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The secret fourth kind is ‘we applied a standard theory to their map of every tree and got some suspicious results.’

https://explainxkcd.com/2977/

  • ShinkanTrain
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    3 months ago

    What about ‘we applied a standard theory to standard circumstances and somehow the results aren’t right and it’s probably our fault’

    • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      Business as usual, just another day at the lab. People using actual real world samples instead of the expensive standards to produce a very messy calibration squiggle. Also, the machine probably requires some maintenance from time to time.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” but “That’s funny …”