5 Things Science Hasn't Proven

Despite my ardent belief that Science will one day be the solution to everything, it is still in its infancy. So, here are five important things that scientists have barely scratched the surface of.

1. The Beginning

In the observable universe, it can be seen that everything is accelarating away from each other at a speed faster than that of light. This led to the conception of the Big Bang Theory (not the show, the actual theory). The theory states that 13.7 billion years ago, there was nothing, not even space and time, but all of a sudden, an explosion of universal proportions blasted everything into existence. However, the idea that something came from nothing is obviously illogical, which led to other theories such as the multiverse, ie our universe formed from 2, out of an infinite number of universes, crashing into each other; or that we are on the other side of a black hole, ie a white hole. Of course, theologists and various religions advocate that our universe came into being as a result of a God. Nevertheless, Science has yet to find definitive proof to explain the formation of our universe.

2. God

Yes, not all scientists are atheists. Some do believe that there is a possibility of a God or Gods existing. After all, absence of evidence does not equate to evidence of absence. However, some scientists posit that God is in a seperate dimension and there is thus only a remote chance of us being ever able to prove his or her or their existence. On the other hand, others believe that God probably works through mathematics to create the universe and thus by fully understanding mathematics, we could communicate with God.

3. Consciousness

What is consciousness exactly? When we say someone is conscious, we say that he is able to understand his existence, able to feel happiness, sadness, fear, etc. and maybe even be able to question his own existence. Although most scientists would agree that consciousness most likely exists within our brain, they are still unsure whether it is something physical or metaphysical, ie whether consciousness is made up of atoms and molecules or a result of the interactions between the atoms and molecules. Most religious people would postulate that their God(s) granted us with consciousness, but isn't it interesting to question what exactly does that mean? Can consciousness be removed by destroying a paricular part of the brain? Is it restricted to only humans? Does it remain even after the physical body which contains it dies? We may never know, but that isn't stopping anyone from trying.

4. Memories

Memories are extremely interesting. Unlike consciousness, memories can be lost when certain parts of the brain are damaged. Moreover, memories are extremely subjective as they change ever slightly everytime one recalls them. This is also the reason why many eyewitness accounts at crime scenes are notoriously inaccurate and making things worse, they may even change when influenced by another person. Interestingly, however, memories can even be created out of (seemingly) nowhere. I'm positive most of you have experienced deja vu. Scientists believe that such experiences are a result of your brain trying to apply a past experience to a current event but fails, leading to you believing that you done this before. But this has not yet been proven. This also begs the question of where memories are stored. We know they are stored in the neurones of brains but how? Are they stored in packets of atoms that are interpreted by the cells? If so, how are they reproduced and interpreted? This is definitely an exciting field of science to be in.

5. Extraterrestrial Life

Estimates of the observable universe's size place it at about 93 billion light years wide (1 light year = the distance light travels in a year). For those who still do not understand, the universe is just a damn huge place, one that the humble man can hardly grasp. Hence, the likelihood of extraterrestrial life, based on probability, is extremely high. This is after you take into account the number of galaxies (which is around 100 billion), placing the number of stars at around 700 thousand million million million, the number of planets, and the number of planets that are in the habitable zone of their star (ie where life as we know it can exist or where liquid water can flow on the surface). This resulted in Frank Drake coming up with the famous Drake equation, which estimates the number of intelligent civilisations to be 20, even though most of the variables used in the equation can be contested. Furthermore, recent discoveries of extremophiles, organisms that can thrive in the most extreme of conditions, increase the number of planets that can support life. Sadly, despite so many planets, and even moons, that can harbour life, there still isn't any proof of their existence.

PS: You may have realised that I have mentioned religion multiple times in this post. This is because I believe that if there really is a God, the God must work through Science for this universe to exist, which is the reason I am agnostic. Thus, I posit that Science should not be a threat to religion, but should actually augment it. Any religion that discredits Science should open their eyes to see this world objectively and not be blinded by faith.