The establishment of the Aerospace Administration and the reduction in sepsis testing time, as well as Samsung Electronics' V-NAND, have been selected as major scientific and technological news of the year.
The Korea Federation of Science and Technology Societies announced on the 19th that it has selected six major fields of science and technology news for 2024. The federation stated that it selected the top 10 scientific and technological news in each field based on contributions to the advancement of science and technology, industry, and economy, as well as contributions to the innovation of the scientific ecosystem and the popularization of science and technology.
This year's top 10 scientific and technological news were selected from six fields: 'natural science, engineering, agriculture and fisheries, health care, and comprehensive,' along with the science and technology policy area. A key representative news item was chosen from each field's top 10 news.
In the natural science area, a discovery by Professor Shim Ji-won of Hanyang University, regarding the oxygen-transporting blood cells of fruit flies, was selected. This finding, which indicates that insects breathe through myeloid blood cells, has been assessed as groundbreaking enough to warrant rewriting textbooks.
In the engineering area, Samsung Electronics' V-NAND was selected. In 2013, Samsung Electronics radically solved the interference problem between existing cells by stacking cells arranged in a single layer vertically in three dimensions. By stacking NAND, which was previously flat, into a rectangular (3D) structure, the overall capacity that can be produced from a single wafer is also increased. Samsung Electronics named this technology V-NAND.
In the agriculture and fisheries sector, the research achievement of Professor Choi Gyu-ha from POSTECH's Department of Life Sciences, which solved a 100-year conundrum related to 'gametophytic division,' was selected. In the health care sector, the research team from Seoul National University and Seoul National University Hospital was recognized for reducing the sepsis testing time from three days to 13 hours, with a 50% mortality rate.
In the comprehensive field, research achievements by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information and Professor Kook Jong-seong from POSTECH's Department of Environmental Engineering, which predicted that climate change would continue even after achieving carbon neutrality using supercomputers, were selected. In the science and technology policy sector, the establishment of the Aerospace Administration was selected as the representative news.
The federation noted, 'The science and technology news representing 2024 is an indicator of the challenges and innovations of the science and technology community,' adding, 'By selecting news from major fields, we have highlighted the valuable achievements of domestic researchers, confirming that science and technology will be a key driving force for the future of South Korea.'