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Civility in Chemistry and Discovering the Chemical Secrets of Life
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n reading the print news, which I do regularly in several publications, I see many stories about people who open their mouths and say things that reasonable and thoughtful and responsible people would not. Not ever. This bad behavior is most common in the realms of politics but can also occur in news conversations about race, religion, and other hot-button issues in the U.S. and abroad. I point to a prosecutor/political candidate in my own North Carolina, to a national radio talk show host (now an ex-host), and to several (very) senior political leaders. I contrast the world of print news—the reputable print publications, not the gutter press—with the worlds of chemistry journals, news magazines, and lectures at chemistry conferences. What a difference there is! In relative terms, the latter three experience so little of the sensationalism that marks even the most highly regarded print newspapers. To the nonscientist, common person accustomed to the language of print news (and worse, television), the lack of cutting verbiage and sensationalism probably makes chemistry sound really dull and lacking in life and fire. The science pages in the top print newspapers generally reinforce this picture. Astronomy fares a little better, because researchers in that field produce lovely pictures and promises about the Secrets of the Universe. The characteristic blandness of the language of chemists undoubtedly contributes to our inabilities to communicate with the general public, in particular in explaining why what we do should matter to them and how chemistry has enormously improved the lives of citizens. Why are we such plain, brown-bag communicators? It’s at the heart of the culture of science—that opinions are advanced with objectivity foremost in mind. Chemists must be rational thinkers and interpreters—our personal hopes and dreams should play no role in our analysis of experimental and compu-
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tational observations, or in our projections of the economic benefits of a drug discovery, a genetic modification to a plant, or in a new DNA microarray analysis scheme. Objectivity is at the core of the scientific method, in which evidence about a phenomenon is gathered and subjected to rational analysis, a hypothesis of interpretation is formed, and further experiments are carried out to challenge the hypothesis. Our presentations in chemistry publications are based on the scientific method; we are trained to write about our work in an objective manner. Some scholars write more elegantly and with a greater tone of hope in their words, but serious overstatement in a chemistry publication can engender in the reader some level of suspicion of the analysis. The rational analysis should rise on its own, without hot air. And when a chemistry scholar criticizes the work of another, it is (generally) with civility and with a rationality of explanation. I believe that none in our analytical chemistry community would have it any other way. But the relative lack of high emotion in our communications does hamper getting the common person’s attention when talking about the value of chemistry teaching and research. How might we change that? By concocting mock arguments and controversies to attract attention? Most chemists would find that repugnant. I suggest an approach that parallels that of our astronomer colleagues, namely that our work Discovers the Chemical Secrets of Life. One could amplify this statement in many ways, without being untruthful or uncivil. Arguing that life is just a complicated set of chemical reactions would offend some, but I submit that the facts would be on the side of the chemist. The conversation just might be lively.
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