Top posts

Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 4,455 posts.

Science & Space
Any year
1102

Surgery, the Ultimate Placebo

Ian Harris explains that more than half of commonly performed surgical operations may be placebos. Adequate studies using a blinded control group are essential. Ian Harris, a Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, wrote a book titled Surgery, The Ultimate Placebo. I…

1105

GPS and Relativity

People often ask me "What good is Relativity?" It is a commonplace to think of Relativity as an abstract and highly arcane mathematical theory that has no consequences for everyday life. This is in fact far from the truth.