We live in an age of discovery, and we’re constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s
possible.
Our species has achieved so much already, but there’s still plenty more to look forward
to.
This is Unveiled, and today we’re taking a closer look at six scientific breakthroughs
predicted to happen during your lifetime
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In the history of science, some breakthroughs have been expected while others have come
as a surprise.
The detection of gravitational waves in 2015, for example, wasn’t exactly shocking because
Einstein had already theorized them around 100 years beforehand.
On the other hand, one of the greatest discoveries in medicine, that of Penicillin, was a total
accident.
As such, there will undoubtedly be developments that no one could have anticipated, even in
the near future… but there are also some that we are quietly expecting to arrive over
the horizon.
In 2013, researchers proved the existence of the elusive God Particle, the Higgs Boson,
but now we’re already on the trail of something else.
Today, physicists are searching for another potentially pivotal particle, or class of
particles - the axion.
It was first theorized in 1977 by the physicist Frank Wilczek… but, seeing as it doesn’t
regularly interact with other, surrounding matter, the axion is (by nature) extremely
difficult to capture.
If we were to find and prove an axion, though, it’s said that it could single-handedly
answer many wider conundrums in physics.
It could explain the properties of quarks; provide a structure for matter and antimatter
in the universe; and it could even be a candidate for the ever-elusive dark matter.
What’s exciting, then, is that it’s predicted that we are close to discovering the axion.
A number of major (and promising) initiatives are already underway, including the Axion
Dark Matter Experiment at the University of Washington, and the CERN Axion Solar Telescope.
Doctor Wilczek himself reportedly foresees their discovery happening in the next decade.
But, of course, some breakthroughs happen not through outright discovery, but more simply
by accomplishing something never seen before.
Here, we’re talking space travel.
For all of history, humanity has lived on Earth, but that really might change over the
next few years.
Most major space agencies and an increasing number of private firms have now undergone
research to figure out precisely how to make other planets habitable for humanity.
From SpaceX to NASA, to the CNSA in China, there are various targets as to when we’ll
first reach Mars, for instance, with some claiming as soon as by the end of the 2020s.
Exactly how to terraform another planet is still being debated, but the presence of water
is always key.
There are a number of ideas as to how we might get water to where we need it… including
the placement of giant space mirrors to reflect sunlight and melt another world’s frozen
poles, and/or the deliberate redirection of water-carrying asteroids by us to deliver
what we need.
Some plans are more outlandish than others, and there’s certainly a lot that still needs
to be solved but, at the very least, reliable water in space could soon be a reality.
And from there, perhaps it isn’t so farfetched to suggest that humans will be living on the
likes of Mars by 2050, as various figures (including Elon Musk) have suggested.
It’s not all about transportation of goods to other worlds, though.
On Earth, there are currently four main methods of transit in use - by truck, train, ship,
or plane.
Today, if you order a package, it will arrive at your doorstep using at least one of those
methods.
But maybe not for much longer.
A proposed fifth mode of transport called Pipenet is currently in the pipe.
It hopes to establish what’s being branded a “physical internet”.
Pipenet is a proposed, globally connected system of depressurized pipes with frictionless
engines to allow goods to be transported through them, all over the world, at speeds topping
900 miles per hour.
If it can be built and it works, then it should require dramatically less energy and cost
per shipment.
And it isn’t only science fiction, either.
Professor Franco Cotana of the University of Perugia, where the Pipenet project was
started, sees it being installed some time within the next century.
The pipes will likely be built along other major infrastructures that already exist,
such as highways and railroads.
Building on top of what’s there, but also systematically changing how society works.
Similarly huge changes are predicted in the field of medicine, as well, and none more
so than with the eradication of the flu.
The flu, or influenza, has relentlessly spread through humanity for at least 3,000 years.
Most recently, in America, between the years 2010 and 2020, it infected up to 41 million
people annually, and it kills between 12,000 and 52,000 people per year, according to the
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It therefore places a massive health and economic burden on society.
For now, we have annual flu shots to tackle the current dominant strain but they can sometimes
prove ineffective against other strains, meaning that today’s flu strategy is fallible.
The holy grail here is a universal vaccine, and developers have come close a number of
times… but soon, we might finally have success.
Experiments with animals have now shown, in some cases, that a universal vaccine candidate
can outperform the seasonal variants.
And, in 2021, there were reports of human clinical trials taking place.
It’s thought that a full flu shot could be available within the next decade, if all
goes well… meaning we’ll finally have beaten one of our oldest, and widest spread
foes.
As breakthrough’s go, that’s exciting.
And yet, it could well be overshadowed…
by the end of aging.
Humans have long dreamed of finding a way to slow down or even to stop aging completely.
Variations on the fountain of youth appear throughout legend and folklore.
But, now, we’re really trying to turn it into a reality.
Reverse-aging projects are extremely well-funded nowadays, with the world’s very richest
(like Jeff Bezos) reportedly investing in them.
One way scientists hope to succeed is via cellular reprogramming.
Broadly, this would allow cells to become other cells and has before been called a potential
elixir of life.
Compared to the flu vaccine, we are still at an earlier stage… but some experiments
(again, on animals) have already shown promise - with it reportedly now possible for scientists
to add another three months onto the lifespan of a mouse, which equates to about ten years
when scaled up to a human.
Presently, it’s an issue that divides the scientific community; some doubt that it’s
possible, while others remain determined that it is.
The biologist Andrew Steele has gone so far as to predict a pill to elongate life, which
he claims could be ready in just ten years.
And, of course, even if that pill couldn’t cure aging completely, it might enable us
to live long enough to see that happen just a little further down the line.
But finally, and to fall in line with so many projections for the future of our species,
we move from body to machine.
Artificial intelligence.
Robotics has already made so many aspects of our everyday lives easier and quicker…
but analysts say that there’s a lot more to come.
For example, machines capable of instantly and accurately translating languages are expected
again within the next ten years.
Brain augmentation is also in the works in the hopes of elevating our natural brain power
via AI.
Elon Musk’s proposed Neuralink technology is reportedly into human trials, and could
be a major step forward.
Quantum computing has experienced an explosion of growth recently and may pave the way for
AI to think more like humans… and for humans to gain more knowledge than ever before.
But still, we really might fall short of the robots themselves, eventually.
The fabled AI singularity is looming on the horizon, and we could be inescapably heading
towards it - according to some.
When AI becomes truly self-aware, what next for us the lowly humans that built it?
Google’s Ray Kurzweil has predicted the singularity arriving sometime in the next
30 years.
As to how exactly that will change the world, no one’s quite sure… but it will be massive.
Clearly, from AI to space travel, from particle physics to our own biology, there are plenty
of challenges that lay ahead.
And with various perils (including climate change and nuclear war) threatening in the
background, it’s difficult to say with certainty what will unfold.
But, nevertheless, those are six scientific breakthroughs predicted to happen during your
lifetime.
What do you think?
Is there anything we missed?
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