Disturbing discoveries (A mad world)

by David Turell , Friday, August 12, 2016, 15:39 (3024 days ago) @ dhw

David: Not to worry, all the other solid stuff that makes up current theories is at the five sigma level.
> 
> dhw: Re the statistical blip, the hilarious element I pointed out was the premature explosion of excitement together with the fact that 500 papers had already been written about the sensational new particle, presumably in the belief that sufficient data were already available. In any case, I'm not sure what you mean by “solid”. If current theories were based on “solid stuff”, they would turn into facts. How can anyone know that sufficient data are in, if 90% of the universe consists of unknown matter/energy? (Another “five sigma” theory?) - The reason the blip produced 500+ papers was the lack of 5 sigma proof, which is the probability of a new find in a statistical analysis. Everyone voiced an opinion. Too much money in funding is chased by publishing papers.