As part of their 50th anniversary celebration, New Scientist published brief comments by more than 70 scientists about what the next 50 years may hold. A few clips from longer essays:

The biggest breakthrough in the next 50 years will be the discovery of extraterrestrial life.
— Freeman Dyson

Within 50 years, lives will be significantly enhanced by automated reasoning systems that people will perceive as “intelligent”. Although many of these systems will be deployed behind the scenes, others will be in the foreground, serving in an elegant, often collaborative manner to help people do their jobs, to learn and teach, to reflect and remember, to plan and decide, and to create.
— Eric Horvitz

The biggest breakthrough in my field will be the development of an efficient and convenient means of storing a young woman’s ovarian tissue or eggs to be used years later.
— Carl Djerassi

Establishing a self-supporting colony on Mars would change world history – it wouldn’t be just “world” history any more.
— J. Richard Gott

Link (via BoingBoing)