Well, I should like to return to the sentiment of the original post, which, I believe, was simple enough in feeling (though, I hasten to add, the very opposite of simplistic, and I hope that my first response to it was respectful enough). I see that we have Snail back in the mix with his insinuations again. His goal, as ever, appears to be to put some distance between scientists' intellects and the rest of us plebs by making science sound impossible, though, fair dues to the man, he hasn't mentioned Popper in this thread yet. :-) Well, much as Snail and his ilk would like to characterise science as something very difficult and arcane such that we common people had better avoid it and stick to our superstitions, it's actually incredibly easy. Sure, you won't have spent all day in some lab with bubbling broths all around you. And you may not have been to university and kept up with all the latest complex notions. But if you are curious about the world, refuse to take anything at face value, demand evidence (and know what "evidence" means), and realise that science is not a quest for proofs or certainties, you're a scientist. And you don't even have to take the word of other scientists either: Sir Isaac Newton believed in both God and alchemy, remember.