• Question: Have you done anything that has changed our daily life ?

    Asked by zebraperson72 to Sive, Michael, Emma, Ciara, Cathal on 14 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Emma Cahill

      Emma Cahill answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Hey there… well not yet! that would be the dream one day.
      But its very rare that one scientist changes our lifes, we work mostly in teams and collaborate a lot so its more often a group effort. Plus, all studies are based on past discoveries so it really is difficult to claim something like that… but it’s true some scientists will manage to leave a huge impression on a field and influence how we live.

    • Photo: Sive Finlay

      Sive Finlay answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Hi,
      Emma’s right that it’s very rare (but exciting!) for one person to come up with a single idea which will change our daily life. Science is all about chipping away at problems until lots of smaller discoveries come together to produce an overall change.
      Also, your chances of making a discovery which will change our every day lives depends on what type of research you do. I’m involved in evolutionary biology and ecology, these are really important subjects for understanding the natural world and have lots of useful applications in areas such as conservation and environmental management. But discoveries in evolution or ecology are far less likely to change our everyday lives than new ideas in areas such as drugs research or energy production. Science research can be important for how it improves our everyday lives but that shouldn’t be the only goal. We should also try to discover and understand more about the world around us, and who knows where those discoveries might lead!
      Sive

    • Photo: Michael Nolan

      Michael Nolan answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Hi,

      Most scientists will do something as part of a team that will ultimitely make a difference to our lives. It is just that it is one small part of something that you may not even be aware of. so the person who worked on the process to make the plastic suitable to be used to package network cables has made a huge contribution by helping to enable the internet revolution since that made it possible to safely cover the cables that transmit the reams of data we use daily. I designed a new plastic pacakaging material for computer chips – but you will most likely never see it at all, but it is there.

      What I think you are interested in is the question of the BIG epoch-making discovery, the Newton, the Einstein. Unfortunately, those come along only every few centuries really and that is why they shake the foundations of what we know – think of Newton and gravity, Einstein with the photon and relativity, Darwin with natural selection.

      All other BIG discoveries tend to be in a team and the leader of that team will always acknowledge the team effort. Take the recent work on the Human Genome – that is the effort of hundereds of people and could change our lives.

      So, the short answer would be yes, but possibly in a non-obvious way. Even there our work still adds much more value than most jobs could ever do.

      M

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