Science changes the world. As 2019 just unveils its calendar, what should we expect in science and what scientific breakthroughs will reshape our life? Nature, one of the most recognizable scientific journals in the world, recently forecast a list of cutting-edge research projects, that will promisingly change the world in the coming year.
科学改变世界。2019年伊始，科学界有什么值得期待的新发现会改变我们生活的轨迹？顶级科学期刊《自然》最近列出了当下最前沿的研究项目，它们或许会在接下来的一年斩获突破，为我们的认知带来巨变。
Polar Projects
极地科考
In January, US and UK researchers will descend on Antarctica to begin their largest joint mission to the continent in more than 70 years. The aim of the five-year project is to understand whether the remote and seemingly unstable Thwaites Glacier will start to collapse in the next few decades. Later in 2019, European scientists plan to start drilling into the ice sheet on Antarctica’s glacier in a quest to recover a 1.5-million-year-old ice core. If they’re successful, the core will yield the oldest pristine record of climate and atmospheric conditions.
在本月，英美两国的研究人员即将登上南极洲，开启70多年来两国合作规模最大的一次南极科考。该项目耗时五年，试图弄清状态并不稳定的“思怀兹冰川”是否会在接下来的几十年中发生崩塌。在19年末，欧洲科学家也将在南极冰川的冰盖上进行勘探，探索埋藏于地下的一块150多万年历史的冰核，如果成功了，或许就能揭晓史前地球气候环境的奥秘。
Human Origins
人类起源
More fossils illuminating the origins of ancient hominin species could emerge from islands in southeast Asia — a region of intense interest since archaeologists discovered a human-like ‘hobbit’ species on an Indonesian island called Flores in 2003. Ongoing digs could reveal more about the first human inhabitants of the Philippine island of Luzon, including whether their isolation led to a diminutive stature, similar to what seems to have occurred on Flores.
东南亚岛屿上即将出土更多的史前人类化石——这里因在2003年印尼弗洛勒斯岛发掘出类似“霍比特人”的人类化石而声名大噪，而在菲律宾吕宋岛上的新发现或许能揭开人类更多的起源奥秘，包括他们的与世隔绝是否导致了身材矮小，是不是与弗洛勒斯岛发生的情况相似。
Collider Crunch
强子对撞机
It could be a make-or-break year for plans to build a successor to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Physicists in Japan proposed hosting the roughly US$7 billion International Linear Collider (ILC) in 2012, after scientists at the LHC in Geneva, Switzerland, announced the discovery of the Higgs boson. The ILC would study the Higgs in detail. But a 2018 report commissioned by the Japanese government failed to support the project, citing its cost. Japan is the only country that has shown interest in hosting the ILC, and the government is expected to issue a statement on whether it will do so by 7 March.
2019年是决定强子对撞机（LHC）是否建造的关键一年。2012年，科学家于瑞士日内瓦宣布发现希格斯玻色子之后，日本物理学家提出要缔造约70亿美元的国际直线对撞机（ILC），用来深度研究该粒子。但在2018年，日本政府宣布因为耗资巨大将无力承担该项目。日本是世界上唯一对其展现出研究兴趣的国家，今年的3月7日前，日本政府将发布最终评估报告，决定是否将出资建造。
Gene-Editing Fallouot
基因编辑风波
Geneticists will continue to deal with the repercussions of 2018’s claim by He Jiankui to have helped produce the world’s first gene-edited babies. Following an international outcry, scientists will attempt to uncover any potential side effects of the process, and create a framework to ensure that any future efforts to edit heritable human DNA that happen in a responsible and regulated way.
基因科学家将继续针对2018年贺建奎主导的基因编辑婴儿事件进行进一步审查和研究。在该项目引发了全球科学界的质疑后，科学家将研究实验过程中是否产生了不利后果，并将建立新的研究机制，确保任何对人类基因进行编辑的实验将在负责和合规的框架内进行。
Climate Tinkering
气候变化的补救措施
As carbon emissions continue to rise, 2019 could see the first experiments that are explicitly aimed at understanding how to artificially cool the planet using a practice called solar geoengineering. Scientists hope to spray 100-gram plumes of chalk-like particles into the stratosphere to observe how they disperse. Such particles could eventually cool the planet by reflecting some of the Sun’s rays back into space. Geoengineering sceptics worry that the practice could have unintended consequences and distract from efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
随着碳排放量日益增长，今年科学家将进行一项从无先例的实验：先向平流层喷洒100克类似白垩的微粒构成的烟流，并观察它们是如何扩散的，这样的微粒将部分的阳光反射回太空，最终让地球降温。地球工程师怀疑论者担心，这种做法可能产生无心之失，引发的后果将把大众的注意力从降低温室气体排放量的努力中转移走。
Vocabulary
pristine: adj. 太古的，原始的
diminutive: adj. 特小的
stratosphere: n. 平流层