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SPONSORED BY  | | | | November 11, 2024: The simplest explanation might NOT always be the best. Plus, do some fish have self-awareness? —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | The 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis skeleton known as Lucy. Dave Einsel/Getty Images | | | Sometimes Complex Is Best | "Occam's Razor" is an idea that the simplest explanation is usually the best one. But in science, "there is no good reason that we should prefer a simpler explanation to a complex one," writes Harvard historian of science Naomi Oreskes in the November issue of Scientific American. The great scientist Isaac Newton said light travels as particles, while some of his contemporaries said light moves as a wave. But modern quantum physics shows that light is a wave AND a particle–certainly a more complex answer. Or consider why some life-long cigarette smokers never develop cancer while many do. The explanation is complex, since a host of factors contribute to carcinogenesis (genetics, individual response to inflammation, etc.).
Why this matters: The idea that the simplest explanation is the best can be co-opted by bad actors or be used to discredit scientists' explanations for natural phenomena. One example is climate change. On an unseasonably cold day in August, people might assume the simple explanation is that climate change is not really happening. But the real explanation is that Earth's climate is a complex system that operates at larger scales than daily weather.
What the experts say: "Science is about letting the chips fall," writes Oreskes, "and sometimes this means accepting that the truth is not simple, even if it would make our lives easier if it were." | | | Cleaner wrasse approaches a parrotfish. atese/Getty Images | | | Tiny bluestreak cleaner wrasses eat parasites off of so-called "client" fish, which are often much bigger. To test whether the tiny fish have facial recognition skills, the fish were placed with a mirror in their tank for a week, and afterward were able to spot themselves in photos. Each fish examined four photos: one of itself, one of an unfamiliar cleaner wrasse, one of its own face on the stranger's body, and one of its own body with the stranger's face. Cleaner wrasses behaved aggressively toward the ones with the stranger's face but not with their own. Why this matters: Other than chimps and other apes, nearly every other animal given similar tests has failed. The researchers say their results suggest the fish are self-aware, which is a controversial interpretation.
What the experts say: This reaction suggests these fish have "private self-awareness," or a mental-image understanding of themselves, says study leader Masanori Kohda, a comparative cognitive scientist at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan. | | | SPONSORED CONTENT BY CCHCS | Use your skills to make a positive difference in the lives of incarcerated persons. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) / California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) is seeking full-time compassionate, knowledgeable psychiatrists to join our multidisciplinary mental health teams. Learn more here. | | | • Climate change-related disasters have wreaked havoc on Kenya for decades, writes Kennedy Odede, the founder and chief executive officer at SHOFCO, Kenya's largest grassroots organization. Local African organizations are better-suited to lead climate action projects, and so international funding needs to be channeled to smaller-scale solutions, he says. "Despite the commitments laid out in the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, there is a growing divide between international financing flows and the needs on the ground. ... International funders need to come to us, and trust us, because the next generation of climate leaders on the continent will be African." | 6 min read | | | Credit: Buena Vista Images/Getty Images | | | • At 4,554 meters (14,941 feet) above sea level, the Margherita Hut near the border between Italy and Switzerland is the highest building in Europe. Climate change is affecting such high-altitude buildings. As the ground warms in the Alps, ice in the permafrost melts, and the soil thaws. The soil slumps and pulls apart, which increases the frequency of landslides and rock falls. The deformation from thawing permafrost can destabilize foundations, making buildings tilt, slide or collapse altogether. | 6 min read | | | What is it about the human brain that sets it apart from other highly intelligent animals? Research in comparative psychology has shown that humans have a unique ability called nested scenario building that allows us to imagine several alternative situations, some with different outcomes, and embed them into a larger narrative of related events. We can think from many different angles, in other words. Yes, the simplest explanation is sometimes the best, but we have the capacity to imagine other explanations and open our minds to them. | Welcome to a new week of discovery. Send me your thoughts and suggestions any time: newsletters@sciam.com. If you've been enjoying this newsletter and want to access all the links I include, consider a subscription to Scientific American--we have special discounts for Today in Science readers! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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