Too Many Scientific ‘Discoveries’ Get Discredited
From Martian microbes to arsenic-based life, the breakthroughs that often steal the show later turn out to be wrong.
Sometimes the science gets hijacked by hype.
Photographer: Anchalee Phanmaha/Moment RFIt’s not a good look for science when the most hyped, heavily marketed, and supposedly transformative discoveries are later discredited.
Among the more spectacular cases were claims that a team of scientists had discovered fossilized Martian life in a meteorite, and that spores found in amber and salt crystals had been revived after lying dormant for millions of years. Last week, the research journal Science finally retracted a headline-grabbing study published in 2010, which claimed scientists had found arsenic-based life. NASA had promoted the discovery as bolstering the case for the existence of extraterrestrials and a new tree of earthly life known as the “shadow biosphere.”