The finding that Lenacapavir, an antiviral used as rescue treatment in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients, also works as prophylaxis and injected every six months prevents contagionhas been declared by the magazine Science the great scientific breakthrough of 2024. Like every year-end, Science publishes a list of the ten most important scientific discoveries of the last 12 months, which this year leads “long-acting injection”in reference to the six months of prevention against HIV infection that Lenacapavir provides.
Although it is not a vaccine, Lenacapavir is the closest thing that science has found in more than 40 years looking for how to end this epidemic that has killed 40 million people. A phase III clinical trial presented last July at the International AIDS Congress proved that with two injections a year, the drug from the pharmaceutical company Gilead prevented 100% of new infections in African women.
The ability of Lenacapavir to “accelerate the end of the epidemic HIV/AIDS will depend on access, distribution and, of course, demand. Its approval will arrive, at the earliest, in mid-2025, and its price, still unannounced, will determine who can afford it,” he underlines. Science. Gilead has reached an agreement with six generic manufacturers to produce low cost versions of the injection destined for 120 developing countries, but – as the scientific journal recalls – there are middle-income countries, like Brazil, that will not receive these versions and have many HIV-positive people.
The waves that sculpt the continents
The discovery of how and why there are stable parts of the continents that gradually rise to form topographic features – such as cliffs or plateaus – that profoundly influence the climate and biodiversity is considered another of the most relevant advances of 2024. The upheaval caused by the waves of the earth’s mantle It could also explain periods of increased erosion and subsequent marine extinctions, a comprehensive study published in Nature in August revealed.
The oldest record of life
All complex life on Earth, including animals and plants, comes from organisms called multicellular eukaryotes; and this 2024 Chinese researchers have discovered in the north of their country multicellular fossils about 1,635 million years old, which represents the oldest record of multicellular eukaryotes. The work, which was collected in January by the magazine Science Advancespushed back the appearance of multicellularity in eukaryotes by about 70 million years and has been considered another of this year’s great milestones.
A new type of magnetism
For 98 years, physicists have known the existence of two types of permanently magnetic materials, but this year they have added a third: ferromagnetslike chromium, which have a magnetic pattern on an atomic scale, with neighboring electrons rotating in opposite directions. Science lists the new magnetic field among the great scientific advances of the year due to its repercussions for physics.
Space science at a lower cost
Starship, the launch system and fully reusable spacecraft from the Space X company, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has launched four rockets this 2024 “with such technical prowess” that Science argues that the path has been opened to “lower-cost” space science, which is another milestone for 2024.
Unravel cellular evolution
The Spanish researcher Francisco Cornejo, from the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Higher Scientific Research Council (CSIC), leads one of the great achievements of science in 2024 by revealing that the marine symbiosis between a cyanobacteria and a microalgae could be evolving in a similar way to how eukaryotic cells did more than a billion years ago. The work, collected in March in the magazine cellopens the door to better understanding the evolution of our cells.
Smart pesticides
A new biopesticide, based on modification of gene expression (RNA) of the plant to better defend itself against viruses and pests, has been successfully tested in 2024 in potato crops in the state of Colorado (United States) against a beetle that attacks them. The editors of Science They emphasize that, used responsibly, this new generation of biopesticides based on genetic techniques are another great advance in 2024 for combat difficult pests in fruits and vegetables. The Spanish University of La Rioja participates in a project to advance its development.
Better understanding, more healing
The extraordinary resolution of the James Webb Space Telescope (European Space Agency and NASA) has led to the recent discovery of hundreds of new galaxies large and bright galaxies created in the early phases of the universe, whose formation challenges the most widespread theory about the formation of the first galaxies, and is another of the 10 milestones of Science.
Improved compression what was human life like thousands of years ago thanks to new techniques for extracting ancient DNA from fossil remains and the lowering of prices for its analysis represents another of the great leaps in science in 2024.
The discovery that the CAR T cell therapy (CAR-T), very effective for some types of cancer, also successfully treats autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, closes the list of the 10 great advances in science in 2024.
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