Frontiers of science

Optimism is to be found as we look to the Frontiers of Science, where we find the seeds of progress and a series of roadmaps that lead civilization towards solutions and answers for todays most pressing challenges. From unlocking the secrets to the improbable phenomenon of life, to achieving the conversion of material to pure energy in matter-antimatter reactions, science is expanding the future of civilizations potential, and pressing against the bounds our imagination.   The foremost example is the unveiling of those hidden realities presented in imageries coming from the James Webb Telescope, which are provoking new insights and questions about the very beginnings of our Universe, as well as providing clarity about where we might find other life in our galaxy, presenting options for our future on other habitable planets.  

Closer to home, breakthroughs in quantum physics and optical bio-physics(quantum biology) are illumination how processes work at the tinniest scales, providing new insights for how we might eradicate the global scourge of cancer, or how we can tailor materials to harvest light and transform energy with the same unparalleled efficiency as photosynthesis. Not to mention the orders of magnitude increase in computing power that comes with the promise of quantum computers, as well as the ability to effectively model the paradoxical nature of processes operating at the quantum scale and better predict their anomalous effects.  Of note, and pertaining to anomalous quantum effects, are breakthroughs coming from the field of steady state physics, where for example, various materials are being developed that exhibit the properties of superfluidity and superconductivity (the frictionless flow of electricity through a material), which could enable lossless flow of electricity through the energy grid, as well as enabling the generation of high intensity, low heat, magnetic fields that could drive a global network of high speed mag-lev rail corridors efficiently and cost effective.  

As to the challenges of meeting global energy needs and providing effective stewardship over the planet, nothing will be more impactful or effective as finally achieving breakeven and eventual commercialization of fusion power.  As is said, “the power of the sun in a bottle is at our finger tips.” The last several years has seen a steady pulse of progress from the handful of experimental fusion rectors around the world, including new records for plasma temperature, containment time, and reaction energy output.  Aside from the near limitless energy to be harnessed from fusion reactors, the ultra-hot plasmas that many designs employ can be used in a “plasma torch” to process “waste” of virtually any kind, breaking it down into its constituent elements (i.e. the basic elements of the periodic table) to be recycled and used as needed.  Our current waste dumps can become the mines of our future.  Fusion research can be couched in the broader domain of High-Energy Particle Physics, which, among other pursuits, looks to understand and ultimately control in a laboratory setting, the transmutation of one element into another, as naturally happens inside stars and super novi.  Such endeavors are being realized through development and application of next generation lasers, like the petawatt laser, which concentrates the power equivalent to the entire U.S. electrical grid into a dime size pulse.  

The excitement and optimism about the future of these breakthroughs at the frontiers of science have lead to proposals and designs for fusion as well as matter-antimatter reaction rockets, capable of accelerating to a large fractional speed of light, which could put us on Mars in a matter of days (as opposed to months), and puts more distant planets, perhaps habitable ones, within reasonable reach.