Paradigm Shift

A common paradigm of the past involved the idea of organisms generating spontaneously from thin air. This idea came about when food would spoil and small organisms such as bacteria or flies would infest it. People thought that these organisms came from the meat, and just generated because the meat was getting rotten. This paradigm had to shift when Redi conducted an experiment that disproved spontaneous generation. Redi experimented with meat by leaving one piece of meat in the open, and one meet covered with a screen. The results showed that if the meat was covered, no bugs would be on it, whereas if it were not covered, the meat would be infested with flies. This showed that the bugs did not spontaneously generate, and had to have come from another source. The population at first had a hard time accepting this new idea. The paradigm had to shift, however to disprove spontaneous generation. This lead to the discovery of much more new information about how organisms reproduce and are formed.