• Question: Why does "Science" make everyone picture chemicals, space and lots of confusing equations? Why does no one see what science actually is?

    Asked by anon-129382 to Megan, Mzamo, Ola, Olivia, Weiyi on 11 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Megan Seymour

      Megan Seymour answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      I think that’s because as scientists, we are not usually very good at talking to people about what it is we actually do- so people just picture the old stereotypes.
      That’s part of the idea behind events like this- to talk to you about what we do and what science involves for people in different areas.

    • Photo: Ola Michalec

      Ola Michalec answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      Hello! You know – I think it’s a very good question and it’s time to challenge it!

      Perhaps you might say that scientists have difficult things to do in their daily life, hence the equations.

      But- there is much more to that. To me science is about curiosity and discovery. However, these are really abstract terms and it’s hard to put them in symbols! Whoever comes up with a good idea for new symbols of science should get a Nobel prize 🙂

    • Photo: Olivia Ashton

      Olivia Ashton answered on 12 Nov 2016:

      Well partly science is that – chemicals and space and equations do make up part of science. But there is a lack of science communication about what we actually do, which is something we need to change.

      Scientist’s often like to chat in fancy words, with a lot of assumed knowledge for the listener which isn’t always the case, leading people to think its confusing. It’s up to us scientists to change those ideas.

      This can be done by different ways of outreach and communication – blogs, tweeting, interviews, talking to one another, going into schools, going to festivals etc.

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