2015 came to an end, and we have several times said goodbye to his achievements and breakthroughs. What to expect from next year? Mission to Mars, the struggle with carbon, gravitational waves are part of the list that will form the agenda for 2016. Of course, in addition to our predictions we would like to see something completely unexpected — like the discovery of a new particle at the Large hadron Collider or the word from the aliens.
Carbon dioxide is suck
The Swiss company aims to be the first that will capture carbon dioxide in the air and sell it on an industrial scale, gradually building the path to larger facilities, which one day may help us in the fight against global warming. In July Climeworks plans to produce 75 tons of carbon dioxide per month at its facility near Zurich, and after selling the gas to nearby greenhouses to improve crop growth. Another company, Carbon Engineering in calgary, Canada, which sucks CO2 from October, but haven’t put it on the market hopes to show he can convert gas into liquid fuel. Plants worldwide already produce this gas from waste power plants, but in 2015, only small demonstration projects sucked it from the air.
Genes: cut and paste
The technology of gene editing will begin testing in humans. Sangamo Biosciences in Richmond, California, will experiment with the use of enzymes — zinc finger nucleases — in order to fix the genetic defect that causes hemophilia. Working with Biogen of Cambridge, the company will also begin testing to see if this technique is to accelerate the formation of functional hemoglobin in people with the blood disorder beta-thalassemia. Scientists and ethics hope to agree on the theme of common security and ethics on editing the genes of people at the end of 2016. This year we will also see the birth of the first genetically modified monkeys with symptoms of human diseases, which scientists will study on the example of the visual models.
High hopes for space
Physicists think that next year they will see the first evidence of gravitational waves — ripples of space-time caused by dense moving objects like rotating neutron stars — thanks to the Observatory’s Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (Advanced LIGO). Japan will also launch Astro-H, next generation x-ray satellite Observatory, which, among other things, will be able to confirm or refute the statement that heavy neutrini cause signals of dark matter, known as “bulbuley” (bulbulons). Hints at possible new particle from the Large hadron Collider, which operates at record energies since last June, is also clear, since the machine is rapidly accumulating data, but now “on vacation”. Even if the particle is not confirmed, the TANK can still encounter unusual phenomena, for example, with guaniamo: particles that are created entirely of carriers of the strong nuclear interaction.
Risky research
Very soon scientists will know whether the resumed research, which resulted in the virus becoming more dangerous. In October 2014, the U.S. government abruptly suspended financial support for research, “enhance function”. Such experiments can increase the understanding of how certain pathogens and how they can destroy, but critics say that this work also increases the risk, for example, accidental release of deadly viruses. The risk / benefit analysis was completed in December of 2015, and the national science Advisory Board of biosecurity will issue recommendations in the next few months on whether to resume funding or not.
Business development
One research group was fortunate to receive a grant for 50 million dollars to research heart disease from the Internet giant Google and the American heart Association. Portfolio research diseases Google grows. Private funding will also mark the space sector: non-profit society the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California, in April plans to launch a mission to test the spacecraft on a solar sail LightSail. It will cost $ 4.5 million.
To Mars and beyond
The orbits of Earth and Mars will bring the planet closer to each other this year, creating an ideal opportunity for a trip to the Red planet. The joint mission of the European space Agency and Roscosmos will use this chance. In March 2016 will launch the ExoMars project, which will analyse the Martian atmosphere and the technology of ground planting. In July Jupiter will arrive the Juno probe Agency NASA. In September, the apparatus “Rosetta” the European space Agency will fall to the comet on its orbit spinning. Others will have to console himself with the launch of the mission OSIRIS-Rex, which will take samples from the asteroid Bennu.
Space launches
Hot on the heels of a 100 million Dark Matter Particle Explorer, launched last December, the Chinese national space science centre will launch the second and third space probes in the series of the planned five. The world’s first experimental satellite quantum communication will be launched in June, and by the end of the year also in the occasion of Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope that will survey the sky on the subject of energy sources of radiation, like black holes and neutron stars. In September, Chinese will be fully completed the 500-metre FAST telescope, which will replace Puerto Rican Arecibo Observatory with the largest radio telescope in the world. In Hawaii, the team of thirty meters telescope will decide what to do with the project further, because in December the construction was stopped.
Open microzine
Next year will see the first results of an ambitious project for the analysis of microbial communities in the world. Earth Microbiome Project, which was launched in 2010, will need to sequence and characterize at least 200 000 samples of microbial DNA taken from everywhere, from the languages Komodo dragons and ending with the soils in the Siberian tundra. The project promises to reveal unprecedented levels of biological diversity.
Dreams about genes
Neurologists hope to finally identify the genes that are critical to control the timing and duration of sleep, but there is a possibility that they will also find other functions of the brain. The precise definition of such genes may shed light on sleep disorders and some mental illnesses associated with disturbed sleep.