Understanding the Misconceptions of Science

by Don Lincoln

Consider these commonly held scientific beliefs: Planetary orbits are fixed ellipses; we only use 10 percent of our brains; nothing travels faster than light; a thrown object’s trajectory is a parabola. They seem correct, but they’re all misconceptions that aren’t entirely accurate. There’s much more to the story than you think.

These magnificent 24 lectures are devoted to busting myths, clearing up confusion, and giving you scientific epiphanies that could change how you think about your everyday world. You’ll explore shocking truths about some of science’s most well-known - and often controversial - concepts, including the physics of flight, black holes, quantum mechanics, and even the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

Delivered with insight, clarity, and a healthy dose of humor, Professor Lincoln’s scientific epiphanies will have you rethinking what you know - or thought you knew - about the world of science. Learn to see matter not as simple spheres but force fields. Discover why most human characteristics aren’t governed by a single gene. Examine why astronauts in the International Space Station aren’t in zero gravity but free fall. And those are just a few.

These lectures are, above all, about awareness and respect for what an immense undertaking scientific inquiry and experimentation is. Regardless of where you are in your own scientific adventures, they’ll empower you with not just good science, but better science.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 The Great Courses (P)2019 The Teaching Company, LLC

Genres: Science, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Physics, Reference, Popular Science, Biology

13 pages, Audible Audio

First published May 24, 2019

About the author

Don Lincoln is a Senior Scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). He is also a Guest Professor of High Energy Physics at the University of Notre Dame. He received his Ph.D. in Experimental Particle Physics from Rice University.

Dr. Lincoln’s research has been divided between Fermilab’s Tevatron Collider, until its close in 2011, and the CERN Large Hadron Collider, located outside Geneva, Switzerland. The author of more than 1,000 scientific publications, his most noteworthy accomplishments include serving on the teams that discovered the top quark in 1995 and confirmed the Higgs boson in 2012. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

His writing at a popular level includes many articles as well as four books: Understanding the Universe, The Quantum Frontier, The Large Hadron Collider, and Alien Universe. His enthusiasm for science education earned him the 2013 Outreach Prize from the High Energy Physics Division of the European Physical Society.

Dr. Lincoln has given hundreds of lectures on four continents to a broad range of audiences. He is a blogger for the website of the PBS television series NOVA, and he also writes a weekly column for the online periodical Fermilab Today.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't planned to listen to another Don Lincoln course so soon, but this is available for free with my Audible subscription only until May 1, so I took advantage. It's another great series of lectures, this time about misconceptions of scientific topics such as evolution, radiation, carbon dating, black holes etc. Excellent and very approachable.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An eclectic series of lectures about many issues of modern science. A bit uneven -- some of his 'misconceptions' are largely an issue of second-order effects (albeit ones that are important), like his discussion of how infrequently a gas follows the 'ideal gas law'. And I'll admit that I found the lectures more interesting when he talked about science I don't know as well, like biology. And some of his discussions do address real misunderstandings that 'popular science' puts out as analogies of how the world works in ways that lead to important confusions.

I think I had hoped for either "misconceptions about how science works or what science has found" or perhaps "misconceptions within science about other disciplines" but the lectures were neither of those. It was more of a "misconceptions about science that are perpetrated by popular science or 8th grade science teachers, but which most people who went on to study a scientific discipline understand." I can't blame the lectures for not being what I wanted.

I really want to give Lincoln credit for a great bibliography. Since he can't go into detail on each area of lecture, he provides really good references for further reading.

[Cookie M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rate this a three because it was mostly beyond me. Wow! The Great Courses Science Series lectures challenge me, and many of them lead me to do outside study to understand them, but this one bit off whole chunks of chemical, physics and thermodynamics theoretical study that just shut me down.
I got something out of it, though and did get some new questions for further self pursuit. I would say I had to skip about five lectures as being way over my head.
I was able to listen to this course for free, so all was gain.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the beginning of his final lesson, in this marvelous series of lectures entitled Understanding the Misconceptions of Science, Professor Don Lincoln stated, “In this course, we’ve talked a lot about science and common misconceptions people have about the various disciplines. They were all very interesting and I hope you’ve learned some deeper truths about things you already knew something about. As I put the lectures together it was difficult to pick and choose between the various possible subjects; I mean there are just so many interesting scientific topics to explore.” For me, a most evident novice, I must admit that I was not one of those that learned about things that I “already knew something about.” It had been many years since I had taken high school chemistry and physics, and, in fact, many discoveries have been made since I was in school. Consequently, many of the topics Dr. Lincoln addressed were new to me, particularly as we entered the realm of relativity and quantum mechanics.

Regardless, I have nothing but praise for Professor Lincoln’s course. It is very evident that he put forth a great amount of effort in developing this course, which included choosing the various topics, composing each lecture, and preparing examples and visual aids. In my opinion, each lesson was well organized, used excellent examples and visual aids to clarify the subject matter, and used an appropriate amount of humor that was not distracting, but actually helped keep the material interesting. That isn’t to say that the course wasn’t difficult, at least, for me. In fact, after I listened to each lecture, I subsequently studied the guidebook, which, I am pleased to say, was impressively comprehensive in that it included the detailed salient information that was discussed from each lecture. Consequently, if a student didn’t pick up the information the first time in the lecture, they most certainly would if they put forth the effort to study the accompanying guidebook.

In my opinion, the title of this course, which was Understanding the Misconceptions of Science was very appropriate. Professor Lincoln continued to emphasize the Course Scope by introducing the topic, providing historical background about each topic, explaining specific misconceptions, and then explaining why there were fallacies and the true understanding of each issue. Professor Lincoln also includes topics that have been and continue to be controversial, not only because the general public has been misinformed, but simply because they have not been taught. These topics include such scientific problems as planets and their orbits, gravity, evolution, the atom, the Big Bang theory, the theory of relativity, and quantum mechanics to name a few. If a learner comes into each of these lectures with an open mind, I can almost guarantee that he/she will learn something. Finally, there are some topics that Professor Lincoln simply had to admit we haven’t learned all there is to learn, and expect to learn more. He was confident in what he taught, but he also was humble enough to admit that more needed to be discovered.

In any case, although this course wasn’t easy for me (it wasn’t one of those courses where you just sit in your easy chair for entertainment), I learned a great deal, and that is what it’s all about. The opportunity to learn or relearn something that you didn’t previously know or had forgotten. Thank you Professor Lincoln for providing this great course.

[Yaaresse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this lecturer. His manner is low-key, conversational, and without the "jazz hands" mannerisms that many of TGC seem to affect in recent series.

So much of what we are taught in science at the high school and introductory college levels is not exactly wrong, but oversimplified due to constraints on time and resources. We are taught the gist of the big theory or idea, but often there are so many exceptions to the "rule" of science that we end up believing things that are only applicable under a very specific set of circumstances. This series attempts to explain why some of those big ideas and so-called rules just aren't accurate. The series takes on the topics of gravity, flight, electricity, alien life, black holes, the theory of relativity, evolution, nutrition, and more.

Personally, I thought Mr. Lincoln's explanations were interesting and easy to understand, with the exception of the three sections on relativity, which I thought his explanations were more convoluted than clarifying. It's a topic he broached on in another GC with better/clearer examples and explanations.

[Martha Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should have taken notes!

[Nick Cessac · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are so many references to the video this was created from, I wondered why they tried making it an audiobook. That combined with a 280 page reference guidebook, that is completely necessary to understand, this really doesn't work as an audiobook.
That being said, if I had a chance to watch the video that he keeps referencing, I totally would as it was an interesting topic, but often hard to follow as an audio only experience which he repeatedly states.

[Dave Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

sadly not very entertaining
This is an explanation in search of a question.
The Misconceptions in the title are not common misconceptions. They are mostly things you never wondered about or worried about. Did you think that a thrown ball described a perfect arc?
The presentation of material here is mostly remedial with fits of mathematical formula. This guy is going into depth about how generalizations can't be taken literally. If you know that already, this lecture also fizzles as a COSMOS or NOVA kind of infotainment of gee-wizz facts.
I freaking love these science things and I got pretty damn bored.
**Edit the next day: There was something that I did like about this, and that's how the truth is kind of fractal. it gets more complicated the closer you look at it.
Something can be "generally" true when looking at a subject from a distance, and then not completely true or misleading when that subject is examined in detail.
I'm thinking now especially about non-science things like assumptions & stereotypes. The kind of "All High school jocks are like X." or "All conservatives are like Z." and as stupid as that kind of stereotyping is there can me some depressing element of truth that bares no relation to the correlation that the speaker is about to make. Anyway- I'm not saying this right, but I did like that this lecture show the truth is more complicated the closer you look at it. even if it's not always fun or easy to do so.

[Cav · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a somewhat decent offering from The Great Courses. I am generally a fan of their material, and have watched and listened to a few dozen of their lecture series.

Course Professor Don Lincoln is a Senior Scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). He is also a Guest Professor of High Energy Physics at the University of Notre Dame. This is my second course from Professor Lincoln, after his 2018 course The Theory of Everything: The Quest to Explain All Reality.

Don Lincoln:


Understanding the Misconceptions of Science has a good intro lecture; Professor Lincoln covers the scope of the course and gives science a definition, including what constitutes scientific theory and law.

Unfortunately, despite Professor Lincoln's efforts, much of the material presented here will likely be far too technical to be appreciated by the average person. Lincoln goes over many lengthy equations, and rattles off a decent amount of scientific jargon; assuming a level of literacy in his audience that may not be there. I have found this to be a common problem in many courses and books...

I took this course over a few-week period, and made some notes on the content. I'll go over a few of them below.

In Lecture 11, Prof Lincoln says junk DNA is "not used". This is misleading, to downright incorrect. Some common sense might tell you that if ~98% of our genome is material for which we can't find a role, then maybe it is our analysis that needs correction and/or refinement. Evolution is an efficient machine, and it doesn't fit that so much of our genetic makeup would serve zero purpose. Indeed, the role of so-called "junk" DNA has been the subject of much new research. I found this with a cursory Google search: Scientists discover a role for 'junk' DNA

Lincoln is also somewhat wishy-washy on GMOs in the same lecture. This stance doesn't help the scientifically illiterate ease their fears of a technology they don't understand, and is necessary to feed the planet's 7+ billion inhabitants.
There is a scientific consensus on GMOs: Genetically engineered crops currently available to the public pose no greater health risks or environmental concerns than their non-engineered counterparts.

Lecture 13 is titled: Exposing the Truth about Radiation. It was a good lecture, but it could have used a diagram (like the one I included below) explaining the different kinds of radiation corresponding to their relative wavelengths. The entire electromagnetic spectrum, including all visible light - is "radiation". Some of it is not harmful (nonionizing), and some is harmful (ionizing). In general; the shorter the wavelength, the more damaging the radiation.
He also talks about dosage calculations; attempting to easily explain the different units of measurements. Sadly, he does not do this in an easily understandable fashion.
He also mentions that radon in your house is the biggest radiation risk an average person will likely be exposed to, but doesn't then tell the listener what radon is, or the circumstances where it is most likely to be dangerous. For anyone curious: It's everywhere in the ground, but found in higher concentrations in bedrock, granite, and other stone. It is the heaviest of the noble gases, and can usually be found in higher concentrations in the basement of your house.



Lectures 22 and 23 deal with Quantum mechanics. Lincoln covers the famous double-slit experiment, Schrödinger and the Copenhagen interpretation, and entanglement. He tells the viewer that the world of classical physics is deterministic, while the world of quantum mechanics is probabilistic. These topics are covered well here, including some informative animations to help the reader conceptualize.

Lincoln closes the series by talking about the quest for a "theory of everything", which will unite the theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics.
The road towards this theory will be long, notes Lincoln, opining that we are not likely to see one for hundreds of years. The roles of dark energy and dark matter will need to be understood, as well as an understanding of why the universe is composed of matter. He says:

"Einstein’s theory of special relativity says that energy can turn into matter, and vice versa, but when energy turns into matter, it should make an equal amount of antimatter. And that’s what we think must have happened after the big bang. The universe somehow got rid of the antimatter and left only matter. We don’t know how that works, either. So, that’s another piece of the puzzle that has to fit in somewhere..."

Overall, this was a decent course, but as mentioned previously, it is likely too technical to be appreciated or absorbed by the average viewer.
So while I did somewhat enjoy the material presented here, I felt that Lincoln could have done a better job making the complex subject matter more accessible.
3 stars.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t finish. While well-written and interesting to my engineer’s mind, listening to this for 8+ hours was just exhausting and boring. The presenter is great, easily understood, engaging and obviously passionate about the topic. I just couldn’t face another scientific topic! I need some suspense, murder, mystery, excitement.

I think that, if it were possible to make this topic a bit less math-heavy, it might appeal to the common man. I found myself trying to do the math in my head based on his formulae. Given that I’ve been out of graduate school for ~ 30 years, it was very challenging. And I’m not sure how much the formulas are necessary to prove the points that he’s trying to make in each lesson.

All this said, I did learn quite a few things. The left brain right brain myth was enlightening as were several other topics.

[Terry Meadows · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series of lectures cover a surprisingly broad range of topics, and uses clear, straightforward language to convey information. By first describing the common beliefs and then creating a better picture of what is actually taking place, the author does a great job of showing the core of each topic. Understanding this information requires work and attention, but the reward is worth the effort. I listened to the audiobook, and found the spoken presentation very easy to listen to. As someone who has been exposed to almost everything in the book from a student perspective, I can fully recommend this book.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been doing a lot of these mainly because they're for free on my audible plan. This one I have to admit went over my head. I just didn't find it interesting and there's a lot of mathematics in it that I wasn't expecting. I feel like a lot of this was more a secondary understanding of science rather than misconceptions of science.

[Enrico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good course. A bit hard to understand in some parts, it really shines in it's lectures about quantum mechanics with really easy explanations. After all this is his main work, so makes sense. Some other lectures about biology were also really good.

[Matthew Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great audio course for surface level overviews of some of the more misunderstood or less discussed aspects of various scientific fields. This series was definitely meant to be consumed with the accompanying videos and texts but still holds up without them.

[Phil Chenevert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably an excellent series of lectures but over my head I am afraid so take my review with a big grain of salt.

[Hari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Prof Don Lincoln's lectures but this one is too basic. Most of the misconceptions here are misconceptions in high school level.

[Michael Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good but I would recommend the video version as it is mathematically heavy.

[Alex Lyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a 4.5, but I'd rather round up than down. The course helped me understand a number of things I had a partially incorrect understanding of.
The course was interesting and informative.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

[Steve Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, lighthearted and enjoyable debunking of some of the ways we get things wrong... especially popular science journalists.

[Elisabeth Buettner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome listen!