Ancient fascination with the sky spurred the science of astronomy, which came to ascendancy during the late Middle Ages. The later ascendance of physics and chemistry as quantitative sciences paralleled the growth and development of our technological society over the past four centuries.

Biology and geology as sciences were in a descriptive stage in their development until the middle of the 20th century with the discovery of the double helix and plate tectonics respectively. The two have been closely linked in their development as sciences and in their relationship to one another as they emerge from their youth into mature sciences.

Earth provides the physical and chemical environments to support and sustain life. We now understand that extreme changes in those environments has been a major force in the evolution of life, the definitive evidence for which is preserved in the layers of rock and sediment that cover the continents and sea floor.

In the 21st century, biology and geology are leaving their adolescence behind to become the focus of investigations from the nanoscale of molecules to the macroscale of solar system exploration.

In biology the study of proteins and the molecular manipulations of DNA and RNA head the scientific news. In geology evidence of moving continents, massive volcanic eruptions and impacts from exterrestrial objects underscore the effects of geological processes on life and its evolution.

Our ability to identify and manipulate DNA has led to new techniques that can help to understand life in general even as we search the solar system for any evidence of life outside the Earth environment.

The use of both remote sensing and terrestrial measurements to monitor the earth's chemical and thermal vital signs has led to an unprecedented awareness of and interest in global changes as they relate to the well-being of the planet's ecology.

Practical outcomes of the advances in biology include pharmaceuticals that cure and prevent disease and prolong human life. Another is genetic sequencing, which promises to open doors to places that we can only imagine.

On the geological side we have become aware of global disasters such as massive volcanic eruptions and impacts from space debris that have caused dozens of mass extinctions of species at different points in geological time. We have also discovered the potential for our own extinction by those same events as well as probable cause for our role in global changes that could have devastating if not fatal effects on our civilization or us.

The growth of science in general has altered our self-image as we have come to realize that we are not the center of the physical or biological universe. Progress in biology and geology reinforces this. It reminds us that we are just another species, subject to the same laws, interwoven in the same ecology and just as fragile as all of those species that have come before us and with which we currently coexist.

Along with great advances in technology that this century promises, biology and geology are the emergent sciences that will have great impact on our worldview as our knowledge and understanding of our place in the cosmos matures.