Doing Science Stuff

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     For the most part, we scientists are normal people. We often look a lot like the rest of you. But when you turn us loose in a laboratory or release us in a disease-ridden rainforest, we become ecstatically transformed into maniacal fanatics. We do science stuff.

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     You probably think that this transformation involves the methodical collection of data, the meticulous testing of arcane hypotheses, and the resulting discovery of previously unknown truths. No.

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     We stumble around a lot.

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     It is a carefully guarded secret that doing science is mostly messy, frequently distressing, and often unsuccessful. Most novel discoveries are accidental, most experiments fail, and a lot of data are unreliable.

Darwin, for example, forgot to label many of the finches he collected in the Galapagos. When the ornithologist told him he had discovered thirteen new species, he randomly assigned them to different islands. This gave him the idea of natural selection.

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     Alexander Fleming was experimenting with the influenza virus when he decided to take a vacation. He came back weeks later to find a mold was killing off the virus, ruining his experiments. Penicillin was a total accident.

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      I’m not even going to mention how completely unexpected Viagra was!

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     Consider the scientific method we teach in school: make an observation, form a hypothesis to explain it, test the hypothesis to confirm the explanation, celebrate with Dom Perignon.

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     But here’s how it often goes:

“How are the test results shaping up, Dr. X?”

“Not too good, Dr. Y. Some of the tests are negative.”

“Couldn’t those just be outliers, Dr. X?”

“Too many of them, Dr. Y.” 

“Okay. Let’s find a hypothesis that fits these results.”

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     Scientists find this curious upside-down approach to research an important lesson when seeking grants. If you want more funding on a project, nothing succeeds like failure. Why should the government put more funds into a successful research project when funding a failure might reverse it?

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     This is human nature. Remember the Concorde? London to New York in 3-1/2 hours. Halfway through development, they knew it would never be profitable. So they doubled their investment!

Science thrives on the Concorde Effect!

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Ron Wetherington