Scientists are people. They are quite capable of falsifying or massaging data to fit their theory. There are many examples of this. Scientist also compete for funding and as such cast their research proposals in the most shrill light, if you would, or just plain BS the funding agency. This is common place. My favorite example, besides Global Warming, was a proposal that was funded for millions of dollars by the US Army. The proposing scientist told the army that it may be possible to fire a circular polarized laser into a cloud on the horizon and be able to tell if it was just smoke, or the specific type of chemical or biological agent. In private and millions of dollars later the scientist would tell people that there was no way it will ever work.