• Question: do you fear finding anything out in science?

    Asked by leeliebert to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi @leeliebert
      This is a good question!
      I’ve just been doing some work to try and find out whether a small amount of alcohol can protect older people against dementia, and my results sadly seemed to suggest that it doesn’t. So my Mum and Dad were a bit annoyed as they like having a glass of wine every now and then 🙂

      But whether I actually fear finding anything out, this is a bit different. I think if there really is evidence for something, even if it’s bad, it’s better to know it than not know it. Like climate change, although it may mean we have to change the way we live to help save the environment, it’s much better to know this than not to know.

      Hope this answers your question, it’s a really good one! 🙂

    • Photo: Rachael Ward

      Rachael Ward answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Hi @leeliebert
      Thats a hard question to answer. No, I dont think I fear finding out anything. Sometimes I’m nervous about looking at the results of my experiment as I’m not sure if its worked but thats quite different from actually fearing anything. If I’ve messed it up or I dont understand the results, I just have to repeat it or sit down and try and work out what its telling me.

      I think Suzi’s made a good point that if you find out something bad, like climate change or a new virus, its better to know about it so we can try and deal with it.

      Does that help?

    • Photo: Damien Hall

      Damien Hall answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      This is an EXCELLENT question, which a lot of scientists have to take account of! Scientists shouldn’t fear finding anything out. They may find out things that some people might not like, but they should be free to go where their research leads them. That’s known as academic freedom. If you think some people might not like what you have found, you might want to be careful about how you present it and whether you publicise what you have found – but you should be free to find out what you like!

      An example of some science where people have had to be careful about how it was presented is science where animals are harmed to do it. People who are against that have been known to be violent against places where those experiments are done – setting fire to buildings, throwing blood at the people who do it, and so on. People who do that (vivisectionists) therefore have to be very careful about their science, how it’s presented, and who it’s presented to!

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