SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES OF LAST YEAR

RESEARCHERS DESIGNED NANO MEDICINE

FOR TREATING BREAST CANCER

Iranian nanotechnologists synthesized the latest scheme Nano

pill of bio-adaptable and biodegradable chain molecular

that is able to ebb toxicity of anti-cancer drugs. This modern

medicine is being considered for treating breast cancer

in a more effective way than any previous treatment

but only time will verify this.

SCIENTISTS REPROGRAMMED PLANTS FOR

DROUGHT TOLERANCE

Scientists have genetically reprogrammed plants to be drought

tolerant in response to an already existing agrochemical,

circumventing the need for a new chemical that would

otherwise have required many years of testing.

THE WORLD’S FIRST “THREE-PARENT” IVF

BABIES BECAME A REALITY

Last February the British government voted to allow a

controversial new technique involving babies created

by three people. The UK intends to become the first place

in the world to offer this medical procedure, which can

also be used to treat mitochondrial diseases.

NASA’S KEPLER MARKED THE ONE THOUSANDTH

EXOPLANET DISCOVERY

Last January NASA announced the one thousandth confirmed

exoplanet discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope. Three

of the newly confirmed exoplanets were found to orbit

within habitable zones of their related stars: two of the three,

Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b, are near-Earth size and

likely rocky; the third, Kepler-440b, is a super Earth.

SCIENTISTS MAPPED BOWHEAD WHALES GENOME

Scientists from the United States and the UK mapped the

genome of the bowhead whale and identified genes

responsible for its two hundred year life span, the

longest of any mammal. The genome mapping was a result

of two separate studies carried out in the States and

the UK that allowed scientists to identify a small number

of genes linked to cancer resistance, DNA damage

repair, and increased longevity.

NEW ROLE FOR PROTEINS

A study published in Science showed evidence that a

protein partially assembles another protein without

genetic instructions. Defying textbook science, amino acids

(the building blocks of a protein) can be assembled by

another protein and without genetic instructions.

HIV VACCINE

The fight against HIV and AIDS took a huge step forward in

2015 when researchers at the Scripps Research Institute

developed a vaccine that was incredibly effective against

HIV-1, HIV-2, and simian immunodeficiency virus. The

key difference here is the new HIV vaccine actually alters

DNA to fight off the virus rather than injecting a weakened

form into the body so the immune system can learn to

fight it. The research is still in the early stages, but the

results thus far are extremely promising and if they

continue to be, HIV treatment will become far simpler.

BRAIN IMAGING MAY HELP PREDICT FUTURE BEHAVIOUR

A review article published in the journal Neuron described a

number of recent studies showing that brain imaging can

help predict a person’s future learning, criminality, health

related behaviours and response to drug or behavioural

treatments. The technology may offer opportunities

to personalize educational and clinical practices.

FIRST CONTRACTING HUMAN MUSCLE GROWN

IN A LABORATORY

In a laboratory first, Duke researchers have grown a

human skeletal muscle that contract and responds

just like native tissue towards external stimuli, such as

electrical pulses, bio chemical signals and pharmaceuticals.

The lab grown tissue should soon allow researchers

to test new drugs and study disease in functioning

human muscles outside the human body.