Wrapping Up 2023 – Through Editors’ Eyes
As we wrap up 2023 and usher in 2024, editors at ‘Science and I’ would like to thank all our authors and readers. Our final story is all about what our editors’ takeaways are from different fields of science in 2023.
Perseverance, scale and impact on humanity
This year’s Nobel Prize laureate Katalin Kariko’s journey is a reminder of how perseverance finally pays in science. Doing science and securing funding for research has always been an arduous journey, if not a lonely one with rejections and disappointments galore. What makes Katalin’s story powerful is despite her not securing tenure at one of the famous universities, she believed on her research idea and pursued it initially as a start-up co-founder and later in an industry. Her research along with Nobel Prize co-awardee Dr Drew Weissman were the reason why mRNA-based vaccines became a reality when CoVID-19 struck. Together with the industrial collaboration their research idea was realized soon. BioNTech worked on the technology in the past decade and solved the possibility of delivering the vaccine to cells. Pfizer invested eventually and scaled up the technology for worldwide use. Yes, there are challenges that are yet to be solved with mRNA technology, although the technology saved lives when it mattered the most.
International focus and collaboration on climate change
The past few years were difficult for humanity with the ongoing pandemic, wars and natural disasters. India had its fair share of natural disasters to grapple with, namely the landslides and floods in Himalayan states, Assam and Chennai floods and the obnoxious high temperatures during summer.Climate change and activism has been going on for quite some time, although countries are aligning and collaborating on climate action in recent times. The G20 summit, COP23 were testaments that countries have opened to the reality and the existing challenges that climate change poses. This brings us to the next question, how and where science can help us in mitigating the effects of climate changes? As a novice observer of this field, we think the answer lies in collaboration across research, industry, policy, and citizens’ active participation. We are observing changes at a smaller, albeit meaningful scale. In some of the new residential constructions that came up in the last five years across India, electric charging points for vehicles are incorporated in the parking lots. Similarly, it’s not at all an anomaly to see public transport vehicles such as buses plying on electric energy across Pune. Similarly, the citizen drives to clean public spaces are well-documented. The challenges are far from over, in fact we may face more challenges in the coming times in adoption of green technologies across country. Although, science is optimistic, and so are supporters of science. Otherwise, how can you explain a renewable energy company stock listed only a few weeks back yielding 240% returns? Well, you can explain, as the listed company aims to give citizens loans to install solar panels in their homes and localities! Launching of E20 fuel (petrol blended with 20% bio-ethanol) this year, is another attempt to reduce our petrol consumption and CO2 footprint. The Indian Government initiation of the ‘National Green Hydrogen Mission’-making hydrogen from water is yet another example of strong focus on climate change.
Capturing Indian imagination and the moon ride
If you are an Indian or know an Indian, you would probably know their obsession with cricket and Bollywood! A recent obsession is added to the existing list – ISRO. It was an overwhelming moment for every Indian, sitting in front of their television or laptop or phone in the evening of 23rd August, 2023. The kind of palpable excitement one only witnessed when Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli (in recent times) inched towards their century. And then, there was the moment when we reached moon! People were boisterous with their memes and general happiness. Social media was flooded with congratulatory messages for people who made it possible, it was indeed a sight to behold. In the victory, we all were happy, although let us also take a moment to recollect 2019, when despite Chandrayaan-2 not making it to the moon, Indians supported ISRO and our scientists! For the team at ‘Science and I’, the last line summarizes our collective scientific perspective of 2023, let us encourage everyone to embrace the scientific and science-related failures, along with the successes that come along. Happy New Year to everyone reading ‘Science and I’.
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