Unexpected Results in Science: How Peer Review and Null Results Drive Discovery

In this StarTalk explainer, Chuck discusses how science advances not only through dramatic discoveries but also via unexpected and null results. He highlights the role of peer review in funding, the value of negative results, and classic examples from physics that reshaped our view of reality.

Introduction: Unexpected Results as a Driver of Science

Science progresses through more than eureka moments. In this discussion, Chuck describes how modern science is funded and vetted by committees, peers, and checks and balances. The aim is to test sensible ideas, not merely to prove them true. If a result is unexpected or even a null result, it can be equally valuable because it forces us to reevaluate assumptions and pursue new lines of inquiry.

Null Results and the Power of a Well-Designed Experiment

A central theme is that a null or negative result can spark new theories and experiments. A well-designed test that yields no variation or no effect still informs how we think about the world. The Michelson Morley experiment is highlighted as a canonical null result that underpinned relativity by showing the speed of light is constant in all reference frames.

The Interferometer and the Speed of Light

The discussion walks through how interferometry works, comparing beams of light to detect phase differences. Michelson Morley crafted a precise interferometer to measure light speed in different directions and found no difference, a result that helped establish the constancy of light speed and laid groundwork for Einstein's relativity.

Anecdotes That Challenge Our Intuitions

Galileo's early attempts to measure light speed with a lantern on a distant hill illustrate the long history of experimental ingenuity. The conversation also references Isaac Asimov's idea that the most astonishing scientific moment is often recognizing an odd result, not a dramatic breakthrough. These stories emphasize that unexpected results can redefine whole fields.

From Negative Signs to Accelerating Expansion

The speakers discuss the Nobel Prize era in physics, where a negative sign in cosmological equations led to the realization of an accelerating universe. This reinterpretation by colleagues, including checks with independent analyses, demonstrates how questioning results can drive paradigm shifts and ultimate confirmations.

Galaxies, Data, and the Frontier of Knowledge

As data improve with better telescopes, the number of galaxies in the observable universe was revised upward by factors of several. What began as a rough estimate grew into a more complete picture, illustrating science as collaborative, cumulative work that expands the knowledge frontier while also enlarging our sense of ignorance.

Science as a Way of Thinking

The conversation culminates in a philosophical view: science is a mode of thinking and a method for querying nature to arrive at objective truths. It is inherently messy, branching, and iterative, but that is also what makes it robust and endlessly generative.