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Evolutionary Studies Top Annual Scientific Breakthrough: Science Journal

Posted on: Friday, 23 December 2005, 09:00 CST

Evolutionary studies top annual scientific breakthrough: Science journal

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Studies that follow evolution in action claim top honors as the Breakthrough of the Year, the Science journal and its publisher, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), announced on Thursday.

In 2005, scientists discovered new details about Charles Darwin's famous theory, and this in-depth information could help us lead healthier lives in the future, the journal said.

Many of this year's breakthrough studies followed evolution at genetic level, including a map of the chimpanzee genome and a map of single-letter variations in the human genetic sequence.

By comparing the two maps, scientists will get a better glimpse of the human species' evolutionary history.

And the two maps give scientists new material for studying conditions from AIDS to heart disease, laying the groundwork for a future of personalized genetic medicine, according to Donald Kennedy, chief editor of the journal.

Sequencing of the 1918 Spanish flu virus could have a more immediate impact on medicine. Understanding the evolution of the virus, which jumped directly from birds to humans in last century, may help the world predict and cope with the current bird flu threat, the journal said.

Other evolution findings include: small changes in DNA can trigger dramatic evolutionary events; behavioral differences such as what to eat and when to mate may be enough to turn a single population into two species.

These observations and other experiments showed that evolutionary studies are "as relevant to 2005 as they were to 1859," Kennedy said.

Other important scientific achievements picked by the journal include:

-- Planetary research: With spacecraft at or on the way to the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, a comet, an asteroid, Saturn, and the very edge of the solar system, planetary discovery soared in 2005. The high point may be the landing of the European spacecraft Huygens on Titan, Saturn's largest moon;

-- Plant studies: Several key molecular cues behind flowering and other plant mysteries and surprises came to light in 2005;

-- Exploring the nature of Neutron Stars: New instruments yielded vivid insights into the most violent behaviors of neutron stars;

-- Link between brain wiring and disease: Several studies in 2005 suggest that diseases such schizophrenia, Tourette syndrome, and dyslexia are rooted in "faulty wiring" of the brain's neural circuitry during development in the womb;

-- The Earth's birth place: Researchers took another look at Earth rocks and meteorites that resemble the starting material of the solar system and found that their atoms were significantly different;

-- Key protein's close-up: The most detailed molecular portrait to date of a voltage-gated potassium channel was unveiled. These channels, gatekeeper proteins that usher potassium ions in and out of cells, are as key to nerve and muscle functioning;

-- More evidence of climate change: From the warming of deep ocean waters and increased frequencies of the most intense tropical cyclones, to continued reductions in ice cover in the Arctic Ocean and altered bird migratory patterns, evidence for climate change built up;

-- Cell Signaling: Dynamic views of how cells respond to the chemical and environmental signals all around them took hold in 2005 thanks to efforts to track multiple inputs and outputs of cell signaling networks simultaneously;

-- ITER Lands in France: The struggle over the location of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), world's first fusion reactor has ended.

The journal, most prestigious in world scientific community, also chose the cancellation of two major experiments and talk of an early closing for one of the three existing particle colliders in the United States as a major breakdown of the year.

Drug and vaccine development for avian flu, RNA-interference in humans, high-temperature superconductors, the microbial family tree, detection of the merging of two neutron stars and ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, will be the hot spots of research, the journal said.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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