https://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2012/12/24/half-the-facts-you-know-are-probably-wrong/feed/HotAir is the leading conservative blog for breaking news and commentary covering the Biden administration, politics, media, culture, and current elections.en-usTue, 09 Jun 2026 03:52:05 -0400<![CDATA[Since knowledge is still growing at an impressively rapid pace, it should not be surprising that many facts people learned in school have been overturned and are now out of date. But at what rate do former facts disappear? Arbesman applies to the dissolution of facts the concept of half-life—the time required for half the atoms of a given amount of a radioactive substance to disintegrate. For example, the half-life of the radioactive isotope strontium-90 is just over 29 years. Applying the concept of half-life to facts, Arbesman cites research that looked into the decay in the truth of clinical knowledge about cirrhosis and hepatitis. “The half-life of truth was 45 years,” he found.]]>Mon, 24 Dec 2012 22:20:42 -0500<![CDATA[Allahpundit]]>https://hotair.com/headlines/2012/12/24/half-the-facts-you-know-are-probably-wrong-n280659