American Scientist TruePDF-July August 2017 PDF

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Are There
Other
Earths?
Recent astronomical
discoveries show
our planet is far from
average
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THE WORLDS NEWSSTAND
Save the Date!
Sigma Xi Symposium on
Atmospheric Chemistry,
Climate, and Health
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Featured Keynote Speakers
Barbara Finlayson-Pitts A. R. Ravishankara C. Arden Pope III David Archer Jeffrey Shaman
Professor of Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Professor in the Associate Professor,
Chemistry Departments of Professor of Department of Department of
University of Chemistry and Economics Geophysical Sciences Environmental Health
California, Irvine Atmospheric Science Brigham Young The University of Sciences
Colorado State University Chicago Columbia University
University
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https://www.sigmaxi.org/meetings-events/symposium-
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AMERICAN
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Departments Feature Articles
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194 From the Editors

195 Letters to the Editors
198 Spotlight
Crossover research in genetics and
anthropology rEthics and genetic
technologies rDefining and teach-
ing innovation r Briefings
202 Infographic
The Ionospheric Connection
Explorer satellite
206 Sightings 232
A split in a volcanic hotspot
232 Questioning Copernican
208 Technologue
Mediocrity
The two faces of nanotechnology
Modern astrophysical discoveries can
Omowunmi Wunmi Sadik intimate our cosmic significance.
212 Engineering
Bright light or blight over Brighton?
216 Howard A. Smith
Henry Petroski 240 How to Tame a Fox and

216 The Colonial Origins of Tropical Build a Dog
Scientists Field Stations A decades-long experiment shows the
Understanding the history of environ- role of selection in domestication.
Nightstand mental field sites helps confront biases. Lee Alan Dugatkin and
248 Books Megan Raby Lyudmila Trut
Celebrating Thoreaus
bicentennial: Claiming Thoreau for
science rFinding nature everywhere
From Sigma Xi 224

253 Sigma Xi Today
Symposium on Atmospheric 224 Reexamining Lyells Laws
Chemistry, Climate, and Health r Evidence shows the role of periodic
Student Research Showcase rMarch extinctions in shaping Earths history.
for Science outreach Michael R. Rampino
The Cover
240
The past decade has seen an explosion of discoveries of planets outside of our Solar System, dubbed extrasolar planets, or simply exoplan-
ets. Many of the first exoplanets identified were large, about the size of Jupiter, and orbiting close to their parent stars. But such planets are
not likely to harbor liquid water nor, therefore, life. More advanced techniques have allowed astrophysicists to locate exoplanets such as the
one illustrated here, Kepler-138b, which was the first exoplanet discovered that has a mass and size smaller than Earth (planets are not shown
at scale to star). Planets in whats called the habitable zone around their stars could have liquid water on their surfaces. But as Howard A.
Smith argues in Questioning Copernican Mediocrity (pages 232239), a significant number of additional factors are needed to determine
whether intelligent life might exist elsewhere in the universe. (Image courtesy of SETI Institute/Danielle Futselaar and NASA.)
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FROM THE EDITORS
AMERICAN
On The Shoulders of Giants
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O n December 16, 1675, Henry Oldenburg, the sec- _______________
retary of the Royal Society, prepared to publicly

read Isaac Newtons latest submission, An Hypothesis
Explaining the Properties of Light Discoursed of in VOLUME 105, NUMBER 4
My Several Papers. The manuscript had arrived just a
few days earlier. At the time, Oldenburg had no way of Editor-in-Chief Jamie L. Vernon
knowing he was about to set off one of the longest and Senior Consulting Editor Corey S. Powell
most significant collaborations in the history of science. Executive Editor Fenella Saunders
Digital Features Editor Katie L. Burke
The Royal Societys own Curator of Experiments,
Contributing Editors Sandra J. Ackerman,
Robert Hooke, was sitting in the audience. Upon hear-
Marla Broadfoot, Catherine Clabby, Brian Hayes,
ing the details of Newtons hypothesis, Hooke rose to Anna Lena Phillips, Diana Robinson, David
proclaim that the essence of the paper was contained Schoonmaker, Michael Szpir, Flora Taylor
in his popular book, Micrographia, and that Newtons Editorial Associate Mia Evans
analyses would benefit from a new round of experiments to improve upon his pre-
viously published conclusions. Hooke and Newton subsequently engaged in a long Art Director Barbara J. Aulicino
correspondence to work out the finer points of Hookes recommendations.
SCIENTISTS NIGHTSTAND
Hooke, struck by the similarities between his and Newtons descriptions of opti-
Editor Dianne Timblin
cal properties, sought to reconcile discrepancies about the nature of light and the
definition of color. Hooke had previously elaborated on Ren Descartess notion of AMERICAN SCIENTIST ONLINE
light as pressure waves transferred through an aether that permeates space. He Digital Managing Editor Robert Frederick
concluded that colors embodied weak and strong components of light that become
visibly distinguishable due to varying degrees of efficiency in penetrating transpar- Publisher John C. Nemeth
ent media, such as very thin glass plates. Newton used a similar approach to arrive
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at a new hypothesis in which light consists of uniquely colored particles that are
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easily separated by refraction at the surface of a transparent medium.
Hooke soon came to appreciate the unprecedented quantitative achievement in EDITORIAL AND SUBSCRIPTION
Newtons studies. He praised Newton for advancing optical theory beyond his own CORRESPONDENCE
work, stating, I believe the subject cannot meet with a fitter and more able person American Scientist
to inquire into it than yourself, who are every way accomplished to complete, rectify, P.O. Box 13975
and reform what were the sentiments of my younger studies. Newton embraced 3FTFBSDI5SJBOHMF1BSL /$
Hookes suggestions, and the work culminated in his book, Opticks: Or, a Treatise of tGBY
the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light, which would rival the great- FEJUPST!BNTDJPOMJOFPSHtTVCT!BNTDJPSH
____________ ________
ness of his previous book, Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

PUBLISHED BY SIGMA XI, THE SCIENTIFIC
In the midst of their discussions, Newton acknowledged that he had only arrived RESEARCH HONOR SOCIETY
at his conclusions because of the pioneering work done by Descartes and Hooke. He President Stuart L. Cooper
went on to say, If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants, Treasurer David Baker
providing one of our most cherished metaphors for scientific advancement. President-Elect Joel R. Primack
Indeed, their early relationship continues to symbolize the spirit and substance Immediate Past President Tee Guidotti
of science. Yet the concept of recognizing the contributions of others in your own Interim Executive Director John C. Nemeth
achievements need not be limited to science. As in government, industry, and soci- American Scientist gratefully acknowledges
ety, writ large, all progress is built on the triumphs of others. support for Engineering through the Leroy
These ideas resonate deeply with me while I prepare this, my last note as the Record Fund.
editor-in-chief of American Scientist. It is with tremendous gratitude to both my col-
leagues and predecessors that I look back on my three years as a member of this Sigma Xi, The Scientic Research Honor
team. The opportunity to lead Sigma Xis crown jewel publication has been one of Society is a society of scientists and engineers,
the great experiences of my life. Thanks to its history of excellence and the unpar- GPVOEFEJOUPSFDPHOJ[FTDJFOUJmD
alleled professionalism of this team, I was able to tinker with content and design achievement. A diverse organization of
members and chapters, the Society fosters
while wading into uncharted territory with confidence.
interaction among science, technology, and
Some of our ideas were more successful than others; still others will soon be test-
society; encourages appreciation and support
ed. For example, this issue will be the first to be hosted on the new American Scientist of original work in science and technology; and
website. The new look and feel represent a dramatic change from your previous QSPNPUFTFUIJDTBOEFYDFMMFODFJOTDJFOUJmDBOE
online experience, but we believe youll find the new website to be a more func- engineering research.
tional and enjoyable way to access our content. This project has been in the works
Printed in USA
for months, and were excited to finally make it available to you.
As I move on to my new role as the executive director of Sigma Xi and publisher
of American Scientist, Im comforted by the knowledge that some of the giants whove
built the legacy of this great magazine in recent years and on whose shoulders I
have stood will be here to continue the tradition. Jamie L. Vernon (@JLVernonPhD)
194 American Scientist, Volume 105
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LETTERS
Same Same But Different would have done. He picked indi- contamination is detected, we can re-
vidual isolated colonies grown from start the affected population from a
To the Editors: the plating of a clonal culture to start previously frozen sample. Dr. Lenski
I found Zachary D. Blounts article the populations, so that any mutation has discussed some of the mistakes
Replaying Evolution in the May that might produce a butterfly effect that occasionally happen in a blog
June issue one of the most interesting would necessarily have arisen inde- post: http://bit.ly/2s9eDqU.)
Ive read in a long time.I hate to ruin pendently in the replicate populations. Weve since discovered, by genome
a good experiment by suggesting a However, one nuance that I didnt sequencing, that a secondary muta-
butterfly effect, but I have a question: mention in the article is that six of the tion occurred in the recD gene when
How did Richard Lenski ensure that populations were founded from an an- the REL607 ancestor was isolated.
the initial population of Escherichia coli cestral strain named REL606, and six That mutation is also selectively neu-
was identical?From my lab days long from one named REL607. REL607 is a tral in the LTEE environment, based
ago, I would have taken the 12 sam- mutant of REL606 with a single base- on many competitions that have been
ples from a single colony grown in a pair mutation that restores function performed. And although the protein
petri dish assuming that all the cells to the araA gene and thereby enables encoded by recD is involved in DNA
in that colony were identical. Did Len- it to grow on arabinose, or gum sugar. repair, that particular mutation has
ski do something similar, and because This Ara marker is neutral with re- had no discernible effect on the rate
DNA sequencing is now so relatively gard to fitness under the conditions of or spectrum of mutations seen in the
inexpensive, have any studies been the Long-Term Evolution Experiment LTEE, again based on the extensive
done on the original sample to ensure (LTEE). The marker is useful because genome sequencing performed in re-
all the cells in it were identical? Ara+ colonies are white (or pink) on cent years (see the 2016 Nature paper
tetrazolium arabinose indicator me- on this topic by Olivier Tenaillon and
Frank M. Archer
dium, while Ara colonies are a deep colleagues.), nor has it had any effect
Delta, British Columbia, Canada
red. As the LTEE cultures are always on the fitness trajectories of the pop-
Dr. Blount responds: transferred with alternation of Ara ulations. So there seems to have not
and Ara+ populations, the marker al- been any butterfly effect associated
The question is a good one. Dr. Lenski lowed for detection of any inadvertent with the two mutations that initially
was, of course, limited by the technol- cross-contamination that might occur. distinguished the two sets of six LTEE
ogy of the time when he startedback (We always plate cells on tetrazolium populations. (If there had been, then
when genome sequencing was not an arabinose agar medium when we pe- its interesting that the LTEE would
option. He did nearly what Mr. Archer riodically freeze samples. If such cross- have essentially been like two sets of
American Scientist (ISSN 0003-0996) is published bimonthly by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, P.O. Box 13975, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 (919-549-0097). Newsstand single copy
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www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 195
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ONLINE @ _________________________
Wc[h_YWdiY_[dj_ij$eh] had the task of completing the paper-
work for filing with the FDA.
She told me that in anFDA meeting,
she had to combatan FDA committee
New Website Design Check out AmSci Blogs
members phenformin-related objec-
Check out our new online look: http://www.amsci.org/blog/
tions by using an organic chemistry ar-
http://www.amsci.org gument. Barbara remembers getting a
Moogfest Connects Science & Music Find American Scientist celebratory trip to France, so her major
A music festival expands its tech- on Facebook contribution was recognized by Lipha.
nology track, for the benefit of both facebook.com/AmericanScientist Barbara retired some few years later.
artists and scientists. She is 91 now, and her eyesight is too
Follow us on Twitter
poor for her to read your fine article,
http://bit.ly/2rAG5OB
but she is pleased to hear from me that
twitter.com/AmSciMag
All Paths Considered metformin is still important.
The humble trail is all too easy to Edward Weil
follow without giving its existence Follow us on Google Plus
Polytechnic Institute of New York Uni-
a second thought. In his book On plus.google.com/+Americanscientist
__________________
Org/about
versity (Emeritus)
Trails, Robert Moor aims to alter our _____
New York, NY
view of the paths that crisscross our
planet, to widen and sharpen our Join us on LinkedIn Dr. Rea responds:
perspective on them. https://www.linkedin.com/company/
__________________
http://bit.ly/2rgeE9M american-scientist
_________
What made Dr. Edward Weils letter
especially intriguing was the role his
Meteorology Since the 1960s wife, Dr. Barbara Weil, played in win-
Find us on Instagram ning FDA approval of metformin. This
In this live video Q&A, Lance Bosart
http://instagram.com/american_
_________________ accomplishment was far from trivial,
of the University of Albany discusses
scientist/
_____
how weather forecasts have pro- because many U.S. physicians feared
gressed with the onset of new tools a drug related to metformins imme-
and ideas over the past few decades. Pin us on Pinterest diate forerunner, phenformina fear
http://bit.ly/2rAwpDw http://www.pinterest.com/amscimag borne of their bitter experience as their
patients treated with it developed se-
Lactose Intolerance and Gut Microbes vere lactic acidosis, sometimes with
Read American Scientist
An audio Q&A with a microbiolo- dire consequences. How inspiring to
using the iPad app
gist about using the bellys bacteria to learn that Dr. Barbara Weil was the one
Available through Apples App Store
avoid symptoms of lactose intolerance. who through her powers of persuasion
http://bit.ly/2qw4iFq as a card-carrying organic chemistas
someone who knew the fundamentals
of carbon chemistrysucceeded in ex-
plaining to the FDA committee why
they were misled in thinking that met-
formin necessarily carried the same
6 replays going on at the same time, portant drug. It was especially signifi- risks as its evil twin, phenformin.
rather than one set of 12 replays.) cant to my wife (of 65 years), Dr. Barbara If not for this, metformin (as Gluco-
Of course, its possible that those Weil, because of the important role phage) might not have risen to mar-
two mutations might yet have some she played in the late stage of getting ket dominance in this country when
systematic effect down the road, al- it on the market in the United States. in 1994 Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS)
though so many other mutations and She received a PhD in chemistry from acquired Liphas U.S. Glucophage
phenotypic changes have occurred in the University of Illinois in 1953. After marketing rights in exchange for
the 12 populations over the course of holding other pharmaceutical-related granting Lipha the marketing rights
the LTEE that it would probably be positions, she was employed begin- in France for Monopril, BMSs once-a-
hard to determine and show defini- ning around 1980 as Senior Director of day blood pressure medication. Little
tively that the two starting mutations Science and Technology at Lipha Phar- did she (or anyone else at the time)
were responsible. In any case, we maceuticals, Inc., in New York City, an know the colossal benefit her actions
havent seen any indication so far that office managed by Dr. Gerard Daniel. would have for Americans with type-2
they have mattered. Lipha had a French parent company diabetes, who currently number ap-
based in Lyon, which had acquired proximately 30 million.
Metformin Approval Glucophage from Aron Labs and was That Dr. Barbara Weil served as Se-
marketing it in Europe. Barbaras job, nior Director of Science and Technol-
To the Editors:
which took many years, was to get U. S. ogy for Lipha Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in
Philip A. Rea and Anderson Y. Tiens Food and Drug Administration approv- New York City (which is now owned
article on metformin in the March al. As your article states, that approval by Merck KGAA) is also significant.
April issue is a tour de force that ex- was achieved in 1994. She received the Lipha acquired Aron Laboratories, the
plains the history and utility of this im- clinical and other data from France and French company affiliated with Dr. Jean
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Sterne, whose brainchild it was to use tions at the Algonquin Radio Obser- physical chemistry laboratory course
metformin as a drug for the treatment vatory near Ottawa, Ontario, and the in fall 1965, a higher precision was
of type-2 diabetes, way back in the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Obser- required in calculations, so we were
1950s. There is a direct line of connec- vatory near Penticton, British Colum- given access to a Friden desk calcu-
tion between Dr. Barbara Weil and the bia, a baseline of 3,074 kilometers. lator in the lab. I still remember the
beginnings of the use of metformin as At the time there was an intense but extended chunk-a-chunk-a-chunk
an oral diabetes medicine. Her legacy is friendly rivalry between Canadian and sound that this heavy machine made
to be celebrated! American groups, and the American when one had to divide two numbers.
success followed quickly, also in 1967. Later on in my undergraduate career,
Canadas Interferometry The Canadian first was at least par- when I had to do my senior thesis, we
tially attributable to the acquisition were allowed to use one of the first
To the Editors:
of three analog video tape recorders electronic calculators, manufactured
The Spotlight Q&A by Brian Malow en- used in the television broadcast in- by Wang Laboratories. It was a huge
titled First Person: Yuri Kovalev in dustry by the Canadian Broadcasting device, or so it seemed, and it was
the MayJune issue gave an interesting Corporation (CBC). It was fortuitous mounted under a desk in a small cal-
account of the research with the Very that the CBC was converting to color culations room. The display, which sat
Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) broadcasting at the time and no longer on the desktop, was an array of nixie
satellite RadioAstron. needed their black-and-white record- tubes, and calculations were carried
However, I wish to correct one factu- ers. These recorders had a much wider out quickly and noiselessly.
al error in the remarks by Dr. Kovalev bandwidth and longer recording time Later on, during my graduate-
concerning the history of ground- than the American system (which school years, the first handheld scien-
based VLBI. The statement, It [VLBI] was based on digital instrumentation tific calculators appeared. I remember
was first successfully implemented by recorders), thus permitting a higher my research advisor proudly show-
American scientists, which is often the sensitivity to the signals from quasars ing us his HP-35, which at the time
case, and was one of the first inter- such as 3C 273. (about 1972) sold for $395. When I de-
continental experiments between the A second point is that the above parted for my postdoctoral position, I
United States and Russia, is incorrect. quotation appears to indicate that the purchased an HP-55 for about $250; it
The first fully successful VLBI ex- VLBI experiments between the United had the advantage of being program-
periment was conducted by a group of States and Russia were part of the ini- mable. Soon after, I started teaching
Canadian radio astronomers in early tial successes in 1967. However, the undergraduates in the mid-1970s, and
1967, and the results were published U.S.-Russia experiments were con- my colleagues and I had a debate as
in consecutive papers in Science and ducted later, beginning around 1969. to whether the general chemistry stu-
Nature (both by N. W. Broten and col- As Dr. Kovalev indicates, they were dents should be allowed to use calcu-
leagues). The experiment included sta- a remarkable achievement given that lators on exams. An older colleague
they occurred during the depths of the insisted on picking easy numbers
Cold War period. It is indeed gratifying for the quantitative problems so that
Illustr ation that nations can sometimes find ways students without calculators could
Credits around even hostile political differ- do the math in their heads (assuming
ences to cooperate scientifically for the they remembered the multiplication
betterment of humankind as a whole. tables). By the late 1970s the cost of the
Infographic
Page 202 Gary Schroeder
scientific calculators had fallen to the
E. R. Seaquist
$20$30 range, and we were soon able
Reexamining Lyells Laws University of Toronto (Emeritus)
to convince him that it would be all
Page 225 Barbara Aulicino, photo by Toronto, Canada
right to allow the students to use them.
Adam Evans/Wikimedia Commons Thank you for an interesting article
Pages 227, 228 (top), 229231
Barbara Aulicino
Slide Rule Nostalgia that allowed me to indulge in a bit of
nostalgia.
Questioning Copernican Mediocrity
To the Editors:
Page 236 Barbara Aulicino Henry C. Brenner
Henry Petroskis article about slide
New York University (Retired)
How to Tame a Fox and Build a Dog rules (Slide Rules: Gone But Not For-
Brooklyn, NY
Page 242 Barbara Aulicino gotten, Engineering, MayJune) cer-
tainly struck a number of resonances
with me. As a budding science and
math enthusiast in the early 1960s, I
received a Keuffel and Esser Log Log How to Write to American Scientist
Duplex Decitrig slide rule as a gift Brief letters commenting on articles
from my parents. I marveled at the appearing in the magazine are wel-
large number of scales that allowed comed. The editors reserve the right
one to do a host of different types of to edit submissions. Please include
calculations. an email address if possible. Address:
It was very useful to me a few years Letters to the Editors, P.O. Box 13975,
later as an undergraduate chemis- Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 or
try major. However, when I took the editors@amscionline.org.
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Spotlight
Where Anthropology and how natural selection may be affect-

ing the reproductive success of people
Genetics Go Together who live on the high mountain plateau
bordering Tibet and Nepal, about three
kilometers above sea level. Although
Multidisciplinary teams take research into new terrain. visitors to the area are subject to alti-
tude sickness as the concentration of
hemoglobin in their blood increases
The source of tuberculosis in ancient If anthropology and genetics seem rapidly in response to the unfamiliar
Peru, insidious ways that racism distant from each other on the scientific thin atmosphere, native highlanders
can take a toll on health, and the re- spectrum, Connie Mulligana profes- tend to have hemoglobin levels similar
productive success of Tibetan high- sor of anthropology at the University to those of people living at sea level.
landers are just a few of the topics of Florida as well as associate director Without this adaptive trait, Tibetan
that came up recently at the annual of the universitys Genetics Institute mountain dwellers would have to sus-
meeting of the American Associa- enthusiastically makes a case for bridg- tain higher hemoglobin concentrations
tion of Physical Anthropology. One ing the gap. Its easier not to have to throughout their lives, at great meta-
session, sponsored by the American engage with another fields terminology bolic cost.
Association of Anthropological Ge- and culture of collection, but I think the Beall and her colleagues wanted to
netics, presented studies of complex coolest answers come from this type of find out whether the adaptation was
phenotypesthat is, traits arising approach, she says. an instance of natural selection. Her
from multiple genetic, environmental, For example, Cynthia Beall, of Case collaboratorsgeneticists, public-health
and cultural risk factors. Western Reserve University, explores specialists, and biostatisticians as well
as anthropologists and translators
collected data from more than 1,000
women, not only in the form of blood
and saliva samples but also in lengthy
interviews and family histories. The re-
searchers found that the adaptation for
nonelevated hemoglobin concentration
does boost the success rate of pregnan-
cies, amounting to about a 2-percent
greater probability that a pregnancy
would result in a live birth, says Beall.
Acting on many successive genera-
tions, this seemingly slight advantage
could amount to a significant effect
from natural selection.
At the University of Florida, Mulli-
gan and anthropologist Lance Gravlee
are using a transdisciplinary approach
to study the sociocultural and genetic
factors that contribute to high blood
pressure among African-American
adults. Racism is a chronic stressor
even for many black people who nev-
er experience it directly, Gravlee says,
so we measured a dimension of ex-
posure to racism that others hadnt as-
sessed: vicarious racism, or exposure to
race-based discrimination by hearing
about the experiences of others. By
examining both genetic and sociocul-
tural influences on heart health, Grav-
lee, Mulligan, and their colleagues
found interactions between vicarious
TAO Images Limited/Alamy racism and five single nucleotide poly-
An adaptation in the hemoglobin concentration of Tibetan mountain dwellers enables them to live morphisms (SNPs) that are known to
and raise families at high altitudes. be associated with psychiatric disor-
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Arizona State University was curious

to study the genome of tuberculosis le-
sions that had been found on skeletons
at a Peruvian site dating back several
centuries before European contact. It
was only by sequencing DNA from
these lesions that she could identify the
source of this ancient American tuber-
culosis, which turned out to be marine
mammalsseals, in fact.
This discovery holds intriguing im-
plications for several fields. In archae-
ology and anthropology, the evidence
that precontact Native Americans
were indeed affected by tuberculosis
(albeit by different strains of the dis-
ease from the ones we know today)
may alter some of what we thought
we knew about the population of an-
cient Peru. In epidemiology, this find-
Jpschaaf/Wikimedia Commons ing may clear the way for new ques-
Seals have been found to have had an unexpected historical effect on human health. Skeletons at a tions about how diseases mutate and
Peruvian site showed lesions indicative of tuberculosis, but the site predated European contact by jump from one species to another and
several centuries. Sequencing DNA from the lesions allowed researchers to identify the source of
about patterns of mutation with re-
this ancient American tuberculosis, which turned out to be seals.
spect to drug resistance.
ders such as anxiety and depression, disease. Tuberculosis is commonly As a bonus, says Stone, Our find-
suggesting a novel biological pathway thought to have come to the Americas ing that tuberculosis was brought to
from vicarious racism to hypertension. with colonial expeditions from Europe, the Americas by seals came as a huge
In another context, the efforts of ar- and the similarity of the Mycobacterium surprise. It was one of those results
chaeologists as well as anthropologists tuberculosis genome on the two conti- where we were thinking, Wow
and geneticists have yielded new in- nents today seems to confirm this idea. we really couldnt make this up.
sights on the prehistory of a dreaded Thus, anthropologist Anne Stone of Sandra J. Ackerman
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What divisions and challenges were

identied to overcome before these
First Person: Sheila Jasanoff next steps could be taken?
Many countries have erected a sizable
Sheila Jasanoff of Harvard University is a barrier, for understandable reasons, be-
foundational scholar in science and technology tween religious and secular delibera-
studies. Her recent work, including a 2015 tions. That division may work in techno-
paper she published with two colleagues in logically advanced western societies, but
Issues in Science and Technology, illumi- not in the same way in other countries.
nates the history and global context of policy In our meeting, we drew views from the
on biotechnology. New genetic technologies global north and south. We engaged with
perhaps most notably the gene editing methods bodies of ethics expertise that are not just
using a tool derived from a bacterial immune of the anglophone countries, which have
system called CRISPR-Cas9have reignited a shared basis on common law.
old debates and opened new ones about their Another point is readiness. To look
ramifications for human evolution, public for representative bioethicists around
health, and society. Some genetic engineering North America, one can go to an al-
can be done on somatic cells, which will not ready existing network. But who are
be inherited and will not have long-term ef- the comparable people in another
fects across generations. Although somatic changes are not exempt from ethical concerns, place? A country as large as India does
the debate about new genetic technologies often focuses on whether hereditary changes to not yet have that kind of apparatus in
the human genome are ethical or not. For this reason, the National Academies of Sciences, place. Its difficult to identify who the
Engineering, and Medicine released a report on the topic this past February. Soon after, in right spokespersons for those sorts of
April, Jasanoff and her colleagues at Harvard held a meeting, called Editorial Aspirations: public values would be.
Human Integrity at the Frontiers of Biology, to discuss the status of these debates around The question of how one overcomes
the world. Digital features editor Katie L. Burke caught up with her after the meeting. these sorts of divisions, which affect who
gets to speak for what, is a serious chal-
What is the state of the international My colleagues and I started asking, lenge in representative democracy. Weve
policy regarding genetic technologies What should such a forum look like? barely overcome these problems living
that could be used on human germlines, What are the gaps and omissions in in one of the most mature, experienced
producing a hereditary genetic change? our current spectrum of institutions? democracies in the world. How do you
In a number of countries there is an Most life-sciences research countries conceivably begin to address such chal-
informal agreement that there will not already have regulatory bodies, eth- lenges when were talking worldwide?
be germline gene editing. This is true ics bodies, and so on. Yet theres obvi-
for the United States. In some other ously a felt need for something that Its common in these debates for some-
countries, such as in Germany, there transcends what is currently available. one to say that human germline edit-
is explicit legislative disapproval. The ing is inevitably going to happen. How
multiple countries that have signed What was your vision for the recent do you respond?
on to the human rights charter that is meeting you coorganized at Harvard This argument has been widely dis-
enforced through the Council of Eu- on human genome editing? cussed in the philosophy and sociology
rope have agreed to something called Our vision for the meeting was to hold of knowledge and is called technologi-
the Oviedo Declaration on Human the first such discussion that was broad- cal determinism, which says that once
Biotechnologies, which contains an er than what the National Academy has you have embarked on a technological
explicit provision that no germline al- held and to float the preconditions for pathway, the pathway leads you.
terations through biotechnology are having this broader global discussion I think thats an erroneous character-
allowed. The Oviedo Declaration is that they had mentioned. ization of the relationship between hu-
embedded in a declaration that says manity and the technologies it invents.
that the Council of Europe is to revisit What are the key preconditions for We have all kinds of ways that we can
these issues in line with advances in having this global discussion? intervene. Yes, the ways of the world are
the life sciences. Later this year there I think were going to need what I call not always oriented to the directions in
will be a 20th-anniversary revisitation. brush clearingidentifying where which each of us feels a moral inclination
blockages are and what the issues are to go, but that is part of living in a di-
How did the International Summit on before we get to the ultimate goal. Can verse world. That inevitability argument
Human Gene Editing, held in Decem- we start this truly global discourse to- is an institutional abdication argument. I
ber 2015, advance the conversations morrow? There are all kinds of precursor consider it to mean, I do not want to be
regarding potential concerns about issues. Who are the right people to have a morally conscious citizen. That is an
genetic technologies? at the table? What even are these tables? irresponsible position with respect to the
The National Academy of Sciences sum- My hope is that the kind of discussion technologies that we develop.
mit was led by three nations: the United that my group and I have initiated over
States, the United Kingdom, and China. the years would help give a little push to Do you think international consensus
It pointed out the need for a truly global the people who are better placed to take about genetic engineering is necessary?
discussion that would consider this top- the next steps to build the institutions I am more dedicated to the idea of reason-
ic as an issue for humankind as a whole. and make the discussions happen. ing than of consensus. When somebody
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makes a decision that I disagree with in scale industrial applications were not Its not surprising that some of the
a deep-seated way, I want that decision on the table at Asilomar. first outcries that greeted this report
to have been achieved on the basis of The scientists at Asilomar concluded were from disabled people who have ge-
reasoningpartly because if I disagreed that there were so many uncertainties netic illnesses, because they could sud-
with those reasons, I could come back about environmental releases of geneti- denly be regarded as people with condi-
on another day and produce a better rea- cally modified organisms, or GMOs, tions that society ideally should have
son, collect more allies, or overcome the that that category should be banned eliminated. Subtly but demonstrably
barriers to what I consider would have and should not be part of the discus- our ideas of what it means to be a well
been more valid reasoning. sion. Two years later they decided that person start to shift. People are quite
This relates to institutional design: the techniques were so precise that they worried that the distinction between en-
Are you trying to produce institutions could go ahead and have field releases hancement and therapy will gradually
that deliver consensus or those that of GMOs, and its become a canonical blur in a way that increases inequalities.
deliver recursively good deliberation? example of how not to introduce a new If poorer people have conditions that
Id go with the latter. But, for instance, technology. Everybody who didnt get are now deemed to be unattractive by
Great Britain has tackled some of these a voice then, now has their worries. richer people, they will both not have
same novel technologies and managed A whole range of opinions ended up the resources to cure them and also look
to find national rules that dont give rise being excluded in a closely held dis- marginalized because the rich people
to the kind of contestation that we have cussion among very conscientious, will have cured their own conditions.
in the United States. Then one has to extremely accomplished, high-level The National Academies report
ask: What are the institutional charac- molecular biologists. Those are not the doesnt consider the full range of com-
teristics of a country that allow it to do only stakeholders in that debate. plexities that philosophers have been
that? Sometimes you cut off the uncom- attuned to for a long time.
fortable voices so that the comfortable What does the National Academies
voices forge a consensus. In America, report on human genome editing tell At the April meeting, you warned
if you leave out those uncomfortable you about the ways the scientic com- against moves to decontextualize
voices, they will find their own forum. munity is broaching this topic? science from the technology, money,
Rather than consensus, I ask how The scientific community tends to oper- politics, and culture that inuence it.
we arrive at a state of the world where ate with a rather physical and individu- Are there recent examples?
either we are pretty comfortable with al view of risks. The main risks theyre A good example is the March for Sci-
the range of variation that exists or we usually concerned about are unexpect- ence. I mean, its a great slogan. Who
persuade those who are not with us ed consequences that could increase the would be against science? Im not
that they should be. Good examples chance of illness or side effects, simply against science and no thoughtful per-
are how we got away from torture and not work properly, or have other ramifi- son would be against it.
slavery. These were fundamental ques- cations for an individual. That thinking, I think that the reason to be for sci-
tions of human worth and human dig- in other words, is embedded in a sort of ence is that it stands for other things
nity about which a couple of hundred canonical doctorpatient kind of model. in a society, and thats what I mean by
years ago societies differed enough The issues are not only about physical decontextualized. History has shown
to go to war. The whole challenge of health and safety. Theyre also about that science thrives in societies that are
global politics is a persuasive challenge. peoples sense of a moral universe. open in other respectsones that value
using observational capabilities, acting
How has the past debate about ge- This report distinguishes between gene upon them, and not denying the value
netic modication demonstrated how therapies that treat disease or disability of methods we use to validate informa-
leaving out some voices can, as youve and genetic enhancements. The latter is tion. The strongest science is often in
said, ease our discussions now, but dened as changing traits beyond the the most democratic societies.
may kick the can of legitimate dissent normal range. What sorts of problems We are not leaving it to scientists alone
and resistance further down the road does this distinction bring up? to decide that because they can do some-
of humanitys common future? If you ask people, Do you think that thing now, they are going to go ahead
In the early days of genetic engineering a new technique should be devel- and do it. I think most people would
when it was still called recombinant oped that would cure a condition that have second thoughts about letting in-
DNA, which involved moving bits of causes early death in afflicted children dustry just fund whatever it pleases and
DNA from one organism to another or is an irreversible condition in the make this decision through the private
the 1975 Asilomar Conference on Re- adult? Do you think we should pay sector. If we explained to people what
combinant DNA was held. The idea for it? I think most of us would be could be at stake by letting industry have
behind it was that the experts who inclined to say, Yes, of course. its own unsupervised research trajectory
know best should deliberate and de- But how do we know what illness is? in an open society, I dont think even
cide the terms of genetic modification Over human history, weve tried to cure most corporate executives want that.
going forward. What is clear is that conditions that you and I today would Science is a matter of collective
some things that were left out to reach say are not sickness. There are countries choice. When we say just support
consensus at Asilomar not only still right now in which albinism is taken as the science or appoint the scientists, I
exist but, if anything, are more prob- a kind of disease condition, and it is felt think we do ourselves a disservice, be-
lematic than they were then. Questions that the right way to purify society of cause we invite a shallower reflection
about topics such as biosecurity, bio- that condition is to take out the inhabit- on the role of science in society than I
diversity, open field trials, and large- ant that lives in that diseased body. think we should be standing for.
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sibilities. Then I give them another lit-

First Person: Karen Oates tle piece of knowledge and ask Okay,
what doesnt make sense from all these
different possibilities? Until I give
Its commonly understood that innovation is im- them enough that they can actually
portant in scientific research and economic devel- figure out the answer. Those types of
opment, but what does it mean to be innovative? protocols really help the students think
Karen Oates, a professor of biochemistry and the about their learning. It doesnt mean
Dean of Arts and Sciences at Worcester Polytech- that they get to tell you everything
nic Institute in Massachusetts, as well as a Sigma they want to learn, or that you dont
Xi Distinguished Lecturer, studies the types of en- have to go over some of the very ba-
vironments and processes that can lead to greater sic things they may not want to study,
innovation and deeper learning, in the classroom its just how you do it. They have to
and in industry. She chatted about some of her understand the relevance of it in their
findings with executive editor Fenella Saunders. lives. Those are all important skills that
A video of the full discussion is available on the build an innovative environment.
American Scientist website.
What are some ways to make learning
How do you concisely encapsulate what more voice, they have more control over environments more innovative?
innovation means? what is going on in the classroom than Many times innovations come from ne-
Really, its about creating something if I was just getting up and telling the cessity. Having students in an uncom-
new, or looking at something in a very students what I know about a particular fortable environment, for me, is not such
new way. That new thing has value, so subject. I think one of the most daring a bad thing. Putting them in a situation
theres a value piece put onto innova- things Ive ever done is only write half a theyve never been in before, but giving
tion. You have seen something differ- syllabus for a course, and have the stu- them the confidence to be able to solve
ent, in something thats already there, dents write the second half. That free whatever it is thats before them, that
or something that is being created, and will motivates the student to think differ- problem that this unusual environment
you have seen that that has value. Its ently. They have confidence that they can gives them, really helps them with di-
like connecting the dots. I can see dots do something different, they can connect vergent thinking, and then having actu-
and I can connect them, but what I need the dots. And it doesnt have to be in the ally do something to solve the problem.
to do is see things that arent even there classroom; it could be outside the uni- I went to the Republic of Georgia
yet, and start to make some connections. versity or in the way clubs are run. The with some students many years ago,
Thats kind of an innovative way of amount of time a student spends in the from a university that had lots of equip-
thinking. Ive always thought that in or- classroom is actually quite small, com- ment and instrumentation, and we
der to create an innovative environment pared with all the learning they could be were doing some work on water. They
you need to have divergent thinking doing outside of the classroom as well. partnered with students from one of the
first. What are all the possibilities? What universities there, and those students
are all the crazy ideas? What are all the What can professors do to make their didnt have the same equipment or en-
things that are very different from the courses more innovative? vironment, yet they had to solve the
norm? Then you say, okay, from all of My job is to connect the science that Im same problem. They went about it in
the possibilities, what are some things teaching to what matters to students. I a very different way than my students
that make a lot of sense? What things used to teach cell biology. I also taught a did. I thought to myself, wow, that was
have value? How do we now move this course called Cancer. Cancer is cell biol- pretty innovative what they did. I won-
idea into an environment in which we ogy. When I taught Cancer, I made sure dered if my students would have been
have a lot more constricted possibili- that all the elements that I needed to able to figure that out, because Im not
ties? Its divergent thinking moved to a teach in cell biology were still taught, but giving them some uncomfortable en-
convergent type of thinking. in a very different way. This was, for me, vironment in which they dont have
a huge innovation. All of a sudden, it everything in front of them. So theres a
Do you think innovativeness can be had relevance to me. Everybody knows design piece to innovation.
learned, or is it an inherent trait? someone who has had to deal with can-
I believe that it is something that defi- cer. I did the same thing with immunol- How can you give students the con-
nitely can be learned. If we arent giv- ogy and HIV infection. Students cared dence to trust their own decisions in de-
ing students the freedom to think, the about learning about HIV and cancer. veloping innovative solutions?
freedom to take a real risk in being able Okay, they had to take cell biology and Things like free will allow students to
to connect to things that we might not immunology, but thats a very different take risks in an environment in which
guess would be related, then were ac- way of thinking about it. The motivation theyre not going to fail a grade or lose
tually in a mode to constrict their inno- behind everything that they learned was their scholarship. Giving them that kind
vative thinking and creativity. now very different. of environment in which they are a part
Motivation and free will I think are I also challenge students with more of solving something that has meaning,
very much part of the innovative pro- debate-style types of environments. I that will help society, that will solve a big
cess. Students who have free will make start out with a case study, give stu- problem, is going to be key.
us, as teachers, quite honestly a little un- dents a little bit of knowledge, and I dont think you have to teach a
comfortable, because it means they have then say, Okay, give me all the pos- separate course on innovation. I come
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from the idea that there are many like. These are the practices of some- and here is a lake. What do we see?
things that we can be doing in our one having free will and the ability to What do I see that you dont see? What
classrooms, with the content that we hear their voice and to feel good about do you see that I dont? Lets just look
have and in the time period that we themselves. at things in a very different way. Its
have with our students, that will give I used to have a camp in the summer great to be around a table, and some-
them some of those skills that allow for younger kids on creativity. I would times that works. Other times its good
them to connect dots in ways that they just give them odd things and say, Put to take a walk, take a look at the envi-
didnt know even existed. it together and tell me what you made. ronment that youre trying to problem
You could be teaching a course on They would come up with the most solve. If its something thats kind of
cell biology or biochemistry, and you marvelous type of different gadgets. intangible, then sometimes a drawing,
could still create an environment in The inventions wouldnt work most of visualizing something, is also really
which students are practicing the skills the time, but that didnt really matter. important. You can visualize some-
of innovation. Not until they come up The idea is to let them practice. thing in a different way than I can vi-
with the problem thats relevant to When my children were in fourth sualize it. Maybe when I see it in the
them will they maybe use it, but youve grade, I was asked to judge a sci- way that you see it, we can start to
got to be able to give them the free- ence fair, and I refused. If you have connect those dots.
dom to do things a little bit differently, all the kids bring in their collections, I think that surely theres not one
without such high risk, in an environ- and have a collection fair, I would do way or anothereverybodys differ-
ment that is not so stressful, and one that. All their collections get put into ent. My students love to learn by doing,
that takes into account their intrinsic little subgroups. My kids would have by having a voice, and by being active.
motivationintrinsic because they do shells, and they would bring in all the I believe in very active pedagogies of
it for its own sake. You can start con- shells that weve collected from all the engagement. That doesnt mean that
necting things to something that has beaches by state. Then theyd have a I actually learned that way. In fact, I
really great meaning to them. Those are second subclass that was shells that was a very quiet learner. I was a person
the kind of environments that I think are pink, shells that are white, and so who went to a lecture, took notes, and
are really important for the student. on. This type of fair is probably a bet- went into the library and closed that
ter way to have students think about little cubby hole door so I could concen-
How can innovative environments ex- science. Its looking at things, trying trate. Everybodys different, but thats
tend from the classroom to industry? to connect certain things, putting simi- the beauty of bringing different people
My industrial partners tell me that one lar things together, or things that are together to help solve problems.
of the best things for them is bringing very different together. Those are all
in students who know a little, but dont different ways of thinking. We have Has anything about studying innova-
know as much as they do. Then they to spend more time on the thinking tion in learning surprised you?
have a nice discussion with students aspects of innovation and a lot less on I learned something a few years ago
about what they think could be a solu- teaching to a test. that shocked me. I always would pride
tion. Partnerships are clearly important myself on being able to teach a course
to industry. Bringing in a mind that is How can we better foster an intrinsic in a way that was very clear. I thought
fully formed, but which may not have interest in innovative science in a more I could explain it in a way that it was
all of the content that experts have, al- diverse population? so clear to students, it was all laid out,
lows students to look at something in a I think this question brings up so how could they not get it? Then I
very different way, because they dont community-based sciencescience that did some research and looked at some
know what the norm is. These kinds helps a particular community. If you of the other aspects of learning, and
of partnerships with different skill look at a problem in your neighborhood found that actually that isnt such a
sets, and different, even generational, or home, one that is connected to you, good idea. I began to wonder why it
changes I think are really important. it has meaning to you, and you have is that helping a student totally un-
My industrial leaders tell me, theres the ability to think in a very different derstand how a particular mechanism
really nothing more exciting for them way. When it comes to getting a diverse works isnt actually that helpful to
than to sit down with a bunch of young group of people to study science, lets them? The research shows that you
people who have studied the same sub- think about where they live, how they have to confuse it just a little bit to let
jects they have, but studied them in a live, and what some of the problems are them unconfuse it, to let them learn it
very different way, and let them help that they have to deal with, and then we for themselves, to put themselves into
the team solve a problem. can show the power of science to solve the answer. You can give them your
problems that are relevant to them. answer and tell them exactly how it
How can we improve environments goes, but the reality is, in their minds,
for younger children to encourage in- What are the best ways for diverse they have to do it themselves. I can
novation and creativity? teams to be innovative together? remember being kind of shocked and I
Give them some time just to explore, I certainly think there are multiple thinking, Oh my gosh, all these years,
just to pick up a rock, look underneath, ways to do it. My very favorite way Ive just stressed these mechanisms
and tell a story about what kind of eco- is to go out into the environment in and how they work. When I taught
system is under there. Have them look which something exists that is of im- biochemistry, I would spend hours
up in the sky and create their own type portance. Lets all look at waste water. and hours on one lecture, and now
of constellation, and tell a story about Lets look at it from the point of view find that there should have been a little
what that constellation might look of, here is a factory, here is a wetlands, bit left for them to do.
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Briefings
I
n this roundup, digital features samples were prehistoric. Then, they used as carbon emissions from melting per-
editor Katie L. Burke summarizes molecular snares to capture only pieces mafrost could further exacerbate climate
notable recent developments in of genes particular to the mitochondria change, despite the Arctic and near-Arctic
scientic research, selected from reports of these hominins. Finding fossils is time- having been important carbon sinks in the
compiled in the free electronic newslet- consuming, so searching for DNA in the past. One question to study is how much
ter Sigma Xi SmartBrief. Online: _____
https:// sediment of places where hominins may of the CO2 being released now had been
www.smartbrief.com/sigmaxi/index.jsp have once lived is revolutionary. removed from the atmosphere decades
or centuries ago. Even though the exact
Slon, V., et al. Neandertal and Denisovan sources have yet to be specified, the dra-
Sieve Filters Salt from Seawater DNA from Pleistocene sediments. Science matic increase in emissions necessitates
A promising method of desalinating 356:605608 (May 12) attention. The Arctic has been warming at
water has been designed. Many desalina- double the rate observed elsewhere.
tion techniques, such as reverse osmosis New Dinosaur Family Tree?
methods, are energy-intensive. A sieve A proposed dinosaur family tree accounts Commane, R., et al. Carbon dioxide sources
could require less energybut achieving for more recent fossil discoveries as well from Alaska driven by increasing early winter
such nanoscale, precise pores has been a as longstanding evolutionary puzzles. The respiration from Arctic tundra. Proceedings of
challenge. conventional family tree, mostly unchal- the National Academy of Science of the U.S.A.
Graphene lenged for 130 years, categorized dino- doi:10.1073/pnas.1618567114 (May 8)
is a carbon- saurs by their hip shape and diet. Dino-
based, ultra- saurs with birdlike hips were plant-eaters. Support for Cool Early Earth
thin lattice The group with lizardlike hips was divided Analysis of the mineral grains from the
noted for its into a branch of herbivores and one of car- oldest rocks indicates that 4.4 billion years
durability. nivores. The proposed family tree groups ago, land on Earth was flat and almost
Graphene- the carnivores with the bird-hipped dino- entirely covered with water. The research
oxide mem- saurs, potentially explaining why birds are indicates that zircon mineral grains from
branes have been developed to filter out thought to have evolved from meat- Australia that date to
nanoparticles, organic molecules, and eating dinosaurs, which had been consid- when Earth was 160
larger salts, but filtering out common ered distinct from the bird-hipped dino- million years old were
salts requires uniform pores smaller than saurs. Both meat-eating and bird-hipped formed by melting old
1 nanometer. Previous research showed dinosaurs are thought to have had feath- igneous rocks rather than
that graphene-oxide membranes swell ers, but not the lizard-hipped ones. At the melting sediments, which
under water, which allows small salts base of the new evolutionary tree are fos- would have suggested that ma-
through. Placing an epoxy resin on either sils found in the United Kingdom, which jor continental collisions had occurred.
side of the membrane prevents its expan- suggests that the first dinosaurs emerged This result supports the theory that the
sion. Because the pores are about the size farther north than once thought. Howev- extreme conditions of Earths earliest days
of a water molecule, the water chains er, early fossils are so sparse that this idea were followed by a cool, quiet stage.
together and moves faster through the is debatable. Nevertheless, the new tree
sieve. The next step is to compare this de- suggests paleontologists should search for Burnham, A. D., and A. J. Berry. Formation
vice with other desalination techniques. such fossils in and around the United King- of Hadean granites by melting of igneous
dom. The proposed family tree will need crust. Nature Geoscience doi:10.1038/
The University of Manchester, MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology/ S. Tpke, John Valley
Abraham, J., et al. Tunable sieving of confirmation before it gains acceptance. ngeo2942 (May 8)
ions using graphene oxide membranes.
Nature Nanotechnology doi:10.1038/nna- Baron, M. G., D. B. Norman, and P. M. Bar- Homo naledis Age Determined
no.2017.21 (April 3) rett. A new hypothesis of dinosaur relation- The latest addition to the hominin fam-
ships and early dinosaur evolution. Nature ily tree, Homo naledi, has been dated
Hominin DNA Found in Cave Dirt doi:10.1038/nature21700 (March 23) to the late Middle Pleistocene, 335,000
Researchers were able to extract ancient to 236,000 years ago, which means it
Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA by Alaskan Tundra a Carbon Source could have mingled with Homo sapiens.
analyzing dust from five caves in Eurasia. A 40-year record of atmospheric carbon Phylogenetic analyses had suggested
Previously, DNA this old had been isolat- over Alaska indicates that the region that H. naledis mixture of ancestral and
ed from fos- has become a net source of carbon, de- derived traits indicated it lived as early
silized bones spite the carbon dioxide stored via plant as 900,000 years ago. But this study con-
but not from growth in boreal forests. Because the tun- firms the Middle Pleistocene dating with
sediment dra now freezes later in the fall, processes six independent methods using chemical
that might that release the greenhouse gas, such aging techniques of both the bones and
contain as decomposition and plant respiration, the surrounding sediment.
their genetic are extended. The record shows that CO2
scraps. Re- emissions during the months of October Dirks, P. H. G. M., et al. The age of Homo
searchers isolated the DNA from early through December have increased by 73 naledi and associated sediments in the
humans by first scanning sequences for percent since the 1970s. Climate scientists Rising Star Cave, South Africa. eLife
signs of degradation that indicated the have warned that positive feedbacks such doi:10.7554/eLife.24231 (May 9)
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Sightings
A Slow Split
The volcanic hotspot forming the Hawaiian islands split into two tracks
millions of years ago, but why?
S
oon after cartographers in the 19th century accurate- Australian National University, was that all the double
ly captured the relative locations of Hawai'is volca- tracks that occur in the Pacific occur around the same time.
noes, they observed that the volcanoes lie on sepa- They emerged simultaneously, which, in geological time
rate, roughly parallel tracks. For more than a century, scales, is between 2 and 4 million years ago.
the question of how those tracks occurred has intrigued Having teamed up with geoscientists from around the
geologists, who have since learned much more about world, Jones then worked to model the only thing that could
double-tracked volcanoes, which have formed at several account for the existence of multiple instances of double-
other places in the Pacific, too. tracked volcanoes: Around 3 million years ago, Earths larg-
What we recognized, says Tim Jones, a doctoral est tectonic platethe basin for the Pacific Oceanstarted
student in the Research School of Earth Sciences at to change direction.
161W
159W
157W
155W
Kaua'i
22N
Ni'ihau O'ahu
Ka'ula Moloka'i
Ko'olau W. Moloka'i
E. Moloka'i
W. Maui Maui
Penguin Bank
Haleakala
Lana'i
Kaho'olawe
Kohala
20N
Mahukona Mauna Kea
Hualalai Hawai'i
Kilauea
Mauna Loa
Lo'hi
Loa trend
Kea trend
18N
A map of Hawai'is islands and underwater terrain with plotted vol- tectonic plate moved relative to the Hawaiian mantle plume. Com-
canoes shows how one line of volcanic activity split into two (trends puter simulations suggest that the Hawaiian tracks will rejoin in the
named Loa and Kea), suggesting a change in how the Pacific future (dashed lines).
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formation of Hawai'i
5.0 million
years
5.0 million years
A still frame from an animation indicates how the changing direction formation of Hawai'i
of a tectonic plate (green) relative to the orientation of the magma plume
(red) leads to a double-track of volcanoes. Columns of magma (red and
blue cylinders) rising from different levels of the Earths mantle could
account for the differences between the chemical composition of the
lava erupting from each track of volcanoes.
2.5 million years
It wasnt the first time this tectonic shift had occurred.
Scientists first proposed in 1963 that the Pacific plate
took a sharp westerly turn about 4050 million years ago,
assuming that the hotspot beneath todays Hawaiian
islands itself has remained stationary. Sonar of the ocean floor
showed scientists at the time a straight line of seamounts
connecting the Hawaiian islands to the Midway Atoll. That
formation of Hawai'i
line extends to Yurikaku Seamount and then makes a sharp
turn to join the Emperor chain of seamounts, which extends
thousands of kilometers northward to the Aleutian trench.
Today, geologists also are equipped with data from the
Global Positioning System, core drilling, seismology, and
1.0 million years
mass spectroscopy, among other sources. To tie all that
data together, Jones and his colleagues created a computer
model that also needed to account for the observed differ-
ence between the chemical composition of lava erupting
from the volcanoes in each track.
All other previous explanations had invoked some
change in the mantle, Jones says, with the scientific con- Frames from an animation show the formation of the topography of the
sensus being that the Hawaiian hotspot forms from magma Hawaiian islands, with the red and blue cones representing volcanoes
rising from near the mantle-core boundary 3,000 kilometers along two trend lines. The two lines are hypothesized to have diverged
down. But there was no mechanism that would link these from one line between two and four million years ago as the Pacific
different processes to such widespread locations, namely, tectonic plate shifted direction relative to the magma plume.
the locations of the other double-tracked island chains.
The model Joness team created takes into account the tracks will merge back into one. The team published their
directional shift of the Pacific plate, the mantle plume research in the May 25 issue of Nature.
reorientation that lags behind that directional shift, and To further confirm the hypothesis, Jones says that
the proposition that lava composition varies based on samples from the other double-track volcanic chains, in
where the magma comes from: Kea-trend magma forms which the chemical composition of lava already has been
deep within in the Earths mantle at higher pressure and shown to vary for each track, need to be analyzed to see
temperatures, burning the hole in the Earths crust that whether that variation signals the same geologic processes
initiates the next volcano in the chain; as the tectonic plate hypothesized to be at work in Hawai'is double track.
moves over the melted zone, Loa-trend magma rises from We need also to look back along these very long chains
shallower levels in the mantle. and find out where else these double tracks have emerged
So as long as the plate direction is aligned with the plume in the past, Jones says. If we can link up those with more
orientation, both types of magma erupt from approximately changes in plate motion, then we can be more confident
the same location. At Kaua'ia volcanic island formed that there is a causal relationship between the changes in
before the splitanalyses of deep core samples support plate motion and the emergence of double tracks.
the hypothesis: Initial Kea-type basalts are covered over Whether or not the hypothesis holds, analyzing the com-
by Loa-type basalts. A tectonic shift, however, may cause positional differences in magma from these double-tracked
the sequential magma flows to form volcanoes at different volcanoes is helping geologists better understand the pro-
geographic locations, forming two tracks. As plate direction cesses deep within Earths mantle, something that can only
stabilizes, the mantle plume reorients to match and the two be sampled from here at the surface.Robert Frederick
View the animations in this articles online version: http://amsci.org/article/a-slow-split

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Technologue
The Two Faces of Nanotechnology

Concern about toxicity of nanoparticles is balanced by the potential of nanomedicine.
Omowunmi Wunmi Sadik
I
n 2010, Evelyn Sorensen, an art Medicine is not the only area in Defining Nanotechnology
history professor in Arizona and a which materials on the nanoscale have Nanotechnology is a transformational
patient with stage II cervical can- made large forays. The past two de- science with the goal of building de-
cer that had spread to her lymph cades have seen extensive research into vices and structures that have every
nodes, was told by her doctor to go on the design and fabrication of materi- atom in the proper place. Nanoscience
vacation and say goodbye to her family, als ranging in size from one to a few transcends the boundaries of tradi-
because she had a year to live. As she nanometers. This global research en- tional scientific disciplines and works
described in newspaper reports, rather deavor is commonly known as nanosci- at a scale where chemistry, physics,
than resign herself to this gloomy predic- ence or nanotechnology. The number of material science, and civil, electrical,
tion, Sorensen insisted on seeing a list of finished products that are incorporat- biomedical, and mechanical engineer-
clinical trials and learned of one in Cam- ing nanomaterials is growing at a rapid ing converge. We are seeing the effect
bridge, Massachusetts, where a com- pace. The Nanotechnology Consumer of nanoscience on almost everything,
pany called BIND Biosciences was us- Products Inventory online database, including medicine, the automotive in-
ing super-small nanotechnology drones published by the Woodrow Wilson dustry, energy, agriculture, consumer
to attack tumors. She joined a trial run International Center for Scholars, lists products, and even entertainment.
by Daniel Von Hoff of the Translational more than 1,600 nanotechnology-based Nanotechnology is such a broad field
Genomics Research Institute in Phoe- consumer products on the market. that it defies a simple definition. Typical-
nix, Arizona, and her tumors shrank 70 Scientists and investors are shifting ly, it is described as a science concerned
percent after her first treatment. Several toward broader, application-oriented with the control of matter at the scale
years later, even though she was still on areas such as healthcare and biomedi- of atoms and molecules. Nano comes
medication, doctors confirmed that her cal sectors. In a 2013 report, the tech- from the Greek word for dwarf, nnos
body still showed no evidence of cancer. nology market research firm Lux Re- or nnnos. A nanometer is one billionth
The clinical treatment Sorensen used search concluded that government of a meter: Its almost too small to com-
is called BIND-014, a chemically coated support for nanotechnology continues prehend. Scientists and engineers have
nanoparticle designed to search for ma- to decline from a peak of $8.3 billion in described nanometers using everyday
lignant cells and deliver potent doses of 2009. Several countries have folded their objects. For example, the National Nano-
the chemotherapy drug docetaxel. The nanotechnology programs and merged technology Initiative equates 1 nanome-
particle allows the drug to selectively them into other science and technology ter to about 100,000 times smaller than
collect at the cancer site, dramatically programs. But Lux also predicted that, the diameter of a human hair, or 1,000
enhancing its effectiveness. Developed despite the decline in funding for nano- times smaller than a red blood cell, or
by Omid Farokhzad at Harvard Medi- technology, revenues from nanomateri- about half the size of the diameter of
cal School, along with researchers at the als and intermediate-scale products such DNA. Sometimes researchers simply,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as coatings, memory chips, and catalysts and rather unhelpfully, say its really,
BIND-014 has been in phase II trials for are generating an aggregate net profit. really small. The late chemist Sir Harry
various cancers, and positive results The nanomaterials market, the report Kroto compared the nanometer to the
have been reported in nonsmall-cell said, will continue to grow, reaching $3.2 size of a human head in relation to the
lung cancer. Results in other trials, how- trillion by 2018. Although toxicologists size of the planet. Even that is difficult to
ever, were sufficiently mixed to put the are concerned with the potentially del- intuitively grasp or visualize.
company into a brief period of financial eterious environmental and health ef- Physicist Richard Feynman was one of
jeopardy, emphasizing the newness and fects of extensive exposure to materials the first to conceive of nanotechnology,
potential volatility of this industry. or particles with a diameter of less than describing its philosophical underpin-
100 nanometers, recent commercializa- nings in his 1959 lecture Theres Plenty
tion successes in the nanomedicine sec- of Room at the Bottom. The word nano-
Omowunmi Wunmi Sadik is a professor of
bioanalytical and environmental chemistry at the
tors are generating excitement among technology was first proposed by Norio
State University of New York at Binghampton. biotech companies, investors, and phar- Taniguchi, who in 1974 gave an account
She received her PhD from the University of maceutical firms. Nanomedicine is start- of a new technology in which materi-
Wollongong, Australia. She is a Sigma Xi Distin- ing to look like the white knight for this als could be controlled and engineered
guished Lecturer. Email: _____________
osadik@binghamton.edu struggling, yet promising, field. beyond the micrometer scale. Scientists
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now have reported the existence of both

naturally occurring and engineered
nanoparticles. Naturally occurring
nanoparticles include ocean spray, forest
fire emissions, dust storms, volcanic ash,
and biological particles such as proteins
that have a typical size of 5 nanome-
ters. Humans have long been exposed
to naturally occurring nanoparticles re-
sulting from combustion, and the hu-
man body is, for the most part, well
adapted to protect itself from these
potentially harmful intruders.
Image by Digizyme
Human-made nanoparticles
may be involved in incidental
exposure. They fall into two
categories. Those in the first
category have no predeter-
mined size and may exhibit
undefined chemistry. Exam-
ples are combustion particu-
lates, diesel exhaust, welding
fumes, and coal fly ash. Those A computer-
in the second category are known generated model of the
as engineered nanoparticles and drug BIND-014 shows
range in size from 1 to 100 nano- the self-assembled outer
meters. They are pure materials lipid layer that encloses a che-
with controlled surfaces and de- motherapy drug, releasing it
fined sizes and shapes. Engineered only when the nanoparticle targets
a tumor cell.
nanomaterials are comparable in di-
mension to the smallest naturally oc-
curring nanoparticles, and are primar-
ily composed of carbon, metal, metal
oxides, and biological constructs, such pathogens. NanoMarket, an industry Such biochemical sensors will take ad-
as liposomes and viruses designed for analytic firm, predicts continued growth vantage of unusual phenomena at the
gene or drug delivery. for nanosensors in a myriad of applica- nanoscale to assess disease markers.
tions. The firm expects key growth driv-
A Range of Applications ers to be improved sensitivity and the Nano Versus Chemical Structures
Through the new skill sets of nanofab- ability to concurrently detect multiple When small-scale devices such as
rication, it is now possible for scientists computer chips are created, they are
and engineers to precisely build almost etched out of a bulk silicon substrate.
any nanomaterial. Such materials can In contrast, nanostructured materials
be used to convert energy efficiently, Biochemical sensors are built by adding one substance to
deliver medical nanocapsules or drugs, can take advantage another to alter or improve various
target crops with herbicides and pes- qualities. So whereas silicon microma-
ticides, and improve drug solubility of phenomena at the chining works in the range of 0.2 mi-
and bioavailability. Applications of pre- crometers, basic sizes in nanotechnol-
cisely built nanostructures have also in-
nanoscale to assess ogy are about an atomic diameter of
cluded nanochip components in com- disease markers. 0.0008 micrometers.
puters and radio-frequency tags, used Molecules designed for a specific
to automatically identify and track food function have always been a familiar
products and animals. Researchers at chemical compounds. NanoMarket also part of modern chemistry. But unlike
IBM, Hewlett Packard, and elsewhere predicts continuous development of chemistry, nanotechnology is not lim-
are assembling nanoscale logic circuits nanotechnology tools. Gaining insights ited to the attraction and association of
between individual carbon nanotubes into nanoscale phenomena will be cru- molecules and ions in solution. Once
and nanowires, nanotransistors, and cial to improving the performance of ex- a specific bottom-up process for
nanoswitches. They can fit in much less isting nanosensors. Not only would this building atomically precise structures
space than current silicon transistors, affect the sensor market, it could also has been worked out, the design of
and are faster and cooler. support researchers in the development new nanomachines and nanofabrica-
Nanotechnology-enabled sensors of nanosensors that are based on inno- tion systems closely resembles me-
are found in personal health monitors vative mechanisms. Transformational chanical engineering. The method can
and environmental detectors capable opportunities for nanotechnology are be applied to both small individual
of detecting contaminants, toxins, and expected in novel sensing applications. parts and large systems.
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1
Tumour cell
+ + 9
CDP siRNA AD-PEG
AD-PEG-Tf
Nucleus
AAA
RISC 8
AAA
RISC 7
siRNA
6
5
2 Intracellular 4
drug release
Another nanoparticle-encapsulated can-
Endocytosis cer treatment combines a delivery particle
(shown at 1, composed of AD-PEG, ada-
mantane polyethylene glycol; CDP, cyclo-
Tumour cells
dextrin-based polymer; and Tf, transfer-
rin) with small interfering RNA (siRNA)
that disrupts the cancer cells RNA. Once
3
infused (2), the compound flows through
blood vessels (3) and attaches to tumor
Blood ow cells (4). When inside the cells (5), the
particles release siRNA (6) that interacts
Leaky vasculature Nanoparticle with the RNA-induced silencing complex
(RISC) (7). Modified RISC cuts the cells
mRNA (8), which prevents proper protein
Tumour boundary
synthesis (9). (Image courtesy of Mark E.
Davis, from MRS Bulletin 37:828835.)
In a conventional chemical reaction, ticles. Other challenges are linked to Nanomedicine presents an alter-
bonds hold atoms together, and reac- the fact that many existing nanotech- native approach to improving the
tants are thus held in accurate orienta- nologies are not sustainable because delivery of anticancer drugs by en-
tions that promote the lowest level of they require the use of large quantities hancing targeted drug delivery. Anti-
free energy. Every reactant has a dis- of energy, water, and solvents. In ad- cancer compounds that are attached to
crete amount of energy. The rearrange- dition, some existing nanomanufac- nanoparticles, such as quantum dots
ment of atoms that occurs in a chemical turing processes use nonrenewable and carbon nanotubes, are efficiently
reaction is always accompanied by the materials, and further, their effects on being carried through cells and tissues
liberation or absorption of heat. Break- human health are not clearly under- to be taken up by cells. When nanopar-
ing a bond uses energy, and forming a stood. Researchers are studying safe ticles are within the relatively large
bond gives off energy. In nanotechnol- and sustainable alternatives, but they size range of 10 to 100 nanometers,
ogy, the same reactions are performed have unanswered questions regarding they cant cross or pass through tight-
by a molecular mill, in which the the safety of some nanomaterials. ly packed cell linings into the neigh-
reactants are held in accurate orienta- boring tissues. However, when drug
tions by jigs on belts and then pressed A Potential Nano Poster Child molecules are attached to the particles,
together at the proper angle and force. As the nanomedicine industry contin- they retain stability in the bloodstream
The belts move as the reaction occurs, ues to grow, it is expected to have a while maintaining their integrity until
such that a single station catalyzes more significant effect on the economy, par- they reach the targeted tumor. These
than a million reactions per second. ticularly in the medical field. nanoparticle-drug conjugates are able
However, the rapid development Nanomedicine employs various to target only cancer cells because of
of nanotechnology and the increas- nanoparticles, particularly to diag- their size, shape, and surface character-
ing production of nanomaterial-based nose and treat cancer. Most anticancer istics. Ultimately, their selectivity maxi-
products and processes present both drugs in clinical trials have been hin- mizes the drugs effects on cancer cells,
great opportunities and challenges. dered by their general toxicity and lack leaving healthy cells intact and produc-
There are a number of unresolved of selectivity, as they kill both normal ing fewer side effects for patients.
questions about free, uncontained and cancerous cells. Significant efforts BIND-014, the drug that helped
nanoparticles. Researchers are look- are underway to find anticancer drugs Evelyn Sorensen, is one of the most
ing for ways to distinguish between that can selectively target cancerous promising of the nanoparticles used
anthropogenic, incidental, and natu- cells and tissues, leaving healthy tis- in targeted drug delivery. Having
rally occurring sources of nanopar- sues untouched. cleared the safety testing of phase I
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clinical trials, it is now in phase II tri- applications in drug delivery. In chem- to the increased awareness of past
als to test its efficacy in treating lung ical terms, derivatization is a technique mistakes made when commercializ-
and prostate cancer. BIND-014 is as- in which a compound is transformed ing new technologies, and the com-
sembled from polymeric strings that into a product of similar chemical mitment of the community to the safer
spontaneously fold to form a particle. structure. The resulting material is development of nanotechnology.
The polymers are interspersed with then called a derivative. The congress also acknowledged
targeted molecules or ions, which bind However, regulators, health person- that some aspects of the science could
to another molecule and are designed nel, environmentalists, health advocates, have been done differently. For exam-
to link the particles to cancer cells. This and some other members of the general ple, measuring the dose range used
self-assembly process makes it easier public have increasing concerns about in nanotoxicology research is chal-
to reproduce the molecule in batches exposure to carbon nanotubes. Numer- lenging. Sometimes the dose used in
and may ultimately provide unique ous studies have found that their intro- a study is so high that it has no rel-
advantages for translating the technol- duction into the lungs of mice, rats, and evance in the real world, leading to
ogy for clinical applications. guinea pigs may result in granuloma, findings of questionable value. There
Another promising anticancer drug inflammation, and fibrosis. Multiwalled are other unanswered questions re-
is CALAA-01, a combination of the lated to the development of standard
delivery particle RONDEL and the methods of assessing nanotoxicity.
small interfering RNA (siRNA) mol- While advances in To this end, the congress set up the
ecule, which inhibits tumor growth by Sustainable Nanotechnology Organi-
affecting the function of the cancerous nanomedicine are zation (http://www.susnano.org) to
cells RNA. The siRNA in CALAA-01 establish the economic, ethical, and
is protected from degradation within a
allowing tailored societal benefits of nanotechnology.
stabilized nanoparticle and has been in drug delivery, other Overall, the researchers in this field
phase Ib clinical trials. recognize the need to develop char-
developments are acterization parameters, metrological
Nanotoxicology
It can be challenging to define all the
generating health and tools, novel instrumentation, and pro-
tocols that can provide information on
distinctive physical, chemical, or bio- environmental concerns. the interactions of engineered nano-
logical features of nanoscale particles. materials with biological and environ-
That difficulty only adds to the con- mental systems.
cern that these new materials could carbon nanotubes have been shown to In this proactive environment, al-
have a number of potential causes of exhibit increased toxicity when inhaled, though debate continues regarding
toxicity. Nanostructures have elec- ingested, or exposed to the skin. Carbon concerns and new biomedical applica-
tronic, optical, and magnetic proper- nanotubes are particularly troublesome tions, it is clear that the two faces of
ties that are related to their physical because their length-to-width ratio is nanotechnology remain divided be-
dimensions, and when these nano- similar to that of asbestos, whose fibrous tween benefits and risks.
structures break down, they could de- crystals cause lung cancer, mesotheli-
velop toxic effects that are difficult to oma, and asbestosis. However, many Bibliography
predict. Nanostructured surfaces can of these studies possess no supporting Bello, D., and D. T. Leong. 2017 Editorial: A
get involved in catalytic and oxida- epidemiological data, indicating a sig- decade of nanotoxicology: Assessing the
tive reactions and be more toxic than nificant gap in research. impact on human health and the environ-
ment, Nanoimpact 7:1516.
similar but larger-scale materials be- While advances in nanomedicine
cause of their higher area-to-volume are allowing scientists to tailor drug Bonner J. C. 2010. Nanoparticles as a poten-
tial cause of pleural and interstitial lung
ratio. Moreover, some nanostructured delivery chemistry and identify vari- disease. Proceedings of the American Thoracic
materials contain toxic metals or com- ous nanoparticle constituents, other Society 7:138141.
pounds that can be released as the par- developments in the field are gener- Drexler, K. E. 1986. Engines of Creation: The
ent material breaks down. ating health and environmental con- Coming Era of Nanotechnology. New York:
One class of engineered nanopar- cerns. The 8th International Nano- Anchor Books.
ticles of major concern is carbon toxicology Congress, or Nanotox2016, Duan, X., Y. Huang, Y. Cui, and C. Lieber. 2010.
nanotubes. More than 5,000 patents was held in Boston last year with the Indium phosphide nanowires as building
blocks for nanoscale electronic and opto-
have already been issued for carbon theme Decade of Nanotoxicology: Impact electronic devices. Nature 409:6669.
nanotubes, and there are about an- on Human Health and the Environment.
Sadik, O. A. 2013. Anthropogenic nanopar-
other 50,000 varieties of them overall. With dozens of talks on the schedule, ticles in the environment. Environmental Sci-
The most common categories are ei- the meeting was one of the largest ence: Processes and Impact 15:1920.
ther those that have several concentric congregations of nanotoxicologists in Schulte, P. A., and D. B. Trout, 2011. Nanoma-
walls, called multiwalled, or those that the world. Critically examining the terials and worker health: Medical surveil-
are made from one layer, called single- past decade of nanotoxicology, pan- lance, exposure registries, and epidemio-
walled. Carbon nanotubes are highly els of experts argued in favor of two logic research. Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine 53:S3S7.
desirable for applications in electron- significant successes. The first is the
ics, structural engineering, and medi- evolution of nanotoxicology as a truly Taniguchi, N. 1974. On the Basic Concept of
NanoTechnology. In Proceedings of the In-
cine because of their unique electrical interdisciplinary field outside of its ternational Conference on Production Engi-
conductivity, mechanical strength, and traditional core disciplines. Second, neering. Tokyo: Japan Society of Precision
the ease of derivatization for custom the congress attributed this evolution Engineering.
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Engineering
Bright Light or Blight Over Brighton?

A superslender structure rising from the beach at the British seaside resort
meets engineering challenges better than architectural ones. So whats new?
Henry Petroski
T
he seaside resort town of haps most notably, during World War engineers to explain how it happened.
Brighton, England, has been I it was used as a hospital for Indian Because eyewitness accounts of such
the location of famous struc- soldiers, who may have felt somewhat events are notoriously unreliable, engi-
tures for centuries. Perhaps its more at home recuperating under the neers such as John Scott Russell turned
most famous, the Royal Pavilion, trac- Indo-Saracenic architecture. to mathematical models. He provided
es its roots to the late 1700s, when the Over the years, the Royal Pavilion one of the earliest explanations of how
Prince of Wales, who would become suffered damage from various fires and the wind could set up uncontrolled os-
King George IV, used it in its early hurricanes, and in recent decades it has cillations in such a structure and thereby
forms as a retreat from London. With its been the object of ongoing reconstruc- formed a basis for proposing remedial
proximity to the salt water of the Eng- tion, as are so many historically sig- actions to prevent the same kind of fail-
lish Channel, the location promised to nificant buildings in England. During ure from occurring again. Unfortunately,
be beneficial in providing relief for his a visit to the works in the 1990s, before not all lessons of history are remembered
gout. In 1815 the pleasure palace was squeezing through small access doors for or heeded, and events leading up to the
expanded by the Regency architect John an insiders tour of the roof and dome failure of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in
Nash in a style evocative of Indian and structures of the Pavilion, I was given the northwestern United States in 1940
Islamic architecture, complete with a jumpsuit and hard hat to protect my (the subject of this column in MayJune
multiple bulbous domes and slender clothes and body from the accumulated 2009) bore many resemblances to those
minarets that towered over the seaside dust and debris. I was awed by the many that had taken place a century earlier
resort. As has been the case for many a complex and ingenious engineering so- involving the chain pier.
grand structure, ongoing construction lutions to difficult structural problems Today, there is a new engineering
of the Royal Pavilion spanned eras, and that are present under the domes. Com- and architectural controversy in Brigh-
its large principal dome was among plicated geometry had to be mastered to ton, concerning a recently completed
the earliest to be completed using cast shape the Pavilion into the grand and ex- groundbreaking structure. This time it is
iron in a domestic setting. Because the pansive royal palace and now the tourist neither a sprawling pleasure palace nor
heavy dome could not be supported by attraction that it has become. a long-reaching chain bridge. Rather, it is
the existing walls of the original timber Just a couple of blocks from the Pa- a unique structure consisting of a verti-
structure, Nash devised a system of iron vilion was the Royal Suspension Chain cal steel cylinder 3.9 meters in diameter
columns to provide the necessary ring Pier, which in the 1820s jutted out into reaching a height of 162 meters, making
of bearing elements. the Channel and served as a dead-end it tower over Brighton like an industrial
The structure ceased being a royal promenade on which people could get smokestack does over a factory complex.
property in 1850, after Queen Victoria, closer to the cooling offshore breezes. It The structures height-to-diameter ratio
who did not feel she could achieve suf- was simply called Chain Pier, a name being in excess of 40 makes it the worlds
ficient privacy in this idiosyncratic pal- that referred to its walkway being sup- most slender tower, a claim validated by
ace hemmed in by the town, allowed ported from above by a series of iron the arbiter Guinness World Records.
it to be sold to the town of Brighton, links, making it structurally equivalent As if that werent enough of an oddity
which kept referring to it by its historic to a suspension bridge, a structural form for something located so close to the tide
name. The Royal Pavilion has served whose behavior in the wind was not ful- line of a town with nary a skyscraper by
many purposes since that time, includ- ly understood at the time. The pleasure big city standards, the chimneylike mon-
ing being used as the venue for various pier became infamous for being partially strosity is fitted with an annular obser-
civic and community functions. Per- and fully destroyed by storms, and it vation pod that rides up and down the
had to be rebuilt several times during cylindrical shaft to give as many as 200
Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of the 19th century. It was succeeded by a visitors at a time a remarkable lift from
Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke Palace Pier in the 1890s. terra firma to a height of 138 meters.
University. His most recent book is The Road Taken: Like all structural failures, however, (The pod stops short of the top of the
The History and Future of Americas Infrastruc- the destruction of the original chain pier stack because of equipment concealed
ture. Address: Box 90287, Durham, NC 27708. provided a challenge to contemporary above that level.) Because the structure,
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The 162-meter-tall observation tower known as the British Airways i360, located on the shorefront towers hollow core, and the aerody-
in Brighton, England, has a height-to-diameter ratio in excess of 40, making it the worlds most namically shaped observation pod serve
slender tower. (Photograph by Kevin Meredith, courtesy of British Airways i360.) to keep vibrations under control.
Most supertall buildings are stead-
officially called the British Airways i360, building rises, because the upper ones ied against wind-induced vibrations
is backed by the airline, the ride to the do not need to carry as much burden as by tuned-mass dampers, which typically
apex is called a flight. From that van- the lower ones on which they rest. Thus consist of heavy weights connected to
tage point, pod passengers can look out in the Brighton shaft, the cans are of de- the main structure through springs and
due south over the water on an axis that creasing inside diameter and thickness hydraulic actuators. But the i360 uses
contains the remnants of the 300-meter- as they reach skyward. But the outside an alternative, a tuned liquid damper
long West Pier. This commercial com- diameter of the shaft had to remain con- system, in which the water in a partial-
petitor of the Chain Pier consisted of stant for the lifting mechanism to work ly filled tank is allowed to slosh around
a (nonroyal) pavilion and concert hall smoothly, relying as it does on a cable- when movement begins. We have all
built over the water and connected to car or elevatorlike principle. A 90-metric- experienced the significant forces that
the mainland via a promenade; it was ton solid steel counterweight is located can be involved in such an arrange-
open from 1866 to 1975 but was burned inside the hollow tube, along with guide ment when we have tried to carry a
by arson in 2003. Due north, almost 90 rails, access ladders, and other mechani- bowl of water across a room without al-
kilometers inland, is London, a short cal and maintenance equipment. lowing its sloshing to get out of control.
day trip away. Riders in the pod can take Because the same winds that dam- But if the liquid system near the top of a
in the 180 degrees worth of views in be- aged the Pleasure Palace and destroyed building or tower is filled to an optimal
tween to the east and west. Set in this flat the Chain Pier over the years could level (or tuned) and allowed to slosh in
landscape, the observation tower is an wreak havoc with the slender cylinder, it a contained way, that movement can act
exclamation point in the skyline. had to be fitted with vibration suppress- to suppress the undesirable movement
The structural engineering achieve- ing devices. In tall industrial chimneys, of the overall structure. The computer-
ments embodied in this doughnut on such devices often take the form of heli- calculated and computer-controlled pa-
a stick are many. Anchored in chalky cally wound protrusions that break up rameters for the damping in the i360
soft bedrock, its 3-meter-deep founda- and redirect the wind, and so prevent are what make it an intelligent struc-
tion contains 4,150 metric tons of con- it from reinforcing and amplifying any ture; hence the i in its name. All in all,
crete. Rising from it are the 17 pipelike transverse movement of the smokestack the i360 and its attendant systems com-
steel segments (referred to as cans) to the point of its tearing itself apart. In prise an elegant engineering solution to
that were stacked one atop another and the case of the Brighton shaft, it is clad in a daring architectural concept.
bolted together to make up the shaft. perforated 5-millimeter-thick aluminum The tower was the brainchild of the
But the cans are not identical. In a sky- panels that not only give the structure husband-and-wife team of David Marks
scraper or supertall building, the indi- its architectural texture but also serve to and Julia Barfield, who also conceived
vidual floor-to-ceiling columns can be diffuse the wind pressure. In addition, of the gigantic London Eye observa-
reduced in diameter or thickness as the a damping system, located within the tion wheel that turns on the banks of
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Out-of-the-ordinary structures have

long attracted both praise and opposi-
tion from the engineering and artistic
communities alike. It happened in 1851
when the starkly non-Victorian design
for an iron-and-glass building to house
the Great Exhibition of the Works of
Industry of All Nations in Londons
Hyde Park was revealed in the popu-
lar pressa mid-19th-century example
of a leak to the news mediaafter the
deadline for a design competition had
passed without producing a satisfactory
winner. The design proposed by Joseph
Paxton, an estate master gardener by
profession, was such a radical departure
from contemporary architectural prac-
tice that it suffered attacks from many
fronts. Nevertheless, the practicality of
In June 2015, the cans that would be assembled into the British Airways i360 tower were arranged the design was immediately evident
on the Brighton beachfront. (Photograph by Kevin Meredith, courtesy of British Airways i360.) to those with decision-making power,
and construction of what was to become
the Thames near the Houses of Parlia- are wont to do, they soon christened the known as the Crystal Palace proceeded
ment. For the Brighton structure, Marks engineering achievement with derisive on the fast track, which was necessary
Barfield Architects, as the couples prac- nicknames, including supersized lol- if the building was to open in time for
tice is known, engaged the international lipop and iSore. As ordinary people what became the first Worlds Fair.
engineering firm Jacobs, and the struc- more interested in function than form As happens with many architectural
tural design work was done by a team flocked to try out the uplifting experi- and engineering designs, the Crystal
based in Manchester led by the chartered ence for themselves, one critic saw the Palace evolved to its final form even
engineer John Roberts, who was also the long lines as flight delays. as it was under construction. The most
principal engineer for the London Eye. There were also admirers, who prominent alteration was an arched
As with that project, there was interna- praised the minimalist beauty of the new central transept to enclose trees on the
tional participation in the fabrication landmark, especially when it was lit up site, obviating the need to fell them,
at night. The architects naturally present-
ed their brainchild using its most posi-
Out-of-the-ordinary tive attributes, terming it the worlds
structures have long first vertical cable car and a vertical
pier. But the view south, of the remains
attracted both praise of the West Pier, is a stark reminder that
no matter how grand it once was, any
and opposition from the imposing structure or system can in time
engineering and artistic be reduced to a skeleton of its former self.
(This is effectively the thesis of an out-
communities alike. standing new book by James Crawford,
who makes his case about the lives and
and construction of the 46-million deaths of historys greatest buildings
(about $60-million) Brighton enterprise. through a score of examples spanning
But the finer points of an engineering seven millennia and five continents.)
project are often lost in the hoopla of But in Brighton it was the critics who
promoting the physical product, and the most caught the ear of reporters record-
i360 was no exception. When it opened ing the towers opening. They quoted
last August, for 15 (about $20), pay- dissenters calling the structure a mas-
ing customers could finally experience a sively thuggish presence that domi-
ride in the observation pod up to hover neeringly bullies the eye away from the
height and walk on air, in much the grand, unbroken expanse of our sea-
same way that Victorians walked on front. One critic said it was little more
water on the nearby pier. In spite of the than an industrial, chimneylike pole. A
spectacular view from the top of the Sus- student of international security and ter-
sex coast and beyond, some critical visi- rorism considered the tower a bad fit
tors returned to groundif they left it at for Brighton. He said that he appreciated An illustration of the Crystal Palace, which
allto ridicule the experience, accusing the feat of engineering that went into opened in London in 1851, shows the transept
Brighton of hosting a monumental and building the i360, but he maintained added to enclose trees on the site that environ-
glorified marketing tool. As the British that it just doesnt suit Brighton. mentalists of the time didnt want cut down.
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air amid the strong gusts so familiar to

visitors to the Windy City.
Among things that were common to
these record-breaking structures were
that they were built in large cities, and
for venues to which many hundreds
of thousands, if not millions, of people
were confidently expected to be avail-
able to pay an admission fee to enter,
climb, or ride them. They were thus, in
short, also entrepreneurial enterprises
for which their backers expected a hand-
some return on their investment. Al-
though the erection of the London Eye
Ferris wheel was planned to coincide
with the global celebrations at the turn
of a new millennium, its location prom-
ised a continuing stream of visitors and
paying customers. A similar observation
The view from the towers observation pod as it rises and falls includes the Brighton coastline, holds true for Pariss Eiffel Tower.
shown here to the west. (Photograph by Kevin Meredith, courtesy of British Airways i360.) The choices of the geometry of the
i360 and of Brighton for its location were
because they were defended by envi- and denounced it as the product of the made largely on economic grounds.
ronmentalists of the day. As the struc- baroque, mercantile imaginings of a Although the London Eye has accom-
ture rose, some engineers warned that machine builder. The Parisian towers modated in excess of 4 million visitors
the broad-surfaced building would be chief engineer, Gustave Eiffel, defended annually, it was designed to have a
susceptible to being blown down in it as beautiful in its own right and de- throughput of 3 million to be a viable
the wind; others warned that its gal- clared that it should not be judged by investment. For venues such as Brigh-
leries, which they saw as bridgelike, traditional aesthetic values: ton, where between 0.5 and 1.5 million
could come tumbling down under the paying visitors a year were all that could
Can one think that because we are
tramp of the large crowds expected to be expected, it was obvious to Marks
engineers, beauty does not preoc-
use them. Because there was precedent Barfield that a different design was called
cupy us or that we do not try to
for bridges collapsing under soldiers for. In spite of the aesthetic ridicule the
build beautiful, as well as solid
marching in step, this failure scenar- i360 has received, by all early economic
and long lasting structures? Arent
io was credible, and opposition was measures, they made the right choices.
the genuine functions of strength
quelled only after a mockup of a gallery In the first months of its operation,
always in keeping with unwritten
section was marched over and stomped the i360 hosted more than 200,000 visi-
conditions of harmony? . . . Besides,
uponin the presence of Queen Victo- tors, and projections were that it would
there is an attraction, a special
ria herself, no lessby a team of con- carry about 700,000 paying customers
charm in the colossal to which or-
struction workers known as sappers. annually. At 15 a pop, that amounts
dinary theories of art do not apply.
The Crystal Palace provided the to an annual revenue stream of 3 mil-
model for a signature structure to be as- The Eiffel Tower did set a new stan- lion (about $4 million). Depending on
sociated with Worlds Fairs, and among dard for iconic structures, and when how much of that revenue is spent on
the most well-known and enduring is the Columbian Exposition was late in maintenance and operationsand pos-
the tower, constructed for the Universal the planning stages, Chicago engineers sible dividends to the investorsthe
Exposition held in Paris in 1889. This and architects were challenged to outdo capital investment could be paid off in
300-meter-tall wrought iron tower, un- the fin-de-sicle Parisian landmark. The about 20 years. The life of the struc-
London Metropolitan Archives/Bridgeman Images
precedented at the time, was almost young engineer George Washington ture can be expected to be much longer
unanimously opposed by the Parisian Gale Ferris, who was familiar with the than that, during which time residents
artistic community as an industrial- new structural material steel, devised a of and visitors to Brighton are likely to
looking blight on the classical architec- dynamic mechanical structurethere come to see the i360 not as odd but as
ture of the storied French city. Never- may be no better way to describe it more than even. And they are likely to
theless, the scale of the technical feat that he likened to putting something of come to take in stride its presence as a
captivated the public, which marveled the scale of the Eiffel Tower on an axle distinctive part of the skyline.
at the engineering accomplishment. and causing it to rotate. This became
Still, in contrast to Alexander Popes the Ferris Wheel, of course, and it was a Selected Bibliography
assertion (published a century and a half great hit at the 1893 exposition. Any nay- Bilefsky, D. 2016. A slim tower opens to ridicule
earlier in his Essay on Man) that in nature sayers about Ferriss concept were quiet- in England. New York Times, August 5, p. A8.
Whatever is, is right, members of the ed when they saw his calculated method Crawford, J. 2017. Fallen Glory: The Lives and
artistic communityincluding the writ- of erecting the giant bicycle wheel and Deaths of Historys Greatest Buildings. New
ers Guy de Maupassant and Alexandre the ability of the completed structure York: Picador.
Dumas, filsconsidered the unnatural to function safely, even as its occupants Reid, R. L. 2017. Walking on air. Civil Engineering,
tower an offense to French good taste rode in its cars some 250 feet up in the January, pp. 5055, 80.
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The Colonial Origins of

Tropical Field Stations
To confront persistent geographic and demographic biases in environmental
science, researchers must understand the history of their field sites.
Megan Raby
I
n 1896, an American plant scien- lish field stationsplaces where they have looked at how wealth, security,
tist named Daniel T. MacDou- could study tropical life in situ. and investment in science shape the
gal warned of a bias in botanical Thanks in large part to the tropical distribution of fieldwork, and have
knowledge. The study of living stations established in the decades fol- also examined the implications of this
plants, he told the readers of Botani- lowing this call to action, biologists unevenness for both basic science and
cal Gazette, rested largely upon the have a fuller picture of the diversity of conservation efforts.
results of researches carried on in the life on Earth than they did a century Current social and economic data
north temperate zone. European and ago. Yet the bias that worried Mac- can tell only part of the story, however.
North American scientists tended to Dougal has not disappeared. Although Ecologists have concentrated their ef-
study organisms in the familiar, tem- tropical environments are much bet- forts in Panama and Costa Rica large-
perate environments that they found ter understood than in MacDougals ly for historical reasons. These coun-
close at hand. They understood tropi- day, they remain significantly under- tries are home to some of the worlds
cal plants and animals primarily from represented in current field research. oldest and most well-established tropi-
the study of dead specimens or by ex- Overwhelmingly, ecologists still con- cal field stationsthose of the Smith-
perimenting with individuals raised in centrate their research at sites in North sonian Tropical Research Institute
northern laboratories and gardens. America and Europe. Although tropical (STRI) and the Organization for Tropi-
MacDougal was an early advocate countries make up about 40 percent of cal Studies (OTS). In this case, patterns
of the science of ecology. He argued global land area and harbor the vast in field research are as much a product
that organisms needed to be under- majority of the planets species, only of institutional and political history as
stood in relation to the environments about 10 percent of published ecologi- of a countrys gross domestic product.
in which they had evolved. Adapting cal studies are based at tropical field A closer look at the history of eco-
to the heat and humidity of a Jamai- sites, according to a 2012 survey by logical fieldwork in Central America
can rainforest, for example, presented Laura J. Martin (who was then at Cor- and the Caribbean during the 20th
quite different problems for a plant nell University) and colleagues. Fur- century can offer clues for understand-
than surviving a winter in Minnesota. thermore, the distribution of fieldwork ing the roots of broader disparities in
MacDougal contended that botanists within the tropics is itself uneven. Trop- fieldwork around the globe. Indeed, the
narrow focus on temperate-zone life ical Africa and Asia remain compara- question of the global distribution of
would produce conclusions about ecol- tively neglected, while a tight cluster of fieldwork should be of concern well be-
ogy and evolution that were not ca- field studies can be found in a handful yond the discipline of ecology. Similar
pable of general application. Tropical of locations, largely in Central America. but even less studied geographic biases
organisms needed to be studied in the In particular Panama and Costa Rica certainly exist in other environmental
tropics, he insisted, not only because play an outsized role, hosting 30 to 50 sciencesincluding geology, soil sci-
those settings were interesting in their times more field studies than would ence, paleontology, archeology, and
own right, but also so that scientists be expected given their small size, ac- oceanographywhere geopolitics has
could achieve a more fundamental un- cording to Martins research and simi- historically shaped access to field areas.
derstanding of biological phenomena. lar findings by a team led by Gabriela
With this goal in mind, MacDougal Stocks at the University of Florida. An Era of Station Building
and other members of the U.S. scientif- By correlating patterns of field re- MacDougals 1896 call for research in
ic community began to work to estab- search with present-day social and eco- the tropics was prompted by the emer-
nomic factors, ecologists have begun gence of ecological science, but it also
Megan Raby is an assistant professor of history at
to examine the causes of these uneven came at a significant political moment.
the University of Texas at Austin. She is the au- patterns of fieldwork. Researchers in- Many Americansnot just scientists
thor of American Tropics: The Caribbean Roots cluding Tatsuya Amano and William were becoming increasingly interested
of Biodiversity Science, forthcoming in Novem- J. Sutherland at the University of Cam- in lands to the south as debate raged
ber 2017 from the University of North Carolina bridge and a group led by the Univer- over whether the United States should
Press. Email: meganraby@austin.utexas.edu.
________________ sity of Californias George Livingston intervene in Cubas war for indepen-
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At the turn of the 20th century, American scientists recognized the temperate-zone bias in ecology, creased both the areas accessible to
but they could only envision solving it by building stations for visitors from their own country. and the funding available for research
Here, entomologist James Zetek (far right) poses with three unidentified guests in front of a gi- by U.S. scientists. American entomolo-
ant tree at Barro Colorado Island, Panama. (Image courtesy of Smithsonian Institution archives.) gists, engineers, and medical doctors
flocked to Cuba and the Panama Ca-
dence from Spain. Ultimately, in 1898 their countrys growing role in the nal Zone, working to control disease-
it did. The resulting Spanish-American economies and politics of Latin Amer- bearing mosquitoes in support of their
War brought the United States a tropi- ica and the Caribbean, U.S. scientists countrys strategic interests. U.S. agri-
cal empire in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the saw new opportunities. cultural scientists, chemists, and eco-
Philippines, and Guam. By 1904, the During the 19th century, American nomic botanists likewise played key
United States had also acquired the botanists and zoologists had largely roles in the establishment of vast ba-
Panama Canal Zone. Beyond these been preoccupied by the project of nana, sugar, and rubber monocultures
official colonies, U.S. business inter- cataloging the species of their coun- throughout the region.
ests expanded into many independent trys expanding western territory. The relationship between applied
countries and European colonies of At the dawn of the 20th century, the science and the expansion of U.S.
the circum-Caribbean region. As the growth of trade and steamship routes political and economic power is con-
broader American public confronted throughout the circum-Caribbean in- spicuous in these cases, but even the
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MacDougal nor the other American

scientists who established Cinchona as
an ecological field station were directly
concerned with supporting U.S. eco-
nomic or strategic interests, but these
broader factors loomed large behind
their choice of locale.
Through the 20th century, the num-
ber of tropical field stations grew.
Cinchona had only a brief life as an
ecological station, in part because the
American scientists were merely ten-
ants and in part because of the difficul-
ties of securing funding for a station
focused on basic ecological research.
Nevertheless, it soon had successors
throughout the circum-Caribbean re-
gion. First in Guyana (then British Gui-
ana) and later in Venezuela and Trini-
dad, William Beebe of the New York
Zoological Society established several
field stations emphasizing animal
ecology. An expert at public relations,
Beebe was much more successful than
the team in Cinchona in attracting the
support of wealthy New York philan-
thropists. They offered funds and un-
used forested land near their rubber
and oil holdings abroad, in exchange
for the publicity and prestige of sup-
porting science.
Meanwhile, Harvard University
began supporting biological research
in Cuba at a station near the port of
Cienfuegos. Located on the Soledad
sugar plantation, it began as an ag-
Ecologist Daniel T. MacDougal (right) argued that organisms needed to be understood in the
ricultural experiment station and bo-
environments in which they evolved, and he called for expansion of research in the tropics at tanical garden in 1899, but it housed
the turn of the 20th century. The solution he advocated was building stations for visitors from a biological laboratory by 1924. Al-
his own country, not promoting researchers that called the tropics home. Here, he conducts though the station was surrounded by
field research with William T. Hornaday in the Sonoran Desert of northern Mexico. (Image cane fields, visitors there often took
courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society.) day trips to undeveloped native habi-
tats, including the Cinaga de Zapata
basic ecological research that MacDou- plantation unprofitable. Reaching the (the Caribbeans largest wetlands and
gal advocated was profoundly shaped station required a steep, 13-mile as- today a United Nations Educational,
by the geopolitics of this era. He and a cent by pony into the Blue Mountains Scientific, and Cultural Organization
group of scientists from the New York above Kingston. Still, Jamaica itself Biosphere Reserve) and forests in the
Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian In- was easily reachable for Americans by Sierra Trinidad (now part of the Topes
stitution, and several U.S. universities de Collantes nature reserve). As the
came together to establish at Cinchona, property of a powerful Boston sugar
Jamaica, the first field station in the The relationship between baron, Soledad offered American bi-
Western Hemisphere devoted to the ologists an apparently secure footing
study of tropical ecology. They chose applied science and for ongoing field research, even after
a site that had access to a diverse mon-
tane rainforest, and an already well-
the expansion of U.S. Cuba formally gained independence
from the United States.
developed colonial infrastructure. political and economic By far the most famous new sta-
The site had been a British experi- tion, though, was the one established
mental garden and plantation that power is conspicuous. in 1923 on Barro Colorado Island
grew cinchona (the source of the an- the station that would in 1966 become
timalarial drug quinine), hence its frequent steamships from New York the Smithsonian Tropical Research In-
name. It was available for the Ameri- City and Boston; although a British stitute. Barro Colorado was protect-
cans to rent because intercolonial eco- colony, the island had become a hub ed as a nature reserve by the United
nomic competition had rendered the of the growing U.S. fruit trade. Neither Statesrun government of the Panama
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Atkins Institution of
Harvard University
Soledad, Cuba
Cinchona
Botanical Station
Jamaica
Organization for Tropical

Tropical Studies Research
Costa Rica Stations of the
New York
Barro Colorado Island, Zoological
Smithsonian Tropical Society
Research Institute Kalacoon and
Panama Kartabo, Guyana
Canal Zone, so American researchers The locations of ecological field stations around the world are marked as points on the map
enjoyed much tighter control over the above, showing that certain areas remain understudied while others play an outsized role. Pana-
land there than at Cinchona, for ex- ma and Costa Rica have hosted 30 to 50 times more field studies than expected given their small
sizes, largely for historical reasons. The earliest tropical field stations in the Western Hemi-
ample. And Barro Colorados location
sphere are pointed out above. (Map adapted from Tydecks, L., et al. 2016, bfs.igb-berlin.de.)
__________
alongside one of the worlds busiest
corridors of trade, the Panama Canal,
made it highly accessible for scientists
traveling from any port city in the
United States.
A Colonial Science
The new field stations provided un-
precedented access to ecological com-
munities in the tropics during the first
half of the 20th century. At Cinchona,
the botanist Forrest Shreve completed
his 1914 book, A Montane Rain-Forest,
the first full-scale ecological study of
a tropical forest in the Western Hemi-
sphere. In the 1910s and 1920s, Bee-
bes descriptions of the life histories
of animals captured the imaginations
of ordinary Americans, who learned
of the diverse species inhabiting the
quarter of a square mile of rainforest
surrounding his station at Kartabo,
Guyana. Beebe regaled his readers
with tales of the life cycles and behav-
ior of creatures such as the hoatzin, a
bird hailed as a missing link because
its young retain reptilian hooked claws
on their wing tips. Such work helped
to popularize the image of jungle The first tropical ecological field station in the Western Hemisphere, located at Cinchona, Jamai-
research as solving the mysteries of ca, was where the botanist Forrest Shreve completed his 1914 book, A Montane Rain-Forest, the
evolution. first full-scale ecological study of a tropical forest in the Western Hemisphere. Photographs in the
Meanwhile, the stations at Soledad book sometimes show Afro-Jamaican guides, one of whom may have been David Watt, a plant
and Barro Colorado were fast becom- collector whom Cinchona researchers often praised for his ability to identify a bewildering array
ing major training grounds for the of plants. They never recognized him as a potential member of the shared scientific community.
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Wildlife Conservation Society. Reproduced by permission of the WCS Archives.
William Beebe (far left) sits in a lab with scientists and artists during an expedition to Venezuela year before World War II, and many
in the 1940s. Beebe established several tropical field stations, and his descriptions of animals in more afterward. They produced a
the tropics captured the imaginations of ordinary Americans. In the 1917 book, Tropical Wild skyrocketing number of publications.
Life in British Guiana, he regaled readers with tales of creatures such as the hoatzin (right), a The researchers visiting Barro Colo-
bird hailed as a missing link because of its reptilian-like hooked claws at the end of its wings. rado developed new ways to observe
and document the behavior, ecology,
next generation of tropical researchers Wilson, who would go on to become and diversity of organisms in a tropi-
in the United States. Many Harvard one of the worlds most prominent ad- cal forestfrom pioneering studies
graduate students got their first ex- vocates for biodiversity conservation. of primate group behavior to popula-
perience of the tropics at Soledad Barro Colorado became a tempo- tion censuses that would prove to be
including, most famously, Edward O. rary home to about 30 scientists every the key to developing the theory of
island biogeography, which predicts
that small, isolated habitats will harbor
lower numbers of species. At the same
time, a community of self-identified
tropical biologists formed within the
United States.
By midcentury, these stations had
begun to fulfill their promise of broad-
ening biologists view of life on Earth,
but in another way their horizons re-
mained curiously limited. The corre-
spondence, reports, and documents
promoting these stations make it clear
President and Fellows of Harvard College. Arnold Arboretum Archives.
that their primary focus continued to

be the provision of land and facilities
for researchers from the United States.
They were not oriented toward local
scientific communities.
Indeed, those locations chosen for
their accessibility to U.S. scientists
could be quite inaccessible to research-
ers from the host countries themselves.
Latin American scientists were in prin-
ciple welcome at Barro Colorado, but
the stations position within the U.S.-
Herpetologist Thomas Barbour stands next

to his model T Ford in Cienfuegos Botanical
Garden, Cuba, in 1941. (Image courtesy of the
Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.)
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controlled and racially segregated Ca-

nal Zone made their working there im-
practical. Few stayed for much longer
than a day trip until the 1960s. One no-
table exception was the Panamanian-
American ornithologist Eugene Eisen-
mann, celebrated for his 1952 checklist
of Barro Colorados astoundingly di-
verse bird species. Born in Panama to
a Panamanian mother, raised in New
York, and working as a research associ-
ate at the American Museum of Natu-
ral History, Eisenmann was uniquely
able to cross linguistic and social barri-
ers between the U.S. and Latin Ameri-
can scientific communities.
Most Panamanians on Barro Colo-
rado were part of the stations labor
force, integral to keeping it functioning
from day to day. So visiting research-
ers from the United States encountered
Panamanians as cooks or mechanics,
but rarely as fellow academics. Al-
though local employees assisted in the
scientific labor of making collections
and maintaining experiments, such
tasks were viewed as menial. Likewise,
at Cinchona and at Beebes Guyanese
stations, U.S. scientists depended on
black West Indians knowledge of be-
wilderingly diverse floras and faunas.
Researchers at Cinchona, for example,
often praised the Afro-Jamaican guide
and plant collector David Watt for his
observational skills and ability to iden- By far the most famous tropical field station was the one established in 1923 on Barro Colorado
tify a staggering array of the plants of Island in the United Statescontrolled Panama Canal Zone. Shown in this aerial view photo-
the surrounding mountainsides. They graph taken in the 1950s, this field station became known as the Smithsonian Tropical Research
never recognized him as a potential Institute (STRI) in 1966. (Image courtesy of Smithsonian Institution archives.)
member of a shared scientific commu-
nity, however, despite readily afford- tor. The station was also sometimes
ing this distinction to the white British publicized in Spanish, and its director
scientists that they encountered. was instrumental in securing a Guggen-
Harvards Soledad station was in heim Fellowship in 1940 for the young
some ways exceptional in the closeness Cuban botanist Jos Prez Carabia,
later the cofounder of the Jardn Bo-
tnico Nacional de Cuba. Nevertheless,
Visiting researchers the vast majority of visiting American
students had little real contact with
from the United their Cuban counterparts. After all, a
large portion of the attraction of work-
States encountered ing at a field station was that the basic
Panamanians as cooks necessities of life would be taken care
of so that visitors could focus on their
or mechanics, but rarely research. Visitors from the United States
as fellow academics. did not need to forge in-country con-
nections, make arrangements for local
labor, or even speak Spanish to work
of its ties to Cuban science. Cuba had a at an American-operated station. They
long-standing and well-developed sci- traveled with the goal of coming into Andriano Santos, a guide at Barro Colorado
entific communityalbeit one centered contact with tropical nature, often en- Island, poses for a photograph taken in 1947.
150 miles away in Havana. The station visioned as a mythic jungle wilder- Visiting researchers from the United States en-
recognized a handful of Cuban scien- ness. Only rarely did some seek out real countered Panamanians as laborers, but rarely
tists with the official title of Collabora- connections with local people or resi- as fellow academics. (Image courtesy of STRI.)
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has not only grown into the cluster

of stations known as STRI, but also
has operated in partnership with the
Republic of Panama since the dissolu-
tion of the Canal Zone in 1979. Today
its scientific staff includes several Latin
American researchers. OTS has like-
wise become more international, and
since the 1970s has offered Spanish-
language courses that have trained
well over 1,000 students from Costa
Rica and other Latin American coun-
tries. These well-established institu-
tions have survived so long in large
part because of their ability to adapt to
changing political circumstances and
their increasing emphasis on interna-
tional cooperation.
Since the 1950s and 1960s, scientific
communities in several tropical coun-
tries have also developed homegrown
stations to support basic ecological
President and Fellows of Harvard College. Arnold Arboretum Archives.
field researchMexicos Estacin de

Biologa Tropical Los Tuxtlas (found-
ed in 1967) and Brazils Estao Bi-
olgica de Boracia (founded in 1954)
were among the pioneers. Notably, Ga-
briela Stockss team found that Mexico
and Brazil produce a large number
of field studies and that the majority
of these publications are authored by
Mexican and Brazilian scientists.
Nevertheless, the legacies of the
20th century remain deeply embedded
in the landscape of ecological research,
as well as in the demography of its
participants. Although Panamanian
and Costa Rican authorship is signifi-
cant compared with that of most small
tropical countries, authors from the
This 1943 cartoon of Harvards Soledad field station shows caricatures of identifiable indi- United States still dominate.
vidual U.S. scientists playing at various natural history pursuits, while Cubans are depicted At the turn of the 20th century,
only as laborers with their faces obscured by straw hats. There is only one Latin American American scientists such as MacDougal
scientist depicted, the Puerto Rican mycologist Margarita Silva-Hutner (near bottom right). recognized the temperate bias in ecol-
Unlike the men, she is portrayed in a more sexualized way. ogy, but they could only envision solv-
ing it by building stations for visitors
dent scientific communities. A variety new, more explicitly collaborative ven- from their own countryby essentially
of American field scientists with strong ture in field education and research colonizing the field. Today, tropical sci-
language and cultural skills did travel what would become the Organization entists, both foreign and local, increas-
more widely, but the enclave experi- for Tropical Studies. Barro Colorados ingly recognize that this bias will not
ence of stations was common for most. future, too, was uncertain as Panama- be overcomeand conservation goals
This model became increasingly un- nian calls for the return of the Canal will not be achieveduntil research-
tenable in the 1960s, as Latin American Zone grew louder in 1964. In the midst ers from the tropics are the ones do-
and Caribbean societies pushed back of protests and treaty renegotiations, ing most of the research in the tropics.
against the United States domination the station finally implemented schol- Progress is being made, but much more
of regional politics and economies. arships for Panamanian students, help- can be done with a fuller awareness of
Field science was not insulated from ing to distinguish the institution from the history of tropical science.
this rising tide of nationalism and anti- the unpopular U.S. administration. First, acknowledging the historical
colonialism. After Harvards station exclusivity of field stations in the trop-
was nationalized following the 1959 Broadening the Field ics can be a catalyst for North Ameri-
Cuban revolution, it and five other U.S. Much has changed since that tumultu- can scientists to form more meaningful
universities approached professors at ous period. Existing institutions have relationships with local communities
the University of Costa Rica about a expanded in scope. Barro Colorado of scientists and nonscientists. Rather
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Division of the management of documents and archives, University of Montreal
Global disparities in science are

certainly shaped by a variety of large
and seemingly intractable economic,
social, and political factors, but a rap-
idly changing world cannot afford to
wait for economic development before
achieving global scientific equity. Be-
cause stations have historically played
such an integral role in shaping the
global geography of field research,
these institutionsboth established
and newcan also become sites where
change can take place.
Bibliography
Amano, T., and W. J. Sutherland. 2013. Four
barriers to the global understanding of bio-
diversity conservation: Wealth, language,
geographical location, and security. Proceed-
ings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological
Sciences 280(1756):20122649.
Young botanist Jos Prez Carabia, a Cuban collaborator with the Atkins Institution of the
Livingston, G., et al. 2016. Perspectives on
Arnold Arboretum in Soledad, collects plants with Brother Marie-Victorin in 1938. The direc- the global disparity in ecological science.
tor of the station was instrumental in securing a Guggenheim Fellowship for Carabia in 1940. BioScience 66:14755.
MacDougal, D. T. 1896. Editorials: An Ameri-
can tropical laboratory. Botanical Gazette
than lacking interest or capacity, Lat- Second, history shows that research 22:415416.
in American, Caribbean, and indige- stationseven those with power- Martin, L., B. Blossey, and E. Ellis. 2012. Map-
nous people were until very recently ful U.S. corporate and government ping where ecologists work: Biases in the
excluded from equal participation at alliescan be fragile institutions. global distribution of terrestrial ecological
ecological stations. Embedded in co- Their survival depends on a critical observations. Frontiers in Ecology and the
Environment 10:195201.
lonial systems of hierarchy and seg- combination of sustained local and in-
Protocol for Research in Panamas Indigenous
regation, stations were places where ternational support. New stations are
Communities. 2007. http://www.mcgill.
locals commonly worked as assistants needed to overcome ecologys temper- ca/neo/files/neo/protocol.pdf.
__________________
or servants, but were not treated as ate-zone biasespecially in tropical Stocks, G., L. Seales, F. Paniagua, E. Maehr, and
scientific equals. Today, new models Africa and Asia. As a global inventory E. M. Bruna. 2008. The geographical and in-
of participatory research are beginning by Laura Tydecks of the Leibniz-In- stitutional distribution of ecological research
stitut fr Gewsserkologie und Bin- in the tropics. Biotropica 40:397404.
Tydecks, L., V. Bremerich, I. Jentschke, G. E.
Tropical scientists, nenfischerei in Berlin and her team
shows, most stations in underrepre-
Likens, and K. Tockner. 2016. Biological
field stations: A global infrastructure for re-
both foreign and local, sented regions have emerged only in search, education, and public engagement.
recent decades. But new institutions BioScience 66:164171.
increasingly recognize are especially vulnerable. STRIs role Wilson, K. A., et al. 2016. Conservation re-
that the temperate- in supporting the foundation of the
Mpala Research Centre, Kenya, is one
search is not happening where it is most
needed. PLoS Biology 14(3):e1002413.
zone bias in ecology example of how established stations
can give a boost to those within devel-
will not be overcome oping countries. Rather than compete,
until researchers from new and established stations can coop-
erate to help make the broader case to
the tropics are the governments, funding agencies, and
the public of the need for permanent
ones doing most of field stations around the globe.
the research there. Finally, contemporary and historical
research on both the geographic distri- For relevant Web links, consult this
to form, such as collaborations among bution of fieldwork and equity in au- issue of American Scientist Online:
indigenous Panamanians and visiting thorship continues to be needed. Sur- http://www.americanscientist.org/
researchers from McGill University prisingly few such studies have been issues/id.127/past.aspx
and STRI, which seek to counteract done, yet without them we will never
the colonial legacy of past research by understand the serious gaps in our on-
recognizing indigenous rights at all the-ground environmental knowledge.
stages of research. At the turn of the At the same time, it is to the advan-
20th century, tropical stations were de- tage of institutions to highlight the real
signed to serve foreign visitors, but progress they have made and to better
they need not retain this orientation. understand how they can improve.
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Reexamining Lyells Laws

Increasing evidence points to the role of periodic catastrophes in shaping Earths
history, challenging long-standing dogmas within geology.
Michael R. Rampino
[The principles of reasoning in geology] are that no causes whatever have In 1696, Whiston published A New
from the earliest time to which we can look back, to the present, ever act- Theory of the Earth, in which he pro-
ed, but those now acting; and that they never acted with different degrees posed a cosmogony in which our
of energy from that which they now exert. planet originated when a comet was
transformed into an ideal world, with
Charles Lyell, in a letter to Roderick Murchison,1829 a circular orbit, without tilt or rotation.
Later, according to Whistons account,
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odern geology derives killed off by a cataclysmic event threw God sent another comet toward Earth,
its core ideas from the the whole gradualist view into ques- and its collision changed the planets
British geologist Charles tion. Since then, geologists have come orbit and started it rotating. This great
Lyells seminal text Prin- to realize that catastrophes caused oth- impact was supposed to have cracked
ciples of Geology: Being an Attempt to er mass extinctions and abrupt, major the Earths crust, releasing the wa-
Explain the Former Changes of Earths changes that we see in the geologic re- ters of the biblical flood, while the
Surface, by Reference to Causes Now in cord. Most unexpected of all, a group vapors of the comets tail condensed
Operation. This magnum opus came of colleagues and I have found indi- into torrential rain. Comets were thus
out in three volumes from 1830 to 1833 cations that these catastrophic events transformed from harbingers of local
and sold well, making money for its may happen in regular, repeating cy- calamities, caught up in ancient super-
author. Knighthood, followed by a bar- cles. These discoveries have given us stitions, into natural causes of global
onetcy, contributed to his reputation as an entirely new way to understand the cataclysms. Even Edmund Halley (the
the most influential geologist of the progression of Earths geological and astronomer who determined the orbit
mid-19th century. Lyells prosperous biological history. of his namesake comet) and Isaac New-
family, close friendship with Charles ton surmised that historical, sacred, and
Darwin, and prestigious position at Lyells Laws geological periods were punctuated by
Kings College further cemented his Lyell was a Scottish lawyer, but his pri- cometary catastrophes.
outsize reputation. vate funds allowed him to pursue his Lyell worried that such ideas threat-
Principles of Geology outlined three passion for geology. He honeymooned ened to lead geology into areas of wild
fundamental ideas, which defined the among the rocks in Switzerland and speculation. Instead, he followed in
science of geology for a long period af- Italy, and later published two popular the footsteps of late 18th-century Scot-
ter, and still have a strong hold on the geological travel guides based on his tish scientist James Hutton, one of the
field. Lyell described an Earth shaped by visits to North America. Through his first to understand the meaning of
gentle, slow-moving change, employ- world travels and astute geologic ob- deep timethe realization that long
ing the same forces that we can see at servations, he established himself as ages were required to explain the pro-
work in the world today. He discounted an authority within the field. duction of great geological changes by
the catastrophist views of his contem- Lyells experiences allowed him the slow forces of erosion, uplift, and
poraries, ridiculing their need to invoke to generate strong opinions regard- deformation of rocks. Lyell believed
cataclysms from the sky to explain the ing the theories that attempted to ex- that any and all factors affecting the
major geologic and biological events plain how the Earth formed. The most formation of geologic features and
that have taken place in Earths history. unacceptable kind of theory to Lyell the history of life were inherent to the
A large and growing body of evi- involved cataclysmic events. He ex- Earth. In this way, he sought to keep
dence shows that Lyell was fundamen- plained his objections in a letter writ- geology focused on local processes
tally wrong, however. The discovery ten in 1830, in which he maintained that could be studied, tested, and un-
in the 1980s that the dinosaurs were that significant changes of climate can derstood. In his text, he described a
occur without help from a comet, or world changing at a steady pace with
any astronomical change. This jibe three simple rules.
Michael R. Rampino is a professor of biology and
was aimed at the musings of scholars First, geologic change is the product
environmental studies at New York University. He
is also a consultant at NASAs Goddard Institute for
such as William Whiston, the Lucasian of slow and gradual processes that we
Space Studies in New York City. This article is based Professor of Mathematics at the Uni- can observe today, acting over long
on material from Cataclysms: A New Geology for versity of Cambridge, who attributed periods of time. Lyell mocked the idea
the Twenty-First Century (August 2017, Colum- events in the geological record to colli- that catastrophic changes had occurred
bia University Press). Email: ________
mrr1@nyu.edu sions with comets. in Earths history, and he railed against
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Our Solar System moves through our galaxy, as depicted by the green line above. New evidence ciples of Geology can really be considered
suggests that the 30-million-year cycle of the Solar System crossing through the galaxys mid- a legal brief. It begins with a particular
plane corresponds with large-scale cataclysms on Earth, such as asteroid and comet impacts or theological and philosophical view of
large volcanic eruptions. These findings could upend the long-standing doctrine of geology set the geologic record and is constructed
forth by Charles Lyell in the mid-1800s and replace it with a new, catastrophic geology.
as a long argument, with examples
specifically chosen to support this
the zealous geological catastrophists fluenced by celestial cycles, an idea view. As an example of a tight a priori
who told of general catastrophes and that smacked of predestination to Ly- argument, its conclusions seem unas-
a succession of deluges, of the altera- ell. Could God allow the stars to in- sailable. Principles of Geology, as a brief,
tion of periods of repose and disorder, fluence his orderly world? Lyell ridi- proved to be extremely effective in the
of the refrigeration of the globe, of the culed such theories proposed by naive court of scientific opinion, and the doc-
sudden annihilation of whole races of astronomers who compared the course trine it put forth, now known as unifor-
animals and plants. of events on our globe to astronomical mitarianism, is considered Lyells great
Second, geological forces are intrin- cycles. Of them he said, not only did contribution to the geosciences. Unifor-
sic to Earth. Comets or other extrater- they consider all sublunary affairs to be mitarianism influenced Charles Dar-
restrial bodies are not to be invoked to under the influence of celestial bodies, win to consider that slow and steady
explain geological history. For Lyell, but they taught that on Earth, as well processes changed the types of life on
astronomical catastrophism was a dis- as in the heavens, the same identical Earth as well. Nevertheless, some early
traction that induc[ed men] to waste phenomena recurred again and again dissenters remained unswayed.
time in speculations on the power of in perpetual vicissitude. An early version of a catastrophist
comets to drag the waters of the ocean Other geologists had espoused sim- theory of geological change was advo-
over the landon the condensation of ilar gradualist ideas before Lyell, but cated for by Baron Georges Cuvier in
the vapors of their tails into water, and such ideas were amplified and codi- the early 19th century. Cuvier was a
other matters equally edifying. fied in his Principles, and then passed brilliant comparative anatomist, often
Third, the geologic record does not on through generations of textbooks. referred to as the Father of Vertebrate
contain regular repeating patterns in- Because Lyell was trained in law, Prin- Paleontology. With his colleagues, he
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Charles Lyell (right) released Principles

of Geology in three volumes. The cover
of volume one (left) depicted the Tem-
ple of Serapis in the coastal Italian city
of Pozzuoli. The three pillars, at that
time on dry land, featured a band of
holes left by mollusks that had lived
on the columns when they were sub-
merged at some point earlier in his-
tory. The fact that these columns had
dipped in and out of the sea while
still standing upright puzzled early
geologists until it was determined
Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology
that slow movements of magma un-

derneath the crust heaved the ground
up and down, moving the columns
with it. In Lyells mind, the fate of
this temple was visible evidence of
how slow and gradual processes
can change the face of the world.
but had many pages missing

because of erosion or nonde-
position. Therefore, accord- The Royal Society
ing to Lyell, we cannot trust filled by those same familiar process-

our own observations, especially es. Even the revolutionary shift in the
studied the fossils and layers of rock in when our observations run counter to field that brought about the acceptance
the Paris Basin, and reported empirical the plan of Nature, which we are a of plate tectonics 50 years ago did little
evidence for episodic, catastrophic, and priori able to deduce. to change the dominance of Lyellian
sweeping changes. They found that Lyell convinced his readers that he views in geology. Indeed, the machine-
the geologic record gave evidence of was taking the only reasonable course, like Earth of plate tectonics is the very
long periods of quiet alternating with and in the end, gradualism carried the model of a slow and orderly system,
brief times marked by the sudden dis- day. A triumphant Lyell proclaimed driven by invisible internal forces.
appearance of fossil specieswhat we that all theories are rejected which in- Its clear, however, that Hutton and
now know as mass extinctions of life. volve the assumption of sudden and Lyell did not comprehend the full
Cuvier attributed these mass extinc- violent catastrophes and revolutions of meaning of the deep time they cham-
tions to unknown cataclysmic forces. the whole Earth, and its inhabitants. pioned. If they had, they could never
He argued that we shall seek in vain The motto of geology became the have portrayed the history of Earth as
dependent primarily on gradual pro-
cesses. Events of many kinds tend to
Evidence shows that Lyell was follow a particular inverse relationship
between frequency and magnitude:
Small magnitude events tend to hap-
fundamentally wrong. Catastrophes pen much more often than large mag-
nitude events. For example, for seis-
indeed caused many major changes that micity, small earthquakes are common,
larger earthquakes happen less often,
we see in the geologic record. and the largest earthquakes are by far
the most infrequentyet these are the
times when geological changes can
among the various forces which still present is the key to the pastin oth- most readily be seen. The same holds
operate on the surface of our earth, for er words, one must study the gradual true for volcanic eruptions and also for
causes competent to the production geological processes now in operation meteorite impacts. In the case of im-
of those revolutions and catastrophes and extend those same slow-acting pro- pacts, small meteorites are generated
of which its external crust exhibits so cesses over vast geologic time to help by collisions between asteroids in the
many traces. explain the origins of geologic features. asteroid belt, which tend to produce
Lyells reply to the findings of Cuvi- It makes sense that gradualism has lots of little fragments and fewer big
er and the French school of catastroph- been the accepted doctrine in geol- ones. For volcanic eruptions, the largest
ists was that the apparent cataclysms ogy for the past two centuries. We can eventsmassive outpourings of lava
and sudden geological and biologi- observe gradual processes in action called flood-basalt eruptionsdevelop
cal changes resulted from a grossly today, and for many geologists it was during rare episodes when huge, rising
imperfect geologic record, which re- only logical to assume that the gaps plumes of hot rock from Earths interior
sembled a book that could be read, in an incomplete rock record could be impinge on Earths crust.
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This predictable pattern means that

any study of Earth that includes the
notion of deep time must take into ac-
count the fact that the greatest magni-
tude events should not happen often;
indeed, there could be millions of years
between the largest events. This being
the case, the true meaning of deep time
is that even though we expect mas-
sive, Earth-altering events to be rare,
the long geologic time scale virtually Oort Kuiper Planetary
Cloud Belt region
guarantees that such events will hap-
pen from time to time, and these en-
105 104 103 102 10 0
ergetic events are so extreme that they
could well be the dominant factors in astronomical units
creating the geologic record. Studying
Earth history with the uniformitarian
maxim the present is the key to the
past ignores the very existence of deep
time. Insofar as major events will occur
at very long intervals compared with
the brief period of our own observa-
tions, the likelihood that we will see
them happen is low.
Although most geologists seem un-
aware of it, Lyells edicts were built
in part on a distinctly nonscientific
assumption that we inhabit a planet
designed for human occupancy and
that we enjoy a geologic history that
represents the unfolding of a calm Pluto
and methodical process leading to the
present world. The further assump- Sun
tion is that change, when it happens, Mercury
Saturn
is always slow and gradual. Accord- Uranus
Venus
ing to Lyell, this was Gods plan for Neptune
Earth. Lyell wrote, in whatever di-
rection we pursue our researches,
whether in time or space, we discover
everywhere the clear proofs of a Cre- Earth
Mars
ative Intelligence and of His foresight,
wisdom and power. Jupiter
Asteroid belt Kuiper Belt
A New Geology
The traditional focus of geology has The Oort cloud (top) is a giant cloud of potentially trillions of icy comets thought to encircle
been limited to the local and small scale, the Solar System. Although its existence was proposed in the 1950s, it was too distant to be
and observations about Earth were for observed until a few years ago. A theory proposed by the author suggests that the movement
a long time circumscribed in that way. of the Solar System through the galaxy disturbs the Oort cloud and sends comets tumbling
To many geologists, the stars and plan- toward the inner planets (bottom) every 26 to 30 million years.
ets might as well be points of light on a
distant dome, with little apparent effect the evolution of Earth, the Moon, the ing and volcanism are two of the most
on the events that take place on the sur- Solar System, and the universe at large. important geologic processes that have
face of our special world. We now have Even so, it wasnt until the middle of the affected other bodies in the Solar Sys-
evidence, however, that the history and 20th century that astronomy began to tem. Planetary geology and planetary
evolution of Earth and life have an in- impinge on geology as more and better astronomy were soon seen to be over-
extricable link with the larger universe. data were obtained regarding the Moon lapping fieldstogether, they contrib-
During the late 19th century, while and planets, making it possible to apply uted to a new geology of the Solar Sys-
geology was moving away from studies geological studies to those bodies. tem, and with it new support for the
designed to explain biblical catastrophes The investigation of the inner rocky old alternative to Lyell. After all, why
and more toward Lyells uniformitar- planets by the Mariner missions and should the Earth be spared the cosmic
ian view, astronomy was changing from the exploration of the Moon by the disasters so evident on other planets?
descriptions of the movements of the Apollo missions during the 1960s and Evidence uncovered late in the 20th
heavenly bodies to hypotheses about 1970s made it clear that impact crater- century began to suggest that there
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The Chicxulub crater, shown in an artists ren-

dering at lower left, was identified in 1991. It
provided evidence for the hypothesis that a
Chicxulub massive impact was the trigger for the final ex-
crater center Cenote tinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
ring More than 180 kilometers in diameter, the cra-
CUBA ter is ringed by a series of sinkholes, or cenotes.
The debris from the immediate impact can be
Gulf of found hundreds of kilometers away from the
Mexico center (yellow dotted line, left), and evidence
of the impact is found worldwide as a layer in
limit of
continuous rocks known as the K/Pg boundary.
ejecta
chel), and it violated two of Lyells
20N
laws: It was catastrophic, and it in-
volved forces from outside Earth. Orig-
MEXICO inally, the impact hypothesis was sup-
ported primarily by analyses of trace
amounts of the element iridium, which
Caribbean Sea
most geologists knew nothing about. It
took a while for the geological commu-
Albion Island nity to accept the Alvarez hypothesis
and the idea that an impact started a
chain reaction ending in a mass extinc-
0 200 tion, but the discovery of the Chicxu-
BELIZE lub crater in the Yucatn in 1991 ended
kilometers much of the resistance to it, although
even now some dinosaur experts still
refuse to believe that their beasts were
GUATEMALA HONDURAS killed off by a rock from space.
Not long after the initial hypothesis
was put forth, David Raup and Jack
Sepkoski of the University of Chicago
introduced a surprising new elabora-
tion on the theory with the 1984 pub-
lication of a paper that provided new
evidence for an apparent 26-million-
year cycle in the timing of the mass
extinctions. This paper motivated ge-
ologists to investigate whether or not
all of these extinctions correlated with
a large impact event, and it started an
active debate on the existence of cycles
in the geologic record.
I was studying volcanism and its ef-
Detlev van Ravenswaay/Science Source
fects on climate at NASAs Goddard

Institute for Space Studies when the
impact story broke. I realized that this
was going to be one of the most exciting
areas of research, and I wanted to be
a part of it. So I switched my research
program to a consideration of the role
that impacts have played in Earth his-
tory. Richard Stothers, an astrophysicist
from NASA and an expert on Greek and
were kernels of truth in Cuviers long- father-son team of Luis and Walter Roman classical literature, worked just
discarded catastrophist theory. The fall Alvarez in 1980. down the hall from me at the institute,
of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago The Alvarez hypothesis sent a shock and we were already collaborating on
at the end of the Cretaceous period wave through the geological sciences. the record of early historical eruptions.
was an oft-debated and mysterious It was produced by a maverick group As I shifted my research focus to investi-
event in Earths history until it was of scientists consisting of a physicist gating cataclysms from space, it proved
proposed that the extinction was trig- (Luis), a geologist (Walter), and two serendipitous having an astrophysicist
gered by a powerful asteroid or comet experts in detecting trace elements next door. My new work with Stoth-
impact, a hypothesis suggested by the (Frank Asaro and Helen Vaughn Mi- ers analyzing worldwide impact crater
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ages found a cycle similar to the one

Oliver Spalt/Wikimedia Commons, Lynette Cook/Science Source
identified in mass extinctions by Raup R E E X A MIN IN G LY E LL S LAW S

and Sepkoski, of about 30 million years.
It seemed, from the evidence, that peri- Lyells Law 1:
odic impacts could be causing periodic Geologic change is
extinctions. Now all three of Lyells laws due to slow, gradual
were being challengedgradualism, in- processes over
ternalism, and noncyclicity. time. BUT: We know
Even among supporters, this new, that catastrophic events
paradigm-shaking hypothesis led to have immediately
changed the Earths
some heated debates about the various environment.
proposed mechanisms for the period-
icity. Scientists presented several astro-
nomical hypotheses that Earth could Lyells Law 2:
have been bombarded by comet show- Geological forces
ers as a result of perturbations of the changing Earths
distant Oort cloud, the thick halo of surface must
comets and other icy debris circling far be of Earth. BUT: We know
beyond the orbit of Neptune. My own that asteroids and
version of this hypothesis held that comets have impacted
comets could be perturbed by the cy- the Earth.
clic motion of the Solar System swing-
ing through the disk of our Milky Way
galaxy. Others proposed comet distur- Lyells Law 3:
bances by a theoretical small compan- The geologic record does
ion star to the Sun, named Nemesis, not contain regular
orbiting beyond the Oort cloud, or by repeating patterns
an undiscovered planet in our Solar influenced by BUT: We see a
System, dubbed Planet X. celestial 26-million-year
For the galactic model, Stothers and cycles. cycle in the fossil record
I envisioned that as the Solar System matching the Solar Systems
movements through the galaxy.
passed through the crowded midplane
of the galaxy every 30 million years or
so, the concentration of stars and clouds New evidence shows that all three of Lyells laws may have been mistaken.
of gas and dust (now including a pro-
posed invisible disk of dark matter, as The plot thickened when Stothers Back in the 1980s, when I was work-
recently suggested by astrophysicist and I realized that a number of the gi- ing for NASA, I noticed that vari-
Lisa Randall and her colleagues at Har- ant flood basalt episodes in Earths past ous kinds of geologic eventssuch as
vard University) shook the Oort cloud correlated with times of extinction, and massive volcanism, mountain build-
at the fringes of the Solar System, send- also with times when the oceans became ing, creation of volcanic hotspots, and
ing a barrage of comets toward Earth. stagnant and severely depleted of dis- fluctuations in sea level and climate
(all related through plate tectonics)
seemed to be happening on a similar
It seemed, from the evidence, 30-million-year schedule. This appar-
ent periodicity had been pointed out
by some geologists in the early 20th
that periodic impacts could be causing century but was largely ignored by a
scientific community steeped in Lyells
periodic extinctions. uniformitarianism. Although these
disparate events seem to have simi-
larly disparate causes, a number of re-
Meanwhile, other geologists point- solved oxygen. Several research groups searchers have wondered whether they
ed out that the end of the Cretaceous have argued that the environmental might be connected. It is possible to
was also the time of the catastrophic effects of such cataclysmic flood basalt develop a speculative scenario based
eruption of the Deccan flood basalts of eruptions might be severe enough to on astrophysical theory and dark mat-
India, where more than 1 million cubic trigger mass extinctions. So destruction ter. Theorized to be distinct from the
kilometers of lava, covering one-third might come from above or below. Per- particles that make up visible matter,
of the Indian subcontinent, erupted haps mass extinctions are most intense dark matter has been called upon to ex-
over a relatively brief period of tens to when different types of catastrophic plain a number of strange features of
hundreds of thousands of years. This events coincide. It has been suggested our universe, including gravitational
event suggested that cataclysmic vol- that large impacts can in some way trig- anomalies and, now, periodicity of cata-
canism was also involved in the end- ger increased volcanism, or that there clysms. We are exploring the possibility
Cretaceous and other disasters. might be an even deeper connection. that dark matter concentrated in clumps
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9
Lake St. Popigai
Martin 2 Steen
7
River
Puchezh-Katunki
4
6 Carswell
Rochechouart 3
9 Chesapeake Bay
Chicxulub
8
1 Araguainha
5 Morokweng
An examination of the rock record has shown an average interval of 26 million years between Rethinking Natural Theology
major impacts. The map above shows the locations of the major impacts and the chart at right The past 35 years of discoveries in the
shows the extinctions that coincide with them. Earth sciences suggest that all three of
Lyells laws that anchor modern geol-
near the midplane of the Milky Way gal- In this way, we might see pulses of ogy may be mistaken. At least two of
axy would be captured in the Earths geologic activity and volcanism with them are clearly wrong. First, geologi-
core as the Solar System swung through. the same 30-million-year cycle that we cal changes are not always slow and
The dark matter would undergo self-an- see in impacts and mass extinctions, all gradual. Asteroid and comet impacts
nihilation in the Earths core, and could from a common extraterrestrial cause. and massive flood-basalt eruptions
release a great deal of energy. Because Both dark matter and catastrophic cy- cause rapid and irrevocable changes
Earths mantle is unstable, excess heat cles on Earth are now extremely active in Earths environment. Second, all the
from the core will raise the temperature areas of research. The Alvarezes dis- forces that govern the planets biologi-
of the boundary layer between the core covery and the studies that followed cal and geological evolution may not be
terrestrial, considering the evidence for
asteroid impacts and dark matter inter-
The study of Earth is the study of our actions. Third, and more speculative,
there may be grand geological cycles
driven by astronomical circumstances,
own planet, so it is difficult to maintain as evidenced by the 26-million-year ex-
tinction cycle seen in the fossil record.
an objective approach when examining From this new perspective, it ap-
pears that Lyell advanced a largely
its history. theoretical picture of nature organized
by a divine order despite the evidence
for sudden changes in the geologic re-
and mantle. Such a pulse of heat could could mark the beginnings of a new ge- cord. Lyell and those who have since
create a mantle plumea rising column ology for the 21st century, a cataclysmic followed his approach argued in er-
of hot mantle rock. When such plumes geology that takes into consideration ror that rates of known geologic pro-
impinge on Earths crust, they create a the effects on our planet of the wider cesses have not varied. The evidence
volcanic hotspot, initiate flood-basalt Solar System and galaxy. The idea that shows otherwise. We see that violent
volcanism, and lead to continental frac- astronomical factors could be control- earthquakes, cataclysmic volcanic
turing and the initiation of a new phase ling Earths long-term geologic process- eruptions, flash floods, and tsunamis
of seafloor spreading. es would be truly revolutionary. are all inscribed in the geologic record.
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The new findings in catastrophic ge-

extinction age of expected ology suggest that our serene feeling
event crater 26-million-
craters (millions of (million year
of being at home on an Earth governed
found years ago) years) fossils cycle by Lyells laws of gentle and gradu-
al change is in need of revision. But
none 11 mya 12 mya looking to the cosmos to explain ex-
traordinary events in our history need
some Eocene not detract from, and indeed should
9 36 mya 36 mya
mammals
38 mya heighten, our feelings of awe at the
grandeur of Earth. Modern geologists
Cretaceous dinosaurs, who focus only on terrestrial causes
8 66 mya 66 mya
marine life
64 mya
for geologic events, and who stress the
Late Cretaceous importance of gradual processes, may
7 94 mya 91 mya marine life 90 mya be missing a significant connection be-
tween the geological and astronomical
116 mya 115 mya Early Cretaceous 116 mya sciences, and thereby depriving them-
6 marine life
selves of a broader understanding
Jurassic of our vibrant field of study and the
5 145 mya 145 mya
dinosaurs
142 mya Earths place in the universe.
Jurassic Bibliography
4 168 mya 168 mya
marine life
168 mya
Alvarez, L. W., W. Alvarez, F. Asaro, and H. V.
Michel. 1980. Extraterrestrial cause of the
Late Triassic
3 201 mya 201 mya
reptiles
194 mya Cretaceous/Tertiary extinction: Experimen-
tal results and theoretical interpretation.
Late Triassic Science 208:10951108.
2 225 mya 228 mya
marine life
220 mya Alvarez, W. 1997. T-Rex and the Crater of Doom.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
more than 90 Lyell, C. 1881. Life, Letters and Journals of Sir
1 252 mya 254 mya
percent of life
246 mya
Charles Lyell, Bart. 2 vols. London: Murray.
Lyell, C. 18301833. Principles of Geology: Being
Uniformity of process does not imply life disappear? This viewpoint would an Attempt to Explain the Former Changes of
the Earths Surface, by Reference to Causes Now
uniformity of rates. betray the central idea of Gods gift of in Operation. 3 vols. London: Murray.
There is an important theme in geol- Earth as the abode for humans. Geo- Rampino, M. R. 2015. Disc dark matter in the
ogy that runs back to the early days logic change could not be the work galaxy and potential cycles of impacts,
of the science. It is a theme that has its of accident, or effect of an occasional mass extinctions, and geological events.
roots in the natural theology of our pre- transaction such as encounters with Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society 448:18161820.
decessors, one we overlook or that is comets or other extraterrestrial bod-
Rampino, M. R., and K. Caldeira. 1993. Major
present only in an unconscious form. ies, or volcanic cataclysms of global
episodes of geologic change: Correlations,
Lyells religious bent is usually not import, to quote Hutton. time structure and possible causes. Earth
mentioned when we recognize him as Modern geology, it turns out, still and Planetary Science Letters 114:215227.
among the greats of geology, but there retains some aspects of that old natu- Randall, L. 2015. Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs.
is no question that theology colored his ral theology. Many geologists expe- New York: Harper Collins.
advocacy for uniformitarianism. This rience a kind of spirituality through Raup, D. M., and J. J. Sepkoski. 1984. Periodic-
same kind of notion may be a part of their study of Earth. We feel close to ity of extinctions in the geologic past. Pro-
ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of
the reason that some geologists are nature, and we ponder the great ex- the U.S.A. 81:801805.
still reluctant to appeal to catastrophic panse of geologic time. Are geologists Whiston, W. 1696. A New Theory of the Earth,
events, even when the geologic evi- to give up that comfortable feeling, From its Original to the Consummation of All
dence points that way. It is too soon to and face an Earth history full of cata- Things. London: Roberts.
say whether the periodic hypothesis is strophic and cyclical events? For most
correct, but at last we are at least look- geologists, contemplating the overall
ing openly to find out whether it is. benign effects of slow grain-by-grain
Many geologists are blinded by erosion and deposition in altering
the fact that Earth is our home. The the landscape, and envisioning how
study of Earth is the study of our own mountains could be built over time by
planet, so it is difficult to maintain an uplift, and then disappear bit by bit For relevant Web links, consult this
objective approach when examining through erosion over great periods of issue of American Scientist Online:
its history. To the founders of geology, time, gives subtle assurance that the
http://www.americanscientist.org/
steeped in natural theology, Earth was world, if not made for humans, is at issues/id.127/past.aspx
a place created by a beneficent deity to least compatible with their survival.
be the orderly and overall peaceful res- Extinctions, when they happened,
idence of humankind. Why should the came as a result of a fair game of com-
planet be forced to experience periodic petition among species, in which the
catastrophes in which many kinds of better-adapted organisms survived.
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Questioning Copernican
Mediocrity
Modern astrophysics can intimate our cosmic significance.
Howard A. Smith
T
he Earth is not at the center of Earth from its pedestal is deceptive. A Fertile Planet in a Hostile Universe
the universe, a conclusion we Historian Dennis R. Danielson empha- It took intelligent life roughly 4 billion
owe to the model of the uni- sizes that Copernicus and his contem- years to develop on Earth. We dont
verse created by 15th-century poraries did not actually think that the know the range of nurturing conditions
mathematician and astronomer Nico- Sun-centric system pushed humanity that allowed intelligence to thrive, but
laus Copernicus. The inference that into insignificance. On the contrary, we do know that our planet is unique
we are therefore cosmically ordinary the prevailing Greek and Christian within the Solar System. Its salubrious
is sometimes called the principle of views held that the Earth was locat- environment should not be taken for
Copernican mediocrity. As 20th-century ed, as the 15th-century Italian phi- granted. The cosmos is vast, however,
astronomer Carl Sagan put it, We live losopher Giovanni Pico put it, in the and hosts a diverse array of worlds
on an insignificant planet, of a hum- excrementary and filthy parts of the whose properties and capacity to host
drum star, lost in a galaxy, tucked lower world, where gross, imperfect, life we have now begun to study. If
away in some forgotten corner of a
universe. Modern science has, like
Copernicus, revolutionized the way
we conceive of the universe, and its
By putting the Sun at the center,
findings are typically used to reaffirm
Copernican mediocrity. Successes from Copernicus elevated humanity closer to
cosmology to genomics have even in-
fused many scientists with enough hu- the heavens. In the post-Newtonian world,
bris to boast of our insignificance. We
are so insignificant that I cant believe however, the center came to be seen as the
the whole universe exists for our ben-
efit, says physicist Stephen Hawking.
His belief is not uncommon and often
place of primacy, and a Sun-centric system
derives from a worldview that pre-
supposes such insignificance, with the
demoted Earth to mediocrity.
further implication, ostensibly implied
by Darwins theory of natural selec-
tion, that humanity is the meaningless mortal beings reside. By putting the we really are ordinary beings, then at
product of evolutionary processes. Sun at the center, Copernicus effec- a minimum intelligent life should be
It behooves us to beware of presup- tively elevated humanity to a place commonly found on other worlds. But,
positions, especially as 21st-century closer to the heavens. In the post- as the physicist Enrico Fermi famously
science, from physics to biology, ex- Newtonian world, however, the center noted, if aliens are common in the uni-
pands the ways we understand the came to be seen as the place of prima- verse, where are they?
world. The assumption of mediocrity cy, and a Sun-centric system appeared Only life capable of conscious, inde-
can be just as misleading as the earlier to demote Earth to mediocrity. pendent thought and an ability to com-
belief of superiority. Even the historical In particular, two dramatic recent municate between stars is under consid-
paradigm of Copernicus toppling the developments in modern astronomy eration; if only alien bacteria exist, then
the discovery of planets around other we are certainly not a mediocre species.
stars and the formulation of inflation- The discovery of primitive life forms
Howard A. Smith is a senior astrophysicist at the
ary Big Bang cosmologysuggest we elsewhere in the universe would help
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and
a lecturer in the Harvard University astronomy
may not be so ordinary after all. It us reconstruct how intelligence on Earth
department. Previously he was the Chair of As- could be time to reexamine the notion evolved, but unless a species can com-
tronomy at the Smithsonians National Air and of our mediocrity and, if we might be municate with us, we will still be unique
Space Museum; he also served as a Visiting Dis- special in some way, consider the ethi- and alone, with no one to teach or learn
cipline Scientist in Astrophysics at NASA Head- cal challenges surrounding the welfare from, no one to help us solve our prob-
quarters. Email: _____________
hsmith@cfa.harvard.edu of our planet. lems, orin the fanciful extrapolations
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A variety of Earth-like planets in a developing universe represents the many paths that life for his claim that there were artificial
might have taken to develop intelligence. Science seems to support the idea that the human canals on Mars, wrote in his 1908 book
race is not special, but a mere by-product of random evolutionary processes. A review of de- Mars as the Abode of Life, From all we
velopments in modern astronomy could challenge that potentially misleading assumption of have learned of its constitution on the
mediocrity. (Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon/STScI.) one hand or of its distribution on the
other we know life to be as inevitable a
of filmmakersno one to battle with. necessary to yield intelligent life (see the phase of planetary evolution as is quartz
To guess the number of possible extra- figure at the top of page 236, and the authors or feldspar or nitrogenous soil. Each and
terrestrial civilizations, scientists try to article in the JulyAugust 2011 issue). all of them are only manifestations of
identify all the varied steps needed for Breakthroughs in exoplanet detection chemical affinity. Today, every school-
life to arise, evolve, and mature to intel- address one key term in the Drake equa- child knows that Mars has no artificial
ligence, and then assign a probability to tion, the frequency of planets capable canals, and no aliens either. Lowells
each step. This calculation is known as of nurturing extraterrestrial intelligence rhetorical confidence was based on
the Drake equation, named after Ameri- (ETI). Natural philosophers since the presuppositions about life that no one
can astronomer Frank Drake. It is a set ancient Greeks have expected planets, would make today. Other optimistic as-
of multiplicative factors used to track and life on them, to be commonplace. sumptions have been made, however.
the various phenomena thought to be Percival Lowell, an astronomer famous Just a few decades ago textbooks taught
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that practically all moderate- a planet in this close region tends

mass stars hosted exoplanetary to have one side perpetually
systems like our Solar System facing the stara situation that
with an Earth-like planet capable is called gravitationally locked
of bearing intelligent species. As leaving half the planet in the
astronomers Donald Goldsmith dark and half constantly illumi-
and Tobias Owen put it in their nated. This class of cool, small
1993 textbook, The Search for Life stars, known as M-dwarfs, have
in the Universe, Nothing in our an interior circulation that is al-
theories for the origin and evo- most entirely convective, trans-
lution of our Sun is unique to porting upward hot gas from the
the Solar System... The chances deep interior; in contrast, the Sun
seem good that one of these in- only has convection in its surface
ner planets will orbit its star at layers. This type of circulation in
the right distance [to host life]... M-dwarfs leads to coronal flares,
We say one in every two to be x-ray emission, and strong stel-
conservative. lar winds, all of which might be
So far, more than 3,600 con- hazardous to life on a nearby
firmed exoplanets have been planet in the habitable zone. For
detected. The NASA Kepler example, the planet orbiting the
mission alone, launched in 2009, cool star Proxima Centauri, the
has identified more than 2,300 closest star to the Sun, has an or-
of them. Many of these exoplan- bital period of 11.2 days and is
ets have had their mass, radius, close enough to be in the habit-
and other properties measured. able zone, making it a prime tar-
NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Bridgeman Images get in the search for life. But the
Survey Satellite (TESS), sched- Nicolaus Copernicus, in his 1543 publication On the Revolu- stars active flares, winds, and
uled to launch in 2017, will find tions of the Celestial Spheres, proposed a model in which the x-ray radiation may well have
many more. The exciting dis- Sun, not the Earth, is at the center of the universe. Later sci- stripped away any ocean or at-
covery is not that exoplanets ex- entists used his work to argue that Earth and humanity were mosphere on the planet.
therefore cosmically ordinary.
ist; it is that they are so varied. The habitable zone require-
In assessing whether a ment is only one of many con-
planet can nurture life, the usual start- there is likely to be an exoplanet in its ditions necessary for an exoplanet to
ing assumption is that it needs liquid habitable zone. host intelligent life. In Rare Earth: Why
water and therefore should orbit its Five dramatic, recently discov- Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Uni-
star in the habitable zone, the so-called ered exoplanetscalled Proxima verse, paleontologist Peter D. Ward and
astronomer Donald Brownlee show
why even simple life forms need much
more than just liquid water to exist.
To guess the number of possible The right ingredients are also need-
ed, yet the chemical elements are not
uniformly abundant throughout the
extraterrestrial civilizations, scientists try to universe. Also essential is an envi-
ronment that remains stable for bil-
identify all the varied steps needed for life lions of years. Other factorssuch as
orbital eccentricity, which is calculated
to arise, evolve, and mature to intelligence, by comparing the farthest distance of
the planets orbit from the center of
and then assign a probability to each step. the star with the closest distance of
the orbit from that centeralso affect
suitability for life. Eccentricity deter-
mines the annual variations the planet
Goldilocks distance (not too hot, not too Centauri b, TRAPPIST-1e, TRAPPIST-1f, receives in stellar illumination, as well
cold) at which the planets surface TRAPPIST-1g, and LHS 1140bare or- as its susceptibility to gravitational or-
temperature allows water to be liquid. biting dwarf stars (a class of stars fainter bital perturbations and disruption by
This distance can be estimated from than the Sun) whose surface tempera- other planets whose orbits might cross
the planets orbital parameters and its tures could permit liquid water to exist. nearby. With an eccentricity of approx-
stars temperature. So far, dozens of There are, however, significant limita- imately 0.017, the Earths elliptical or-
exoplanets have been found in their tions for life on these planets. Planets bit is nearly circular. Only 5.3 percent
habitable zones. Astronomers extrapo- orbiting small stars have habitable zones of exoplanets currently listed by the
lating from the statistics of exoplan- that lie very close to their stars because Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia, an
ets discovered to date have concluded of the cool temperatures of those stars. online database developed by an in-
that, at least for some classes of stars, Even though it is in the habitable zone, ternational consortium of astrophysics
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Cellarius, Andreas (c.1596-1665) / Private Collection / Bridgeman Images
Copernicuss model of the universe is heliocentric, putting the Sun at the center of the Solar three biological ones: the probability
System. Because the Earth was no longer considered to be at the center, this model began to that life develops on a suitable planet,
be interpreted to mean that the Earth was commonplace and that planets like it must be abun-
that it evolves to be intelligent, and that
dant in the universe, a principle that has become known as Copernican mediocrity.
it survives a long time. The formation
of life, even in a perfect laboratory set-
institutions, have an orbital eccentric- describe new exoplanets as being poten- ting, and its evolution are the subjects
ity less than or equal to that of Earth. tially habitable, but in this early stage of of a vast and sophisticated literature;
The results reinforce that an enor- the enterprise, such descriptions often there is plenty of speculation about
mous variety of systems exist, consist- mean that the planet is located within a whether a civilization can survive for
ing of a diverse range of often bizarre stars habitable zone and probably has a a long time as well. Perhaps here it is
environments that is considerably rocky composition. In the next decade, enough to note that geneticists have
broader than was imagined before the with the advent of NASAs James Webb concluded that the evolution of DNA
first ones were discovered. As the MIT Space Telescope and large ground- on Earth was circuitous and probably
exoplanet scientist Sara Seager put it in based telescopes, astronomers expect to included many fortuitous accidents.
her 2010 book, It seems that less than be able to better study the atmospheres Evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay
10 to 20 percent of Sun-like stars could potentially surrounding some of these Gould argued that evolution itself, at
host Solar System copies. Instead, as- candidates, whose chemistry could re- least on Earth, followed a very unlikely
tronomers have found that exoplanets veal potential for life. path, with large brains by no means
and exoplanetary systems are incred- So far the focus has been on the exo- a guaranteed outcome. Although the
ibly varied, with planets of nearly all planet term in the Drake equation esti- same physical processes operate ev-
conceivable masses and sizes as well mates for extraterrestrial intelligence. erywhere, some sequences of events
as orbital separations from their host However, the equations most uncer- including biological onescould be as-
star. Scientists and journalists regularly tain terms are not astronomical but its tronomically less likely to happen than
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= p = e = l = i = c =
The number of Average rate of The fraction of The average The fraction of The fraction of The fraction of The length of time
civilizations in the star formation in those stars with number of those planets on habitable planets civilizations that such civilizations
Milky Way galaxy the Milky Way planets habitable planets which life can on which develop release detectable
with detectable per solar system develop intelligent life communication signals into space
electromagnetic develops technology
emissions
Formulated in 1961 by astronomer and astrophysicist Frank Drake, the Drake equation is 100 generations of time corresponds
used to estimate the number of detectable civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. The most to a distance of about 1,250 light-years
uncertain terms in the equation relate to the biological parameters, such as the length of time from Earth. In this region of space there
a civilization might persist and develop more advanced communication technology.
are about 30 million stars of all types.
If the chances for extraterrestrial intelli-
others. The evolution of intelligence facilitate quantitative analyses, consider gence developing around a planet were
could certainly be such a sequence. only the volume of space that we can just 1 in 30 million, we would probably
probe in 100 generations, a time frame be alone in this cosmic neighborhood.
Communicating with Aliens that is practically forever in a subjec- The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelli-
It does not matter whether aliens thrive tive sense. This is, of course, an arbitrary gence (SETI) program that Frank Drake
in the distant reaches of space. What timescale. If we consider a smaller vol- helped establish takes the position of its
matters is whether we know of their umesay, one thats accessible within Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI Re-
existence. Because most of our galaxy, only a single generationthe chances search, Jill Tarter, who asserted in Sci-
not to mention other galaxies, is too far of our finding aliens go down by a fac- ence in 1983 that the only significant
away for us to be able to image alien tor of a million, because the number of test of the existence of extraterrestrial
artifacts directly or to obtain other di- stars is proportional to the volume of intelligence is an experimental one. But
rect evidence of intelligent activity, the space and scales with time (or distance) the enormous limitation imposed by the
best method would be to look for radio cubedbut we will have a yes-or-no an- finite speed of light means that even if
signals. Until such signals are detected, swer 100 times sooner. One generation is there were a network of advanced civi-
we are just guessing about the existence about 25 years, and because at least one lizations living on the other side of our
of aliens. To focus the discussion and round trip of messaging is necessary, galaxy, they would be much too far
away from Earth to communicate with
us on human timescales. Furthermore,
any signals not pointed towards us
would probably not be detected.
When SETI started more than 50
years ago, it used relatively primitive
technology and probably could not
have spotted an Earth twin if it were
1,250 light-years away. Today, the pro-
gram boasts much better search tech-
nology. According to the SETI Break-
through Listen website, the institute
could detect a civilization around any
of the 1,000 nearest stars if it transmit-
ted towards us even with only the
power of common aircraft radar. So
John Reader/Science Source
far, we havent detected anything, but

in much sooner than 100 generations
we will probably be able to reach some
statistically significant conclusions
about resultsincluding null results.
Even if the Milky Way galaxy has
millions of water-bearing Earth-size
Stromatolite structures in Shark Bay, Australia, are among the earliest fossil evidence of life planets, and even if the formation of
on our planet. The masses are produced by cyanobacteria, and are estimated to be 2 to 3 mil- life were inevitable on every planet in
lion years old; they are some of the oldest evidence for the origin of life on this planet. One of the universe with liquid water, the pre-
the factors in the Drake equation includes the need for conditions on another planet to remain vious arguments suggest that we and
stable for the millions of years necessary for intelligent life to develop. our descendants for at least 100 genera-
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tions are probably living in solitude. Of zone, one that possesses many oth- different from the ones they have
course we can expand the volume of er hospitable features, from a favor- constants such as the speed of light or
our search to improve the chances of able chemical composition to tectonic the strengths of the four physical forces
finding extraterrestrial intelligence, but plates. No other place in our Solar Sys- (gravitational, electromagnetic, strong,
then we will have to wait even longer tem is even close to being like it. But and weak)we would not be here. The
than 100 generations to find out. The the universe is a big place, and our most extreme example of fine-tuning is
Misanthropic Principle expresses the
idea that the many possible environ-
ments in our cosmos are so varied and
uncooperative, or hostile, either always The habitable zone requirement is only
or at times during the long gestation
and maturation times apparently need-
ed for intelligence, that it is unlikely for
the first of many conditions necessary for
intelligent life to evolve and thrive. Life
on Earth may not be ordinary. We may
an exoplanet to host intelligent life. The
be isolated and truly alone.
proper abundance of heavy elements and
Cosmic Fine Tuning
In thinking about mediocrity, with its an environment that remains stable for
connotation of being not just statis-
tically average but also insignificant, billions of years are also necessary.
there is a second principle to consider:
The physical constants of the cosmos
seem to be remarkably finely tuned galaxy alone has nearly a trillion stars. the expanding universe in the inflation-
to facilitate hosting intelligent life. Al- It is possible that a paradise like Earth ary Big Bang description of creation.
though any kind of intelligent life is will randomly develop somewhere in Physicists estimate that if the balance
implied, not just human life, this ob- the universe. In this way of thinking, between cosmic effects were different by
servation is almost always referred to we are not lucky. We are just in the only one part in 10120, we would not ex-
as the Anthropic Principle. place where we can be. ist (although there is disagreement about
We live on a planet with liquid If, however, the fundamental con- exactly how fine-tuned the constants re-
water orbiting in the Suns habitable stants of the universe took values much ally are; Fred Adams of the University
of Michigan, for example, has recently
An artists rendition shows the imagined surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of seven terrestrial calculated some much less restrictive
planets orbiting the ultra-cool dwarf star known as TRAPPIST-1. NASA announced the scenarios). The Anthropic Principle has
discovery of the tightly packed system in February 2017. Although this exoplanet orbits in been contemplated for decades since
its stars habitable zone, that region is so close to the star that it is likely that stellar weather theoretical physicist Paul Dirac first
would limit the planets habitability. (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech.)
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Situated in northern California, the Allen Telescope Array is a collection of telescopes search- one of Copernicus and his colleagues.
ing the skies for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. The equipment is sophisticated enough We know about and can appreciate the
to detect any radio signals emanating from the nearest 1,000 stars, if the signal was pointed in immensity of space and time, the com-
the direction of Earth. (Photograph courtesy of Seth Shostak/SETI Institute.) plexities of genetics and evolution, and
the power of statistics. Even though
called attention to the curious balance scious beings in order to become real. the Earth is not at the center of the uni-
between large cosmic numbers. A uni- This notionsometimes called the verse, its luxuriant environment could
verse fined-tuned to nurture intelligent Participatory Anthropic Principleis nonetheless make it a rare oasis. Per-
life is the second piece of evidence for still included in modern texts. haps we can appreciate that human-
the end of our Copernican mediocrity. It seems to be a cop out to argue that ity, too, could be unusual, even special
Why is the universe so suitable for we are lucky, and as a physicist trained and not mediocre, at least as far as we
intelligent life? It could just be dumb to give preference to simple solutions, are likely to know for a very long time.
luck. Or, as commonly proffered by I find the multiverse explanation to be
theoretically minded scientists, there too exorbitant a solution. The quan- The End of Copernican Mediocrity
are an infinite number of universes, tum mechanical explanation is un- The Misanthropic Principle raises epis-
also called a multiverse, spanning all comfortably mysterious, but quantum temological and ethical dilemmas. The
logical possibilities. We live in the uni- mechanics has other mysteries too, so epistemological quandary is simple:
verse we can, in an argument similar of the three solutions, it has the most Not knowing about the existence of
to the preceding one about the Earth potential. Still, the basic point is trou- extraterrestrial intelligence does not
just being the one planet out of many bling, especially if one believes in a mean it does not exist somewhere out
where we can exist. The third answer reductionist worldview that presup- there. But until we hear a clear signal
touches on philosophy and quantum poses our insignificancetroubling from beyond, or until science provides
mechanics and is much more uncer- because it suggests that something some conclusive argument, we are ig-
tain, controversial, and provocative. steers the universe toward intelligence, norant about putative aliens.
The traditional interpretation of quan- and humans are representatives of that The second dilemma is ethical: The
tum mechanics describes matter as be- teleological endpoint. If we might be Earth is under stress, and humanity con-
ing composed of wave functions of the only such intelligent beings around fronts misery. It has taken 13.8 billion
probability that only become real enti- (or the only ones that we will know years of cosmic history to develop the
ties when measured by an observer. about for millennia or longer), then we rich biosphere that we enjoy and some-
The quantum mechanical pioneer John are more than just mediocre, we are times take for granted. If our world is
Wheeler even championed the notion special. Our 21st-century perspective just an evolved collection of atoms, then
that the universe had to evolve con- is very different from the 16th-century perhaps its future health and welfare are
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not a great concern; in a cosmos abun- place in the universe since the time of plication of the Anthropic Principle is
dant in life, it is possible some alien civi- Copernicus. Perhaps their claim will that it might matter. The implication of
lizations will survive even if the Earths prove true. But if honestly considered, the Misanthropic Principle is that we
does not. But if the human raceas far that change of perspective is much more have to care for our planet and one an-
as we are likely to know for millennia likely to be in the direction opposite to other by ourselveswithout help from
is singular, then we must consider the the one that these authors imagine: to- alien insights or technologies. Modern
possibility that neither our planet nor ward reclaiming our exceptional status. science has prompted this reevalua-
tion, but addressing it will require the
best of all our human abilities.
The case for the end of mediocrity Bibliography

Adams, F. C., and G. Evan. 2017. On the habit-
necessarily rests on incomplete data, ability of universes without stable deute-
rium. Astroparticle Physics 91:90104.
statistics, and an admission that there Barrow, J. D., and F. J. Tipler. 1988. The An-
thropic Cosmological Principle. Oxford: Ox-
ford University Press.
are many things that we still do not Goldsmith, D., and T. Owen. 1992. The Search
for Life in the Universe. Second Edition.
understand. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Seager, S., and J. J. Lissauer. 2010. Introduction
to exoplanets. In Exoplanets, ed. S. Seager, pp
313. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Smith, H. A. 2011. Alone in the universe. Amer-
ourselves are products of common hap- The case for the end of mediocrity ican Scientist 99:320327.
penstance. This thought adds urgency necessarily rests on incomplete data, Smith, H. A. 2016. Alone in the universe.
to the cause of protecting our rare planet statistics, and an admission that there Zygon 51:497519.
and its precious inhabitants. are many things that we still do not Tarter, J. 1983. SETI Program. Science 220:359.
Once the ideas of Copernicus took understand. We might have to wait Ward, P. D., and D. Brownlee. 2000. Rare Earth:
root, and people realized that the cos- in ignorance for millennia before we Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Uni-
mos was not geocentric, they began have more complete stellar surveys verse. New York: Springer-Verlag.
to think about their world, human- indicating whether other civilizations
ity, and themselves in a new light. are likely to exist. Even so, as we wait
Building on the rapid advances of sci- for more information about aliens or
For relevant Web links, consult this
ence after Newton, they concluded quantum physics, we should be able
issue of American Scientist Online:
that because the Earth seemed to be to acknowledge that the story is subtle
ordinary, humanity too was ordi- and that there is compelling evidence http://www.americanscientist.org/
narymediocre. Modern scientific that humanity is precious. The Earth, issues/id.127/past.aspx
evidence questioning Copernican even if it is not unique, is for all intents
mediocrity should initiate a simi- and purposes a special place. The im-
lar process of self-reappraisal. We
seem to be unusualalthough its
unlikely well know how unusual for
a very long time. It is possible that we
are just an accident, but conscious life
does appear to be a remarkable and
unanticipated achievement of the uni-
verse, with attributes that are not pre-
dicted for an ensemble of atoms. The
Anthropic Principle, at least in some
interpretations, intimates that some
necessary feature of nature endowed
the cosmos with this capacity, mak-
ing it fundamental to the Big Bang
and steering it over eons of evolu-
tion to produce conscious beings. We
are representatives of that teleological
end point.
Writing about the impact of the dis-
covery of exoplanets, in 2010 Seager and
astronomer Jack J. Lissauer made the
claim that we will at last complete the
Copernican Revolution. We are on
the verge of, if not in the very midst of,
the greatest change in perspective of our
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How to Tame a Fox and

Build a Dog
A decades-long experiment opens up like a set of Russian nesting dolls, to reveal
story after story, each embedded within the one that preceded it.
Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut
descending to women. Lyudmila,

Editors note: The authors of this article worked together, with Trut describing her who has a genial, smiling manner
experiences to Dugatkin, to produce this third-person account of the story behind and stands just five feet tall, with her
Truts research. This article has been adapted from the authors book How to Tame wavy brown hair cropped quite short,
a Fox (And Build a Dog): Visionary Scientists and a Siberian Tale of Jump-Started looked young for her age, and she
Evolution, 2017, with permission from the University of Chicago Press. For more hadnt even finished her undergradu-
information about the results of Truts research, see her article Early Canid Do- ate studies, but Dmitri spoke to her
mestication: The Farm-Fox Experiment in the MarchApril 1999 issue of American as an equal. She was riveted, she re-
Scientist, freely available at www.americanscientist.org. calls, by his piercing blue eyes, which
so strongly communicated his intelli-
D
eep inside my soul, says city of science called Akademgorodok, gence and drive, but also emanated an
Lyudmila Trut, is a patho- near Novosibirsk, Siberia. He was extraordinary empathy.
logical love for animals. searching for someone to lead an ex- She felt privileged to be invited into
She inherited this from her periment he would begin in earnest the confidence of this extraordinary
mother, who was a great dog lover. at Akademgorodok. Dmitri intended man, who shared with her so openly
Lyudmila had grown up with dogs to run an experiment domesticating sil- about the bold work he was propos-
as pets, and even during World War ver foxes, and so the person he sought ing. She had never experienced such a
II, when food was horribly scarce, her needed the kind of sophisticated skills in distinctive combination of confidence
mother would feed starving stray dogs, animal behavior that Krushinksy taught. and warmth in a person. Dmitri told
telling her, If we dont feed them, Belyaev went to visit Krushinsky Lyudmila what he had in mind. He
Lyudmila, how will they survive? They at his office at Moscow States Spar- told me that he wanted to make a dog
need people. Following her mothers row Hill campus for advice about who out of a fox, she recalls. Probing how
example, Lyudmila always carries might work with him on this experi- creative she would be about conduct-
some kind of treat in a pocket in case ment. Ensconced in the grand setting ing the experiment, Belyaev asked her,
she encounters a stray dog. And shes of Krushinskys building, with its pa- You are now located on a fox farm
never forgotten that domesticated ani- latial ceilings, marble floors, ornate that has several hundred foxes, and
mals need people. She knows that this columns, and fine art statues, he de- you need to select the 20 calmest ones
is how weve designed them. scribed his plans for the experiment for the experiment. How will you do
In 1958, Lyudmila was just finish- and explained that he was looking for it? She had no experience whatso-
ing up her studies at Moscow State talented graduates to assist with the ever with foxes, and had only a vague
University, home of Leonid Krushin- work. Krushinsky put the word out, notion of what the fox farms might
sky, a pioneering Russian researcher and when Lyudmila heard about the be like and what sort of welcome she
in animal behavior. Dmitri Belyaev opportunity, she was immediately cap- might receive at them. But she was
was friends with Krushinsky and ad- tivated. Her own undergraduate work a confident young woman, and she
mired his work. Belyaev had recently had been on the behavior of crabs, and did the best she could to suggest some
accepted a position as vice director of a as fascinating as their complex behavior reasonable possibilities. She would
new research institute in a giant Soviet could be, the prospect of working with try different methods, she said, talk to
foxes, so closely related to her beloved people who had worked with foxes,
dogs, and with such a well-respected read up on what was known in the
Lee Alan Dugatkin is an evolutionary biolo-
scientist as Belyaev, was tantalizing. literature. Dmitri sat back and listened,
gist and historian of science in the department
of biology at the University of Louisville in
In early 1958, Lyudmila went to gauging how committed she would be
Kentucky. Lyudmila Trut is a professor of evo- meet with Belyaev at his office. She to the work and to developing tech-
lutionary genetics at the Institute of Cytology was immediately struck by how un- niques for such a novel study. She
and Genetics in Novosibirsk, Siberia. She has usual he was for a male Soviet scien- must be not only rigorously scientific,
been the lead researcher on the silver fox do- tist, especially one of his rank. Many but also quite inventive. Was she really
mestication experiment since 1959. were quite high-handed, and con- ready to go to Novosibirsk, to move to
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A domesticated fox pup shows behavioral traits that have been selected for over the course of would demand nothing short of excel-
57 generations of breeding. Foxes bred for tamability will seek out human contact and try to lence of her, which was greatly inspir-
attract attention by whimpering, licking, and sniffing. In contrast, untamed foxes will cower ing. Although she was a woman of
or actively attack humans. (Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs are courtesy of Lyud- great warmth and an unassuming de-
mila Trut and the Institute of Cytology and Genetics.)
meanor, Lyudmilas formidable energy
Akademgorodok, he asked her? After Another major concern he expressed and determination made her a force
all, moving to the heart of Siberia was was about the fate of her scientific ca- to be reckoned with. She had pursued
a life change not to be taken lightly. reer. Dmitri wanted to be very clear; her dream of becoming a scientist with
Belyaev was also clearly concerned he said with great seriousness, looking great passion and had excelled at ev-
about the risk she would be taking, and directly and intensely into her eyes, that ery step, despite Soviet science being
he didnt mince words about the dan- the experiment might not produce any almost entirely male-dominated. She
gers of being involved. This would be an meaningful results. He hoped that it wanted nothing more than to do path-
experiment in genetics, but to ward off would, and he believed that it would. breaking work.
the dangers linked to a charlatan named But even if it did, that might take many, Belyaev had made it clear that she
Trofim Lysenko, who had made it essen- many years, even as long as the rest would be given a good deal of latitude
tially illegal to study Mendelian genet- of her life. Her job would be to select and responsibility in developing her
ics in the USSR, Dmitri explained, the the calmest foxes for breeding and to methods for working with the foxes, and
work would be described as research in observe and record the details of all that was enormously appealing. She had
fox physiology. No mention of genetics changes in both their physiology and found, as she would later say, a win-
would be made in regard to the experi- their behavior from generation to gen- ning ticket. Not only would she be one
ment, at least for the time being. He also eration. In addition, she would need to of the first generation of researchers in a
assured her that he could, and would, travel great distances away from No- new scientific city, which might become
speak out against Lysenko when nec- vosibirsk to visit fox farms scattered in the very center of Soviet science, but she
essary. But Lysenko and his crowd still remote terrain, because he could not would do extraordinary work with this
had the power to make an example of a yet set up an experimental fox farm at remarkable man. She was sure of it. She
team of geneticists, even those in far-off Akademgorodok. He hoped he could could see it in those mesmerizing eyes of
Siberia, and punish them and ruin their one day, but not yet. his. She trusted him.
careers and reputations. Lyudmila thought carefully about Lyudmila had never dreamed she
Lyudmila knew that. Everyone his admonitions, but she had no real would leave Moscow to live in Siberia.
knew that. Still, she was touched that doubt. This work would be a great She had grown up outside of Moscow
he insisted that she be fully apprised. challenge, she could see, and Belyaev and she loved the city. All of her family
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Novosibirsk Arctic Ocean

Akademogorodok
RUSSIA
KAZAKHSTAN
MONGOLIA
Lesnoi fox farm
The Siberian fox study started at the Lesnoi fox farm, about
225 miles south of Novosibirsk (above). A 1969 photograph
(right) shows the first domesticated fox with floppy ears, a
signature trait of domestication across species. Other traits of
domestication include areas of coat depigmentation, shorter
and curly tails, shorter legs, a less pronounced snout, and
changes in reproductive cycle. These shifts can often be tied
to changes in timing in early development.
lived there, and they were very close, through village after village that mo- Eventually Lyudmila settled on a
getting together regularly for din- dernity had not yet touched. She dis- giant commercial fox farm called
ners and outings. Whats more, she embarked at tiny rail stations buried Lesnoi in remote terrain about half-
had just married and had a baby girl. deep in forests and walked down dirt way down to where the borders of
Taking her daughter, Marina, so far pathways to visit one industrial fox Kazakhstan and Mongolia meet, about
away from such a close circle of loving farm after another, looking for the best a 225-mile ride southwest of her home
family members would be difficult. location for running the experiment. base in Novosibirsk. Like all commer-
Meanwhile, who knew what sort of When she arrived at a fox farm, she cial farms in the Soviet Union, it was
work her husband, Volodya, an avia- explained to the director the nature of owned by the state, and at any given
tion mechanic, could find, or what sort the experiment that she and Belyaev time, it housed thousands of repro-
of living conditions they could expect. wanted to start. Theyd need some space ductive female foxes and tens of thou-
The only thing she knew about living of their own and access to hundreds sands of young pups. Lesnoi was a
in Akademgorodok was that, being in of foxes to test, though, she explained, cash cow for the government, and the
the heart of Siberia, it would be bone- they would only end up using a very tiny space the director allocated for
chillingly cold for much of the year. small percentage of those for the breed- Lyudmila to keep the foxes she would
But she had to go. As it turned out, ing theyd do in their experiment breed would hardly change that.
her husband heartily supported the just those that were the calmest. Many The Lesnoi farm took some getting
move and felt confident he could find at the commercial farms were mysti- used to. It was an enormous complex,
work there. To her great delight, her fied why anyone would want to take with rows and rows of open-air sheds
mother also decided that she would the time to do what Lyudmila was de- each one holding hundreds of cages,
join them once they had gotten situ- scribing. It is quite possible, she re- with one fox per cage. Even that wasnt
ated. She would live with them and calls with amusement, that before enough space, with fox cages seemingly
look after the baby while Lyudmila people knew that Belyaev had sent covering every spare inch of space. The
did her work. In the spring of 1958 me, they thought I was crazy, thinking, smell, especially for Lyudmila, who was
they took the Trans-Siberian Railway What is she up to, wanting to pick out a novice, was overwhelming. And the
and headed to their new home. the tamest foxes! But as soon as she noise, a cacophony of yelps and screech-
Because there was no experimental mentioned whom she was working es, especially at meal times, could of-
fox farm yet in Akademgorodok, in the with, their attitude changed complete- ten be deafening. The small armies of
fall of 1959, Lyudmila found herself ly. A single word from Dr. Belyaev, workers who fed the foxes and cleaned
traveling on slow trains through vast Lyudmila recalls, was enough to guar- their cages paid little attention at first
expanses of Soviet wilderness, passing antee respect. to this intense young woman methodi-
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The fox team remains hard at work, studying everything

from the domesticated foxes love for humans, to the
new vocalizations they now use to express that love, to
the underlying molecular genetics of that passion.
Workers at the experimental fox farm in Novosibirsk (above) carry do-

mesticated foxes during the winter, when days can be short and frigid.
The foxes are housed in hundreds of cages held inside open-air sheds.
(Photograph courtesy of Aaron Dugatkin.)
Lyudmila Trut (above) demonstrates the so-

ciability of one of the domesticated foxes. The
foxes like to play with one another as well as
with humans, as shown by these two in the
snow (left). The fox at far left also shows a sig-
nature trait of domesticationregions of coat
depigmentationa trait seen across domestic
animal species (such as pigs, horses, and cows,
as well as dogs). Behavioral traits such as tame-
ness are controlled by neurotransmitters and
hormones, and those in turn are regulated by
genes that control other far-reaching aspects
of development, including pigmentation. (Left
photograph courtesy of Aaron Dugatkin.)
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Three domesticated fox pups sitting in a field (above), along with one fied, called Star, affects the migration rate of an embryos melanoblasts,
holding a leash in its mouth (center), and one peeking through plants precursors to pigment cells that color fur. Researchers in the study have
(right), show the range of variation in pigmentation that is possible also observed that domesticated foxes have lower levels of stress hor-
with domesticated foxes. The process of domestication can alter the mones (called corticosteroids), and produce higher levels of serotonin,
timing of development in the earliest stages. One gene the team identi- sometimes dubbed the happiness chemical.
cally going about her strange testing of servations of the pups and how they fox reacted to her presence as she ap-
the foxes. They had little time for curi- were maturing. And she would do this proached its cage, as she stood by the
osity; each was responsible for the care year after year. Although Lesnoi was closed cage, as she opened the cage,
of about 100 foxes. only 225 miles away, given the state and as she placed a stick inside the
Having had no prior experience of the Soviet train system, the trip was cage. Each fox was given a score on a
with foxes, Lyudmila was taken aback exhausting. Lyudmila would leave scale of 1 to 4 for each interaction, and
at first by how aggressive they were. Novosibirsk at 11 p.m. and reach the those with the highest aggregate scores
Becoming acquainted with these fire- small city of Biysk, an hour from Les- were designated the calmest. She tested
breathing dragons, as she called noi, the next morning at about 11 a.m., about 50 foxes every day, which was
them, snarling and lunging at her both physically and mentally grueling.
when she approached their cages, she The majority of foxes reacted ag-
found it hard to believe that they could The majority of foxes gressively when she approached or
ever be domesticated. Now she under- when she put the stick into their cages.
stood why Belyaev had warned her reacted aggressively Given the chance, Lyudmila felt sure,
that the experiment they were starting
might take a very long time.
when approached. A they would have loved to rip her hand
off. A much smaller number cowered
At Lyudmilas behest, the manag- much smaller number in fear at the rear of their cages, also far
er of Lesnoi agreed to construct some from being calm. The smallest number
large pens for the female foxes with cowered in fear. The stayed calm throughout, observing her
wooden dens built into the front cor- smallest number stayed intently but not reacting. She selected
ner for them to give birth in, cushioned foxes from that 10 percent of the popu-
with wood chips to make the dens com- calm throughout. Foxes lation to become the new parents for
fortable for the mothers and their pups. the next generation.
Lyudmilas first order of business at
from that 10 percent Lyudmila would take a short break
Lesnoi was to increase the number of of the population for lunch in the middle of the after-
foxes in the study, and to do that, she noon at the little restaurant in the vil-
would select them from the large pop- were selected for lage, which served delicious borscht,
ulation there. She would have to travel
from the Institute of Cytology and Ge-
the experiment. Russian meatballs, and pancakes; then
shed head back to the farm for several
netics in Novosibirsk four times a year, more hours of testing, and after that,
starting in October, to select the calm- where she caught a bus for the last leg in the small room she was given at the
est, most human-friendly foxes for of the journey. quarters of the breeding researchers on
mating, then in late January to oversee Each day, starting at 6 a.m., Lyud- the farm, she would record every detail
the mating process, again in April to mila made her way methodically from of her observations that day. Finally, at
observe the pups shortly after birth, cage to cage. Wearing two-inch-thick about 11 p.m., she would unwind with
and finally in June, to make more ob- protective gloves, she gauged how each a light dinner in the kitchen, sharing
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stories and jokes with the others at a wonderful treat. As are the young of ing out of the den, they were allowed
the house. Most of her time was spent so many animals, fox pups are adorable. out into a yard by the shed to play for
alone with the foxes, and although she When first born, they are a little big- some time each day.
was developing a rapport with them, ger than the size of a human hand and Lyudmila arrived within days of
she often felt quite lonely. weigh only about 4 ounces. They are their births in April, and she wrote
Her visit to oversee the first mat- entirely helpless at first, both deaf and detailed descriptions of each of the
ing of the foxes, in January 1960, was blind, and they dont open their eyes pups, including their fur color, size,
challenging. She had written a de- until 18 or 19 days after birth. They look and weight, and made note of every
tailed plan during her October visit like little balls of puffy fur. little step of their growth: when they
for which foxes to breed with which, To simulate the normal rearing pro- opened their eyes, when they could
pairing the calmest males with the cess, Lyudmila kept the pups in the hear, when they first began to play.
calmest females while also avoiding experiment in their mothers pen at all The domestication experiment was
any inbreeding. Most of the animals times until they were two months old, off to a good start, and Lyudmila loved
complied when they were brought to- and they stayed bundled up together her time with the foxes, but the work
gether for mating, but some of the fe- in the den for the first month, just as was taking a heavy toll on her. The long
males rejected their proposed partners in the wild. Once they started ventur- absences from her daughter continued
and Lyudmila had to act quickly to
find another suitable mate: She did not
want to let Belyaev down.
She was out in the unheated sheds
for hours and hours in temperatures
that regularly dipped to 40 or 50
degrees Celsius, and she missed her
husband and daughter terribly. Al-
though she knew her mother was tak-
ing good care of Marina, she felt hor-
rible that she was missing so many of
the exciting moments of her daugh-
ters early development. She couldnt
even call home very often, as there
was no phone at the Lesnoi farm,
and long-distance calls from the pri-
vate phone of the director of the farm
were next to impossible to arrange.
The letter service between Lesnoi and
Novosibirsk was also notoriously slow
and unreliable.
Fortunately, Lyudmilas visits to One domesticated fox, named Coco for the sounds she made, was a particular favorite of the
Lesnoi in April and June offered com- study staff because she started out so tiny and weak. Coco ended up needing in-home care
pensation. Observing the fox pups as with a staff member, Galya, and her husband, Venya (above), in order to survive. Coco became
they first opened their eyes and made so attached to Venya that she ran off in an effort to find him, and was only returned because
their way out of their dens in April was of Venyas reciprocal dedication.
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to weigh on her, and she sometimes

wondered whether she shouldnt try to
find another research project.
One day during her second January
trip to Lesnoi, Lyudmila was wait-
ing at the small train station in the
town of Seyatel where she caught a
bus to the Institute of Cytology and
Genetics. The temperature was about
40 degrees below zero, and the station
was barely heated. When it was an-
nounced that there would be no buses
for quite a long time, she decided that
was itshe would give Belyaev her
resignation the next day and her fam-
ily would move away from this hor-
rid land. But the next morning, after
a cup of hot coffee, she realized she
couldnt leave. She had fallen in love
with the work.
Fast forward two decades and Ly-
udmila, Belyaev, and the whole fox
team had accomplished more than
Staff members at the fox farm experiment, including Tatjana Semenova (above) and Irena
they could have imagined in their
Mukhamedshina (below), interact with domesticated fox pups, who seem to delight in such
encounters. Much like dogs, domesticated fox pups dont show a fear response to the un-
wildest dreams. They had their own
known until 9 to 12 weeks of age; this gives them a longer window for socialization than that experimental farm near the Institute
of nondomesticated foxes, which develop this fear response at about 6 weeks. of Cytology and Genetics, and their
domesticated foxes were as tame and
playful as the cutest dog. And they
now looked like dogs too, almost ee-
rily so. They had begun to look so
doglike, in fact, that one of the domes-
ticated foxes, a female named Coco,
who was something of a favorite at the
experimental farm, was mistaken for
a stray dog one day by a young man
from a suburb of Novosibirsk in the
vicinity of the farm. Coco then went on
quite an odyssey.
Coco was so appealing in part be-
cause from early on, she made a lov-
able chattering noise that sounded
something like co co co co co. Ly-
udmila says fondly of Coco, She gave
herself her own nickname. Everyone
on the farm had followed Cocos fate
with great concern her first few weeks
after birth. She was so tiny and weak
that it looked like she wasnt going
to survive. Even after the veterinar-
ian gave her glucose supplements
and vitamins every day, and hand-fed
her milk, she was still failing. Every
morning when workers showed up at
the fox farm, their first question was
How is Coco? Even staff members
over at the Institute of Cytology and
Genetics, 20 minutes away, wanted
daily updates.
One staff member, Galya, always
told her animal-loving husband, Venya,
about how Coco was progressing
when she got home at night. The two
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of them had discussed that if the vet- ment, but she refused to open the door. rate from the experiment, where she
erinarian determined Coco had no When he pleaded with her that Coco could interact with both foxes and
hope, they wanted to make their small was a special fox, part of an experiment humans. To smooth over the transi-
apartment into a fox hospice, allow- at The Institute, she only opened her tion to a different home, she was first
ing her to die with loving humans car- chained door a crack and said tersely, placed in the human half of the house,
ing for her. Lyudmila agreed that they I do not have it. But later that night, and then in time, joined the other foxes
could take her in, and when the word she apparently got nervous about hold- over on their side.
came from the vet that there was nothing on to such a special animal, and For years Coco lived in that house,
ing more he could do, they came to the she also let Coco out. The odyssey still and Venya would visit every week-
farm to collect her. To their great sur- wasnt over. end, occasionally spending the night
prise, when they got her home, Coco Venya now got word that the kids on a couch there. They also took regu-
perked up and began to eat more. at the playground had seen Coco with lar walks together. Years later, when
Within days, she was a new fox, and a local teenage boy, who was known Cocos health started to fail, Venya and
miraculously, she survived. Rather to be a bully, but they said they didnt Galya brought her back to their apart-
than bringing her back to the fox farm, ment to spend the last days of her life
Lyudmila was happy for Coco to live in their loving care.
with Galya and Venya, who had be-
come deeply attached to her. Coco, in
The domesticated foxes Lyudmila remembers Coco behav-
ing peacefully and spending that last
turn, would become deeply bonded to were as tame and playful period of her life very content and
them, especially to Venya. happy. Cocos greatest joy was sitting
Venya was so enamored with Coco as the cutest dog. And on a chair with Venya and looking out
that he wanted to bring her into work
with him, but that wasnt possible.
they looked like dogs the window. On one such occasion she
jumped off of the chair and fractured
Every evening when he got home, too, almost eerily so. her right front paw. Shortly after that,
he would take her for a long walk she developed a bone sarcoma. Venya
in the nearby woods, keeping a firm cared for her, but he knew it was the
grip on her leash. Coco was fine with know the boys name or where he beginning of the end. Soon thereafter,
the leash, and behaved well. But one lived. All they could say is that they Coco had a heart attack and died, with
evening when Venya got stuck late at thought he was about 12 years old. Venya and Galya by her side. They
work and Galya was walking Coco So with Lyudmilas help, Venya set buried her on a small hill in the woods
instead, the fox spotted a man walk- up an appointment with the principal where she and Venya loved to walk.
ing way off in the woods and bolted of the middle school, and he and Ly- Fast forward another 30 years to to-
toward him, breaking free from Galya. udmila explained the situation. Right day. Venya still visits Cocos grave on
In a moment, Galya lost sight of her. then, the teachers were instructed to occasion. The fox team remains hard
Coco probably thought that the male make an announcement to every class at work, studying everything from the
figure in the distance was Venya and that Coco was a special fox and if any- domesticated foxes love for humans,
ran away when she discovered other- one had any information that would to the new vocalizations they now use
wise. Galya called out to her, but Coco help find her, they should speak up. It to express that love, to the underly-
didnt return, and Galya rushed home, paid off. The boys name was quickly ing molecular genetics of that passion.
hoping to find Venya so they could coughed up, and Venya and Lyudmila And having recently celebrated her
search for her. rushed to his apartment. They arrived 83rd birthday, Lyudmila is still work-
For the next several days, Venya just in time to find the boys mother ing with these remarkable creatures
went back to the woods frantically in the process of sedating Coco, ap- almost every day. Her dream is to es-
searching for his dear friend, asking parently preparing to kill her for her tablish a secure and loving future for
anyone he encountered if they had beautiful fur. Venya tore Coco away the foxes. I hope that it is possible to
seen Coco. Finally someone told him from the woman and ran out to the register them as a new pet species,
they had heard that a young man from street with her limp body in his arms. Lyudmila says. One day I will be
the town had found a dog that looked As Coco breathed the fresh air, she be- gone, but I want my foxes to live for-
like a fox, or maybe it was a fox that gan to revive. ever. She knows that wont be easy.
looked like a dog, and taken it in. But Coco lived happily in Venya But easy doesnt matter to Lyudmila.
by the time Venya tracked him down, and Galyas apartment for six more Easy never has mattered. Possible is
Coco was gone. Later they learned months, but when mating season came what matters.
that the very first night, Coco had around, she became restless. She began
screamed and scratched at the mans scratching at the apartment door and
door so relentlessly that he finally just keeping Venya and Galya up all night.
let her out. Clearly she was longing to find a mate,
Venya then heard rumors circulating so they consulted with Lyudmila and For relevant Web links, consult this
among the kids at a local playground worked out a plan. They would bring issue of American Scientist Online:
that Coco had been picked up by a her back to the experimental fox farm http://www.americanscientist.org/
woman who lived in the same building to mate. All of the hundreds of foxes issues/id.127/past.aspx
as the young man who had first taken in the domestication experiment were
the fox in. Venya managed to get the kept on one part of the farm. But Coco
womans name and went to her apart- was moved into a special house, sepa-
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S c i e n t i s t s
E`^_kjkXe[
In this edition of Scientists Nightstand, we celebrate the bicentennial of Henry David

The Scientists Nightstand, Thoreaus birth, on July 12, 1817. As an intellect, he was a serious multihyphenate, a
American Scientists books writer-philosopher-naturalist-ethicist-surveyor-poet for the ages. His most celebrated
section, offers reviews, review works, namely Walden and Civil Disobedience, are rightly remembered for the
essays, brief excerpts, and more. independent-mindedness they reveal as well as for their rhetorical strength. None-
For additional books coverage, theless, amid the beauty and power of Thoreaus prose, it is vital to remember him
please see our Science Culture also as a student of and evangelist for the natural world. Today, well into the 21st
blog channel, which explores centuryas we deepen our understanding of nature, grapple with climate change,
how science intersects with other and consider the cultural role of sciencehis work remains essential.
areas of knowledge, entertain-
ment, and society:
Although each of you has written
americanscientist.org/blog
about Thoreaus work as a naturalist,
/scienceculture.
__________ Thoreau as youve all approached the topic from
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Naturalist: A different perspectives. Im interested
in hearing what you each set out to
THROUGH A GREEN LENS: Fifty Conversation with do in writing about Thoreau. Lets
start with you, Dr. Primack. The envi-
Years of Writing for Nature.
By Robert Michael Pyle. Four Authors ronmental data Thoreau recorded has
been vital to your ecological stud-
page 252 Dianne Timblin ies of the Concord, Massachusetts,
areasomething you discuss in your
ONLINE To mark Thoreaus bicentennial, we spoke book Walden Warming.
with four authors who have spent countless
MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY. hours studying his work as a naturalist. Richard B. Primack: I wanted to dem-
By Eleni Sikelianos. Richard Higgins is the author of Thoreau onstrate how Thoreaus observations
and the Language of Trees, which draws from the 1850s, when linked to modern
Recommended Reading: Works
on 100 excerpts from Thoreaus writings to observations, provide powerful evi-
by and about Thoreau
explore and discuss his knowledge of and dence for the effects of climate change
Both are available on our connection to trees. Conservation biologist on plants and animals. For eight years
Science Culture blog: Richard B. Primacks Walden Warming: Thoreau kept such detailed daily ob-
amsci.org/blog/scienceculture Climate Change Comes to Thoreaus servations that we were able to clearly
Woods has become a touchstone for ecolo- demonstrate the shift: Plants are now
gists, climate scientists, and environmental flowering and leafing out about two
historians. Geologist Robert M. Thorsons weeks earlier than they were 160 years
latest book on Thoreau, The Boatman, ex- ago. We could also discern that rising
amines the Concord Rivers vital influence spring temperatures were driving these
on Thoreau, with a particular emphasis on changes in timing; it was not another
how the encroachment of industrializa- factor, such as changes in rainfall or
tion spurred an evolution in his thinking. land use. Thoreaus observations also
Laura Dassow Walls has spent decades helped us determine that birds are not
excavating details of Thoreaus life from responding as dynamically to warming
libraries and archives; she offers them to temperatures; that is, their arrival dates
readers, alongside her formidable analysis each spring are not changing much. In
and insight, in her forthcoming biography, Walden Warming, I explore the implica-
Henry David Thoreau: A Life, available tions of these changes, especially the
in July. (You can find a list of these books, possibility of seasonal ecological mis-
along with other recent works on Thoreau, matches between plants and birds, as
Thoreaus sketch of a pine sprig.
From Thoreau and the Language
online.) Go online also for an extended ver- well as the insects that birds eat.
of Trees. sion of our discussion about Thoreau as I also wanted to convey that many
a scientist and thinker: http://amsci.org/ of Thoreaus key themes in Walden
article/thoreau-as-naturalist.
_________________ such as the value of living simply, the
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importance of carefully observing na-

ture, and the moral reasons for taking
political standsare still very relevant.
Among other things, they provide
guidance to help us address the current
crisis of global climate change.
Dr. Walls, when you approached

your biography of Thoreau, youd al-
ready written about him extensively.
What were you aiming to do that you
hadnt had a chance to do before?
Photo courtesy of Richard B. Primack

Laura Dassow Walls: My earlier book
on Thoreau was specifically about Tho-
reau and science, and in writing it I had
to break out material for a second book,
on Emerson and science. As a result, Im
known for doing primarily ___ and sci-
ence studies. But I have never seen sci-
ence as a separate zone, distant from lit-
erature, culture, religion, social reform,
The Emerson family donated the land surrounding Walden Pond to the Commonwealth of
and so onI approach science as a hu-
Massachusetts in 1922 to preserve the Walden of Emerson and Thoreau, its shores and nearby
manist. In all my books I have tried to woodlands for the public who wish to enjoy the pond, the woods, and nature. Its now part
show how the figures Ive been centrally of the Walden Pond State Reservation, a popular recreational site.
interested in (Thoreau, Emerson, Hum-
boldt) integrated natural science into the Yes, understanding Thoreau in the Concord elm, his discovery of a forest of
fullness of human life and thought. context of his regional environment old-growth oaks, his joy at seeing trees
Unfortunately, aside from the field of seems essential. Mr. Higgins, your transformed by snow, and his startling
ecocriticism, most mainstream literary book Thoreau and the Language of nautical imagery of trees.
scholars persist in treating science as Trees demonstrates that point by
basically extraterrestrial and, at best, of delving deeply into his observations And Dr. Thorson, your latest book,
marginal interest to them. Very little of of and enthusiasm for trees. The Boatman, examines the influence
my larger argument has really made an of the Concord River on Thoreau.
impact in literary studies. So one goal in Richard Higgins: I wanted to convey
writing my biography of Thoreau was the wonder, awe, and even reverence Robert M. Thorson: This project be-
to weave his work in science as fully that trees stirred in Thoreau. He often gan 14 years ago with a question put
as possible into the fullness of his life had such feelings when he studied to me by Leslie Perrin Wilson, cura-
including his life as a literary artist and them as massive plants of enormous tor of special collections at the Con-
as a social reformerto show how in- complexity, beheld them as natural cord Free Public Library in Thoreaus
separable these modes of thinking and objects of unusual beauty and form, hometown of Concord, Massachu-
living are, rather than to hive science or perceived them as symbols of spiri- setts. After showing me an anony-
off as if it could be a separate realm. Its tual truths. He sometimes had all three mous, rolled-up map more than seven
never separateimplicit assumptions responses at once. I chose to focus on feet long, she asked, What do you
about, say, the human relationship with how trees influenced him as a poet and make of this? For the next 12 years,
nature, or to the Cosmos, as Humboldt writer, a philosopher, and a spiritual her question simmered in the back
would sayare always present in ev- supplicant because those responses, al- of my mind while I worked on other
ery literary work. My studies perenni- though based on his keen observations things. Only after finishing my 2014
ally focus on authors who make those as a naturalist, have received less ink book, Waldens Shore, about the physi-
assumptions explicit. than his work in forest dynamics. cal science beneath Thoreaus literary
I also had another, very specific aim. I also wanted to use Thoreaus words masterpiece, and even then only after
I open the biography with the melting and my images to show how he saw plunging deep into scholarly detective
of the glaciers to make a point: Tho- trees. I therefore tried to be as direct and work on Thoreaus river years, was I
reau is deeply place-based, and one original in my essays as possible, leav- able to answer Leslies question. Her
cannot understand him without un- ing the literary and scientific scholarship mystery map became my Rosetta
derstanding how his place came to be. that informed my book to the notes. In Stone for Thoreaus unpublished river
Whats more, thats what he thought, addition, I wanted to show his unique, project of 18591860, which he worked
too; he was driven to understand how unpredictable responses to specific on secretly during Americas first ma-
his world came to be. So viewing him trees, because I found that the key to jor controversy over dam removal, a
through the lens of his regions geologi- Thoreaus grasp of the universal was in four-year legal fight that consumed
cal and natural history offers a chance his attention to particulars. So the book four acts of the state legislature. In
to deepen our understanding of how includes chapters about Thoreaus love turn, this scroll-map, with its details
he actually understood himself. of the white pine, the felling of an iconic of channel morphology, hundreds of
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it affected his philosophy and writ-
From Henry David Thoreau, by Laura Dassow Walls, 2017. Courtesy of University of Chicago Press.
ings. In your view, what does it mean
for Thoreau to be understood as a fun-
damentally interdisciplinary figure?
Photo courtesy of Richard Higgins. From Thoreau and the Language of Trees.
LDW: To understand Thoreau as a

fundamentally interdisciplinary fig-
ure is to perceive how science and
technology, the social sciences, the
humanities, and the arts all flourish
together, not just in the abstract but
in specific problems and studies. If
we could truly understand how he
put the picture together and made it
meaningful, as well as factual, and
profoundly moving in its beauty and
splendor, we could ask how we might,
in our own emerging world, educate
ourselves to see the world whole and
make disciplines into nodes of inter-
change instead of silos of exclusion.
An elm tree in Concord, Massachusetts, I actually started thinking about
planted in 1858, was reportedly grown from Thoreau when I was studying to be-
a cutting of a vast elm that had been felled in come an ecologist. His journals in
1856 on the same spot. Thoreau recorded his particular absolutely fascinated me.
distress about the felling in his journal. Daniel Ricketson sketched Thoreau in 1854,
They showed how one could be fully
soundings, seven distinct reaches, and alive to the world in all its dimensions, when they first met. Ricketson wrote that he
was surprised to discover that Thoreau was
44 surveyed gradients, culminated and how living fully in the natural
not the stout and robust person he had
Thoreaus lifelong investigation into worldwalking, noticing, forever imagined him to be.
the ways and means of the Concord asking questionscould be a way
River, the largest feature of his home to live more fully, period. Thoreaus our emotional register, is part of hu-
terrainand, I would argue, the most later works are especially electric with man cognitionand indeed, as Hum-
vital influence on him. creative energy, and the more he dug boldt said, just as much part of what he
Keeping the mysterious map front into the questions that engaged him, called the Cosmos as physical phenom-
and center, I aimed to squeeze the the better his writing becamethe ena. Thoreaus response to his world is
juice out of five other original source more embodied, the more distinc- always to inquire about relationships
documents to reconstruct Thoreaus tively Thoreau. Jacob Bronowski as he put it once, his point of interest
life as a boatman and pioneering riv- once wrote that creativity is mak- is somewhere between the object and
er scientist. These included an 1862 ing a deep connection between two himself, and he critiques scientists for
engineering report, with more than things, a connection no one has made ignoring the between and dealing
35,000 data points; an 1860 report by before. Thoreau went out every day solely with the objects. So Thoreau asks
a special legislative committee; the looking for those deep connections. constantly about relationships between
unpublished online transcripts of This became the project of his lifeas thingsbetween the turtle egg and
Thoreaus journal; his massive unpub- a writer, making connections between the temperature of the earth in which
lished table, Statistics of Bridges; and language and the natural world, for it hatches; between the bird and the
his private papers. Significantly, the starters, including the language that plant materials it chooses to construct
quantitative details of Thoreaus river all things speak, as he said. But the its nestson and on, thousands upon
project were excised from his journal natural world was very, very big for thousands of questions.
writings when they were published in himit included people, for instance, The acute aliveness of his curios-
1906, leaving his genius as a river sci- whom he studied with great care, both ity is what makes the greatness of his
entist invisible during his 20th-century through literature and philosophy but, writingthere is simply no separa-
canonization. Ultimately, The Boatman to be sure, through participant obser- tion in his mind, no compartments for
endeavors to bring Thoreaus riverine vation. He can seem to lack empathy all the various kinds of knowledge he
joy back into the limelight. for his fellow humans (why that is seeks. He brings all his senses to bear.
takes us far from this question!), but For example, he notices a certain plant
As you mentioned earlier, Dr. Walls, he shows immense empathy for ev- is cool to the touch, but the dead leaves
literary scholarship tends to pigeon- erything wildfoxes, woodchucks, of the same plant are warm to the
hole Thoreau, leaving his scientific hawks, chickadees, also pine trees and touch. Its not just that he notices, as a
work largely undiscussed in that field. apple treeshis empathy for grasses is fact, but that he makes something of
Over the years youve pioneered a simply stunning. itand of all the thousands of obser-
more three-dimensional view of Tho- This means that he isnt a scientist vations like thisbecause he wants to
reau by exploring his work as a natu- in the sense of being objective, be- know whyhes the perpetual child,
ralist, demonstrating how profoundly cause he assumes that human feeling, perpetually fresh with wonder. And
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this desire to know why leads to the been omitted from posthumous publi-
other aspect of his curiosityhe wants cations, it took some time for the data
to know how things work, which to to come to light. The field of forest-
him is part of appreciating their beau- ry also ignored Thoreaus published
ty. Machines fascinated Thoreau, and findings about succession and dendro-
he was an accomplished inventor (his chronology, but for a different reason.
graphite mill made the Thoreau fam- They didnt trust the observations of a
Photo courtesy of Robert M. Thorson. From The Boatman.

ily fortune); whats more, he insisted Transcendentalist.
that any well-educated person should Although reclaiming these facts has
know, for instance, how a railroad en- been important, its even more crucial
gine runs, well enough to repair it if for scientists to cultivate Thoreaus
necessary. In his mind, to go from ask- idea that the factual is only partial. As
ing how an engine works, to asking he sought to understand nature, he
how a forest works, or how a river came to believe that a strictly quan-
worksor how a democracy works! titative or microscopic perspective
was not a leap at all. And the more he was too narrow, too circumscribed,
knew, the bigger the universe got and to deliver the wholeor even, as he
the more interesting; he couldnt resist wrote, the shadow of the whole.
sharing his knowledge, and sharing it Thoreau valued science, but he al-
in such a way that the reader or stu- ways combined his exacting obser-
dent might find it irresistible. vations as a naturalist with his aes-
The Assabet River powers an adjacent mill.
Asking how things worked, and thetic and philosophical perception. Robert Thorson notes that it was Thoreaus
what they meant, took him in all He wanted to know the tree as natural favorite flowing stream, even though it was
directionsinto all disciplines, wed fact and as spiritual fact. Not a bad the most disrupted river reach of the region.
say today. For example, he began ev- way to look at the world.
ery study by researching its history. and mapped that provides a historical
And Thoreau was above all else a lit- RMT: Most importantly, Thoreau gives baseline for changes that have occurred
erary artist: Hed started life deter- us a model for how the information- since. (See ________________
http://bit.ly/2rEkJwL.)
mined to be a poet, and he kept and making goal of science and the meaning- Quantitative examples include the
honed lifelong his acute sensitivity to making goal of the humanities can width, depth, shape, curvature, veloc-
language. That makes him not only a happily coexist in equal doses in one ity, discharge, migration rate, and tem-
great writer, but a great writer on sci- mind. Of course, this was before these peratures of flowing streams through-
ence. Its painful to recall how young two endeavors were rifted apart in the out the watershed during both flood
he was when he died, so soon after second half of the 19th century during stage and baseline flows.
Darwin lit up his world; had he lived the professionalization of science. Its
another 20 years, we would have a helpful to remember that Thoreaus era RBP: Thoreau shows us that it is pos-
better sense of how he was drawing predated use of the word scientist as sible to understand the natural world
multiple disciplines into a varied but a cultural meme, a label invented as a through careful observationsones
coherent body of work. counterpart to artist. Secondly, scien- made during intensive hours on single
tists can go back in time to witness the days, and made daily over the course
Im very curious about what this shift great joy Thoreau experienced while of many years. Thoreaus observations
in perspective might signify for those satisfying his intellectual addiction to provide us with a model for conduct-
in the sciences. What does science gain unfunded, curiosity-driven research. ing climate change research thats ap-
by, in effect, claiming Thoreau? Or For example, on a beautiful autumn plicable to both professional scientists
what might those working in STEM day in 1851 he exclaimed, What me- and the expanding network of citizen
regardless of their fieldgain through andering! The Serpentine, our river scientists. He gathered scientific data
greater awareness of his work? should be called? What makes the river primarily by writing down his obser-
love to delay here? Here come to study vations in a systematic manner; his
RH: In a practical sense, you might the law of meandering. Combining most advanced instrument was a ther-
say this question has been answered field observations and inductive ge- mometer. The tens of thousands of cit-
by Richard [Primack] and other sci- nius, he discovered that law of heli- izen scientists who are currently con-
entists who have used Thoreaus ex- coidal flow the following spring. This tributing to online networkssuch
tensive phenological records to study is not the Thoreau weve been steered as the National Phenology Network,
how climate change has affected when toward by those preoccupied with his Project Budburst, Journey North, and
plants flower and leaf out or when literary, philosophical, and political eBirdare all linked to this tradition
bird and insect migrations occur. achievements. A third reason for claim- of careful observation. If scientists can
Scholars have for 25 or more years ing Thoreau as a scientist involves use Thoreaus practices and insights
been diving into the wealth of botanic the wonderful historical data sets he to demonstrate the power of natural-
observations, charts and tables, and left for us to work with: most notably ist observations, this could inspire
other data Thoreau recorded for his the phenology of plants, animals, and more people to observe their own sur-
grand phenological calendar of Con- physical occurrences. My most recent roundings, join the ranks of citizen
cord but did not live long enough to book is accompanied by an online re- scientists, and become involved in
synthesize. Because these records had pository of data that Thoreau collected protecting the environment.
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book excerpt
5IF/JDIFPGB about what I was missing back home
on the plains.
all-consuming that it comes between
nature and the naturalist, it isnt worth
/BUVSBMJTU These early experiences taught me a
lesson I have always valued: Remote-
it. Not surprisingly, conservationists
who make time for nature are far more
Robert Michael Pyle ness from nature is mostly a state of effective at their work and lives than
mind. Of course, some conditions do those who do not. Workaholics in any
Ecologist Gary Paul Nabhan counts Robert isolate people from wildlife and natu- field always benefit in health and mind
Michael Pyle among those who have fol- ral landscapes. But I believe that al- by trading an hour at their desks for
lowed in Thoreaus path to build ever-stronger most anyone can get close to nature, one out of doors. This is a problem for
bridges between ecology and literature. A given the will, and that everyone will self-help, and it can be easily overcome.
lepidopterist as well as an acclaimed author, benefit from doing so. Inner remoteness from nature is an at-
Pyle founded the Xerxes Society, which Distance can seem to represent an titude that is harder to change. The nub
focuses on invertebrate conservation. In obstacle, but, as I have shown, separa- of the problem is the same everywhere
this passage, which is excerpted from an tion from major wild areas need not and for everyone: The world is too much
essay that was first published in Orion in prevent us from communing with na- with us. We are too preoccupied to hear
1982 and is reprinted in Through a Green ture close to home. It is often just a mat- natures music. During a recent visit to
Lens: Fifty Years of Writing for Nature, ter of subtle versus more spectacular Lake Louise in Banff National Park, I
Pyle encourages readers to interact with the rewards. Virtually all kinds of land- was struck by the sharp differences in
natural world and to broaden their idea of scapes, urban as well as rural or wild, visitors attitudes. Some were clearly
nature itselfa concept most Thoreauvian. constitute habitats for some kinds of swept away by the scene. But a surpris-
wildlife. Urban wildlife is becoming a ing number scanned the superb lake-
I
grew up on the wrong side of major topic of study and interpretation and-glacier vista, snapped the obliga-
town. From the looks of the neigh- in many cities, and the townscape is tory photographs, and then, as their
borhood, one might not have being appreciated for what it is: a com- eyes glazed over, resumed conversations
thought so. For me, though, the dis- plex, if highly disturbed, ecosystem. about the attributes of their rental cars
tinction was not one of class. I was a Some of my most memorable nature or about the distance from their room
young butterfly hunter, and the Front rambles have taken place in cities. No to the ice machine. The only solution
Range canyons to the west of Denver park is so manicured as to be without for this kind of alienation is conscious-
are the scene of a butterfly ball, all interest, and every urban waterfront ly to clear the mind and make it ready
summer long. But I lived on the prairie holds adventure for the naturalist. for natural stimuli. For some, it takes a
side of town, and those canyons might Rafts of western grebes and rhinoceros major spectacle to bring home natures
as well have been in Tibet. How I en- auklets bob among the ships in Seat- realitya visit to the Serengeti, the
vied a friend who lived in a foothills tles harbor. All Puget Sound is in the Great Barrier Reef, or a monarch butter-
suburb. He had only to walk out his waves that lap against the wharves. fly grove. For others, subtler treatment
door to see green hairstreak butterflies Canoeing among the docks reveals an may help: an experience entirely new
on Green Mountain. astonishing array of marine creatures and fresh to the senses, such as watching
I had to take my Rockies when I that defy the pollution and abrasion of for the first time the Sun set over the sea,
could get them. Mountain excursions the busy port. Starfish and anemones getting dripping wet with the moss in a
had to be fitted into my fathers fish- cling to the pilings, and jellyfish bal- rainforest glade, or settling into the hol-
ing trips or family drives. I drooled loon in the wake of the great ferries. low of a cottonwood tree in a hailstorm,
over the mountain ecology dioramas Of course city floras and faunas are or stroking a snake, or smelling a flower.
in the Denver Museum of Natural impoverished, compared to those of The important thing is purposefully to
History and wistfully watched Mount wildlands, and the urban ethos never expose oneself to such stimuli.
Evans, which loomed ever so far away entirely retreats into the background. In most instances, we create our own
across the city. Unable to visit the But even the settings of the natural remoteness from nature. Overcoming
mountains at will, I regarded myself as world may be found in some towns. isolation from the real worldthat of
truly remote from nature. From the tallgrass remnant of Wolf glaciers, petals, featherspresents a
After a few summers of such frus- Road Prairie in South Chicago to the challenge. Barriers must be surmount-
tration, I discovered that the prairie boreal birchwoods of Moscows parks ed, nictitating eyelids opened for good,
ditches and leftover patches of grass- and periphery, the green gestalt of na- imagination stoked and fanned. The
land near my home offered their own ture makes itself apparent in unlikely wonder in all this is that nature is the
attractions. Olympia marble wings, places the world over. The unofficial best cure for all the conditions that keep
goatweed emperors, and chocolate, countryside can never replace the real us apart from her. We need only once
eye-spotted, wood nymphs dwelt thing, but no city-bound soul is com- to experience nature with any sense at
there, along with other plains but- pletely cut off from the natural world. all to know that we never need grow
terflies. The nearby Highline Canal Of all the isolates from nature, it is remote from her again.
infected me with a prairie mystique the time-paupers for whom I have least
that I have carried with me ever since. sympathy. Conservation agencies and From Through a Green Lens: Fifty Years of Writ-
In later teen years when mountain groups are full of martyrs who no lon- ing for Nature, by Robert Michael Pyle. Copyright
trips became more practical, I would ger have time for the field. If activ- 2016 by Oregon State University Press. Used by
even worry, while in the mountains, ism, or any other pursuit, becomes so permission of the publisher.
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JulyAugust 2017
Volume 26
Number 4
Sigma Xi Today A NEWSLETTER OF SIGMA XI, THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH HONOR SOCIETY
Join us in Raleigh From the President

Sigma Xi invites science and engineering
professionals and the public to attend its Interesting Times
Symposium on Atmospheric Chemistry, It is my great honor to have been elected to serve
Climate, and Health on November 10, as president of Sigma Xi for the next year. Interest-
2017, at the Raleigh Convention Center ingly, my year seems to be coincident with significant
in Raleigh, North Carolina, and its stress in the science and technology communities. The
Student Research Conference, which health of the research enterprise, in terms of federal
will be held the following day. research funding, is fragile. The professional well-
The professional gathering will fea- being of researchers is of prime importance to Sigma
ture presentations by five top research- Xi. Our organization must help make the case that
ers that focus on the intersections be- our future as a nation depends significantly on a vi-
tween climate change, environmental brant scientific enterprise at universities and national
health, and human health. It will also in- laboratories, and in industry. An example of Sigma President Stuart L.
clude a panel discussion about policies Cooper
Xi in action on this topic is that we, along with other
for sustainable solutions to problems scientific societies, supported and participated in the March for Science on
posed by climate change. For more de- April 22. It was heartening to see the hundreds of thousands of individuals
tails, see the advertisement on the inside who came out for this event in Washington, DC, as well as in many other
front cover of this issue. cities in this country and abroad. I hope that the messages the marchers
Scheduled Speakers: conveyedregarding the need for protection of the scientific enterprise, the
r#BSCBSB'JOMBZTPO1JUUT value of research, and the importance of fact-based decision-making on a
r"33BWJTIBOLBSB whole host of societal initiativeswere heard.
r$"SEFO1PQF*** Sigma Xi has a role to play in promoting public understanding of science
r%BWJE"SDIFS and technology and in supporting the infrastructure that is educating the
r+FGGSFZ4IBNBO youth of our nation. K12 education in science and technology needs to be
supported and improved to provide the next generation of knowledgeable
On November 11, the Student Re- citizens. Sigma Xi resources such as the Student Research Showcase, the
search Conference will showcase a Chronicle of The New Researcher, and the newly established category of Sigma
research poster presentation competi- Xi Explorers can provide the excitement to draw in those students who will
tion for high school, undergraduate, be our future scientists and engineers. All of these initiatives are facilitated
and graduate students across disci- from the ground up by having a robust and active network of local chapters.
plines in the morning. The afternoon Support of our local chapters is vital, and by reaching out to find local lead-
will feature professional development ership, we will continue our efforts to rejuvenate those chapters that have
workshops and a networking event. become inactive over the years.
Sigma Xi members are encouraged Finally, I would like to report on a project I worked on during my year
to attend the conference to serve as as president-elect. In 2017, we are having a shortened fall meeting, and
judges for poster presentations and this will allow time to conduct an interesting experiment by coupling a
to network with students. At the eve- Science Symposium with our Student Research Conference. We were able
ning banquet, the poster sessions top to organize a one-day symposium on Atmospheric Chemistry, Climate,
presenters will be recognized and an and Health, which will be held on Friday, November 10, in the Raleigh
induction ceremony will be held to Convention Center. The Student Research Conference will be held the next
welcome new members of Sigma Xi. day, on Saturday, November 11. For the symposium, we have lined up five
Students who rank as the top present- outstanding researchers in the field, and we expect to have significant at-
ers in their division and research cat- tendance both by scientists in the region and by the students who will be
egory will receive a monetary award participating in the Saturday activities. See the article to the left of this page
and a free year of membership. for more information. There is much going on at Sigma Xi. Join us and find
companionship.
For details, see ________________
https://www.sigmaxi.org/
Stuart L. Cooper
meetings-events/symposium-and-student-
__________________________
research-conference.
____________
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NEW LEADERSHIP ANNOUNCED
New Executive Director and CEO Named

cietys staff since 2014 as the director of and molecular biology at the Univer-
science communications and publica- sity of Texas at Austin.
tions as well as editor-in-chief of Ameri- All of us at Sigma Xi welcome Dr.
can Scientist. Vernon also served as in- Vernon as executive director and CEO
terim co-director of operations of Sigma of the Society, said Tee L. Guidotti, who
Xi from 20142015, working closely with was Sigma Xi president at the time of
co-director Jasmine Shah and Sigma the appointment and who oversaw the
Xis executive committee to manage the search committee. He is a distinguished
headquarters budget and operations fol- public scientist, an accomplished and in-
lowing the departure of the previous novative communicator, and a consum-
executive director. mate ambassador who will nurture and
Vernon will fill the position current- protect the health and integrity of the
ly held by John C. Nemeth, who has research enterprise.
served as interim executive director and Sigma Xi is an international leader
CEO since October 2015. Historically, in recognizing excellence in scientific
the role also involves serving as pub- research, promoting ethical conduct of
lisher for American Scientist. science, and translating that research
Vernon earned his bachelor of sci- so the public can use it to improve their
Sigma Xi has selected Jamie L. Vernon ence degree in zoology at North Caroli- lives, Vernon said. I look forward to
as its next executive director and chief na State University, a master of science advancing these efforts by growing our
executive officer. His appointment will degree in molecular biology/biotech- community of members and strength-
begin on July 1, 2017. Vernon, who is a nology at East Carolina University, and ening the Societys relationship with
Sigma Xi member, has been on the So- a doctor of philosophy degree in cell the public.
New Leadership Elected

Congratulations to the following Research and Doctoral Universities through June 30, 2018
Sigma Xi members who were elected Constituency Northwest Region
to leadership positions on December Tammy Maldonado, University of Kristen A. Mitchell #PJTF4UBUF
14, 2016, by their fellow members. Colorado University
They are listed below with their Sigma Mid-Atlantic Region Southeast Region
Xi chapter affiliation. Thank you to all Frank Dane, Hollins University Lori Eckhardt, Auburn University
of the candidates who volunteered to
be in the election. Northeast Region Committee on Nominations
Eugene Santos, Dartmouth College
President-Elect Southeast Region The following elected committee members
Richard Watkins, University of will serve three-year terms, which began
Joel R. Primack, University of California-
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Term: at the conclusion of the election in
Santa Cruz, will serve a three-year term.
December 14, 2016, through June 30, December 2016.
He will be Sigma Xis president-elect
from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018, and 2018 Canadian/International
president from July 1, 2018, to June 30, Constituency Representative
Associate Directors Anna Elizabeth Sienko, University
2019. Then, he will serve as past president
from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. These associate directors will serve three- of Calgary
year terms, beginning July 1, 2017. Mid-Atlantic Regional
Treasurer
Area Industries, State, and Federal Representative
David W. Baker, Colorado School Laboratory Constituency Uvetta Dozier, Howard University,
of Mines, has served as treasurer since HollyAnn Harris, Omaha Term: December 2016 to November
December 14, 2016. His term runs Comprehensive Colleges & 2018
through June 30, 2018. Universities Constituency North Central Regional
Directors Tieli (Tilly) Wang California State Representative
University - Dominguez Hills Nicholas Ziats, Case Western Reserve
These directors will serve three years,
Research and Doctoral Universities University
beginning July 1, 2017.
Constituency Southwest Regional Representative
Membership-at-Large Constituency
Anthony Lupo, University of Hayriye Merve Yurdacan, University
Vijay Kowtha, Membership-at-Large
Missouri, Term: December 14, 2016, of Southern California
254 Sigma Xi Today
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STUDENT RESEARCHERS
Results of the 2017 Student Research Showcase

One hundred and sixteen science 10. Judges assessed the quality of graduate divisions. Division winners
and engineering students from high the projects scientific thought and received a $500 award from Sigma Xi.
schools, colleges, and universities method. They also critiqued how well Judges also picked top presenters in
around the world gathered online in the students did the following things: each of the research subject areas.
early April in hopes of being deter- communicated enthusiasm for their All participants received a certificate.
mined to have the best research proj- projects; explained the significance High school participants were invited
ect and the best science communica- of their research; used text, charts, to submit a research manuscript to
tion skills. They were there to compete and diagrams; and responded to Chronicle of The New Researcher, which
in the fifth annual Student Research questions. is Sigma Xis journal for precollegiate
Showcase run by Sigma Xi, The Scien- Judges picked top presenters in research in science, technology,
tific Research Honor Society. the high school, undergraduate, and engineering, and mathematics.
Students enter the competition
by creating a website that contains
2017 Division Winners Lymphoblastic Leukemia
a slideshow, a research abstract, and
a video. Each component challenges High School Division "NBOEB#BTLGJFME #BMM4UBUF6OJWFSTJUZ
students to communicate their re- Improving Nitration Activity of Fused Section: Microbiology and Molecular
search findings to different audiences. TxtE-CYP102AI Reductase Domain by #JPMPHZ
For example, the slideshow is intend- Optimizing the Linker Length Graduate Division
ed for an audience with a technical 1BENBWBUIJ 3FEEZ "NFSJDBO )FSJUBHF FeverPhone: Point of Care Diagnosis of
background, whereas the video tar- High School Acute Febrille Illness using a Mobile
gets a broader audience. 4FDUJPO$FMM#JPMPHZBOE#JPDIFNJTUSZ Device
Approximately 60 Sigma Xi Undergraduate Division Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, Cornell University
members volunteered to judge the Protein Expression in T-Cell Acute Section: Engineering
websites from April 3 through April
San Diego March for Science Celebrates Outreach

as a fiscal sponsor for the New York the public is in supporting science and
City, Columbus, Chicago, San Francis- knowing more about what we do,
co, and San Diego marches, managing said Cooper.
donations taken in by organizers. He believes the next steps involve
1MBOOFST XJUI UIF 4BO %JFHP NBSDI connecting all people with science no
saw the crowds of nearly 15,000 at its sci- matter who they are, what they do,
ence outreach gathering. Robert Cooper, or where they live. He suspects the
a quantitative biology post-doctoral re- reason people came to the march was
searcher at the University of San Diego the desire to stand up for the values
and a Sigma Xi member, noted his that knowing is better than not know-
citys march welcomed participants of ing, evidence is better than making
all ages and backgrounds, probably things up, and investing in the future
mostly people whose job titles didnt must include science.
include scientist. He and his fellow I think most importantly, we need
advocates championed the benefits of to point out to people how they are
scientific research and its role in society. scientists, too, said Cooper. Science
Rain or shine, the March for Science He noted that his citys science expo isnt just something that belongs in an
headlined Earth Day celebrations across at the end of the march was completely ivory tower; its a way of learning and
the world, welcoming throngs of scien- crowdsourced, that the communitys problem solving and finding inspi-
tists, science enthusiasts, and concerned passion for science inspired a multi- ration in understanding how things
citizens to advance science and promote tude of science exhibitors, including work. Anyone can think scientifically.
benefits of scientific research. Sigma Xi museums, biotechnology companies, It doesnt take a job title; it just takes
proved its commitment to the cause by research institutions, entrepreneurs, sci- curiosity, an open mind, testing your
being the first science organization to ence outreach groups, individual scien- ideas, and willingness to base your
partner with the global event, sending tists, and a craft brewery. conclusions on the evidence.
staff delegates to the signature march i1FPQMFXBOUUPCFDMPTFSUPTDJFODF
in Washington, DC. To aid in the efforts in their everyday lives, and scientists Sigma Xi Today is
of the more than 600 satellite marches are excited, and maybe a bit pleas- edited by Lisa Mumma
across the world, Sigma Xi also served antly surprised, to see how interested and designed by Justin Storms
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WEBSITE REDESIGN
American Scientist Launches Website Redesign

American Scientist magazine announces enormous task because it involves literal- such as engineering versus ethics, car-
the launch of its redesigned website. ly thousands of articles, each with multi- toons versus articles, online exclusives
American Scientist and Sigma Xi staff ple images, graphs, captions, pull quotes, versus issue-specific content.
partnered with Systems Solutions Incor- and links between them, said Frederick. Vernon noted that the redesigned site
porated and Advontemedia to design So we decided to go live with just the also capitalizes on organic content dis-
and build the new site to be mobile- past five years worth of contentgoing covery via social media and shared links.
friendly, so users may comfortably view back to January 2012. Our online magazines new look
it on smartphones and tablets as well The current year s content is should especially appeal to more digital-
as computer monitors. The design also formatted for the new site, showing ly savvy audiences, said Vernon. Once
improves the reader experience, and the off all the features of the innovative readers arrive at the new site, often after
digital versatility allows for image and design. Frederick noted that in the following a link shared in social media,
video integration. The original URL, coming months, more back issues will they can find similarly appealing con-
http://www.americanscientist.org, has be reformatted and made available on tent quickly, whether by type [videos,
not changed. the new website. Archives of American podcasts, features, blogs, book reviews,
A third of our users already were Scientist and its predecessor Sigma Xi and the like] or by topic [astronomy, en-
coming to the site on mobile devices, so Quarterlyincluding all issues published gineering, biology, and so on]. Addition-
we particularly focused on making the from 1913 through 2011are available on ally, theyll be able to share easily using
new site mobile-friendly, said Robert JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/journal/ tools embedded in the platform. Its emi-
Frederick, digital managing editor of amerscie), so readers who may need
______ nently searchable and shareable.
American Scientist Online, who served an old magazine article or issue in the The site redesign aligns technologi-
as project manager alongside Sigma meantime can still retrieve the content. cally and visually through customiza-
9JT *5 .BOBHFS .JDIBFM 1BWMPU XIP Jamie Vernon, editor-in-chief of tion, which heightens the reader ex-
led technical efforts. In the future, we American Scientist, led the development perience with content discovery and
anticipate even more people will be us- of the website concept with input from presentation at a minimum, said Fred-
ing mobile devices to access the Internet, the Sigma Xi team and the magazines erick. Weve designed the site to host
so we wanted to serve up the research readers. He considers the new design to new formats, what were calling digital
on AmericanScientist.org in the most be a long overdue improvement for the features, which will add new dimen-
mobile-friendly way. magazine, one that strategically meets sions to the users experienceaudio,
This project has included converting goals for its audiences and partners. He video, yes, but also interactivitythat
all of the articles to take advantage of that added the revamped site offers relative just arent possible in print or on the
new mobile-friendly format. Thats an content based on visitor preferences, old website.
FUND YOUR RESEARCH
APPLY BY
OCTOBER 1, 2017
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research
Honor Societys Grants-in-Aid of
Research (GIAR) program provides
funding to undergraduate and graduate
students in science and engineering.
#Z FODPVSBHJOH DMPTF XPSLJOH
relationships between students and
mentors, the program promotes scientific
excellence and achievement through
hands-on learning. Undergraduate and
graduate students currently enrolled in
degree-seeking programs may apply.
Online application: ______________

https://www.sigmaxi.
org/programs/grants-in-aid/apply
256 Sigma Xi Today
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FUEL
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JOIN US FOR INSPIRING SPEAKERS, HANDS-ON ACTIVITES & EXCITING STAGE SHOWS
FESTIVAL EVENTS: APRIL 5 - 8, 2018

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Innovation & Tech Today, National Institutes of Health (NIH),
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Save the Date!

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Featured Keynote Speakers

194 From the Editors

Henry Petroski 240 How to Tame a Fox and

From Sigma Xi 224

FROM THE EDITORS

O n December 16, 1675, Henry Oldenburg, the sec- _______________

retary of the Royal Society, prepared to publicly

ness of his previous book, Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

194 American Scientist, Volume 105

We invite you to travel

December 9-16, 2017 or March 19-26, 2018

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 195

196 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 197

Where Anthropology and how natural selection may be affect-

198 American Scientist, Volume 105

Arizona State University was curious

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 199

What divisions and challenges were

200 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 201

202 American Scientist, Volume 105

sibilities. Then I give them another lit-

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 203

204 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 205

206 American Scientist, Volume 105

5.0 million years

View the animations in this articles online version: http://amsci.org/article/a-slow-split

The Two Faces of Nanotechnology

208 American Scientist, Volume 105

now have reported the existence of both

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 209

210 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 211

Bright Light or Blight Over Brighton?

212 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 213

Out-of-the-ordinary structures have

214 American Scientist, Volume 105

air amid the strong gusts so familiar to

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 215

The Colonial Origins of

216 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 217

MacDougal nor the other American

218 American Scientist, Volume 105

Organization for Tropical

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 219

Wildlife Conservation Society. Reproduced by permission of the WCS Archives.

that their primary focus continued to

Herpetologist Thomas Barbour stands next

220 American Scientist, Volume 105

controlled and racially segregated Ca-

www.americanscientist.org 2017 JulyAugust 221

has not only grown into the cluster

field researchMexicos Estacin de

222 American Scientist, Volume 105

Division of the management of documents and archives, University of Montreal

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