Much of what is called Science by the media and politicians is no such thing. You don't approach science with the conclusion and then build all the intermediate steps, like they flowed smoothly together logically. Fabrication has infiltrated much and it is holding back real science and the advancements that real science brings.
They think there is a shortcut. There is no shortcut. There is only a fuller understanding of principles. The sooner we fire such people the sooner our nation will advance and provide an even higher standard of learning and economy.
Slide Rule
Precisely.
Much of what passes for scientific investigation now does begin with a conclusion and seeks evidence which supports that, discarding all else, instead of following the evidence to an accurate (or at least more accurate) conclusion.
The idea of the scientific method, to generate a testable hypothesis, to definitively test that hypothesis with a repeatable experiment, to observe and take in the data (all of it) which either confirm or refute that hypothesis, and to incorporate that information in the next iteration of trying to understand the matter at hand, the new hypothesis, experiment, observations, conclusions, all advance our understanding of God's Creation little by little.
Those hypotheses which seem to be supported by all the data advance to the level of theory, and with time and multitudes of tests, may even be considered a quantifiable "Law" of nature.
Sadly, some of the most egregious nonsense in the past few decades has been passed off on a scientifically illiterate and innumerate public as gospel, when, in fact, it is charlatanry wrapped in a cloak woven of grant money and institutional prestige, supported by redacted and doctored ("adjusted") data, and cult fiction. Unfortunately, that, with its accompanying arm-waving and bright crescendos of impending doom, has captured the fertile imaginations of those unrestrained by scientific principles and unfettered by mere knowledge, and become basis for policy and control.
It distresses me to see an honorable profession blighted thus, especially because I am a scientist.