a temptation to think of at least acceleration as ‘ true ’ or ‘ absolute ’. if such a realist believes motion to be by nature a relation rather than a property ( and as we saw in the introduction, not all philosophers accept this ) then she will feel obliged to accord some sort of existence or reality to the structure — e. g., the structure of galilean spacetime — in relation to which these motions are defined. for philosophers with such realist inclinations, the ideal relational account of motion would therefore be some version of mach - heavy. the special theory of relativity ( str ) is notionally based on a principle of relativity of motion ; but that principle is ‘ special ’ — meaning, restricted. the relativity principle built into str is in fact nothing other than the galilean principle of relativity, which is built into newtonian physics. in other words, while there is no privileged standard of velocity, there is nevertheless a determinate fact of the matter about whether a body has accelerated or non - accelerated ( i. e., inertial ) motion. in this regard, the spacetime of str is exactly like galilean spacetime ( defined in section 5 above ). in terms of the question of whether all motion can be considered purely relative, one could argue that there is nothing new brought to the table by the introduction of einstein ' s str — at least, as far as mechanics is concerned. as dorling ( 1978 ) first pointed out, however, there is a sense in which the standard absolutist arguments against ‘ strict ’ relationism using rotating objects ( buckets or globes ) fail in the context of str. maudlin ( 1993 ) used the same considerations to show that there is a way of recasting relationism in str that appears to be very successful. str incorporates certain novelties concerning the nature of time and space, and how they mesh together ; perhaps the best - known examples are the phenomena of ‘ length contraction ’, ‘ time dilation ’, and the ‘ relativity of simultaneity. ’ since in str both spatial distances and time intervals — when measured in the standard ways — are observer - relative ( observers in different states of motion ‘ disagreeing ’ about their sizes ), it is arguably most natural to restrict oneself to the invariant spacetime separation given by the interval between two points : [ dx2 + dy2 + dz2 — dt2 ] — the four - dimensional analog of the p


sizes ), it is arguably most natural to restrict oneself to the invariant spacetime separation given by the interval between two points : [ dx2 + dy2 + dz2 — dt2 ] — the four - dimensional analog of the pythagorean theorem, for spacetime distances. if one regards the spacetime interval relations between masses - at - times as one ' s basis on which space - time is built up as an ideal entity, then with only mild caveats relationism works : the ‘ relationally pure ’ facts suffice to uniquely fix how the material systems are embeddable ( up to isomorphism ) in the ‘ minkowski ’ spacetime of str. the modern variants of newton ' s bucket and globes arguments no longer stymie the relationist because ( for example ) the spacetime interval relations among bits of matter in newton ' s bucket at rest are quite different from the spacetime interval relations found among those same bits of matter after the bucket is rotating. for example, the spacetime interval relation between a bit of water near the side of the bucket, at one time, and itself ( say ) a second later is smaller than the interval relation between a center - bucket bit of water and itself one second later ( times referred to inertial - frame clocks ). the upshot is that, unlike the situation in classical physics, a body at rest cannot have all the same spatial relations among its parts as a similar body in rotation. we cannot put a body or system into a state of rotation ( or other acceleration ) without thereby changing the spacetime interval relations between the various bits of matter at different moments of time. rotation and acceleration supervene on spacetime interval relations. it is worth pausing to consider to what extent this victory for ( some form of ) relationism satisfies the classical ‘ strict ’ relationism traditionally ascribed to mach and leibniz. the spatiotemporal relations that save the day against the bucket and globes are, so to speak, mixed spatial and temporal distances. they are thus quite different from the spatial - distances - at - a - time presupposed by classical relationists ; moreover they do not correspond to relative velocities ( - at - a - time ) either. their oddity is forcefully captured by noticing that if we choose appropriate bits of matter at ‘ times ’ eight minutes apart, i - now am at zero distance from the surface of the sun ( of eight minutes ‘ past ’, since it took


either. their oddity is forcefully captured by noticing that if we choose appropriate bits of matter at ‘ times ’ eight minutes apart, i - now am at zero distance from the surface of the sun ( of eight minutes ‘ past ’, since it took 8 minutes for light from the sun to reach me - now ). so we are by no means dealing here with an innocuous, ‘ natural ’ translation of classical relationist quantities into the str setting. on the other hand, in light of the relativity of simultaneity ( see note ), it can be argued that the absolute simultaneity presupposed by classical relationists and absolutists alike was, in fact, something that relationists should always have regarded with misgivings. from this perspective, instantaneous relational configurations — precisely what one starts with in the theories of barbour and bertotti — would be the things that should be treated with suspicion. if we now return to our questions about motions — about the nature of velocities and accelerations — we find, as noted above, that matters in the interval - relational interpretation of str are much the same as in newtonian mechanics in galilean spacetime. there are no well - defined absolute velocities, but there are indeed well - defined absolute accelerations and rotations. in fact, the difference between an accelerating body ( e. g., a rocket ) and an inertially moving body is codified directly in the cross - temporal interval relations of the body with itself. so we are very far from being able to conclude that all motion is relative motion of a body with respect to other bodies. it is true that the absolute motions are in 1 - 1 correlation with patterns of spacetime interval relations, but it is not at all correct to say that they are, for that reason, eliminable in favor of merely relative motions. rather we should simply say that no absolute acceleration can fail to have an effect on the material body or bodies accelerated. but this was already true in classical physics if matter is modeled realistically : the cord connecting the globes does not merely tense, but also stretches ; and so does the bucket, even if imperceptibly, i. e., the spatial relations change. maudlin does not claim this version of relationism to be victorious over an absolutist or substantivalist conception of minkowski spacetime, when it comes time to make judgments about the theory ' s ontology


spatial relations change. maudlin does not claim this version of relationism to be victorious over an absolutist or substantivalist conception of minkowski spacetime, when it comes time to make judgments about the theory ' s ontology. there may be more to vindicating relationism than merely establishing a 1 - 1 correlation between absolute motions and patterns of spatiotemporal relations. the simple comparison made above between str and newtonian physics in galilean spacetime is somewhat deceptive. for one thing, galilean spacetime is a mathematical innovation posterior to einstein ' s 1905 theory ; before then, galilean spacetime had not been conceived, and full acceptance of newtonian mechanics implied accepting absolute velocities and, arguably, absolute positions, just as laid down in the scholium. so einstein ' s elimination of absolute velocity was a genuine conceptual advance. moreover, the scholium was not the only reason for supposing that there existed a privileged reference frame of ‘ rest ’ : the working assumption of almost all physicists in the latter half of the 19th century was that, in order to understand the wave theory of light, one had to postulate an aetherial medium filling all space, wave - like disturbances in which constituted electromagnetic radiation. it was assumed that the aether rest frame would be an inertial reference frame ; and physicists felt some temptation to equate its frame with the absolute rest frame, though this was not necessary. regardless of this equation of the aether with absolute space, it was assumed by all 19th century physicists that the equations of electrodynamic theory would have to look different in a reference frame moving with respect to the aether than they did in the aether ' s rest frame ( where they presumably take their canonical form, i. e., maxwell ' s equations and the lorentz force law. ) so while theoreticians labored to find plausible transformation rules for the electrodynamics of moving bodies, experimentalists tried to detect the earth ' s motion in the aether. experiment and theory played collaborative roles, with experimental results ruling out certain theoretical moves and suggesting new ones, while theoretical advances called for new experimental tests for their confirmation or — as it happened — disconfirmation. as is well known, attempts to detect the earth ' s velocity in the aether were unsuccessful. on the theory side, attempts to formulate the transformation laws for electrodynamics in moving frames — in such


happened — disconfirmation. as is well known, attempts to detect the earth ' s velocity in the aether were unsuccessful. on the theory side, attempts to formulate the transformation laws for electrodynamics in moving frames — in such a way as to be compatible with experimental results — were complicated and inelegant. a simplified way of seeing how einstein swept away a host of problems at a stroke is this : he proposed that the galilean principle of relativity holds for maxwell ' s theory, not just for mechanics. the canonical ( ‘ rest - frame ’ ) form of maxwell ' s equations should be their form in any inertial reference frame. since the maxwell equations dictate the velocity c of electromagnetic radiation ( light ), this entails that any inertial observer, no matter how fast she is moving, will measure the velocity of a light ray as c — no matter what the relative velocity of its emitter. einstein worked out logically the consequences of this application of the special relativity principle, and discovered that space and time must be rather different from how newton described them. str undermined newton ' s absolute time just as decisively as it undermined his absolute space ( see note ). einstein ' s str was the first clear and empirically successful physical theory to overtly eliminate the concepts of absolute rest and absolute velocity while recovering most of the successes of classical mechanics and 19th century electrodynamics. it therefore deserves to be considered the first highly successful theory to explicitly relativize motion, albeit only partially. but str only recovered most of the successes of classical physics : crucially, it left out gravity. and there was certainly reason to be concerned that newtonian gravity and str would prove incompatible : classical gravity acted instantaneously at a distance, while str eliminated the privileged absolute simultaneity that this instantaneous action presupposes. several ways of modifying newtonian gravity to make it compatible with the spacetime structure of str suggested themselves to physicists in the years 1905 - 1912, and a number of interesting lorentz - covariant theories were proposed ( set in the minkowski spacetime of str ). einstein rejected these efforts one and all, for violating either empirical facts or theoretical desiderata. but einstein ' s chief reason for not pursuing the reconciliation of gravitation with str ' s spacetime appears to have been his desire, beginning in 1907, to replace str with a theory in which not only velocity could


desiderata. but einstein ' s chief reason for not pursuing the reconciliation of gravitation with str ' s spacetime appears to have been his desire, beginning in 1907, to replace str with a theory in which not only velocity could be considered merely relative, but also acceleration. that is to say, einstein wanted if possible to completely eliminate all absolute quantities of motion from physics, thus realizing a theory that satisfies at least one kind of ‘ strict ’ relationism. ( regarding einstein ' s rejection of lorentz - covariant gravity theories, see norton 1992 ; regarding einstein ' s quest to fully relativize motion, see hoefer 1994. ) einstein began to see this complete relativization as possible in 1907, thanks to his discovery of the equivalence principle. imagine we are far out in space, in a rocket ship accelerating at a constant rate g = 9. 98 m / s2. things will feel just like they do on the surface of the earth ; we will feel a clear up - down direction, bodies will fall to the floor when released, etc. indeed, due to the well - known empirical fact that gravity affects all bodies by imparting a force proportional to their matter ( and energy ) content, independent of their internal constitution, we know that any experiment performed on this rocket will give the same results that the same experiment would give if performed on the earth. now, newtonian theory teaches us to consider the apparent downward, gravity - like forces in the rocket ship as ‘ pseudo - forces ’ or ‘ inertial forces ’, and insists that they are to be explained by the fact that the ship is accelerating in absolute space. but einstein asked : “ is there any way for the person in the rocket to regard him / herself as being ‘ at rest ’ rather than in absolute ( accelerated ) motion? ” and the answer he gave is : yes. the rocket traveler may regard him / herself as being ‘ at rest ’ in a homogeneous and uniform gravitational field. this will explain all the observational facts just as well as the supposition that he / she is accelerating relative to absolute space ( or, absolutely accelerating in minkowski spacetime ). but is it not clear that the latter is the truth, while the former is a fiction? by no means ; if there were a uniform gravitational field filling all space, then it would affect all the other bodies in the world — the earth, the stars, etc, imparting to them a downward acceleration away from


former is a fiction? by no means ; if there were a uniform gravitational field filling all space, then it would affect all the other bodies in the world — the earth, the stars, etc, imparting to them a downward acceleration away from the rocket ; and that is exactly what the traveler observes. in 1907, einstein published his first gravitation theory ( einstein 1907 ), treating the gravitational field as a scalar field that also represented the ( now variable and frame - dependent ) speed of light. einstein viewed the theory as only a first step on the road to eliminating absolute motion. in the 1907 theory, the theory ' s equations take the same form in any inertial or uniformly accelerating frame of reference. one might say that this theory reduces the class of absolute motions, leaving only rotation and other non - uniform accelerations as absolute. but, einstein reasoned, if uniform acceleration can be regarded as equivalent to being at rest in a constant gravitational field, why should it not be possible also to regard inertial effects from these other, non - uniform motions as similarly equivalent to “ being at rest in a ( variable ) gravitational field ”? thus einstein set himself the goal of expanding the principle of equivalence to embrace all forms of ‘ accelerated ’ motion. einstein thought that the key to achieving this aim lay in further expanding the range of reference frames in which the laws of physics take their canonical form, to include frames adapted to any arbitrary motions. more specifically, since the class of all continuous and differentiable coordinate systems includes as a subclass the coordinate systems adapted to any such frame of reference, if he could achieve a theory of gravitation, electromagnetism and mechanics that was generally covariant — its equations taking the same form in any coordinate system from this general class — then the complete relativity of motion would be achieved. if there are no special frames of reference in which the laws take on a simpler canonical form, there is no physical reason to consider any particular state or states of motion as privileged, nor deviations from those as representing ‘ absolute motion ’. ( here we are just laying out einstein ' s train of thought ; later we will see reasons to question the last step. ) and in 1915, einstein achieved his aim in the general theory of relativity ( gtr ). there is one key element left out of this success story, however, and it is crucial to understanding why most physicists reject einstein ' s claim to have eliminated absolute states of motion in gtr. going back to our accelerating rocket


gtr ). there is one key element left out of this success story, however, and it is crucial to understanding why most physicists reject einstein ' s claim to have eliminated absolute states of motion in gtr. going back to our accelerating rocket, we accepted einstein ' s claim that we could regard the ship as hovering at rest in a universe - filling gravitational field. but a gravitational field, we usually suppose, is generated by matter. how is this universe - filling field linked to generating matter? the answer may be supplied by mach - heavy. regarding the ‘ accelerating ’ rocket which we decide to regard as ‘ at rest ’ in a gravitational field, the machian says : all those stars and galaxies, etc., jointly accelerating downward ( relative to the rocket ), ‘ produce ’ that gravitational field. the mathematical specifics of how this field is generated will have to be different from newton ' s law of gravity, of course ; but it should give essentially the same results when applied to low - mass, slow - moving problems such as the orbits of the planets, so as to capture the empirical successes of newtonian gravity. einstein thought, in 1916 at least, that the field equations of gtr are precisely this mathematical replacement for newton ' s law of gravity, and that they fully satisfied the desiderata of mach - heavy relationism. but it was not so. ( see the entry on early philosophical interpretations of general relativity. ) in gtr, spacetime is locally very much like flat minkowski spacetime. there is no absolute velocity locally, but there are clear local standards of accelerated vs non - accelerated motion, i. e., local inertial frames. in these ‘ freely falling ’ frames bodies obey the usual rules for non - gravitational physics familiar from str, albeit only approximately. but overall spacetime is curved, and local inertial frames may tip, bend and twist as we move from one region to another. the structure of curved spacetime is encoded in the metric field tensor gab, with the curvature encoding gravity at the same time : gravitational forces are so to speak ‘ built into ’ the metric field, geometrized away. since the spacetime structure encodes gravity and inertia, and in a mach - heavy theory these phenomena should be completely determined by the relational distribution of matter ( and relative motions ), einstein wished to see the metric as entirely determined by the distribution of matter and energy. but what the gtr field equations entail is, in general, only a partial -


be completely determined by the relational distribution of matter ( and relative motions ), einstein wished to see the metric as entirely determined by the distribution of matter and energy. but what the gtr field equations entail is, in general, only a partial - determination relation. we cannot go into the mathematical details necessary for a full discussion of the successes and failures of mach - heavy in the gtr context. but one can see why the machian interpretation einstein hoped he could give to the curved spacetimes of his theory fails to be plausible, by considering a few simple ‘ worlds ’ permitted by gtr. in the first place, for our hovering rocket ship, if we are to attribute the gravity field it feels to matter, there has got to be all this other matter in the universe. but if we regard the rocket as a mere ‘ test body ’ ( not itself substantially affecting the gravity present or absent in the universe ), then we can note that according to gtr, if we remove all the stars, galaxies, planets etc. from the world, the gravitational field does not disappear. on the contrary, it stays basically the same locally, and globally it takes the form of empty minkowski spacetime, precisely the quasi - absolute structure einstein was hoping to eliminate. solutions of the gtr field equations for arbitrary realistic configurations of matter ( e. g., a rocket ship ejecting a stream of particles to push itself forward ) are hard to come by, and in fact a realistic two - body exact solution has yet to be discovered. but numerical methods can be applied for many purposes, and physicists do not doubt that something like our accelerating rocket — in otherwise empty space — is possible according to the theory. we see clearly, then, that gtr fails to satisfy einstein ' s own understanding of mach ' s principle, according to which, in the absence of matter, space itself should not be able to exist. a second example : gtr allows us to model a single rotating object in an otherwise empty universe ( e. g., a neutron star ). relationism of the machian variety says that such rotation is impossible, since it can only be understood as rotation relative to some sort of absolute space. in the case of gtr, this is basically right : the rotation is best understood as rotation relative to a ‘ background ’ spacetime that is identical to the minkowski spacetime of str, only ‘ curved ’ by the presence of matter in the region of the star. on the other hand, there is one


is best understood as rotation relative to a ‘ background ’ spacetime that is identical to the minkowski spacetime of str, only ‘ curved ’ by the presence of matter in the region of the star. on the other hand, there is one charge of failure - to - relativize - motion sometimes leveled at gtr that is unfair. it is sometimes asserted that the simple fact that the metric field ( or the connection it determines ) distinguishes, at every location, motions that are ‘ absolutely ’ accelerated and / or ‘ absolutely rotating ’ from those that are not, by itself entails that gtr fails to embody a folk - leibniz style general relativity of motion ( e. g. earman ( 1989 ), ch. 5 ). we think this is incorrect, and leads to unfairly harsh judgments about confusion on einstein ' s part. the local inertial structure encoded in the metric would not be ‘ absolute ’ in any meaningful sense, if that structure were in some clear sense fully determined by the relationally specified matter - energy distribution. einstein was not simply confused when he named his gravity theory. ( just what is to be understood by “ the relationally specified matter - energy distribution ” is a further, thorny issue, which we cannot enter into here. ) gtr does not fulfill all the goals of mach - heavy, at least as understood by einstein, and he recognized this fact by 1918 ( einstein 1918 ). and yet … gtr comes tantalizingly close to achieving those goals, in certain striking ways. for one thing, gtr does predict mach - heavy effects, known as ‘ frame - dragging ’ : if we could model mach ' s thick - walled bucket in gtr, it seems clear that it would pull the water slightly outward, and give it a slight tendency to begin rotating in the same sense as the bucket ( even if the big bucket ' s walls were not actually touching the water. while gtr does permit us to model a lone rotating object, if we model the object as a shell of mass ( instead of a solid sphere ) and let the size of the shell increase ( to model the ‘ sphere of the fixed stars ’ we see around us ), then as brill & cohen ( 1966 ) showed, the frame - dragging becomes complete inside the shell. in other words : our original minkowski background structure effectively disappears, and inertia becomes wholly determined by the shell of matter, just as mach posited was the case. this complete determination of in


frame - dragging becomes complete inside the shell. in other words : our original minkowski background structure effectively disappears, and inertia becomes wholly determined by the shell of matter, just as mach posited was the case. this complete determination of inertia by the global matter distribution appears to be a feature of other models, including the friedman - robertson - walker - lemaitre big bang models that best match observations of our universe. finally, it is important to recognize that gtr is generally covariant in a very special sense : unlike all other prior theories ( and unlike many subsequent quantum theories ), it postulates no fixed ‘ prior ’ or ‘ background ’ spacetime structure. as mathematicians and physicists realized early on, other theories, e. g., newtonian mechanics and str, can be put into a generally covariant form. but when this is done, there are inevitably mathematical objects postulated as part of the formalism, whose role is to represent absolute elements of spacetime structure. what is unique about gtr is that it was the first, and is still the only ‘ core ’ physical theory, to have no such absolute elements in its covariant equations. the spacetime structure in gtr, represented by the metric field ( which determines the connection ), is at least partly ‘ shaped ’ by the distribution of matter and energy. and in certain models of the theory, such as the big bang cosmological models, some authors have claimed that the local standards of inertial motion — the local ‘ gravitational field ’ of einstein ' s equivalence principle — are entirely fixed by the matter distribution throughout space and time, just as mach - heavy requires ( see, for example, wheeler and cuifollini 1995 ). absolutists and relationists are thus left in a frustrating and perplexing quandary by gtr. considering its anti - machian models, we are inclined to say that motions such as rotation and acceleration remain absolute, or nearly - totally - absolute, according to the theory. on the other hand, considering its most mach - friendly models, which include all the models taken to be good candidates for representing the actual universe, we may be inclined to say : motion in our world is entirely relative ; the inertial effects normally used to argue for absolute motion are all understandable as effects of rotations and accelerations relative to the cosmic matter, just as mach hoped. but even if we agree that motions in our world are in fact all


; the inertial effects normally used to argue for absolute motion are all understandable as effects of rotations and accelerations relative to the cosmic matter, just as mach hoped. but even if we agree that motions in our world are in fact all relative in this sense, this does not automatically settle the traditional relationist / absolutist debate, much less the relationist / substantivalist debate. many philosophers ( including, we suspect, nerlich 1994 and earman 1989 ) would be happy to acknowledge the mach - friendly status of our spacetime, and argue nevertheless that we should understand that spacetime as a real thing, more like a substance than a mere ideal construct of the mind as leibniz insisted. ( nerlich ( 1994 ) and earman ( 1989 ), we suspect, would take this stance. ) some, though not all, attempts to convert gtr into a quantum theory would accord spacetime this same sort of substantiality that other quantum fields possess. this article has been concerned with tracing the history and philosophy of ‘ absolute ’ and ‘ relative ’ theories of space and motion. along the way we have been at pains to introduce some clear terminology for various different concepts ( e. g., ‘ true ’ motion, ‘ substantivalism ’, ‘ absolute space ’ ), but what we have not really done is say what the difference between absolute and relative space and motion is : just what is at stake? recently rynasiewicz ( 2000 ) has argued that there simply are no constant issues running through the history that we have discussed here ; that there is no stable meaning for either ‘ absolute motion ’ or ‘ relative motion ’ ( or ‘ substantival space ’ vs ‘ relational space ’ ). while we agree to a certain extent, we think that nevertheless there are a series of issues that have motivated thinkers again and again ; indeed, those that we identified in the introduction. ( one quick remark : rynasiewicz is probably right that the issues cannot be expressed in formally precise terms, but that does not mean that there are no looser philosophical affinities that shed useful light on the history. ) our discussion has revealed several different issues, of which we will highlight three as components of the ‘ absolute - relative debate ’. ( i ) there is the question of whether all motions and all possible descriptions of motions are equal, or whether some are ‘ real ’ — what we have called, in seventeenth century parlance, ‘ true ’. there is a natural


debate ’. ( i ) there is the question of whether all motions and all possible descriptions of motions are equal, or whether some are ‘ real ’ — what we have called, in seventeenth century parlance, ‘ true ’. there is a natural temptation for those who hold that there is ‘ nothing but the relative positions and motions between bodies ' ( and more so for their readers ) to add ‘ and all such motions are equal ’, thus denying the existence of true motion. however, arguably — perhaps surprisingly — no one we have discussed has unreservedly held this view ( at least not consistently ) : descartes considered motion ‘ properly speaking ’ to be privileged, leibniz introduced ‘ active force ’ to ground motion ( arguably in his mechanics as well as metaphysically ), and mach ' s view seems to be that the distribution of matter in the universe determines a preferred standard of inertial motion. ( again, in general relativity, there is a distinction between inertial and accelerated motion. ) that is, relationists can allow true motions if they offer an analysis of them in terms of the relations between bodies. given this logical point, and given the historical ways thinkers have understood themselves, it seems unhelpful to characterize the issues in ( i ) as constituting an absolute - relative debate, hence our use of the term ‘ true ’ instead of ‘ absolute ’. so we are led to the second question : ( ii ) is true motion definable in terms of relations or not? ( of course the answer depends on what kind of definitions will count, and absent an explicit definition — descartes ' proper motion for example — the issue is often taken to be that of whether true motions supervene on relations, as newton ' s globes are often supposed to refute. ) it seems reasonable to call this issue that of whether motion is absolute or relative. descartes and mach are relationists about motion in this sense, while newton is an absolutist. leibniz is also an absolutist about motion in his metaphysics, and if our reading is correct, also about the interpretation of motion in the laws of collision. this classification of leibniz ' s views runs contrary to his customary identification as relationist - in - chief, but we will clarify his relationist credentials below. finally, we have discussed ( ii ) in the context of relativity, first examining maudlin ' s proposal that the embedding of a relationally - specified system in min


- in - chief, but we will clarify his relationist credentials below. finally, we have discussed ( ii ) in the context of relativity, first examining maudlin ' s proposal that the embedding of a relationally - specified system in minkowski spacetime is in general unique once all the spacetime interval - distance relations are given. this proposal may or may not be held to satisfy the relational - definability question of ( ii ), but in any case it cannot be carried over to the context of general relativity theory. in the case of gtr we linked relational motion to the satisfaction of mach ' s principle, just as einstein did in the early years of the theory. despite some promising features displayed by gtr, and certain of its models, we saw that mach ' s principle is not fully satisfied in gtr as a whole. we also noted that in the absence of absolute simultaneity, it becomes an open question what relations are to be permitted in the definition ( or supervience base ) — spacetime interval relations? instantaneous spatial distances and velocities on a 3 - d hypersurface? ( in recent works, barbour has argued that gtr is fully machian, using a 3 - d relational - configuration approach. see barbour, foster and murchadha 2002. ) the final issue is that of ( iii ) whether absolute motion is motion with respect to substantival space or not. of course this is how newton understood acceleration — as acceleration relative to absolute space. more recent newtonians share this view, although motion for them is with respect to substantival galilean spacetime ( or rather, since they know newtonian mechanics is false, they hold that this is the best interpretation of that theory ). leibniz denied that motion was relative to space itself, since he denied the reality of space ; for him true motion was the possession of active force. so despite his ‘ absolutism ’ ( our adjective not his ) about motion he was simultaneously a relationist about space : ‘ space is merely relative ’. following leibniz ' s lead we can call this debate the question of whether space is absolute or relative. the drawback of this name is that it suggests a separation between motion and space, which exists in leibniz ' s views, but which is otherwise problematic ; still, no better description presents itself. others who are absolutists about motion but relationists about space include sklar ( 1974 ) and van


motion and space, which exists in leibniz ' s views, but which is otherwise problematic ; still, no better description presents itself. others who are absolutists about motion but relationists about space include sklar ( 1974 ) and van fraassen ( 1985 ) ; sklar introduced a primitive quantity of acceleration, not supervenient on motions relative to anything at all, while van fraassen let the laws themselves pick out the inertial frames. it is of course arguable whether any of these three proposals are successful ; ( even ) stripped of leibniz ' s aristotelian packaging, can absolute quantities of motion ‘ stand on their own feet ’? and under what understanding of laws can they ground a standard of inertial motion? huggett ( 2006 ) defends a similar position of absolutism about motion, but relationism about space ; he argues — in the case of newtonian physics — that fundamentally there is nothing to space but relations between bodies, but that absolute motions supervene — not on the relations at any one time — but on the entire history of relations. works cited in text - aristotle, 1984, the complete works of aristotle : the revised oxford translation, j. barnes ( ed. ), princeton : princeton university press. - barbour, j. and bertotti, b., 1982, “ mach ' s principle and the structure of dynamical theories, ” proceedings of the royal society ( london ), 382 : 295 - 306. - – – –, 1977, “ gravity and inertia in a machian framework, ” nuovo cimento, 38b : 1 - 27. - brill, d. r. and cohen, j., 1966, “ rotating masses and their effects on inertial frames, ” physical review 143 : 1011 - 1015. - brown, h. r., 2005, physical relativity : space - time structure from a dynamical perspective, oxford : oxford university press. - descartes, r., 1983, principles of philosophy, r. p. miller and v. r. miller ( trans. ), dordrecht, london : reidel. - dorling, j., 1978, “ did einstein need general relativity to solve the problem of space? or had the problem already been solved by special relativity?, ” british journal for the philosophy of science, 29 : 311 - 323. - earman, j., 1989, world enough and spacetime :


relativity to solve the problem of space? or had the problem already been solved by special relativity?, ” british journal for the philosophy of science, 29 : 311 - 323. - earman, j., 1989, world enough and spacetime : absolute and relational theories of motion. boston : m. i. t. press. - – – –, 1970, “ who ' s afraid of absolute space?, ” australasian journal of philosophy, 48 : 287 - 319. - einstein, a., 1918, “ prinzipielles zur allgemeinen relativitatstheorie, ” annalen der physik, 51 : 639 - 642. - – – –, 1907, “ uber das relativitatsprinzip und die aus demselben gezogenen folgerungen, ” jahrbuch der radioaktivitat und electronik 4 : 411 - 462. - einstein, a., lorentz, h. a., minkowski, h. and weyl, h., 1952, the principle of relativity. w. perrett and g. b. jeffery, trs. new york : dover books. - foppl, a. “ uber absolute und relative bewegung, ” sitzungsberichte der munchener akad.. 35 : 383. - friedlander, b. and j., 1896, absolute und relative bewegung, berlin : leonhard simion. - friedman, m., 1983, foundations of space - time theories : relativistic physics and philosophy of science, princeton : princeton university press. - garber, d., 1992, descartes ' metaphysical physics, chicago : university of chicago press. - garber, d. and j. b. rauzy, 2004, “ leibniz on body, matter and extension, ” the aristotelian society : supplementary volume, 78 : 23 - 40. - hartz, g. a. and j. a. cover, 1988, “ space and time in the leibnizian metaphysic, ” nous, 22 : 493 - 519. - hoefer, c., 1994, “ einstein ' s struggle for a machian gravitation theory, ” studies in history and philosophy of science, 25 : 287 - 336. - huggett, n., 2006, “ the regularity account of


c., 1994, “ einstein ' s struggle for a machian gravitation theory, ” studies in history and philosophy of science, 25 : 287 - 336. - huggett, n., 2006, “ the regularity account of relational spacetime, ” mind, 115 : 41 - 74. - – – –, 2000, “ space from zeno to einstein : classic readings with a contemporary commentary, ” international studies in the philosophy of science, 14 : 327 - 329. - lange, l., 1885, “ ueber das beharrungsgesetz, ” berichte der koniglichen sachsischen gesellschaft der wissenschaften zu leipzig, mathematisch - physische classe 37 ( 1885 ) : 333 - 51. - leibniz, g. w., 1989, philosophical essays, r. ariew and d. garber ( trans. ), indianapolis : hackett pub. co. - leibniz, g. w., and samuel clarke, 1715 – 1716, “ correspondence ”, in the leibniz - clarke correspondence, together with extracts from newton ' s “ principia ” and “ opticks ”, h. g. alexander ( ed. ), manchester : manchester university press, 1956. - lodge, p., 2003, “ leibniz on relativity and the motion of bodies, ” philosophical topics, 31 : 277 - 308. - mach, e., 1883, die mechanik in ihrer entwickelung, historisch - kritisch dargestellt. 2nd edition. leipzig : brockhaus. english translation ( 6th edition, 1960 ) : the science of mechanics, la salle, illinois : open court press. - malament, d., 1995, “ is newtonian cosmology really inconsistent?, ” philosophy of science 62, no. 4. - maudlin, t., 1993, “ buckets of water and waves of space : why space - time is probably a substance, ” philosophy of science, 60 : 183 - 203. - minkowski, h. ( 1908 ). “ space and time, ” in einstein, et al. ( 1952 ), pp. 75 - 91. - nerlich, graham, 1994, the shape of space ( 2nd edition ), cambridge : cambridge university press. - neumann, c., 1870, ueber die principien der galilei - newton ' schen theorie. leipzig : b.


graham, 1994, the shape of space ( 2nd edition ), cambridge : cambridge university press. - neumann, c., 1870, ueber die principien der galilei - newton ' schen theorie. leipzig : b. g. teubner, 1870. - newton, i., 2004, newton : philosophical writings, a. janiak ( ed. ), cambridge : cambridge university press. - newton, i. and i. b. cohen, 1999, the principia : mathematical principles of natural philosophy, i. b. cohen and a. m. whitman ( trans. ), berkeley ; london : university of california press. - norton, j., 1995, “ mach ' s principle before einstein, ” in j. barbour and h. pfister ( eds. ) mach ' s principle : from newton ' s bucket to quantum gravity : einstein studies, vol. 6. boston : birkhauser, pp. 9 - 57. - norton, j., 1993, “ a paradox in newtonian cosmology, ” in m. forbes, d. hull and k. okruhlik ( eds. ) psa 1992 : proceedings of the 1992 biennial meeting of the philosophy of science association. vol. 2. east lansing, mi : philosophy of science association, pp. 412 - 20. - – – –, 1992, “ einstein, nordstrom and the early demise of scalar, lorentz - covariant theories of gravitation, ” archive for history of exact sciences, 45 : 17 - 94. - pooley, o., 2002, the reality of spacetime, d. phil thesis, oxford university. - ray, c., 1991, time, space and philosophy, new york : routledge. - roberts, j. t., 2003, “ leibniz on force and absolute motion, ” philosophy of science, 70 : 553 - 573. - rynasiewicz, r., 1995, “ by their properties, causes, and effects : newton ' s scholium on time, space, place, and motion — i. the text, ” studies in history and philosophy of science, 26 : 133 - 153. - sklar, l., 1974, space, time and spacetime, berkeley : university of california press. - stein, h., 1977, “ some philosophical prehistory of general relativity, ” in minnesota studies in the philosophy of science 8 : foundations of


l., 1974, space, time and spacetime, berkeley : university of california press. - stein, h., 1977, “ some philosophical prehistory of general relativity, ” in minnesota studies in the philosophy of science 8 : foundations of space - time theories :, j. earman, c. glymour and j. stachel ( eds. ), minneapolis : university of minnesota press. - – – –, 1967, “ newtonian space - time, ” texas quarterly, 10 : 174 - 200. - wheeler, j. a. and ciufolini, i., 1995, gravitation and inertia, princeton, n. j. : princeton u. press. notable philosophical discussions of the absolute - relative debates - barbour, j. b., 1982, “ relational concepts of space and time, ” british journal for the philosophy of science, 33 : 251 - 274. - belot, g., 2000, “ geometry and motion, ” british journal for the philosophy of science, 51 : 561 - 595. - butterfield, j., 1984, “ relationism and possible worlds, ” british journal for the philosophy of science, 35 : 101 - 112. - callender, c., 2002, “ philosophy of space - time physics, ” in the blackwell guide to the philosophy of science, p. machamer ( ed. ), cambridge : blackwell. 173 - 198. - carrier, m., 1992, “ kant ' s relational theory of absolute space, ” kant studien, 83 : 399 - 416. - dieks, d., 2001, “ space - time relationism in newtonian and relativistic physics, ” international studies in the philosophy of science, 15 : 5 - 17. - disalle, r., 1995, “ spacetime theory as physical geometry, ” erkenntnis, 42 : 317 - 337. - earman, j., 1986, “ why space is not a substance ( at least not to first degree ), ” pacific philosophical quarterly, 67 : 225 - 244. - – – –, 1970, “ who ' s afraid of absolute space?, ” australasian journal of philosophy, 48 : 287 - 319. - earman, j. and j. norton, 1987, “ what price spacetime substantivalism : the hole story, ” british journal for the philosophy of science, 38 : 515 - 525. - ho


287 - 319. - earman, j. and j. norton, 1987, “ what price spacetime substantivalism : the hole story, ” british journal for the philosophy of science, 38 : 515 - 525. - hoefer, c., 2000, “ kant ' s hands and earman ' s pions : chirality arguments for substantival space, ” international studies in the philosophy of science, 14 : 237 - 256. - – – –, 1998, “ absolute versus relational spacetime : for better or worse, the debate goes on, ” british journal for the philosophy of science, 49 : 451 - 467. - – – –, 1996, “ the metaphysics of space - time substantialism, ” journal of philosophy, 93 : 5 - 27. - huggett, n., 2000, “ reflections on parity nonconservation, ” philosophy of science, 67 : 219 - 241. - le poidevin, r., 2004, “ space, supervenience and substantivalism, ” analysis, 64 : 191 - 198. - malament, d., 1985, “ discussion : a modest remark about reichenbach, rotation, and general relativity, ” philosophy of science, 52 : 615 - 620. - maudlin, t., 1993, “ buckets of water and waves of space : why space - time is probably a substance, ” philosophy of science, 60 : 183 - 203. - – – –, 1990, “ substances and space - time : what aristotle would have said to einstein, ” studies in history and philosophy of science, 531 - 561. - mundy, b., 1992, “ space - time and isomorphism, ” proceedings of the biennial meetings of the philosophy of science association, 1 : 515 - 527. - – – –, 1983, “ relational theories of euclidean space and minkowski space - time, ” philosophy of science, 50 : 205 - 226. - nerlich, g., 2003, “ space - time substantivalism, ” in the oxford handbook of metaphysics, m. j. loux ( ed. ), oxford : oxford univ pr. 281 - 314. - – – –, 1996, “ what spacetime explains, ” philosophical quarterly, 46 : 127 - 131. - – – –, 1994, what spacetime explains : metaphysical essays on space and time, new york : cambridge univ


314. - – – –, 1996, “ what spacetime explains, ” philosophical quarterly, 46 : 127 - 131. - – – –, 1994, what spacetime explains : metaphysical essays on space and time, new york : cambridge univ pr. - – – –, 1973, “ hands, knees, and absolute space, ” journal of philosophy, 70 : 337 - 351. - rynasiewicz, r., 2000, “ on the distinction between absolute and relative motion, ” philosophy of science, 67 : 70 - 93. - – – –, 1996, “ absolute versus relational space - time : an outmoded debate?, ” journal of philosophy, 93 : 279 - 306. - teller, p., 1991, “ substance, relations, and arguments about the nature of space - time, ” philosophical review, 363 - 397. - torretti, r., 2000, “ spacetime models for the world, ” studies in history and philosophy of modern physics, 31b : 171 - 186. - st. andrews school of mathematics and statistics index of biographies - the pittsburgh phil - sci archive of pre - publication articles in philosophy of science - ned wright ' s special relativity tutorial - andrew hamilton ' s special relativity pages descartes, rene : physics | general relativity : early philosophical interpretations of | newton, isaac : views on space, time, and motion | space and time : inertial frames | space and time : the hole argument | zeno of elea : zeno ' s paradoxes


san francisco, dec. 29, 2008 - - facial expressions of emotion are hardwired into our genes, according to a study published today in the journal of personality and social psychology. the research suggests that facial expressions of emotion are innate rather than a product of cultural learning. the study is the first of its kind to demonstrate that sighted and blind individuals use the same facial expressions, producing the same facial muscle movements in response to specific emotional stimuli. the study also provides new insight into how humans manage emotional displays according to social context, suggesting that the ability to regulate emotional expressions is not learned through observation. san francisco state university psychology professor david matsumoto compared the facial expressions of sighted and blind judo athletes at the 2004 summer olympics and paralympic games. more than 4, 800 photographs were captured and analyzed, including images of athletes from 23 countries. " the statistical correlation between the facial expressions of sighted and blind individuals was almost perfect, " matsumoto said. " this suggests something genetically resident within us is the source of facial expressions of emotion. " matsumoto found that sighted and blind individuals manage their expressions of emotion in the same way according to social context. for example, because of the social nature of the olympic medal ceremonies, 85 percent of silver medalists who lost their medal matches produced " social smiles " during the ceremony. social smiles use only the mouth muscles whereas true smiles, known as duchenne smiles, cause the eyes to twinkle and narrow and the cheeks to rise. " losers pushed their lower lip up as if to control the emotion on their face and many produced social smiles, " matsumoto said. " individuals blind from birth could not have learned to control their emotions in this way through visual learning so there must be another mechanism. it could be that our emotions, and the systems to regulate them, are vestiges of our evolutionary ancestry. it ' s possible that in response to negative emotions, humans have developed a system that closes the mouth so that they are prevented from yelling, biting or throwing insults. "


feb. 8, 2006 older americans with high blood pressure and moderate to severe chronic kidney disease have a greater chance of developing heart disease than people with normal kidney function. this finding is one of three in a new paper published in the feb. 7 issue of the annals of internal medicine. the study also found these patients are at higher risk for developing heart disease than kidney failure ( end stage renal disease ). lastly, it found for the first time that new types of drugs such as ace inhibitors and calcium - channel blockers are no better than older type diuretic drugs, also called water pills, in preventing heart disease, and may be even less effective at preventing heart failure in patients with chronic kidney disease. lead author of the study is mahboob rahman, m. d., m. s., of case western reserve university school of medicine, university hospitals of cleveland and the louis stokes cleveland va medical center. the study was sponsored by the national heart lung and blood institute and coordinated by the clinical trials center at the university of texas school of public health in houston. the study looked at more than 31, 000 men and women 55 years and older who have high blood pressure and one other risk factor of cardiovascular disease, such as diabetes. a blood test was used to determine kidney function and severity of disease. patients with moderate chronic kidney disease had a 38 percent greater chance of developing heart disease and a 35 percent increase in overall cardiovascular disease ( which includes heart disease, stroke, heart failure and others ) than those with normal kidney function. in addition, patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease were twice as likely to develop heart disease than to experience kidney failure. rahman said the researchers are not quite sure why moderate and severe kidney disease leads to greater risk in heart disease. " it may be related to other factors associated with renal failure, such as anemia or abnormalities of calcium or phosphorus metabolism, for example. we are participating in other ongoing studies to establish the connections, " he said. the study also confirmed other earlier findings that diuretics are as effective as or better for preventing cardiovascular disease than newer drugs. " overall, ace inhibitors and diuretics were about equally likely to protect against heart attacks, " said rahman, " but diuretics seemed more effective at preventing other kinds of cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and heart failure. " calcium - channel blockers were about equal in protecting against all cardiovascular disease, but diuretics were more effective at preventing heart failure. these results held for all participants regardless of kidney function. rahman


jan. 30, 2009 a new way of making leds could see household lighting bills reduced by up to 75 % within five years. gallium nitride ( gan ), a man - made semiconductor used to make leds ( light emitting diodes ), emits brilliant light but uses very little electricity. until now high production costs have made gan lighting too expensive for wide spread use in homes and offices. however the cambridge university based centre for gallium nitride has developed a new way of making gan which could produce leds for a tenth of current prices. gan, grown in labs on expensive sapphire wafers since the 1990s, can now be grown on silicon wafers. this lower cost method could mean cheap mass produced leds become widely available for lighting homes and offices in the next five years. based on current results, gan led lights in every home and office could cut the proportion of uk electricity used for lights from 20 % to 5 %. that means we could close or not need to replace eight power stations. a gan led can burn for 100, 000 hours so, on average, it only needs replacing after 60 years. and, unlike currently available energy - saving bulbs gan leds do not contain mercury so disposal is less damaging to the environment. gan leds also have the advantage of turning on instantly and being dimmable. professor colin humphreys, lead scientist on the project said : “ this could well be the holy grail in terms of providing our lighting needs for the future. we are very close to achieving highly efficient, low cost white leds that can take the place of both traditional and currently available low energy light bulbs. that won ’ t just be good news for the environment. it will also benefit consumers by cutting their electricity bills. ” gan leds, used to illuminate landmarks like buckingham palace and the severn bridge, are also appearing in camera flashes, mobile phones, torches, bicycle lights and interior bus, train and plane lighting. parallel research is also being carried out into how gan lights could mimic sunlight to help 3m people in the uk with seasonal affective disorder ( sad ). ultraviolet rays made from gan lighting could also aid water purification and disease control in developing countries, identify the spread of cancer tumours and help fight hospital ‘ super bugs ’. funding was provided by the engineering and physical sciences research council ( epsrc ). about gan leds a light - emitting diode ( led ) is a semiconductor diode that emits light when charged with electricity. leds are


bugs ’. funding was provided by the engineering and physical sciences research council ( epsrc ). about gan leds a light - emitting diode ( led ) is a semiconductor diode that emits light when charged with electricity. leds are used for display and lighting in a whole range of electrical and electronic products. although gan was first produced over 30 years ago, it is only in the last ten years that gan lighting has started to enter real - world applications. currently, the brilliant light produced by gan leds is blue or green in colour. a phosphor coating is applied to the led to transform this into a more practical white light. gan leds are currently grown on 2 - inch sapphire. manufacturers can get 9 times as many leds on a 6 - inch silicon wafer than on a 2 - inch sapphire wafer. in addition, edge effects are less, so the number of good leds is about 10 times higher. the processing costs for a 2 - inch wafer are essentially the same as for a 6 - inch wafer. a 6 - inch silicon wafer is much cheaper to produce than a 2 - inch sapphire wafer. together these factors result in a cost reduction of about a factor of 10. possible future applications - cancer surgery. currently, it is very difficult to detect exactly where a tumour ends. as a result, patients undergoing cancer surgery have to be kept under anaesthetic while cells are taken away for laboratory tests to see whether or not they are healthy. this may need to happen several times during an operation, prolonging the procedure extensively. but in the future, patients could be given harmless drugs that attach themselves to cancer cells, which can be distinguished when a blue gan led is shone on them. the tumour ’ s edge will be revealed, quickly and unmistakably, to the surgeon. - water purification. gan may revolutionise drinking water provision in developing countries. if aluminium is added to gan then deep ultra - violet light can be produced and this kills all viruses and bacteria, so fitting such a gan led to the inside of a water pipe will instantly eradicate diseases, as well as killing mosquito larvae and other harmful organisms. - hospital - acquired infections. shining a ultra - violet gan torch beam could kill viruses and bacteria, boosting the fight against mrsa and c difficile. simply shining a gan torch at a hospital wall or trolley, for example, could kill any ‘ superbugs ’ lurking there. other social bookmarking and


mar. 6, 2013 boys are right - handed, girls are left... well at least this is true for sugar gliders ( petaurus breviceps ) and grey short - tailed opossums ( monodelphis domestica ), according to an article in biomed central ’ s open access journal bmc evolutionary biology that shows that handedness in marsupials is dependent on gender. this preference of one hand over another has developed despite the absence of a corpus collosum, the part of the brain which in placental mammals allows one half of the brain to communicate with the other. many animals show a distinct preference for using one hand / paw / hoof over another. this is often related to posture – an animal is more likely to show manual laterality if it is upright, related to the difficulty of the task, more complex tasks show a handed preference, or even with age. as an example of all three : crawling human babies show less hand preference than toddlers. some species also show a distinct sex effect in handedness but among non - marsupial mammals this tendency is for left - handed males and right - handed females. in contrast researchers from st petersburg state university show that male quadruped marsupials, such as who walk on all fours, tend to be right - handed while the females are left - handed, especially as tasks became more difficult. dr yegor malashichev from saint petersburg state university who led this study explained why they think this has evolved, “ marsupials do not have a corpus callosum – which connects the two halves of the mammalian brain together. reversed sex related handedness is an indication of how the marsupial brain has developed different ways of the two halves of the brain communicating in the absence of the corpus callosum. ” other social bookmarking and sharing tools : - andrey giljov, karina karenina, yegor malashichev. forelimb preferences in quadrupedal marsupials and there implications for laterality evolution in mammals. bmc evolutionary biology, 2013 ; 13 ( 1 ) : 61 doi : 10. 1186 / 1471 - 2148 - 13 - 61 note : if no author is given, the source is cited instead.


web edition : march 4, 2013 pregnant women taking dha, an omega - 3 fatty acid in fish oil, give birth to babies that score slightly better on several health measurements than those born to women who don ’ t take the supplement, a study has found. dha, or docosahexaenoic acid, is a nutrient that promotes brain development ( sn online : 1 / 13 / 2009 ). susan carlson of the university of kansas medical center in kansas city and her colleagues randomly assigned 350 women to take daily capsules of either a placebo or dha starting midway through pregnancy. babies born to the women who took dha were slightly longer and heavier than the other babies and were less apt to spend time in the intensive care unit. overall rates of preterm birth, defined as birth before the 37th week of gestation, didn ’ t differ substantially between the groups. but among preterm babies, those in the dha group spent an average of nine days in the hospital compared with 41 days for those in the placebo group. while only one of 154 babies in the dha group was born very early — before 34 weeks ’ gestation — seven of 147 babies to non - dha mothers were born that early, carlson and colleagues report in the april american journal of clinical nutrition. s. e. carlson et al. dha supplementation and pregnancy outcomes. american journal of clinical nutrition. april 2013, in press. doi : 10. 3945 / ajcn. 112. 050021. [ go to ] n. seppa. omega - 3 fatty acid is early boost for female preemies. science news online. january 13, 2009. [ go to ] _


anthony stocks, chairman and professor of anthropology at idaho state university, responds : " the evolution of smiles is opaque and, as with many evolutionary accounts of social behavior, fraught with just - soism. among human babies, however, the ' tooth - baring ' smile is associated less with friendship than with fright - - which, one might argue, is related to the tooth - baring threats of baboons. on the other hand, a non - toothy, not - so - broad - but - open - lipped smile is associated with pleasure in human infants. somehow we seem to have taken the fright - threat sort of smile and extended it to strangers as a presumably friendly smile. maybe it is not as innocent as it seems. " all cultures recognize a variety of mouth gestures as indexes of inner emotional states. as in our own culture, however, smiles come in many varieties, not all of them interpreted as friendly. " frank mcandrew, professor of psychology at knox college in galesburg, ill., has done extensive research on facial expressions. he answers as follows : " baring one ' s teeth is not always a threat. in primates, showing the teeth, especially teeth held together, is almost always a sign of submission. the human smile probably has evolved from that. " in the primate threat, the lips are curled back and the teeth are apart - - you are ready to bite. but if the teeth are pressed together and the lips are relaxed, then clearly you are not prepared to do any damage. these displays are combined with other facial features, such as what you do with your eyes, to express a whole range of feelings. in a lot of human smiling, it is something you do in public, but it does not reflect true ' friendly ' feelings - - think of politicians smiling for photographers. " what is especially interesting is that you do not have to learn to do any of this - - it is preprogrammed behavior. kids who are born blind never see anybody smile, but they show the same kinds of smiles under the same situations as sighted people. " mcandrew suggests several books that will be of interest to readers seeking more information on this topic : ' non - verbal communication. ' edited by r. a. hinde. cambridge university press, 1972. ' emotion : a psychoevolutionary synthesis. ' robert plutchik. harper and row, 1980. ' emotion in the human face. ' second edition. edited by paul ekman. cambridge


more 60 - second science plants can pull carbon dioxide, the planet - warming greenhouse gas, out of earth ’ s atmosphere. but these aren ’ t the only living organisms that affect carbon dioxide levels, and thus global warming. nope, i ’ m not talking about humans. humble sea otters can also reduce greenhouse gases, by indirectly helping kelp plants. that finding is in the journal frontiers in ecology and the environment. [ christopher c wilmer et al., do trophic cascades affect the storage and flux of atmospheric carbon? an analysis of sea otters and kelp forests ] researchers used 40 years of data to look at the effect of sea otter populations on kelp. depending on the plant density, one square meter of kelp forest can absorb anywhere from tens to hundreds of grams of carbon per year. but when sea otters are around, kelp density is high and the plants can suck up more than 12 times as much carbon. that ’ s because otters nosh on kelp - eating sea urchins. in the mammals ’ presence, the urchins hide away and feed on kelp detritus rather than living, carbon - absorbing plants. so climate researchers need to note that the herbivores that eat plants, and the predators that eat them, also have roles to play in the carbon cycle. [ the above text is a transcript of this podcast. ]


ourdocuments. gov. featuring 100 milestone documents of american history from the national archives. includes images of original primary source documents, lesson plans, teacher and student competitions, and educational resources. in 1866 the russian government offered to sell the territory of alaska to the united states. secretary of state william h. seward, enthusiastic about the prospects of american expansion, negotiated the deal for the americans. edouard de stoeckl, russian minister to the united states, negotiated for the russians. on march 30, 1867, the two parties agreed that the united states would pay russia $ 7. 2 million for the territory of alaska. for less that 2 cents an acre, the united states acquired nearly 600, 000 square miles. opponents of the alaska purchase persisted in calling it “ seward ’ s folly ” or “ seward ’ s icebox ” until 1896, when the great klondike gold strike convinced even the harshest critics that alaska was a valuable addition to american territory. the check for $ 7. 2 million was made payable to the russian minister to the united states edouard de stoeckl, who negotiated the deal for the russians. also shown here is the treaty of cession, signed by tzar alexander ii, which formally concluded the agreement for the purchase of alaska from russia.


filed under : foundational hand after studying the proportions of the foundational hand letters, the next step is to start writing the letters. each letter is constructed rather than written. the letters are made up of a combination of pen strokes, which are only made in a top – down or left – right direction. the pen is never pushed up. when we studied the proportions of the foundational hand we could group the letters according to their widths. now, we can group them according to the order and direction of the pen strokes. you may find it useful to look at the construction grid whilst studying the order and direction of the letters. the first group consists of the letters c, e, and o. these letters are based on the circle shape. this shape is produced with two pen strokes. visualise a clock face and start the first stroke at approximately the 11, and finish it in an anti - clockwise direction at 5. the second stroke starts again at the 11 and finishes in a clockwise direction on the 5 to complete the letter o. the first pen - stroke for the letters c and e are the same as the first of the letter o. the second pen - stroke on the c and e are shorter and finish around the 1 position on the imaginary clock face. finally, the letter e has a third stroke, starting at the end of the second stroke and finishes when it touches the first stroke. the next group of letters are d, q, b and p. all these letters combine curved and straight pen strokes. when writing these letters it can be useful to think of the underlying circle shape, which your pen will leave or join at certain points depending upon which letter is being written. the first stroke of the b starts at the ascender height of the letter, which can be eyed in at just under half the x - height ( body height of letters with no ascender or descender ). continue the ascender stroke of the b until it ‘ picks up ’ the circle shape, follow round the circle until the pen reaches the 5 on the imaginary clock face. the second stroke starts on the first stroke following the circle round until it touches the end of the first stroke. the letter d is similar to the c except it has a third stroke for the ascender, which will touch the ends of the first and second stroke being for finishing on the write - line. letter p starts with a vertical stroke from the x - height down to the imaginary descender line, which is just under half the x - height


, which will touch the ends of the first and second stroke being for finishing on the write - line. letter p starts with a vertical stroke from the x - height down to the imaginary descender line, which is just under half the x - height below the write - line. the second and third strokes are curved, starting on the descender stroke and following round the imaginary circle. the letter q is almost the same as the d, except it has a descender stroke rather than an ascender stroke. letters a, h, m, n, r all these letters combine curved and straight pen strokes. once again, think of the underlying circle shape, which your pen will leave or join at certain points depending upon the letter being written. the letter h consists of two pen strokes. the first is a vertical ascender stroke. the second stroke starts curved, follows the circle round, then leaves it and becomes straight. the letter n is produced exactly the same way as the letter h, except the first stroke is not so tall as it starts on the x - height line. the first two pen strokes of the letter m are the same as the letter n. then a third stroke is added which is identical to the second stroke. the letter r is also written the same way as the letter n except the second stroke finishes at the point where the circle would have been left and the straight is picked up. the first stroke of letter a is the same as the second stroke of the letters h, m and n. the second stroke follows the circle. finally, the third stroke starts at the same point as the second stroke, but is a straight line at a 30° angle and touches the first stroke. the next group of letters are l, u and t. these letters are straight - forward. the letter l is the same as the first stroke of letter b. the letter u is also similar to the first stroke of letter b except it starts lower down. the second stroke starts on the x - height line and finishes on the write - line. letter t has the same first stroke as letter u. it is completed by a second horizontal stroke. the following letters k, v, w, x, y and z are made of at least one diagonal pen stroke. the letter k starts with a vertical ascender stroke, then a second stroke diagonal stroke which joins the vertical stroke. the final stroke is also diagonal and starts where the first and second stroke meet and stops when it touches the write - line. if you look closely


starts with a vertical ascender stroke, then a second stroke diagonal stroke which joins the vertical stroke. the final stroke is also diagonal and starts where the first and second stroke meet and stops when it touches the write - line. if you look closely you will see it goes further out than the second stroke. this makes the letter look more balanced. if the end of these two pen - strokes lined up the letter would look like it is about to fall over. letter v is simply two diagonal strokes and these are repeated to produce the letter w. the letter y is the same as the v except the second stroke is extended until to create a descender stroke. letter x is a little different, you need to create it in such a way that the two stroke cross slightly above the half - way mark on the x - height. this means the top part will be slightly smaller than the bottom which will give the letter a better balance. finally, in this group is letter z. the easiest way to produce this is with the two horizontal pen strokes, thenjoin these two strokes with a diagonal pen - stroke to complete the letter. now for the hardest letters ; f, g and s. out of these three letters, f is the simplest. it starts with a vertical ascender stroke – except this is not as tall as the other ascender strokes we have produced so far. this is because we have to allow for the second curved stroke. the overall height of these two strokes should be the same as other letters that have an ascender. finally, we need a horizontal stroke to complete the letter. which will you find the hardest letter g or s? these are trickier because unlike all the other letters we have written they do not relate so well to the grid. the letter g is made of a circle shape, with an oval / bowl shape under the write - line. you can see the letter g is made of three pen - strokes. the first stroke is just like the first stroke of the letter o for example, except it is a smaller. the second stroke starts like the second stroke of the letter o, but when it joins the first stroke it continues and changes direction in the gap between the bottom of the shape and the write - line. the third stroke completes the oval shape. finally, we have a little fourth stroke to complete the letter. the letter s is made up of three strokes. the first stroke is sort of an s shape! the second and third strokes complete the letter s. these are easier


when it comes to spanish - style colonial charm, few cities in the western hemisphere can rival old san juan. but that doesn ’ t mean that puerto rico ’ s historical significance is exclusively within the capital city ’ s walls. roughly 100 miles southwest of san juan, the lovely town of san german holds the venerable distinction of being puerto rico ’ s second oldest city. founded in 1573 and named after king ferdinand the catholic ’ s second wife germaine of foix, san german became the island ’ s first settlement outside of san juan. its significance was such that the island was first divided into the san juan party and the san german party. the town also became the focal point from which other settlements were established, thus earning the nickname ‘ ciudad fundadora de pueblos ’ ( roughly, town - founding city ). but while san juan went on to grow exponentially beyond the old city walls and other cities like ponce, mayaguez, arecibo or caguas grew in population and importance, san german remained a sleepy colonial town and one of the best - kept secrets within the island. from a historical perspective, san german ’ s most famous landmark is porta coeli church. one of the earliest examples of gothic architecture in the americas, the chapel was originally built as a convent in 1609 by the dominican order. it was reconstructed during the 18th century and expanded with a single nave church of rubble masonry. listed in 1976 in the u. s. national register of historic places, porta coeli was restored by the institute of puerto rican culture and now houses the museo de arte religioso, which showcases religious paintings and wooden carvings dating back from the 18th and 19th centuries. porta coeli overlooks quaint plazuela santo domingo, an elonganted, cobblestoned square enclosed by pastel - colored, colonial - style houses. a block away sits the town ’ s main square, plaza francisco mariano quinones, where the operational church of san german de auxerre is located. both porta coeli and san german de auxerre are part of the san german historic district, which was also listed in the u. s. national register of historic places in 1994 and includes about 100 significant buildings. though san german has long since lost its 16th - century designation as puerto rico ’ s most important city after san juan, the town is nonetheless a regional powerhouse in southwestern puerto rico, housing important insitutions as the main campus of universidad interamericana ( interamerican university )


the basic element in solar modules the wafers are further processed to solar cells in the third production step. they form the basic element of the resulting solar modules. the cells already possess all of the technical attributes necessary to generate electricity from sunlight. positive and negative charge carriers are released in the cells through light radiation causing electrical current ( direct current ) to flow. the " cell " business division is part of solarworld subsidiary deutsche cell gmbh and solarworld industries america lp. here, solar cells are produced from the preliminary product, the solar silicon wafer. the group manufactures both monocrystalline as well as polycrystalline solar cells. the monocrystalline as well as polycrystalline solar cells are produced around the clock in one of the most advanced solar cell production facilities. the wafers are produced in the clean rooms of the deutsche cell gmbh using the most cutting edge process facilities with the highest level of automation. through the fully integrated production concept, it is possible to flexibly control the use of all auxiliary materials necessary for production and to continuously optimize material utilization during operation. this concept allows us to assure the unique quality standard of our solar cells and simultaneously reduce the loss rate compared to conventional processes. this not only lowers production costs, it adds to the expertise in the solar cell production for the solarworld group. the wafer is first cleaned of all damage caused by cutting and then textured. a p / n junction is created by means of phosphorous diffusion which makes the silicon conductive. in the next step, the phosphorus glass layer produced by diffusion is removed. an anti - reflection layer is added. this which reduces optical losses and ensures electrical passivation of the surface is added. then, the contacts are attached to the front and back along with a rear contact. finally, every individual solar cell is tested for its optical qualities and the electrical efficiency measured.


by staff writers chicago il ( spx ) jan 11, 2013 technologically valuable ultrastable glasses can be produced in days or hours with properties corresponding to those that have been aged for thousands of years, computational and laboratory studies have confirmed. aging makes for higher quality glassy materials because they have slowly evolved toward a more stable molecular condition. this evolution can take thousands or millions of years, but manufacturers must work faster. armed with a better understanding of how glasses age and evolve, researchers at the universities of chicago and wisconsin - madison raise the possibility of designing a new class of materials at the molecular level via a vapor - deposition process. " in attempts to work with aged glasses, for example, people have examined amber, " said juan de pablo, uchicago ' s liew family professor in molecular theory and simulations. " amber is a glass that has been aged millions of years, but you cannot engineer that material. you get what you get. " de pablo and wisconsin co - authors sadanand singh and mark ediger report their findings in the latest issue of nature materials. ultrastable glasses could find potential applications in the production of stronger metals and in faster - acting pharmaceuticals. the latter may sound surprising, but drugs with the amorphous molecular structure of ultrastable glass could avoid crystallization during storage and be delivered more rapidly in the bloodstream than pharmaceuticals with a semi - crystalline structure. amorphous metals, likewise, are better for high - impact applications than crystalline metals because of their greater strength. the nature materials paper describes computer simulations that singh, a doctoral student in chemical engineering at uw - madison, carried out with de pablo to follow - up some intriguing results from ediger ' s laboratory. growing stable glasses several years ago, he discovered that glasses grown this way on a specially prepared surface that is kept within a certain temperature range exhibit far more stability than ordinary glasses. previous researchers must have grown this material under the same temperature conditions, but failed to recognize the significance of what they had done, ediger said. ediger speculated that growing glasses under these conditions, which he compares to the tetris video game, gives molecules extra room to arrange themselves into a more stable configuration. but he needed singh and de pablo ' s computer simulations to confirm his suspicions that he had actually produced a highly evolved, ordinary glass rather than an entirely new material. " there ' s interest in making these materials on the computer because you have direct access to the structure, and you can therefore determine the relationship between the arrangement of the molecules


had actually produced a highly evolved, ordinary glass rather than an entirely new material. " there ' s interest in making these materials on the computer because you have direct access to the structure, and you can therefore determine the relationship between the arrangement of the molecules and the physical properties that you measure, " said de pablo, a former uw - madison faculty member who joined uchicago ' s new institute for molecular engineering earlier this year. there are challenges, though, to simulating the evolution of glasses on a computer. scientists can cool a glassy material at the rate of one degree per second in the laboratory, but the slowest computational studies can only simulate cooling at a rate of 100 million degrees per second. " we cannot cool it any slower because the calculations would take forever, " de pablo said. " it had been believed until now that there is no correlation between the mechanical properties of a glass and the molecular structure ; that somehow the properties of a glass are " hidden " somewhere and that there are no obvious structural signatures, " de pablo said. creating better materials ultrastable glasses achieve their stability in a manner analogous to the most efficiently packed, multishaped objects in tetris, each consisting of four squares in various configurations that rain from the top of the screen. " this is a little bit like the molecules in my deposition apparatus raining down onto this surface, and the goal is to perfectly pack a film, not to have any voids left, " ediger said. the object of tetris is to manipulate the objects so that they pack into a perfectly tight pattern at the bottom of the screen. " the difference is, when you play the game, you have to actively manipulate the pieces in order to build a well - packed solid, " ediger said. " in the vapor deposition, nature does it for us. " but in tetris and experiments alike, when the objects or molecules descend too quickly, the result is a poorly packed, void - riddled pattern. " in the experiment, if you either rain the molecules too fast or choose a low temperature at which there ' s no mobility at the surface, then this trick doesn ' t work, " ediger said. then it would be like taking a bucket of odd - shaped pieces and just dumping them on the floor. there are all sorts of voids and gaps because the molecules didn ' t have any opportunity to find a good way of packing. " " ultrastable glasses from in silico vapor deposition, " by sadamand


mission controllers received confirmation today that nasa ' s dawn spacecraft has escaped from the gentle gravitational grip of the giant asteroid vesta. dawn is now officially on its way to its second destination, the dwarf planet ceres. dawn departed from vesta at about 11 : 26 p. m. pdt on sept. 4 ( 2 : 26 a. m. edt on sept. 5 ). communications from the spacecraft via nasa ' s deep space network confirmed the departure and that the spacecraft is now traveling toward ceres. " as we respectfully say goodbye to vesta and reflect on the amazing discoveries over the past year, we eagerly look forward to the next phase of our adventure at ceres, where even more exciting discoveries await, " said robert mase, dawn project manager, based at nasa ' s jet propulsion laboratory, pasadena, calif. launched on sept. 27, 2007, dawn slipped into orbit around vesta on july 15, 2011 pdt ( july 16 edt ). over the past year, dawn has comprehensively mapped this previously uncharted world, revealing an exotic and diverse planetary building block. the findings are helping scientists unlock some of the secrets of how the solar system, including our own earth, was formed. a web video celebrating dawn ' s " greatest hits " at vesta is available at http : / / www. nasa. gov / multimedia / videogallery / index. html? media _ id = 151669301. two of dawn ' s last looks at vesta are also now available, revealing the creeping dawn over the north pole. dawn spiraled away from vesta as gently as it arrived. it is expected to pull into its next port of call, ceres, in early 2015. dawn ' s mission is managed by jpl for nasa ' s science mission directorate in washington. dawn is a project of the directorate ' s discovery program, managed by nasa ' s marshall space flight center in huntsville, ala. ucla is responsible for overall dawn mission science. orbital sciences corp. in dulles, va., designed and built the spacecraft. the german aerospace center, the max planck institute for solar system research, the italian space agency and the italian national astrophysical institute are international partners on the mission team. the california institute of technology in pasadena manages jpl for nasa. more information about dawn : http : / / www. nasa. gov / dawn http : / / dawn. jpl. nasa. gov


| space today online covering space from earth to the edge of the universe | | cover | | rockets | | satellites | | shuttles | | stations | | astronauts | | solar system | | deep space | | global links | beating swords into plowshares converting military intercontinental ballistic missiles to peaceful space launchers russian submarine novomoscovsk launches satellites from barents sea the russian nuclear submarine novomoscovsk used a converted sea - launched ballistic missile to fire two small environmental research satellites into earth orbit from beneath the barents sea in 1998. a russian typhoon - class nuclear submarine the unusual launch was the first time a commercial payload had ever been sent from earth into orbit from a submarine and the first commercial space launch in the history of the russian navy. the satellites named tubsat were launched on a shitl rocket which was a converted sea - launched ballistic missile ( slbm ). the shitl rocket the shitl rocket family is one of a range of space launch vehicles derived from decommissioned ballistic missiles offered for sale by russia after the cold war. the industrial design bureau makeyev okb had been formed by the former soviet union in the 1950s to produce a storable liquid fuel rocket family. back then, those missiles were known as r - 11 for use on land and r - 11fm for use by the navy. makeyev went on to design and manufacture descendents of the r - 11 family, including the infamous scud - b missile and nearly all of russia ' s submarine - launched ballistic missiles ( slbms ). in the 1990s, makeyev and other okbs marketed a variety of space rockets converted from surplus slrbs, which could be launched from the ground, air, sea surface or underwater. during the cold war, the military slbm, which later would become the shitl space rocket, was known as r - 29rm and ss - n - 23. the manufacturer was designated rsm - 54. shitl is a three - stage liquid - fuel rocket. the satellites replaced the nuclear warhead inside a standard r - 29rm re - entry vehicle atop the ss - n - 23. the submarine launch plaform was novomoskovsk k - 407, a 667bdrm delta - iv - class or delfin - class submarine of the russian northern fleet ' s 3rd flotilla. the shitl ' s maiden flight took place july 7, 1998, while the submarine was in a barents sea firing range off the coast of the kolskiy peninsula at 69.


class submarine of the russian northern fleet ' s 3rd flotilla. the shitl ' s maiden flight took place july 7, 1998, while the submarine was in a barents sea firing range off the coast of the kolskiy peninsula at 69. 3 degrees n by 35. 3 degrees e. prior to launch, the space flight had been viewed as a risk because a different one of the northern fleet ' s delta - class submarines had suffered an accident in one of its rocket tubes on may 5, 1998. the shtil ' s former warhead faring housed an israeli instrument package and the german satellites tubsat - n and tubsat n - 1. the tiny satellites, referred to as nanosatellites, were built and operated by the technische universitat berlin ( tub ). each tubsat carried small store - and - forward communications payloads used to track transmitters placed on vehicles, migrating animals and marine buoys. the satellites were dropped off in elliptical orbits ranging from 250 to 500 miles above earth. they traveled around earth every 96 minutes. tubsat - n, designated internationally as 1998 - 042a, weighed eighteen lbs. while tubsat - n1, designated 1998 - 042b, weighed seven lbs. technically, putting satellites in low earth orbits is only a small step from delivering long - range warheads. the russians had been offering the submarine launch facility as a commercial service for some time and previously had conducted sub - orbital test flights. the benefits of a submarine launch are safety and ease of putting a payload into a particular orbit. by comparison, there are safety restrictions on the directions toward which land - based rockets can be launched. on the other hand, these submarine - based missiles converted to space rockets are only big enough to launch small research satellites. they aren ' t able to launch very large and heavy communications satellites or interplanetary space probes. however, the success of the shitl launch could open up a valuable small - satellite niche in the space - launch market for the russians. the northern fleet reportedly was paid $ 111, 000 for the launch, which helped the submarine crew sharpen skills diminished by a shortage of training funds. berlin technical university ' s transport and applied mechanics department plans to launch two more tubsats. learn more about nuclear submarines and missiles... taking nuclear weapons off hair - trigger alert scientific american, november 1997 launchers from decommissioned missiles sold by russia encyclopedia astronautica dlr german aerospace center top of this page swords into plowshares titan minute


in january 1992, a container ship near the international date line, headed to tacoma, washington from hong kong, lost 12 containers during severe storm conditions. one of these containers held a shipment of 29, 000 bathtub toys. ten months later, the first of these plastic toys began to wash up onto the coast of alaska. driven by the wind and ocean currents, these toys continue to wash ashore during the next several years and some even drifted into the atlantic ocean. the ultimate reason for the world ' s surface ocean currents is the sun. the heating of the earth by the sun has produced semi - permanent pressure centers near the surface. when wind blows over the ocean around these pressure centers, surface waves are generated by transferring some of the wind ' s energy, in the form of momentum, from the air to the water. this constant push on the surface of the ocean is the force that forms the surface currents. learning lesson : how it is currently done around the world, there are some similarities in the currents. for example, along the west coasts of the continents, the currents flow toward the equator in both hemispheres. these are called cold currents as they bring cool water from the polar regions into the tropical regions. the cold current off the west coast of the united states is called the california current. likewise, the opposite is true as well. along the east coasts of the continents, the currents flow from the equator toward the poles. there are called warm current as they bring the warm tropical water north. the gulf stream, off the southeast united states coast, is one of the strongest currents known anywhere in the world, with water speeds up to 3 mph ( 5 kph ). these currents have a huge impact on the long - term weather a location experiences. the overall climate of norway and the british isle is about 18°f ( 10°c ) warmer in the winter than other cites located at the same latitude due to the gulf stream. take it to the max! keeping current while ocean currents are a shallow level circulations, there is global circulation which extends to the depths of the sea called the great ocean conveyor. also called the thermohaline circulation, it is driven by differences in the density of the sea water which is controlled by temperature ( thermal ) and salinity ( haline ). in the northern atlantic ocean, as water flows north it cools considerably increasing its density. as it cools to the freezing point, sea ice forms with the " salts " extracted from the frozen water making the water below more


michele johnson, ames research center astronomers have discovered a pair of neighboring planets with dissimilar densities orbiting very close to each other. the planets are too close to their star to be in the so - called " habitable zone, " the region in a system where liquid water might exist on the surface, but they have the closest - spaced orbits ever confirmed. the findings are published today in the journal science. the research team, led by josh carter, a hubble fellow at the harvard - smithsonian center for astrophysics in cambridge, mass., and eric agol, a professor of astronomy at the university of washington in seattle, used data from nasa ' s kepler space telescope, which measures dips in the brightness of more than 150, 000 stars, to search for transiting planets. the inner planet, kepler - 36b, orbits its host star every 13. 8 days and the outer planet, kepler - 36c, every 16. 2 days. on their closest approach, the neighboring duo comes within about 1. 2 million miles of each other. this is only five times the earth - moon distance and about 20 times closer to one another than any two planets in our solar system. kepler - 36b is a rocky world measuring 1. 5 times the radius and 4. 5 times the mass of earth. kepler - 36c is a gaseous giant measuring 3. 7 times the radius and eight times the mass of earth. the planetary odd couple orbits a star slightly hotter and a couple billion years older than our sun, located 1, 200 light - years from earth to read more about the discovery, visit : the harvard - smithsonian center for astrophysics and university of washington press releases. ames research center in moffett field, calif., manages kepler ' s ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. nasa ’ s jet propulsion laboratory, pasadena, calif., managed the kepler mission ' s development. ball aerospace and technologies corp. in boulder, colo., developed the kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the laboratory for atmospheric and space physics at the university of colorado in boulder. the space telescope science institute in baltimore archives, hosts and distributes kepler science data. kepler is nasa ' s 10th discovery mission and is funded by nasa ' s science mission directorate at the agency ' s headquarters in washington.


during the last 25 years, there has been debate about the value of corporate social responsibility ( csr ), particularly as it relates to the rise of “ ethical consumers. ” these are shoppers who base purchasing decisions on whether a product ’ s social and ethical positioning — for example, its environmental impact or the labor practices used to manufacture it — aligns with their values. many surveys purport to show that even the average consumer is demanding so - called ethical products, such as fair trade – certified coffee and chocolate, fair labor – certified garments, cosmetics produced without animal testing, and products made through the use of sustainable technologies. yet when companies offer such products, they are invariably met with indifference by all but a selected group of consumers. is the consumer a cause - driven liberal when surveyed, but an economic conservative at the checkout line? is the ethical consumer little more than a myth? although many individuals bring their values and beliefs into purchasing decisions, when we examined actual consumer behavior, we found that the percentage of shopping choices made on a truly ethical basis proved far smaller than most observers believe, and far smaller than is suggested by the anecdotal data presented by advocacy groups. the trouble with the data on ethical consumerism is that the majority of research relies on people reporting on their own purchasing habits or intentions, whether in surveys or through interviews. but there is little if any validation of what consumers report in these surveys, and individuals tend to dramatically overstate the importance of social and ethical responsibility when it comes to their purchasing habits. as noted by john drummond, ceo of corporate culture, a csr consultancy, “ most consumer research is highly dubious, because there is a gap between what people say and what they do. ” the purchasing statistics on ethical products in the marketplace support this assertion. most of these products have attained only niche market positions. the exceptions tend to be relatively rare circumstances in which a multinational corporation has acquired a company with an ethical product or service, and invested in its growth as a separate business, without altering its other business lines ( or the nature of its operations ). for example, unilever ’ s purchase of ben & jerry ’ s homemade inc. allowed for the expansion of the ben & jerry ’ s ice cream franchise within the united states, but the rest of unilever ’ s businesses remained largely unaffected. companies that try to engage in proactive, cause - oriented product development often find themselves at a disadvantage : either their target market proves significantly smaller than predicted by their focus groups and surveys or their costs


of unilever ’ s businesses remained largely unaffected. companies that try to engage in proactive, cause - oriented product development often find themselves at a disadvantage : either their target market proves significantly smaller than predicted by their focus groups and surveys or their costs of providing ethical product features are not covered by the prices consumers are willing to pay. ( for a different perspective on these issues, see “ the power of the post - recession consumer, ” by john gerzema and michael d ’ antonio, s + b, spring 2011. ) to understand the true nature of the ethical consumer, we set up a series of generalized experimental polling studies over nearly 10 years that allowed us to gather the social and ethical preferences of large samples of individuals. we then conducted 120 in - depth interviews with consumers from eight countries ( australia, china, germany, india, spain, sweden, turkey, and the united states ). we asked them not just to confirm that they might purchase a product, but to consider scenarios under which they might buy an athletic shoe from a company with lax labor standards, a soap produced in ways that might harm the environment, and a counterfeit brand - name wallet or suitcase. they were also asked how they thought other people from their country might respond to these products — a well - established “ projective technique ” that often reveals more accurate answers than questions about the respondent ’ s direct purchases. and they were asked about their own past behavior ; for example, all the interviewees admitted purchasing counterfeit goods at some point. the interviews asked participants explicitly about the ramifications of these ethical issues, and the inconsistencies between their words and their actions.