Serendipity

1-24-06
Serendipity....I just love that movie...a fortunate accident is how Sara Thomas defines it for Jonathan Trager. This is how I feel much of research is conducted without an overarching template or theory to guide direction. For instance, research has shown that exercise can improve the level of functioning for the depressed...wow what a revelation! (tongue in cheek). There was no mention whatsoever of why this would be, just that it is (many feel that this is scientific neutrality and objectivity). I would apply the template of evolution and our environment of evolutionary adaptedness to the question. It should be a given that our bodies are genetically dispositioned for exertion to survive and a depressed individual that could not would be at risk. But a downside is that when a paradigm guides research, it is very difficult to stray from its confines thereby limiting possibilities.