What field of science could be more solid than geology? Rocks are visible, tangible. You can bang on them with a hammer, drill them, compress them, zap them with X-rays, ultraviolet light and radar, analyze their chemistry, extract their secrets.
The study of human behavior, by contrast, is the story of science’s struggle to identify the ineffable. Researchers have taken wildly different approaches to trying to figure out how people think and behave, from Sigmund Freud’s notion of the Oedipus complex to making behavioral science more “scientific” through efforts such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and fMRI brain scans. Human life is messy, and no hammer tap will reveal the brain’s workings.
This issue of Science News articulates that duality in two features. Our cover story reports on the geology and chemistry of Mars, with NASA’s Perseverance rover scouting the Red Planet for rocks that could reveal signs of past life. In “Broken timelines,” social sciences writer Sujata Gupta investigates efforts to understand how life crises can cause some people to lose their sense of self and vision of the future. Helping people restore that vision, some researchers believe, could be a balm for PTSD and suicidal thinking.
As I read Gupta’s article, I could sense the scientists’ effort to quantify people’s experiences through definitions — self-continuity, autobiographical reasoning. These terms were new to me, and I found myself having to read closely to be sure I understood what the scientists meant. I took comfort in Gupta’s observation that philosophers have been wrestling with these questions for millennia. There are no easy answers.
When I turned to freelance writer Liz Kruesi’s account of the first two years of the Perseverance mission, I thought, “Ah, easy.” Find rocks, study rocks, confirm or reject hypotheses. NASA scientists directed the rover to the Jezero crater, the site of a…
Read the full article here