To celebrate the launch of its new publication Mosaic the Wellcome Trust asked leading scientists, journalists and thinkers what they thought was the biggest question remaining in science. These are what they came up with.
1. How does the brain generate consciousness?
2. What are the limits of human life and physiology?
3. Can we replace damaged brain parts with computational devices?
4. What happens when you die?
5. What are the cures for the world's biggest health problems, like cancer, heart disease and dementia?
6. Will we ever reconcile the nature versus nurture debate?
7. Is ageing inevitable?
8. Will we ever be able to predict the future of economic, political and other social systems?
9. What is life?
Roger Highfield, author, museum executive and science journalist.
We know what distinguishes living things from inorganic matter, but scientists may never know where life actually comes from and how it began.