DON'T FEAR THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE

"I don't know where we are...both my compasses are out." This was one of the last radio messages that US Navy Lt. Charles C. Taylor ever sent. He had been out on a routine training mission with his students, flying in a group of five planes over the ocean off the Eastern coast of Florida on December 5, 1945. They never returned. No trace of the men or any of their planes was ever found.

Two decades later, an article about their disappearance introduced the idea of the Bermuda Triangle. This triangular area of ocean is roughly the same size as Alaska, and connects points at Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Miami, Florida. Different sources estimate that anywhere from dozens to hundreds of ships and planes have crashed or sunk here. Countless fascinating theories try to explain why. Some blame UFOs, the lost city of Atlantis, or hidden dimensions of spacetime. Others have more scientific-sounding theories about rising bubbles of gas or freak storms called microbursts.

All these theories miss one important thing: Is there a pattern here that needs explaining? Maybe not.

Tigers in the Grass

It's a scientist's job to come up with explanations for mysteries. But before a scientist thinks up and tests theories, they must rule out something called the null hypothesis. This is a fancy term for the idea that there's nothing to explain—there's no pattern, and no mystery. Whatever seemed mysterious was merely random coincidence.