by tayga » Sat Dec 10, 2011 2:01 pm
As a chemist, I never bought prion theory. The fact is that all of the changes attributed to prions can be caused by substituting tetrahedrally-coordinated manganese (II) for square planar-coordinated copper (II) in the proteins concerned offered a far simpler explanation for the pathology. Especially when its incidence is principally in areas where manganese levels are high and where copper-binding organophosphates agents have been used.
If you're interested, Mark Purdey (now deceased) investigated this thoroughly. You might find some interesting parallels between Mark's battle with consensus science and those experienced by Electric Universe supporters.
http://www.markpurdey.com/index.htmlIt was studying Mark Purdey, and Gary Taubes' writings on the lack of science behind the Low Fat doctrine, that opened my eyes to the possibility that large swathes of consensus science might be a triumph of dogma over research.
tayga
It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong.
- Richard P. Feynman
Normal science does not aim at novelties of fact or theory and, when successful, finds none.
- Thomas Kuhn