![\"A](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2023\/10\/Newborn-2.jpg\" "\\"Photo")
Figure 1.1.2 When infants are too young to receive vaccinations, they are protected from contracting life-threatening diseases by the immunity of those around them who have received their vaccinations.<\/em>[\/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce baby James is born, Samantha and Aki bring him to the pediatrician\u2019s office. Dr. Rodriguez says James needs some shots. Samantha is reluctant and shares what she\u00a0read online. Dr. Rodriguez assures Samantha that\u00a0the study that originally claimed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism has been found to be fraudulent, and that vaccines have repeatedly been demonstrated\u00a0safe and effective in peer-reviewed studies.\r\n\r\nAlthough Samantha trusts her doctor, she is not fully convinced. What about the increase in the number of children with autism and the cases where symptoms of autism appeared after MMR vaccination? \u00a0Samantha and Aki have a tough decision to make, but a better understanding of science can help them. In this chapter, you will learn about what science is (and what it is not), how it works, and how it relates to human health.\u00a0At the end of this chapter, you will learn how Samantha and Aki use scientific evidence and reasoning to help them decide whether they should vaccinate their baby.\r\n- \r\n \t
- How\u00a0do you think the quality of\u00a0Samantha\u2019s online source of information about vaccines compares\u00a0to Dr. Rodriguez\u2019s sources?<\/li>\r\n \t
- Do you think the arguments presented here that claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism are scientifically valid? Could there be alternative explanations for the observations?<\/li>\r\n \t
- Why do you think diseases like measles, polio, and mumps are rare these days? Why are we still vaccinating for these diseases?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
\r\n Chapter Overview: Science<\/span><\/h1>\r\n<\/header>\r\n
\r\n\r\nIn this chapter, you will learn about the nature and process of science. Specifically, you will learn about:\r\n- \r\n \t
- What science is and the types of questions it can answer.<\/li>\r\n \t
- How scientific knowledge advances through systematic and repeated experimentation and testing.<\/li>\r\n \t
- How scientific ideas are open to revision, although sound scientific ideas can withstand repeated testing.<\/li>\r\n \t
- What a scientific theory is and how it differs from\u00a0common usage of the word \u201ctheory.\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t
- Examples of scientific breakthroughs in biology, including the development of the first vaccines, Mendel\u2019s laws of inheritance, and the germ theory of disease.<\/li>\r\n \t
- The scientific method, how it is used to answer scientific questions, and how it is often a nonlinear and iterative process.<\/li>\r\n \t
- How scientific experiments are designed and carried out, including\u00a0the use of\u00a0controls,\u00a0the manipulation of\u00a0variables to test the effects on\u00a0other<\/em>\u00a0variables, and ways to minimize sources of error.<\/li>\r\n \t
- Characteristics of pseudoscience, which is defined as a claim, belief, or practice that is presented as scientific but does not adhere to scientific standards and methods.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Attributions<\/strong><\/header>Figure 1.1.1<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\u00a0Excitement<\/a> by Randy Rooibaatjie<\/a><\/span> on Unsplash<\/a>, used under the Unsplash License<\/a> (https:\/\/unsplash.com\/license).\r\n\r\nFigure 1.1.2<\/strong>\r\n\r\nBaby in black and white swaddle blanket,<\/a> by Julie Johnson<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>, used under the Unsplash License<\/a> (https:\/\/unsplash.com\/license).","rendered":" ![\"1.1.1\"](\"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/152\/2019\/06\/Pregnant-couple-3.jpg\")
Figure 1.1.1 Excitement!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Case Study: To Give a Shot or Not<\/h1>\n
Samantha and<\/span>\u00a0Aki are expecting their first child. They are excited for the baby to arrive, but they are nervous, too. Will the baby be healthy? Will they be good parents? It seems like there are\u00a0a million decisions to\u00a0make. Will Samantha breastfeed or will they use formula? Will they buy a crib or let the baby sleep in their bed? Samantha goes online to try to find some answers. She finds a website\u00a0by\u00a0an author who writes books\u00a0about\u00a0parenting. On this site, she reads an article that argues that children should not be given many\u00a0standard childhood vaccines, including the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.<\/p>\n
The article claims that the MMR vaccine has been proven to cause autism. It\u00a0gives examples of\u00a0three\u00a0children who came down with autism-like symptoms shortly after their first MMR vaccination at\u00a0one\u00a0year of age. The author believes that the recent increase in the incidence of children diagnosed with autism-spectrum disorders is due to the fact that\u00a0childhood vaccinations\u00a0have also increased.<\/p>\n
Samantha is concerned. She does not want to create lifelong challenges for her child by increasing his risk of autism. Besides, aren\u2019t diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella basically eradicated by now? Why should she\u00a0endanger\u00a0the health of her baby by injecting him with vaccines for diseases that are a thing of the past?<\/p>\n
Figure 1.1.2 When infants are too young to receive vaccinations, they are protected from contracting life-threatening diseases by the immunity of those around them who have received their vaccinations.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Once baby James is born, Samantha and Aki bring him to the pediatrician\u2019s office. Dr. Rodriguez says James needs some shots. Samantha is reluctant and shares what she\u00a0read online. Dr. Rodriguez assures Samantha that\u00a0the study that originally claimed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism has been found to be fraudulent, and that vaccines have repeatedly been demonstrated\u00a0safe and effective in peer-reviewed studies.<\/p>\n
Although Samantha trusts her doctor, she is not fully convinced. What about the increase in the number of children with autism and the cases where symptoms of autism appeared after MMR vaccination? \u00a0Samantha and Aki have a tough decision to make, but a better understanding of science can help them. In this chapter, you will learn about what science is (and what it is not), how it works, and how it relates to human health.\u00a0At the end of this chapter, you will learn how Samantha and Aki use scientific evidence and reasoning to help them decide whether they should vaccinate their baby.<\/p>\n
\nAs you read this chapter, think about the following questions:<\/p>\n
- \n
- How\u00a0do you think the quality of\u00a0Samantha\u2019s online source of information about vaccines compares\u00a0to Dr. Rodriguez\u2019s sources?<\/li>\n
- Do you think the arguments presented here that claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism are scientifically valid? Could there be alternative explanations for the observations?<\/li>\n
- Why do you think diseases like measles, polio, and mumps are rare these days? Why are we still vaccinating for these diseases?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n Chapter Overview: Science<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
\nIn this chapter, you will learn about the nature and process of science. Specifically, you will learn about:<\/p>\n
- \n
- What science is and the types of questions it can answer.<\/li>\n
- How scientific knowledge advances through systematic and repeated experimentation and testing.<\/li>\n
- How scientific ideas are open to revision, although sound scientific ideas can withstand repeated testing.<\/li>\n
- What a scientific theory is and how it differs from\u00a0common usage of the word \u201ctheory.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Examples of scientific breakthroughs in biology, including the development of the first vaccines, Mendel\u2019s laws of inheritance, and the germ theory of disease.<\/li>\n
- The scientific method, how it is used to answer scientific questions, and how it is often a nonlinear and iterative process.<\/li>\n
- How scientific experiments are designed and carried out, including\u00a0the use of\u00a0controls,\u00a0the manipulation of\u00a0variables to test the effects on\u00a0other<\/em>\u00a0variables, and ways to minimize sources of error.<\/li>\n
- Characteristics of pseudoscience, which is defined as a claim, belief, or practice that is presented as scientific but does not adhere to scientific standards and methods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Attributions<\/strong><\/header>\n Figure 1.1.1<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u00a0Excitement<\/a> by Randy Rooibaatjie<\/a><\/span> on Unsplash<\/a>, used under the Unsplash License<\/a> (https:\/\/unsplash.com\/license).<\/p>\n
Figure 1.1.2<\/strong><\/p>\n
Baby in black and white swaddle blanket,<\/a> by Julie Johnson<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>, used under the Unsplash License<\/a> (https:\/\/unsplash.com\/license).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":"cc-by-nc"},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[55],"class_list":["post-4247","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless","license-cc-by-nc"],"part":4243,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6906,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4247\/revisions\/6906"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/4243"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4247\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=4247"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=4247"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/acchumanbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=4247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Characteristics of pseudoscience, which is defined as a claim, belief, or practice that is presented as scientific but does not adhere to scientific standards and methods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
- Characteristics of pseudoscience, which is defined as a claim, belief, or practice that is presented as scientific but does not adhere to scientific standards and methods.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n