Dead salmon, bugs and brain scans: Can we ever reach a consensus in neuroscience research?

Brain scans involving functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have been a media darling for two decades. Images of brains lighting up to external stimuli have proved irresistible and have helped neuroscience achieve popular renown. But fMRI has also received a battering. First, most famously, when used on a dead salmon, the technique appeared to show brain and spinal cord activity when subject to stimuli (in this case, images of people in social situations).