Critics of science sometimes point out that the pronouncements of science aren't eternal; that from time to time, scientists change their explanations. Too often this is cited as a weakness, rather than one of the major strengths of science. As new information becomes available, corrections can be made and hypotheses improved. Explanations of natural phenomena derived from other ways of knowing too often have no such mechanism, and their explanations remain stubbornly the same regardless of new evidence.
Although such changes strengthen science, it means that people
interested in scientific matters cannot vegetate, for they must continuously be
updating the new, improved models. Hypotheses concerning the relationships of organisms
are especially prone to change, thanks to the vast amounts of new data from molecular
studies. One such change means learning a whole new family of carnivores, because
mounting evidence shows that the skunks are not members of the weasel family, instead
belonging to a family all of their own. Some people might complain about this, but
scientists will be the last to raise a stink over it.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.