- From the solar winds to the mystical auroras,
science is a way of knowing,
a way to help us understand the world around us.
But, how do we learn about the things we see,
and how do we make sense of the things we don't understand?
Find out next on Real World.
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As humans,
we're all really curious
about the world around us.
Science is a way of knowing,
but what does science really look like?
Let's drop in on some NASA researchers
who are currently working from home.
Dr. Nicholeen Viall studies the Sun and solar winds
by analyzing data from spacecraft
like NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Dr. Marilia Samara
studies charged particles in space
by sending rockets into the auroras.
And Amber Verstynen is an undergraduate student
majoring in atmospheric science.
Amber's internship at NASA
helped put her on the path to a career in science.
Dr. Viall, can you help us learn
more about the nature of science?
- Science is about
understanding the natural world around us.
Science is about finding new information,
which inherently comes with
being wrong a lot of the time.
By definition, you're exploring space
and questions that nobody has really...
thought through before.
- Dr. Samara, how do these questions
drive the study of science?
- We ask questions, we try and figure out
what experiment might help us answer those questions.
We go for it.
Usually, we don't figure out enough.
We try again.
We had no idea how the aurora was created,
but people would notice that when they had a compass
and there was aurora going on,
funny things would happen.
So they knew it had something to do with the magnetic field.
- Scientists use different methods and tools
to gather a variety of mathematical data.
Data may include images, numbers, patterns,
shapes, and calculations
that help model and describe the world around us.
- So think of images just with like a camera--
that's a remote data set.
You can do it in optical light--
the light that we can see with our eye--
just like with a regular camera,
but we can also look at the Sun in other wavelengths,
other types of light like X-ray light,
ultraviolet light,
infrared light, and so those give you
other types of information about the Sun.
The other type of information
that we can get is called in situ,
and that means measuring directly where you are.
- In the case of aurora,
we're trying to launch and go over the aurora
in what we call the apogee,
which is the highest point from the ground,
and make measurements there.
By concentrating on the apogee,
is we effectively get a snapshot
of how the environment--
that space plasma environment--
looks at that particular time,
at that particular altitude.
It's surprising how much science
is in just a couple of minutes of these measurements.
- When we look at data
for a long enough period of time,
we can understand patterns in those data
and really make sure
we're not just answering one little question about the Sun
but that we're really
pulling all of the information together
and making sure the big picture
still makes sense of how we think the Sun works.
When good science is being done,
it leaves room for us to change our mind,
to realize we were wrong about how something is working
as we get new information,
and we have to refine our ideas
about how the natural world is working.
- Scientists do their best to understand observations
with the knowledge
and tools they have,
but sometimes scientific explanations change.
- So I think of science as basically a puzzle.
We have tiny pieces of the big puzzle.
Every time we have a new piece
that actually connects, our image changes.
- We do our best to describe what we see
and what we're observing,
and then we figure out
which parts still aren't making sense.
Sometimes a model will make sense
and explain all of the observations
that we have today,
and then tomorrow
the Sun will do something totally different
and we'll have new observations.
And it's not even necessarily that the model was wrong.
It's just that the model was incomplete.
- It's important for all of us
to understand the nature of science
because we can all be scientists,
asking questions and gathering data.
Amber, you've had a chance to collect data
during your internship at NASA.
What were you studying?
- When I was in high school,
my first project was studying ozone
and how it affected plants
by working on an ozone garden.
That was at the Virginia Living Museum.
An ozone garden is a garden that consists of
different types of plants,
some that react to ozone and some that don't.
So some of the tools we used
was the meter stick to measure the heights of the plants.
We used a rain gauge to measure
how much rain all of the plants were getting.
We used a thermometer to measure the air temperature
that the plants were growing in,
and we used a psychrometer to measure
the relative humidity of the garden each day.
The ozone garden research was really important
because it shows how different plants
grow more efficiently in different climates,
and how ozone has such a big effect on plant growth.
This is really important to understand
with our changing climate.
- A new fact is really like
a new piece in a science puzzle.
As more pieces are added,
the big picture becomes clearer and clearer,
but it's important not to try to force
any pieces that don't fit.
- It's important when we do science
to do our best to overcome our biases.
Everybody has biases.
It's important to be ready to be proved wrong.
- Science is a human endeavor,
and our understanding of science is constantly changing.
Men and women from all cultures and backgrounds
choose careers as scientists
and work in teams to answer the questions we have
about the world around us.
So how can you get involved?
- So don't just sit there.
Ask a question. Make an observation.
Use all the tools you have to collect evidence.
You can do a citizen science project.
You could even do an internship,
maybe even at NASA.
- So what are you waiting for?
Science is an amazing way to use math
to help uncover grand mysteries
in the natural and material world.
Special thanks to Dr. Nicholeen Viall
and Dr. Marilia Samara
for helping us understand
more about the nature of science.
And thank you, Amber,
for helping us see ourselves as scientists.
I'm Sarah, and see you next time on Real World.