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27 votes
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Loneliness can kill, and new research shows middle-aged Americans are particularly vulnerable
31 votes -
Underrated ideas in psychology
7 votes -
Researchers map how the brain regulates emotions
1 vote -
Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU's assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on US officials and their families
40 votes -
Not every student needs Algebra 2. UC should be flexible on math requirement.
21 votes -
AI assists clinicians in responding to patient messages at Stanford Medicine
4 votes -
Beyond solid, liquid, and gas: The seven states of matter
10 votes -
Venting doesn't reduce anger, but doing calming activities does, study finds
44 votes -
Proving the Earth is round at home
I am looking for practical ways to prove the Earth is round using materials accessible to the average person. I have zero interest in disproving Flat Earth folks. I am inspired by Dan Olson's...
I am looking for practical ways to prove the Earth is round using materials accessible to the average person. I have zero interest in disproving Flat Earth folks.
I am inspired by Dan Olson's (Folding Ideas) excellent video where he is able to do this measuring the curvature of a lake near his home that has a very specific geography that lends itself to this sort of experiment. I've seen all sorts of ways to prove this measuring shadows and poles, using gyroscopes, etc. and wanted to know if there are any practical guides for proving once and for all that the Earth is round for yourself relying on nothing more than experimentation.
What I'm not looking for:
- Math relying on flight times/charts
- Video/picture evidence
- Deductive proofs built on agreed upon premises
- Expensive tests
- Extremely time consuming projects
- Underwhelming results (relying on a probabilistic argument for a round Earth from the evidence.)
What I am looking for:
- Practical experiments
- Things I could potentially do without spending much money
- Tests that aren't largely comprised of accepting someone else's research
- Potentially math-heavy evidence
- Results that are strong and conclusive
I've thought of finding some easy to test version of Eratosthenes' proof using two poles. I've also thought about using a balloon and sending something to space like what is done in this Tom Scott video. Nothing seems well documented in such a way as for me to be able to follow it at home.
TL;DR: I think it would be a meaningful experience to have the power to prove the Earth is round by myself, for myself. I can only compare this desire to the desire a child with a telescope has when wishing to observe Saturn or Mars themselves for the first time. It's not to prove anything or to settle doubts, but for the personal value of independently observing this astronomical fact oneself.
17 votes -
Reducing late-night alcohol sales curbed all violent crimes by 23% annually in Baltimore
33 votes -
Daniel Kahneman, who plumbed the psychology of economics, dies at 90
16 votes -
Mechanism keeps track of the time cells take to split, sounding the alarm on cells that may turn cancerous
11 votes -
Memories are made by breaking DNA — and fixing it (in mice)
19 votes -
More exposure to artificial, bright, outdoor night-time light linked to higher stroke risk
16 votes -
Daniel Kahneman, renowned psychologist and Nobel prize winner, dies at 90
19 votes -
Water isn't normal
24 votes -
Researchers show that introduced tardigrade proteins can slow metabolism in human cells
11 votes -
The mystery of spinors
4 votes -
When you make a mathematical knot using elastic material you get jumping loops, and challenging puzzles
8 votes -
Investigating touchscreen ergonomics to improve tablet-based enrichment for parrots
19 votes -
Science will only end once we've licked all the objects in the universe
20 votes -
Scientists studied how cicadas pee. Their insights could shed light on fluid dynamics.
7 votes -
I teach you weird animal mating facts for half an hour
13 votes -
The Dunning-Kruger effect is autocorrelation
30 votes -
Psilocybin therapy alters prefrontal and limbic brain circuitry in alcohol use disorder
17 votes -
Chimp moms play with their offspring through good times and bad
11 votes -
Turning styrofoam into cinnamon candy
24 votes -
When armor met lips
23 votes -
Happy Tau/2 day everyone!
22 votes -
Montana man, 80, pleads guilty to creating giant mutant hybrid bighorns
35 votes -
MH370 and the sea creatures that opened a new mystery
17 votes -
First Light fusion startup breaks pressure record using giant ‘gun’ machine for projectile fusion attempts
13 votes -
Colorado Bureau of Investigation finds DNA scientist manipulated data in hundreds of cases over decades
31 votes -
German man deliberately receives 217 Covid vaccinations over twenty-nine months, with no adverse events or strong effect on immune system
45 votes -
Argentina president Javier Milei’s actions after taking office have research institutions facing shutdown. Scientists protest.
18 votes -
Tests show high-temperature superconducting magnets are ready for fusion
10 votes -
Research sheds light on new strategy to treat infertility
5 votes -
Having self-control leads to power: a new study with 3,500 people finds that showing self-control influences how powerful an individual is perceived to be by their peers
20 votes -
The oldest unsolved problem in math. Do odd perfect numbers exist?
11 votes -
Millions of research papers at risk of disappearing from the Internet: An analysis of DOIs suggests that digital preservation is not keeping up with burgeoning scholarly knowledge
26 votes -
Helium discovery in northern Minnesota may be biggest ever in North America
28 votes -
Wasabi could help preserve ancient Egyptian papyrus artefacts
9 votes -
Why is it so hard to tell the sex of a dinosaur?
9 votes -
Chemistry of Spice Melange (from Dune)
14 votes -
The uncharted world of emerging pathogens – In their quest to detect early outbreaks, virus hunters are sampling environmental DNA in water, dirt, and air
8 votes -
Progress deferred: Lessons from mRNA vaccine development
9 votes -
Tour of Vienna's Natural History Museum in Austria. It houses one of the oldest natural history collections in the world, dating back to the 1700's.
3 votes -
AstraZeneca unveils successes in treatment of lung cancer – best-selling Tagrisso drug slows progression of most common form of the disease at an early stage
22 votes -
What's an obelisk, anyway?
25 votes