Science has come a long way in helping humanity. A lot has been achieved and there is prospects to achieve much more.
Scientific discoveries have helped wipe away tears in many instances. I have heard stories from different sources about how women repeatedly lost their children in the past. I was told of a particular case that the woman gave birth to five children, each at a time, without any of them surviving childhood. The challenge was blamed on some evil forces that didn't want the couple to have the children.
Such experiences have reduced over the years. With the discovery of genotypes, it became obvious that incompatibility of genotypes was largely responsible for the bitter experience of losing children one after the other. Today, genotype test is a popular requirement for intending couples before the union can be sealed. Science helped to bring succor to the people.
Just last week, I visited a researcher who conducted research into formulating organic creams that fight against mosquitoes. The paper was presented at an international conference in Cote d'Ivoire.
I was given a small portion of the formulated cream. The efficiency was amazing. I rubbed it before going to bed while I opened my windows net to give access to mosquitoes to enter my room. I made sure that I rubbed it over my whole body. I slept without covering myself. For almost thirty minutes, mosquitoes could not come closer. It was amazing. I later mounted my indoor net and slept underneath.
The formulated cream gave a great hope of going organic/natural in controlling mosquitoes instead of continuing with the synthetic/artificial methods that have side effects. It proves to me again the role of science in solving societal problems.
As good as science is, there are some instances that it has gone too far. The one that I would like to mention is the invention of nuclear bombs.
A few years ago, I read about the effect of the bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan during the second world war in 1945 which is still being felt today. In 2002, there was a bomb explosion in Lagos armory, Nigeria which claimed thousands of lives.
I sat and asked myself the reason behind the invention of bombs and worse of it, nuclear bombs. One may argue that it is to fight crime but what I come to understand is that whatever you put in place to fight criminals would find their ways into the hands of the same criminals. Amidst the problem happening in the middle east, I do panic whenever a nuclear power threatened to make use of nuclear weapons. It is like a wildfire. You know the beginning but may not know the potential impact and pain. I wish that nuclear bombs are never invented.
The field where I hope to see science do more is medicine.
The health challenges that are of great concern to me are cancers and AIDS. The management of cancer is still very far from being accessible by the locals. I hope to see more accessible inventions for better management and possible cure of cancer.
Science has done a lot about AIDS. There was a time when contraction of HIV was a death sentence. Today, there are antiviral drugs that help the carrier of the virus to live their lives. However, it is incurable presently. I hope to see innovations towards getting a cure for the disease.