22 Scientific Phenomena We Somehow Still Can’t Explain
![22 Scientific Phenomena We Somehow Still Can’t Explain](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/3/6/1073436_320x180.jpg)
Listen, scientists, we don’t mean to be rude — we know you’re out there doing important work. Okay, there are way more of you than there needs to be stinging yourselves on the dick with bees to find out if it hurts, meaning there’s at least one of you, but most of you are figuring out how cancer works and space travel and stuff. That’s great. Really, keep up the good work.
But would it kill one of you to solve hiccups? It’s one of the most embarrassing things we do, so it would be nice if we knew literally anything about them. What causes them? What purpose do they serve? Most importantly, how do I stop sitting there squeaking and spasming like a little cartoon baby?
Weirdly, when user thatguyaaron123 asked r/AskReddit, “What is a phenomenon/mystery that science hasn’t explained that just seems like we should have figured out by now?” no one said much about hiccups, but they did bring up a lot of other things that we should probably get squared away.
![capncuster 11y ago Consciousness for 500 please, Alex.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/8/1071298.jpg)
![way_fairer 11y ago Dreams. Why the fuck do we dream?](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/7/1071297.jpg)
![Lazy_Osprey 11y ago Aren't we still trying to figure out why people sleep? That seems like a biggie to me.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/6/1071296.jpg)
![11y ago Why do we yawn.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/5/1071295.jpg)
![11y ago Why humans blush.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/4/1071294.jpg)
![11y ago Laughter, and why we find certain things funnier than others.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/3/1071293.jpg)
![Stoopidhead27 11y ago We haven't actually figured out what makes an itch, or why scratching relieves an itch. I mean, come on.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/2/1071292.jpg)
![belabor_the_obvious 11y ago The purpose of an appendix.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/1/1071291.jpg)
![auburn_chubbs . 11y ago Aging. Dogs get arthritis after 10 years. Sea turtles live to be 150. Clearly there's a code that determines aging...maybe telomeres, but it would be nice to get to the bottom of it.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/0/1071290.jpg)
![BabyLauncher3000 11y ago How cats Purr. To this day we still don't know exactly how they do it.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/8/1071288.jpg)
![QueanB 11y ago How bicycles work. Specifically, why they stay up so easily.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/5/1071285.jpg)
![andnowforme0 11y ago 800 comments and nobody mentioned how anesthesia works. It's used a hundred times a day and we still don't know exactly why it puts the brain out without damaging it.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/9/1071289.jpg)
![. 11y ago Deja Vu. There's a theory that it's just a little memory woopsie but nobody is even close to knowing exactly what causes it.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/7/1071287.jpg)
![RichardCano 11y ago From what I've read we still don't know why ice is slippery. By all rational thought, it should be just as rough as any other solid. The leading theory is the friction of contact melts a thin surface layer which leads to slippage.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/4/1071284.jpg)
![Eliwood_of_Pherae 11y ago I've posted this before, but Ball Lightning. It's by far the coolest natural phenomenon in existence, and has no explanation.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/8/1071278.jpg)
![apcsniper 11y ago The placebo effect. Weird how somehow, sometimes a whole lot of nothing can be very powerful. I have read that it is somehow biochemical but apart from that what is really going on?](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/3/1071283.jpg)
![70Charger 11y ago How antidepressants really work and why. Also, I feel like we should be at a point in the medical process where prescribing antidepressants should be more advanced than hey, let's try this one!](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/6/1071286.jpg)
![zeptimius 11y ago How language works. We all use it, and have done so for millennia, but it's never been defined systematically enough to, say, program into a computer.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/1/1071281.jpg)
![Krull1973 11y ago Human appreciation of music. I don't believe there are any confirmed biological/evolutionary explanations for why particular combinations of noise in a particular sequence are pleasurable to us.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/9/1071279.jpg)
![kajorge 11y ago We have no idea how friction actually works. I mean, on a macroscopic scale we have basic rules. But we don't know why they are what they are. Attempts to study microscopic materials show that they do not obey the same rules as macroscopic items (Amonton's Laws of Friction). Source: I am a physicist researching 2-Dimensional (1-atom-thick) materials and their properties](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/7/7/1071277.jpg)
![zapfchance . 11y ago Edited 11y ago Gravity is really poorly understood. Newton's laws describe its effects well at the macroscopic scale, but break down for describing really small and really large phenomena. General relativity helps, but again, it's descriptive more than explanatory. And a quantum theory of gravity is still a dream.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/2/1071282.jpg)
![weltallica 11y ago What female ejaculate is, and where it comes from. We've been to the moon. Seriously.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/8/0/1071280.jpg)