News of the Science World

For centuries, people have been obsessed about predicting what the future is like and the technologies and advancements it holds. Now that we have entered a new year, we are led to ask, what does 2015 hold for us in the science community? Perhaps a cure for a complex and fatal disease? Or maybe a cutting edge technology? Thanks to Nature magazine, an international science newsletter, we’ve been able to research and bring to you the top 10 science advancements to look for in the future:

10.) Psychology:  Research in emotional learning

Research on animals has suggested that weak memories can be strengthened through emotion. What this suggests is that arousing “real life” events shows that emotion heightens the feeling of remembering something. To conduct this experiment, researchers measured the brain activity of subjects associated with the feeling of remembering neutral and emotional photos.

9.) Driverless cars:

            Imagine a world where people no longer need to drive. No more license, no more driving tests, no more fatalities. Instead of focusing on the road, you can text, update your twitter, check your email and play games. Believe it or not, that future is very much upon us! Driverless cars are now in use in Greenwich, UK, which was a $12 million US dollar project, just one of the efforts to revolutionize the world of transportation. Driverless cars can make the roads a much safer place. To put in to perspective, 1.24 million traffic fatalities take place every year worldwide, 90% of which are due to driver error. How close are these driverless cars to becoming the new vehicle of the road? Four US states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to allow driverless cars on the roads, and Nature Magazine has predicted that in the 2020s, driverless cars will become widespread. Just how beneficial are driverless cars? You may ask. It is estimated that there are 800 million parking spaces in the US alone. These spaces can be used for businesses, schools or can serve any other purpose. With the driverless car people no longer need to park, they simply are dropped off at their destination. Another benefit is that there is a 10% fuel savings for cars that travel in formation. Meaning, that vehicles can take advantage of aerodynamic and save fuel by following each other almost bumper to bumper. To prevent these cars from catastrophic collisions, V2V radios allow the cars to hit their brakes at the same time.

Now that you know a few of the benefits of travelling by driverless car, you may be wondering, just how does it work? The cars function by a V2V radio which sends signals from the moving cars speed limits, traffic light timing and the number of lanes in each direction. The result of this high tech technology is a smoother, shorter travel time and less energy wasted at traffic lights or traffic jams. To detect obstacles, vehicles use radar, a laser ranging system to detect construction signs, pedestrians and other vehicles. Another feature in the car is an onboard computer, which uses a sensor data to plot a route along with Global Positioning System (GPS) which is already used in every day cars, and tells cars where they are in relation to roads, traffic signals and landmarks.

8.) Climate engineering

            The worry of global warning has been a big worry for a long time, but what if we could cool the Earth intentionally by modifying its radiation balance? This seems like a technology of some distant future, but shockingly, this idea could come into play pretty soon. According to Nature magazine, the idea of this vexes many people. We do not know the side effects of such technologies or their effectiveness. The 2013 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggested that even if the world almost eliminates greenhouse- gas emissions

7.) Renowned Physics “Particle Smasher” Reopening

The Large Hadron Collider, found in Geneva, Switzerland, reboots in March 2015 after its two year shutdown. The LHC is credited for many discoveries in physics and chemistry. It is world renowned for discovery of the neutrino and the search for the Higgs Boson, also known as the God Particle.

“Last year, even people normally uninterested in science were intrigued by news of the biggest physics experiment in human history- the search for the ‘God particle’- fuelled as they were by the tabloid speculation that a black hole would open on the Swiss-French border or that we might actually discover God,” states “Higgs Boson opens World Beyond Standard Physics” in Cosmos magazine. In 2012, the Higgs was detected but simply did not have enough power to cause fast enough collisions. In March, the LHC will be able to produce collisions with 13 trillion electrovolts, double the highest record. Recently, the world record energy was broken when an accelerated beam reached 1.18 TeV (tera-electronvolts).

6.) Blood Rejuvenation

Scientists have discovered that young blood can rejuvenate old tissue, but does it work on humans? If the practice of using young blood to restore damaged/old tissue, called parabiosis, works on humans, it could help treat diseases of aging. Scientists have used pairs of rodents to test this theory. Young rats are paired with old rats, and go into surgery. According to “Blood to Blood” by Megan Scudellari, the older mice in the tested pairs lived four to five months longer than the control mice. Neuroscientist Lee Rubin found that younger blood can spark formation of new neurons in the brain, rejuvenating the brain.

5.) Supervision

            Supervision has been considered a superhuman power from the time comic books were invented. But what if a technology like this actually existed? Imagine being able to see through solid objects, such as walls, and even living human tissue! Think of the amazing health benefits!

4.) Quantum Levitation

Physicists have recently completed a project that uses quantum locking. This is where an extremely strong superconductor almost holds and locks onto parts of a magnetic field that act similar to particles. This is demonstrated and explained here:  <http://www.ted.com/talks/boaz_almog_levitates_a_superconductor> where the object can float and spin around a magnetic track. One of these magnets, smaller than a hand, can hold over the weight of a small car. This process can only work if the magnet is dipped in liquid nitrogen, at a temperature of about -340° F.

3.) Sci-fi Sound Produced By Doing This Common Action

There is a peculiar sound when a rock is tossed across a frozen lake. This has to do with both acoustics and the frozen layer of ice acting as a vibrating plate. When the stone hits, it forms a bending wave, according to LiveScience. The shorter frequency waves will hit your ear first, followed by the longer frequency waves. This creates a strange “pew” sound similar to the sound effect in Flappy Bird, go try it out!

2.) Solar Roadways and Energy Conservation

A recent video named “Solar Freakin’ Roadways” has become very popular, and the crowdfunding for this new engineering project has reached $1.4 million. By replacing most of the major highways with solar paneled roads, the United States would generate three times more electricity than we currently consume. The solar roads would promote clean and renewable energy use and decrease the amount of fossil fuels such as carbon dioxide and methane which contribute to global warning. The solar roadways are very durable and has a gripping surface that is safe against skidding especially in snowy/rainy conditions. The panels can stop a car from going 80 mph on slippery surface, according to the Revolution-Green website. The roads can also hold up to 250,000 pounds at one time!

 1.) Ancient Human Ancestors’ Fossils Found

In 2013 in China, a skeleton was uncovered that may provide us insight into our evolutionary ancestors. The primate is roughly rodent-sized and lived during the early Eocene time. 55 million years ago, the earliest primates evolved and split into two very different branches. One of these branches contains what we consider less developed primates/mammals such as lemurs and bush babies. The other branch of ancestors led to tree dwelling anthropoids, monkeys, apes, and eventually humans. This new discovery is important because it is the first time scientists have found a full skeleton rather than broken pieces of skulls or bones.

Science is an unlimited and fascinating topic, and is the key for the future of mankind. It impacts billions of people, and everyone’s daily life. There are many more improvements to come, and this list of achievements are not in any way exhausted. Big thanks to Nature magazine, Science Daily for these fabulous articles. We hope you enjoyed!