"SCIENCE" STRIKES AGAIN – AT 8:08 A.M. ET:  We include this story because it's another great reminder that many "discoveries" reported by "researchers" turn out not to be true.  A cautionary tale, which we unabashedly link to the "global warming" craze.  From The New York Times:

Many who think they have food allergies actually do not.

A new report, commissioned by the federal government, finds the field is rife with poorly done studies, misdiagnoses and tests that can give misleading results.

You mean, scientists can make mistakes? 

While there is no doubt that people can be allergic to certain foods, with reproducible responses ranging from a rash to a severe life-threatening reaction, the true incidence of food allergies is only about 8 percent for children and less than 5 percent for adults, said Dr. Marc Riedl, an author of the new paper and an allergist and immunologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Yet about 30 percent of the population believe they have food allergies. And, Dr. Riedl said, about half the patients coming to his clinic because they had been told they had a food allergy did not really have one.

Dr. Riedl does not dismiss the seriousness of some people’s responses to foods. But, he says, “That accounts for a small percentage of what people term ‘food allergies.’ ”

COMMENT:  Right.  And "science" used to tell us that heart patients should lie in bed for six weeks after a heart attack, and polio victims should not be moved at all and...  Science progresses.  Some research accepted for decades is later found to be flawed.

So when Al Gore tells you the science of global warming is "settled," recall this and other stories.  Science is never settled.  It's an unending search for the truth, with plenty of detours.

The Earth is flat, you know.  I read it in an old science book.

May 12, 2010