Here are two insights into Albert Einstein who was able to explain the theoretical source of what we call gravity, which he published 100 years ago. According to Einstein’s theory, the reason why stepping off a roof is dangerous has to do with a warp in space and time. One experimental result among many demonstrating the accuracy of this theory was his prediction of how the planet Mercury would gradually shift in its orbit around the sun, an observation, made in 1859, which could not be explained.
In November 1915, Einstein applied his theory to the problem and precisely predicted what had been observed about Mercury’s orbit giving him, as he later recounted, “heart palpitations.” “For a few days, I was beside myself with joyous excitement.” Einstein loved, as do we all, to be right. Here’s another story about this greatest of scientists.
In 1936, Einstein and a collaborator sent a manuscript entitled “Do Gravitational Waves Exist” to Physical Review, a journal read by all physicists. Now, 78 years later, all scientists’ manuscripts are routinely subjected to what is called peer review; the practice in which an anonymous scientist is asked by the editor of the journal to evaluate the manuscript. In 1936, peer review was a new idea and when applied to Einstein’s manuscript led to criticism, which infuriated him. He was angry that the editor had shown his manuscript to someone without his permission. He asked for it back and prepared to send it to another journal.
The anonymous reviewer was someone Einstein knew well, a colleague, who had detected a mistake in the manuscript leading to an erroneous conclusion. The colleague delicately approached Einstein without revealing his role as the reviewer and pointed out what was wrong in the manuscript—an error made. It’s unclear if it was the gentle manner in his approach or the fact of their relationship which convinced Einstein to revise the manuscript leading to a new title: “On Gravitational Waves,” saving himself and his collaborator considerable embarrassment. You might say that peer review and the journal editor had done Einstein a favor. Apparently he did not see it that way. Einstein never published another paper in Physical Review.
Here’s another personal story about a great scientist. In 1848, Louis Pasteur, a newly minted scientist in his mid-20s, later to have his name enshrined forever on all the pasteurized milk we drink, was carefully studying the crystals formed in wine barrels, causing problems for French wine producers. He made an observation other scientists had not made even when looking at the same crystals. The crystals existed in mirror image forms!
He separated the mirror image crystals into two piles and dissolved each pile in water and inspected the water solutions with a device called a polarimeter. In doing so, he made an observation which is the foundation of the modern understanding of life as well as the foundation on which the pharmaceutical industry rests. Here are Pasteur’s words, translated from the French: “I remember hurrying from the laboratory and grabbing one of my chemistry assistants and excitedly telling him that ‘I have made a great discovery… I am so happy that I am shaking all over and am unable to set my eyes against the polarimeter.’ At this time, I was twenty-five years old and had only been doing research for two years.”
Now, here is something a bit more recent, which was just published in the journal Nature, and was certainly subjected to peer review before publication. This paper makes public results of research from Georgia State University on common food additives—emulsifiers—which are chemicals that allow mixing of otherwise immiscible substances such as oil and water. Usually on the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list of the Food and Drug Administration for not causing cancer and other terrible maladies, the recent work demonstrates, based on studies of mice, that these chemicals are changing the bacterial content of our gut (gastrointestinal tract), our microbiome, and also the mucous membrane in our intestines.
These changes may be associated with increasing incidences of inflammatory bowel disease and other chronic inflammatory diseases and may be interfering with our ability to feel satiated—contributing to obesity. Check out the contents of prepared food in the market and you’ll see many examples of emulsifying agents in food: polysorbate 80, lecithin, carrageenan, polyglycerols, and xanthan gum. Ice cream is especially rich in emulsifiers confirming the suspicion many of us hold: it can’t be good for you if it tastes so good.
http://sciencefromaway.com .
