Current Issue

The introductory article in this issue is a brief account of a veryimportant life – that of Alan Turing – who is generally called the ‘father of computing’. Turing’s work on breaking codes and artificial  intelligence and the then revolutionary machines that he constructed in his pursuit of the mechanisation of mathematics paved the way for the computers of today. And not just computers – smartphones, iPads and other tablets and a host of other technology that we now take completely for granted. He was atruly innovative and far sighted individual who should have gone a lot further – living to see far more of the fruits of his remarkable brain. But Turing died at 42. He killed himself because society could not accept his homosexuality.

Elsewhere in this issue we look at further evidence that modern humans evolved and initially prospered in southern Africa before making the truly remarkable journey into the rest of the world. Turing, computing and homosexuality – early modern humans and African origins – what have these to do with each other you may ask? My point is that science is the only true leveller in society today. Since Turing died, homosexuality has been legalised in most progressive countries around the world, but enormous predjudice still remains against those who are different from what is considered the ‘norm’. And there is now incontrovertible evidence that we all originated in Africa and that the concept of ‘race’ is completely artificial. But racial predjudice and tension remains a major force in the world today – manifesting also as religious intolerance – leading to increasing pockets of conflict around the world.

This is where science and society can and should meet. As we understand more and more about the world around us and the peoplein it, we increasingly see just how artificial barriers such as ‘race’, sexual orientation and religion are. The concept of the whole human race belonging to one population is not just a spiritual one, it is a scientific one. We are all one people under the Sun. As we come to the end of another year, let’s take that thought with us into 2013.
Bridget Farham
Editor