Lift up your spirits, with a little spot of soul. By Tijn Touber

Every now and then science runs into what is called an “anomaly” – an event or observation that deviates from the rule, something that doesn’t make sense. If the anomaly cannot be explained by the current way of thinking – by the current paradigm – what usually happens is that scientists will say: “We cannot explain this as yet, but don’t worry. In time – when we gather more information – we will.” This attitude gives scientists a reason to ignore the anomaly and to postpone asking fundamental questions about their current way of thinking.

The late American physicist and expert in the history of science Thomas S. Kuhn, described a very interesting psychological experiment in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). Researchers Jerome Bruner and Leo Postman asked their subjects to identify playing cards on short and controlled exposure. Many of the cards were normal, but some were “anomalous”, like a red six of spades and a black four of hearts. When these cards were first exposed briefly they were almost always identified as normal. The black four of hearts was, for example, identified as the four of either spades or hearts. So the cards were immediately fitted into one of the conceptual categories based on prior experience.   Read more...

The other day I was listening to The Beatles