Cow's Broom-Scratching Behavior Offers Insights Into Scientific Discovery

Mariangela Lisanti explores how the rare observation of an Austrian cow using a broom to scratch itself relates to the nature of scientific research.

Mar. 27, 2026 at 12:37pm

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Mariangela Lisanti, a particle physicist at Princeton University, discusses how the recent discovery of an Austrian cow named Veronika using a broom to scratch itself provides an interesting parallel to the process of scientific discovery. She argues that while high-profile breakthroughs often grab headlines, the real work of science involves countless "intelligent failures" and null results that gradually redefine the limits of human understanding. Lisanti draws on examples from her own field of particle physics, including the decades-long search for the Higgs boson, to illustrate how failure and persistence are essential parts of the scientific method.

Why it matters

Lisanti's essay offers an insightful perspective on the nature of scientific research, challenging the popular notion that discovery happens in sudden, dramatic leaps. By highlighting how even seemingly mundane observations like a cow using a tool can yield valuable insights, the piece encourages readers to appreciate the painstaking, often unglamorous work that underlies major scientific advancements.

The details

Lisanti recounts the story of researchers observing an Austrian cow named Veronika using a broom to strategically scratch different parts of her body. She notes that finding this rare example of tool use in a cow likely required observing millions or even billions of cows over time before someone happened upon Veronika's unique behavior. Lisanti draws a parallel between this process of discovery and the work of particle physicists, who often spend decades searching for elusive subatomic particles like the Higgs boson, facing many "null results" before finally making a breakthrough.

  • The Higgs boson was first hypothesized in the 1960s.
  • The Large Electron-Positron Collider at CERN searched for the Higgs for 11 years before being shut down in the early 2000s.
  • The Tevatron collider at Fermilab continued the search but was shut down in 2011 without a definitive discovery.
  • The Higgs boson was finally discovered at CERN's Large Hadron Collider in July 2012.

The players

Mariangela Lisanti

A professor of physics at Princeton University and a public voices fellow with the OpEd Project who studies the nature of dark matter.

Veronika

An Austrian cow observed using a broom to scratch different parts of her body, providing a rare example of tool use in animals beyond chimpanzees.

Stephen Hawking

A renowned theoretical physicist who famously bet against the discovery of the Higgs boson and lost $100.

CERN

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, which operates the Large Hadron Collider where the Higgs boson was ultimately discovered.

Fermilab

A particle physics and accelerator laboratory located in Illinois that operated the Tevatron collider in the search for the Higgs boson.

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The takeaway

Lisanti's essay emphasizes that failure and persistence are essential parts of the scientific method, and that the painstaking, often unglamorous work of exploring the unknown through "intelligent failures" is just as important as the rare, high-profile breakthroughs that capture the public imagination. Her insights encourage readers to appreciate the true nature of scientific discovery.