Science Stories We’re Watching For in 2008

A full slate of family and travel for the past couple of weeks has meant that we’ve been neglecting the blog. But we’re back home now and getting ready for a new year of the exciting, the weird, and the unexpected.

We’re the sort of people who like to look forward, so instead of joining the herd of 2007 year-end wrapup stories, we thought we’d put together a list of the science stories we want to hear more about in the coming year.

1. Possible Asteriod Impact on Mars: The probability that Asteroid 2007 WD5 will smack into Mars on January 30th is up to 3.9% -- a 1 in 25 chance. While the most likely outcome is still a miss, we can both still remember watching Comet Shoemaker-Levy collide with Jupiter back in 1994 and we certainly wouldn’t mind getting another stab at that sort of data collection in our lifetimes. As long as it’s not on Earth.

2. Manned Space Exploration:  Once again, NASA has a new plan for manned exploration beyond Earth -- but is it going anywhere?  The actual hardware designs look like an attempt to build a simpler, cheaper orbital ferry to replace the aging Space Shuttle, and Congress has specifically forbidden work on a manned Mars mission.  On the plus side, the private space launch business continues to make progress, and other nations are joining the spacefaring club. 

3. More Results from New Dinosaur Fossils: We’ve got a soft spot for dinosaurs -- new fossil discoveries make us happy. And between new techniques for studying fossils and new, unusually well preserved specimens, the next few years are looking like an exciting time for the studies of ancient life. We’re particularly interested in seeing the first peer-reviewed results from Phil Manning and Tyler Lyson’s study of “Dakota,” a hadrosaur preserved with fossilized soft tissues.

4. Advances in Robotics:  We're in a kind of Golden Age of robotics right now.  Robots -- especially for military and consumer applications -- are becoming more capable, more autonomous, and more affordable.  Of course, there's still a long way to go before these robots can truly act independently, but surprising developments are becoming practically routine. And cyborg applications keep getting better and better too.  We're keeping an eye out for the Robot Uprising…

5. Understanding Type 1 Diabetes: This is a personal one, admittedly. Scientists have probably identified all of the genes inside the major histocompatibility complex that are risk factors for type 1 diabetes. That’s an important step for pinpointing how the immune system goes haywire, targeting and killing insulin-secreting beta-cells. Diane isn’t expecting a cure anytime soon, but she watches the steps toward one with great interest. And if she ever has a spare $1000, she might even consider going in for a gene scan to determine what her particular mutations are.

6. Life Beyond Earth:  SETI projects like seti@home continue to sift the interstellar radio noise for signs of intelligence.  Meanwhile, astronomers continue to locate planets circling nearby stars.  It's certainly unlikely, but there's always the chance that this will be the year when a water-covered planet or an artificial signal turns up.