Young Writers Society

First:



Now, with that done... where do you think we're going next in science?

Feel free to speak about the various fields of science, i.e., biology, astronomy, environmental science, physics, etc. Don't limit yourself to just one topic! Anything science is game.

Read Michio Kaku's Physics of the impossible

I think it probes greatly into the depths of what we know could be, what progress has been made, and what could be if we made some drastic discoveries in physics.

I think in terms of changing the world, 3D printers are interesting. So far they can't make much, but as the technology improves, things are going to get interesting.

For those that don't know, 3D printers are like normal ink printers ... except they 'print' physical objects. You can download the blueprint of the object from the internet, and then use the 3D printer to create it.

The Pirate Bay already has a section dedicate to physical objects to download. So far the most complex item on there (I believe) is a wrench - but it's complete with moving parts, and works just as a real wrench would.

If the technology ever gets to the point of being able to create complex objects, then internet piracy is suddenly going to hit way more than just the film and music industry.

Just imagine being able to download, say, an iPhone...

That's such a cool idea Sureal! I think at the moment we are taking huge leaps and bounds in the medical world,

Something really interesting is the amount we understand about protein folding. For those that don't know, a protein is made out of a long string of amino acids bonded together. These strings on amino acids form structures such as heamoglobin, horomones, enzymes and tissues.

Now we understand how protein folding works, we can actually start to create new proteins. People are starting to design enzymes and hormones that could catalyse huge reactions in the human body. Disease could be solved with specific proteins that reverse side affects. We could even in theory, stop ageing.

Ageing occurs every time our cells divide, every time they divide the genetic material becomes shorter (the telomeres) if we could stop this shortening or increase the growth of our telomeres, we could stop ageing, at least in theory.

Sounds far fetched, but in a few years it might even be possible.

We actually are! The first major protein like this was insulin, but there are many other proteins being designed for this purpose.

That's a good example! Insulin, although naturally produced in the body, is also artificially synthesized for diabetics. We actually change the protein structure of insulin in manufacturing so it is absorbed quicker than regular human insulin would be, therefore stabilising the patients rate faster that if his own body was doing it on his own! Amazing...

Take a look at this!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110106145311.htm

Speaking of delaying ageing, there's a host of research on how stem cells (and its injects) can reduce ageing.

My sentences may not be exact, I'm just recollecting. I'll be back with links and stuff when I fins them.