Science has grown exponentially over the past few centuries, making things possible that were once absolutely considered completely impossible. Science has done a lot to cure many of our worldly troubles, but one thing about science is that it isn’t perfect, and never will be. The reason for this is that science is always getting better. There is always more to discover. These are the top ten scientific accomplishments that haven’t been achieved… yet.
Imagine having an iPod capable of holding thousands of years of high definition video. A DNA computer would make such a device very possible. DNA is the substance that living organisms use to store genetic information. What makes DNA special is that it is extremely efficient when it comes to storing information in a limited space. Just one milligram of DNA is capable of holding all the printed material in the world. DNA computing is currently in its infancy, with prototypes such as MAYA-II only capable of showing the concept. If DNA computing is perfected, computers will become capable of holding amounts of information that are hard to imagine by today’s standard.
Ever since space colonization was first imagined, it was thought that the Moon would be first object to be colonized since it was closest to Earth. In 1969, when man first walked on the moon, a permanent colony suddenly appeared to be very achievable. However, for a variety of reasons, both economical and technical, the project was never truly attempted. However, NASA currently has plans to have one constructed by 2024. The ESA also has plans to construct a moon base by 2025. Japan and India also each have plans to have a base by 2030. The biggest barrier to a base is money. Many people within NASA, including Buzz Aldrin, have criticized the building of a moon base, saying that NASA should put more focus on different projects, like item number five.
This bizarre surgery is bound to cause controversy in the near future. In a head transplant, the patient is decapitated, and the patient’s head is attached to a donor’s body so that blood circulates between the head and body. A head transplant would theoretically cure absolutely any disease that did not directly affect the head. However, unless a means of repairing the spinal cord is developed, the patient would be quadriplegic. Head transplants have been done with limited success on mice, dogs, and monkeys. The biggest problem of doing a head transplant is that it raises all sorts of ethical questions. For instance, if organ donors were in short supply, a head transplant would be considered wasteful as a donor’s body would only help one person. A greater fear is that if head transplants were combined with cloning, then people might murder their own clones to double their life spans.
While many alternatives to fossil fuels have been investigated, there is still quite a way to go before mankind’s energy supply is completely renewable. As of today, about 85% of all energy comes from fossil fuels. The reason clean energy is considered to be important is because fossil fuels aren’t expected to last much longer, they pollute the environment, and they have led to tensions between nations. The reason clean energy is hard to come by is that we’ve spent the past 150 years dependent on oil, and it’s quite difficult to make the switch. Some have even suggested that the technology for producing vast amounts of clean energy already exists but is being suppressed by big oil companies. However, several European countries have produced considerable amounts of clean energy. Current methods of clean energy include wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, hydropower, nuclear, biofuel, and several others.
Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases of the modern era. Ever since the days of Hippocrates people have been searching for a cure. Cancer is similar to the common cold in that although there are many ways to treat it, modern medicine is still yet to come up with a cure. This is partially because like the common cold, there are many different types of cancer, and they are all slightly different. Unfortunately, with over seven million deaths per year, cancer is much more serious than the common cold. A wide assortment of drugs, chemicals, stem cells, genetically modified viruses, and even arsenic have all been proposed as cancer cures. However, number two on this list has quite a bit of promise.
Putting men on Mars has been an idea in science fiction for quite a while. However, when man first walked on the Moon, walking on Mars suddenly seemed feasible. A manned mission to Mars would be a huge milestone in space exploration. It would allow a more in-depth study of the Red Planet, and many have argued that building a permanent base on Mars is much more practical than building one on the Moon. A mission to Mars would be similar to the Moon landings, but much more difficult. The trip is about a hundred times longer, and there are new problems such as the Martian weather which must be considered. NASA currently has plans to have a man on Mars sometime in the 2030s, while the ESA plans to do so also around the same time frame. Russia has plans to launch a manned Mars mission by 2020.
A space elevator would be thousands of times taller than the current tallest building. However, building this structure is actually much easier than it sounds. This is because the center of mass of the structure is actually in orbit. While plans for a space elevator differ slightly, they usually involve a space station being put into or above geostationary orbit, running a tether between the station and the ground, and having elevator cars carry people and cargo between Earth and the station. A space elevator would make space travel much easier, cheaper, and safer. If such a structure is to be constructed efficiently, then a very strong material made from carbon nanotubes will have to be made in large quantities. There are also other problems with building a space elevator. Despite this, LiftPort Group, a private corporation, plans to have one built by 2031.
For thousands of years, it has been speculated that all the events in the universe are actually the result of a single force. For centuries, physicists have sought to unify the known forces. Currently there are four fundamental forces: electromagnetic, weak nuclear, strong nuclear, and gravity. While the Electroweak Theory has unified weak nuclear and electromagnetic, the Theory of Everything would require that all four be unified. In order to prove such a theory, matter must be studied at extremely high energies. String Theory tries to explain the basics of nature, but a Theory of Everything would be much nicer. Such a theory would be the biggest breakthrough in physics since Einstein. The Theory of Everything gets its name from the fact that it ties together all physical phenomena. Despite its name, it wouldn’t be a complete understanding of physics, as there would still be more to discover.
Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize several fields, but its greatest contribution may very well be in medicine. The applications of nanotechnology in medicine are literally endless. Molecules could be built to stick to and destroy cancer cells, and only cancer cells. Advanced drug delivery techniques could be used to deliver drugs to specific parts of the body and eliminate side effects. Microscopic robots could be used to perform ultra delicate surgeries, to repair damaged tissues, or to hunt down and destroy certain cells, like cancer cells or bacteria. Nanomedicine is currently in its infancy, but it may prove to be the biggest breakthrough in modern medicine since the first vaccine.
In the 19th century, it was generally thought that man would reach the center of the Earth long before he reached the Moon. This shows just how unpredictable technology can be. A journey to the center of the Earth is actually much more difficult than it sounds. The pressure at the center of the Earth is enormous because, quite literally, the entire weight of the world is on top of you. There is no known substance, not even carbon nanotubes, that can maintain its shape at such a great pressure. Currently the deepest man-made hole is less than 0.2% of what it would need to be. While the Earth’s deep interior may offer vast amounts of energy, it may be quite a while before we can tap into it directly.
head transplant wins. nice list. how about time travel though?
ridiculous list, the author quite evidently does not have a clue about science.
Interesting list; I didn’t know the journey to the centre of the Earth was considered seriously – I’d read the book.
Ridiculous indeed.
Some curious things here. Hmm.
Honestly I feel like what is most important is Renewable and easily created Food Stuffs. Humanity needs food, and lots of it. That is what we are hoping and waiting for.
hmm. Quite interesting shtuff. Some items were unexpected…haha…head transplants?
I think the cure for cancer should be number 1. But I love these type of list. P.s. Space elevator would be awesome xD
BRILLIANT list
JUST BRILLIANT
shows what L,V can accomplish at its best
just wow
keep it up. very informative and intresting.
and also, who agrees that if Niklov Teslar hadnt ‘mysteriously’ died, we would have many of these inventions at the moment!!!!!
I too agree. I think he was on to something.
…You mean Nikola Tesla…
@dr_hax0r (2): science is for tards. mission to earths core: 2019, bet you a dollar
lol, is this list a joke or what.
Quantum computer??
head transplant, you’ve got to be joking
so many flaws…
Yeah, the TV's would go nuts on the head transplant thing!
A “ToE” would provide the answers for the other nine items.
a ToE would provide the answers to all 10 of the items
@black_hat (12):
???
head transplnts arent impossible hypotheticly in the slightest
and also, whats so shocking about quantum computing?! its a certaninty to happen tbh
@ dr hax0r……..please explain. In your own words.
On Number 7 – “However, several European countries have produced considerable amounts of clean energy. Current methods of clean energy include wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, hydropower, nuclear, biofuel, and several others.” — therefore we aren’t waiting for it…
Lala – time travel was possible – until, that is, all of the Time Turners were destroyed during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Duh!
FLYING CAR! Gawd damit! I’m still waiting for my flying car!
@dr_hax0r (2):
well, this isnt science is it really
science = testable theory
these items = pseudo-sciences and idealistic possibilities
One of the few lists that actually remained relevant to the title. Good job Thempler. About # 3, We ain’t going nowhere until we drop the pointless ( quite literary) ”Big bang” theory which is the ideology of the church disguised in science! Please read this article about the Big bang hoax to help raise awareness on this matter.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/bang.html
A good list! 7/10 in the Skrill-O-meter.
Nice list.
really got me thinking…
dumb list i think there is only one item on this list “we” are all waiting for and that is the cure for cancer, the rest are for money wasting dillwads, and who the f wants an elevator to space???
wouldn’t number one cause a megavolcano if not handled safely? the mantle and core is under great pressure and magma / lava would spurt out if a hole was big enough =P
and after the megavolcano, god knows how much lava would be out of the mantle, the mantle would be smaller and the crust would collapse, quite catastrophic eh?
not something i’d put in number 1 =S
(according to my limited knowledge of geography…)
“Such a theory would be the biggest breakthrough in physics since Einstein.”
A theory of everything could arguably be the single biggest breakthrough in the history of physics.
Also, I seriously disagree with number one. Who is waiting for that? In what ways would mankind benefit from dipping into a sea of molten metal at extremely high pressures? A good alternative to number one would have been some sort of time travel device, an unobstructed interaction between the human mind and technology, or something like that.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed the thoroughly interesting list.
Just about all of these topics have been discussed on NatGeo and Discovery etc. An interesting read no doubt.
“. . . if head transplants were combined with cloning, then people might murder their own clones to double their life spans.”
This assumes that clones have the same right to life that non-cloned humans have. If I cloned my body but kept the brain undeveloped, specifically for the purpose of transplantation, where’s the problem?
The ethical problem would be that the clone is more than an organ in a jar. It’s a breathing living being, albeit a retarded one. Much like the arguments over abortion. And do you mean you would want it have an underdeveloped intelligence or an under developed brain? If you had it for spare parts maybe you would need a new brain someday and might want it’s to be in good working order. Plus you never know, it might be like that movie The Island where the organs fair better not being in a vegetative state. Just saying.
@Andres (25):
get to centre of teh earth
get infinite diamonds and oil…..
we win the game
Nothing is infinite on the earth, dumbass. Aspecially oil. And even if it was, the last thing humanity needs is more oil, we’ve polluted the astmosphere enough as it is.
@ dr_haxOr How bout a head transplant of your noggin–like taking it out of your a@@ and putting it on your shoulders like everyone else.
We are rapidly reaching the limits of what we can learn due to the self-restraints imposed by myths, superstitions, and religions. Why do people consider a book or philosophy holy and perfect when it was written by men who could not properly explain something as simple as rain? How much of human endevour is wasted in counterproductive activities such as burning grain for Zeus, planning and reading horoscopes, reading tea leaves, facing Mecca five times a day, doing nothing after sundown on the Sabbath, going to church on Sunday, dealing Tarot cards, or reading chicken bones? Only by freeing our minds to understand the incredible complexity of our multiverse can we humans hope to master the innerworkings of reality. Mankind will one day throw off the chains of mythology and ignorance to embrace the commonality of people and the interesting complexities of a rationable and knowable existence.
@dbrownl (23): A cure for cancer? We can make new people easily and cheaply. Putting ***** into space easily and cheaply requires a space elevator.
@henrysmyagent (31):
ok yeahh
lets go back to the time when your science thought the earth was flat and on the backs of elephants while the book of jeremiah (in the bible btw) says how it is a circle and hung on nothing.
and the ‘failed religion you speak of?
the upanishads talk about the ‘frequency that makes up all things’…pretty much what most string theorists are looking for
so seriosuly, dont be a troll mate.
Babel fish
I’m sure we should have a proper translator by now. How hard can that be?
#10. Just imagine how bloated the MS OS would be for them:D
#8 & 5 Note how both India and Russia are mentioned here. Nether of which country is exactly brimming with wealth and a lack of social problems to raise this high on a budgetary agenda you would think.
#4 This is probably where any country wanting to seriously get into Space should be spending it’s money, but I guess it’s not as *****y as A Man On Mars. The other benefit is that much of the business that has been explored at the ISS that requires a lack of gravity would be much cheaper (and hence affordable) with a Space Elevator.
#1 Agree with those that are not waiting with bated breath for this one.
Cheers
Lee
@defil3r (33)
I could accept the condemnation of being called a troll if I were advocating hate for mythology in general or any one religion in particular. My position is that there is no value in the exercise of propagating things that are not real. We face problems in the here and now that fantasy and religions are powerless to alleviate.
There is no “your science” there is only provable facts and everything else. A close reading of neither the Bagavad Gita nor the Book of Mormon will aid in the discovery of cold fusion or a greater yield rice grain.
@junqueman
ad hominem attacks are a logical fallacy; so there would be no point in debating you.
One of the best lists so far; I nominate this for the list of the year
Stop wasting money on improbable future-distant space exploration and feed the starving NOW.
@henrysmyagent (36):
@Morticia (39):
i think that morticia’s comment is the perfect answere to what your saying
humanity is the key
not some far fetched multi-billion pound escapade to a planet when millions die of hunger and poverty
Andres is spot on.
A journey to the center of the earth would clearly serve no purpose whatsoever. It merely seems as if the author has ripped it right out of the book. Jules Verne might have been got the submarine act right, but most of his ideas about what the interior of the Earth might contain have been proven wrong.
It is as ludicrous as climbing the Everest after laborious days of trekking and then hollering at the top of your voice “I am at the top of the world!” only to discover that the air just got a hell lot chiller.
Otherwise, quite a fantabulous list.
What might sound inconceivable today might become a necessity later on.
Head transplant is very much in the realm of possibility.
Lazzaro Spallanzani ,the Italian physiologist, who was one of the founders of experimental biology successfully grafted the head of one snail onto the body of another in a transplant experiment way back in 1769.
Russian plastic surgeons have also been successful in grafting the head of one dog on the body of another in 1959.
I know this is gonna sound childish, but I was really expecting Super-hero suits to be up there.
In fact in 2007, Italian scientists did find a formula based on nanotechnology to build a spiderman suit and they have already started working on it (man, am I dying to get my hands on one!)
The Iron Man suit (‘coolest thing I’ve ever seen’) too seems a sure-shot possibility.
@henrysmyagent (31): @henrysmyagent (36): Those statements just are not true. If you honestly believe that, then you have a gross misunderstanding of religion.. Just how does a god or God stand in the way of progress? Oh yeah, embryonic stem cell research – hint, you don’t need to be religious to be morally opposed to anything relating to abortion or experimenting on aborted fetuses.
Are Bible thumping Baptists going to contribute much to a Mars expedition if they weren’t thumping Bibles? Not really. Are Koran thumping IT Techs going to contribute much to physics if they weren’t Muslim? Doubt it. Are Jewish school teachers going to contribute to cloning if they were’nt Jewish? Nope. Are chicken bone throwing, tarot card reading Voodoo practitioners going to develop clean energy if they stopped believing in magic? Not likely.
I am not aware of too many scientific restrictions in the Bible, the Torah, or the Koran (to hit the 3 big R’s). If a person interprets a holy text and claims God created the Earth in 6 literal days, SO WHAT??? What is that to you? Where is it written, anywhere, “Thou shalt not travel to Mars” or “Thou shalt not cure cancer”, “Thou shalt not transplant heads”, or “Thou shalt not look at atoms, or gaze at stars, or try to figure anything out”. It’s not.
If people not trained in science, or have no overwhelming interest in science stand in your way, then maybe you’re not a great scientist to begin with… Definately not a social scholar.
@ Morticia: You are SO right, that was in my mind when I was reading all the items about *****ing pointless, time and money wasting, selfish, sinful and contemptible millions spent on space exploration. Before we worry about other planets, let´s take care of our neighbours on our own planet. There is nothing so significant to be gained from space exploration that it is more valuable than the lives of human beings. I would love to get hold of NASA´s finance computer and do some redirecting of funds.
The only thing on this list worth spending taxpayers´ – or anyone else´s for that matter – money on, is finding a cure for cancer. I was expecting that to be number one.
Head Transplant, c’mon you are insane :-j
So I look: http://alturl.com/de3s
“Clean energy”…natural gas and nuclear power can provide more energy and at a cheaper rate than solar and wind. Funny how people like talking about wind farms, yet won’t allow them in their backyard (like the late Ted Kennedy). It’s the ultimate NIMBY and unicorn energy source.
Great list, but there’s something missing. TIME TRAVEL.
@henrysmyagent (31): Oh, and by the way, your ideology has flaws. Like what Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” That’s means that religion is or was involved in some of the advancements that science has provided us. Imagine scientific progress without the monastaries of the Middle Ages, or algebra without Islam. Imagine banking without the Jews, philosophy without St. Augustine, the calendar without sacred rituals. Without these our modern world will be nothing. So what if you think that what we believe in is, what you say, “fictional”. We’ll still believe in it no matter how insulting your statements are against us. If you say that the world will progress without religion, you are sadly mistaken. The world will be a more cruel, more savage place than before. Religion was once a tool to explain things. Science came along later. Today we use science to explain things while we use religion as moral guidance. Remember that scientific progress can lead us to disaster. The Holocaust, the atomic bomb, World Wars I & II, these things are the result of scientific progress. Yes, religion throught the ages caused many wars but religion also brought in culture & the arts. The world would be less cultured without religion. I believe that science & religion can co-exist to make the world a better place. It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in God or not. What matters is that our species will continue to survive throughout the ages, and for our species to survive, we should avoid what I call “civil wars” in our species & work together & respect each other to achieve peace. The goal of all religions is not only to understand the world, but also to achieve peace & respect. I respect your ideas but you should respect mine. I don’t force people to take my ideas & I think that’s what your are doing right now. You are stating that scientific progress will make us gods. But nobody’s perfect. That’s just hubris. Compared to the rest of the universe we are just a speck of dust. Too much pride will lead us nowhere. It will just consume us until we are destroyed. I have pride on the human spirit but not too much because we make mistakes. I hope that my sort of “web speech” will melt your cold, hard soul. You said that you have this raging hate at all religions. Well, I’m a Catholic & if you don’t respect me, I won’t respect you.
Seriously, don’t be a troll, mate.
What about cloning? I`d love to clone myself. and Where is time travel? You could go back and change world events. You could go back and kill Hitler, stop JFK being assassinated, stop 9/11, and so on. If you went back and stopped 9/11 from happening, there`d be no War on Terror, no invasion of Afghanistan, and invasion of Iraq, and poor old Saddam Hussein would be alive, no Bali, Madrid, London bombings, and none of the other ***** we`ve had for the past 8 years. And head transplants? That was done YEARS ago!
Why do a whole head transplant surely just transplanting the brain would be enough and accomplish the same thing??
WHAZZZZZZZAAAATTTTTTT?????????
@Jasper (42): I agree. People should mind their own business. There is nothing written in the Bible that said “Thou shalt not do space travel because it will cripple your bones.” And the God DOES NOT halt human progress. I have seen & read about Muslim scientists. Do you think their religion stands in the way in scientific progress? No, it does not.
P.S. Head transplants? WTF????
We only need #7 & #6; what’s the point of the other 8? Waste of time, effort & resources!
@Armodillotron (47):
yeahh…but anyone who knows muc habout timetravel theory will know that most likely time travel/changing past leads to bag things OR will only affect a parallel dimension
*nods*
I hope we never “invent” timetravelling. Who gets to decide what we “change”. Sure, we all want to kill Hitler, but what happens if we do? Maybe as a result you won’t exist suddenly. And you’ll likely go crazy, because all your memories can be untrue in an instant. Better to learn from the past…
Put me down for space travel!
I liked this list. Almost like a wish list. However, adding in curing ALL diseases and a better means of feeding people should be included as well.
The vagrant in the starting scene in A Clockwork Orange aptly put it “…n men on the moon n men spinning around the earth ,but there is not no attention paid to the earthly law order no more”
@dr_haxOr: your snobbish comments are of no value.
This list-maker brought up some thought-provoking ideas as described by the introduction. He or she does not have to hold a PhD in Physics in order to support the list choices. I enjoyed reading it and will further research those items that interest me.
Go write your own list and we’ll see the credibility of your own knowledge.
@El the erf (41): in fact a journey to the exterior shells of the earth would greatly help in understanding the mechanism of earthquakes and would help us predict them way better than we can now (i think we can only predict earthquakes by a matter of minutes- doesnt do much help)
i was expecting a more serious list- head transplant geesh. Maybe some higgs boson or what other things the lhc is searching for. Maybe a different list is required for discoveries that could occir in the near future.
Also i knew that japanese scientists invented an exoskelet that improved on a human’s performance.
@ Karl (50)
Dont be an ignorant fool. Just because some scientists are religious (very few) doesnt mean that religion helps science in general. How not? Well, the fact that for hundreds of years anyone who had anything correct to say about the universe and natural world that differed from the fairytale story you like to preach was killed. This certainley stunted scientific progeress.
What about religion having a problem with stem cell research, cloning and the theory of evolution, the even daring to create their own bull***** ‘science’ called ID and trying to get it taught in schools?
Religion nowadays does nothing but pollute the knowledge of mankind. The sooner people wake up and ‘see the light’, and realise that they have been living their lives according to a fairytale, preparing for death, the better.
What makees your God (out of thousands) so special?
@spaghettiworshipper (59):
true say…ie Scopes trial in USA
but….
the bible is quite scientific
whilst hte ”advanced” egyptians were smearing camelcrap on their houses, the ”isrealites” had high standards of hygene such as not touching the dead and not eating swine and such and such a fairytale
so dont be an ‘ignorant fool’ by having obvs not studied the bible and saying it is
Cool list. . .
Head transplant FTW!
How about travelling at the speed of light? Like in star wars.
@Skrillah (20): a nut showed me the light and i have seen the light.
) i dont know but i prefer to believe in the huge mass of scientists that believe nowadays in the big bang + 9 billions euros spent on the lhc where they try to recreate conditions as the were at some few nanoseconds after the ….( you guessed it) the big bang. Its true that i dont have the knowledge but i doubt you have then and its obvious that the guy who write that article doesnt have the competence to critisize the BB. I guess its about who you chose to believe in. Im not the type of guy that believes in theories written on a blog by unknown einsteins.