In 1917, Albert Einstein proposed that an isolated atom in an excited energy state will return to its lower state by emitting a photon, a concept he called spontaneous emission. His theory also predicted that as light passes through a substance it will stimulate the emission of more light.
Einstein’s calculations suggested photons prefer to travel together in the same state and therefore, he argued, a photon of the correct wavelength passing by exited atoms would stimulate those atoms to release their photons and the domino effect created would produce a continuous stream of coherent light.
This basic research was extremely insightful, but had no practical application until scientists in the 1950s used it to invent lasers.
Just think about what a different world we would be living in today had it not been for the invention of the laser. They are used for everything from grocery scanners to eyesight saving surgery. The Netherlands is currently outfitting train engines with lasers to blast leaves off the tracks because they can be a crash hazard and cause millions of hours of passenger delays every year.
This is how science frequently works. Our current government, however, is an enemy of basic research, slashing funding and even muzzling our scientists from sharing their results.
In October, more than 800 prominent scientists from more than 32 countries and prestigious institutions such as Harvard University signed an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“Canada’s leadership in basic research, environmental, health and other public science is in jeopardy,” the letter states. “We urge you to restore government science funding and the freedom and opportunities to communicate these findings internationally.”
So, at a election campaign-style event last week when Harper announced—or I should say re-announced, a favourite Conservative deception—the “Canada First Research Excellence Fund” (CFREF), I could not help being somewhat cynical.
This program, $1.5 billion over 10 years, requires universities and research institutions to compete for the money with proposals that align with the “government’s priorities.”
With this government, you can bet that means your research better be headed toward a short-term prospect of making money.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives continue to close down valuable basic research programs. Next in line is the Canadian National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids in Ottawa, which studies the structures of molecules. It is one of the top facilities of its kind in the world, but, I guess since it doesn’t have the immediate impact of finding more efficient ways to extract oil from tar sands, it has no value to Canada. I warned you I was pretty cynical about this.
I am not saying we should abandon applied research in favour of fundamental science. We need both. The basic discoveries we make today are the foundation for the applied research of the future.
Ancient diagnosis
The CFREF was the big story for me, but there are a couple of things this week I just cant let pass without mention.
First, a University of Saskatchewan researcher, Angela Lieverse, was part of a team that discovered what may be the oldest known case of cancer. Of course, the local angle made it compelling, but the thing I like best about the story is it provides evidence to help refute a widely held belief, that cancer is a modern disease brought on by our post-industrial lifestyle.
This kind of nonsense—that our ancestors were much healthier than we are today because of their “natural” way of life—is the foundation for fads such as the “paleo diet,” which I’ve written about before (“Good eating, but nothing paleo about it”, Thinking Critically, September 4, 2013).
Mars era dawns
On Friday, NASA successfully tested its new spacecraft. The Orion capsule shot up on a Delta IV Heavy rocket to 5,800 kilometres beyond Earth, orbited twice and splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean near the Baja California Coast.
It is the furthest we have gone since the Apollo 17 moon mission, 15 times as far as the International Space Station’s orbit.
The mission was dramatically hailed by NASA administrator Charles Bolden as “Day 1 of the Mars era.”
Orion’s first planned manned mission will be to moon orbit in the 2020s where NASA hopes astronauts will rendezvous with a captured asteroid.
After that it is off to Mars in the 2030s.
Talk about stunning basic research.
