Do you know everything about science?

Question: Do you know everything about science?
- Keywords:
  career,
  know,
  science,
  work
Asked by hanniiee to Cesar, Emily, Jamie, Kate, Philippa on 15 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by smiffiieee.
- Philippa Demonte answered on 14 Jun 2011:
  
  @hannilee Do I know everything about science? No – that would be impossible. There is so much to learn about in science!
- Kate Clancy answered on 14 Jun 2011:
  
  Absolutely not! Each of us in this zone is a specialist in something or other, though we are all broadly trained in our own way. However, I think a good scientist, even a very specialized one, can still do the following:
  
  -Apply the scientific method
  -Be able to differentiate between good and bad information, in order to understand other fields of science
  -Know how to search for the right answer
  -Communicate complex ideas in a simple way
  -Know when you don’t know the answer, and have the bravery to say “I don’t know” sometimes
  
  For instance, even though most of my research is on women’s reproduction, most of my teaching and outreach is on human behavior, particularly around evolutionary psychology. I am not a specialist in evolutionary psych, but I am a broadly trained anthropologist and have taken several courses in the topic. Over time, I have read so much on the topic that I have become pretty well-versed in the area and so, even though I will likely never write a paper on it, I write blog posts on it all the time!
  
  For some examples, you can see my “evolutionary psychology” label on my blog: http://professorkateclancy.blogspot.com/search/label/evolutionary%20psychology
- Jamie Gallagher answered on 14 Jun 2011:
  
  Definatly not. I agree with Kate. I think to be a Scientist is not about knowing a certain number of things- its about thinking a certain way. We will all answer questions on here that we haven’t learnt the answer to but we might have seen similar things or find a link that will help us give you a good answer.
  Stephen Halking couldnt give me tips on my work, I know much more about it than he does about it.
  We all have our little special subjects.
- Cesar Lopez-Monsalvo answered on 14 Jun 2011:
  
  I agree with everyone here. However, a great thing about science is that it gives you tools to understand other things, even non-scientific ones. We cannot specialize in everything there is, but if we ask and with some patience we can get a very broad understanding about a very large number of things.
- Emily Robinson answered on 15 Jun 2011:
  
  Science is the mystery that keeps on giving. When one question is answered another open appears! 😀