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Presumably those "opinions" were based on the data the scientists collected. All of the following cannot be proven to be 100% objectively facts, so we better just throw them out out science:

- Theory of Evolution

- Big Bang Theory

- General Relativity

- Global Warming/Climate Change

- Cell Theory

- Germ Theory

- etc etc (Just look up "scientific theories" or similar if you want more)

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There is a huge difference between ’the author believes’ and ‘this evidence supports’. The important bits of scientific research is the evidence not the scientists conclusions.

If an existing test was not sensitive enough to detect some effect, any conclusions from that data are effectively worthless. However, the test still provides an upper bound for the magnitude of an effect.

"The author believes" or "The author concludes" in a conclusion of a report essentially always has the subtext "because of the evidence".

Authors rarely limit themselves to only the evidence gathered from a single study when making these conclusions. I have even seen many conclusions not particularly supported by the evidence presented.

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