The Most Important Discoveries of 2008

Genetic engineers and psychiatrists think are very close to understanding this phenomenon, which in large part remained a mystery for the medical world. Long-term collaborations of specialists began to finally give results. They managed to identify genes involved in creating the autism syndrome. A test performed on mice that have mutations of a single gene involved in the process proved to be successful when the mice began to show a specific behaviour of autism. On the other hand, several studies have managed to identify a suite of genes associated with this syndrome, which plays an important role in the functioning of synapses. The causes leading to the development of this syndrome are associated with genetic diseases known for a proportion of 10% of patients, 5% are associated with chromosome rearrangements, 13% are caused by mutations of genes or gene variations of the children, and a proportion of 72% are based on unknown causes. Results suggest that abnormal formation of synapses and maturity play an important role in the occurrence of cases of autism. Far from reducing autism to one gene or one genetic cause, the results indicate that the syndrome has multiple origins.

2. Sputnik, the first virus of a virus

Sputnik has been the cause to a lot of controversy in the scientific world. One of them is a continuation of an old dispute about the nature of viruses. They are living organisms or inert? Sputnik is the first virus that can infect another virus or parasite. Viewed in this new light, viruses, initially considered inert, are living organisms. Who would have imagined that a virus can infect another virus? Until the recent discovery, this category belonged only to living organisms. This view shared by most virological, has lost popularity after September 2008 when the first counter-example was found: the giant Mamavirus that infects amoebas, is suspected of being infected himself with a small virus, named Sputnik. The latter needs Mamavirus in order to multiply, thereby affecting the functioning of the host itself. The discovery, made by a team of researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of Marseille, is the latest in microbiology which aims to discover new pathogens.

1. Graphite - star of 2008 in science

Researchers have concluded that electron transistors based on silicon have their limits. To replace silicon, the best candidate seems to be a material unjustly ignored until now, one that we find in pencil lead. Graphite, a two-dimensional crystal composed of carbon atoms has become the subject of intense research activities because of its remarkable physical properties and not least due to its various applications. A number of results obtained in 2008 seem to indicate that graphite will serve in future to manufacture ultrafast transistors. At only 4 years from initial discovery as a material, graphite became the uncontested star of nanotechnologies and condensed matter physics. Techniques of manufacturing graphite are in full development, therefore all the "evidence" seems to indicate that this revolutionary material will play an important role in future technologies. In natural condition, it is located inside the graphite crystal included in the composition of pencil lead. At room temperature, the electronic mobility is 200 000 square centimetres per volt per second. This value is 300 times greater than that of silicon. Another advantage graphite has is that it is more stable in terms of electronic conduction against its predecessor, silicon.