Krauss: The true power of science is what is revealed

Today’s world of rapid-fire technological advances can amaze us as much as it makes our lives more comfortable and convenient. But what’s truly amazing about science are the windows it opens to us in nature, and how nature, in turn, reveals its inner beauty, says Lawrence Krauss, in a New York Times global op-ed titled “Front Row at the Dawn of Time.”

Krauss, director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University, uses the recent image returned by the European Space Agency’s Plank probe that shows the afterglow of the Big Bang some 380,000 years into the universe’s life (the universe is currently estimated to be 13.7 billion years old), a proverbial baby picture of the universe.

This image, for all of the beauty and mystery it holds for us, brings the power of science clearly into focus.

“As long as humans have been human, we have been fascinated by cosmic questions,” Krauss writes. “How did the universe begin? Where did we come from? Are we alone? Attempting to answer these questions may not produce a better toaster or a faster airplane, but it is nothing short of remarkable that modern science is revealing facets of our universe that are changing our perspectives on such foundational cosmic questions.

“Like great art, music and literature, science changes the way we think about ourselves and our place in the cosmos,” Krauss adds.