The views of science I have now are much different from the ones I had when I was younger. I, probably along with many other students, used to think that scientists worked alone in their lab, isolating themselves so they can concentrate and come up with a new ground-breaking discovery. But this isn’t very true at all.
Scientists actually collaborate a lot and very frequently with other scientists. Having more people working on something means more angles looking at a problem. Collaboration helps the people working together to be on the same page with what they are finding. It is also much faster to work as a group than individually, especially when it comes to experiments. This totally debunks what I thought as a child. Some scientists even work from home!
Scientists aren’t always at the head of new discoveries either. Many of them work for companies to make chemicals for other companies to sell, or other uses. If you think of it, there are many scientists in the world, but rarely do you hear of a single scientist discovering something new. It’s usually companies that take the credit, as they have many scientists conducting experiments for them.
In conclusion, much of what I thought scientists did as a child is not true. Does that mean mad scientists aren’t real either?
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