July 1 should be the day on which we celebrate the theory of evolution. That’s when, in 1858, this revolutionary idea was presented to the world — at least to the august Linnean Society of London — in the form of writings by Charles Darwin and a paper by Alfred Russel Wallace. We don’t because, […]
Barry Evans
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Sound Bites
Last time, I discussed Thomas Edison and Emile Berliner, the two main protagonists in early attempts to reproduce sound. Edison invented a machine that could both record and play back sound — his earliest recording of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on a tinfoil-wrapped cylinder dates to 1877. Edison’s phonograph had limited application, mostly as […]
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The Sound Guys: Edison and Berliner
Fifty years after the world’s first surviving photograph was taken by Nicéphore Niépce in 1827, Thomas Edison did for sound what the French experimenter had done for light: capture it. Edison made his first recording “Mary had a Little Lamb” in December of 1877 and — like Niépce’s original photo — it was crude, imperfect, […]
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Are We the World?
According to Roman writer Ovid, the hunter Narcissus was handsome as all get-out, causing the mountain nymph Echo to fall in love with him. When he rejected her advances (the fool!), she pined away until all that was left was a faint sound — hence our word “echo.” This led to Aphrodite, goddess of revenge, […]
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ET, Please Phone
Every Thursday evening during the fall of 1979, I’d cycle across the Charles River from Boston’s North End to the Museum of Science for a series of free lectures. Carl Sagan, Lynn Margulis and Philip Morrison entertained and inspired, but none more so than Frank Drake. He’s best known for the “Drake Equation,” a back-of-the-envelope […]
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Is the Great Wall Visible from Space?
“… The Chinese Wall, which makes a considerable figure on the terrestrial globe, and may be discerned at the moon.” Such was the opinion of Rev. William Stukeley (1687-1785), who was as wrong about seeing the Great Wall of China from the moon as he was about Druids building Stonehenge. No matter; it’s a good […]
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Nine Puzzles
This time of year in the Journal means puzzles in Field Notes. Given the sheltering situation these days, it might be more important than usual to exercise your brain muscles, in the event the lockdown is making those 86 billion neurons in your skull to atrophy (trust me, I counted). If you have trouble with […]
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Vaccine Mirage?
In theory, a vaccine is simple: It induces the body to create antibodies to a particular virus. When that virus enters the body, the immune system will recognize it and block it from harming the host. Of course, the vaccine itself must be harmless, hence the twin goals of vaccine development: effectiveness and safety. Traditionally, […]
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Coronaviruses and Bioweapons
Despite researchers showing that SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the current pandemic, was not created in a lab in Wuhan, China, polls show that nearly half of all Americans prefer the rumors to science. Predictably, much depends on one’s political persuasion: Twice as many Republicans believe this is either definitely or probably true. So, once again […]
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Nine COVID-19 Myths
I know, I know. Articles on myths about coronavirus have been done to death. Yet every day the Whack-a-Mole claims pop up again — conspiracy stories, China, Big Pharma, what to eat to prevent infection, the vaccine just around the corner … Here, I’ll try to shine a light on some of the more prevalent […]
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Hydroxychloroquine: Dangerous Medicine?
Donald Trump, May 19, 2020: “Couple weeks ago I started taking [hydroxychloroquine]. Cause I think it is good. I have heard a lot of good stories. And if it is not good, I will tell you, all right, I am not going to get hurt by it.” Let’s rewind from the present: May 26: Due […]
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Nature or Nurture?
Last week I discussed linguist Noam Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar, the idea that we’re all born with some sort of “language module” that we adapt, at a very early age, to the language in which we’re being raised. Here, I’m going to go into some detail to discuss a particular and tricky bit of […]