Science And Technology Frontier

We travel, read, listen, and watch to learn.

We also gather knowledge through scientific research. Some of what we learn allows us to do new things or to do old things better.

We treat disease better, communicate better, calculate faster, and explore farther because of the dedicated work of scientists, inventors, and engineers.

Your Trail Life troop leaders understand that these changes shaped the world you live in. They want you to understand these fields of study so you can be part of that shaping process.

Science adds to mankind’s knowledge through a carefully controlled process, called the scientific method. Its strength is to build up a source of proven knowledge that can be relied upon. Its weakness is that it can only investigate what can be observed and tested by humanity. It cannot prove something does not exist; it can only prove something does exist if it can be directly or indirectly observed. The scientific method cannot make moral judgments or separate beauty from ugliness. It cannot tell you why things happen or how they happen. In that sense, many of the greatest truths of our existence lie beyond its scope. We need both faith and science to gain, even a rudimentary grasp of the wonders that exist around us, and those that lie deep within us.

Technology is the use of knowledge to solve practical problems. Since it is built upon knowledge, great advances in technology usually follow great advances, and science. Applied scientific knowledge is a powerful force, but it comes with great responsibility.