BEST of S & T in the year 2003

We carried out a desk-research on the Net to find out the best of 2003, here are the links

- Web Master

Science News  of  year 2003

Top Science Books of the Year - Discover                 

Popular Science Best of 2003

25 great gifts for science lovers of all ages- 2003

Research Highlights 2003

Space & Astronomy - 2003

Best Guess

Award Winners - 2003

The top 10 list

MSNBC NEWS

1. Illuminating the dark universe: Proof that all the galaxies and other bodies in the universe are moving away from each other at an accelerating rate, pushed by a force that astronomers now called dark energy. Two studies that analyzed light and radiation from an era just after the Big Bang proved that the universal expansion is real. One study also narrowed the age of the universe to about 13.7 billion years.


2. Decoding mental illness: Identifying the workings of certain gene variants that increase the risk of schizophrenia, depression and other mental illnesses that tend to run in families. Researchers found that one gene increases the risk of depression, but only when a person is also exposed to severe stress.

3. Is it warm in here? Growing evidence that global warming is beginning to affect the climate, ocean currents and animals and plants. There is new evidence of tying global warming to ice melting, droughts, falling plant production and changes in plant and animal behavior.

4. Still hot: The role of RNA in plants and animals, a field that was judged 2002's top breakthrough. RNA was once thought to act only as a messenger that followed the instructions of DNA in making amino acids within a cell. But new studies show that forms of RNA can also direct and alter the expression of genes, influencing stem cells and embryonic development.

5. Single molecules groove and glow: Expanded ability to monitor and manipulate single molecules. Powerful new imaging systems enable scientists to observe the actions of individual protein molecules within cells and membranes.

6. Cosmic blasts: Confirmation that gamma ray bursts, one of the most powerful releases of energy in the universe, are linked to supernovas, the explosion of massive stars. Observers connected a supernova explosion with a bright burst of gamma rays.

7. Spontaneous generation: Discovery that mouse embryonic stem cells can be prompted to transform into either sperm and egg cells, a finding that could advance the understanding of some types of infertility problems. But the discovery also raised the possibility, ethically troubling to some, that human embryonic stem cells one day could be used as a source of human eggs that could be used for cloning and other studies.

8. About face: Some high tech materials can bend light opposite to the direction that is normally seen. The discovery could lead to making higher quality lenses.

9. The little Y that could: The Y chromosome, which is the smallest of the human chromosomes and the one that determines the male gender, has duplicate genes that can be used if a new gene copy is required. This is unlike other chromosomes.

10. Starving cancer: A cancer treatment once hailed as the ultimate cure for the killer disease registered its first proven success in 2003. Antiangiogenesis drugs prevent tumors from building blood vessels needed to nurture cancer growths. The drug was found to prolong the lives of patients with advanced colon cancer. Some 60 different forms of antiangiogenesis drugs are now in clinical trials.