4 ms·
The phrase "transformed it into something never before seen" is pretty sus. They made ice... into more different ice. It's not like they made it into iridescent
by phyzome 4y ago
The phrase "transformed it into something never before seen" is pretty sus. They made ice... into more different ice. It's not like they made it into iridescent smoke or something.
A more honest headline would be something like "Researchers succeed in creating a new kind of amorphous ice". Not as exciting? Too bad! That's because it isn't as exciting as the misleading thing.
- ghaff 4y agoHaving a grad degree in material science I personally understand the distinction between amorphous and crystalline ice and might find that headline intriguing. I suspect it would be a turnoff for the average Times reader.
- fnordpiglet 4y agoDo you find the times article bait and switch? My reading was it is something never seen before, and I found it interesting and exciting and the properties discussed seemed unique (the pressure+heat=lots of energy particularly). But as an expert in the field, is the headline over stating the result to entice clicks?
- ghaff 4y ago>Do you find the times article bait and switch? No. It's accurate if unspecific. The dek is also a good teaser. "medium-density amorphous ice" is mentioned in the photo caption at the top. And the lede is both clever and summarizes things at a layman's level. I'm not really an expert on ice. My thesis advisor is but I actually worked on Nickel Aluminides though that branch of my thesis advisor's work never ended up really going anywhere. But this seems like a very reasonable (and readable) article for a mainstream audience on the topic. Sure. I might like to see some phase diagrams, etc. but I don't expect that in a newspaper.
- klyrs 4y agoSame (though, my physics background is much weaker than yours). However, I'm mad about two things in the headline and lay-article. The headline says "shaken hard" and the image caption says "obtained by putting ice in a bowl with steel balls." The article is clear, they put ice in a ball mill. They ground the ice up at low temperature. They didn't just shake it, they didn't just put ice and steel in a bowl. Jeez.
- ghaff 4y agoI'll grant that the whole shaken not stirred thing is probably overplayed. But it's all reasonable enough overall for a mainstream newspaper.