Test yourself
Brain · Answer first, then check
How much of your brain do you actually use?
Feynman quotes, checked
Did he really say it? Each check takes a popular line back to the book, lecture or report it came from.
- Misattributed “Philosophy of science is about as useful to scientists as ornithology is to birds.”
- Misattributed “To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell.”
- Misattributed “Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that’s not why we do it.”
- Misattributed “Shut up and calculate!”
- Paraphrased “If you can’t explain something to a first-year student, then you haven’t really understood it.”
- Paraphrased “It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong.”
The science behind the answers
Longer answers that explain the why, sorted by subject.
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Common Misconceptions
Things almost everyone has heard that turn out to be wrong: the 10% brain, left-brain and right-brain people, the five-second rule, flowing cathedral glass. What the evidence shows, and why the myths stick.
Take me to the Common Misconceptions hubSelected articles
- Common Misconceptions Overview — Things You've Heard That Are Wrong
- Glass Is Not a Slow-Flowing Liquid — Old Cathedral Windows Aren't Sagging
- The Left-Brain / Right-Brain Myth — A Useful Story That Isn't True
- The 5-Second Rule — Bacteria Don't Wait 5 Seconds
- The '10% of Our Brain' Myth — Probably 100% Wrong
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Heat and Temperature
Heat and temperature sound like the same thing, and everyday language treats them that way. They aren't. What each one measures, and why the difference matters.
Take me to the Heat and Temperature hubSelected articles
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The Brain
Dopamine is often called the brain's pleasure chemical. The research tells a different story about what it actually does.
Take me to the The Brain hubSelected articles
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Numbers That Fool Intuition
Probability breaks common sense in predictable ways. Why "red is due" after a run of black is always wrong.
Take me to the Numbers That Fool Intuition hubSelected articles
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Light, Sound and Waves
Why a siren changes pitch as it passes, and why a straw looks bent in a glass of water. Wave physics hiding in plain sight.
Take me to the Light, Sound and Waves hub -
Space and the Seasons
Why summer is warmer than winter. Many people think it's about how close Earth is to the Sun. It's the tilt.
Take me to the Space and the Seasons hubSelected articles
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Chemistry Around You
Why gold is yellow when most metals look silvery: a wedding ring that shows relativity at work.
Take me to the Chemistry Around You hubSelected articles
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Body and Health
What your blood is doing right now: five jobs at once, without a break.
Take me to the Body and Health hubSelected articles
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Evolution and Deep Time
Why we have five fingers on each hand: an inheritance about 370 million years old.
Take me to the Evolution and Deep Time hubSelected articles
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Energy
How solar panels turn sunlight into electricity, and where coal, oil and gas came from in the first place.
Take me to the Energy hub -
Forces and Motion
Why a moving bicycle stays upright: steering, geometry and only a bit of gyroscope.
Take me to the Forces and Motion hubSelected articles
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Quantum Weirdness
Bell's theorem, the proof that quantum strangeness is real, and decoherence, the reason cats don't look half-alive.
Take me to the Quantum Weirdness hub -
Lenses and Optics
How a lens bends light at two curved surfaces to form an image.
Take me to the Lenses and Optics hubSelected articles
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Superconductivity Up Close
Some materials lose all electrical resistance when cooled far enough. What that state really is, why the high-temperature kind is still a puzzle, and how Josephson junctions and SQUIDs use it.
Take me to the Superconductivity Up Close hub -
Materials and Matter
What makes a diamond so hard, and why rubber stretches and snaps back.
Take me to the Materials and Matter hubSelected articles
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Flight and Fluids
How planes really fly, why a steel ship floats and why a helium balloon rises.
Take me to the Flight and Fluids hub -
How Your Senses Work
How smell and taste work together to give you flavour.
Take me to the How Your Senses Work hubSelected articles
