The meaning of life - and 27 other major issues without response from science

There are so many things we do not know.


The last century - just the last decade, even - saw amazing jumps in science and technology because we have acquired a better understanding of our world and how it works. But while science has the answers to the questions our ancestors would never have thought that we could understand, there are still a lot of huge questions that have not yet satisfactory of satisfactory answers.

These range from philosophism to practice, total mysteries to the questions we have about answering, but are not quite there. Read on to find out what they are. And to know more about more confunums related to space, check21 mysteries on space that no one can explain.

1
How exactly starts life?

meteorite going towards earth

Do not understand that evolutionary biologists have a good idea of ​​how some organizations have evolved in others, but they still do not know what struck it.How did we have the "primordial soup" of the building blocks of life to the formation of self-replicating cells?

The theory of the main theory of the last 50 years was an electric shock led to chemical reactions that created the first amino acids, butScientists do not all agree. Some people think that the causal factor was volcanic action and others think it might have been meteorites that brought us life.

2
Why do we dream?

a woman sleeping

"Why?" Could be the most difficult question for science to answer. Humans certainly make dream, as evidenced by advanced cerebral imaging technology, but what goal is it served? Why do our neurons continue to shoot, even if our body and conscious mind are at rest?

Cognitive scientists theorize thatMemory, Learning and EmotionsCan be attached to our ability to dream, but so far, they found no concluding link that would explain the strange little movies that our brains play for us while we sleep. And if you have always wondered what are these strange dreams that you keep the average, check50 secrets that your dreams are trying to tell you.

3
Is there a model behind the prime numbers?

numbers on a chalkboard

If you have forgotten since your last class of mathematics, the prime numbers are those that are divisible that only and 1. The examples include numbers 3 and 7 and 3169. Think of them like the building elements of numbers because they are not No technical to smaller factors.This property allows them to serve as encryption keys for digital security, but it also means that mathematicians have been unable to discern a model for which the numbers are paramount, a problem known as theRiemann hypothesis.

Counting from 1, you can have three prime numbers in a row, but then go forty or more without finding another premium. Unlocking this puzzle could have consequences for a company like ours whose communication networks are entirely constructed of numbers. And if you do not remember what a first number is and you want to see if you could always have a pass mark, check30 questions you would need ACE to spend the 6th mathematical year.

4
What is the cure for cancer?

lots of pills
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Unfortunately, we will never find a single cure for cancer because the term "cancer" actually applies toA whole collection of diseaseswhich are coded in our genes. Just as we will never earn all bacteria out of the earth, we can not create pill or shooting that will cure all types of cancer.

However, while we continue to better and better in prevention and prevention, we will better understand the factors that are at our control and learn to avoid them. To learn more about what cancer is on the body, check23 Cancer warning signs are hiding at sight.

5
Can we travel through time?

grandfather clock

We all see, of course, go through time at a regular time andEinstein's theory of special relativityThis can be compressed so that a pretty fast person could be able to travel away in the future. By using concepts such as worm holes, some physicists even suggested that it would be possible to visit the past. But if it were the case, the people of the future would not be able to live between us today?

We do not know, and these hypotheses are simply not tested under known conditions today. While we develop our ability to see and travel in space, we could learn more and better understand what is possible.

6
Is our universe the only one?

space
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Similar to time trips, interdimensional trips are another concept of beloved science fiction that seems to offer unlimited potential. Are there parallel universes there, coexisting with ours? The"Many worlds" interpretationQuantum physics certainly thinks it.

According to this theory, all possible stories and futures contracts are real. The reality is like a tree with infinite branches and we are only traveling one. Unfortunately, it seems highly unlikely that we can create a machine that will transport us in the universe of, for example, speaking bananas.

7
What exactly is consciousness?

a man thinking
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Theconcept of conscienceexists in the gray area where science meets philosophy. What is this quality that you and myself give us aware of ourselves, this allows us to think and hope and create?

If we could run an electric current through a disinfused brain as it seemed to work like the brain in the head of a living person, could we say that the brain is also aware? The fact that there seems to be universal way of detecting or measuring consciousness is what makes it so frustrating. We can not understand the very thing that allows us to understand the world. And for some amazing truths that we know, see these100 great facts on everything.

8
Where is all the antimatter?

Antimatter

Antimatter is a difficult concept to wrap your head - it is made of atoms with the opposite electrical charges of the corresponding material. Whenever scientists have been able to create (lowercase) quantities of antimatter in a laboratory, they also create the same number of things, and both substances are rapidly canceling itself in a bursting of energy.

What is so perplexed about these experiences is that scientists perform them in an attempt to understand the Big Bang, thinking of having created the whole question in the universe. However, if the creation of the material means creating aequal amount of antimatterAt the same time, why is our full universe as it exists? Where is all this antimatter party and why did not he cancel the question?

9
Why is the universe so heavy?

dark matter

When astrophysicists sit down to calculate a wide formula for describing the way the universe behaves, they can do a reasonably accurate job ... if they assume that there is a huge amount of mass that we can not not detect.

This invisible thing, or "black matter"Accounts about 95% of the mass in the universe, and yet we do not know what it is, where it is, or why we can not observe it. Astronomers even encountered evidence of "dark energy" that pushes the universe to grow.

10
Can we create energy in the same way as the sun does?

electricity in lightbulbs
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All the mysteries of science are not as abstract as black; Some are also practical as finding a way to produce electricity. As we know that fossil fuels are limited, we need to find a renewable and clean way to produce energy.

We know how the stars do it - by separating or separatingFusion of molecules together-But we have not yet found a way to reproduce it safely on a human scale. If we can find a way to create energy by dividing water into hydrogen and oxygen, we may have found the holy grail of renewable energy.

11
How do we live with bacteria?

bacteria
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The development of antibiotics is probably the most important discovery of modern medicine because it compromises not only certain diseases directly, but also injuries and surgeries infinitely more survivable.

However,Overuse of antibioticsbrought some bacteria to evolve forms that our medications can not beat. The way we overcome this problem without going into a kind of arms race with germs or killing the good bacteria we need to live will require a continuous study of bacterial DNA. In a remarkable way, we always discover new bacteria in so unexplored places as the deep ocean bottom.

12
Is the ocean the true final border?

the ocean floor
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Speaking of the deep ocean, marine biologists believe that we only explored about 5% of the bottom of the sea. In many places, the soil is so deep and the water above it so heavy that We must send unmanned probes to capture images and samples to study.

The organizations we have found so far are, in scientific terms, simply weird. There are worms of tubes living on sulfur mouths and fish with transparent heads andA substance that could help treat Alzheimer's disease. What else has not found yet? See what else you do not know on the ocean and check30 facts about the oceans of the world that will burn you.

13
Should we die?

grave stone
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We already live much longer and life healthier than our ancestors, then is there a limit to the long life of the science of a human life? Of course, delaying death and preventing all of this are two very different things, but our growing understanding of aging, diseases and our own DNA pushes the upper limit of our lives. Scientists have already found ways ofReverse aging in individual cellsbut they are still far from translating this search into a UMedical sand procedure.

14
How fast computers can be fast and small?

old computer
Image via Wikipedia

By comparing computers from the Punching Card of the Room, the computers of the 1960s card to the phones we now carry in our pockets is almost comic. For the 50-year-old programmers 50 years ago, a smartphone seems the strangest science fiction. Will this trend continue? Will computers be infinitely smaller and more powerful?

Although the transistors become faster because they contract, we areApproach to the limitnecessary to transfer electricity. However, if computer scientists can create fleas that communicate by light energy instead of electrical energy, the limit will disappear.

15
Will artificial intelligence happen?

robot

Of course, we now have machines that could be called appropriately "robots" do things like building our cars and pack our candies. However, when most people talk about robots, they refer to machines with artificial intelligence.

Fun, scientists said that AI technology is probablyabout 15-20 years old in the futureSince the 1960s. A problem is how to define success - is it simulating human behavior or improving human skills such as model recognition? Bring the thorny about consciousness and there are even more questions than responses with respect to human IA. To know whatother Experts say we do not see, check20 long-standing predicted technologies that will never happen.

16
What will be the size of the population?

people

From 1987, there were 5 billion human beings on the planet. We managed 6 billion in 1999 and 7 billion in 2011 and the best estimates show that we exceeded 8 billion by 2023. So ... Is there a limit?

Most scientists put that there are, but they differ with regard to what the limit is and how long we will reach it. Inadequate resources are expected to slow downpopulation growthAfter 2037, but what will exactly look like a debate. Food, clean water and fuel are limiting factors, so the size of a population can support our planet for sustainable duration? If you want to know what we should prepare, consult30 things that scientists say that scientists will occur if the population continues to grow.

17
Let's ever let us know?

smart phone

This question becomes at the heart of the scientific method: observe a phenomenon, create a model or a narrative describing the phenomenon and using this model to make predictions. However, the science of the last centuries has exceeded what we can observe with the naked eye, so that new discoveries relied on more and more complicated technology. The tools we have are imperfect and therefore limited, so how much can we really know? We may never be able to create a model that describes everything, butHow far can we get?

18
What is the size of the universe?

universe

At present, we can use telescopes of different types to "see" about 46.5 billion light-years in all directions. However, no scientists think that the universe ceases to exist at the distance, we can no longer observe it. So far, then, will he prolong?

YesThe universe is flatHe could theoretically be infinite. If there is a curve, even a smaller than our instruments can detect, this could be the shape of a sphere and therefore limited. As our technology improves, we will probably be able to see further, but we may never know how it ends up.

19
What happened before Big Bang?

the big bang

While the word "bang" brings an explosion, the Big Bang is better described as the moment when the space itself began to grow and physics as we know it started. The problem is that we need physics itself to describe the universe, so asking what the universe was like before physics is like asking what is south of the South Pole.

It is possible that quantum mechanics can describeThe universe in front of the big bangBut we do not know with certainty that these laws were in place before the laws of physics.

20
Can we download our brains in computers?

laptop
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This is a question for which scientists hope to have an answer in the coming decades. As computers increase rapidity and complexity, we are getting closer to the day whenArtificial technology can be approximateThe power of the human brain.

Of course, there are significant obstacles: supercomputers can not execute multiple simultaneous calculations and the amount of memory required for the correct treatment speed would be huge. In addition, while our ability to map the brain to synapse has improved, we are always years of copying and paste a human mind.

21
How can Smart a person?

the functioning of a brain
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Before anyone can answer this question, they must settle on a definition of intelligence. Is it just IQ? Memory? The ability to make multiple complex tasks at the same time? The ability to create?

If you choose IQ because it offers a tangible metric, know that it is a comparison method, so that theIQ "possible" the highestis as high as the current most intelligent man in the world. In addition, remember that IQs can change and can be influenced by cultural factors. Maybe the question we should pose instead is: "What does it mean to be smart?"

22
Will it ever be able to predict economic accidents?

stock market numbers

The economy is a science too, although its predictions do not yet prove valuable on a macro scale. Following the 2008 financial crisis, many people asked, "How did anyone have come?"

The truth, of course, is that some economists have done so, but these people are not necessarily rare genius on the ground - their data and prediction models have just been right in this case.

The economy encompasses so many variables, both mathematics and psychological, that it is also difficult to guess which financial systems will do as it is to guess all the choices that one person will do all their lives. Our calculations can improve as we raise more data, but the intersection of scientific limitations with human unpredictability probably means that we will never have a model for the economy as we do, say, replication a cell.

23
What makes us humans?

kids laughing

We instinctively know if an organism or machine is human or not. Animals like parrots and dolphins could have something to approach human intelligence, but little affirm that only humans makes them human. People do not say that chimpanzees, our closest relatives with whom weShare 96% of our genetic material, are totally equivalent to people.

Where is the division line? What do we know if we have seen it? Is the personality possible apart fromHomo sapiens sapiens? We have no definitive test that can give an answer yes or no.

24
Is it nature or nourishing?

mom touching baby

It's not because this question is an old woman does not mean that it's not always relevant. We better understand the genetics that we have never had, but how many of whom we areComes from our DNAAnd how much is the environment that we have been raised?

Ethical considerations limit scientists in terms of experimentation - it would be impassively cruel to raise a baby in a box without interaction of any kind, we will probably never know. However, as always, there is merit to understand as much as possible.

25
Is there a unified theory of physics?

albert einstein

The physics that you probably know, at least in very fundamental terms, is the one you learn in the high school mass, speed, gravity, etc. Einstein took this branch of physics to the extreme and usedoverall relativityDescribe space and time. However, when you try to describe how the smallest subatomic particles behave, you need quantum mechanics.

The problem comes when you try to use quantum mechanics to describe galaxies or general relativity to describe the atoms; What we observe, does not correspond to what these theories say should happen. When physicists mention a "unified theory" is what they talk about a way of connecting the general relativity to the quantum mechanics that makes sense for both. For tips and tricks on how to live a happy life, checkHow to be happy, according to Albert Einstein.

26
What's going on inside a black hole?

black hole
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Black holes are where general relativity and quantum mechanics meet. When a massive star dies, it collapses in itself, becoming so small and dense that it forms a singularity. The severity around something that heavy is so strong that even the light can not escape, give black holes their name.

The general relativity describesWhat we can observe black holesBut to understand what's going on inside their event horizons, we probably need quantum mechanics. Unfortunately, as we can not yet "translate" these concepts between the two types of physics, it is difficult to form even a solid theory of what we can not detect yet.

27
Are we alone in the universe?

a UFO
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"The space is big," wrote the Douglas Adams novelist. "Really big, you will not believe how big it is, a lot, bogic."

How can we really say that there is no other life there when we only explored the smallest fraction? We know that someother planetsor moons contain oxygen and liquid water. We even heard signals from the scope of the deep space that scientists have been unable to explain.

Until now, we have not encountered definitive evidence of life - even single organizations - developing anywhere but the land, but it would be the height of Hubris to declare that means we will never do it . If you want to know more about the crazy life of those who explore space, check 27 insane things astronauts must do.

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Categories: Culture
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