Team:Potsdam Bioware/SocialBrick/Science Meets People

Science Meets People

The second section of our SocialBrick is the part "Science meets people". For this SocialBrick we developed a survey to ask about people's knowledge of Synthetic Biology and their opinion on this scientific field. In the following the results of this survey will be presented.

1. Have you ever heard about the term/ the scientific field of Synthetic Biology?

a) Yes
b) I briefly heard about it.
c) No

2. Which definition would match your idea of Synthetic Biology?

a) branch of Biology that releates to the animal kingdom, espacially to the multicellular organisms
b) interdisciplinary scientific field, which solves biological problems on the basis of theoretical and computer-based modelsy
c) interdisciplinary scientific field, which aims to design biological systems with new features that did not exist in nature on the basis of standardized biobricks
d) a new microbiotical field, which deals with the optimization of yeast cultures for Dr. Oetker backing mixtures

3. How do you see your knowledge of Synthetic Biology?

a) very good
b) good
c) satisfying
d) adequate
c) fail

4. In 2010 the creation of a bacteria with an entirely synthetic (artificial) genome was completed. What do you think about this?

a) I think it is very interesting.
b) I think this developent ist potentially dangerous.
c) I do not care about this topic.

5. In which terms would you describe the Synthetic Biology most appropriately? (multiple responses allowed)

a) innovative
b) interesting
c) dangerous
d) advanced
e) useful
f) boring
g) uncontrollable
h) not relevant
i) important/essential

6. Do you think that Synthetic Biology in the long term is rather beneficially for the society or rather dangerous in terms of bioterrorism?

a) Synthetic Biology in the long term will create benefits.
b) Synthetic Biology in the long term will bring serious disadvantages.

7. Would you say that we as human overstep our competences when we genetically modify organisms and do you think that the consequences of our actions can be estimated?

a) Yes, we as human clearly overstep our competences and we are not able to truly estimate the consequences of our actions.
b) No, we as human do not overstep our competences. The possible consequences of our actions can indeed be estimated on many years of scientific experience.
c) Even though we are not able to assess all of the consequences we should support research in the field of Synthetic Biology.

8. How well or how bad informed to you feel by scientists, teachers and the specialist press about the advantages and disadvantages of Synthetic Biology?

a) I do feel well informed.
b) I do feel badly informed.

9. Do you think that the public controversy over abstaining from genetically modified organisms (GMO) in food is still tenable for the future?

a) Yes, I think that the public will still demand the waiver of GMOs in food.
b) No, I do not think that we can further maintain the rejection of GMOs in food.

10. Have we inspired your curiosity by asking all these questions about Synthetic Biology and will you further inform yourself about this topic?

a) Yes
b) Maybe
c) No

Summary

To sum up the main results of the survey, you can see that the people see the great potential of Synthetic Biology and are very interested in this new scientific field. Nevertheless, the people have to inform about Synthetic Biology. The prejudice that most of the people dislike genetically modified organisms and, hence, Synthetic Biology can not be confirm, although there is no clearly opinion about genetically modified organisms in food.
We really liked to inform people about Synthetic Biology. The results shows us that most of the people are disclosed to Synthetic Biology. But, we have to continue our information campaigns to improve knowledge and acceptance of Synthetic Biology in future.