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Scientific American September 2009 ■ Volume 301 Number 3

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Scientific American September 2009 ■ Volume 301 Number 3 SPECIAL ISSUE: UNDERSTANDING ORIGINS 57 INNOVATIONS and Insights That Shape the September 2009 www.ScientificAmerican.com World Today ORIGINS OF PapeR money • coRiolis effect • lsd scotch tApe • hiv • cookinG life love • bluepRints inteRnAl-combustion enGine THE UNIVERSE RecoRded music • AnthRAx • GAmmA RAys inteRmittent windshield wipeRs COMPUTING the web • AsteRoids mechAnicAl loom chocolAte GRAphicAl peRspective THE MIND photosynthesis • stiRRup bAll beARinGs • cARbon • liGht teeth • cAnceR buckybAlls & nAnotubes cupcAkes • clocks © 2009 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. CONTENTS FEATURES ■ SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN September 2009 ■ Volume 301 Number 3 SPECIAL ISSUE 22 INTRODUCTION 21 In the Beginning By the Editors A powerful urge to understand the beginnings of the cosmos or even life itself fuels the scientific enterprise. 30 COSMOLOGY 22 Origin of the Universe By Michael S. Turner Cosmologists are closing in on the ultimate processes that created and shaped the universe. NEUROSCIENCE 30 Origin of the Mind By Marc Hauser The first step in figuring out how the 38 human mind arose is determining what distinguishes our mental processes from those of other creatures. BIOLOGY 38 Origin of Life on Earth By Alonso Ricardo and Jack W. Szostak Fresh clues hint at how ORIGINS the first living organisms arose from inanimate matter. 46 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ES G MA 46 Origin of Computing I By Martin Campbell-Kelly ; GETTY The information age began with Corbis the realization that machines could OLLINS emulate the work of minds. C HRIS C .; ORIGINS ROUNDUP HRISTIANSEN; 54 The Start of Everything C In the beginning ... what happened? ON ThE CovER More than 50 brief articles capture the Life, the universe and ... well ... everything are Photo Researchers, Inc dazzling moment of insight or key advance the subjects of this special single-topic issue on at the outset of a variety of things—from origins. We trace their beginnings and key insights OBERT GENDLEROBERT FROMTOP ON COVER: JEN flying cars to paper clips to love. into the physical and life sciences and technology. R www.ScientificAmerican.com SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 1 © 2009 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS ■ 3 From the Editor 14 4 Letters 6 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago 7 News Scan MEDICINE & HEALTH 6 ■ Gene therapy: an interview with an unfortunate pioneer. 9 ■ Swine fl u? How about swine Ebola? TECHNOLOGY ■ Public safety bandwidth goes unused. ■ Quantum entanglement and photosynthesis. ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT ■ Conservation efforts pitted against human rights. ■ The airlines are having trouble recycling. RESEARCH & DISCOVERY ■ Animals have the ability to count. ■ Digging up valuable fossils in suburban New Jersey. 2 0 Critical Mass 1 5 Scientific American Perspectives By Lawrence M. Krauss Scientists studying fossils should learn to share. An update on C. P. Snow’s “two cultures.” 1 6 Sustainable Developments 8 2 Recommendations By Jeffrey D. Sachs Babies’ brains. Naming life. Fictional reads. Prioritize the carbon strategy: ambitious climate and energy legislation risks failure without better focus. 8 4 Anti Gravity By Steve Mirsky 1 8 Skeptic The Kindle and all of its contents. By Michael Shermer Paranoia strikes deep: why people believe in conspiracies. GO TO .COM “Origins” Online Want more information on origins? Go online for added stories, slide shows, details from the Origins Symposium this past spring, and other extras. 18 84 More at www.Scientifi cAmerican.com/sep2009 Scientifi c American (ISSN 0036-8733), published monthly by Scientifi c American, Inc., 75 Varick Street, 9th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10013-1917. Copyright © 2009 by Scientifi c American, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this issue may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for public or private use, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and at additional mailing offi ces. Canada Post International Publications Mail (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40012504. Canadian BN No. 127387652RT; QST No. Q1015332537. Publication Mail Agreement #40012504. Return undeliverable mail to Scientifi c A merican, P.O. Box 819, Stn Main, Markham, ON L3P 8A2. Subscription rates: one year $34.97, Canada $49 USD, International $55 USD. Postmaster: Send address changes to Scientifi c American, Box 3187, Harlan, Iowa 51537. Reprints available: write Reprint Department, Scientifi c American, Inc., 75 Varick Street, 9th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10013-1917; (212) 451-8877; fax: (212) 355-0408. Subscription inquiries: U.S. and Canada (800) 333-1199; other (515) 248-7684. Send e-mail to [email protected] Printed in U.S.A. 2 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN September 2009 © 2009 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. FROM THE EDITOR ■ Starter Menu The editors at Scientifi c Ameri- turn to page 21 for the start of “Origins”— can always look forward to we hope you will nd it candy for the cu- creating our annual single- rious mind. topic issues. These special edi- In an issue focused on beginnings, it tions give us the opportunity also seems appropriate to inaugurate a set to more fully explore an area that is of deep of improvements to Scienti c American’s scienti c and public interest and to share pages. We’ve tightened the design of the ta- that comprehensive package with you. ble of contents, to make it easier to nd About a year ago, when the editorial what you are looking for in each issue. We board rst began discussing possibilities have organized the popular News Scan de- for the issue you now hold in your hands, partment by topic; the adjusted layouts are we decided to harness our ambitions in a easier to navigate, and the stories will con- different way. Instead of narrowly focus- tinue to provide the concise analyses of ing on one subject, we would think more news that you have come to expect. expansively. We settled on an all-encom- A new columnist’s pointed commentary passing topic that would provide the intel- will also sharpen the offerings in the front lectual charge we sought but also would of the magazine. Lawrence M. Krauss, an be fun. We decided to probe some of the astrophysicist, social critic and best-selling most profound questions that humans ask author of The Physics of Star Trek and oth- about our existence, such as, Where did er books, brings a scientist’s perspective Among Our everything we see in the universe today and practice of rational analysis to matters Contributors come from? How did life begin? What led of broad scienti c and policy concern. Fit- to the remarkable sophistication of the hu- tingly, his rst installment examines the MARTIN CAMPBELL-KELLY man mind? We knew we would want to unrealized vision of C. P. Snow, who 50 is a professor in the department of computer science at the University of Warwick in provide in-depth feature articles on key years ago wrote his famous “Two Cul- England, where he specializes in the history topics in technology and in the physical tures” essay. Snow noted the distressing of computing. He is editor of The Collected Works of Charles Babbage. and life sciences. To round out the issue, cultural divide between science and the we also wanted to take on a few dozen arts and hoped for a future that would MARC HAUSER other intellectual puzzles—from the ori- bridge the two. We share that hope. is a professor at Harvard gins of the paper clip to the placenta to pa- Last, Anti Gravity moves to a featured University, where he studies the evolutionary and developmental per money—in shorter pieces. position as the back page, where Steve foundations of the human mind. He is We dedicated extra pages to this issue Mirsky’s wry prose adds an entertaining author of Moral Minds and other books. to encompass the span of our questions, punctuation mark to each issue; ip the ALONSO RICARDO but it still was dif cult to winnow our pages to nd his look at Kindle’s foibles. is a research associate at the Howard wish lists to what could be accommodated As always, we welcome your feedback. ■ Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard University. He has a long-standing interest in print. Naturally, more short stories and ) in the origin of life and studies other items of interest are available at MARIETTE DICHRISTINA self-replicating chemical systems. www.Scienti cAmerican.com. For now, acting editor in chief illustration JACK W. SZOSTAK is professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. His interest in the laboratory construction of biological structures dates back to work he described in the November 1987 Scientifi c American. ); BRYAN CHRISTIE DESIGN ( MICHAEL S. TURNER pioneered the interdisciplinary union DiChristina of particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology and led the National Academy study that laid out the vision for the new eld earlier this decade. ETHAN HILL ( www.ScientificAmerican.com SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 3 © 2009 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. LETTERS ■ [email protected] ® Global Famine ■ Big Government ■ Big Pharma Established 1845 ACTING EDITOR IN CHIEF: Mariette DiChristina MANAGING EDITOR: Ricki L. Rusting CHIEF NEWS EDITOR: Philip M. Yam “The only way to save SENIor wrITER: Gary Stix EDITORS: Davide Castelvecchi, Graham P. Collins, the human race Mark Fischetti, Steve Mirsky, Michael Moyer, George Musser, Christine Soares, Kate Wong is to reduce CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Mark Alpert, our numbers.” Steven Ashley, Stuart F. Brown, W. Wayt Gibbs, Marguerite Holloway, Christie Nicholson, —“Mithremakor” VIA Michelle Press, John Rennie, Michael Shermer, WWW.SCIENTIFICAMERICAN.COM Sarah Simpson ASSOCIATE EDITORS, ONLINE: David Biello, MAY 2009 Larry Greenemeier News REPorTers, ONLINE: Coco Ballantyne, ■■ John Matson Crash of Civilizations grown only faster than population. On a ART DIRECTOR, ONLINE: Ryan Reid The obvious driver of the huge issues per capita basis, the United Nation reports, raised by Lester Brown in “Could Food annual grain yields are up 40 percent dur- ART DIRECTOR: Edward Bell Shortages Bring Down Civilization?” is ing the past five decades.
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