The exercise that most opened my eyes to the inner workings of science was the reading of Deadly Feasts by Richard Rhodes. This novel described the progression of discovery of different forms of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). There are several different forms of TSE and once the pattern was established it was easy for scientists to relate one form to the other. Research on TSE also led to discoveries in other disease fields, like Alzheimer's Disease. After reading this novel, I realized that many different forms of science are related.
Reading Deadly Feasts opened my eyes to the inner workings of science and the ways that scientists work together. Interaction among scientists is a tricky thing. Scientists either help each other by sharing information or they lie to each other. Researchers lie so that other researchers will believe they are ahead. Deadly Feasts showed that the scientific process could be very slow and have many obstacles to overcome. Science is also a very competitive field, there are some scientists who would do anything to win a Nobel Prize, like Stanley Prusiner. Before reading this book I did not realize that science was such a competitive field. Like any other profession, people want to get ahead, however, the lengths they would go to was extraordinary.
My understanding of science was greatly furthered by reading this novel. Deadly Feasts showed an accurate portrayal of the way science really works. All research is not done in a sterile lab where scientists work on their projects quietly. Much research is done in less than perfect conditions, sometimes it is in the middle of the New Guinea outback. The novel also showed the interaction between science and the public, which is also very important. Because of the reports of mad cow disease, many countries wanted to kill entire herds of cattle. Many of those herds were saved with scientific research. So many different aspects of science were covered in the novel Deadly Feasts. It was easy to come to a better understanding of the inner workings of science while reading it. Science is a very complex field, there is more to it than just research and experiments, there is a very human nature to it also. The interaction among scientists is very important to the entire process. The human aspects of the scientific process are what allow me to better understand science. Deadly Feasts opened my eyes to the real world of science, the stereotypes that I had previously believed I no longer believe. The inner workings of science are far more complex than I had ever imagined, reading Deadly Feasts opened my eyes.