Question: What makes you get the stimulation to research all these different scientific facts???

Keith Brain answered on 18 Jun 2010:

You pick things up over the years; and of course, most of the knowledge has been picked up from the work of other scientists. I also think that it is important to read widely in science, because it is quite common for ideas in one field to be applicable to another.

In this group, we have particular coverage of engineering and biology … superficially quite different areas of science … but actually there are lots of examples of biologists and engineers working on problems together – so, we get to learn a bit about each others work.

How can we keep up with science more broadly:
(a) Read general science magazine like New Scientists (I love it);
(b) Read general science journals like Nature and Science (this is really difficult – you need to be at University level with a few years of experience to cope with most of the work in these);
(c) Read the odd popular science book in areas outside your field of interest.

Also, many concepts can be understood by really getting to grips with a few ideas, like:
Maxwell’s equations (electricity/magnetism), gravity, relativity, quantum mechanism, a splash of maths, “survival of the fittest”, basic cellular physiology … and knowing how to look things up when you’re not sure!