The year 2024 saw interesting developments in the science of cancer treatment, vaccines and genetic discoveries. Two Nobel Prize winners were involved in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) which is the most popular technology.. Here are the 10 most interesting science news we reported throughout 2024.
1.Scientist Treats Her Own Breast Cancer Using Virus
Beata Halassy, a virologist from the University of Zagreb, has successfully treated her own breast cancer using a virus she developed in the laboratory. A cancerous tumor was found in her breast in 2020 and after conducting experiments on herself, she now says she has been completely cancer-free for four years.
Halassy decided to undergo oncolytic virotherapy (OVT) treatment on her stage 3 cancer because this treatment is still in the testing stage and is only given to metastatic melanoma cancer patients in the United States.
The virus, which was cultured in the laboratory, was injected directly into the tumor with the help of colleagues for two months and monitored by an oncologist. The experimental treatment effectively caused the tumor to shrink before detaching from the pectoral muscle and skin which was then removed through a surgical procedure. When the tumor was examined, it was filled with the body's immune cells lymphocytes, indicating the effectiveness of OVT treatment for breast cancer.
2. World's Largest Prime Number Discovered With 41 Million Digits
The discovery of the world's largest prime number was announced in October containing 41 million digits. It beat the previous record by 16 million digits. The number is 282,589,933-1 or by its shorter nickname M136279841. It is the result of multiplying the number two 136,279,841 times and then subtracting 1.
In addition to being the largest prime number ever discovered, M136279841 is also the largest Mersenne prime number ever discovered. A Mersenne prime is a prime number that is created by multiplying the number 2 and then subtracting one.
M136279841 was discovered by Luke Durant, a researcher involved in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) on October 11. Durant used a network of cloud supercomputers powered by thousands of NVIDIA A100 chips located in 17 countries. The discovery was later confirmed by another supercomputer with an NVIDIA H100 chip. For the success of finding the largest prime number, Durant received a $3000 (~RM 13,000) prize.
3. Earth Now Officially Has Two Moons
Earth is believed to have started to be surrounded by a moon around 4.5 billion years ago. But as of October, Earth has been surrounded by two moons. Earth's second moon is 2024 PT5, which has been trapped in Earth's gravity since September 29. It is an asteroid that is on its way to orbit the Sun and will only be Earth's moon until November 25, 2024.
Astronomers Carlos de la Fuente Marcos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos from Ciudad Universitaria Madrid are two scientists who discovered the moon, which is only 11 meters wide. After November 25, 2024 PT5 will continue its journey to orbit the sun and will only return to visit the earth in 2055. This is not the first time the earth has received a temporary moon.
The first time it was detected was in September 2006 when 2006 RH120 orbited the earth for 281 days. Then in 2016, 2020 CD3 became a temporary moon for 752 days. Both of these temporary moons are only 1.8-2.7 meters wide.
4.MOSTI Aims for Malaysia to Produce Nobel Prize Winners
MOSTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) is now targeting to produce Nobel Prize Winners from among local scientists by June. No timeline has been stated at this time.
Among the efforts that have been implemented are initiatives through local universities to foster the thinking of Nobel Prize Winners and the Malaysian Academy of Sciences is implementing programs such as organizing lectures, scientific discussions and science motivation sessions.
Since 2004, Malaysia has also sent 84 young scientists to participate in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting – where Nobel Laureates usually gather to present research findings.
5.AI AlphaFold 3 Can Predict the Structure and Interactions of All Living Molecules
DeepMind announced the latest version of its artificial intelligence (AI) AlphaFold that is capable of predicting molecular structures more accurately. AlphaFold 3 is now able to predict the structure and interactions of all living molecules. For the prediction of proteins and several other types of molecules, AlphaFold 3 showed an increase in prediction accuracy of up to 50% compared to other models currently used.
AlphaFold 3 can be used to improve understanding of the biological world and future drug discovery. Isomorphic Labs, which is also a subsidiary of Alphabet, has begun collaborations with several pharmaceutical companies to use AlphaFold 3 to develop new treatments.
This is another contribution from DeepMind to the world of medical science. Two years ago, AlphaFold published a list of 200 million protein structures that could exist in the world for the purpose of advancing the production of new drugs and medicines.
6. Chinese Scientists Produce Optical Disc With a Capacity of 1.6 Petabytes
Scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics have successfully produced an optical disc with a capacity of 1.6 Petabytes (200 Terabytes) in February. This is a much higher capacity than the 128GB that can be stored on a single Ultra HD Blu-Ray disc.
The high capacity is achieved by storing data on the disc surface in three dimensions and hundreds of layers. Then the laser spot size (spot size) is only 54 nm and the distance between the tracks on the disc surface (track pitch) is as small as 70nm. Again, for comparison, the laser spot on a DVD is 530nm and the distance between tracks is 320nm. With this, the information density can be increased in the same surface area of the optical disc.
This technology is still in the research stage. A special dual-laser system is needed not only to write data but also to read the stored information.
7. Nuclear Battery Lasts for 50 Years Without Needing to Be Charged Developed in China
In China, the Betavolt company announced the success of building a nuclear battery that can last for 50 years without needing to be recharged. This battery uses the Nickel-63 isotope which produces 100 microwatts of power and 3V of voltage. It is only 15x15x15 millimeters in size which is very compact. Betavolt is confident that they will be able to produce a battery with a power of 1W by 2025.
When installed in series, higher power is produced. If all goes well, smartphones that do not need to be charged and drones that fly forever will become a reality. Nuclear batteries have been developed since 1914 with two versions. One converts the heat generated by radioactive decay into electrical power using thermocouples. The other uses beta particles to move electrons in semiconductor materials to produce current.
Since the 1970s, beta particle batteries have been used as batteries for pacemakers in the human body. The difference with Betavolt batteries is that the battery power is lower at around 1 microwatt and only lasts for 12.5 years.
8. First Successful Pig Kidney Transplant to Human
Richard Slayman
Last March, Richard Slayman from Massachusetts became the first living person to receive a pig kidney. Doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital made him the first living person to receive a pig kidney that had been genetically edited to make it suitable for human use. After more than a week, the organ was found to be functioning normally with no signs of rejection.
However, in May, Slayman died but it was confirmed that it was not due to complications from the pig kidney that had been received. The kidney was the first major organ to be successfully transplanted in December 1954. Then followed the liver, heart and pancreas. Although the technology has been around for nearly 70 years, it has not yet been able to save the lives of all patients in need of organs due to a shortage of donors.
9. Tooth Regrowth Drug Tested on Humans
Scientists from Kyoto University and the University of Fukui will conduct a drug test that regrows decayed teeth on humans in June. Previously, this drug was successfully tested on mice and foxes in the laboratory.
In a study that has been conducted since 2005, uterine sensitization associated gene-1 (USAG-1) was found to cause tooth growth in humans to stop. By blocking this gene, teeth can be reestablished in mice and foxes that were tested. Human trials will be conducted at Kyoto University Hospital from September 2024 to August 2025.
In the initial stage, it involves 30 male individuals aged 30-64 who have lost at least one molar. Then in the second phase, children aged 2-7 will undergo the same test. If the human trials are successful, the tooth regrowth treatment is expected to be commercially available as early as 2030
10. Sarawak Firm Is Studying Producing Rice From Sago
We regularly report on news of man-made meat produced from plants and 3D printing techniques. The majority of these food technology innovations are carried out by foreign firms. Now a Sarawakian firm is conducting research into producing rice from sago trees.
Sarawak Minister of Education, Innovation and Talent Development Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn said that the firm CRAUN Research is currently conducting research into producing rice with starch from sago. According to him, the sago rice produced is almost indistinguishable from real rice.
At this point, rice produced from sago is still in the laboratory testing stage and is not yet ready to be marketed commercially. The firm CRAUN Research is an abbreviation for Crop Research and Application Unit which was established in 1993 to increase the competitiveness of the Sarawak sago industry