As another year is drawing to a close, it seems like it’s time to sit down once again, fold our arms, take a deep breath, and look at some of the titles of scientific articles that we may not have paid attention to before. Scientists are constantly creating some kind of new developments in various fields, such as nanotechnology, gene therapy or quantum physics, and this always opens up new horizons.
The titles of scientific articles are starting to resemble more and more the titles of stories from science fiction magazines. Considering what 2017 brought us, it remains only to look forward to what 2018 will bring us …
Scientists have created temporal crystals for which the laws of time symmetry do not apply
According to the first law of thermodynamics, it is impossible to create a perpetual motion machine that will work without an additional source of energy. However, earlier this year, physicists succeeded in creating structures called temporal crystals, which certainly casts doubt on this thesis.
Temporal crystals act as the first real examples of a new state of matter, called "nonequilibrium", in which atoms have a variable temperature and are never in thermal equilibrium with each other. Temporal crystals have an atomic structure that repeats not only in space, but also in time, which allows them to maintain constant vibrations without receiving energy. This happens even in a stationary state, which is the lowest energy state when movement is theoretically impossible, since it requires energy costs.
So do time crystals violate the laws of physics? Strictly speaking, no. The law of conservation of energy only works in systems with symmetry in time, which implies that the laws of physics are the same everywhere and always. However, temporal crystals violate the laws of symmetry of time and space. And not only them. Magnets, too, are sometimes considered natural asymmetric objects because they have north and south poles.
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Another reason why temporal crystals do not violate the laws of thermodynamics is that they are not completely isolated. Sometimes they need to be "pushed" - that is, to give an external impulse, after receiving which they will already begin to change their states again and again. It is possible that in the future these crystals will find wide application in the field of information transfer and storage in quantum systems. They can play a critical role in quantum computing.
"Living" dragonfly wings
The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia says that a wing is a movable appendage of feathers or membrane used by birds, insects, and bats to fly. It shouldn't be alive, but entomologists at the University of Keele in Germany have made some startling discoveries that suggest otherwise - at least for some dragonflies.
Insects breathe through the tracheal system. Air enters the body through openings called spiracles. It then travels through a complex network of tracheas that carry air to all cells in the body. However, the wings themselves are made up almost entirely of dead tissue, which dries up and either becomes translucent or becomes covered with colored patterns. Areas of dead tissue are permeated by veins, and these are the only wing components that are part of the respiratory system.
However, when entomologist Rainer Guillermo Ferreira looked at the wing of a male dragonfly Zenithoptera through an electron microscope, he saw tiny branching tracheal tubes. This was the first time something like this had been seen in an insect's wing. Much research will be required to determine whether this physiological feature is unique to this species, or perhaps also occurs in other dragonflies, or even in other insects. It is even possible that this is a single mutation. The abundant supply of oxygen may explain the bright, complex blue patterns in the wings of the dragonfly Zenithoptera, which do not contain blue pigment.
Ancient tick with dinosaur blood inside
We often find amazing things preserved inside amber, but this year has given us a super prize. Scientists from Myanmar have discovered pieces of amber that are 99 million years old, containing parasites like modern ticks inside them. One of them got entangled in a dinosaur's feather, two more were found in a piece of a dinosaur's nest, and the fourth was found to be filled with dinosaur blood inside.
Of course, this made people think of the Jurassic Park scenario and the possibility of using blood to recreate dinosaurs right away. Unfortunately, this will not happen in the near future, because it is impossible to extract DNA samples from the found pieces of amber. The debate about how long a DNA molecule can last is still not over, but even according to the most optimistic estimates and under the most optimal conditions, their lifespan is no more than a few million years.
But, although the tick, called Deinocrotondraculi ("Terrible Dracula"), did not help restore the dinosaurs, it is still a very unusual find that provided us with new knowledge. Now we know not only that ancient ticks were found among feathered dinosaurs, but also that they even infected dinosaur nests.
Adult genes modification
Today, the pinnacle of gene therapy is “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats,” or CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). The family of DNA sequences that currently form the basis of CRISPR-Cas9 technology could theoretically change human DNA forever.
In 2017, genetic engineering took a decisive leap forward - after a team at the Proteomic Research Center in Beijing announced that it had successfully used CRISPR-Cas9 to eliminate disease-causing mutations in viable human embryos. Another team, from the Francis Crick Institute in London, went the opposite way and used this technology for the first time to deliberately create mutations in human embryos. (In particular, they turned off a gene that promotes the development of embryos into blastocysts.)
Research has shown that CRISPR-Cas9 technology works - and quite successfully. However, this has sparked intense ethical debate about how far this technology can be used. In theory, this could lead to "designer children" who can have intellectual, athletic and physical characteristics in accordance with the characteristics specified by the parents.
Ethics aside, research went even further this November when CRISPR-Cas9 was first tested on an adult. Brad Maddu, 44, from California, suffers from Hunter Syndrome, an incurable disease that could eventually lead him to a wheelchair. He was injected with billions of copies of the correcting gene. It will take several months before we can determine if the procedure was successful.
What came before - sponge or comb jelly?
A new scientific report, which was published this year, should end the longstanding debate about the origins of animals once and for all. According to the study, sponges are the "sisters" of all animals in the world. This is due to the fact that sponges were the first group that separated during evolution from the primitive common ancestor of all animals. This happened about 750 million years ago.
Previously, there was a heated debate that boiled down to two main candidates: the aforementioned sponges and a marine invertebrate called ctenophores. While sponges are the simplest creatures that sit on the bottom of the ocean and feed by passing and filtering water through their bodies, comb jellies are more complex. They resemble a jellyfish, are able to move in water, can create patterns of light, and have a simple nervous system. The question of which of them was the first means the question of what our common ancestor looked like. This is considered the most important moment in tracking the history of our evolution.
While the results of the study boldly proclaim that the issue has been resolved, just a few months earlier, another study had been published, which said that our evolutionary "sisters" were ctenophores. Therefore, it is too early to say that the latest results can be considered reliable enough to suppress any doubts.
Raccoons passed an ancient intelligence test
In the sixth century BC, the ancient Greek writer Aesop wrote or collected many fables, which are now known as "Aesop's Fables". Among them was a fable called "The Crow and the Jug", which describes how a thirsty crow threw pebbles into a jug in order to raise the water level and be able to drink.
Several thousand years later, scientists realized that this fable described a good way to test the intelligence of animals. Experiments showed that the experimental animals understood cause and effect. The crows, like their relatives, rooks and jays, confirmed the truth of the fable. The monkeys also passed this test, and raccoons were added to the list this year.
During the test based on Aesop's fable, eight raccoons received containers of water, on the surface of which marshmallows floated. The water level was too low to be reached. Two of the subjects successfully threw stones into the container to raise the water level and get what they wanted.
Other test subjects found their own creative solutions that the researchers never expected. One of the raccoons, instead of throwing stones into the container, climbed onto the container and began to swing from side to side on it until it knocked over. In another test, using floating and sinking balls instead of stones, experts hoped that raccoons would use sinking balls and discard floating ones. Instead, some animals began to repeatedly dip the floating ball into the water until the rising wave nailed the marshmallow pieces to the side, making them easier to retrieve.
Physicists create the first topological laser
Physicists from the University of California at San Diego claim that they have created a new type of laser - "topological", the beam of which can take any complex shape without light scattering. The device works on the basis of the concept of topological insulators (materials that are dielectrics inside their volume, but conduct current along the surface), which received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2016.
Usually, ring resonators are used to amplify light in lasers. They are more efficient than sharp corner resonators. However, this time, the research team created a topological cavity using a photonic crystal as a mirror. In particular, two photonic crystals with different topologies were used, one of which was a star-shaped cell in a square lattice, and the other was a triangular lattice with cylindrical air holes. Team member Boubacar Kante likened them to a bagel and pretzel: although they are both bread with holes, the different number of holes makes them different.
Once the crystals are in the right place, the beam takes on the desired shape. This system is controlled by a magnetic field. It allows you to change the direction in which light is emitted, thereby creating a luminous flux. Direct practical application of this is able to increase the speed of optical communication. However, in the future, this is seen as a step forward in the creation of optical computers.
Scientists have discovered excitonium
Physicists all over the world are very enthusiastic about the discovery of a new form of matter called excitonium. This form is a condensate of quasiparticles, excitons, which are a bound state of a free electron and an electron hole, which is formed as a result of the fact that the molecule has lost an electron. Moreover, Harvard theoretical physicist Bert Halperin predicted the existence of excitonium back in the 1960s, and since then scientists have tried to prove it right (or wrong).
Like many major scientific discoveries, there was a fair amount of coincidence in this discovery. The team of researchers at the University of Illinois that discovered the excitonium were actually mastering a new technology called electron beam energy loss spectroscopy (M-EELS) - created specifically to identify excitons. However, the discovery took place when the researchers only performed calibration tests. One team member entered the room while everyone else looked at the screens. They said they had detected a "light plasmon," the precursor to exciton condensation.
Study leader Professor Peter Abbamont compared this discovery to the Higgs boson - it won't have direct use in real life, but it shows that our current understanding of quantum mechanics is on the right track.
Scientists have created nanorobots that kill cancer
Researchers at the University of Durham claim to have created nanorobots that are capable of detecting cancer cells and killing them in just 60 seconds. In a successful university trial, it took the tiny robots between one and three minutes to penetrate the outer membrane into a cancerous prostate cell and immediately destroy it.
Nanorobots are 50,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. They are activated by light and rotate at a speed of two to three million revolutions per second in order to be able to penetrate the cell membrane. When they achieve their goal, they can either destroy it or inject a useful therapeutic agent into it.
Until now, nanorobots have only been tested on individual cells, but encouraging results have prompted scientists to move on to experiments on microorganisms and small fish. The further goal is to move on to rodents, and then to people.
An interstellar asteroid could be an alien spacecraft
It has only been a couple of months since astronomers happily announced the discovery of the first interstellar object passing through the solar system, an asteroid called Oumuamua. Since then, they have observed many strange things happening to this heavenly body. Sometimes it behaved so unusually that scientists believe that the object may turn out to be an alien spacecraft.
First of all, its form is alarming. Oumuamua has the shape of a cigar with a length to diameter ratio of ten to one, which has never been seen in any of the observed asteroids. At first, scientists thought it was a comet, but then realized that it was not, because the object did not leave a tail behind it as it approached the Sun. Moreover, some experts argue that the object's rotation speed should have destroyed any normal asteroid. One gets the impression that it was specially created for interstellar travel.
But if it was created artificially, then what could it be? Some say that this is an alien probe, others believe that it may be a spacecraft, the engines of which have malfunctioned, and now it floats through space. In any case, participants in programs such as SETI and BreakthroughListen believe that Oumuamua requires further investigation, so they aim their telescopes at him and listen for any radio signals.
While the alien hypothesis has not been confirmed in any way, the initial SETI observations have led nowhere. Many researchers are still pessimistic about the chances that the object could be created by aliens, but in any case, research will continue.