CHICAGO — Science moves in little steps, advancing by the accumulated weight of thousands of individuals in fields as narrow as a carbon nanotube.
That can make your average science conference a little dull, as the latest incremental advances in one type of treatment in one study on a single type of cancer cell are presented. The American Association for the Advancement of Sciences annual meeting, however, is not that kind of conference.
The big issues take center stage, at least those that scientists can solve. Liquids maybe, liquidity, not so much. This year, origins of all types will be in focus: what formed our planet, how life began, where humans became humans, and why we started to talk.
Lawrence Krauss, director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State, is delivering the cosmologically cheery talk, "Our Miserable Future," which ties together the the extreme time scales of existence.
"The interesting thing when it comes to the universe: The end of the universe and the beginnings of the universe are tied together," Krauss said. "The future of the universe was determined by what happened in the first moments."
And that ultimately is why origins have such power. By exploring where things came from, we can understand where they might end up. Particularly with a little help from scientists or programmers who have access to different analytical methods. The AAAS meeting is where scientists from different disciplines come together to contextualize their discoveries within the larger scientific community and society itself.
"It was the AAAS that caused me to write my first book. I gave a lecture on cosmology and on dark matter," Krauss said. "The reaction was so great, I realized that it was an area that people think might be worth learning about."
Right now, the methods that scientists use are in the process of a major transformation. Across just about every field of knowledge, the unprecedented computing power of recent years is transforming science. Branching out from their own origins in particle physics and defense applications, large-scale simulations and other quantitative methods practically define big science now. Even biologists have fallen under the sway of large scale computing as they seek to understand the behavior of cells and genes and proteins.
With leading scientists from around the world gathering to talk shop, the conference can become the battleground (or the court room) for the science that matters to people. Last year, the wisdom of biofuels was a heated issue in session after session. This year, it's economics, the dismal science, that's on many people's minds.
The Feb 13-16 conference takes place amidst incredible economic turmoil -- but take solace that on the cosmic scale, life's actually doing quite well. In the long, long, long run, Krauss said that things don't end well. For anything. Later in the life of the universe as it continues to expand faster and faster, the universe will become so cold and devoid of energy that all life will eventually perish, taking its credit card debt with it.
"Life must end," he said.
See Also:
- Wired Science AAAS 2009 Conference Coverage
- Wired Science AGU 2008 Conference Coverage
- Wired Science AAAS 2008 Conference Coverage
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