Today my science-stuff acumen was challenged. “Show me your peer-reviewed papers then,” he said with a scoff and a smirk.

I have few published papers, alas, and all from undergrad. And none since. Why?

Is it because I’m a dum-dum and all my scholarly submissions were crap and unpublishable?

Or, is it because I went into practical science, also known as industry? Industry science-folk discover stuff and then help make stuff for the betterment of other people who aren’t science-folks. It’s our contribution, learning science-stuff and applying science-stuff.

Those science-folks who publish professional papers are science-folk in academia. They are at universities and national labs and stuff. In academia, work product is measured in the number of papers published each year. Publish or perish, it’s said in academia.

In industry, work product is tangibly measured in profit. You know you’re a good, successful science-folk when your business makes useful stuff that consumers pay for, meaning goods and services.

You’ll never see an industry science-folk publish their discoveries. Why?

Because that is telling everyone about your trade secrets. If you give away your trade secrets, your business doesn’t do well. Makes sense.

The closest you’ll get to an industry publication is the report accompanying a patent application. Makes sense.

So, rather than assuming all science-folks are in academia and professional papers are the measure of their science-smarts and science-worth, instead ask probing science-stuff questions that will satisfy your assessment of a knowledgable science-folk. Test the science-folk using your science-smarts.

If you can.

Makes sense.