August: Spermatogenesis and Skin That Stops Bullets

Other than the two titular breakthroughs, late in the summer of last year, a new method of fighting cancer was being pioneered: the use of a modified smallpox virus to target cancer. The main problem with using biological agents to combat tumours is that they are destructive and can harm the healthy cells as well as the cancerous ones. However, a team has managed to change the vaccinia virus, which gets its name from being the virus used as a virus against smallpox, to only replicate in the presence of a chemical pathway found in cancer. Seven out of the eight patients on the highest dose were found to have it reproducing in their tumour only. While it is a long way from 'curing' cancer, this could be used as a carrier to deliver drugs to the affected areas in the future.

A Dutch artist used silk from engineered silkworms to create semi-bulletproof skin. By weaving the silk between the layers of human skin cells, she created a membrane that was able to withstand a .22 bullet fired at reduced speeds without breaking. The round still went 2 inches into the gel model she was using, but there is some hope that the technology could be used to create 'bioarmour' eventually.

In Japan, mice stem cells were manipulated into primordial germ cells, which can produce sperm. The sperm was normal looking and even fertilised female mice to produce healthy offspring. The aim of this project was to help infertile men, and could have very real and useful implications in today's world.

In other science: near death experiences are explained away as symptoms of oxygen starvation, it is speculated that nucleotides may have come from meteorites, where they are often found, the dark side of the moon's rough surface may be due to a collision with a second moon, and hydrogen is made from water using an enzyme.

March: Sperm & Stem Cells

There's almost always something new in the field of stem cells (I'm embarking on a gedanken experiment on the subject myself), but this month's progress is definitely worthy of report: human embryonic stem cells were grown into a very particular type of neuron. These neurons are affected in the early stages of Alzheimer's, and are very closely linked to the retrieval of memories; this is the main reason memory loss happens - the memories themselves are intact, but the ability to access them is not. By growing them in vitro, scientists will be able to study why they die, and maybe, eventually, transplant them into patients to improve memory.


March also brought us the first ever production of sperm cells in a lab. Why should you care that it is now possible to create mouse sperm? Because male infertility is becoming an increasing problem, especially in the western world, and this new study may unlock the secrets of the mechanisms behind creating gametes. While it is a long way off making human sex cells, the fact that healthy offspring could be produced from sperm created from neonatal mice could have far reaching consequences in the future. 


In other science: scientists discover Atlantis in Spain, the Messenger probe becomes the first to orbit Mercury,  and it is discovered that photons can be used to pull particles, sort of like a tractor beam.