Science vs. Reality Science

Bad omens for Science from the Ida’s “missing link” media blitz.

According to discoverer Jørn Hurum, accompanying the scientific paper with books, TV shows, etc

was about “branding” for the museum and his research, which could lead to future investments. “It’s not the movie that will get the money or even the book that will get the big money,” says Hurum, “but it’s the sponsor[s] that then think, ‘Okay, the Natural History Museum in Oslo and maybe even Jørn Hurum are interesting’ that will generate the money.”

What will prevent people from cutting future stories short, and just make up the science in order to generate the money?

Methinks we may have just witnessed the beginning of Reality Science, something that will soon have the same relationship to Science as Reality programmes on TV have to the real world.