Bell, Berners-Lee, and the Promise of New Technology

By: | May 1, 2013

More than a century ago, Alexander Graham Bell recorded his voice on a waxed cardboard disc at a laboratory in Washington DC. This week, we got to hear this scratchy recording—and Bell’s voice—for the first time.

Much of the recording involves Bell counting. He counts all the way up to 50, carefully enunciating each numeral. And then he begins counting by 10s. Then by 100s. Next comes a list of thousands. Then ten thousands. Then hundred thousands. Then he starts listing random numbers, like 4,530,870. Then . . . . zzzzzzz. I’m sorry. I fell asleep a little. It’s really boring. He enumerates for nearly four minutes.

Carl Haber, one of the scientists who helped extract Bell’s voice from the tattered disc, notes: “In those days of Edison and Bell, they thought recording was going to be important for accounting purposes or keeping business records. They may not have originally considered recording music.” Maybe that’s not quite true; an earlier phonograph recording did capture the sounds of a cornet. But there’s no doubt that when a technology is brand spanking new, we often have trouble predicting its usefulness. Continue reading →

Playdate with Eeyore: Why Big Data science means big challenges for reporters

By: | April 30, 2013

7767340604_50ab22c75f_bWe often lament hype in science journalism. But seldom do we worry about underhype – of downplaying the significance of a study.

In March, I had reason to worry about this. Just after Nature published a story that I wrote about a massive cancer genetics project, I received an email from my editor:

“Should we be worried about our cancer story?” read the subject line of his email.

Continue reading →

One Justin Bieber

By: | April 29, 2013

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How much time would you need to count to a million at the “One Mississippi” rate of one number per second?

At some point in my writing life I figured I should contemplate that question if I were ever to appreciate the kinds of numbers that astronomy uses. Knowing that our galaxy contains more than 100 billion stars, and that the universe is swarming with more than 100 billion galaxies, doesn’t mean much if you don’t know the meaning of a billion. Our brains didn’t need to evolve so that we could understand such numbers. Like cultures that count “One, two, three, more,” we tend to regard the scale of the universe—to the extent we regard it at all—as “Earth, planets, Sun, far.”

“Mississippi,” of course, is an arbitrary choice of noun. The key word has to contain four syllables in order that saying it would take approximately one second. But the key word in appreciating the profundity of the cosmos doesn’t have to be Mississippi. It’s not as if the river or state holds some intrinsic relationship to the mysteries of the universe. If anything, the word “Mississippi” is the opposite; its primordial soup of s’s, p’s, and i’s is playful, not portentous. What this exercise needs is a four-syllable noun that captures the fearsome potential of nature. Something that inspires curiosity and dread in equal parts. Something like…I don’t know…”Justin Bieber.”

So: How much time would you need to get to a million, counting at the “One Justin Bieber” rate of one number per second? Continue reading →

Debunking Hollywood: Headshot

By: | April 26, 2013

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Last month, Erik took a hard look at a staple in Hollywood’s menu of plot devices: the knockout shot. Now we turn to a movie trope that hits a little closer to home. Our very own Sally needs your help in the investigation:

Dear LWON readers,

I’m a boxer with a problem: I can’t punch you in the face.

Okay, I’m not a boxer. For that you have to have fought someone on some Thursday evening in a grotty basement venue in a worrying part of South London full of half-drunk people with complicated motives for standing around watching two people beat each other bloody.

Me, I’ve been training halfheartedly for about three years for my first fight. But that day may never come, because while I can hit a heavy bag like Captain America* and I could probably last the 3 2-minute rounds required for an amateur fight, my fist has never met a face it doesn’t like. Too much, in fact, to harm a single hair on it.

Which is why I find it so frustrating when I see people from all walks of life popping each other in the face on TV and in movies without so much as a flinch. I’m looking at you, Elisabeth-Shue-in-The-Karate-Kid, wearing your pearls and cold-cocking Johnny when he tries to get fresh at the restaurant. Continue reading →

TGIPF: Abstruse Goose on Not Envying the Penis

By: | April 25, 2013

vagina_envyAG is citing a riposte to intelligent design’s argument that a watch implies an intelligent watchmaker.

And yes, I know it’s not a Penis Friday.  As Cassie says, you can’t have penises every Friday; and a codicil would be, some penises come on Thursdays.  AG is also offering his own, more tasteful, riposte to Cassie’s last TGIPF (which I must say brought a slight blush to my delicate cheek) (and which also got many enthusiastic comments, many of them).  Plus AG is right.  I was a farm kid and used to seeing everybody of all ages naked, and I felt that neat, discreet girls were so superior to those bells-and-whistles boys.

Dust on our crust

By: | April 24, 2013


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Spring is a nervous time for skiers and farmers. I’m both of these, and every April I watch the weather even more closely than usual. As a skier, I’m waiting for crust — the year’s most magnificent snow conditions.

Spring’s warm temperatures compress the winter’s deep snowpack and when the freeze/thaw cycles line up just right, a firm crust forms on the top of the snow. This crust provides an ideal surface for skate skiing. In mid-season, skaters are confined to the groomed tracks, but come crust season, you can ski anywhere and everywhere without slogging. Conditions are fast and fun. It’s skiing at its finest. Crust cruisers often find themselves spontaneously emitting sounds of glee, such as “yippeeee!”  Continue reading →

Debunking Hollywood: Science On the Fringe

By: | April 23, 2013

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I am just sitting down to dinner at makeshift cafeteria a few miles away from a Maya dig site, called Xultun, in the jungles of Northern Guatemala. It’s my third day there, and I am still not used to the howler monkeys and giant insects. But most of the students around me have been here for weeks or months and they happily chat away as they dig into home-cooked chicken with tortillas and refried beans.

Sitting there all alone, I listened in on their conversations.

“That was during the rule of Tuun K’ab’ Hix, who captured Aj Wosal and put him under the power of Naranjo,” says one undergraduate archeologist. Then for a few minutes I can’t hear as an argument breaks out. When I pick it up again it’s, “… so the palace of Godalin falls to the Paks from the north, who are fierce fighters.”

Did you hear it? If weren’t careful, you’d miss the change from actual 6th Century Maya king to what I inferred was World of Warcraft. Pretty much the only way to separate archaeology from a fantasy battle was by the tenses they used.

In the past, I have written about how domestic décor reflects our passion but at that moment I discovered that it goes much further than that. Many of the young archeologists in that camp were huge fantasy nerds (takes one to know one, believe me). Same for science nerds. I ask you, is there any scientist or science writer out there who does not like science fiction? Don’t bother responding, the answer is no. Continue reading →