Coming to Our Senses ... Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science. ... Our eyes are special detectors.Equippedwithhisfivesenses,manexplorestheuniversearoundhimandcallstheadventurescience.Oureyesarespecialdetectors.Theyallowustoregisterinformationnotonlyfromacrosstheroombutfromacrosstheuniverse.Withoutvision,thescienceofastronomywouldneverhavebeenbornandourcapacitytomeasureourplaceintheuniversewouldhavebeenhopelesslystunted.Thinkofbats.Whateverbatsecretsgetspassedfromonegenerationtothenext,youcanbetthatnoneofthemarebasedontheappearanceofthenightsky.Whenthoughtofasanensembleofexperimentaltools,ourcollectivesensesenjoyanastonishingacuityandrangeofsensitivity.Ourearscanregisterthethunderouslaunchofthespaceshuttle,yettheycanalsohearamosquitobuzzingafootawayfromourhead.Oursenseoftouchallowsustofeelthemagnitudeofabowlingballdroppedonourbigtoe,justaswecantellwhenaone-milligrambugcrawlsalongourarm.Somepeopleenjoymunchingonhabaneropepperswhilesensitivetonguescanidentifythepresenceoffoodflavorsonthelevelofpartspermillion.Andoureyescanregisterthebrightsandyterrainonasunnybeach,yetthesesameeyeshavenotroublespottingalonematch,freshlylit,hundredsoffeetacrossadarkenedauditorium.Beforewegetcarriedawayinpraiseofourselves,notethatwhatwegaininbreadth,weloseinprecisionbecauseweregistertheworld’sstimuliinlogarithmicratherthanlinearincrements.Forexample,ifyouincreasetheenergyofasound’svolumebyafactoroften,yourearswilljudgethischangetoberathersmall.Increaseitbyafactoroftwoandyouwillbarelytakenotice.Thesameholdsforourcapacitytomeasurelight.IfyouhaveeverviewedatotalsolareclipseyoumayhavenoticedthattheSun’sdiskmustbeatleastninetypercentcoveredbytheMoonbeforeanybodycommentsthattheskyhasdarkened.Thestellarmagnitudescaleofbrightness,thewell-knownacousticdecibelscale,andtheseismicscaleforearthquakeseverityareeachlogarithmicinpartbecauseofourbiologicalpropensitytosee,hear,andfeeltheworldthatway.What,ifanything,liesbeyondoursenses?Doesthere