counterintuitive examples in science

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How could something so obvious be wrong? We may have a greater capacity for abstract thought than chimps do, but were weaker than gorillas, less agile in the treetops than orangutans and more ill-tempered than bonobos. Why does salt cause the ice to melt? In front of your students, half fill the flask with tap water. The Aztecs slaughtered tens of thousands of people to inaugurate the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan; after sacredMayan ballgames, the losing team was sometimes sacrificed. to ask them what their predictions would be about our main study in our 2008 paper (Vazire & Mehl, JPSP). The fascinating story behind many people's favori Can you handle the (barometric) pressure? That seems pretty simple and counterintuitive. Both processes require energy, which comes from the immediate surroundings. Bad news that cult recovery group just might be a cult. In any science, though, you have areas of inquiry where there is not an existing theory that makes precise predictions. In social and personality psychology that isthe majority of what we are studying. Science is amazing but it can also be frightening and mind-boggling at times. Previously, she was a senior science editor at Smithsonian magazine. If I walk into it's solid, and I can't see through it. Every once in a while, a dolt drops a gem. You should sit in meditation every day unless you are too busy. Before repeating such claims, one should investigate funding sources. Now I wonder what my intuitions are about the meaning of the word counterintuitive, and what sort of information about the way the word is used might contradict those intuitions. I tend to think of intuitions as thoughts that pop into our heads as the result of conditioned reflexes, even if that conditioning is part of scientific training. Something that is counter-intuitive does not happen in the way you would expect it to: 2. Below you, an entire other world operates, Many interesting behind-the-scenes bits have happened during the 20 years of telling tales about our favorite trailer-park residents. Mating decisions are based partly on smell. When it solidifies, bonds form between the Na+ and S2O32- ions, releasing energy, which raises the temperature. Self-knowledge / self-deception is probably another one of those areas where the relationship between research findings and peoples intuitions has deeper, substantive significance. A red light for "go" and a . (of an idea, proposal, etc) seemingly contrary to common sense. Are some things just better left unknown? Cultures as diverse as the Babylonians, Han Dynasty China, and the Maya each developed sophisticated belief systems and mathematics to divine the purported influence of the planets and stars on people's personalities and events on Earth ( Boxer, 2020 ). Ritual sacrifice is described in the Bible, Greek mythology and the Norse sagas, and the Romans accused many of the people they conquered of engaging in ritual sacrifice, but the evidence was thin. Listed below are several particularly surprising findings from the field of psychology. The more often you see a person or an object, the more youll like it. Students can reverse the experiment starting with frozen cyclohexane and warming it in a beaker of hot water, recording temperatures until it returns to about 15oC. This is a simple demonstration, but even post-16 students often struggle to explain the results. If so, perhaps general physics would be a place to go. Clamp the funnel above a beaker. This is correct for most substances, but due to the nature of the water molecule it is different and actually expands. If you were an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, youd have your servants slaughtered and buried adjacent to your tomb. If intuitions vary widely and so do results, across contexts and populations then we run the riskthat placing too much valueon counterintuitive findings will do more to incentiverhetorical flash than substantive discoveries. You need some fancy equipment, like a thing that makes a cohesive beam of photons and a thing that splits a cohesive beam of photons, but other than that its not impossible to do in your home lab. Contrary to most students expectations, the temperature will drop. Know that a sense of humor can be just as essential as understanding; you should also check out all these pretty funny science jokes--we we were not expecting these punchlines. I hate it and will tell you why in 5 minutes. If something is counterintuitive it means it's the opposite of intuitive in other words it's not easily understood in an instinctive, unconscious way. If something is counterintuitive it means it's the opposite of "intuitive" in other words, it's not easily understood in an instinctive, unconscious way. There have been mass extinctions in the past, and were probably in one now. It and subsequent ambitious and painstaking epidemiological studies have shown that ones risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, certain kinds of cancer and other health problems increases in a dose-dependent manner upon exposure to delicious food. Counterintuitive claim: Prices are determined by supply and demand. You have to act in the short amount of time after crossing the slit and before impacting the screen. What is the meaning of counterintuitive science? Supercooled liquids have everyday uses improving the taste of frozen foods. The trigger words exciting breakthrough should signal caution. Similar misconceptions occur with freezing. Record the temperature. Water will trickle into the beaker as ice melts. Environmental activists and vegans want to reduce the impact of beef production. Supercooled water can be found in clouds. Everything you probably think of when you think of the universeplanets, stars, galaxies, black holes, dustmakes up just 4 percent of whatever is out there. Even tuberculosis, the disease that killed Frederic Chopin and Henry David Thoreau, is making a comeback, in part because some strains of the bacterium have developed multi-drug resistance. Our ape ancestry conflicts with every cultures creation myth and isnt particularly intuitive, buteverything weve learnedsince thenin biology, geology, genetics, paleontology, even chemistry and physicssupports his great insight. counterintuitive events is an effective way of engaging students in exploring science; such events motivate and involve students in solving problems with a high degree of creativity and critical thinking. Its hard to do it justice in a small paragraph here, but the PBS space-time episode on it gives a good explanation. They can also reinforce enthalpy changes, and bond breaking or making, for ages 1618. If youre in a happy, optimistic, ambitious mood, check the weather. This points out the need to test the statements of scientists. 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You're not alone! Newtonian mechanics implies that causal relationships are unconstrained by distance - at first glance this seems uncontroversial, but upon reflection its clear that this contradicts our folk notions of causality. * What gives you instant joy is almost always harmful i. When students compare their predictions with what actually happens to temperature in these scenarios, there will be lots to think about and discuss. So the intuitive in counterintuitive could refer to the intuitions of experts. 1. Invert the flask, so the thermometer bulb is in the hot water. We should also revisit why we think counterintuitive is valuable. The initial boiling produces steam, flushing the air from the flask, which is then sealed. Natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires are often attributed by the media to global warming. A number of experimental psychology studies have found support for Boyer's hypothesis. Since QM and even the two items you mentioned seem to be beyond them, you could try the culinary route. the opposite of what makes sense. Technically it's small things act according to an equation that is very wavelike in this instance and very particle like in this other instance, but the first sentence is close enough. And besides, researchers are continuously learning new things. They performed experiments on bags. 2 What is another word for counterintuitive? 'Hiemal,' 'brumation,' & other rare wintry words. 1. Re: What are the most surprising and counterintuitive findings in science? Why do you get my tax dollars to be stupid?". Check out these facts that are just plain counterintuitive you'll be surprised at some of the things people do every day! To call someone an asshole is really bragging him up.". In this Letter, we report a counterintuitive example of relations between ZT and thermoelectric efficiency. However, their 25-year-old systems can't handle the massive amount of streaming data from IoT . Are they just keeping silent about conflicts of interest? Logic is generally used to reach a conclusion using the most accurate and testable route. Here's a 1974 example from the American Philosophical Quarterly in which "counterintuitive" describes a dubious situation: "The formulas offered by Day lead to results so counter-intuitive that they had best be called simply false.". Here are ten of the biggest threats to our peace of mind. We loved learning new things and expanding our horizons. Edit: for more information check out Schwarz's Quantum Field Theory and Topology. And there's the first part of Newton's very first law: Bodies in motion remain in m. Are they trustworthy? NTU Singapore scientists report that plastic bags could be eco-friendlier than paper and cotton bags in cities like Singapore (Nanyang Technological University).

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