Endless Frontiers of Science

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Science is knowledge, and knowledge can inspire certainty. But certainty, as much a fruit of science, can be its enemy. Whatever wonders may meet the eye, there has always been more to the world. On Oscillator, Christina Agapakis explores the frontiers of synthetic biology, where researchers hope to manufacture "altered proteins or entirely different biological polymers" by creating a "parallel genetic code" that uses four-letter codons instead of three. On Starts With A Bang!, Ethan Siegel recounts two centuries of paradigm shifts, and asks what the next "new" law of nature will be. Can protons decay? Does supersymmetry exist? Are quarks composed of even more elementary particles? And on The Island of Doubt, James Hrynyshyn writes that even the most fundamental tenets of our knowledge have "scientists poking around the edges, looking for flaws in the ointment." James dismisses the idea "that the science of anthropogenic global warming is 'settled.' It isn't and never will be."

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