 Imagine you've heard that some chocolate contains the toxic metal lead, which some does, by the way. As an avid chocoholic, you do a quick Google search and come across LeadWatch. LeadWatch is a device that plugs into your smartphone and tells you whether the lead in your chocolate is above the acceptable level. LeadWatch doesn't actually exist, but it could do in the future. Using LeadWatch, you're happy that your chocolate habit isn't leading to excessive lead consumption, and all is good with the world. A year later, LeadWatch 2.0 is released. This version warns you when your chocolate lead content is 100 times lower than the acceptable level. Eager to consume as little lead as possible, you purchase LeadWatch 2.0. Some of your favorite chocolate products you previously thought were okay now show the presence of lead. You quickly ditch these, but are comfortable in the knowledge that the rest are safe. Then, Ultimate LeadWatch comes out. This latest iteration claims to detect even a single atom of lead in the chocolate you are eating. To your dismay, every piece of chocolate you test now appears to contain lead. Disaster. You have just hit the measurement conundrum. The chocolate you've been eating hasn't changed. All that's changed is your ability to measure what is in it. Does this mean that what you assumed to be safe is now not safe? Not at all. Just because you can measure something doesn't necessarily mean that it presents a risk. The measurement conundrum is real. When we can measure something we couldn't measure before, we need to know what to do with the new information. In some cases, this might mean reevaluating what a safe level is. In others, it might mean recognizing the difference between what we can measure and what is okay. In both cases though, we need to know what the measurements mean, not just what they are. For more information on lead in chocolate, check out the links below and stay safe.