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Scientific Heroes and Genius Cults

Jan 17 2009 | comment(s)

OK, here's more commentary on some of the interesting stuff over at Cosmic Variance, this time on the cult of genius:

During high school or college, many aspiring physicists latch onto Feynman or Einstein or Hawking as representing all they hope to become. The problem is, the vast majority of us are just not that smart. Oh sure, we’re plenty clever, and are whizzes at figuring out the tip when the check comes due, but we’re not Feynman-Einstein-Hawking smart. We go through a phase where we hope that we are, and then reality sets in, and we either (1) deal, (2) spend the rest of our career trying to hide the fact that we’re not, or (3) drop out. It’s always bugged the crap out of me that physicists’ worship of genius conveys the simultaneous message that if you’re not F-E-H smart, then what good are you? In physics recommendation land, there is no more damning praise than saying someone is a “hard worker”.

I'm not a physicist, so I don't have any personal experience with how badly physics is infected by a cult of genius. In biology, our geniuses aren't as flashy, partly because brilliant mathematical theories of the type found in theoretical physics don't do much good in biology.

How to go from Physicist to Crackpot

Jan 17 2009 | comment(s)

At Cosmic Variance, find out how the once active physicist Frank Tipler now registers high on John Baez's crackpot index:

In science, we tend to valorize (to the point of fetishizing) a certain kind of ability to abstractly manipulate symbols and concepts — related to, although not exactly the same as, the cult of genius. (It’s not just being smart that is valorized, but a certain kind of smart.) The truth is, such an ability is great, but tends to be completely uncorrelated with other useful qualities like intellectual honesty and good judgment. People don’t become crackpots because they’re stupid; they become crackpots because they turn their smarts to crazy purposes.

Celebrate Your Inner Activist - Can You Create A GMO Tipping Point?

Jan 17 2009 | comment(s)

As a science site, we can continually be baffled that both the left and the right can find something to be critical about. Some on the right are critical of stem cell research or climate science (Republicans) while some on the left are critical of genetically modified foods or vaccines (Democrats) - to science, it doesn't make much sense.

Panspermia, Red Rain, and Space Bread

Jan 17 2009 | comment(s)

In an article in the International Journal of Astrobiology, P. McCafferty discusses the possibility of a red, blood-like life form living inside meteors.

This conclusion raises the possibility that, in space, there are objects that contain red, blood-like cells. In other words, comets possibly harbour life. Such an image of a comet, containing a liquid interior teeming with red cells, is difficult to imagine and even harder to accept.

What Aliens Can Tell Us About Evolution

Jan 17 2009 | comment(s)

Imagining aliens helps us think about evolution

If we ever do make contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence, what will it look like? Hollywood has had no shortage of examples for films and television shows that feature aliens, but they are almost always bipedal primates who speak English with a funny accent. This depiction is more the result of wardrobe budget constraints and the flexibility of actors than it is the imagination of writers.

Science In The Mists Of K'un Lun

Jan 17 2009 | comment(s)

If you're a reader of geography or a student of eastern philosophy, you may have seen the name K'un Lun. It is the name of a mountain range in western China and borders the northern edge of Tibet (1) and is also a name for 'paradise' in Taoism. Whoever can climb to the top of K'un Lun gains access to the heavens, the ancients said.

There's a city there now and if you visit K'un Lun City and drink the yellow water in the lakes of its parks known as cinnabar (tan), they also say you will become immortal.(2)

That last part is scientifically undocumented. Drinking yellow water is generally a bad idea.

What Do You Do The Day After Mars Methane Measurements?

Jan 17 2009 | comment(s)

Revisiting The Einstein-Bohr Dialogue Conclusion

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

In part 2 we closed with the idea that Bohr seemed to be using general relativity against Einstein to save quantum mechanics! A wonderful story. But is it true?

Einstein seems to have thought that they were arguing about something else. We know this from a letter that Paul Ehrenfest wrote to Bohr in July 1931, after a visit with Einstein in Berlin. Ehrenfest and Einstein seem to have had a long and thorough chat about the debate with Bohr at the previous fall’s Solvay meeting. Ehrenfest reports to Bohr a most surprising comment from Einstein:

Body Size and Evolutionary History - No it Does Not Prove Intelligent Design

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

Is a recent PNAS paper a knock against evolution? Does it support a "the concept of a preexistent design, with front-loaded genetic programs"?

Nonsense. PZ explains why. Go read this if you're at all tempted to believe the intelligent design peanut gallery over at Uncommon Dissent. Remember, those guys do no science - they have no labs, they do no field work, they don't test any hypotheses. They just sit back and distort the latest findings published by real scientists.

Signs of the bubble popping

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

Previously I wrote about "the Science Bubble". Since then, there has been good news, and bad.
The good news is that apparently Speaker Pelosi has been recorded as noting that Science will be emphasized in the stimulus package. I do hope that happens, and I hope that if it does happen, it is done in a sustainable and thoughtful way - not just a bunch of "let's throw money at scientists" followed by an even bigger bust later.

Darwin Year gear

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

Two years ago, I had t-shirts made up for my evolution course that depicted Darwin's notebook sketch of a simple tree diagram capped by the words "I think". In total, we generated about $500 for conservation charities, and the students got a pretty cool shirt (I still see them around campus fairly frequently). Had I been teaching the course this semester, I probably would have produced the t-shirts again. This is Darwin Year, after all. But I'm not, so I won't.

Better Aerosol Research Would Lead To More Accurate Climate Models - NASA

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

Climate prediction is difficult stuff. As you know, it's impossible to predict the weather 10 days from now much less six months and aside from "it will get a lot worse" no one can say with any degree of certainty what Earth's climate could look like in the future given changing kinds of pollution conditions and nature itself.

Should There Be Presumed Consent For Organ Donation?

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

Introducing presumed consent or opt-out system may increase organ donation rates, suggests a new systematic review published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal).

There is currently insufficient supply of donor organs to meet the demand for organ transplantations in the UK but the number of patients registered for a transplant continues to increase. In March 2008, 7,655 patients were on the active transplant list and 506 died in the years 2007-2008 while waiting for their transplant.

At present the UK has an informed consent legislative system where individuals opt-in if they are willing for their organs to be used after death. However, only a quarter of the UK population are on the NHS donor register.

Arctic Amplification - Maybe It Just Heats Up Easier Than Other Places

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

With record low temperatures, winter blizzards and warming that isn't really global, people aren't taking climate change very seriously these days, but that doesn't mean pollution gets a free pass if we want to continue to enjoy nature as we know it. Temperature change in the Arctic can still happen regardless of what is happening in cold spots of the world and it may be happening at a greater rate there than other places in the Northern Hemisphere.

As a result, glacier and ice-sheet melting, sea-ice retreat, coastal erosion and sea level rise could continue even if it doesn't feel warmer in Chicago.

The Mathematical Odds Of That Elusive Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Still Existing

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

5.

That's how many mated pairs will need to have survived the extensive habitat loss that occurred during the early 1900's for the ivory-billed woodpecker to still be around today.

Do they exist? No one knows, though in the last few years people have claimed to see them. But people have claimed to see Bigfoot too.

Video Games - Blood Actually Does Not Help The Bottom Line (It Isn't Hurting Teens Either)

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

Take heart, parents. If your teenager is brandishing a virtual shotgun in their new video game, you're not raising the next Columbine kid. If they're enjoying themselves, it's because of the healthy pleasure of mastering a challenge rather than from a disturbing craving for carnage.

Commonwealth Fund Says Mandatory Insurance Plus Government Subsidies Make The Best Health Policy

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

A new Commonwealth Fund study says that the United States should adopt the policies of Switzerland and the Netherlands. Those countries have near-universal coverage, though they have to subsidize up to 40 percent of families since individual health coverage is mandated by law.

The result? Both countries effectively cover all but one percent of their population, compared with 15 percent uninsured in the U.S.

Genetic Snapshot Of Iceland 1000 Years Ago

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

Scientists at deCODE genetics have completed the largest study of ancient DNA from a single population ever undertaken. Analyzing mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to offspring, from 68 skeletal remains, the study provides a detailed look at how a contemporary population differs from that of its ancestors.

The results confirm previous deCODE work that used genetics to test the history of Iceland as recorded in the sagas. These studies demonstrated that the country seems to have been settled by men from Scandinavia – the vikings – but that the majority of the original female inhabitants were from the coastal regions of Scotland and Ireland, areas that regularly suffered raids by vikings in the years around the settlement of Iceland 1100 years ago.

Romance Really Is A Game - And Game Theory Will Give You Some Answers

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

Scientists say they have developed a mathematical model of the mating game to help explain why courtship is often protracted. That's right, there may one day be a numerical model to tell you why women under 30 like the Bad Boys but over age 30 they like men that are employed.

The study by researchers at University College London (UCL), University of Warwick and LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science), says that extended courtship enables a male to signal his suitability to a female and enables the female to screen out the male if he is unsuitable as a mate.

Clonal Interference - Evolution Gets Even More Dynamic In Time For Darwin's Birthday

Jan 16 2009 | comment(s)

Katy Kao, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, and Stanford University colleague Gavin Sherlock say their new study of yeast cells has resulted in the most detailed picture of an organism's evolutionary process to date.

Working with populations of yeast cells, which were color-coded by fluorescent markers, they were able to evolve the cells while maintaining a visual analysis of the entire process.

What does that mean? It means the evolutionary process is even more dynamic than initially thought, with multiple beneficial adaptations arising within a population. These adaptations, Kao explained, triggered a competition between these segments, known as "clonal interference."