It is just not possible to deny the ubiquitous impact that science has had in all of our lives. The very fact that you're reading these lines on a computer or mobile phone (and are probably addicted to both) attests to the incredible power and influence that scientific innovation exerts on all of us, especially considering that much of the technology simply didn't exist until quite recently.And while scientific blunders are inevitable, and controversies will always arise for good and bad reasons, the record speaks for itself: we are better off today than our ancestors were in the past.
So, what are the ten most important scientific discoveries or innovations of the past half a century? Well, any list will have some sort of subjective bias built into it, but Robert Winston has a few eclectic and deliciously fascinating nominations, from lasers so powerful they may finally help us finally produce nuclear fusion, to methods of contraception, the world wide intertubes, in vitro fertilization and embryonic stem cell research, microchips, functional magnetic resonance imaging that helps us see the brain in action, bionic prostheses and much, much more...What else would you nominate?
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