In the year 2000, Jimmy Fallon, current host of The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, was a cast member of Saturday Night Live. He was the co-host of the segment Weekend Updates, a sketch that parodies recent news and events. On December 9th of that year, one of the parodied news stories went as follows: Fallon was quoted saying, “‘New Scientist’ magazine reported on Wednesday that in the future, cars could be powered by hazelnuts. That’s encouraging, considering an eight-ounce jar of hazelnuts costs about nine dollars. Yeah, I’ve got an idea for a car that runs on bald eagle heads and Faberge eggs.”
While scientific breakthroughs that promise to fuel our cars with nut-oil sound humorous, it is often these kinds of research projects that lead to greater, and even practical, discoveries. While some research articles bear ludicrous titles such as, “Why lattes are less prone to spills than coffee,” or “Brain cells predict opponent’s move in game-playing monkeys,” they should not be disregarded as irrelevant. In fact, the discovery of cars running on hazelnuts could possibly lead to more eco-friendly cars that run on renewable resources.
Science experiments are almost always stepping stones for further and future discoveries. As such, they should be viewed from the broader perspective of how any one, minor discovery may change a scientist’s thinking and inspire him or her to apply these findings to practical use. Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb poignantly stated, “The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.” And as said by Isaac Asimov, American author and biochemist, “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny…’”
Adopting an attitude like Fallon’s causes a real problem in the scientific community: that of deriding scientists whose discoveries are unconventional or might seem funny rather than ingenious. We have seen this occur throughout history, when some of our greatest and most talented scientists were once victim to such ridicule. Gregor Mendel, known as the man who pioneered the field of genetics, conducted experiments which, during his time, were thought to prove what was already known. In reality, Mendel’s experiments proved something which was completely novel and which laid the groundwork for all genetics in pretty much all organisms. Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity was considered to be nonsense before its intricacies were completely understood.
Indeed, beneath the Bunsen burners and test tubes lies a curious truth; that while science depends on the facts in order to progress, it also requires a little bit of belief in the unknown, and in the work of other people.
Instead of feeling threatened by novel ideas that pose a contradiction to pre-conceived notions about the world, it is more productive to be open-minded to new ideas. We often dismiss ideas that challenge our sense of what is real and true in an effort to protect the way we identify the world as we know it. Often times, our conception of the world can actually be adjusted.
And so, Jimmy Fallon, the world may not need hazelnut-powered cars per se. But it could use a new fuel to power vehicles. And it is up to us to keep an open mind to new discoveries such as these, and to have faith in the scientific process that leads to their discovery.