Summary of the year 2015 in science

2015 will soon end, and this is an opportunity to summarize the important things that happened this year in science, medicine, technology and ecology. The great achievements, surprising discoveries and alarming predictions - "Young Galileo" sums up the year

Written by: Zvi Atzmon

Protein breaks conventions

In the first days of 2015, a study on proteins was published, and it deserves attention in a general scientific context. Proteins (which are basic mechanisms of action of all living things, including humans) are created by adding amino acids to each other, while creating a long chain that is a protein. For decades, scientists believed that the combination of amino acids (that is, the building of proteins) was determined by information found within the genetic material in the cells of our bodies - DNA. And here it turns out that this is not always true, and this is an important lesson for every scientist, even if he is a professor or a Nobel laureate, and even if he is a student at school. The research discovered a protein called Rqc2, which plays a role that no one previously thought a protein could play.
This discovery demonstrates that science is never "closed" - we should always be open to new discoveries; Never think "we already know everything". Indeed, the Rqc2 does not actually build a protein that functions normally in the body, but only comes into action if there is a disturbance during the building of some protein in the cell. In case of disruption, this protein continues to extend the amino acid chain, but does so with only two amino acids, and does not use all twenty amino acids that make up normal proteins. The abnormal protein that is created can be used, perhaps, as a signal to the cell that the amino acids in it must be broken down and recycled. But as mentioned, apart from the importance for cell function, there is also importance in the general lesson that we must learn: in science one should always be open-minded, and there is always room for new discoveries and surprises.

A wonderful astronomical year

A thousand extrasolar planets - and more

At the beginning of January 2015, the American space agency NASA confirmed that the extrasolar planet Aleph had been discovered. The possibility of the existence of additional solar systems to ours, i.e. planets orbiting other suns (Saturn planets) had no evidence until about twenty years ago. Only then did evidence begin to be received for the existence of planets orbiting other Saturn stars - "extrasolar planets", outside our solar system. As mentioned, in January their number reached XNUMX. Since January, many hundreds more extrasolar planets have been discovered. Today, scientists know more extrasolar planets than the eight planets in the solar system, but our information about the planets in the solar system is much more detailed. At this point we know of only one planet where life exists - our Earth. It is possible that in the future we will also know about the existence of life on extrasolar planets.
A significant part of the extrasolar planets were discovered with the help of the Kepler space telescope, which was designed to detect extrasolar planets and was named after Johannes Kepler (1630-1571), who was one of the greatest scientists of all time and explained the laws that determine the orbits of the planets in the solar system, including.

• Kepler discovered the thousandth planet

circle a hook

On March 6, the unmanned American spacecraft Dan (a name meaning "dawn") entered the coffee orbit around Keres. Ceres is the first - and the largest - asteroid discovered (on the first night of the 19th century) in the asteroid belt that stretches between Mars and Jupiter. In 2006, astronomers decided that the properties of Ceres are different from those of the other asteroids (which are huge blocks of rock that surround the sun) and that its properties resemble a planet, and therefore it is now defined as a "dwarf planet". The Dunn spacecraft was the first to enter the coffee orbit around the dwarf planet and transmitted fascinating images of Ceres.

• The DAWN spacecraft will enter orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres

Enceladus: outside is ice - inside is warm. and alive?

The moon Enceladus orbiting (among dozens of other moons) the planet Saturn provided exciting discoveries this year. Enceladus is covered with a thick layer of ice, from which geysers erupt in certain areas - jets of hot water and steam. And here, on March 11, NASA reported on studies that indicate that between the ice sheet of Enceladus and the rocky core in its center there is an ocean of liquid water, and in it very hot water currents, like those found in volcanic areas at the bottom of oceans on Earth. This indicates that Enceladus is a celestial body with volcanic activity, and also raises the exciting possibility that it is Enceladus, whose surface is covered in ice at a very low temperature, that conditions exist that may be suitable for the existence of life.

The bump that woke up and the day of the comet

The Philae probe was the first probe to land on the nucleus of a comet - Comet 67P. The event took place on November 12, 2014, when the probe's mother spacecraft - Rosetta - continued to orbit the comet's nucleus. Shortly after the probe landed, its batteries ran out of electricity, and it went into "hibernation" and stopped transmitting. And here on June 14, the probe "woke up" and sent a transmission, to the great joy of the scientists. On July 30, it became known that the probe detected organic substances in the comet's nucleus, which are the components of life that we know from Earth.
On August 13, the comet reached the closest point in its orbit to the Sun (such a point is called perihelion), and the Rosetta spacecraft sent images from this great day of the comet.

• Surprise in Philae landing data - organic materials on the comet

New horizons for Pluto

The American spacecraft New Horizons has come a long way since it was launched in 2006 towards the dwarf planet Pluto (at the time the spacecraft was launched, Pluto was still considered a real planet). On April 14, New Horizons sent never-before-seen images of Pluto and its large moon Charon. The peak of the journey was on July 14, when the spacecraft passed close to Pluto - the first time ever that Pluto had a relatively close visit by a spacecraft.
At the beginning of October, New Horizons - which in the meantime continued its journey and returned to move away from Pluto - sent images according to which the atmosphere of Pluto has a haze with a bluish hue. The scientists hypothesize that the bluish hue is caused by tiny grains in Pluto's atmosphere that the scientists call tholins, which are made up of huge molecules. The tholin molecules are formed from the action of ions (electrically charged particles) of nitrogen on ions of the organic substance methane. The nitrogen and methane ions are created - so the scientists hypothesize - by absorbing ultraviolet (UV) rays in sunlight.

Exciting news - water on Mars

On September 28, NASA scientists, the American space agency, reported evidence of the existence of liquid water on the surface of Mars. The scientists deduce this, among other things, from streaks that resemble flow channels that appear in the (relatively) warm season on steep slopes in different regions of Mars. This is salty water, but this discovery is of immense importance both in connection with the possibility of sending astronauts to Mars, and in connection with the question of whether life existed (and perhaps still exists?) on Mars.

NASA: We found clues to the existence of salt water in a liquid state under the surface of Mars

The origin of man and his history

2015 was an exciting year in terms of discoveries about the origins of man and his culture.

The first ancient stone tool makers?

On April 14, scientists reported at a gathering of paleoanthropologists (researchers of early man and his ancestors) that they had identified in Kenya in Africa stone tools that were created 3.3 million years ago. This means that the creation of stone tools is about 700 thousand years earlier than was accepted before this discovery; And besides that - it seems that the beginning of the processing of stones into tools preceded the appearance on the stage of the history of the human species, which also includes the intelligent human species (Homo sapiens), to which we belong. If it turns out that the finding and the interpretation given to it by the researchers are accurate (and remember that in science there is always - always must be! - a question mark in order to continue the research), it seems that the first creatures who prepared stone tools for their use were hominins (the group that includes man and his fossil relatives) early, perhaps Australopithecus - Creatures that preceded the human race in the history of the earth and that today do not exist, except as fossilized remains; Australopithecines had a much smaller brain than the brain of the intelligent man - the species to which we belong.

• Welcome to the family - sorting out the evolutionary tree of the human family

Do the fossils discovered in Ofar belong to a hominin of an unknown species?

On May 28, paleoanthropologists announced that they had discovered fossilized remains of australopithecines of a different species from the known species in the Ofar region in northern Ethiopia. The researchers propose to call this species Australopithecus diremedal, which in the language of the Afar people means "Australopithecus relative". Only a few fossil finds were uncovered, and a debate arose between the scientists as to whether this was indeed an unknown species of Australopithecus or whether it was Australopithecus fossils of a known species. Arguments between scientists are an acceptable and even important thing in the way of establishing scientific facts.

• A jawbone discovered in Ethiopia indicates that the human lineage began 2.8 million years ago, earlier than previously thought

An ancient star born? - I was born gay

On September 10, a report was published that is amazing in terms of its scope when it comes to findings concerning early hominins. In a deep cave known as the Rising Star, in South Africa, more than 1,500 bones and bone fragments of an ancient species of man were found. This is an extremely unusual wealth of finds when it comes to ancient human remains. The bones belong to 15 different individuals, including babies, young people and adults. They are quite similar to the bones of a modern human (Homo sapiens), although there are also clear differences between us. One of the notable differences is in the volume of the cranial cavity, which means the volume of the brain - less than half of its volume in an intelligent person, a person of our time. The researchers claim that this is an ancient species of man, which they propose to call Homo Naledi (Naldi is named after the cave; Naldi is a star in one of the South African languages). However, there are researchers who claim based on the published descriptions that these are details that belong to a human species known to science for a long time - the upright man (Homo erectus). One of the problems is that the age of the findings has not yet been identified.

• Remains of "primitive man" have been discovered, exhibiting human characteristics alongside those of apes

Severe forecast for the weather

The state of our common home, Earth, is very worrying. It suffers from climate change and general warming, the destruction of habitats and the massive extinction of animals. Even if we want to be optimistic, it's hard not to be worried and disturbed. At the beginning of January, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported that the previous year, 2014, was the hottest year since temperature records began. In mid-January, American experts also announced the same announcement.
In April, a study was published indicating that the melting of the glaciers seriously harms the possibility of polar bears to survive, and in May, a report was published about the melting of a large-scale glacier in Antarctica, the southern continent. In May, an assessment was also published that extensive melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas is expected. In July it was announced that the first half of 2015 - January to June - was warmer than the average of the twentieth century. In September, a study was published that indicates that the population of marine vertebrates, including mammals (such as whales), birds, reptiles (such as sea turtles) and fish dropped by fifty percent - dropped by half! – since 1970. Think about it. What is expected of the marine animals, the earth and us if this trend continues?! In particular, the tuna and mackerel fish populations were affected, which dropped by a quarter during that period! This is extremely disturbing and deeply concerning.
Still, something is encouraging in our places: on October 19, at the Sewage Treatment Institute of Gush Dan, Shepadan, modern tanks for recycling sludge and turning it into fertilizer for use in agriculture were inaugurated. The Shapadan is the largest waste water recycling institute in the Middle East. Until now, the wastewater from Gush Dan has been discharged into Shapadan, purified by biological purification using bacteria and separated into wastewater that is purified and used for agriculture in the Negev and sludge that was discharged into the sea. Through the modern methods and containers, the sludge will now be used as fertilizer for agriculture, and will not be discharged into the sea. The method is not completely free of problems, but it is a cycle, which can reduce the damage to the earth.

A few more surprises and achievements

• "Hot" fish: the mammals - mice, dogs, elephants as well as humans, and also the birds of their species are "warm-blooded" (endothermic, i.e. have internal heat). The meaning is that their body temperature is maintained thanks to internal production of heat and thanks to regulatory mechanisms. In contrast, the body temperature of other animals - such as snakes, frogs, fish and insects, is close to the ambient temperature and they are called "cold-blooded" (a more accurate term - ectothermic). And here on May 15, researchers reported on a large and colorful fish from the moonfish family (the shape of the moonfish's body is somewhat similar to the moon) whose body temperature is higher than that of its cold environment - from the depths of the oceans, and is kept constant, meaning that it is endothermic; This is the only fish species known today as "warm-blooded".
• Computer software is better than humans at recognizing line drawings: On July 20, it was announced that researchers from London, England, created a computer program that recognizes line drawings (sketches) more accurately than humans. The software correctly distinguished between line drawings of "seagull", "pigeon", "flying bird" and "standing bird" in a higher percentage of attempts than how successful humans are in identifying these line drawings.
• Vaccination against Ebola: Ebola disease (or Ebola hemorrhagic fever) is a serious disease, and in many cases fatal (resulting in the death of the patients), caused by a virus that is transmitted from a sick person to people who come into contact with it. The first known outbreak of Ebola was in 1976, and there have been several outbreaks since then. The last - and largest - outbreak began in 2013 and spread in 2014 and 2015. The Ebola disease manifests itself in high fever (hence the name "fever"), pain, diarrhea, and in many cases also internal and external hemorrhages; Many of the patients do not survive. And here, on July 31 of this year, scientists announced that they had succeeded in developing a vaccine against the Ebola virus, which in experiments showed XNUMX percent effectiveness in protecting against the disease. This is very happy news for the residents of Africa, where the Ebola epidemic breaks out from time to time, and also for the medical teams, including volunteers, who were among the people who contracted the disease following dedicated treatment of the many patients.

The article appeared in the December issue of Young Galileo – Monthly for curious children

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