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Discover
SCIENCE FOR THE CURIOU
JUNE 201
INSIDE EINSTEIN’S MINDHow his thoughtexperimentschanged physics p.26
BIOTECH
A Gene-Editing Revolution p.40
What Makes a Psychopath? p.50
When Neanderthals Replaced Us p.64
Gravitational Waves Go Underground p.8
SPACE
Sailing to the Edge of the Universe p
PLUS
BONUSONLINECONTENTCODE p.5
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4/764 DISCOV ERM AG AZIN E.CO M
ContentsJU N E2016V O L.37,N O .5
A lb ert E in stein sits in the stu d y of h is Prin ceto n N ew Jersey
ho m e in the early 1950 s.
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FEA TURES
D iscover®SCIEN CEFOR TH ECU RIO U S
J U N E 2 1 6
INSIDE EINSTEIN’S
M IND How his thoughtexperim entschanged physics p.26
BIOTECH
AGe ne-Ed itingRe volution p.40
W hatM akesaPsychop ath?p.50
W henNeanderthalsRep lacedUsp.64
G ravitationa lW avesGo U nde rgroun dp.8
SPACE
Sa iling totheEdg eoftheUn iverse p.60
PLUS
Jun e 2016 D I S C O V E R
2 6
A ll in H is H ead A lbert E instein’s genius theories changed the ruleboo k o f physics, and it was all
thanks to his creative thinking. B Y A N D Y B E R G E R
3 2 A m ateur Power C itizen astrop ho tographers use their talent and gear — plus some unco nventional
techniques — to produce brilliant images. E ven N A SA would be jealous.
E D IT E D B Y E R N IE M A ST R O IA N N I
4 e Revolution Will Be E dited In the San F ranc isco B ay A rea, the g ene-editing tech nique C rispr-C as9 is sp arking
rivalries, reshuffling c areers and emp owering D IY users.B Y JE F F W H E E LW R IG H T
5 e Psychopath and the H areC om ing face-to-face with coldhearted criminals set prison psych olog ist R ob ert
Hare on a path to b eco ming a leading expert on o ne of humans’mo st disturbing
disorders. B Y D A N IE L L E E G A N
Fred Stein Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images;Personality rights of Albert Einstein are used with
permission of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,represented exclusively by Corbis Entertainment.
COLUM NS & DEPA RTM ENTS
6
EDITOR’S NOTE
It Starts With a PauseTake a breath and c onsider yo ur
favorite case of scientists thinking
ou tside the bo x.
1 8 B IG IDEA e Fall and R iseofString eory O nce the darling o f p hysicists, string
theory has lost some of its luster. But
that do esn’t me an researchers have
abandoned it. BY S TEVE N ADIS
7 TH E C RU X See inside Jap an ’s new
g ravitational w ave d etector
site,lea rn ab ou t sp acecraft th at
ou tlived th eir m ission s an d still
gave u s extra fi nd ing s,and g et
th e sco op o n so m e su m m e r
science read s.
6 4
ORIG IN STORY
When N eanderthalsReplaced U s
In the E vo lutio nary O lympics,
Homo sapiens took the gold. Y et finds
in Israeli caves suggest, at o ne p oint,
N eanderthals had us beat.
B Y T H E O D O R A S U T C L IF F E
6 8 NOTES FROM EA RTH
Into in Ice A s glaciers melt, the tiny eco systems
they ho st co uld vanish to o, just as
scientists start to understand them.
BY ELIZABETH PRES TO N
7 4
20 THING S Y OU DIDN’T
K NOW A B OUT …
Bug Bites T hey ’re itchy, bump y and so metim es
lethal. A nd mo st of the critters gifting
yo u with tho se lo vely bites aren’t even
technically bug s. B Y G E M M A T AR L AC H
2 2 V ITA L SIG NS
Bad C hem istry A woman struggling to kick her
addiction lands in the ER with
nausea, vomiting and c ramps. Is the
obvious answer the right one?
B Y T O N Y D A JE R
5 6 HISTORY LESSONS
e M arine M enagerie The rediscovery of an exquisite set of
glass sea creature s, initially a ha ppy
find for researchers, reveals cause forconcern. B Y JO N A T H O N K E A T S
6 OUT THERE
R iding on a B eam ofLight To get to the o utskirts of our so lar
s ys tem — a nd beyond — the power
of light might be our best bet.
BY S TEVE N ADIS
ON THE COV ER
A G e n e E d i t i n g R e v o l u t i o n p.40
S a i l i n g t o t h e E d g e o f t h e U n i v e r s e p.60
I n s i d e E i n s t e i n ’ s M i n d p.26
W h a t M a k e s a P s y c h o p a t h ?
p.50
W h e n N e a n d e r t h a l s R e p l a c e d U s p.64
G r a v i t a t i o n a l W a v e s
G o U n d e r g r o u n d p.8
W eb site access cod e:DSD160 6
Enter this code at: www.DiscoverMagazine.com/codeto gain access to exclusive subscriber content.
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Editor's Note®
SCIENCE FOR TH E CU RIOU S
D iscover
6 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Becky Lang
It A llStarts W ith
Pausing to ink I’ve been taking a lot of deep
breaths lately. It helps get my head
beyond that looming to-do list.
There’s something that happens
in your brain when you fill your
lungs with as much air as possible,
then let it slowly escape. Sit still,
noticing only your breath. Go for
a run, paying attention only to
the feel of your muscles firing inunison. When you focus the mind
on one central point — and all else
falls away — it will open up.
Creative thinking hinges on this
flow. That’s what lies at the heart
of two feature stories in this issue:
Einstein’s thought experiments and
the gene-editing revolution.
We break down how a young
Einstein watched everyday events
with fresh eyes, questioning assumptions and taking the notion of “if
this, then that” to the extreme. His outside-the-box thinking drove thetheories that would define a new physics playbook. (See page 26.)
Biologists ended up with a whole new playbook, too, after they
paused and noticed bacteria making a sneaky little defense move
against invading viruses. What would happen if they could re-enact
that maneuver in the lab? The result is a gene-editing renaissance,
a powerful tool that’s sweeping through university research centers
and high school biology labs alike. (See page 40.)
It all starts with stopping to think. What are some shiningexamples of creative thought and how it played out in science? Whatsorts of amazing discoveries just seem to bend all kinds of rules?Send your favorites my way at [email protected].
facebook.com/DiscoverMag
twitter.com/DiscoverMag
plus.google.com/+discovermagazine
BECKY LANG Editor In Chief
DAN BISHOP Design Director
EDITORIAL
KATHI KUBE Managing EditorGEMMA TARLACH Senior EditorBILL ANDREWS Senior Associate EditorERIC BETZ Associate Editor
APRIL REESE Associate EditorLACY SCHLEY Assistant EditorDAVE LEE Copy EditorELISA R. NECKAR Copy EditorAMY KLINKHAMMER Editorial Assistant
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DAN FERBER, TIM FOLGER,LINDA MARSA, STEVE NADIS,ADAM PIORE, COREY S. POWELL,JULIE REHMEYER, ERIK VANCE,STEVE VOLK, PAMELA WEINTRAUB,JEFF WHEELWRIGHT,DARLENE CAVALIER (SPECIAL PROJECTS)
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THE
T he L atest Science New s & Notes
CRUX
June 2016 D ISCO VER 7
EGGHEA DLoo k closely at this m ass of frog eggs — there’s m ore than m eets the eye. A t an A ustrian pon d,photograph er Ew ald N effe do cum ented arem arkab le an nu alb reed ing even t,w hen allm ale m oo r frog s transform from du llbrow n to electric blue . Tha t’s w hen h e noticed one pile o fegg s had som ething extra:a big blue m ale w ith large yellow eyes,em erging from the w ater. Re searchers con clud e that the frog s chang e colorno t to attract fem ales,but to sign alto other m ales that they’re just on e o f the guy s. ERNIE MASTROIANNI;PHOTO BY EWALD NEFFE
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8/768 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
CRUXTH E
D igging U p
G ravityJapaneseresearchersgounderground
todetectgravitationalw aves.
A new w indow to the cosm os is open,
now that the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational -Wave Observatory (L IGO)
Scientifi c Collaborat ion has detected
Einste in’s long-predicted grav itat iona l
w aves. LIGO’s detectors, based in
Washington state and Louisiana, w ill soon
be joined by another instrument tr yingto ne t these elusive ripp les in space-time.
Experts hope to start test operat ions this
year at Japan’s K amioka Gravitational Wave
Detector (KAGRA); observational data is
expected by March 2018. TIM HORN YAK
Unlike LIGO’s ground-level observatories,K AGRA is underground
to protect it fromsurface seismic activit y.
A tunnel heads straightinto the flank ofcentr al Japan’s Mount
Ikenoyama, the site ofthe former Kamioka
zinc mine and home tothe Super-K amiokandeneutrino observatory.
Tolearnm oreaboutLIG O ’sgravitationalw avesdiscovery,checkoutourin-dep thcoverag eat DiscoverMagazine.com/Gravity
The beam splitter connects to the arms via segmentslike this one.
The central chamber houses the beam splitter, w hichdivides an incoming laser into tw o perpendicular beams.
After traveling dow n the arms and reflecting back upvia mirrors, the beams are recombined. Any passing
gravitational w ave w ill alter the pattern, w hich theinterferometer w ill pick up.
This dim horizont al shaft continues for about one-third
mile, or 1,640 feet (500 meters), before leading to thecomputer server room. Beyond that is a larger chamberw here other tunnels converge — K AGRA’s heart.
Principal ly operated by the Univer sity of Tokyo’s Institute for Cosmic Ray
Research, K AGRA consists of an array of mirrors and laser beams set up inan L-shaped tunnel netw ork w ith tw o arms just under 2 miles (3 kilometers)
long. Gravitational w aves can cause minute distortions in lasers as theytravel back and forth along the vacuum pipes. The interferometer detectsthese distortions.
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9/76Jun e 2016 DISCOVER 9
Just under 40 feet (12 meters) long and about 31.5 inches
(80 centimeter s) in diameter each, the 250 segments of one of K AGRA’sarms extend into the distance in this w estw ard tunnel. Diggingthe shafts, located over 650 feet (200 meters) below ground, took
20 months.
The mirrors here are silica, w ith a fi lm that keeps particles from
clinging to the surface. But once test operations are done and K AGRA
is up and running, the mirrors w ill be made of sapphire and cooledto minus 424 degrees Fahrenheit, to prevent heat from distorting
the lasers. They’ll help researchers hunt for gravitational w ave signalsbelow 100 Hz , the frequency w here traces of black hole mergerscan be found. K AGRA’s designers chose sapphire mirro rs because
they can w ithstand the necessary extreme cooling.
A sk D iscover
Visit Discov erM ag azin e.com /A sk for more
answe rs. To submit a question, send an
email to A sk@ DiscoverM ag azine.com
Q Is there any difference betw eenw ashing our hands w ith bar soap orliquid hand w ash? Would it be better ifw e w ash w ith both soap and hand w ashat the same time?
— Rowena Kong, Vancouver, Canada
AThe debate over w hether bar or liquid
is best has been ongoing for decades,but a 2006 study nearly put an end to barsoap’s clean credential s. It found that the moreconsistently w et the bar soaps w ere and the
more they w ere used, the more potentiallyharmful microbes they hosted.
Counterintuitively, this is because of howsoap w orks: When it mixes w ith w ater, thesoap’s fats break dow n and lather, increasing
the solubility of w hat’s on your skin, includingbacteria. But w ater alone can’t remove all
bacteria, and since some w ater remains on thesoap’s surface after you’ve fi nished w ashing,some bacteria lingers in that w ater.
Luckily, soap is w ater solub le, so just rinsing
the bar reduces bacteria on it. And there’snothing w rong w ith using it at home,w here presumably few er people(and their germs) w ill touch it.
Still, the Centers for Di seaseControl and Prevention recommends
people use liquid hand w ash to minimizethe risk of spreading harmful bacteria.Even though refilling liquid hand
w ash dispensers can turn them intopotential havens for microbes, liquid
still trumps bar i n the CDC’s eyes. That’sbecause people can either d ispose ofthe dispensers or thoroughly clean
them before refi lling, decreasing the
chance they’ll harbor bacter ia.As for mixing the tw o, CDCspokesw oman Brittany Behmsays, “We don’t th ink there is
any reason to use both bar andliquid soap simultaneously.” Sostick to the soap you like best.
C L A IR E C A M E R O N
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10/76
CRUX THE
10 DISCO VERM AG AZINE .CO M
I NB OX
W ellW ishesIn Stephe n C. Geo rge ’s Editor’s N ote in the A pril 2016 issue, his last bef ore
moving o n from his Editor In Chief role at D iscover, he once ag ain relayeda nugg et of w isdom to reade rs that a science te acher had passed on to
him. O ne reader had this heartfelt reaction to George ’s closing words.
To Stephen C. G eorge:
W ell,rats. Itho ug ht Y O U w ere the constant,not so m uch the chan ge.
Ichecked m y back issues this m orning to see how long I’ve received
D iscover — a little long er than the three years of your colum n — and
happened to look into the issue (A pril2013) w here you titled your Ed itor’s
N ote “Elem ents of Ch ang e,” m ention ing the sam e teacher w ho chan ged
the seating arou nd :“If you com plained,M r. M w ou ld sim ply say,‘Ch ange
is the only constan t in life. G et used to it.’”
G ood stuff,and b etter yet that you held onto that priceless piece
of w isdo m . Iw ish you the best and than k you for allyour tho ug htful
sharing — and invites to w rite in. A nd the read ers respond ed — one h appy
scien ce-driven fam ily.M r. M m igh t have taken it on e yard long er,“C hang e is the on ly con stant
in life. But good w illprevail.” I’m sure you an d Becky w illag ree.
Emile O.M acungie,PA
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W HA TTHE...?
Can you fi gure out w hat this is?Turn to page 15 for the answ er.
June 2016 D ISCO VER 11
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12/76
CRUX THE
12 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
Voyager 1 and 2
Launched in 1977, these spacecraft wereoriginally tasked with flybys of Jupiter
and Saturn to snap photos and gatherdata on temperature and atmospherecomposition.
Bonus science: After also taking agood look at Neptune and Uranus,one of them is off to exploreinterstellar space. Voyager 1 left thesolar system in 2012, and Voyager 2will join it within the next few years.
Why it’s still on the job: NASA canupdate the software from here on Earth.
Achilles’ heel: The nuclear batteries thatthey run on will eventually deplete — probably
within the next 10 years.
Spirit and Opportunity
The pair of rovers landed on opposite sides of Mars in 2004,carrying identical payloads of instruments, including panoramiccameras and spectrometers for examining soil. Their originalassignment, to explore local rocks for signs of past water, wasmeant to last just three months. Although Spirit is now out ofcommission, Opportunity is still going strong.
Bonus science: Spirit was able to trek to a nearby group of hillsto collect extra data. Opportunity is currently exploring clay-bearing rocks in Mars’ Marathon Valley for evidence of mineralsthat formed in water.
Why it’s still on the job: Martian winds cleandust from the rover’s solar panels.
Achilles’ heel: Though the rovers weredesigned to handle the Martian sand,
Spirit shut down in 2011. Its
wheels outlived their designedlife span, and some of themstopped working. This causedSpirit to get stuck in the sandin 2009. No longer mobile, itcouldn’t turn its panels towardthe sun to recharge and wasunprotected against wintertemperatures of minus 67 degrees
Fahrenheit. NASA heard Spirit’s lastfew beeps in 2010, and in 2011 was
unable to make contact with it again.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
This satellite left Earth in 2005. With its higher-than-a-bird’s-eyeview of the Red Planet’s surface, it found the strongest evidenceyet that salty water currently flows on Mars.
Bonus science: The orbiter is now scouting perfect landing spotsfor future spacecraft — including, potentially, some with human
passengers in the 2030s.Why it’s still on the job: It’s equipped with enough fuel tooperate through 2030.
Achilles’ heel: Moving components — like the metal rings thatpivot the solar arrays — are likely to break first.
WISE
When this satellite launched into Earth’s orbit in 2009, NASAequipped it with a four-channel camera and tasked it withscanning the whole sky to take pictures of faraway galaxiesand stars.
Bonus science: Now repurposed as NEOWISE, the craft looksfor “near-Earth objects” — like asteroids that could collidewith Earth.
Why it’s still on the job: The craft is well insulated from boththe sun’s and Earth’s heat, so the two camera channels that arestill in commission stay cool enough to keep operating.
Achilles’ heel: The satellite’s orbit will eventually shift, andscattered sunlight and earthshine will flood the barrel of thetelescope, obscuring its view of the heavens.
M is s io n Ex t e n d a b le Sometimes spacecraft go above and beyond their primary duties.
When spacecraft fail, they often fail dramatically. But “if the mission survivesentry and landing or insertion into orbit, the spacecraft typically lasts two to
three times longer than planned,” says Richard Zurek, chief scientist for NASA’s
Mars Program Office. Here are some examples of craft that have lived to enjoy
missions well beyond their original assignments. SHANNON PALUS
8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
13/76Jun e2016 D ISCO VER 13
R e D I S C O V E R
Ifyouprefertobeinthedriver’sseatw hileontheroad,good!ResearchersatColum bia
University’sM ailm anSchoolofPublicHealthrecen tlyconcludedthatonceolderadultsstop
driving,theirphysicalfunctionandcognitiveabilitiesoftendecreasedram atically.
D I D Y O U
K N O W ?
Sure-footed ProgressVibrating insoles that could im prove balance in seniors
are inching closer to m arket.
J a m e s Nie m i, a n e n g in e e r a t
H a r v a r d ’s W y s s I n s titu te , k n e w h is
t e a m h a d t h e p r o t o ty p e r ig h t fo r a n e w ,
v ib r a tin g i n s o le in te n d e d t o im p r o v e
b a l a n c e w h e n it fe lt lik e e v e r y o t h e r
in s o le o n th e m a r k e t.
W e a ll h a v e n e u r o n s in o u r fe e t th a t
h e lp c o n tr o l b a l a n c e , b u t t h e y ’r e o f te n
d e s e n s itiz e d in s e n io r s. T h e r e s u lt :
p o o r b a la n c e a n d f a lls. T h a n k s to
p a s t r e s e a r c h h e ’d r e a d a b o u t h o w
r a n d o m v ib r a tio n s c o u l d o p e n u p
n e u r a l io n c h a n n e ls, W y s s C o r e F a c u lty
m e m b e r J a m e s C o l lin s d i s c o v e r e d
t h a t t h o s e v ib r a tio n s c o u ld im p r o v e
s e n io r s’ m o t o r c o n tr o l a n d b a la n c e
w h e n a p p lie d im p e r c e p t ib ly t o s o le s o f
t h e ir fe e t . I n 2 0 1 3 , D iscover r e p o r te d
t h a t s e n io r s s ta n d in g o n t h e v ib r a tin g
in s o le s in t h e la b d e m o n s tr a te d t h e
s a m e b a la n c e a s p e o p le in t h e ir 2 0 s .
Sin c e th e n , N ie m i h a s b e e n w o r k in g
t o m a k e t h a t t e c h n o lo g y in to a p r o d u c t
p e o p le c a n u s e. Or ig i n a l p r o to t y p e sin c lu d e d h u g e , b u lk y b a t t e r y b o x e s
c lip p e d t o t h e s h o e . N o w , t h e in s o le
t s in t o s h o e s . I t c a n b e in d u c t iv e ly
c h a r g e d — n o c o r d s o r w ir e s n e e d e d ,
lik e t h o s e p a d s y o u ju s t s e t y o u r p h o n e
o n t o c h a r g e — a n d a m o b i le a p p
c o n tr o ls th e v i b r a tio n s ’ a m p lit u d e a n d
r e p o r ts b a t te r y s t a tu s.
D e s p it e t h e p r o g r e s s, th e in s o le is n ’t
c o m m e r c ia lly a v a ila b le y e t . T h e W y s s
I n s tit u te is d is c u s s in g lic e n s in g w it h
d iffe r e n t c o m p a n ie s, b u t t h e q u e s tio n
is w h e t h e r to p a r t n e r w ith a t ra d itio n a l
fo o t w e a r c o m p a n y o r a m e d ic a l d e v ic e
c o m p a n y . N ie m i b e lie v e s th e p r o d u c t
s h o u ld h a v e F D A a p p r o v a l, a p r o c e ss
f a m ilia r t o m e d ic a l d e v ic e -m a k e r s, b u t
fo o t w e a r c o m p a n ie s w o u ld lik e ly
p r o v id e b e tte r m a r k e t in g .
R e g a r d le s s o f w h ic h r o u te th e
in s o le t a k e s to c o n s u m e r s, N ie m i
b e lie v e s it’ll h a v e t h e r ig h t lo o k .
“ W h e n w e n a l ly p u t it o n t h e
t a b le , e v e r y o n e lo o k e d a t it a n d
s a id , ‘T h a t lo o k s lik e a b o r in g
in s o le ,’ ” N ie m i s a y s. “ T h a t ’s
e x a c tly w h a t w e ’v e b e e n t ry in g t o
d o .” KAT IE BO WILLIAM S
The slee knew ve rsion oftheb alan ce-en han cing insolecan becharged w irelessly.Users
can con tro lthe am p litud eo fthevib ratio nsan dcheckbatterylev elsw itham ob ileap p.
Jam esN iem i,lea dsen io rstaffeng ineeratHarvard’s
W yssInstitute,d em o nstratesJam esCollin s’vib rating shoe
insoles,w h ichh elp correctthew ea rer’sbalan cep rob lem s.
Thep atented desig n(left)originallyuse dabu lky battery.
8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
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CRUX THE THATW O RD YO UHEA RD
14 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
L atin for “tou gh bod y,”
this mass of more than
200 million nerve fibers
helps connect the left
and right hemispheres
of the cerebrum, our
brain’s largest and
uppermost section.
This connection allows
the two hemispheres
to communicate more
efficiently. And while
there’s been much
debate over whether or
not women have bigger
corpus callosa, there’s
evidence that musicians
may have the edge:
Researchers have found
that starting musical
training before the age of
7 can boost connectivity
in this brain area.
LAC Y SCH LEY;ILLUSTRATION BY
CH AD EDWARDS
8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
15/76Ju ne 2016 D ISCO VER 15
W hen itcom estothenex t
p resident,analystsatthe
EvolutionInstitutethink
w e’relikelytopickthetallest
candidate,regardlessofparty
affiliation.Theirrecentreport
o nvo terpreferenceforheight
n otedthatw ehaven’telected
a5-foot-7orshorterpresident
sinceW illiam M cK inley.
D ID Y OU
K N OW?
WH ATT H E...?
It’sthe bottom ofagecko ’sfoo t,w hichiscove redw ith
m icrosco pichairscalledsetae. (See clo se-u p o n p ag e 1 1.)
Th esetae ,w hichtog etherm akeup thetoes’ridges(inset),ea chcontainhundred sofsm aller
bristlescalled spatulae,seenintheim ag eon pag e11atnea rly2,000x m ag nifi cation.
8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
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CRUX THE B O O K S
16 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
T H E D R A G O N B E H I N D T H E G L A S S : A T ru e S tory ofP ow er,O bsession an d the W orld’s M ost C oveted F ish
By Em ily Voigt
Atthe center ofinternation alintrigue,the shim m ering arow ana is a predator “the
len gth ofa sam uraisw ord.” It’s the m ostexpensive tropicalfish in the w orld — an d
on e ofthe m osten dan gered.W ith the tautsuspen se ofa spy novel,Voigtpaints a
vivid w orld ofm urder,black m arketd eals and habitatd estruction surrounding a fish
that’s con sidered,ironically,to be a good-luck charm . AL L RE VI EW S B Y G E M M A TARL AC H
O T H E R P A G E S W E ’R E T U R N I N G
T H E W I N T E R
F O R T R E S S :T he E pic
M ission to
Sab otage
H itler’s
Atom ic Bom b
By N eal Bascom b
Science and
sabotage tangle
in the snowy
mountains of Norway at the
height of World War II in this
real-life thriller.
T H E B I G
P I C T U R E :
O n the O rigin s
of L ife,
Mean ing an d
the U n ive rse
I tself
By Sean Carroll
Theoretical
physicist Carroll
tackles the big questions with
short, personable vignettes that
create a mosaic of understanding
the enormity of Everything.
S I L E N T
S P A R K S : T h eWondrous
W orld o f
F ireflies
By Sara Lew is
More than
summer’s
most
enchanting evening
sight, fireflies are creatures
of complexity, captured here
with both rigorous science
and whimsical asides.
D E A T H O N E A R T H :
A dv en tures
in E volution
an d M ortality
By Jules How ard
To understand death,one must first definelife — a task thatproves trickier than you
might think. Enlistingthe aid of everyonefrom astrobiologiststo self-styled“deathsplainers,”zoologist Howard setsoff on a fascinatingand often funny questto answer what life isand why it ends.
AM ER IC A’S
SN A K E : The R ise
an d F allof the
T im ber R attlesnake
By Ted Levin
Found from Texas toNew England, Crotalushorridus is the mostevolved of the viper
family, though mostof us know it only forits distinctive warningsound. Zoologist Levinschools us on all we’vebeen missing in thisdetailed, delightfullove letter to oneof our nation’s less-adored animals.
PA PE R : P aging
T hrough H istory
By Mark K urlansky
Globe-hoppingfrom ancientChina to the AztecEmpire, fromglamorous Parisiancafes to the mills
of New England,Paper weavesculture withchemistry, andpolitics withpulpwood, as itchronicles worldhistory through thatwafer-thin productwe write on.
T H E D A N C I N G B E E S :
K arlvon F risch and
the D iscovery of the
H oneybee L anguage
By Tania Munz
Intraspecies communicationis a hot research topic,but Karl von Frisch wasdecoding honeybee
messages long beforemost of today’s scientistswere born. Set againstthe backdrop of the ThirdReich, Munz chroniclesthe Austrian ethologist’slife and his Nobel-winningstudy of one of the animalkingdom’s most intriguingforms of interpretive dance.
C H O I C EO R C H A N C E :Un derstan din gYour L ocus ofC on trol an d W hyI t M atters
By Stephen Now icki
Itw as m eantto b e ...
w asn ’tit? Everything
happens for a reason
...doesn ’tit? For halfa
cen tury,psychologists
have stud ied h ow an
individual’s percep tion
ofcontrolaffects
everything from
health to relationships.
Longtim e Em ory
Un iversity p rofessoran d clinical
psychologistNow icki
breaks do w n the
research w ith relatab le
an ecdotes thatw ill
m ake you think tw ice
before posting an other
fatalistm em e on social
m edia.
Smar tSummerReads
8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
17/76
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18/7618 DISCOV ERM AG AZIN E.CO M
T he Falland R ise
of String T heory
→String theory w as on ce the
hottestthing in physics.In the
198 0s an d ’90s,it prom ised seem ingly
unlim ited bounty.A rising from the
notion that m atter an d en ergy are
fun da m entally com po sed o f tiny,
vibrating strings rather tha n pointlike
particles,this theory attem pted to
unify a llthe k now n forces into a single,
elegan t package.So m e physicists
hailed string theory as the long-sough t
“theory o f everything.” Harvard U niversity physicist
A nd rew Strom inger,a leader in string
theo ry for d ecad es,rem em bers the
early en thusiasm .“A t the tim e of its
new popularity,” he says,“there w as a
declaration that w e h ad solved allthe
prob lem s in physics an d ha d the fin al
theory in han d.”
Strom inger knew ,even in the
euphoric ’80s,that such assertions
w ere overblow n. A nd ,sure enou gh,
skepticism has seeped in over the
years.N o o ne has yet con ceived o f
an experim ent that cou ld d efin itively
verify or refute string theory.T he
backlash m ay have peaked in 20 06,
w hen severalh igh-profile boo ks and
articles attack ed the theory.B ut w hile
string theory has receded from the
spotlight,it has not go ne aw ay.“T he
theory is stillevo lving and getting
better — an d better understood,”
m aintains Juan M aldacena o f the
Institute for Ad van ced S tudy at
Princeton U niversity.
M any of today’s string theorists
have ad opted a u tilitarian ap proach ,
dw elling less on its all-em bracing
po tentialan d m ore on the h ere and
now .Som e practitioners are applying
string theo ry techn iques to problem s in
pure m athem atics,w hile Strom inger is
w orking to secure a deeper conceptual
grasp of black holes.Others stillarerelying on string theory for un exp ected
help w ith calcu lations relating to
particle phy sics an d exo tic states of
m atter.E m erging from this diverse
w ork is a new con sensus:String
theo ry m ay not be the fabled theory of
everything, Strom inger says,“but it is
definitely a theory of som ething.”
H I EN EP TH S
Strom inger w as never one for the
beaten path. He drop ped o ut of
Harvard tw ice in the 1970s to live in
com m unes in N ew Ham pshire and
C hina b efore returning to co llege,
bent on probing the u niverse through
theo reticalphysics.A s an M IT
gradu ate student,Strom inger w as told
to steer clear of risky subjects like
string theory;h e ign ored the ad vice.
T he gam ble paid o ff.In 1985,
three years after getting h is Ph .D .,
Strom ing er co-au tho red on e o f the
W hile the noveltheory may never live up
to the early hype,its innovative tools have helped
scientists for decades,and the best may be yet to come.BY STEVE NADIS
Harvard physicist Andrew Strominger,an early champion of string theory,still relies on its insights in his current work.
String theory m ay
not be the fabled
theory ofeverything,
Strom inger says,
“but it is definitely a
theory ofsom ething.”
BigIdea
8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
19/76June 2016 D ISCO VER 19
ROEN KELLY/DISCOVER
field’ssem inalpapers— partofthe
so-called“firststringrevo lution.”
A centralprem iseofstring
theoryisthatstrings,them ostbasic
unitofnature,vibrateina10-or
11-dim ensionaluniverse.T hethree
fam iliardim ensionsplustim em ake
four,m eaningsixorseven“extra”
spatialdim ensionsm ustliehidden,
shrunkdow nsosm allw ecan’tsee
them .T hesem inu tedim ensionshave
tobe“co m pactified”inaspecificw ay
toreproducethephysicsw eobserve,
an dStrom ingeran dhiscolleagues
determ inedw hatthatscrunched-up
shapehad tobe:asix-dim ensional
m athem aticalobjectknow nasa
C alabi-Y au space.A particle’sm ass, thestrengthofagivenforceand
otherfundam entalquantitiesdepend
ontheshap e,orgeom etry,ofthis
convolutedspace.
Stringtheoristssoonm adea
rem arkablediscovery.B yrotatinga
C alabi-Y au spaceinaspecialw ay,they
couldproduceam irrorim ageofsorts,
thoughonew ithaverydifferentshape.
T hesurprisew asthattheseapparently
disparateC alabi-Y au shapeshada
hiddenkinship,bothgivingrisetothe
sam ephysics.T hetheoristsdubbedthe
phenom enon“m irrorsym m etry.”
Scientistsquicklylearnedthat
thisnew foundsym m etrycould
beharnessedtoad dressvarious
m athem aticalpuzzles.In1991,the
physicistPhilipC an delasan dhis
colleaguesusedm irrorsym m etryto
solveacentury-oldprob lem ,ineffect
countingthenu m berofsph eresthat
couldfitinsideaC alabi-Y au space.
M athem atician sjum pedintotheact,
usingm irrorsym m etrytotack leother
unsolvedproblem sinenum erative
geom etry,typ icallyentailingcounting
linesandcurvesoncom plicated
surfacesan dthree-dim ensionalspaces.
M irrorsym m etryhelpedrejuvenatethe
field,andthislineofresearchisstill
go ingstrongw ithregularinternational
m athconferencesdevotedtoit. “D uringthepastfew years,
progresshasbeenm adetow ard
encap sulatingthisideaw ithinone
(albeitcom plicated)form ula,”says
B randeisU niversitym athem atician
B ongL ian.“T hegeom etric,algebraic
an dphysicalpicturesofm irror
sym m etryareallstartingtoconverge.”
B LAC K HOLE R EV ELATIONS
W hileStrom ingerco-authoreda1996
paperthatofferedam athem atical
explanationforhow m irrorsym m etry
w orks,hisem phasisoverthepast
tw odecadeshasbeenonusingstring
theorytogaininsightsintoblack
holes.Inoneforayintothisrealm ,
heandH arvardcolleagueC um run
V afaexploredapuzzlingfindingfrom
theearly1970sbyphysicistsJacob
B ekensteinandStephenH aw king.
U ntilthen,scientistsregarded
blackholesassim pleobjects— quite
literallyholesinspace,com pletely
describedbyjustthreevariables:their
m ass,spinandcharge.U singgeneral
relativity,E instein’stheoryofgravity,
B ekensteinandH aw kingdeviseda
form ulashow ingthatblackholes
havesurprisinglyhigh entropy— a
m easureofhow m anyw aysparticles
canbearrangedinsidetheobject.A
blackhole’sinternalstructure,inother w ords,w asverycom plex;itcould
assum ealargenum berofpotential
states.T heB ekenstein-H aw king
form ulayieldedaprecisenum berfor
theentropy,quantifyingthepossible
interiorstates,w ithoutindicatingw hat
thosedifferentstatesm ightconsistof.
In1996,Strom ingerandV afa
turnedtostringtheorytoprovide
am icroscopicperspectiveonblack
holes.T heirw ayofaffordinganinside
view ,asw ithC andelas’w ork,w as
sim ilartocountingthenu m berof
spheresthatcouldbeconfiguredinside
aC alabi-Y auspace.A ndtheansw er
Calab i-Yau spaces,six-dim en sionalobjects
rep resen ted hereonthetw o-dim en sional
p ag e,m easurejust10 -33 cen tim eter.String
the oriststhinkthe unive rse’s“h idden ”
d im en sionstakeonthesetinyshapes.
In stringtheory,particlesarenotpointsbutvibratingstrings;
the iridentitiesdep en donthe vibration’sfreq uency. C LO SED LO OP STRIN G S
OP EN EN D ED STRIN G S
VibrationsPar ticle
8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
20/7620 DISCOV ERM AG AZINE.CO M
Strom inger and Vafa arrived at agreed
perfectly w ith the B ekenstein-H aw king
result.T his w as a m ajor trium ph
for string theory because it could do
som ething — offer clues about a black
hole’s inn er m akeup — that no other
approach could.
Strom inger has continued to press
further.H is w ork w ith V afa show ed
that rapidly rotating black holes have
“conform alsym m etry,” w hich roughlym eans that certain physicalproperties
are independent of the black hole’s
size.S trom inger subsequently realized
that the presence of this sym m etry,
w hich hadn’t been recognized before,
could be used to sup port a range
of predictions.F or exam ple,he
and his collaborators are currently
trying to calculate the intensity of
electrom agnetic radiation em anating
from the vicinity of a black hole.I n
a few years,S trom inger says,once
the w orldw ide netw ork know n as the
E vent H orizon T elescope com es online,
astronom ers can test those radiation
estim ates through direct m easurem ents.
U sing sim ilar techniques originally
inspired by string theory,Strom inger’s
group has com puted the spectrum
of gravitationalw aves em itted w hen
com pact objects like stars fallinto
giant black holes — predictions that
could be verified by the future E volved
L aser I nterferom eter Space A ntenna,
planned to launch in tw o decades
(or m aybe sooner).S trom inger alsobelieves that evidence of conform al
sym m etry m ight em erge from the
L aser I nterferom eter G ravitational-
Wave O bservatory,w hich spotted
gravitationalw aves for the first
tim e earlier this year.Soon,he says,
astronom ers m ay be drow ning in data
that they cannot fully interpret.“W e’d
like to use ideas from string theory to
shed som e light on corners of this.”
THEN EW CA LCULU S
O ther physicists,m eanw hile,are
em ploying string theory m ethodologies
in their study of extrem e m atter
states — from the intensely hot
plasm as produced in particle colliders
to m aterials created in laboratories at
tem peratures close to absolute zero.
U niversity C ollege L ondon physicist
A ndrew G reen,w ho investigates
the strange phases of m atter that
arise at ultra-frigid tem peratures,
never im agined getting into string
theory,but has found it extrem ely
w orthw hile.A lthough it m ay not
offer a com prehensive theory of
reality,he says,“it has ushered in
the developm ent of a new set of
m athem aticaltechniques that are
usefulin broad areas of physics.”
M any of these approaches involve
higher-dim ensionalgeom etry,he adds,
“allow ing you to draw geom etricalpictures of w hat w ere previously
algebraic form ulations.” G reen calls
string theory “the n ew calculus,” saying
that its ideas w illultim ately join the
standard toolkit of theoreticalphysics.
Strom inger agrees.W hile physicists
m ay not have stum bled upon the
ultim ate theory of everything 30-som e
years ago,he sees string theory as “a
starting point” from w hich such a
theory m ight stillem erge.R egardless
of how that quest turns out,it’s already
a proven toolthat hints at “how
seem ingly irreconcilable things can fit
together.” A nd as new applications
continue to be explored,it’s becom ing
clear that the one thing string theory
isn’t is obsolete. D
St e v e a d is ,a contributing editor to Discover
and Astronom y,is co-author of From the G reat
W allto the G reat Collider. H e plays handball
in Cambridge,M ass.,w here he also lives.
Soon astronomers
may be drowning in
data that they cannot
fully interpret.
The upcoming Evolved Laser InterferometerSpace Antenna could help verify string theory’spredictions of gravity waves. Three spacecraft(above) will orbit around the sun and measuretiny ripples in space-time via sensitive lasers.
BigIdea
8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
21/76
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w rote his w ay into a research project
at a localcollege,and now fou nd
him self an I vy L eague m edicalstudent.H e knew som ething about
tim ing and persuasion.
“D oesn’t soun d like one of
those ‘-itises,’” he said.
“R ight,” I replied.“G o b ack
and figure it out.”
“O n it.”
CH EM ICA LCLUES
T en m inutes later,P aulw as back.
H e had that “aha” look,but he
w as also shaking his head.
“Well?”
“S he didn’t tellu s because she
w as asham ed.”
“O f w hat?”
“K -2.”
I stared at him .“S ho uld’ve
guessed.”
K -2,spice,A K -47 — pick your
m oniker — is a nine-alarm fire.
Street drugs com e in
categories.H eroin is a sleeper;
stim ulants include cocaine
and am phetam ines; P C Pand m ushroom s qualify as
hallucinogens.N ot K -2.
A nything and everything its
partners in crim e can do,it can
do better.
A nd cheaper.
C hem ically,K -2 refers to a fam ily
of synthetic cannabinoids.I n the
1980s,researchers tinkered w ith
T H C — the m olecule that induces
m arijuana’s high — to study the
brain’s cannabinoid receptors.T hese
receptors are key players in the
end ocannabinoid system ,regulating
brain functions such as m oo d,pain,
appetite and thou ght processing.N ow
it appears they affect blood vessels and
alm ost every organ in the body — and
new receptors are stillbeing identified.
Synthetic cannabinoids jum ped
from lab to street w hen bootleg
chem ists began rejiggering m olecules
to get arou nd anti-drug law s.S old as
→E stela,26,lay curled
up on a stretcher,her
forehead beaded w ith sw eat.
N ausea,vom iting and stom ach
cram ps had laid h er low for tw o
days,she said.
She w as on m ethadone,and if
she’d m issed a dose,w ithdraw al
cou ld b e causing the vom iting
and stom ach cram ps.B ut
heaving for tw o days straight
w ould be unusual.
“S o you did take this
m orning’s do se?” I asked.
“S eventy-five m illigram s at
eight this m orning,” m y patient
replied.“I m issed yesterday.”
T he facts w eren’t fitting m y
tidy theory.I turned to Paul,
m y m edicalstudent.“S m allbow elobstruction?” he offered.
“H epatitis? Pancreatitis?”
“A ny fever?” I asked E stela.
“N o.”
“D iarrhea?”
“N o.”
“A lcoholuse?”
“N o,” she said.T he rest of the
history w as no help.H er abdom en,
cram ps notw ithstanding,felt soft.A lso
norm alw ere blood pressure,pulse and
tem perature.
“A bdom en benign,” I m used to Paul.
“H as to be m ethadone w ithdraw al.
She m issed yesterday’s do se.”
“B uttook this m orning’s,” Paul
pointed out.“Plus,the vom iting started
tw o days ago,before yesterday’s m iss.”
M ysteriou s abdom inalcom plaints
these days often require a C T scan.
B ut zapping a young w om an w ith
three years’w orth of backgrou nd
radiation isn’t trivial.
“L et’s start w ith labs,I V fluids
and Z ofran,” I said to E stela’s nurse.
Z ofran eases vom iting w itho ut
m asking pain,so it buys tim e.
B ack in front of m y com puter,I
pulled up p rior visits.T here w as one,
exactly a m onth earlier.I read out
loud : “C hief com plaint,26-year-o ld
w ith nausea,vom iting and stom ach
cram ps for tw o days.”
“H uh ?” I glanced at Paul.“E xact
sam e sym ptom s a m onth ago.”
I n his native Iran,P aulhad been
an orchestra conductor.W hen he
w as 22,the w hole fam ily decam ped
to C alifornia.Q uickly m astering
E nglish,he w orked as a bank teller,
a d C h e m is tr yA recovering addict suffers from extreme nausea and stomach
cramps. But the most obvious explanation may not be the right one.BYTON Y DAJER
Vita lSig n s
8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
23/76
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8/17/2019 Revista Discover - Iunie 2016.pdf
24/7624 DISCOV ERM AG AZIN E.CO M
“ herbal incense,” K -2 hit the streets inthe U .S . in 20 0 8 and is now ram pagingthrough the country. In 20 1 5, the d rug
was responsible for thousand s of ERv isits — and d ozens of d eaths —across 12 states in the S outh. In early20 1 5 in m y ER in New Y ork City, casesshot from z ero to fi v e or six a d ay.
P rod uction is a cinch: Com bine precursor chem icals from China (orincreasingly, hom em ad e), spray them ix ov er d ried herbs (the “ incense” ),then seal in sq uare, brightly coloredfoil packages v isibly stam ped ,“ Not for H um an Consum ption.”Doz ens of varieties now ood
the streets, each set to punch theend ocannabinoid system ’s keys in itsown unpred ictable way.
What’s baf ing, in the face of thatunpred ictability, is the stunning riskusers take. S ure, the stuff is cheap —m aybe a buck a K -2 cigarette v ersusfi v e for “natural” m arijuana — buta v ery sm all am ount can pack ahuge wallop. With K -2, you d on’tknow if one hit will buz z or buz z sawyou. S om e K -2 variants bind brain
receptors 1 0 0 tim es m ore strongly thanTH C and can linger for d ays. Eachnew concoction prod uces its own blast pattern — and there’s only one wayto fi nd out.
One recent case was a 6 0 -year-oldwom an who lit up in the basem entof her hom eless shelter. The stafffound her com atose with critically lowblood pressure. A fter 3 liters of salineand careful m onitoring, she fi nallycam e around .
It was her birthd ay. That was the
celebration.A nother d ay, a param ed ic pulled m e
asid e, a frantic look on his face.“ Doc, the heart rate was 1 8 0 , then it
d ropped to 50 , then zoom ed to 1 4 0 . We ga e him IV saline. Did I d o som ethingwrong? What should I ha e giv en him ?”
“ Blood pressure?”“A bout 1 0 0 .”“ Y ou d id the right thing.” I
shrugged . “ There’s no antid ote. Just
keep them breathing and their blood pressure up.”
A RISIN G TH REAT A n hour after Estela’s rev elation, P aulchecked on her.
“ S till vom iting,” he reported . “ I triedto tell her how d angerous it was, howm any d eaths it has caused .”
I shook m y head . In 20 years I’dnever seen a d rug like this. H eck,even heroin ad d icts d on’t com e to the ER ev ery d ay.
I paused . “ I guess we’ll try another
round of Z ofran and uid s.”Trooping back in two hours later,
we found Estela wan but not curled up
anym ore. I pressed on her abd om en.It was soft.
“ Y our lab results look great,” I saidbrightly. “ Would you like to go hom e?”
S he brought a hand over her m outh.“ I d on’t want to go hom e and v om it,”she said .
P aul held her arm . “ The worst isover.”
“ We can giv e you Z ofran to takehom e,” I ad d ed .
K-2, made of syntheticcannabinoids, causeddozens of deaths inthe U.S. last year.
Barely nod d ing, she m uttered , “OK .I guess so.”
Three weeks later, Estela was back.
The chief com plaint? Vom iting afterK -2. A nd she’d m issed her m ethad oned ose. We replaced it, but the K -2 m ad eher puke again. S o we repeated thecycle of m ed s and uid s once m ore.
Three d ays later, she was back.While we treated Estela, another patient ga e us the latest head lines:A local d ealer who put out hund red sof K -2 pouches every d ay had beenbeaten up by his clients.
“ H e m ad e bad stuff, d oc,” thenow-righteous user ex plained . “ One
kid d ied . They found him in an alley. Ev eryone was getting sick.”
The world wid e tsunam i of syntheticd rugs is surging. Whether d riv en byInternet-based chem istry, social m ed iaor an old -fashioned fad , the num berof d angerous synthetics reportedto the U nited Nations shot to ov er50 0 in 20 1 4 — d ouble the total for“ trad itional” plant-d erived d rugs. InP oland , poisonings from syntheticd rugs, includ ing K -2, rocketed from
50 0 in 20 1 0 to m ore than 5,0 0 0 bym id -20 1 5, killing d ozens.
In the U .S . and Europe,legislators ha e scram bled
to elim inate legalloopholes that allow
their m anufacture,but that still lea es
enforcem ent. It’s easy tom ix K -2’s precursor chem icals
in your basem ent. A nd even if the rawm aterials still com e from China, howd o you stop bottles of clear uid at
the bord er?A s we watched Estela walk out for
the third tim e, P aul softly said , “ Fora cheap high, that’s a pretty ex pensiv elesson to keep ignoring.” D
Tony Dajer is director of the emergency
department at New York-Presbyterian/Lower
Manhattan Hospital. The cases described in
Vital Signs are real, but names and certain
details have been changed.
VitalSigns
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26/7626 DISCOV ERM AG AZIN E.CO M
E I N S T E I N : F R E D S T E I N A R C H I V E / A R C H I V E P H O T O S / G E T T Y I M A G E S . T H O
U G H T B U B B L E : S H U T T E R S T O C K B Y S C O T T R I C H A R D S O N , S E R J I O 7 4 , X E N O N
N
Who could hav e believ ed that the world was at? Or
that it sits fi x ed in space, while the cosm os rev olv es
around it? A nyone with two eyes, that’s who. It takes
a leap of im agination to contem plate the alternativ e
— that we are stand ing atop a rapid ly spinning
sphere, hurtling through space.
A lbert Einstein, like Nicolaus Copernicus and G alileo
G alilei before him , red efi ned our und erstand ing of the
univ erse, and he d id so thanks to a knack for keeping
his thoughts clear of unnecessary inform ation. In fact,
he cond ucted ex perim ents on the basis of thought
alone, playing them out in som ething like
the construct from T heM atrix — a com pletely
em pty space populated with only item s essential to
his ex perim ents. A clock. A train.A beam of light. A n observer or
tw o. A n elevator. “ Im agine a large portion
of em pty space, so far rem ov ed from stars and other
appreciable m asses,” said Einstein, d escribing his
m ental construct.
H ow Einstein’screativethinking
led toanew rulebook
fo rtheuniverse.
A llin H is
BY ANDY BERGER
H E A D
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A lbertEinsteinin194 6.
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TestyourEinsteinIQ ,hearthegravitationalw aveshepredicted
andlearnm oreat D iscov erM ag azine .com /Einstein
2 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
U sing these ingredients,p lus som e basic
physicalp rinciples,E instein cam e to m ind-
boggling yetunavoidable conclusions that
overturned allo f p hysics.W ith special
relativity,he show ed that tim e an d
space are intertw ined,n otdem arcated
by the sam e gridlines an d tick-tock
regu larity for everyone.A decade later
w ith gen eralrelativity,he found that gravity actually distorts space and tim e.
Itallstarted w hen,at the you ng
age o f 16,E instein con jured u p a vivid
tho ugh t:W hat w ou ld itbe like to race
alongside a b eam of light? T he idea seem s
inn ocu ou s eno ugh; if I race alongside a m otoriston the
freew ay and m atch its speed, w e com e to a relative stan dstill.
I cou ld say that itis the outside scenery scrolling b ack w ard
pastu s,as if w e w ere playing an arcad e racing gam e.E instein
w on dered if the sam e w ould hold true for the lightbeam .If
he d rove fastenou gh,could he p ullneck and neck w ith the
beam ,b ringing itto a virtualh alt? W hat w ou ld the w orld
look like to such a ligh t-speed traveler?
Itw as E instein’s im agination that allow ed him to take
leaps and m ake conn ections that his contem po raries cou ld
no t.H e explained h is insights by an alogy:“W hen a blind
beetle craw ls over the surface of a curved b ranch,itdoesn’t
notice thatthe track ithas covered is indeed curved.I w as
lucky en ough to n otice w hat the beetle didn’tnotice.”
G A LILEO ’S SH IP
E instein’s though texperim ents are parto f a greater tradition
in physics.“E instein didn’tinven tthe though texperim ent,of
cou rse,”