Doubt In Science

The Trust in Science lecture series was a series of five lectures at the University of King’s College.

The posters bore the questions, “What and whom are we actually trusting? Do we even want to know?” as if intending to reveal some sinister secret of science that would threaten the family life we all value so dearly.

A number of Harvard University professors spoke at the series about science’s vulnerability to corporate and personal interests. They also addressed the trust scientists place in each other and what happens when individual scientists go astray.

Other lecturers discussed flaws in Health Canada’s drug testing and “blue sky science,” which has no intended practical application. In the series’ final lecture on March 15, Harvard sciences professor Sheila Jasanoff summarized the problems of the public’s perception of science.