dennislmay Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Scientific Reproducibility Is Hampered by a Lack of Specificity of the Material Resourceshttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130905085904.htm"The stories we tell in scientific publications are not necessarily instructions for replication."Peer review with little ability to replicate experiments - journals ignore the issue.Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikee Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 The "soft" scientists have problems too. Particularly in the United States it seems:"Behavioral studies with a lead author in the United States showed an especially strong tendency to find what researchers had predicted before performing the research." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samson Corwell Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 The "soft" scientists have problems too. Particularly in the United States it seems:"Behavioral studies with a lead author in the United States showed an especially strong tendency to find what researchers had predicted before performing the research."Isn't that self-refuting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikee Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Isn't that self-refuting?I'm not sure what you mean.Samson:"It states that behavioral studies may be biased, but it itself is a behavioral study."Okay, thanks. Except the two researchers were scientists (an epidemiologist and a evolutionary biologist) and they were comparing meta-studies to individual studies. A quality control test, so to speak. But I see your point.[i'm putting this here so as not to bump Dennis] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaalChatzaf Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Soft science is no science. There are two kinds of science: physics and its closely related sciences, such as chemistry, molecular biology etc. And the rigorous descriptive sciences such as geology, oceanography, meteorology etc. Mathematics is not an empirical science so it is out of the loop although is it indispensable tool in the real sciences. Everything else is hot air or tiddly winks. Ba'al Chatzaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Agree with Baal, Economics for example is not a science, nor is politics or anything else unprovable empirically, The hot air however, may produce something useful, since the Earth's helium resources are depleting alarmingly and real science has not figured out how to replenish them, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaalChatzaf Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 The helium that is on earth is not disappearing, it is dispersing to places where it is difficult or impossible to recover. The only to destroy helium is to fuse it to become a heavier element.Ba'al Chatzaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samson Corwell Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Isn't that self-refuting?I'm not sure what you mean.Is states that behavioral studies may be biased, but it itself is a behavioral study. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennislmay Posted September 6, 2013 Author Share Posted September 6, 2013 In the hard sciences - primarily engineering aspects of experiments done in supportof physics I am aware that there have been problems related to the materials involvednot being well characterized - thus making experimental replication difficult.High power/current electrode design was a big subject about the time I got out of theAir Force - it is a kind of black art involving some propriety processes and a longlearning curve to do it well.Many experiments involving the crystal structure of metals can give results all over theplace if you don't have the exact same material from the same batch with the sametemperature history to deal with.When it comes to replicating controversial experiments there is almost never a realattempt to do exactly as described - thus the controversy is never actually resolved.The failure mechanism in some high power experiments is never actually explainedbecause the materials involved may not have been well characterized before hand.The problem is real but the solutions are not simple and not one size fits all.Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 What about the helium though? Is this not a real problem ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennislmay Posted September 6, 2013 Author Share Posted September 6, 2013 Helium is a problem for a technological culture stranded on the Earth. Unleash the shackles of government preventing space industrialization and helium will never be a problem again.Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 Please elucidate, Dennis, For those of us stranded on Earth,what does the helium shortage mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennislmay Posted September 6, 2013 Author Share Posted September 6, 2013 If we remain stranded on Earth helium will get more expensive over time assuming it continues to haveeconomic uses. It is used in industrial processes [welding], as a coolant in scientific equipment used inelectronic testing/processing, for toy balloons, for blimps, for a mixing gas in aquatic systems and manyother uses I'm sure. The cost of helium is one of the reasons interest in heavy lift airships has goneaway again right after several major breakthroughs in design came about.The cost will affect the cost of many items using helium during processing.Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaalChatzaf Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 If we remain stranded on Earth helium will get more expensive over time assuming it continues to haveeconomic uses. It is used in industrial processes [welding], as a coolant in scientific equipment used inelectronic testing/processing, for toy balloons, for blimps, for a mixing gas in aquatic systems and manyother uses I'm sure. The cost of helium is one of the reasons interest in heavy lift airships has goneaway again right after several major breakthroughs in design came about.The cost will affect the cost of many items using helium during processing.DennisWe will have to go off world to harvest helium (eventually). We can probably mine it on the Moon which is a short ride from Earth and/or potentially snare it from Coronal Mass Ejections from the Sun with a sufficiently robust technology. One thing is for sure: the only helium we can -make- is by exploding H-bombs. That is not very efficient.Ba'al Chatzaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaalChatzaf Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 If we remain stranded on Earth helium will get more expensive over time assuming it continues to haveeconomic uses. It is used in industrial processes [welding], as a coolant in scientific equipment used inelectronic testing/processing, for toy balloons, for blimps, for a mixing gas in aquatic systems and manyother uses I'm sure. The cost of helium is one of the reasons interest in heavy lift airships has goneaway again right after several major breakthroughs in design came about.The cost will affect the cost of many items using helium during processing.DennisWe will have to go off world to harvest helium (eventually). We can probably mine it on the Moon which is a short ride from Earth and/or potentially snare it from Coronal Mass Ejections from the Sun with a sufficiently robust technology. Think of Ray Bradbury's story "The Golden Apples of the Sun". One thing is for sure: the only helium we can -make- is by exploding H-bombs. That is not very efficient.Ba'al Chatzaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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