page_title: January–March 2020 in science
section_title: March
hierarchical_section_title: January–March 2020 in science / March
caption_attribution_description: English: This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. The spikes on the outer edge of the virus particles give coronaviruses their name, crown-like. Credit: NIAID-RML
context_section_description: 2 March – Scientists report to have achieved repeated quantum nondemolition measurements of an electron's spin in a silicon quantum dot: measurements that don't change the electron's spin in the process.
  3 March – Researchers report that stable d*(2830) hexaquark Bose–Einstein condensates could have formed in the early universe with a production rate sufficiently large to account for the 85% of matter thought to be dark matter, and therefore could be a plausible new candidate for dark matter. They were previously shown to possibly behave like dark matter.
  4 March
  A global scientific collaboration of ca. 100 institutions publishes their analysis of three decades of tree growth and death in 565 undisturbed tropical forests across Africa and the Amazon. The researchers found that the overall uptake of carbon into Earth's intact tropical forests peaked in the 1990s, dropped by one-third on average by the 2010s and may have started a downward trend. While extra carbon dioxide boosts tree growth, the effect is countered by negative impacts of higher temperatures and droughts which slow growth and can kill trees. Their models project a long-term decline in the African carbon sink and the Amazonas likely becoming a carbon source, rather than sink, in the mid-2030s.
  Scientists report the discovery of a second mechanism that repairs interstrand crosslink (ICL) DNA damage caused by the alcohol metabolite acetaldehyde next to the Fanconi anemia pathway, which cuts DNA to remove the ICL: enzymes cutting the crosslink itself.
  Researchers report that their review indicates that the unguarded X hypothesis may be valid: according to this hypothesis one reason for why the average lifespan of males isn't as long as that of females – by 18% on average according to the study – is that they have a Y chromosome which can't protect an individual from harmful genes expressed on the X chromosome, while a duplicate X chromosome, as present in female organisms, can ensure harmful genes aren't expressed.
  Scientists report that they have developed a way to 3D bioprint graphene oxide with a protein. They demonstrate that this novel bioink can be used to recreate vascular-like structures. This may be used in the development of safer and more efficient drugs.
  Scientists of the international World Weather Attribution project publicize a study which found that human-caused climate change had an influence on the 2019-20 Australian wildfires by causing high-risk conditions that made widespread burning at least 30 percent more likely. They comment on the results, stating that climate change probably had more effects on the fires which couldn't be attributed using their climate simulations and that not all drivers of the fires showed imprints of anthropogenic climate change.
  Scientists report to have used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing inside a human's body for the first time. They aim to restore vision for a patient with inherited Leber congenital amaurosis and state that it may take up to a month to see whether the procedure was successful. In an hour-long surgery study approved by government regulators doctors inject three drops of fluid containing viruses under the patient's retina. In earlier tests in human tissue, mice and monkeys scientists were able to correct half of the cells with the disease-causing mutation, which was more than what is needed to restore vision. Unlike germline editing these DNA modifications aren't inheritable.
  5 March
  NASA officially names the originally titled Mars 2020 rover to the newly titled Perseverance rover, after conducting a student naming contest in the Fall of 2019.
  Computer security experts report another Intel chip security flaw, besides the Meltdown and Spectre flaws, with the systematic name CVE-2019-0090 (or, "Intel CSME Bug"). This newly found flaw is not fixable with a firmware update, and affects nearly "all Intel chips released in the past five years".
  Scientists report that they have identified a second enzyme in the cell membrane of lung cells essential for entry of SARS-CoV-2 into the cells after the enzyme ACE2
caption: 16 March: First human clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine.[251] The image shows SARS-CoV-2.
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