The Ideas And Breakthroughs That Will Shape The World In 2015

From Ebola to virtual reality, here's what the year has in store for science

January 1, 2015
Robonaut
Robonaut.NASA

In 2015, advances in science and engineering will once again shape the world in profound ways. Here are the most important.

Update: How'd We Do In 2014?

What We Predicted What Actually Happened
The U.S. Army would use Field Deployable Hydrolysis Systems (FDHS) to neutralize chemical warfare agents. FDHS aboard U.S. ships had disposed of many of Syria’s chemical weapons by mid-August.
Tokyo Electric Power Company would build an underground ice wall to sequester contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The company tried, but the ice wall failed because temperatures didn’t drop low enough to freeze the radioactive groundwater.
Infectious diseases like whooping cough and measles would reemerge on a larger scale. We were all too correct; plus, an Ebola outbreak raced through West Africa before jumping to the U.S. and Europe.

Mark Your 2015 Calendars For These Stories:

This article was originally published in the January 2015 issue of Popular Science, under the title, "The Year In Ideas."

Latest

Watch a stunt athlete hit the autobahn (hard) on a bike
Almost everything you know about cheese is wrong
How to protect yourself from rubber bullets—and why these ‘nonlethal’ weapons are so dangerous
Racism is undeniably a public health issue
Meet the hard-working microbes that make your favorite cheeses
Hydroxychloroquine is getting another shot as a COVID-19 treatment
A major study just found hydroxychloroquine doesn’t prevent COVID-19
Eight international cheeses you need to try once
Let your kids be bored—it’s healthy.