Revolutionary Discoveries: The Top 10 Science Breakthroughs Shaping 2024

IT WAS an unfortunate year for positive news, largely due to the upheaval and turmoil surrounding the 2024 US election as well as ongoing conflicts, which eclipsed several significant discoveries made in the globe’s observatories, field explorations, and laboratories. Some of these revelations could enhance our health, while others push the boundaries of our understanding of the cosmos.

Lunar samples from Terra Incognita

There is an enigma about the portion of the moon that continually faces away from us. Flyby missions reveal a radically different, lighter terrain with fewer craters and a denser crust compared to the familiar side. In 2019, China successfully landed the first spacecraft on the moon’s far side, and then in 2024, a Chinese vehicle, Chang’e-6, drilled beneath the surface and returned 2 kg of lunar rock and debris.

These samples may assist researchers in piecing together how our own planet originated. Furthermore, China’s ambitious program is stoking a renewed space competition with the US.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s previously scheduled US crewed landing has recently been postponed to 2027. China aims to launch a crewed mission by 2030.

A medication that inhibits HIV

After nearly four decades of unsuccessful attempts to create a vaccine against HIV/AIDS, researchers have identified a drug that can prevent infection with just two injections per year. A clinical trial conducted in South Africa and Uganda, which concluded in 2024, demonstrated complete efficacy among 2,134 women and girls.

In the control group, young women and girls were administered existing preventive medications, known as PrEP, which must be taken daily. While PrEP has almost eradicated new HIV cases in San Francisco, stigma in African nations complicates regular use among women. The new twice-yearly drug, lenacapavir, was recognized as the 2024 Breakthrough of the Year by Science.

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The new medication, developed by Gilead, does not function like a vaccine would. However, researchers remain hopeful about a vaccine, which would likely be less expensive and could offer long-lasting protection. The Gilead medication is expected to receive approval in mid-2025, though it remains uncertain whether it will be affordable and accessible to those in need.

AI explores the human psyche

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing various scientific domains, yet social scientists have particularly leveraged it to obtain distinct new perspectives. They employ large language models to investigate human cognition and seek methods by which we might enhance our thinking.

In a study published in September, psychologists were astonished when they programmed an AI chatbot to sway conspiracy theorists to reconsider their stances. It proved successful. Individuals relinquished their convictions in dark schemes to mask alien landings or reduce population growth with biological warfare.

Conspiracy theorists frequently amass substantial dubious evidence to fortify their beliefs, exhausting human interlocutors who lack the time or stamina to keep pace. Chatbots can easily surpass them in the volume of evidence.

Another investigation conducted this year revealed that physicians often adhered to incorrect diagnoses even after an AI proposed the accurate solution. When challenged in a diagnostic contest against ChatGPT-4, the AI correctly identified 90 percent of conditions from case studies, while physicians achieved a 74 percent accuracy rate. When doctors were permitted to consult with the AI, their accuracy only increased to 76 percent. They were excessively confident in their initial assessments.

The inability of doctors to fully leverage AI illustrates that there is substantial room for enhancement in their training to utilize it, as well as how AI can be refined to assist them.

According to another study, AI has not excelled in aiding individuals in fact-checking news. ChatGPT-4 occasionally reinforced beliefs in misleading headlines when users were uncertain, and caused them to distrust factual headlines if it made a mistake. AI appears to excel when it provokes us to think differently, rather than when we depend on it to think on our behalf.

Craft launches towards distant ocean world

On October 14, the US$5 billion spacecraft Europa Clipper soared far above budget constraints and began its voyage towards the most promising habitat for extraterrestrial life in our solar system.

Europa, a moon circling Jupiter, does not present as a welcoming location at its surface, characterized by a thick layer of ice.and temperatures that never exceed minus 120 deg C. However, earlier flyby expeditions uncovered evidence of a massive ocean surging beneath the surface and sometimes breaking through.

Researchers estimate that Europa retains around twice the amount of water as all of Earth’s oceans combined, heated by friction created by Jupiter’s immense tidal influence. Astrobiologists regard liquid water as the essential element for life – at least the type of life humans could identify.

When it reaches its destination in 2030, the spacecraft will perform numerous flybys over the surface, utilizing its instruments to search for molecules that could act as nutrients and chart the ice and ocean beneath. If the findings are encouraging, a lander might follow.

The James Webb Telescope re-evaluates cosmic expansion

New facets of our remote universe became apparent this year thanks to the James Webb Telescope, commonly referred to as JWST. Focused on distant galaxies, it displayed stars “emerging” where the Hubble revealed faint streaks, stated astronomer Wendy Freedman of the University of Chicago. This enabled her to re-evaluate the rate at which the universe is expanding.

This effort is part of a broader quest to decipher why the universe is expanding and where we’re all headed – toward a dramatic collapse or fading into nothingness. Scientists are also revisiting the era known as “cosmic dawn,” when the universe was merely 1 percent of its current age, and the galaxies and stars began to form from primordial gases. Thus, when they declared they had identified the most distant galaxy ever observed – it also represented the farthest back in time, as it appeared more than 13 billion years ago.

Researchers believed they had accurately established the expansion rate in 2001 using data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Nevertheless, this did not correlate with measurements from the residual radiation of the Big Bang, known as the cosmic microwave background. Freedman suggests that the new measurements her team conducted with JWST align with the behavior of this radiation. She was recognized as one of the top 10 scientists this year by Nature, a renowned scientific publication.

Others, utilizing JWST, observe a quicker expansion and posit that the discrepancies with other measurements may signify that the universe is attempting to indicate there’s some new physical phenomenon at work. Regarding our destiny, we may ultimately face a collapse or continue expanding indefinitely – it remains uncertain.

Growth spurts at 44 and 60

In a comprehensive initiative aimed at combating the effects of ageing, geneticist Michael Snyder and his team collected blood and other biological specimens from 108 volunteers. They tracked unseen age-related transformations in a combination of microbes and molecules totaling 135,239.

This unveiled an unexpected trend – sudden molecular-scale transitions occurring when individuals reach 44 and again at 60. The transformations indicated a decline in muscle mass, worsening heart health, and a diminished capacity to metabolize fats, alcohol, and caffeine. Around the age of 60, additional changes suggested a weakening immune system.

Initially, researchers believed the shifts at 44 were linked to perimenopause among women. However, the data revealed the same phenomenon occurring in men, suggesting either that this ageing spurt occurs independently of menopause or that male menopause is indeed a reality.

Snyder mentioned that these changes could be targets for interventions designed to assist individuals in maintaining their health longer and ultimately lead to methods for extending human lifespan.

Reconstructing ancient climate

A new reconstruction of Earth’s climate demonstrates that it has varied dramatically over millions of years. Scientists astonished the public in the 1990s with a graph depicting the last millennium, using natural records to showcase temperatures skyrocketing in the 20th century. This new reconstruction spans 485 million years – preceding dinosaurs, forests, and fishes moving onto primitive land.

It reveals that throughout the last 485 million years, the climate alternated between “hothouse” periods, when the global temperature could surpass today’s levels, and unstable “icehouse” phases, during which the temperature oscillated between ice ages and milder intervals similar to more recent history.

Occasionally, living organisms adapted to extreme heat, with hippos and tropical palms gradually migrating to the Arctic. When changes were abrupt, the fossil record indicates that 80 to 90 percent of species became extinct, although life has never completely vanished. The researchers who created the plot assert it has served as a valuable test of our climate models – they align with these measurements-based estimates extending back in time. Thus, further rapid warming is anticipated. The optimistic news is that Earth is likely to remain a habitable planet for millions of years.

The health concern of the year: plastic in your brain

I’ve already made some efforts to reduce my plastic consumption, but the arrival of a new year could provide me with more motivation. While I dislike plastic, I appreciate the convenience of food and beverages in plastic containers. It’s also something that most of us can’t eliminate entirely – it’s ubiquitous, leaching into tap water, meat, poultry, and seafood.

This year, several alarming studies indicated that plastic particles are accumulating in our organs. In mice, microplastics hinder male fertility, learning abilities, and memory. We are still uncertain about the exact effects of these particles on humans, but they likely aren’t beneficial.

One research discovered plastic in plaque that accumulates in arteries, and higher plastic levels were linked to greater risks of strokes or heart attacks. A review article associated plastic with oxidative stress, which is related to ageing.

However, what truly instilled dread in me was a preprint issued last summer of a study indicating that microplastics are likely accumulating in our brains. Investigators studied for plastic during autopsies of 91 individuals and discovered that their brains had accumulated up to 20 times more microplastic than other organs. Those who succumbed to Alzheimer’s harbored more plastic in their brains compared to those who were healthy but perished in accidents or acts of violence.

A research piece published in January revealed that a standard water bottle contains approximately 240,000 invisible plastic particles, thus, reducing consumption of beverages in plastic containers could serve as an initial step for a resolution.

Optimal careers for combating mortality and dementia

Two investigations published this year provided some intriguing insights into who is most likely to delay cognitive decline and repel the Grim Reaper. One study, presented in the Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal, utilized data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to demonstrate that ambulance and taxi operators were less likely than those in other job sectors to perish from Alzheimer’s disease. In a separate study released last summer, researchers compared male professional athletes, revealing that pole vaulters and gymnasts had longer lifespans, while volleyball players were unexpectedly short-lived.

The principal author of the sports investigation informed me that there might be advantageous elements present in the training schedules of pole vaulters and gymnasts, while numerous athletes with shorter lifespans engaged in sports that posed injury risks, particularly head impacts.

The taxi research thrilled scientists because it recalled a fascinating discovery from 2000. In comparison to the general population, London taxi drivers exhibited a more developed hippocampus—the brain region linked with memory and navigational capabilities. Of course, that was in the era before the introduction of GPS.

Prior to contemplating taxi driving or pole vaulting as part of a New Year’s resolution, scientists caution that both studies are preliminary. Nevertheless, inquiries like these can guide scientists in fresh directions.

A significant advancement in quantum computing

Until this year, quantum computing was regarded as one of those visionary technologies that would perpetually remain a decade away from practical applications. Currently, developments are occurring more rapidly than anticipated. Various groups have addressed one of the primary obstacles—an error issue. The information storage units—referred to as qubits—were susceptible to errors in a manner that merely linking them together only amplified the error rate.

If the latest series of positive forecasts materializes, quantum computers could effectively process the complexities of the real world to make previously impossible predictions—such as how experimental medications would function in the human body or how a novel type of material would respond to stress. While conventional computers store information in bits, which can embody either zero or one, a qubit can represent any value in between. Qubits can include supercooled matter or atoms confined with lasers.

Last summer, Microsoft, along with the startup Quantinuum and Google, announced advancements in this field. They successfully interlinked qubits that reduced rather than heightened the error rate.

Google further enhanced error correction, linking 105 qubits in a chip named Willow, which was disclosed in the journal Nature this month. The key selling point was that Willow could resolve a test problem in five minutes that would take supercomputers 10 septillion years, or the squared age of the universe. The test problem wasn’t particularly practical, and experts assert that real-world challenges are more intricate. However, it should begin to occur in less than a septillion years, potentially by 2030, unless some new complication prevents it from remaining perpetually five years away. BLOOMBERG