The Snowflake Myth

Here's a fantastic Veritasium video about snowflakes with a scientist that basically figured out all of the ways they can form: ▶ this video

in “The highest-resolution photos of snowflakes (2021)” · View on HN

In lab situations, it is possible to grow "identical twins". Some various coverage on Professor Libbrecht and his snow flakes... KEQD: [link] Quartz: [link] Veritasium: ▶ this video And if you want to dig deep: [link]

in “How A Vermont Farmer Proved No Snowflakes Are Alike” · View on HN

You suggest that I do not see the forest for the trees. I say that words have meanings, and that extraordinary claims need evidence. A material in which atoms (or molecules) are aligned is called a crystal. The process by which atoms align is called crystallisation. If we expand the concept of alignment we may consider atoms that are part of a polymer molecule to be "aligned". A material in which larger structures are aligned is a metamaterial. Beyond this level, referring to the alignment of atoms does not make sense. Sound can affect the process of crystallisation of a liquid because the formation of crystals is influenced by pressure. See ▶ this video But claiming that there is any crystallisation happening in a finished wooden stringed instrument requires evidence because it is implausible. If we refer to polymers, wood and glue and lacquer all contain polymers. But claiming that those polymers are in any way affected by sound also requires evidence. Also claiming that wooden instruments contain metamaterials and that the structure of those metamaterials can be altered by sound, similarly requires evidence. What I am saying is that you not only claimed the existence of an unlikely phenomenon, but you also confidently asserted that it can be explained by physics that contradicts current knowledge. I am claiming that this is the Dunning-Kruger effect in action. I have read the page you link and find it unconvincing. In my comment to Perenti ( [link] ) I have proposed an experime

in “Study confirms superior sound of a Stradivari is due to wood treatment (2021)” · View on HN