Humankind has always sought to understand the workings of our bodies and the world around it throughout history. Let’s take agriculture as an example. Farmers needed to know when and what to plant. They needed to know when it would rain and if it was going to be hot. These were the first meteorological predictions made by the local “shaman”, the seasons and the cabanuelas. Many local proverbs and sayings reflect this story. All this meteorology is based on speculation. Sometimes, local proverbs and sayings can be very close to the truth, especially for places with specific geographical features. However, the proverbial or predicted outcome cannot be applied to other locations. Meteorology can be applied to food and hygiene as well as diseases and stars.
Sometimes, it was science that created erroneous beliefs, sometimes unintentionally. In the past, scientific demonstrations, whether theoretical or experimental, were not truthful and there was no formal structure for scientific research. The earth is the center of the Universe, for example. Amoral scientists may have deliberately’sneaked” erroneous scientific publications in order to gain fame, power, or promotion. It can happen, even casually. This can be avoided with the strict and honest controls that serious scientific publications use.
There are many other ways to spread erroneous beliefs. They are more effective because they can reach all audiences. The most dangerous of all is information obtained via the Internet. This increases the availability of the information due to the unlimited sources of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). Recent research shows that it would take 50+ years to find all information available about four diseases. Information overload and ‘infosaturation’ have not led to an increase in quality content. This is leading to myths and beliefs about a variety of topics, particularly scientific ones.
Remember that myths can be misunderstood or false ideas that do not match current knowledge. Many scientists don’t have the knowledge necessary to fully understand the subject matter they write about. This low-quality information can pose a danger to your health in some areas, such as health. Today, it is important that young people learn how to choose information from the Internet. It is not acceptable to use the phrase “Google says so”. Wikipedia is not perfect. This is because Wikipedia has very little quality control.
It is difficult to dismantle all myths, beliefs, and explanations that are not supported by science. This is what is known as ‘infoxication’. The inability to efficiently process and use information. It would be necessary in compulsory education to explain what scientific rigor means and how to know if something is rigor. Recent studies have shown that many students still hold onto misinformation after they graduate. There are ways to change this. These beliefs can be examined from time to time in this science section to see what the current scientific knowledge has to say about them.
