Science predictions for the year 2013

[secrets in symmetry]

Some science predictions for the coming year from The Guardian's science expert.

The future of science in 2013 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/brain-flapping/2012/dec/30/science-future-2013?CMP=twt_fd)

It'll be interesting to see how many of these predictions are realised - let's all come back in 12 months, and we can discuss the outcomes then. :cool:

[ducati]

I predict that in 2013 the Aliens will finally reveal themselves. To everyone else, obviously the government already know all about them. Then we can ask them all the questions we are desperate for the answers for.

[secrets in symmetry]

On a more serious note, here are Science's predictions for 2013 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/dec/20/top-scientific-discoveries-higgs-boson?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487) (according to the Guardian)


The journal has also predicted next year's breakthroughs, which it believes include the most precise map yet of the afterglow of the big bang, the event in which the universe is thought to have been born, and the exploration of a mysterious sub-glacial lake four kilometres beneath the Antarctic ice, which is likely to have been cut off from life on the rest of the planet for millions of years.

[secrets in symmetry]

Here are Science's predictions from their own website
(http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6114/1528.full)
You need to register (which is free) or have a subscription to Science to see the list - here's their summary


Areas to Watch

In 2012, Science's editors will be watching single-cell sequencing, the European Space Agency's Planck satellite, the Human Connectome Project, expeditions to study subglacial Antarctic waters, cancer immunotherapy, and basic plant research.


Unfortunately, the (British) "expedition to study subglacial Antarctic waters" has already been "called off (http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/press/press_releases/press_release.php?id=2014)". I hope this is only a temporary setback, because it's such an important project.

[secrets in symmetry]

The Americans have achieved a breakthrough.

Drill reaches Antarctica's under-ice Lake Whillans (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21231380)


An American attempt to bore down into Lake Whillans, a body of water buried almost 1km under the Antarctic ice, has achieved its aim.

Scientists reported on Sunday that sensors on their drill system had noted a change in pressure, indicating contact had been made with the lake.

A camera was then sent down to verify the breakthrough.

The Whillans project is one of a number of such ventures trying to investigate Antarctica's buried lakes.

In December, a British team abandoned its efforts to get into Lake Ellsworth after encountering technical difficulties.

The Russians have taken water samples from Lake Vostok, although they have yet to report any big discoveries.

It'll be interesting to hear what the Americans (and the Russians) find. I can't wait. :cool:

[secrets in symmetry]

Antarctic Lake Vostol yields 'new bacterial life' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21709225)


Russian scientists have claimed the discovery of a new type of bacterial life in water from a buried Antarctic lake.

The researchers have been studying samples brought up from Vostok - the largest subglacial lake in Antarctica.

Last year, the team drilled through almost 4km (2.34 miles) of ice to reach the lake and retrieve samples.

Vostok is thought to have been cut off from the surface for millions of years.

This has raised the possibility that such isolated bodies of water might host microbial life forms new to science.

"After putting aside all possible elements of contamination, DNA was found that did not coincide with any of the well-known types in the global database," said Sergei Bulat, of the genetics laboratory at the St Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics.

"We are calling this life form unclassified and unidentified," he explained.

Follow the link above to learn more.

This week, we heard more about the Higgs discovery.

In the next few weeks, we'll hear the first results from the Planck space telescope and the "LHC in space".

I hear rumours from (usually!) reliable sources that Planck will report observations of non-Gaussianity. This is a big deal!

We live in exciting times. :cool:

[secrets in symmetry]

I hear rumours from (usually!) reliable sources that Planck will report observations of non-Gaussianity. This is a big deal!

We live in exciting times. :cool:

Planck 2013 results. XXIV. Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.5084)

So much for the reliability of my principal source!

[Rheghead]

Cyclical Universes could be back in vogue.

http://www.nature.com/news/higgs-data-could-spell-trouble-for-leading-big-bang-theory-1.12804

[ywindythesecond]

Here are Science's predictions from their own website
(http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6114/1528.full)
You need to register (which is free) or have a subscription to Science to see the list - here's their summary



Unfortunately, the (British) "expedition to study subglacial Antarctic waters" has already been "called off (http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/press/press_releases/press_release.php?id=2014)". I hope this is only a temporary setback, because it's such an important project.

Why is it such an important project?

[Dadie]

Cure for some cancers that doesnt involve pumping the body with noxious chemicals that make you feel like crap?
If not all cancers!
Surely it will be a scientific/medical breakthrough!

[rob murray]

I predict that in 2013 the Aliens will finally reveal themselves. To everyone else, obviously the government already know all about them. Then we can ask them all the questions we are desperate for the answers for.

Totally agree, aliens post here !!!

[Dadie]

A spot on treatment on the back of the neck or rubbed into skin anywhere for treatment that is absorbed through the skin for human complaints such as different pain relief or worm treatment that is common for pet complaints as a regular treatment...ok Im on a med science freak out!
But surely something you can rub in the skin is more acceptable/easy to apply than pills /granules etc that have to withstand the gastro tract to work.....chemical/medical sciences???

[secrets in symmetry]

Cyclical Universes could be back in vogue.

http://www.nature.com/news/higgs-data-could-spell-trouble-for-leading-big-bang-theory-1.12804Were they ever truly in vogue?