The March result by Goldston and Yildirim on the gaps between prime numbers
(which I posted a note about a few weeks ago) has now been found to have a flaw in its proof. G&Y have
gone back to the drawing board. I must say, reading about this makes a
refreshing change from the worlds of politics and the humanities, where
nobody ever admits he is wrong about anything. When I wrote about
Creationism recently on this site, I got lots of e-mail from anti-Darwinians
telling me how stubbornly scientists cling to wrong ideas, and how ruthless
they are in defense of their pet theories. Well, I have no doubt that,
personality-wise, a scientist can be as blinkered and pig-headed as anyone
else; and scientific disputes in which the evidence is ambiguous can get
very rancorous. The peer-review process is remorseless, though, especially
in math, and the only possible attitude for a researcher faced with
convincing refutation is one of absolute humility before truth and logic.