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Asked by Tom to Andrew, Lynn, Jade, Jessica, Kevin on 15 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by Aidan :), Oliver W, Mia, $haun dang doughnuts, sophie d, 155curc24, matty422, Jessi3e.
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Andrew Fensham-Smith answered on 15 Jun 2015:
Well it depends how you mean – the scientific way of thinking, or actually being in the lab doing it.
Think of science as kind of like a computer. You can tell the computer to do bad things, but it’s not really the computers fault is it? It’s your fault for being nasty and telling it to do bad stuff! In the same way, if you use science to find a really horrible poison, that’s pretty bad too!
But the actual process of science – thinking about what to do, figuring out how to do it, testing your hypothesis, getting results – isn’t dangerous if you do it safely. I use some very dangerous chemicals, ones that could kill me, give me cancer, injure me horribly, but because I do it responsibly and think about the risks before I do it I haven’t had any serious accidents in my seven years of lab work at all.
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Jess Wade answered on 15 Jun 2015:
Some science is dangerous- it depends who is doing it. We can discover so many different things and make some may different things happen with our science knowledge that it is all in hor we use it.
We are all into good science, science where we are ultimately trying to make the world a better place. There is a lot of science looking at designing weapons and bombs- to me, that kind of science is dangerous when in the hands of the wrong people.
Ultimately, life is dangerous- crossing the road, flying a plane, riding a bike, using heat to cook food- but what we’re trying to do is find the best way of living it, and how we can help as many people as possible.
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Jade Owen answered on 15 Jun 2015:
Sometimes science can be dangerous – but we do lots of different things to keep us and others safe.
Some chemicals can be a bit nasty so we wear lab coats and googles as a minimum. For others might need to wear gloves to protect your skin or work in a special cupboard called a fume cupboard that prevents us breathing in anything we shouldn’t. But every chemical vou could possibly use comes with a safety sheet you can read so you would know how to handle it safely.
Science is safe especially if you know the risks and how to handle them!
Plus we have people who help decide if certain types of science research are acceptable or not. These people grant something called ethical approval, help decide very difficult decisions and stop any inappropriate stuff from happening!
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