Science has selected a space image sent by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in July as this year’s breakthrough achievement in the scientific world. This is the first result of JWST, which was launched in December last year.
The international journal Science published on the 15th (local time) 10 important achievements (top 10 breakthroughs) in science this year, including the results of the JWST.
On July 11, with millions of live viewers, US President Joe Biden released the first image sent to Earth by the JWST. The whole world rejoiced at the image of the galaxy 13 billion years ago. It boasted the highest resolution of any space photos taken so far.
JWST’s debut hasn’t been an easy journey from the start. US$10 billion (13.89 trillion won) has been invested to achieve the current success. It is the most “expensive” space mission in history. It took 20 years to build a telescope on Earth. The original launch plan was in 2007, but the program was delayed several times due to technical errors and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19, Corona 19) infection, and it was launched on December 25 last year in time to Christmas. The telescope flew 1.5 million km for about a month and began its mission in earnest after arriving at the Lagrangian point, which is unaffected by gravity.
The first results sent by the JWST to Earth were just the beginning. Looking into the universe with an aperture three times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, he managed to observe HIB65426b, a planet seven times larger than Jupiter, and photographed Neptune’s rings 33 years after Voyager 2. Thousands of astronomers around the world are struggling right now to analyze the data sent to Earth by the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope’s performance is expected to last until 2040, so it’s hard to even guess how many secrets of the universe can be solved in the meantime.
Also, science has selected scientific achievements that will be of great help to mankind. In November this year, after more than 20 years of efforts, a research team from Yunnan University in China developed a perennial rice variety, “PR23”, and published it in the international journal “Nature Sustainability”. It is a variety that can be grown without the need to replant with each harvest. It is predicted that farmers around the world will be able to save the trouble of growing young rice seedlings each spring and transplanting them into rice paddies.
Demonstrating the performance of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine is also an important achievement. RSV usually causes flu-like symptoms, but in newborns, the virus is known to be dangerous because it can inflame the airways. Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) each demonstrated in large clinical trials that their vaccine candidates could protect infants and the elderly from infection. The candidate vaccines are expected to be approved by regulators around the world next year.
The results of a study that found that the Epstein-Barr virus (blue) increases the chances of getting multiple sclerosis were published in the international journal Nature in January this year. STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENTIFIC SOURCE
Earlier this year, the fact that the Epstein-Barr virus plays an important role in multiple sclerosis, a disease in which the immune system attacks neurons, was published in the international journals ‘Nature’ and ‘Science’, respectively. January. Science underlined the importance of this finding, stating: ‘The development of drugs that target the virus could make multiple sclerosis like polio disappear.’
Interesting biological findings have also been noted. Thiomargarita magnifica was discovered, which is 5,000 times larger than ordinary microorganisms. These microorganisms are approximately 1 cm long and can be observed with the naked eye. Microbes are known to have three times as many genes as normal microbes and have a much more complex internal structure. It was a discovery that shook the traditional classification system of organisms divided into eukaryotes and prokaryotes.
Thiomargarita magnifica is a gigantic microorganism about 1 cm long that can be observed with the naked eye. Powered by TOMAS TYML
The fact that the Black Death, which killed half of Europe’s population some 700 years ago, left traces in the genes of Europeans was also singled out as an important finding. In October this year, the international academic journal “Nature” published a study that found that Europeans had genetic mutations that enhance the immune response to the bacterial mediators of the plague as they went through the Black Death epidemic. This is a good example of how natural selection leads to evolution.
The latest environmental DNA analysis results published in Nature last week were also listed. A research team from the University of Cambridge in England has analyzed environmental DNA collected from northern Greenland and announced that it has succeeded in recreating the Greenland ecosystem 2 million years ago. Environmental DNA is the genetic material of organisms collected from various environments such as soil, water and air. It is a method that allows researchers to analyze genes in environments where direct contact with the organisms is not possible.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) managed to change the orbit of Dimorphos, a satellite of the asteroid Didymos, through the DART project. Courtesy of NASA/JOHNS HOPKINS APL
Project DART, mankind’s first asteroid impact test conducted in September, was also selected. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted an experiment to see if it could change its orbit by colliding a satellite the size of a refrigerator into Dimorphos, the satellite of the asteroid Didymos, at 6 km/sec. It has been analyzed that the Dart spacecraft managed to shorten the satellite’s orbit by about 32 minutes. It was a great success, reaching 26 times the goal originally set by NASA.
Additionally, Science cited the fact that the US climate law, which allows for subsidies for renewable energy such as solar power, passed as a major achievement. The United States accounts for a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions, but this is the first time it has passed legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, “DALL-E 2”, an artificial intelligence (AI) program from OpenAI that has a function to convert text to images, was selected as one of the top 10 results.
