Year 2018: Scientific discoveries

The year gone by, suffered vide the loss, on its timeline, of the modern Einstein – Stephen Hawking – whose significant contributions in terms of bringing together quantum mechanics & Theory of Relativity, understanding black holes further & vide the “M-Theory” postulating the “Theory of Everything” - set a very high bar difficult to be outclassed; likewise, the untimely deaths of Ruth Gates - who contributed substantially to the field of corals & space scientist, Constance Adams.  Other notable losses include Paul Allen who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates. Koko- the gorilla who was taught 1000 hand signs by animal psychologist, Francine Patterson & understood 2000 English words, helped humans understand the cognitive abilities of apes, died in 2018.  On a happier note, though, there were significant advancements, in the fields of space, medicine et al.

Healthcare

·         Gene Editing: In Oct 2018, Chinese scientists announced success in making same sex mice couples give birth to pups, using gene editing & stem cells; the pups born of two moms had their own litter while pups born from two papas died within 48 hours indicating the complexity of the process & the likely way forward in subsequent advanced research. While a few vertebrates like frogs, lizards & fish can have progeny without genetic input from a male, it is not the case with mammals with a placenta & that makes the above advancement significant.

Likewise, scientist He Jiankui claimed to have used a cut & paste DNA editing technique, called CRISPR, to produce monkey twins immune to HIV. While Dolly- the sheep & other pigs, mice, dogs, cats, and cows were cloned earlier, cloning of primates – a historical challenge- has now been surmounted.

Gene editing has unintended side effects – altering sequences that were not meant to be altered - & these could pass on from one generation to the next effecting development of traits, diseases etc. thereby raising significant ethical questions. The positive of the research, though, is that same sex couples can move away from adoption to have their own genetic offspring & claim pregnancy assistance on par with heterosexual couples.

·         Lab Made Sheep-Human Hybrids & Creating Human Organs: in 2017, scientists grew human-pig hybrid cells & followed it up with sheep embryos with 1% human cells in terms of count, in 2018. Human-animal hybrids embryos could help grow organs, in a lab setting, to be used, later, for transplants; however this necessitates increasing the % of human cells in the animal embryo, significantly, to reduce risk of organ rejection on transplantation. The research, though cutting edge, is underfunded due to the ethics issues involved.

·         Discovery of a New Organ: The NYU school of Medicine in Mar ’18 discovered a new organ - interstitium - previously thought to be a dense layer of tissues, but classified by NYU researchers as a tiny channel that connects to the lymphatic system; the new “organ” is made up of fluid filled channels, though which cancer cells could spread to the rest of the body. Peer review of the research is still underway.

·         Cancer Treatment: A major leap was achieved in cancer treatment in terms of targeting tumours using drugs, nano-robots & regulating food intake. Drug Maker Loxo Oncology has launched a drug Vitrakvi which targets genetically similar features or biomarkers & is site agnostic. This combined with medical nano robots – 1000 times smaller than human hair – which can be IV injected to attack tumours, by cutting off of fresh blood supply causing the cells to shrivel & die, is a giant leap in healthcare; no damage was done to other cells of the body. Patients put on low carb- high fat ketogenic diet while administering PI3K inhibitor - designed to kill tumours – too has shown good results.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Centre discovered a blood test that could identify eight common cancers: lung, breast, colon, pancreas, liver, stomach, ovary, and oesophagus. The test was successful, about 40% of the time, in patients with Stage 1 cancer & offers hope for early detection.

·         Innovative Stem cell Research: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that affects the brain, spinal cord, and immune system; scientists attempted to destroy the immune system vide chemotherapy & then repair the immune system using stem cells - essentially rebooting the blood & bone marrow & were successful with only 1% of the patients displaying relapse after treatment. Similarly, two patients with age related macular degeneration – whereby they cannot see faces or read – when treated with a stem cell patch, implanted on the damaged portion of their eyes, had their eyesight restored. Fine tuning of this process could make it as economical, as cataract surgery, going forward.

·         Transferring Memory, Cure for Alzheimer & Reverse Aging: Neurobiologist Glanzman, in May’18, announced the results of his research predicated on the assumption that memories that cause defensive reflexes might be coded in the RNA & not in the brain. He implanted wires into the tails of sea snails – called sea hares - & shocked them, whereby they were sensitized to contract their gills when prodded into a fleshy part of their body, called the siphon. He then transferred RNA from these hares to ones not sensitized & the latter group, on prodding, displayed a similar response of gill contracting not displayed when RNA was transferred from non-sensitized hares.

Scientists at the Gladstone institute extracted stem cells from Alzheimer patients & healthy volunteers & using these to create neurons or brain cells found the patients having 2 copies of the apoE4 gene which caused the disease via increased production of the neuron damaging protein. They erased the same in the damaged neurons ensuing cells live longer & healthier. The research is promising & could lead to a cure for the disease in the years ahead.

Scientists from Boston led by Dr David Sinclair found a molecule NAD in mammals that depletes with increasing age inducing illnesses. The team boosted NAD levels in older mice, vide a dietary supplement, which made cells sound again & improved health. They now intend to replicate their experiments on humans & if successful could help find cure for Alzheimer cancer etc.

·         Lab Meat without Cruelty: While lab meat from animal cells is produced by using fetal bovine serum that comes from slaughtered cows, a Dutch start-up, Meatable claims that they have solved the “cruelty” problem by using stem cells from the animal’s umbilical cords.

·         Male Contraceptive Gel: A shoulder rub gel, to be used once a day as a male contraceptive, has been invented & is under a year-long trial. This will serve as an alternative to condoms & vasectomies. Further, researchers at the University of Washington have announced a new male birth control pill –Dimethandrolone Undecanoate (DMAU); testosterone used in past pills caused liver problems & had to be consumed twice daily unlike the current invention, where one would suffice; it has a side effect of a mild increase in cholesterol though.

Space:

·         Mars Exploration: Space X launches its 27 engine reusable Falcon Heavy rocket with reusable boosters with Musk’s Red Tesla Roadster, with a dummy driver, as payload flying past Mars.

Meanwhile, in July’18, Italian scientists announced the possibility of 12.4 miles wide & 3 feet deep underground lake, of Liquid water, at the poles of planet Mars. The camera, HiRise, aboard the Mars reconnaissance orbiter, found subterranean ice in 8 different regions of the planet, at 55-60 degrees north & south of the equator, at depths of 1 to 100 metres. The ice is pure & could be potentially mined to support life forms for drinking, growing crops or for extracting hydrogen as fuel - in the event of colonization of the planet. Most Mars missions restrict themselves to landing sites 30 degrees on either side of the equator where climate is more warm; it is likely that in these regions ice could be found at greater depths making it harder & costlier to extract; NASA Mars 2020 rover & the European Space Agency rover, equipped with ground penetrating radar & drills, could explore the equatorial regions further.

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity discovered organic matter, on a 3 billion year old mudstone, in crater Gale, which could have been created biologically - indicative of the building blocks of life - or naturally – due to a geographic process. Further research is needed to arrive at firm conclusions but possibility of life & availability of water on Mars are significant advancements of our understanding of the Red planet.

·         Gene Mutations in Space: Astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year in space while his Twin, Mark, was left on earth & NASA’s research on comparison of these two sets of identical DNA revealed that 7% of the former's gene expression hasn’t returned to the Earth normal, perhaps as a consequence of the body’s response to the stress of living in space, which could have a lasting impact on his immune system & retinas. Scott emerged 2 inches taller - due to the “stretching of the spine”. His telomeres – caps at the end of chromosomes – became longer while in space but retracted to original lengths once home; generally telomeres get shorter with age but here it effected in reverse. Scott’s genes showed both increase & decrease in the levels of methylation – genes getting tuned off & on – indicating that genes are sensitive to changing environment whether on Earth or in Space.

Others:

·         New Measure for Kilogram: A hunk of platinum iridium called “Le Grand K” used to measure Kg since 1889 was replaced, in Nov’18, of the Plank Constant (h) which is based on the amount of electricity needed to counteract a Kilogram’s force.

·         Measure to make seas Plastic Free: Dutch, Boyan Slat, invented & launched a plastic trapping pipe to suck out plastic debris in the seas, which otherwise is killing sea turtles & other life forms.

·         Grow Vegetables in Antarctica: German scientists announced, in April’18, that they grew vegetables – salad greens, cucumbers & radishes - in Antarctica in a greenhouse – even as outside temperatures dropped to minus 4 degree F, in the absence of earth & sun & plan to replicate the same going forward to grow vegetables in space-crafts

Conclusion

Overall, 2018 was an exciting year & one hopes that 2019 shall help the human mind conquer new frontiers