Wilkins ice shelf breaking away?

The phrase 'very likely' is about as strong as sciencegets. In the 2007 IPCC report it was defined as meaning a 95 per cent chance that it is so. Thats a common scientific convention: something is taken as established fact if there is 95 per cent confidencethat it is correct."

That very much depends on which bits of science you are referring to. Despite its inherent randomness and unresolved questions about its philosophical foundations, the predictive power of quantum mechanics has been proved with often astonishing precision, and some physical constants are known to 9 or 10 significant figures.

Also, 95% is a very rough rule of thumb. Every day we rationally act on information far less certain than that, while in other situations 99% certainty would be recklessly insufficient.