Science has brought us many great achievements, but we need to be wary of its misuse, says Adrian Glamorgan

When the dietician came, a concerned family member visiting the hospital ward asked would it not be possible for the patient to have a glass of freshly juiced vegetables and fruit, perhaps some wheatgrass in it.

The dietician replied they were still doing research into the goodness of these things. Instead, there was a small tetrapak of water, corn syrup, sodium caseinate (milk protein), sucrose, high oleic sunflower oil, canola oil, milk protein isolate, corn oil, soy protein isolate, potassium citrate, magnesium chloride, tricalcium phosphate, emulsifier soy lecithin, E322, stabilisers, E460, E466, E418, flavouring, sodium citrate, choline chloride, with much more...and vitamins.

In short, a drink styling itself as a "complete balanced nutritional supplement drink". There was green jelly for dessert. The private hospital also gives the patient the option to tick the "healthy choice" option (on the back of the menu). If you've got the energy, stroll down to the coke machine in the lobby.

I'm glad we have hospitals. When things go wrong with the body, hospitals can do fine things. But too often the tail wags the dog. It's not science, but a white coat dressed up as science. It's a white coat that says all the chemicals in a tetrapak are what we need, when a part of us might, with some credible justice, suspect that a juiced up cocktail of biodynamic vegies can't be beat. Back then at uni doctors did about an hour on nutrition in an entire seven years of intense study. It's not about the "science," so much as who's boss? Other points of view are not appreciated. Ayurvedic medicine regards the food we eat as the first line of defence in health and, accordingly, pays thorough attention. The white coat of science won't look at Ayurveda because...who knows? So much is unspoken. Is it because it's Indian? Pre-scientific? A fad, of several thousand years standing? Iridology as ancillary diagnosis was discovered by a doctor, but try telling that to others in his profession. It doesn't...fit.

What if it's not about the "science," so much as who's boss? There is a trade in authority going on here. The white coats, and the authority of the clipboard, can be science in drag, a mock pretence of the scientific approach to serve just another hierarchy. In the wider world beyond hospitals, more than half of all the world's scientists work for the military or for military purposes. The rest find it hard not to be engaged in corporate work funded by pharmaceuticals. Note I come here to praise science, not to bury it. I speak in favour of a science based on rigorous observation, the posing of an emerging hypothesis, fair testing and a fearless appraisal of results: this is what we need more of, not less. Science as a methodology is one of the extraordinary achievements of our species. But the public needs to be wary of science being used by power, for power's sake.

The recognition of global warming has been one of science's great achievements. Over the last 40 years, but particularly the last 20, the disparate specialties of science, from geology to meteorology, from computer modelling to zoology, have learned to cooperate and exchange perspectives. The collaborative effort that has led the overwhelming preponderance of evidence to be put at the feet of governments in a way that can't be ignored is of immeasurable benefit to us all. Now we know why it rains in Antarctica, when once it only snowed; why rainfall in southwest Australia has dramatically declined. Yet, for those few scientists who explore alternative points of view, I am grateful. Although the evidence is all down one end, it's important that rigorous science is used to test our now-conventional thinking. This is not the same as saying "the jury's still out on climate change"!

The growth of nuclear power is another matter. Initially led by curiosity, splitting the atom opened up the possibility of understanding the origins of nature, and massively destroying an enemy. Some of the world's best scientists peered into the mysteries of the universe to contemplate, at first with zeal and then increasingly with horror, how a city could be incinerated in seconds. The Cold War saw the manufacture of nuclear materials through processing in nuclear reactors which also produced electricity as a byproduct. These nuclear installations were military in nature and had to be military in protection. There was a white coat down every hallway. But those who had looked through frosted glasses into a thousand suns burning into a mushroom cloud pondered whether cold science on its own was enough. Without values in our thinking, where were we, where are we, being led? Science, as part of its method, needs to anticipate the flow-on consequences of its deeds. This takes time. Time to contemplate, reflect, observe some more.

Nuclear reactors use enormous amounts of greenhouse emissions in their decades of construction, decades of decommissioning, and storage of poisonous waste over tens of thousands of years. Ah, nuclear waste. Let's bring rigorous scientific thinking to this question. Observe how damaging concentrated radioactivity is, ready to leak into the biosphere. No one knows how to safely deal with the radioactive leftovers. It lasts for tens of thousands of years, sometimes hundreds of thousands. Observe the vulnerability of waste to be stolen and made into a radiological weapon, for buried rods to be upset geologically. Notice again how it ties up our attention for hundreds and thousands of generations. We have to guard it for longer than the pyramids have sat at Giza. And for much more. Seriously, the nuclear emperor has no clothes. In the name of science, as well as humanity, we are entitled to ask, and expect an answer: what about the waste? The (mostly) men in white coats or political masters cannot just presume a solution will pop up one day. They cannot tell us a technofix is just around the corner. They cannot just ignore the question. This is not science: it is a convenient assumption, a lick and a half-promise. Served as green jelly.