Q&A: The papers in 2019 that challenged scientific dogma
Last week, Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and researcher at the Scripps Research Translational Institute, published his second annual list of papers that challenged previously held dogmas. The roundup includes research that showed brain cells continue to grow even in the aged, as well as how breakfast may not actually be the important meal. I spoke with Topol to learn more.
What’s the impetus for the list?
We tend to accept things without hard evidence. Many things that are touted as truth and final or definitive, often turn out to be groundless or shaky or tenuous when you look into it.
Are there lessons for scientists and those of us covering science?
Be a rebel — challenge things if there isn’t hard evidence. Most things in medicine are not all that well-proven. I approach every day as a skeptic and so should journalists — if you’re always skeptical, you’re likely to never accept things as they are. That’s a real quality we should really nurture.
Where do you draw the line between skepticism and anti-science denial?
I don’t want to nurture anti-science sentiment. I just want to see that we want hard truth and that sometimes the things we accept blindly without looking at the basis, that we constantly re-assess that. What I want it to be about is not [being] complacent.
What’s the impetus for the list?
We tend to accept things without hard evidence. Many things that are touted as truth and final or definitive, often turn out to be groundless or shaky or tenuous when you look into it.
Are there lessons for scientists and those of us covering science?
Be a rebel — challenge things if there isn’t hard evidence. Most things in medicine are not all that well-proven. I approach every day as a skeptic and so should journalists — if you’re always skeptical, you’re likely to never accept things as they are. That’s a real quality we should really nurture.
Where do you draw the line between skepticism and anti-science denial?
I don’t want to nurture anti-science sentiment. I just want to see that we want hard truth and that sometimes the things we accept blindly without looking at the basis, that we constantly re-assess that. What I want it to be about is not [being] complacent.
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