Journal Science selects top 10 scientific breakthroughs of 2006
22/12/2006 16:48
The Poincare Conjecture, a famous mathematics problem which has been
finally solved, was honored as the Breakthrough of the Year, according to a
statement released yesterday by the US journal Science and its publisher AAAS,
the nonprofit society.
The journal has chosen top 10 breakthroughs from the
numerous research advances of 2006.
The statement said that in 2006,
researchers closed a major chapter in mathematics, reaching a consensus that the
elusive Poincare Conjecture, which deals with abstract shapes in three-
dimensional space, had finally been solved.
"So we salute this development as
the Breakthrough of the Year, " it said.
The conjecture, proposed in 1904 by
Henri Poincare, describes a test for showing that a space is equivalent to a
"hypersphere," the three-dimensional surface of a four-dimensional ball.
A
century later, researchers were still trying to prove the conjecture. In 2002,
Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman posted on the Internet the first of three
papers that outlined a proof of Poincare's conjecture. By 2006, three separate
teams wrote papers that filled in key missing details of Perelman's proof, and
there was little doubt among his colleagues that he had solved the famous
problem.
Science also gave props to nine other of the year's most significant
scientific accomplishments:
-- Pulling DNA out of Fossils: Using new
techniques for decoding and analyzing DNA, researchers captured genetic
information from Neanderthal and mammoth fossils.
-- Shrinking Ice Sheets:
Researchers documented a disturbing trend this year. The Antarctic and Greenland
ice sheets are losing ice, at an ever faster rate, to the oceans.
-- Fishy
First Steps: The discovery of a fossil fish with sturdy, jointed fins made a big
splash in 2006. The fish is the closest known kin to limbed vertebrates and
provides a window into how life left the oceans and ventured onto terra
firma.
-- The Science of Invisibility: Though it looks nothing like Harry
Potter's magical cape, the invisibility "cloak" that scientists developed this
year is the first rudimentary device for shielding objects from view. The device
guides incoming microwaves in such a way that they produce neither a reflection
nor a shadow.
-- Hope for Macular Degeneration Patients: Researchers who
study the form of vision loss known as age-related macular degeneration showed
that the drug ranibizumab improves vision in some patient and identifying
several genes that influence a person' s susceptibility to the disease.
--
How Biodiversity Happens: From beach mice, to fruit flies, to butterflies, a
variety of animals helped scientists uncover genetic changes that lead to the
evolution of a new species.
-- New Frontiers in Microscopy: This year,
biologists used new microscopy techniques that enabled them to see details
smaller than about 200 nanometers, giving them a clearer view of the fine
structure of cells and proteins.
-- Making Memories: Several discoveries in
2006 brought neuroscientists closer to understanding how the brain records new
memories. The so-called "long-term potentiation" process that strengthens
connections between neurons now seems even more likely to be the basis for
remembering.
-- New Class of Small RNAs: Scientists discovered a new class of
small RNA molecules that shut down gene expression, called " Piwi-interacting
RNAs."
In the meantime, Science's predictions for hot fields and topics in
the upcoming year include whole-genome association studies, optical lattices,
the search for Earthlike planets around other stars, and comparisons of primate
genomes.
Science also selected the Breakdown of the Year: The extent of the
fraud committed by stem cell researcher Woo Suk Hwang and his colleagues, who
published two key papers in Science, came to light in 2006, as did several other
incidents. \
Xinhua
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