• Question: Why do you like science?

    Asked by anon-213177 to Robert, Imad, Hannah, Fern, Christian, carolwallace on 10 Jun 2019. This question was also asked by anon-213707.
    • Photo: Robert Ives

      Robert Ives answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I have always liked to question how, what and why things happen and when I don’t like an answer (or don’t have an answer), I think about what I could do to change things. When I was young, I use to take toys and electronics apart to see what they looked like on the inside (I couldn’t always put them back together again though) and how they worked. I guess I still do this. Science can often be frustrating, but every now and then, you do something amazing and then all the frustration is worthwhile.

    • Photo: Christian Gude

      Christian Gude answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      Of course there’s thirst for knowledge, satisfying my curiosity. But deep down, it’s an aesthetic experience. Nature, it’s intricacy, its effective solutions and beautiful patterns – all that drew me in! Science isn’t all about the numbers for me, it’s also about beauty.

    • Photo: Carol Wallace

      Carol Wallace answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      I’m interested in what makes things work – as a child I was always taking things apart and rebuilding (not necessarily better!)
      Science can provide us with answers, but often leaves us with many more questions to answer.
      when you get a result that proves what you were thinking gives you a great buzz – but that doesn’t happen very often.
      Science has such a huge range of topics and areas, what’s not to like?

    • Photo: Fern Johnson

      Fern Johnson answered on 13 Jun 2019:

      Because it is always changing, and it is always pushing the limits of human knowledge. Genetics in particular is moving so quickly. Nearly 20 years ago it took years to sequence one human genome, it took millions of pounds. Today, it takes one day, and around £1000. Recently the NHS sequenced 5 million genomes. I can’t wait to see what will happen in the next 20 years – maybe we will sequence everyone’s genome, and if they get sick give them medicine that we know will work based on their genes. I appreciate discovery for the sake of discovery, because the world and life are pretty amazing, but being able to help people using science is what I really love.

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