What Can Science Do For You?
Science is the best way to measure the world around us and to improve our quality of life. It’s not possible to do this in a vacuum, but only by interacting with the real world do we get better understanding of the universe and how to cope with its forces. How can we test the strength of magnets or observe in a laboratory a bionicle in an atom? Science is the method of obtaining knowledge about nature and the laws which govern it. There are many different sciences that make up science.
The natural sciences are life itself, such as animal husbandry, plants, hydrology and geology. They form the basis of the entire scientific method. The major natural sciences are physical science which studies the physical world including humans and their behavior, and chemical science which studies matter including gases, liquids and solids. Together these sciences form the core of modern living.
Some branches of Physical Science research earth’s structure and composition, its structure and composition in all its forms including the planets, stars, rocks and minerals. Another branch is the bio-chemical science which studies the interaction of living things with their environment. Some of the areas of research in this field are microbiology, physiology, biochemistry and immunology. Paleontology explores the prehistoric environment of the Earth, including the fossil record, and genetics is the study of living organisms and their quantitative traits.
The physical sciences also encompass the earth’s climate, its magnetic fields, earthquakes and volcanoes, and the ocean’s currents. Astronomy studies stars and the universe in all its glory in the visible and ultraviolet light. Astronomy also includes the study of space, the solar system and the universe beyond it. Computers and their programming systems are part of the field of computer science.
The life sciences deal with the development, function and organization of all forms of life on the planet, including plants, animals, bacteria and us. Biomedical science attempts to understand and promote the importance of all forms of life in our society. These endeavors have resulted in an explosion of knowledge about the world around us. We now know that all of our cells are made up of a complex network of intricate proteins, which function in complex patterns to help control our body’s processes.
When science is used to advance knowledge about nature and to find out more about how it works, people can begin to trust in the theories that are being developed. Science provides answers to the questions that often put people into arguments, or into the dark about the things that they are studying. There are many different types of science and there are more being discovered every day. With the invention of the steamboat, people now could study oceanography, meteorology and geology, which was not the case in previous centuries. Science has brought us a long way since its humble beginning.