After all, science tends to follow a slow and gradual path. New observations build on previous findings, often over the years, contributing piecemeal to a larger body of knowledge. But every once in a while, an insight emerges that dramatically accelerates our understanding of a particular subject, or takes the field in unexpected directions. This special edition summarizes exactly this kind of progress, which Thomas S. Kuhn called a “paradigm shift” in his 1962 book. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
In this anthology, we find that revolutionary discoveries can occur in almost any field. In the fields of biology and evolution, researchers have discovered an amazing sense of magnetism in the eyes of birds. Dinosaurs have long been conceived and depicted as imposing yet monotonous-looking creatures, but they weren’t really monotonous at all. In human history, archaeologists have revised hypotheses about the economic role of women in Viking and medieval societies based on recent analyzes of North Atlantic textiles.
In cosmology, data from NASA’s groundbreaking new observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, threatens to overturn astrophysicists’ theories about how the universe formed, prompting physicists to discover entangled black holes. have come up with some amazing ideas that help explain the almost 100-year-old paradox. Current views suggest that even our solar system emerged from a violent obscurity of impact and destruction, rather than slowly taking hold as long thought. We are confused by the fact that what we “see” in the universe may not actually exist in a quantum sense.
The great advances in our understanding of our own mind and body are equally remarkable. Trauma from events experienced during pregnancy can be passed on to children, as evidenced by genetic changes. Evolutionary anthropologist Herman Ponzer and his colleagues have painstakingly amassed a surprising amount of information about metabolism and how our bodies burn calories. And mRNA vaccine technology developed during the COVID pandemic is poised to revolutionize the treatment of numerous diseases, from herpes simplex virus 2 to norovirus to rabies.
One of my graduate school advisors used to say that what humans know (capital ‘K’) is very small compared to what we know in space. In that spirit, we also present a sample of some of the most fascinating unanswered questions, from the enduring mystery of how human consciousness arises to the growing debate about the very nature of the universe.
Some of the most surprising discoveries collected here are those that conventional scientific practice has gone out the window. As said, “You have this culture of readiness that makes it very difficult to think outside the box. That’s what makes the box.” The beauty is that when we leapfrog the pace of discovery or explore in entirely new directions, we discover entirely new ways of thinking. Break the box here.
