My buddy John Atkinson likes to say that what makes science work is not simply the measurement of observed phenomena, but the scientist's refusal to believe those measurements. I once asked him if he'd teach me to do audio measurements and he said no, "because you'd believe the measurements—a good scientist knows the measurements are trying to lie to him."
Michael Shermer discusses this with a twist in Scientific American, where he says a recent brain study suggests that we might need to apply more skepticism and peer review in every walk of life.
