2013 in science: Robot eyes, comets and big discoveries
- We can predict big advancements in science this year
- "Excitement and anticipation" of comet as bright as the moon
- New dimensions, artificial eyes and a new Mars orbiter
2012 was a big year in science - but there's going to be loads of interesting developments this year. We take a look at what we can expect from science in 2013.
New dimensions discovered? And more about that bloody confusing God Particle
IT was last year's biggest science story. By smashing particles together in a ginormous underground complex (the "Large Hadron Collider"), eggheads discovered the so-called "God Particle". Sounds pretty important, huh?
It was god-awfully tough to understand, but we got the gist of it thanks to this News.com.au science sesh.
(At the simplest level: scientists believe the Boson is probably what makes us, and everything in the universe, weigh something.)
So, we should expect some pretty big new things from the Large Hadron Collider this year, right? All our existential questions, answered?
Nup. 2013 is a cliffhanger year. CERN, who run the Collider, has decided to turn it off in February for a couple of years. Just turning it off is kind of a big job, given that it's a 27km-long circular machine buried 100m under the ground.
You should feel a bit nervous, though, if you're one of those people who were a little concerned scientists might blow up the world with the machine.
The device is only being switched off just so it can can be super-charged. And then, in 2015, they might even be able to find out if there are other dimensions - with their own galaxies and people and news websites.
Comet as bright as the moon
Take a moment to look up at the night sky this year. It's going to be awfully pretty.
A comet that outshines the moon will likely shoot through the sky this November, said Dr Paul Willis of scientific group the Royal Institution of Australia. And it will stay there for some time.
Comet ISON "should be viewable from almost anywhere on the planet," he said, pointing out it could stay in the night sky for months. "There's lots of excitement and anticipation."
It will be the kind of thing you'll only see "once in a century" - we hope.
Artificial eyes – in your head
So you need a new eye. Why not get one installed?
A godsend for the blind, Aussie patients will be equipped with bionic devices in a trial later this year.
Patients will have partial sight. They'll be able to pick out shapes and move around without bumping into things. A big improvement. The model they're trying will involve an implant in the retina (where you see) and probably a pair of glasses. Maybe one day they could be attached to hipster shades, too.
In a world first, our eye experts implanted a bionic eye into patient Dianne Ashworth last August. She now has partial sight.
Robotic army beasts
Does this look scary to you? There's no question about it.
The US military is backing an effort to make Boston Dynamics robotic war-beasts like the one above.
Adios, Aspergers. Hello, other mental disorders
One year you have Asperger's, the next you don't.
There will be a series of controversial changes in the definitions of mental illnesses later this year.
"Asperger's disorder" will no longer exist - under that name, anyway - it will now be classified as "autism spectrum disorder".
Meanwhile, chucking many tantrums all the time in different places and being addicted to sex are both tipped to be classified as disorders.
That's because one of the main guides psychiatrists use to diagnose patients is overhauled for the first time since 1994.
Jon Jureidini, a child psychologist, told News.com.au some changes would do more harm than good.
Curiosity, I am on top of you!
"GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU," the Mars rover Curiosity's Twitter account wailed after it landed last year.
We're sure it'll have something more to say when it's joined by a new NASA robot friend, MAVEN, who's going to be exploring the Martian atmosphere. MAVEN's scheduled to take off for the big red rock in the sky late this year.
Climate change just gets worse
A major report on climate change will be released this year and it won't be bringing happy news.
A leaked draft of the Fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report said climate change was "virtually certain" to be caused by human activities.
"Both what they're saying and the way it's so lightly dismissed by everybody else is truly frightening," Dr Willis, of the Royal Institution of Australia, said. "The heatwaves that are happening at the moment are the fingerprints of climate change.
"Let's stop pussyfooting around and start paying attention."
Discoveries and inventions on the horizon:
- Viruses that kill cancer - Japanese researchers claim they have converted stem cells into specialized disease-killers and attack signs of infection. Including skin cancer and HIV. But there's a lot of work to be done before we can take this seriously.
- Fluffy dinosaurs - Paleontologists reckon we're going to discover a lot more feathered dinosaurs - and figure out how meat-eating dinos ended up as little birdies
- Hovercars - Kidding. Don't get your hopes up.