Here are ten achievements for 2021 that could someday lead to new inventions. Here are some of the big science stories we talked about last year. For good reason, science news in 2021 will be dominated by Covid-19, and it will likely be the same next year.
The development of vaccines against Covid-19 is indeed part of the scientific news of 2020, but they were launched in 2021. Many interesting and important scientific breakthroughs have been made this year, many of which we will hear about in the coming years. In 2021, several groups of researchers began to address the issue of plastic pollution, with a common theme being the creation of plastic that degrades faster or can be recycled from simpler forms.
A team of researchers led by Cornell University chemist Jeffrey W. Coates spent 2021 investigating the forms of long molecular chains that make up plastics (polymers) that can be broken down into smaller units (monomers) and then reused. But the researchers found that the bacterium can produce enzymes to break down the material. European researchers have discovered a new bacterium that feeds on polyurethane, a type of plastic that is difficult to recycle or destroy.
A study published in the journal Science in July found that certain proteins literally have the detergent ability to kill bacteria like a grease stain. Pathogens may have their own proteins that interfere with APOL3's counterattacks, but researchers could develop a new antibiotic that targets these pesky proteins so APOL3 can do its job. Researchers at the University of Portsmouth recently took a big step in the fight against this public health threat: they were the first to use a multi-pronged computerized strategy to create a new antibiotic from an existing one that bacteria had outwitted.
Human trials may not be far off, but researchers at New York's Icahn School of Medicine say the method should first be tested in visually impaired monkeys. This year, researchers successfully transplanted human retinal cells into monkeys. The study, published in the journal Cell, details how researchers injected monkey embryos with human stem cells to monitor their development.
The researchers also noticed the formation of communication pathways, which could explain how human cells can better integrate with non-human cells in future experiments. This year, researchers discovered that these helical organs also resemble Tesla valves in design and function.
Earlier this year, researchers at the University of California, Davis, reported a study of a psychedelic compound that may not have hallucinogenic side effects. Studying how the gene is expressed in geckos that have never had cancer could be a way forward, Lara Urban, a genome researcher at the University of Otago in New Zealand who was not involved in the study, told Scientific American in June. Research. In a series of experiments, the researchers tested theta polymerase against HIV reverse transcriptase, the best-studied of its kind. In a study published this summer, researchers at Thomas Jefferson University provided the first evidence that fragments of RNA can be rewritten into DNA, potentially challenging the central dogma of biology and potentially having implications for many fields of biology. have a broad impact.
Earlier this month, a team of Fermilab scientists announced the first results after a decade-long effort to create more powerful sensors and improve researchers' ability to process 120 terabytes of data, the equivalent of 16 million digital photos per week. An experiment called Muong-2 shows that Brookhaven's discovery was no accident and that science is on the cusp of unprecedented discoveries. When the muons in the Brookhaven experiment responded differently to their predictions, researchers realized they were on the cusp of a discovery that could change the scientific understanding of how the universe works. In 2001, at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, a facility used to study nuclear and high-energy physics, scientists encountered something unexpected while experimenting with subatomic particles called muons. . They have unearthed vast quantities of ancient bones and sarcophagi, discovered new types of black holes, and discovered water that could harbor alien life in new places in the solar system.
Not only that, Perseverance sent in some beautiful images of the Martian surface and launched the Ingenuity helicopter, the first man-made aircraft to fly over the surface of an alien world. In terms of a science experiment that will have a direct impact on the area in 2021, it's hard to beat NASA's Perseverance rover, which landed on the surface of Mars in February. One of the greatest scientific discoveries on Mars is testing whether we can fly through the Martian atmosphere. This year on Mars, the UAE learned how to go into orbit, China how to land, and NASA how to fly.
This scientific breakthrough could prevent about 5.3 million cases of malaria each year. In January of this year, Newsweek reported the results of a new report from the National Academy of Sciences, according to which 58.4 million tons of plastic will be added to the world's oceans annually by 2030. The current rate of plastic emissions around the world could cause effects that we cannot reverse, a new study claims. A team from the German Center for Environmental Research. Helmholtz said the discovery could help reduce the wave of hard-to-recycle plastic that fills the world's landfills and pollutes the oceans.
American researchers have announced that they used radar and other instruments to measure snow levels during experiments conducted in Idaho. The scientists said they used new measurement methods to confirm that cloud seeding can lead to snow formation under the right conditions. Around the same time, Chinese scientists published a study on a new technology capable of converting CO2 into starch in a highly efficient manner. This was the first time humanity had collected such a specimen from another world.
The 20-year project aims to map the universe using data collected by telescopes in New Mexico, USA. The research team will seek to determine the properties of unidentified aerial phenomena and other interstellar objects using standard scientific methods based on analysis of open science data collected using optimization tools. Most of the funding was funded by the National Science Foundation Major Research Instrument Grant, which was awarded to a consortium of four universities, UVA being one of them.
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