What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
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Re: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
#2Lot of interesting concepts and fallacies. My favourites are Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety and costly signalling.
Re: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
#3v = dx/dt
If you are driving 5 miles across town (dx), and you average 25 mph (v), it will take you roughly 5/25 hours, or 12 minutes (dt) to get there. By driving 50 miles per hour, you get there in 6 minutes. Is it worth the risk to yourself and others (bikers and pedestrians) to save 6 minutes?
If you are driving to work and it normally takes you 30 minutes to get there by going 60 mph (30 miles), then if you go 80 mph by frequently changing lanes and tailgating the guy in front of you you will save around 8 minutes getting to work.
dt = 30/60 = 30 min dt = 30/80 = 22.5 min
Is it worth the risk to yourself and others to save 8 minutes?
Drive safely with the appreciation of v = dx/dt!
Re: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
#4v = dx/dt If you are driving 5 miles across town (dx), and you average 25 mph (v), it will take you roughly 5/25 hours, or 12 minutes (dt) to get there. By driving 50 miles per hour, you get there in 6 minutes. Is it worth the risk to yourself and others (bikers and pedestrians) to save 6 minutes? If you are driving to work and it normally takes you 30 minutes to get there by going 60 mph (30 miles), then if you go 8…
And, by association, F = m*V^2
The risk of serious injury in an accident increases exponentially with speed. This is especially true for pedestrian victims.
Re: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
#5Earth Round.
Mask Good.
Re: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
#61.)Quantum entanglement, to instill a sense of appreciation for the unknown. 2.)Astrology, to grant an understanding of the language of archetypes.
Re: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
#7Error bars to uncertainty of facts presented. Confidence.
Sometimes I think the bandwidth/delay product is insufficiently appreciated but I can't quite say why.
Db are widely misunderstood. And RMS. Without a reference, 2x bigger is meaningless. Likewise s/n ratio is misunderstood. Scale free can be OK, but usually not.
People need to know that cells don't have walls and are not bags of liquid. At the scale we're talking about lipid membranes, and van der waals forces inside a cell and the like are not well described by "wall" and "fluid"
Re: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
#8You don't believe in science, you do it.
Re: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
#9That almost every news headline or report involving a "large number" is misleading, and can be deconstructed starting with the question "Is that actually a big number?"
This is the purpose of BBC Radio's "More or Less", which can also be found as a podcast.
Re: What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known? (2017)
#10v = dx/dt If you are driving 5 miles across town (dx), and you average 25 mph (v), it will take you roughly 5/25 hours, or 12 minutes (dt) to get there. By driving 50 miles per hour, you get there in 6 minutes. Is it worth the risk to yourself and others (bikers and pedestrians) to save 6 minutes? If you are driving to work and it normally takes you 30 minutes to get there by going 60 mph (30 miles), then if you go 8…
Time is one thing. Going fast is also just plain fun.