• Question: what do you think the most important scientific discovery is?

    Asked by themidget to Emma, James, Jayne, Kara, Sharon on 15 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      Hello!
      Thats a really tricky question, there are lots and lots of scientific discoveries, but I think that the most important on is probably the discovery of antibiotics, by Alexander Fleming without them, millions of people would die each year because of infections. I recently had an operation on my wrist and had to have lots of antibiotic injections (ouch) to make sure my bone never got infected. It’s something we take for granted but I think it’s a great discovery!

    • Photo: James Chan

      James Chan answered on 15 Mar 2011:

      I think all the fundamental breakthroughs, like discovery of genetics and the structure of DNA, are all equally important because they lead to all the different things we can do based on that knowledge nowadays. Without knowing the structure of DNA, for instance, we wouldn’t be able to understand genes, how to treat diseases, how the body works etc. It must be pretty cool to be part of the discovery process – to be able to say, yep, I was there!

Comments