do internet companies have all the answers?
TRANSCRIPT
2 June 2012 | NewScientist | 3
TWO hundred and forty-three years ago, astronomers around the world – from the Arctic Circle to the South Pacific to the Indian Ocean – turned their instruments towards the sun. Many had braved perils ranging from pirates to parasites to reach their far-flung observing posts. But they considered the hardships worth enduring for their final chance to observe the transit of Venus across the blazing solar disc.
Under a master plan proposed by British astronomer Edmond Halley (whose eponymous comet is another once-in-a-lifetime attraction for most sky-gazers), this scattered fraternity aimed to measure the transit of Venus – the last that would occur for more than a century – in order to establish the distance from the Earth to the sun. That distance, the “astronomical unit”, is the
first in a system of yardsticks that now extends to the farthest reaches of the cosmos.
This week scientists will once again trek to remote corners of the globe to make last-chance observations of a Venusian transit – although they’re not risking life and limb to do so, merely lost luggage, missed
connections and inclement weather. Their objectives, too, are very different to those of their predecessors. NASA’s Kepler space telescope – itself named after the astronomer who first predicted a transit of Venus – detects exoplanets by looking for dips in their parent stars’ light output
when they make transits of their own. The hope is that this year’s Venusian transit will provide a benchmark for further efforts to uncover the properties of these distant worlds (see page 44).
The 18th-century astronomers could scarcely have envisaged any of this, although they clearly anticipated that their 21st-century successors would follow in their footsteps. Equally, we can scarcely imagine what uses astronomers will make of Venus’s next transit. By 2117, space-borne emissaries will very likely have rendered Earthly observations redundant.
Sentiment rarely makes for good science, but it’s nonetheless pleasing that researchers have found good reasons to continue one of astronomy’s most venerable traditions. One might hope they’ll find fresh grounds to do so in a century’s time. n
Forever in transition
EDITORIAL
Venus’s sun-crossing is a chance to reflect on the nature of discovery
“LIKE the smell of a brand-new car.” So said US astronaut Don Pettit as he entered the Dragon space freighter after it docked with the International Space Station last week (see page 10).
Pettit’s words speak to the slickness of the SpaceX craft – which was, after all, created by a man who has form in making cars. Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors
has done much to make electric cars desirable: its head-turning Roadster revolutionised ideas about what an emissions-free vehicle might achieve.
But SpaceX cannot just build the Roadsters of the space business. Reliable workhorses are what’s needed, not ritzy performance vehicles. The vast majority of the $60-million cost
of a SpaceX launch comes from its Falcon rocket. This currently burns up on re-entry, but the company aims to make it fully reusable. The shuttle fell short of this goal, but SpaceX thinks it can succeed where NASA failed.
Can it? Tesla Motors is now building on the Roadster’s technology to roll out a family sedan and an SUV. If SpaceX proves similarly adroit, astronauts can look forward to more new car smells to come. n
As easy as building cars
“The 18th-century astronomers clearly anticipated that we would follow in their footsteps”
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WHAT are we to make of the news that internet giants are racing to build systems that automatically answer questions delivered in everyday language? Can such “answer engines” really deliver
knowledge, not just information (see page 21)?
If so, will they become as integral to internet use as search engines are today? Will your phone offer better advice than your family and friends? Should we heed those who will inevitably warn that our sense of curiosity will be destroyed?
Will answer engines attempt to address the big questions of life, or just the little ones? How will they tell a sincere question from a loaded one, a plea for help from an idle query? And will they ever understand that for humans, asking the question is sometimes more important than getting an answer? n
Questions, so many questions
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