Take That Back: The Top Scientific Retractions of 2019

[Judi Lynn]

By Christopher Wanjek a day ago

"If it disagrees with experiment, it's wrong. That's all there is to it." So said famed physicist Richard Feynman at a lecture about the scientific method at Cornell University in 1964.

Feynman appears to be only half correct, though. Yes, one's proposed theory is wrong if it doesn't agree with experiment. But that's not all there is to it. With carelessness or outright fraud, you can make it seem that your theory is correct — and get it published in a top scientific journal.

Usually, such deception is eventually discovered. This past year was rich in scientific retractions of papers filled with poor processes and, in many cases, blatant fabrications. Here are five from 2019 that made the news in part because they mislead and provide false hope.

5. Creationist's paper retracted '20 million years' later



(Image credit: Shutterstock)

God created the Earth 6,000 years ago, according to many Christian creationists. And on the sixth day of creation, God made three species of timber vole with ribonucleotides that would come to demonstrate the shortcomings of the theory of evolution, according to a 1989 paper in the International Journal of Neuroscience.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/top-retracted-science-studies-2019.html

[Cartoonist]

1. How did that one even get through the door?

As soon as religion is mentioned, it should go in the circular file.