Last week in Washington DC, USA, a court dealt a terrifying blow against science and free speech. A man was on trial, and found guilty, for attacking what he said was false science and for criticising its perpetrators. It reminded me – although I hasten to add that the similarities are imperfect – of the trial in 1633 of Galileo who, contrary to the establishment of the time, denied that the Sun moved around the Earth, and said the Earth moved around the Sun.