• Question: When Scientists say "we developed this and that to do this and that" what do they mean developed?, we weren't going down the street when suddenly we realize we need to develop a third arm, and then apparently couple million years we have another arm, so with the present, we are not like, we need to develop a cure for cancer, and the suddenly some million years we have we are cancer proof, this cancer must have been along for years and years now?, wouldn't we have developed something for it?

    Asked by tosty55 to Aggelos, Andrew, Eileen, Naomi, Shane on 14 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Andrew Jackson

      Andrew Jackson answered on 14 Nov 2012:

      So I guess there are two types of “develop”.

      1) where we as humans make and design a new technology or medicine or something to do a job. Curing cancer by using radiation or drugs is an example.

      2) where through the process of evolution, organisms gain or lose characteristics. So, one day a mutant centipede appears with a few extra legs. This centipede might be faster at running and catching food than the other centipedes and so it has more children over its lifetime. This continues for lots and lots of generations until all the centipedes have more legs. So while living things don’t just decide one day to develop say extra legs, evolution can result in the species developing extra legs (or new colours, or different shaped teeth) over long periods of time.

    • Photo: Aggelos Zacharopoulos

      Aggelos Zacharopoulos answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      @tosty55
      if you talking about technology development then it usually involves coming up with a technological concept (e.g. a new device or a new way for producing energy), looking at it from a theoretical point of view (e.g. how is it expected to work under given conditions), building a number of experimental prototypes to test and validate the technology in the lab and maybe some further prototypes to demonstrate the technology to people who maybe interested in investing money for it. A number of iterations of this process can eventually develop the technology to the point where it can be sold as an actual product in the market.

    • Photo: Naomi Elster

      Naomi Elster answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      We say “develop” rather than made for technology and medicine because to make a new drug or machine takes a long time and a lot of work. Every experiement we do has to get the same result at least three times so we can be sure that the results are right, and we have a lot of experiments to do!

      For example, say I want a cure for a heart disease. First I have to do a lot of experiements on normal hearts and hearts with this disease to find something – a chemical, or protein for example – that the diseased cells need that normal cells don’t. Then I need to find a way to block this, which will take more time and very different experiements. Once I’ve found a way to attack disease cells you could say I have “made” a drug – but the work doesn’t stop there as we need to make sure the drug is safe and has no side effects in a lot of people before it is used. Even when it is being used, scientists will be looking for new ways to improve it. This is why things are “developed.”

    • Photo: Eileen Diskin

      Eileen Diskin answered on 15 Nov 2012:

      The thing about science is that it can take a reallllllllly long time to find an answer. And the word ‘development’ sort of means that (like Naomi is saying).

      Also, its only recently that we have been able to figure out things about certain diseases, that allow us to try and find an answer, or a way to solve them. This is thanks to some amazing technology that helps us investigate things like cancer – so we know how they’re working….which helps us figure out how to stop it from working!

      Some of the same kinds of technology used in TVs, computers, mobile phones, and video games are used in medicine. So we should be happy that those exist, and can be used in medicine, to help us find solutions!

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