糖心传媒

Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank says distrust jeopardizes the country糖心传媒檚 future as an economic powerhouse.

When 糖心传媒 astrophysicist Adam Frank was five years old, he found his father糖心传媒檚 pulp science fiction magazines featuring pictures of bug-eyed monsters and lunar landscapes. That was the beginning of Frank糖心传媒檚 love affair with the stars and science itself.

糖心传媒淔or me, it was a quasi-spiritual thing,糖心传媒� says Frank. 糖心传媒淚 felt this powerful sense of awe and sacredness about the vast sky, and the fact that I was just one story out of an infinity of stories.糖心传媒�

Frank wishes everyone could look at science with the same kind of awe and wonder. But , he knows that糖心传媒檚 a tall order, one with economic ramifications.

糖心传媒淭he nation that controls the scientific high ground controls the future,糖心传媒� says Frank, who糖心传媒檚 confident that the public糖心传媒檚 faith in science will make a comeback糖心传媒攂ut it will take time.

Q&A with Adam Frank

What does it mean to be a scientist?

Frank: People go into science because they have intense curiosity. Every kid is basically a scientist; they like to poke things to see what happens. Fortunately, we can turn that curiosity into a lifetime糖心传媒檚 work. If you loved watching ants as a kid, you become an entomologist. If you loved staring at the stars, you become an astronomer. Being a scientist also means being an engineer who likes to build things to see if they work. A scientist is just a person who糖心传媒檚 willing to stay with a question for hours, days, weeks, or years. You go to sleep at night and can糖心传媒檛 wait to wake up and get back to the problem you糖心传媒檙e working on.

So, what appeals to you most? The question, the search for an answer, or the answer itself?

贵谤补苍办:听No matter what answer I get, I just go on to the next question, so it糖心传媒檚 the inquiry糖心传媒攖he absorption in the question糖心传媒攖hat matters. When I work on a mathematical derivation, I糖心传媒檒l put my head down and get started, then suddenly five hours have gone by and I didn糖心传媒檛 notice at all. You just disappear into the work. I think the same happens with musicians and artists. And there糖心传媒檚 this sense, especially with the deeper questions, that something extraordinary is waiting to be seen just over the horizon. So for me, it糖心传媒檚 the journey that is so engaging.

What are the biggest misconceptions that people have about science and scientists?

贵谤补苍办:听I remember seeing that showed the public trusted scientists more than they trusted people in other professions. But in the same poll, the public said scientists don糖心传媒檛 have feelings like other people do. They apparently got that notion from watching TV shows where scientists were portrayed like Mr. Spock on Star Trek. That, of course, is the biggest misconception. Scientists fall in love, we get pumped when our baseball teams win (the Mets, thank you very much), we糖心传媒檇 throw ourselves in front of a bus to help our kids糖心传媒攖here糖心传媒檚 fundamentally no difference between a scientist and anyone else.

According to a released in February 2022, the American public糖心传媒檚 trust in scientists has dropped significantly in the last couple of years. What do you think accounts for that?

贵谤补苍办:听A lot of it has to do with the COVID pandemic. Because the data were new and constantly changing, the scientists couldn糖心传媒檛 always get it right in the beginning. But then, very quickly, they figured it out, which is why we had a vaccine in less than a year. On top of that, the pandemic became politically polarized, with experts like Dr. Fauci being villainized. Also some very well-funded people have been leading efforts for years to subvert the public糖心传媒檚 understanding of science. This is particularly true of climate science since it threatens the bank accounts of folks in the oil and coal industries. But sowing distrust in science is a very dangerous and slippery slope. You can糖心传媒檛 just point to one area of science and call it a hoax. It will spill over into other areas of science. And the problem with that is that science is a central pillar of this country糖心传媒檚 success. Now all this misinformation and science denial is being spread for purely political ends, and we糖心传媒檙e going to pay a real price for that if we don糖心传媒檛 correct it.

Some science skeptics cast doubts on the COVID vaccine because it seemed to have been developed too quickly. How do you respond to that concern?

Frank: The problem is they don糖心传媒檛 understand that the technologies behind those new vaccines had been in the works for years because of government-funded research. We were lucky that these developing biotechnologies were easily turned into COVID vaccines. The problem is most people don糖心传媒檛 understand how research works, how scientists as a community work together for years to establish what they know and what they don糖心传媒檛 know.

What do people need to understand about the process of scientific research?

贵谤补苍办:听More than being able to quote the facts of science, what we really need is for people to understand its methods. I like to talk about the 3 糖心传媒淪糖心传媒檚糖心传媒� of science: spitballs, supertankers, and stadiums. Let糖心传媒檚 take the question, 糖心传媒淚s coffee bad for you?糖心传媒� Every other day you hear news of a research study showing it is bad for you or, no wait, it糖心传媒檚 actually good for you. But every research paper is just a little spitball that糖心传媒檚 being shot at the supertanker of science. It takes a supertanker seven miles to turn around. That means all those spitballs have to line up on the same side to make the supertanker change course. In other words, any individual research study doesn糖心传媒檛 mean much by itself. Finally, who糖心传媒檚 steering the science supertanker? Everybody!糖心传媒攁 stadium糖心传媒檚 worth of scientists. A consensus has to develop in the scientific community before you can say science 糖心传媒渒nows糖心传媒� something. What does this tell us about coffee and health? It tells us science doesn糖心传媒檛 know yet. When you see all those reports going both ways it tells you the science isn糖心传媒檛 decided. This is the opposite of something like climate change where all the studies have been saying the same thing for, like, 30 years. When scientists argue, it糖心传媒檚 over things at the edge of research糖心传媒攐ver questions that have not yet been resolved. It takes time to resolve those kinds of questions.

What is the price that we pay for science misinformation?

贵谤补苍办:听The implications are very simple. The nation that controls the scientific high ground controls the future. Germany before World War II was a scientific powerhouse. It is, after all, the birthplace of quantum mechanics. With the Nazis, it was clear that the nation was moving toward authoritarianism and much of their scientific talent left for the United States. So if the United States continues down this road of science denial, the best and brightest of the world won糖心传媒檛 come here. It糖心传媒檚 really about our nation’s capacity to be an economic powerhouse.

What糖心传媒檚 the best way to gain the trust of the skeptics?

贵谤补苍办:听I think they need to understand how science works. We don糖心传媒檛 gain their trust just by telling them about results. They need to understand how scientists know what they know. Skeptics should also be encouraged to imagine life without science. They should think about the robotic hip replacement that allows their grandma to walk around again. It糖心传媒檚 not like a special version of science is used to study climate and another used to make hip replacements; it糖心传媒檚 the same science. The same process is used in the research that leads to medical devices, cell phones, computers, vaccines, and climate understanding.

It seems that the science deniers have been able to make effective use of social media and sound bites. How can you counteract that?

贵谤补苍办:听Maybe over time, we糖心传媒檒l become savvy media consumers, but right now we糖心传媒檙e just in the grips of insanity.

But there糖心传媒檚 one more problem which is even deeper. People used to be humble about their ignorance. I糖心传媒檓 ignorant about many things, but I糖心传媒檓 not going to parade that around. If I don糖心传媒檛 know something, I糖心传媒檒l admit it. But somehow, we糖心传媒檝e gotten to a point where ignorance has become a hallmark of pride. And that糖心传媒檚 a social matter. You wouldn糖心传媒檛 want to fly in a plane piloted by a knucklehead who had no experience but was blowing off steam about how 糖心传媒渉e didn糖心传媒檛 need experts telling him what to do.糖心传媒�

Are you hopeful?

贵谤补苍办:听I糖心传媒檓 always hopeful, because what糖心传媒檚 the alternative? But we may be in for a rough time for the next few decades as we try to sort this out. There are people gaining advantages both economically and politically from all the polarization, and they糖心传媒檙e throwing science into the mix. Those are the forces that are going to take time to work out.

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