Scientific and mathematical inaccuracies, misconceptions and errors that get under your skin

[kurokotetsu]

Well, reading this thread here in The Escapist [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.387618-Historical-facts-and-popular-representations-of-histrical-figures-that-are-wrong?page=1] i thought of doing a paralel one about scientific errors, especially if those errors make you just want to punch the other guy int the face.

For me there are several:

1) Basic misunderstanding of mechanics. It is one of the oldest sciences. When a sports commentator said that "usain Bolt uses the centrifugal force to run faster after the curve" it just made me want to kill somebody. The centrifugal force is a ficticious force that appears in non-inertial systems (systems that area ccelerated and therefore Newton's First Law doesn't apply). We are seeing the race from an inertial system (or close enough) and that "force" doesn't exist.

2) Gambler's fallacy. Okay, I understand that probability is unintuitive. But after a couple of centuries of teh theory it should be obvious that there is a thing called independant probabiity. No, if you just threw a coin and it was heads, it doesn't matter to the probability that the next one is heads.

And those are for starters. So scientificaly inclined esapists, which scientific error irk you?

Science history included like "Einstein disliked quantum mechanics". No he was against Copenhegen's interpretation, which isn't just genreal quantume mechianics.

 

[Zantos]

Gambler's fallacy is one that annoys me quite a bit. We like to call it Role-player's fallacy actually, after those times when you're convinced the universe owes you a natural twenty after an hour of nothing higher than a four, even though you know low rolls are random and owe you nothing.

Though actually, the thing that annoys me most is people that point out scientific inaccuracies in all forms of entertainment, especially films. Couldn't happen in real life? Good thing it's not real life, that could have been bad for the laws of the universe. Now shut up, things are exploding.

 

[JoJo]

As someone who's very interested in human evolution, it erks me when many supposedly scientific books, shows and exhibitions depict all hominids as having pale skin regardless of time or place (e.g. the discovery of fire), despite overwhelming evidence that lighter skin tones didn't evolve in the modern human linage until some individuals left Africa. The museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. was a rare exception and one which impressed me greatly.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

Whenever people appeal to quantum mechanics to justify fruitloopery. 'quantum mechanics is counter intuitive therefore whatever garbage pops into my head'. Aaaaaaaaaagh!

Also, the entirety of this video.

 

[kurokotetsu]

Also whenever it comes to the sun stripping our atmosphere off... wouldn't that take... like... getting rid of all iron in the middle of our planet while also STOPPING the entire planet in a single second? Or am I just to damn smart?

I may be wrong in this but the mehcanics for this are quite simple. The iron only deviates the charged particles, so there is no correlation to the Earth's magnetics field and the disappearance of the atmosphere. Second, after the sun expands, the increase in temperature of Earth's atmosphere means that the average kinetic energy of the particles in teh atmosphere increases. When average kinetic energy is large enough (and assuming that tehre is no important change of mass in the particles, and I do not see a reason for there to be) what one can extrapolate is that the average speed of the particles is large enough that a fair amount of particles can reach escape velocity (especially those particles that are heateed and are closer to the end of the atmosphere) menaing that a lot of particles are exaping the Earth because they have enough speed that gravity doesn't affect them strongly enough to keep them inside. As more and more particles are lost and the temperature doesn't decrease (the amount of radiation keeps heating the atmosphere) it seems logical that after sometime of that excessive heating most aprticles in the atmosphere will be lost. That is how I understand that mechanism.

Also, the entirety of this video.

I felt dumber just by llooking that video. Man some people should be required to pass an exam before talking about science.

 

[Quaxar]

What the hell am I watching. The only part remotely logical is the ad pop-up...

Just like this video which, coincidentally, is exactly one of the topics that drives me crazy:
<youtube=CZdsNPgajPM>
It's not hard to look up things on Wikipedia, Youtube, etc. There is no need to just "do whatever"...

Like today when I heard the sentence "the human body uses up his oxygen reserves in 9 seconds". Really, so holding your breath is actual magic!

 

[BrassButtons]

What bothers me the most aren't specific errors, but errors made by people who act as though they were experts, and who refuse to be swayed by the evidence. It's a bit annoying when someone who admits to having zero archeology knowledge thinks that they pyramids were built by aliens. It's maddening when the same person says that they believe aliens built the pyramids because archaeologists can't explain how it was done. It's downright infuriating when this person then dismisses any evidence showing that archaeologists do have explanations.

Ignorance can be annoying, but ignorance coupled with arrogance makes me want to punch a kitten.

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

What bothers me the most aren't specific errors, but errors made by people who act as though they were experts, and who refuse to be swayed by the evidence. It's a bit annoying when someone who admits to having zero archeology knowledge thinks that they pyramids were built by aliens. It's maddening when the same person says that they believe aliens built the pyramids because archaeologists can't explain how it was done. It's downright infuriating when this person then dismisses any evidence showing that archaeologists do have explanations.

Ignorance can be annoying, but ignorance coupled with arrogance makes me want to punch a kitten.

Yeah, but take that feeling, and now imagine you are Buzz Aldrin.

 

[McMullen]

Well, there was a thread concerning dark matter on the R&P forum a few weeks ago that had some pretty good examples. OP simply assigned all sorts of magical properties to the stuff, then ignored or twisted the words of everyone trying to explain to him how and why he was wrong. It was a bit like listening to a homeopath.

Often when I ride the bus I hear someone giving a lecture to someone else on some sciencey topic, and half the stuff said is complete garbage. I've listened to lectures on how it's cold in winter because the Earth is farther from the Sun, how scientists demoted Pluto without any reason ("Who does that guy think he is anyway?!"), how anything with chemicals in it will give you cancer, and so on.

I eventually stopped being so upset about it because I realized that I'm in a college town in Oregon, and the buses I ride are one or two among hundreds that run each day in that town. Other buses elsewhere in the country all have those conversations going too, probably even more in areas where there are less concentrations of educated people. There is nothing I can do or say to make a dent in this mantra of ignorance, but a high probability of making an ass of myself if I intervene, so it's clearly best to just not get worried about it, and do what I can through teaching.

 

[DoPo]

Also, the entirety of this video.

What the fuck man! I'm about a minute in and she's telling me mass doesn't exist! Dafuq is going on?!

And now it's 2 minutes in. Now, I'm not really sure about that but isn't String theory not at all related to sound? String as in guitar strings?

3 minutes in. She's fucking talking about alchemy. Didn't we, you know, disprove that several centuries ago?

But 5 minutes is good. Homeopathy is like a bomb.

She completely lost me afterwards. Her example was bad and she should feel bad. If people don't want to watch the video (seriously, don't) she said that a guy came to her with some problems. He also said that "he was a man of his word". So she gave him one of the cures she had based on that and fixed him. Dafuq is going on?

Gambler's fallacy is one that annoys me quite a bit. We like to call it Role-player's fallacy actually, after those times when you're convinced the universe owes you a natural twenty after an hour of nothing higher than a four, even though you know low rolls are random and owe you nothing.

Haha, of course that is wrong. "The universe owes you". Everybody knows (or they should) it's the Random Number God who controls roleplaying dice. And woe to players who don't have a shrine of his and don't worship him, for he hands out failures and critical failures to the insolent. And RNG doesn't really reward anybody, you can only try to avoid his wrath.

 

[oktalist]

1) Basic misunderstanding of mechanics. It is one of the oldest sciences. When a sports commentator said that "usain Bolt uses the centrifugal force to run faster after the curve" it just made me want to kill somebody. The centrifugal force is a ficticious force that appears in non-inertial systems (systems that area ccelerated and therefore Newton's First Law doesn't apply). We are seeing the race from an inertial system (or close enough) and that "force" doesn't exist.

The sports commentator was wrong of course, but not for the reason you said.

Mine are:

1) God particle.

2) Percentage change of percentage measure: "VAT rose from 17.5 percent to 20 percent, an increase of 2.5 percent." No! Wrong! It increased by 14 percent! You meant to say it increased by 2.5 percentage points!

3) Any very large finite quantity described as being "nearly infinite".

4) Anything that is described as being "digital" by virtue of involving computers.

5) Misconception: the Turing Machine was an early design of computer.

6) Misconception: natural selection is random.

 

[Dags90]

how anything with chemicals in it will give you cancer, and so on.

I love seeing "chemical free" on labels, gives me a good chuckle. Some day I'd like to come out with a line of cleaning products that use "chemical free" and "100% supernatural" ingredients.

 

[Dangit2019]

I should mention the two annoying things that came of the higgs boson discovery:

1. Ha! Finally! Science proved/disproved God!

and

2. It doesn't cure cancer, so it's absolutely worthless to investigate.

Grrr

 

[SciMal]

1) Evolution and/or biology has a purpose behind what exists. This may also double as "So if Evolution is so powerful, why doesn't ______ exist?" Sort of like the Duckigator.

2) Natural Selection = Evolution. They're not the same.

3) Evolution is just a "theory". Ya know, like Gravity.

4) "Centrifugal" force, too.

5) "Scientists are always contradicting themselves, so why bother listening to them anyways?" Yeah, sorry we're not omniscient. Feel free to enjoy the longest expected life span in human history and unprecedented technological and biological development the likes of which the world has never seen before, though.

6) News sites exaggerating the claims made by Journal articles. "OMG STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM LICORICE!!!!!OMGOMGOMGOMG" =/= "Licorice root, the main ingredient in natural black licorice, may cause problems for the elderly subset of the population who might react adversely to blood thinners."

7) The plural of anecdote is not data. The plural of anecdote is not data. THE PLURAL OF ANECDOTE IS NOT FUCKING DATA.

8) Pseudoscience, most notoriously used in fad diets. "Our ancestors never ate grains, therefor grains are bad." Let's just ignore that lactose tolerance is only like 10,000 years old and the same people who promote caveman diets are the same people who have no problem including yogurt and milk in it.

9) "Chemicals in my food = bad", too. Oh shit! My food has polypeptides and cyanocobalamin! DAMN YOU FDA!

10) "Toxins" that build up in your body and must be cleansed. Usually by the most emberassing means possible.

11) "Ancient" or natural cures for anything (especially herbal supplements). Yeah, sometimes people stumbled upon stuff. That's how we discovered aspirin. However, our ancestors also drank Mercury and shit on the walls of their buildings.

12) "Vitamins are good for you, so more vitamins must be better!" This one is also disguised as "Everybody is severely deficient in Vitamin ___ . So take 10,000% of Vitamin ____ and you'll live a much healthier life." Protip: Vitamin C is water soluble. Water comes out of your body a couple times per day. More Protip: Fat-soluble Vitamins will fuck you up so bad if you take more than needed for long periods of time and then lose weight. Except Beta Carotene - you'll just turn orange/yellow. Which is awesome.

13) Metabolisms don't vary widely. There are a few outliers (like any bell curve), but for the most part that friend who eats cheesecake every day and stays thin is probably overstimating what they eat (just like obese people usually underestimate how much food they consume).

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure after visiting Stack Exchange again, I'll have a few more.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Something that bothers me a little is labelling yogurts as "probiotic" which is essentially saying that it has live bacterial cultures in it. Of course, they wouldn't say this, because that sounds icky and would not market well..

Also, don't ALL yogurts and cheeses have "probiotics" in them, because like, isn't that how they're made in the first place?

8) Pseudoscience, most notoriously used in fad diets. "Our ancestors never ate grains, therefor grains are bad." Let's just ignore that lactose tolerance is only like 10,000 years old and the same people who promote caveman diets are the same people who have no problem including yogurt and milk in it.

My dad was in one of these fad diets. He was saying about how this *super legit book* of his told him that certain blood types are naturally meant to eat certain types of food, and for him (O-) that wheat was actually toxic for him and that he was trying not to eat wheat anymore.

I facepalmed so hard and then showed him several websites which discredited the book he was reading, as well as informing him from my own personal knowledge how that wasn't possible...

I still don't think he agreed with me but i dont think hes on that diet anymore.

 

[Vivi22]

Calories in minus calories out = change in body mass.

Aside from never actually predicting weight gain or loss with any degree of accuracy, it ignores little things like the mechanisms by which the body actually stores or burns body fat. Just an oversimplification of a complex biological process and one with no basis in good science.

Not to mention the formula is inherently ridiculous. A change in energy equals a change in mass? Seriously now?

 

[Sight Unseen]

Calories in minus calories out = change in body mass.

Aside from never actually predicting weight gain or loss with any degree of accuracy, it ignores little things like the mechanisms by which the body actually stores or burns body fat. Just an oversimplification of a complex biological process and one with no basis in good science.

Not to mention the formula is inherently ridiculous. A change in energy equals a change in mass? Seriously now?

Didn't Einstein have an equation about that? lol

That MUST be relevant to weight gain!

 

[bigfatcarp93]

They are called PTEROSAURS. NOT Pterodactyls!