Discover 02/08

Just got the February Discover. Here are the stories that particularly caught my eye.

"Cancer's Many Moods"

Research by Penn psychologist James Coyne finds that the emotional well-being of cancer patients -- their optimism or pessimism, depression or rugged hope -- had no effect on their longterm survival. The research followed almost 1,100 people with head or neck cancers over an average of nine years, until they either dropped out of the study or died. (646 died.) The article concluded, "Many cancer patients struggling to maintain a positive outlook -- and fearing that their lives depended on it -- have contacted Coyne to express relief that their survival may not be dependent on their emotions."

Favorite fact: An earlier study found that 72 percent of the public and 86 percent of cancer patients believe that cancer survival rates are affected by attitude and emotion, vs. only 26 percent of oncologists.

Way Cool Photo

This is a photo of a worker assembling a wind turbine, 300 feet above the ground. Note the turbine blade lying on the ground at lower right. Each of those blades is about four stories tall.

It looks way better in the printed version, so go check out a copy! Photo by Sean Gallup, Getty.

"Retiring Tires: A Heated Debate on Using Them as Fuel"

The story was about more than using tires for fuel -- it covered many ways that tires are reused, whether for parts of new tires or as the "crumb rubber" that is now used in roadways, playgrounds, sports surfaces or even horse arenas. But it also included this statement about their use as fuel: "According to the EPA, tires deliver 25 percent more energy than coal, with an emission profile of greenhouse gases and other pollutants that is about the same..."

A provocative statement! I don't know if it makes me amenable to the idea of burning tires, though -- or if the idea that coal is worse than tires provides extra motivation to get rid of coal-burning plants.

"If There's Really Only Six Degrees (of Separation) Between Us and Osama bin Laden, Why Can't We Find Him?"

It turns out, the original research that established the notion of "six degrees of separation" was almost completely without scientific merit. Originally reported in Psychology Today rather than in a refereed journal in 1967, researcher Stanley Milgram's work has more recently been debunked by Judith Kleinfeld of the University of Alaska. Basically, Milgram's study was very small and incomplete, and didn't actually result in anything like the conclusive findings he reported. And it has never been successfully replicated.

"20 Things You Didn't Know About Science Fiction"

I almost always enjoy the "20 Things" column that has taken up residence on Discover's final page. The February 2008 version included this one-two punch:

"No. 16: In Arthur C. Clarke's 2001, the HAL 9000 computer discusses its feelings and Pan Am flies passenger shuttles to the moon.

"No. 17: Forty years later, computers can't discuss printer drives, let alone emotions, and Pan Am has been dead for 17 years."