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Remembering Molecules?
Most all the stuff you learn in school is false.
If that sounds like an extreme generalization -- it is. And it's exactly why what you learn is false: it's incomplete, it's generalized, it's dumbed-down for the masses.
It's easy to see this when you're talking about the difference between say, 2nd grade and post graduate work. Little second graders can't possibly understand relativity, so we show them apples falling from trees and tell them about gravity. Only later do we get into all the exceptions and interesting cases and questions.
What we have a hard time accepting, however, is that no matter how much we know, we're probably the equivalent of second graders compared to the knowledge we'll have in a couple hundred years. Sure -- we don't believe in lies, after all, real science is built of experiment and observation. So what happens when we reach one of those moments, like the second grader, when we realize that there's something bigger going on?
That's where the story gets interesting.
"Researchers show evidence of molecular memory in cells and molecules" the headline reads. Researchers at Georgia Tech have released an interesting bit of research.
Atlanta (October 29, 2007) — Research reported October 29 in the online version of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides evidence that some molecular interactions on cell surfaces may have a “memory” that affects their future interactions. The report could lead to a re-examination of results from certain single-molecule research.
An even more interesting article:
Many people subscribe to homeopathy because it is completely safe. Homeopathic medicines are mostly derived from natural sources like plants, minerals and at the most animals which help avoid adverse effects to a large extent. "90 percent of homeopathic medicines are extracted from plants and the remaining 10 percent comes from anything under the sun, like minerals, metals or animals," says Batra. Besides, homeopathic medicines are administered in minute doses. The homeopathic medicine is prepared by diluting the substance in a series of steps and the level of dilution is kept quite high. "The extracts are diluted to such extent that at times one cannot even find the principal molecule," adds Batra. However, homeopaths maintain that the healing properties of the substance are maintained through this process in spite of the level of dilution.
Okey dokey now. So here's a guy who's selling stuff that is so diluted that the original molecules do not remain. And he claims it's different from stuff that never had the molecule.
Underlying both of these stories is the question of molecular memory. Is there some new model of molecules that can take into account these observations?
While I have no idea if any of this will pan out, I know one thing: if you can create a reproducible experiment that verifies a model, then sure, things may change in the future, but we'll have a better provisional model right now than we used to.
All science is provisional. That means that we should always be looking to break our models. When people come to you and tell you that "a hundred scientists feel like X" you should grab onto your wallet. Science isn't done by vote or prestige, and it should always be reinventing itself, challenging and criticizing. Instead of scientists signing petitions for various pet causes, we should be asking them to create models that other people can independently create experiments to test. That's what science is all about. Gravity doesn't work because Newton was a famous mathematician and he says it does. In fact, Newton had no idea what the underlying cause for gravity is. We still don't. But he was able to construct a mathematical model that anybody who could drop an apple from a tree could test. Maybe one day we'll get a better handle on gravity, or molecular memory (if there is such a thing), or global climate change, or dark energy, but that day is not today.
Welcome to second grade.
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Mmm, these articles are not talking about quite the same things. As for homeopath claims, every double-blind study on the efficacy of homeopathic "drugs" finds no better results than placebo. It's not a matter of something we don't understand - it's a matter of nothing measurably different.
I used too much rhetorical license in that post. Thanks for catching that for me. I believe I could have done the same them with a better second example. Sorry about that.
You seem to have a real problem confusing "minority opinion" with "scientific debate."
No, science is not a popularity contest. This much is true. But it's ALSO true that if you believe that the vast majority of the world's scientists are likely not boneheads, then scientific consensus will correlate strongly with scientific fact.
Er Bob,
What the heck are you talking about? This article is about the fact that science is always provisional. It has nothing to do with minority opinions or scientific debate. In fact, I pointed out that _experiments_ were performed that suggested things were one way or another. That the current models do not account for the results of the experiements. Opinion and debate have nothing to do with thrust of this article. This article is about how not only are our models incomplete, we actively hide that from kids in an attempt to make learning easier.
Sometimes, sadly, this has an ill effect. We get boneheads who confuse provisional theory with reality, and incomplete models with something like "established scientific fact", whatever that is. These pathetic cases, instead of learning more about what science actually is, grab on to the idea that science is the ultimate truth. Either they continue to evolve and learn that science is simply a philosophical system of creating reproducible behavior (not truth), or they stop learning and lash out in rhetorical temper tantrums. There's nobody as stupid as the guy who thinks he knows everything.
But thanks for playing, Bob. Glad to point you towards some material that might help your confusion some. Or you can just continue to lash out.