Ranking of Quanta Magazine's Breakthroughs in Biology and Neuroscience

Quanta Magazine

I recently watched Quanta Magazine's "2023's Biggest Breakthroughs in Biology and Neuroscience" on YouTube. It was such an inspiring video to watch as someone who hopes to make big contributions to science. The video was of amazing quality, giving me that Interstellar-like feeling of wonder and amazement. In this article, I'll be ranking the breakthroughs in the video.

Ranking:

Number 1: Perception v.s. Imagination - Nadine Dijkstra and her team found that when 'our imaginations become incredibly vivid, they can get mistaken for reality". The prefrontal cortex and visual cortex could be directly involved with the process of distinguishing imagination from reality. The idea of the reality threshold is super interesting to me since this means that the more and more we imagine something to be real, the more our brain recognizes our imaginations as real.

Number 2: Mitochondria Keep Time - While most people usually think of the mitochondria only as the "powerhouse of the cell', since they produce ATP and energy for our cells, they actually play a big role in embryonic development, including how long it takes an embryo to develop. Researchers from Harvard Medical School found that increasing the level of activity in the mitochondria could force cells to produce proteins faster and develop faster. This is such an impressive discovery in my opinion, and I wonder how this could be used in cell therapies.

Number 3: Human Microbiome - Biologists at the University of Trento in Italy found new ways to trace genetic strains of microbes as they pass between individuals. I found it amazing how despite all of the different lifestyles and populations all over the world, much of microbiome transmission is done directly through close social proximity, such as through spouses, friends, or children. The people that we talk to every day actually change our biology. I didn't realize how much our microbial organisms are intertwined with diseases, especially immune disorders.

This was one of the best science videos I've ever taken the time to watch! I'm excited to see what breakthroughs are made in 2024.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt6BO-DV0pY&list=WL&index=155