500 years ago the best scientists believed that the world was flat and that the sun revolved around the Earth, among other nonsense. The idea that science is some sort of "constant" force of knowledge that can be taken at its word is silly. By its very nature science MUST be policed by peer review.
A system which fails more often than not. Case in point - the "peer review" that took place with the AGW debacle.
Another case in point - evolution. Evolution is basically unnecessary in science - even the biological sciences, outside of the pseudoscientific field of "evolutionary biology," which was basically invented to justify reliance upon evolution as an explanation. I can't tell you how many times I've read journal articles where the author has "tacked on" some statement about evolution which is complete non-germane to the point of the article, but which was probably demanded by some peer-review referee before it could get published.