• Question: What is the biggest scientific problem facing the world today?

    Asked by anon-177339 to Urslaan, Nicola, Helen, Daniel, Becky, Andrew on 9 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Daniel Marsh

      Daniel Marsh answered on 9 Jun 2018:

      There are a lot of problems facing the world and humans, science is just a way of understanding these more fully and trying to find ways to solve them.

      We need clean air to breath and clean water to drink, we need prestine environments for our wildlife to survive and we have already damaged many of these and continue to destroy at a fast rate that is not sustainable. A lot of the disease that we are trying to find cures for are caused by the pollution that we have created around us. The biggest problem that we face is providing a safe clean planet for all its occupants whilst we try to produce enough food and energy to support the human race whilst it continues to increase in size.

    • Photo: Urslaan Chohan

      Urslaan Chohan answered on 9 Jun 2018:

      I wouldn’t say any particular problem is the biggest, but there are some that are more pressing. One such problem is the damage to environment. Plastic usage is resulting in our seas being filled with non-biodegradeable materials which is killing animals and plants alike. Having cleaner lands and oceans means transitioning to cleaner sources of energy in everything that we have around us. This is a massive problem across the world, and perhaps one of the few scientific problems that has interest from a significant majority of the world.

    • Photo: Andrew Singer

      Andrew Singer answered on 9 Jun 2018:

      Hands-down biggest problem for humanity is our need for cheap and clean energy. Sort this out and we have a fighting chance to make it as a species for many thousands of years, or until the asteroid hits us.

    • Photo: Becky Thomas

      Becky Thomas answered on 13 Jun 2018:

      Fantastic question! I’d say that climate change is the biggest scientific problem facing the world, as it threatens the survival of humans and the environment. The climate is changing so quickly and many species can’t adapt to this, and so could be lost. Many scientists are working on ways to help, but it’s a huge problem and we need to keep training our next generation of scientists to keep working on ways to prevent this happening.

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