a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact.
Questions tagged [experiments]
20 questions
48
votes
1 answer
Did Benjamin Franklin perform an experiment by flying a kite in a lightning storm?
Is there any credible evidence that Benjamin Franklin actually did his famous kite experiment?
Devashish Das
- 830
- 10
- 18
46
votes
1 answer
Did the study mentioned by "The virginity fraud" TEDx Talk happen?
During 2017's TEDx Oslo Talk The virginity fraud, the presenters refer to a (supposed) study on the reliability of virginity testing around 9:15 mark:
The absurdity of virgin testing is illustrated in a study done on 36 pregnant teenagers. When…
Dragomok
- 655
- 1
- 5
- 9
27
votes
1 answer
Is Feynman's claim about the history of measurements of the charge of the electron after Millikan accurate?
In a 1974 speech Richard Feynman famously described an example of confirmation bias in science:
One example: Millikan measured the charge on an electron by an experiment with falling oil drops, and got an answer which we now know not to be quite…
skepdrop
- 371
- 2
- 3
26
votes
1 answer
Are some laundry detergents better than others?
As we were looking for laundry detergent yesterday, I noted that my wife was quite swayed by brand reputation/impressions than price. She stated that she didn't think one type of detergent really removed stains. I asked if she'd ever consciously…
Hendy
- 21,665
- 17
- 116
- 179
25
votes
1 answer
Is this video of the Soviet Dog Revival Experiment real?
In this video a dog's head is brought back to life by artificially injecting blood and air. The dog's head reacted to sound and touch and used its tongue to taste.
I am not skeptic about its possibility, but I am skeptic if it was possible in 1940. …
smUsamaShah
- 2,343
- 4
- 24
- 32
24
votes
1 answer
Do old master musical instruments sound better than their modern equivalents in blind trials?
Musicians who play string instruments often believe that some of the early examples of the modern form of their instruments produce better sound than recently-made examples with similar designs. This is one contributing reason why a typical…
matt_black
- 56,186
- 16
- 175
- 373
22
votes
1 answer
Experiments about the "power of thoughts" on cooked rice
Over the past few months a number of people (who don't know each other) have been telling me that I should try a "power of thoughts" experiment that's also known as "the rice experiment." They're confident, that through this experiment, I'll "see…
Randolf Richardson
- 2,034
- 2
- 19
- 21
14
votes
2 answers
Are most published results relying on measures of statistical significance likely to be false?
This article, linked to by Glen, claims most published results are false. The argument is based on an analysis of how papers relying on statistical significance analyse and report their statistical results and is bolstered by related arguments about…
Casebash
- 10,199
- 5
- 55
- 84
12
votes
0 answers
Do fleas jump lower after being covered by lid? If so, do their offspring adjust to this lower height?
This is one of the popular experiments mentioned in motivational books. Here is summary from a motivational webpage:
At the beginning of the experiment a number of fleas are placed in a jar. The natural reaction of the fleas is to jump out. After…
wasyl
- 221
- 2
- 5
10
votes
1 answer
Did the "Russian Sleep Experiment" happen?
While talking about scary things and war, my girlfriend acted surprised when she found that I don't know what "Nikolayev gas" is. When I opened up wikipedia and didn't find
anything she told me that it doesn't matter, that I can find it on blogs. So…
Tomáš Zato
- 951
- 1
- 10
- 18
8
votes
0 answers
Are blind listening tests flawed?
Blind listening tests are strongly critiqued by Robert Harley in this editorial, published in The Absolute Sound. Harley seems to think the tests prove nothing.
Every few years, the results of some blind listening test are announced that…
StackExchange saddens dancek
- 3,829
- 1
- 25
- 37
7
votes
1 answer
Is the story of the Fourth Cookie true?
This story of a psychology experiment was told as part of a Commencement Address by author Michael Lewis. It has been quoted in a number of places around the web.
They began by grabbing students, as lab rats. Then they broke the students into…
Paul Johnson
- 15,814
- 7
- 66
- 81
7
votes
0 answers
Is yogurt affected by human emotions?
The documentary I Am (Wikipedia) (YouTube video) makes a number of claims, including that more signals are sent from the heart to the brain than vice-versa, and that the your emotion or mood can have an effect on objects around you.
In particular, a…
spot
- 79
- 1
- 2
7
votes
1 answer
Did Akakhievitch open up the patient's brain and, one by one, ablate several thousand neurons, each of which related to the concept of his mother?
Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=single-brain-cell-stores-single-concept
Once a brilliant Russian Neurosurgeon named Akakhi Akakhievitch had a patient who wanted to forget his overbearing, impossible mother.
Eager to oblige,…
Carlo Alterego
- 3,963
- 4
- 29
- 77
6
votes
0 answers
Does the video Experiments in the Revival of Organisms depict genuine results?
The video in question, which is in the public domain. Warning: may contain disturbing imagery.
http://archive.org/details/Experime1940
The 20 minute 1940 Russian video purports to show the results of early experiments by Doctor Sergei Brukhonenko…
John Rhoades
- 2,156
- 2
- 22
- 31