• Question: Have you made any recent discoveries that could make a big difference to modern science???

    Asked by ag2002 to Aled, Ellie, Fiona, Kev, Willem on 10 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Kevin Arbuckle

      Kevin Arbuckle answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      It’s difficult to say what will make a big difference in the future, but I would be amazed and humbled if anything I do has a massive impact.

      A few decades ago, a scientist called Geoff Parker spent a lot of time watching dung flies try to find sexy girl flies on cow pats (not exactly a fancy restaurant but there you go). He did lots of watching and some experiments and discovered something called sexual selection. This is the idea that (in this case) males have to win a competition with other males to get females, and that this competition causes them to evolve in a particular way. Now, watching flies on cow pats seems an odd thing to do, and hardly sounds like groundbreaking science, but these first observations led to all sorts of advances and changed the way we think about evolution, ecology (indeed, much of biology), pest control, animal breeding and conservation, and many other things. So this is one example of how it is impossible to predict what will be really important in the future.

      Again, I would not say I have made any major discoveries in science so far, but as scientists we all push the boundaries of what is known and add our own little bits of knowledge. Hopefully some will be useful!

    • Photo: Fiona Heesen

      Fiona Heesen answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Hi ag2002,

      I think that I have made many small discoveries about how social groups and communities use the Internet and what effect that has on their lives – I like to think that in a few years that will make a difference in how the Internet is provided to rural communities and how involved governments (like the UK government) are in providing it. I unfortunately haven’t made any BIG discoveries that will change the face of science – but maybe one day!

      Thanks for the question 🙂

      – Fiona

    • Photo: Aled Roberts

      Aled Roberts answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      Hey ag2002!

      I think I have made a considerable discovery (I might be a little biased! haha!). But in my defence I’ve looked at how manuka honey kills bacteria which whilst doesn’t sound that impressive… I found that it causes them to burst open which should help with uptake on of this treatment on the NHS!

      And… if you take into account that we might not have any useful antibiotics in 10-15 years! discoveries like this are needed! I’ve even looked at how manuka honey reverses the resistance of MRSA! allowing antibiotics to be used on it once more!

      🙂

    • Photo: Willem Heijltjes

      Willem Heijltjes answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      I don’t know if what I do will ever have a big impact, but I do know that if it does, very few people will get to see it, because it will be deep inside the inner workings of computers!

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