Why is science important?

Alom Shaha has an interesting project on the go: a "film and blog project" he calls Why Is Science Important?, which he tells you all about right here. The tagline, encapsulating the idea behind this very nicely, is

"A collection of thoughts from leading scientists, public figures, ...and you."

I've added the emphasis on "and you" to, um, emphasize that anyone can contribute. And I'd encourage anyone who might happen to be reading this blog to give it some thought, if it seems important to you, and send something along. Notable Nature Network blogger and occasional Ricardiblog commenter Richard P. Grant contributed this piece, arguing in his inimitable style that science is "beautiful and essential". And I've put in my own two cents' worth, in this article about how scientific method makes us better able to cope with the barrage of information around us. Unfortunately, it turns out that Jenny Rohn, a much, much better writer than I, made a similar point earlier, in this nicely articulated piece. Ah well.

So - I'd encourage you to peruse Alom's site. It contains contributions from all manner of folks, from a man who's constructing the world's most accurate thermometer, to this very musical physicist, to a 12-year-old student. There are some lovely thoughts buried in there. My favourite so far is astronomer Seth Shostak's quiet understatement:

"Science is, very simply, our future."

Go and have a look. It's well worth the read.