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Top Ten Advances in 2004

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the blinded-me-with-science dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Technology Research News has released it's top ten picks for advances of 2004. Something for everyone here including notable advances in biotechnology, communications, computing, engineering, energy, security, nanotechnology, applied physics and the Internet."

5 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Where the heck by F34nor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Space Ship One did is 50 years out of date. Nothing new just a shift from public to private sector. Plus its a rip off of a luftwaffe design.

  2. Re:Where the heck by bc90021 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's a difference between a thing that hasn't been done before (ie, sending an encryption key via quantum entanglement), and something that's been done before but was then done by private enterprise.

    That is, Space Flight, while new to the private sector, is not new in general.

    --
    libertarianswag.com
  3. A year is much too short by nodehopper · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The really big advances can't be put into a list spanning a year. Propably the biggest acheivement is the mapping of the Genome, which took years and is still being added to and made more complete. Not to mention the foundation of scientific advances that the project built itself on. I am sure there are a few "Eureka!" moments in science, but really this can't be looked at with an "MTV" short attention span perspective. It makes an end of year list but that is realy all that it is.

    --
    "We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. " Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  4. Missing Category: Ethics by Marge+N.+Lacoste · · Score: 4, Insightful
    1945 was a great year for technology-- not so great for ethics. Just ask Oppenheimer.

    There are real ethical issues that don't get discussed in the popular press; these are just in the biotech field:

    Placebos in clinical trials
    Genetic mapping and privacy
    Patents on gene sequences/organisms
    Cloning

    The genie does not go back in the bottle. Let's get it right the first time.

  5. China's Pebble Bed Reactor Plan by Kobun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd put in for China's plan to expand their energy generation. It would be awesome to see Pebble Bed reactors get some decent coverage mainstream to their stability and safety. If china leads here, I can only hope we play follow the leader. Rolling blackouts, caused by deadly waves of stupid, are just embarrassing. wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor