Category Archives: The Evidentialism Files

5 Things Science Still Can’t Explain (And No, TikTok Isn’t One of Them)

1. How Acetaminophen Works

A bottle of Tylenol on a dark background.

You’d think that the accessibility of acetaminophen (Tylenol) as an over-the-counter painkiller would indicate a full understanding of its medicinal properties, but Big Pharma is still trying to figure this one out. Certainly scientists know the dangers of excessive doses, but exactly how the medication works to ease pain is still a mystery. It was once thought that acetaminophen functioned in the same manner as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin and ibuprofen, which block the formation of pain-producing compounds in the central nervous system. However, further testing indicated that this enzyme suppression only happens under certain chemical conditions in the body. Other researchers have examined the effects of acetaminophen on neurotransmission in the spinal cord, but a definitive mechanism remains elusive.

2. Why Cats Purr

A cat looks directly at the camera while laying on the floor.

This one’s easy – cats purr because they’re happy you’re petting them, right? Except they also purr when they’re hungry, nervous, or in pain, so there are more complex matters to consider. One theory put forth by bioacoustician Elizabeth von Muggenthaler suggests that purring functions as an “internal healing mechanism,” as its low-frequency vibrations correspond to those used to treat fractures, edema, and other wounds. Additionally, since humans generally respond favorably to these soothing sounds, it’s possible that purring has evolved, in part, as a way for domesticated kitties to interact with their owners. And researchers at least believe they now know how purring happens – a “neural oscillator” in the cat brain is thought to trigger the constriction and relaxing of muscles around the larynx – so it may not be long before they home in on more precise reasons for this common, but still mysterious, form of feline communication.

3. How Bicycles Remain Upright

A man walks his bicycle along a crosswalk on a city street.

It’s one of the great ironies of life that we supposedly never forget how to ride a bicycle yet lack a firm understanding of the mechanics that enable us to pull it off in the first place. Early attempts at rooting out answers gave rise to the “gyroscopic theory,” which credits the force created by spinning wheels with keeping bikes upright. This theory, however, was disproven in 1970 by chemist David Jones, who created a functional bike with a counter-rotating front wheel. Jones then floated his “caster theory,” which suggests that a bike’s steering axis, pointing ahead of where the front wheel meets the ground, produces a stabilizing “trail” similar to a shopping cart caster. However, this theory also has holes, as researchersdemonstrated in a 2011 Science article showing that a bike with a negative trail – a steering axis pointing behind the wheel – could maintain balance with proper weight distribution. All of which goes to show that while biking is largely a safe activity, there remains a glaring question mark at the heart of a $54 billion global industry.

4. How Animals Migrate

A flock of geese flying over a body of water while the sun sets.

Maybe you’ve seen flocks of birds flying overhead to mark the changing of seasons or read about salmon fighting upstream to return to their birthplaces, but exactly how do these animals navigate in the midst of long distances and shifting geological conditions? In some cases, there are strong olfactory senses in play; a salmon can detect a drop of water from its natal source in 250 gallons of seawater, helping to guide the way “home.” But the possibilities get even stranger, as scientists are exploring the concept that light-sensitive proteins in the retinas of birds and other animals create chemical reactions that allow them to “read” the Earth’s magnetic field. It may seem far-fetched to think that birds rely on principles of quantum mechanics, but there may be no better explanation for how, say, the Arctic Tern stays on target while annually migrating more than 40,000 miles from pole to pole.

5. Why We Sleep

An alarm clock sits on a nightstand while a woman sleeps in the background.

Given that we can pinpoint the health benefits and problems associated with proper and insufficient amounts of sleep, it’s baffling that we still don’t fully understand what this all-important restorative state does for the body. Older theories followed the notion that sleep helps people conserve energy while keeping them away from the dangers of the night, while more recent research explores how sleep contributes to the elimination of toxic neural buildups andpromotes plasticity, the brain’s ability to adjust and reorganize from its experiences. Other experts hope to come across answers by studying glia cells, which are abundant in the central nervous system and possibly involved with regulating when we nod off and awaken. And if these diligent researchers ever do crack the code of what sleep does for us, maybe it will shed light on related nighttime mysteries — like why we dream.

Night night.

‘You Were God’s Favorite Creature, But You Never Had A Future’


Less time separates humans from Tyrannosaurus rex than separated T. Rex from stegosaurus.

Compared to dinosaurs, humans have occupied only a speck on the timeline of Earth’s history. Modern humans appeared on the stage 200,000 years ago (up to 7 million years ago if you include the whole human family), while dinosaurs roamed the globe for about 165 million years. Despite the large span of time stretching across three distinct geologic periods (Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous), many people view the “Age of the Dinosaurs” as a monolithic moment in history when dinosaurs all lived together. In fact, more time separates stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex than separates modern humans from “the King of the Dinosaurs.” 

Stegosaurus roamed what’s now modern-day North America during the late Jurassic period, about 155 million to 145 million years ago. Although it didn’t live alongside the ferocious T. rex, its contemporary, the allosaurus, was also a nightmare of powerful teeth. T. rex didn’t arrive on the scene until some 68 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous — a difference of some 80 million years. So while a comfortable 66 million years separate humans from the dinosaur’s dramatic, likely asteroid-induced downfall, the stegosaurus and T. rex lived even farther apart. This startling fact doesn’t even take into account Triassic dinosaurs, such as herrerasaurus and eoraptor, which are twice as chronologically distant from the T. rex as stegosaurus is. Turns out, the “Age of the Dinosaurs” is much more complex than its name suggests.

The Monday Night Miracle


I hesitated writing this column out of fear it may jinx his chances. But since a dead man spoke Saturday, it’s okay for me to. And even if, fates forbid, Damar Hamlin’s condition were to worsen, the unbelievable should still be noted.

And believed. Because Monday night was nothing short of miraculous — if science didn’t do it so on the regular.

Hamlin, a safety for the Buffalo Bills, took a helmet to the chest that was so precise — a YouTubing cardiologist called it the kind of blow “you only see in medical textbooks” — that Hamlin had a cardiac arrest on field.

My brethren in the news media have done a poor job of explaining cardiac arrest, so let me attempt one.

Hamlin dropped dead. For 13 seconds, an NFL player was dead in midfield Cincinnati. And science, in the form of Bills assistant coach Denny Kellington, manually pumped blood through that dead man. Not unconscious; not woozy; not paralyzed. Dead. That’s why the players were weeping. They’d never seen a man killed. Few have.

Seconds after that, more science, this time in the form of a defibrillator that re-triggered his heart.

At the University of Cincinnati, neurologists said Hamlin’s early brain function may be fully intact.

The New York Times obtained audio of the Bills medical crew the moment Hamlin died. A supervisor ordered a gurney immediately after seeing the collision because he didn’t “like how he went down.”

And today, Hamlin is tweeting: “When you put real love out into the world it comes back to you 3x’s as much,” he wrote in his first Instagram post since his collapse Monday. “The Love has been overwhelming, but I’m thankful for every single person that prayed for me and reached out. If you know me you know this only gone make me stronger. On a long road keep praying for me!”

Indeed, the nation surely will. The Bills — a team that once went to four straight Super Bows but has never won one — is my new favorite this playoffs.

But, should this long road bring Hamlin back to the sidelines, in any capacity, I hope Kellington and the UofC crew are equally hailed.

After all, it’s not often you see a resurrection.