Scientists, at least good ones, are not exactly "skeptics". They neither "believe" nor "disbelieve", they simply have a methodology for examining the things that they observe, and they draw conclusions based on that examination(the "conclusion" often is that more specific examinations are needed;-))

Scientists actually fall for "silly notions" all the time, in the sense that they pursue them in order to find out what's there. Most of the "notions" that scientists pursue don't yield anything substantial, but a few do, and that's what it's all about.