The coronavirus vaccine was developed faster than any vaccine in history. It took just 332 days from the first sequencing of the virus genome to the first vaccines given to the public.
The number one scientific breakthrough for 2020: multiple vaccines to prevent COVID-19.
Philippe Raimbault/Photodisc via Getty Images
The development of multiple vaccines against the virus that causes COVID-19 has been hailed as the breakthrough of 2020. But there were many more supporting discoveries that made this possible.
Seabird colonies are thought to be in rapid decline. But knowing just how severe the loss is can be a challenge, so some scientists are turning to bird poop for the answer.
Mink can be readily infected with SARS-CoV-2 and then pass the virus to humans.
(Shutterstock)
In the disturbing scenario of human-to-mink-to-human COVID-19 transmission, the virus may mutate in mink prior to re-infecting people. That possibility makes vaccine design even more crucial.
According to the Norse sagas, the kraken terrorized sailors off the coasts of Norway and Greenland.
(John Gibson)
Jumbo squids live in extreme environments. Tiny genetic modifications allow them to move back and forth from the surface of the ocean to its bottom, killing and eating everything in their path.
Algonquin wolves can be legally killed in many parts of Ontario.
(Helen E. Grose)
A recovery plan for the threatened Algonquin wolf should have been in place two years ago. Recent amendments to the Endangered Species Act mean the Algonquin wolf faces an uncertain future.
Studying the genomes of mountain goats supports conservation efforts.
(Shutterstock)
As mountain goats face pressures from climate change and human disturbance, analyzing their genome provides useful information on their ecology and evolution.
The polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, is used to copy strands of DNA.
(Pixabay/PixxlTeufel)
COVID-19 tests rely on a process developed at a biotech company co-founded by a Canadian. Canada’s current testing expertise needs to be channelled to prepare for the next wave, and the next pandemic.
Loneliness affects one in three people in the industrialized world, with racialized groups disproportionately bearing the burden.
(Pexels/EricW)
Countries closed their borders in response to COVID-19, but international cooperation and technology sharing could improve recovery against pandemics and potential bioterrorist attacks.
Today smallpox can only be found in deep freeze inside a few highly secured laboratories, like this one at the CDC in 1980.
CDC
The smallpox virus appears to have been with humanity for millennia before a global vaccination drive wiped it out. Current genome research suggests how smallpox spread and where it came from.
Bats are key pollinators and seed-spreaders, and keep pests away.
(Shutterstock)
As the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates global economic and health insecurities, opportunities to emulate the pandemic’s effects with bioweapons affords terrorists a new model.
Colourized scanning electron micrograph of a cell heavily infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles.
(The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Flickr)
Fundamental research has informed what we know about coronaviruses up until the pandemic. With possible future outbreaks, continuing and developing this type of work is crucial.
An image of the popular Sandy Macpherson from circa 1958. Macpherson played soothing music for BBC listeners during Second World War.
(BBC Programming)
During the Second World War, anxious but also bored BBC listeners found comfort in the soothing sounds of Sandy Macpherson, Canadian-born organist.
Coronaviruses get their name from the crown, or corona, of spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, as seen on this illustration of a highly magnified virus.
(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Information collected from DNA samples can be used to identify species, track their movements and diagnose genetic diseases. This information is useful in conservation and management projects.