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Every day, new scientific breakthroughs are transforming our world. This list highlights some of the most incredible innovations in science, all made in June 2013. From breakthroughs in physics and medicine to revolutionary advances in biology, these stories will leave you astounded. Technological and medical marvels that were once considered impossible in our lifetime are now becoming a reality and continue to evolve. These discoveries introduce new technologies and methods that will only improve with time, making the world a better place to live in.
10. Telekinesis
The idea of moving objects with the mind may sound like a scene from a science fiction book, but researchers at the Minnesota College of Science and Engineering have made it possible. By using a non-invasive technique called electroencephalography, which taps into brainwaves, five students managed to control the movement of a helicopter.
By facing away from the helicopter, the students could move it in different directions simply by imagining the motions of their left hand, right hand, or both hands. With practice and training, they soon mastered various maneuvers, such as flying through rings while observing the flight on a screen. Researchers are working to expand this non-invasive brainwave technology with the hope of restoring mobility, hearing, and sight for those suffering from paralysis or neurodegenerative diseases.
9. Cardiac MRI
Anthracycline is a powerful chemotherapy treatment, but unfortunately, it has been linked to serious damage to the hearts of many children who receive it. Until now, most children suffering from heart damage have found their heart walls thinning, and by the time the problem is diagnosed, it’s often too late to intervene. Ultrasounds often fail to detect the heart defect until years after the treatment, when the irreversible damage has already taken place.
However, a groundbreaking new method was revealed on June 10th. Extensive testing has shown that the T1 MRI technique is more accurate, efficient, and safer than current methods for detecting heart disease in children. Doctors are now able to identify heart defects in children much earlier and more effectively than with ultrasounds, which often mistakenly give a clean bill of health. This is a major breakthrough in early detection of childhood heart diseases.
8. Efficient Electrolysis (Saltwater Splitting)
In the quest to discover efficient and abundant alternative fuels, scientists have long struggled with finding a practical way to split seawater and generate hydrogen fuel. On June 10th, a team at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science introduced a catalyst that can split ocean water using minimal energy.
This catalyst is embedded in a flexible plastic film that absorbs and utilizes light energy to oxidize seawater. Unlike current methods that require a substantial energy input to oxidize the water, this technique can generate enough power to run an average home and car for a full day using just 5 liters (1.3 gallons) of seawater. The film incorporates synthetic chlorophyll molecules, mimicking the way plant leaves capture sunlight. Additionally, there are no harmful chemicals produced during this process, unlike traditional methods that release toxic chlorine gas.
This efficient and cost-effective technique could drastically lower the cost of hydrogen fuel, making it a viable alternative to gasoline in the future.
7. Tiny Battery
With the advent of 3-D printing technology, the possibilities for creating intricate and complex objects are limitless. On June 18th, a groundbreaking announcement was made by a team of researchers from Harvard and the University of Illinois. They successfully developed a lithium-ion battery smaller than a grain of sand and thinner than a human hair.
This remarkable achievement was made possible by carefully layering a network of interwoven electrodes. Once a 3-D design is created on a computer, the printer uses specially formulated liquid inks containing electrodes that instantly harden upon exposure to air. Due to its tiny size, the device can be used for a variety of applications.
Before this innovation, truly small battery-powered devices were rare. This was because miniature devices needed batteries that were just as small, but most of these tiny batteries lacked the power required. By utilizing 3-D printing, the researchers were able to create microbatteries using detailed computer designs and specialized inks.
6. Bioengineered Body Parts
On June 6th, a team of doctors at Duke University achieved a historic milestone by successfully implanting the first bioengineered blood vessel into a living patient. While bioengineering has been progressing rapidly, this marked the first successful implantation of any synthetically created body part.
The bioengineered vein was implanted into a patient suffering from the final stages of kidney disease. It was created from donated human cells, which were then developed on a scaffold. To prevent the patient's immune system from attacking the foreign vessel, any potential triggers for rejection were removed. This synthetic vein has outperformed both animal-based and other synthetic implants, as it is less prone to clotting and poses no infection risk during surgery.
Remarkably, the veins are made from the same flexible materials as natural veins and even adapt to the properties of their surrounding cellular environment. This success opens up vast possibilities for the field of bioengineering. In the future, doctors hope to bioengineer veins for heart disease and potentially create entire organs or body parts.
5. The Four-Quark Particle
The race to understand the origins of our universe intensified with the June 18th announcement confirming the discovery of a particle containing four quarks. While this might seem insignificant at first glance, for physicists, it has opened new possibilities and theories about the creation of matter. Prior to this discovery, the understanding of matter’s origin was limited, as only particles with two or three quarks had ever been observed.
This new particle has been named Zc(3900), and scientists believe it was formed in the extremely hot moments following the Big Bang. After years of complex calculations by the BaBar collaboration at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (affiliated with Stanford University), scientists at the Beijing Electron-Positron Collider (BEPCII) detected the particle multiple times. As is often the case with scientific breakthroughs, the findings were shared with CERN and the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Tsukuba, Japan. It was Japanese researchers who were able to isolate 159 of these particles. Though initial observations lacked solid evidence, the confirmation came when scientists at the Belle detector in Beijing isolated 307 more particles.
The discovery of this particle required over 10 trillion trillion subatomic collisions in a detector twice the size of the renowned Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Some physicists have expressed skepticism, suggesting that the particle is simply two mesons (quarked particles) bound together. Nonetheless, the identification of this particle is a major breakthrough in physics, paving the way for numerous theories on how the first building blocks of matter could have formed.
4. Alternative Fuel Microbes
Imagine a world where efficient, low-cost alternative fuels are as readily available as the air we breathe. Thanks to a partnership between the US Department of Energy and researchers at Duke University, this vision may soon become a reality. While significant progress has been made in alternative fuel sources like ethanol from corn and sugarcane, these methods have proven inefficient and sparked criticism for competing with food and land resources. Recently, scientists have developed electrofuels, designed to harness solar energy without depleting food, water, or land supplies like traditional fuels.
In addition to requiring minimal energy, tiny microbes can efficiently synthesize these electrofuels in laboratory settings. These electrofuel-producing microbes have been found living in non-photosynthetic bacteria. By consuming electrons from the soil as their food source, these microbes use electricity and carbon dioxide to generate butanol. Leveraging this knowledge, scientists have extracted the genes responsible for this process and transferred them into lab-grown bacteria, enabling large-scale butanol production. Butanol is now regarded as a superior alternative to both ethanol and gasoline due to its higher energy capacity, resistance to water absorption, and its compatibility with existing gasoline infrastructure. These butanol-producing microbes offer promising potential for the future of alternative fuels.
3. Immunity To Cancer
The University of Rochester released a study on June 19th that reveals the mechanism behind naked mole rats' immunity to cancer. These underground creatures often get criticized for their appearance, but it seems they have the last laugh when it comes to their remarkable cancer resistance.
Researchers have discovered a sticky sugar called hyaluronan (HA) present in the spaces between naked mole rats' cells. This substance appears to prevent the cells from growing too close together and forming tumors. Acting like a chaperone at a school dance, HA initiates a process known as early contact inhibition, which halts the multiplication of cells once they reach a certain density. A mutation in two enzymes responsible for regulating HA’s production and breakdown is thought to cause an elevated amount of HA. Scientists tested this theory by exposing skin cells with high and low HA levels to cancer.
The experiment revealed that in cells with low HA, cancer spread rapidly, whereas in cells with high HA, tumor formation was prevented. Based on these findings, scientists aim to modify laboratory rats to produce more HA, hoping to make them resistant to cancer.
2. Sight For The Blind
In early June, a group of Australian designers unveiled the first bionic eye prototype. The device consists of a chip implanted into the user’s skull, which is connected to a digital camera embedded in the glasses. Currently, the glasses only allow the wearer to see outlines, but the prototype shows great promise for future enhancements. When the camera captures an image, the signal is converted and transmitted wirelessly to the microchip, which in turn activates spots on the microchip implanted in the brain’s visual cortex. The team of researchers aims to improve the glasses’ capabilities while ensuring they remain lightweight, adjustable, and comfortable for users. This technology could benefit around 85 percent of people who are legally blind.
1. Medical Benefits Of Silver
On June 19th, researchers at Boston University published a study revealing the medical potential of silver in antibiotics. While silver has long been known for its antimicrobial properties, scientists have only recently uncovered its ability to enhance the effectiveness of normal antibiotics, turning them into far more powerful agents.
It is now understood that silver uses a variety of chemical processes to prevent bacteria from forming bonds, slow down their metabolic rates, and disrupt their homeostasis. These actions weaken the bacteria, making them more vulnerable to antibiotics. Studies have shown that combining silver with antibiotics can increase their potency by up to 1,000 times compared to using antibiotics alone. While some critics raise concerns about the potential toxic effects of silver, scientists maintain that small, non-toxic amounts can actually boost the antibiotic's effectiveness. This discovery holds exciting promise for the future of medicine, with silver's applications continuing to expand.
