To Understand Current Science, Learn This Word

It has several synonyms,
but the word appears
very often in science news

 

UPEND (up-end), v.: to affect drastically or radically, to overturn, overhaul, revise, rewrite, or challenge prior thought. Often accompanied by the phrase, “this will force the textbooks to be rewritten.”

Scientific findings are tentative. Honest scientists seek for objective truth, believing it does exist in reality (see yesterday’s post), but in today’s complex world no one can have access to all the variables that might influence a theory. This is especially true in the historical sciences or in fields where multiple causes interact, as in medicine and climate. It would be wrong to claim “the science says” this or that. Better to say: “According to our best current theories, we believe the explanation is such-and-such.” Corollary: the new theory that upended the old theory is subject to being upended itself by future findings.

Watch how many diverse fields in science have suffered ‘textbook truths’ being upended, revised, challenged, rewritten, or reversed in recent months. This is just a sample.

Fundamental Physics

Graphene just broke a fundamental law of physics (Indian Institute of Physics via Science Daily, 12 Sept 2025).

Strange new shapes may rewrite the laws of physics (Max Planck Institute via Science Daily, 18 Aug 2025).

Decades of chemistry rewritten: A textbook reaction just flipped (Penn State via Science Daily, 28 July 2025).

A new organometallic compound challenges a fundamental principle of textbook chemistry (Okinawa Institute of Science and Tech via Phys.org, 7 July 2025).

Astronomy and Cosmology

Strange steam worlds could rewrite the search for life (Science Daily, 15 Sept 2025).

Warped planet nurseries rewrite the rules of how worlds are born (Queen Mary Univ via Phys.org, 2 Sept 2025).

What if we’ve been thinking about dark matter all wrong, scientist wonders (Space.com, 15 Aug 2025).

Early galaxies — or something else? Mizzou scientists uncover mysterious objects in the universe (Univ of Missouri, 12 Aug 2025). “…our discovery could challenge current ideas about how galaxies formed in the early universe…”

Is the electric charge distribution in space actually the opposite? (Kyoto University, 7 Aug 2025).

Astronomers discover new dwarf planet ‘Ammonite’ — and it could upend the existence of Planet Nine (Live Science, 24 July 2025).

Super Set of Supernovae Suggests Dark Energy Surprise (Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, 21 July 2025). “It took about 50 exploding stars to upend cosmology.”

Tiny bright objects discovered at dawn of universe baffle scientists (Penn State, 27 June 2025). “A recent discovery by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) confirmed that luminous, very red objects previously detected in the early universe upend conventional thinking about the origins and evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes.”

The radical idea that space-time remembers could upend cosmology (New Scientist, 16 June 2025).

Surprise discovery in alien planet’s atmosphere could upend decades of planet formation theory (Live Science, 18 Dec 2024).

Geology and Earth Science

Geologists got it wrong: Rivers didn’t need plants to meander (Stanford Univ via Science Daily, 31 Aug 2025).

Yosemite’s ultra-deep canyon may have been carved in part by a ghost volcano and river, provocative research suggests (Live Science, 12 May 2025).

Asteroid fragments upend theory of how life on Earth bloomed (Nature, 29 Jan 2025).

Biology and Genetics

Tiny skaters beneath the arctic ice rewrite the limits of life (Stanford Univ via Science Daily, 12 Sept 2025).

Yet more weird ancient marsupials rewrite the history books (Univ of New South Wales via Phys.org, 20 Aug 2025).

The origin of genetic code: Study finds textbook version needs revision (Univ of Arizona via Phys.org, 12 Dec 2024).

Origin of Life, Fossils and Evolution

Scientists make major breakthrough that rewrites the understanding of plant evolution (Northeastern Univ, 15 Aug 2025).

Mysterious fossil may rewrite story of skin and feather evolution in reptiles (The Conversation, 23 July 2025).

Ancient animal’s fossilised brain prompts rethink of spider evolution (New Scientist, 22 July 2025).

Human Body, Brain, and Evolution

Map of 600,000 brain cells rewrites the textbook on how the brain makes decisions (Live Science, 4 Sept 2025). “A new study shows that the brain activity behind decision-making is far more widespread across the organ than first thought.”

An incredible Denisovan skull is upending the story of human evolution (New Scientist, 25 Aug 2025).

A braided stream, not a family tree: How new evidence upends our understanding of how humans evolved (Live Science, 18 Aug 2025). Understanding that has been upended was never understood in the first place, was it?

‘It makes no sense to say there was only one origin of Homo sapiens’: How the evolutionary record of Asia is complicating what we know about our species (Live Science, 18 Aug 2025).

A new Pitt study has upended decades-old assumptions about brain plasticity (Univ of Pittsburgh, 3 June 2025).

A textbook assumption about the brain’s most abundant receptors needs to be rewritten (Nature, 19 March 2025).

What do you know, scientist? If scientists knew as much as they think they do, they wouldn’t be rethinking so many things so often.

Looking over this list, a couple of caveats are in order. Some headline writers may be attempting to attract clickbait: it’s much more enticing to read “Stop the presses! Theory upended! Textbooks need to be rewritten!” than to just calmly report what scientists have concluded from studying something. Some reporters, therefore, may be to blame for exaggerating.

Another caveat is that better instrumentation often brings surprises. This happened at the Cassini mission to Saturn, for example: many old ideas were overturned simply because of the ability to send high-tech instruments to observe at close range instead of from 880 million miles away. Cell biochemistry is exploding these days because of advances in super-resolution microscopy that show details never before seen. Scientists cannot be expected to theorize about things observed “through a glass darkly.”

Even so, it is astonishing to list the revisions, rewrites, and paradigm shifts that have occurred since CEH started reporting 25 years ago. Looking further back over a century, most things believed by scientists in 1900 have been drastically revised. Savvy readers of science need to understand the historical nature of scientific exploration: it’s always changing. When you add the worldview biases of scientists, the censorship of non-consensus views, perverse incentives to commit fraud or withhold the whole truth, it’s worth maintaining a healthy level of skepticism about scientific claims. We need a “show me!” perspective, and opportunities to hear debates between alternative theories.

Science is a big tent with good, bad, and ugly parts. Big Science demands our trust but enforces consensus, especially about matters of methodological naturalism and opposition to intelligent design. Look at the evidence presented carefully and see if alternative explanations might be possible before accepting a claim. The more that a scientist stays with matters that are observable, repeatable and testable, the more confidence can be invested.