Four Discoveries That Can Change Our World

A series of major science findings in the last few weeks has excited scientists and doctors. Will it live up to the hype?

- N Madhavan

The last one month has probably seen the maximum number of ‘holy grail’ discoveries in the scientific world—two in the field of physics and two in medicine. All of them have been solutions mankind has been seeking for decades. If they grow beyond the experimental stage and become common use, they could make the world a better place.

Imagine the possibilities. One could provide us with an unlimited source of green and safe energy. The second could improve the world’s sustainability by making electricity grids efficient while cutting down transmission and distribution losses massively. In the medical field, the first of the two discoveries could give the world an effective cure for one of the most fearsome diseases known to humans—cancer. The fourth discovery is about controlling Alzheimer’s, a disease that slows down man’s cognitive and functional performance. Currently, it has no cure or disease-modifying treatment.

All these discoveries come with challenges. They need to be replicated and pass peer review. In the case of medical discoveries, they need to clear clinical trials, and the benefits they eventually offer should far outweigh their side-effects. But the scientific community appears excited. Scientists are also sceptics. They have begun looking at these claims closely. A few may fail to make the cut but as Albert Einstein said, “failure is success in progress".

Nuclear fusion

On 30 July, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, announced that they had achieved net energy gain in a fusion reaction. In other words, they managed to generate more energy than what the process consumed.