things we know now that we didn 3

6
Things we know now that we didn’t know a year ago (thanks to science) 2014 was a bumper year all round for science. In case you missed it, here are some of the highlights of what the species now knows... 1. Self-healing teeth – yup, that’s right, due to the wondrousness of science it seems that we soon won’t have to endure any more drilling, yanking and spitting that pink stuff out in the dentist’s chair. No more foreign, latex-sheathed fingers in your mouth because clever dentists have invented self-healing teeth, or rather, a way in which your existing teeth can be treated in order to self heal. (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-06/kcl- ndn061614.php) 2. Disease snipped out at source – another advance from the world of health care! A new method called CRISPR allows scientists to snip out portions of your DNA that cause illness and disease and replace it with non-sick DNA. This ‘gene-editing’ technology has so far worked in living mice. (http://phys.org/news/2014-03-reverse-liver-disorder-mice- mutated.html) 3. Food For All! – One study last year took a good hard look at the hungry population / available food problem, and worked out some pretty nifty suggestions that, if implemented, would provide the basic calorific needs for around 3 billion more people. The study looked for low-hanging fruit, that is, the interventions that will bring the greatest possible rewards. These interventions work by focussing on specific actions, specific crops, and specific locations which will yield the greatest results. Clever boys and girls! (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-07/uom- nss071114.php) 4. Rats are taking over – In a terrifying development, two separate studies suggest that the future belongs to the rat. Apparently, as larger species become extinct, the dirty old rat moves in and takes over. Not only that, in response to their new, predator free environment the rats expand in a

Upload: valutions

Post on 12-Apr-2017

83 views

Category:

Science


4 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Things we know now that we didn 3

Things we know now that we didn’t know a year ago (thanks to science)

2014 was a bumper year all round for science. In case you missed it, here are some of the highlights of what the species now knows...

1. Self-healing teeth – yup, that’s right, due to the wondrousness of science it seems that we soon won’t have to endure any more drilling, yanking and spitting that pink stuff out in the dentist’s chair. No more foreign, latex-sheathed fingers in your mouth because clever dentists have invented self-healing teeth, or rather, a way in which your existing teeth can be treated in order to self heal. (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-06/kcl-ndn061614.php)

2. Disease snipped out at source – another advance from the world of health care! A new method called CRISPR allows scientists to snip out portions of your DNA that cause illness and disease and replace it with non-sick DNA. This ‘gene-editing’ technology has so far worked in living mice. (http://phys.org/news/2014-03-reverse-liver-disorder-mice-mutated.html)

3. Food For All! – One study last year took a good hard look at the hungry population / available food problem, and worked out some pretty nifty suggestions that, if implemented, would provide the basic calorific needs for around 3 billion more people. The study looked for low-hanging fruit, that is, the interventions that will bring the greatest possible rewards. These interventions work by focussing on specific actions, specific crops, and specific locations which will yield the greatest results. Clever boys and girls! (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-07/uom-nss071114.php)

4. Rats are taking over – In a terrifying development, two separate studies suggest that the future belongs to the rat. Apparently, as larger species become extinct, the dirty old rat moves in and takes over. Not only that, in response to their new, predator free environment the rats expand in a phenomenon called gigantism. Growing to at least 80lb and possible more. If ever there was a time to start supporting WWF it is now people! (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140203084014.htm) (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news74204.html)

5. But wait, there’s hope – Russian scientists found a frozen woolly mammoth from 43,000 years ago. It is such good condition that they strongly believe they will be able to make a clone of the creature from its DNA using an elephant surrogate. I say, in with woolly mammoths, out with gigantic rats, all day long. (http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/exclusive-siberian-scientists-announce-they-now-have-a-high-chance-to-clone-the-extinct-woolly-mammoth/)

6. If the woolly mammoths don’t work out, there’s always cryogenic freezing – scientists discovered that a particular brand of leach is quite happy to be frozen to -190°C. The manner in which the leech does this is said to be a stepping stone toward cryopreservation. The day and hour I see a rat of abnormal proportions I’m going straight to the lab, getting my freeze on, and going into orbit for a few centuries. (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0086807

Page 2: Things we know now that we didn 3

7. The existence of the bubble universe has been challenged – now, bear with me on this one, apparently for the last while the general belief of those in the know has been that universes bubble out of other universes and have done forever and will do forever. Further, these universes are full of floating sentient brains with no bodies (I’m not high, this is science bitches!). But now apparently that is no longer the case, and everything will just eventually come to an end. No floating brains either. (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229692.600-quantum-twist-could-kill-off-the-multiverse.html)

8. We’re all descended from aliens – well, that’s basically what I took from this bulletin from the world of science – apparently DNA can survive entering another planet’s atmosphere and once it has arrived it is still fit to reproduce and spread its information. So as far as I’m concerned we’re all clearly aliens. Holla! (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141126144150.htm)

9. More fun with DNA – Researchers in Jerusalem have shown that electricity will travel through a chain of DNA molecules which means in due course there might be DNA based circuits. One of the major advancements that this discovery is expected to provoke is teenier tinier computers. (http://phys.org/news/2014-10-breakthrough-molecular-electronics-paves-dna-based.html)

10. A big ‘ol dinosaur – in 2014, scientists discovered the biggest dinosaur ever – with a thigh bone of 40m x 20m in Argentina. Well, actually, it wasn’t the scientists. Apparently a ‘local farm worker stumbled across the remains’. I do wonder how something so gigantic could have been missed over the last 200,000 years or so! And why do these things never happen to me?! Anyway, this new dinosaur weighed 77 tonnes and has yet to be given a name. (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27441156)

11. Good livin’ – they worked out this year that green tea extract is good for your memory, that if you eat 7+ portions of fruit and veg a day you are 42% less likely to die at any given moment, and that getting up for 3 short, slow 5 minute walks will cure all the negative effects of sitting for three hours. Have you got that? Green tea, fruit and veg and 5 minute walks and your golden. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140407101545.htm) (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0414/010413-fruit-veg-consumption-death-risk/) (http://www.neomatica.com/2014/09/09/three-short-walks-reverse-harmful-effects-3-hours-prolonged-sitting/)

12. However, if you do get ill... they can always install a tiny motor inside your cells!!! Oh yeah, and then they’ll just control it y’know with ultrasonic and magnets – no big deal. These little critters will rock around in your blood, delivering medicine, busting up cancer cells and performing mini-surgery. Holy moly, we’re in the future! (http://news.psu.edu/story/303296/2014/02/10/research/nanomotors-are-controlled-first-time-inside-living-cells)

13. More microbial mayhem? So, along with the nanomotors above, scientists have also created decoy cells that will trick nasty bacteria into thinking that they are the real deal (i.e. you!). The bacteria then get trapped by the decoy cells and destroyed so you don’t get sick. Neat, huh? This is an extra big deal because resistance to antibiotics is a serious health problem worldwide – these decoy cells solve that problem, while being totally badass. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141102160004.htm)

Page 3: Things we know now that we didn 3

14. Again in the cellular world – researchers were able to turn stem cells into the insulin creating cells in the pancreas. When these new cells were implanted in diabetic mice, the diabetes disappeared within 12 days! (Pass me the cake please, I’m good from here on in).( http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/10/09/354708628/scientists-coax-human-embryonic-stem-cells-into-making-insulin)

15. And the last cell-based innovation for this list – similar to the diabetes experiment above, a team working in Sweden used stem cells to reverse brain damage in rats. (http://www.bbc.com/news/health-29935449)

16. Robots are taking over – Three robots stole the show this year. First you have Boris who has been learning to handle human objects. This might not seem like such a huge deal but the point is to create robots that can function in human society and handle human tools effectively. The scientists envisage these robots working in hospitals and so on. Boris’ brother, Bob, has been learning how to navigate human space, staying out of people’s way and not wrecking the place. Finally, they just build a really bloody fast robot, faster than Usain Bolt. Also, terrifyingly, there are reports of a self-assembling swarm of robots. That is, robots which can manage themselves into formations. Right now they’re only tiny little things, but they are still thinking together! So yeah, our time is nigh, the robots are moving in. (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29168675) (http://www.kurzweilai.net/kaist-raptor-robot-runs-at-28-58-mph-faster-than-any-human) (http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/08/self-organizing-thousand-robot-swarm)

17. The world is f**ked, and it’s our fault – The outlook is pretty dire on the planetary front, and researchers concluded recently that they are 99.99% sure (and that’s their conservative estimate) that it’s us human-folks fault. Other scientists reported on the effects this is having which include Antarctica losing 16 billion tonnes of ice a year through melting, and species dying out from West Africa (down to 450 lions) to Mexico (the axolotyl seems to have disappeared altogether, but they are going to check again in spring 2015). (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-014-2128-2) (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0083500) (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/29/mexico-water-monster-axolotl-vanished)

18. And if it does all go wrong for us, we’re a fair ways away from human teleportation just yet, though they did manage to teleport some information between two quantum bits in 2014. (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/30/science/scientists-report-finding-reliable-way-to-teleport-data.html?_r=0)

19. But there is hope! Conservation efforts definitely can work, as is shown by the return of numbers of Blue Wales in California to historical numbers. These great big creatures have returned to close to their original number before whaling became serious business and it was all down to sensitive policy-making and conservation efforts. (http://www.washington.edu/news/2014/09/05/california-blue-whales-rebound-from-whaling-first-of-their-kin-to-do-so/)

20. Finally, they found Richard III in the car park of a supermarket in Leicester, UK. Really. Archaeologists had a good dig and found the old fella (some 500 years old) and then hunted down his current relatives (20 generations later!) and were able to verify that it was his majesty himself. In the process of genetic testing they accidentally discovered that some royal lady must have been playing away from home at some stage, as while all the male

Page 4: Things we know now that we didn 3

relatives matched DNA with Richard III grandfather, none of them matched with Richard III himself. (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/genetics/scientists-confirm-remains-king-richard-iii-17487010)

So, as you fight off robots with your self-healing teeth while grazing on your 7 fruit and veg a day and chowing down some green tea extract, spare a thought for the scientists and technicians of the world who are out there doing really hard maths and building speedy robots and tiny, tiny motors. And please let’s get on this animal extinction thing, I really can’t be dealing with giant rats.