carapace

panssari, selkäkilpi A hard protective covering of bone or chitin, especially one which covers the dorsal portion of an animal.
(non-gloss definition)
2010 January 8, Simon Jenkins, “The proliferation of nuclear panic is politics at its most ghoulish” in The Guardian, §: “Comment & Debate”, page 29, column 4

This is all a massive failure of science to pierce the carapace of public ignorance.