Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf

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1/76

Discover

SCIENCE FOR THE CURIOU

JUNE 201

INSIDE EINSTEIN’S MINDHow his thoughtexperimentschanged physics p.26

BIOTECH

A Gene-Editing Revolution p.40

What Makes a Psychopath? p.50

When Neanderthals Replaced Us p.64

Gravitational Waves Go Underground p.8

SPACE

Sailing to the Edge of the Universe p

PLUS

BONUSONLINECONTENTCODE p.5


2/76

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4/764 DISCOV ERM AG AZIN E.CO M

ContentsJU N E2016V O L.37,N O .5

A lb ert E in stein sits in the stu d y of h is Prin ceto n N ew Jersey

ho m e in the early 1950 s.


5/76

FEA TURES

D iscover®SCIEN CEFOR TH ECU RIO U S

J U N E 2 1 6

INSIDE EINSTEIN’S

M IND How his thoughtexperim entschanged physics p.26

BIOTECH

AGe ne-Ed itingRe volution p.40

W hatM akesaPsychop ath?p.50

W henNeanderthalsRep lacedUsp.64

G ravitationa lW avesGo U nde rgroun dp.8

SPACE

Sa iling totheEdg eoftheUn iverse p.60

PLUS

Jun e 2016 D I S C O V E R

2 6

A ll in H is H ead A lbert E instein’s genius theories changed the ruleboo k o f physics, and it was all

thanks to his creative thinking. B Y A N D Y B E R G E R

3 2 A m ateur Power C itizen astrop ho tographers use their talent and gear — plus some unco nventional

techniques — to produce brilliant images. E ven N A SA would be jealous.

E D IT E D B Y E R N IE M A ST R O IA N N I

4 e Revolution Will Be E dited In the San F ranc isco B ay A rea, the g ene-editing tech nique C rispr-C as9 is sp arking

rivalries, reshuffling c areers and emp owering D IY users.B Y JE F F W H E E LW R IG H T

5 e Psychopath and the H areC om ing face-to-face with coldhearted criminals set prison psych olog ist R ob ert

Hare on a path to b eco ming a leading expert on o ne of humans’mo st disturbing

disorders. B Y D A N IE L L E E G A N

Fred Stein Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images;Personality rights of Albert Einstein are used with

permission of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,represented exclusively by Corbis Entertainment.

COLUM NS & DEPA RTM ENTS

6

EDITOR’S NOTE

It Starts With a PauseTake a breath and c onsider yo ur

favorite case of scientists thinking

ou tside the bo x.

1 8 B IG IDEA e Fall and R iseofString eory O nce the darling o f p hysicists, string

theory has lost some of its luster. But

that do esn’t me an researchers have

abandoned it. BY S TEVE N ADIS

7 TH E C RU X See inside Jap an ’s new

g ravitational w ave d etector

site,lea rn ab ou t sp acecraft th at

ou tlived th eir m ission s an d still

gave u s extra fi nd ing s,and g et

th e sco op o n so m e su m m e r

science read s.

6 4

ORIG IN STORY

When N eanderthalsReplaced U s

In the E vo lutio nary O lympics,

Homo sapiens took the gold. Y et finds

in Israeli caves suggest, at o ne p oint,

N eanderthals had us beat.

B Y T H E O D O R A S U T C L IF F E

6 8 NOTES FROM EA RTH

Into in Ice A s glaciers melt, the tiny eco systems

they ho st co uld vanish to o, just as

scientists start to understand them.

BY ELIZABETH PRES TO N

7 4

20 THING S Y OU DIDN’T

K NOW A B OUT …

Bug Bites T hey ’re itchy, bump y and so metim es

lethal. A nd mo st of the critters gifting

yo u with tho se lo vely bites aren’t even

technically bug s. B Y G E M M A T AR L AC H

2 2 V ITA L SIG NS

Bad C hem istry A woman struggling to kick her

addiction lands in the ER with

nausea, vomiting and c ramps. Is the

obvious answer the right one?

B Y T O N Y D A JE R

5 6 HISTORY LESSONS

e M arine M enagerie The rediscovery of an exquisite set of

glass sea creature s, initially a ha ppy

find for researchers, reveals cause forconcern. B Y JO N A T H O N K E A T S

6 OUT THERE

R iding on a B eam ofLight To get to the o utskirts of our so lar

s ys tem — a nd beyond — the power

of light might be our best bet.

BY S TEVE N ADIS

ON THE COV ER

A G e n e E d i t i n g R e v o l u t i o n p.40

S a i l i n g t o t h e E d g e o f t h e U n i v e r s e p.60

I n s i d e E i n s t e i n ’ s M i n d p.26

W h a t M a k e s a P s y c h o p a t h ?

p.50

W h e n N e a n d e r t h a l s R e p l a c e d U s p.64

G r a v i t a t i o n a l W a v e s

G o U n d e r g r o u n d p.8

W eb site access cod e:DSD160 6

Enter this code at: www.DiscoverMagazine.com/codeto gain access to exclusive subscriber content.


6/76

Editor's Note®

SCIENCE FOR TH E CU RIOU S

D iscover

6 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

Becky Lang

It A llStarts W ith

Pausing to ink I’ve been taking a lot of deep

breaths lately. It helps get my head

beyond that looming to-do list.

There’s something that happens

in your brain when you fill your

lungs with as much air as possible,

then let it slowly escape. Sit still,

noticing only your breath. Go for

a run, paying attention only to

the feel of your muscles firing inunison. When you focus the mind

on one central point — and all else

falls away — it will open up.

Creative thinking hinges on this

flow. That’s what lies at the heart

of two feature stories in this issue:

Einstein’s thought experiments and

the gene-editing revolution.

We break down how a young

Einstein watched everyday events

with fresh eyes, questioning assumptions and taking the notion of “if

this, then that” to the extreme. His outside-the-box thinking drove thetheories that would define a new physics playbook. (See page 26.)

Biologists ended up with a whole new playbook, too, after they

paused and noticed bacteria making a sneaky little defense move

against invading viruses. What would happen if they could re-enact

that maneuver in the lab? The result is a gene-editing renaissance,

a powerful tool that’s sweeping through university research centers

and high school biology labs alike. (See page 40.)

It all starts with stopping to think. What are some shiningexamples of creative thought and how it played out in science? Whatsorts of amazing discoveries just seem to bend all kinds of rules?Send your favorites my way at [email protected].

facebook.com/DiscoverMag

twitter.com/DiscoverMag

plus.google.com/+discovermagazine

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DAN BISHOP Design Director

EDITORIAL

KATHI KUBE Managing EditorGEMMA TARLACH Senior EditorBILL ANDREWS Senior Associate EditorERIC BETZ Associate Editor

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7/76

THE

T he L atest Science New s & Notes

CRUX

June 2016 D ISCO VER 7

EGGHEA DLoo k closely at this m ass of frog eggs — there’s m ore than m eets the eye. A t an A ustrian pon d,photograph er Ew ald N effe do cum ented arem arkab le an nu alb reed ing even t,w hen allm ale m oo r frog s transform from du llbrow n to electric blue . Tha t’s w hen h e noticed one pile o fegg s had som ething extra:a big blue m ale w ith large yellow eyes,em erging from the w ater. Re searchers con clud e that the frog s chang e colorno t to attract fem ales,but to sign alto other m ales that they’re just on e o f the guy s. ERNIE MASTROIANNI;PHOTO BY EWALD NEFFE


8/768 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

CRUXTH E

D igging U p

G ravityJapaneseresearchersgounderground

todetectgravitationalw aves.

A new w indow to the cosm os is open,

now that the Laser Interferometer

Gravitational -Wave Observatory (L IGO)

Scientifi c Collaborat ion has detected

Einste in’s long-predicted grav itat iona l

w aves. LIGO’s detectors, based in

Washington state and Louisiana, w ill soon

be joined by another instrument tr yingto ne t these elusive ripp les in space-time.

Experts hope to start test operat ions this

year at Japan’s K amioka Gravitational Wave

Detector (KAGRA); observational data is

expected by March 2018. TIM HORN YAK

Unlike LIGO’s ground-level observatories,K AGRA is underground

to protect it fromsurface seismic activit y.

A tunnel heads straightinto the flank ofcentr al Japan’s Mount

Ikenoyama, the site ofthe former Kamioka

zinc mine and home tothe Super-K amiokandeneutrino observatory.

Tolearnm oreaboutLIG O ’sgravitationalw avesdiscovery,checkoutourin-dep thcoverag eat DiscoverMagazine.com/Gravity

The beam splitter connects to the arms via segmentslike this one.

The central chamber houses the beam splitter, w hichdivides an incoming laser into tw o perpendicular beams.

After traveling dow n the arms and reflecting back upvia mirrors, the beams are recombined. Any passing

gravitational w ave w ill alter the pattern, w hich theinterferometer w ill pick up.

This dim horizont al shaft continues for about one-third

mile, or 1,640 feet (500 meters), before leading to thecomputer server room. Beyond that is a larger chamberw here other tunnels converge — K AGRA’s heart.

Principal ly operated by the Univer sity of Tokyo’s Institute for Cosmic Ray

Research, K AGRA consists of an array of mirrors and laser beams set up inan L-shaped tunnel netw ork w ith tw o arms just under 2 miles (3 kilometers)

long. Gravitational w aves can cause minute distortions in lasers as theytravel back and forth along the vacuum pipes. The interferometer detectsthese distortions.


9/76Jun e 2016 DISCOVER 9

Just under 40 feet (12 meters) long and about 31.5 inches

(80 centimeter s) in diameter each, the 250 segments of one of K AGRA’sarms extend into the distance in this w estw ard tunnel. Diggingthe shafts, located over 650 feet (200 meters) below ground, took

20 months.

The mirrors here are silica, w ith a fi lm that keeps particles from

clinging to the surface. But once test operations are done and K AGRA

is up and running, the mirrors w ill be made of sapphire and cooledto minus 424 degrees Fahrenheit, to prevent heat from distorting

the lasers. They’ll help researchers hunt for gravitational w ave signalsbelow 100 Hz , the frequency w here traces of black hole mergerscan be found. K AGRA’s designers chose sapphire mirro rs because

they can w ithstand the necessary extreme cooling.

A sk D iscover

Visit Discov erM ag azin e.com /A sk for more

answe rs. To submit a question, send an

email to A sk@ DiscoverM ag azine.com

Q Is there any difference betw eenw ashing our hands w ith bar soap orliquid hand w ash? Would it be better ifw e w ash w ith both soap and hand w ashat the same time?

— Rowena Kong, Vancouver, Canada

AThe debate over w hether bar or liquid

is best has been ongoing for decades,but a 2006 study nearly put an end to barsoap’s clean credential s. It found that the moreconsistently w et the bar soaps w ere and the

more they w ere used, the more potentiallyharmful microbes they hosted.

Counterintuitively, this is because of howsoap w orks: When it mixes w ith w ater, thesoap’s fats break dow n and lather, increasing

the solubility of w hat’s on your skin, includingbacteria. But w ater alone can’t remove all

bacteria, and since some w ater remains on thesoap’s surface after you’ve fi nished w ashing,some bacteria lingers in that w ater.

Luckily, soap is w ater solub le, so just rinsing

the bar reduces bacteria on it. And there’snothing w rong w ith using it at home,w here presumably few er people(and their germs) w ill touch it.

Still, the Centers for Di seaseControl and Prevention recommends

people use liquid hand w ash to minimizethe risk of spreading harmful bacteria.Even though refilling liquid hand

w ash dispensers can turn them intopotential havens for microbes, liquid

still trumps bar i n the CDC’s eyes. That’sbecause people can either d ispose ofthe dispensers or thoroughly clean

them before refi lling, decreasing the

chance they’ll harbor bacter ia.As for mixing the tw o, CDCspokesw oman Brittany Behmsays, “We don’t th ink there is

any reason to use both bar andliquid soap simultaneously.” Sostick to the soap you like best.

C L A IR E C A M E R O N


10/76

CRUX THE

10 DISCO VERM AG AZINE .CO M

I NB OX

W ellW ishesIn Stephe n C. Geo rge ’s Editor’s N ote in the A pril 2016 issue, his last bef ore

moving o n from his Editor In Chief role at D iscover, he once ag ain relayeda nugg et of w isdom to reade rs that a science te acher had passed on to

him. O ne reader had this heartfelt reaction to George ’s closing words.

To Stephen C. G eorge:

W ell,rats. Itho ug ht Y O U w ere the constant,not so m uch the chan ge.

Ichecked m y back issues this m orning to see how long I’ve received

D iscover — a little long er than the three years of your colum n — and

happened to look into the issue (A pril2013) w here you titled your Ed itor’s

N ote “Elem ents of Ch ang e,” m ention ing the sam e teacher w ho chan ged

the seating arou nd :“If you com plained,M r. M w ou ld sim ply say,‘Ch ange

is the only constan t in life. G et used to it.’”

G ood stuff,and b etter yet that you held onto that priceless piece

of w isdo m . Iw ish you the best and than k you for allyour tho ug htful

sharing — and invites to w rite in. A nd the read ers respond ed — one h appy

scien ce-driven fam ily.M r. M m igh t have taken it on e yard long er,“C hang e is the on ly con stant

in life. But good w illprevail.” I’m sure you an d Becky w illag ree.

Emile O.M acungie,PA

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11/76

W HA TTHE...?

Can you fi gure out w hat this is?Turn to page 15 for the answ er.

June 2016 D ISCO VER 11

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CRUX THE


Voyager 1 and 2

Launched in 1977, these spacecraft wereoriginally tasked with flybys of Jupiter

and Saturn to snap photos and gatherdata on temperature and atmospherecomposition.

Bonus science: After also taking agood look at Neptune and Uranus,one of them is off to exploreinterstellar space. Voyager 1 left thesolar system in 2012, and Voyager 2will join it within the next few years.

Why it’s still on the job: NASA canupdate the software from here on Earth.

Achilles’ heel: The nuclear batteries thatthey run on will eventually deplete — probably

within the next 10 years.

Spirit and Opportunity

The pair of rovers landed on opposite sides of Mars in 2004,carrying identical payloads of instruments, including panoramiccameras and spectrometers for examining soil. Their originalassignment, to explore local rocks for signs of past water, wasmeant to last just three months. Although Spirit is now out ofcommission, Opportunity is still going strong.

Bonus science: Spirit was able to trek to a nearby group of hillsto collect extra data. Opportunity is currently exploring clay-bearing rocks in Mars’ Marathon Valley for evidence of mineralsthat formed in water.

Why it’s still on the job: Martian winds cleandust from the rover’s solar panels.

Achilles’ heel: Though the rovers weredesigned to handle the Martian sand,

Spirit shut down in 2011. Its

wheels outlived their designedlife span, and some of themstopped working. This causedSpirit to get stuck in the sandin 2009. No longer mobile, itcouldn’t turn its panels towardthe sun to recharge and wasunprotected against wintertemperatures of minus 67 degrees

Fahrenheit. NASA heard Spirit’s lastfew beeps in 2010, and in 2011 was

unable to make contact with it again.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

This satellite left Earth in 2005. With its higher-than-a-bird’s-eyeview of the Red Planet’s surface, it found the strongest evidenceyet that salty water currently flows on Mars.

Bonus science: The orbiter is now scouting perfect landing spotsfor future spacecraft — including, potentially, some with human

passengers in the 2030s.Why it’s still on the job: It’s equipped with enough fuel tooperate through 2030.

Achilles’ heel: Moving components — like the metal rings thatpivot the solar arrays — are likely to break first.

WISE

When this satellite launched into Earth’s orbit in 2009, NASAequipped it with a four-channel camera and tasked it withscanning the whole sky to take pictures of faraway galaxiesand stars.

Bonus science: Now repurposed as NEOWISE, the craft looksfor “near-Earth objects” — like asteroids that could collidewith Earth.

Why it’s still on the job: The craft is well insulated from boththe sun’s and Earth’s heat, so the two camera channels that arestill in commission stay cool enough to keep operating.

Achilles’ heel: The satellite’s orbit will eventually shift, andscattered sunlight and earthshine will flood the barrel of thetelescope, obscuring its view of the heavens.

M is s io n Ex t e n d a b le Sometimes spacecraft go above and beyond their primary duties.

When spacecraft fail, they often fail dramatically. But “if the mission survivesentry and landing or insertion into orbit, the spacecraft typically lasts two to

three times longer than planned,” says Richard Zurek, chief scientist for NASA’s

Mars Program Office. Here are some examples of craft that have lived to enjoy

missions well beyond their original assignments. SHANNON PALUS


13/76Jun e2016 D ISCO VER 13

R e D I S C O V E R

Ifyouprefertobeinthedriver’sseatw hileontheroad,good!ResearchersatColum bia

University’sM ailm anSchoolofPublicHealthrecen tlyconcludedthatonceolderadultsstop

driving,theirphysicalfunctionandcognitiveabilitiesoftendecreasedram atically.

D I D Y O U

K N O W ?

Sure-footed ProgressVibrating insoles that could im prove balance in seniors

are inching closer to m arket.

J a m e s Nie m i, a n e n g in e e r a t

H a r v a r d ’s W y s s I n s titu te , k n e w h is

t e a m h a d t h e p r o t o ty p e r ig h t fo r a n e w ,

v ib r a tin g i n s o le in te n d e d t o im p r o v e

b a l a n c e w h e n it fe lt lik e e v e r y o t h e r

in s o le o n th e m a r k e t.

W e a ll h a v e n e u r o n s in o u r fe e t th a t

h e lp c o n tr o l b a l a n c e , b u t t h e y ’r e o f te n

d e s e n s itiz e d in s e n io r s. T h e r e s u lt :

p o o r b a la n c e a n d f a lls. T h a n k s to

p a s t r e s e a r c h h e ’d r e a d a b o u t h o w

r a n d o m v ib r a tio n s c o u l d o p e n u p

n e u r a l io n c h a n n e ls, W y s s C o r e F a c u lty

m e m b e r J a m e s C o l lin s d i s c o v e r e d

t h a t t h o s e v ib r a tio n s c o u ld im p r o v e

s e n io r s’ m o t o r c o n tr o l a n d b a la n c e

w h e n a p p lie d im p e r c e p t ib ly t o s o le s o f

t h e ir fe e t . I n 2 0 1 3 , D iscover r e p o r te d

t h a t s e n io r s s ta n d in g o n t h e v ib r a tin g

in s o le s in t h e la b d e m o n s tr a te d t h e

s a m e b a la n c e a s p e o p le in t h e ir 2 0 s .

Sin c e th e n , N ie m i h a s b e e n w o r k in g

t o m a k e t h a t t e c h n o lo g y in to a p r o d u c t

p e o p le c a n u s e. Or ig i n a l p r o to t y p e sin c lu d e d h u g e , b u lk y b a t t e r y b o x e s

c lip p e d t o t h e s h o e . N o w , t h e in s o le

t s in t o s h o e s . I t c a n b e in d u c t iv e ly

c h a r g e d — n o c o r d s o r w ir e s n e e d e d ,

lik e t h o s e p a d s y o u ju s t s e t y o u r p h o n e

o n t o c h a r g e — a n d a m o b i le a p p

c o n tr o ls th e v i b r a tio n s ’ a m p lit u d e a n d

r e p o r ts b a t te r y s t a tu s.

D e s p it e t h e p r o g r e s s, th e in s o le is n ’t

c o m m e r c ia lly a v a ila b le y e t . T h e W y s s

I n s tit u te is d is c u s s in g lic e n s in g w it h

d iffe r e n t c o m p a n ie s, b u t t h e q u e s tio n

is w h e t h e r to p a r t n e r w ith a t ra d itio n a l

fo o t w e a r c o m p a n y o r a m e d ic a l d e v ic e

c o m p a n y . N ie m i b e lie v e s th e p r o d u c t

s h o u ld h a v e F D A a p p r o v a l, a p r o c e ss

f a m ilia r t o m e d ic a l d e v ic e -m a k e r s, b u t

fo o t w e a r c o m p a n ie s w o u ld lik e ly

p r o v id e b e tte r m a r k e t in g .

R e g a r d le s s o f w h ic h r o u te th e

in s o le t a k e s to c o n s u m e r s, N ie m i

b e lie v e s it’ll h a v e t h e r ig h t lo o k .

“ W h e n w e n a l ly p u t it o n t h e

t a b le , e v e r y o n e lo o k e d a t it a n d

s a id , ‘T h a t lo o k s lik e a b o r in g

in s o le ,’ ” N ie m i s a y s. “ T h a t ’s

e x a c tly w h a t w e ’v e b e e n t ry in g t o

d o .” KAT IE BO WILLIAM S

The slee knew ve rsion oftheb alan ce-en han cing insolecan becharged w irelessly.Users

can con tro lthe am p litud eo fthevib ratio nsan dcheckbatterylev elsw itham ob ileap p.

Jam esN iem i,lea dsen io rstaffeng ineeratHarvard’s

W yssInstitute,d em o nstratesJam esCollin s’vib rating shoe

insoles,w h ichh elp correctthew ea rer’sbalan cep rob lem s.

Thep atented desig n(left)originallyuse dabu lky battery.


14/76

CRUX THE THATW O RD YO UHEA RD


L atin for “tou gh bod y,”

this mass of more than

200 million nerve fibers

helps connect the left

and right hemispheres

of the cerebrum, our

brain’s largest and

uppermost section.

This connection allows

the two hemispheres

to communicate more

efficiently. And while

there’s been much

debate over whether or

not women have bigger

corpus callosa, there’s

evidence that musicians

may have the edge:

Researchers have found

that starting musical

training before the age of

7 can boost connectivity

in this brain area.

LAC Y SCH LEY;ILLUSTRATION BY

CH AD EDWARDS


15/76Ju ne 2016 D ISCO VER 15

W hen itcom estothenex t

p resident,analystsatthe

EvolutionInstitutethink

w e’relikelytopickthetallest

candidate,regardlessofparty

affiliation.Theirrecentreport

o nvo terpreferenceforheight

n otedthatw ehaven’telected

a5-foot-7orshorterpresident

sinceW illiam M cK inley.

D ID Y OU

K N OW?

WH ATT H E...?

It’sthe bottom ofagecko ’sfoo t,w hichiscove redw ith

m icrosco pichairscalledsetae. (See clo se-u p o n p ag e 1 1.)

Th esetae ,w hichtog etherm akeup thetoes’ridges(inset),ea chcontainhundred sofsm aller

bristlescalled spatulae,seenintheim ag eon pag e11atnea rly2,000x m ag nifi cation.


16/76

CRUX THE B O O K S


T H E D R A G O N B E H I N D T H E G L A S S : A T ru e S tory ofP ow er,O bsession an d the W orld’s M ost C oveted F ish

By Em ily Voigt

Atthe center ofinternation alintrigue,the shim m ering arow ana is a predator “the

len gth ofa sam uraisw ord.” It’s the m ostexpensive tropicalfish in the w orld — an d

on e ofthe m osten dan gered.W ith the tautsuspen se ofa spy novel,Voigtpaints a

vivid w orld ofm urder,black m arketd eals and habitatd estruction surrounding a fish

that’s con sidered,ironically,to be a good-luck charm . AL L RE VI EW S B Y G E M M A TARL AC H

O T H E R P A G E S W E ’R E T U R N I N G

T H E W I N T E R

F O R T R E S S :T he E pic

M ission to

Sab otage

H itler’s

Atom ic Bom b

By N eal Bascom b

Science and

sabotage tangle

in the snowy

mountains of Norway at the

height of World War II in this

real-life thriller.

T H E B I G

P I C T U R E :

O n the O rigin s

of L ife,

Mean ing an d

the U n ive rse

I tself

By Sean Carroll

Theoretical

physicist Carroll

tackles the big questions with

short, personable vignettes that

create a mosaic of understanding

the enormity of Everything.

S I L E N T

S P A R K S : T h eWondrous

W orld o f

F ireflies

By Sara Lew is

More than

summer’s

most

enchanting evening

sight, fireflies are creatures

of complexity, captured here

with both rigorous science

and whimsical asides.

D E A T H O N E A R T H :

A dv en tures

in E volution

an d M ortality

By Jules How ard

To understand death,one must first definelife — a task thatproves trickier than you

might think. Enlistingthe aid of everyonefrom astrobiologiststo self-styled“deathsplainers,”zoologist Howard setsoff on a fascinatingand often funny questto answer what life isand why it ends.

AM ER IC A’S

SN A K E : The R ise

an d F allof the

T im ber R attlesnake

By Ted Levin

Found from Texas toNew England, Crotalushorridus is the mostevolved of the viper

family, though mostof us know it only forits distinctive warningsound. Zoologist Levinschools us on all we’vebeen missing in thisdetailed, delightfullove letter to oneof our nation’s less-adored animals.

PA PE R : P aging

T hrough H istory

By Mark K urlansky

Globe-hoppingfrom ancientChina to the AztecEmpire, fromglamorous Parisiancafes to the mills

of New England,Paper weavesculture withchemistry, andpolitics withpulpwood, as itchronicles worldhistory through thatwafer-thin productwe write on.

T H E D A N C I N G B E E S :

K arlvon F risch and

the D iscovery of the

H oneybee L anguage

By Tania Munz

Intraspecies communicationis a hot research topic,but Karl von Frisch wasdecoding honeybee

messages long beforemost of today’s scientistswere born. Set againstthe backdrop of the ThirdReich, Munz chroniclesthe Austrian ethologist’slife and his Nobel-winningstudy of one of the animalkingdom’s most intriguingforms of interpretive dance.

C H O I C EO R C H A N C E :Un derstan din gYour L ocus ofC on trol an d W hyI t M atters

By Stephen Now icki

Itw as m eantto b e ...

w asn ’tit? Everything

happens for a reason

...doesn ’tit? For halfa

cen tury,psychologists

have stud ied h ow an

individual’s percep tion

ofcontrolaffects

everything from

health to relationships.

Longtim e Em ory

Un iversity p rofessoran d clinical

psychologistNow icki

breaks do w n the

research w ith relatab le

an ecdotes thatw ill

m ake you think tw ice

before posting an other

fatalistm em e on social

m edia.

Smar tSummerReads


17/76

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Th e s ig n s w e r e th e r e : Sh irle y m y w ife

“ m u m b le d ” e v e ry o n e c o m p la in e d th a t

th e TV w a s t o o lo u d I h a te d g o in g o u t to

e a t w ith o u r frie n d s b e c a u s e it w a s to o

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Th is b e g a n to ta k e a to ll. As m u c h a s

I h a te to a d m it it I b e c a m e a g ru m p —

d e p re s s e d a n d w ith d ra w n . M y d a u g h te r

Su s a n s u g g e s te d a h e a rin g a id m ig h t h e lp .

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w a s d e v e lo p e d b y a b o a rd - c e r tifi e d d o c to r

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Th e n e x t a f te r n o o n b o w lin g I to ld

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T he Falland R ise

of String T heory

→String theory w as on ce the

hottestthing in physics.In the

198 0s an d ’90s,it prom ised seem ingly

unlim ited bounty.A rising from the

notion that m atter an d en ergy are

fun da m entally com po sed o f tiny,

vibrating strings rather tha n pointlike

particles,this theory attem pted to

unify a llthe k now n forces into a single,

elegan t package.So m e physicists

hailed string theory as the long-sough t

“theory o f everything.” Harvard U niversity physicist

A nd rew Strom inger,a leader in string

theo ry for d ecad es,rem em bers the

early en thusiasm .“A t the tim e of its

new popularity,” he says,“there w as a

declaration that w e h ad solved allthe

prob lem s in physics an d ha d the fin al

theory in han d.”

Strom inger knew ,even in the

euphoric ’80s,that such assertions

w ere overblow n. A nd ,sure enou gh,

skepticism has seeped in over the

years.N o o ne has yet con ceived o f

an experim ent that cou ld d efin itively

verify or refute string theory.T he

backlash m ay have peaked in 20 06,

w hen severalh igh-profile boo ks and

articles attack ed the theory.B ut w hile

string theory has receded from the

spotlight,it has not go ne aw ay.“T he

theory is stillevo lving and getting

better — an d better understood,”

m aintains Juan M aldacena o f the

Institute for Ad van ced S tudy at

Princeton U niversity.

M any of today’s string theorists

have ad opted a u tilitarian ap proach ,

dw elling less on its all-em bracing

po tentialan d m ore on the h ere and

now .Som e practitioners are applying

string theo ry techn iques to problem s in

pure m athem atics,w hile Strom inger is

w orking to secure a deeper conceptual

grasp of black holes.Others stillarerelying on string theory for un exp ected

help w ith calcu lations relating to

particle phy sics an d exo tic states of

m atter.E m erging from this diverse

w ork is a new con sensus:String

theo ry m ay not be the fabled theory of

everything, Strom inger says,“but it is

definitely a theory of som ething.”

H I EN EP TH S

Strom inger w as never one for the

beaten path. He drop ped o ut of

Harvard tw ice in the 1970s to live in

com m unes in N ew Ham pshire and

C hina b efore returning to co llege,

bent on probing the u niverse through

theo reticalphysics.A s an M IT

gradu ate student,Strom inger w as told

to steer clear of risky subjects like

string theory;h e ign ored the ad vice.

T he gam ble paid o ff.In 1985,

three years after getting h is Ph .D .,

Strom ing er co-au tho red on e o f the

W hile the noveltheory may never live up

to the early hype,its innovative tools have helped

scientists for decades,and the best may be yet to come.BY STEVE NADIS

Harvard physicist Andrew Strominger,an early champion of string theory,still relies on its insights in his current work.

String theory m ay

not be the fabled

theory ofeverything,

Strom inger says,

“but it is definitely a

theory ofsom ething.”

BigIdea


19/76June 2016 D ISCO VER 19

ROEN KELLY/DISCOVER

field’ssem inalpapers— partofthe

so-called“firststringrevo lution.”

A centralprem iseofstring

theoryisthatstrings,them ostbasic

unitofnature,vibrateina10-or

11-dim ensionaluniverse.T hethree

fam iliardim ensionsplustim em ake

four,m eaningsixorseven“extra”

spatialdim ensionsm ustliehidden,

shrunkdow nsosm allw ecan’tsee

them .T hesem inu tedim ensionshave

tobe“co m pactified”inaspecificw ay

toreproducethephysicsw eobserve,

an dStrom ingeran dhiscolleagues

determ inedw hatthatscrunched-up

shapehad tobe:asix-dim ensional

m athem aticalobjectknow nasa

C alabi-Y au space.A particle’sm ass, thestrengthofagivenforceand

otherfundam entalquantitiesdepend

ontheshap e,orgeom etry,ofthis

convolutedspace.

Stringtheoristssoonm adea

rem arkablediscovery.B yrotatinga

C alabi-Y au spaceinaspecialw ay,they

couldproduceam irrorim ageofsorts,

thoughonew ithaverydifferentshape.

T hesurprisew asthattheseapparently

disparateC alabi-Y au shapeshada

hiddenkinship,bothgivingrisetothe

sam ephysics.T hetheoristsdubbedthe

phenom enon“m irrorsym m etry.”

Scientistsquicklylearnedthat

thisnew foundsym m etrycould

beharnessedtoad dressvarious

m athem aticalpuzzles.In1991,the

physicistPhilipC an delasan dhis

colleaguesusedm irrorsym m etryto

solveacentury-oldprob lem ,ineffect

countingthenu m berofsph eresthat

couldfitinsideaC alabi-Y au space.

M athem atician sjum pedintotheact,

usingm irrorsym m etrytotack leother

unsolvedproblem sinenum erative

geom etry,typ icallyentailingcounting

linesandcurvesoncom plicated

surfacesan dthree-dim ensionalspaces.

M irrorsym m etryhelpedrejuvenatethe

field,andthislineofresearchisstill

go ingstrongw ithregularinternational

m athconferencesdevotedtoit. “D uringthepastfew years,

progresshasbeenm adetow ard

encap sulatingthisideaw ithinone

(albeitcom plicated)form ula,”says

B randeisU niversitym athem atician

B ongL ian.“T hegeom etric,algebraic

an dphysicalpicturesofm irror

sym m etryareallstartingtoconverge.”

B LAC K HOLE R EV ELATIONS

W hileStrom ingerco-authoreda1996

paperthatofferedam athem atical

explanationforhow m irrorsym m etry

w orks,hisem phasisoverthepast

tw odecadeshasbeenonusingstring

theorytogaininsightsintoblack

holes.Inoneforayintothisrealm ,

heandH arvardcolleagueC um run

V afaexploredapuzzlingfindingfrom

theearly1970sbyphysicistsJacob

B ekensteinandStephenH aw king.

U ntilthen,scientistsregarded

blackholesassim pleobjects— quite

literallyholesinspace,com pletely

describedbyjustthreevariables:their

m ass,spinandcharge.U singgeneral

relativity,E instein’stheoryofgravity,

B ekensteinandH aw kingdeviseda

form ulashow ingthatblackholes

havesurprisinglyhigh entropy— a

m easureofhow m anyw aysparticles

canbearrangedinsidetheobject.A

blackhole’sinternalstructure,inother w ords,w asverycom plex;itcould

assum ealargenum berofpotential

states.T heB ekenstein-H aw king

form ulayieldedaprecisenum berfor

theentropy,quantifyingthepossible

interiorstates,w ithoutindicatingw hat

thosedifferentstatesm ightconsistof.

In1996,Strom ingerandV afa

turnedtostringtheorytoprovide

am icroscopicperspectiveonblack

holes.T heirw ayofaffordinganinside

view ,asw ithC andelas’w ork,w as

sim ilartocountingthenu m berof

spheresthatcouldbeconfiguredinside

aC alabi-Y auspace.A ndtheansw er

Calab i-Yau spaces,six-dim en sionalobjects

rep resen ted hereonthetw o-dim en sional

p ag e,m easurejust10 -33 cen tim eter.String

the oriststhinkthe unive rse’s“h idden ”

d im en sionstakeonthesetinyshapes.

In stringtheory,particlesarenotpointsbutvibratingstrings;

the iridentitiesdep en donthe vibration’sfreq uency. C LO SED LO OP STRIN G S

OP EN EN D ED STRIN G S

VibrationsPar ticle


20/7620 DISCOV ERM AG AZINE.CO M

Strom inger and Vafa arrived at agreed

perfectly w ith the B ekenstein-H aw king

result.T his w as a m ajor trium ph

for string theory because it could do

som ething — offer clues about a black

hole’s inn er m akeup — that no other

approach could.

Strom inger has continued to press

further.H is w ork w ith V afa show ed

that rapidly rotating black holes have

“conform alsym m etry,” w hich roughlym eans that certain physicalproperties

are independent of the black hole’s

size.S trom inger subsequently realized

that the presence of this sym m etry,

w hich hadn’t been recognized before,

could be used to sup port a range

of predictions.F or exam ple,he

and his collaborators are currently

trying to calculate the intensity of

electrom agnetic radiation em anating

from the vicinity of a black hole.I n

a few years,S trom inger says,once

the w orldw ide netw ork know n as the

E vent H orizon T elescope com es online,

astronom ers can test those radiation

estim ates through direct m easurem ents.

U sing sim ilar techniques originally

inspired by string theory,Strom inger’s

group has com puted the spectrum

of gravitationalw aves em itted w hen

com pact objects like stars fallinto

giant black holes — predictions that

could be verified by the future E volved

L aser I nterferom eter Space A ntenna,

planned to launch in tw o decades

(or m aybe sooner).S trom inger alsobelieves that evidence of conform al

sym m etry m ight em erge from the

L aser I nterferom eter G ravitational-

Wave O bservatory,w hich spotted

gravitationalw aves for the first

tim e earlier this year.Soon,he says,

astronom ers m ay be drow ning in data

that they cannot fully interpret.“W e’d

like to use ideas from string theory to

shed som e light on corners of this.”

THEN EW CA LCULU S

O ther physicists,m eanw hile,are

em ploying string theory m ethodologies

in their study of extrem e m atter

states — from the intensely hot

plasm as produced in particle colliders

to m aterials created in laboratories at

tem peratures close to absolute zero.

U niversity C ollege L ondon physicist

A ndrew G reen,w ho investigates

the strange phases of m atter that

arise at ultra-frigid tem peratures,

never im agined getting into string

theory,but has found it extrem ely

w orthw hile.A lthough it m ay not

offer a com prehensive theory of

reality,he says,“it has ushered in

the developm ent of a new set of

m athem aticaltechniques that are

usefulin broad areas of physics.”

M any of these approaches involve

higher-dim ensionalgeom etry,he adds,

“allow ing you to draw geom etricalpictures of w hat w ere previously

algebraic form ulations.” G reen calls

string theory “the n ew calculus,” saying

that its ideas w illultim ately join the

standard toolkit of theoreticalphysics.

Strom inger agrees.W hile physicists

m ay not have stum bled upon the

ultim ate theory of everything 30-som e

years ago,he sees string theory as “a

starting point” from w hich such a

theory m ight stillem erge.R egardless

of how that quest turns out,it’s already

a proven toolthat hints at “how

seem ingly irreconcilable things can fit

together.” A nd as new applications

continue to be explored,it’s becom ing

clear that the one thing string theory

isn’t is obsolete. D

St e v e a d is ,a contributing editor to Discover

and Astronom y,is co-author of From the G reat

W allto the G reat Collider. H e plays handball

in Cambridge,M ass.,w here he also lives.

Soon astronomers

may be drowning in

data that they cannot

fully interpret.

The upcoming Evolved Laser InterferometerSpace Antenna could help verify string theory’spredictions of gravity waves. Three spacecraft(above) will orbit around the sun and measuretiny ripples in space-time via sensitive lasers.

BigIdea


21/76

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w rote his w ay into a research project

at a localcollege,and now fou nd

him self an I vy L eague m edicalstudent.H e knew som ething about

tim ing and persuasion.

“D oesn’t soun d like one of

those ‘-itises,’” he said.

“R ight,” I replied.“G o b ack

and figure it out.”

“O n it.”

CH EM ICA LCLUES

T en m inutes later,P aulw as back.

H e had that “aha” look,but he

w as also shaking his head.

“Well?”

“S he didn’t tellu s because she

w as asham ed.”

“O f w hat?”

“K -2.”

I stared at him .“S ho uld’ve

guessed.”

K -2,spice,A K -47 — pick your

m oniker — is a nine-alarm fire.

Street drugs com e in

categories.H eroin is a sleeper;

stim ulants include cocaine

and am phetam ines; P C Pand m ushroom s qualify as

hallucinogens.N ot K -2.

A nything and everything its

partners in crim e can do,it can

do better.

A nd cheaper.

C hem ically,K -2 refers to a fam ily

of synthetic cannabinoids.I n the

1980s,researchers tinkered w ith

T H C — the m olecule that induces

m arijuana’s high — to study the

brain’s cannabinoid receptors.T hese

receptors are key players in the

end ocannabinoid system ,regulating

brain functions such as m oo d,pain,

appetite and thou ght processing.N ow

it appears they affect blood vessels and

alm ost every organ in the body — and

new receptors are stillbeing identified.

Synthetic cannabinoids jum ped

from lab to street w hen bootleg

chem ists began rejiggering m olecules

to get arou nd anti-drug law s.S old as

→E stela,26,lay curled

up on a stretcher,her

forehead beaded w ith sw eat.

N ausea,vom iting and stom ach

cram ps had laid h er low for tw o

days,she said.

She w as on m ethadone,and if

she’d m issed a dose,w ithdraw al

cou ld b e causing the vom iting

and stom ach cram ps.B ut

heaving for tw o days straight

w ould be unusual.

“S o you did take this

m orning’s do se?” I asked.

“S eventy-five m illigram s at

eight this m orning,” m y patient

replied.“I m issed yesterday.”

T he facts w eren’t fitting m y

tidy theory.I turned to Paul,

m y m edicalstudent.“S m allbow elobstruction?” he offered.

“H epatitis? Pancreatitis?”

“A ny fever?” I asked E stela.

“N o.”

“D iarrhea?”

“N o.”

“A lcoholuse?”

“N o,” she said.T he rest of the

history w as no help.H er abdom en,

cram ps notw ithstanding,felt soft.A lso

norm alw ere blood pressure,pulse and

tem perature.

“A bdom en benign,” I m used to Paul.

“H as to be m ethadone w ithdraw al.

She m issed yesterday’s do se.”

“B uttook this m orning’s,” Paul

pointed out.“Plus,the vom iting started

tw o days ago,before yesterday’s m iss.”

M ysteriou s abdom inalcom plaints

these days often require a C T scan.

B ut zapping a young w om an w ith

three years’w orth of backgrou nd

radiation isn’t trivial.

“L et’s start w ith labs,I V fluids

and Z ofran,” I said to E stela’s nurse.

Z ofran eases vom iting w itho ut

m asking pain,so it buys tim e.

B ack in front of m y com puter,I

pulled up p rior visits.T here w as one,

exactly a m onth earlier.I read out

loud : “C hief com plaint,26-year-o ld

w ith nausea,vom iting and stom ach

cram ps for tw o days.”

“H uh ?” I glanced at Paul.“E xact

sam e sym ptom s a m onth ago.”

I n his native Iran,P aulhad been

an orchestra conductor.W hen he

w as 22,the w hole fam ily decam ped

to C alifornia.Q uickly m astering

E nglish,he w orked as a bank teller,

a d C h e m is tr yA recovering addict suffers from extreme nausea and stomach

cramps. But the most obvious explanation may not be the right one.BYTON Y DAJER

Vita lSig n s


23/76

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“ herbal incense,” K -2 hit the streets inthe U .S . in 20 0 8 and is now ram pagingthrough the country. In 20 1 5, the d rug

was responsible for thousand s of ERv isits — and d ozens of d eaths —across 12 states in the S outh. In early20 1 5 in m y ER in New Y ork City, casesshot from z ero to fi v e or six a d ay.

P rod uction is a cinch: Com bine precursor chem icals from China (orincreasingly, hom em ad e), spray them ix ov er d ried herbs (the “ incense” ),then seal in sq uare, brightly coloredfoil packages v isibly stam ped ,“ Not for H um an Consum ption.”Doz ens of varieties now ood

the streets, each set to punch theend ocannabinoid system ’s keys in itsown unpred ictable way.

What’s baf ing, in the face of thatunpred ictability, is the stunning riskusers take. S ure, the stuff is cheap —m aybe a buck a K -2 cigarette v ersusfi v e for “natural” m arijuana — buta v ery sm all am ount can pack ahuge wallop. With K -2, you d on’tknow if one hit will buz z or buz z sawyou. S om e K -2 variants bind brain

receptors 1 0 0 tim es m ore strongly thanTH C and can linger for d ays. Eachnew concoction prod uces its own blast pattern — and there’s only one wayto fi nd out.

One recent case was a 6 0 -year-oldwom an who lit up in the basem entof her hom eless shelter. The stafffound her com atose with critically lowblood pressure. A fter 3 liters of salineand careful m onitoring, she fi nallycam e around .

It was her birthd ay. That was the

celebration.A nother d ay, a param ed ic pulled m e

asid e, a frantic look on his face.“ Doc, the heart rate was 1 8 0 , then it

d ropped to 50 , then zoom ed to 1 4 0 . We ga e him IV saline. Did I d o som ethingwrong? What should I ha e giv en him ?”

“ Blood pressure?”“A bout 1 0 0 .”“ Y ou d id the right thing.” I

shrugged . “ There’s no antid ote. Just

keep them breathing and their blood pressure up.”

A RISIN G TH REAT A n hour after Estela’s rev elation, P aulchecked on her.

“ S till vom iting,” he reported . “ I triedto tell her how d angerous it was, howm any d eaths it has caused .”

I shook m y head . In 20 years I’dnever seen a d rug like this. H eck,even heroin ad d icts d on’t com e to the ER ev ery d ay.

I paused . “ I guess we’ll try another

round of Z ofran and uid s.”Trooping back in two hours later,

we found Estela wan but not curled up

anym ore. I pressed on her abd om en.It was soft.

“ Y our lab results look great,” I saidbrightly. “ Would you like to go hom e?”

S he brought a hand over her m outh.“ I d on’t want to go hom e and v om it,”she said .

P aul held her arm . “ The worst isover.”

“ We can giv e you Z ofran to takehom e,” I ad d ed .

K-2, made of syntheticcannabinoids, causeddozens of deaths inthe U.S. last year.

Barely nod d ing, she m uttered , “OK .I guess so.”

Three weeks later, Estela was back.

The chief com plaint? Vom iting afterK -2. A nd she’d m issed her m ethad oned ose. We replaced it, but the K -2 m ad eher puke again. S o we repeated thecycle of m ed s and uid s once m ore.

Three d ays later, she was back.While we treated Estela, another patient ga e us the latest head lines:A local d ealer who put out hund red sof K -2 pouches every d ay had beenbeaten up by his clients.

“ H e m ad e bad stuff, d oc,” thenow-righteous user ex plained . “ One

kid d ied . They found him in an alley. Ev eryone was getting sick.”

The world wid e tsunam i of syntheticd rugs is surging. Whether d riv en byInternet-based chem istry, social m ed iaor an old -fashioned fad , the num berof d angerous synthetics reportedto the U nited Nations shot to ov er50 0 in 20 1 4 — d ouble the total for“ trad itional” plant-d erived d rugs. InP oland , poisonings from syntheticd rugs, includ ing K -2, rocketed from

50 0 in 20 1 0 to m ore than 5,0 0 0 bym id -20 1 5, killing d ozens.

In the U .S . and Europe,legislators ha e scram bled

to elim inate legalloopholes that allow

their m anufacture,but that still lea es

enforcem ent. It’s easy tom ix K -2’s precursor chem icals

in your basem ent. A nd even if the rawm aterials still com e from China, howd o you stop bottles of clear uid at

the bord er?A s we watched Estela walk out for

the third tim e, P aul softly said , “ Fora cheap high, that’s a pretty ex pensiv elesson to keep ignoring.” D

Tony Dajer is director of the emergency

department at New York-Presbyterian/Lower

Manhattan Hospital. The cases described in

Vital Signs are real, but names and certain

details have been changed.

VitalSigns


25/76

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E I N S T E I N : F R E D S T E I N A R C H I V E / A R C H I V E P H O T O S / G E T T Y I M A G E S . T H O

U G H T B U B B L E : S H U T T E R S T O C K B Y S C O T T R I C H A R D S O N , S E R J I O 7 4 , X E N O N

N

Who could hav e believ ed that the world was at? Or

that it sits fi x ed in space, while the cosm os rev olv es

around it? A nyone with two eyes, that’s who. It takes

a leap of im agination to contem plate the alternativ e

— that we are stand ing atop a rapid ly spinning

sphere, hurtling through space.

A lbert Einstein, like Nicolaus Copernicus and G alileo

G alilei before him , red efi ned our und erstand ing of the

univ erse, and he d id so thanks to a knack for keeping

his thoughts clear of unnecessary inform ation. In fact,

he cond ucted ex perim ents on the basis of thought

alone, playing them out in som ething like

the construct from T heM atrix — a com pletely

em pty space populated with only item s essential to

his ex perim ents. A clock. A train.A beam of light. A n observer or

tw o. A n elevator. “ Im agine a large portion

of em pty space, so far rem ov ed from stars and other

appreciable m asses,” said Einstein, d escribing his

m ental construct.

H ow Einstein’screativethinking

led toanew rulebook

fo rtheuniverse.

A llin H is

BY ANDY BERGER

H E A D


27/76

A lbertEinsteinin194 6.


28/76

TestyourEinsteinIQ ,hearthegravitationalw aveshepredicted

andlearnm oreat D iscov erM ag azine .com /Einstein


U sing these ingredients,p lus som e basic

physicalp rinciples,E instein cam e to m ind-

boggling yetunavoidable conclusions that

overturned allo f p hysics.W ith special

relativity,he show ed that tim e an d

space are intertw ined,n otdem arcated

by the sam e gridlines an d tick-tock

regu larity for everyone.A decade later

w ith gen eralrelativity,he found that gravity actually distorts space and tim e.

Itallstarted w hen,at the you ng

age o f 16,E instein con jured u p a vivid

tho ugh t:W hat w ou ld itbe like to race

alongside a b eam of light? T he idea seem s

inn ocu ou s eno ugh; if I race alongside a m otoriston the

freew ay and m atch its speed, w e com e to a relative stan dstill.

I cou ld say that itis the outside scenery scrolling b ack w ard

pastu s,as if w e w ere playing an arcad e racing gam e.E instein

w on dered if the sam e w ould hold true for the lightbeam .If

he d rove fastenou gh,could he p ullneck and neck w ith the

beam ,b ringing itto a virtualh alt? W hat w ou ld the w orld

look like to such a ligh t-speed traveler?

Itw as E instein’s im agination that allow ed him to take

leaps and m ake conn ections that his contem po raries cou ld

no t.H e explained h is insights by an alogy:“W hen a blind

beetle craw ls over the surface of a curved b ranch,itdoesn’t

notice thatthe track ithas covered is indeed curved.I w as

lucky en ough to n otice w hat the beetle didn’tnotice.”

G A LILEO ’S SH IP

E instein’s though texperim ents are parto f a greater tradition

in physics.“E instein didn’tinven tthe though texperim ent,of

cou rse,”

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