The Results of a Faulty $5 Billion Accelerator

• Although they may appear identical in their black and white feather suits, penguins have an amazing ability to find friends and family in a crowd of their own kind. Humboldt penguins at the Brookfield Zoo were given a choice of scented kennels to examine, and the researchers discovered that they could distinguish between the smell of familiar and foreign penguins. Apparently, the oil they use to preen themselves contains chemical cues characteristic of each individual. And, believe it or not, they could also recognize relatives they never met before. (Audubon, Mar.-April, 2012)

• In late 2011 a team of European physicists used a particle accelerator in Geneva to accelerate subatomic particles, called neutrinos, over a 450-mile path to a detector inside a mountain in Italy. According to their findings, the neutrinos reached the detector at a speed that slightly exceeded that of light, which, no doubt, caused Einstein to pivot in his grave. In their published scientific paper, they reported that the neutrinos reached the finish line about 60 nanoseconds faster than it would take a light beam to travel the same distance. According to the New York Times, “the physics world was abuzz with the news.” If true, the findings would mean “you could send a telegram to the past” (according to Einstein himself) and would cause an upheaval in the world of physics and a re-evaluation of the Theory of Special Relativity. Now we read the latest. It seems that a loose cable connection in one of the computers of the $5 billion accelerator system produced inaccurate speed-readings. In science, it’s called the “rush to publish.” (Science, Mar. 2, 2012; The New York Times, Sept. 22, 2011; other sources)

• More disheartening science news regarding cancer. Mapping the genes of tumor cells held the promise of creating specific antibodies or drugs that would target the genes causing the tumor. The common assumption was that the cancer cells making up a tumor all had the same genetic make-up (genotype). In a recent paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a team of 30 researchers reported that cells of the tumor they studied were not identical, even though malignant, and that cells in various regions of the tumor had different alterations in their gene sequences. The authors note that these findings call into question trying to develop personalized-medicine strategies based on cells examined in a single biopsy sample. (JAMA, Mar. 8, 2012)

• When memory was tested in over 7,000 people over a 10-year period, both men and women showed a 3.6 percent loss in memory power between the ages of 45 and 49. Other studies show that processing speed in the brain slows down after age 20. Recalling people’s names is usually the first indication, but for most of us, it isn’t that we have “forgotten” names – it’s a problem with retrieval. How many times have you said, “At the moment I don’t recall his (her) name, but I will remember on my way home.” Evidence suggests that middle age memory decline is not due to loss of neurons. Rather, it appears that the production of chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) diminishes.

Now some encouraging news for those who worry about their memory. Joshua Foer is a U.S. memory champion who can recall details such as the order of a newly shuffled deck of cards. After he won the championship in 2006, he forgot he had driven his car into town to eat dinner. He took a train home instead. (Brain in the News, Feb., 2012; British Medical Journal online, 2012)