Sciencespeaking topic
Paradigm shift: Kuhn argued that science advances not by steady accumulation but by rupture. Is a scientific revolution really possible without the old generation passing?
— Thomas Kuhn, the paradigm shift
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
- Phantom limbs and the brain map: Ramachandran showed that phantom pain arises when neighboring regions take over the brain map of a lost arm. If our body is a map in the brain, can that map live on apart from the body?
- When an ant gets lost it leaves a trail to find its way back, but when trails overlap the colony sometimes marches in an endless circle until it dies. How does a seemingly flawless system commit suicide through its own rules?
- 'Sugar makes children hyperactive' has been scientifically debunked: blind studies found no difference, and the effect lives in the parents' expectation. Do we see it because we believe it?
- The more mass there is in a place, the more slowly time flows there. Your feet age a little more slowly than your head, because they're closer to the ground. Does height really change our age?
- How did the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 confirm Einstein's prediction from a century earlier?