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Asked by rwariamadinosaur to Alan, Caspar, Diana, Murray, Sarah on 17 Mar 2011 in Categories: General.
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Caspar Addyman answered on 14 Mar 2011:
Five hundred reasons. 😉
Well, winning would be nice. Not only for the money but also because universities like it when their scientists communicate with the public.
But mainly I’m doing it for fun. I really love my job and I love talking about it. The best test of how well you understand something is having to explain it to someone-else without them getting bored or confused. So please do tell me if I am boring or confusing.
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Murray Collins answered on 14 Mar 2011:
Hi Dinosaur –
lots of reasons. One of my supervisors said she did it last year and it was really good fun, and that people asked really good questions. So I’m hoping to have the same experience.I’m really curious to know what people in the next generation are interested in, what you think is important to discuss, and what you want to ask of us! Plus there’s always loads of stuff in the news about changing A-level standards, competition for university places etc. It looks like you’re having a tough time in some ways, so am curious too to see where you want to go and what your hopes and ambitions are.
Cheers
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Diana Drennan answered on 15 Mar 2011:
It sounded like fun, and if i can get even one of you to think about science differently (well, ok, hopefully in a good way) then that’s a good thing. I think people in general need to think about science more – like where does our energy come from and why should we conserve it ? and should I pick paper or plastic and why ? and what are the real costs of off-shore drilling ? and even if we don’t understand all the issues all the time, we can all try to understand enough to know what questions to ask and how to tell when we’re being sold a story.
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Alan Winfield answered on 15 Mar 2011:
That’s easy:) Because I love telling people about how amazing science and engineering is – and especially because I want to enthuse more young people (like you) to decide to do science, engineering, technology or maths!
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Sarah Thomas answered on 17 Mar 2011:
2 reasons:
1) this is a really cool thing to do! I’ve never heard of scientists doing this before and I think it is a good way for people to meet scientists from lots of different places. I mean, I live in Edinburgh and if it wasn’t for this, then you would never be able to ask me your questions. And the live chat thing is cool because we all chat with our friends on msn and facebook and stuff, so its pretty unusual to be chatting to these people that you’ve never met before.
2) The prize money! It’s hard to get funding for science communication projects, but if we don’t do this sort of thing, kids are missing out on opportunities to meet scientists, learn about science and get inspired by it. I would like to win the prize money so I can run more workshops in schools and teach more people about cancer research.
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