30-Second Theories

The 50 Most Thought-provoking Theories in Science

Martin Rees, Paul Parsons, Susan Blackmore

• Publisher: Icon Books
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN:
  9781848314528
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy & Ethics in Science

When it comes to big science, very few things are conclusively known. From Quantum Mechanics to Natural Selection, what we have instead are theories - ideas explain why things happen the way they do. We don't know for certain these are correct - no one ever saw the Big Bang - but with them we can paint beautiful, breathtaking pictures of everything from human behaviour to what the future may hold. Profiling the key scientists behind each theory, "30-Second Theories" presents each entry in a unique, eye-catching full-colour design, with thought-provoking extras and stylish illustrations. It is essential for anyone keen on expanding their mind with science's most thrilling ideas.

30- SECOND

THEORIES

The 50 most thought-provoking theories in science, each explained in half a minute

Editor

Paul Parsons

Foreword

Martin Rees

Contributors

Jim Al-Khalili

Susan Blackmore

Michael Brooks

John Gribbin

Christian Jarrett

Robert Matthews

Bill McGuire

Mark Ridley

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

The Macrocosm

GLOSSARY

Principle of least action

Laws of motion

Universal gravitation theory

profile: Albert Einstein

Wave theory

Thermodynamics

Electromagnetism

Theory of relativity

The Microcosm

GLOSSARY

Atomic theory

Quantum mechanics

The uncertainty principle

Schrödinger’s cat

profile: Richard Feynman

Quantum field theory

Quantum entanglement

Unification

Human Evolution

GLOSSARY

Panspermia

Natural selection

The selfish gene

profile: Charles Darwin

Lamarckism

Out of Africa

Sociobiology

The origin of language

Mind & Body

GLOSSARY

Psychoanalysis

Behaviorism

Cognitive psychology

profile: Sigmund Freud

Genetic medicine

Complementary medicine

Evidence-based medicine

The placebo effect

Planet Earth

GLOSSARY

Solar nebular theory

Continental drift

Snowball Earth

profile: James Lovelock

Global warming

Catastrophism

Gaia hypothesis

Rare Earth hypothesis

The Universe

GLOSSARY

The big bang

Dark matter & dark energy

Inflation

The anthropic principle

profile: Stephen Hawking

Cosmic topology

Parallel worlds

The fate of the Universe

Ekpyrotic theory

The Knowledge

GLOSSARY

Information theory

Moore’s law

Ockham’s razor

Memetics

profile: John Nash

Game theory

Small world hypothesis

Chaos theory

Notes on contributors

Resources

Acknowledgments

FOREWORD

Martin Rees

Our world is getting ever more complex, more baffling. Some pessimists argue that scientific progress—or indeed society itself—will clog up because of “information overload.” I don’t think that’s a serious worry. As science advances, more patterns and regularities are revealed in nature. These advances cut down the number of disconnected facts worth remembering. There’s no need to record the fall of every apple, because, thanks to Isaac Newton, we understand how gravity pulls everything—whether apples or spacecraft—toward Earth.

The simplest building blocks of our world— atoms—behave in ways we can understand and calculate. And the laws and forces governing them are universal: Atoms behave the same way everywhere on Earth—indeed, they are the same, even in the remotest stars. We know these basic facts well enough to enable engineers to design all the mechanical artefacts of our modern world, from radios to rockets.

Our everyday environment is too complicated for its essence to be captured by a few formulae. But our perspective on our Earth has been transformed by great, unifying ideas. The concept of continental drift, for instance, helps us to fit together a whole raft of geological and ecological patterns across the globe. Charles Darwin’s great insight—evolution by natural selection—reveals the overarching unity of the entire web of life on our planet. Whatever our personal lives may be like, our environment is neither chaotic nor anarchic. There are patterns in nature. There are even patterns in how we humans behave—in how cities grow, how epidemics spread, and how technologies, such as computer chips, develop. The more we understand the world, the less bewildering it becomes, and the more we’re able to change it.

These laws or patterns are the great triumphs of science. To discover them has required dedicated talent—even genius in many cases. But to grasp their essence is not so difficult. We all appreciate music, even if we can’t compose or perform it. Likewise, the ideas of science can be accessed and marveled at by everyone.

Science impinges more than ever on our lives. Many political issues—energy, health, environment, and so forth—have a scientific dimension. How science is applied matters to us all. The important choices shouldn’t be made just by scientists; they should be the outcome of wider public debate. But in order for that to happen, we all need a “feel” for the key ideas of science. And, quite apart from their practical uses, these ideas should be part of our common culture. The great concepts of science can be conveyed briefly—maybe even in 30 seconds— using non-technical words and simple images. That’s the aim of this book, and we should hope it succeeds.

The theory of everything

Unification theory, one example of which is string theory, attempts to explain how everything in the universe is connected. Great scientists have spent years trying to develop a “theory of everything”—this book explains that research in just 30 seconds.

Testing, testing

Unlike the pet theories that we all like to make up, scientific theories are supported by cold hard evidence, usually in the form of carefully planned and controlled experiments.

INTRODUCTION

Paul Parsons

Everyone’s got their own pet theory. I should know. During my time as editor of the monthly BBC science and technology magazine Focus, the mailbag brought several of them every day—missives from readers claiming to have cracked the mysteries of black holes, parallel universes, or the Big Bang; determined the origin of life; or unified the laws of particle physics. I’d reply, thanking them for their theories, and requesting that they send in the full supporting mathematics. I don’t think any of them ever did.

That’s the difference between the “theories” we bandy about i...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• 30- Second Theories
• Notes on Contributors
• Resources
• Acknowledgements