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Can someone think of an example of a scientific theory that got superseded by a better one and then got re-incorporated into scientific consensus again?

In my field, I can name only one such theory: Lamarckism - the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime.

It became superseded by Darwinian notion of evolution but since discovery of epigenetics, it became more and more obvious that things are not nearly as simple and cracking the genetic code of the individual would tell only a fraction of information about it's genetic expression.

All the genes' expression are influenced by epigenetics which is in part influenced by the lifestyle of the progenitors.

2021-03-12, 08:43

Right, forgot an important thing. I'm on my third day without caffeine (not counting tea, but I need to drink something hot). I feel slightly less alert in the mornings, sleep better, way less jittery and anxious. I do miss the taste though. Not quite sure if the tradeoff is worth it, but it's good to have some stability for once.

An important feature is pain tolerance. When I have caffeine in my system it gets harder to tolerate pain, especially sharp one. And I get injections for avitaminosis every second Sunday, so it makes sense to keep this "fast" going for at least another few days.

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