If you could conduct a daring science experiment in any field of science, what would it be on?

[KL70]

If money and research dollars weren't a limitation, if you could conduct a (serious, or humorous) daring science experiment in any field of science, what would it be on and why?

[Area54]

Could you expand on what you mean by daring? In the sense that it would test a hypothesis that is almost certainly wrong? In the sense that it would raise hackles in the related field(s) of science? In that it would place one in personal, physical or mental danger? In some other way?

[dimreepr]

1 hour ago, KL70 said:

If money and research dollars weren't a limitation if you could conduct a (serious, or humorous) daring science experiment in any field of science, what would it be on and why?

1

Mine would be on, given no monetry limitations, world contentment, which is both daring and acheivable.

[Strange]

The problems with this one are ethical rather than financial but ...

Bring up a group of babies in isolation for other humans. They would be cared for (by machines), fed and kept safe. They could have toys and pets to play with. The question is: would they spontaneously develop a language among themselves? If they did, would it be fully developed or some sort of pidgin? And if the latter, would the second generation turn it into a full language?

Actually, we can be fairly sure the answer to the last question is yes. But for the first two, we just don't know (for obvious reasons).

[dimreepr]

20 minutes ago, Strange said:

The problems with this one are ethical rather than financial but ...

Bring up a group of babies in isolation for other humans. They would be cared for (by machines), fed and kept safe. They could have toys and pets to play with. The question is: would they spontaneously develop a language among themselves? If they did, would it be fully developed or some sort of pidgin? And if the latter, would the second generation turn it into a full language?

Actually, we can be fairly sure the answer to the last question is yes. But for the first two, we just don't know (for obvious reasons).

Please explain this...

If I had enough money/power I would provide all with everything they needed to live; anything else is a political baseball...

[Strange]

1 hour ago, dimreepr said:

Please explain this...

What's to explain?

[Itoero]

5 hours ago, KL70 said:

If money and research dollars weren't a limitation, if you could conduct a (serious, or humorous) daring science experiment in any field of science, what would it be on and why?

This is rather easy for me. I would let the necessary research be done to restore DNA, nerve-tissue and organs with stem cells/genes/CRISPR. Testing it on me, to heal me, would be the (daring) science experiment. It would be a huge leap forward for science.

[Tub]

3 hours ago, Strange said:

The problems with this one are ethical rather than financial but ...

Bring up a group of babies in isolation for other humans. They would be cared for (by machines), fed and kept safe. They could have toys and pets to play with. The question is: would they spontaneously develop a language among themselves? If they did, would it be fully developed or some sort of pidgin? And if the latter, would the second generation turn it into a full language?

Actually, we can be fairly sure the answer to the last question is yes. But for the first two, we just don't know (for obvious reasons).

Believe it or not, someone tried this about 900 years ago! Maybe even before that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_deprivation_experiments M

[Strange]

47 minutes ago, Tub said:

Believe it or not, someone tried this about 900 years ago! Maybe even before that.

I know. But it has never been done scientifically. When people have (or claim to have) done this, the children always start speaking the language of the experimenters (or, in some cases, some sort of high-prestige language like Latin). Which suggests it wasn't really done or the results were interpreted to support the belief that the language was the "best".

[koti]

I would build a laser, somewhere around the best human visible range (green,530Nm) with terrawatts of power and state of the art optics capable of burning the American flag on the moon.

[Ten oz]

5 hours ago, Strange said:

The problems with this one are ethical rather than financial but ...

Bring up a group of babies in isolation for other humans. They would be cared for (by machines), fed and kept safe. They could have toys and pets to play with. The question is: would they spontaneously develop a language among themselves? If they did, would it be fully developed or some sort of pidgin? And if the latter, would the second generation turn it into a full language?

Actually, we can be fairly sure the answer to the last question is yes. But for the first two, we just don't know (for obvious reasons).

I think the odds they would develop language are good enough as to make the experiment more of an exercise than anything else. The wernicke's are of the brain is responsible for language comprehension and the Broca's area is responsible for language production. Our brains are wired for language and human babies are born noisy crying, yelling, and carrying on. It it almost a sure thing that any group of humans over time would convert their cries, grunts, yells, and etc into language. All the babies I have ever been around Imitate the noises around them constantly (dog barking, door bell, car engine, etc) which is part of the natural neurological process building up the activating the parts of the brain that manage language. More over the world is full of terrible parents yet even the worst amongst them still manage to teach their children to do basic things like walk and speak which implies those things are intrinsic. Especially when you consider that all babies hit their various milestones inside of perdictable windows of time and failing to do so, irregardless of parenting quality, is a sign that a baby is potentially disable or has some sort of disorder.

 

***In referencing bad parents I mean whithin humane standards. Parents who abuse their childred can create a variety of psychological issues.

[John Cuthber]

4 hours ago, koti said:

I would build a laser, somewhere around the best human visible range (green,530Nm) with terrawatts of power and state of the art optics capable of burning the American flag on the moon.

I would teach Koti arithmetic and how to estimate things.

Not sure what I'd do after that.

 

[Manticore]

5 hours ago, John Cuthber said:

I would teach Koti arithmetic and how to estimate things.

Not sure what I'd do after that.

 

I would take his toys off him before he had a chance to uglify the moon.

[Carrock]

I'd update CERN to the diameter of the earth.

I predict that inflation induced by building it will ensure that there's never enough money to bring it up to full power.

[Externet]

Design, develop and conduct an experiment / device to measure the propagation speed of gravity.

[koti]

16 hours ago, Manticore said:

I would take his toys off him before he had a chance to uglify the moon.

How would you do that considering that money is no limitation and my laser contraption would be hidden and extremely well guarded. Unless you're James Bond you stand no chance.

22 hours ago, John Cuthber said:

I would teach Koti arithmetic and how to estimate things.

Not sure what I'd do after that.

 

I'd take lessons from you any day John.

[Sensei]

When I read about "burning american flag on the moon by laser" the first time, I read it as burning flag leaved by Apollo astronauts.. Then I thought: WTF?!

Then I realized you might want to do the stupidest ever made thing in the world, and make new flag, burning moon to look like american flag... WTF?! ^ 1000

ps. Let's suppose so, weekend after liters of whisky/vodka/beer is not good time to reply on scientific forum...

 

Edited August 27, 2017 by Sensei

[John Cuthber]

2 hours ago, Sensei said:

... Let's suppose so, weekend after liters of whisky/vodka/beer is not good time to reply on scientific forum...

 

On a related note,  perhaps I'd have been a bit less blunt if it hadn't been the early hours of Saturday morning.

Also I might have found this at the time

https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/

Edited August 27, 2017 by John Cuthber

[Manticore]

10 hours ago, koti said:

How would you do that considering that money is no limitation and my laser contraption would be hidden and extremely well guarded. Unless you're James Bond you stand no chance.

I'd take lessons from you any day John.

Don't forget that I also would have unlimited money.

[koti]

4 hours ago, John Cuthber said:

On a related note,  perhaps I'd have been a bit less blunt if it hadn't been the early hours of Saturday morning.

Also I might have found this at the time

https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/

Looks like my drunk estimate looks about right.

On 26.08.2017 at 8:16 AM, Manticore said:

I would take his toys off him before he had a chance to uglify the moon.

That doesn't seem like an experiment.

7 hours ago, Sensei said:

Let's suppose so, weekend after liters of whisky/vodka/beer is not good time to reply on scientific forum...

 

I'm gonna have to agree with you on that one.
 

3 hours ago, Manticore said:

Don't forget that I also would have unlimited money.

Since taking my evil toys away from me is not an experiment of any sort your budget is zero Manticore.

[Manticore]

The experiment would be to see if I could locate (and effect a physical result on) a specific person in an alien country without ever moving from home. (Can I buy a cruise missile on internet?)

Edited August 27, 2017 by Manticore

[koti]

19 minutes ago, Manticore said:

The experiment would be to see if I could locate (and effect a physical result on) a specific person in an alien country without ever moving from home. (Can I buy a cruise missile on internet?)

That seems like a harsh penelty for suggesting the burning of the US flag on the moon (with a laser)

[Manticore]

If you want to force 7,000,000,000 people to look at an infamous symbol of greed and bad taste forever then maybe you deserve whatever you get.

[bimbo36]

I would go to space and setup a chemical lab to detect some changes in my chemical due to some strange particles hitting my chemicals , that is the best i could think of .

What if gravity waves are comprised of strange particles like no electrons and  some hidden protons and all ...lol

[Thorham]

Conduct the research necessary to rule the universe for all of eternity.