Statements in the scientific literature are often qualified and tentative but consistent with established knowledge wherein qualified scientists are assumed to recognize the degree of relevance. In contrast, popular science with it's emphasis on uniqueness and generality may have a tone of factual authority absent from the scientific literature. Comparisons between original scientific reports and popular science typically shows some level of distortion and oversimplification.
So can you use these popular sources in your research paper/lab report/documented essay? Probably not!
Popular sources are almost never peer reviewed, and would not normally be suitable.
