What discovery in the last 100 years has been most beneficial for people?

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   Seckin Esenposted 11 years ago

   What discovery in the last 100 years has been most beneficial for people?

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   JThomp42posted 11 years ago

   Penicillin was certainly a breakthrough drug. However, refrigeration has had a greater impact on general health, and coincided with decreased mortality due to stomach cancer.

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      MickSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry, the fridge is much older than the 100 years, seriously worked on in the mid 19th c, the refrigeration coil was invented by an arab in the 11th c.

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      JThomp42posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      There is a HUGE difference in the coil and the refrigeration that was invented in 1915.

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      MickSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Doesn't matter, the first serious work in refigeration took place in the mid 19c.  We always need previous work, nothing is invented in a vacuum.

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   tamarawilhiteposted 11 years ago

   Antibiotics if based on the increase in life expectancy, which only rivals the benefits of mass sanitation (clean water, sewage treatment)
   If on the number of lives saved, Norman Borlaug's discovery of shuttle breeding and advanced plant breeding yielded the "green revolution" that doubled and tripled food yields. Because of his work, we're able to feed seven billion people.

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      Seckin Esenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the answer tamarawilhite.

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   Goody5posted 11 years ago

   The thermos. It keeps hot liquids hot & cold liquids cold. How does it know?

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      MickSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Sorry, more than 100 years, The thermos flask, then known as the Dewar flask. was discovered by the Scottish physicist Dewar in the 1890s and then refined in 1904,

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   Tusitala Tomposted 11 years ago

   Modern Psychology.  By this, I refer to the wide spectrum of discoveries and 'recoveries' that make up the huge panorama of what we're now beginning to realize make up a human being.  This includes the body, mind and soul.   For now we are beginning to realize that the mind affects the body and the body the mind, and that the soul - or real self - is in charge of the trio.   
   
   Abraham's Maslow's Pyramid of Human Needs is beginning to be more widely intrepreted and understood, as are the great works of people such as Roberto Assagioli and Carl Gustav Jung.   
   
   We are now re-discovering to a large degree knowledge which was known to many of the 'sages of old,' such as the people who scribed the earlier holy scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita, for example. 
   
   Yes, to my mind, Psychology is the most beneficial 'discovery' in the past 100 years.

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      Seckin Esenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for your answer Tusitala Tom. I've never thought about it before, but it's a great point of view.

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   CreeVikingposted 11 years ago

   antibiotics in general have saved countless people, before antibiotics people died of infections all the time. Imagine how much better the 'hospitals' of the American civil war would have been had there been antibiotics to treat the wounded.

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      Seckin Esenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for your answer CreeViking.

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   MickSposted 11 years ago

   Fleming's discovery of penicillin..............................................................

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      MickSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Penicillin was certainly a great discovery; however, one of my old doctors once told me that the old doctors knew of it, spiders webs are, it seems, full of it, one of the reasons it was applied to cut wounds. There is nothing new.

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   Dan Barfieldposted 11 years ago

   How about the internet? This has enabled worldwide communication and globalisation of culture to expand dramatically. Perhaps the full benefits have not become clear yet, but the growth of intercultural understanding and tolerance of different peoples from different backgrounds can only be a good thing.

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      Seckin Esenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much for your answer Dan Barfield.

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   grumpiornotposted 11 years ago

   My parents would say that the least beneficial has been the cellphone, in terms of breaking down social interactions (although I accept that it is more invention than discovery).
   
   The most beneficial, I think, is the power of the media and social networks in advancing humanitarian causes.

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      Seckin Esenposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, media and social networks have great influence on people in today's world. Thank you for your answer grumpiornot.

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