Science wish list

[Horza2002]

The wish list of Robert Boyle was recently found outlining what he predicted science would achieve.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/03/robert-boyle-royal-society-wishlist

 

Several of his predictions seem to be rather good; development of ures for infections, traveling underwater, hair dye!

 

With that, what are peoples new wish lists that you predict will occur in the next 100 years or so.

 

I'd like to see medicine that is personally taloired (i.e. not general for a certain disease), humans living on another planet/moon/asteroid, a clean form of energy to serve the whole world.

[PaulS1950]

safe, effective, compact cold fusion generators.

[ajb]

The obvious one is a solution to the worlds energy crisis.

[the tree]

The obvious one is a solution to the worlds energy crisis.

The provision of efficient utilities in general would be what I'd want. Part of how energy will be produced in the future ties in with sensible ways of dealing with waste materials, and then there's stuff like clean drinking water and even public transport. None of these things exist independently from each other and an integrated approach is a must.

 

Alongside all of that comes improvement scientific education - not just for producing a few super geniuses with wonderful ideas but also in order to have scientists and engineers all over the world to build and impliment all the things we want. You can build a hospital in a third world country, but you'd also need a doctor to but in it - similar applies for water supplies and modern power stations.

 

Of course, all these problems, are everyone's problem and not just one for scientists. So some of the sollutions are going to have to come from goverments and buisinesses as well. For instance, there are many illnesses that we know how to eradicate - if we could just do that then a lot more time could be spent on dealing with the ones that we don't know much about.

[skyhook]

I wish that the blind can see again.I've a relative that has got a genetic defect that cause blindness at a young age.I think that it may be possible already, but if it is possible why is there blind people.so it is probably in the experimental stage. Please god speed up the process, and make it available at the hospitals, and keep the cost affordable. I think I'll support genetic engineering too for this , if I've to make a decision.

[Genecks]

I wish that the blind can see again.I've a relative that has got a genetic defect that cause blindness at a young age.I think that it may be possible already, but if it is possible why is there blind people.so it is probably in the experimental stage. Please god speed up the process, and make it available at the hospitals, and keep the cost affordable. I think I'll support genetic engineering too for this , if I've to make a decision.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_prosthetic

 

For what I've read, there has been progress.

However, the visual resolution is low.

How low? person could possibly make out shapes of something, such as a plate (circle) or a pad of paper (rectangle), but not too much more than that.

 

Now imagine if that kind of technology could be used while a person is resting... and run the person through a kung fu teaching program...

Edited June 10, 2010 by Genecks