Discovery of Drug Compound Against Malaria Ushers In Age of Robot Scientists

Eve, the robot scientist based in the University of Manchester, has discovered a compound that can help in fighting malaria.

Eve found that the drug compound inhibits a key molecule known as DHFR in the malaria parasite.

The undisclosed compound was previously known for its anti-cancer properties.

The development of robot scientists is the next step towards automation in science. With the proper artificial intelligence, robot scientists like Eve can explain observations, develop and test hypothesis, run experiments and interpret results.

They can also record scientific knowledge as they can directly interface with computer based lab equipment.

As stated in the paper, The Automation of Science, science is based on the hypothetico-deductive method and the recording of experiments in sufficient detail to enable reproducibility. With the advent of robot scientists like Eve and its predecessor, Adam, scientific discovery is evolving with the automation of both.

Cancer Immunotherapy Tops AAAS and Science's Top 10 Breakthroughs of 2013

Science, the peer-reviewed general-science journal, and its publisher, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) released their annual list of groundbreaking scientific achievements for 2013.

Number one on the list is the study on cancer immunotherapy.

The editors of Science believe that the strong promise that cancer immunotherapy brings in treating and combating the deadly disease is worthy enough to get the top spot in 2014's most important science breakthrough.

Last year, the discovery of the Higgs Particle was chosen as the scientific breakthrough of the Year for 2012.

Immunotherapy involves inducing, enhancing, or suppressing an immune response to combat a disease. There are two ways; Activation and Suppression. Activation Immunotherapy is designed to elicit or amplify the immune system to respond to the disease. Suppression Immunotherapy reduces or suppresses the disease.

Some of the other breakthroughs in the list include:

• CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat) which is a gene editing technique that is used it to manipulate the genomes of various plant, animal and human cells.
• A new type of solar-cell materials called Perovskite solar cells which are cheaper and easier to produce than those in traditional silicon cells.
• The discovery that cosmic rays come from supernova remnants

The full top ten scientific breakthroughs for 2013 are listed below.