Failing Science

It seems to be a common belief today that science has proven for example the theory of evolution to be true. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is still and probably always will be a theory. If you saw the scanty evidence from which pictures of supposed human ancestors are drawn you would be amazed!

I taught science. It's failures are many. The facts of one generation become the foolishness of the next.

 

Science Errors from the Pages of WHOOPS!

1. "Scientific American" magazine has  Faulty Vision.

Diagrams purporting to explain how the eye works are often defective, even in textbooks. But this example, from p. 16 of the special 2006 issue "Secrets of the Senses" put out by Scientific American is the most screwed-up I've ever seen (so far). Hardly anything about the ray paths is correct. It shows no deviation in direction of rays at the cornea (which actually causes most of the refraction in real eyes). It has rays devating much too much at the lens, so much that they cross within the lens.

Even worse, one of those rays mysteriously changes direction near the center of the eyelens! The other ray is nearly, but not quite straight there. Apparently the "secrets of the visual sense organ" are still a mystery to the artist and to the editorial staff of the magazine. Reference

 

The same site, Whoops! shows several other blunders of the scientific world. And remember these are the same people that many hold up as the "gods" of truth.

2. The Birth of a New Physics by I. Bernard Cohen (Doubleday, 1960) - cover makes no sense. Doesn't the author know his physics?

3. The artistic designer of a British 1997 coin minted to celebrate the growth of industry has an idea which just doesn't mesh!

4. More gears need to be given to the educational researchers at the University of Saskatchewan for symbolizing cooperative learning with MORE GEARS THAT WOULDN'T TURN!

5. Adobe Systems wants to illustrate things working together. Again let's give it up for Adobe, great software, but poor conceptual art!

The three gears at the top left are locked and none of the rest will turn either. This diagram is an engineer's nightmare with gear tooth sizes mismatched and sloppily aligned, and a rope or cord at the bottom attached in some mysterious way.. The three gears at the top left are locked and none of the rest will turn either. This diagram is an engineer's nightmare with gear tooth sizes mismatched and sloppily aligned, and a rope or cord at the bottom attached in some mysterious way.

6. The Department of Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recently (1998) distributed free pocket rulers to advertise their services to the taxpayer and promote their website. However, on close examination, the ruler is seen to have a defect. The blunder stands out like a sore thumb. They've shorted us one centimeter! Centimeter 14 is missing!

7. The 1973 album "Dark Side of the Moon" (and its more recent CD release) by Pink Floyd features cover art of a prism with a spectrum.  The only problem was that pink, purple and magenta are NOT colors of the spectrum! Have you seen any rainbows lately?

8.Very illuminating! A DUH moment at the Weather Channel made this statement.

"[August 2002] I caught a "Weather IQ" factoid on The Weather Channel last week. Impress your friends by quoting this tidbit of what passes these days for science "knowledge": "Laser beams can travel at the speed of light." Well, duh! Laser beams are light."

9. Ever heard of James Bond science? Checkout the WHOOPS PAGE again for these gems in Goldeneye and Goldfinger.

Credit must be given to DSimanek "at" lhup.edu [substitute "@" for the "at" and leave NO spaces. 

More Scienfic and Mathematical Goofs

Links to pages about science and math mistakes.

SPACEHOLDER - just in case you wondered!