Name: Play! Experiment! Discover!
Uploaded: 2009-01-05T01:00:00Z
Duration: 29 min 12 s
Description: Biochemist Kary Mullis talks about the basis of modern science: the experiment. Sharing tales from the 17th century and from his own backyard-rocketry days, Mullis celebrates the curiosity, inspiration and rigor of good science in all its forms.

Biochemist Kary Mullis talks about the basis of modern science: the experiment. Sharing tales from the 17th century and from his own backyard-rocketry days, Mullis celebrates the curiosity, inspiration and rigor of good science in all its forms.

Play! Experiment! Discover!

The foundation of modern science was laid just 350 years ago, when experiments and visible results replaced debates about philosophy or theology. A story about 17th-century scientists risking controversy by creating vacuums—killing birds in bell jars—illustrates how demonstration became more important than authority. This shift unleashed technology that would have made kings go to war for a GPS. Not all scientists are driven by curiosity, and public debates, like those on climate, can ignore inconvenient evidence.