I think it's unfair to lump the faster-than-light-neutrino experiment in as bad science. They pretty much said "this is really odd, please suggest your explanations".
The Curious Case of Polywater
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Re: The Curious Case of Polywater
#12Heh - spoilers for Cat's Cradle.
Yeah, I was thinking that the plot sounded interesting and I should look for the book... then he said how it ends. Poop.
I thought the whole Ice-Nine thing in Cat's Cradle was pretty famous by this point. It's like Janet Leigh dying in the shower in Psycho — everyone knows about the twist, but they like it anyway.
Re: The Curious Case of Polywater
#13Heh - spoilers for Cat's Cradle.
Yeah, I was thinking that the plot sounded interesting and I should look for the book... then he said how it ends. Poop.
Knowing the ending does not ruin the book. Even if you hadn't heard anything about the plot, it becomes clear very quickly how it is going to end. The suspense comes from how it all goes down. Classic Chekhov's gun.
It's an excellent book and I highly recommend it. Very short too, so it's not much of a time commitment.
Re: The Curious Case of Polywater
#14Reminds me of a lot of political discourse - it is easy to be skeptical of people you want to be wrong, it is hard to be skeptical of people you agree with.
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Re: The Curious Case of Polywater
#15Water is pretty weird without going too far out of your way to come up with new weirdnesses.
Re: The Curious Case of Polywater
#16I think it's unfair to lump the faster-than-light-neutrino experiment in as bad science. They pretty much said "this is really odd, please suggest your explanations".
Media overhypes a cautious plea for assistance made by scientists. Scientists receive their assistance, and announce that the discrepancy has been resolved. Media looks foolish, and claims the entire incident is indicative of flaws in the current state of science.
Good times.
Re: The Curious Case of Polywater
#17Re: The Curious Case of Polywater
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I was thinking that the plot sounded interesting and I should look for the book... then he said how it ends. Poop.
At the end, the Titanic sinks.
Difference being that the ending to Titanic was 'spoiled' for me before the screenplay was ever written.
Re: The Curious Case of Polywater
#19> They proposed that instead of the Van der Waals forces that normally draw water molecules gently together, polywater was composed of molecules locked in place by stronger chemical bonds, somehow catalyzed by the quartz capillary tubes.
Aren't water molecules held together by relatively strong Hydrogen bonds? And if there are stronger bonds in polywater, what are they, then, covalent bonds?
Re: The Curious Case of Polywater
#20When ever I read articles like this, as well as they are written, I always feel like cutting to the chase: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywater