Climate Science. Evolution. Project Euler. The Future Is Here Today…Robotics, Genetics, AI, Longevity, The Brain… Science News, Articles and Information. 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.
We see creationists talking about "teaching both sides" or the idea that there is "a debate over evolution", but there's also more than enough reports in the media with statements like "this study has reignited a debate" to make it a more general pattern. 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. By extension, if unspoken, this also rather implies that there is a major stack of evidence for each position, if not, surely there would be no split?
After all, if all or the vast majority of the data and analyses pointed the same way, there's not much scope for disagreement. The Higgs Boson Explained. THE FEYNMAN SERIES (part 3) - Curiosity. The Feynman Series (part 2) - Honours. The Feynman Series (part 1) - Beauty.