Carl S: holding up the candle of science in our efforts to stave off the dark.
The scientific method: ask questions, gather data, make a hypothesis, test it, analyse, report the refined conclusion - then repeat the whole process all over again. If your hypothesis was wrong, start over with a new one. If it was mostly correct, refine it. If it was perfect, ask others to prove it. Above all, don't dig in on a wrong hypothesis - this isn't a popularity contest, get your ego the hell out of the way. Admit you are wrong and TRY AGAIN.