Communication & issues created by science

• It's important to communicate scientific discoveries to the public
• Scientists need to tell the world about their discoveries
• Scientific evidence can be presented in a biased way
• Reports about scientific discoveries in the media aren't peer-reviewed
• People who want to make a point can sometimes present data in a biased way
• Scientific developments can create issues
• Types of issues raised by scientific developments

  • Economic issues
  • Personal issues
  • Social issues
  • Environmental issues
• Economic issues


  Society can't always afford to do things scientists recommend
• Personal issues


  Some decisions will affect individuals
• Social issues


  Decisions based on scientific evidence affect people
• Environmental issues

  Human activity often affects the natural environment
• Science can't answer every question - especially ethical ones
• We don't understand everything
• Scientists need data to provide evidence for their hypotheses
• Some questions can't be answered yet because the data can't currently be collected
• Eventually, as we get more evidence, we'll answer some questions that currently can't be answered
• There will always be ethical questions that experiments can't help us to answer
• Some people think new drugs to boost brain power could improve concentration or memory
• Other people say new drugs could give an unfair advantage in exams
• Science can't tell you whether or not you should do something
• Decisions about actions are for you and society to decide
• Science might be able to answer questions like where life came from