Scientific American is the bomb.

[Mr. Harley]

You want to talk about problems with changes to accepted theory being accepted, read about the history of the fight over Heliobacter pylori causing ulcers.

Then, in 1984, physicians Warren and Marshall from Australia claimed that peptic ulcer disease was not caused merely by overproduction of gastric acid, but rather by a specific bacterium: Helicobacter pylori, to be specific. They recommended antibiotic therapy. Believe me, they were ridiculed by the medical establishment. I recall my colleagues, and even my own physician-husband, scoffing at the idea of peptic ulcers being an infectious disease. For the next thirteen years, most of the “medical mainstream” refused to let go of their calcified notion that the only treatment for ulcers was to combat gastric acid secretion. After all, that was what we all learned in medical school. Therefore, it had to be the truth!

I cannot remember which one did it, but he got so pissed he drank a solution of the bacteria and gave himself ulcers, which he proceeded to cure via antibiotics! However, and interesting point here is the most physicians are not scientists, they are applied technicians. Scientifically trained, but technicians none-the-less. I don't know how quickly the Microbiologists accepted the new data and the changed paradigm.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc
You want to talk about problems with changes to accepted theory being accepted, read about the history of the fight over Heliobacter pylori causing ulcers.



I cannot remember which one did it, but he got so pissed he drank a solution of the bacteria and gave himself ulcers, which he proceeded to cure via antibiotics! However, and interesting point here is the most physicians are not scientists, they are applied technicians. Scientifically trained, but technicians none-the-less. I don't know how quickly the Microbiologists accepted the new data and the changed paradigm.

By the late 1980s to early 1990s most physicians had begun to accept the role of H. pylori in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcers. I think that I've been using antibiotic therapy to treat ulcers at least since 1990.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Do you really think people actually eventually resolve and discard some of their irreconcilable beliefs? Consider the evidence...

I agree with Az here. You don't get a consistent system unless you keep on introspecting, thinking through the conflicting aspects, and modify your system accordingly.

A lot of people have troubles with Battleground: God because of such inconsistencies.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


It's a SCIENCE MAGAZINE. People read it to LEARN ABOUT SCIENCE. Not to learn about the political issues of the day.

So learning about science precludes learning about the history of science ? Or about how politics or economics may affect the funding of pure science or what fields are deemed permissible to research ?

About why for instance, Western science lagged behind Islamic science for several centuries, or about grotesque offshoots such as Nazi 'race science' or Stalinist Lysenkoism ?

Or about faith and science in conflict in the contemporary world ?


You keep asserting that 'people' read it for this purpose and for that purpose- yet as far as we know you aren't the spokesperson for the readership of SciAm.

So if you're asserting your personal preference, why not say so, instead of claiming that the majority of the magazine's readership peruse it for the reasons you say they do ?