It's pathetic, but it's the modern age where all knowledge is accessable but very few know how to get it. Most people think they're smart and are wrong. So accessible sciencey-feeling things are popular.

I think you're wrong here. Most people relate more to people than to gadgets. We're the exception here, not the rule. HN readers want the facts, but for the general population, the human interest angle improves the article. It gives them a reason to care.

Fear not. Journalists know that the way around this is to cherry-pick quotes, add some weasel world, and misrepresent the reality so that that person's life story suddenly sounds like a script for a Hollywood movie.