What is emerging science?

Do you ever see or listen to one of those commercials, usually for some over the counter nutrition or health product that says, as a part of the commercial, “which emerging science suggests may…” and it goes on to make some claim about curing whatever it is aimed at or assisting you in not losing your mind or whatever. Have you ever wondered what emerging science is? Where is it emerging from and why was it kept hidden from us for so long?

By definition, a science is something that relies on repeatable and verifiable testing of hypotheses to reach a conclusion. In so-called hard sciences, like physics and chemistry, there are repeatable formulas or experiments that can be do to prove the things that those scientists now proclaim to be true. Once provable, those things become accepted by all , with the highest level of acceptance being that some things become laws, like the laws of physics.

Now, in the softer sciences, like medicine and general health care there is also a scientific branch that conducts experiments (actually they call them tests or trials, since calling them experiments might alarm the people upon who they are testing. Their experiments go like this - a bunch of you take this (or do this) this and another bunch doesn’t and we watch all of you over time to see which bunch gets well or feels better over time. The bunch that is not getting whatever is being tested is usually given something called a placebo – a fake pill (usually just a sugar pill) or treatment – so that they think they are getting the same thing as the group that s getting whatever is being tested. Many times people in the group getting the placebo actually end up getting better, too; a phenomenon called ”the placebo effect.” I’ve often listened to the test results where the placebo group did well too and thought, “Damn, I got to get me some of that placebo stuff. It works good.”

But, now we also have “emerging science,” which might also be called "stuff that nobody really understands"; but that would sound dumb. Apparently emerging scientists do not do the rigorous testing that real scientists do, so they don’t declare things with great certainty; instead they suggest things. Emerging science suggests that Ginkgo Biloba somehow helps people keep a sharp mind longer, may help prevent dementia and may help with blood flow. There have been some studies and reports from prestigious medical facilities to support those theories and others that refuted them. There are hundreds of other products that are unregulated and sold in drug stores and nutritional-supplement stores that make claims based upon emerging science. These products are unregulated because they are natural products (found in some plant somewhere) and because no one has yet found that smoking or eating them makes anybody high.

Now, I’m not one to say that scientists, especially those scientists associated with the medical sciences, have all the answers or that only they can be correct about the benefits of some alternative treatment or medicine. The medical establishment has to much self-interest at stake to be completely unbiased, which is another cornerstone of true science. The arguments continue to rage decades, even centuries, after alternatives to traditional medical practices were discovered or invented. “Real doctors” still hesitate to recommend chiropractic treatment or acupuncture or meditation and biofeedback, which emerging science suggests may help many patients. Pills and surgery seem to be the preferred treatments of real doctors, although one wonders how many are really prescribing placebos for their patients.

So, we are left to wonder about these emerging sciences. I suspect that the word sciences is used to give us all a better feel about these things, whether they have had any real science applied to them or not. Certainly many of these natural cures or supplements have been around for a long time. One of the best know is Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root, which emerging science suggests may help with digestive and urinary track ailments. I was going to pick up a bottle (Yes! You can still buy Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root herbal tonic) , but I forgot to take my Ginkgo Biloba and it slipped my mind.