A Conversation for Ask h2g2

The Holy Grails of science

Post 1

The Groob

Just reading the energy and genetics thread inspired me to ask: what are the holy grails of science? I'm sure it's partly a matter of opinion. Also, does anyone - or their line of work/hobbies etc - have their own personal holy grails?


The Holy Grails of science

Post 2

Iridium

Finding a way to get truly facile catalytic activation and functionalisation of methane to important chemical feed stocks would be a good one for my field of work. Tends to be rather difficult except under harsh conditions though

smiley - scientist


The Holy Grails of science

Post 3

Iridium

Not in my field, but sustainable, cheap, clean nuclear fusion.

smiley - scientist


The Holy Grails of science

Post 4

BobTheFarmer

Cold Fusion

Which has been rubbished many a time, but there was a very interesting article in a recent New Scientist about how the US Navy research department have found evidence for it, in a net energy GAIN when putting current through a D2O solution with a palladium electrode...


The Holy Grails of science

Post 5

Teuchter

THE Holy Grail?

A cure/prevention for cancers


My own particular Grail - the elimination of periodontal disease. It would be great if there was a way of removing the genetic predisposition some people have for perio-disease.


The Holy Grails of science

Post 6

Iridium

Speaking of scientific Holy Grails, one of them used to be the formation of noble gas compounds like xenon and krypton which was done by Bartlett in the 60's. Not all that useful but scientifically interesting. Just recieved the TOC alert fo the journal of the american chemical society and there's a couple of back to back communications on the formation of xenon acetylenes HXeCCH (JACS 2003, 125, p4696 & 4698 if anyone's interesed)

smiley - scientist


The Holy Grails of science

Post 7

Xanatic

Making a superconductor that works at room temperature.


The Holy Grails of science

Post 8

Saturnine

Not science : but the perfect sentence, paragraph, chapter, book. I strive for that necessary perfection in what I write, like most writers do. Something that will set the world on fire. Of course, I will never get there, but that is the whole point, is it not?

smiley - smiley


The Holy Grails of science

Post 9

Ste

Fully understanding embryonic development (plants and animals)
HIV vaccine
Cure for the common cold
Conquering antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Sequencing the genomes of all known species
Drought, salt, and heavy-metal tolerant GM crops
Pharmacogenomics
Tissue, limb and organ regeneration
Anti-gravity devicessmiley - cool

To name a few.

Personally? To understand evolution from multiple angles, from genetics to genomics, with subjects ranging from ecology to molecular biology to bioinformatics.smiley - biggrin

Stesmiley - mod


The Holy Grails of science

Post 10

Blizita

From what I understand the thing the gets alot of scientist all lathered up is the "Theory of Everything" also know as "Universal Field Theory", the theory that will basically allow scientists to understand and predict chaos theory.

Personally, I'd like to break the speed of light.

Blizita smiley - starsmiley - rocketsmiley - earth


The Holy Grails of science

Post 11

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

A world in which the square pegs can find a comfortable niche without the round holes making fun of them and telling them they'll have to conform.
smiley - run


The Holy Grails of science

Post 12

kea ~ Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small, unregarded but very well read blue and white website

If the science in the subject line is Science as commonly defined on h2g2, then the subject line is an oxymoron.

The Holy Grail being a cultural mythology of an essentially mystical experience - which according to some (though by no means all) defintions is antithetical to Science.

smiley - whistle


The Holy Grails of science

Post 13

IctoanAWEWawi

Blizita, I may be totally wrong here, but I thought it was the *Unified* Field Theory since it is unifying theory?


The Holy Grails of science

Post 14

milo

I'd go with cold fusion, matter/energy conversion and immortality.

Plus a nice pot noodle.


The Holy Grails of science

Post 15

milo

And yes, it is the *unified* theory.


The Holy Grails of science

Post 16

JHP

Improbability Drive??


The Holy Grails of science

Post 17

Zantic - Who is this woman??

smiley - erm Currently from my point of view...ever getting an experiment to work. Oh...and to be paid better! smiley - winkeyesmiley - laugh

Curing cancer (on a serious note) which I am hopefully helping to do in my own small..and not working...way.

How about an air-conditioning system that works while we are at it?


The Holy Grails of science

Post 18

The Groob

AI


The Holy Grails of science

Post 19

Hoovooloo

Nanotechnological universal assemblers.

H.


The Holy Grails of science

Post 20

The Biggest Hairiest Scotsman in the Land

You should ask.... What are the Holy Grails of SCIENTISTS

If I remember my university classes [which I don't] the whole point of science is hypothesis testing -- it's a METHOD, not a RESULT. HOwever, it is SCIENTISTS who define which Hypotheses they wish to test (according to Scientific Method)....

Most of the answers above are applied science with the exception of UFT, wich is really a part of GUT - Grand Unified Theory... which is the Theory of Everything -- even though it's not.... You might know all there is to know about fundamental particles and their interactions, but that's a long way away from knowing how to make a good cup of tea!

BTW: From those I've known, the Holy Grail of most scientists is FREE MONEY, INSTANT TENURE, NO LECTURES [except the ones they feel like doing], QUARTERLY CONFERENCES in SANTA MONICA, and PEER-REVIEW that RECOGNIZES GENIUS when it SEES it.

my ha'penny farthing!


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