Realistic Public Expectations of Science

Conceptually, stem cell research provides a very promising potential to cure many diseases. But realistically, how far are we from harvesting the power of embryonic stem cells to cure diseases?

President-Elect Obama has promised to lift the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Needless to say, this has led to a great deal of excitement among scientists.

Of course, scientists understand the length, hard work, and challenges that this opportunity presents… but does the public understand this?

Are scientists clearly communicating the potential while addressing realistic benchmarks and expectations? Or are we allowing the public to arrive to its own conclusions about what and when to expect results?

For example, in the past, the public has expected and waited for scientists to develop a cancer “silver bullet”. Given the extremely diverse nature of cancer, a “silver bullet” is of course not realistic… but perhaps the public did not know that it wasn’t realistic. Since it has yet to be achieved, some have grown cynical toward the field of cancer research.

What should and could we do as scientists to express excitement because of the potential of a drug, technique, or study, yet simultaneously communicate realistic expectations to the public?