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Rewarding challenge The book can be a challenging read – prepare for liberal use of such terms as “conspecific” and “obligate collaborative foraging”. It is worth the effort, however, because by the end you feel like an authority yourself. Tomasello also makes an endearing guide, appearing happily amazed that morality exists at all. “It is a miracle that we are moral, and it did not have to be this way. It just so happens that, on the whole, those of us who made mostly moral decisions most of the time had more babies… We should simply marvel and celebrate the fact that, mirabile dictu (and Nietzsche notwithstanding), morality appears to be somehow good for our species, our cultures, and ourselves – at least so far.” Cynics will point out that it is frequently the other way: we are all strongly motivated by selfinterest, and much prejudice and most wars are caused by the in-group/out-group mentality. But for Tomasello, it is no contradiction that selfish and altruistic motivations coexist. Besides, he notes cheerfully, in any situation our “generous or egalitarian motives can in principle win out, as people demonstrate every day as they sacrifice themselves for others”. n Michael Bond is a consultant for New Scientist
Powers within We have a lot to learn about cell electricity, finds Simon Ings surprisingly easy gaffe for a Campenot is thrown on his own writer, and it is why we have resources. His metaphors are as editors. Where were they? effective as one could wish for, but Campenot’s generous account they suffer from repetition. One ranges from Galvani’s discovery imagines the author wondering of animal electricity to the if he has done enough to nail development of thoughthis point, but with no one to controlled prosthetic limbs. reassure him. He has high regard for popular Faults aside, this is a good book. science. But his is the rather fussy Its mix of schoolroom electricity appreciation of the academic and sophisticated cell biology is outsider who, uncertain of the highly eccentric but this, I think, form’s aesthetic potential, praises speaks much in Campenot’s it for its utility. “The value of popularising science should never “Thanks to Campenot, we can delight in a cosmic be underestimated because it occasionally attracts the attention vision of living tissue as a fragile, ingenious skein” of people who go on to make major contributions.” The pantaloonish impression he favour. The way organic tissue makes here is not wholly manipulates electricity, sending unrepresentative of the book. signals in broad electrical waves Again, one might wish that can extend up to a third Campenot’s relationship with his of a metre, is a dimension of editor had been more creative. biology we have taken on trust, Popular science writing rarely domesticating it behind highhandles electricity well, let alone order metaphors drawn from ion channels and membrane computer science. Consequently, potentials. So, when it comes to we have been unable to visualise developing suitable metaphors, how the forces in our cells actually behave. This was bound to turn Phantom flashes: forces work in out an odd endeavour. So be it. mysterious ways at cellular levels The odder, the better, in fact. n
Animal Electricity: How we learned that the body and brain are electric machines by Robert B. Campenot, Harvard University Press, $39.95, £29.95
IF YOU stood at arm’s length from someone and each of you had 1 per cent more electrons than protons, the force pushing the two of you apart would be enough to lift a “weight” equal to that of the entire Earth. This startling observation, from Richard Feynman’s Lectures on Physics, so impressed cell biologist Robert Campenot he based quite a peculiar career around it. Not content with the mechanical metaphors of molecular biology, Campenot has studied living tissue as a delicate and complex mechanism that thrives by tweaking tiny imbalances in electrical charge. We have grown used to marvelling at the sight of delicate sea creatures, brought up from unimaginable depths and (to us) killing pressures. Now, thanks to Campenot, we can delight in a cosmic vision of living tissue as a fragile and ingenious skein, drawing energy, animation, and even cognition and awareness, from electrical imbalances that would, were they nudged awry, destroy not only the creatures but blow up the entire planet. If only the book were better prepared. Campenot’s enthusiasm for Feynman has him repeat the anecdote about lifting the world almost word for word, in the preface and introduction. Duplicating material is a
THOMAS DEERINCK, NCMIR/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
the relevant studies (on chimps, bonobos and children) himself. He concludes by emphasising the powerful influence of broad cultural groups on modern humans, but this isn’t the whole story. Much of our behaviour is still driven by small-group dynamics: soldiers tend to fight wars not for their country, as he suggests, but for their comradesin-arms. It would have been interesting to hear his take on how these different spheres of influence collide.
12 March 2016 | NewScientist | 43
Rewarding challenge The book can be a challenging read – prepare for liberal use of such terms as “conspecific” and “obligate collaborative foraging”. It is worth the effort, however, because by the end you feel like an authority yourself. Tomasello also makes an endearing guide, appearing happily amazed that morality exists at all. “It is a miracle that we are moral, and it did not have to be this way. It just so happens that, on the whole, those of us who made mostly moral decisions most of the time had more babies… We should simply marvel and celebrate the fact that, mirabile dictu (and Nietzsche notwithstanding), morality appears to be somehow good for our species, our cultures, and ourselves – at least so far.” Cynics will point out that it is frequently the other way: we are all strongly motivated by selfinterest, and much prejudice and most wars are caused by the in-group/out-group mentality. But for Tomasello, it is no contradiction that selfish and altruistic motivations coexist. Besides, he notes cheerfully, in any situation our “generous or egalitarian motives can in principle win out, as people demonstrate every day as they sacrifice themselves for others”. n Michael Bond is a consultant for New Scientist
Powers within We have a lot to learn about cell electricity, finds Simon Ings surprisingly easy gaffe for a Campenot is thrown on his own writer, and it is why we have resources. His metaphors are as editors. Where were they? effective as one could wish for, but Campenot’s generous account they suffer from repetition. One ranges from Galvani’s discovery imagines the author wondering of animal electricity to the if he has done enough to nail development of thoughthis point, but with no one to controlled prosthetic limbs. reassure him. He has high regard for popular Faults aside, this is a good book. science. But his is the rather fussy Its mix of schoolroom electricity appreciation of the academic and sophisticated cell biology is outsider who, uncertain of the highly eccentric but this, I think, form’s aesthetic potential, praises speaks much in Campenot’s it for its utility. “The value of popularising science should never “Thanks to Campenot, we can delight in a cosmic be underestimated because it occasionally attracts the attention vision of living tissue as a fragile, ingenious skein” of people who go on to make major contributions.” The pantaloonish impression he favour. The way organic tissue makes here is not wholly manipulates electricity, sending unrepresentative of the book. signals in broad electrical waves Again, one might wish that can extend up to a third Campenot’s relationship with his of a metre, is a dimension of editor had been more creative. biology we have taken on trust, Popular science writing rarely domesticating it behind highhandles electricity well, let alone order metaphors drawn from ion channels and membrane computer science. Consequently, potentials. So, when it comes to we have been unable to visualise developing suitable metaphors, how the forces in our cells actually behave. This was bound to turn Phantom flashes: forces work in out an odd endeavour. So be it. mysterious ways at cellular levels The odder, the better, in fact. n
Animal Electricity: How we learned that the body and brain are electric machines by Robert B. Campenot, Harvard University Press, $39.95, £29.95
IF YOU stood at arm’s length from someone and each of you had 1 per cent more electrons than protons, the force pushing the two of you apart would be enough to lift a “weight” equal to that of the entire Earth. This startling observation, from Richard Feynman’s Lectures on Physics, so impressed cell biologist Robert Campenot he based quite a peculiar career around it. Not content with the mechanical metaphors of molecular biology, Campenot has studied living tissue as a delicate and complex mechanism that thrives by tweaking tiny imbalances in electrical charge. We have grown used to marvelling at the sight of delicate sea creatures, brought up from unimaginable depths and (to us) killing pressures. Now, thanks to Campenot, we can delight in a cosmic vision of living tissue as a fragile and ingenious skein, drawing energy, animation, and even cognition and awareness, from electrical imbalances that would, were they nudged awry, destroy not only the creatures but blow up the entire planet. If only the book were better prepared. Campenot’s enthusiasm for Feynman has him repeat the anecdote about lifting the world almost word for word, in the preface and introduction. Duplicating material is a
THOMAS DEERINCK, NCMIR/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
the relevant studies (on chimps, bonobos and children) himself. He concludes by emphasising the powerful influence of broad cultural groups on modern humans, but this isn’t the whole story. Much of our behaviour is still driven by small-group dynamics: soldiers tend to fight wars not for their country, as he suggests, but for their comradesin-arms. It would have been interesting to hear his take on how these different spheres of influence collide.
12 March 2016 | NewScientist | 43