The exploration of this and other impossibilities led to the development of quantum physics and to the opening of an entirely new understanding of the universe. Similarly, puzzling observations of consistencies in the fossil record and the similarities of continental coasts seemed to indicate that the continents were once joined. Yet seventy years ago this evidence was rejected as impossible because geological theories of the time assumed that the earth was a rigid body. Supported by subsequent unexpected findings in the areas of geophysics, marine geology, paleomagnetism, and seismology, the theory of plate tectonics does indeed describe how the continents drifted from a single initial landmass. This theory has revolutionized our view of the planet and its geological processes.
Science makes progress through the recognition and study of anomalies.
When confronting an anomaly, good science involves making observations and generating a series of informed hypotheses appropriate to the phenomenon being studied. Experimentation allows us to reject hypotheses that are proven false, until we are left with a single, satisfactory explanation. We are only at the beginning of studying extraordinary experiences such as the abduction phenomenon. At this point, our job as scientists is to make observations and carefully record those characteristics of the phenomenon that challenge the existing framework of knowledge. Only then can we begin to step outside that framework and generate meaningful hypotheses to be tested by a creative application of methodology.