October 20, 2003
Science Hype
All too often, science is hyped. Well, new "discoveries", anyway. Sometimes, it makes sense- such as the reports from a few years ago that since cancer could be easily cured in mice, a cure for human cancer was only a matter of a couple of years. Sadly, that hasn't been the case. And sometimes, I have to admit its my own emotions running away from me (I'm a sucker for any story that could be headlined "important new breakthrough") - like when I saw the headlines of this New Scientist article: "Tiny tubes squeeze electricity from water", and then read the first paragraph: "If the output can be increased, says Larry Kostiuk of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, then high pressure water could one day be used to power small devices such as mobile phones and calculators." I stayed with them through the explanation of the effect, but then a deluge of cold water arrived with: "To increase the current, they will need to increase the efficiency of the device. At the moment, says Kostiuk, "it's really pretty pathetic - a fraction of a percent."" Translation: Not in my lifetime. Heck, I'm still waiting for the efficiency of photovoltaic cells to increase to the point that solar power is cheap and ubiquitous.
Posted by Kevin Murphy at October 20, 2003 12:29 PM | Science
