OPINION: Science in crisis? Go on then, prove it
Most of the concerns about the alleged problems facing science are poorly contextualised and rarely based on good evidence, Rod Lamberts writes. Image: erierika/iStockphoto Litanies about how poorly science and the science “brand” are doing have become a little too common for my liking. The most recent notable example came courtesy of the EU’s Science, it’s a girl thing campaign. But it’s not my intention here to rip into this campaign. Rather, it inspired me to re-visit the alleged problems facing science, and to challenge some of the big assumptions that underlie them. I’m talking about assumptions such as: science needs to be sold (better)people are becoming less interested in science/ becoming anti-sciencenot enough people like/ do sciencebrand science is in trouble As best as I can tell, most of these concerns are poorly (if ever) contextualised and rarely based on good evidence. Actually, even when evidence is presented, the realities are never as straightforward as...