Trade journal expects research breakthroughs in medicine and space travel
Published: Friday, Dec 27th 2024, 11:20
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Mind-reading machines, new remedies for body fat and advances in particle physics: these are the scientific achievements that the specialist journal "Nature" expects to see in 2025.
PILLS FOR OVERWEIGHT: "Nature" expects "a wave" of new treatments for obesity in 2025, according to the journal's website. Following the great popularity of fat-away injections such as Wegovy in 2024, anti-obesity drugs in the form of pills could come onto the market next year. According to Nature, such drugs are easier to produce and therefore potentially cheaper than current treatments. The specialist journal refers to a phase III study on the pill Orforfilpron from the US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, which is due to be completed in 2025.
MACHINES THAT READ THOUGHTS: In addition, "Nature" expects advances in so-called brain-computer interfaces (BCI). These are technologies that enable direct communication between the human brain and external devices. According to the specialist magazine, China is planning to test new BCIs in 2025. One of these products, called NEO, will enable paralyzed people to control their hands again with their brain.
Switzerland is also working on mind-reading machines. Two years ago, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Lausanne University Hospital (Chuv) implanted a paralyzed man with an implant that allowed him to control his legs with his thoughts for the first time.
FURTHER STEPS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE MOON: 2025 will be a busy year for lunar traffic, writes "Nature". After a spacecraft from a private company landed on the moon for the first time in history in 2024, the specialist magazine expects several similar missions in the coming year. The Tokyo-based company "ispace" and the US company "Intuitive Machines" are planning to land devices on the moon. In addition, the US space agency NASA is sending a new mission to the moon.
THE SMALLEST PARTICLES ON THE TRACK: In particle physics, "Nature" expects several new developments. After more than a decade of construction, researchers hope to be able to put the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Sweden into operation in 2025. In this facility, scientists want to accelerate neutrons to almost the speed of light and then shoot them at heavy metals. This will allow them to study the structure of the materials in more detail.
At the same time, a detailed feasibility study for a planned new supercollider is to be completed at the European Nuclear Research Center Cern in Geneva in 2025. Called the "Future Circular Collider", the particle accelerator with a circumference of 91 kilometers is intended to replace the current Large Hadron Collider (LHC). However, a decision on the construction of this new facility is not expected until 2028 at the earliest.
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