• Question: Scientists nowadays want to learn more about Space and the Universe and what really is up there and beyond but my question is why? There are things that have not been discovered nor explained. For example. the Bermuda Triangle. It's no myth that people have gone missing but the real question is, why? And on top of this, the oceans and seas make up like 70% of the earth's surface or whatnot but yet they have not been discovered...Also i read this gfact about only 5% of the water on Earth has been seen and something like 2%/3% discovered! That leaves around 98% of the ocean and sea waters undiscovered! So why would we possibly want to discover more about space and universe when we haven't fully learnt about the planet we will in?

    Asked by suh9000 to Emma, Jimmy, Janet, Niall, Simon on 18 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: James Holloway

      James Holloway answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      A good question, some people say that the ocean is the true final frontier. I guess it comes down to what the politicians who pay the scientists think is most important, and, what is easiest (cheapest) to do.

      There are many reasons why looking up at space is important (search for life, looking out for meteors like the one that came close to earth 2 weeks ago, checking the sun for activity that may disable satellites, looking for new planets etc). And you can cover vast amounts of space with one stationary telescope.

      To explore the oceans fully you’d have to have an army of deep sea submarines that can search a little at a time. It would be very expensive for the potential rewards.

      That being said there are scientists who are constantly exploring the depths and finding new species of creatures. One day we would have explored it all – don’t worry 🙂

    • Photo: Niall Crawford

      Niall Crawford answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      First of all, the myth about the Bermuda triangle has been shown to have been exaggerated by people.

      Technology has advanced so much, and it was pushed by all the ‘space race’ which happened too. It’s led us to know more about space than the bottom of the sea. But people have been working on the bottom of the sea more and more recently. There’s a lot to be learnt, and I’m excited about new species that can be discovered. They used to think that all life was connected to the sun, but they found ecosystems down there which live around hot vents.

    • Photo: Emma Ashley

      Emma Ashley answered on 18 Mar 2013:

      There are still lots of scientists researching the sea too. Maybe space is talked about more though because the public may find this a bit more exciting and adventurous than the sea?!

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