The fact about facts

Scientists do not often speak in terms of “facts” because they live the adage, “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.” Instead of speaking in simple, declarative sentences scientists are more likely to tag caveats onto their statements along the lines of, “this is the best explanation we have with the data available to us at this time”; a style of communication that both the layperson and the news reporter find highly unsatisfying.

Caveats appended to scientific research tend to get dropped in the translation into seconds-long sound bytes and the popular print and digital media. Even textbooks sacrifice technical detail for grade-level-appropriate content and breadth of coverage.

Compounding the confusion between “facts” and “non-facts” is the discrepancy between the scientists’ use of the words “hypothesis” and “theory”— More next time.

Cartoon credit: thadguy.com