20131226_PN

Source: BBC Radio 4: Today Programme

URL: N/A

Date: 26/12/2013

Event: Sir Paul Nurse: "Good science is based on reproducible observation and experiment"

Credit: BBC Radio 4

People:

• Mishal Husain: Presenter, BBC Radio 4 Today programme
• Sir Paul Nurse: Geneticist and president of the Royal Society
• Justin Webb: Presenter, BBC Radio 4 Today programme

Mishal Husain: Now, the Industrial and the Internet Revolution have both been based on scientific methods and rational thinking. But how do we define these terms, and how does scientific thinking continue to influence our lives? We invited one of last year's guest editors, Sir Paul Nurse, to consider this question, posed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Paul Nurse: Why is it that we're living with better health and a greater quality of life, and have a growing global economy? Ultimately, much of it is built on science and the applications of science - medicines, electricity, intelligent phones, protecting the environment, the internet - are all based on the knowledge we gain from science.

Science is a reliable way of generating knowledge about the natural world and ourselves, because of the way it is done. Good science is based on reproducible observation and experiment, to generate ideas, taking account of all the evidence and not cherry-picking data. It is about scepticism, and if the ideas do not stand up, then they need to be rejected or modified, and then tested again.

Scientific issues are settled by the overall strength of the evidence, combined with rational, consistent and objective argument. Scientists have to convince their often critical colleagues that their ideas are valid. If they cannot, then their ideas are unlikely to be right. That is why we should listen to the majority views of expert scientists, rather than the extremists on important issues such as climate change.

These features distinguish science from ideology or politics, where adversarial or lobbying approaches are often used to win an argument at any cost, but in the end, evidence-based science will win out. And when science wins, we all win, because our improved knowledge allows us to make better decisions about what we should do in the future.

It was this approach that helped make Britain great during the Industrial Revolution. Our scientists and innovators followed their ideas. They tested them rigorously and they produced results that drove industrial progress. The results included our railways, increased food production, textiles and ceramics, many great achievements.

In Britain, we are good at science, and it serves us well. We just need to persuade our politicians, our business leaders and our opinion formers, that if we nurture it more effectively, science can do so much more for us, in terms of improving our lives and driving our economy.

Justin Webb: Paul Nurse - Sir Paul Nurse, who was reflecting there on the views of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, our guest editor today, who was himself a guest editor last year.