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Experimentation
Ryan Holiday on why wisdom depends on failure, experimentation, and the courage to admit when we’re wrong.
When theory and experiment disagree, it could mean new physics. This time, they solved the muon g-2 puzzle, and saved the Standard Model.
“It is natural to want to avoid failure. But when we avoid failure, we also avoid discovery and accomplishment."
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
Neuroscientist and author Anne-Laure Le Cunff discusses the lasting benefits of uncertainty, curiosity, and the experimental mindset.
CERN's NA64 experiment used a high-energy muon beam technique to advance the elusive search for dark matter, offering new hope for solving one of astronomy's greatest mysteries.
Over-reliance on experts with quick fixes has taken us too far from reality — it’s time to dispel the fairy tales.
AI is both a tool and a catalyst — and the key to successful integration is to rewrite your rule book and tinker.
Frustrating failures sometimes lead to great breakthroughs.
Philosophy is often seen as little more than armchair speculation. This is a shame, as philosophy often has helped science reach new heights.
So far, two papers have been retracted, and a third is under investigation. Accusations of plagiarism appear convincing.
But they're still lovable.
A concept known as "wave-particle duality" famously applies to light. But it also applies to all matter — including you.
There are at least 15 different types of solid water (ice). Now, scientists believe that there might be a second type of liquid water.
Innovation training encourages the kind of creativity and problem solving that can lead to breakthroughs in business.
Before we discovered gravitational waves, multi-messenger astronomy got its start with light and particles arriving from the same event.
This is a great improvement over the typical brew time of 12 to 18 hours.
The emergence of life in the universe is as certain as the emergence of matter, gravity, and the stars. Life is the universe developing a memory, and our chemical detection system could find it.
John Templeton Foundation
Many contemporary composers live in the shadow of Bach and Beethoven, even though they’re just as interesting to listen to.
On Nov. 13, 1946, a scientist dropped crushed dry ice from a plane into supercooled stratus clouds.
The Miller-Urey experiment showed that the building blocks of life could form in the primordial soup. But it overlooked one key variable.
‘Reductio ad absurdum’ won’t help you in an absurd Universe. Throughout history, there have been two main ways humanity has attempted to gain knowledge about the world: top-down, where we […]
Of all the injustices in Nobel Prize history, her 1957 Nobel snub is the most egregious. One of the biggest scientific revolutions of the 20th century was the discovery of […]
If it holds up, it would revolutionize physics and be a slam-dunk Nobel Prize. Here’s why that’s unlikely to be the case. Every so often, an experiment comes along in physics […]
Many deserving potential awardees were snubbed by the Nobel committee. But this takes the cake. Every October, the Nobel foundation awards prizes celebrating the greatest advances in numerous scientific fields. Alfred […]
Every physical theory has constants in it. The gravitational constant is remarkably uncertain. When we first began formulating physical laws, we did so empirically: through experiments. Drop a ball off […]
Never draw a conclusion, no matter how ‘obvious,’ without doing the experiment first. We all love our most cherished ideas about how the world and the Universe works. Our conception […]
And how if you try this with someone shorter than you are, you’ll find it extra convincing! “I drive from Florida to California all the time, and it’s flat to […]
Your theory predicts something novel? How nice. But no one will pay you any mind unless you test it. “He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards […]