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A Matter of Health

Who cares about science?

by Ruth SoRelle, MPH

There is actually an organization of science writers – people whose job it is to explain the work of scientists – from the most wide-ranging and highly applicable work to the finest, most arcane discovery. They write about space and plasma physics and cells and fuel cells and archeology and human organs and dwindling species.

Some of them actually came out of laboratories, aching to explain their work and that of others to the world as a whole. Others attended special courses that trained them to translate from "sciencese" into English. Many, if not most learned on the job.

At the National Association of Science Writers meeting in Pittsburgh in late October, a small core of this group, which in total is 2,500 strong, met to discuss their craft and the methods they use to achieve their goals. Many have jobs at newspapers, magazines, journals and even universities and medical schools. Most, however, concentrate on the science and how to get that message across.

Science will not win the World Series – tomorrow, but it might point the way to stronger players, better equipment and strategy for the future. Science cannot eliminate the natural catastrophes that seem to afflict the world in spates, but by trying to understand these events, scientists are getting better handles on dealing with them for the future.

Science cannot feed the world today, but it might in the future. Science cannot cure all disease, and there's a good likelihood that it never will. But how many people do you know alive and functioning today who would have died of their diseases 10 years ago.

Sometimes, scientists make mistakes. Sometimes, they are just plain wrong.

Science writers understand that, and often, they point these things out when they occur. That is what they do.

They are skeptics and believers. They are writers and investigators.

And to one degree or another, they all care about science.

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