Answer the questions:
- What does a scientist look like? Include any specific characteristics such as “wears glasses, crazy eyes, weird hair”, etc.
- What gender is a scientist?
- What is the scientist doing?
Exercise 2. Discuss the questions.
1. What does it mean to be a scientist? Can anyone become a scientist?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a scientific career over other careers?
3. What does the career in science require?
4. Are you going to take a postgraduate course after getting the Master’s degree? Explain the reasons.
COMPREHENSIVE READING
Scientific research is about discovering new things and applying them to improvements in life style for people and animals. You can find it exciting but careers in science are now very demanding, requiring much more than a keen scientific mind and a practical ability. If you are considering a career in research and want to succeed, think about the following things.
Long gone are the days when learned gentlemen of science pondered the natural and physical world around them, and discussed the latest discoveries and inventions, often over dinner and a glass of fine wine. Even fifty years ago, science seemed a rather gentler activity than it is today. Now scientists need a range of new skills, and they need to learn them quickly in order to be successful. Many universities provide courses for graduate students on communication and presentation skills, publishing, obtaining grants, ethics and the many other aspects of research. Many universities now offer “pre-PhD courses”, either as an obligatory foundation year of PhD study.
Those who go on to study for a PhD are sometimes surprised that, having obtained satisfactory results during their Bachelor’s or Master’s projects, they struggle for many months with their PhD project. This mainly reflects the very different nature of short-term projects undertaken during Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees, which, if the supervisor is skilled, will be designed to yield data and will often form part of a larger, ongoing project. The difference when you get to a PhD is that you will be tackling a much “bigger” project and one that will be yours.
Science is about two activities – thinking and doing. Thinking involves reading the literature, assessing current information and knowledge and major questions or problems, establishing hypotheses, designing experiments, assessing data and what they mean, writing them up and then moving on to the next set of experiments. Doing is the essential part in setting up, modifying and validating techniques, conducting experiments, collecting and analyzing data, preparing talks and so on. A big mistake is to try to separate thinking from doing. But even if your experiments are carefully planned, you should keep in mind that anyone involved in research for some time will have experienced failure due to personal error, equipment or materials which are not optimal.
Philosophically, scientific research is about discovering the truth, so dishonesty should have no place. However, scientists are normal people with the same faults and failings as anyone else, with inhibitions and fears, and, in spite of the lofty morals of science; some do behave badly, committing acts of dishonesty. Many more would consider themselves basically honest, but good intentions do not always ensure ethical behaviour. The responsibilities of scientists are far reaching. You have responsibilities to colleagues and the scientific community, your employer and funder and of course to society.
Scientists have a moral and legal obligation to avoid discrimination, harassment or preference towards anyone they work with, but they also have responsibility for the human subjects they may study, their colleagues and to the society in which they live and work. The last few decades has seen growing concern about issues such as genetically modified organisms, the use of live animals in research, human tissues and subjects. Each has their own scientific and public sensitivities and regulatory limitations which cannot be avoided. In most countries, these issues are governed by extensive regulations at the institutional or national legislative level. Failure to meet these regulatory requirements can result in anything from severe reprimand and limits on future scientific activity, to termination of your contract of employment or criminal prosecution.
The responsibility goes much further. Each scientist has a responsibility to every individual and to the human tissue or subject that they use in their experiments. They may also be required to discuss and defend their research on such issues in the public arena to a society which may have major misgivings or violent objections to some aspects of science.
Scientists are members of society and have a responsibility to that society. This includes not only acting in an ethical and responsible manner, but also disseminating and explaining what they do and discover the implications and applications of research and the potential benefits, and being honest and open about potential disadvantages or failures.
The responsibilities of scientists to society at large have changed significantly in recent years. Just a decade or so ago, most of the scientific community would assume it perfectly acceptable to work on whatever they chose, without concerns about the potential impact of their discoveries or about explaining their research to non-scientists. But the public is becoming more aware, more knowledgeable and often more concerned about the impact of science and technology on their lives. The recent controversies surrounding genetically modified foods provide a good example. Scientists cannot turn their backs, but have to become involved in the discussions, and most importantly in explaining the scientific basis for new discoveries and their implications.
Rothwell N. Who wants to be a scientist? Choosing Science as a career. University of Manchester,
Cambridge University Press, New York, 2012
COMPREHENSIVE CHECK
