I began teaching science classes at Boricua College when the two towers were still standing. I continue teaching because I still feed upon my students’ alpha wave radiation when they open their minds to the ways of science. Scientific facts change almost daily, so trying to memorize your way towards the path of science never works. Its theories can be bedrock certainty for centuries, and then its foundations suddenly crumble and reform in less than a generation. We cannot see organic molecules forming our DNA, or the far side of the universe, but we are confident we know their shapes and sizes. Science not only offers us a way to enhance our individual awareness, but also measurably improves our communities’ quality of life, now and in the future. Within its strictures is an openness to the world that few perspectives can offer. If we close our eyes and ears to what it has to offer, we risk losing our humanity. Of all the fields of knowledge, it is uniquely modern, appearing like Athena from Zeus’s head, but on certain dates and from known human beings. Scientific knowledge is free to any human regardless of race, belief or bank account. To value science is to value life.
