No crises and political squabbles can stop the progress of progress. Modern science almost every day makes amazing discoveries that reveal the secrets of the Universe, prolong life, and give a new impetus to electronics, technology, and pharmacology.
Today we present main scientific discoveries of 2014... The top ten are based on Science.
10. Large genetic alphabet
Everything that exists on Earth is encoded using genetic information. Previously, 4 letters of DNA were used to designate the code - A, T, G and C. In 2014, scientists added 2 more - X and Y. The researchers plan to code new proteins that do not exist in nature, but help in the treatment of many serious diseases.
9. Launch of mini-satellites CubeSat
The area of one side of such a satellite is only 10 square meters. see Previously they were used as teaching aids for students. But over the past year, more than 75 "babies" have been launched into orbit.
8. Manipulation of memories
Science fiction films are becoming reality - scientists have learned to change fragments of memory. True, so far the experiments were carried out only on mice. But they managed to radically change the emotional perception of the rodents of their memories, turning good ones into bad ones, and vice versa.
7. Cells that can treat diabetes
Embryonic stem cells have been transformed by scientists into the so-called beta cells of the immune mechanism. This discovery is very important in the fight against previously incurable type 1 diabetes.
6. The oldest rock art on Earth
Scientists have found drawings in caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi that are at least 40 thousand years old. Primitive geometric shapes, which are about 78 thousand years old, have been previously found in Africa. But the real graphic drawings were previously no more than 30,000 years old. The discovery could make significant adjustments to the history of mankind.
5. Artificial brain
To create an artificial brain, IBM used 5.4 billion transistors, creating 256 million synapses that mimic the connections between neurons in the brain. This is several times less than in the head of a real person, but scientists do not intend to stop.
4. Humanoid robots
The prototypes created in 2014 can learn and work completely autonomously, which allows us to talk about a breakthrough in the creation of artificial intelligence.
3. Discovery of "young blood"
Experiments on mice have confirmed that blood serum from young rodents can rejuvenate the blood and muscles of older relatives. If this pattern is also true for humans, a revolution in the fight against aging may begin in the coming years.
2. Origin of birds
The appearance of birds at the end of the dinosaur era remained a mystery to scientists for many years. However, data on hundreds of fossil reptiles was gradually collected. Researchers have traced how the bodies of ancient dinosaurs became smaller, bones thinner, and flight skills improved. As a result, large dinosaurs died out from lack of food, and small birds triumphantly continued their dispersal across the planet.
1. Landing on the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko
The Rosetta spacecraft covered almost 6.5 billion kilometers and was delivered to the comet's surface by the Phila robot. The ten-year journey was crowned with success, now scientists dream of exploring the relict matter of the solar system, checking the presence of water and organic micromolecules on the comet.