Politics may have dominated the public conversation in 2019, but there was plenty of work going on behind the scenes to get excited about. This year we peered into a black hole for the first time ever, uncovered remarkable hidden fossils that help us see into our distant past and discovered new ways to alter the genome. In case you missed them, here’s our run-down of the most remarkable scientific breakthroughs of 2019.
We captured the first ever image of a black hole
This year astronomers captured the first ever image of a black hole, looking like a dark shadow within a ring of orange. Astronomers used the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) to reveal the plasma that surrounds the centre – where intense friction causes electrons to be stripped from their atoms. The black hole weighs 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun, and is located at the centre of the galaxy M87, 53.49 million light years from Earth. It will go down in history as an iconic image not only for the incredible feat of science, but the number of memes it kindled.
An ancient skull revealed the face of our ancestors
Paleoanthropologists found the complete skull of a human ancestor that died 3.8 million years ago. The australopithecines were early human ancestors and this skull is the first ever found of an Australopithecus anamensis – one of the earliest hominids of its kind. Fossils of human ancestors are usually only found as fragments of bone, but this mostly-complete skull, found in Ethiopia, shows us what these ancestors looked like and have a clearer view of our evolutionary line.
We found a better way to edit genes
In 2015, CRISPR was the winner of Science Magazine's Breakthrough of the Year award. Although it has the power to cut and break down strands of DNA, it isn’t very good at replacing a faulty gene with a healthy one. This year David Liu and team at Harvard University came up with a system of “prime editors” which allow them edit genes more precisely without damaging the DNA strand. Liu estimates that this could correct around 89 per cent of the mutations that cause inherited human diseases.
AI beat humans at poker
Poker is more than just playing cards, it’s about outwitting your opponents in a game of deceit. This is why, when an artificial intelligence program named Pluribus beat professional poker players at Texas Hold ‘Em, it represented a milestone in the development of AI. Pluribus played 10,000 hands against five professionals at a time, winning a virtual $48,000 (£38,000).
A second person with HIV was cured
Twelve years ago scientists managed to cure a patient with HIV. Ever since then, they have tried to replicate this breakthrough with no success… until now. For the second time since the global epidemic began, a patient has gone into what researchers call long term remission. The London man was given a stem cell transplant to treat Hodgkin lymphoma – a treatment which came with the added accidental victory of taking away all detectable signs of HIV 18 months after stopping anti-HIV treatment. It might not be a miracle cure just yet, but it has major implications for the future of treating HIV. At the moment, in order to not pass on the virus, patients must continue to take medication – this could be the doorway event to more effective treatments in the next few years.
We found water on a potentially habitable planet
K2-18b could potentially host alien life. It is within a habitable distance from the nearest star, and this year astronomers discovered water vapour in its atmosphere. There are the basic building blocks for life – water, light and heat – but it may be a few years before we develop telescopes powerful enough to see whether K2-18b’s atmosphere contains gases that could be produced by living organisms. The planet is outside of our solar system about 120 light-years from Earth. This is too far to send a probe, but the discovery has nevertheless excited astronomers about the fact that we may not be alone in the universe.
We landed on the far side of the Moon for the first time ever
At the beginning of 2019, the first ever landing was made on the far side of the moon. From Earth we only ever see one side of it, which means it is far easier to land manned and unmanned spacecraft on this visible side of the Moon. But China decided to take things one step further by sending the Chang'e 4 spacecraft to the far side with a soft landing. It touched down on January 3, and proceeded to perform a series of experiments, including sending video footage back to Earth. Scientists hope that in the future, they will be able to place a radio telescope on the far side of the moon where it will be protected from radio interference from Earth.
Updated January 2, 2019 12:26: The distance of K2-18b from Earth has been updated
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
