- Neuroscience. 'They revive' the brain of 32 pigs who had been dead for more than four hours
- Virus Disarm Ebola with an antibody from three survivors
- Anthropology: the skull that has put face to 'Australopithecus anamensis'
- Brazil: Amazon deforestation record in a decade
- Biodiversity: The action of man puts over a million species against the ropes
- Computing: Google achieves quantum supremacy
- Astronomy: A Canadian telescope detects strange radio signals
2019 has been a year full of scientific discoveries and as usual, Nature magazine has selected the 10 most relevant characters in the world of science in 2019. Some of its discoveries have already had an extraordinary impact. Others, it will take us long to understand its full dimension. And this year there is also a surprise: the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is not scientific but the prestigious magazine has included her in her list of characters that matter in science for being able to "focus on climate science" and "channel anger of his generation. " His influence, says Angela Anderson, one of the leaders of the Union of Concerned Scientists, will be greater in the next generation of scientists.
In Space Sciences, Nature has highlighted astrophysics Victoria Kaspi ,
Rapid radio blast jacket, a phenomenon that lasts a few milliseconds and whose origin is unknown. Since they were discovered in 2007, Kaspi has worked to capture these signals, improving the radio telescope of the CHIME project (acronym for the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment). They arrive on earth a thousand times a day and more than a dozen are already known in detail.
Flashes occur throughout the sky and can be repetitive, so their origin in distant dwarf galaxies has been estimated. Because of the uncertainty of these mysterious radio waves, it has been speculated with an alien cause. "These explosions are produced by more than one type of cosmic source. In the future, CHIME will continue to help us study the distributions of rapid radio burst sources in the sky and in the Universe, which will hopefully give us new clues about their nature, "Victoria Kaspi explained to this medium.
Not even the landing of the Chinese mission Chang'e-4 on the hidden side of the Moon; nor the discovery of water in the K2-18b exoplanet; not even the magnificent images of the furthest asteroid ever studied (the Arrokoth); nor the secrets of our Sun revealed by the Parker Probe; The peculiarity of this year lies in the most unnoticed. The rarity of some signals that we don't know yet to interpret hides data that will baffle us tomorrow.
Technology is one of our great allies. With it we set our sights on interstellar space or we came to study the tiny atomic particles. For the calculations we have created artificial neurons and brains whose speed and precision almost surpasses the human. Google has worked hard on it and achieved quantum supremacy. This year, physicist John Martinis announced it. His team already performs faster processes than the best conventional computer and has earned his place in this Nature ranking.
In biology, this year reality has surpassed fiction. Neither the writers of the Walking Dead series, nor their fearful followers of a zombie apocalypse, would have ever imagined that while the ninth season was being filmed, in a laboratory at Harvard University, a scientist would resurrect the head of 32 pigs who had been killed more Four hours Nenad Sestan did it. He and his colleagues used a perfusion liquid of his invention capable of restoring neurons that had been subjected to lack of oxygen. In the experiment, they had to use a blocker for the synaptic activity, as a precaution to avoid the restoration of the animal's consciousness.
"Many things can kill a neuron, including lack of oxygen and the resumption of oxygen flow after an injury. Our results suggest that, in the right circumstances, neurons may be much more resistant than previously appreciated," He has highlighted EL MUNDO Nenad Sestan . Someday these experiments will be decisive for the treatment of patients who have suffered ischemia, a stroke or cardiac arrest.
Defeat death? Science challenges humanity with problems whose solution causes our ethical principles to falter. Bioethics committees constantly review our progress worldwide. Less in China. The Asian country lacks these surveillance organs and in its laboratories human babies are genetically modified or chimeras (half-man half-monkey beings) are produced for use in transplants. The Australian Wendy Rogers, Professor of Clinical Ethics at the University of Macquarie (Australia) has been included in the 2019 Nature list for heartbreaking revelations. In China, some organ transplants could have been done without donor consent. Livers, hearts and kidneys would come from prisoners (admitted by the Government) or from volunteers (questioned by the Australian).
Rogers reviews thousands of dubious scientific publications until the authors retract their findings. In his comments, he strongly criticizes not only the researchers but the entire network of journals that publish their data. " China acquired more than 90% of its organs for transplant of executed prisoners , but still the documents were published," he said. For her, foreign universities are also complicit when they contribute or look the other way despite not complying with current ethical standards. In this regard, it is clear: "We require strong action from international universities on collaboration with Chinese universities that do not adhere to international ethical standards," he said. Rogers is committed to "blocking these relationships until there is evidence of sharing the same ethical standards."
From China, however, another of the leading scientists of 2019 comes from. Hongkui Deng , from Peking University, is an expert in stem cells and has already used the already famous genetic editing technique CRISPR-cas9 to modify cells in an adult human being and increase immune resistance to the AIDS virus. Research in this field of genetic tools only stands out. This same year, MIT and Harvard University have released a new version of the CRISPR technique, called prime editing, which would significantly improve the results.
Immunology is experiencing great progress with the development of very complicated and previously unthinkable vaccines. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, microbiologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum fights the lethal Ebola virus, which has killed more than 2,200 people since the outbreak was announced in August 2018. Health centers in the African country suffer even the Mai Mai militia attacks. Some health workers who work applying this Congolese researcher's vaccine have been killed. The Mai Mai deny that the disease exists and accuse them of killing the local population.
And if, in anthropology, 2019 was the year of the new species Homo luzonensis , a skull of 3.8 million years ago has sneaked into the selection of important facts compiled by Nature . Paleontologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie has put face to Australopithecus anamensis and his work has been recognized by the scientific journal.
In the environmental field, the scientific community does not celebrate the data made public by the expert panels. At the Climate Summit just held in Madrid, Brazil has been one of the most resistant members to an agreement to avoid climate change. In command of the country is President Jair Bolsonaro, who denies scientific evidence and says he adequately protects his biological wealth. It is denied by the fires that have devastated it, the killings of indigenous leaders guardians of the forest (four in just the last week) and the Brazilian physicist Ricardo Galvão , who faced Bolsonaro with a report that warns of the high rate of deforestation of the Amazon.
Galvão has lost his position as head of the National Space Research Institute, but has earned his mention in this list of greats of Nature. He is accompanied by the ecologist Sandra Díaz , this year's Princess of Asturias award and co-chair of the panel of 145 experts who have warned of the enormous loss of biodiversity that is occurring on Earth, with one million species in danger of extinction.
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