Discovering Your Inner Scientist

In the popular imagination, science is a collection of arcane facts that only a tiny minority of people are capable of understanding. In reality, science a process for generating knowledge by looking at the world, thinking of possible explanations for interesting phenomena, testing those models by observation and experiment, and telling the results of those tests to others. This process is an essential human activity, something we all do every day, often just for fun. In this talk, I explain how everyday activities like card games, crossword puzzles, and sports make use of the same mental tools scientists have used to revolutionize our understanding of the universe.