A lot of people don't understand how scientific conclusions are arrived at and it's quite sad, considering we depend a lot more on scientific conclusions more and more these days.

I think a lot of this misconceptions have to do with the way scientific studies are reported in the media.

Everything is sensationalised and people run away with just the headlines.

One example I'll always remember is when an article reported in 2014 that scientists said smelling farts could cure cancer. This headline went viral for the sheer sensationalism and terrible reporting.

Meanwhile, the original study was about developing a compound that deliver minute amounts of Hydrogen Sulfide to stressed cells to preserve the mitochondria. So because Hydrogen Sulphide is a gas found in smelly farts, the article made a ridiculous assumption and ran with it.

Before now, scientific reporting have always been limited to scientific journals that require a subscription and because of that the general public have been kept ignorant of the latest studies and findings and scientists have always been looked at as fringe members of society...

...nerdy people who live in their ivory towers and do weird experiments.

It was in the early 80s that Carl Sagan started making the argument that science should be made more accessible to the general public,

considering that much of the funding for scientific work come from the taxes paid for by the people. The masses are more likely to support and accept the results of science when they understand what and why these people do what they do

With the release of the first Cosmos documentary, public enthusiasm for science reached an all time high and media interest in the life and work of scientists started gaining traction.

Now, the downside to all this is that for the most part, scientific work is boring.

Sometimes, scientists do research for curiosity sake and not for any immediate or apparent usefulness. And sometimes, research work do not yield any positive or expected outcomes.

Nevertheless, the media wants something to report..so over time we have now arrived at the point where every popular tertiary scientific reportage has to be made sexy and appealing to the general public even if it requires massive distortion of the facts and weird conclusions.

Couple that with the rise of the Internet and Internet access where every information appears to carry the same intellectual weight, we now have a huge problem of mis-education.

Now, Joe from his mama's basement can set up a podcast promoting anti-science conspiracy theories with nothing but confidence and vibes and his conclusions will carry as much weight as a published article from Nature.

Carl Sagan will be turning in his grave.