This week’s Improbable Big Mathematics Exercise is to predict when the next big wave of big science journals will be published.
The preceding wave is exemplified by the journals International Journal of Nanoscience and Journal of Nanoscience and Technology.
The metric prefixes for large numbers have names that, as time goes on, become more familiar:
yotta-
zetta-
exa-
peta-
tera-
giga-
mega-
THE EXERCISE: Look up the dates that the existing journals were founded. Then use your favorite mathematical estimation technique to estimate the date when we can expect to see publication of journals called Terascience, Exascience, Petascience, Zettascience, and Yottascience. (Note: The journal Terra Nova and its ilk do not count, for the purpose discussed here. Terra is not tera, except maybe under very particular circumstances.)
