Someone has recently commented recently on “the rice experiment” but isn’t willing to discuss it. I thought it would be a good case study for looking at the issues of experimental design and the sort of potential confounding factors that need to be taken into account.  It seems that a Japanese amateur scientist claimed that being saying nice or nasty things to a mixture of rice and water will change the way it decays or ferments. Being nice to the rice results in fermentation and a nic