seouldavid Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8435246.stm This article is telling the most important advances in science of the last decade. What's your opinion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genecks Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I'm thinking our advances in biofuel technology and materials from biological organisms (corn into plastic) will be one of the more important things that came out of the last decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tranquility Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 i'm not sure if it can be classed as an achievment but the discovery of climate change and the effects that will have is I believe going to become the most important scientific progress thispast decade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npts2020 Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I can't believe any list of the past decade doesn't have something about computers or nanotechnology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I am not qualified to comment on most of these, but I would dispute the two particle physics ones. On the dark matter front, the two events from Soudan are not statistically significant. The statistical error on 2 events is [math]\sqrt{2}[/math], so the result is basically [math]2 \pm 1.4[/math] (the systematic error is small). This is not even evidence, never mind discovery. (CDMS, the actual collaboration, agree with me: "We estimate that there is about a one in four chance to have seen two backgrounds events, so we can make no claim to have discovered WIMPs.") As for the LHC, it is not a scientific achievement until it does some science. So far, it is an engineering achievement (albeit a great one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajb Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 No mention of Grigori Perelman's proof of the Poincaré conjecture? The conjecture states that every simply connected, closed 3-manifold is homeomorphic to the 3-sphere. The journal Science in 2006 said the proof was the "Breakthrough of the Year". Perelman refused the Fields medal in the same year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 No mention of Grigori Perelman's proof of the Poincaré conjecture? The conjecture states that every simply connected, closed 3-manifold is homeomorphic to the 3-sphere. Not sure I would call that science. I would call that maths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajb Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Not sure I would call that science. I would call that maths. Don't want to get into that argument again, LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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