'' LURE OF SCIENCE '' : ESSAY

ALL the scientific marvels on which modern society depends are fruits of extreme dedication.

Rockets, computers, and lifesaving medicines all come from decades of effort by scientists hunkered over pages of calculations or the laboratory bench.

They required the same tireless, single-minded effort every elite athlete understands.

The fringe science appearing in young students' online social feeds, however, requires none of that effort.

Instead, it stands on proclamations based on profound ignorance and a disinterest in even the most basic scientific principles, like those of any great professor teaching his freshmen.

Good scientists are intimate with the limits of what they know and stand ready to learn in domains outside their expertise. They just don't claim they are right. Instead, they know the cure for their ignorance is to actively and rigorously test their own assertions.

That kind of humility is no different from  enduring hardships required to become a champion middleweight boxer, and great rock climber to a master musician.

It's time to make that connection explicit, and the place to start is with members of Gen Z themselves.

Einstein's relativity, evolution and genetics, climate physics on any planet [ even alien ones ] - these topics are a thousand times more compelling than faked moon landings because they are not the fever-dreams of husters but a direct vision of nature's outrageous beauty and complexity.

Make the effort to walk down that road, embrace its honesty and humility and you'll be hooked forever.

The World Students Society thanks Professor Adam Frank teaching astrophysics at the University of Rochester.