Science in the world presents you: most debated scientific theories!
I don’t know if you’re into science or not, but for me, science is one of the most incredible tools we have for understanding the world we live in, especially when it comes to the most debated scientific discoveries!
But there are still things that scientists argue about because, while they’re involved in a formal and complicated domain, they’re still humans, and errors can always happen. We wanted to know more about some of the things that are around us—some questions we’ve always had but never gotten answers to.
But no more with that, because in today’s article, we’re going to talk about all the most debated scientific theories! From COVID-19 models to peer review to potential alien technology, there are pieces of information that were kept from us.
Scientists wanted to disclose some disagreements and mistakes that happened throughout the years, so if you want to know the truth, keep reading, because here are the 5 most debated scientific theories!
1. Potential alien technology
I only have one word to say: Oumuamua. In 2017, a small but unidentified space object, which was then called Oumuamua, passed through our solar system. This space object seemed like a speck in those impressive photographs taken by smart telescopes.
Astronomers used different instruments and filters that are sophisticated, and they managed to measure and determine particular properties of Oumuamua. The thing that impressed them and made this special object the main subject of one of the most debated scientific theories was that Oumuamua was nothing like any comet or asteroid they had seen before.
This strange object was very thin and long, and it was a surprise for NASA. Oumuamua moved in a trajectory that deviated from gravity, and this is something that they typically see in comets.
However, Oumuamua soon became the star of some of the most popular and debated scientific theories because it presented no detectable outgassing and also had no coma or tail, like scientists usually see on comets.
But that was not all, because the strange object had different and unusual brightness, and while the scientific community tried to settle what Oumuamua actually was, they had a hard time doing so because some of them stated it was a space rock, others said it was a dust bunny, and others concluded that it was a piece of alien tech.
As you can see, this special object didn’t take long to become one of the most debated scientific theories, but scientists settled on classifying it as an indeterminate interstellar object. What do you think about this story?
2. Is a brain necessary to think?
One of the most debated scientific theories sounds like this: do you really need a brain to think? Well, humans need their brains to come up with different ideas and develop complex cognitive abilities, but some living organisms don’t need them.
It’s well known that different smart animals, such as elephants, apes, and dolphins are thinking creatures with mental lives. They’re strong, intelligent, and capable of so many things that it’s impossible not to be surprised when you see them.
However, we started talking about the most debated scientific theories, and it’s safe to say that experts have discovered plenty of insects and fish that have the same cognitive abilities as us.
But that’s not all; they took their research a step further and discovered single-cell organisms that are brainless, such as slime molds, and they were impressed when they observed that these tiny species have complex cognitive abilities.
What they noticed after they ran a couple of tests and experiments is that those bright yellow blobs can learn, solve different problems, make decisions, have memories, and learn. Isn’t that mind-blowing?
3. COVID-19 modeling
A couple of years ago, one of the most debated scientific theories was related to COVID-19. All the experts around the world were studying SARS-CoV-2, trying to find the best way to treat it and develop a vaccine against it.
When the new coronavirus was still a taboo topic, scientists were always studying how the virus was going to develop over time. They wanted to be ahead of the game, know exactly what each variant was going to bring to the table, and come up with solutions and prevention measures for people.
But regardless of how much each one of them was studying, the COVID-19 modeling was still difficult to predict, making this subject one of the most debated scientific theories. However, let’s hope that a pandemic like this won’t come again, and if it does, we’ll definitely be ready, considering how hard the year 2020 and the following period were.
4. Issues with peer review
Another one of these most debated scientific theories was the process of peer review. If you don’t know what this means, don’t worry; we’ll cover that in a second. Peer review is the process of trying to certify the findings of a scientific study.
When researchers are done with a study, the team writes up a report on how they conducted it. This report is called a paper, and the researchers who participated in it are the authors of the paper. The researchers then have to submit their paper to a scientific journal.
The next step is that the editor of the journal sends the paper to different scientists to review it. There are 2-3 volunteer scientists who will then read the paper to see if the study was performed correctly.
The last thing they have to do is inform the journal’s editor if they approve or disapprove of the paper or if there’s an issue with it that might be fixed.
But the thing that made this issue one of the most debated scientific theories was the fact that it’s not that simple to do the right thing with the paper. Some people working in the field say that peer review doesn’t necessarily mean that scientists who review the paper will also approve it for publication.
It might sound a bit confusing, but even if a scientist says that a paper shouldn’t be published because the methodology isn’t clear enough for readers, the paper sometimes still gets published.
Another one of the reasons why peer review is one of the most debated scientific theories is that scientists have no idea who the other reviewers are, so it’s a mystery how many reviewing scientists might approve or disapprove of a paper.
While peer review is known as something very studied and important, it’s sometimes not of that high quality, so you have to be careful with the articles you put all of your trust in.
5. Most debated scientific theories – careers
Well, if you think that the other piece of information we’ve previously mentioned isn’t that debatable, the things we’re going to talk about will definitely make you intrigued because a career in such an important domain is surely one of the most debated scientific theories, and you’ll see why in a second.
One of the most popular scientists in Florida said that the democratization of science is good, but the field has been turned into a regular job with all of the platitudes normally associated with a “job”.
Instead of rewarding creative and ingenious scientific exploration, the tendency is to cramp researchers. A while ago, scientists were driven by passion and wanted to discover important things—serious discoveries that were going to have an impact on the world—but this drive has been replaced by the weird pressure to turn out not-so-important lowercase “d” discoveries.
You might be surprised to find out this, but some scientists even said that there are senior scientists who have their names written on hundreds of papers without actually doing any good work on them. And getting grants for pursuing studies they’re interested in is also difficult.
One of the ways to combat this, according to scientists, is to focus on the quality of work instead of the number of papers published. Let’s hope that they can study the things that they’re passionate about and that also make a huge difference in the world, because science is one of the things that make the world a better place!
What do you think about these 5 most debated scientific theories? If you’re interested in science and other curiosities, I recommend you check out this book! One of my colleagues gifted it to me, and I’m totally impressed because it’s full of useful insights in different fields. If you want to read something else from us, here’s a good article: Does TV Rot Your Brain? 5 Brain Myths Debunked by Science!
