Science isn’t a belief system. It’s proven knowledge. It either knows the answer to a problem, or admits it doesn’t and keeps looking for it. Every time we ignore the scientific community, bad things generally happen.
This was one of the major reasons I ended up leaving research. There was and still is this major push from governmental funding agencies--who are merely relaying the desires of the politicos--to abnegate fundamental, basic-science research for what's termed 'bench-to-bedside' or translational research. If it will not directly lead to a pill that will help old, white men's ailments, then it was tough to garner research funds. Researchers are essentially operating as a non-profit branch of the pharmaceutical industry with none of the benefits. Edit: I left out the defense industry. So you can either cure old-man diseases or help kill people more efficiently. :)
Twenty years ago, being "published" meant something. Now, you can polish turd theories until no one but a scientist working in the field can refute them. Protip: Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos isn't too great of a scientific journal.
Nature and PNAS publish bullshit, too, on occasion. I'm hopeful that the whole journal model falls apart in the next decade or so in favor of an all open access system, hopefully one brokered by NIH/NSF or perhaps the PLoS system. Subscription journals are a relic, a gift to industry, and totally out of date in the digital age.
I think progress is inevitable, but the publishing companies still maintain their grip on science for now. The other day I had to send out engineering drawings for signatures... physically print out E-size drawings and take them around the building. Why? Because old men, that's why. We will migrate to digital signatures, just as peer review will migrate to a digital review format, but neither will happen as soon as they should (now).
Intelligent Design? unsound ideologically driven "scientific studies"