Washington D.C. - In the 18 December 1998 issue, the editors of Science will announce their picks for the year's ten most important advances in science research. Heading the list is the accelerating universe, the discovery that galaxies of the cosmos are flying apart at ever faster speeds. Each year Science selects those advances from the past twelve months that have profoundly changed the practice or interpretation of science or its implications for society.
In the top research advance of 1998, the accelerating universe, two international teams of astronomers provided a glimpse into the destiny of the universe when they looked at distant stars and found that they were rushing apart at an accelerating rate. Scientists discovered decades ago that the universe has been expanding since the Big Bang. But whether the gravitational pull between galaxies could slow-and ultimately reverse-that expansion has been unknown. This year's discovery showed that the expansion of the universe is in fact speeding up. This implies that gravity is no match for the force that is pushing the universe outwards in all directions and that the expansion may continue, perhaps indefinitely.
The force propelling the expansion is still a mystery, but a leading candidate is a mysterious and pervasive energy in the universe called the cosmological constant - which Albert Einstein conceived of but later deemed his "biggest blunder." This year's top research advance may validate Einstein's first instincts; the energy of the cosmological constant could be providing the repulsive force necessary to propel the increasingly rapid expansion of the universe.
As the world's leading peer-reviewed general science journal, Science is uniquely suited to draw from a diverse array of scientific fields in order to compile the most authoritative list of the year's scientific accomplishments.
The other advances are as follows. Except for the first runner up, all other runners up are in no particular order:
- First Runner up, Circadian Rhythms: Almost every organism on Earth keeps track
of the 24-hour cycle between night and day using its "circadian clock," a
built-in mechanism that researchers got a handle on in 1998. This year, a quick
succession of discoveries shed light on how the molecular "gears" driving the
circadian clock respond to light and temperature cues and how they work together
in different organisms. The results showed a surprising commonality between
clock workings in organisms from bacteria to humans. What's more, it appears
that fruit flies and mice-separated by nearly 700 million years of
evolution-share the same timekeeping proteins. These developments may ultimately
provide insight into overcoming jet lag and winter depression.
- Potassium Channel Structure: This year researchers were finally able to answer
an essential question about how cell membranes manage to allow in or out certain
ions that are essential for sending messages along nerves-the basic connection
that allows people to see, think, taste, and touch. By identifying the structure
of the channel down to the last atom, researchers opened new territory for
understanding the roots of the nervous system.
- Cancer Treatment and Prevention: Scientists added a number of drugs, including
Heceptin, Tamoxifen, and Raloxifene, to their arsenal of weapons against cancer,
and began investigating other drugs in clinical trials. Although the therapies
each have their own drawbacks, collectively they represent an outstanding year
in the war on cancer. 1998 also saw an increase in public awareness of cancer,
evidenced by a trend towards healthier lifestyles and keen media attention paid
to some of the year's research advances.
- Combinatorial Chemistry: In 1998 researchers continued to stretch the
applications of combinatorial chemistry far beyond the traditional realm of
pharmacology. This technique, which allows researchers to make and test hundreds
of thousands of new compounds at once, was not only used to produce new
molecules for drug discovery but also to develop fuel cell catalysts and other
industrial compounds.
- Genomics: The sequencing of several microbial genomes and the genome of C.
elegans reached completion this year. The tiny C. elegans worm has long been a
workhorse for a wide variety of biological research topics, and its genome is
the first from a multi-cellular animal to be sequenced. The genetic information
will allow researchers to break new ground in understanding the evolutionary
relationships among organisms and will provide a set of essential tools for
future research that covers everything from how embryos develop to how to
identify targets for therapeutic drugs. Researchers also completed sequencing
the genomes of a number of harmful pathogens this year, such as syphilis,
tuberculosis, and chlamdyia.
- Neutrino Mass: For years researchers have been on the trail of neutrinos, the
subnuclear particles long thought to have no mass. This year an international
team using the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector in Japan claimed to have found
evidence that neutrinos do have mass after all, a discovery which, if it holds
up, should prompt a rethinking of the prevailing theory of the forces and
particles that make up the universe (known as the Standard Model).
- Biochips: Researchers married biological research tools with microchip
technology to create a flurry of novel micromachines this year. These tiny
gadgets can do the work of many lab technicians at once, performing tasks
including processing DNA, screening blood samples, scanning for disease genes,
and surveying gene activity in cells. Major microelectronics firms have now
entered the biochip business after taking notice of this technology's potential.
- Quantum Leaps: "Teleportation"-mysteriously moving people or things to a
different place-is hot stuff in science fiction, but this year researchers in
the U.S. and Europe teleported information about the quantum state of a particle
to a different location, where it was used to help recreate an identical
particle. This achievement is key for creating quantum computers, ultra-powerful
machines that will one day offer incredible computing speed and power.
Scientists took the first steps towards such futuristic machines in 1998.
- Molecular Mimicry: This year two teams of researchers provided the first
evidence of a link between autoimmune disorders and infections such as Lyme
disease or herpes simplex virus 1. In some people these infections turn into
debilitating long term illnesses even though the bacteria or virus that caused
the infection is long gone. Researchers have now confirmed earlier suspicions
that the infection causes the immune system to attack the body's own molecules.
This development may lead to better understanding and treatment of a number of
autoimmune disorders including diabetes and multiple sclerosis.
- Best Bets for Hot News in 1999: As in previous years, the Editors of Science propose six up-and-coming research areas. This year their choices are: photonic band gap materials and devices, aging, millennial-scale climate change, carbon sinks and the global carbon budget, bioterrorism, and allergies. The editors also score themselves on how well last year's predictions fared.
This year's annual "Breakthrough of the Year" section is the tenth since Science inaugurated the feature. The ten research advances were chosen by the editors, led by Editor-in-Chief Floyd E. Bloom, M.D. of Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. Bloom writes about the "Breakthrough of the Year" report in the 18 December issue's editorial, which is available upon request.
A draft of the "Breakthrough of the Year" section is available, under embargo, from the AAAS News & Information Office. The editorial by Dr. Bloom will be available Friday, 11 December. The cover of the 18 December issue of Science relates to the "Breakthrough of the Year" section and will be available Friday, 11 December.
For more information about the "Breakthrough of the Year" section, please contact Elizabeth Culotta, Contributing News Editor, at 330-678-7700 (phone) or eculotta@compuserve.com (email).
For more information regarding the top research advance of 1998, the Accelerating Universe, please contact: Saul Perlmutter, Team Leader, Supernova Cosmology Project, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at 510-486-5203 (work phone) or 510-841-7285 (home phone), or saul@lbl.gov (email); and Brian Schmidt, team leader, High-z Supernova Search Team, Mt. Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatory, Australia, (EST+16 hours), at 61-2-6279-8042 (phone), 61-2-6249-0233 (fax), or brian@mso.anu.edu.au. More contact information, including contacts in Europe and Latin America, is available upon request from the AAAS News & Information office.
For copies of the "Breakthrough of the Year" section or the editorial, please email scipak@aaas.org, call 202-326-6440 or fax the form below to 202-789-0455. For cover art, please contact Heather Singmaster at 202-326-6414 (phone), or hsingmas@aaas.org (email).
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