Examining the notion that evolution revolves around hoaxes and fraud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myfifz3C0mI

This has a parallel with peer review.

Sure, some scientists have been fooled in the past. Not all scientists are honest. They are only human, afterall. Aron points out a couple scenarios where that happened.

The thing to remember is that while scientists can be fooled, the scientific process cannot. It isn't dependant on the pre-suppositions of the scientists who use it. Where one scientist is not just willing, but EAGER to see evidence that a dusty old bone they found was a human ancestor, other scientists have no vested interest and can evaluate the claim based on merit, not enthusiasm.

So it is, where one scientist might actually swallow a false claim whole, or even generate false data to fit with some new idea they had, other scientists can easily see through those same issues because the facts don't change. Others will look at your data, see if they can generate the same, and if it turns out that you were honestly wrong, or willfully deceptive, it will be found out.

These things happen sometimes, although much more rarely than anti-intellectuals would have us think. When they do happen, they are corrected as soon as possible.