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*puts on science communicator hat*
Have any of you read this ABC article, about how physicists have "debunked" the paranormal? The logic given struck me as incredibly flawed but being the good little ex-Phd student I am I looked up the orginal paper (which despite being quite easy to read was not linked from the ABC article, luckily there aren't many Efthimious on arXiv) and while some of it was just badly paraphrased the vampire example is bad maths pure and simple.
( Don't be scared of the maths. C'mon, vampires! )
This may seem like a lot of effort to go to for a silly theory, but
(a) This kind of bad science plays into the hands of the pro-supernatural, since they can justifiably point to it as proof that science is "out to get them"
(b) This guy (or girl) is trying to encourage university science lecturers to use this kind of discussion to teach physics (this paper looks interesting too), which I think is a great idea in principle but not if the science is wrong.
(c) I'm a big fat nerd. C'mon, maths + fantasy, how could I resist.
Also, today I got paid to play with hexaflexagons. Admittedly, I would rather have had the day off properly (I was home sick from my shift, but this activity stuff needs to be done asap) but it was still fun if draining. Clearly it got my brain ticking over, though :)
Have any of you read this ABC article, about how physicists have "debunked" the paranormal? The logic given struck me as incredibly flawed but being the good little ex-Phd student I am I looked up the orginal paper (which despite being quite easy to read was not linked from the ABC article, luckily there aren't many Efthimious on arXiv) and while some of it was just badly paraphrased the vampire example is bad maths pure and simple.
( Don't be scared of the maths. C'mon, vampires! )
This may seem like a lot of effort to go to for a silly theory, but
(a) This kind of bad science plays into the hands of the pro-supernatural, since they can justifiably point to it as proof that science is "out to get them"
(b) This guy (or girl) is trying to encourage university science lecturers to use this kind of discussion to teach physics (this paper looks interesting too), which I think is a great idea in principle but not if the science is wrong.
(c) I'm a big fat nerd. C'mon, maths + fantasy, how could I resist.
Also, today I got paid to play with hexaflexagons. Admittedly, I would rather have had the day off properly (I was home sick from my shift, but this activity stuff needs to be done asap) but it was still fun if draining. Clearly it got my brain ticking over, though :)
