Thu December 29, 2011 Debunked Science: Studies In 2011 Take
Heat 2011 may go down as the year of the retraction in the
scientific world. Among the highly publicized discoveries that
got debunked this year: a genetic basis for longevity; a new
form of life; an explanation for autism; and a link between a
virus and chronic fatigue syndrome. All of these non-discoveries
have something in common. They involved findings that both
scientists and the public badly wanted to believe. One thing
most people would like to believe is that science can help us
live to be 100. So it was no surprise that people got pretty
excited about a 2010 study in the journal Science that offered a
genetic explanation for long life. The study identified 150
clusters of genes that seemed to be common in centenarians. "The
genetic control was very strong and allowed some prediction of
who would live a long time," says David Goldstein, a professor
of genetics at Duke University. But as appealing as that idea
was, Goldstein says he had major