Alejandro Adem
More than any six months in recent memory, the period since Canada went into pandemic lockdown mode has seemed like an intensive science lesson. We’ve all found ourselves exposed to a deluge of information about epidemiology, modelling, microbiology, hygiene, engineering, demographics and public health. We’ve had to decipher concepts such as viral loading, drug testing protocols, and even the privacy features of bluetooth-based contact-tracing apps.
The citizens of industrialized societies such as Canada exist within a dense weave of technologies created by countless science and engineering advances. Mostly, we don’t think too much about how car brakes work or why tap water is safe. The pandemic has provided a stark reminder that science not only surrounds us but demands our engagement. Indeed, it’s not a stretch to suggest that our ability to grasp all this pandemic information has been, for some, a matter of life or death.
As we think about what it means to “build back better,” one takeaway seems obvious: Let’s leverage this mass science lesson to foster a broad-based culture of science literacy. If one legacy of COVID-19 is a nation where people feel better informed and more capable of grasping scientific issues, we’ll be in a stronger position to thrive in the post-pandemic world.
Where were we before the novel coronavirus struck? Canada is renowned for its commitment to basic research through the federal granting agencies, as well as its network of excellent institutions of higher learning. Canadians also recognize the societal value of universal medicare, biomedical research and social programs that support population health.
Yet science and math scores have been dropping in some provinces and enrolment in STEM subjects should be higher. There is also a lack of diversity in some STEM fields, meaning that our population isn’t as broadly engaged in the science and engineering enterprise as it could be.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) is the largest funder of university-based research in Canada, with a commitment to fostering a culture that embraces science and engineering. As the driving force behind Science Literacy Week (which runs this year from Sept. 21 to 27), NSERC brings together diverse groups to promote the importance of science and amplify the impact of funded research. As would be expected, many current projects are focused on complex aspects of the pandemic.
For example, a University of Waterloo team is developing a palm-sized point-of-care device for rapid COVID-19 diagnosis that draws on expertise in engineering, nanotechnology, viral immunology and clinical medicine. At the University of Alberta, a multi-disciplinary group, with links to health law and psychology, is examining the proliferation of pandemic-related misinformation as a means of developing effective public education campaigns. And at the University of British Columbia, computer scientists, immunologists and microbiologists are collaborating to develop artificial-intelligence-based imaging platforms to evaluate changes in the molecular structure of virally infected cells.
Outside the research lab, there are also new opportunities for Canadians to build on the science literacy they’ve soaked up in recent months. These include:
• more content-rich public education campaigns aimed at providing information about the next phases of the pandemic;
• a renewed dialogue about the efficacy of vaccines in combatting not just COVID-19 and other seasonal diseases, but also the risks associated with vaccine hesitancy;
• new approaches to disseminating scientific knowledge about climate change and biodiversity threats in the context of what will be a long and difficult economic recovery.
Most importantly, if Canada fosters science literacy, we’ll be better equipped to challenge disinformation, think critically and better understand our complicated world. We’ve had little choice but to learn many things since March, including the importance of being open to new learning – which, ultimately, is what science literacy is all about. A scientifically literate society is better positioned to confront far-reaching problems, from global warming to the next pandemic. Let’s build back better by using this new-found awareness to expand science literacy at all levels.
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