Even 20 years ago, people only fantasized about where the study of our world and the vastness of the universe could lead them, but today scientists are discussing those very fantasies in all seriousness.
Quantum teleportation
Quantum teleportation is not the transfer of physical objects or energy, but of state or information. But in quantum teleportation, information is conveyed in unimaginable ways. To transmit any information, a huge number of comprehensive measurements are required, but they, in turn, destroy the quantum state. Quantum teleportation is used to transfer, transfer a certain state, having minimal information about it, without "looking" into it, without measuring and thereby not violating it.
At the moment, physicists are planning to use quantum teleportation to create a new generation of telescopes. Telescopes like these use photons collected in pairs of small installations in close proximity to each other. These telescopes will be small in diameter, but equal to conventional mirror telescopes with mirrors a few meters in diameter.
Youth elixir
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Everyone wants to live young forever. But none of the people far removed from science thought about what aging really is and whether it is possible to fight it like an ordinary disease ?!
Employees of the Faculty of Chemistry of Moscow State University, led by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Olga Dontsova, reported that they had managed to discover a new protein that protects cells in the body from death. The essence of the discovery lies in the fact that previously unknown telomerase RNA was found in the composition of the cellular enzyme telomerase, which is involved in the synthesis of belga. Scientists conducted an experiment in which they artificially increased the amount of this very RNA in the cells of the body, and then deliberately damaged the DNA and, as it turned out, the protein found does not allow the cells to die.
Also, Austrian scientists from Monash University made a discovery in the study of immortality. They found that reducing the production of specific proteins disrupts the function of stem cells. These cells are found in the thymus gland, which in turn plays a very important role in the body. This gland reaches its maximum productivity soon after a person is born, but its effectiveness decreases with age. Experts say this important discovery will help slow down aging.
But American scientists were able to make a breakthrough in the study of aging. They managed to artificially age the experimental mice, and then rejuvenate them. Scientists fed the mice with high doses of antibiotics, which resulted in premature aging, but after the antibiotics were removed from the diet, the signs of aging disappeared. Researchers believe that intracellular processes are the key to rejuvenation, which can be influenced to speed up or slow down the aging process.
Life on Mars
People have been dreaming of living on another planet for a long time. Now this is only possible in fiction. But scientists are still trying to convince us of this, and they do it better and better.
Now Mars is considered a red planet, on which there can be no life, but scientists believe, having discovered dried lakes, that in the distant past there was water on Mars, which means there was life. Judging by the latest research, the Marsis radar installed at the Mars Express interplanetary station has discovered a lake 20 km in size, which is hidden by a thick ice cap. At first, the researchers assumed that water from melting glaciers formed on the surface of Mars, but given the low pressure, it should quickly evaporate, but now there is reason to believe that there is a permanent liquid water reservoir on the red planet.
Also on Mars, one of the Nasa Curiosity rovers discovered a high methane content on the planet's surface. Methane in high concentrations in the air is contained on earth thanks to living organisms, so the researchers plan to find out if methane on Mars is associated with life on it.
The existence of dark matter
In the simplest words, you can explain what dark matter is using the example of a Christmas tree and garlands lit on it. In the dark, we see only the garlands themselves and the light that they emit, but the tree is also present there as a frame, although we do not see it.
This invisible skeleton in the galaxy is called dark matter. Judging by the latest calculations, dark matter in our universe is 6 times more than visible, which in turn reduces the importance of a photon in the universe. Only mass, gravity is important. If dark matter is the framework for galaxies, then the force that ensures the constant expansion of space is directly dependent on the internal gravity of the universes. Returning to the analogy with a Christmas tree, you can imagine that there is a room in which there are a lot of such trees. The room is growing all the time, and the trees, without changing in size, move away from each other. This is the expansion of the universe. It is the energy that controls this expansion that is called dark matter.
Discovery of exoplanets
An exoplanet is considered to be planets outside the solar system. Now, the meaning of this definition has been slightly modified to the planet, on which, according to scientists, life can be.
The first exoplanet was discovered at the end of 1995 near the star 51 in the constellation Pegasus. Recent studies by astrophysicists at Harvard University include the study of 4,000 exoplanets, one of which could potentially be similar in terms of living conditions to earth. It turns out that at least 1,500 planets have water, which in turn is a key component for life.
The future is already here
Fantasies 20 years ago are turning into reality. Sciences are developing faster and faster and it is difficult to say which of our current fantasies will come true in 10 years, and which already tomorrow. We, distant people from science, can only guess and wonder how our life is changing.
Roman Kostenko