- Email: [email protected]
Sea monsters' irresistible attraction
EDITORIAL
A golden age for modified crops? A new type of soybean will have critics of genetic modification tying themselves in knots
few benefits for consumers but unknown risks for human health and the environment. Monsanto’s oil ought to nullify that line of attack. Can Friends of the Earth and its allies justify campaigning against a product that could save lives and help reduce overfishing? Of course, they could try the argument that GM technology per se is risky, but that position looks increasingly untenable too. GM crops have been grown on a large scale for more than a decade, and by and large, the predicted environmental catastrophes haven’t materialised, nor has anyone suffered health problems through eating GM food.
THE war over genetically modified foods is entering a new phase. At last, the GM industry has produced what it promised at the outset: a product designed to have real benefits for consumers. It’s an oil from soybean modified “Can environmental groups justify to produce omega-3 fatty acids essential for campaigning against a product that health and proven to reduce the risk of heart could save thousands of lives?” disease. It can be added unobtrusively to ordinary food products, potentially bringing health benefits to millions (see page 14). First-generation GM crops may even The oil contains a dietary precursor of EPA, an have brought unexpected benefits. A recent omega-3 fatty acid that is vital for heart health. report from UK consultancy PG Economics One study calculated that in 2005, 84,000 charting the global impact of GM crops from Americans died of heart disease that might 1996 to 2007 found that over that period, have been avoided had they had a sufficient pesticide spraying dropped by 8.8 per cent. amount of this fatty acid in their diets. That And because fields don’t have to be tilled makes omega-3 deficiency the sixth most before planting GM crops, energy savings common cause of preventable death in the US. in 2007 alone amounted to the equivalent The new crop could also relieve some of removing 6.3 million cars from the road. pressure on the world’s fish stocks. Demand for These findings are disputed by environmental omega-3 fatty acids is rising, and at present, groups and need to be independently the principal way to obtain them is from fish. confirmed, but if they hold up it will be time Created by Monsanto, the soybean is a far for the technology’s critics to reconsider. cry from just about everything that the Monsanto’s oil could represent a industry has thrown at us so far: modified defining moment in the debate over genetic crops benefiting no one but seed companies modification. Providing cheap access to and farmers. With these, the perception – a proven superfood and relieving pressure perhaps rightly – was that Monsanto and its on fish stocks are worthy objectives. Only peers were foisting a technology on us with a Luddite would disagree. ■
A rational alternative to testing people’s IQ IQ SCORES have long been regarded with suspicion, and now there turns out to be another reason to be sceptical about them. Among the attributes that IQ tests fail to capture is our capacity for rational decisionmaking (see page 36). This should set alarm bells ringing in the many organisations that still rely on IQ as a measure of someone’s potential. It should also catch the attention of educators. A person’s IQ scores are hard to change, but rational decisionmaking skills, or “RQ” – such as the ability to interpret financial risks – can be improved. It is time schools started to teach rational thinking. While this would be of greatest benefit to children with unremarkable IQ scores, it would pay dividends across the board. Being smart is no guarantee of having a high RQ. ■
Deeply awesome SEA monsters have long exerted a pull on the imagination. Tales of krakens and leviathans once drew power from our ignorance of the sea, and the myth of the Loch Ness monster refuses to go away. But these fantastical creatures pale in comparison with real monsters of the deep, as the discovery of a huge fossilised jawbone from England’s Jurassic Coast illustrates. That probably came from a large pliosaur – though it was perhaps not quite as large as some reports suggested. For the true, and truly awesome, story of these beasts turn to page 32. ■
What’s hot on NewScientist.com VIDEO Augmented reality lets you see through walls If only drivers could see through obstacles, blind corners and dangerously obscured road junctions. An augmented-reality system has been built that could make it possible BLOG Faith healing in US healthcare reform Should American health insurers fund spiritual healing? Two of the healthcare reform bills before US legislators harbour clauses that would force insurers to pay for
the prayer-based healing practised by the Church of Christ, Scientist FUNDAMENTALS Seven questions that keep physicists awake at night From the nature of matter to that of reality itself, physicists have been pondering the big questions at the Quantum to Cosmos festival in Canada GALLERY How digital sensors changed astronomy The Nobel prize for physics was partly
awarded for the charge-coupled device, the sensor at the heart of digital cameras. It first made its mark in the world of astronomy, though. See how CCDs have advanced our perspectives on the universe NEUROSCIENCE To sleep, perchance to learn Call it the Doom learning effect. Volunteers who played the shoot ‘em up video game dreamed about monsters and guns. Such reveries have now been found to predict higher scores the following
day, backing the idea that dreams function to consolidate learning HORMONES High testosterone linked to selfish behaviour A cream that boosted levels of the sex hormone in men made them more miserly when playing a game which included monetary decisions If you would like to comment online about any of the articles in this issue, you can do so by visiting the article at www.newscientist.com
31 October 2009 | NewScientist | 5
A golden age for modified crops? A new type of soybean will have critics of genetic modification tying themselves in knots
few benefits for consumers but unknown risks for human health and the environment. Monsanto’s oil ought to nullify that line of attack. Can Friends of the Earth and its allies justify campaigning against a product that could save lives and help reduce overfishing? Of course, they could try the argument that GM technology per se is risky, but that position looks increasingly untenable too. GM crops have been grown on a large scale for more than a decade, and by and large, the predicted environmental catastrophes haven’t materialised, nor has anyone suffered health problems through eating GM food.
THE war over genetically modified foods is entering a new phase. At last, the GM industry has produced what it promised at the outset: a product designed to have real benefits for consumers. It’s an oil from soybean modified “Can environmental groups justify to produce omega-3 fatty acids essential for campaigning against a product that health and proven to reduce the risk of heart could save thousands of lives?” disease. It can be added unobtrusively to ordinary food products, potentially bringing health benefits to millions (see page 14). First-generation GM crops may even The oil contains a dietary precursor of EPA, an have brought unexpected benefits. A recent omega-3 fatty acid that is vital for heart health. report from UK consultancy PG Economics One study calculated that in 2005, 84,000 charting the global impact of GM crops from Americans died of heart disease that might 1996 to 2007 found that over that period, have been avoided had they had a sufficient pesticide spraying dropped by 8.8 per cent. amount of this fatty acid in their diets. That And because fields don’t have to be tilled makes omega-3 deficiency the sixth most before planting GM crops, energy savings common cause of preventable death in the US. in 2007 alone amounted to the equivalent The new crop could also relieve some of removing 6.3 million cars from the road. pressure on the world’s fish stocks. Demand for These findings are disputed by environmental omega-3 fatty acids is rising, and at present, groups and need to be independently the principal way to obtain them is from fish. confirmed, but if they hold up it will be time Created by Monsanto, the soybean is a far for the technology’s critics to reconsider. cry from just about everything that the Monsanto’s oil could represent a industry has thrown at us so far: modified defining moment in the debate over genetic crops benefiting no one but seed companies modification. Providing cheap access to and farmers. With these, the perception – a proven superfood and relieving pressure perhaps rightly – was that Monsanto and its on fish stocks are worthy objectives. Only peers were foisting a technology on us with a Luddite would disagree. ■
A rational alternative to testing people’s IQ IQ SCORES have long been regarded with suspicion, and now there turns out to be another reason to be sceptical about them. Among the attributes that IQ tests fail to capture is our capacity for rational decisionmaking (see page 36). This should set alarm bells ringing in the many organisations that still rely on IQ as a measure of someone’s potential. It should also catch the attention of educators. A person’s IQ scores are hard to change, but rational decisionmaking skills, or “RQ” – such as the ability to interpret financial risks – can be improved. It is time schools started to teach rational thinking. While this would be of greatest benefit to children with unremarkable IQ scores, it would pay dividends across the board. Being smart is no guarantee of having a high RQ. ■
Deeply awesome SEA monsters have long exerted a pull on the imagination. Tales of krakens and leviathans once drew power from our ignorance of the sea, and the myth of the Loch Ness monster refuses to go away. But these fantastical creatures pale in comparison with real monsters of the deep, as the discovery of a huge fossilised jawbone from England’s Jurassic Coast illustrates. That probably came from a large pliosaur – though it was perhaps not quite as large as some reports suggested. For the true, and truly awesome, story of these beasts turn to page 32. ■
What’s hot on NewScientist.com VIDEO Augmented reality lets you see through walls If only drivers could see through obstacles, blind corners and dangerously obscured road junctions. An augmented-reality system has been built that could make it possible BLOG Faith healing in US healthcare reform Should American health insurers fund spiritual healing? Two of the healthcare reform bills before US legislators harbour clauses that would force insurers to pay for
the prayer-based healing practised by the Church of Christ, Scientist FUNDAMENTALS Seven questions that keep physicists awake at night From the nature of matter to that of reality itself, physicists have been pondering the big questions at the Quantum to Cosmos festival in Canada GALLERY How digital sensors changed astronomy The Nobel prize for physics was partly
awarded for the charge-coupled device, the sensor at the heart of digital cameras. It first made its mark in the world of astronomy, though. See how CCDs have advanced our perspectives on the universe NEUROSCIENCE To sleep, perchance to learn Call it the Doom learning effect. Volunteers who played the shoot ‘em up video game dreamed about monsters and guns. Such reveries have now been found to predict higher scores the following
day, backing the idea that dreams function to consolidate learning HORMONES High testosterone linked to selfish behaviour A cream that boosted levels of the sex hormone in men made them more miserly when playing a game which included monetary decisions If you would like to comment online about any of the articles in this issue, you can do so by visiting the article at www.newscientist.com
31 October 2009 | NewScientist | 5