Trends Identified
A new malaria vaccine finally offers real hope - High hopes for a malaria vaccine
One unsung success of the 21st century has been the fight against malaria. In 2000 the disease killed 47 people per 100,000 of those at risk. In 2015, the most recent year for which figures are available, that had dropped to 19—a fall of 60%. Even so, malaria kills 430,000 people each year. Some 70% of those who succumb are children under five.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
A new age of discovery for biology - An age of discovery is in prospect for biology, predicts Feng Zhang, neuroscience professor at MIT and co-inventor of CRISPR
In the era of modern science, hardly a week goes by without a big advance in biology. Although such progress will continue in 2018, it will not bring a cure for cancer, a remedy for Alzheimer’s or a pill to slow ageing. That is because biology, as a field, is largely still about exploring and not yet about engineering. Some of the greatest scientific successes of the past century have come by marrying science and engineering, from the Apollo mission to the Large Hadron Collider. Similarly, the Human Genome Project required both basic research and technology development. The disciplines at the heart of these successes—mathematics, engineering, and material and computer sciences—have propelled the technology economy, giving rise to nearly all of the most dominant companies in the world today.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
Genetic modification of humans
Debates among scientists started roaring last year over a new technology that lets us edit human DNA. It’s called Crispr (pronounced ‘crisper’) and it’s a means of altering people’s DNA to carve diseases like cancer out of the equation.
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
A more aged population than ever before
We won’t just be wrestling with the fact that the world’s population is exploding – but people are living longer than ever, too. Which is great – but all those senior citizens are going to require care. In fact, the number of centenarians will increase more than 50 times – from 500,000 today to over 26 million by 2100. From the UK to Japan to China, societies with large numbers of people over 65 will become more common. In the next couple of decades, as that increase starts to happen, we’ll need better care for the elderly (Japan is even eyeing robots) and perhaps policies to allow more immigrants to try and make up for ageing workforces and in some cases, declining birth rates
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
Lost cities
You don’t need to look very hard in a place like Miami to see how cities are changing in the 21st Century – rising sea levels are gradually making some of them disappear. Fuelled by climate change, not only are floods becoming more common in the streets, but the changing weather patterns have also influenced building design. Aside from more seawalls, the city is requiring all new buildings be built with their first floor built higher. But that’s all a sticking plaster – if current trends continue, we may have to come to terms with losing whole swathes of cities, islands and low-lying regions such as Bangladesh. The economic impact to regions will be profound, and climate refugees could become the norm.
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
The evolution of social media
Social media has complicated the way we communicate for the better part of a decade. And it’s not going anywhere anytime soon, given that most people get their news from it now. That’s before we even get into the mess of online harassment, as well. What might social media look like in 30 years, and by that time, what are some threats it might pose?
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
New geopolitical tensions
The past year has seen a complete upset of our geopolitics’ fragile balance. That could make the global stability of the next couple of decades a complete question mark. North Korean missile launches. Thousands of refugees crossing borders to flee turmoil. Hackers meddling in other nations’ elections. Rising nationalist sentiment worldwide. Headlines in 2016 (and so far, 2017) have been dominated by never-ending political drama that’s been fuelling a ‘geopolitical minefield’ and an ‘unprecedented geopolitical shift’ – whether it’s managing unpredictable North Korea, the plight of Syrian refugees, or Britain’s transition from the European Union. Throw in widespread hacking, nuclear missiles and other dangerous technology, and it’s easy to see why maintaining basic diplomacy becomes vital.
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
Safe car travel?
Despite all the rapid urbanisation and talk of bullet trains and fantastical technology like the Hyperloop coming to the fore, the car isn’t going anywhere – and in fact, in the next couple decades, there will be even more of them on the road.
Driverless car technology is swiftly rolling out, with major tech companies and automakers aggressively seeking to debut human-free vehicles in coming years. But in addition, the sheer number of cars – self-driving or not – is going to skyrocket, studies show. In countries like China that are seeing a growing middle class, the environmental and infrastructural needs that an increasingly road-faring population demands is going to be a grand challenge. How do we ensure safety, fight pollution, and make sure driverless cars aren’t a menace on the road?
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
Dwindling resources
The new tech and devices that characterise the 21st Century all require rare earth metals to make – an average smartphone has over 60 “ingredients”. That’s putting a strain on the planet’s natural resources: in China, where 90% of the world’s rare earth metals are found, it’s estimated that its mines will run out in the next two decades – and good substitutes for those materials are hard to come by.
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC
Settling other worlds
How will space tourism companies make sure their activities are safe? How will we find ways to send humans to Mars or another planet to live there, as Stephen Hawking has urged us to figure out? Space travel might seem like the domain of space agencies and billionaires today, but as it becomes more accessible to everybody else, a whole host of new challenges will emerge. Outer space is increasingly looking less like the final frontier and more like our backyard, and with more money being shelled out to get humans up to the inky abyss than ever before, the logistics, safety and diplomacy behind the challenge all demand serious consideration.
2017
10 grand challenges we’ll face by 2050
The BBC