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Radiolab / December 12, 2008 / Thrill of Discovery

Thrill of Discovery

Friday, December 12, 2008

Erica Carmel was unimpressed in her physics class at MIT when a professor demonstrated that by swinging a bucket full of water around on a rope, he could invert the bucket above him without it dumping all over him. After all, she had made the same discovery when she was five, playing with her Easter egg basket.

When a scientist makes a discovery, is it their brilliant work, the product of a beautiful mind, or is it just out there in the world, waiting for whomever happens to get there first? For Alan Lightman, an author and theoretical physicist, this issue became a profoundly distressing quandary, one that ultimately made him leave science behind.

Discovery doesn't always come so easily. Geologist Rob Reves-Sohn spent a decade at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute planning an arctic expedition to one of the ocean's least accessible frontiers. Reporter Erica Lloyd hitched a ride on the ice breaker only to find out that the unknown frontiers don't give up their mysteries without a fight.

Paul Davies, physicist and director of The Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University takes on one of the greatest mysteries of all time as the basis of his work. What he wants to know is: Why are we here? It seems so improbable, the more we learn about it. But he theorizes that perhaps our conscious observation of the universe is a part of the grand scheme of the universe and its laws---that our inquiry is fundamental.

photo by Chris Linder, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Falling For Science, edited by Sherry Turkle, in which Erica Carmel's essay appears


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  • [1] Carey from NYC December 12, 2008 - 01:41PM

    I wanna see a picture of the "ski slopes of yellow fluffy stuff!"
  • [2] Patrice from nyc December 12, 2008 - 03:42PM

    show us the yellow fluffy stuff!
  • [3] stew from dc December 14, 2008 - 12:53PM

    it's not so much a "miraculous accident" that 'we are here,' that the universe which bore us did so even despite conceivable (ha! words!) alternative outcomes.

    we are here, therefore the universe led to us. other universes, other sets of initial conditions might not have led to life, and in those universes, no one will be wondering why.

    p.s. I too would like to see the yellow fluffy stuff!
  • [4] JACK from DC December 14, 2008 - 07:09PM

    YELLOW FLUFFY STUFF

    YELLOW FLUFFY STUFF

    YELLOW FLUFFY STUFF

    YELLOW FLUFFY STUFF

    YELLOW FLUFFY STUFF

    YELLOW FLUFFY STUFF

    YELLOW FLUFFY STUFF

    YELLOW FLUFFY STUFF
  • [5] Amanda December 16, 2008 - 05:04PM

    We're working on getting fluff photos! Last we heard there were some very busy biologists who needed to be harassed to provide images. Pls consider them suitably harassed.

    Yours,

    Amanda
  • [6] JessB from Portland, OR December 17, 2008 - 11:41PM

    My dreams are plagued by Yellow Fluffy Stuff. Please satisfy my desires!
  • [7] christophsol from san francisco December 26, 2008 - 03:24PM

    I came to this site to see some yellow fluffy stuff. They must have taken some photos!
  • [8] Jake Young from Silver Spring, MD January 15, 2009 - 12:00PM

    PICS OF FLUFFY STUFF

    OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.

    grgghhh.
  • [9] Phil Harnish from San Francisco, CA January 15, 2009 - 09:00PM

    I came for the fluffy stuff. Bummer.
  • [10] Jesse Acosta from Hawaii January 16, 2009 - 04:12PM

    I want to be the one who eats the yellow fluffy stuff, but first I must see it!
  • [11] Flounder from Friggin Cold January 20, 2009 - 11:29AM

    Where in God's name is the GD Yellow Fluffy Stuff?? GD it I quit smoking today and I want to see the f-g Yellow Fluffy Stuff!!!!!!!!!!
  • [12] Chris Linder January 21, 2009 - 11:59AM

    You can see a photo of the fluff in the collection jar here:

    http://polardiscovery.whoi.edu/expedition2/journal-day27.html
  • [13] Spencer Hargiss January 21, 2009 - 11:35PM

    I've got it.

    Here's the video of the Yellow Fluffy Stuff from the sub:

    http://polardiscovery.whoi.edu/expedition2/video-camper2.html
  • [14] Jim H. from Neptune, New Jersey February 26, 2009 - 08:27PM

    I would like to take a stab at the topic of discovery being a brilliant mind or just blink luck to be the first to find it. While the phenomenon is lurking out there ready for someone to find it, it still takes a brilliant mind to not only observer the phenomenon, but also to model it in a working theory.

    Let’s take celestial mechanics. After Copernicus, et al. figured out the sun was at the center, Newton “discovered” gravity not just the reason the planets orbited the sun, but also why the apple fell.

    After Newton, Einstein “discovered” relativity, which explained gravity as the bending a time-space.

    Does gravity really exist? Did Newton discover something that was already there, or did he invent a model that explained observable behaviors until Einstein?

    Does relativity really exist, or is it just the most accurate invention of Dr. Einstein’s mind that describes what we are able to observe?

    Who knows what future theories will unfold? Will these theories discover what’s really going on, or does it just peel one more layer off of the onion for another brilliant mind?


  • [15] Paul from Denville NJ November 05, 2009 - 09:49AM

    IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k187/pngconcepts/YellowFluffyStuff.jpg[/IMG]

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