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“As a
layman, I would now say, ‘I think we have it.’ Do you agree?”
These were
the words of Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director-general of the particle physics
laboratory CERN in Switzerland, on July 4th 012, and officially
announced the discovery of the long-sought Higgs Boson particle. But while
evidence for the existence of the ‘God particle’ may have been the breakthrough
of the year (if not the decade), there have been plenty of science stories
grabbing headlines, both for innovation and controversy. Read on for a reminder
of the stories you saw, and a few that may have slipped past you as well.
Physical Sciences
The discovery of the
Higgs Boson particle has not been easy – it took months of gathering data from
over 500 trillion particle collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at
CERN. The staggering amount of data collected finally allowed the researchers
to confidently claim that the new boson they had found, with a mass of 125
gigaelectronvolts, was indeed the elusive Higgs Boson, as predicted by theorist
Peter Higgs almost 50 years ago. The existence of this particle is crucial to
the Standard Model of physics – although somewhat unfortunately no other
particles have yet been discovered. Baby steps, I suppose. For an opinion about
the coverage and reception of the Higgs Boson, check out Issue 3 of Synapse.
Sometimes,
though, the understanding of our world, solar system and universe just cannot
be achieved with a particle accelerator; sometimes you need a hovering sky
crane gently lowering a rover in the middle of a crater. Only NASA could have
achieved a feat such as this, and in August the first low-resolution images
from the Curiosity rover were
received. While no signs of life have yet been confirmed, soil samples analysed
by Curiosity reveal a surprisingly
close composition to that of Hawaii. Further afield, more and more exoplanets
are being discovered, with the closest one yet a mere 4.4 light years away orbiting
Alpha Centauri, while another exoplanet 40 light years away is believed to be
made entirely of diamond.
Despite these
successes, NASA’s monetary support from the US government continues to dwindle,
even resulting in NASA holding a cake sale to highlight this. Their lack of
funds may pave the way for more commercial enterprises – this year saw SpaceX’s
Dragon spacecraft rendezvous with the International Space Station, and of
course Red Bull made Felix Baumgartner’s ascent (and rather more rapid descent)
to the stratosphere possible.
Life Sciences
CERN was not the only
organisation to acquire large amounts of data this year – the Encyclopedia
of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project collected 15 terabytes of data over 5
years in order to characterise all of the ‘functional’ parts of the human
genome. They predict that at least 20% of the genome is involved in regulating
gene expression – with genes for proteins themselves making up just 1% of the
total DNA. Another ambitious project was the start of mapping the wiring of the
mouse brain, a project which complements the Human Connectome project also
currently underway. With mouse models being common throughout neuroscience,
understanding the similarities and differences between human and mouse brains
will be invaluable in elucidating the mechanisms behind conditions such as
Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.
In medical
science, stem cells continue to show their potential in treatment with the
(controversial) discovery of stem cells in women’s ovaries which are capable of
producing new eggs; this alongside the creation of egg cells from stem cells in
mice by Japanese scientists in October. A powerful new painkilling substance
with fewer side effects than morphine has potentially been found in a truly
unexpected place – the venom of the Black Mamba snake. It appears to work by a
different mechanism to conventional painkillers, although in its current form
(being transmitted along with incredibly potent neurotoxins when bitten by one
of the deadliest snakes in Africa), it probably isn’t quite ready for mass
release.
The death of
Lonesome George, the last known individual of the Pinta Island tortoise
subspecies and symbol of the Galapagos Island conservation effort, occurred in
June. But as extinction occurs, so too does the discovery of new species, with
two of the world’s smallest vertebrates being found this year – Paedophryne
amanuensis, a frog of just 7mm
from Papua New Guinea, and Brookesia micra, a dwarf chameleon from
Madagascar (juvenile pictured).
And, of course, no life sciences review would be
complete without mentioning at least one GM story. University of Wyoming
scientists genetically engineered silkworms to produce large amounts of
spidersilk, which has higher tensile strength than that of steel. Future
applications may include sutures and body armour.
Out of the Lab
While this
year may have seen major scientific advances, controversy has never been
far behind. A paper describing mutations to an H5N1 avian flu strain so that it
was able to infect ferrets by air was initially only allowed to be published if
certain details were left out. Only 5 mutations were required, and the US
National Science Advisory Board for Bio-security was concerned that the
information could be dangerous in terrorist hands. Eventually, the paper was
published some months later.
At the same
time, there has been a huge push for more transparency and open access to peer
reviewed work. A key spark in this explosion was the boycott of Elsevier, Dutch
publishing giants who critics claim charge too much for their papers, and are
opposed to open access. While the campaign may have seen scientists stepping up
to be heard, another story this year may cause the reverse – in October, 7 men
were convicted of manslaughter for providing falsely reassuring statements
before a major earthquake hit the area around L’Aquila, resulting in over 300
deaths.
So there you
have it – 2012, a year dominated by Olympic sport, has come to an end, and with
it a year of discoveries, inventions and exploration. If there is one concept
and, in the case of 2012, one headline-grabbing event, to sum up some of the
biggest breakthroughs of the year, and to sum up science in general, it must
surely be: Curiosity. Here’s looking
forward to 2013. Happy New Year!
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