Wrong

Biologists Just Totally Proved Wrong a Long-Standing Rumor About Sharks

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It’s been rumored that sharks don’t sleep at all; the fact some sharks must stay on the move to facilitate their breathing has contributed to this idea. A new study, however, finally confirms what anecdotal evidence and other research have long suggested – these animals do slumber, just as we do.   “We have provided … Read more

Ancient solar storm smashed Earth at the wrong part of the sun’s cycle — and scientists are concerned

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An extremely powerful solar storm pummeled our planet 9,200 years ago, leaving permanent scars on the ice buried deep below Greenland and Antarctica. A new study of those ancient ice samples has found that this previously unknown storm is one of the strongest outbursts of solar weather ever detected and would have crippled modern communications systems … Read more

What really makes a planet habitable? Our assumptions may be wrong

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Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at SUNY Stony Brook and the Flatiron Institute, host of “Ask a Spaceman” and “Space Radio,” and author of “How to Die in Space.” Sutter contributed this article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Remember Hoth, that ice-covered world from “The Empire Strikes Back”? Though some creatures eked … Read more

We Thought This Cell Death Phenomenon Was Irreversible, But We Were Wrong

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Pyroptosis, a type of programmed cell death related to infection and an inflammation response, can actually be stopped and managed, according to new research – whereas it was previously thought that the process was irreversible once it gets going.   Killing off cells with pyroptosis is something the body uses to stay healthy, though such … Read more

Sometimes Science Is Wrong – Scientific American

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In 1996 scientists announced the astonishing news that they’d discovered what they believed might be signs of ancient life inside a meteorite from Mars. In 2014 astrophysicists declared that they’d found direct evidence at last for the “inflationary universe” theory, first proposed in the 1980s. What these assertions had in common was that they were based on research by … Read more

We Learned the Wrong Lessons from the Tuskegee ‘Experiment’

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Editor’s Note (12/21/21): This article is being showcased in a special collection about equity in health care that was made possible by the support of Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The article was published independently and without sponsorship. Rarely a day goes by without national news stories about vaccine hesitancy: how many people say they definitely will or … Read more

The Famous Fossils Scientists Got Incredibly Wrong

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We sort of take for granted the depictions of prehistoric beasties illustrated in the books of our childhood. But piecing together Earth’s murky past is a lot harder than it sounds.   Scientists have to rely on fragmentary bones, weathered footprints, impressions in rock – these don’t always capture the fine details of the complex, … Read more