From artificial intelligence to customizable DNA, scientists have been continuing to engineer new technological advances. Though most of 2024’s breakthroughs aren’t necessarily based on brand-new ideas, the progress scientists have made is just as stunning.
Artificial Intelligence
Surprisingly, AI’s popularity surged just three years ago with ChatGPT’s release, but it has grown to a level beyond alarming. Not only has ChatGPT gained over 100 million users in a single year, but other businesses have been further promoting the usage of AI in daily lives. In 2024, Google introduced various new ways for Gemini, its AI app, to generate and edit images with high precision. This transformed the photoshopping industry; turning a photographed frown to a smile has never been so easy.
Sodium-Ion Batteries
In May of 2024, Natron Energy, a company located in Santa Clara, California, began mass-producing sodium-ion batteries. The company claims that their batteries have a longer lifespan and recharge ten times faster than other batteries. Since sodium is extremely abundant on Earth, creating sodium-ion batteries– rather than lithium-ion batteries– would significantly decrease the cost.
Plastics
Microplastics are tiny minerals of plastic that infiltrate oceans, slowly killing marine life. Some microplastics collect within soil, eventually finding their way into the diet of many animals– including humans– all over Earth. In November of 2024, the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) manufactured a new type of plastic that is biodegradable. The CEMS scientists were able to create this plastic with reversible bonds and is non-toxic and non-flammable, making it virtually harmless to the environment.
Far Side of the Moon
On June 25, 2024, China’s Chang’e 6 capsule returned from the far side of the moon, where samples were taken for the first time in history. The samples contained fragments of basalt, a volcanic rock, and soil that was nearly 4.2 billion years old. Scientists have concluded that the far side of the moon was prone to frequent volcanic eruptions during that time, explaining the four-billion-year-old basalt.
CRISPR
Scientists began to test the effectiveness of CRISPR, a technology that involves repetitive base sequences in DNA to selectively alter genetics, on humans in 2016. By January of 2024, 89 patients were undergoing clinical treatment by using CRISPR. Scientists attempted to use CRISPR to treat hepatitis B, and now plan to terminate diseases sometime in the near future.
Cancer Advancements
Adam Schoenfeld, a lung cancer specialist, led a trial for TIL therapy, which is expected to treat lung cancer. The results have significantly shrunk tumors in 25% of patients who did not respond to other treatment methods. “21% of the non-small cell lung cancer patients responded to TIL therapy…some patients remained free of cancer relapse for more than two years after the treatment,” shared Schoenfeld. “This study is significant because it was one of the first times anyone demonstrated that… these cells could generate anti-tumor activity.”
While 2024 certainly had its groundbreaking moments in the technological industry, 2025 is expected to be just as interesting. Donald Trump has stated that he will discontinue research partnering with China, which has especially concerned scientists working to research and predict future pandemic outbreaks. However, people have high hopes for quantum computing to become more practical, and sustainable energy sources are expected to flourish.
