Meet the 10 people who marked science in 2019 i6m3n

The acclaimed and highly regarded scientific journal Nature selected the 10 people who marked science in 2019. The list has personalities from different areas, including a Brazilian. 307131

According to the magazine, people who make the list may have made surprising discoveries, brought attention to crucial issues or even gained notoriety for controversial actions. It's not an award or a rating, but these are people who have had their moment in science this year that is coming to an end.

Ricardo Galvão: defender of science l1k38

Brazilian physicist Ricardo Galvão, former director of the National Institute of Space Research (INPE), gained prominence on the international stage after being accused by the then president, Jair Bolsonaro, of lying about deforestation data from the Amazon. Galvão, in his response to the governor, defended the scientists of the INPE, affirming the veracity of the data and, in the end, ended up without a job.

According to the magazine, however, what the scientist did not expect was to become a hero, being acclaimed by colleagues and even by strangers on the street. He returned to the University of São Paulo, but realized, after the messages of and thanks he received, that he has a responsibility to “continue advocating for science”.

Victoria Kaspi: Sky Researcher 521y27

In 2017, experienced astrophysicist Victoria Kaspi helped build the project's radio telescope. Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME, or “Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment”, in Portuguese). This year, CHIME has become the world's best fast radio burst (FBR) hunter. The FBR consists of an intense and fast radio pulse, still somewhat mysterious to science.

Although the project relies on several other astronomers, Kaspi played a key role in providing CHIME with capabilities for detecting fast radio bursts. She was thinking about how the radio telescope could study rapidly rotating neutron stars when she realized that the device's sensitivity and field of view could be ideal for detecting FBRs, if it were upgraded.

The scientist and her team's goal was big, but they managed to achieve it and added another instrument and computing power to CHIME so that it was able to collect data 1.000 times per second at 16.000 different frequencies. Also, Kaspi, CHIME's principal FRB investigator, this year secured a $2,4 million grant to build telescopes that would be 1.000 kilometers from CHIME and help identify FRBs.

Nenad Sestan: Brain Reboot 1h6u4t

Neuroscientist Nenad Sestan got a somewhat unusual title, but it makes sense when we look at the focus of his investigation: reviving pig brains. This strange-sounding story began in 2016, when other researchers on his team discovered electrical activity in brains taken from dead pigs.

After some more research, the question then arose: is it necessary to reconsider the current definition of brain death? They pored over ethical issues and, to avoid problems, experimented with brains that were anesthetized with beta-blockers, which prevents neurons from firing in unison (which is a prerequisite for consciousness). The results showed that oxygen deprivation is not as harmful as thought (it happens in strokes or serious injuries, for example).

The problem is that the research has raised so much curiosity in the media, whether for ethical reasons or because it seems like something scary, that researchers have been responding to other scientists and the media since the beginning. publication in Nature (which took place in April of this year) and did not carry out other experiments.

Sandra Díaz: guardian of biodiversity 1d5u66

Ecologist Sandra Díaz and 144 other researchers completed on May 4 this year the most exhaustive study of biodiversity in the world. The result of the work shows that one million species are at risk of extinction because of human activities and states that drastic measures are needed to prevent the situation.

According to Nature, the final research report states that countries will fail to achieve most global targets on biodiversity and sustainable development unless major changes are made. Díaz debates issues of science and politics and refuses to be pessimistic about the capacity for change, as, according to her, there is no plan B.

Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum: Ebola Fighter 404n35

Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum is one of the discoverers of Ebola. In 1976, he traveled through the forests of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo to investigate an unknown disease that killed quickly. Now, 43 years later, he is leading the response to an Ebola epidemic that, since August 2018, has killed more than 2.200 people.

In addition to developing public health measures used to contain the virus (since 1995), he realized that it is necessary to talk to the community so that people gain confidence and understand how to protect themselves, and he also found a way to bury the dead with respect. , reducing the risk of infection.

Muyembe Tamfum also initiated the investigations that led to the launch of drugs and vaccines against the disease. Last month, a controlled clinical trial conducted by his team had a positive result of a 90% chance of survival for those treated with antibody-based drugs after infection. Before he retires, he intends to find out how the virus moves between species by finding a possible vector.

Yohannes Haile-Selassie: origin seeker 3d30u

Paleontologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie and his team have discovered a well-preserved 3,8-million-year-old skull of an ancient human relative, the Australopithecus anamensis. The discovery was in 2016, but the article was published this year in Nature.

Haile-Selassie has status and is considered one of the most talented fossil discoverers in the field. The research allowed the researchers to better “see” the face of this species, which was previously only known through bone fragments.

Still, the discovery shook up the human family tree, suggesting that hominid evolution is a little more confusing than is believed. It is noteworthy that, according to Nature, not everyone agrees with the evolutionary change proposed by the paleontologist's team.

Wendy Rogers: ethics in transplants 5w86

For two decades, organs such as livers, hearts and kidneys used in transplants in China had dubious origins. The government denied that they were from prisoners, but later itted and claimed the practice had been banned since 2015.

Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia) bioethicist Wendy Rogers examined research publications by Chinese physicians involving transplants. Her team posted a research which triggered several retractions of transplant reports after doctors were unable to prove that the donors consented to the act.

In total, the team found more than 400 transplants that likely used organs from prisoners. The result resulted in a reaction on the part of some scientific journals that published research that reported suspicious transplants: some took the articles off the air.

Rogers became an activist after watching the documentary Hard to Believe (trailer below), which shows forced organ donation by political prisoners. Her actions call attention to the fact that journals also need to police themselves in relation to the studies they publish.

Hongkui Deng: Gene Editing o722v

A gene editing technique called CRISPR-Cas9 was recently developed and is already used in clinical practice (CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats in English). This year, the first report on its use in a person was published, which showed how CRISPR gene editing can create a potentially limitless supply of immune cells impervious to HIV infection.

The study came from the laboratory of Hongkui Deng at Peking University. In 2005, Deng Ha was linked to research into the importance of the CCR5 protein in HIV. The current attempt was to reproduce the fact that, in 2008, a Berlin patient became infection-free after receiving a bone marrow donation from a donor with a gene mutation that disables CCR5 (the donation was to treat leukemia). However, this mutation is something rare and the alternative was to use gene editing.

According to Nature, Deng took immunologically compatible blood-forming stem cells from a donor's bone marrow, edited them with CRISPR-Cas9, and then transplanted them into a patient with leukemia and HIV. For safety, only 18% of the cells were modified. The result was that the HIV infection remained in the patient, but it showed that the edited cells could be part of a transplant without adverse effects.

Now, Deng hopes to transplant a greater proportion of the edited cells. He also aims to develop methods of reprogramming pluripotent stem cells (or embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to transform into any type of adult cell), which are easier to edit, and converting them into blood-forming stem cells for transplant.

John Martinis: quantum computer 115f4t

John Martinis was still a student when he saw his future mapped out by attending a lecture by physicist Richard Feynman talking ing quantum characteristics of particles to create powerful computers. Years later, Martinis headed the Google research group that demonstrated a quantum computer capable of performing a calculation much faster than the best conventional computer.

It took 17 years of research to improve the hardware of the quantum computer developed, called Sycamore. The effort apparently paid off, as the computer demonstrated that it could do in 200 seconds what today's most powerful computer would take 10.000 years (although some claim it would take a few days rather than that many years).

According to Nature, Martinis says the importance of what has been accomplished lies in the fact that it demonstrates that physicists' understanding of quantum interactions remains true at larger scales and complexity.

Greta Thunberg: climate warrior 1q45v

Teenager Greta Thunberg attended the US Congress on climate change. According to Nature, this year she managed to draw attention to climate change that many scientists have not been able to over the years.

Thunberg used a report from the Intergovernmental on Climate Change to urge governments to listen not to science but to science, urging them to take action. Some say that Greta Thunberg serves as an inspiration for the next generation of scientists.

The 16-year-old Swede gained prominence by staying for a few days at the door of the Swedish Parliament protesting for the climate. Gradually, she gained notoriety among activists. In Brazil, if she was not known for her actions or her speech in the United States Congress, her name reached the ears of many people after being called a brat earlier this month by Jair Bolsonaro. In response, she changed her Twitter profile description to “Brat”.