The Lighter Side of Science

I know there are some people who simply don’t trust science.  And there are times when mistrust is warranted.  Remember cold fusion?  Of course, there have also been outlandish-sounding theories that have turned out to be correct, like continental drift.  That’s why there is the scientific method and research needs to be replicated multiple times before being accepted as true.

But science also has a sense of humor, which is why there are BAHFests.  The official name is Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses, and these are periodic competitions with prizes.  The idea here is to take a theory everyone knows is incorrect, then find selected pieces of data to support it and make a logical argument that such a bogus idea could in fact be true.  Like we sleep so much to escape from ourselves.  Or early civilizations catapulted babies to distant areas  for genetic diversity (babies are very aerodynamic).   Or middle-age men deposit fat around their waists as flotation devices.

For more on BAHFests, see their website at http://bahfest.com/.  and theeir is a good discussion on a NPR Science Friday podcast at http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/04/03/2015/festival-of-fake-hypotheses-generates-real-laughs.html.

If nothing else, this should really sharpen your skeptical skills.

 

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *