# Sciences Greatest Mysteries **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 9, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584 "2003-01-09T19:51:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/21 "2003-01-09T23:11:31Z")
To get back to the original question of what are some large and basic mysteries which remain unpenetrated, here are some examples which come to mind: How does glue work? (Cecil cited this question in a column some years back). How much voltage is in a lightning bolt? Is there such a thing as ball lightning for sure and, if so, how is it produced and how does it work? If dinosaurs are ectotherms (see today’s column), how were the large ones ever able to move; for the environment to have been warm enough to provide energy for them to move, they should have baked to a crisp. How were the big stone balls in the jungles of Costa Rica fashioned? And how, exactly, were the pyramids built? Nikola Tesla was quoted as saying that, after a lifetime of research, he still wondered just what is electricity, really. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/22 "2003-01-09T23:12:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Inky- \* > \*\*One thousand, two hundred sixty two. I actually counted them once during detention in junior high. \*\* Not so. As the owl on that commercial showed us, the answer is three, but you have to say it in a suitably snooty voice. > [@](#): > > Why are apostrophes so hard to get right? . . . and we won’t even _bring up_ “gry.” RR ---
**Author:** ![Erroneous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71c47a/32.png) [@Erroneous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erroneous)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/23 "2003-01-09T23:34:35Z")
William Corliss’ [Science Frontiers](http://www.science-frontiers.com) books (and newsletter and website) might be a good resource if you’re interested in this sort of thing. He’s spent several decades now collating journal articles (as opposed to “my friend’s brother saw something weird in the swamp” sort of stories) that report anomalous findings. I think quite a bit of the material in his older books has been resolved by now, but the books are still very interesting, if hard to find. ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/24 "2003-01-10T02:00:43Z")
Here is a good one: How are the forms (shape, morphology) of whole plants and animals expressed and communicated by DNA? Rupert Sheldrake’s Formative Causation is one theory. And a dodgy one at that IMHO. Hey we could do a massive world wide experiment to test formative causation here on the SDMB. I will have to do some reading… (I’ll be back) ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/25 "2003-01-10T02:13:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by X~Slayer(ALE) \* > \*\*not such a scientific mystery > > [http://helio.estec.esa.nl/intermarsnet/redreport/node10.html](http://helio.estec.esa.nl/intermarsnet/redreport/node10.html) > \*\* Perhaps you missed the _exactly_ part. The dynamo model gives us a general idea how magnetic fields are generated, but it fails to explain a number of issues: the offset of the magnetic field pole from the rotational axis of most planets, the magnetic field of Mercury, which is a slow rotator, etc. And there certainly isn’t a good detailed model to explain the complex magentic fields of Uranus and Neptune. It’s one of the big outstanding problems in planetary astronomy. ---
**Author:** ![SandWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@SandWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/26 "2003-01-10T03:55:19Z")
Given that the big bang theory of the birth of the universe is how this universe started, what caused the big bang and/or from where did ti come from. ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/27 "2003-01-10T04:25:20Z")
The Chicago Cubs Eight hot dog buns per package, but twelve hot dogs Why do I and a man I never met from halfway around the world share the same basic ideas about what is right and wrong? Why do some give to others who have absolutely no possibility of ever giving anything back? Casinos Feelings, hunches, premonitions, prophetic dreams, intuition ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/28 "2003-01-10T06:06:24Z")
I think there are too many mysteries and no objective way to quantify their greatness for this thread to fit neatly into GQ, so I’ll move this thread to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/29 "2003-01-10T06:09:55Z")
The exact position and momentum of any random electron (although to be fair, that’s impossible to know). And lots of other stuff about atoms and atomic particles. Like what is an electron really? A probability smear? I seem to remember an article about some odd properties of sand: it behaves in different ways when poured in different ways, but nobody’s quite sure why. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/30 "2003-01-10T11:32:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*I think there are too many mysteries and no objective way to quantify their greatness for this thread to fit neatly into GQ, so I’ll move this thread to IMHO. \*\* To be honest, when I opened this thread, I thought, eh maybe 20 or so.:eek: I don’t know what I was thinking… I do have an excuse, in case anyone is interested: I was at work and I remembered a little blurb about dark energy. It was in an article with something like 10 other mysteries. So I figured their couldn’t be many more…Not the wisest deduction I’ll grant you…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/31 "2003-01-10T12:29:51Z")
Where the hell do the carkeys and pens go? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/32 "2003-01-10T12:44:53Z")
As I understand it, although we know HOW an electric current flows through a conductor and can measure and control it quite handily, we still aren’t sure exactly WHY this happens. Perhaps that’s what Tesla was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/33 "2003-01-10T18:22:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > \*\*If dinosaurs are ectotherms (see today’s column), how were the large ones ever able to move; for the environment to have been warm enough to provide energy for them to move, they should have baked to a crisp. \*\* Yabbut, your assumtion that dinos were ectos is wrong. The evidence that would allow scientists to firmly place dinosaurs into one “-therm” category or another is inconclusive. So, paleontologists don’t really know whether dinosaurs were ecto- or exo- … which is a great scientific mystery! ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/34 "2003-01-10T20:05:57Z")
Seriously, where in the heck are those single socks disappearing too? 2 go it, 1 comes out- its like the thunderdome for hosery. 😕 Oh, and the first person who says “the lint fliter” will be heckled until my throat is raw. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/35 "2003-01-10T20:16:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slipster \* > **How were the big stone balls in the jungles of Costa Rica fashioned?** This was discussed in a recent [JREF newsletter.](http://www.randi.org/jr/111502.html) I’m not saying that this is the definitive answer (IANAGeologist), just thought you might be interested. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/36 "2003-01-10T20:25:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lorenzo \* > \*\*Feelings, hunches, premonitions, prophetic dreams, intuition \*\* They are not mysteries, especially to anyone involved in ‘science’ or critical thinking. www. [csicop.com](http://csicop.com) wwww. [csicop.com](http://csicop.com) [www.skepticmagazine.com](http://www.skepticmagazine.com) ---
**Author:** ![Zweistein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/54ee81/32.png) [@Zweistein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zweistein)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/37 "2003-01-10T20:26:54Z")
IIRC, The interaction of gravity between three or more random solid bodies cannot be exactly described. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/38 "2003-01-10T20:30:18Z")
oops. > **[Home](https://web.randi.org)** > > JREF [www.skepdic.com](http://www.skepdic.com) [www.csicop.com](http://www.csicop.com) ---
**Author:** ![g8rguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@g8rguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/g8rguy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/39 "2003-01-11T00:15:24Z")
Hmm… **Zweistein** , that’s a problem of math, though, isn’t it? We know the _equations_ to describe the interaction of three or more objects, it’s just that these equations can’t be solved exactly. Are we including math as a science? ---
**Author:** ![Zweistein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/54ee81/32.png) [@Zweistein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zweistein)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584/40 "2003-01-11T00:21:44Z")
g8rguy, I considered math always of a branch of macro economics. my fault :-à [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sciences-greatest-mysteries/147584.md?page=3)