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6 votes
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Does shaving make your hair thicker?
2 votes -
From your head to your... ass-crack. The truth about hair (Compilation)
2 votes -
Making toilet paper moonshine
12 votes -
Forensic reconstruction of the Beirut explosion
10 votes -
Screws - The early years
8 votes -
Why PVC cement spins like crazy in water
5 votes -
One couple’s tireless crusade to stop a genetic killer
7 votes -
Nine of the weirdest penises in the animal kingdom, from the echidna’s four-headed unit to the dolphin’s prehensile member
17 votes -
What is a particle?
4 votes -
The race to grow human breast milk in a lab
4 votes -
The woman who is allergic to water
8 votes -
What colour are your bits?
11 votes -
Scientists grow bigger monkey brains using human genes, replicating evolution
4 votes -
A single-step approach to nuclear reprocessing
8 votes -
It’s time to restore scientific integrity
11 votes -
Metagenomic sequencing can quickly identify pathogens in body fluids, new study finds
3 votes -
The search for what causes chronic itching
6 votes -
Can lab-grown brains become conscious?
13 votes -
The art of code - Dylan Beattie
7 votes -
Lava lamp centrifuge
8 votes -
Mystery of glacial lake floods solved
5 votes -
Neutrinos lead to unexpected discovery in basic math
11 votes -
Florida mosquitoes: 750 million genetically modified insects to be released
8 votes -
The remarkable life of Roxie Laybourne, the world’s first forensic ornithologist at the Smithsonian Institution
6 votes -
Batteries, fuel cells powered by spinach
6 votes -
Medical textbooks are full of anatomical pictures of the penis, but the clitoris barely rates a mention. Many medical professionals are uncomfortable even talking about it.
19 votes -
AI has cracked a key mathematical puzzle for understanding our world
6 votes -
The complete idiot’s guide to the independence of the Continuum Hypothesis: part 1
9 votes -
Does cyanide actually smell like almonds?
9 votes -
Coding human data into microbes that will survive for millions of years
4 votes -
How eugenics shaped statistics
9 votes -
Why do things keep evolving into crabs?
15 votes -
Elliptic Orbits explained by Albert Baez
4 votes -
New stent-like electrode allows humans to operate computers with their thoughts
8 votes -
Why astrology matters
9 votes -
Humanzee
13 votes -
Wanted: Online gamers to help build a more stable Covid-19 vaccine
12 votes -
The self-levitating Kingsbury aerodynamic bearing
9 votes -
The incredible physics behind N95 masks
9 votes -
Seven species which have evolved at hyperspeed, because of us
7 votes -
Scientists discover new human salivary glands
7 votes -
Measuring the size of the Earth
3 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 -
Inside a lab in Costa Rica that produces snake antivenom
9 votes -
Driver of the largest mass extinction in the history of the Earth identified
13 votes -
Meet Oklo, the Earth’s two-billion-year-old only known natural nuclear reactor
17 votes -
507 movements
8 votes -
An archaeology of marijuana
10 votes -
Lake Kivu is one of Africa's strangest bodies of water, with dense depths packed with methane and carbon dioxide gas
8 votes