Why Is Science Important in Our Everyday Lives?

Science is important because it influences most aspects of everyday life, including food, energy, medicine, transportation, leisure activities and more. Science improves human life at every level, from individual comfort to global issues.

Scientific research is responsible for dramatic increases in food production, transforming the way humans consume food. In the 1940s, biologists developed new varieties of crops, such as corn, wheat and rice, that could yield much more productive harvests from a single field. Coupled with developments in fertilizers and pesticides, this increase in the food supply became known as the Green Revolution. This dramatic increase in food changed the way agriculture functions.

Science is also responsible for innumerable advances in modern medicine. Diseases that once killed millions are now easily dispatched thanks to developments such as vaccinations and antibiotics. Even practices that are mostly taken for granted, such as hand washing, stem from scientific knowledge. Scientists in the 19th century first theorized that diseases were caused by microscopic germs, and the prevalence of hand washing as a strategy to prevent the spread of germs exists thanks to scientific research.

Science is also responsible for human use of electricity, a vital component of modern life. Without the pioneering research of scientists such as Ben Franklin and Alessandro Volta, there would be no electric lights, no telephones, no televisions and no computers.