I was intrigued to find one of my favourite particles, the neutrino, show up
on this list. As Dr. Novee says, they are hard to find. But I think that
there is much about the neutrino that is relevant to ecology.
Ecologists often take it for granted that if theory and experiment disagree,
the theory must be wrong. That is how the neutrino was first "discovered",
because experiments on scattering produced results that were theoretically
impossible - the Compton effect violated both conservation of energy and
conservation of momentum. Did the theorists yield? No, they postulated an
invisible particle called the neutrino which carried off the missing energy
and momentum. No ecologist would fall for such a sneaky trick!
The neutrino concept was of course pure speculation, which many ecologists
claim has no place in science.
For many decades there was no experimental evidence for the neutrino (as for
the quark and the Higgs boson). And yet, physicists didn't give up, and
astrophysicists even started hypothesizing that much of the matter ("dark
matter") in the universe consisted of neutrinos.
So far only a handful of neutrinos have been "seen" (the evidence is really
sketchy, just a few flashes of light in huge tanks of liquid), certainly not
enough to satisfy the ecological standards for experimental proof. On the
other hand, there is a noteworthy precedent for building theoretical castles
on just a small mound of experimental mud - Kepler's theory of elliptical
orbits was inspired by a minor discrepancy between the centuries old theory
of epicycles and the observations of his great mentor, Tycho Brahe.
As regards science and politics, when I was a graduate student we thought it
was a great joke to spead a whispering campaign about a new weapon, the
neutrino bomb, against which there could be no defense. After all, since
neutrinos can pass through the entire earth, what man-made shield could
deflect them? Of course the reluctance of neutrinos to interact with matter
also meant that they could do no harm, which made them the perfect weapon,
no defense and no damage. But a wise professor told us to stop before the
military heard of this, as they did not appreciate jokes and would spend
billions on it before they caught on, and then we would be in deep trouble.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "malcolm McCallum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 11:39 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Palin laughs at fruit fly research
My mother worked for Dr. Novee at Argonne National Laboratory in their
search for the nutrino. One day, she asked why it was important. He
said something to the effect of, "right now we don't know what it will
be good for, but we can't use it if we can't find it."
So it is with most knowledge.
On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 10:15 AM, David Bryant
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Oct 29, 2008, at 9:36 AM, malcolm McCallum wrote:
The fact of the matter is that basic research must be in place before
applied research can utilize that information. Until American society
as a whole understands what research is and why it is important, these
kind of simple-minded attacks will continued.
"To the electron, may it never be of any use to anybody"
A toast by JJ Thomson, following his discovery of the electron.
David M Bryant PhD
Fangorn Productions llc
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Ipswich, MA 01938
978-697-6123
--
Malcolm L. McCallum
Associate Professor of Biology
Texas A&M University-Texarkana
Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology
http://www.herpconbio.org
Summer Teaching Schedule & Office Hours:
Ecology: M,W 1-2:40 pm
Cell Biology: M 6-9:40 pm (don't ask!)
Forensic Science: T,R 10-11:40am
Office Hours: MW 12-1, 5-6, TR 11:40-12:30,
"until we as a people stop killing each other and stop not getting our
education we are never going to be successful."
-Charles Barkley
