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Asked by anon-254455 on 19 May 2020.
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Jacque Cilliers answered on 19 May 2020:
I would say so yes.
Science is there not only to discover new things, but also to solve problems. A perfect example is green energy. People WANT more renewable sources of energy because we are worried about global warming. Science now seeks to find a way to provide these solutions by designing and discovering new batteries or new ways to harness solar power.So yes… Science is most definately driven by society and problems facing man kind.
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Daire Harvey-Carroll answered on 19 May 2020:
Absolutely! Funding for scientific research comes from lots of sources but the government and charities are both big ones. The public won’t fund what they don’t think is relevant, important or interesting. This means even if you find a particular topic really interesting as a scientist, you have to make sure it will be something that the public is willing to fund!
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Alice Pullen answered on 19 May 2020:
Absolutely! Quite apart from the direct way in which the money to pay scientists comes from taxation, many scientists are inspired or influenced by things they see when they are children. If you see that it is possible for yourself, or a person like you, to be a scientist, you’re more likely to think of pursuing science. I think of the movies Jurassic Park, which has Dr. Ellie Sutler and Black Panther, which has Shuri, both awesome female scientists! And also Entrapta from She-Ra.
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Ana Filipa Palmeirim answered on 19 May 2020:
Indeed, scientific research has a really close relationship with our society and the media. By one hand, science is trying to solve the current problems in the society, so a lot of funding aims to support those timely and urgent projects. On the other hand, there is the so-called fundamental research which, contrary to the applied research, has a broader aim of generating knowledge that does not necessarily needs to be important in the present moment, but that will help to move on. For example, applied research can be the search for a vaccine for a virus that is currently affecting people, while fundamental science can be that investigating the mechanisms that are happening at the cell level (that knowledge can be very useful at a later stage).
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Rebecca Roddan answered on 19 May 2020:
Yes, in a way- scientific research is driven by multiple factors. Lots of scientific research is funded by governments or private companies, driven by demands by society to solve problems to humankind. Solving these issues such as developing a drug to cure a certain kind of cancer, leads to multiple benefits:
-the company making the drug can sell it and make money
-we are prolonging the length and quality life which society is interested in, we want the people we care about to live for as long as possible
-it is also economically advantageous for a country to have people living and working for longer, which cures for diseases do.Often the economic benefits of scientific research is what mainly results in certain projects being funded, but often things that are economically beneficial are also beneficial to society and so are influenced by the media.
Adding onto what Jacque mentioned about renewable energy, there is also a growing economic benefit to moving away from fossil fuels and this is what is really driving investment into clean energy infrastructure. As research into renewable energy made it cheaper and cheaper to produce clean energy, it is now becoming even cheaper than making energy from fossil fuels, leading to even more investment and research into renewable energy.
There is also an economic disadvantage to continuing to make energy from fossil fuels: fossil fuels will eventually run out and our economies and livelihoods are based upon generating energy so we need alternatives and there are also major economic disadvantages to our planet being destroyed by climate change.
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Kirsty Pringle answered on 20 May 2020:
Yes, for sure.
Sometimes is it really important that it is – if people have a question or misunderstand something then it is important that scientists act to answer the question. One job of science is to inform society.
Other times the influence of the media is tricky; some topics are seen as more important than others because of the public interest in them, but this doesn’t necessarily reflect the real importance of the topics. For example research into some diseases receive much more funding than others, but it doesn’t match the severity of the disease or the number of people affected.
It is hard to assess the relative importance of different scientific study topics – funding councils provide money to the scientists to work. They use a process where experts review scientists plans (proposals) to decide who should get funding, but it isn’t a perfect system.
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Steve Wroe answered on 25 May 2020:
Without doubt. Society (us) ask questions and science is all about problem solving and finding answers or expanding our knowledge.
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