30 Examples of Scientific Advances

A scientific progress It is a novel discovery that is made in scientific matters, that is, a practical or theoretical achievement that makes "advance" to Science and technology. This term is used colloquially to refer to the same thing as "scientific discovery" or "scientific finding", since that in general we have the impression that by obtaining new knowledge or achieving new capacities, science "advances" towards the future.

The progress of science, as a discipline, depends on the accumulation of knowledge: the more we know about how the world works, the more we can innovate and the better and more complex tools we can develop which, in turn, will allow us to acquire new knowledge and thus successively. However, since the 20th century, the time that this process requires has been accelerating, so that knowledge is being discovered faster and faster. This is known as "scientific progress," and each major milestone or event is considered a "find" or "breakthrough."

Some of the greatest scientific advances of humanity, by way of example, have been, from prehistory to the present day:

1. The manipulation of fire.
2. The invention of the wheel.
3. The discovery of farming.
4. The domain of metallurgy.
5. The creation of mathematics.
6. The invention of writing.
7. Checking the roundness of the Earth.
8. The invention of the telescope.
9. The discovery of magnetism.
10. The heliocentric model of the universe.
11. The invention of the microscope.
12. The theory of evolution.
13. The invention of the steam engine.
14. The Atomic Theory.
15. The discovery of electricity.
16. The invention of vaccines.
17. The creation of the engine combustion.
18. The first organ transplant.
19. The invention of the airplane.
20. The invention of photography.
21. The invention of the radio.
22. The discovery of DNA.
23. The invention of the computer.
24. The manipulation of atomic energy.

Examples of scientific advances in the 21st century

In the few decades of the 21st century, humanity has not stopped achieving revolutionary scientific and technological advances. Some are:

1. The decoding of the human genome. 99.9% of the genetic sequence of the human being was decoded in 2003, thanks to scientific collaboration and the use of supercomputers in the project. This finding culminated the Human Genome Project founded in 1990, which allows the advancement of gene therapies for incurable diseases.
2. cell reprogramming. In 2006 it was possible to apply this technique of genetic manipulation, which allows returning the human cells to its embryonic state to once again choose its development path, being able to convert skin cells into neurons, for example.
3. The discovery of water on Mars. NASA's Phoenix space exploration probe discovered significant deposits of frozen water at the Martian poles on June 19, 2008. This confirmed the suspicions about the history of the red planet, and encouraged new human colonization projects.
4. The success of antiretroviral therapy for AIDS. A new antiretroviral therapy that had been in development for four years finally caught on in 2011. With it, it was possible to reduce the rate of reproduction of HIV, practically preventing the appearance of the disease. AIDS disease and reducing by 96% the chances of its transmission during sexual intercourse.
5. The discovery of the first superconductor at room temperature. Sulfur and carbon superhydride is a substance discovered in 2020 that promises to be the first superconductor that does not require intense cooling conditions, but could operate at temperature environment, albeit under very specific pressure conditions.
6. The discovery of the Higgs Boson. This is the name given to the “God particle”, a fundamental particle theorized in the 1960s by the physicist Peter Higgs, to explain the origin of mass in space. matter. On July 4, 2021, the European CERN institute announced that the detection of this particle is practically possible.

References:

• "scientific progress" in Wikipedia.
• “Scientific advances” (video) in Chachi classroom.
• “The most important scientific discoveries of the 21st century” in Aqua Foundation.
• “The 10 most spectacular scientific advances of 2020” in the newspaper The reason (Spain).

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