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Asked by anon-209998 to Sergio, Nick, Maria, David on 14 Mar 2019.
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Maria Walach answered on 14 Mar 2019:
Hmmm that’s a good question! In science in general, I think there is a disconnect between some of the most pressing issues, scientific knowledge and the general understanding of it in society.
For example, we know climate change is real, we have all the data, we know what to do about it, but there seems to be an unwillingness in society and politics to change things. It’s a difficult gap for us scientists to fill because the implementation of policies involves everyone!
Some big gaps at the moment I think are: is finding more sustainable ways to produce and store energy, working out how to deal with the evolution of superbugs, feeding an ever growing population…It’s a long list!
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David Whitworth answered on 14 Mar 2019:
Thats a very large question, in terms of knowledge I would probably have to say engineering skill. We have soo many theories we want to test and explore and know how to do it, but our skill and knowledge of how to build the experiments is holding us back. Its hard to say for science specifically as each scientist will have different ideas of what is important and what needs to be looked at. For me, an astrophysicist I think one of the biggest gaps is in knowing what dark matter and dark energy are. This will solve many of the questions around the big bang and where the universe came from. For a biologist, it might be finding a universal cure for cancer, a chemist might want to make carbon nano tubes.
But as Maria has said, one of the biggest issues is climate change and the way society and governments and big business are thinking about. We have all the data to show what is happening, but people don’t seem to want to listen. I think it comes down to a lack of understanding of how science works, and in some part to scientists as well not dealing well with people who don’t understand.
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Nick Werren answered on 14 Mar 2019: last edited 14 Mar 2019 10:56 pm
The biggest gap in science at the moment is its relationship with the general public.Science shows that climate change is getting worse, meanwhile in rich people are becoming richer! Scientists need to be louder, communicate their research more, and work together to get politicians and companies to listen to them!
Comments
anon-209998 commented on :
Thanks 🙂