New Science

I found this map of the future explorations of science fascinating. The Institute for the Future just had their conference and created a map from their discussions:

The map focuses on six big stories of science that will play out over the next decade: Decrypting the Brain, Hacking Space, Massively Multiplayer Data, Sea the Future, Strange Matter, and Engineered Evolution. Those stories are emerging from a new ecology of science shifting toward openness, collaboration, reuse, and increased citizen engagement in scientific research.

From this I envision all science turning into a giant wiki, even more than it is now. We can power and fund more study than ever before, harnessing the Internet and the Information Era. (Though I would argue we're entering a new era quickly: The Exchange Era.)

And of course for writers, the ideas based in these new scientific explorations are boundless. Have fun with them!