• Question: What is your favourite science (not including biology)?

    Asked by anon-251291 on 21 Apr 2020.
    • Photo: Anabel Martinez Lyons

      Anabel Martinez Lyons answered on 21 Apr 2020:


      Ooh, tricky one!

      In terms of the big 3 science subjects (biology, chemistry and physics), I think I’d pick chemistry if Biology were off the table! Chemistry allows us to understand the basis of all biological reactions and systems, as well as what things are made up of at the atomic/molecular level. But if we are allowing applied science subjects (pharmacology, geology, botany, ecology, astrophysics, oceanography, etc.), I think I’d pick forensics! I’ve always had a fascination with the fact that our DNA can be used to ‘track down’ the culprit in the event of a crime, and could definitely imagine it being a thrill to find out whether someone is guilty or innocent based on forensic evidence.

      Slightly off topic, but a career in science is incredibly exciting because there are so many options other than being a straightforward ‘chemist’ or ‘physicist’ or ‘biologist’. A scientific career nowadays can be anything from a nanotechnologist to a marine scientist to a data scientist to all sorts of engineering roles and disciplines, and the list goes on!

    • Photo: Varun Ramaswamy

      Varun Ramaswamy answered on 21 Apr 2020:


      Physics! Because it literally explains how everything around us works- from an ant falling off a 7-storey building and still surviving, to the humungous planets and stars out there in our universe.

      Also, fun fact: If you dig deep down into biology, you need physics to explain it! That’s because there are trillions of tiny molecules in our body that interact with each other to keep us alive. 🙂

    • Photo: Fiona McLean

      Fiona McLean answered on 21 Apr 2020:


      Good question! I sometimes think I would have really like to be a physicist. I like lasers and physicists have designed lots of different lasers to do everything from treat cancer to look at objects in space to manipulating atoms!

    • Photo: Wei Xun

      Wei Xun answered on 21 Apr 2020:


      I’m going to say physics as well. Because I think we use similar methods to look into many different things. Physics as one of the fundamental natural sciences, gives you a good background knowledge and understanding of the scientific approach to finding answers to very complex questions.

      Also I wanted to be an astrophysicist!

    • Photo: Robert Ives

      Robert Ives answered on 21 Apr 2020:


      Ooh! This is like a Big Bang Theory question! Whilst Biology is my clear favourite, I would say I am much better at Chemistry than Physics, BUT I find Physics more interesting than Chemistry. In my job, I need to have a fairly good understanding of Biology and Chemistry. There is a lot of overlap between the different branches of science.

      How about Mathematics – maths is fundamentally important in Biology, Chemistry and Physics? I quite like maths, so perhaps I’ll change my answer to maths. 🙂

    • Photo: Gabriela da Silva Xavier

      Gabriela da Silva Xavier answered on 21 Apr 2020:


      Chemistry, if Biology was off the table. As an undergraduate biochemistry student I had to do biology/physiology and chemistry in my first year at uni. I was quite tempted to swap to do physical chemistry as it was quite mathematical and I liked maths, but decided that I enjoyed the more biological parts more so stuck with biochemistry.

    • Photo: Paige Chandler

      Paige Chandler answered on 21 Apr 2020:


      Aw man…. How about neuroscience? (although that’s just a part of biology). While I was at school, Physics was my second favourite!

    • Photo: Donna MacCallum

      Donna MacCallum answered on 21 Apr 2020:


      Good question… would have to say chemistry… so much of biology relies on chemical reactions and enzymes that it really helps to have a good chemistry background

    • Photo: Lindsay Robinson

      Lindsay Robinson answered on 21 Apr 2020: last edited 21 Apr 2020 8:07 pm


      This is an easy one, it’s chemistry. Maybe not much of a surprise because I’m a chemist though and not a biologist 🙂 I liked physics at school and would probably be an engineer if I wasn’t a chemist.

    • Photo: Freya Harrison

      Freya Harrison answered on 22 Apr 2020:


      Can I say statistics? I really love looking a set of data and using graphs and statistical tests to see what patterns there are in it, and what it tells us.

    • Photo: Alice Coburn

      Alice Coburn answered on 22 Apr 2020:


      I’m going to go a little bit broad with my definition of “science” and say maths! Statistics in particular are really important in my work, and in all of science, in talking about my results and how confident I can be that I have have the right answer to the questions I’m asking.

    • Photo: Delma Childers

      Delma Childers answered on 22 Apr 2020:


      I love astronomy and space science! It was my second choice for University. I still try to stay up late or get up early to watch meteor showers. In school, I was really interested in how planets form and what types of life might survive on other worlds. It was my stepping stone into microbiology since microbes can survive in all kinds of challenging environments.

    • Photo: Sophie Arthur

      Sophie Arthur answered on 23 Apr 2020:


      Not including biology. I would say physics. I have always been fascinated by space and all that goes with it but never really understood it

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