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Science's Breakthrough of the Year: Watching evolution in action

s preserved in permafrost and painstakingly reconstructed has a chilling coda: the deadly flu seems to have started out as purely a bird virus. Understanding the evolution of last century's deadly bird flu may help us predict and cope with the current bird flu threat.

Other studies showed how small changes in DNA can trigger dramatic evolutionary events. Researchers found that a single genetic change can be all it takes to turn one species into many, as in the case of the Alaskan stickleback fish that lost its armor and evolved from an ocean-loving species to a variety of landlocked lake dwellers.

Beyond the genome, researchers watched evolution in action among a number of animals, from caterpillars to crickets, and found that behavioral differences such as what to eat and when to mate may be enough to turn a single population into two species. These painstaking observations and other experiments showed that evolutionary studies are as relevant to 2005 as they were to 1859.

Science also salutes nine other scientific achievements of 2005.

Planetary Safaris: With spacecraft at or on the way to the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, a comet, an asteroid, Saturn, and the very edge of the solar system, planetary discovery soared in 2005. The high point in a year of highlights may be the landing of the European spacecraft Huygens on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Huygens' trip to Titan revealed a world where infrequent but drenching rains of liquid methane shape the land and participate in a fascinating hydrologic cycle.

A Rich Year for Plants: Several key molecular cues behind flowering and other plant mysteries and surprises came to light in 2005. For example, plant molecular biologists pinned down the identity of a signal that initiates the seasonal development of flowers. Other research focused on a gene involved in stimulating flowering, and another study highlighted a surprising cache of RNA.

The Nature of Neutron Star
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Source:American Association for the Advancement of Science


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