Which problems should we give up on?

Fancy yourself as a bit of an expert? You can be.

There are lots of scientific problems out there to solve, but which ones should we stop working on? Tell us what you think in less than 100 words before Monday 27th September and we'll print the best responses in Focus.

Send your answers to answers@bbcfocusmagazine.com or post a comment below - you'll need to register if you haven't already.

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Submitted by Andy Ridgway

String theory

Tue, 2010-09-14 17:11
Thinker

No matter how hard we try, we are never going to know how long a bit of string is!

Odd socks

Sat, 2010-09-11 19:15
Flakkarin

Where all the odd socks go. We just have to face it, we'll never know.

Biggest number

Sat, 2010-09-11 06:49
M Paul Lloyd

I watched a documentary recently about the search for the biggest number and I have to say that despite the concept excercising the mind for an hour it did seem like a bit of a waste of time.

None

Fri, 2010-09-10 22:57
Shadowwolf

The moment we arbitrarily choose to stop working on a problem then we have effectively stopped to do science. Scientific endeavour is not based on what is easiest to do or explain, it is about tackling the unknown and expanding our horizons. Worse, such a suggestion would inevitably allow other bias to potentially close doors on research they dislike, because it conttradicts a particular religious dogma or because some people are just anti-GM period. No, to give up is the antithesis to science and would only lead to the stagnation of societal development.