Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[LordSlowpoke]

but do they have

* LordSlowpoke chuckles

lifelike texture

* LordSlowpoke bursts into treats

[MonkeyHead]

Anyone else keeping an eye on the Nobel Prizes? The medical prize was awarded for a fascinating neurology study of how brains map shape, space and our position within said volume. The Physics prize was for the development of blue LED's which to me seems a little... I don't know... weak, when compared to other work, despite the huge impact it has had in real world applications.

Also, with it being my cake day tomorrow, the inevitable jokes and pranks from my esteemed colleagues relating to highly unfunny prank calls and emails from a Mr A Nobel, and glib "So, not your year this year again huh? It would make a nice present, right?" (due to the cool coincidence of birth and prize-giving) are in full swing.

[Sergarr]

but do they have

* LordSlowpoke chuckles

lifelike texture

* LordSlowpoke bursts into treats

ಠ_ಠ

EDIT:

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/lab-grown-penises-ready-testing-men-6099068

why

[kaian-a-coel]

"Lab-grown penises ready for testing on men"
Phrasing guys!

[Darvi]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[kaian-a-coel]

First we have french people inventing a new sport: drone races with VR helmets. Maybe not science but I'll count it because it's still clever use of high tech.

Second we have an old manifesto explaining why saying "X will never happen" or "X is impossible" with X a scientific/technological achievement, is almost certainly wrong.

[i2amroy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izH08FB2mxU

Lifelike robots!

I see two big things that separate that robot from "lifelike" in my book.
1) Her wrists don't bend far enough. A real person's wrist will go almost to 90^o, but her's seem to stop about 30^o. She ends up compensating by moving her arm extra, and it makes it look weird.
2) Her movements are too slow and smooth overall. A real person doesn't turn their head in a slow gradual motion, it's more of a "fast + snap to" movement. Heck, even her blinks are slow!

Other then that yeah, definitely getting much closer to the mark.

[Il Palazzo]

The Physics prize was for the development of blue LED's which to me seems a little... I don't know... weak, when compared to other work, despite the huge impact it has had in real world applications

How many Nobel Prize laureates it takes to change a lightbulb?

Three.

[scrdest]

The Physics prize was for the development of blue LED's which to me seems a little... I don't know... weak, when compared to other work, despite the huge impact it has had in real world applications

How many Nobel Prize laureates it takes to change a lightbulb?

Three.

Good one.

[Osmosis Jones]

But boy, when they change it, it damn well stays changed

[Il Palazzo]

I rarely change lightbulbs, but when I do, I get a nobel prize.

[penguinofhonor]

So apparently an unknown amount of accepted science might be unrepeatable or exaggerated. Especially recent things.

Basically statistical anomalies look cool and get attention, and publishing is biased towards results that confirm the original study. People with null results find it difficult to get their papers published because they're boring and there's not any money to be made from them. This means lots of negative results are effectively hidden.

Eventually ideas get established and it becomes cool to disprove accepted scientific truth, but tons of damage can be done in the meantime. Especially when this affects medicine.

[scrdest]

So apparently an unknown amount of accepted science might be unrepeatable or exaggerated. Especially recent things.

Basically statistical anomalies look cool and get attention, and publishing is biased towards results that confirm the original study. People with null results find it difficult to get their papers published because they're boring and there's not any money to be made from them. This means lots of negative results are effectively hidden.

Eventually ideas get established and it becomes cool to disprove accepted scientific truth, but tons of damage can be done in the meantime. Especially when this affects medicine.

Really interesting - and scary - read.

[miauw62]

Not that surprising for medicine imo, considering the greed of pharmaceutical companies.

[scrdest]

Not that surprising for medicine imo, considering the greed of pharmaceutical companies.

Pharmaceutical companies employ people. At least 1/X of the research people will just go out and say 'hey bossdude, it plain doesn't work'. And getting drugs out also, unless I'm mistaken, requires testing independent of the company that wants to sell it, and having to pull a Great Big Pile O' Pills because someone blows the whistle that the medicine just plain sucks or, worse yet, is toxic, is not the greatest thing you want to have to do when you're greedy.