Science is Golden

by Karl Kruszelnicki

  The female cubs inherit the status of their mother—thanks to male hormones. High-status female cubs are much larger, heavier and stronger than low-status female cubs. This begins before birth, with the high-ranking mother bathing her unborn cubs in the higher levels of male androgen hormones excreted from her ovaries. (The levels of male hormones are not as high in the low-ranking pregnant mothers.) These hormones make them bigger and stronger. Indeed, during the second half of pregnancy, the male hormone levels are higher in these pregnant females than they are in the males!

  The high-ranking female cubs are off to a golden start in life—first access to the food, as well as more powerful allies and a better grade of protection. As a result, she has a longer reproductive life and more litters. Her teeth are in better condition, because she doesn’t have to crush bones which can damage them. Instead, she can feast on the best and most tender meat. Alpha females are younger when they first get pregnant, mate more frequently, have cubs more often, and their cubs have a greater survival rate. Even so, all the females have cubs, because they can also pick and choose from the low-ranking males.

  They avoid incest with this simple rule—a female will mate only with males who arrived after she was born. (In other words, she prefers to have sex with strangers.) Indeed, only 11% of males mate within the clan in which they were born. About 89% of males leave the clan when they become sexually mature, around the age of two or three. They then have to spend two years as a junior male, with no matings during this period. They are the very lowest ranking animal in the clan, being bossed around by all the other males and females, and having the very last access to the food and the females. It’s a very hard life being a male Spotted Hyena.

  When two Spotted Hyenas meet, they carry out a complex ritualised one-on-one ceremonial sniffing of the genitals, the submissive animal initiating the greeting. It lifts a hind leg to expose its erect pseudopenis or penis, for the more dominant hyena to sniff. Hyenas have anal glands that secrete a yellow oily substance, which they scrape onto grass or bushes to mark their territory. In the greeting ceremony, they will turn this gland inside out, in order to give the other hyena a better sniff. It sure is cheaper than Chanel No. 5!

  Bad Rep

  Spotted Hyenas are not solitary, skulking, cringing cowards, nor are they scavengers. Instead, they are sophisticated and skilled hunters that live in a complex society. The doting mothers probably invest more time and energy in raising their young than any other animal.

  Unfortunately, Spotted Hyenas have such an undeservedly bad reputation that zoos don’t want to exhibit them, and conservation groups don’t want to adopt them. (Have you seen a hyena on a conservation T-shirt recently?)

  So we don’t get to see them at close quarters and learn the real facts about these amazing Gender-Bending, Role-Reversing animals.

  References

  Dloniak, S.M., et al., ‘Rank-related maternal effects of androgens on behaviour in wild Spotted Hyenas’, Nature, 27 April 2006, pp 1190–1193.

  Encyclopædia Britannica, Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006—‘hyena’.

  Encyclopædia Britannica, Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006—‘scavenger’.

  Harrison Matthews, L., ‘Reproduction in the Spotted Hyena, Crocuta crocuta (Erxleben)’, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences, Vol 230, No 565, 5 July 1939, pp 1–78.

  Höner, O.P., et al., ‘Female mate-choice drives the evolution of male-biased dispersal in a social animal’, Nature, 16 August 2007, pp 798–801.

  Kemper, Steve, ‘Who’s laughing now?’, Smithsonian magazine, May 2008, pp 76–84.

  Lloyd, John and Mitchinson, John, QI: The Book of Animal Ignorance, London: Faber and Faber, 2007, pp 102, 103.

  Wroe, Stephen, et al., ‘Bite club: Comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in fossil taxa’, Proceedings of The Royal Society of London, Series B, Vol 272, 22 March 2005, pp 619–625.

  Hooked on Hookah

  For centuries people in Eastern countries have been using the hookah, or Indian water pipe. And recently, it has been gaining renewed popularity in its traditional territories, as well as picking up additional adherents in Europe and the USA. This is happening because people believe that bubbling tobacco smoke through water makes it ‘safe’—but this claim is false.

  Tobacco—The Numbers

  Worldwide, tobacco kills about 5.4 million people each year. Trends in smoking vary across the world.

  In the USA, the smoking rate has dropped by almost half over the past four decades, from 42% of adult Americans smoking in 1965 down to 22% in 2003. For this reason, tobacco companies are redirecting their marketing.

  Smoking a hookah was almost unknown in Europe and the USA in 1990, but things have changed. By early 2006, there were over a thousand hookah lounges and cafés in the USA. A 2008 survey at Virginia Commonwealth University showed that 50% of first-year students had used a hookah at least once, and 20% had used one in the previous month.

  Hookah smoking has always been popular among adult males in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), but recently women and young people have taken up the hookah in enormous numbers. In 2007, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey looked at over 90,000 students aged 13–15 in the EMR. They found that, while 6.7% of boys and 3.2% of girls smoked cigarettes, the figures were much higher for other forms of tobacco smoking (mostly hookahs) at 15.6% of boys and 9.9% of girls.

  A recent study of Lebanese school children (average age 15 years) showed that 51% currently used tobacco—25% used the hookah exclusively, 20% used cigarettes exclusively and 6% used both.

  A survey of female university students in Cairo in Egypt asked why they smoked the hookah. Of those surveyed, 74% believed that hookahs caused significantly less harm than cigarettes.

  However, it’s surprisingly easy for susceptible people to become addicted. Several large surveys of adolescents have shown that some people become addicted after just one cigarette.

  Hookah History

  Apparently, the hookah was first used in the 14th century. It was probably reinvented in India at least four centuries ago, and shortly afterwards spread into the Middle East and the Mediterranean region. One legend claims that it was invented by the physician, Hakim Abul Fath, for the Indian Emperor Akbar (who ruled between 1556 and 1605) so that tobacco ‘smoke should be first passed through a small receptacle of water so that it would be rendered harmless’.

  So even back then, it was wrongly believed that filtering tobacco smoke through water made it ‘safe’.

  The hookah (its Indian name) is called the narghile in eastern Mediterranean countries including Syria and Turkey, and goza and shisha in some northern African countries and Egypt. In Western society, it’s also known as a ‘hubble-bubble’ or a ‘water pipe’—although it’s different from a ‘bong’, a water pipe used for smoking grass.

  Hookah Anatomy 101

  The commonly used Hookah, or Indian water pipe

  The designs may vary slightly, but they always have the smoke passing through water. The stuff that is smoked is not some exotic unknown-to-Western-medicine ‘safe’ vegetable matter—it’s regular tobacco, with or without flavouring.

  Hookah 101

  The designs vary slightly, but hookahs always have the common feature of smoke passing through water.

  The stuff that is smoked is not some exotic unknown-to-Western-medicine ‘safe’ vegetable matter—it’s regular tobacco, with or without flavouring. It comes in three main preparations.

  ‘Tobamel’ (derived from the words ‘tobacco’ and ‘mel’ meaning ‘sweet’ or ‘honey’) is a mix of tobacco and molasses and/or honey. However, to jazz it up, the tobacco can be moistened with water, and/or enhanced with fruit flavours. The fruit flavours can include virtually anything, e.g. pomegranate juice, rose oil, sour cherries or grapes. Tobamel is more popular with young urban women.

  ‘Tumbak’ is just a variety of tobacco, tha
t has been washed and dried a few times.

  Finally, there’s ‘jurak’, which is halfway between tobamel and tumbak. Typically, it’s sweetened, but not flavoured—but sometimes, it’s the opposite.

  The tobacco (yep, the stuff that slows you down, wrecks your lungs and gives you lung cancer and heart disease) sits in a small bowl right at the top of the hookah. It is heated by placing a burning coal just above it—in the good old days a glowing coal from a convenient brazier or firebox and, today, a convenient ‘quick-igniting’ charcoal. The smoke then heads down through a stem, the bottom of which is submerged about 2–3 cm in a bowl of water (say half a litre). The smoke then bubbles up through the water into an open chamber, from which it is drawn into a pipe (say 1.5 m long). It’s all powered by the human being sucking on the end of it. The tobacco in the bowl is continually replenished during a smoking session.

  Hookah Maintenance

  Some hookah sales shops offer advice on how to keep your hookah in good condition.

  This is what one website says about the hose that runs from the water bowl (where all the ‘bad guys’ are supposedly taken out) to your mouth:

  ‘b. After 30 or so uses the inner lining of the hose as well as the inside of the wooden ends starts to wear down and deteriorate.

  c. You should change your hose anywhere between your 30th-50th smoking session, depending on how long your average smoking session lasts.’

  Now this seems odd. If the water takes out the bad chemicals, why should the inner lining of the hose and the inside of the wooden ends deteriorate? This implies that the bad chemicals are getting through the water and attacking the rubber hose and the wooden ends. If they can attack the rubber, what are they doing to the airways and lungs of the hookah smokers?

  If only smokers could exchange their airways, lungs and heart after every 30–50 smoking sessions!

  Hookah Safe for Tobacco?!

  Some tobaccos meant for use in hookahs are advertised as containing 0% tar. One popular water-pipe tobacco sold in the USA and southwest Asia claims that it contains ‘0.5% nicotine and 0% tar’. This is very true, but totally misleading. All tobaccos contain 0% tar to start with—the tar is generated as a product of combustion only when the tobacco is heated.

  When tobacco is burnt, two types of products are produced—gases and particles. The gases include nitrogen and carbon dioxide (which are harmless) and nasties such as carbon monoxide, nitrosamines, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and various volatile hydrocarbons. The particles include aerosols of tar and nicotine particles (also nasty).

  People assume that hookah smoke is safe because they believe that the water absorbs all the nasty chemicals and magically lets the ‘good’ chemicals through. This is false.

  In the case of nicotine, most of it is left in the water, but some still gets into the lungs and, 11 seconds later, into the brain. So hookah smokers do exactly what regular cigarette smokers do with low nicotine cigarettes—they suck harder to get the nicotine hit. With the increased volume of smoke comes more of all the other nasties—carbon monoxide, heavy metals, hydrogen cyanide and a whole bundle of potent carcinogens.

  Hookah Smokers Puff Up

  Hookah smokers suck harder, and deeper—and more often. As a result, they suck in 50–100 times more smoke than a cigarette smoker.

  A cigarette takes about 5–7 minutes to smoke. During this time, the smoker will suck in some 8–12 puffs, typically with a volume of 40–75 ml. So they’ll suck in a total of about half to three-quarters of a litre of tobacco smoke.

  But a water-pipe session typically lasts 20–80 minutes. The smoker will take approximately 50–200 puffs, each of which has a volume of 0.15–1 litre. Therefore, during a typical session a hookah smoker will inhale about 50 litres of smoke.

  So in a hookah session, the smokers get about 1.7 times as much nicotine as they do from a single cigarette. But to get the nicotine, they have to inhale a huge volume of smoke. Unfortunately, this gives them 36 times more carcinogenic tar than a cigarette, as well as 15 times more carbon monoxide.

  Cigarette vs Hookah

  The experiences of cigarette smokers and hookah smokers are very different.

  Cigarette smokers smoke more frequently but for much shorter periods. They see smoking as a mundane, oppressive personal addiction (which for some males was part of becoming a ‘real man’), while hookah smokers see the experience as a pleasurable social one, involving togetherness and cultural identity. Cigarette smokers feel ostracised, while hookah smokers feel socially accepted.

  Cigarette smokers usually start smoking as teenagers, while hookah smokers start in their twenties.

  Cigarette smokers do (correctly) realise that smoking is bad for their health. But hookah smokers have the false belief that their smoking is relatively harmless both to themselves and to others around them.

  Finally, many cigarette smokers do so to relieve stress, while hookah smokers see it as entertainment, a leisure pursuit and an escape.

  Hookah Not Safe

  Sadly, the result is not surprising. Hookah smokers are five times more likely to suffer from lung cancer and gum disease, when compared to non-smokers.

  Hookahs are not a safe alternative to cigarettes. You can also catch or transmit infectious diseases by the sharing of the water pipe, e.g. tuberculosis and hepatitis. The heat sources (especially the quick-igniting charcoals) used to ignite the tobacco also add extra health risks, thanks to their own toxicants, metals and cancer-causing chemicals. And don’t forget the second-hand smoke circulating in the room.

  Hookahs are gaining in popularity. This could be due to their novelty value, their association with the mystique of the mysterious East or their pleasant flavours.

  However, the safety claims are just a puff of hot air. After all, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

  References

  Al-Mutairi, Sana S., et al., ‘Comparative analysis of the effects of hubble-bubble (Sheesha) and cigarette smoking on respiratory and metabolic parameters in hubble-bubble and cigarette smokers’, Respirology, July 2006, Vol 11, Issue 4, pp 449–455.

  Eissenberg, Thomas, et al., ‘Waterpipe tobacco smoking on a U.S. college campus: Prevalence and correlates’, Journal of Adolescent Health, May 2008, Vol 42, Issue 5, pp 526–529.

  Klein, Jonathan D., ‘Hookahs and waterpipes: Cultural tradition or addictive trap?’, Editorial, Journal of Adolescent Health, May 2008, Vol 42, Issue 5, pp 434–435.

  O’Connor, Anahad, ‘The claim: Hookahs are safer than cigarettes’, The New York Times, 11 September 2007.

  World Health Organization, ‘Advisory Note: Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking: Health Effects, Research Needs and Recommended Actions by Regulators’, WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (ISBN 92 4 159385 7), 2005.

  Maritime Marriage

  Marriage has been around for thousands of years, in virtually every society, past or present. Ships have been sailing the oceans for a long time too. In the past, journeys at sea could last months or years. Perhaps this is why people have come to believe that a ship’s captain has the power to perform marriages. However, apart from a few very recent examples, this is a myth.

  History of Marriage

  Every society has some kind of marriage ceremony—authorised and/or recognised by state, religion or society.

  Sometimes, the religious authority acts as an agent of the state, automatically making the religious marriage legal. Sometimes, there has to be a separate state ceremony after the religious ceremony and sometimes, merely living together as husband and wife automatically ‘marries’ the partners under common law. In some countries the ceremony can be held just about anywhere, and in other countries it can only be held in a specific location (e.g. a church or a registry office).

  As part of the process the partners to the marriage have certain rights and duties, usually with some mention of the offspring. Depending on the society, there can be many rules. Sometimes, one has to marry someone who is part of the t
ribe or group (endogamy), or sometimes, someone from outside the tribe or group (exogamy).

  Marriage 101

  The most common marriage is the one man/one woman partnership, but there are alternatives.

  In modern times, the first country to legalise same-sex marriages was the Netherlands, in 2001. Today, some six countries allow same-sex marriages. The first recorded same-sex marriage was by the Roman poet Juvenal, in his second Satire, early in the 2nd century AD.

  There also exists a practice where one person has two or more spouses at the same time. The more common version of this is called polygamy (one man with several wives), while less common is polyandry (one woman with several husbands).

  A very uncommon practice is the Group Marriage, where several men marry several women.

  Exchange marriages are more common. For example, among some Australian Aborigines, the ideal marriage has two men from different communities marrying each other’s sister.

  Tree marriages, once quite common in India, had a number of versions. In one version a conventional male/female marriage occurred near or on a tree. The tree supposedly had sacred or mystic powers (healing, fertility, etc.) that would flow on to the couple to benefit their future lives together. Another version recognised the special powers of the tree, a person marrying the tree in a symbolic marriage. Another version was a ‘proxy’ marriage. In some parts of India, a man could not marry a widow unless he was a widower. So the way to ‘work around’ the problem was to have him ‘marry’ a tree that was immediately chopped down, making him a ‘widower’. This gave him the appropriate status needed to marry a widow.