\u201cFor me, it was a quasi-spiritual thing,\u201d says Frank. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank wishes everyone could look at science with the same kind of awe and wonder. But given the public\u2019s growing distrust of scientists<\/a>, he knows that\u2019s a tall order, one with economic ramifications.<\/p>\n \u201cThe nation that controls the scientific high ground controls the future,\u201d says Frank, who\u2019s confident that the public\u2019s faith in science will make a comeback\u2014but it will take time.<\/p>\n Frank:<\/strong> 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\u2019s 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\u2019s willing to stay with a question for hours, days, weeks, or years. You go to sleep at night and can\u2019t wait to wake up and get back to the problem you\u2019re working on.<\/p>\n Frank:\u00a0<\/strong>No matter what answer I get, I just go on to the next question, so it\u2019s the inquiry\u2014the absorption in the question\u2014that matters. When I work on a mathematical derivation, I\u2019ll put my head down and get started, then suddenly five hours have gone by and I didn\u2019t notice at all. You just disappear into the work. I think the same happens with musicians and artists. And there\u2019s this sense, especially with the deeper questions, that something extraordinary is waiting to be seen just over the horizon. So for me, it\u2019s the journey that is so engaging.<\/p>\n Frank:\u00a0<\/strong>I remember seeing a poll a couple of years ago<\/a> that showed the public trusted scientists more than they trusted people in other professions. But in the same poll, the public said scientists don\u2019t 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<\/em>. 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\u2019d throw ourselves in front of a bus to help our kids\u2014there\u2019s fundamentally no difference between a scientist and anyone else.<\/p>\n Frank:\u00a0<\/strong>A lot of it has to do with the COVID pandemic. Because the data were new and constantly changing, the scientists couldn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019s success. Now all this misinformation and science denial is being spread for purely political ends, and we\u2019re going to pay a real price for that if we don\u2019t correct it.<\/p>\n Frank: <\/strong>The problem is they don\u2019t 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\u2019t understand how research works, how scientists as a community work together for years to establish what they know and what they don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n Frank:\u00a0<\/strong>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 \u201cS\u2019s\u201d of science: spitballs, supertankers, and stadiums. Let\u2019s take the question, \u201cIs coffee bad for you?\u201d Every other day you hear news of a research study showing it is bad for you or, no wait, it\u2019s actually good for you. But every research paper is just a little spitball that\u2019s 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\u2019t mean much by itself. Finally, who\u2019s steering the science supertanker? Everybody!\u2014a stadium\u2019s worth of scientists. A consensus has to develop in the scientific community before you can say science \u201cknows\u201d something. What does this tell us about coffee and health? It tells us science doesn\u2019t know yet. When you see all those reports going both ways it tells you the science isn\u2019t 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\u2019s over things at the edge of research\u2014over questions that have not yet been resolved. It takes time to resolve those kinds of questions.<\/p>\n Frank:\u00a0<\/strong>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\u2019t come here. It\u2019s really about our nation’s capacity to be an economic powerhouse.<\/p>\n Frank:\u00a0<\/strong>I think they need to understand how science works. We don\u2019t 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\u2019s not like a special version of science is used to study climate and another used to make hip replacements; it\u2019s the same science. The same process is used in the research that leads to medical devices, cell phones, computers, vaccines, and climate understanding.<\/p>\n Frank:\u00a0<\/strong>Maybe over time, we\u2019ll become savvy media consumers, but right now we\u2019re just in the grips of insanity.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s one more problem which is even deeper. People used to be humble about their ignorance. I\u2019m ignorant about many things, but I\u2019m not going to parade that around. If I don\u2019t know something, I\u2019ll admit it. But somehow, we\u2019ve gotten to a point where ignorance has become a hallmark of pride. And that\u2019s a social matter. You wouldn\u2019t want to fly in a plane piloted by a knucklehead who had no experience but was blowing off steam about how \u201che didn\u2019t need experts telling him what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Frank:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019m always hopeful, because what\u2019s 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\u2019re throwing science into the mix. Those are the forces that are going to take time to work out.<\/p>\n A self-described \u201cevangelist of science,\u201d Frank regularly writes\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0speaks\u00a0about subjects like intelligent life forms in the universe, high-energy-density physics, space exploration and missions, climate change, and more.<\/p>\n Explore full profile \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nQ&A with Adam Frank<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nWhat does it mean to be a scientist?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
So, what appeals to you most? The question, the search for an answer, or the answer itself?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What are the biggest misconceptions that people have about science and scientists?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
According to a <\/strong>Pew Research Center survey<\/strong><\/a> released in February 2022, the American public\u2019s trust in scientists has dropped significantly in the last couple of years. What do you think accounts for that?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What do people need to understand about the process of scientific research?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What is the price that we pay for science misinformation?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What\u2019s the best way to gain the trust of the skeptics?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
It seems that the science deniers have been able to make effective use of social media and sound bites. How can you counteract that? <\/strong><\/h3>\n
Are you hopeful?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/2018-06-04_Adam_Frank_063-3-2-165.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAstrophysicist Adam Frank<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Genetically modified food: Would you eat it if you understood the science behind it?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n![\"Several](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/fea-nasa-technosignature-frank-1.jpg\")
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