The Nature website recently took stock of the eight most noteworthy scientific events in 2024, from the release of more advanced artificial intelligence models to the mass production of disease-resistant mosquitoes, from the execution of manned missions around the moon to the deployment of ultra-high-speed supercomputing, these major events will shape the future of scientific research.
1. GPT-5 is expected to make its debut
The rise of the chatbot ChatGPT has had a profound impact on the scientific field this year, with its developer, San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, predicting that it could release the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) models GPT-5 by the end of next year, which is the underlying technology that underpins the chatbot. GPT-5 is likely to have more advanced features than its predecessor, GPT-4. Scientists are also watching the progress of OpenAI's GPT-4 rival, Google Gemini. Large language models (LLMs) can process many types of input, including text, computer code, images, audio, and video.
2. The new observatory aims at the starry sky
Chile's Vera C. Rubin Observatory plans to start operating some of its instruments by the end of 2024, and then plans to make a decade-long observation of the entire Southern Hemisphere sky. With the observatory's 8.4-meter telescope and massive 3.2-billion-pixel camera, scientists hope to discover more new transient phenomena and near-Earth asteroids.
3. Mass production of disease-resistant mosquitoes
The non-profit organization World Mosquito Project (WMP) will start producing disease-resistant mosquitoes at a factory in Brazil next year. These mosquitoes are infected with a bacterium that prevents them from transmitting pathogenic viruses that can protect up to 70 million people from diseases such as dengue fever and Zika virus. The World Mosquito Programme will produce up to 5 billion disease-resistant mosquitoes annually over the next decade.
4. Manned flight around the moon
Since the 70s of the 20th century, NASA has again launched manned missions to the moon. Artemis II, which will launch as early as next November, will carry four astronauts — three men and one woman — on a 10-day flight around the moon on the Orion spacecraft. Artemis 2 will be ready for the subsequent Artemis III mission, which will land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface.
China is also preparing to return Chang'e-6 lunar samples in 2024. If successful, the mission will be the first to collect samples from the far side of the moon and send them back.
5. Illuminate dark matter
An experiment to detect dark matter particles, known as axons, is expected to see the light of day in 2024. The axions are thought to be emitted by the sun and converted into light, but due to the lack of sensitive detection tools and extremely strong magnetic fields, this tiny particle has not been experimentally observed so far. The BabyIAXO experiment, conducted at the German electron synchrotron in Hamburg, used a solar telescope consisting of a 10-meter-long magnet and an ultra-sensitive noiseless X-ray detector to track the center of the sun 12 hours a day to capture the conversion of axons into photons.
6. Results of the second round of experiments in the "Struggle for Consciousness".
In 2024, scientists may have a new understanding of the neural basis of consciousness. A large-scale project is testing two theories of consciousness through a series of adversarial experiments, and is expected to publish the results of its second round of experiments by the end of 2024. In the first round, neither theory was fully consistent with the observed brain imaging data, leaving the 25-year bet on philosophy rather than neuroscience. A second round of research may bring neuroscience closer to demystifying subjective experience.
7. Save the planet
In the second half of 2024, the International Court of Justice in The Hague is likely to give an opinion on States' legal obligations to address climate change and rule on the consequences that those deemed to be damaging the climate must bear. While the ruling is not legally binding, the court's influence can push countries to accelerate their climate goals and can be invoked in domestic law cases.
8. Super-fast supercomputing
Early next year, researchers will launch Jupiter, Europe's first exascale supercomputer. This huge machine can perform 10 billion calculations per second. The researchers will use the machine to create a "digital twin" model of the human heart and brain for medical purposes and to perform high-resolution simulations of the Earth's climate.
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