Top 25 Big Questions of Science

Science Magazine ^ | 07-01-2005 | Various

[zeugma]

THE QUESTIONS

The Top 25
Essays by our news staff on 25 big questions facing science over the next quarter-century.

1. What Is the Universe Made Of?

2. What is the Biological Basis of Consciousness?

3. Why Do Humans Have So Few Genes?

4. To What Extent Are Genetic Variation and Personal Health Linked?

5. Can the Laws of Physics Be Unified?

6. How Much Can Human Life Span Be Extended?

7. What Controls Organ Regeneration?

8. How Can a Skin Cell Become a Nerve Cell?

9. How Does a Single Somatic Cell Become a Whole Plant?

10. How Does Earth's Interior Work?

11. Are We Alone in the Universe?

12. How and Where Did Life on Earth Arise?

13. What Determines Species Diversity?

14. What Genetic Changes Made Us Uniquely Human?

15. How Are Memories Stored and Retrieved?

16. How Did Cooperative Behavior Evolve?

17. How Will Big Pictures Emerge from a Sea of Biological Data?

18. How Far Can We Push Chemical Self-Assembly?

19. What Are the Limits of Conventional Computing?

20. Can We Selectively Shut Off Immune Responses?

21. Do Deeper Principles Underlie Quantum Uncertainty and Nonlocality?

22. Is an Effective HIV Vaccine Feasible?

23. How Hot Will the Greenhouse World Be?

24. What Can Replace Cheap Oil -- and When?

25. Will Malthus Continue to Be Wrong?

[ReadyNow]

26. How could any intelligent being think that John F. Kerry was in any way qualified to be President of the United States?

[operation clinton cleanup]

Refer to the CNN theory of Idiocity.

[Wombat101]

My own personal favorites:

1. What happens to socks that get lost in the dryer?
2. Why do you park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?
3. How many feminists would have to retain water simultaneously before all the oceans dried up?
4. Is Hillary's behind expanding faster than the universe?
5. Can liberalism be genetically engineered out of a fetus?
6. Would you clone Ann Coulter for me?
7. More dangerous: Black hole in space or Nancy Pelosi's flapping gums? 8. If diamonds are the hardest substance on earth, how do you explain Ted Kennedy's liver?
9. Is Oprah to be classified as an animal or a vegetable?
10. Do ants fart, and if they do, can they smell it? Please repeat for fish.
11. How can a democrat talk out of both sides of his/her mouth and rectum simultaneously without injury?
12. Women, allegedly, do not fart, belch or perspire. If they didn't b*itch, would they explode?
13. Dan Rather: Older than dirt and but younger than the sun?
14. Primordial soup: does it exist? And can I have the primordial salad instead?
15. If Al Gore had a sphinter transplant, how long would it take for the sphincter to reject him?

[Killborn]

The answer to all this and more is 42.

[festus]

Why, if everything I read is true, does Mother Nature consistently support communists and oppose free market capitalist democracies ?

[Right Winged American]

Bump for later...

[Waco]

Is an effective treatment for HIV possible? Hopefully, no.

[taxesareforever]

The answer is plastered all around in society. Just look at all the "Do Not Enter" signs.

[RATkiller]

Bookmark

[exDemMom]

The answer to all this and more is 42

Works for me.

[timer]

Most are bio-related as that's where the MONEY is. The HHS budget is the obese HOG of the federal budget, NASA is the starved runt. Anyway, #21 is t=dKE=m=(W not=to P) and not-t=PE=M=(W=P).

[Semi Civil Servant]

Bookmark

[zeugma]

I think if we can discover the answer to your #1, much of the mystery of the universe would be resolved.

[zeugma]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1435460/posts

I searched, but didn't see it. Mine was linked up better anyway :-)

[zeugma]

That's why I posted this here on FreeRepublic. I knew someone would have all the answers!

[zeugma]

Your answer to number 16...

16. How Did Cooperative Behavior Evolve?
Need for beer.

... Brings to mind something. (besides my needing another beer). From what I understand, the oldest written document we have record of is ... a recipe for beer, carved in stone by some drunk Phoenician.

[tarheelswamprat]

One thing that I find to be interesting is that a large number of the top 25 are biological in nature.

126. What is the fundamental difference which distinguishes humans from animals?

Ans. - Only humans pay for sex.

[tortoise]

#2 and #15 have answers, but they are being held proprietary by American companies. I am allowed to say solutions exist, but I am not allowed to comment on their specific natures outside of certain bounds. Exciting as hell though.

As has been the case for much of modern history, American ingenuity is doing all the heavy lifting.

[RandallFlagg]

Well, I'm not Phoenician nor drunk, but I am working in a brewery all night tonight.

I'll have to write something on the walls of the building somewhere. Perhaps my pork stroganof recipe.

[Killborn]

Wow! Please tel me you are not kidding. That is simply amazing!