And it’s time for another review of the year, so here’s some of what happened in 2023.
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‘Disruptive’ Science
At the beginning of the year, on 4nd January 2023, the science periodical Nature published an article, “‘Disruptive’ science has declined — and no one knows why”. The article told us that, “The proportion of publications that send a field in a new direction has plummeted over the past half-century”.
It seems disingenuous to say “no one knows why”! That's certainly the conclusion I reached when I tweeted about it at the beginning of 2023. Just ask some of the people who have tried to have their own innovative concept published in Nature. They will all tell you the problem is that the leading science journals don’t like publishing articles about disruptive science.
My own experience of trying to get articles about palaeogravity published in Nature, and a variety of other science journals, is fairly typical. I was unable to get past the dogma that palaeogravity can not change, despite the scientific evidence that it can and has changed.
It was often implied that I was the only one with such outrageous thoughts, but I found out later that other people were also sending articles into various journals outlining the same basic evidence. They were also rejected. I discussed those rejections, and how we overcome them, more fully in my chapter in the book, The Hidden History of Earth Expansion. The other authors in the book had similar observations.
Fortunately, most scientists are more open to new concepts than the editors of leading science periodicals. On the 5 January, 2023, I gave a short (20 min) talk about the Hidden History of Earth Expansion to members of my local geology society. The audience seemed to enjoy hearing about the disruptive science I described.
Articles can also be published in less well-known science journals. The articles can easily be shared in science platforms like ResearchGate, who ensure the articles have a large number of readers. On January 9, 2023, my chapter, Ancient Life’s Gravity and its Implications for the Expanding Earth, had reached 5000 reads on Research Gate. Towards the end of the year there were over 7,300 reads.
Books are also useful to promote new ideas that are often considered too disruptive to be published in the likes of Nature and some of the other leading science journals.
Volcanoes
Innovative concepts provide new ways of looking at the world. In July 2023 I went on a geological field trip to the Ogwen Cottage area in Snowdonia National Park, Wales, with my local geological society. The trip's leader explained that during the Ordovician Period, about 450 million years ago, an ancient volcano had deposited about 50 to 60 cu. km of lava in the valley, according to the British Geological Survey and some other sources. That is impressively large. Krakatoa, one of the largest eruptions in modern times was only about 6.5 cu. km. Mount St Helens was even smaller at about 1.3 cu. km.
I had previously postulated that volcanoes would become larger in a reduced gravity. In my book, Dinosaurs and the Expanding Earth, I had considered that,
It is noteworthy that the size of the highest volcanoes on Earth are about half the size of the highest Martian volcanoes and gravity on Mars is about half the gravity of Earth. It almost seems that both volcanoes have reached their maximum size for their own planet’s gravity - another case of size limitation under a gravitational field?
So larger volcanic outflows would be expected in a reduced palaeogravity. If palaeogravity was about 0.3g during the Ordovician then a typical large volcano could easily be about three times the height of a typical large volcano of today. Because the amount of lava released is a volume we would expect it to be about 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 times the lava coming out of one of our present volcanoes. This novel concept is definitely ‘disruptive’ science.
It seems that Giancarlo Scalera was also considering ‘disruptive’ science in his paper, Could Elements of Hydraulics Cure the Ills of Contemporary Science? Copies are once again available from Research Gate although it was originally in the European Journal of Applied Science.
So the original article in Nature at the beginning of the year was correct to say that the leading science journals don’t contain much ‘disruptive’ science. But it isn’t correct to say that new disruptive science has declined. It’s just that you will not find it in their journals. The new science can be found in other science articles and a range of books.
I wish everyone a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.
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Page last updated 21 Dec 2023
Wayback
At the beginning of the year, on 4nd January 2023, the science periodical Nature published an article, “‘Disruptive’ science has declined — and no one knows why”. The article told us that, “The proportion of publications that send a field in a new direction has plummeted over the past half-century”.
It seems disingenuous to say “no one knows why”! That's certainly the conclusion I reached when I tweeted about it at the beginning of 2023. Just ask some of the people who have tried to have their own innovative concept published in Nature. They will all tell you the problem is that the leading science journals don’t like publishing articles about disruptive science.
My own experience of trying to get articles about palaeogravity published in Nature, and a variety of other science journals, is fairly typical. I was unable to get past the dogma that palaeogravity can not change, despite the scientific evidence that it can and has changed.
It was often implied that I was the only one with such outrageous thoughts, but I found out later that other people were also sending articles into various journals outlining the same basic evidence. They were also rejected. I discussed those rejections, and how we overcome them, more fully in my chapter in the book, The Hidden History of Earth Expansion. The other authors in the book had similar observations.
Fortunately, most scientists are more open to new concepts than the editors of leading science periodicals. On the 5 January, 2023, I gave a short (20 min) talk about the Hidden History of Earth Expansion to members of my local geology society. The audience seemed to enjoy hearing about the disruptive science I described.
Articles can also be published in less well-known science journals. The articles can easily be shared in science platforms like ResearchGate, who ensure the articles have a large number of readers. On January 9, 2023, my chapter, Ancient Life’s Gravity and its Implications for the Expanding Earth, had reached 5000 reads on Research Gate. Towards the end of the year there were over 7,300 reads.
Books are also useful to promote new ideas that are often considered too disruptive to be published in the likes of Nature and some of the other leading science journals.
Volcanoes
Innovative concepts provide new ways of looking at the world. In July 2023 I went on a geological field trip to the Ogwen Cottage area in Snowdonia National Park, Wales, with my local geological society. The trip's leader explained that during the Ordovician Period, about 450 million years ago, an ancient volcano had deposited about 50 to 60 cu. km of lava in the valley, according to the British Geological Survey and some other sources. That is impressively large. Krakatoa, one of the largest eruptions in modern times was only about 6.5 cu. km. Mount St Helens was even smaller at about 1.3 cu. km.
I had previously postulated that volcanoes would become larger in a reduced gravity. In my book, Dinosaurs and the Expanding Earth, I had considered that,
It is noteworthy that the size of the highest volcanoes on Earth are about half the size of the highest Martian volcanoes and gravity on Mars is about half the gravity of Earth. It almost seems that both volcanoes have reached their maximum size for their own planet’s gravity - another case of size limitation under a gravitational field?
So larger volcanic outflows would be expected in a reduced palaeogravity. If palaeogravity was about 0.3g during the Ordovician then a typical large volcano could easily be about three times the height of a typical large volcano of today. Because the amount of lava released is a volume we would expect it to be about 3 × 3 × 3 = 27 times the lava coming out of one of our present volcanoes. This novel concept is definitely ‘disruptive’ science.
It seems that Giancarlo Scalera was also considering ‘disruptive’ science in his paper, Could Elements of Hydraulics Cure the Ills of Contemporary Science? Copies are once again available from Research Gate although it was originally in the European Journal of Applied Science.
So the original article in Nature at the beginning of the year was correct to say that the leading science journals don’t contain much ‘disruptive’ science. But it isn’t correct to say that new disruptive science has declined. It’s just that you will not find it in their journals. The new science can be found in other science articles and a range of books.
I wish everyone a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.
Comment on Facebook or Twitter
Page last updated 21 Dec 2023
Wayback
A view down the Ogwen valley in Snowdonia National Park, Wales. The valley floor was laid down during the Ordovician Period from a massive ancient volcano eruption, which might be part of the evidence for a ‘disruptive’ science.