There's a disconnect around the concept of "consensus" in science. People say: science would never advance if we trusted consensus.

The point is: consensus is the best info experts have. If you're outside the field, take it. Because WITHIN the field, we challenge it constantly.

There will always be trends/fads within scientific subfields, but there are also ALWAYS upstarts and contrarians and solid researchers testing bounds and most of the time they're wrong! Occasionally they produce compelling results; when they do, consensus within the field CHANGES

So if you're outside some field of scientific expertise, your best bet is to wait at the sidelines and watch for consensus shifts, not hitch your wagon to whoever is shouting "all the other experts are wrong!" in the hope that MAYBE they're about to convince their colleagues.