• Question: In what field do you think the next scientific leap forward is likely to take place, that will the future for generations to come?

    Asked by stevebuck to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 14 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      I think the next BIG leap is going to be with our understanding of the human genome, and how we might be able to control it.

      Some people are trying to work out ways of stopping us from getting old, which would be good, because then I’d get a chance to do /everything/ that I wanted!

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      I think the next big leap will be with particle physics. They’ll show whether the Higgs Boson, the ‘God particle’ will exist, and answer some big questions about physics that might help us develop technology to have smaller and smaller computers, interstellar travel, or even teleportation!

    • Photo: Catherine Rix

      Catherine Rix answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      I think it’s really hard to predict, very often big leaps in understanding come when they are least expected. Some of the most exciting advances in science have come about from experiments that were actually looking for something completly different

    • Photo: Karen Masters

      Karen Masters answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I think in astronomy that extrasolar planets are getting really interesting. With Kepler we see so many of them now that you can start to do real science and use them to understand how planets form.

      I also think we might figure out what dark matter is quite soon. That will be really interesting.

    • Photo: Nazim Bharmal

      Nazim Bharmal answered on 14 Mar 2012:

      Ooh. That is a hard one to predict, but I would guess it will be in a combination of biology and computing. When computers become so powerful that we can start asking them questions like “What is the best way to get to the railway station?” then we can start concentrate on the more interesting things in life. I think it will be biology that helps this. That and quantum computing.

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