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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."

11 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Ha! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    They forgot Poland!

  2. eye-dee-ten-tee by zmilo · · Score: 4, Funny

    However much they make computers better, they still haven't solved the classic PEBKAC problem...

  3. Quantum Teleportation by Chembryl · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I can't think of anything better than this:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3576594. stm

    --
    - This and all my posts are public domain. I am a Physicist. I am not your Physicist. This is not Physically advice
  4. 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    Space Ship One did is 50 years out of date.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.

  5. 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.
  6. 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.

  7. 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

  8. Premature by SlayerofGods · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey! I've still got 1 more day to invent cold fusion.

    --

    Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
  9. Speaking Silently? by scooteratl · · Score: 4, Funny

    "And scientists from the NASA Ames Research Center developed speech recognition technology that allows users to speak silently. The scheme uses throat nerve activity rather than acoustics to glean information about what a person is saying. "

    It'd be better if the device could make people -think- before speaking (silently or otherwise). Lincoln noted "Better to keep one's mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt".

    Now doubt can be removed without opening of a mouth!!

    <SILENT>hehehehehe - the fools!!</SILENT>

    --
    He's just zis guy, you know?
  10. I'd pick MPAA and RIAA improvements to P2P by faramir_fr · · Score: 5, Funny

    MPAA and RIAA makes the P2P community evolve at a geometric rate... enjoy EXEEM folks.

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    Home of Faramir Paint Shop Pro scripts
  11. Great Advances of 2004 by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Funny

    The balance on my credit card :-(

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    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.