Thinking Like A Scientist Can Help Overcome Allure Of Appearances

NPR:

Not long ago, Caren Walker, a PhD student at the University of California at Berkeley, was hiking in Tilden Park with her brother Michael when they came upon what looked like wild carrots.

“Yum, yum, yum!” exclaimed Michael (with perhaps greater eloquence, but no less enthusiasm). “These will make a tasty soup!”

Hours later at the hospital, drinking a thick black tar to prevent the effects of what turned out to be poison hemlock, Caren wished she’d heeded her initial skepticism about the wisdom of cooking up the colorful roots. “Silly brother,” she could have said, but didn’t, “don’t you know that appearances can be deceiving?”

Read the whole story: NPR