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Fear of Death Makes People Into Believers (of Science)
sciencehabit writes "Nothing, some say, turns an atheist into a believer like the fear of death. 'There are no atheists in foxholes,' the saying goes. But a new study suggests that people in stressful situations don't always turn to a higher power. Sometimes, they turn to science. Both athletes preparing for a big race and students asked to write about their own death showed a 15% stronger belief in science than those under less stressful situations (abstract). 'In stressful situations people are likely to turn to whatever worldviews and beliefs are most meaningful to them,' says study co-author, Anna-Kaisa Newheiser, a psychologist at Yale University. And many people find the scientific worldview more compatible with their own."
Science doesn't always work; since it is a product of the human mind it can be wrong, and it is also not comprehensive but limited.
People have died and been maimed because of science that was incorrect or incomplete. Castle Bravo was to be a 4 to 6 megaton weapon test that hurt no one.
Funny thing happened, we learned that day that the "inert" lithium 7 in the 6/7 mix could absorb a neutron, and then besides releasing that neutron again also alpha decay into tritium which is of course a lovely thermonuclear fuel. Moreover those released neutrons bombarded the uranium tamper of the bomb and caused extra fission. oops. the yield was 15 megatons, people were killed and others maimed for life by radiation.