David’s Comments (group member since Dec 13, 2009)

David’s comments from the Science and Inquiry group.

Camelia, what are your mixed feelings about?

Darren wrote: "https://tinyurl.com/y8jsknhe"

Yes, there was truly an epic battle between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. However, that link is trying to be funny--it is not informative. For a brief description of the battle, try this:
Tesla vs Edison: the AC/DC current wars make a comeback.

or this one:
Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison: Who Was the Better Inventor?

Thanks, Jim; that is a very interesting article about aging and learning speeds.

According to the book, the lack of money is not the major cause of biomedicine's woes. The wasteful use of money to generate useless, incorrect, unreproducible research is a major contributor. The reasons are varied. One is that academia encourages publication of incremental, insignificant advances rather than significant increases in understanding. Quantity is encouraged, not quality.

Also, even after a publication has been retracted, it can be cited in the literature hundreds of times, and even assumed to be correct. Researchers are sometimes intellectually lazy, unwilling to accept that a hypothesis is wrong, even after it has been proven to be incorrect.

Then, there are the great technical difficulties in doing some of this research. Sometimes, the results of an experiment can depend on how a test tube is cleaned, how briskly a chemical is stirred, or how similar or different the genetics are of a set of mice.

Sometimes, the lack of money can be an issue, for example, not being able to afford a verification of the type of cell that has been purchased from a biochemical company, or using a sample of animals that is too small to have any statistical significance.

And, sometimes, experiments are simply designed poorly. The use of the "p-value" of statistical significance is often misused, and intellectually lazy researchers sometimes formulate their hypotheses after performing an experiment. This problem is reminiscent of a famous quote by Richard Feynman:

“You know, the most amazing thing happened to me tonight... I saw a car with the license plate ARW 357. Can you imagine? Of all the millions of license plates in the state, what was the chance that I would see that particular one tonight? Amazing!”

Don, there aren't a lot of popular books about chemistry. And, none of them seem to come close to the two books that you mention. But, I can recommend a few books that focus on the Periodic Table of Elements that I found to be fascinating:

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements

Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us

The Periodic Table

It was a long haul, but totally worth reading this book. I would never have considered reading it at all, if it had not been our book of the month for December. That is why I enjoy goodreads, and this Science and Inquiry group so much; I find books that I never otherwise would have read.

Here is my review.

Steve wrote: "There's one thing I forgot to mention in both my post and my review. Did anyone else notice how the author repeatedly used the word 'theory' when he should have said 'hypothesis'?

I can forgive a ..."

I agree with you, Steve. I usually notice this slip in books about science. And, it really irks me, when I see the word "theory" being misused.

Nice review, Steve! Reading your review reminded me of another topic that was not covered well--the topic of sleep apnea. That was disappointing.

Joel, I believe that many of the names mentioned in the book are truly responsible for revolutionizing physics; Heisenberg, Bohr, Pauli, Fermi, Einstein, Planck, de Broglie, Dirac, Schrodinger, and Rutherford all made advances that pushed quantum mechanics forward in remarkable ways. You can ask, how would physics have evolved if any of them had not gone into the field--of course someone else could have made the same advance. But the concepts that each one of them developed are important pillars of quantum mechanics.

Rumell wrote: "I am now second Year of Sixth-Form studying A-levels in Biology, Chemistry, Psychology and Sociology. I have excelled in Chemistry."

Hi, Rumell. Welcome to our group! Good luck in your studies.

BJ wrote: "I have a MS in Environmental Science and have 30 years plus in Industrial Water Treatment. I enjoy reading books on the environment, genetics, health and gardening. I also like reading books about ..."

Hello, BJ. Welcome to our group! Please feel free to jump in, start up some discussions on any science-related topic.

Elizabeth A.G. wrote: "Hi, Everyone! I'm Elizabeth and retired from the medical field. I enjoy reading about all aspects of science particularly biology, anthropology, astronomy and environmental issues. I feel I may be ..."

Hi Elizabeth. Welcome to our group! You have a wide range of interests. I am sure you will find some things of interest here.

Elizabeth wrote: "The Heart: A History is stellar. Well written and fascinating look at the history of learning about the heart with poetic and literary asides."

That would be:
Heart: A History

Ajeet, thanks for the link to the video--Matthew Walker is a very good speaker!

I finished reading the book; it is fabulous! And alarming! I highly recommend it. Here is my review.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "Popular book, based on the holds list at my library....sigh."

April, when I see the list of nominations for books, I take a guess for the top couple that are most interesting to me. They might win the poll--or they might not. Then I immediately reserve them at the local library. Then if the book(s) don't win the poll, or if I lose interest, I can always cancel the hold.

I recently finished reading the book Birth of a Theorem: A Mathematical Adventure by Cedric Villani. The author is an eminent mathematician, and I am told that he is quite a character. Unfortunately, I really disliked the book, for a number of reasons. I cannot recommend the book to anyone, except perhaps a professional mathematician. Here is my review.

Welcome to our group, Joe! There are a few members here who might be able to help you with textbooks.

I also enjoyed reading Godel, Escher, Bach; I am not aware of any other books with similar dialogues.

I just finished the book yesterday. What a delight! I looked up on YouTube a few of the videos mentioned in the book. Absolutely amazing! I put links to the videos in my review.

I just finished reading Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, by Matt Ridley. Mr. Ridley has written a number of books about evolution, and this one is very good. My only complaint is that this book is already 19 years old, so is quite out of date. Interestingly, Ridley mentions in the back of the book that all of the genetic literature, including his own book, is out of date! Here is my review.

Nancy wrote: "I am almost finished reading How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics and it is really mind-blowing, sorry for the pun. A 5 star book for me because it Pollan descri..."

Nancy, I agree with you--it is a wonderful book. I learned a lot from the book, and my attitude towards psychedelics is completely turned around.