Koch Foundation

Draper





  
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<p>
  Schrödinger’s cat is famous in the physics world. It’s a curious thought experiment dreamt up by Erwin Schrödinger in which a cat is enclosed in a box with a vial of poison. Until someone opens the box, the cat is both dead
  <em>
   and
  </em>
  alive—we have no way of knowing which until we observe it. The analogy illustrates the principle of quantum superposition: any subatomic particle inhabits all of its possible quantum states (the set of numbers determining the particle’s characteristics) at once—until we measure it.
 </p>
<p>
  Superposition is a feature of the microscopic world—not the macroscopic. But how big is too big before Schrödinger’s cat ceases to be relevant? For example, can we quantum superimpose a real-life cat? Here’s Edwin Cartlidge, writing for Physics World:
 </p>
<blockquote>
<p>
   In recent years physicists have been placing ever-larger objects into states of quantum superposition – the curious state that Schrödinger’s cat finds itself in. Now, researchers in Germany have devised a way of quantifying just how macroscopic those objects are and how much ground still needs to be made up before cats and other familiar items can be held in two or more quantum states at the same time.
  </p>
</blockquote>
<p>
  There are some obstacles to macroscopic superposition. But even if scientists could overcome them, Schrödinger’s cat, if it were real, might just be too fat. Researcher Stefan Nimmrichter noted:
 </p>
<blockquote>
<p>
   “One should never say never, but we will probably never be able to put a cat in a quantum superposition.”
  </p>
</blockquote>
<p>
  Experiments like these could help them find out whether or not a boundary exists—and if it does, where—between the quantum and classical worlds.
 </p>
</section>
</div>
  



How Fat is Schrödinger’s Cat?





  
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<p>
 Biomimicry—the use of nature to inspire design—is
 <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/22702/10-technologies-we-stole-animal-kingdom">
  widely used by cutting-edge technologists
 </a>
 to design everything from bullet train noses, new X-ray machines, and lighter and safer cars. But let’s take a moment to flip that idea on its head. Are there things we thought humans invented that have been later discovered in nature?
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 As a matter of fact, yes. Nymphs of a common insect found in Britain—
 <i>
  Issus coeleoptratus
 </i>
 , a species of planthopper—has what were presumably a very human creation—gears. While working at the University of Cambridge, Greg Sutton noticed a strange mechanism on the insect’s back legs. Here’s Adam Cole
 <a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/09/13/219739500/living-gears-help-this-bug-jump">
  reporting
 </a>
 for NPR’s Morning Edition:
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 There was a tiny row of bumps on the inside of each leg where it met the insect’s body. The bumps looked just like the teeth of gears. And when the planthopper jumped, they acted like gears too — as teeth meshed, the legs turned in synchrony. Sutton says his finding,
 <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6151/1254">
  published
 </a>
 this week in
 <i>
  Science
 </i>
 , is the first mechanical gear system ever observed in nature.
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 The small bumps—called trochanters—are incredibly well suited to the planthopper, which springs away from danger in the blink of an eye. Sutton filmed the bugs hopping with a high-speed camera and noticed that both leaping legs moved almost simultaneously—the difference between the two was as short as 30 millionths of a second. That’s much shorter than the time it takes for a neuron to execute even the smallest, most rudimentary task. The synchrony propels the insect faster, farther, and straighter.
</p>
<p>
 Ed Yong,
 <a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/09/12/this-insect-has-gears-in-its-legs/">
  writing
 </a>
 for Not Exactly Rocket Science, has more background on Sutton’s research:
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 The planthopper nymphs lose them when they become adults. But the adults don’t shoot off in uncoordinated spins—if anything, they’re better jumpers than the youngsters. Their hind trochanters make much closer contact with each other, and Sutton thinks that
 <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20086132">
  the friction between them helps to keep them in time
 </a>
 . “We’re kind of sure about that, but not entirely sure,” he says.
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 <i>
  Issus coeleoptratus
 </i>
 ‘s gears work similarly to their human-designed counterparts, but they have a leg up at smaller scales. Sutton—a mechanical engineer—thinks the trochanters could help us build more efficient machines:
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 Modern machines, such as 3-D printers, could easily create gears with these shark-fin teeth. Sutton is really excited by the prospect, and suspects that they may perform better in very small machines. “Modern machinery often doesn’t work at very small scales,” he says. “Friction doesn’t matter so much when you have two big gears next to each other but when you get small, friction starts killing you.”
</p></div>
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 The planthoppers might help to solve that problem. “We’re still being impressed and shocked by what we find in the back garden,” says Sutton.
</p>
<p>
 <i>
  For more bioinspired technologies, watch “Making Stuff Wilder”, airing October 23 at 9/8 central on PBS.
 </i>
</p></div>
  

  
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 Photo by Burrows/Sutton
</p></div>
  



<p>Are there things we thought humans invented that have been later discovered in nature?</p>

This Insect Jumps Using Built-In Gears





  
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<p>
  NASA’s
  <em>
   Cassini
  </em>
  spacecraft—in orbit around Saturn—took a picture of Earth last Friday, July 19, from nearly 900 million miles away. The entire image, which will take several weeks to develop, will depict more than just our planet (a “
  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M" title='"pale blue dot"'>
   pale blue dot
  </a>
  ,” a fraction of a pixel, compared to everything else). For now, we have a portion of it. It took approximately 1 hour, 20 minutes and 24 seconds for the photons that went into this image to reach
  <em>
   Cassini’
  </em>
  s wide-angle lens.
 </p>

            <figure class="richtext-image full-width"><img alt="Earth-Moon System from Cassini" class="richtext-image full-width" height="450" width="800"
            src="/wgbh/nova/media/images/earthmoon_cassini_960_v2.width-800.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="credit"></div></figcaption>
            </figure>
            

<p>
  Here’s Lee Billings, writing for Scientific American before the photo shoot:
 </p>
<blockquote>
<p>
   Built, launched and operated at a total cost of more than $3 billion, Cassini will spend 15 minutes capturing a natural-color photographic mosaic of Saturn’s “E” ring, an annulus of dust and water ice fed by plumes of vapor venting from somewhere warm, wet, and potentially habitable deep within the icy moon
   <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=enceladus-secrets">
    Enceladus
   </a>
   . Another attraction will lurk in the far distance, barely visible just outside the E ring by virtue of Saturn’s deep shadow: The blue crescent of the sunlit Earth, bearing an untold number of upturned gazes from potential fans in the continental United States, the Caribbean, Central America, or the eastern half of the South Pacific. With a bit of luck, Cassini might also glimpse Earth’s adjacent Moon.
  </p>
</blockquote>
<p>
  Carolyn Porco, leader of
  <em>
   Cassini
  </em>
  ’s imaging team, says this is likely the last time the satellite will observe the Earth. In 2017, the craft will reach the end of its life and will descend into Saturn’s atmosphere; until then, researchers are hoping to make the most of its flight.
 </p>
<blockquote>
<p>
   “It’s not clear when we’ll ever do this again,” Porco says. “Missions this big and ambitious aren’t really in vogue anymore, so maybe we’ll only have a spacecraft this sophisticated out there once every hundred years. I do see this as probably our last great, gorgeous look back at Saturn and at the Earth before Cassini goes dark.”
  </p>
</blockquote>
<p>
  Space enthusiasts across the globe waved at Saturn on Friday. Take a look at
  <a href="http://storify.com/VeronicaMcG/wave-at-saturn" title="this NASA Storify">
   NASA’s collection
  </a>
  of photos from people who joined in.
 </p>
</section>
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Cassini Captures Earth From Afar





  
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<p>
  By how many degrees would the average temperature of the Earth rise if carbon dioxide levels doubled? Scientists have been pursuing an accurate estimate of this figure since the late 19th century—it’s the “holy grail of climate science,” writes Justin Gillis in
  <em>
   The New York Times.
  </em>
  Most experts believe that this “climate sensitivity” figure lies somewhere just above five degrees Fahrenheit.
 </p>
<blockquote>
<p itemprop="articleBody">
   That may not sound like a particularly scary number to many people — after all, we experience temperature variations of 20 or 30 degrees in a single day. But as an average for the entire planet, five degrees is a huge number.
  </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody">
   The ocean, covering 70 percent of the surface, helps bring down the average, but the warming is expected to be higher over land, causing weather extremes like heat waves and torrential rains. And the poles will warm even more, so that the increase in the Arctic could exceed 10 or 15 degrees Fahrenheit. That could cause substantial melting of the polar ice sheets, ultimately flooding the world’s major coastal cities.
  </p>
</blockquote>
<p itemprop="articleBody">
  Some recent studies, though, have proposed estimates below four degrees, stirring climate change skeptics and making some wonder if the future might look better than expected. But the well-regarded climate scientist James Annan warns against dismissing the threat of global warming. Gillis concludes:
 </p>
<blockquote>
<p itemprop="articleBody">
   Even if climate sensitivity turns out to be on the low end of the range, total emissions may wind up being so excessive as to drive the earth toward dangerous temperature increases.
  </p>
<p itemprop="articleBody">
   So if the recent science stands up to critical examination, it could indeed turn into a ray of hope — but only if it is then followed by a broad new push to get the combustion of fossil fuels under control.
  </p>
</blockquote>
<p itemprop="articleBody">
  Alternatively, we might be able to put excessive carbon dioxide
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/carbon-sink.html" title="into storage.">
   into storage
  </a>
  .
 </p>
</section>
</div>
  



Scientists Take Global Warming's Temperature





  
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 <p>
  Surgery is a risky and brutal business. Even today’s most advanced medical technology—surgical robots—involves the touch of cold, unyielding metal to soft, delicate flesh. With all of those complications, surgery today can still be a precarious procedure. But soft robots
  <a href="http://www.gizmag.com/camouflage-robot-harvard/23749/" title="first created">
   first created
  </a>
  by Harvard University scientists might provide some relief.
 </p>
 <p>
  The robots’ ability to maneuver through small spaces and
  <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpOl_pEmRqs" title="camouflage themselves">
   camouflage themselves
  </a>
  like
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/kings-of-camouflage.html" title="cuttlefish">
   cuttlefish
  </a>
  do initially caught the attention of the military. But now these squishy creations are being re-imagined as biomedical tools. Here’s Larry Greenemeier writing for Scientific American:
 </p>
 <blockquote>
  <p>
   Hard robots require a sophisticated feedback mechanism to help them determine how much force to apply during surgery so they do not damage our delicate tissues and organs. Soft robots could take advantage of their rubbery appendages to reduce the likelihood of surgical damage, says Carl Vause, CEO of Soft Robotics. “Specifically, with medical devices, [you would be] allowing a robotic instrument to get into a small space, be reconfigurable in that space and do it in a way that’s tissue compliant.” Another advantage: Soft robots can be 3-D printed in a day or two from silicone and other materials that cost about $20.
  </p>
 </blockquote>
 
            <figure class="richtext-image full-width"><img alt="soft-robot" class="richtext-image full-width" height="450" width="800"
            src="/wgbh/nova/media/images/soft-robot.width-800.jpg"/><figcaption>
  This glowing robot might also be the surgical tool of the future.
 <div class="credit"></div></figcaption>
            </figure>
            
 <p>
  Robotic surgery has prompted
  <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/new-concerns-on-robotic-surgeries/" title="some concern">
   some concern
  </a>
  in the recent past. The most well-known robot surgical system, known as da Vinci, is a $2 million endeavor that allows surgeons to manipulate laparoscopic instruments and an endoscopic camera attached to four robotic arms. But da Vinci significantly ups the cost of surgery and has also led to several lawsuits due to reports of sepsis, punctured blood vessels, and more.
 </p>
 <blockquote>
  <p>
   It will be some time before soft robots are capable of anything nearly as sophisticated as da Vinci, but there is a lot of interest in how this emerging technology could be used in the medical field—either on its own or combined with a surgical system like da Vinci.
  </p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>
  Experts are also interested in how soft robots could aid in prosthetics. Discover how scientists and engineers are
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/tech/prospects-for-prostheses/">
   adding intelligence and flexibility into advanced prostheses
  </a>
  .
 </p>
 <p>
  To learn more about one of the critters that inspired soft robots, watch “Kings of Camouflage” below and tune in to NOVA’s “
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/making-more-stuff.html#making-stuff-wilder" title="Making Stuff: Wilder">
   Making Stuff: Wilder
  </a>
  ,” airing October 23 at 9/8c on PBS.
 </p>
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 Photo courtesy
 <a href="http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2012/08/16a.aspx">
  DARPA
 </a>
</p></div>
  



3D Printed Soft Robots Could Ease Pain of Surgery





  
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 Chemtrails. HAARP. The Illuminati. Conspiracy theories are abound on the Internet, but they only prove one thing: that in a virtual world, people make themselves vulnerable to sketchy claims and spotty tales.
</p>
<p>
 Conspiracy-tainted remarks are littered throughout social media networks like Facebook. Walter Quattrociocchi of Northeastern University wanted to better understand how they spread, so he and his colleagues
 <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.3344">
  studied
 </a>
 the way people interact with Facebook posts that include content known to be either sound or suspect.
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 MIT Technology Review:
</p></div>
  

  
      

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    <div class="rich-text"><p>
 [Quattrociocchi and his colleagues] studied how over 1 million people treated political information posted on Facebook during the Italian elections in 2013. In particular, they looked at how these people ‘liked’ posts and commented on them from mainstream news organisations, from alternative news organisation and from pages devoted political commentary.
</p>
<p>
 They then studied how the same people reacted to false news injected into common circulation by “trolls” on pages known to produce satirical news content or otherwise false statements.
</p></div>
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 The results suggest that conspiracy theories may arise from posts made by users trolling the page, which are supposed to parody the target group. Eventually, though, “troll memes fomented animated debates and diffused through the community as any other information would,” Quattrociocchi and colleagues write.
</p>
<p>
 The team also learned that people discuss ideas on Facebook for the same length of time across the board—no matter what kind of page they post to. They also found that people who are attracted to alternative news sites are more likely to feed into and perpetuate false claims.
</p>
<p>
 It’s a somewhat ironic result, since some people who gravitate toward alternative sites do so to
 <i>
  avoid
 </i>
 what they call the “mass manipulation” that they think occurs on more mainstream pages.
</p></div>
  

  
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 Photo Credit:
 <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrea-ursini-casalena/2928083995/">
  Andrea Ursini Casalena / Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
 </a>
</p></div>
  



<p>A new study shows how certain people, based the type of media they consume, make themselves vulnerable to conspiracy theories on social media.</p>

How Conspiracy Theories Emerge on Facebook





  
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 <p>
  Over ten years ago, Jef Boeke embarked on a research project to understand what might be the most important microorganism to human civilization,
  <i>
   Saccharomyces cerevisiae
  </i>
  , also known as baker’s yeast or brewer’s yeast. For millennia, we’ve used yeast for feasts and festivities, but we didn’t really know how it worked. Even today, the critter remains something of an enigma. Boeke, who is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, wanted to make one, from scratch. Well, at least its genome.
 </p>
 <p>
  The project, dubbed Synthetic Yeast 2.0, was excruciatingly slow-going at first. So Boeke and his team decided to abort the mission in favor of a simpler approach centered on yeast chromosome number 3, which contains the code to the fungus’s sexual behavior. Through a course at Johns Hopkins called “Build a Genome,” Boeke and his colleagues enlisted the help of undergrads, who collectively synthesized the regions of the chromosome that code for proteins, the compounds that perform actions with a cell. At 272,871 base pairs long, this “abridged” version represents only 2.5 percent of the entire yeast genome.
 </p>
 
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            src="/wgbh/nova/media/images/bread-basket.width-800.jpg"/><figcaption>
  Yeast gives rise—literally—to bread. To understand how, scientists are turning to synthetic biology.
 <div class="credit"></div></figcaption>
            </figure>
            
 <p>
  Why would scientists chop away at DNA like this? Over the course of yeast’s evolution, it acquired extra sequencing—accessories, if you will—that optimize its ability to function but aren’t essential to its survival. One way of getting clarity on how an organism works is to eliminate these extra variables and structure your prototype around the genetic information you can control: the stuff that actually
  <i>
   makes
  </i>
  proteins. It’s like a minimum viable chromosome, giving scientists access to the spine of the genetic skeleton.
 </p>
 <p>
  Ewen Callaway
  <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/first-synthetic-yeast-chromosome-revealed-1.14941">
   reporting
  </a>
  for Nature, describes how the project worked:
 </p>
 <blockquote>
  <p>
   Each student makes their own stretch of the yeast genome, which involves stitching together very short lengths of DNA created by a DNA-synthesis machine into ever-larger chunks. These chunks are then incorporated into the yeast chromosome, a few at a time, through a process called homologous recombination. Eventually, this results in an entirely synthetic chromosome. Many of the students are co-authors on Boeke’s
   <i>
    Science
   </i>
   <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/first-synthetic-yeast-chromosome-revealed-1.14941#b1">
    paper
   </a>
   , which details the synthesis of
   <i>
    S. cerevisiae
   </i>
   ‘s chromosome III.
  </p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>
  The Synthetic Yeast 2.0 project isn’t the first to replicate a major portion of an organism’s genome—that honor went to researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute who synthesized the genome of
  <i>
   Mycoplasma mycoides
  </i>
  , a relatively simple bacterium. But it is the first time we’ve been able to do it with a chromosome. David Biello
  <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bakers-yeast-gets-a-genetic-makeover/">
   reporting
  </a>
  for Scientific American, has more:
 </p>
 <blockquote>
  <p>
   This marks the first time scientists have synthesized the genetics of a complex organism, a landmark achievement in the field of synthetic biology, and given the college kids involved, a triumph for the new movement known as “DIY biology.” Prior specialist work had succeeded in synthesizing the entire genetic code of simpler microbes, such as the goat pathogen
   <i>
    Mycoplasma mycoides
   </i>
   , renamed JCVI-syn1.0 by its creators, which has been lying dormant in a freezer since 2010.
  </p>
 </blockquote>
 <p>
  The synthetic
  <i>
   Mycoplasma mycoides
  </i>
  genome was nearly identical to the original. The synthetic chromosome in yeast isn’t. By excluding the noncoding regions, Boeke hopes to create an experimental platform that will allow researchers to test the function of various genes in a highly controlled fashion. It’s the sort of undertaking that could allow us to finally get a handle on what, exactly, yeast does to turn malt and hops into beer or flour and water into bread.
 </p>
</section>
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 Photo Credit:
 <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/djwtwo/6296745779/">
  Dennis Wilkinson / Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
 </a>
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Allison Eck