Scientific American - February 2019

February 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 3

FROM

Mariette DiChristina is editor in chief of IY_[dj_ÒY7c[h_YWd$ THE EDITOR

Follow her on Twitter @mdichristina

What’s in

a Face?

It’s remarkable how often seemingly pedestri-

an things ultimately spark a sense of wonder

when considered through the evidence-based

view of research. Take the question of how

we see faces, a ho-hum everyday occur-

rence that we easily do without con-

scious effort. Yet it is a feat full of

puzzling intricacies that investi-

ga tors are attempting to parse.

How do the networks in the brain put

var ious features into recognizable faces

and, eventually, assemble a sensible pic-

ture of the  world?

In this issue’s cover story, “Face Val-

ues,” neuroscientist and MacArthur Fel-

low Doris Y. Tsao describes her journey

into this field of study. It began in her

high school calculus course using dif-

ferential equations to describe curves and continued

in undergraduate studies—where she learned early exper-

iments in how the primary visual cortex extracts edges from

images—and graduate school. “I was captivated by the challenge

of un derstanding vision and embarked on a quest,” Tsao writes.

Parsing these complex neural interactions begins on page 22.

Using our visual systems, we’re also seeing—and welcoming—

some new faces to Scientific American, as part of

our ongoing refinement of editorial

content. First of all, we’ve added some

new advisers to our board below; their

insights are invaluable to our science

coverage. In addition, in recent months

we’ve been joined by Claudia Wallis

as the “Science of Health” columnist,

as well as by climate scientist Kate

Marvel, who writes “Hot Planet” on

ScientificAmerican.com.

In this issue, technosociologist Zey-

nep Tufekci shares her expertise. Her

monthly column, “The Intersection,” on

page 72, promises to cover critical is-

sues that occur “where science and so-

ciety meet.” Her first essay, “Zombie

Baby Monitors Attack,” sheds light on

“blatantly negligent security practices”

that could undermine the Internet of

Things. Also penning his first monthly

installment is technology journalist

Wade Roush. He will be writing “Ven-

tures,” covering “the business of innovation.” In “Getting Out

of Silicon Valley’s Shadow,” he discusses whether local econo-

mies need an economic injection from a so-called innovation dis-

trict or technology cluster. The future awaits on page 19.

Illustration by Nick Higgins

BOARD OF ADVISERS

Leslie C. Aiello

President, Wenner-Gren Foundation

for Anthropological Research

Robin E. Bell

Research Professor, Lamont-Doherty

Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Emery N. Brown

Edward Hood Taplin Professor of

Medical Engineering and of

Computational Neuro science, M.I.T.,

and Warren M. Zapol Professor

of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School

Vinton G. Cerf

Chief Internet Evangelist, Google

George M. Church

Director, Center for Computational

Genetics, Harvard Medical School

Rita Colwell

Distinguished University Professor,

Universit y of Mar yland C ollege Park

and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School

of Public Health

Drew Endy

Professor of Bioengineering,

Stanford University

Nita A. Farahany

Professor of Law and Philosophy,

Director, Duke Initiative for

Science & Society, Duke University

Edward W. Felten

Director, Center for Information

Technology Policy, Princeton University

Jonathan Foley

Executive Director and William R.

and Gretchen B. Kimball Chair,

California Academy of Sciences

Jennifer Francis

Senior Scientist, Woods Hole

Research Center

Kaigham J. Gabriel

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Charles Stark Draper Laboratory

Harold “Skip” Garner

Executive Director and Professor,

Primary Care Research Network

and Center for Bioinformatics

and Genetics, Edward Via College

of Osteopathic Medicine

Michael S. Gazzaniga

Director, Sage Center for the Study

of Mind, Universit y of C alifornia,

Santa Barbara

Carlos Gershenson

Research Professor, National

Autonomous University of Mexico

Alison Gopnik

Professor of Psychology and

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University of California, Berkeley

Lene Vestergaard Hau

Mallinckrodt Professor

of Physics and of Applied Physics,

Harvard University

Hopi E. Hoekstra

Alexander Agassiz Professor

of Zoology, Harvard University

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Founder and CEO,

Ocean Collective

Christof Koch

President and CSO,

Allen Institute for Brain Science

Morten L. Kringelbach

Associate Professor and Senior

Research Fellow, The Queen’s College,

University of Oxford

Robert S. Langer

David H. Koch Institute Professor,

Department of Chemical

Engineering, M.I.T.

Meg Lowman

Senior Scientist and Lindsay Chair

of Botany, California Academy of

Sciences, and Rachel Carson Center

for Environment and Society, Ludwig

Maximilian University Munich

John Maeda

Global Head, Computational

Design + Inclusion, Automattic, Inc.

Satyajit Mayor

S enior Professor, National C enter

for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute

of Fundamental Research

John P. Moore

Professor of Microbiology and

Immunology, Weill Medical

College of Cornell University

Donna J. Nelson

Professor of Chemistry,

University of Oklahoma

Robert E. Palazzo

Dean, University of Alabama

at Birmingham College

of Arts and Sciences

Rosalind Picard

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Computing, M.I.T. Media Lab

Carolyn Porco

Leader, Cassini Imaging Science

Team, and Director, CICLOPS,

Space Science Institute

Lisa Randall

Professor of Physics,

Harvard University

Martin Rees

Astronomer Royal and Professor

of Cosmology and Astrophysics,

Institute of Astronomy,

University of Cambridge

Daniela Rus

Director, Computer Science and

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Eugenie C. Scott

Chair, Advisory Council,

National Center for Science Education

Terr y S ejnowsk i

Professor and Laboratory

Head of Computational

Neurobiology Laboratory,

Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Meg Urry

Israel Munson Professor of Physic s

and Astronomy, Yale University

Michael E. Webber

Co-director, Clean Energy Incubator,

and Associate Professor,

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Universit y of Texas at Austin

George M. Whitesides

Professor of Chemistry and

Chemical Biology, Harvard University

Amie Wilkinson

Professor of Mathematics,

University of Chicago

Anton Zeilinger

Professor of Quantum Optics,

Quantum Nanophysics,

Quantum Information,

University of Vienna

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