Challenging the conventional wisdom isn’t always easy or safe. But as the old saw goes, ‘it ain’t what you don’t know – it’s what you know that just ain’t so’ that hurts you most. Here are three recent little variants on that theme:
The human appendix needs an asterisk. Long believed to be an ‘evolutionary relic,’ useless to all practical intents and purposes, instead the appendix appears to “serve a critical function”.
On another front, a researcher at Michigan State University believes the evidence indicates that current health standards denigrating nitrates and nitrites in food are, in part, in error and that nitrates and nitrates in plants may well provide health benefits.
And finally, it appears that homes are a radically underestimated source of water pollution – contributing as much as 50 percent more water pollution in the form of pesticides, fertilizers and other contaminants, than previously believed.
