I have an unfortunate habit when it comes to the written word. Not only do I acquire more books than I can expect to read, I tend to let magazines I subscribe to pile up until there is nearly a year's worth; I then, sometimes, start to read them one after another until I am finally caught up. I'm attempting to get better on both accounts, mostly to diminish the amount of things sitting gathering dust in my apartment. All this is a long and winding path to get to the fact that I'm currently working through several years of old Astronomy magazines. I no longer subscribe or purchase that magazine, not because I don't enjoy it but because there isn't enough time to keep up with every magazine I'd be interested in reading, while still being able to read the books I choose. In one old issue, at the beginning of 2011 (yes, they have piled up for quite a while!) the author wrote about what we can look forward to in the next decade as far as space missions. It really was a great piece, even though I'm reading it well into the decade they were describing. While many of the missions they were describing may not come to pass, a few of them are certain at this point, and it started me thinking about what I'm personally looking forward to in the next decade from science.
In an era where we are constantly inundated with the bad news about our civilization, and our collective future, it's easy to forget that not everything is a tragedy. While climate change, antibiotic resistance, and the persistence of a dangerous anti-science ideology in this country are all very real threats to our civilization, there are some very definite bright spots that I think are worth celebrating. In some respects, our future may well be more interesting than we expect. Here they are, in no particular order:
#1: The James Webb Space Telescope
An artist's depiction of the James Webb Space Telescope in orbit
Set to launch into orbit in 2018, the James Webb Space Telescope is intended to continue what the Hubble Telescope began. Webb is designed to be able to look deeper into space to observe some of the first galaxies as well as have improved capabilities to look into the clouds of gas and dust that obscure areas of star formation. Because of these capabilities, Webb will likely enhance our understanding of some of the mechanisms of star formation and give us a better picture of the early universe, not long after the Big Bang. I think it highly likely that Webb will revolutionize our understanding of our universe, just as Hubble has.
#2. Fossil Discoveries!
Anzu wyliei
We are currently in the middle of what has been termed a new Golden Age of dinosaur discovery. The last ten years have seen a sea-change in the way we view these amazing creatures; from the revelations of fossilized dinosaurs with feathers to new advances in determining their color, it has been beyond exciting for fossil-enthusiasts. The so-called "chicken from hell", Anzu wyliei, is only the latest in a series of fascinating, bizarre fossil finds. And fossil dinosaurs are only part of the story. The past decade has witnessed new discoveries of human ancestors, such as Ardipithicus ramidus and Australopithicus sediba.
#3. New Advances in Solar Energy
Solutions to climate change will require drastic cuts in emissions over the next several decades to mitigate the worst-possible outcomes. We hear over and over again from the lackeys of the fossil fuel industry that renewable energy is not capable of replacing coal, oil and natural gas. Yet solar energy is rapidly becoming more affordable than ever. Advances in solar technology are creating more innovative, efficient, and downright interesting solar cells. With innovations ranging from ultra-thin solar panels to solar panels that do not rely on expensive, hard-to-obtain rare earth elements, the advances in solar energy alone represent a small ray of light in an otherwise not-so-cheery climate future. The recent announcement that the U.S. Navy intends to convert seawater into fuel--and that this is possible--is another unexpected, exciting development for alternative fuels.
#4. Advances in Medicine
While there are certainly many things one could talk about in this section, I'd like to focus on just one. Likely everyone has heard about several patients who have recently been functionally cured of HIV. While it is by no means assured that these results will translate into a cure for HIV/AIDS for everyone, the fact that several have been cured of HIV, as well as ongoing efforts to develop an HIV vaccine, seem to me to be reason for hope in this area.
#5. The BRAIN Initiative
Thanks to twin efforts in the U.S. and the European Union, we may be about to experience a revolution in brain science. The BRAIN Initiative in the United States, paired with the Human Brain Project in the European Union, are pairing their roughly $1 billion efforts in order to better understand the human brain. While brain science is incredibly difficult, and a thorough understanding of the human brain is elusive, I think these efforts represent true reason for optimism that our knowledge of the human brain will advance significantly in the next decade.
#6 The Unknown
For all these reasons for excitement (and the myriad others not listed), the best part is the unknown, the fact that we are likely to learn and discover new things about our world that are completely unexpected. How many everyday people in the 19th Century, for instance, could have imagined a world with vaccines against smallpox and polio, a world with instant communication, reliable contraception, and journeys into space? Just as likely the next decade will see a menagerie of fascinating new developments in science and technology that none of us can dream about today. And that is something worth looking forward to!
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