The scientific method is often presented as a straightforward process. First, scientists have to form a hypothesis before testing and trying to disprove it. And if they do manage to do that through experimentation, then they need to revise their hypothesis... and start all over again!
Science evolves – and there are many fields where research is ongoing. What we know today might look totally different tomorrow as new discoveries are made. That's what makes science so fascinating, particularly to those who dedicate their lives to it.
As you can imagine, there are many questions in the scientific community that scientists would love to see tackled and answered.
They shared some of their theories with us after Redditor onarainyafternoon asked the online community:
"Scientists of Reddit, what's something you suspect is true in your field of study but you don't have enough evidence to prove it yet?"
"There's got to be a way..."
"There’s gotta be a way to make pavement more frost resistant. Civil engineering background. I always thought it was the subsoil since they check the density of the rest of the layers that make up the pavement. I live in a pothole infested state."
redheadMiner42
Whoever figures this out will be a hero. Sick of the potholes in the streets and the crumbling roads.
"That babies..."
"That babies start crawling earlier when they have pets."
gabtonber
Fascinating if true! Pets can benefit children in so many different ways.
"My pet theory..."
"My pet theory is that there is something like geographical imprinting that happens during early childhood, and that the place of your birth/early years always has a disproportionately relaxing effect on your physical and mental state."
redbicycleblues
This has been studied a bit in response to soil bacteria. This has been studied a smidge in our ability to pick, by smell of soil, from where we’re from.
"During a trip to North Carolina..."
"As a former math and physics major, I took meticulous notes of my son’s epileptic seizures. At one point, I added barometric readings and current weather data to standard information of date, seizure type, and seizure length in seconds. I’m convinced that low pressure weather systems increased the frequency and intensity of his epileptic seizures."
"During a trip to North Carolina, the area had an unusually high, stable high pressure system. He didn’t have any seizures during our time there."
"My theory is that high or low pressure weather systems microscopically change the flow of fluids in the brain or other neurologically sensitive areas of the body such as the micro biome of the gut."
KindnessIsKey2019
I really am fascinated by this one! This could be a gamechanger if proven.
"Far more..."
"Far more neurological processes are prion influenced than previously thought and prion therapy will be the next major breakthrough sometime in the 2030s."
AscepticAlpaca
Would be worth having more research into prions regardless. Maybe then they'll stop terrifying me when I think about them.
"That UHT..."
"That UHT pasteurization of liquid food products leaves a barely perceptible aftertaste that only a small segment of the consumer population can detect."
TheUnblinkingEye1001
Some people claim that liquid food products subject to UHT pasteurization taste like dirty water or "off" in some way, so there might be something to this.
"That there's a huge amount..."
"That’s there’s a huge amount of environmental contamination (soil, water, air) in residential areas, and rapid development is only making the problem worse. Most people in populated areas are likely very very close to known sites with dangerous contamination, and the number of unknown sites dwarfs what’s been addressed."
Jesper90000
This wouldn't surprise me if true. Many low-income communities are already exposed to higher rates of pollution and have a much higher probability of suffering the adverse impacts of climate change!
"That our only hope..."
"I'm a microbiologist. That our only hope in being able to fight off total antibiotic resistance is to develop bacteriophages (viruses that eat/destroy bacteria) that we can use and prescribe in place of existing antibiotics."
AquariBETA
If you're wondering why the United States has not used bacteriophage therapy as a last resort, it's because phages can go astray and it’s one of the reasons we can’t effectively treat people with them yet.
"But no one has done..."
"I’m not sure if this really fits but, intergenerational trauma."
"We know that physical and psychological stress in one generation (whether it be war, rape, genocide, alcoholism, drug use, growing up in the system, I could go on forever) can “pass on” to the next generation. But, we don’t really know how. Heritable epigenomic changes has been the first proposal."
"But no one has done this specific research. My supervisor demonstrated a change in mitochondrial DNA copy number, resulting in epigenomic changes in regions of the genome associated with disease. Epigenomic changes mean that the expression of the underlying genes can be altered. This can result in disease."
"Usually as a result of intergenerational trauma, people suffer more health repurcussions, and no one could really explain why. I want to explain why on the genetic level. I think I’m on the right path and I’m excited!"
midnightpatches
This would be groundbreaking if proven. There has thankfully been more research and insight into intergenerational trauma in the last decade than ever before, so perhaps it's only a matter of time.
"Exposure..."
"Exposure to environmental pollutants and flame retardants increases your risk for diabetes. Also women are more affected by acute high dose exposures whereas men are more susceptible with chronic low dose exposure."
KvA93
Jokingly (but maybe not) it wouldn't surprise me if the VA in the United States is hoping this doesn't become public...
"Digital communities..."
"Digital communities have replicated the authority, structure, and meaning-making functions of religious communities without their physicality."
DrRexMormon
The bizarre little patterns and hierarchies that evolve out of hardcore, insular fandom spaces are so fascinating to me.
We're on the cusp of great breakthroughs every day. Keep an eye out – you never know what scientific discovery will boggle your mind next.
Have some thoughts of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
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A good conspiracy theory has just enough grains of truth in it, and is just this side of impossible enough that maybe, just maybe it might be plausible.
It should also probably not be something easily disprovable (looking at you, flat earth.)
One Reddit user asked:
What conspiracy theory do you actually believe is true?
... and honestly, a lot of this makes sense. Hmmm.
Manufactured Conspiracies
Always Sunny Fx GIFGiphyConspiracies are being actively manufactured and promoted as a way to hide actual bad stuff.
These days it is hard to actually hide something - a single leak and everything is all over the internet next day. However, if you make sure that internet is full of conspiracy theories, it is easy to dismiss any leak as 'more nutjob stuff'.
If MK-Ultra leaked today, would anybody except for most hardcore conspiracy theorists believe it?
- ping500
An English King In Italy
I believe Edward II escaped and went to Italy. He was not laid to rest at his very public funeral.
His son, Edward III, had reason to believe his father was alive and there is some truth to the Fieschi letter. Mostly, I think Edward III's relations with the Pope convinced me.
I also think the circumstances of the funeral arrangements were pretty suspicious. The variety of deaths Edward II was rumored to die don't exactly convince me he died at Berkeley Castle.
Oh and there's a part of Italy with an oral tradition that they once had an English king for some years.
Nutritional Nonsense
People are taught wrong information about nutrition on purpose.
Definitely true. I read a rage inducing book (Unsavory Truth by Marion Nestle) that talked about this. There are companies in the food industry that basically go out and shop around for "scientists" to link their product to good health, and one of the examples was how the strawberry industry was shopping around for studies linking strawberries to positive health effects. A few days after reading that, I saw an article linking strawberries to good digestive health.
Also, I once saw an article about how ER doctors who snacked on nuts were healthier than those who didn't. At the very bottom of the article, buried in a wall of text was "this study was funded by the nut growers of America"
Ugh.
The Coup And The Crackdown
The 2016 Turkish coup d'etat attempt to overthrow Erdogan was planned by ... Erdogan.
It was such a badly organized coup that failed so easily while Erdogan's support was on peak. No way someone else planned this coup with the goal to succeed. The coup made it possible for Erdogan to crack down on any opposition as well as unpleasant journalists or just anyone who was in his way.
Three Times Is Enemy Action
I could believe that Epstein would kill himself. I could believe that the guards had been online not doing their job of checking on him. I could believe that the cameras in a very important prisoners cell went out of service.
There is no possible way all these things happened on their own at the exact same time.
M16 had a saying Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.
Your Lawn
I believe that the societal norm of the "American lawn" was propagated to keep us from growing food on our property and keep us consuming.
This is kinda true. The idea of a lawn filled with grass and other non-edible plants was perpetuated by social elites (in the United States and elsewhere) to show others that they were so rich they didn't need to grow their own food. Essentially, they could afford to waste space.
Leave Britney Alone
sad britney spears GIFGiphyBritney Spears is being controlled by the people around her... I don't usually believe in such crazy theories, but there's just something about this one that makes me believe it. She looks and acts like a prisoner, and she's said and done a lot of questionable things. I know it's a crazy one, and I really hope it's not true, but that woman looks so broken...
- Lissmeis
I'm pretty sure it is. I follow some at least somewhat credible "free Britney" Instagram pages, and they post a lot of news articles, history of the conservatorship, and even the court transcripts. The transcripts I've seen, state that Britney wants to stay in the conservatorship but she wants out of her dad's control and possibly that other chick (Lou I think?), too.
It's even been insinuated in court documents that she doesn't control her social media, either. It would definitely explain all the BIZARRE posts she makes.
I truly can't understand it. As of late, her conservatorship has received media attention, and her fans and even some celebrities have proclaimed "Free Britney".
While I know a judge has to remain as unbiased as possible when making these ruling, the "court of public opinion" will still have an effect. Yet it hasn't on the judge(s) she's gotten.
Now, I don't know all the cold hard facts like the courts do. But on a high level - why does a 37 year old woman need to be controlled at every aspect of her life? It makes zero sense to me.
To me the conspiracy was always that she was actually mentally fine and capable (and always was - where the very public breakdowns prior were bad but not based in mental issues beyond remedy) and didn't need a conservator but was basically being held in one against her will for the money.
It makes no sense to me that the girl is apparently too f*cked up to make even the most minor life choices, but somehow well enough to perform in a successful Vegas show.
Like, if she's mentally incapable, how is she mentally fit to have a high profile career in such a high pressure environment? And how is her Father, who is collecting all the money, not being scrutinized for it?
A Never-Ending Cycle Of Hotdog Eating
Hotdog companies and hotdog bun companies agreed to sell non matching amounts of their products. When you finish all of your hotdogs you will still have buns left over so you will go buy hotdogs for those buns. Thus perpetuating a never-ending cycle of hotdog eating.
Who says they aren't both owned by the same mega corporation?
- rhoov
I won't fall to capitalism! I eat my hotdogs cut up with a fork, like a true adult-baby
The Same Forces
I read a lot of comments months back written by people wondering when Ghislaine was going to "get Epstein'd". Given the nature of her involvement with Epstein and mutual acquaintances and the nature of her actions and decisions, certainly she's as despicable a criminal as Epstein: why is Ghislaine Maxwell still alive?
Ghislaine Maxwell's father, Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch, otherwise known as Robert Maxwell, was a Czech-borne Jewish freedom fighter - he was a Jewish man who fought Nazis and in all likelihood helped secure the existence of the Israeli state early on. That's a pretty big part of understanding his later political, commercial, and (alleged) intelligence connections.
He later turned into a publishing magnate and paper media/publishing powerhouse who was a possible triple-turnaround Mossad-MI6-KGB faux-spy stooge. He defrauded his own corporate empire (resulting in its collapse after his death), and was possibly assassinated before his body was dumped over the side of his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, while it was berthed in the Canary Islands.
I bet that the same forces that got to Ghislaine's dad are the ones either protecting her, or who have lost interest in her.
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Evil is very, very real and it lives among us. There are far too many tv shows, movies, literature and podcasts reporting on so many vile and depraved acts. We all have a few degrees of separation from the topic of murder. We either know someone directly or of someone whose life has been taken in gruesome fashion. And half the time we are all turned into super sleuths with the answer to the crime. If only we could prove it. (One day Carole Baskin)
Redditor u/violetgnome wanted to discuss some of humanity's darkest mysteries we maybe able to solve by asking.... What unsolved murder are you sure you have the answer to and what is the answer?1-
My Mom's murder. The guy who did it killed himself when he discovered the police were investigating him. It never went to court, he killed himself before it could. I know he did it but I can't prove it. Apparently, he must have felt the police could. Including my Mom we know of 5 women he killed, I have no idea how many (if any) are not yet known.
One thing I learned through all this, serial killers are NOT rare, we do not hear about 99% of them.
I'm so sorry, your mother deserved justice and you deserved better.
2-
I have one that haunts me. My cousin's son was shot in cold blood on the streets. My other cousin's husband is a cop and I asked him once if he ever found any leads, and he surprised me by saying he knew 100% who did it, but the suspect was being protected by another corrupt department who was using the murderer for their own reasons and had "accidentally" destroyed the evidence implicating him in our relative's murder.
3-
Pretty sure David Miscavige (leader of the Church of Scientology) killed his wife and covered it up, hence why she hasn't been seen since 2007.
Scientology's official stance is that "The Hole does not exist and never has."
4-
OJ Simpson did it.
Its obvious he didn't do it, why do people still think he did?
Would a guilty man be found with
$8,000 in cash, a change of clothing, a loaded .357 Magnum, a United States passport, family pictures, and a disguise kit with a fake goatee and moustache.
Yeah, I don't think so.
At the time, the LA police were under investigation or had been proved to be planting evidence at crime scenes. The department was corrupt. So, not too surprising that the jury had doubts.
5-
Well, my sister died at the hands of an abusive boyfriend in November 2013 in Iowa. She was shot. I was home when the police showed up to deliver the news. My sister was terrified of guns and even made anti-gun artwork in high school. There's absolutely no way she shot herself. My mom has a bag of evidence but I'm much to scared to look in that. The cops let the boyfriend go.
A year or two later my mom's school (she's an elementary school teacher) got put on lockdown because he made threats about shooting the place up. Apparently he's in Tennessee now. I'd love to get some revenge on that loser.
6-
If anyone watched the new Unsolved Mysteries that aired on Netflix a few months ago; the second episode about Patrice Enders pissed me off. You're telling me the husband didn't kill her? Seriously?
He kicked her son out and changed the locks to her house the day she went MISSING, not when she was found like two years later.
Who does that, unless you know she's never coming back? Seriously watch the episode and try to tell me he didn't have some sort of part in it, even if it was just hiring someone else to do it Fargo style.
7-
That my second cousin was killed by his stepdad.
There's no way in hell that a 15 year old, with his backpack on and getting ready to leave for school, could have shot himself in the chest with a shotgun that he would have had to have used his toes to pull the trigger on.
Freaking dummy police ruled it a suicide, even after several family members pointed out their stupidity, and the fact that his stepdad hated my cousin's guts and constantly threatened his life. Miss ya, Jaymie. One day that savage will get his due.
8-
Lizzie Borden killed her parents. I'm very much on the side her father was incredibly abusive and this was her only means of escape. Her step mom probably knew about it and Lizzie always had a strained relationship with her anyway.
For sure. She hated her parents, her father was rich but hoarded money instead of spending it, was an awful guy in general, and then remarried and changed the will so his new wife would inherit everything leaving Lizzie and her sister with nothing.
She had motive. I also think her sister and the maid knew she did it but I don't think they were directly involved other than covering for Lizzie.
9-
This one is close to home for me. We still have no leads. But it for sure was her husband. We all believe it. He never was charged. It's still considered a missing persons, but she's dead. He was crazy and abusive.
10-
John Laurens was murdered by his fellow South Carolinians and it was passed off as a death in a useless skirmish after the war had already been won.
More specifically, Laurens had the ear of Alexander Hamilton, who in turn had the ear of Washington. After the war ended, Hamilton's views towards slavery became decidedly more milquetoast.
Sure, he was opposed to it, but he didn't fight nearly as hard about it as he did for his myriad other views. If Laurens had survived the war, the abolitionist movement would have had an influential Southern ally and it's possible (though this is wild speculation) that the Civil War may not have happened.
11-
Patrice Endres' husband killed her. The way he talks about her like she was an object that he owned. And no innocent person changes the locks on their doors within 24 hours of their spouse going missing.
As insanely creepy as his behavior is due to his "mourning" like kissing the skull (WTAF) and sleeping with the ashes before putting them haphazardly in the closet, I couldn't say that was enough.
People do mourn differently and he is a weird dude. But the locks convinced me. Why would you ever, ever do that if your wife was missing? Especially so incredibly soon? I've read cases about people with loved ones missing for decades who are afraid to move or change things just in case they might come back some day.
12-
The Black Dahlia
A lot of evidence points to a degenerate named George Hodel. He was a physician and also a horrible person. So it lines up pretty well in my eyes.
Steve Hodel really screwed the pooch in terms of having people believe him (his accusations that his dad did it) when he went on to accuse George of basically every serial killing from 1910-1972 or something. But the Root of Evil podcast as well as the TV show does make a compelling case that he was involved.
13-
Tupac was killed by Orlando Anderson.
I always thought Orlando looked exactly like Pac too - which was always eerie to me.
I really hate the dumb fool conspiracy rumors about the "gOvErNmEnT" killing him when it's clear as day as to what lead to his death in that casino.
Not to mention, Pac and Afeni both stated that he'd die young - Pac in particular stated that he was a hothead and his pride would cause him problems, so he was very self aware of his actions that would lead to his demise.
14-
Lady in my hometown went missing after dropping her middle school age children off at home and leaving again. She just didn't come back. We all thought her (going through a divorce) husband killed her because he lawyered up and refused to let the police search his computer or his lake house. Months go by. No trace. Someone notices one day that a large landscaping rock on the edge of the mountain is missing and then reports it stolen.
The same time someone else tells the tipline that they saw a lady and Jeep matching her description trying to turn around by the rock, months ago. The investigators follow the path of where the rock would have rolled down the mountain and find the rock, then a little ahead, the missing lady and her purse laying there, then several yards down, her Jeep crashed into a tree. It was extremely sad case.
15-
My aunt was murdered by her boyfriend and made to look like a suicide. I'm absolutely certain of it but will never be able to prove it without a confession as the police are not interested in following it up.
God that's horrible. I hope your family gets the closure you all need. I just cannot wrap my head around the fact that the POLICE would put a murder as low priority. Taking a life is the horrible, evil crime, and the only thing worse would be if there was more than one life taken.16-
The murder itself was obviously solved but I'm convinced that Chris Watts' mistress helped him plan the murder of his wife and two daughters. Investigators said they didn't look into her much because Chris plead guilty.
I believe this 100.
17-
It was the Charles Lindbergh Jr Kidnapping. I learned about this case in school when we were doing a mock trial unit in 8th grade. The person who was accused named Bruno Richard Hauptmann was found guilty ad executed but the trial seemed very fishy. I went looking more in-depth about it and thought of a hypothesis that it was Isidor Fisch, Bruno's friend and Charles Lindbergh was an accomplice.
18-
Not a human murder....
But on Tiger king the person who 'broke' in and set fire to that building killing the alligators was 100% his general manager. The CCTV footage showed the way the man walked after setting the fire and there was a clear limp on the same leg that guy had a prosthetic.
19-
I truly believe Jack The Ripper was Frederick Bailey Deeming.
It's just a theory, and probably an outlandish one, but I'm fascinated by the idea that the reason the last murder was so much more violent and was indoors is because the last victim was actually the killer.
She killed other prostitutes, got away with it for the general public because she was a woman and could easily run around at all hours covered in blood by saying she was a midwife (if she actually used to be one it also explains the anatomical knowledge), and the prostitutes fixed the problem amongst themselves by killing her, showing their anger in how she died. It would explain why the murders ended after that.
20-
Robert Wagner killed Natalie Wood, 100%
I'm inclined to believe Wagner committed manslaughter.
Like they were all drunk and he got into an argument with wood and pushed her into the water, not knowing she can't swim. and because they were drunk, he didn't bother to try to save her.
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I know what you're thinking... "Yeah right, there's no way there are any EX flat earthers out there..." I had the same thought when I first saw the Reddit thread I'm about to share with you. But it turns out, there are - and they're much more willing to speak than people might think.