All things considered, 2019 is shaping up to be an enthralling year for science and technology. Here, we review the top 10 scientific breakthroughs that made waves or may have flown under the radar over the past month.
Why These Top 10 Scientific Finds Matter
10 Free Alcohol
Researchers have brewed a synthetic beverage that delivers the pleasant buzz of alcohol while sparing you the dreaded morning hangover.
The concoction, dubbed Alcarelle, contains a man‑made molecule called alcosynth. Alcosynth zeroes in on the brain’s pleasure circuits, stimulating the same GABA receptors that ordinary booze does, yet it sidesteps the receptors that cause nausea and the classic post‑party headache.
Professor David Nutt, the chemist behind alcosynth, famously lost his government post after claiming that alcohol is more harmful than ecstasy and LSD. Undeterred, he continues to champion safer drinking experiences.
At present Alcarelle remains a laboratory curiosity; safety trials and regulatory approval are still pending. Nevertheless, Nutt is optimistic that consumers could be sipping the hangover‑free brew within as few as five years.
9 Starry Dwarf Frog Discovered
A multinational team of biologists has uncovered a brand‑new frog species high in the Indian Western Ghats. Measuring just 2–3 cm, the critter sports orange‑brown skin peppered with twinkling, star‑shaped spots, earning it the moniker Astrobatrachus kurichiyana – literally “starry dwarf frog.”
Genetic analysis suggests the frog is the last living representative of an ancient lineage whose nearest common ancestor lived roughly 57–76 million years ago.
The researchers first spotted the speckled amphibians tucked beneath leaf litter during a 2010 wildlife survey. Subsequent work confirmed they belong to a completely new subfamily spanning India and Sri Lanka.
8 Subconscious Magnetic Sense
Could our brains be tuned into Earth’s magnetic field? Caltech geobiology professor Joseph Kirschvink thinks so, and his experiments provide tantalizing evidence.
Participants were placed inside a six‑sided wire cage that can generate a magnetic field mimicking Earth’s. By flipping the field on and off while monitoring brain activity with an EEG, Kirschvink observed a subtle, subconscious “freak‑out” response.
This suggests that, like cattle, turtles and pigeons, humans possess a hidden magnetoreception ability, even if we aren’t consciously aware of it.
7 Electronics Made From Skin
Imagine building electronic components straight out of your own skin. The pigment melanin – the very substance that gives hair and skin its colour – might become a cornerstone of tomorrow’s bio‑electronic implants.
Italian nanoscientist Paolo Tassini and his collaborators have discovered a technique that boosts melanin’s conductivity by a staggering billion‑fold. By heating melanin in a vacuum, they coax the tangled sheets into a parallel, orderly arrangement, dramatically improving electron flow.
Because melanin is naturally produced inside the body, future devices that use it—such as brain‑machine interfaces—could be far less likely to trigger immune rejection compared with traditional metals like copper.
6 Worm Regeneration
Every mischievous child knows that earthworms can grow back after being sliced in half. Harvard’s Mansi Srivastava and her team have dug deeper, pinpointing the master control gene that drives regeneration in three‑banded panther worms.
The gene, called early growth response (EGR), flips specific DNA segments on and off, orchestrating the rebuilding of lost tissue. This dynamic DNA switching is a frontier that biologists are still learning to navigate.
Srivastava’s work also explores why other organisms—including humans—possess the same gene yet lack robust regenerative abilities, hinting at future routes to enhance human tissue repair.
5 Alzheimer’s Treated In Mice
Alzheimer’s disease remains a relentless foe, but MIT’s Picower Institute has uncovered a promising new avenue. By exposing mice to flickering lights paired with rapid clicking sounds, researchers observed a slowdown in disease progression.
The light‑and‑sound regimen appears to stimulate beneficial brain‑wave patterns that alter protein composition, boosting memory performance. Mice subjected to an hour of daily clicks tackled mazes faster and displayed sharper object‑recognition abilities.
While the findings are exciting, many questions linger: the exact mechanism behind the brain‑wave boost, and whether the approach will translate to human patients.
4 Male Contraceptive Pill
A new clinical trial suggests we may be edging closer to a male birth‑control pill. The study, led by researchers at the University of Washington, gave 40 healthy volunteers a daily capsule containing the hormone‑suppressing compound 11‑beta‑MNTDC.
Three‑quarters of participants received the active drug, while the remainder took a placebo. Blood tests revealed markedly reduced levels of hormones that normally cue the testes to produce sperm, hinting at a drop in sperm output.
No serious side effects surfaced, though a few men reported mild headaches, a dip in libido, and occasional erectile dysfunction. If further trials confirm efficacy, the pill could broaden contraceptive options for men and ease the reproductive burden traditionally shouldered by women.
3 Growing A Tiny Brain
The human brain is a marvel of complexity, and recreating even a miniature version is a monumental challenge. Cambridge scientists have now cultivated a tiny, simplified brain organoid roughly the size of a lentil.
This droplet of gray matter resembles a fetal brain at three to four months of gestation, sitting somewhere between a cockroach and a zebrafish in size. The team attached a spinal cord and muscle tissue, prompting the organoid to reach out, fire electrical impulses, and cause the muscles to twitch.
Such “mini‑brains” provide a powerful platform for probing neurological disorders like ALS, epilepsy, and schizophrenia, offering fresh insight into how the nervous system develops and malfunctions.
2 Antidepressant Ketamine
In 1996, the indie band Eels sang about “novocaine for the soul,” but recent developments suggest ketamine might be the real mood‑lifting hero. The FDA has now approved esketamine, a nasal spray branded Spravato, for patients whose depression hasn’t responded to traditional antidepressants.
Unlike classic drugs that can take weeks to show effect, esketamine works within hours or days, delivering rapid relief. However, experts caution that ketamine’s history of recreational abuse demands careful oversight; the treatment must be administered by trained clinicians in certified clinics.
Cost remains a hurdle, with a month’s course ranging from $4,720 to $6,785, but many psychiatrists are hopeful that this breakthrough will pave the way for a new class of fast‑acting antidepressants.
1 Patient Cured Of HIV
An anonymous London patient has become only the second person ever to be declared cured of HIV, thanks to a daring bone‑marrow transplant.
The donor’s stem cells carried a rare CCR5 mutation that renders white‑blood cells resistant to the virus. After 18 months off antiretroviral therapy, the patient shows no signs of viral rebound.
While bone‑marrow transplants are risky and not scalable, this success, alongside the earlier cure of Timothy Brown, proves that a functional cure is biologically possible.
Experts, including Anton Pozniak of the International AIDS Society, view the case as proof‑of‑concept that HIV can be eradicated. The work also highlights the promise—and controversy—of gene‑editing approaches, a field still wrestling with ethical dilemmas after incidents like He Jiankui’s HIV‑resistant embryo experiment.