Is this article in today’s Washington Post a “Known Unknown” or an “Unknown Unknown”. I think the latter. But I am always excited to learn about both.
The benefits of LED Light Therapy for reducing pain and increasing circulation are a Known Unknown.
“Known unknowns result from phenomena which are recognized, but poorly understood. On the other hand, unknown unknowns are phenomena which cannot be expected because there has been no prior experience or theoretical basis for expecting the phenomena.”
The benefits of LED Light Therapy are known and recognized in scientific circles and include many 100’s of studies on LLLT (low level light therapy) but are mostly unknown by the general public.
This exciting discovery about the brain’s lymphatic system…..meaning the brain has a way to get the garbage out……is an Unknown Unknown….new to everyone.
What is particularly exciting to me is the possibility that this Unknown Unknown may enable a Known Unknown (that light therapy increases circulation wherever the light is placed) to become a Known Known (red and near infrared light therapy can penetrate the skull, increasing circulation to the brain, bringing nutrients in and taking garbage out, alleviating the symptoms of many problems affecting the brain).
“Scientists find the brain’s missing ‘pipes’ by Amy Ellis Nutt
“Throw out the textbooks” and “missing link” are words rarely heard anymore in science, but that’s what researchers around the world are saying about the recent discovery of microscopic lymphatic vessels connecting the brain to the immune system…….Click to read more…….. Scientists find the brain’s missing ‘pipes’
“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns- the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
― Donald Rumsfeld, 2002
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