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EDITORIAL
For the planet it’s geoengineer or bust We’re clearly failing to reduce emissions so it may be time to adjust the Earth’s thermostat
high-rise cities closer to the poles – would be a last resort. Aside from anything else, it is far from being the most practical option: any attempt at mass migration is likely to fuel wars, political power struggles and infighting. So what are the alternatives? The most obvious answer is to radically reduce carbon dioxide levels now, by fast-tracking green technologies and urgently implementing energy-efficient measures. But the changes aren’t coming nearly quickly enough and global emissions are still rising. As a result, many scientists are now turning to “Earth’s plan B” (see page 8). Plan B involves making sure we have large-
DESPITE the numerous warnings about extreme weather, rising sea levels and mass extinctions, one message seems to have got lost in the debate about the impact of climate “Perhaps geoengineering projects change. A warmer world won’t just be can avert the more horrifying inconvenient. Huge swathes of it, including consequences of climate change” most of Europe, the US and Australia as well as all of Africa and China will actually be uninhabitable – too hot, dry or stormy to scale geoengineering technologies ready sustain a human population. and waiting to either suck CO2 out of the atmosphere or deflect the sun’s heat. Most This is no mirage. It could materialise if the climate scientists were once firmly against world warms by an average of just 4 °C, which fiddling with the Earth’s thermostat, fearing some models predict could happen as soon that it may make a bad situation even worse, as 2050. This is the world our children and or provide politicians with an excuse to sit on grandchildren are going to have to live in. their hands and do nothing. So what are we going to do about it? Now they reluctantly acknowledge the sad One option is to start planning to move truth that we haven’t managed to reorder the the at-risk human population to parts of world fast enough to reduce CO2 emissions the world where it will still be cool and wet and that perhaps, given enough funding, (see page 28). It might seem like a drastic research and political muscle, we can indeed move, but this thought experiment is not design, test and regulate geoengineering about scaremongering. Every scenario is projects in time to avert the more horrifying extrapolated from predictions of the latest consequences of climate change. climate models, and some say that 4 °C may Whatever we do, now is the time to act. The actually turn out to be a conservative estimate. alternative is to plan for a hothouse world that Clearly this glacier-free, desertified world – none of us would recognise as home. ■ with its human population packed into
Forensic science: guilty as charged SINCE it began in 1992, the Innocence Project has deployed DNA evidence to exonerate 232 people previously convicted in American courts. Faulty interpretation of forensic evidence had contributed to around half the wrongful convictions. This failure of forensic science to protect the innocent is underlined in a report from the US National Academy of Sciences (see page 6). A core concern was the unreliability of traditional techniques compared with DNA methods. These older techniques, which are still relevant, need stronger scientific backing – yet it is DNA that gets most of the research funding. Let’s hope the report will change that. For justice to prevail, we need to put forensic science onto the firmest possible footing and subject it to the rigorous testing it deserves. ■
Volte-Facebook IN THE wake of a recent brouhaha, Facebook has backtracked on changes that potentially gave the social networking site indefinite rights to its users’ data – even from closed accounts (see page 12). But a closer look at its terms and conditions suggests Facebook has lost nothing but face. Users, perhaps unknowingly, have always granted Facebook a licence to peddle their information to anyone willing to pay. The controversy is a timely reminder that social networks want more than your company, and that it pays to read the small print. ■
What’s hot on NewScientist.com SPACE Second man on moon critical of NASA The space agency’s performance since the Apollo programme has been “lacklustre” and NASA needs “serious reform or significant organisational overhaul”, says Apollo legend Buzz Aldrin
if they’ve been somewhere before, just like us FORENSICS Inside the skull of a suicide By combining surface scans of the body with CT and MRI scans, it is possible to work out what happened to a person without cutting them open
TECH Mirrors: the next generation Explore images of mirrors that can reflect text without reversing it, capture a 360-degree view without distortion or help robots climb stairs, all thanks to computer-aided design
PSYCHOLOGY Scared of heights? Find out why People who shudder atop skyscrapers or whose knees buckle crossing bridges have trouble perceiving the vertical dimension
ROBOTICS ‘Déjà vu robots’ don’t get lost Robots that make maps as they go need to detect
Find these articles and more at www.newscientist.com/article/dn16651
Do you have a burning desire to write for New Scientist? New Scientist’s editorial trainee scheme provides six months of paid work experience in our London office. The start date is negotiable. Applicants need a degree in science or technology and should demonstrate their flair for journalism by sending in an unpublished article of not more than 400 words describing a recent advance in science or technology. Applications, including a CV, the article and any published writing, should reach us by 13 March, either by email to Amy.Galloway@ newscientist.com or by post to the London office.
28 February 2009 | NewScientist | 3
For the planet it’s geoengineer or bust We’re clearly failing to reduce emissions so it may be time to adjust the Earth’s thermostat
high-rise cities closer to the poles – would be a last resort. Aside from anything else, it is far from being the most practical option: any attempt at mass migration is likely to fuel wars, political power struggles and infighting. So what are the alternatives? The most obvious answer is to radically reduce carbon dioxide levels now, by fast-tracking green technologies and urgently implementing energy-efficient measures. But the changes aren’t coming nearly quickly enough and global emissions are still rising. As a result, many scientists are now turning to “Earth’s plan B” (see page 8). Plan B involves making sure we have large-
DESPITE the numerous warnings about extreme weather, rising sea levels and mass extinctions, one message seems to have got lost in the debate about the impact of climate “Perhaps geoengineering projects change. A warmer world won’t just be can avert the more horrifying inconvenient. Huge swathes of it, including consequences of climate change” most of Europe, the US and Australia as well as all of Africa and China will actually be uninhabitable – too hot, dry or stormy to scale geoengineering technologies ready sustain a human population. and waiting to either suck CO2 out of the atmosphere or deflect the sun’s heat. Most This is no mirage. It could materialise if the climate scientists were once firmly against world warms by an average of just 4 °C, which fiddling with the Earth’s thermostat, fearing some models predict could happen as soon that it may make a bad situation even worse, as 2050. This is the world our children and or provide politicians with an excuse to sit on grandchildren are going to have to live in. their hands and do nothing. So what are we going to do about it? Now they reluctantly acknowledge the sad One option is to start planning to move truth that we haven’t managed to reorder the the at-risk human population to parts of world fast enough to reduce CO2 emissions the world where it will still be cool and wet and that perhaps, given enough funding, (see page 28). It might seem like a drastic research and political muscle, we can indeed move, but this thought experiment is not design, test and regulate geoengineering about scaremongering. Every scenario is projects in time to avert the more horrifying extrapolated from predictions of the latest consequences of climate change. climate models, and some say that 4 °C may Whatever we do, now is the time to act. The actually turn out to be a conservative estimate. alternative is to plan for a hothouse world that Clearly this glacier-free, desertified world – none of us would recognise as home. ■ with its human population packed into
Forensic science: guilty as charged SINCE it began in 1992, the Innocence Project has deployed DNA evidence to exonerate 232 people previously convicted in American courts. Faulty interpretation of forensic evidence had contributed to around half the wrongful convictions. This failure of forensic science to protect the innocent is underlined in a report from the US National Academy of Sciences (see page 6). A core concern was the unreliability of traditional techniques compared with DNA methods. These older techniques, which are still relevant, need stronger scientific backing – yet it is DNA that gets most of the research funding. Let’s hope the report will change that. For justice to prevail, we need to put forensic science onto the firmest possible footing and subject it to the rigorous testing it deserves. ■
Volte-Facebook IN THE wake of a recent brouhaha, Facebook has backtracked on changes that potentially gave the social networking site indefinite rights to its users’ data – even from closed accounts (see page 12). But a closer look at its terms and conditions suggests Facebook has lost nothing but face. Users, perhaps unknowingly, have always granted Facebook a licence to peddle their information to anyone willing to pay. The controversy is a timely reminder that social networks want more than your company, and that it pays to read the small print. ■
What’s hot on NewScientist.com SPACE Second man on moon critical of NASA The space agency’s performance since the Apollo programme has been “lacklustre” and NASA needs “serious reform or significant organisational overhaul”, says Apollo legend Buzz Aldrin
if they’ve been somewhere before, just like us FORENSICS Inside the skull of a suicide By combining surface scans of the body with CT and MRI scans, it is possible to work out what happened to a person without cutting them open
TECH Mirrors: the next generation Explore images of mirrors that can reflect text without reversing it, capture a 360-degree view without distortion or help robots climb stairs, all thanks to computer-aided design
PSYCHOLOGY Scared of heights? Find out why People who shudder atop skyscrapers or whose knees buckle crossing bridges have trouble perceiving the vertical dimension
ROBOTICS ‘Déjà vu robots’ don’t get lost Robots that make maps as they go need to detect
Find these articles and more at www.newscientist.com/article/dn16651
Do you have a burning desire to write for New Scientist? New Scientist’s editorial trainee scheme provides six months of paid work experience in our London office. The start date is negotiable. Applicants need a degree in science or technology and should demonstrate their flair for journalism by sending in an unpublished article of not more than 400 words describing a recent advance in science or technology. Applications, including a CV, the article and any published writing, should reach us by 13 March, either by email to Amy.Galloway@ newscientist.com or by post to the London office.
28 February 2009 | NewScientist | 3