Read on Twitter
Still thinking about friday's sobering #scicomm lesson.
TL,DR: Black Panther actress Letitia Wright shared an extremely problematic video + concerns about the COVID vaccine, including it using luciferase enzyme somehow and thus being satanic (cos of its name).
TL,DR: Black Panther actress Letitia Wright shared an extremely problematic video + concerns about the COVID vaccine, including it using luciferase enzyme somehow and thus being satanic (cos of its name).
Two things stand out to me from this: 1) a quick google search will show you that luciferase's name comes from latin (light bringer), whereas calling the devil Lucifer was a translating choice for the KJV bible. So, no link. I am summarising this: https://simonecelinemarshall.com/luciferne-luciferase-and-lucifer/
It got me thinking about the importance of names in science. I love a fun gene name (eg sonic hedgehog) but we have a real responsibility here. Ofc plenty has been said already about names that lead to awkward conversations (again, shh).I always thought it was pretty innocent but
To me, the luciferase example highlights how much damage an innocent thing like this can do. And this particular name was not chosen as a joke, but it comes from perfectly serious latin!
2) the other lesson I think this highlights is the importance of reaching out to all sorts of people. Outreach to kids is fun and crucial for the future of science, but so is addressing people's current concerns + trying to empathize and understand where these concerns come from.
And we can only do this if there is enough diversity within science. When first confronted w this situation, I didn't stop to think about science's horrendous treatment of Black people throughout history & why this might cause that community to have reasonable concerns now.
This is not to say I was ignorant about the history of science - I had encouraged someone to learn about Henrietta Lacks just a few days ago! I just didnt join the dots then, but many Black people did (e.g. @uche_blackstock great thread) & we should listen https://twitter.com/uche_blackstock/status/1333929610476662785?s=19
Black scientists are needed to address the concerns of the Black community. I could never do as good a job as they can to reach out and understand. This is not "political correctness gone mad" or anything like that. And there are still other spaces where I am needed.
Going back to the beginning of this thread, there were many things wrong with the video, but it was the "satanic panic" that really stood out to me. To my beloved almost-husband, who is also a scientist but atheist, this was utter crazy nonsense not worth spending a sec debunking
Obviously it was equally wrong to me, but as a Christian scientist I thought of my grandma, or people in my current parish that could buy into that fear if they were ever exposed to similar videos.I think too many scientists are quick to give up on these people cos of their faith
But these people are worth reaching out. We MUST reach out to them. You might think that it doesn't matter if they feel disenfranchised from science (natural selection is real either way!) But then times like this come & we NEED them to wear masks & be vaccinated & trust us.
One of the reasons why the good auld "Science vs Religion debate" makes me so mad is because it has caused and continues to cause real harm to our society, and too many atheist scientists are happy to indulge in it, thinking that a supposedly "gotcha" moment is worth it.
But this thread is long enough so I'll leave it at that. In summary: we need Black scientists, religious scientists, LGBT scientists & scientists that are all of the above! And we need them (us!) to find time between publishing & perishing to do some public outreach too!
