Interesting discoveries of the 21st century. Working longer hours increases the risk of stroke. New human ancestor discovered
On first place The publication, of course, credited the discovery of a particle similar to the Higgs boson to the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). As we remember, the discovery of a particle predicted almost half a century ago was supposed to complete the experimental confirmation of the Standard Model. That's why many scientists considered the discovery of the elusive boson a major breakthrough in science. Physics XXI century.
This is a Higgs error, because it is he who gives mass to elementary particles. We are on the verge of a technological revolution similar to the invention of the steam engine. This is nanoscience, that is, it is a very small science. "Nano" is a prefix that is added to a value to produce a value a billion times smaller. Thus, talk of nanosystems includes objects smaller than bacteria. Physicists from around the world are working on projects whose ultimate goal is to control new artificially designed materials at the atomic scale.
The Higgs boson was so important to scientists because its field helps explain how, immediately after the Big Bang, electroweak symmetry was broken, after which elementary particles suddenly acquired mass. Paradoxically, one of the most important mysteries for experimenters for a long time remained nothing more than the mass of this boson, since the Standard Model cannot predict it. It was necessary to proceed by trial and error, but in the end, two experiments at the LHC independently discovered a particle with a mass of about 125 GeV/s². Moreover, the reliability of this event is quite high.
These are the steps leading to the nanorobots that flood modern science fiction. In 25 years, optical computers will arrive that will be much faster than the current ones. And that as we increasingly miniaturize, the metal parts that are used to connect chip components can cause, among other things, a loss of speed. Using optical connections would be an alternative since they did not have these problems, but we must find materials that can control and direct the propagation of light on a microscopic scale.
It should be noted that a small fly in the ointment has nevertheless crept into the ointment - not everyone is still sure that the boson found by physicists is the Higgs boson. Thus, it remains unclear what the spin of this new particle is. According to the Standard Model, it should be zero, but there is a possibility that it could be equal to 2 (the option with one has already been ruled out). Both collaborations believe that this problem can be solved by analyzing existing data.
However, access to purely photonic electronics may be a long way off and may never be achieved. Therefore, optoelectronics is being studied, i.e. design of circuits that use both electrons and photons. With its help, a bridge will be installed that will connect electronics with photonics and optical communications.
Superconductors at room temperature. Superconductivity is tangible macroscopic evidence of the existence quantum world. Superconductors allow electricity lossless and can therefore carry current densities a thousand times that of copper wire. They are used in a variety of devices, from hospital magnetic resonance equipment - magnetic fields are created by superconducting coils - even detecting magnetic fields one-billionth smaller than Earth.
In addition, there are some doubts about a number of particle decay channels - in some cases, this boson did not decay as predicted by the same Standard Model. However, collaboration employees believe that this too can be clarified by making a more accurate analysis of the results. By the way, at a November conference in Japan, LHC staff presented analysis data of new collisions with an energy of 8 TeV, which were carried out after the July announcement. And what happened as a result spoke in favor of the fact that the Higgs boson was found in the summer, and not some other particle.
The downside is that the material becomes superconducting, cooling it a lot. It is not entirely clear why they are superconductors. Today, superconductivity is a field of intense research. Detecting a superconductor at room temperature is one of the new challenges. Life and the universe are better. complexity.
Within a few years, physics set out to understand life. It seems that the behavior of the most complex systems is the result of self-organizing processes. In them, although elements such as ants or neurons communicate only with those physically close, the system can generate structures such as jaguar spots or properties such as memory that are only understood if everything is learned by the system. Complexity seems to arise halfway between order and disorder. If we think in terms of information, the need to store it requires some degree of order, but at the same time the ability to adapt and manipulate information requires a certain degree of disorder.
Second place credited to a team of scientists from the Delft and Eindhoven Universities of Technology (Netherlands), led by Leo Kouwenhoven, who were the first to notice signs of hitherto elusive Majorana fermions in solids. These funny particles, whose existence was predicted back in 1937 by physicist Ettore Majorana, are interesting because they can simultaneously act as their own antiparticles. It is also assumed that Majorana fermions may be part of the mysterious dark matter. It is not surprising that scientists waited no less for their experimental discovery than for the discovery of the Higgs boson.
One of the major problems facing living physicists is their inability to predict protein folding, that is, why, among all the possibilities, does a long chain of amino acids fold in one way and not another. The problem is that proteins are built on the edge of stability: if they were any more unstable, they would deteriorate, and if they were any more stable, they would not perform their function. Squirrels escape from the fingers of physicists. We are essentially faced with the absence of physics.
Cosmological constant and accelerated universe. For many, this is the most fascinating mystery in physics. None of the proposed ideas have worked yet. A cosmological constant is something that comes out of everything. His story began with Einstein. The expanding universe was a consequence of general relativity, and he couldn't believe it. To avoid this, he modified the equations by introducing a term foreign to the theory that had stopped expanding: the cosmological constant. When astronomer Edwin Hubble later discovered the expansion of the universe, Einstein declared that introducing the cosmological constant was the biggest mistake of his life.
On third place— the work of physicists from the BaBar collaboration at the PEP-II collider of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (USA). And what’s most interesting is that these scientists again experimentally confirmed the prediction made 50 years ago - they proved that when B-mesons decay, T-symmetry is violated (this is the name for the relationship between the direct and reverse process in reversible phenomena). As a result, the researchers found that during transitions between quantum states of the B0 meson, their speed varies.
Almost 70 years later, astronomers discovered that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating; something incomprehensible. In the face of such a catastrophe, cosmologists renewed their ongoing repudiation of Einstein. This repulsion may be caused by mysterious dark energy. But what is it? Perhaps it was Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg who expressed this bewilderment best: “It is difficult for physicists to attack this problem without knowing what to explain.” Of course, if dark energy is in the form of a cosmological constant, we would be faced with the worst theoretical estimate in the history of science.
On fourth place again checking a long-standing prediction. Even 40 years ago, Soviet physicists Rashid Sunyaev and Yakov Zeldovich calculated that the movement of clusters of distant galaxies could be observed by measuring a small shift in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation. And only this year, Nick Hand from the University of California at Berkeley (USA), his colleague and the six-meter ACT telescope (Atacama Cosmology Telescope) managed to put this into practice as part of the Spectroscopic Study of Baryon Oscillations project.
Give an overview of all fields of science without forgetting any field. From biology to astronomy, not forgetting mathematics. He received the Field Medal. Social media: the great communication revolution of the decade, without a doubt. Man has always sought to know his past, and among the sciences devoted to this, archeology is one of the most fascinating. Every new archaeological discovery brings new questions, new mysteries, new opportunities and, in many cases, incredible surprises. Take a look at this list of the 5 most amazing archaeological finds in history as they revealed more about the past.
Fifth place took a study by Allard Mosk's group from the MESA+ Institute of Nanotechnology and the University of Twente (Netherlands). Scientists have suggested new way research of processes occurring in the organisms of living beings, which is less harmful and more accurate than radiography, which is known to everyone. Scientists managed, using the laser speckle effect (the so-called random interference pattern formed by the mutual interference of coherent waves with random phase shifts and a random set of intensities), to discern microscopic fluorescent objects through a few millimeters of opaque material. Needless to say, similar technology was also predicted several decades earlier.
The exceptional climatic conditions and dry sands of the Oxirrinko Desert have preserved these manuscripts in an incredible way. The value of these works in Ancient literature is simply incalculable; among the finds were found the remains of works by Meneander, Euripides, Sophocles and large biblical fragments.
Also known as the Library of Nineveh, it is the oldest cuneiform collection on the planet. This library was found in the Assyrian city of Nineveh, north of Mesopotamia, in the palace of King Ashurbanipal. This is a large collection of beautifully written clay tablets that cover topics of grammar, religion, art, history, mathematics, astronomy and literature, among other things. Undoubtedly, this library has majestic historical and archaeological value.
On sixth place researchers Mark Oxborrow from the National Physical Laboratory, Jonathan Brizu and Neil Alford from Imperial College London (UK) settled confidently. They managed to build what they had also dreamed of for many years - a maser (a quantum generator emitting coherent electromagnetic waves in the centimeter range), capable of operating at room temperature. Until now, these devices had to be cooled to extremely low temperatures using liquid helium, making them unprofitable. commercial use. And now masers can be used in telecommunications and systems for creating ultra-precise images.
Jellyfish Bay: Viking Village in Canada
Other works include The Epic of Gilgamesh, humanity's oldest narrative work. The lie of Columbus "discovering" America is one of the most pathetic basofias that, like many others, taught me as a little boy in high school.
Indus Valley Culture: One of the Oldest in the World
Signs of science, tools and technology can be found there, although there are only archaeological sites, until today few people understand this civilization. As in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Indus Valley depended on the river as a whole, and the floods that fertilized the land greatly favored the agricultural development of the valley.
Seventh place deservedly awarded to a group of physicists from Germany and France who were able to establish a connection between thermodynamics and information theory. Back in 1961, Rolf Landauer argued that the erasure of information is accompanied by heat dissipation. And this year, this assumption was experimentally confirmed by scientists Antoine Beru, Artak Arakelyan, Artem Petrosyan, Sergio Siliberto, Raoul Dellinschneider and Eric Lutz.
Göbekli Tepe: the oldest monument in the world
The ancient sanctuary of Göbekli Tepe truly revolutionized the way archaeologists viewed the past. Why? Because believed to be built over a thousand years ago, it is the oldest human-made structure in existence. It is located very close to the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, and one of the things that surprises most scientists is that the site has large vertical rocks in which you can see intricate carvings of animals and other figures.
Austrian physicists Anton Zeilinger, Robert Fickler and their colleagues from the University of Vienna (Austria), who were able to entangle photons with an orbital quantum number of up to 300, which is more than ten times more than the previous record, hit the eighth place. This discovery has not only a theoretical, but also a practical outcome - such “entangled” photons can become information carriers in quantum computers and in an optical communication encoding system, as well as in remote sensing.
This is extremely important because it involves difficult and inexplicable organized work, although it may even be possible to revise what was in the first forms of writing, it is clear that people organized themselves and formed complex societies long before which scientists believe. If you're interested in this incredible structure, take a look at this short documentary.
Considering everything they've revealed, these discoveries are truly amazing, aren't they? What other discoveries of this kind would you like to add? Gene drive systems basically increase the likelihood that a gene will be passed on to the next generation, allowing it to quickly spread to natural populations.
On ninth place came to a group of physicists led by Daniel Stancil from the University of North Carolina (USA). The scientists worked with the NuMI neutrino beam from the National Accelerator Laboratory. Fermi and the MINERvA detector. As a result, they managed to transmit information using neutrinos over a distance of more than a kilometer. Although the transmission speed was low (0.1 bps), the message was received almost without errors, which confirms the fundamental possibility of neutrino-based communication, which can be used when communicating with astronauts not only on a neighboring planet, but even in another galaxy. In addition, this opens up great prospects for neutrino scanning of the Earth - new technology search for minerals, as well as to detect earthquakes and volcanic activity in the early stages.
For example, gene drive systems can be used to spread resistance genes for Dengue and Zika viruses into natural mosquito populations and thus radically alter the transmission of these diseases. Humanization of pigs should allow great advances in the field of xenografts.
Some New Directions for Technology in the Coming Decades
Algorithms for “self-learning machines” should allow the creation of autonomous systems. Several new technologies in the coming decades will be motivated by some of the major problems that humanity already faces and will be of vital importance in the near future, such as human impacts on nature and new energy sources that allow the development and implementation of new technologies. On the other hand, to achieve progress in the field information technologies new types will be needed electronic devices or similar devices that will replace current silicon-based technology.
The top 10 is completed by a discovery made by physicists from the USA - Zhong Lin Wang and his colleagues from the Georgia Institute of Technology. They have developed a device that extracts energy from walking and other movements and, of course, stores it. And although this method was known before, but tenth place This group of researchers was recognized for being the first to learn how to convert mechanical energy directly into chemical potential energy, bypassing the electrical stage.
The development of new types of materials with properties superior to existing ones, which do not affect nature, will also be a driving force for the development of new technologies. The huge challenge for humanity in the coming decades will be the creation of clean and renewable energy, rather than the use of fossil resources such as oil, gas, coal, etc. methods for producing clean energy today are even less efficient and more expensive than conventional ones. In the coming decades, new types of devices are expected to be developed to improve efficiency and reduce the use of clean energy-generating devices such as photovoltaic cells, which convert sunlight into electricity, bioenergy, wind energy, tidal power, geothermal, etc. energy conservation is another challenge.
Having radically changed our world, however, even now humanity, in terms of technology development and progress, sees only the tip of the iceberg. However, this in no way cools the ardor of scientists and researchers of various stripes, but, on the contrary, only fuels their interest.
Today we will talk about our time, which we all remember and know. We will talk about discoveries that one way or another became a real breakthrough in the field of science and will start, perhaps, with the most significant. It is worth mentioning here that the most significant discovery is not always significant for the average person, but is primarily important for scientific world.
New technologies will be needed to develop batteries that store more energy. The third challenge is how to transport energy to become a viable means of transport based on environmentally friendly sources. A very promising alternative are so-called fuel cells or hydrogen cells, where electricity is generated from the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, with water as a by-product. The development of new materials and the optimization of clean energy sources will necessarily be based on an understanding of the physical mechanisms that lead to the development of new ways to generate and store energy.
First position takes up quite a bit recent discovery However, its significance for modern physics is colossal; this is the discovery by scientists of the “god particle” or, as it is usually called, the Higgs boson. In fact, the discovery of this particle explains the reason for the appearance of mass in other elementary particles.
It is worth noting that they have been trying to prove the existence of the Higgs boson for 45 years, but it was only recently possible to do this. Back in 1964 Peter Higgs, after whom the particle is named, predicted its existence, but it was not possible to practically prove it.
But on April 26, 2011, the news spread across the Internet that with the help of the Large Hadron Collider, located near Geneva, scientists had finally managed to discover the sought-after particle, which had become almost legendary. However, scientists did not immediately confirm this and only in June 2012 did experts announce their discovery. However, the final conclusion was reached only in March 2013, when CERN scientists made a statement that the discovered particle was indeed the Higgs boson.
Despite the fact that the discovery of this particle has become a landmark for the scientific world, its practical use at this stage of development remains questionable. Peter Higgs himself, commenting on the possibility of using the boson, said the following: “The existence of a boson lasts only something like one quintillionth of a second, and it is difficult for me to imagine how a short-lived particle could be used for so long. Particles that live for a millionth of a second, however, are now being used in medicine.” So, at one time, a famous English experimental physicist, when asked about the benefits and practical application Magnetic induction discovered by him said, “What benefit can a newborn child have?” And with that, perhaps, I closed this topic.
Second position Among the most interesting, promising and ambitious projects of humanity in the 21st century is the deciphering of the human genome. It is not for nothing that the Human Genome Project has the reputation of being the most important project in the field of biological research, and work on it began in 1990, although it is worth mentioning that this issue was also considered in the 80s of the 20th century.
The goal of the project was clear - it was initially planned to determine the sequence of more than three billion nucleotides (nucleotides make up DNA), as well as to determine more than 20 thousand genes in the human genome. However, later, several research groups expanded the task. It is also worth noting that the study, completed in 2006, spent $3 billion.
The stages of the project can be divided into several parts:
1990. The US Congress allocates funds for studying the human genome.
1995. The first complete DNA sequence of a living organism is published. The bacterium Haemophilus influenzae was considered
1998. The first DNA sequence of a multicellular organism is published. The flatworm Caenorhabditis elegans was considered.
1999. At this stage, more than two dozen genomes have been deciphered.
2000. The "first human genome assembly" was announced - the first reconstruction of the human genome.
2001. First draft of the human genome.
2003. Complete decoding of DNA, it remains to decipher the first human chromosome.
2006. The last stage of work to decipher the complete human genome.
Despite the fact that scientists around the world made grandiose plans for the end of the project, their expectations were not met. On this moment The scientific community recognized the project as a failure in its essence, but it is by no means impossible to say that it was absolutely useless. New data has made it possible to accelerate the pace of development of both medicine and biotechnology.
And the third, occupies the last position in today's list... Actually, the third position will remain free. This does not mean that there are no more important and interesting discoveries did not happen - on the contrary, there are more than enough discoveries and achievements in the field of science, but we will leave it to you to decide which one is worthy of standing in this position. You can consider this, if not homework, then our desire to communicate and find out the opinions of many people.
So, for example, someone may think that the discovery of water on Mars is an excellent reason to declare this achievement a candidate for the role of bronze medalist, while others will disagree and say that the production of a new material - graphene - is a much more significant event. One way or another, everyone has the right to their opinion and we are sure that by sharing your thoughts, you can interest others and learn a lot of new things.