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from the even-smart-people-can-perpetuate-stupid dept.
False beliefs and wishful thinking about the human experience are common. They are hurting people — and holding back science.
[...] These myths often blossom from a seed of a fact — early detection does save lives for some cancers — and thrive on human desires or anxieties, such as a fear of death. But they can do harm by, for instance, driving people to pursue unnecessary treatment or spend money on unproven products. They can also derail or forestall promising research by distracting scientists or monopolizing funding. And dispelling them is tricky.
Scientists should work to discredit myths, but they also have a responsibility to try to prevent new ones from arising, says Paul Howard-Jones, who studies neuroscience and education at the University of Bristol, UK. "We need to look deeper to understand how they come about in the first place and why they're so prevalent and persistent."
Some dangerous myths get plenty of air time: vaccines cause autism, HIV doesn't cause AIDS. But many others swirl about, too, harming people, sucking up money, muddying the scientific enterprise — or simply getting on scientists' nerves. Here, Nature looks at the origins and repercussions of five myths that refuse to die.
These are some of the science myths that will not die.
(Score: 5, Informative) by NoMaster on Sunday December 20 2015, @08:26AM
On the other hand, don't forget that if you walked down any street in the 40's or 50 you'd be walking past dozens of famiies who'd had a child die at birth, or during childhood from whooping cough, or diarrhea, or scarlet fever, or meningitis, or diphtheria, or measles, or pneumonia; or had a family member living into adulthood affected by polio, or TB, or disabled through rubella, or ...
Everyone is playing a life-or-death game with the Random Number Gods. Vaccines certainly aren't perfect, but they sure as hell tip the odds in your favour. When it happens to you or your family it is terrifying - but we've forgotten that, and are now more terrified by the rare cases & chance of something happening than the exposure to the true horrors of the commonplace diseases everyone faced before modern vaccines & medical treatments.
Live free or fuck off and take your naïve Libertarian fantasies with you...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Francis on Sunday December 20 2015, @09:13AM
Indeed, I once nearly died from an infection of the stomach. Had I contracted the H. Pylori before doctors knew about them or had antibiotics, I likely would have starved to death. I could only keep down about a half cup of food a day until the antibiotics ran their course. Not a particularly pleasant way to die either.
People used to die of dysentery as well because there were no treatments available. Now people only die of that in areas where they don't have access to proper medical care. But in the past that was a relatively common cause of death.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 20 2015, @01:36PM
Don't forget polio.