• Question: What are the benefits to being a scientist (i'm curious, not being offensive)?

    Asked by Kester_is_da_best to David, Eva, Kate, Nicholas, Rachel on 10 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by # kiewie.
    • Photo: Rachel McMullan

      Rachel McMullan answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      Hi
      Well it’s fairly unlikely you’ll get rich but for me the benefits are a job I love and the freedom to explore and ask lots of questions. I get to meet and work with some really interesting people to try and answer them.

    • Photo: Eva Weiss

      Eva Weiss answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      It’s your job to be curious! Your job doesn’t get boring, there is always something new to discover.

    • Photo: David Nunan

      David Nunan answered on 12 Nov 2015:

      So for my branch of science (medicine) one of the benefit is helping find the best treatments for people who are ill.

      Also in my job everyday is different as my topic (evidence based medicine/epidemiology) covers quite a range of activities from doing my own research studies – I recently completed a study looking at mobile phones and bluetooth technology for monitoring peoples blood pressure in their own homes – to teaching medical students and doctors/nurses/vets (you name it!) about how to understand scientific evidence so that they can help their patients make the best decisions for their healthcare.

      You can also get the opportunity to travel around the world to present the results from your research which is pretty cool!

      The pay isn’t that great and it’s definitely not a 9-5 job (i spend a lot of evenings writing and reading about my research or blogging and tweeting about my subject).

    • Photo: Nicholas Pearce

      Nicholas Pearce answered on 15 Nov 2015:

      Hey Kester,

      It’s an important question to ask of any job. I think discovering new things is great. Science is done all over the world, so you have a lot of opportunity to travel and see new places. Another great benefit is you get to see your own ideas become reality.

      And science is one of the only ways to become famous forever! Footballers, singers and actors might be famous now, but will be forgotten about in 100 years. The best scientists are never forgotten!

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