I’ve always enjoyed learning and talking about biology. I am a trained scientist with over thirty years spent in scientific research. I have worked across biological fields, from viruses to liverworts, wheat, maize, pine, cannabis, sheep, goats and humans. I’ve never been a specialist, preferring a wide biological lens to spending my time burrowing down a single pathway, but I appreciate working with specialists and being wowed by their immense knowledge.
I have always said that science is a language, and it’s one you start learning in school; it is refined in university, but the way of thinking - forming a hypothesis and finding evidence - stays with you your whole career.
I am frustrated when people in the science community look down on people who haven’t learned this language and way of thinking; sometimes I have been witness to condescension and laughter. I have vowed at Zestt that we will never do that. Biology to me is a place for everyone, a place where we can be curious, ask questions and refine our knowledge.
So I love questions from customers and people within the Zestt online community. Sometimes, I know the answer; other times I have to go away and do more research and other times, I need to refer the question to someone who has deep specialist knowledge.
Then I get feedback like this (to a post I made about the influenza outbreak):
“Please lady, educate yourself, viruses do not exist so let alone they can make you sick. Stop spreading this misinformation.”
I don’t know how to answer that, so I break my rule of answering every question or comment. I don’t laugh or shake my head, but I do feel sad.
I understand that corporations have been guilty of putting profits before people’s health; reading Patrick Radden Keefe’s Empire of Pain showed me how deep-seated this issue is. I also understand that it can feel like science is always changing. It’s not the science that changes; it's our interpretation of the data and understanding of the biology that becomes more advanced.
What I grapple with is what to do when the distrust of the scientific community has become so entrenched within parts of society that no evidence is welcome. It feels like a door has closed. We have to find a way to wedge open the door. Maybe rather than talking with people, it's about letting people discover for themselves.
I first worked with viruses in my early twenties. I worked with a plant virus and tried to determine how it was spread from plant to plant. Every day I saw evidence of the impact of the virus on the plants - tangible, physical evidence I could not ignore. That informed me at a fundamental level about the biology of viruses. Perhaps in society we need to do more showing and experimentation than simply telling people what we think they should know. Science in schools and beyond needs to be practical, accessible and hands-on (and well funded). That’s how the door stays open.