SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT IS A BOON OR BANE

Science offers knowledge based on experiment and observation, but technology

is the total sum of the application of knowledge. This has made life easy and comfortable
for the user. A country said to be a developed country when it has many technical
advancements. A small country like japan has succeeded to acquire this prestige because
of its advancements and applications of technology at a high level. This century is the age
of Science. We cannot imagine our life without science. It has become a part and parcel
of life. It is a symbol of progress.

INVENTION OF ELECTRICITY:

We are enjoying the comfort of science in all the fields. Electricity is another
important scientific invention. The comforts of life like electric lamps, fridges, washing
machines, Air conditioners are the gifts of electricity.

DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE:

The development in the agricultural front, which is the backbone of our country,
is really encouraging. New improved techniques have helped to increase crop yield,
methods like drip irrigation, invention of hybrid varieties of seed have gone a long way to
help agriculturists.

Production of disease resistant seeds leads to high yield and it paved way for the
green revolution also. But using of pesticides affects the soil and reduces the nitrogen
content and it leads to land pollution.

DEVELOPMENT IN MEDICINE:

Development in medicine is marvelous. Without shedding a drop of blood,

doctors are able to do surgeries. The latest devices helps to diagnose diseases at an early
stage itself, thus bringing the death rate down. X-rays and laser were also used in the
medical field. Almost all kinds of diseases are entirely cured by modern medicines and
drugs. Plastic surgery plays important role in the field of Surgery. Organ transplantation
has become reality. Test tube babies become very common.

COMPUTER AND ITS ADVANTAGES:

Computer is an electronic device that can store information. It can also

manipulate and transmit data. It can process and retrieve data very fast. Super computer is
helpful for weather forecasting. Telephone booths, hotels, railway stations, banks uses
computer. Communication satellites are watched with computers; also they assist
scientists in Atomic power stations. Computer is a boon to engineers. Computers help
them to design structures eg: bridges, vehicles etc computer find applications in
Computer Aided Designing (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM), and
Computer Aided Engineering (CAE).

INVENTION OF INTERNET:

People exchange valuable information through internet. One can reach any
website and learn anything. Children could consult internet and can clarify their doubts.
Communications are developed in leaps and bounds. With the help of button the common
man can interact and chat with dear and near ones. Video conferences and web cameras
have made easier for executives to travel to have face-to- face interactions. It is a network
through which we can connect with entire world and can collect information about any
topics.

POLLUTION:
Pollution is the greatest enemy to the mankind today. Human life has become
miserable due to all kinds of pollutions. Strangely man himself is responsible for the
problem of pollution faced by him. Air pollution: It is due to industrial and automobile
exhaust, mostly due to the smokes from factories and vehicles... They contain CO2 and
SO2 and other oxides of Nitrogen. They cause breathing problem even cancer. Proper
awareness must be made among people. Non governmental Organizations must also
should take part for making awareness among people.
WATER POLLUTION:

Water is a elixir of life. letting of domestic sewage, industrial wastes into drinking
water pollutes water. Oil leaks in ocean affect marine life.They endanger many marine
species .The latest is the leakage of cyanide from a gold mining company into the blue
Danube .More than 80% of the marine species died.The river has turned grey color ..

LAND POLLUTION:

It is due to usage of pesticides, and un decomposable plastics and other synthetic fibers..
Government should ban the use of plastic covers. People should reduce the usage of
plastic bags in their day today life.

DEPLETION OF OZONE LAYER:

The protective ozone layer is affected there by exposing us to harmful radioactive

rays. This hole in the ozone layer is due to the CFC- Chloro Fluro carbon. This CFC is
evolved from the AC and fridge used by man kind.

GREEN HOUSE EFFECT:

Due to this effect the temperature of earth increases and also mountains like
Himalayas starts melting, there by increasing the level of water.

They also affect the species that live in Himalayas also...

ATOM BOMBS AND HYDROGEN BOMBS:

Science had also destroyed mankind. Modern scientific weapons like Atom
bombs and Hydrogen Bombs can wipe out human race. Hiroshima, Nagasaki and
Vietnam stands as examples of destruction due to scientific inventions. Everybody
witnessed the power of technology in the recent Iraq war - a combination of satellite
imagery and precision guided missles... Terrorists also take a major part to destroy human
races.

RADIOACTIVITY:

Radioactivity is the spontaneous emission of certain radiations by some elements

of matter. The radiations emitted are: gamma rays, beta rays, alpha rays. Gamma rays are
very penetrating and radioisotopes emitting these radiations are used for industrial
radiography, and also for treatment of cancer. An isotope of Iridium or of cobalt or
cesium is used in industrial radiography. The same radioisotopes are also used in
medicine. Iridium wires or cesium capsules are implanted in cavities to treat cancer.
Similarly cobalt installed in machines is employed for treatment of deep seated cancers
like lung, breast and so on. Very briefly, the cancer cells are more sensitive to the gamma
radiations than the normal cells and are more easily killed.Normal cells are also killed but
much less and can recover. The above mentioned ones and several others are produced
artificially in reactors and accelerators. Radioisotopes are also put in many gadgets which
find numerous applications.

NUCLEAR ENERGY:

The discovery of fission led to the creation of nuclear reactors and generation of
energy. Fission is a process in which a relatively less abundant isotope of the heavy metal
uranium, when bombarded with the neutral particle neutron is broken into three smaller
elements and in the process energy is released following Einstein’s equation of mass
energy equivalence. The amount of energy released is huge and is used to convert water
into steam and run turbines to produce electricity as in a conventional coal fired thermal
power plant. Nuclear reactors have been built which produce enough energy to be able to
generate upwards of 1000 MW of electricity in a single power plants reactor. Many
countries of the world are having Nuclear Power Plants. France produces the most
amount of electricity through nuclear means for its consumption. Russia and the United
States also have several Plants to produce significant amounts of Nuclear Power.

Trouble for nuclear energy comes from these. They have to be contained.
Therefore, all the precautions and complications of nuclear power stem from the
radioactive products in the process of fission. Lot of technology and science goes in the
designing and construction of nuclear reactors. The isotope of uranium fashioning and
giving energy gets depleted in the fuel of the reactor, it has to be replaced by fresh fuel.
The depleted fuel or the spent fuel, as it is termed, has to be stored for cooling for
considerable length of time and then must be disposed off safely. Many of the
radioisotopes used in industry and medicine and research are produced in these reactors.
Thousands of units of radioactivity are required and that can be made only over
prolonged periods in reactors.

CONCLUSION:

The boon of science and technology becomes a bane when the same is deployed
for destructive purposes. Both radioactive isotopes and nuclear energy are capable of
sinister uses. Radiations from the radioactive isotopes are very dangerous. Large amounts
of these can be fatal and also induce cancer. Similarly fission has been used to produce
nuclear bombs of enormous destructive power. The energy, which in a reactor is released
slowly and utilized, is created in a bomb in a matter of split second and released. The
result is intense heat and intense radiation. But this bane is not the fault of technology but
our failing.