Scientific American - October 2012.pdf - Scientific Anmerican - simonrodnip55

PHYSICS

The Higgs at Last?

PSYCHOLOGY

The Wisdom of Psychopaths

ENVIRONMENT

Ecosystems on the Brink

ScientiicAmerican.com

OctOber 2012

The

Language

Brain

of the

How the world’s most

complicated machine

processes and

communicates

information

State

of the

Wo r l d ’ s

Science

2012

ON THE COVER

The way billions of cells in our brains communicate to pro

duce the image of a rosy sunset or the sound of Bee

thoven’s Fifth remains somewhat of a mystery. The timing

of signaling turns out to be key. Several neurons iring at

the same time in the eye, for instance, can eiciently trans

mit messages to the visualprocessing center at the back

of the brain. Image by Kenn Brown, Mondolithic Studios.

October 2012 Volume 307, Number 4

NEUROSCIENCE

46 The Language of the Brain

We can make sense of the world because our brains attend

to the exquisite timing of impulses that low through

billions of neurons. By Terry Sejnowski and Tobi Delbruck

ENVIRONMENT

52 Ecosystems on the Brink

How researchers are uncovering new ways to save

troubled food webs. By Carl Zimmer

PHYSICS

58 The Higgs at Last?

Scientists have found the elusive particle (maybe).

A new era of physics could be about to dawn.

By Michael Riordan, Guido Tonelli and Sau Lan Wu

ENERGY

66 Kinetic Kite

An airborne wind turbine turns sea breezes

into electricity. By David Biello

PSYCHOLOGY

68 The Wisdom of Psychopaths

Career success may lie in ruthlessness, conidence,

charisma and other dark traits. By Kevin Dutton

BIOCHEMISTRY

72 Journey to the Genetic Interior

Computational biologist Ewan Birney inds hidden

treasure in “junk DNA.” Interview by Stephen S. Hall

FEATURES

STATE OF THE W

RLD’S SCIENCE

The quest for knowledge is becoming a vast global

enterprise. Get ready for a new renaissance.

By John Sexton

33 Why Germany Still Makes Things

It does manufacturing the high-tech way.

By Stefan Theil

36 The World’s Best Countries in Science

From lab to marketplace, here are the data.

By the Editors

38 Can China Keep Rising?

A few world-class labs mask broader weaknesses.

By Philip G. Altbach and Qi Wang

40 Citizen Science U.

One maverick’s scheme to spread science literacy.

By Michael M. Crow

42 The Other 1 Percent

The U.S. leads the world in part because its top

scientists make top dollar. By Paula Stephan

44 Culture of Creativity

China and India give science a new dimension,

says Nobelist Paul Nurse. Interview by Fred Guterl

October 2012, ScientiicAmerican.com 1

Photograph by Jake Stangel

DEPARTMENTS

4 From the Editor

6 Letters

8 Science Agenda

Nobel Prizes should honor collaborations. By the Editors

9 Forum

Inoculating kids against lu is the most efective way

to protect everyone. By Kathleen A. Ryan

10 Advances

Food allergy breakthroughs. Smart headlights. The biolo-

gy of Roman art. Teen cancer researcher. Guitar physics.

24 The Science of Health

Doctors grapple with a rise in fatal drug overdoses.

By Deborah Franklin

26 TechnoFiles

Save money and prevent power outages—just rent out

your thermostat. By David Pogue

76 Recommended

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Arctic diary. Joyful math.

The search for our planet’s twin. The half-life of facts.

By Anna Kuchment

77 Skeptic

Subliminal inluences guide our voting preferences.

By Michael Shermer

78 Anti Gravity

Of feline ixation and human bondage. By Steve Mirsky

79 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago

80 Graphic Science

Americans are smoking less but drinking more.

By Mark Fischetti

ON THE WEB

Wheels Down for Curiosity

Go inside the control room to relive the hair-raising landing of

NASA ’s massive Curiosity rover. See what comes next as it sets

of in search of potentially habitable environments on Mars.

Go to www.ScientiicAmerican.com/oct2012/curiosity

Scientiic American (ISSN 0036-8733), Volume 307, Number 4, October 2012, published monthly by Scientiic American, a division of Nature America, Inc., 75 Varick Street, 9th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10013-1917. Periodicals postage paid

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2 Scientiic American, October 2012

Scientific American - October 2012.pdf

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