SCIENCE: COIN FLIPS TEND TO END UP THE WAY THEY STARTED

A team of researchers analyzed the results of 350,757 coin tosses to determine whether the results are truly 50/50, and found coins are slightly more likely to land the same way they started. František Bartoš, a researcher at the University of Amsterdam, led a team that analyzed the results of 350,757 coin flips from 48 people using 46 currencies. “We found overwhelming evidence for a ‘same-side’ bias: If you start heads-up, the coin is more likely to land heads-up and vice versa. If you bet a dollar on the outcome of a coin toss and repeat the bet 1,000 times, knowing the starting position of the coin toss would earn you 19 dollars on average,” the researchers wrote.
* The study itself cost about $83,000, but 19 bucks is nice.
* So it’s better to bet $1000 each time ’cause you’d make $19,000. Good to know.
* By the end of the experiment, they were flippin’ out, man.
* Unable to think of a scientific theory to explain this, they said it was “magic.”
* Now explain why a dropped piece of toast with peanut butter always lands peanut-butter-side down.