• Question: What do you think the next major invention will be that could revolutionise our lifestyle, e.g internet although it has already been invented.

    Asked by spacenut to Pete, Mus, Martin, Faye on 25 Apr 2012.
    • Photo: Pete Etchells

      Pete Etchells answered on 25 Apr 2012:

      That’s a really cool question! I think it’s going to be something to do with genetics and biology; there are lots of advances being made in science at the minute about how we deal with diseases, and I think there are going to be some big changes in the next few years. For example, scientists at NASA are developing new ways of getting drugs into your body, using nanotechnology! The idea is that you inject someone with a drug that is encased in a carbon nanostructure, and just sits there doing nothing in your body, until a particular disease comes into contact with it, and then the nanostructure breaks down and releases the drug! So you might not ever even know you were infected with something. I think that’s pretty cool.

      What do you think the next major invention is going to be?

    • Photo: Faye Didymus

      Faye Didymus answered on 29 Apr 2012:

      Hi spacenut. That’s a really thought provoking question, thank you. I don’t think I could say what the next major invention will be. If I knew that, I’d probably be inventing it already and on my way to being a really famous scientist! What do you think it could be? I agree with Pete that it could be something to do with genetics or maybe neuroscience. Maybe someone will invent a machine that can help us to understand the brain better?! Although we know quite a bit about the brain, there is so much that we don’t know yet!

Comments

  • Photo: spacenut

    spacenut commented on :

    Thats AMAZING! I think it’s going to be something to do with, as you said nanotechnology either that or something related to nutrition as we always seem to be getting headlines in newspapers that suggest that another food is either good/bad for us! Also nutrition I think is becoming more important with the threats and risks of becoming over weight. Thanks for your answer!

  • Photo: spacenut

    spacenut commented on :

    Also I thought there was something to do with health and safety concerns over nanotechnology from the US?

  • Photo: Pete

    Pete commented on :

    I agree spacenut, I think nutrition is a hugely important issue that’s going to affect more and more people this coming decade, especially with some scientists thinking that up to 40% of us are going to be obese… It’s kinda scary to think what sort of pressure that might put on the health services.
    I don’t really know about the health and safety concerns about nanotech in the US, but I think it’s really sensible that policy makers and scientists think long and hard about the implications of this sort of research, before the benefits are made available to the public.

    • Photo: spacenut

      spacenut commented on :

      Oh my gosh! Unfortunately what you say is true, also we get what appears to be more misleading information over things like sugar and salt, the amounts we should eat. Do you think they will find easier ways of telling us the “truth” about this?