well, its a tough one. I mainly read papers on subjects and then spend a mahusive amount of time on the net surfing for the rest. A long drawn out but worth it venture...But loads better than going to the library and scouring the shelves for one book!!!
Science as a whole is getting there, primarily due to the advent of liberalism believe it or not.
Scene : victorian era school, and a student wants to do something that against all concepts known at that time. Scan forward a few generations and now people are allowed; to an extent, to pursue previously unthought of technologies and methods.
Its about time!!!

This isnt a campaign for liberalism or any other form of politics!!
I think that soon enough advancements will be finally published into the general public and eventually we are not going to be so held back by the world

I think its a question of fear of progression, they feel threatened and pushed by the fact that humans as a species are evolving; metaphorically speaking, we have finally realised a little of our true potential as a species.
The real and perceived sociological and economical differences between people enables them to become trapped and not progress. This is where true ignorance plays an important role in science, thanks to the fact that we accept more and more diffrences between us as people.
Edit: and James and the giant peach shows us that to get to the end we must not use our differences as weapons against each other, but as tools to help each other
