If there were ever a story that was just made up, try the often repeated canard that 97% of scientists believe in man-caused global warming.  Hear that?  The science is settled.

Do you know where that 97% figure came from?  It was a University of Illinois survey.  This survey, which was done by mail, was sent to 10,000 scientists who had published articles in scientific journals.  Seven hundred answered – possibly the most opinionated ones.  Ninety-seven percent believed in man-caused warming.  Three percent did not.

So actually, the 97% figure comes from fewer than 700 scientists.

Yet the public believes it because it is repeated so often.  It's been discussed and repeated as fact, yet it's not fact.

If the public wants to see how fake news gets started, this is one of its ways.