An article in the New York Times the other day reported on a group of Harvard physicists who have conducted an intriguing experiment. They isolated a particle of light, which in itself is no mean feat. After all, light travels at, well, the speed of light (144,000 feet per second). Then they captured the particle, moved it somewhere else and released it on its way. The effect was basically a now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t trick, with the addition of: now-you-see-it-again!

This experiment reminded me of how little we really know about the world we live in. I am heavily involved in helping a client with a national initiative on global warming, another field, like physics, about which I know very little myself. Still, I am amazed by how little even the experts know. The world is complex and mysterious, and the physics of light and the warming of the planet are just two examples of how early we are in our quest to understand it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 8:50 am and is filed under Assorted Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.