Scientists had to not only give recommendations on how to act in a situation of uncertainty, clearly make it clear what data is already there and why we rely on it, and at the same time not create a false situation of confidence when information is updated and updated every day. Today, during the pandemic, online casinos remain an increasingly relevant method of entertainment.
In many countries, scientists in a short period of time found themselves in the rank of stars of mass culture in terms of the level of attention of the media and society. The John Maddox Public Outreach Award (presented in partnership with Nature magazine) was awarded to two researchers – American Anthony Fauci and South African Salim Abdul Karim. Fauci was remembered for the fact that at joint conferences with the White House administration, he often had to speak after Donald Trump and refute the president’s anti-scientific position, which he voiced a minute earlier non gamstop casino uk.
Climatic Accuracy
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Science has long had no doubts about the human influence on the climate, but due to the complexity and scale of the task of modeling the planet’s climate, forecasts of its changes were rather inaccurate. However, the continuous accumulation of data and the improvement of methods of working with them has led to significant progress.
A group of 25 scientists from the World Climate Research Program in their work determined that doubling carbon dioxide emissions compared to the pre-industrial era will cause a rise in temperature of 2.6-3.9 ° C. This study ruled out the previously considered realistic worst-case scenario (rise to 4.5 ° C), but lower values are enough to flood coastal cities, cause severe heat and cold, and require the relocation of millions of people. Hopefully, the introduction of certainty will allow governments to move on to more concrete measures to stabilize the situation.
Artificial Intelligence Versus X-ray
Proteins, which make up almost everything in our body, are very large and complex macromolecules in which chains of amino acids are folded into bizarre three-dimensional structures. Their correct functioning is determined not only and not so much by the composition, but by this very structure – the correct convolution in space.
To study it, the method of X-ray structural analysis was traditionally used, which in itself is quite expensive and complicated. In addition, a ring accelerator, a synchrotron, had to be used as a radiation source, because laboratory sources did not provide the required energy level. To set up the experiment, it was necessary to grow a protein crystal – a completely unobvious task. Then to ensure that it does not collapse under the influence of radiation, and finally – to decipher the results for a long time. It was all so difficult that deciphering the structure of the ribosome, for example, was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Now artificial intelligence experts argue that X-rays can be dispensed with. The British project DeepMind stated that their algorithm copes with determining the structure of a protein as well as an x-ray experiment. It is expected that within a few months, other projects will be able to approach this accuracy, because all the data on the algorithm is open.
Ultra-rapid Development of a Covid Vaccine
The scientific journal Science considers the most important scientific achievement of the outgoing year to be the ultra-rapid development of vaccines to combat the main newsmaker of 2020 – the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Indeed, vaccines have been developed and launched in record time. More importantly, development has been and is being carried out by a large number of independent groups. They use different approaches, which allows “not to put all your eggs in one basket” – even if one of the methods is unsuccessful, on a global scale and even individual countries it will be possible to switch to another with relatively small losses.
The two most controversial vaccines – Moderna and Pfizer – are mRNA vaccines. This relatively new technology has been approved for use in humans. It allows you to enter into the body only a part of the coronavirus genome: thus, immunity is developed in the absence of the virus as such. AstroZeneca, the most commercially demanded vaccine in the world today, uses a more traditional technique – an adenoviral vector to deliver coronavirus genetic material into the body (the same technique is implemented in the Russian Sputnik V) non uk gambling sites.
The Chinese Sinovac is an inactivated vaccine, it contains a “killed” virus that is capable of causing an immune response (the vaccine that is being developed at the Chumakov Center works according to the same principle – it will be tentatively ready in February).
Radio Bursts from Deep Space
Fast radio bursts are strikingly powerful radio signals from deep space (galaxies millions of light years from Earth). They are very short – only a fraction of a second, but during this time they manage to release energy to 500 million Suns. What’s even stranger is that most of them don’t repeat themselves. Therefore, it is very difficult to study them, let alone predict.
In 2020, there was a complete breakthrough in this area – American and Canadian scientists discovered the source of repeated fast radio bursts in our galaxy – it turned out to be a magnetar, a neutron star of a special type. Now they can be observed more regularly and systematically, which means that much more systematic and detailed data can be obtained.
The OLdest Work of Art
Scientists managed to find and correctly date the rock carvings over 40 thousand years old. In a cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, a prehistoric artist depicted people with animal heads hunting bison and wild boar. The image was dated by the level of decay of radioactive uranium contained in the deposits that have covered the drawings for thousands of years of existence. The image turned out to be the oldest known work of fine art to date.
New Data on HIV
People living with HIV today can lead fulfilling lives and live about as long as their normal peers, provided they are on antiretroviral drugs. This year, scientists completed a large-scale study of a special group of people – HIV-positive patients who do not develop AIDS, despite the fact that they do not take drugs.
It turned out that in their cells HIV binds to chromosomes in a special way – this allows it to “hide” from immunity, like in ordinary people, but does not allow it to develop. This is not a cure yet, but the data collected opens up a new approach to future therapies.