What's your favourite field of science? 🔬

Geology, it's simply fascinating how much you can tell about our earth by holding a mere stone in your hands.

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I wish it was easier to learn beyond the really basic "igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary" stage. Like, I have no idea what all is underneath me right now or why, and if you research it you're instantly wading through papers written about some specific question, which assumes I know this or that craton and it's history.

6
- There's a few levels down from each of those that you can get the broad strokes of fairly easily.
  
  For igneous, you can broadly break it down into extrusive vs intrusive. Basically, did the magma slowly solidify underground, resulting in large grains like in granite, or did it come out in the form of lava that cools rapidly into fine grained or even glassy structures like obsidian. Then there's the other axis of "how much silica is in there?" Really high silica content rocks are called "felsic" rocks. Granite is an example of a felsic intrusive rock, ryolite is an extrusive felsic rock; Basically the same minerals, but way smaller crystals. On the other end of the silica spectrum, there's "mafic" and ultramafic rocks that have less silica and more iron and magnesium. The main example of a mafic rock you might know of is basalt. You can find charts like this one that break things down that way.
  
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- I bet you could find a professor near you that would let you attend office hours and ask whatever questions you have.
  
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As a computer person... algorithm design is extremely fascinating and while I think it's silly that my BS says "computer science" there definitely is a real field of computer scientists and it's awesome. Most of us are just really well practiced code monkeys though.

13

I have two friends who are studying or have studied computer science and I have nothing but respect for what they do. It's a rapidly growing and very versatile field

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- To clarify, are they actually doing research or just CS degree havers? Most of us folks with CS degrees don't work in a research capacity (even if we're working with interesting business problems).
  
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Being able to factor algorithms like algebraic equations is really neat.

I've never been able to wrap my head around proofs of algorithms, but I love the idea.

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- One of the best authorities on that concept is Djikstra - they actually formally proved a few full algorithms and also provided a lot of guidance on how to prove others. It's not something you'll see... well, probably ever... but it's a very interesting approach to program design. Dijkstra imagined a world where all programmers would be writing formal proofs of correctness before authoring a single line of code... that's a neat world, I'd love to see it... but it's also incredibly burdensome so our tech explosion would likely be happening a lot slower.
  
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Maths, because its maths all the way down/up.

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If we can pick math, then I choose logic.

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- Logic is all the hard work without the fun, but sure!
  
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Relevant xkcd

https://xkcd.com/435/

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Yep. If you count math as a science, math is my favorite.

If not, probably geology.

2

Not a scientist, but I find astrophysics endlessly interesting. When daily life seems overwhelming it's good to consider what an insignificant morsel I am, in fact the whole solar system is, in the scale of the known universe.

10

There's a supermassive black hole aptly named TON 618 that's 40 times larger than our solar system! Some of these sizes are incomprehensible but very sobering.

5

My favorite field of science is.... Field Science...

There's honestly a ton of stuff out there in the natural world that we can't get data about any other way other than having field scientists out in, you know, actual fields and rivers and forests.

9

I'm not a scientist, but I can get down with that.

2

Mines a toss up between microbiology and immunology, but I also totally get your favorite as it's the basis for all sciences!

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Awesome! What in particular draws you to microbiology and immunology, and what's the most interesting thing that you've learned about it?

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- In the big picture, it's due to the microscopic world having massive implications across life. I've also lost friends and family to autoimmune disorders and cancer, so my long term goal is to improve our understanding in the field. Immunology is super fascinating, but there's more we don't know than we know about the immune system. We don't even understand how fever works or Tylenol from start to finish for example!
  
  What makes you stoked about physics?
  
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Deep space radar telemetry

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Probably metrology, because it's in everything but nobody even knows what it is. Anthropology made me a better person, too.

Psychology is probably my least favourite, because it gets slapped on everything to make it sound official, while the actual field can predict fairly little at this stage. No offense, but physics is also overdone in popular discourse.

5

Science-fiction

4

The study of psychopathology in any form, particularly of severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder type I.

I like philosophy, mathematics, and arts more, but that would be my favorite field of science.

3

IT security, I hold a BS. Its truly interdisciplinary which makes talent so fucking skilled people. It's amazing. It spans from math to electronics via computer science and also touches on physical security like lock mechanisms. Endlessly interesting.

3

Probably zoology and neuroscience.

I enjoy some of the soft sciences as well but that feels a bit off topic.

3

Biology is amazing. Creatures are really complex machines built through trial and error. It's amazing to see what nature has come up with.

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I love Physics, but mostly Classical Mechanics, especially Continuum Mechanics. I am also a sucker for Information Theory and Theory of Computation.

3

Classical mechanics, right from the first time i learned Newton's laws, it was always so satisfying to me. Just pure and well rounded logic to explain everything, it's so neat.

Best example for me was the 2 body problem. Going from the 6 degrees of freedom to a simple uniform rectilinear motion of the center of mass and then leaving us with only 2 degrees of freedom. Such a elegant solution, so satisfying.

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Definitely the one in Wye, UK! Really great grounds and great in summer for a picnic.

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As in, Kent?

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- You knows it!
  
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I'm a molecular biologist, but I'm into so many branches of science! I love maths (arguably not science) - the elegance, the consistency, and pi that pops up everywhere. Physics - the laws that actually govern the universe and it's most basic level. Chemistry - the science of change where so much emergence happens. Biology - the science trying to solve the actual mysteries of life. Psychology, especially evolutionary psychology - understanding what makes us tick and how it came about. And linguistics - the science of the original sharing app.

Edit: typo.

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Astrology, biology, and geology. I find space, life, and the terrain very fascinating.

EDIT: Can't forget about psychology! It's interesting how the human brain works.

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I kind of prefer neurology for brain stuff.

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I really enjoy cooking and enjoy reading about the science behind it. So chemistry/biochem, I guess? For any interested J. Kenji Lopez-At is a good and approachable source.

Also for those that like astronomy and also beer, look for an Astronomy on Tap chapter near you! They are an org that puts on presentations about astronomy in bars. Dunno about other chapters, but my city's chapter is free to attend.

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Astronomy. I've had a good day.

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Physics - didn't finish my PhD but I did love it :)

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Particle physics

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Fluid dynamics

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Astronomy is pretty neat. Took it in college and it's always maintained my interest.

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Computer science
Space cause it's fuckin awesome

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Not a traditional science, but sideshow science, which combines biology and physics to perform death defying acts

For a more traditional science, electromagnetism

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Astronomy

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I love mechanics and Newtonian stuff and experimental physics, but mathematical physics bores me.

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