Fueling technology
Basic science fuels advances in technology, and technological innovations affect our lives in many ways everyday. Because of science, we have complex devices like cars, X-ray machines, computers, and phones. But the technologies that science has inspired include more than just hi-tech machines. The notion of technology includes any sort of designed innovation. Whether a flu vaccine, the technique and tools to perform open heart surgery, or a new system of crop rotation, it's all technology. Even simple things that one might easily take for granted are, in fact, science-based technologies: the plastic that makes up a sandwich bag, the genetically-modified canola oil in which your fries were cooked, the ink in your ballpoint pen, a tablet of ibuprofen — it's all here because of science.- Energy. Our understanding of this basic atomic structure has been used as the basis of nuclear power plants, which themselves have many societal benefits (e.g., nuclear power does not rely on non-renewable, polluting fossil fuels) and costs (e.g., nuclear power produces radioactive waste, which must be carefully stored for long periods of time).
- Medicine. That understanding has also been used in many modern medical applications (e.g., in radiation therapy for cancer and in medical imaging, which can trace the damage caused by a heart attack or Alzheimer's disease).
- Defense. During World War II, that knowledge also clued scientists and politicians in to the fact that atomic energy could be used to make weapons. Once a political decision was made to pursue atomic weapons, scientists worked to develop other scientific knowledge that would enable this technology to be built.
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