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The magical legacy of Steve Jobs
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 £143, Europe €228, USA $154, Canada C$182, Rest of World $293. 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 1286 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 © 2011 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)
In praise of simplicity Stem cells from unexpected places could bring simpler therapies DID you know that you have and egg cells, leaving the nucleus accessible stem cells up your of the latter intact. Unfortunately, nose? Or that human fetuses shed human eggs are still required, stem cells into the fluid around embryos still perish in the process them? Both of these seemingly and in this case the embryos and random facts could spawn novel, resulting hESCs had three sets personalised stem-cell treatments of chromosomes instead of two, that, if not simple per se, are ruling out medical uses. simpler than what has gone before. A promising alternative to What marks these treatments hESCs emerged in 2006 when out is that they are eminently “These treatments are practical and ethically eminently practical and unquestionable. This is in stark ethically unquestionable, contrast to much previous work, unlike previous work” which has focused on human embryonic stem cells, or hESCs. From the outset, the use of researchers produced so-called hESCs has been fraught with induced pluripotent stem cells controversy. Only last week, after (iPS) from ordinary tissue such as years of trying, and the notorious skin. But to convert adult cells into fraud involving Korean researcher embryonic-like cells means Woo Suk Hwang, hESCs were genetic reprogramming, for finally created through a variant example with a virus, and the of the cloning technique that gave reprogrammed cells do not yet us Dolly the sheep. This fused skin match embryonic stem cells.
Now there are different avenues of research that are simpler in many ways. On page 19, we report how researchers cured diabetic rats by turning brain stem cells extracted through the nose into insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. They did this without any genetic trickery. And on page 8, we report how congenital defects such as holes in the diaphragm could be patched up using a baby’s own stem cells extracted from the surrounding amniotic fluid. Of course all avenues of stem cell research should continue, not least because work on embryos provides fundamental insights. But it pays to keep looking for new approaches, and nature’s locker can often yield useful secrets. Though there are never easy answers, sometimes there are unexpectedly simple ones. n
The legacy of Steve Jobs FIFTY years ago, Arthur C. Clarke wrote: “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” Easier said than done, and history is filled with naysayers quick to pronounce that a bold idea will never work (see page 39). Given this resistance, it takes imagination to peer beyond
what is possible. That impressive foresight was possessed by Steve Jobs. Take his iPhone. The smartphone pushed back the boundaries of the possible for everyone – but it wasn’t just the touchscreen or apps. Before Apple came along, phone signal carriers would dictate the cost, design and features of phones. As a result,
smartphones were unimpressive. Instead, Jobs wanted a beautifully designed object with seamless internet and powerful computing. His clever (and ruthless) negotiations persuaded the carriers to loosen their grip, ushering in a new era of personal gadgets. With the iPhone, one was reminded of Clarke’s suggestion that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. The world has lost a great wizard. n
Science needs smart brands
page 44), but it could all turn out to be spin of a different kind. Science has traditionally shied away from snappy sound bites. When astronomer Fred Hoyle coined the term “big bang” in 1949, he came to bury its proponents, not to praise them. In recent years, particle physicists have made strenuous efforts to
distance themselves from the Higgs boson’s embarrassing “God particle” soubriquet, even as the public has embraced it. Such attitudes are misplaced. Science’s future lies in its power to inspire, and inspiration does not come from desiccated academic jargon. Time to wise up to the power of the brand. n
MENTION the “axis of evil” to cosmologists and you will elicit a weary shrug. This alignment of hot and cold patches in the cosmic background radiation suggests many things, including spin (see
15 October 2011 | NewScientist | 3
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 £143, Europe €228, USA $154, Canada C$182, Rest of World $293. 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 1286 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 © 2011 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)
In praise of simplicity Stem cells from unexpected places could bring simpler therapies DID you know that you have and egg cells, leaving the nucleus accessible stem cells up your of the latter intact. Unfortunately, nose? Or that human fetuses shed human eggs are still required, stem cells into the fluid around embryos still perish in the process them? Both of these seemingly and in this case the embryos and random facts could spawn novel, resulting hESCs had three sets personalised stem-cell treatments of chromosomes instead of two, that, if not simple per se, are ruling out medical uses. simpler than what has gone before. A promising alternative to What marks these treatments hESCs emerged in 2006 when out is that they are eminently “These treatments are practical and ethically eminently practical and unquestionable. This is in stark ethically unquestionable, contrast to much previous work, unlike previous work” which has focused on human embryonic stem cells, or hESCs. From the outset, the use of researchers produced so-called hESCs has been fraught with induced pluripotent stem cells controversy. Only last week, after (iPS) from ordinary tissue such as years of trying, and the notorious skin. But to convert adult cells into fraud involving Korean researcher embryonic-like cells means Woo Suk Hwang, hESCs were genetic reprogramming, for finally created through a variant example with a virus, and the of the cloning technique that gave reprogrammed cells do not yet us Dolly the sheep. This fused skin match embryonic stem cells.
Now there are different avenues of research that are simpler in many ways. On page 19, we report how researchers cured diabetic rats by turning brain stem cells extracted through the nose into insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. They did this without any genetic trickery. And on page 8, we report how congenital defects such as holes in the diaphragm could be patched up using a baby’s own stem cells extracted from the surrounding amniotic fluid. Of course all avenues of stem cell research should continue, not least because work on embryos provides fundamental insights. But it pays to keep looking for new approaches, and nature’s locker can often yield useful secrets. Though there are never easy answers, sometimes there are unexpectedly simple ones. n
The legacy of Steve Jobs FIFTY years ago, Arthur C. Clarke wrote: “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” Easier said than done, and history is filled with naysayers quick to pronounce that a bold idea will never work (see page 39). Given this resistance, it takes imagination to peer beyond
what is possible. That impressive foresight was possessed by Steve Jobs. Take his iPhone. The smartphone pushed back the boundaries of the possible for everyone – but it wasn’t just the touchscreen or apps. Before Apple came along, phone signal carriers would dictate the cost, design and features of phones. As a result,
smartphones were unimpressive. Instead, Jobs wanted a beautifully designed object with seamless internet and powerful computing. His clever (and ruthless) negotiations persuaded the carriers to loosen their grip, ushering in a new era of personal gadgets. With the iPhone, one was reminded of Clarke’s suggestion that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. The world has lost a great wizard. n
Science needs smart brands
page 44), but it could all turn out to be spin of a different kind. Science has traditionally shied away from snappy sound bites. When astronomer Fred Hoyle coined the term “big bang” in 1949, he came to bury its proponents, not to praise them. In recent years, particle physicists have made strenuous efforts to
distance themselves from the Higgs boson’s embarrassing “God particle” soubriquet, even as the public has embraced it. Such attitudes are misplaced. Science’s future lies in its power to inspire, and inspiration does not come from desiccated academic jargon. Time to wise up to the power of the brand. n
MENTION the “axis of evil” to cosmologists and you will elicit a weary shrug. This alignment of hot and cold patches in the cosmic background radiation suggests many things, including spin (see
15 October 2011 | NewScientist | 3