Top ten of the 2010s in science

The most significant scientific discoveries of the past decade

As another decade comes to a close, we look toward the 20s for more remarkable achievements in science and technology. However, in the spirit of looking to the future, here is a list of ten of the most important discoveries in science and technology from the past decade. These discoveries will surely influence our society in the coming years.  

1. CAR T cells drive forward future of cancer therapy: The FDA and Health Canada approved the first successful CAR T cell therapy, KYMRIAH®, in 2017 for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children and young adults. CAR T cell therapy is a novel immunotherapy which takes the patient’s T cells (a type of immune cell) and modifies the cells’ receptors so they can directly recognize and kill tumour cells, without killing healthy cells. Due to the success of this novel immunotherapy, more CAR T cell therapies are expected to pass clinical trials in the coming decade. 
2. Of human origins: In 2017, an archaeological team discovered a cave in Morocco which contained Homo sapiens remains dating back 300,000 years. This fascinating discovery contradicts earlier research which suggested our species arose approximately 200,000 years ago, and the location of the discovery suggests humans did not only come from East Africa, as was previously suggested, but our earliest ancestors likely evolved across all of Africa. 
3. Shedding light on black holes: Much excitement surrounded the announcement from Harvard University just this past year, which revealed, for the first time, what a black hole actually looks like. This incredible image is the first direct proof and confirmation that black holes are real; beforehand, they were only theorized by general relativity. This work will inform future studies of the physical origins of black hole flares and help us understand the characteristics of black holes.  
4. HIV preventative treatment: In 2012, the medication Truvada was approved by the FDA as a preventative therapy for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This drug is an antiretroviral therapy that combines two drugs (tenofovir and emtricitabine) into one pill, which is taken orally every day. Randomized clinical trials showed that this drug has powerful preventative effects when taken by uninfected, at-risk individuals, but it must be combined with other anti-HIV drugs when taken by HIV-positive individuals. While there is still no cure for HIV, this drug is lowering the risk of HIV transmission in our community.  
5. Regenerating space exploration: In an attempt to make space exploration more economical and feasible, the private company SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, successfully launched and returned the first reusable rockets and boosters in 2015. The Falcon 9 was the first rocket to return to Earth, and since then, SpaceX has improved its technology and now routinely sends out and brings home its spacecrafts and boosters. The fact that these expensive rockets and boosters can now be reused makes space travel far more economical and may mean that one day, we’ll be hopping onto spacecrafts as easily as we travel by plane.  
6. Changing your fate: Early in 2017, an interesting medical discovery came from the University of Pennsylvania that might revolutionize healing and regenerative medicine. Researchers were able to change myofibroblasts (cells which result in scarring) into fat cells. This resulted in less scarring and more skin regeneration. This may be revolutionary for healing of tissue after heart attacks (which result in lots of damaging scars) and in skincare to slow down the aging process.  
7. Brain-y computers: In 2014, a group of researchers from IBM released SyNAPSE—a computer chip that works similarly to the human brain. The chip contains 4096 neurosynaptic cores, 1 million neurons, 256 million synapses, and runs only on 70mW of power—the equivalent of a small battery. When 16 of these chips were combined onto a circuit board, 16 million programmable neurons and 4 billion programmable synapses simulated the connections made in our own brains. This is an enormous step forward for computing, programming, and creating a computer which will work like our brains.  
8. Cutting into DNA: The CRISPR-Cas9 DNA editing mechanism was first suggested in 2012 to be adopted as a gene editing tool in humans. It cuts DNA at precise locations—“fixing”, in effect, the genome—and therefore can be used in medicine to treat diseases caused by genetic mutations. In 2015, a group in China announced they had successfully used CRISPR-Cas9 to edit the genome of a human embryo. While this is fascinating, it has now sparked the debate about the ethics of modifying the DNA of embryos, which will surely grow as we come to understand more about CRISPR and its applications.  
9. The final piece of the puzzle: In 2012, teams at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland announced that they had finally detected the Higgs boson particle. This fundamental particle is associated with the Higgs field, a ubiquitous quantum field which gives all particles their mass. The discovery of this particle has filled in the final piece of the Standard Model theory, which describes three of the four fundamental forces of physics and all known elementary particles.  
10. Our future home?: Given our current environmental status and growing population, this final discovery may prove the most important of this decade. In 2016, the first planets in the TRAPPIST-1 star system were identified. There are seven planets which surround a cool dwarf star that is twelve times smaller than our own star—the Sun. Of these planets, three are Earth-sized and are found in the habitable zone, meaning they have the necessary characteristics to support liquid water, the key to life. And the best part? The star system is only a meager 39 light years away from us! But, of course, refer to the Climate Count-Up for ways to save our current home! 

In conclusion, the future is looking bright. In the past ten years, we have made remarkable advancements in medicine, computing technology, physics, and space exploration. We are only limited by our imaginations in terms of what we can achieve: no particle is too small and no planet is too distant for us to discover.