• Question: how far ahead are other countries with thier science technology

    Asked by massey to Johnson, Holly, Daz, Cat on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Cat O'Connor

      Cat O'Connor answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Hi Massey,

      Great question but one that is a little difficult to answer I think.

      Science is a funny one! It’s really competitive as you can imagine because everyone is trying to invent something first. So a lot of science technology development is kept pretty secret until it’s ready to be released on the world. And once it’s released, it generally doesn’t take very long for that new technology to be available all over the world. This means that a lot of the richer countries will all have the same technology.

      Of course, there will be certain countries that will be better at certain things than others. But this is normally down to the people who work there and the amount of money they have funding them! Like countries in Asia are thought to be very good at technology and America has become known for it’s DNA technology. But all this of course could change if another country offers the world leading expert in DNA technology a new job with loads of money for research.

      There is a quite obvious gap between technology emerging from developed and developing nations, again mostly due to funding differences.

      The UK is very much a high flier in science research and if some of the questions you guys have sent in are anything to go by, the looks like the next generation of scientists will keep the flag flying 🙂

      Hope this (kinda) answers your question,

      Cat

    • Photo: Darren Braddick

      Darren Braddick answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hi massey!

      Some countries are very advanced, and others are less advances. Unfortunately science technology is nearly fully and 100% linked to money – so if the country has big money (like the UK, European places, the US and China, for example), then its science is good and big.

      UK used to be excellent for science, maybe the best in the world. It’s still very very good, but not as good as it used to be. This is partly because other countries have really put good money into science, and this means they do better. Science is important for every country though, as science is the best way to solve the world’s problems – like hunger, drought, global warming and extinction of species. Also, science is responsible for so much good – antibiotics, vaccines, technologies like flight and the internet; everything!

      I really hope the UK takes science even more seriously and begin to put better money into it. The competition from other countries is very high! Nearly all science is good for mankind though, so it hopefully doesn’t matter too much who finds and invents it..

      I hope that helps answer your great question!

      Daz

Comments