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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 21 2015, @04:15AM
http://www.newsmax.com/health/Health-News/autism-vaccines-cdc-suppress/2014/09/10/id/593865/ [newsmax.com]
"The paper suggests the re-analysis provides “new evidence of a statistically significant relationship between the timing of the first MMR vaccine and autism incidence in African-American males.” It says some children may be genetically predisposed to suffer negative effects from the vaccines.
In the wake of the publication of Hooker’s paper, William Thompson, co-author of that original 2004 CDC study, released a statement, admitting to omitting the data after a secretly recorded conversation he had with Hooker was released on YouTube.
“I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article … [suggesting] that African-American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism,” said Thompson, a senior CDC scientist, adding: “I want to be absolutely clear that I believe vaccines have saved and continue to save countless lives.”
Late last month, the editors of Translational Neurodegeneration retracted Hooker’s paper, saying, “This article has been removed from the public domain because of serious concerns about the validity of its conclusions. The journal and publisher believe that its continued availability may not be in the public interest.”"