Science ditches topics every day ... until a smarter one arrives and questions everything. Today I want to introduce you to the eight scientific discoveries that have been given this year.
The exciting thing about science is that it challenges us every day . If for many years humanity believed that the Earth was flat, that the dinosaurs had reptilian skin or that America was populated only 13,500 years ago , that's where scientists and social researchers come to slam the door in the face of everyone who wants to mummify the knowledge.
It is mathematically possible to build a time machine
Knowing the builders of the Egyptian pyramids or our great-great-grandchildren is theoretically possible , and scientists know exactly how to do it . Basically it is a spaceship, a time machine that is capable of traveling to the past or the future according to our whims, in the purest DeLorean style of Back to the Future . And why the hell have not they done it already?
Among other things, because scientists do not know with what material to do it . The mathematical model is impeccable and indicates the feasibility of building a box in which hypothetical passengers travel, whose material curves space-time. The problem is that the materials required to build such a sophisticated device are exotic, that is, they have not been discovered. There are other factors, for example, the fact that the space in the conditions of a temporary trip becomes curved, and therefore, does not respond to gravity or conventional geometry . So for now, we'll have to put up with the desire.
The first semi-synthetic laboratory organism has been created
Frankenstein is nothing beside these organisms, and Dolly the sheep smells old! It turns out that scientists from the Scripps Research Institute of California, were able to create in their laboratory new microorganisms whose genetic code contains pieces that are totally synthetic .
Let's recap some school stuff.
You will remember when the biology teacher told that the DNA chains are formed by nucleotide links , which can be of four types: adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine (does it sound like?). Nucleotides are totally organic compounds , formed by a nitrogenous base, a sugar and phosphoric acid.
Well, these scientists added two synthetic nucleotides to the DNA chain of a popular bacterium, the Escherichia coli (which probably sounds like school, because it is responsible for the worst diarrhea in history), creating a semi-bacterium. synthetic This expansion of the genetic alphabet, as they call it , resulted in the development of a way of life created by man , and that grew healthy and robust.
There is a new state of matter: the crystals of time
In this we must focus, because it is not easy. The crystals are three-dimensional patterns in the arrangement of atoms, which are present in many things of nature, such as snowflakes, salt or diamonds. However, in all these elements the crystals are immobile, in what has been called their "fundamental state" , that is, in balance, quietesitos!
Unlike these, the crystals of time never reach equilibrium, because they are in constant oscillation, giving birth to a new state of matter in which the atoms move in a pattern that repeats itself in time , instead of in space. The strangest thing of all, is that they do it without apparently using any source of energy. In short, this breaks the laws of physics and that's why everyone was "wow" when they discovered it.
The dog that was not dead, was walking around
The wild dog of New Guinea is believed to be one of the most primitive canines in nature and the least similar to a quiltro, because it has evolved isolated from other races for five thousand or ten thousand years. He has never met a chiguagua, a bulldog or less with a poodle.
The problem is that this wild puppy was believed for more than 50 years extinct , which had the scientific community very sorry, it is a key predator in its ecosystem. But a recent expedition to the central mountain of New Guinea, resulted in more than 100 photographs of these dogs , believed to correspond to 15 individuals. They were not dead!
The population of wild dogs that was found not only groups males, but also females and puppies , which means that it is a healthy group and that it is reproducing.
The appendix is not a "good for nothing"
We know from childhood that our appendix is useless; There he is, sitting down and warm waiting to explode and make you scream in pain from one day to the next. But a group of scientists from Midwestern University have returned the honor to this vilified gut, as it seems to play an important role in the life of mammals .
Researchers tracked the appearance and disappearance of the organ in several mammalian lineages over the past 11 million years, and came to a surprising conclusion: it is a refuge for "good" intestinal bacteria , which aid in digestion . Moreover, mammals that do not have an appendix, are four times more likely to have a Clostridium difficile , a very disastrous colitis. In addition, the species that evolutionarily have retained or recovered the appendix after losing it, have higher concentrations of lymphoid tissue in the cecum, a bag located in the large intestine. And this type of tissue stimulates the growth of intestinal bacteria that make us fantastic for the guatita. Thanks appendix.
Your polycystic ovary is in your brain
We all have a friend or acquaintance who suffers from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome , a condition that affects one in ten women and can be very annoying. Among its most common symptoms are the growth of facial and body hair, acne, obesity, hypertension, heart disease or be prone to suffer from infertility. For what is this?
Basically it is a disorder in which the ovaries produce amounts of androgens (a hormone labeled "male", but manufactured by men and women) higher than normal , which affects the development and maturation of the ovules, generating cysts.
The doctors who treated this syndrome, focused on the ovaries, it was logical, there was the problem. And they usually prescribed their patients contraceptive pills to balance the cycle and hormonal concentrations. But now it is known that everything is generated in the brain , why?
Everything is due to a experiment carried out with rats (poor ratites), in which they were separated into four groups: one control, another genetically modified to have no androgen receptor in their bodies, a third that did not have hormone receptors in their bodies. the brain and a room that did not have them in the ovaries. The result was that rats that did not have androgen receptors in their brain or throughout their body did not develop the disease , while those that did not have them in their ovaries did develop it.
That is, if you want to find a cure for this uncomfortable syndrome, everything should start in the head and not in the ovaries.
A new continent has been discovered (Columbus, shake yourself in your crypt)
What caravels or "land in sight"! These scientists only needed advanced technology and intelligent reasoning to reach the conclusion that there is a new continent on our planet . Only it's a bit hidden.
The huge piece of land has been christened Zealandia (and it has its own Wikipedia article ). It is the seventh "geological continent", because experts consider Europe and Asia to be the same supercontinent, to which Africa, Antarctica, Australia, North America and South America are added. The region covers 4.9 million square kilometers of a continental zone that is different from Australia , and it is submerged by 94%, due to the weakening of the earth's crust. It extends from New Caledonia to the north, beyond the sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand to the south, defining a long and narrow region. In terms of size, it is larger than Greenland or India, and more than half of Australia.
Human beings have not only modeled the Earth, but also the nearby space
We have talked a lot about the causes and consequences of climate change , one of the most disastrous effects of human activity on Earth. Now it turns out that we have not only molded our planet, but also the space that surrounds it .
The Earth is surrounded by the belts of Van Allen , an area in the form of rings in which a large number of protons and electrons move spirally between the magnetic poles of the planet. Some probes NASA have discovered that while the downloads plots are being kept at bay by some sort of barrier low frequency in the area . This same force is pushing the belts of Van Allen much further than they were in the 60s, what happened?
There is a form of communication between human beings called super low frequency waves (VLF for its acronym in English), usually occupied by engineers, scientists or military. What we did not know, is that these are interacting with the particles of space, generating an impenetrable barrier around our planet , which protects us from the high energy particles of the sun. The good news is that this phenomenon would protect our satellites from the natural radiation that comes from space.
These are some of the issues on which the scientific community is currently debating, looking for evidence to settle the issue once and for all. But who knows? It is possible that in 2054, El Definido will write an article as tasty as this one, and much of what has been discovered is an old story. Or not?
Which of these discoveries do you find most surprising?
