2016 was rich in events, sometimes dramatic. To end the year on a positive note, Pourquoidocteur has selected 5 major advances.
“2016 is a big nightmare from which we will wake up in 2017.” With this tweet, @ Amelie916 sums up the feeling of many Internet users. Between the death of David Bowie, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, the blows fall one after the other. Since Christmas, the situation has not improved. Not a day goes by without a death being announced. From there to erasing the year 2016 from the archives, there is only one step… that some do not hesitate to take. However, everything is not to be thrown away in the last 365 days that have passed.
Why actor has decided to put a stop to the bad mood and end 2016 on a positive note. To make you wait until the stroke of midnight, we have selected the 5 major events of the past year.
- 3.7 billion years of life on Earth
Let’s start with the very beginning, that of life on Earth. Our planet has been inhabited for a long time. Nothing revolutionary so far, except that the cursor must be moved back … 220 million years! This astonishing discovery, published in Nature, comes to us from Greenland. Australian researchers have spotted fossils called stromatolites there. They date back at least 3.7 billion years … some 800 million years after the formation of our dear blue planet.
Specialists will be able to thank global warming, at the origin of the melting ice, including in the Isua massif where these stromatolites were nested. This also allows us to dream of distant horizons: the researchers suggest looking for these same traces of life on Mars.
- An Ebola vaccine
In January 2016, the end of the Ebola epidemic was pronounced in West Africa. The month of December also brought good news: a vaccine has been found, and it is effective. Ebola is enough ! The name of the clinical trial is suggestive. Tested on 11,000 people in contact with the sick, the vaccine prevented 100% of contamination. The side effects are minor in most cases. The safety of the product remains to be evaluated in children under 6 years of age, as well as in pregnant women and frail people. The duration of vaccine effectiveness also remains to be determined.
- The Zika virus explosion
Ebola marked the year 2015. Zika is undoubtedly the virus of 2016. At the heart of the cyclone: Brazil. The epidemic takes on its full extent and is spreading like a stain of oil in America. To the point of threatening the Olympic Games in Rio and reaching the United States, via the French West Indies. The virus even crosses the Atlantic to reach its native continent, Africa.
2016 is also the year of awareness of the threat. The world is fully aware of the dangers of the virus. Microcephaly, Guillain-Barré syndrome, sexual transmission… These elements are gradually being revealed to the world. The response is being organized: a state of global public health emergency is declared in February. Research for a vaccine is launched. We will have to wait three years before hoping to achieve this.
- A baby with 3 DNA
2016 was also marked by several advances in the field of genetics. In September we learned of the birth of the first baby “with 3 DNA”. The birth took place in Mexico, but the parents were Jordanians, and it was the American Society for Reproductive Medicine that then confirmed the news. The technique, still criticized, prevents the transmission of mitochondrial genetic diseases, carried by the mother, to her offspring. A donor’s egg, containing healthy mitochondria, is used to collect the genetic makeup of the biological mother and father. In December, the UK became the first country to officially allow the practice.
- The CRISPR-Cas9 saga
An enigmatic name for a genetic engineering tool that all the media have echoed. A media success but above all scientific. In four years, the method developed by the French Emmanuelle Charpentier and the American Jennifer Doudna has conquered thousands of research laboratories. CRISPR-cas9 now makes it easy to “edit” the genome of any cell: modifying, deleting or replacing a gene is possible at a lower cost and above all in a very short time compared to previous methods.
A discovery that has not finished fueling ethical debates, but could quickly earn the duo of researchers a Nobel Prize. Before, however, we will have to wait for the decision of the US Patent Office: the researchers have been on trial with another scientist from MIT (Boston) for 2 years to obtain ownership of the method. The decision is expected to be released in February 2017.
- A pill for men?
The year cannot end without a mention to Arlésienne that is male contraception. A method very similar to the female pill has delivered its results. The side effects are surprisingly close: mood disorders, low libido, acne… Excessive for researchers, who want to reduce the frequency before considering marketing a pill for men. Women, they continue to do with it.
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