ASTRONOMY ...a lot of changes occur in astronomy on a regular basis, almost as fast as the probes go up.
For a long time it was asserted that the earth did not have a significant magnetic field. This has been disproven.
Likewise the "atmosphere" of the sun extends much farther into space than previously believed.
In my lifetime, the accepted scientific explanation of the solar system has changed from a gravity-based system, to a system model that includes electromagnetic radiation as a major consideration.
The temperature of Venus was discovered to be radically different than it thought to be, and its atmosphere of a different composition than previously believed.
The idea that the earth has recently come into contact with other major celestial bodies was considered a crackpot idea, but is now
being seriously considered. There is geological, astronomical, and fossil evidence of this. It was a heretical idea 50 years ago.
Plasma physics did not even exist as a discipline in 1950. It is now a regular subject in astronomy.
Probes to Mars, Jupiter and Saturn have mostly returned results that are a complete surprise to scientists and raise more questions than they answer.
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MEDICINE AND BIOCHEM... the changes and discoveries are so many and rapid it is impossible even
for most professionals to keep up.
One phenomenon I find of particular interest to me: In most clinical tests, a factor is determined for the "placebo" effect.
The statistical allowance for this is varies quite a bit but a value nearly always present in medical clinical tests. It is made because the body is actually able to affect changes in its condition based on ideas in human mind, by the power of belief and suggestion.
This is acknowledged by the scientists, but the mechanism is not understood and I have seen no effort to explain it or even discussion of it.
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BIOLOGY it was taught for many years that life could not exist beyond certain depths in the ocean, because of lack of light and high pressure. Yet life forms have been discovered at depths previously believed to be impossible, and in locations previously unthinkable.
Just the other day there was an article about "sticklebacks", a fish, in a science magazine. The article indicated that the external environment might trigger mutations. This is contrary to orthodox genetics, which presumed that natural selection would affect which mutations would be adopted; but conventional theory was that the environment does not cause mutations.
CHEMISTRY...there are elements that have been discovered and/or isolated for the first time in our lifetimes. For example,
seaborgium, was first isolated in 1974 and not officially named until the 1990s. Lots of chemistry books and periodic charts have to be trashed on a regular basis.
PHYSICS...a lot of weird new stuff being discussed. By scientists. String theory, things being in two places at once, alternate universes, multiple universes. Gravity fields.
This is after Newtonian physics was modified by Einsteins Theory of Relativity which was modified by quantum theory.
In my lifetime it was taught that the basic, smallest units of "matter" were protons, neutrons, and electrons.
This has been proven to be false.
These are "Hard" sciences. Let's not get into "soft" sciences like sociology, psychology, political science, and economics.
