The main discoveries of 2009 according to the journal Science
From great-grandmother to water on the moon
Alexandra Borisova, "Newspaper.Ru»Ardi hominid research, the discovery of water on the moon, the revival of gene therapy technologies, as well as the study of pulsars were the most important scientific events of 2009 according to the journal Science.
Scientists have not forgotten the main newsmakers of the year – the global economic crisis and swine flu.
The New Year is just around the corner, especially in Western countries that have almost gone on vacation: Christmas is in a week. In Friday's (and this year's last) issue, the influential scientific journal Science summarizes the results of the year.
The editorial board of the journal Science considers the most important scientific event of the year to be the study of the fossils of Ardipithecus ramidus, or Ardi – hominid that lived 4.4 million years ago on the territory of modern Ethiopia. Before Ardi, the oldest studied human ancestor was Lucy, but she is younger than Ardi by more than a million years. Ardi's research is another milestone on the way to discovering the oldest ancestor, which was the common ancestor of both humans and great apes.
The Ardipithecus study has changed our vision of early human evolution. The special issue of Science, published on October 2 and completely dedicated to Ardi, was the culmination of 15 years of active work by a large international scientific team (Ardi's remains were discovered back in 1994). 47 researchers from nine countries analyzed a total of 150 thousand samples of fossil animals and plants," notes Science editor–in-chief Bruce Alberts in an editorial.
The peculiarity of Ardi is that its bony skeleton carries a lot of primitive features that make it related to the ancient primates of the Miocene epoch. At the same time, she has more progressive features that are observed only in her descendants, including humans. At the same time, modern apes have lost a number of Ardi traits. This means that monkeys have been actively evolving since the separation of their branch of evolution with the branch of humans. This means that there is no way to make a human out of a monkey, and chimpanzees and gorillas are very unsuccessful models both for finding our common ancestor and for understanding human evolution.
In addition to Ardi, the top ten most important discoveries of the year, according to Science, included the following scientific achievements:
Detection of pulsars emitting in the gamma range. NASA's Fermi gamma-ray space telescope has discovered a previously unknown type of pulsars – rapidly rotating neutron stars. This discovery allowed us to shed light on the nature of their gamma radiation.
Rapamycin. Experiments conducted independently in three American laboratories showed that male mice who started taking rapamycin in old age (600 days, which corresponds to 60 years in humans) live 9% longer, and females - 13% longer than control mice who did not take the medication. Unfortunately, this study is still of purely theoretical interest, and the creation of effective "medicines for old age" is still far away. Rapamycin has many side effects – in particular, it has an immunosuppressive effect – weakens the body's immune defenses
(We had to completely rewrite this paragraph in the hope that the author of the text would not be offended. In the original there was something absolutely meaningless - VM.)
Graphene. Materials scientists investigated the properties of conductive graphene monolayers and began developing materials based on it to create experimental electronic devices.
AVA receptors of plants. Scientists have identified the structure of a molecule that helps plants survive in dry periods. These data will help in the development of ways to protect corn fields from prolonged droughts. If such a mechanism is developed, the corn harvest will increase significantly around the world. This, in turn, will help to develop the production of biofuels.
X-ray laser. The US National Accelerator Laboratory has developed the world's first X-ray laser. With this technology, it will be possible to take "pictures" of chemical reactions in situ, vary the electronic structure of materials and conduct other important experiments.
The return of gene therapy. European and American scientists have succeeded in treating hereditary blindness, a previously incurable brain disease, as well as severe immune disorders with the help of new gene therapy strategies.
Modeling of magnetic monopoles. Physicists have investigated unusual crystalline materials that simulate the supposed behavior of hypothetical "magnetic monopoles" – fundamental particles with one magnetic pole.
Detection of water on the moon. In October, the analytical equipment of the NASA LCROSS mission registered a significant water content on the Earth's natural satellite, the Moon, near its south pole.
Repair of the Hubble telescope. In May, NASA astronauts carried out the last repair of the Hubble orbital Observatory. New cameras, batteries and stabilization equipment were installed on it.
According to Science, among the most actively developing areas of science in 2010 will be the metabolism of cancer cells, the use of pluripotent stem cells for the treatment of nervous and psychiatric diseases, as well as human spaceflight technologies.
In addition, scientists will have to look back and study the origins of the main event of 2009 – the economic crisis, as well as sum up the results of the "disease of the year" – H1N1 swine flu.