Two simple ques tions
NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave
Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) was
used to help determine the age
of the Universe (p12)Humans are curious animals. Curious in terms of our
behaviour, certainly but more importantly, we’re
curious by nature. We have a deep-seated need to
discover new things and understand why the things
we discover are the way they are. It’s this curiosity
that brought us down from the trees and led us up into
space, and at the heart of it are two simple questions. Questions that,
despite the best attempts of our brightest minds, we still can’t quite
answer. Where did we come from? And where are we going? Science
has brought us closer than anything else to getting viable, and
verifiable, answers to those questions. But we’re still a long way
from having the full story and so the search for answers continues.
That search is not in vain, though. Looking for answers to these
questions ha s enabled us to accumulate a va st body of knowledge
that gives us a ver y good idea of how the Universe began, how st ars
and planets form, how physical traits are passed from parents to
their offspring, and how our brains work. And although this
knowledge may not yet be able to answer those two simple
questions, it ’s enough to give us an inkling of what the answers
might be and where we might find them.
That’s where this Special Edition comes in. We’ve sought out the
experts who are searching for the answers to those questions and
asked them to explain how we’ve arrived at our current
understanding of the Universe and ourselves, and what implications
that understanding has for the future... of science and us. Because,
while we may not have all the answers yet, there’s no question that
the knowledge we’ve accumulated already is invaluable.Daniel Bennett, EditorWANT^ MORE?FOLLOWSCIENCEFOCUSON^FACEBOOKTWITTER^PINTERESTINSTAGRAM^GE
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EDITORIAL
Editor Daniel Bennett
Managing editor Alice Lipscombe-Southwell
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Press officer Carolyn Wray
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Production director Sarah Powell
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PUBLISHING
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Circulation manager Rob Brock© Immediate Media Co Bristol Ltd 2019. First published in 2016.
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