Myths, Misconceptions and Debated Theories in Biology

Research studies and novel discoveries continually reshape our understanding of the natural world, often refining—and sometimes contesting—prevailing scientific theories. While this influx of new information is important for expanding knowledge, it can also give rise to myths and misconceptions stemming from biases, media misrepresentations and overgeneralizations. In this blog, we’ll explore misconceptions that blur the lines between fact and fiction, some scientific myths that just won’t go die and theories that scientists can’t stop debating.

Humans Only Use 10% of Their Brain 

This myth, frequently perpetuated through movies like Lucy with Scarlett Johansson and Limitless with Bradely Cooper, has ambiguous roots. Some attribute this pseudoscience to Albert Einstein, despite no recorded record of such a claim, while others associate it with a misinterpretation of William James and his “Reserve Energy Theory” (8). 

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RiboMAX and the Effort to Find Antiviral Drugs to Fight Coronaviruses and Enteroviruses

Prior to 2020, there were two major outbreaks of coronaviruses. In 2003, an outbreak of SARS-CoV sickened 8098 people and killed 774. In 2012, an outbreak of MERS-CoV began which so far has sickened 2553 and killed 876. Although the overall number of MERS cases is low, the disease has a high fatality rate, and new cases are still being reported. Even though fatality rates are high for these two outbreaks, containment was quickly achieved. This makes development of a treatment not commercially viable so no one had undertaken a large effort to develop an approved treatment for either coronavirus infection.

Fast forward to late 2019/2020… well, you know what has happened. There is currently no reliable antiviral treatment for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 infections.

Zhang, et al. thought of a way to make an antiviral treatment commercially viable. If the treatment is actually a broad-spectrum antiviral, it could be used to treat more than one infection, meaning, it can be used to treat more people and thus be seen as more valuable and worth the financial risk to pharmaceutical companies. So, they decided to look at the similarities between coronaviruses and enteroviruses.

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