american nerd survey

What have scientists been ignoring that you think they should really work on proving?

Jay Bauer-Clapp: The existence of God. If somebody doesn't soon come up with a rigorous scientific study that results in compelling evidence the she/he/it really exists, I'm afraid I'll have to kick this whole "faith" thing out the door ASAP.

Valerie Borey: I'd like to see more work done on the sociobiology of acting. Do actors experience significant shifts in hormone secretion when taking on certain dramatic roles? If so, what is the measurable influence of these hormonal changes in behaviors exhibited outside of these roles? What long-term changes come into effect? Are there any therepeutic benefits to acting at the hormonal level? Is theatre more than just entertainment?

Joel Jensen: As a kid I was really fascinated by the prospect that science might eventually find a way for us to record our dreams and play them back on tv, as one would play a videocassette. That would have been wild. Now, my wishes are much more modest. I just think there ought to be more types of food available in bar form.

Mark Kalar: Have you noticed how often you encounter people at the most inopportune moments, spatially speaking? For example, the Hennepin Avenue bridge across the Mississippi in downtown Minneapolis is about 1/3 mile long (including both sides of Harriet Island). There are only two bottleneck points along this bridge, which otherwise has fabulously wide sidewalks: on either side of the De La Salle HS driveway. One side has a bus stop and a poorly located trash container, the other side has a tall curb and a narrow curb cut. If there are two people on this bridge, one going toward downtown, one going away, I would estimate there is a 95% chance they will meet at one of these two spots. If one of them is a cyclist and the other a pedestrian walking a dog on a long leash, it's a 99.9% chance. There are dozens and dozens of other examples I could name. Why is this? Is it the gravitational pull of the obstacles in question? Is it like the movie Crash that some people are so desperate for contact they adjust their speed to meet you at a point not wide enough for two human beings? I have massive amounts of empirical data to back up my claims, but I think it's high time for mathematical physicists to come up with a theoretical framework to explain this extremely annoying phenomenon.

Keith Pille: I'd love it if some reassuring people in white lab coats could explain what's so alluring about cat poop as a snack.

Don Pizarro: After all these years, I can't believe that no one can give me the definitive word on astral projection, with at least the same amount of certainty as the health benefits of coffee. Come on, now--doesn't anyone want to be the first to prove that it can happen? (I personally think having that ability would rule.) Or, disprove it and finally shut up a segment of the New Age population?

Simon Riordan: The car that runs on garbage, like Doc's souped up Delorean in Back To The Future.

Jonathan Shipley: Scientists should finally prove that skinny, pasty-white, balding men who work in cubicles are sexy to women.



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