Science and the universe are awesome

Since we are surrounded by scientific knowledge. We are so used to it that we can take science for granted and not reflect on how amazing science truly is. And how amazing the universe is that science reveals. Things that we know, learn, and do today in science would have been inconceivable decades ago, let alone centuries ago.

What specific things do you think are particularly awesome? This question was stimulated by Frank Wilczek's recent book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality. In writing the book, he says "what began as an exposition grew into a contemplation."

 My answer to the question has some significant overlap with Wilczek's ten. 

Below I list some of the things that I find awesome. I consider two classes: what science can do and what we learn about the universe from science.

Science works! It is amazing what science can do.

We can understand the material world.

Einstein said, "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible." In a previous post, I explored some different dimensions of the fact that the universe is comprehensible. The mystery includes human capabilities, both intellectual and physical, and the malleability of the material world.

We can make precise measurements.

Scientists have created incredibly powerful and specialised instruments for making very precise measurements such as spectrometers, telescopes and microscopes. Scientists can measure the tension in a single strand of DNA, the magnetic moment of an electron to a precision of one part in one billion billion, the spectrum of light emitted by a galaxy that is ten billion light years away, ...

We can predict the outcome of new experiments.

Scientists construct theories in their minds, on pieces of paper, in mathematical equations, and in computers. One way to evaluate the possible validity of a theory is to propose new experiments and predict the outcome. Famous examples include the existence of the chemical element aluminium, the existence of the planet Neptune, radio waves, a specific excited quantum state of the atomic nucleus of carbon atoms, the pollinator moth for Darwin's orchid, the deflection of the path of light from a distant star by our sun, gravitational waves, the Cosmic Microwave Background, quarks, the Higgs boson, the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition, the hexatic phase, edge states in integer spin antiferromagnetic chains, topological insulators, ... Predictions are particularly impressive when they are unexpected and controversial.

We can use mathematics. 

Eugene Wigner received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963. In 1960 he published an essay "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences that concludes

The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve. 

We can manipulate and control nature.

Scientists and engineers can move single atoms, design drugs, make computers, build atom bombs, heart pacemakers, and mobile phones, manipulate genes, ......

We know so much but we know so little. 

On the one hand, the achievements of science are amazing. Yet, in spite of this, there are still significant mysteries and challenges. Examples include the nature of dark matter or human consciousness, a quantum theory of gravity, fine-tuning of fundamental constants, the quantum-classical boundary, protein folding, the nature of glasses, and how to calculate the properties of complex systems.

It is awesome what science reveals to us about the universe.

The immense scales of the observable universe

Our sun is just one star among the more than two hundred billion that make up our galaxy, the Milky Way. And that is just one of one trillion galaxies in the whole universe. It takes light from the most distant galaxies tens of billions of years to travel to us.

Length, time, and energy scales over many many orders of magnitude

These go far beyond our everyday experience and what we can see with the naked eye (from a millimetre to a kilometre). On the large scale, the visible universe involves distances of billions of light years (10^25 metres). On the small scale, there is the sub-structure of nucleons, which is smaller than femtometres (10^-15 m).  This wide range of length scales is nicely illustrated in the wonderful movie Powers of Ten and its update, The Cosmic Eye. There are corresponding time, energy, and temperature scales varying over many many orders of magnitude. For example, as one goes from ultracold atomic gases to quark-gluon plasmas, the  relevant energy and temperature scales vary over more than 20 orders of magnitude! At every scale, there are distinct phenomena and structures. 

Universal laws that are simple to state

The universe exhibits a diversity of rich and complex behaviour. Yet it can understand much of it in terms of simple universal laws that are easy to state, e.g., Newton's laws of motion, the laws of thermodynamics, Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism, Schrodinger's equation of quantum mechanics, the genetic code, ....  And, these are just a few of these laws. One does not need a multitude of laws to describe a multitude of instances of a multitude of phenomena.

Just a few building blocks

There are just a few fundamental particles in the standard model (leptons, neutrinos, and gauge bosons). Everything is made of them. They are the building blocks of atoms. They each have just a few physical properties: charge, spin, mass, and colour. Every single particle of a particular type in the universe has exactly the same properties. Exactly. As far as we know, they have been exactly the same throughout time, going back to the beginning of the universe, and whether they are in your body, or in a star in a distant galaxy.

Atoms are the building blocks of chemical compounds. Every single atom of a particular chemical element (and nuclear isotope) is absolutely identical. This allows astronomers to determine the chemical composition of distant stars, galaxies, and dust clouds.

Humans, plants, and animals all have the same molecular building blocks and there are just a few of them. Any DNA molecule is composed of just four different base pairs (denoted A, G, T, C) and proteins are composed of just twenty different amino acids.

There are two amazing things here. First, there are just so few building blocks. Second, every one of these building blocks is absolutely identical.

Emergence: simple rules produce complex behaviour

Humans, cells, and crystals can be viewed as systems composed of many interacting components. The components and their interactions can often be understood and described in simple terms. Nevertheless, from these interactions complex structures and properties can emerge.

Nature appears to be fine-tuned for life

This covers not just the values of fundamental physical constants that lead to the notion of fine-tuning and the anthropic principle. Water has unique physical and chemical properties that allow it to play a crucial role in life, such as the surface of lakes freezing before the bottom and aiding protein folding.

The intricate and subtle "machinery" of biomolecules

Proteins have very unique structures that are intimately connected to their specific functions, whether as catalysts or light sensors.

What do you think are the most amazing things about science and what we learn from it?