What went wrong? It turns out that, when confronted with an overabundance of certain antioxidants, the human body may convert them into prooxidants, which have the potential to activate cancer pathways. “Something fundamental we didn’t understand in advance was that, in living systems, antioxidants are not antioxidants in all situations,” Omenn says.
Until the mid-20th century, it was not uncommon for formally unqualified “hobby” or “gentleman” scholars to make real contributions to science. This included William Herschel, an 18th-century German-born British musician who discovered the pla…