Science, Legislation, Ethics, and Society

Question 1

What is science?

Answer 1

Using a methodical and rigorous approach to understand the natural world

Question 2

What is a hypothesis?

Answer 2

An educated guess that can potentially explain an observation

Question 3

What must a hypothesis be in order to actually be a hypothesis?

Answer 3

Testable and falsifiable

Question 4

Is a hypothesis proven true? Is it proven to be true when multiple experiments support the hypothesis?

Answer 4

No, it is either rejected or not rejected based on analysis of the data. Multiple repeated experiments that fail to reject the hypothesis only support it, doesn’t prove that it is true as it may be only for the conditions tested

Question 5

What is a theory?

Answer 5

A hypothesis supported by a huge amount of evidence, very close to scientific truth

Question 6

What is a scientific consensus?

Answer 6

When about 80% of scientists agree on something

Question 7

What are 6 responsibilities of a scientist?

Answer 7

• Be open minded
• Be truthful and accurate in your results
• Share knowledge and collaborate
• Conduct experiments in an ethical manner
• Be skeptical
• Pursue knowledge

Question 8

Why might scientists have a responsibility to communicate with the general public?

Answer 8

If that information can benefit society as a whole, it should be released to the public. If scientists don’t tell the public, they might get their information from people who aren’t experts on that topic, like celebrities

Question 9

Why might scientists not have a responsibility to communicate with the general public?

Answer 9

Most scientists aren’t trained for public communication, so why should it be the scientists that have to tell people

Question 10

What are 8 ways scientists disseminate knowledge?

Answer 10

Peer reviewed papers, conference presentations, blogs, social media, podcasts, documentaries, reports, media interviews and articles

Question 11

Which format of dissemination is the gold standard?

Answer 11

Peer reviewed papers

Question 12

What are the steps in peer review?

Answer 12

1. The paper gets submitted to the journal
2. The paper gets sent to 2 or 3 reviewers who are also experts in that field
3. The reviewers send in written feedback and make a recommendation
4. The editor and editorial board make the final decision
5. The paper gets published

Question 13

What are the 4 options for what the reviewers can recommend in the peer review process?

Answer 13

Reject, major revisions and resubmit, minor revisions and accept, or accept

Question 14

Does critical evaluation and feedback stop after a paper is published?

Answer 14

No, it is now available to a larger audience so other scientists can leave comments

Question 15

What might cause a paper to be retracted?

Answer 15

If major flaws are found after the paper is published

Question 16

Does a paper that has been proven wrong with new evidence get retracted?

Answer 16

No, the evidence at the time supported it

Question 17

Why might a product be regulated?

Answer 17

For safety or environmental reasons

Question 18

What does it mean when you have the rights to a product/the ownership of a product?

Answer 18

You have legislation that allows you and only you to exclusively possess something

Question 19

What is a patent?

Answer 19

Legally protected exclusive right to an invention which lasts for 20 years in Canada

Question 20

What are ethics?

Answer 20

A rigorous, systematic, objective analysis of what is right and wrong

Question 21

If something is legal does it mean it’s ethical?

Answer 21

Definitely not. Ex. forced sterilization

Question 22

What are values?

Answer 22

What is important to one particular individual

Question 23

What are morals?

Answer 23

Codes of conduct that govern behaviour

Question 24

What is the difference between values and morals and ethics?

Answer 24

Values and morals are more personal and subjective than ethics

Question 25

What are the 4 traditional pillars of medical ethics?

Answer 25

1. autonomy
2. Nonmaleficence
3. Beneficence
4. Justice

Question 26

What is autonomy?

Answer 26

People have the right to make their own informed decisions, can’t coerce anyone into doing something

Question 27

What is informed consent?

Answer 27

People are given all the necessary information in an unbiased way to make their own decisions

Question 28

What is beneficence?

Answer 28

Do good, there needs to be a benefit to doing the study

Question 29

What is nonmaleficence?

Answer 29

Do no harm

Question 30

What is justice?

Answer 30

Treat others equally, distribute benefits and burdens equally

Question 31

For what two reasons does society’s opinion on scientific technology matter?

Answer 31

1. Society can influence what research gets funded and how it is spent
2. Technologies that society is more reluctant to accept might be more tightly regulated

Question 32

What is post-truth?

Answer 32

The belief that everything is fake news, that we live in a time where people can blatantly lie and face no repercussions. Truth isn’t valued anymore

Question 33

What is anti-intellectualism?

Answer 33

A backlash against experts, that they can’t be trusted

Question 34

What is the Dunning-Kruger effect?

Answer 34

The relation between what people think they know/ their confidence vs what they actually know

Question 35

At what level of knowledge are people most confident they know what they are talking about?

Answer 35

When they know nothing

Question 36

How did people’s confidence change as they gained more knowledge about a subject?

Answer 36

It dropped as they realized how much they don’t know

Question 37

Do experts in a subject have as much confidence as someone who has no idea? Why is this a problem?

Answer 37

No, experts have less confidence than people who know absolutely nothing. Problem because people who know nothing are more inclined to speak out