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I personally have never had a problem with science being somehow ugly or disheartening, or making my awe dimish. I think Douglas Adams said it best when he said (on his reveiw of Richard Dawkins The Blind Watchmaker "I'll take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day."
Doffing my science hat for the moment. On the subeject of old famous items=magic items. I'ce always felt it was something along the lines of every person who uses something, like a sword or book leaves a little of themselves in it. When you make use of the item you somehow tap into all of those selves and they become part of you too (The closest term I can think of from my fantasy memories would be something like the polynesian "mana" though I suscept the real definition of "mana" has nothing to do with what I'm talking about (please forgive me for my ignorance (I only just recently discovered that I had be using the word "paladin" completey wrong for years, that the textbook defintion had nothng to do with what I though it did (I though that it has something to do with a life of pure selflesness, that a pladin was a knight or warrior who devoted his life wholly twords the service of any who needed him giving all of himself and taking absoultely nothing, no matter how badly he needed it). As an item gets older there also seems to be an inherent concvept of all those peices of usness become a for lack of a better word "soul" for the item, independent of the soul of any of the users. This is in Tolkien someone has alsready mention gurthang apperent abilty to talk. I also find a lot of this concept in other folklore, proaby most extmely in the concept (common in much Japanese mythology) that if you usa practically any object long enough it will develop a life of its own (all those lantern spirtis and living umbrellas) I'm going to finsh now, lest I make a bigger confusing fool of my self that I already have.
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