I would like to take the time to ramble a little about science, and I would like to start with “The scientific method made easy”
1. Thou shalt base thy conclusion on the evidence.
2. Thou shalt measure objectively not guess subjectivly.
3. Thou shalt back up thy statements with evidence.
4. Thou shalt use large sample numbers.
5. Thy tests shalt be blind.
6. Thy tests shalt have controls.
7. Thou shalt cite thy sources of information.
8. Thy sources of information must be reliable, verifiable and backed by evidence.
9. Opinion is not fact.
10. Thou shalt not bear false witness. (don’t cheat)
There is allot of misunderstanding about replication, and it’s often used as an argument against evolution, here’s an example:
“Evolution involves events that cannot be repeated or reproduced in the laboratory so it does not depend on science in the usual sense of the word”
— creationism.org
But science is about acts based on evidence, not a recreation of passed events in a laboratory. Prosecutors don’t have to replicate a murder to show that a murder tock place, a bloody corpse with multiple stab wounds is usually enough.
The replication of results mean that if someone bases a conclusion on a experiment, then that experiment has to be repeatable by other researchers. If the scientist bases it on something that he observed then they have to be able to observe it to.
A theory, in the scientific arena, is not a “guess”, it’s an explanation that fits with all of the consistent evidence, and every new peace of evidence has to be consistent with the theory. The theory has to be consistent with new theories and other fields, and new technologies based on the theory has to work. A theory can be modified as new evidence comes along, but the new theories don’t overturn the theories, they just show more precisely how they work.
Science doesn’t start with that something is natural or “supernatural”, it starts with something that happens and then works out how and why it happens. Science is an explanation based on impartial research backed by rigorous texts and balases, not beliefs.
Referece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcavPAFiG14