15 Recent Mind-Blowing Scientific Discoveries
If you ever doubted that we live in exciting times, take a look at what’s occurring right now in the fields of biology, medical science, anthropology and more where scientific breakthroughs happen frequently.
Some researchers are bringing us forward into the uncharted future. Some are helping to decode the ancient past. Others are helping to make our everyday lives better. If pioneering discoveries and uncovering ancient mysteries is your thing, today is your day.
Read 15 incredible scientific breakthroughs that will amaze you.
15. Launching a Car Into Space
NBC News
When SpaceX was launching its uncrewed rocket into space, on its payload was a red Tesla Model X. The team sent the vehicle into space with a dummy driver and a note saying ”DON’T PANIC.”
The car was recently reported to have drifted past Mars.
14. Genetic Editing
Phys.org
It seems we can now decide what our children will grow up to be like even before they are born. This is a claim by the Chinese scientist He Jiankui who announced that he successfully edited the DNA of two twins.
This discovery is one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in recent times.
13. Cloning
KiwiReport
A group of Chinese scientists recently cloned two monkeys after many failed attempts.
This major scientific breakthrough could also mean cloning of humans might not be impossible after all.
12. Meats Without Slaughtering
Wikipedia
This scientific breakthrough is welcome news for animal rights activists. Meatable, a Dutch startup, has created a way to produce meat without slaughtering the animals by using stem cells from the umbilical cords of the animals.
We will have to wait and see if it tastes as good as the real thing.
11. Cancer Vaccine
MSKC
Although it still needs human trials, a study done on mice shows that the injection of two immune stimulating agents directly into solid tumors eliminated all traces of cancer. This scientific discovery was made last year at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
If this study proves successful with human patients, it would be one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in medical history.
10. Needle-Free Injections
Good News Network
Some people naturally dread going to hospitals, but receiving shots of medication from the pointy edges of needles is even scarier.
That may now be a thing of the past. A start-up operation from MIT developed a needleless injection, which uses a high pressure to administer doses. These doses go directly into the bloodstream.
9. Water as Fuel
Off Grid World
Can you imagine driving around or flying around the world without a care in the world? This might happen if you don’t need to worry about gas. A German Tech Company, Cleantech, has developed a machine that helps convert water into fuel.
This is one scientific breakthrough that pushes the world towards adopting cheaper and cleaner energy.
8. Creation of Human Organs
Popsci
Scientists have discovered how to generate organs from the stem cells of humans.
This is a great leap because it will reduce the dependency on organ donors.
7. Water on Mars
Ars Technica
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently discovered the existence of water on Mars.
With the space bot (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), using its onboard image spectrometer, there were images of hydrated salts, which means water is available. Guess our migration to mars is coming sooner than we thought.
6. Time Travel
NBC News
When Newton proposed time travel in the past, people thought it was a fallacy. However, with the detection of gravitational waves, his theory of time travel could soon be a reality.
We will be able to explore the deep darkest parts of history, or maybe even rewrite our future.
5. A Fish Tale of a Missing Link
Sci-News
Scientists have unearthed fossilized remains of an ancient fish that might fill a gap in the evolutionary chain. When we say ancient, we mean it. The Entelognathus fish is nearly twice as old as even the earliest dinosaurs! This species of “armored” fish lived around 420 million years ago and is perhaps the oldest creature yet discovered with a recognizable jaw.
The Entelognathus helps to explain a gap between the ancestors of modern fish and the placoderm class of sea creature, a class thought to have died out before the evolution of today’s fish.
4. A Bionic Breakthrough
Euronews
This scientific breakthrough is bringing hope to patients afflicted with everything from traumatic amputations to degenerative diseases. A team comprised of everything from software engineers to surgeons to neuroscientists has created a robotic leg that can be controlled by its wearer’s mind.
The remarkable prosthetic was fitted to a patient named Zac Vawter, who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident. Aided by software, a series of electrodes and Vawter’s own nerves, he can control the leg much like he could the one he had grown himself.
3. Microbial Forensics Fight Crime
ScienceMag
Scientists may soon allow detectives able to use microbes in solving crimes. Every person sports their own unique blend of microbes. An individual’s personal “microbiome” can act like a fingerprint.
A team of researchers is taking the use of microbial forensics to the next level by studying how bacteria change over time following a person’s death. An accurate study of microbial decay could help to pinpoint a person’s time of death and might even help to reveal the death’s cause, too.
2. Blame the Weather on the Jet Stream
Wikipedia
It seems like the weather has been wild recently. Meteorologists know why: it’s a jet stream. The jet stream is the series of wind currents moving around at high altitude and usually in a predictable pattern. It regulates the weather in much of the northern hemisphere, and it makes the weather wacky when it diverts from its usual currents.
Recently, the jet stream separated into two currents, producing heat waves across much of the southern US and in the northern provinces of Canada while causing unseasonable cold weather in the northern United States and dumping torrential rain across Colorado and in parts of Europe. One potential cause for the jet stream’s new flow? Global warming led to changes in arctic temperatures, which affect the jet stream’s power and patterns.
1. Scientists Have (Sort of) Created a Lightsaber
Electro Chem
The iconic Jedi weapon (a more elegant weapon from a more civilized time, yes, we know) is almost a reality. Or at least the matter that constitutes its deadly “blade.” A team of physicists from Harvard and MIT has isolated a new form of matter they are calling “photonic molecules.”
That essentially means particles of light, AKA energy, that bind together and have mass. If we could learn to control it, perhaps we could indeed create a lightsaber. It’s one of the coolest scientific breakthroughs in the last decade.
Do you want to learn more about life-changing things? If so, click next to read about destructive meteor strikes.
