Show:
Science & Public Perception
Ethics & Regulation
Health, Water & Tech
Funding & Power
Knowledge & Communication
100
Outcomes and media framing can increase confidence or fear
How can a major science-related event change public trust in science?
100
Damming rivers (accept equivalent)
Give one example of an infrastructure decision with major environmental and social impacts.
100
Vaccination reduced disease burden and shifted prevention strategies
How did Jenner’s smallpox work illustrate science changing public health?
100
They can raise fear and strengthen demands for stricter regulation or rejection
How can nuclear accidents influence attitudes to nuclear technology?
100
Limited budgets force priority choices between research ambition and other public goods
Why do societies debate spending on big science projects versus other social needs?
200
NHMRC
Which Australian body issues major health and medical research ethics guidance?
200
To protect people, animals, and the environment and uphold honesty and consent
Why does scientific research need ethical regulation?
200
Searching biological resources for useful compounds or products
What is bioprospecting, in broad terms?
200
Use without consent, recognition, or fair benefit-sharing (cultural IP concerns)
What ethical issue arises when commercial research uses Indigenous cultural knowledge?
200
They set expectations for consent, harm minimisation, integrity, and accountability
How do codes of ethics shape the boundaries of acceptable research?
300
Vaccines, surgical devices, diagnostics, or similar (accept one)
Give one medical technology that can improve community wellbeing.
300
They reduce disease by providing safer water and sanitation
How do water and wastewater technologies protect public health?
300
It needs evidence plus public trust, access, and supportive policy
Why is vaccination both a scientific and a social issue?
300
They separate real effects from expectation and bias
How do ideas like placebos and double-blind trials help society judge treatment claims?
300
To balance innovation with safety and evidence standards that protect patients
Why regulate medical devices and health technologies?
400
Government, industry/corporations, and universities (accept equivalents)
Name three common funders of scientific research.
400
Funders may prefer results that protect profit or reputation
Why can industry funding create a conflict of interest?
400
Budgets and agendas steer funding toward some questions and away from others
How can political and economic priorities shape which research happens?
400
Funding sources and relationships that could bias the work
What should scientists disclose about funding and conflicts of interest?
400
It assesses evidence and provides policy-relevant advice; governments decide policy
What is the IPCC’s role in relating climate science to policy?
500
Different ways of knowing about Country and ecosystems can strengthen research and conservation
How can Indigenous knowledge systems and Western science complement each other?
500
It helps prevent exploitation of knowledge and biological resources without consent or benefit-sharing
Why is protecting Indigenous cultural intellectual property important in science–society debates?
500
Media, journalists, education, and expert bodies (accept equivalents)
How is scientific knowledge commonly communicated to the public?
500
It can inform widely but also oversimplify, sensationalise, or spread discredited claims
How can mass media both help and harm public understanding of science?
500
Society: funding, law, ethics; Science: technologies, health outcomes, or evidence for policy (accept clear pair)
Give one way society shapes science and one way science shapes society.