Christmas has come and gone. As the year 2018 comes to an end
it is time to take stock of all the good things that happened, thank those who
made them happen and hope for a better world in future. After all why should we
wish for anything less? So though many other nice things may have happened in
the world of arts, literature, drama and films, though many sporting records
may have been shattered and many political battles won, I choose to dwell on
only two aspects – Current affairs and Medical Science.
Current Affairs:
1.
Apple became the world’s first publicly-traded company
to exceed the value of $1 trillion in 2018. Amazon made the cut a mere month
later.
2.
North and South Korean women’s
ice-hockey teams played jointly at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in
Pyeongchang, marking the first time ever that the two countries had a unified
Olympic team.
3.
The first pedestrian fatality
caused by an autonomous vehicle is believed to have occurred back in March,
when a self-driving Uber test car killed a cyclist in Tempe, Arizona.
4.
People of Saudi Arabia are
among the most repressed in the world, so it was a nice surprise to see the
ultra-conservative kingdom hosting it’s first-ever fashion week in its capital,
Riyadh. The audiences were all-female, and there was a social media ban. The
women started driving on Saudi roads!!
5. The world was poorer by the loss of poet and politician Atal Bihari Vajpai, prycicist Stephen Hawkins, U.S senator John McCain, African freedom fighter Winnie Mandela, actor Burt Reynolds, Marvel Comics maestro Stan Lee and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush
6.
French students aged between 3
and 15 years old now have to leave all of their digital devices at home or
turned off while they’re at school after a law banning smart devices at school
in France went into effect in September. Indian schools have addressed this
menace much before.
7.
Ethiopian President, Mulatu
Teshome launched Africa’s very first waste-to-energy plant in the outskirts of
the capital, Addis Ababa Ethiopia this year. It is expected to take 80% of the
city’s daily waste while generating some 30% of its energy needs.
8.
Canada became the first major
economy in the world, and on the second country in the world, to legalize the
use of recreational marijuana for people over 18
Medical
Science:
1.
Sickle cell anemia which affects
more than 4 million people worldwide was cured in a 26 year old through
the transplantation of healthy stem cells by a pair of scientists at the
National Human Genome Research Institute https://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297(18)30048-X#%20
2.
A team of researchers from
Boston found a way to stop and even reverse the aging process in mice. The process
is based on a molecule called NAD, which is found naturally in mammals, but its
level has dwindled over the years, a process that causes the development of
age-related diseases. By increasing the NAD level in older mice with dietary
supplements, the cells in their bodies returned to their youth and their
general health improved. If the results can be duplicated in humans then nutritional
supplements will be able to stop aging in a scientifically proven way and to
prevent diseases such as Alzheimer's and cancer.
3.
Year 2018 came with a
refreshing discovery of a new organ - the interstitium; a group of scientists
at the University of New York found that this organ, once considered a dense
layer of tissue, is actually a narrow channel used to transport lymphatic
fluid. https://www.livescience.com/62128-interstitium-organ.html
4.
Scientists were able to restore
the vision of two people who had macular degeneration to a level where they
could not read at all. The treatment was done by implanting stem cells over the
damaged parts of the eye, after which both patients were able to recognize
faces and read. https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4114.epdf?referrer_access_token=v66P3nsywC4cmK6wQQOUzdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PJSqIFs8CVMGLKXeHOLTvVDW3Fvw0-
5.
Nanorobotics deals with
assembling and manufacturing miniature robots that don’t exceed minuscule
nanometers. Nanorobotic particles that are meant to find and destroy
cancerous cells in the human body. These novel nanobots, first tested on mice
injected with cancer cells, were able to locate the diseased cells in the
living body and cut blood flow to them - causing them to wither and die; at the
same time, no harm was caused to other healthy cells. https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4071
We are awaiting human trials.
6.
Even McDonald’s had something
useful to offer! McDonald's uses at least one ingredient that has a
certain cosmetic benefit: the company's fries are fried in oil and the
chemical Polydimethylsiloxane, which was discovered to have the potential
to create masses of hair follicles, encouraging increased hair growth. The
scientists planted hair follicles that grew by adding the chemical to the back
of a mouse, and new hair had already sprouted and grew shortly thereafter. Not
yet checked in humans though! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0142961217307214?via%3Dihub
7.
Scientists have found a method
to help change the structure of the protein in a particular gene in our body
that encourages the brain response that causes Alzheimer's. With this change,
scientists were able to completely eliminate any evidence of Alzheimer's in the
damaged brain cells, and the subjects became healthier and lived longer. This
is a good research towards development of a drug or prophylaxis for Alzheimer's
Disease. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-018-0004-z.epdf?referrer_access_token=4U-
8.
Male birth control pill is
being researched that will allow men to have sex without getting their partner
pregnant. These pills include a combination of hormones that prevent the
production of fertile sperm. Taken once
a day, there are still some issues of cholesterol disorder which need to be
sorted out before they hit the market.
9.
Food and Drug Administration
announced the approval of a new home test that could identify the risk level
for 3 genetic mutations that cause these two types of cancer – Breast cancer
and Ovarian cancer. This means that soon, these tests will probably be distributed outside
the US and that their prices will be significantly reduced and accessible to
every woman, without the need for a doctor's approval.
10.
For the first time, a scientist
in China claimed to have used a powerful new gene-editing technique to create
genetically modified human babies who are immune to HIV virus. The
scientist, He
Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in
Shenzhen, China used human embryos modified with the gene-editing technique CRISPR to create twin
girls. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/11/26/670752865/chinese-scientist-says-hes-first-to-genetically-edit-babies
CRISPR enables scientists to make very precise changes in DNA much more easily
than ever before. As a result, it's revolutionizing scientific research and raising
high hopes for major breakthroughs, including preventing and treating many
diseases.
And
few teasers:
1.
A source of liquid water was
discovered on Mars. The advanced radar that is operating there has discovered a
liquid water lake under the glacier at a depth of 1 km under the ground and 20
km wide, which is certainly encouraging among space explorers and those who
hope that humans will one day be able to settle on Mars.
2.
Archaeologists from the
University of Exeter in England found the remains of whole villages, canals,
and man-made pits, and pottery in areas of the Amazonas which experts believed
were never inhabited. Though more research is awaited but it is clear that
there were thriving communities that managed to grow many crops thanks to the
fertile soil.
3.
Alpha farms, an Israeli start up
company produced the first laboratory generated steak, which cuts, smells and
tastes like steak. Meat without animal slaughter aims to give people the taste
and nutritional benefits of meat without the negative health and environmental
impacts associated with livestock products. It will markedly lower
greenhouse gases, switch grazing ground to farmlands, save a lot of water and
prevent livestock from pushing the diverse flora and fauna towards extinction. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aleph-farms-beefs-up-clean-meat-300640982.html
No comments:
Post a Comment