LETTER TO THE EDITOR

"I have been your subscriber for some years and always admired your uncompromising efforts to tell scientific truths to the public. I don't know how many subscribers you currently have but I wish you have them by the millions. In order to increase the readership, I suggest to expand the subject matters discussed in your news letters with stories contributed by the readers. I have been a muscle biophysicist for over 30 years, and have seen so many researchers who are unbelievably incompetent in physics and mathematics. Very few biological scientists are trained in abstract and logical thinking by way of constructing mathematical theories as physicists do. As a result, their research methods are almost entirely devoted to discovery by shooting in the dark. In the process of random shooting, it is natural for people to rely on wild guesses and mysticism. The consequence is excessive waste of money and efforts, which leads to the need of financing inefficient research by means of federal funding. Another disturbing behavior in the majority of researchers is that they seem to believe that theories are made to be proved. It is of course politically very desirable to support theories when they are advanced by famous people. Indeed, most fraud in research is motivated by the desire to support a theory. I am always amazed by the creativity and zeal of researchers who interpret experimental data to support a theory. This is precisely because doing so is the most effective way to prolong research and to keep money coming their way. If every researcher was required by law either to propose a theory with testable predictions or to disprove existing theories, waste in research will be drastically reduced.

"I think the world of science will be much better place if the following words were posted in every science class in the world.

1. Theories are made to be disproved, and theories without testable predictions are worthless.