The development of plastics that conduct electricity. This is seen as a step toward using cheap organic molecules to make components for computers, cell phones, lasers and other electronic devices. Studies showing that adult cells can be manipulated to transform into a variety of other types of cells, such as turning bone marrow into brain cells. Cell manipulation has also led to the first-ever cloning of pigs, the journal said. The discovery by spacecraft orbiting Mars that the planet may once have been covered by water and that there may be frozen pools of water still there.
Researchers believe the presence of water increases the possibility of life on the Red Planet.
The results strengthened the belief that the present universe is flat and will expand forever. Researchers' findings that signaling proteins within cells are implicated in cancer, heart disease and diabetes. The work could lead to new drugs that would block the action of those proteins to treat disease. NASA's NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft, which became the first probe to slip into the orbit of an asteroid. The spacecraft has circled the 21-mile wide Eros asteroid for six months, unlocking chemical secrets of some of the most primitive material in the solar system.