History and science

In his song "Wonderful World" the late Sam Cooke admitted he didn't know much about history or biology. Too bad.

Our history illuminates our future, while scientific discoveries in many ways seem to determine it. Splitting the atom, the development of television, the promise of gene therapies all affect modern life in innumerable ways, and they are just a handful of the many scientific discoveries that do. Every state in the union is trying to incubate bioscience businesses.

Young students who have embraced these fields participated in National History Day March 20 and in the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair March 13 in Cape Girardeau. Nearly 400 junior and senior high students from 19 counties put their history projects on display at Southeast Missouri State University. About the same number of students from 29 junior and senior high schools participated in the science fair at the Show Me Center.

These students know what Sam Cooke didn't: That ignorance is not really bliss.