Modern scientific trends are a large and broad endeavour, in which thousands of laboratories around the world are studying their own highly specialized field from a much larger whole. It is a logical intersection of scientific heritage and centuries of technological advances to advance understanding of the world around us.
Especial attention must be paid to increasingly specific disciplines, from retinal neural computing to space plasma physics. What scientific areas exist and which ones are the most relevant?
Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics
It may seem strange, but some problems in medicine can only be solved with the help of technology. Biomedical engineering is an emerging discipline spanning areas as diverse as protein engineering, measurement systems, and high-resolution optical imaging of atoms and whole organisms. This desire forintegration of physical knowledge with life sciences - progress in human he alth.
Current research areas
Includes areas of research such as:
- Biophotonics - development of methods for visualization of cells and tissues with fluorescence. Optical methods are used to study biological molecules.
- Cardiovascular imaging - developing methods for detecting and quantifying cardiovascular disease.
- Complex biological systems - development of new tools and mathematical models for understanding complex biological systems.
- Macromolecular assembly. The study of macromolecules, including the assembly of multicomponent complexes and molecular machines.
- Immunochemical diagnostics - the creation of new technologies for the identification of diseases, such as "laboratory studies".
- Non-Invasive Optical Imaging - Development of real-time diagnostic methods for assessing and monitoring tissues and organs.
Recent advances include the development of several high-resolution optical imaging tools designed to explore the microscopic and macroscopic worlds of cells and organisms.
Cell Biology
Another important and constantly developing scientific area is cell biology. All living beings are made of structural and functional units. Thus, cellularDeficiency plays a critical role in many diseases, from cancer caused by abnormal cell growth to neurodegenerative disorders that result from the death of nerve tissue. There are six key areas spanning multiple biological systems:
- Apoptosis. In every he althy organism, cells die through a carefully regulated process of programmed cell death known as apoptosis. It is common to many biological systems that are fundamental to neuroscience, immunology, aging and development, and pathologies such as cancer, autoimmune and degenerative diseases.
- The Cell Cycle - Functioning mini structures continue to grow and divide in a carefully controlled manner throughout our lives. The molecular and cellular events that regulate this cycle are critical to many diseases in which normal growth regulation is disrupted.
- Glycobiology. Glycans are a biologically important class of carbohydrates. Glycan-binding proteins (lectins) bind to specific structural glycans and play a critical role in cell recognition, motility and return to specific tissues, signaling, differentiation, cell adhesion, microbial pathogenesis, and immunological recognition.
- Mitochondria. Known as the "power house" building blocks, mitochondria provide the energy cells must use to survive, avoiding disease from diabetes to Parkinson's.
- Mobility - A microscopic nerve cell that originates in the brain and extends its processes to the base of the spinal cord must move molecules over vast distances compared to its size. Scientists use a variety of methods and approaches to study how cells and their internal molecules and organelles move.
- Transportation of proteins. Proteins are made in the nucleus and then they must be properly housed in order to fulfill their cellular roles. Thus, protein transport is central to all cellular systems, and its dysfunction is associated with diseases ranging from cystic fibrosis to Alzheimer's disease.
The cellular basis of life
The cellular basis of life may seem obvious in the modern age of biology, but until the development of the first microscopes in the early nineteenth century, this could only be a matter of speculation. The size of a typical human cell is about five times smaller than anything we can see with the naked eye. Therefore, progress in our understanding of the inner workings of structural units, including cellular pathophysiology, goes hand in hand with advances in the technologies of this scientific field, available for imaging and studying them.
Biology of chromosomes
With the current excitement around the field of genomics, it's easy to forget that genes are just short stretches of DNA and part of much larger structures called chromosomes. The latter are made up of chromatin-intricate strands of DNA wrapped around proteins called histones, andare now known to play an equally important role in determining how organisms develop, function and stay he althy.
Epigenetics, literally "above genetics," is the science that deals with the study of environmental changes in the genome, beyond those that can occur at the level of our DNA. These fluctuations in gene activity include modifications to elements surrounding them, such as histone proteins, or modifications to transcriptional elements that control gene expression. Unlike DNA changes, epigenetic fluctuations are usually generation specific.
In other words, epigenetic changes are not usually passed on from parent to child. This relatively new line of research has changed our understanding of both normal development and disease, and is now influencing the progress of the next generation of treatments. A variety of areas are being studied, including:
- Obesity. Epigenetic changes in our genome have long been suspected of playing a role in complex human diseases such as fat deposition. A new scientific direction is investigating how environmental factors can influence the development of the disease.
- Clinical trials and drug development. The role of epigenetic cancer therapies in various tumors is being explored, in the hope that they can target and "reprogram" abnormal cells rather than kill both cancerous and normal building blocks as in standard chemotherapy.
- He alth care. Diet and exposure to chemicals at all stages of development can cause epigenetic changes that can turn certain genes on or off. Scientists are investigating how these elements negatively impact the general population.
- Behavioral science. Epigenetic changes are associated with many diseases, including drug and alcohol addiction. Understanding how environmental factors alter the genome could provide new ways to treat psychological disorders.
Quantum Biology
Physicists have known about such quantum effects for more than a hundred years, when particles defy our senses, disappearing from one place and reappearing in another, or being in two places at the same time. But these effects are not attributed to clandestine laboratory experiments. As scientists increasingly suspect that quantum mechanics may also apply to biological processes.
Perhaps the best example is photosynthesis, a wonderfully efficient system where plants (and some bacteria) build the molecules they need using energy from sunlight. It turns out that this process may actually rely on the phenomenon of "superposition", where small packets of energy explore all possible paths and then settle on the most efficient one. It is also possible that avian navigation, DNA mutations (via quantum tunneling), and even our sense of smell rely on quantum effects.
Although this is a highly speculative and controversial area, those whopractitioners are waiting for the day when information gained from research can lead to new drugs and biomimetic systems (biometrics is another emerging field of science where biological systems and structures are used to create new materials and machines).
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Beyond the molecular and cellular level, understanding how behavioral and social factors influence disease and he alth is vital to understanding, treating and preventing disease. Research in such sciences is a large multifaceted field, covering a wide range of disciplines and approaches.
The concept of an intraprofessional analysis program brings together the biomedical, behavioral and social sciences to work together to solve complex and urgent he alth problems. The focus is on the development of scientific areas that explore behavioral processes, biopsychological and applied fields through the following methods:
- Research on the impact of disease or physical condition on behavior and social functioning.
- Identification and understanding of behavioral factors associated with the onset and course of illness.
- Study of treatment outcomes.
- He alth promotion and disease prevention research.
- Analysis of institutional and organizational impacts on he alth.
Exometeorology
Exometeorologists likeexo-oceanographers and exogeologists are interested in studying the natural processes that occur on planets other than Earth. Now that astronomers can take a closer look at the inner workings of nearby objects, they are increasingly able to track atmospheric and weather patterns. Jupiter and Saturn, with their incredibly large potential systems, are prime candidates for study.
For example, dust storms regularly occur on Mars. In this scientific and technical direction, exometeorologists study even planets outside our solar system. And, interestingly, they may eventually find signs of extraterrestrial life on an exoplanet by detecting organic signatures in the atmospheres or elevated levels of carbon dioxide - possible signs of an industrial age civilization.
Nutrigenomics
Nutrigenomics, also known as food genomics, is a priority field of science. This is a study of the complex interplay between food and DNA response. Indeed, food has a profound effect on human he alth - and it starts literally at the molecular level. Scientists working in this field are striving to understand the role of genetic variation, dietary response, and the ways in which nutrients affect our structures.
Nutrigenomics works both ways - our genes influence our dietary preferences and vice versa. The key goal of this area of scientific activity is the creation of personalized nutrition - a comparison of whatwhat we eat, with our own unique genetic constitutions.
Cognitive Economics
Economics is not usually about deep knowledge, but this may change as the field integrates with traditional research disciplines. Not to be confused with behavioral economics (the study of our way of doing things - what we do - in the context of economic decision making), cognitive economics is about how we think. Lee Caldwell, who blogs about the area, defines it as follows:
"Cognitive economics (or finance) … looks at what actually goes on in a person's mind when they make that choice. What is the internal structure of decision making, how information enters consciousness and how it is processed, and then, ultimately, how are all these processes expressed in our behavior?"
In another way, cognitive economics is physics whose behavioral economics is engineering. To this end, scientists working in this field start their analysis at a lower level and form the underlying micropatterns of human decision making to develop a model of large-scale economic behavior. To help them do this, cognitive economists look at the related fields of the discipline and computational economics, as well as the main lines of scientific and technological research in rationality and decision theory.
