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‘It’s magic’: scientists rediscover how to make ancient Roman colour-changing glass (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/science@lemmy.world
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[–] 32 points 1 week ago (5 children)

it's magic

Said no scientist ever.

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  • [–] 57 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    It's a question of sentiment. Especially in science it is important to find amazement by the wonders you spot in the world. To paraphrase from Pratchett's 'The Wee Free Men':

    It doesn't stop being magic, just because you figure out how it works.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 week ago

    As a scientist, that’s one of my favorite quotes ever. There are so many things that I understand at a deep level and still find that their working is magic. How all the pieces combine just so to make the process smooth and effective… (my personal favorite is the Fourier Transform, the theory behind it took centuries to fully develop, but its usefulness was clear from the get go, then Fast Fourier Transform came and made in the cornerstone of signal processing)

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  • [–] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

    Always upvote Terry Pratchett, especially The Wee Free Men, the best bedtime story ever. (And it doesn't matter that I mangled the accent, pronouncing Crivens! with a long I. I got the energy right. Besides, Feegles run on Narrativium, free of Roundworld constraints.)

    The article refers to the gold and silver particles acting like a rainbow. Rainbows are simple science and yet they're also magical, every time.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago

    I feel this sentiment does harm for the perception of science. The idea that scientists have to be mundane, no fun hardasses who don't appreciate wonder really doesn't sell STEM fields to people and paints science and scientists as no fun Nancies.

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