31 Wildly Interesting Theories That Scientists Can’t Prove Yet

‘Plants might be sentient, a bit’
31 Wildly Interesting Theories That Scientists Can’t Prove Yet

A scientist with nothing but hypotheses is more of a philosopher than anything, because a hunch isn’t worth jack-squat until a whole hell of a lot of data has been gathered. But that doesn’t mean scientists don’t have their own beliefs that they’re pretty sure will be proven true — eventually.

Redditors from the science world sounded off in a thread about their own pet theories and beliefs that are miles from publication or even serious research. Things that they’re not able to prove, but might throw a couple dollars on as a long shot if there was a DraftKings for scientific discoveries. 

Keep reading to get ahead on what might be the subject of groundbreaking studies in the future.

redheadMInerd2 . Зу ago There's gotta be a way to make pavement more frost resistant. Civil engineering background. I always thought it was the subsoil since they check the density of the rest of the layers that make up the pavement. I live in pothole infested State.
AlterEdward Зу ago Edited Зу ago Gut bacteria has evolved to influence our behaviour, either directly or indirectly, to crave foods that benefit it. That's why it's hard to come off certain foods. Anecdotally, it's hard to give up high sugar, high fat foods, yet if you go for long enough without them, your desire for them drops massively. I believe it's because the gut flora that likes that food dies off and no longer influences your behaviour. It's very, very hard to prove, but it seems self evident that if bacteria even had the slightest opportunity to evolve a
TheUnblinkingEye1001 Зу ago Edited Зу ago That UHT pasteurization of liquid food products leaves a barely perceptible aftertaste that only a small segment of the consumer population can detect. Edit: I need a disclaimer that I was not referring to milk and other dairy beverages. The way the comments are shaping up | sound like somebody theorizing that people like ice cream.
Jesper90000 Зу ago Environmental Geologist - That's there's a huge amount of environmental contamination (soil, water, air) in residential areas, and rapid development is only making the problem worse. Most people in populated areas are likely very very close to known sites with dangerous contamination, and the number of unknown sites dwarfs what's been addressed. On top of that in the USA low income housing projects don't need to meet as stringent environmental regulations, so a site that fails for normal residential use might still qualify for low income housing.
AquariiBETA . 3y ago Microbiologist - our only hope in being able to fight of total antibiotic resistance is to develop bacteriophages (viruses that eat/destroy bacteria) that we can use and prescribe in place of existing antibiotics
leftier_than_thou_2 3y ago Cell biologist: we spend way too much money on cancer research and not enough on basic research and have for decades. Despite that it's finally working and the wave of immuno oncology drugs that are in clinical testing now will significantly reduce deaths from cancer. We could have had this 30 years ago if we had spent a ton on basic research and not convinced ourselves we were about to beat cancer in the 70's. We might be fooling ourselves again, I've not been working on cancer directly for too long. Previously though it seemed like everyone
mr_robototoro Зу ago As an early career ecologist I suspect that the results of many experiments in my field would not stand up to replication. There's a huge bias toward positive results - those which support your hypothesis - and you are extremely disincentivized from research that is not seen as novel. This is doubly true for those of us without tenure yet, because we need to be seen as at the cutting edge of our field to get a job in the first place. Meta-analyses help separate the signal from the noise a bit, but I suspect there's still a field- wide confirmation
midnightpatches Зу ago I'm not sure if this really fits but, intergenerational trauma. We know that physical and psychological stress in one generation (whether it be war, rape, genocide, alcoholism, drug use, growing up in the system, I could go on forever) can pass on to the next generation. But, we don't really know how. Heritable epigenomic changes has been the first proposal. But no one has done this specific research. My supervisor demonstrated a change in mitochondrial DNA copy number, resulting in epigenomic changes in regions of the genome associated with disease. Epigenomic changes mean that the expression of
DrRexMorman Зу ago Digital communities have replicated the authority, structure, and meaning-making functions of religious communities without their physicality.
Mr P scientist . 3y ago That chronic fatigue syndrome is caused by a bacterial phage which attacks the mitochondria
R3quiemdream a Зу ago Edited Зу ago Remote sensing scientist here, we've probably reached the limit of EO space borne spectrometers and thermal imagery. Not enough energy at these wavelengths to increase image resolution at the far infrared and thermal channels. Maybe with machine learning and airborne imagery we can sharpen images. However, it'll be hard to use those products for any meaningful analysis.
Andromeda321 . Зу ago Edited Зу ago Astronomer here! You don't literally have infinite density (or mass) inside a black hole- I don't think anyone really thinks that. Instead you have the laws of general relativity no longer work when you get a black hole where mass is compressed into such a tiny area. The devil is in the details though and no one knows how this alternative might work.
poopbuttmcfarts Зу ago psych research student --- | hope to study mild/moderate depression and anxiety as responses to environment rather than strictly biological and cognitive anomalies. The circumstances that appear to make monkeys behave anxiously/depressed are the same ones that appear to make us appear anxious/depressed. I hope to use a novel multidisciplinary approach in which primatology, sociology, and psychology are married to create a new perspective and potentially meaningful lens for which to understand and maybe even treat mild depression.
DannyBright Зу ago Edited Зу ago While not in the Paleontology field, I am going into biology and I believe that T. rex may have had at least one other related species. Think about it, the genus Tyrannosaurus existed for at least 2 million years which I think is plenty of time for speciation to occur. The genus Homo existed for around that same amount of time and we currently have nine species documented. If anything it'd be wierder if T. rex was the only species in its genus the whole time. Unfortunately, with only bones to work with it's
. Зу ago That's even minor differences in how you compress and EQ a singer or rapper's vocals in a song can literally affect the emotional reaction a listener has when hearing the song.
Narfu187 Зу ago The octane rating you see at the gas station (87, 89, 91, etc) can vary in actuality much more than you or even the regulators think. There are so many factors that go into rating gasoline octane, and virtually every lab doesn't take them all into account, which creates massive variability. Even an EPA lab where they verify the fuel is untrustworthy. I can promise you they are not considering all the factors they should be, and the reason they don't is because the allowable variability of gasoline octane is so large. You're not filling up with
chessandkey Зу ago Treating students more like adults/people will cause them to begin to develop into adults more quickly. A lot of teachers that I've worked with/talked to treat students like a subclass of humans who are expected to give respect but not receive it. I treat my students like collegues and I end up getting a lot more output and learning from them. I have collegues who shame them when they don't do what they think is right. When my students act like stupid kids I tell them, Of course you did that. You're kids. Kids act like stupid
Turtledonuts Зу ago Edited Зу ago The oceans are incredibly, catastrophically, incomprehensibly fucked. We've been using the oceans at a high level for centuries, and our awareness of the impact on the oceans has come far too late. We just don't have enough data from before industrialization to understand what we've done. edit: a clarification: the total biomass in the oceans is decreased significantly. Its like if we had been hunting every animal in every forest for 1000 years instead of ranching cows and stuff, started doing so industrially 100 years ago, and started worrying about the impact 50 years
Roland--DeschainPUBG Зу ago PhD in neuroscience here. Most experiments in my field are biased because they focus only on the brain and forget about external influences on the body and in the world. Search for brain in a vat theory
* 3y ago Plants might be sentient, a bit. 1.1K ...
hononononoh Зу ago The Crespi-Badcock Hypothesis: that autism and schizophrenia are exactly opposite neurological divergences, which develop epigenetically in the womb in response to entirely opposite environmental stressors world of excess and a world of scarcity, respectively-and therefore are never comorbid in the same individual.
Matrozi . 3y ago There probably is a food addiction, specifically towards food rich in sugars and fats, but it's still incredibly difficult to prove it, decipher the specific mechanisms, decipher it from eating disorders and establish if it's an addiction to food, an addiction to eating
666moneyman999 Зу ago No necessarily a field of science (I guess technically it is), but I worked in drug/ alcohol treatment for a few years and it was widely accepted that anyone and everyone could get clean and sober from drugs and alcohol. However, I have never seen anyone get clean off fentanyl after using for many years. By some it is believed that once you have carved that behavior in your brain for long enough, and with strong enough substance it is over for you. Typically fentanyl, as it is so strong on the brain and kids are using
defective_p1kachu . Зу ago That porn use (and addiction) completely throws off our reward pathways and is the most prevalent addiction among men (psychiatrist)
queeroctopus s . 3y ago Depression, just like cancer, is not a single disease.
NFRNL13 . Зу ago I agree with Gordon Burghardt that pretty much 99% of all animals are sentient, and our testing for sentience is wrong.
Meatbot_Prime . Зу ago The Riemann Hypothesis looks like it's true, but nobody has proven it yet. Do so, and a million bucks is yours. Unless you're Perelman and you turn it down!
Ryanfelix17 Зу ago Edited Зу ago Some essential oils do have anticancer properties (in-vitro evidence so far at least). I've gotten into this research because I TRUELY DISLIKE IT when people are like ohh essential oils are this cure all miracle, natural is good, chemical is bad.. etc. Turns out it's producing some AMAZING data that I'm proud of, not affecting any of the healthy cell lines so far. Only thing is I'm truly worried about those people misquoting my research paper, as we still need to figure out the active compound, optimal concentration... etc. But I'm sure some essential
boucephala Зу ago Olympias was the driving force behind Alexander the Great's military successes and used him as a pawn to become quasi regent in his absence. Her portrait was minted onto coins, which is strange for the time and relationship between her and Alexander, and Antipater conveniently seemed to let her interfere a lot in matters of state. She was also assassinated along with Alexander's only known son when any woman in her position would likely have been seen as a non-entity. If the diadochs needed her well and truly gone, wouldn't that imply she had more power than
FullCauliflower7619 3y ago We know that 25% of us were exposed to alcohol and sometimes other substances in the womb. I think 25% have some lasting effects similar to what you would see in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder but not severe enough to be diagnosed. It's called shadow disorder: too mild to be diagnosed but still some symptoms. I think a lot of people with either ADHD, trouble regulating emotions, sleep problems or heart/GI problems and with prenatal alcohol exposure may actually be experiencing FASD- like shadow symptoms.
KindnesslsKey2019 Зy ago As a former math and physics major, I took meticulous notes of my son's epileptic seizures. At one point, I added barometric readings and current weather data to standard information of date, seizure type, and seizure length in seconds. I'm convinced that low pressure weather systems increased the frequency and intensity of his epileptic seizures. During a trip to North Carolina, the area had an unusually high, stable high pressure system. Не didn't have any seizures during our time there. My theory is that high or low pressure weather systems microscopically change the flow of fluids in

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