Random science means the world to me, and you
A friend, Kylie, and former founder of Cosmos science magazine, sent me this transcript:
“I sometimes hear people ask, ‘Why should we spend money on space exploration? We should focus on the problems here on Earth first.’ But if it hadn’t been for space exploration we wouldn’t have known about the greenhouse effect or the ozone hole. It was while trying to understand why Venus was so horribly hot that scientists discovered the greenhouse effect and that this might also occur on Earth, and it was the odd behaviour of chlorine in Venus’s upper atmosphere that led scientists to stumble across the ozone hole over Antarctica.
Studies of Mars and its occasional planet-wide dust storms which led to plunging temperatures on the surface led scientists to the realisation that a decades-long ice age could be triggered on Earth by a nuclear exchange, the so-called nuclear winter effect. One of the most respected scientists in climate change research today, James Hansen of NASA, did his doctorate on the atmosphere of Venus. So space has made a fabulous contribution, not just in accelerating technology and giving us things like computers and mobile phones, but in giving us important clues to problems here on Earth. So going into space is one of the best things we can do to save our world, and ourselves.”
The words were spoken by Cosmos editor: Wilson da Silva Editor
Cosmos www.cosmosmagazine.com…
Thanks to my ABC, to Kylie, to Cosmos and those curious scientists,
M
Great article Mike, fantastic sentiment to be reminded of!
Space exploration is responsible for discovering the greenhouse effect? Does the work of Svante Arrhenius not count? Or is this reasoning relying on an equivocation between astronomy and space exploration?