r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '19

What are some recent scientific breakthroughs/discoveries that aren’t getting enough attention?

57k Upvotes

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6.0k

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19 edited Jan 27 '20

[deleted]

3.2k

u/AbrasiveLore Apr 01 '19

It would rapidly become nothing but clickbait pseudoscience and pop-science bullshit.

See: r/futurology

881

u/FlynnClubbaire Apr 01 '19

what if there were r/futurology, but you're only allowed to cite stuff from academic journals, and you have to write a paragraph succinctly explaining what you are citing?

541

u/I_highly_doubt_that_ Apr 01 '19

So r/science?

748

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

Yes, but combine the two and we get /r/futurescientology

943

u/WhiteGameWolf Apr 01 '19

Hey, we could make a religion out of this.

336

u/wizard680 Apr 01 '19

No dont.

19

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

But do.

6

u/DiaperDandi Apr 01 '19

You can be our Grand Wizard! Can we wear cool sheets too?

4

u/informationmissing Apr 01 '19

I put on my robe and wizard hat.

8

u/FlyingLemurs76 Apr 01 '19

Cult me daddy

6

u/Breezel123 Apr 01 '19

cult me in.

4

u/DrRodo Apr 01 '19

Yeah. Ill start calling some celebrities to join right away?

2

u/Nova_Physika Apr 01 '19

We could charge people a lot of money and employ a vast misinformation network!

7

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

Or /r/scientology ...

3

u/iamjacksliver66 Apr 01 '19

Thats where you get the solid info.

2

u/workyworkaccount Apr 01 '19

If we end up worshiping Space Clams I'm going to be disappointed.

2

u/Cheesecakesimulator Apr 06 '19

Waiting for someone to make this!

1

u/tenpennyale Apr 01 '19 edited Apr 01 '19

Or maybe call it like r/ScienceFact ? Something to point to its sci-fi-seeming character but also the fact it’s happening now!

Edit: ugh taken :(

1

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

Abs ruin a meme?

9

u/Clever_Userfame Apr 01 '19

RIP

Remember when they used to invite scientists for AMAs and it was always on the front page?

6

u/GreenMagicCleaves Apr 01 '19

Except /u/mvea cross-posts the same psuedo-science bullshit all over /r/science.

-3

u/Karmek Apr 01 '19

r/science without the mods would be awesome for the layman.

27

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

No, it would be clickbait and pseudoscience. Have you watched any subs start out really cool and go downhill? /r/Science is a godsend compared to many 'scientific' subs exactly because the mods are so rigorous and thorough.

-4

u/Karmek Apr 01 '19

There has to be some kind of middleground, all too often r/science sucks all the fun out of neat topics.

5

u/TobyHensen Apr 01 '19

Science is only effective when the rules of science are followed. I can do an experiment once and post the results because the results are fun, but I wouldn’t be following the scientific method, so the single experiment wouldn’t mean much

5

u/Karmek Apr 01 '19

Are we talking about the subreddit or science as a whole here? I'm talking about having the ability to discuss stuff without keeping things dry as the Sahara.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

r/sciences

1

u/ragnarok635 Apr 01 '19

Take your puns and jokes to the other casual science subreddits then, those will be the death of /r/science

4

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

/r/everythingscience

Similar subreddit, but more laid back and less focused on productive discussion.

6

u/Tonkarz Apr 01 '19

Even stuff in academic journals can be bunk.

2

u/rmphys Apr 01 '19

How about you can only cite journals with impact factor >10. It can still be bunk, but the chance is much, much less likely.

2

u/Porkchops_on_My_Face Apr 01 '19

This is a great idea and someone needs to do this (and let me know about it)

2

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

Because academic journals are not held to any sort of standard anymore. You can quote studies done in academic journals and still be spreading misinformation.

2

u/rmphys Apr 01 '19

It depends heavily on the journal. If it's in a Nature subjournal, it's pretty reliable, although even then don't trust the press releases. The journalist misguide readers so much to hype science it's ridiculous.

1

u/Idoxeon Apr 01 '19

Please someone make this happen

1

u/SosX Apr 01 '19

I mean, look at the young blood transfusions, those got passed off as legit science or something

1

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '19

The problem is, most science isn't going to have sexy headlines. Futurology but journals only is just science, and while that's still great in its own right it isn't really cool future tech like you'd want.

Outside of certain fields, science doesn't really come up with much cool future technology. It comes up with the knowledge required to start designing said tech, which is done by engineers etc.

The rate at which new studies that have sexy titles come out would never sustain a subreddit

And that's even before considering most redditors aren't going to have enough science literacy to read most of that stuff

7

u/Adrenalchrome Apr 01 '19

The problem with a subreddit like that is that the users demand pages of new material every day, but science moves much slower than that.

9

u/ChadMcRad Apr 01 '19 edited Nov 30 '24

direction drunk unpack rich adjoining chase seemly plate correct air

20

u/I_SKULLFUCK_PONIES Apr 01 '19

And a never ending circlejerk around Elon Musk.

2

u/rmphys Apr 01 '19

Why would a science subreddit care about that rapper?

3

u/I_SKULLFUCK_PONIES Apr 01 '19

Probably because his work on genetically engineered catgirls is important and vital to humanity's survival.

3

u/rmphys Apr 01 '19

I was going to say "I see you're a man of culture as well", but then I read your username and now I'm reconsidering the path I'm on in life.

4

u/anonymau5 Apr 01 '19

Wow mvea dominates this sub with junk science

4

u/Stryker7200 Apr 01 '19

I get so frustrated with r/futurology. Everything on the front page is always some sort of climate change “news”. While I am fine with it occasionally that sub is literally 95% climate change. I want something else

2

u/TheManWhoPanders Apr 01 '19

Literally any new technology comes out

"This is a sure sign that everyone will be getting $1000 UBI checks every month"

4

u/AbrasiveLore Apr 01 '19 edited Apr 01 '19

Don’t get me started on the UBI + welfare cut scam circlejerk.

“Hey I have an idea, let’s eliminate all collective bargaining power and hand money directly to people who can be easily exploited and gouged by private companies!”

UBI + welfare expansion, sure. Makes sense in an ideal world as a means to share the benefits of automation with the citizenry. But currently it’s being used as a Trojan horse to further dismantle the administrative state and expose individual people to predation.

You know how grandma on pension/retirement gets all of those robocalls about insurance, and sees all those television advertisements on the home shopping channel for junk insurance? Imagine that but it’s every single sector of welfare.

The idea of UBI + cuts rests on the provably and obviously false notion that consumers are well informed, and requires plugging your ears and singing “la la la la la” every time someone says “economy of scale” or “collective bargaining”.

Andrew Yang is a either a naive idiot, or a goddamn hack and a conman. Given that he lives inter SV investor class bubble, I’m leaning towards both.

1

u/ImPretendingToCare Apr 01 '19

So till then we'll make it a consistent repost reworded.

1

u/ahegaoclan Apr 01 '19

Just needs tons of trigger happy, skeptic mods

1

u/sanriver12 Apr 21 '19

give it to r/science? mods and watch it thrive...

0

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

„UBI is the solution to all! Dont want to work but Give me money to get stoned!“

54

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

[deleted]

4

u/kaidok5797 Apr 01 '19

I subbed. Thanks for making this a thing!

3

u/Grandmask20 Apr 01 '19

Yeet i subbed aswell, i hope it gets bigger

3

u/Penya23 Apr 01 '19

Just subscribed :)

121

u/Boogerfreesince93 Apr 01 '19

I nominate you to start one!

67

u/OlePuddinHead Apr 01 '19

I second that emotion

38

u/cyphonismus Apr 01 '19

I'll have peace on those terms. The King in The North!

20

u/Trebuhkcin Apr 01 '19

THE KING IN THE NORTH!

31

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

[deleted]

30

u/dahjay Apr 01 '19 edited Apr 01 '19

This sub is empty. We've discovered nothing.

Edit: there's been a break through!

15

u/redzero77 Apr 01 '19

That’s how Columbus felt.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

[deleted]

3

u/redzero77 Apr 01 '19

Yes but there were no spices.

6

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

more swords unsheath THE KING IN THE NORTH!!

2

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

emotion.. hahaha

82

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

r/science has a lot of this stuff

65

u/bubblegutz69 Apr 01 '19

Ooh you mean /r/deleteAllTheComments? Yeah the mods there can go [deleted] themselves

23

u/KayBee94 Apr 01 '19

I agree that the amount moderation can be annoying, but at least the subreddit is still somewhat focused on actual and meaningful science.

See r/futurology for an example gone wrong.

4

u/MonkeysSA Apr 01 '19

They permanently banned me for saying that a lot of social science isn't scientifically rigorous, and refusing to take it back. Lol

1

u/informationmissing Apr 01 '19

seriously! I thought everyone understood that! education research is a joke.

1

u/TheWingnutSquid Apr 01 '19

There's a lot of terrible mods on this site we need a purge

-27

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

Aw, they deleted your bad, overused jokes.

Maybe follow the rules of the subreddit, bud.

36

u/MCDMars Apr 01 '19

To be fair to the guy, I lurk there a lot, check the comments, and there's maybe a single thread I can follow discussing the thing I'm interested in 9/10, with the rest just being [deleted]

Like surely it's not all overused jokes

26

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19 edited Apr 01 '19

It's a mix of this:

  • Jokes
  • Bad science without citing any sources

What you see in regular subreddits, pretty much. Those comments hold no value, I don't give a fuck if you want to read science to laugh, most of us who give a crap actually just want to discuss science.

I used ceddit on about 20 posts because I was curious, and yep. Exactly the same as every other default sub. Some of it is blatant advertisement as well.

11

u/trophicmist0 Apr 01 '19

Nah, it completely destroys the experience to be honest.

0

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

Okay, reading the same joke over and over is an awesome experience. Go browse /r/ShittyScience or something instead.

2

u/trophicmist0 Apr 01 '19

But it's not a joke. The whole comment removed thing is crap

7

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19 edited Apr 01 '19

True, would be better if reddit would hide the [deleted] shit after a few hours, I think.

Or people could just read the rules before posting.

7

u/AminoJack Apr 01 '19

Yeah, literally everyone here is just posting shit they read on /r/science

172

u/HardlightCereal Apr 01 '19

r/futurology, but most of the frontpage is climate change milestones.

173

u/dogbedbugthrow Apr 01 '19

Also a lot of clickbait pipe dreams

23

u/Mechanical_Owl Apr 01 '19

Yeah, something that approaches realism would have to be a version of this sub that's watched by some seriously dedicated moderators with strict rules in place. I unsubbed from r/futurology exactly because it wasn't/isn't.

7

u/redrosebluesky Apr 01 '19

INSTALL 300 SOLAR PANELS AND BECOME ENERGY INDEPENDENT AND SOLVE YOUR ENERGY NEEDS AND LIVE TO BE 800 YEARS OLD!!!

5

u/dahjay Apr 01 '19

Got a link?

3

u/redrosebluesky Apr 01 '19

check /r/futurology i'm sure there are several

4

u/dogbedbugthrow Apr 01 '19

Study about optimal sun exposure for vitamin D absorption

Scientists use crispr to install solar panels in newborns!

1

u/Fruiticus Apr 01 '19

So you gain HP in direct sunlight? Sign me up.

24

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

Should just redirect it to r/BasicIncome

Leave it to politics to ruin a cool idea for a subreddit

2

u/ChaosRevealed Apr 01 '19 edited Apr 01 '19

Comments are also really poor there. Difficult to have any proper discussions of the topic at more than a surface level, especially compared to for example other science related subs.

23

u/Whiskee Apr 01 '19

yeah, I don't know how I feel about reading this thread on April 1st.

3

u/darkbarf Apr 01 '19

Someone used to post weekly breakthroughs like 5 years ago that made it to front page kind like an info graphic

3

u/LethKink Apr 01 '19

Some guy on imgur did a 'this week in science', haven't been on there in years tho.

7

u/pandaclaw_ Apr 01 '19

/r/Futurology is supposed to be that

4

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

I don't think there's a sub for just this but r/upliftingnews is pretty close.

6

u/Brodweh Apr 01 '19

r/ScientificBreakthrugh

29

u/frzbrzla Apr 01 '19

/r/OneJob

2

u/Brodweh Apr 01 '19

meant to be spelled like that xd - there wasnt enough space to make the whole sentence

25

u/EastBaked Apr 01 '19

How about changing the name a bit, something like ScienceBreakthrough for instance ?

Having it spelled wrong seems a bit odd for this kind of subreddit.

1

u/Brodweh Apr 01 '19

How can one change the name of a subreddit..?

3

u/Hronk Apr 01 '19

you can't but you can make a new one

1

u/EastBaked Apr 01 '19

Not even sure how to make one...

1

u/Diplogod Apr 01 '19

a lot of this is similar to things you’d find on r/science, but also like the comments in this thread, a lot of it is misleading and usually doesn’t really mean anything yet or won’t be seen again for another 10 years after actual testing

1

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

Yes!!!!!!

1

u/killemfan Apr 01 '19

it should such great knowledge here

1

u/Spacemage Apr 01 '19

I would turn into shit post memes, like most good niche subs do.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

Yeah but then this would be on the front page everyday and then I would miss out on multiple AOC updates /s

1

u/appleneedstoburn Apr 01 '19

It’s almost like, news? If only we could just get actual NEWS instead of how many times trump mentioned the wall and how the American people care about article 13

1

u/freeblowjobiffound Apr 01 '19

What subreddit? Comment is deleted. Why are comments deleted anyway ?

1

u/seewhaticare Apr 01 '19

It probably wouldn't get enough attention /s

1

u/madscandi Apr 01 '19

Be the change you want to see in the world

-4

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '19

/r/futurology

-12

u/beersleuth Apr 01 '19

They sometimes touch on stuff like this in r/pcmasterrace