That something trivial like seeing speckle patterns in my eyes when I'm tired is proof of the quantum nature of light.
Interesting. How does that work?
Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
101–110 of 189 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#102A 2016 poll of 1,500 scientists reported that 70% of them had failed to reproduce at least one other scientist's experiment (50% had failed to reproduce one of their own experiments).
I would love to see this number for computational scientists.
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could not practically ever measure the difference in a lab, but it’s still a real effect. Look up the stress-energy tensor. I could equivalently say that a spinning ball weighs more than the same ball when stationary.
W=mg Weight is mass times gravity. It is the mass of the object. As affected by a single force - gravity. Gravity is a force. A spinning ball has ANOTHER force acting on it, and therefore cannot be defined by "weight". In short, this is an absurd statement that tries to redefine a scientific definition for...I don't even know? Sensationalism?
You’re assuming the Newtonian theory of gravity, the parent poster uses Einstein’s general relativity. These theories disagree on quite a lot; e.g. general relativity predicts that light is affected by gravity, while Newton’s theory would not since photons are massless particles. Einstein was proven right here too.
Note however that the quoted effect – difference in weight between a compressed and uncompressed spring – will realistically be so small that I doubt you could measure that in a lab. To get a sense of how small that effect is, try comparing the E=mc^2 mass-energy of a spring to its E=kx^2 compression energy...
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#104camels have three eyelids
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#105The physics & biology behind eyesight. Our eyes collect light that is "left over"(not reflected) from other surfaces. Can't explain why but I had always had a sense that objects somehow emanated their own "image". Learning that colors manifest themselves because every other wavelength was absorbed was fascinating.
Why do you say not reflected? It seems like the light that enters our eyes often has been reflected?
I'm thinking the parent commenter meant to say "not absorbed"?
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#106Obvious when you think about it, but I didn't realise for ages that all the planets orbit in the same plane.
Pluto does not orbit in the same plane - it is about 17° off. HOWEVER! Pluto is no longer considered a planet, making this science fact true. (It is now considered a dwarf planet instead).
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#107A compressed spring weighs more than the same spring uncompressed. The moon and earth weigh less together than if you weighed them separately and added the values together. Most of the weight of solid objects is due to the high speeds and binding energies of the elementary particles within them rather than the rest mass of the constituent particles. The number of particles that exist is relative to how fast you are a…
Similarly, a fully charged Tesla (or other electric) vehicle weighs more than an uncharged one. The difference is roughly the weight of 10 human hairs, so it's absolutely negligible, but that application of E=MC^2 blew my mind the first time I saw it.
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#108I absolutely cannot psychologically deal with the Monty Haul paradox. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem I've coded it multiple times in multiple programming languages as a cathartic exercise. Despite seeing the results obviously printed out in a console in front of me, I just can't handle it. I lose SAN just thinking about it.
The explanation that makes the most sense to me, from wiki:
Yet another insight is that your chance of winning by switching doors is directly related to your chance of choosing the winning door in the first place: if you choose the correct door on your first try, then switching loses; if you choose a wrong door on your first try, then switching wins; your chance of choosing the correct door on your first try is 1/3, and the chance of choosing a wrong door is 2/3.
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#109Trees form out of thin air.
Re: Ask HN: What is a science fact that blew your mind when you learned it?
#110When i could "see" my visual blindspot. https://lasikofnv.com/try-these-3-fun-tests-to-find-your-vis... .
OMG me too. I was having an eye exam. The technician had a black field with a bunch of lines. Holding a rod with a white dot, and told to let them know when it disappeared. I laughed, "Well that will only happen if you put it behind your back." They laughed, "Everyone has an astigmatism where the nerves enter the eye. We are looking for that or any other issues." I was so shocked when the dot disappeared. Also happy…
There is one driving your car too. :)