Hello Dear Readers! Well I took a day off yesterday in which to dillydally all day. So now it’s time to put my nose to the grindstone to get back to the serious business of making stuff up!
Join me won’t you, as we cobble together both Science fact and Science fiction to come up with a very special scientific sub-genre which I like to call Science Shenanigans!
Do You Suffer From Hindsight Bias?
Those who “knew the answer all along” may not be quite as clever as they are making themselves out to be,” say Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago. After studying this “thinking you know something when you don’t” phenomenon, they have come to the conclusion that people too often feel they knew something all along, but actually didn’t — they just thought they did. Researchers call this phenomenon: Hindsight Bias.
However, a group of highly respected women researchers who have also studied this phenomenon have come up with what they feel is a more appropriate term for Hindsight Bias: Men.
Hyenas Are As Bright As Primates and They Have A Much Better Sense of Humor
Researchers have discovered that Hyenas are adept at solving problems and can even “count”. Scientists now believe that the animals may have intelligence levels that match some primates.
After spending an inordinate amount of time studying the expressions on the faces of hyenas, scientists have concluded that hyenas can assess the size of a competing pack of hyenas by “listening” to their “calls” to ascertain if the rival hyena pack out number them — as well as determine whether or not the jokes the rival pack of hyenas were laughing at were actually funny.
Scientists also observed that hyenas solved problems through trial and error. When the hyenas were confronted with a box of food, the hyenas tried to get it out trying different methods until they were successful — causing scientists to be even more impressed with the intelligence of the hyena. The scientists were quick to point out, however, that scientists are still smarter than hyenas.
It is also safe to assume that none of the scientists has ever owned a pet.
Scientists Determine Dinosaurs that lived 120 Million Years Ago Ate Stuff
Paleontologists from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences have determined that dinosaurs actually did eat stuff! The team found the remains of a yummy fossilized dinner of fish, lizards and the several small mammals as well as a feathered, flying dinosaur (probably low flying) in the bellies of two fossilized dinosaurs.
“We here at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences would consider the contents of these two fossilized bellies the basic ingredients for a wonderful modern-day Chinese dinner,” one of the Chinese Paleontologists was not quoted as saying.
The fossil findings caused Phil Bell, a vertebrae paleontologist at the Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Initiative in Canada to officially wake up and state:
“Stomach remains are evidence of actual interactions between animals, which is extremely rare in the fossil record.”
“In fact, there hasn’t been this much fossil interaction since the birthday party of the oldest woman in the world, 116-year-old Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia,” Phil Bell would have also been quoted as saying had he thought of it at the time.
But that’s another scientific story for another scientific day.
Until next time . . . I love you
You’re still the funniest woman I know. HF
Ah! Thank you Harper.
Thank you. I’ve been shopping for a pet, and will now restrict my search to dinosaurs only over 130 million years old.
Then the food(which scientists still haven’t proven they ate) will be much cheaper.
Plus, the pet will be 130 million years old, so I won’t have to walk it so much.
130 million years later and people still cant learn to pick up after them. “Someday, science will LOVE that we left the poop to fossilize, and didn’t throw it out into biodegradable bags.”
Haha Brain! So are you saying that when my husband doesn’t pick up after himself he is actually contributing to the future fossil record? And that he is really contributing to the knowledge base of future generations millions of years from now? Holy Cow! How noble! Who knew?
Well apparently the stomach contents were full of fossils. So it’s a pretty save bet that you would only have to feed your 130 Million year old pet a bag of fossils! You might want to keep your eyes peeled for some while your out with Dino on your semi-monthly walk!
Men. Yes, good name for hindsight bias. To be fair (and unbiased) there should be a scientific term for being always right, too (‘women’?)
Good call! We are definitely going to have to come up with something for that. Any ideas?
Scienctists have discovered that monkeys see, hear and speak no evil but only when standing really still. I think I can be a scientist!
I know a few people who suffer from Hindsight Bias. The only problem is they don’t know they suffere from is as they never actually have hindsight. .
I was just talking with Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia. She asked me to pass along a message: She’ll get you.
She was cleaning her trusty squirrel gun at the time. Just a coincidence, I’m sure… : P
Hahahahahaha!!! LOL! They don’t come anymore cantankerous than Besse Cooper of Monroe, Georgia! I hope. And wouldn’t you know I’ve misplaced my bulletproof vest and can’t find it anywhere! Horse feathers!!