What Science has done for me

By Fylgia Romero
Ellesmere College

In a world full of war and conflict, science plays a very significant role for me – a young and curious member of society.

Science is defined as a ‘branch of knowledge’. Science is often associated with white laboratory coats, big textbooks and confusing equations. But science is more than just these things to me. Science for me is an eye-opener to the world around me and predominantly, the world inside me. Science is a key to every door I face throughout many different aspects I find myself in.

Science continues to play significant roles in every aspect of my journey from the moment I was still a single cell. Little did I know how far we have come in science looking back through history and to how we used to live. But little by little, it all starts to piece together. Science never fails to fascinate me as a youth full of awe and wonder.

From my understanding, science has always been there. Everything works together in our universe and it has allowed the human species to survive to this date. However, not all of us are fortunate. I am blessed to be living in this developing country. We are blessed to have the freedom and access to modern technology as well as people who have the knowledge of how to heal diseases. Science has slowly taken over. Because of the development of the medical field and our knowledge we now know how to cure, even the most degenerative diseases, saving many innocent lives. Our knowledge of physics has taken us above the skies exploring what we have not yet seen. We now have satellites which allow us to connect with people all over the world and warn us of meteorological issues. Our knowledge of chemistry has made us see matter and what does and doesn’t really matter. We now have laboratories that particularly look at creating promising chemicals in the hopes of contributing to society’s needs. Our knowledge of biology and agriculture have made us see life in different forms – all of great value. We now have procedures we consider trustworthy enough to push us, individuals, to our next steps. Science has woven our society closer together than we have ever been before having the majority of us united with the same scientific beliefs. These are just little pieces that come together to make science what it is right now.

It all depends on the context. For me, as a person of strong faith, I believe science is interchangeable with faith. As much as most non-believers say that science challenges faith, I believe that science and faith coexist in this argumentative society of ours. I, as a science student, believe that the things around me are made up of millions of tiny particles – without seeing them. I believe that there are millions of other universes outside ours – without seeing them. I believe in the different biochemical systems inside my body – without seeing them. And this is why I consider science and faith connected because faith is a matter of believing without seeing, thus having faith in science and in my Creator – whom I don’t see but still strongly believe in.

Science is a realm that needs to be explored much further. There is so much we do not understand and some things we may never will. Is there even an end to knowledge? We continue in the hopes of making our world a better place for everyone even if it costs a great sacrifice. They say ignorance is bliss. But where would we be without the knowledge we have gained through discoveries made in our past? Science has done a lot for me and have seen that it has too for many individuals. As we continue putting these pieces together, I believe that science will continue expanding in our minds. We can only hope that future generations will continue our search for answers for the good.

Science in a Day

by  Jorgee Robb   Gore High School

There is a lot that science does for me in a day, but not only does science helps me, it also helps you. It is everywhere and we don’t even know that it is science because it is ‘regular’ and ‘normal.’ So now let’s consider the science of a perfectly normal day.
There’s a ringing in my ear. Slowly I pry open my eyes, darkness still fills the entirety of the room. I reach over, push snooze on my loudly ringing phone. This is the first piece of science that I use for the day. The cell phone was invented by Martin Cooper, of Motorola, back in 1973. Not only does the cell phone send and receive calls as well as texts, but also offers Google, email, a camera and just about anything your mind can imagine. I step out of the warm haven and pad down the hallway to the kitchen. I put on the jug and put bread in the toaster. Yet again, I thank people for their inventions. The first electric jug was invented by Compton and Co in 1891. The toaster was invented by Alan MacMasters in Edinburgh in 1893. Through the years both have been updated to what they are today.

Once fed and dressed, I leave for Gore in my car. Thanks to science I can travel 45 minutes by car to school. The car was invented by Karl Benz who built his first automobile in 1885 in Mannheim, Germany. Thanks to his invention, I can have a better education and more opportunity. When I arrive at the aging, rough cast building of Gore High School, like every Monday morning, I have study first. I dodge past all the juniors to the study room, where I can settle down and finish my history essay, on the Treaty of Waitangi. I pull out my laptop, which was first imagined by Alan Kay in 1968. Now with the conveniences of laptops, writing my essay is much easier than writing the Treaty of Waitangi back in 1840. Second is chemistry, where we are doing titrations. Titrations were first used by Karl Fischer in 1935, to determine the trace amount of water in a sample. Nowadays, we think this is ‘old fashioned’ technology, yet it is still relatively new. Calculus is third, where we are studying systems of equations. The calculator is extremely handy in calc and takes less brain power typing in the numbers. Blaise Pascal invented the mechanical calculator in 1642 but now it has many more features such as the ability to graph an equation or solve equations for you. Biology is next, where we are learning about CRIPR-CAS 9. This technology could forever change the way humans live by changing the DNA base sequence of the DNA of an organism. It gives people with hereditary diseases a hope and a future. School assembly is before lunch. We are able to see the words to the song we sing and the slides to the PowerPoint of the topic talked about with the help of a projector. Eadweard Muybridge invented the first movie projector in 1879, but now they are used for much more than just movies.

When I get back home, from a ‘long day at the chalk face,’ I go to feed my sheep. I get on my 4-wheeler motor bike, which helps me move hay. Edward Butler first imagined the self-moving bike in 1884. Now motorbikes come in all shapes and sizes and are extremely helpful for farmers. Stepping out of the typical Southland rain, I head inside to cook tea. Tea is easily cooked in the electric oven and takes no time or thought. However, from 1906 an electric oven had never been thought of until Lloyd Groff Copeman did. He then manufactured his design and now it is extremely uncommon for someone not to have an electric oven. Electric Ovens were invented to make cooking easier. I sit down in front of the heat pump, which is keeping our farm house mild. The heat pump was first invented by Peter Von Rittinger in 1855-57. He discovered that circulated air could be transformed into heat, making the heat pump.

Sitting here I think about my day and how the different aspects of science have helped my day. Some inventions help us day to day, while others help for specialist activities. All these inventions help not only me but you too, they make our lives much more easier and allow us to fit in more to our day. We take for granted what science and scientists have brought us, without these technologies and inventions our lives would not be what they are today.

Paper Making – My First Encounters

by 
Nakita  Corfield
Dargaville High School

 
It was there! After school, while exploring through my grandfather’s shed I found a
“How-to-make paper” guide. You see, after witnessing my after school delicacies of blackberries that grow across the gravel road being covered with dust as cars drove by, I knew I had to take action against waste contamination.

And it was there, at that moment when I found the kit that I knew I could do something about it. I could use paper that I drew on, spilt juice on, and even paper that my dog had stepped on with her wet and dirty paws to make new and fresh paper. I spent hours ripping apart paper into the tiniest pieces that I was able to make. Next, I would soak the torn paper for a couple of nights to soften it. Then I could use my blender to create a pulp. Once this step was complete, the hard part was over. All I had to do is lay the pulp onto drying racks and wait. This was the most irritating part for my 7 year-old self. All I wanted was to witness my magnificent masterpiece reborn.

My paper looked nowhere near as good as store bought fresh paper. The oddly coloured grey pulp sat in uneven piles all over the rack. If I didn’t allow enough time for the paper to completely dry, it would crumble through my fingers. So getting the timing right was key.

Little did I know that 10 years later I would be researching the` Kraft Process’ of how paper is created through NCEA. This research internal made me realise that I was introduced a lot sooner to science than I initially thought. It wasn’t when I first made hokey pokey during my intermediate years, it was even sooner – I just didn’t understand it yet. At the age of 7, I accomplished the art of papermaking. Like how I pulled apart old pieces of paper whereas paper mills finely dice the wood that they receive into the correct sizes, ready for the cooking process. However, unlike H2O that I used to soak the pulp in, a special solution called white liquor which is a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide is used. This removes the lignin – a substance in trees which make the cells of the trees wood hard. Once all of the required lignin is removed from the pulp, it is then screened for any knots and twists that were missed. If only I had added this step into my process! Then I would have had clean smooth paper. An extra step at the paper mills of bleaching the pulp is added. This enables the paper to become the desired colour. Finally, like my process, the pulp is laid out and left to dry.

Now that I know what steps I can use to make my homemade paper even better, I hope to use it in the near future!