“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson.

In 1917, a single molar tooth was found in Nebraska. In 1922, a prominent paleontologist described it as belonging to an anthropoid ape, suggesting it was the first higher primate discovered in North America and a potential “missing link” in human evolution. Subsequently, it snowballed into the labeling of “Nebraska Man” and fueled speculation as to what this missing link may have looked like.

But just a few years later, after more research and digging (literally), more skeletal remains were found and it was learned that the molar had come from an extinct species of pig.

I heard about this story as a child. It was heralded by certain members of my church as proof that science can’t be believed. It was considered proof that science is just another faith system and that scientists are just pushing an agenda.

But, I thought … wasn’t it science that proved the initial theory wrong? Wasn’t it science that proved where the tooth actually originated?

I was taught the scientific method very early in life. Although I don’t know the exact year, I do know I was at least introduced to it before first grade. I was drawn to it because using the scientific method is like being a detective. You have to ask questions, evaluate evidence, test and either prove or disprove your theory, analyze the results and make a conclusion.

This love for the scientific method taught me the fact that the only thing that really disproves science is better science.

And it is worth noting just how much we, as a species, owe to science. The simple fact is that from the caveman days to the mid-1800s, approximately only half of the human population lived beyond the age of 50. And, while it’s almost impossible to quantify a current global percentage, it’s a well-established fact that a significant portion of the population now lives beyond the age of 50.

This can be directly attributed to science. From the mid-1800s to now, more medical facts have been learned, medicines developed, sterilization/cleaning methods established, and we have seen the mortality rates from infancy to geriatric ages decline by a large margin.

It is with this kind of information in mind that I am stunned at what I am seeing online and through various news sources. There are legislators at the state and federal levels proposing laws to outlaw any kind of practices that could alter the weather. Things like cloud-seeding and other practices that are incorrectly viewed as controlling the weather at a large scale could all be made illegal.

And, while I don’t have a dog in that fight, it stuns me to know that many of those legislators will acknowledge and condemn man-made weather pattern changes (which isn’t actually a demonstrable thing) while ignoring and denying the actual man-made climate change that has been accelerating over the past 30 years. There seems to be a never-ending chorus of “fake news” cries regarding a well-established scientific fact.

Objective facts shouldn’t be treated as subjective, and science shouldn’t be ignored — especially when it relates to something as serious as our quality of life on this planet.