4 ms·

Every now and then I read some far-out scientific paper, and I'm pretty sure it's real, but I get fascinated with the question of how I really know that it's no

Every now and then I read some far-out scientific paper, and I'm pretty sure it's real, but I get fascinated with the question of how I really know that it's not pseudo-science by some crank. Example: "In this section, we investigate the band structures of plasmonic ribbons with four types of boundary conditions, i.e. zigzag, bearded zigzag, armchair, and bearded armchair" (from "The existence of topological edge states in honeycomb plasmonic lattices")

whatshisface 7y ago
A real crank would try to use professional-sounding language, only someone completely secure in their field would call sometime a "bearded armchair." ;)
- marcus_holmes 7y ago
  naming things is hard. I now have this mental image of the author sat there for three hours trying to come up with a name, and then just exploding with "fuckit! I don't care what it's called! It doesn't matter. I was sat in an armchair when I thought of it, so armchair it is! If they can have strange quarks, I can have armchairs"
- lowdose 7y ago
  A real smart crank is aware of this and because he only spends time on cranking this was the riddle he made. Not many academics would be confident enough to call this man on his bullshit.
lvncelot 7y ago
Physicists are amazing in coming up with names, from WIMPs (Weakly interacting massive particles) to something like Nuclear Pasta[1], with all sorts of culinary phases. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pasta#Phases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pasta#Phases
- deadmetheny 7y ago
  My personal favourite is the 'barn', an area approximately the size of the face of a uranium nucleus, invented to covertly describe a large-ish target size to hit (the 'broad side of a barn') with a particle beam.
icanhackit 7y ago
Maybe, I'm guessing, when you're at such a niche area of science like topological edge states in honeycomb plasmonic lattices you've got to double back to calling things simple shit in name-pairs just to keep everyone onboard.

whatshisface 7y ago

A real crank would try to use professional-sounding language, only someone completely secure in their field would call sometime a "bearded armchair." ;)

marcus_holmes 7y ago
naming things is hard. I now have this mental image of the author sat there for three hours trying to come up with a name, and then just exploding with "fuckit! I don't care what it's called! It doesn't matter. I was sat in an armchair when I thought of it, so armchair it is! If they can have strange quarks, I can have armchairs"
lowdose 7y ago
A real smart crank is aware of this and because he only spends time on cranking this was the riddle he made. Not many academics would be confident enough to call this man on his bullshit.

lvncelot 7y ago

Physicists are amazing in coming up with names, from WIMPs (Weakly interacting massive particles) to something like Nuclear Pasta[1], with all sorts of culinary phases. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pasta#Phases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pasta#Phases

deadmetheny 7y ago
My personal favourite is the 'barn', an area approximately the size of the face of a uranium nucleus, invented to covertly describe a large-ish target size to hit (the 'broad side of a barn') with a particle beam.

icanhackit 7y ago

Maybe, I'm guessing, when you're at such a niche area of science like topological edge states in honeycomb plasmonic lattices you've got to double back to calling things simple shit in name-pairs just to keep everyone onboard.