What is and isn’t a scientific debate

One thing that seems to crop up regularly in both bad science journalism and in pseudoscience and non-science is the idea of a scientific debate.The implication in each case is that there is a genuine split in the scientific community over the relevant issue, and that perhaps one might go to a conference and see a room full of researchers split down the middle with a good number on each side of the divide advocating their position

The truth however, is near inevitably that there is only a very small minority making a disproportionate noise about their case. Such is the case with topics such as evolution, the age of the earth or that HIV leads to AIDS, or that climate is changing. Yet the bottom line is. One or two people arguing a point (and often doing so primarily in the media) does not make a debate. Read the rest of this article which highlights why the media need to understand the difference between a genuine scientific debate and the fact that a very vocal minority can disagree with an overwhelming consensus of evidence

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