If you are reading this blog, I am sure you will agree that science and research are essential, and even more in the context of a pandemic. Concepts such as PCR, antibody, and herd immunity are slowly getting into people’s vocabulary. This fact makes me quite happy but puts in evidence the lack of scientific knowledge among the population.
As mentioned in my previous blogpost, under the current situation science is crucial to fight the immense number of canards (and misinformation) which are spreading through social media. Again, one of the reasons for this issue is the reduced scientific background of the people. “How could anyone believe this!?” — I have asked myself more than once while reading the news (or my feed on Facebook). If people do not know that bleach can kill them, or that 5G waves cannot spread the virus, I think there are too many things we need to reconsider as a society.
One of the steps to take could be the way scientist express and communicate their research. There is a need for scientists to be more engaging. Making sure non-specialist people understand the scientific concepts you are telling them (this could be about your research or the effect that bleach has in organisms, for example) is crucial to make them curious about science.
There are more reasons which emphasise the relevance of science currently. The most obvious one: researchers will be the ones finding the COVID-19 vaccine. However, as there are loads of people in OPIG who know much more about vaccines and immunity than myself, I will focus on something different. Did you know that network science can help us to prevent future outbreaks?
If you imagine a network in which nodes are different people and connections between them represent physical contact between, you can identify who are the “hubs” in this social network. Of course, it is difficult to place these connections, but we can use networks models to predict where it is more likely they are. This network-based model can be used to identify the key people who will prevent disease outbreaks by getting vaccinated. If I made you even a bit curious about this topic, and want to know a bit more, I invite you to check this video from the COST Action COSTNET.
Lastly, I want to point out that even I highlighted the relevance of science and research to fight the pandemic, these two areas are always vital. We do not know which will be the next challenge we will face as a society. It might be a new pandemic, a food crisis or an environmental problem, but whatever it is, the society and their researchers will have to be ready and well-prepared! And I am sure we will be.
