Previously Unknown Letter Reveals Einstein's Thinking On Bees, Birds and Physics (phys.org) 27
The 1949 letter by the physicist and Nobel laureate discusses bees, birds and whether new physics principles could come from studying animal senses. Phys.Org reports: The previously unpublished letter was shared with researchers by Judith Davys -- Einstein had addressed it to her late husband, radar researcher Glyn Davys. RMIT's Associate Professor Adrian Dyer has published significant studies into bees and is the lead author of the new paper on Einstein's letter, published in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A. Dyer said the letter shows how Einstein envisaged new discoveries could come from studying animals. "Seven decades after Einstein proposed new physics might come from animal sensory perception, we're seeing discoveries that push our understanding about navigation and the fundamental principles of physics," he said.
The letter also proves Einstein met with Nobel laurate Karl von Frisch, who was a leading bee and animal sensory researcher. In April 1949, von Frisch presented his research on how honeybees navigate more effectively using the polarization patterns of light scattered from the sky. The day after Einstein attended von Frisch's lecture, the two researchers shared a private meeting. Although this meeting wasn't formally documented, the recently discovered letter from Einstein provides insight into what they might have talked about.
"It is thinkable that the investigation of the behavior of migratory birds and carrier pigeons may someday lead to the understanding of some physical process which is not yet known," Einstein wrote. Professor Andrew Greentree, a theoretical physicist at RMIT, said Einstein also suggested that for bees to extend our knowledge of physics, new types of behavior would need to be observed. "Remarkably, it is clear through his writing that Einstein envisaged new discoveries could come from studying animals' behaviors," Greentree said.
The letter also proves Einstein met with Nobel laurate Karl von Frisch, who was a leading bee and animal sensory researcher. In April 1949, von Frisch presented his research on how honeybees navigate more effectively using the polarization patterns of light scattered from the sky. The day after Einstein attended von Frisch's lecture, the two researchers shared a private meeting. Although this meeting wasn't formally documented, the recently discovered letter from Einstein provides insight into what they might have talked about.
"It is thinkable that the investigation of the behavior of migratory birds and carrier pigeons may someday lead to the understanding of some physical process which is not yet known," Einstein wrote. Professor Andrew Greentree, a theoretical physicist at RMIT, said Einstein also suggested that for bees to extend our knowledge of physics, new types of behavior would need to be observed. "Remarkably, it is clear through his writing that Einstein envisaged new discoveries could come from studying animals' behaviors," Greentree said.
Principles can also come from studying (Score:2, Interesting)
other people's work
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Birds and the Bees and "physics"?? (Score:3)
No thanks, I can recognize the code word for an Albert Einstein take on the Kama Sutra.
Although I'm sure the diagrams will be quite informative.
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Einstein also said (Score:4, Interesting)
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Cousin marriage (Score:2)
What about his views on cousin marriage? Oh yeah, we know that one.
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Relativity, whaddya expect?
It's amazing how Einstein was... (Score:1)
Einstein's Thinking On Bees, Birds and Physics
It's amazing how Einstein was similar to old philosophers that were also chemist, astronomers, etc. This type of complete person seems rarer nowadays with most people specializing in some specific domain perceived as completely independent from another given domain which would seem unrelated at first glance. It is sad because we then miss the fact that everything in the universe might be somehow linked together.
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I agree 100%. Our teaching and education systems have become something far removed from the spirit of enquiry that science is supposed to embody.
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Because today, "science" is politics, and any statement made is a potential opportunity to be attacked.
Not everyone is Einstein - if it was usual to post musings on various topics, a lot of what was posted would be naive, of poor quality, unfounded, etc.
This represents an opportunity to be attacked. Nobody wants to open up to being attacked in an environment where a wilfully misinterpreted social media post can cost you your life as you know it.
Re: It's amazing how Einstein was... (Score:1)
No, your post is utterly retarded. The topic here isnâ(TM)t âoeinterdisciplinary researchâ, as Einsteinâ(TM)s letter wasnâ(TM)t âoeresearchâ in the sense of controlled experiments and the scientific process in an environment with peer review.
If you take away Einsteinâ(TM)s genius, this was a few brief musings - speculative guessing - about bees. Not âoeresearchâ. Hence, your average person publishing speculative guessing-out-loud in a similar way would end u
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Bullshit. You clearly have no idea how science/research works these days. Research topics are so specialized because our knowledge becomes more complex the further we go. However, interdisciplinarity is important and has to be incentivized more. It just costs money and nobody wants to take the risk of potentially researching into a dead end. And it gets worse as more labs are competing for the same amount of money.
I once heard it said that we are learning more and more about less and less. By focusing on a less broad field, we are able to deep dive like never before, but appear fools when broaching a topic not in our specialized field. Just look at Elon Musk's comment that the mRNA in a vaccine could turn a person into a butterfly!
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a lot of what was posted would be naive, of poor quality, unfounded, etc.
This is a feature rather than a bug.
I think people need opportunities to exercise their critical thinking skills. Like most everything else about us, they'll atrophy if they are not used. So an environment where public discourse is first reviewed by panels of people deemed experts, or an AI, or some other arbiter of what is allowed to be said, will only prime people to be full on duped by complete bullshit to an even larger extent than they are today.
We'll have the same result if everyone is afraid to s
Next year: Einsteins theories on fox holes. (Score:2)
Exothermic or endothermic?
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But further study has illuminated our understanding of other ways flight can be accomplished, and we now know how they do it.
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According to what was known about flight in the 30s yes it wasn't possible for bees to fly. But further study has illuminated our understanding of other ways flight can be accomplished, and we now know how they do it.
We also know today that we've been killing them off at an unprecedented rate https://www.greenpeace.org/usa... [greenpeace.org]
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Right, the bees have allegedly been facing extinction of unknown causes for at least the last 40 years but, somehow, stubbornly refuse to die off. This is a chronic environmental panic that doesn't seem to be based on anything. It also seems to be an issue only for one uniform species of cultivated honey bees so, at worst, it's a problem like the grape root disease or banana disaster, which you get when you insist on monocultures. There are many other kinds of bees and, perhaps we should let our current lit
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Well, that's not quite true. Apis -- the honeybee -- has many species. Many of these species are impacted by bee die-offs. The reason for die-offs is not known for sure, but the best guesses are that it's a confluence of many things. Certain pesticides. Varroa mites. Monocrop environments. Stressful colony moves (a huge percentage of the hives in the US are moved to California every year and then back). etc.
Additionally, other bees are absolutely impacted, though not quite so clearly. Bumblebees are certain
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Honeybees are an invasive species in the Americas. Are you really advocating for invasive species? :-P