DNE Reviews 10 Groundbreaking Scientific Discoveries Of 2024

One of the most prominent scientific discoveries in astronomy during the past year was the discovery by an international team of a binary star called“D9” near the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, which is the first discovery of its kind. The research, published in Nature Communications, is based on data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and shows that binary stars can survive for a short time in environments with strong gravity. Florian Biesecker, the lead author of the study and an astrophysicist at the University of Cologne in Germany, estimates the star's age at 2.7 million years and predicts its merger within a million years. Biesecker points out that black holes are less destructive than previously thought and asserts that this discovery could pave the way for identifying mysterious G objects and discovering new planets in these unique environments.

In another study, this time in neuroscience, researchers have discovered a new pathway for forming long-term memories in the brain, independent of short-term memories, changing the traditional understanding of memory and pointing to greater brain plasticity. Optogenetics enabled the team to disable the enzyme CaMKII in mice, thereby preventing the formation of short-term memory, while independently forming long-term memory. The publication of this discovery in Nature Neuroscience provides new insights into memory-related disorders and prompts inquiries into the potential for therapeutic enhancement of the parallel pathway of long-term memory formation.“It's like finding a secret path to a permanent gallery in the brain,” says lead author Myung Shin, a research fellow in neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Neuroscience.

Also in the field of mental health, a study published in Nature Mental Health showed that adolescents who were bullied at age 11 and developed mistrust of others by age 14 were three and a half times more likely to have mental health problems at age 17 than their peers who did not develop mistrust. The study included follow-up data on 10,000 children in the United Kingdom over two decades. The study's lead author, George Slavich, director of the Health Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research at the University of California in the United States, said that these findings could help schools and other institutions develop new evidence-based interventions to counter the negative effects of bullying on mental health.

The Lancet Regional Health Europe published a study revealing an increased risk of breast cancer survivors developing other types of cancer, including endometrial and ovarian cancers in women and pancreatic cancer in men. The study was based on an analysis of data from around 600,000 patients in England and showed that this risk increases in communities with socioeconomic deprivation. In his statements, the study's lead author, Isaac Allen, a doctoral researcher in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, revealed that radiotherapy for one form of cancer can put some people at risk of developing a second cancer, such as several types of leukemia.

Researchers have discovered the oldest known cases of Down syndrome, dating back between 5,000 and 2,500 years, in Bronze Age sites in Greece and Bulgaria and Iron Age sites in Spain. The body of an infant was also found in Finland dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, according to the study published in Nature Communications. The discovery of the body of a newborn girl in the village of Alto de la Cruz in Spain intrigued scientists, prompting them to examine the bodies of children buried at the site. They found that four of the 35 babies had chromosomal abnormalities, three of them with Down syndrome and one with Edwards syndrome. The study's lead author, Adam Rohlach, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, says the team never expected to find this result, especially since Down syndrome occurs in an estimated one in 700 pregnancies today, so four in 35 is a very high number.

A study in the journal Nature Water revealed that floating photovoltaic (FPV) solar panels have the potential to meet the electricity needs of certain countries in the field of technology. The researchers evaluated the productivity of these panels in about 68,000 lakes and reservoirs worldwide, taking into account criteria such as proximity to population centers and not freezing for more than six months a year. The study's lead author, Esten Woolway, a research fellow in oceanography at Bangor University in the UK, indicated that covering 10% of these bodies of water with floating solar panels could generate 1,302 terawatt hours per year, which is enough to meet the entire electricity demand of countries such as Papua New Guinea and Ethiopia. In addition, this technology contributes to reducing water loss and limiting algal blooms.

A study published in the journal Nature Genetics revealed the highest quality reference genome for the Arabica coffee plant, explaining that this species originated more than 600 thousand years ago in the forests of Ethiopia as a result of natural hybridization between the Coffea canephora and Eugenioides species. Although Arabica is a source of about 60% of the world's coffee production, it suffers from low genetic diversity, making it vulnerable to pests and diseases. The study highlights the importance of understanding the genetic history of Arabica to develop varieties that are more resistant to climate change and environmental threats. Victor Albert, the co-author of the study and a professor of biological sciences at the University of California, explains that the team used advanced DNA sequencing technology and advanced data science to complete the reference genome, thereby determining the sequence of 39 Arabica coffee species.

In a study published in the journal Science Robotics, a team of roboticists, paleontologists, and biologists used robots to simulate the transition of animal ancestors from swimming to walking some 390 million years ago. The researchers used fossils and computer modeling to build robotic models that mimicked the movements of ancient creatures, providing a deeper understanding of the evolutionary pressures that drove ancient fish to develop the ability to walk underwater. The study's co-author, Michael Ishida, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge's Laboratory for Biologically Inspired Robotics, says this interdisciplinary approach is an important step toward exploring how organisms have adapted to new environments over time.

A study in the journal Antiquity delves into the evolution of writing in Mesopotamia through an examination of ancient cylinder seals and early cuneiform inscriptions. These seals date back some 6,000 years and are considered the earliest stages that contributed to the emergence of cuneiform, one of the earliest writing systems. The study suggests that writing was not a sudden or isolated phenomenon but rather a gradual development that emerged from long-standing administrative and cultural practices. The study's lead author, Silvia Ferrara, a professor of classical language and Italian studies at the University of Bologna, says that early cuneiform writing appeared in the city of Uruk in present-day southern Iraq, around 3350-3000 B.C.

In another archaeological study, researchers have revealed that the ancient Egyptians may have built the Pharaoh Djoser's Pyramid-the oldest of Egypt's famous pyramids-with the help of a hydraulic lift system. Djoser belonged to the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. According to the study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, water may have been able to flow into two shafts located inside the pyramid itself, where that water could have been used to help raise and lower the pontoon used to carry the building blocks. Using a combination of satellite radar images and more than a century of reports by archaeologists, the researchers found water management and treatment structures inside the pyramid, according to the study's lead author, Xavier Landru, a materials engineering researcher at the Palaeotécniques Laboratory in France.

MENAFN02012025000153011029ID1109047854