|
Subhan
Allah: Top Scientific Achievements for 2001
| By Wagdy A. Sawahel, Ph.D.,
EurBiol |
24/12/2001
|
Allah's creations on earth
are miraculous and present man with an unlimited challenge of discovery. As we
contemplate the top scientific discoveries of the year 2001, we can say "Subhan
Allah" and wonder, in awe, what discoveries Allah will unveil for us in the
year 2002.
Molecular-scale circuitry -
which could open the way for ultra-fast computers and disease-fighting
micro-machines in your bloodstream - ranks at the top of the year's 10 biggest
scientific achievements. This year's runners-up include the learning of how
individual genes work; the decoding of the human genome; the appearance of
anti-cancer drug "smart bombs"; the production of new super-conductors
and condensed matters; and the growing consensus on the causes of climate
change.
Molecular Electronic
Circuits…the New Nano-World
Researchers created
molecular-sized circuits and hooked some of them up with tiny transistors, wires
and switches in order to carry out rudimentary signal processing. Some of the
experimental devices were made atom-by-atom with deposits of gold and other
materials, such as a type of carbon that forms itself into tiny wires. All of
these devices were at a tiny scale - measured in nanometers. A nanometer is a
billionth of a meter and it takes about a million of them to span a typical
grain of sand. This scientific achievement may pave the way to a new fabrication
facility in a post-silicon nano-world.
Although the possibilities
are remarkable because the scale is thousands of times smaller than that
embodied in the very best contemporary computer chip, researchers may face a
long and difficult road in their development. Researchers, however, are already
developing diagnostic nano-machines that could monitor blood chemistry and even
administer drugs from the inside; ultra-fast & ultra-small circuitry that
could eventually boost computing power to new heights; and molecular-scale
quantum computers that could tackle problems far beyond our current
capabilities.
The "Runners-up"
The remaining scientific
achievements share equal honors as the top ten scientific achievements for 2001:
1.
Controlling individual genes
Studies
have found RNA - the single-stranded sister molecule of DNA and the biochemical
link between DNA's information and protein formation - to be much more versatile
than previously realized and have uncovered a way of switching on and off the
operation of individual genes in a cell. Genes are the codes that control the
way all living things grow and live. The potential for science, and medicine in
particular, to learn how to control them individually is enormous, and the work
could help uncover just what all those genes found by the human genome project
actually do.
2.
Genomes
The
nearly completed sequence of the human gene structure was announced in 2000, but
it was formally published in February 2001. In addition, scientists have
sequenced the genes of more than 60 organisms, such as many bacteria, and are
well under way on the mosquito, the puffer fish, rat, mouse, and Zebrafish - all
of which are important research animals.
3.
Anti-cancer Drugs
The
introduction of a new breed of cancer-fighting drugs, "smart bombs"
targeted to the precise biochemical defects that cause certain cancers.
4.
Fixing Damaged Nerves in Humans
Researchers
investigating neurons took a step closer towards understanding how nerve cells
link together to form a neutral communication network. The knowledge could help
work out how to repair damaged adult nerves in humans.
5.
New Forms of Condensed Matter
The
Nobel Prize for physics went to the producers of the first Bose-Einstein
condensates. Two teams in France managed to produce this new state of matter
using helium for the first time. This new matter could lead the way to atom
lasers and ultra-precise measurements.
6.
Research on Global Warming
The
declaration from the International Panel on Climate Change that "most of
the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the
increase in greenhouse gas concentrations" due to industrial activity.
7.
Carbon Dioxide Research
New understanding of
how trees and other vegetation sop up carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Researchers concluded that plants absorbed about 1/3 of the carbon dioxide
emitted from burning of fossil fuels and other sources in the United States.
New analyses of how much climate-changing carbon dioxide is mopped up by the
United States' "carbon sink", indicating that it may show signs of
slowing down within the next century.
8.
Solar Mysteries Solved
For
30 years, solar physicists have looked for so-called missing electron neutrinos,
subatomic particles that were expected to steam from the nuclear fires of the
sun. In June, the discovery at Canada's Sudbury Neutrino Observatory that solar
neutrinos are converted into two other "flavors" of neutrinos after
leaving the sun - which explains some previously puzzling observations.
9.
New Super-Conductors
-
Superconductivity materials, which offer no
resistance to the flow of electricity, moved closer to room temperature. Zero
resistance is possible with many materials, but only at temperature far below
zero. Newly discovered exotic materials pushed the upper limit for
super-conducting circuitry as high as minus 249 degrees Fahrenheit (117 degrees
Kelvin), suggesting new possibilities for super-conducting electronics.
Sources:
-
D'Agnese, Joseph. "The Year in Science."
Discover. Vol. 22 No. 1, January 2001.
-
Kennedy, Donald.
"Breakthrough of the Year." Science. 294: 2443-2447, December 21,
2001.
-
Kunzing, Robert. "2001
Year Of The Ocean." Discover. Vol. 23 No. 1, January 2002.
-
Physicsweb. "Highlights
of the Year." Physicsweb. December 2001. www.physicsweb.org/article/news/5/12/10
-
Whitehouse, David.
"Frozen Matter Wins Nobel." BBC. December.
-
Wofsy, Steven. "Climate
Changed: Enhanced…Where has All The Carbon Gone?" Science. 292:2316, 2001.
|
