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 TOP 10 BREAKTHROUGHS OF THE YEAR 2011
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HPTN 052: The journal Science has lauded an eye-opening HIV study, known as HPTN 052, as the most important scientific breakthrough of 2011. This clinical trial demonstrated that people infected with HIV are 96 per cent less likely to transmit the virus to their partners if they take anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs).
- The Hayabusa Mission: Japan 's Hayabusa spacecraft returned to Earth with dust from the surface of a large, S-type asteroid. This asteroid dust represented the first direct sampling of a planetary body in 35 years.
- Unraveling Human Origins: Researchers discovered that many humans still carry DNA variants inherited from archaic humans, such as the mysterious Denisovans in Asia and still unidentified ancestors in Africa .
- Capturing a Photosynthetic Protein: R esearchers in Japan have mapped the structure of the Photosystem II, or PS II, protein that plants use to split water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
- Pristine Gas in Space: Astronomers in Hawaii discovered two clouds of hydrogen gas that seem to have maintained their original chemistry for two billion years after the big bang. Other researchers identified a star that is almost completely devoid of metals.
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Getting to Know the Microbiome: Research into the countless microbes that dwell in the human gut demonstrated that everyone has a dominant bacterium, Bacteroides, Prevotella or Ruminococcus, leading the gang in their digestive tract.
- A Promising Malaria Vaccine: Early results of the clinical trial of a malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S, provided a shot in the arm to malaria vaccine research.
- Strange Solar Systems: NASA's Kepler observatory helped identify a star system with planets orbiting in ways that today's models cannot explain. Then, researchers discovered a gas giant caught in a rare "retrograde" orbit, a planet circling a binary star system and 10 planets that seem to be freely floating in space.
- Designer Zeolites: Chemists showed off their creativity by designing a range of new zeolites that are cheaper, thinner and better equipped to process larger organic molecules.
- Clearing Senescent Cells: Experiments have revealed that clearing senescent cells (those that have stopped dividing) from the bodies of mice can delay the onset of age-related symptoms.
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