Re: [asa] Scientific Mysteries

I would just note that how one answers this question will be strongly influenced by -- sorry to be trite here -- aspects of one's worldview. In biology, especially, it seems to me that there are lots of unanswered questions, lots of things we just don't know, that I would not refer to as "mysteries." But some people, under the influence of a different viewpoint, would reach a different conclusion.

The so-called Cambrian Explosion is a good example, and so is the evolution of form in general. In both cases, scientists can disagree pretty sharply about the value of certain hypotheses, and it would be reasonable to conclude that there is significant uncertainty when it comes to explaining these phenomena. But that doesn't mean that scientists in these debates consider the phenomena to be mysterious or paradoxical. Others, however, believe these phenomena to be truly mysterious, truly unexpected, unexplained and perhaps unexplainable. (That many who make this claim don't have any idea what they're talking about is probably not relevant, but I'll grant it just in case.) The nature of this difference in response is interesting and, I think, more important than any effort to "illustrate that there are paradoxes and anomalies that science hasn't yet figured out."

Anyway, on my home field of biology, I would name only consciousness as something that is, at this point, a mystery. Abiogenesis doesn't make the cut for me, but it comes close enough to merit "honorable mention." No aspect of biological evolution qualifies, for me.

Steve Matheson
 
>>> "David Opderbeck" <dopderbeck@gmail.com> 06/11/08 9:53 AM >>>
What are some paradoxes / mysteries / contradictions that the natural
science have not yet been able to resolve concerning the natural world?
For example:

-- why are the pioneer space probes off course, given what we know from
Newton and Einstein about gravity? (
http://www.planetary.org/about/press/news/2008/0516_Newton_Einstein_Lost_in_Space.html
)

-- what is the "dark matter" or force that fills up the empty spaces in the
expanding universe?

This isn't to look for "gaps" or something like that. I think it would be
helpful to illustrate that there are paradoxes and anomalies that science
hasn't yet figured out about the natural world, just as there are paradoxes
and anomalies that theology and Biblical studies haven't yet figured out
with respect to faith -- every field of human inquiry has its paradoxes and
anomalies.

-- 
David W. Opderbeck
Associate Professor of Law
Seton Hall University Law School
Gibbons Institute of Law, Science & Technology
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