• Question: is your science job now more fun than it was in school science?

    Asked by chanamy to Nick, Werner on 11 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by amychan.
    • Photo: Werner Muller

      Werner Muller answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      It is different. At school I did not knew so much and learned a lot of new things scientists had discovered and sometimes also how they discovered them. Now I am just in a similar science world which much more attention to details compared to school days. I think I would now drive my biology teachers mad as I would know so much more about my subject as they ever will.

    • Photo: Nick Groves-Kirkby

      Nick Groves-Kirkby answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      Yes. Although I reckon many jobs are more fun than school!

      I found a lot of school science was centred around learning facts and then repeating them when it comes to a test or exam. I was always pretty good at learning the facts, but I often found it a bit boring to be honest.

      Nowadays I have lots of independence, and I read and think about what I think will best help me get my research done. I work on things that no-one else has ever done before, which means there are no textbooks with the ‘right’ answers.

      My job now is really to come up new problems and ways to solve them. It’s quite scary sometimes to start work on something that I have no idea if I can solve, but I really like that kind of challenge.

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