• Question: What is the next breakthrough in science?

    Asked by A Swann to Jodi, George, Anna on 17 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Anna Scaife

      Anna Scaife answered on 17 Nov 2014:

      In science generally? I’m not sure I really know for other research areas. In astrophysics there are a handful of really high profile areas where people are putting in lots of effort and one of those could probably be the next breakthrough… I would guess:

      – Detecting gravitational waves – that would prove Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

      – Detecting primordial gravitational waves – this would confirm the theory of inflation (our current understanding of how the Big Bang worked). There were some results earlier this year that claimed to detect these, but not everyone agrees that those data are conclusive.

      – Detecting the first stars in the Universe (the “Epoch of Reionization”). This would help us understand how structures formed in our Universe.

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