Research

Research

What would aliens think about research? By that, I mean the research of treacherous things, like volcanoes. Humans can send in drones to get samples or survey an environment, but sometimes, and especially in the times when research methods weren’t as advanced as today (or at times of space travel).

For example, Isaac Newton stuck a needle in his eye and poked around to study how humans perceive colors. (He did learn a lot but… eugh.) Sir Humphrey Davy generated chemical reactions and inhaled (potentially dangerous) gaseous products to note what happened. One scientist tried heart catheterization on himself when he couldn’t get approval to try it on a human.

Maybe aliens would think that humans were pretty dumb for doing all that, but it was early on, and these guys have learned better now.

Oh, no. There is currently a lava lake in Antarctica that occasionally spews a fall of fire now and then. Scientists go to that lake, in the freezing cold, with the risk of lava bombs spewing at them, to take measurements and make observations of the area. Sure, there are sensors too, but scientists still go to physically visit the area for data.

Scientists will go into submarines to study the deep ocean, a place with little or no sunlight and strange, possibly dangerous creatures. In addition, the pressure underneath all that water is immense. If a problem happened and the submarine was damaged, results could very easily be fatal.

Speaking of nature, there are scientists who will go into rainforests to meet 9possibly hostile) natives living within, or to learn more about animal behavior. It’s very risky work. There is a constant threat of predator attacks. The plants could kill you if you don’t pay enough attention. You could very easily catch a disease from the wildlife and fall gravely ill.

And what about space travel? Humans stuck themselves on rockets loaded with fuel and tried to get outside of the atmosphere. Sure, they ran tests and simulations, but no one knew for certain if it would really work. Some rockets exploded, killing the astronauts within. It was a very real possibility for anyone in a rocket but humans kept trying anyway.

Sure, humans take every safety precaution they can think of. Sure, they spend lots of time, energy, and resources to keep fellow humans as safe as possible. They still knowingly place themselves in possibly extremely dangerous situations for the sake of science. How strange is that?