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Unsolved Mysteries of Science
Despite all the advances made by science in the twentieth century, as the twenty-first begins we still face a universe of unanswered questions. Join John Malone as he leads us on an entertaining and enlightening excursion into such mysteries as:
WHAT'S INSIDE THE EARTH?Bubbling lava? A sunless ocean? Prehistoric animals (as Jules Verne imagined in his Journey to the Center of the Earth )? We don't exactly know yet. But the more important question is, can we learn enough to predict and control eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis?
HOW DO WE LEARN LANGUAGES?Learning a language is a rather astonishing achievement for an infant. Are our brains "hard wired" for language acquisition, or is there another answer?
HOW DID THE UNIVERSE BEGIN?The Big Bang has been the accepted theory for decades, but a number of reputable folks don't believe it-and keep finding things it doesn't quite explain.
HOW MANY DIMENSIONS ARE THERE?If you think the answer is three or four, think again. Computers can visualize 10, but some scientists are more comfortable with 26.
WHAT IS LIGHT?Is it a wave? A particle? Both? The debate continues to rage after decades.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
230 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
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John Malone
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 17, 2019
21 unresolved questions in science briefly examined
In addition to cutting edge questions in physics and cosmology (chapters 1 and 14-21) polymath writer John Malone considers the origins of life on earth, the causes of mass extinctions and ice ages, what it's like inside the earth, whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded, if there's a "missing link," how we acquire culture and language, how smart dolphins are, the nature of color perception, how birds migrate, and what the Mayan astronomers knew. Whew!
Needless to say neither he nor anyone else can be a cutting edge expert on such a wide range of scientific topics. The time of the Renaissance man is long past. Science is so complex today that virtually no one can be a world class expert in more than one or two disciplines. But Malone doesn't need to be a world class expert since his goal here is merely to introduce the general reader to 21 unresolved questions in science. I think he does a fine job.
The chapters are from eight to 13 pages each, just long enough to introduce the subject and outline the various opinions. Each chapter is concluded with suggestions for further reading.
I was especially impressed with his efficient and balanced presentation of string theory in Chapter 20, "How Many Dimensions Are There?" Malone makes it clear why so many physicists are thrilled with the theory even though it requires at least six addition dimensions that we cannot in any way discern, and even though it has as yet no empirical support. He also does a nice job of presenting the contending theories about how life began on earth in Chapter 2. As I was reading that chapter I was suddenly struck with a conception of primitive life forms in a dormant state being formed in dust clouds and the like floating about the universe looking for a fertile place to express themselves, leading to, if conditions are right, intelligence life forms. The potential of the seed (in the form of a pre-bacterium cell) suddenly appeared to me as amazing, but as a way the universe might work. My sudden understanding was that the bacterium and the right environment together constitute intelligent life. Given enough time and a wide enough distribution, the potential becomes the actual; and therefore looking from a large enough perspective, both in terms of time and space, intelligent life may be seen as being built into the universe as a natural development of matter and energy.
I also liked his exposition on the Mayan astronomers and some of their accomplishments. According to Malone, the Mayan culture was only one of three in human history to have invented the number zero (p. 135), something, for example, the Greeks and Romans were unable to do. Also impressive was the Mayan calculation of the transit of Venus around the sun, correct to within eight one-hundredths of a day, hundreds of years before Europeans achieved such accuracy. I also liked the chapter on quantum mechanics in which Malone concentrates on the development of the theory and the personalities involved.
I was less impressed with the chapter on dolphin intelligence. I thought he could have done more with it. The books he cites are rather old (Couseau (1975), Lilly (1978) along with two newer but more general books). However Malone's suggestion that learning to interpret the "language" of the dolphins might be a good preparation for deciphering signals from ET's (should such signals ever come) is a wise one. If we can't understand our fellow creatures on this planet, how can we expect to understand creatures from another, who might be enormously more dissimilar?
Malone writes clearly and includes enough in the way of color and insight to keep us interested. On pages 124-125, for example, he notes that all invertebrate eyes developed from the skin while all vertebrate eyes "are an outgrowth of the animal's brain," an observation that is particularly relevant to an understanding of ourselves. His report on the details of a bet between physicists Kip Thorne and Steven Hawking concerning the black hole in Cygus X-1 is amusing. Hawking, who bet it wouldn't be confirmed as a black hole, conceded the bet in 1990 with a validation by his thumb print. Also amusing was the story about science fiction writer Cleve Cartmill and his editor at Astounding Science Fiction magazine (John W. Campbell) being investigated by the FBI in 1944 because of Cartmill's short story, "Deadline," which was about a secret atomic research project code named the "Hudson River Project." This was a little too close to the reality of the Manhattan Project for the sensitivities of the FBI! But it was in fact just a case of fiction imitating life. (Or is that the other way around?)
Malone brings up an interesting philosophic point on page 194 in his discussion of parallel universes. If all possible outcomes of our every action exist in other universes, "Does it really matter, then, what we do?" In other words, why bother trying if what we do will be done (and not done) anyway? To which it might be answered, "But it's OUR universe."
Overall the weakness of the book and its strength are one in the same: a brevity that both annoys and inspires us to further reading.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
In addition to cutting edge questions in physics and cosmology (chapters 1 and 14-21) polymath writer John Malone considers the origins of life on earth, the causes of mass extinctions and ice ages, what it's like inside the earth, whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded, if there's a "missing link," how we acquire culture and language, how smart dolphins are, the nature of color perception, how birds migrate, and what the Mayan astronomers knew. Whew!
Needless to say neither he nor anyone else can be a cutting edge expert on such a wide range of scientific topics. The time of the Renaissance man is long past. Science is so complex today that virtually no one can be a world class expert in more than one or two disciplines. But Malone doesn't need to be a world class expert since his goal here is merely to introduce the general reader to 21 unresolved questions in science. I think he does a fine job.
The chapters are from eight to 13 pages each, just long enough to introduce the subject and outline the various opinions. Each chapter is concluded with suggestions for further reading.
I was especially impressed with his efficient and balanced presentation of string theory in Chapter 20, "How Many Dimensions Are There?" Malone makes it clear why so many physicists are thrilled with the theory even though it requires at least six addition dimensions that we cannot in any way discern, and even though it has as yet no empirical support. He also does a nice job of presenting the contending theories about how life began on earth in Chapter 2. As I was reading that chapter I was suddenly struck with a conception of primitive life forms in a dormant state being formed in dust clouds and the like floating about the universe looking for a fertile place to express themselves, leading to, if conditions are right, intelligence life forms. The potential of the seed (in the form of a pre-bacterium cell) suddenly appeared to me as amazing, but as a way the universe might work. My sudden understanding was that the bacterium and the right environment together constitute intelligent life. Given enough time and a wide enough distribution, the potential becomes the actual; and therefore looking from a large enough perspective, both in terms of time and space, intelligent life may be seen as being built into the universe as a natural development of matter and energy.
I also liked his exposition on the Mayan astronomers and some of their accomplishments. According to Malone, the Mayan culture was only one of three in human history to have invented the number zero (p. 135), something, for example, the Greeks and Romans were unable to do. Also impressive was the Mayan calculation of the transit of Venus around the sun, correct to within eight one-hundredths of a day, hundreds of years before Europeans achieved such accuracy. I also liked the chapter on quantum mechanics in which Malone concentrates on the development of the theory and the personalities involved.
I was less impressed with the chapter on dolphin intelligence. I thought he could have done more with it. The books he cites are rather old (Couseau (1975), Lilly (1978) along with two newer but more general books). However Malone's suggestion that learning to interpret the "language" of the dolphins might be a good preparation for deciphering signals from ET's (should such signals ever come) is a wise one. If we can't understand our fellow creatures on this planet, how can we expect to understand creatures from another, who might be enormously more dissimilar?
Malone writes clearly and includes enough in the way of color and insight to keep us interested. On pages 124-125, for example, he notes that all invertebrate eyes developed from the skin while all vertebrate eyes "are an outgrowth of the animal's brain," an observation that is particularly relevant to an understanding of ourselves. His report on the details of a bet between physicists Kip Thorne and Steven Hawking concerning the black hole in Cygus X-1 is amusing. Hawking, who bet it wouldn't be confirmed as a black hole, conceded the bet in 1990 with a validation by his thumb print. Also amusing was the story about science fiction writer Cleve Cartmill and his editor at Astounding Science Fiction magazine (John W. Campbell) being investigated by the FBI in 1944 because of Cartmill's short story, "Deadline," which was about a secret atomic research project code named the "Hudson River Project." This was a little too close to the reality of the Manhattan Project for the sensitivities of the FBI! But it was in fact just a case of fiction imitating life. (Or is that the other way around?)
Malone brings up an interesting philosophic point on page 194 in his discussion of parallel universes. If all possible outcomes of our every action exist in other universes, "Does it really matter, then, what we do?" In other words, why bother trying if what we do will be done (and not done) anyway? To which it might be answered, "But it's OUR universe."
Overall the weakness of the book and its strength are one in the same: a brevity that both annoys and inspires us to further reading.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
April 15, 2018
This was a nice book about our epistemological limits with science. some complex concepts are tried to be explained in an excessive concise way, but interesting reading overall.
January 25, 2014
This book I am undecided upon - First off I will consider myself a scientist (ok a lapsed one since I am now an engineer but once upon a time I was a chemist) so this book is a little frustrating, I think is how I would describe it. The way the book is presented is as if the subjects are stuck in amber - the topics first quotes historical discoveries and then posing the "unsolved question". So whats wrong with that - well for me I am aware that the book was published in 2001 and I am sure (in fact I know from other papers I have read) that progress has been made in answering these questions. For example in that time progress has been made in to the so called missing link with further discoveries being made - and that the Higgs-Boson has been proven and so on. So here is my issue - reading this book it feels as if scientific discoveries have been frozen with no further development or discoveries. So why the frustration - if this is really the case then its pretty obvious the book is dated and limited. Well each topic closes with a further reading section - and this is where it redeems itself since these are (or were remember it was published in 2001) papers and other works published on these subjects - at the time the most current information available. So the author does try and keep you up to date with what is known. So to summarise and yes I guess I have procrastinated longer than usual - this book is dated but does pose some interesting questions and suggests where you may research them further - but accept that you have quite a bit of catching up in some areas if you want to be truly up to date.
June 7, 2011
This book was interesting. It was an easy way to read many theories in the science community. It was nice the author presented different sides of arguments without picking one. The biggest problem I have, though, is this book was very physics-centric. It would have been nice to read more chapters on biology or neuroscience or other areas.
July 16, 2011
The book was thought provoking.It made me re-look at grass?Is grass intrinsically green? Or is it how our brain process the color of grass. After all squirrels see grass as red and yellow?
July 30, 2012
A nice easy-reading review of a grab bag of science topics. Certainly somewhat out of date as this version was published in 2001.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews