In 2013, there was a lot of important scientific discoveries - from the intergalactic neutrinos and invisible brain to create a miniature "organelles". Before you - the 17 most important scientific discoveries of the past year just.
1. "Voyager 1" has gone beyond the Solar System Out of the solar system can not be considered an ordinary achievement. For 36 years NASA spacecraft "Voyager 1" increases the distance between himself and the Sun, moving away from him at a speed of 17 km / s. Scientists knew that sooner or later, "Voyager 1" reaches the periphery of the heliosphere, which surrounds the solar system and defines its boundaries, but when he crosses this barrier, it is known was not.After several months of uncertainty by NASA in September this year, has made an official statement: "Voyager 1" was the first object created by man, which came out in interstellar space. " So, we're already there. 2. Short palindromic repeats open (CRISPR) in the DNA ofbacteria have their own version of the adaptive immune system, but as a CRISPR system is not aimed at the hostile your immune system protein antigens. Instead CRISPR grasps and removes specific DNA sequences using appropriate RNA strands. System CRISPR easily manipulated in January scientists first reported deletion, addition, activation and suppression of a target gene in cells of humans, mice, rat, zebrafish, bacteria, fruit flies , yeast, nematodes and crops, showing tremendous opportunities for the application of the opening. For those seeking new tools for scientists often the most important is the versatility and ease of use. CRISPR convenient to both sides, and many scientists believe that the discovery has the potential to revolutionize molecular biology. 3. The Milky Way is full of habitable worlds in November astronomers said that 22% of stars like our sun of the Milky Way are potentially habitable planets around their orbits. Dimensions distant planets comparable to the Earth. This remarkable finding suggests that our galaxy may be more than two billion habitable planets, and the nearest such a planet may be only 12 light years from Earth. Perhaps there - a twin of the Earth? It is still unknown, but thanks to the telescope "Kepler" we have all the data to find out, it remains only to analyze them. Perhaps his second home we have already found. 4.Interface brain-to-brain in February, researchers announced that they have successfully established a connection between the brain of two rats: signals from the brain of one rat rat second helped to solve complex problems in real time, with the animals were thousands of miles from each other. A few months After such a link has been established between the human and rat brain, but only a month later, scientists published the results of the first successful experiment in communication between the brains of two people. The era of unification of minds does not seem far off. 5. There is life on the edge of the world in the lake Uillans is life. For millions of years the tiny lake of liquid water hidden in the depths of hundreds of meters under the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, isolated from the outside world, and scientists, and to explore its depths there was no way. This year, a team of researchers led by John Prisca glaciologist at the University of Montana managed drill a tunnel to the lake Uillans and find life - so Prisca and his colleagues were the first people in history who found living organisms in the lake on the edge of the world. 6. Doctors cured of HIV child born sick doctors in March announced a grand event in medicine - child cured of HIV. Dr. Deborah Persaud presented a report on this at the 20th Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. 7. Recently discovered the skull can reduce the evolutionary tree of humanity beautifully preserved skull age of 1.8 million years old, found in Dmanisi, Georgia, may be evidence that the evolutionary tree of the genus Homo creatures may have far fewer branches than previously thought. In a report published in October, said that a team of researchers led by Georgian anthropologist David Lordkipanidze found first in the history perfectly preserved hominid skull. If you compare the skull with four other skulls found nearby, it becomes clear that the earliest known members of the branch Homo (Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis and Homo erectus), perhaps nothing from each other do not differ. It is likely that they were all part of the same growing branches, eventually led to modern humans. 8. Neuroscientists have made invisible brain New technologies allow scientists to make fully transparent medulla. It has become one of the most important achievements in the field of neuroanatomy in recent decades, and is easy to understand why. 9. Rover «Curiosity» confirmed that Mars once might have life in March, NASA scientists have published perhaps the most compelling evidence to date that the Red Planet could be home to life. Earlier this year «Curiosity» drilled a few samples of sedimentary rocks near the old riverbed in the crater Gale. In this area, there is a whole series of lines, similar to the dry river bed that can testify in favor of the fact that the planet once had water. Using the on-board computers rover, NASA scientists have analyzed these samples for some of the critical elements necessary for life, including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon. Currently, the rover moves to its basic scientific goal - Aeolis mount (it mountain Sharpe) five kilometers high, situated in the center of the crater Gale. There he will try to find other proofs of the existence of life. 10. Death of anonymity genome Few things in the world can be more personal than your DNA. For this reason, in projects such as a database of the human genome, has always respected the privacy of participants. Studying the individual characteristics of individuals donated their DNA samples, the researchers maintain the standard "genomic anonymity." Those days are now officially over. In January, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown that the similarity of volunteers who donate personal data - its genome - can only be determined at the public availability of information. Lead researcher on the project Yaniv Erlich told how this method works, explained the implications of his discovery, and why it can change our attitude to genetic data. 11. Researchers have discovered neutrinos from another galaxy Physics Observatory "Ice Cube" at the South Pole this year drilled in the Antarctic glacier hole depth of 2.5 km and took it 28 neutrinos - those mysterious and extremely powerful subatomic particles that pass right through solid matter. These particles may have been born outside of our solar system, it is possible that outside of our galaxy. Perhaps for this discovery, researchers will receive the Nobel Prize. 12. 400,000-year-old DNA changes the known history of mankind DNA extracted from the well-preserved 400,000-year-old femur, complicates our understanding of human evolution. First anatomists thought that the bones belonged Neanderthal, but further study led to the assumption that the bone belonged to even his predecessor, as the representative of a separate branch of hominids, known under the name of Denisovan. Conclusions leading anthropologists are redefining the last few hundred thousand years of human evolution. It is possible that there were many extinct human populations that may interbreed and thus exchanged DNA. 13. Dawn mini-organs grown in the laboratory miniature bodies give scientists new ways to study diseases and how they develop in human tissues. So-called "organelles" created from pluripotent stem cells. The result is a variety of tissues, which can be grown, for example, "minipochki" or tiny human brain no bigger than an apple seed. 14. Long-lost continent discovered at the bottom of the Indian Ocean For centuries, Maurice was hidden from the eyes: a small continent once stood between India and Madagascar, but a few million years ago, disappeared under the ocean waves due to tectonic faults. This year, thanks to the volcanic activity remains of a long-lost continent reached the Earth's surface. After millions of years of geological research and incredible Maurice seems to have been found. 15. Giant virus «Pandoravirus» can make us rethink our ideas about life in July, scientists announced the discovery of a pair of viruses, unclassifiable. These viruses, called «Pandoravirus», a genetically complex of all other viruses known to science, and can ignite long-standing debate about the classification of life itself. 16. NASA discovered "previously unknown surprise surrounding the Earth" NASA Satellites «Van Allen probes» - a pair of robotic spacecraft, launched in 2012, the year of the study couples Earth's radiation belts. In February this year, the satellites have found something interesting - an ephemeral third ring of radiation surrounding the planet. 17. Human cloning becomes a reality in May, researchers have received stem cells from cloned human embryos. This new controversial technique could lead to new treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's disease or diabetes - as well as a step to bring us closer to human reproductive cloning.
