It has recently become crystal clear to me that many Americans don't trust or like science or scientists. I think it is because I started dating someone who honestly feels that way. And perhaps if I took in more of that hyped up media, I'd become more cynical about science myself. Instead, I read the abstracts and then dig into the studies that seem relevant to my interests...and I follow the work in certain areas, building my own picture of reality from the stream of data generated by raw science. I know I don't know for sure, but I can't help but to have ideas and theories about what is going on... and the media can't talk me out of what I know, unless they also take me back to the source.