• Question: In your eyes, what are some of the greatest scientific achievements of all time? Vaccines and Fire are common answers I've gotten

    Asked by anon-232894 to Varun, Sammie, Rebecca, Anna, Alin, Adam on 19 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Rebecca Shaw

      Rebecca Shaw answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      Yes, I would also agree that vaccines are one of the greatest!
      Others I would say would be the discovery of hominid evolution and that we evolved from a common ancestor of the great apes, genetics and how we inherit things from our ancestors (Gregor Mendel and the peas), hydrothermal vents and how organisms can survive without needing energy from the sun but from these sources of energy!

    • Photo: Varun Ramaswamy

      Varun Ramaswamy answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      I would say electromagnetism!

      The other 2 are definitely amazing…but electromagnetism is what we use literally everyday, whether we realise it or we don’t. Everything from the lamp in your rooms to the fans, Air-cons, to cars, trains, etc.. all of these use a combination of electricity and magnetism. Whow ould have thought that watching lightning in the sky (discovering electricity) and seeing two rocks of iron ore stick to each other (discovering magnetism) would actually be connected in such a beautiful way that they shape our everyday lives!

      And thats not all, it turns out that electromagnetism also is important in understanding giant stars and black holes and even how the tiny atoms and molecules work.

    • Photo: Anna Kalorkoti

      Anna Kalorkoti answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      Those are great answers! I’d also add antibiotics to that list–like vaccines, there’s so many people who wouldn’t be alive without them, and if that’s not an achievement I don’t know what is!

      Another great one I have to mention is the computer. It’s enabled so many other discoveries in science & so much overall progress–and without it, we wouldn’t be having this conversation with you!

    • Photo: Samantha Firth

      Samantha Firth answered on 19 Nov 2019:

      I would say one of the most interesting discoveries was finding the structure of DNA!🧬We cracked the code for life!🕵️‍♀️ When we discovered how to read DNA, we unlocked the potential to discover SO MUCH about the world around us!🔎 We can find out the cause of illnesses, study the evolution of animals and even solve crimes! It’s pretty incredible and there is so much more it will be used for! Pretty exciting 😎

Comments