• Question: during you work, do you travel arond the world talking to other people and taking in there opinions. what do they think? do they agree with you theroy or have there own completely different ones?

    Asked by minisam22 to Andrew, Ash, Gem, Paige, SJ on 28 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Andrew Thomas

      Andrew Thomas answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      Hi minisam, yes I’ve travelled a lot in my job. I’ve only once had someone disagree with what I was saying. It was my first time talking at a big international conference (about 200 people in the audience) and we had done some experiments and compared them to some theory that some other people had done. The agreement was pretty good apart from one bit so we said that the theory didn’t work. A theoretical physicist in the audience said I was wrong and because I was inexperienced I didn’t really argue but now I would say this is what the experiment shows. It’s OK to have different ideas about things because if we knew everything for sure then there would be no point doing science. You just have to be able to defend your ideas. Sometimes the disagreement will actually help you make better sense of your measurements so it’s not a bad thing at all.

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      YES! That is very much of what I do… traveling around and getting people’s opinions especially on global warming and other scientific issues. People usually generally agree that they want to see their environment healthy and saved from negative influences and pollution, buy many people disagree as to the causes of global warming, and many people are rather carefree as to what needs to be done about it. But I think that it is important for scientists to learn other scientists and non-scientists’ opinions, because I think that everyone can contribute something. Often it is the public and non-scientists who hold science to ethical laws, and make scientists think about the consequences of the experiments that they are doing in the lab. It takes communicators to translate the science of complex science issues like global warming to the public, and it is VERY important that all people develop their own opinions about global warming and come to their own reasons for why they should be caring about and helping the environment around them. Each of us owns a small part of the Earth, and of the air, so if we pollute the air and cause the planet to warm, we are harming very many people.

    • Photo: Gemma Staite

      Gemma Staite answered on 1 Jul 2012:

      Unfortunately I don’t. We get others opinions through companies and published papers. Sometimes our medical staff may attend international conferences or we may attend conferences within the UK. I think conferences are interesting because when you put scientists together to discuss something, they often disagree, but always have figures or evidence to back up their opinion.

    • Photo: SarahJayne Boulton

      SarahJayne Boulton answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      Hey MiniSam – I do get to do a fair bit of travelling and people meeting, this is mainly done through things called ‘conferences’ which are big events with a focus on a particular topic like say biosensors or breast cancer research or new imaging technologies.

      The mean Conference for me was called on Biosensors and Bioelectronics. This is a very important conference for me because people from all over the world come to discuss new technique and technologies as well as presenting some of their work! It’s actually a World Congress event. Last time I was there I won an international prize for my work on using electrodes to listen to the mitochondria of skin cells, and I met some amazing professors from all over the world – some of which I am still in touch with now!

      Lots of people have disagreements – mainly its the nanotech guys because it’s such a new science! Howver if you’ve got data to prove your point than you’re fine. Everyone gets happier when the food comes out!

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