This article argues that working in multidisciplinary teams does more in bringing separate disciplines together than any academic intervention.
A previous article discussed the importance of writing for a broader audience, of publishing not just research papers in peer-reviewed journals but also articles in science magazines or even in newspapers. Through such an article, you might also reach a scientist from another discipline; after all, outside our narrow specialization, we are the general public.
The split between the sciences and the humanities is not new; indeed, C P Snow’s The Two cultures (both the lecture and the book) go back to the 1950s. Yet, I am not persuaded that what is needed to bring the two groups together is educational intervention, especially in the digital 21st century with its easy access to information. The formation of multidisciplinary and large research teams, keener competition among these teams, and easy access to information, to my mind, go a long way in bridging gaps among diverse specialities: after all, a published paper is the proverbial tip of the iceberg; the cross-fertilization of ideas, the shop talk among members of a single research team, and the effect of the innate curiosity that drives scientists are all hidden from view.