The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of stones. It ended after 2.5 million years when humans came up with a suitable replacement, known as "metals" and a new age, the Metal Age, began somewhere between 4500 and 2000 BCE. This transition of "ages" is an example of human ingenuity with "science" at its core.
What is Science?
Science, to me, is human understanding of something "that is." This something exists and we can explain how it has come about to be.
In some cases, our understanding is so detailed that we can also create the "that is" through human action i.e. artificially.
Natural Fertilizers (guano) to Chemical Manures
In 1898, Sir William Crookes, incoming president of the British Academy of Sciences, spoke of people dying in large numbers starting in the 1930s. He explained how farmed and re-farmed soil was loosing fertility and how this loss would cut food production unless a synthetic "chemical manure" was quickly available to replenish spent soil. This replenishment, he said, would produce enough food for the world's growing population.
This call motivated many to create chemical manures. Fritz Haber succeeded in discovering a process in 1909 that extracted nitrogen from the air we breathe, to create ammonia, the first synthetic fertilizer.
This discovery and invention of the Haber-Bosh process is in use all over the world today. If it were shut down everywhere in 2012, over 3 billion of the world's 7 billion people would starve to death regardless of their economic and social stature.
Natural to Synthetic Rubber
Malaysia and Indonesia provide much of the world's natural rubber supply. Japan conquered Malaysia and Indonesia in the early years of World War II and stopped exports of natural rubber. This led to a 90% drop in supply of natural rubber, a necessary military ingredient.
This supply reduction motivated the US government to push and finance development of synthetic rubbers.
Creation of synthetic rubber was not a new activity. As early as in 1879, Bouchard, a European scientist, had created a form of synthetic rubber.
The push by the US brought urgency and resources for the creation of synthetic rubber in vast quantities.
Synthetic rubber turned out to be better than natural rubber in some ways. Synthetic rubber's resistance to high temperatures is so much better than that of natural rubber that natural rubber uses have declined ever since.
Finding New Freshwater Supplies
Freshwater is a near universal solvent, but also exists within much of nature's creations. Our bodies are ~64% water. Water exists "dissolved" in soil, in the atmosphere and many other places.
Can we use science, in particular, our understanding of 'water' and how it exists everywhere on Earth, to develop new sources of freshwater?
There is only one way to get the answer! Especially today, the unsafe and audacious act, but the right one on freshwater, is to issue a call for ways to "increase" water supplies, say, by tapping the continuously replenished ocean of freshwater in the atmosphere.
What is Science?
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| Science Source - asiasociety.org |
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| Science Source - dorchesteru3a.wordpress.com |
Applying science - the knowledge that allows us to test and break constraints imposed by nature - has led to our developing innovations like artificial light to eliminate darkness and new seeds to raise yields so that we can alleviate hunger.
Science has been repeatedly used by us to find a way to alleviate scarcity by developing new sources of scarce resources.
Natural Fertilizers (guano) to Chemical Manures
In 1898, Sir William Crookes, incoming president of the British Academy of Sciences, spoke of people dying in large numbers starting in the 1930s. He explained how farmed and re-farmed soil was loosing fertility and how this loss would cut food production unless a synthetic "chemical manure" was quickly available to replenish spent soil. This replenishment, he said, would produce enough food for the world's growing population.
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| The Haber-Bosch Process Source - chemwiki.ucdavis.edu |
This discovery and invention of the Haber-Bosh process is in use all over the world today. If it were shut down everywhere in 2012, over 3 billion of the world's 7 billion people would starve to death regardless of their economic and social stature.
Natural to Synthetic Rubber
Malaysia and Indonesia provide much of the world's natural rubber supply. Japan conquered Malaysia and Indonesia in the early years of World War II and stopped exports of natural rubber. This led to a 90% drop in supply of natural rubber, a necessary military ingredient.
 |
| Synthetic Rubber Manufacturing Source - ame.org |
Creation of synthetic rubber was not a new activity. As early as in 1879, Bouchard, a European scientist, had created a form of synthetic rubber.
The push by the US brought urgency and resources for the creation of synthetic rubber in vast quantities.
Synthetic rubber turned out to be better than natural rubber in some ways. Synthetic rubber's resistance to high temperatures is so much better than that of natural rubber that natural rubber uses have declined ever since.
Finding New Freshwater Supplies
Freshwater is a near universal solvent, but also exists within much of nature's creations. Our bodies are ~64% water. Water exists "dissolved" in soil, in the atmosphere and many other places.
Can we use science, in particular, our understanding of 'water' and how it exists everywhere on Earth, to develop new sources of freshwater?
There is only one way to get the answer! Especially today, the unsafe and audacious act, but the right one on freshwater, is to issue a call for ways to "increase" water supplies, say, by tapping the continuously replenished ocean of freshwater in the atmosphere.
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