What to expect in the world of science in 2009

Washington, Jan 8 (ANI): A panel of experts has outlined what to look forward in the field of science in 2009.

According to a report in National Geographic News, in the field of animal science, rapidly evolving DNA-sequencing techniques are increasingly being applied to animals, which could lead to smarter wildlife management.

"New technologies allow scientists to spot changes in wildlife gene frequency quickly and affordably," said Timothy Beardsley, editor in chief of BioScience magazine.

By monitoring these genetic variants season to season, researchers can see how populations of animals move and reproduce within changing habitats.

In the field of archaeology, it is suggested that some of 2009's most exciting digs will be undersea.

"There is a lot of good work on everything from Bronze Age shipwrecks in the Aegean to Paleolithic archaeology," said Eric Powell, a senior editor at Archaeology magazine.

"People are starting to think of underwater archaeology as focused not just on nautical history, but on the prehistoric landscape that existed when glaciers had water tied up and sea levels were much lower," he added.

Powell expects new evidence of pre-Columbian mingling to shake-up the field as well.

"I think in the coming year, you're going to see some discoveries announced that shed light on the New World/Old World contacts before Columbus came," he said.

In the field of astronomy, 2009 promises advancements in the form of new researches.

This spring, the European Space Agency is launching its Planck spacecraft, which will study cosmic microwave background radiation.

Also, the fifth and final service mission for the Hubble Space Telescope, in May 2009, will make the telescope more powerful than ever-even after 18 years aloft.

In the field of biology, a suite of developing molecular technologies is allowing a much closer look at the essential processes unfolding inside the cell-and how they can be seriously altered by chemicals.

Paleobiologist Douglas Erwin sees a big year ahead for isotopic geochemistry, a field in which scientists measure levels of elements in rock.

The technique has revealed huge changes in the ancient Earth's past environment and provided new clues to the origins of life.

The field of medicine may undergo a revolution in 2009 in the form of personalized pills.

"The big theme in biomedicine at the moment is the field of personalized medicine, where medicine appropriate for our individual genome is becoming a practical possibility," said Jason Pontin, editor in chief of MIT's Technology Review magazine.

And, in the world of physics, scientists remain abuzz about the 2009 startup of the Geneva, Switzerland-based Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which malfunctioned just nine days after it was turned on. The machine is expected to be up and running again in June. (ANI)