• Question: What is the best thing you have found out about being a scientist?

    Asked by anon-188262 to Warren, Shanti, Pizza Ka Yee, Paul, Nadine, Alex on 5 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Paul Matusz

      Paul Matusz answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      It is probably how frequently I meet other people who study a different aspect of what I study, or they study altogether a different area of neuroscience but their work in so many ways is related to my work. So I get inspired a lot, almost every day -and I absolutely love this about my work! And I think is the best part of being a scientist and what keeps me as well as many other scientists in science – how many fascinating things there are about memory, the brain, ourselves, the world, technology.

    • Photo: Alex Reid

      Alex Reid answered on 9 Nov 2018:

      I like working in a department full of people doing exciting research. It seems like every day someone has discovered something cool or interesting, and these findings are often presented in departmental seminars which anyone can attend. As Paul said, a big part of the academic experience is meeting new people and finding out about their perspectives and ideas. Sometimes they might challenge your own, but it is a healthy thing to be challenged.

    • Photo: Nadine Mirza

      Nadine Mirza answered on 12 Nov 2018:

      Definitely how much people overall care to make a difference. There’s just too much weird or awful stuff going on in the world. But then you see people who are striving hard to be scientists, working in all kinds of areas, spending so much effort, time and resources trying to find cures, save the environment, protect animals, understand and motivate human behaviour- save the world in short! And then there’s the people who want to hear about science! There’s you guys and the overall public who actually listen, who want to find out more, who want to be a part of it, help it, understand it and fund it! It’s what makes me not just want to be a scientist but also to share findings and talk about research- I love that so many people actually care, especially when we live in a world where sometimes it feels like people have stopped caring. Once you get into science you realise that’s not true- there’s many many people out there who are striving to keep science going, who understand it’s value.

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