Students mute their ignorance and answer questions correctly in an exam, without their ignorance being detected by teachers. Is this a possible scenario? Yes, but only in the quantum world. UQ physicist Jacqui Romero has come up with the technique. Ignorance of the whole does not necessarily imply ignorance of the parts — in the lab. Normally, ignorance can be traced to a source. If a student’s knowledge of a book is patchy, a teacher can design a test to probe which parts of the book are unknown to the student. Imagine a student taking an exam that covers two topics. She is not up to the task, but she is given a single hint by a scholarly friend. This hint provides information only on one topic and the teacher can still uncover which topic she is ignorant of. But a hint written in Romero’s quantum alphabet, made of light, could simultaneously contain information about both topics, despite appearing to be about only one. So the teacher can’t determine the source of the student’s ignorance. Unfortunately, quantum hints won’t be available for students outside the lab anytime soon.
SNEAK PEEK
1. Beer here: One
Most beer drinkers can distinguish between different bitter tastes in beer, although they can’t put their finger on it verbally. But it does not seem to influence which beer they like; rather, it seems they just like beer, regardless of the source of the bitterness. Who noted this?
1. Penn State food scientist John Edward Hayes
2. Beer here: Two
The Wari empire remained intact across Peru for 500 years (600 to 1100 AD). What kept it ticking that long? A steady supply of beer was a crucial factor. This study helps us understand “how beer fed the creation of complex political organisations”. Who made this comment?
2. Anthropologist Dr. Patrick Ryan Williams (Field Museum)
3. Nicotine not fatal
Smoking kills, alright, but nicotine is a different story. Given independently from tobacco, nicotine could actually help protect the brain as it ages, and even ward off Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. Who announced this by adding “we’re not encouraging people to smoke”?
3. Dr Ursula Winzer-Serhan (Texas A&M College of Medicine)
4. It isn’t dispersed
It is networking in the brain that puts together units of knowledge or pieces of information stored in various areas. People with a highly efficient fibre network in the brain have more general knowledge (GK) than those who have it less. Who proved it by studying GK tests?
4. Ruhr University Bochum biopsychologist Dr. Erhan Genc
5. Stealing signals
Viruses can’t build their own proteins. But they can obtain a wealth of previously undetected proteins by stealing genetic signals from their hosts. This is the finding of a team of virologists, including Ivan Marazzi (Icahn School of Medicine). What did the team call the proteins?
5. UFO (Upstream Frankenstein Open reading frame) proteins
6. Not forever!
Diamonds are thought of as very hard and stable. But, after all, they are a high-pressure form of carbon found deep in the ground, and several phenomena can make carbon unstable, says a paper. Who jovially described the paper as “evidence that Diamonds Aren’t Forever”?
6. Geologist Dr Cynthia J. Ebinger (who co-authored the paper)
7. Falling off a ladder
It only takes a moment to fall off a ladder, and it is a common type of accident, but ladder falls go far beyond that of the physical injury. Who found and reported that half of the fallers experience a deterioration in their psychological wellbeing for at least six months after the fall?
7. Dr Rob Eley (Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland)
8 Exercise snacks
A few minutes of stair climbing, at short intervals throughout the day, can improve cardiovascular health. People who work in office towers or live in apartment buildings can vigorously climb a few flights of stairs every day. Who saw it as putting ‘exercise snacks’ into your day?
8. Kinesiologist Dr. Martin Gibala (McMaster University)
9. At the periphery
The spatial relationships between cities and suburbs shape how millions of people live and interact with each other and with nature. Urban expansion at the periphery of cities creates “new ecological niches” for the spread of infectious diseases. Who warned us of this?
9. Dr Creighton Connolly (University of Lincoln)
[ANSWERS]
1. Penn State food scientist John Edward Hayes
2. Anthropologist Dr. Patrick Ryan Williams (Field Museum)
3. Dr Ursula Winzer-Serhan (Texas A&M College of Medicine)
4. Ruhr University Bochum biopsychologist Dr. Erhan Genc
5. UFO (Upstream Frankenstein Open reading frame) proteins
6. Geologist Dr Cynthia J. Ebinger (who co-authored the paper)
7. Dr Rob Eley (Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland)
8. Kinesiologist Dr. Martin Gibala (McMaster University)
9. Dr Creighton Connolly (University of Lincoln)
QUIZ No. 961
1. Who observed perceived threat behind “panic buying” and stockpiling toilet paper?
– Patricia Rosarie Casey
– Dr Eric Cunningham Dax
– Theo Toppe
1. Theo Toppe
2. The odour of what we eat influences how our body deals with calories. Who said it?
– Dr Céline E. Riera
– Vladimir Alexeievich Betz
– Roger Wolcott Sperry
2. Dr Céline E. Riera
3. Who reasoned that the sense of smell in animals evolved as an aid to navigation?
– Lucia F Jacobs
– Solomon Halbert Snyder
– Marthe Louise Vogt
3. Lucia F Jacobs
4. Who wrote the first book to treat face-to-face interaction as a subject in sociology?
– Erving Goffman
– Francisco García-Duarte
– Ernest André Gellner
4. Erving Goffman
5. Who said he was “trying to do intellectual things that would attract beautiful boys”?
– David W Garland
– Charlotte Perkins Gilman
– Paul-Michel Foucault
5. Paul-Michel Foucault