All things considered, 2019 is shaping up to be an enthralling year for science and technology. Here, we review 10 of the best scientific breakthroughs that made waves or may have flown under the radar over the past month.

Papers have been published on everything from a ketamine-related antidepressant nasal spray to a potential new method for treating Alzheimer’s. A stellar new species of frog rubs shoulders with a male contraceptive pill. Fascinating stuff.

10 Hangover-Free Alcohol

Researchers have produced a synthetic drink that replicates the feeling of alcohol without having to suffer a hangover the next morning.

The drink, named Alcarelle, contains a synthetic molecule known as alcosynth which can target the enjoyable areas of the brain while carefully avoiding the unpleasant areas. Alcosynth, much like regular alcohol, induces tipsiness by stimulating the brain’s GABA receptors. Unlike regular alcohol, it bypasses the receptors responsible for adverse, nauseating side effects.

Professor David Nutt, who created alcosynth with David Orren, lost his job working for the British government after he controversially claimed that alcohol is more dangerous than Ecstasy and LSD. In spite of this, he has remained dedicated to improving the safety of the drinks industry.

At the moment, Alcarelle is not available outside of the lab. The drink still has to be safety tested and regulated before it is deemed fit for consumption. However, Nutt hopes it will be on the market in as little as five years.^[1]

9 Starry Dwarf Frog Discovered

A group of researchers has unearthed an entirely new species of frog while out in the mountains of India. The newly discovered amphibian is around 2–3 centimeters (0.8–1.2 in) in length with orange-and-brown skin which is speckled with tiny starlike spots. Scientists have decided to call this species Astrobatrachus kurichiyana, which translates as “starry dwarf frog.” The name was given due to its distinctive bright markings.

The research team, which hails from the US and India, believes that the starry dwarf frog is the last surviving member of an ancient lineage. Their most recent common ancestor is said to have lived around 57 million to 76 million years ago.

The team first came across the speckled frogs hiding under leaf litter while they were surveying wildlife in the Western Ghats mountain range back in 2010. Subsequent assessment has confirmed that Astrobatrachus kurichiyana is a new species of frog descended from a completely new subfamily of Indian and Sri Lankan amphibian.^[2]

8 Subconscious Magnetic Sense

Are our brains able to tune in to the Earth’s magnetic field? According to Joseph Kirschvink, a geobiology professor at the California Institute of Technology, the evidence suggests that they do.

For their studies, Kirschvink and his team sat individual participants inside a six-sided wire cage. When a current is run through the wire coils, they produce a magnetic field similar to Earth’s. (The exact strength and direction depends on the current.) The researchers would then manipulate the cage’s magnetic field while an electroencephalogram measures the participant’s brain activity.^[3]

Kirschvink found that the participants responded to the experiment by subconsciously “freaking out,” suggesting that our brains can sense changes in the magnetic field on some level. Similar magnetic senses—or, to use the technical term, magnetoreception—have been observed in cattle, turtles, and pigeons.

7 Electronics Made From Skin

One day, we may be building electronic devices from our own skin. Melanin, the pigment responsible for coloring our skin and hair, could be one of the building blocks of the bionic implants and technology of tomorrow.

Using a newly discovered technique, scientists can drastically improve the pigment’s ability to conduct electricity. In fact, Italian nanoscientist Paolo Tassini and his colleagues have managed to increase the conductivity of melanin a billion times over.

Typically, eumelanin, the most common form of melanin, is composed of millions of sheets piled chaotically on top of each other. The group of researchers has discovered a method for heating up the material in a vacuum to radically improve its conductivity. During the process, the sheets are brought out of disarray and arrange themselves in a parallel configuration.

It is thought that eumelanin may take the place of metals in bioelectronic devices like brain implants in the future. The pigment is naturally produced in our bodies, and for that reason, our immune system is more likely to accept it than a substance like copper.^[4]

6 Worm Regeneration

As any mildly sadistic child will tell you, an earthworm has the amazing ability to grow back its body after being cut in half. At Harvard University, a group of researchers is exploring the origin of these incredible powers of regrowth while making a number of discoveries about the genome.

Led by Professor Mansi Srivastava, the team has identified the master control gene that is responsible for regeneration in three-banded panther worms. This master control gene, known as early growth response (EGR), masterminds the regeneration process by effectively switching sections of DNA on and off. This is only possible due to the dynamic nature of DNA, an area of biology that scientists are still trying to unlock.

In her research paper, Srivastava also explores why other species that use the EGR control gene, including humans, are unable to regenerate. It is hoped that future research can further our understanding of DNA—the blueprint for all of human life—as well as potentially enhance our abilities for regrowth and repair.^[5]

5 Alzheimer’s Treated In Mice

Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating chronic condition that currently has no known cure. However, neuroscientists at MIT’s Picower Institute have made a potentially great stride forward in developing a treatment. The group has discovered that exposing mice to flickering lights and rapid clicking noises seems to keep Alzheimer’s at bay.

The strobe lights and high-speed clicking also appear to improve the memory skills of mice with symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. These external stimuli induce brain waves that positively alter the composition of proteins in the brain. According to the research findings, mice that listened to the clicks for an hour a day performed faster in maze challenges and had considerably better object recognition skills.

There is still a large amount of research that needs to be carried out. Exactly how these brain waves enhance the cerebral capacity remains a mystery. Also, scientists have yet to determine whether similar treatments will translate from mice to human patients. If so, this could be the first step in a revolutionary new technique for addressing neurodegenerative diseases.^[6]

4 Male Contraceptive Pill

It looks as if we are one step closer to getting a male contraceptive pill. A recent trial found that the drug brought down the levels of hormones that lead the testes to produce sperm. Scientists will now need to determine whether the sperm count itself has fallen by a sufficient amount.

During the trial, which was led by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle, 40 healthy volunteers took a capsule each day with food. Three-quarters received a dose of the contraceptive drug 11-beta-MNTDC, and the remaining 10 just consumed placebos. Scientists discovered considerably lower levels of certain hormones among the men that took the drug, a decent indication that fewer sperm are being produced.

Although no significant side effects were reported by any of the volunteers, a few experienced headaches, lessened libido, and mild erectile dysfunction.

While women can choose from a broad array of different contraceptives, men are limited to either condoms or vasectomies. A “male pill” would open up the range of options available to men as well as alleviate women of some of the responsibility for not getting pregnant.^[7]

3 Growing A Tiny Brain

The human brain is a thing of exquisite beauty. It is also phenomenally complex. Neurons fire off messages at breakneck speed across an intricate web of pathways. Every one of our thoughts and actions—everything from complex emotions to jerk reflexes—is controlled by that great cerebral nexus. Creating a replica human brain would be a prodigious challenge. We aren’t even entirely sure how it works in the first place.

In a staggering feat of science, researchers at Cambridge University have managed to grow a miniature, simplified human brain the size of a lentil. In some senses, the tiny bead of gray matter resembles the brain of a human fetus after three to four months of pregnancy. In terms of size, it sits somewhere between a cockroach and a zebra fish.

In recent years, scientists have produced a number of faux human brains, each more advanced than the last. This latest development goes further still, introducing a primitive kind of central nervous system.

Biologist Madeline Lancaster and her colleagues attached a spinal cord and muscle tissue to the droplet brain. The organoid automatically reached out and connected to the spinal cord, firing off electrical impulses that caused the muscles to twitch.^[8]

By studying systems like this, scientists hope to further their understanding of conditions such as motor neurone disease, epilepsy, and schizophrenia.

2 Antidepressant Ketamine

In 1996, California indie band Eels achieved underground stardom with their debut single about taking novocaine for the soul. It now appears they might have been better off trying ketamine instead.

Experts are celebrating a potential watershed moment in mental health treatment after a ketamine-related antidepressant was given the green light earlier in the month. Esketamine, which will be branded as the nasal spray Spravato, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment when traditional psychiatric drugs are not appropriate.

Although there is a vast array of different brands and styles, all currently available antidepressants work in effectively the same way. Typically, patients are required to wait weeks before they feel the results of their treatment, whereas esketamine is said to be rapid-acting. The effects kick in within a matter of hours or days.

Despite FDA approval of the drug, some experts remain skeptical. They are concerned by the long history of people abusing ketamine as a recreational hallucinogenic. However, this is not the first time that the drug has been used for medical purposes. For decades, surgeons have relied on ketamine as an anesthetic. In the early 2000s, the drug was introduced as an intravenous treatment for depression.

This marks the first time that esketamine has been approved to treat depression. As such, it is still in its infancy. There are a number of setbacks that need ironing out before the drug can be rolled out on a mass scale.

Due to the potential for abuse, it can only be administered by trained professionals in approved clinics. The price is hardly cheap, either: The initial month of treatment will cost somewhere in the region of $4,720 to $6,785. Nonetheless, psychiatrists remain optimistic that the FDA’s decision could usher in a new class of rapid-acting antidepressants.^[9]

1 Patient Cured Of HIV

A patient in London has made history after becoming the second person to be cured of HIV. This anonymous patient became free of the virus after receiving a bone marrow transplant.

The donor of the transplanted stem cells has an unusual genetic mutation which makes them resistant to HIV. In the 18 months since the London patient stopped taking his antiretroviral medication, there have been no indicators that the HIV has returned.

Scientists will never be able to consider bone marrow transplant as a large-scale cure for HIV. The procedure comes with a number of serious risks. However, the success of the London patient and of Timothy Brown, the first person to be cured back in the 2000s, serves as confirmation that recovery is possible.

Anton Pozniak, the president of the International Aids Society, announced, “These new findings reaffirm our belief that there exists a proof of concept that HIV is curable.”^[10]

The remarkable treatment, carried out by a team of experts from University College London, suggests that the cure for HIV may lie somewhere within gene editing. In particular, the CCR5 gene located on the surface of white blood cells causes immunity to HIV.

That said, gene editing is a controversial practice. Chinese experimentalist He Jiankui raised the ire of scientists worldwide after revealing that he artificially modified the DNA of human embryos in an attempt to create HIV-resistant babies. He has been branded unethical and unbelievably reckless, while others believe that his actions mark the beginning of a groundbreaking new area of biological research.

The scientific community must now decide where to draw the moral boundaries on topics as contentious as gene editing and human experimentation.

Contemporary science is a hotbed of cutting-edge research. Astronomers across the globe have marveled at the first photographic evidence of a black hole. An unconventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) technique has come under fire from medical professionals.

Elsewhere, scientists from Japan have fired explosives at an asteroid, and in Germany, they have discovered a prehistoric molecule from the early years of universe. Setting aside the negative headlines—like the Israeli spacecraft that crash-landed on the Moon or the Indian missile test that might have endangered the International Space Station—here are ten of the most fascinating breakthroughs to have made recent headlines.

10 Astronomers Have Bombed An Asteroid

A group of Japanese astronomers has decided to bomb the asteroid Ryugu, hoping it can answer some fundamental questions about the origins of life on Earth. A cone-shaped instrument known as a “small carry-on impact” was sent hurtling into the asteroid, where it blasted out a crater using a baseball-sized wad of copper explosives.

The device was fired from the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft—a pioneering exploration mission operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The spacecraft will head back to Ryugu at a later date to collect samples from beneath the asteroid’s surface that been uncovered in the blast.

Researchers predict there is a wealth of organic material and water from the birth of the solar system preserved underground in the asteroid. By analyzing the samples from Hayabusa 2, they hope to gain a clearer understanding of the early stages of the solar system and of life on Earth.^[1]

9 Can We Taste Smells?

It seems our tongues might be more capable than we originally realized. A research team from Philadelphia has suggested that receptor cells in the tongue are able to detect odors and smells. Their work is prompting experts to reassess whether taste and smell are combined by the brain alone or if there is some level of association between the two signals.

The group, whose findings were published in the journal Chemical Senses, began by experimenting on receptors in genetically modified mice. Following this, they moved onto cells in humans, which displayed similar properties to the mice and were found to respond to aromatic compounds.

For now, it is far too early to draw any concrete conclusion, but with further development, these ideas may be applied to persuade people to eat a healthier diet. Dr. Mehmet Hakan Ozdener, a specialist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, has suggested that mildly altering the scent of some foods could reduce sugar intake.^[2]

8 Molecule Detected From The ‘Dawn Of Chemistry’

After decades of scouring the cosmos, experts have successfully detected the compound helium hydride, thought to be the first molecule formed in the history of the universe. Due to the obstructive effects of the Earth’s atmosphere, researchers decided to take to the skies to make their landmark discovery. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, an airborne observatory built into a modified Boeing 747, was able to pick up infrared signals emanating from the prehistoric molecule.

In a period dubbed the “dawn of chemistry,” around 100,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe had cooled to a low enough temperature that particles began to interact and coalesce. In this era, when light atoms and molecules first came into being, it was helium hydride that paved the way for far more intricate interstellar structures to come. By continuing to investigate the elusive molecule, researchers are able to explore the expansion of the universe in its nascent stages.^[3]

7 New Species Of Primitive Human Discovered

Another strand has been added to the history of human evolution. Remnants of an extinct relative have been found in Callao Cave on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The primitive species, known as Homo luzonensis, is said to have resembled modern humans in some respects but in others was closer to our ancient ape-like ancestors. On top of that, they are thought to have been competent climbers, as indicated by the curved bones in their fingers and toes.

The discovery poses a number of questions about the long and complex history of our species. With only 13 teeth and bones on which to base their hypotheses, experts remain in the dark as to how Homo luzonensis came to be on the island in the first place. Furthermore, the species’ features suggest that our ancient ancestors made the journey out of Africa to Southeast Asia, an idea which contradicts current historical theories.^[4]

6 Pig Brain Revived After Death

The zombie pigs are said to be among us. A team of neuroscientists from the Yale University School of Medicine have demonstrated that, in part, it is possible to revive a pig’s brain hours after death. Their pioneering new system, BrainEx, has restored a number of basic functions to over 30 dead brains, such as the ability to absorb sugars and oxygen. (The left picture above shows a dead brain, and the right shows a partially reactivated brain.)

The technology involved in BrainEx sends an oxygen-rich solution pulsing through the pig’s grey matter. This fluid partially revives the cells for a maximum of six hours, while also slowing down the process of deterioration after death. However, the brains are, by definition, still dead; there is no evidence of consciousness being reinstated.

This highly advanced research presents an ethical quandary over whether it is correct to experiment on semi-living beings. The National Institute of Health has been discussing the implications of BrainEx since 2016 via their Neuroethics Working Group and are wary of the possible consequences of using similar technology on humans.^[5]

5 Scientists Create Transparent Organs

Organ transplants may soon become a thing of the past. For years, scientists have strove to create fully functioning artificial organs to address the significant dearth of donors. The dream is now one step closer, courtesy of Dr. Ali Erturk and his colleagues at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.

The team has successfully developed a technique to fashion transparent human organs, with an aim to further understand their elaborate inner structures. Organic solvents are used to remove fats and pigments without disturbing any of the tissue underneath. The uncovered organs can be explored in intricate detail using a laser scanner, which allows scientists to build up a complete structural image of the body part.

Erturk is confident that, as technology improves, these scans can be used as blueprints to produce 3-D bioprinted replica organs. The team hopes to have constructed a 3-D printed kidney by 2025.^[6]

4 Obesity-Resistant Genes Discovered

The link between genetics and body mass has been known for many years, but now scientists at Cambridge University have identified exactly which genes keep people slim. Around four million people in Britain, six percent of the population with European ancestry, have a specific DNA coding that prevents them from gaining large amounts of weight.

Previous studies discovered that the gene MC4R controls a protein known as melanocortin 4, a brain receptor associated with appetite. Participants in this experiment with a specific strand of MC4R displayed more restraint in their appetites, making them far less likely to suffer from obesity or type 2 diabetes. This deepened understanding of genetics opens up the possibility of a slimming medication to combat rising levels of obesity.^[7]

3 Memory Loss Reversed

By stimulating the brain with electrical pulses, scientists are able to temporarily offset the debilitating effects of memory loss. With age, vital cognitive networks in the brain begin to lose their synchronicity. This leads to the deterioration of the working memory—the short-term processing system that plays a key role in tasks like facial recognition and arithmetic.

Now, neuroscientists at Boston University have found that noninvasive electrical stimulation appears to improve the connection between these networks. The researchers reported that a study group of 60- to 76-year-olds performed significantly better in a series of working memory tasks after around half an hour of pulse treatment. Those with the most pronounced memory issues showed the biggest improvements.

Further clinical trials are needed to determine whether this stimulation is a viable method for combating memory loss or dementia.^[8]

2 Baby Born With DNA From Three People

In a breakthrough moment for in vitro fertilization, a baby has been born in Greece with DNA from three different people. The newborn boy was conceived using the mitochondrial donation technique, in which the intracellular structure of the mother’s egg is modified slightly using a second donor egg. During the technique, the mitochondria—tiny, floating structures that provide power to the cell—from the mother’s egg are replaced by that of a donor. While the vast majority of the baby’s genetic material has been passed down from his parents, an extremely small amount of his DNA—around 0.2 percent—originates from the donor.

Doctors claim this is the first time that mitochondrial donation has been applied to combat fertility issues. Spanish embryologist Nuno Costa-Borges has labeled the healthy birth a “revolution in assisted reproduction” and claims that it has the potential to help a multitude of would-be mothers in the future.

However, critics of the treatment are warning women to proceed with caution. Reproductive expert Tim Child has explained how little is known about the risks or benefits of the technique, dismissing Costa-Borges’s claims as unfounded in evidence.^[9]

1 First image Of A Black Hole

For the past century, the only evidence astrophysicists have had for the existence of black holes has been scientific theories and indirect observations. The cosmic giants have a gravitational attraction so powerful that nothing can escape their immense pull, and their existence has been incredibly challenging to verify. And yet, in spite of the major difficulties, scientists have managed to generate an image of one.

The picture in question is of the fiery disk of accreted gas surrounding the black hole at the core of the Messier 87 galaxy. With a diameter of 38 billion kilometers (23.6 million mi), the active supermassive colossus lurks 55 million light-years from our planet. The black hole itself is impossible to literally “see,” but the dark area at the center of the ring corresponds to its shadow.

To capture the image, a task described by leading astrophysicist France Cordova as “Herculean,” scientists deployed the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a global network of high-precision radio telescopes.^[10] This Herculean task required a Herculean amount of data, so much that it was impossible to transfer over the Internet. Instead, half a ton of hard drives had to be flown to a central location, where the readings were combined using state-of-the-art processing techniques.

The image appears to verify the first predictions of black holes made by Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which addresses the distortion of space and time caused by immense, massive objects. The EHT researchers now have their sights on Sagittarius A—the supermassive beast at the heart of the Milky Way.

Almost halfway through the year, headlines have once again been swarming with an array of fascinating new studies. Scientists from across the planet have been working away to learn more about the bizarre, fascinating world in which we live.

This month, a mind-controlled hearing aid has been invented that decides how to act by monitoring its wearer’s brain activity. On the subject of brain activity, neuroscientists have found the region of the brain that is activated when a long-term fan looks at a Pokemon character. Elsewhere, a gold-digging fungus has been uncovered in Western Australia, and quantum physicists have been using laser techniques to recreate the Mona Lisa.

10 Fungus Discovered That Extracts Gold

Scientists searching near Perth, Western Australia, have been taken aback after coming across a fungus that draws in gold from its environment. The unique fungus—Fusarium oxysporum—collects particles of gold from its surroundings and attaches them to its spindly strands. It is believed that the fungus coats itself in gold to promote growth and spread quicker than other fungi in the area.

Australia has a thriving gold industry, the second largest in the world. However, resources are dwindling, and new reserves need to be found. Research scientist Dr. Ravi Anand hopes that the fungus could be used to locate large deposits buried underground. Similar techniques involving gum leaves and termite mounds are already in use.^[1]

9 Suicidal Thoughts Could Be Detected By Brain Scans

A potentially huge step forward has been made in mental health treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sufferers. Researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine believe they may have discovered a biomarker that highlights suicidal thoughts in the brain.

The group’s preliminary findings, published in the scientific journal PNAS, suggest that it is possible to recognize suicidal thoughts by focusing on a specific brain receptor: metabotropic glutamatergic receptor (mGluR5). People with PTSD already have elevated levels of mGluR5. The researchers found that, from a group of 29 people with PTSD, those suffering from suicidal thoughts had even higher levels of the receptor on the surface of their brain cells.

More research needs to be done before any conclusive links can be made between suicidal tendencies and mGluR5, but the findings offer a glimpse at a new, more effective form of PTSD drug therapy. Currently, there is no treatment available in the US that is specifically tailored to PTSD-related suicidal thoughts.^[2]

8 The First Mind-Controlled Hearing Aid

Scientists at Columbia University in New York have created a mind-controlled hearing aid that, for the first time, allows users to hone in on specific voices. The device is said to vastly improve the experience of people with hearing loss in loud, crowded environments and busy social occasions.

Unlike conventional hearing aids, which amplify all sounds together, this one simulates an impressive psychological phenomenon known as the cocktail party effect. This remarkable feat of selective hearing allows the brain to focus in on one particular voice amid background chatter. Previously, hearing aids were unable to recreate the effect, which could make conversations in noisy areas particularly difficult for wearers.

After years of research, scientists have finally come up with a solution that incorporates artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art brain monitors. The advanced hearing aid uses an algorithm to pick apart the numerous voices and then tunes in to the wearer’s neural activity to determine which one to amplify.^[3]

7 Why Our Brains Love Pokemon

Psychologists at Stanford believe they have uncovered the region of the brain that causes some people to love Pokemon.

Researchers found that the brains of adults who played the game often as children responded more firmly to images of the Japanese creatures compared to those who did not. The team invited 11 Pokemon fans and 11 novices to take part and monitored their neural activity using a functional MRI scanner while showing them images of characters. They identified the occipitotemporal sulcus, an area of the brain found right behind our ears, as the region that activated when the fans were presented with Pokemon characters.

Jesse Gomez, one of the main authors of the study, told reporters how the experiment was partly inspired by his own childhood love for the franchise.^[4]

6 Mayonnaise Helps With The Study Of Nuclear Fusion

Mayonnaise may be able to teach us more about nuclear physics than we first thought. Arindam Banerjee, an expert in material dynamics from Lehigh University, believes that the condiment could provide the solution for improving fusion modeling techniques.

In order to effectively study nuclear physics, scientists sometimes rely on the technique of internal confinement fusion (ICF). In ICF, pea-sized pellets of gas are heated to millions of degrees Kelvin using the energy from highly intense lasers. However, this method is not efficient. Due to the intense burst from the laser, the pellets often explode before physicists get the chance to study them properly.

To better understand the dynamics between the pellet and the gas, scientists exposed a container of Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise to the same conditions as the metal pellets. Mayonnaise, Banerjee claims, was chosen because it exhibits many of the same properties as molten metal. This is one of the few rare uses of household condiments in cutting-edge research.^[5]

5 Quantum Physicists Recreate The Mona Lisa

Classic art has finally entered the realm of quantum physics. While investigating the unknown origins of fluid flow, a team of researchers at the University of Queensland decided to render some famous pieces of art in quantum form.

The miniscule “paintings” are only 100 microns wide—around the same as a human hair—and include the Mona Lisa and Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night. Researchers used a laser technique known as light stamping to project the classic images onto a gas of ultracold rubidium atoms.

When kept at a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, certain atoms like rubidium take on a number of abnormal properties. The particles start to coalesce into an exotic form of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Quantum phenomena that are usually only noticeable using sophisticated microscopes can be seen on the macroscopic scale.

While they are a fantastic achievement, the tiny works of art were never originally meant to be created. “We never aimed to do this,” quantum expert Tyler Neely revealed in a statement. “We just happened to create some of the world’s smallest masterpieces.”^[6]

4 Shark Vomit Throws Up Unexpected Result

Researchers have been taken aback after discovering traces of land-based birds in the stomachs of young sharks. A team of biologists from Mississippi State University analyzed the DNA found in the stomachs of baby tiger sharks and were perplexed to find that some belonged to doves and meadowlarks.

The project began in 2010, after one of the sharks gobbed up feathers from a land bird off the Mississippi-Alabama coast. Researchers pumped the stomachs of 105 tiger sharks between 2010 and 2018 to investigate the contents of their diets. Again, they were surprised to discover evidence of land-dwelling birds being consumed.

So how do the remains of a bird that lives on land wind up in the stomach of a shark? The researchers saw that the bird remains typically showed up at one time of year and concluded that the sharks were feasting on songbirds that had fallen into the ocean. They could have fallen due to fatigue or plummeted into the water during a storm.^[7]

3 Mammals Are Getting Smaller

By the end of the century, animals will have shrunk by unprecedented amount, scientists say. A recent study in Nature Communications predicts that in 100 years’ time, the average body size for mammals will have reduced by 25 percent. To put this in perspective, over the last 130,000 years, mammals experienced a 14-percent reduction in body mass—around 0.001 percent per century.

On top of this, researchers found that larger, less adaptable species face a greater threat of extinction. Using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the team listed the animals with the highest probability of becoming extinct.

As part of the project, the team examined more than 15,000 birds and animals, looking at five key characteristics: body mass, litter size, diet, habitat, and the time gap between generations. The Sumatran orangutan was found to have a mere one-percent chance of surviving to the end of the century, whereas the Amur tiger, which is also considered endangered, has a chance of two-in-three.^[8]

2 A Record-Breaking High-Temperature Superconductor

Superconductors are one of the most fascinating scientific discoveries of the 20th century. These materials are able to conduct electricity with perfect efficiency. An electrical current can flow through one without losing any of its energy. In theory, superconductors have a huge range of cutting-edge applications. They should be the perfect material for building state-of-the-art supercomputers and high-speed rail systems.

However, there is a fundamental issue with superconductors: They will only operate at extremely low temperatures. Traditionally, these materials stop working once they become more than a few degrees warmer than absolute zero. Scientists have yet to find one that can retain these incredible properties at room temperature.

In new developments, researchers at the Max Planck Institute have set a potential temperature record after producing a material, lanthanum hydride, that acts as a superconductor at minus 23 degrees Celsius (–9°F). To create the compound, they subjected a soft, ductile metal called lanthanum to immense pressure by compressing it between two diamonds. According to the team, they used a device known as a diamond anvil cell to exert over 150 gigapascals of pressure—over 1.5 million times the pressure at sea level.^[9]

1 The First Living Creature With Fully Synthetic DNA

For the first time in history, scientists have built an organism with entirely synthetic DNA.

Researchers from the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge artificially recreated Escherichia coli—a bacterium typically found in the lower intestine. The synthesized microbes are not genetically identical to their real-life cousins; scientists made over 18,000 alterations to the E. coli genome, often removing superfluous DNA sequences. Following this, the team created new cells that contained the redesigned genetic structure. With four million genetic letters, this is by far the largest artificial genome in history.

The synthetic bacteria, known as Syn61, could be used for various medical applications. E. coli are a key component in the production of insulin, but the process is sometimes scuppered if the bugs become contaminated by viruses. Syn61’s designer DNA makes it highly resistant to virus invasion. What’s more, genetically programmed organisms could one day be used to produce proteins, drugs, and other materials.^[10]

In high school, many young people are simply trying to adjust to teenage life as they deal with the awkwardness of their own bodies. But then there are other teens who tackle major medical problems like cancer, influenza, and other deadly diseases that have plagued humans throughout history. While it is impressive that some young people attempt to study these topics, these teens went further and even made incredible breakthroughs in the medical field.

10 Ethan Manuell

In the spring 2015, eighth grader Ethan Manuell of Rochester, Minnesota, was visiting his oncologist. Since the age of four, he had been wearing a hearing aid in his left ear. That’s how he was struck with inspiration for his entry in his school’s science fair.

Manuell wanted to know how air affects the zinc batteries for hearing aids. When changing the battery in a hearing aid, a tab or a sticker over the area that connects to the hearing aid has to be removed. Manuell found some old toy bugs and converted them to run on the same type of batteries that are used in hearing aids. Then, through a series of trials, Manuell discovered that the batteries lasted 85 percent longer if they were exposed to air for five minutes. The longer battery life could give people who wear hearing aids an extra day or two of use out of their batteries and save an average of $70 per year. Manuell also took home the top prize at his school’s science fair for his “five minute rule.”

9 Tony Hansberry

Many 14-year-old boys probably don’t know what a hysterectomy is, but Tony Hansberry was no ordinary 14-year-old. When Hansberry was in high school, he developed a new, faster, and safer way to stitch patients up after the procedure.

Hansberry, who attended a special magnet school that specializes in health and medicine, said he got the idea when he was an intern at a hospital in summer 2008 as part of the University of Florida’s Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research. While working with the center’s administrative director, Hansberry figured out a way to use an endo stitch, which is a stick with two clamps on it that is used for suturing. Hansberry used the endo stitch vertically; it had previously only been used horizontally. Hansberry’s new method makes it easier to close the opening after the uterus is removed and speeds up stitching time. Now that his technique has been made public, it is used by gynecologists during surgery.

Hansberry is currently studying biomedical engineering at Florida A&M University and said that he wants to be a neurosurgeon.

8 Suman Mulumudi

Around the dinner table one night at Suman Mulumudi’s home in Seattle, his parents, who are both doctors, talked about troubles they had in their day. Mulumudi’s father, a cardiologist, complained that his stethoscope didn’t work as well as he wanted it to. When there was a weak heartbeat, his father would order an echocardiogram for the patient, but echocardiograms take time and are quite expensive. So, 15-year-old Mulumudi got the idea that could help his father. Using a 3-D printer, he created a device to attach to a smartphone and developed a stethoscope app. The final product is called “Steth IO.” The product turned out to be better than a stethoscope on two counts. It sounded better, and there was also a visual graph of the sound on the screen.

But that wasn’t the last medical invention Mulumudi created. The second of his inventions aids in angioplasties, procedures that clear blocked or narrowed arteries. During the procedure, lesions need to be propped up with stents. Placing these stents is a difficult task because doctors have to estimate how big the lesions are. If there is a mistake, it can lead to repeated trips to the hospital to fix the problem. To better measure lesions, Mulumudi developed LesionSizer, another device he made using a 3-D printer. It helps cardiologists measure lesions without changing or altering their technique.

After creating the Steth IO, Mulumudi appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in May 2014. Mulumudi now attends the prestigious private Lakeside School in Seattle. Famous graduates of the school include Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

7 Elana Simon

As a child, Elana Simon of New York suffered from horrible stomach aches. She went to a number of specialists, but no one was sure what was wrong until she was 12 years old. That was when she was diagnosed with fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, a rare form of liver cancer.

Simon survived, but she was one of the lucky ones. Only 32 percent of people who are diagnosed with that type of cancer survive past five years. A major problem with the disease is that by the time it is diagnosed, the cancer has usually already spread. Research on the disease has also been fairly limited because of its rareness. Only about 60 cases are diagnosed every year in the United States, and it mostly affects women under the age of 35.

In 2013, when Simon was 18, she was looking into an internship for high school. She came up with the idea to genetically sequence fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma cells to find the cancer-causing mutation. Working with her surgeon, she got others who suffered from the cancer to send samples of their tumors. Using the 15 samples, the genes were sequenced. When they looked at the results, they found that in all 15 samples there was a chimera—two genes that connect and create a unique protein. More research needs to be done to see if the chimera is actually responsible, but the progress looks promising.

In February 2014, a paper that was co-authored by Simon was published in the prestigious journal Science. Simon also appeared on The Dr. Oz Show and met President Obama. Currently, Simon is studying computer sciences at Harvard University.

6 Jack Andraka

Pancreatic cancer has one of the highest mortality rates of any cancer because it spreads quickly. Samples need to be sent to a lab, which takes time. Even when samples do finally get to the lab, the testing method is over 60 years old and isn’t very reliable. This really bothered 14-year-old Jack Andraka from Baltimore, Maryland, who lost a close family friend to the disease. He started searching the Internet for information about pancreatic cancer and tried to find out what its biomarkers were.

Once Andraka found the biomarkers, he formulated his plan and then he sent over 200 packages containing his method, budget, and timeline to cancer researchers around America. He received 199 rejection letters—some with intense criticism of his idea—but Dr. Anirban Maitra, the head of pancreatic cancer research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, agreed to help Andraka. Over the next seven months, after school and on weekends, Andraka developed a test that detects unusually high levels of mesothelin. Mesothelin is a protein that the body produces in the earliest and most treatable stages of pancreatic cancer. Andraka says that his tests can be done in five minutes, are much more accurate than traditional testing, and would only cost $50 instead of several hundred. Besides pancreatic cancer, the tests should also help in early detection of ovarian, breast, and lung cancer as well.

After the breakthrough was made public in 2012 when Andraka was 15, he was invited to the State of the Union speech by Michelle Obama. He also won the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award, which is worth $100,000. The tests are currently in preclinical trials, and Andraka started attending Stanford in fall 2015.

5 Brittany Wenger

When Brittany Wenger of Sarasota, Florida, was in seventh grade, she said she fell in love with computer science. One aspect that caught her attention was artificial intelligence (AI). After learning about AI, she got a coding book and learned how to code. Another pivotal moment in Wenger’s life happened in 10th grade, when her cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was during this time that she learned that one in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes. Wenger was working on an artificial intelligence system that could play soccer at the time, but she changed paths. Instead, she decided to invent an AI system that could diagnose breast cancer.

While talking with her cousin, Wenger found out that the least invasive, cheapest, and fastest way to diagnose breast cancer is with fine needle aspirates (FNA). The problem is that they are not very accurate, so many doctors do not use them. To make FNA tests more effective, Wenger designed an AI program called Cloud4Cancer that processes samples from FNA tests and looks for patterns that are far too complex for humans to detect. Her program is 99.1 percent sensitive to malignancy, drastically increasing the reliability of FNA tests.

Wenger won the Google Science Fair in 2012, and she was also invited to the White House to meet President Obama. Wenger is attending Duke, and she wants to be both a pediatric oncologist and a research scientist.

4 Serena Fasano

In third world countries, diarrhea caused by E. coli is a devastating problem. On average, six million people die from it every year, and most of them are under the age of two. Thirteen-year-old Serena Fasano didn’t know that when she was sitting in her home in Howard County, Maryland, eating a yogurt in 2003. She was reading the ingredient list on the yogurt container when she came across one she didn’t recognize called lactobacillus, a form of bacteria. That kicked off her interest in bacteria in yogurt and led her to her first experiment for her school’s science fair. She used E. coli samples that her father, a director of the Mucosal Biology Research Center at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, procured for her. She mixed the samples into yogurt, and the results were that the samples with the most yogurt had the least amount of E. coli. The project landed her the top prize at her school and regionally, but that was just the start for Fasano.

Over the next three years, Fasano worked with a doctor at the Maryland School of Medicine to try to find out what exactly in yogurt killed E. coli. She discovered that the lactobacillus secretes a substance that is deadly to E. coli. She was able to break that substance down into five components and one of those, an undiscovered protein, seemed to cause the most harm to the E. coli. In February 2006, she was awarded a patent on the protein. Currently, Fasano is a family planning health educator in New York City.

3 Joe Landolina

In the United States, the leading cause of death for people under the age of 45 is trauma, while it is the fourth leading cause of death overall. A major reason that trauma is so deadly is because the internal organs can be lacerated. If there is an internal laceration, it is hard to stop the bleeding because life-saving measures like a tourniquet or applying pressure can’t be used on damaged internal organs.

Looking to solve the problem, 17-year-old Joe Landolina entered a business competition in 2011 at New York University as the only freshman competing against PhD and MBA candidates. His idea was to develop a type of organic gel or foam that would seal up wounds. His idea won, and over the next three years, Landolina worked on a plant-based gel that congeals when it is applied to blood or tissue. His product, called VetiGel, creates a mesh by using a key protein in blood clotting. Landolina’s gel can close an internal or external wound in 20 seconds or less. Also, since the gel is plant-based, it can be left in the body as it heals.

VetiGel is currently approved by the FDA for use on animals, but Landolina says it could be approved for use on humans in 2016. Lanolina hopes to have VetiGel available for widespread use, included in first aid kits worldwide.

2 Eric Chen

While the flu may remind people of staying home sick from school and watching The Price Is Right, the influenza virus is actually a lethal disease, and it is possible that a mutation could cause a plague at any given time. This realization dawned on Eric Chen in 2009 when he was just 13 years old. He was living in San Diego, and news about the H1N1 strain of the influenza virus was making headlines across the world. Wanting to make a difference, Chen developed a computer program to help him study biological data of the flu.

Chen was looking for inhibitors of a protein called “influenza endonuclease” that causes influenza to be contagious. Identifying and targeting these inhibitors would kill the virus because if the flu isn’t contagious, it isn’t effective. Using both the computer program he designed and a wet lab, Chen was able to whittle down half a million possible inhibitors to just six. Chen is hoping that antivirals will be developed based on his research that will help treat, cure, and even prevent outbreaks.

In 2013, when he was 17, Chen presented his findings and won the Google Science Fair, the Intel Science Talent Search, and the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology. He is currently attending Harvard for mathematics and computer science.

1 Angela Zhang

When Angela Zhang was a freshman at her high school in Cupertino, California, she started reading research papers about bio-engineering. The papers were a little complicated for Zhang, but she found that she enjoyed reading them because she felt like she was decoding a puzzle. By the time she was a sophomore, she was allowed to work in a lab at Stanford. Then, when she was a junior, she started her own research with a lofty goal—to cure cancer.

By the time she was a senior, Zhang had written her own research paper in her spare time with her own theory of how to cure cancer. Her idea was to mix cancer medicine with polymer. The polymer would be attached to nanoparticles. In turn, those nanoparticles would be injected into the body where they would attach to cancer cells. Then, when the patient underwent an MRI, doctors would see exactly where the tumors in the body are. Zhang believes that if an infrared light is fired at the tumors, the polymer will melt and release the medicine. This would kill the cancer cells without affecting healthy cells. And according to tests on mice, the tumors almost completely disappear.

In 2011, Zhang entered the National Siemens Math, Science, and Technology Competition and won the top prize, which was a $100,000 scholarship. In February 2012, at the age of 17, Zhang went to the White House Science Fair, where she presented her ideas to President Barack Obama.

Zhang is currently at Harvard, working on a degree in biomedical engineering. She also spends her summers at Stanford, where she continues to research her theory.

Robert Grimminck is a Canadian freelance writer. You can friend him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter or on Pinterest, or visit his website.

Scientists have had a busy year, with 2015 a particularly productive year for medicine. We’ve had exciting discoveries, breakthroughs in technology, and new applications for existing products. Here are 10 medical headlines from 2015 that are sure to make a significant impact on the world in the years to come.

10 Discovery Of Teixobactin

In 2014, the World Health Organization warned that the world was entering a “post-antibiotic era,” and they were right. We haven’t found a new antibiotic that was actually used as medicine since 1987, almost 30 years ago. Drug-resistant infections are becoming an increasingly prevalent problem. But in 2015, scientists made a discovery that has been described as a “game changer.”

Scientists discovered a new class of antibiotics with 25 new antimicrobials, including a potent one named teixobactin. This new antibiotic kills microbes by blocking their ability to build cell walls, so the microbes cannot develop a resistance to the drug. So far, teixobactin has proven efficient in killing MRSA and several bugs that cause tuberculosis.

Perhaps even more importantly, the team behind the discovery used a new method of growing antibiotics to get these results. They created a “subterranean hotel” where each pod (or “room”) is separated from the rest and contains a single bacterium.

That “hotel” is then placed in soil, allowing many antibiotics to be grown in laboratories that were previously unable to do so. As far as teixobactin is concerned, promising tests on mice are leading to human testing, which should begin in 2017.

9 Doctors Grow Vocal Cords From Scratch

One of the most exciting, futuristic fields of medicine is tissue regeneration. In 2015, the list of regenerated organs added a new entry when doctors at the University of Wisconsin grew human vocal cords from scratch.

Headed by Dr. Nathan Welham, the team bioengineered tissue that mimics the vocal cord mucosa, which represents the flaps that vibrate in the larynx to create human speech. The donated cells came from five human patients and were grown in the lab for two weeks. Then they were attached to larynges using fake windpipes.

The scientists described the sound created by the cords as an “eeee-like sound” like a robotic kazoo. However, this matches the sound that would normally be generated by real human vocal cords in isolation. With the help of additional structures such as a throat or mouth, scientists are confident that the laboratory vocal cords can match the sounds made by real cords.

In the last stage of the experiment, scientists tested if mice engineered with human immune systems would reject the tissue. Fortunately, they did not, and Welham now thinks that vocal cord tissue is immunoprivileged, which means that it doesn’t trigger a reaction from the immune system.

8 Cancer Drug Might Help Parkinson’s Sufferers

Tasigna (aka nilotinib) is an FDA-approved drug that is regularly used to treat people with leukemia. However, a new trial conducted at the Georgetown University Medical Center suggests that Tasigna could be extremely potent in managing the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease by improving cognition, motor skills, and nonmotor functions.

Fernando Pagan, one of the doctors in charge of the study, thinks that nilotinib therapy might be the first of its kind to reverse cognitive and motor decline in patients with a neurodegenerative disease like Parkinson’s.

The study lasted six months and involved 12 patients who took increasing doses of nilotinib. All 11 test subjects who finished the trial had some benefit from the therapy, with 10 of them reporting significant clinical improvements.

The primary goal of this study was safety—to make sure that the human body could tolerate nilotinib without side effects. The doses used were much smaller than those normally given to leukemia patients.

Although the drug has proven successful, the study was conducted on a small group of people without control or placebo groups. More research is necessary before Tasigna becomes a viable treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

7 World’s First 3-D-Printed Rib Cage

In recent years, 3-D printing had been making headlines by producing exciting innovations in many fields, including medicine. In 2015, doctors at the Salamanca University Hospital in Spain performed the world’s first rib cage transplant using a 3-D-printed chest prosthetic.

The patient was suffering from chest wall sarcoma. To reach the tumors and prevent them from spreading, doctors had to remove sections of his rib cage. A titanium implant to replace those missing pieces already existed.

However, an implant for a large section of the skeleton is made out of multiple components that can come loose over time and create new medical complications. Besides, each person’s skeletal structure is unique, making it complicated to fit the implant perfectly.

Doctors realized that a 3-D printer could be used to make a highly customized titanium structure that would better fit this particular patient. After obtaining high-resolution 3-D CT scans, scientists used the $1.3 million Arcam printer to successfully create an implant with parts of the sternum and rib cage. The surgery to fix the implant inside the body went well, and the patient made a full recovery.

6 Skin Cells Turned Into Brain Cells

The scientists at Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, have had a busy year studying the human brain. They developed a method of turning skin cells into brain cells and have already found several useful applications for this new technique.

For starters, scientists found a way to turn skin samples into old brain cells. This makes it easier for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s specialists to study brain tissue that has suffered the effects of aging. Historically, animal brains were used for research, but there are limits to what we can learn from other species.

More recently, stem cells were turned into brain cells for research. However, these experienced a process of rejuvenation during their conversion and didn’t accurately mimic the brain of an older person.

Once researchers developed the technique for artificially creating brain cells, they specialized in making neurons that produce serotonin. Even though these make up a small fraction of the human brain, they have been linked to major disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and depression.

Until now, neurons developed under laboratory conditions produced a different brain chemical known as glutamate. This new technique should be a real boon for researchers studying mental illness.

5 Male Birth Control Pill

In Japan, scientists at the Osaka University Research Institute for Microbial Diseases have released new research that might lead to a male birth control pill in the near future. They were working with drugs called tacrolimus and cyclosporine A.

Normally, these drugs are administered to organ transplant patients to suppress their immune systems and reduce the chances of their bodies rejecting new organs. This is done by inhibiting the production of an enzyme called calcineurin, which contains PPP3R2 and PPP3CC, two proteins also found in sperm.

The researchers studied mice and discovered that the ones unable to reproduce had low amounts of PPP3CC, suggesting that the absence of this protein could cause infertility. Upon closer study, the scientists concluded that the protein was responsible for giving the sperm cell enough flexibility and force to penetrate the membrane of the female egg.

A test performed on normal, healthy mice confirmed their findings. It only took tacrolimus and cyclosporine A four and five days, respectively, to make the mice infertile. Their fertility returned to normal one week after taking the drugs. More importantly, calcineurin is not a hormone, so targeting it should not affect a person’s sex drive.

Despite promising results, a male birth control pill is still years away, if it comes at all. Around 80 percent of studies on mice are not applicable to humans. However, researchers remain hopeful because the effect on human fertility has already been reported. Also, similar drugs have already undergone clinical trials and are used on humans.

4 DNA Printing

The technology of 3-D printing has created a unique, new industry—one that prints and sells DNA. Although the term “printing” is widely used because it has commercial appeal, it doesn’t accurately describe what is happening.

As the CEO at Cambrian Genomics explains, the process is more akin to a high-tech version of “spell-checking” than printing. Millions of pieces of DNA on tiny metal beads are scanned by a computer that selects the ones necessary to make the desired DNA sequence. Afterward, a laser fires at the right beads and places the DNA in a tray to form the strand requested by the client.

Companies like Cambrian see a near future where people will be able to use computer software to assemble new organisms just for fun. Understandably, this has some people worried about the ethical and practical implications of such power in the hands of your average Joe, let alone someone intent on using it maliciously.

For now, DNA printing is considered a boon for the medical field. Drug manufacturers and research companies are the primary clients of organizations such as Cambrian.

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden went one step further and constructed DNA strands in the shape of a bunny. DNA origami, as they call it, might seem like just a cool party trick, but it could also have medical applications as a new, more effective drug delivery method. The process could be used to make more resistant structures that won’t break down in the human body.

3 Nanobots Work In Living Creature

In early 2015, the field of robotics scored a big victory when a team of researchers from the University of California in San Diego announced that they had conducted the first successful tests in which nanobots were used to perform a task inside a living creature.

The creatures in question were lab mice. After being implanted inside the animals, the micromachines traveled to the stomachs of the mice and delivered their payloads—small flakes of gold. At the end of the procedure, the mice had no damage in their stomach linings, showing that it is safe for animals to ingest these microscopic nanobots.

Subsequent investigations revealed that more gold flakes stayed in the stomach by using this method than by simply ingesting them. This suggests that nanobots could become a more effective drug delivery method in the future.

The motors on the machines are made of zinc. When they come into contact with acids in the body, a chemical reaction occurs that generates hydrogen bubbles and propels the nanobots. After a while, the motors simply dissolve in the stomach acid.

Although this procedure was a decade in the making, it wasn’t until 2015 that it was carried out successfully on animals instead of cell cultures in petri dishes. In the future, nanorobots could be used to detect and even treat a wide array of diseases by attacking individual cells.

2 Injectable Brain Nano Implant

A team at Harvard developed a brain implant that promises to treat a host of maladies ranging from neurodegenerative diseases to paralysis. The implant consists of an electronic device made of scaffolds which can be connected to various machines after being inserted into the brain. It could then be used to monitor neural activity, stimulate tissue, and promote neuron regeneration.

The electronic mesh is made of conductive polymer threads that have either transistors or nanoscale electrodes attached at their intersections. Flexible and soft to mimic brain tissue, the mesh consists mostly of empty space to allow cells to arrange themselves easily around it.

As of early 2016, the Harvard team is still conducting tests to see how safe the procedure is. So far, two mice have had devices made from 16 electrical components implanted in their brains. These devices have successfully monitored and stimulated individual neurons.

1 THC-Producing Yeast

For years, marijuana has been used to treat symptoms brought on by HIV or chemotherapy. Alternatively, there are pills that use the synthetic version of marijuana’s main psychoactive compound, tetrahydrocannabinol (aka THC).

Now biochemists at the Technical University of Dortmund in Germany have announced that they engineered a new strain of yeast capable of producing THC. Furthermore, they also have unpublished data on a yeast strain that produces cannabidiol, another active compound of marijuana.

Marijuana has several molecular compounds of interest to researchers. Therefore, an efficient, reliable method of generating the desired molecule in large quantities would be a huge boon for the medical world. However, at the moment, growing the plant is still the most effective method. Up to 30 percent of the dry weight of a modern marijuana strain can be THC.

Even so, Dortmund researchers are hopeful that this might change in the future. At the moment, the yeast is based on precursor molecules instead of the preferred alternative of simple sugars. This leads to small amounts of THC created with every batch.

However, further research might refine the process to the point where biochemists can maximize THC production and scale it up for industrial purposes. This would please medical researchers and European regulators, who are looking for a new way of manufacturing THC without cultivating marijuana.

Radu is into science and weird history. Share the knowledge on Twitter, or check out his website.

Those of us who lived a substantial portion of our lives before the turn of the century used to think of our current time period as the far, far distant future. Because we grew up on films like Blade Runner (which is set in 2019), we tend to be a little unimpressed with how un-future-y the future has turned out to be—from an aesthetic perspective, at least.

Well, while the perpetually promised flying car may never actually arrive, these less flashy but equally impressive recent breakthroughs in medical technology could all go a long way toward enhancing the quality of life as we move into an even more distant yet further off future.

10 Custom Biomaterial-Based Joint Replacements

While joint and bone replacement technology has come a long way in recent decades, with plastic and ceramic-based devices beginning to take prevalence over metal ones, the newest generation of artificial bones and joints will take the entire concept one step further—by being designed to essentially fuse organically with the body.

This is made possible, of course, by 3-D printing (which will be somewhat of a recurring theme here). In the UK, surgeons at Southampton General Hospital have pioneered a technique in which an elderly patient’s 3-D–printed titanium hip implant is held in place by a “glue” made from the patient’s own stems cells. Impressive as that is, University of Toronto professor Bob Pilliar has one-upped it significantly with next-generation implants that actually mimic human bone.

Using a process that binds his bone substitute compound (using ultraviolet light) into incredibly complex structures with pinpoint precision, Pilliar and his team create a tiny network of nutrient-bearing ducts and canals within the implants themselves.

The patient’s regrowing bone cells then distribute throughout that network, interlocking the bone with the implant. The artificial bone compound then dissolves over time, and the naturally regrown cells and tissue retain the shape of the implant. Says Mr. Pilliar, “It’s a little short of Star Trek where you zap a person, and they’re fixed . . . but it’s along the same lines.”

9 Tiny Pacemaker

Since the first implanted pacemaker in 1958, the technology has, of course, improved considerably. However, after some huge leaps in the 1970s, pacemaker technology largely leveled off in the mid-80s. Astonishingly, Medtronic—the company that produced that first battery-powered pacemaker—is coming to market with a device that will revolutionize pacemakers in much the same way that its earlier device improved upon wearable ones. It’s the size of a vitamin pill and, in fact, requires no surgery at all.

This newest model is delivered via catheter in the groin(!), attaching to the heart with tiny prongs and delivering the needed regular electrical impulses. While ordinary pacemaker surgery is rather intrusive, creating a “pocket” for the device to sit next to the heart, the tiny version makes for a far easier procedure and, astonishingly, improves on the complication rate of the original by over 50 percent, with 96 percent of patients reporting no major complications.

While Medtronic may very well be first to market (having already garnered FDA approval), other major pacemaker manufacturers have competing devices in development, wary of being left behind in what is currently a $3.6 billion annual market. Medtronic began development of its tiny lifesaver in 2009.

8 Google Eye Implant

Ubiquitous search engine provider and world dominator Google seems eerily intent on integrating technology into every aspect of life, but one must admit that they have some intriguing ideas to go along with their clunkers. Google’s latest number, though, has as many potentially life-changing applications as it does abjectly terrifying ones.

The project that is known as Google Contact Lens is exactly what it sounds like: an implantable lens, one that replaces the eye’s natural lens (which is destroyed in the process) and can adjust to correct poor vision. It’s bonded to the eye with the same material used to make soft contact lenses and has a variety of potential medical applications—such as reading the blood pressure of glaucoma patients, recording the glucose levels of those with diabetes, or wirelessly updating to account for deteriorations in a patient’s vision.

It could potentially even restore lost vision completely. Of course, with this prototype tech being a short lob away from an actual camera implanted in your eye, speculation has run rampant about the possibility for abuse.

At this time, there is no telling when this might be on the market. But a patent has been filed, and clinical trials have confirmed the procedure’s viability.

7 Artificial Skin

While advances in artificial skin graft technology have made steady progress in recent decades, two new breakthroughs from quite different angles may open up new areas of research. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, scientist Robert Langer has developed a “second skin” which he calls XPL (“cross-linked polymer layer”). The incredibly thin material mimics the appearance of taut, youthful skin—an effect that occurs nearly instantly on application yet thus far loses its effect after about a day.

Interesting as this is, University of California Riverside chemistry professor Chao Wang is working on an even more futuristic polymer material—one that can self-heal from damage at room temperature and, for good measure, is infused with tiny metal particles that make it capable of conducting electricity. While he does not outright state that he is trying to create superheroes, he does admit to being a big fan of Wolverine and says of his research, “It’s trying to bring science fiction into the real world.”

Interestingly, some self-healing materials have already made their way to the marketplace, such as a self-repairing coating on LG’s Flex phone, which Wang cites as an example of several types of applications that he sees for this tech in the future. Having said that, this man is clearly trying to create superheroes.

6 Motion-Restoring Brain Implants

Ian Burkhart, 24, suffered a freak accident at age 19 that left him paralyzed from the chest down. For the last two years, he has been working with doctors to tweak and tune the device implanted in his brain—a microchip that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them to movement. Though the device is far from perfect—he can only use it in the lab with the implant connected to a computer by a sleeve worn on his arm—he has been able to relearn tasks such as pouring from a bottle and has even been able to play a video game or two.

In fact, Ian is the first to admit that he may never directly benefit from the tech. It’s more of a “proof of concept” to show that limbs that no longer have connections to the brain can be reconnected to the brain’s impulses through outside means.

It is, however, quite likely that his submitting to brain surgery and undergoing thrice-weekly sessions for years will be of enormous help in advancing this technology for future generations. Although similar procedures have been used to partially restore motion in monkeys and to animate a robotic arm using human brain waves, this is the first example of successfully bridging the neural disconnect that causes paralysis in a human subject.

5 Bioabsorbable Grafts

Stents or grafts—polymer mesh tubes that are inserted surgically into arteries to alleviate blockage—are a necessary evil, being prone to complications over the lifetime of the patient and only moderately effective. The potential for complications particularly in young patients makes the results of a recent study involving bioabsorbable vascular grafts very promising.

The procedure is called endogenous tissue restoration—and now for some plain English: In young patients born without some necessary connections in their hearts, doctors were able to create those connections using an advanced material that acts as a “scaffold,” allowing the body to replicate the structure with organic material with the implant then degrading. It was a limited study with only five young patients. Yet all five recovered with no complications.

While this is not a new concept, the new material involved in the study (composed of “supramolecular bioabsorbable polymers, manufactured using a proprietary electrospinning process”) seems to represent a major step forward. Previous-generation stents composed of other polymers and even metallic alloys have yielded mixed results, leading to slow adoption of the treatment everywhere except North America.

4 Bioglass Cartilage

Another 3-D–printed polymer construct has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of some very debilitating injuries. A team of scientists from the Imperial College London and the University of Milano-Bicocca have created a material they call “bioglass”—a silica-polymer combination that has the tough, flexible properties of cartilage.

These bioglass implants are like the stents from the previous entry but made from a completely different material for a totally different application. One proposed use of these implants is as a scaffolding to encourage natural regrowth of cartilage. But they also have self-healing properties, capable of rebonding upon contact if torn apart.

Although the first tested application will be the replacement of a spinal disc, another, permanent version of the implant is in development to treat knee injuries and other injuries in areas where the cartilage will not regrow. The means of production—3-D printing—makes the implants much cheaper to produce and even more functional than the current leading edge implants of this type, which must typically be grown in a lab.

3 Self-Healing Polymer Muscles

Not to be outdone, Stanford chemist Cheng-Hui Li is hard at work on a material that could be the building block of an actual artificial muscle, one that may even be able to outperform our puny muscles. His compound—a suspiciously organic-sounding combination of silicon, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon atoms—is able to stretch to over 40 times its length and then return to normal.

It can also recover from holes poked in it within 72 hours and, of course, reattach itself if severed due to attraction caused by an iron “salt” in the compound. For now, it must be placed together to reattach itself in this way. The pieces don’t actually crawl toward each other. For now.

Also, for the time being, the only weak spot of this prototype is its limited electrical conductivity, with the substance only increasing in length by 2 percent when exposed to an electrical field as opposed to the 40 percent achieved by real muscles. We expect this to be overcome in short order—and for Li, the bioglass cartilage scientists, and Dr. Wolverine from the earlier entries to be in contact with each other in even shorter order, if they are not already.

2 Ghost Hearts

The technique being pioneered by Doris Taylor, director of regenerative medicine at the Texas Heart Institute, is a slight departure from the above-discussed 3-D–printed biopolymers and the like. Dr. Taylor has demonstrated in animals—and is ready to try in humans—a technique using only organic material that may be even more science-fictional than any previous entry.

In short, the heart of an animal—say, a pig—is soaked in a chemical bath that destroys and leeches away all of the cells except the protein. This remains as an empty “ghost heart” that can then be injected with the patient’s own stem cells.

Once the necessary biological material is in place, the heart is connected to a device that amounts to an artificial circulatory system and lungs (a “bioreactor”) until it begins functioning as an organ and can be transplanted into the patient. Dr. Taylor has successfully demonstrated the technique on rats and pigs but not yet a human patient.

It’s a similar technique that has had some success with less complex organs such as bladders and tracheae. Dr. Taylor is the first to admit that perfecting the process—and being able to supply a steady stream of engineered hearts, eliminating the transplant waiting list altogether—is a long way off. However, it has been pointed out that even if the effort were to fail, it will undoubtedly have the benefit of leading to a much greater understanding of the construction of the heart and improving the treatment of heart maladies.

1 Injectable Brain Mesh

Finally, we have a cutting-edge technology with the potential to quickly, simply, and completely wire the brain with one injection. Researchers from Harvard University have developed an electrically conductive polymer mesh that is literally injected into the brain where it infiltrates the nooks and crannies, melding with actual brain tissue.

Thus far consisting of only 16 electrical elements, the mesh was implanted into the brains of two mice for five weeks without immune rejection. Researchers predict that a larger-scale device composed of hundreds of such elements could actively monitor the brain down to the individual neuron in the near future, with other potential applications including the treatment of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and stroke.

Eventually, this could also lead scientists to a better understanding of higher cognitive function, emotions, and other functions of the brain that currently remain murky. Such bridging of the gap between neurological and physical science could very well power many of the advances of the even further future and also—along with many of the previous entries on this list—lead to superheroes.

The last decade may have been amazing for scientific progress – as we made unimaginable strides in fields like bionics, space exploration and finally verifying whatever Einstein was talking about – though 2020 is still far from the idea of ‘future’ most of us grew up with. While we do now have many of the technologies we couldn’t even dream of a hundred years ago, progress on the cooler and more-visible fictional technologies of the future – like flying cars – seems to have been rather slow.

One reason we believe that is because the fictional tech we’re looking for – like, again, flying cars—is almost always inefficient and unnecessary. Truly groundbreaking and futuristic technologies are actually getting developed as we speak; we just never get to hear about them because they don’t sound as cool. In the spirit of consistently reminding everyone just how scary science is turning out to be, here are 8 recent breakthroughs that prove that we’re already living in the future.

See Also: 10 People Who Claimed To Have Traveled To The Future

8 AI Doctors

Medicine is one of the fields that we assume would never be fully automated, as you’d always need a human brain to diagnose the wide variety of things that can go wrong with the body. That argument definitely holds water, though only if we assume that the robots used to replace the real doctors aren’t going to learn from their experiences, too. With machine learning and AI, robot doctors on the field are already matching—and in some cases surpassing – the extent of our medical knowledge.

Take the British National Health Service (NHS), where the chatbots recently deployed to remotely diagnose problems were found to outperform their human counterparts quite a few times, especially in the cases of abdominal diseases. As per the company’s own tests, its accuracy rate was much higher than us, too.

That’s not it, AI-driven machines have decisively outperformed their human counterparts – at least in the field of medical diagnostics—in a lot of recent studies. Due to our inherent distrust of machines and robots, however, their adoption in hospitals and government facilities around the world has been rather slow.

7 Bringing The Dead Back To Life

Reanimating the dead has been a staple of popular fiction in some way for as long as we can remember. It mirrors humanity’s fundamental desire – above all else – to free itself from the shackles of death, even if it’s often inexplicably expressed through monstrosities like Frankenstein’s monsters and zombies. While we know that we’d some day be able to reverse death in some way, no one expects that day to come any time soon.

According to a recent study, though, we’re not just close to being able to reverse death, but we may even have already learned how to do it. Some researchers at the Yale School Of Medicine were successfully able to reanimate the brains of 32 pigs well after they were declared dead. They put all the brains together into a mega structure called BrainEx, and injected them with a solution to mimic the natural blood flow of the body. To their surprise – and possibly horror – the brains started functioning as normal. Some of them had even started responding to drugs exactly like a normal, non-zombified animal brain.

6 Nuclear Fusion

Most of us think of nuclear fission to be a more powerful form of reaction than nuclear fusion, and it makes sense, too. To a layman, something splitting apart has to release more energy than something being put together, no matter the science behind it. In reality, nuclear fusion isn’t just much, much more powerful, it’s also the primary source of power for our Sun (and all the other stars). It’s also a much cleaner source of energy, though also much more difficult to achieve. Despite our best efforts to replicate that on Earth for our ever-growing energy needs, harnessing the energy of nuclear fusion like the stars has always been a dream of the distant future for our scientists.

While there’d still be some time before we can truly replace the Sun with an energy source of our making, a recent study in China proved that the conditions required for nuclear fusion on the Sun could be recreated on Earth.

Working at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor in Hefei, China, the team of scientists managed to simulate an artificial Sun with the help of nuclear fusion. They were able to attain temperature levels of over 100 million Celsius, which was enough for it to turn into plasma. That’s right, some scientists from China just found a way to recreate the SUN on Earth, complete with plasma.

5 Detecting Parkinson’s Through Voice

Parkinson’s disease comes from a class of serious disorders we don’t entirely understand – another one being Alzheimer’s. It’s not caused by any external body and is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, though that’s pretty much all we know about it. We still don’t know exactly what causes it, or if it’s even a normal disease like we understand diseases or something wholly different, like prions. Moreover, detecting it has always been as difficult as understanding it, as symptoms show up slowly and over a long period of time. There’s quite a bit of debate on what those symptoms are, too, as patients don’t have any clear biological markers.

While we’re far from figuring out and eradicating Parkinson’s, we can now detect it much earlier—thanks to some recent research. In a clinical first, researchers from three universities developed a method to detect Parkinson’s with just voice samples. It’s not really available for medical use yet, but their system was able to detect Parkinson’s with an accuracy of 87%. As it’s based on machine learning, it would only get better at it, too.

4 Robots That Can Follow Orders

If you think about it, robots have hardly made any impact on modern life. Sure, robots combined with other technologies like VR and AI would probably definitely play a big role in the future, though on their own, they’re not of much use. Despite being around for decades now, they’re hardly a part of daily life like the fictional works of twentieth century predicted. What gives?

One of the biggest reasons is their inability to understand what we’re saying. Robots are still not commonplace because they don’t have the cognitive skills required to process our instructions in real time. While we have designed robots that could do backflips and run as fast as a human, it’s incredibly difficult to code them to process any instruction you throw at them.

While there would still be some time before robots could understand and talk just like a real person, we’ve made some unprecedented progress in their cognitive abilities in recent times. The U.S. army has recently developed software that could program field robots to understand verbal instructions, carry them out, and report back without any supervision. They’d also be equipped to machine learn, making them learn from their mistakes and get even better at their jobs as they go.

3 Quantum Entanglement

Quantum Entanglement is one of the most important and mysterious phenomena in Quantum Physics. It’s the theory that a pair of quantum particles will always affect each other regardless of the distance or type of active forces between them, which has also been touted as the solution to everything from faster-than-light-travel and quantum networking. While it has been theoretically proposed as well as observed on small scales in the past, we haven’t yet been able to determine if it’s possible over large distances.

That was until a team of Chinese scientists, for the first time in history, beamed entangled pairs of photons over a distance of more than 1,200 km (around 750 miles). In simple words, they proved that the state of a particle could be changed depending on another particle thousands of miles away, regardless of any other factor. As you’d expect, it has applications in a wide variety of fields. China is well on its way to develop a censor-proof quantum network, which would be leaps and bounds faster and more secure than anything we have. It also enables other breakthroughs that were previously thought to be impossible – like faster-than-light communication.

2 Eye Tribe

The possibility of using just your eyes to control a computer sounds like a futuristic (and rather awesome) proposition, though somehow, there haven’t been many efforts to turn it into a reality. If developed, it has quite a few applications in a wide variety of fields, especially for the disabled. It would fundamentally change how we interact with our devices, and something that a lot of us don’t even think is possible.

While it’s true that no technology of the sort exists right now, it did for a brief amount of time. Eye Tribe was a short-lived startup that had – according to their videos – successfully built a prototype device that enables you to control any screen with just your eyes. Of course, the number of things you could do was clearly limited, as it was less of a finished product and more of a developer prototype to build on. The possibilities were endless, and it really was something straight out of a science fiction book.

Unfortunately, the company ceased all operations in the middle of it for unknown reasons, and was soon bought by Facebook’s Oculus.

1 Converting Brain Signals Into Audio And Images

If you told a person in the nineteenth century that in about two hundred years, we would have the ability to read other people’s thoughts, he’d probably laugh at you. That’s still the case, as it’s still something so futuristic and unrealistic that even science fiction hasn’t used it too often. Scientifically speaking, there should be no way to look into what someone else is thinking, for the simple reason that thoughts are nothing but electrical waves the brain can decipher. Also, privacy.

If recent research on the subject is anything to go by, we already have the ability to read people’s thoughts to a great extent. A team of neuroengineers from Columbia University recently built a system to convert brain signals into audible speech, and it’s surprisingly accurate. Other studies have proven that brain signals could be turned into images, too, which is honestly something we didn’t even know could be done.

Even though oceans have been around for eons, they remain a mystery to humans. Oceans stretch miles across the planet, with many tales about treacherous journeys across the sea. The earth’s oceans are filled with crushing pressures, terrifying predators, and intense currents, making it virtually impossible to fully explore the depths of these dark and mysterious realms.

While these conditions make the ocean uninhabitable for humans, deep sea creatures have been able to adapt and thrive in these dangerous parts. Ocean animals have developed fascinating compounds and chemicals to survive in the ocean’s depths, and these remarkable elements may also be effective in boosting human survival.

So let’s dive in as we unearth some of the most un-be-reef-able medical breakthroughs discovered in the ocean!

Related: Top 10 Disgusting And Unexpected Medical Treatments

10 Snail Venom 1,000 Times More Potent Than Morphine

It sounds a bit silly when people first hear that a species named the Pacific cone snail exists, but don’t let your guard down around these creatures! Smithsonian Magazine states that the Pacific cone snail’s “poisonous harpoon-like stingers can paralyze and kill fish and humans.” A biochemist named Baldomero Olivera decided to think outside the box and theorized that the Pacific cone snail’s venom could provide therapeutic remedies for humans and began extensive research.

Eventually, further snail venom research led to the creation of a drug named Prialt. An Irish pharmaceutical firm found that Prialt “appears to be 1,000 times more potent than morphine” while lacking the addictive and mind-altering side effects. In a Prialt clinical trial, a man suffering from long-term cancer side effects reported that within days of being treated with Prialt, his pain had diminished greatly. With the discovery that Prialt had effective therapeutic benefits, Prialt got FDA approval and is still being utilized worldwide today. ^[1]

9 Breakthrough AIDS Treatment Found in Sea Sponges

No, these real-life sea sponges don’t live in a pineapple under the sea. Instead, they roam the sea floor. Despite their unassuming appearance, sea sponges contain extremely beneficial biochemical compounds. According to Smithsonian Ocean, organic chemist Werner Bergmann discovered that sea sponges contain powerful chemicals that halt viral infections. From this, the compounds found in sea sponges were used as models for drug breakthroughs. Thus, the groundbreaking HIV drug AZT was discovered!

Michigan Medicine states the source of HIV’s ability to wreak havoc on the body is a protein called Nef. As stated in the article, “HIV uses Nef to avoid blowing its cover and bring the immune system’s swift justice down on its hiding places.” Fortunately, the sea sponge’s bacteria can make substances that can interfere with Nef and stop it from working. Thus, with the approval from the FDA, AZT was able to be distributed during the 1980s and helped to combat the symptoms of many who were suffering from HIV/AIDS.^[2]

8 We Can Thank Horseshoe Crabs for Safe Vaccinations

Horseshoe crabs are remarkable underwater creatures. This species seems almost mythological, with over 450 million years of existence and bright blue blood. However, these animals are not only real but also life-saving! According to the Natural History Museum, horseshoe crab blood contains important immune cells that are “exceptionally sensitive to toxic bacteria.” When invading bacteria enter the horseshoe crab, these cells clot around the invaders and protect the rest of the crab’s body from toxins.

From this discovery, scientists formulated a test for new vaccines to identify and remove contaminants. Since the 1970s, this technique has allowed medical practitioners to deliver safe vaccines rather than syringes full of bad bacteria that could make humans very sick. With the benefits horseshoe crabs have contributed to vaccine development, further research on horseshoe crabs may aid in new vaccine advances in the future.^[3]

7 Marine Worm Blood May Help with Blood Transfusions

Worms, while not exciting, have been found to have fascinating properties. The National Library of Medicine published a study showing that the hemoglobin derived from marine worms’ red blood cells is “an efficient therapeutic O2 carrier with potential anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and antioxidant properties.” It may also play a role in helping doctors preserve organs. Thus, these properties could start being used to aid in blood transfusions.

With blood donations in short supply, humans began testing animal blood transfusions; unfortunately, animal blood can cause allergic reactions or damage to the kidneys. However, marine worm blood provided a much different result, not showing any of these effects. Additionally, human blood transfusions bear the risk of clogging kidney filtration systems, while marine worm proteins have a very low risk of having this effect. With their promising benefits, scientists agree that marine worms are worth further research!^[4]

6 Common Ocean Bacteria Can Disrupt Cancer Cell Growth

While hard to pronounce, cyanobacteria is an easy-to-find bacteria in the ocean. While these creatures are microscopic, they contain amazing elements that allow them to survive in harsh conditions. One remarkable compound produced by cyanobacteria, named gatorbulin-1, was reported on in an Ocean Smithsonian Institute article, stating that gatorbulin-1 “interferes with cell division by hindering the cell machinery that carries out the duplicating process.”

Cancer cells’ ability to multiply rapidly is detrimental to the human body; therefore, having a compound that can halt the duplication process is a large milestone for scientists. Dolastatin 10, another compound found in marine cyanobacteria, served as the blueprint for the development of three FDA-approved drugs for various lymphomas and refractory bladder cancer. Like gatorbulin-1, it disrupts the formation of microtubules. The findings from cyanobacteria have made waves in the medical community; thus, scientists continue to dive deep underwater to find out more.^[5]

5 Starfish May Be Able to Combat Inflammatory Diseases

While the common starfish isn’t likely to befriend sea sponges like in Spongebob Squarepants, the two species offer many medical benefits. A BBC News article states that starfish may be the missing link to finding a “new treatment for inflammatory conditions such as asthma, hay fever, and arthritis.” This is due to the starfish’s ability to keep their surfaces clear, with nothing sticking on the animal, while man-made structures become covered with marine life. Starfish can avoid other creatures sticking to them because of the “slimy goo” that covers their bodies.

Scientists thus theorized that this aspect of starfish survival may be able to treat inflammation, which occurs when white blood cells stick to the blood vessel wall and build up, damaging body tissues. Scientists believe that coating our blood vessels in some substance, much like the starfish uses this goo, could prevent this problem. By using the starfish as a model, scientists are looking to create treatments inspired by starfish “slimy goo.” With more time, starfish research may provide accessible treatments for inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and asthma.^[3]

4 Sea Squirts: Cute Name & Mind-Blowing Anti-Cancer Benefits

Cancer is a serious disease that is difficult to cure; therefore, scientists are determined to find ways to combat cancerous tumors. Fortunately, animals called sea squirts may be able to provide effective anti-tumor capabilities. Harvard University researchers found that sack-like sea squirts living on the sea floor make a complex anti-tumor drug hundreds to thousands of times more powerful than any cancer potion now in use. This exponential increase in potency was groundbreaking in cancer research.

Eventually, a drug called ecteinascidin was created to provide chemotherapy to cancer patients. Unfortunately, the drug required laborious efforts and needed a high volume of sea squirts. In fact, ten pounds (4.5 kilograms) of sea squirts yielded only millionths of an ounce of ecteinascidin. Thus, when post-doctorate fellow David Gin found a way to make the drug synthetically, ecteinascidin took off.

After long-term analysis, it was found that ecteinascidin, also named trabectidin, was “associated with high rates of survival and clinical benefit rate for patients with advanced high-grade soft tissue sarcomas.” The fact that a species called the sea squirt can provide chemotherapy to humans is a reminder not to judge a book by its cover!^[7]

3 Phytoplankton Can Fight off Muscle Damage

With the mention of sponges, crabs, and starfish, we couldn’t help ourselves from mentioning plankton, too! Researchers found that phytoplankton, tiny deep-sea algae that float in the ocean, are rich in antioxidants that could help sustain performance and lower muscle damage. A study published in the National Library of Medicine tested participants divided into two groups. One group was given phytoplankton supplements, while the other was given a placebo. Then, both groups underwent a strenuous cross-training event.

Researchers found that the placebo group showed greater muscle damage than those given the phytoplankton supplements. Therefore, researchers concluded that because phytoplankton supplements “operate through an elevating oxidative capacity in skeletal muscle,” the participants receiving the supplements were “able to improve recovery, sustain power, and prevent declines in strength across repeated endurance and cross-training bouts.” With further research, athletes competing in high-stress environments may soon have access to improved strength and recovery.^[8]

2 Moss-Like Sea Creatures May Be Hiding Anti-Cancer Compounds

The Bugula neritina species have been dubbed pests best known for fouling up marine environments. However, this bryozoan animal is hiding a remarkable power inside its bacteria. Bryostatin 1 is a substance that “binds to and inhibits cell-signalizing enzyme protein,” which can stop rapid cell growth and encourage the death of cancer cells. Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography discovered that the anticancer drug Bryostatin 1 can be extracted from colonies of Bugula neritina.

Although extracting bryostatin from Bugula neritina proved difficult to collect without harming the environment, the animals could serve as research models for more efficient bryostatin production. After decades of testing, Stanford researchers discovered a production method that was tens of thousands of times more efficient than extracting bryostatin from B. neritina. With clinical trials showing promise, Bryostatin 1 is on its way to treating cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and strokes!^[9]

1 A World of Possibilities in Our Oceans

With the constant evolution and resistance of diseases in today’s day and age, it’s important to continue searching for new, effective medical treatments. A study published by the National Library of Medicine states that the ocean has “more than 13,000 molecules described out of which 3,000 are having active properties,” which indicates the plethora of medical breakthroughs still hiding underwater.

However, it’s important to continue to keep ocean ecosystems pristine. As stated in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration video, “The ocean may hold the key for finding new medicines, but not if we don’t keep it—and everything that lives there—healthy and pollution free.” So treat the ocean with respect—if the ocean is thriving, human survival may also thrive!^[10]

If we really think about it, modern medicine has reached a stage where it can’t be distinguished from magic. It’s now entirely possible to take an organ from one person and stick it on to someone else, remotely perform surgery sitting in a totally different part of the world, artificially grow cells inside a laboratory as easily as cooking, and much more.

While it’s all quite awesome and cool, admittedly, it’s important to remember that these futuristic, almost-god-like medical procedures have been a long time in the making. The history of medicine is full of breakthrough moments that have all come together to shape the field as we know it today, thanks to the efforts of countless researchers and medical experts that didn’t give up.

10. Aspirin

Salicylic acid, a natural substance found in plants like willow and meadowsweet, has been used in medicinal purposes since ancient times. Reverend Edward Stone, an English clergyman, conducted the first scientific study on the benefits of willow’s bark in 1763. In 1859, Hermann Kolbe identified the chemical structure of the chemical, though the unpleasant taste and side effects like irritation in the stomach limited its use. 

It was a German chemist, Felix Hoffmann, working at the Friedrich Bayer and Co that first synthesized aspirin in 1897. Not just aspirin, it was the first synthetic drug ever made, giving birth to the pharmaceutical industry as we know it. 

Aspirin isn’t just a pain-reliever, it has vast uses in other fields, too, especially heart disease. It remains the most widely used drug in cases of cardiovascular disease, and many studies have proven its effectiveness in the prevention of cardiovascular events, and even colorectal cancer. 

9. Magnetic Resonance Imaging

MRI – or Magnetic Resonance Imaging – is one of the most commonly-used imaging techniques for medical procedures today. Its development could be credited to multiple physicists, doctors and other experts working throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, like Sir Peter Mansfield, Edward Purcell, Raymond Damadian, and Felix Bloch, among others.

It began with the study of magnetic resonance, as researchers examined how electrons and atomic nuclei respond to magnetism. In the 1930s, I.I. Rabi developed a method to study magnetic properties and sodium movement, laying the foundation for nuclear magnetic resonance – or NMR – imaging. In the 1940s, Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell came up with their own technique to use water content in the body to generate magnetic resonance images.

In 1969, Raymond Damadian proposed the use of magnetic resonance to differentiate cancer cells from healthy tissue. By 1974, he had successfully designed the first full-body MRI machine, changing the world of medical imaging forever. 

8. DNA’s Double-Helix Structure

The 1953 discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick transformed the worlds of biology and medicine. Before, scientists and medical professionals lacked a detailed understanding of how genetic information was stored and transmitted inside the cells. Their work led to a better understanding of how genes control chemical processes within our cells, paving the way for advancements in genetic research and other fields that continue to this day.

Since the discovery, biology has evolved into a global industry, with DNA being its primary product. Today, fields like genetic fingerprinting, modern forensics, mapping of the human genome, gene therapy, and many others depend on the knowledge of the base structure of the human DNA. 

7. Organ Transplants

Organ transplantation has gone through many important steps in its history. Breakthroughs in tissue typing and drugs against organ rejection – notably Jean Borel’s discovery of Cyclosporine in the mid-1970s – have greatly improved the success rate and longevity of organ transplants. According to an estimate, modern advances in the effectiveness of kidney transplant medicine save the lives of about 74 patients every day.

Today, organs like kidneys, liver, heart, and even arms, can be successfully transplanted, though it has applications in other fields too, like its many potential uses in immunology. While the demand for organs continues to exceed supply worldwide – as about 17 people die waiting for new organs every day – the higher number of organ donors compared to the past have resulted in more transplant patients living healthier lives every year.

6. Cardiac Surgery

In the early twentieth century, the idea of safely operating on the human heart seemed impossible. The breakthrough came in May 1953, when John Gibbon successfully performed the first open-heart surgery using his own design for a heart-lung machine. It was developed with the help of his wife and research partner, Mary Hopkinson, and consisted of components like a blood reservoir, an oxygenator, a temperature regulation system, and a pump.

The creation of the heart-lung machine ultimately allowed the repair of previously fatal congenital and acquired heart diseases. All modern surgical procedures related to the heart – like bypass grafting, valvular replacement, congenital defect correction, and heart transplantation – have been possible because of that invention. It also gave rise to an entirely new type of health professional called cardiovascular perfusionist. 

5. Vaccines

The concept of immunization dates back hundreds, or even thousands, of years. Perhaps the most important breakthrough in the field, however, came when Edward Jenner, a country physician, tested a new method using material from cowpox blisters and inoculated it into a person’s skin in 1796, which proved effective against smallpox. 

This marked a turning point in the history of vaccination, and by the late 1940s, scientific advancements allowed other, more advanced vaccines to show up on the market. Vaccines have since had a profound impact on public health, saving millions of lives and providing a potent tool against some of the deadliest diseases we know of. Thanks to Jenner’s vaccine, smallpox became the first and only disease to have been completely eradicated in May 1980. 

4. Germ Theory

It’s now common knowledge that many diseases are caused by harmful pathogens, though that hasn’t always been the case. Germ theory, or the idea that specific microscopic organisms are responsible for specific diseases, emerged between 1850 and 1920, and transformed the field of medicine. 

Germ theory originally gained traction due to its compatibility with the prevailing theories of medicine at the time, and it was slowly perfected by many names. There was Joseph Lister, who introduced antiseptic surgical techniques that vastly reduced infection mortality rates. Or Robert Koch, who proved that specific germs cause anthrax, cholera, and tuberculosis, establishing the basic principles of germ theory. Another important figure was Louis Pasteur, who created the first lab vaccines for diseases like cholera, anthrax, and rabies.

3. Artificial Intelligence

The development of modern artificial intelligence has been a breakthrough event in the history of medicine. One of its many applications is in the field of diagnosis, where AI systems have achieved accuracy rates comparable to human experts. Another area is drug discovery and the ongoing proliferation of personalized treatment options, as machine-learning algorithms are being applied to analyze genomic data and identify drugs for certain types of diseases. 

Most importantly, AI models are now capable of predicting diseases just by analyzing data, leading to early identification of preventable risks. It’s particularly good at detecting diseases by interpreting sets of medical images.

2. Antibiotics

While experimenting with the influenza virus in 1928, a Scottish bacteriologist, Alexander Fleming, stumbled upon one of the most important discoveries in modern medicine. He was working with a type of fungus, and during one of his experiments, noticed that it didn’t grow near a specific type of mold that had grown on the plate. He realized that the mold – found to be from the Penicillium family of bacteria – has its own antibacterial properties that could counter the harmful effects of certain types of pathogens.

Penicillin was the first known antibiotic in history, and since then, antibiotics have played an important role in modern medicine. During the Second World War, it was an irreplaceable tool to save lives on the battlefield, as many of the deaths in previous wars could be attributed to disease. The discovery of Penicillin led to other breakthrough discoveries in medicine, particularly in the treatment of other serious diseases caused by pathogens like meningitis, pneumonia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. 

1. Hospitals

While places dedicated to amputations, births, wartime injuries, and other medical procedures have always existed in one form or another in most countries, the modern hospital could be directly traced back to the time of Roman Emperor Constantine I – or  Constantine The Great – in the fourth century AD. By the later part of that century, hospitals had started showing up across the eastern part of the empire, as it was inherently tied to the Christian idea of caring for the sick.

The modern hospital would go through many transformations in the years since. Hospitals of various forms cropped up across Europe and the Middle East throughout the Middle Ages – especially in the 12th century. Soon, the institution would be inherently tied to the larger idea of public services, as hospitals and clinics became a regular part of city infrastructure around the world.

According to WHO estimates, cancer is the second leading cause of death around the world, and the cases are only on the rise. Between 2010 and 2019, there was a 26% rise in global cancer incidence, making it perhaps one of the deadliest and fastest-growing diseases in human history.

While there’s still no cure for it, it’s important to remember that those numbers could be far higher. Thanks to the continuous efforts of scientists, doctors, surgeons, and other specialists working in the field, there have been many breakthrough treatments – like immunotherapy and chemotherapy – that have come together to improve the lives of countless patients around the world. 

10. Halsted’s Mastectomy

Named after its inventor William Stewart Halsted, Halsted’s Mastectomy was developed in the late-19th century. It revolutionized breast cancer treatment, as Halsted’s approach was a radical departure from previous methods. It involved the complete removal of the breast, underlying muscles, and adjacent lymph nodes to ensure the complete removal of the tumor. It was a revolutionary idea at the time, as the procedure didn’t just remove the tumor, but also any remaining cancerous cells that might have spread to nearby lymph nodes. 

By taking this approach, Halsted believed that he could improve long-term outcomes and reduce the risk of disease recurrence. This technique laid the foundation for modern breast cancer surgery, as it focussed on the careful dissection and preservation of healthy tissues. While the procedure has undergone many modern refinements over time, the fundamental principles of Halsted’s Mastectomy remain influential in the field of cancer research.

9. X-Rays And Radiation Therapy

The discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in 1895 would prove to be a breakthrough event in the field, as it directly led to the development of other modern techniques for cancer treatment. Emil Grubbe, a Chicago chemist and physician, was one of the early pioneers in using X-ray radiation to treat cancer. In 1896, he successfully performed radiation therapy on Rose Lee, a patient suffering from recurrent breast cancer. This was perhaps the first documented instance of using radiation therapy to treat cancer in history, and there would be no looking back.

Grubbe’s experiments had a profound impact on the field of medical radiation therapy. His treatments involved placing lead sheets to shield healthy tissues from the harmful rays, and focusing the X-ray radiation on the tumor site. While these procedures were relatively long by modern standards – each lasting about an hour – they were still a huge leap for the time. Grubbe’s early work with X-rays paved the way for all future research in radiation therapy.

8. Discovery Of Radium

In 1898, Polish physicist and chemist Marie Curie discovered the highly-radioactive element called radium and forever changed the field of cancer treatment as we know it. Early experiments with radium revealed its potential to destroy diseased cells, leading to its widespread use in patients suffering from various types of skin cancers for many years.

Before the discovery of radium, surgical removal of tumors used to be the standard treatment for treating cancer. This approach often proved painful and ineffective, with limited consideration for the rapid growth of new tumors. Radium therapy – also sometimes called ‘Curie Therapy’ after Marie Curie – emerged as a viable alternative, delivering targeted radiation directly to the cancerous cells to eliminate them. 

On the other hand, the introduction of radioactivity to cancer treatment came with its own set of risks, like the absence of proper safety procedures to protect against radiation at that time. There was also a general lack of understanding of radium’s properties, which resulted in health issues like anemia, cataracts, fractured teeth, and even cancer. 

7. Mustard Gas And Chemotherapy

While mustard gas initially came into mass use as a deadly chemical agent during the First World War, it has also played a pivotal role in the larger history of cancer treatment. Researchers in the early 1900s, like Dr. Edward and Helen Krumbhaar, began studying the effects of mustard agents and their potential medical applications. By the 1940s, scientists transformed mustard gas into substances that could be used for cancer chemotherapy, specifically sulfur mustards and nitrogen mustards. 

During World War II, extensive research was done on chemical warfare agents of all kinds, including mustard gas, to better understand their harmful effects and develop countermeasures. The researchers also drew from wartime experience, as accidental exposure to the agent on the frontline revealed its effects on blood cells. Subsequent trials proved the effectiveness of nitrogen mustard in regressing existing tumors, which set the stage for further breakthroughs in chemotherapy in the coming years.

6. Environmental Factors

While we now know that environmental factors can cause cancer, it hasn’t always been common knowledge. The first scientist to link environmental factors with the disease was Percivall Pott, who – in 1775 – wrote a book about how workers in London that were exposed to soot from the chimneys were at a higher risk of scrotal cancer. Pott observed an unusually high incidence of skin sores on the scrotums of chimney sweepers, leading him to identify an environmental factor, soot, as the cancer-causing agent. 

This discovery was a milestone in the history of cancer research, as it not only revealed the role of occupational exposure in carcinogenesis , but also contributed to the understanding of diseases caused by infections like Pott disease. 

5. P53 Protein

The discovery of the p53 protein in the 1970s revolutionized our understanding of how cancer works. First identified by independent researchers in 1984, p53 is a tumor-suppressor protein found within our cells that plays a crucial role in preventing the development and progression of cancer throughout our lifetimes. It acts as a guardian of the genome, responding to DNA damage – which may lead to cancer – by halting cell growth or inducing cell death. 

Over the years, scientists have uncovered many functions of the p53 protein, describing it instead as a network. In addition to its role in DNA repair and cell death, it’s also involved in processes like metabolism and immunity. Years of better understanding the complex mechanisms driven by p53 has led to many major advancements in cancer research and potential treatments. 

4. Discovery Of The Role Of Viruses

In 1910, Peyton Rous discovered a filterable agent, later named the Rous sarcoma virus, that was causing cancer in chickens. On further experimentation, he found that freezing, drying, or radiation didn’t diminish the virus’s cancer-causing ability, and that the infected chickens produce antibodies, leading him to develop his viral theory of cancer. 

In 1934, Rous also found a virus responsible for warts in jackrabbits that could later develop into cancerous tumors. This newfound focus on viruses as a potential agent of cancer led to further discoveries by him and other researchers in the field. One of them was that certain viruses could permanently alter the DNA of host cells without killing them, resulting in the growth of cancer at a later stage. 

3. Immunotherapy

William Coley is often referred to as the ‘Father of Immunotherapy’ due to his contributions to the field of cancer research in the late 19th century. In 1891, Coley attempted to treat bone cancer by utilizing the immune system. He observed tumor regression in sarcoma patients after infecting them with mixtures of live and inactivated bacteria. 

This new strategy provided early evidence of cancer treatment with the body’s own immune system, and Coley’s work laid the foundation for all future advancements in cancer immunotherapy. Subsequent discoveries in the field, like the discovery of T cells and their role in the immune system, reignited academic interest in using the immune system to fight cancer, leading to further insights and discoveries. 

2. Hormone Therapy

Over the years, hormone therapy has played a major role in cancer research and treatment, particularly in the areas of prostate and breast cancer. It was only made possible after the discoveries of Charles Huggins, a Canadian-born American surgeon and urologist, who was the first researcher to prove the influence of hormones on certain types of cancer. 

Huggins demonstrated that prostate cancer could be affected by hormones, and that inhibiting hormone production through castration or introducing female sex hormones could counteract the disease. This breakthrough led to the rapid adoption of hormone treatment for prostate and other types of cancer, including breast cancer. For his work, Charles Huggins – along with Peyton Rous – received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1966.

1. Mapping Of The Human Genome

The mapping of the human genome was completed in 2003, giving us – for the first time – access to the entire set of DNA instructions found in a human cell. It was a breakthrough event for the medical world, as doctors and medical researchers now had access to the fundamental knowledge needed to understand genetic mutations and their role in diseases, especially cancer. With this new understanding, personalized therapies could now be developed to target specific genetic changes in cancer cells.

Thanks to the Human Genome Project, researchers discovered that some breast cancer cells had an altered HER-2 gene, which led to the production of a growth-promoting protein. Over the years, similar genetic changes were found in other types of cancer, leading to more advanced targeted therapies and personalized medicine for specific diseases. Unlike traditional chemotherapy and radiation, targeted therapies offer longer-lasting treatment effects with minimal side effects. The ability to sequence the DNA in cancer cells and compare it to the human genome also allowed for a more comprehensive categorization of tumors.