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“Accurate Premonitions”: 35 Things That Still Stump Scientists
Interview With Expert
Scientists have done a lot of good for our society that we should forever be grateful for, like generating enough knowledge to invent vaccines, electricity, the camera, and the Internet, among other things. They also help us answer important questions, such as who our ancestors were, why it rains, and how we can see colors. However, some things still baffle scientists, ranging from mundane ones like why we yawn to more complex ones like what’s inside a black hole.
More questions that the greatest minds struggle to answer fully await you in the list below, courtesy of the Minddrop TikTok page (disclaimer: all the content it shares is AI generated). Scroll down to see them for yourself, and don’t forget to upvote those that you want to be resolved first.
While you’re at it, make sure to check out a conversation with a mechanical engineer, broadcaster, and 7x STEM author, Dr. Shini Somara, who kindly agreed to talk with us all about science and its mysteries.
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#3
Mike F 4 months ago
Just that, a trigger. A few weeks ago a post went up with very old photos and their stories. Someone began ridiculing the subjects in a photo about canning their vegetables for winter, the implication was that it was hardly a job. I spelled out for them every step from tilling to planting to weeding and then harvesting and beyond to prepare for canning. I went back over 50 years in my memories of doing that in our garden, with the folks and essentially relived it for that few minutes. My memories of things like that astonish my sister, but I think it's all about the trigger.
Mechanical engineer, broadcaster, and 7x STEM author, Dr. Shini Somara, is doing great work socializing science, engineering, and innovation by creating STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) content in the form of books, TV, and digital media.
With a background in mechanical engineering and specialization in the research and development of computational fluid dynamics, Dr. Shini shares her interests in scientific research and technological advancement as a STEM media producer and broadcaster in the UK. This makes her the perfect candidate to chat more about some of the science mysteries.
#4
#5
Caitlin Youngquist 4 months ago
Why is the word "when" written as "wehen?" I'm going to think about this for far too long.
#6
Apatheist Account2 4 months ago
Sorry for the (ironic) repetition, but: there's a scientific explanation of deja vu. For simplicity: you process thoughts in your short term memory, then they go into your long-term memory. Sometimes there's a glitch and they go into the long term at the same time; hence, when processing them in your short term memory, it seems like they match what's in the long term and you think you're seeing them for the second time rather than the first. They don't know what causes the glitch, but the effect is measurable.
The science mystery that keeps Dr. Shini up at night, wishing she could solve it, is quantum physics—entanglement and superposition in particular.
They are often described as scientific mysteries, as the phenomena can be observed and mathematically described, but they continue to raise profound questions about the nature of reality.
#7
Mook The Mediocre 4 months ago
My theory: the tones of music correspond with the tones of speech. - Certain musical tones, especially bass flat notes remind people of deep, sad voices. So they feel sad. - And that's why humans value music so much: it reproduces the emotions of speech. - Just a theory.
#8
persephone134 4 months ago
Whales have their own language. More interesting, they speak different languages. Think about Tilikum, the orca of the documentary "Blackfish". He was captured near Iceland and spoke a different language than the other inmates in his SeaWorld prison. It is assumed that is what caused his extreme isolation and his willingness to bond with humans.
#9
CooperDooper81 4 months ago (edited)
Interesting. Do their bodies age in this time or is everything completely paused?
In the simplest way possible, quantum entanglement is a kind of relationship between two particles that makes them connected even when they are separated by billions of light-years. A change in one instantly influences the other, no matter how far apart they are. Talk about one seriously long-distance relationship.
This odd connection seemingly breaks a fundamental law of the universe. Albert Einstein even famously called this phenomenon "spooky action at a distance."
Not so long ago, in 2022, the Nobel Prize in physics recognized three scientists who made groundbreaking contributions in understanding this most mysterious natural phenomenon, quantum entanglement.
#11
Dragons Exist 4 months ago
I'm impressed with how good these ai images in these posts are, but if there's one thing ai sucks at, it's sheet music (it's pretty good here, but the beginning of the bottom line in the middle row starts late, one of the music notes in the first row has two balls, and there's a weird line between the first and second rows (which should only be there if there's a note on it, which there's not))
Whereas superposition in quantum physics, mentioned by Dr. Shini, describes the ability of particles, such as electrons and photons, to be in more than one state at the same time.
A popular example that is used to explain this is the analogy of a coin. Usually, when we flip a coin, it lands on one side, either heads or tails. But in quantum physics, before you look, the coin, or rather a particle, could be both heads and tails at once. Once we look at it or measure it, it falls into one specific state. Some strange world we live in, huh?
#13
Sally Moen 4 months ago
I remember a CSI episode where a man was suspected to have k1ll3d someone, so a tech took blood from his arm to compare to the DNA at the scene of the crime. He was cleared of being a suspect, then he later repeated that crime. There was alot of thinking by the techs, and they decided the man must have done the crimes, but was somehow able to change his DNA, which is impossible. They finally solved the case by drawing blood from another part of his body, and that DNA matched. Come to find out he was a chimera. He had 2 sets of DNA, probably an absorbed twin brother, and the man evaded police by having blood drawn on the arm where his twin was, inside. This is probably the strangest way to hide your identity
#14
#15
Mel in Georgia 4 months ago
How many of our predictions or feelings or premonitions do not come true? I think it's mostly coincidence.
At its heart, science’s main goal is to build knowledge and understanding. It achieves this by utilizing the human senses to observe and investigate the physical world, thereby understanding how various mechanisms function in our universe.
“It deals with observations of phenomena that take place on a daily basis and makes an attempt at explaining the various relationships that exist between them through either direct or indirect means. The observations are empirical, i.e. they rely on the human capacity to use the senses to perceive them,” Dr. Mohamed Ghilan explained.
#16
Doodles1983 4 months ago
My nephews (identical boys) had this. And I dated an identical twin. My boyfriend and I were in a car accident and when he called his brother, his brother answered the phone with, "I know. I'm already on my way."
#17
#18
That said, science works under strict boundaries, which (ironically) limit what it can do. The first one is that it aims to explain how, not why. This essentially means that science describes how mechanisms and processes work and occur rather than trying to find explanations for why this is happening or occurring in the first place. For example, science can tell us how our brain works, but can’t answer why consciousness exists and what ultimate purpose it might have.
#20
Lily bloom 4 months ago
Ever heard of people in in a coma being aware of their surroundings but unable to move/communicate in any way?
Dr. Shini thinks that consciousness, among other phenomena, has remained unexplained for so long because we are only human, and we don’t have ultimate authority. Indeed, that, combined with science's methodological limitations and dependence on evidence that can be observed, measured, and tested, prevents us from solving some of the biggest mysteries of the universe.
#22
PeepPeep the duck 4 months ago
I’ve read studies that the biology in our guts can contribute the feeling of hearing a helpful voice in the head that’s not in the head. I’m terrible at explaining it. But it’s been studied in conjunction to our other bodily beings
#24
Lily bloom 4 months ago
Or just plausible explanations human beings came up with for the unknown at the time. People will people
But that’s the beauty of science. “The unexplained keeps us in wonder and curiosity. It keeps us asking questions—that is a good thing,” says Dr. Shini. She believes that life would be boring if it were fully explained, so she (jokingly) hopes that some things remain unexplained forever.
#25
Emma London 4 months ago
A myth. Show me a source for an actual documented case where it can be proved that the person didn't knowingly or unknowingly learn the language before, and the person actually spoke "perfect" language. You can't.
#26
Toothless Feline 4 months ago
Much of what was once considered “junk” DNA is now known to be epigenetic instructions or switches that don’t directly code for proteins but instead determine which genes activate and when.
#27
Mike Goslin 4 months ago
The double slit experiment is not changed by observation and it is well understood in quantum mechanics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave%E2%80%93particle_duality_relation Reality is generally not changed by observation (unless the observation creates interference) It is "simply" that multiple realities may exist simultaneously, until you observe one of them. That locks that reality into yours. Sorry, not the best explanation. Read up on Schrödinger's cat for a better explanation.
Science journalist Robert Krulwich totally agrees.
"To me, that's the beauty of science: to know that you will never know everything, but you never stop wanting to, that when you learn something, for a second you feel crazy smart, and then stupid all over again as new questions come tumbling in. It's an urge that never dies, a game that never ends. Science is a rough trade, played, I hope, forever."
#31
Xenia Harley 4 months ago
Just because people have never experienced this, they p*o-p*o it. I have experienced these kinds of dreams, told people in detail, and then the events happened.
#32
#33
#38
#40
Mike F 4 months ago
My brother excels at this. Even down to cars I used to own. He will fight like h3ll over an old Chevy I drove in the 70s and insist it was a Caprice but it was, in fact, an Impala. They are similar, very similar, but I owned it, I worked on it, constantly, but he just KNOWS that it was a Caprice.
#41
#43
Sea Squirrel 4 months ago
We do, because we use common sense to answer our own questions about how it'll be.
#46
Mel in Georgia 4 months ago
Since so many people experience similar things, the simplest answer is that it's the brain's/body's reaction to shutting down.
#52
Mel in Georgia 4 months ago
Our noses are within our eyes' line of sight. Why do we not constantly see it? Our brains are good at filtering out constant, but not important information, and glossing over gaps in perception. Yay brain!
#53
Mel in Georgia 4 months ago
I distinctly remember as a kid wondering if we're all perceiving colors the same way. Is my green the same as everyone else's green? Know it's not the same for colorblind folk who have certain deficits in the structure of their retinas, but I think the answer is generally yes. Thoughts?
#55
Wild Cream 4 months ago
Movies taught me that you end up behind a bookshelf in the Midwest somewhere
#57
Wild Cream 4 months ago
No for real. Why is this here? Is there something outside of it? If so, what? If not, why? Why do we just have this infinite-seeming, mostly empty space that behaves very strangely?
#60
Emma London 4 months ago
Because life loves sequences. Life itself basically is chaos slowly organising itsef.
#62
Doctor Strange 4 months ago
Water does not break the laws of physics, and scientists Do know why it behaves the way it does.
#63
martymcmatrix 4 months ago
I always wondered why evolution eventually developed something like »jealousy« as I just fail to comprehend its (existing) benefits for mankind...🤔 🤷🏽
#67
Toothless Feline 4 months ago
Why does it have to be “either/or”? Why can’t they be both, simultaneously or alternately?
#70
Doctor Strange 4 months ago
There are exactly ZERO documented cases of spontaneous human combustion.
#71
Dragons Exist 4 months ago
It does control matter, if using my mind to tell my hand to move a rock counts as "using my mind to control matter"
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Abel 4 months ago
I posted on some of them, but it was like downscrolling to the hell of stupidness. Please BP writers, you can do it better.
Ace 4 months ago (edited)
Yeah, I gave up commenting after a while too, it was clear that the further down the list, based on votes, they were the more ridiculous and meaningless they were becoming.
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Lukas (he/him, it/its) 4 months ago
These were all AI. Screw AI. Really, BP, you've gotten so lazy as of late. I mean, you already were lazy since most posts here are stolen from Reddit, but still. Have some decency.
Divado 4 months ago
Absolute AI slop. At least proof read this kaka before posting it. Ffs.
Load More Replies... Apatheist Account2 4 months ago
To summarise: just because *you* don't know something, it doesn't mean no-one does.
Abel 4 months ago
I posted on some of them, but it was like downscrolling to the hell of stupidness. Please BP writers, you can do it better.
Ace 4 months ago (edited)
Yeah, I gave up commenting after a while too, it was clear that the further down the list, based on votes, they were the more ridiculous and meaningless they were becoming.
Load More Replies... Lukas (he/him, it/its) 4 months ago
These were all AI. Screw AI. Really, BP, you've gotten so lazy as of late. I mean, you already were lazy since most posts here are stolen from Reddit, but still. Have some decency.
Divado 4 months ago
Absolute AI slop. At least proof read this kaka before posting it. Ffs.
Load More Replies... Apatheist Account2 4 months ago
To summarise: just because *you* don't know something, it doesn't mean no-one does.
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