• Question: do you have any doubts about science

    Asked by Tikka08 to Andrew, Dan, Emilia, Helen, Katy, LauraAnne, Stephanie on 14 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Dan Gordon

      Dan Gordon answered on 14 Nov 2016:

      AN interesting question. I have some doubts in the following areas:
      1. Science being used for the wrong purposes. Doping and cheating in sport have come from the misuse of science, this is of great concern to me.
      2. Poor quality of research. A lot of work that is produced is not of a good quality and lacks what we term robustness. This kind of work can be easily misinterpreted and lead to false assumptions.

    • Photo: LauraAnne Furlong

      LauraAnne Furlong answered on 14 Nov 2016:

      I think we need to do a better job of telling the public about what we do, and what we find out. Sometimes things you see on the TV or radio are blown out of proportion, and the public think scientists have cured major diseases or are doing silly pieces of research, when that isn’t the case. Sometimes the scientists themselves doing that research are to blame, as they think too highly of what they have found using a certain measurement technique, techniques which often have limitations. The misuse of some of the things scientists develop is also worrying, e.g. biological warfare or nuclear science.

    • Photo: Katy Griggs

      Katy Griggs answered on 14 Nov 2016:

      I think Science and the media need to work better together. Often the media report misleading findings from research. Researchers need to ensure their research reaches the end user and in the most user friendly way, so it cant get misinterpreted by the media. Another concern is poor quality research, with lack of control over the procedures and conducting researching for the sake of it.

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