If there is one thing about science that everyone should understand, or that would at least clear up much misunderstanding, then it is the concept that science offers only provisional knowledge about the world, and not anything absolute.

I mean this in two senses. First, through the scientific method, researchers build up an increasingly refined model of reality, framed by the limitations of the human mind. Second, this understanding will always remain incomplete - because as our island of knowledge enlarges, so the coastline between the known and unknown expands too.

If this were more widely appreciated, then it would go a long way towards dispelling the notion that scientists are always getting things wrong, and towards explaining why it is that scientists often change their minds. Only by understanding the nature of the scientific method can we begin to grasp how science is receptive, and adaptable to new ideas and evidence - unlike other claims to the truth, such as religion.

Peter Tallack is editor of The Science Book (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)).