Science has been around for a long time. The word "science" actually comes from the Latin word scientia, which means knowledge. Most people associate the word science with a system of acquiring knowledge based on research, experimentation and empirical observation. Progress in science is easily gauged based on the continually growing body of hypotheses and theories, all of which have been formulated based off of accumulated scientific evidence in attempt to explain the world around us or discover the truth.
Science is everywhere. It is impossible to go anywhere or do anything without coming across science in one form or another. This is truer than ever at an institution like the University, where scientists, professors and students often interact and work together on ground-breaking scientific research. Equally important is the transfer of scientific information and principles from one generation to the next. Students majoring in the sciences know all too well that this process can be time consuming, difficult and incredibly overwhelming.
Science has become a pervasive part of our lives today, so much so that many people take it for granted. Rarely do we stop and think: On a most basic level, what is science? How does science affect us? What is the future of science? Although these questions are somewhat abstract, examining them can be an eye-opening experience. Not surprisingly, each person has a different answer to such questions, depending largely on background, experience and career field.
"Science is a set of practices and ideas that the modern West understands as a systematic approach to gaining knowledge about reality," Anthropology Prof. Richard Handler said in an e-mail. "In Western thought, science contrasts with such other cultural domains as art and fiction."
Most people make the strongest connections between science and subjects like physics, chemistry and biology. Anthropology is notably absent from that list, but that doesn't make it any less scientific.
"Cultural Anthropology is a social science that systematically engages cultural worlds in order to learn about them," Handler said. "Using a Western definition of science, cultural anthropology is scientific in that it systematically creates and organizes empirical data, drawn from the anthropologist's interactions with the people studied, and uses that data to attempt to answer fundamental questions about culture and human life. So for all the people who would just as soon get rid of anthropology, there are others who see it as a useful tool for understanding a global world."
In the last few decades, science has progressed at an astounding rate. New discoveries and advancements are made every day as scientists continually probe deeper into the world around them. Mind boggling new theories continue to emerge and reshape our perceptions of reality, and radical new hypotheses are continually being explored.
At times, science seems to have become so advanced that it is no longer applicable or relevant to the common man. But contrary to popular belief, many of the most radical scientific theories and the most complex scientific principles do indeed have practical applications. To say the least, the translation of cutting edge science into usable, everyday technologies is vastly underappreciated, as is the power of science as a predictive tool to study events still outside the realm of understanding.
"My principal field of study is nuclear physics, the study of the atomic nucleus, its properties, and its constituents," said Physics Prof. Blaine Norum in an e-mail. "I think most people identify nuclear physics with its most visible applications: nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Fewer appreciate its role in cancer therapy, medical imaging, homeland security and a myriad of other spin-offs. Fewer still appreciate its role in understanding the behavior and evolution of stars and how the elements that comprise us and the universe formed in the beginning."
Although nuclear physics and anthropology may seem completely unrelated, Norum's view of science as a process parallels that of Handler.
"Science is the process by which we develop a quantitative description of how the elements of the universe (space, time, matter, etc.) behave and interact," Norum said. "It is the process by which we try to correlate disparate observations using a minimum number of assumptions."
The most exciting aspect of science is its unrealized potential. No one really knows what the future holds, or where science will head in the coming years.
"Much smarter people than I have made many such predictions [about the future of science]... and have been dead wrong!" Norum said. "The ability to make such predictions implies knowledge we simply do not have."
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