American Scientist MarchApril 2017

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THE WORLDS NEWSSTAND
FUND
YOUR
RESEARCH
APPLY BY
MARCH 15, 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.
30,000+
grants awarded since 1922
$13 million+
supported students research
#myGIAR
Apply at www.sigmaxi.org/programs/grants-in-aid
Support GIAR at https://ecommerce.sigmaxi.org/ecom/#donate
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AMERICAN
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Departments Feature Articles
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66 From the Editors
67 Letters to the Editors

94
71 Spotlight
Pressure sensitive paint for rocket test-
ing rQ&A on cannabis r Briefings
74 Infographic
Bioluminescent organisms
76 Sightings
Viewing nanoparticles made by plasma
77 Computing Science
How to detect faked photos
Hany Farid
82 Arts Lab
Art and science in the Romantic 94 The Biodiversity of Conservation
112
imagination Paradox
Rogan Brown Why does the number of species not
86 Perspective necessarily decline even in places that are
A new window on alien atmospheres perceptibly altered by human activity?
Kevin Heng Mark Velland
90 Engineering
Bottle and can openers as levers
Henry Petroski
Scientists 102
Nightstand
120 Book Reviews
A novel approach to statistics r
Mount St. Helens
From Sigma Xi
125 Sigma Xi Today 102 Metformin: Out of the Backwaters 112 Risks and Benefits of Radiation
The core value of science r Grant and into the Mainstream The story of radons study for public
opportunities r Sigma Xi members This diabetes drug took a convoluted health can guide how to weigh the pros
among AAAS Fellows route to become the standard of care. and cons of radioactive materials.
Philip A. Rea and Anderson Y. Tien Timothy J. Jorgensen
The Cov er
Drawing inspiration from forms found in nature, artist Rogan Brown uses a scalpel or laser to cut intricate patterns into hundreds
of microlayers of paper. (The cover features a detail from his paper sculpture Kernel.) As new technologies increasingly dominate the
popular culture, transforming the way people tend to see today, Brown fears an erosion of the human ability to contemplate art, nature,
or anything else. To counter this loss, he creates sculptures whose sheer abundance of detail makes them impossible to comprehend in
one glance; viewers are obliged to move closer and study the work in order to take it in fully.
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FROM THE EDITORS
AMERICAN
Curiosity Expands our Worldview
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_______________
A s spring approaches, tiny parasites take positions

atop dangling tree branches and wait for their
hosts. These creatures, both blind and deaf, experi-
ence the world as a minuscule place, one that consists VOLUME 105, NUMBER 2
primarily of their immediate physical environment.
Despite these limitations, ticks are equipped to sense Editor-in-Chief Jamie L. Vernon
changes in temperature as well as the presence of bu- Senior Consulting Editor Corey S. Powell
Executive Editor Fenella Saunders
tyric acid, a chemical found in animal sweat.
Digital Features Editor Katie L. Burke
For as long as it takes they await the warmth and Contributing Editors Sandra J. Ackerman,
scent of an approaching animal. Then, each one Marla Broadfoot, Catherine Clabby, Brian Hayes,
drops from its resting place, hoping to score a fresh Anna Lena Phillips, Diana Robinson, David
meal. A successful dismount places the lucky ones Schoonmaker, Michael Szpir
millimeters away from their bounty. They burrow Editorial Associate Mia Evans
into the skin of their victims to guzzle the nutrient-rich blood just below the
surface. Once engorged, they plummet to the ground, lay their eggs, and die. Art Director Barbara J. Aulicino
By human standards it may seem a sad and lonely life. These tiny arachnids
SCIENTISTS NIGHTSTAND
are largely unaware of the woodland biosphere around them. They miss out on
Editor Dianne Timblin
the lush greenery of the forest canopy, the calming cadence of a nearby stream,
and the earthy aroma of decomposing tree bark. But this wistful notion is based AMERICAN SCIENTIST ONLINE
on my own decidedly human perspective. The tick, having fulfilled its destiny, Digital Managing Editor Robert Frederick
is in no position to question its obliviousness.
In 1909, German biologist Jakob von Uexkll introduced the concept of the Publisher John C. Nemeth
umwelt, the subset of environmental factors detected by an animal in its natural
ADVERTISING SALES
setting. He observed that animals inhabiting the same ecosystem could have
BEWFSUJTJOH!BNTDJPSHt
___________
strikingly different perceptions of the world. For any given species, the entire-
ty of its universe consists solely of the stimuli it encounters. The larger reality, EDITORIAL AND SUBSCRIPTION
called the umgebung, may not be known to the animal. CORRESPONDENCE
Humans enjoy a robust sensory toolkit for detecting our physical world. Nev- American Scientist
ertheless, some aspects of our environment elude our senses, such as ultravio- P.O. Box 13975
let light, infrasound, and x-rays. It took the keen observations and ingenuity of 3FTFBSDI5SJBOHMF1BSL /$
exceptionally curious individuals to develop sensors and assays to verify the tGBY
FEJUPST!BNTDJPOMJOFPSHtTVCT!BNTDJPSH
____________ ________
existence of these phenomena and to open new frontiers to explore.
Today, weve modified our worldview, expanding it to accommodate as-yet PUBLISHED BY SIGMA XI, THE SCIENTIFIC
unproven concepts such as dark energy and the multiverse. And with increasing RESEARCH HONOR SOCIETY
awareness of the peculiar nature of our known universe, were able to imagine President Tee Guidotti
new and different physical realities. To fully grasp the limits of our umgebung, Treasurer David Baker
we must first acknowledge what we know and what we dont. President-Elect Stuart L. Cooper
In this issues Perspective column, A New Window on Alien Atmospheres Immediate Past President Mark Peeples
(pages 8689), Kevin Heng explains how the James Webb Space Telescope will Interim Executive Director John C. Nemeth
increase our capacity to analyze the atmospheric composition of distant alien American Scientist gratefully acknowledges
worlds, an idea once considered to be ludicrous; in The Biodiversity Conserva- support for Engineering through the Leroy
tion Paradox (pages 94101), Mark Vellend describes the perceptual challenge of Record Fund.
measuring ecosystem losses even as the number of species in an area increases
or remains unchanged; in the Computing Science column, How to Detect Faked Sigma Xi, The Scientic Research Honor
Photos (pages 7781), Hany Farid teaches us the art of recognizing distortions Society is a society of scientists and engineers,
and manipulations in the photographic data that reveal the world to us; and in GPVOEFEJOUPSFDPHOJ[FTDJFOUJmD
achievement. A diverse organization of members
Risks and Benefits of Radiation (pages 112119), Timothy Jorgensen shares a
and chapters, the Society fosters interaction
cautionary tale about the invisible contaminant radon and its effects on us. Each
among science, technology, and society;
of these authors conveys the importance of being aware of our sensory strengths encourages appreciation and support of original
and deficits and emphasizes how these faculties contribute to a rich life. work in science and technology; and promotes
Recent political events remind us that, beyond our physical environment, we FUIJDTBOEFYDFMMFODFJOTDJFOUJmDBOEFOHJOFFSJOH
also exist within a cultural umwelt, which is the product of social stimuli. It can research.
be all too easy sometimes to limit our focus within this social world, growing Printed in USA
preoccupied with our usual confines until, like the tick, we become blind to the
dazzling complexity of our ecosystem. But, if our physical universe is a cue,
imagine the cultural possibilities that might be discovered through a little social
curiosity. Jamie L. Vernon (@JLVernonPhD)
66 American Scientist, Volume 105
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LETTERS
An Autonomous Trip gan, and pulled under the portico of the Dr. Petroski responds:
motel to unload baggage and check in. Professor Bagaria asks some interest-
To the Editors: (How would the vehicle know to pull ing and challenging questions. Autono-
Henry Petroskis Engineering column on under the portico, and then to find a mous vehicles may never be able to do
autonomous vehicles in the January parking place?) The next morning we some of the things he asks about, such
February issue was excellent. It made drove to Canton, Michigan, to join up as driving in snow that obscures lane
me think about a recent excursion and with additional family members. From markings. In such a case, the vehicle
what it would be like traveling in an there, we headed westbound on our may ask the human driver to take over
autonomous vehicle. The trip was from way to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Fortu- or pull off the road. But his other ques-
Ashburn, Virginia, to Grand Rapids, nately, we listened to the radio for traffic tions are already answered in the af-
Michigan, and back again. information. Our direct route was closed firmative by features incorporated into
In Maryland, my family and I pro- down due to a 40-vehicle crash on black current GPS navigation tools, such as
ceeded to I-70, where the speed limit ice. So, we took a circuitous route to knowing when the speed limit on an
ranged between 65 and 70 miles per avoid it. (What would an autonomous interstate highway changes. The human
hour. (Would the vehicle know to make vehicle do in this situation?) When we driver is not likely ever to be totally re-
this speed change?) In Pennsylvania, we got to our hotel in Grand Rapids, we placed, and a decision of when to exit
made a rest stop. (How would you tell turned the vehicle over to the valet for for a rest stop may always have to be
the vehicle to pull into the rest stop?) parking. (How would an autonomous implemented by giving a voice com-
When we got to Breezewood, Penn- vehicle park in a parking garage?) mand or overriding the autopilot mode.
sylvania, intending to get on the Penn- During our stay, it snowed heavily.
sylvania Turnpike, we encountered a On the way back, the road was covered Colonoscopy Care
traffic nightmare. (How would the ve- with slush, and the lines on the road
hicle manage this complex interchange, were covered up. (How would an au- To the Editors:
which has multiple traffic lights?) To tonomous vehicle navigate without lines The authors of Blood, Guts, and Hope
get onto the turnpike, you have to pass to guide it?) With all these challenges, (JanuaryFebruary) are to be commend-
through toll gates. (How would the au- I cannot envision how an autonomous ed for their innovative work on the treat-
tonomous vehicle manage a toll road?) vehicle could make this trip. ment of inflammatory bowel disease,
We then made a stop to get lunch and fill which can be very debilitating. Howev-
up on gas. (How would the vehicle park William Bagaria, Jr. er, their description of the colonoscopy
and then select a gas pump?) Traveling Professor Emeritus, U.S. Naval Academy procedure is needlessly barbaric. If this
west, we proceeded to Plymouth, Michi- Annapolis, MD explanation accurately portrays the way
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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ARMENIA & the REPUBLIC of GEORGIA We invite you to travel

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www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 67
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ONLINE @ _________________________
Wc[h_YWdiY_[dj_ij$eh] patients from the sedation and environ-
ment perspective, but we also recognize
the challenges patients report with bow-
New Website Design in the Works Check out AmSci Blogs el preparation as well as post-procedural
Keep an eye on our website in the http://www.amsci.org/blog/ abdominal discomfort.We strongly be-
coming months for the launch of our lieve in preventive care, and given that
updated online design. Find American Scientist colonoscopy remains the gold standard
http://www.amsci.org on Facebook for early detection of colon cancer, we
facebook.com/AmericanScientist
agree that it is important. By no means
The Benets of Twitter for Scientists did we intend to deter individuals from
In this guest blog post, marine appropriate screening.
biologist David Shiffman explores Follow us on Twitter
the question: What benefits can twitter.com/AmSciMag
researchers expect from a presence
Confidence in Science
on social media? Follow us on Google Plus To The Editors:
http://bit.ly/2iQSgia plus.google.com/+Americanscientist
__________________
The juxtaposition of two columns
Org/about
_____ Ending the Crisis of Complacency
Seeing Biologys Tiniest in Color in Science and The Hand-in-Hand
In this podcast, based on last issues Spread of Mistrust and Misinforma-
Sightings column, digital managing Join us on LinkedIn
tion in Flint (Science Communication
editor Robert Frederick looks into https://www.linkedin.com/company/
__________________ and Perspective, respectively, January
new research that enables scientists american-scientist
_________
February)with an article in the same
to see the color of objects that are issue, Photoshopping the Universe,
smaller than the smallest wave- Find us on Instagram brought a thought to mind: Much mis-
length of visible light. http://instagram.com/american_
_________________ understanding of science appears to oc-
http://bit.ly/2k9c9EZ scientist/
_____ cur because some members of the pub-
lic do not appear to understand how
Consequences of Freezing Grants scientists carry out data analysis. The
Pin us on Pinterest
When Lisa Haywards federal grant third article on space imaging brings
http://www.pinterest.com/amscimag
funds were frozen in 2007, it was this point home: The general public
devastating. does not see the process by which a fig-
http://bit.ly/2jFgwnR Read American Scientist ure is produced. The photoshopped
using the iPad app images in this article are a case in point:
Available through Apples App Store Might not the general public have more
confidence in science if scientific articles
displayed not only the final results but
it is done at the Brigham and Womens technical article is to be discouraged, also a simplified description of how the
Hospital, I invite them to visit any com- lest the uninitiated take any of it seri- results came to be? For this article, per-
munity hospital or outpatient surgery ously. This could have the unintended haps a series of images showing how
center in the greater Boston area to see consequence of discouraging someone the false color images were derived
how it is done in this century. Although who needs a colonoscopy from hav- from the original data sets would make
there is more than one prep available, ing one. Colonoscopy is important not the information more meaningful. For
the most common one involves the use only in the diagnosis of disease, as pre- the graphs showing global warming,
of polyethylene glycol, which is a pow- sented in the article, but in screening perhaps other visuals that show how
der that is tasteless when dissolved in for colorectal cancer, one of the most the data from many sources were incor-
a solution, typically a popular sports common malignancies in this country. porated might be helpful.
drink such as Gatorade. Whether the
Joshua Morowitz Robert W. Zoellner
procedure is performed in an endoscopy
Easley, South Carolina Department of Chemistry
suite or an operating room, the patient
Humboldt State University
is typically lying on a mattress covered
Arcata, California
by a sheet, not a cold hard table, as the Drs. Schoellhammer, Langer, and Tra-
authors say. Both modern nursing care verso respond:
and anesthesia care pay attention to We agree with Mr. Morowitz on the Nuclear Power Debate
temperature homeostasis and patient steps taken during a colonoscopy. As he
comfort, and the patient is covered, often points out, we were trying to empathize To the Editors:
by warmed blankets. Although there are with patients by emphasizing the incon- We took issue with many aspects of the
regional (and national) variations in the venience, invasiveness, and risk that can interview with M. V. Ramana (Spotlight,
sedation used, typically short-acting be associated with the procedure, partic- JanuaryFebruary). The Fukushima-
agents such as Propofol are used, which ularly for patients suffering from inflam- Daiichi incident could have been pre-
usually wear off in minutes after the matory bowel disease, who can require vented if the seawall had been higher,
conclusion of the exam. more frequent colonic evaluation. We or if the diesel generators and their elec-
Although I suspect the authors were recognize how much progress has been trical system that ran the emergency
using some poetic license, its use in a made in ensuring maximal comfort for cooling pumps hadnt been placed in a
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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basement, or if the containment doors to Dr. Ramana states that nuclear plants neither is accident-free operation, espe-
it had been hermetically sealed against are expensive to build. In fact, they al- cially when one thinks of a fleet of reac-
flooding, or if the batteries to tertiary ready supply electricity at competitive tors built in multiple countries, oper-
backup pumps had lasted more than one prices because of their threefold lifes- ated by a variety of organizations with
day. With only one major failure of engi- pan and high-capacity factors compared diverse priorities, including cost-cutting
neered safety and no deaths from radio- with renewable-energy sources. Nuclear and profit-making, and blinded by insti-
activity in over three decades since the energy would be even more economi- tutional biases and safety myths.
human errorcaused disaster at Cher- cal if current fossil-fuel subsidies were Third, Dr. Emery and his coauthors
nobyl, are peoples fears misplaced? reallocated. Dr. Ramana ignores the are correct in pointing to the possibil-
Dr. Ramana argues that what could Achilles heel of trying to rely entirely on ity for reduction in the volumes of
go wrong in a nuclear power plant wind- and solar-energy sources: a lack waste if other reactor designs are used.
cannot be known because their facili- of sufficient carbon-free energy storage But nuclear reactor designers have to
ties are so complex. These plants are capability to mitigate their intermittency. make their products cheap and safe,
indeed complicated, but they are cre- With sharply rising atmospheric and designs must be resistant to the
ated using reliable scientific and en- carbon-dioxide concentrations, world proliferation of nuclear material; the
gineering principles. What can pos- leaders must understand that there is technical requirements from these
sibly go wrong is understood, but at limited time and real estate to ramp up other goals pull in different directions.
Fukushima-Daiichi it was ignored enough renewable-energy sources to (See my 2014 article with Zia Mian in
and the facility was subjected to in- mitigate global warming. A rapid build- Energy Research & Social Science.) Fur-
adequate design. Multiple fixes have up of intensive nuclear power, together ther, the value of volume reduction of
since been made. Outside Japan, other with appropriate renewable sources, can waste is debatable. Public opposition
countries superior designs have re- meet the requirements in time. to radioactive waste repositories is not
quired no or only minor modifications. Contrary to Dr. Ramanas analysis, based on size, but on the fact that they
Dr. Ramana argues that nuclear nuclear energy is a safe and economi- remain hazardous for millennia.
waste was never taken into account cal power choice. Finally, nuclear reactors today are
when reactors were built. But it was, simply incapable of supplying elec-
Alan Emery Paul M. Stein
since the very beginning. He believes tricity at competitive prices. This is
Michael Garrick Daniel Meneley
that first-stage storage pondsbasically borne out by the string of nuclear pow-
Zachary Jacobson Paul H. Carr
pools whose water levels simply need er plant closures in the United States in
Derle Smith Carl Helrich
to be maintainedcan catch on fire. He the recent past. In most, if not all, cases,
Richard S. Cohen Joel M. Blatt
then claims that dry casks, with designs the primary reason cited by the owning
John Rie Libby M. Yunger
and protocols lasting for literally tens of electric utilities was an inability to com-
Roland Boucher Richard Hutchinson
thousands of years, are not permanent pete in the electricity marketplace, even
enough. He worries about the volume though the capital costs of these plants
of waste, but the CANDU (CANada Dr. Ramana responds: had been paid off.
Deuterium Uranium) reactor and some The letter from Dr. Emery and colleagues There is indeed a legitimate, demo-
others can significantly reduce that by makes several problematic claims. cratic debate to be had about whether
using mixed thorium or even spent First, their assertion that there have or not nuclear power is essential to mit-
fuel at high efficiencies. been no deaths from radioactivity in igate global warming. But the debate
over three decades sinceChernobyl is should be based on the reality of high
disingenuous. Health outcomes such as costs, the hazards of radiation exposure,
Illustr ation Credits cancers develop only after many years and severe, albeit infrequent, accidents.
have passed since the exposure to radia- The energy debate deserves better.
tion. Therefore, a large incidence of can-
Infographic cer resulting from the 2011 Fukushima
Page 74 Eleanor Lutz Erratum
accident would not be expectedyet.
Perspective In Neanderthals Reenvisioned (Spotlight,
Nevertheless, a number of people will
Page 88 Barbara Aulicino JanuaryFebruary), by Sandra J. Ackerman,
be afflicted with cancer (and other dis- the text in the caption on page 6 should
The Biodiversity Conservation Paradox eases) as a result of Fukushima. In 2014, have referred to Gibraltar as a British Over-
Pages 96, 100 Bethann G. Merkle the United Nations Scientific Commit- seas Territory, not as a place in Spain. We
Metformin: Out of Backwaters and into tee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation have corrected the error online.
the Mainstream estimated that the collective dose to the
Pages 104106, 109, 110 population of Japan from the accident
Barbara Aulicino is 48,000 person-sieverts. If one uses
standard dose-response figures from the How to Write to American Scientist
Risks and Benefits of Radiation
Pages 116, 117 Barbara Aulicino Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation Brief letters commenting on articles
(BEIR) VII study carried out by the Na- appearing in the magazine are wel-
tional Academy of Sciences, this collec- comed. The editors reserve the right
tive dose is expected to result in nearly to edit submissions. Please include
2,500 cancer deaths over the long term. an email address if possible. Address:
Second, nuclear reactors are evidently Letters to the Editors, P.O. Box 13975,
capable of undergoing severe accidents. Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 or
Although accidents are not inevitable, editors@amscionline.org.
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Spotlight
can expel a photon at a different wave-

Pressure in the Pink length, which is what were sensing,
she said. Also, it can dump energy into
a nearby oxygen molecule.
A pressure-sensitive paint is helping NASA accurately model the As a result, luminophores release less
extreme forces that spacecraft experience during launch. light when they are subjected to more
oxygen, and an increase in air pressure
also raises oxygen levels. Therefore, the
Passengers on a plane experiencing tur- Paint that responds to pressure origi- paint will look darker in regions expe-
bulence can attest to the kinds of forces nated a few decades, but the new ver- riencing more pressure. Were taking
that air can exert on flying craft. For a sion is able to respond more dynamical- images of this paint and recording the
rocket launching into outer space, the ly to the rapid fluctuations in pressure intensity of the light thats being emitted
knocking about it receives is far worse, during a wind tunnel test: It can sense from the molecule, says Roozeboom.
and also shifts in location and inten- changes in pressure at a rate of 20 kilo- Test results have been promising. If
sity from moment to moment. The lo- hertz, or 20,000 cycles per second. The we look at the signals we get from the
cal fluctuating pressures can be large paint is made from a porous ceramic paint adjacent to the microphones, they
enough to break a panel or the fasten- base layer, to provide greater surface look essentially the same, so we think
ers holding it on, or damage electronics area, which is sprayed with a dye made the paint is giving a good pressure sig-
housed inside the vehicle, says James from molecules that optically fluoresce nal, says Ross. The comparisons that
Ross, an aerospace engineer at NASA under the glow of blue light-emitting weve done one-to-one on different sec-
Ames Research Center in California. diodes (LEDs). These molecules are of tions of the model where we have mi-
Thats why NASA has a long history a class called luminophores, and in this crophones and paint, show that some-
of testing models of spacecraft designs case they are a type of platinum por- times the microphones analysis gives
in wind tunnels before building full- phyrin. (This luminophore is naturally us loads that are too high and some-
scale versions (computer modeling still pink, giving the paint its color.) times it gives us loads that are too low.
isnt fast enough to replace wind tun- Rosss colleague, aerospace engineer The biggest problem the team has
nel testing). Engineers usually drill holes Nettie Roozeboom, explains the pro- now is the amount of data that they
in the model and install hundreds of cess: We pulse the lamps that will ex- collect. We took data for a total of
microphone-like pressure sensors all cite the luminophore to a greater ener- six minutes for our whole test, and
around it to take measurements, but the gy, and this excited molecule is going to the result was 14 terabytes of data,
sensors dont give full coverage. Howev- return back down to its normal state. Ross says. It probably took us three
er, a new type of fast-reacting pressure- There are two ways the luminophore months to get the data fully processed.
sensitive paint could fill in the gaps. can expel its extra energy, say Rooze- You dont get real-time turnaround.
boom. One way is that it Fenella Saunders
A 4.75-foot model of NASAs upcoming Space

Launch System is covered with a new type of
pressure-sensitive paint for wind tunnel test-
ing (right). The fluorescent paint glows less
brightly under higher pressures. Tests on oth-
er models (above) showed the rapid pressure
changes that occur at different spots on the
craft. Red shows areas with higher-than-av-
erage pressure, whereas blue indicates lower-
than-average pressure. (Image above courtesy
of NASA Ames Research Center/Scott Mur-
man; image at right courtesy of NASA Ames
Research Center/Dominic Hart.)
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going back 13,000 years that show that

First Person: George Weiblen humans were using this plant in a va-
riety of ways early on in agriculture.
Pretty much every major ancient civi-
George Weiblen is a plant biologist at the University lization except for those in the Ameri-
of Minnesota who studies Cannabis sativa, the plant cas used hemp, which originated in
species that includes two notorious cultivars, hemp the Old World and was brought to the
and marijuana. When he began studying the plant in New World by European colonists. In
2001, he was one of the first biologists with permission fact, the Founding Fathers in the United
to research and grow the plant. Legal marijuana is the States were hemp farmers.
fastest-growing industry in the United Statesin Particularly where Im from in the up-
2016 sales grew by 30 percent, to $6.7 billion. Hemp, per Midwest, hemp was widely culti-
which does not have the psychoactive properties asso- vated. Probably the most recent hemp
ciated with marijuana, is used in a range of products, agriculture we had was during World
constituting annual sales of about $580 million and War II, when the Army built hemp mills
including food, fiber, cosmetics, and herbal supple- and distributed hemp seed to Minnesota
ments. Most hemp sold in the United States is im- farmers, who grew it as a source of fiber
ported from other countries, because it is illegal to for the war effort, making canvas and
transport hemp plants and seeds across state lines. In cordage. Recently, weve started to try
the United States, industrial hemp has been legalized to understand whats happened to the
in at least 16 statesin some only for pilot or research purposes, and in others for com- plant genetically since it escaped from
mercial useand marijuana has been legalized in 8 states (plus the District of Columbia), cultivation and became a ditch weed.
with an additional 20 states allowing medical marijuana. In light of these developments, As an annual plant, this escaped
along with increased interest in developing a domestic hemp industry, Weiblens research hemp has been through many genera-
has become especially relevant. Digital features editor Katie L. Burke spoke with Weiblen tions of natural selection, adapting to
as one of Sigma Xis Distinguished Lecturers in December. (A video of the full interview is the environment. We discovered that,
available on the American Scientist website.) although industrial hemps seed usu-
ally germinates readily, here in Minne-
What is the purpose of your research back in 2001, we had a populist gover- sota we have a difficult time germinat-
on hemp and marijuana? nor named Jesse Ventura, a professional ing the seed of this escaped cannabis,
In the bigger picture, [my research] is wrestler, who called for looking into because it requires cold. Its adapted to
bringing some clarity and objectivity to the problems associated with indus- survive our harsh winters.
an economically important plant that trial hemp. [People wanted to know:] A number of folks are working on
is widely misunderstood. People have Why cant we grow industrial hemp in trying to unravel the history of domes-
strongly held opinions about it, good Minnesota, even though we did back in tication. Its complicated. Were tack-
or bad, but they lack evidence to sup- World War II, and now our neighbors ling this question using the new high-
port their positions. Hemp products to the north in Manitoba and Saskatch- throughput DNA sequencing that can
are not going to have the kind of psy- ewan are growing it and were buying deliver a genome at lightning speed.
choactivity that is a risk to health and it from them? So there was a call to take
safety. Medical marijuana is not as safe up this research. At the time, I got noth- The big difference between marijuana
as many people think it is. Theres just ing but ridicule from many quarters and industrial hemp is the drug con-
a lot of confusion out there on the issue. about being the professor of pot. tent. What are the genetics underlying
A lot has changed since then. Now levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC,
Broadly speaking, what is the differ- there are hundreds of researchers who the psychoactive compound in marijua-
ence between hemp and marijuana? are interested in cannabis. By some mir- na that is used in many state policies to
They differ in the qualities that people acle or, perhaps, just a lot of patience distinguish marijuana from hemp?
find of economic interest. Hemp is pri- and persistence, I went through the for- [We published a paper in the New Phy-
marily associated with the fiber and mal process of getting a research regis- tologist in 2015 reporting] an experi-
the seed production, and marijuana tration from the U.S. Drug Enforcement ment in which we crossed hemp with
with drug production. Agency (DEA) to study a Schedule I marijuana [over a couple of genera-
controlled substance, which is the most tions], a lot like what Gregor Mendel
How did you get into this controversial restrictive class of controlled substances did, crossing his peas to discover the
area of study? you can study. We had to develop tight simple laws of inheritance.
For my PhD research, I had studied protocols to prevent any kind of diver- The second most abundant canna-
a related group of plants: fig trees. sion of material out of the lab or out of binoid in cannabis plants [after THC]
The ancestry that figs and cannabis the growth facility and to make sure is cannabidiol, or CBD. In our experi-
share wouldnt be obvious, but in we destroyed everything at the end of ment, we found that there are three ba-
fact, hemp, hops, figs, mulberries, these experiments. sic chemical classes: high THC plants,
and stinging nettles are all plants that high CBD plants, and intermediate
are part of a big lineage that Ive been What do biologists know about the plants that have an intermediate ratio of
studying now since my graduate days. evolution and history of cannabis? THC and CBD. In our population, they
When I was hired as an assistant pro- Cannabis is one of the oldest cultivated fell into a neat ratio of 1:2:1. For every
fessor at the University of Minnesota plants. We have archaeological records one high THC plant and every one high
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CBD plant, there are on average two tains a lot of the CBD molecule and not Theyre something else, and I dont
intermediate plants, and that suggests a so much THC. These high CBD strains think we have a name for them yet.
single gene with two different variants. of cannabis have attracted a lot of at-
But when we looked at the THC tention because for some individuals, In 2015, your home state of Minnesota
gene, which we thought would be the high doses of CBD appear to have some passed the Industrial Hemp Act, mak-
candidate for that [trait], it turned out health benefits. It got the most attention ing it legal to grow hemp there. How
that all the plants shared the same copy in the case of a rare seizure disorder has that policy changed your research?
of the gene, and so it couldnt [cause called Dravet syndrome. Young children Prior to the [change in] state law, we
the variation we saw]. It turns out with this disorder suffer hundreds of were working only within the proto-
that [THC and CBD] share the same seizures a day and dont live long. A cols that we were able to get approval
building-block precursor molecule. couple of parents seeking an alterna- for through DEA, which limits the
Our study showed that its not the tive therapy stumbled upon these high sources of material to what we can
gene for THC that makes a marijuana CBD strains and found that symptoms import from abroad or acquire from
plant have more THC than a hemp miraculously dissipated. Right now, I other registered cannabis labs. When I
plant, but, in fact, its a mutation in the guess youd call CBD oil one of these first started studying the subject, there
gene for the CBD enzyme. This muta- nutraceuticals. Its not approved or were few registered cannabis labs from
tion knocks out this competing enzyme regulated by the U.S. Federal Drug Ad- which I could get material. We had
so that the marijuana plants make only ministration. Its in this gray area. to import from abroad. That was ex-
THC, whereas in the hemp plants weve The way that each of these cannabi- tremely difficult, because you have to
looked at, the enzyme for CBD is a su- noids interacts with our nervous sys- get permits from both countries.
perior competitor. The winner of this tems is dramatically different. It takes Were going to use the wild popula-
race succeeds because the competitor very little THC to produce dramatic tions that weve sampled to try to con-
gets knocked out before reaching the effects. For CBD, because of the way firm the results we published previously.
finish line. Thats how we end up with it interacts with the body, it takes a lot Ultimately, the hope is that we develop
plants that have a lot of THC. of CBD to see effects. That has driven some useful hemp genetics from these
up the demand for this particular can- old populations that descended from
Although many states have passed leg- nabinoid, because on a quantity basis, the American hemp that was distributed
islation to make it easier to grow hemp people are taking thousands of times during the war effort and was probably
domestically, it still is challenging to do more CBD than they would take in the originally bred in Kentucky.
so. How is the policy evolving? form of THC to achieve some effect. There is no seed bank for that original
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 material because of cannabis being re-
is written in such a way as to exclude How does CBD oil compare with hemp garded as a drug. Seed collections were
the cultivation of cannabis in the United oil, and what might that mean for the purged. Material was destroyed. We
States. The challenge is that the same policy denition of hemp? dont have a lot of material to go back to
species that can produce what is a Sched- Some people market this high CBD oil from American hemponly what exists
ule I controlled substance under federal by calling it hemp oil, when we also in a few repositories around the world.
law also includes other forms of the plant have hemp seed oil, which doesnt have So were hoping we can learn something
that are not a threat to health or safety. cannabinoids in it. Its all fatty acids. useful from these wild populations.
Theres a provision in the 2014 farm People are moving around [this CBD The direction were taking next is to
bill that opens up the door to doing oil] as though its hemp. That muddles continue studying the crossed popula-
research on industrial hemp and cul- definitions even more, because now we tion to further understand how hemp
tivating industrial hemp in states that have CBD being used as medicine and and drug-type cannabis are different.
have laws that define hemp on the ba- sold as hemp when weve been saying Were also gearing up for an agronom-
sis of THC content and a low THC lev- hemp is not a drug for so long. ic field trial. In collaboration with the
el. Since that 2014 law passed, things CBD oil can be extracted from hemp Minnesota Department of Agriculture,
have opened up quite a bit. Its still plants, but honestly, most of what is be- were planning to plant out about 12
not legal to transport hemp plants or ing sold as CBD oil is probably derived different commercial varieties of hemp
viable seed across state lines. Thats a from these hempmarijuana hybrids and see how they perform at sites in
real problem for a young industry. that have been selected to produce lots Minnesota. This is similar to work
[Our lab offers] genetic testing now. of the cannabinoids. If you measure thats going on in North Dakota, Ken-
If theres a question about whether a the cannabinoid content in your typical tucky, Colorado, and other states.
plant is likely to produce THC in a commercial hemp strain, itll be 1 to 2 Theres great interest in developing
quantity that exceeds the legal thresh- percent of the dry weight of the plant. certified seed that Minnesota farm-
olds, we can test for that. These drug types now, thanks to breeders could produce to supply a market
ing, have a cannabinoid content of 20 to should we reach a point when domes-
CBD oil has recently become a trendy 30 percent dry weight. Depending on tic hemp production and demand are
topic because of potential health ben- which genes the plants have, you can matched up. I think we are probably
ets. How did this topic develop? produce mostly THC, mostly CBD, or growing closer to that day, certainly a
One recent development that has an intermediate quantity of each. lot faster than I ever expected. When I
complicated my life telling the story It gets tricky when we talk about started doing this project 15 years ago,
of hemp is that a few years ago, some hemp and marijuana. I dont think the I never couldve imagined what wed
marijuana breeders in Colorado intro- plants that produce 20 to 30 percent be talking about in 2016. Its a dramatic
duced a new type of cannabis that con- CBD can fairly be called hemp plants. evolution and turn of events.
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Infographic
Lighting Up the Animal Kingdom such as attracting a mate, scanning for prey, or scaring off a
Bioluminescent organisms create their light from within, us- predator. There are a wide range of bioluminescent species,
ing chemical reactions that emit photons. There are seven only a small selection of which are shown here. Assisted bio-
known types of protein structures involved in producing luminescence occurs in organisms that symbiotically house
bioluminescence, including luciferin and luciferase. The glow and protect another organism that produces light, but dont
from these animals can be used for a range of purposes, directly produce light themselves.
SISTED
AS
BIO
E
NC
U
M IN SCE
L
Eleanor Lutz, www.tabletopwhale.com
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Briefings
I
n this roundup, digital features with a solid, crystalline core capable of one would expect for a bird egg of similar
editor Katie L. Burke summarizes conducting electricity. This semiconduct- size. These longer incubation times could
notable recent developments in ing core, made with a combination of
scientic research, selected from reports copper and sulfur, is surrounded by the
compiled in the free electronic newslet- diamondoids, which form an insulating
ter Sigma Xi SmartBrief. Online: _____
https:// shell. The group has already made these
AMNH/M. Ellison
www.smartbrief.com/sigmaxi/index.jsp one-dimensional nanowires with cores
of cadmium, zinc, iron, and silver, each of
which can work with different materials
Moon Is Older Than Expected and can have various applications.
Lunar rocks and soil collected in 1971 dur-
ing the Apollo 14 mission have been ana- Yan, H., et al. Hybrid metal-organic chalco- have contributed to the dinosaurs vulner-
lyzed to show that the Moon is older than genide nanowires with electrically conduc- ability at the end of the Cretaceous.
expected, 4.51 billion years old. Earlier tive inorganic core through diamondoid-
estimates had postulated that the Moon directed assembly. Nature Materials DOI: Erickson, G. M., D. K. Zelenitsky, D. I. Kay,
formed within 100 million to 200 million 10.1038/nmat4823 (December 26) and M. A. Norell. Dinosaur incubation pe-
years after the Solar System formed, but riods directly determined from growth-line
the study put it Cells with Semisynthetic DNA counts in embryonic teeth show reptilian-
at about 60 mil- Bacteria with a genetic code of six nucle- grade development. Proceedings of the
lion years after otides, the building blocks of DNA, were National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.
that event. Tiny engineered successfully. DNA in nature is 114:540545 (January 17)
bits of the min- made up of four nucleotides. Previous re-
eral zircon were search had shown that synthetic nucleo- Prions Found in Bacteria
extracted from tides designated as X and Y could be in- Once thought to occur only in eukary-
NASA
the lunar mate- corporated into Escherichia coli bacteria, otic cells, prionsinfectious misfolded
rial and their but that the engineered microbes grew proteins responsible for illnesses such
age was estimated using uranium-lead slowly and expunged the foreign nucleo- as mad cow diseasehave now been
radioisotope dating. This result indicates tides after several generations. This new observed in bacteria. A section of protein
that the Moon-forming impact occurred study showed that the engineered bacte- from the bacterium Clostridium botuli-
much sooner after Earths formation, and ria could retain the synthetic nucleotides num acts like a prion when inserted into
also that Earth could have cooled down over 60 divisions. The key to this progress yeast or Escherichia coli bacteria. Re-
enough to allow life earlier than previ- was a change to a molecular transporter, searchers analyzed about 60,000 bacte-
ously thought as well. which helps the bacteria import the un- rial genomes to search for prion-forming
natural nucleotides. Synthetic nucleotides proteins in yeast, homing in on a sec-
Barboni, M., et al. Early formation of the such as these could allow more directed tion that regulates the activity of many
moon 4.51 billion years ago. Science Advanc- engineering of bacteria. genes. The potentially prion-forming
es doi:10.1126/sciadv.1602365 (January 11) section of protein from C. botulinum was
Zhang, Y., et al. A semisynthetic organism inserted into E. coli and yeast. In the E.
Self-Assembling Nanowires engineered for the stable expansion of the coli, clumps of the protein aggregated, a
A team led by Nicholas Melosh of Stan- genetic alphabet. Proceedings of the Na- characteristic of prions. In the yeast, the
ford University has created the tiniest tional Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. section of protein could replace the func-
wires ever made: conductive cables just doi:10.1073/pnas.1616443114 (January 23) tions of another prion-forming protein.
three atoms wide composed of inter- In this instance, many genes were active
locking cages of carbon and hydrogen Dinosaur Eggs Slow to Hatch that were suppressed by the normal
known as diamondoids. The research- Many recent discoveries about dinosaurs version of that protein. This finding sug-
ers technique could be used to build have highlighted how many more traits gests that prions could be adaptive in
nanowires for many applications, such they share with birds than we once certain environments. Because prions are
as fabrics that act as generators, opti- thought, but a new study notes a trait heritable, bacteria could pass along traits
cal devices, and materials that conduct that is decidedly reptilian: lengthy egg without a genetic mutation. Next, the
electricity without any loss. The nano- incubation. Developing dinosaur em- researchers want to find out whether the
wires are novel in that they self-assemble bryos incubated for 2.8 to 5.8 months, far section of protein they isolated acts like a
longer than those of birds with eggs of prion in its original hosta task that may
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
similar size, which take 45 to 80 days. Fos- be challenging, because C. botulinum is

silized dinosaur embryos are a rare find difficult to work with in the lab. Studying
in paleontology, but the team used speci- prions in bacteria could also lead to im-
mens from two species, Protoceratops portant breakthroughs in understanding
andrewsi and Hypacrosaurus stebingeri. the behavior of prions in human diseases.
Counts of daily growth lines in the teeth
of the fossilized dinosaur embryos sug- Yuan, A. H., and A. Hochschild. A bacte-
gested a development period closer to rial global regulator forms a prion. Science
that of reptiles and about double what 355:198201 (January 13)
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Sightings
Nanoparticle
Visions
Too small to be seen by the human
eye, nanoparticles are already
Vlad Vekselman and Elle Starkman

transforming many scientific fields,
from electrical engineering to
materials science. Now scientists
are working to optimize production.
I
n a recently expanded lab at the U.S. Department of says Raitses, and perhaps, if were successful, we can
Energys Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, suggest methods of improving plasma nanosynthesis.
Yevgeny Raitses and his colleagues are using a The form of carbon-arc plasma nanosynthesis the
variety of techniques to study nanoparticle formation team is studying takes place in a chamber filled with an
via plasmahot, ionized gas, also called the fourth phase inert gas, such as helium, at normal atmospheric pressure.
of matter. Whats unique in our research, Raitses says, is With sufficient current, the anode (the positively charged
that theres never been such an integrated, team effort by electrode made from carbon) is vaporizedat a rate of a
such a diversified group. few milligrams per secondfirst becoming gaseous be-
The team consists of theorists and experimenters, fore being ionized (where positively charged ions and free
modelers, materials scientists, physicists, and chemists. electrons separate) to become plasma. The plasma then
Shurik Yatom
Their basic research, funded by the condenses as nanoparticles on the
DOEs Basic Energy Sciences pro- cathode cathode (the negatively charged
gram, will inform how to optimize electrode). Temperatures are
plasma-based nanosynthesis, which deposit
between 3,200 and 3,500 kelvin.
has proven a challenge even after We selected carbon nanotubes
decades of research on carbon-arc and carbon arc because theres
nanosynthesis (vaporizing carbon anode a huge amount of work done by
via an arc of electric current between scientists around the world, says
anode and cathode, above and right). Raitses, so its a convenient bench-
Carbon nanotubes, wanted mark to test our approaches, our
for their remarkable electrical diagnostics, our modeling. After
conductivity and strength, were first Different diagnostics and filters reveal various that, the team plans to study the
produced in 1991 by Sumio Iijima features of nanoparticles synthesized by plas- formation of other nanoparticles by
at Japans NEC Corporation. Since ma. Above, by precisely triggering a type of plasma nanosynthesis.
then, experimentation has shown camera called an intensified charged coupled Carbon is just the starter,
what works and what doesnt in device (ICCD), researchers captured for the first Raitses says, but its a starter that, if
terms of production, but only from time highly unstable branches of nanoparticles successful, could transform many
floating to the sides of the nanoparticle de-
an end-product result, meaning it scientific fields that already employ
posit. At top, filtering the spectra at 470 nano-
hasnt led to techniques to produce meters highlights the location of C , a byprod- carbon nanotubesfrom electrical
2
reliably high-quality nanoparticles uct of ablation of the carbon (graphite) anode engineering to materials science
at low cost. So what were trying to that is feedstock for the synthesis of the carbon fields long frustrated by the
do is understand the details of the nanotubes. Both photographs were captured current shortcomings of carbon
nanoscale physics that are going on, through a viewport on the plasma chamber. nanotubes. Robert Frederick
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Computing
Science
How to Detect Faked Photos

Techniques that analyze the consistency of elements within an image can help to
determine whether it is real or manipulated.
Hany Farid
Photographers, especially ama- ernment media and in political ad cam- that distinguishes between what might
teur photographers, will tell you paigns. For instance, in 2015 the Press be acceptable digital cleaning up of
Information Bureau of the Government an image and what ventures into falsi-
that the camera cannot lie. This of India released a photograph of Indian fying data. For instance, the Journal of
only proves that photographers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi survey- Cell Biology gives an example in which
especially amateur photographers, ing by air the flood damage in the city scientists increased the contrast of only
can, for the dry plate can fib as of Chennai. The image of the flooded certain elements in a micrograph, and
city, however, had been superimposed also removed some background dis-
badly as the canvas on occasion. in the window of Modis plane, and the tractions, to the point that their actions
The Evening News, Lincoln, manipulation received a great deal of were deemed to be misconduct.
Nebraska, November 1895 ridicule in the press and on social media. The field of photo forensics has
Even most scientific journals have emerged to restore some trust in pho-
I
t may be an old adage that the found the need to implement a policy tographs. These forensic techniques
camera cannot lie, but as the
above quotation demonstrates,
even when photography was
young in the late 1800s, it was widely
acknowledged that an unusual play of
the light or a glitch in the equipment
could cause accidental or purpose-
ful trick images, such as ghostly ap-
paritions. In a July 1874 article in The
Photographic Times, photographers are
warned that inconsistent shrinkage in
photographic negatives or printing pa-
per could cause distortions in photo-
graphs recording the transit of Venus
that year, among other subjects.
But clever camera tricks pale in com-
parison with the possibilities now avail-
able for manipulating images. With
startlingly fast advances in digital tech-
nology, it has become increasingly dif-
ficult to distinguish actual photographs
from ones that have been digitally dis-
torted or were created wholly by a com-
puter. Such doctored photographs have
appeared in tabloid and fashion maga-
zines, and on online auction and dating
sites, but also in mainstream and gov- In 2015 the Press Information Bureau of the Government of India released two images of Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi surveying a flooded city. One of the images was digitally altered
Hany Farid is professor and chair of the computer sci- to show a crisp, unrealistic view of the damage through the airplane window. Although the bureau
ence department at Dartmouth College. Portions of this removed the images and apologized, the incident garnered strong reaction in the press and on so-
article have been adapted from his book, Photo Foren- cial media. Digital tampering of images is usually less obvious than this, but techniques from the
sics (MIT Press, 2016). Email: ___________
farid@dartmouth.edu field of photo forensics can be used to visually analyze images and provide a measure of veracity.
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begin by modeling the entire imag-

ing pipeline from the physics and ge-
ometry of the interaction of light, to
the interaction of the light as it passes
through a camera lens, the conversion
of light to pixel values in the electronic
sensor, the packaging of these pixel
values into a digital image file, and
the pixel-level artifacts introduced by
photo-editing software such as Pho-
toshop. From within this large body
of forensic techniques, I will describe
three geometric techniques for detect-
ing traces of digital manipulation.
Vanishing Points
You have almost certainly seen a pho-
tograph of train tracks receding away
from you in which the gap between
the tracks appears to shrink. In the Vanishing points within a scene (cyan) can be combined to recover the principal point (yellow
actual three-dimensional scene, the dot), which in an uncropped image is expected to be near the images center. (Unless other-
gap between the tracks is, of course, wise noted, images are courtesy of the author.)
fixed, but it appears to shrink because
of the basic properties of perspective ing points correspond to three pairs of An image has only one principal
projection, in which the size of an ob- lines that are mutually perpendicular point, typically at or near the image
jected imaged onto the camera sensor in the 3D scene. Because of this spe- center. In the example above, the prin-
(or your eye) is inversely proportional cial relationship, these three vanishing cipal point is near the image center, as
to its distance from the camera. If the points provide useful forensic infor- would be expected in an authentic im-
train tracks had infinite length, then
they would converge in the image to a
single pointthe vanishing point.
The location of a vanishing point in If lines connecting corresponding points
the two-dimensional image depends
on the orientation of the parallel lines in a scene and its reflection do not
in the 3D scene. Shown in the figure
above are three different vanishing
points (shown in cyan) computed from
converge on a common intersection in the
the horizontal and vertical lines be-
tween the tiles and from the sides of
image plane, the image may be a fake.
one of the boxes. These three vanish-
mation (vanishing points have several age. If the principal point deviates sig-
other interesting and useful geometric nificantly from the image center, then
properties that we dont have room to we would have cause to question the
discuss here). authenticity of the photo (assuming,
The principal point of an image cor- of course, that the image has not been
responds to the intersection of the cropped from its original recording).
cameras optical axis and sensor. It is
possible to recover the principal point Reflections
by first identifying three mutually per- The schematic on the left shows the re-
pendicular sets of parallel lines in the lationship between a camera, a mirror
scene. Each set of parallel lines has a (orange), an object (a black pawn), and
vanishing point, and together the three the pawns reflection (gray). A perfect
vanishing points form a triangle. For mirror reflects light rays in a single
each of the three sides of a triangle (sol- direction. A light ray from a point on
id yellow line in the figure above), there the pawn is reflected by the mirror to a
is one line, the altitude (dashed yellow single point on the camera sensor, and,
With a perfect mirror (orange), light rays are
reflected in a single direction, creating an
line), which extends perpendicularly at the sensor, these reflected rays are
image in which a black chess pawn and its from that side to the opposing vertex indistinguishable from light rays origi-
reflection (gray) are equal in size and in dis- of the triangle. The three altitudes of a nating from a pawn located behind the
tance from the mirror. If this geometric rela- triangle intersect at a point called the mirror. This virtual pawn and the real
tionship between objects in an image is not orthocenter (yellow dot). The orthocenter pawn are exact mirror images: They are
correct, tampering may be the cause. is the cameras principal point. equal in size and equal in distance from
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Consider the scene in the figure at

left in which three boxes are reflected
in a flat mirror. The yellow lines con-
nect corresponding points on the real
and virtual boxes. In the 3D scene,
these lines are parallel to each other
and perpendicular to the mirror. In the
2D image, however, due to perspec-
tive projection, these parallel lines con-
verge to a single point, just as paral-
lel lines in any 3D scene converge to
a vanishing point. Because the lines
connecting corresponding points in a
scene and its reflection are always par-
allel, these lines should have a com-
mon intersection in the image plane.
If one or more of the lines do not con-
verge on this common intersection,
then the image may be a fake.
Reflections may also provide ad-
ditional forensic evidence. Recall that
it is possible to recover the principal
point from three mutually perpendicu-
lar sets of parallel lines in the scene. If
the scene contains a rectangular reflec-
tive surface, such a rectangular mirror,
then the edges of the mirror provide
two mutually perpendicular sets of
parallel lines. Because the rays con-
necting an object to its reflection are
perpendicular to the mirror surface,
these rays provide the third, mutually
perpendicular set of parallel lines. A
reflection in a rectangular reflective
surface can be used to verify the posi-
tion and uniqueness of the principal
point. The result of this calculation can
be cross-checked against the princi-
pal point estimated directly from three
vanishing points.
Shadows
In general, a shadows location pro-
vides information about the location
of the surrounding light in the scene.
We expect that these lighting proper-
ties will be physically plausible and
consistent throughout the scene. Thus
an objects cast shadow can be used to
constrain and reason about the loca-
tion of the illuminating light source.
Lets start with a simple situation:
a scene illuminated by a single small
Three boxes can be connected by lines with their mirror images (top). If a scene contains a light source. Consider the 3D scene
rectangular reflecting surface, as this one does, mutually perpendicular sets of parallel lines in depicted at the top of the next page in
the scene can be used to verify the position of the cameras principal point (bottom), and can which the box is casting a shadow on
be checked against the same analysis using vanishing points. the floor. For every point in this shad-
ow, there must be a ray to the light
the mirror. This basic geometry holds ship between reflections and vanish- source that passes through the box:
for the reflections of any flat specular ing points, but a similar analysis can The box is occluding the floor from
surface such as a mirror, window, or be used to determine whether objects direct illumination by the light. For ev-
even a highly polished tabletop. At first and their reflections have the correct ery point outside of the shadow, there
glance there seems to be little relation- geometric relationship. must be a ray to the light source that is
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Lines that connect the corners of shadows and of the surfaces onto which the shadow
the object creating them (left, top) should in- is cast. Consider a shadow that falls on
tersect at a point from which the light origi-
two surfaces (as shown at bottom left).
nated (left, middle). This analysis should hold
true no matter where the light source is lo-
Every ray connecting a point on the
cated, and regardless of whether shadows fall cast shadow to its corresponding point
on more than one surface (left, bottom). on the object must intersect the light.
Where the shadow is cast is irrelevant.
unobstructed by the box: The floor is All of the rays, regardless of the scene
directly illuminated by the light. Con- geometry, will therefore intersect at the
sider now a ray connecting the point same point.
at the corner of the shadow and its One of the most watched YouTube
corresponding point at the corner of videos of 2012 starts with a panning
the object. Follow this ray and it will shot of an eagle soaring through the
intersect the light. sky. The eagle makes a slow turn and
Because straight lines are imaged as then quickly descends upon a small
straight lines (assuming no lens distor- child sitting on a park lawn. The
tion), the location constraint in the 3D childs parent is nearby but looking
scene also holds in a 2D image of the the other way. The eagle snatches the
scene. So, just as the shadow corner, child. As the eagle starts to ascend,
the corresponding box corner, and the it loses its grip and the child drops a
light source are all constrained to lie short distance to the ground. At this
on a single 3D ray in the real world; point, the videographer and par-
the image of the shadow corner, the im- ent run to the seemingly unharmed
age of the box corner, and the image of child. This video, titled Golden Eagle
the light source are all constrained to Snatches Kid, quickly garnered tens
lie on a single 2D ray in the image. of millions of hits by viewers, who re-
Now lets connect two more points sponded with a mixture of awe and
on the cast shadow to their correspond- skepticism. Although this was a clev-
All of the light rays, regardless of the

scene geometry, should intersect at the
same point, whether the light source is
nearby or distant.
ing points on the object (shown at left). er and well-executed fake, a shadow
We will continue to use the corners of analysis shown on the next page re-
the box because they are particularly veals that the shadows of the baby and
distinct. These three rays intersect at a eagle (cyan lines) are inconsistent with
single point above the box. This inter- the rest of the scene (yellow lines). In-
section is, of course, the projection of deed, this video is a composite of a
the light source in the image. computer-generated baby and eagle
The light source is often not visible in added into an otherwise real video.
the original image of the scene. Depend- It can be difficult to reason about
ing on where the light is, you may have the 2D location of shadows that results
to extend the rays beyond the images from the 3D interaction of geometry
left, right, top, or even bottom bound- and lighting. And our visual system
ary to see the intersection of the three is often completely oblivious to glar-
rays. For now, we will continue to exam- ing inconsistencies in shadows. This
ine the case in which the light source is simple shadow analysis, therefore, can
above and in front of the camera. be highly effective at detecting incon-
The geometric constraint relating sistencies in lighting and shadows that
the shadow, the object, and the light may result from photocompositing.
holds whether the light source is near-
by (such as a desk lamp) or distant Accurate Images
(the Sun). This constraint also holds re- Straight lines (real or virtual) in a 3D
gardless of the location and orientation scene become straight lines in its 2D
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A 2012 video that purported to show a golden eagle grabbing a computer generated) are inconsistent with the shadows that are found
child is a clever fake. An analysis shows that the shadows from in the rest of the scene. (Image courtesy of Robin Tremblay, NAD
the eagle and the child (both of which turn out to have been School of Digital Arts, Universit du Qubec Chicoutimi.)
image. This simple fact of perspective equipped to make an informed decision Forensics and Security, Volume 7541, San Jose,
CA:, January 27. DOI: 10.1117/12.837788
projection yields a common geomet- about whether the images they are look-
Kee, E., J. OBrien, and H. Farid. 2013. Exposing
ric principle for analyzing vanishing ing at are genuine or compromised. photo manipulation with inconsistent shadows.
points, reflections, and shadows. ACM Transactions on Graphics 32(4):28:112.
But the accuracy of each of these Bibliography OBrien, J., and H. Farid. 2012. Exposing photo
analyses rests on the accuracy of the Farid, H. 2016. Photo Forensics. Cambridge, manipulation with inconsistent reflections.
selected lines. For the vanishing point MA: MIT Press. ACM Transactions on Graphics 31(1):4:111.
analysis, it is essential to specify clearly Farid, H., and M. J. Bravo. 2010. Image forensic Rossner, M., and K. M. Yamada. 2004. Whats
analyses that elude the human visual system. in a picture? The temptation of image ma-
defined straight lines. For the reflection nipulation. Journal of Cell Biology 166:1115.
Proceedings of the SPIE Symposium on Media
and shadow analyses, it is essential to
use distinctive points so that the speci-
fied lines are unambiguous. If care is not
taken, even slight errors in the specifica-
tion of these points and lines can lead
to erroneous conclusions. These anal-
yses also assume that straight lines in
the scene project to straight lines in the
image. This assumption may not hold
for inexpensive cameras, which can in-
troduce geometric distortions that cause
straight lines to project to curved lines.
The three geometric forensic tech-
niques described here are only a small
set of a large and diverse toolkit of fo-
rensic techniques that are available to a
forensic examiner. Other forensic tech-
niques include the analysis of specular
highlights, lens distortion, lens flare,
color filter array interpolation artifacts,
sensor noise, artifacts in the compression
of digital imaging formats such as JPEG,
and more. But with an understanding of
some of the basics, viewers can be better
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Arts Lab
Art and Science in the Romantic

Imagination
Creativity assumes a variety of natural, yet imaginary, forms in these
painstakingly carved paper sculptures.
Rogan Brown
viewers recognition but ultimately

To see a World in a Grain of Sand subverts it by making multiple visual
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower references simultaneously. This visual
ambiguity is crucial: If the work were
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand completely subordinate to the demands
And Eternity in an hour. of scientific accuracy, then it would be
William Blake, Auguries of Innocence simply scientific illustration. By con-
trast, art has to encourage the play of in-
A
t the beginning of the 19th poets and artists, who saw in Nature terpretation, because this is an essential
century, the great Roman- and its repeated patterns an expression aspect of the pleasure we derive from
tic poet William Blake gave of intelligent design, of the Creators art- looking at it and contemplating it. Both
voice to the widely held view istry and imagination. Yet in teaching acts, looking and contemplating, are at
that the way to human progress and us to see the natural world as beautiful, the heart of my work.
fulfillment lies not in reason and science, sublime, and mystical, the Romantics Lets take as an example my sculp-
but rather in the development of our also taught us that it is worth valuing ture Kernel, which emerged from a
ability to contemplate the small won- and preservinga lesson we need to- number of disparate sources of inspira-
ders of the world that surround us and day, perhaps, more than at any other tion. While making preliminary sketch-
that we barely notice. Blake was writing time in our short existence on this planet. es for thispiece, I was living in a forest
at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, In my work I try to square this cir- in the south of France, surrounded by
which he saw as both a desecration of cle, combining the Romantic and the chestnut trees. I became fascinated by
the land and a destruction of the age- the chestnut husks: Spiky green shells,
old, intimate, and mystical relationship Science makes us painful to touch, but containing inside
between Man and Nature. Its ironic, the smooth mahogany fruitsuch a
therefore, that it is not mysticism that
understand what we see, stunning contrast of texture and form.
has shown us the hidden world in a art makes us feel it. I noticed the resemblances to other
grain of sand, but science itself. vegetal forms such as the Venus fly-
From satellite images to electron scientific, the factual and the poetic, cre- trap plant and to certain types of pol-
micrographs, from particle physics to ating sculpture that makes reference to len, but also to microorganisms such as
black holes, science has fundamentally science and scientific imagery but also the influenza virus. At the same time,
altered the way we perceive the world. asserts the importance of the imagina- I was studying anatomical drawings
We can now see natural phenomena in tion and the creativity of the artist. De- from Andreas Vesaliuss 16th-century
immense detail at every level, under- spite attempts by some neuroscientists text, De humani corpis fabrica libri septem;
stand how each element developed and (most notably Semir Zeki of University I was drawn to the beauty of these illus-
evolved, and observe how it functions College London, pioneer of the field he trations and their dynamic interplay be-
and interacts, from atoms to molecules has termed neuroaesthetics) to explain the tween inner and outer, with the smooth
to cell structures and beyond. No won- workings of the imagination and how skin cut away to reveal the intricacy
der it has become difficult for us to ap- the brain processes art, no convincing and formal diversity inside the body.
preciate the perspective of the Romantic explanation has yet been forthcoming. Kernel emerges from the fusion of
Thankfully, it remains a mystery. these different sources: chestnut, vi-
Rogan Browns paper sculptures have been exhibited Walking a narrow and sometimes rus, and the internal structure of or-
at numerous art fairs and featured in Smithsonian, contentious line between fact and fic- gans such as the heart and lungs. It is
Wired, and on the National Public Radio website, tion, observation and imagination, I a completely hand-cut piece that took
among other outlets. Website: roganbrown.com. make chimerical work that solicits the almost four months to create. Each lay-
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To create his sculptures, artist Rogan Brown uses a scalpel or laser to cut intricate patterns into microlayers of paper. The shape
of this piece, Magic Circle, is inspired by both the petri dish and the microscope lens; the sculpted motifs imitate cell structures,
bacteria, and fungi. Brown aims to overwhelm the eye with detail by mimicking natures immense detail, intricacy, and complexity.
er was drawn by hand and then pains- pause, slow down, and open their eyes croorganisms that live in and on their
takingly cut with a scalpel knifeor to see. This is also one of the reasons I bodies and help them function in ways
perhaps I should say dissected choose to make sculpture rather than we are only beginning to understand.
from sheet after sheet of paper. two-dimensional work: Sculpture has to The project director had the bold idea
Time is an important element in be seen in the flesh, it cannot be fully ap- of commissioning a group of artists to
works such as these. Indeed, it is the preciated on a screen. Moreover, because make work relating to this theme. I pro-
fourth dimension made visible in every sculpture is an object in itself rather than posed creating a large-scale hand-cut
cut. Very few art forms call attention to the representation of an object, it asserts sculpture of a single bacterium, not an
the time and labor through which they its own autonomy and thereby creates a accurate scientific model but an imag-
have taken shape as well as paper cut- more powerful, direct visual experience. ined representation, stylized and aes-
ting does. For me the creation of a work My first collaboration with scientists theticized to maximize visual impact.
of art is ultimately an act of meditation an international group of individu- After weeks of trawling through im-
as well as craft. The time spent and the als belonging to the Society of General ages of bacteria, I found myself drawn
immense accretion of detail found in Microbiologywas a project in 2014 to Escherichia coli and salmonella be-
my sculptures are means of winning the for the creation of a permanent exhibi- cause of their flagellate forms: slightly
viewers attention. In an age in which no tion space focusing on the human mi- sinister and alien, but also aesthetically
one has very much time, in which we are crobiome. The exhibition, Invisible You, complex. My aim was to create a work
always in flux and continually bombard- is funded by the Wellcome Trust and of direct, visceral visual impact both in
ed by images scrolling across our retinas, housed at the Eden Project in Cornwall, its scale and in the manipulation of cer-
it is increasingly difficult to encourage England. Its aim is to modify public pertain formal features. I wanted to create
quiet moments of contemplation; artists ceptions of bacteriato open peoples that sense of awe and fear we experience
must work ever harder to get people to eyes to the vast, hidden colony of mi- when confronted by the sheer incompre-
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Kernel alludes to the forms of microorganisms, internal organs such as the heart and lungs, and the contrast of spikiness and smooth-
ness in an open chestnut husk. The many hand-cut microlayers of paper embody the dimension of time as an important element in
this piece, which took several months to complete.
hensible scale and beauty of nature that lightness akin to that of a medusa in the world, appearing in Wired maga-
philosophers such as Edmund Burke the ocean but also to depict something zine (http://wired.co.uk/article/
and Emmanuel Kant called the Sub- alien and potentially dangerous. Draw- eden-project-human-biome)
__________________________ and the
lime, a concept that had a profound ing on diagrammatic representations Huffington Post (http://www.huff-
_____________
impact on the Romantic movement. of bacteria, I chose to make a cutaway ingtonpost.com/2015/04/10/cut-
__________________________
This piece, too, took five months of model revealing the precious cargo microbe-photos_n_7037972.html)
_______________________ and
painstaking labor to complete, with the that each bacterium carries, namely its even gaining a spot on primetime
timescale working as a metaphor for French television. I felt I had made a
the unimaginable scale of the bacterial Artists must work ever small contribution to raising public
world itself. At 1.12 meters in length, awareness of the microbiome and of
the sculpture is roughly half a million harder to get people to changing perceptions by associating
times larger than an actual bacterium. pause, slow down and the idea of beauty with that of bacteria.
Obviously, its necessary to take cre- Some dissent was voiced, however, by
ative liberties to envision a bacterium at open their eyes to see. scientists who felt that I had embel-
this scale, and I was fortunate enough lished too much and had sacrificed sci-
to be given creative freedom by the DNA. Because I was looking to create entific accuracy on the altar of aesthet-
project director. I worked on embellish- a stylized representation of DNA rather ics; I realized from this experience that
ing the flagella (the long tail-like ap- than a scientifically precise one, aesthet- collaborations between science and art
pendages that bacteria use to propel ics took precedence over accuracy. can sometimes be contentious.
themselves through our bodies) and the The work was received very posi- In listening to various microbiolo-
pili (hairlike structures that allow them tively and was picked up by several gists describing the microbiome, I be-
to stick to our intestinal wall). My goal art and design websites. Images of gan to visualize a biodiverse habitat
was to create a sense of movement and Cut Microbe were beamed around working in harmonythat is, sym-
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biotically with our bodies, like a vast

forest of organisms of different shapes
and sizes cohabiting and helping our
bodies function. A series of sculp-
tures I titled Magic Circle Variations is
an attempt to create a stylized three-
dimensional representation of this
hidden world. This series consists of
different motifs based on images of
bacteria, viruses, and fungi, arranged
in circular compositions. The circle al-
ludes not only to the shape of the mi-
croscope lens and the petri dish but
also to the Buddhist mandala (the San-
skrit word for magic circle). In the
Buddhist tradition, mandalas are intri-
cate objects of contemplation that sym-
bolize unity and harmony; it is these
aspects that I wished to associate with
human microbiota. As in other works
of mine, the goal was to alter view-
ers negative perception of bacteria by
making an aesthetically pleasing work
of art that engaged their attention. The
level of detail and intricacy I wished to
achieve in these pieces was such that I
had to move beyond hand-cutting with
a scalpel and embrace another tool of
scientific dissection: After being drawn
by hand and reduced in size, each mo-
tif was cut by a laser. I then layered the
cuts into 3D bouquets and mounted
them into complex compositions. The
aim, as always in my work, was to
overwhelm the eye with detail.
Two other pieces of mine offer a
slightly more ambiguous representa-
tion of science and scientific progress.
This dramatic rendition of a flagellate bacterium, titled Cut Microbe, was five months
Outbreak and Control X both present a in the making. The time and labor that went into the work, as well as the level of detail
variety of microbiological organisms it contains, serve as metaphors for the unimaginable scale of the bacterial colony that
separated and contained inside an array lives in and on every one of us. (Magnification approximately 500,000. Created for an
of transparent domes. In each piece, one exhibition about the human microbiome funded by the Wellcome Trust and housed at
of the domes has been breached, spill- The Eden Project in Cornwall, England.)
ing a swirling mass of bacteria.
On a simple level, these sculptures ture was such a potent rejection of the makes us feel it. Art can therefore act
play with our fear of scientific research. Enlightenmentthe Age of Reason, as a valuable bridge between science
Public attitudes toward science are strik- replaced by the Age of Reflection and the general public, taking the
ingly bipolar: On one hand, we see it as and whose beautiful and compelling complex factual data that scientific re-
the motor of human progress, poten- works still fascinate us today. Perhaps search provides and, through craft and
tially solving all our problems and ad- what is bursting from the petri dishes imagination, making it accessible and
vancing and enhancing us as a species; in these sculptures is the Romantic pleasurable for people without spe-
on the other hand, we see the terrible idea of the imagination itself, wild, un- cialized training. But this engagement
effects that science can wreak upon our governed, andfor the moment, at must be more than simple re-presenta-
world: nuclear and biological weapons, leaststill unexplained. The value of tion of scientific fact and be more than
pollution, climate change, environmen- imagination was clear to no less a man simply an exercise in public relations.
tal devastation. The works therefore con- of science than Albert Einstein himself, The gift of the artist in this context is
tain a warning that we must beware our who declared it more important than that she or he can bring to bear a high-
own hubris and perhaps accept that we knowledge: For knowledge is limited, ly individual interpretation of science
can never be fully in control of nature. whereas imagination embraces the en- and therefore make the large-scale, col-
Something always escapes us. tire world. lective endeavour of scientific research
This realization brings us back to Art and science are each valid ways accessible to the individual sensibili-
the Romantics, whose belief in the of seeing the world: Science makes ties of all those we tend to efface in the
mystery of life and the power of na- us understand what we see, and art expression the general public.
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Perspective
A New Window on
Alien Atmospheres
The James Webb Space Telescope, originally intended for scanning the outer
reaches of the cosmos, is now expected to break new ground exploring exoplanets.
Kevin Heng
O
ne of the most exciting po- 2005, photons from the atmosphere of an the capabilities and heritage of both
tential uses of the James exoplanet were detected for the first time Hubble and Spitzer. Its larger mirror will
Webb Space Telescope using the Spitzer Space Telescope. Later, collect more light in a shorter amount
(JWST), which is scheduled astronomers learned how to record sig- of time, enabling the study of faint tar-
to launch in 2018, is to hunt for habitable nals from these atmospheres at different gets, and the sensitivity and range of
exoplanetssomething that was beyond colors and interpret them to identify the frequencies covered by its instruments
imagining at its inception. In the 1970s, presence of atoms and molecules, us- exceed both predecessors. JWST fol-
no one even knew whether exoplanets ing both space- and ground-based tele- lows in the footsteps of NASAs Great
existed. In the 1990s, when JWST was scopes. To date, water, carbon monoxide, Observatoriesspace telescopes built to
conceived as the successor to the Hubble hydrogen, magnesium, methane, sodi- serve the entire astronomical community.
and Spitzer space telescopes, the notion um, and potassium have been robustly The easiest targets to study are the
that the atmospheres of alien worlds detected. Nowadays, the Hubble Space gas and ice giants, with sizes ranging
could be studied seemed faintly ludi- Telescope is routinely used to check from that of Neptune to slightly larger
crous. Part of the early motivation was whether an exoatmosphere contains wa- than Jupiter, and which orbit close to
to build a telescope that would be pow- ter. Astronomers have also made crude their stars. Because of their relatively
erful enough to detect the earliest stars temperature maps of these atmospheres. large sizes, the dip in light that occurs
and galaxies. Because the universe is ex- Exoatmospheric science tells us about when these exoplanets transit their stars
panding, which reddens light as it travels the general climate conditions of an exo- is easy to detect. Measuring the change
across space, this new eye on the cosmos planet, including chemistry and tem- in the size of the exoplanet across fre-
would need to be built for the infrared perature. As technology has advanced, quency is equivalent to constructing a
spectrum. Fast forward to 2017, and the enabling us to probe cooler (and fainter) spectrumsplitting light into colors.
measurement of atmospheric properties exoatmospheres, these discoveries have For example, if an exoplanet with an
of exoplanets is now fairly routine. Hu- opened a potential window into study- atmosphere consisting purely of wa-
manitys most expensive telescope, orig- ing an exoplanets habitability. ter is observed at wavelengths that are
inally intended for scanning the outer These recent advances are prompt- opaque to water, it will appear slightly
reaches of the cosmos, is turning out to ing changes to JWSTboth in terms of bigger; at wavelengths at which the at-
be a decisive instrument for exploring tweaks to the hardware and the tele- mosphere is transparent to water, the
alien worlds andif we are luckywill scopes operationwhile it undergoes exoplanet will appear slightly smaller.
find ones that are habitable. testing in preparation for its scheduled In this way, we may determine wheth-
When JWST was conceived, studying launch in October of 2018. Given the er water is present in an exoplanetary
the atmospheres of exoplanets was not limited lifetime of JWST, which may atmosphere. The same technique may
on the minds of its developers. Then in be as short as 5.5 years, astronomers be generalized to infer whether other
and astrophysicists are focusing on the atoms and molecules are present. As-
best targets for advancing our under- tronomers realized that it will be pos-
Kevin Heng is a professor of astronomy and plan- standing of exoplanetary atmospheres: sible to study the atmospheres of a
etary science and director of the Center for Space gas and ice giants first, and a selected couple of hundred gas and ice giants
and Habitability at the University of Bern, Swit-
sample of smaller exoplanets second. using JWST. Such a sample of giant exo-
zerland, and a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins
University. He is the author of Exoplanetary At-
planets would allow statistical trends
mospheres: Theoretical Concepts and Foun- Prioritizing Space Time in the properties of their atmospheres
dations, published by Princeton University Press, The Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to be quantified and would lead to
and a core science team member of the Swiss-led have already demonstrated the exoplan- breakthroughs in understanding how
CHEOPS mission to hunt for Earth-like exoplanet science that is possible from space. they formed. Detections of carbon- and
ets around nearby stars. Twitter: @KevinHeng1 JWST will go further by incorporating oxygen-bearing molecules would allow
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us to infer the ratio of carbon to oxy-

gen contained within the atmosphere
and thus to tell whether the exoplanet
formed close to or far away from its star.
For smaller exoplanets, closer in size
to Earth, we are not so lucky. Because
they are smaller, their transit signals
are weaker and harder to detect. If the
planets of the Solar System are any in-
dication, these smaller exoplanets may
have secondary, rather than primary,
atmospheres. Primary atmospheres are
composed of the remnant gas of the
protostellar nebula used to construct
the star and its orbiting exoplanets and
are predominantly made of hydrogen.
In the Solar System, Jupiter and Saturn
have primary atmospheres that reflect
the composition of the Sun. Second-
ary atmospheres originate from the
geology (or biology) of an exoplanet.
Their chemical abundances are mark-
edly different from those of their stars.
Earth, Mars, and Venus all have sec-
NASA
ondary atmospheres with chemistries
that differ from that of the Sun
Earths atmosphere is predominantly The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to launch in 2018. In this photograph, tak-
composed of nitrogen, whereas those en when the telescope was still under construction, the building team works on the assembled
of Mars and Venus are dominated by golden mirror of the telescope inside the clean room at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center.
carbon dioxide. Generally, we expect
secondary atmospheres to be made up mass, and orbits its star within a range etary Transits and Oscillations). After its
of heavier elements; if so, they would of distances that would allow for liq- launch in 2018, TESS will scan the entire
be more compact and thus more dif- uid water to exist on the surface of the sky to detect transiting small exoplanets
ficult to detect. Cooler atmospheres are exoplanet. Until we develop a more around bright stars. Also launching in
expected to be cloudy, which would general understanding of what life is, 2018, CHEOPS will take a more targeted
further complicate any detection. looking for exoplanets is our way of approach and focus on one individual
All these factors combined im- searching for life as we know it. star at a time to search for transits. PLA-
ply that to study the atmospheres of The prohibitive amount of telescope TO, because it will not launch until 2024
smaller exoplanets that have sizes be- time needed to measure the light spec- (or later), will probably not come soon
tween that of Earth and Neptune, we trum of an Earth-like exoplanet would enough to influence our use of JWST,
have to invest much larger amounts restrict the exoplanet community to but it could be decisive in detecting true
of telescope time. Therefore, we will only a handful of targets. Because the Earth analogsEarth-sized, Earth-mass
probably only be able to study about signals are expected to be weak, we exoplanets orbiting a twin of the Sun.
a dozen of these exoplanets. Our would ideally want to study one that These missions are expected to deliver
chances of extracting statistical trends is orbiting a nearby, bright star. The a catalog of small transiting exoplan-
from the atmospheres of these super recently discovered exoplanet Proxima ets that are amenable to atmospheric
Earths and mini-Neptunes with JWST Centauri b, which at about four light characterization by JWST. Even if a true
are quite bleak. However, measuring years away is practically in our cosmic Earth analog is found orbiting a bright
the atmospheric properties of a dozen backyard, would have been an inter- star, using JWST to characterize its atmo-
such objects with JWST would allow esting target, but it does not appear to sphere will be a formidable task, because
those exoplanets to serve as important transit its starthe size of this exoplan- doing so involves measuring multiple
benchmarks for the future. Exoplanets et is unknown. Recording tiny dips in transits to build a spectrum with a high
in this size range have no analog in light as an exoplanet transits its star degree of confidenceand one would
our Solar System, and any new knowl- is easier if the star is bright. However, have to wait a year between transits!
edge regarding their atmospheric con- the star should not be so bright that Another strategy is to build ground-
ditions would be groundbreaking. it would saturate the instruments of based telescopes dedicated to search-
JWST. Such a target currently does not ing for small exoplanets orbiting stars
Getting Lucky: Probing a Second Earth exist in the catalogs of astronomers. smaller than the Sun. These, too, could
Studying Earth-like exoplanets with Three upcoming space missions are find good targets for JWST. Because the
JWST will be even more elusive. An designed to address this shortcoming: transit signal depends on the ratio of
exoplanet referred to as Earth-like CHEOPS (CHaracterizing ExOPlanet the size of the exoplanet to that of its
is usually one that is nearly the same Satellites), TESS (Transiting Exoplanet star, a smaller star would imply a larger
size as Earth, has roughly the same Survey Satellite), and PLATO (PLAn- signal. Several of these ground-based
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JWST is set up to collect a vari- instruments allows both imaging (tak-

primary mirror ety of data regarding the early ing photographs) and spectroscopy
secondary universe, galaxies, the birth of
scientific (splitting the light into different colors)
mirror stars and planets, black holes,
instruments
dark matter, and exoplanets.
of astronomical objects. There are vari-
ous ways that each instrument may
be used, depending on whether one
that there are usually more. values spectral resolution (how finely
The Swiss-led SAINT-Ex the light is split into colors) or signal-
sunshade
project aims to harvest the to-noise (how confidently the signal is
same types of systems by detected at each color or frequency).
building a similar ground- These two aspects are relatedthe
based telescope in the more finely light is split across frequen-
northern hemisphere. Since cy, the less confidently the signal is de-
stabilization these exoplanets orbit stars tected at each specific frequency.
flap spacecraft
NASA
antenna solar array bus
that are less luminous, Another important task is to under-
their surface conditions are stand the peculiarities of the telescope
surveys have sprung up in the past expected to be more hospitable for life and its instruments during operation
few years. The Belgian-led TRAPPIST in some cases, they may have Earth- known as the systematics. When trying
(TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals like temperatures. Deciphering the to detect a weak signal, one must iden-
Small Telescope) survey targets transit- atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets is tify all sources of noise and confusion.
ing exoplanets orbiting ultracool stars no longer a science-fiction fantasy, but it The pixels on a detector may not all
that are cooler, redder, and much less remains to be seen how many of these have the same sensitivityand the sen-
massive than our Sun. The first discov- small exoplanets near red dwarfs will sitivity may even vary within a pixel.
ery was astonishingdespite having a be suitable targets for JWST. Pointing the telescope at the target and
mass barely a tenth that of our Sun, the keeping it perfectly still are essentially
TRAPPIST-1 star hosts three Earth-sized Digging into the Noise impossible. Some kind of jitter will ex-
exoplanets within orbits comparable to To make exciting discoveries with ist and introduce noise into the signal.
that of Mercury. Despite the closeness of JWST, astronomers must do the mun- Even the movement of secondary com-
these three exoplanets to the star, one of dane but important work of thorough- ponents of the telescope, such as an an-
them may have atmospheric conditions ly understanding its instruments tenna, may introduce small but mea-
that allow for water to exist at its sur- indeed, studying the limitations of this surable disturbances into the signal.
face. The closer distance also means that new equipment is at the frontier of the Thermal gradients may wreak havoc by
it is possible to record multiple transits field. The four scientific instruments introducing flexure into the telescope.
within a reasonable amount of time. of JWST are NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Astronomers using the Hubble and
A follow-up campaign with the Spectrograph), NIRISS (Near-Infrared Spitzer space telescopes to study exo-
Spitzer Space Telescope revealed the Imager and Slitless Spectrograph), NIR- planetary atmospheres experienced
presence of four more Earth-sized Cam (Near-Infrared Camera), and MIRI these issues in one way or another. In
exoplanets around the TRAPPIST-1 (Mid-Infrared Instrument). Collectively, particular, the Hubble Space Telescope
star. This discovery reaffirms a key they cover the range of wavelengths experienced something known as ther-
finding of the Kepler mission: Rocky from 0.6 to 28 micrometers, going be- mal breathinga flexure of the tele-
exoplanets are common, and finding yond what the Hubble and Spitzer scope, recurring every 30 minutes, that
one of them orbiting a star indicates were able to do. This versatile suite of resulted from it entering and exiting the
Earths shadow. According to Harvard
astronomer Laura Kreidberg, thermal
JWST breathing affected the accuracy of the
TESS
near-infrared detectors on Hubble via a
Kepler
phenomenon known as charge trapping,
CHEOPS in which impurities in the detectors
Spitzer capture and release photo-electrons.
PLATO
Intrapixel sensitivity was a central is-
sue when using the Spitzer Space Tele-
Hubble WFIRST scope and prevented early studies of
exoatmospheres from being definitive.
LUVOIR/
It took a decade to hone the techniques
NASA, ESA, T. Wynne/JPL
HDST for dealing with intrapixel sensitivity

and to obtain results that were consis-
tent with one another. Because JWST
ground-based uses detectors that share a heritage with
observatories both Hubble and Spitzer, the lessons
learned will be invaluable when JWST
data start streaming in. The improved
JWST continues the legacy of previous missions that developed the field of exoplanetary research, orbit of JWST (compared with Hub-
and it also paves the way for several more that are already in the works. bles) and its better pointing stability
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near-infrared spectrograph quantities are, and what the thermal

G395M/H structure of the atmosphere is. Some
G235M/H
G140M/H R ~1000/2700 features of the climate, such as the geol-
R ~1000/2700
R~1000/2700 ogy of the surface, cannot be directly
Prism
R ~1550 inferred from the spectrum.
Astrophysicists have borrowed a
0.6 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 technique known as atmospheric retriev-
micrometers
al that was honed in the atmospheric
and climate sciences. It is used to re-
SOSS F444W
R~700 F322W2 trieve the chemical and thermal prop-
R ~1700
R ~1700 erties of the exoplanetary atmosphere,
near-infrared imager and near-infrared camera given the measured spectrum. Several
slitless spectrograph groups around the world have devel-
oped expertise in atmospheric retriev-
mid-infrared instrument al, and are cutting their teeth applying
this technique to study hot Jupiters.
MRS1 MRS2 MRS3 MRS4 We now know that these hot Jupiters
R~3250 R~2650 R ~ 2000 R ~1550 contain water and that some of them
are cloudy; we even know that one of
5.0 7.7 11.9 18.4 28.0 them glows blue in reflected light. We
micrometers can make temperature maps of their
LRS daysides and nightsides. As the tech-
R~100 nology advances, we expect to obtain
The multiple configurations (G140M/H, G235M/H, and so on) of the four instruments of measured spectra of cooler exoplan-
JWST show the capacity for data collection across the infrared spectrum. Each configura- etary atmospheres and to work our
tion has different advantages. The spectral resolution is denoted by R and is the wavelength way toward a more Earth-like regime.
divided by the small difference in wavelength at which the instrument is capable of making Ultimately, the technique may be ap-
a measurement. Spectral resolutions on the order of a thousand are sufficient for teasing out plied to an Earth-like atmosphere to
detailed information about the chemistry and thermal structure of exoplanetary atmospheres. identify the types of atoms and mol-
ecules it contains, and to infer whether
(compared with Spitzers) should at- Fundamentally, a measured spectrum is the signatures of life are hidden within
tenuate these issues. a series of peaks and troughs of different the measured spectrum. If we get lucky,
Astronomers at the Space Telescope shapes and sizes. Our ability to interpret JWST may be able to find chemical
Science Institute, which is the head- a spectrum is based on the notion that hints of life on an exoplanet within a
quarters for the operation of Hubble the laws of physics and chemistry are decade, although the challenge will be
and JWST, recently initiated an Early universalthe spectrum of a water mol- to uniquely identify a signal tied to the
Release Science program. Its goal is to ecule measured in a laboratory on Earth presence of life (rather than one that is
identify an exoplanet that has a high should look the same as one measured consistent with the presence of life).
ecliptic latitude (such that it lies within from another location in the universe.
the continuous viewing zone of JWST), Atmospheres are nearly in hydro- Beyond JWST
a short orbital period (such that many static equilibrium, in which gravity is Always thinking ahead, NASA is
transits may be recorded within a rea- balanced by pressure gradients, leading already formulating plans for the
sonable amount of time), and a known to an exponential variation of pressure successor to JWST. It currently has the
mass and radius, and that is orbiting a (and matter) within an atmosphere. generic placeholder name of the Large
relatively bright, quiet star. After scru- Light from the parent star of the exo- Ultraviolet/Optical/Infrared Surveyor
tinizing a list of targets, the hot Jupiter planet impinges on the atmosphere, (LUVOIR). (As with its predecessors,
WASP-62b was determined to be the and how it is absorbed depends on how LUVOIR will be given a more catchy
best target known so far. By observing the various atoms and molecules are name as the mission progresses.) It has
WASP-62b with the four instruments distributed. The exact nature of these the ambitious goal of measuring spectra
of JWST in various configurations, we atoms and molecules matters as well from the ultraviolet to the infrared,
can build up a base of knowledge of one would not expect a water molecule effectively combining the capabilities
the systematics and learn how to use to absorb at the same frequencies, and of Hubble, Spitzer, and JWST. One
each instrument optimally for transit with the same strengths, as a methane of its purposes is to characterize the
spectroscopy. Even before the launch molecule. As starlight is absorbed, it atmospheres of habitableor even
of JWST, the exoplanetary atmospheres sets up a temperature gradient in the inhabitedexoplanets. It is expected to
community is poised for action. atmosphere. The spectrum of an exo- fly in the 2030snot anytime soon, but
planetary atmosphere that is measured certainly within most of our lifetimes.
Inferring Atmospheric Characteristics by an astronomer is the radiation that This future telescope will be designed
Once the infrared spectrum has been escapes from this complex system. The right from the start with exoplanets
distinguished from any other noise, as- astrophysicists task is to translate this in mind. In the distant future, spectra
tronomers will still need to figure out spectrum back into knowledge of what from exoplanets indicating the presence
how to interpret it to deduce the char- types of atoms and molecules exist in of continents, oceans, and biosignature
acteristics of an exoplanets atmosphere. the atmosphere, what their relative gasses may well be commonplace.
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Engineering
Bottle and Can Openers as Levers

A simple machine can take on myriad forms to get the job done, but all the
variations still operate on the same mechanical principles.
Henry Petroski
I
n high school, my classmates and of a thirsty user on the other end of the it. In spite of the movie clich in which
I learned that many things come opener; and the fulcrum is the part of he-men pop off bottle caps with their
in threes. In trigonometry class, we the opener that rests across the top of bare fingers or teeth, few people want to
naturally were introduced to the the bottle cap and leaves its mark in the risk breaking their fingernails or pearly
properties of figures with three sides form of a dent in the removed cap. What whites in such an attempt. An old-time
and three angles. In civics class, we were a clever invention it is! wagon wheel or steel automobile bum-
told that there are three branches of the But so many inventions consist of re- per might have provided a means of
U.S. government: the legislative, the ex- versing the effect of a successful prior leveraging the cap off, but doing so usu-
ecutive, and the judiciary. In Latin class, or companion invention, causing its ally involved a rather violent jerk of the
we translated the opening sentence of effect to be undonewhich can make bottle with its cap hooked over a sharp
Caesars Gallic WarsGallia est omnis the original invention more convenient. edge, or a tilting of the bottle at such an
divisa in partes tresas All Gaul is di- Thus, the eraser at the end of a wood- angle that much of the shaken up liq-
vided into three parts. And in physics cased pencil came long after the pencil uid was lost in the process. When I have
class, we learned about Newtons three found myself without a bottle opener, I
laws of motion and also that there are To get inside have successfully removed the cap by
three classes of levers (class 1, class 2, first sticking a sharpish objectsuch as
and class 3), each with three points of wrought-iron cans, the pointed end of a nail fileinto the
interest: the fulcrum, the load, and the
effort, but with the positioning of the
soldiers were gaps between the lip of the glass bottle
and the crimped steel upside-down
load and effort varying with respect to instructed to cut crown and then systematically prying
the fulcrum in each class of lever. up each ridge from its adjacent valleys.
Among the most common examples around the top with a It is a tedious process, but it does not
of a class 1 lever is a seesaw, in which the
load is represented by the rider whose
hammer and chisel, hurt as much as trying to push the cap
off with my bare fingers.
feet are off the ground; the effort is rep- which worked, but Such frustrations were eliminated by
resented by the other rider, who exerts a the trusty church key, so-called because
push with his legs to keep things mov- was time-consuming early versions of bottle openerssuch
ing; and the fulcrum is the stationary and messy. as Paintersbore some resemblance
pivot point between the load and effort. to keys with large open handles (which
Class 3 levers, such as tweezers or a sta- itself. The corkscrew came after the cork themselves provided leverage in open-
pler, have the effort applied between the was developed to seal wine bottles. And ing door locks). The bottle opener, be-
fulcrum and the load, and they push the a capped bottle opener invented by ing a lever, employed the mechanical
load in the same direction as the effort. William Painter of Baltimore was pat- advantage of the simple machine to do
For class 2 levers, the common American ented in 1894 (U.S. Patent 514,200), two the job easily and quickly. The fact that
bottle opener is often given as a prime years after his invention of a bottle the bottle cap was ruined in the process
example. Here, the load is the resistance sealing device (the crown cork bottle was of consequence only to that infini-
offered at the serrated edge of the bottle cap) in the form of a crimped piece of tesimal proportion of users who collect-
cap against its being removed; the ef- cork-faced tin, used to contain a carbon- ed bottle caps. And even they could use
fort is the force exerted by the fingers ated beverage (U.S. Patent 468,258). But the bottle opener to their advantage by
how did the bottle opener come to take easing the cap off a bit at a time around
Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Profes-
the form of a lever? the circle of the crown, leaving it look-
sor of Civil Engineering and a professor of his- This was long before the days of pop- ing almost untouched.
tory at Duke University. His most recent book is top cans, of course, and many a person
The Road Taken: The History and Future of on a picnic found himself or herself Alternate Leverage
Americas Infrastructure. Address: Box 90287, with an ice-cold bottle of soda or beer There are cultural differences in inven-
Durham, NC 27708. but with no dedicated means of opening tion, design, and technology generally,
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and some European bottle openers to uncap the bottle, the Dreher opener tion, the operation of pushing it down
take the form of a class 1 (rather than is pushed down with the palm of the may have to be performed quickly to
a class 2) lever. The example I have in hand, making its operation potentially minimize any loss of liquid during the
my box of assorted mechanical oddi- more stable and less likely to result in uncapping of the bottle.
ties and gadgets is imprinted with the spilled beer, especially when the bottle Variations on the handheld designs
word Dreher, which is the name of a is held firmly on a solid surface. The un- are many, including a large number
Euro-beer brewed in Budapest, Milan, loosed cap is also less likely to fly off in of novelty openers. I have seen bottle
and elsewhere. In contrast to the two- some unplanned direction, because the openers incorporated into superhero
dimensional American-style church operator of the simple machine can cup figures (who get the bottle cap into a
key opener (in which the bottle cap his or her hand around both cap and headlock), into the base of the tines of a
is angled through the opening in the opener and contain them throughout the fork, and into the silhouette of an auto-
key), my Dreher bottle opener is fully bottle-opening operation. mobile (with the cap to be removed fit-
three-dimensionalit has been bent In older hotel and motel rooms, a ting into a wheel well). To minimize the
around its edge all along its length to guest can often find a different type possibility of an opener being misplaced
stiffen and strengthen it, and is curved of bottle opener mounted on the door or left at home, versions have been in-
into a claw at its end to fit around the jamb or elsewhere around the entrance corporated into a ring worn on a finger
or into an object that looks like a key
and hangs from a key ring. These varia-
tions of the lever theme are generally
protected not by utility patentsthe
kind that are granted to inventions that
demonstrate a novel way of working
but by so-called design patents, which
cover only the appearance of things.
Canning It
Beerespecially of the imported and
craft kindis among the few bever-
ages that some consumers still expect
to come in capped glass bottles. But do-
mestic beer has been sold in metal cans
for at least three-quarters of a century.
Made at first of steel and now almost
exclusively of aluminum, canswith
built-in openers that are actually minia-
ture levers, usually of the class 1 type
obviously eliminate the risk of broken
glass and, depending on state and local
laws, the need for deposits and returns.
However, when a monetary value is
placed on empty aluminum cans, a high
recycling rate is virtually guaranteed
and allows the use of aluminum in dis-
posable cans to be energy-efficient and
Although the first can openers were of the stick-and-lever type, they gave way to cranked can
environmentally acceptable. But the sto-
openers, in which two wheels are squeezed together to puncture and open the can. However,
the wheeled type still employs the action of a lever, through the handles that the wheels are
ry of the metal can goes back two cen-
mounted to, which squeeze them together. The wheel-type can opener shown in this adver- turies and prefigures many of the same
tisement from 1946 (which uses gendered language that was unfortunately typical of the time) lessons that are embodied in the bottle,
shows a design that also incorporates a bottle opener into the gadget. the bottle cap, and the bottle opener.
The problem of preserving food, es-
bottle cap. The only hole it has is a to the bathroom. This kind of opener, pecially for the use of soldiers on the
small one by which it can be hung. In which was once mounted on the ubiq- battlefield, is what drove the invention
his 1892 patent for an improved bottle uitous soft-drink coolers and vending of the metal can. Again, the breakable
cap, Painter pictures a hook-shaped machines found in candy stores and gas nature of glass made bottles and jars
lever suggestive of the Dreher. stations, also relies on the lever principle unsuitable for this purpose, and a de-
The most significant aspect of a bottle for its operation. (I used one recently sire to improve on something that is
openers design for this discussion is in a restaurant not far from my home.) not working well is what has always
how it is operated. An American church However, unlike handheld models, driven inventors to come up with nov-
key is hooked under the part of the bot- these mounted openers are immovable. el ideas. Preserving food in metal cans
tle cap closest to the hand using it; the It is the capped bottle itself that serves was obviously a way of eliminating
Dreher-type opener hooks under the far as the class 1 lever arm. And, because the glass breakage problem, but the fo-
side of the cap. This difference means the bottle usually has to be inserted into cus on preservation put the question of
that instead of the fingers pulling up the opener in a near horizontal posi- how to open the can in the field on the
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back burneruntil finding an answer leverage it around the circumference of tom of the cans rim and a knife-edged
became a necessity. the cans top. Also these can openers, cutting wheel both to puncture the top
Early canned food was contained like bottle openers, have lent themselves and to cut round it in a neat manner as a
in wrought-iron cans that often were to flights of fancy in design. One of the crank is turned. The wheels are mount-
heavier than their contents. To get to classic designs is the bulls head: Its cast- ed on two handles; when squeezed
what was inside, soldiers and others iron body, usually painted red, took at together, these handles act as levers to
were instructed to cut around the top its working end the form of the head of amplify the force with which the bottom
with a hammer and chisel. This worked, a bull, and its open handle was formed wheel grips the rim and the top wheel
but it was time-consuming and messy, by a cast-in tail that looped around to cuts through the top. This type of opener
to say the least. It was only when tin- rejoin the body. The exposed ends of its is another form of class 2 lever.
coated steel replaced wrought iron in L-shaped pivoted blade revealed clearly So what was wrong with this kind of
the middle of the 19th century that it be- both the bayonet and sickle features of a can opener? For some users and most
came practicable to open cans in a home can opener of Warners type. inventors, it was the difficulty in rotat-
kitchen. The thinner steel
could be punctured relatively
easily with a stubby pointed
knife, but this action often cre-
ated a gush of liquid if it was
not performed with care. And
how do you get something
like canned vegetables out of
just a small hole?
What is generally consid-
ered the first handheld tin-can
opener was patented in 1858
(U.S. Patent 19,063) by Ezra
Warner, an inventor living in
Waterbury, Connecticut. De-
scribed as part bayonet, part
sickle, Warners device had a
short pointed blade (the bayo-
net) that was used to puncture
the top of the can near its rim,
but by design the bayonet
Patent drawings for can openers by Robert Yates in 1855 (left), Ezra Warner in 1858 (middle), and Samuel Hall
could not penetrate too far from 1924 (right) are shown next to their recreations. (Image courtesy of Steve Hoefer and Make: magazine.)
into the container. Once the
hole was made, a longer blade with a Descendants of this typeif not this ing the dial-like crank that made the
sharp edge (the sickle) was inserted shapeof can opener remain in use, and wheels turn. With the craze that led to
into the can and worked around its those who employ them regularly learn the electrification of just about every
edge in a leveraging mode. In this op- how to keep the contents in the can until kitchen and home appliance, the can
eration, the opener was used repeatedly its top is folded over or fully severed. opener became a natural gadget to im-
as a class 2 lever. But inventors look not to the masters provethat is, to electrify. But the mo-
As has occurred with bottle openers, of machinery for inspiration but to the tor needed to drive the wheels was rela-
many variations on the theme have been novices, and clearly there was room tively heavy, and so the handheld can
developed over the years, but no matter for improvement over the stick-and- opener became a countertop device,
how Warner-type openers have differed leverage operation. A desire for such im- usually with a cantilevered magnet to
in appearance, they have all operated provement led to the wheel-type opener, hold the severed top when the opened
pretty much on the same principle: Poke which in its most common form em- can was lowered out of the clutches of
a starter hole, insert a longish blade, and ploys a serrated wheel to grip the bot- the wheels. In this manifestation, the
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William Painters bottle opener (far left)

from 1894 followed his bottle-sealing
device patent from two years earlier
(left, middle), shown with a Dreher-
type opener in outline. There were a
number of patents that resembled the
small but efficient military P-38 can
opener; examples include those of Eti-
enne Darqu from 1913 (left), Dewey
Strengberg from 1928 (right), Samuel
Bloomfield from 1946 (right, middle),
and John Speaker from 1947 (far right).
home can opener no longer operates on ting blade, as one patent described its cant improvements in the performance
an obvious lever principle. operation. The effort was applied by the of the device. For example, the patent
soldiers fingers to the larger part of the issued to inventor Dewey Strengberg,
A Tiny Titan hinged device, which was stamped with of Ishpeming, Michigan (U.S. Patent
But what about soldiers, hikers, camp- a groove that gave the part stiffness and 1,669,311) in 1928 shows the fulcrum
ers, and the like who could not carry a strength against being bent during use. cutout to have a ridged surface to give
bulky can opener, let alone a heavy elec- It has been said that it took 38 punc- it a better grip on the bottom edge of
tric one, in their knapsack? How were tures of the opener to work all the way the can rim. Chicago inventor Samu-
they to open the canned rations on cam- around the can lid, and that this is where el Bloomfields patent (U.S. Patent
paigns and excursions? According to the little machine got the name P-38. 2,412,946), issued late in 1946, improves
several readers of this column who over Another theory is that the name of the on Strengbergs by having a C-shaped
the years have written to me suggesting device derives from its approximately fulcrum notch with a sharp point to
topics to pursue, the answer came dur- 38-mm length. Some marines called it catch under the can rim. It also has a
ing World War II. It was the G.I. P-38 a John Wayne, because the actor used stiffening groove or reinforcing rib
can opener, a 1 -inch long, 5/8-inch one in a military training film. down the entire length of the lever, but
wide, and (when folded closed) 1/8-inch These stories are likely as apocry- this could have provided a preferable
thick implement that became legend- phal as the long-held belief that the little line of failure where an overstressed
ary among soldiers and was warmly opener was developed in 38 days over opener could fold over upon itself.
remembered by veterans long after the the summer of 1942 by a Major Thomas Just a week after Strengbergs pat-
end of that and subsequent wars. Dennehy at the U.S. Armys Subsistence ent was issued, U.S. Patent 2,413,528,
The P-38 is a wonder to hold and Research Laboratory in Chicago. Ac- for a pocket type can opener, was is-
behold. Weighing less than a fifth of cording to the website P-38.net, home sued to John W. Speaker of Milwaukee.
an ounce, it was light enough to be a of the military can opener, something The P-38 I have is blind stamped US
barely noticeable addition to the dog resembling the P-38 was invented well SPEAKER, and it looks exactly like the
tags that all soldiers wore around their before World War II. The earliest U.S. one illustrated in Speakers patent. It
necks. The roughly trapezoidal little patent for a P-38like device appears improves on Strengbergs design by re-
machine had a 1/8-inch diameter hole to be U.S. Patent 1,082,800, which was placing the groove extending the entire
at one corner, making it easy to attach awarded in 1913 to Frenchman Etienne length of the lever arm with a trough
to a string or chain. Its one moving part Darqu for a tin-box opener. The pat- that stops short of the edges of the arm
was a knife blade, suggestive of a birds ent makes no explicit mention of mili- to which the effort is applied. Because
beak or a miniature plowshare, that tary applications in describing a collaps- the groove is terminated in this way,
folded out for use. One veteran, who at- ible device that may be conveniently the part is less likely to fold over upon
tended Army boot camp in 1977, recalls placed in the operators pocket, without itself and more likely to maintain its
finding several openers thrown into danger of injury. The main differences shape and be suited for continued use.
each case of a dozen canned rations, between it and the P-38 appear to be a It is for similar reasons that structures
or C-rations, seemingly almost as an cutout that was likely to slip off the cans from aluminum pop-top levers to steel
afterthought. Directions printed on the rim during use and the lack of a stiff- automobile bodies are sculpted rather
paper that some of the openers came ening groove, which would likely have than left flat. There can be large lessons
wrapped in read as follows: Twist required that it be made of a heavier in such small things, which is why they
down to puncture slot in can top inside gauge steel if it was to maintain its shape deserve close scrutiny. By reexamin-
rim. Cut top by advancing opener with after repeated use. ing the simple act of opening a can or
rocking motion. Take small bites. P-38.net lists about 10 additional U.S. bottle, something we might do every
The base part of this class 1 lever de- patents issued between 1922 and 1946 day, we can remind ourselves how ba-
vice had a C-shaped notch cut into its for very similar looking devices. The cu- sic mechanics can connect to loftier en-
side, which was hooked over the bead rator of the site wonders, how could . . . gineering and design principles.
around the top of a tin can to provide a these patents have been allowed? The
fulcrum for the little lever to be worked answer is that although they show only Selected Bibliography
up and down with one hand as the other slight changes to Darqus design, those Foster, Renita. 1986. The greatest army invention
holds and turns the can to meet the cut- changes would have resulted in signifi- ever. Pentagram, August 18, p. 11.
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The Biodiversity
Conservation Paradox
Even in places where nature is perceptibly altered by human actions, the
number of species does not necessarily decline.
Mark Vellend
S
ince the arrival of Homo sapi- of roughly the same number of bird from the likes of Norman Myers, Paul
ens in New Zealand sometime species as went extinct has maintained Ehrlich, and E.O. Wilson were codi-
during the 13th century, the bird biodiversity in New Zealand but fied in conservation biology textbooks,
number of plant species in the has done nothing to counter the global leaving no room for questions about
country has doubled, from roughly loss, given that all new arrivals already whether biodiversity was good and
2,000 to more than 4,000. This island live elsewhere. whether human activities were bad for
nation with no native land mammals The fact that biodiversity changes its maintenance. Habitat destruction
apart from a few species of bats is now differ across spatial scales, however, and fragmentation, climate change, nu-
home to more than two dozen types does not fully resolve the paradox. trient pollution, and nonnative species
of mammals, including possums, rab- Most ecologists and conservation are bad, bad, bad, and bad. If anyone
bits, deer, and wallabies. Biodiversity biologistsmyself includedwould was talking about exceptions or nuanc-
has increased. And yet New Zealand, still consider the New Zealand situa- es, they werent doing so loud enough
along with the rest of the Earth, is often tion bad even if the regional losses for it to reach the classroom and the
described as undergoing a biodiver- were not also global losses. We place next generation of ecologists and con-
sity crisis, with species going extinct great valueentirely separate from sci- servation biologists.
at an alarming rate. These seemingly entific considerationson wild nature, With the rise of conservation biol-
incompatible facts and statements have unsullied by human activities. In other ogy, the concept of biodiversity came
prompted intense scientific debate and words, human values influence how to sit at the core of conservation policy
discussion in recent years. we describe and study biodiversity. across the world. As of 2016, 196 coun-
Many attributes of nature that people Thus, to more fully resolve the biodi- tries or political units had ratified the
value deeply have been severely dete- versity conservation paradox, we need international Convention on Biologi-
riorated by our actions at the same time to first examine how science and hu- cal Diversity (CBD), first opened for
that biodiversity in many situations has man values became intertwined in the signing in 1993. (The United States is
not changed or has even increased. This development of the very concepts of a solitary exception, having signed but
fact is called the biodiversity conservation biodiversity and of nonnative species. not ratified the convention.) The first
paradox. We can potentially resolve this A collision of the dominant narratives objective of the CBD is simply the
paradox, at least in part, by consider- on these two topics ultimately revealed conservation of biological diversity,
ing that ecological patterns and pro- logical inconsistenciesthe paradox and individual countries have pur-
cesses can be different on small versus with which ecologists and conservation sued this objective in various ways,
large spatial scales, an age-old topic of biologists have been grappling. perhaps most often by providing legal
discussion in ecology. For example, the protection to species at risk of extinc-
loss of roughly half the native bird spe- Is Biodiversity Always Good? tion. The United States has its Endan-
cies of New Zealand represents a global Biodiversity is good. This statement of gered Species Act, Canada has its Spe-
loss of bird biodiversity, given that all of value was declared as one of the postu- cies At Risk Act, and New Zealand has
these species were endemic, living no- lates of the fledgling field of conserva- its Conservation Act.
where else on the planet. The human- tion biology in the 1980s, and by the Since the term biodiversity became
assisted introduction and establishment 1990s my fellow students of ecology widespread only in the late 1980s,
and I uncritically accepted it. But the ecologists have also been busy with
impulse to preserve wild nature has the more mundane task of developing
Mark Vellend is an ecologist at Universit de
much earlier origins. We felt a deep and calculating old and new indices to
Sherbrooke in Qubec, Canada. His research fo-
connection with nature and its stun- quantify it. The most straightforward
cuses on the ecological and evolutionary responses
plant populations and communities have to envi- ning diversity of life forms, and we index is species richness: the number of
ronmental change. His recent book, The Theory were eager to accept and promulgate species in a given place and time. In-
of Ecological Communities, was published by arguments about the value of biodi- dices of evenness aim to reflect the idea
Princeton University Press in 2016. Email: ___
Mark. versity for human well-being. Passion- that, for example, a community with
Vellend@USherbrooke.ca.
_____________ ate pleas for biodiversity conservation two equally abundant species is more
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Jack Dykinga/Nature Picture Library
Tree lupines (Lupinus arboreus) line the shoreline of Lake Wakatipu on the South Island of deed humans could be considered a
New Zealand, where they are a nonnative species introduced from the United States. Some nonnative species in New Zealand, re-
researchers claim that introduced species cause biodiversity decline, but in New Zealand the sponsible directly or indirectly for most,
number of plant species has doubled, with very few extinctions of native plants. if not all, extinctions in recent centuries.
But as we have seen already, nonnative
diverse than one in which one of the in particular with respect to nonnative species themselves contribute to local
species is dominant and the other very species. In his pioneering text, The Ecol- and regional biodiversity. If the case of
rare. Still other indices aim to capture ogy of Invasions by Animals and Plants, New Zealand were unusual, we might
phylogenetic or functional trait diversity, Charles Elton set the tone for invasion consider it an exception to the rule that
whereby a forest with both pine trees biology in 1958 that lives on to the nonnative species cause biodiversity
and maple trees is considered more present: It is not just nuclear bombs loss. It turns out, however, that the New
diverse than one with only two species and wars that threaten usthis book is Zealand story is quite typical.
of pine (or maple) trees (see the figure about ecological explosions. In other In the early 2000s, Dov Sax, now of
on page 96). Species richness is the only words, nonnative species, introduced Brown University, and his colleagues
metric that has been reported often from one continent to another, are bad; reported data that presented a major
enough, and in a sufficiently standard- they must be prevented from establish- challenge to the conventional wisdom
ized way, to allow general compari- ing or be eradicated if established. about nonnative species and biodi-
sons across different regions, habitats, One reason given for deeming non- versity. In recent centuries, during
taxa, or scales of space and time. native species bad is that they are an which human impacts have been the
Quantitative indices of biodiversity important cause of biodiversity loss. most profound, oceanic islands rang-
possess the scientifically useful attri- Flightless birds in New Zealand were ing in size from less than 1 kilometer
bute of incorporating no a priori val- not only prone to hunting by humans, squared to greater than 250,000 kilo-
ue judgments about different species but the smaller ones such as kiwis were meters squared have shown changes
based on their geographic origins. If (and are) also highly vulnerable to pre- in species richness that mirror exactly
one native species goes extinct while dation by introduced species such as the results in New Zealand. For birds,
one nonnative species becomes estab- possums and weasels. New Zealands the establishment of one introduced
lished (or vice versa), species richness Conservation Act distinguishes in- species has matched every one of the
is unchanged. These value-free calcula- digenous from introduced species, many species that have gone extinct.
tions lie in stark contrast to the unam- and one of its aims is to control any For plants, very few species have gone
biguous incorporation of values into introduced species causing damage to extinct on these islands, and roughly
the study and politics of biodiversity, any indigenous species or habitat. In- the same number as originally pres-
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even distribution
of firs and pines
even distribution of firs less even distribution of

and maples firs and maples
balsam fir red maple white pine
Biodiversity can be measured in different ways: the total number of species, how evenly dis- the scale-dependence of biodiversity
tributed the abundances of those species are, and how closely related the species are. In thechange. Species are being transported
above example forests, all of them have the same number of species (two), but the forest on the
and introduced to new places around
far left clearly looks more diverse than the other two. That is because the middle forest has two
the world, so that regional diversity
closely related species of conifer tree that look more similar, share more of the same genes, and
often increases, even as global diver-
may share more functional roles. So, the middle forest has low phylogenetic and functional
sity declines.
diversity. The far right forest has the same phylogenetic diversity and number of species as the
one on the left, but the abundances of the two species in the lefthand forest are more evenly
The net result of human activities in
distributed. The lefthand forest has higher evenness, even though it has the same number of recent centuries thus appears on aver-
species, or species richness. age to have been an increase, or at least
no change, in species richness at the re-
ent have been introduced and have showed a comparable increase of 20 gional scale. If biodiversity is good, this
established populations, thus doubling to 25 percent for plants in European news ought to be good, but one would
the original total. The species richness countries over the past 500 years. be hard-pressed to find an ecologist
of freshwater fishes shows even more Since regional extinctions in these who would say that. So, at the local or
dramatic growth, with a fourfold in- mainland areas very rarely represent regional scale, perhaps it is not really
crease over time on oceanic islands (see global extinctions, we cannot reconcile biodiversity per se that we value.
the figure at right). Ecologists are ac- this manifestation of the biodiversity Personally, I find value in the natu-
tively debating and studying whether conservation paradox by invoking ralness of a given ecosystem, flora, or
these results imply a steady- fauna, with the benchmark for
state carrying capacity for some natural being the absence or at
average increase in species richness (percent)
groups (for example, birds), a 320 least minimization of human

general openness to coloni- 300 influence. I also have a love of
zation in communities of some variety in and of itself, which
other groups (such as plants), prompts me to seek out the
or whether current diversity unique, mysterious, and beau-
levels are transient, with future 100 tiful plants and animals in dif-
extinctions and colonizations ferent corners of the globe. For
altering or reversing the net 80 example, the sight of scarlet and
changes seen so far. blue-and-yellow macaws flit-
In individual states or drain- 60 ting about on a riverside cliff in
age basins in the United States Peru, after waiting hours for fog
40
(considered mainland areas, to lift, is a profoundly thrilling
rather than islands), changes in 20 experience. Of course, I con-
species richness have been in sider the sustainable use of re-
the same direction, but of lower 0 sources and promotion of pub-
magnitude: no net change for plants fishes birds lic health to be major priorities
birds, and a 20 percent increase for humanity, but regardless of
Species richness of plants and fishes has increased especially
for both plants and fishes, on on oceanic islands (yellow bars) since the arrival of humans whether biodiversity is the key
average (see the figure at right). in the past few thousand years, and also in continental re- ingredient in the maintenance
A 2009 study by Marten Win- gions (green bars) since European colonization. For birds, the of ecosystem services, I support
ter, now of the German Centre number of species has not changed much. Overall, there has its conservation because I want
for Integrative Biodiversity not been a loss in biodiversity at the regional scale. (Adapted others to have opportunities to
Research, and his colleagues from Sax and Gaines 2003.) experience the sense of wonder
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65
60
total plant cover (percent)
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
0 5 10 15 20 25
nitrate below rooting zone (mg kg1)
0.20
0.15
0.10
Experiments such as this one in the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve in Min-
0.05 nesota show that biodiversity (in this case, species richness) increases ecosystem func-
0 5 10 15 20 25 tions, such as preventing nutrient loss and storing carbon. (Graphs from Tilman et al.
species richness 1996; photograph courtesy of David Tilman.)
and excitement in nature that inspires tions such as biomass production by survival. The government of Qubec,
me. Ultimately, ecosystemswhether plants and the efficiency of nutrient my home province, says essentially
natural or intensely managed by use. These functions, in turn, influence the same thing on its website (http://
_____
peopleprovide the life support sys- the delivery of ecosystem services, bit.ly/2gpCaNM):
____________ Thanks to biodi-
tem for humanity. It is up for debate, such as the removal of carbon from versity, ecosystems can contribute to
however, how or whether biodiversity the atmosphere and the reduction of human well-being in terms of health,
per se fits into this picture. fertilizer runoff and other waste nutri- safety, and material comfort (trans-
ents leaching into water bodies. In the lated from French).
The Instrumental Value of Biodiversity 1980s, Paul and Anne Ehrlich likened But wait a minute. We have already
For decades, environmental historians species extinctions to the loss of rivets learned that nonnative species introduc-
and conservation biologists have been from an airplanea few popped rivets tions have caused regional-scale biodi-
discussing the reasons people value might have no effect, a few too many versity to increase rather than decrease
natureand biodiversity. Some val- and the plane crashes. These studies in recent centuries. And if more species
ues are profoundly personal, such as effectively test this hypothesis. means better-functioning ecosystems,
feelings of moral obligation to protect Most often, biomass production and then the net effect of many nonnative
nonhuman life or a spiritual connec- the efficiency of nutrient use do indeed species introductions and few native
tion with wild nature. For the most increase as a function of the number of extinctions should be enhanced ecosys-
part, these values are outside the realm species in an ecosystem (see the figure tem function. Here the biodiversity is
of science, except in the sense that we above). Biodiversity enhances ecosys- good argument collides with the non-
might quantify how many people tem functionnot in every single ex- native species are bad argument, re-
share such values. There is nothing periment, but in most. This enhanced vealing an inconsistency.
in the forest itself, however, that we functioning would appear to provide
scientists can measure to quantify its proponents of biodiversity conserva- Local-Scale Biodiversity Change
moral or spiritual value. tion with a powerful argument: We Considering the link between bio-
But there are some attributes of the must conserve biodiversity because diversity and ecosystem function
forest we can measure that are of less human well-being depends on it. Ver- prompts a return to the issue of how
ambiguous value to people, such as sions of this argument have made their patterns of biodiversity can depend
the filtration of the air we breathe or way into documents from innumer- on spatial scale. The largest and best-
the water we drink. These attributes able conservation organizations and known experiments on this topic have
are referred to as instrumental values. government departments across the been conducted with plants in grass-
A major thrust of ecological research world. The website of the New Zea- lands, using experimental plots of 100
over the past 25 years has been the land Department of Conservation meters squared at the large end. This
experimental creation of ecosystems (http://bit.ly/2gg6vL4), for example, scale is typically referred to as local,
with different numbers of species and states that biodiversity provides the being orders of magnitude smaller
subsequent tests of how the number services we rely on for our quality of than even the smallest of the islands
of species influences ecosystem func- life, our prosperity, and ultimately our included in the regional studies
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terrestrial plants multiple taxa and habitats marine coastal ecosystems

100 40 60
50
80
30
40
60
frequency
frequency
frequency
20 30
40
20
10
20
10
0 0 0
negative positive negative positive negative positive
proportional species richness change proportional species richness change proportional species richness change
Meta-analyses of biodiversity change over time show that species richness increases just as often as it decreases. The crisis narrative about
biodiversity generally suggests that species introductions cause declines in biodiversity, but the story is not that simple. (Data for the graphs
are from Vellend et al. 2013, Dornelas et al. 2014, and Elahi et al. 2015.)
mentioned earlier. On one hand, con- create an effect of biodiversity on eco- relative value of a thousand bushels of
servation biologists often dismiss re- system function tell us that changes in corn versus less nitrogen in a stream?
sults from such small scales as irrel- biodiversity at a small scale are indeed If youve got nothing to eat, the corn
evant to policy or management issues, of relevance to conservation issues. wins out; if youve got plenty to eat,
which often pertain to entire national Plant biodiversity might be increas- maybe forest protection is the better
parks, counties, or even countries. In ing regionally, but if grasslands or for- strategy. In short, one cannot make a
this case, however, the causal link from ests are experiencing net biodiversity general statement about whether eco-
biodiversity to ecosystem function in- losses locally, then the functioning of system services overall increase or de-
volves small-scale interactions among these ecosystems might be in decline. crease when a forest is converted to a
plants, and so study plots are of an To accurately translate the results of crop field. Furthermore, any change
entirely appropriate scale. experiments that test how biodiversity in ecosystem function and services
On average, a plant of a given species affects specific ecosystem functions seems likely to have resulted more
grows to a larger size if its immediate into real-world implications, ecologists from plowing, leaving the field fallow
neighbors are plants of different species first must test the widespread assump- each year, and the growth of annuals
rather than of the same species. The tion that local biodiversity is indeed instead of century-old trees, than from
best-known example involves grasses declining (see the figure at the bottom of a change in biodiversity.
and nitrogen-fixing legumes, such as page 99). Outside of agricultural fields and
clovers. Legumes fix atmospheric ni- One scenario in which it is plain to parking lots, in ecosystems that have
trogen via bacterial symbiosis and so see that local biodiversity has declined not experienced wholesale human
grow well in nitrogen-poor conditions, is when natural vegetation such as a conversion, the effects of introduced
adding nitrogen to the ecosystem. tropical forest is converted to a crop species, climate warming, and other
Grasses take up nitrogen efficiently and monoculture or a parking lot. Agricul- environmental changes on biodiversity
grow rapidly but potentially deplete ture in particular is the primary culprit are much more variable. For example,
the available resource. The two types of implicated in the worldwide loss of in a California grassland, a decrease in
plants thus produce more biomass col- natural habitat. But the link between rainfallwhere soil moisture is already
lectively than either can when growing biodiversity decline and ecosystem limiting to plantsappears to have
alone. In dense grassland, plants are services in this case is not so simple. caused a decline in local plant diversity
closely intertwined, separated one to People convert natural vegetation to over the past 15 years. In contrast, lo-
the next by centimeters rather than me- crop fields deliberately to maximize cal plant diversity increased between
ters, if they are separated at all. A grass one ecosystem service: food produc- 1968 and 2009 in forests and savannas
plant benefits from a clover immedi- tion. Land conversion to agriculture of southern Vancouver Island as in-
ately adjacent, but it does not benefit can come at a steep cost to other eco- creased disturbance due to human de-
measurably from a clover growing a system services, such as soil stabili- velopment favored colonization by dis-
kilometer or even 100 meters away. The zation and water quality, and the use turbance-adapted species, both native
plantplant interactions within plots of of crop mixtures rather than mono- and nonnative (see the graph at the top of
a few meters squared have a big impact cultures (which translates to greater the opposite page). Because biodiversity-
on both species. biodiversity) can potentially contribute manipulation experiments do not in-
The fundamentally small-scale na- to strategies aimed at offsetting such volve habitat conversion, data from the
ture of ecological interactions that can costs. But how can we compare the kinds of studies just described are most
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relevant to assessing arguments about
number of species per 5 meters2

30
real-world causal links from biodiver-
sity to ecosystem function.
Over the past five years, individual
studies like these have been synthe- 20
sized in several large meta-analyses.
Across more than 200 studies that re-
ported terrestrial plant species rich-
ness in local study plots for at least five
10
years, a group of collaborators and I
00 002 004 006 008 010 012 014
found that the average change in the 20 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
number of species over time was statis- year
tically indistinguishable from zero (see
the figure on the opposite page). The same
result was reported by Maria Dornelas
40 a
of the University of St. Andrews and vann
o ak sa
colleagues for 100 time series of species Garry
species richness
na
e savan
richness and other biodiversity met- 30 madron
Pacific
t
rics in a range of terrestrial and aquatic ores
la s fir f
habitats from across the globe. A study 20 Doug
by Robin Elahi of Stanford University
and colleagues, focusing on the past
50 years specifically in marine coastal 10
ecosystems, found an average net in-
crease in local species richness in more 0
than 400 time series, but an average 1968 2009
net decrease in this measure among year
the subset of studies that experienced
the greatest human impacts, such as In a California grassland, plant diversity has been declining (top), driven by a decrease in pre-
sedimentation and pollution. All of cipitation. In several different savanna and forest types on Vancouver Island, the number of
plant species has increased, largely due to colonization of native and nonnative disturbance-
these studies reveal immense variabil-
adapted species (bottom). (Graphs are adapted from Harrison et al. 2015 and McCune and Vel-
ity from case to case, and at present we lend 2013. Top photograph by Cathy Koehler, courtesy of Susan Harrison; bottom photograph
have only a limited understanding of courtesy of the author.)
the causes of so much variability.
The diversity-change meta-analyses,
based collectively on many hundreds Nature Abhors a Vacuum. major cost of research is the manual
of studies and thousands of individual Although the absence of a rule of effort of keeping species out of plots
sampling sites, run counter to the as- local biodiversity decline accompany- where they arent supposed to be. If
sumption that local-scale biodiversity ing the global decline is seen by some biodiversity is pushed down, Mother
is generally in decline. The underlying researchers as strongly contrary to ex- Nature often pushes back.
data do come with caveats, such as pectation, others find the results unsur- More generally, theory and some
uneven representation of geographic prising. Elaborating on an expression empirical data support the notion of a
regions or levels of human impact. from physics, the famous ecologist Jo- quasi-steady state in local biodiversity,
The same is true, however, of the ex- seph Grinnell stated in 1924, Nature with a tendency for deviations from the
periments linking biodiversity to eco- abhors a vacuum in the animate world steady state to be followed by a return
system function that form the other as well as in the inanimate world. He to the long-term average. Of course, it
half of the scientific basis for the con- was communicating the idea that when is possible for environmental change
servation argument (see the figure on ecological opportunities arise, for ex- to alter the steady-state level, but pre-
page 97). Overall, the results caution ample when species are lost from an dictions can go in either direction. For
against overgeneralizing the argument ecosystem, others are quick to exploit
that biodiversity decline in nature is the opportunity. For example, when
forecast biodiversity
a major cause of declining ecosystem people create crop monocultures, it re- loss scenario
servicesan argument at the core of quires a tremendous effort to keep out
widely used justifications for biodiver- unwanted weeds. Even in the experi-
ecosystem function
sity conservation. More generally, even ments designed to test biodiversity-

if more data were to shift the means of ecosystem function relationships, a predict
these distributions slightly one way or consequent
the other, variability in the magnitude The process to derive real-world implications loss to
and direction of temporal trends, both from experiments studying the relationship
ecosystem
at regional and local scales, deviates function
between biodiversity and an ecosystem func-
strongly from the general expectation tion requires estimating biodiversity loss at
of decline that forms the core of the the same scale and in similar settings as the
biodiversity crisis narrative. experiments. biodiversity
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Ecosystem services: Altered community composition but not

Agriculture produces food, necessarily biodiversity decline in
but reduces water quality remnant natural habitats.
and carbon storage.
Local biodiversity loss

occurs in crop fields and
urban areas.
Novel habitats and

increased landscape
heterogeneity support
biodiversity.
Biodiversity gain via anthropogenic
introduction and spread of
non-native species (such as weeds
and ornamental plants).
Human development can make a landscape more heterogeneous and provide unique ecosystem services at the same time that it imposes
environmental costs, all of which must be weighed by a society to decide what land to conserve, what land to use, and how to use it. Biodiver-
sity may increase, decrease, or not change depending on the spatial scale and habitat, and thus may not be the best metric for reflecting these
societal values about land.
example, in a forest of eastern North doubling the numbers of plant species if biodiversity is defined as whatever
America, one might expect climate in New Zealand and on other islands). people value about nature, then sci-
warming to increase local plant diver- And nonnative species are not always ence has nothing to contribute to the
sity (forests to the south have higher the enemy, contributing sometimes in question of whether and how biodi-
diversity than those to the north), while important ways to local and regional versity has value. The definition pro-
anthropogenic nitrogen deposition biodiversity as well as ecosystem ser- vides a built-in answer.
strongly favors competitive dominance vices such as food and fiber produc- To be clear, the argument here is not
of one or a few species, thus causing tion. The grasses and legumes that that all is well with the ecology of plan-
local biodiversity to decline. Short of feed livestock in North America were et Earth. Even if biodiversity loss is
deliberately simplifying an ecosystem mostly introduced from other conti- found not in itself to be a major cause
via the creation of a corn field or a strip nents (primarily Europe and Asia), as of compromised ecosystem services,
mall, anthropogenically driven envi- were the livestock themselves. there are plenty of serious ecological
ronmental change can push local and Returning to the biodiversity con- threats. The number of people on the
regional biodiversity in either direction. servation paradox, I now think that planet and our per capita consumption
perhaps its ultimate resolution lies in of resources combine to make it highly
The Trouble with Biodiversity the fact that scientific definitions of uncertain that future generations will
It is unsettling to have ones view of biodiversity fail to capture what peo- be able to enjoy the same level of well-
the world called into questionin this ple really value about nature. If bio- being we enjoy today. This problem is
case I had to face evidence that is con- diversity is quantified in an objective clear after observing statistics on re-
trary to the conventional wisdom in way as some aspect of variety in an newable and nonrenewable resources,
conservation biology imparted to me ecological community, then biodiver- and it is reflected in the eye-popping
in the 1990s. Biodiversity is not gener- sity can be high in a place that would human impacts visible in images of
ally declining at all spatial scales: De- be assigned low conservation value. the Earth taken from space. The tem-
clines at the global scale are not gener- On a visit to Hawaii, I recall seeing perature of the planet is rising, increas-
ally seen at the regional scale and occur many kinds of birds in the lowlands, ing the likelihood of detrimental heat
only in particular scenarios at the local including northern cardinals, mourn- waves, droughts, and coastal flood-
scale. Human activities are not always ing doves, and house finches, all fa- ing. Many of the consequences of such
to the detriment of biodiversity: Some- miliar species from my backyard in changes for people flow through the
times they are (for example, conversion Canada, and all introduced to Hawaii biosphere in the form of altered crop
of forest to crops), but sometimes they from elsewhere, making them part of production, fisheries yields, or natural
are not (for example, nonnative species the local conservation problem. But water filtering.
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Whats less clear is the degree to tists values carry no more weight than greatly if we consistently apply yeah,
which biodiversityby its scientifi- anyone elses. In contrast, scientists do but thinking not only to results that
cally justifiable definitionis a key have a special standing when it comes run counter to our personal values,
player in mediating the consequences to giving advice on how to achieve but also to those that align with them. I
of global changes for human well-be- conservation policy or management have certainly started to do so myself.
ing. In the mountains to the north of goals and on predicting the possible
Vancouver, British Columbia, where I consequences of action or inaction on Bibliography
used to live, forested watersheds are a range of issues, including pollution, Cardinale, B. J., et al. 2012. Biodiversity loss and
protected to provide clean water to the global warming, and land-use change. its impact on humanity. Nature 486:5967.
citys residents. The intact forest is crit- In describing or predicting the con- Dornelas, M., et al. 2014. Assemblage time se-
ries reveal biodiversity change but not sys-
ical to the provisioning of clean water, sequences of anthropogenic environ-
tematic loss. Science 344:296299.
but it seems unlikely that the number mental change, I think that scientif-
Elahi, R., et al. 2015. Recent trends in local-
of tree species is so important. Indeed ic credibility can be safeguarded by scale marine biodiversity reflect commu-
a typical forest stand in coastal British keeping values out of the quantifica- nity structure and human impacts. Current
Columbia contains just a handful of tion of biodiversity as much as pos- Biology 25:19381943.
tree species. sible, or at least by clearly qualifying Harrison, S. P., E. S. Gornish, and S. Cope-
I suspect that scientists harbor deep- conclusions that incorporate values. I land. 2015. Climate-driven diversity loss
in a grassland community. Proceedings of
er doubts about the validity of the have been guilty myself of not clearly the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.
utilitarian argument for biodiversity flagging value-driven decisions in the 112:86728677.
conservation than is evident in their study of biodiversity. In my doctoral Hooper, D. U., et al. 2012. A global synthesis
published writings. In his 1996 book, dissertation, I focused on how agricul- reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver
The Idea of Biodiversity, David Takacs, tural land-use history influenced forest of ecosystem change. Nature 486:105108.
then at Cornell University, interviewed specialist plants in New York State, and Maier, D. S. 2012. Whats So Good About Biodiver-
sity? A Call for Better Reasoning About Natures
many prominent conservation biolo- I described changes in biodiversity,
Value New York: Springer Netherlands.
gists and revealed a telling dichotomy despite deliberately having excluded
McCune, J. L., and M. Vellend. 2013. Gains
between the reasons that inspire them species characteristic of open fields, in native species promote biotic homog-
to care about biodiversity, and the such as those most likely to benefit enization over four decades in a human-
reasons they provide when trying to from the environmental change. To a dominated landscape. Journal of Ecology
convince others to care. Inspiration of- casual reader (meaning most readers), 101:15421551.
ten comes from an emotionally driven I thus ensured the appearance of an Newbold, T., et al. 2015. Global effects of land
use on local terrestrial biodiversity. Nature
love of nature, and so, for example, the overall biodiversity decline, when real- 520:4550.
loss of endemic birds in New Zealand ly overall plant biodiversity may have Sax, D. F., and S. D. Gaines. 2003. Species
saddens us deeply. In contrast, when shown an entirely different response. diversity: from global decreases to local
selling conservation, biologists more I believe the example of my PhD increases. Trends in Ecology & Evolution
often employ the utilitarian argument research is representative of a great 18:561566.
that losing biodiversity will compro- many similar studies, in which value Tilman, D., D. Wedin, and J. Knops. 1996. Pro-
ductivity and sustainability influenced by
mise human well-being, even if its not judgments entered into the very cal-
biodiversity in grassland ecosystems. Na-
so clear that the transformation of New culations whose results might then ture 379:718720.
Zealands biota has been to the detri- appear to justify the values. Today, I Vellend, M. 2004. Parallel effects of land-use
ment of human well-being. would describe the decline I observed history on species diversity and genetic di-
In short, a great burden was placed as a loss of forest specialist plants, not versity of forest herbs. Ecology 85:30433055.
on the shoulders of the concept of a decline in plant biodiversity, unless Vellend, M., et al. 2013. Global meta-analysis
biodiversityto simultaneously rep- I had data that characterized the full reveals no net change in local-scale plant
biodiversity over time. Proceedings of the
resent all that we value about nature set of plant species present over time National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A.
and to provide a way to quantify this and demonstrated a decline. That way, 110:1945619459.
value in a straightforward way. The there would be far greater transpar- Vellend, M., et al. 2017. Plant biodiversity
concept might now be collapsing un- ency regarding the values involved in change across scales during the Anthropo-
der this weight. developing any conservation practices cene. Annual Review of Plant Biology, in press.
Saving the concept of biodiversity based on this research. I worry that
might require more clearly circum- the conventional wisdom that was
scribing the role of science in conser- overturned by the studies of Dov Sax
vation. If, for example, an endangered and others (but that still lives on to a
species has no scientifically known or considerable degree) was built on a
even plausibly hypothesized unique foundation that included an awkward
benefit to human well-being, we mixture of human values and data. For relevant Web links, consult this
should be honest that the motivation In my experience, the presentation of issue of American Scientist Online:
for protection is driven by ethical val- any result that runs counter to the bio- http://www.americanscientist.org/
ues. It is important to note that such diversity crisis narrative is met with issues/id.125/past.aspx
honesty requires acknowledging that a chorus of responses from ecologists
the question of what society should do that start with yeah, but. As the
about a given situation (for example, a professional skeptics we are supposed
species at risk of extinction), is outside to be as scientists, I think that ecology
the realm of science, and so a scien- and conservation biology can benefit
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Metformin: Out of Backwaters

and into the Mainstream
This ubiquitous diabetes drug took a convoluted route to become the standard of
care, and is still finding new uses.
Philip A. Rea and Anderson Y. Tien
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etformin has come to Of the many baffling aspects of met- usually diagnosed later in life than
prominence despite a formin is the haphazard way in which type 1, typically in older, overweight
checkered history. Its it first got noticed and came to assume or obese individuals. It begins with
story is one of delays, un- the standing it now has at very dispa- insulin resistance, a condition in which
certainties, and dead ends, as well as rate timesseparated by decadesin muscle, liver, and fat tissues exhibit
fortuitous accidents. It is a drug, born different parts of the developed world. a diminished response to insulin. Al-
of folklore, with reasonably well-estab- Unforeseen too is the extent to which though type 2 diabetics produce insu-
lished clinical benefits but whose pre- its applications have since expanded lin, it doesnt trigger the absorption of
cise mechanism of action has resisted from the treatment of type 2 diabe- glucose from the bloodstream as well
definition. Yet, metformin is the cur- tes to the treatment of prediabetes and as it does in nondiabetic individuals.
rent standard of care for the treatment polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), This deficiency means that a vicious
of one of the most common chronic and even cancer. cycle of elevated blood glucose levels
conditions in the modern worldtype Several factors influenced metfor- (hyperglycemia) and increased insulin
2 diabetesand its chemical structure mins uncertain rise to fame, most no- production is established, which can
is remarkably simple by comparison tably the landmark discovery of insu- eventually exhaust the insulin secre-
with that of many other drugs. lin in the early 1920s; the disruptive tory capacity of the pancreas.
Gillian Shenfield, writing in the Aus- effects of the First and Second World Diabetes is the seventh-leading cause
tralian Prescriber in 2013, summed up Wars on research efforts; and the af- of death in the United States. Some
metformins path well: tershock of fear among American pa- 29.1 million people, or 9.3 percent of
tients when phenformin, a drug in the the population, have diabetes, of which
Clinical trials of new drugs may
same class as metformin, was found to about 8.1 million have yet to be diag-
overstate efficacy and not iden-
be harmful after it had been marketed nosed. Moreover, it is estimated that
tify adverse effects. It is therefore
and prescribed extensively throughout about 37 percent of U.S. adults aged 20
unusual for the passage of time
the 1960s and 1970s. years or older and 51 percent of adults
to reveal that a drug is less toxic,
aged 65 years or olderroughly 86 mil-
has greater efficacy, and a wider
Diabetes Defined lion Americanshave prediabetes. Al-
range of uses than first claimed.
To get a sense of the scale of metfor- though a prediabetic has blood glucose
For decades metformin was mis-
mins impact, it is necessary to under- levels higher than normal but not high
understood, vilified, and banned
stand what it treats. Diabetes mellitus, enough to qualify as a true type 2 dia-
in many countries, but it is now
or simply diabetes for short, comes in betic, he or she is likely to succumb to
one of the most prescribed drugs
two major forms: type 1 and type 2, the disease within 10 years or so and
in the world. In 2010 there were
which account for 5-10 percent and 90- may already have incurred some of the
more than 100 million prescrip-
95 percent of cases, respectively. cardiovascular complications associ-
tions worldwide for metformin,
Type 1 diabetes, otherwise known ated with the condition.
alone and in combination tablets.
as juvenile-onset or insulin-dependent Diabetes and prediabetes come at
diabetes, first shows itself early in great cost, from not only a humanitar-
life, with the peak age for diagnosis ian but also an economic standpoint.
Philip A. Rea is professor of biology and in the mid-teens. Caused by mark- As of 2012, the total direct medical costs
Rebecka and Arie Belldegrun Distinguished edly impaired insulin production be- and indirect costs (measured as disabil-
Director of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Pro-
cause of autoimmune destruction of ity, work loss, and premature death)
gram in Life Sciences & Management at the
the insulin-producing beta cells of the in the United States were $176 billion
University of Pennsylvania. Anderson Y. Tien
earned his joint bachelor of arts in biology and pancreas, type 1 diabetes is usually and $69 billion, respectively, giving a
bachelor of science in economics from the Uni- fatal unless treated with subcutaneous total cost of $245 billion. This cost is ag-
versity of Pennsylvania, and is now a strategy insulin injections. gravated by the fact that the incidence
and operations business analyst at Deloitte. Type 2 diabetes, or adult-onset or of type 2 diabetes, which is associated
Email for Rea: parea@sas.upenn.edu
____________ non-insulin-dependent diabetes, is with a 10-year decrease in life expectan-
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Antonio Romero/Science Source
A polarized micrograph shows crystals of metformin, an oral drug that is the current standard of goats rue, French lilac, Italian fitch, pro-
care for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Metformin achieved the success it now has after a long fessor-weed, Spanish sainfoin, or false
backstory filled with haphazard discoveries and potential dead ends. And the story is not yet indigo, the aboveground parts of this
over. The drug also shows promise for the treatment of other diseases, including cancer. plant have been used to treat, among
other things, the plague, snake bites, and
cy, is on the rise. In 2010, approximately antidiabetic drugs and insulin, are not St. Vitus dance (Sydenhams chorea, a
285 million people were diagnosed associated with a gain in body weight manifestation of acute rheumatic fever).
with the disease worldwide compared or an increased risk of hypoglycemia The first-known written account of
to 30 million in 1985, and the World (low blood sugar levels). the use of goats rue for the treatment
Health Organization predicts that as
many as 366 million individuals will be
affected by 2030.
Some type 2 diabetics can manage In 2010, about 285 million people were
their blood glucose levels through di-
etary changes and exercise alone, but if
the levels are not adequately controlled
diagnosed with diabetes. The World
in this way, oral diabetes medications
or insulin injections are required. Of
Health Organization predicts that as many
the various oral antidiabetic treatments
available, metformin is considered to as 366 million will be affected by 2030.
be the gold standard: It is often the first
to be prescribed, along with lifestyle
changes, when this condition is diag- Goats Rue of diabetes is in Nicholas Culpepers
nosed. Metformin acts to diminish the Metformins rootsor more correctly, Complete Herbal, first published in the
livers production of glucose (gluconeo- the origins of its antecedentscan be mid-17th century, when English phy-
genesis) and improve glucose uptake traced back to the use of the wild le- sicians were starting to take the dis-
from the bloodstream so as to offset the gume Galega officinalis as an herbal medi- ease seriously. From that time until the
effects of insulin resistance. Metformin cine in medieval Europe. A perennial 1930s, particularly in France, accounts
is particularly effective in the treatment herb with white, blue, or purple flowers, of the use of G. officinalis extracts for
of type 2 diabetes because its effects, it is found in most temperate regions. the treatment of diabetes were numer-
unlike those of some of the other oral Variously known by the common names ous. In fact, its still out there. An In-
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substance in the same class as metfor-

structures of guanides
min, called the biguanides. Guanidine
NH H was known to induce convulsions simi-
NH
N NH2 lar to those associated with the muscle
H 2N
H2N NH2 N NH2 spasms that accompanied loss of para-
H NH
thyroid function when injected into lab-
guanidine agmatine galegine
oratory animals. C. K. Watanabe, who
did his seminal experiments at Yale
NH NH NH NH NH NH University, speculated (wrongly, but
quite reasonably in terms of what was
N N NH2 N N NH2 N N NH2
H H H H H known at the time) that the cause of
metformin phenformin buformin such spasms, called tetany, in hypothy-
roidism is the production of relatively
NH
enormous quantities of guanidine bases
H in the body as a result of the impair-
N NH2
H2N N ment of parathyroid function. He then
H speculated that if these guanidine bas-
NH
synthalin A
es are the sole source of the symptoms
of tetany it seems interesting to inquire
Metformin belongs to a family of nitrogenous carbon compounds termed guanides. Derived from whether there is a correlation between
guanidine (a natural breakdown product of guanine, one of the nucleobases found in DNA and the hypoglycemia produced by the
RNA), guanides come in two main forms: biguanides and diguanides. In biguanides, such as met- parathyroidectomy and the guanidine
formin, phenformin, and buformin, the two guanide groups (or moieties) are directly connected. content of the blood. This connection
In diguanides, such as Synthalin A, the two guanide moieties are separated by an alkyl chain. is what he examined. In experiments on
rabbits published in 1918, Watanabe es-
ternet search for goats rue will return A Fortuitous Error tablished that the injection of guanidine
more than 90,000 hits, most of which The chain of events that eventually elicits hypoglycemia.
are sites selling goats rue preparations spawned metformin as an oral antihy- Unfortunately, guanidine was too
for the treatment of a variety of ail- perglycemic drug did not come from toxic to be of clinical value. Watanabes
ments, including high blood glucose. diabetes research but instead from in- discovery, however, together with the
The plant, however, is designated as vestigations of the parathyroid glands. realization that extracts of goats rue are
a class A poisonous plant in 35 states Around 1915, researchers observed that also a rich source of this compound, was
in the United States and is listed in the surgical removal of these structures to intersect productively with the find-
U.S. Food and Drug Administration found in the neck is accompanied by in- ings of French pharmacist and plant bio-
(FDA) Poisonous Plant database. creased excretion of guanidine, another chemist Georges Tanret. In 1914, while
type 1
muscle is unable to use
glucose due to low
insulin
type 2
muscle is unable to use
glucose due to insulin
resistance

diabetes increased diabetes increased
glucose due glucose in the
glycogen and protein obesity, inheritance and
to low insulin bloodstream
breakdown, causing other factors leading to
keto-acidosis insulin resistance
pancreas pancreas
insufficient insulin sufficient insulin
secreted into the secreted into the
bloodstream bloodstream
Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes result in poorly controlled blood glucose levels, but their mechanisms differ. In type 1 diabetes (left), which is
often diagnosed early in life, the pancreas isnt able to produce sufficient insulin to prompt the liver and muscles to take up glucose and store
it as glycogen. In times of plenty, blood glucose levels are excessive, whereas when dietary sugars are lacking, fats and proteins must be used,
with the production of dangerously high levels of potentially toxic keto-acids. In type 2 diabetes (right), the pancreas can produce insulin, but
the body is resistant to its effects. Blood glucose levels remain high because the liver and muscles still cannot take up glucose despite the pres-
ence of insulin. If this condition persists, it eventually affects the ability of the pancreas to produce insulin.
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at the University of Paris, Tanret isolated Then Synthalin B (dodecamethylene That said, long after the fact, all was
an alkaloid called galegine from seeds diguanide), with a slightly longer alkyl not perhaps as it seemed in the ill-fated
of G. officinalis. These advances were chain than its antecedent (which was story of Synthalin B. Jean Sterne, the
critical, because together they closed the rebranded Synthalin A), was intro- investigator who decades later was
loop between what was already known duced, although it too was eventually to champion metformin, was more
of the antidiabetic effects of goats rue to proveor perhaps more correctly, guarded than most in casting asper-
and the chemical identity of a guanidine to be considerednot safe enough for sions on the Synthalins. He wrote in
derivative from this source that was to general acceptance. With the exception 1969 that in his sense of things, the
prove less toxic. of Germany and a few other clinical complications earlier ascribed to Syn-
Interestingly, Tanret initially mis- centers scattered around Europe, Syn- thalin are not particularly convincing,
identified galegines structure, then thalin B use was discontinued in most at least as far as its administration to
World War I interrupted work on the countries in the 1930s. humans is concerned[in that] many
substance. So it wasnt properly identi-
fied and synthesized by other groups effects of diabetes on the body
until 1925. It was not until 1927, some
13 years after its initial isolation, that
Tanret and his colleagues published
a detailed account of galegine use in brain
eyes
rabbits and dogs that categorically stroke, lack of
cataracts and
demonstrated its hypoglycemic effects. concentration, loss of
glaucoma, diabetic
consciousness
While these trials were being con- retinopathy
ducted in Paris, Helmut Mller and
Helmuth Reinwein in Munich, who
were brave enough to use themselves
pancreas malfunction
as the very first human subjects before ketoacidosis, sweet-
recruiting others, took this research heart
smelling breath, extreme heart disease
to the next levelthe clinic. In work thirst
published the same year, the Germans
demonstrated a marked hypoglycemic
effect of orally administered galegine stomach
in hyperglycemic diabetic patients. gastroparesis,
heartburn, nausea,
vomiting, bloating
Synthalins A and B kidneys
Another potentially momentous line excessive urination,
of attack on diabetes coincided with protein in urine
the research on galegine but ultimately
was less influential, though perhaps
for arbitrary reasons. Erich Frank of
Breslau, Poland (now Germany),
found that another natural plant prod- veins
uct, agmatine, a derivative of guani- damaged blood
dine, is also a hypoglycemic agent. vessels, high blood
Though agmatine did not make it pressure
to the clinic, a byproduct of its syn- skin
thesis did. In the course of their at- dry cracked skin;
tempts to synthesize agmatine with bacterial, fungal, and
an eye to commercialization, Schering- yeast infections
Kahlbaum AG of Berlin, the chemical
feet
company with whom Frank was col-
peripheral
laborating, accidentally synthesized a neuropathy
related compound, decamethylene di-
guanide. Dubbed Synthalin, this com-
pound was found to be better tolerated
and more effective than either galegine
or agmatine. Indeed, the results ob-
tained with Synthalin were considered
sufficiently encouraging for Schering
AG to market it for the treatment of The effects of diabetes are felt throughout the body. In addition to its short-term effectssuch as
mild cases of type 2 diabetesthough excessive urination, severe thirst, and the risk of ketotic or nonketotic comathe disease has many
not for long, however, because adverse long-term effects. These include damage to blood vessels accompanied by elevated blood pres-
digestive, hepatic, and renal complica- sure, heart disease, loss of vision, and peripheral circulatory and neurological problems. Patients
tions, that were at least construed to be with type 1 diabetes usually depend on insulin injections for survival, and type 2 diabetes, if left
drug-related, soon appeared. untreated, is associated with a 10-year decrease in life expectancy.
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where malaria was endemic, Eusebio

from sulfonamides to an antimalarial biguanide Garcia, an infectious diseases physician,
was treating patients who had malaria
O H and had also contracted influenza. His-
N N Cl
S NH NH torical accounts are vague as to how he
N O N acquired what he called a new synthet-
N N N ic analgesic and anti-flu drug that he
N H 2N H H H
aptly named Flumamine, but what he
pyrimidine sulfadiazine Paludrine had in his hands was none other than
what we now know as metformin.
Garcia went no further than sim-
Paludrine, an antimalarial drug developed in the 1940s, is derived from pyrimidine, which
ply stating that, The anti-flu potency
was also used as a precursor for the sulfonamide antibiotic sulfadiazine. A structural feature of
of Flumamine, chemically known
Paludrine that drew the attention of several investigators is that it, like a portion of sulfadiazine
(red), the drug upon which it was modeled, resembled galegine. This similarity subsequently as N1-dimethylamino-guanidylbigu-
prompted investigators who were examining Paludrines toxicity to also determine that it caused anide hydrochloride, was first noted
a slight decrease in blood glucose levels in experimental animals when administered orally. incidentally during the course of bio-
logical tests of a number of biguanide
of the side-effects were coincidental A Diverted Path derivatives on malaria patients. He
and many were due to the presence Warthe Second World War this then specified, Since the polymeth-
of viral hepatitis. Other key players timewas again to play its part but in ylene diguanides have the unusual
echoed this assessment, conceding that a different way: by rejuvenating, rather physiological property of lowering the
the complications, which at the time than stalling, interest in guanides, bigu- blood sugar level, it is possible that
were interpreted as a causal relation- anides in particular. The Axis countries Flumamine has the same pharmacol-
ship between Synthalin administration had blockaded the main production ogy; that is, if it can lower the blood
and hepatic and renal dysfunction, sites of quinine, the standard drug for sugar level to the minimum physio-
were as likely to represent symptoms treating and preventing malaria, so the logical limit, it can destroy the parasite
of long-standing diabetes (which was British assembled a team of chemists indirectly by attrition.
not well understood at the time) as to and biologists to come up with an alter- What makes this leap all the more be-
be an adverse reaction to the drug. This native. They developed the synthesis of wildering is that he provided no experi-
admission leaves open the possibility
that if more was known of the etiology
of type 2 diabetes in the Synthalin era,
these agents might have better stood Within two years of insulins discovery,
the test of time to gain the widespread
use that metformin now has. it was brought to market, but its
Insulin Calls the Shots
Following the Great War, the next big
development put the kibosh on research
obstacle in the metformin story was
a far more positive development for
into oral diabetes drugs for many years.
the world at large. The 1921 discov-
ery of insulin by Frederick G. Banting,
Charles Best, James Bertram Collip, and Paludrine in 1945 at Imperial Chemical mental evidence for this speculation;
John Macleod of the University of To- Industries Ltd. in Blackley, Manchester. no blood glucose levels were reported
ronto put the kibosh on research into What is striking about this compound, for his patients. Yet this was to prove a
the use of biguanides and other oral which is still used today as an effec- turning point in the metformin story:
antihyperglycemic drugs for the treat- tive antimalarial, is that the right-hand Sterne, who had added metformin to
ment of type 2 diabetes for many years. portion of the molecule is a biguanide the diabetes pharmacopoeia, said in an
Staggering as it may seem compared moiety that bears a close resemblance interview toward the end of his life in
to the modern rigors of drug approval, to the goats rue compound, galegine. 1996 that Garcias seven-page article in
within two years of insulins discovery, This discovery did not escape the atten- the Journal of the Philippine Medical Asso-
in 1923the same year in which Ban- tion of other investigators. For instance, ciation was what got him started on this
ting and Macleod were awarded the two years later, K. K. Chen and Robert particular line of investigation.
Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medi- Anderson at the Lilly Research Labora- Sterne trained in diabetology in Paris
cine for the discoveryEli Lilly & Com- tories in Indianapolis, while examining under Francis Rathery at Hpital de
pany Biological Laboratories, in Green- the toxicity of Paludrine in animals, dis- la Piti, where he first investigated
field, Indiana, in collaboration with covered that it caused a slight decrease galegine before moving just a few miles
Connaught Laboratories in Toronto, had in blood glucose levels. to Hpital Laennec, while he also held
scaled up the production of insulin to It is unknown for sure if the investiga-
the extent that the company could bring tions made by Imperial Chemicals in A timeline of research into the guanides
Iletin (the trade name for bovine insu- the United Kingdom and Lilly in United shows the number of twists and turns that
lin) to market in the United States. The States prompted what happened next. have led to the development and vindication
European market soon followed. But in the late 1940s in the Philippines, of metformin as a leading diabetes drug.
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1652 Discovery of
blood-glucose-
lowering effects
of guanidine by
Watanabe
Publication of Culpepers in U.S.
Complete Herbal in which the
use of goats rue for the treatment
of diabetes is described.
1914 Alkaloid galegine
1918 1922
Biguanide metformin
isolated from goats
first synthesized by
rue by Tanret in
Werner and Bell in
France.
Dublin, Ireland.
1923
1929 1927 1927
1924
Metformin first characterized Hypoglycemic effects Hypoglycemic effects of
in animals as a hypoglycemic of galegine demon- galegine demonstrated in Chemical structure of galegine
biguanide by Slotta and strated in diabetic rabbits and dogs by Tanret determined by Barger and White
Tschesche in what was patients by Mller and and Simonnet in France. in Scotland and Spth and
Wellcome Images, GB Non-native Species Secretariat, Wikimedia Commons Godfrey Argent/National Portrait Gallery, London, Journal of Obesity and Metabolic Research
Poland (now Germany). Reinwein in Germany.

Prokopp in Austria.
Clear distinction made between

type 1 and type 2 diabetes by
Himsworth in England.
1936 1950 1950
Metformin under name Flumamine Clinical trials of
used to treat influenza in malaria metformin on diabetic
patients in Philippines by Garcia. The patients performed by
drugs lowering of blood glucose Sterne, Duval, and
levels in patients without side effects colleagues in France.
is noted.
1958 1957 1957

Metformin added to 1958
British National Formu-
lary and marketed by Metformin marketed by
Aron subsidiary Rona. Aron Laboratories in First patent for
France. metformin granted to
Sterne under auspices
of Aron Laboratories in
First reports of favorable clinical
France.
results from treatment of type 2
diabetes with metformin published Metformin and phenformin
in English-speaking journals. approved for treatment of
1962 type 2 diabetes in Canada.

1972
1998 Publication of UK Prospective

1994 1977 1977 Withdrawal of
Diabetes Study (19771997) phenformin in
vindicating benefits of Canada and U.S.
metformin over those of Metformin approved UK Prospective because of
another drug type, the for treatment of type Diabetes Study serious adverse
sulfonylureas, for treatment of 2 diabetes in U.S. initiated. effects.
type 2 diabetes.
2017 MarchApril 107
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a position with Aron Laboratories, a gan in France, but the possibilities it tion (CDA) advisory committee to the
small pharmaceutical company. offered as an oral alternative to insulin health protection branch of the Depart-
In the 1950s while at Laennec and were quick to bridge the English Chan- ment of National Health and Welfare
Aron, Sterne, in collaboration with De- nel. Within one year of its French market recommended not one but two bigu-
nise Duval, conducted studies of the entry, metformin was added to the Brit- anides for the treatment of type 2 dia-
antidiabetic properties of several bigu- ish National Formulary and first sold in betes: either phenformin or metformin.
anides, of which one, metformin, was the United Kingdom by Rona, a small This sleight of hand was to prove apt
carried forward for clinical research London-based subsidiary of Aron, in because soon after, when many cases
and development. The trade name 1958. Modest British clinical trials, pub- of fatal lactic acidosis (a condition in
Glucophage (for glucose eater) lished in the British Medical Journal in which the waste products from the
was first coined for this biguanide in 1962, conducted on a total of 39 patients anaerobic breakdown of glucose build
a modest two-page paper the group over a six-month period, showed that up too quickly for the body to remove
published in a relatively obscure Mo- metformin appeared to have consider- them) among patients taking phenfor-
roccan medical journal, Maroc Mdical. able potential for the treatment of type 2 min were brought to the attention of the
There was no disguising Sternes diabetics, who represented the majority CDA advisory committee, it could do
cautious optimism when in this paper of the patients in these trials, but not for what the FDA could not. They simply
he wrote, in translation: Chronic tox- type 1 diabetics. A similar, smaller-scale revised their original endorsement of
icity is virtually nil. Rabbits, rats, and study from the University of Edinburgh two biguanides to the endorsement of
dogs treated with the product over six published in the same year in the British only one, metformin. This option was
months showed no deterioration in Journal of Clinical Practice came to much not available to Americans in the 1970s.
hepatic function [] [and yet] it has the same conclusion. That was the first strategic error the
American authorities made. The other
was their failure to respond promptly
to reports of adverse reactions from
Metformins reputation was tarnished phenformin. Despite many cases of fatal
lactic acidosis associated with phenfor-
because it is in the same drug family mins use dating from the early 1970s,
it was (no two ways about it) aggres-
as phenformin, which caused fatal side sively marketed in the United States un-
der the brand name DBI (for Dibotin) by
effects in an estimated 4 out of 1,000 users. Ciba-Geigy; it managed to survive as a
therapeutic until 1977, when pressure
from consumer groups was sufficient
to compel its withdrawal from the mar-
a powerful hypoglycaemic effect [] These studies and others that were ket by the FDA at a time when 250,000
one can bring the blood sugar down soon to follow made two things ap- to 385,000 diabetics were still using it.
practically as low as one wants. parent to the medical community at And not a moment too soon. Several
On the strength of these preclinical large. One is that unlike insulin, which years before, in 1973, an FDA medical
trials, Sterne, Duval, and their colleagues often must be injected several times officer had estimated that 4 out of every
became the first to try metformin in hu- daily, metformin needs to be adminis- 1,000 users of this drug had died of lactic
mans for the treatment of diabetes, and tered orally only once or twice a day. acidosis, which amounted to an annual
Sterne was granted the first patent for The other is that whereas the timing death toll of around 4,000.
this drug. This patent was first filed in of insulin administration is absolutely Because it belonged to the same
1957, and as continuations in 1958 and critical, the timing for metformin ad- drug family as phenformin, metfor-
1963, to issue in 1965 under the auspices ministration is not. If a diabetic misses mins reputation was tarnished. It took
of Aron Laboratories. a meal after injecting himself or her- two decades, until March 1994, for
With the benefit of hindsight, it is self with insulin, the consequences metformin to receive FDA approval.
perhaps noteworthy that Sterne and his can be direcoma brought on by a What was by then patently obvious
colleagues in France, at Sternes own precipitous decrease in blood glucose. from its worldwide usein more
admission, were not aware of work This risk is not the case for metformin, than 80 countries from which there
being done on two other biguanides, which is not able to drive blood glu- had never been a need to withdraw it
phenformin and buformin, elsewhere cose to such dangerously low levels. for safety reasonsis that patients on
in the world. If the French researchers metformin experienced lactic acido-
had known of this research and had Guilt by Association sis at only about one-tenth the rate of
shifted their attention toward these two Metformins triumphant progress those on phenformin.
biguanidesboth of which turned out around the world was anything but The U.S. patent on Glucophage ex-
to have life-threatening side effectsit smooth. Its approval for the treatment pired in September 2000, after which
could well have meant the death knell of type 2 diabetes in Canada in 1972 many generic substitutes entered the
of biguanides as a drug class. preceded its approval in the United market. As of 1999, sales of Glucophage
States by more than 20 years, because were at $1.3 billion. Now that low-cost
A Channel Bridged the Canadians did something the generic formulations are available, met-
Metformins life as a prescription drug Americans didntthey hedged their formin ranks as the most widely pre-
for the treatment of type 2 diabetes be- bets. The Canadian Diabetic Associa- scribed antidiabetic drug in the world.
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Long-Awaited Exoneration weight and obese patients with type intestinal glucose absorption and liver
A number of studies would exonerate 2 diabetes who take metformin live gluconeogenesis to improve glucose
metformins safety and efficacy, but it longer and suffer fewer cardiovascular tolerance in type 2 diabetics. It does
was not until the landmark UK Pro- complications and adverse drug reac- this by lowering basal blood glucose
spective Diabetes Study (1977-1997), tions than those who achieve the same as well as the levels immediately after
published in 1998, that metformin was blood glucose levels using insulin or a meal while at the same time put-
to gain the general level of acceptance other oral diabetes drugs. Similar stud- ting the brakes on weight gain and
it now has. This comprehensive mul- ies conducted in the United States and the cardiovascular complications that
ticenter study, involving more than Europe, published in 2012 and 2014, ordinarily accompany diabetes, all
4,000 patients who were followed for further confirmed these findings. without eliciting hypoglycemic ep-
a little more than 10 years, provided Not only does metformin enhance isodes in either type 2 diabetics or
the first clear evidence that over- insulin sensitivity, but it also inhibits nondiabetic subjects.
glucagon
adenylate cyclase
metformin
glucose
ATP cAMP
AMPK PKA
(activated)
AMP
ADP AMP
PFK2
ATP TRANSCRIPTION
metformin
glucose
adenylate kinase
F26BP
complex I
GLUCONEOGENESIS G6Pase
F16BPase
mitochondrion
pyruvate F16BP F6P G6P
PFK1
F26BP AMP
When metformin enters cells, it triggers signaling pathways concerned starvation hormone glucagon. This action of AMP decreases the levels
with regulating glucose metabolism. The drugs action begins with of cyclic AMP (cAMP), a second messenger synthesized by adenylate cy-
inhibition of complex I of the mitochondria, which catalyzes the first clase which, in turn, decreases activation of another regulatory enzyme,
steps of electron transfer responsible for the synthesis of the cells energy protein kinase A (PKA) with two major consequences. One of these
currency ATP (adenosine triphosphate). The net effect of this action of outcomes is decreased expression of the genes for enzymes involved in
metformin is to lower cellular ATP levels while increasing cellular ADP the ATP-dependent synthesis of glucose from pyruvate and other precur-
(adenosine diphosphate) and ultimately AMP (adenosine monophos- sors (gluconeogenesis). PKA, a cAMP-activated protein kinase, normally
phate) levels through the action of the enzyme adenylate kinase. It is this activates transcription of these genes, but when cAMP levels are low,
increase in AMP levels that appears to be a major driver of metformins this activity is diminished and the effects of glucagon are countered.
ability to lower blood glucose. One consequence of the elevation of The other effect of decreased cAMP levels is decreased inhibition of
AMP levels is activation of the regulatory enzyme AMP kinase (AMPK), phosphofructokinase-2 (PFK2) to enhance the production of fructose-2,6-
a key sensor of energy status. When activated by AMP, AMPK restores bisphosphate (F26BP). This increase in F26BP levels elicits two effects
ATP levels by switching on catabolic processes crucial for short-term that further suppress gluconeogenesis. First is inhibition of fructose-1,6-
survival, such as the uptake and oxidation of glucose that yields ATP, bisphosphatase (F16BPase), an enzyme crucial for the conversion of
while at the same time switching off the processes that consume ATP fructose to glucose. Second is activation of the phosphofructokinase-1
and are not crucial for short-term survival, such as biosynthesis and (PFK1), which accelerates the glycolytic metabolism of glucose to restore
growth. Another outcome of the elevation of AMP levels is inhibition cellular ATP levels. Note that AMP, as an inhibitor of F16BPase and an
of the enzyme adenylate cyclase, which is normally activated by the activator of PFK1, also serves to augment PKAs action.
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the enzymes involved in the synthesis

metformin of glucose from simpler precursors.
Elegant as it is in its explanatory
power, it now appears that this model
is unlikely to be the complete mecha-
nism for one simple reason: Mutant
mice that lack an active AMPK path-
way do just fine and are as responsive
as normal mice to metformin and other
m ed more A
o n su TP p biguanides. The implication here is
ATP c ATP AMP rod
u
le s s ce d that instead of or in addition to acting
AMPK kinase through the AMPK pathway, metfor-
min exerts its effects through another
AMPK (activated)
signaling pathway to antagonize the
effects of the hormone glucagon. In
doing so, metformin triggers a switch
adenylate kinase from glycolysis to gluconeogenesis, to
(inhibited)
make up for the glucose shortfall that is
ATP-consuming reactions ATP-producing reactions otherwise associated with starvation. If
gluconeogenesis glycolysis this is what actually happens, the bot-
glycogen synthesis fatty acid oxidation tom line is that in the final analysis met-
fatty acid synthesis glucose uptake
cholesterol synthesis
formin would have the same effect as
insulin, in that it would accelerate gly-
colysis while at the same time deceler-
Overall, metformin keeps blood glucose levels in check. For all intents and purposes, met- ating gluconeogenesis. In other words,
formin diminishes insulin resistance by eliciting the accumulation of AMP, which activates metformin would keep liver glucose
AMPK and inhibits adenylate cyclase to accelerate glucose uptake from the bloodstream and output in check and, to all intents and
its consumption in glycolysis, while at the same time putting the brakes on its production by purposes, correct the primary defect
gluconeogenesis. In short, metformin antagonizes the action of glucagon to cause a decrease
associated with type 2 diabetes by en-
in fasting blood glucose levels. Collateral effects of metformin include increased fatty acid
oxidation and decreased glycogen, fatty acid, and cholesterol synthesis.
hancing insulin sensitivity.
Prediabetes and PCOS

By Accident Not Design Whereas the breakdowncatabolism A final twist to metformins tangled
Many gaps still exist in our understand- of foodstuffs such as glucose charges story lies in the expansion of the
ing of the precise mechanism of action the battery by converting ADP to ATP, drugs applications to prediabetes and
of metformin and other biguanides. most other cellular processes drain the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). If
It has been known for some time that battery by the breakdown of ATP to there are two conditions for which the
metformin and biguanides inhibit the ADP or AMP. The ratio of ATP to ADP benefits offered by metformin have yet
activity of mitochondria, the power- of cells is a relative measure of energy to be fully tapped, it is probably these.
house organelles of cells that harvest en- stored in the battery, so this ratio must Not only will most prediabetics
ergy from the combustion of foodstuffs be maintained within relatively nar- eventually progress to full-blown type
to generate the common energy curren- row limits despite rapid and sometimes 2 diabetes, but as is now also apparent,
cy of most cells, adenosine triphosphate large changes in the demands placed they will likely have already started
(ATP). This finding dates back to the on metabolism. If something interferes to undergo cardiovascular deteriora-
pioneering work of Gunnar Hollunger with ATP production or accelerates ATP tion. The stark truth of this condition,
at the University of Lund, Sweden, in consumption to cause a decrease in the which affects some 30 percent of the
the mid-1950s. Metformin and other ATPADP ratio, mechanisms must exist U.S. population, is that many nor-
biguanides compromise mitochondrial for reestablishing energy balance and moglycemic individuals have already
respiration to diminish glucose metabo- recharging the battery. lost half of their beta-cell function by
lism through the citric acid cycle, so forc- The model thought capable of ex- the time they are deemed prediabetic
ing the cells affected to compensate for plaining metformins action until very and will have lost more than 80 per-
the loss in energy yield by increasing recently was based on activation of a cent by the time they hit the glycemic
oxygen-independent glycolysis. critical sensor of cellular energy sta- cutoff for type 2 diabetes.
Of the many suspects implicated in tus that goes by the acronym AMPK The interest in metformin for the
connecting metformins action on the (for AMP-activated protein kinase). prevention or delay of type 2 diabetes
respiratory chain with its antidiabetic When the concentration of AMP in- in at-risk prediabetic subjects results
effects, those that feature most highly creases through the breakdown of from the ongoing U.S. Diabetes Pre-
are the breakdown products of ATP, ad- ATP, AMPK switches on catabolic vention Program, which shows that
enosine 5-diphophosphate (ADP) and processessuch as the uptake and overweight or obese subjects at high
adenosine 5-monophosphate (AMP). oxidation of glucosethat yield ATP, risk for type 2 diabetes can on occasion
When attempting to understand what while at the same time switching off delay development of the disease for
might be going on here, an instructive nonessential processes that consume 10-15 years when prescribed metfor-
analogy is that of a rechargeable battery. ATP and downregulating several of min. Thats the good news. The not-so-
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good news is that only about 3.7 per- Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK and other biguanides as cancer prophy-
cent of patients with prediabetes are nor approved for this condition by the lactics and perhaps even as drugs re-
prescribed this drug because clinicians FDA in the United States, it must be purposed for the treatment of cancer.
have no other choice than to prescribe prescribed off-label in both countries. In recounting the fitful twists and
it off-label pending FDA approval of it turns of metformins discovery and
for this purpose. Other Benefits implementation, we are repeatedly
Another potential growth area for Even this expansion of the use of met- reminded of what the French philoso-
metformin, PCOS ranks as the most formin for PCOS as well as prediabe- pher and humanist Voltaire (1694-1778)
common endocrine disorder affecting tes and diabetes is quite possibly not penned more than 250 years ago: Doc-
women. Some 4-12 percent of women the end of the road. A particularly tors are men who prescribe medicines of
of reproductive age have this condi- noteworthy irony of the metformin which they know little, to cure diseases
tion. The principal problem underly- story is that the drug whose rite of of which they know less, in human be-
ing PCOS is a hormonal imbalance as- passage was to prove so tortuous may ings of whom they know nothing.
sociated with ovulatory and menstrual have collateral benefitswhich like-
irregularity as well as androgen excess. ly would not have been realized had Bibliography
Bailey, C. J., and C. Day. 2004. Metformin: its
botanical background. Practical Diabetes In-
ternational 21:115117.
Not only does metformin enhance insulin Bannister, C. A., et al. 2014. Can people with
type 2 diabetes live longer than those
without? A comparison of the mortality in
sensitivity, but it also lowers blood people initiated with metformin or sulpho-
nylurea monotherapy and matched, non-
glucose and puts the brakes on weight diabetic controls. Diabetes, Obesity, and Me-
tabolism 16:11651173.
Dronsfield, A., and P. Ellis. 2011. Drug discov-
gain and cardiovascular complications. ery: Metformin and the control of diabetes.
Education in Chemistry November:185187.
Hardie, D. G. 2013. AMPK: A target for drugs
and natural products with effects on both
The polycystic ovary component of the it not been prescribed to so many diabetes and cancer. Diabetes 62:21642172.
disorder arises from follicular progres- above and beyond those for which it Hostalek, U., M. Gwilt, and S. Hildemann.
2015. Therapeutic use of metformin in pre-
sion without ovulation and from the was eventually to get a footing.
diabetes and diabetes prevention. Drugs
formation of cysts. For some time, it There are now indications that the 75:10711094.
has been appreciated that besides its merits of metformin may extend to Miller, R. A., et al. 2013. Biguanides suppress
reproductive repercussions, PCOS cardioprotection and cancer preven- hepatic glucagon signaling by decreasing
has a long-term impact on insulin re- tion. Long-term treatment with met- production of cyclic AMP. Nature 494:256
sistance and its progression to type 2 formin seems to confer a degree of car- 260.
diabetes and cardiovascular complica- diovascular protection, supplemental Roumie, C. L., et al. 2012. Comparative ef-
fectiveness of sulfonylurea and metformin
tions. Given that insulin resistance is to the benefits associated with better monotherapy on cardiovascular events in
considered to play a significant role in blood glucose management, so as to type 2 diabetes mellitus: A cohort study.
PCOS either directly or through obesi- diminish the likelihood of myocardial Annals of Internal Medicine 157:601610.
ty, which has an estimated prevalence infarction, heart failure, and diabetic Shenfield, G. 2013. Metformin: Myths, mis-
among PCOS women of 60-70 percent, cardiomyopathy. Although the precise understandings, and lessons from history.
Australian Prescriber 36:3839.
the need to address this facet of the mechanisms underlying these effects
Smyth, S., and A. Heron. 2006. Diabetes and
condition through the deployment are unknown, several have been pro-
obesity: The twin epidemics. Nature Medi-
of agents such as metformin is now a posed, including metformin-elicited cine 12:7580.
prime clinical concern. decreases in oxidative stress in combi- UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS)
Researchers in Venezuela first ex- nation with diminished insulin resis- Group. 1998. Effect of intensive blood glu-
plored metformin therapy as a treat- tance in the cells lining the inner sur- cose control with metformin on complica-
ment option for PCOS in 1994. This faces of blood vessel walls, as well as tions in overweight patients with type 2
diabetes (UKPDS 34). Lancet 352:854865.
study reported a significant improve- those from which heart tissue is built.
Witters, L. A. 2001. The blooming of the
ment in the regularity of the menstrual On the cancer front, the results of French lilac. Journal of Clinical Investigation
cycle and a reduction in circulating epidemiological studies first published 108:11051107.
insulin and androgen levels, togeth- in 2005 point to the possibility that dia-
er with a marked decrease in insulin betics treated with metformin have a
resistance and body weight. Now in lower incidence of cancer than diabet-
both the United Kingdom and United ics treated with other agents. Similar
States, women diagnosed with PCOS conclusions have come from several For relevant Web links, consult this
who are insulin resistant are advised subsequent studies. The mechanistic issue of American Scientist Online:
to take metformin to encourage fertil- basis of these effects and whether they http://www.americanscientist.org/
ity and control the other symptoms of are equally applicable to nondiabetics issues/id.125/past.aspx
the disorder. But because metformin is currently an area of considerable re-
is not licensed for treating PCOS by search activity (and controversy), with
the National Institute for Health and an eye to the deployment of metformin
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Risks and Benefits of Radiation

The story of radons study in public health can be a guide for how to best weigh
the pros and cons of radiation use.
Timothy J. Jorgensen
O
n December 2, 1984, Stan- other isotopes, leaks from the ground radon made them seven times more
ley J. Watras, an engineer in this area and then mixes with likely to die of lung cancer within 10
working on construction of aboveground air. The fact that radon years compared to a person without
the new Limerick nuclear seeps from the ground over uranium- radon exposure. Their three young chil-
power plant near Pottstown, Penn- containing earth had been known dren might not make it to adulthood.
sylvania, arrived at work. The plant since 1908. Nevertheless, geologists The family moved out of the house
was scheduled to begin generating hadnt previously appreciated how immediately and tried to resume their
power within three weeks, and the spotty radon leakage could be. Some normal lives. As Stanley Watras ex-
construction crew had just installed ra- ground locations can have virtually no plained at the time, [If we] keep wor-
diation detectors at the plant doorsa leakage, while a spot a few hundred rying about it, we might not live long
standard safeguard to ensure that nu- feet away could have huge amounts of enough to see whether the doctors
clear workers dont exit the plant with radon streaming out. were right, because depression and
any radioactive contamination on their As it turns out, subterranean ra- psychological pressure would be too
bodies. When Watras arrived that day, don behaves like subterranean water. much for us to survive.
he set off the alarms on the detectors as Just as underground water gathers in It had been firmly established since
he walked into the plant. Over the fol- pockets and travels great distances 1944 that breathing a lot of radon car-
lowing two weeks he would set off the along crevices in the bedrock, often ries a substantial lung cancer risk. But
alarms every morning. Further inves- to emerge in discrete locations on the after that, things get a little murky.
tigation revealed that his clothes were
contaminated with radioactivity that
he had picked up at his home!
When radiation safety personnel Just as water travels great distances along
from the plant visited Watrass home,
they discovered what they didnt think crevices in bedrock, subterranean radon
possible. There was more radon gas
in the Watras house than was found
in a typical uranium minenearly 20
travels along ground faults to emerge
times as much! Surprised, the radia-
tion safety technicians checked the ra-
as a spring of gas.
don levels in the neighboring houses.
Our house, Watras remarked in con-
sternation, had perhaps the highest ground surface in the form of a natural Why? Because another major cause of
contamination level in the world, but spring of water, radon travels along lung cancer poses a much bigger threat
our next door neighbors had none. ground faults to emerge as a spring than radon, and this of course is ciga-
How could this be? of gas. The Watras home was built rette smoking. Cigarette smoke pro-
The Watras house was located on right on top of a spring of radon gas. duces a statistical haze through which
the Reading Prong, a geological for- How many other houses built on ra- all radon data must be viewed.
mation full of uranium deposits in don springs were out there and, more Expert panels have evaluated
the eastern United States. Radon, importantly, how much danger did mountains of data on miners in an
a radioactive gas produced through they pose to their residents? attempt to precisely determine the
the long decay chain of uranium into amount of lung cancer risk that could
Prognosis be attributed specifically to radon ex-
The Watras family had moved into posure, rather than to smoking, but
Timothy J. Jorgensen is an associate professor of
radiation medicine and director of the Health Phys-
their house in January of that year, so their analytical efforts were hampered.
ics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program at they had been exposed to the radon for This is not only because smoking was
Georgetown University. This article is excerpted less than a full year. Nevertheless, doc- so prevalent among miners and non-
and adapted from Strange Glow: The Story of tors told them, based on risk estimates miners alike, but also because smoking
Radiation by Timothy J. Jorgensen. Reprinted by of the U.S. Environmental Protection makes the lung cancer risk from radon
permission of Princeton University Press. Agency (EPA), their brief exposure to worsemuch worse.
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Cancerous lungs are shown in detail by combining a computed tomography scan (yellow) with a Habers Rule
nanotechnology-based imaging technique (blue to red, based on lesion density). Radioactive radon In order to set limits to radiation dose,
gas can create DNA damage that can lead to lung cancer, and historically there has been controversy you need to be able to measure it. A
regarding the level of risk this natural hazard represents. But imaging and treatment of cancer also dose estimate strategy for radon is to
would not be possible without radiation. How can consumers balance these risks and benefits? make use of a simple mathematical re-
(Image courtesy of Hyo-eun (Carrie) Bhang and Martin Pomper, and the National Cancer Institute.) lationship known as Habers rule for
gaseous hazards, D = C x E, where D
Its not clear why smokers are Alternatively, smokers may be hy- is dose, C is concentration, and E is ex-
hypersensitive to radon. It could be be- persensitive to radon because they have posure time. Habers rule tells us that
cause radon and the chemicals in ciga- damaged their lungs to the point that dose is approximately proportional to
rette smoke damage DNA in some- their bronchithe treelike tubes of air both the concentration of the noxious
what different ways. For example, the passagewaysare no longer able to effi- agent in the air and the duration of ex-
ionizing radiation from radon tends to ciently remove particles that are breathed posure to that agent. More scholarly do-
break DNA, whereas the highly reac- in. Particles laden with radon may stay simetric models may give more precise
tive chemicals in cigarette smoke tend in the smokers lungs longer, resulting dose estimates, but Habers rule seems
to attach themselves to the DNA and in a higher radiation dose to a smok- to be remarkably accurate in predicting
form what chemists call bulky adducts ers lungs than to a nonsmokers lungs, health risks from gases, without any of
(because they represent large chemical even when theyre breathing the same the complicated statistical hoopla that
additions to the DNA structure). These amount of radon. Its not clear which of surrounds more erudite dose modeling.
different forms of DNA damage may these two possible mechanisms is cor- Radon is one of the few radiation
impede each others repair. Thus, hav- rect. It might even be both, or perhaps hazards not typically measured in
ing both types of DNA lesions at the neither. Nonetheless, smokers definitely millisieverts (mSv), the standard in-
same time might be much worse that are at higher risk of lung cancer caused ternational unit for radiation dose
having one type alone. by radonsix to eight times higher. equivalence. Instead, Habers rule has
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The Morning Call
Stanley and Diane Watras, with two of their children, pose outside of their home in Pennsylvania. Expressing radon dose in WLMs
Their house was found to contain unprecedentedly high levels of radon gas, naturally released also has another practical advantage.
from uranium deposits in the ground. The Environmental Protection Agency subsequently used It allows us to depict other radon ex-
their home as a test laboratory to establish standard radon mitigation techniques for residences. posures, such as living in a radon-
contaminated home, in terms of the
been invoked to provide a unit unique fined as the radon dose that a typical equivalent amount of mining work it
to radon. Since most of the data comes miner might receive from working in would represent.
from mine workers, the experts have a typical radon-contaminated mine for
chosen to calculate lung cancer risk one month. Simply stated, it is just the Getting the Facts Straight: LNT
from radon using a unit called the radon concentration of the mine, ex- Because the dose makes the poison
working level month (WLM). Although pressed in working levels (WL), mul- (a famous quote by Swiss Renaissance
it has a technical and precise defini- tiplied by the exposure time measured physician Paracelsus [14931541]), we
tion, for our purposes it can just be de- in months (M), la Habers rule. need dose-response data to identify
the dose where radon levels become
a health concern. Because lung cancer
is the health effect of interest, dos-
es (i.e., WLMs) are typically plotted
against lung cancer incidence rates,
and fitted to a straight line. The fit-
ted line is drawn straight, rather than
curved, because epidemiologists as-
Nathaniel Brooks/The New York Times/Redux Pictures
sume cancer risk is directly propor-

tional to radiation dose at all dose lev-
els, no matter how low those doses are.
Most scientists believe that there is a
finite probability of contracting cancer
from any exposure to a carcinogen, be-
cause there is no dose so low that DNA
damage does not occur, and because
DNA damage is the known precursor
to cancer. Epidemiologists call this the
linear no threshold (LNT) model of can-
cer risk assessment.
Not all scientists favor linear mod-
Uranium is often found associated with deposits of other rock, such as granite. The granite els. Some strongly believe that the
sample shown here is being measured with a radiation dose meter to determine its level of LNT approach to radiation protec-
radioactivity, which could originate from other radioactive elements, such as thorium or potas- tion has exaggerated the risk of cancer
sium. Natural stone in homes, such as granite countertops, are not usually a significant source of from low radiation doses, and their ar-
radiation. (Photograph courtesy of Nathaniel Brooks, the New York Times, and Redux Pictures.) guments have some merit. In contrast,
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The geology of the state of Pennsylvania can be divided into physiographic provinces, as shown per day (70 percent of the time), and
on this map. The geological formation called the Reading Prong, in the New England Province lived to be 75 years old, then that per-
(pink), is full of uranium deposits, and underlies the house belonging to the Watras family. Their sons lifetime risk of lung cancer from
home happened to be located at a spot where radon gas emerged from the ground like a natural the radon in his house would be 6.2
spring. (Image courtesy of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.) percent if he were a smoker, but only
0.73 percent, if he were a nonsmoker.
no credible scientists believe that the For every 10,000 smoking miners that But exactly how bad are these levels of
LNT model underestimates low-dose worked in a mine for one month, we risk? Lets explore this question.
risk. Thus, the LNT model is generally would expect 10 of them to eventually
considered the most conservative, af- contract cancer from their radon expo- Number Needed to Harm
fording the greatest degree of protec- sure. Alternatively, if 10,000 nonsmok- Instead of starting with 10,000 people
tion to the public. ing miners worked for one month, we and tracking their health outcomes as
would expect fewer than two of them we did above for the miners, another
Cutting to the Chase (i.e., 1.7 miners) to get lung cancer. way to portray risk is simply to ask the
Weve taken the long route to get to following question: How many people
the final radon risk estimates, but Mi Casa es Su Casa would need to receive this particular
understanding the methods and ap- All right you say, so much for the dose level before one of them would
proaches used in risk assessment does mines. What about my home? Heres be expected to have a harmful outcome
three things: It allows us to appreci- the EPAs logic on home radon risks. (e.g., lung cancer)? In other words,
ate the strengths of the risk estimates, The EPA has decided that a home what number of people need to be ex-
to recognize their weaknesses, and to residents radon dose should be no posed in order to harm just one? When
gauge our level of confidence in their more than 2 percent of that of a typical risk estimates are framed around this
accuracy. Now that we know how ra- mineworker. That means the concen- question, the risk metric is called the
don estimates are generated, lets take tration of radon in home air should be number needed to harm (NNH).
a look at the final numbers. at or below 0.02 WL. To go much low- Restating the lung cancer risks from
The scientific experts best estimate er than 0.02 WL would be technically lifetime residence in a home at the EPA
of the lung cancer risk per WLM is difficult (i.e., extremely expensive) and radon limit in terms of NNH units
approximately 0.097 percent for smok- practically unwarranted, given that yields the values of 16 and 137 for
ers and 0.017 percent for nonsmokers. even outside air has an average radon smokers and nonsmokers, respective-
Stated simply, working for one month concentration of 0.0025 WL. What is ly. This means that out of 16 smoking
in a typical uranium mine increases the risk level to residents living their lifelong residents of such radon-con-
the odds of getting lung cancer by entire life in a home with radon containing houses, 1 would be expected
about 1 in 1,000 for a smoking miner, centrations at 0.02 WL? According to to develop lung cancer from the expo-
and 1 in 6,000 for a nonsmoking miner. the EPAs calculations, if a person lived sure, while it would take as many as
Another way of expressing the risk in that home every day of his life, oc- 137 nonsmoking lifelong residents for
of one month of work is as follows: cupied the house for up to 17 hours 1 to become afflicted with lung cancer.
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Interpreting the Risk Metrics

If these radon risk levels still seem high
to you, consider this. The chance of a
nonsmoker contracting a fatal cancer of
any type during her lifetime is approx-
imately 25 percent, a number that is
relatively high because cancer is an un-
fortunately common disease. The addi-
tional risk from living in the house with
radon at the residential limit, according
to the numbers above, would increase
that risk from 25 to 25.73 percent. But
smokers, in contrast, already have an
elevated baseline risk of developing
a fatal cancer approaching 50 percent
(for a heavy smoker), apart from any
radon exposure they might have. For
a smoker, the risk of developing a fa-
zone 1
tal cancer during a lifetime thus moves
zone 2
zone 3
from about 50 to 56.2 percent.
Also, consider the fact that virtually
no one matches the EPAs extreme as-
The Environmental Protection Agency produces a map that shows all the counties in the sumptions about the length of home
United States and their predicted average indoor radon screening levels. Zone 2 indicates lev-
residency. Thus, the actual doses to resi-
els ranging from the EPA limit of 4 picocuries per literthe equivalent of 0.02 WL (working
levels)down to 2 picocuries per liter. Zone 3 indicates counties where levels are projected to
dents living in houses at the EPA expo-
be below 2 picocuries per liter. Zone 1 indicates counties where the limit of 4 picocuries per sure limit of 0.02 WL are probably less
liter is expected to be exceeded. Not surprisingly, the red zones on this map align closely with than a tenth of the theoretical worst-
U.S. Geological Survey maps that show the locations of areas with the potential for having case doses and, likewise, their lung can-
high levels of natural radon. (Image courtesy of the EPA.) cer risk would also be less than a tenth
of the risk levels calculated above.
oxygenated
runoff Whos Doing the Dying?
oxygenated Based on the EPAs risk assessment
recharge
numbers and their underlying as-
The actions of rain and runoff increase the

oxygen content of water. This oxygenated
land surface water can flow into areas of the ground that
dissolved water ta contain dissolved uranium and carry it until
ble
uranium in it reaches an oxygen-poor zone, where it is
ground deposited. Over time, the host rock becomes
water
enriched in uranium and forms an ore body.
low-permeability shale Uranium undergoes a long chain of decay
steps, each of which has its own radioactive
oxygen-poor zone ore
half-life, the time it takes for the amount of
body
radiation released from the element to reduce
low-permeability to half of its original value. One step along
aquifer
granitic igneous rocks the way is the production of radon, a gas
(uranium source rocks) high-permeability sandstone with a half-life of about four days. The end
of the decay chain is lead, a stable element.
ELEMENT
Uranium Radium Radon Polonium
U-238 U-234 Th-230 Ra-226 Rn-222 Po-218 Po-214 and other

Pb-206
4.49 x 109 2.48 x 105 7.52 x 104 1622 3.825 3.05 radionuclides
(stable)
with short half-lives
DECAY CHAIN
years years years years days minutes

Thorium Lead
Pa-234
1.18 minutes
Protactinium
Th-234
24.1 days
Thorium
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sumptions, the agency has claimed

that radon in homes theoretically kills
as many as 21,000 Americans every
year. This amounts to 13 percent of the
160,000 annual lung cancer deaths in
the United States, and 3.5 percent of
the 585,000 total annual cancer deaths shower
of all types. But who are these theo-
retically dead people anyway?
Remember that smokers are six
to eight times as likely to get radon-
induced lung cancer, and consider
that the prevalence of smokers in the
U.S. population is about 18 percent. windows
Even if you accept the EPAs estimate soil/overburden cracks
that 21,000 annual lung cancer deaths cracks
in the United States are due to radon soil
fittings
exposure in homes, about 19,000 of gas
sump
footings
those dead would be smokers. Only
bedrock water
2,000 deaths would occur among non- drain
well
smokers, just 0.3 percent of the total
annual cancer deaths and about one-
tenth of the number of annual deaths
from influenza. In short, you must
be very unlucky indeed to die from fractured
radon-induced lung cancer if youre bedrock
not a smoker.
Radon exits to the soil through fractures in the bedrock, then enters houses through cracks in
The EPA Controversy the foundation, or through sump pumps, joists, or pipes. Well water can also be a source of
When the EPA first issued its radon radon. Radon is about eight times more dense than air, so it tends to concentrate in low-lying
guidelines in the 1980s, the public areas, such as basements, before slowly diffusing into the rest of the structure.
was slow to comply. Social psycholo-
gists say that is likely because radon sulted in some pretty ugly fighting is primarily a problem for smokers.
is a natural hazard, as opposed to a between the agency and the scientific The EPA has not, however, relaxed its
manmade hazard. For whatever rea- community. The controversy spilled level for radon in homes.
son, people seem to be less afraid of over into the public arena and led
natural hazards than of manmade many people to the erroneous conclu- Another Kind of Harm
ones. So the EPA increased its hype sion that the risks from home radon The Watras family members were prob-
with an advertising campaign that fo- were not real. They are real. But the ably the main victims of the EPAs mis-
cused on the extreme situations and level of the radon risk to homeowners communication of risk. They were led
downplayed the fact that the lung was certainly overstated by the EPA, at to believe that their lives were in serious
cancer risk of radon was largely re- least in the early years. peril, and they carried that psychologi-
stricted to smokers.
The EPAs well-publicized claim
that radon is the second leading known
cause of lung cancer, after smoking- The public was slow to comply with
related causes, was also misleading.
Although the statement is strictly
true, it implies that the leading cause
EPA radon guidelines in the 1980s, so the
of lung cancer among nonsmokers is
radon exposure. This interpretation is
agency increased its hype with a campaign
false. Radon is estimated to account
for 26 percent of lung cancers among
that downplayed the fact that the cancer
nonsmokers. The largest proportion of
lung cancers among nonsmokers is ac- risk was largely restricted to smokers.
tually due to other causes that are cur-
rently unknown (40 percent). So, lung
cancer among nonsmokers is rare, and Thirty years later, the rhetoric has cal stress for decades. The truth is that
radon-induced lung cancer among died down. A visit to the EPAs public they suffered a moderate increase in
nonsmokers is rarer still. radon website today reveals that it is cancer risk from their radon exposure,
Many scientists and risk assessors doing a better job of accurately char- which was hardly a death sentence.
felt that the EPA had twisted the facts acterizing the risk of radon, and it is Whatever happened to the Watras
to advance its own agenda. This re- more candid about the fact that radon family? Once the family moved out of
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and may even defy common sense. For

example, according to the EPAs risk es-
timates, just one year of living in the Wa-
tras house (16 WL) would put a smok-
ers lifetime lung cancer risk from radon
exposure at 56 percent, in addition to
his lung cancer risk from the smoking
(15 to 50 percent, depending upon his
smoking level), making his overall lung
cancer risk as high as 100 percent. But
as Naomi Harley, a professor in the De-
partment of Environmental Medicine
at New York University, has pointed
out, the lung cancer death rates for min-
ers with the highest radon exposures
ever recorded (nearly all of whom were
smokers) were never greater than 50
percent. Thus, estimates of lung cancer
risk from radon in homes that exceed 50
A passive kit for testing a home for radon typically includes a charcoal filter, which can trap radon
percent must be considered suspect.
or its decay products. Some kits include a plastic film that is etched by alpha particles emitted by
radioactive decay. The kit must be sent to a laboratory for testing, after being placed in the lowest- Risk-Benefit Analysis
level spot in the home for two to 90 days. (Photograph courtesy of the National Cancer Institute.) There is absolutely no benefit from liv-
ing in a radon-contaminated house, so
the house, the EPA used it as a testing How could the dire predictions for the it might seem warranted to completely
laboratory for various radon remedia- Watrases have been so off the mark? eliminate radon as a source of radiation
tion technologies. After many months, This is one of the trade-offs of using exposure. But what about diagnostic
the agency was able to lower the radon multiple, highly conservative assump- radiography, for which the benefits to
levels to the recommended limit, and tions in risk assessment. It may seem health are potentially enormous? Is it
the Watras family moved back in. Stan- prudent to inflate the risk in order not wise to forgo diagnostic x-rays, simply
ley and his wife Diane are still living in to underestimate it. Nevertheless, by because of their cancer risk, and there-
the house (as of 2015). Their children are adopting high-end estimates for every by deprive ourselves of their benefits?
now grown. After 30 years, none of them uncertain risk parameter, the cascade To address this question, lets use the
has died of lung cancer, although the of high-end risk assumptions can com- example of an x-ray of a broken arm.
EPA risk estimates suggested that nearly pound to the point where the final pre- Modern x-rays of broken arms give
all of them would have done so by now. dicted risk levels become incredulous an effective dose of about 0.001 mSv to
the patient. The term effective dose
means that because an arm is about 5
percent of total body weight, the risk as-
sociated with an arm dose of 0.020 mSv
gives effectively the same fatal cancer
risk as a dose of 0.001 mSv to the whole
body (i.e., 5 percent of the local dose).
Just as we used lung cancer in mine
workers to calculate the risk from radon
exposure, we can likewise use studies
that were done of atomic bomb survi-
vors to calculate the cancer risk of x-rays.
The risk of contracting a fatal cancer
from a whole-body radiation exposure,
as determined from the atomic bomb
survivor studies, is about 0.005 percent
per mSv. Therefore, the lifetime risk of
contracting cancer from an arm x-ray is
The Morning Call
0.001 mSv0.005 percent, giving a risk

estimate of 0.000005 percent (or odds
of 1 in 20,000,000). At these odds, you
are more likely to win the megalottery
Radon remediation in a home, such as this one belonging to Kay Jones of Pennsylvania, consists than to get cancer from the x-ray expo-
of installing a system of ventilation pipes that give radon a preferential path of escape. A fan is sure of your arm. How many people
used to pull radon from beneath the houses foundation and vent it to the outside, so that it never break their arms in the United States ev-
enters the home. In homes with crawl spaces, a high-density plastic sheet is installed to cover the ery year? About 1,300,000. Being that
earthen floor, and a vent pipe and fan are used to draw radon from beneath the sheet. the NNH for an x-ray of a broken arm
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This is largely because the penalty for

not finding the underlying cause of the
disease can be severea nonfunction-
ing arm or even deathand the cancer
risks of partial body radiography pro-
cedures are quite low. But for the sec-
ond categoryscreening of clinically
healthy people for hidden diseases
we should take pause. At this point the
jury is still out on the value of these
procedures because the issues are much
more complicated. For radiographic
screening procedures, the cancer risks
are often well defined, yet the benefits
can be questionable, so medical con-
sumers should proceed with caution.
Putting it to Use
The ability to convert a radiation dose
to a risk estimate levels the playing
field for the general public. Armed with
an accurate estimate of risk for a whole
variety of radiation exposure scenarios,
from natural (radon) to manmade (di-
agnostic x-rays), we now have the tools
we need to make decisions regarding
which radiation exposures are accept-
able and which are not. Most impor-
tantly, we now have the means to make
an informed decision about controlling
Gustoimages/Science Source
our radiation risks. Now its up to us to

be worthy stewards of this knowledge,
and put it to good use for the better-
ment of our health.
We know much more about the can-
cer risks of radiation than those of any
other carcinogen. So, if we, as reasonable
Pioneering British radiographer Walter Augustus Coldwell (18641929) produced this x-ray and intelligent people concerned about
image of a broken upper arm bone (the humerus) early in the 20th century. The amount of our health and the health of others, cant
radiation dose that a patient receives during an x-ray has been greatly reduced since that time, come to a workable consensus about ac-
and the cancer risk from an x-ray is now basically zero. ceptable levels of cancer risk from the
use of radiation, there is little hope that
is 20,000,000, whereas only 1,300,000 agnostic radiography for finding the we will be able reach a consensus on
are actually breaking their arms, it can cause of clinical disease symptoms, the any other cancer hazards for which very
be seen that we wouldnt expect any of benefits almost always far outweigh much less is known. On the flip side,
these people to suffer cancer as a con- the risks, largely because the risks are however, if we can agree on general
sequence of their arm x-ray. In contrast, so very low. The only exception to this principles by which cancer risks of ra-
virtually all of them will benefit from the would be when a doctor orders an un- diation will be addressed, these same
medical information that their doctors warranted diagnostic procedure. In that principles can likely be co-opted for use
will glean from the x-ray image of their case, the patient receives a risk with no in comparable risk situations, in which
broken arm. With these numbers, you potential for benefit. Not good. the data are scarcer, but the need no less
now have all the information you need There are many diagnostic radiogra- compelling. Radiation risk is thus an
to decide whether broken arm x-rays are phy procedures out there and we cant excellent model for how best to handle
worth the cancer risk. review them all. Nevertheless, all diag- environmental cancer threats in general.
Of course, life is more than broken nostic radiography procedures fall into
arms. Effective doses have been cal- one of two categories of use: finding
culated for virtually every standard disease in patients who present with
diagnostic radiography procedure. In clinical symptoms of disease, or screen- For relevant Web links, consult this
most cases, the risks are highly defined ing for disease in people who have no issue of American Scientist Online:
and quantified, but the benefits are less symptoms. For radiographic proce- http://www.americanscientist.org/
defined and more qualitative. Nev- dures in the first category, such as the issues/id.125/past.aspx
ertheless, one thing can be said with broken arm example above, the benefits
confidence: When it comes to using di- nearly always far outweigh the risks.
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S c i e n t i s t s
Nightstand
Now, many years later, I have at

The Scientists Nightstand, Stats and Fiction last encountered a book that provides
solid, innovative statistics instruction
American Scientists book AN ADVENTURE IN STATISTICS: The alongside lessons in coding. And its
review section, offers brief Reality Enigma. Andy Field. Illustrated fair to say that it does so like no other.
reviews and other books- by James Iles. 746 pp. SAGE Publications, Andy Fields An Adventure in Statistics:
2016. $56. The Reality Enigmaan introductory
related content. Please see also statistics educational text embedded
our Scientists Nightstand
I
n graduate school, I searched and in a science fiction story with graphic-
e-newsletter, which notes books searched for a good applied sta- novel artworkhas caught my atten-
tistics textbookone that not only tion and kept it. If only Id had this
coverage and news from the
explained analyses and how they book back in grad school.
world of science publishing: work but also covered how to prepare Field, a professor of child psychopa-
http://amsci.org/nightstand-news and check ones data, write the pro- thology at the University of Sussex, is
gramming code, and read the output. the author of the popular textbook Dis-
Like most ecologists, I needed to learn covering Statistics Using SPSS [Statistical
a vast array of analytical techniques. Package for the Social Sciences], which
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE I ended up cobbling together what I has gone through three editions, sell-
needed using several books. A Primer ing hundreds of thousands of copies.
ERUPTION: The Untold Story of
for Ecological Statistics, by Nicholas J. When Field asked his publisher, SAGE
Mount St. Helens.
Gotelli and Aaron M. Ellison, was fine Publications, for permission to write a
By Steve Olson.
for checking the basics. For multivari- statistics for dummies book as part
page 123
ate analyses, I referred to Analysis of of a series put out by a rival publish-
Ecological Communities, by Bruce Mc- er, he was told that if he would write
Cune and James B. Grace, and Using the book for SAGE instead, he would
ONLINE Multivariate Statistics, by Barbara G. be given complete authorial control
THE PAPER ZOO: 500 Years of Tabachnick and Linda S. Fidell. Over freedom to do whatever he wanted. An
Animals in Art. the course of those doctoral research Adventure in Statistics was the result.
By Charlotte Sleigh. years, as well as when I began teach- Field has created (if youll forgive the
Review and an album of ing undergraduate biology, I picked pun) a truly novel textbook: one driven
images: americanscientist.org/ up a variety of statistics textbooks and by a fictional plot, full of quirky science
blog/pub/2dzoo
___________
put most of them right back down. fiction tropes, in which readers accom-
Further complicating matters, re- pany the protagonist on a quest to learn
searchers who rely on statistical analy- statistics. Like a standard textbook, it is
sis of their data must typically be fa- organized into a logical sequence of in-
miliar with some sort of programming structional chapters, with review ques-
code to run the numbers. Mastering tions and activities at the end of each.
Image courtesy of University of Chicago Press, 2017
how to write the code and interpret But unlike most textbooks, the fictional
the output can be big hurdles for early- plot guides the reader throughout and
career scientistsespecially as the is accompanied by comic-bookstyle
number of analyses they may need to illustrations. Field also freely blends
have in their toolboxes has proliferated. elements from the thriller and horror
During my last year of dissertation re- genres into the tale as his protagonist
search, I read about the code language races to locate a missing person and
for the free program R using Michael faces a zombie apocalypse. The book
J. Crawleys The R Book. This freeware is unlike anything else out there, but
had vast online help networks that en- it works despiteor maybe because
abled me to find what I needed fairly ofits peculiarity.
quickly and cheaply; it made much nic- Field uses the books prologue to
er visual graphics than SAS software set the scene, introducing readers to a
Ring-tailed lemur drawing by
George Edwards, ca. 174050. From
did; and it offered me the ability to do dystopian future in which the inven-
The Paper Zoo. analyses that other statistical software tion of a reality prism has made it
packages couldnt easily perform. possible for anyone wearing the device
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to see truth objectively and to separate
Illustration by Andy Field, 2016. Courtesy of SAGE Publishing.

out subjective experience. This inven-
tion, developed a few decades before
the storys action begins, has brought
about a revolution through the de-
mise of not only propaganda and me-
dia spin but also religion, art, music,
creativity, and peoples sense of pur-
pose. When a new World Governance
Agency embeds in its citizens Wi-Fi
enabled microchips that record what
a person sees, thinks, and hears in real
time, a schism emerges: On one side
are those who accept the chips in or-
der to join a virtual hive mind; on the
other are those who refuse them, pre-
ferring instead a steampunk-like love
Having caught a fleeting glimpse of his missing lover, Zach (left) fears she has abandoned him for
of anachronism. In Fields hands, the a life immersed in science. In the second panel, Milton (the cat) makes a call on his Proteus (a de-
reality prism serves as more than an vice that has replaced smart phones) to a shadowy figure he can see through an attached monocle.
interesting premise. He uses the inven- The reader is left to wonder who is on the other end of that call. From An Adventure in Statistics.
tion to cheekily make points about the
difficulty of defining objectivity, adding ance, including factorial and repeated- Zachand readersreassurance
depth and dimension to a question at measures designs. The text does not when the topic is especially difficult.
the root of the practice of statistics. give a comprehensive overview of non- For example, when Milton explains de-
Taking this destabilized world as linear or multivariate models. It cov- grees of freedom, Zach responds, That
its backdrop, Fields tale centers on ers the basics, however, and provides made no sense whatsoever. Milton
two characters who have been roman- guidelines for avoiding pitfalls com- answers, Worry not: Nobody under-
tic partners for 10 years and share an monly encountered by novice research- stands degrees of freedom. Presenting
apartment: Zach, the lead singer in a ers, both of which it does considerably statistics instruction in a narrative for-
metal band called The Reality Enigma, better than many other textbooks Ive mat enables Field to create an emotion-
who follows his gut feelings, and Al- examined. Each chapter ends with a al connection with readers that typical
ice, a scientist who bases her decisions set of activities and questions (labeled textbooks, and many teachers, do not.
on evidence. Zach is in awe of Alices puzzles) that help the reader review As an experienced educator, Field
scientific prowess, although he doesnt the concepts covered. Unlike the stan- has a good sense of where a student
always understand her work. When dard textbook examples and exercises, might get held up, and he makes sure
Alice disappears, with all records of however, these consider topics such as to cover such topics repeatedly to em-
her existence having been erased, Zach zombie rehabilitation, the psychology of phasize certain points. But he maintains
decides that in order to understand cheating on ones partner, and the busi- a teachers sense of humor about stu-
her research and why she might have ness of successfully promoting a metal dents and their tendency not to listen
disappeared, he has to learn science band with merchandise. well to their instructor. At one point,
and statisticseven though he hates In addition, data files and R scripts Zach gets confused about why a tech-
math and admits that it made him feel for some of the problems are avail- nique for repelling zombies doesnt
inferior and frustrated in school. His able. I like that Field offers these, as work, even though data supporting the
quest brings him into contact with a well as an ample number of images technique are available. He asks Milton,
passel of wacky characters, including that show effective data visualizations. Why would you have a model that fits
Miltona talking ginger cat that keeps The examples of code and output in R well but doesnt turn out to be much
texting him statistics hints and is, inci- for particular analyses are an essential use in the real world? Fields descrip-
dentally, a scientist trapped in a cats part of an applied statistics textbook tion of Miltons reaction to this remark
bodyand Celia, a beautiful fan of his if one is using it to teach oneself and depicts teacherly exasperation: Mil-
music who has a big crush on him and is applying the lessons to ones own tons face contorted into a strange mix
who also happens to work at a mys- data. Readers can also find videos of of admiration and suicidal ideation. I
terious scientific research institution, lectures by Field on his YouTube page spent a great deal of time telling you
JIG:SAW, which was mentioned multi- (http://bit.ly/2kWEhfv), along with about sources of bias that can influence
ple times in the data files that Alice left tutorials for both his earlier statistics the linear model. Must you subject me
behind on the day she disappeared. textbook and this one. to the utter tedium of explaining all of
As Zach progresses through his Fields clear and fun explanations that again? Then Milton proceeds to
quest, he receives a comprehensive in- demonstrate that he is an experienced give Zach a quick overview of the main
troduction to statistics. Like many in- and conscientious teacher. Through points already made about bias. Field
troductory statistics texts, this one starts Zachs first-person narration, Field clearly wants to emphasize the impor-
with basic ideas about sampling designs shows that the protagonists biggest tance of understanding bias in linear-
and the distribution of data, and it ends hindrance is his own insecurity about model statistics, but he also seizes the
with a common method for comparing math, not any inability to do statistics opportunity to playfully tease those
two or more meansanalysis of vari- and understand it. And Field gives readers in need of a recap.
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producibility and fishing for p-values

Illustration by Andy Field, 2016. Courtesy of SAGE.
below the threshold for significance.

Field drives this point home later in
the explanation, making it clear that
despite claims that this type of analysis
is more objective and less biased, it is
not necessarily so. He has Zach realize
that the scientists intentions before
data collection affect the actual value
of p. From here, Field guides the nar-
rative into a lesson on effect sizes and
Bayesian statistics, a realm of analysis
that is not explored in detail in all sta-
tistics textbooks. In the story, a cult has
In a section on the art of presenting data, Field provides several illustrations that contrast a terrible emerged around NHST, traditionally
graph or chart (left) with a more elegant version (right). The flawed examples are attributed to Rob considered a gold-standard falsifiable
Nutcot, ostensible head of the research institution JIG:SAW. Most of the elegant versions are attest impervious to the effects of bias.
tributed to a Dr. Sisyphus Tuff, described as the world expert on displaying data; his last name is The Doctrine of ChanceSister Prices
clearly meant to evoke pioneer of data visualization Edward Tufte. From An Adventure in Statistics.
cult, which advocates for Bayesian
statisticsarose in response. Critical of
This failure to repel zombies is not You are different: You find this hard, the traditional methods shortcomings,
the only occasion on which statistics people have told you that you cant do they argue that it indeed allows bias
obscure the truth. All the characters it, but . . . youve never given up. to enter by several possible avenues,
struggle to trust one another, and Fields world-building and charac- including flawed experiment design,
many discover others to be lying ter development in the story animate overestimating the importance of small
with statisticsthrough poor choice of the often contentious matter of at- effects deemed statistically significant,
analysis, failure of the data to conform tempting to separate objectivity from or by outright fishing for significance.
to assumptions, misapprehension of subjectivity, science from art, realism The fictional narrative isnt too far off
the datas structure or outliers, or the from relativism, logic from intuition, from the truth, given that these two
creation of misleading data visualiza- and rational thought from emotion. camps in statistics have been at odds
tions. In this way, Field teaches that After all, Milton advises against di- in the past (and occasionally still are).
statistics is a tool that can be used not chotomizing continuous variables, Field avoids the controversy by put-
just to solve problems and compre- saying it is rarely sensible. Through ting a humorous fictional spin on it,
hend complex patterns, but also to depicting his characters struggles, but he also makes it clear that any sta-
deceiveor to confirm biases. Often Field shows that both sides of each tistical technique is suspect when it is
this subject is not addressed so overtly of these dichotomies are necessary applied blindly or dogmatically.
in statistics classes, especially in cases The mythology that Field builds
in which it might court controversy or The mythology that shows that he values the importance
complicate homework assignments. of art and emotion as a driver for ones
The fictionalized data avoid these Field builds shows use of statistics and desire to learn it. In-
downsides while communicating im-
portant cautionary notes.
that he values the deed, Zachs tendency to follow his gut
feelings comes in handy throughout the
Milton ends up being Zachs de facto importance of art and story. By showing how all the charac-
statistics teacher for most of the book. ters use statistics along with their other
He is incredibly hard on Zach in an emotion as a driver for skill sets, Field humanizes statistics, de-
ironic, catty way, but when Zach loses
confidence or when others attack his
ones use of statistics. picting it as a tool wielded by people
who may be good or bad, are certainly
knowledge of statistics, Milton has his for solving problems welland that complex, and are not always in agree-
back. Most of the time, Milton displays when the opposing sides are at odds, ment about how they see the world.
a quirky and brusque sense of humor. problems may not be solved well and The fictional story exists in service of
For example, when a chimera threat- can become more polarizing. Field the statistics instruction, as the narrative
ens Zach as he fumbles trying to inter- makes this point most vividly when flow is driven by wherever the statistics
pret some data, Milton bristles, Look, he has Sister Price, a druidic figure lessons need to go next. Although on its
lizard . . . . Three weeks ago this ape who represents a group called the own the tale would not garner praise
thought that kurtosis was a dental hy- Doctrine of Chance, explain the draw- from literary critics, it succeeds in mak-
giene problem; all things considered, backs of null-hypothesis significance ing a normally dry read into one that
we are moving swiftly. Later, Milton testing (NHST): The recipe-book na- is fun, emotive, and even suspenseful.
even congratulates Zach for sticking ture of NHST encourages people to Field uses fiction to talk about conten-
with it, giving him one of the only think in this all-or-nothing way. The tious topics in science and statistics in
straightforward compliments in the dogmatic application of the 0.05 rule entertaining and indirect ways, and he
whole book: You are the best student [for p-values] can mislead scientists. also uses the story to show that behind
Ive ever had. I have taught many bril- Indeed, this pitfall has led to the cur- every statistical analysis is a plot with
liant scientists, but they are naturals . . . . rent debate among scientists over re- characters, each of whom has his or her

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own worldview, ethics, desires, and restlessness set in. After all, livelihoods posited white pumice as far as six miles
emotions. In this way, the book stands were at stake. Area law enforcement away. He went on to describe possible
out as being especially instructive couldnt keep U.S. Forest Service roads characteristics of a future eruption: The
about the application and interpreta- closed to the public indefinitely and, area could be decimated without much
tion of statistics in the messy real world, given Weyerhaeusers influence in the warning by pyroclastic flowspowerful
in contrast to the many textbooks that region, public safety officials dared not air currents of searing gas and pulver-
show only the application of statistics in close roads on its land. ized rock capable of traveling at speeds
an idealized world. Sometimes fiction On March 26, state and local officials, in the hundreds of miles per hour. A
is the best vehicle for showing us our along with U.S. Forest Service person- landslide could hit the Swift Reservoir,
own reality, even in a field developed to nel, the media, and a Weyerhaeuser about 10 miles to the south, and trig-
separate facts from fictions. representative, gathered in a conference ger a flood. Mudflows might sweep
room for a scientific briefing. The pre- through the river valleys. And although
Katie L. Burke is digital features editor of Ameri- senter, U.S. Geological Survey geologist lateral explosions were not well under-
can Scientist. She received her PhD in biology Donal Mullineaux, along with his col- stood at the time, it was possible that an-
from the University of Virginia in 2011. She blogs league Dwight Crandell, had spent two other one could occur, blasting massive
about ecology at the Understory.
decades studying Mount St. Helens. To amounts of rock from the mountaintop
the assembled group, Mullineaux re- directly into adjacent valleys. The next
ported that for the past thousand years, eruption was coming, the geologists had
Mount St. Helens had erupted about concluded in the report, perhaps even
Explosive Truths once a centurymost recently in 1857. before the end of this century.
ERUPTION: The Untold Story of Mount Several eruptions had been violent lat- Dumbfounded by the direness of
St. Helens. Steve Olson. xviii + 301 pp. eral explosions, he noted, which had de- the warning and the imprecision of the
W. W. Norton, 2016. $27.95.
Top: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Bottom: USGS; photo by Lyn Topinka. Both: From Eruption, by Steve Olson, 2016 Steve Olson. Courtesy of W. W. Norton & Co.
O
n March 20, 1980, after 123
years of dormancy, Mount St.
Helens woke up. Seismometers
had detected a 4.0 earthquake about a
mile below the surface of the volcano,
which is located in the Gifford Pinchot
National Forest in southwestern Wash-
ington. In the days immediately fol-
lowing, more quakes were recorded,
as many as 40 an hour. These werent
aftershocksit was a volcanic swarm.
Business owners, loggers, and the
media demanded to know when the
volcano was going to blow. As Seattle-
based journalist Steve Olson discusses
in his book Eruption: The Untold Story of
Mount St. Helens, there was no easy an-
swer: The science wasnt there yet. But
as Olson demonstrates, the lack of clear
scientific guidance and an absence of
straightforward jurisdictional relation-
ships fostered government inaction at
all levels, with disastrous results. Given
recent seismic activity around Mount
St. Helens (earthquake swarms were
recorded in June and November of
2016, although these gave no indica-
tion of imminent danger), revisiting the
events of 1980 seems especially timely.
Just after the March 20th quake, some
immediate protective measures were
taken. The Weyerhaeuser Company,
which was harvesting some of the last
old-growth timber on its land surround-
ing Mount St. Helens, evacuated its 300
employees, and the Washington Depart-
ment of Emergency Services advised
everyone within 15 miles of the volcano Mount St. Helens, before the May 18, 1980 eruption (top) and two years later (bottom). After the
to leave the area. But within a week, eruption, a new cone can be seen rising in the crater left by the 1980 lateral blast. From Eruption.
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timeline, a state official asked, You is rooted in this period: Reports indi- accounts from hundreds of eyewit-
mean to tell us that we as a nation can cating that victims had flouted the law nesses, including survivors, scientists,
send a man to the Moon and you cant kindled in Olson a long-standing desire rescue and recovery teams, and law
predict if a volcano will erupt or not? to understand why so many people enforcement. He rightly believed that
That was indeed the case. Mullineauxs had been so close to an active volcano. these accounts could prove vital to
job was to convey the facts based on The explanation that Governor Ray researchers. He also combed through
the geologic history. What to do with and others offered almost immediate- media archives to find the words of the
the informationwhether to reopen ly afterward, a myth that still persists, victims themselves, and these make
roads to the public, for example, or to was that nearly all were there illegally, clear how little the public understood
allow people to return to their homes having skirted around roadblocks and about possible hazards.
and jobswas up to the politicians and ignored warnings. Yet Olson found Finally, Olson discusses the impact
emergency planners. that of the 57 deadwho included of the eruption on the scientific com-
Decisions about how and whether campers and hikers, Weyerhaeuser munity. Those who had been working
to restrict public access to the area loggers, sightseers, and people moni- at the site were devastated. Despite
quickly became political. In mid-April, toring the volcano, such as geologist all their efforts at monitoring the vol-
the Forest Service designated two haz- David Johnstononly Truman lacked cano, Olson notes, they were unable
ard zones. The red zone took in mostly permission to be there. In fact, most to provide any warning of its erup-
Forest Service land to the north and of the victims were outside the exist- tion. He concludes that
east of the mountain. Its access was ing blue zone, even as the request to
perhaps the greatest failure of the
limited to scientists and law enforce- expand it sat on Rays desk. Had the
monitoring effort at Mount St.
ment officials. However, an exception disaster happened on a weekday, Ol-
Helens was the insufficient atten-
was made for lodge owner and newly son notes, hundreds of Weyerhaeuser
tion devoted to the worst things
minted folk hero and media darling loggers would have been killed in the
that could happen. . . . A large
Harry Randall Truman, who had lived blue zone (which they had permission
event was possible but unlikely,
beside the volcano for 54 years and to enter during the daytime). None
and scientists still have difficulty
strenuously defended his right to con- would have been there illegally.
dealing with low-probability high-
tinue doing so. Refusing to leave, Tru-
consequence events. But without
man remained in the red zoneno The idea that the victims some knowledge of what could
one had the political will to remove
him. The blue zone extended to the are to blame for their happen, the people around the vol-
cano that Sunday morning were
southwest of the red zone; there, log-
gers and property owners could come
own deaths might today unprepared for what did happen.
and go during the daytime if they had be characterized as an The U.S. Geological Survey made
permission. To the west and northwest significant procedural changes in
of these zones sat prime Weyerhaeus- alternative fact. the wake of the cataclysm. Hav-
er timberland. The Forest Service had ing gained a better appreciation of
no intention of restricting the lumber The idea that the victims are to the demands of conveying scientific
companys property and alienating blame for their own deaths, Olson knowledge outside scientific circles,
the powerful employer. writes, is the product of a carefully the USGS established a new role in its
Washington Governor Dixie Lee Ray, fabricated lie invented and perpetu- ranks: Information scientistsexperts
a former biology professor who had ated by Ray and other public officials, knowledgeable about the data and ex-
improbably won the governors man- who were unwilling to take any perienced in media relationswould
sion in 1976 during the post-Watergate blame for the disaster. They claimed disseminate information to the press
political backlash, had final say over the victims had been warned and and the public. The agency also devel-
the zones boundaries. Rays contrar- shouldnt have been where they were. oped preparedness plans for hazard-
ian, acerbic personalityshe delighted Ray stuck firmly to her story, and soon ous volcanoes and created a standard-
in insulting the press and encouraged what might today be characterized ized volcanic activity alert-notification
Truman to stay despite the wishes of as an alternative fact became, after system, which it modeled after the
local officialsand her friendship with much retelling, accepted as truth. National Weather Services alert sys-
George Weyerhaeuser, president of Olsons anger about this prevarica- tem for tornadoes and hurricanes. Its
the lumber company, made it unlikely tion is justified, and his book builds a volcanologists also pressed on with re-
that she would extend the blue zones solid case for condemning the politi- newed vigor. As a result, researchers
boundaries into Weyerhaeuser land, cians for their handling of the situation. understanding of volcanoes and later-
as geologists and law enforcement Those interested in digging further al blasts has increased greatly because
wanted. The request to expand the into the details of the cataclysm of Mount St. Helensa consequence
blue zone sat on her desk unsigned the scientific, personal, political, and oth- that should benefit many whenever
morning of May 18, when Mount St. erwisewill find Richard Waitts 2014 the mountain rouses again.
Helens exploded and killed 57 people. title, In the Path of Destruction: Eyewit-
As deftly as he recounts events lead- ness Chronicles of Mount St. Helens, an James G. Lewis is the staff historian at the Forest
ing up to the 1980 eruption, the real invaluable and sobering read. Waitt, a History Society. He is the author of The Forest
strength of Olsons book lies in his han- volcanologist who analyzed ashfalls at Service and the Greatest Good: A Centennial
dling of what happened after May 18. Mount St. Helens in the weeks before History, and he blogs about all things forest his-
His reason for writing the book, in fact, its eruption, spent 30 years collecting tory at Peeling Back the Bark.
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MarchApril 2017
Volume 26
Number 2
Sigma Xi Today A NEWSLETTER OF SIGMA XI, THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH HONOR SOCIETY
Judges Sought for From the President

Student Research
Showcase The Core Value of Science
Sigma Xi is seeking professional re- It is commonplace to observe that science has lost its pri-
searchers and science communicators macy among some people as the public knowledge that
to judge the Student Research Show- society uses for decision-making. The rigorous applica-
case, a science communication compe- tion of science and technology is accepted as socially
tition for high school, undergraduate, useful as long as it is applied to marketable products,
and graduate students. Judges from innovation, and elaboration of safe ideas. However, the
the following disciplines are needed application of more fundamental principles of science,
April 310 to evaluate and provide even those that make these applications possible, are sus-
feedback on presentation websites:
pect to many people of faith or convictions, even though
r BOUISPQPMPHZ
they value the fruits. President Tee L. Guidotti
r BHSJDVMUVSF TPJM BOE OBUVSBM
resources The result is not a complete rejection of science but
r DFMM CJPMPHZ BOE CJPDIFNJTUSZ rather an adoption of a contingent way of thinking. For these people, the thought
r DIFNJTUSZ process starts from a place different from where the idea came: The genome is sepa-
r FDPMPHZ BOE FWPMVUJPOBSZ CJPMPHZ rated from evolutionary biology, the fossil record is experienced as a test of faith,
r FOHJOFFSJOH and climate change is redefined as weather instability. Deductive thought process is
r FOWJSPONFOUBM TDJFODFT cut off from premises. Causes are not examined too closely. Explanatory science is
r HFPTDJFODFT reduced to phenomenology.
r IVNBO CFIBWJPSBM BOE TPDJBM TDJ- Science literacy, by itself, will not change this form of contingent thinking,
ences because the fundamental problem is not ignorance. Contingent thinking about
r NBUI BOE DPNQVUFS TDJFODF science arises from a moral crisis. Our society pits wisdom received from trusted
r NJDSPCJPMPHZ BOE NPMFDVMBS CJPM- sources, carrying the certainty of moral authority, against difficult, uncertain, tenta-
ogy tive, dense, arcane, interpretations of the material world offered by science. Liberal
r QIZTJDT BOE BTUSPOPNZ democracies place responsibility on the citizen for deciding what is true, at least for
r QIZTJPMPHZ BOE JNNVOPMPHZ the purpose of the decision. Scientific knowledge about everything that matters is
Each volunteer will judge up to 10 beyond the capacity of any individual and in science is necessarily a collective un-
student websites that contain a re- dertaking. Faith and moral teaching, on the other hand, are available to all and do
search abstract, slide show, and video. not even require comprehension, if one simply believes.
Judges interact with contestants by
Criticism of values-based thinking will not advance the scientific enterprise. The
posting comments and questions on
fastest way to harden an adversary and the surest way to wander into hypocrisy is
the sites, allowing flexibility with each
to attack an adversarys beliefs. After all, science exercises its own form of contingent
judges personal schedule. No travel
is required. The students compete to thinking: No theory is final, and every explanation is subject to falsification and
be named a division winner and re- elaboration. Science also rests on a form of authority, derived from consensus among
ceive up to $500. the informed scientific community.
Sigma Xi membership is preferred, Science education will not solve the root problem, which involves particular
but not required, to judge. To values. In values, however, there may be room for reconciliation. Faith and moral
volunteer by March 31, go to https://
_____ purpose have many values. Science has but one: the primacy of demonstrable truth.
www.sigmaxi.org/meetings-events/
_________________________ This value constitutes a moral compass within science, a secular lodestone that
volunteer.
_______ binds every scientist in the same mission.
Science and technology empower values by guiding action on things about
The Public Can Help which we can agree matter, such as health, decent living conditions, and the proper
Everyone can vote for the Peoples use of power. Science cannot address conscience, values beyond demonstrable truth,
Choice Award winner, based on the and compassion. It can only fulfill or thwart them. But social and moral empower-
merit of the presentations video. The ment begins with demonstrable truth, and that is the core value of science.
winner receives up to $250.
Find more details at https://www.sigmaxi.org/

______________
meetings-events/student-research-showcase.
________________________
www.americanscientist.org
________________ 2017 MarchApril 125
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GRANTS
Small Grants Make Big Difference

signaling pathways in
greater depth. I used
SMEE grant money to
purchase expensive
antibodies and drugs
to perform control ex-
periments. The grant
also financed a small
stipend for a dedicated
student, Annamarie
Bryant, class of 2016, in
the lab.
Bryant and Matt
Sigma Xi Awards
Volk, class of 2018, Research Grants
presented this project
at the 2016 American to Students
Society for Cell Biol-
ogy Annual Meeting The Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Re-
search (GIAR) program has been
From left, Susan Walsh, Paxton Sickler, and Matt Volk work in the (Bryant et al., 2016).
lab at Rollins College. (Image courtesy of Scott Cook.) Both students were funding research by undergraduate
nominated for Sigma and graduate students since 1922.
Editors note: Sigma Xi offers Sci- Xi membership. In the fall 2016 cycle, the Society
ence, Math, and Engineering Education The results from this project led to awarded 115 grants totaling $91,205
(SMEE) Grants worth up to $2,000 each a summer research opportunity that to students in four countries. The
to the Societys chapters to fund innova- was one of the highlights of my ac- Committee on Grants-in-Aid of
tive education programs. Susan Walsh, ademic career, Bryant said. I have Research, chaired by Peter J. Har-
president of the Rollins College Chapter in honed not only my laboratory skills, ries of North Carolina State Uni-
Winter Park, Florida, shares the outcomes but also my written and oral commu- versity, selected 20 undergraduate
of their grant below. Chapter leaders may nication abilities, and I have had the students, 28 masters students, and
find application information at www.sig-
______ honor to work alongside the faculty at 67 doctoral candidates to receive
maxi.org by clicking on Chapters and Rollins College.
______ grants.
then Officer Resource Center. The ap- Funds from the SMEE grant also Students may apply for funding
plication deadline is March 1. provided appropriate experimen- from the program twice each year
tal controls for students this semes- at https://www.sigmaxi.org/
_____________________
With Sigma Xis Science, Math, and ter, which will improve their learning programs/grants-in-aid.
_________________ The next
Engineering Education (SMEE) Grant, experience. They will participate in a
application deadline is March 15.
I was able to refine an undergradu- modified pre- and post-test to assess
The grants are made possible by
ate classroom experience that gives their technical understanding and ap-
designated funds from the National
students hands-on opportunities to plication of the techniques. After see-
learn multiple techniques to support ing Bryants good experience, students Academy of Sciences and from do-
the same experimental conclusion. are motivated to design their own in- nations. In the fall 2016 cycle, Sigma
This laboratory exercise introduces 1) dependent explorations in cell biology. Xi funded 17.7% of the 651 applica-
culturing human tissue culture cells, We also are writing about the labora- tions received. More grants could
2) confocal microscopy, 3) subcellular tory procedure for publication in an be awarded in future cycles if more
fractionation of cells into cytoplasmic education journal. support is received.
and nuclear components, 4) SDS-PAGE, I encourage others to apply for the Sigma Xi is committed to
a technique to separate proteins, and SMEE Grant; it has enabled meaning- strengthening the GIAR program.
5) western blotting, a technique used ful research opportunities for my stu- A Centennial Campaign, which
to detect single proteins in a sample. dents. Susan Walsh kicked off at the 2016 Annual Meet-
Furthermore, this laboratory exercise ing to count down to the programs
permits hands-on analysis of cellu- Bibliography 100th year in 2022, calls for more
Bryant, A. T., M. Volk, P. S. Sickler, S. M. Fer-
lar nutrient homeostasis, signaling, financial support to help more stu-
guson, and S. Walsh. 2016. Three-Week
and subcellular localization. Finally, it Cell Biology Laboratory Exercise: Signal- dents.
can be enriched to include additional ing Influences Subcellular Localization of
variables, thereby generating inde- TFEB-GFP. In Abstracts: Poster Presentations, To donate to GIAR, ___________
https://ecommerce.
pendent research projects for students supplement, Molecular Biology of the Cell sigmaxi.org/ecom/#donate
_______________
to manipulate and understand these 27:S7-S8. doi:10.1091/mbc.E16-10-0736.
126 Sigma Xi Today
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DISTINGUISHED LECTURERS
Learn from Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturers

Learn about a different research also director of the Middle East Center He was awarded the U.S. National
topic each month by talking with a for Peace, Development, and Culture; Science Foundation CAREER Award
Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer from a Senior Fulbright Scholar award re- and the U.K. National Endowment
the comfort of your own computer. cipient; and the co-author of The Equi- for Science Technology and Arts CRU-
Using Adobe Connect, American ty Equation: Fostering the Advancement CIBLE award. He was selected to the
Scientist editors moderate Q & A of Women in the Sciences, Mathematics, Fellowship of the U.K. Royal Society
discussions with the lecturers. The and Engineering. She was the found- of Chemistry and to the U.S. National
public can participate by joining ing director of the Peace and Conflict Academy of Engineering Frontiers of
the online sessions and asking the Studies program at UMass Lowell and Engineering program. He was made
lecturer questions about that months was the principal investigator for the a Kavli Fellow in 2014 by the Kavli
topic. Live updates from the sessions National Science Foundation (NSF)- Foundation and the U.S. National
are posted on American Scientists funded initiative, Project Techforce: Academy of Sciences.
Twitter account, @AmSciMag, with Women and Men in Information Tech- Link to participate: https://sigmaxi.
____________
#AmSciTalks. nology Workplaces and co-principal adobeconnect.com/nanotechnology/
__________________________
Recordings of past sessions are avail- investigator for the NSF-funded Proj- May 9, 3:304:30 p.m. Eastern Time
able on American Scientists YouTube ect WORKING WISE (Women in Sci-
Making a Quantum Leap
page at https://www.youtube.com/
____________________ ence and Engineering).
user/AmSciMagazine. for Computers
________________ Recorded top- Link to participate: https://sigmaxi.
____________
ics include After Fukushima: Nuclear adobeconnect.com/inclusive/ Guest: Su-
_____________________
Power Programs Around the World, san N. Cop-
April 11, 3:304:30 p.m. Eastern Time persmith,
Searching for the Chemical Origins
of Life, and Prehistoric Decisions Pre-
Using Nanoparticles for Consumer the Robert
served in Artifacts. We hope you can Products and the Environment E. Fassnacht
participate in the following upcoming Guest: Alex- Professor and
sessions: ander Orlov, Vilas Professor
an associ- of Physics at
March 14, 3:304:30 p.m. Eastern Time ate professor the University
How to Create Inclusive Cultures of materials of Wisconsin
in STEM Fields science and Madison, is a
Guest: Paula engineering theoretical condensed matter physi-
Rayman, a at the State cist who has worked on a broad range
professor of University of problems in the area of complex
sociology at of New York, systems and has made substantial
the University Stony Brook,
contributions to the understanding
of Massachu- is also a faculty member of the Con-
of subjects such as glasses, granular
setts Lowell, sortium for Interdisciplinary Environ-
materials, the nonlinear dynamics of
is a nationally mental Research, an affiliate faculty
magnetic flux lattices in type-II super-
recognized of the chemistry department, affiliate
scholar in the faculty at the Institute for Advanced conductors, and quantum computing.
field of work Computational Science at Stony Brook Coppersmith is a fellow of the Ameri-
organization, labor, and public policy University, and a visiting professor can Physical Society, the American As-
and has been recognized for her lead- at Cambridge University. Orlovs sociation for the Advancement of Sci-
ership on advancing women in STEM. principle research activities are in the ence, and the American Academy of
Her presentations have discussed how development of novel materials for Arts and Sciences. She has also been
institutions can work toward diver- energy generation, structural applica- elected to be a member of the Nation-
sity, equity, and innovation. Rayman is tions, and environmental protection. al Academy of Sciences.
Link to participate: https://sigmaxi.
____________
adobeconnect.com/computers/
______________________
Members-at-Large, Watch for a Survey For updates about these sessions, and
future sessions, go to the Sigma Xi calendar
at ______________________
http://community.sigmaxi.org/events/
calendar.
_____
All Sigma Xi members who are not affiliated with a chapter will receive
a survey by email to ask about their needs and hopes as a member of the
Sigma Xi Today is
Society. Expect to see this survey in February, 2017. edited by Heather Thorstensen
and designed by Justin Storms
www.americanscientist.org
________________ 2017 MarchApril 127
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MEMBER NEWS
Sigma Xi Members Become AAAS Fellows

The American Association for the Advance- Debra P. C. Peters, U.S. Department of Section on Geology and Geography
ment of Science (AAAS) Council elected Agriculture Michelle Anne Kominz, Western Michigan
the following Sigma Xi members among its Anne L. Plant, National Institute of Standards University
2016 Fellows to recognize their contribu- and Technology Zhe-Xi Luo, University of Chicago
tions to innovation, education, and scien- Clifton A. Poodry, Howard Hughes Medical John W. Valley, University of Wisconsin,
tific leadership. Congratulations! Institute Madison
Kathleen Postle, Pennsylvania State University Herman B. Zimmerman, National Science
Section on Agriculture, Food, and
James J. Smith, Michigan State University Foundation (retired)
Renewable Resources
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66 From the Editors

67 Letters to the Editors

FROM THE EDITORS

A s spring approaches, tiny parasites take positions

66 American Scientist, Volume 105

ARMENIA & the REPUBLIC of GEORGIA We invite you to travel

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 67

68 American Scientist, Volume 105

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70 American Scientist, Volume 105

can expel a photon at a different wave-

A 4.75-foot model of NASAs upcoming Space

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 71

going back 13,000 years that show that

72 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 73

Eleanor Lutz, www.tabletopwhale.com

similar size, which take 45 to 80 days. Fos- be challenging, because C. botulinum is

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 75

Vlad Vekselman and Elle Starkman

76 American Scientist, Volume 105

How to Detect Faked Photos

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 77

begin by modeling the entire imag-

78 American Scientist, Volume 105

Consider the scene in the figure at

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 79

All of the light rays, regardless of the

80 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 81

Art and Science in the Romantic

viewers recognition but ultimately

82 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 83

84 American Scientist, Volume 105

biotically with our bodies, like a vast

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 85

86 American Scientist, Volume 105

us to infer the ratio of carbon to oxy-

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 87

JWST is set up to collect a vari- instruments allows both imaging (tak-

HDST for dealing with intrapixel sensitivity

88 American Scientist, Volume 105

near-infrared spectrograph quantities are, and what the thermal

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 89

Bottle and Can Openers as Levers

90 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 91

92 American Scientist, Volume 105

William Painters bottle opener (far left)

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 93

94 American Scientist, Volume 105

Jack Dykinga/Nature Picture Library

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 95

even distribution of firs less even distribution of

balsam fir red maple white pine

groups (for example, birds), a 320 least minimization of human

96 American Scientist, Volume 105

www.americanscientist.org 2017 MarchApril 97

terrestrial plants multiple taxa and habitats marine coastal ecosystems

98 American Scientist, Volume 105

relevant to assessing arguments about

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