Why Is Curiosity Essential in Science and Medicine?

TL;DR

Curiosity is vital for advancing science and medicine as it drives the investigation of outliers and exceptions, which teach us what we don't know. In medicine, every patient encounter is an experiment, highlighting the importance of humility and continuous inquiry in the pursuit of knowledge and better health outcomes.

Transcript

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz Science. The very word for many of you conjures unhappy memories of boredom in high school biology or physics class. But let me assure that what you did there had very little to do with science. That was really the "what" of science. It was the history of what other people had discovered. What I... Read More

Key Insights

• 🔬 Science is not just about the history of discoveries, but also about the process of how observations are made, explanations are guessed, predictions are tested, and new knowledge is gained.
• 🏥 In the field of medicine, there is often an assumption that the textbook of medicine is closed, but medicine is actually a constantly evolving science that requires humility and curiosity to learn from exceptions and outliers.
• 🌳 Exceptions and outliers in medicine can provide valuable insights and lead to new thinking that may benefit not only the individuals affected by rare diseases but also the general population.
• 🧬 Oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, which are essential in understanding cancer, were first discovered in sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that makes up only one percent of all cancers.
• 💔 Conversations with patients with rare and deadly diseases can be emotionally charged and fraught with uncertainty, but it is important to acknowledge the unknowns and communicate with humility.
• 💉Every encounter with medicine is an experiment, and individuals may not know where they will land in the population when it comes to outcomes and responses to treatments.
• 💡 Seeking humility and curiosity in physicians is essential for a patient to actively participate in their own treatment and be part of the scientific process.
• 📚 Joining the conversation and asking questions is encouraged to ensure that physicians are transparent about what they know and what they don't know.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the "how" of science?

The "how" of science is the process of making observations, guessing explanations for those observations, and making predictions that can be tested through experiments or other observations.

Q: Give an example of how the "how" of science works.

One example is when people noticed that the Earth was below, the sky above, and both the Sun and the Moon seemed to go around them. Their guessed explanation was that the Earth must be the center of the universe. However, when Galileo observed Jupiter and its moons through a telescope, he found that Jupiter was not going around the Earth but around the Sun, which led to the discarding of the theory that the Earth was the center of the universe.

Q: What happened when Sir Isaac Newton noticed that things fall to the Earth?

Sir Isaac Newton's guessed explanation for objects falling to the Earth was gravity, with the prediction that everything should fall to the Earth. However, not everything falls to the Earth, so the theory of gravity was revised to include the concept that gravity pulls things to the Earth unless there is an equal and opposite force in the other direction.

Q: How does science move forward according to the speaker?

Science moves forward through test failures, exceptions, and outliers. These help identify what is not known and lead to new discoveries and thinking. Science is a process of constantly learning and being curious about the unknown.

Q: How does the speaker describe the field of medicine?

The speaker describes medicine as a science and a field of knowledge in process. Like other scientific disciplines, medicine involves making observations, guessing explanations, and making predictions. However, the testing ground for medical predictions is populations, and exceptions and outliers in medicine teach us what we don't know and lead to new thinking.

Q: What did we learn about oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes from the study of sarcoma?

The study of sarcoma, which makes up a rare form of cancer, led to the discovery of the first oncogene called src. This was a transmissible gene found in chickens with sarcoma. Similarly, the study of families with high occurrences of sarcoma led to the discovery of TP53, the most important tumor suppressor gene found in various cancers. These findings in sarcoma impacted our understanding of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in general biology.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Science is a process of making observations, guessing explanations, and making predictions that can be tested through experiments or observations.

• Medicine is science and knowledge in process, with knowledge extending only as far as the next outlier or exception, teaching us what we don't know.

• The blanks in medicine, the unknowns and exceptions, matter in everyone's life as every encounter with medicine is an experiment with potential outcomes of a better or worse result.