Our obsession w/ more hops, and commercial usage

From doing this type of research, there are wayyyyy more variables than you think, making proving any generalizations fairly difficult.

 

This I can believe.

Actually I'm taking "Foundations of Mathematics" right now, so the notion of "proof" (and the ramifications thereof) is even more in the front of my mind right now. I know we're probably really talking about a "preponderance of evidence that fails to falsify our hypothesis." But then splitting hairs is exactly what this class is all about. Today I'm working on my proof (by contradiction) that the limit of a sequence is unique, and will present it to the class on the board tomorrow (i.e. "I'm in the hot seat" tomorrow). The thing I really love about math is that it's the ONLY thing where something can be absolutely proven with no ambiguity, no doubt, no "preponderance of evidence," etc etc, PROVED beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt, ABSOLUTELY PROVEN. Math is the only thing that will ever truly lend itself to "absolute proof."

However, science, and the abundance of evidence supporting/failing to falsify a hypothesis, is still pretty damn cool, and is often as close to proof in the mathematical sense as it's possible to get.

BTW I'd love to read the specific papers related to your research, including your thesis/dissertation (assuming they are available at this time). If it's in any kind of major journal I should be able to access it through my university's library. Or you can feel free to send them if that's an option that's available*. I'd really love to see all the parameters you've worked with in your own experiments, and how you controlled for them, which variables you manipulated, what stats you used, what assays you performed, what was your data, what spreadsheets you used, etc etc etc. Don't spare the scientific detail (I have one degree in lab science, worked in biotech for a number of years, and am close to another degree in tree-hugging science, so I am capable of understanding the details, even if "just barely").

I have particular interest in anybody's thesis or dissertation since I plan to enter grad school next year, and I'm going in on the "thesis plan" so that going for a PhD is at least an option.

*Obviously an unfinished paper won't be sent to some schmuck on the internet before publication.

 

Yes, thanks for the correction. I haven't used a GC in over 15 years - and I currently have no plans to in the future...