• Question: Is being a Scientist a worth while job?

    Asked by maevelewisxo to Tim, Suzi, Simon, Rachael, Damien on 12 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by gg123456789.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      Hi @maevelewisxo (hope I’ve spelt that right!)
      Thanks for your question.
      I think being a Scientist is a really worthwhile job. Understanding the world we live in, and even understanding ourselves better, and how our bodies work is really important!

      More personally, the research I’m doing at the moment is looking at people’s mental health, so if I can find a way to make their illnesses less severe, or even help them to not get ill at all, that would be really brilliant, and really worthwhile.

      Hope this answers your question 🙂

    • Photo: Tim Fosker

      Tim Fosker answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      Hi maevelewisxo,

      DEFINITELY! As a student I tried a few jobs and none have been as exciting as working as a scientist. All scientists rely on the findings of other scientists to do the research that they do, so even the most basic of research is important. The scientists (biologists and physicists) involved in the creation of the equipment I use to measure brain activity have made my work possible. Without other scientists examining how the brain responds to sounds, I wouldn’t be able to focus on the differences that occur when we listen to language.

      Our understanding of the world we live in is expanding all of the time. Being a scientist means that you are helping explain the world.

    • Photo: Damien Hall

      Damien Hall answered on 12 Jun 2011:

      As Tim said, DEFINITELY! (I agree with his capital letters as well.) A lot of scientists’ jobs really help people a lot – which Suzi and Tim have also said – and what I do about language science does as well, though it might not be obvious at first glance. For example, there’s a lot of research going on in what’s called forensic phonetics at the moment – that’s using language science in the courts – so you can say beyond reasonable doubt that (based on some recording) a suspect is or isn’t likely to be the person in the recording. That way, we help justice to be done. Language science can also help people applying for asylum, say – if we know a lot about the languages of the places where people come from to apply for asylum, we can tell whether the person applying is likely to be telling the truth about where they come from, based on the language they speak and the accent they have.

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