Comments on: I am, like, really smart and stuff

By: dzdt

dzdt — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:27:18 +0000

Grrr. This annoyed me. Their Mars question was pretty blatantly wrong. Of course there was only one answer listing something that has ever been found on Mars (water), but it is a misleading answer. Liquid water has not been discovered on Mars*. Water ice has been observed on Mars already decades ago (the Viking landers saw frost; water ice in the polar caps has long been known). It is not a new discovery in any sense. There has been serious advancement in the study of water as it existed billions of years ago on Mars, particularly by the rovers and orbiters. But in no way is it fair to say that water has been recently discovered on Mars.

*Actually there is a controversial but plausible interpretation some scientists support that spherules imaged on the Phoenix lander’s legs were briny water melted by the lander’s rockets, which may have remained liquid for some time. But this isn’t naturally occurring liquid water, but rather an interaction of the lander’s rockets with naturally occurring polar ice.

By: joemac53

joemac53 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:44:41 +0000

Hey, I’m an earth science guy and I don’t consider “continental drift” bad! Is there a prize for getting them all correct? Is there a prize for a particular number that you answer incorrectly?

I kill my physics seniors with questions about tides and seasons, and many of them don’t have a good grasp of “earth science”. In my town (and state) we have relegated that subject to the minor leagues, since we don’t have any graduation requirements that include that subject. (my town is home to the MBL)

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:11:14 +0000

James and Sailor: A melting continental glacier that happens to shed a whopping big frag of ice can absolutely cause a tsunami. Therefore, the question is flawed, though the earthquake is “the best answer. Any reasonably experienced intro college science teacher would have seen that one coming a mile. I think it is actually a reflection on the fact that society is about to collapse that there are several flawed questions in this ‘study.’

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:07:07 +0000

We need a good garage band with the name “Continental Drift”

By: Nathan Myers

Nathan Myers — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:01:25 +0000

SimonG: Funny, “continental drift” is the pejorative name for the theory of plate tectonics, akin perhaps to calling natural selection “darwinism” (or “the species drift heresy”). Funnier, “big bang” started out the same way, but stuck, so now advocates have to call it that too.

By: SimonG

SimonG — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:11:28 +0000

Another thing which might account in part for some of the low scores is people who lack confidence in their knowledge/best guess assuming that there are trick answers: “It can’t be that one because it’s too obvious.”

Also, some folk might disagree with the question on continental drift. (Of course, most of those would probably be too dumb to get a good score anyway.)

By: sailor

sailor — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:02:20 +0000

“So, excuse my ignorance, but I thought a melting glacier could cause a tsunami… not directly, obviously, but I thought I remembered hearing something that like if a large piece of a glacier breaks off into a bay… or maybe that was a landslide.”

You are right, something like a mountain of ice crashing into the sea can cause a Tsunami, as could a massive landslide crashing into the sea, especially locally. However, such events are very rare, most Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes.

By: Lorax

Lorax — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:59:13 +0000

Doesn’t this suggest that a significant proportion of quiz-takers are intentionally giving wrong answers (always a danger with open internet surveys)? And therefore that they actually do know the answer, and therefore the number of people who know it is (statistically) significantly higher than 47%?

The other possibility is that there was more than 2 answers (there were), so the old magic 50% random guessing meme doesn’t hold.

Thankfully this wasn’t a math test, it might have brought us old readers of Laden’s blog back down with the masses.

By: mk

mk — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:09:26 +0000

Got 12 out of 12. High School graduate. No college. But then, I’m a 46 y.o. man who (unlike many of his contemporaries in his region of the world) didn’t spend his 20s and 30s obsessively watching football and NASCAR and developing a proud beer-belly.

Then again, everyone says it was too easy… so maybe there really is nothing to be proud of.

By: catgirl

catgirl — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:05:17 +0000

What concerns me the most is that nearly half of respondents think that antibiotics are effective against viruses. The implication is that this could lead to more over-use of antibiotics and more drug-resistant bacteria.

What surprised me the most is that fewer than half of respondents knew that electrons are smaller than atoms. That’s like asking if your arm is bigger than your entire body. But, I’m a chemist so I guess it’s just not as obvious to most people.

I thought the questions were pretty easy, but I don’t think we should look down on people who “only” got 10 or 11 right. I can see how some people wouldn’t know the definition of stem cells or lasers if they’re not interested in those fields.