Media reports and the public perceptions about science - MMR scares.

Authors Avatar by serhad1234hotmailcouk (student)

You must identify some of the public perceptions about science with examples from the following

A film: Men in black 3 the movie, is about a government agent who uses science to travel back in time to save his friends life from aliens and change history for the good of the world. Public perceptions on science would change after watching this film as people would think there might me some other species living in the universe, which might be planning to attack and take over planet earth. Also people may think the government may have advanced technology, such as time travel tools used in the movie and wonder if they have ever been used, or being planned to be used, and what the after effects of this could be. This could also lead people on to have more of an interest in science and maybe take on a scientific career as the film portrays that science has no limits.

A television series: Scrubs is a TV series set in a hospital and is about the lives of interns, doctors and patients. It shows how science is used in operation and medicine and how vital it is to human life. Public perceptions on science would change positively as they would learn to appreciate science more as the series shows a 7 year old boy, who was involved in a serious car accident, and an operation meant he could walk again, although the series does not include real life events it relates to many viewers lives, as such events do happen in reality. After watching this people may want to become doctors or do something that is ‘life changing’ and involves helping other people.

A documentary: Japan’s Tsunami: How it happened is a documentary that shows how the tragic tsunami that claimed so many lives, happened. With the use of science it breaks down every point of the massive earthquake measuring 9.0. Public perceptions on science may change as they may want to become Seismologists a person who studies seismic waves like the person shown in the documentary Professor Roger Bilham. In the documentary it explains how the earth is made of tectonic plates and how Japan is sitting between two of these. The earthquake happened by these plates ramming into each other at about 8cm a year and this tension built up for 100s of years causing the earthquake. Viewer’s perspective on the planet and how it is made would dramatically change, as they may think they’re in danger of an earthquake and learn to appreciate life more.

Join now!

A science ‘scare’ story: The MMR vaccine scandal caused a lot of concern as it was thought to have been linked to autism and in some cases even the cause of some deaths. Due to this parents refused to vaccinate their children as they didn’t want their kids to have autism. Studies were done by many large renowned scientific organisations such as: Centre’s for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Pediatrics, Institute of Medicine,    US National Academy of Sciences, UK National Health Services and the Cochrane Library all undertook hundreds of studies each and found no link between ...

This is a preview of the whole essay