MNQ | Monday’s Noontide Query: Pop Science

This last weekend, I spent some time at the new location of the gaming shop I’ve been going to for years, and while there I got into an interesting discussion with a friend of mine.

We were talking about the weirdness of quantum mechanics, and he brought up the misconception that quantum observation involves some mysterious mystical notion of consciousness, with myself countering that it’s the physical act of measuring the observed particle, dependent only on the physical properties of the measuring instrument, and not what goes on in anyone’s mind, that is involved in ‘observation.’

I plan on following up on that talk with my friend next weekend…

I need to read up on Dick Feynman’s ideas on how a single quantum particle can interfere with itself in a double-slit experiment so I can explain it more clearly…

So…

What common misconceptions of scientific ideas, even outright pseudoscience, have you come across recently in a conversation with someone you know?

MNQ is a question that I pose to you, my readers, and do feel free to comment…I’m not a baby-eating ogre, and I don’t bite…very hard. MNQ is published on Monday of most weeks at 12:00 PM.

Birth of the Moon

Apologies for the ad. This shows how we learn the origin of our own world by studying its closest natural companion, dear Luna herself.