Sciencespeaking topic
Explain how photosynthesis is not just a plant process but the foundation of the entire planet's oxygen balance.
— Photosynthesis, biology
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- You share a notable portion of your DNA even with a banana you eat; you're distant relatives even with a banana. Because all living things descend from the same basic building blocks, the same ancient ancestor. So despite so much shared code, what makes a banana and a human so different?
- Underdetermination: more than one theory can explain the same data equally well. If the data doesn't tell us which is correct, on what basis do we choose between them?
- A coral reef is not a single creature but the shared skeleton of billions of tiny animals; even after they all die the stone remains and new ones settle on top. Is this how cities are built too, on the skeletons the dead leave behind?
- Logical positivism: for the Vienna Circle, the only meaningful statements are those verifiable by experience. Applied to itself the criterion collapses; is only the verifiable is meaningful itself verifiable?
- Present bias: why do we prefer a small reward today over a bigger reward tomorrow? Why do we keep putting off our better self to next Monday?