• Question: What do you believe is the most fundamental, unanswered question in your field right now, and what are the potential implications if we could answer it?

    Asked by NusratN on 4 Apr 2025.
    • Photo: Christina Schoettler

      Christina Schoettler answered on 4 Apr 2025:

      In my field, a fundamental questions is “is there life on other planets” as I work in astronomy. We have been trying to answer this for many years. I think the answer could be revolutionary for our understanding of our place in the universe.

    • Photo: Charlotte Slade

      Charlotte Slade answered on 8 Apr 2025:

      In surface science, the biggest mystery is how surfaces really behave at the atomic level. We can see incredible detail now, but there’s still so much we don’t understand about how atoms interact on surfaces, especially in real-world conditions.

      If we could crack that code? 🤯

      – We could design insanely efficient solar panels that capture almost all of the sun’s energy. ☀️
      – Batteries that charge in seconds and last for weeks? Totally possible. 🔋
      – Medical implants that perfectly integrate with the human body, no rejection issues? Game-changer.
      – New materials with properties we can’t even imagine right now. ✨

      Basically, understanding surfaces is the key to unlocking a whole new level of technological innovation. It’s like discovering a hidden language that could rewrite the rules of how we design and build everything. It’s a pretty exciting time to be a surface scientist!

    • Photo: Caroline Roche

      Caroline Roche answered on 11 Apr 2025:

      “Will fusion power become a viable reality?”
      We know we can generate energy through fusion power but only for short durations or expending alot of energy. It was only in the last few years that fusion reactions have generated more energy than was put it. There are still lots of research required to overcome certain issues like plasma control. Once all the research is complete, the question remains as to whether it will be value for money compared with building a conventional nuclear power plant (fission) or an SMR.

    • Photo: Neil Barnby

      Neil Barnby answered on 22 Apr 2025:

      Will we ever achieve General AI?
      Some believe we will soo and other believe we may never get it. The potential of getting it could be anything from solving many of the worlds most difficult problems to real life terminator.

    • Photo: Aurelia Brzezowska

      Aurelia Brzezowska answered on 22 Apr 2025:

      What an amazing question. Currently I believe that there are so many unanswered questions surrounding ensuring that cryptographic methods are kept secure with the rise of Quantum computing. Cryptography is scrambling of data such as passwords to make sure noone can read it unless you want them to. Quantum is a new type of computing that can figure out even the hardest puzzles and easily break the most secure cryptographic methods. So… how do we come up with a new way to secure data so noone can read it?

      Think about data you wouldn’t want criminals to have access to: medical records, bank details, personal information about you. We need to keep it safe! If we could answer this question clearly we could protect ourselves for the future to come.

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