Many, maybe most, of the wilder claims in science (by scientists) are made to bring attention and funding to a field. Science journalists are often happy to join in because surprising results sells more papers and ads.<p>As fundamental discoveries are made, future work tends to be more peripheral, even if important. For example, microbiomes clearly influence the host organism, but the discoveries in this field are not on par with understanding the structure&#x2F;function of DNA. Germ-free mice are recognizably mice, DNA-free mice are not.