The conclusions of science depend on experiments.
Experiments are constant attempts to establish the correctness or fallacy of thoughts and ideas.
Thus, experimentation is the way science attempts to settle controversy. When well-designed experiments are performed and analyzed, the controversy may be settled. But the new knowledge derived from well-run experiments also engenders new controversy, and this becomes a part of the creative growth of science. There is still a lot we do not know about stomata. How does the age of the tree effect the number of stomata found on the leaf.