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In the Beginning: The Start of Everything (p 70)
How did love begin? How about Scotch tape, teeth, the artificial heart, the vibrator? And clocks, the paper clip, diamond, chocolate? Learn about the origins of these items and more in a special issue of Scientific American focusing on Origins.
At one point or another, we’ve all asked questions about how things came to be: What causes rainbows? Why do we have an appendix? What came first, the chicken or the egg? This issue reveals the origins of 57 devices, practices and phenomena from paper money to the pill, while four feature articles, listed below, grapple with the beginnings of the universe, the mind, life and computing.
Origin of the Universe (p 36)
From quark soup to the galaxies, stars, planets and life we see today, scientists have long sought to explain the billions of years’ of cosmological evolution. With the use of bigger and better telescopes and new theories, science is unlocking the mysteries surrounding the origin of the cosmos.
Origin of the Mind (p 44)
Although humans share about 98 percent of our genetic makeup with chimpanzees, small genetic shifts that occurred since the two lineages split have produced massive differences between the species. Archaeological artifacts from the Paleolithic era – about 800,000 years ago – have given scientists an insight into an age when humans first began to develop a more sophisticated mind.
Origin of Life on Earth (p 54)
To determine how life arose from non-living matter some 3.7 billion years ago, scientists are attempting to construct self-replicating organisms in the laboratory. They hope to discover structures that can form spontaneously, which would give us clues as to how the first primitive cells came into existence, and what chemical reactions may have driven cellular evolution.
Origin of Computing (p 62)
Thought by most to be a product of the 20th century, digital computers were actually envisioned in Victorian England. These plans, however, were not seriously studied until the 1970s – a good 30 years after the transition was made from analogue to electronic computing during World War II. These early developments set the stage for the truly remarkable advancements of the past 60 years.
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