NYT Top 25 Science Questions

[Superfly]

Link

Science

(1) Does Science Matter? Does matter matter?
(2) Is War Our Biological Destiny?
(3) Will Humans Ever Visit Mars?
(4) How Does the Brain Work?
(5) What Is Gravity, Really?
(6) Will We Ever Find Atlantis? Go to the Bahamas, it's $125 a night.
(7) How Much of the Body is Replaceable? Everbody is replaceable
(8) What Should We Eat?
(9) When Will the Next Ice Age Begin?
(10) What Happened Before the Big Bang?
(11) Could We Live Forever?
(12) Are Men Necessary? ...
... Are Women Necessary?
(13) What Is the Next Plague?
(14) Can Robots Become Conscious?
(15) Why Do We Sleep? Uh....because we're tired?
(16) Are Animals Smarter Than We Think? All animals except the human kind, right?
(17) Can Science Prove the Existence of God?
(18) Is Evolution Truly Random?
(19) How Did Life Begin?
(20) Can Drugs Make Us Happier? Smarter? Wuh? I was just feeding my munchies with Klondike Bars....
(21) Should We Improve Our Genome?
(22) How Much Nature Is Enough?
(23) What Is the Most Important Problem in Math Today?
(24) Where Are Those Aliens? Texas and Arizona. Oh, and Wal-Mart has a few, too.
(25) Do Paranormal Phenomena Exist? Does the example of having a man-ape in office count?

Italicized stuff added by me

[GAspnes]

1. all interesting questions

although they're not the ones I would ask.

[WindRavenX]

2. The most important question is the one relating to gravity

It seems that we have absolutly no real grasp as to what it is...and I doubt we ever will.
If you think about gravity, it's just bizzare.
<--sci geek

[trotsky]

3. Comment on #10.

It's a nonsense question. According to theory, time itself originated with the big bang. To ask what happened "before" the big bang is like trying to go north from the North Pole.

[Maple]

5. Really?

You're sure of that eh?

Wow...are YOU in for a rough ride in the 21st century!

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. What's so special about the 21st century?

Asking "what happened before the big bang" is indeed like asking what's north of the north pole.

There is no time before the big bang; our origins, the origin of the entire universe, assuming the big bang happened, are at the big bang. That is time = 0. beyond time=0, it's all philosphy, and never could be provable, showable, or other than pure speculation, and therefore not relevant.

Of course, that's only if the big bang happened, but the paremeter of the question implied the truth of the big bang.

if there was no big bang, perhaps there was never a time=0, and we can go infinitely back in time. That would be quite scary, but also be quite cool.

[HereSince1628]

14. String theory suggests some things about pre-big bang

Not to say that string theory is really accepted yet, but its looking very interesting...some of the physics/maths whizzes think that the bang itself was a collision of "branes" short for membranes...

And the next few decades are going to push string theory aroung pretty hard, so I agree for folks who don't believe there was a pre-bang this will be a hard time.

[trotsky]

20. LOL, "a hard time"?

I accept the big bang theory currently, because it has the most evidence to support it.

As string theory grows and matures, should it postulate a different origin to the universe which explains the data better, I'll accept that instead!

That's the beauty of science - it easily allows you to change your opinion based on new data.

And there's nothing "hard" about it!

[HereSince1628]

4. There is no better answer for 7 that was beautiful

[Superfly]

6. Zank you!

I aim to please!

[sweetheart]

7. funny the omissions

I would make a bunch more quesitons
on epistemology (what is knowledge?) and on philosophy of mathematics... instead they skip straight to presuming what knowledge is by the implied methodological approach.

But then again, its the NYT.

[GAspnes]

8. I'm with you

wrong questions.

[HereSince1628]

17. All the questions are not those that scientists might ask.

how correct scientists are in assuming they know things is an extremely important question to the processes of science, but it is typically treated as philosophy rather than science. Certainly mathematics is a branch of philosophy that is incredibly important to science, but I also don't think mathematics is traditionally considered science.

Outside of science questions that I think are important include what knowedge should be "conserved." Entire areas of biology are being abandoned in the pursuit of economic incentives, does society have a responsibility to "store" the collected writings about what is known and train curators to understand it enough to be able to explain it to later generations who could benefit from it? Libraries are dumping books in order to add computer stations, and the is little effort to protect "the body of science" that is its published findings.

[nuxvomica]

19. Epistemology is a sadly neglected field

Modern science has left it by the wayside, assuming a narrow path to knowledge that has imperiled us all.

[HereSince1628]

9. Things that fit in our mouths...

(8)What Should We Eat?

[Superfly]

10. A more useful question would be:

(8) What should we NOT eat?

Like, stay away from that arsenic! Don't suck on that Uranium, young man! You know, eating glue makes you look like a nerd. etc, etc etc

[HereSince1628]

12. Evolution doesn't seem all that random to me.

It certainly includes some random processes but they aren't the whole story.

[nuxvomica]

13. My answers

Yes, but it is ill-defined. No more than the appendix is a necessary organ. Yes. As a hologramic repository restricting action. Space. Yes. None of it. What our ancestors grew locally. Shortly if today's any example. This begs the question. We already do. No and yes. Nanorobots. As much as humans can. Perchance to dream. No but wiser than we are. No. Yes, it wouldn't work otherwise. In clay. Briefly; easily. Not deliberately. More than we have now. I don't know. In our imagination. Yes but studying them is pointless.

[Endangered Specie]

15. As a science buff, let me answer a few:

1- YOu ever use a light bulb, medicine. My fathers wisdom "When your car breaks down, do you take it to a faith healer, or an auto mechanic". Read the scientific method.
5- Hot topic in science now, no one really knows
11- No, 2nd law of thermodynamics prevents any perpetual machine, which disqualifies us too.
12- No men=no sperm, No women=no eggs, pretty self explanitory, almost every species on earth has 2 genders, must be pretty effective, dont screw with it
16- Intelligence is pretty hard to measure, most animals are good at what they were 'designed' to do, else they wouldnt survive.
17- Absolutely not, either way, Science deals strictly in explaing/understanding "Natural" phenomena, God, is strictly a supernatural entitity.
18- Lets not forget about Natural Selection, although mutations can be random, natural selection favors those mutations that are useful. eq (more camoflouged animals less likely to get eaten=more chance of reproduce, offspring have that extra camaflouge, over the period of a few thousand- few million generations)
21- Evolution will take care of that
23- depends on what mathmetician you ask, "Twin Primes" comes to mind

[HereSince1628]

16. regarding 12, I say neither men or women are necessary

on the basis that I don't think that _L_ife actually requires homo sapiens. Certainly some species would have different existances if we weren't here, but I can imagine fully functional ecosystems completely devoid of humans...

As a point of fact, most of the species on the planet appear to be unicellular bacteria or bacteria-like things. They don't have males and females as such. Consequently, almost every species doesn't have two genders. Nevertheless, sexual reproduction is very common, extraordinarily so in multicelluar organisms. Its commonness among such organisms certainly argues that it works well for them.

[The Bish]

18. Answers stolen from another list.

(1) Does Science Matter?
Yes.

(2) Is War Our Biological Destiny?
Yes.

(3) Will Humans Ever Visit Mars?
Yes.

(4) How Does the Brain Work?
Sporadically.

(5) What Is Gravity, Really?
Heaviness.

(6) Will We Ever Find Atlantis?
No.

(7) How Much of the Body is Replaceable?
All of it.
(8) What Should We Eat?
Food.

(9) When Will the Next Ice Age Begin?
Shortly after the Sleet Age.

(10) What Happened Before the Big Bang?
The Big Fizz.

(11) Could We Live Forever?
No.

(12) Are Men Necessary? ...
No.

...  Are Women Necessary?
No.

(13) What Is the Next Plague?
A very nasty disease.

(14) Can Robots Become Conscious?
Only if you let 'em wake up.

(15) Why Do We Sleep?
To prevent tiredness.

(16) Are Animals Smarter Than We Think?
No, with the possible exception of the octopus.

(17) Can Science Prove the Existence of God?
No.

(18) Is Evolution Truly Random?
Yes.

(19) How Did Life Begin?
Chemically.

(20) Can Drugs Make Us Happier? Smarter?
Yes. No.

(21) Should We Improve Our Genome?
Absolutely!

(22) How Much Nature Is Enough?
This much.

(23) What Is the Most Important Problem in Math Today?
The one you're currently stuck on.

(24) Where Are Those Aliens?
What aliens?

(25) Do Paranormal Phenomena Exist?
Of Course Not.

[pmbryant]

21. Very peculiar list for something labelled "science"

Many of those questions are really philosophy, not science (e.g., "Does science matter?", "How much nature is enough?", "Should we improve our genome?"). Or engineering/politics/prognostication ("Will humans ever visit Mars?")

And why do they ask "When Will the Next Ice Age Begin?" rather than the much more pressing question "What will global warming due to the Earth's climate in coming centuries"?

Interesting list of questions, definitely, but calling them "science" is a bit of a misnomer.

--Peter