2013年六大科学突破.docVIP

2013年六大科学突破 　　Cancer Immunotherapy1） 　　This therapy harnesses2） the immune system to battle tumors. Scientists have thought for decades that such an approach to cancer therapy should be possible， but it has been incredibly difficult to make it work. Now many oncologists3） say we have turned a corner4）， because two different techniques are helping some patients. One involves antibodies that release a brake5） on T cells6）， giving them the power to tackle tumors. Another involves genetically modifying an individuals T cells outside the body so that they are better able to target cancer， and then re-infusing7） them so they can do just that. We are still at the beginning of this story and only a very small proportion of cancer patients have received these therapies. But the results have been repeated at different centers and in different tumor types， giving doctors hope that immunotherapy for cancer may benefit more and more people in the future. 　　Cloning Human Stem Cells 　　After more than a decade of failures， researchers announced they had derived stem cells from cloned human embryos8）. Such cells can develop into any of the bodys cell types， and researchers hope to use them to study and treat diseases. Mice， pigs， dogs， and other animals have been cloned by the same technique used on Dolly the sheep9）， but human cells have proved much trickier to work with. In 2013， a new recipe―including a dash of caffeine， which appears to stabilize key molecules in delicate10） human egg cells―solved the problem. Now researchers must determine how embryonic stem cells from the cloned embryos stack up against11） induced pluripotent stem cells12）. 　　Cosmic Particle Accelerator Identified 　　Cosmic rays―high-energy protons13） and other particles from outer space―were first detected 100 years ago. Now researchers have finally nailed down14） solid evidence of where they come from. Theorists had long suspected that most are accelerated in the shock waves15） from massive exploding st