As academics we endeavour to undertake research and communicate it through papers published in journals and conference proceedings. But have you ever thought of how the vast majority of people, even those who work in various areas of science/technology and engineering, have very little knowledge of published scientific papers – and have probably not even heard of the journals and conferences where they are published. Many people do however have extremely detailed knowledge relating to subjects such as history and economics even though history is all in the past and there is nothing one can do about it. Also, despite the enormous sums that are spent on economics, economists were not even able to foresee the 2008 global financial crisis. So, do such subjects really warrant the enormous resources that are expended on studying and analysing them?

 

There is also often a perception that science is difficult, is not going to directly affect one’s life and is boring. In reality, science, technology and engineering offer breath-taking opportunities to revolutionise our lifestyles in a multitude of fascinating ways. Even more importantly, they offer potential to save your life (e.g. COVID vaccines) as well as saving the planet (e.g. renewable technologies). So, can we present science and technology to the public in ways that get across the exciting and astonishing things that it can offer, rather than the endless doom-merchant depictions of the future that we see in most movies. Yes, we just need more Data and less Terminator. Science is not dull and inaccessible – it is just perceived in that fashion due to the way it is usually portrayed in the media. In reality it is exciting and fascinating; so, forget about the mad scientist of the b movies, and think about the science officer Mr Spock. Gene Roddenberry had a marvellously positive view of the future, and the more we contemplate positive future scenarios, the more likely it is that we will be able to make them a reality.