Is curiosity costly or critical?

In 2012, successful a 27 kilometre passageway beneath nan Franco-Swiss border, 2 protons travelling astatine astir nan velocity of ray (99.9999991% of nan velocity of ray to beryllium precise) smashed together. This collision group disconnected a cascade of creation. 

The power from this high-speed collision produced a particle that had agelong been theorised – nan Higgs boson. 

This elusive particle almost instantaneously began to decay into pairs of photons, W bosons and Z bosons. This was complete successful an instant, lasting specified femtoseconds (a azygous femtosecond is simply a quadrillionth aliases 10−15 of a second). 

Thanks to its decay products, scientists astatine nan European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) were capable to show nan mysterious boson had been there. 

Almost 50 years aft it had been theorised, nan culprit was identified by its footprint alone. 

AN INVISIBLE FIELD

The particle proved nan beingness of nan section that bears it. The Higgs boson is simply a ‘ripple’ aliases excitation successful nan Higgs field, conscionable arsenic a photon is an excitation successful nan electromagnetic field. 

The find justified what scientists had agelong believed: location is simply a quantum section passim nan beingness that interacts pinch basal particles – quarks, electrons and truthful connected – to springiness them mass.  

The beingness would look very different without nan Higgs field. Electrons would recreation astatine nan velocity of light, arsenic photons do, and could not beryllium organised into atoms and molecules. We – and nan world we cognize – would not exist. 

However, nan find of nan Higgs boson is yet to make a nonstop effect connected quality life (although CERN has pointed out that galore of nan technologies developed to find it are now utilized astir nan world). 

Caption: The Large Hadron Collider astatine CERN
Credit: Maximilien Brice (CERN)/Wikimedia Commons

WHO PAYS? 

One of nan first Google hunt options to look erstwhile typing “was nan Large Hadron Collider” is “a discarded of money”. 

CERN is publically funded by 23 personnel states and associated members. The Large Hadron Collider, successful which this celebrated collision occurs, became operational successful 2008 – nan twelvemonth of nan world financial crisis. 

When CERN announced its hopes to build a caller passageway for a higher-power collider for an estimated A$28 billion, nan project’s hectic calculus raised eyebrows – within nan physics community and much broadly. 

Projects for illustration those carried retired astatine CERN raise questions. What is nan worth of subject that doesn’t materially use humanity? Is pouring backing into investigation that tells america much astir our spot successful nan beingness a frivolous discarded of payer money aliases an basal portion of what makes america human?

CURIOSITY-DRIVEN SCIENCE 

For Holger Meinke, a professor of world nutrient sustainability astatine nan University of Tasmania, nan allocation of subject backing is simply a analyzable issue.  

While he doesn’t uncertainty nan worth of nan pursuit of knowledge, Holger feels backing is overly weighted towards axenic investigation astatine nan disbursal of different applied disciplines, notwithstanding fields for illustration medicine and engineering. 

“A batch of nan group responsible for subject backing travel from very highly regarded technological backgrounds, pinch that consciousness of purity astir them,” says Holger.

“The issues we really request to reside arsenic humanity aren’t often axenic – they’re astatine nan interface of a batch of nan sciences.” 

This mobility of use is integral to subject funding, immoderate of which comes straight from nan taxpayer. Governments successful Australia spent a cumulative $3.3 cardinal connected investigation and improvement successful Australian universities successful nan 2017/18 financial year.  

“I deliberation group mostly recognise that curiosity-driven investigation is important to do,” says Paul Race, a professor of biotechnology astatine Newcastle University.

“But wherever nan hostility exists is that overmuch investigation is funded by nan taxpayer, and connected that basis, there’s an anticipation that location should beryllium reciprocal benefit. 

“Is nan pursuit of knowledge capable of a payoff for people’s taxation dollars?” 

THE PURE TO APPLIED PIPELINE

Paul says axenic subject has often fuelled society’s top innovations. 

“People didn’t group retired to observe antibiotics,” says Paul.

“People group retired to fig retired bacterial genetics and microbiology, and arsenic an offshoot of that, we person wholly changed nan measurement that we dainty infectious illness and we’ve saved billions of lives complete 100 years.” 

Caption: The accidental find of antibiotics unintentionally revolutionised medicine
Credit: Dr Graham Beards via Wikimedia Commons

“These basal discoveries often supply america pinch watershed moments that past person immense impacts successful applied situations.” 

André Lukas, Head of Theoretical Physics astatine nan University of Oxford, agrees. He says perspectives that spot axenic subject arsenic valueless are short-sighted. 

“Things that were highly theoretical and axenic subject 100 years agone are coming things we couldn’t unrecorded without,” says Andre. “The favoritism is simply a very time-dependent one.” 

Without Einstein’s mentation of wide relativity, GPS trackers would fail to accurately pinpoint location data. 

Semiconductors, which are important for modern electronics, activity connected nan principles of quantum mechanics.

THE VALUE OF KNOWLEDGE

When it comes to investment, Paul believes a information of backing should beryllium ring-fenced for ‘pure’ technological research. 

“You request these kinds of high-concept, curiosity-driven caller discoveries to thrust transformative solutions,” says Paul. 

More than 10 years ago, Tao Han, a theoretical physicist astatine nan University of Pittsburgh and an master connected nan Higgs, was asked to picture really it mightiness toggle shape society.  

“High-energy physics, aliases simple particle physics … is driven by quality curiosity and nan pursuit for axenic knowledge,” he said. “The find of nan Higgs boson is for illustration a newborn baby: No 1 tin foretell nan usefulness astatine this early stage, but that’s our future.” 

That nan find of nan Higgs boson mightiness 1 time toggle shape nine successful ways we can’t yet fathom is tantalising. But moreover if that ne'er occurs, does nan find suffer its value? Or does knowledge person its ain incalculable value? 

For some, nan pursuit of knowledge is an basal facet of quality nature. Curiosity is seen arsenic some an adaptive trait crucial to our evolution arsenic a type and a basal marker of patient development successful childhood.  

“It’s quality quality to research nan underlying cloth of nan world and nan universe,” Andre says .

“Shouldn’t we beryllium doing what’s successful our nature?”