Every year we see amazing leaps in science and technology, gain an understanding of our world and how it functions. But at the same time, there are still many global questions that still have to be fully answered. They range from philosophical to practical, from incredible mysteries to questions that we seem to have an answer to. These are the questions that scientists have not yet answered.
How exactly did life begin?
Don't get us wrong - biologists have a pretty clear idea of how some organisms turned into others, but they still don't know how it all started. How did we go from "primordial soup" to the formation of self-reproducing cells? The leading theory was that electrical discharge led to the chemical reactions that created the first amino acids, but not all scientists agree. Some people think that volcanic action was the cause, while others think it could be meteorites.
Why do we dream?
"Why?" is the most difficult question for science. Humans have dreams, of course, as evidenced by advanced brain imaging technology, but what purpose does that serve? Why do our neurons keep on working even when our body and mind are at rest? Cognitive scientists have speculated that memory, learning, and emotion may be linked to our ability to dream, but so far no convincing links have been found to explain the strange little movies our brains play for us while we sleep.
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What should be the cure for cancer?
Unfortunately, we cannot find a single cure for cancer, because the term "cancer" actually refers to the entire set of diseases that are encoded in our genes. Just as we will never destroy all bacteria on Earth, we cannot create a pill or injection that will cure all types of cancer. However, as science advances, we will better understand the causes of this disease, which means we can understand how to avoid it.
Can we travel in time?
We all travel forward in time, and Einstein's theory of relativity postulates that time can contract in such a way that a person can travel far into the future quickly enough. Some physicists have even suggested that one might visit the past. This question still remains unanswered, but as we expand our ability to see and travel through space, we can learn more and better understand whether this is possible or not.
Is our universe the only one?
Similar to time travel, interdimensional travel is another favorite science fiction concept that offers limitless potential. Are there really parallel universes that coexist with ours? The many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics says it is. According to this theory, all possible stories and future are real. That is, reality is like a tree with endless branches, but we only travel one by one. Unfortunately, the creation of a machine that will take us to another universe seems unlikely.
Where is all the antimatter?
The question of antimatter is so complex that scientists are still puzzling over it. Antimatter is made of atoms with opposite electrical charges of the corresponding substance. Whenever scientists can create a tiny amount of antimatter in a laboratory, they create the same amount of matter, and the two quickly cancel each other out in a burst of energy.
What is so perplexing about these experiments is that scientists are performing them in an attempt to understand the Big Bang, which is believed to have created all matter in the universe. However, if creating matter means creating the same amount of antimatter at the same time, why does our universe full of matter exist at all? Where did all this antimatter go and why didn't it cancel the appearance of the universe?
Why is the universe so heavy?
When astrophysicists try to compute a formula to describe the behavior of the universe, they can do a fairly accurate job … if they assume that there is a huge amount of mass that we cannot yet detect. This invisible material, or "dark matter", makes up about 95% of the mass in the universe, and yet we do not know what it is, where it is or why we cannot observe it.
Can we create energy in the same way as the sun?
Not all mysteries of science are as abstract as dark matter, some of them are quite practical. For example, as a way to generate electricity. Since we know that fossil fuels are limited, we need to find a renewable and clean way to generate energy. We know how stars do it: they split or fuse molecules. But we have yet to find a way to safely reproduce this on a human scale.
How do we live with bacteria?
Overuse of antibiotics has led some bacteria to evolve into forms that drugs cannot fight. How we get around this problem without getting into some sort of arms race with germs or killing the good bacteria we need will require constant study of bacterial DNA. Remarkably, we are still discovering new bacteria in unexplored places such as the deep ocean floor.
Is the ocean a real last frontier?
Speaking of ocean depths, marine biologists estimate that we only explored 5% of the sea floor! In many places, the bottom is so deep and the water above it is so heavy that we have to send drones to get images and samples to study.
Should we die?
We already live much longer - and healthier - than our ancestors, so is there a limit to how much science can extend human life? Of course, delaying death and preventing death are two very different things, but our growing understanding of aging, disease, and our own DNA raises the upper limit of our lives. Scientists have already found ways to reverse aging in individual cells, but they are still far from translating this research into a useful medical procedure.
Will artificial intelligence appear?
Of course, we now have machines that can be called "robots" - they do things like assembling our cars and packing candy. But a robot is not AI! True artificial intelligence is all about imitating human behavior or enhancing human skills such as pattern recognition.
Is there a limit to the number of inhabitants of the Earth?
In 1987, there were 5 billion people on the planet. We passed the 6 billion mark in 1999 and the 7 billion mark in 2011. And according to scientists, by 2023 at least 8 billion people will live on Earth! And the main question: is there a limit? Most scientists say there is, but they disagree when it comes to what this limit is and how soon we will reach it.
Can we download our brains to a computer?
This is a question that scientists hope to be answered in the coming decades. As computers increase in speed and complexity, we are getting closer to the day when artificial technology approaches the power of the human brain. There are, of course, significant hurdles: supercomputers cannot perform multiple concurrent computations, and the amount of memory required for the correct processing speed will be enormous.
How smart can one person be?
Before anyone can answer this question, he will have to define the definition of intelligence. Is it just an IQ? Memory? The ability to perform multiple complex tasks at the same time? The ability to create?
Are we alone in the universe?
Can we be sure that there is no other life when we have explored only the smallest part of the universe? We know that some other planets contain oxygen and water. We even heard some signals from the depths of space that scientists could not explain.
Author: Christina Vitta