• Question: how many things have you discovered?

    Asked by Tia and Indi to Simonne, Pete, James, Jake, Senga on 4 Nov 2017. This question was also asked by 982putk28, KUNG FU TIGER, zacattack.
    • Photo: Pete Gwynne

      Pete Gwynne answered on 4 Nov 2017:

      i think i’ve discovered one thing. to get my PhD i spent four years studying a part of a bacteria that we don’t know much about. i eventually worked out that it was quite similar to another part, bit we don’t know what the second part does either. that was a bit annoying.

      ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      the problem with being a scientist now is that all the easy things like gravity and stick insects and custard have been discovered, so there’s not much left.

    • Photo: Senga Robertson

      Senga Robertson answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      I might have discovered a new bacteria. I need to do some extra tests to find out if I’m right though, I might have just made a mistake!

      What should I call it if it is a new discovery?

Comments

  • Photo: Livia

    Livia commented on :

    One of the aims of scientists is to publish papers, so if you count one discovery as 1 paper, we will have discovered loads!
    But in science we also need replication, which means when you discover something new, someone else has to confirm that they can see the same thing under similar conditions. In addition, scientific progress is very slow as a theory or hypothesis to become translational (so that people can indeed benefit from it) it has to be confirmed by several different means. One example from my area is that I work with how stress leads to disease. One way that it can lead to disease is by changing how our body works, a particular part of the body that is responsible for protecting ourselves from infection (the immune system). Therefore, in my area we study how stress leads to changes in the immune system that leads to mental illnesses. So, I try to prove that by looking at studies in humans with chronic stress (people with heart disease or diabetes with and without depression), others may look at animal models, and others may use cell lines, or computer models. And if collectively things start to make more and more sense then a hypothesis/theory builds up – and thus a significant discovery requires the work of a multitude of people and from a multi-disciplinary group!