I just finished reading Michael Coe's "Breaking the Maya Code", the history
of the decipherment of Maya writing.

It turns out that one of the leading "scientists" researching Maya
inscriptions believed they were mostly decoration, not a representation of
Maya speech. By browbeating most of the other researchers, making them
afraid to disagree, he was single-handedly able to block the correct
decipherment for 40 years!

If you want to see real science, watch "Mythbusters" on The Discovery
Channel. (There's a new episode tonight.) Messrs. Hyneman and Savage
actually actually understand science -- in particular, how to ask the right
questions and how to set up valid experiments. "Mythbusters" is arguably the
best science show on TV, because it shows good science.