The best of science in 2012

2012 was a very interesting year for science, but actually this can be said for pretty much every other year. The rate at which scientists discover new things about the universe, life and everything that surrounds it, is astonishing. This article will sum up some of the most interesting pieces of new knowledge and technology that has expanded our understanding of nature and life.

Viral therapy 'completely destroys' cancer

Cancer is a disease that is hard to treat. Most therapies aim at stopping growth and attempting to decrease the size of the tumour, but there are hardly any treatments that actually cure the patient. Most famous is of course the conventional chemotherapy which kills cancer cells just a bit faster than that it kills healthy cells. Novel therapies are more targeted, and one way to achieve that is by recruiting viruses. Curiously, HIV seems effective as a treatment for cancer, but scientists are also working with other viruses, such as those that appear effective in brain cancer patients. Now, it appears science has seen another breakthrough, as a group of scientists from the University of Sheffield developed a viral therapy that 'abolishes' prostate tumours.

Genetic variation influences sensitivity to pain

Sensitivity towards pain is not the same in all humans. Some of us are more sensitive to painful stimuli, while others are less affected. In order to find out why some people are more sensitive than others, a research consortium of Chinese and British scientists tried to unravel whether there are genetic factors that are of underlying influence. They found that there is a strong relationship between certain genes and sensitivity to pain. This may eventually lead to novel painkillers and ways to prevent chronic pain.

Scientists device a new computational model of the cell

Our bodies, and those of other animals, consist of many cells that all interact with each other in order to acquire the necessary complexity that makes us who we are. This network of cells is incredibly sophisticated, but there is also a lot going on inside an individual cell. Perhaps the insides of a single cell are even more complex than all of them working together. Cells create proteins to perform various functions, and they do so by reading the information present on the genes on our DNA. In a new attempt to uncover the relationships between genes, their output and their associated hierarchy, scientists from the University of California in San Diego created a computer model that automatically gathers this information.

Genetic modification yields biological pacemakers

Our heart pumps around blood by beating around 50-60 times per minute. It is controlled by electrical signals that come from the brain, and they have the capability to make the heart go faster or slower, depending on the required blood flow. If those signals do not work anymore, the heart stops. In the case of heart failure, patients often get an implant that we call a pacemaker. This is a device that provides rhythmic electrical signals in order to keep the heart going. Obviously, implanting an electric device has its downsides. A study by the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute shows that we may actually be able to recruit the body's own cells as pacemakers.

Dog shown capable of sniffing bacterial infections

Bacteria are incredibly tiny, and that means that we need special techniques to determine whether a patient has been infected or not. That means taking samples of bodily fluids or tissues from the patient and analysing those in the lab. It takes a while before a sample is analysed, and that means the bacteria has the time to spread. It would be therefore be of great benefit if there was a method that could instantly tell us whether a patient is infected or not, enabling us to isolate them directly. Surprisingly, such techniques are actually realistic, but in quite a different way from what one would expect: instead of complex biotechnology, it appears to be as simple as getting a dog to sniff the patient.

Using foam to stop internal bleeding

The wages of war have resulted in the deaths of many people. For everybody's sake, it would be better to stop fighting altogether, but this does not seem to be realistic. That is why new technology is developed to keep people alive on the battlefield. A recent example is a piece of nanotechnology from MIT that is capable of stopping external bleeding almost instantly. Now, researchers affiliated with DARPA have developed something that could rapidly arrest internal bleeding, in an attempt to keep wounded soldiers alive and get them to a hospital.