Re:How Toby Spribille Overturned 150 Years of Biology about ...
by SeanDav on Friday July 22, 2016 @09:47AM
(#12143443)
I disagree. This is not only a scientific story, it is also an inspirational story. The title shows that.
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Re:How Toby Spribille Overturned 150 Years of Biology about ...
by Iv on Friday July 22, 2016 @10:39AM
(#12143773)
One doesn't need to lie over stories to make them inspirational.
Re:How Toby Spribille Overturned 150 Years of Biology about ...
by fit2rule on Friday July 22, 2016 @11:26AM
(#12144102)
Where is the lie? There isn't anything un-true about the title. More to the point, the inspirational aspect of the story is quite worthwhile. You might say the "trailer-park" inspiration is one aspect, the "we don't know everything we think we do, even 150 years later" angle is another aspect, and there is a third, possibly overlooked facet, which is that this opens up immense new opportunities for understanding life, as a whole, where and when we find it. You might consider it some sort of symbiotic, inspiration.
Re:How Toby Spribille Overturned 150 Years of Biology about ...
by markc on Friday July 22, 2016 @11:45AM
(#12144222)
>There isn't anything un-true about the title.
That's true from a literal standpoint, however the title misleads many people into expecting that the subject isn't just from a trailer park as part of his past, but that he somehow made the breakthrough as a current, stereotypical, trailer park resident, i.e. not highly educated.
If there was an intention to mislead it is a lie.
If it's unintentional, it's just poor headline writing (ambiguous and easily misleading).
Re:How Toby Spribille Overturned 150 Years of Biology about ...
by fit2rule on Friday July 22, 2016 @11:53AM
(#12144289)
You really are missing the point of the headline, which purpose is to attract readers to a subject they wouldn't otherwise be interested in.. and the fact that "even a kid from a trailerpark can up-end cemented thinking in science" is very relevant. It does, in fact, change everything: the scientists' class and social background is not relevant to the science he or she performs, but the fact of extraordinary science being performed by extraordinary individuals is relevant. Maybe there was something in his trailerpark lifestyle that made him start to think differently about the things he'd learned about as a scientist; you, the reader, are invited to make your own conclusions before you walk away. The title is a part of that process.