Yesterday I watched Genius (a telefilm about Einstein's story) and when it finished I wondered: "If I would like to discover something, where might I start thinking?"
So I found some informations and I wrote down which are the greatest questions of the modern scientists:
What is the Universe made of?
Scientists deal with an embarrassing dilemma: they don't know the composition of the 95% of the universe. Since the 80s we know that it is made of two dark entities - dark matter and dark energy. The first one, discovered in 1933, acts like an invisible glue; the second one, discovered in 1998, is pushing the expansion of the universe with an increasing velocity. The scientists are going to find the real identities of these invisible intruders.
How does life begin?
4 billion years ago something blended with the primordial soup. Some simple chemical products met each other and they transformed into biology. Humans are connected with the evolution of these precocious moecules. But how did the basic chemical products in the primordial Earth become something similar to life spontaneously? How did we gain the DNA?
Are we alone in the Universe?
Maybe not. The astronomers are searching in the Universe places where water planets could host life. Radio telescopes are eavesdropping on the space and we are sending messages in the sky to find some other living beings.
What does make us humans?
99% of human genoma is equal to the chimpanzee. However we have the most powerful brain compared to other animals brain, precisely it has 3 times the number of neurons of a gorilla.
What awareness is?
We're still not sure. We know that it deals with the different cerebral areas that are connected in a network instead of a specifical side of the brain. We just need to understand the neuronal circuit to discover how awareness emerges, and the A.I is helping us.
Why do we dream?
We spend about 1/3 of our life sleeping. Considering how many time we spend sleeping we should know everything about dreams, but scientists are still searching some complete answers.
Who has created the Universe?
We know that everything is made of matter, that has a counterparty named anti-matter. They differ from each other just for the electrical charge. When they meet each other they both disappear in an energetic ray. Our best theories suggest that the BigBang has created equal parts of both (matter and anti-matter), so all the matter should have disappeared with the conterparty and the Universe should have been full of energy and nothing more.
Do other Universes exist?
Our Universe is really unlikely. We can change some settings just a bit and life will become impossible. Scientists are trying to solve this problem with the idea of multiverses. If there is an infinite number of universes it means that there will exist every combinations of settings somewhere, and obiviously we live in the Universe in which life is possible.
How do we win against the bacteriums?
Antibiotic is one of the miracles of modern medical science. But this patrimony is in danger: every year about 25.000 people die for multiresistant bacterias. We need innovative metods.
Can computer become more powerful for the ethernity?
Yes. Scientists are studying new materials and new technologies like quantum computers.
Will we ever be able to defeat cancer?
Probably not. It is not a single illness, but a sum of hundreds of them.
What there is on the sea bottom of the ocean?
95% of oceans is unexplored. In 1960 Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard was traveling 7 miles underseas to find some answers. Their journey gave us just a glimpse of life in the sea bottom: it is really hard to explore it and the most of the times we must send veichles without pilot. What we know is just a little part of the world that is hidden under the waves.
What happen if we fall into a black hole?
We still don't have the instruments and the informations to answer this question.
How can we solve the problem of the overpopulation?
In 2050 there will be about 9 billion people. How will we produce enough food for everyone?
Will we travel through the time?
Time traveler are between us: thanks to Einstein relativity we know that the astronauts on the International Space Station in orbit around the Earth have a different time experience from us.