approving of all wars if scientific evidence showed warfare was part of human nature, whereas an example of the moralistic fallacy would be claiming that, because warfare is wrong, it cannot be part of human nature. On scientific writing On the current format of scientific writing, Davis had opined, "A scientific paper is an unusual art form. It has to be as compact as possible, while giving the reader all the information needed to repeat the experiments. Because the literature is vast, the format of a paper is standardized so the reader can quickly find the parts that interest him; readers skim most of the papers that they look at, except those very close to their interests. The aim is efficient, impersonal transmission of the essentials, rather than a narrative account of the steps along the way." References Davis B. "The Moralistic Fallacy,"Nature, 1978 Mar 30, 272: 390. Davis B. Molecular genetics, microbiology, and prehistory. BioEssays, 1988, 9: 122-130. Davis B. The Scientist's world. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 2000 March, 64(1): 1-12. Davis, B. D. Nonfiltrability of the agents of genetic recombination in Escherichia coli. Journal of Bacteriology, 1950, 60(4), 507-508. External links Bernard D. Davis Papers, 1909-1995 (inclusive), 1939-1994 (bulk). H MS c190. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass. 1916 births 1994 deaths American microbiologists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Jewish American scientists Harvard Medical School alumni 20th-century American Jews