Editing 2239: Data Error

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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
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{{incomplete|Created by a data error... please explain to me what I am (i.e. give examples of data errors that would destroy research - if not help conquer the world). Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
 
[[Megan]] is frustrated that a data error invalidates her research, which she was just ready to publish. [[Black Hat]] tells her not to panic and states there are two options.
 
[[Megan]] is frustrated that a data error invalidates her research, which she was just ready to publish. [[Black Hat]] tells her not to panic and states there are two options.
  
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Option two fits the [[classhole]] expectation from Black Hat, as he suggests that she should destroy the evidence, use her research materials to build a superweapon, and use it to conquer the world and rule it with an iron fist.
 
Option two fits the [[classhole]] expectation from Black Hat, as he suggests that she should destroy the evidence, use her research materials to build a superweapon, and use it to conquer the world and rule it with an iron fist.
  
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Obviously familiar with [[Black Hat]]'s ways, she moves right into being a smart-aleck. Her research is about the productivity of {{w|algae}} -- a topic not likely to lead to conquering the world. Humorously she states that at least she can make people tremble before her and her anomalously productive algae, and then goes on to state it was the data error that made her algae look productive. She jokingly corrects herself and states ''Tremble before my normal algae!'' She is, of course, having some fun with [[Black Hat]] and his generally destructive behavior.
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At first Megan seems excited about this idea, but then she reveals that this second suggestion is not really an option, since her research is about the productivity of {{w|algae}} -- a topic not likely to lead to conquering the world. Humorously she states that at least she can make people tremble before her and her anomalously productive algae, only to realize that it was the data error that made her algae look productive. They are in fact merely normal algae, and she corrects herself to ''Tremble before my normal algae!'' She is of course making a joke on Black Hat.
  
 
Destroying the evidence, hiding the error and publishing the wrong results as if they were right is what a dishonest scientist would do in such a situation. This behavior is what would be expected by a malevolent character such as Black Hat... But the unexpected turn is that Black Hat passes over {{w|scientific misconduct}} to go directly to pure supervillainhood. He obviously has some other ideas about what a researcher uses her time on, as he did not expect Megan to be frustrated about algae.
 
Destroying the evidence, hiding the error and publishing the wrong results as if they were right is what a dishonest scientist would do in such a situation. This behavior is what would be expected by a malevolent character such as Black Hat... But the unexpected turn is that Black Hat passes over {{w|scientific misconduct}} to go directly to pure supervillainhood. He obviously has some other ideas about what a researcher uses her time on, as he did not expect Megan to be frustrated about algae.
  
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The title text refers to the {{w|Great Oxidation Event}}, when prokaryotic photosynthetic organisms built up oxygen in Earth's atmosphere for the first time and most organisms, which weren't adapted to oxygen, went extinct. It's extremely unlikely that algae could again be dangerous to all life on Earth, though Black Hat may wish they could be. (Note that {{w|cyanobacteria}}, which are colloquially referred to as "blue-green algae", are not considered to be true algae by many scientists, who restrict the term to {{w|eukaryotes}}.) On the other hand, algae and cyanobacteria {{w|Harmful algal bloom|can still be locally harmful}}.
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The title text refers to the {{w|Great Oxidation Event}}, when prokaryotic photosynthetic organisms built up oxygen in Earth's atmosphere for the first time and most organisms, which weren't adapted to oxygen, went extinct. It's extremely unlikely that algae could again be dangerous to all life on Earth, though Black Hat may wish they could be. (Note that {{w|cyanobacteria}}, which are colloquially referred to as "blue-green algae", are not considered to be true algae by many scientists, who restrict the term to {{w|eukaryotes}}.)
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Megan's data error could have been any number of things.  Her data pipeline might have had a unit conversion error, or perhaps she mistyped the baseline productivity value that she was comparing her algae to, or perhaps her calculations used assumed or estimated values related to phenomena that were poorly understood at the time but have since been resolved in an unfavorable direction.
 
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Whatever Megan's data error was, it seems harmless enough, but a similar data error spurred the development of nuclear weapons.  In 1940, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls wrote a memo "{{w|Frisch–Peierls memorandum|On the construction of a 'superbomb' based on a nuclear chain reaction in uranium}}".  In this memo, Frisch and Peierls estimated that only 570 grams of uranium-235 would be required to construct a "superbomb" (what we now call a nuclear weapon), compared to many tons of natural uranium-238.  This inspired the British and American governments to begin developing infrastructure for uranium enrichment through the {{w|Tube Alloys}} and {{w|Manhattan Project}} programs.  Later experiments in these programs revealed that the values Frisch and Peierls had used for uranium's density and nuclear cross-section were overestimates (the true critical mass is actually around fifty kilograms), but by that time, the programs were far enough along that they could simply press on with enriching more material to eventually produce working weapons.
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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[[Category:Biology]]
 
[[Category:Biology]]
 
[[Category:Science]]
 
[[Category:Science]]
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[[Category:Scientific research]]
 

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