Science in media is all flashy. It's bubbling test tubes and Everything Sensors and doing cool stuff... For Science!! The Science Hero or Mad Scientist is akin to a wizard (Like "a scientist did it!"), and with New Powers as the Plot Demands
Real science isn't generally like that. It's about watching things and taking notes, figuring out a mathematical model, looking for trends and similarities.
What is science?
Science in Real Life is merely the study of the nature of our reality. What is and what can possibly be in Real Life.
It's a nailing down of things that we definitely know and can say are true within certain ranges and throwing out things that are untrue or we cannot know. While science makes no promises that it can prove the big questions, like "Who are the Powers That Be?", it does answer simpler questions that affect everyday life, and answers them quite well.
Modern science is based on The Scientific Method, where questions are asked and tested repeatedly until they are either accepted or thrown out. Mathematics is also very important to modern science, as it provides a model to work with (just like a paper mache volcano, but with far less mess to clean up).
The number of things that have been explained by science are too numerous to list. Sickness? No need to invoke Demonic Possession every time anymore, we know about microorganisms, toxins, genetic weaknesses, etc, and can rule those out before resorting to excorcism now. Lightning strike? We understand the electric charges involved now and know that they tend to strike tall things and can be redirected, we can rule out a Bolt of Divine Retribution for the most part.
Unfortunately as a result of that some people are uncomfortable with it and worried about human pride and that the Powers That Be may not like it.
Concepts versus calculation
Many people watch programs like Cosmos or read popular science books like a Brief History of Time, after which they come away understanding the world they live in better, but those works cannot replicate the understanding that mathematics gives to science.The true nuts and bolts come from mathematics. Anyone can watch a science program and make guesses as to the nature of the universe, but if you take that guess to a scientist, they're going to ask you to prove it. To prove it you'll need to show a mathematical model of how your idea works, and then show that model happening in Real Life.
If you don't know the calculations, and can't prove it under test conditions, then your theory won't be taken seriously by scientists. Hence why so much math is required to get a science degree.
Who is a scientist?
In fiction, scientists are often portrayed as people who wear white coats in cold laboratories, with these in turn being either isolated from the busy areas of a city or inside schools or other academic institutions. But in Real Life, a scientist is any person who is practicing research in one or more occupations that fit within the (very wide) umbrella of science, and lab coats are only required for a small handful of specialities (like experimental physics or chemistry).Science comes up in a wide variety of fields, but can be grouped in four major categories:
- Physical (the study of non-living systems and phenomenons that occur in the universe at large; it is here where physics, chemistry, geology and astronomy appear)
- Life (the study of living organisms and how they interact with their physical surroundings; this is where biology and all its branches sit squarely)
- Social (the study of human civilization and development as well as the biomes where they live; it is here where you find geography, economics, history and sociology)
- Applied (the use of the knowledge learned in the aforementioned branches to improve human development; medicine applies biology, materials science applies physics and chemistry, astronautics applies astronomy; and so on).
However, not all occupations which build upon the theories and knowledge of pure sciences are considered applied sciences. Whereas an applied science continues developing that knowledge, a field where you simply learn what is already known and then make use of it to design processes, structures or equipment falls within the scope of engineering. Basically, an engineer aims to solve everyday problems by making use of scientific knowledge, but unlike a scientist they have to worry about additional factors like efficiency, logistics and production costs in order to make the desired applications work.
Science in fiction isn't usually based on science.
Writers are writers. If Real Life writers had the knowledge to build a Star Trek transporter, they'd do that and become multimillionaires. Most technobabble you hear in fiction is designed to sound good to the viewer, and let the science nerd suspend their disbelief.
Becasue of this, a lot of science in fiction will boil down to the aforementioend A Wizard Did It. A spaceship is "scanning for life forms". This is fine because for the plot to move forward they probably need to find the life forms, and isn't intended to encourage deeper thoughts. The science-minded viewers are often thinking "So these people have a definition of 'life' What is this "life signature" the sensors look for? Chemical reactions? Souls? How exactly do these sensors work?"
But scientists want to be entertained, too. And sometimes a scientist will read about or see something in a movie and think "Well, we could do that if we...", which sometimes leads to breakthroughs we have today. Some ideas put forward in literature are commonplace today, like cellphones, space travel, credit cards, etc.
