How often does the Earth go around the sun?
Once in a while one comes across a startling fact, as in the July 9 Newsweek science pages stating that 25% of adult Americans do not know that the Earth goes around the sun once a year (it actually takes a few hours more, hence leap years). That simple statistic might help explain why public policy in America is hardly ever based on rational discourse (assuming it’s true).
But perhaps that’s too harsh on the layman—after all, scientists themselves establish dogmas in their own fields, holding back groundbreaking research for decades, with the penalty of career suicide for a scientist willing to question the established “facts”. Just one example in a long and sad series is the proof of neurogenesis at all ages, and even in the elderly, something once thought impossible.
