How does science advance from entrenched orthodoxy to embrace new ideas? How do we come to accept as truths propositions that at first seem like heresies?
Over the course of the twentieth century, scientists came to accept four counterintuitive yet fundamental facts about the Earth: deep time, continental drift, meteorite impact, and global warming. When first suggested, each proposition violated scientific orthodoxy and was quickly denounced as scientific--and sometimes religious--heresy. Nevertheless, after decades of rejection, scientists and many in the public grew to acknowledge the truth of each theory.
