• Question: Why is your job so important?

    Asked by flozz12 to Nicola, Laura, Norman, Sandra, Thanasis on 11 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by laceycurtains.
    • Photo: Nicola Wardrop

      Nicola Wardrop answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      My job helps us to understand more about diseases which exist in poor areas of Africa. The diseases can really affect peoples lives and can stop people from getting out of poverty, so it is important that we try to prevent people and animals from getting these diseases.

      The work that I do helps us to see which areas have the most disease and why – this helps us develop better control measures and helps us to know which areas most need the control. The disease control will help to prevent more people and animals from getting the diseases, so they will stay healthier, be able to continue working and this might help them get out of poverty. Without this type of research, we know know far less about the diseases and how to control them.

    • Photo: Laura Soul

      Laura Soul answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      I think that partly its important because of the things that I’m doing research on. At the moment scientists think that humans are beginning to cause a mass extinction, where many more species than normal are going extinct in a short space of time. If this does happen then it will really affect the future of our planet because life on earth interacts with the climate, and all sorts of changes could occur that we can’t predict yet, and this could be very bad for humans. The research I do helps us to understand why species went extinct in the geological past, and in previous mass extinctions, and this knowledge can then be used to try and stop it happening now, or to cope with the effects better if it does happen.

      Partly it’s because people doing jobs in science are all contributing things to what we know about the world, we know a lot already so science covers a huge range of subjects and can be very complex. This means that we need lots and lots of scientists all working on their own thing and then others can build upon that. Any scientists job is as important as any others because all the things we find out come together to build up the big picture of what we understand, but you need all those little parts to make it.

    • Photo: Sandra Phinbow

      Sandra Phinbow answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      My job is so important because we can detect when cells are going wrong and hopefully get treatment for the patient before those cells maybe turn cancerous. If the cells are left untreated and if they turn into cancer, the patient could die.

      My job has prevented the deaths of millions of women, all over the world. Women are alive today because of the work that cytologists do.

      Also it is important because we can find out why someone is sick and what disease they might have, and when the reasons are known then the patient can have the right treatment.

      Also, we can help to monitor a patient, or to check that after treatment their disease has gone and that they are now cured.

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