Elhuyar completes the list of most relevant scientific news from 2024

2024/12/19 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna
• Teknologia
• Ingurumena
• Eboluzioa
• Nanoteknologia

The year 2024 has been a successful year in the scientific field. It's also interspersed with surprising and disturbing news: extreme temperatures and weather phenomenums, knowledge of the Moon, brain... There have been many protagonists, but among them, Elhuyar has made a list of the top 10 scientific news of the year:

1. Temperature increase limit exceeded. Scientists predicted that if the temperature of 1.5°C were exceeded, the planet could suffer irreversible effects. This year has passed. At the same time, extreme weather events have been the protagonists.

Elhuyar Magazine: "The temperature increase limit agreed in the Paris Convention has been exceeded"
Ecosfera: "Valencia: a reflection on a catastrophe"
Teknopolis: "Extreme weather events"

2. Avian influenza is moving fast. Following this year's continuing outbreaks, avian influenza has been found to be endangering wildlife itself.

Elhuyar Magazine: "They warn that bird flu is endangering wildlife"
Teknopolis: "Next pandemic"

3. The hidden face of the moon uncovered. China's missions are leaving the moon unsecretly. It has brought samples from hidden areas and completed the most detailed geological atlas of the satellite.

Elhuyar Magazine:
"The Chinese Academy of Sciences has completed the most detailed geological
atlas of the Moon"

4. Microplastics 20 years. They're already in every corner of the planet: in meals, in drinks, in the brain... This year they've been found in the human buttock and in the testicles. “Very serious,” the experts said.

Elhuyar Magazine: "Microplastics have also been found in human lime"
Teknopolis: "Plastic seas"

5. Rare earth crisis. They are essential for the energy transition, but mining is very polluting and geopolitically very conflicting. Rare earth recycling has become a key element.

Norteko Ferrokarrila: "Under strange ground."

6. Innovations in artificial intelligence and pollution. The AA creation systems have led to continuous innovations for the Basque Country.

Norteko Ferrokarrila:
Elhuyar Journal "LATXA Linguistic Model": "Orai presents a new neural model for artificial intelligence in Euskera"

Globally, the environmental impact of AI causes a shudder: AI systems will generate 5 million tons of electronic waste by 2030.

Teknopolis: "Risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence"
Elhuyar Journal: "Generative AI systems can generate up to 5 million tonnes of electronic waste by 2030"

7. The brain in nanometric resolution. The most beautiful image of this year has been that of the brain maps of flies. The study of the human brain has also been fruitful: the 3D model of a cubic millimeter in nanometric resolution has been created. It shows structures never seen in the human brain.

Elhuyar Magazine:
"A full brain map of an adult vinegar fly has been made" "3D
model of a cubic millimeter of the human brain in nanometric resolution"

8. Andere, the oldest Neanderthal in the Basque Country? The finding has been shocking at El Polvorín's Sima in Bizkaia. Archaeologists drew attention to the bone remains of José Miguel de Barandiaran in 1983, and discovered that they belonged to a Neanderthal before the age of 150,000 years.

Elhuyar Magazine: "In El Polvorín de Carranza have found fossils from an archaic Neanderthal"
Teknopolis: "The New Face of Neanderthals"

9. Redefining obesity and health. Last year, Science described the new anti-obesity drugs as the year’s leading scientific breakthrough and have been very successful in 2024. The stick of the pharmaceutical industry, but with many lights and shadows. They highlight the need to redefine obesity and health.

Teknopolis: "Obesity, a disease conditioned by society"

10. First functional semiconductor of graphene. Researchers have been waiting for many years, but finally, progress has been made that opens up a new way of making electronics. They say it's going to be the basis of quantum computing.

Elhuyar Magazine: "Get the first functional semiconductor of graphene"