How close to science we actually are?

How will a charged ion move in a uniform magnetic field (assuming only classical physics)? An easy question for most engineering graduates. What keeps the Sun burning? Nuclear fusion of course. But, how about this - why does coke lose dissolved CO2 when salt is added to it? Why do clothes become darker in color when wet? For the past three months, I have been wondering what reaction coordinate best represents protein unfolding. But have I (we) ever wondered what is the best reaction coordinate for our age? A reaction coordinate describing protein unfolding basically is an index to determine the age of the protein - how close it is to unfolding. We take the number of living years as the reaction coordinate for our age. We just assume it is by law, we don't question it, and it is universally used. But, you can die anytime - from 40s to 90s. There is a large standard deviation in this reaction coordinate. But we don't stop to ponder about another one. We would accept it without much thought, just like we accept our surroundings without much thought as to why things happen the way they do. Rather, while pursuing something in the scientific field we focus on more abstract things like, motion of a charged ion (which none of us can see but only know exists because of what we have read), or nuclear fusion, or protein folding. We are very far away from Science, which, losely defined, is understanding the physical nature of the environment around us. I recently heard that JEE is not what it used to be. Now its all multiple choice questions. The idea is to negate the coaching classes' influence. But I dont think they have managed to eliminate these institutes' influence. What if JEE is made into a test of knowledge of how well we understand things around us. Simple questions from what we see daily. Coaching classes will fail because there is no set course to attack this. And interesting would be - who emerge as toppers. Maybe rustic kids who have much more time to ponder about things, have to work with their hands to milk cows and do not sit in isolated air-conditioned environments.