Science: The Most Important in 2000-2009 (Discovery version)
The 10 main discoveries of the first decade of the XXI century are named Science KM.RUDiscovery channel named ten significant discoveries of the first decade of the XXI century, which we would like to introduce you to.
So, in the first place of the rating is the rate of melting of glaciers. Note that according to scientists, the ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica are melting faster than previously thought. According to some forecasts, rising sea levels can submerge cities and even islands that are vulnerable to catastrophic floods.
The second place was taken by mapping the human genome. It took scientists more than 10 years to make a "draft" of the entire human genome in 2000, followed by a final version in 2003. Inside each human cell there are 23 folded molecules (chromosomes) that contain all the instructions necessary to create a whole human personality.
The discovery of water on Mars is in third place. Recall that in 2008, the Phoenix spacecraft landed on the Red Planet to confirm the presence of water and find signs of organic compounds. The Phoenix spacecraft landed near the North Pole of Mars in order to obtain samples for analysis, but at the time of sampling, the cameras found a white powder. Later, the scientists compared the photos taken over the next few days, the pictures showed that this powder was slowly disappearing. As a result, the researchers concluded that this white powder is water ice.
In fourth place is the production of stem cells in an ethical way. In 2007, scientists from Kyoto University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison allowed mature adult cells that were programmed to become skin to behave like embryonic stem cells. Adult cells turned into pluripotent cells. These pluripotent adult cells solved two important problems. It turned out that ethical considerations and financial constraints can be avoided, and doctors can eventually use their own cells from human DNA to grow organs for transplantation, which the patient's body will not reject.
The control of prostheses with the help of brain signals was in the fifth place of the rating. So, in 2000, at Duke University, electrodes were inserted into the monkey's brain and trained it to take food using a robotic arm, and in 2001, automated body parts controlled by nerve impulses debuted at the Chicago Rehabilitation Institute. There, the disabled Jesse Sullivan used the method of controlling both automated hands. In 2009, Pierpaolo Petruziello learned to control a biomechanical arm connected to the nerves of his stump using wires and electrodes.
The sixth place was occupied by the discovery of "alien" planets. So, in 2008, using the Hubble telescope and the infrared observatories Keck and Gemini, astronomers were able to detect exoplanets orbiting distant stars.
In the seventh place of the rating are the new ancestors of man. Recall that in 2002, in the northern part of Chad, scientists found a skull about 6-7 million years old belonging to Sahelanthropus tchadensis, and in 2009 in northeastern Ethiopia they found the most complete skeleton of a human ancestor ever found - the skeleton of Ardipithecus ramidus. The age of the latter is about 4.4 million years. It is noted that this ancestor could not only walk on two legs, but also differed in the ability to climb trees. Scientists suggest that men (males) and women (females) could pair up at a certain time, significantly increasing survival, since women could activate their reproductive abilities only while men were getting them food.
The fact confirming the existence of dark matter was in the eighth place of the rating. Back in 2006, astronomers announced that they had received direct evidence confirming the existence of dark matter, but they still cannot say for sure what it is.
On the penultimate, ninth, place is the study of the soft tissues of the dinosaur. So, in 2005, Mary Higbay Schweitzer and her colleagues reported the discovery of what are called soft tissues - blood vessels, bone matrix and other cells – on the fossilized femur of a small Tyrannosaurus Rex. The amino acids obtained from the tissues resemble those of modern chickens, which, according to scientists, strengthens the connection between dinosaurs and birds.
The last place in the rating went to the discovery of a new space object in the Solar System. 136199 Eris, a small body that is 27% larger than Pluto, was discovered by scientists in January 2005.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru18.12.2009