Question: don't you think that finding a cure for cancer is more important than making cars ?

Josh Makepeace answered on 17 Jun 2013:

Hi there! Thanks for the question – you’ve definitely got me thinking. Definitely, I think that finding a cure for cancer is hugely important. I think most people know someone who has been affected by cancer, and the scientists who are working on treatments and cures for cancer are doing phenomenal work.

I guess the thing to remember is that there are lots of different problems in the world, and thankfully there are lots of scientists out there to work on those problems 🙂 So I think we need people who are doing all sorts of different research. Cars and transportation are really important for allowing us to do all sorts of things, they connect up people from far away places. Having cars which run safely and cleanly is important for people’s health as well as for the environment.

The other thing I’ve realised the longer I’ve been doing science is that all the research we do is very connected. So medical scientists need the physicists who develop the instruments they use, and the chemists to try and make the molecules that get used as drugs to treat illness. So we’re all really part of a big effort to tackle these problems.

Great question – really got me thinking! Is medical research something you’re interested in?