A clinical trial that showed that HIV drugs can be as effective as condoms in preventing the transmission of the virus that causes AIDS has been declared the scientific breakthrough of the year by the prestigious journalScience, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Specifically, the study revealed that lPeople taking antiretroviral drugs reduce the risk of heterosexual transmission to their partners by 96%, he pointedScience. The discovery was described by some experts as a turning point in the fight against AIDS, 30 years after the epidemic first appeared.
The other nine main advances of 2011 according to the publication are:
– TheJapanese Hayabusa Spaceshipit overcame a series of technical failures and returned to Earth, albeit three years later, with a layer of particles from the asteroid Itokawa. An analysis showed that the solar wind discolors asteroids.
– Following 2010 studies that showed Europeans and Asians inherited between 2% and 6% of their DNA from Neanderthals, new analyzes reveal thatmating with Neanderthals favored humans immunologicallyand raised new questions about whether the dexterous toolmakerAustralopithecus It is the direct ancestor of the modern human.
– Japanese researchers were able to do thePhotosystem II map, a protein that plants use to divide water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, a structure that could lead to far-reaching advances in clean energy.
– Astronomers detected pristine clouds of hydrogen gas much like those that existed in the first hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang. Another team found a nearly metal-free star, much like the first stars in the Universe, suggesting that pockets of deep space survived “unscathed amid eons of cosmic violence.”
– Researchers gained a new understanding of themicrobes that inhabit the human intestine, determining that some thrive on high-protein diets, while others prefer vegetarian food.
– The search for thefirst RTS, S malaria vaccinereceived a boost from the first results of a major clinical trial showing that this vaccine could cut the risk of malaria in African children by half.
– Among the strange discoveries in deep space stands out a group of six large planets that orbit a star calledKepler 11 located about 2,000 light years from Earth, as well as a gas giant orbiting in the opposite direction of its star, 10 planets that appear to orbit no stars, and a planet that revolves around two stars.
– Industrial chemists designed a series ofnew porous minerals, called zeolites, which could save money and benefit the oil and gas industry, air and water purification processes, and the development of laundry detergents.
– Eliminating old cells could help improve quality of life, according to scientists who, using laboratory mice, found thatremoving these senescent cells from the body can delay cataracts and muscle weakness.
