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Why America should put its trust in reason
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)
Truth, justice and reason The world depends on American leadership more than ever before scientists as the perpetrators of a WHEN America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. But as massive hoax, there is reason to the global economy stumbles on worry. Fortunately, there is no through a crisis that began when reason to panic. the US housing bubble burst in On issues including climate 2007, it’s easy to forget that this change, evolution and public cheerless statement has an health, it may seem as if the uplifting corollary: when America forces of anti-science are in the soars, it can inspire us all. ascendancy. If you look through From the Marshall Plan that the lens of history or apply a rebuilt Europe after the second scientific approach, however, world war, through the Apollo logical explanations for these moon landings, to today’s apparently perverse positions internet, iPad and other wonders, emerge (see pages 38 and 42). it is impossible to deny America’s What also becomes clear is that contributions. Even today, as “It is vital to find allies China and India flex their across the political muscles, the world still looks to spectrum to put science the US for leadership. at the heart of debate” This is especially true in science. A nation founded on no political party has a monopoly the Enlightenment has melded massive investment in research, on unscientific thinking. While an open door to the world’s best the most alarming statements minds and unparalleled may be coming from Republican entrepreneurism to become a quarters today, don’t forget that it powerhouse of innovation. Leaf was a three-time Democratic through a typical issue of New presidential candidate who led Scientist, and you will witness the attack on evolution at the 1925 American ingenuity on almost Scopes Monkey Trial. every page. All those who value America’s This is why the tone and content scientific leadership should do of some recent political debate in more to engage in political debate. the US is so disquieting. When In doing so, it’s important to candidates for the highest office recognise the dangers of in the land appear to spurn reason, partisanship. In recent years, embrace anecdote over scientific scientists have leaned heavily evidence, and even portray towards the Democrats, rushing
to embrace Barack Obama’s promise to put science “back in its rightful place”. While it was true that George W. Bush’s administration often let ideology trump scientific evidence, the suggestion that there was a concerted “Republican War on Science” was simplistic and unhelpful. Even in 2009 as the Democrats lavished stimulus bucks on research, New Scientist warned there would be a backlash if things went sour. And indeed there is among some conservatives. So it is vital for science to find allies across the political spectrum prepared to put science at the heart of debate. Recent experience provides evidence that those allies exist, sometimes in unexpected places. When Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann expressed her opinion that the HPV vaccine could cause mental retardation, some of the most forceful criticisms came from arch-conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh and Bush’s former chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson. In these uncertain times, the world needs American innovation and leadership more than ever. So let’s do all we can to ensure that the nation’s leaders embrace science – whatever their political persuasion. n
Let’s dare to question quantum magic
cosmos successfully predicted the motion of the planets, a search for a deeper explanation paved the way for the heliocentric model we now know to be correct. Steven Weinberg, a Nobel prizewinning physicist of great stature, has reopened the debate about what the collapse of quantum states actually means (see page 8). How sensational if a flaw were found in the great edifice of quantum mechanics. n
QUANTUM mechanics is our most successful theory. But what does it actually mean? We may puzzle over the idea of Schrödinger’s cat being both alive and dead, but equally mysterious is the notion that
simply observing the hapless cat creates a single reality by “collapsing” these two quantum states into one. Though discussed for nearly a century, this vexing problem has been studiously ignored, mostly because quantum theory works whether we understand it or not. Even fabulously successful theories are there to be questioned. After all, though the notion of an Earth-centred
29 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)
Truth, justice and reason The world depends on American leadership more than ever before scientists as the perpetrators of a WHEN America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. But as massive hoax, there is reason to the global economy stumbles on worry. Fortunately, there is no through a crisis that began when reason to panic. the US housing bubble burst in On issues including climate 2007, it’s easy to forget that this change, evolution and public cheerless statement has an health, it may seem as if the uplifting corollary: when America forces of anti-science are in the soars, it can inspire us all. ascendancy. If you look through From the Marshall Plan that the lens of history or apply a rebuilt Europe after the second scientific approach, however, world war, through the Apollo logical explanations for these moon landings, to today’s apparently perverse positions internet, iPad and other wonders, emerge (see pages 38 and 42). it is impossible to deny America’s What also becomes clear is that contributions. Even today, as “It is vital to find allies China and India flex their across the political muscles, the world still looks to spectrum to put science the US for leadership. at the heart of debate” This is especially true in science. A nation founded on no political party has a monopoly the Enlightenment has melded massive investment in research, on unscientific thinking. While an open door to the world’s best the most alarming statements minds and unparalleled may be coming from Republican entrepreneurism to become a quarters today, don’t forget that it powerhouse of innovation. Leaf was a three-time Democratic through a typical issue of New presidential candidate who led Scientist, and you will witness the attack on evolution at the 1925 American ingenuity on almost Scopes Monkey Trial. every page. All those who value America’s This is why the tone and content scientific leadership should do of some recent political debate in more to engage in political debate. the US is so disquieting. When In doing so, it’s important to candidates for the highest office recognise the dangers of in the land appear to spurn reason, partisanship. In recent years, embrace anecdote over scientific scientists have leaned heavily evidence, and even portray towards the Democrats, rushing
to embrace Barack Obama’s promise to put science “back in its rightful place”. While it was true that George W. Bush’s administration often let ideology trump scientific evidence, the suggestion that there was a concerted “Republican War on Science” was simplistic and unhelpful. Even in 2009 as the Democrats lavished stimulus bucks on research, New Scientist warned there would be a backlash if things went sour. And indeed there is among some conservatives. So it is vital for science to find allies across the political spectrum prepared to put science at the heart of debate. Recent experience provides evidence that those allies exist, sometimes in unexpected places. When Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann expressed her opinion that the HPV vaccine could cause mental retardation, some of the most forceful criticisms came from arch-conservative radio pundit Rush Limbaugh and Bush’s former chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson. In these uncertain times, the world needs American innovation and leadership more than ever. So let’s do all we can to ensure that the nation’s leaders embrace science – whatever their political persuasion. n
Let’s dare to question quantum magic
cosmos successfully predicted the motion of the planets, a search for a deeper explanation paved the way for the heliocentric model we now know to be correct. Steven Weinberg, a Nobel prizewinning physicist of great stature, has reopened the debate about what the collapse of quantum states actually means (see page 8). How sensational if a flaw were found in the great edifice of quantum mechanics. n
QUANTUM mechanics is our most successful theory. But what does it actually mean? We may puzzle over the idea of Schrödinger’s cat being both alive and dead, but equally mysterious is the notion that
simply observing the hapless cat creates a single reality by “collapsing” these two quantum states into one. Though discussed for nearly a century, this vexing problem has been studiously ignored, mostly because quantum theory works whether we understand it or not. Even fabulously successful theories are there to be questioned. After all, though the notion of an Earth-centred
29 October 2011 | NewScientist | 3