Starting with two 1950's examples (even before we get to Professor Pantsdown's track record), here's why we should still be very wary of advice from "expert scientists".
Experts nearly dropped an atomic bomb on a Scottish landmark in the 1950s
What? Was it an accident? No, it was a definite plan.
Back in 1953, as Britain desperately tried to keep up with America and Russia in the nuclear arms race, experts at Aldermaston wanted to test a prototype nuclear bomb at the landmark spot (the Stacks of Duncansby). Looking at a map of the British Isles, Caithness would have seemed like the ideal spot for such an experiment.
Incredibly, there was already a precedent –
the remote Gruinard Island in the Inner Hebrides had already been used as a testing ground for the lethal anthrax bacterium in 1942. It had been left uninhabitable by biological warfare testing carried out by scientists from Porton Down.
Readers may already be aware of other examples of Porton Down scientists using the native population as unwitting guinea pigs.
Even before Dounreay Nuclear Power Station was built between 1955 and 1958, “because there were so few people there”, scientists had earmarked Caithness, with its sparse population, as a nuclear test bed.
What happened? Was there some outraged blowback from politicians or some less sociopathic scientists? No.
Former UK Atomic Energy Authority expert John Large revealed just why the weather was not suitable for nuclear bombs. He said: “If there is a lot of mist or low cloud about that would cause problems with their electronics. ... the iconic landmarks were only saved because scientist decreed the area was “too wet” to set off the explosion.
See https://www.sundaypost.com/news/experts-nearly-dropped-atomic-bomb-scottish-landmark-1950s/
Footnote: Gruinard Island ; no known connection with the Grauniad.
