Why You Don't Actually 'F*cking Love Science'

So, you think you love science? What does that mean to you, exactly?

For most people, I’m guessing it means something like this:

Image: NASA

Or perhaps something like this:

Image: National Institutes of Health

That’s not what science is, though. That’s data, and like countless “Principal Investigators” of the science world (the professors who are named on research grants), you’re confusing data with science. This is what science is:

Image: iStockphoto, LajosRepasi

Science is people. It’s a collective human endeavor, in which people make theories, test them based on observation and refine the theory when the tests disagree with it. Data, as seen in the beautiful pictures above, is just a side object that confirms the process is working. Science is the process and the people. Data is the residue. Read more...