Retreating rebels burn Timbuktu's science manuscripts
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2 February 2013 | NewScientist | 5 not reported seeing any missile launches from Iran. But some independent observers are convinced. “Really, I see no reason not to take their word for it,” says Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The reports say the rocket was launched straight up to an altitude of 120 kilometres, not high enough to reach orbit, and came back down with a parachute. The monkey survived. Iran says it is a step towards sending humans into space, which the country aims to do in the next five to eight years. 80-year-old enigma WOULD a basketball spinning on a fingertip behave the same way in an infinite number of dimensions? The question has flummoxed mathematicians for 80 years, but now it looks as if the answer is yes – a find that could have implications for quantum theory. The invariant subspace problem was studied in the 1930s by John von Neumann, a pioneer of operator theory, the mathematics behind quantum mechanics. The problem asks whether carrying out certain changes, or operations, will always leave part of an object unaltered, or invariant. In the case of the basketball, the operation is rotation. In three dimensions, the sphere’s rotational axis remains unchanged, but you can’t take that for granted in infinite dimensions. On 25 January, a solution was unveiled at a meeting of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society in La Coruña. Eva Gallardo of the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain and Carl Cowen of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, said they have proved that part of the object will always be unaltered, No great prize rests on the proof, but the method of solving it should enable innovations in operator theory, says Miguel Lacruz of the University of Seville. Big ideas rewarded WHAT to do with a cool €1 billion? Why not “build a CERN for the brain”? That’s how Henry Markram of the Human Brain Project (HBP) describes his team’s goal. It has just won one of two €1 billion European research prizes that will be paid out over the next 10 years. The other winner is a project to realise the potential of graphene. The HBP, based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, aims to simulate the brain on a supercomputer. Researchers anywhere will be able to book time on the machine and could use it to identify biomarkers important in neurodegenerative disease, for example. The graphene project will come up with applications for the one- atom-thick material that won its creators the 2010 physics Nobel prize. Jari Kinaret of Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden, says possible uses include electronic paper, medical implants and solar cells. “Researchers anywhere can book time on the brain simulation to identify biomarkers in disease, say” IT IS what conservators, archivists and researchers have feared. As French and Malian troops advanced on Timbuktu in northern Mali earlier this week, retreating Islamist fighters have tried to destroy valuable scientific texts dating back to medieval times. The documents were housed at the city’s Ahmed Baba Institute and in a warehouse, both of which were set alight. It is unclear how many of the institute’s 30,000 or so manuscripts have been destroyed. The texts, which were being digitised, show that science was under way in Africa before European settlers arrived in the 16th century. George Abungu, vice-president of the executive committee of the International Council of Museums, describes the burning as “an incredible loss to Africa’s heritage, a backward move to the dark ages”. He says there is no way the Islamists “can claim to be Africans when they destroy the very foundation of our contribution to world knowledge and academia”. There may be as many as 700,000 manuscripts scattered in public and private libraries throughout Timbuktu, a historic centre of learning. According to Shamil Jeppie of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, who is leading the digitisation project, some scanned texts may have been smuggled out of the city on hard drives. Others are thought to be with families in Timbuktu and the capital Bamako. Mali militants burn science texts –Fate uncertain– BEN CURTIS/AP/PA 60 SECONDS Icy breakthrough A US team drilled through 800 metres of ice to reach west Antarctica’s Lake Whillans on 28 January. The lake is part of a hidden network of subglacial streams. The team wants to know if the streams speed the ice’s movement into the ocean, accelerating sea-level rise. Spark of consciousness Former Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma since 2006, has responded to family photographs and the sound of his son’s voice. It is not clear if the brain activity is an unconscious reflex or a sign of minimal consciousness. “Late recoveries are exceptional,” says Steven Laureys of Liège University Hospital in Belgium. How the nose knows A molecule’s odour is supposedly determined by its shape. But it may actually be down to molecular vibrations. Humans were able to detect a significant difference in smell when a molecule was made to vibrate at a different frequency with minimal change to its shape (PLoS One, doi.org/kb5). Eye on a piece of the pi Google has announced a total prize pot of pi million dollars, or $3.14159 million, for its Pwnium hacking contest in March, up from a much less geeky $1 million last year. Enterprising hackers who uncover security holes in its browser or operating system could win up to $150 thousand per exploit. Ill winds If you live in a big city, you may be helping to warm other parts of the planet. That’s because waste heat from major cities can disrupt wind patterns. These then carry heat to parts of Eurasia and North America that may not otherwise receive it. This could explain the extra 1 °C of warming in northern winters over the last 50 years (Nature Climate Change, doi.org/kb4). For daily news stories, visit newscientist.com/news
Transcript of Retreating rebels burn Timbuktu's science manuscripts
2 February 2013 | NewScientist | 5
not reported seeing any missile launches from Iran. But some independent observers are convinced. “Really, I see no reason not to take their word for it,” says Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
The reports say the rocket was launched straight up to an altitude of 120 kilometres, not high enough to reach orbit, and came back down with a parachute. The monkey survived. Iran says it is a step towards sending humans into space, which the country aims to do in the next five to eight years.
80-year-old enigmaWOULD a basketball spinning on a fingertip behave the same way in an infinite number of dimensions? The question has flummoxed mathematicians for 80 years, but now it looks as if the answer is yes – a find that could have implications for quantum theory.
The invariant subspace problem was studied in the 1930s by John von Neumann, a pioneer of operator theory, the mathematics behind quantum mechanics. The problem asks whether carrying out certain changes, or operations, will always leave part of an object unaltered, or invariant. In the case of the basketball, the operation is rotation. In three dimensions, the sphere’s rotational axis remains unchanged, but you can’t take that for granted in infinite dimensions.
On 25 January, a solution was unveiled at a meeting of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society in La Coruña. Eva Gallardo of the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain and Carl Cowen of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, said they have proved that part of the object will always be unaltered,
No great prize rests on the proof, but the method of solving it should enable innovations in operator theory, says Miguel Lacruz of the University of Seville.
Big ideas rewardedWHAT to do with a cool €1 billion? Why not “build a CERN for the brain”? That’s how Henry Markram of the Human Brain Project (HBP) describes his team’s goal. It has just won one of two €1 billion European research prizes that will be paid out over the next 10 years. The other winner is a project to realise the potential of graphene.
The HBP, based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, aims to simulate the brain on a supercomputer. Researchers anywhere will be able to book time on the machine and
could use it to identify biomarkers important in neurodegenerative disease, for example.
The graphene project will come up with applications for the one-atom-thick material that won its creators the 2010 physics Nobel
prize. Jari Kinaret of Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden, says possible uses include electronic paper, medical implants and solar cells.
“ Researchers anywhere can book time on the brain simulation to identify biomarkers in disease, say”
IT IS what conservators, archivists and researchers have feared. As French and Malian troops advanced on Timbuktu in northern Mali earlier this week, retreating Islamist fighters have tried to destroy valuable scientific texts dating back to medieval times.
The documents were housed at the city’s Ahmed Baba Institute and in a warehouse, both of which were set alight. It is unclear how many of the institute’s 30,000 or so manuscripts have been destroyed. The texts, which were being digitised, show that science was under way in Africa before European settlers arrived in the 16th century.
George Abungu, vice-president of the executive committee of the
International Council of Museums, describes the burning as “an incredible loss to Africa’s heritage, a backward move to the dark ages”. He says there is no way the Islamists “can claim to be Africans when they destroy the very foundation of our contribution to world knowledge and academia”.
There may be as many as 700,000 manuscripts scattered in public and private libraries throughout Timbuktu, a historic centre of learning. According to Shamil Jeppie of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, who is leading the digitisation project, some scanned texts may have been smuggled out of the city on hard drives. Others are thought to be with families in Timbuktu and the capital Bamako.
Mali militants burn science texts
–Fate uncertain–
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60 SecondS
Icy breakthroughA US team drilled through 800 metres of ice to reach west Antarctica’s Lake Whillans on 28 January. The lake is part of a hidden network of subglacial streams. The team wants to know if the streams speed the ice’s movement into the ocean, accelerating sea-level rise.
Spark of consciousnessFormer Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma since 2006, has responded to family photographs and the sound of his son’s voice. It is not clear if the brain activity is an unconscious reflex or a sign of minimal consciousness. “Late recoveries are exceptional,” says Steven Laureys of Liège University Hospital in Belgium.
How the nose knowsA molecule’s odour is supposedly determined by its shape. But it may actually be down to molecular vibrations. Humans were able to detect a significant difference in smell when a molecule was made to vibrate at a different frequency with minimal change to its shape (PLoS One, doi.org/kb5).
Eye on a piece of the piGoogle has announced a total prize pot of pi million dollars, or $3.14159 million, for its Pwnium hacking contest in March, up from a much less geeky $1 million last year. Enterprising hackers who uncover security holes in its browser or operating system could win up to $150 thousand per exploit.
Ill windsIf you live in a big city, you may be helping to warm other parts of the planet. That’s because waste heat from major cities can disrupt wind patterns. These then carry heat to parts of Eurasia and North America that may not otherwise receive it. This could explain the extra 1 °C of warming in northern winters over the last 50 years (Nature Climate Change, doi.org/kb4).
For daily news stories, visit newscientist.com/news
130202_N_p4_5_Upfront.indd 5 29/1/13 17:27:08
