The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency in the US, announced today 14 grand engineering challenges for the 21st century that, if met, would greatly improve our life! They have not ranked it any order, but have left it to the public to vote. The list of 14 was arrived to by a committee of Engineers and Scientists - including Larry Page.
The final choices fall into four themes that are essential for humanity to flourish, - Sustainability, Health, Reducing Vulnerability and Joy of Living, the group said. They also added that rather than focusing on predictions or gee-whiz gadgets, the goal was to identify what needs to be done to help people and the planet thrive.
The final 14 of these fascinating challenges are -
Make solar energy economical.
Provide energy from Fusion.
Working on ways to capture and store excess carbon dioxide to prevent global warming.
Help restore balance to the nitrogen cycle with better fertilization technologies.
Provide access to clean water.
Restore and improve Urban Infrastructure.
Advance health Informatics
Engineer better Medicines.
Reverse engineer the brain.
Prevent nuclear terror.
Secure cyberspace.
Enhance virtual reality.
Advance personalized learning.
Engineer the tools of scientific discovery.
One of the comments on the NAE site was "They forgot to include the need to eliminate the dependence on politicians and lawyers."
Click here to vote for what you think are the top challenges (its a popup on the page, so make sure you allow popups to vote)
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