Editing Natural science (section)

==Criteria==
{{Unsourced section|date=August 2024}}
{{main|Philosophy of science}}
Philosophers of science have suggested several criteria, including [[Karl Popper]]'s controversial [[falsifiability]] criterion, to help them differentiate scientific endeavors from non-scientific ones. [[Validity (statistics)|Validity]], accuracy, and quality control, such as [[peer review]] and [[reproducibility]] of findings, are amongst the most respected criteria in today's global scientific community.

In natural science, [[proof of impossibility|impossibility assertions]] come to be widely accepted as overwhelmingly probable rather than considered proven to the point of being unchallengeable. The basis for this strong acceptance is a combination of extensive evidence of something not occurring, combined with an underlying theory, very successful in making predictions, whose assumptions lead logically to the conclusion that something is impossible. While an impossibility assertion in natural science can never be proved, it could be refuted by the observation of a single counterexample. Such a counterexample would require that the assumptions underlying the theory that implied the impossibility be re-examined.