10 people who changed the world in 2018

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Explore an asteroid, solve a murder from the last century and propose a plan to save the planet from an ecological catastrophe - the achievements of these people are truly amazing.

Each year, Nature magazine publishes a list of 10 people who have made a significant impact on the world. The list is interesting because it does not include the rich and celebrities that everyone knows, but young scientists, social activists, lawyers, and budding politicians. The stories of these people prove that everyone can do something great.

Valerie Masson-Delmott - Guardian of the Earth

The first step to averting a disaster is knowing that it is impending. In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned the world about the danger: from 2030 to 2052, the average temperature on Earth could rise by at least 1.5 ° C compared to pre-industrial levels, which will lead to ecosystem changes.

We would not have heard this news if it had not been for Valerie Masson-Delmott, a scientist at the French Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences. She was the co-chair of the working group, brought together the authors of the report, coordinated their work and ensured that the report was approved by the governments of different countries.

The document is alarming. To keep the level of warming by at least 1.5 ° C, it is necessary to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions already now. And even if we do, many plants, insects and animals will disappear and coral reefs will die.

This will lead to dangerous consequences for humanity. For example, the annual catch of sea fish will be reduced by 1.5 million tons.

Fortunately, the report contains not only descriptions of all the horrors of the disaster, but also ways to prevent them.

Masson-Delmott made sure that all of her employees, regardless of age, gender and nationality, were involved in the preparation of the document, so she did a lot not only for the environment, but also to eliminate discrimination in the scientific community.

The scientist says she is working almost to the limit. She has to do her own research at night, on weekends and on trips, and she does not see her husband and children as often as she would like. “It's frustrating,” she says. "But at the same time, it is very stimulating." Masson-Delmott and her colleagues have a few more reports ahead. Work on the state of terrestrial and marine biomes will be published next year. Perhaps their work will help us prevent a terrible catastrophe.

Anthony Brown - star cartographer

On April 25, 2018, astronomers around the world gained access to 500 GB of data collected by the Gaia Space Telescope. But the telescope only collected information, and it was processed for many days by a team of 400 researchers led by Anthony Brown.

Anthony hasn't done something brilliant. He just did his job well, which consisted of administrative activities and meetings with scientific groups. But it was his responsibility and perseverance that ensured the success of the entire enterprise.

Astronomer and working group member Amina Helmi said that Brown knows how to motivate colleagues to work for the common good: they are even ready to break away from their own research for a while.

Brown's work is incomplete. By 2021, it will be necessary to process a new array of data, and then again and again. But the scientist doesn't mind. He has been working on the program for 20 years and considers it an important part of his life. Anthony Brown is a great example of how experience and perseverance sometimes bring results no less than genius.

Robert-Ian Smits - A Champion for Available Knowledge

Research in many scientific journals is funded by various donor organizations. Unfortunately, these studies are often publicly published and can only be read after purchasing an expensive subscription. This does not suit donors. They pay money to introduce research to as many people as possible, not to enrich scientific journal publishers.

Wanting to rectify the situation, the European Commission's Open Access Advisor Robert-Ian Smits proposed a "Plan S". According to it, from 2020, the results of research carried out for grants should be immediately published in the open access. Now the initiative is supported by 16 countries. And it is very likely that by 2020 there will be even more of them.

Smits's idea can be called very daring. Publishers fear that Plan S will ruin them, researchers fear that they will not be able to publish in prestigious journals. But knowledge will definitely become more accessible. This means that the initiative works for the benefit of universal education.

He Jiankui - genome editor

The achievement of this Chinese scientist is grandiose from the point of view of science, but controversial from the point of view of morality. In November 2018, He Jiankui announced that he had created the first genetically modified children. He edited the embryos so that the babies were resistant to HIV after birth.

This caused a loud scandal. Colleagues criticized He for being irresponsible, the Southern University of Science and Technology, where the researcher worked, said that he had nothing to do with the experiment, and the Chinese government completely forbade the scientist to continue working. He soon disappeared and did not appear in public again.

Interestingly, He is not a geneticist, but a physicist by profession, but in 2010 he published research on bacterial DNA, and also founded Direct Genomics, which produces equipment for genome sequencing.

Some argue that He didn't actually edit anything, as there is no evidence of the experiment being carried out. All we can do is follow the news from the life of the newly born twins Lulu and Nana. But He Jiankui definitely left a mark on genetics. And, perhaps, paved the way for more daring experiments on the genome.

Bi Yin Yo - a politician on guard of the environment

The story of this Malaysian woman is quite long and complicated. Early in her career, she worked for the oilfield services company Schlumberger. There, Yo realized that people would someday have to give up fossil fuels, and decided to master a new profession that would benefit the planet. She quit her job at Schlumberger, moved to Oxford, and received her degree in chemical engineering there.

Returning to Malaysia, Yo took up not only science, but also politics. She got a seat in the Legislature, and in 2018 became the Minister of Energy, Science, Technology and Climate Change.

The first thing Yo decided to do was deal with plastic. She has banned the import of plastic waste into the country and has drawn up a plan to eliminate disposable plastic products.

She wants the country to use and produce only biodegradable materials. In addition, by 2030, Yo plans to increase Malaysia's use of renewable energy (water, electricity, wind) up to 20% and use electricity more efficiently.

Of course, the problems were not immediately resolved. Even biodegradable plastic degrades slowly, and renewable energy sources are nowhere near as efficient as non-renewable ones. But Yo believes that you just need to try, invest in the research of scientists and not give up. And then everything will work out.

Hopefully, Yo's enthusiasm will set an example for other countries. And we can all live on a cleaner planet.

Makoto Yoshikawa - Asteroid Hunter

The Japanese have been solving their earthly problems for a long time, and only recently have they taken up large space programs. But astronomer Makoto Yoshikawa has already managed to achieve certain heights. In 2018, the scientist led the Hayabusa-2 mission, during which the spacecraft approached the asteroid Ryugu, took a photo and conducted soil studies.

It may not sound too cool, but in fact, modern astronomers hardly study asteroids. But the latter can tell us a lot about the origin of the universe.

The slightest mistake in calculations or a small accident in the study of asteroids nullifies all efforts, so now even NASA does not risk doing this. And Makoto Yoshikawa and his team just take it and do it. This despite the fact that the previous Hayabusa mission completely failed.

Yoshikawa's personality deserves a separate story. For space exploration he was inspired by the book "The Little Prince", the main character of which lives just on a small asteroid. Colleagues call the Japanese "the kindest scientist" and admire his ability to run many laboratories without unnecessary fanfare and noise. Yoshikawa is just doing his job and revealing to us the secrets of space.

Vivian the Elephant - an expert on human ancestry

Paleogeneticist Vivian Elephant studied the bones of ancient people in one of the Siberian caves. Thousands of years ago, the Denisovans, ancient relatives of the Neanderthals, lived there. In one piece of bone, the scientist found traces of genes of both. It seemed impossible, but Vivian checked everything carefully. As a result, it turned out that the found bone belongs to the daughter of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan.

This discovery proves that in ancient times, different subspecies of people could form pairs, and we, perhaps, carry in ourselves the genes not only of the Cro-Magnon ancestors, but also of other extinct great apes.

The discovery of the daughter of a Neanderthal and Denisovan is not the only achievement of the Elephant. Earlier, together with a group of scientists, she developed a new method for searching for genetic materials in sediments. With its help, you can find traces of people staying even where there are no remains. And this is very important, because bones are not found very often. In general, for paleogenetics, Vivian's discoveries are a real breakthrough that will help to learn more about our ancestors.

Yuan Cao - Lord of Graphene

By the age of 18, this young Chinese scientist became a bachelor of Science and Technology University of China, after which he entered a master's degree in the United States. In 2014, together with a group of scientists, he began to study the properties of graphene and found out that if you move two of its layers relative to each other, then this material will turn from a conductor into an insulator, and if you move it a little differently, then into a superconductor. Cao worked and experimented a lot, and eventually achieved a consistent reproduction of this effect. In the scientific community, he was nicknamed the master of graphene. Sounds like the name of some superhero.

Yuan Cao created a new superconductor, a material with great potential for use in modern devices. But it's especially cool that he did it at the age of 21, before defending his master's thesis. We will wait for even more interesting discoveries from him.

Jess Wade - Defender of Scientific Diversity

According to statistics, 90% of Wikipedia editors are men, and among all biographical articles, the share of publications about women is only 18%. And in some places things are especially bad. For example, in the Tajik Wiki there are 1% of women's biographies.

Jess Wade found out about this and decided that women scientists, of whom there are quite a few in the modern world, should receive their share of recognition. She began writing one article a day, and by 2019 she had written about 400 articles.

Wade herself is a polymer physicist at Imperial College London. At first she worked alone, but then she began to conduct "wikitons" - events in which people write and supplement articles about women and ethnic minorities. Wade says it's not just about discrimination. She is convinced that these studies, authored by women and minorities, are truly valuable to science and information about them can make the academic community stronger, more resilient and creative.

Barbara Ray-Venter - DNA Detective

Barbara Ray-Venter is a 70-year-old retired lawyer. But she is an unusual lawyer. Before studying law, Barbara defended her master's thesis in biology, and after graduating from law she worked on patents for biotech companies. Her ex-husband is the famous geneticist Craig Venter. So Barbara's whole life was associated with biology and genes.

In the 1990s, Barbara became interested in family history, but simple genealogical methods were not enough for her. And soon she switched to genetic testing of all close relatives. One day in 2012, on the Family Tree DNA website, Ray-Venter met a distant relative who grew up with an adoptive father. She wanted to help him find his own father and on the website DNAAdoption.org found a course on combining genealogy and DNA.

In 2015, Ray-Venter, using genetic genealogy, helped find Lisa Jenson's relatives. The girl learned that a man who called himself her father had kidnapped Jenson as a child. And with the help of Ray-Venter, Lisa was finally reunited with her real family.

In 2017, detective Paul Hawles found out about this case. He decided to involve Ray-Venter in the murder investigation in order to catch the famous "Real Night Hunter", who in the 70s raped 45 and killed more than 10 people. For 40 years, his identity has not been established, but the police had traces of his DNA.

Ray-Venter, using genetic genealogy, found the killer's relatives and ultimately identified the culprit - former police officer James Deangelo. The coincidence of DNA samples confirmed his guilt, and the crime was solved.

After such a sensational case, genetic genealogy simply could not remain in the shadows. With the help of this method, 16 people have already been arrested; DNA bases are now more actively used in investigations. Perhaps the system for finding criminals will soon change radically.

It seems that Ray-Venter herself hasn't accomplished anything significant. After all, she is not even the author of this method. However, while working, she studies archival materials and pages on social networks, picks up newspaper clippings and analyzes a huge amount of information. Usually experts understand either DNA or genealogy, but Ray-Venter has combined these skills and showed the world how useful it can be.