The cloning of Dolly sparked a firestorm of debate: do ethical concerns outweigh the possible social benefits of mammalian cloning? Can human cloning be far behind? Dolly also challenged scientists to revise their ideas about cell growth, development, and aging (Dolly's DNA is older than she is). Many pointed to the potential good that such techniques may offer, from making identical copies of prized livestock to cloning genetically modified animals that can generate human proteins useful in medicine and other areas. (A step in this direction has already been taken, according to a report in the same 19 December issue--building upon their Dolly experiment, Scottish researchers Schnieke et al. managed to produce cloned, transgenic sheep capable of pumping out a human blood coagulant used to treat hemophilia.) *
The nine runner-up breakthroughs are as follows:
- First runner-up--Mars Pathfinder/NASA's Discovery Program: The Mars
Pathfinder mission marked the stunning debut of a series of planned space
projects devised by NASA to more cheaply and more quickly gather data from the
cosmos. Pathfinder and its little roaming robot Sojourner sent back a veritable
flood of data which seem to suggest that the Red Planet may have been more
Earth-like than previously thought. The next mission, Lunar Prospector, will
launch on 5 January 1998 and will orbit and map the moon.
- Synchrotron light: 1997 was a banner year for a new generation of
stadium-sized machines known as synchrotrons, which produce the brightest beams
of light yet possible and which can illuminate the structural secrets of
matter--down to the level of atoms. Among the year's achievements was an
atomic-scale map of the nucleosome core particle, which manages to coil meters
of DNA inside each cell.
- Clock genes: In 1997, researchers identified the first two mammalian clock
genes--genes that act in virtually all organisms as built-in time-keepers to
help maintain appropriate patterns of sleeping, eating and other basic
functions. Researchers also discovered that individual cells in fruit flies keep
their own time, independently of each other. With some evidence suggesting that
humans and other mammals have similar clock genes, scientists wonder whether
nature has preserved the circadian clock from the dawn of biological time.
- Single walled nanotubes: Essentially just sheets of graphite--carbon atoms
arrayed in adjoining hexagons--that are rolled up and capped at the ends,
nanotubes made of only a single wall of carbon are especially prized for their
regular structures and predictable behavior. These tiny tubes may one day be
perfect for everything from future electronic devices to ultra-strong materials.
First discovered in 1991, in 1997 the tubes were tested, tweaked and filled with
a variety of substances, bringing them that much closer to their potential.
- Microbial genomes: Steady progress by genome mappers yielded the complete
genetic blueprints for a number of important microorganisms, including the
laboratory workhorses E. coli and B. subtilis, as well as H. pylori, the
bacterium responsible for ulcers. With these maps as their guides, scientists
trying to learn more about hereditary diseases, fundamental life processes, and
other DNA-related issues are no longer flying quite so blind.
- Gamma ray bursts: Gamma ray bursts are the most violent events known,
exploding at the farthest edges of the measurable universe. Usually scientists
must content themselves with remnants of these strange explosions, but in 1997
they caught a gamma ray burst in action--and, for the first time, with optical
(visible light frequency) instrumentation. This mixture of good science and good
luck promises to open a new window on an intriguing mystery.
- Neandertal DNA: Debate has long raged over whether the fossil evidence
supports or denies a place for Neandertals as our direct ancestors. Then in
1997, scientists managed to extract and duplicate for analysis a tiny snippet of
ancient mitochondrial DNA from the original Neandertal fossil. This new line of
evidence suggests that Neandertals were merely our cousins, not our forebears,
and rates as a welcome success in the often frustrating effort to make ancient
DNA give up its secrets.
- Advances in understanding neurological diseases: The hope that neurological
disorders might one day surrender to treatment got a little brighter in 1997.
For example, there was the discovery of Nurr1, a receptor protein critical to
the development of healthy dopamine circuits in the brain (Parkinson's disease
is marked by a lack of dopamine); scientists found a new kind of brain lesion
associated with Alzheimer's disease; and, though once thought impossible,
severed spinal cord nerves in some experimental animals turned out to have the
capacity for regrowth.
- Europa's ocean: As it swept by Jupiter, the Galileo probe picked up signals
from one of the giant planet's moons--Europa--clearly suggesting that beneath
its frozen sea flowed water. If true, that would make Europa the only other
water-bearing body in our solar system, besides Earth. Given that Europa now
seems to possess two of the most important preconditions for life--water and a
source of internal heat--the implications are tantalizing.
The ten breakthroughs honored by Science 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" section in the 19 December editorial (available upon request).
AAAS is the world's largest general science organization, with programs in science policy, science education, and international scientific cooperation.
* To interview authors on the Schnieke et al. paper, or for more information on animal cloning, contact April D'Arcy, PPL Therapeutics Public Affairs, at 44-131-440-4777 or Harry Griffin, Roslin Institute Public Affairs at 44-131-527-4478.
To request copies of any of the following, please send an e-mail request to scipak@aaas.org. Copies will be available on Monday, 15 December.
Journal
Science