Back to the Future: Scientific Method and Science Reliability

Abstract

We have worked in physics applied to medicine in the past 20 years. Many changes have happened during this period, and we are witnessing an epochal change in the approach to scientific research. What was clear 20 years ago has become opaque. An increasing gap exists between the phenomenon (the pathology and the physiologic mechanism) and the methods researchers use to analyze it. The paper contains our viewpoints about what is happening, starting from our daily experiences in these last years. Sometimes, our opinions will be deliberately provocative, but we hope they can help to seed the debate about the meaning of the scientific method and research reliability. In particular, we have focused on “measurement errors” since their correct evaluation represents the basis for applying the scientific method.