Question: why do you enjoy science?

Stephen Moss answered on 13 Mar 2011:

Hi Lucy
I enjoy science because every day can bring surprises. When we do experiments we might often have an idea or hypothesis about what the result might be, but so often we get caught out by the unexpected. Here’s an example. A few years ago we started a project to find genes involved in making blood vessels grow abnormally. We had all sorts of ideas about what we might find, but what emerged was completely unexpected, including many genes that we’d never even heard of. We then decided to investigate one of those genes, and three years later we’ve now figured out what it does. This has been really exciting because we may be able to block its function, and have a new way of treating disease.