Mani Masood2018 was an action packed year for science. If science is the language that moves you, and for many of us, it is just that, then you really might want to consider the pace at which the collective human knowledge is evolving, expanding and growing exponentially.
Having said that, the frequency at which new technology is coming to market is truly amazing making it increasingly harder to even write about them.
This is a good sign from an economic perspective, especially when we increasingly have a knowledge based economy, and in this economy the faster you create and innovate the better it is.
Here are a few of the 2018s most notable science and technology innovations and breakthroughs reported in the Science Magazine.
Cell by cell development
Biologists have long been transfixed by the mystery of how a single cell develops into an adult animal with multiple organs and billions of cells. Now, a combination of technologies is revealing when genes in individual cells switch on during development, cueing the cells to play their specialized parts. The result is the ability to track the development of organisms and organs in stunning detail, cell-by-cell and through time.
This may be the most distant object in our solar system
Astronomers announced this week the discovery of the solar system’s most distant resident, a tiny dwarf planet located at a distance 120 times farther than Earth is from the sun. The planet, nicknamed “Farout” by its discovery team, is pinkish in hue, reflecting an icy composition, and is likely some 500 kilometers in diameter.
Discovery of recent Antarctic ice sheet collapse raises fears of a new global flood
Glaciologists are worried about the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet—a formidable ice mass that flooded Earth during the last brief warm period between ice ages, some 125,000 years ago. Scientists have now found evidence that the ice sheet disappeared in the recent geological past under climate conditions similar to today’s. The study suggests recent melting of the ice sheet is the start of a similar collapse, rather than a short-term variation.
Ancient bird fossils have ‘the weirdest feathers I have ever seen’
Paleontologists have discovered fossilized feathers belonging to the strange birds that filled the sky 100 million years ago. The long, streamerlike feathers were preserved in exquisite detail in 31 pieces of Cretaceous amber from Myanmar. The rare 3D preservation reveals the feathers’ structure is completely different from that of modern feathers—and hints that they may have been defensive decoys to foil predators.
There is a lot of exciting stuff going on in science, technology and the stars above us that makes Science and Technology so much fun. The truth is the universe is a constantly changing, moving, some would say “living” thing because you just never know what you are going to see on any given day.
In today’s world STEM education is the most important of all fields of study.
I attempt to post stories like this on my website, one for referencing back when you are writing something, and two to share with everyone.
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Mani
