Science shouldn’t be shy about controversies

Many debates are settled with a consensus before the weight of evidence eventually arrives. That is contrary to the popular perception of science progressing inevitably through the steady accumulation of facts. Indeed, the fact that controversies exist at all can appear to be a failure of the process in which ‘incorrect’ ideas are exposed and rejected on a journey toward the truth.

Yet debates and disagreements are useful and even desirable, and not just because they lead us to better understanding – they are the fabric of how science works.