The Guardian: Scientists suggest the most important scientific events of 2021 | Science

The British newspaper “The Guardian” found the opinions of many scientists to determine the 10 most important and important scientific events that took place in 2021. In the following, Al Jazeera Net provides a summary of these events, the newspaper reported. :

Billionaires are running into space

Space exploration or rover perseverance on Mars, a rare meteorite crash in the UK, the launch of a spacecraft to change the course of the asteroid, and the discovery of about 200 new planets outside the solar system.

According to Monica Grady, a professor of planets and space science at The Open University in the UK, the “Blue Origin” spacecraft’s first voyage to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere could be the biggest news of an event. It took 11 minutes in October 2021, starring actor William Shatner (90).

The aircraft was the second aircraft of the New Shepherd rocket vehicle, named after the late Alan Shepherd, the first American astronaut, and launched by “Blue Origin”, a company owned by American billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The first manned spacecraft of the “New Shepherd” spacecraft took off in July 2021 with Bezos and 3 passengers, but Richard Bronsen of Britain became the first millionaire to travel to the edge of space on the Unity spacecraft he designed. Company, 9 days before the departure of the Virgin Galactic (Virgin Galactic) Bezos.

However, Bronson’s plane reached an altitude of 88 km above the Earth’s surface and did not cross Kerman Fort, which is located 100 km above sea level and is commonly used to differentiate between Earth’s atmosphere and space. By comparison, Jeff Bezos has crossed that line in his voyage. Scientist Monica Grady describes these journeys as technological breakthroughs because they are of scientific significance in the future.

Pulse oximetry devices misread oxygen levels in people with dark skin (social networking sites)

Racial bias in the health care system

2021 marks the year of widely recognized inequalities in health outcomes for black and Asian people, according to Professor Ann Phoenix of Psychology and Social Studies at University College London (UCL).

The British psychologist sees these inequalities, or in other words, the result of what he calls inequalities, a combination of professional, methodological, and technological biases that create “established racism.”

This is the year many people buy Pulse Oximetry equipment (which indirectly monitors the oxygen concentration in the patient’s blood), believing that it can warn them to seek medical help when they are infected with the corona virus. 19 “.

Black and Asian individuals, dark-skinned with pulse oximetry, were found to be three times more likely to misread low oxygen levels. Phoenix said British Health Minister Sajid Javed – from a Pakistani family – had launched an inquiry into the matter in November.

The British scientist pointed out that this is happening in light of an epidemic that is becoming so real that “we all face the same storm, but we are not in the same boat” as it has become clear that blacks and Asians are. Whites are more likely to die from the “Govit-19” epidemic than they are. As he says, technology pro does not work.

If we weren’t all in the same boat, no one could be sure they were safe, the epidemic has shown, and there is hope that vaccines are being made for blacks and whites, says Phoenix. He concludes by expressing his hope that 2021 will be a historic year in which enough people will realize the importance of true equality in Britain’s health care system.

Media focuses on COP climate rather than climate science (European)

COP26

Last August, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the first part of its sixth report, Science Tells Us About Our Understanding of Climate Change and What Will Happen in the Future.

The Sixth Assessment Report agreed with the general content stated in the Fifth Report released in 2014, but it was clearer and stronger than the previous one, pointing out that it had reached the worst level of things requiring drastic action to avoid dire consequences. According to Helen Cersky, British physicist and expert

The British scientist believed that the media’s focus was on COP rather than climate science, and although science has always been important, there is already enough science to help us get out of action.

Symptoms of fibromyalgia include pain in several areas of the body, severe fatigue, and emotional distress (Shutterstock).

Fibromyalgia: New Understanding Leads to the Treatment of Chronic Pain

Fibromyalgia is a type of disease called fibromyalgia in Arabic. Symptoms of fibromyalgia include pain in several muscular areas of the body, a feeling of extreme tiredness and emotional turmoil, and it affects about one in 40 people, mostly women. According to Francesca Hoppi, professor of cognitive neurology at University College London, the cause of the disease is unknown and there is no cure.

A breakthrough in the ability of artificial intelligence to predict the precise structure of a protein

By 2020, a series of robust experimental technologies would result in a structural description of one-third of the proteins encoded by the human genome. However, says Jericho Tacano, professor of artificial biology at the University of Manchester, says proteins are elusive to traditional laboratory techniques, leaving a huge gap in understanding information about protein-encoded genetic sequences.

2021 saw significant progress in overcoming this dilemma based on methods of predicting algorithm structure supported by artificial intelligence with unprecedented level of accuracy, as described by Tagano.

Factors of nature are unpredictable and governments have failed to properly prepare for them (Getty Images)

Severe weather is getting worse

COP26 was postponed last year and its report was released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But Hannah Klug, a professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, believes this, coupled with unforeseen natural factors and the inability of governments to make it possible to diagnose climate hazards.

Registration number of obese children

Theresa Marto, director of the Department of Behavioral and Health Research at the University of Cambridge, says this year’s most important event – in her view – is not a scientific breakthrough, but a setback. The National Pediatric Survey has revealed a staggering increase in the number of obese school children in the UK from one-third to one-fifth of children between the ages of 10 and 11.

Perhaps the most shocking thing is that the disparity between children in comfortable environments and the most disadvantaged is widening because 14% of children in comfortable environments are obese, which is 34% of their peers. Poor neighborhoods. Mardo notes that the “Govit-19” epidemic has worsened because poverty leads to obesity, while environments make healthy eating and physical functions much more difficult.

Winscomb meteorite from the early remains of our solar system (Natural History Museum)

Gift from Winschem Meteor Space

On February 28, 2021, locals in the UK discovered a meteorite that had fallen from a ball illuminating the sky over Winsham in Gloucestershire.

According to Emma Bains, a physicist and astronomer at the University of Leicester, the meteorite known as the “Wincomb Meteorite” is one of the earliest remnants of our solar system, and is a rare type of “carbon chondrite”. The solar system has not changed since its formation about 4.5 billion years ago.

Stores some of the RNA particles

Although the first gene-vaccine was approved in December last year, it is unlikely that humans will know about Pfizer’s effectiveness by 2021, says Ijima Ochikpo, a professor of pharmacological nanoscience at University College London. Ochigbo claims that RNA vaccines could theoretically be modified to respond to new mutants in the “Govit-19” virus.

RNA vaccines can be modified to deal with the “Covit-19” virus mutants (Reuters).

Finally recognizing the role of nature in mitigating global warming

Julia J.P., Professor of Environmental Protection at the University of Bangor in Wales. Jones says the huge scientific efforts made over the past several decades have paid off by the end of this year.

The United Nations Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland was called the “Conference of the Parties to Nature” because of its emphasis on protecting and restoring ecosystems, especially forests, as a means of combating global warming.