Scientific discoveries are made all the time. Throughout the year, a huge number of reports and articles on various topics are published, and thousands of patents are issued for new inventions. Among all this, one can find truly incredible achievements. This article presents ten of the most interesting scientific discoveries that were made in the first half of 2016.
1. A small genetic mutation that occurred 800 million years ago led to the emergence of multicellular life forms
According to research, an ancient molecule, GK-PID, caused unicellular organisms to evolve into multicellular organisms approximately 800 million years ago. It was found that the GK-PID molecule acted as a "molecular carabiner": it collected the chromosomes together and fixed them on the inner wall of the cell membrane when division occurred. This allowed the cells to multiply properly and not become cancerous.
A fascinating discovery indicates that the ancient version of GK-PID did not behave the way it does now. The reason why she turned into a "genetic carbine" is due to a small genetic mutation that reproduced itself. It turns out that the emergence of multicellular life forms is the result of one identifiable mutation.
2. Discovery of a new prime number
In January 2016, mathematicians discovered a new prime number as part of the "Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search", a large-scale volunteer computing project to search for Mersenne primes. This is 2^74,207,281 - 1.
You might want to clarify what the "Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search" project was created for. Modern cryptography uses Mersenne prime numbers to decipher encoded information (49 such numbers are known in total), as well as complex numbers. "2^74,207,281 - 1" is currently the longest prime number in existence (it is almost 5 million digits longer than its predecessor). The total number of digits that make up the new prime number is about 24,000,000, so "2^74,207,281 - 1" is the only practical way to write it down on paper.
3. A ninth planet has been discovered in the solar system.
Even before the discovery of Pluto in the 20th century, scientists suggested that there was a ninth planet, Planet X, outside the orbit of Neptune. This assumption was due to gravitational clustering, which could only be caused by a massive object. In 2016, Caltech researchers presented evidence that a ninth planet - with an orbital period of 15,000 years - does exist.
According to the astronomers who made the discovery, there is "only a 0.007% chance (1:15,000) that the clustering is a coincidence." At the moment, the existence of the ninth planet remains hypothetical, but astronomers have calculated that its orbit is huge. If Planet X really exists, then it weighs approximately 2-15 times more than the Earth and is located at a distance of 600-1200 astronomical units from the Sun. The astronomical unit is 150,000,000 kilometers; this means that the ninth planet is 240,000,000,000 kilometers from the Sun.
4. An almost eternal way to store data has been discovered
Sooner or later everything becomes obsolete, and at the moment there is no way that would allow you to store data on one device for a really long period of time. Or does it exist? Recently, scientists from the University of Southampton made an amazing discovery. They used nano-structured glass to successfully create a data recording and retrieval process. The storage device is a small glass disk the size of a 25 cent coin that can store 360 terabytes of data and is not affected by high temperatures (up to 1000 degrees Celsius). Its average shelf life at room temperature is approximately 13.8 billion years (about the same time that our universe has existed).
Data is written to the device using an ultra-fast laser using short, intense light pulses. Each file consists of three layers of nanostructured dots that are only 5 micrometers apart from each other. Data reading is performed in five dimensions due to the three-dimensional arrangement of nanostructured dots, as well as their size and direction.
5. Blind-eyed fish, which are able to "walk on the walls", show similarities with four-legged vertebrates.
Over the past 170 years, science has found that land-dwelling vertebrates evolved from fish that swam in the seas of ancient Earth. However, researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology found that Taiwan's wall-walking blind-eyed fish have the same anatomical features as amphibians or reptiles.
This is a very important discovery in terms of evolutionary adaptation, as it could help scientists better understand how prehistoric fish evolved into terrestrial tetrapods. The difference between blind-eyed fish and other types of fish that are able to move on land lies in their gait, which provides "support for the pelvic girdle" when they rise.
6. Private company "SpaceX" carried out a successful vertical landing of the rocket
In comics and cartoons, you usually see rockets landing on planets and the moon in a vertical manner, but in reality, this is extremely difficult to do. Government agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency are developing rockets that either fall into the ocean to be retrieved (expensive) or purposefully burn up in the atmosphere. Being able to land a rocket vertically would save an incredible amount of money.
On April 8, 2016, the private company "SpaceX" carried out a successful vertical landing of the rocket; she managed to do this on an autonomous spaceport drone ship. This incredible achievement will save money as well as time between launches.
For SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, this goal has been a top priority for years. Although the achievement belongs to a private enterprise, vertical landing technology will also be available to government agencies like NASA so that they can advance further in space exploration.
SourcePhoto 7A cybernetic implant helped a paralyzed man move his fingers
A man who has been paralyzed for six years has been able to move his fingers thanks to a small chip implanted in his brain.
This is the merit of researchers from Ohio State University. They managed to create a device that is a small implant connected to an electronic sleeve worn on the patient's arm. This sleeve uses wires to stimulate specific muscles to cause real-time finger movement. Thanks to the chip, the paralyzed man was even able to play the musical game "Guitar Hero", much to the surprise of the doctors and scientists who took part in the project.
8. Stem cells implanted in the brains of stroke patients allow them to walk again
In a clinical trial, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine implanted modified human stem cells directly into the brains of eighteen stroke patients. The procedures were successful, without any negative consequences, except for a mild headache observed in some patients after anesthesia. In all patients, the recovery period after a stroke was quite fast and successful. What's more, patients who were previously wheelchair-bound were able to walk freely again.
9. Carbon dioxide pumped into the ground can turn into solid stone.
Carbon capture is an important part of keeping the balance of CO2 emissions on the planet. When fuel burns, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. This is one of the causes of global climate change. Icelandic scientists may have found a way to keep carbon out of the atmosphere and exacerbate the greenhouse effect problem.
They pumped CO2 into volcanic rocks, accelerating the natural process of turning basalt into carbonates, which then become limestone. This process usually takes hundreds of thousands of years, but the Icelandic scientists managed to reduce it to two years. Carbon injected into the ground can be stored underground or used as a building material.
10 Earth Has A Second Moon
NASA scientists have discovered an asteroid that orbits the Earth and is therefore the second permanent near-Earth satellite. There are many objects in the orbit of our planet (space stations, artificial satellites, etc.), but we can only see one Moon. However, in 2016 NASA confirmed the existence of 2016 HO3.
The asteroid is far from the Earth and is more under the gravitational influence of the Sun than our planet, but it does revolve around its orbit. 2016 HO3 is much smaller than the Moon: its diameter is only 40-100 meters.
According to Paul Chodas, manager of the NASA Center for the Study of Near-Earth Objects, 2016 HO3, which has been a quasi-satellite of the Earth for more than a hundred years, will leave the orbit of our planet in a few centuries.
A lot has happened in the world of science over the past 10 years.
From the search for water on Mars to memory manipulation and the discovery of "dark matter", everything on this list shows that people are indeed living in an amazing time today.
1. Reprogramming stem cells
Stem cells are unique. They seem to be no different from any other cell in the body, apart from the fact that they have the innate ability to transform into any other type of cell. This means that they can turn, for example, into red blood cells, if the body lacks them, or into white blood cells, into muscle cells, into nerve cells ...
Stem cells have been known since 1981, but until 2006 it was not known that any cell in the body could be reprogrammed and turned into a stem cell. And it's quite easy to do, as proved by a scientist named Shinya Yamanaka, who was the first in the world to be able to add four specific genes to skin cells. Within two to three weeks, these skin cells turned into stem cells. This was a huge discovery for regenerative medicine.
2. The largest black hole
In 2009, a team of astronomers began measuring the mass of a newly discovered black hole, dubbed S5 0014 + 81. To their amazement, it turned out to be 10,000 times larger than the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, making it the largest black hole ever. known to man. The mass of this ultramassive black hole is 40 billion more than the Sun. Even more incredible, it was formed relatively recently in the universe, 1.6 billion years after the Big Bang.
3. Memory manipulation
In 2014, scientists Steve Ramirez and Xu Liu were able to replace negative memories in the brains of mice with positive ones, and vice versa. They introduced light-sensitive proteins into the body of mice and achieved the activation of these proteins using a laser that shone into the mice's eyes. As a result, negative events experienced by mice began to be perceived by rodents as positive, and positive events as terrible. This has opened up a whole new form of potential treatment for those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or intense feelings of grief over the loss of a loved one.
4. A computer that mimics the human brain
Though it was thought impossible just a few years ago, IBM released a computer chip in 2014 that works just like the human brain. It contains 5.4 billion transistors and consumes 10,000 times less power than conventional computer chips, and also works by mimicking the synapses in the human brain. And to be more precise, 256 brains. It can be programmed to do whatever the user wants, making this chip incredibly useful for use in supercomputers. Synapse is not limited in terms of performance due to its radically different design compared to conventional computers. This revolutionary technology could seriously change the computer industry for the better in the coming years.
5. Step towards world domination of robots
In 2014, 1,024 "nanobots" were tasked with organizing themselves into a star shape. Without any further instructions, they began to work together and ended up assembling into the perfect star shape. Although they did it slowly, in jerks, and collided with each other several times, nevertheless, they were able to do it. If any of the tiny robots got stuck, then he “asked for help” from the neighbors, and they returned him to the right track. Scientists are now investigating how nanobots can flock to fight diseases once they have been introduced into the human body. And larger microrobots could be used in search and rescue operations.
6. Confirmation of the existence of dark matter
Dark matter is largely a theoretical phenomenon that has been "invented" to explain many strange astronomical scenarios. An example is this: there is a galaxy with a thousand planets inside it. If you sum up the masses of all these planets and compare the result with how this galaxy actually moves, you will find a strong discrepancy. The galaxy is moving in such a way that it must be several times more massive. This may mean that there is some matter in it that people simply do not see. That is why it is called "dark matter".
In 2009, several US labs claimed they were able to "detect" 2 particles of this dark matter using sensors inside an iron mine 800 meters underground. These data are still being checked to make sure they are correct. If this turns out to be true, then this may well be one of the most significant discoveries in physics in the last century.
7. Life on Mars
Still, it may exist. In 2015, NASA released images showing long dark streaks on the red planet's surface that appear and disappear during different seasons of the year. This is strong evidence that liquid water exists on Mars today. While scientists have known for some time that it existed on Mars in the past, it is the first time that it exists today. Therefore, the question arose again about the existence of life on Mars. Also, the discovery of liquid water can be a significant help to astronauts who are going to go to Mars in 2024.
8. Reusable rockets
Soon there will be no need for launch vehicles that take ships and satellites into orbit. SpaceX, a private space exploration company owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has successfully landed a rocket on a remote-controlled barge in the middle of the ocean several times. This could save billions of dollars as rockets are not disposable and can be repaired, refueled and reused.
9. Gravitational waves
Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time that travel at the speed of light. They were predicted by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity, which states that mass bends spacetime. Things like black holes "radiate" gravitational waves, which were discovered in 2016 using the LIGO instrument. Thus, Einstein's predictions made 100 years ago were confirmed.
TRAPPIST-1 is the name given to a star system about 39 light years from our solar system. What makes it special is that at least 7 planets revolve around a star 12 times less massive than the Sun, 3 of which are in the habitable zone, that is, they can potentially have life.
MOSCOW, February 8 - RIA Novosti. More than 70% of Russians are not able to name a single scientific achievement of the country over the past decades - these are the results of a sociological survey by VTsIOM carried out on the Day of Russian Science. At the same time, at least ten discoveries of our scientists in recent years have left a noticeable mark on world science.
Gravitational waves
In August 2017, the LIGO detector detected gravitational waves caused by the collision of two neutron stars in the galaxy NGC 4993 in the constellation Hydra. The most precise device felt the perturbation of space-time, although its source was 130 million light-years from Earth. Science magazine called it the top discovery of the year.
The physicists of Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences made a considerable contribution to it. The Russians joined the search for gravitational waves on the LIGO detector in 1993 thanks to Vladimir Braginsky, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (passed away in March 2016).
LIGO first recorded gravitational waves (from the collision of two black holes) in September 2015.
Lake Vostok in Antarctica
The Russians own the last major geographical discovery on the planet - Lake Vostok in Antarctica. A giant reservoir is located under a four-kilometer thickness of ice in the very center of the Sixth Continent. Theoretically, it was predicted back in the 1950s by oceanologist Nikolai Zubov and geophysicist Andrei Kapitsa.
It took almost three decades to drill the glacier. Members of the AARI Russian Antarctic Expedition reached the relict lake on February 5, 2012.
Lake Vostok has been isolated from the outside world for at least 14 million years. Scientists are interested in whether any living organisms have survived there. If there is life in the reservoir, then its study will serve as the most important source of information about the past of the Earth and will help the search for organisms in space.
Space project "Radioastron"
In July 2011, the Spektr-R radio telescope was launched into orbit. Together with ground-based radio telescopes, it forms a kind of ear that can hear the pulse of the Universe in the radio range. This successful Russian project called "Radioastron" is unique. It is based on the principle of ultra-long baseline radio interferometry, developed by Academician Nikolai Kardashev, director of the Astrospace Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute.
"Radioastron" studies supermassive black holes and, in particular, ejections of matter (jets) from them. Using the world's largest (recorded in the Guinness Book of Records) radio telescope, scientists hope to see the shadow of a black hole, which is presumably at the center of the Milky Way.
Experiments with graphene
In 2010, natives of Russia Andrey Geim and Konstantin Novoselov won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their research on graphene. Both graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, worked at the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Chernogolovka, and in the 1990s they left to continue their research abroad. In 2004, they proposed a now classic way to obtain two-dimensional graphene by simply peeling it off a piece of graphite with tape. Currently, Nobel laureates work at the University of Manchester in the UK.
Graphene is a layer of carbon one atom thick. They saw the future of terahertz electronics in it, but then they discovered a number of flaws that have not yet been overcome. For example, graphene is very difficult to turn into a semiconductor, and besides, it is very fragile.
A new kind of Homo
In 2010, a sensation spread around the world - a new species of ancient people was discovered who lived simultaneously with sapiens and Neanderthals. Relatives were dubbed Denisovans by the name of the cave in Altai, where their remains were found. The place of the Denisovans on the human family tree was established after deciphering the DNA isolated from the tooth of an adult and the little finger of a little girl, who died 30-50 thousand years ago (it is unfortunately impossible to say more precisely).
Ancient people chose Denisova Cave 300 thousand years ago. Scientists from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have been excavating there for decades, and only progress in the methods of molecular biology has finally made it possible to reveal the secret of the Denisovans.
Archaeologists want to restore the appearance of the Denisovan manDirector of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, this year's state prize winner Academician Anatoly Derevyanko hopes that during excavations in the Denisova Cave in Altai, scientists will be able to find a skull or fragments of an extinct human species - the Denisovan man - and restore its appearance.Superheavy atoms
In the 1960s, Russian physicists predicted an "island of stability" - a special physical state within which superheavy atoms should exist. In 2006, experimenters from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna discovered the 114th element, later called flerovium, on this "island" using a cyclotron. Then, one after another, the 115th, 117th and 118th elements were discovered - respectively, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson (in honor of the discoverer Academician Yuri Oganesyan). So replenished the periodic table.
Poincare conjecture
In 2002-2003, the Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman solved one of the millennium problems - he proved the Poincaré conjecture formulated a hundred years ago. He published the solution in a series of articles on arxiv.org. It took his colleagues several years to verify the proof and accept the discovery. Perelman was nominated for the Fields Prize, the Clay Mathematical Institute gave him a million dollars, but the mathematician refused all awards and money. He also ignored the offer to participate in the elections for the title of academician.
Grigory Perelman was born in St. Petersburg, graduated from Physics and Mathematics School No. 239 and the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of Leningrad University, worked in the St. Petersburg branch of the Mathematical Institute. V. A. Steklova. He does not communicate with the press, does not conduct public activities. It is not even known in which country he now lives and whether he is engaged in mathematics.
Last year, Forbes magazine included Grigory Perelman among the people of the century.
laser on heterostructures
In the late 1960s, physicist Zhores Alferov designed the world's first semiconductor laser based on heterostructures he had grown. At that time, scientists were actively looking for a way to improve the traditional elements of radio circuits, and this was possible thanks to the invention of fundamentally new materials that had to be grown layer by layer, atom by atom, and from different compounds. Despite the laboriousness of the procedures, it was possible to grow such crystals. It turned out that they can radiate like lasers and thus transmit data. This made it possible to create computers, compact discs, fiber optic communications, and new space communications systems.
In 2000, academician Zhores Alferov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
High temperature superconductors
In the 1950s, theoretical physicist Vitaly Ginzburg, together with Lev Landau, took up the theory of superconductivity and proved the existence of a special class of materials - type II superconductors. The physicist Alexei Abrikosov discovered them experimentally. In 2003, Ginzburg and Abrikosov received the Nobel Prize for this discovery.
In the 1960s, Vitaly Ginzburg took up the theoretical substantiation of high-temperature superconductivity and wrote a book about it together with David Kirzhnits. At that time, few people believed in the existence of materials that would conduct electric current without resistance at a temperature slightly above absolute zero. And in 1987, compounds were discovered that turned into superconductors at 77.4 Kelvin (minus 195.75 degrees Celsius, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen).
The search for high-temperature superconductors was continued by physicists Mikhail Eremets and Alexander Drozdov, who are now working in Germany. In 2015, they discovered that hydrogen sulfide gas can become a superconductor, and at a record high temperature for this phenomenon - minus 70 degrees. Nature magazine named Mikhail Yeremets the Scientist of the Year.
The last mammoths on earth
In 1989, Sergei Vartanyan, a young fellow at Leningrad State University who studied the ancient geography of the Arctic, came to Wrangel Island, lost in the Arctic Ocean. He collected the bones of mammoths, lying there in abundance, and using radiocarbon analysis determined that they were only a few thousand years old. As subsequently established, woolly mammoths became extinct 3730 years ago. Island mammoths were slightly smaller than their mainland relatives, growing up to 2.5 meters at the withers, so they are also called dwarf ones. An article by Vartanyan and his colleagues about the latest mammoths on Earth was published in Nature in 1993, and the whole world learned about their discovery.
The mammoth genome from Wrangel Island was deciphered in 2015. Now Sergey Vartanyan with Russian and foreign colleagues continue to analyze it in order to find out all the features of the life of pygmy mammoths and unravel the mystery of their disappearance.
Together with biologists, astrophysicists and physicians Esquire talks about advances in science and technology that give hope for a better future.
1. The cornea of the human eye, created on a 3D printer
British scientists for the first time in history managed to print the cornea of the human eye. The specialists mixed the stem cells of a healthy corneal donor with alginate and collagen and created a so-called bioink suitable for use in a bioprinter. The print itself takes no longer than 10 minutes. As a result, the stem cells of the resulting form begin to grow on their own, creating a new cornea. It is noteworthy that the size of the outer shell of the eye can be individually selected for any person - this is done using scanning on a 3D printer.
2. New form of ice
Scientists from the University of Nevada have for the first time recorded the formation of a new form of ice, known as ice VII. It was discovered in natural terrestrial conditions inside a diamond. The journal Science notes that this form is twice as dense as regular ice. New research has also shown that this type of ice can travel at over 1,610 km/h. The scientists suggest that further exploration of Ice VII could change the way we search for living organisms throughout the universe.
3. The first bionic hand that provides a sense of touch
A group of Italian scientists have been able to develop a prosthesis that gives the wearer a sense of touch. Through a series of miniature electrodes and sensors, the computer translates the information from the artificial fingers into a language that the human brain can understand. True, to use such a prosthesis, you will have to wear a backpack with special equipment.
4. Transplanting the memory of one living being to another
Scientists at the University of California have transplanted the memory of one sea snail into another by injecting specific ribonucleic acids (RNA). Dividing the snails into two groups, the scientists subjected them to a weak electric current. In the first group, exposure to electrodes was carried out every 20 minutes with breaks of 24 hours. After some time, the animals developed a protective reflex: the muscles of the mollusks contracted for 50 seconds upon contact with the electrodes. In snails, in which scientists did not cause sensitization, the reaction time was only 1 second. Next, the biologists extracted RNA from snails from both groups and swapped them. As a result, non-sensitized snails developed a protective reflex lasting up to 40 seconds.
5. The first genetically modified children
Chinese doctor He Jiankui made changes to the DNA of embryos during the reproductive treatment of seven couples. All fathers who participated in the experiment have HIV, all mothers are healthy. One of the seven couples had twin girls in November, and they became the world's first genetically modified children. According to the scientist, his goal was not to cure or prevent a hereditary disease in children, but to try to give children the ability to resist infection. Such a mutation occurs in ordinary people, but is extremely rare. Genetically modified children are expected to be immune to deadly diseases.
The actions of the Chinese medic were widely condemned by international committees, doctors and his colleagues. At the moment, China is investigating the details and processes of his experiment.
6. Private supersonic aircraft
The world's fastest private jet has yet to take off, but Spike Aerospace has already announced it. The plane will be able to accommodate 18 passengers and will not have portholes, screens will be installed instead of them, broadcasting an image of the surrounding world. Thanks to high technology, the duration of the flight can be halved.
7. Lake on Mars
The presence of water on Mars has been a special interest of astrophysicists since the beginning of the study of the planet. The first confirmation of its presence on the surface of the planet was the pictures taken by the Mariner-9 interplanetary station. They show valley networks indicating the presence of liquid water in the past. The breakthrough in the study was made by the radar of the European Space Agency MARSIS, which detected the presence of a subglacial lake on Mars. The lake, about 20 kilometers wide, lies 1.5 kilometers below the ice of the South Polar Cap and is the first known permanent body of water on Mars.
8. Replace electricity with plants
The idea of luminous plants was proposed by many scientists, and engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were able to implement it. They developed special nanoparticles and introduced them into the sheets of watercress. As a result, the leaves of the plant glowed for four hours. The light was dim, but noticeable. Scientists continue to work on increasing the duration and brightness of the glow. The authors of the experiment suggest that such an innovation will help reduce electricity prices.
9. The oldest color in history
Hot pink has become the oldest pigment discovered to date, according to a study by scientists from the Australian National University. They found a bright pink pigment inside marine sediments in the Sahara desert in Mauritania. Their age is 1.1 billion years, which is 500 million years older than the age of the previous oldest shade. It is noted that initially the color was much brighter than the result. The color was produced by microorganisms that lived in an ancient ocean that had long since disappeared.
10. Created a new class of antibiotics
Antibiotics, called "odilorhabdins" (odilorhabdins, ODLs), are able to fight those microorganisms that have already developed resistance to other types of antibiotics. They were developed by a group of American and French scientists, and they published their findings in the scientific journal Molecular Cell. The researchers found that these drugs are able to interact with a site of the ribosome that has not previously been exposed to antibacterial substances and, therefore, has not developed immunity to them. The drug has already been tested in mice with positive results.
Compiled by Dana Amirkenova
