Thought the science of the future was all hoverboards and space travel? Think again.
Every day, scientists come up with the ingenious solutions and surprising discoveries that will define our future. So here, Jim Al-Khalili and his crack team of experts bin the crystal ball and use cutting-edge science to get a glimpse of what's in store.
From whether teleportation is really possible . . ., to what we'll do if artificial intelligence takes over, What's Next? takes on the big questions. And along the way, it'll answer questions like: Will we find a cure to all diseases? An answer to climate change? Will bionics make us into superheroes?
Touching on everything from genetics to transport, and nanotechnology to teleportation, What's Next? is a fascinating, fun and informative look at what's in store for the human race.
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This page was added on 20 May and as yet does not appear on the Updates page.
Here is a list of quotations enabling the reader to go to them directly by indicating how far down the page they appear. eg 18.5
Of course, you will need the book.
Prof Jim Al-Khalili is to be found at Surrey University.
He was 12 when I secured my first university appointment there in 1974.
Chapter 1 Demographics
... it is not clear we can sustain a planet with more than nine billion people on it. 8.1
Climate change - which can increase soil erosion [etc] is expected to decrease productivity.. 8.4
The outlook is no better for water. 3/4 of a billion people currently face water scarcity. 8.8
.. Creating s true science of sustainability is .. the most important objective .. 9.9
.. a UN report announced that more than half [of us] live in cities. 10.3
..by 2035, c 60% [of us] will live in urban areas. 10.7
Climate change will inevitably increase migration .. 10.9
.. a 2011 survey of Britons aged 16 - 24 found that 45% felt happiest online. 14.01
If a job can be done by a robot, it probably will be. 15.4
.. futurology can and must force us to hold up a mirror to ourselves. 19.15
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Chapter 2 The biosphere
A lot about turtles.
The natural world is reeling from our global impacts, and for turtles, like so many other species, it's only getting worse. Should we care? 22.6
In this new human age, we can no longer leave the natural world to manage itself under our onslaught - that way, only weeds will survive.
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3 Climate change
Climate change will be one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. 32.45
Climate is what you expect, weather is was you get. 33.1
CO2 levels are now over 30% higher than 100 years ago. 34.5
and indeed over 30% higher than 800,000 years ago. 34.6
Fast forward to 2050. Global sea level has risen by another 30cm.
The Arctic is now ice-free in summer. 38.5
Across the Tropics, it is more difficult to work outside. 39.2
.. the way we live must change 41.15
"Man cannot still the raging of the wind, but he can predict it. ..". (- 1859) 43.9
Piers Sellers - British astronaut.
From this God's-eye-view, I saw how fragile and infinitely precious the Earth is.
I'm hopeful for its future. 44.9
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4 The future of medicine
Drug-resistant infections are likely to dominate headlines in coming decades. 51.45
[[[ Published in 2117, the author must have smelt the Covid situation.]]
[A USA estimation.] .. by 2025, human genome data will require more computer storage space than Youtube or Twitter. 52.9
In future, it will be up to us to manage our predicted health risks. 54.01
In 1970, only two cities had more than 10 million inhabitants. .. in 2017 - 37 such 'megacities' 55.9
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5 Genetics and genetic engineering
[[[ GE = genetic engineering ]]]
GE is what we have called the manipulation of genes. 58.9
Genomics is a way of collecting and mapping complete gene data sets. 59.2
Between 2007 and 2014, 500k US consumers alone bought home testing kits ... 60.
Rather than requiring massive machinery, the new sequencers can fit inside your pocket. 61.99
[[ Beyond genome editing ]]
.. will take us beyond the alphabet of the genome to its grammar and punctuation. 63.5
[[ But ]]
The human genome ... contains information about ethnic heritage .. mental health .. that has serious implications for our privacy. 60.01
[[ Ability to design living things. ]]
'The use and rapid advance of this technology is inevitable.' ... 'We couldn't stop it even if we wanted to. Just like computers.' 69.8
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pagetop here The source of the image and initial text is here.
Nothing to do with the book but this helps to imagine a crowded future.
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