Question 1: Are there human-like species outside this earth?

Dr. Bell-Burnell: Don't know yet; the technology to detect Earth-like planets at Earth-like distances from stars isn't yet developed. I'm representing the United Kingdom, and what we're focusing on is how we'll respond to the first signal we receive from extra-terrestrial intelligence. Do we assume they're dangerous or peaceful? Shall we put them in a zoo? Kill them? Eat them? Send in GIs to bring democracy to them?

Question 2: With the recent political change in the US, what is the hope for making the population trust science again?

Dr. Osheroff: Not much, witness the recent creation-evolution issues.
Dr. Bell-Burnell: The general public is scared of science; to fix this, we need to focus on producing a scientifically-literate population.
Dr. Agre: After Sputnik, which is when many of us came of age and received our training, science was held in high regard. Science was king! Glenn Seaborg and Wernher VonBraun appeared on the Disney show. Scientists must take the responsibility to reach out to the public, at PTA meetings, coffee shops, just to let others know that scientists are human too.

Question 3: Consider Huxley's statement: "Many a beautiful theory has been slain by an ugly fact." Would you abandon your theory?

Dr. Lederman: The Large Hadron Collider is an example. Does the Higgs boson really exist? If we don't find it, it'll force us to re-consider the Standard Model.
Dr. Chalfie: We're often wrong!
Dr. Herschbach: Too many are afraid of being wrong. Science is always "wrong" in the sense that it's incomplete.
Dr. Osheroff: We learn just as much from being wrong as we do from being right.

Question 4: What brings you here? Why do you give your time to do this?

Dr. Agre (I think!): The food!
Dr. Lederman: Teenagers. Too many teenagers aren't even finishing high school. [at this point the young lady seated next to me - who's been accepted at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale but was stressing over her 16^th AP exam - noted that only 33% of New York City's public school students actually graduate from high school.]
Dr. Herschbach: My mentor, I.I. Rabi, noted that "scientists are the Peter Pans of humanity." We're curious and we don't want to grow up. The chance to be around teenagers!
Dr. Curl: You guys are fun, smart.
Dr. Chalfie: This is my first time here. When I got my Nobel, I started getting invited places like this. We're not different than your teachers, other faculty members, etc. This is a chance for us to give back.
Dr. Bell-Burnell: The buzz! You're bright people, I enjoy seeing your interesting projects. Almost one-half of you are female. We need more females up here [on the panel]!
Dr. Agre: I'm the father of four, I know that my own kids are the future of my family. You're all the future of science. If I can provide a little encouragement or a spark of inspiration, I’m happy.


Question 5: How can we work on increasing funding for science research?

Dr. Herschbach: Continue to achieve; become good ambassadors for science. I took two students to a committee of the US House of Representatives. These two students really impressed the committee.
Dr. Chalfie: Increase public awareness of science, work toward political change. Your own research? Don't worry about getting it funded, think only of your idea, get on with enjoying the science.
Dr. Wuthrich: We need to change the terminology. We're not in recession, we're in recovery!

Question 6: How can we integrate our passion for science with politics?
Dr. Agre: The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world without a scientist in high political office. At some point, the scientists have to reach out.
Dr. Wuthrich: Israel(Chaim Weizmann, chemist), Germany (Angela Merkel, quantum chemist), China(Wen Jiabao, geologist and engineer), the United Kingdom (Margaret Thatcher, physical chemist) and Japan (Emperor Akihito, world-class goby fish expert, 38 peer-reviewed publications) all have had leaders who have been practicing scientists.

Question 7: Einstein claimed that imagination is more important than knowledge. What are your thoughts?

Dr. Bell-Burnell: In the UK, we teach the scientific method, but not where the hypothesis originates.
Dr. Herschbach: We worry too much about assessments and there's not enough emphasis on creativity in the educational system.
Dr. Wuthrich: Use curiosity rather than imagination to drive your work.
Dr. Herschbach: It becomes a passion, even an obsession!

Question 8: What do you see as the main source of renewable energy for the future?

Dr. Curl: Solar. It's all, eventually, solar, and it's abundant. Wind energy? - not enough
Dr. Herschbach: - and wind energy is another form of solar energy.
Dr. Lederman: None of these will mean anything unless, and nobody wants to hear it, we change our lifestyle. The mindset that it doesn't bother you to drive 10 miles to the grocery store for a loaf of bread has to change. We need smaller communities where we can walk wherever we need to go.

Question 9: Science has fallen into and out of public favor. How do you see it being affected by the current economy?

Dr. Bell-Burnell: In the UK, our prime minister has stated that "science is how we'll dig ourselves out of the recession."
Dr. Chalfie: We've seen an increase in funding lately, but quick returns are always demanded.
Dr. Curl: Obama tripled the percentage of funding for science.
Dr. Agre: After Sputnik, we poured our energies into improving science education. We need to do that again.

Question 10: Do you see a future for gene therapy to cure diseases?

Dr. Agre: We can identify the genes that code for a disease, but using it for cures doesn't look promising. To help mortality in this country, decrease tobacco use and the use of cel phones while driving.
Dr. Chalfie: If we include stem cell research, we have to "admit we're fundamentally ignorant of the major players in the system." There are still unknown functions, for example, sickle cell anemia in the heterozygous form provides protection from malaria.

Question 11: For Dr. Herschbach - your undergraduate degree is in mathematics. Why did you choose chemistry instead of math for a career?

Dr. Herschbach: I actually started out in chemistry and took some physics. Quantum physics requires a lot of math so I ended up with a math degree because my college didn't allow double majors.
Dr. Lederman: That reminds me that there are three kinds of mathematicians: those who can count, and those who can't.

Question 12: Do you all have other talents, artistic talents?

Dr. Chalfie: Classical guitar, father was a professional guitarist
Dr. Curl: None!
Dr. Herschbach: I learned to play the viola at the age of 45 to complete a family quartet and quickly realized I have no musical talent. I do like to draw and paint and have taken several classes.
Dr. Bell-Burnell: It's difficult to admit this to my colleagues, but I read poetry and collect poetry with an astronomical theme - after all, you have to focus because there's a lot of poetry out there. I recently came out with an anthology I edited.
Dr. Osheroff: All scientists have an appreciation for the arts. I love to recite poetry. [Here Dr. Osheroff recited the cowboy poem "Reincarnation."]
Dr. Palca: I made my singing debut on Science Friday awhile back. [Palca here sang a parody, "That's A Moray!"]


Question 13: For Dr. Herschbach - did you find that attaining the rank of Eagle Scout helped in your scientific career?

Dr. Herschbach: Most important was interacting with the other Scouts along the merit badge trail because science is a social enterprise.
Dr. Agre: I was also an Eagle Scout, and it taught me responsibility and gave me experience with nature.

Question 14: Science research demands a lot of money and staff. How can we justify these expenditures?

Dr. Lederman: The total dollars as the percent of our gross national product is very small. Don't give up on the future
Dr. Wuthrich: Science these days is highly collaborative, internationally.
Dr. Curl: In the Middle Ages, it took more than a hundred years to build a cathedral. The planners and artisans who began the project didn't live to see it finished.
Dr. Chalfie: We're all part of a large group, mine is studying C. elegans. The Huntington researchers promised to share all of their data at an annual conference, and then have resulting papers published with everybody's name on it as part of a consortium.

Question 15: For Dr. Dr. Bell-Burnell - what do you advise young female scientists who'd like to have a career and a family?

Dr. Bell-Burnell: You need stamina, organization, and you must be a good multi-tasker. But your question has another answer: "Babies have fathers." The assumption is that "women need this" and "women need that." When my son and his wife expecting their first child they were both in graduate school. He went to his department chair to ask for parental leave and was told, "not on your life." My daughter-in-law asked her department chair for leave and was granted it immediately. The outlook is that the women who need to change, but that the scientific society is okay.

Question 16: If you had to go back and do it again, what other field of science would you choose?

Dr. Curl: The opportunities now are in biology, this seems to be where we're the most ignorant.
Dr. Lederman: Why should I have to give up my current science? But my next choice would be to work with global warming.
Dr. Bell-Burnell: Geology. Back then - in the 1960's - we were told that women couldn't go into the field to do research, maybe because there were no bathrooms in the jungle.

Question 17: What does society usually overlook about science?

Dr. Herschbach: What is unrecognized by society is that it is an adventure of our species.
Dr. Curl: They think it's all about finding a cure for cancer.
Dr. Lederman: They overlook the importance of education.

Question 18: How has the theory you've worked on influenced your life?

Dr. Osheroff: Look at electricity and magnetism, originally thought to be two separate entities. Four simple equations unified them in the 1800's. Now electricity is necessary.
Dr. Agre: Evolution rejection is rampant in the US. The general population needs to acknowledge natural selection in terms of antibiotic-resistant organisms.
Dr. Chalfie: Quantum theory led to lasers led to CDs. If you'd told a record company 50 years ago that quantum mechanics would be crucial to their industry nobody would have believed it. But there's a high demand for "translational science," science that can immediately be used to improve our lives.

Question 19: What do you think is most important for the public to understand about science?

Dr. Herschbach: That science and technology are separate endeavors.
Dr. Bell-Burnell: Two things. That science proceeds by scientists challenging each other, and that proof is not the black or white issue as it's sometimes portrayed.
Dr. Lederman: The scientific way of thinking, how science works. The process of science, and how it's been so successful.
Dr. Agre: That it's a helluva lot of fun!

Afterwards I had the chance to ask Dr. Lederman (champion of the Physics First! program): "Most university and college science departments actively discourage their best and brightest from going into teaching. How can this be changed?"

His response?

"With a two-by-four with a nail in the end."

In other words, it's so entrenched in the culture that the situation isn't going to change.

That was a disheartening answer, but not terribly surprising. The popularity of science waxes and wanes, and teaching profession hasn't received much respect as a rule during the last 40+ years. But these giants of science may eventually see some of these kids' footprints on their shoulders, and we know that science teachers had a role in there somewhere.



(edited 6:43 pm PDT format, links)