July 20, 2022
Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank says distrust jeopardizes the country’s future as an economic powerhouse.
Recent studies show that the American public’s trust in scientists has dropped significantly. Adam Frank believes that public faith in science will return—but it will take time. (University of Rochester Photo/Julia Joshpe)
Q&A with Adam Frank
What does it mean to be a scientist?
When University of Rochester astronomer Adam Frank was five years old, he found his father’s science fiction magazines with pictures of bug-eyed monsters and moons. That was the beginning of Frank’s love affair with the stars and science itself.
So, what appeals to you most? The question, the search for an answer, or the answer itself?
Frank says: “For me, it was a spiritual thing. To see also : John Amaechi: ‘You want gay people to come out? Make sure it’s not so S—-y.’. “I felt awe and reverence for the vast sky, and the fact that it is just one story in an endless series of stories.”
What are the biggest misconceptions that people have about science and scientists?
Frank wishes everyone could look at science with the same awe and wonder. See the article : Catfish River Music Festival to fill the streets of Stoughton with music. But as the public grows distrustful of scientists, he knows it’s a tall order, with economic challenges.
“The public that controls the highest levels of science controls the future,” says Frank, who is convinced that public faith in science will return—but it will take some time.
According to a Pew Research Center survey released in February 2022, the American public’s trust in scientists has dropped significantly in the last couple of years. What do you think accounts for that?
Frank: People get into science because they have a strong curiosity. Every child is actually a scientist; they like to shake things up to see what happens. Fortunately, we can turn that curiosity into a lifelong career. If you loved watching ants as a child, you become an entomologist. Read also : Sarah Evanega commended for public service in science. If you liked to look at the stars, you become an astrologer. Being a scientist also means being an engineer who likes to build things to see if they work. A scientist is someone who is willing to sit with a question for hours, days, weeks or years. You go to bed at night and can’t wait to get up and get back to the problem you’re working on.
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: No matter what answer I get, I move on to the next question, so the key is asking—absorbing the question—is important. When I work from the figures, I will put my head down and start, then suddenly five hours have passed and I did not notice at all. You just disappear from work. I think the same thing happens with musicians and artists. And there is this sense, especially with deep questions, that there is something unusual waiting to be seen soon. So for me, it’s a very exciting journey.
What do people need to understand about the process of scientific research?
“Distrust of science is very dangerous and slippery.”
Frank: I remember seeing a poll a few years ago that showed the public trusted scientists more than they trusted people in other professions. But in the same survey, the public said that scientists are not as opinionated as other people. Apparently they got the idea from watching TV shows where scientists were portrayed like Mr. Spock in Star Trek. That, of course, is the worst impression. Scientists love each other, we cheer when our baseball teams win (Mets, thank you very much), we throw ourselves in front of the bus to help our children – there really is no difference between a scientist and anyone else.
What is the price that we pay for science misinformation?
Frank: A lot of it has to do with the COVID pandemic. Because the data was new and constantly changing, scientists couldn’t get it right at first. But then, very quickly, they understood it, that’s why we had the vaccine in less than a year. On top of that, the epidemic became a political divide, when experts like Dr. Fauci is being cheated. And some rich people have been leading efforts for years to destroy the public’s understanding of science. This is especially true of climate science as it threatens the bank accounts of people in the oil and coal industry. But spreading mistrust of science is a very dangerous and slippery slope. You can’t just point to one area of science and call it a lie. It will spill over into other areas of science. And the problem with that is that science is the main pillar of this country’s success. Now all this misinformation and denial of science is being spread for political gain, and we will pay a real price for that if we don’t correct it.
What’s the best way to gain the trust of the skeptics?
Frank: The problem is that they don’t understand that the technology behind these new vaccines has been working for years thanks to government-sponsored research. We have been fortunate that emerging biotechnologies have been easily adapted into COVID vaccines. The problem is that many people do not understand how research works, how scientists as a community work together for many years to create what they know and what they do not know.
It seems that the science deniers have been able to make effective use of social media and sound bites. How can you counteract that?
“People have been humbled by their ignorance.”
Frank: More than being able to cite scientific facts, what we really need is for people to understand its methods. I like to talk about the 3 “S” of science: spitballs, supertankers, and stadiums. Let’s take the question, “Is coffee bad for you?” Every day you hear news of research studies showing that they are either bad for you or, on the face of it, actually good for you. But every research paper is a small spitball being shot into a large tank of science. It takes a large tanker seven kilometers to turn. That means all the spitballs have to line up in the same direction to make the giant ship change course. In other words, each research study does not mean much by itself. Finally, who steers the great ship of science? Everyone!—the important scientists of the playground. Consensus must emerge in the scientific community before you can say that science “knows” something. What does this tell us about coffee and health? It tells us science doesn’t know yet. When you see all those reports going both ways it tells you that the science is not settled. This is different from something like climate change where all the studies have been saying the same thing for, like, 30 years. When scientists argue, it’s on the cutting edge of research—on the surface. of unsolved questions. It takes time to answer such questions.
Are you hopeful?
Frank: The results are very simple. A society that controls the highest levels of science controls the future. Germany before World War II was a scientific powerhouse. In fact, it is the birthplace of quantum mechanics. With the Nazis, it was clear that society was moving towards authoritarianism and most of their scientific expertise was left in the United States. So if the United States continues on this path of denying science, the best and brightest in the world will not come here. It’s really about our country’s ability to be an economic powerhouse.
Astrophysicist Adam Frank
Frank: I think they need to understand how science works. We don’t gain their trust just by telling them about the results. They need to understand how scientists know what they know. Skeptics should also be encouraged to think about life outside of science. They should consider a robotic hip replacement that allows their grandmother to walk again. It’s not like one scientific version is used to study the weather and another is used to make hip replacements; it is the same science. The same approach is used in research leading to medical devices, cell phones, computers, vaccines, and climate understanding.
Read more
Frank: Maybe in time we’ll be smarter news consumers, but right now we’re still in the throes of insanity.
