At the start of the new year, the editors of NEMO Kennislink are already taking a cautious look ahead:what will science bring us in 2020?
The year started well for science in 2019. On New Year's Day, the New Horizons spacecraft captured the ancient icy double comet Ultima Thule for the first time. A month later, the government decided that from February 1, 2019, pharmacies may also counterfeit patented medicines in cases of medical necessity for individual patients, just as our editor Elles Lalieu predicted last year.
In 2019 we also saw the publication of a working, efficient molecular power plant made by Groningen researchers. This tiny plant is intended to power synthetic cells so that these cells can make their own parts and then grow and divide. A complete, living synthetic cell is still a long way off, but in 2020 we can expect to see the first steps in the link between that power plant and other (growth) processes in synthetic cells. According to editor Esther Thole, that milestone is within reach.
A special committee is currently revising the Dutch history canon of 2006. It will announce the result in 2020, and tension is already rising:just as with the Zwarte Piet discussion and the slavery discussion, there are proponents and opponents of more attention for the less flourishing pages of our history. Even politicians tried to steer this process, but the canon committee wanted no political interference. Of course she does include new historical research, but that does not necessarily make the revision any easier:in slavery history research, for example, a group of young researchers are confronted with a more moderate establishment, also with regard to the research results. According to editor Marjolein Overmeer, this canon will cause a lot of discussion in 2020…
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Our society is becoming increasingly multilingual. NEMO Kennislink editor Mathilde Jansen therefore foresees a great deal of research in 2020 into the effects of multilingualism and into new methods for a multilingual approach in education. At the same time, the first results can be expected in Merel Keijzer's (RUG) research into learning a foreign language as a therapy to combat aging. And what about the effect of English-language education on our Dutch language skills? Research into language in the brain will also provide new insights into individual differences in language skills between people. And there may be new technology on the market that can help us improve language skills.
According to editor Roel van der Heijden, it will be even busier on Mars from 2020:this year NASA declared Mars rover Opportunity dead after fifteen years. Engineers have had no contact with the cart for months. The Curiosity rover — landed in 2012 — is now the only moving robot on Mars. But reinforcements are on the way:Europe and Russia will launch their first Mars rover in July 2020. Named after Rosalind Franklin, it can drill up to two meters deep into Mars. A month later, it's Mars 2020's turn. NASA's newest rover has to land in the Jezero crater where it will search for (ancient) traces of life. He collects about thirty samples for a later return to Earth. The rover also carries a drone, a first on the planet. The arrival of the new Mars robots is not planned until 2021.
We measure and share more and more data about our health, for example via apps like Fitbit. According to a report from the Stanford University School of Medicine, "only" 153 billion gigabytes of data were produced in 2013. By next year, that will have increased to more than 2 trillion gigabytes. Much of that data is useful. It can be used for research into disease prevention, better ways of diagnosis and new treatment options. But the question is also where all our health data (may) end up. Who may use that data and for what purpose? Editor Elles Lalieu expects that discussion will become more frequent in the coming years.
The brains of patients with Alzheimer's contain protein accumulations. There is still no medicine to clear up those so-called plaques, but scientists continue to search. In the United States, a clinical study started in 2019 on light and sound waves to reduce the symptoms of the disease. In mice, this therapy activates immune cells in the brain that clear up the protein accumulations. It is a radically new way of treatment about which little else is known. According to editor Mariska van Sprundel, we will undoubtedly hear more about this in 2020.
We are slowly losing our miracle cures for infections. More and more microbes are at risk of becoming resistant to antibiotics. It is estimated that 700,000 people die every year from an infection with resistant bacteria. If this development continues, it will kill 10 million people by 2050, economist Jim O'Neill calculated in 2014. That is more than die from cancer. That requires action. The pharmaceutical industry is not very interested, but luckily science is. Editor Anne van Kessel expects (and hopes) that in 2020 there will be new breakthroughs in the development of new resources. What are you hoping for in 2020? Share it with us in the comments below.