between and within species,” vol. 205, no. 1161, pp. 489–511, Sep. 1979, doi: 10.1098/rspb.1979.0081. N. B. Davies, “Cuckoo adaptations: trickery and tuning,” vol. 284, no. 1, pp. 1–14, 2011, doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2011.00810.x. M. Hauber and K. Montenegro, “What are the costs of raising a brood parasite? Comparing host parental care at parasitized and non-parasitized broods,” vol. 10, pp. 1–9, Jan. 2002, Accessed: Aug. 21, 2022. [Online]. C. Moskat and M. Honza, “Effect of nest and nest site characteristics on the risk of cuckoo Cuculus canorus parasitism in the great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus,” Ecography, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 335-341, Jun, 2008, doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2000.tb00289.x S. Freeman, “Egg variability and conspecific nest parasitism in the Ploceus weaverbirds,” vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 49–53, 1988, doi: 10.1080/00306525.1988.9633694. J. A. Welbergen and N. B. Davies, “Strategic variation in mobbing as a front line of defense against brood parasitism,” vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 235–240, Feb. 2009, doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.12.041. N. B. Davies and M. de L. Brooke, “Cuckoos versus reed warblers: adaptations and counteradaptations,” vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 262–284, 1988, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(88)80269-0. J. N. M. Smith, P. Arcese, I. G. McLean, “Age, experience, and enemy recognition by wild song sparrows,” Behav Ecol Sociobiol, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 101-106, Feb, 1984. R. B. Payne, “Interspecific Communication Signals in Parasitic Birds,” vol. 101, no. 921, pp. 363–375, Sep. 1967, doi: 10.1086/282504. O. Krüger, N. B. Davies, M. D. Sorenson, “The evolution of sexual dimorphism in parasitic cuckoos: sexual selection or coevolution?” vol. 274, no. 1617, pp. 1553–1560, Jun. 2007, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2007.0281. J. J. Soler, J. M. Aviles, M. Soler, A. P. Moller, “Evolution of host egg mimicry in a brood parasite, the great spotted cuckoo,” vol. 79, no. 4, pp. 551–563, Aug. 2003, doi: 10.1046/j.1095-8312.2003.00209.x. K. Schulze-Hagen, B.G. Stokke, T. R. Birkhead, “Reproductive biology of the European Cuckoo Cuculus canorus: early insights, persistent errors and the acquisition of knowledge,” J Ornithol 150, 1–16 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-008-0340-8 S. I. Rothstein, “Mechanisms of avian egg-recognition: Do birds know their own eggs?” vol. 23, pp. 268–278, May 1975, doi: 10.1016/0003-3472(75)90075-5. O. Krüger and N. B. Davies, “The evolution of egg size in the brood parasitic cuckoos,” vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 210–218, Mar. 2004, doi: 10.1093/beheco/arg104. C. Darwin, “The origin of species by means of natural selection,” 1859, London: John Murray. T. Grim, “Constraints on host choice: why do parasitic birds rarely exploit some common potential hosts?” vol. 80, no. 3, pp. 508–518, 2011, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2010.01798.x. A. Baddeley, “Elements of episodic–like memory in animals,” vol. 356, no. 1413, pp. 1483–1491, Sep. 2001, doi: 10.1098/rstb.2001.0947. J. C. Reboreda, N. S. Clayton, A. Kacelnik, “Species and sex differences in hippocampus size in parasitic and non-parasitic cowbirds,” vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 505–508, 1996, doi: 10.1097/00001756-199601310-00031. R. M. Kilner, D. G. Noble, N. B. Davies, “Signals of need in parent-offspring communication and their exploitation by the common cuckoo,” vol. 397, no. 6721, pp. 667–672, Feb. 1999, doi: 10.1038/17746. K. D. Tanaka and K. Ueda, “Horsfield’s Hawk-Cuckoo Nestlings Simulate Multiple Gapes for Begging,” Apr. 2005, doi: 10.1126/science.1109957. T. Redondo, “Exploitation of host mechanisms for parental care by avian brood parasites,” vol. 3, pp. 235–297, Jan. 1993, Accessed: Aug. 26, 2022. [Online].

Danielle Lucas Bryde's whale in the Hauraki Gulf. Photo by the author. Sixteen Bryde's whales are alive today that would have otherwise succumbed to vessel strike in Tīkapa Moana had the Hauraki Gulf Transit Protocol not been introduced in September 2014. Many individuals are stunned to learn that we have some incredible marine species including Cetaceans such as Brydes whales (Balaenoptera brydei) and common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) in our very own backyard, Tīkapa Moana (Hauraki Gulf), Tāmaki Makaurau. Currently Bryde’s whales, pronounced 'broo-des’ are endangered, classified as Nationally Critical with only an estimated 135 left in the Tīkapa Moana population. Bryde’s whales are a year-round resident in the gulf as part of only a handful of global whale populations not to partake in migrations. Unfortunately, it was discovered that ship-strike by vessels ≥70 m were killing on average 2.4 whales per annum in Tīkapa Moana, and between 1996 and 2014, 44 Bryde’s whales died in the Hauraki Gulf [1]. “85% of whale deaths in the gulf were definitely or most likely the result of injuries sustained during a collision” [1]. In a small, isolated population of only 135 individuals, this rate of mortality is unsustainable and would likely contribute to a collapse of the population if protocols were not put in place to interfere. Lethal ship strike is a relatively new example of human-wildlife conflict and is especially threatening to large cetaceans. Bryde’s whales typically spend more than 80% of their time in the top 10 metres of the ocean [1]. This makes them incredibly susceptible to strikes as the average draft (height of the part of the ship which is underwater) of a vessel is about 8.4m. A vessel sailing at 15 knots (around 28 kmh-1) has an approximately 80% chance of killing a whale when they collide, whereas at 8.6kt (~16kph-1) this was reduced to 20% [4]. When a vessel is travelling at a speed above 10kt (~18.5kph-1), the potential risk of ship strike is measurably increased. The Hauraki Gulf embayment has an area of around 4000km². It is the gateway into Aotearoa’s largest port, Ports of Auckland, and there are three major shipping channels: Colville channel, Jellicoe channel, and Craddock channel, whereby vessels will enter the gulf en route to the port (Fig. 1) [2]. Figure 1: Map and location of the study site, the Hauraki Gulf. The Ports of Auckland is located within Auckland city, shown by the black dot. Dotted lines indicate where the voluntary Transit Prorocal comes into effect In September 2013, Ports of Auckland introduced the Hauraki Gulf Transit Protocol for commercial shipping. This is a voluntary protocol in which vessels slow down to 10kt as they travel throughout the gulf. Mandatory measures require the lengthy formation of laws and regulations and enforcement, which takes time, money and resources [2]. In an interview with Dr Rochelle Constantine, a researcher at the Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland, and a crucial member of the research team whose work contributed to the implementation of this protocol, Dr Constantine states that in regard to this voluntary speed reduction, “I’m really proud that every day the ships and their crew go slow. Even though many of them have no idea why, it’s just the new normal.” Bryde’s whale population distribution in Tīkapa Moana was mapped from October 2014 to September 2016. The shipping traffic was also monitored in the gulf from October 2014 to September 2016, using Automatic Identification System (AIS) shipping data which provides information about a vessel according to a unique Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number (Fig. 2). Figure 2: a) Density of ship transits per 100m2 grid cell with a search radius of 100 m. b) Sighting per unit effort (SPUE) of Bryde's whales in the Hauraki Gulf, October 2014 - September 2016. The values represent the chances of seeing a whale within a 1,500 m radius. The median speed of ≥70 m long vessels transiting through Tīkapa Moana was 10 kt in 2014–2015 (range = 1–27 kt; IQ = 9–12.4 kt), and 10.2 kt in 2015–2016 (range = 1–26.9 kt; IQ = 9–11.7 kt); these speeds represent a 25% decrease from the 13.2 kt reported from July 2012 – June 2013 prior to the implementation of the Transit Protocol [1] (Fig 3). Figure 3: Median speeds of vessels 70 m in length transiting through the Hauraki Gulf in a) July 2012 - June 2013 (from Riekkola, 2013), October 2014 - September 2015, and c) October 2015 - September 2016, calculated within 250 x 250 grid cell. At lower travel speeds through the gulf, the risk of death via direct strike or hydrodynamic forces that pull the whale toward the ship are considerably reduced [3]. The voluntary Hauraki Gulf Transit Protocol recommendation to reduce speeds to ~10 kts directly resulted in a ~25% decrease in ship speeds, thereby nearly halving the threat of lethal ship strike to Bryde’s whales within two years of implementation [1]. Since the Protocol was introduced in 2013, there has not been a single report of a Bryde’s whale death in Tīkapa Moana caused by ship-strike. No vessel has reported on any collisions resulting in injury either. “As long as they continue to go around that 10kts, the risk to the whales of vessel strike mortality is very low,” says Dr Rochelle Constantine. Effective environmental management is imperative to decreasing the threats to biodiversity [3]. When asked how it feels to know you’ve made a positive impact on the population of Bryde’s whales in Tīkapa Moana Dr Rochelle Constantine responded: “It was really a collective that found this solution, the thing I think was most important, for me as a scientist, is that it was science informed. Conservation solutions are never about one person, and we made a real conscious decision in the beginning to have an inclusive process, bringing lots of people together who saw this issue through different eyes, industry, legal, scientists, government and Mana Whenua. I’m proud of us, and it was a really good example of how to get conservation wins.” Dr Constantine mentioned that there will be an abundance estimate of the whale population done next year, a decade since the Hauraki Gulf Transit Protocol implementation. “There are at least 16 whales alive now that would have been dead, had ships continued with their previous speeds. We are anticipating that the abundance estimate will go up.” The Hauraki Gulf Transit Protocol is a great example of how a small social change can garner incredible results. The next population estimate for Bryde’s whales in Tīkapa Moana will be an imperative statistic that showcases the capacity for effective environmental management by users of the gulf. An increase in the Bryde’s whale population will be an absolute win for conservation efforts. There is no end date on the reduced-speed protocol, and it is now the new normal when entering the gulf. This effort has made a lasting impact on the health of Bryde’s whale populations in Tīkapa Moana. References Constantine, R., Johnson, M., Riekkola, L., Jervis, S., Kozmian-Ledward, L., Dennis, T., Torres, L.G., Aguilar de Soto, N., 2015. Mitigation of vessel-strike mortality of endangered Bryde’s whales in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. Biol. Conserv. 186, 149–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.03.008. Ebdon, P., Riekkola, L., & Constantine, R. (2020). Testing the efficacy of ship strike mitigation for whales in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. Ocean & Coastal Management, 184, 105034. Silber, G.K., Adams, J.D., Bettridge, S., 2012. Vessel operator response to a voluntary measure for reducing collisions with whales. Endanger. Species Res. 17 (3), 245–254. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00434. Vanderlaan, A.S., Taggart, C.T., 2007. Vessel collisions with whales: the probability of lethal injury based on vessel speed. Mar. Mamm. Sci. 23 (1), 144–156. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2006.00098.x. Figure retrieved from: Ebdon, P., Riekkola, L., & Constantine, R. (2020). Testing the efficacy of ship strike mitigation for whales in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. Ocean & Coastal Management, 184, 105034

You-Rong F. Wang In mid-July 2022, a million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) entered service. Five unique test images highlighting the telescope’s various subsystems and capabilities were made available to the public in high-profile events from the governments of the USA and the European Union, garnering international coverage. Deepest image of the universe. Image by NASA from Flickr. A month on, the scientific community has been hard at work incorporating the latest JWST results into a wide range of research inquiries. In this brief essay, we will look back at the first five images and discuss their importance and the scientific potential they entail. 01. SMACS-0723 Deep Field (4 Billion Lightyears From Earth, and Far Beyond) To the uninitiated, it may have been confusing why this image was used to open the JWST announcement; it looked like a star field any night sky photographer or artist can produce. This is until you realise that the image is an extremely zoomed-in patch of the night sky1: almost every spot2 of light there is a distant galaxy, and this image looks far beyond our galaxy, across the history of our universe. Discovered by the Southern Massive Cluster Survey project a decade ago, SMACS-0723 is a cluster of galaxies 4 billion light years away from earth, and they show up in this image in white. Everything else with a more reddish-orange hue is a galaxy further away. You can see some orange arcs seemingly centred around the SMACS-0723 member galaxies. It sure feels odd that a galaxy has a structure like this, and they actually don’t. In truth, they only appear to us as distorted filaments because the sheer mass of the foreground SMACS-0723 causes gravitational lensing. According to the theory of general relativity, heavy objects significantly warp the spacetime around them, even bending the light rays travelling past. Such lensing effects are important to astronomers. Not only can they demonstrate the power of general relativity, but they also allow us sometimes to “zoom in” on much more distant objects otherwise too dim even for JWST to see. In this picture, the oldest galaxy is established3 to be 13.1 billion years old — forming not long after the Big Bang was theorised to have taken place 13.8 billion years ago. We could see it because SMACS-0723’s gravitational field helped us, increasing the distant galaxy’s apparent luminosity by many orders of magnitude. In another similar JWST image after this one, galaxies even farther away have been reported. The reddest one yet, GLASS-z13, clocks in at just 329.8 million years after the Big Bang. Due to the expansion of the universe, it has a present-day distance of 33 billion lightyears away from us. Such numbers provide long-awaited tests on our cosmological theories regarding the organisation of structures in the universe — when and how galaxies form out of the shimmering afterglow of the Big Bang, guided by dark matter or exotic physics we do not yet understand. Lastly, when the Hubble Space Telescope photographed SMACS-0723, it took almost a week to gather enough light to make this image. JWST only took half a day, and reached a much higher image quality. I have prepared an interactive comparison web app you can play with at fwphys.com/jwsts-first-color-image/. Image of Stephan's Quintet by NASA from Flickr. 02. Stephan’s Quintet (290 Million Lightyears From Earth) Named after its discoverer, French astronomer Édouard Stephan (1837 - 1923), the “Quintet” is four galaxies locked in a collision course, with the fifth one (NGC 7320) much closer to earth (40 million light years) and just photobombing. Out of the five images released, this is the one closest to my research area as it looks into the intricate matter of galaxy mergers, and provides many exciting prospects. The timescale of a galactic collision is justifiably beyond human comprehension. Though every star and jet of gas in this picture is moving at an astonishingly high speed, over the span of thousands of human lifetimes, everything will look the same, frozen in a voyage across the vastness of space. Dynamically, we will not see the quintet reach its final act until billions of years in the future, when the galaxies are so thoroughly stirred up by each other, that they form a big elliptical galaxy, and their supermassive black holes eventually coalesce. While we won’t be around to witness any of this, clever use of instrumentation aboard the JWST already provides us with much information about the fascinating array of processes that take place during a galactic merger. The galaxies participating in the cosmic dance are referred to by astronomers as Hickson Compact Group 92 (HCG 92). Each of the four galaxies has a supermassive black hole in its centre, dominating the dynamics. Three of them are already so close to each other that long tidal tails, streams of stars and gas, can be seen ripped from their disks, inter-weaving with each other. Thanks to JWST’s ability to observe in infrared, piercing through the shrouds of galactic dust, astronomers are given an opportunity to see in unprecedented detail how galactic collisions stir up gas and trigger the birth of new stars. Then, using the integral field unit (IFU), which effectively takes a spectrum of every pixel at the same time, JWST was able to produce magnetic resonance images of galactic structures, not unlike the technique you see in modern medical imaging. This allows astronomers to access a rich array of information, including the individual distribution of certain chemical compounds. In addition, one of the member galaxies of HCG 92 harbours an active galaxy nucleus, driven by a very energetic central black hole. It is estimated to weigh 24 million solar masses, and emit radiation at 40 billion times our sun’s output power. JWST imaged the hot gas near the black hole and measured the velocity of bright outflows in a level of detail never seen before. This provides important insight into the properties of a supermassive black hole. The imaging of NGC 7320 is not futile either. Thanks to its closer distance to earth, JWST was able to resolve its structure to an impressive extent, identifying individual stars, its bright core, and mapping the distribution of gas — star formation material. On the day of the image announcement, I remember seeing a tweet from a colleague in the US who works on galactic modelling. “It looks just like the simulations!” he commented. Image of Cerina Nebula by NASA from Flickr. 03. Carina Nebula (8500 Lightyears From Earth) One of the “tourist attractions” within our galaxy, the Carina Nebula is the largest nebula visible in the southern night sky. It is part of the open star cluster NGC 3324. In the eye of JWST, the gaseous layers looked like the side of a mountain, and newly formed stars were sprinkled onto the rock like diamonds. Of course, the heights of the hills are measured in lightyears, and the stars are all still very far apart. The properties of these new stars, their number, masses and chemical composition are all of the research interest in astronomy today. Furthermore, JWST will not only study how galactic gas clouds give rise to new stars, but how these stars shape the gas clouds in return, the back-reaction. The intricate structures lining the expansive cliffs of gas are not only a snapshot of its innate dynamics but also profoundly influenced by the radiation and stellar winds of newly birthed stars nested within such a galactic nursery. Image of Southern Ring Nebula by NASA from Flickr. 04. Southern Ring Nebula (2000 Lightyears From Earth) In a poetic dual to how the previous two pictures were about stellar births, this one is a stellar funeral. The southern ring nebula, NGC 3132, is located in the constellation Vela. It is a planetary nebula4, the result of a series of bursts when a dying star gradually loses grasp on its outer shells, retaining only its core to become a white dwarf, a stellar remnant. The southern ring nebula has been extensively studied for decades, and the new imagery shows the nebula’s central white dwarf in greater than ever detail. In addition, the binary nature of the system is confirmed, as another star closely bound to the white dwarf is also captured in this image. It’s of interest how the two stars shaped the nebula’s structure together. Often described as a pool of light, its glow is driven by the remaining white dwarf’s intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds. As the white dwarf cools and the gas continues to expand, this structure will eventually lose its shape and colours, mixing with other galactic materials to give rise to the next generation of stars. As a surprise to astronomers, to the left edge of the nebula is another case of cosmic photobombing. JWST was able to identify a far-away galaxy that faces us perfectly edge-on. Such occurrences are rather rare in the night sky, and are a meaningful addition to our stash of galactic profiles. Figure 1: Hot Gas Giant Exoplanet WASP-96 b Atmosphere Composition. NASA's image retrived from Flickr. Atmospheric Spectrum of WASP-96b (1150 Lightyears From Earth) For many people browsing the image release on the NASA website, this one might have been the confusing outlier. “Where is the visual?” “What is this curve?” In short, this image is the most detailed near-infrared transmission spectrum of an exoplanet atmosphere humanity has ever produced. When the planet moves in front of its parent star, it partially blocks the starlight reaching us, and the planet’s atmosphere’s chemical makeup can be measured via transmission spectroscopy. Discovered in 2013 in the Wide Angle Search for Planets project, WASP-96b itself is quite unlikely to harbour life. Categorised as a “hot Jupiter”, it has a similar mass to saturn ♄ and encircles its sun-like parent star once every 3.4 Earth days, at a distance of only 11% Mercury’s orbital radius. Such an extreme set of orbital characteristics means it is permanently tidally locked to its parent star, with the bright side reaching temperatures upwards of 1000 ºC. However, this also provides an advantage to JWST with regards to technical demonstrations: it does not need to wait around for an observation window of WASP-96b, and measurements can be repeated rather quickly in a matter of days. This JWST image also provided key insight into an ongoing debate. Owing to the planet’s uniquely sharp sodium absorption lines, some prior literature argued that this planet is without clouds. However, using a range wider than previous instruments, JWST found unambiguous signatures of water, indications of haze, and evidence of clouds that were thought not to exist based on prior observations. The spectroscopic range of JWST is particularly suited to look for atmospheric chemicals such as water, oxygen, methane, and carbon dioxide. Several dozen planetary targets, from giant planets to small Earth-like rocky planets, are scheduled for observations. The ability to quickly and reliably produce such atmospheric spectra will be an important tool to aid our future search for extraterrestrial life and habitable planets. Closing Remarks At midnight on 26 December 2021, I watched James Webb Space Telescope launch out from French Guiana live on TV. I set up a camera beforehand to record my reactions, wanting to give a little speech marking the moment. In reality, I found myself at a complete loss for words as the Ariane rocket lifted off, and I froze in reverential silence. With its scale and duration, and of course the final cost of 10 billion USD, the JWST is an awe-inducing mega project, and I pay my utmost respect to the scientists and engineers who worked on it. I remember reading about the James Webb Space Telescope, then “projected to launch in early 2006,” when I was just a school pupil. Between then and the eventual successful deployment, it — we — despite a mixed bag of emotions and experiences over the intervening years (division, warfare, economic collapses, environmental disasters, disease outbreaks, and so on), we have persisted. The telescope is both a witness and a fruit of a time not without problems here on the ground. Although it will probably not send back any quick answers from up in space, it will push the human race forward. In one of author Cixin Liu’s short stories, 朝闻道5, an advanced civilisation placed monitors on planets with intelligent life, to raise alarms in case one world quickly developed technology powerful enough to destroy the universe. When the aliens eventually knocked on the door of humanity, people asked them when the alarm was raised: “Was it when we first detonated nuclear weapons?” “Was it when we started radio broadcasts?” “Was it when we invented controlled flight?” “No,” the aliens said, bringing up a hologram of the Eastern African plains 370 thousand years ago, upon which a few shadows stood still in the landscape veiled in darkness. “Here. A caveman looked at the night sky for too long, above our safety threshold. This is what triggered our alarm.” Humans are a curious bunch on our humble planet and much of our ability to shape our world roots in our collective pursuit of wonder. It is thus of my belief that the successful beginning of the JWST mission is a milestone in our history. Our remote descendants will recount this year, these first results, with profound excitement and veneration: how the JWST first opened our eyes to so much of the cosmos so long hidden, how it inspired so many questions never asked before, and how it marked the beginning of our species’ eventual conquest of spaces. Notes on False Colour Images There are perhaps two kinds of casual astronomy readers, with very few in between: those who assume the universe appears to the human eye like the “space photos” above, and those who categorically dismiss any such images, saying “they are all artificially synthesised anyway.” Setting aside the problem of how little light the human eye can capture compared with specialised sensors, the colours themselves are a subtle subject. To me, it is not redundant to always stress that astrophysical images are presented in “false colour” — so-called because the Red, Green, and Blue channels that make up an image are used to represent information measured originally in other frequencies (colours) of light. The JWST, for example, owing to how far into the history of the universe it is designed to look and also to reduce extinction effects due to dust in our own galaxy, is an infrared instrument, detecting light with wavelength between 600 to 28000 nanometres. Compared with the human eye’s preference, 380 to 700 nanometers, there isn’t much of an overlap. Well, our vision has evolved for a long time for the express goal to suit our habitat, some lush grasslands on a tiny planet, lit by an ordinary G-type “yellow-white” star. It can then be argued that the universe has no obligation to mind such innate limitations of ours, and the use of false colours is a smart compromise when researching the universe’s structures and dynamics. Therefore, some conversion methods were employed by scientists to visualise the officially published JWST data, and you can even develop your own false colour schemes to visualise the same data differently! In summary, we cannot see the universe like in the images with our own eyes, ever, but it does not make the visualisations we produce with our instruments and computers any less valuable and impressive. Footnotes There is a zoomable version on the Internet, showing how small this patch of sky really is, https://web.wwtassets.org/specials/2022/jwst-smacs/ The ones with diffraction spikes are foreground stars situated within the milky way galaxy. They are distant and dim also, but nowhere near the distance of the galaxies in the photo. Accompanying this image, the JWST team later also released optical spectra of a few of the galaxies in it. Redshift can be reliably measured using the emission peaks of hydrogen. This was a very difficult task before JWST. The name “planetary nebula” is a historical artefact as the early telescopes could only roughly resolve their shapes, mistaking them for planets in the solar system. We now know that they have nothing to do with planets. In particular, the southern ring nebula is about half a lightyear wide. The story title is hard to translate directly as it is taken from a Confucius quote, “Should one learn the universe’s way in the morning, and die in the evening, there is no regret.” I am in the process of making an English version with the title “Morning. Truth.” You can see the draft here, fwphys.com/zwd_ch1/ References JWST First Image Press Releases. https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages Garner, Rob (2022-07-08). "NASA Shares List of Cosmic Targets for Webb Telescope's 1st Images". NASA. Naidu, Rohan P.; et al. (July 2022). "Two Remarkably Luminous Galaxy Candidates at z ≈ 11 − 13 Revealed by JWST". arXiv:2207.09434 Pontoonidan, Klaus; et al. (July 2022). “The JWST Early Release Observations.” arXiv: 2207.13067 “Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy”, Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org/two-weeks-in-the-webb-space-telescope-is-reshaping-astronomy-20220725/ Nikolov, N., Sing, D.K., Fortney, J.J. et al. An absolute sodium abundance for a cloud-free ‘hot Saturn’ exoplanet. Nature 557, 526–529 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0101-7

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Our latest issue Our third edition of the year, read all about epidemic modelling, quantum logic clocks and imu knees. Read Now Latest articles Academic Going Cuckoo: Parasites of the Avian World Academic The Sword of Damocles —Virus, Bacteria & the History of Pandemics Academic Conquest of Spaces — A Review of James Webb Space Telescope’s First Five Images Academic Voluntary Speed restriction in Tīkapa Moana; saving endangered Bryde’s Whales Explained (SPECIAL ARTICLE) The Journey So Far: Looking Back on Two Years of UoA Scientific Academic Have We Got Alzheimer’s All Wrong? Research Fraud Threatens Science Interview The Silent Epidemic Explained Maurice & Katia Krafft: Lives Dedicated to Volcanology View posts Home: Latest News Who are we? We are a group of University of Auckland students who, at the beginning of 2021, wanted to solve several problems: At our university there was no platform where, having completed your research, you could publish that research to share with your fellow students. There was no academically-focused magazine that allowed guest writers to s ubmit scientific journalism. We lacked a centralised place to promote our exemplary students, give all students a publication to aspire toward, and provide experience with academic writing. This is where UoA Scientific came in. Now with 10 executive members, the scope of the publication has grown well beyond what we envisioned. We have attracted praise from prominent figures such as particle physicist Professor Brian Cox - a world-renowned science communicator, and host of the "Wonders Of..." TV series. ​ We currently publish four times a year. One issue is published each half semester, and a further summer issue is released during the summer break. Link to our page!