• Question: How does your research benefit humanity?

    Asked by abicurry15 to Alan, Deepak, Francesca, Lilly, Nick on 12 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Francesca Day

      Francesca Day answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      My research is unlikely to directly benefit humanity in the short term. But discovering new particles and improving our understanding of the universe can lead to all kinds of exciting new technologies in the long term!

      For example, when the electron was discovered everyone thought it was useless, but now we use it to power almost everything in the form of electricity. More recently, the positron particle was discovered in 1932, and now it is used in PET scanning to diagnose cancer.

      My research is helping us to discover more and more about the universe – who knows what new inventions that will lead too? 🙂

    • Photo: Deepak Kar

      Deepak Kar answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      A lot of times when we are seeking to explore nature, there is no direct fundamental benefits. But more often than not, there are many indirect benefits. For example, at CERN physicists built a network to share data among themselves, which went on to become the world wide web. The experiment needed never-before-made-sized superconducting magnets, which resulted in improvement of the technology. CERN uses particle beams for treatment of cancer and other diseases.

    • Photo: Alan Fitzsimmons

      Alan Fitzsimmons answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      Thats a good question, and something lots of people wonder.

      I guess some of my research helps understand the threat from asteroids hitting us. But most of it is not directed at something “useful”. Many scientists do research because they want to find out something more about how nature works, and if humanity understands more then it is a good thing.

      But you never really know. About a hundred years ago, Albert Einstein worked out some of the equations that let us know how atoms work, but only as pure physics. A few decades later other scientists used those equations to invent the laser! Now we use lasers in medicine, engineering and all sorts of technology. Without scientists din pure physics, we wouldn’t have xboxes!

    • Photo: Lilian Hunt

      Lilian Hunt answered on 12 Mar 2014:

      My research is a bit more obvious in how it helps humanity because I’m studying the DNA of humans with disorders and diseases. So if we can work out what it is that’s causing these problems, we can try and help the people with them 🙂

    • Photo: Nick Wright

      Nick Wright answered on 13 Mar 2014:

      Studying the stars and our Universe helps us to understand how the Universe works and how we got to where we are today. I think this can be important for understanding where we all came from and where we’re going.

      Also, astronomy can be very inspirational for people, which can lead them to study science and take up scientific careers. If people were more educated about science we would produce more discoveries, which I think is a good thing.

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