TED Talks

The secret to scientific discoveries? Making mistakes | Phil Plait

Phil Plait was on a Hubble Space Telescope team of astronomers who thought they may have captured the first direct photo of an exoplanet ever taken. But did the evidence actually support that? Follow along as Plait shows how science progresses — through a robust amount of making and correcting errors. “The price of doing…

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Phil Plait was on a Hubble Space Telescope team of astronomers who thought they may have captured the first direct photo of an exoplanet ever taken. But did the evidence actually support that? Follow along as Plait shows how science progresses — through a robust amount of making and correcting errors. “The price of doing science is admitting when you’re wrong, but the payoff is the best there is: knowledge and understanding,” he says.

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37 Comments

  1. RubyDivina

    April 11, 2019 at 9:17 pm

    I recognised his voice before I recognised his face ?

  2. josh mcgee

    April 11, 2019 at 9:38 pm

    yet again another TED talk that doesn’t talk about what it says in the title

    • BJ C

      April 11, 2019 at 11:11 pm

      It was exactly as described. The discussion of the search for exoplanets was a tool to highlight the fact that science is a process. And, that process, is critical to advancement. The title should reflect the overarching message.

  3. fcastle

    April 11, 2019 at 11:02 pm

    Trillions of dollars later, science has done a crap job of curing cancer, in fact these days just about everyone has cancer…we can’t even make roads that last or fix the billions of potholes in our roads, or failing bridges, waterlines and other infrastructure, it takes years to do basic road work, we did construction projects 70yrs ago that would be impossible now, we can’t stop forest fires AT ALL, no science for that…science is not getting us anywhere besides consumer products.

    • BJ C

      April 11, 2019 at 11:28 pm

      1. Cancer is not one disease. It’s a huge number of diseases that all relate to uncontrolled cell growth, but in many different ways.
      2. The cancer cure rates today are DRASTICALLY better than they were 20 years ago and a universe away from what they were 60 years ago.
      3. The science is there and has been done for long lasting materials. But politics (and lobbyists) and some times costs get in the way. I think your problem is with politics. (Mine certainly is on this issue).
      4. Same, but to a lesser degree for forest fire science: politics and people’s inability to trust advancements in science when they are contrary to traditional approaches. Again, a problem with people’s distrust of science (and misunderstanding it).
      5. I wouldn’t crap on science; if you think about it, things really are much better now in virtually every metric and science has played a role in all of them.

  4. sapa west

    April 11, 2019 at 11:12 pm

    Yes!!!! 🙂 yes.

  5. James Dale

    April 11, 2019 at 11:12 pm

    Wow! Phil Plait. “The Bad Astronomer”. I was a fan, what, 13 years ago? I looked at the site. Under “what’s new” I read 2006. So I gave up. Keep up the good work.

  6. John Tencza

    April 12, 2019 at 12:12 am

    Can this apply to Global Warming?

    • Sweetness

      April 14, 2019 at 9:27 am

      Yes

  7. Stephen Hazel

    April 12, 2019 at 12:34 am

    i love this guy !!

  8. dryzalizer

    April 12, 2019 at 3:02 am

    Nice talk Phil, you’re a legend because of Crash Course Astronomy the best one ever!

    • TheBadAstronomer

      April 12, 2019 at 6:48 pm

      Thanks!

  9. Chenxiao Xue

    April 12, 2019 at 4:21 am

    I, too, found admitting that I am wrong to be difficult until I started dating girls.

  10. phunnyfill

    April 12, 2019 at 4:23 am

    The religion of science. I am astounded by how many people are freaking out over the black hole CGI “photograph”. It takes more faith to believe in this crap then it does to believe in most other religions.
    Most science is factual and legitimate, but a great deal of astronomy and geology are completely fabricated. Unproven theory is called indisputable fact. You know I’m right, but hearing your religion is false is too much to bear for most. So, instead of intellectual honesty I am prepared for attacks and name calling.

    • fiona fiona

      April 12, 2019 at 5:29 am

      Nothing is named an indisputable anything, you (as a likely religious person) just don’t remember what sort of evidence we needed to prove it to sufficient certainty (like it took to convince the Vatican)

  11. Turtle Von Nurtle

    April 12, 2019 at 4:33 am

    As a scientist, I feel like more often you find your self arguing with the scientists who double down on their mistakes and fight till the bitter end, or at least until the conversation has died down and they can change the subject in a face saving way. Moreover, I’d say that’s the human side of science, because what’s more human than refusing to admit you made a mistake?

  12. George Klinger

    April 12, 2019 at 6:01 am

    ??

  13. asdemilovato

    April 12, 2019 at 6:17 am

    Phil serving humanity

  14. Ryan Heeguh

    April 12, 2019 at 7:44 am

    So basically I’m a scientific discovery ?

  15. flounder

    April 12, 2019 at 7:55 am

    It’s too bad politics, religion and society don’t function like the science Phil described. Also in school, teachers always stress that students need to be perfect in their homework, quizzes, exams, grades — while mistakes are treated as criminal acts.

  16. boson96

    April 12, 2019 at 8:51 am

    I love science so much!

  17. mhtinla

    April 12, 2019 at 5:50 pm

    Did BLACKs discover black holes?

    • mhtinla

      April 12, 2019 at 5:50 pm

      No, because one cannot see one’s own hole.

  18. abcmaya

    April 12, 2019 at 6:11 pm

    Nine!!!

  19. sonoki82

    April 12, 2019 at 8:36 pm

    Wow! An actual male giving a TED talk! I guess that satisfies the quota for 2019.

    • Mike Smith

      April 16, 2019 at 7:24 am

      I just went and checked the ratio and it’s basically 50/50 with slightly more females (not statistically significant). It just looks that way right now because there’s often streaks of one or the other. It looks random.

    • sonoki82

      April 16, 2019 at 11:58 am

      Checked where?

    • Mike Smith

      April 16, 2019 at 7:47 pm

      +sonoki82 The videos tab for this channel.

    • sonoki82

      April 16, 2019 at 8:10 pm

      Well, that tab shows a huge skew in favor of women. Further, a number of the putative males deliver talks in which they deride masculinity and manly virtues.

    • Mike Smith

      April 17, 2019 at 4:34 am

      +sonoki82 No, it does not, as I already said. Keep going down, load more videos. It evens out.

  20. David Kinsella

    April 12, 2019 at 10:46 pm

    This is why I rejected the historical claims of Christianity.

    • jerry calvert

      April 12, 2019 at 11:10 pm

      Right there with you! If we find even a whiff of an essence of life or previous life anywhere at all in any of the universe, I can safely proclaim that the bible and it’s god it’s 99.9% complete and total and utter bullshit! Time is not on their side anymore and they know it. We will soon have the M1M3, and with more than 275 million stars being created every 24 hours, the math says we will. Cheers.

  21. Mr. or Ms Gaming 今日 Today 游戲 PG

    April 13, 2019 at 6:54 am

    1
    +8
    2019-04-13 1454
    1 day

  22. أحمد مصيلحي .اعقلها وتوكل

    April 13, 2019 at 4:48 pm

    Plaes trinsltion aribce

  23. أحمد مصيلحي .اعقلها وتوكل

    April 13, 2019 at 4:49 pm

    ضيفو الترجمة العربية

  24. SimSim

    April 13, 2019 at 5:58 pm

    Me at 8:42 : what just 2 und a half minutes left? I need more of this guy

  25. Hussein Nour

    April 14, 2019 at 6:39 pm

    Discovery Channel LOL

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