Scott Andrew Bailey – Author

We have two sets of pans in our house – I know fancy! One was a set I bought before we were married in my singleton days. The other was a wedding present. The latter is non-stick – which everyone gets right? The ones I bought back in the day I chose because I liked the look of them and though they were good quality they were in a knockdown sale.They are stainless steel with copper bottoms. They are non-non stick – henceforth known as stick pans to avoid the double negative.

Over the years I have come to prefer the stick pans. And this is why.

What is the point of non-stick pans? Well – I hear you say – to avoid things sticking to the bottom of the pan. But why is that a problem? Because it makes it harder to clean.

That’s where non-stick comes in. Where you can cook and things will not stick meaning you can clean the pan afterwards with the merest wipe of a cloth – maybe even a glancing smile.

Problem is – that hardly ever works. Sure things don’t stick quite as much to non stick pans as they do to stick pans – but they still do stick! More often than not. But it gets worse than just the let down of the promise. Once things stick to non-stick pans – they are even harder to clean.

After I have made scrambled egg in my stainless steel sticky pans (lightly whisked with a dollop of cream) I can just attack the pan with a brillo pad. Can’t do that with a non-stick. No, no, no!

So not only do non-stick pans often fail to solve the problem they were created to resolve – but they actually make it worse.

The thing is – we seem to have a constant stream of such low-grade disappointments drip fed to us over time. It is these that have worn down our trust of science. If you look back to the fifties and sixties the world was full of optimism for the wondrous gadgets science would deliver. By our generation this was replaced by cynicism.

Has science failed us?

No. If you look at it closer the real culprit becomes clear. Marketing! Advertiser jumped on that bandwagon of hope to sell us crap we didn’t need. And everyone was to full of pride to admit they had been hoodwinked.

I think that I see now though – a new budding of life – a new hope and optimism and excitement about science again. Its tempered with wisdom now though – we are not expecting the miracles our forefathers demanded. We understand now that breakthroughs can be slow. But there is a growing movement of enthusiasm spearheaded by the likes of Prof. Brian Cox and Prof Alice Roberts as well as by non scientists but lovers of knowledge like Dara O’Brien and Stephen Fry.

So I say lets cheer them on and bring on a new age of reason!