Year in science review: Global warming, new species
2007 was punctuated by significant developments in science.
— -- From the largest scales (global climate) to the smallest (cell research), this was a year punctuated by significant developments in science. USA TODAY highlights the findings.
Global warming
It led the pack as the main science story of 2007. This was a year in which the topic moved from being theory to fact in the scientific world and, perhaps more important, in the minds of many Americans.
It also was the year in which the gold-standard scientific body on the topic, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, won the Nobel Peace Prize. It shared the award with former vice president Al Gore.
In its long-awaited report in February, the U.N. panel said that global warming was unequivocal and that humankind's reliance on fossil fuels — coal, fuel oil and natural gas — was to blame. Discussion has shifted in scientific and political circles to "What effects will it have?" and "What can we do about it?"
The year ended with this month's international climate talks in Bali. The sometimes-fractious discussions resulted in a plan-to-make-a-plan to fight global warming by 2009. That plan will replace the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement to reduce the emission of heat-absorbing "greenhouse" gases. Much of the protocol expires in 2012.
Stem cell breakthrough
In November, two teams of scientists reported success in reprogramming human skin cells to behave as embryonic stem cells, which can become any cell in the body.
Their papers appeared in two prestigious journals, Cell and Science. The Cell report was from a group led by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan. The Science study was from Junying Yu and James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The new technique uses a chemical cocktail that contains gene-controlling proteins to turn the skin cells back to their pluripotent, or unlimited, state. The hope is that the promise of stem cells — to provide cures for diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson's and repairs for those with spinal cord damage — might be accomplished without the moral issues that have dogged the research. Until now, creating human embryonic stem cells required destroying a human embryo.
Related Stories
ABC News Live