subject: The Most Attractive Scientific Fields [print this page] The U.S. "Science" magazine that published on December 21 said that there are six major scientific areas of concern in 2013: the single-cell sequencing, the Planck the probing microwave background radiation, human connection group plan, the exploration under the Antarctic ice, cancer immunotherapy therapy and basic plant research. There are the three of them below.
Single cell sequencing: the cell is the basic unit of biology, and the researchers are working to try to make a separation, do some researches and make a comparison. The present biological research of genome sequencing mostly goes on after the extraction of the genetic material of a large number of cells, ignoring the differences between cells. Thus the single-cell sequencing can avoid this situation. Some scientists believe that by studying a single, intact cells genetic material can understand the working mechanism of the cells someday, especially the brain cells. In 2013, the single-cell sequencing is expected to reveal more information, such as understanding how the cancer cell changes in the tumor as and how many versions of the gene settled in each cell. Also the related technologies is expected to be used for the diagnosis of cancer cells.
Planck the probing microwave radiating background: at present, the scientific community is generally considered the birth of the universe can be trace back to the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, and the microwave radiating background is the "embers" of the big bang, it is evenly distributed in the entire universe. The European Space Agency's Planck satellite is named after the name of the German physicist Max Planck, which carries a series of high-sensitivity instruments that can make a in-depth probe of the cosmic microwave radiating background. In 2013, "Planck" to the cosmic microwave radiating background has planted the most accurate drawing of the universe by far, detecting the cosmology theory with higher precision, and might find the evidence to supply or amend the "big bang" theory.
Human connection group plan: human connection group plan began in 2010 at a cost of $ 38.5 million project aimed at scanning the brains of 1200 healthy adults, comparing the differences of various regions of the brain neural connection and knowing how it lead to cognition and the individual differences of behavioral aspects. And ultimately it can depict the human brain's neural connections. The human connection group plan will be in full swing in 2013. Currently, the supporters and opponents are debating to which degree the brain connection map can promote the understanding of brain function. This time next year, it will provide a much richer data to these disputes.
