SPECIAL ‘DOUBLE ISSUE THE SCIENCE WE DON’T SEE
Science, Technology, and The Future
INVISIBLE
PLANET
IN SEARCH OF
THE MISSING
SOLAR SYSTEM
DINOSAUR
FOOTPRINTS
MATHEMATICS
OF TERROR
MEDICINE’S
BLIND SPOT
THE FIRE UNDERFOOT
JULY/AUGUST 2010
| | 3 PLUS Electric Hamsters, Light-Powered Rockets,
Meee Unknown Immigrants, Solar Energy’s Second Coming,
DISCOVERMAGAZINE CoM and Can DNA Save Health Care?
08>
‘$5905.One Team, @ne Planet:
im.
I:
atvetetoto commons were oven SRIDGESTONE
Bridgestone wants to inspire and move you. PASSION for EXCELLENCEcontents
JULY/AUGUST 2010
‘Some of the tools that
render the invisible
visible: Xenon100 dark.
matter detector, PCR
amplification of DNA,
wide-angle camera
mounted on an F-18,
quantitative analysis
software, Philosophers’
Stone, Allen Tele-
scope Array, Tin Man
chemical sensor, rapid
genome sequencer.
Below, their stories.
FEATURES
INVISIBLE PLANETOIDS 34
Every pat of the solar system is fll of stuft—
planets, comets, asteroids—except for one lonely
zone between Mercury and the sun, Will new
searches finaly reveal something hiding there?
‘y PHIL PLAIT
MATHEMATICS OF TERROR 38
‘Quantitative analysis can explain the movements
of stock markets and the pattern
ns, Recent studies suggest the
even decode the mind ofa terrorist.
DISCOVER INTERVIE\
ELENA APRILE 44
The Columbia Unversity physicist unveils her lat
greatest scheme for hunting WIMPs—the unseen
particles that may dominate the universe.
by FRED GUTERL
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN 46
When llega immigrants cross into the United
States, distressing number of them vanish into the
Sonoran Desert. Anthropologist Lori Bakers using
DNA forensis to give them back their identi
BY JANE BoSvELO
Photograph by
Joshua Sect
DISCOVER‘THE STREETLIGHT EFFECT 54
Scientific inquiry fs beset by erors, contradictions, and false con-
clusions, The author says he knows why. BY DAVIO H, FREEDMAN
DISCOVER INTERVIEW: RICHARD A. CLARKE 58
America’s former counterterrorism czar dscusses the nation’s vuner-
ability to ber attack, aying out how to prepare fora future in which
Virtual wars could be fought by computer. BY ROBERT KEATING
EARTH ON FIRE 60
Allover the word, burning coal beds are belching toxic fumes,
spewing greenhouse gases, and proving neary impossible
to extinguish, BY KRISTIN OHLSON
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF GIANTS 66
Fosslized tracks provide an eloquent record of what dinosaurs
were lke when they were living, breathing, stomping animals.
‘An extraordinary trove in Utah offers up its secrets. BY AMY BARTH
DISCOVER INTERVIEW: LEROY HOOD 72
‘A key player in the Human Genome Project predicts a total
transformation of medicine, fueled by our rapidly deepening under-
standing of how DNA works. BY PAMELA WEINTRAUS.
ISAAC NEWTON AND.
‘THE PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE 74
‘Alchemy gets a makeover: Far from being the work of superstitious
fools, it was an essential step toward modern science, endorsed
by two of history's greatest geniuses, BY JANE BosvELO
CALL WAITING 84
For 0 years, sciontists have scanned the cosmos for signs
of nteligent alien lie After a half-century of alure, they are—
amazingly—more optimistic than ever. BY NICMAEL LEMOMICK
pce
MAIL 3
CONTRIBUTORS 6
EDITOR'S NOTE 8
DATA 10
Solar power gets a reboot; biology’s master
‘on-off switch; garbage collection on the high
‘eas; lght-powered rockets; your microbial
fingerprint; slicing Saturn's rings; and more
HOT SCIENCE 24
‘The best new books and movies, plus Cleopatra's
palace and a dase of extra-dry British wit.
THE BRAIN 28
‘Alook at what happens inside the head during
and after a brain injury BY CARL ZIMMER
VITAL SIGNS 32
‘An older woman's sudden delirium exposes a
family secret, BY ANNA REISMAN
20 THINGS 5
YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT
NANOTECHNOLOGY 96
Electric hamsters, super computers, and
eco-dust BY REBECCA COFFEYKiller Robots
‘Asa Vietnam dratee, | had mixed feelings
hile reading about the use of robots in
war ["The Terminators,” May, page 36).
Tacticaly it seems lke a great idea: It
keeps our soldiers out of harm's way.
Strategically, however, itis a scary thought
for exactly the same reason. if our lead-
fers know there is no threat to our sons,
and daughters, they will be more inclined
toenter a war. They are already protected
from public outery by our volunteer army.
‘Carl Bruckman
Denver, CO
lam tented of humanity's developing and
Using robots that can harm humans. Soft-
ware manufacturers can't release bug-free
word processors; heaven help usif we let
them develop kil-decision software. Isaac
Asimov had it ight in the 1940s with his
‘Taree Laws of Robotics: A robot may not
injure a human being o, through inaction,
allow a human being to come to harm; a
robot must obey any orders given to it by
human beings, except where such orders
would conflict withthe First Law; and a
robot must protect its own existence as
long as such protection does not confict
with the First or Second Law. These rules
wore hardwired into the positronic brains
of robots at manufacturing ime. Give me
Asimov or ll have no robots!
David Sigetich
“Toronto, Ontario
Reading about autonomous warfare
‘machines brings to mind a possible use of
similar technology that would benefit us
clulians: smart stoplights. How close are
we to having affordable, camera-based
trafic controllers that make decisions
based on the actual facts on the ground,
rather than simple pressure-plate detec-
tors or idiot timing devices? Couldn't they
save society a tremendous amount of
time and gasoline? Scott Green
kins, WV
Diabetes Detective Work
“Terry Wikin's ideas about the type 1
diabetes epidemic [*Chile’s Plague,”
May, page 50] are interesting but beg two
Unresolved and, on the surface, unrelated
‘questions. First, the clusters of type 1
cases make it dificult not to raise the
question of a common-source exposure
(‘emember John Snow's pump and chol-
era in 1854). Second, the suggestions of
high body mass index (BM) “causing
diabetes may have the cart before the
horse. Would it not be more intriguing to
‘consider a common chemical or biologi-
cal exposure that damages the insulin
‘production process, in turn causing a
‘surge in weight? How else to explain
the gradual return, afte birth, to normal
heightWweight growth patterns of babies
born to diabetic mothers?
H. Spencer Turner, M.D.
Fernandina Beach, FL
You omitted an essential piece of informa
tion that could expiain the exponential rise
Inlabetes cases. As you mention, in the
1890s the death rate of chien dus to dia-
betes was roughly equal tothe rate of new
cases. Therefore, juvenile diabetes suffer-
fers never made it to childbearing age, and
any genetic defects related to the disease
‘were not passed on to offspring. Now, with
the miracle of modern medicine, diabetics
are living fll ives, Unfortunately, until we
identity and modify the genes responsible
for the attack on insulin-secreting cell, it
‘seems that the disease wil follow the pat-
tem of a new genetic tat introduced into
‘a population. Kem Kough
Oasis, NV
Mail
How to Return to the Moon
| take strong exception to the claim in
“There's Hydrogen in Those His” [May,
page 61] that propellants account for the
‘vast majority ofthe cost of existing rockets.
‘Almost al the recurring cost of launch=
ing @ payload comes from the expended
hardware. Thus, the key to low-cost space
transportation does not le in technol-
‘ogy breakthroughs to reduce propellant
requirements but in designing fully reus-
able launch vehicles. By developing launch
‘systems that don't waste any hardware,
\we can send astronauts tothe moon and
Mars at a small fraction of what NASA.
‘wanted to spend on Constellation.
Dick Morris
Lynnwood, WA
Hydrogen and the Hindenburg
Item 8 of May's "20 Things You Didn't
Know About Water" [page 80] perpetu-
ates the tired folklore that an explosion in
hydrogen-filed lifting cells destroyed
the Hlixdenburg. Research by the Zeppelin
Co. and Addison Bain proves that static
‘charges sparked a freon the outer skin,
which was coated with a mixture of metal-
lic aluminum and iron oxide (essentially
the same thing that fuels our orbiters’
solid fuel boosters). No one doubts that
the hydrogen, once it gt loose in the
atmosphere, contributed to the inferno, but
the Hindenburg would have succumbed
regardless, ‘Samuel 0. Lindeman,
Muskogee, Ok
Guillaume de Syon, historian and author
(of Zeppelin! Germany and the Airship,
11900-1939, responds:
While the Hindenburg’ fabric was
‘light ciflrent from that of other airships
and may have been more conductive,
ittkely did not lead to the fre. Te best
reconstructions suggest the cause was a
‘combination of accumulating hydrogen
{roma ripped ballonet inside the hull, static
electricity bit up rom a nearby storm
(which may have been exacerbated by the
dope on the fabric), and sheer bad luck
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‘rpc rds treme ta tay cana aera canon barton pagan cabrones coool e NegaraContributors
MICHAEL LEMONICK wrote “Call Waiting”
(page 84) in response to the 50th anni-
versary of SETI (Search for Extraterres-
tral Inteligence) research. Although that
efforthas yet to yield a single alien signal,
Lemonick was amazed to find that the sc
entists involved with the quest are “more
excited than ever.” One key source for
the piece was astronomer Seth Shostak,
a senior scientist at the SETI institute, who
spoke at length about the serious thinking
behind his seemingly quixotic research.
Lemonick describes Shostak as “kind
of the Robin Willams of astronomy, with
Quick quips and leaps of imagination,
Lemonick is a senior staff writer at Cli-
‘mate Central, a nonprofit group working to
bridge the gap between climate scientists
‘and the public. He also teaches journalism
at Princeton University. Previously, he was
a science writer at Time magazine for 21
years and was once an executive editor
at DISCOVER, Lemonick is currently writ-
ing a book about the imminent discovery
of Earth-ike planets around distant stars.
The photograph on this page was taken
by his wife, Eileen Hohmuth-Lemonick,
and includes their daughter, Hannah,
who is now 22. "She fell out of the tuba
Fight after the camera flashed, but l caught
her.” Lemonick says.
KRISTIN OHLSON Was visiting southern
(Ohio when she heard about a local coal
rmine that had been burning for 120 years,
‘ever since striking miners loaded a wagon
full of timbers, set it on fire, and pushed it
into the mine. Onison became captivated
by the subject and visited two other burn-
ing mines for "Earth on Fire” (page 60).
(One of them was in Kentucky, where she
saw smoke curling from the ground and
‘minerals enerusting nearby leaves. The
other mine fie, in Centralia, Pennsyivania,
is probably America’s most notorious. “It
was winter, and there was smoke beiching
Up from the ground and freezing on the
grass,” she says. In addition to science,
Ohison’s writing interests include travel,
food, and culture. She has writen for The
New York Times, Food & Wine, American
Archaeology, and Smithsonian.com. Her
memoir, Staking the Divine, about getting
to know a group of cloistered nuns, won
the American Society of Journalists and
‘Authors Best Nonfiction Book Award in
2004, Her nonfiction book Kabul Beauty
‘School, coauthored with Deborah Rodr-
uez, was a New York Times bestseller.
MATT NAGER knows firsthand the harsh,
long desert path that some illegal immi-
dgrants face when attempting to enter the
United States from Mexico. He took pho-
tographs for “Gone but Not Forgotten”
(page 46), which documents the process
Cofidentilying the remains of those who do
‘ot survive the nearly 100-mile journey.
“ts tough out there. I's not a place you
want to be crossing, but | don't really see
anything changing,” Nager says. In the
intense heat of Arizona's Sonoran Desert,
bodies quickly decompose, leaving litle
more than bones.
The limited informa-
tion makes identifi
cation dificult, but
forensics expert Lori
Baker of Baylor Uni-
versity is using DNA
testing to help fami-
lies find their miss-
ing relatives. For this
story, Nager met with
Baker, border-con-
trol officers, medical
examiners, relatives
oflost immigrants, and activist groups that
provide water for those making the eross-
ing. n his career he has traveled all over
the worl, including Botivia, where he pho-
tographed local coca traditions, and Italy,
\where he is documenting the rise of cancer
in Naples due to what he describes as the
‘Matia's environmental neglect. To see more
of his work, vist www.mattnager.com,
JANE BOSVELD was intently watching The
Teaching Company's history of science
DVDs when she wondered: Why were
famed scientists ike Isaac Newton and
Robert Boyle toying with something as
absurd as alchemy?
Bosveld, a senior edi-
tor at DISCOVER at
thetime, learned that
the scientists hoped
to create the legend-
ary Philosophers’
Stone—a substance
that could turn lead
into gold. For "isaac
Newton and the Phi-
losophers’ Stone”
(page 74), she got in
touch with Lawrence
Principe, a chemist and science historian at
‘Johns Hopkins University who worked on
the DVDs, and his colleague Wiliam New-
man, The two have managed to decode
cryptic recipes left by Newton and Boyle
‘and replicated a number of their alchemy
‘experiments —but so far, no Philosophers’
‘Stone. “These alchemists weren't the wack-
_ado0s people think they were. Alchemy was.
a progression toward modern chemisty,”
‘says Bosveld, who also wrote “Gone but
Not Forgotten” (page 46) for this issue. Bos-
veld is a contributing editor at DISCOVER,
‘and a freetance water based in New York.——}
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Por peopleEditor's Note
{ast April right
around the time we started putting
together this special issue of
DISCOVER, Mercury was making an
unusually prominent appearance
in the evening sky. | had never
gotten a good look at the elusive
innermost planet, so | waited for clear
weather and scanned for my target. |
failed: too much twilight glare, too
much New York skyline blocking the
western horizon.
| take some solace from the legend
that Copernicus —the clever fellow who
figured out the true configuration of the
whole solar system—never saw Mercury
either. And I get a deeper satisfaction from
knowing that | was participating in an
‘ld and noble process of seeking out the
invisible As Phil Plait describes on page
34, astronomers have spent 399 years
searching fora planet or asteroid belt
Circling even closer to the sun than Mer-
cury, Despite 399 years of staring at blank
fields, they keep going. The universe is
ful of things that elude our limited human
‘senses, and the only way we ever will find
them (and, by extension, learn more about
(our place in that universe) isto press on,
failures be damned.
‘There isnot just one kind of invisible
that science pursues; there are three