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NASA: curb your enthusiasm
EDITORIAL
LOCATIONS UK Lacon House, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1200 Fax +44 (0) 20 7611 1250 Australia Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW 2067 Tel +61 2 9422 2666 Fax +61 2 9422 2633 USA 225 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02451 Tel +1 781 734 8770 Fax +1 720 356 9217 201 Mission Street, 26th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105 Tel +1 415 908 3348 Fax +1 415 704 3125 to SUBSCRIbe UK and International Tel +44 (0) 8456 731 731 [email protected] The price of a New Scientist annual subscription is UK £137, Europe €211, USA $154, Canada C$182, Rest of World $267. Postmaster: Send address changes to New Scientist, PO Box 3806, Chesterfield, MO 63006-9953, USA. cONTACTS Editorial Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Picture desk Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1268 Who’s who newscientist.com/people Contact us newscientist.com/contact Enquiries Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 Display Advertising Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1291 [email protected] Recruitment Advertising UK Tel +44 (0) 20 8652 4444 [email protected] Permission for reuse [email protected] Media enquiries Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 Marketing Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1299 Back Issues & Merchandise Tel +44 (0) 1733 385170 Syndication Tribune Media Services International Tel +44 (0) 20 7588 7588 UK Newsagents Tel +44 (0) 20 3148 3333 Newstrade distributed by Marketforce UK Ltd, The Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark St, London SE1 OSU Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8148 3333 © 2010 Reed Business Information Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by Reed Business Information Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by Polestar (Colchester)
Curb your enthusiasm NASA should invest more effort in astrobiology and less in publicity “IT’S life, but not as we know it,” life form has been discovered that trumpeted one headline. “Alien can operate without phosphorus – life may have been discovered – thought to be one of the elements right here on Earth,” gasped essential to life – and the first time another. Even The New York Times that an alternate working form declared “Microbe Finds Arsenic of DNA has been seen in an Tasty; Redefines Life”. organism. Not ET, then, but even The breathless write-ups the existence of an arsenic-based followed NASA’s teasing bacterium would extend the announcement of a news known boundaries of life. conference “that will impact “It’s far from clear that a the search for evidence of ‘shadow biosphere’ has extraterrestrial life”. And been found. The paper has although the discovery of alien already been attacked” life, if it ever happens, would be one of the biggest stories imaginable, this was light years Yet it is far from clear that a from that. “shadow biosphere” has been What we got was a paper found. The paper has already published in Science purporting been attacked by scientists who to describe a bacterium that has say the evidence that arsenic is replaced phosphorus throughout actually incorporated into the its biomolecular machinery, bacterial DNA is weak (see page 6). including DNA, with arsenic. If NASA has been in these waters true, it would be the first time a before. In 1996 in Science the
space agency described how a Martian meteorite found in Antarctica might contain traces of fossilised microbial life. Bill Clinton, the US president at the time, announced the discovery on television. Controversy over the evidence flared up immediately and it continues today. The creation of this new frenzy is surprising, considering that the search for extant life on Mars in particular seems to be low on NASA’s list of priorities. Why does it allow – encourage, even – such hype? Perhaps it thinks that all publicity is good publicity, but one day the appetite for sensationalist alien life stories may be sated. As Carl Sagan once remarked, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. NASA might soon be wishing it had heeded this advice. n
The need for remembrance INJECTING soldiers with memoryerasing drugs before they go to war probably sounds like a step too far. But this possibility is raised by new research into how memories can be altered or even deleted (see page 12). What’s more, DARPA, the US’s military research agency, has a track record of supporting outlandish ideas. Who can forget
the notion of the “gay bomb”, intended to make enemy soldiers irresistible to one other? Drug use has a long history in warfare, from the mushrooms that supposedly drove Norsemen beserk to the modafinil that helps modern troops stay awake. Memory research will aid the development of anxiety therapies and perhaps also help courts to
appreciate why eyewitness reports cannot be relied upon. Deleting traumatic memories in troops is another matter, though. The military would probably argue that it is more humane for soldiers not to be haunted by flashbacks. But with no memory of previous trauma, soldiers might take foolish risks. Erasure would also make depersonalisation easier than ever, wiping clean the conscience for any act of torture or savagery. n
WikiLeaks spells trouble in Cancún
talks in Copenhagen a year ago. The US offered cash to persuade climate-vulnerable nations like the Maldives to sign up to its favoured Copenhagen accord, a ploy that Pablo Solón, head of this year’s Bolivian delegation, describes as “blackmail”. Such tactics may come as no surprise, but Solón was right
when he said that the “ghost of Copenhagen” now stalks Cancún. Trust is evaporating fast, and there are rumours (denied) that there is a secret Mexican text akin to last year’s secret draft agreement. Will the Kyoto protocol have a successor? It is often said that no deal is better than a bad deal. We may soon find out. n
AS CLIMATE negotiations grind on in Cancún, Mexico, this week, the atmosphere has not been improved by revelations from WikiLeaks of hardball tactics by the US during and after the abortive
11 December 2010 | NewScientist | 5
LOCATIONS UK Lacon House, 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8NS Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1200 Fax +44 (0) 20 7611 1250 Australia Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW 2067 Tel +61 2 9422 2666 Fax +61 2 9422 2633 USA 225 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02451 Tel +1 781 734 8770 Fax +1 720 356 9217 201 Mission Street, 26th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105 Tel +1 415 908 3348 Fax +1 415 704 3125 to SUBSCRIbe UK and International Tel +44 (0) 8456 731 731 [email protected] The price of a New Scientist annual subscription is UK £137, Europe €211, USA $154, Canada C$182, Rest of World $267. Postmaster: Send address changes to New Scientist, PO Box 3806, Chesterfield, MO 63006-9953, USA. cONTACTS Editorial Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Picture desk Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1268 Who’s who newscientist.com/people Contact us newscientist.com/contact Enquiries Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 Display Advertising Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1291 [email protected] Recruitment Advertising UK Tel +44 (0) 20 8652 4444 [email protected] Permission for reuse [email protected] Media enquiries Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 Marketing Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1299 Back Issues & Merchandise Tel +44 (0) 1733 385170 Syndication Tribune Media Services International Tel +44 (0) 20 7588 7588 UK Newsagents Tel +44 (0) 20 3148 3333 Newstrade distributed by Marketforce UK Ltd, The Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark St, London SE1 OSU Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8148 3333 © 2010 Reed Business Information Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by Reed Business Information Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by Polestar (Colchester)
Curb your enthusiasm NASA should invest more effort in astrobiology and less in publicity “IT’S life, but not as we know it,” life form has been discovered that trumpeted one headline. “Alien can operate without phosphorus – life may have been discovered – thought to be one of the elements right here on Earth,” gasped essential to life – and the first time another. Even The New York Times that an alternate working form declared “Microbe Finds Arsenic of DNA has been seen in an Tasty; Redefines Life”. organism. Not ET, then, but even The breathless write-ups the existence of an arsenic-based followed NASA’s teasing bacterium would extend the announcement of a news known boundaries of life. conference “that will impact “It’s far from clear that a the search for evidence of ‘shadow biosphere’ has extraterrestrial life”. And been found. The paper has although the discovery of alien already been attacked” life, if it ever happens, would be one of the biggest stories imaginable, this was light years Yet it is far from clear that a from that. “shadow biosphere” has been What we got was a paper found. The paper has already published in Science purporting been attacked by scientists who to describe a bacterium that has say the evidence that arsenic is replaced phosphorus throughout actually incorporated into the its biomolecular machinery, bacterial DNA is weak (see page 6). including DNA, with arsenic. If NASA has been in these waters true, it would be the first time a before. In 1996 in Science the
space agency described how a Martian meteorite found in Antarctica might contain traces of fossilised microbial life. Bill Clinton, the US president at the time, announced the discovery on television. Controversy over the evidence flared up immediately and it continues today. The creation of this new frenzy is surprising, considering that the search for extant life on Mars in particular seems to be low on NASA’s list of priorities. Why does it allow – encourage, even – such hype? Perhaps it thinks that all publicity is good publicity, but one day the appetite for sensationalist alien life stories may be sated. As Carl Sagan once remarked, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. NASA might soon be wishing it had heeded this advice. n
The need for remembrance INJECTING soldiers with memoryerasing drugs before they go to war probably sounds like a step too far. But this possibility is raised by new research into how memories can be altered or even deleted (see page 12). What’s more, DARPA, the US’s military research agency, has a track record of supporting outlandish ideas. Who can forget
the notion of the “gay bomb”, intended to make enemy soldiers irresistible to one other? Drug use has a long history in warfare, from the mushrooms that supposedly drove Norsemen beserk to the modafinil that helps modern troops stay awake. Memory research will aid the development of anxiety therapies and perhaps also help courts to
appreciate why eyewitness reports cannot be relied upon. Deleting traumatic memories in troops is another matter, though. The military would probably argue that it is more humane for soldiers not to be haunted by flashbacks. But with no memory of previous trauma, soldiers might take foolish risks. Erasure would also make depersonalisation easier than ever, wiping clean the conscience for any act of torture or savagery. n
WikiLeaks spells trouble in Cancún
talks in Copenhagen a year ago. The US offered cash to persuade climate-vulnerable nations like the Maldives to sign up to its favoured Copenhagen accord, a ploy that Pablo Solón, head of this year’s Bolivian delegation, describes as “blackmail”. Such tactics may come as no surprise, but Solón was right
when he said that the “ghost of Copenhagen” now stalks Cancún. Trust is evaporating fast, and there are rumours (denied) that there is a secret Mexican text akin to last year’s secret draft agreement. Will the Kyoto protocol have a successor? It is often said that no deal is better than a bad deal. We may soon find out. n
AS CLIMATE negotiations grind on in Cancún, Mexico, this week, the atmosphere has not been improved by revelations from WikiLeaks of hardball tactics by the US during and after the abortive
11 December 2010 | NewScientist | 5