A recent contribution to the section “Visual Physics”1 reported the observation of a ground bow. Along with it, the authors shared their story of a Twitter-initiated inquiry into the origins of this phenomenon.
I believe that the author’s brief report may serve to highlight both the positive as well as the problematic side of social media in the context of science. For while it is remarkable how seemingly effortless nowadays coalitions of researchers addressing common topics of interest may form, and while the authors deserve credit for getting the “mystery” mostly solved via their own experimental investigations, it may be tempting to thereby skip the review of the literature. Here, it likely would have revealed that this phenomenon has been studied in detail as early as 19882: In addition to providing the answer concerning the origin of the glass beads (highway safety spheres), this previous work also...