by Margaret Heale RN, MSc, CWOCN
The research lecturer’s name was Terry, and he had my respect and attention. Many of the students were dreading the research modules but were cheered by the prospect of Terry taking us through it.
Terry included this little gem in his introduction to research. A group of researchers came up with a hypothesis that spiders had ears in their legs. How could they prove this, they wondered. They procured some arachnids of exactly the same type and took great pains to match them for all important parameters. They checked carefully the hearing of each. Placing them in turn in a quiet, stable tray, each time they yelled “Run!” every spider would take off at speed at the sound. The next step was to remove the spiders’ ears, so the legs of each spider were removed. Now when the researchers yelled “Run!” the spiders did not hear and did not move at all. So there you have it, clear undeniable proof, spiders have ears in their legs. It is very easy to see the flaw in this rather cruel piece of research, but sadly it is not always that easy … read more