science magazine is celebrating it’s 125th anniversary with a special “nonist” issue… well not exactly but they describe it thusly- think of it as a survey of our scientific ignorance. humble, honest, and to the point wouldn’t you say? to achieve this they outline 125 questions which are driving scientific research today. they go on to say we are acutely aware that even 125 unknowns encompass only a partial answer to the question that heads this special section: what don’t we know? dandy.

it’s a nice extensive section with many scientific nuts to chew on. some of the questions include: what is the universe made of? what is the biological basis of consciousness? how much can human life span be extended? how does earth’s interior work? are we alone in the universe? how and where did life on earth arise? how are memories stored and retrieved? what is the structure of water? why do we sleep? why do we dream? what is a species? what are the evolutionary roots of language and music? what is the nature of gravity? etc etc. like i said many topics of interest.

you might notice that some of the questions i included here seem oddly basic, stuff you feel almost certain you learned in 7th grade science. that’s the beauty of this list in a certain way. it highlights just how tenuous our understanding of the world, the universe, and ourselves really is. i think it’s healthy to peel back the layers of human hubris and self satisfaction occasionally as reminder of how young we still are, how inexperienced, and with all we seem to have achieved, how far we still have to go in our quest to understand “the big questions.” of course it also points out how much potential for scientific achievement is still hovering all around us. these questions all represent “opportunities to be exploited” as one of the contributors puts it.

by way of deeper (and characteristically sophisticated) commentary on the 125 questions we offer the short photoplay below-

for related reading science magazine’s sister publications, science of aging knowledge environment, the signal transduction knowledge environment, and next wave are also offering some special anniversary content. enjoy, all ye seekers of questions yet to be answered.