What Makes a Science a Science?

By John Ohab

March 2, 2010 - One thing that struck me while attending the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in San Diego is how wide-ranging the discussions are pertaining toward different scientific disciplines.

Two examples that are effectively on opposite ends of the spectrum are forensic science and particle physics.

One panel discussion at the conference focused entirely on the past, present, and future of Forensic Science. It was emphasized that in many ways, it wasn’t really a science at all, or at least approached things backward from a “normal” scientific process. The speakers indicated that many of the forensic analyses that the general public know about, such as fingerprints, bite marks, and other crime-scene evidence, are considered scientifically valid because…well…they always have been. They are, in many ways, assumed valid, and circumstantial and anecdotal evidence continually backs that up, but there hasn’t been the rigorous scientific validation process that occurs in other disciplines.

The panelist also indicated that there are no set standards involved to state how valid a result is: one lab may claim that a fingerprint matches another, but a different lab may disagree. Forensic science also relies heavily on communication to the “outside world,” if you will, in the form of presenting evidence in court or trying to explain to the law enforcement community the inherent uncertainty in most results.

Compare that with the discipline of particle physics, where questions about the origin of the universe and what constitutes matter and energy are continually asked, theories are developed, and experiments designed to test those theories. Even after results are gained, questions still remain, and nothing is ever definitely claimed. The entire subject seems to focus around the thought “this is what we think, but we really don’t know for sure.” This was emphasized at the final plenary session of the conference, where Dr. Barry C. Barish, CalTech Linde Professor of Physics, emeritus, presented “New Frontiers in Particle Physics.”

As a scientist, I found it both fascinating and amusing how varied these discussions of “science” can be, and it made me think that in many ways the “outside world” view of science is similar to the “outside world” view of the Defense Department. Often, non-scientists group scientists into one big lump without realizing the major differences that exist between individuals, disciplines, and methods. Similarly, some people who have no connection to the military or to the Defense Department group anything military-related into one big group, not realizing all the inherent differences that exist between servicemembers, Services, and so forth.

Overall, it is good that conferences such as the AAAS Annual Meeting exist in order to bring perspective along with whatever specific knowledge is gained.