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Everyday science

Avoiding artefacts: do you know when you’re seeing a real signal?

26 May 2022 Robert P Crease
Taken from the May 2022 issue of Physics World, where it appeared under the headline "Avoiding artefacts".

Can you distinguish experimental errors from the real voice of nature? Robert P Crease wants your stories

Cartoon of a man in a lab coat in front of a large diagram and a chart, with a question mark over the man's head
Don’t be confused How can you avoid being tricked by experimental artefacts? (Courtesy: iStock/gmast3r)
Are you seeing a blotch on your microscope slide, or a cell? Have you discovered a new astronomical

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Robert P Crease is a professor in the Department of Philosophy, Stony Brook University, US and writes the monthly Critical Point column for Physics World, robertpcrease.com, e-mail robert.crease@stonybrook.edu. His latest book is The Leak: Politics, Activists, and Loss of Trust at Brookhaven National Laboratory
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