For a second example, if we were asked to study the safety of nuclear plants in general, we might select as our method a survey of self-reported compliance with safeguards in all existing plants.
Self-reported compliance and safeguards are crucial to the safety of nuclear plants and nuclear energy.
One answer is that the speed with which sexy-sounding scientific ideas get picked up by popular culture is getting alarmingly  from Physical Review Letters to the latest best seller by Tom Peters almost before you know it.