Q&AGETTY IMAGES X4, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY ILLUSTRATIONS: DAN BRIGHT
The amount, in metres,
that the Sun vibrates
back and forth every
second. This is because of
Jupiter’s strong gravity
pulling on the star.13
ERNSTSTUECKELBERG
UNSUNGGENIUSOF
MODERNPHYSICS
HIDDEN
FIG RES
At the end of a lecture in the 1960s, the
celebrated physicist Richard Feynman
spo ed a man quietly leaving the
auditorium. “He did the work and walks
alone towards the sunset,” Feynman
declared. “And here I am, covered in all
the glory which rightfully should be his.”
While few have heard of the Swiss
physicist Ernst Stueckelberg, his insights
into subatomic physics were so
profound that he should have shared at
least three Nobel Prizes.
Born in 1905, by his early 30s
Stueckelberg had come up with the
revolutionary – and now proven – idea
that atomic nuclei are held together by a
force carried by subatomic particles.
Dismissed as ridiculous, Stueckelberg
dropped the idea – which was then
rediscovered by a Japanese theorist,
winning him a Nobel.
Stueckelberg went on to solve
technical problems with the theory of
quantum electrodynamics, which
describes how light and ma er interact.
His complex ideas appeared in obscure
journals and got overlooked – until
Feynman and others came up with
similar ideas, winning them the Nobel.
Undaunted, Stueckelberg devised a
theory for how subatomic forces behave
in particle accelerators. His prediction
was confirmed a few years a er his
death in 1984 – by which time others
had already won Nobels for similar
work. Stueckelberg’s brilliance but
obscurity proves that in science, as in
life, being first is not enough. You also
need to get noticed. RMHoney can last for thousands of
years in sealed pots – it’s even
been discovered in Ancient
Egyptian tombs. The secret to its
long life lies in the bees’
honey-making process.
Forager bees collect sugary
nectar from owers and
transport it back to the hive.
Here, the bees transfer the
nectar to other worker bees,
which repeatedly drink and
regurgitate the liquid, reducing
its water content. During this
process, an enzyme in the bees’
stomachs breaks down the
nectar’s glucose into gluconic
acid – which helps to make
honey acidic (pH of around 4)- and hydrogen peroxide. Once
the nectar is deposited in the
honeycomb, the bees fan it
furiously with their wings to
speed up the water’s
evaporation. The honey’s low
water content and high acidity
are the two main reasons it
doesn’t spoil – the bacteria that
cause food to go o can’t thrive
in these conditions. The
hydro enperoxidealsohas
TERRY PRIEST, WEST SUSSEXWHY
DOESN’T
HONEY
GO OFF?
When you’re hungry, the hydrochloric acid in your
empty stomach can slosh about and hit the lower
oesophageal sphincter (the valve that holds the top
of your stomach closed). This is also what happens
when you throw up, and it triggers similar feelings of
nausea. Hunger can also stimulate the ‘area
postrema’ structure in your brainstem, which
detects bacterial toxins in the blood to make you
throw up in response to food poisoning. For some
reason, very low blood sugar can sometimes trigger
a false alarm. LVSHARON HACKETT, WEST SUSSEXWHY DO I FEEL SICK
WHEN I’M HUNGRY?