Top 5 Scientific Discoveries of 2015

Happy New Year! Reflecting back I have realised that I, personally have not had the most eventful year. I moved back home, worked a dead end part time job and have had a minimal social life. But I discovered what I would truly be passionate doing and pursued studying a Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science at Massey University. Although I have not done much this year, the same can not be said for the scientific community. A lot of great discoveries have been made and through reading some hobby scientific blog posts I have gained an appreciation for some of the great scientific breakthroughs of 2015. Through this post I will highlight my top 5 Scientific discoveries of 2015.

5. Fossil discovery of Human Ancestors

Venturing deep into the Rising Star cave located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Two slender cavers have discovered a site where many fossilised bones lie. These represent a new species of Human ancestors dating back approximately 2 million years ago. An expedition to extract the discovered fossils commenced in November 2013 running for 21 days. A team of 60 scientists plus additional cavers managed to uncover over 1,500 bones/fragments. 15 individuals were discovered from the same species. Named Homo Naledi, Homo - from the same genus as humans and Naledi - named after the cave they were discovered in "star in the South African language sesotho." This discovery have given scientists a greater insight to the evolution of humans with H. Naledi having similar characteristics as both humans and apes. The slender hominid stood at approximately 5ft weighing approximately 45 kilograms. This is such an exciting discovery for evolutionary sciences as it brings us one step closer to understanding our evolutionary journey.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/

4. Finding a winged ancestor of the Velociraptor 

I love dinosaurs. During some of my free time I play a mindless app based of the movie Jurassic World. The game features many fascinating dinosaur species and it has sparked my interest into learning more about dinosaurs. I am also a great fan of Dino Night on National Geographic (Sundays, 7.30pm). The fossil was immaculately preserved in limestone in north-east China. It is believed that it was completely covered in feathers, but the wings it had were not suitable for flying due to its large body. From this discovery an assumption was made that most if not all dinosaurs might have been covered in feathers/down. This has changed my perspective on dinosaurs. What I once thought would have been great big leathery creatures are now said to be big feathery bird-like creatures. Although I have heard that the Tyrannosaurus Rex is a direct descendant of the chicken, in no way did I imagine it having many features of a chicken.
 

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33510288

3. Free flowing water discovered on Mars 

I have always had an underlying interest in astronomy as my grandfather was a great astronomer who always inspired me. Finding free flowing water on Mars was a great, significant discovery for NASA in their search for life on Mars. Using a imaging spectrometer on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter researchers of NASA have been able to determine that the once mysterious dark patches on images are actually hydrated minerals. The water runs down downhill and contains hydrated salt which prevents it from freezing a low temperatures.

2. Drugs identified for a potential male contraceptive pill

Previously, I had a fascination in studying pharmacy, so any drug discoveries seem to catch my eye. Two drugs given to transplant patients have been identified as potential contraceptives for males. Tested on male mice, the two drugs cyclosporine A (also known as CsA) and FK506 (also known as tacrolimus) have shown to inhibit sperm to penetrate the zona pellucida (cell membrane) making it unable to fertilise the egg. These two drugs make the join between the head and tail of the sperm too rigid which makes it unable to forcefully beat its tail back and fourth (also known as hyperactivation) making it unable for fertilisation to occur.

1. First new antibiotic discovery in 30 years

2015 science kicked off with an amazing and great discovery! It had been 30 years since the last antibiotic was discovered. On January 7, 2015 a team of international scientists claimed to have created an amazing and powerful antibiotic. Named teixobactin, it is said to be capable of destroying microorganisms responsible for pneumonia, blood infections, staph, tuberculosis etc. Due to its powerful nature scientists also claims that the microorganisms attacked by teixobactin will be unable to develop a resistance. It is hard to believe that the scientists had found this antibiotic in dirt. Successfully tested on mice, it is said to be available for human use within the next 5 years.

Anderson, G. (2015, September 29). NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today’s Mars. Retrieved from NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-mars

Gill, V. (2015, July 15). Dinosaur find: Velociraptor ancestor was 'winged dragon'. Retrieved from BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33510288

Kaplan, K. (2015, October 2). Scientists identify potential birth control 'pill' for men. Retrieved from Medical Express: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-10-scientists-potential-birth-pill-men.html

National Geographic. (2015, September 10). This Face Changes the Human Story. But How? Retrieved from National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/

Piddock, L. J. (2015, June 18). Teixobactin, the first of a new class of antibiotics discovered by iChip technology? Retrieved from Oxford Journals: http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/content/70/10/2679.full